The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Patrick Mahomes, 49ers, OBJ, NCAA, and Jason Garrett

Episode Date: January 16, 2020

Colin explains why we want the Chiefs to beat the Titans this weekend, why he prefers the 49ers offense over the Packers, his thoughts on the arrest warrant for Odell Beckham Jr., why some of the NCAA rules are ridiculous, and why he feels former Cowboys HC Jason Garrett is making a mistake. Guests include Miles Sanders, Greg Cosell, Geoff Schwartz, and Jeff Fisher. 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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one hour from now, Greg Kosell will break down the NFC champion. and the AFC championship as good as it gets, the strengths, the weaknesses. How does Tennessee's running game hurt Kansas City? Does Green Bay have the offensive structure to overcome that awesome defensive line for San Francisco? Joy Taylor is joining me. Joy, how are you today? I'm great. I can't wait for this weekend.

It's going to be unbelievable. I want to start with, you know, it was funny this morning. We were talking about Mahomes versus Ryan Tannahill. and Ryan Tannahill is essentially Andy Dalton with a little better mobility. In his career, he's completed 63 percent. His passer ratings is like 89.90 is touchdown interception ratios, little under 2 to 1, and he's 500 in his career. So the question, of course, who do you want to see in the Super Bowl?

The Kansas City Chiefs or Andy Dalton? I think the answer is obvious. It's obvious to Fox. We'd like to see Mahomes in there. We would. I'm not lying. So would America. So with the NFL.

my eyes. Andy Dalton hurts my eyes. Ryan Tannehill, not great for my eyes. I say that as a son of an optometrist. If you really look at what Kansas City is, Kansas City is what the NFL wants the league to look like.

Leagues and commissioners will tell you regularly without saying it verbally, here's what I want my league to be. They'll change rules to help stars, to help faster players, to help quarterbacks. That's why leagues change rules.

Why do they put the catch rule back in? Because your best athletes are wide receivers. Why are you taking away catches from OBJ? Give him more great catches. So the league is telling you, we want you to look like Kansas City. We want you to be able to be down 24-0, and it doesn't matter.

We want the games to be close. It's why quietly the league is sort of, you know, putting their arms a little. bit around the gambling thing because you'll watch longer and the league is now building all of its rules. You can't hit a wide receiver high. Why? Because that's the best athletes. We want more wide receiver. You can't hit a quarterback low. Why? Because we want the best quarterback's healthy. So you can't hit that position low. You can't hit that position high and we don't like to hit neither position often. The Chiefs are the Avengers. Tennessee is an artsy film that Purist like.

the league wants Kansas City to be the next dynasty or something that looks like Kansas City. Clever schemes, traditional powerhouse, Kansas City, Arrowhead, great fans, fastest show on turf, get in the Monday Night Football game against the Rams, and people talk about it. For months, this is what the league is trying to do by changing its rules. Speed on the outside, big arm in the pocket, likable, relatable kid who can walk into, and this is something else, that the NFL likes college concepts coming to the NFL. Why?

Because what the NFL doesn't like is quarterbacks coming from college, and half of them are busts. So the NFL is incorporating more college football as often as they can. These are why David Teper, the owner of Carolina, is like, come on, Baylor football, come on. They're doing this, so fewer teams have busts, more teams are dynamic and vibrant on offense. The chiefs are what the league wants it to look like.

It really is. Now, I will say this. The NBA would love for everybody to look like the Warriors. The problem, of course, is they had four players, maybe three, who are the best three-point shooters of all time? So you get a lot of teams that are trying to be the Warriors, but instead just it's clank city from three-point land. But the NFL, it's funny, I was all weekend long.

I was emailing a very, very, a billionaire, an NBA owner. He's a very smart person. And I like him. And I occasionally get the opportunity to email and talk to this person. And we were arguing back and forth a little bit about some things about the NBA and the NFL. He's obviously an NBA owner. He's very pro-N-B-A. And I like the NBA, but I said I think you have some issues.

The kids are more into themselves and not the community and the team and the mobility sometimes hurt. But we were talking about the NFL. And, you know, one of the things I was thinking about when I got off the email was, the NFL ratings have been going up for. for mostly the last 10 years. And they've done that with a dynasty that is smart and precise and efficient and mostly boring. I mean, I lived in Connecticut, so I was into the Patriots and I love Brady.

But that's the San Antonio Spurs. We draft, well, we're efficient. We have one star. He's never controversial. His game's not flashy. And yet the NFL grew. Can you imagine if Kansas City's, the next dynasty? I get to watch

that. That. So I was thinking about this as I was talking to the NBA owner is for anybody that thinks football's in trouble, we have had sustained growth in football in this country with a rather boring,

cerebral, academic, precise, efficient dynasty in New England. How about this for the next 10 years? How about Mahomi? How about Tyreek Hill? How about Travis Kelty? How about Andy Reid. This weekend, this is the Warriors.

By the way, the Warriors imploded. The Dynasty imploded this year. The NBA ratings have tanked. They were the most fun to watch. They were the greatest basketball show in the world. They imploded. Her, KD. Leaves. What's happened to the NBA ratings? Kansas City is jet fuel for this league. By the way, the downside is

there's a lot of pressure on Kansas City because when you are the Warriors, we want titles and as somebody from Kansas City told us yesterday, they better win this weekend. If they lose, it's crushing. It is, the season becomes a failure. Patrick Mahomes is playing for $35 million less right now than he will be making in future seasons.

So you must take advantage of this opportunity. Last year, they were a coin flip in overtime against the Patriots away from going to, and I believe winning the Super Bowl. If you didn't take advantage of that, if you didn't lose to the Titans, then that is an enormous missed opportunity. You don't get those years back. Let me shift to this, San Francisco, Green Bay, and Jimmy Garoppolo. So I was the other day my family was making fun of me.

I have an iPhone. It's not with me. and I don't know what it is, an iPhone 5 or something, iPhone 6. I think it's an iPhone 6. And the kids in the family were making fun of dad. Oh, it's so outdated. I'm like, it's not a flip phone. It's like an iPhone 6.

And I mean, it doesn't do this and it doesn't do that. And I'm like, I got an alarm clock. I got a calendar. I can make calls. I can get on the internet. I can take calls and I can follow like stocks. And I can follow people. I could get to any social side I need to, like Twitter.

I can get to my Instagram. I'm like, remember the days when that was enough from your phone? You could make a call and take a call. You could go to Twitter. You could follow your stocks, your 401K, you had a calendar, you had an alarm clock. Remember the good old days when that was enough. I'm like, I don't need it to make a bagel or wash my clothes or dry clean stuff. I'm good.

I'm fine. Remember the days in football when if you were, You're a starting quarterback, and in your first 26 starts, you were 21 and 5 and got to the conference championship. Remember the days when that was enough? That's Jimmy Garoppolo, and half of you don't like him. Fantasy football has skewed our perception on what a good quarterback is. James Winston is a good fantasy football quarterback.

Daniel Jones on many weekends this year was better than Jimmy Garoppolo in fantasy football. Josh Allen because he runs is way better. What do you want from Jimmy Garoppolo? 21 and 5 in the conference championship. Colin, it's his coach. Yes, he's got a good coach. I'll wait and listen for the great quarterbacks, Marino and Elway and Brady and Dan Fouts,

who had bad coaches. None of them? Well, it's his defense. Oh, let me wait to get the last. list of a Super Bowl, multiple Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw, Tom Brady, who had bad defenses. So you're criticizing them because his coach is good and his defense is good. Folks, remember when 21 and 5 as a starter was good enough? What do you want? In the fourth quarter and overtime this year, regular season in the playoffs, he completes 67% of his throws, his parents,

Racer ratings 102.4. He's got six TDs and a pick. Sorry if he's the cell phone that doesn't wash your clothes. Fantasy football has skewed it. We're demanding and asking people to emotionally help me win money on the side. I've been watching football for 40 years. Here's what I know about Jimmy Garoppolo. In the biggest moments, he's really good.

and he wins a lot. I don't care about his stats. He's never going to be a stat guy, which, by the way, John Elway, once he got Mike Shanahan, wasn't a big stat guy. He just won Super Bowls. Kyle Shanahan, like his father's offense,

is not built. Andy Reed is, Don Coriel was, Bill Walsh, maybe. This offense in San Francisco is not built to win MVP awards for quarterbacks. It's a Parcells offense. It's a Mike Shanahan offense. It's built to win Super Bowls.

And if you really want to win Super Bowls, you generally can't have a team that demands your quarterback throws 45 times a game or is a life preserver 16 times a Sunday. Kyle Shanahan asked Jimmy Garapolo about three times a Sunday, make a big boy throw. Here's one of them in the end.

end zone. Spin it. Here's another one late. Drop it in. He doesn't ask Jimmy G to do it 42 times. Lamar Jackson this weekend. Too many plays, too many throws. It's not the way the position's supposed to be played. Brady's always been better

with a sufficient running game. Jared Goff with a running game gets to a Super Bowl. Jared Goff without it is third in his division. It is remarkable, though. It used to just be good enough to be 21 and 5 to get the conference championships and be better when it mattered in the fourth quarter and overtime.

You want James Winston's picks? Daniel Jones' inconsistency? Josh Allen melting down against Tennessee. I love Jimmy G. I'm all in. He's exactly what I want. And so is my iPhone 6. Good having you in today. Oh, boy.

An arrest warrant has been issued for OBJ. We'll give you the details coming up next. Wow. 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.

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Arrest warrant issued for Odell Beckham Jr. After video shows a locker room butt slap to a cop, initially law enforcement down in New Orleans said authorities sought a warrant for a misdemeanor sexual battery charge. It was declined by a judge. A police spokesman said the warrant was issued after a video showing OBJ. We have the video, apparently slapping an officer's butt in the locker room after a mail officer, by the way, a male officer's butttocks after LSU's championship game. Listen, I think I've said, I think I did a piece about a year ago, and Baker Mayfield got all upset.

Mayfield got mad at me because I said, OBJ now is actually more known outside of the one-handed catch for non-football stuff than football stuff. If you go and look at his nine or ten biggest moments, there's the catch, and then it's a bunch of Paris hotel rooms. Now you have this arrest warrant.

It's handing out cash. He is somebody that needs constant attention. I don't think he's a bad kid. I think most of these pro athletes are 24 years old, have a lot of cash, sometimes tough upbringings. You know, they know their careers are short. Look at me. I don't want to be the old guy constantly banging on young players.

I would like to address, and I think this thing will not be a big deal, I would like to address the video that's out there with OBJ paying LSU football players. I am not outraged by it. I never want to be the fake guy on TV and radio. You may not agree with me, but when I'm not. I hear all the moral outrage to this stuff. A, OBJ seeks attention. That's a new one. You're shocked by that. Number two is, this happens all the time. You just don't have a camera watching it. Folks, the NCAA, and I don't, I'm not anti-NCAA. I mean, I think it's easy to go out there and

bang on the NCAA. I think they do a world of good. I think the NBA should embrace college basketball and use it as a platform to market all these young stars. So by the time they get to the NBA. I've got a relationship with him. I can't wait to watch Zion because he went to Duke. If he went to a G League, I wouldn't know who the kid is. So I think football's always embraced college as a recruiting or as a platform. I don't bang on the NCAA. But this is where it's very fuzzy. So the NCAA allows LeBron James and OBJ to give every player, Ohio State LSU, a $300 beats headphone. They signed off on it. They allow high school players to come on campus, hang out with girls. They're selling you glamour and food and stuff and other stuff,

and it's all good. And the NCAA allows you $550 swag bags during bowl games. By the way, college basketball programs, I know, because I know a couple of coaches, they have chefs on campus. They're feeding the kids better than you and I eat. The kids have swag and shoes, and they're good with all of it. But yet LSU wins a national title and a couple of hundies from OBJ goes players going to the NFL and I'm supposed to be outraged by it? I'm not. This stuff happens all the time you just don't see it. Colin, you are enabling. Colin, this is outrageous. I'm going to ask you a question. I want you to be totally honest with me. What if I told you from this point forward it was legal for former players at football programs to pay players cash? Well, you know what

happened then. I'll tell you what it happened then, Colin. Then schools like Alabama and LSU and Ohio State and Oklahoma and all the great programs because they have more NFL guys, yeah, all the kids would want to go to those programs. Oh, oh, you mean like now, this money isn't doing anything. All the best high school players pick the same eight programs every year. Clemson, LSU, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, Michigan, Oklahoma. It's not changing anything. There's about 10 great programs in college football. The sport's been lopsided since I was a kid, and I still watch it every Saturday,

and there's money exchanging hands every Saturday, and it doesn't change anything. You think that's the first time in LSU player got a hundy? Texas, Oklahoma. I'm not rep in the schools. I'm saying this is business. They're giving it away at churches. They're giving it away over here. There's a story Eric Dickerson tells years ago.

where they used to in state sometimes where gambling is legal, you'd have the parents go into a casino, pull the lever. Oh, I won $30,000. How fortunate is that? That's how they paid the parents of the players. They rigged the casino slot machine. I'm not saying, I love the optics on this thing. I'm not saying that OBJ isn't too needy for my pace.

