The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Texans, QBs, Baker Mayfield, CFB rankings, and the Herd hierarchy

Episode Date: November 27, 2018

Colin discusses the Houston Texans win streak, why franchise QBs are so important, why Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield needs to mature, his CFB playoff rankings, and the Herd hierarchy. Guests incl...ude Rob Parker, Doug Gottlieb, Tony Gonzalez, and Leighton Vander Esch. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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,
Starting point is 00:00:16 breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.
Starting point is 00:00:39 Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.
Starting point is 00:01:03 Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to learn the hard way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's
Starting point is 00:01:48 experiences, having honest conversations that'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's to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
Starting point is 00:02:12 Thanks for listening to The HARD podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the Hurt at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the IHartRadio app by searching Hurd. Now let's get to
Starting point is 00:02:29 You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Tuesday. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening live from Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. One hour from now, our top 10 NFL teams heard hierarchy. Leighton Van der Wresh, the Dallas Cowboys is going to join us. Pacific Northwest Kid from Idaho who's hit it big.
Starting point is 00:02:56 He's a star linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys. Joy Taylor, I didn't say the city. I was an undisclosed location, missed yesterday's show, got snowed in. We could say it. I was in Kansas City with Earl and the family for Thanksgiving. And Sunday, we were ahead to the airport and it decided to drop six inches of snow from the sky. There you go. By the way, it looks like you're wearing a ski sweater.
Starting point is 00:03:17 So you look so. Yes, I've been affected by the bludgeoned. I haven't seen snow like that a long time. It's very pretty, just not on the right day. All right. Great to have you back. Thanks. Great to have you back.
Starting point is 00:03:25 So I'm watching last night to Sean Watson, who I said when he came out in the draft, not Mitch Tribisky. I said I'd take Deshawn Watson as the first quarterback. I didn't think he was as gifted maybe as an Andrew Luck, not as physically gifted as a cam, but I said that's the best quarterback I've seen in college. He should have beaten Nick Sabin twice. Sabin had six weeks. He's great. And I'm watching him last night, and he just had another terrific night. They've won eight straight. I know we fall in love with two-game winning streaks for Baker-Mayfield. A lot of average guys have had two-game winning streaks. He's on an eight-gamer,
Starting point is 00:03:55 terrific player, 19 to 24, a couple of touchdowns can move, had a lot of a running game, and I'm really happy for him because he's also, I've been told, a great kid. But I was thinking about this. The NFL football is so much bigger than anything else in America. It's four times as popular as college football. I mean, in regular season games, get nine to ten times what an NBA game does, 15 times what a baseball game does. It's the biggest sport in the country.
Starting point is 00:04:18 And there's one position that matters more than any quarterback, and we know that. These are $3 billion teams, $5 billion teams. Cowboys may be a $10 billion team. So think about that. This is the biggest sport in America by a mile. Quarterback is the number one position by a mile. And all these experts and all these college teams and all these scouts, how many teams in the NFL drive to work?
Starting point is 00:04:45 How many owners, how many coaches, how many GMs drive to work in the entire NFL and think for the next decade we have a star quarterback? I think you'd be shocked to see how lucky Houston is. Now, think about this. Let's eliminate five guys right off the top. They're all great, but they're not going to be here in a decade. Brady, Breeze, Rogers, Ben, Philip Rivers. They're great.
