The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Red Sox- Astros, NBA, & Thursday Night Football

Episode Date: October 18, 2018

Colin discusses why umpire Joe West once again makes a bad call during the Red Sox-Astros game, why analytics is taking over star power, what to look for in the NBA this season, and his thoughts on the Thursday Night NFL game between the Broncos and the Cardinals. Guests include Chris Broussard, Greg Cosell, Nick Swisher, and T. J. Houshmandzadeh. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, Joy Taylor is joining me. We are absolutely packed today from one hour NFL meat sandwich Greg Cosell.

LeBron and Laker starts tonight. Dodgers won yesterday. get to that in a second. We have all sorts of sports. October's an incredible time of the year. Last night was wild drama and great storylines everywhere. So let's talk about, like this happens every postseason in baseball. There is the controversial play. And it didn't need to be a controversial play.

Jose Al Tuvei, last year's MVP, unbelievable talent, at home, hits a 97-mile-an-hour seed over the wall. Mookie Bex outfielder, Mookie Bets. outfielder for the Red Sox probably this year's MVP, arguably. They got two guys that could be for the Red Sox. He goes up. He's about to make a catch. A ball.

And fans and it's a crazy. And Joe West, the older, heavy set umpire who had a lousy view came up and said, that is an out because there was fan interference. Okay, first of all, don't blame the fans. If a ball is heading to you and you're a fan at 115 miles an hour, you're going to put your hands out. I don't want to hear anybody blaming a fan. I'm not sure if anybody is, but it's human instinct.

Fans, when the ball's hit near the wall and they have front row seats, they reach for the ball. Of course they do. It's going 115 miles an hour. But this never needed to be controversial. Why not just let the entire play play out? Let it play out. Never get in the way of great athletes potentially doing great things. There was no reason.

reason to make that call. Joe West had a lousy view. Even on replay, I can't tell exactly what happens. If I took 100 calls right now, 50 would say interference, 50 would say not. Everybody in Houston would say home run. Everybody in Boston says they got it right.

Now, there is a ground rule, double rule in baseball. You can't use it here because the ball didn't hit the ground first. I wish you could split the difference. But the bigger issue is don't get in the way in an NBA finals. Don't get in the way in the Super Bowl. Don't get in the way in the ALCS of great players doing great stuff. Let it play out and then go to the replay. If you didn't see it in real

time, if you didn't see it live, here it is. Altubei, right field, back there. Bats at the track. He leaps, and it is out. It's off a fan. No, they're saying off of bats, it is in play. They may be calling it interference. I'm trying to get a read on the right field umpire here. And out is the call. Wow. Boy, does this game ever start with some controversy? That is a tough, tough call to make. It didn't need to be made. Let it play out.

Use the satellites and the replays later. But you don't stop last year's MVP and this year's MVP in the middle of it. It's just a wild scene in Houston. Get out of the way. Let the bird in the sky figure out the rest. Brutal. You ever gone out in a date? and the waiter keeps coming over too often?

And you're like, dude, come on. You're over waiting. And the wait staff keeps coming over and keeps coming over. And you're like, I'm trying to create a little momentum here. You can be a waiter and you can get in the way of a date, of a night, of the pace. Joe West got in the way of that thing. Three terrible things happened there. First of all, you stopped a wild, oh my God, play in the ALCS.

You stopped it. The second thing is you didn't have a very good thing. good view on it. And you still made a call. That's bad. Third, you became the focal point, Joe West, not Mookie Betts and not Jose Al Tuve. That's the worst of the three. Do you know what the NFL did? The NFL's figure this out. They just let a play go and then they come back and look at it. But they don't get in the middle of the play. And it took them a while to figure this out in football, but they've figured it out. They're not the waiter that comes up and keeps interrupting. You want more bread, can you get more water? You could get out of here. I'd be happier.

Anytime you're talking about you're mentioning an umpire a referee's name after a playoff game, something went wrong. Something went wrong. And the NFL has learned this. And I would say this. If you do this on a Tuesday night in a Denver Nugget, Sacramento, Kings game,

but an umpire and an official has to realize, sports rarely gives us superstars in the moment doing super things. You want to be invisible. And unfortunately, Joe West was the most visible. And this is, it's a, baseball's already got an action problem due to analytics, not enough base runners, too many home runs, strikeouts. They've already got an action problem.

This was unbelievable action, and you stopped it. It was an OMG moment. You stopped it. And the NFL figured something else out. The NFL had that catch rule for 10 years, and then they just changed the catch rule. And the reason they did is because they wanted to reward great athletes doing great things. You play fantasy football. They want to reward you the fans.

They want to reward the people in the stadium. They didn't want to reward the ground. Nobody buys a jersey in the back of it says, ground. That's my favorite player. Ground. No. It has Julio Jones, Matt Ryan, you know, Aaron Rogers, Brady. So the NFL said, let's flip the catch rule.

So the star is who we talk about, not the ground. I mean, we were watching NFL games for a decade talking about the ground. Nobody buys a jersey for the ground. okay, Des Bryant is who you should be talking about. I spent four days talking about the ground in Lambo. Hard to sell the jersey for the ground. Last night I'm talking about Joe West. I'm talking about fans.

I'm talking about interference. I should be talking about monkey bets and Jose Al-Atuve. That's who I should be talking about. And the NFL has figured this out. I mean, it just drives me crazy. And there was no perfect camera angle. And that's the thing in baseball. is that we created all these centers, you know, these umpire centers, these official centers in New York and the NHL, it's in Toronto,

and you created them to eliminate these. But the umpires and the officials should get the hell out of the way and let guys do what they do, which is Jose Al Tuvei Rakes and Mukie Betts Fields. Now it should be noted. I don't think this was early in the game. By the way, Boston's been better defensively. Boston's had the better bullpen. Boston had 108 wins.

I think Boston this year is the better team. Like Houston was the best team in baseball last year. And they've even had a disadvantage. Chris Sale couldn't pitch last night. He was in the hospital. So it's not like everything has gone Boston's way, but Boston made two great plays last night defensively. Bet's made one later, catch at the end of the game.

They've had the better defense. They've had the better bullpen. But God, Joe West, baseball's got an action problem. Don't make it worse. Let stuff play out. Stop coming up to me if you're a waiter. Do you need more bread? I'll flag you down if I do.

Trying to connect here with the misses here, okay? Meanwhile, across the street in Houston, the rockets were terrible and gave up 131 points, the most points they've given up in the regular season since Mike Dan Tony got there. That's the most. Not so coincidentally, Carmelo, Anthony is now a member of the rockets.

Mello arrives, chemistry goes into the toilet, and he doesn't play defense. Here's what's amazing about this. Here is what's amazing about this. Is that Houston does two or three things well. They shoot threes well. It's the one thing Carmelo can do. Last year we gave them credit because they started really finally playing defense. Yeah, he's crappy at that. Well, at least, you know what? Last year, we all worried

about Hardening Chris Paul's chemistry. Mello's on his third team in three years. It's inexplicable to me. Houston is known as the anti-mid-range jumper team. It's the only thing Mello does. We gave him credit last year because they finally played defense. He's terrible at it. And oh, by the way, the one thing we really worried about the Rockets was chemistry. Chris Paul Harden worked perfectly, it's probably his number one weakness. Carmelo Anthony has become Will Smith, the actor. You know, he does Men in Black, Independence Day, he's got some early success. Carmelo wins a title at Syracuse. He gets the Denver Nuggets to the Western Conference Championship. He has a little success, and 10 years later, we're still living off that.

Stop trying to convince me in 2018, Carmelo Anthony is a great player. He's not. You got to shoot threes. He can't. Don't shoot mid-range jumpers. It's all he does well. Defense now, matters on the perimeter. He's awful. Chemistry. Stars playing together has become the new trend in the NBA. Yeah, he didn't get along with anybody. He's Will Smith. He had this run for about six years and everybody's like, woo, we. That's not discount fresh prints. Okay, Fresh Prince. And then Independence Day. And it men in black. And it's been bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, boom, boom. Pursuit of happiness was good. Mello and Will Smith have figured one thing out. How to make money. They are great at making money because they're not making

hits. They're not winning games. They're not getting me to a box office. They're not getting you to the finals. But those guys have figured out how to make money. Maybe there's a rule in life. Be really successful early and then you can just quit working. Because I can't figure out Houston. All the things they're great at and we finally gave him a pat on the back for, they went the other way. Finally played defense. Let's get mellow. Finally had great chemistry. Let's get mellow. Finally got the three down. Let's get mellow. He doesn't fit any of those. And they got box last night and their front court defense was terrible. Okay, so we got all sorts of stuff today.

LeBron James debuts tonight in Portland. So a little gift for Portland, that'll be kind of historic night in Portland. LeBron James and the Lakers debuts. And why you have to root for the Dodgers. If you like baseball, why you have to root for the Dodgers. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app.

Welcome back. I've made no bones about it. A lot of times fans can be dishonest. They say they like the underdog, but when you put the underdog in the final four, nobody watches, when you put the underdog in the basketball playoffs, nobody watches. You don't want underdogs to win. I watch games and I look at the stadiums and I see people's jerseys, and they always have the name of the star on the back of the jersey. Put TCU in a bowl game, nobody watches.

Put Ohio State in a bowl game, everybody watches. You keep telling me what you like, but what you like, according to all the data, is stars. Baseball's got to be careful here. Analytics and baseball are becoming perilously close to becoming anti-star. Last night was great for the Dodgers because I was emotionally vested. Why? Because a star Clayton Kershaw, who's a fading star. He didn't throw 97.

He's got to rely on his curveball now. But he's a fading star. He's Michael Jordan at the end. He's Kobe at the end. He's Joe Montana at the end. But I'm emotionally invested because he's a star and I've been watching him, I've seen him live pitch six times. And you don't know if he can get the guys out in a big spot

because he can't throw 98 consistently anymore. He's more 92 using the breaking stuff. And yesterday was great because we're all in it with him together. He's a star. We know him. We know his struggle. We know he was dominant. We know he struggled in the postseason.

And now I am watching him go, okay, he's getting through this. He's through the third. He's through the fifth. Now he's to the seventh. It's great. I have a rooting interest. By the way, the Dodgers also have Manny Machado, who is very, very polarizing.

Take a side. Yassil Pug, polarizing, take aside. You know who Milwaukee Star has been in this series so far? Their manager, Craig Counsel. He was boring as a player. I don't want to see him visit the mound 12 times. That doesn't interest me. You've got to be careful about analytics.

In the NFL and NBA, analytics are helping the stars. It's getting close in baseball where let's go to the bullpen early. No, let's not. Let's not go to the bullpen early. defensive shift take hits away from power hitters no get rid of the defensive shift just like hockey got rid of guys sitting in the crease NBA said nobody in the line yet after one batter yesterday Craig counsel comes out and pulls the pitcher to get an analytics edge now let's go to another commercial let's not let's go and see great pitchers pitch and great hitters hit and i found myself yesterday emotionally wrapped up in clayton kershaw I saw him be dominant and fail in the postseason.

Now he's not a dominant. Wouldn't it be ironic if he succeeds in the postseason? If he wins a World Series. So, you know, I understand it makes everybody feel smart. I get that. And I understand that baseball's always had a chess match mentality. But over the last couple of days, I've talked a lot of baseball. Why?

Because Jose Al Tuve was in a play. And Clayton Kershaw was pitching. And Moki Betts made a play. Oh, Manny Machado. did that. I don't talk about those things with bullpen guys. Stars. Like this don't over, I don't want, you know, remember the old Simpsons thing? I don't want

baseball to become this. As a pitcher, Cliffley is clearly superior to Zach Granky. Yes, I completely agree with the following colossal exception before the fourth inning after a road loss in a dumb stadium. Then it's good to be Grangee

unless he's got a bunion, in which case he is notably ineffective. I don't want baseball to be that. Clayton Kirshah's a star. I fought's the star. The night before I saw Mani Machado, who was a star, and he was controversial. That's fun. That's what I want to see in the World Series.

And I think I'm going to get it in the World Series, even though I felt Milwaukee was the better team the entire series. Yesterday it just so happened that Clayton Kirshah gave you a great outing, seven innings pitched. Three hits, one run, two walks, nine strikeouts. It was the old Clayton Kirshah. Actually, it was the new Clayton Kirsha. He's not as dominant in the regular season. He was dominant in the postseason. So, but I don't want to see all these analytics.

I love, I want to see Chris Sale, Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez. I don't want to see Joe West. I want to see Kershaw, Machado. It's not major markets. It's major stars. And Kershaw yesterday was fascinating. Because at the end of MJ's career, at the end of Brady's career, at the end of Farve's career, these are fast.

We've watched these people for 10 years, succeed, fail, triumph. Oh, I'm all in. these are like, you know, I'm all in on these guys. These are the stars of the sport. Let them be stars. Joy with the News. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. So for really the first time this season, the Cowboys are coming off of a game where everything went right, and a dominant win over the Jaguars and Ezekiel Elliott is looking to use that momentum heading into Sunday's road game against Washington. I think it was a game we needed. So, I mean, I saw it. I said before if we don't build on that thing, I mean, everything we did last week, and really, you know what I mean? It means nothing.

