The Herd with Colin Cowherd - QB-Coach league, playoff predictions, Nick Foles, and Adam Gase.

Episode Date: January 10, 2019

Colin discusses why the NFL is now a Quarterback-Coach league instead vice versa, his playoff predictions, the mystery of Philadelphia Eagles QB Nick Foles' play, and why the Miami Dolphins were wrong to fire Adam Gase. Guests include Doug Gottlieb, Greg Cosell, EJ Manuel, and Karem Jackson. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live in Los Angeles. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio on FS1, one hour from now to get you ready if you play fantasy football. If you bet the games, or you just want to see who's going to win this weekend, one hour from now. Greg CoSell stops by. Joy Taylor's joining me on Thursday. Joy, how are you? I'm great. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning. happy today. What a week for us. What a week. This is the best time of the year. It's a lot happening. Oh, God, I got four in, I mean, just incredible games this weekend. I'm going to have a blazing five tomorrow. By the way, I am. I'm going to have a blazing four tomorrow, actually. Maybe I'll pick a volleyball game or something as the fifth. Let me start with this. So Green Bay went out and hired Matt LaFleur. I don't know. I don't know if he's going to be a great coach. I don't. But I know this. If he gets the Aaron Rogers thing right, then it'll work. And, yeah,

Yesterday, the Jets hired Adam Gase. Why? Because Adam Gase and Sam Darnold had a better connection during the discussion than Sam Darnold and Mike McCarthy. Who did Baker Mayfield want his coach? Freddie Kitchens, he got it. And why did Arizona hire Cliff Kingsbury? Because they thought he and Josh Rosen would get along.

Four for four so far. The offensive coaches hired were the choice of the quarterback. Because due to rule changes, the quarterback now is more important. than the coach. So you got to get it right. It did not used to be this way. Think I'm wrong. John Elway and Mike Shanahan won Super Bowls together. Sometimes not a great relationship. Terry Bradshaw and Chuck Knoll had major issues. Won four Super Bowls. Phil Sims and Bill Parcells were not best buddies. It was ugly and they won. It used to be a head coach and quarterback League. Due to rule changes, it is now a quarterback and coaches league. By the way, look at the

teams and the quarterbacks and the relationships this weekend. So the Rams are in the playoffs. You think it's a coincidence that Goff and McVeigh are like dad and son? Super tight. The Cowboys will face the Rams. Here's what we know about the Cowboys. Dak and Jason Garrett are all in together. By the way, the MVP is Patrick Mahomes. Super tight with Andy Reid. He'll face Andrew Luck and Frank Wright. It's apparently it's an incredible bond. Oh, there's also Nick Foles and Doug Peterson. Tight facing Sean Peyton and Drew Breeze, tightest in the league. Are you seeing something here? If you do not have a relationship where quarterback and coach are symbiotic, it doesn't work. By the way, tell me the two teams in the NFL this year that you are shocked didn't make

the playoffs. Pittsburgh, Big Ben and Tomlin, not a great relationship. And Green Bay, Aaron Rogers and McCarthy imploded. Also teams that disappointed us, Carolina, Cam and Ron Rivera, my sources tell me they both frustrate each other. By the way, Matt Ryan, Dan Quinn, it's okay. Kirk Cousins, Mike Zimmer, do not see eye to eye. Zimmer drives, you know, cousins drives Zimmer crazy sometimes. It didn't used to be this way. You could have the demanding, yelling coach, Mike Ditka didn't have to like Jim McMahon.

It didn't matter. Buddy Ryan didn't have to love his quarterbacks. You could win Super Bowls. You could win your division for years. It doesn't work that way anymore. The rule changes. If the relationship is even a little off between coach and quarterback, it doesn't work. Pittsburgh and Green Bay.

By the way, do you want to know why Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rogers did not get along this year? Okay, I got this one sourced. They got along fine for years because there was a middleman. There was always a middleman. But Alex Van Pelt got run off. The middleman. So this year, Rogers and McCarthy had to deal with each other constantly. And the minute it didn't work, the team folded and the coach got fired.

Okay. So yesterday, all these teams named the only team, by the way, that didn't hire an offensive coach. Denver. Now, why would Denver not worry about that whole quarterback thing? They hired Big Vangio because Denver doesn't have a franchise quarterback that John Elway thinks is going to be around in four years. So they didn't give a rip. They didn't care. They got Gary Kubiak being the offensive coordinator.

He will eventually have to get along with the quarterback. But they don't think much of Case Keenham, so it didn't matter. They went and got a defensive coach, who, by the way, Vic Fangio is a good coach, not much of a personality, not much of a talker, doesn't have real relationships with quarterbacks. They didn't care. Even Tom Brady this year, Tom Brady was always subservient to Belichick. We all know that, right?

For years and years, it was Belichick's team and Tom did what he said. He got rid of Wes Welker, he got rid of Randy Moss, Bill ran the show. What happened this year? Brady said, you resign Gronk on my terms and you get rid of Garapolo or I'm out. And Belichick said, as the greatest coach in football history, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right. Even in New England, for the first time, the last couple of years, Tom has flexed. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're not getting rid of Gronk.

Resign him. Belichick. All right. All right. Belichick didn't do that for 17 years. Brady's like, get Garoppolo out of town. I'm not getting Garoppel. All right. All right.

All right. All right. It is no longer a coach quarterback league. It is a quarterback coach league. Four for four yesterday. Aaron signed off on the floor. Darnold preferred gays. Baker wanted Freddie.

And Cliff and Rosen connect. All right, let's shift to this. So a dynasty could end this weekend. And I just want to say this. Joy and I have said this multiple times. She's been in this business a long time. I've been in it longer just because I'm older. We both root for stories.

We've said that. You think we root for teams. No, no, no, no, no. We root for content. We root for content. Content equals ratings, contract extensions. We want fun. We want car wrecks.

We want craziness. You know what the best thing that could happen to join us this weekend? Dallas wins. That's good for us. Cowboy nation erupts. Cowboys are on Fox. That's our team. And you know the other thing that would be great for us?

And you're not going to believe this, but I will set a record Monday if this happens. The Patriots get blown out. And the dynasty dies. Because a lot of people are connecting me to New England through the years. numbers. They'll tune in to see what I have to say about the dynasty that got crushed. Chargers win by 40. They roll them. They beat them 47 to 10. It is awful. Brady stinks. That is great for my business. But that's not going to happen because New England's going to win. But the Chargers have better players. I know. They do. I'm not arguing. So did Jacksonville last year.

So does Pittsburgh every year. So did Atlanta in the Super Bowl. Atlanta had better players. Go look at the Pro Bowl list. Seattle had better players in the Super Bowl. By the way, so did the St. Louis Rams 17 years ago. They had better players than New England. In fact, if you put down the top 10 players, in my opinion, between the Chargers and the Patriots this weekend, Brady won, then Philip Rivers, then the Patriot, Stefan Gilmore, then it's a bunch of chargers, and then Devin McCordy. It's seven to three chargers. Brady Rivers, Stefan Gilmore, Desmond King, Derwin James, Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, Devin McCorme, Melvin, McOardie.

Gordon, Keenan Allen. And by the way, 11 through 20 is a lot of chargers. Seattle had better players. Atlanta had better players. Pittsburgh's always got better players. Chargers have better players. Atlanta did. Let me give you the advantages, if I may, for New England.

At home, Belichick, rested, weather, experience, significantly better kicker. The chargers are playing on back-to-back, East Coast games. there is not geographically, unless the NFL creates a very quick franchise in Nova Scotia, there is not a further trip the Chargers could make for the second straight weekend. New England does have less talent, but this has become their brand that outside of Brady, talent doesn't win games. Being at home, cold weather, December and January, one or two trick plays, very good Ben don't break defense. I will tell you, without question, and Joy Taylor knows this, and everybody in my business

knows this. We do not root for teams. We root for stories. I rooted for LeBron to become a Laker, and LeBron to become a Miami Heat. And when those stories get old, like LeBron and Miami, LeBron and Cleveland, I'm rooting for another story. That's what we root for. Dallas winning and New England getting absolutely lit up this weekend is fantastic. But I even think I know how this game's going to go. A rested team on two weeks is going to start quickly, New England. New England is 97 and 8 at home when they score first. And in 15 playoff games in Foxborough, they are 13 and 2 when they score first.

So they are 97 and 8 overall winning 92% of the game. their games when they score first. And the West Coast team, traveling out east again, will be a little unsettled initially. New England gets on them, jumps on them early, then holds them off. It's not actually what I want. What I want is content, and the Chargers blowing them out, and the Cowboys hammering the Rams, give me four days of stories. But I think New England is the, is the,

the bet this weekend. All right, coming up next, you know how most things, you know, I like theories and stuff. I have my own theories on sports. Not all of them are right, but I have a bunch of them. Some are tedious, right? Some are wrong. But some things are also

unexplainable in sports. And I just saw something this morning and I don't have an answer. I do not have an answer. And it is remarkable. And it will affect a game this weekend and may create the biggest upset in the NFL playoffs in some time. And that is coming up 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.

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

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. 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.

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Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president, of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds,

just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them

and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin, and rising hockey star Lela Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it.

An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world, Like, I can do anything. I can do anything.

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Doug Gottlieb, Greg CoSell, top of last hour. Next hour, excuse me. There are most things I think I can explain in life. You can find the answers for almost everything today on Google. I mean, you can ask any question in the world. No, have an answer in Google. There are some things, though, I would say three things in the world I cannot explain. Number one is smoking, why people smoke.

You die sooner. It's a painful death. It's very expensive. Increasingly, you are forced into tiny isolated places. You've gone to an airport, seen the smoking section. That's a communal coffin. And it makes you smell. Get a patch.

It makes no sense. I can't explain it. The second thing I can't explain is a state that allow you to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. You do get there is no such thing as a fender bender on a motorcycle. You're upright or you're dead. That's the way it goes. You're either flying around or you're dead. And some hippie in a Prius checks out, downloads his fish album, doesn't look,

and knocks you into the next county and you're a street pizza. ski resorts force you to wear a helmet. You're going 28 miles an hour. New Hampshire, you're going 108. We're a headband. We're all good here. I don't get it. Here's the third thing I do not understand.

Nick Foles is the best passer in the NFL when blitzed. I do not understand this. He does not have a great arm. He does not have great escapeability. Smoking states that don't demand a health. helmet and Nick Foles being the best passer in the NFL when blitzed. I do not understand this. Peter King yesterday offered this. It may be his personality. The fact that they get Foles, whose cool hand Nick, as he's told me, I play with a quiet mind. The day of a game, what does he do?

Does he study film? Does he do this? No, he journals about how to be a better father. I mean, I'm just telling you, this is a different human being than a lot of the quarterbacks that we've known. He tries to enter a game with classical music playing in his head, Colin. That is Nick Foles. It is remarkable. Even Las Vegas does not get Nick Foles. Nick Foles and Doug Peterson are now 4 in the playoffs. And they've beaten good teams.

They beat the New England Patriots. And they beat the Red Hot Minnesota Vikings. and they last week went into Chicago and beat the Bears. And they're eight-point dogs at New Orleans. Vegas can't figure them out. Vegas doesn't like them. And Vegas usually has it right. Vegas has them, do you know what an eight-point favorite is in the NFL?

That's like when a dog goes to Foxborough. Like you get over like six points in the NFL. You get the average score in the NFL is 26-23. That's like three times the average margin. We're down to the final eight teams. Maybe it's his personality. I do believe I've always had a little anxiety. I'm kind of hyper.

I think there are certain people that are born hyper and born calm. I was not born calm. I tend to be a little too intense, a little too anxious, a little too hyper. I don't sleep particularly well. And then there are people that are just natural DNA. They just can walk into a burning building and their heart rate doesn't go up. I've seen this with race car drivers before. Years and years ago, they did a test on like the late great Dale Earnhardt.

and his pulse didn't go up one iota going 190 miles an hour around a turn. Some guys are just built to race cars and some guys are built to jump out of planes and I'm not either. But this is fairly remarkable. Nick Foll's best quarterback and by the way it's not like it's a fluky thing.

The guys under him are like, you know, Breeze and Luck and Brady Malmes and most of the good guys. By the way, Dax's way up there too. So, you know. All right, Joey with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line. news. Nick Foles is a phenomenon. He really is. I mean, it's, Greg Cosell came on two weeks ago and I asked him who's better and he wouldn't entertain the question. He's like, that's ridiculous. Greg Cosell watches film. He's like, it's not close. Wence is transformative and Foles the backup. He would not answer my question. He goes, I don't even know why I're asking this question. I mean, it's going to be a real conversation if they get this game this weekend. Oh my God. I don't remember a playoff game. If you're asking me what would be good for our show. Foles

upsets the Saints. Cowboys beat the Rams. I think Mahomes and Annie Reid winning is actually better than the Colts because I think that's a better story. The MVP's Chargers crushing the Patriots. Our Monday show would be stupendous. So would our Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I mean, that

gives you story after story after story. From your lips to the sports god's ears. All right, so on the same day that Cliff Kingsbury was introduced by the Cardinals with the number one overall pick in the upcoming draft, a report from the San Francisco Chronicle said that Kyler Murray will be declaring for the 2019 NFL draft. So what does that mean? Well, the internet did some digging and found this little tidbit from Kingsbury in October.

