The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Steelers, Mike McCarthy, diva WRs, NFL playoffs, and the CFB playoff system

Episode Date: January 2, 2019

Colin talks about Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger's recent comments on WR Antonio Brown, the problem with diva wide receivers, why teams should be going after former Green Bay Packers HC Mike McCarthy, his NFL playoff predictions, and why there shouldn't be more teams added to the College Football Playoff. Guests include Nick Wright, Albert Breer, Rob Parker, Joe Banner, and Shawne Merriman. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I've said this before. I'm not a fan of high-maintenance people. I don't think you can solve them. I don't think you can fix them. I think that stuff's developed either in the womb or by 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years old. And so I don't deal with high-maintenance people. If I was an NFL coach, I would create a system where players outside of the quarterback, obviously, were more replaceable, not totally replaceable.

but more replaceable. So the Pittsburgh Steelers, Big Ben yesterday, kind of threw Antonio Brown under the bus. He's got his own drama. He said, I've reached out to him numerous times about the argument. I've called him. I text him. I know other guys that have. We haven't heard back basically saying, calling out his wide receiver, he's high maintenance.

Folks, Pete Carroll and Mike Tomlin are known throughout football as guys who can handle egos. guys who can handle divas. And Mike Tomlin couldn't handle Lavian, can't handle Antonio, struggles with Big Ben, and Pete got his guys out of town. It doesn't work. This morning, OBJ, in New York, on the trading block. Show me the Super Bowls for Ocho. The Dallas Cowboys got out of the Des Bryant business.

They won the division. Show me where it works. This is not the NBA. where every draft there is one, maybe two, generally one kid you got to get. You got to sell the farm to get a guy. Half the NFL is undrafted. The SEC alone, you could just draft out of that conference and build an NFL franchise. You are not beholden to any one player.

Now, you need to get a quarterback. There's no question about that. But college football now has given us a couple of year, five rookies this year, played, all made an impact. But if the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have a history under Mike Tomlin, of kind of coddling, enabling stars, if they can't do it, if Mike Tomlin can't handle it, good luck to the rest of you. Because Mike Tomlin and Pete Carroll have been the two kind of star enablers, you know, the ping pong table in the locker room, players can talk politics, they embrace it. And these two guys, Pete Carroll's like, I'm,

done with it, got to the playoffs. I'm getting my guys out of town, got to the playoffs. Mike Tomlin, I wish I could get my guys out of town, can't make the playoffs. I mean, Big Ben saying, we're trying to get a hold of a 30-year-old wide receiver who's throwing footballs at us and throwing a tantrum. And again, this is not the NBA. The Steelers, in fact, even have Antonio Brown's replacement on the roster. He just got voted MVP of the team by the players, Jude Smith-Schuster. There are certain things in sports. that evolve. There are things in sports that are very valuable, but over time become less valuable. Let's take the NBA centers. You used to have to have a big center or you couldn't win a title.

Three ball revolution, don't need centers. If you have them, can be useless late in games. Used to be in baseball. I remember as a kid growing up, base Steelers. Oh, you got to have a guy go on base steal a base. Base Steelers, nobody wants to take that risk and take a guy off the bases. and in the NFL, diva wide receivers. It's over. Show me the playoff wins for Randy Moss. Ocho, Dez, OBJ, Antonio Brown. They're all underachieving teams.

Seattle's got good. I'm not saying you don't need wide receivers. They've never been more valuable. But the guys in Seattle aren't controversial. DeAndre Hopkins in Houston isn't controversial. Like certain things in sports. you simply, sports evolves.

NBA centers aren't as valuable. They're not. I mean, Joel Embed, they get hurt, they can't shoot threes, they don't control tempo, oftentimes bad free throw shooters. Base Steelers and,

you know, major league baseball. You used to have to have one. If you didn't have speed, you were done. Now it's like, why risk the out to home run game? And in football,

the diva wide receiver, what is the point? Why? Show me where you need them. because the Dallas Cowboys got out of the coddling Des Bryant business, a lot less noise, and more playoffs. And worst of all for Pittsburgh is that they knew Antonio Brown was a headache. Ryan Grant, now at ESPN, used to be his team, Ryan Clark, used to play with him.

And he warned the team, watch out when you pay him. Quick story. Antonio was going into his third year. you hear that Mike Wallace has turned down his deal. And I knew already that they were going to offer Antonio. And he's walking past and I turned to the strength coach and I say, when you give him money, you're going to create a monster. That day in practice, Antonio and I almost get into a fight

because he's saying things to Coach LeBoe. He's screaming at Coach LeBoe, screaming at us defensively. Don't touch me. I'm the franchise. Because he already had that mindset. And now with success, with money, these things come. But when it comes to just being a good teammate, when it comes to just being supportive,

to understanding that you're trying to achieve, one goal, that doesn't matter to him. Deva wide receivers, absolutely, inarguably, no longer necessary to win divisions, win playoff games, and win Super Bowls. More proof. Let's shift to this. Social media, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat stuff, you know,

social media. Everybody wants the cool thing. now. I'm having a great vacation. Look at my phone. I'm lit. I'm cool. I'm kind of an old school guy. I think you treat people right. Treat people how you like to be treated. That's been true for 50 years. It'll be true for the next 50. It'll be true before I was here and after I'm here. Mike McCarthy, who by the way, 18 playoff games, won more than he lost, has a better winning percentage than Bill Parcells, I believe, is available to hire as a coach. Jet should hire him.

Cleveland should hire him. Arizona should hire him. He probably won't get those jobs because he's not lit. He's not cool. He doesn't have cheekbones. He eats too many hamburgers for those. He kind of looks like a cop or a bus driver. Yeah.

You convince me that all the cool guys should get the jobs in Cleveland and New York and Arizona. I know those young guys, those handsome guys, those clever guys, those high guys, cheekbone guys. Those guys are hot. I'm not denying Cliff Kingsbury's hot. He won 35% of his games in the Big 12. Not so hot. By the way, who's the number one seed in the AFC right now? Oh, wait. It's Andy Reed, 60 years old. I can't see his cheekbones either. He's not lit either. You guys ran him out of this league, right? No good bum old guy. Can't win the big one. The number two seed in the AFC is 66-year-old Bill Belichick. Oh, by the way, the best coaching job in the league, probably done by John Harbaugh, mid-50s.

Sean Payton, mid-late 50s, number one in the NFC. I know Sean McVeigh's handsome and got abs. John D. Filippo, he was going to change the game, got fired. Jets, Cleveland. Mike McCarthy's the best available coach. I saw when he left Green Bay. They were two and two. They beat the Jets in overtime in Atlanta at home.

Yippee. Better get size for a golden Hall of Fame jacket. I know that Mike McCarthy is a little heavy, kind of grumpy, old school, no visible cheekbones. He's the best coach available right now. Oh, but he runs a simplistic offense. Really?

You watch football? You think this stuff is MIT? These are 24-year-old men. I watch the Pittsburgh Steelers. That doesn't feel like Harvard to me. Antonio, get open. Teams have playbooks. High school, college pro football.

Players memorize them. I'm not looking for Cambridge here. Oxford. I'm looking for stability. Sean McVeigh, you do get in L.A. is not close to Sean Payton right now. You do get that Josh McDaniels bombed in Denver. Matt LaFleur.

There's another hot guy, the Titans offensive coordinator. You've got to have Matt LaFleur. Matt LaFleur, it is. It took him 12 games to figure out. Just hand the ball to Derek Henry. What about Adam Gase? Adam Gase in Miami. He is hot.

He is young. He is clever. He is lit. He's a quarterback whisper. That's what I heard. He was the Jay Cutler quarterback whisper. You know, a lot of things, you ever notice for Jay Culler, people whisper things all the time about Jay Culler. He's a jerk.

That's what they whisper. Don't overlook experience. Don't overlook Mike McCarthy. Super Bowls, Brett Farr, Aaron Rogers, egos, big brands, pressure. Yeah, I know. He looks like a Milwaukee retired cop. I know he's not cool. But the guys won 62% of his games.

He's been to the playoffs nine times. He has a winning record. You ran Andy Reid at a Philly. He was old and outdated too. And you got a hip college guy. That didn't work out. And oh, by the way, Doug Peterson, where'd he come from? He was Andy Reid's guy.

Look at who's the number one seed in the AFC. I'm just reading all these stories about all these hip, hot, new, cool, lit, cheekbone guys. And I'm like, I saw Josh McDaniels in Denver. That was a disaster. That was young arrogance. I'm watching LaFleur in Tennessee. I mean, I like Matt Nagy, but you're going to tell me, Brian Kelly, Notre Dame's won everywhere, can't coach in the NFL?

You're going to hire guys with a 35% one. winning percentage in the Big 12? I mean, I don't get it. Mike McCarthy is out there. Mike McCarthy is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was popular 100 years ago. It'll be popular in 100 years. You go knock out your kale salad.

That guy can coach. All that guy can do is handle egos, Farvin Rogers, handle a big brand, win a Super Bowl. By the way, in a market that doesn't pay at stars, can't get free agents and players don't want to plan. Oh, but Aaron Rogers, what about him? We've finished third in his own division this year. What about Aaron Rogers?

Man, we are falling for new and Snapchat and Instagram and Twitter. Nah, just look me in the eye. Say hi, shake my hand. I'll go old school communication. We could talk at dinner. You can be on your phone with your wife, on your phone with your boyfriend, on Instagram with your girlfriend at dinner. I'd rather keep the devices at home, talk, flirt,

eat, look each other in the eye. I'm a Mike McCarthy guy. Sorry, 62% winning in the tougher division in the last couple years of the NFC. You can go ahead and run him out of the sport. Go hire the college guys. I'll take him. Be very careful about bearing 50, 60-year-old guys

because they're outdated. Experience matters. You told me the wildcat was going to last forever, too. You know what, last? Get in the pocket. Sit back. Look around the field. Throw darts. Complete them. That works. All right. There we go. So this is an interesting thing. Is that it's kind of fun to guess what's going to be the next dynasty. Dynasties not only in football, basketball, baseball, movies, retail, technology. Dynasties come out of nowhere. And we are about. seven months away, eight months away from the next dynasty in football. That's next. In L.A., it's the hurt.

Great to have you in. It is a Wednesday. Nick Wright joining me in about 10 minutes. Albert Brear, Rob Parker, former Eagle President, Joe Banner, Sean Merriman's in studio. Of course, Joy Taylor. Dynasties come out of nowhere in sports. And we thought the Miami Heat, LeBron, D. Wade, Chris Bosch, going to last forever. that lasted one-third of the San Antonio Spurs.

Let's start with dynasties. The Golden State Warriors dynasty. Now think about this. They lost to the clippers in the first round. Following year, best team ever, number one seed title never looked back. Came out of nowhere. Tom Brady Belichick. Belichick had been fired in Cleveland.

He was 5 and 11. Tom Brady comes in for an injured Drew Bledsoe, 18-year dinners. both came out of nowhere. Coach K at Duke, he was barely 500 as a head coached army. Joe Tori was an announcer on television for the California Angels. He had a losing major league record. He got the Yankee job. They won four out of five World Series. Probably the best baseball teams ever. They come out of nowhere. Marvel, the number one movie, what would you call it, franchise in the world, is Iron Man, Marvel Studios. led by Robert Downey Jr.

He plays Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. was doing occasional guest spots on Allie McBeal and was in and out of rehab. He now makes $80 million a movie. Amazon sold books. They now rule the world in retail. Netflix sent you DVDs in the mail. They're the number one disruptor in American television history. Pete Carroll was considered a joke higher at USC.

Dabo Sweeney was a way. wide receiver coach at Clemson. The Red Sox didn't win a title for 85 years. They now have four and 14 and are favored next year. Dynasties come from nowhere. You're like, how did what? I don't under. The Indianapolis Colt at the start of next year will be on a 10-year dynasty. The Indianapolis Colts have the best young general manager in football, a star quarterback now in a very reasonable contract, nine draft picks. Van Dereyche is not the best young linebacker in football. Darius Leonard of the Colts or rookie led all players in tackles by a wide margin. Their offensive line is the best young offensive line in football. They have $100 million in

cap space and arguably the best general manager in the sport. Andrew Luck went 11 and 5, 11 and 5 11 and 5 with no support. Since week 6 to 7, he finally got healthy, and they've won 9 of 10. By the way, of the quarterbacks that attempted the most passes this year, Big Ben, Luck, Ryan, Cousins, Rogers case, one made the playoffs. Folks, this roster is young, cheap, talented, in a division with, let's be honest, dysfunctional Tennessee, who may need another quarterback, historically chaotic Jacksonville, who does need another quarterback,

and talented Houston, who always seems to underachieve. Your division does matter. They have dominated Tennessee. They really dominate mostly Houston, and who trusts Jacksonville. I don't know if they're going to beat Houston this weekend. I'm not sure if they are. It's asking a lot to go to a place like Houston twice in about five, six weeks, and win both times.