Starting point is 00:05:13 Let's take those five out. They're not going to be here in 10 years. All those teams outside of maybe Green Bay are all thinking of drafting a quarterback next year. And Green Bay, Aaron's going to be 35 in December. They're going to be drafted in a quarterback. in three years. So take those five out the one here. Let's take out the next five, all the rookie quarterbacks. So let's take out Mayfield, Donald, Rosen, Alan, Jackson. Don't freak out Baker Mayfield fans. RG3 had a great rookie year. Vince Young had a great rookie year. You don't know
Starting point is 00:05:41 because you beat Atlanta and Cincinnati? You don't know. Let's take out the rookies. You don't know based on eight, nine NFL games. Let's take out another five guys who, let's just be honest, they're incredibly limited. Bortles, Dalton, Keenham, Eli, and Tannahill. They can win games. Eli's got some Super Bowls. They're now very limited quarterbacks. So we've taken out 15. Let's take out. These are the hard guys to take out. These are guys that are talented, but there's limitations. Stafford, Flacco, Alex Smith, Dak, Kirk, Derek Carr, Mariotta, James Winston. Come on, Marioita fans. He had three passes over 10 yards. He runs too much. He's heard often. Now, I like Derek Carr a lot, but he may get traded in a year.
Starting point is 00:06:26 Oakland doesn't love him as much as I do. And you know what you're left with. Now think about this again. This is the biggest sport, the most important position, the number of what people give up six, seven picks to get the quarterback right. And here's what you are left with in the NFL. You are left with 10 quarterbacks, just a third of the league, that every owner, GM and coach drives to work knowing we've got our guy for 10 years.
Starting point is 00:06:52 Jared Goff, Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, DeShon Watson, Patrick Mahomes, Carson Wins, Jimmy G, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, and Trubesky. Now, I like Carr more than Tribisky, but I think people in Chicago are all in on Trubesky. I don't think people in Oakland are all in on Derek Carr, though I prefer him. When I'm watching last night, I'm watching Deshaun Watson, I'm thinking, man, Houston, you are in much more rarefied air than you realize. Only 10 teams in this league that for the next decade have their guy at the most important position and they think we can win a Super Bowl. And outside of Trubisky, who I'd put in the good but limited and Carr, who I would
Starting point is 00:07:41 put in the franchise quarterback next 10 years, that's it. I could maybe add Derek Carr. It is, you want to know why teams give up seven picks? Deshawn Watson, how good do you feel in Houston? Eight game winning streak. By the way, what makes these guys special? And Jimmy G., what about Jimmy G? You want to know what Kyle Shanahan is in San Francisco without Jimmy G?
Starting point is 00:08:06 Two and 17. Got a winning record with Jimmy G. Hold off your cynicism. Okay? It is, I was just happy for Houston. I was happy for Deshaun. Because the NFL's better. When I know 10 years, check, I got my guy.
Starting point is 00:08:21 It's remarkable how few do. Let me shift to this. We all want to be, I'm not going to speak for joy, but I think she probably thinks the same way. We all want to be not our parents, right? We all want to be a little smarter than our parents, a little cooler than our parents, a little cooler than our parents. A little hipper than our parents. Sometimes we get around to kids and we kind of like roll our eyes at our parents. We love them.
Starting point is 00:08:44 But we look at our parents and we're like, oh, I'm not going to become dad. Oh, I'm not going to become mom. We don't want to become our parents, right? But then all these years later, I look at myself and I'm like, man, I got a lot of my dad's qualities. I got a lot of my mom's qualities. We all become our parents. And Aaron Rogers yesterday was talking about mortality. And I'm thinking about this.
Starting point is 00:09:04 Aaron Rogers would never want to be compared to Farv. Farv, Southern guy, rigid, stothering through all those picks. I'm a lot smarter than Brett Farb. And Farv never thought Aaron Rogers was as equal. Guy went to junior college, California guy. I think he's better than everybody. They're becoming one another. Yesterday, Aaron Rogers
Starting point is 00:09:25 talked about something that Brett Farr used to all the time on the back nine of his career, his mortality. Here's Aaron. Obviously, got a lot more gray in the beard than I did a few years ago. So I know that football mortality catches up to everybody.
Starting point is 00:09:44 And he never want to lose a season. We're going to battle the next, next five weeks and put ourselves in a position to be in the conversation. And hopefully it'll be enough. And like I've always said, you've got to get in. Mortality. We've got to win these five. See what happens.