That's our focus this week is just going into this game, having great communication, and I was starting fast and, you know, putting course on the board. It was a good win and one that they definitely needed. But, you know, we talk about Philadelphia definitely winning the NFC East. It's kind of wide open. Yeah. They play Washington this week. Well, yeah, and Washington's actually the team that nobody's already talking about

because Giants are a mess. The Eagles are really talented. Dallas is always Dallas, and everybody just stopped talking about Washington. And Washington's got a really big game this weekend. And I think Washington is going to win their game this weekend. So I think Philadelphia is the best team, but I think Washington has a real chance of the playoff. People forget this about the Redskins last year. They went to Seattle and won, and they went to the Rams and shut down Jared Gough in that offense.

And then they just fell apart physically. And they upgraded it quarterback from Kirk's Cousins to Alex Smith. So Washington was a team last year that was really good early. apart and once again you watch them and you're like oh they're there they're didn't they beat green bay a couple weeks ago well didn't they beat carolina this weekend i think washington's better than we think they're three and two but i mean outside of outside of the giants i mean the eagles are three and three and three and three so this is a big game for the nfcc east this weekend next the nflbill has definitely seen an uptick of high scoring offenses and some nail-biting finishes and unsurprisingly

that's been a hit with fans as we've talked about at length and also according to roger I don't think there's been a better time to be an NFL fan. The quality of the games and the enjoyment that comes from that, and I hear that from fans all the time, is number one for that. But number two, the access to the games and the way you're able to engage with the NFL. There are more platforms, more opportunities to do that. The experience is better because of technology. And I think all of that just creates a much better opportunity for our country.

our fans to enjoy football. He's 100% right. You know, as much as the media rips the NFL, because the NFL doesn't need the media, it's that powerful. So that bothers a lot of media people. I've been watching the NFL since 1972. It used to be, I got like one or two games locally and had to wait for Monday night to get highlights on Monday night football at halftime with Howard Go Sell. It is amazing now the opportunity. I have basically two Red Zone channels. I can go direct TV. I tend to, you know, I'll watch Red Zone early. I'll go to the Fox TV. game late, then I go NBC late, then I go Monday night football. I can watch it digitally.

I watch games on my phone this weekend. It's incredible the opportunities as a fan. It's not that far from now when you're going to be able to watch and bet within the stadiums. The NFL doesn't want to admit that. The NBA will probably do it first. They already do it in international soccer in England. I mean, not very far off where you can go to the stadium and bet. Vegas.

Yes. They're clearly going to build that into that stadium. But also there's been a total of 504 touchdowns. and in addition, 54 games have been decided by one score. That's tied with the 1999 season for the most through week six. So there's just more scoring too, which is what we want. And finally, Odo Beckham Jr., and probably anyone that has seen a Giants game this season

would tell you Eli Manning is a bit of a concern at quarterback. But if you were to ask Sterling Shepard, he'd tell you it's all dramatically overblown. I have total faith in Eli. I haven't heard that once in this locker room. Haven't heard that from an individual player. so that's just outside noise and stuff trying to break us apart. We're doing a good job of keeping everything together in here as far as in the locker room.

We have total faith in him. We picked him as our certain quarterbackers. Oh, God. What a bunch of bulls. And we're going to ride with that. That's just a bunch of spin. Perhaps he missed the O'Dell interview. It's just a bunch of bull and spin.

You know, Odell Beckham was the only honest guy and we beat him up. And then Sterling Shepard comes out and says what we know isn't true. Let's not pat him on the back. Reward athletes for being honest. even if it's uncomfortable, Odell Beckham was honest. It's uncomfortable, but nothing he said was untrue. And I got to tell you, it's one of my favorite moments since I've been at FS1 yesterday. I just, I drove home.

I was so happy with myself. I was just so happy because I believe so strongly I'm right on the Odell Beckham situation. That John Marr, Odell Beckham hasn't changed one iota pre-contract to post-contract. Nope. That whole situation is because John Mara, a really smart guy who owns the Giants, didn't have the guts in April to draft the quarterback, and they're mad at Odell for being Odell. I mean, seriously, it's like somebody, you fall in love,

and the woman dates the guy who's a flirt. And then she falls in love with him, and they're married, and she's like, you know, he never stops flirting. And I'm like, yeah, that's why you married him. He flirted with you. Like, don't try to change people. Odell is what he is, pre-contract. He is what he is now, and New York's upset with him.

Well, forget trying to change him. You rewarded him. You just gave him the contract. Did you expect that that came with the... Yeah, so the... The sign was to the stipulation that he was just going to be a different person. The sign you gave him was, we're all good with a whizzing in the end zone, and we're all good with the drama. And we're okay with it.

We're awarding you with a massive contract. I have no problem with what Odell said, because O'Dell is just saying what everyone else sees. And it's no disrespect to Eli Manning. Like, careers come to an end. It just happens. And this is a result of what happened last year, benching Eli Manning for Gino Smith. And instead of just taking responsibility for the mistake and moving forward, now they're paying. for it. Sequin Barclay is a great player.

It's not that they made a mistake on the pick, but you needed a quarterback. You needed a different position. Running backs don't change outcomes. They just change stats. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lye News. Former New York Times writer, odd couple, Chris Broussard,

Rob Parker on Fox Sports Radio. He's our guy's now going to beard. LeBron debuting in Portland tonight. Look at Chris Broussard with a hardy man beard there. Look at that. That looks like you're getting ready for a long NBA winter. Yes, I'm excited. I don't know.

I hear a lot of people say they're not excited about the season, but because we all know Golden State is going to win. But the journey is going to be great. How we get there is going to be great. By the way, I know Alabama's going to be in the championship game and probably win. I'm still going to watch Michigan, Michigan State this weekend. I want to see the phone. I want to see Harbaugh, you know, I want to see. I know most things in my life, I know the outcome. I was going to say, we all love them.

movie Titanic. We knew what was going happen. Iceberg ship, it hits it. Right. But we love the journey. My favorite movie in the last 10 years could be Apollo. You ever see Apollo? Yep. Tom Hanks. Will they Kevin Bay? Apollo 13. I know they're safe. I know they got through. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. I like the journey of it.

So it's like college football. I'm going to be glued. Like Mission Impossible? I know that Tom Cruise isn't going to fall off a cliff. I still love Mission Impossible. I want Michigan, Michigan State this weekend on FS1. It's going to be the one of the games of the year. That's right. They're not going to be the national champion, but you're absolutely right. Right. So let me start with this. So LeBron debut is tonight in Portland. I think it's fascinating for a lot of reasons. Most good teams in the NBA, we sort of know what we're

getting. I got a superstar, a bunch of young dudes and castoffs. I have no idea what I'm getting with this team. I think I know, but I don't really know. Do you know? Well, what I'm going to be watching for tonight is how LeBron plays. I think this season, and this is critical for the Lakers success is that he needs to be off the ball and in the post more than ever in his career. Not exclusively. I still want him handling the balls occasionally, and we know in clutch moments he's going to have the ball in his hands. But they have so many players that are worthless without the ball. Lonzo ball, Rajan Rondo, Lance Stevenson, they need the ball in their hands. They're playmakers. And so LeBron has to be off the ball. If he's going to play the way he's

always has, which is, you know, he has the ball 70% of the time, driving, kicking out the shooters. It's going to be a long season for them because they don't have shooters. No, and I, by the way, LeBron's first year in Miami with D. Wade similarly, that LeBron and Wade were kind of the similar players, not great shooters at the time. Very athletic, love to finish at the rim. Ball dominant. Ball dominant guys who loved to finish at the rim. It took them about 17, 18 games. And that's when Dee Wade was still a real star and Bosch was there. It took them, let's say 20 games to kind of be like, okay, this is the way it's going to work. And even then, at the end of the year, it didn't work. And Wade basically stepped aside and said, all right,

it's your team, LeBron, do your same. But you had three stars. Here you have one star and a guy who I think is going to become a star. So here's what I worry about, is that LeBron is so big, at least with D. Wade Bosch, Kyrie Irving Love, they're all stars. They weren't frightened of it. Are all those Laker players, is it going through their mind constantly? get LeBron the ball. Get LeBron the ball. It's LeBron's team. That is, I think, going to take until the All-Star break to figure out for those guys. Well, I didn't see that in the preseason. I thought he was off the ball a good amount in the preseason. So because LeBron is such a great passer, if he's in the post, if you don't double me, I'm going to punish you and score.

If you double me, I'm going to kick it to cutters for backdoor layups or layups or I'm going to pass out to shooters. It might be a mid-range shot rather than a third. three, but they got some guys that can hit mid-range shots. So I think they can be effective. Look, I said it last week on your show. You don't have to always hit a ton of threes to be successful in this league. San Antonio's done it. Memphis has done it.

If you're very good at something else, and they can be very good at running the floor with all those young legs, the half court's going to be the challenge for them, so they need to get up and down. Yeah, this team is young, athletic, long. They'll run the court fine. They'll run the court fine. It'll be in that half court stuff, which, by the way, That's where Boston's great in the half-court set.

To get to the cream of the crop in the NBA, Golden State can be great in the half-court offense. And by the way, we know when the playoffs happen, you get less freebie baskets. Lakers will get a lot of freebie baskets with his team. I've predicted 53 wins and LeBron's the MVP for the Lakers. Now, maybe I'm a little – I might be a little high. Maybe 51 might be more what it is. But this is why I feel that way. I think LeBron is going to be more focused on the regular season this year than he has the past few years.

Because in Cleveland, it was not about the regular season. It was about June. And can we get to the finals and win it? This is the first time in years for LeBron. He's not going to admit it and he shouldn't. But inside, he knows we're not beating Goldstein unless something crazy happens. We're not getting to the finals. And I don't think he's playing to get to the second or the third round.

That's not going to impress him. I believe he wants that MVP award. He'll tie Michael Jordan with his fifth MVP. I think he feels these past few years. He should have won one of these years and wasn't really even in consideration. And I think he wants to be the oldest guy, you know, 16th season to win an MVP award. These are all things that he can mark off on his great resume. And so I think LeBron's, for him to get the MVP, he's going to have to win close to 50, if not

50 games. By the way, there's been a couple of stories out there. This is becoming a narrative that nobody wants to play with LeBron. Kauai doesn't want to. Paul George didn't want to. Jimmy Butler didn't want to. Okay, let me push back on that. LeBron's a forward. The next great Lakers star after LeBron is Brandon Ingram, who I think is going to become a star. He's a forward. You could bring Kyle Kuzma a forward off the bench. I don't think they need a forward. I think they could use a big who could do Anthony Davis. You know, if they're not going to get Yonis, but they could get Anthony Davis. This idea that nobody wants to play with LeBron.

All these, Jimmy Butler's a head case. Paul George has never hit a big shot in his life. And I think Kauai's good, but he's a little odd. Yeah, he's a little odd. So my take was, that was frightening. Yeah, it was something I'm not comfortable with. Right. But in the end, I think this narrative is a bunch of hooey.

The bottom line is they don't need all these forwards on the market. I have to say, the first of all, we know. we're inching toward positionless basketball. Like, if they could get Kevin Durant, I think he'd be a perfect fit with LeBron's going there. And he'd be another forward. But still, LeBron can handle the ball. LeBron's essentially a point guard when he wants to be.

And so he and Duran, I think, would be. I think he and Kauai would be great because LeBron's such a great ball handler. Look, there's reason to believe the narrative, though. Let's just be honest. You think so. Kyrie left him. Kauai, if the rumors are true, Kauai. and Jimmy Butler don't want to play for the Lakers.

Jimmy Butler listed every team in New York and L.A. and then another glamour market, Miami, but not the Lakers. Now, they may be wrong. By the way. But I'm just saying, we have seen several players. Paul George didn't even meet with the Lakers. Why do we blame LeBron because Jimmy Butler doesn't want to play with him? Jimmy Butler is a head case.

I don't blame LeBron. I don't blame LeBron. And these players do have their warts, and they may flat out be wrong. but I'm saying there is growing evidence that there's something to this. Some of the players don't want to play with LeBron, and there's a few things. One, he is ball dominant. Yes. And he's a system.

That's one thing Kevin Durant does have over LeBron. Kevin Durant can fit into a system. LeBron becomes the system. And that's what I'm saying. In L.A. here, I think he needs to fit more into a system versus being the system. And a lot of guys don't want to, we watch Chris Bosch become a glorified role player. We watch Kevin Love do the same thing. We watch Duane Way say, step back, I'm going to be 80% of the player I can be.