Houston's got a good coach, a great defense, better, older veteran players. and Deshawn Watson's good. And they'll be on the road again. But you didn't see the Warriors coming. You didn't see Robert Downey coming. You didn't see Davosweeney coming. You didn't see Joe Tori coming. You didn't see Coach K winning 500 of his percent Army coming.

You didn't see six-round Tom Brady and Belichick fired in Cleveland coming. Here it comes. You better beat them this weekend. You better beat them this weekend. Because I'm telling you, New England's rain. Brady's not getting younger. and Pittsburgh's dysfunctional. And the Chargers like them, Houston like them,

don't always really trust them. Watch out. Here it comes. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, that's a perfect transition call.

In the 2018 NFL regular season is over. So the lists are now in full swing. Everybody's listing their top players of the season and pro football focus. their list of the highest rated quarterbacks. And here they are. Drew Breeze comes into number one. Patrick Mahomes, number two.

Andrew Luck. You were just discussing number three. Well, look down there number nine. He snuck in the top ten there. So Big Ben is not a top ten quarterback, but Baker Mayfield is. Well, look, this is pro football focuses rating system. I don't know that I disagree with that. I think Aaron Rogers is a little high there.

considering how their season went. So Big Ben's not a top 10 quarterback in the league. I just want to get that official. Deshaun Watson. I told you Matt Ryan did very well for me fantasy this year. Are we all sure that Deshawn Watson's not as good as Jared Goff and Matt Ryan? Are we sure about that? When I'm watching, it seems to me Deshawn Watson,

is everybody as good as Jared Goff, Matt Ryan, and Baker Mayfield. Do you have a problem with Patrick Mahomes being rated above Andrew Luck? Yeah, but it's not. I'm not going to lose sleep. I think Patrick Mahomes is really, really, really, listen, I've said this. Of all the young quarterbacks out there, there are three right now that are different. Andrew Luck is different. Carson Went's talent is different.

Patrick Mahomes' arm is different. Those guys are just different than everybody else. You know, it's kind of weird because we don't apply this rule to the NBA, obviously. But I think everyone's forgetting this is technically Patrick Mahomes rookie season. It is, yes. No, he's great. I mean, he didn't play last year. I mean, one game.

Listen, you know I like Patrick Mahomes. I like Andrew Luck more. I think we fall for the hot, new, cool, doesn't look when he throws. Mahomes is really good. You know, the genius of the no-look pass is you can actually see. You're just making people think that you're looking in another direction. Is that it? Is that the genius of it?

Yes. Okay. I mean, you don't get mad when LeBron throws no-look passes. Well, basketball is different because if it's intercepted, it doesn't mean you lose. That's fair. All right. Well, depending on the situation. All right. So Ben Rothesberger, he likes to splash some blame around. Yes. Finish the season, 9, 6, and 1 to miss the playoffs by half a game.

And Ben is back at it. He thinks Levyon's holdout is what held the Steelers back. Oh, okay. All right. It hurts me. You don't have one of the better players in the game. But I think the biggest thing it hurt us is just a distraction. I think on a positive note, I think what we got to see from James Connor. Jaylon Samuel, I think we got to see some guys really kind of come into their own and get a glimpse of the future.

So I was actually really encouraged with what we saw without Lay Beyond Man. You know, I think I'm going to speak some blasphemy here, but we get the Steelers a lot, like the organization, a lot of credit for being stable and committed and historically great. I mean, obviously they have the most Super Bowls ever and all that. Maybe we're giving them too much credit. Maybe I'm giving them too much credit because I hold the Steelers a franchise as a whole. So do I, though. in the upper echelon of NFL franchises.

And the amount of dysfunction that has followed them for the past couple years is not reflecting that. Yes. No, they've gone sideways. There's no question. But I still think the Rooney family, Colbert, the GM is Kevin Colbert. The GM is great. I don't think anybody in the NFL drafts running backs are wide receivers, star players better. They're very good track record of nailing the draft.

They're smart. They created the Rooney rule. I think they're good people, they're smart. I do think... Historically great. I just think at one point or another, you keep using that as like, well, they are the Steelers.

Okay, but what your product that you're putting out is not Steelers. Well, I think Mike Tomlin is very pro. You know, he had ping pong tables. He had pool tables. No, you can't come in as a fun guy and then flip the script. He's a little bit ice cream for breakfast parent a little bit. Now he's trying to pull back a little. But I think it's still a great organization.

They are, you cannot tell me they're not well run. And by the way, Tomlin's won a lot of games. So let's not make it the Tomlin can't coach. No, but this is what I told you at the beginning of the season. Tomlin is, I think, a great coach. I do think the Steelers organization is a great historical organization. I just think that the standard for the Steelers is higher than, say, the Jags or the Browns or the Texans. They'll be back.

And that's no offense to those organizations, but it is the Steelers. Like there is a higher level of expectation. If you don't make, it's not, we're not trying to make the playoffs. It's Super Bowl or it's a complete failure. So to me, I just don't understand how all of this dysfunction is happening. Oh, I do. When I know what kind of organization the Steelers are. Yeah.

And they hired a coach who's more of, you know, by the way, the Lakers have gone through a lot of coaches. Coaches are humans. They're all different personalities. The Lakers have had rigid coaches. They've had flashy coaches, Pat Riley. They've had young coaches, Luke Walton. The Laker brand's still great, but they've gone through. Now they've got a young coach who likes the three ball.

They had Mike Brown, who was a longtime assistant who really didn't like offense and love defense. I just think the Steelers hired a coach. And in this day and age, it's very hard when players make $100 million to be super, super pro-enabling player coach. Pete Carroll did it and got rid of guys that made noise, and they got the ship right again. Well, I will say it's definitely not Levy & Bell's fault. No, no, it's not. There's been some talk in the past 24 hours about the possibility of the 49ers someday hooking up with Antonio Brown, but there's another report that surfaced that the 49ers could actually

be more interested in Odell Beckham Jr. According to Mike Floreo of pro football talk, if the Giants decide to move on from Odell Beckham Jr., the 49ers could pursue him. The 49ers considered during that window last year when Beckham seemed to be available, and there's already buzzed this year that if he's available, the 49ers would be interested, Beckham's contract is very tradable. Now, the Giants' GM, Dave Gettleman said this morning, we didn't sign him to trade him, but you know you can do that with that what you will.

The Giants have become a very fear-based business. They should have moved off Eli Manning, but they were afraid how it would land. And they should have tried to engineer a trade for Odell Beckham and fix their O-line, which was the worst in the league last year and is slightly better. But they've made decisions based on, oh, how will it land? Will we get ripped?

If I was the Giants, Odell Beckham can play in this league. I'm kind of out on diva receivers, but there's value there. And the Giants still have a long way to go. They got some star players, but that O-Line is still at best average. If you could get a draft pick, if you could get... Well, you would get a lot for O'Dowell. And as much as I like seeing O'Dell in New York, it would be fun to see O'Dell with Jimmy G. I'd like to see O'Dell Beckham with a great quarterback.

Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'd like to see. Especially in his prime. So I think that the Giants need enough pieces that they should trade him, But whether they will or not, you know, fear-based, I don't think that they will, though. All right, Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The HeardLy News. Oh, we got so much today. You know, one of my New Year's resolutions is just to be nicer to Nick Wright. Co-host to Be Nice Things First. I thought you didn't have any New Year's resolutions. Is that your one big personal change just to be nicer to Nick? I got to be coast-host to First-Coward via the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right, here we go.

Let's start with this one. Happy New Year to you and your amazing. family, Nick, first of all, happy New Year. To you as well, and the entire herd family, everybody out there, happy New Year. All right, let's start with Antonio Brown. I said to start my show. You used to need base dealers in Major League Baseball. Used to need centers in the NBA.

And you used to sometimes be beholden to star wide receivers. I look around right now. The Deba wide receiver, to me, is much more disposable than it's ever been the rules help receivers right out of college of the pros. What do you do if you're Pittsburgh with A.B.? You and I are typically very different on this. I will tolerate a lot more than you will tolerate, especially if you're a star player.

Antonio, to me, has crossed the Rubicon here. A lot of this is not just on him. I think it, you talked about it stemming with Mike Tomlin. I think it stems with the enabling of Ben Rathlisberger and his bad behavior on and off the field that for 15 years the Steelers have still never punished him and always put their arms around him, whether he's throwing teammates under the bus being accused of horrifying things off the field or just throwing red zone interceptions. But that is the culture

they have there. And now with Antonio, we're to a point where in a playoff week, the most important week of the year, he goes AWOL. If that's not tradable, then nothing is tradable. I don't think it's shocking that the Steelers have had a trend of Martavis Bryant fails to, drug test doesn't learn. You can't keep failing drug tests. And now has failed tests out of the league. Levy on Bell failed multiple drug tests. You've seen guys in that locker room not be taught. There is a line. And for Antonio, I don't care about the celebration penalties. I don't care about throwing the cooler. I don't care about throwing the football at Big Ben. He probably deserved to have that football thrown at him. But you then got to show up for work the next day. And so if I'm the

Steelers, he's the same cap hit on or off the team next year. So I'm asking myself, is my team better moving forward with zero cap dollars for Antonio Brown, 2020 and moving forward, plus probably a first and a third round pick, or Antonio Brown, his contract and the enabling that goes along with it, I'm absolutely shopping him this summer. All right, let's shift to this. You're in New York. Mike McCarthy is available. I know he doesn't have cheekbones, and he's not lit and cool and all that stuff. But I know this.

Everybody bum-rushed Andy Reid out of Philadelphia. He's the number one seed, old 60-year-old Andy Reid, an old Belichick, an old John Harbaugh. I'm reading, and I got nothing against Cliff Kingsbury. But, you know, I saw him in the Big 12, and he's interviewing for the Jets job, and I'm like, whoa, it doesn't make sense to me. How does that land for you?

I mean, I do have something to give against Cliff Kingsbury. How about 35 and 40 at Tech? That's enough to be against him. That's his record. Cliff Kingsbury going from fired at your alma mater, where you're a beloved legend, to NFL head coach would be an instance of failing upwards, the likes of which I had never seen.

Like, failed reality start to, never mind, not the point. But I just, I can't imagine a circumstance where this makes sense. You joke about the cheekbones. I mean this sincerely. If Cliff Kingsbury weren't so handsome, would he be a candidate? If Cliff Kingsbury didn't look like, literally, Sean McVeigh, would he be a candidate? And I would caution anyone that was trying to find the next McVe or the next Matt Nagy. What did McNey, or McNey, McNey and Nagy have?

McVeigh went and hired someone to take care of the defense who's 50 years older than him. Nagy has Vic Fangio, who's 30 years older than him to run the defense. If you're bringing a guy like Cliff Kingsbury, does he have a Wade Phillips of Vic Fangio? A guy who would make a ton of sense for that job is Todd Bowles, but I don't think he's going to stick around in New York to be the coordinator for his nephew. So I just, I don't understand the Cliff Kingsbury thing. McCarthy would be fine. McCarthy is a replacement-level coach.

that's not an indictment. That is who he is. Cliff Kingsbury would be bananas. All right. Let's move to this. We didn't see the Warrior Dynasty coming. We didn't see Joe Torrey coming. We didn't see Robert Downey Dynasty coming. We didn't see Amazon that used to just sell books or Netflix coming. Dynasties come out of nowhere.

We thought LeBron, D. Wade, and Bosch would last forever. The Colts have nine picks, $120 million. the best young linebacker, an rock-solid offensive line, mostly on the cheap, in a division that's full of dysfunction, including your Texans, is it crazy to say they may not win this weekend?

But for the next eight years, they're the safest bet to be a dynasty in this league. My Texans, I'm going to start doing that to you, by the way, Colin. Every team in any city you've ever lived in, your Las Vegas stars. I'm just going to start assigning you teams. I don't know that we can give them dynastic status yet, but you do like to be ahead of the curve. I'll give you credit for that.

What I will say is the GM there, Chris Ballard, has just hit Grand Slam after Grand Slam. Trades back in the draft. Gets three extra second round picks, including one that's still yet to come and gets the guy the Colts would have taken number one overall, potentially. Quentin Nelson. Hits a home run with that pick. It's a home run with Darius Leonard. They will be able to sign Levyon Bell if they want them this offseason. Luck looks as good as ever. The only caution I would put on it is this. I think the Texans with Deshawn Watson are very tough in that division. If the Titans ever get a quarterback, they could be tough. And you did something very tricky earlier a few minutes ago when you were talking about the best young quarterbacks in football,

and you mentioned a 23-year-old, a 24-year-old, and then you included Luck, who when next season starts is going to be 30. I know you keep convincing yourself, you're still a very young man, but luck is not a young quarterback. back anymore. Luck is about to be 30. So he should be in his prime, which he is. He's been awesome. And the Colts should beat the Texans this weekend.

Okay. And finally, my New Year's resolution be nicer. I come off as a little hard on Patrick Mahalms. Even his dad has told people, Colin doesn't like him. He's a marvelous talent. And with Andy Reed, it's going to be 12 years of Ws. And by the way, I have them in the AFC championship. So I think they'll end up there.