Can we stop the moral outrage? We got hundies flying all over these sports. just wait till some of the stuff comes out from that attorney Michael Avanti on college basketball. Whenever I hear, you know, these college basketball guys aren't paid. No, no, they are. You'll find out about it. This is not the end of the world. I don't love the optics.

But even if you had players, and they've been doing this for years, by the way, paying guys that go to their school, Buckeyes in the NFL, going into town, Columbus on a buy week in the NFL, and dropping a couple of hundee to a linebacker because they know he can't afford. pizza with his girl or jeans. They've been doing that for 20 years, and it hasn't changed anything. Ohio State's going to win the Big Ten next year, and Alabama's going to win the SEC next year,

and Clemson's going to win the ACC next year, and Texas and Oklahoma, one of the two, is going to win the Big 12 next year, and they've been handing out hundies forever. Stop the moral outrage. I don't have to love it, but I'm not going to pretend it's not happening every day,

and I don't blame anybody for it. I'm not blaming. an OBJ. You just saw it on camera. Not blaming the kid for taking it. And I'm not blaming the NCAA because they can't police it. All speed driving home. Won't be any cops. I won't get a ticket. You can't police everything. There's a gray market in gambling, a gray market for sports. There's a 12% of the American economy is underground. I mean, aren't we all taking the occasional dinner? We write off and it's kind of fuzzy whether or not we should. It happens. You just saw it this time. Joy with the news. This is the herd line news. Well, sticking with that game, Joe Burrow took a big hit at the end of the second half of the title game on Monday and seemed to be in some pain afterwards, but it wasn't really clear what it was. Well, he told pardon my take that he did get injured and he's still recovering from the aftermath of the game also. It's overcoming my violent hangover right now. So I'm feeling...

You're 22. You don't get violent hangovers. I'm getting pretty old. Did you break your ribs? No. I tore some cartilage in my ribs. he tore cartilage in his rigs. Still played. Still played, yeah.

It was at the end of the second quarter in a second half. After that, he threw for 193 yards, two passing touchdowns, and that was after he tore a cartilage in his ribs. I mean, we talked about this yesterday. I can love the NBA, but God, I respect football players. You, by the way, you have to keep playing. That's the sport. You have to keep playing as a star quarterback. if you get banged up.

It's a badge of courage in that sport. You do, but it's impressive that he did that and then the numbers that he put up afterwards. But I like this for, especially if he does end up going to Cincinnati, which, you know, I'm still holding on hope somebody trades up. But he's going to be playing in a very tough division

in the AFC North. Yeah, Baltimore's defense. Baltimore, Pittsburgh. Miles Garrett for Cleveland. Occasionally the Browns. Like, this is a good sign. And just not just that. division, obviously. To me, I want someone, if you're this kind of player, which Burrow is,

somebody who, you know, makes moves, makes plays with his legs and doesn't necessarily stay in the pocket, that you can, you can take a hit and keep going. Now, obviously, you don't, this is an ideal, but that wasn't like a bad hit or anything. Like, those are hits that are going to happen. They're going to happen from grown men that are not Clemson's defense is as tough as Clemson's defense is. So, and also the hangover yet, it only gets worse. So, yeah, Miles Garrett, Miles Garrett's going to be well rested next year and you're going to see him twice. Right. So the 409ers were the NFL's bounce back team this year. You predicted that they would be the most improved from last year. I didn't think they'd be this good, but we thought they would, we said they doubled their wins.

Right. So they earned the top seat in the NFC after a 4 and 12 record 2018. And they expected a great season last year, but obviously Jim McGropolo towards ACL in week three. And now he says he sees his injury as a blessing in disguise. Things have a way of working out. And so I always told myself it was a blessing in disguise, you know, the ACL and everything. And we got both sides. of it. So, I mean, that's a pretty good trade-off, I guess. But it's, yeah, things have a way of working out, I guess. Just, um, this ride is crazy? You just got to roll the punches. By the way, is that real hair or a helmet? He has perfect hair. That's not even real hair. Who has hair that that's hair that? Colin, you have great hair. You say this as if you don't have hair. Not that kind of hair. Look at that's a helmet. He does have good hair. As you just come out of the shower, shake your head and it goes like that. That's unfair. I don't know what that life is like.

But I do think that Jimmy Garoppolo actually, he just really doesn't get a lot of respect. None. It's really fascinating. And I can't put my finger on it exactly why. Like, just the record last year should show you just how valuable he is. And as much as we build up quarterbacks in this league, it's just like it all stops with Jimmy G.

What is it? I don't know. It's, we love their team, they're physical, they're fun, their dynamic. He is not,

he is not a, a problem at all. He wins a bunch of games and he makes the plays and in late in games, fourth quarter overtime. He's exceptional. There are 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions this year. And by the way, 27.1 completion percentage. It's almost 70% completion. Almost 4,000 yards. What do we? I don't know. He's 11th in passing according to a pro football focus. I don't understand it. I think a lot of it's fantasy football. He does not deliver for fantasy football fans. Matt Ryan is really good, but he doesn't, he's not, you don't get a lot of love. I mean, maybe fantasy plays a slight role in it, but I think for the most

part, people, like, I play fantasy football. I had three leagues this year. I'm not doing that again next year. I'm down to one again, but I don't judge, I'm able to separate, like, what is actually, like, real football and what, like, what player, like, it's more strategy. Like, you know, one week it can be random Tannahill,

like, that's going to get you all those points. Like, it's more strategy to it than that. I think there's some underlying element. I haven't put my finger on it yet, but there's some reason why we're not giving Jimmy G. all the respect. All right, so Connor McGregor makes us return to the Octagon against Donald Cowboy Soroni on Saturday. I'm very interested. I don't know much about Cowboy Soroni. Goulet, you know anything about

old... He's 36, 13, and O. Who is that? Seroni. That's not a good record. 36.13 and O. McGregor's 21.4 and O. Oh, Seroni's baloney. He doesn't have anything. 36.13, he loses every third fight. He's a good fighter. Well, McGregor's usually known for his press conference antics, as we know, but he was a little different this time around. You know, we've had a good back and forth myself and Donald.

And as time has gone on, you know, he's become a family man. Obviously, you've seen him compete so many times. It's hard not to respect Donald right now at this stage. And he has my respect. And although there will be blood spilled on January 18th, it will not be bad blood. And for the Mystic Mac prediction, it will be a K-O. This is a little softer version of a great-

I kind of like that. I mean, it's not quite the salesmanship of previous fights. Not everybody has to throw stuff. I mean, that doesn't like. I don't like the throwing stuff, but it's, look, I mean, there's a lot that's happened since McGregor's last fight. I got to tell you something. I like watching him fight.

I love watching him. One of the most entertaining fighters of all time. Yeah. But part of that is all of the buildup to the fight. So I'm very interested to see how this goes on Saturday. Because remember the last fight was the fight with Habib where everyone was climbing into the and, you know, it really it took a turn after that. So I don't

know. I don't know what to expect for McGregor. I'm hoping that it's a good fight. And I think that if it is a good fight, it's going to eventually lead to a rematch with Mayweather later in the year. I think you're right. I think you're right. Money Mayweather likes his lettuce. This is all being set up for that. Yeah, Joy with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly. 30 minutes from now, Greg Kossel, 40 years NFL films, but we thought I was excited this morning because I usually ask at the end of our meeting, hey, who's coming on the show today. And he became a really important cog for the Philadelphia Eagles late in the year. He was a former Penn Stater.

First year with the Philadelphia Eagles running back Miles Sanders. Let's bring him on the show today. He was one of these big five-star recruits and he chose Penn State. And I've been to Penn State twice. And you've got to love Penn. What is that? What do I get? A little gift.

Yeah. Look at this. By the way, I like gifts. Ron Boobie Run. By the way. By the way. By the way. Penn State's in the middle of nowhere

and everybody wanted you. You were a five-star guy. So you fly in and you stay at the Nittany Lion Inn or whatever it is up there. Why did you choose Penn State? Because it's not the sexy, you know, it's kind of out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, this is a little town and I kind of wanted

to get that real, like, you know, college atmosphere. Oh, it totally is. Yeah, yeah. So this is on a little town. I mean, the football is great there. Playing against 100,000 people at home game. So, like, that's That's what really, really made me come in. You know, me and my mom were really strict on trying to find a school that's going

for benefit me in education-wise school. It's a very good school. Yeah, yeah. It's a terrific. What do you major in? Communications and RPTL. Yep, it's great. It's a great university.

They called a, I think it's called a public Ivy. That it's a public school, but it's got Ivy standards. Let me ask you about this. You also played briefly with Sequin. Did you for a year? Two. Two years. Okay.

Now, he's great. When you were running back, You know, it's almost like being a boxer. You got your own style. But did you just steal anything? Was there anything with Sequin? You're like, you know what? That little move or that little training thing.

Do you take anything from him? I can say really just seeing how running backs are being more different, you know, as far as catching the ball at the backfield. And he did a heck of a job of doing that at Penn State. And, you know, that was me trying to just work on that and trying to be that more dynamic running back, you know. Do more than just run. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, Sequin's become an absolute star in the state. the league. Let me ask you about, let me get to the OBJ thing quickly. So, you know, you were sitting over here in the studio listening. Listen, a lot of people want players paid. I do think it's an incredible platform of marketing, college football. So I know who you are by the time you get to the NFL. I'm more willing to buy your jersey. You can get shoe deals, all that stuff. When you see OBJ paying players, I kind of roll my eyes at it. I'm like, it's a Hyundai who gives a rip. What is your reaction to it? Kind of the same way.

I think he could have did it differently, you know, in the locker room or something. But, I mean, it just comes back to, you know, times, like, when I was in, like, high school, you know, like one of my big cousins or big brother just, you do this and I got this for you after the game. Right. Just simple stuff like that. I don't think it should really be looked into, like, a violation, which I already know it is. But, I mean, I look at it like that. I don't think it was nothing.

There's a lot of mixed messages. You guys get swag bags at ball games. You can have headphones. you guys get fed like kings or smoothie bars everywhere so you go to college and you are treated did you guys have your own facility to sleep in and live it yeah so so these kids are surrounded by this wealth on campus and then it's a hundy after a game and everybody is freaking out all right i want you to stick around because i'm going to ask you about Carson wence who i have to defend constantly on this show i want to ask you about the difference between James franklin a college coach

and Doug peterson i want to ask you about that cowboy game and how big you were late in the season. So don't go anywhere. Miles Sanders. Eagles running back is going to be joining us. Greg CoSell top of the hour, too. 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 a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

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

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

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, 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 Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me.

He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. A rep. My mom, I want you. shoot away better. What? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the Army. I'm Todd Ramos. I'm Tom Boat. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer,

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

And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your podcast.

