The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Patrick Mahomes, Packers, Lamar Jackson, Browns, & where Colin was right & wrong

Episode Date: January 13, 2020

Colin discusses the Chiefs comeback win and why every team should want a QB like Patrick Mahomes. He goes on to talk about why he feels the Packers don't have much of a chance going forward, why it's OK to criticize Lamar Jackson, his thoughts on the Browns new head coach, and where he was right and wrong over the weekend. Guests include Reggie Bush, Trent Dilfer, Drew Bledsoe, and Tony Gonzalez. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to her. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

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heard. We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, we are packed. It is a Monday. We are live in LA. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are live on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. What a crazy weekend we had this weekend. And coming up in one hour where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, Plenty of both. Joy Taylor, we're ready to go. It feels like tonight will be, we're built to this crescendo to tonight. And by the end of tonight, we'll have had the best three days of football of the year. Definitely.

I'm very excited for tonight. I have some thoughts on how I think it's going to go, but I'm excited either way. Let's start with Kansas City falling behind 24-0 and then coming back to beat Houston. Now, I've been saying this multiple times over the last several weeks. I like Lamar Jackson, but if you're asking me who I want to be my quarterback over the next decade, it's Patrick Mahomes. Here was the interesting thing in that game before we go to tape. Here was the interesting thing. Unless you're from Kansas City and a diehard chiefs fan.

Take them out of it. But for guys like me and people like you, even when Kansas City was down 24-0, you were saying what I was saying. Just get a play, get a break, get a fumble, big kickoff. Just, just, they're fine, they're fine, they're fine, they're fine, they're down 24-0 nothing, they're fine, they're at home, they just need. Did you watch Patrick Mahomes on the sideline? There was no panic. Andy Reid's play calling.

There was no panic. You watched the sideline. There was no panic. They were down 24 to nothing. Just say that out loud. Playoff game, down 24-0. And Mahomes is like, just make a play. Let's just get it going.

There's no panic. Nobody's freaking out. Andy's not freaking out. Here we go. And then they got the big. kickoff and then it's like we all thought the same thing unless you're a chiefs fan all right here we go let's go let's get but when baltimore trailed 216 in the second half at home you could even see it a little bit with the raven's coaching staff there was a little apprehension the play calling at

one point i thought was weird in the first half just do what you do and that is because maholmes is not somebody will ever, ever figure out. And barring an injury, he's going to be Peyton Manning, or he's going to be Brady, or he's going to be Farve. You don't figure out the best pure passer in football. Nobody figured out Elway. Nobody figured out Marino. He didn't win a bunch of Super Bowls, but he was great until the very end.

Lamar is different. He is unique. You have to build an offense. that is run first, heavy tight end, get him a legitimate back. And that's not an offense. In fact, they went and got Greg Roman, who is a unique coordinator for their unique talent. Now, I'm not bailing on Lamar. He's going to win a bunch of games.

But this is the reason I would choose Mahomes over Lamar. Not because of the weekend. Because if you look at Kansas City, they're a pass-first team. they're built to win from deficits. And if you play for 15 years in this league, some years, you have terrible defenses. Remember when Tim Tebow was winning games. Everybody's like on Tebow, and I'm like, you guys do get that if you quarterback for 10 years, you're not going to get a defense like that Denver defense and Matt Prater kicking 60-yard

field goals. You can win with Mark Sanchez in a great running game. You can win a lot of ways, but you better be able to win trailing 24-0. and there's only about one to two to three quarterbacks at a time in this league. Maybe two. Aaron Rogers in his prime. Peyton Manning in his prime. You know, Farr.

This is why I think this is the choice for quarterback for the next 15 years. Kansas City is built to win a million ways. By the way, we've seen him win in snow. We've seen a win with a lead. We just saw him trail 24-0 and you never once, unless you're a Chiefs fan, you weren't freaking out. The play calling didn't change. The players didn't change.

The game didn't play change. And the minute they got to kick off, you're like, okay, all right. They switch field position. Here we go. Two plays later score. Kansas City scored seven touchdowns. No drive was longer than three minutes and 55 seconds. It's different and it's the kind of offense I think that will last forever.

I don't think in the off season, coordinators are saying, hey, we're going to figure this Mahomes guy out. I do think they're coordinators that look at Lamar and say, okay, let's get super athletic linebackers. At the point of attack, you have to get on and let's crowd the box. Let's make him throw over the top. I do think there

are riddles to Baltimore that you can solve. Not every week, not every half, not every drive, not every game. But when I watched Kansas City coming back from 24-0, I thought it was not just the most important Kansas City

win. It was an essential win for Patrick Mahomes to prove I'm the guy for the next 15 years. Because none of us felt different. 24-0. I think all of us, even in the first half down by a couple touchdowns, with Lamar, I felt like, ooh, they're kind of solving a little bit for the moment in this little time capsule for two hours in Baltimore. They're kind of solving. I don't feel like anybody ever solves Mahomes. And if you asked every GM in this league, privately, every stinking one of them, if they would trade their quarterback for Patrick Mahomes today, all of them would say yes. Oh, my bad, except Chicago. They're all in on Trubisky. Wink, wink, wink. They'd all trade their

quarterback for Patrick Mahomes. Many would trade for Lamar. But there'd be some that say, can we have Greg Roman too? Can we get those tight ends too? I thought it was an essential game to really plant the flag. This is the guy more than any. And you know I love me some Russell Wilson. You know I love me some Tom Brady. This is the guy for the next 15 years, barring any, you know, really bad injury. Here's Patrick after.

Obviously, we didn't want to be in that spot. But the biggest thing that I think I was preaching to the team was let's go do something special. Let's go do something special. Everybody's already counting us out. let's just go play by play and just put our best effort out there. We don't care if we're down 24 if we're up 24. We're going to put our best effort every single play. I think that's just the mentality of this team.

All right. So let's move to Green Bay's win over Seattle. Now, let me just say this. I've not been a big Packers fan. I acknowledge they won their division. I acknowledge their seating. And I will acknowledge they won the game. But you can get to a conference championship without being great.

Blake Bortles got there in Jacksonville. Mark Sanchez got there with the Jets. A lousy Colts team got there with Andrew Luck. And the Vikings got there with Case Keenham. We know Aaron Rogers is not Case Keenham. We know he's not Blake Bortles. But you can get to a conference championship in this league. If you win a division where two teams implode Chicago and Detroit,

when you're easily the best quarterback or healthiest quarterback in a division, the NFC North, when you get a home field by, check, and then you play an injury ravaged team off another road game, Seattle. I don't think Green Bay is great. I think they got things to work in their favor. I think Matt Stafford gets hurt. Trubisky gets exposed.

Kirk Cousins is Kirk Cousins. What do they have, three first downs until the fourth quarter of this weekend? And I think they beat up a ravaged Seattle team. And if not, for Aaron Rogers making two great throws on a third and eight and the third and nine, I think Seattle wins. That first one to Geronimo Allen, if that puppy hits the dirt first and it was close, you saw Iron Rogers point to the sky on that.

Seattle's getting the ball back, Green Bay's defense is exhausted, and Russell Wilson's red hot, and we have a different show today. I don't love Green Bay. I don't think they're as physical as Tennessee. I don't think they're as explosive as Kansas City, and I don't think they have the players

and the depth of the 49ers. You know who they remind me of? The Wisconsin Badgers. I respect the hell out of them. It's a good football operation. I always trust the executives upstairs. The coach appears good enough. But when you watch Wisconsin against Ohio State,

they don't look the same. They don't look like Clemson. They don't look like LSU. They don't look like Ohio State. They don't look like Alabama. But they're good. And they win like 10 games a year. And I respect the hell out of them.

And I respect Green Bay. but they don't look like Kansas City. I mean, if you take Devante Adams away, who does Aaron like to throw to? Because Patrick Mahomes likes to throw to four different guys then his tight end. They don't look like San Francisco up front. D. Ford now's healthy.

And Kwan Alexander, hard pass, don't want to face them. I think Aaron Rogers, he's a smart guy. That's why you give him any shot, just their quarterback. And I think even he acknowledges we're 14 and 3. But if you look around what's left, there's a big gap between getting to that conference championship and beating a San Francisco there and potentially beating a Kansas City in Miami.

Here's Aaron. To walk off the field, being a two-seed, where, I mean, let's be honest. I don't know that even our fans felt supremely confident in us. which I know that a lot of the media didn't as well. But to be able to walk off that field again, victorious, there's no feeling like it. Nobody's disputing them won a division,

and they're in the conference championship. But I think even Aaron acknowledges there's questions. And the only reason, the only reason I gave Seattle a chance to beat Green Bay was Russell Wilson, which I didn't think would be good enough. and the only reason I give Green Bay a chance against San Francisco is Aaron Rogers, and that doesn't feel like enough. Coming up next, I'll give you my thoughts on what happened to Lamar Jackson, what it means going forward on one of the most shocking outcomes.

I'm rarely shocked in professional football because there's so much parody. Anybody can beat anybody. That was shocking. That was shocking. A little bit of a jaw dropper for three hours. Thoughts on Lamar and the Niners. That's coming up. Plus, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, 50 minutes from now.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the I-Hard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

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

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

Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 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 semi-final. finals. 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. Want to hear some amazing? Discover matches all the cashback you earn into your first year automatically no limit. Go to discover.com slash cashback match. I've said this before. I think the reason this show continues to do well as we're loyal to honesty. I'm not in the credit business. That's MasterCard and Visa. I'm in the honesty.

business. I don't protect players. I think I'm tough on guys, especially quarterbacks. But there are a lot of people in the media. They're constantly, they think they're doing athletes of favor and they're pandering. It's my least favorite quality. Stop pandering. Stop coddling. These are millionaires. Lamar Jackson didn't play well. He deserves to get ripped. We ripped Peyton Manning when he would be an MVP and not look the same in the playoffs. Stop patronizing Lamar Jackson. He doesn't need your sympathy. He doesn't need your pandering. He's a rock star. He's going to win MVP. He's going to be worth 50 million to $100 million. He's fun to watch. He's going to keep winning games. But he had two picks, a fumble and

wasn't good in situational football. And he's the MVP. He doesn't last two times I've watched him in a playoff game. He hasn't looked the same as in the regular season. He's a baby. He'll get better. But the criticism's fair. God, the media has been on this whole thing with Lamar. First of all, he gets drafted in the first round and the media is like, This is outrageous. Fire the GMs. Why? He got drafted in the first round.

Roger Stobach got drafted in the 10th. Unitas 9th, Brady 6th. It's a hard position to evaluate. Then there's this thing this weekend. He didn't lose the game. He had 350 yards. He didn't play well, folks. Most of his yards were DAC yards.

They were garbage yards. Put it on the screen. First three quarters, his quarterback was passer rating was 47. He had three turnovers. He didn't throw for a touchdown. In the fourth quarter, what do you know? Tennessee's punt in the ball, prevent defense. He racked him up so at the end, you can run over to your stats and say,

look, look, look, he played well. He didn't. He was all for four on fourth down. He looked rattled. He threw two picks, one not his fault. Sorry, there's still picks. He had a fumble. And he's not really ideally, like Mahomes.

He's not ideally built to come from way back. Their offense, frankly, is not really not, this is not all in Lamar. their offense is not really ideally built to play from deficits, which is why I think Lamar will go to the laboratory this offseason. And just like he did from year one to year two, Lamar's going to get a little better at the passing and a little more comfortable. And it took Russell Wilson three years. And it takes most young quarterback.