Whether they win or not, I'm not sure. But you think he's MVP. I have said luck. The table is yours for a couple of minutes on him. You've said luck? I assumed you were going breeze. Go ahead. Name what?

I can name eight chiefs. Name three Colts. I think luck is taking less. And I think your guy Mahomes, I got pass rushers. I got Chris Jones. I got Justin Houston. I got the fastest receiver. I got the best tied end.

I've got a great left tackle. I've got Andy Reid. Your guy gets more help than my guy. Okay. All right. So I'm glad you mentioned all these great Chiefs defenders, which have led them to the 32nd rank defense in football. You're right.

This Chief's defense has carried them again. In their four losses this year, they've averaged 39 points per game. Colin, sometimes things aren't complicated. 50 touchdowns, 5,000 yards. Lux had a great year. He's got 39. touchdowns. He has been sacked eight times in the last 10 weeks of football. What Mahomes did this year

is one of the three greatest quarterbacking seasons ever. 07 Brady, 2013 Manning, 2018 Mahomes. And people are like, oh, well, it's the weapons. It's Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey. Okay, take those touchdowns out. The Hill and Kelsey touchdowns out. He'd have 28 touchdown passes on the year. Your long-lost brother, Tom Brady, has 29 total. Like, let's all, let's not overthink this. It's the number one seed, the third highest scoring team in the history of football, 50 touchdowns, 5,000 yards. If anyone else wins the MVP, they should stop giving the award out. It should be unanimous.

Breeze had a nice season. Breeze has 32 touchdowns on the year. Mahomes has 31 on the road. This is silliness. And you're right, like the amazing weapons like DeMarcus Robinson. who caught the 50th touchdown. Sammy Watkins's been a no-show. Cream Hunt got cut.

The defense is terrible. They're 12 and 4 in the one seed. We all know who the MVP is. You just want him to cut his hair. Yeah, I'm not a big headband guy. I just thought about that. Baker wears a headband, Patrick. I'm not a big headband guy.

I didn't even like Wilts Chamber. LeBron wore a headband for a long time. Who did? Not a big headband guy. Joy, wear sweatbands tomorrow to work, please. Yes. LeBron wore a headband for a long time. I didn't like it at all.

I had bailed on him when he. he did that. Nick Wright, great. Happy New Year, buddy. You too. Miss you guys. Talk to you soon. All right, Nick Wright. First things first. Go host. Okay, coming up next, Russell Wilson, Dak, Seattle, Dallas. It is going to be a great game that will prove a point this weekend. And I want you to know something going into it about the Cowboys Seahawks, about Russell, Wilson, and Dak. It lays right out perfectly for you when you watch the game this weekend, Saturday on Fox. It's the Hurd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard

Radio app. By the way, I have a birthday this week. Joy has a birthday in a couple of weeks, so there's a lot of Capricorns running around here. You know, it's kind of embarrassing. I was just asking you how old you are going to be in the break, and I literally forgot how old I'm going to be. You look fan, you got great energy. Which I think means I'm officially, like, in my mid-30s. Can I guess your age? Yeah. Oh! Everybody's yelling in my hair. Google ruined all of it now. You can't, you can't lie about your age anymore.

We're all happy. We have Google. Yeah, you know what? I'm fine. I'm perfectly happy with my age. Great to have you here. Okay, so Dallas, Seattle this weekend. You know how I feel about Russell Wilson. I think Russell Wilson is the most underrated quarterback of my lifetime. I think he is a right-handed Steve Young, who I also think is one of the most underrated ever, but Steve Young played the position differently so we didn't give him credit. And Russell Wilson plays it differently so we don't. don't give him credit. Colin, you're from Seattle. So what? You don't hear me talking about the

Mariners. I don't play favorites. I don't give a rip where I'm from. I'm from Los Angeles. I bailed on the Rams two months ago. Okay. I don't, I criticized Kobe before. I'm from LA. Who cares? Russell Wilson faces Dak Prescott this weekend. And it's going to be the classic example of what Bucky Brooks, a guest on the show, a former player, a former scout when he talks about quarterbacks. Here's Bucky. Quarterbacks come in two forms. They're either trucks or their trailers. Meaning trucks, they can carry the team.

It doesn't matter what they have around them. They can still find a way to get you to the winter circle. Trailers are guys who have to depend on the rest of the pieces around them to really support them. The overwhelming majority of the league are trailers. It's just, do you have the people around you that can put

the pieces in place that allow you to play at a high level? This is the perfect example of a truck versus a trailer. Russell Wilson's a truck. He pulls average players. This year, Russell Wilson has taken a third round receiver, Tyler Lockett, who was a slot receiver and a punt returner in college. And they basically set an NFL record.

70 targets, 57 catches, 10 picks, no interceptions, perfect passer rating happened once before in the history of the league. He also has a seventh round running back and an undefalienable. Undrafted receiver Doug Baldwin. Those are his big stars. He's a truck. He is pulling a seventh round running back, a rebuilt offensive line, a slot receiver punt returner and undrafted Doug Baldwin.

You see the numbers. Now let's go to Dak, who was struggling mightily. And the Dallas Cowboys gave him a first round Alabama, Oakland, Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper. Here's DAC pre and post Amari Cooper. Oh, wait a minute. Amari Cooper elevated Dak Prescott significantly. Folks, this is the definition of truck and trailer.

It's called context. Context means let's add elements to the story to give it fiber, to give it truth. Now, Dak Prescott this weekend has a better front. the Cowboys are not rebuilding. They have a better roster. They're at home. He's got a first round running back and a first round receiver and a first round left tackle and the best guard in football.

And Russell Wilson will go on the road with an undrafted receiver, a third round receiver, a seventh round running back, and a rebuilt offensive line and one defensive star in the front seven. And my guess is Dallas will win the game. But this is the perfect example of truck and trailer. Russell Wilson is taking seventh-rounder, slot receiver, punt-returner, undrafted, no pro-wolders up front, one defensive star, and he's going to carry them into Seattle. Again, just if you gave DAC Seattle's personnel and you gave Russell that defense and Zeke and Amari, Seattle would win the Super Bowl. Dallas probably just wins this game.

So we talk about the truck trailer all the time on this show. That is the perfect example of it. I do think Dallas wins this game. I think Seattle deserves massive applause for getting to this game. I feel there's two teams in the NFL playoffs, one in the NFC, Seattle, and one in the AFC, the Colts, who are way ahead of schedule, that are going to have another good, you know, I mean, Russell Wilson's going to be great for another six years.

Luck's going to be good for another six, seven years. They've got a bunch of good young players, and they're going to be fine. They've got good head coaches. But Seattle and Indianapolis, if they win this weekend, it is because of Luck and Russell Wilson. Because they are, those guys are trucks. They are pulling a lot of kids. I mean, not Indianapolis Colts team.

They're three best players outside of luck, two are rookies. I mean, and this Seattle team is Bobby Wagner, Russell Wilson, and people Russell's elevating. And that's not the knock on Doug Baldwin. He's one of the most, maybe that is the best hands in the NFL. Tyler Lock, it's a speed guy. You know, I'm not criticizing the Seattle players, but you give them Blake Bortles and you don't know who they are.

You're not, I mean, this thing with Russell Wilson and Tyler Locke, it's unbelievable. They have an 81. percent completion percentage when Russell throws to him. Ten touchdowns, no picks, 14 yards of catch and a passer rating that's, I don't know. Perfect. 158.3. Okay.

Oh, oh, I got a couple of things. Buy seller hold next hour. You know, Joy, everybody, everybody's talking about, you know, you got to expand college football. We got to have an eight-team playoff. I mean, you just have to. It's just totally unfair. I mean, you've got to have eight teams.

I'm done with that. This college football year has been the greatest advertisement for what we have been pushing for, which is fewer, not more teams at the end of the year vying for the national title. That and Russell Westbrook goes delusional again. He's in L.A. tonight to play the Lakers. Hour two next, The Hurt. Ah, here we go. This is The Hurt.

hour two. Wherever you may be in, however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me, hour two in 15 minute, less than 15 minutes. About 12 minutes. Albert Breer stops by, Sports Illustrated Monday morning quarterback. This guy's got the very latest stuff on the Jets coach, the Browns coach, Mike McCarthy, Brian Kelly, Notre Dame, Cliff Kingsbury.

A lot of stuff happening right now in the NFL in about 12, 15 minutes. We'll give you all of it. Joy, how are you? Doing great. All right. There is a difference between being honest and a hater. If I say Cam Newton's moody, that's being honest. It's not being a hater.

If I say Baker Mayfield's short and a little cocky, that's not being a hater. Well, short is. Well, for NFL quarterbacks, he's short. He's a shrimp for NFL quarterbacks. But the point is, there's a difference now in this. Everybody gets a ribbon life that if I'm critical, and I tell my son all the time, be a critical thinker in life. see ahead, look ahead, look for the trends.

Don't be the guy that reacts, be proactive. Russell Westbrook's in LA tonight to face the Lakers. People think I hate Russell Westbrook. No, I don't. Russell Westbrook is a good guy. He gave a lot of money to UCLA for a practice facility. He's a good husband. He's a good guy.

I think he's well-meaning. I also think he has no self-awareness. It's that Carmelo Anthony thing. He's got no self-awareness of what he is. So Russell Westbrook has had a terrible year. shooting. And yesterday, playing the Lakers tonight yesterday, I mean, his shooting numbers right now are awful. Field goals, he's 37th, three point percentage, he's 68th, free throw percentage for a guard, he's 65th. He's having a terrible shooting year. He's never been a great shooter.

But now he didn't have the pop because he's had multiple surgeries, he's aging, and he didn't elevate like he once did. The shots are not as open, and he's never been a great shooter. But he said yesterday, it doesn't matter, I'm so good at a bunch of other stuff. Here you go. Scoring the basketball is not the only way I can do. The best rebound in my position, the best pass in my position, the best defender in my position. Okay. Now, first of all, he's not the winningest point guard or the best shooting point guard. That stuff matters to me.

That's why I prefer Steph Curry. But let's break down his claims. Number one, he's the best rebounding guard. Congratulations. That's like being the best pass-catching right tackle. Cool, bruh. Let's go to number two. He's the best defensive guard.

Ten years, decade, not a single all-NBA defensive team. In fact, he is largely mocked for not guarding his men on threes, being closer to the basket. Therefore, he can elevate his rebound stats. There's video proof we're showing on FS1. Number three, he's the best passing guard in the league. Oh, that's adorable. Yeah, that's why Kevin Durant left. You were such a great passer.

this is what drives me crazy about it. He has no self-awareness. There's not a single executive in the league that think he's the best passing point guard. There's not a single executive or analytic in the league that tells you he is the best shooting, passing defensive point guard. What he is is a hyper-athletic,

aging quickly, wildly dynamic, streaky, unpredictable fourth quarter point guard that can't shoot. He's not a bad guy, nor is he a bad player. I'm not even contending he's a bad teammate. He has no self-awareness. And that is a really important thing in sports, knowing not only what you are, but what you're not. Russell Westbrook's in L.A. tonight.

LeBron's hurt. Oklahoma City will come. into town, they'll win that game. And oh, by the way, the Oklahoma City Thunder, if you've watched them at all this year and I have, have already made it fairly clear who they want taking shots late in games. Paul George is now their best player, their most dependable player, their most reliable player, and their most clutch player, and frankly, their best player. Westbrook, Lakers, tonight in L.A. I should just go.

You're going to go and get those fancy seats? Yeah, I don't know if I don't have to say. Russell would know I was there. He would, but he would not acknowledge it. He'll have a good game. They'll win tonight. Okay. What I'm going to talk about for the next three or four minutes is something that I believe in life to be true.

I'm a quality guy, not a quantity guy. I don't I've never nothing against buffets nothing against having 30 slices of pizza I'd rather have three great slices of pizza I'd rather have a great cocktail than nine cheap beers I'm not into more I'm into good and in college football this year

if I have to hear another we've got to have an eight team playoff everybody gets her ribbon we need more teams really I watched all these bowl games. Yeah, I watched all these bowl games. And you tell me what you saw in these bowl games over the last three weeks that told you we needed an eight-team playoff. I would argue we should have a two-team playoff, Alabama Clemson next decade. I watched that number three-seed Notre Dame who you argued for. Get blown out. I watched that number four-seed Oklahoma fall behind 28-0. I watched the five-seed Georgia last night, who you lectured me, deserve a

spot in the playoff basically get pushed around for three hours. I watch Michigan get clobbered. UCF get clobbered against the SEC's fourth best team missing 14 starters. And I watch Washington fall behind 28 to 3 make it competitive, but not in the same league as Ohio State. Come on, man. When has more ever been better? We don't need more teams.

Fewer equals special. Fewer equals urgency. See, fewer equals better. There's never been a club invited. The more people they let in, the cooler the club. Listen, I would change college football, and all my changes would be fewer, not more changes. My perfect playoff college football scenario is,

keep the current four playoff teams, then only eight other bowl games outside of the playoff, that's your top 20. That's it. no conference, meanwhile, can have more than four bowl teams. And what that does is ensure regular season games matter. The SEC and the Big 12 put seven, eight teams in the bowl games. Now it's down to four max.