Yes. Cold outside in the winter. Stay inside with your casper.com. Bed, use the code cozy for 10% off any purchases. Casper.com slash terms. Casper. All right. By the way, you have a chance to be rookie of the year.

Josh Jacobs for the Raiders is probably the lead dog to get the rookie of the year. You will get a lot of votes because for Philadelphia this year, and I have a love, hate relationship with Philadelphia. They love to hate me every day. So you really, you can make an argument. you and Carson went saved the season. You became their best pass catching back when injuries happened. It didn't start the year like that.

So I want you to talk about a little bit about how the season developed. You come in as a second rounder. They've got all these running backs. They've got some veterans and then hurt, hurt, hurt, Miles Sanders joining us. Hurt, hurt, hurt. All of a sudden, week eight, week nine, week 10, week 11. You become a humongous component to this team.

You just kind of wait in your turn, wait in your turn. Were you surprised how that? valuable you became down the stretch? I mean, I can say it's definitely a blessing. First of all, be on this level. You know, I worked so hard to be at this point. And it didn't really surprise me because, like I said, I've been working my whole life for this moment.

And when I got there, of course, we had Joy and Howard that took most of the loads. That's right. I understood that. And they brought me in to be like a pass catching back anyway. And then these pros got hurt. So, and then this is me. And then I'm happy Boston got a chance to really show what he can do too because he's a special player too.

And he started off on the practice squad. But like I said, I'm not surprised on the success I've been having. Like I said, I've been working my whole life for this. Now, Carson Wentz, I love. So Nick Foles wins the Super Bowl. And everybody's like, Foles is better. And I used to go on the air and be like, timeout. Carson Wins is filthy good.

Give me a sense. I see Carson Wins play, but I don't see practices. says, I don't see the locker room. There have been stories. You know, Wenz doesn't get along with all the guys. Keep it real here. Give me the good and the bad. The guys like Wence.

Yeah, I believe everybody likes them. I love them, you know, especially the way things went this season. You know, with Alshan going down. DeShon Jackson. Then Nelly was like on and off with his injury. So all he had was really to be safe. You? To be safe.

I wasn't going to say myself to be safe. He only had Dallas and Zach at the time. So, I mean, that's what people will probably bring up. But then you got guys like G. Ward came up, and we had some other guys from the practice squad that came up. And I ended up being a good weapon for him, too. And the good thing that he did was it didn't matter who was out there. He gave us confidence, and just allowed us to go out there and ball out for him.

You went to the same high school as Joy Taylor. So then you go to Penn State. So you are a Pennsylvania kid. You looked around at Michigan State. you looked around at other places, but you stay in Pittsburgh now, or in Pennsylvania. So you have James Franklin, who is, you know, big personality, and then you go to Doug Peterson, not quite the personality. How are James Franklin, who I love, by the way, how is he different than Doug Peterson?

How are they different? I mean, there really isn't any differences, really. Kind of real similar, you know, both player coaches, you know, they like to communicate with us all the time. Doug is a real cool dude. He loves football. He loves coaching the game. And Coach Franklin's the same way. He loves his players. You know, I always doing stuff

and the benefit of the players. So never puts itself first before us. And that's what I like about both of them. You know, what's interesting about the running back position is that it is, the NFL is very cyclical. And then for a while it's all receivers. And then it's this year, we're seeing Derek

Henry now matters. And It's a beast. He is. So in this, the league, you know, I'm old enough. It used to be fullbacks were everywhere. Then they disappeared for a decade. Now everybody wants fullbacks again. So running backs are becoming more, the last 12 months, everybody bailed on running backs.

And then people watched Eric Henry and go, well, God, that's the only way to beat good teams is to run it and get the quarterback off the field. Do you feel like now is a running back that you are essential, that you are valuable? As far as for my team, yeah. I feel like the way the year that I had, you know, I definitely feel like that way. And I feel like I still have my best football to play. And I'm just ready to keep grinding and get better and get ready for year two. I think year two is definitely going to be special. By the way, you're not only a pass catcher, but you will go deep out of the backfield.

You're a guy, you know, like a Sequin, I can put you out in the flat. I can send you on routes. So not all running backs can catch. Okay, were you a receiver at any point? No. No. But there are a lot of running backs that got bad hands. Yeah, I've been a running back my life.

And so were you always a good path catcher? I was decent. I could say, a lot of people can say when I got to Penn State, I kind of struggled on that. And then, you know, just took it upon myself to really just try to get better at that because the way they used Saquine at Penn State. They threw to them. Yeah, when it was my turn, I tried to, you know, just had that tool.

ready in case they wanted to throw me the ball. But I didn't really get to showcase that a lot at Penn State. And then as far as Combine came and Pro Day, just wanted to show that I really got good and confident hands. So then, I know with like 50-something catches this year. That's a lot. Yeah. That's a lot.

By the way, how many did Sequin? Christian McCaffrey had how many catches? Like 100. A hundred catches. When you, as a running back goes, you know, we talk about football's gotten safer and safer. Running back is the only position left where people can hit you any time, mostly anywhere, with any part of their body. And you come through the line miles and you have no idea who's going to hit you.

So let's say you have six catches, 11 carries, 12 carries. How big are you? Well, 2.05, 210 right now. Okay. You're not a huge guy by NFL standards. What do you feel like, honestly, on a Monday after a tough NFC football game? What do you feel like on Monday? Be honest, my body hasn't been like real sore like I thought it would be.

And I was just based off of the reps that I had, you know, coming throughout the whole season. I didn't have a lot of reps since I did it in the second half of the season. But I think I did a good job of just taking care of my body and just being fresh for those Mondays. And then Tuesday come and then having to be ready for full practice on Wednesday. Wednesday is your first full practice. So I think I did a good job of just take care of my body.

Now, in college, you were one of the nations leading rushers. So in college, you were more of a workhorse than in the NFL. So in college, did you actually feel like you were more exhausted? Oh, yeah, yeah. I always tell me, like Penn State, I was a little sore. In Monday, every day. Because at Penn State, you'd get 23 carries. Yeah, it's a great program.

So Philadelphia is an interesting city where they got all these pro sports. It's always felt like an Eagles town. People love it. They lubricate, they drink, they park. There's a lot of intensity. The talk shows make you guys into superstars. Can you sense it with that organization how important the Eagles are to the city? Oh, yeah.

Very important. I mean, that's everybody's watching the Eagles on Sundays, whether it's home or away. But the home games are electric. It's kind of similar to Penn State games. You know, when we have a home game there, it's going to be rocking. And we just feel the type of, you know, when we lose, we can feel. feel the type of energy they have, you know, that they most likely don't like us. And that's just the love of the game that all the fans have in the city and how important

that we mean to them. Let's go to the Green Bay game. So that was a very interesting point. Before you fell apart this year, we were all doubting Philadelphia. And then you go to Green Bay. And it is just, you just lean on them in the second half. So let's talk a little bit about the Packers defense. That week of practice, the discussions.

rate Green Bay's defense. Is it fast? Why did you guys have so much success against the Packers defense in Lambo? We just, I mean, you got to see the old line that we have. You know, we got Jason Kelsey, got Jason Peters, got Lane Johnson, Brandon Brooks, you know, a whole all-pro officer line,

and they just dominated the line of scrimmings that game, and which opened up the run game a lot, which was, I think, first. time in the season where we had a decent run game for the season. So I think Jordan had about 80-some yards and had about 70-some yards. So that also played a good part. There's just controlling line scrimmage and then we opened up with the past sometimes too. By the way, later in the season, you went up to Buffalo, a great defense and you totally dominated the bills the same way. Do you feel like if you just take the injuries out that you would have been in this game this

weekend. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. You guys just fell apart. I mean, that's what happens. But what I love about this team, out of everything that happened, we still manage, you know, to make the playoff. So that just shows the type of team we are. And I mean, a healthy Eagles team, you don't know, sky's the limit. When you lost to Seattle, so it's the end of the season, again, we kind of set on the air, like there's only so many games you can win when you don't have the players. So when it was all done, lose at home to Seattle. Russell Wilson's great. What did Doug Peterson say?

How did he address the team? The season's over, disappointing loss at home. What did he say? Yeah, basically what I just said. He was just proud of us how hard we fought throughout the whole season. We went through a lot. I mean, with all the stuff being said about the locker room, the Carson stuff, the injuries, injuries.

We're playing with guys on practice squad. So, and for us to, I mean, the last four games, we came down to those last four games where we had to go four and O. So, and that's not easy, especially there are all divisional games. And we got to play the Giants twice. We got to beat the Cowboys that beat, beat us pretty bad early in the season. So, and we just took care of business, man, and that's the show of the type of team we are. Yeah, no question about that.

But now, by the way, you went to high school in Pittsburgh and you played for the Philadelphia Eagles. Did your mom come to the games? Yeah, every game. Really? Isn't that great? How does she feel about you getting tackled all day? Oh, she hates it. She worried about me all the time.

Is she? Yeah. I can't hear in the stands no more, but I'm pretty sure she'd be worried. So she calls you after games? Yeah. How's my honey, that kind of thing? Yeah. Okay.

I get that. Mom watching son getting rolled over by 300-pound guys. Miles Sanders, Eagles running back. Do you still talk to James Franklin and all? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They got a good program there. Great dude. So soon, it'll be a nati, I think.

Yeah, well, the recruiting class. this year was unbelievable. So once again, they did it. All right, coming up next, we have Greg CoSell, NFL Meat Sandwich, NFL films for 40 years. I want to thank Miles Sanders. Folks, don't forget, Michelin Endurance XT, Scylestone Wiper Blades, built. Real World Tough. Walmart has them two times longer than other blades. 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 the game. This morning, the internet.

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 athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo 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, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking.

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

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

Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, Brett, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Cliverts show on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines.

I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balligan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team.

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Ah, this is The Hurd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles, hour two, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me five minutes from now, Greg Kose. If you bet sports, if you love football, fantasy football, just want to watch it.

He'll break down the two playoff games this weekend. Plus have an opinion on Joe Burrow, who I like, I don't love. I think he's good. I don't think he's all-time special. I could be wrong. Greg Kosell in a few minutes will tell us what he thinks. And Joy Taylor is joining us. Miles Sanders went to your high school.

Yep. Your brother, Jason Taylor coached him at some point. No, no, that was my younger brother. He knows my younger brother also. So my younger brother coached up at the high school for a little while. I played football there too. Noah was there when Rob Gronkowski was playing there.

Yeah. But yeah, Jason obviously played there too. Listen, we just, you know, we produced NFL great. So what can I say? Yeah, he could have been. He's in the top five rookie of the year candidates, Miles Sanders, actually saved their running back situation. He and Carson Wentz basically saved the season in the last four or five weeks.

Has everybody got hurt? It was Miles Sanders and Carson Wentz. The Eagles were all heart this year. Yeah. I want to address this story. So this is weird. The Giants, the New York Giants are interviewing Jason Garrett for the offensive coordinator position.

What are you doing, Jason? I mean, I get the Giants wanting him, but what are you doing, Jason? Time out. John Gruden took a decade off. His stock rises. Go look at John Gruden's record. Jason Garrett's record is better than John Gruden's record. What are you doing?

By the way, Mike McCarthy somehow became a better coach sitting on his butt all offseason. Why are these coaches so insecure I think it's just part of the coaching DNA. They think the next job they get offered is the last one they'll ever be offered. Chip Kelly, after Philadelphia went 10 and 6, 10 and 6. Then he has a bad year, 7 and 9 gets fired and rushes into the 49er job. What are you doing? Sit back and let people talk about, wow, look, you know,

Chip Kelly did go 10 and 6. Instead, he went into a messy situation in San Francisco. Then from there, he rushes back over to UCLA. Jason Garrett has a better coaching record right now than John Gruden percentage-wise. And John Gruden has the best contract in the league, 10 million a year, moving to Vegas with no state tax for a decade. Like the art of saying no, don't rush to agree to every contract or every job offer. Think about this. In one year, you can be coaching Matt Ryan in Atlanta with a very good roster, a very good GM, a very stable owner, and Matt Ryan.

in one year, Minnesota and the Chargers, if they don't win this year bigger, chargers, rosters loaded. We don't know if Anthony Lynn's going to make it. One more year of being average, Anthony Lynn's probably gone, and Mike Zimmer's conservative game planning is going to get him booted if they don't win big next year.

