The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Ravens, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, Cam Newton, & the Blazing 5

Episode Date: September 14, 2018

Colin discusses why people shouldn't overreact over the Baltimore Ravens loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, why Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott is average, what to expect from Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, why Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton is playing in the wrong era, and his Blazing 5 picks for the weekend. Guests include T. J. Houshmandzadeh, Eric Dickerson, and Petros Papadakis. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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New graphics, new set. This is our best show of the week. Blazing 5 in one hour from now, Joy Taylor off a winning week. Very exciting. I've decided my strongest plays of the week in pro football in one hour from now. Good morning. Good morning.

I've struggled through the years in week one. I had a winning week, week one. I love my peaks week two. It is great to have you here today. And there's one thing I try to do in this business. As a fan, be emotional. As a human being, as a father as a dad, show emotion, laugh a lot, cry a lot. But as a sportscaster, I try to take the emotion.

out of it. Oh, there's no crying in sportscasting. Can't. Because the more emotional I am, the less accurate I am. And you don't want some raving lunatic on the air. You turn to me and you want me to give you the straight skinny. So I want to tell you a story.

Tuesday was the anniversary of 9-11, the darkest day in my life in American history, and for many Americans. I watch all these documentaries. I get very sad. I get very emotional. And I was reading a story a couple of days ago where an NFL scout, An older NFL scout loved his country, and he had to do a job on 9-11, the week of 9-11. He had to go scout.

And it was a rough time in America back then. We were very sad. The city of New York had been attacked. We lost friends. We were under attack. And it was tough. Back then, we weren't as divided. We loved each other that day.

And the scout said, he always tried to take emotion out of scouting. But he had to work that week. And he just wasn't in a good place emotionally. And he went and scouted And he went and scouted a kid named Marcus Truffant. Very nice player for the Washington State Cougars. But he said, when he looked at all the players he scouted in college football, he gave Marcus Truffant the highest grade.

Now, he was a good player. But all the players he scouted, best player in the country played at Washington State. And he said, I love that kid, but emotion probably played a part in that grade. So when I look at the early weeks of the NFL, what I see is fans in media getting really, really emotional. Dallas Cowboy fans, season over! Dak Prescott can't play in San Francisco. Jimmy G had three sacks.

We paid all this money for Jimmy G. And I'm watching Oakland, John Gruden. Oh, my Lord, it's fun. Okay. Baltimore lost last night. It was a standalone game. It was the only game on TV. Don't overreact to it.

You're overreacting to how good you think the bears are. They're not. They're going to lose at home to Seattle. You're overreacting to Sunday night games and Monday night games and Thursday night games. Folks, Baltimore, short week, on the road, division rival against the veteran defense of star players. You look at the stats from that game last night. First downs. Baltimore had more first downs.

Total yards. Baltimore had more. Yards per play even. Third down percentage. Baltimore was better. whoops, they had three turnovers. Why? Because Joe Flacco's dealing with two rookie tight ends and three brand new receivers. They're all these new shiny toys and they're not ready yet to go into Cincinnati and beat a team that has Carlos Dunlop and Gino Atkins, like pro bowlers on the defensive side in their home opener.

Baltimore's next four games, Denver at home, get to play the Browns, Tennessee at home, they're going to be fine. Baltimore's a really good football team. Forget this. When you put emotion in sports, you become less accurate. College football fans forget it because half college football fans went to the university, have a plaque on their wall, try to talk to an Ohio State Buckeye fan or an Alabama fan or an Oklahoma fan during a game. You know, it's absurd.

NFL fans didn't go to the University of Philadelphia Eagles. At least you can talk some sense. Stand-alone game, Baltimore on the road, five new targets for Flacco. they outplayed Cincinnati for long spots. Just turn the ball over. They're not going to be throwing, having all those turnovers later in the year. Never forget the final four teams in the NFL last year were the Jags in New England and the AFC

and then Philadelphia and Minnesota in the NFC. They were all one-in-one after two weeks, and they were not only one-in-one after two weeks, three of the four teams, including the Patriots lost to the Chiefs, Three of the four had a horrible loss in the first two weeks. Looked ugly in the first two weeks. The more emotion you allow in your sports, the less accurate you become. Baltimore's fine.

Two rookie tight ends. Three new receivers. Flacco looks sloppy. Inaccurate. overthrows. They're going to be okay. Baltimore's a good football team. I want to shift to this.

My favorite game this weekend. Minnesota Vikings, better roster, better team, better defense. Kirk Cousins goes to Green Bay and faces the Packers. Minnesota should win this game. Minnesota's got the significantly better roster. They're healthier. Aaron Rogers has not practiced this week. His best receiver, Devante Adams, has not practiced this week.

Minnesota's loaded and they're healthier. And they're better virtually every position. During this past off season, Minnesota had Tiddy Bridgewater, and they traded him away. And Teddy Bridgewater can play. And they were 13 and 3 with Case Keenham. And they let Case Keenham go to Denver. And they paid Kirk Cousins like $28, $29, $30 million a year. And they paid him for this game.

Go to Green Bay. We'll give you the better roster. We'll give you the better defense. And beat Aaron Rogers. They did not pay Kirk Cousins to beat Mitch Trabisky at home. That's a given with this roster. Kirk Cousins got that money for this game. This is it.

The Redskins front office, they liked Kirk Cousins. But the reason they wouldn't pay Kirk Cousins was because of two games. And do you remember those two moments? They were defining moments, and they're the reason they wouldn't pony up the dough. The first game, they went to the playoffs, 2015. They hosted Green Bay with Aaron Rogers. And they lost 35 to 18. They were one for four in the red zone.

They couldn't sustain drives. They had to settle for a bunch of field goals. And Kirk Cousins, next to Aaron Rogers, looked really second tier. The second game that Kirk Cousins played, that in the eyes of the Washington front office, they could not give him big money. 2016. They're at home. Week 17 playing the Giants.

The Giants had already secured a playoff spot. That was the boat year. Remember the boat year? OBJ. So the Giants were in the playoffs, had nothing to really play for. Eli played, but they had no motivation. Washington had to win the game to get in, at home, against the New York Giants. And do you remember that game?

Kirk Cousins, one TD, two picks, 74 pass-a-rating. Awful. through a huge interception late. In Washington's front office, those two moments, those two games, Aaron Rogers at home playoffs, Giants with nothing to play for at home, and he kind of laid an egg, couldn't finish off drives, couldn't get it done in the red zone. This weekend, Minnesota goes to Green Bay. Minnesota has a significantly better roster.

You can make an argument and you wouldn't get much pushback from me. It's the best overall roster in the NFL. And there is no doubt. It is a significantly better defense. Aaron Rogers is not at 100%. I'm told he will play. Devante Adams, his best receiver, has not practiced. If you don't beat them now in Green Bay Lambo, you're not beating them.

And that's why they pay to the big money. So Kirk Cousins, you know, you just think to your son, it's just week two. It's no big deal. This is the moment. And you're 0 for two in those moments. Listen, we're not talking about October. Now, these are the moments. Playoffs, week 17, get into the playoffs.

Finally face Aaron Rogers, who, by the way, if you face him eight, ten more times, probably he'll have practiced every single week you play him. This is the week he hasn't practiced. This is the week his. best receiver hasn't practiced. Can't wait. Can't wait. All right, coming up next, you know, for all you people that have been married out there, I've done this a couple times. You start to, oh, God, marriage, and you're going to write down, you think to yourself, who are we going to invite to the wedding? And, oh, yeah, we'll get them, that cousin, that friend.

Oh, my God, it's going to be so fine. And then, react. comes. You have to put a pencil to the paper because you only have 100 seats. And every time, two times for me, you do that, the people you think you're going to invite in for sure a lot of times, there's, there's no room and you feel terrible. Well, I did that last night. What my mind was telling me and what pen on paper became on Dak Prescott. and it's really interesting. That is next blazing five in 45 minutes. Borrow up to 40 grand to pay off high interest debt or credit cards.

Lendingclub.com slash sports. Lending club.com slash sports. Those loans are made by a web bank member FDIC equal housing lender. So I'm sitting there and, you know, I've done this with weddings where you sit down, you do it with parties or you do it with weddings. you have minimum space. And so who you think you're going to invite to a wedding or you think you're going to invite to a party and all of a sudden you have to put pen on paper and write it down because you only

have limited space, right? So many seats in the church. So many, you know, some people, you can get into the church and some people, they just get to the reception. And you start putting down cousins, relatives, really close friends. And all of a sudden you're like, wow, you're not inviting people that you really like. And so I've done this my entire life, and I've talked about this. I get a yellow pad and a pen whenever I have to make big decisions.

I want to see exactly my list, my thought. Every time I've moved cross country six times, every time I've done a pros, a cons list on a yellow sheet of paper. I want to see it. It's one thing to talk about it and imagine it. I want to see it. So you know, I like Dak Prescott, Cowboys hosting the Giants. I actually like the Giants a little bit in this game. And I've always been a supporter of debt.

well, since week six of his rookie year when he played great in Green Bay. And my mind has always said he's middle of the pack. But so last night, I thought, no, no, no, I'm going to do this like I do weddings or parties. Not what I think, not what my imagery is. I'm going to grab a pen and I'm going to get a piece of paper. How good is Dak in my mind? Okay. And I think about everything here.

I do think who your coaches matter. For instance, I like Jimmy Garoppel. but I really like him with Kyle Shanahan. Well, they're going to be together in a relationship for the next five years. So it's a joint deal. Same with Jared Goff. I like Jared Goff. I really like him with Todd Gurley and Sean McVey.

So I have him graded higher because of that. So here is my pen to paper and here's what's fascinating about Dak Prescott. And I hate like rating quarterbacks. But here we go. Brady's my number one. and Aaron's my number two and Bree's my number three. Precision League, the precision quarterbacks. And then I have Carson Wentz, who I think is the next great quarterback at four.

Russell Wilson loved him for years. Battle line still wins. Five. Andrew Luck. Big Ben's not as precise as I love. Matt Ryan, Jimmy Galavro, Derek Carr, Phillip Rivers. Cam Newton, about 12. Jared Goff.

Matt Stafford liked more than this, but I don't like his coaching staff 14. Deshawn Watson, 15. I'd just like to see more to Sean Watson. And here's what happens. Kirk Cousin's 16th. I'm still not to DAC. Alex Smith, Andy Dalton, Joe Flacco. I get to DAC Prescott at 20

and remember this. I'm not counting Patrick Mahomes because I got two starts. Can we have like a minimum three-start rule? Patrick Mahomes is absolutely more talented the Dak Prescott. That is not the best, significantly better armed talent, better athlete.

And I think he's got a better play caller and better talent around him. So I had DAC at 20, and I'm not counting Mahomes, nor am I counting Sam Donald, who I think is significantly more talented, the DAC Prescott, but I'm not going to count a guy after one NFL start. So if you go minimum three starts, I have DAC at 20. If I didn't do a minimum, I think I'd have him at 23. And that's not middle of the pack.

So I like him, but I've done this with weddings and I've done it with parties. This is why I get the yellow pad out that I write stuff down. And by the way, I don't think Joe Flacco is miles better than DAC. There's things about DAC like mobility that I like more than I do about Joe Flacco. I don't think Andy Dalton is miles better than DAC, but he's better. You saw him last night. He's got a go-to receiver, AJ Green. They have a great symmetry.

That's where I've got him. And I'm not counting rookies, and Sam Darnel is better. And I'm not counting Patrick Mahomes, and Patrick Mahomes is better. So you know what? Dak Prescott is when I really get down to pen on paper. He just gets invited to the reception. He's the guy you invite to the reception. He doesn't get a wedding invitation.

So this week he faces the Giants who have a better defensive personnel than the Dallas Cowboys. And my takeaway is Dax O-1-2. And I like Dak. I don't love him. Never loved him. Didn't really like him at all out of college. But it is interesting when you put paper and pen to,

together and you have to look at it and you put it down and you make a list and you consider everything who really gets invited to the wedding, the party, and where you put all these quarterbacks. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I didn't notice Baker Mayfield on that list there.

He's a rookie. Minimum three starts, right? He'd like, he'd not be going to start till October and November. All right. Well, Drew Brees caught everyone's attention this week when he said he thought Baker Mayfield could be better than him. Yeah. And he even caught Baker's attention.

Here's his response. It's really cool, huh? It's humbling. But unless I go to work every day, then it's not going to matter. Expectations are one thing, but you've got to do your own. That's a guy that I've had an unbelievable amount of respect for and looked up to just because of, you know, where I'm from first and in size and story as well.