That's what happens because LeBron is so great and does everything so well. And then off the court, he's, now everybody respects what he's doing. All the players are trying to emulate what he's doing. From the way he's dressed to his business interest to, you know, becoming a power broker. in the league policy. Every player wants to mimic what LeBron James is doing. However, if you're on the team, he overwhelms everything. No, no, no, he overwhelms coaches. He overwhelms owners. Right. And some of these players want their own, they want to be the big fish, even if it's a small time. No, this is one of the criticisms of LeBron, which is not a criticism. It's almost like saying,

you know, Amazon.com. They just overwhelm retail. Yeah. And that's because they're great. Like they came up with a better business model. LeBron is like Amazon. He's like Netflix. No, you're right. It's over. You're absolutely right.

But I credit Amazon and Netflix and LeBron for being so great they can do that. Because everybody wants to do that. LeBron just, he is the system because he's so dominant. You're absolutely right. And this is where I look at Jimmy Butler. And I say, wait a minute. You're telling me it's all about winning, but you don't want to play with LeBron. In L.A.

You want to be in L.A. You want to be in L. I've seen him here. Why not play with LeBron? Don't tell me it's all about winning when your list is Brooklyn, the Clippers, and the Knicks. All right? I'm just saying. And Miami.

All right. So LeBron is in Portland tonight, the Rose City. That'll be fun in the Rose Garden. And good seeing you. Good seeing you, man. I like the new set. No, new set is snazzy. I came down a little bit here.

I used to be a little more empirical. You were on the pedestal. I was. I was looking down at the peasants in the world. And now, look at Joy and I, if you take a wide shot here, eye to eye. Yeah, that's it. Joy and I know that was Joy, like.

You're still down in the dungeon a little bit, but. Yeah, I'm down here. Good stuff. Coming up tonight, Greg Kosell, top of the hour, Thursday night football tonight, Arizona, rookie Josh Rosen, homework assignment, watch him. But something else happened in the NFL, and it is happening to two or three teams,

and I think they won't admit the truth. And it ends up being really, bad news and there's three or four teams now. Miami's the latest team. Tennessee is the latest team. I'll explain coming up next. Red Sox and then the other thing. And I'll just say, you know, listen, Boston should be in the World Series. Baseball is a very hard sport to predict because, you know, a pitcher gets pulled in the sixth inning. Tom Brady doesn't get pulled in the third quarter. LeBron doesn't get pulled in the third quarter. So in baseball, even your star pitcher has to rely on a bullpen, rely on situational help.

But there are times in baseball, even though it's hard to predict a lot of things in baseball. There's a lot of variables in baseball. Sometimes it feels like it's a team's year. To me, it feels like it's the Boston Red Sox year to win the World Series. I mean, they blew through the Yankees who won 100 games, and that wasn't even a competitive series. They won 108 games. They have two guys who could be MVP.

Chris Sayles a dominant ace. I mean, they do everything right. They're better defensively than Houston. Their bullpen's been better in this series than Houston. Their situational hitting's been great. I think you can argue they've got a better batting order than Houston. And they're better defensively. Last night, they're a much better defensive team.

Last night, two of the plays of the year. First of all, Mookie Betts. Watch this play by Mookie Betts, throwing out the fastest Houston Astro, Tony Kemp. Watch this. There's a first pitch swing and a base hit by Kemp. And he's thinking about two. and he's on his way. Betts his throw in a second.

The 10. He is out at second. What a throw. And what a mistake by Tony Kemp. And it needed a perfect throw to get Kep at second base. And that's what Betts delivered. Wow. Absolute cannon.

So, I mean, Boston's got everything. They've got the ace, Chris Sale. They are the best defensive team in baseball. They got two guys who could be MVP. And their defense reared its head again. bottom nine, two outs, sacks full. Watch Andrew Benedetti in the outfield for the Boston Red Sox. Watch this, the play of the year.

And the bases are loaded. And Bregman is coming up. Runners will be off with the crack of the bat with two outs. Kimbril Deals, Bregman in the air, left field. Benintendi dives, and he makes the catch. Oh, game saver. Andrew Benintendi. The Red Sox win on a spectacular.

By the spectacular catch by Ben Tendee in left field. By the way, if he doesn't get that, goes past him, three runs score, different series. It's kind of, it's not ironic. It's fitting that these two plays were made by the Red Sox in this series. Because MVP's have an ace, great defensive team, and they made the two great defensive plays in that series. So, you know, in baseball, it's very hard to predict because, you know, Tom Brady, doesn't go down with rotator cuff surgery. Either does LeBron James.

You know, a lot of it's pitching. Now people are carrying 13 pitchers on a staff. You know, you have a lot of guys, but you have very few great pitchers. There's very few great closers. Very few great aces. Sometimes they just go sideways. The arm gives out. And so it's really hard in the postseason.

Do you get the pitching matchups? Sometimes you go into a series and you've already blown your ace out. And you're, so you're starting the back end of your rotation to start a series against the good team. It feels like Boston's year. It really feels like Boston's year. By the way, tonight, on Fox, Arizona hosts the Denver Broncos. Now, Josh Rosen's a rookie quarterback.

He's not as polarizing as Baker Mayfield. I don't think he's as talented and as hyped as Sam Darnold. But he's really good and throws the prettiest football. By the way, Arizona jumped ahead of Miami in the NFL draft to get him. Miami just sat there. Miami just found out that Ryan Tannahan, Hill has been ruled out this week and appears to be out for the next three weeks, maybe a month. The key to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem.

I've told the story, my late father was an alcoholic. When he finally admitted, I'm an alcoholic, then he could go out and get help. To solve a problem, you got to admit you have a problem. Miami, Ryan Tanny Hill's average, and now he's not even physically available on a consistent basis. it's time to get a new quarterback. By the way, what's the one team right now in the NFC that's not even competitive, the New York Giants? They wouldn't admit last year or the year before,

we got to get a new quarterback. There are a bunch of teams in the NFL right now. Tennessee, Marcus Marietta, I know you think he's going to be it. I know you like him. I know a lot of kids in Nashville have those Marcus Marioita jerseys and your kids are adorable and on that baby blue and Marcus Marioata is not getting you to do a Super Bowl. I've been waiting now four years.

We've been waiting for you. You see how good Darnold is early? You saw how good Carson Wentz was early, how good Andrew Luck was early, how good Deshawn Watson was early, how good DeShon Watson was early. You know, it doesn't take that long to figure out, oh, we got the right guy.

Oh, with the rule changes right now, if you can't figure out within about 15 games, if you got the right guy, you got the wrong guy. Marcus Mario to Tennessee, you need a new guy. Cincinnati, Andy Dalton, come on. Who are you fool? in here. Every time you face Pittsburgh, he shrinks. And so tonight, by the way, Jacksonville with Blake Bortles, who are you fooling? You're not fooling the players. You're not fooling

the coaches. The defense in Jacksonville doesn't even play hard this year. Why? Because they don't buy the player. So when you watch tonight, Miami finds out today Ryan Tannahill can't play. So he's average and he's not physically available. What are we doing here? I'm with you. Who are you trying to fool? You want to solve a problem? You got to admit you got a problem. Giants get a quarterback. Miami get a quarterback. Jacksonville get a quarterback. Tennessee get a quarterback. I mean, it's, who are you fooling? Arizona, by the way, admitted it. Carson Palmer retired. And they immediately were like, okay, we're going to get a veteran for a year, Sam Bradford, won your contract. And then we're going to go move up in the draft and get a really good quarterback. And they got a break that Josh Rosenfeld won. But they admitted they had a problem and let's go solve it. A veteran, big money for a year, and Josh Rosen. So watch him play tonight. By the way, I'll be on, I'll do some social media tonight. I want you to watch Josh Rosen. You're going to get on Twitter? I'll get on the bird tonight.

So watch Josh Rosen play and you give me on Twitter, you go to the herd or go to, you know, at Colin Coward, and you tell me, you give me a rundown like you're a GM or a scout on what you see from him. What do you like? What do you not like? And how about this? If you really nail it, we'll mention you on the show tomorrow. I want you to, watch Josh. Nobody's watched Josh Rosen outside of Phoenix. So because you're watching Donald and you're watching Baker and a little bit of Lamar. Nobody's watching this kid play. Watch him and give me your take on him.

I think he throws an absolutely beautiful football. I don't know if he's durable enough to last in this year, 15 years, but he's fun to watch. He'll be on display tonight. By the way, Denver doesn't have the right quarterback, but they know they don't. The reason I don't mention Denver with Jacksonville and Tennessee and Miami, I mean. No, Denver's looking for the right quarterback. They just missed on one. Yeah. Yeah, they sent a bunch of scouts this week to Oregon to the Duck Husky game to watch Justin Herbert. They know they need a quarterback. They're not denying it. They just can't find the guy.

So they sign Case Keenan for the short term. Greg CoSell is around the corner. NFL meat sandwich. That's my favorite 10 minutes of the week. Nick Swisher's going crazy next hour as well. It's the herd. This is the herd, wherever you may be. However, You may be listening. Live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. By the way, Dodgers, Brewers, Game 6 tomorrow from Milwaukee. Tomorrow night, 730, Eastern, 430 Pacific here on FS1. Great baseball last night and yesterday afternoon. So excited for that tonight on Fox NFL football, Arizona, the rookie Josh Rosen. Watch him. You haven't seen him. I think he's the prettiest of all the rookie quarterbacks who throws the most beautiful NFL football. In a couple of minutes, Greg CoSell to talk about that.

Now, listen, everybody's talking about LeBron. How many games are going to win? How many minutes he's going to play? I don't know. I'll make one prediction on the Lakers that Brandon Ingram will become LeBron's favorite Laker and he will emerge as the second best player on the team. That's my one prediction. Listen, the NBA gives you a lot of absolutes.

Fifteen teams in this league are awful. I could name them, they have no chance to win the championship. You know, your Sacramento's, your Memphis. Phoenix is getting better, but they're not there. Dallas, Brooklyn, Knicks, Orlando, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte. Fifteen teams, absolutely no shot to win a championship. On most nights, not even that interesting. Then there's two rosters that are spectacular and that absolutely will be around in the end.

Boston, great coach, great young players, great stars, great GM, great home court advantage. And the Warriors, great coach, great front office, great home court, great stars. I get a lot of absolutes. Okay, I got a lot, absolutely no shot to win a championship. championship and absolutely be there in the end. The Lakers are kind of a mystery. You got a superstar, emerging young players. Some Lanzo were not sure how much he will emerge or fit,

and Kuzma may not play as much as he thinks, and I think Ingram's a start. Then he got a bunch of wackos. He got a bunch old cast-offs and crazy people. Charles Barkley was talking about this on the Dan Patrick show. This is the rare LeBron team. I don't even know what they are. Those young guys play or they're going to put those old guys out there.

That's why I didn't understand. I don't know what the Lakers are doing. Are they going to try to groom those young guys and go? No idea what the Lakers are doing or they're old for the most. Yeah, my prediction is it's going to take them about 30 games to figure it out. Brandon Ingram will become the next star off of LeBron. And by the end, they will be a middle of the Western seed with a real chance and a real chance and a real threat in the West to win a lot of games in the playoffs.

That's my prediction, is that going to take a while, A, going to take a while, B, Ingram's going to become a star this year, and then C in the end, they're going to mostly figure out what they are, have some limitations, but they're going to figure it out after the All-Star break. And with that, over three decades at NFL film senior producer, the most objective and in enlightening voice this show brings on. His name is Greg CoSell. So I'm watching Tom Brady against Kansas City.

And I know we're in an ear and out, Greg, where, you know, it's easier for quarterbacks. But the nonchalant of that two-minute drill was, by any standards, Montana to Rogers, unbelievable. Does the film tell you that Brady's as good as anybody that's ever done the two-minute drill? He's really good. No question. And, you know, that's a hard question to answer because there's a lot of quarterbacks that have played. And I think two-minute drills are always a function as well of good coaching because the playbook is somewhat limited in a real two-minute drill. So I think you get into issues where the plays you design against specific defenses.

And defenses you pretty much can anticipate and expect is so critical. Because the last thing you want to have in a two-minute drill, in my view, and I know all, A lot of guys, Colin, make plays outside of structure, but you don't want it to become a fire drill. You don't want your quarterback just taking the snap and running around. You'd like to play within structure and not eat up time and keep moving. Yeah, and he's done it so many times. Listen, there's no replacement for experience. He's been doing this for 15 years.

If you're a dentist for 15 years or an accountant or a senior producer at NFL films, you get really comfortable. No question. I mean, and look, he hit Kronkowski for 39 yards on that winning drive. and that was, you know, to me that sort of encapsulated the entire matchup. They got Grunkowski matched on Josh Shaw, and it was a slot fade. And it wasn't a complicated concept or anything like that, but you have Gronk and you have Brady making just a great throw. Okay, so the team that both Peter King and Trent Dilfer told me this week, and they said,

listen, everybody's falling in love with the Rams. You may want to look at the Chargers. Philip Rivers is having a spectacular year. Is his protection better? is it the receivers? What do you see with the charges in Philip Rivers? I don't think there's much difference in the way Philip Rivers has played for any number of years. I think that he's in many ways, just like Peyton Manning has been. He's terrific before the ball is snapped. He has a great feel for what he's seeing.