Starting point is 00:10:01 Yeah. But he talks about mortality. It was one of my knocks with Farr of late in his career. I'm like, dude, you're like 36 years old. Stop being stubborn and rigid. You're not a grandpa. Learn a new offense. He didn't want to learn a new offense.
Starting point is 00:10:12 And I think it's interesting. Aaron's talking about graying beard. I'm on the back nine. They've become one another. Think about this. Let's go to Farr's first 10 years in the league as a Packer, and let's go to Aaron's first 10 years as a Packer. Both have a Super Bowl, multiple MVPs, 9 out of 10 winning seasons, and 6 Pro Bowls. Both have iconic arms, commercials beloved by the fawning media. First 10 years, same guy. Maybe one from the South, one from the West, same guy. But remember how Brett Farve's career ended. And couldn't I make an argument, This is sort of how errands will end. How did Farve's last five seasons go? Barely a 500 road quarterback.
Starting point is 00:10:57 Three teams, multiple Pro Bowls, couple division titles, never got back to a Super Bowl. And oh, by the way, kind of flaky. Remember, Farve, I'm going to retire, I'm not going to retire, I'm going to retire, I'm not going to retire, kind of held the team hostage. And oh, by the way, there were a couple of quarterbacks emerging, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, who look better. When I look at Aaron Rogers down the stretch,
Starting point is 00:11:21 I think he's going to make Pro Bowls. I think he's going to win a couple division titles. I'm not sure he's going to get back to the Super Bowl. And he's becoming a little like Favre, whereas your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, coach out, Ty Montgomery out, defense problem. We never want to become our parents.
Starting point is 00:11:39 We all do. Aaron Rogers, first 10 years, are identical to Farves. Will his last seven be? I will say this. People always say their big difference is Farve threw a lot of picks Aaron doesn't. But even that's linked. Farv never got hurt because he got rid of the ball early,
Starting point is 00:12:03 thus creating often interceptions. Aaron's hurt a lot because he holds on to the ball too long because he doesn't want to throw interceptions. Even on that, they're linked. And just never forget how it ended for Brett Farr's. Brett Farrv goes back to pass. He pumps. Now he fires over the middle.
Starting point is 00:12:27 Intercepted. I can't believe what I'm seeing right now. It was intercepted by Tracy Porter, near side to the 40, and John Sullivan runs him down at the 47-yard line. You've got to be kidding me. I can't believe what I just saw. Why do you even ponder passing? I mean, you can take a knee.
Starting point is 00:12:43 a 56-yard field goal. This is not Detroit, man. This is the Super Bowl. Paul Allen, my favorite radio call ever. It is interesting, though. What we try to avoid, we often become. Farvin Rogers, to me, first 10 years identical, will the last seven or eight for Aaron?
Starting point is 00:13:06 It does appear he'll have a new coach and a new start in about four months. coming up next, Baker Mayfield doubles down rabbit ears, social media going after people and why there's two things, two things on Baker Mayfield that we need to take a deep breath on
Starting point is 00:13:29 before we hail him as a great success. And there's data here to prove it. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Welcome back.
Starting point is 00:13:44 Good to have you in. Rob Parker, Doug Gottlieb, Heard Hierarchy, Layton Van Derresh for the Cowboys next hour. Tony Gonzalez, it is great to have you in. Joy Taylor is back today on a Tuesday.
Starting point is 00:13:55 This is such a great time of the year. I mean, we got college football arguments. Oklahoma or Ohio State. I like Oklahoma over Ohio State. After Bama beats Georgia, we're going to get down to a huge Ohio State Oklahoma argument. I'm in the Oklahoma camp.
Starting point is 00:14:09 I'll talk about that before the end of the first hour. I want to mention this, though. So you know how I felt about Baker-Mayfield? I said it over and over and over. He's not going to be a bust. I said that from day one, sent it a thousand times. He's too accurate a thrower to be a bust. I think he's going to be a better version of Case Keenum.