So I've always enjoyed watching him. Do you like hearing this out of Baker? You know what I saw from Baker Mayfield there? People are going to crush me for this. First of all, looked like he'd lost about five pounds. I did think that. It looked a little pudgy. He's getting a little...

He looked leaner. Lean, yeah. He looked like he's no more partying, off-season partying. No more cocktails. Baker Mayfield looked leaner. He looked more cleanly shaved. than earlier. You know what he looked like? He didn't look like a frat boy.

He looked like an NFL starting quarterback. Why are people going to crush you for that? No, because everybody always gets mad when I'm always like a hat on backwards guy. If you want to be president, act presidential. If you want to be a quarterback, be quarterbackial. That's the thinnest he has looked. He does

look more. He's off the summer cocktails in the party circuit with the YouTube stars. And he was shaved and he had a nice haircut. It's like, that's a guy that looks like, He can lead men. I'm not with you on the backwards hat thing. I thought we abandoned that when LeBron wore his hat backwards.

NBA NFL different thing over the game. Okay, okay, okay, okay. It only applies to the NFL. All right. So Ben Rathesberger had a terrible start to the season, accounting for five turnovers against the Browns and a week one tie, and he suffered an elbow injury. So he didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday,

which has raised some questions on if he will suit up against the Chiefs. And typically, if a player doesn't play on front or, doesn't practice on Friday. Tomlin doesn't play him on Sunday. By all accounts, they haven't practiced yet, so we don't know if Ben is going to practice today yet. But this is not good because you don't want to go into the season banged up. So this is definitely something to keep an eye on.

Now, if he does play, Ben has a, I believe, a 6 and 1 record against the Chiefs All time, 7 and 1 if you include the playoffs. So this is a team that generally Robespiger plays well against, but I don't like this for the Steelers. Well, Aaron hasn't practiced and Ben hasn't practiced with veteran 10-year quarterbacks who have been working with the same head coach and O-line. I'm usually okay with it. It's not like Ben's not watching film. Aaron's not watching film.

I kind of give Aaron, I still think Green Bay has a chance to win in Pittsburgh can win. If this was like Deshawn Watson, if this was Sam Donald, I'd be like out. Kirk Cousins with a new system, out. I'm kind of okay with these guys. Veteran coaches, veteran quarterbacks, know their timing, know the film. I'm less concerned about this week because I agree with you there than I am about the season. Coming into the season from week one with an injury, the same thing with Aaron Rogers. So you get no time to recover.

You don't get any opportunity to rehab it and rest it. So Josh Jobs confirmed that he did take first team quarterback snaps with the Steelers yesterday, which is expected if Ben is not practicing. So we'll keep an eye on that. And finally, speaking of the injured quarterbacks, Aaron Rogers also has yet to practice since suffering any injury Sunday night against the Bears, and here is Mike McCarthy saying that Aaron isn't quite a lock to play against the Vikings.

This is no layup, and I mean, that's why it's a day-to-day situation. You've got two types of environments to prepare you for games. You've got the classroom environment, and you have obviously the practice environment. So, you know, with him in the rehab group, he's, you know, full bore ahead in the classroom and all the different meetings. You know, today was a very heavy situational day. So that's where his involvement is. So McCarthy is not your source.

Okay. My source tells me Aaron Rogers will play Sunday. How about we do this? Because nobody in the country will say this. I'm the only guy in the country saying, I've got a source. He's going to play. Monday morning. I cannot tell you how until Monday morning.

How what? How you know? How I know. Now, I'm not going to give you the person that told me. I'm going to give you the situation why. I know. Because this is a person that I don't want to burn a bridge with. Well, I would hope not. Right. But when I'm right on Monday, I'll be right on Sunday. Now if I'm wrong, this conversation never happened. But if I'm right, I've never done this before. I will divulge the situation

why I knew. Okay. Why I know. That's fair. Okay. I won't give you the person. I'll give you the situation. Does the person watch the show? I hope I can. I may have to get this okayed by the person. Yeah, I feel like you don't have to reveal any of it. That's not how sources work. You don't have to tell us where you got your source work. What is this? Big J journalism. It's a big J for journalism.

It's what we do on this show. We break stories. Joey Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. Well, T.J. Hushman Zada was on this show last week, like 10 days ago. And he made this fairly gigantic proclamation that we, you know, we kind of rolled our eyes about the Cincinnati Bengals.

he played there and here's what he said on our show. We have it. The Bengals will go to the playoffs this year. In a way, the Steelers are acting, the Bengals might win the division. No, no. Just remember, I told you this. Retract that.

I just don't want you to have to regret saying anything. Just spin that one back. If that happens, I just made a bad assumption. The Bengals are going to be good this year. All right, let's bring him on. My guy, T.J. Husman, Zada. They're 2 and 0. They're not only 2 and 0.

They've gone on the road to be to Andrew. luck. And last night, they beat up on Joe Flacco. Now, let me push back. You were in this league a long time. Flacko's got two rookie tight ends, short week, and three new receivers. If you look, the box score, Baltimore was fine. Where they weren't fine is routes, timing, Flacko, balls thrown behind guys. Some of this to me is Flacko's got five new targets on a short week, week two. I think Baltimore in six, seven weeks is a really good football team. You know what I always tell people? What? excuses only satisfy those who make them.

That stings. But I will give you its rookie quarterbacks and young receivers. But you have the entire offseason. You have training camp. They're on the same page. Baltimore didn't play bad last night. Flacco made a couple of bad. The interception of Jesse Bates, it was cover three.

He thought the safety was going to stay deep on a deep post. He had the deep crossing route. And the safety baited him. He stayed deep. And then he came down last month. minute. It wasn't a bad read per se. I thought Jesse based the Ricky safety. I thought he made a really good play. He bade it flack onto the throw. So take, you know, Denver, for instance, has always been good in the first couple of weeks of the year at home because teams aren't in

elite shape and they have an altitude issue. So, like Denver, first two weeks of the year at home, if you have to go to Denver historically, good luck. High altitude. It's early out of camp. Many guys are not in their best shape. There are certain things that happen, weeks one and two, always keep my eye on. So when you look at week one, two, go back to your career, you're heading into week two. Are you in great shape? Do you have the playbook totally down? What do you feel great about? Week two, how is it different than week 10, week 12? You know, for me the difference was once you get to the middle of the season, you start anticipating play calls in a huddle. You down the distance, you start to anticipate what's going to be called. You anticipate, you just have a

better feel for your offense. The coaching, the rhythm. Much more. Is it? you almost anticipate everything that's going to happen because you prepared so much and you kind of get used to the preparation aspect of it of, okay, this is what we're going to do. Okay, this is what they're going to do. And so the comfort level is much higher. Yeah. Let me ask you this. It's hard enough to get a rhythm in the NFL and offense.

And offense is about choreography and a rhythm. Defensive guy just blow stuff up. I'm a defensive guy. I'm trying to blow stuff up. But offensive guys, you guys have to memorize playbook. You guys have bigger playbooks than defense. You guys have to get into a rhythm. I watched Joe Flacco play.

And like six times last night in the middle of a drive, let's throw Lamar Jackson in there. And I'm thinking, come on now. You're just trying to validate your pick. And I got nothing against Lamar. But if you're going to use him, by the way, two point conversions after the touchdown, 11 on 11, use him.

To insert him in the middle of drives, if you were a quarterback, would you like that? I'm sure a piss Flacco off. I know Joe, I used to sit up at the facility with Joe, and we'd play Cornhole all damn night. Yeah. Like, we've been, I'm sure it really irritating, but this is what they,

I didn't think it was effective. It wasn't effective. It was second and 20, and I believe they got like a 15-yard run on one of the plays where Lamar Jackson was in, but outside of that one play, it was not effective. I'm almost certain Joe does not like it, but Flacco has brought this on himself by not

playing well in years past. So it's almost like, why cry about it now? If I hadn't been playing well, they wouldn't have drafted Lamar Jackson. Yeah, because they had utter needs. They could have used a tight end. They could have used a receiver. They have two rookie tight ends.

So to me, it feels like they're validating. Remember when the Jets acquired Tebow? And they were always trying to figure out how to use Tebow. And you're like, you already have a young quarterback who's struggling to get into rhythm Mark Sanchez. Like, don't pull Sanchez out in the middle of a drive to put in Tebow. Yeah, I know. You can just, watching the game, just look at Joe Flacco stance as a receiver.

It tells you all you need to know. He's pissed. He just stands there like, why are we doing this? Why are we doing this? You just look at his stance. He does not like it at all. So I was saying this about Kirk Cousins. There were two games.

I think Kirk Cousins are real solid quarterback. Solid. Not special, but solid. Agree. You're not going to run around like Russell Wilson. He doesn't have the arm of Carson Wentz. But you win games with it. But there were two.

games in Washington that the front office watched and they bailed on him. Home playoff game against Green Bay. Couldn't get it in the end zone. Field goal, field goal, field goal. One for four in the red zone. Aaron Rogers looked great. He looked average. Then they had a week 17 game, the boat year with the New York Giants.

Where the giants were already in, Redskins had everything to play for and they laid a complete egg and he wasn't any good. And I believe those two performances, the front office in Washington said, T.J., he's just not the guy. He's just a guy, not the guy. So when they paid him all that money in Minnesota and got rid of Teddy Bidgerauder who can play and Case Keenham who won 13 games, they got him for this weekend. Aaron Rogers hasn't practiced.

Devante Adams hasn't practiced. Minnesota clearly has the better defense. Didn't they pay him for this game? Minnesota should win this game this weekend. Number one, like Zimmer is very underrated as a coach number one. You had him, didn't you? In Cincinnati a year. and he immediately our defense jumped and was was drastically better.

Defensively, this is the best team he's ever played on, Kirk Cousins defensively. You got Diggs as a receiver. You got Rudolph as a tight end. You got Thielen as a receiver and you got Delbin Cook. So his offensive skilled players are also really good. You may never in your, you know what it reminds me of? Remember Andy Dalton broke into this league and he had.

A.J. Greenson, New Marvin Jones. Good back. and then he had a good tight end from Oklahoma. Germain Gresham. Germain Gresham. Then they got Eifford. Andy Dalton walked into this offense with all these guys, you're like, yeah, you may never have an offense like that again.

Kirk Cousins may never have an offense this loaded. He had, it's not even all. His defense is so sound. Like, they're good at every level. They're good at the D-line. They're good at the linebacker spot. Best safety in the game, maybe? And so, I mean, they got what, three first round corners in Rhodes,

Trey Wains, forget the other guy's name. Defensively, Minnesota, I honestly, whether Aaron Rod, they're winning the game. Whether Aaron Rogers plays or not, I see Minnesota win in the game, they're that good defensively.

But if Kurt Cousins can't beat Aaron this week that he didn't practice, and his number one receiver didn't practice? I don't think it matters that he didn't practice. I think it matters more so that he's hurt. If you can't win now, you're never going to win. Okay, T.J. Hushmanjada is joining.

us. So it's funny, the Jags play the Patriots, and I've always had this, you'll know this well, is that I've always had this feeling like emotional teams, Seahawks, Steelers, play better at home. Like the new, if you're, here's some teams I think are unemotional, New England. Home and away, same team. Rams was Sean McVeigh. Last year, they were actually better on the road. But when you get young teams and emotional teams, like you watch them at home and away, they're a different team at home. Jacksonville is young and they're cocky and they yap, yep, yep, yep, yep.

And I think this is their Super Bowl. I think they have circled the wagons all offseason. Week one didn't matter. It's New England's coming to our place. Brady's coming to our place. I think Jacksonville is going to, could lay it on them. It's going to this game, I'm looking forward to this. When you've played in Jacksonville,

you haven't been a good team and so last year was a surprise too many and so they want to show everybody that we can play and they did that on the field but they're going to talk football is a game of emotion like for people that it's super emotional I played with a lot of emotion

you played on a bingles team that led the league into motion if there was a stat you let it for like five years you have it's almost like you have to prove a point you have to prove a point like we can play too and I'm going to get you by saying it, but we got to back that up as well.

If Blake Bortles can be remotely good, Jacksonville is going to win this game. You just don't know what Blake Bortles is going to give you. New England is good because they have 12. As long as he's back there, they're going to be fine. But his skill, I mean, outside of Grancowski. First of all, New England's running backs are all dinged up. Now, Jeremy Hill's out for the year.