Kyler is, I mean, he's a freak, man. Kyler is a freak. And I've followed him since he was a sophomore in high school and just think the world of him and what he can do on a football field. And I've never seen one better in high school. And he's starting to show it now at the college level. I mean, I don't have enough good things to say about him. He's phenomenal.

I've never seen him have a poor outing, not one, which at a quarterback's, it's impossible to do, but he's done it. And I don't know. I'd take him with the first figure of the draft if I could. I know he's signed up to play baseball, but he is a dominant football player, and I would take him with the first pick. Hey, by the way, he even had better numbers than Baker Mayfield, and Baker put up stupid numbers at Oklahoma. By the way, only 66% of Major League Baseball first round picks make it to the big leagues. 100% of first-round NFL picks

make it to the NFL. And by the way, the numbers for baseball players lasting three years is under 50%. So you only have a six out of ten chance to make the bigs if you get drafted in baseball. But it's like four out of ten to last two to three years.

So NFL, you're going to pay a ton early and you're going to last in the NFL for seven, eight years minimum. Let's get hurt. Well, I've said before, before when he was, you know, when this report was he wasn't sure what he was going to do, the better move would be to go to the NFL. Because, I mean, I think Thibault proved if you really want to play baseball like that,

if your body's still capable of it, you could go back and play baseball. If you to fulfill your lifetime dream of playing baseball, you can't do that in the NFL. So if you have any desire to play in the NFL, you should go right away. But people are focusing on the fact that now Kingsbury is in a position where he could take Kyler Murray, number one. Well, he won't know. But he has Josh Rosen. But Adam Schepter said it's not.

This morning on ESPN has said that the idea of a Rosen trade is not that far off because of the coaching staffs could, you know, lead to a change in direction. I don't see how that's possible. I don't know what the benefit that is. And you can say what you want about Josh Rosen. The offensive line was the worst offensive lag in the entire league. He never had a shot. So this is not going to happen.

And it's very easy for him to say, just like us like saying, oh, we would take so-and-so number one overall in the draft. But our jobs and careers and the careers and the career. of other people that work under us are not on the line that situation. He's just doing an interview. So everyone just relax. So Sean Payton has found some unique ways to motivate his players, and he outdid himself this week.

He brought the Lombardi Trophy, more than $200,000 in cash and a Super Bowl ring for display in the players' meeting. The money was meant to reflect what the Saints would expect for bonuses if they won the Super Bowl, and obviously the, you know, Super Bowl trophy and rings speak themselves. But the motivational employee appears to have been effective. according to Sheldon Rankins. You saw all that money in front of you, you get excited too.

Oh, that's, there's anybody going to get excited about that. And I'm right along with him. If we get it done, I need it. I need it in 20s. All in a duffer bag delivered through my front door. Sean does a great job of getting us ready. You know, he kind of knows, you know, what buttons to push and, you know, kind of how to peak guys' interests.

So, you know, for him to do that and, you know, kind of get guys, you know, even more excited than they already are. Yeah, that's pretty funny. It is a very interesting game, though. Because you would assume the Saints having a buy and home field advantage that it's basically a lock for them to Super Bowl. You'd think generally buys matter for really good coaches. Bies help Andy Reid.

Belichick's been great on Bige. I think Sean Payton's been good on them. They don't help every coaching staff. I tend to think a buy really helps Drew Brees, because they're a very clever offense, and if it gives you another four or five days schematically to draw some tricks up? I feel like it's more beneficial, obviously, for the experienced coaches, but for the experienced quarterbacks, meaning that they're older.

So getting another week of rest. Like, I don't love the buy for the Rams. I don't necessarily love the buy for the Chiefs either. But for the Patriots and the Saints, I think it's a good thing. And finally, speaking of the Rams, Todd Gurley, hopes to put the questions about his injured knee to rest this Saturday against the Cowboys who missed the last two games for the regular season because of inflammation in his left knee and he appears to be growing very tired of the speculation that he will be ready come game time.

I ain't been on the field in the last two weeks. So it's like, why it's talking out on the field? It's his knee. So we want to know how his knee doing and, you know, get an update. So and then I don't have to keep getting tweets and Instagrams all day. They can just watch this video, see how my knee doing. They either going to believe it or think I'm lying. So but no, it's cool.

It's cool. I'm really just eager to get back on the field and, and, you know, it's going to be able to get back on the field and then just see how it responds. And then hopefully, you know, we have some new questions next week. He hasn't played since December 16. And hasn't had more than 16 carries since October 28. I said this yesterday. They need corners and offensive linemen.

It's cool. Draft another running back second, third round. There's nothing wrong. I mean, New England and Philadelphia are winning a lot of games with a series of good running backs. I don't have a problem having Zeke or Gurley, but I would love to have a backup like the Chargers do. They can carry it. Eight, nine carries.

I love Melvin Gordon. 17 carries three catches. But, I mean, Zeke, it's like 384 touches. That's why Clayton Kershaw's fastball disappeared. You can't ask 270 innings nine years in a row. Yeah. Well, they definitely need a strong backup, but he is going to be crucial to this game.

So hopefully his knee is 100%. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. My friend, the Dugger had dinner with him last night, one of those corporate things.

Doug Gottlieb, Fox Sports Radio right after our show. Podcast all ball with Doug Gottlieb on iTunes, part of the Hurt Podcast Network. So yesterday, basically, everybody that's hired an offensive coach, four for four, the quarterback signed up. Apparently in New York, Darnold preferred Adam Gase, who, by the way, made the playoffs the first year, and then Tannehill got hurt and he dealt with Brock Osweiler and Cutler, so he's, you know. And Peyton Manning swears by him.

That helps, right? And by the way, he was Tebow's. He was the guy that, like, made Tebow work. Now, as much as Tebowl work. No, look, he made Brock Osweiler work some this year, right? So, look, all of these hires are the same. They're different. But even the Denver Broncos who hired Vic Fangio, that was really, so they get Gary Kubiak back running the offense.

Kubiak's health has been such a concern, you know, twice over in Houston, then, of course, in Denver. But all of these have been, hey, fix the quarterback, you know, because. And, you know, yesterday, my show, I think some of your show, is spent dedicated to talking about Cliff Kingsbury. Yeah. And how can you hire a guy who got fired at Texas Tech to be your head coach? What's interesting is we've had some of the greatest college coaches of all time, right? Steve Spurrier and Nick Sabin, like you go through the list and Lou Holtz who have been failures as NFL coaches. And I mean, by the way, Spurrier and Holtz, disasters.

And the reason. And Sabin wasn't exactly. Not going to out of the park either. Right. It's a different job. It's a completely different job. It is. You ask any, anytime you have somebody here and Joy touched on it earlier, it's,

you ask anybody who's been a college head coach, and they'll tell you, coaching is about 15 to 25% of it, depending upon the school, depending upon the resources. And one of the reasons I thought Sabin got a little bit exposed is because, hey, there need to be a little bit more coaching on Monday night. Yeah. Because the other team had the same or maybe even better talent. Yeah. And that doesn't happen on. often. You have to recruit. You have to worry about donors. You have to worry about your athletic

director, your president. You're managing the players. You're managing your coaching staff. You're managing the athletic, other people, the athletic trainers as well. Grades matter. Managing that. Whereas in football, to be a head coach in the NFL, you got to lead men, and then you got to figure out the quarterback, especially with these teams. Not all teams are comprised that way, but with these teams specifically that fired their coaches, all of them needed to fix the quarterback. You know, it is interesting. So I don't know if this is a big story today, but Kyler Murray, I would draft. Now, if I needed a quarterback, I think he's going to work in the NFL. I don't think he's Trevor Lawrence of Clemson, but I think he and Tua, Tua at Alabama,

Kyler Murray, Oklahoma are going to work. It's funny. I think fans think you'll never get hurt in baseball. Baseball pays more. It's actually not the truth. Right. Well, I actually spent a segment while you're out and you're skiing, you're going down the slopes, and Joy was gallivanting around Miami. I actually spent a good amount of time on this while you're out, which is people don't realize Aaron Judge even made $600,000 last year. This is his fifth year as a professional athlete after playing at first of the Yankees. Well, John Carlos Stanton's in his second deal.

There's about 10 of these colossal deals in the NFL. Tyler Murray's never going to get one, right? You're talking baseball. Right. He's a 5'10 outfielder or second baseman. He's not a pitcher, okay, and he's not a prodigious home run hitter. He's not going to generate one of those deals. Bryce Harper money. Additionally, it's easier to sign a professional contract in baseball, but you're not actually a major leaguer. Whereas if you're a first round pick, you get a four-year guaranteed contract. And there's a posity of quarterbacks in this year's draft. So, yes, it's smarter for him to go out. Now, will he work? He's a combination of Doug Flutty with.

with Mike Dix-Arre. He'll work enough. Lamar Jackson worked. He's a better thrower than Lamar. He'll work enough. He's tiny. I know, I know. Listen, Johnny Mansell is small. He's tiny. I know. Like legitimately a small human being. Right. All right, let's go back

to the NFL. So, you know, we have four games this week. Joey and I were talking about this. The audience sometimes thinks we root for a lot of different things. We root for interesting. We all, you do And big markets. Yeah, it helps when the Dallas Cowboys win. The Lakers winning, the Yankees winning, the Cubs winning.

You know, top 8, 10 markets, those are good for our business. Nothing against Westbrook, but if they dominated the league and they were playing the Pacers, it wouldn't be good for our business. I can assure you ESPN's got the NBA. They like San Francisco having a dominant team and they want L.A. to have one, and they're praying

somebody goes to the Knicks here eventually. Okay, that's the truth. So let's look at these games. The Rams Cowboys is interesting. We all think McVeigh is a genius. What is the story Monday? If the Cowboys come in here and win and McVey is 0-2 and everybody hired McVe's guys, and you're thinking, this McVeigh thing ain't that great.

I think there's massive pressure on the Rams. Well, I think there's massive pressure on the Rams. I think that there will be people, and maybe it'll be you that'll point out McVeigh's not that great. I would disagree. No, I think he is great, but I think it's gotten to the point where the hype train and surpass reality. That's totally fair. But they are the number two seed, right?

and playing with the first place schedule from last year, like they're a pretty good football team, and they've stabilized things, and they've gotten a lot out of Jared Gough, even if he's regressed some here the last couple weeks of the season. I think the story of the Rams is that they are poorly constructed, right? You mentioned bringing in a backup to Todd Gurley. Remember, they were the ones who a year early went in and reworked his contract.

They had all these front-loaded contracts, and because of it, they don't have the depth that some of these other teams have, And when they've had attrition and injuries and the offensive line all of a sudden breaks down, suddenly some of their weaknesses get exposed. I think Cooper Cup getting hurt, hurt them as well. Will the narrative be? Yeah, Sean McVeigh, two home playoff games, two home playoff losses? Absolutely.

But the other thing that'll be missed is how well constructed this Dallas defense is to deal with the modern offense. Right? They have fast linebackers that can run. They can pressure the passer. And Jason Garrett, who some people called for his ouster midseason, people have finally I think figured out. He knew exactly what he had, right? He's got limitations with DACA quarterback.

He knows he's got a great running game. Now that he's got, you know, a number one wide receiver, and he still plays to his defense. His defense is his strength. He's figured out his team. I don't think the narrative will match the reality, but I do think that people will start to nitpick at Sean McVeigh if he loses a second consecutive home game in only two opportunities.

Do you think they win or lose? I think they lose. I think the Dallas Cowboys are a better constructed football team. There you go. And they're the perfect. matchup for that Rams offense. All right, let's go to an AFC matchup, because I do think the Rams face real pressure. The other team, I think, faces real pressure is Kansas City.

Andy Reid struggled. Patrick Mahomes' MVP. They haven't won a home playoff game in the last six. The Colts are playing with House Money. They're a touchdown favorite. Colts had the biggest comeback in AFC history, you know, when they played them before. So you're picking the Cowboys to beat the team at home with a little pressure. Do you think the Colts can beat Kansas City, the home team with the MVP with a lot of pressure?

I do. I do. And as you pointed out, the defense is as much the story as Andrew Lux's comeback is. Defense has been shockingly, quickly good. They don't have the personnel you think. Yes. And like, look, I disagree with you in terms of the no look passes. I do. I like it. But there's a reason that Brett Farr have only won a Super Bowl, right? It could be sloppy. Well, just the chances that you take in the regular season, like those are great, but not turning the football over. is a big thing. And I do think that trying to make plays, and Pat Mahomes will try and make plays.

Like, was the defensive disaster, and he's a Texas Tech? Of course. And he put up crazy numbers, crazy numbers. But he also turned the football over a lot. He takes a lot of chances. And there's a reason that the kind of conservative coaches have won a lot of Super Bowls for a long time. I think this team is flawed in terms of their construction defensively. I don't think there is good since they lost Kareem Hunt.