Starting point is 00:14:26 Now, a lot of you will go, whoa, last two weeks, Case Keenum has beaten Philip Rivers and Big Ben. Just just let that soak in, put the pom-poms down. Last two weeks, Case Keenum has beaten Big Ben and Philip Rivers. I think Baker Mayfield is not Breeze or Wilson. I think he's much closer to Case Keenham. Give him a running game, a good defense. He can win games in this league. He's not a bust.
Starting point is 00:14:53 But my concern is always been the nonsense and the immaturity. So yesterday, two days ago, he fired off at Hugh Jackson. Didn't need to nonsense. Luck wouldn't have done it. Wilson wouldn't have done it. Bruce wouldn't have done it. Matt Ryan wouldn't have done it. Brady wouldn't have done it.
Starting point is 00:15:07 Stupid. Fires at Hugh Jackson. And then yesterday, Damien Woody, one of my best friends at ESPN, who I still call regularly. I talked to him last week, went to Twitter and said, Damien said, hey, Baker, didn't you transfer to a rival? Aren't you being a little bit of a hypocrite? You're mad at Hugh Jackson for getting fired and saying, well, I'm going to go to a team that offered me a contract. Baker went to social media and fired back at Damian Woody. He goes, not even comparable.
Starting point is 00:15:33 I didn't lose 30-plus games. Be fake and do that. I wasn't going to have a scholarship. Good try, though. Why go there? Now, right now, the media which just falls in love with a shiny new toy and fans, which, short for a fanatic, I get it, are in love with Baker Mayfield. Two things to remember. RG3, Vince Young, and Mark Sanchez had great rookie years.
Starting point is 00:16:00 So did DAC, but let me concentrate on those three, because they all eventually flamed out for the same reason. RG3, immature. Vince Young, immature. Mark Sanchez, more playboy than playbook. Didn't work hard enough. Out. They all had way better years than this year for Baker. Baker's year isn't even finished. They didn't even start the year.
Starting point is 00:16:26 We're not close to, you're still a month and more left in the year. So I know you're just going crazy. He's a big star. It's the first thing to remember. I've seen, I've been watching this league for four decades. I've seen guys like Vince Young, hell of a lot more talent than Baker. Mark Sanchez, RG3, have great rookie years and DAC. And then an hour later, you're like, oh, that was kind of a perfect storm there.
Starting point is 00:16:49 Everything kind of worked out. Here's the second thing. So maturity or lack thereof always unravels quarterbacks. Jeff George, Vince Young, Sanchez, RG3. The matter how talented you are, at that position, immaturity, Johnny Mansell, will unravel regardless of your talent. Here's the second thing. He's won two straight games.
Starting point is 00:17:15 Too straight. You do realize the guys I like have gone on like long streaks. DeShon Watson's won eight straight. Carson Wentz last year won nine straight. Andrew Lux and a five gamer. Jared Goff had an eight gamer. Mahomes has had a five and a four gamer. Congratulations on back-to-back wins over, oh, I don't know,
Starting point is 00:17:36 Cincinnati Atlanta's defense, which are awful. It should be noted that he's had a nice three-game stretch. Kansas City, Atlanta, Cincinnati. I put their defensive rankings in the NFL on the board last 30th and 28th. Jared Goff, does he what he did in Kansas City? 54 points, and that's without Todd Gurley having a touchdown. In fact, against Cincinnati and Atlanta, Baker didn't come close to picking up the average yards, those teams give up.
Starting point is 00:18:08 Atlanta gives up 275 yards a game. Baker threw for 2.15. Cincinnati gives up 300 yards in the air a game. He got 250. Maturity, still an issue. I've seen better quarterbacks rookies unravel because of lack of maturity. And secondly, he's won two straight games over terrible defenses. Who cares?
Starting point is 00:18:29 I mean, Sam Donald looked great on Monday Night Football. Where's he at now? They're rookies. You can't take one and two game capsules, three game capsules. who they play when they play them. So I think this is what I always worried about Baker Mayfield. It's not the accuracy. He's a gamer.