Burkheads hurt, concussion. So New England's got issues on the, perimeter where Jacksonville, by the way, is loaded at corner. New England has always done a great job of scheming you with their slot receivers and whatnot and just getting easy. Their short passing game is like a running game for them. But Jacksonville, me personally, I'm having Jalen Ramsey follow Gruncowski around the field the entire game.

You have to. If you take Gronk out. You have to now. They do have Miles Jackson, who's a really great athletic linebacker, but you have to put Jalen Ramsey on Gruncalfi. the entire game, whether it's manner's on. You just have to shadow him so that you don't give away the coverage.

By the way, there's an analytic stat out there that if you look at Gronk's history against safeties and linebackers, he eats him alive. But Gronk's numbers come down against corners. And the elite corners, his numbers come way down. So if you're an analytics guy, Jacksonville probably puts Ramsey to your point.

I mean, he's 6'2, he's over 200 pounds, and he can run. Didn't they put him on it last year? And he shut him down? He came out, Gronck then play the second half of the game. All right, TJ. It's great seeing you. This is a very, very interesting week two in the NFL. Blazing

five in 20 minutes from now off a winning week. TJ Hushmanzada. Anything else? That's it? No, you know what else? What? Tell everybody, don't get too excited about Sam Darnold. Because remember how we put Dak Prescott up here. Now everybody said, oh, Dak might not be that good. Sam Darn is

better than... No, no, no, no. I'm not saying he's not better. I'm saying it's just one game. It's just one game because after one season, Dak Prescott was on Cloud 9. Now it's like... Yeah, but Dak Prescott had a line. Des, Witten, Zeeke. Donald's dealing with end tables here. What does Dak Prescott have now? The main piece of his line is hurt.

He doesn't have it with what... Yeah, and you cut, Des Bryant and it's like, ah, they're not playing cloud coverage anymore. They got that safety support in the box. They didn't take that into account. That's all. You don't think Donald's significant. significantly better than DAC as a talent. I'm not, obviously everybody believes so because of his draft status. I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is...

What are your eyes tell you? I like Sam Darnold. I don't like his... He throws too many interceptions. That's the only thing. He has a tendency to turn the ball over a little bit too much. I played under Jeremy Bates for one offseason in Seattle. He did a great job with the scheming and his play calling to kind of get Sam

Darnold in a rhythm, but I'm just saying it was just one game. I would like to see how he does the rest of the season. If he goes 2-0, I will vote for him to get into the Hall of Fame. 2-0. He had five picks. So if they can get five picks every game, he'll go. Oh, he's going to have a great career. Here you go. TJ, good seeing you.

Blazing 5, 20 minutes away. 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. One of the things I try to pay attention to in sports is analytics and rule changes because they change not only outcomes, but how effective. players can be. And I'll give you an example. Steph Curry in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s would not have been as important a player as he has today. Steph Curry, and this is being generous, is listed at 6-4-190. I'm 6-1-195 and I'm thin.

He's about a 185-pound guy. In the 70s, 80s and 90s, Michael Jordan puts a hand on him. Gary Payton puts a hand on him. Steph Curry gets pushed all over the floor. It was a more physical game. You could have more confidence. He gets hurt now, and it's a cardio league. Steph Curry would not have been a dominant player. He could shoot, but he wouldn't have been transformative in the 70s and 80s and 90s, but now you can't hand-check anybody so we can roam free. Now the game's all about cardio back and forth in the three-point shot.

You can't touch anybody. You can't stop guards now. It used to be centers ran the league and big wings ran the league. Now the little guys run the league. If you put the hand check back in the league, you'd watch all the numbers and field goal percentages of the guards go down. Because it was centers that ran the league. But now the NBA, if you can't shoot, dude,

you can't play, you can't be on the floor. So I'm always looking at rules, analytics, cultural changes. People think I don't like Cam Newton. This weekend, Cam Newton, Carolina faced Matt Ryan Atlanta. They're the opposite. Cam is physically gifted, but not

precise. Matt is precise, but physically limited. Both of won an MVP, But they're not annual MVP candidates. They're not that good. I would have liked Cam a lot more in the 70s and 80s and 90s. In the 70s, 80s and 90s, you could grab a quarterback and drive them into the ground. Small guys got hurt.

Guys like Matt Ryan. How long would they last? Yeah, you wouldn't even draft maybe a Matt Ryan or a Teddy Bridgewater. They just couldn't take the beating. You can go look at old pictures of Terry Bradshaw being picked up and jammed into the ground. Joe Montana being grabbed and jammed into the ground. 70s and 80s, you needed a big, strong guy. It was not a precision league that could throw the ball through a battleship.

Who did we love? Joe Namath. Joe Namath had more picks than touchdowns, and we loved him. And Terry Bradshaw had a howitzer and threw a lot of picks. We loved John Elway. John Elway didn't get a Super Bowl until year 15, but he could run and he could throw and he was big and he was strong. In the 70s, 80s and 90s, I was looking at arm and I was looking at size. you would not have even drafted Johnny Menzel in the 70s, 80s, 80s.

He looked like the guy that runs out and grabs the tea after the kickoff. He looks like a little kid. But now it's different. Who are the quarterbacks we love now? Breeze, Brady Rogers. One of them's small. The other one's unathletic. And the other one's a combination of played at junior college, Aaron Rogers, not quite big enough.

Not quite. It doesn't matter. It's a precision league. So today, when they play this weekend, I'll take the precision guy over the size and arm guy. But when people think, oh, you don't like Cam. Cam really works in 70s, 80s, early 90s football. Take a hit, drive them into the ground. It was legal.

I mean, I laugh at stuff now. In the last six or seven years, we have had such rule modifications in the back end of the defense. Folks, just go to you. I'm not even sure if it's available. go look YouTube NFL hits in the 70s and 80s with quarterbacks what they were doing to Bradshaw and Aikman and Montana you could grab a quarterback and drive them into the ground this offseason they changed a rule that if you hit a quarterback if it feels like you're adding your think about this this is a new rule in the NFL if it appears not even with a sack like quarterback lets it go you grab them if they think you're driving your body weight into the quarterback it is is now an illegal hit. You fall while they're on their side. If a quarterback's in the pocket and you get pushed into his knee,

you could be ejected. That is an illegal hit. So there's just different eras. Like, I love Steph Curry today. Love him today. You know, it's funny. Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers does everything well, but shoot. And it's amazing how many critics.

If Ben Simmons would have broke into the NBA and, in the 70s, 80s, 90s. And you're like, listen, there's this six, 10 and a half point guard. As a rookie, he may be the best defensive guard ever as a rookie. He can finish at the rim. He shot 54%. He never takes a bad jump shot. He makes everybody around him better. You'd be like, oh my God, there's a Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson couldn't shoot. He took over the league. Ben Simmons, if you go on the internet, which is a lot of crazy people, it's like, guy can't shoot. I can't pay him any money. Guy can't shoot. He does everything well.

He's got transformative vision, transformative size, finishes at the rim, makes everybody better. But because he doesn't jack up threes, we're like, well, he just can't, you can't play. Folks, I mean, I will acknowledge if he could shoot threes, we'd be looking at a potentially better version of magic. Because he's a better defender to magic. He's a better defender of magic. He's got magic's vision.

But it's just eras change things. Rules change. Today, I like Matt Ryan over Cam. They play this weekend. 30 years ago, you'd take Cam. It would be no question. Bigger, stronger, better arm over the top. All right, Blazing 5, week one winner.

I hadn't even seen real games and I won. Listen, if you want to share in my winnings, you're certainly welcome to. Or if you want me to just keep all the money, that's fine with me too. Blazing 5 around the corner, hour two and a Friday. It's the herd. Ah, hour two in Los Angeles. This is the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1, Joy Taylor is joining me for our number two.

I love this time of the year. We have a huge, huge weekend of college football. We have a massive NFL weekend. Before the end of the hour, I will unveil for the third straight week, what I call my spoiler alert. I'll tell you exactly what's going to happen in college games. We were 1 in 0 last week, winning record. But, you know, this time, Friday, Joy for the first time ever enjoyed the celebration, our little Mardi Gras. We just hand out money to America.

We call it the Blazing Five. It's a really nice thing that you do, Colin. You know, I'm like Robin Hood of sportscasters. I'm just giving money. I'm just just hand-throwing fives and 20s to people. I could keep it for myself. But that's just not how I roll. No.

He'd be selfish. I'm not a selfish person. I am a giver, not a taker. So off a winning week, week one, which is hard. I've told you before, just like a quarterback. We get into a groove here, and week ones are tough. I didn't know what I was going to get out of Sam Darnel. I like him.

I don't know what I was going to get. We didn't pick the Jets, by the way. So here we go. Here is week two's Blazing Five. That's a hot one. Let's blaze it up. Fire it up. It's Collins blazing five.

Anthers at Falcons. Atlanta at home. minus five and a half. I'm going to take the Falcons here, though it's a big number. First of all, they've won three straight against the division rival, Carolina, at home. And Matt Ryan has played very good against Luke Keeckley and those Panthers in those games. Six TDs in a pick, over 70% completion. There's a lot being made of Atlanta's red zone issues.

But, you know, a lot of people struggle against Philadelphia on the road. Carolina had bad red zone issues against Dallas's defense at home. I'm going to take Atlanta to win this game 27 to 20. Colts and Redskins. Like it, I love it. I'll take Indianapolis plus six. We just watched the Bengals last night. They're two and oh, they're pretty good.

Remember, the defense for the Redskins last year ranked 31st on third down. They couldn't get teams off the field. They didn't improve it that much in one-off season. The Colts, by the way, against that Bengals team with Andrew Luck, were 11 for 17 on third down. You're not going to find a lot of teams that go 11 for 17 on third down against the Bengals all season. Andrew Luck started week one poorly. But after that first interception, the rest of the day, 103 passer rating, 320 yards, 75% completion rate. I'm getting points with a significantly better quarterback,

plus Colts O'Lines, they've solved it. 3128 I'll take the points. Colts. Chiefs at Steelers. I know it's a number and it's a big one. I like Pittsburgh minus four and a half. This Pittsburgh team, Big Ben, is a completely different quarterback, home and away. It's one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL.

This is going to be the first real road test for Patrick Mahomes. go look at the home and road splits for Big Ben. Literally, he's 3 to 1 touchdowns to picks at home. He's almost 50-50 split on the road, touchdowns and picks. Patrick Mahomes, welcome to Pittsburgh. The Chiefs gave up last week for the record over 500 yards against the Chargers. This defense in Kansas City, we were paying attention to Andy Reed, Tyreek Hill. Kansas City's defense has issues.

I'm going to swallow the points. Pittsburgh wins 31 to 20. Patriots at Jaguars. I get points and the better defense and the team at home. I'm going to take the Jags plus one. Listen, last year, and their defense is the same defense, it's just a year savier and older. Their past defense was number one in the NFL.

Their total defense, their scoring defense, and this is really their Super Bowl. This is really their Super Bowl. They will play as well this Sunday as they can play. Leonard Fernette's a little banged up, and listen, Belichick is what he is. But here's what I don't like. New England's backfields a mess.

Sony Michelle, Miss Week 1, Hurt, Rex Burkhead, concussion protocol, Jeremy Hill, out for the year. They've already got a real issue against Jacksonville on the perimeter, and Jalen Ramsey's going to go one-on-one with Gronk and shut him down. I think this is Jacksonville's Super Bowl. Remember, Belichick's worst month is September. They don't go four-and-o in September. 26, 23, Jags.

Seahawks and Bears. Best bet perhaps of the weekend. I'm going to take Seattle and three and a half. Like it, I love it. The Bears lost. Once they got off script for Mitch Trubesky, he couldn't get first downs. They're running a college offense. By the way, Seattle lost at Denver.

Try winning in Denver first couple of weeks of the year of that altitude. Nobody plays well. Okay, the Bears' defense collapsed in the second half against Green Bay. It collapsed. All right. Russell Wilson, last year, since the start of last season, is ninth in passing yards, second in rushing yards, and first in passing touchdown. I get the better coach, the more experienced coach. I get Russell Wilson.

This is a complete quarterback mismatch. Don't buy in to stand alone. Everybody in the world loves the Bears. Everybody in the world loves the Bengals. The Bears were a disaster in the second half. I get more than a field goal with a Hall of Fame quarterback. Like it, I love it. Seahawks win 24 to 23.

That is our blazing five. Like Robin Hood. I might as well just walk down the streets of L.A. and just throw money at people. I mean, seriously. So, you know how they talk about guys having a midlife crisis? You know, guy, I don't know what, like 40, 45 years old. You know, and guys.

