The Herd with Colin Cowherd - NFL surprises, Cowboys, Browns, and where Colin was right & wrong

Episode Date: October 14, 2019

Colin discusses the surprises happening in the NFL, the Cowboys problems against the Jets, why he isn't surprised with the Browns, and where he was right and wrong over the weekend. Guests include Antonio Cromartie, Trent Dilfer, Clarence Hill, and LaVar Arrington, Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker this linebacker walks up to me he goes a ref my mom wants you to wave at her what Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on a Monday, a crazy Monday when the world is turned upside down. This is the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are live in Los Angeles, beautiful Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, one hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. My pleasure. Thanks for joining us. Enjoy Taylor's here.

joy the NFL does this every year, one or two weekends when the good teams get crushed, the bad teams look good, the good quarterbacks are terrible, the teams that should win at home can't. Welcome to the NFL. Yep, now we have to sort through all of it. Yes, we're going to sort through all of it. So here's what happened. If I had told you a year ago, listen, Kyler Murray and Cliff Kingsbury, their offense is

way better than Sean McVeigh and golf. You just said, what? If I told you a year ago, Patrick Mahomes, he can't even win it. at home. You'd be like, what? If I said, Drew Brees is going to get hurt and the Saints don't miss a beat, you'd be like, what? Cam Newton's out for probably the year and Carolina with a guy who couldn't start in college is unbeatable. What? Philadelphia destroyed, maybe the best roster in the NFL against Kirk Cousins. He looked like Brett Fav. What? This is called the NFL. So Dallas this morning, everybody's freaking out.

Okay, so let's figure this out. Both their offensive tackles were hurt. Amari Cooper was hurt. Byron Jones got hurt, and Sam Darnold comes back at home. They unveiled what appears to be a playbook they only used for Sam Darnold. And the Cowboys lose 24-22 with a chance, as always with Dack. You're in the game, in the last two minutes of the game, and they lose on the road. Yeah, that's called the NFL.

It is really easy to lose in this league. Listen, even winning, even for the Patriots, it can be hard. It's hard for Andy Reid. It's hard for Mahomes. Losing in this league is really easy. It is really easy. What did Dallas do that shocked you? Well, Dak really struggled without all his parts.

What, that's breaking news? Is that the head of the New York Times this morning? Dak struggles without all his parts. Well, Colin, a quarterback that had a flack jacket on that spent the last three weeks in a hospital, came out and outduled him. Yeah, Sam Darnold was a first round pick and has a much higher ceiling. Sam Darnold is a better quarterback talent than Dack. That surprised you. Did you watch Darnold?

Did you? Okay, here's the thing, if you're Dallas today, that would be concerning. You look flat, offensively, you look a little stale. It doesn't feel like, you know, Jason Garrett, who's never been a big energy guy, is more the academic. He's not the Ivy, you know, he's not the raw, raw, run through a wall guy. and the team looks really, really flat. But timeout here. Do not overreact.

Dak Prescott on the road was 10 for 17 on third down. That Jets' defense is not terrible. Greg Williams is a very good. They got good safeties, good linebackers, good pass rush. By the way, they had 270 yards passing, 130 rushing, and had the ball for 32 minutes. Don't go crazy here. Now, now, now, I will say this. They look flat.

Last three weeks can't score a first half touch. I do not think this is an offense built the play from behind. I think it's an offense that should come out scripted, give DAC a lead, and give the ball to Zeeke, play downhill, and let those pass rushers the Cowboys have unleash a little bit. That's the formula for me. Get a lead, run downhill, and let Dak throw on play action. Not down 14 late, have to catch up. But that's, I mean, don't overreact.

You beat Philadelphia at home on Sunday or in first place. You were three and five last year. It is a week-to-week league. You know, three words in the NFL solve every problem. Just win Sunday. When Sunday, it's all good. Had the Browns won yesterday? Marty Gras.

They lost their freaking out. Well, you've got to buy a week, go play New England. So now I also hear this, and I think it's a fair criticism. Colin, you said last week that every time Dallas loses, they sort of lose the same way, which is my argument, which is when they lose, it's because the offense is a pop gun. It's a dinkin' DAC. You know, they can't dynamic, forget it.

Over the top, no chance. Big plays, rarely. But can I also say this? Everybody that loses in this league loses the same way. Kansas City is now losing the same way. They can't stop the run. Whenever Houston loses, it's the same way. Deshawn Watson has no protection.

Every time the Rams lose now, It's the same way. They have no running game. It's totally dependent on the passing game. Every time Philadelphia loses, don't we always say this? God, their secondary is terrible. Everybody in this league loses generally the same way. Now, Miami is losing the same way, too.

They just don't have the offensive personnel to score points. So Dallas is not unique. The teams that lose in this league generally lose because they have a personnel deficiency at one spot. And in Dallas's case, the concern is it's not a personnel deficiency, because I still think Dax a franchise quarterback, is it a coaching deficiency? Do they need energy? Do they need a spark?

Do they need a new life? That's a very fair criticism. They can't score in the first half, last three games. But you can't tell me they don't win games against good teams. I saw them beat the Saints last year. I've seen them beat Philadelphia. You can't tell me they don't beat good teams. They do beat good teams.

Now, they're better against bad teams, but again, so is the league. just win Sunday and you're in first place. Cleveland had an opportunity yesterday and butchered it with four turnovers and a punt blocked. So let me seg the Cleveland. So isn't it funny? Fans locally, I hear this a lot from local fans. You don't even watch our games.

You don't know us. You don't even watch our games. First of all, I watch every NFL game. I even watched Tennessee, Denver yesterday. It was awful. Just a heads up. Isn't it funny that fans locally, generally, especially like in baseball where there's 162 regular season games, you do see your team more than we see your team. But the truth about the Cleveland Browns is everybody was right on them.

Everybody, you, me, Joy, John, Greg, America, everybody was right, except Ohio. Because all of us called everything that's happening. Every one of you out there, didn't you say the same thing? Freddie Kitchens has never even been a coordinator. They could be over their head coaching. Well, at least situationally, that appears to be true. All of you out there said, do we know if Baker's great? He throws a lot of picks.

He's not that tall. All of you out there said, clearly the offensive line is the weakness for the team. All of you out there thought, if you didn't say it, it's the youngest roster in the NFL. Young rosters generally don't win Super Bowls. everybody had Cleveland right, except Cleveland. What's happening is not a shock. That if you simply looked at the schedule like you and I did, everybody said the same thing.

You've got to face Sean McVeigh in the first month, Pete Carroll in the first month, Kyle Shanahan in the first month, and Belichick mid-October. This will probably be a little bit of a rough start. Oh, by the way, three of your first five games are on national TV with the youngest roster in the NFL and a coach who's never been a coordinator and a quarterback who's had, what, 15 starts coming into the season?

This was all incredibly predictable. None of this is shocking. It's not, we also all knew outside of Ohio that it was a very talented roster. Yesterday, Cleveland had a punt blocked, fumbled, and had three picks and still had a chance to win with three minutes left. Cleveland was in that game yesterday. The average NFL team that has three picks a fumble and a pump block loses by 17 to 24 points. Cleveland didn't because Cleveland was the right side yesterday.

That game was there for them. But young teams make mistakes and young head coaches situationally get over their head. And Baker Mayfield. And here's the funny thing about Baker is that not only was all of this predictable, it was predictable with Baker. There's three quarterbacks that I have been very critical of coming into the NFL for the same reason, judgment. I was very critical about Johnny Mansell's judgment. I said, don't draft him. He's out of the league.

I was hypercritical about James Winston's judgment. Did some really stupid stuff. I said he's talented. I worry about his judgment. Yesterday, five picks, that's the problem. And I was really concerned about Baker Mayfield's judgment. Police video taunting. I said, I don't doubt his talent.

His judgment worries me. Yesterday, Baker's judgment lost that game. 25 picks and 20 games. after the game blaming the officials. That's my issue. Even Baker Mayfield is predictable. Do I think he's a franchise quarterback? Yes.

Do I think he would be better with a veteran head coach? Yes. Do I think Baker has some real talent? Yes. But do I think he's too cocky, a little too small, and not a world-class athlete to be a number one pick in a draft? Yes. But the great thing about sports and why I love it

is because smart people, smart people in Ohio, reasonable people that make rational decisions all day, everybody could see all of this coming. I don't think Cleveland's season's over. I think they have a chance to go nine and seven. There's a lot of doubles on the back end, but yesterday was a real problem. Because now New England, Buffalo are the two best defenses in the NFL coming up and Baker against good defenses and good pass rushes. And New England and Buffalo will have both. he makes mistakes because I don't like his judgment.

So this is, you know, none of this is a shock. You got to buy, keep quiet, head down, stop talking, get it right, cut back on mistakes, and go give New England a team that is struggling to move the ball often because of injuries, a real game. So it's great to have you in on a Monday. 50, 45 minutes from now, Colin right, calling right, calling wrong. Trent Dilfer. We have Antonio Cromartis coming up. Former New York Jets going to join us. That was a huge, huge win for the Jets yesterday. I want to talk about that. And I gave you a

not a homework assignment, but I said going into the weekend, I want you to watch Mahomes and I want you to watch Deshaun Watson and we get a break. They're playing together. One TV set, the two quarterbacks to watch. And I said, when you watch the game, are you sure Mahomes is Better than Watson. My thoughts on that coming up. 45 minutes from now, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. 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, controversies and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, 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.

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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, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Look.

Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett. My mama want you to weigh better. What? 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 players. 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. 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. Mid-October, it's cold, cold and flu season. Vic Synex nasal spray, it's the herd. I'm Colin. That's Joy. Top of the hour, 35 minutes away. We have Colin right, calling wrong on a Monday. Antonio Cromarty, 11 years in the NFL, half of those he was a pro bowler will be joining us, the former jet as well.

So I ask you coming into the weekend, I said, little homework assignment. We don't get this very often where you'd get like a manning against a Brady, right? Or you get like the classic matchup. Troy Aikman is playing Steve Young or Marino's playing Elway and it's the same TV, you get to watch it. So I said, Mahalms and Watson, I said, tell me after the game who's better. because I'm not sure Patrick Mahomes is better, and that's not a knock on Patrick. I think he and Deshaun are both great. But it's always been easier to see Mahomes being great.

Mahomes has the big arm, and Mahomes is flashier, so his highlights get shown far more on TV. You don't see a lot of Deshaun Watson highlights. You see a million Mahomes. Mahomes comes into a great head coach. He's got nice weapons, organizational structure. But in the last, what, 17 games they've played, Deshaun Watson's 13 and 4, and Patrick Mahomes is 11 and 6. And many of Mahalm's biggest games have been at home, and many of Deshaun's biggest games have been on the road. And Deshawn's done it overwhelmingly with a worse offensive line, fewer weapons, without a running game until recently, and a coach, Bill O'Brien, who I think's a coach, he's a good coach.

I don't think he's Andy Reid. And they also, by the way, don't have a general manager. but Deshawn Watson is something that Trent Dolfo taught me years ago. You can be smart but not have a twitchy mind. Deshawn is very twitchy athletically. He's very twitchy upstairs. Is anybody in the league at his age as good against the Blitz as Deshaun Watson? Used to be a weakness.