They're just not the same. They're just not the same. And while the rest of the offense is the healthiest it's been in weeks, they still, they haven't been able to figure out defense. And this is a Colts team, modern style of defense that can cover with speed and a type of offense that can run it. They got Andrew Luck. And I think that the chiefs have lost what their last five home playoff games, which is crazy considering it's the best home environment in the sport.

I know it's great. And yet it almost works against the Chiefs because they get tight because of the expectations. So you like Indianapolis? I do. Wow! Okay, so he goes anti-favored teams with pressure. I do think the Rams and the Chiefs face unique pressure could come out tight. All right, don't go anyway because it's good. Now we're going to go and talk about your favorite team of all time is the Chargers. You're a Charger fan.

We'll talk about that New England game. And we'll talk about the mystery behind Nick Foles, which not even Vegas can figure out. Plus, you've got great stuff on Kyle Kuzma, who went off last night for the Lakers. Watch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. All right, Doug Gottlieb, joining us. He'll have Joey Bosa of the Chargers. Great, great player on his show today at the Doug Gottlie's show after mine. Let's talk about this game. You grew up a Charger fan, but I've always felt you're very good at separating fandom from reality. Back-to-back, Long East Coast trips. New England's like 96 and 8 when they score first off a by.

They're great at scoring first. I don't love the Chargers this weekend. I don't either. The weather's supposed to be bad. And look, I, I, I think if you did the fantasy draft, right? Like, who would you rather have? Oh, God, yes. I mean, the Chargers, with exception, maybe, you know, Brady you would take historically. And they have one great corner. Gilmore's a great corner.

So, too, to the Chargers, right? The Chargers have two better rush ends, right? Yeah. Or linebackers, whatever you want to call. Better backs. Better backs. They have, Derwin James is the best defensive back on the field for either team, one of the best in the entire league, and all pro is a rookie. they got better wide receivers.

They get Hunter Henry back who, look, he's not what Rob Grankowski was, but Rob Grankowski is not what Rob Grankowski was. I said this, best 10 players, I've only got two or three Patriots, and then 11 through 20 is mostly Chargers. Yes, and the Patriots are good at stopping the run. They're pretty good defense at defending the pass, but they don't pressure the passer. And you're like, Philip Rivers, the only time he gets messed up

is when there's people at his feet, right? So, like, you sit there and go, man, man, I love the Chargers. but I've seen this movie too many times. I know how it ends. Don't I? Yeah. And you convince me, all right, the Chargers finally got a kicker. He's from New Jersey.

Weather won't bother him. When I hear there's snow in the forecast, I see the numbers coming off a by. There's no logical reason that Tom Brady and the Patriots should play in the AFC championship game. But they're going to play in the AFC championship game because they're the Patriots. Okay. Meanwhile, nobody including Vegas can figure out the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, I took him to upset Chicago last week because I just didn't buy into the whole naggy

Trubisky feels like David Copperfield, a lot of smoking mirrors. It was. It was smoking mirrors. And eventually somebody goes like, oh, hey, he's not that accurate. But I will say this. Nobody's understood. They were dogs last year in the Super Bowl. They were dogs last week.

I think Philadelphia goes toe to toe with the Saints. I don't. I don't because one of the things that's missed in the Foles magic. And granted, they were going against an outstanding defense. with the Chicago Bears. But he did throw two picks. You throw two picks against the Saints. They're going to score points and make you pay.

They just are. Yeah. And they don't make a lot of mistakes. They don't make them. They're a machine offensively, and they're built to play at home. And the Saints defense, they do pressure the passer. I mean, like, look, he was able to get away with those mistakes last week because you're playing against Mitch Tribeschi.

He's not playing against Mitch Tribeskey this week. And he's playing on the road in a ridiculous. environment. I don't think the Saints out-talent you the way that the Chiefs will offensively or the Chargers will offensively or the Rams will, you know, with Todd Gurley. Like, they have to find one mismatch and they pick you apart, but they are a precision offense. And they find the mismatch, they exploit the mismatch, they take advantage of the mismatch. I think the Saints win. I think Vegas has got this one. So Doug Gottlieb is predicting how crazy is this. Tom Brady against Andrew Luck, Patriots,

Colts meeting the AFC Championship. I would make my life, right? Of course, those are the guys I love. And then Saints against the Dallas Cowboys. Boy, that would be good for the league. Yeah, and of course, the Saints played the Cowboys. Cowboys beat him. That was in Dallas. Yes. And of course, Sean Payton was formerly with the Cowboys

a long time ago. I would take the Saints. I don't even want to talk about the AFC. I don't even know what's going on. I just can't even New England should not be a Super Bowl team this year. All right, three minutes left. Kyle Kuzma, you're very well connected to the Lakers. Kyle Kuzma did it again last night. He went off. He's had...

In three quarters. He only played three quarters and he had 41. Okay, so he's a better defender than Ingram. He's got a better body. He's not a great defender. Like, he's learned to be... But go ahead. I'm sorry. I guess my whole point is, if you had to trade Ingram or Coosma...

Oh, it's not close. Coosman's the guy now. It's not close. LeBron, Coosman, whoever you get. Yes, correct. That's essentially the pecking goal. But here's the problem, Doug. Everybody in the league wants Cozma now.

Because he's separated from Ingram and Lonzo. Correct. But therein therein kind of lies the rub. Like, yeah, we can make this deal. We'll make that deal for Anthony Davis. Throw in Coosman. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no. So do you think the Lakers would ever trade Cozma? You never say never. It depends on what comes back in return. You know, what are you taking off our hands?

What do they have to make that deal? They have Contavius Colwell Pope's expiring contract. They have Brandon Ingram, who I don't think anybody thinks to be a star, but a really good player who has shown son. at times. You go back two games ago when they beat Dallas. He did play great. He's played a couple of his best games of his career over the last five. And I

think you would even throw in Lonzo Ball or a Josh Hart if you had to. I actually think Hart's higher in the pecking order even if he doesn't have the ceiling of Lonzo Ball because he fits in with the culture of what they're trying to do. Cusma is virtually untradable. But here's the big thing that people missed

on guys like Cusma and the rest of the young Lakers. He wasn't allowed to shoot three-pointers in college. Good point. Okay. So it's one thing to just reach the NBA and now be playing, you know, a different role, a different position. He's, yeah, he's shooting like 30% from three.

He's only been shooting him for a year and a half. He will get steadily better. Plus, he's playing with when Rondo comes back, with Lanzo, and of course with LeBron James, you got three of the best passers in the league. You're going to shoot a higher percentage because of that. I think he, maybe not limitless potential, but he's essentially a star in just his second year in the NBA. By the way, when LeBron has weight. Bosch can win a title.

Kyrie Love can win a title. The reality is this could be potentially LeBron and Anthony Davis and a Kuzma. That could be the best third player LeBron's ever had as a teammate. Could it not? Well, he'd be the youngest. I don't know. I don't know if he'll have the career of a Bosch, right, or the career of a love. You know, love was a great, put up ridiculous.

But remember, that's only been his third year that they would all be together. The one thing is, like, let's not undersell. those guys are all versatile, but Kuzma is a poor defender, and LeBron is, his defense is on reputation alone. He's not nearly a defender who used to be. And you're going to need some guards at some point, some elite level guards because they have taken over the league. Can I give you one last thing? Obviously, James Harden went off again last night. Yeah.

You don't just have to look at the usage, okay, the usage. When Kobe Bryant went for 49 straight games, his usage was at 27, as opposed to James Hart. Hardin is a league high 39 right now. Additionally, pace of play is far faster now, more possessions now than it was. So it's a lot like football. These are stats on stats on steroids and you have one guy dominating the basketball. I'm not taken away from James Hardin in terms of how well he's playing, but the stats would lead you to believe he's playing better than anybody in the last 20 years.

And those are skewed based upon how it's officiated, how fast the game is played, and how much he dominates the ball. Andy Dalton threw for 4,000 yards one year. Joe Montana never did, and I had to endure for about. That's why I came up with a beige water pistol instead of the red rifle. I'm like, folks. I mean, for like two years, everybody was into Andy Dalton, and I'm like, get out

of the stat game, the league's changed. Once corners couldn't grab receivers, it changed the whole league. Doug Gottlieb, after our show, Joey Bosa on his show. Greg CoSell joining us next in L.A. One more, Hurd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Hard

radio app. Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Ah, here we go. Hour 2 in Los Angeles. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, Greg CoSell in about four minutes, five minutes. Joy Taylor is joining me for hour number two. How are you? Doing great. I have told you before I've been kind of grading the hirings. What I don't believe in is if you have a young quarterback, Jets have Sam Darnold. He's trying to figure out how to be an NFL quarterback.

I also don't want a young quarterback to have a coach who's trying to figure out how to be an NFL head coach. Freddie Kitchens has never been a high school football coach. I don't love that move in Cleveland. So as Baker's trying to learn how to do this thing, he's got a coach who's trying to how to do this thing. I don't like that. I do like, I don't like Arizona situation where Josh Rosen's trying to figure out how to be an NFL quarterback, and he's got a college coach who's trying to become an NFL quarterback. Adam Gase to the Jets, and Jet fans are clueless.

I mean, they're dope. They don't know anything. This is a really good hire. Adam Gase is Kyle Shanahan before Kyle Shanahan. Years ago, Nick Saven was a coach at LSU. He had this, you know, 19-year-old, 20-year-old kid on his staff named Adam Gase, and he gave him all this responsibility because Nick Sabin's like, who's the smart kid?

This is a guy that had Peyton. Manning's greatest year. Peyton Manning called the Jets. They're like smartest coordinator I've ever had. He won with Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow went in a six-game winning streak. It was Adam Gase. By the way, he had a winning record with Ryan Tannahill, 13 and 11. He made the playoffs the first year in Miami with Ryan Tannahill. The previous two head coaches that Ryan Tannihill had had losing records. Adam Gase had a winning record with him. He's a really good coach. But what happened? Tannahill got hurt. He had to use Jay Cutler and Brock Osweiler. and by the way, even this year with Osweiler, they had really good Sundays,

followed off them by really bad Sundays because that's what happens when you have a backup quarterback playing for you. But in the end, Gase is a great coach. He gave the Patriots trouble. He went 10 and 6 rookie year. He was a very successful coordinator. Now, the downside to him is he's Kyle Shanahan-ish. He can be condescending.

He's really smart and he knows it. He's very intense. He is no passive aggressive to him at all. He'll get right in your face. like Kyle Shanahan. He'll go to a press conference and chew out reporters. He is really intense and he wears people out. He had a winning record with Ryan Tannehill. No Miami coach, there's been three of him now, have ever done that. He made the playoffs the first year. Tebow, Manning, Saban, all call on his behalf. He's a super sharp guy. Well, he was fired. Who gives a rip?

Belichick's been fired in the NFL. Pete Carroll's been fired twice. Mike Shanahan's got two Super Bowl's been fired. John Gruden got fired. Next year won a Super Bowl. Jim Harbaugh got to a Super Bowl. Two years later, he got fired. Andy Reid's been fired. Now he's the number one seat in the AFC. Guys, the NFL's for aggressive men to coach. They're aggressive guys.

Aggressive guys get fired all the time. They get fired in radio, TV. They get fired in CEO jobs. You can't worry about getting fired. If you're worried about getting fired, don't take any grown-up jobs. If you want to be comfortable, go coach in college, where you can dominate the athletic director. You pick all the players. In the NFL, you've got a billionaire owner.

You're in a big city. The media is rough, and they fire you every 15 minutes. And you're also coaching millionaires for the kids who are playing for a scholarship. NFL is a hard league to coach in. But Adam Gase, like Jet fans are like, oh, listen, Mike McCarthy, I think's a great coach. I would have loved to see him get the Jets job. But I said my second choice is Adam Gase. And I also said, and Joy, you were here so you can verify this.

About 10 days ago when the NFL was firing all these coaches, They call it like Black Monday and they're firing everybody. Who is the one coach I said that got fired that I would hire again? Well, McCarthy, obviously, but Gase. Yeah. I said that day of all these guys that got fired that day, I said, Adam Gase is going to get a job. Yes.

Because my sources all say he's Kyle Shanahan before Kyle Shanahan. And by the way, Shanahan's never been fired yet, but he wears people out. And he calls out the media and he's Geroff. And he and Garoppel, by the way, have had battles already. I, you know, I think being a Dolphins fan, my opinion of Gase is probably a bit skewed because I wanted to see him be successful there and he wasn't. Again, I don't think your first stint as a head coach, if it's not necessarily successful,

is a reflection of who you are as a head coach. Certain situations matter, but Miami is not the most functional organizations, you know, historically. They fired Dave Wonstadt years ago, and if you look at his first three years in Miami, he had more wins than Mike Tomlin and Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh kept Tomlin to this day. They fired Wonstadt.