Can you go out and buy a red convertible? Yeah, exactly. Guy goes out and buys a red. Start tanning. Yeah, like tanning, going to the gym all day. We're in sandals. Being cool. You know, I'm glad you said convertible, because people do this.

Guys will buy a convertible, and it's expensive, and they probably could have spent the money on other things, you know, a 529 for their kids, education. But they buy a convertible, midlife crisis, 47 years old. And to justify the convertible, they drive it like it's October and it's 47 degrees. And there's a little drizzle, and you see Midlife Crisis Dad driving his convertible in Indianapolis. I swear to you, it's not cold out. Oh, yeah, this is always somewhere cold. It's not somewhere reasonable, like California or Florida.

It's Kansas City, Indianapolis. You know, it's like Midnight Crisis guy trying to justify spending $72,000 for a convertible. You see this with breadmakers. People buy a breadmaker, and they have to justify buying a breadmaker. So the kids are like, hey, what's for dinner? Sourdough bowls again. Dad, it's breakfast. You put on like 15 pounds every time you buy a breadmaker because you have to justify it.

You have bread every meal. Okay, the Baltimore Ravens now. Put the convertible away. Stop buying breadmakers. You're trying to justify Lamar Jackson. You're trying to justify drafting him as a first round pick. Let him watch. If you want to put him in, do it for extra points.

He's a very clever red zone runner from the three yard line. But it's hard enough to get momentum in the NFL and, Flacco's not exactly the most efficient quarterback. You're yanking them out of the middle of series. The Jets did this with Tebow and Sanchez. It's hard enough for Sanchez to get into a rhythm. Now, Brady's in a rhythm like that. Breeze gets in a rhythm like that.

Rogers gets in a rhythm like that. Flacco, Mark Sanchez, hard enough to get into a rhythm. Don't pull them out for Tebow. But you justify that Jets track. We're going to get Tebow and we're going to justify it. And we're going to... Baltimore looks like they're trying to justify Lamar Jackson. What are you doing?

Troy Aikman talked about this last night. You can tell Flacco, they put him out wide receiver. He got no interest in that. Here's what Troy Aikman said. I will tell you, if I'm Joe Flacco, I'm not happy about this. And I don't know, Joe's not going to say anything, but I can tell you deep down, he doesn't like it. You know, if you're a pocket passer, you're the quarterback. You do not like running out to the wide receiver position and letting somebody else play quarterback.

It's as central as that. They talked to me about doing that at one time back when I was playing the game. game has certainly changed, but that was not going to happen. And I don't think Joe's real thrilled about some of the things within that system with Lamar Jackson and the office. And again, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen are not ready to play in the NFL. Now, Josh Allen, unfortunately, they're stuck. Baltimore's not stuck. They've got Flacco. Flacco needs to get these tight ends, these rookie tight ends, and all these. It's got five new targets. It's going to take them some time to do this. But, I mean, this is the classic you're trying to justify a,

move. Just let Lamar, if you want to use him, you score a touchdown, the drive is over, let him be the two-point conversion guy a couple times a game. Now, that makes a ton of sense to me. But in the middle of a drive, on the road, division rival, Flacco's moving. Let's jam him in there. They had like six plays last night. Not one of them really clicked. The one that did click, he handed the ball off. It just feels like, I see this all the time. It's almost like college. You can not do quarterback by committee in the NFL. You can't. And people try.

And this, everybody knows it's not a dual quarterback situation. But listen, look at Joe Flacco's body language when he goes out there. You're embarrassing him. Like everybody's going like, come on. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like you make the argument that you can't start a rookie quarterback because if he does bad and you take him out, you're hurting his confidence. What do you think you're doing to your franchise quarterback that's won a Super Bowl? Yeah.

It was MVP. Right. Of said Super Bowl. Coming up next. I'm going to do my spoiler alert today. The three huge college games, I'll pick all of them. But coming up, one of the things that I have noticed through the years in the NFL, and it is a trend, and all you parents know what I'm talking about,

but you're going to see it this weekend, and I think it's going to be front and center. So if you're wondering, it's one of the biggest games of the weekend where I lean, I'll have that coming up next. When Cousin Sal, Todd Furman, Clay Travis, and Rachel Beneta get together, all bets are on. Lock it in is the all-new, one-of-a-kind. sports gambling show weekdays at 4.30 p.m. Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app.

When shopping for car insurance, consider GEICO.com. 75 years. It's simple. They know how to save you money. Geico.com. Lock it in 430 every day, especially on a Friday. Friday is their big show on. Lock All right. Here's a guy that played for over a decade. He was a number two overall draft pick. He's been a Hall of Famer for now two decades. One of the all-time greats. Eric Dickerson. FS1 is joining us on a Friday, baby. You got a Labian bell holdout. You're probably You're probably in a bad mood because James Connor comes in. He looks really good.

If you were leaving, I've said this before, Eric. I don't, if I left this network and they hired somebody, wouldn't it be human nature for me to hope they didn't do as well as I did? Of course, that's human nature. For sure, but I got to say this, I'm so glad you got some chairs and not that school bench.

This is great. This is cool, right? I can just relax a little bit. You put your hands in? I put my hands up. I'm sitting down. So this is cool. Thank you very much for this.

You bet. But if you're Lavian Bell, I'm going to, I'm going to, now, everybody's like he should be rooting for the Steelers. Lavian Bell's livelihood and reputation, you can't be rooting for James Connor? I hate to say it, no. You can't.

I'm glad because I had James Conner on my fantasy team, so I did well with it. But, no, I mean, as a former, and as a former player, and if a guy to come to take your position, no, you don't root for him. I mean, look, Tom Brady got gropolo, out of New England.

Thank you. That is. No, you don't want that to happen. You want to look bad and say, see, see, see. Did you ever go in your career at the, because at the beginning, nobody was. But at the end of your career, was there ever a guy they put in, you were like, if he twist his ankle, I'm not going to lose any sleep. Even at the beginning of my career, what are you talking about the end?

Of course. Yeah, I'm like, I don't want to see anyone to get hurt. But, you know, when they call you and I'm like, you know, he ain't doing well. He turned the ball over. Okay, cool, my turn now. Of course, yes. Yes, you always want that. You always want to play.

Does it bother you that the position of running back is not treated with the same respect that quarterback? Now, wide receivers have made a fortune this year. Yes. Does it bother you? Of course it bothers me because, you know, you hear this all the time. And it's just because of people saying it, your manager, sand it, fans, saying that the running back is not as valuable as a quarterback or a receiver or an offensive lineman. But when you have a running back, that's a great back, like a lady on bail. Todd Gurley.

Todd Gurley. Right. When you have those guys, you know, they are back. And they're, Zeke. They're very, it's very few of them. Okay, so here's my takeaway. It's all situational. With Jared Goff, I'll pay for Gurley.

With Dak, I'll pay for Zeke. Carson Wentz, I'm probably not going to pay a fortune. Big Ben's got, I got Antonio Brown, I got Juju Smith-Schuster. I don't know if I can justify paying all of them a fortune. Again, Jared Goff and Todd Gurley, I am all. I'm not paying a fortune for Tom Brady's running backs. No, no, because you got Tom Brady. See, that's Flavian Bell's problem.

Yeah, Tom Brady has shown he can do it without a real running game. Rutherzberger, well, he hasn't shown. He needs that running game. You need a Levian, but you have to have a, you have to have a, like James Conner came in, and I said this, you can't get excited. It's week one. You know, it's week one. The thing about the National Football League,

when they start seeing you for a while, they get used to what you do, and everybody has a tendency. Okay, now. Can you do it in week nine, week 10? Okay, 16 weeks over, now can you do it again? The next season. That's what makes you a great player. Not that week.

Everybody panics and, oh, my God, you know, our team is horrible. You know, we got beat so bad. Oh, we're going to the Super Bowl. You know, we beat Buffalo. We beat the Browns. You know, it's all that excitement, but it's longevity. It's like you've got to wait a week eight, nine, and ten for the NFL season. They really see what's happening.

You know, it's funny. I was saying the other day when the Rams' beat the Raiders. I said, McVeigh is the better version of Gruden 20 years ago. And that's not a shot at John, but I do think Mavay is Gruden's brand is bigger than his reality. He had nine quarterbacks in Tampa. None of them end up being great. McVeigh's had one. Well, actually, McVease had two. He worked with a couple, and he's elevated both. Golf looked like he was shot, like he couldn't play. What do you make of the whole Gruden experiment? They looked ugly in week one. Calliol Mack. What do you make a? of it. Well, first of all, the Leone Mcdeal, I didn't like the way it was handled. You know, I'm not

there with the Raiders, but I feel like the Gruden should have contacted him before they traded him, not after the trade. Look, if you call him and say, hey, look, you know, I want to coach you, we want to try to keep you if we can, if you can't. I just want to say that I want to keep you, but you're a great player, and I want you to be a raider for the rest of your life. And the player really appreciates that. Okay, now when you're talking about playing, okay, what was the other question? I forgot it. No, I mean, but But I think when I look at, when I look at Gruden, McVey. Right.

That, you know, when you look at Gruden and McVey, I look at Gruden as a guy that in a classroom, you know, and there's a classroom setting. You know, hell do you. All right. What are you seeing cover two? All right, cover one, you know, and Skycar, what's here? You know, you're showing in a classroom.

Okay, now you have to go out and do it, do it week after week. Coach the guy being a game setting. It's different. McVeigh has been doing it. Gruden hasn't done it in what. 16, 17 years? Your personality, I always felt as a coach,

you become your personality. Belichick only worked when he found the perfect messenger, a guy that was equally aspirational, equally driven, equally focused, equally

tough, Brady. Before that, his message was not landing with players. So I kind of look at, does Gruden's personality limit his functionality as a coach. He is gruff. I'm not sure if he works. I'm not sure if John

works today. Work well with others. You know, as John, when you look at John Gruden, I don't know John. I don't know John like that. I don't know him. I don't know him like that. But what you see on the outside, you see a guy that has this gruff look on his face. I would look like he's mad.

Do the players relate to that? Is he relatable to the players? You know, that's that's, and people don't, that's big. I can say one thing with the Rams. That is what they have with Sean. He's a guy that's relatable to the player. They love him. Matter of fact, Kevin, I mean,

Demmov just told me that. He said, Kevin Demmoff told me the CEO of the Rams. He said that Sammy Watkins was mad because he didn't get passes. He said in the game, they played the game. He said, and he felt like he was open quite a bit. He said, okay, this is we're going to do. Him and Sean McVeigh, we're going to go watch film. We're going to watch the film. And we're going to go through every play

that you're open. You think you're open. And he said, right here, Jerry should have got you the ball. He didn't. You were late. He said, right here, hey, you didn't run the right route. Or you were late on your break. He said, and then as a player, he said, you know what? I agree with everything he said.

And that's the kind of, when you got that kind of coach, the coach is taking responsibility. And also the players were taking responsibility. Because a lot of times, the coach doesn't want to take responsibility. They're like, hey, the players didn't play. They're all good up in the media room and say, you know, I let them down as a coach. But really, they don't mean it. You let me down. Your team let me down.

They'll say that in the team meeting, but they don't take the responsibility. Yeah. Are you still, you know, I'm watching last night and Lamar Jackson, and I was, Joey and I were joking that when a guy gets a midlife crisis, he buys a convertible sports car and he tries to justify the purchase. So it's 42 degrees out, and he's driving the convertible, say, it's not that cold out, I swear to you, I'm not getting wet with the rain. I kind of feel like Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen are the two quarterbacks that needed to sit for a year,

come in, their projects. more. Darnold Baker, you can put him out there now they're fine. I kind of feel like Josh Allen of Buffalo is going to be way over his head, and Lamar's not ready to play at the NFL. I feel they're trying to insert him in to justify picking him. You know, I disagree with that. When I talked to Ozzy Newsom about him about him, I asked him this question at the Hall of Fame this year. I said, tell me about Lamar Jack.

He said, Eric, he's a player. I say, really, I said because, you know, people says, you know, he doesn't have the great arm. He said, he picks up everything very fast. and he's a football player. And I look at football players, I think of guys like Brett Farb, a football player. And that's what it's all about. He believes this guy is going to one day start for the Baltimore Ravens.