Starting point is 00:18:45 He's going to complete 69% of his throws in this league, 70% with the new world. He won't be a bust. But this maturity stuff, Instagram, social media, firing it. I'm telling you, I've watched it unravel a lot more talented quarterbacks. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. on the news. This is the herd line news.
Starting point is 00:19:10 When things fall apart, everyone starts pointing fingers. Yeah. Which is why Odell Beckham Jr. made headlines after Sunday's lost the Eagles when he said that attacking the Eagles' injury ravaged secondary quote, wasn't in our game plan. And yesterday, Pat Schumer, his coach, disagreed.
Starting point is 00:19:27 Who said that, Odell? Yeah. Okay. I don't know. I mean, we ran the ball 18 times. We threw a 37. That's twice as many throws as there were runs, right? So you'll have to ask him to define it after he watches to tape. But, you know, I felt like we were trying to do the things necessary to win the game. That was in one man's opinion after an emotional loss. But what happens is an opportunity to get a good night's sleep, watch the tape, you know,
Starting point is 00:20:00 and maybe change his opinion. Well, O'Dell had five catches for 85 yards. So, I mean, you got to finish the game. Is that as total or a second half? I believe that was his total. Okay. They held the Giants. The Eagles held the Giants.
Starting point is 00:20:16 It was 56 yards in the second half after posting 346 in the first. Philadelphia, it should be noted, is a better team than New York. So they played the first half of football, half. And then in the second half, the NFL team with better players adjusted and beat the Giants. We have to overthink the room. Philadelphia should beat the Giants, current players, every time they play. I get Carson Wentz. You get Eli.
Starting point is 00:20:40 I should win every time. Right. And, I mean, look, the Giants have been a disaster this year. But based off of those numbers, technically, he's right. They did attack the secondary. They threw it twice as much as they ran it. Like, that's literally the game plan you're asking for. Sometimes you just got to make other adjustments in the second half.
Starting point is 00:20:56 The bottom line is the Giants are a lost cause this year. And they're going to have to do some major overhauls in the... Mostly a quarterback, yeah. In the off season. That was Odell's total, by the way. All right, so the Saints come into AT&T Stadium Thursday night with a 10-game winning streak. They're the hottest team in the NFL. And Dak Prescott wants to make it clear that the Cowboys aren't scared of them.
Starting point is 00:21:17 We have all the confidence ourselves. We're not going out there and getting awed by another team. They put on the pants the same way we do. I mean, they've won 10. I guess we've won three. So, as I said, we're going to take you one game at a time, and that's all that matters. Look, I don't expect the Cowboys to be afraid of the Saints. but the Saints are averaging 37.2 points a game.
Starting point is 00:21:38 It's going to be interesting, and there's a lot on the line for Dallas here, but I just don't see how they can put up the numbers to beat the Saints. I just like the fact that our Thursday games have been great this year on Fox. We've got really good Thursday games. Here's a rule in sports in almost every sport. If I can win a lot of different ways and you can only win playing a certain way, I'm generally the better team. The Saints could win if they control.
Starting point is 00:22:03 the line of scrimmage and didn't throw 30 times, or they could win if Drew through 58 times. I think Dallas is a team that has to play a certain way to win. And I always felt this with Carolina and Cam. If Cam's got to throw 40, I'm not into it. But if Cam can run like nine times, throw 27, and they get a lead, then Carolina. But I think what happens with it, Carolina is in the same division with the Saints who can win a bunch of different ways. And Dallas is a limited team based on, I think, Dak has a lower ceiling. They got to run the football big.
Starting point is 00:22:34 They don't pick up Ws. I just don't know how they put up enough points to compete with them. Dallas's defense is playing well. They've won three games in a row. But at the end of the day, the Saints put up over 37 points a game. I don't know how Dallas does that. Finally, speaking of putting up a bunch of points, James Hardin lit up the Wizards last night.