There are a difficult offense to play against in more recent years because of the size of their receivers. Now that they also have that back, Austin Echler, who combines with Melvin Gordon, and Echler is a terrific receiver. who can detach from the formation. And they present problems in the intermediate and vertical passing game because they push the ball down the field. And Rivers has always been a turn-it-loose guy. Yeah.

And I think now with big receivers, it really helps them. Yeah, they really have some nice assets. Receiving, coming into the year, we didn't know Mike Williams. If he'd return, he's been great. When I watched them against Cleveland this week, they're a tough matchup. They're a very tough matchup. They did something that you don't see very often. in the league this particular week.

They repeated plays consistently that were successful. And you normally don't see coaches just continually repeat plays. But they did that and they did it very well. You know, I said this about the Packers. As I watched that game with San Francisco, and I came out of it blown away by the development of the Niners' offensive line, which I think is way better than I thought it would be, with some of their young playmakers.

C.J. Bethard is more than solid as a backup. And I watch Green Bay. And what does the film say? I don't see an elite team here. I see an elite intuitive quarterback saving them late in games. But what's the film say on Green Bay? Well, I think they're working through a new defensive scheme and philosophy with Mike Patton. And I think they're trying to figure that out right now.

And that'll take some time because there's a lot of detail to a Mike Patton defense. And it's tough to get in a short period of time. I still think just in my view, I still don't think they play with a real strong philosophical sense of balance. It's an Aaron Rogers offense, and when Aaron Rogers is making phenomenal throws, which he's capable of any given week, I mean, some of those throws on that final drive, particularly the one to Equanimia St. Brown, I mean, he literally placed it on the sideline. It was beautiful. When he's doing that, they can be really effective, and they can win, and they can score a lot.

But I think there's an inconsistency to their offense because they rely so much on that, and so much of that reliance comes from Rogers outside of structure, and that just can't be counted on. Yeah, no, you've been saying this for years. So this weekend, I get the best defense in the league, Ravens, against one of the best offenses, the Saints. And what's going to be the Ravens' biggest challenge with Drew Breeze Peyton and this Saints offense? Well, I would say that Breeze and that offense will have a very big challenge against

this defense, because this is a defense that's outstanding when they blitz. They lead the league in Sacks with 26. 15 of those 26 have come when they blitz. They're very, very good. showing pressure from one side of the formation and then forcing the protection to work that way, and Breeze will change the protection when he sees that, but then they bring pressure from the other side. In fact, the Saints had a little bit of a problem with that when they played the Browns

a number of weeks ago. You might remember that game they won late. They didn't score many points, and they won late. And Breeze did not throw for a lot of yards in that game because there's a lot of pressure. And I think that it'll be difficult. You know, Drew Breeze is great. We know that. Could he go out and throw for three?

50, of course he could. But I think tactically, this presents a difficult challenge for the Saints offense. Yeah, Baltimore's a real team this year. You know, I was saying the other day about Dak Prescott, and we got to do our weekly Dak Prescott thing, is that he is mediocre, and how do I know? Because he's all over the map. He was great first year, not as good second. And this year, week to week, I don't know what I'm getting. You know, I watched that win over Jacksonville, and it doesn't have any resonance with me. I don't think he's going to come out and play that well. you know, I just find him to be the kind of quarterback. There's an Andy Dalton thing here.

Average quarterbacks are hot and cold, and he's hot and cold. I mean, did you take any thing away from that win over Jacksonville? Well, I would say that the Cowboys coaching staff did a much better job in this game. I've talked a lot about the fact that they needed more integrated route concepts, and they did that. They attacked the Jaguar's own coverage concepts well. Now, Beasley was a big factor in this game winning one-on-one. But I think the key thing is they're going.

going to use DAC as a runner by design. And I think that's critical to them situationally. And I think they'll keep doing that because even though DAC played a solid game, he didn't turn it over. That's the key thing. But I don't think they can expect 250, 300-yard passing games on a weekly basis. So they have to sort of orchestrate and manufacture plays situationally. And I think Prescott's legs will be a big part of that going forward.

Yeah. I do like their defensive personnel up front. I think they're... Oh, I do too. Their linebackers are athletic. They move all over the field. They're past rushers. You like Van der Resch?

I do. I think he's really athletic. So when I watch Dallas, I think the strength of their team is their athleticism and their front seven defensively. I don't think it's Zeke. I think it's their front seven defensively athleticism. I'm like, that's the next five years. That feels like the key of that team. Yeah, they're pretty college.

I thought he was a better player than Edmonds, not necessarily a pure athlete, but a better player at this point. Yeah. All right. to Sequin, Barclay, Odell Beckham. Barclay's putting up nice numbers. But if you looked at the film and you said, how do you stop the Giants, who is more important for

them between Beckham and Barclay? Who really makes this offense go to you when it does go? I can tell you what the Eagles thought. They thought it was more about Beckham than Barclay. Keep in mind, Berkeley had 229 yards of total offense and they scored one touchdown. So, you know,

the Eagles clearly thought by their coverage specifically geared to to Beckham, that Beckham was far more critical. The thing about Barclay is he's incredibly spectacular. That's not in question, Colin. We all know that. We can see that. But he, at this point in time, and I'm not suggesting it's his fault,

but the run game is not sustaining. And that's the issue. He'll make long runs, Barclay, but I think the game that was very representative of Barclay, and the run game was the week before against Carolina, when he had a 20-yard run and a 30-yard run, and his other 13 runs went for minus two. And I think as great as he is and spectacular as he is,

it's hard to sustain offense like that. Yeah, no, I've always felt there's a Reggie Bush quality to him. It's a firework show on three carries, and then it's just a lot of, you know, it's a lot of one-yard gains on the other 14. He's a spectacularly great. He's like an NBA player who dunks well. The yards he gets are fascinating.

He's a home run hitter, but this was what he was in college. a majority of his runs, you're not blowing people, he's not running people over. And I'm not going to put that on him, although I do think that he needs to learn as he plays a little more about the fact that three yards means something. But he's obviously spectacular. Okay, Josh Rose in Arizona quarterback, the young rookie that most of us, I've watched every snap. I know his mom, he's from the area where I live. We know him, we've talked to him.

You know him better than I, but I've been around him. The nation's going to get to see him tonight. So far on tape, I think his offensive coordinator is super conservative Mike McCoy. I wish they'd let it rip a little bit more, but what have you seen on film with him? Well, I think they're concerned about their all line, that's why. Okay. Because I think McCoy, at his core, likes to push the ball down the field, and you see a lot of those concepts and principles in their past game. But in order to do that, you need protection.

And then if you start getting caught up in six-and-seven-man protection concepts, then you have fewer eligible receivers that are releasing into routes, and then you have seven defenders for three receivers, and that's tough. So I think they're trying to figure this out because their O-Line has been, to be kind of work in progress. But Rosen's been very refined. He's very nuanced. He was inaccurate last week. This particular week he threw the ball much better.

And I think he looks comfortable in the pocket. He looks poised. And the word I just used, I think he looks refined. Yeah. So do I. I think it is best so far. You're like, there's a lot of wow. He'll make a couple throws a game, and you're like, wow.

But he's also a guy that doesn't slide particularly well. He's not that athletic. So you need good tackles, and they've got to upgrade. Now, your play, I'm so tickled. Well, you know, I did this because we didn't make field last week, and, you know, we did a little fog hat. I thought, you know, maybe with Sam Darnold, we need a little Led Zeppelin for this or something, you know? Yeah, so your play of the week features Sam Darnold, take it away. Who, by the way, had a very good game last week, not against a great defense, but that's irrelevant.

It's still an NFL team. So let's start the play right now. And I'm sure you remember this column. It was a touchdown to Chris Herndon, who, by the way, I like a lot, like them coming out of the U quite a bit. This was a play we see a lot in the NFL. It's a great concept. It sets up initially as a wide receiver tunnel screen, as we call it,

to Robbie Anderson with Chris Herndon and Jordan Leggett. Two tight ends, by the way, out in front as potential blockers on what looks like a tunnel screen. So as the play starts, you can see that Anderson is all set. Darner looks out there. It looks like a tunnel screen all the way. And in fact, the two tight ends, they show as if they're going to block. So Nate Hairston and Darius Leonard, the two defenders over the tight end, they react hard to the screen look,

and then you just send Herndon up the sideline, and it's really a pitch-and-catch kind of throw. This is an example of great coaching. You see it really well from this angle as well with Hirston and Leonard and how they react so hard to the tunnel screen action, because that's what they're presented with. So there's a deception element to this play, but it's really effective. And when you get this, it's an easy throw, and this is the kind of thing you want to do with a young quarterback to help him. Oh, boy, that was nice. It should be noted in all fairness as much as I love Darnold.

The games in which he's played well, they've generally had fairly good running afternoons as well. So like a rookie quarterback, he needs help. I don't think they have a great O-line or a great receiving corps. I do think the tight end's good. and frankly, their running game has been surprisingly good, and I think that's one of the advantages Donald's had so far. No question. And he certainly was helped out week one

when you want to get him off on the right foot by the play of his defense and special teams, and he's been up and down, but I think there's more ups than downs, and I think he's trending upward, clearly. Good stuff. Thank you, Greg. Thanks, Colin.

Greg CoSell, good stuff. Coming up next, a question was asked, and I don't know why in the NFL we keep asking this question. Nick Swisher's not far from us, 20 minutes. Oh, was wildly entertaining on the Red Sox win over Houston and the Dodgers win as well over Milwaukee. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Thursday night football returns tonight is Von Miller and the Broncos

battle Josh Rosen and the Cardinals. It all starts at 730 Eastern on Fox NFL Network and streaming on Prime Video. Homework assignment. Watch him go to my Twitter accounts. tell me what you think. Talk like a GM, talk like a scout. What do you see good? What do you see bad? By the way, I saw this story again. I can't figure out why we keep asking the same questions over and over when we know the answer. Kirk Cousins' Viking quarterback. The article says here, Kirk Cousins proving to be the real deal as the new leader of the Vikings. No, he's

not. He's proving that once again he's Andy Dalton. Is that Andy Dalton, when you're surrounded him with great weapons, Andy Dalton at one point had Muhammad Sunoo, A.J. Green, Tyler Eifert, Marvin Jones, had a great season. And when you put Andy Dalton up against the Steelers, he shrinks every time. Prime time, he shrinks. Kirk Cousins, when you give him Thielen and you give him Stefan Diggs and you give him, this team is really good and he beats everybody except the teams you actually paid him to beat. So Kirk Cousins and Andy Dalton are mostly the same guy.

They're good against everybody except the teams you need him to beat. Kirk Cousins is 4 and 19 in his career, 4 and 19 against the teams that are better than 500. And oh, by the way, Andy Dalton is great against everybody, except he's three and 12 against the Steelers. In the NFL, night games are usually the games when you face the biggest teams in prime time, good teams. Andy Dalton, and this is for guys who have started over minimum 10 games in prime time, night games, Sunday night football, Thursday night football, you know, Monday night, Thursday night, all that stuff. Andy Dalton's won 32% of those games, and Kirk Cousins has won 29% of those games. And the other two guys with lousy percentages, Mark Sanchez and Matt Stafford. You know, Matt Stafford's falling into that, but I think he has more talent than Dalton than Kurt Cousins.

So, no, I think he's, you know, Andy Dalton is 6-2-220, not very mobile, average arm. Kirk Cousins is 6, 2.5, 215, average arm, not very mobile. They're very good when you surround them with good players, but they don't beat the teams that you really need them to beat. Dalton can never beat the Steelers. He shrinks every time. He's great against the Browns, but he can never beat the Steelers. And Kirk Cousins is fine against a lot of people, but, you know, in order for this contract to make any sense, he's going to have to beat Aaron Rogers a couple times, and he's going to have to beat him once in Lambo.

And he had a chance, and he didn't. So there you go. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. This is interesting, Colin. Paul George says that he would be in a Lakers uniform if the Pacers hadn't traded him to the Thunder before last season. In an interview with the undefeated, George said it wasn't overrated.

I wanted to play in L.A. That is where I wanted to go. Had that trade never went down, had I played one more year in indie, I would be in a Lakers uniform. I wanted to go back home. If that didn't work, I absolutely wouldn't have minded playing for the Clippers. But he went to OKC, and then I can get a bigger contract than OKC. Four years, $137 million.

Yeah, so you can get more money if you go to that team, and that's what happened. And listen, it's hard to recruit against money. If I was recruiting you, okay, and, And there was another host recruiting you, and they could offer you 25% more money. It's hard to overcome that, especially if your career is done by 36. Your career is over by 36. Now, you can make money till 56, but in professional sports, it is hard to beat money. It is.