Now it's a straight. He picks up everything quickly. And remember, he was Mahomes before Mahomes. He averaged as a rookie 39 points a game in his last five games with an atrocious offensive line. Mahomes couldn't do that. Now, if you told me I had to pick one for the next 10 years, I would take Mahomes because Mahomes doesn't have any injuries, and Deshaun has two, just like Carson Wentz, you know, Andrew Luck.

If you're giving me guys to take for 10 years, the first thing I look at is durability is the most in part of availability, is staying in the games. And Deshaun runs around, he's been hurt. But I think in my lifetime, there have been quarterbacks that are easy to spot early. Dan Marino. Well, he inherited Don Shula, organizational structure. John Elway.

Aaron Rogers. He inherits an offense. Brett Farrb. They have pieces, organizational structure. Patrick Mahomes, Brett Fav. There's these guys that are very easy to spot, and they usually have big arms or they win. They've got weapons.

They inherit those. And so they're on the highlights and shows like this. Talk about them. And then there's guys that come into the league, and they're harder to get your hands around. Is that unathletic guy for New England really that good? Well, he's got Belichick. I swear for eight years he was winning Super Bowls and it was, well, he's a system quarterback.

Russell Wilson. He's 5-11 and a half. I mean, his college coach basically said we don't want to start you. It's all Marshaun Lynch. It's the Legion of Doom. And then you wake up one day and all those pieces are gone and you're like, no, it's Russell Wilson. He always wins those close games.

And then there's Deshaun Watson, who's not a big arm guy. He's got a good arm, not a great arm. who is, you know, he's not huge, doesn't have a cannon. Frankly, he's not that flashy. He's not an elegant thrower. Now, he'll run around and make plays, but a lot of what he does is get rid of the ball quickly, make the obvious throws. That about twice a game, he's ridiculous and magic, maybe three times.

So it's harder to get your arms around a young Brady and a young Russell Wilson, any young Deshawn Watson. They're not Favre. Huge arm, Big Ben, massive size. Brett Farr, Patrick Mahomes. But this morning, who wins more in this league than Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, and Patrick Mahomes the last three years? The answer is nobody. Nobody wins more.

So just because somebody's, it takes a little time, you have to have a little more discretion, you have to consider everything. When I watch these two play, now I think Kansas City is going to be fine. They're all beat up. Kansas City's going to be fine. and Patrick Mahomes going to be a first ballot, HOF. Don't worry about that. And by the way, Houston's going to win their division. They're not going to win the rest of their games, but they're going to win their division,

and they're going to be fine, too, especially if they can get, you know, a general manager. But in the end, the homework assignment was, are we sure this one's here and this one's here? And my takeaway is, this is what they are. If they played 10 times, it's 5-5. Mahomes, bigger arm, no question. Deshawn Watson, to me, better athlete. And now Deshawn finally has a reasonable offensive line, finally has the semblance on most Sundays of a running game.

Now he's not having to overcome stuff. Like Mahomes has never had to until now overcoming injuries. And guess what? it's a lot harder for Patrick than it was last year at this time, and it's a lot easier for Deshaun than it was four weeks ago. So I think when you look at the weapons and you look at the running game and you look at the old lines, it's a coin flip. It is a coin flip.

Deshawn's always been underrated. Patrick hasn't been overrated. He was just easier to spot. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line. news. Your boys back calling. Sam Darnold was back in the Jets lineup on Sunday

against the Cowboys after missing three games with Mono and after the game Darnold talked about being back on the field. Gosh. I definitely felt like myself out there especially after the first play to DT that past I made a DT I knew I knew we're gonna have a good game offensively. I took a couple shots but it didn't affect me at all you know the pads were great super light but also you know, protecting me well. So it was good out there. Boy, that was fun.

That was, how about that 92-yarder right there? You know, I got to say, I felt good for the Jets. As much as it killed me to see the Cowboys go down again because they're my Super Bowl pick and I don't like the way that they're playing. We knew that the Jets were not a bad team. We talked about this. They have really good players.

They're just missing their franchise starting quarterback. They need another corner and they could really use help at left tackle, but they're a pretty good team. Now, that said, this only elevates Sam Darnold the way that they've been playing. Because if you look around the league at the rest of the backup quarterbacks and how they've been playing, there's no reason the Jets should have been performing the way that they were without him. So that's just a testament to really how good Sam Darnold is. They look like a completely different team. No, and it's funny, I was talking to a friend of mine who used to play for the Jets last week and he said,

not that they hid the playbook, but Gase wasn't going to run a lot of plays that he didn't think fault could complete. So there's a lot of things you put in a playbook with Sam. Antonio Cromarty played with him. He'll talk about this. Sam can do things that Trevor Simeon can't. So when you lose Sam, you reduce the playbook.

They put a lot of stuff in that is Sam dependent and he delivered on it. But it does show you why it's important to have a serviceable backup quarterback because they wouldn't have lost all those games otherwise. If you look around the league, that's really not an excuse anymore. I mean, they averaged a little over seven yards per play. That was the best for any team in week six. Now, the Cowboys did lose Amari Cooper and Byron Jones,

so they had a couple of breaks there early on. But listen, it's once the Cowboys had Amari out and Byron Jones out in their left tackle, the talent difference between these two teams, Joy, was not massive. Right. Once the Cowboys had all their injuries, you're looking around and you're like, this isn't a good team against the bad team no no but that's said it's still more of an indictment of the cowboys that they lost that game

they still should have won but great great night for the Jets and Sam Donald I'm happy for that so Russell Wilson is having the best start of his career with 14 touchdowns no interceptions and a pass the rating of 124.7 through six games Russell Wilson said after the game that it's a product of the ongoing growth in his career

he said I've studied like crazy it's years and years of preparation I'm feeling like there's nothing you can show me I haven't seen before. I think that's huge. Being available, being able to play at all costs and leave it all in the field. I always wanted to play every play and play every game. They should have lost that game, Joy. They were, there was every reason to lose that game.

Cleveland felt like despite the turnovers, they controlled the entire first half of that game. They felt like they were the better team. Seattle had a chance in that game. Thank God for the turnovers. Cleveland's, Baker Mayfield never got sack. yesterday. Baker had a lot of time to throw. This was there to lose. Russell won a game that was there to lose. I never really felt like this was Cleveland's game. I know you have the bounce back theory. And there was a point, obviously, like you just mentioned in the game, where it was like, okay, you know, maybe Cleveland is going to pull this out. But I just feel like Seattle has more experience. Like they've been there before. Russell's been down before on the road. And he's just, he's also, he's just playing out of his mind. He's having an MVP season. No interceptions.

None. Right now with Fox Bet with Patrick Mahomes to win the MVP. Yeah, no interceptions is ridiculous at this point in the season. But he's just playing out of his mind. Look at the defenses they play. They played the Saints defense. They played the Brown's defense. It's not like they haven't played defenses that they play the Rams defense,

which, by the way, has a good defensive front. You would think he'd have an interception. They played defenses with pro bowlers everywhere. No interceptions. He looks very impressive. Finally, LSU moved up to number two in the AP poll after defeating Florida 42-28. on Saturday. The Tigers jump past number three, Clemson and

number four Ohio State. LSU received 12 first place votes. Alabama got 30 and remains number one for the third straight week. And Georgia had been the steady number three, but dropped to 10 following their 2017 lost to unranked South Carolina in a crazy game. What a bad

week for Georgia. The Braves, Atlanta, the Falcons, the Bulldogs. It was a bad weekend for the state of Georgia sports. Bad. I don't think we can talk about the Falcons anymore. I don't know what to make it. This is like staggering what's happening to the Falcons. But they are the highest ranked team to lose to an unranked team this season. They don't have much of a, they don't pass the ball over the top. So Georgia does not have, this is why Georgia is a bad matchup this year. They'd get crushed by Bama because Bama can

beat you running or over the top. Georgia has no over the top component to their offense. They're very limited and everybody's figured out how to play them defensively. I will tell you this, that top 10 you just gave right there, Joy, that's the most accurate one yet. what was it again? Alabama, LSU, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma. The first six, I totally agree with them. I think Wisconsin's defense is really, really good. No, I feel like this is fair.

Yeah, this feels like to me, I don't care after about six, this feels like to me the pollsters, they got it right the first. Because I think LSU's defense would not be able to beat Alabama, but they would be able to score on them, but LSU's defense on the back end, they give up cheap touchdowns too much. but that looks like a real top six to me. Yeah, I like that.

All right, Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Love watching Russell Wilson play. Love watching him play. Love watching Antonio Cromarty play. 11 years in the NFL, half was a pro bowler.

We don't get him very often, so we love it when we do the former jet, the former charger, the former, how are you? What's going on? By the way, let me talk about, before we get to the cowboy, well, I'll get back to the end because I'm going to keep you for two, segments because I want to ask you about Teddy Bridgewater because you played did you play a height how you've known Teddy Bridgewater for a while haven't you? For a while yes for a long time so we'll talk about that so let's start with this you know we were joy and I had talked about this last week

the Jets aren't bad they do need a number one receiver I think I think they need another corner and I think their offensive line can use depth they're not a bad team they've got players you were in camp with Sam Darnold and you told me last time there's there's some magic here did you feel like you saw it yesterday? No, I definitely saw it yesterday. I just think you just can tell the way the office was clicking with him. I mean, you go with the first, first player of the game, we had an 18-yard throw to DeMaris Summers.

I mean, so it's just a point of just understanding like how the playbook is open for him and what throws he can make. Like I said, man, be seeing him, you know, as I was an intern coach and be able to see every single throw that he can make. He's special. He's a special kid. And that's, and that just speaks of varbbing as of what he can bring. to this team if they get the right guys around them.

You know, it's interesting, Antonio. I thought the Jets' defense played better with Sam, almost as if the defense felt like, hey, we got our quarterback. Well, you know, Antonio, years ago, if somebody told me this about Mike Vic, they said, when Mike was in a game, you always felt we got a shot. Like, there was an energy with the defense I thought yesterday I hadn't seen this year. Definitely was. But I'm like this.

It should never depend on one person. If you knew you, I'm like this, if you knew that you were going to have your quarterback for three to four weeks, the defense should automatically play the way, play that way every single week. That's the way when I played with Rex Ryan, no matter who was that quarterback. Our goal was to make sure they didn't score points and we got the ball back as many the times we could, and set up points for the offense. And it shouldn't take for you to have your starting quarterback in.

To be competitive. To be competitive. You should be competitive every single week, weekend and week out. Do you buy Adam Gase? Are you concerned? I have some concerns. but I mean I like what he's doing with Sam Donald but I have some concerns I don't

I think that you should never pull back your your playbook for whoever you have at quarterback It looked like it yesterday like they had a different Oh it was like a totally different I mean even from the offensive line the blocking scheme I mean I think the offensive line was like okay we got our starting quarterback

We're going to block better Shouldn't that be the same way for every quarterback that you have on the back end No matter who's that quarterback No matter what's going on That should be the same exact thing as going forward. Everyone has a job to do, do your job, and go about it that way. Antonio Cromarty is joining us. Let's talk about the Cowboys. You know, it's Monday. They're terrible.

But when I look at the stats, here's what's interesting about it, Antonio. They rush for 130 yards. They passed for 250 yards. They were very good on third down. That complete 60% of his throws. You know, if you didn't watch the game and I gave you that, you would say it's not a quarterback issue. my knock on the Cowboys, they have gotten into a pattern where they come out very flat. I don't think this team has built to play from behind. I think they're built to take a lead, run it with Zeke, and let those pass rushers get after it. So I don't blame this on DAC as much as I, there's an energy missing. But when you looked at the loss, where would you pin the blame on?