Do you see Josh Allen's playoff game? He freaked out. You ever seen Sam Darnold, who I love? Sometimes he freaks out. Jared Gough, these are kids, they're babies. but stop the coddling. It didn't play well. It happens.

He's a kid. And all the questions why he dropped in the first round are legitimate. He never completed 60% of his throws. He ran for a ton of yards and people thought he kind of plays like RG3. They kind of have the same build. And RG3 was a bust. So people were a little apprehensive. And Baltimore said, we're not going to take him with our first pick.

We're going to take him with our second pick. And then all of a sudden by week 11, they're like, Joe Flacco stinks. he's old, tired, and expensive, we're done. Let's try this thing. And it worked kind of. And this year it worked a lot. But it's okay to criticize him.

And it's okay that he was the last or next to last pick in the first round. Stop pandering. Stop protecting him. He doesn't need our sympathy. He's going to win a bunch of games. Baltimore won 12 straight. They're going to win up. They're not going anywhere.

Baltimore's not going anywhere. And this young man has shown the ability to improve. Now, I've said before. If you're asking me 12 years, I not only like Mahomes better than Lamar, I like Kyler Murray more. I think Kyler Murray is the best player in the league that nobody watches because he played in Arizona. I think Kyler Murray's a pass first run second guy, and I do think I like my

quarterbacks preferably to be that. But the constant protecting, don't criticize him. He didn't play well. He's an MVP, and he hasn't looked as good in the postseason. We ravaged Peyton Manning. It's part of the game. You can't get all the love and be called. the best thing ever and then go into the playoffs

and not be able to play as well from behind and not play well in big spots. Playoff games aren't won by yards. Playoff games are won by fourth down, turnovers, don't make any situational football, and he wasn't great at that. And it's okay. He will be over and over again

over the next 10 years. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. That loss by Lamar was not a referendum, them. But it's a reminder that primarily last year in the Super Bowl, we ended up with golf and Brady, that the better you are at the pocket thing, the running can be a little

sauce and fun to it, but as you develop as a passer, your chances generally go up for Super Bowl wins. Right. And also, the recipe to beats the Ravens this year was exactly what the Titans did, which would start out strong, make them play from behind. That's exactly what they did. You can tell already in the game, it was like, oh. I literally, in my mind before the game was like, if the Titans score first, they win this. game. If they just score first, they win this game. Yeah. And that's exactly what happens. I think I think even Baltimore staff a little

bit, Joey, in the first eight or nine minutes was like, if this is not going the way we need it to go, and there was just a little bit of a panic. I felt like if they had come out more aggressive at halftime, they'd have had a chance, but it just the momentum never changed in the entire game. So the 49ers will host the NFC championship game after a 2710 win over

the Vikings Saturday. Jimmy Garapolo was solid in his first playoff start. He threw 131 yards and a touchdown and an interception, but the run. game in the defense really carried the team. Tevin Coleman scored two touchdowns and tied his season high with 105 rushing yards and the defense completely stopped the Vikings. My God. Held Minnesota only 147 total yards and sacked cousins six times. By the way, we can all bang on Kirk Cousins, but Minnesota's game plan was so conservative.

It's why I've never, I never liked Minnesota all year. And it wasn't because they don't have the talent. They obviously do. They just don't have the aggressive. X factor that I just didn't feel it all season with them like they're just very fundamental and they have a few playmakers here and there that are exciting but what is what is that thing like in that big moment that's going to happen

with the Vikings that's going to put them over the top and and take a team down like the 49ers but that said the 49ers are absolutely great and their defense is incredible they jump off a television set yes you literally watch the niners you're like ooh pow bang whoa hey they're extremely physical on the line and they just

dominated the Vikings. It was the first playoff win for the Niners in six years. And I think this NFC championship game is going to be great. Listen, we're left with Aaron Rogers and Garoppolo and Patrick Mahomes and this Derek Henry, this refrigerator in cleats running over people. Henry is so unbelievable to watch. How about when he wears the white outfit walking into the stadium? Because it enhances his size because you see that the white is so, you can see every inch of Derek Henry. He is so

my wife doesn't love football. She's like ooh, he's huge. He's incredibly he's indescribable actually. I've just never seen a player like him before. He's so giant and just runs yes. This runs completely straight up

and it's like good luck. Good luck to all of you. Especially when he breaks through the first line and then it's a hundred and ninety two pound corners. Yes. And he's flying. And he's running at you. Yes. It's like it's a rough tackle. Yeah, it's good luck. So the Browns have finally finished their coaching search. It appears after interviewing eight candidates, multiple sources are reporting that the Browns have hired Vikings' offensive coordinator, Kevin Stefansky, to be the next head coach in Cleveland.

He was the runner up for the job last year before Freddie Kitchens was hired. And now Stefansky is getting his shots. Kind of a little ironic because reportedly 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Salo was a top candidate and had an impressive interview, which made final decision harder for the Browns. And then Salah's defense completely dominated his defense. Offense's in the game. That would be short-sighted to hire somebody on a game. No, but it just, you know. Yeah, the optics.

Yeah, the optics of it, not terrific. The problem reportedly for Josh McDaniels is that he wanted sweeping organizational change, which, like, duh. I mean, shouldn't anyone who's coming in there want sweeping organizational change? Everything that you're doing is a disaster. Well, they're doing, Cleveland's doing some different stuff. They're going to have an analytics person on the headset this year. Stefanski agreed to that.

And you have to have an hour or two meeting with the owner Monday after losses or wins. I don't know how common the hour-long meeting with the owner is once a week. I don't. I can deal with the analytics in my headset. I'm always for more ears and eyes. Don't love having to sit down and explain my games to the owner. I'm not a big fan. Now, I will have strong opinions on this story later.

I don't like having to address the owner who doesn't know rip about football. Yeah, that's, I mean, I don't. don't know how common that is with owners. I'm imagining it's not very common because they have whole other businesses to run and stuff to do that doesn't entail listening to a game plan that you don't understand or know anything about anyway. So just so he has to keep you in the loop. How about Stavansky? It's a weekly meeting with Jimmy Haslam and says, hey, about the convenience store business. Break it down. I'd like to see your earnings for the week. Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of meetings for the sake of meeting. We don't have one on the show. We don't have a post-show meeting.

We never have. You know that. Because you and I know when we stink and we know we're good. Why talk about it. But also like there's just people have stuff to do. Like we can communicate via phone. Like we don't all have to sit in a meeting and consume more of everyone's time. Yeah. I just don't like the sake of meeting for meeting. But the analytics thing I don't, I just like it's just like doing it for the sake of doing it. Like it's something the Podesta wants more so than is this actually going to help football operations. Like I don't, I obviously know I very much believe in analytics. But what is the purpose of them? Like so are they going to say no? Like the analytics say this play is the right play to.

No, but here's where I'll defend analytics. I'll defend the Browns on this. So I'm Stefansky, and it's a big third down and four at the 42. And the analytics guy is named Bob. Bob, what do the analytics say? And Bob says, listen, this is a 74% chance it works. That could be the difference for me going for it. So I'll give a pass to the, just give me another smart guy upstairs or woman on the headset.

Like, I'm okay with that. But on Monday, I have to waste an hour and a half of my time with some guy who runs a convenience store chain. I mean, I'm with you on the meeting thing. I think it's silly. But the only thing with the analytics is like, should that not play into your game plan? No, no, no. It does. I think what they're saying, but analytics is interesting.

It does plan your game plan. But there are these situations between the 40s. You're like, what are the numbers say on this stuff? There's something to it. Oh, but overall, the idea that they didn't want sweeping organizational change doesn't make me feel any better about this higher. Like, okay, so you just settled for whatever they brought to you and there's going to be more of the same. finally it's finally here LSU and Clemson meet tonight in the national championship the new semester at LSU was originally supposed to start today but because of the big game

LSU announced classes will be canceled today and tomorrow's the students can enjoy the game and hopefully a celebration afterwards as well yeah Foxbet has the line at LSU favored by five oh it's down to five down to five I still I still think I'm taking Clemson in the points I don't think this is going to be a I think it's going to be a very very close game down to the wire. Now I'm taking Clemson in the points. I will in our third hour lay out my five reasons why I'm taking Clemson and I think they all matter and I think Clemson's winning 3830 tonight and I have but I have it's not just throwing it out there I've got absolute reasons why I think Clemson's winning and I cannot wait for this game. It is kind of going to be a little

home field advantage for LSU though. Clemson practice in a hotel ballroom Saturday because of went in rain in New Orleans. And LSU used the Saints indoor practice facility. Yes, yes. So Davos said they were also offered the Saints facility, but said they didn't want to change their schedule. So it wasn't. It was unfair, but they made that choice.

But it is going to feel like a home game for LSU tonight. Yes, yes. Can't wait for it. Yeah, I'm excited. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News.

Reggie Bush in 10 minutes. I want to talk about the 49ers. So we have four teams left. None of them look like San Francisco. There is not a box, folks, they don't check. The size box, the speed box, the kick your arse box, the intimidation box, the O-line box, the left tackle, the right tackle box. They check them all. And this is a team that humiliates the Packers.

This is a team. Ask Baker Mayfield, ask Aaron Rogers. Ask Kirk Cousins in Minnesota. They humiliate you. The way to beat San Francisco to me is Russell Wilson, is Kyler Murray as Lamar Jackson, off script. Where you can't, even their great defenses, you got, this is the way to beat Alabama for years, a quarterback that can do stuff off the script. If a quarterback is going to be six steps behind the center and they know it, good luck. They are loaded defensively.

D. Ford. Kwan Alexander, maybe the most athletic linebacker in the league. DeForest Bruckner. Armstead, Nick Bosa, it is filthy. And the 85 bears were never a dynasty. But 30 years later, we look at those bears and we're like, in a one gamer, even the Niners with Montana, no Patriot team maybe beats the 85 Bears.

Now, San Francisco obviously has to win the conference championship, but they look a lot like the bears on that defense. Now, obviously they're giving up four more yards than the bears did because quarterback play is much better. The best athletes now in the world are playing quarterback. Everybody gives up yards. Everybody gives up points. The league is so much better now at quarterback

and so much more sophisticated than it was back in 1985. Where everybody's a pocket quarterback, everybody's sitting there, not very elusive. Here comes all the bears and knock them over. But here's the thing to remember about the 49ers. There has been three seasons for the Niners. This is not one season. The first season, they were 8 and 0,

and they were knocking people out in the first round. Then eight of their best players got hurt. Both tackles missed games. Their fullback of Pro Bowl are missed games. Kwan Alexander is out. Emmanuel Sanders got hurt. George Kittle got hurt. The whole team got hurt.

And essential parts to their team not named Jimmy Garoppolo got hurt. Then they were vulnerable. That's stage two. Now we're in stage three. All the boys are healthy again. You don't want any part of them. you don't want any part of San Francisco. They look different.

Like Kansas City's offense is like San Francisco's team. Let's double Kittle. Can't Debo, Manuel Sanders. All right, they're a pass team. No, not really. They're coaches Shanahan. They're a power run team. Their running backs can catch.