Minnesota, Chargers, those are like big boy jobs with NFL pro bowlers everywhere. Jacksonville's going to have an opening. I'm not saying it's not an elite one, but Tampa's going to have an opening probably. Jacksonville's going to have an opening, Bruce Ariens probably retires. Detroit could have an opening.

What are you guys doing? Jason Garrett's resume is impressive. 56% of the games he's won. That's right on Bill Parcells his line. Three playoff appearances, three 10-plus winning seasons. Only one losing season. And that was when Tony Romo got hurt and it was a revolving door at quarterback. Dude, Netflix and chill, go home, sit in your 6,500 square foot mansion in Dallas.

Coordinator, it's also a weird fit. Because Dallas, he always looked like Jerry Jones adopted son. It just is a weird fit to me. I don't like it. I don't think he should be a coordinator. It's bad branding. I know coaches want to coach, but take a year off, take a deep breath. Something's going to be open.

And Jason Garrett is absolutely going to get a second job. The longer you're on the beach, I mean, ask yourself, look at Cleveland. They were just at the end, Cleveland was interviewing anybody who'd been a coordinator for even a year. The Packers hired a guy who'd been a coordinator for a year. There's not a long list of viable coaching candidates in the NFL

increasingly. You're just giving them the guy. Freddie Kitchens got a job. He'd never been a coordinator. You were the coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Sheesh. Don't get it. All right, 40 years working in NFL films. We bring him on every Thursday throughout the football season, also during the combine, also during the draft. He's our friend Greg Koss.

So I have, I am not I think Joe Burrell's good. I don't think he has a special arm. I don't think he has, he's an athletic freak. I think he's good. I think Justin Herbert has maybe equal arm and a little bigger. I think two is more accurate, perhaps. I don't know.

You look at Joe Burrow. People are saying Joe Montana, Tom Brady. What do you see? I always struggle to make comparisons to all-time greats. And, you know, you're trying to talk stylistically. And I've seen some of Burrow I need to watch more. There's positive traits. He's certainly poised.

composed in the pocket. He's got very light feed. He's got good balance. He's got a compact delivery. He's an easy thrower. He's not a velocity thrower, but he's an easy thrower. I think in the tape I watch and I watch four games already, Texas, Florida, Arbor, and Alabama,

I'll get to the playoff games shortly. But I think that he's pretty consistently accurate. And I think that's really, really important. And obviously, he's got movement ability, and he maintains his focus downfield. And in today's NFL, that movement inability is very, very important.

So I like what I've seen. You know you've been doing this a long time, Colin. You know there's going to start being blowback on Joe Burrow, because right now he's being talked about as if he's a first ballot hall of famer and he hasn't yet played in the NFL. And then when people really start digging down, you'll start to hear, you know, it's going to happen. You'll start to hear he played on a great team, that he played with, you know,

in a great offense. He had, you know, wide receivers who were going to be high picks. Chase can't come out yet, but, you know, he may be a first round pick next year. You'll start to hear the blowback. But, you know, I've liked what I've seen on tape. Yeah. I think he looks a little bit like Tony Romo. Just a little bit.

I know it's, you know, it's comp time, but, you know, elusive, clever, a little ducking. Yeah. He's got a little Tony Romo. He'll throw, you know, he's not afraid to throw interceptions. He'll throw the ball up and let us players go make a play. He's not timid. He plays with some courage. I like that.

Yeah. No question. I mean, I think he's an aggressive mindset thrower. He's a competitive kid. You know, he showed the ability in college to beat pressure with movement and make a throw, make a play. he can make plays outside the structure of the offense. You know, I think there's a lot of traits to like. People will start talking about his arm,

and there'll be different conclusions about that regarding its relative importance. That will be in the eye of the beholder, because he's not a velocity thrower. He doesn't have higher level arm strength. So then you have to decide, is that important to you or not. Yeah.

All right, let's move to, I want to talk about last weekend. Sure. So you were always saying, listen, Baltimore's a run offense. They are. They're not, you know, historically college or pro, run offenses aren't built to play from two touchdowns back. So what went wrong with the player that's going to win MVP, Lamar Jackson? What went wrong for him against Tennessee?

Well, as I told you, probably last week, maybe the week before, their offense is built on Jackson as a runner, not as a distributor of the football. And they got down 14-0, and I think that they decided they needed to throw the ball. I don't know if they felt the game was out of hand at that point, but they sort of changed their offense. Yes. They turn their offense into what would be viewed. as a more conventional NFL offense with Jackson as a dropback passer, and that's not his game. It may become his game down the road, but it's certainly not his game now, and it's not the way their offense is built.

So now, it's skewed a little bit by what happened at the end of the first half, but he had more than 25 dropbacks in 40 offensive plays in the first half, and that's certainly not the way they play football. Yeah. By the way, Ryan Tannahill's numbers are looking nemic, but is there anything about Ryan Tannihil when you watch film at NFL films that you'd be like, listen, He's doing some impressive things because the stats will tell you it's all Derek Henry. But I don't think you can beat New England and beat Baltimore if he's not doing something.

Well, certainly they didn't throw it very much. That's the thing. You know, those games played out. New England was an odd team this year because they really did not have a very good offense. And because they have Tom Brady, people just assume they have a great offense, but they did not have a very good offense. And they were able to beat New England. They only scored two offensive touchdowns and they were able to win.

You know, this past week, they ran the ball. really effectively, they did hit the shot play. And the shot play offense when it comes to the passing game. And then when they got in the red zone, they were very creative because that style of offense, if you're going to run the ball that much, you need to end drives with touchdowns, not field goals. And they got very creative. They had the jump pass by Henry, and they had the speed option with Tannahill. So that's really good play calling because you have to score touchdowns.

And that's not a profound statement, but that offense, they're not likely to hit a lot of a big, explosive plays. Although I think Panahill throws the ball really well, and I think he's throwing the ball well all year long. By the way, Derek Henry's been good since high school. It does feel like maybe this is just the perception that they're leaning on him

more. They are. Okay, so they are. So there is a sense that they made a decision at some point. He is going to become more of a focal point. You saw that on on film? Week 10. Now they're back playing the Chiefs. And I think Henry's better in two areas. And maybe it's because he's getting more volume

and feeling more comfortable, but he's far more decisive, and I think he's been much better in confined space. I always thought he was powerful when he generated velocity and momentum. In other words, not just powerful when there's bodies around him. Now he's powerful with bodies around him. He's your classic runner where it looks like he just gained three yards, and all of a sudden it's second and three. And that's been critical for them, but I think he's improved significantly in those two areas. You know, when it comes to Patrick Mahomes, You know, it's all the clichés, the gunslinger stuff. Do you see, when you look at Mahomes from previous years, do you see little improvements?

What does the film say on him? I thought he was very in subtle areas. I mean, there was a play, and it's actually going to be the play we show in a little bit. It was early in the third quarter, and it was one of the few times, if not the first time in the game. I'm not certain that the Texans played zone, and he recognized it immediately. So I think that he plays with a certain awareness and intelligence that probably isn't talked about very much because he has such high-level physical skills. Now, having said that, I think there are times he moves too much, but I think he can compensate for that with his great throwing ability. What do you mean moves too much?

He flushes out of the pocket too soon. Yeah, I think he moves prematurely. I think there's a looseness and an undisciplined nature to the way he plays at times. Yeah. And it's the reason why not everyone loved him coming out of college. It's easy now to look back and say everybody was an idiot, but there were a lot of people, and you probably talk to them as well that did not necessarily think he was a top 10 kind of pick coming out of college, because he was a very undisciplined player.

And he still has that to him to some degree. But he's such a great thrower. There are times he compensates for that lack of discipline with a great throw. All right, let's move to Green Bay and San Francisco. Green Bay is one of those teams. They've got 14 wins, but there's not a lot I love about him. Aaron did make, you know, he's Aaron. He made, you know, they don't ask nearly as much this year, but he made about four throws.

What jumped out to you with Aaron this weekend? Third down, he made some really good throws, and they had some really good concepts, and I think that'll be critical against the Niners, because the first time they played the Niners, when they got beat badly, they were awful on third down. And I think that that was a critical piece of beating Seattle. But the other thing I would say is there's going to have to be some volume and some production. in their run game. Now, that doesn't mean 180 yards, but they're going to have to run the ball with Aaron Jones. And, you know, based on tape study and based on cumulative stats, the best way to

run the ball against San Francisco is to get them in their nickel. So you put three wide receivers on the field. You put Jones, you know, Rogers in the gun with Jones offset, and you run the ball. And they're going to have to have some volume and production in the run game. It'll be interesting because the Niners D line is obviously, we know. We know Bosa and Buckner and D Ford now, and Alquan Alexander, who's a terrific, just a special athlete. And here's my thing is when I watch San Francisco's defensive line, I said this. The 85 Bears, it was just this velocity where they were winning individual matchups, and collectively they were suffocating.

I think we forget, Greg. The Niners start 8-0. Then everybody gets hurt. Now they're healthier again. In the middle of the season, they lost both tackles. They're fullback, George Kittle. They lost defensive linemen. when I look at their individual defensive linemen, on film,

do they just win battle after battle individually? They are very good with stunts. And what you're going to see in this game, they will attack the right guard Turner, Billy Turner for the Packers. They will attack him individually. And with stunts, he really struggles. And what they do is they line up either Ford or Bosa inside at times over the guard.

We saw Ford get a sack this past week where he beat left guard Elfline. for the Vikings. So they can win individually with some different fronts, but they also are really good with stunts at a particular defensive fronts as well. So they're both good individually and scheme. You know, I was joking earlier. My kids were making fun of me the other day. I have an iPhone 6, and they're like, oh, it's so outdated. And I said to my kids, what more does it need to do? I've got an alarm clock. I have Greg Kosell's number. I can make calls. I can get calls. I don't need it to make bagels and do my clothes, right? And I watched Jimmy Garoppolo, He's 21 and 5, and it used to be that was good enough.

He's good in the fourth quarter. His passer ratings, you know, over 100 in the fourth quarter and overtime. I like the kid. Maybe he's not a good fantasy football quarterback. Joy and I were saying earlier, we put our arms around the entire Niner organization, and where everybody's like, well, I don't know if I like Jimmy G. My eyes tell me he's kind of an it guy in big moments. What does the film say?

Well, it guy in big moments. That's always hard to know. You know, because then you have to look at the individual plays. But I think Garapolo is a really strong timing rhythm player in an offense that's really built on that. It's an offense that works the middle of the field. That's where they predominantly throw the ball between the numbers. So every once in a while, he doesn't pick up an underneath defender. Yes.

Because there's so many throws in the middle of the field. So that happens every once in a while. And this past week it happened because a couple of times, the linebackers didn't bite on the run action as much as the 49ers hoped. So that's something he'll work on. I mean, you just made the point. He's only started 25 games or something along those lines. Yeah.

But he's a really compact thrower. I wouldn't say he has a great arm, but he has a good arm within the short intermediate areas. And they have a clear view of what they want to do offensively, and that's what he does. And by the way, I like how you point this out. As we watch that Viking defense, they ask him to make throwers. in cluttered areas. They don't ask him to throw stuff out into the flat. This is not an easy...

You've got to have the right quarterback to make some of these throws. Well, Kyle Shanahan has the best run-pass fusion in the league. So what happens is he attacks linebackers. He puts them in conflict with run and pass responsibilities. So you're throwing behind them. So sometimes they may not react exactly right, and then you're throwing to a linebacker who's sort of in the area.