Now, if you're Durant and LeBroni, you have endorsement wealth and you're, you know, okay, okay. But for Paul George, and I... But how cool is this other host you're talking about? Well, I mean, I think, I, listen, I wouldn't have made the move he made, but in the end, I don't think the Lakers needed him. And I think Russell Westbrook needs him a lot more than... I think he made the right move. You're absolutely right. He's not going to play basketball forever.

And the amount of money, the difference is staggering. So he needed to stay there and make the money that he's making. It's just... And look, like he said, had things worked out differently than he would be with the Lakers? Listen, if I was his agent, and I looked at all the numbers, and I'm... like I can get another guaranteed year at $33 million. I couldn't go to my client as an agent

and say, give up that, go out to L.A. where LeBron's the star, and you may be battling Brandon Ingram for shots. It would be hard as a representative of him to give him that advice. I don't think Paul George has a problem playing with other people. I don't think that's the issue and necessarily being the guy, because he's not the guy

in OKC either. But the money thing plays a big part in it. Speaking of money, the NBA G League seems to be taking a page out of our balls book. According to ESPN, the G League will offer a quote-unquote professional path deal starting in the summer of 2019. So this includes select contracts worth up to $125,000 for elite players who are at least 18 years of age, but not eligible for the NBA draft. Now, by the way, I've said this for everybody complains about the NCAA.

So what this offers is a path that if you don't want to go to college basketball, go make $125,000. Because I've never, I don't believe that you have to pay college basketball players because there's nine prodigies in America that have to wait nine months. I've always thought there's 99% of the kids that play college basketball have no chance to be a pro. I don't want to blow up a system. The system should be about them, not the nine prodigies.

No, college basketball is going to exist without those nine prodigies. And there's way more of the other players than there are of the ones that are one and done that shouldn't go to. By the way, if you're a great basketball player at 18 years old, quit banging on the NCAA. There's value in playing with Coach K. There's value in playing with Bill Self. Well, it wasn't just the NCAA. It was the NBA playing a part in this as well.

I mean, they go hand in hand. And this is kind of what the NBA is trying to eliminate. And what LeVar Ball offered with the JBA is that if you don't want to go and play that year in college for whatever reason. Don't want to start. You have other professional opportunities that you want to pursue. Don't go to the college. You know, someone's offering you an endorsement or whatever that you can't. take because you're going to college, whatever the reason is.

Maybe you just don't want to go to school anymore. Now, you have an option. The G League is kind of interesting because the rest of the players are making like 35 grand. We're always worried about basketball. Oh, my God, they don't get paid for nine months in college basketball. Oh, my gosh. Well, it's not so much about the players. I mean, this is like just not getting paid.

I mean, they have families that they're trying to support. They're using their bodies. They could have a catastrophic injury. Like, there's other factors in it than just, you know, the NCAA. No, but Joy, if you have to at 19 years old, wait nine more months to get 32 million. You're not going to get a ton of sympathy from me. It's not like you're sitting on the couch waiting.

I'm not saying, but I had to wait until 40 to get paid a lot. I think waiting at 19, this idea that the NCAA, there's, like, there's no value in playing for Coach K or Mark Few. Yes, there is. No, there's value. Absolutely. And not every player that comes out of college is a one and done either. Once again, the world of basketball takes care of its basketball player.

This idea that basketball players are not being taken care of, here's now another league that pays you, a six-figure salary. By the way, I watched the NBA last year. There's all sorts of G-leaguers in the NBA, on good teams. Lakers had one. O K.C. had one. Basketball, if you're good, you'll get paid eventually a lot, or you'll get paid now immediately after high school.

Right. So finally, the fight for L.A.'s, little bit lopsided right now. The Chargers temporary home, the Stepphoop Center holds half the seats of a regular NFL Stadium, and they're having a little trouble selling it out. And according to Seth Wickersham, the viability of the Chargers was discussed yesterday at the owner's meeting. It's a good conversation to have. And Roger Goodell had nothing but praise for the Englewood Projects. Lots of football, lots of building still to do. And frankly, as you know, we were out of the market for a long time. And we have to earn our way back with our fans.

We have to build that relationship back with our fans and make sure that we do it right. And I think both teams are committed to that. It will be something that we have to work at over the period of time. They both have very exciting young teams. I think that will be helpful also. But I think all of those things will come together. But over the next two years, that's the work that needs to be done. I mean, it's tough to move a team to a new market.

And you're moving two teams at the same time. The Raiders are moving. The Chargers are moving. The Niners moved to a different stadium. Rams are just moved. Out West, what's interesting is the Rams and the Chargers, they may be the best two teams in the NFL right now. Nobody wants to say this.

The Rams roster stacked, I could make the argument the Chargers roster is better, and it's weird because the Rams have already hit in L.A. Like, people like the Rams. You see Ram shirts. It's one of these things. The NFL rolled the dice, and they made a bunch of moves in a short time with one region of the country. Now the good news is two of the moves, Rams Chargers,

are really fantastically good teams. If they were bad, if they were all like the Raiders right now, you'd have a real issue in the NFL. And the Raiders are going to turn it around, and they're going to have an amazing stadium. And the Chargers are building a new stadium, obviously, also. But they're just managing that. But also, the Rams had a set fan base already here in L.A.

You know what I mean? Like, the Chargers is a different situation. Yeah, it's going to be a struggle until they get into the new stadium. Joy with the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. By the way, it's interesting.

Mitch Trubisky takes on Tom Brady this week. Bears host New England. It's a field goal game, according to Vegas. And Mitch Trubisky came out yesterday and he said, it's awesome. It's going to be cool. I'm going to face Tom Brady. So you'll have some comparisons. When they play this weekend, people are going to say, you know, Tom Brady and Trubisky.

Look how better. Brady is than Trubisky. Here's a comparison that's incredibly fair and it's going to be kind of fun to watch. Jay Cutler, the former Bears quarterback and Mitch Trubisky, they are opposites. One nobody liked and Trubisky, everybody likes. Now, Jay Cutler, massive arm, no mobility. Tribisky, great mobility, weak arm. But the difference between them is that Cutler, who had the super arm and nobody in that locker room liked him.

In my years of doing this, of doing what I do for a living, I have never had a star quarterback in the NFL, get badmouth more than Cutler. Executives, my scouting sources, my player sources, nobody liked him in the room. And he eventually underachieved. Tribisky, I've never heard more players say they like him. My sources, my executive, everybody in Chicago loves him. He's a total dude, a guy's guy, really humble. what's interesting in Chicago is,

will the result be different? I don't think the result will be different. I think eventually, Cutler was an unlikable, gifted arm who disappointed. And I think Tribusky will be an incredibly likable, gifted athlete who will never get you to where you want to go. I think there's a real ceiling with Jay Cutler

because of his personality, and there's a real ceiling with Trubisky because of his arm. But the difference is, I think they're both going to get you to about the same spot. You're going to lose a lot at Lambo. You're going to watch Aaron Rogers beat you late. You're going to have mostly a defensive team that runs well. And in the end, you're going to be disappointed with both.

But Tribisky, people love him in Chicago. Players love him, the coaches love him, the owner loves him, the scouts love him. He and Cutler are literally opposites. One with the arm, one with the legs, one unlikable, one totally likable. But my question is, does either, at the end, make you happy? Because in the end, with Jay Cutler, you like, didn't like him and it didn't work. here you like him and I don't think it's going to I like the Bears but I think

against Aaron Rogers next five years you're going to get frustrated you're going to get frustrated to lose Aaron Rogers on those back shoulders rows because there are limitations with Trubisky it's going to be a fun game to watch don't compare him to Tom Brady that's not fair but he and Cutler

you know it's funny about Jay you ever watch that show very Cavaleri that internet you know that reality show with Cutler and his wife I mean he ain't acting that's who he is he's the world's grumpiest guy and he's just a very difficult personality. Good Lord, did he have an arm?

Good Lord, smart guy Vanderbilt, but he just struggled leading dudes. Dudes didn't like him. Tribusky is the opposite. Totally limited arm. Everybody loves him. Interesting to see how it plays out in Chicago because, man, they have given him some incredibly talented people on defense.

We are packed today. Nick Swisher, outspoken, funny. Mr. Energy joined us. In a couple of seconds, Nick Swisher, around the corner, on two wild baseball series. ALCS and LCS. The latter continues tomorrow on this network. Twelve years in baseball, Mr. Energy, outfielder first baseman, 2009 World Series champ with the New York Yankees, an all-star as well in New York.

It's Nick Swisher, baby. Yeah. Bro, I love coming on this show, man. No. Look at our new set. New set. Oh, my gosh. This is amazing.

Look at this thing. It feels great, man. I love it. Okay, so we had a crazy play last night. Jose Altovae, who's just incredible. First of all, a strike zone's about this big. Yeah. Like Ricky Henderson, it's like this big.

You have to throw it. And that's what he just owns the plate. Jacks a seed. Mookiee Betz goes. Joe West makes a call. I can't. I couldn't tell after the replay. So let's show the play and they'll have you talk about it.

Here's the play last night. First inning, Astros, Red Sox, and Houston. Altoube, right field. Back there. Betts at the track. He leaps. And it's off a fan. No, they're saying off of bats in his in play. They may be calling it interference.

I'm trying to get a read on the right field umpire here. And out is the call. Wow. Well, does this game ever start with some controversy? That is a tough, tough call to make. Okay, now, I want to show you something. I think when we slow it down, Mookie Betz was going to catch this thing, go to the slow-mo, and the fan, watch.

Yeah, no, no, no, here. The fan's hand closes his glove. Watch, right there. Right, but I think where the, where I feel like the gray area is, is the ball crossed the yellow line. If there was a line that went straight up from the wall, straight up, right, and the fans did not reach over to catch the baseball, that might not be interference. think that's where the gray area is sometimes in baseball. We need to make black and white rules to where plays like this. And by the way, if it wasn't Muki Betts, this would be a mute point.

Like, no one can jump that high. No one is that athletic. Look at this. Look at it. Look at the glove right here. Do I feel like he was going to catch that baseball? I do. I do.

I do too. I do too. Look at it. You can see his glove is open. And then so, so the funny thing, the irony is Al-Tubei didn't get the home run call. I think you would have caught. Right here. Watch.

Yeah. The ball was going right. into it. Now, I'm not blaming the fan because you're human instinct. I mean, I'm going for that ball. I'm sitting there. Of course. So you, so in the end, you would have given it a home run because you can't really prove it. Yeah, I think they just, it's up in the air. I think right there, the fans didn't really, they didn't go onto the field of play. And I think that's where you need to draw the line. If you're not going on to the field of play and you need to have that separation, then move the fence up a foot or two feet.

His glove is open and the fan. And I'm not blaming the fan. I do the same thing. Totally. Yeah, I feel like just in general, man, we've got such a great game. We've got such a great athlete. By the way, this game was crazy. Just in general, man, what a good, what a great series so far.

Now, a lot of people, I'm one of them, I feel like it's the Red Sox year. First of all, they're 108. They got two MVPs, Martinez, Mookiee. They got Chris Sale, who's sick. And I also think in this series, their bullpen's been better. their defense has been better, and I would argue in the, the batting order is arguably better. I think Boston's the better team. Just like Houston last year, a lot of people were rooting for the Yankees.

Of course. It was like, no, no, no, when you watch them play Houston, you're like Houston's got better, got his better team. Who do you think, do you think the series is over? Well, in my mind, no. And as a fan and as an analyst, I hope not. I mean, we've only got a little bit of baseball left, man. I want to get as much as we can.

Now, do I think we have the two best teams in the American League going at it? Yes, I do. Now, here's the thing. It seems like as many wins as the Boston Red Sox have had all season long, it just seems like for some reason we don't give them the credit they deserve. Coming into these series, we always thought the Houston Astros were the better team. But all of a sudden, the Boston Red Sox do is just keep winning ball games, keep tacking on runs.

And one thing AJ Hinch said in a couple interviews that I've heard, and I've really appreciated, both of these teams know how to finish games. And that's usually how you determine a champion. By the way, in the post game, Pedro Martinez said they should have called out the replay umpire in New York. Pedro Martinez. Why don't they show the empire that's going to be making those decisions in that little room where he is? Why don't they hold him accountable? The one that's probably saying yes or no behind the room

is if the other six umpires are going to be on the field exposed to everybody, why not the one that's in the little room? Why not expose that umpire so that everybody can see? First of all, look at Pedro, by the way. I mean, How amazing is he? And just everything you say, yes, he does have a point. And I think there's always going to be a little bit of a riff, the fact that if you're a baseball player and you do not produce

and you not do put up the numbers, then you get demoted, right? And as an umpire, you are not necessarily held as accountable as the players, right? So I think what Pedro is saying is if you're going to make such a huge decision on such a grand stage, be accountable. We want to see your face. By the way, we did some journalism. I want to thank my staff, journalists. we found the two guys in the replay booth,

and they're describing the call. Here are the two guys. We had no idea what it was. Number one, boss, the first thing I said, this belongs to the Red Sox. This is Fenway Park. You want to give a fact to them because it belongs to them, and it doesn't belong to us.