Their fullback was actually a great tight end in college. Their receivers are big. No, wait, they're Emmanuel Sanders. They're veterans. They're young. Kittles, superstar. Folks, this is what, I'm not saying this is a dynasty, but I'm saying they check all the boxes. And I heard this. Well, I mean, Jimmy Garapolo, I mean, come on, he what? They don't need Jimmy

Garapolo to be a stat freak. The Giants didn't need Phil Sims to be a stat freak. By the way, Montana's numbers were good. But if you go back and look at Joe Montana's numbers, they were not beholden just to Joe Montana. He left. Steve Young won. This team, when they're healthy, has got so many elements of an 85 bears look to them where they just knock you out. They just, you are humiliated. I love what I see. And by the way, most of the teams that are left, we're defining them.

You know, most great teams we define quarterback, wide receiver, running back. You can argue Green Bay has the best quarterback, the best single receiver, and the better running back. than San Francisco. You can argue. But San Francisco's also good at those positions and better everywhere else. D-line, O-line, linebacker,

secondary, tight end. I think this San Francisco team does not look like the rest of the teams. I don't think they look like it. I think it's not that complicated in football. Watch the game. Watch the velocity.

watch the hitting, watch the power. I mean, it's not like, it is not like San Francisco was stopping the run against Minnesota. They were pushing San Francisco back for three and a half hours. It did not look like the other games. Coming up next, Reggie Bush stops by his thoughts on a crazy weekend and LSU Clemson, top of the hour, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong. 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. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so 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 iHeartRadio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now.

What's up, guys? This is Clever 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 42. Hey, ref, 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, 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. 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 Polic.

I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals

or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Great to have you in. Colin Wright, Colin Wrong. In 15 minutes, top of hour to next hour. Drew Bledso, Trent Delfour.

We bring in Reggie Bush, who was looking all dapper. He, Joel, clap, Mike Pereira, all over the Fox platforms tonight for LSU. We'll get to that against Clemson. We'll get to that in about five to six minutes. Let's start with this. 24-0 deficit. Kansas City comes back. Now, you played with Drew Breeze.

You guys didn't fall behind 24-0. But take me to playing at a deficit. Because I think, you know, we look at Mahomes and we're like, ah, you know, but coach. coaches can panic. Players can panic. Have you ever been in a big deficit and come back to win? Yeah, we've been in.

It felt like in 2009 every game we were down at halftime trying to claw back in. The biggest game that I remember was against Miami Dolphins that year when it had Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams. The first half of that game, I believe they rushed for like 200 yards apiece each. And we struggled in the first half. And that's the Saints. And that was, yeah, that was Northern Saints. It was 2009.

And second half, we came back, we were on fire, and we ended up winning a close one. It was a nail bider towards the end. But it is tough. And, you know, I use the example of the Baltimore Ravens. They went down 14 nothing, and the coaches could not adjust. It felt different. It felt different, right? And throughout the season, the three games that they lost were they were all down by 14 or more points.

And so, yes, coaches can panic even when the team doesn't panic, right? And this is the reason why Belichick is known. is one of the greatest, you know, coaches because he's able to adjust, whether it's halftime, whether it's, you know, on the fly during the game. He understands and has his finger on the pulse of the game. And clearly, clearly, Andy Reid, this is, to me, this is his best coaching job to date because his, the narrative for Andy Reed in the playoffs is not good, right?

He's won and done all the time. And this time, he found a way to come back to keep his team, focused. They really didn't change their play college. They didn't change anything at all. And they just kept doing, you know, what they do best, score points. This is a high-powered offense that is built to come back in from large deficits. Yeah, it is interesting with Baltimore. And I'm just as a consumer, I watched it. And first of all, there is a way to beat Baltimore. Generally, as Lamar grows as a passer, get ahead, play a little keepaway. I also thought this was interesting. So if you think about Baltimore, so Lamar's young. And he's not a great natural

thrower. I don't think Deshaun is either. Kyler Murray is a baseball player. That guy rolls out of bed and can throw strikes. But Lamar, he has a buy. He didn't play week 17. So here's Lamar on a long stretch of inactivity

and then he gets into the game and he's on the bench for long stretches of inactivity. I thought that wasn't great for Baltimore. I agree with you. I didn't think that was great for Baltimore as well and you could just kind of feel throughout the game that as he was sitting on the bench and they kept making these mistakes, right?

Whether it was a turnover or whether it was them going for a fourth and one and not converting it, that it felt like that they were a little rusty, but also this was more time than they were used to sitting on the bench. And when Tennessee was answering with points on the board, I saw one, there was one shot of Lamar Jackson, and I haven't really seen him do this all season long. I saw him get frustrated. and I saw him in a place of frustration where it just felt different. Like he was frustrated because obviously they were down,

but they were putting up points. And obviously he was making mistakes as well. And that was something we hadn't really seen all season long. We hadn't seen him rattled. No, and I do think there is something inactivity. Everybody thinks a buy is great. Yeah. But in the case of Tennessee, Tennessee is like, no, we don't want to buy.

We're playing really good right now. And, by the way, Baltimore dropped a lot of passes. Yeah. Receivers. Receivers looked rusty. And again, a lot of Baltimore's players, we talked about Green Bay. Green Bay is a very young football team. Young football teams, old teams love a buy. New England loved a buy and didn't get one.

Reggie Bush is joining us. Okay, I know Green Bay is in the NFC championship, but I watch them, and they're not, they throw to one receiver, DeVante Adams. Like, that's the guy you trust. That is it. their defense is opportunistic. It's not intimidating. You like them?

I like them as a team, but do I like them against the 49ers? I think the chances are slim to none. Based on, you know, the game prior that they played during the season, it wasn't even close. They lost 37 to 8. Aaron Rogers only threw for 100 yards. They held Aaron Jones served 40 yards and Devante Adams around 40 yards as well. So if there was something in that game that kind of

gave me confidence that this team can go back down there one more time and win a football game. I would feel comfortable saying that, but they got beat easily and they got killed up front in the trenches. When you play the 49ers, you have to win in the trenches, offensive line and defensive line, because their D-line can get pressure on your quarterback with just four guys. And so what that does is freeze up a lot of people on the back end to play coverage, which you need to do against the Green Bay Packers. By the way, Kwan Alexander is back. Yeah.

He is as explosive and athletic as any linebacker in football. They got him from Tampa. Dee Ford is now back. So there was a stage in the middle of the season for San Francisco when everybody was hurt. Kittle was hurt. Dee Ford was out. Kwan was out. They weren't the same football team.

By the way, even with those injuries, they did go to Baltimore and almost beat him. And they did go to New Orleans and win. But, man, the band was back together. It looked at this weekend. Here's the other thing about Green Bay that worries me. If you look at the four coaches left. Reed. He's pretty good. Okay, you've got Kyle Shanahan.

I think he's the next genius. Vrable is he's a little, got a little Mike Tomlin. There's a physical president. And now I got Matt LaFleur. Did you notice something about Green Bay? Once again, they don't adjust well. Yeah.

All year long on Green, and by the way, we know this, Reggie. The great coaches adjust. It's what Sean did in that game in Miami. It's what Pete Carroll does. Should you worry, should you worry as a Packer fan, we're not a very good third quarter team. Yeah, I think you should worry about that because the 49ers are a great second half team. Great.

And that's the issue that you're going to run into when you go down to San Fran, hostile environment, because you know they're going to make plays, you know they're going to score points. But towards the end of the game, when you need that extra energy, that extra added motivation, where are you getting that from, right? Where is that coming from in the second half of the season? Felt like yesterday Green Bay was holding on. Exactly. It felt like they were holding on and just trying not to lose the football.

game. And then towards the end, they put on Air Rogers and say, hey, go make us a couple great throws and, you know, everything's all good. But you're not going to see Devante Adams in man and man coverage in this game on a third and eight got to have it towards the end. You're not going to see Jimmy Graham with 10 yards cushion on a third and nine got to have it towards the end of the game because they're going to have guys to play coverage and they're going to get pressure up front with their young, energetic defense alignment that love to condense the pocket. And it happened time and time again when they played them the first time. Finally, LSU, a little bit of a home game tonight against a lot of a home game.

But, I mean, Clemson will still have 25, 30,000 people. So let's, it, and Clemson, how can I not love the fact Clemson's been in this game now so many times. Yeah. It meant, like you were at USC. You faced teams that were in it for the first time. By the end of your stay at USC, big games were what you played. It was normal. And you have to take that into account of the been there, done that before factor.

You know, I thought that the last game in which they put out, I thought that the experience would help them a little bit. I didn't think it would. I thought it took over the game for them because Trevor Lawrence looked like he'd been there before. He got hit and he got, it looked like he was hurt. And then he came back in the game and the offense didn't miss a beat. They kept doing the same things that they've been doing all season long and even

last year as well. And then the defense, the defense adjusted as well. They may be the best, I think they're the best coached defense in the country. In fact, Urban Meyer came on this show and he goes, they run three different defenses, and they'll change series to series to series. They will. And they're able to adjust. That's the thing that this defense coordinator does.

He does a great job adjusting throughout the football game and also implementing a game plan that's going to take away what you do best. The issue is with LSU, they do a lot of things great. and throwing the football obviously is one of them, but Joe Burrow can put that ball in places where only his receivers can catch it. And I think that's the difference, right? It's you're going to get some guys

that are going to play good defense, but he can also put it in the places where only his receivers can catch it while you're playing your good defense. You know, the thing about LSU is that, yes, it's a home game, but if I ask you today, Dabo, Sweeney, or Ed Orgeron,

on better coach. Well, I would say dabble Swinney, because of the body of work that he's put in over time. He's been there before he's been to the top.

Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, who's a better quarterback? Right now, I say Joe Burroughs a better quarterback, but the experience factor, I give it to Trevor Lawrence. That's where I like Clemson.

I mean, I think this. Top the bottom. Nick Saban told people after getting housed last year, Saban told people the Clemson staff was the best staff he'd ever face.

Yeah. Since he was in Alabama. Yeah. And some of that is Nick had had so much turnover on his staff. And Clemson has not had any. Any turnover. It's like the New England thing.

It's the same coaches over and over. Tonight, Reggie, Joel Clap, Mike Pereira, Fox Sports National Championship. They'll be on all the social media platforms. The well-dressed man, Reggie Bush, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, Hour 2, live on a Monday next in L.A. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Hard Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you. You'd like.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the 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. SportsLice 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 Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month,

I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so 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. 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 Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver 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. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. podcast.

American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on to Ernie Stewart for Chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan.

I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. You're going to look at stats and numbers. He has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the 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. Oh, here we go, hour two, Drew Bledso, Trent Dilfer, both stopping by live at L.A., this is The Hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be. listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. We hope to see

her brother of the Hall of Famer Jason Taylor down in Miami. I just got, you know, it's funny, when we travel for these big events, you and I only go once a year, we do the Super Bowl, but it's a studio show, basically. And we go to the Super Bowl and they, now all the clothes people are wardrobe people. This morning I walk in and I got like nine shoes they want me to choose from. And I'm like, I don't know. Do they fit? Are they sized 12? It's like a wardrobe is very confusing. Well, I mean, they want to make sure that you're prepared. You've got fancy shoes on today.

I do. I'm not going to get into it, but nice shoes. Anne, I shouldn't say Colin. Ann is stepping Colin's shoe game up for him. It's no reason to take a picture of my new shoes, which are amazing. Here I'll posture for them for our radio audience. There we go. This means nothing for our radio audience.