For me, ooh, I got to go back to, for one, you got to go about offense to the end defensive. I think they were pretty flat on the offense side of the ball defensively. They just looked terrible. Early in the game, they really did. Oh, man. They looked bad. But also it's just like when you look at it, why does a plate calling look different on offense

than early than the first three games of the year? When you look at the first three games of the season, the ball was being spread around, thrown to everyone. Dak was actually looking like a quarterback that could get his $40 million. Now he's not looking like that. I mean, you look at the last three games. They only scored nine points in the last three games. in the first half.

Nine points in the first half in three games. Those are scripted plays. Those are your best stuff. Those are supposed to be your best stuff. You're supposed to be able to go out and go click and understand exactly what you're supposed to do. Shouldn't have to try to make a comeback in the second half. There's really not a comeback unless, you know, unless you win.

So it's just like what's going on? Like where is this a good plan going towards the coaches? Is it going towards the players? It's not going. It's not clicking right. And I think when you look at DAC, it seems like it's only one. If Omar Cooper is not going well. He struggles.

He struggles. Yeah, no, that's his guy. It's a little, I mean, Brady's better than Dak. Brady Edelman. You can take a lot of weapons away from Brady. You take Edelman out. That's his, even Brady's got a security blanket. He does, but he has a security bank, but he also going to put his trust in the other guys that's around them.

And he understands, hey, you guys got to pick it up. If Edelman's not here, you guys got to pick it up. It should be the same way. You should demand more from guys. It's always going to be the next man up. This is the NFL. I always should demand more from the guys that's coming into this thing and going to be playing behind someone like Amari Cooper.

You got to have more playmakers. You got to make sure that you call in the right place for those guys and put them in the right situation and put that in the right situation. Yeah, no, he does look at times, Zeke and Amari dependent. Okay, stay here. I got thoughts on Baker. I want your opinion on. Also on Deshawn Watson.

What's wrong with the Rams? Antonio Cromarty returns. Don't forget top of the hour. Colin right, calling wrong on a Monday. Be sure to catch. Live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the 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 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. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Clifford Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

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

Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts 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, 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. Antonio Cromarty, a decade in this league, 11 years, he was a pro bowler for half of him. He's a great guest. We love having him on Monday.

So sometimes we say stuff on this show and we're actually right. And we felt like we said when Drew Breeze got hurt, Joy and I said it's not a catastrophe. Teddy's easily the best backup in the league and should be a starter somewhere. You've known Teddy for a long time. And we were talking off the air. There are guys in this league where they just pick stuff up fast. And you said Teddy's almost a savant. Oh, yeah, definitely.

I mean, I just think when you're a guy that come into a new system and you can go in and be able to tell the coaches, hey, I need the offensive line to block this way. I need them to do this. Two or three days in. Two or three days in. or I need to get this guy to run this route differently for I can get them open. You know, that's something that a lot of people don't understand about Teddy.

When you're looking at a guy, he's very smart. Understands the playbook. Understands pressure when it's coming. Understand what defense is trying to do to him. So he can make a change on the run. And that's the thing about Teddy that separates him a lot from a lot of guys that's backup quarterbacks. I mean, I think Teddy was a pro bowl quarterback also.

He was also a multiple year starter in college. He was at Louisville, right? Yes. So he was like pre-Lamar. He had three years of starting, a lot of big games, national television. You know, I'm watching The Saints yesterday. Am I nuts on this? Do they have the best roster in the league?

Yes. They do. Top the bottom. Top the bottom. I mean, you don't respect for your, I mean, your back of quarterback coming and play like Teddy Bridgewater is playing. And they played Dallas, Seattle. But this is what I tell you.

a lot of people like Teddy Bridgewater is not a backup quarterback. He's a starter. He's started in this league. He's made the Pro Bowl. He's, he's that type of player that you, you lost because you don't understand, like after the injury, everyone doubted how back he was going to come back. Right, right. And you didn't see Teddy Bridgewater again. But now you're getting to see that all over again. Remember this, Antonio. He was never a big runner. So even though he suffered an injury, it wasn't like you took this great running quarterback and, oh, my God. God, his knee went out. He was always a pocket guy.

So his brain wasn't injured. His accuracy. So that injury to a pot. You know, Tom Brady, by the way, had an injury. He's a pocket quarterback. You're not asking Sam Darnold if he had a physical injury to his legs could be a problem because Sam's a mover. He's a mover. Let's go to Baker Mayfield.

I didn't like him as much as everybody else. I do think he's talented. Yes. But something's not right. 25 picks, 20 games. What's happening? Honestly, I just think it's the discipline on the team. I think when you look at things and the way that he's playing the first six games of this year,

or first five six games this year until when he had Greg Williams as the interim head coach. I think Greg was, hey, this is how we're going to play. This is what we're going to do. And this is what you need to do. It's different when you have Freddie Kitchen. And also he's the offensive coordinator. I don't think there's a lot of discipline there. That's very interesting.

So with Greg, the boss. Barker, the big physical presence, Baker played within a system. Yes. And now it's Baker's team. It's Baker's team. And I think that's, he needs to get back to playing his type of football. Don't try to be a pocket passer. Get outside of the pocket, get a ball down the field, use your legs as you did in Oklahoma,

and as you did the year before. Do the things that you do best. And don't try to force feed Odell Beckham. When you look at games, it's like, oh, I got to try to make sure I get. So you sense that too. You sense it all the time. And I think when you look at it, O'Dill just wants to win games.

He doesn't care about how many catches he's getting. He just wants to win football games. He's that type of guy. I mean, when you look at it, I think it was one of the plays yesterday, someone that was caught the ball, and O'Dell Beckham was jumping up and down because he was so excited that the other guy caught the ball.

Just play football. You don't have to force feed anybody. It is interesting. When Greg Williams was there, Baker felt the senior big physical presence guy. So it's not that Baker disrespects Freddie Kitchens, but maybe Baker feels like it's my team

not Freddy's, but he knew last year it was Greg teams not mine. Yes, that's definitely how I feel. I just think it was more disciplined. And Greg and Coach Williams expected more out of his players. And the only reason I said that's because if you look at Greg Williams in New York, I think as

Tremaine Johnson, he benched for two weeks because he wasn't doing the things he was supposed to do. Now he brought him back. He played well yesterday. And that's my point. He holds his players to a certain standard that if it's not met, then you're not going to play. That's really interesting, Antonio Cromarty. So we gave our audience a homework assignment on Friday. We said, watch Mahomes and watch Deshaun.

I'm not so sure Mahomes is here and Watson's here. I think they're really even, and they're both great and they're both going to win their division. I think Kansas City will get healthy and they'll be, Tyreeks back, they'll be fine. What do you make it to Shahn? Why don't we give him the love of Mahomes? Because Mujolans brings you that awe, you know, that our treatment of I can throw no look passes. I can throw the ball 90 yards in the air, you know, off my back foot. Right.

And Deshaun is a guy. He goes into a game. He's not going to argue with the throws. He's not going to do that. But what he does do is win football games. And that's what he's been doing since Clemson. He's a hell of an athlete that can come in and gives you the things you're going to do. Not only that, but he's making the right decisions.

Yes, thank you. And that's what it's about. It's about the decision making and understanding that, yes, I can use my legs when I have to. I can get outside of the pocket any time I want to, get the ball down the field to who I need to. And he's spreading the ball around. He's not trying to force feed everybody. He's spreading the ball around. And he's doing the things he's supposed to do.

And that's all you can ask for. I mean, he's using his legs, he's using his arms, and he's winning the football games that he's supposed to. One of the things I've always liked about Deshaun is that, and I, this is a weird. Maybe I'm reaching on this. But I told somebody a couple weeks ago, I said, Baker Mayfield is doing any commercial they offer him? I said, is it because Baker, deep down,

doesn't know if he's going to last in this league? It's funny about that. Like Tom Brady was winning Super Bowls. He's obviously a good-looking guy. Didn't do any commercials. The first commercial he did, he included his offensive linemen. It was the Visa commercial. So Tom had a sense of, I'm good.

I'm at practice every day. I'm 6'5. I'm a big pro athlete, a very good Belichick. When you watch Baker, sometimes I feel like he's trying to overcompensate for some sort of insecurity or I'm going to do every commercial. I'm going to make every play. When I watch Deshaun, and I don't even know how to explain this, there is a sense of confidence when he plays. Oh, yes. He never rushes things.

He's like, okay, like when I watch him, I never feel like Deshawn's trying to be something he's not. Does that make any sense? And another thing is he's never rattled. Ever. You don't never see him rattle. You never see him hang his head. Play goes wrong. Okay, he just bounced back to the next plan.

Let's get it going. It's different. Like, if something goes wrong with Baker Mayfield, his heads go down. You can sense his body language shows exactly what was going on with him. Deshaun is like, all right, cool. I'm cool. Let's go back to the next series. Let's make our corrections on the sideline.

And let's go down here and go win his football game. Hey, by the way, so the Rams a year ago, Sean McVeigh is the smartest guy in the world. Yesterday they passed for 75 yards. Todd Gurley's situation, he's not playing. This week, McVeigh said we thought he'd be available. He's not. Joey and I said this. With Gurley, since they've signed him to the big contract, it's like everybody's walking on eggshells.

Like he's hurt, nobody wants to talk about it, Gurley's getting snippy. What's happening to the Rams? I just think they're not winning the games that they want to win. And when you're not winning, a lot of stuff starts to come out. A lot of things where players may be snappy that you usually can put away when you're winning games. But when you're losing games and the games that say that you're supposed to win, the home games.

That's when a lot of stuff starting to come out. You know, being part of the locker room and understanding that, it's like, okay, you got to act the same way no matter how it is. It's hard for young people to do. And it's hard for a young guy. to do because so many people are into the social media. Everybody's into this. But now it's like we're not winning the games

that we're supposed to. Todd Gurley's not playing. Jared golf is not playing. Like he's supposed to after we pay him all this money. And the expectations are high. Expectations are high. And now when the expectations high, it's a lot more pressure on players, a lot more pressure on coaches. Did you ever sense that in the NFL?

Like go into a locker room. You won the division the year before. You sense that all eyes are on us. Well, I mean, in San Diego, I felt that way. You know, in San Diego, you feel like there's pressure on us to win a division every single year because that's what it was in my first two years. So you're going to your third year, you're going seven and eight, and you got to win the last game of the season to make the winning division going to the playoffs. But it's just the point of understanding.

Like, it's just, it's football. You're going to do what you're going to do. Go execute. Everybody has their job. Do it. No powering about who's not playing. It's always going to be the next man up. But I just feel like the roster that they have now is not better than the roster they have.

year. Yeah, and I would say their offensive lines worse. I feel like the offensive lines is worse, but also I just feel that on the defense side of the ball, they are missing sue a lot more than they think they're not.

I think that's what you're not, you're not getting the things that you wanted last year in that front seven that you got that you're getting this year. When you pay golf and Gurley those dollars, it's not available. You're right about that. You're right.

There's not a lot of cash available. Last year you solved, you went and got a Talib. You had extra money. Yes. You went and got Dante Fowler. You don't got any money left. No. You pay all those big contracts. All right, Antonio Cromarty, are you retired officially? I'm retired.