And every once in a while, he just doesn't account for it the way he should. And he'll throw a pick. Yeah. All right, let's go to our big play back to Patrick Mahomi, who everybody in America loves, who I want to make the Super Bowl, nothing against Tennessee. But I'm not going to lie. I think the league would love to see, you know, Mahomes is a lot of fun. And what's your play?

Well, this was early in the third quarter. The Texans had played a ton of man coverage. And then they come out on the second and ten, and they're going to show a man and play zone. Let's look at the play first. Okay. This was a 48-yard pass to Sammy Watkins. And like I said, it was a case where they played zone,

but they tried to show a man look. And that's what you're going to see as we see Mahomes in the gun. It's second and ten. He's in the gun a lot to begin with. And you can see the secondary right here. You see that Justin Reed is behind Lonnie Johnson. It has the look of what we call a one-robber coverage, which is a man coverage.

And you can see there's Vernon Hart. Hargrease, who looks like the slot corner right now over the slot receiver. So right now this clearly looks like man coverage. But just as the ball is getting ready to be snapped, what Targrees rotates back, they spin to what is cover two. It's a zone concept. You see the two split field safeties. They have field safety. There's Johnson.

He's what is now called the middle hole defender in cover two. He opened up to the three receiver side, to the strength of the formation. Watkins is on the weak side of the formation. And so now, as I said, it's cover two. He's going to run in the void between the safety and the corner. This is where you make throws against cover two, the outside void, behind the corner and outside the safety. But Mahomes just read this instantly. And that's what I was talking about earlier, how impressive Mahomes is when he sees things.

Because they had been playing man all game. They showed man pre-snap. It was disguised in late movement. and yet he saw it instantly. There was no hesitation in where he was going with the football. Boy, that was one of the best ones you've had all year. That's a really, really good piece of video there. Greg Kosell, my friend, great talking to you.

And we got to, after the season, Angie, we got to meet and talk about some of these quarterbacks in college. Well, I've already started, Colin. I've already started. I know you have. Thanks, man. All right, good stuff. Kyrie Irving last night did something. I would not strongly recommend the latest on OBJ and the arrest warrant.

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 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 Slices 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, Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines,

as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app, Search learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This 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.

A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming.

Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart 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 Polisic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried.

about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever, you get your podcast.

Sunday with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Aaron Rogers leads the Packers against Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers, the NFC Championship presented by Intuit TurboTax kicks off Sunday at 6 Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Colin, one of the questions for this week's Super 6 NFL playoffs contest is which team will win about how many points? Who do you like in this game? 33, 23, San Francisco.

Aaron Rogers, we know this. He's a 500 road quarterback. his last six playoff games on the road. He's two and four, and he's completed about 59, 60% of his throws. Aaron Rogers is not as good away from Green Bay. It's one of those weird stats. Russell Wilson's an all-time great road quarterback.

Aaron isn't. And so I don't think he's going to win this game. Last five times he's lost a playoff game. He lost to a team he also lost to in the regular season, so I don't think the revenge factor means anything. And here's Joy Taylor to the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Well, we haven't talked about the bears a lot, but we did talk about them a lot this season. You and I are kind of on the same page with Mitch at Rubisky. They said they're sticking with him as a starter in 2020. Former Bears coach Mike Dickett thinks it's the right move. He said you put people around him. You understand what Mitch can do and you try to maximize that.

He's a good football player. The Bears can win with him. And they can win championships with him. They're close. I really believe that. All right. NFC's got Aaron Rogers, Matt Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jimmy Garoppolo, Russell Wilson, all right, and then, all right.

I'm not going to bad mouth him. Carson Wentz. Yeah, he's pretty good. Daniel Jones looked way better than we thought. Cam Newton's coming back. Drew Breeze. Listen, he seemed like a nice kid, and they did win a division with him, so I'm not saying. We're not talking about anybody personally. We always end up defaulting to that. I don't want to be a bad guy. It just. We're like banging on him, but he's just not the guy. It's not. I do agree with the last statement that Dick has said that they are close.

That's why I think they should be aggressive and not stick with Chubisky, because I think their defense is there. The defense is a Super Bowl caliber defense. I know Dave Wanstats, a buddy of mine. He's a Pittsburgh guy. And Dave has a lot of connections in Chicago. He lives there. And he has a lot of connections inside the Bears. And he said, listen, the players love him.

He is hardest working guy on the team. He's an alpha. He's a guy's guy. He's a very like Jay Cutler was talented But nobody liked him I mean people did not like Jay Cutler in Chicago Like in the locker room

People love Trubisky And there is value in that There is no question There is value in guys Loving you and being behind you It's so awesome to be loved It is I wouldn't know what it's like

But I hear it's fantastic Dave once That was the first celebrity I ever met Was he really? Yep I won an art contest And got to go to Chicago Where my aunt lived And there was like a phone

you know, like the phone centers where you like call in a donate. And he was like a celebrity there. And I was freaking out. My aunt was like, you know, I'm like a 10 year old little girl. Like, oh my God, that's Dave Wonstadt. He's the coach of the Chicago Bears. That's still how I treat him today when I see it. I do.

Actually, do, too. I love Dave. So according to Fox bet, Aaron Roders and the Packers are seven a half point underdogs against the 49ers in the NFC championship game Sunday. Green Bay was blown out 37 to 8 when they faced San Francisco. in week 12. Eight points for Aaron Rogers. Yeah, that was an awful game. And it sticks out also because we talked about it so much.

And then Aaron Rogers remembers said he didn't feel like they were prepared. Like some guys kind of went out and partied a little bit. It wasn't really the best situation. Well, Rogers isn't feeling the pressure this time around. The problem is when you make it bigger than it needs to be. When you try and do too much, that's when the mistakes happen. And, you know, I think if you look at this game, they're definitely favored by what seven and a half down is that right so they're you know obviously expected to hold court and win and people know and they're talking about how we played the last time so I think if you look at pressure the pressure is in a certain place and we should be we should be nice and loose they should be I think that's a good point I also like his point don't out think the room I think you have to be I will say this though this is what I don't like

Aaron's throwing a lot to Devante Adams. He doesn't trust a lot of people outside of him. Stanford, Garoppolo can throw to four different guys and hand it two. Garoppel's got a lot more trust than his dudes. I think that's the point that he's trying to make is that if they're going to win this game, they're going to have to air it out a little bit. Now, I personally feel like this game's going to depend a lot on if Aaron Jones can get going, which is my main concern.

Obviously, 49ers' defensive line is no joke. So that's really how their offense goes this year is through Aaron Jones. and not through Aaron Rogers. That's probably what he's speaking about. They don't have to air it out a little bit and play a little more loose. He's right. The pressure's all on the 49ers.

Yeah. Because no one expected Green Bay. Well, I thought Green Bay was good enough to get here, but no one expected Green Bay to be at this point right now, and a lot of people didn't. So they should win convincingly. And it's seven-half points according to Fox bet, Aaron, just so you know. But the Panthers, or I'm sorry, the Panthers.

The Packers have won six straight games since that loss of the 49ers. So they are rolling. Do you have the momentum there? So finally, Ryan Tannahill started the season as Marcus Marriott was backup, as we remember. He took over in week seven. Titans started to turn things around now they're in the AFC championship game. But Tana Hill said it took a little time to become the leader of the team. It's a little bit of a slow process.

You know, you don't want to come in, you know, guns blazing and shake the boat too much. It's just a matter of being myself, leading in my own way, encouraging guys, trying to press this offense, press each and every. person, build the relationships, and try to get the most out of every guy. We've been through a lot this season, ups and downs and won games in a lot of different ways. So with that comes a lot of belief and a lot of confidence in one another that doesn't really matter what play call comes in, that we'll find a way to make it work. I'm happy for Tana Hill. He's had a nice, solid career. There's nothing wrong with it. He's been, you know, he's a 500 quarterback, 90 passer rating, 63% completion,

and now he's in the AFC championship. There's a lot of guys with a lot worse career. He's been, you know, he's a careers than Ryan Tannahill. I think he, because he is kind of such a mellow, matter of fact, doesn't sell himself at all. He doesn't sell himself. He's not really very, I mean, on the field, he can be a little animated, but not to the point where it ever feels like any level of arrogance or negativity in any way that, I mean, look, he doesn't really feel like he ever has that X factor, that like extra special thing, but he's consistent. And if you have incredibly talented pieces around you. That's really all you need to be. Just don't make the big mistakes and the big moments.

And look where they are right now. And I mean, obviously, this offense goes through Derek Henry, who's, you know, playing out of his mind. But I don't know. This game is, both of these games are really interesting to me. I don't think they were going to have blowouts this weekend. I don't think so either. I think Tennessee is a lot more competitive than anything. If I'm Kansas City, I'm losing sleep over Tennessee.

I'm losing sleep over Tennessee. I know. We're all losing sleep over Tennessee. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Just to reiterate, New Orleans police on Thursday,

obtained an arrest warrant accusing NFL player Odell Beckham, Jr. of a simple battery in relation to a locker room interaction you had with a cop, a male cop, patted him on the butt or slapped him. They tried to initially say it was a misdemeanor sexual assault. The judge declined that. You know, it's very interesting about this. Some people just don't change. this is the challenge that Kevin

Stefansky has as head coach of the Cleveland Browns. This is just who OBJ is. He's seeking validation and attention. And Baker Mayfield's cocky. That's just who he is. Baker looks at it as a weakness if he isn't real and authentic.

And OBJ similarly has a brand and wants to stay in the news. And by the way, in his own division, Baltimore's getting all the attention. And so this is going to be the real challenge for Kevin Stefansky, who's never been a head coach. You have an immature attention-seeking wide receiver.

You have a quarterback who tends to be impulsive and thinks it's not authentic unless he is what he is. That's why I don't know, even though I like Kevin Stefansky, this is a hard job. Impulsive owner, impulsive wide receiver, impulsive quarterback. Much easier to coach Ryan Tannehill, Tom Brue. Brady, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan. So when people say, how do you think Stefansky will do? My question is, it's, a, I got so many impulsive, reactionary parts around him. If you had to, you know, roll your 401k onto one side or the other, I'd say,

Stefansky won't work. But I mean, listen, Stafansky takes the job a week later. This is what you're dealing with. Questions about OBJ. You're going to have multiple moments offseason during the season with Baker. Listen, it's hard to coach the NFL. These guys just make it tougher. They just make it a little bit tougher for even a veteran coach.

Forget, you know, Kevin Stefansky. So more questions to ask, more headaches, more impulsive behavior. This is just more Cleveland, isn't it? Jeff Schwartz, brother Mitchell, is a tackle and a good one for the Kansas City Chiefs. He'll be joining us coming up next, Jeff Schwartz. 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo SlicLife 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, Tript Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

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

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys?

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

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

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

I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything

he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. man, 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. MDrive, go to MDrivefermen.com, code hurt, 20% off your first month.

Refind your prime with MDrive, more lean muscle. Jeff Schwartz in a couple of minutes. I think it's interesting. You know, we're all talking about Joe Burrow and Tua. Greg Hosell was talking about Burrow, and he sounds like I do, which I think Burrow is a good candidate, a nice prospect. I don't think he's over the top. Great. So it's pretty funny. So Justin Herbert, we've all forgot about him because the SEC dominates,

the South dominates college football. The NFL is not regionalized. You got Silicon Valley this week. You had Seattle. You got the Northeast in Philadelphia made the playoffs. You got the Midwest in Kansas City, Green Bay. You got the South in Nashville and New Orleans. I mean, the NFL gives us all sorts of good teams all over the country. College football does not. 10 of the 11 last national championship games. There's been a team from the SEC West. College football is regionalized. And the SEC, there's 340 NFL players from the SEC.