That late season LSU, Kentucky game, that late season TCU, Oklahoma State, that's like a bowl game. That's like a bowl game. Four teams per conference max to bowl games, eight bowl games outside of the playoffs, and then the playoff. And that would ensure three things. Regular season urgency, bowl game urgency, and playoff urgency. We keep looking for more. Give me more of this and more of that.

You ever watch like CNN's political coverage? I got 40 people on the desk. You know who's a star? Oprah, one person. You know who's a star Howard Stern. I don't want 30 people. Give me one max two people talking on television who are smart, have context, and can add.

Every show I watch, it's jammed, more people, more political people, more sports people, 19 people on the draft. How about three who know what they're talking about? I don't need to see UCF and Michigan and Washington. I'm watching these games. Why don't I want to see Alabama crush three teams instead of just one? I don't want to watch Alabama blow somebody. They let Oklahoma 28-0.

What would they lead Washington? UCF, Michigan. We got to get out. Do you want sports to be sports? You know why the NFL's king? Because the regular season matters, and the playoffs matter, and the Super Bowl matters. That's why the NFL has surpassed the NBA in baseball. Regular seasons, too many games, playoffs, too many teams.

Then the finals are good. College football needs less of everything. Fewer teams go into bowls, fewer bowls, not eight, but just four, maybe two teams in the playoffs. All right, buy, seller, hold. Albert Breyer is going to be joining us now. Next, we got playoff games coming up. We have coaching openings. We have young star quarterbacks.

You're bakers, you're Sam Darnold's. Who's going to be their coach? Jim Harbaugh, Brian Kelly, they coming into the NFL next. In L.A., it's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. When shopping for car insurance, consider Geico's been saving people for 75 years with car insurance. You're serious about savings. Go to go to goyco.com.

Geico.com after 75 years, they know how to save you money. We've got all sorts of stories. Odell Beckham, Summer's saying now is on the trading block. Antonio Brown are the Steelers trapped. With that, we go to senior NFL reporter, Monday morning quarterback, former Patriot Beat Rider at the Globe, Albert Breer via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Let's start with Antonio Brown.

Yesterday, Big Ben kind of threw him under the bus, said, you know, I call, I text. He doesn't return it. So did the teammates. Obviously, Big Ben's got his own drama and things here that are tough sometimes. to put your arms around. What do the Steelers do with AB? Are they trapped with his contract, Albert? Well, this is a complicated one because they love his work ethic. I mean, I talked to somebody in the building yesterday who said, this guy is the hardest worker on the team, and it's by such a wide margin. I don't even know who's number two. The flip side is that you don't know

which AB you're getting on a day-to-day basis. I don't think they trade him. I think they view this as part and parcel to who he's been over the course of the last few years. Obviously, this happening during week 17. It's not ideal. They know exactly what set him off. And so whether or not they can manage it going forward, we'll see. But I certainly think the value he has, the Steelers, is greater than the value they can get out there for him. I think a lot of teams look at this and say, you know what, he's a great player. But at the price tag, at his age, you add everything into it, it's just not worth it for us to go down that road. Okay, Jets and Cleveland have an opening. I'm going to go old school. Mike McCarthy's a winning coach. Everybody bailed on Andy.

read and he's now the number one seat in the AFC. I'm not convinced that big 12 coaches, coordinators, everybody, all these hot shots. And I got nothing against Cliff Kingsborough. I think he's very clever. He'll do very well at USC if he stays. Give me your thought process on the Jets in Cleveland with, you know, Donald Baker. They need to get it right. Yeah, they both have great opportunity because this is one of those rare situations where you've got young quarterbacks on rookie deals. And so if you're in competition for a coach, you can sell that to that coach. And so if Mike McCarthy's out there, you know, and the New York Jets are in competition with, say, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to get Mike McCarthy, they can say to Mike McCarthy, hey, we've got Sam

Donald. Not only do we have Sam Darnold at 21 years old, we have him for the next three years on a rookie contract and we have $100 million to spend. So you can play a big part in making up the team around him. I think with the Browns, it's more than just Baker Mayfield. I think it's the makeup of the entire team. And they're at a critical juncture with a lot of their young players, right? They probably have more under 26 talent than anyone in the NFL right now. Go down the list, Miles Garrett, Larry Ogun Jobi, Joe Schobert, Denzel Ward, Jabrille Peppers, Jarvis Landry. There are a lot of good young players on that team, Nick Chubb, David Joku. They want a teacher. And so that's why I would not be surprised if they go and get one of these big-time program leaders from the college level.

You're not going to hear a lot about it until it happens, and maybe they strike out on them. But again, you know, the name I've continued to hear connected to that one is Iowa State Coach Matt Campbell. And so I think in one case, you're looking for a guy who's running an NFL program and can be a grown-up in the room. That's the Jets, because you've got so much work to do on building the roster. I think in Cleveland, a lot of the infrastructure is already in place, which will give you the opportunity to bring in a guy and project a guy into the role, a guy who's a good teacher and has some experience building a program. There's a story this morning that comes out.

Speaking of diva-wide receiver, Odell Beckham Jr., who increasingly looks a little fragile. We know he's gifted. There's talk the Niners would be interested, which is interesting considering the pushback with Antonio Brown that, you know, the diva-wide receivers had a bad month in this league. Do you buy the Giants are looking to move Odell for the right pieces? I think the Giants have earned a position right now where they need capital to go and get a quarterback, whether it's this year or next year. And so I think they have to look at all their options to build a war chest so they can go and strike if they do like Dwayne Haskins or Daniel Jones or one of the quarterbacks this year.

Or if they need to build that war chest for the future so they have the sort of capital in 2020 to go and get a Jake Fromm or a Tuatunga Beloa or Justin Herbert. And so I think the next couple of years are all about finding the next guy there. And Odell Beckham is one of the most valuable assets they have on that roster. And he's even more valuable now than he was a year ago because you have him signed for the next few years. And people don't think about this piece of it, Colin, the market for non-quarterbacks changed after Odell Beckham signed his deal when Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald did their deals. And so the numbers for Odell Beckham, it looks expensive now. and a year or two, it's not going to look so expensive anymore. And so I think they look at O'Dell Beckham as a potential chip,

a guy that you could move where you say to yourself, well, if we're going to have a young quarterback in here, and it might take a year or two for us to get back up on our feet, what is O'Dell Beckham realistically going to have left when that young quarterback is really ready to play at an all-pro level? Why don't we just look at the idea of turning Beckham into a chip and see if we can maybe, maybe build up that war chest a little bit to go and strike on a young quarterback?

Russell Wilson's got the undrafted Doug Baldwin, seventh round running back Chris Carlson. He's turned Tyler Lockett into a star. He was a punt returner and a slot guy out of college. Dax got all sorts of great pieces. First rounder running back, Amari Cooper, Tyron Smith, Zach Martin. If Dak lost at home to Seattle, does that in any way change the future of Dack in Dallas, in your opinion? I don't think so. I mean, I think the Jones family is sold on him as a leader.

is sold on him as a guy who can be the face of the franchise. And in Dallas, in particular, that sort of thing matters because you're playing on a different stage than the other 31 teams. And I think Dak's ability to handle everything that goes along with being the Cowboys quarterback matters. I think the way that this could affect Dak is what sort of contract is he going to do? And if you want to go back and you want to look at, say, Cincinnati's situation with Andy Dalton in 2014, they were coming off of three playoff years.

Did he look like a superstar? but they showed they were able to win with them. And they got, you know, a reasonable contract done with them where the numbers may have been big, but there were escape hatches there. And so if Dak goes and lays an egg on Saturday, I still think the Cowboys look to do a long-term deal with them. And I think the numbers will still be big quarterback numbers, but it may give them the leeway to put some escape hatches in that deal, which would allow them to get out down the road.

But again, I think his ability to handle being the Cowboys quarterback is an important factor here. You and I are on the Colts are a year away from a dynamic. Dynasty. I, nine draft picks, 100 million cap space. They could use a number two receiver, a pass rusher in another corner, and they'll probably, you know, solidify their own line. They may go get a tackle. But I, when you talk to people around the league about the Colts, I said this earlier, we did not see the Warriors Dynasty coming. We didn't think Joe Tori, who had a losing record. We didn't see that coming. Mike Shishowski was a 500 coached Army. We didn't see that dynasty coming. When you talk to people around the league, I think Indianapolis starting next year, they become the Patriots. And I'm serious. I think they have a 10-year dynastic run. What do people around the league say to you? The right general manager, I mean, I think that Chris Ballard is considered among his peers as a top five general manager, a very good head coach who's shown to be capable of putting together a really good staff.

Both his coordinators, Matt Eberflus and Nick Siriani, are getting looks as head coaching candidates after just one year. and again, all the resources that you have on top of having a bona fide franchise quarterback and Andrew Luck. It's having all these young guys on rookie deals, your Malique Hookers, your Quentin Nelson's, your Darius, it's also having $100 million to spend this off season. And remember, you talked about pass rushers, guys like D. Ford, Devi and Clowny, DeMarcus, Lawrence, Frank Clark are going to be out there on the market. And then you've got three picks in the first two rounds, including the Jets pick, which is probably going to be almost like a first rounder, 34, 35 overall.

They're set up incredibly well. And again, I don't think they're getting into a Super Bowl this year, but if I had to put odds on who's going to get to Super Bowl 54 in Miami early, I think Indianapolis Colts would be at top of the AFC list. Okay, I'm going to ask you two quick questions and just quick 10 second, 15 seconds answers. Okay, Green Bay Packers next coach will be. Josh McDaniels. Oh, why?

And I've said this to you for a month. I'm going to explain this to you really quick, really quick, okay? Coaching Aaron Rogers is difficult. There's an anxiety that goes along with it. There's a pressure that goes along with coaching a guy who has that much experience and ability. There's pressure on you to do that. Josh McDaniels is one of the few coaches on the planet who knows what that's like because he's been coaching Tom Brady. That is an important piece of this.

I'm not saying for sure he's going to be the head coach. He needs to win the interview. I'm saying he's in a very good position going in during this weekend. Okay, I allow that long answer because that was good. Okay, one more. Lavian Bell next year is starting running back for Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That's what I heard. All right, Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That was a short answer. Hey, you're great. Albert Breer, Monday morning quarterback. Great stuff, Albert. Thank you. All right, thanks, Colin. Boy, Joy. I mean, his explanation makes sense.

Yes. I don't love that higher at all, but I don't. I don't get the whole Josh McDaniels thing personally. Yeah, but he's cool. He's lit. He's happening. Is he lit? I mean, he's lit under Bell-Chack with Brady.

Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I actually don't think Josh McDaniels goes anywhere. I don't know. That's why it surprised me. I mean, look, he had an opportunity to coach Andrew Luck.

I would not have backed out. And backed out of that. That job now is... Right. I mean, look at that job now. And he backed out of that to stay with the Patriots. So now he's going to leave the Patriots and go... Sometimes, you know, it's funny about that.

Sometimes when I see people pass on jobs, like, you ever met somebody and you're like, you meet a guy and you're like, boy, he's good. Then you meet his wife and she's a crazy person or vice versa, and you think less of them? Like, you meet a woman and you're like, oh, she is. And then you meet her husband. You're like, he's a jerk.

I don't know. Josh McDaniels passed on the Colts job with Chris Bowder and Andrew Luck. I'm starting to wonder if Josh McDaniels is all that. Well, I mean, it's not like he passed on them to go to Jacksonville. No, but I mean. He passed on them to stay with Tom Brady and the Patriots. Who's 40? Okay, but maybe he has some guarantees from the owner there that made him feel like he should stay there.

He's guaranteed. He's a guarantee Tom turns 28? No, maybe, you know, when Belichick moves on and if he stays there, that, you know, that he's next in line. That Colts opening last year will be the best opening in this league for a decade. I don't disagree with that. I'm just saying that's why I don't see him moving on to go to the Packers, because how does that make sense? So we've discussed the MVP race at length, but we haven't talked much about the offensive rookie of the year. Who would be your offensive rookie of the year?

My offensive rookie of the year? Yes. I can't give it to a lineman. No. I mean, most people are giving it to Saquan Barclay. Yeah. Which seems like a deep-ball answer. Baker Mayfield.

Baker Mayfield has come up in the conversation. It might seem crazy to a lot of people. I would say, yeah, Lamar is 6 and 1, but he doesn't have the volume of work. I'm okay with anybody. I mean, Lamar's... You would be okay with Baker? Yeah, I mean, in fact, I'll send a congratulatory tweet if he gets... Really?

Yeah. Well, I think Seekwon is going to win it just based off of the numbers, but when you really look at the impact, I think that Baker actually deserves it. Baker's best games, they won. Sequan's best games that didn't necessarily win. So Impact, I'd give it to Baker. Well, they went from Owen 16 to 7-8-1. That's right. With Sequin, they only improved two games.