Okay, because last time you were considering. I was considering. And now you're not considering. No, man, I'm dying. My body hurts. I hope it's not our chairs. It's great. Thanks. Thanks, you. Always welcome. Always. Thank you. All right. Don't be the guy in the room with a long, sloppy-looking untucked shirt.

Go to untucket.com. Untucket.com. The coach heard 20% off. They also have retail locations, 75 all across the country. Colin Wright, Colin, wrong 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. 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 country. and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves,

their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped. up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good

person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about on healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

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

Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts 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 challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. 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. Oh, yeah. 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. Oh, hour two, live in L.A.

This. is the herd because I'm finishing off a power bar wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeart Radio Fox Sports Radio and FS1 Joy you know that I like to eat during the show.

Yeah, you don't eat a big breakfast I eat a big breakfast. You do, you eat it. I know exactly what you have everyday spinach, yep, eggs, sausage, mutton, I have a fruit smoothie too.

I eat a very big breakfast. I have to eat breakfast. My wife does the same thing. But then I don't eat again until like one or two. My wife, everyday complains. I haven't eaten since breakfast. I'm like, you're not four. You can open cupboards and stuff.

Oh, I haven't eaten since eight. Now, she will eat. Does she wait to eat with you? Yeah, I guess she is sweet. Well, that's why. All right. But she's like, you're big breakfast. Just avocados.

You don't want me around here if I don't have breakfast. It's a bad look. All right. We do it every Monday, right and wrong. I'm a lot of both. And you seem to like it when I admit I'm wrong. so here we go. Where Colin was right. OBJ, over 100 yards, 11 targets, and Cleveland loses at home.

Okay, this is what I said. He's a good player. But he's the definition of icing, and I do think they're trying to get the ball to him too hard. There is no correlation to his production and his team's winning. This is what happened in New York. All of his 100-yard games in New York, he had like 16, he won five. I thought he and Baker would work. But my concern is happening, which is, I think they're trying to force the ball to him. This is going to be a running team, and that's what they are. And by the way, they get Kareem Hunt in a month, and I think they should run the ball 37 to 47 times a game.

But once again, my greater point is OBJ does not correlate to wins. You have a problem on this team, offensive line. Fix it. Because when that blocks well, Baker wins, and they're not. where Colin was wrong. Boy, my blazing five came down to earth hard. One and four. I'm still 65% for the year, 1910 and 1,

but every break I got earlier in the year I didn't get. For the record, why do I keep betting on Marcus Mariotta? Why do I keep betting on Atlanta? It's my fault. I rail on these teams all week, and then on Friday I pick them. You did say you were done with Atlanta. I'm done with Atlanta again, and I'm done with Marcos Mariota.

I don't know why I keep betting on them. That's my problem. I got a psychological deficiency here. I bet the teams I hate. What am I doing? I like Brady. Why don't I bet Brady? I like Russell Wilson.

I never bet on Russell Wilson. I got a problem. It's deep. Where Colin was right? I said for years, are we sure Cam's making them better? Is Cam Newton holding them back? Carolina is now 4-0 without him. A story came out this weekend.

This is not my opinion that he may not get his job back. Nine years he's had one great year. I've always thought he's marginally committed. He's always been distracted. Now, he does play hurt. I will give him credit. He's tough. He's a unique athlete.

But I have been on this for years. Stop telling me, Carolina doesn't have elite talent. MVP at running, Luke Heakley's the best linebacker in 10 years in this league. McCaffrey may be the best running back in this league. Their defense, once again, is top seven in this league. Stop telling me that Cam needs help. No, Cam's got more than enough help. Cam, nine years, one great year, not doubting his toughness,

but this team with a quarterback, I mean, did you even classify Kyle Allen as a second stringer? Was he a third stringer? They keep winning and looking great. Where Colin was wrong. I said the Saints are my number one pullback team in the NFL. Sort of wrong on that one. They may be the best roster. in the NFL. And what I like about them, they've won different ways. They've won on the road.

They've won at home. They've won on the East Coast. They've won on the West Coast. They've won with Sacks. In Seattle, they helped win with special teams. They've won with a run game. Yesterday, it's the past game. Their only loss was a bad whistle in L.A. Leonard Furnett was rolling. They stopped him. I got to tell you, when you watch them, this defense right now, you don't want any part of it. They are, this defense is, they, they, they, you can't run on them. They get massive pressure. And I think they have the best corner in the league in Marshawn Lattimore. So I got a lockdown corner. You can't run and I get pressure on virtually every pass. And Teddy Bridgewater is doing exactly what we thought, which is not a huge drop off with him and

an old Drew Brees. Where Colin was right. The Houston Texans coach, Bill O'Brien, got ripped to shreds when he said, I'm, I'm trading first round picks. I'm trading three picks. I'm getting Laramie Tunzel left tackle. Well, what do you know? Houston Texans are now. Deshawn Watson's 7 and 0 when he gets sacked once or fewer. Now they have a left side of the offensive line. Deshawn Watson's not under constant duress. Bill O'Brien's a national pinata because, and we keep forgetting this, doesn't he keep winning his division? Doesn't he keep winning his division? Did you think he had help upstairs? The GM? No, they fired that guy. Do you think they have great ownership? I would say no. So when a guy keeps winning a division,

division, you can't keep telling me how bad Bill O'Brien is. My number one rule in the NFL is get a quarterback, one, number two, protect your quarterback. And that's what he did, and I don't care how many draft picks you give up to get a left tackle for the next five years to protect that asset, Deshaun Watson. I'm four. I don't care how many picks you give up. I've seen NFL teams give up six picks and draft RG3 and then win the division, even if RG3 the next year can't play. I can't give up two first rounders and a second rounder for Laramie Tunzel. at Kenny Stills? That's outrageous. I think it was outrageous to rip him. Where Colin was wrong. I never thought Ed Orgeron was a head coach. He's kind of quirky

at LSU, but I got to be honest with you. He's played 11 top 10 teams. He's 1-8. They look great Saturday night. It's the best LSU team I've seen in years. And you know what I like about Ed? Ed knows what he's not. I think this is a great quality. When you get to be 50 and you got some money, you think you know it all. Ed's like, you know what? I'm going to give the offense up. I was going to give the offense up, and he's given the offense up, and they look great. It's the first time I've ever seen them have a sophisticated passing offense. He's always been a great guy, and he's always been a great recruiter. But I always felt he was a little out of his element being a Power 5, national power head coach. He looks great. And you're not

going to be a better guy. A USC passed on him. Probably made a mistake. Congrats to Ed Orgeron. Where Colin was right. I had my reservations about the Lakers and I said, listen, they're going to be the second best team in their own town and they're old. And they got a bunch of guys who've been hurt. AD, LeBron, Rondo, well, what do you know? AD's got a thumb injury. So this was my problem with this roster and all the expectations. LeBron's off a big injury.

Rondo's always hurt. DeMarcus Cousins is already out for the year with an injury. Anthony Davis has a history of not being brittle, but a lot of nagging injuries. and let me ask you this, if he's out for a month, is this roster this morning without AD better than last year's roster? I'm not sure it is. Old players get hurt more and it takes longer to recover. And so the season hasn't started.

We got DeMarcus cousins out for the year and AD hurt. This was my concern and this is what we have. Where Colin was wrong. I'm not a big celebration guy. And a couple years ago, the NFL said, We're going to take a little page from the NBA and be into celebrations. And I was like, oh, Lord, really? You know what?

They're actually funny. And you know something I never thought about? They actually, if you notice this, there's almost always three, four, five, or six guys doing the celebration. So it actually is a team thing. And I remember when they brought it in the league, I was like, oh, this is just going to be preening and it's ridiculous. A lot of them are funny. Guys are generally doing them together. They're not getting it.

By the way, some of the winning his teams in the league do the best celebration. and, you know, I don't think a five-second post-touchdown celebration is the end of the world. And the truth is they go viral. They're great digitally. People share them on the Internet, and it makes the NFL, which can be very corporate and very heavy. You know, no screwing around. Do your job. It lightens the league up, and I was wrong.

Where Colin was right. Well, said, pay guys when you have to. Don't pay players early. Dak Prescott, you know. Jerry may save 50 million bucks on this deal. Now, that may only be four and a half, five million a year. But again, the Rams paid Todd Gurley early. Now they have no money to correct their O-line issues.

Dak Prescott, he's a franchise quarterback. He'll get paid. I don't blame all of this on him. I don't think he has a great head coach. But in the end, there's no hurry. This is not like entrepreneurship. This is a salary cap sport. If it's baseball, pay the guy.

But unless you think you have a Patrick Mahomes, just be patient, let things play out. There is no rush. Dak's not going to get to the market. He's got a year left. You've got a lot of defensive games coming up with great coaches, defensive players, let it play out. And I think Jerry knows this.

Jerry wanted to get at least a reasonably favorable contract with Dak. And I think he now probably saved himself $4 to $5 to $6 million a year. And Dak at $28.5 to $29 million. I'm much more comfortable than DAC at $36 million, which is what everybody wanted to pay him after the Miami game. Where Colin was right? The Washington Nationals, two wins away from the World Series. The chemistry is better.

I like Bryce Harper. I do not buy $250, $300 million, $10, 12 years contracts. I think they're bad for locker rooms. I think they're bad for chemistry. I think they put enormous pressure on teams. The Nats are now totally committed to starting pitching, which is what their strength should have been. The Phillies, by the way, brought on Bryce Harper, got their manager fired,

and they watched two other teams in their own division make the playoffs. Baseball, you do not want to be tight. And when you have the superstar and the home run guy and the expectations are high, teams get tight. And I think, and again, I like Bryce Harper, but we said we think the Phillies will underachieve with him. It will not pay off and you'll be two years into the Bryce deal in Philadelphia and you'll have reservations. And once again, the Dodgers made the playoffs. Don't spend big. The Astros made the playoffs. Don't spend big. And the Nats let the big player go and look at them.

Two wins from the World Series. Colin right, Colin wrong, Trent Dilford joining us today. Doug Peterson made a, I'm not a big guarantee fan, but I do like Philadelphia. And I'll tell you what happened yesterday. to the Eagles. Something happened yesterday. It happens three times a year in the NFL. It happens. And I'll just tell you what happened. And it happens.

And you got to get over it fast. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. 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. people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

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

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that's two different levels of trust I want you to just really be a good person Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to. wave at her. What? Come out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, Rhett, Mom, I want you to wave at her. What?

Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the only store at the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Bo.

On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team.

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. After a dramatic walk-off win and extra innings, the Astros head to the Bronx tied with the Yankees at one game apiece for a pivotal game three of the ALCS.

Coverage begins tomorrow at 3 Eastern, noon Pacific only on FS1 and the Fox Sports. Those Houston crowds are in 10. You can't get there's not a seat available. last few years for Houston. They go back to Yankee Stadium. Michelin Endurance X-T-Silicon Wiper Blades. Last two times longer, available at Walmart, Michelin Endurance X-T-Silicon Wiper Blades.

He had a bounce-back week as high school football team out there in Nashville, Lipscomb Academy, 1-35-0, so he's in a great mood now. He doesn't, losing as a football coach is, it's not easy. NFL high school college, Trent Dillper, via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So now we get relieved.