It's the best conference easily. They won 9 of 11 bowl games this year. But they don't give us quarterbacks. They don't. The best one in the league right now is DAC. There are more good quarterbacks in the NFL from Cal, the seventh best program in the PAC 12 than the SEC. It is not, I know we're not.

We're talking Burrow and Tua. Justin Herbert this week worked out with T.J. Hushman Zada, who was on our show yesterday. Herbert had 35 touchdown, 32 touchdown, six picks, 67 percent completion rate. And remember, this is at Oregon with three star wide receivers. This is Oregon. This is not LSU with OBJs and Jarvis Landrys or Clemson. This is Oregon players. Justin Herbert was also much better than Joe Burrell as a junior. Again, with Oregon players. So this is TJ yesterday talking about Herbert 6-6-220 with a rocket arm and he's mobile. Animal, man. Oh, man. Unbelievable. Cannon, big. Like, he's so big. Great arm, good touch.

Like, it was probably ran routes for about 45 minutes to an hour. You did? I didn't. I was out there watching, working with the guys that I work when they're running around. This is Oregon's quarterback. Oregon's quarterback. and guys getting ready for the draft. And the way he's throwing the ball is, wow.

It's unreal. Now, this kid's got a cannon, and I said he looks like to me, Trevor Lawrence, although not quite as gifted. Not sure if he's got the alpha, not sure. He's a four-point biology major, big, strong. But remember, Carson Wentz is much better from North Dakota State than anybody in the SEC. Of the 12 quarterbacks who made the playoffs this year, none were from the SEC. The Mountain West had a quarterback.

The ACC had a couple. The PAC 12, the Big 10, the Big 12. Ohio Valley Conference had a quarterback. None from the SEC. I mean, take the Manning family out. They don't produce a lot of great quarterbacks. They produce a lot of great athletes. They produce busts.

Tebow was a bus. Marcus Russell was a bus. Johnny Manzell was a bust. He's Schuller was a bust. There have been a lot of busts. But it's funny about this. It's a big world out there for quarterbacks. Whereas the SEC is the best conference, no question.

SEC West is the best division, no question. The SEC dominates the Bulls, no question. The SEC's got the best fans and the best TV ratings, blah, blah, blah, check, check, check, check, check. They don't develop the best quarterbacks. That's not what the conference is because a lot of quarterbacks don't want to go in the SEC because it's about defense and running games. And the coach is a star and the running backs a star and the defensive lines big. So California still produces and Texas still produce a lot of quarterbacks.

And Justin Herbert's a guy to, you know, keep your eye on. another story that we need to address here is Kyrie Irving. Now, there's a big difference. If you look at the history and the NBA, most of your great players share a trait. They're not all tall and they're not all great shooters and they're not all strong and they're not all great defenders. What is the trait that most franchise superstar A-plus players have?

Mental discipline, mental toughness. MJ, Kobe, bird, magic, LeBron. This is why I never understood Kevin Durant choosing Kyrie Irving. Steph Curry, mental toughness, emotional discipline. He doesn't say stuff like the world is flat. Yesterday, Kyrie Irving came out and talked about all the needs that Brooklyn Nets have in need. Here it is. I mean, it's transparent.

It's out there. You know, it's glaring in terms of the pieces that we need in order for us to be at that next level. Collectively, I feel like we have great pieces, but obviously it's pretty glaring that we need, you know, one more piece or two more pieces that will complement myself. Katie, DJ, G.T. Spence, Karrison. You know, we'll see how that evolves.

It's not the end of the world, but generally you don't want to call out who you think are really important pieces and who are not really important pieces. By the way, the nets are five and nine. when Kyrie's on the floor, they're better 500 when he's not. And the Boston Celtics are now significantly better since Kyrie Irving left. Kyrie Irving is a flake. He's an artist.

He's gifted. He's special. But you can't build your franchise around him. And he's not a great teammate. And he doesn't help teams win. I don't know why we argue about this stuff. When I saw Kyrie Irving get hurt in Brooklyn, I was like, of course he got hurt. He gets hurt everywhere. When I saw Kyrie Irving meltdown earlier this year and say things

that weren't cool, I'm like, well, of course. That's what he's done his whole career. He's a bad decision maker. That doesn't mean he's not a great basketball player. It doesn't mean he's not one of the great artists and the great closers. He's all those things. But if you look at the history of the NBA, the people that you build a franchise around, Tim Duncan, Akeem, Dwayne Wade, LeBron, Magic, Bird, Kobe West, they all have the exact same strength. They're very strong emotionally. They are grown-ups, they're disciplined.

They're not artists. They're business people. They understand the locker room and the temperature. And I just think it's crazy that Kevin Durant had the opportunity to play with Steph, saw how easy it was. And then he chose a guy that bailed on LeBron and bailed on Brad Steve.

and both have flourished without him and he has not. So, you know, it's funny. Whenever I see these, you know, stories on Kyrie Irving, people are like, can you believe what he said? Well, of course I can. He bailed on LeBron. He bailed on a coach Brad Stevens who's been good with every point guard. Campbell Walker's just tearing it up.

Of course he is. He went to Brad Stevens. So I've never been a Kyrie guy. I think it's incredibly problematic and poor judgment for Katie to leave. Steph and Kerr and a great roster to Brooklyn. I know NBA, player empowerment. I get it. But quarterbacks don't leave teams with good coaches, good offensive linemen, and good receivers.

They don't. That'd be stupid. Patrick Mahomes would be out of its gourd to leave Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey and Andy Reed. He'd be like, what are you doing? I don't understand that Kevin Durant, smart guy apparently, very aware, watches Kyrie Lee LeBron, watches him bail, and says, yeah, that's what I want to go play with.

I don't get... Sometimes you got to get out of your own way, and what's happening with Brooklyn this year is exactly what I thought would happen, which is these guys even chose the second most important franchise in New York basketball. Why wouldn't you just choose the Knicks over Brooklyn?

Well, the owner. What, the owner in Brooklyn's amazing? I just, the NBA is funny is that I'm for player empowerment. I always have been. I support KD when he leaves. I support LeBron when he bounces around. I get it. I've moved around.

I'd be a total hypocrite to not support players moving around. But I do not support any player leaving a good situation to go to less of a situation. The Warriors have one of the best owners, one of the best coaches, one of the best superstars. I think Kevin Durant is going to regret it for years that he chose injury-prone and emotionally inconsistent Kyrie Irving. I thought it was a huge branding mistake and a huge mistake. And you're seeing it. This team last year, remember Brooklyn.

The story on Brooklyn was, you know, I didn't sit and watch a bunch of Brooklyn games, but the whole story was the chemistry is good, the hunger's good, the dudes like each other, and they snuck into the playoffs. And that was kind of the story of the team. It's toast now. literally they're worse when he's on the floor. So don't confuse. It's not anti-Kyrie.

He's really talented. He's Westbrook. I mean, I'm not John Wall, Derek Rose. I'm not Zach Levine. I'm not denying the talent. That's not the question. But that doesn't mean Zach Levine's fun to play. Wood.

Westbrook's having his worst year. Bradley Beale never feels that he's elevated with John Wall. And I don't think anybody, I don't think Kyrie makes anybody better. I think Kyrie makes Kyrie better. But this year, the nets are 13 and 3 when he doesn't dress. They've lost twice as many games as they've won when he does. What does that tell you? And by the way, last night, coming off a minus 29 plus minus a minus 29, he said that comment.

Dude, you're the problem. This team made the playoffs without you. They're 500 without you. You're the issue. Never ends with Kyrie. We'll give you more updates. Jeff Schwartz. We'll get him hooked up next hour.

Jeff Fisher will stop by as well. And four great teams left in the NFL. each one of these games is a movie poster for potential Super Bowls, which ones do we like and which ones don't we like? That's coming up. Penguins and Bruins in today's Discover Card Key matchup. Discover matches all the cash back. You earn any of your first year automatically.

No limit, which is awesome. Learn more at Discover.com slash cashback match. All right. There we go. I'm through it. Jeff Schwartz will come up. And Jeff Fisher will join us as well. You know, I will say this, after having Greg CoSell on today, talking about Joe Burrow, is I don't think it's a criticism to say with Joe Burrow, I like him as a prospect and he's an NFL franchise quarterback.

But there is a massive gap between that and being the number one pick. That sounded like what Greg Cocell was saying. Hour two, done, hour three next, The Herd. One more Hurd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the I-Hard Ruff. radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Jeff Schwartz

played in the NFL, his brother Mitchell, starting offensive linemen for the Chiefs, who the league built rules to create, but that's a scary matchup against the Tennessee Titans and joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network, brought to you by Mercedes-Benz.

The best or nothing is Jeff Schwartz. Listen, you talk to your brother not as much right before games. Tennessee is the kind of team because you're not going to outscore Kansas City much. But if I was a Chiefs fan this week and I can make the argument, Jeff, this is exactly the kind of team to beat Kansas City, is it not? It is.

And it's the team they've lost to in the playoffs the last four or five years. It's a team where they run the football, control the clock, which is what they lost to the Patriots last year. They lost the Steelers before that. They do not defend the run very well. They're 31st against the run. And the Texans obviously, I mean, the tightings, I should say, obviously, run the ball very well, and where they're really going to have to be good is the red zone.

Since Ryan Tannahill became the quarterback in week seven, the times in the red zone to score, and they scored on 30 touchdowns. 30 touchdowns and 31 scoring attempts in the red zone. Pretty amazing. They've got to stop the run to win this game. Yeah, I mean, listen, they're a physical. That is a remarkable number. 31 red zone trips, 30 touchdowns.

When you watch Kansas City last week fall behind 24-0, It is, despite the win, a little alarming. Do you think they were tight? What was it for you? I don't know. I think it was just one of those weird quarters. I mean, they muffed a punt. They had a punt block.

And then the number one special teams unit in the NFL. So that was odd to see. You know, when Bill O'Brien kicked that field goal instead of going for it on a fourth down, I figured the chiefs were going to win that game because that's a move you cannot make an arrowhead. You cannot allow them the opportunity to get a little bit of confidence going, stopping them in that situation and forcing a field goal.

But really the reason why I thought they'd win the game is the Texans aren't very good. They weren't a very good football team. Yes, they made to the playoffs. They beat a bad Bill's team in a weird playoff game. But the Chiefs offense is so much better than the Texas defense. I did not trust Bill O'Brien in this game. Did I expect them to score 51 points and still win by 20? No.

But I didn't expect them to lose this game. So the early start, the fast start for the Texans, shocking. but I never feared the Chiefs will lose. Let's talk about the NFC championship. I think Tennessee could beat Kansas City and I can see the way it's done. As a former offensive linemen, I look at San Francisco's defensive front

and I think almost two linemen, they're superior to Green Bay's blockers. I think it's a mismatch again, you. Well, the mismatch is really inside. The Packers tackles, if Brian Bulaga's back at right tackle, matchup decently well enough with the Niners' defensive end.

It's not going to be easy, but they have the guys that can do it. But inside is where there's a matchup problems. And the reason why the Niners are so good is because all their parts can win one-on-one matchups. You can't really go anywhere and hide from anybody, right? You can't double Bosa because then you have D. Ford and Buckner and Armstead that can win these one-on-one.

So inside is where the Niners really take advantage of this. And the Niners pass rush this year when everyone's been healthy has been absolutely fantastic against more pocket passers. I know Aaron Rogers can move and he's mobile, but the majority of the time, he's sitting in that pocket, and those Niners' defensive ends really get after them. But I think inside Buckner, Armstead, that's where the winning match of is for the Niners.