Wonstadt made the playoffs and had a better record than Tomlin. That's what the Miami Dolphins is doing. I love the Dolphins. I obviously will. They have a great place in my heart. But they don't get enough credit for all the bad management decisions that they've made. By the way, when you're a dolphin fan, you hate the Patriots, but the Jets are also a big rival. And Gase was five and one against the Jets.

So he's a good coach. He's going to be very good in New York. This is a great. By the way, Sam Darnold got a choose. Sam Darnold got an opinion. They put him on FaceTime, and he's like, I like Adam Gase more than McCarthy. That's the story today. All right.

over 35 years NFL films as smart a guy as we bring on the show, Greg Kosell. Greg, how are you doing? Colin, what's happening, my friend? Well, let's just start with New England, who is favored against the Chargers. I said, you know, Jacksonville, everybody told me had more talent than New England, and the Seahawks and the Super Bowl did, and Pittsburgh always seems to, and they kind of figure out ways to win. It looks like when I watched the Chargers play, they have a great disparity talent edge on New England. Do you believe that to be the case?

position by position and feel that the Chargers are better but I think so much of these games come down to specific tactics and the way the games play out schematically I think when you look at New England they're a little bit different team offensively

than they have been in the past I think they're a little more foundationally based on the run game I'm not sure they can line up the way they might have in years past and just give the ball to Tom Brady the way they have I'm not sure he's quite at the same level

he's certainly not been as good on third down, and that's been a defining feature of their offense this year, that Tom Brady's not been as good on third down, and the offense has not been as good on third down. I think Ronkowski is not quite the same guy. I don't think he redirects quite the same way when you watch the tape. So, again, I think that there are certain things you look at and you see on tape. You know, these teams played last year, and I think you're going to see the Chargers kind of do what they do on defense. The Chargers play with the seven defensive back thing was specific to all. Lamar Jackson, but they play with six defensive backs as their foundational approach.

They'll do the same thing. Is the Chargers with Philip Rivers, the receiving core is deep. Henry, the tight end is back. They're running backs. They've got all sorts of guys who can make plays. Philip Rivers and the Chargers, though, could not get the ball in the end zone against Baltimore. It was a lot of field goals. Does that concern you?

Well, I think the one area of their offense that is concerning and whether New England can exploit it is a different question. is their offensive line. I think that the Chargers' offensive line by NFL standards would probably be considered average at best. I think Philip Rivers is the kind of quarterback that more often than not can compensate for that and camouflaged the flaws in his O line, but there are games in which he can't do that. I think Baltimore's defense is a really good defense with a ton of looks, multiple looks up front

and pressure packages and high percentage blitz, that that's a defense that they can't camouflage it again. So the question is, can they camouflage it against New England, who pretty much not a high percentage split team and not a great pass-rutch defense? Let's shift to Kansas City favored at home against Indianapolis. Colt's defense is playing really well. Kareem Hunt, no longer a Kansas City chief, they don't feel quite as stable offensively. Again, they still have Cheetah. Travis Kelsey, Andy Reed, the schematics, Patrick Mahom. I think it's a solid O line.

have Sammy Watkins, who I think is overpaid, but he's still a weapon. I don't feel they run the ball quite as well. I mean, what are the Chiefs do offensively that you think they'll have success against even this very hot Colts defense? Well, I think there's two, there's really three things when you play the Chiefs, in my view. One is you must have a plan for stopping Tyree Kill when he lines up inside. They love to line him up in the slot and in the inside slot when there's three receivers to one side.

You cannot let him run down the seams and get on top of your defense. Now, the culture of predominant zone defense, they'll be very conscious of this. And then there's Kelsey. Travis Kelsey is the other player that you really have to take care of. And he works from a lot of different places in the offense. That's one of the things that makes Andy Reed's offense so good is the multiplicity of formations. And the final thing that you have to deal with is Patrick Mahomes' ability to make secondary action improvisational plays. I went through all his third downs this week.

I went through them over the weekend last weekend. I was kind of astounded by how many came when he moved around improvisationally on the move, and he throws the ball down the field on the move. He's not a checkdown guy. So you cannot let those big explosive plays happen off improvisation. Yeah, I mean, and that's what I think the difference is. I think Mahomes will make a plan they'll win the game. I will say this about Andrew Locke.

It is nice to see him have a wall in front of him. I think Marlon Mack, the running back's underrated. I think overall, their offensive personnel is a tech. Ad underrated. Ty Y Hilton's a real player. E. Braun was always highly considered, a little underwhelming. Their offensive line is at least pass blocking looks to be very efficient and Lux's fantastic. And they've got depth at running back. And they need a number two receiver. I don't love their tackles. Oh, for sure. But I mean, when I look at the Colts, this is a real team now. This is not a mirage. I mean, I could see them winning with ball control. Yeah, well, I was going to ask you

what you thought. I'm struggling in my own mind as to how they'll come out offensively. Clearly, luck is playing at a high level, and I think he's a great quarterback as you do. But I'm curious as to whether they believe that they need to, on some level, run the ball and shorten the game. Yes, that's what I think. Or whether they're going to feel like, hey, Andrew Luck is hot. And not that we want to play a 5148 game, but that, hey, we know this game is probably going to be in the high 20s and early 30s, perhaps, low 30s. So let's come out and try to be aggressive. I think the Colts want to take the crowd out of it.

do that with five-yard gains. And I think they'll do a lot of past running backs, past of the time. I think they'll have a very mundane, boring, five play at a time, death by a thousand cut offense. Well, I think one player to watch is Naheem Hines as a receiver because the Chiefs play a ton of man coverage, and I think they can get matchups with Neheme Hines. All right. Let's go to Philadelphia is a big underdog.

And, you know, here's the thing. And listen, everybody likes the Saints. Vegas likes the Saints. I get it. I mean, the Saints will probably win the game. but I will say this about Philadelphia. They've got a lot of B players, Golden Tate, Alshan Jeffrey, and they've also got several A players like, I mean, you know, Fletcher Cox.

Personnel-wise, and I don't know why this is, I think Philadelphia is a really good football team. They may not have a ton of stars on the offensive side, but I've got to tell you something, when I watch them play, they have guys who create separation, they have big play players, they've got situationally, Golden Tate was very good last weekend. I think Philadelphia matches up with the Saints pretty well. Yeah, I think it's going to be an intriguing game.

I think, look, obviously I don't think it's going to be like the game was Week 11. I think Philly did some interesting things defensively in that game Week 11, and I'm curious what their defensive approach is. Because when they played Week 11, there were numerous plays in which they doubled Michael Thomas. They doubled Alvin Kamara. Now, Ted Gin is back, and he did not play Week 11. And Ted Gin is not a volume receiver, but he's a vertical dimension. He can get on top of your defense.

And I think that just presents a little bit different situation. for the Eagles defense. You know, there is one thing about Breeze, and I love Drew Breeze. But what is, I'm curious on this. You know, they don't throw the ball vertically a ton. They're not. I mean, we think Bree's Hall of Fame, but they can dink and dunk it a little bit, Greg. Yeah, and I think one reason they didn't do that much this year is because Ginn was out.

Not that they're, not if he was there, they'd be a vertical team, but they didn't really take shots very much this year. And that's where I think Ted Ginn is a factor. and he needs to be addressed because the last thing a defensive coordinator wants to do is give up a 50 or 60-yard touchdown. I think offensively for the Eagles, it's interesting because they're a very sort of sustaining-based offense

with Nick Foles. The last week's game against a good defense was very representative of what they do with Nick Foles. Strong emphasis on the quick game, getting the ball out of Foll's hands, minimizing the pass rush, you know, working the middle of the field. if you play press man, he'll throw it to Jeffrey on the outside, and I think you'll see that this week.

So they're pretty defined with what they do offensively. Yeah, I'm just watching some video here from Foles. He's got a decent arm, right? Not a great arm, but a decent arm. No, he's not a power thrower, but he can make the throws. Philadelphia is just kind of a mystery wrapped in a riddle. Let's go to the final game, Cowboys Rams. Okay, listen, I saw a stat this week, and I'm not a guy that jumps on too many stats.

I do like to see what you get yards per play. I think explosive offenses, big play offenses can win games sometimes even when they're outplayed. But Dak Prescott leads the NFL and come from behind wins last three years. And fourth quarter game winning drives last three years, rushing touchdowns by a quarterback last three years. I will say this about Dak. Forget the arm. I don't love it. I don't think he's an all-time.

I think he's 18th best quarterback in the league. But it does appear, and I don't know what the film says, he tends to be pretty good in crisis. I always feel like last drive of the game I trust him more than I do first drive of the game. Right. What is the tape say? Let's look macro for one quick sec. The Cowboys have a defined profile. Their run game and their defense are among the best in the league. I think Zeke Elliott's the best back in the league and their defense is very, very good. So the way they play is they rely on those two things. They don't ask Dak Prescott to do too much in the passing game. But that profile keeps games close and therefore winnable in the fourth quarter.

And that's when Prescott's running by design, his improvisational ability comes into play. And that's when he's good. But it's really interesting watching their tape, you know, how limited their past game is. They don't really ask him to do a lot, but he becomes a factor in close games in the fourth quarter. And the running's a part of that.

Without question. And look, you could argue that they need to do more of that with him, particularly when you do get to the fourth quarter. That is a clear weapon that he possesses. But you also have to remember, look, it was third and 14. They called a draw play for the quarterback. Okay, they didn't want him to throw the ball in that situation. They wanted to kick a field goal.

They didn't know he was going to gain 15 or 16 yards. That's a real good point. By the way, I sold my ram stock, you know, most of it about week 10. I thought they were overvalued when Cooper Cup got hurt. I don't think they were the same offense, and Gurley doesn't feel 100% to me. I know we all love Sean McVeigh. I know he's the Einstein of football. But the Rams have not been the same team to me in the last two, two and a half months.

I would agree with that. You know, I think that Goff has been a little bit up and down with his ball placement. I think he's a rhythm player. I think he's a timing player. I think he's, and this comes across negatively, I don't mean it as such. I think he's a very programmed player in a very well-designed and well-schemed offense that presents the opportunities, clearly. When he's been a little off, he's been missing people. Now, I think he's been a little better the last couple of weeks.

So we'll see after a week off where they stand. But I think you'll also see some tweaks in their offense. And by tweaks, I don't mean anything dramatic, but little things that involve motion, you know, things of that nature to try to create some hesitation and indecisiveness in the defense. This will be probably the most watched game. So let's go to our big play of the week. It's a ram cowboy play, I'm told, from last season. It's from last season.

It's actually, it's a play that a lot of people now know. It's called AllGo H. Seam. A number of teams use it. Let's run it right now, and we'll just see the play. It was a 53-yard touchdown to Todd Groley from a year ago, a pass play. And we've seen it throughout the league now, as I said, it's all-go half-back seam. That's what it is. So when it starts with Jet Action, this happens to be Tavon Austin, who is with the Rams a year ago.

So he's going to go in Jet Base. motion. Here's the all-go part. Three receivers are going to run vertical routes, okay, and then there's Todd Gurley. He's the halfback. He's going to run a seam route. That's the H-seam part of this. So it's all-go-h-seam with the jet action being a part of it. So what's going to happen here is you're going to start this play with Tavon Austin working across the formation in jet action. That's actually going to have an impact on the defense and a critical impact on the defense. There's Austin, and you see that he came across on jet motion. There's the two defenders for the cowboys who both reacted to the jet action across the formation.

So they're not conscious of Gurley. And then you have the wide receiver lifting the corner on the outside with a vertical route. So what you end up with is Gurley running down the seam on the H seam, the half-back seam. Beautifully designed play. As I said, it's been in the league now. A lot of teams run it. People may remember it from week one a year ago on Thursday. night when Karim Hunt scored a 78-yard touchdown for the Chiefs.

So it's a play that now is throughout the NFL. Good stuff, Greg. Love having you on. Thank you so much. Thanks, Colin. Coming up next, the truth why Cleveland hired Freddie Kitchens made a call last night and very illuminating on why Baker has Freddie Kitchens, who doesn't have a ton of experience as a head coach.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. Simply Safe, believe nothing should get between you and protecting your family. SimplySafe, collin.com. 1499 a month. No contracts, no markups, no crazy long eight-hour installation window. Good to have you, enjoy. Taylor is joining me. By the way, you know, this is what we do.

You know, we do Big J. journalism on the show. So this is one of my favorite times of the year for about three-week period. I was talking to drive it into work, talking for 20 minutes this morning, a couple NFL sources on the East Coast. It was great. You were on the phones. Oh, I was on the phone the whole morning. I literally had two calls.

Call me in the morning, did on Adam Gase, all this stuff. I also, I said yesterday, I don't love when you have a young quarterback in the NFL and he gets somebody who's learning to be a coach. Adam Gase has been an NFL coach. He's been to the playoffs. He's been a coordinator. So as Sam Darnold's trying to figure out how to do this, Adam Gase has done it. I don't, would it be any good if I was in my first year of radio and my boss was in his first year

of running a radio station. Generally, if the younger, the broadcaster, the more veteran experienced person he needs as a broadcaster. I don't love the Cleveland thing, because I think Baker Mayfield's got some things to learn in terms of maturity and running a franchise, and Freddie Kitchens had never even been hired by a team as a coordinator. So he's trying to figure out how to be a head coach.