What are you doing the shoe dance? All right. Here we go. Colin right, Colin wrong. I'm plenty of both. Let's fire away. Where Colin was right? For both Seattle playoff games, Russell Wilson was Seattle's leading rusher. I'm not saying he's the best quarterback in the NFL. I'm saying he's the best football player in the National Football League. The idea that this guy goes on the road to Philadelphia and Green Bay, and he comes to within basically a third and eight that Green Bay completed of winning this football game, they're missing two offensive linemen. third string center. They don't have their three best running backs. I mean, it's incredible.

The only reason that game's even competitive yesterday, and I did not like Seattle's play calling in the first half at all. Stop pretending you're going to walk into Green Bay and run for 200 yards. Marshawn Lynch was on the beach three weeks ago. Give the ball to Russell and pass your way to magic. This guy is absolutely unbelievable. And again, I'm not saying he's the best quarter. in the league, although I think you can make an argument, but as a football player, he's unbelievable. That game should never have been close. And I'll say this, if Seattle had two of their three best running backs, I would have taken them to win that game outright. Once again, they win with virtually, almost win with virtually no running game. Where Colin was wrong.

Listen, I called the Kansas City Chiefs a windbreaker team about two months ago. I said they're not built for December and January. I think they laugh physical toughness. They don't run the foot. ball enough. They won't be able to eat the clock and the playoffs are about physicality. But you know what? They showed a ton of resolve. Their defense now has looked more physical than it has in weeks. I thought it was a really special moment to overcome that deficit. Obviously, we know that. But I also think it needed to be seen by everybody that doesn't live in Kansas City. This is a tough team. It's a team with character. It's a team with resolve. And frankly, they have those are the elements I worried about. They're a little fancy. They're fast.

You know, they got all the fun, windbreaker guys out there. But what happens when it's cold? You fall behind. You got to punch a team in the neck. And I thought Kansas City right now deserves exactly where they are. They got tougher. Their defense got better. They looked like a team that can plan all the elements.

I was wrong. Where Colin was right. Been a Jimmy Garoppolo guy since he was a backup in New England. I said it for years. Go get him. He's got an it factor. And I know, I know, I know. Colin, they didn't even use him this weekend.

Tom Brady's second playoff game, he went 12 for 18. They didn't need to use him. This is not a guy that's going to pout if he doesn't get 34 throws. His career will never be defined by stats because Kyle Shanahan from his father, Mike Shanahan, is a power football coach. He's going to run the hell out of this team for the next 10 years. They're going to draft running backs and offensive linemen. He's not going to win MVP's and he's not going to be a.

stat guy. But he is an it guy. He is a guy that when people are saying yesterday, well, what did he do? He won the toughest division in football. The Rams and McVeigh and that Aaron Donald and the Seahawks and Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll. He won a division. He won in New Orleans. He had a chance to beat Lamar and Baltimore. And during the season, when this team fell apart physically, both tackles were out, the fullback was out, Kittle was out. He kept him floating. Remember, they had to ask him about three times this year during the injuries. Dude, save us.

The defense is all hurt. And all three times he did, he's the real deal. Where Colin was wrong. I've made my biggest bet ever and took Clemson over Ohio State, and I rolled it into Baltimore, and I don't know what the heck happened, but that's the strangest football game I've ever seen. Can somebody explain Tennessee? Tennessee is now beaten Brady in New England.

And Lamar and Baltimore and has completed a total of 15 completions in both games. I don't know what I'm watching. It's incredible. Listen, there's surprises all the time in football. I don't even know how to explain Tennessee. Tana Hills throwing for 70 yards. And they're going to Foxborough and winning and going to Baltimore and winning. It's like 1974 football.

And I guess this is why the NFL's king. in the NBA, you'd be like, well, we've got six more games left in the seven game series. In the NFL, if you have a bad half, you have a bad half, you're in big trouble, especially if you're Baltimore and you're kind of built to play with a lead, not play from behind. That was way wrong. Where Colin was right. Said it before the season started. I said, I love what Green Bay is doing with their defense. Nobody's going to talk about Preston Smith or Zadarius Smith and Free Agency.

But they're excellent players, especially Preston Smith. And yesterday, they both had two sacks. two things never win Super Bowls in the NFL. Crazy owners and bad defenses. You can have flaws. You can have all sorts of flaws in the NFL. You can't have a bad defense. In Green Bay for most of the last seven, eight years,

has been Swiss cheese back there. It's been paper thin. They went out and they got free agents, but mid-level free agents, and they got athletic linebackers in a very talented NFC. And what do you know? Those linebackers were essential. Now, if Aaron Rogers doesn't win a Super Bowl next couple of years, it's on Aaron because he now has a real running game and a real defense.

It's not San Francisco's defense. I'm not saying that. But it's a big boy defense with playmakers at linebacker. Where Colin was wrong. When Joe Judge got hired by the Giants, I thought it was an absolutely disastrous move. But you know what? After reading every article on Joe Judge, I think I was a little too hot on it. I don't know if he's going to succeed, but Saban and Belichick both came out with strong endorsements.

He's had three or four press conferences, one, the big one he hit a home run, and the other things he's saying sound great. And by the way, Josh McDaniels, who I thought should get this job, the more I read over the last four days about Josh McDaniels, they made a good choice not at least going with Josh McDaniels. Let's wait and see on Joe Judge. I called it a terrible hire. I think I'm too hot on it.

I like what I've seen. I like the coordinator and the coaching moves he's made, and he's been fantastic so far in front of the mic. Where Colin was right? Not a fan of Bill O'Brien. I don't think he's a terrible coach. But if you ever notice with the Houston Texans, and this is why I don't trust him,

and I thought Kansas City was going to roll. Even when they're winning, it doesn't look smooth. It's clunky. It's not well-oiled. It feels like they're making it up as they go. I did not love the fake punt call. Although I'm not going to crush coaches on fakes that don't go. I mean, we want our coaches to take risks.

You take risks. I didn't love the not going for it on fourth and an inch. I didn't love that. But again, situationally, I'm not going to bash him. But be honest, if you're a Houston Texans fan, when's the last time you won a game and it was smooth and it looked well-oiled and everything was into plays? and you like to play calling.

Everything looks uneven. Always. And they finally, finally have a good first quarter, and then they stink in the entire second half. Where Colin was wrong. The Lakers promoted Rob Polinka. He's now number one in that organization.

Vice President, basketball ops. I got to be honest. He's an agent that looked like Rob Lowe. I never really bought it. I thought he was out of place. Magic left. I thought it was going to be man overboard. But the Frank Vogel,

things working. The team is second best in the West. The chemistry is outstanding. They got Danny Green. We're able to convince him to come over. That works. You know, initially they had a salary cap snafu. The magic thing. He had that weird KCP press conference and I'm like, this doesn't work at all. But I got to be honest. It kind of is working. It's all kind of working. And he's kind of working. Listen, you know, he's an agent. I'm like, well, I mean, who knows? Agents deal with stars. The Lakers are full of stars. Jeannie Bus is a star. It's a star-driven organization. But I got to be honest, since Magic left, hadn't been a lot of misses. It's gone pretty well. They lost both LeBron and AD this weekend and we're still up 30 at half. It was OKC, but it's working.

Where Colin was right? The Cavaliers are a disaster the minute LeBron leaves again. Okay, their coach had to apologize for language he used against the players. Kevin loves having a personal revolt, and Colin Sexton is bad. He may be a bust at point guard. Listen, the bottom line in this organization, they have been a grease fire for 30 years. The only time they're not is when LeBron enters and then he exits, and then an hour later, they're terrible player revolve. Colson can't play.

The coach doesn't fit. This has always been one of the great qualities of LeBron or any superstar. It's not just about what you do when you leave. What happens to the organization you bail on? The Cavs, once again, are poorly run. Where Colin was right?

I never understood why Jimmy Johnson wasn't a Hall of Famer. He's one of the three or four best football coaches of my life. Seriously, Bill Walsh, Belatech, Jimmy Johnson, And not many people above them. I didn't watch Lombardi. And this weekend, Jimmy finally got what he so richly deserved. It's my great honor to tell you that you're going to be the 328th Hall of Famer into the Coach Football Hall of Fame.

And your legacy is going to be in Canton, Ohio, forever. Congratulations, Coach. Oh, congratulations. Oh, hey, bum. Oh, my God. I'm awesome. Jimmy Johnson. I come in every Sunday morning to this network, and I do a football show.

And I don't have to. The company doesn't force me to. One of the reasons I come, because I sit down with Jimmy Johnson every Sunday morning. He's the first to get here. And I pepper him with a bunch of questions, and he gives me a bunch of answers. And I have never worked with a human being that makes me smarter about football than Jimmy Johnson. what you're seeing is a beloved figure, a quirky, funny guy who's got the greatest stories, many he can't share. I have never learned more about football from any human than I've, and I've learned a lot from Howie and a lot from terror, a lot from a lot of people.

Dave Wonstat, Jimmy is, there is no, once you meet Jimmy Johnson and talk to him, you're like, oh, that's why he's one of the greatest coaches ever. I've never learned more football from any human than Jimmy Johnson. Yeah, I was very happy for him. I was crying watching that yesterday. Yeah, once I saw Troy Akeman cry, I got, you know, into the field a little bit. No, I mean, Jimmy is very well deserved and very long overdue. I'm very happy for him. He drafted my brother and introduced my brother into the Hall of Fame also.

Yes, by the way, he drafted your brother and Jimmy's greatest strength of his many, an eye for personnel. Remember, Zach Thomas? Yep, he's the finalist this year. Okay, so nobody likes Zach Thomas out of his. college. Everybody passed in your brother. Jason was on the third round. So he's one of the great, and I've asked Jimmy a million times, what do you look for? What do you look for? His answers are fascinating. He's the best. So happy for him. All right, coming up, Trent Dilfer, he was at the

Ravens Titan game Saturday night. He was. Oh, that's good. He was. That's crazy. Trent Dilfer's joining us next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the 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

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on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. 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, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Ms. Parker.

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

We get a player's perspective on the top. 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 to fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that Isaiah? you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We are 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 the 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. Can't wait. Really, really fun. We're going to get, listen, there's a chance we get Kansas City and Aaron Rogers or Kansas City and San Francisco. I'm all in on both. It's going to be amazing. Yeah, we got very, there was about an hour this weekend when I thought Tennessee would be playing Houston in the AFC championship. I'm not going to lie to you.

I poured a second drink on that one. I was, yeah, I was concerned. Let's go. via the coward global satellite to my buddy, Trent Dill for 15 NFL seasons. He was at the Titans Ravens games being honored as a legend of the game. It is interesting, Trent, and this is not a knock on Lamar Jackson. It's not a referendum. He's a hell of a player.

It is a reminder, though, that they are a very unique team, built run first, and it did feel different as a TV consumer when they were down by a couple touchdowns. I never felt Mahomes was in trouble down huge. I did feel different when Lamar was. was down by less in the second half. Did it feel different to you being at the game? Yeah, absolutely. And I actually watched the first part of the show today, and I thought what you said about young quarterbacks in general, especially Lamar Jackson, was absolutely true. Lamar Jackson played poorly Saturday night. Doesn't mean he's a bad player. Doesn't mean this

year was a mistake. Doesn't mean it was an average. I mean, it was just he played one bad game. The two interceptions were his fault. That first one was too high. He fumbled. He fumble. hold the ball in the pocket. He chose to go outside in a quarterback sneak on fourth and goal and he should have been Agap-centric in his fourth down sneak. I mean, he made some bad decisions in critical downs. And for that, you know, the Titans were able to win that game. But I agree.