Starting point is 00:22:51 He had 54 points and 13 assists. He also had a season high 11 turnovers, with three of those coming in overtime, giving the Rockets their third straight loss. So Harden now has three 50-point games in which his team has lost. over the past two seasons. I didn't have Chris Paul last night,
Starting point is 00:23:07 but Hardin also leads the league in turnovers, fiddle turnovers, and leads the league in turnovers per game. So, bottom line is they need their third star out there no matter what. 54 points a game, and you still take it out. It's a little difficult. Plus, the two backcourts, the Wizards also Bradley Beale had 32 and John Moll had 36. They combined for 158 points most in NBA history.
Starting point is 00:23:32 For the record. throwing backwards. LeBron and the Lakers are very much into Bradley Biel. They just don't love his contract. I've been told that Bradley Biel, Washington has said, we'll trade Wall and Beal. The problem is John Wall has an untradable contract that virtually nobody wants. Bradley Biel has a game that everybody wants, but a contract that most of the league is afraid of. But I'll say it again, the Lakers keep telling me they've got all these big stars they want.
Starting point is 00:23:57 Anthony Davis, two years, Kevin Durant, Clay Thompson. I believe Bradley Biel is they. for the taking. Kauai Leonard, kind of flaky. I'll tell you this. The person I trust the most in the NBA tells me he thinks Kauai's either staying in Toronto or going to the Clippers. He thinks Kauai's going to the Clippers, not the Lakers.
Starting point is 00:24:16 And it's somebody that through the years has given me some scoops. So, Kauai to me is a Clipper or a Raptor. Anthony Davis is two years. Kevin Durant, I don't trust. I'm still not convinced he's leaving. Bradley Beale is out there and you could have him for about three year young guys to Washington so they can move. But is Bradley Beal's?
Starting point is 00:24:33 contract worth getting rid of that many young guys, is he the one that's going to put you over the edge? I think he's going to get you really close in the West. I think the West is way more dysfunctional and way more average than everybody thinks. By the way, has anybody watched Utah this year? I don't think that team likes Donovan Mitchell. Have you watched them? They're not playing any defense.
Starting point is 00:24:49 I think the West is wide open. The West is wide open, but I do think that right now. I think the Warriors get it together towards the end of the season. We always do this panicky thing with them. I know it's a little bit different this year, but I don't want to wait a little bit on that. All right. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.
Starting point is 00:25:05 And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Live News. By the way, top of the hour, Hurd hierarchy, also top of the hour, Oklahoma, Ohio State. That's what everybody's going to argue. The playoff rankings come out tonight. Those are the teams we're going to argue about because Georgia is going to lose to Alabama. Close. It'll be a good game, 10-point game.
Starting point is 00:25:20 And we know that Clemson's getting in, Bama's getting in, and Notre Dame's going to get in because they're all undefeated. The big argument's going to come down after Georgia loses this weekend, Oklahoma, Ohio State. I'll tell you why. And it's a reason I have not heard any. anywhere else, why I believe strongly in Oklahoma. I'll get to that in 35 minutes. Doug Gottlieb, too. I want to go to this real quick.
Starting point is 00:25:39 So I'm watching Tom Brady said something yesterday, and it's pretty funny. Tom Brady was asked about, you know, all these flashy offenses, throwing the ball down the field, and here's New England once again, chopping wood, chopping wood, boring, boring, thousand cuts. It's four yards, six yards. And Brady talked about taking more risk and throwing the ball down the field more. maybe part of my problem is I've gotten older is I want to make so few mistakes. You know, maybe there's not as much aggressiveness as I would like
Starting point is 00:26:09 because, you know, with aggressiveness comes a little more risk. And, you know, we have like a 95% chance of winning when we don't turn the ball over. You know, and I think that's always in the back of my mind. Now, for the record, he's right. New England is 125 and 15 when Tom Brady and the Patriots don't have a turnover. So what he's saying is basically, we have a template here, and it all starts with one stat. Don't turn it over. They're 125 and 15.