I don't love that. I will tell you this, though, that Cleveland, I was on the phone this morning with somebody out east in the NFL, Cleveland's final two, do you think it was strange? Mike McCarthy didn't get much. of a look there. Bruce Ariens said he wanted it, but yet they didn't talk to Bruce Ariens. And that didn't make any sense, did it? They weren't interested in Adam Gase, who had been a coach.

Why did Cleveland have the two least experienced guys as their candidates? They had a guy that never work with anybody but the Vikings, 44-year-old guy, and they had Freddie Kinchins, who's been around the league, but never been hired as a full-time coordinator. Why? I was told because John Dorsey's running everything. He didn't want Greg. Williams because Greg Williams has been a coach and has a strong point of view and John Dorsey didn't want that. And didn't want Mike McCarthy. And he didn't want Bruce Ariens.

He didn't want Adam Gase. He wanted somebody he could tell him what to do. That's just, I just do not believe in that. I just think that's a recipe for disaster. It's not the way I would vet a job, but this is what I was told. Everybody said, remember this. Everybody told me Browns was the best job. And yet they didn't interview seriously any of the best candidates because John Dorsey's

running the show here. And by the way, Greg Williams had a winning record. If you're going to hire Freddie Kitchens, why wouldn't you just give the job to Greg Williams who has experience and had a winning record? Because Greg Williams has an opinion and will push back and McCarthy will push back and Adam Gates will push back and Bruce Arons will push back. And Dorsey's like, no, I want that. Don't you want somebody who pushes back?

Yeah, that's kind of the whole. What you want to do, you want to hire people that challenge you in any job. Of course. So what I was told is this is not Baker's team. This is Jimmy Haslam owns the team. John Dorsey's making all the calls, all of them, and he'd have no interest getting pushed back. And Freddie Kitchens owes him a debt of gratitude because nobody was giving Freddie Kitchens a head coaching job in this league. He maybe would have maybe get an interview for a coordinator job.

So when you give somebody a job, they would never get without you, you owe them. Well, if your source is correct, I have very, very little stock in the Browns and it was all based on Baker. I'm going to sell that off if that's the case. I don't think that anyone in a position of power who surrounds themselves with yes men is creating an environment of progress and growth. And that's what the Cleveland Browns specifically need. You aren't riding some consistent dynasty and trying to maintain a level of excellence. You literally have to create a winning atmosphere and you're surrounding yourself with people who are going to tell you you're right all the time. Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd life. News. You know, my Pittsburgh soul is literally killing me that I have to defend the Browns so much over the past season. Well, I should think Baker will win games. I just... I do too. I just, I don't like the structure. I don't like the idea of the GM basically is just a strong... By the way, John Dorsey is very good at talent evaluation. That Kansas City roster is a lot of John Dorsey and they ran him out because he couldn't get along with people. Well, it's not, it's not, that's not, you can be,

John Dorsey can be great at that, but you have to also be on the same page with the person that touches the players every single day. You guys have to be on the same wavelength. They can't be a one voice. Anyway, the Bucks have made it clear that they intend to have James Winston on the team for the 2019 season. Bruce Ariens is on board with that. During an appearance on the Rich Eisen's show yesterday, Ariens had nothing but praise for James. I've known him for a long time. Like I said, we all make mistakes.

He's made his. I've made mine. And, you know, I just, I feel like I've got a great feel for him. His excitement for the game. His willingness to work is unbelievable. He's in the office at 5 o'clock in the morning. I have no qualms about that. There's no doubt, no doubt.

So what thing is going to be built around him? I think he can win at all. We'll see you about that. But the only knock on Arians, I'm told, his last year in Arizona, he just stopped working. He just wanted to golf and have a cocktail, look at the sunset. The knock-on Ariens is nobody's quite sure if he's committed four years to the level 70-hour weeks, you have to be. Because his last year in Arizona, they just didn't feel, they kind of felt like he was done coaching. And he, by the way, he said he was not going to coach.

And then this job came open. The only reservation I have about Bruce is he ready to be in the office 70 hours a week because that's what it takes to coach in this league. That's what it takes to coach. And you're not coaching a quarterback that has any kind of consistent track record. record with anything. Winning. Yeah, off the field. It's really going to be a huge challenge for him.

And James Winston is going to be the fifth highest paid quarterback in the league next year. They've gone five and 11 in the past season. Oh, Lord. They have only started nine games last year. Lord, that's not good. We'll see. So the Patriots host of Chargers this Sunday will mark the eighth head-to-head meeting between two future Hall of Famers in Brady and Rivers. But it seems a little impossible to call this a rivalry.

because in order for a rivalry to exist, both sides have to do some of the winning. And Rivers has never beaten Brady, and he talks about it yesterday. It's not something you think about a whole lot. Certainly, it's a Tom Brady-led team, and we know how things work with the quarterback and head coacher who has the record attached to it. We've got a heck of a challenge, our offense, going against that defense, and how disciplined they play and how well they play, especially this time of year. So we've got to work cut out on that side of the ball. But, yeah, so I think you're aware of that stat that it's out there, but it's not something that I spend much time thinking about.

By the way, the first word he used, how discipline they play. You can beat New England. You rarely catch New England lost. You'll watch games sometimes. You're like, oh, that team was totally smoked. You don't find New England. If you beat them, you made a great throw. You made a great block.

You had a great play design. First thing Phillips said is they're really disciplined. And that's the thing with New England. They'll give you all sorts of yards, But you get inside, like, the red zone, you have to have a perfect Philadelphia. You have to have a perfectly designed play to score on them. Well, also, you can't make any mistakes against them. You have to play a nearly perfect game.

And on a by in Foxborough, where they are incredible, I don't know. I know everyone's giving, like, the Chargers roster and everyone's kind of giving them a chance. I don't see it. Maybe that's just my, you know, years of being beat down by the Patriots. So I've just submitted to them. But I really think everyone is selling out on the Patriots just a little bit too early. I don't think it's over. Finally, one of the reasons the Packers hired Matt LaFleur is that he's done work with quarterbacks during his career as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

But a few hours before the Packers offered him the job, he received a call from Aaron Rogers, not shocking. And he elaborated on that conversation yesterday. I briefly spoke to him prior to accepting the job. and that's kind of how I had an idea that maybe I was in the running for it. I'm so focused on moving forward. All I really care about at this point is developing a relationship with him, and I think we're both on the same page. We are committed to winning.

There's no doubt about it. He is a competitor, and I cannot wait to get started with him. We'll see. If he gets along with Aaron, it'll work. If there's a rub. I mean, sure, but there's some other guys on the roster you've got to take care of too. Aaron Rogers gets all the praise for dragging the Packers to the playoffs every year. What's your gut feeling on this move?

I don't think it works. I don't think it works. And that's no disrespect to LaFleur because I'm all for young people getting opportunities. You know, you have to have a new wave eventually. It's not on him. I just think that this, first of all, the cliche of, you know, we really just, you know, we both care about winning. Everyone cares about winning. There's no one in the league.

who doesn't care about winning. Maybe Antonio Brown, you know? Let's be honest about us. And I'm pretty sure he cares about winning, too. You don't even even say that. We know that. Let's be honest. The young guys in this league, generationally, Cliff Kingsbury has a stylist.

I'm not joking. Lane Kiffin is very strong on social media. Sean McVeigh has, you know, people, his agent, putting them on TV on off weeks. Some of these old veteran coaches grew up in a different generation. You don't brag about yourself. You don't go on social media. you don't have a stylist, you don't have a PR person. Some of these guys that are getting jobs, they know how to play the game today.

Sure, and to their credit, that's part of the game. That is part of the game. They're going to have to do that with the media. They're going to have to sell themselves to the team. So I do think it's important how you interview. I mean, you're going to get a million applications. It's the interview that sells it. We've said that all the time.

Face-to-face looking someone in the eye, the energy that you get and what they say should matter. So I'm not saying it's, but he has no chance in the situation. I just don't like the idea that it's just about the quarterback. Because then what about the rest of the team? Can you develop the rest of the team? Are you going to put a team of coordinators around you that are going to elevate all of that? I can guarantee you that Vic Fangio has no idea what Snapchat is. I can guarantee you he has no idea.

Instagram, he thinks that's Western Union. He has no idea with them. We'll just hire somebody who knows how to use all of those things. All right. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lide News.

Former Raider and Bill quarterback, good-do. E.J. We'll be joining us next in the studio. By the way, Kareem Jackson, Houston, Texans, DB, who has faced Brady, who has faced Luck, who has faced Mahalms. He'll be joining us. Nick Foles, he'll be facing us, joining us in the last hour live in studio. So E.J. Manuel 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 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.

Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. 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.

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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,

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Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history.

You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness. athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them

and the mindset that keeps them going from the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it.

An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeke. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile. that means the world to me, and that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard.

Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. The NFC divisional playoffs kick off this weekend on Fox. On Saturday, Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys take on Todd Gurley and the Rams. Then on Sunday, Nick Foles and the Eagles battle Drew Breeze and the Saints. It's all happening this weekend on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Cowboys, 7.5 point underdogs. That just doesn't sound right.

Better defense playing with house money. Dax's been very good in these big games. And by the way, the crowd's going to be neutral at most. E.J. Manuel. By the way, there's only two college quarter. ever that have won four bowl games. You're one of them. You were like 26 and 5 as a starter, a first rounder, five NFL seasons, four with the

bills, one with the Raiders, and you'll still play have called. So you'll probably be back in the league. You know, I said to start my show today is that basically it used to be a coach quarterback league. I mean, Chuck Nolan, Terry Bradshaw weren't best friends. Parcells was rough on Bill Sims. Parcells, Mike Shanahan and John Elway didn't get along all the time. these days, if that thing doesn't work, and you're not like buds, like McVehan, Gough or Jason and Dack,

it doesn't work. Did you sense, in college, Jimbo ran the show? But in the NFL, did you sense you were given more freedom and power in the NFL as a quarterback? 100%. I think in the NFL as a quarterback, you're based on the extension of the head coach. You know, I think you guys more or less work together versus the head coach being the figurehead and then you're the quarterback as just a player. You're not just a player as a quarterback.

And I think your teammates also know that too. They know that if you say something or if you co-sign on something that the head coach says, everybody else will follow. You know, it's funny that we're seeing now guys that have never even been coordinators get head coaching jobs. Like it's crazy, right? Some of it's because it's cyclical. You know, I mean, we used to have old coaches.

You used to have to win with defensive coaches. Then it was offensive coaches. Now it's young offensive coaches. Tell me the difference. Coaching in the NFL, I think it's harder. First of all, I think the talent's closer. It's not like Bama plays Kentucky, we knew has better players. What did you notice the difference between coaching in college and coaching in the NFL?

Well, in NFL, you're dealing with grown men. You're dealing with men who have families, men who they're no longer in college. You're not an amateur athlete. You're a professional athlete. And obviously, the head coach expects you to act that way. And so at the end of the day, that's how you earn your living. You know what I mean? So for a head coach in the NFL, you know, all you really have to do is manage. Of course, you still make decisions and you have to make hard decisions sometimes as far as with personnel and things like that. But you have a general manager, you have scouting, you have all those different departments who can kind of help make those decisions for you. But as a head coach, you have to go out there and win. And if you have great players, you know, a guy like Sean McVeigh, he has great players around him. Obviously, he's a great head coach because he has a great offense, really. His offensive background is amazing, really. But, but. But you have to have great players as well to win to help a great head coach.

Do you think, like, Cliff Kingsbury is really struggled at Texas Tech. I mean, they were like 4 and 31 against ranked big 12 teams. Right. But, you know, he's got a McVe vibe to him. What do you make of his segue from college to the pros? I think he'll do well. I think he'll be excited. And I know his teammates, or actually not his teammates, his players will be excited to have him.

Obviously, he has a young quarterback in Josh Rosen, the guy who, you know, I know wants to continue to learn the game and continue to. have more opportunities to have starts and go out there and make a name for himself. And I think Coach Kingsbury is going to look at it the same way. He's going to want to go out there and have a great product. And I think he'll do a great job. Let's go to the four games this weekend. You know personnel and all these teams.

All right. So the Colts are red hot. Most of us, myself included, think they're a year away, nine draft picks, 100 million in cap space from being frightening. Like next year, they may be the favorite. Now, this year, I feel like, Kansas City, it's their year. When you look at that game, is there aware, a place you lean?

Well, I say Indy has the advantage a little bit because they played last week. I think a lot of times when you take a week off, you know, sometimes you might come off that week. It might be a little lethargic or whatever. And obviously, I know Kansas City is going to come out and be red hot. I mean, Patrick Mahomes is one of the best quarterbacks in the league in his second year in the NFL, his first year starting. So that says a lot about him and he has great, you know, talent around him.