So I think that while Sequin has been putting up, had an amazing season and put up great numbers, I think the impact that you have on the team should play into it. Well, that's why it's called valuable. Right. Like Baker was more valuable than Seek. I mean, Dak won it over Zeke. And you could definitely argue that Zeke is more valuable, but DAC has a bigger impact because of the... And it has a lot to do with the position that you play as well.

I think Baker, I would send him a congratulatory tweet. That's big of you. Gigantic of me. Is that part of your personal change? Your personal changes are being nicer to Nick Wright when he comes on. And be nicer. Be nicer to LeBron James. Yeah.

Because you're not nice. Rough on him. By the way, Baker Mayfield, you are welcome on this. I've told you before. I don't think he's a bad guy. He came on and he gave you a hoodie. Yeah, yeah. I think he's a little bit of nonsense for me.

But likeability, fun. I'd bring him on. I'd give him an hour. You know what? I know everyone thinks that you two hate each other. but I'm going to let you in a little secret. Baker gets it. He knows the thing between you two words.

And I thought he was one of my favorite guests of all time. Yeah, he was great. He was great. So retail therapy appears to be the answer for Antonio Brown amongst all the conversation about him. There's a lot of drama between him and the Steelers. And TMZ says that Antonio Brown, Antonio Baker treat himself to a six and a half-carat goat ring

from celebrity favorite Gabriel the jeweler. is ridiculous. That's not all. As Mike Tomlin was answering questions this morning, if he thought that Brown quit on the Steelers, Antonio tweeted this. My options may seem limited by people or circumstances. It is then that I remind myself that I am in command of my attitude. I am divinely blessed with free will. I utilize that gift, choosing to take charge of my life to express creativity, vitality, and wholeness that truly define me. Oh, boy. I'm not exactly sure what that means. That sounds a lot of like stuff. very blingy ring.

I got to be honest with it. Could he pull it off? Could he pull it off? Could I pull that off? I don't even wear a wedding ring. I lost it surfing. I don't know what I would do if you came in with a goat ring on. It would be respect, though.

I do have to say, though, Antonio Brown is not even in the conversation for the greatest receiver of all time. No, no. You have to have multiple Super Bowl rings. You have to have one Super Bowl ring. We got a guy playing right now named Larry Fitzgerald, who's in a top five. I mean, Tilly Fitzgerald is one of the greatest players of all the time. Yes. I mean, he's in the conversation too, but I still can't give it to him because you need multiple Super Bowls.

Right. I mean, Jerry Rice is still up there. So, Kauai Leonard was an MVP form, speaking of MVP last night against the Jazz. He had a career high 45 points in Toronto's 112 and 16 win, which seems fitting considering his next opponent is Greg Popovich and the Spurs. Yeah. Look at those little baby dinosaurs go. Yeah. Second and these.

Okay. Listen, Kauai Leonard has an odd personality. Can I throw something out here? I do not. I'm just going to tell you right now, I'm going to put this out there. I'm going to put it out there. Okay. Okay, so are we rolling tape on this?

I think we're live, yeah. We need to create another meter. I am told Kauai and Leonard strong lean to the clippers. And it is not a marginal lean. It is a people in the league, executives in the league believe this. to be true. That he wants to come to Los Angeles. He's from here. He does not want to be LeBron's valet. He is not interested in that. I can't see Kauai and LeBron playing together anyway. It just doesn't. By the way, it's not a fit. And it's perfect. They're the number two brand in town.

Right. You know, he's not interested in being valet for LeBron. He is interested in coming home. I am told there is the Antonio Davis Anthony Davis to the Lakers is a real thing we told you two weeks ago and then the day after we told you it started surfacing I am told Kauai to the Clippers is equally strong

and there is a belief among executives that it's a 60, 40 or more lean right now. Well, it's going to be the sports capital of the universe. Breaking news and stuff. Yeah, Big J. Journalism. All right, is Joy Donnie done? All right, joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Let's get a close camera shot on this if we could. Our director, I just want to. It doesn't come off. Big J. It doesn't come off. The highlighters a little tough.

Highlighter's pretty weak today. There you go. It's what's called Big J. It's for journalism. Kaui Leonard of the Clippers. He heard it here first. All right. We got Rob Parker coming up.

He is going to just hammer a team that most of America likes. He doesn't buy him for a second. And he's calling for an upset. But first, I'm your stockbroker. I provide tips and insight. Buy sell or hold. Time to buy sell.

Colin will decide if he'll buy it. Sell. Roger to tell. Or hold. Who hold? Buy seller hold. Dak Prescott and Jared Goff will not win a playoff. All right.

Both quarterbacks, Jared Goff, and Dak host a playoff game. Both the Rams and the Cowboys were 7 and 1 at home this year. And both quarterbacks. are tough to beat when their running backs rush for over 100 yards. Both the Rams and Dallas are rested and healthy at the perfect time of the year. John, Sell, sell, sell. Dallas is going to win a playoff game, one, and the Rams are going to win a playoff game one and maybe two.

Buy seller hold, Andrew Luck will win more playoff games than Dak Prescott this year. Right now the hottest team in the league is the Colts, but they have to go on the road to Houston. Now, I think I'll take them to win that game narrowly. I think it's very difficult when you ask a team to not only beat a team twice in a month, but do it on the road at their place. So I don't feel strongly about the Colts winning, although I would take Indian two and a half points. But even if they win, they would face number one Kansas City on the road next. And I think dome teams get into certain comforts. You take them into the heat of a Miami down Jacksonville.

And the Colts kind of died. And you put them in the cold of Kansas City. And I think they would die. So John. Sell, sell, sell. Yeah, Andrew Luck's going to win a playoff game maybe, but not too. Buy seller hold. Tom Brady and the Patriots will appear in their eighth straight AFC championship.

All they have to do is win one playoff game. Remember, they have a buy this weekend. They were undefeated at home. and there's a good chance they could face the kind of team that they would match up well against. Here's the thing about New England that is not getting press is that New England's defense has been outstanding in the last four to five weeks. Remember, if Gronk could tackle in Miami, they would be the number one AFC seed right now. Let's not, the sky is not falling. They beat Kansas City head to head.

Okay, they had a stinker in Pittsburgh that we know now that Josh Gordon wasn't emotionally or physically ready to play. And they had a miracle loss in Miami. But John, bye, bye, bye, bye, my gut feeling is they're not going to win the AFC, but the Patriots will end up in the AFC championship. Buy seller hold, Drew Brees, or Tom Brady will win the Super Bowl. So you're giving me an option. I don't think New England will. So the question is really, do I think the Saints will win the Super Bowl? Well, let's think about this for a second.

We know Sean Payton and Drew are very good, Alvin Kamar. We know that, right? Let's talk defense. The Saints' defense leads the league in takeaways and sacks since week 10. Okay. They are also 5-0 at home in the playoffs. in the Drew Breeze era. So to me, this is a pretty simple one, John.

Buy, bye, bye! I think New Orleans is the Super Bowl favorite and will win this year's Super Bowl. Last one, buy seller hold. Jim Harbaugh will be an NFL head coach next season. Urban Meyer retired yesterday and also said, by the way, I'm not coming back to coach. We'll see about that. There are rumors that Urban Meyer could land at USC in a year or two if they had an opening. I will tell you what I'm told about Jim Harbaugh.

that the NFL itch has not completely gone away. He is satisfied right now in Michigan. He brings back a very good team. And I'm also told that with Urban Meyer out, they will be a preseason favorite to win the Big Ten, and he would love to have that on his resume. It is a much greater benefit for Harbaugh to say Big Ten champion got to a play. By the way, in his four years there, two times.

He's been in a game against, what, Ohio State? When he's in the playoff, he went 0 and 2. It's okay to lose to Ohio State. Urban Meyer lost nine games in like eight years. So John... Sell, sell, sell. Jim Harbaugh will remain at Michigan for a year or two. I do believe over time that he will jettison the program.

All right, Rob Parker's around the corner. Odd couple with Chris Broussard on Fox Sports Radio. He is all fired up. Saturday, it's a huge showdown in Dallas. As Russell Wilson and the Seahawks take on Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys in the NFC wild card game. It all starts at 7.30 Eastern 430 Pacific, Saturday on Fox and the Fox Sports Sports Instigator.

Professor at USC teaching a commentary sports commentary class. Rob Parker. Hey, what's happening? What's up? Joy, how you doing? Colin, I just picked up, this is yours. This is your AARP card. I heard your spiel about Mike McCarthy.

And, you know, I mean, I don't want to say that Mike McCarthy's old, but I I think most people describe them as Fred Flintstone with a better car. Come on with that. You're giving me this whole thing about the old coaches, Andy Reed, Belichick, McCarthy. And the only thing I'm going to say is when you use Andy Reid, you do have to win eventually. They didn't run him out of Philadelphia.

He never won there. Super Bowl, five NFC title days? Did he win? Oh, good Lord. Win what? He won the NFC East over and over and over and over and over. But he couldn't win the big one. Oh, the big one.

The big one. You know what's big in the NFL every Sunday is big? Just pass me a fresca since you're reliving the old days with the old guys. Okay, let's talk about the Cowboys this weekend. They host Seattle. They're favored. They have the better defense, the better personnel, home field advantage. They have better players.

Russell Wilson's carrying undrafted Doug Baldwin, seventh round running backs. Tyler Lockett was a punt returner. Does Dak Cowboys win at home? They don't win. I'm picking Seattle in that game. I still think the Cowboys are fraudulent, straight up. And the stuff you talk about when you look at, at where their season was.

Troy Aitman and other people, especially Troy Aikman, who's close to that Cowboys program, and you remember how bad it was, he said the whole thing needed to be blown up, and it was dysfunctional. And yes, they caught fire, the East was really bad. The Eagles, you know, went through their

problems or whatnot. Exactly, and the Cowboys seized a moment, and I'll give them credit, I'll never take away. But this is like one of the biggest games for Dak Prescott. Oh, it's his biggest game. It's his biggest game. And he must win.

It's a must win. This franchise has won two playoff games since 1995. Wow. Think about that. Tony Romo couldn't get it done. And now Dak Prescott has to be able to win. They're 7 and 1 at home. If they don't win this game, the question marks and whether or not

Dak is going to be able to be that guy. Now, if he plays well and they lose, it would be different. But if he doesn't deliver what they need him to do, which is to win and move on, I bet you there'll be more questions about, whether or not this franchise is for real or not. I'm not convinced about DAC, not convinced about the Cowboys, not convinced anything about that franchise. Are you convinced the Steelers have to move off Antonio Brown,

a remarkable talent who apparently is upset with Ben, Tomlin, and at this point doesn't want to practice, won't return calls and text from teammates or coaches. What do you do? No, I don't think they can afford to do that. You can't give up A, B. Now, look at what they did. they played chicken with Levion Bell and it cost them.

People can remember everybody was ripping on Levion. What did he accomplish, Colin? You know what he accomplished? First of all, he's going to get his free agency. He didn't get hurt playing. And James Connor, his understudy wound up getting hurt playing running back for the Steelers. Steelers didn't make the playoffs.

And if Levian Bell was on that team, tell me they wouldn't have made the players this year. I believe they would. He's a great player. And he does more than just run the football. he can catch as well. So you can't have no Lavian, no Antonio Brown, right? And then an aging quarterback in Ben Rothensberger. So I don't think that they really can afford to allow him to go anywhere. And with his contract, it would probably be too hard anyway. You are from Detroit. Jim Harbaugh now does not have to face Urban Meyer. I can make the argument I've been told he would

like to if he ever left. He's still in the peak of his coaching career for the next eight to 10 years. He's going to continue to get great offers. They'll only be greater because now with Urban Out, he probably wins the Big Ten on a fairly regular basis. What are you hearing? What is your gut feeling? Should he go to the NFL with eight openings? Baker, Packers, Darnold, a lot of good openings. I think he should go.

I think he should go to the NFL. As a Detroit guy. Only from this standpoint, it's a lose-lose situation to stay at Michigan. From this standpoint, if you beat Ohio State, you should. What's the big deal? Urban Meyer's not there. Urban Meyer beat you four times. No Michigan coach had ever lost to an Ohio State coach four times.

None. Nobody in the history of the program. Four straight. So if you win, right, you're not going to get all that credit because you only won after Urban Meyer. And God forbid you lose to the new coach day. Then what? Are you still that genius? Have you watched Michigan's last couple of games?

Terrible. I'm just saying, they're not always going to call for you. At some point, they start to look and go, maybe he's not that guy. Maybe he can't get there if they don't win the Big Ten or they don't compete for a national championship. Well, he's shown us a history, Trigger Finger,

four years Stanford, four years 49ers, four years Michigan. I'm told that I said this yesterday. If he got a job at any of the eight openings, ticket sales would go up in every one of those cities. This idea that he's wildly overrated, all I know is this. If USC had an opening, he'd be the leading candidate.