By the way, Jimmy G as his critics, I was joking earlier, it used to be, I've got an iPhone 6. I think that's what it is, and it does everything except press my shirts. And my family's like, you know, your phone doesn't do enough. And I'm like, when did it, when did not being able to call and take calls

and having a calendar and an alarm not enough. And I joke that same with Jimmy G. He's 21 and 5 and 26 starts. He's mobile. He has very good numbers in the fourth. When did that become not good enough for your quarterback? What do you make a Jimmy G? Well, we keep saying he's not good enough,

but then he plays well against the Saints. He played well against the Ravens. And earlier this season, they had kind of a stinker against the Cardinals, and he came back and won the game for the team. And every time we ask him to be in situations to put up the numbers, he does it. But I think the reason, reason why people feel this way is unlike the chiefs, let's say, that their offense is Pat Mahomes,

but Niners' offense does involve a run game. It involves a really good tight end, a great play caller. So all these things that they overshadow Jimmy G., where you look at Pat Mahomes and Aaron Rogers, and a lot of the offense relies on them being great, and you don't have to rely on Jimmy G to be great in the Niners' offense. You just need him to be good to make the throws they're there in the offense, and he does that very well. He's not a guy that's going to throw the ball 35, 40 times, typically. It's not how they win a lot of games. They win the game because they run the football and they find good opportunities for their quarterback. And I think people look at the scheme, which is absolutely fantastic.

And they get an easy throws as a downgrade for Jimmy G. I just don't see it. I mean, we're watching right now. That throw he made right there. That was the first quarter. Incredible throw. He can do it when he's asked. He just not asked very often. I want to ask you about Carolina. You live there and know the organization well. So they go with Matt Rule college coach. And then they get Joe Brady from LSU and I think it'll work. How is the reception for that

in Carolina? And do you buy that it will work? Well, they're pumped about Matt Ruhl. I mean, if you look at his resume at Temple and at Baylor, his ability to go from one or two wins to 11 wins in three years is pretty remarkable. Everyone I've talked to I said the same thing. He's a great

developer of talent, which is hugely important in the NFL. He's a tough coach, but players love him. I think he's doing great with his hire so far. like Brady coming from, you know, LSU, got a little bit of college in him, but also the pro scheme that the Saints have. And now the decision becomes Cam Noonan, I think we're going to see Cam not be on the roster next year. If you look at kind of where they're going with the Keeley retirement, I don't think Greg Olson will be back. I think Cam is next in line. Matt Rule,

Tepper, the owner, want their own guys in place. And I think this kind of the end of a dynasty era with Ron Rivera will now take over with Rule. I like what he's doing. He says the right things. And he's proven, though, that even saying the right things work for him because he's proven it on the college level. I'm excited to see him go this year. By the way, Carolina and the Chargers, many suspect Justin Herbert will be the third quarterback taken. He's got remarkable numbers with just Oregon players. And I got to tell you, T.J. Hushman's Auto watched him work out two days ago, came on our show and said he is a monster. Six-six, big arm, mobile, four-point student. you are went to Oregon you know the program he's the kind of kid that Carolina could get by moving up a couple of spots

tell me your insight on Herbert what concerns you what do you like yeah well tj mentioned it all to you I mean he can do everything you want him to do he can make all the throws he can make the reads he won the award this year for like best student athlete in the country he can do all that um a couple of things that I think that are going to worry people, you know, he does get off and robotic at times where he can't kind of get off his first and second to read, but part of that, in my opinion, is that the offense is,

they have a new O.C. now, but was conservative. And to your point, they don't have a pro-wide receiver. They don't have a pro running back. They have a pro-tideon who missed half the season. And so I think when you get them around better pieces, I hope that that robotic nature gets out. And we saw, by the way, in big games this year, the Utah game, the Wisconsin game,

the second half of the Washington game, he can make the plays when asked to do so. He uses legs, which they did not use all season long until the end of the game. And the last thing is more of a technical thing. I'm not sure quarterbacks get better at this, but his touch kind of intermediate routes, those routes over the linebacker between the safety.

He need to improve a little bit. But he's got the cannon, man. He's got all the intangibles. It's a matter of, I think, a strong coach that he goes to. It kind of forces him to come out of a shell a little bit, be more aggressive and take control on offense. By the way, they do not have a round. running back or a receiver that's an NFL guy, and they got a tight end that was hurt.

That cannot be underscored. He's not Burrow throwing to five-star NFL players or Tua throwing to what is the best receiving core in America in Alabama by far. Finally, the OBJ situation, the arrest warrant, obviously, don't touch cops. That's just stupid. There's the money situation at the end of the LSU game. I said this. People have asked me about Kevin Stefanski, and I said, I think he's going to work, but

I got an impulsive owner, an impulsive quarterback, and an attention-seeking wide receiver. What is your big picture on OBJ? Where to go with him if you're Cleveland, and what do you make of what he did? Look, I think all this silly. If he wants to give away money, then go be it. I mean, it's not something I would do, but he's giving his boys money. Go ahead and do that. Obviously, they're going to investigate that.

I wish they had better things to do than it just feels like, you know, he wanted to be part of the moment. He's an alum. He's excited. He's a mentor to a lot of these kids. I'm not terribly worried about this. You're right. Don't hit the cop. It's fairly simple.

Should they have an arrest warrant out for him? No. It just feels all so silly. As far as the Browns, I like the higher of Stefanski. The one thing I have an issue with so far from what I've heard is the owner's going to be involved in the process. I don't think you should be involved in the process. Jimmy Haslam has proven. And we just lost Jeff Schwartz.

Just a minute. He was going to talk about Cleveland. You know, Baker Mayfield probably cut the court on that. I would. OBJ or Baker. You didn't want to hear it. The minute he was going to really lay into him, Jeff Schwartz, we appreciate it,

former NFL offensive lineman. Jeff Fisher is around the corner as well, former Titans coach. Listen, they're not pretty, but if you watch the way Tennessee plays, it is the exact blueprint to beat Kansas City. Physical, time of possession, don't turn it over,

amazing in the red zone when you get two or three opportunities. former Titans coach, Jeff Fisher, around the corner. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. We're heading to Miami, starting on Monday, January 27th. The Herd and all of our FS1 shows will be live at Loomis Park on South Beach. As we get ready for Super Bowl 54. We'll have great guests, wall-to-wall coverage, giveaways, and a whole lot more.

FS1 Super Bowl Week live from Miami is just two weeks away. And Colin, you know, J-Lo and Shakur. She was performing at half time at the Super Bowl, obviously. Yes. Shakira and J-Lo. Yes. And they just announced today, the NFL announced that Demi Lovato will be singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Didn't she used to date Bieber?

Demi Lovato? No, that's Selena Gomez. Who's Demi Lovato is very popular? She's very, very, very popular. Who she's dating? I don't think she's dating anyone right now. She's actually very good friends with Jay Glazer. She works out with Jay Glazer.

Demi Lovato. works out with Jay Glazer. Well, everybody works out with Jake Glazer, yes, at Unbreakable Performance. But she has an amazing voice. So I'm sure she's going to do an excellent job at the Super Bowl this year. A lot of stars. It's going to be a very... One thing I know about Miami is

Miami does everything to the very edge of what Miami can do. Like, we are allowed. It's going to be the biggest party and events like you've ever seen. It's Vegas with a beach. Yes. Yeah. It's an event. It's not a great sports town. It's a great event

town. It's a historic sports town. Yeah, Muhammad Ali, Sunny Liston. But we're going to have a club at the arena that we'll go to before we go to the game. By the way, after our show yesterday, Joy and I got our notebook for Miami where we're staying in our set. Oh, my Lord. Yeah. If you're in Miami, you need to come down and see the sets, and there's going to be a lot going on for. Oh, like, unbelievable. Yes, and giveaways. Yeah. I don't give anything. away, but come down to Luma's Park

and check us out. That doesn't mean we'll talk to you but nonetheless you should talk to you. That's my city. That'd be fun. I can't wait. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

All right, well, we haven't talked too much about Antonio Brown lately because it's just kind of story after story, but this is significant. Drew Rosenhaus who was his agent as reportedly cut ties with Antonio Brown. Adam Schaefter just posted the news to Twitter, saying, agent Drew Rosenhaus conditionally terminated his relationship with Antonio Brown today until the free agent Y receiver seeks counsel per an NFLPA source.

Rosenhaus wrote in the letter that the NFLPA received today that he would like to work with Brown, but not until he first gets help. Yeah, I'm not a doctor, but he needs help. I can tell. I also am not a doctor. And I tried to stay away from being an armchair doctor and diagnosing what someone is going through when it's clearly. very public and it's story after story. I mean, obviously everything we know that happened with the Raiders and then everything that happened with the Patriots and the allegations.

And then the Saints workout and that fell apart and called that a publicity stunt. And then he started training for this boxing match with... Something's not right. And then just a few days ago, he had that huge blowup that was on social media on live. It was brutal. On social media with the cops and his mother of his children and his children were there. and it's just, it's, this seems, this seems significant to me. Like, I've stayed away from all of it because it's like, what, what can you say at this point?

Like, there's nothing new to say. But the fact that Drew Rosenhouse is separating himself from him feels like, okay, this is time for someone, if there is someone significant in Antonio Brown's life to step in there and kind of intervene. Because he is an all-time talent, but I think football is like, that should not be the concern right now. Like, get back straight first. So Andy Reid has. 220 career wins as a head coach. Yes.

Only one of those is against the Titans. I know it's one in eight. He is one and eight against Tennessee in his career, and he's going to count his players to get the win this weekend. Heck of a record, though, isn't it? Not very good. We've got to do better on my end. My players, they've won more games than I have against them, you know,

some of these guys. So, you know, I'm just going to bank on them. I'm not supposed to root for coaches. I like Andy. I'd love to see Andy get a time. I think we're in a safe space at this point in the broadcasting business, where people are very open about who they root for. The two best coaches in my life, like the two coaches that were really unique.

Don Corrielle, who coached the Chargers for years, very unique. And Andy Reed, I think they've really helped the game. I mean, they've been clever and creative. They made the game more consumable. And it's like I find myself, I don't root for teams anymore, but I do root for people. And I'd like to see Andy Reid when a tie. And I think he got a little bit of a break not having to go to Baltimore. He got a break.

Everybody gets a break at one point. That's right. If you're going to make it to a championship, you're going to need breaks. That's what it is. And yeah, Andy Reid is beloved. And I think also kind of the reputation of Andy Reid, obviously Bill Belichick is the greatest, if not, you know, 1A coaches of all time, you know, in college and pro just overall. But Andy Reid, to me, seems like more of a teacher. You know, Belichick is kind of very home-gray.

Very, like, in his self, you know, like... The wizard. Yeah, the wizard, kind of. Not that he's selfish, but, like, he's just very focused. And if you just look at the Andy Reid coaching tree, you can see the reflection of, like, what comes from the way that he handles things, the way players talk about working with him and what they learn. Yeah, I mean, I think there are coaches that are great teachers.

Bill Walsh was a great teacher. I think Andy's a great teacher. Right. Finally, six games into the season, the Titans season appeared to have been lost. But Mike Grable made a big change, took a chance on benching Marriota and going with Santa Hill. They were a bad team early. They were common match. I mean, we were not thinking they were going to be an AFC championship game for sure if you even make the playoffs.

But it ended up turning things around. We can't change what we've done to get us in this position to have this opportunity. And on October 14th, we were two and fourth. I was a bad coach, and this was a bad team. We try to believe in each other. We try to improve, try to prepare, trust each other, execute, and that's what's gotten us here.

So we can't change and start to make things up now. By the way, he was playing not too long ago. It's kind of a remarkable story, right? Like he was a dude playing in the league not long ago. He deserves a lot of credit because honestly, I mean, it felt like this was trending in that direction with Mariotto, but I thought that they would let him finish the season. And this was a bold move to Bench Marietta because he was their guy.

And obviously, Ryan Tannahill was a starting quarterback in this league, but it wasn't his team. And it's worked out for them. And now I think Ryan Tannenhill will get an extension. I don't think they're going to franchise him. I think he's played well enough to deserve a contract there. I'd franchise him. I like the franchise tag.