I think Lamar Jackson is going to be a fantastic, fantastic player in this league for a long time. I don't think people are going to slow down or stop this offense next year. They might slow it down a little bit. I think he's only going to get better. I think Lamar Jackson's greatest attribute is he's a fierce, fierce competitor. He will go to the drawing board this off season. He'll address some of the stuff that got him in trouble. But the Titans had a very simple formula. They were going to play

soft to not give up the give me big play. They're going to overload the middle of the field. I was watching the game up in this up in coach in Steve a shot his box with Ray Lewis. And we could see it from really up high. And Ray and I were both noticing they're flooding the middle of the field defenders. They weren't going to give up the seams, the crossers. They were going to make Lamar go through his progressions and throw the ball outside the numbers. And it was a formula that work. Next year, he addresses that. He throws the ball better outside the numbers. It's one more element to his game. He's going to be harder to stop. It is funny. So Drew Bledso was texting me. He's on later this hour. He's like, I love Mike

Vrable. I want to play for Mike Gravel. If he calls me, I'm suiting up. I had football guys all weekend are like, God, Tennessee's fun. And I'm like, yeah, I'm a commentator. They're not that much fun. When you look at Tennessee, what do you? you see i imagine you love them i see i see that team and mike variable um as what wins in playoff football i think mike variable is as good a football coach as anybody in the national football like i've been saying it all year long here in national doing Nashville doing Nashville hits and stuff like you guys don't realize how good you have it uh this time last year what we're doing we were just praising sean macbay as the greatest coach ever fact it was the running joke on

TV. Everybody wants a Sean McVeigh clone because it's sizzly and hot and flashy and sexy. And I get it. I love Sean McVey. But Mike Ravels every bit as good football coach as Sean McVe. He just doesn't do it through the flash and sizzle. He does it with substance. He does it with toughness. He does it by getting badass dudes to get in to be part of his program. He does the old fashion way and his team loves it. This city loves it. It works this time of year. He made some really hard decisions early in the year. Going from a franchise quarterback to Ryan Tannenhill. He's made other adjustments, how he's handled the Taylor-Lewan situation,

how they've continued to get better as the year has gone on. Mike Brable's as good a football coach as anybody, and I think he's going to build a product that's going to be sustainable for a long time. Okay, so I'm going to throw this at you. You're a quarterback guy, and you teach quarterback. So I said this to my staff this morning, and they rolled their eyes at me. I said, listen, Aaron, Mike McCarthy was kind of a mechanics guy. That's kind of what he does.

He loves teaching quarterbacks. Mike's gone. Aaron now, it feels like to me he's throwing off his back foot on every throw. And I'm like, I don't like the way it looks. So tell me I'm wrong. You're wrong. In general, most people, I don't want this to come off snobbish. Most people that talk about quarterback back mechanics don't know what they're talking about.

And throwing off your back foot. I get it. The old days, like, and I did it. It was one of my fault. You know, you throw, you're kind of falling away. Yes. Losing momentum that was called throwing off your back foot. What Aaron is do is he's violently rotating his hips to generate more power, actually.

It's actually a more efficient way of throwing a football. And to do so, you have to get your left foot out of the way. You know, these old school guys that took the big giant left foot and almost looked like a javelin, I mean, that is completely backwards. There's been so much science, so much research into biomechanics. and how most efficiently generate ground force into rotational force and yada, yeah, all the stuff that everybody's like starting to change the channel right now talking about. That's what these modern quarterbacks are really working on. They're always working on ways of being creative.

It's their art. And that's the easiest way of saying is Aaron Rogers is an artist and he's learned an artistic way to maximize his potential. And the other thing it does, you see Patrick Mahomes do it too. You see Deshaun Watson do it. You see pretty much anybody that dives into quarterback mechanics. it also allows them to play in a cluttered pocket because no longer do you need to stride. There literally is no front foot stride

in the modern day throwing motion. It is more of rotation of the hips, get your left foot out of the way or your front foot out of the way and you generate way more speed. All right, well, I'm wrong every couple weeks. I mean, no big deal. You occasionally whiff on stuff.

We've now just done the worst segment in the history of the herd. I'm fascinated by it, and that's all it matters, right? Okay, so we go to Mahomes. And listen, okay, there's nothing that can be said. The one thing I'll say about Patrick Mahomes is I'm a big believer in this, Trent. Dynasties get short when he goes get big.

Golden State. Kevin Durant wanted to do his own thing. Okay, it ends. Popovich and Duncan always had the same alignment. When I look at Kansas City and Mahomes and Andy Reed, I see guys that are in proper alignment. Andy's as good as you can get. Patrick knows it and Patrick's as good as Andy Reid can get and he knows it.

I really do feel like as the New England dynasty sort of curtailed, we have one and it looks like it's a 10-year run for me. I don't see the egos. I think everybody, I think in Kansas City, the GM, the coach, the quarterback, I really like what I see here beyond just, hey, they want a big football game. I mean, talk a little bit about what you saw. Yeah, that's really wise what you said. I agree with that.

I mean, in my career in the NFL and in the TV career, you saw most of the really good partnerships dissolve because of egos and were people wanting more credit. The thing I love about Patrick and really have admired about him since day one, and I think a lot of this was the first year Alex Smith influence. I mean, I'll go back to that. We talked about it a lot, Patrick's first year, but so much wisdom he gained from being around Alex for that year,

one of the true pros in our league. And I think one of the things he probably learned was, You know, as soon as you start trying to take credit and start giving credit, it kind of tears at the fabric of the football team. And Patrick Mahomes, one of obviously the greatest stars in all professional sports, a transformational type talent, never puts attention on himself. He's constantly celebrating the success of his teammates, you know, pointing out the things they do well.

He's almost bashful when it comes when people are heaping praise on him. I think for that reason, this is very sustainable. And I think Andy Reid is very much the same way. I mean, Andy Reid's one of the more successful coaches we've had in the league for a long time. And Andy Reid never talks about Andy Reid, right? He's constantly trying to promote his assistance. He's celebrating his players. I mean, it's really one of those organizations that you can look at.

It feels good. Yeah. You know, there's not that stink around it. There's not that heaviness to it. When you're watching the Tennessee Chiefs, you're reading about them. You know, people are talking about it. There's kind of that light and fluffy feel good because I think they're two heads. their two rock stars are people that tend to give credit away

instead of trying to get it all for themselves. You know the Niners very well. They took the ball out of Jimmy Garapolo's hands in the second half. Now, I could make the argument. It's because he threw a bad pick, or I could make the argument, if you don't have to throw, why throw? What did you see with the Niners' second half game plan,

which was, we're just going to just pound on you for the next 90 minutes? And it wasn't just even pounding. It was the multiplicity of the run game. It was outside zone. It was outside of his own comeback. They showed some power. They got some gashing runs with a power concept, kind of a wrap scheme down, down and around,

which they don't do a ton of. You know, multiple formations, multiple motions. I mean, it was almost like Kyle was toying with Zimmer. Zimmer is one of the greatest defense coordinators our leagues ever had. He is a nightmare to play against. I can tell you that right now. But the run game is the great equalizer. When you can control the line of scrimmage,

especially when you're as multiple, that in the run game as the Niners were. Why would you ever throw it? I mean, there's nothing more euphoric as a football player, a coach, than to just look across the sidelines and know they can't stop your run game. There's a bravado to it. There's a, I don't know, there's a warm and fuzzy feeling that goes inside you when you know you're physically manhandling the team across from you.

And then that's what the Niners were doing. They were imposing their will to the Minnesota Vikings with the run game. The other thing does, it keeps the other offense off. the field. And I think that's one of the most critical things in playoff football is you want to limit the opponent's possessions. You want to shorten the game, especially if you play a good defense. And it complements the 49ers great defense perfectly. Great stuff. Trent Dilfer was at that honored as a legend of the game. The Titans Ravens game. It's great talking to you. As always, we got four teams left. They're all fun to watch. Thanks, buddy.

Thanks, buddy. Cold and flu season. Try Vix. Cinex. nasal spray works within seconds and up to 12 hours. Nothing works faster. Vic Synex nasal spray use as directed. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

So Bill O'Brien is facing some criticism after Texans blew a 24 point lead against the chiefs. But one person that's standing by his head coach is Deshaun Watson, who has complete faith that O'Brien is the right guy for the job. It's no doubt. I mean, you might have doubt, but there's no doubt. I mean, I love that man. I'm going to play hard for that man.

And, I mean, y'all can say whatever y'all want to say, you know, through all the media and all the writing. But as long as I'm at quarterback, he's cool with me. You know, he's got my heart. He's going to get all my hundred and ten percent every time I step on that field. So y'all can say whatever, but I'm going to always be room for that man and going to play hard for him. Yeah. There are a restaurant where the food's usually good, but the service isn't. It's kind of a mess.

They kind of butcher your order. But most of the time, the food's pretty good in Houston. But I don't like the optics of this team ever. I'll be honest. That was an all-time meltdown. We're kind of going soft because it's the chiefs and we expect them to win. And because, quite frankly, we love the Sean Watson. Right.

But if any of those factors are not the case, the Texans would be getting crushed today I think it's just kind of expected so it's almost become normalized. Now that said, Bill O'Brien has won the division four of six times. I know. So he's won two playoff games. He also took Penn State over when they were in the middle of the Joe Paw stuff and did a nice job to turn it around. So he's capable.

It wasn't the offense yesterday. The D-line was they quit. You can't get outscored 51 to 7. That's never great to me, in my opinion. What does a Sean Watson have to? do with that. I know. It's terrible. They're up 24 points. What else do you want him to do? And I realize some of it was special teams, but hello, that was insane. Like that was an all-time meltdown by the Texans defense. They deserve the credit for what happened there. I don't think that,

I don't put that on the Sean Watson. And quite frankly, I don't know if I can put it on Bill O'Brien entirely. Like they, they're so consistent that it's like, they're just consistent enough that you can't really make a change. If I was a professional sports better, I would take them off the board every week. There's certain teams I can't get my arms around. I never know what I'm getting from Houston. They mostly win 9 to 10 games. But I mean did you expect them to take a 24-0

0. Oh, hell no. Did you expect them to blow it in 8 minutes? No. That's who they are. How can you do that? That's who they are. That said, I did think everyone is killing him for the fake punts. I think Sorensen just made an incredible tackle on that. Like if they convert that nobody's saying that that was a bad move.

The media tends to be brutal on this. Like, we want our coaches to take risks they do. A defense makes a great stop and we rip the coach. I wasn't in love. Sometimes the defense just made a great play. That's right. And I didn't love it, but it's not the end of the world. I didn't, I didn't hate that call at all. It just was an amazing tackle. He was right there. So it had been three years since Aaron Rogers and the Packers hosted a playoff game at Lambo Field. And Rogers made sure to take a moment to soak it all in. I stopped myself in the second quarter. This is a special moment, just seeing just the whole stadium waving those white

house and just, I just think I was really in that moment, just grateful for the opportunity and loving what I do. I mean, there's nothing like having a ball on your hands in a clutch situation and knowing you got 78,998 or whatever it was today, most of them, you know, cheering you on. Also, after the game, did you see what he did after the game? It was on social. Like, he took a slow walk and he thanked everybody and there was like 30 cameras around him. And I watched it last night and I'm like, God, you get, how many of those do you get in your life? Eight.