He's arguably the leading candidate for three NFL current jobs. Yeah, but a lot of that, I get it. Like, he's one of those guys who moves the needles, but it does move the needle. But it doesn't always mean he has not won the big games. And that's what people are looking for. There's no way if I would have told you that he went to Michigan and four years had passed. And he had a worst record than Brady Hoke against his rivals. And he hadn't won a Big Ten yet.

You would tell me I would be crazy. That's fair. All right, Paul George in Oklahoma City come to Los Angeles tonight to take on the Lakers. LeBron's not playing. Paul George has now become the MVP of Oklahoma City, no question. As Westbrook's aging, Paul's playing the best basketball of his career. You have a theory on this. Why didn't he come to Los Angeles?

Well, I'll tell you, I think when this whole LeBron, L.A. Lakers and no championships follow, I want you to go back to Paul George. Paul George will be the reason that the Lakers, it didn't happen for them. Because had he come, you remember, Colin, he spoke about coming back to L.A. for two years. Yeah. It was out there. Yeah. And even when OKC traded for him, people said, you guys are dumb.

He's going to the Lakers. Why would you give up anything for Paul George? He's not going to stay. So when he decided that, okay, he wasn't coming, LeBron comes to L.A., he's from Palmdale, not that far from here, right? decides, okay, he could come back. If they had him right now, they would be viable right now this year to have a shot in the Western Conference right now. Well, yeah, because Oklahoma City wouldn't be the same team.

And they'd be a clear number two. And you would also have the young players that you got through those bad years that you got through the draft. But now because he didn't come, you're going to have to wind up giving up some players to get that second guy. So say you don't win with LeBron. Those four years come and go, you still won't have those young players who you had stockpiled from the bad years. So Paul George will remember this.

He will be the reason. He's the king killer. He will be the reason the Lakers do not win a championship during the LeBron years. By the way, LeBron said he was the greatest. What's that show called Joy, The Shop? No, he wasn't on the shop. That was more than an athlete. More than an athlete on ESPN.

Oh, guys, ESPN. He said he was the greatest. How did that sit with you? How in the world do you say that you're the greatest yourself or pat yourself on the bat? It makes no sense. That's something other people say. Have you ever heard Michael Jordan say that? No, I think you're best served in life having other people say that.

I think that's a fair criticism. And then even people say, well, Muhammad Ali used to say it. Boxing is a totally different animal. It's an individual sport. It's an individual sport. And it's also, you have to be a salesman. You have to put yourself out there. That's a good point.

In boxing, I have to sell pay-per-views. Right. So, Connor McGregor's obnoxious, Mayweather's obnoxious, Muhammad was just, I think he was a great marketer. In boxing, it's a very fair, that's a very good point. And think about this. That's good. With Muhammad Ali, it was always, people either love Muhammad Ali or hated him. Yeah.

He was a polarizing, and that's what you want to be. You know that. Yeah, in boxing is, I'm not polarizing. No. Lovable. My New Year's resolution is to be, yours was to lose weight. You lost like 60 pounds. No, I didn't lose that.

Come on. You lost a lot of weight. I did, but I'm feeling good. I'm not too skinny. A year ago, I put you on the set. You were a little pumpkin. My pants were falling off. They were sagging.

Joey, what is your New Year's resolution? Just, it's kind of like yours. Just to be nicer. Yeah. To be nicer. It's not really a resolution. You just got me, you got 10 seconds. What's yours?

To eat more chicken wings. Oh, God's a good one. That is. Oh, it could be the best one I've ever heard. Eat more wings. I'm changing mine right now. Hour three coming up there. Ah, here we go.

Number three, we are live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. I think we may have our best hour of the show today. Joy, how are you? Doing great. In five minutes, Joe Banner.

I used to run the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland Browns. So we got a lot of openings. I'm going to ask Kim, what would you do with Odell Beckham? Antonio Brown. Would you sign Lavin Bell? What do you do with Mike McCarthy who's been to a Super Bowl? If you have a young hot shot coordinator, I think that stuff.

Also, we're going to have fun at the end of the show for about 10 minutes. I'm going to hand out my regular season NFL awards. We've got some different awards. We're going to hand out, and that'll be in about 45 minutes. Sean Merriman, too. But let's start with it. It appears Antonio Brown, a wildly entertaining, dynamic, talented player, wants out of Pittsburgh.

so let me start with that. Folks, Pete Carroll and Mike Tomlin are known throughout football as guys who can handle egos, guys who can handle divas. And Mike Tomlin couldn't handle Lavian, can't handle Antonio, struggles with Big Ben,

and Pete got his guys out of town. It doesn't work. This morning, OBJ, in New York, on the trading block. Show me the Super Bowls for Ocho. The Dallas Cowboys got out of the Des Bryant business. They won the division. Show me where it works. This is not the NBA,

where every draft there is one, maybe two, generally one kid you got to get. You got to sell the farm to get a guy. Half the NFL is undrafted. The SEC alone, you could just draft out of that conference and build an NFL franchise. You are not beholden to any other. one player. Now, you need to get a quarterback. There's no question about that. But college football

now is giving us a couple of year. Five rookies this year, all played, all made an impact. But if the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have a history under Mike Tomlin of kind of coddling, enabling stars, if they can't do it, if Mike Tomlin can't handle it, good luck to the rest of you. because Mike Tomlin and Pete Carroll have been the two kind of star enablers, you know, the ping pong table in the locker room, players can talk politics, they embrace it. And these two guys, Pete Carroll's like, I'm done with it, got to the playoffs. I'm getting my guys out of town, got to the playoffs. Mike Tomlin, I wish I could get my guys out of town, can't make the playoffs.

I mean, Big Ben saying we're trying to get a hold of a 30-year-old wide receiver who's throwing footballs at us and throwing a tantrum. And again, this is not the NBA. The Steelers, in fact, even have Antonio Brown's replacement on the roster. He just got voted MVP of the team by the players, Judeo Smith-Schuster. There are certain things in sports that evolve. There are things in sports that are very valuable, but over time become less valuable. Let's take the NBA centers. You used to have to have a big center or you couldn't win a title. Three-ball revolution. don't need centers. If you have them,

can be useless late in games. Used to be in baseball. I remember as a kid growing up, base dealers. Oh, you got to have a guy, get on base steal a base. Base dealers, nobody wants to take that risk and take a guy off the bases. And in the NFL, divo wide receivers.

It's over. Show me the playoff wins for Randy Moss. Ocho, Dez, O'BJ, Antonio Brown. They're all underachieving teams. Seattle's got good. I'm not saying you don't need wide receivers. They've never been more valuable.

But the guys in Seattle aren't controversial. DeAndre Hopkins in Houston isn't controversial. Like certain things in sports, you simply, they, sports evolves. NBA centers aren't as valuable. They're not. I mean, Joel Embed, they get hurt, they can't shoot threes, they don't control tempo, oftentimes bad free throw shooters. Base Steelers in, you know, major league baseball.

used to have to have one. If you didn't have speed, you were done. Now it's like, why risk the out? It's a home run game. And in football, the diva wide receiver, what is the point? Why? Show me where you need them. Because the Dallas Cowboys got out of the coddling Des Bryant business,

a lot less noise, and more playoffs. And worst of all for Pittsburgh is that they knew Antonio Brown was a headache. Ryan Clark used to play with him. And he warned the team, watch out when you pay him. Quick story. Antonio's going into his third year. You hear that Mike Wallace has turned down his deal. And I knew already that they were going to offer Antonio.

And he's walking past. And I turned to the strength coach. And I say, when you give him money, you're going to create a monster. That day in practice, Antonio and I almost get into a fight because he's saying things to Coach Leboe. He's screaming at Coach Leboe, screaming at us defensively. Don't touch me. I'm the franchise.

this and that, because he already had that mindset, and now with success, with money, these things come. But when it comes to just being a good teammate, when it comes to just being supportive, to understanding that you're trying to achieve one goal, that doesn't matter to him. Deva-wide receivers, absolutely, inarguably, no longer necessary to win divisions,

win playoff games, and win Super Bowls. More proof. and with that via the coward global satellite network we bring in joe banner for 17 years the president of the philadelphia eagles the former CEO of cleveland joe this has been a decade this has been a dilemma for general managers forever in this league super talented player nato is an ideal locker room presence what would you do with antonio brown joe well i got run out of philadelphia for not pressure putting enough emphasis on wide receivers so You're preaching to the choir philosophically. Now, here's the difference here, though. They made a decision to keep them. So now next year, they can spend $21 million and not have them or $21 million and have him. So if I was running that team right now, I'm trying to find a way to make peace.

I'm sitting back for a month or two. I'm letting everybody calm down. I'm starting with the coach and the GM, who hopefully may not be as quite as provocative in his mind as some of his teammates at the moment. But if I had made the decision, if I was in the position to make the decision when they signed me, through this deal. And same thing with Odell Beckham. I would have done something completely different. But that got me run out of Philadelphia. So that may not be the right answer. You're absolutely right. I mean, if you look at the ingredients to what leads to winning big in the NFL, it does not include having to have a superstar wide receiver. And it definitely doesn't include many players

that are dragging down the coaching staff and creating a lot of distractions and complications. There's no doubt about it. I think one of the more intriguing things in the NFL, and Albert Brayer was on earlier and compared it to Andy Dalton and Cincinnati. Andy was elevated by excellent supporting talent. Nobody thought he was a superstar. Dak Prescott has a very low ceiling, but he's surrounded by Amari and Zeke and a very good old line and a terrific front seven defensively. What do you do with Dak? Let's say Joe, he comes out this weekend and he loses and, you know, he can make the argument with his agent. He saved the franchise a couple years ago. What would you do if you ran the Cowboys with Dak Prescott?

So if that's the best guy that says, okay, I have to be the new highest paid quarterback in the league, which is the trend, even if you're not the best, then I've got to find a different answer because you cannot have a $30 million quarterback and win a Super Bowl unless he is so good that he's elevating average of his team. I'm a DAC fan, but I don't see him in that difference-making role to that degree. Now, if he's sitting there saying, listen, I I realize what I am, and I realize what you're going to need to surround me with. So instead of a $30 million quarter, I'm a $24 million quarterback. I'm a $22 million quarterback, whatever it is, I think DAC can do that.

And I think surrounded by the right people, especially the offensive line, which makes both the running and the passing game work, then I would like to try to sign him. I would not want to be the person at the Cowboys right now responsible for signing that contract because the comments that Jerry's made about keeping him, I promise you the agent has taken note of written down and has on tape and feels like he has a massive amount of leverage. Right now, Mike McCarthy is sitting out there, a very successful coach,

but he's not the hot new young guy like a Cliff Kingsbury or the Sean McVease. We've got this kind of cultural change where everybody's trying to convince me you need a 37-year-old guy, a hot shot offensive guru. What do you make of Cliff Kingsbury, certainly a talented offensive mind in the Jets in Cleveland.

What do you make of this trend to go real young offensive with coaches? Now, listen, I think you're right in emphasizing experience. I think what the ideal mix right now is a guy with experience who can also surround himself with people that are capable of taking advances, some of the scheme advancements who are saying that are really helping teams, you know, win. I mean, what the bears are doing with the talent they have on offense, which is pretty good. But even with Mahomes in Kansas City, they're outplaying what is a very talented offense.

So if you could take somebody and erase the uncertainty of how good a leader they are, how good a program leader are they going to be, how well are they going to hire, and at the same time have the benefit of some of the scheme benefits that you're talking about. I think you get the ideal guy. So I think there are some guys in college right now. My favorite is Matt Ruhl down at Baylor, who you would have the opportunity as a little bit of NFL experience. He's worked for people that are very good. He's turned around multiple programs that were very challenging to turn around.

Everybody who's worked for him has a tremendous amount of respect for him. If you could match somebody where you know you've got that experience of leadership, you've got people that have the qualities that the great head coaches have, and then they could surround themselves with the right people, which is what really good coaches know how to do. Maybe you get the best of both worlds where you get that really strong, established head coach, but you also can take advantage of some of the benefits of the evolution of scheme that we're seeing. Okay. I'm going to throw a couple players at you. And if you were running at the New York Giants now, I would move off Odell Beckham and I would shore up both lines offensive and defensive. I think the Giants, in my opinion, and you face them for 17 years in Philadelphia, I think they've become a little bit of a fear-based organization, afraid to offend the Mannings, afraid to let go of Odell who sells tickets. What would you do first with Odell Beckham?

I mean, Odell's cap is the same problem. I mean, they created this situation where the short-term cost of getting rid of is greater than the cost of keeping it. Now, you could make the case that it's going to cost me the same month either way. Aren't I better off with these benefits and these assets that I can use otherwise? They're not going anywhere until they do exactly what you said. When we played them and they had the Ernie Korses and all the way back to Joe Junk, this team was built around two dominant lines.

You could not figure out how to stop that pass rush And you could not figure out how to get to their quarterback Even if those were your strengths. I mean we built the Philadelphia team around that and we still have trouble getting pressure on their players Now over the years they've gotten away from that and they've become very focused on their offensive weapons and secondary The other things it's not that those things don't matter But they're really hard to have a big impact on the game until you're able to control the lines of scrimmage So however they do it whether that's getting assets from odal or whether it's using draft picks or whatever a cap room they have left They've got to get back to the basics that made the Giants one of the better teams in the NFL for a very, very long time.