And I believe it, too, just watching it. And, you know, when I watch Flacco stand out there, he doesn't like that. I mean, he doesn't like that. Oh, God, no. He does not like that. He doesn't like the competition. You don't ever want to look over your shoulder like,

okay, they got this guy in here. I know they're going to push him, and I'm not playing well. but I really believe that maybe not this year, but I believe maybe next, probably next year, Lamar Jackson will be the starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. Because, hey, look, Flacko is, I mean. He's expensive?

He's expensive, but, you know, in the last four years, he has not done anything. I mean, he's been a disappointment, really, because I thought he was great right before he got their contract and went to the Super. I'm like, man, I like this guy. He was 10 and 5 in the playoffs. He beat Brady twice in Foxborough in the postseason.

But when's the last independent playoffs. No, he's not. Now, in fairness, Baltimore hasn't done a great job giving him a lot of gifts on the perimeter. In fact, they drafted two rookie tight ends. They went and got three new receivers. They got five new parts for them. So I do think they're going to be fine. I think it's going to take time to put them together and place them.

I thought last night the timing looked off. And Cincinnati's got a real defense. They got a real defense. But I think, but you picked Baltimore, didn't you? I did. You got to stick with them. I'm not. You got to stick with it.

I'm a journalist. Oh, you're like Don King. Who's ever winning, huh? No. I'm jumping. This show is about journalism. No, he did very well his first week. He was the Ravens. He was very good on my pet.

He was very high at Sam Donald. My strongest, I had, I think Donald's going to be a 15-year franchise quarterback. I picked him in week one. I said, all these quarterbacks, this is a guy. I said, I don't buy this Gruden thing, and I look pretty good there. The only thing I haven't looked great at is I said Baltimore's, this is a real thing. I'm watching them last night. I like both their rookie tight-ins, one I really like.

They just look like they're young. Their timing's not great. I think Baltimore is going to be real good by mid-October. Give them six more weeks with all these new toys. Who do you think it would be the quarterback? This year, Flacco. I think they're going to have a decision to make. I think they're going to get to the end of the year, and I think they're going to still

choose Flacco because I think they're going to be a 10-and-6 football team, and you're going to go, are you out of your gourd? You're going to get rid of a playoff quarterback who's won twice in Foxborough. They may end up playing New England. If Flacco gets to the playoffs, how do you not resign him? Of course you resigning, but I don't think so. You don't think they're getting there. I don't think they're getting there.

What do you do? Okay, here's the other one. So, you know, right now, DAC, Prescott's completely overachieving his contract. They're not paying him anything. He's a quarterback for the Cowboys making $700,000. There's DJs in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago making more money than that. What do you do at the end of the year if you're Dallas? This is very interesting.

You're 8 and 8. You finish third in the division. Now, you don't finish, you know, Philadelphia wins 11, Giants win 9. You're the Dallas Cowboys. you're 8 and 8. That means your draft pick is about 15th in the league. Now the best quarterback in college is that kid at Oregon? I've been told he's going to go number one in the draft.

Okay. After that, it's a bunch of guys. Iowa's got a guy. There's a bunch of guys. So if you're Dallas, what do you do with DAC at 8 and 8? Okay, I'll make it tougher. You think it's easy. What do you do with DAC at 7 and 9?

You know, I didn't give you 7 and 9. What do you do? I can give you 6 and 10. Look, I think that the Cowboys, you got to always come into the injuries. Injuries are a big part of the football. In the offensive line, the first week, they did not play well. You got to. I mean, DAC does not have a lot of weapons.

You know, and I know they want to throw it all on DAC, but the big thing is, what about Jason Garrett? I like Jason Garrett. Okay, I'm going to roll, okay, here's my thing. I'm going to roll through the top quarterbacks in the league. I did this earlier today. Okay. I always think of DAC as middle of the pack. Now, I don't include rookies.

You have to have three starts. I don't include Patrick Mahomes. Okay. Here's how I rank him. I think of DAC as a... Now watch, here it is on the screen. Got Tom Brady. Okay.

Drew, Carlson. Okay, so I have Russell 5 and Andrew 6. Ben's lost some precision. Then, I'm sorry. Okay. Now, Garoplo's got Kyle Shanahan. That's why I put him that high. And I've never been a Matt Ryan.

Uh-uh. Okay. Now, I have Jared Gough higher because I like Sean McVeigh. I get to 15-16. I don't have DAC. Man, Dak is, deck is. You think he's better than Andy Dalton today? Yes.

Oh, no, not yet. Oh, yeah. You think he's better than Alex Smith. Yes, I do. Today. Right now, I do. This second. I think right now he's better.

Right now this second. Right now. Oh, God. Come on, come on, Colin, yes. You think this today. And Eric Dickerson as General. manager of the Dallas Cowboys Selects. Doc Prescott.

See, I think this is, I think you and I, there's parts I like about him. But I didn't. Let me ask you, what parts do you like about it? And what parts you don't like about it? Well, let me start with the likes. Okay. Big, durable, physical, and mobile.

And his great leadership quality. Okay. Here's what I don't like about him. If you make him throw to anybody but his primary target, his accuracy falls through the floor. He's skipping balls. the guys on curl routes. If Belichick makes you,

Belichick takes away your first option. That's what Belichick does. All right, Blake Bortles, I'm taking away option one. The great ones, Aaron Rogers, option two, option three, option four. Accuracy doesn't dip.

We saw that against the bears. His third option. Brady, Breeze, luck, Russell, you take Dak out of his primary and you saw this Sunday. Boy, he is not. He's skipping balls. It has to be,

perfect for him. You know what? How many, he got sack, what, six times? Oh, that that's the NFL. No, no, no, but I'm just saying, look, Brady didn't get sacked six times. You go with Brady, you go with Aaron Wright. Those, you know, Drew Bree, you're talking about the top three quarterbacks. The top three, not like 10, 11, or 12.

I mean, those are the top three. You've got to, and he's got, his receivers has to get open. Sounds like excuses. Hey, you know, all of us have them. But I still like that. I really do. I think he's accurate when he has time. I think he's mobile.

You want a mobile quarterback. He's big. He's big. He can get his mobile. You know, I like that. I just don't feel like, you know, and it's only his third year. It's not like it's his fifth or six year. It's his third year.

And coming up, it's the first game of his third year. Not like the 10th game. I like to revisit this in week nine. All right. Well, Bruce, schedule Eric for week nine. Eric Dickerson, Hall of Famer, Joey Tanner with the news. No, no, no. Turn on the news.

is the herd line news. So Levy on Bell has kept a pretty low profile this summer as he continues to hold out, but he did hear his teammates' criticism of his continuous holdout. And NFL network analyst, Maurice Jones Drew, detailed some of his conversation with Bell and an appearance on the Dave Damashek football program. And here's what he said. People think that I don't like Pittsburgh. I don't like James Connor.

I don't like these guys. Because I guess I was disappointed. They went out and spoke about my contract. Understandably so. He was like, but I still want them to do. well. There's still guys that I work with and that I put in this extra work with, blood, sweat, and tears. Like, I still expect them. I still want them to do well. And he was happy for James Connor. Look, it's no surprise that Leveon was disappointed that his teammates were talking about

his contract. Everyone was flipping out that his teammates were talking about his contract. Again, to me, I think that that whole situation stems from they were under the impression that he was going to be there and he wasn't. Because I don't know why you would you would break form at that particular point, like some random Wednesday. He's been holding out and seemingly was going to hold out no matter what. And it was like all of a sudden, everybody had something to say.

So either they were communicated something differently or they did just get fed up. But I just have a hard time believing that if this is the code that players abide to when it comes to contracts and dealing with your teammates, all of a sudden all the Steelers' line and Ben Rothesburg and everyone just falling apart. the seams. I feel like they were told something differently.

We should mention this. I like Lavian Bell. He failed two drug tests. Didn't you have two drug issues? Like that's a situation where when I say that, I don't like saying it. I don't like to talk about guys' private lives, but it's public if you're a football player and pass fail a drug test. I think some of this is.

The Steelers are like, listen, dude, we're not sure we can trust you. Some of it's that. I just don't think that they believe that they have to pay him. Yeah, that's a bigger part. There's this situation is done. Like, Leveon is done in Pittsburgh.

There's, there's, there's, I have zero, uh, imagination that he is going to be there next year. So all this, like he's mad at his teammates. There's teammates mad at him. At this point, he's going to show up at week 10, play the end of the season if they decide to put him in. And then he's going to be somewhere else next year. So they've got James Connor for at the moment. They're all right. If Ben can play on Sunday.

So Baker Mayfield may not have been the first overall, or he was the first overall pick in the draft, but he wasn't the first rookie to start this year. That honor went to your guy, Sam Darnold, who had a strong debut for the Jets, and that left many speculating, including yourself, that this is going to put some pressure on Hugh Jackson to start Baker Mayfield. I believe that's coming soon, yes. Well, Hugh shut that down yesterday. Oh, he did.

I like our quarterback. I like our young quarterback a lot. But it didn't change my mind in anything. Baker's been really good in practice. I've done for him. What I said I would do is getting some reps at the end at time. I think he's still growing. The thing I love, he's so engaged in what we're doing.

And I think, again, that's a star, a fist pump to him. I'm sure it's tough. I'm sure he wants to play. I mean, any competitor wants to. But at the same time, I think he's ready. You know, he's preparing himself week in and week out on what it takes to play. And when his day comes, he's going to go out there and play well. I keep saying that.

I don't know when it is. But whenever it does happen, he will play well. I trust Hugh Jackson. Who don't I trust? The owner. The owner. I believe Hugh Jackson. I like Hugh Jackson.

I told a buddy the other day. A buddy asked me, he said, hey, if USC go sideways and they replace their coach, who would you hire? And I said, Hugh Jackson's one of the three guys I'd call. I like Hugh. I think he could work at college. Good looking guy, good personality. He'd be a great recruiter, and he knows offense and college football is about offense. But it's not going to be Hugh Jackson's call.

You've got a billionaire upstairs who's impatient, and everybody thinks these owners are all brilliant. They are, but they're crazy people. Billionaires are crazy people, and they get impatient and impetuous. Well, they're brilliant, but they may not necessarily be brilliant at football. If they get routed this week, and I think Cleveland's a good enough defect, I think this game's going to be competitive, they'll lose to the Saints. But then they're 0-2, and I think they play Oakland or the Jets after that. If Darnold beats them, I guarantee you that owner's like, well, their guy drafted third

starts, our guy drafted one sitting on the bench. you watch crazy owner in Cleveland Trump's Hugh Jackson. They play the Jets after that and then the Raiders. All right. Finally, there's been a lot of discussion about the trash talk ahead of the Patriots matchup to Jalen Ramsey and the Jags,

Gronk and the Patriots, Brady and the Patriots. Yeah. Branc was asked to rate Tom Brady's trash talking ability. So what grade would you give Tom Brady, Grank? One out of ten. He's focused always. I mean, he gets going sometimes out on the field.

I've seen him, depending on the game, depending on, you know, the situation where he is, like compared to the defensive players. I mean, hands off the ball, he's far 10 yards back, so it's not like he can really get after it. I would say usually on his QB sneaks is when he talks trash if he does. Now, I've heard the opposite of this, but I'm going to take Gronk's word for it. I've heard that Tom does talk a little trash. Peyton talked a little trash. But actually I've heard Philip Rivers is the worst.

Phillips Rivers by a mile is the biggest trash talker ever to play quarterback in the entire league. It doesn't surprise me. But this rating also doesn't surprise me from Tom Brady for a couple reasons. One, I just can't imagine, like, what is he going to say? He just doesn't have that. He's so like, oh, shucks all the time. Like, he's just going to flip it on and say something aggressive. I don't know.

I can't see that out of him. I've really flipped on Gronk. I thought he was a goofball. he came in the league. I really like Gronk now. When I find out that he doesn't spend any of his money and he's really responsible. Grong has everybody fooled. Grom just likes to party.

Yeah. He's not irresponsible. He just likes to party. I thought he was a big dumb goofball. I really like him now. I've turned on Grong. I've turned toward Grong. I like him. I thought he was just Fred Flintstone when he came in the league. And the more I read about him, the more I like Gronk.

My kind of guy doesn't spend any money. Goes to bed early. Well, I don't know about that, but he just likes the party. I didn't say he goes to bed alone. He's not irresponsible. Joey Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Heard Lye News. Okay. Time for spoiler alert. Okay. Got a winning record so far. You think I'm hot on my NFL picks. There's three massive college football games this weekend. I'm going to tell you exactly what's going to happen in all of them coming up next.

Catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Don't be that guy in the room with a sloppy looking long untuck shirt. Go to untucket.com. Code Hurd 20% off. Shirts designed to be worn untucked. Now, you know how like if I've seen him, I'm going to go see a movie this weekend. Maybe I'm going to go see it tonight because I want to stay home and watch football this weekend. Not Mission Impossible, one of the five greatest movies in the history of cinema. I thought you said it was the second best movie ever.

Well, I dropped it over the course of last week. I watched Platoon again. But I think it's the one with Ryan Gosling, the Man of the Moon thing, supposed to be very good, first man, very good. But you don't want to give a spoiler alert. So if you see a movie, you don't want to give it away the answer. So if you don't want to know the exact outcome of the three biggest college football games this weekend, we need to put up this warning right now.

Warning. Colin is about to reveal the outcomes of the biggest college football games this week. If you don't want to know exactly what's going to happen, turn away now. All right, LSU goes to Auburn, War Eagle, to play the Tigers. I like Auburn in this football game. First of all, the home team has won the last five matchups here. Auburn's won 13 straight at home. They're 21 and 1 at home against ranked teams under Gus Malzon.

That includes beating Bama, who was number one at the time in Georgia, who was number two at the time. Listen, LSU's got athletes everywhere. In fact, they have a safety that's the next Jamal Adams. But Auburn's quarterback to me, Jared Stidham, is the most underrated player in college football. Everybody knows about Alabama's quarterback. Jarrett Stidham has never lost a home game at Auburn, has completed 73% of his throws at Auburn. And Ed Orgeron is going to get a lot of love, and the TV cameras love Ed Orgeron.

Look at that throw by Jarrett Stidham. 12 TD's three picks at home. beat Alabama, Georgia. He is an NFL quarterback. You know, outside of the Manning family, I don't think of the SEC as quarterback territory on Sundays. Jared Stidham with Gus Malzon, an offensive mind is a Sunday player. I'm going to take, here we go, spoiler alert. Auburn wins by a touchdown 2720. Next up, USC Texas. Listen, you got two young quarterbacks. You got this kid for Texas.

Sam Ellinger, and then you got this kid for USC, J.T. Daniels. Here's the game to me. Texas can run the football, and so far, USC can't stop it, which is remarkable because USC brings virtually everybody back in their front seven. And they've been terrible against the run so far. Stanford ran against them. UNLV ran against him. J.T. Daniels, the quarterback for USC right now.

He's a baby. He's completing 55% of his throws. He is super talented. He's a long ball thrower. But he locks on to one receiver. They have not created a highly creative offense for him. It is very pedestrian. It is very predictable.

And I don't think, you know, Tom Herman's getting a lot of heat. If USC goes one and two, Lynn Swan's going to have a decision to make, and it's not a decision Clay Hilton's going to like. Spoiler alert. Texas wins. By a field goal, 26, 23 at home. I just don't trust USC.

offensive staff and J.T. Daniels, a freshman on the road in Austin, Texas. Well, you're just down on USC right now. I picked against them last week. I'm picking against them now. And finally, TCU, Ohio State. Folks, Dwayne Haskins is Urban Myers' best quarterback ever. I don't want to hear about Cardell Jones. I don't want to hear about J.T. Barrett. I don't want to hear about Alex Smith at Utah. The best quarterback Urban Myers ever had is Dwayne Haskins. He's completing 80% of his throws. Troves in a magnificent deep ball, big-time player.

And, you know, Urban Myers is known as a creative guy. Dwayne Haskins, at the next level, could be a lot better than Tim Tebow. And if you give Ohio State, I mean, Urban's made a lot of B and C guys look like B and A guys. Now, I do think TCU is really, really well coached. But Ohio State has been a tremendous road. and neutral site team. Unlike Alabama, which ducks road games, Alabama doesn't like to go on the road. You never see Alabama go out west. You don't see Alabama plan the road. They'll do neutral site stuff. Do you know Ohio State since 2012 is the best team in college football away from home and neutral

site at 33 and 5? Their offense right now, it is, and this is without Urban Meyer on the sidelines. It looks fantastic. Turn away. Ohio State, two touchdown, winner 3320. I think there's about four teams I've watched so far. Bama, Georgia, Auburn, Ohio State. They look like the best teams. So far, from what I've seen, those look like the best team. We've got a great hour.

I made a big mistake on LeBron James. Talk about that next hour. Petro Papadoccus, who played for USC. Clay Hilton loses this weekend against the 10. Texas Longhorns, are they looking for a new football coach? They're not going to announce it, but there will be boosters calling the program if they're one and two. Because if they lose to Texas, they've lost to Texas, they've lost to Stanford.

Last time they played Ohio State they lost, last time they played Notre Dame they lost. They're losing all the games at USC. You've got to win. You got to beat Notre Dame. You got to beat Stanford. These are rivals. You got to beat the big out of conference schools like Texas, Alabama, Ohio State. They're getting dropped by them.

Hour three is coming up. By the way, this weekend, Draft King, $2 million in prizes. Get their app or go to draftkings.com. The code is H-E-R-D. Two million in prizes, $5 minimum deposit required. DraftKings.com, code heard or go to their app. Hour 3 and a Friday. Coming up, this in Los Angeles is the heard.

This is the herd hour three live in Los Angeles. I-Hart Radio, Fox Sports Radio. We moved over to FS2. I don't even know what's on FS1 right now. I don't know. I'm on FS2. What do I care? Seriously, I'm on FS2.

This is what's happening right now. It's good to have you in. It's a Friday. I have to admit, before the end of the hour, a little inside story came out on David Stern, former NBA commissioner, and Adam Silver, current NBA commissioner. Ian Thompson did a podcast.

Sports Illustrated writer, has a new book out. He used to be a Sports Illustrated guy. And it really makes me think, rethink the decision LeBron made. I was, I never had a problem with a decision. He was a free agent. They couldn't get him any good players. He came out, gave millions of dollars to the boys and girls club and announced I'm going to go to Miami. But it's really interesting how the two commissioners, the former and the current, saw it. And I'll talk about that in about 10 minutes. And it really makes me rethink my position because I was thinking about something this morning. So I'm going to get to that.

And later, our guy, Petro Papadakis, very, very tied in. He's a great college football analyst. USC plays Texas. He's a former USC football player. And he is really tied into the program. And I said this. I don't want to be hyperbolic here. If USC loses, remember how USC thinks.

They see themselves as a national college football power. Last time they played Alabama, blown out. Last time they played Notre Dame, blown out. They played Ohio State last year, blown out. Last time they played Stanford, run off the field. If they lose to Texas, because they see themselves, they don't see themselves as, hey, we won the Pac-12. That ain't what they're rooting for.

They're not the Yankees. They're the Yankees. The Mets brag about wild card, the Yankees brag about World Series. USC's got more NFL players in the history of the program in Alabama and Ohio State and Oklahoma. If USC goes one and two, nobody's going to want to hear about the freshman quarterback. I believe Lynn Swan's going to get calls and from big boosters, and he's going to have a big boy decision to make. And I think it'll be made this weekend.

It is a job saver for Clayhilton. That's what I believe. Not saying it's right. I'm telling you that's going to happen. Petro Papadacus, maybe I'm hyperventilating here. But that's what I believe to be true. And I like Texas to win the game. But I want to start with some perspective, with the rate.

haven's lost last night. And I just want to put it in perspective. I want to tell you a story. Tuesday was the anniversary of 9-11, the darkest day in my life in American history, and for many Americans. I watch all these documentaries. I get very sad. I get very emotional. And I was reading a story a couple of days ago where an NFL scout, an older NFL scout, loved his country, and he had to do a job on 9-11, the week of 9-11. He had to go scout. And it was a rough time in America back then. We were very sad. The city of New York had been attacked. We lost friends. We were under attack. And it was tough. Back then, we weren't as divided. We loved each other that day. And the scout said, he always tried to take emotion out of scouting. But he had to work that week.

And he just wasn't in a good place emotionally. And he went and scouted, and he went and scouted a kid named Marcus Truffant, very nice player for the Washington State Cougars. But he said, when he looked at all the players he scouted in college football, he gave Marcus Truffant the highest grade. Now, he was a good player. But all the players he scouted, best player in the country, he played at Washington State. And he said, I love that kid, but emotion probably played a part in that grade. So when I look at the early weeks of the NFL, what I say is, I see is fans and media getting really, really emotional. Dallas Cowboy fans, season over! Dak Prescott can't play in San Francisco.

Jimmy G had three sacks. We paid all this money for Jimmy G. And I'm watching Oakland, John Gruden. Oh, my Lord, it's fun. Okay. Baltimore lost last night. It was a standalone game. It was the only game on TV.

Don't overreact to it. You're overreacting to how good you think the bears are. They're not. They're going to lose at home to Seattle. You're overreacting to Sunday night games and Monday night games and Thursday night games. Folks, Baltimore. short week, on the road, division rival against the veteran defense of star players. You look at the stats from that game last night.

First downs. Baltimore had more first downs. Total yards. Baltimore had more. Yards per play, even. Third down percentage. Baltimore was better. Oh, whoops.

They had three turnovers. Why? Because Joe Flacco's dealing with two rookie tight ends and three brand new receivers. They're all these new shiny toys and they're not ready yet to go into six. Cincinnati and beat a team that has Carlos Dunlop and Gino Atkins, like pro bowlers on the defensive side in their home opener. Baltimore's next four games, Denver at home, get to play the Browns, Tennessee at home, they're going to be fine. Baltimore's a really good football team. Never forget this.

When you put emotion in sports, you become less accurate. College football fans forget it because half college football fans went to the university, have a plaque on their wall. Try to talk to an Ohio State Buckeye fan or an Alabama fan or an Oklahoma fan during a game. You know, it's absurd. NFL fans didn't go to the University of Philadelphia Eagles. At least you can talk some sense. Stand-alone game, Baltimore on the road, five new targets for Flacco. They outplayed Cincinnati for long spots.

It's turned the ball over. They're not going to be throwing, having all those turnovers later in the year. Never forget. The final four teams in the NFL last year, were the Jags in New England and the AFC and then Philadelphia and Minnesota in the NFC. They were all one-in-one after two weeks, and they were not only one-in-one after two weeks,

three of the four teams, including the Patriots lost to the Chiefs, three of the four had a horrible loss in the first two weeks. Looked ugly in the first two weeks. The more emotion you allow in your sports, the less accurate you become. Baltimore's fine. Two rookie tied ends, three new receivers, flacco, look sloppy,

inaccurate, overthrows. They're going to be okay. Baltimore's a good football team. I want to shift to this. My favorite game this weekend, Minnesota Vikings, better roster, better team, better defense, Kirk Cousins goes to Green Bay and faces the Packers.

Minnesota should win this game. Minnesota's got the significantly better roster. They're healthier. Aaron Rogers has not practiced this week. His best receiver, Devante Adams, has not practiced this week. Minnesota's loaded and they're healthier. And they're better virtually every position. During this passed off season, Minnesota had Tiddy Bridgewater and they traded him away.

And Teddy Bridgewater can play. And they were 13 and 3 with Case Keenum. And they let Case Keenum go to Denver. And they paid Kirk Conrader. Cousins like $28, $29, $30 million a year. And they paid him for this game. Go to Green Bay. We'll give you the better roster.

We'll give you the better defense. And beat Aaron Rogers. They did not pay Kirk Cousins to beat Mitch Trabisky at home. That's a given with this roster. Kirk Cousins got that money for this game. This is it. Kate, the Redskins front office, they liked Kirk Cousins. But the reason they wouldn't pay Kirk Cousins was because of two games.

And do you remember those two moments? They were defining moments and they're the reason they wouldn't pony up the dough. The first game, they went to the playoffs, 2015. They hosted Green Bay with Aaron Rogers. And they lost 35 to 18. They were one for four in the red zone. They couldn't sustain drives. they had to settle for a bunch of field goals,

and Kirk Cousins, next to Aaron Rogers, looked really second tier. The second game that Kirk Cousins played that in the eyes of the Washington front office, they could not give him big money. 2016,

they're at home, week 17, playing the Giants. The Giants had already secured a playoff spot. That was the boat year. Remember the boat year? OBJ. So the Giants were in the playoffs, had nothing to really play for. Eli played, but they had no motivation. Washington had to win the game to get in, at home, against the New York Giants. And do you remember that game? Kirk Cousins, one TD, two picks, 74 pass-a rating, awful, through a huge

interception late. In Washington's front office, those two moments, those two games, Aaron Rogers at-home playoffs, Giants with nothing to play for at home, and he kind of laid an egg, couldn't finish off drives, couldn't get it done in the red zone. This weekend, Minnesota goes to Green Bay. Minnesota has a significantly better roster.