Even, it's Aaron Rogers where you're walking off the field heading to the NFC championship, knowing it's the last home game of the year, and I'm sitting there, you know what, Aaron, take your time. Like, honestly, it's like, Aaron, soak it in. He just, he didn't soak it up. He just kind of sat there and he walked in and he thanked the

fans and the video, we should have it before the end of the show. It's just awesome. It is. And we kind of gloss over these moments. Like, you know, if it's not the Super Bowl, it's not an important win. And, you know, if you don't make it all the way to the Super Bowl, you didn't have a great season. Like, he should appreciate this because they've had a rocky road for the past couple years. And he's been doubted and criticized even this year.

Like, I've loved the Packers all year. Everyone's a little so-so on them. But I'm not just ready to bail on Aaron Rogers. And he has a defense finally for the first time. And I thought yesterday was a good example of what that team can do when they're playing at their best. And they asked him to make two great throws and he made both of them. And he did. That's what they asked him.

Seven point underdogs against the 49ers, according to Fox V. That feels right. Yeah. That's about right. Now, now, it's interesting. Tennessee, Kansas City, what's the line on that? I don't have that with me. I think that's seven to seven and a half.

It's seven and a half. I think those are good lines. I would say Tennessee, if I am Kansas City, I'm thinking they've completed 15 passes. If you're Kansas City, Tennessee worries me the way they play with Kansas City. They worry me because they just make you sit on the bench. I can't see. Yeah, that does concern me. Like, controlling the time possession is going to be a problem.

But to me, there's one issue. It's a big issue, but it's one issue. You better figure out Derek Henry. Yep. That's it. That's your number one goal for this week if you're the Chiefs. So finally, Marshall Lynch came out of retirement to help the Seahawks injured backfield after the loss of the Packers.

He didn't say it was the end for him in the NFL, but he did offer some advice to young players. It's a vulnerable time for a lot of these young dudes, you feel me? They don't be taking care of their chicken right, you feel me? So if it was me or if I had an opportunity to let these little young sahabs know something, I say take care of y'all money, African, because the shit don't last forever, you feel me, start taking care of y'all mantles, your bodies, and your chicken. When y'all, you know, ready to walk away, you walk away, and you be able to do what you want to do.

But I appreciate it. Thank you all. I have a good thing. There you go. Kind of a unique moment at the mic for Marshawn because he doesn't really mess with the media too much. Yeah. But I,

Marshawn Lynch is one of my favorite all-time players. Boy, unique. Like in the history of the NFL, I think he's so fun to watch. Yeah. He's a character, all in a unique individual, all on himself and just keeps it 100 all the time. And it was nice to see him have a play a role

in keeping the Seahawks in that game. Oh, God. I mean, you can only rely on him so much. I mean, you can't give him 28 carries. No, but what he does is what he did, and he was successful at that. Like, they needed him every moment he was out there. So to come back and be able to do that, you know, and what this year would be in his 12th season is just, it was impressive. And it's always fun to watch. Yep, Joy with the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lide News. I've got some thoughts on the Cleveland Brown's hire. That and Drew Bledso is going to be joining us. He was texting me yesterday. I got to talk about these football games.

They're nuts. It's coming up in LA Live, The Herd. 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. He was the number one pick, Super Bowl champ, decade and a half in the NFL and a four-time Pro Bowl. Or one of the great arms of all time.

And now he's running, of course, one of the great, I got to tell you, we're going to go live to him. Drew Bledsoe via the Coward Global Satellite Network brought to you by him. Mercedes-Benz, the best or Nothing. Yes, yes, he owns a winery. It's called Doubleback. That's the greatest single shot I've ever seen on this show. So congrats for the free marketing. You're a smart man. How you doing? I'm doing great, Colin, man. Thanks for having me on. You bet. Quarterback play yesterday is a former pro bowler. What did you make of the weekends

quarterback play? I think it was the best single day of quarterback play that I've witnessed, at least in recent history. All four guys played at a truly elite level. You know, there are a couple different kinds to me of greatness and exceptionality. You know, there's one, you know, you equate it to basketball, you know, the guy that makes the free throw to win the game at the end. You know, that's a big deal, but you're supposed to make your free throws, right? You know, it's doing the ordinary thing in extraordinary circumstances. And so when you have a quarterback that's worker from the pocket, doesn't get hit, throws to open guys, even in big moments, those are glorified. That's one kind of greatness.

What we saw yesterday, though, was truly excessive. exceptional talent and ability by all four guys. It was really amazing to watch. Yeah. Patrick Mahomes, I mean, there is a little far. I mean, you were a guy that could spin it. There's a lot of different elements to him. He's about as good a passer. He has some Marino stuff, right?

You know, he's really unique. And the thing is the thing that's interesting is that the two guys that, you know, as quarterbacks that we all sort of bow down to, we're both playing yesterday. One's Patrick Mahomes, and the other one is Aaron Rogers. Now, Aaron, you know, he's been beat up a little bit and all of this, but let me just give you a little equation

if I could. You know, I'm not great at math. I'm not, I'm sure you're not super great at math. Maybe you are, but you can always ask Joyce. You could probably explain it to you. But if you think about what you would have to do to do the math to make that big throw that Aaron made on third down yesterday to Jimmy Graham,

you know, Jimmy's running away from him at sort of an obscure angle. He's got to throw the ball up and down over the top of a linebacker. And he's got to do that math. And the whole time, while he's doing that and throwing the ball remarkably accurately, he's sliding to his left away from pressure, doesn't even have his feet set. And yet he's still able to make this incredibly accurate throw with the right touch, the right velocity, the right arc, all of those things. It's just amazing, man.

And when you watch what some of these guys are able to do, you know, when they're off balance and still able to throw really accurately, it's just impressive. Listen, we both love Russell Wilson. Let me be critical of Pete Carroll, who's going to be a Hall of Fame coach. They just won't put their arms around him. They're trying to run the football early. And I'm like, Pete, just give it to Russell. You got a guy on Marshaun Lynch is, you know, he's on the beach three weeks ago.

I didn't love Seattle's game plan instead of just, embracing Russell. Any thoughts on that? Well, first, let me say this about Russell Wilson. You know, I think we all know, Lamar is probably going to get the MVP this year. But if you're really talking about most valuable player, there is no question who that is. It's Russell Wilson. You're watching that game yesterday. If most any other quarterback is quarterback in the Seahawks yesterday, I'm not sure they score a point. You know, I'm really not. They get very few first downs. You know, he's able to, he's able to, he's able to, create on the move. It was interesting. I was actually thinking last night because I know you're

two favorite quarterbacks right now and then you don't play favorites, but you love Russ and you love Tommy, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let me ask you questions. So when are you most comfortable cheering for Tom Brady? It's when he's in the pocket and things are on schedule, right? Yeah, right. Yeah, just operating. Yeah. When are you most comfortable watching Russ? When he's moving, always. Oh, my goodness. You know, if you're cheering for the Seahawks, You want him on the move because nothing bad happens, and it's always something good when he's on the move. He throws the ball remarkably accurately,

and then he can pull it down and run first down. When he starts moving, you just know something good is going to happen for the C-O. I love this view right here. There's really nobody open, and he throws him open. Okay, so you were texting me during this game. I see this 5-4-1 area code, and I'm like, Oregon. Who is, well, that's Bledso. So I don't know, Vrable.

He is a man's man. He's got some Jack Del Rio qualities. He's a big dude. And I'm watching him. And as somebody that's been in the Patriots, explain why you love Vrable as much as you do. Well, first of all, Braves, he owes me. He owes me big time because the touchdown passes he caught in the Super Bowls.

That was because of me. So he was one of these guys. Vrable has so much energy. Like he would run scout kickoff just for fun during practice, you know, as an old vet. He'd just go run down because he had to burn off energy. Well, before games, he had to burn off energy. And so he would come out early, and I was out early, and I'd throw him balls. And he was running around the field catching balls, and he was really good at it.

And Belichick noticed, and next thing you know, the dude's catching touchdowns in the Super Bowl. And he's never sent me like anything for that. So brave, if you're watching, you know, come on, send me something. Hook a brother up. But he was a guy that was just infectious in the locker room. He's a big dude. He's got a big voice. And everybody loved him.

I was only with him for one year, which my wife and I both had to Google. that seemed like we were together for a lot of years, but became great friends right away. But you can't replace the credibility that he has with those guys. They know that he was a certified badass as a player. And he brings that attitude and you look at him and you can tell just looking at him. He actually wants to get out there and play. Yeah. And you really can't replace that credibility that he has with those guys.

He's got them all playing great football and it's just exciting to watch. Minute left. The Niners look like the best football team. Does that mean anything to you? I think they are the best football team. You know, hats off to John Lynch for putting together a team and doing it the right way. You know, they get after the passer. They run the ball well. They built a team from the inside out rather than going and getting the shiny, you know, ornament. you know, and then Jimmy is, Jimmy is doing exactly what he needs to do. He's a great leader for that team. He doesn't make mistakes.

And when he's called on to make a big play, he does. Yeah. So I just, I have a hard time seeing somebody beating the 49ers, you know, really happy to see Green Bay's success. You know, I love Aaron Rogers. But man, that's a tall task going in there to San Francisco and trying to take down the Niners. They just look like they're great in every phase.

All right. Let's take one more shot of Drew. It's doublebackedout wine. Their cab is legendary, highly rated wine spectator. Look at that. That is just, you can't pay for that kind of marketing, Drew. I appreciate you, buddy. I always appreciate you.

You're always kind. You know, maybe I'll even send you a ball of wine. All you got to do is send me your visa number and I'll send you some wine. All right. Good talking you, Drew. All right, thanks, bud. You bet. He popped out of a meeting to do this.

He's got a beautiful winery up in Walla Walla, Washington, and his wine, his cab is as good as it gets. Big steak and a cab from Doubleback.com. Good stuff. Michelin Endurance, XT, silicone wiper blades last two times longer, available at Walmart. I got to get into this. On the other end, I have not talked about the Cleveland Brown's job.

I'm going to talk about that because they did hire a new coach and Cleveland's melting and they're freaking out. And I'll give you my opinion on that. We've also got Tony Gonzalez stopping by. He was on the set yesterday when Jimmy Johnson was given his Hall of Fame honor, which was incredible by the Canton Ohio Hall of Fame. Also, I've got thoughts about LSU and Clemson. That game is tonight.

I'm going to give you about seven, eight minutes of my thoughts on that game. This is, you know, we talk about all the time about what football is becoming. Let me tell you what football is after this weekend. It's Tennessee running it right down. It is Aaron Jones, as good as Aaron Ron. Rogers. It's LSU and Clemson and SEC power and Clemson physically at the point of attack. Football the way it should be played. Hour three is coming up. Computer systems and cars are the new normal. Call 800 car 6,000. Mention the code. Heard. CarShield.com. Stuff breaks. They fix it. Car shield.