But in the reciprocation, we would like, you know, maybe to go to a nice playoff game. We're looking for something. We just don't want to hand it over. Okay, let's go to the Dodgers series. You know, Mill Walker. Rockies, very analytic driven. So are the Dodgers, but the Dodgers have Machado star.

They've got Pueegh star. Turner star. They've got Clayton Kershaw last night was a star. Amazing. For me, I want to see more of that than Craig Counsel going to the mound 11 times. I will say this, though, the Machado play. I mean, listen, the Cubs or the Yankees are going to get him. He's a remarkable talent.

Yeah, there's no doubt. What did you make? You played some first base? Yes, sir, I did. Okay, could I make the argument a couple of nights ago? That first baseman for the Brewers. Correct. Hey, Sue, Sagular.

Okay, why are you on the bag? He's hovering over the bag after the out. Right. So many Machado is like sending a message, get off the bag. But you got to think, man. Jesus Aguilar is probably the biggest man on the field at that point in time, right? Now, from being an ex-first baseman, you always play little games with your infielers throughout the actual baseball game itself, right?

Right there, Rcia throws a great bender, nice back, and it hit Jesus right in the chest. What he is doing right there is just saying, hey, man, I appreciate that throw. right to the chest. I'm going to let everybody know you hit me right where you're supposed to throw it. I've been a first baseman before. There's a lot of room on the backside of that bag, right? 99% of that play in the big league's results in an out. So what are you doing?

If Manny says he's not the diving into first base type of guy, it just didn't look right, especially with everything that he has in his future. He's an agitator. Yeah, you know what, man? I feel like you like guys like Draymond Green. I like agitators. So if you like agitators, this could be your guy, man. I mean, clearly he was, you know, I mean, listen, if you look, Machado's been one of those guys. He's like Robinson Kanoe got this.

Right. Like everybody's like, Robinson Kanoe doesn't run the first. Totally. But Robinson Kano played 160 games a year. Yes, sir. Manny Machado plays every game. Yes, sir. And that's the thing.

So maybe there is something to that. Kano didn't always run hard to first. Ever. Manny did. But also, but you think about Derek Jeter. played as many games as those guys did as well. Well, he's perfect. Well, I mean, if you want to get somebody as a role model,

let's look at the guys that you might want to be, right? By the way, is this series over? Dodgers lead, going to Milwaukee, is this series over? Yeah, you know what, man? It really kind of seems like the Dodgers are in favor right now. They are absolutely rolling right now. Pweed coming off the bench has been amazing. And I think the one thing we need to know is that the starting lineups

that these teams start the games with aren't even close to what the finishing lineups will be. It's interesting because analytics, I understand it. But, God, if I was starting, I think if I was a manager, I think there's a fine line here. I want my stars out there on the seventh inning. You know what? I feel like you have to do that. And I feel like that's exactly what I think Craig Counsel is doing by going to the bullpen as early and as often as possible.

If the strength of your squad is in a certain area, wouldn't you like to play to that? Wouldn't you win that series either because of those guys or because of those guys you lose the series? So I think with what Craig's doing, I think it's different. And people are a little scared of what's different. People are scared of what's changed. So I think at the end of this, we're either going to understand the importance of starting pitching or we might not need that starter as much anymore moving forward in the game. So game five is, let's do it, game five tomorrow, game six tomorrow in Milwaukee.

So if the Dodgers who are in control now and the Red Sox who are in control, if they did meet in the series, it really does feel like to me as long as Chris Sale, Now, David Price is struggling, but if Chris Sale is not sick, Boston feels like a better roster top to bottom. Yeah, I think in general, I think the Boston Red Sox have it right now. I think it was amazing to see. Did you ever face a team that you kind of just felt? God, it's their year. Yeah, man.

I felt like that when I was in 2006, I was with the Oakland A's, and we were rolling, right? We were all young. We had just come up. We had Frank Thomas leading our squad. And all of a sudden we get to the ALCS, and we just got steamrolled by Detroit Tigers, right? 4-0. And it just kind of seemed like, you know what? We weren't even supposed to be here, man. It just kind of seemed like they were destined.

I mean, I know they didn't, but that was that same feeling that I had for that team. Nick Swisher, nothing but energy, baby. I mean, hey, one of these days I'm going to come in here and I'm going to change your speed on you, bro. Off speed? Yeah, I'm going to change it on you. Low-key, low-key, Nick. Hour three next. Hour three in Los Angeles.

This is the herd, wherever you may be. However you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. LeBron Lakers start tonight. You know, I want to just shift gears for a second. So last night, the Dodgers in the early afternoon here out west, beat Milwaukee, Clayton Kershaw, got a nice cushion, and they went on to win.

Now they go back to Milwaukee. And in the Boston-Huston game, every postseason you have controversial play. And the controversial one here is in Houston. Mookiebex goes up and it appears to be interference, maybe not interference. Joe West. Here's the sound of it.

Joe West, the umpire said interference, not a home run. So here it is. Altubei, right field. Back there. Bats at the track. He leaps. And off a fan. No, they're saying off of bats, it is in play.

They may be calling it interference. I'm trying to get a read on the right field umpire here. And out is the call. Wow. So it's. Wow. Boy, does this game ever start with some controversy? That is a tough, tough call to make.

Now, here's the thing, is that you and I can argue all day on this. You can say, I mean, it looks like to me the fan's hand comes over and closes the glove. That would be interference. But again, if you had, if you look behind me at those fans, I'm not sure any of them reached over the wall. It doesn't look like they did, although one fan off to your right here does have his hand on the wall. but that doesn't mean he's reaching over it. It doesn't look like the fans are over the wall, but you don't know that, and I don't know. Right here, you know, it doesn't look like it, but the guy in the blue could.

Listen, let me just throw this out there. Baseball is unique. Unlike the NBA, unlike the NFL, where the stadiums are the same. All the measurements are the same. In baseball, it's very unique. Baseball's the only sport without a clock. Baseball is the only sport. It rains a little.

We're going to postpone it. Baseball has changed their mound 26 times in the history of baseball. They raised the mound, they lower the mound. You got plants growing in the outfield in Ivy in Wrigley Field. You got plants, Ivy and Wrigley. You got catwalks in Tampa, the ball can hit. You have a green monster in Fenway. Houston used to have a hill and a pole in center field.

Yankee Stadium used to have monuments. What about this rule? When it comes to stadiums and home runs, whatever happens, happens, let it go. If a fan reaches over, he reaches over. over. I mean, you tell me you had a hill in Houston, that's okay. You got plants in the outfield. You're going to monster. These stadiums are not symmetrical. These stadiums are all unique. Baseball's the most unique sport. It doesn't have a clock. Games can go on forever. Bottom line is, whatever happens in the outfield happens. That play with my rule, live ball. Al Tuve probably ends up

at second with a double. That's what you get. Now, you're saying to yourself, well, Colin, you would just be begging for fans to reach over. Yeah, you probably would be. But, all right. Okay. I mean, baseball is the quirky sport. And if a fan reached over, build a bigger wall. By the way, baseball knows they put those seats up there for a reason.

They want the fans hanging over the field. You can't ask fans not to act on instinct. So when Houston built their stadium, they wanted to give the fans as close a proximity to players as they could. I totally agree. You want fans right on the field. You don't want to have it like Oakland. You want it like Houston. And Fenway is the best. The fans are right in the field. So baseball wants the fans right on the field. And whereas fans shouldn't interfere down the lines, you can make an argument with home runs. If you build a low wall, it is what it is. If there's a bomb, instead of trying to figure out his finger was over, it wasn't. If they

hit it, they hit it. Live ball, let it play. I mean, we're arguing about this today. We don't have really resolution today, and the resolution we have, nobody likes. So to me, you know, it was just a play, ball got bounced back in and, all right, Al Tuve's at second. Both great players, you know, I think sports is better

when stars are allowed to be stars and you had two stars. I don't want Joe West making up the call. We shouldn't be saying his name today. Yeah, we shouldn't. But I mean, baseball's always been quirky and there's Ivy and there's a green monster and there's monuments and there's hills and there's poles and I grew up as a kid, Detroit, had a pole.

Chet Lemon was a center fielder for the Tigers and he knew how to play the pole. He had a poll out there for 15 years. It is what it is. People just moved around the pole. So LeBron opens up tonight in the NBA on the road against the Portland Trailblazers. You know, what I suspect is that Brandon Ingram will emerge as the second best player on this team. I suspect it's going to take him 20 to 30 games to figure this out. It's a weird roster of a superstar, a bunch of young kids who are getting better.

some weird castoffs. I think they're going to, by the end of the year, in the, I think, a little overrated West, they're going to be pretty good. Charles Barkley opinion on the Lakers is kind of my opinion. I think it's interesting. I don't know what I'm going to get. I'm fascinated to watch.

I know there's 15 teams in the NBA that are awful. I know there are two teams, Boston and Golden State, that are built to win championships today. And then this, the NBA gives me a lot of absolutes. these two are great, these 15 are awful. This is a big mystery. And like Charles Barkley said on Dan Patrick's show, I'm just going to be interested to watch.

I don't know how it's going to play out. Young guys, that's why I didn't understand. Yeah, I think they're the number one brand, the number one player, and they're the number one mystery in the league. We know who's bad and we know who's special in this league. We do. We know the 15 teams that are bad. We all agree.

And we know the two best teams in this league are Boston and Golden State. Some think Houston, but I don't think they're good enough defensively, and I think they're getting old. Mello's old, Chris Paul's old. I don't think Houston's better. Lakers are the one team in the league that I don't know what I'm getting. I have no real idea. I think, you know, I think Chris Broussard talked about this.

You know, LeBron tends to be a big picture guy and kind of trying to sew it together over time. In Cleveland, it was not about the regular season. It was about June. And can we get to the finals and win it? This is the first time in years for LeBron. he's not going to admit it and he shouldn't. But inside, he knows we're not beating Golden State unless something crazy happens. We're not getting to the finals.

I don't think he's playing to get to the second or the third round. That's not going to impress him. I believe he wants that MVP award. He'll tie Michael Jordan with his fifth MVP. I think he feels these past few years. He should have won one of these years. I will push back on everybody that says, you know, they're not going to get Kauai and Paul George and Jimmy Butler. I think what you're going to see happen very soon with the Lakers,

and it might happen tonight. LeBronza Forward, the second best player on that team is going to become Brandon Ingram, and he'll probably see it tonight. He went from like six and a half, seven a game to 16 and a half. I think he's going to go up to 22, 23. They're going to have two great forwards and a third Kyle Kuzma off the bench and a fourth that they want Michael Beasley, who can, I don't know how much he's going to play this year. But it'll be fun to watch. I'm not sure what I'm getting. I do think they're good. I think it'll get better. I think it'll be a little functional. I'm not sure about the Lonzo, Rondo, LeBron

thing. I'm not so worried about that. That's going to work itself out either way, and it's a long season. So I'm not worried about that at all. Good stuff. By the way, T.J. Hushmanzada, we're going to play our game stat or

bull stat. That will be coming up next. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Thursday night football returns tonight is Von Miller

and the Broncos battle Josh Rosen and the Cardinals. It all starts at 730 Eastern on Fox NFL network and streaming on Prime Video. Car shopping's confusing. A lot of terms. Dealer price, list price, invoice. Here's what's not saving three grand of MSRP. Broncos at Arizona tonight, and with that we bring in our friend.

Over a decade in the NFL, a pro bowler, drafted by the Bengals, made it into a nice career. a seventh round pick. 204th guy picked. There was a play this week where Tyreek Hill's a great player and he runs, gets a touchdown, and his momentum

carries him to the wall in New England and some fan flipped him off and threw beer on him. And that, I would imagine, happened to you a lot. I don't believe I ever got in. I remember vividly one time getting into a Pittsburgh fan.

But they were actually pretty cool. It was during the course of the game, I actually would take them Gatorade. I'd be like, early season game. I'd be like, you guys thirsty? And I never forget taking them Gatorade. And I was like, God, I hope he doesn't throw this back in my face. And he didn't. But they talked to you super crazy, all fans.

T.J. Hushmanzada, I'll throw this out at you. Is that in my experience, I had a situation years ago, this was like 20 years ago. I was in South Dakota. And I went jogging. And people waved to me. Hey. I was like, I was like a cousin. I'm like, oh, people.

I don't think this happens in Green Bay. I don't think it happens in most Midwest cities, but I think fans in these big northeast cities, and I'm a coastal guy, but there are cities that are rougher. Pittsburgh's got nice people. It's got a Midwestern field to it. Green Bay has a Midwestern field.

Indianapolis has a Midwestern field. I mean, you were around this league. Did you get treated harsher in certain cities? Yeah, of course. Yeah. New York fans are rough. You know what I chalk it up to is it's late in the game. You've had quite a bit the drink.

The game's almost over and he's drunk. I'm I am shocked. I'm not shocked by this at all because I think players now go on the road in the NFL. You guys almost predict it's coming. Yeah, if you play long enough, you've seen it all. You've heard it. You just kind of get used to it. What I'm shocked by is players that tell me of the racial slurs.