You can make an argument, and you wouldn't get much pushback from me. It's the best overall roster in the NFL. And there is no doubt. It is a significantly better defense. Aaron Rogers is not at 100%. I'm told he will play. Devonte Adams, his best receiver, has not practiced.

If you don't beat them now, in Green Bay Lambo, you're not beating them. And that's why they pay to the big money. So Kirk Cousins, you know, you just think to yourself, oh, it's just week two, it's no big deal. This is the moment. And you're 0 for two in those moments. and they paid him for this game.

Is that our Fox NFL big game of the week thing? Is it Minnesota? Or is it the early game? I get that early window. God, that's good. That's a good early game. I'm not, forget Red Zone. I'm just watching that one.

Usually I go Red Zone, grab a pad in the paper and write notes. I'll just sit and watch that game. That'll be good. Petros Papadakis knows USC football played there. USC, Texas, USC losing. coaching staff in big trouble. That's on the docket. And by the way, I made a,

I am revisiting my belief on the bronze. The decision was no big deal and the media completely overreacted to it. And Joy Taylor will tell me which she thinks of my potential reversal. Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day,

seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. So great to be on a Friday. Joy Taylor. If you haven't watched our TV show, we have new graphics, new set. It really looks great. It's amazing. It looks very, look at that. That is robust and dynamic. I love that look. My set's smaller. You actually tower over me. I do feel like I'm a bit higher than you. You are. That's the way it should be. You physically punch down if you get tired of me. So I was thinking about this. I was never, first of all, let me state this. If you, if you. listen to the show or watch this show. And Joey has been on the show about three or four months.

But I'm a big believer in player mobility. So let me say that. And the reason I am is I've moved all over the country for commerce. I would be a complete hypocrite. I think the media can be so hypocritical. I got a job in Las Vegas. And then the general manager, I walked into his office and he was pissed, but I said I'm going to Tampa.

And then I walked into Tampa's general manager and he was pissed. And I said I was going to Portland. and I walked into Portland's GM and he was pissed and I said I was going to ESPN and ESPN offered me a fortune to stay but I said I was going to Fox. I'm a mobile guy. I'm looking for a challenge. I get bored fast and every GM I've left hasn't been happy. But in the end and they've all made offers to keep me. I'm a believer in challenge yourself. You live once. I'm not into reincarnation. I don't know if I go to heaven. I may go to a box and I'm not going to leave anything on the table. I am four people getting the most. I don't have that much in the skill department. But what I have, I'm going to take it. tap every every ounce of it. The idea that a player who has one eighth of my career, who maybe

gets 12 years out of his career, doesn't have a right after seven years with a crappy owner and a crappy city to leave? Who are we kidding here? And the media people, I know, all the media people that have done well, they've all bounced around different cities, newspapers, radio stations, and they're banging on LeBron because he left. I'm pro KD. Go to the Warriors. I'm pro Ray Allen going from Boston to Miami. Sammy, if I can leave, what a big phony am I? If I'm not four athletes, my career lasts 40 years, potentially. I've been doing this like 28 years.

Hopefully, I have another 12 years in me. I got 40 years of income. Players make a lot, but, you know, the average NFL non-first-round pick lasts about three and a half years. And so when LeBron came out, he'd been there seven years. The owner wasn't a good guy. The roster stunk. And LeBron made a decision because LeBron had just

come off the Olympics and he's like, I like playing with Olympians. I like playing with better players. So LeBron goes to the Olympics, wins a gold, comes back and looks around and goes, Boobie James, you know, looking around the players. Boobie Gibson. Who was playing on that team? A bunch of end tables. Larry Hughes.

And LeBron's like, I want to win games. I'm seven years in. I'm not winning anything. And so now, so he makes an announcement. And he gave money to the Boys and Girls Club. This was the announcement. Didn't bother me at all. I thought he was classy.

I thought he was anxious. I thought he looked nervous. He gave money out. It didn't bother me whatsoever. Here it was. The answer to the question everybody wants to know. LeBron, what's your decision? And this fall, man, this is very tough.

And this fall, I'm going to take my town to South Beach and join the Miami Heat. Miami Heat. That was the conclusion you woke up with this morning. That was the conclusion I woke up with this morning. That was Jim Gray. Now, they burned jerseys in Cleveland. People were crying. Oh, what an amazing moment.

In Miami was celebrating. It was called the decision. A new interview out, Ian Thompson, the author of a book called The Soul of Basketball, spoke about his interview with David Stern, the former commissioner and current commissioner Adam Silver. In regards to that, Adam, David Stern was completely opposed to it. thought it was bad for the league and bad for LeBron. Adam Silver, the current commissioner, thought,

I get where LeBron's coming from. I have always sided with kind of the Adam Silver worldview, which is, A, it didn't hurt the NBA. Ratings went up because we had a villain. So it was good for the NBA. Maybe it bad for Cleveland, but it was good for the NBA. And frankly, it was the right decision because LeBron wasn't going to win any titles. Michael Jordan didn't do anything until he had Scotty Pippen.

Didn't do anything without Phil Jackson. You got to get the right coach. You got to get the right co-star. So it was the right decision. And it was good for the NBA. And it's been good for it. It never hurt LeBron's brand, by the way. Everything's worked.

But I was thinking about this as I was reading this article. And it was only a 10-minute show. It was the highest rated broadcast for ESPN, like connected to the NBA outside of the finals in a long time. It got big numbers. But I was thinking about this when I was reading about this. I think David Stern was. on to something. LeBron's the supermodel of the NBA.

He is on a different catwalk. And the Cleveland Cavaliers will always be the NBA's plumber. The supermodel, if she divorces the plumber, shouldn't do it publicly. And to make it worse, you went and married George Clooney. if the plumber divorces the supermodel, it's justified. She doesn't pay attention to me. She's flying all over the world. She's hanging out with models and rubbing up and get kissing them.

And I got to get out of this relationship. I work hard. I'm a decent fellow. That's okay. But if a supermodel is going to dump the plumber, don't make it a public divorce. Walk away. Make it private. Keep it to yourself.

And especially if you're, you're going to go hook up with George Clooney publicly. And then promise two, three, four, five beautiful children. Oh, we got two beautiful children. And I was thinking about it this morning and I'm like, it did make LeBron a villain. And again, it didn't hurt his brand. It was the right decision and it didn't hurt the NBA.

But the more I think about it, there's a reason that the rest of the players that move don't do it publicly. By the way, if Durant left the Warriors, you could do it publicly. because the Warriors have high self-esteem, they have titles, they have great players, and everybody would be like, all right, dude, go ahead, we're still going to win games. Also, Kevin Durant didn't grow up there,

and that wasn't the team that drafted him. So there's my takeaway. The more I think about it, that if I, the more I think about it, it would have probably, I would have sided with David Stern. I am very pro mobility, and I'm very pro-lebron. But God, it was a public supermodel dumping. a plumber and then hooking up with another model.

It looked Cleveland just, it was punching down. It was too much. And by the way, LeBron was a kid. So, you know, I mean, I've made so many crappy decisions in my 20s. Who am I to say? But the more I think about it, I think I wouldn't have done it publicly. I think he got bad advice for that situation. I agree that he should not have done this.

And I know everyone talks about the money that was donated. The money still could have been donated without him doing this publicly. but it's, I mean. It's water. It doesn't matter anymore. It was a great day for the city of Miami. Yeah, but you guys have great days all the time. Yeah, we do.

You have aqua water and beautiful people. That's true. You guys are all beautiful. The weather's beautiful. Your water, your beaches, your people. Cleveland? You ever landed in the Cleveland airport in December? That's not Miami's fault.

It's not the supermodel's fault. She was born beautiful. Yeah, you ever land in Cleveland in December? You can't. Your flight's rerouted because there's an ice storm. It's just, I'm not trying to bang on Cleveland. It's just, the more I think about it and the more I read this thing is that it was, sometimes you have to walk into the room and understand, and I've made this mistake a lot,

understand the temperature of the room. If you're the richest cat, be humble. If you walk into a room and you're the richest dude in the room, buy everybody lunch. Be humble. Know the temperature. If you walk into the room and it's Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, don't worry about buying guys lunch. They'll buy you lunch. LeBron was too big, too famous, too great, too amazing, too glamorous, and he just publicly divorced, little old Cleveland.

And Cleveland took it so well, if I remember correctly. But I will say this, though. While I wouldn't have advised him to do that, everything happens for a reason. It turned out to be one of the greatest things that could have happened because it turned LeBron into a villain, which he hated, made him polarizing, which up until that point, he really wasn't. I mean, he had critics and he was world famous and he was a great basketball player, but he didn't have championships. He wasn't polarizing yet. This made him polarizing, which exploded his brand. He won two championships and went to four straight finals.

It really made him the king of the NBA. So where people may be critical of the decision. It was mostly great but bad for Cleveland. It all ended up great except for Cleveland, yeah. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

You know, I just get this, it's such a great opportunity for me to be petty. So it just gives me some of this, like, very sick satisfaction. Because you're petty. I am. Everybody's got a thing. I am. It's my thing. You're petty.

I mean, look, like, I got to ride in a parade down Biscayne Boulevard. I can't be mad at that. It was wonderful. You were in the parade? Yeah, I worked for the radio station at the time. The heat radio station? Yeah, we had the heat station. Were you queen petty?

Were you at the front and center of them? No, I wasn't Queen Petty in the Barre. Although I was still Petty at the time. All right, so we spoke earlier about Ben Rapplesberger and Aaron Rogers' status for week two. But we have some updates. Big Ben returned to practice today. So it appears he will be a lot for Sunday's game against the Chiefs. And Mike McCarthy also gave us an update on Rogers,

indicating that practice reps mean nothing towards his playing status. He can play with no reps. We've established that point quite some time ago in his career. So, you know, it's just, I think it's no different. You like to walk off the field Saturday and have your plan set. But, I mean, this is the National Football League. Things happen. I mean, you know, I mean, guys get sick on Saturday, too.

And that's, you know, that's all part of our process where, you know, we work to practice squad guys and everything. So, I mean, we'll be ready for anything. But I know he wants to play. So we'll see how it goes. Yeah, he doesn't need practice rep. to be ready to go on Sunday. But this is something to keep an eye on.

Now, I reported on Thursday that Aaron Rogers will play. This is not being reported by any of the mainstream media. As I told you, when he does play Monday, I'm going to get it okay. But I'm going to, I'm not going to mention the person that told me, but I'm going to tell everybody how I knew he was going to play. It's a very odd circumstance. Sometimes, you know, if you ever broken a story that you probably shouldn't have, but you got a break.

I had one of those in my life too. You overhear something. You catch a break. I try not to break stories. I still believe in the process of journalism, and I do not vet sources. So if I find something out that I'm like, hmm, okay, I know that now.

It may influence how I feel about stories moving forward because I have some inside information, but I'm not going to report anything. I try to stay away from that. You know the best way to break a story? I broke Bob Witsitts at getting fired in Portland. He was the GM. He was very polarizing.

I broke that story. Beat the Oregonian and they had a bunch of reporters and we beat it. The best way to break a story for all you young journalists, find an ex-employee of the company that's bitter. Because if a guy leaves a company or a woman leaves a company and they got fired and they're bitter, they're always going to want to make people look bad in that company. So they will continue to talk to the company.

And if you befriend them, buy them a nice bottle of wine, take him to dinner. they give you a ton of information. I've broken a lot of stories like that. Find the bitter ex-employee of the company. That wants to vent. They want to vent to somebody and they'll give you a, you know, it's amazing. You don't you have to fact-check that source? You don't have to run it through someone else.

Just go with it. I don't just go with it. What do you just go with it? I mean, it's just like one disgruntled employee gives you information. You don't have to check that with anyone else in the organization to see if it's fair? I try to. All right. Dak Prescott is getting a lot of flack this week.

especially from you, and Jerry Jones has swooped in to defend Dax's honor. Let's see a listen. I have tremendous confidence in Dack. I feel so good about a Sunday. I feel good about our future. I don't want to be trite, but teams have lost games and have had bad games with the best quarterbacks there's ever been. You can have an outing that you'd like to have back.

But man, a life, one of the strengths of our team, right, going in against us. the Giants are one of the strengths of our team as far as I can see into the future is Dak Prescott. We'll see. You know, I don't often agree with Jerry, but I got to agree with him here. It's week one. It is a little early. Everyone's, you started the show with it.