They've got to get dominant. I tried to do that last year. They met a lot of moves on the offensive line. The fact that they were done, they still didn't have a very good offensive line. And they're not even close to having the defensive line. They need to compete against the best teams in the league. Eight job openings. I contend Green Bay's overrated.

Aaron's now 35 increasingly brittle. Very little movement about 45 million cap space. is the Packers job the best job because that's what I keep reading. I don't believe it. I'm with you on this one. Listen, you're betting on a GM who's only been there one year, had somewhat mixed results in the year that he was there. You're betting on a 35-year-old quarterback who already is staying healthy. Very rare

that you get older and become healthier. So I think they've got to really be worried about that. They've got a number of challenges there in terms of can you win with a quarterback who's making $30 million a year and maybe susceptible to injury. That's a question with the quarterbacks that are really having huge impact right now. I believe you can, but it's a lot harder. So I think you've got to bet on four or five things that are unlikely to happen, him staying healthy over the long term, being able to build the defensive line that we were just talking

about that you need to have to compete for championships, him staying healthy. So I don't view the Packers as maybe even in the top couple of opportunities that are available in the NFL right now. Jim Harbaugh, buy it, don't buy it. I mean, I think he clearly showed in the NFL. He took Colin Kaepernick to a Super Bowl. I mean, he turned around four different teams. I think he's done a good job at Michigan, perhaps not great. Would you interview him? Would you hire him if you ran a franchise? I would interview him if he'd let me. I don't think that he's open to that right at the moment, although I think he will be. I got to know Jim because John Harbaugh was with us in Philly for years and Jim used to come to the games with their dad. I got to know him a little bit then. He

may be the most competitive person I've ever met. And when you work in football to say that, it's quite an extreme statement. And I believe at some point he's going to want to come back and prove that he can win against the best, which is at the NFL at the coaching level with all the challenges that you face there. But I just don't see that happening right now. He seems to be comfortable there. The people there seem to really enjoy him. In the past, after two, three, four years, sometimes he's worn out as welcome.

It doesn't seem to be happening at Michigan. The people that I know up there are glad to have him and hope he stays as long as he wants to. So I don't think that's happening in the short term. If I was running a team and he was interested, I'd be extremely interested. I was at the Browns when you may remember there were stories about the fact that we had talked to the 40-nighters about trading for Jim Harba. Yeah, yeah. It didn't work out. But yeah, I was the one having the conversations with the 40-nighters when that was taking place.

Two quick questions. Jets, who's the coach next year? Mike McCarthy. I love that. And Levian Bell, where does he land? I think the most likely spot is Tampa Bay. I know there's a lot of speculation about the Jets, but I just think that that wouldn't be the right answer right now.

I think that the answer may be better in Tampa Bay, someplace that is a little more established and maybe a little closer to winning that they think the Jets are right now. Boy, I tell you're the second person on the show that's tied in that said that, and I think McCarthy to the Jets would be fan. That would make me so excited. I like Sam Darnold. My audience know they know I love Sam.

Darnold and I don't think the Jets have a ton of personnel offensively. Do you like Sam Darnold as much as I do? I was on the show with you in the spring and I had Darnold and Mayfield kind of tied at once. I'm a big Darnold fan but you're right. I mean they're there the general manager there is struggling four years to create the roster he should there's a long way to go but they have the most important piece and he looks to be everything people thought he'd be before the draft. Okay. Great Joe I love having you on 17 years ran the Philadelphia Eagles, long-time league exec, all sorts of insight.

Next time you're out in Los Angeles, I buy dinner, bring you to the set here. I love talking to you. Sounds great. I'll take it. All right, great stuff. Joe Banner. By the way, second person on the show said Lavian Bell, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So that's the second person on the show. And by the way, if the Jets, I think Cleveland should hire Mike McCarthy, I think the Jets should hire Mike McCarthy.

And by the way, if the GM can't figure it out in New York, then give McCarthy coach with some draft swag. I don't know which one of these job openings wouldn't take Mike McCarthy. Everything I read, he's too simplistic. I mean, it's football. Is it not Harvard?

I mean, this idea, these playbooks, yeah, New England with Brady is fairly demanding on their wide receivers. I don't buy that, you know, you know, he's like Fred Flintstone out there. I don't buy that for a second. Everybody bailed on Andy Reid. Andy Reid's now the number one season.

the AFC. Okay. Sean Merriman, my NFL awards. I'm going to unveil them in about 25 minutes. In LA, it's the herd. Car shopping can be confusing. A lot of terms, dealer price, list price, invoice. Go to truecar.com, newer use. They'll tell you what the dealers in your area

are paying. Newer use, truecar.com, and check out the true price at truecar.com. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Shopping for car insurance. Go to GEICO. Go to GEICO.com. Geico.com real simple.

They know how to save you money. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh, has been holding a press conference today. In fact, hold on. Hold on one second. Trying to get the very latest. Hold on. This just can fill space here for 10 seconds. Okay, so let me start with this. I just got a little update in Pittsburgh. Let's start with the Mike Tomlin soundbite. Mike Tomlin, he was asked if a star diva wide receiver like Antonio Brown is worth the hassle. Does there reach a point where it becomes more problematic than it's useful? Sort of. Okay, bottom line.

Can it reach a point where it's a bigger headache than it is worth all the hassle? And Mike Tomlin said, certainly. This, here was James Harrison, who comes on our network, and Antonio Brown, during Mike Tomlin's press conference. This was on Instagram moments ago. Yo, so I'm sitting here with my boy. I'm about to go ahead. I'm going to get the exclusive.

Y'all, stay tuned. We're listening to what we're listening to right now. Stay tuned. We're about to do this big interview. We're going to drop the exclusive. I got it first right here with my boy. Get ready. Okay, I am hearing that doesn't go over well with the Steelers.

my gut feeling this minute is that Antonio Brown will be moved. That's what I believe to be true. What my sources are telling me in Pittsburgh is that they've had just about enough. And going on Instagram, watching the presser, you know, kind of laughing at the whole situation, laughing that you could have played and didn't. I do not think that goes over well. Well, I don't think it's going to go. Obviously, it's tough to speak for teammates.

But if I had someone on my team, as talented as Antonio Brown and as important as Antonio Brown, skip the game. Skip the game. I mean, he didn't think he was skipping the game, but essentially thinking that you can throw a fit like that, not show up, not fulfill your responsibilities going into a game that important, and then essentially cost us the game. and my chance at the playoffs or potentially the Super Bowl. And then go on Instagram.

And then go on Instagram while the head coach is speaking. Not good. It doesn't have the best tone. Yeah, that's a good. It doesn't have the best tone. Joy with the news. No. No. No.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Sticking with that, there is someone who's not putting the blame on Antonio Brown, at least right now. That's Big Ben. He thinks that Levion Bell's hold out is actually what held the Steelers back.

this season. It hurts me. You don't have one of the better players in the game, but I think the biggest thing it hurt us is just the distraction. I think on a positive note, I think what we got to see from James Connor, Jaylon Samuel, I think we got to see some guys really kind of come into their own and get a glimpse of the future. So I was actually really encouraged with what we saw without Lay Beyond there.

Yeah. I'm not going to blame this season on the distraction. I'm actually not even going to blame this season on anything that happened this season, because I think this season is a reflection of. of all things it started before this season happened. Have you noticed what Big Ben's doing, though? He's like, oh, I love Levion. I want to keep Antonio Brown.

So if they do leave, Big Ben's protecting his brand here. Oh, yeah, of course. He's like, hey, I think Levian's great. I'd love to have him. Antonio's great because you don't want to be seen as the guy who drove everyone off. Drove everybody out. So Big Ben's protecting his brand here.

I don't think anyone's going to look at Big Ben in this situation and say that it's Big Ben's fault. I mean, he's the one who has the rings, and he's the one who was there before. both of them. So I don't think that this is Ben's fault. Ben is also just a product of whatever the system is there. I mean, this entire

culture is someone's responsibility. And like I said earlier, we constantly talk about how great the Steelers are as an organization and I really believe that they are. I just don't understand how it's gotten to this point. And maybe it's because they have had so much success over their history that we kind of put them in the same category as the Patriots

or some other organizations, the Packers, or something that are generally quiet. but they're really not. Speaking of the Patriots and their system, Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, got cold feet on the Colts last year, and a lot of people thought that would be the last of his head coaching opportunities.

But his name is back up in the conversation with all the eight openings that have cleared for the end of the year. He is talked about today a front runner for the Packers head coaching vacancy. Oh, he is. Didn't, Albert Rears say that? You're right.

He thinks that's where he's going to end up. Wow. I really do not get that. I get it from his perspective of he has dealt with the greatest quarterback of all time. And Aaron Rogers is reportedly tough to deal with. So it's not like he's going to be intimidated by Aaron Rogers. I think it would be for our business, I think it would be a great fit. It would be great for us because it would be a great talking point.

The brash young coordinator, the brash veteran legendary quarterback. I think that would be great media. Media. It would be great media. I don't know if it's great football, it'd be great media. Well, yeah. I mean, selfishly, you know, I kind of root for chaos for that reason. It's good content.

But I don't get the Josh McDaniels thing. Is that just me? Well, I think he is smart. I think he's smart, but that doesn't mean you can be a head coach. Right. And he was a head coach. It didn't work. Al Gore, good vice president?

Never thought he'd be a good president. I mean, a lot of vice presidents that don't work. I enjoy the Tebow thing as much as anybody else who enjoys good content and ratings. But he was responsible for that. Did not have a good president. running with the Broncos. And the Bill Belichick coaching tree is not great because we talked about it yesterday. He's not an open and sharing guy. He doesn't give away his secrets and all of them. And Bill O'Brien is the only one of his assistant coach that's gone on to head coaching record over 500.

Yeah. I don't understand it, but we'll see. Finally, there's been some talk in the last 24 hours about obviously where Antonio Brown is going to end up. The 49ers came up as a possibility. But there are now reports that they may actually be interested in O'Dell Beckham Jr. Gloria of Pro Football Talk said if the Giants decide to move on from Odell, the 49ers could pursue him. The 49ers considered it the window considered it the window last year when Beckham seemed to be available. It's already buzzed this year that if he's available, the 49ers would be interested. Beckham's contract is very tradable. He has five years, 74 million remaining on his deal.

He signed last August. The Giants GM said this morning, we didn't sign him to trade him, but I actually think that they should trade him. They need a lot of pieces. While I like Odell in New York, I would like to see him with Jimmy G. and the 49ers. And I think that he needs to be. It is good media, but it's also important for O'Dell. Not that the Giants care about what's best for O'Dell,

but he needs to be with a quarterback who is established and good in his prime. So if they bring in a young quarterback, it's essentially like, unless he comes in and is just trailblazing, he's going to be with a developing quarterback for the next, what, two to three years? Yeah. We really want O'Dell in that situation? I like to see star quarterback. the star receiver. Right. So I actually think the 49ers would be great for everyone.

All right, Joy with the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Let's bring in eight NFL seasons, a defensive player of the year. The all-time, 39 and a half sacks three years in this league. The first three, Sean Merriman, former all-pro linebacker, first rounder, three-time pro bowler. Okay, let's talk Antonio Brown. Did his large contract to you backfire on the Steelers? Yeah. You know, it's showing more now than than ever. Just him being this whole thing with James Harrison. I don't get that. I don't know why you would. Because you understand the problem with him and Big Ben. I mean, everybody knew about that. When you start doing things like what he's doing now, it's more poking at the organization now than it is Big Ben. And I think that's what the bigger problem is now. Did you ever have a player who, and listen, I never begrudge a player to make money. You guys play for about eight, nine years. Go make your money. You know, But did you ever have a player, you can call them out or not,

that you thought was more about the money than about the winning? No, no, not really, but that's the whole goal. You want to get paid. That's why you go and perform. The problem is what happens is when you go out and do the things he's doing right now to Big Ben and what he's doing publicly to the organization, I'm not saying he did anything personally to Big Ben, but the problem is he's kind of just poking a bear right now.

He's poking a bear, and I don't care how great of a wide receiver you are. At some point, they're going to be. they're going to move you and you're going to piss them off and that's what he's doing now. Yeah. What would you do with O'Dell Beckham? O'Dell's not the problem. I don't think O'Dell is the problem with the Giants. You know, he should be on the team where he can go out and get somebody to throw him to football.

You know, that's the problem there. Yeah. So if he's moved, it's not an O'Dell Beckham problem. If Antonio Brown has moved, it's an Antonio Brown problem. That's fair. Yeah. You know, I want to talk to you about this whole, you know, I'm like, listen, I understand young coaches, blah, blah, blah, but Sean McVeigh has never won a playoff game.