Hour three next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer-beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you content. 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 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. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

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

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, 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 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? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam, this Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about, defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. So over the weekend, Cleveland hired Kevin Stefansky, a pretty quiet guy, offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, and he'll work with the front office in Cleveland. They'll do a bunch of analytic stuff. And of course, Cleveland thinks it's terrible. Of course they do. But I understand why they do, because when you have low self-esteem as a person or a business, your instincts go into the tank. You reach. You want loud and shiny. You are impressed with people who make a lot of noise like Josh McDaniels. and Kevin Stefansky does not. He's smart, he's confident, he works with analytics, he doesn't have an ego, he is flexible, he is not rigid. And of course, Cleveland, and I don't blame their fans,

wouldn't get it. Because when you've been harassed and humiliated and embarrassed and mocked and your self-esteem is taking a beating person or business, your instincts are a mess. And Cleveland, their instincts are a mess. Their fans don't know what they want. It's a good hire.

Is it Mike McCarthy, no. Is it Ron Rivera, no. Josh McDaniels was a bad fit here. He's impulsive. He's got an ego. He's rigid. For the record, Cleveland, you don't have to believe in me. But you thought John Dorsey was a great GM, and I told you, it wasn't going to work.

Too loud, too rigid. You thought Freddie Kitchens was a great hire. I said, it's not going to work. In a division with Harbon, Mike Tomlin, he's over his skis. You thought Baker was the right quarterback at number. one. And I said he's not as talented as Lamar, Darnold. He doesn't throw it even as nice as Josh Allen. He's not a number one pick. So I've been right on everything with Cleveland. I mean everything. And you've been wrong on everything and you're wrong here too. Kevin Stefansky was the right

guy to hire once you didn't get Rivera, once you didn't get Urban and once you didn't get Mike McCarthy. I don't think he's as good as those three. But of the remaining ones, he's flexible. He's going to work with analytics. He has said he's willing to allow analytics on a headset during games. I don't have a problem with that. I'm for more smart people listening. He works with the GM, Paul D. Podesta, who's a baseball guy, but let's be honest, Cleveland's into this stuff. They're rolling the dice. They're trying to tweet the culture. I'm okay with it. Now, I don't love the owner demanding that the new coach sit down with him and break down the game on Monday. hard pass on that.

But Stefansky's never gotten a job. This is his first big break. And I do think there'll be a better football team win more than six games with Kevin Stavansky. But Cleveland, you've been wrong this entire time. And I give you a pass. Because when you're mocked and humiliated, your self-esteem plummets and your instincts go into the tank.

And Cleveland fans, your instincts are horrible right now. Stefansky's a good hire. I don't know if he's going to work. Because I don't know if anybody can work. work with this owner. And I think the quarterback's way too impulsive. But Josh McDaniel was not. I said it before the hiring. Josh McDaniels was not the fit here. He was classic Cleveland. He's cocky. He's got an ego my way or the highway. And you just love that with John Dorsey. And it whiffed. I think he got the best remaining guy. He's pro analytics. He's a good dude. He's strong. He loves to run the

football, Cleveland should be running the football and asking Baker to throw 24 a game, not 34 times a game. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. We have a little bit of breaking news. MLB has handed down the unprecedented penalties for the Astros after the investigation into sign ceiling during their World Series championship season in 2017. All right.

GM, Jeff Luno, and manager, AJ Hinch are both suspended for one year. Wow. The team will forfeit their first and second round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. Wow. Bo. Wow. And they'll be fine $5 million, which is the maximum allowed by the league. And former Astros assistant GM Brandon Tobman was also placed on baseball's ineligible list. You know, the sad thing about this is they probably would have won the World Series anyway.

Right. It's like you've had the best team for about three years. What are you doing? But I guess, you know, I guess, you know, people would say that about New England and they're pushing the envelope, pushing the envelope, but it was very messy. It's like the whole process of how they would like feed the video feed into the hallway and then like people are communicating through garbage cans. Like it's a really crazy story. Here's the thing is I don't, how do I say this? I don't think less of their team.

Like I think they've had the best baseball team the last two. years. I don't think less of the Astros. But I do wonder, when you get all these smart men in the room, they all raised their hand and said, let's do it. Like, you put, I swear to God, and I've said this before, men individually are smart.

Groups of men together, the IQ drops. How can all these smart guys go, yeah, I'm for this. You had the best players and the best staff and the best infield. And that I don't get it. Your guess is as good as mine in that situation. I don't have the answer for that.

But I know everyone wants to push the envelope a little bit, you know, take advantage of any situation that they can. I get that. But this is one of those situations where it's like, there's enough, like you said, there's enough people that throughout this process of how this whole thing worked. You have to.

It's like, guys, just play the game. All right? Like, play by the rules. You can take an advantage of something here. and there, everybody does. But it takes away from the greatness that your team is. And I don't have a problem with the fines being this unprecedented, because you want to discourage people from doing it in the future.

$5 million is one playoff game at the gate. The money is not the point. It's the maximum allowed. It's the suspensions in the draft picks that are. Listen, you just took away four great draftics. If you look at the history, the draft, your first two to three rounds is where all the players are at. Right. So Lamar Jackson obviously had an incredible year, but came up short in the playoffs for the second season in a row.

Titans pulled off the 2812 upset over the run. Ravens and Lamar knows that they let a big opportunity slip away. We just beat ourselves. You know, we had a lot of, well, I had a lot of mistakes on my behalf, three turnovers. That shouldn't happen. But, you know, they came out to play. You know, we just started off slow. You just got to do better next time.

But I don't really care about what they're saying. You know, this is my second year in the league. Many people don't be able to make it to the playoffs. I got a great team with me. We're really worried about what the people are saying. We're just going to keep going. Like I said, get rid of the next year. Yeah, that's exactly what you should.

say for the record, Josh Allen melted down. Lamar didn't have a good game. Sam Darnold can't get to the playoffs. We're not sure Baker can play. It's hard. Once you get to playoff games and you're a young quarterback, this is a hard league. It's hard.

And making it to the playoffs are tough. Like he said, some people don't even ever make it to the playoffs. Remember in the homes last year in the playoffs in the first half against New England? They couldn't pick up first downs at home. Couldn't pick up first downs. It's, look, I'm not going to sit here and act like we weren't all surprised at the Titans did this. Shocking. Okay, so if you, other than Clay Travis, if you were ahead of it, like, you know, good for you.

But nobody else saw this coming. I avoided his, all weekend, I avoided his, you try to avoid his Twitter account. But look, there's really not a whole lot. There's not, it's hard to explain what the Titans are doing other than Derek Henry. You don't really have an explanation for it. I just think that what happened with the Ravens is what I saw a lot throughout this weekend with the teams at loss, is that you started to see a little bit of a panic. You could see you could see it just the energy around the team started to get a little panicky and you start trying to go for 20 point plays and those don't exist. Just do what you do. Focus on this second. Catch the ball, then run.

Like the drops were like every time it was just like they took their eyes off of it. Like you got hungry to run before you did what you need to do first. Like focus on what you do. And I feel like the teams that win in the playoffs always remember that. It's what it's what Aaron Rogers was talking about with boys. Go into this game and treat it like any other game even if it's not. what you do best. Don't try and be a hero. Don't try and make the big play because that's when you're going to mess up and that's what I felt like happened. Finally, Fox's very own, Jimmy Johnson,

finally got his spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Here is Hall of Fame President David Baker, surprising Jimmy with the news yesterday during the halftime show. It's my great honor to tell you that you're going to be the 328th Hall of Fame into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And your legacy is going to be in Canton, Ohio, forever. Congratulations, Coach. Congratulations. Congratulations. Oh, hey, bum.

Oh, my God. I'm awesome. Hard to not get emotional watching that. I love Jimmy. Like I said earlier, Jimmy drafted my brother and coached him for several years. And obviously, Jimmy is very well loved in the Miami area. He's part of the Fox family. I like the Bill Cowher's surprise is great too.

Another. Very well deserved, obviously. You know, they were both in Waterboy. Yes. Bill Cower and Jimmy Johnson, even greater than their Hall of Fame of Fame of College since they were both in Waterboy sitting next to each other. Yes. I'm very excited.

I'm kind of a Hall of Fame junkie. Yeah. I always love seeing you the finalists are. I love the speeches. Yeah. I mean, having to be able to participate in a Hall of Fame weekend was obviously amazing. with my brother, but it's just, it's so well deserved it was long overdue for Jimmy.

So congrats coach. He's one of the best ever. Yeah, joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurdline News. Let's bring in Tony Gonzalez, who himself is a Hall of Famer inducted this year, a gold jacket guy, 17 years, 14

Pro Bowls. First of all, you were on that set yesterday with Jimmy, and I said this earlier. I do a Sunday show, you know, we're together on that. And they Fox has never said I had to do it. But years ago, I chose to do it because I wanted to get to the, on Sunday, I wanted to come into the lot, and I wanted to talk to Bradshaw, and Howie and Strayhan and Kurt and Jimmy, because they're all full of knowledge.

I've never learned more about football than I've learned from Jimmy Johnson. So I come in, he's the first guy in, I get my oatmeal, and I just ask him nine questions. And I learned something every Sunday. So you're on the set yesterday. How emotional was it? Oh, well, you know, we had no clue, by the way. They did not tell us. That's why when you saw Terry and all the guys saying, wow.

And we thought it wasn't going to happen, honestly. And then when you see, you know, Big Day and Baker... Because you saw Bill Cowher in the morning get it. I saw Bill Cowher in the morning get it. And we thought, okay, if it was going to happen, even Jimmy, I talked to him afterwards. And he was like, well, you know, since we didn't get it in the pregame show, he didn't think it was going to happen. Nobody on the set did we were all, like, kind of upset and, you know, complaining about it. And then when he came around, and just to see Jimmy's reaction, I'll tell you what, this is probably the coolest moment I've ever had in my life,

even more so than the moment when Mr. Baker told me that I was going to the Hall of Fame. I don't know why. It was just, it was so surreal just seeing Jimmy because he's, it's, it's been so long. Yeah, we've all been. So anticipated and it hadn't happened. I mean, I said before, in my life, if you said best football coaches, I'd go, Bella check's the best. I didn't see Lombardi, so you put him out there. I'd say Bella checks the best.

And I'm like, you start looking around and you start and you're like, boy, Jimmy's way, way up there. Yeah. Like he's, I mean, dominates college, dominates the NFL. Like, it just, it just doesn't happen. And he's also the first guy to engineer a major trade. Nobody traded football players. Yeah. He changed the culture of the sport.

Yeah. I mean, it's just incredible. And he could, for the record, he could have stayed in Dallas for years. He and Jerry, you know, they're both big superstars. Jerry wanted more control. And Jimmy's like, that's not what I do. So. And that's a strange thing I found.

He's not even in the Cowboys. Hall of Fame. It's the Ring of Honor. So obviously, there's some stuff going on between him and Jerry that hopefully gets resolved. Because now that he's in the Hall of Fame, I mean, put him in the Cowboy Ring Honor, too. Yeah. So let's, I'm going to talk about a couple of these games. Let's start with Kansas City near and dear to your heart. It is pretty remarkable.

Do you worry at all today? You're like, how did they fall behind 24-0? Like, were you freaking out? Like, what happens? Oh, it was an emotional roller coaster for me yesterday. I was at the house watching it by myself, which is a rarity around the Gonzalez household. And I'm sitting there. And I was cussing. I was frustrated. I beat the pillow up a little bit.

I'm walking around the couch. And I'm like, I can't believe this. Unbelievable what's going on. Because it wasn't the mistakes. It was all mistake football. It wasn't about talent, obviously. You saw what happened. It was just the drop passes and the punt block and the missed assignments.