Yeah, you like it more than I do. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's, I don't. don't want to get trapped. If I'm a certain guys, my homes, I'll pay wents. I'll throw buckets of money at those guys. It doesn't work out too well for the, for Washington. That was their plan for a couple years. Joy with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. He coached in the NFL for 22 seasons. He took these Titans to the Super Bowl in one of the wildest finishes in Super Bowl history. He's Jeff Fisher, 22 years, 13th, winning his coach in NFL history. He's got a suit on.

Looks very CEO. Look at that. How are you? Any good fishing lately? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Where? All over the place.

I know. I know. You're the Kurt Gowdy. I've caught enough fish. So I want to talk about Andy Reid because you faced Danny many times. And you were a defensive coach and he's an offensive wizard. I could make the argument that Tennessee, like your teams, is uniquely the architecture here is the way to beat Andy.

When you had success against Andy, how did you do it? That's what we did. We had running backs, whether it was Eddie or Chris Johnson and Lindell White combined or what have you. We had running backs. And, you know, somebody was asking me backstage here, how do you think Andy's doing, what's going through his mind? There's one thing going through his mind, two numbers, two-toes side by side. And that's Derek Henry right now. That's the concern, I think, that they have. And, you know, just let's go back a couple of years because, and we'll come back to Kansas City. But, you know, I think some people kind of second guess what was going on in Nashville because Mike Malarkey takes the Titans to the playoffs and they're down 21-0 to Kansas City and they come back and win.

Marioita. With Marriota, go to New England and lose and Malarkey gets fired. What is John Robinson doing? And he hires Mike Vrable and here they are back in just a show. short period of time. I think it was a great move by the organization to get Mike in there. And Mike came in with players. He had a good group of players and he had a quarterback that had been the playoffs. Some things didn't go right. But, you know, this is a great step for the Titans franchise and organization to find a way to get back. And, you know, as you mentioned and everybody,

I'm excited about it. You know, I played against Andy Reed in high school. Did you guys have the shot of Andy at the punt passing. Yeah, it was the biggest 13-year-old ever, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, this Andy Reid and then boom, boom, boom. I mean, Andy's just the ball guy, you know, he just loves football and he's easy going and he's a great communicator. He loves offense. He's been around great people.

The analytic stuff, that's all in his brain, you know, and he just handles it well. So I think it's a great match. Are you a little surprised? You know, if Ravel was playing, Jeff, not long ago, there's definitely. Definitely in 2010, there's a Jackdale Rio about him and Anthony Lynn. He's a big man. There's a presence with him. And I think that really matters in college, but it can matter in the NFL.

Are you a little surprised he's this good, this quick as a coach? I'm not surprised. He's got good coordinators. He's got a good staff. Dean is one of the top and he's got really no recognition whatsoever this year. So he's got good coordinators. He has a plan. And, you know, he recognized that something is wrong with Marcus.

And he probably couldn't put his finger on it. Now, we all say, well, he had five coordinators in five years and what have you. But so let's just go with with Tanyl and see what happens. And it was a great thing. Now, I think, I don't mean to take a shot at the guys in New York. But I think Darnold's going to be okay in New York because the guys that were coaching Tantahill in Miami didn't get it done in Miami. And now he's come on again and he's got a shot.

So I think it was a great call to go with Tannahill and just see what happens. And when you do that, you have to rely on something else other than the quarterback. And that's the running back. So it was a perfect storm. It all just mesh together. And it happens, Jeff. You get things just sort of work. This year, you could tell for New England.

They could. The center got hurt, the kicker. You couldn't cinch it all up. LSU football. They kind of cinched it all up, the coordinator. So when you look at Derek Henry, people thought he was going to be a linebacker. He was too big to be a running back. He's always been fine, but what happened?

Something has happened in the last 15 months. Like did somebody get in his ear? Like, he feels better and more dominant today. Colin is great. You asked that. I don't know. This is what I've been told. I tried to verify it.

But one particular person that I'm. pretty close with over the years, Eddie, George. I heard that Eddie had a little visit with Derek, and the conversation was to the extent of pretty basic, was, hey, dude, okay, you are a big back run behind your pads. Don't make people miss run over them. You are a punishing big back. Be who you are.

He is a man now, and it's not fun. And so, I mean, it's just, you know, I was honored. that I was invited to attend early in September the Titans Colts game and where Eddie George and Steve McNair's jerseys were retired. So I got to spend

the afternoon there and unfortunately it was in a losing effort against the Colts. Things just didn't feel right, look right. Well, we got some stuff that happened at the end of the game and Taylor's not back yet and all this stuff but I got a sense then that maybe that's when Eddie did it or

somebody got to Derek but this is a different team and it's a team you do not want to play in the play. Yeah, yeah. All right, stick around, Jeff Fisher, 22 years. I'm going to take a break, come back. Got a lot of things to ask you about. I think there's a little bit of a mismatch. The D-Line personnel for San Francisco and the O-line personnel,

especially Guard, Center Guard for Green Bay. And I'm not sure how you overcome that. I'll ask you that 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 I-Hard Radio app. Computer Systems and Cars are the new normal. go to carshield.com, 800, car 6,000. Mention the code, heard, to carshield.com.

Code her. That stuff breaks, and it's expensive. Jeff Fisher, 22 years in the NFL, got to a Super Bowl with the Tennessee Titans. We talked a lot about that. I want to, before we go to the Packers, I want to do two issues with you, and please explain these. Jason Garrett, head coach of the Cowboys, is now interviewing for a coordinator of the Giants. My takeaway is, dude, take a year off. McCarthy suddenly got brilliant with a year off. Gruden got smarter with 10 off.

Why do you think he's interviewing for the giant? Giants job. He doesn't need the money. Yeah, the money is not the issue. It's, you know, as coaches, there's different things that are taking place to watch your careers. One thing that happened to Jason is that Jason went from the face of the Cowboys as the Cowboys head coach, but also the Cowboys play caller on offense. And so our understanding is he hasn't been calling plays for a couple years. That's right.

Do you think he misses it? I know he misses calling plays. That's just how coaches are wired, you know, and he's an outstanding play caller. In this day and age, in this game, it's way too much to call plays and also manage a game at the end or manage a game. Because clock management starts somewhere at the end of the third quarter. It's not just in the last minute of the game. You have to start managing your timeouts, your challenges. Yeah, everything that's going on.

So, Colin, he wants to get back to Colin plays. and he probably has a great deal of respect for that organization. They play him twice a year. He's seen Daniel play. He's probably evaluated and saying, you know what, I can do some things with this kid and get this storied franchise back on the map and what could be better than having a chance

to maybe go out and meet Dallas next year. That's a really good insight. Jeff Fisher. That's great insight. I haven't heard that. OBJ, very impulsive, can be immature. What do you make? You're Cleveland.

You got Baker who can be impulsive. Kevin Stefansky's a new kid. You got an owner who's impatient. Now I've got to deal with this OBJ stuff. Do you cut him loose in Cleveland or is he too good? What do you make of what he's doing and who he's become? No, I think he's learning. You know, Odell's learning from this.

I mean, this is an emotional game and all kinds of emotions. And you can only imagine the emotions in that locker room after winning the national championship and his alma mater. And so things happen, you know, I just think, in time it'll settle down. It was interesting. You know, you hear, you know, there was stuff this year about Odell saying something in pregame warmups to an opponent that, oh, give me out of here. I want to be here. He says that every week. That's him. It's okay. That's just how he is. He said that to me,

you know, when my last year here with the Rams who went and played in London. I was talking to him in pregame warmups and the same thing. Get me out of here. I'd love to play for you. He just likes to talk. You know, he's a great player. So now there's a fine line. There's a line you can't cross whether, you know, if there's an issue here with this cash. And now as I was on my way down here, I saw that maybe there was a pat on the rear end

that didn't go over very well. Those things you've got to work themselves out. But he's an emotional guy. There's nothing malicious about. He's a great player. Tell him what to do, what not to do, and go win games. By the way, you were a D-B defensive back. You played for USC.

You're a former player. you've always been seen as a players coach. You understand we can't overreact. Players today are more empowered. They got to social media. It is harder sometimes to coach players. Now, let's shift to this. I like the Niners.

When I watch football, I watch matchups. You're the coach of the Green Bay Packers. D. Ford, Bosa, Buckner, Armstead. You feel like, listen, they individually have better players. We're going to lose some individual matchups. What does Green Bay do, knowing that the person matchups, they're at a disadvantage up front for three hours in that game. Chip blocking? What do you do?

Well, that's the thing. I mean, first off, you got, you have Aaron Rogers who understands that going into the game. He witnessed it already this year. He knows what he needs to do. So you get together offensively. And, you know, you have to do some creative things to protect. It's not, hey, can our right tackle block their left defensive end all day? It's not going to work that way, especially.

in the passing situations. There's no better defensive pass rush coach right now in the league than Chris Kassarik. And Chris is there at San Francisco. He's one of those guys that. You know him. Oh, yeah, I know him. I know of him. I've watched him coach.

He came from Detroit and he's an up-and-comer. I had his mentor on my staff. So I know quite a bit about him. He's been the difference maker up front. So he'll win the one-on-ones. You have to create a situation where, for example, you might turn your offensive line one direction and just kind of zone, slide, protection, protecting by yourself more time.

But don't leave your end on the tied end like people do at times. So, you know, the Green Bay's offense will be equipped to do this. This thing's coming down like it always does. When there's uncertainty, you're comparing a veteran quarterback to a young quarterback. What does it come down to? It comes down to who's going to run the football better. Who's Groppalo's best friend? It's their running game.

And they're fullback. And by the way, Kyle Shanahan. of Mike, who you coached against before. We look at Kyle as this offensive guru and the clever. He likes to pound the football. He does. So who's going to one stop the run when it's time to do it. Now, okay, all bets are off.

This is the final game of the year. Okay, before you get to the big prize, you got to stop the run and run the football. Who's better equipped to do that? Because the run game and your defensive ability to stop the run is going to be the quarterback's best friend. So I'm not into predictions. I'm into watching this thing.

I do know Green Bay can run it. I do know Green Bay has a couple pass rushers that they didn't have last year. They can really have it. Now, you've seen Colin, you've seen those shots during the games where it's the replay and they come from a low level and the quarterback's in the pocket. He throws the ball incomplete. Why did you throw that? Why did he throw that?

I've seen a few out of those from Garoppolo. Garabla is going to be a franchise quarterback for a long, long time. He just doesn't have the experience. So the run game is going to take him out of those situations where he got to make those tough decisions as far as where to go with the football. Yeah, this is going to be, by the way, minute left, you've coached in Super Bowls, you've coached in conference championships. Do you scale back the raw-rah speeches? I mean, do you coach slightly different the bigger the game? Do what you did to get you there, but just be focused.

Don't get caught up in things. There's a lot of wasted energy. there's a lot of calories that are potentially going to be burned between now and kickoff. It's how do you save them? It's how do you rest? It's don't overreact and don't get caught up and these rumors. And well, this coach on the staff may go here, there. And just do what got you there.

Now, in Andy's case, Andy needs to put something over his eyes when he sleeps so he doesn't see a 22 when he's falling to sleep because Derek Henry is going to be Andy reads worst nightmare if they're not careful. Great seeing you. Jeff Fisher, 22 years. I've told you this before, and I don't know if you have any interest in this, but I have told you, you are in great shape,

you have a million connections, you need to pick up the phone when college jobs call you. Okay, you promise me that? I'm ready for that. I'll answer. I will answer. But you need my advice. Like I said, I've caught enough fish for a couple years. By the way,

I told you I went fly fishing for the first time ever. the summer? We did. It's great. Oh, yeah. Never been fly fishing. Provo, Utah. We'll pick a date. We'll pick a date. I'd love to go. I got the perfect place. Do you? Good stuff. I love seeing you. Thank you so much, coach, for being on the show. All right, we are out of time here, Joy. I got to get my Demi Lovato trivia down. I have her dating the wrong person. I apologize for that, Joy. You know, you get to be 50. You got to keep up on this stuff. You know, Goulet, I need Beaver

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