Sean Payton's won a lot of them. Mike McCarthy's won Super Bowls. I've got nothing against these young coaches. When you're in a locker room, young coach, old coach, does it matter? Does it matter to you? It doesn't matter now because we're seeing what Sean McVeigh and some of these other great young coaches are doing. You know, Mike McCarthy's case, he might, we're going to talk about the Jets. I think he might be that better fit.

being with the Jets. I think he had more control over Aaron Rogers when Aaron Rogers was young. Yes. And that's when they had their most success. That's when they had the most success. They got a young Sam Donald there that I think he'll have some success with. I don't think Mark, Mike McCarthy is old at all to be in the coaching. Andy Reid's the number one seed in the east.

He's 60. Right. We bumrushed him out of Philadelphia. Andy Reid rebuilt the chiefs. Yeah. No, it's interesting. So your thing is McCarthy was great when Aaron was young as Aaron grew in stature, almost like a LeBron, Aaron's a little tougher to coach. Maybe McCarthy is,

you know, maybe he's, I think he actually fits for Sam Donald. Yeah, no question. I think that would be a great move. I don't know why the Jets wouldn't make that decision. You know, Mike McCarthy has success when Aaron was listening, when he wasn't calling his own plays, when he wasn't changing the plays and he didn't have as much control. You can have a lot of control over a younger player that you're still trying to mold. And, you know, Sam Donald is you know, he's that guy. He can be on that level with the right direction. You're a former charger great. I think really the most captivating playoff game this weekend. Now, I think Russell Wilson, DAC is going to get the big ratings. But the Chargers will face Lamar Jackson again.

Now, I don't know if it's sustainable. I know, I've been told this. When you bring something new into the NFL, you got to give an offseason for the coaches to dissect the film. Let's say you were a charge. and you were playing Lamar Jackson. First of all, do you like him and how would you stop this thing? I was at that game when they played him here. And I even underestimated him, not just him as a quarterback. So lie. You know, his speed and what he's able to do out there.

He had one play where he kind of rolled out and he continued on to the sideline. He jumped over the bench on the sideline. He didn't break stride. And I was on the field seeing it for the first time. And a few weeks ago, I just had the talk of Mike Vic. I said, Mike, you know, is this dude serious? Is he good? He said, he's legit.

And I said, I'm going to go see for myself. I was at the game. He's legit. But he's still a rookie. I don't care who his speed or how great he is. He's still a rookie and things you can do against him. The thing is, going into this game, he can be very one-dimensional. Yes.

If I'm playing him, I spy him from, play one. You just have a guy on him the whole game. You have a guy. You can't put a D-Lignment on him because they're not fast enough. You have to keep a linebacker there. to spy him and make sure he stays in the pocket. And as a pass rusher, you stay in your past rush lanes, period. You do that and you force him to throw the ball down the field.

You have a great shot at one in the game. Yeah, I think right now he's a very good quarterback in a tie game or a lead. I think if he trails late and I can drop eight into coverage, and I always felt this with Tebow. Tebow could play with a defense and a lead. But if you knew Tebow had to throw, he's not an elite thrower. Now, this kid's better than Tebow. But I do think the key when you play Baltimore is get ahead,

force Lamar to do things on your terms. Because when he's doing things on his terms, it's a weird offense. And you can't even duplicate that at practice. And he has an arm. He had one shot. We threw the ball to the end zone. He's a rook and he's not accurate yet. So I would force him to be accurate.

I think he will be in a year, two years, three years down the line. But right now, because of the sake of what's on the line, if he beats me by throwing deep balls down the field, he's accurate, I can almost live with that. I can't live going into this game. You lose and you let him run the ball. The things he's great at. If you let him do that, then I couldn't deal with losing. By the way, Mike Tomlin and Pete Carroll have a reputation.

Pro player, little looser. Players can talk. You know, Belichick, a little more, you know, conservative. Go back to your career. Did you like to be coached? Did you like a quiet locker room? Would you have been better with Belichick or Tomlin? Because it does look like the Steelers have sort of unraveled.

They had ping pong tables and pool tables and shuffleboard tables. And, I mean, give me your eight years in the league. What worked for you in terms of disciplinary action and sort of tempo and personality by a coach? Yeah, well, I play for two different style coaches. I play for Marty Schottanheimer. He is no bull. He was no joke. He was very strict and, you know, aggressive.

We had hard practices and he just didn't take anything from anybody. And, you know, Norv Turner came in. He was a little bit more. Very much a layback. Which he's also, you know, DeMarty Schottheimer, defensive-minded coach, North Turner, offensive-minded coach. So the practices in a way we approach things were different. By the way, the Marty system worked.

The Norv system didn't. But did you like Norv initially because he was more chill? No, I like Norv as a. as a coach, you know, but if the offense, if the offense were doing well, doing practices, it was a great practice. If the defense was doing well, horrible. We got to start it over. We'll start the, you know, start. That was just the mentality. And I also think that's the mentality that's going on there with Mike Tomlin. I think that it got so out of line. Now you have so many different personalities to check. You have so many different people because you didn't

stop it over here with this one. Well, who's the biggest personality you ever played with? Because, well, Danny and Tomlinson wasn't a personality. No, Philip probably said, but, you know, not in the bad way, but he was... And who in Buffalo was the big guy? You know, play with Fitzpatrick. Yeah, we had a big... Stevie Johnson. Oh, no, they got...

Yeah, Stevie Johnson was probably the biggest personality guy we had. And it didn't hurt the locker room. No. He's just big... No, but you have one or two guys. You don't have five. Pittsburgh's got all sorts of noise. Pittsburgh has five.

Yeah. Good senior, bud. Good seeing you too. Coming up, I'm handing out my regular season NFL awards, including one award. I'm sure nobody wants to win. That's next. Best for last. It's the herd. Saturday, it's a huge showdown in Dallas as Russell Wilson and the Seahawks take on Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys. And the NFC Wild Card game. It all starts at 730 Eastern, 430 Pacific. Saturday on Fox and the Fox Sports Out. Take the Cowboys close to that one. Excited. So here we go.

The regular season is complete. The playoffs starts Saturday. Saturday night Fox, Seahawks, and the Dallas Cowboys. So I thought everybody hands out their awards. I would hand out mine the HARD NFL regular season awards with the help of Joy Taylor. Very exciting stuff. Very. Great season, 2018 season. We'll start with the best game of the season, Colin.

And the winner is? Best game of the season winner is. Chiefs Rams, Monday night score fest. Which I thought gave the NFL actually a boost on. all the networks. It was 54-51. It's one of the most remarkable showcases of NFL talent ever. Two of the smart play callers, two great young quarterbacks, 54-51, 105 total points, the most ever on Monday night. And if you recall, Joy, the game was

originally scheduled to be played in another country. And by the end of the week, they moved it to Los Angeles, which was also going through some tragedies in Fousand Oaks. And with the fire, That's the best game of the year. Chiefs Rams Monday Night Scorefest. All right. Next category is the most shocking game of the season. And the winner is the Cowboys somehow beating the Saints.

The Cowboys, congratulations. If you recall, Joy, they were six and five. They'd recently been steamrolled by Tennessee at home. Yeah, we thought this was going to be a disaster. The Saints were on a 10-game winning streak, and the Cowboys held Drew Breed. to 127 passing yards. And it was sort of the epiphany

where we all realized, oh my God, Layton Van derresh and Jalen Smith are not only good. They are the best linebacking duo. Young, old, in the NFL. That was the most shocking game of the season. Congratulations to the Cowboys.

All right. We do. Column was right. Column was wrong every week. Here's your best column was right. Collins' best prediction, Vikings and Jags, missing the playoffs. Yeah, both the Vikings, they were in the NFC championship game, and the Jaguars were in the AFC championship game.

And I came out and I said this happens every year. Sometimes teams catch lightning in a bottle. I do not believe Kirk Cousins is a major upgrade at quarterback, and I don't buy into the limitations of Blake Bortles and now the chatty Jags. So yes, calling the conference participants, Conference championship participants, Vikings, Jags would peel way back, was my best prediction of the year. And the best guest prediction of the year was Brian Cox nailing the Giants' terrible season. Yeah.

Yeah, I said the Giants were a dark horse Super Bowl team, and Brian Cox came on the show and said this. Giants are no good. Now, that's a little strong. No good? No good. Nate Soulder, Odell, Sequin Barclay. No good. No good?

They might win five games. Oh, come on. He was so right. It's one of my favorite clips of the show. They actually did win five games. It's the greatest prediction in the history of this year on the herd. All right. And the best draft pick of this year is the Colts linebacker, Darius Leonard.

A second round draft pick by the Indianapolis. Colts. He not only led the league in solo tackles, he let it in total tackles. He was tied for six and forced fumbles. He played college football at a place that doesn't have his games on television. They went heavy offensive line. Then they picked up Darius Leonard. It is embarrassing by the league he did not make the Pro Bowl kids a stud. All right. Next is best in-season acquisition. And that goes to the Cowboys trading for Amari Cooper. Dallas is seven and two. since Amari arrived, and it should be noted, a lot of people push back on this. This was not a no-brainer.

Dak Prescott has improved in every offensive passing category since the move and again. They gave up a first rounder. Dallas got a ton of heat for doing that, and it changed the course of not only the season, but Dak Prescott's career. Some people's New Year's resolution is to spend less money. The biggest buyer's remorse, the vice. Vikings giving Kirk Cousins 84 million guaranteed.

I don't think anybody wants to win this. So no congratulations to the Minnesota Vikings, but this is the buyer remorse of the year. Sunday against the Bears at home. It's the classic win-in-your-in-playoff performance. He threw for 132 yards. He is a small

quarterback who in Washington there is a reason they kept franchise tagging him. They didn't think He was a guy who could build around. The Vikings did. Probably should have stayed with Case Keenham. And there you have a disappointing Viking season.

All right. The player who made you look the most wrong goes to Lamar Jackson. Congratulations. I said, I thought he and Josh Allen were not ready to start in this league. Lamar is 6 and 1 as a starter. He led the NFL in quarterback rushing yards. I went and watched him live to see if it's for real. He has been totally composed.

you cannot take over a football team and own a locker room unless you're totally committed and incredibly coachable. I don't remember a quarterback. Baker Mayfield's mostly exactly what I thought. Accurate, cocky, and good enough to win some games. This kid's performance wins the player that made me look the most wrong. All right. I don't think anyone wants to win this next one. But the biggest disappointments of this NFL season is the Green Bay Packer.

Packers. Congratulations. Six, nine, and one, third in the NFC North, back-to-back losing seasons, first time since 1991. Aaron Rogers had his worst completion percentage year. Mike McCarthy's the first Packer head coach ever to be fired in midseason. Pittsburgh was a little bit of a dumpster fire this year, but they were in the playoff race until week 17. Green Bay was done a month and a half ago.

People think I pick on Aaron Rogers, but I've been saying this for years. At some point, when are we going to acknowledge he is an all-time talent, but that Aaron at times is not the easiest guy to coach in the NFL. And the last two years, I see a lot of eye-rolling. I hear a lot of people calling him out. And they are, to me, easily, the biggest disappointment in the NFL this season. All right. And finally, Collins' 2018 NFL MVP goes to a little drum roll.

Andrew Luck. Okay, Patrick Mahomes threw for 50 touchdowns. But I can name off the top of my head and so can you many Kansas City Chiefs. We know Andy Reid's a great play designer. There's Cheetah, Travis Kelsey for a bunch of the season, Kareem Hans, Spencer Ware, Sammy Watkins, you got Chris Jones, you got D. Ford, you got Eric Barrett. You got all sorts of veteran star players. Name, take Andrew Locke out, and start naming.

Colts players. T.Y. Hilton and a bunch of really good rookies. This is not to say that Mahomes hasn't been great, but I always come back to most valuable player. I think there are several quarterbacks that could score a lot of points in Kansas City. I don't think there's another quarterback in the league that a team relies on more. In fact, of the most passes attempted in the NFL, the top six quarterbacks, one is going to the playoffs that is Andrew Luck. So those are my NFL awards. MDrive, if you want to feel stronger,

want to have more energy, want to have more drive. Go to MDrivev.com. BuyMDrive. Dot com today. Refine your prime with MDrive. So there you go. Good stuff. Greg CoSells on the show tomorrow.

I love that fake blue curtain behind me. It's very classy. It's very classy. That's what this show is. This show is classy. We do class in Big J journalism. Yeah, Big J journalism and classy. Greg Cosell, Chris Broussard on the show tomorrow.

And, oh, Russell Westbrook's in town tonight in Los Angeles. I'm giving it strong consideration of making an appearance at that game. Really? And just watching him, just sitting there like this. Pass! Open players. May I want to pass. Mr. Westbrook, almost as his mentor.

Not heckling. Right. Just as an observer, occasionally offering a suggestion to pass. I am strongly considering that. Why don't you an Earl go and you can check? Maybe we will. All right. All right.

Speak for yourself is around the corner. Nick Wright, Albert Brewer, Rob Parker, Joe Banner, Sean Miraman. We'll see tomorrow. 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,

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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.

Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men. experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with.

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