I was like, what is going? You're melting. You know what? The other thing is, buys aren't great. That's what I said. the buys. Let's go. Let's talk about that. So Lamar Jackson, he plays a great game against San Francisco. Then they play two dogs. They give him a week off, week 17, and then he has a buy. I thought he looked rusty. I thought the receivers look rusty. You know, Belichick never believed in that, Tony. Belichick was like, Tom Brady's not getting week 17 off. Yeah. We're playing all our starter. Dungee, though, was always a give Peyton Manning time off. In your life, I always had a theory that if you were hot, keep playing. Yeah. And I thought Baltimore was

hot and they arrested people. Yeah. Well, it depends on who that person is. I believe. Now, at the end of the season, I've had the first round buys. And I remember Kansas City, we had it twice. Did you like it? Well, you like it because you think, okay, well, we get the extra rest. Everybody can get healthy and all that stuff.

We lost both times. Wow. Number one's heed. 97 went as a rookie 2003 with that Dick from Mill team. Yes. We lost in the first round against Peyton Manning. They had played the week before. Everybody was rusty when we went out there. You got to keep going.

It's the hot hand. you got to keep playing. And this is why New England is so good. Because when they do get that buy week, Belichick is a master at keeping those guys focus. Now, I don't know if it's through fear. I got a feeling it's through fear and his scheduling. There is no, hey, let's all take off for three days.

We're going to go out there in shorts. It's like, no, we're going to do pads. And we're going to go out there and nobody's dropping balls. I will cuss you out in front of the whole team. I will call you out in front of the whole team. Everybody, we're going to stay just as tight as ever. Because they've never been rusty with a buy. Huh?

They're never rusty with a buy. buy. Never rusty with a buy. And that's that I think that's, and I've heard this too, even during the regular season, he doesn't give them a buy week. They don't get a by week. When, you know, when everybody else takes off, I'd take off and hey, fam, we're going down to Miami during the buy week, you know,

because we got four or five days off. I heard Belichick gives them the minimum off, which is like two days. You don't have to give off that by week. And it's because, hey, we're going to stay focused. We're going to come in here and we're going to stay prepared, and that's why they do what they do. So, just my eyes tell me, Sam,

San Francisco is the best team left, and Kansas City is the second best team left. And then Green Bay, Tennessee, what do you make a Green Bay? Like, Aaron's now throwing to one guy. They don't adjust well at half. You can't dispute that anymore. They were outscored 20 to 7 by Seattle. So I've got this team with perhaps the fourth best coach that doesn't adjust well at half. They throw to one guy, and they're 14 and 3.

Like, what do you see with Green Bay? I think, well, the thing you didn't mention is their defense. I think that's what's popping out to me. I mean, the Smith edition, the Preston and Zadarius. Zadarius, that's huge. I mean, they paid those guys big money, and they're delivering to both. Each of them had two sacks yesterday, and they did well against the pass. And I felt bad for Russell Wilson because they couldn't get a run game going.

You can't get a run game going. It's just, it's just hard. Especially on the road. And he still almost had it. And he still almost had it. I mean, I felt like if you got the ball back, He might have went down there and scored. But that's what Green Bay is resting on right now, is their defense.

It's not the offensive side of the ball. And if I'm the San Francisco 49ers, take away Devante Adams and put two people on him and say, all right, Aaron, you've got to throw to other people. They can run the football a little bit, though. Yeah, no, I mean, listen, Green Bay is a good team. But generally when you have these obvious flaws, like they don't adjust well, they throw to one guy, you figure the best coaches. You know, sometimes, you know, football is funny.

So we go to the Tennessee win. Have you ever played in a team? Tennessee is literally winning, completing seven balls in Foxborough, eight balls. Have you ever played in a team that was as physical as Tennessee? Or that literally was the quarterback was just an accessory? Yeah. No. No, I think what they have, obviously, they're led by that Clydesdale in the backfield, Derek Henry.

who nobody wants to tackle. If I'm, message to Kansas City, tackle this guy low. Do not go up top because he's too physical. And then the defensive side of the boat, they're an extension of what Mike Rable is as a player, just a down and dirty, not dirty. Not dirty.

I mean, just like physical type guy. And you see that expressed throughout their whole defensive side of the football. Nobody wants to play this team. This is a dangerous football team. I'm scared next week for Kansas City. I know. It is an interesting matchup. You could see them having the ball for 34 minutes. And have Patrick Mahomes sitting watching the game.

That's what New England did last year in Kansas City in the first half. Patrick was watching the football game. And there is no reason. First of all, I don't think they can do it in a league differently. Nothing against Tanna Hill. I don't think he could, you know, we've seen him from his body of work. Maybe he'll prove what's wrong. But up to this point.

This is what he is. This is who he is. They're only going to win if Derek Henry goes out there and gets 150 yards. And so if I'm the Kansas City Chiefs, I'm stacking the line's grievance. I'm going to say there's no way that you're going to come in here and run for more than 100 yards. It's going to be, and we're going to have to score points. Keep the foot on the gas and let's go out there and Andy Reid do your magical stuff. Mahoney, best player in the league right now.

Go out there and do the stuff, the thing you do. What if you had to play with Mahoney? Oh, and Andy Reed, Travis Kelsey. Just what an unbelievable game he had yesterday. You did not. You played Mike Smith was a defense. defensive coordinator. He was a coordinator.

Did you have Herm at all? Yeah, Herm. So he was a defensive guy. Vermil was offense. He was off. It was that Don Correel, Eric Correel type. Can you imagine the career you would have had? It would have been nice.

You had an okay career. Yeah, an okay career. I'm not complaining. When you watch Kansas City play, there's a flag football field to it. I mean, it's incredible. It's just everybody, seeing an offense like that, So take me, in an offense like that, it looks like you're allowed to add, live more as a receiver and a tight end. Or am I wrong?

Is it much more buttoned up than that? No, it looks like that's part of the process, I think, with them. I would have loved to play in this office. I think that's why Travis Kelsey, you see a lot of his touchdown plays is when Patrick is rolling out. And you give, he's a basketball player. That's what Travis Kelsey is. I mean, a really good basketball player before. and you give us that little bit of space to get open.

All we need is a little inch. And then Patrick Mahomes is the Steph Curry and Magic Johnson type player. And he's just, it looks like so much fun back there. They are having a good time on offense. And they got all that speed, finesse. It's fun to watch. And I bet it's fun to play in. 17 NFL seasons.

He's a gold jacket guy. It's Tony Gonzalez. Great having you on the show, bud. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Glad Kansas City, 1. You're in a better mood. Coming up next, I'll break down the fire.

reasons I really like Clemson tonight over LSU. I've been known to be wrong occasionally with my football picks, but I'll break it down and tell you why I like Clemson even though they're essentially playing a road game against LSU. That's coming up. 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. Want to hear something amazing. Discover matches all the cash back you earn into your first year, no limit. Go to discover.com slash cashback. match. All right, Reggie Bush, Trent Dillford, Drew Bledso, Tony Gonzalez, Colin Wright,

Colin wrong, loaded show. So tonight, LSU, it's essentially a home game, plays Clemson, but it's not really a home game. Should be noted, the two teams in this playoff that have ever played a home game, both lost. I don't take a ton from that. It's not really a home game. Clemson's going to have 35,000 people there. The home teams are 0 and 2 when they've in the playoff had an opportunity. So I think Clemson wins tonight, and here are my five reasons. I've given this a ton of thought. Here are my five reasons.

Clemson versus LSU. Number one, it's called my Mike Tyson theory. Mike Tyson, only 10 of his first 37 fights, went to the fourth round. The key with Tyson was he threw with such velocity and power, just get to the fourth round. It was so alarming. So when Clemson, who had a weak schedule, played Ohio State, it was the first team they played in five months with 15 NFL guys.

And Ohio State like Tyson, the power of Ohio State put Clemson back on their heels. End of the first quarter on Clemson average seven and a half yards of play, forced two turnovers, rushed for 150 yards, scored 29 points, and was clearly the better team. It's the Mike Tyson theory. When you played a weak schedule, the first quarter against the real. good team Ohio State, it gets you back on your heels. From the end of the first quarter on, Clemson did whatever they wanted against Ohio State's great team. Mike Tyson theory, Clemson now facing LSU is not going to be back on their heels. They'll be ready to roll snap one.

Number two, the better coach quarterback combination. Dabo Sweeney's been in eight of these games. and three national title games. Ed Orgeron's been in one. Who's a better quarterback? Trevor Lawrence is a transformational talent. Joe Burroughs had a great year. Trevor Lawrence, 25 and 0 as a starter. He's accounted for three touchdowns in nine straight games.

Joe Burrow did not face a single opponent this year that has a current top 10 pass defense. Clemson's number one in the country. Just be honest about it. Dabo is a better coach. and Trevor Lawrence is a better quarterback. That's a big edge when you've had seven, eight, nine days to wait. Number three, the no respect card.

So Clemson's a five and a half point dog. That's funny, they were a five and a half point dog to Alabama last year and won by 28 points. LSU's offense is getting all the love. But Clemson's is higher ranked. LSU's defense. Oh, my God. Clemson's is higher ranked. All Clemson has done for the last seven days is here how great Ed Orgeron is and how great Joe Burrow is and how Clemson has no shot to win this game. Did you guys watch Bama and Clemson last year? And Bama last year, I think, was better than LSU this year.

Statistically they were and Clemson beat him by four touchdowns. Clemson hasn't allowed 25 points to anybody all year. The no respect card. Reason number four. Been here before. 37 players on the roster for Clemson have taken a snap in a national championship game. Zero for LSU have. This is the fourth time in five years Clemson's been in this game. I've had guys like Bill Romanoosky on.

He said, I've played in all sorts of conference championships. My first Super Bowl, I don't remember the first eight minutes. I don't remember it. This is the biggest game for LSU coaches players by far in their life. Almost a half of Clemson's roster has been in this game more than once. Finally, LSU's defense, I don't think it's great. None of the eight national champions have ranked as poorly in scoring defense as LSU did this year. None.

Five of the eight last national champions. We're number one in scoring defense. Clemson's number one in scoring defense. If you look at LSU's defense, I saw Tua on a bad leg tear it apart. I saw Ole Miss tear it apart. They're 27th and points per game, 56 past defense, 40th in sacks, and 84th in Red Zone. I don't trust this defense, and I think LSU brings back every important player off their offense from last year.

So Mike Tyson theory, coaching quarterback theory, been here before theory, no respect theory, and LSU's defense, they don't get to the quarterback that much. Trevor Lawrence is going to have time to throw. So I will take Clemson in a shootout,

going to be fun, 38 to 30 over LSU. And I already bet the game. I got points. So it'll be fun. I was thinking about everybody's like, it's a home game. Do you really think Clemsons? Okay, here's a home game. Packer Seahawks yesterday.

That's a home game. That was 79,078 were Packer fans. You're going to have 30,000 people, Clemson fans at this game. They've been in this game before. The crowd's going to be LSU. I'm not disputing that, but it's going to be a bunch of Clemsons fans. And they're very good. and they'll be ready to play, and I'm not, I'm not freaking out about it at all.

I'm going to have a great football game with a lot of points. The over-under is about 70. I think that's the right number. I think that it's going to be right at that. But if you're asking me if I was going to bet, I'm going to always take the better coach quarterback regardless of where the game is played and five or six points. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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

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

This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was part of it. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.