He's not. going to get, you know, the general manager's not on your butt now. You feel good this week, right? Absolutely. I'll tell you what. Winning's the greatest perfume of all time, Colin. All right. Speaking of perfume, Sam Darnel did something

for the Jets. It was almost like Adam Gase just buried some of the playbook and said, listen, there's stuff we can do without Sam. I'm not going to show it. Because I watched that first half, Trent, and there was a lot of multiple looks and they looked sharp and they had specific plays. What did you take away?

with the Jets, especially early against the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, it was open. It wasn't sequestered like it had felt watching the Jets offense. And a part of that's probably their record, how poor they've been on offense. They just said, hey, the way we're trying to do things isn't working. Let's try something new. Obviously, a big part of it, Sam coming back. I mean, I believe this guy is a big-time franchise quarterback in the NFL.

I believe that ever since his time back at USC. So obviously the signal caller, the Trigger Man has a lot to do with. it just looked like a different Jets offense. It looked like one that had purpose. It looked like one that was willing to take some chances and one that was willing to push the ball down the field a little bit when it made sense to. You also like Baker, but, I mean, yesterday again, 25 picks and 20 games. You know, it's interesting. Antonio Cromarty came in earlier and made a point. He said, listen, when Greg Williams, who's a big physical, you know, presence, had this team, Baker felt like he played a little more under control. Now you get the rookie head coach.

and sometimes Baker's not playing under control. And I thought it was an interesting observation. What do you think? I think it's a great observation. I think I like Baker when Baker plays on time. And I've said that since he was in college. I love Baker when Baker plays on time. I love Baker when he just tries to execute the offense

and not try to play beyond the X's and O's. I don't like Baker when he when his mind rights checks, his body can't cash. There's times he thinks he's an exceptional athlete. There's times he thinks he has exceptional arm talent, and he's neither. He's a very, very twitchy athlete. He's very accurate. He makes really good decisions on time.

The longer the plays go, the worst Baker is. Now, there's some exceptions, and people will show highlight reels of him running around and doing great things. But if you look at the entire year, when you add it all up, he will be exponentially better when he plays on time instead of when he tries to extend plays. A guy that you were a big fan of out of college. And I remember when there was a lot of questions about Deshawn Watson, and my takeaway was, okay, this guy won the Georgia high jump championship in eighth grade. We're talking about this is transformational stuff, and he's clearly incredibly coachable.

You were on him. I think you had him at some very, very early camps. So I take it you're not surprised by what you see with Deshaun. Not at all. And I think the simplest way to explain to Sean Watson is this. If you are fortunate enough to spend a lot of time around him, then you will appreciate him. You can't appreciate the depth of this guy, his talent, his soul, his thoughtfulness, his leadership qualities, his impact until you spend time with him. And I go back to his sophomore year in high school. This is before he can be part of the elite 11 as a rising senior. So he's a rising

junior. And even at that camp, you could sense there was something different about Deshaun Watson. He makes everybody in the room better. He makes every environment better. He makes every team better. He's been through more than most people at a young age. He doesn't have extreme highs or extreme lows. People, when you're around him, you're more confident. I can go on and on and on. He's not the best at any one thing. He's not the best thrower, the best athlete, the best ex-o guy. But he's close to the best at almost everything. And Davos-Sweeney is not a guy that makes these extreme hot take comments very often. And when he said, if you pass up Deshawn Watson, you're passing up Michael Jordan,

I think he said that because he just got to spend a lot of time around Deshawn. He saw what Deshawn did for that Clemson program. I think anybody that gets to really know Deshaun and be impacted by him for a long amount of time truly understands the depth of this guy. I think he's one of the top five players in the NFL. I think he's going to be for a long time. Trent Dill for joining us, a decade and a half, Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, a friend of the show. So we didn't think the Saints would capsize, you know, with Teddy Bridgewater.

He was a high-round pick. It was a great high school player. It was a multiple-year starter. I've heard from multiple scouts that I've talked to. He's got kind of a coach's mind. He picks stuff up, very, you call it twitchy. So when you watch the Saints who win again, they've won out west, they've won on the road, they've won with special teams. What do you make of the Bridgewater story?

Well, you're not limited. I think so often a backup quarterback conversation gets off track or gets convoluted. And really, when a backup comes in, the better backups don't limit your offense. All of a sudden, you don't have to go, okay, we have to cut the playbook and half. So Teddy, number one, he doesn't limit what you can do offensively. No, he's not Drew Breeze. Drew Brees is one of the greatest players ever played football. But Teddy Bridgewater is a smart guy.

He does have that coach's mind. He has that twitchy mind. He's an accurate passer. He has movement capabilities. He's got command. He's got leadership. So he's got all the stuff it takes to help you win games. Now, this is also a great example of when a team can fill some of your gaps.

This is a really good football team. They play really good defense. They run the ball well. They can block well. They play good on special teams. So if there are any gaps in Teddy's game, the team can cover those gaps, can fill in those gaps. But I think the best thing watching the Saints offense right now,

it's not like they've cut the playbook and half. It's not like they've changed. It's not like they're scared. Teddy doesn't limit what you can do. You're just not going to do it quite as well as you would do it if you had Drew Brees. Yeah, that's a good point. So, listen, I think at this point, you get to mid-October, and September can be a little fool's gold.

Everybody's healthy. The weather's perfect. But I think you get six, seven games into a season. You get a sense of who can play. I mean, Buffalo's defense is good. I feel comfortable saying that. And I'm very comfortable saying San Francisco is a real team. We all knew, Trent, they'd be better.

I think we're all a little surprised they're this good. What's the secret sauce here? Patience. Think about it. Cleveland Brown's won the offseason with all the shiny bells and whistles and, you know, all this stuff they've been wanted to talk about. And then you had the 49ers over. They're just quietly sitting out there in California,

not making any big time offseason splashes. They trade for D Ford, but they know they're going to get better with Jimmy G. coming back. A lot of people talking about their defense wasn't very good. Fire the defensive coordinator. They stayed patient there. They didn't panic when McKinnon got hurt again.

They quietly signed Tevin Coleman. Yep. They're very comfortable with who they are and they knew the process would take over. I give John Lynch a ton of credit for not knee-jerk reacting to anything. Kyle Shannon. We've talked about one of the best minds in all of football, but also showing really good global leadership with this football team.

And all of a sudden, these young, talented players, one more year under Coach Shanahan's belt, one more year we're learning the system, one more year running the same defensive system, getting Jimmy G back. They don't panic when Joe Staley gets hurt. They don't panic when the fullback gets hurt. Just go about their business. So their second best defense in the NFL, 12.8 points per game. game. They're really good in critical situations. Red zone defense, third down defense. This team is very much for real, and it's an example of how patience can pay off in the NFL. You know, Trent, you were in this league a long time. It's hard to win. It's easy to lose.

And there are these games. There'll be three or four games that last year, New England played Miami. Miami had the 32nd ranked offense, and they dropped 34 in New England. Last year, Buffalo was a 17-point dog. They went to Minnesota with a rookie quarterback and took a 27-0-0-0 lead. If I'm Philadelphia this morning, do I just say, okay, let's just burn the tape? Let's just bury the tape. Or do you have real concerns about the Eagles back end? I have real concerns about the Eagles as a championship-type team.

Now, I don't disagree with what you're saying about there are these aberration games that you can't freak out about. But if you look at the Eagles for the season, do you love anything about them or do you just like them? I think they're just a likable team. I don't think they're a team you fall in love with. They've shown no ability to be consistent. They found ways to lose games, not win games. I just don't think there's any one thing about this Eagle team that you fall in love with.

I think it's a team that you like and you're hoping there's a little bit more, but they're still resting a little bit on their championship and what they have done and not what they need to be doing right now. First season at Lipscomb Academy High School football, Nashville, Tennessee. Okay, what's your record? We're five and two, Colin. and this team had won three games in two years. So trying to teach these guys how to deal with success now.

It's the first time they've had success in their high school careers, and we hope to have a lot more. But as we've talked about, success is harder to handle than failure sometimes. Yeah, so listen, you're on a winning streak here. Don't get ahead of yourself. Listen to Uncle Colin. Don't, you know, don't give them popsicles at practice, Trent. You know, you're a good guy.

I still want, don't break headsets, but to stay on this team, right? Tip of the spear, baby. Tip of the spear, baby. we're trying to live. Trent, great seeing you. Thanks, lady. Yeah, he's taking a program over and they've totally rebuilt it. He's always been a great

leader, so that makes me very, very happy. We're just starting out today. Can I read one real quick thing here? Of course I can. You know what? No, I got ahead. Nope, nope, I'm good. I don't need to read a spot. I'm in control of the show. I'm not trailing on spot, so I'm good there. I thought I went a little

long. I didn't. Here is Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. Well, Marcus Marieto was benched for Ryan Tannahill in the third quarter of the Titans' 16-0-0 loss to the Broncos after he threw his second interception. So boring. So bad. My TV literally was yelling at me.

Turn the channel. It was so boring. Nice one for the Broncos. You know. They actually, they're the best bad team in the league. Progress. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, Titans head coach Mike Brable thought that that was the breaking point. At that point in time, we're really just trying to find a way to move the football and score some points. You know, our defense was, you know, forcing them to kick field goals. You know, we gave up the, you know, the touchdown. But, you know, I felt like we were in the game, and we needed to find a way to score. And that's the only way that you can win. I mean, I'll evaluate, you know, with John and the coaching staff. but I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out and do what's best for the team.

They came into the year. People thought it was a top 10 offensive line. It has been they cannot block. Like they can't block. So is it a coach? Is it a, I mean, it's, when's the last time Tennessee wasn't boring? On a serious question, they are so, I think we're losing ratings talking about it. They're so boring.

I just don't know what. Marcus Marriota to me, it's kind of like Andy Dallan. It's like, what exactly do you need to see? Yeah, thank you. Yeah, that's good point. What do you need to see? What do you need to see? I don't, and that's, you know, it's nothing personal.

I just don't get it. I fundamentally don't understand it. Like, you mentioned for Ryan Tannahill. We all know what Ryan Tannahill is. So what's the future of this team? Like at this point, I just, I don't know, I don't know what your plan could possibly be. And I don't know why you expected to go any differently. Like you're talking about going into the beginning of the season.

This isn't surprising to me. It's Marriota. We know what his ceiling is. How long do you have to watch this? So social media has been eating Jason Garrett alive following the Cowboys 24, 22 loss to the Jets. You know, social media does. Well, Tio, Terrell Owens, has a lot to say. And he took the Twitter Sunday night to give Jerry Jones a piece of his mind about the Cowboys head coach.

He said, hey, Jerry Jones, still think Jason Garrett is the answer for a decade. A decade now. It's the same old song and dance. I knew they were going to Jason win on the third down prior to the touchdown and knew they were going back to him on the two-point conversion. Not too late to bring me back. I want T.O. Let's get T.O. back on the show. We haven't had him a while.

Yeah, we should get T.O. back on the show. You know what? He and I have disagreed on stuff, but he is, I'll tell you what, he's not wrong here. They have, Goulet. He's not wrong here. they are unbelievably predictable in the red zone. And this was the complaint with the Cowboys offense last year that they were predictable. Isn't that why they made the change?

So what is really happening here? But everyone is really coming for Jason Garrett. Like that's now the thing. It's switched from DAC to now Jason Garrett. It's time for somebody else to take it. Right. John Machata just tweeted a few minutes ago, the Cowboys VP, Stephen Jones was asked on 105 through the fan of Jason Garrett is in the hot seat. It's absolutely not.