The idea that I'd be around 30 people. And somebody would use a racial slur. Every player I ever talked to said, oh, yeah, I heard those. As long as they don't touch you, as long as you don't touch me, I'm fine. Because I'll go back at them verbally. Did you hear slurs? Oh, yeah, all the time. It's 2018.

I don't understand that. Well, it would probably 20, 2008, 2010 for me. It's none of any better than. So with you, now Tyreek is, T.J. is going to, I think, bring up, you may take a guy to court? He's looking into suing him, yeah. Would you sue a fan? No, I wouldn't. Over that, no. I mean, he's just proven a point.

You can say what you want to say because how I am, I'm going to verbally say what I want to say. Just don't touch me. As long as you don't touch me, we're cool. Okay, we're going to play a game. We call it a stat or bull stat. And we have a stat, and if we think it's a legitimate stat that means something, it's a stat. If you think it's just a bunch of bologna and it's just a random stat that doesn't mean anything, then it's a bull stat.

So John, Joy or, okay, Joy is going to play it. Here we go. A stat or bull stat? Real stat or bull stat. So Sunday night, the Bengals face the chiefs. This could be bad news for the Bengals since 2011. The year Andy Dalton was drafted, Dalton has the second worst winning percentage in night games behind only Mark Sanchez.

So Dalton has just won 32% of his games at night. So TJ, does this mean that Andy Dalton can't handle the spotlight? Nah, that's a bull stat. That's a bull stat. That's coincidence. And the good thing about it, it is. Who did you say they play this weekend? The Chiefs. The Chiefs. Terrible defense. Andy Dawton going to light them up.

The offense is pretty good. Their offense is really good, but Andy Dalton will be facing a defense who they can't stop a nosebleed, so it's going to be good for the Sensi offense. So you think that's a bull stat? Bull stat. One hundred percent. I think it's a real stat. The Bengals's going to beat the Chiefs. He's three and 12 against Pittsburgh. Andy Dalton has a history of shrinking in the biggest games.

A lot of it, honestly. They should have won the game Sunday. No, should have. They should have won. Defense. Make a play. Should have. Could have.

Make a play. He never. Andy Dalton has shrunk in big games for years. He didn't play great this past Sunday against Piss, but this Sunday, going against this defense, perfect recipe. So you think it's a bull stat. Bullsad, for sure, this weekend. I think it's a real stat. Next one.

Okay. So the Eagles are three and three off to an okay start in their quest to repeat as NFC East champs. But there's a stat that doesn't bode well for Philly. No NFC East team has won back-to-back division. champs since 2004. That's the longest stretch in any division. So Collins, does this mean the Eagles won't repeat this year? I think it's a bull stat. There are coincidences. There are coincidences. It's been a very competitive division. Generally in this division, the two giant Super Bowl years in Philadelphia, the team that emerges about November, because weather plays a

factor in this division. And a lot of teams start hot and then fade. This division has been for grabs mostly for years and whoever plays well in his healthy late wins and that means you have to have depth and Philadelphia has the most depth of good players so I the fact that this division is decided by a different team every year I just think it's competitive it's mostly even and I think it's a bull stat I'm gonna call that a real stat just he made the argument for me it's competitive it's pretty much even the Cowboys have the best defense in the division or fourth in the league in NFL defensively. The Redskins are playing pretty well.

They're up and down. The Eagles play pretty well. They're up and down. The Cowboys play pretty well. They're up and down. All three of those teams can win it. I'd probably choose the Cowboys right now. They have the best defense in the division.

It's just not just going off that whenever. By the way, Dallas's defense is up front. I would say this is young. Their linebackers are young. Their pass rushers are young. Dallas got a very interesting. Chris Rashard has done a fantastic job with that defense. The Cowboys are very, very, very,

formidable defensively. Okay, sticking with NFC. If you're an Eli Manning hater, you'll love this one. Among quarterbacks who have won 100 games during their career, Eli Manning has the lowest win percentage out of any quarterback ever.

He's only won 50% of his games. So, TJ, does this mean it's time to put Eli out to pasture? Oh, man, you know, be honest, if his name was Eli Mitchell, would he still be the starting quarterback?

No. Of course not. So you think it's a real stat? Real stat, real stat, real stat. I mean, that's obvious. It's a real stat. If his last name was not manning, he would have been a backup quarterback three to four years ago. Totally completely agree.

And the other thing is he's not only a manning, but he's an incredibly likable manning. He's a nice guy. He seems to be a nice guy. And there, listen, likability matters. Marcus Mariotta, I think, is pretty average. I think he's likable.

and I think Tennessee looks at Marioota and they don't want to say what they really think, which is he's not as good as we thought. I think quarterback is a face of a franchise and Eli is that droopy sad face when you pulled him. So I think it's a real stat. I think Eli has been shot for three to four years. Do you think they're regretting, not taking your boy, Darnold?

Of course they are. Sequin Barclay's having a great year, but it's not mattering. It doesn't matter at all. Running backs change stats. They don't change outcomes. Darnold's changing outcomes. This is an outcome league.

And bottom line is Darnold is the difference this year. You are forever associated with Sam Darnold. Yes, I'm proud of that. So the Chiefs are currently 5 and 1, but their defense definitely doesn't deserve much credit for that. In fact, how about this? The Chiefs have the worst defense of any team in NFL history through the first six weeks. They've given up 468.8.2 yards per game. So, Colin, does this mean Kansas City can't possibly win a Super Bowl?

That's a real stat. Now, they faced Big Ben and Brady. but in the end, the reason they can't stop anybody is because they don't have their pass rush right now outside of D Ford. Their secondary is a mess. Now, can they get better defensively? Yes.

But you can't win a Super Bowl with this defense. Because, by the way, again, a lot of offenses look good in September in the first two weeks of October. Post- Thanksgiving is the real season. And you're going to make stops. By the way, last year, if you go to the playoffs, the Rams got stopped.

and the Eagles got stopped by Atlanta and could have lost. And by the way, Brady got stopped on the final drive, and that's why Philly One. Defense will eventually matter in December and January, and unless Eric Berry gets healthy, you cannot win with this defense. Bull stat, because of what he just said. Their best defensive player is Eric Berry. When he comes back, he's going to shore some things up.

If Kansas City can win some games, which they're going to continue to, it's hard to play in Kansas City, man. It's loud. Offensively, you have to score with them. So it puts pressure on the opposing team's play caller to, I have to keep up with Kansas City's offense. So you start to get out of character and call plays and do things that you normally wouldn't do. The way they put up points.

And their defense has made some plays. When they get Eric Berry back, they'll be a lot better. He'll shore some things up. Guys won't have to take as many chances. He'll make plays that other guys aren't making. Remember, Eric Barry has been Gronk's toughest matchup. So if Eric Barry comes back, he took Gronk out of the last game. Because Gronk basically can be really tough for a linebacker or safety.

So the one thing Kansas that he has, if Barry comes back, Annie Reid will put him on Gronk if they met, and he'll take Gronk out of the game. By the way, New England took Travis Kelsey out when they played. These tight ends are hugely important. If you have to go through Kansas City with those fans in that weather, it's tough. Did you ever play baseball, by the way? In high school. Your daughter plays softball.

She plays softball, so I love baseball now. Yeah. Well, I totally get it. So you're watching these games, the Dodgers. Every inning and every game. You're all in on it. All in. I went to, we went to the first game when they played the Brewers.

No, not. Who did they play the first round? The Dodgers. I'm getting old. Braves. The Braves. We went to that game and we'll go to the first game and they play at Dodger Stadium in the World Series. Well, they're not there yet.

We'll make it. We'll win. We're going to win tomorrow. Yeah, we'll win tomorrow. Yeah, I'm a huge baseball fan now, man. I love baseball. All right. I figured you.

played. Your daughter's a scholarship athlete baseball player. Yeah, she can play a little bit. First game, first college game tomorrow. By the way, have you seen Arizona tonight on Fox? Denver is at Arizona. Have you seen Josh Rosen yet play around a little bit? No, but I mean, you saw him here

in L.A. Have you seen him for Arizona yet? Oh, yeah, I've seen him play a couple games. What do you make of him? You know, up and down. He's like any Ricky quarterback. He doesn't have the offensive line. He doesn't have the weapons around him that the other rookie quarterback has. He's a good running back, but David Johnson isn't having a great year.

Darrow lines the problem. And he doesn't have, he has Larry Fish drill, but Fitz isn't getting the ball. You see his dad comes out and complains that he's not getting the ball much. It's the good thing they play Denver tonight. The last two games Denver has given up over 200 yards on the ground. Great recipe for a rookie quarterback to have a great game. Hand the ball off to David Johnson. You can get single high coverage.

Easy to find reads for the quarterback. Yeah. I'll take Arizona tonight in a close game at home. They're pretty conservative battle line. I agree. T.J. Hushman's out. Good seeing you, bud. Joy Taylor with the news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So we just talked about these offenses. The NFL has definitely seen an uptick of high-scoring offenses and some nail-biting finishes so far this season. And unsurprisingly, that's a hit with fans. And also, according to Roger Goodell.

I don't think there's been a better time to be an NFL fan. The quality of the games and the, enjoyment that comes from that, and I hear that from fans all the time, is number one for that. But number two, the access to the games and the way you're able to engage with the NFL. There are more platforms, more opportunities to do that. The experience is better because of technology. And I think all of that just creates a much better opportunity for our fans to enjoy football. I think all fans are lucky.

Jesus, you can get anything, anytime, anywhere. I can watch literally. The access, the coverage. Do you know, when I first got into this business, nothing about this, there were typewriters. There weren't even computers. There wasn't no sports talk radio 30 years ago. I mean, WF&N in New York maybe had it.

It is so much easier for me to do my job now. So Sundays, I do the show, NFL kickoff. I come home, I take out a yellow notepad with a pen. My guys see it every Monday. I put on the red zone, and then the two games in L.A. that are live. I don't see every game. There will always be like a Tennessee Jacksonville game that I just get highlights.

I can watch all the best games. And then I watch the late game, the CBS game, and the Fox game live. Then I watch the Sunday game. Then I got the Monday game. Then I get the Thursday night game. And those are all your most important games. And I have the Internet. So while I'm literally watching games, I can watch a game on my phone.

I get the Red Zone. I get two games live. And I can go and get stats for any question I have during the game. I mean, the ability, and it's not the, long before you'll be able to bet these games in these stadiums. In fact, I'm always a little bit surprised. When I see these stadiums are packed on Sunday, I'm like, it's so, the home environment if you have a media room is so incredible.

Now, there's nothing like being at Lambeau. There's nothing like being at the game. I mean, those people in Houston last night, there's nothing like being at a game. Those are experiences. You can't replace those. Not just for fans. And my job has never been easier. There's so many ways to get immediate information.

I couldn't have done this 20 years ago. I mean, not that, you know, to compare last season to this season, but that's why everyone was panicking last year, right? Obviously, there's still a lot of political things going on that people are talking about, but it's slightly different this year. And all those injuries are no longer a factor. Like, we have the starting quarterbacks, and I'm not attributing that to the rule change. But the fact is, we got these guys back. As much as a lot of people want to tell you that politics and sports are a guy. great mix. They're not really.

It's not so much about that. It's that, you know, people, people care about what's going on in the world. So there's only 24 hours in a day. Like, that's that, that is what it is. But most people, when they turn to a football game, they want to watch a football game. And they do. They do watch the football game. It's the stories around it that people get confused with, like, you're still going to watch the football game. Obviously, you're still watching the football games. So LeBron is coming off of a season where you played all 82 regular season games for the first time. It's 15 season career. But Luke Walton wants to keep LeBron as fresh as possible.

We got four years. We want to make sure that we're not only playing at our best come the end of the season, but that he's fresh. And that's a goal for us. And then it's a goal that we're on a journey and it's not a one year journey. And we're continuing to try to be our best season by season, but also as each one goes on. And obviously he gives us the best opportunity. to be at our best.

I don't have any concern about LeBron's health or minutes or anything like that. Well, yeah, it's he's fine. Listen, you're seeing a trend in sports is that all athletes and all sports, their peak years have gone from like

25 to 30 to 25 to 33. It's just people look better older. If you're willing to take care of yourself. Well, yeah, I mean, you have to be willing to take care of yourself. You have to invest in yourself. But if you do, It used to be the peak was done at 34, and it's probably closer now to 36 or 37. There's also just more research now.

Like you eat better, you recover better, you sleep better. Like there's so much more technology available to you to lengthen your career. And we obviously know LeBron takes advantage of all of those things. Well, I mean, even look at Tom Brady. Tom Brady looks like 30. Like in the end, if you got those resources, why wouldn't you keep extending your career? It's just more money, more contracts. And also this is part of the reason why I think LeBron

realized why you have a good base of veterans and the wisdom and experience. You have to have young guys who can go out there and do what you're not going to be able to do every single night. Think about this. Whereas football, the new rules in football have helped Tom Brady. You can't hit a quarterback. It's a bubblescreen league.