But I think sometimes when you have that week off, it's not always, the most productive thing when you get into the playoffs. Now, fans think a buy week's a big advantage. You don't, you didn't love it. I don't think so. And I've never been in the playoffs, so I can't speak. But I do know that when you have that week off or, you know, three, four days off going into another week of practice, sometimes it's not always the best thing for you.

And, you know, I would be looking forward to see how Kansas City comes out early in that game. Yeah. So you think the Colts have a real shot. I think they have a shot. Yeah. I mean, this is the playoffs and this the NFL. You know, so both teams have great talent. Andrew Luck is playing out of this world right now.

now and, you know, his receivers and O-Line is doing a great job for him. His defense is playing lights out. So I think it would be a great game. I actually think the Cowboys have a significantly better defense than the Rams. And generally, I know it's an offensive league, but if I have a significant edge on one side of the ball, I think the Cowboys have a chance to beat the Rams. It sounds like you live in L.A. watch a lot of Rams. You like the Rams?

I think so. You know, they have home foot advantage, but at the same time, Dallas has a ton of fans all over the world, not just in Dallas. And so I still will give the advantage to the Rams. I think they're such a high-powered offense. And I think those guys are looking at last year when they lost to Atlanta. They don't want to have that feeling again early in the playoffs. That was kind of a dud. Definitely a dud. I was expecting those guys to go far into the playoffs last last last last year. So I think this is the year they actually, you know, get over the home. By the way, they have rested Todd Gurley for the last several weeks. Now, they did have a buy.

I made the argument the Rams needed a buy. Gurley needed a buy. So I kind of think that's an advantage for them. All right. You played in New England. Chargers have a lot of good players that are going to New England. You, E.J., you played in a warm weather, Florida State. You've gone up to Foxboro when it's 27 degrees and face Brady and Belichick is rough. Yeah, it is. And, you know, obviously the Chargers are coming from here in L.A. I think the Chargers still have a good shot of making that a game. I'm never going to count out a guy like Philip Rivers. You know, I think who doesn't a lot of times get the respect that he deserves. You know, I think he's one of the top five quarterbacks in the league and obviously that top five is an open discussion forever.

But, you know, I think you can't count out, I'm sorry, you can't count out Tom Brady in New England. Now, what does Belichick do? You faced him. And by the way, he has like an incredible record against first and second year quarterbacks. Yeah. Did they schematically try to fool you? What did they do to fool you?

Yeah, well, I mean, I was a rookie, a second year player, you know, so obviously anything that they threw at me, it was really my first time seeing it because it was my first couple of starts. but if we're looking at this game this week, Philip Rivers, he's seen everything. And I think one of the best things that he does, he gets the ball out of his hands very quickly. He does. So I think that'll help kind of put New England's rush to a very minimum. But at the same time, on the flip side, the charges have a great pass rush as well.

So they can get after time, I think it'll be a good game. Finally, Saints host Philadelphia, big favorites, Drew Breeze. It's not, the Saints are not, they score a lot of points, but they don't throw the ball deep. Breeze doesn't have a cannon. Meanwhile, Nick Foles is crazy. We all think he's a backup, and he's crazy, and he keeps winning these big games. When you watch Nick Foles, he didn't have the biggest arm, he's not the biggest guy, he's not the greatest athlete. What does he do that you like?

Nick takes care of the ball. He's extremely consistent. He allows his team. He allows his receivers to go out and make plays for him. I don't think Nick try, he doesn't try to necessarily win the game. Now Wince does that more. Yeah, and that's okay. You know, Carson will take a couple more chances and things like that.

But when I watch Nick play, he's very efficient. I think as a backup sometimes, that's, you know, good for you. You don't want to go out there and try to do too much. You want to really nest yourself into the game. And then obviously, if things start to go well, then you can start doing a little more. E.J. Manuel joining us. You know, playoff games, and you said, you know, you didn't play in the playoffs. But it is funny. You've got bonuses. You've got, I mean, these are different. When you've talked to players, because some of the bill players you played with had been in the playoffs, there is, you know, people say it's football games, a football game. But

the playoffs do feel different. Like everybody's watching. The ratings are magnificent. For sure, for sure. And I just can't, here's where I come down. I can't see New England losing. Yeah, I mean, a lot of teams say that before they get into the playoffs. But I think, you know, anything can happen in those games. And a lot of times these games are decided by a field goal, as you saw in the Chicago game.

You know what I mean? So it comes down to really whoever that ball rose to late in the game, whoever's converting on third down when they really needed, whoever's converting down the red zone. So also whoever's winning the turnover margin. I think teams that, you know, if they don't turn around, turn the ball over, they keep the ball in their possession. They have a good chance to win the game.

By the way, New England's won 92% of the games at Foxborough when they score first, 13 and 2 in the playoffs. So they will be very ready to go offensively. New England wins games when they score first, back-to-back charger road trips. They could not travel further east than New England. E.J., it's great seeing you. Great seeing you, too. Thanks, Carl. All right.

Coming up next hour, Kareem Jackson in studio, the Houston Texans. He faced Andrew Luck a couple of times this year, did not necessarily. do well. He has faced Patrick Mahomes, Brady's, so he'll be coming up next. Dak, he faced Dak as well. The Washington Capitals take on the Boston Bruins 10 Eastern tonight's Discover card key matchup. Get your free credit scorecard today, even if you're not a

Discover customer. Go to discover.com slash credit scoreboard limitations apply. We have a great third hour coming up. Don't go anywhere in Los Angeles with Joy. It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the The HARD, weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Ah, hour three in L.A. live. This is The Hurt, wherever you may be.

However you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and right here on FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. We match again today almost. It's amazing. Any range of any color that we're matching. Kind of. Kind of matching.

I will have a blazing five tomorrow. I decided I'm going to do it. Are you going to make it a five? I'll have a blazing four, and then I'll pick a little cross-match, cross-down. What's that? Picking NBA game. Maybe I'll pick an over-under on one of the games. There you go.

It's a blazing five. 20 minutes from now, Texans defensive back of Kareem Jackson. He faced Andrew Luck three times this year. Dak, Nick Foles, Brady, Sam Darnold Baker. He faced all those guys. He'll be joining us in studio. Best for Last. There's a job you may think is the worst in the NFL, but it is not.

But the most recent NFL hire, Adam Gase with the New York Jets, I like it. Here's the full list. And all we have left to fill are the Bengals and the Dolphins, but let's start with the Packers. So Green Bay went out and hired Matt LaFleur. I don't know if he's going to be a great coach. I don't. But I know this. If he gets the Aaron Rogers thing right, then it'll work.

and yesterday the Jets hired Adam Gase. Why? Because Adam Gase and Sam Darnold had a better connection during the discussion than Sam Darnold and Mike McCarthy. Who did Baker Mayfield want his coach? Freddie Kitchens, he got it. And why did Arizona hire Cliff Kingsbury? Because they thought he and Josh Rosen would get along.

Four for four so far. The offensive coaches hired were the choice of the quarterback. Because due to rule changes, The quarterback now is more important than the coach. So you've got to get it right. It did not used to be this way. Think I'm wrong, John Elway and Mike Shanahan won Super Bowls together. Sometimes not a great relationship.

Terry Bradshaw and Chuck Knoll had major issues. Won four Super Bowls. Phil Sims and Bill Parcells were not best buddies. It was ugly, and they won. It used to be a head coach and quarterback league. due to rule changes, it is now a quarterback and coaches league. By the way, look at the teams and the quarterbacks and the relationships this weekend. So the Rams are in the playoffs.

You think it's a coincidence that Goff and McVeigh are like dad and son? Super tight. The Cowboys will face the Rams. Here's what we know about the Cowboys. Dak and Jason Garrett are all in together. By the way, the MVP is Patrick Mahomes. Super tight with Andy Reid. He'll face Andrew Luck and Frank Wright.

Apparently, it's an incredible bond. Oh, there's also Nick Foles and Doug Peterson. Tight facing Sean Peyton and Drew Breeze, tightest in the league. Are you seeing something here? If you do not have a relationship where quarterback and coach are symbiotic, it doesn't work. By the way, tell me the two teams in the NFL this year that you, are shocked didn't make the playoffs. Pittsburgh, Big Ben and Tomlin, not a great relationship.

And Green Bay, Aaron Rogers and McCarthy imploded. Also teams that disappointed us. Carolina, Cam and Ron Rivera, my sources tell me they both frustrate each other. By the way, Matt Ryan, Dan Quinn, it's okay. Kirk Cousins, Mike Zimmer, do not see eye to eye. Zimmer drives, you know, cousins drive Zimmer crazy sometimes. It didn't used to be this way. You could have the demanding, yelling coach.

Mike Ditka didn't have to like Jim McMahon. It didn't matter. Buddy Ryan didn't have to love his quarterbacks. You could win Super Bowls. You could win your division for years. It doesn't work that way anymore. The rule changes. If the relationship is even a little off between coach and quarterback, it doesn't

work. Pittsburgh and Green Bay. By the way, do you want to know why Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rogers did not get along this year? I got this one sourced. They got along fine for years because there was a middleman. There was always a middleman. But Alex Van Pelt got run off. The middleman.

So this year, Rogers and McCarthy had to deal with each other constantly. And the minute it didn't work, the team folded and the coach got fired. Okay. so yesterday all these teams named the only team by the way that didn't hire an offensive coach Denver now why would Denver not worry about that whole quarterback thing they hired big Fangio because Denver doesn't have a franchise quarterback that john elway thinks is going to be around in four years so they didn't give a rip they didn't care they got gary kubiak being the offensive coordinator he will eventually have to get along with the

quarterback. But they don't think much of case Keenham, so it didn't matter. They went and got a defensive coach, who by the way, Vic Fangio is a good coach, not much of a personality, not much of a talker, doesn't have real relationships with quarterbacks. They didn't care. Even Tom Brady this year, Tom Brady was always subservient to Belichick. We all know that, right? For years and years, it was Belichick's team and Tom did what he said. He got rid of Wes Welker. He got rid of Randy Moss. Bill ran the show. What happened this year? Brady said, you re-signed Gronk on my terms and you get rid of Garapolo or I'm out. And Belichick said as the greatest coach in football history, all right, all right, all right, all right.

Even in New England, for the first time, the last couple of years, Tom has flexed. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're not getting rid of gronk. Resign him. Belichick, all right, all right. Belichick didn't do that for 17 years. Brady's like, get Garoppolo out of town. I'm not getting Garoppel.

All right. All right. All right. It is no longer a coach quarterback league. It is a quarterback coach league. Four for four yesterday. Aaron signed off on the floor. Darnold preferred gays.

Baker wanted Freddie. And Cliff and Rosen connect. All right. Let's shift to this. So, um, a dynasty could end this weekend. And I just want to say this. Joy and I have said this multiple times.

She's been in this business a long time. I've been in it longer just because I'm older. We both root for stories. We've said that. You think we root for teams. No, no, no, no, no. We root for content. We root for content.

Content equals ratings, contract extensions. We want fun. We want car wrecks. We want craziness. You know what the best thing that could happen to join us this weekend? Dallas wins. that's good for us. Cowboy Nation erupts.

Cowboys are on Fox. That's our team. And you know the other thing that would be great for us? And you're not going to believe this, but I will set a record Monday if this happens. The Patriots get blown out. And the dynasty dies. Because a lot of people are connecting me to New England through the years. I see the numbers.

They'll tune in to see what I have to say about the dynasty that got crushed. Chargers win by 40. They roll them. beat them 47 to 10. It is awful. Brady stinks. That is great for my business. But that's not going to happen because New England's going to win. But the Chargers have better players. I know. They do. I'm not arguing. So did Jacksonville last year. So does Pittsburgh every year. So did Atlanta in the Super Bowl. Atlanta had better players. Go look at the Pro Bowl list. Seattle had better players in the Super Bowl. By the way, so did the St. Louis Ram 17 years ago. They had better

players than New England. In fact, if you put down the top 10 players, in my opinion, between the Chargers and the Patriots this weekend, Brady won, then Philip Rivers, then the Patriot, Stefan Gilmore, then it's a bunch of Chargers, and then Devin McCordy. It's seven to three chargers. Brady Rivers, Stefan Gilmore, Desmond King, Derwin James, Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, Devin, McCordy, Melvin, Gordon, Keenan Allen. And by the way, 11 through 20 is a lot of chargers. Seattle had better players. Atlanta had better players. Pittsburgh's always got better players.

Chargers have better players. Atlanta did. Let me give you the advantages, if I may, for New England. At home, Belichick, rested, weather, experience, significantly better kicker. The Chargers are playing on back-to-back, East Coast games. There is not geographically, unless the NFL creates a very quick franchise in Nova Scotia, there is not a further trip the Chargers could make for the second straight weekend. New England does have less talent, but this has become their brand that outside of Brady,

talent doesn't win games. Being at home, cold weather, December and January, one or two trick plays, very good Ben, don't break defense. I will tell you, without question, and Joy Taylor knows this, and everybody in my business knows this. We do not root for teams. We root for stories. I rooted for LeBron to become a Laker and LeBron to become a Miami Heat. And when those stories get old like LeBron in Miami, LeBron and Cleveland, I'm rooting for another story. That's what we root for. Dallas winning and New England getting absolutely lit up this weekend is fantastic. But I even think I know how this game's

going to go. A rested team on two weeks is going to start quickly New England. New England is 97 and 8 at home when they score first. And in 15 playoff games in Foxborough, they are 13 and 2 when they score first. So they are 97 and 8 overall winning 92% of their games when they score first. And the West Coast team, traveling out east again, will be a little unsettled initially. New England gets on them, jumps on them early, then holds them off. It's not actually what I want. What I want is content, and the Chargers blowing them out, and the Cowboys hammering the Rams, give me four days of stories.