This team just needs to get a win under its belt. I still think we can have a great year. I feel good about it. I feel great about Jason and his staff. So they're backing him. The Jones family is backing Jason Garrett 100%. But that said, what's the point of talking about it? Because they're not going to fire Jason Garrett midseason anyway.

So to talk about whether Jason Garrett is the guy or not. You can have that conversation. But like the change is not going to be made until after the season if there is going to be a change at all, which I don't believe that there will be. But it's no point in discussing if that's the issue now. It's what can you actually change midseason to get back on track. And to me, it's going to happen in the next two games because you want to win your division first, right?

So they have next three games at home against the Eagles. They're favored, by the way, in that game. You need to win that game. And then add the Giants. I mean, you don't feel good about the Cowboys right now, but they're going to need to win that game too. And then at home against the biking. So next three games, this is what it is.

Just win Sunday. Solves a lot of problems. That's it. Finally, Jared Gough threw for a career low 78 yards and the Rams 20 to 7 loss to the 49ers. Shout out to the 49ers, by the way. Unbelievable. The defensive line is all these draft picks now,

like Solomon Thomas yesterday had a couple. Like, all of them are clicking. You were way higher in the 49ers coming into the season than I was. Not that I didn't think they were going to take a step forward, but I just didn't know they were going to be this good. They're incredible. They may have the best front six or seven in the league. Like, I don't think they have New Orleans defense as a whole

because they don't have a, but their front just discombobabble. discombobulated, Jared Goff. Well, following the loss, Jared Goff has this to say about the Rams' recent losing streak. It's a gut check. It's a, you know, who you say you are. And, you know, I know this team is. I know these players are. I know what coaches are.

And, you know, we've got so much faith and belief in Sean and everyone else. And I mean, we're going to get right back on track. We're going to do it. And again, it takes a few plays here and there. And we've seen it. We've done it. We've watched it on film. and we know what we're doing.

We just need to be consistent with it and playing and play out, stay focused, and don't with the little thing's slide. It's the first time in McVeigh's coaching career that the Rams have lost three straight games. They're now three and three and third in the NFC West behind the Niners and the Seahawks. Does this game come down to this? Their defensive line was overwhelmed. I mean, it was just one of those like, okay, our offensive line can't block their people and the game's over. That's what it felt like to me.

Well, look, the 49ers are a real team, which we know. But if we're going to just keep it on the Rams, then we know that the offensive line is the issue here. Like, obviously Todd Gurley was out, but that can't be an excuse for this kind of play. Like, they're too good of a team to be losing like this. And it has to come down to something. McVeigh's not forgotten how to be a coach.

Jerg off is not a terrible quarterback. So what is it? It's very apparent that the offensive line is a huge issue for them, and it's probably not solvable this year. Yeah. Enjoy it with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd line news. You know how much I love Sam Darnold. And I said last week, Sam Darnold's career begins in earnest against the Cowboys. Can't take his first year. He inherited the worst running back set in the league, a bottom three offensive line, and a bottom five receiving court with a defense.

of coach and a GM that's been fired. And this year he got mono. So I said, start judging Sam Darnold. I've seen Josh Allen. I've seen Lamar. I've seen Baker. It starts Sunday. And I told you this, he was always bigger, stronger, more mature, and more athletic than Baker

Mayfield. Never forget, 75% of the GMs in the NFL would have taken Darnold over Baker or more. I know three, all three told me, Darnold would have been their top. choice, but all three had a quarterback and weren't picking him. But what you watched yesterday was a kid who was the youngest college quarterback coming out with the fewest starts and below average college coaching, and finally now he's got reasonable weapons. The Jets upgraded massively at running back. They upgraded Jameson Crowder at receiver, Demarius Thomas. They upgraded on the interior of

their offensive line. They still need a number one receiver. They still, to me, need another tackle. But he has reasonable weapons. And that's all Sam needs. He'll make mistakes. He's not perfect. He's a risk taker. But finally, he's given, oh, by the way, USC has collapsed without him, the program, and the Jets collapsed without him.

Oklahoma did not collapse without Baker. Okay, USC has collapsed. The Jets collapsed without Sam Darnold. Great to see it because the kid is really good, really coachable, really special and got a sickness mono that I've never heard any other NFL quarterback getting and he has to overcome that too. LeVar Erington around the corner, Clarence Hill last hour on the Cowboys Mess. Live in L.A., it's the herd.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsLice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

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

Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker wops up to me, he goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out of my quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on the Army. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe.

On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. You're going to look at stats and numbers. He has no shot at making this World Cup team.

And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarter. quarter finals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Var Arrington finally figured out how smart I am.

No, no, no, I've been knowing that. I just figured I'd give you a compliment, you know? That's really nice you to say. Hey, it's no problem, man. It's the truth. I wasn't blowing smoke at you. Yeah. Yeah, that's good, man.

And you're a great football player. I'm not blowing smoke either. Yeah, well, okay. I think Joy's super smart as well. She is super smart. I think you guys are like super awesome. Thank you. I was wondering when the compliments.

We are nice. I enjoy hanging out with you guys. So a lot of people are blaming people today. Cowboys once again come out of the tunnel flat. Is it maybe a coaching issue? It has to be coaching. It seems as though that there's a recipe that has been subscribed to and that's being identified as to how you go about playing against the Dallas Cowboys,

and it's working. That recipe is working. So the National Football League is a copycat league, and you're seeing defenses particularly copycat the formula of how to have success against this Dallas team. Is it possible, Jason Garrett? Listen, sometimes a coach's voice gets old. They look flat. They're not energized early.

In the NFL, I saw a stat a year ago. I was amazed by it. The team that scores first wins like 81% of the games. It's imperative. You script. You get ahead. You play downhill. Have they tuned out Jason Garrett maybe a little flat?

It may be possible because you don't see the fire in this team. Not early. You do not. You don't see the fire in them. And they came out and they looked like they were very intense and very into doing what they were doing early on in the season. But now you're seeing more of a team that's. more subdued, more calm and collected.

And is that calm and collected geared towards success? Based upon the results that they've been receiving, you'd have to say no. So I think that that starts with your staff, with the leadership. They're not coming in prepared. You watched that game yesterday. You saw a team that was not prepared to be able to compete on the level to beat a team that they probably should have won. He certainly did not have the energy of the Jets. Jets came out scripted, ready to go, first played, Demarius Thomas.

You could sense the, you could sense Darnold's arrival. You know, coaches talk about, okay, match the energy on the road, the crowd. You could just sense when Darnold took that Jets offense, that crowd was completely zoned in. And to your point, I don't think the Cowboys matched it. Let's go to, again, I can blame whoever I want in Cleveland. Freddie Kitchens is kind of learning how to be a head coach. Keep the thing the same. He's a little over his skis, maybe?

He may be over his skis, but the thing about this coach in this situation is, are you willing as a Browns organization going to give him the time that he needs? You mentioned the maturity and the learning. Are you going to give this coach the opportunity to learn what it is to manage the type of personalities And I mean, you're not going to get as many big personalities under one roof as Kitchens has right now. 24 games, 36. You got to be able to manage those type of people, man. And I don't think that Kitchens or maybe even the organization as a whole,

and maybe that's not so much an indictment on the coach. It might be on the entire staff. I don't know that they have the infrastructure to be able to handle all those guys. Who is the best, all those guys? Who was the best coach you ever had at handling personalities? Because it's not easy. I talked to Jimmy Johnson yesterday. I had a long conversation.

He goes, the more personality, the tougher I have to be to a coach to make sure they're in line. Most guys are in line. Four or five great players. He goes, Michael Irvin. I had to be on Michael. Michael, I got to stay on you. I need you to be in line. And he goes, you may only have three guys in a locker room like that.

But is Freddie the guy that can come out and bark at a veteran? It's a hard one. I'm not close enough to their situation to know if he can or if he can't. The veterans that are in locker rooms can be very, very one way or another. If you reach the vets, they're your biggest ally. If you don't reach them, I can recall Coach Schottenheimer was probably the best coach I played for at the pro level. Yeah. But the vets didn't mesh with him.

They did not like him. They did not want to play for him. And I think it was because he coached so hard. He would coach vets the same way he coached younger guys. And it rubbed them the wrong way? And it rubbed them. Yeah, you have a guy that's 16 years in, 17 years in, and you're telling me my footwork, my stance, like, coach, I got it.

I'm heading to the Hall of Fame five years out from the First Valley. I'm going to be in this Hall of Fame. And he's telling guys. But I like that. I like the fact that Marty still wanted the coach. And doing so, I think he raised the standard not only for those older guys. If you're going to be on the team, don't live in your Hall of Fame years. Continue to get better now.

And that sent a message to younger guys like myself that were on the team, and I'm sure sent it to other guys. So when you look at a guy like Kitchens or even Garrett where they're at right now, the biggest the biggest scenario that could probably play out for these guys right now is they do have to win their team they have to win that team it doesn't look as though they're winning with their team and so before you get into x's and o's of what's going to take place in a game you have to have the buy-in and once you have that collective buy-in especially mentioning the vets if you had that collective buy-in from the vets then now you're going to have that that leadership in the locker room where that messaging is clear when you're not you're not you're not not in the locker room, they're still being coached. Of course. Let me ask you, sometimes in the NFL, and this happens, it's happened in New England last year at Miami.

Nothing goes right. Trapped games. Philadelphia yesterday, I'm like, oh, God, find a hole and throw the tape in it. Or is Philadelphia not very good? Or is Minnesota good? I think you've got to

take it a step further on that one. And I think that Philadelphia is a good team. I think Philadelphia ran into another team that has had its moments. They've had to deal with what's going on with Stefan Diggs, but it looks like they got back on the same page yesterday. The defense could have done a little better earlier on. Cousins could have thrown the ball a little better earlier on. The defense showed up.

The offense showed up. Cousins was on fire throwing the ball. So now his teammate doesn't have to talk about his wife throwing the ball, right? I think it's one of those games where you hate. to be the Eagles that is playing at a decent level and they're finding themselves and then they end up playing against a team that starts to find themselves. With a bunch of really good wide receivers on the perimeter. And I think that that's what they found out very, very quickly that they were dealing with a team that was not quite the team that they may have been looking

at on film. Here's the other thing. It may have been one of those games where a team's strength, playmakers was the other team's weakness corners. Well, and Philadelphia, and by the way, Minnesota just kept going to it and to it and to it. And those were really good plays that they were making. I mean, the toe tap, swag, that dig tap for the touchdown in one of those plays, they just seemed to be downed into what it is they wanted to get done. And Philadelphia did not have an answer for it. And they have receivers and they have talent, they have a quarterback, and they have a defense.

But I think that that's a very well-matched team, Minnesota and Philly. I think they match up very well against one another. Just not yesterday. I mean, I think that they had the better game plan. They execute it better. And they made the least mistakes out of the two teams to be able to win the game. By the way, 15 seconds. Best team today if you had to pick one in the league.