Everyone gets a little emotional week one. We get emotional. Fans get emotional. Coaches get emotional. Everyone just calm down. Let's see what happens in week two. Finally, Drew Breeze caught everyone's attention this week. because he said Baker Mayfield could end up being better than him.

Yeah. And Baker had a very nice response to that. Here's what he said. It's really cool, huh? It's humbling. But unless I go to work every day, then it's not going to matter. Expectations are one thing, but you've got to do your own. That's a guy that I had an unbelievable amount of respect for and looked up to

just because of, you know, where I'm from first and in size and story as well. So I've always enjoyed watching him. By the way, there is a Baker Mayfield commercial that is out for the other network ESPN that is hysterical. Nobody, I'm going to tell something about Baker Mayfield that I like a lot. He's a little cocky. I don't like him grabbing his stuff, but he can laugh at himself. The new commercial Baker Mayfield in is one of the best sports commercials I've ever seen in my life. He is so well done.

Baker does, he's good at the comedy. stuff. He is self-aware. Well, he fits Cleveland. They're good at the comedy stuff too. We're just crushing Cleveland right now. I like it. I like this out of Baker, though. And you said earlier, he looks like he's leaned up a little bit. Yeah. No, I mean, he got all this money and he went out partying with YouTube stars and hip-hop dudes and, you know, you start knocking down those cocktails. You start partying a little bit before camp opens up. He looked a little

pudgy. He looks thin now. I don't know that he looked exactly how he looked in college. Well, again, college kid, drinking beer. Maybe he's just on a special, you know, NFL-level diet and stuff now. Well, you should. It's called the NFL. It's a grown-up league. He looks like a grown-up. There's got a shave.

He got a haircut. He looks a little thin. I like what I see from him. Oh, you should become a fan? Well, let's slow down a little bit there. Don't go crazy. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Very, very excited for my last guest. Petros Papadakis. He's on the Fox call, the UCLA Fresno State game, just got out of a meeting with Chip Kelly. But he's one of the few guys in L.A. that he talks to USC, and I really listen because he really knows it.

And USC plays Texas this weekend. And it's a very interesting football game. Now, it's not as big as LSU Auburn or Ohio State TCU. But Tom Herman has not lived up to expectations. To me, that's unfair. Clay Hilton was already on USC staff. He has three full classes. and they're losing those big games, and they got thumped by Stanford.

And I think if they lose to Texas, I think the boosters have made a decision. I really do. And I'm going to bring in Petros Papadakis next. He's a very, very smart guy, very tied into USC for the USC Texas game this weekend. When Cousin Sal, Todd Furman, Clay Travis, and Rachel Beneta get together. All bets are on. Lock it in is the all-new, one-of-a-kind sports gambling show weekdays at 4.30 p.m. Eastern on FS1. and the Fox Sports app.

Lock it in. Today's a good show Friday because it's a betting day. Petros Papadakis is a big popular radio guy here in Los Angeles, and he was a USC football player running back. I think he was team captain, and just a very lively, interesting guy. And he does, for Fox Sports, he does college football for us. And he's one of those guys when he's on radio, and I'm driving around,

I lock into him because he knows his stuff. And he really, really knows it what's going on in Southern California with USC and all the stuff. He just walked out of a room, by the way. He's doing the UCLA football game this weekend with Chip Kelly. They're garbage right now, but they're going to be fine. Chip Kelly's going to win a bunch of games. So, by the way, thanks for jumping out of that room with Chip Kelly. And I actually watched them against Oklahoma.

I've got to be honest with you. For about three quarters, I thought UCLA played their arse off. I thought they were pretty good, actually. How was Chip today? Yeah, he was in a pretty good mood. He told me to tell you what's up. Those were his exact word. Oh, I like Chip.

Yeah, I haven't walked out of a coach's meeting in a long time, but, you know, the herd is the herd. I think they're going to be an improving team. I mean, the point chips making is they're playing something like 15 to 20 freshmen. That'll be the end of the year. They'll have played about 20 freshmen, red shirt or true. So this is the first time those guys have ever been in a hotel, first time they ever had a Friday practice for a road game.

And they looked like a much improved football team against Oklahoma. So we'll see if it translates back on the field against a tough rest of the team on Saturday night. Yeah, no, I watched that game. I watched the entire game, and for three quarters, I thought UCLA played their tail off. He's just playing a bunch of kids. So you know the USC football program as well as anybody in this city that covers them, and you really do. Too well. And sometimes, yes, it's tough for you.

You have conflicts that are tough that you have to battle with. I don't. I can just take shots. And you've got a lot of friends inside that building. They all hate me. So the point is that USC is like the Yankees of the Lakers. In New York, the Mets will put up a wild card banner. The Yankees don't.

They're embarrassed by it. USC sees themselves, and rightfully so, as a national program that should two out of three years compete for a title. The last four times they've played national programs. Ugly lost to Bama, ugly lost to Notre Dame, ugly lost to Ohio State, ugly lost to Stanford. And my contention is if they go out and lay an egg and I have Texas winning, I think Lynn Swan knows he's got to make a move. USC boosters, maybe they're unrealistic, maybe they're not. But Petros, if they lose this weekend, they can't beat national programs. This is Clay's fourth year.

I mean, don't you think this is a crucial game? Oh, absolutely, I think it is. And it's a big deal for Texas, too, and they kind of suffer from the same problem. But what you're talking about, Colin, is USC's inability when they get into a game with a big-time opponent, with comparable recruits that are NFL guys. They can't push those teams off the ball. They just can't. They can't push Ohio State off the ball.

They couldn't protect Sam Darnold. Same with Alabama. They get in these physical battles, and they are not up for it. You know, the Pete Carroll teams could get physical and get down and dirty with the Oklahoma's of the world. We saw it over and over again. This USC team doesn't do it. They don't have the players to do it.

It's not Helton's mentality. He's a spread coach. So until they get into a game like that and physically match that team with their offense, you're going to be singing the same tune until a change is made. Yeah, and I always felt this, that this is one of the things where I can't give him a pass on the freshman quarterback. Generally, let's say a rich rod, or Chip Kelly comes to UCLA. He's got to bring in new players, new system.

Clay Hilton was in the program. Sark gave him a great last recruiting class. He knew everybody in the building. He knew where to park. There was no learning curve. He took over the program. He should have had much more success earlier. I get Rich Rod to Michigan.

Like, that's going to take time. I get Chip to UCLA. That's going to take time. But I'm sorry, this should have been one of those microwavable situations to me. Am I, again, am I unrealistic there? No, USC should always be that because of who they can recruit and who plays there. And any other coach on the West Coast will roll their eyes with USC says, wow, we're replacing our leading passer, our leading receiver, and our leading rusher.

We finally are back to 80 scholarships. Nobody wants to hear those excuses because of who they can recruit. And rightfully so, they do not get to make those excuses, yet we hear them more and more out of the program when they don't have success. And they do get a little bit old now. They are starting a freshman quarterback. I don't think they're starting them because they're trying to buy themselves an excuse or by themselves time.

I think when you bring in that level of recruit, the kids got to play right away, and Clay Hilton's kind of going along with that. But again, you know, it's also part of the football you're used to. Those people at Michigan had trouble with Rich Rod because they're given up points. You know, they just, even if they were winning games, they have trouble sitting in the stands watching a spread.

And it's the same with USC people. You know, most of the old guard is used to, I mean, my God, Marcus Allen played fullback at USC for a year before they let them play tailback. They don't have a fullback. or a tight end or an hback out there. I saw you tweet about it after the game at Stanford. So, you know, there's just not a lot of creativity in the offense,

creativity and the staff. Most of the guys are from UAB or Western Kentucky. And there are question marks finally starting to come up about it. How much would be this? LeBron Lakers. Rams have Sean McVeigh, Chip Kelly in town. Bottom line is, you can't be boring, that some of this will be an economic decision.

They need to get buzz back in a city that's increasingly, competitive with sports. Well, exactly, and it's five-star recruits top to bottom. And that's never going to not be the case. You know, people said that USC sucked when I played there, and yeah, we did. But, you know, Carson Palmer was the quarterback and another 30 guys that played in the NFL. Right. We can recruit.

Troy Paul Amalu was on that. He was a Hall of Famer. I mean, USC has players. So that makes the job very difficult, too, because you're trying to delegate between a bunch of guys who were big stars in high school. But if they can figure it out in Georgia, and they can figure it out in Alabama, and they can figure it out at Ohio State,

and this is who you compare yourself to nationally, then it just is not coming out on paper as far as the playoffs. Chris Peterson has Washington there. They can push those teams off the ball a little bit. Stanford is kind of there. USC is not. Yeah, it should be noted. Georgia was good overnight with a freshman quarterback,

so you can't use the freshman quarterback and a tougher conference, the SEC. You know, I watched Sam Darnold, he looked like he was completely composed. Donald could have come back. Andrew Luck came back when he could have easily been the number one pick or the number two pick. When you looked at Donald Monday, did you think about USC, how he almost looked more composed in the NFL than college?

Oh, absolutely. It's an indictment on Clay Helton's often. And look, we all like Clay Halton. We think he's a good guy. He did a great job stabilizing the U.S. program when they needed somebody who was stable. Obviously, Kiffin and Sark and their time there were not stable, and that's why it ended the way it did.

But Sam Darnold had everything on hand when he was the quarterback at S.C. You don't leave running backs in to block. They don't help with max protection. They don't pick up blitz. Anybody who's coming as a free rusher is on the quarterback, let alone whoever beats your offensive line, and SCs had trouble with that group for a couple years under Clay Elton. Sam Darnold had the world on his shoulders and still played

great and still pulled off some magic at the end of games. Of course he turned the ball over in games. He was pressing way too hard. In the NFL, it's different. They run the ball. They have a nice stretch game that Jeremy Bates has kind of developed. I saw with the jets. They're running the ball

pretty well with the two running back. They're utilizing a lot of movement for Sam Donald. They're just, it's pro coaching. And we saw the same thing with Juju Smith-Schuster. I mean, the second he got into the NFL, it looked like he had plateaued at SC, and the second he got into the league, he took a jump. And I don't think you hear that as much from guys coming out of Alabama or Georgia, which is about USC coaching. Petros Papadakis, you were a captain of that football team. How about

that? That is incredible. The running back, the tough guy, the fullback, you were a captain at USC. You must have just lit up that room. Well, it bears repeating that I'm the captain. of the worst football team at USC history. And I also got two coaches fired, not just John Robinson, his second time around, but Paul Hackett, if you remember, Paul Hackett was the U.S. You know, if Paul Hackett can recruit Carson Palmer, you know, Clay Helton can recruit.

You know, but we had some rough years, but I certainly identify with the place. My dad played there. My brother played there, and I spent a lifetime there. But this is Saturday will be the first game I've called in L.A. in quite some time. UCLA, Fresno State. Kick butt, Petros and Money.

Five-hour show, 2-7 a.m. 570 in L.A. does a great job, really tied in and listen all the time. Good talking to you, man. Petros, good talking to you. I was trying to come in person today, but Chip's beating, of course, went long. That's okay. Chip trumps us. I get that. I got no problem with that.

I'll be there. Next time you need me in person, I promise. All right. Petros Papadagos. That's a great job. So that's a big game. That's a big big. And I do think LeBron Lakers, Dodgers spending money, Chip Kelly with the Bruins.

And the Rams now are not only good. They're fun. Rams are all girly and goff and throwing the ball down the field and pass rush. They even mention the Chargers. Yeah. So the Indian Chargers, L.A. Kings have a fan base. You've got two MLS teams now. So you just can't be boring.

And I think that's, USC is just kind of a yawn program. I thought he made a really good point. both Darnold and Juju Smith leave USC. They've totally plateaued and they pop against significantly greater competition. It's an indictment on the staff. It is. There's no getting around it. And Clay is a great guy, but this staff is not offensively.

Not a good staff. Just not. Monday, David Carr, brother of Derek Carr, is live in studio. That'll be awesome. Can't wait for that. We have a new set. I really, if you're all the radio listener, we have a brand new set. We've tricked it out. And how about our graphics today? Not that the audience cares about

graphics. Well, people notice when stuff changes, though. Yeah, our radio audience is like, we can't see your set and we don't care about your graphics. All right. So tomorrow I'll have my podcast on The Blazing Five. We have a winning week, week one. See you Monday. Thanks, Joy. It's the herd. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored me, with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

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

Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Kunky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest

storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.