But I think New England is the bet this weekend. four great games. Now last week, I loved the underdogs. Went four and old last week. I took all the underdogs and the Cowboys. I'll have my picks tomorrow officially on the show. Kareem Jackson, Houston Texans DB, faced all Brady and Dak and Foles and Luck three times. He'll be joining us in the studio in just about 10 minutes.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the ice. Heart Radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tript Fantine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth?

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose

on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app, Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey.

I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies, I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life.

Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin, and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards.

If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like. you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals.

At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. 14 live rides a day, 10,000 more on demand. Learn more about the Peloton bike. Onepelleton.com.

Visit your local showroom, game-changing indoor cycling bike. Brings the indoor class to you. By the way, John Elway went out and hired a grown man, 60-year-old Vic Fongio, who didn't have a big personality. which is why he's never been a head coach, no personality. And Cliff Kingsbury is charming and can sell himself. And, you know, Matt Lafleur's a young guy and he can be smart and Lane Kiffin. And, you know, the young coaches, I think, have an advantage on the old coaches because, you know, the old guys come from a different generation where you didn't sell yourself

and you were more humble and that's how our dads were. And some of these coaches are like 60 and 63 years old. John Elway describes why he was the one guy who hired a defensive coach. He said, for me, I look for experience. I want guys that understand the game to get the exes nose. They also have an ability to lead men. That's a big part of it in today's world. Those are the two things I look for.

He is old school and he appreciated Vic Fangio. Now, the advantage to having the old guys is they have what they call good Rolodex. So Bruce Ariens, for instance, he's in his 60s. He got hired in Tampa immediately has Todd Bowles as a great defensive coordinator. And then he also got Keith Armstrong as one of the top two or three special teams coaches in the league. So the Tampa Bay staff is really, really good. You know, that's how you do it. That's how you do it. So guys who have been around in any business have a roll of decks. They got a lot of people on their phone and they can fill out a staff really quickly.

I think Kingsbury is going to have a harder time filling out his staff. Matt Lafleur had never been a high school coach going to have a harder time filling out his staff. He'll probably ask for help from the general manager. So there are advantages to having the young young guys are not as rigid maybe on the new offenses in the NFL and they get along with a hip quarterback's better. You know, the downside is good luck filling out of staff. A lot of these old guys don't want to work for a 33-year-old head coach. I mean, if you're Greg Williams, do you want to work with a 34-year-old head coach? Some of these old guys are rolling their eyes at some of these young head coaches.

So I still contend life is cyclical NFL is a copycat league. and we're all falling for now. Anybody that's ever taken a selfie with Sean McVey or had a beer with him. And I think Sean McVey's talent is not transferable. I said this yesterday. Sean McVey has the two things that are not transferable. A high IQ. You can work around a smart guy forever.

Belichick's had a million guys he worked around, but when he's not in the room, the room's not as smart. And Sean McVey and Bill Belichick also had very unique childhood experiences, which allow them to be super. smart. Belichick's mom spoke seven languages, a language professor and his dad invented scouting. Nobody else can say that. That is a

childhood advantage. Bill Gates had that where he snuck into Lakeside High School and was on a computer years before most people were on a computer. He essentially owned one. Go look at Wayne Gretzky's history and the hours he put in before other kids did in for hockey.

Malcolm Gladwell has written about this stuff. Sometimes there are unique childhood advantages. André Agassi had hit 400,000 tennis balls, but before the average kid it hit 10,000, even the average tennis player. So McVeigh and Belichick have unique childhood experiences that have created an alarmingly high IQ in their profession. That's why neither one, I believe, is ever going to have a great coaching tree. It's not to say Andy Reid's not smart. It's not to say, you know, Bill Parcells isn't smart.

They both are. But, you know, this idea that if you hire somebody who's ever spent five minutes, with Sean McVey and they're going to be Sean McVey. I don't buy it. Joy with the News. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

So Cliff Kingsbury is the new head coach for the Arizona Cardinals. And a report from the San Francisco Chronicle said that Kyler Murray will declare for the 2019 NFL drafts. Why are those things being mentioned together? Well, the internet did some digging and they pulled up this little tidbit of Kingsbury talking about Kyler Murray in October. Kyler is, I mean, he's a freak, man. I've never seen him have a poor outing, not one, which a quarterback's, it's impossible to do, but he's done it. And I take him with the first figure of the draft if I could. I know he's signed up to play baseball, but he is a dominant football player.

And I would take him with the first pick. Now, Adam Schefter did float the idea of possibly trading Rosen on ESPN this morning. So the idea that they could move on from Rosen isn't impossible or isn't being discussed. I'm not going to overreact to Kingsbury speaking with no responsibility in October about what Kyler Murray is going to do. And quite frankly, I don't think that Kyler Murray is the number one overall pick. No. I think Duane Haskins is first. And Kyler Murray is not even being discussed in the conversation of that.

So you have Josh Rosen. You brought Kingsbury in to work with Josh Rosen. Josh Rosen was being protected by the worst offensive line in all of football. I really don't know why this is a conversation other than the fact that he said he would take him in the draft. He wasn't actually the head coach when he was saying that. So it's not a- He'll get a draft by somebody though. Yeah.

So Sean Payton is finding unique ways to motivate his players, not that they don't already have motivation. But he brought in the Lombardi Trophy, more than $200,000 in cash and a Super Bowl ring for display during a players meeting. The money is meant to reflect what the Saints would earn if they won the Super Bowl and bonuses. and obviously the ring and trophy speak to themselves, but it did prove to be effective, according to Sheldon Rankins. You saw all that money in front of you, you get excited too.

Anybody's going to get excited about that, and I'm right along with them. If we get it done, I need it in 20s, all in a duffel bag delivered to my front door. That's what I need. I will take direct deposit. Yeah. I do not want a bag of $200,000 delivered to my front door. That seems dangerous. But it is kind of like a fun thing to walk in there and see that.

Saints are a good story. It is. Not a huge market, but I mean, do you know the Saints get the highest local ratings in the NFL? New Orleans gets the biggest ratings for NFL games in America. I would think Chicago. Used to be. But Chicago, you have to remember, the smaller the city, the bigger the football team is. Chicago's got a lot of people who are baseball fans, NBA guys, hockey fans.

And there's other stuff to do. But I'm excited to see what's going to happen in this game. I normally would just pick the Saints to be a lock after a buy and being at home. But something's with Nick Foles, man. I don't know. Magic. It's weird because it's Nick Foles. But he strikes a little fear of my heart.

And finally, Todd Gurley hopes to put the questions about his injured knee to rest Saturday against the Cowboys. He missed the last two games of the regular season because of inflammation in his left knee. Although he was limited, he participated in practice today for the first time since his knee. in week 15. He was seen going through drills and said after the practice that his knee feels good. So he is going to be a crucial part of this game. The fact that we're still talking about his knee, if I was a Rams fan, would worry me. Why people should be worried because he hasn't had full participation in a while?

If Todd Gurley is 70% and Cooper Cups not playing anymore, it's not the same offense. And it's not a great defense. No. I just don't see the Rams as a Super Bowl team. I just haven't since about week six. You sold all your stock on them. I don't know. We may be getting a little Sean McVeigh fatigue or Rams fatigue because we're out here. I don't think we should dismiss them, but I do think there's some cause for concern.

Enjoy it with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Kareem Jackson, ninth season in the NFL for the Houston Texans. He was a first round draft pick. The Texan secondary is arguably the strength of their team. He is joining us now.

He had a career year. there were only two cornerbacks in the NFL that were targeted 80 times and did not allow a touchdown, yet you're not a pro bowler. Is that kind of ridiculous? I think so. But the pro bowl is a popularity contest. Definitely. Like all pro is different. Right.

Pro bowl is definitely a popularity contest. Did it tick you off? Yeah. I was a bit ticked about it. Yeah. Only for a little bit, though. It was kind of moved past it. It was your best year.

Yeah. Yeah, definitely my best year. Did you lose a bonus on that? No. You didn't have any bonus tied to go to? No, no, no. All right. So it's not like that.

Yeah. All right. That's good. Then I'd be teched. Right. Okay, so you faced all sorts of guys. Let's start with this. You faced Andrew Luck three times.

Yes. So let's talk about this. You faced him early when I don't think in week five, six he was healthy. Then you faced him late and then last week. Right. Let's talk about the early luck you faced and the later Andrew Luck. Like you said, early on. I don't think he was as healthy, you know, but, I mean, you can still see very capable.

You know, we all know what type of guy he is. And, you know, he proved it later in the year, you know, for us to play him two more times. I think the second time we played him, I think he might have threw for like 400 or something on us. What's his strength? Because Kansas City, Kansas City's got a pass rush. What will they be watching? What does Andrew Luck do that is tough to defend? For one, he's very smart.

You know, I mean, he can make every throw. You know, but the thing that is always difficult to face quarterbacks that can keep the play alive. You know, he's very mobile. You know, he can get out of the pocket, you know, make the all-scheduled plays as well. You know, so it's difficult to face guys like that, you know, on top of him being a pocket pass and being able to make every throw possible. Yeah. Does he audible a lot at the line of scrimmage?

Did you sense that? Yes. Yes. does a lot of audibles, you know, almost just kind of sit there and plays the chest match with you until you show your hand. But I think you do a great job of recognizing what guys are in after, you know, the ball to snap also. That's good. Pre-snap, post-snap. Now, their offensive line used to be a mess. I mean, you know that. About three years ago, that offensive line was terrible. They got a kid named Quentin Nelson. We got a piece of video.

He even wrestled Jadavian Clowney. I think a bunch of his success, Kareem is, I think his offensive lines real good now. Right, right. They've been doing a great job of protecting them. You know, I think thus far, I'm not sure how many times he's been sacked, but I know it's maybe leasing the NFL up to now. Yeah, no, you're right. But they've been doing a great job protect them. And, you know, you got a guy like that under center and the line protecting them that way, you know, it's going to be tough to beat them. All right, let's talk about the other AFC game. You faced Tom Brady this year. Actually very early. It was. It was. You know, was September, and New England wasn't great then.

And it was a very, they got on you, then you came back, if I remember. So you faced Brady probably several times in your career? Yeah, several times. You have several times. Generally not been great. Never beat him. Never beat him. Oh, you never beat him.

That's not great. I didn't mean to throw it out there. I was very, really inappropriate by me. Now, you don't have to compare him to luck, but what does Tom do for you, Kareem? That is really tough. I think he does a great job of finding his mismatches, and he exploits those very well. You know, obviously, you know, he's very smart, very precise in what he does. Precisely.

That's, you know, he's arguably the greatest of all times. So, you know, anytime you got him under the center, you're going to always have a chance. So, you know, he does a lot of audubon as well. Also gets rid of the ball quickly. If I recall, you guys couldn't get to him. J.J. Watton, Jadavian. He got rid of the ball fast. Yeah, he does. He does.

So, I mean, he points it out, you know, and he finds his mismatches, and he goes to him right away. Yeah. Let's talk about Dak Prescott. Now, you guys beat the Dallas Cowboys. Right. And, you know, Dak Prescott, you know, there's a lot of debate on this show. What is he? Now, he is pretty mobile.

Doesn't have, I wouldn't say, a great arm. Now, you faced him when they didn't have Amari Cooper yet, didn't you? That was early. They didn't have Amari Cooper yet. So, Dak, what do I? If you're playing DAC, what do you see? Definitely a dual threat guy. I think he's very capable.

You know, I mean, they have a great running game, so that definitely takes a lot of pressure off of him. You know, he don't have to go into the game knowing he has to throw it, 50, you know, whatever times, how many times to get a win. So, you know, he can hand it off to Zeeke, you know, to take some of the pressure off him. Does he audible as much? Not as much, not as much.

I think they just kind of, you know, get in what they're going. going to get in and they do what they do. You know, I think you're audible a little bit against us, but not as much as some of these other guys. Sure. Older veteran players, they usually audible more. You also face Nick Fulz, who's hard to figure out. He's supposed to be a backup, but the guy's 11 and 2 as a starter.

I can't quite figure Nick Foles out for Philadelphia. You faced him. You lost to him. What is Nick? Obviously, nobody else can figure him out either. It's something about him once he gets in the playoffs. you know, down the stretch for his team. You know, he does some great stuff, you know.

Can make every throw on the field. No, he'll go deep. Definitely. He can be aggressive. He can be aggressive. He can be a strong arm. I mean, a guy like that, and I mean, and he has pieces also, you know, Alshan Jeffrey.