Green Bay. All right, that's fair. I'm not going with Green Bay. No pushback. I think I'm New England. Green Bay Saints. No pushback. New England, you can all New England is just a givey. That's a gimmie. Can't even, not even fair to include them in the conversation. It's like

everybody else. New England and everybody else. So if it's everybody else is Green Bay. Yeah, that's what Joyce says. They're in a different galaxy. The rest of us on Earth, you pick Green Bay. I told you. You guys are smart, man. You know, you just keep telling people that. New England is the team. All right. They're for real. They could go undefeated. All right. Hour three, going to Dallas, Talking Boys 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. Discover it Miles card. Check it out. They match miles you earn at the end of your first year. 35 could become 70. Limitations applied. Discover match for new card members only.

Go to discover.com slash travel. By the way, Philadelphia got smoke yesterday by Minnesota. Never forget this. New England lost five games last year to non-playoff. teams. So even good teams have bad Sundays. And every year in the NFL, there's about three games. I can't, I can't, I can't give you an answer. One of them last year, I don't think Kirk Cousins is going to have another game like that this year. Last year, New England faced the worst offense in the league, Miami, and Miami scored 34 in them. Remember that New England wasn't even prepared

at the end of the game, where gronks on the field on the Hail Mary or whatever it was. Buffalo, 17-point dog, went to Minnesota. Remember that? And took a 27-0 leading the first half. That game makes no sense. There was a game last year. The Colts run a five game winning streak. They'd scored 35 a game. They went to Jacksonville and got shut out. I had the Colts in that game. They got shut

out. They couldn't pick up first downs. So you have these games every year in the NFL, you're like, what just happened? My gut feeling yesterday with Philadelphia just bury the tape. But Trent Dillfer said earlier, and this is legit, they're not great at anything. They're okay or pretty good.

a lot of things. Yesterday, the Eagles were exposed. I still like them. They go to Dallas. They're an underdog. And I think Philadelphia wins in Dallas. We'll go to Clarence Hill in about 10 minutes. Here's Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Sam is back. Sam Darnold back in the Jets lineup on Sunday against the Cowboys. After the game, Donald talked about being back on the field. I definitely felt like myself out there, especially after the first play to DT. That past I made of DT, I knew we were going to have a good game offensively.

I took a couple shots, but it didn't affect me at all. You know, the pads worked great, super light, but also, you know, protecting me well. So it was good out there. I was a little nervous about how he was going to perform coming off of that illness. He was very unpredictable. He was wearing some extra padding because he had an unbearable. enlarged spleen as part of that illness mono just two weeks ago.

But he was great. 22 of 32, 32, 338 passes, two touchdowns, one interception, and they were seven-point underdogs going to Foxbet going into this game. They also get hernded in the tight end back. They're 10-point underdogs at home to New England. Now, I could be crazy on this, but New England is offensively,

And I got to think that one over a little bit. That's a lot of points, Joy. That's like good team against terrible team number. I don't know if I want to overreact too much to this because we do to this win. While it was a great win and it was nice to see Sam Donald back out there, Dallas, lost Amari Cooper and Byron Jones. I know. And Bill Belichick and Tom Brady own young quarterbacks.

Young quarterbacks. So I don't have to think about that line for a little bit. but it was going to see Sam Darnold back out there. And it just, it really proves his value because there's a lot of teams that have had to play with backup quarterbacks this season, particularly. And they did not look as bad as the Jets' offensive did without Sam Darnold. Yeah. And that's also why you should not consider them a bad team in the conversation with some of the other. Oh, and five teams going into this week.

They may have C.J. Mosley, the linebacker, and Herndon back. So those are two of their top 10 players back against the Patriots. So everyone's been looking forward to the regular season debut of the Lakers' new duo, LeBron and AD, but they might have to wait a little longer. Anthony Davis sprained his thumb following the team's second preseason game. And according to the athletics, Shams Sharania, he will undergo an MRI today. Today. He injured his hand going for a block in the first quarter.

We're showing video of it now. After the injury, he went to the locker room for ice and returned to the bench. But later left, he was limited to 56 games last season after knee and shoulder injuries. and he has missed 68 games over his first four seasons due to injury. If it's a, I mean, let's say he tore a muscle, that's out two and a half months. Like that's, see it the All-Star break. I don't love this roster. I think, I've got to be honest, Joy.

They did bring in shooters. So Danny Green can shoot. And the kid from Golden State off the bench can shoot. But, man, Jared Dudley and Rondo and Anthony, and there's a lot of older players here. I don't want to sound overly critical of the Lakers because I'm very excited to see what they can do this season if they are all available. So might. But being available is a skill. Like it's part of your game.

If you are able to be out there, it's why LeBron is, his career has been so incredible because he is always available. And that's why last year was so fluky for his career because that's just not how it is. But he's coming off of an injury. Now Anthony Davis. It just gives me great pause because this is. is the one thing we are mostly concerned about. By the way, we already lost to Marcus Cousins for a year. So we already got one old guy

out. Now this old guy's hurt. For the record, Coosma's hurt. Well, I don't know how I would consider Anthony Davis to be old, but he's definitely injury. A little injury prone, so this should make you a little nervous. Finally, the Saints beat the Jacks 13 to 6 yesterday, and it might have been due to a special blessing.

Pope Francis was sending a tweet about five new saints, and he ended up accidentally showing some love to the Orleans Saints instead. He put hashtag Saints and their logo came up. He said today we give thanks to the Lord for our new Saints. They walked by faith and now we

invoke their intercession. The Saints responded with the win. Couldn't lose after this blessed and highly favored. It could have been a little help. Also, the Saints are really good. They have won their last four games. How about that? It's really, I got to tell you, Joy, name another team in the NFL. Well, I shouldn't say that

because Carolina, by the way, is winning with a backup. We have two teams in the NFC South that are 8-0 with backups. That tells you how good those two rosters are. Yes. Saints and Carolina got re-en coaching. Yes. You should not have the drop-off that you're seeing, for example, like with the Jets. I mean, obviously, you know, these backup quarterbacks are good, but it's, I mean,

Teddy Bridgewater's been really impressive. And the next five games are at the Bears against the Cardinals at home, the Falcons at home, at the Bucks, and the Panthers at home. So. Oh, Lord, now, holy moly, it's easy street. Well, I mean, at the Bears will not be an easy game. And at the box is, you know, could be interesting. And the Panthers are playing well, too.

So that's not a gimmie game either. But it is, it's in their favor. Yeah. A little favor from Pope Francis. Yeah, that's funny. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd lie news. Boy, it's been covering the Cowboys. since the 90s, so two decades covering the Cowboys, and they have their own, like, ecosystem. They're different than everybody. Clarence Hill, you joined us a couple times on set, joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. We figured they deserve special attention today, so a very busy guy who just got home from New York, I imagine. Let's start with this.

Jerry Jones, after the game, did not sound to be in a great mood. It was his birthday he lost. I don't want to use the word angry, Clarence, but, boy, he sounded disappointed. is that fair? You know, the thing about it is he sounded disappointed and almost resigned to the Cowboys' fate. I mean, he tried to, you know, spin it positively. But the facts are the facts. I mean, Jerry Jones came to the season, hoping to make a Super Bowl run for the first half since 1995.

He admitted yesterday the Cowboys are not a top team, not a good team. They're just hoping to make the playoffs and salvage themselves in the Eats, you know, with the win next week against the Philadelphia Eagles. But Jerry resigned to what his team is right now. They're not a very good football team offensively and defensively. He called yesterday's loss to the jet a bloody note. It's like getting punched in the face. Jason Garrett, I'm not a big fan of hot seat stories because I don't think he's going to get fired,

but it feels warm on Jason Garrett. Is that fair? Yeah, I mean, and all bets are off. You let them lose to the Eagles and lose badly with that Eagles' offense where the Cowboys defense has been playing. and have to buy week after that. Jerry Jones only fired one coach mid-season. That was Wade Phillips when he promoted for Jason Garrett.

But again, Garrett was mandated to get to the NFC title game or the Super Bowl to keep his job. He came to the season without a contract for next year. He's in the last season of the contract. Everybody knows his coach for a job. So he's been on a hot seat all season. It is warm right now. All bets are off if they lose to the league. Now, you know, it is easy for guys like me to go on the air and say,

I think Dak's losing money. But give us a straight. You cover this team. What's this situation? Why aren't they getting that done? Is Jerry just waiting for this tough defensive schedule to say, hey, Dak, here's 28, not 32? 28. He's way above 20.

They already offered over 30. I mean, that was in the summary of offer over 30. The holdup is more about, more about Jack and his people. Dak and his people are trying to maximize their dollars. They've asked for $35, $40 million. And they were hoping to maximize those dollars. He hasn't lost any money as far as the Cowboys offer. They would love to have gotten this deal done in August.

So the first week of the season, you know, again, they offered at least $30 million already. So that hasn't lost anything on that. But I don't think that has maximized his market or increased his market with his play over the last two weeks. What has changed since week three? You could just say they're playing better teams. But I'll tell you, you know, Clarence, the one thing Clarence that jumps out to me, And I'm not going to hyperventilate, but they looked a little flat. I don't know if they met the Jets energy with Sam Darnold in the facility.

Boy, that crowd and Sam Darnold, it was a big, highly energized moment. I thought they came out a tad flat. Why can't they score in the first half? That's become a trend. That's been a problem all season, even during the three-old start. You know, they started slow. They've started slow all season and certainly have shot themselves. the foot. Not having Amari Cooper, you know, took some firepower out of this offense.

Certainly teams have gotten a book on the Cowboys are starting to play more zone defenses and forcing Debt to pick them apart and not give them the big plays down the field. And again, had five drops yesterday. Give the Cowboys credit. They have not quit on Jason because they continue to play hard. They battle back if they've done, as they did last week against the factors, they battled back against the Jess yesterday. But, shoot, that's what you're expected to do. You're expecting to fight hard. You're not expected to lose to the jet. The windless jets. Right.

Defensively, again, they have their moments, but Green Bay initially, defense overwhelmed. Jets' first half, a little overwhelmed. Is that a concern at all that the defense hasn't quite been as finely tuned as sort of what we are all kind of predicting? Yeah, this was supposed to be a top 10 defense. Right. You know, they talked about being elite, you know, the lineback and core being special with those young guys. Jalen Smith and Layton Van der Leyen, the defense line being special with DeMargge and Robert Quinn,

they have not made plays. And, you know, there was always questions about the safety spot. You know, and the safety spot is still a problem. But the guys up front, the hot boys, the linebackers, they're not making game-changing play. We keep talking about the difference-making guys the other side, what Aaron Rogers is doing and what Sam Donald is doing. What are the guys on defense doing?

They got supposedly have special guys, too. Then not making special difference-making plays, and that's set this defense back. How do you think finally Clarence Hill Cowboys Rider since 1997, the Fort Worth Star Telegram? They are actually, I just looked it up an hour ago, they are favored over Philadelphia. But here's what would worry me if I'm a cowboy guy, Clarence, is that Philadelphia looked awful. And teams that are talented that get rocked generally play pretty inspired football the following week. Do you think they match up with Philadelphia?

They have okay in the last couple years. Oh, they have. And one thing is also the note, we saw that, but Doug Peterson's already guaranteed this win. Yeah. He's guaranteed a win over the Cowboys. So, you know,

the Cowboys have any backbone. They're going to stand up and fight the Eagles. The problem is the Eagles are getting healthier. They're getting their speedy receiver to Sean Jackson back. And the Cowboys lost Byron Jones. They lost Anthony Brown. There's a question about Amari Cooper. They won't be in full of Sprint.