That's great for an old quarterback. The new rules in basketball the last 10 years actually haven't helped LeBron. It's now a finesse league and a three-point shooting league. The one thing LeBron deserves credit on. The rules of the sport could have been a huge roadblock for him. I mean, he's a 6-9 power forward and suddenly halfway through his career, hey, just shoot threes. Brady halfway through his career, the league was like, hey, we're going to make it even easier.

Nobody can hit you in it. You can just do bubble screens. You have to pay attention to the trends. You have to be ahead of it. And that's like LeBron does that. Finally, we talked about the Instagram comment that Kevin Durant's brother left yesterday. day insinuating Katie was leaving the Warriors next summer. Katie made a put up a post and said one down, 81 more to go.

What a night. And Katie's brother, Tony, wrote filling the hand up before we get out of here, which sent everybody into a frenzy. What does that mean? Is he leaving? Well, Tony clarified his comment. He said, fill your hands up equals get more rings in Golden State. Get up out of here equals retirement.

Stop reaching. That's what you'll do for like. No days, bro. Come on now. L.O.L. It's better stuff to post. All right. Here's the thing. If you're going to get in your brother's comments and write something like that, you've got to be aware that people are paying attention to that and that he is a free agent next summer and he's Kevin Durant.

Yes. And people are going to read into that. You see Michael, Vic, Marcus Vic. You see this a lot in Hollywood. Like when the non-celebrity relative or brother or sister, Steph Curry's wife said something one time, And the bottom line is, You just, you have to understand

if your brother, mate, husband, whatever it is, is a superstar, your comments are going to be linked to them. And people assume you have inside that they're telling you that on the side. And NBA Free Agency is one of those things where we follow everything that goes on.

Oh, someone unfollow someone on Twitter or they like this comment. Everything matters. So you have to be aware that people are going to, nobody's making a big deal out of that for no reason. It's Kevin Durant, him changing teams is going to change the landscape of the NBA forever. You've got to be aware that that's what's going to happen.

Yeah. I'll believe he leaves when I see it. No, yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lai News. Borrow up to 40 grand to pay off your credit cards,

Lendingclub.com slash sports. Lendingclub.com slash sports. The Red Sox now have taken control of the American League Championship series. The Dodgers have taken crowed. control of the National League series. Boston's interesting. Chris Sailed or ace is sick and David Price has not been great. David Price has never been a great postseason guy. Controversy aside, Boston has earned, they've earned the lead in this series. They had a couple of great defensive plays last night. This is a mokey bets nailing Tony Kemp of the Astros, their fastest player. Watch this.

There's a first pitch swing and a base hit by Kemp. And he's thinking of about two and he's on his way. Betts is thrown a second. The 10. He is out at second. What a throw. And what a mistake by Tony Kemp. And it needed a perfect throw to get

Kep at second base. And that's what Betts delivered. Wow. Absolute canon. Okay. And then in the ninth, again, Houston had two leads and blew them both. People are going to talk about the controversial call.

But Boston, 108 wins. two MVP's Chris Sale, better bullpen in this series, better defensive team in this series. This is the ninth inning. Bases full, two outs, Houston at the plate, and the Red Sox Andrew Benintendi makes the play of the year. And the bases are loaded. And Bregman is coming up. Runners will be off of the crack of the bat with two outs. Kimbril Deals, Bregman in the air, left field.

Benintendi dives, and he makes the catch. Game saver, Andrew Benintendi. The Red Sox win on a spectacular catch by Benintendi in left field. So both the Red Sox and the Dodgers, obviously those are historic baseball names, have control. Watch out, though. David Price is struggling for the Red Sox. Astros are a fantastic organization. They've got a little bit of an analytic New England Patriot Field to him.

And Chris Selle Sick, is in the United. hospital. By the way, Justin Verlander is pitching tonight for Houston. So against Price. And Verlander has a history have been a great big game pitcher, and David Price has a history of being a really great talent, but he is not always great in these spots. So series is clearly not over. Coming up next, best for last advice for LeBron and his big debut tonight. It's the Welcome back. Chris Broussard, Greg CoSell. Nick Swisher was a riot today. T.J. Hushman, Sata, stopped by. It's going to be a great weekend. We got NFL tonight, Michigan, Michigan State. Dodgers tomorrow, Michigan, Michigan State, Saturday on FS1. Then we have NFL Sunday. So the next four days on Fox, FS1, there's a ton of sports. Tonight, LeBron makes his debut in Portland, Oregon. The Rose City, it used to be called the Rose.

Garden. Of course, the owner, Paul Allen just passed away, so I'm sure they'll have a moment of silence for the late great Paul Allen who gave so much to Seattle and Portland, those communities. Charles Barkley's opinion on the Lakers is, to a large degree, my opinion on the Lakers. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to get. Here's Charles Barkley. What the Lakers are doing? Are they going to try to groom those young guys and go forward for the most? Totally agree. So I thought with that, let's do best for last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Quit holding out on us, cowherd.

It's the best for last. So we know LeBron's the best player, certainly on the Lakers, and probably in the world. So we thought if you don't know the Lakers, more people are going to watch the Lakers this year around the country that have in a long time because of LeBron. They'll be the most watched team in the NBA. Here are the top five Lakers in order not named LeBron. Number five. Number five. Lonzo Ball, which would make him the sixth best player on this team.

These are the five best Lakers, not named LeBron. First of all, he's an incredibly long point guard. He's 6'6. He's only 20 years old. He's added 15 pounds. He is an elite rebounding guard. He's a pretty good on-ball defender because of his length. And last year, he was 10 points, 7.5 assists and 7 rebounds.

By the way, his assists were top 10 in the NBA, which is pretty impressive, considering the Lakers don't have a lot of great. shooters. Again, not a bust long. I'm not sure how his minutes are going to work out this year because they acquired Rejon Rondo. But he's bigger. He's stronger. Looks like he's a little better finisher around the rim. And he has tremendous vision and tremendous size for his position. Number four. Kyle Kuzma. Now, Kuzma's three years older, so I think he's really close to his ceiling. And that's the thing if you, like Baker, Mayfield came out and used five years of college. I think you're closer to your ceiling.

But he was a 16.6 rebound guy. Is he the odd man out this year with LeBron and Brandon Ingram? He is not a great shooter. Now, it should be noted that he shot 36.5% on threes. He could make a jump. Almost no college kid walks into the NBA and is a great shooter. People are longer. The game is faster.

but I think Kuzma is the fourth best Laker, not named LeBron. Number three. KCP, Contavius Caldwell Pope. Not sure how long he's going to be around the Lakers, but he is a starting two guard. He is long, not a bad defender. And he's actually one of the few guys on this team who can stroke a three. He's a 38% three-point shooter.

He's represented by clutch sports. A little bit of an enigma, a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a three-point shooter. of trouble. Not sure how long he's on the team, but he's a long athletic two who can hit threes. And I do think LeBron James likes to be rewarded. And I think LeBron James is going to work very well with KCP, because KCP is a guy that can reward LeBron on the perimeter when LeBron drives and dishes off. Number two. Rondo. By the way, Rondo is still in great shape, 32 years old. The downside is this is his six team in five years. He's just hard to get along with. Super high IQ.

Battles with coaches, battles with players. But I will say this. Eight points, eight assists, very good defender, tremendous passer, great feel for the game. He's not a shooter. He's just not a shooter. And by the way, he knows he's not a shooter. I think Lonzo Ball will end up being a better shooter than him and a more willing shooter. But I think he's going to steal minutes from Lonzo. And I think what's interesting is LeBron likes Rondo because he's a smart veteran and he plays defense, but he doesn't reward LeBron when LeBron drives and dishes out. Either does Lonzo.

I don't know how LeBron's going to play with Lonso, and I don't know how he's going to play with Rondo. I think he's going to play really good with KCP and the best Laker not named LeBron. Number one. Brandon Ingram. First of all, Brandon Ingram played one year of college, walked into the NBA and was overwhelmed. He averaged nine points. He shot 29% from threes.

Then next year he came out last year, gained 10 pounds, and averaged 16, and shot 47% and 39 from threes. And now I watched them in the preseason. Looks like he's gained another 10 to 15 pounds. I think he's going to end up being their second best player. My gut feeling is he's going to shoot probably about 50% from the floor, 40% on threes, and he's going to average 23.5 points. So I think what you're going to have, your best guys, LeBron, Brandon Ingram second,

and then I think it's going to be a series of young and older guys. Here's my five best Lakers, not lame LeBron, number one, Brandon, number two, Rondo, number three, KCP, number four, Kyle, and number five, Lonson. By the way, I think those guys outside of Brandon Ingram are all fairly close in value and talent. It's not like I don't like Lanzo, but I don't know how it's going to work. I just don't know how it's going to work. Do you? Oh, well, we're going to find out, and that's part of the journey, Colin.

I think it's going to work out fine, though. Yeah, Bruce Sard was on earlier today, and he said, listen, it's going to be a different year for LeBron. He's going to have to play different. He's going to see the world a little differently this year. In Cleveland, it was not about the regular season. It was about June, and can we get to the finals and win it? This is the first time in years for LeBron. He's not going to admit it, and he shouldn't.

But inside, he knows we're not beating Goldstein. unless something crazy happens. We're not getting to the finals. I don't think he's playing to get to the second or the third round. That's not going to impress him. I believe he wants that MVP award. He'll tie Michael Jordan with his fifth MVP. I think he fills these past few years.

He should have won one of these years. You know, I was just thinking about this, that it is so crazy that Michael Jordan, about this time in his career, had worn down with a non-vertical player, but Jordan was a partier and a cigar smoker and a late-night guy and a drinker and a card player and a gambler. And I mean, Michael lived a hard life. Michael, you know, it just shows you, and I'm not blaming anybody or really crediting anybody.

It's just a different world. In Michael's day, it was a badge of honor to stay up late, play cards, get to cigars, steak and potatoes. It was a different world. And if you look at Michael in that 15th year, 14th year, and you, now people will say, well, Jordan, he played college. He also took two years off, play baseball, and he retired again after Chicago. So in the end, yeah, he played some college,

but he also took two years off. LeBron's had to go to the finals eight straight years. He didn't take any time off. You just look at LeBron at this point in his career, and you look at Michael in the same time in his career, it's a totally different ball game. Michael, I saw Michael's last game in Portland. He had a great night.

I think he scored 42. it was a different, Mike. Very much fall away, very much. It was like a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery. Like Earl Hersheyzer after surgery was a much craftier pitcher. Michael was a much craftier player, less dominant physically. But it is remarkable that the two great players in the NBA and NFL, Brady, I don't think I've ever seen him this good.

And LeBron, so Brady, I still get 90% of the athleticism with 100% elevation. in pre-snap. LeBron, I get about 85% of his greatest athleticism with all his efficiency and his intelligence. Isn't that saying, I wish I knew then what I know now? That's what you have with these guys like LeBron and Brady. You have almost peak athleticism and all of the experience and knowledge that playing 15 seasons, 18 seasons gives you. Yeah. Tonight, Arizona, Denver, Arizona, homework assignment tonight.

I'll be on the bird Twitter. I don't do this very often. I'll go on the bird. Want you to watch Josh Rosen, the rookie quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals. I want you to watch him and tell me if you were an NFL scout. What do you see? What do you like? What don't you like?

Greg Kosell was on earlier today in our NFL meat sandwich and said this. Well, I think they're concerned about their all line. That's why. Because I think McCoy, at his core, likes to push the ball down the field, and you see a lot of those concepts and principles in their past game. But in order to do that, you need protection. and then if you start getting caught up in six and seven man protection concepts, then you have fewer eligible receivers that are releasing into routes.

So I think they're trying to figure this out because their whole line has been to be kind of work in progress. But Rosen's been very refined. He's very nuanced. He was inaccurate last week. This particular week he threw the ball much better. Yeah, he'll be interesting to watch. He's fun.

He's really, we're so lucky of the last 13 first round quarterbacks drafted, Only one has been a bust, Paxton Lynch. They can all play. Darnal can play. Baker can play. Rosen can play. Josh Allen probably should have sat this year, but he can play. Went to Minnesota and won. So the NFL's figured it out, man.

They've figured it out. Make it easier for college quarterbacks to succeed. And the bust rate has gone down on these quarterbacks. It was a 50-50 split five years ago. I mean, it was a coin flip. E.J. Manuel doesn't work. Christian Ponder doesn't work. This guy does work.

These guys can all play now, and they can all play fast. And by the way, they're playing. Donald's got a bad old line. Rosen's got a bad old line. I mean, these guys are making it. Josh Allen, bad old line. And they're still succeeding. Thank God for the new rules.

Radio audience, we'll see you tomorrow. Blazing five on a Friday. 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 Podcasts, 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. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends.

and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspired. women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world, like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

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

Guaranteed Human.