You got Golden Tate. Ertz having a great year, you know, and they got Sproles and, you know, a couple other guys that ran it back. So, you know, he has pieces around him. Yeah. You know, they do a great job of putting him in situations where he can be successful. Yeah, Kareem Jackson. You're a free agent, by the way.

Definitely. somebody's going to pay for you. I hope so. Yeah, I would too. That's the plan. DeAndre Hopkins, you faced him at practice for years. I mean, I remember the Dallas game. We have a piece of tape on this, the play he did against Dallas.

You face all these great receivers, including DeAndre Hopkins. If I said to you, including DeAndre, your teammate, practice, three best receivers you've ever faced. Three best? I had to go hop number one. I'll go Julio and A.B. Antonio Brown. Now, they're all kind of different. Antonio's kind of a...

What makes D'Andre great? Because he can make the contested catches. You can be all over them some kind of way he's going to figure out how to catch it. Antonio Brown, what special? Speed, quickness. He made the tough catches also, but he's... He's special for, you know, he catch it and he can, you know, run away from you. How about Julio?

Strong. Big, strong guy fast, and he can run every route. He's kind of a bigger guy, but he has small guy skills. Yeah. So it's tough to cover guys like that. Hey, by the way, you went to Alabama. Yeah, I did. And you want to get into that?

They got crushed. I got to be honest about it. That was brutal. How shock were you? I'm still sick about that. It was brutal, man. I was not expecting that. What do you think happened?

The quarterback from Clemson had a great day. He's really good. He's really good. I told somebody the other day in two years he'll probably be the number one overall pick. I saw him at a camp in San Diego a year ago. I told Joy this. I went down for a friend to a high school football camp. I didn't know who he was.

He was so much better than all the other high schoolers. I don't talk high school football recruiting on the show. But I came back that weekend. I told my friend Jason Whitlock, I said, oh boy. He's special. Oh, 6-6. He's special. Huge arm.

But you think Saban never going to leave Alabama? No. I don't think so. Why would he? Yeah, he's making a lot of money. And go where? Well, I mean, if I will get New York Giants. No.

I don't think he goes back to the NFL. You don't think so? I don't think so. Yeah. If I'm here, I wouldn't. By the way, I got to ask. you about the Houston Texans. You guys have struggled in the playoffs and you've won your division. There is this stigma that's hanging over you right now as an organization. Can you sense it? Do you feel it?

Like people doubt you now in big spots? I think so. I think that's why we don't get a lot of credit, you know, that we may deserve, you know, for a team. We won 11 games this year and that's tough in this league. And it was always kind of like, oh, well, I think they were saying like our schedule was easy or something like that. But I'm not sure what it is once we get to the playoffs. You know, we're definitely not playing up to our expectations. Playoff games are different. Right. Like I like New England over the Chargers, even though I think the Chargers have better players because New England has a way to win situationally. Right. Yeah. And in the playoffs, situational football is big. It is. It's big.

So it's definitely, that's pretty much the key in the games, you know, because it'll come down to different situations. Well, it'll be about four to five plays that are determined the game. So and usually New England comes out on the winning end of those. Yeah. Nine years, a free agent, Kareem Jackson, good having you on the show.

All right, thanks for having me. You bet, bud. Coming up, you might think it's the worst job in the NFL, and we may change your mind after what we're going to show you. That is next and best for last. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. The NFC Divisional Playoffs take off this weekend on Fox on Saturdays, E.E.E.E.E.E.E.E.E.E.E. and the Cowboys take on Todd Gurley and the Rams, then on Sunday, Nick Foles and the Eagles battle Drew Brees and the Saints. It's all happening this weekend on Fox and the Fox Sports app. It's going to be so interesting, Joy. What if the Rams lose? And Sean McVease Owen, too. And, I mean, this Rams team is all about this year. The Indomac and Sue is not a long term. Marcus Peters. A keep to

Lebe. I mean, they really roll the dice. They have a 72-year-old defensive coordinator. And they don't have a ton of depth. The Rams are very interesting because whereas the Cowboys have a bunch of really good young players that haven't made big money yet. The Rams are full of roster with a lot of guys that made huge money and they don't have a ton of depth behind them. They need to get corners. You know, Taleb and Marcus Peters are not going to be here long term. And Domic and Sue's not. So the Rams need to win this game. The Los Angeles Rams need to win this football game. They're building the stadium. You know, they're still selling PSLs.

You know, the Chargers don't have much of a fan base. That stadium needs, you know, 45,000 PSLs. You lose. There's a lot of, they're still building a Brandon Lott. It's still a Laker, Dodger, USC football town. It's an interesting situation that a Cowboys playoff game and the pressure is all on the other team. Because it is America's team, and it's Jerry and Dak. But they got a double you.

They won their home game. Yeah. It's all on the Rams. They're a touchdown underdog. I'll do Blazing 5 tomorrow. I'll pick all the games. So there's only two coaching positions remaining, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins.

And Bengals and the Dolphins are one of five teams not to win a playoff game this century, Detroit, Cleveland, and the Bills. And Miami is obviously wildly dysfunctional, including interim head coaches. The most coaches in this league since 2004, that's 15 years. So the most coaches in the NFL for 15 years, you think Cleveland's dysfunctional. You know the Raiders is dysfunctional. The dolphins are tied for the lead with 10. So they're your team.

They're an absolute mess. And I mean, here are the coaches. My friend Dave Wonstadt who actually won games, Todd Bowles, Joe Philbin, Dan Campbell, Adam Gates got him to the playoffs. They got rid of him. It's amazing. Spirano, Cam Cameron, Nick Sabin, Jim Bates. It's a mess.

So you can really make a really make a lot. argument. The Cleveland Browns, they're understood. They've been complete dysfunctional. I think Miami is equally dysfunctional, but they don't get the reputation. Maybe it's because of Dan Marino and their history with Don Shula that they have this legacy years ago of success so we don't lump them in. I think they also just have no expectations every year. But it's getting so bad for the dolphins.

They actually called our show because we have a very pro NFL. We talk a lot of NFL in the show. And they wanted us to run some ads for the dolphin job. And I watched them. And, you know, so this is the first one the dolphins sent us to please consider coaching there. Afraid of getting stuck in the same job, come coach the dolphins and we'll guarantee that you'll be out of here in two years or less. The Miami Dolphins, we're unstable. You know, that's not how I would have pitched it.

It's not inaccurate. It's not inaccurate. It's not how I would have pitched the job. though. Anyway, here's the second commercial ad they want us to run. Want to see what a successful NFL franchise looks like? Join the Dolphins, and you'll get that chance when you face the Patriots twice a year. The Miami Dolphins. We're waiting for realignment. Now, they do beat the Patriots once a year. And down in Miami, they're very good. You know, I mean, listen, sometimes you have to acknowledge your rival. I mean,

that's, that is an absolute fact. The Dolphins are the Patriots, regular season. They've had In the last 15 years, they've had 15 coaches. It's funny with Adam Gase, because Adam Gays got him to the playoffs. Adam Gase had a winning record with Ryan Tannahill. I mean, it's like, hello, you keep Adam Gays for another year, but this is what Miami does. Here's the third ad. They were kind of reaching here. What's better than appearing in a Super Bowl?

Appearing in Ace Ventura Pet Detective, the Miami Dolphins. We've met Jim Carrey. I don't think that'll, I don't think that would. Ace Ventura Pet Detective is a legendary movie, though. Very good. And then Jim Carrey, I think, did the mask after that, didn't he? That was very funny. That was underrated.

And then he got serious. And then now he's an artist and he's political. Well, you know, he's made his money. Yeah. You know, it is funny about the dysfunction of jobs. Like Cleveland Brown fans are very rare. They're the only fan, most fan bases that have been beaten up historically know it. They're not cocky.

Cleveland's the only fan base. They finished third and they're cocky. like they expect to send you tweets and stuff and for you to like be oh hey Cleveland's talking let's listen to them it's like most organizations like the Mets you know the Phoenix coyote fans like most organizations Purdue football fans don't lecture you Cleveland the Cleveland Brown fan base is the only fan base in America that like cannot believe you're questioning giving Freddie Kitchens a job who's never been hired as a coordinator They're just shocked by it. It's pretty remarkable.

It's a remarkable fan base. I get more people saying, you hate Ohio? And I'm like, you mean those LeBron Cavs team I talked about every day for four years? And we're rooting for them to win, right? I mean, I actually respect Cleveland Brown's fans because despite the fact that their organization has been completely dysfunctional for as long as I've been alive, they are very loyal. And they still go to games. And they still fight for their team. I'll defend them no matter how wrong they are.

I'll give you an example. The Chargers have won a lot more games than the Cleveland Browns in the last 10 years, like probably twice as many. And they've had much more stability. And they've had like one owner, their fans this weekend. They're in the AFC championship if they win. They have a better roster than New England. And most Charger fans I talk to in Los Angeles are like, I don't know.

I don't know. Doug Gottlieb grew up a Charger fan. even he acknowledged he doesn't think they'll win. I think if you did the fantasy draft, right, like who would you rather have? Philip Rivers, the only time he gets messed up is when there's people at his feet, right? So like, you sit there and go, man, I love the Chargers, but I've seen this movie too many times. I know how it ends, don't I? And you convince me, all right, the Chargers finally got a kicker.

He's from New Jersey. Weather won't bother him. When I hear there's snow in the forecast, I see the numbers coming off a bye. there's no logical reason that Tom Brady and the Patriots should play in the AFC championship game. But they're going to play in the AFC championship game because they're the Patriots. And for the record, I have friends who are Charger fans. They all sound like that.

So Charger fans who have a really good team. I mean, I still contend if you were asking me the best rosters in the NFL right now, all the teams, I would say, let's do this. I would say L.A. Chargers have the best roster remaining in the NFL. Kansas City has some stars but some holes. I would say, you know what? You're going to think I'm crazy on this. I'd say Dallas.

I love their roster. They're probably a more well-rounded roster. Because when you talk about Kansas City, I mean, their defense is ranked close to last in the league. So they have some stars, but as a whole. Like the Rams have, you know, I'm going to throw this out. I think Philadelphia's roster is good. I just don't think they have any stars.

Then I'd probably go, I would go, see, Saints have a lot of stars on the defensive and offensive line. Fans don't know. Then I would say L.A. Rams. Then I would say five. Kansas City Chiefs are just a line. Six Saints. Seven, New England, eight Indy.

That feels about right. But I guess the point is the Charger fans are going in with great apprehension. Cleveland, the Cleveland Brown fan base is the, Does the Cleveland Brown fan base get this? They didn't hire Greg Williams, who's been a coach and has won. They hired the coordinator who nobody else had ever interviewed for a coordinator job. And Brown fans wonder why a lot of us are like, oh, that's so Cleveland. And their other candidate was a kid that works for the Vikings who's never worked for another team.

Their only candidates were the two least experienced guys. And by acknowledging that, those facts, Brown fans are like, whoa, you don't. It's like, you finished in third. And for the record, you not only finished in third, but you finished in third and you're cocky. The Steelers finished in second and they're furious and want to get rid of everybody. That tells you the standard of the Pittsburgh Steelers is here and the standard of the Cleveland Browns is here. And for the record, no, I don't think Baker Mayfield's a bus, but I did say when Baker got drafted, this is what he's going to have to overcome. Well, yeah, I mean, that's kind of the disappointing part for me with the Browns is, you know, Baker is good content.

We talk about that all the time. Yeah, he's fun to watch. And he's fun to watch. He's an exciting player. And I'd like to see, I don't ever root for any franchise to be consistently bad. That's not good for us. Yeah, well, listen, NFL, Fox has 40% of the NFL. Nobody wants to watch a dud.

We don't like bad games. We own 40% of the NFL. We have Thursday night football. We have the late Sunday window, the most watched game of the week. I mean, we are completely as a, ESPN's an NBA network. We're an NFL network. We don't want Duds. We don't want Jacksonville.

We don't like poorly quarterback teams. Baker's interesting. I like Baker as a quarterback talent. I just, I think you cannot deny that the Hugh Jackson-Tacson Todd Haley situation was completely on brand for Cleveland. And hiring Freddie Kitchens is completely on brand for Cleveland. I'm told John Dorsey, you know, the Bruce Arians were out there. The Mike McCarthy's were out there. They're not interested.

Not that the coaches weren't interested. Cleveland's not interested. John Dorsey wants to run the show. He don't want to push back from veteran coaches. The coaches are interested. They kind of look at Cleveland and go, oh, eh. Cleveland's like, nah, we'll take the least experienced guy in the market.

Because he coordinated eight games with Baker. Listen, they lit up Atlanta and Cincinnati. They did get, this team got crushed by the chargers and beat by the Ravens. All right, tomorrow's blazing five. So we'll pick our playoff games tomorrow. Drive safe, Be Safe. Fund Doug Gottlieb and Greg Cosell, E.J. E.J. Manuel, Kareem Jackson, all stop by the herd today. We will see you. Speak for yourself later. We'll see you tomorrow.

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