And you still have those issues with those tackles. But again, And this is a gut check moment, gut check game for Jason Garrett and his Cowboys team. Doug Peters is laid on the line and basically called them out saying, we're going to win this game and guaranteeing to win, what will the Cowboys do? Will they show up? All right, Clarence, great stuff. Late notice, read his stuff.

Fort Worth Star Telegram when you're in L.A., stop by Love Having yawn. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. You bet. You know, the other team that it's gut check time is the L.A. Rams. Now, yesterday, I just think they got overwhelmed by San Francisco's defensive front. The Rams had four extra days to prepare. They had 78 passing yards, under 200 total yards.

And I think in Los Angeles, where I live now, you can blame who you want. You can blame Goff, McVeigh, the offensive line, Todd Gurley. But I do believe the minute they guaranteed $45 million to Todd Gurley a year before they had to, it changed the temperature in the room. I don't feel there's a blame game here. I do believe, though, last year before they had paid Gurley in the offseason, and they had extra money to solve their speed receiver issue, Brandon Cooks, a cornerback issue, Akeeb Talib,

a defensive line issue, Indomacan Sioux, Dante Fowler. The Rams had this sea of riches. They had a little extra cash, and they spent it. And, you know, it's what they're doing, though, is kind of the opposite of New England, which is don't pay anybody if you do get a bargain. New England's paid a ton to Brandon Cook, a ton to Aaron Donald, a ton to Jared Gough, and a ton to Todd Gurley. Now, Brandon, Aaron, and Jared are mostly productive.

Todd Gurley has not been. So there's $45 million out the door that you can't solve now your issues. You know, blame who you want, but it's a salary cap league and it's a pretty hard cap. So I think when I watched the Rams, last year before the season, they had issues and they had the money to spend them. They had the budget. Now they don't have the money and they have real issues. When you spend big money to four or five players, and I think Dallas may feel this in two years, you're going to lack depth.

You cross your fingers and you're hoping those areas where you lack depth, you don't get hurt. Well, the Rams lack depth on the offensive line, and they've had injuries, and they've lost guys. So the one area they had to kind of cross their fingers on health has not been entirely healthy. So now you've got Gurley's hurt. We can't solve it financially offensive line. Some of it's been bad timing. Some of it is. They went to Seattle and paid San Francisco.

and their division right now, now that Kyler Murray scoring points, is the toughest division in football. I mean, there's no getting past it. This division is a handful. You're either facing Russell, Wilson, and Pete, Kyle Shanahan, and Garoppolo, and now Kyler Murray, I watched them against Atlanta yesterday. You couldn't stop Arizona for the first half. You could not stop them.

So some of this is the division got harder. We paid big money to a handful of people. We're in Los Angeles. It's a distracted market. We wanted to get some attention. I still feel that's a part of it. LeBron comes to town. Kauai comes to town.

L.A. FC. Dodgers win the division. L.A. has always been a very distracted market anyway. And the Rams are like, let's get attention. Let's sign some guys. Let's sign girly. Let's make some headlines. And in the end, now they don't have the money to solve some ongoing problems,

which they did have that money 15, 18 months ago. Coming up next, my fave, on Monday, the three-word game. Every NFL team game can be defined and explained. in just three words. That's best for last on a Monday. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. All right. Welcome in. Competing today takes a lot of effort. MDrive for Men.com. Refine your prime. Testosterone levels in your body. It elevates what you have. Best for last on a Monday. We do this game. We love playing it. It's called the three-word game.

We believe that you can describe every game quite succinctly in. simply with three words. So, Joy, here we go in a Monday. Here we go. Three word game, NFL. Giants Patriots, Brady, with anyone. Five different people have led the Patriots in receiving this season, including A.B., who's no longer a Patriot.

13 different players have a reception this year. Everybody in this league loses people and complains, oh, we can't win. But well-coached teams, Saints, Carriott. Carolina and New England overcome injuries, overcome backups. And Brady, 75 touchdown passes in his career to different receivers. Nobody in the league has had more of a mishmash of parts to work with, and they're undefeated. Panthers bucks, see you, Cam. They're now seven and two when Cam doesn't plan his career and four and oh this year.

I mean, listen, Kyle Allen isn't even your ideal backup. He wasn't a college football star. But I've said this for years. I like their defenses under Ron Rivera every year. Once again, their defense is good. Now they have a star running back. Their receivers are talented. A story this weekend that Carolina may not give the job back to Cam.

I think Cam's distracted. I think he is a great athlete who now can't be as athletic, thanks to injuries. And I think if you're Carolina, it's about winning. good luck unseating Kyle Allen, who I don't think is a world-class talent. But man, do you break this puppy up? It's hard enough to win in the league. If you got a six-game winning streak,

you're going to start over a quarterback, I don't care who it is. Unless it's Brady, I don't think I'd make a move. Seahawks Browns, Baker, turnover maker, leads the NFL in interceptions with 12. He leads the NFL in interstions with 13. his 11 picks through six games are the most since the mid-80s in Cleveland. And by the way, the Browns are 5 and 1 when Baker doesn't throw a pick.

They're 4 and 10 when he does. And I don't think picks are, you know, Sam Darnold had a pick yesterday, a bad throw when they won. But I do think Baker tends to get a little ahead of himself. I think he's feeling himself, all those national commercials. I think he's got weapons. He's taking risks. He doesn't need to. One of those picks wasn't his fault.

Two were. But the difference in that game yesterday was Baker Mayfield's interceptions. Because Cleveland was every bit as good and better the first three quarters of that football game. Bengals, Ravens, best in worst. This division is terrible. The eight wins for the AFC North are the fewest in any division in football. The Ravens are four and two. The rest of the division is four and 14.

Now, I will say this about Baltimore. They do have what I believe to be a formula. I think it can be limited, but when I watch the Ravens play, I think they tend to play well with a lead. They play well when they have a lead. They can eat the clock, run the ball. They've got some nice, big, tight-end weapons for Lamar Jackson. I think it's a limited team, but you've got to give the staff credit.

They know what they are. They keep pounding, trusting the process what they are. And right now they lead division by two games. Eagles Vikings. You like that? Yeah. Kirk Cousins, you like that. He was great.

22 a 29. Passer rating 138. This is sort of odd. He has 21 career touchdown passes against Philadelphia. That is not only the most of any team, it's almost double second best. Now, he used to quarterback in Washington, so I kind of ate up on the Eagles. Eagles. Listen, this was also a mismatch issue that the receivers and the weapons for Minnesota are just incredible. And Philadelphia, Sydney Jones at corner, they're a mess. Trent Dilfer said it earlier. What's Philadelphia great at? It's a good question. I like Carson Wenz, but right now they're not great at anything. They get pressure on the quarterback, but they don't get sacks. And yesterday that was a problem. Redskins Dolphins. Last place, Finnish.

Okay, it's bad. They've lost eight straight games dating back to last year. Could I not make the argument? Their last version, everything, basically offense, defense, their last and everything. I'll make this argument, though. They play hard. They're competitive last yesterday. And they lost.

That's what I want. Because if two is the guy, and I think two is the draft pick, I don't think you can pick anybody in college football that will make an immediate impact than Tua, right? Alabama quarterback. What you want is a team. team that's playing their butt off, meaning guys are still buying into the plan, even though they're terrible. Well, players never tank. That doesn't make any sense.

Well, I mean, what's the benefit of them purposely playing bad? They might not even be on the team next year. Every piece of tape that you put out there is part of your resume. So players never tank, but it's just the overall mentality of the organization that seeps down into it. It's negative. A win could have cost them too. Excellent loss. Chiefs, Texans.

No sacks again. And second straight game, Deshaun Watson wasn't sacked. He is 7 and 0 in games with one or fewer sacks and his passer ratings 118. This is why we defended Bill O'Brien getting Laramie Tunsell. I don't care about college players. I care about my asset who's getting his blank kicked every week. Now they have a left side of an offensive line. Now they have a semblance of a running game.

And what do you know? Deshawn Watson's great. sort of the way it works his entire career. Saints Jags. Steady with Teddy. Gardner Minshu, worst game as a pro. You know what I like about this? Every Saints win has been seven points or less.

So there's a little stress here, and it's okay. They've played close games. I think their roster's fantastic. I think I missed. I think I missed on this defense. You know, and Teddy Bridgewater is, this is, you know, listen, he's a very, at this point, in Drew Brees' career, you can make an argument.

The closest facsimile to him is Teddy Bridgewater. I mean, Teddy is to a large point. Drew Brees, pocket guy, high IQ, very good distributor, who struggles to throw the ball over 25 yards, accurately, consistently. That's what Drew is. Falcons Cardinals just can't Quinn. Dan Quinn's in big trouble.

This was two games. The first half, Arizona was on fire. The second half, Matt Ryan was on fire. But this is a team that is now awful on the road, O and 4, giving up 35 points. Dan Quinn's a defensive specialist. So if he's a defensive specialist, what happened to the defense? They were literally inept defensively in the first half. Matt Ryan had a tremendous second half, but they missed a PAT, so no overtime.

49ers Rams, 78 yards passing. First time this year, Gough didn't have a touchdown. seven points is the fewest points scored by a Sean McVeigh team at home. I do think some of this was a matchup problem, like the Philadelphia-Minnesota game. The front six and seven for San Francisco's nasty, and the Rams had an injury on the offensive line, and it's an old and limited offensive line anyway. 78 passing yards. That's not great.

Jets, Cowboys, Darnold, the difference. Pretty easy to figure. out when Sam plays, they're good. When Sam doesn't, they're not. For the record, USC is sub-500 since Darnold left and the Jets collapsed without Sam Darnold. Now, it gets much tougher this weekend he faces Bill Belichick, but he is a playmaker. He is not perfect. He throws interceptions. He makes mistakes, but I think the energy he brought to the table yesterday was palpable. The Jets had a very big first half. Now, if the Jets get C.J.'s. Jay Mosley back.

They get Hernden, the tight end back. So I don't think they're going to beat New England. But after that, boy, there are

a lot of winnable games on this schedule. Miami twice. I think they've got a Cincinnati game in here, a Baltimore game.

So a Pittsburgh game, a lot of winnable games for the Jets going forward. Titans Broncos, mile low, Mariotta.

He's been sacked 25 times this year, so that's tied for the most in the NFL. Their offensive line was supposed to be a strength. It's not. He's not accurate. I always felt he was the least verbal quarterback in the league at a verbal position. And Denver, by the way, is a pretty good, bad team. I mean, if not for a really disputable

call by the officials, they would have beaten the Bears at home and have a winning record. So some of it's that. He was benched for Ryan Tannihill, yesterday, and it didn't get much better after that. Steelers Chargers was watching baseball. Game 2, ALCS, Yankees and the Astros. Astros won walk-off home run by Carlos Correa

in the 11th and, okay, the series is tied at 1. Listen, if you give me the Yankees or Steelers Chargers, Chargers are all beat up and the Steelers were on their third string quarterback. Steelers, by the way, led that game 24-0 heading into the 4th. So I just kind of moved on.

I was watching baseball. Sorry about that. Packers tonight Monday Night football. Lions for real? Actually won four straight against Green Bay. Devante Adams is out. And if the Lions win, they would move into first place in the NFC North at 3-1-1. Interesting. Matt, Patricia, hat on backwards guy, turned it around.

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