Starting point is 00:26:38 That is unbelievable. There is no greater stat in the National Football League than that. New England's 125 and 15 when they don't turn it over. So Tom's saying, yeah, I'm a little with our template the way we do business, but I want you to think about this. So I watched New England Sunday, watched every snap. And we're all falling in love with the ranch. and the Saints and the Steelers and the Chiefs and the Texans and I love me some Andrew luck. But ask yourself, what are the five staples that New England every year, in every one of these
Starting point is 00:27:12 Super Bowls, there's five things they do every year. And ask yourself, aren't they doing all of them this year? Number one is, they have the best head coach in football. That's not arguable. There's not a single fan out there watching me that thinks, ooh, we play New England this week, we've got the better coach. I like Sean Payton. I like Andy Reid. I like Sean McVeigh. They still have the best coach in the league. That matters situationally late in games. We've seen it a million times. Number two is, say what you want about Brady. He is the best
Starting point is 00:27:41 pre-snap quarterback in the NFL. Not just audiblying to better plays. Does anybody in league history audible out of more trouble than him? He audibles out of sacks. He audibles out of losses and blitzes. They still have that. Number three is, bend, don't break defense. Do you know where they're ranked right now in points? 11th. And if you look at their remaining schedule, they'll probably end up 8th, 9th, 10th. That's exactly where they've ended up. Points allowed in their last four Super Bowl trips.
Starting point is 00:28:18 Number four, they don't beat themselves. Right now, fewest penalty yards in the NFL, Hmm, New England. And number five, they're really good in January at home and they're the number two seed right now and they have the tiebreaker against the number one team. The five Super Bowl staples,
Starting point is 00:28:44 best coach, best pre-snap quarterback, Ben don't break defense, don't beat themselves, tremendous at home, they're still all of those. And I know they're not a Tesla and they're not a tech stock, and they're not the Chiefs, and they're not the Rams, and they're not the Chargers, they're not the Saints.
Starting point is 00:29:05 That's the thing about New England. You know what they are? What is something that every Sunday delivers? 60 minutes. For 30 years, it's never the coolest show. It's never the newest show. It's never got the youngest actors. It's never the hippest show.
Starting point is 00:29:20 Nobody talks about it on social media. They're 60 minutes. Every Sunday, they deliver. they deliver a number, a win for their network every Sunday. Not flashy, not cool, kind of old, getting tired of it. But this is what they are. Every single Sunday. So when I look at all these new offenses, I'm sitting to myself wondering, am I falling for it again?
Starting point is 00:29:48 Am I once again fallen for all? Because by the way, I try not to do this and I don't think I do it a lot, but I think I've done it before. I push back on new flashy stuff. I push back on Derek Rose. I push back on Westbrook. I push back on Janus. 15 years later, bro, it's still a LeBron League.
Starting point is 00:30:10 You keep trying to sell me all the Mahomes and the Gough and the Flash and the fun. You know what's going to get a rating of Sunday? Jim Nance and Tony Romo are going to be doing a game for CBS and they're going to go, coming up after the game tonight, 60 minutes. and you know what else is going to happen Sunday? Who won Sunday?
Starting point is 00:30:28 The New England Patriots. Yeah. So you got to be careful about falling for the new cool stuff. Because there are certain things, by the way, in a major, I like Federer. Sunday night, I like the Patriots in 60 minutes. NBA, it's still LeBron's league. Coming up next, Rob Parker, plus top of the hour, why I like Oklahoma over Ohio State. And that's going to be the big argument when the playoff seatings come out tonight.
Starting point is 00:30:54 in college football, I'll tell you why I am strongly in Oklahoma's corner, and I haven't heard this argument next plus heard hierarchy. Oh, stuffy cold and flu season. Vicks Synex nasal spray. Try it 12 hours when congestion strikes. I got to give my next get Rob Parker a lot of credit. And Rob comes on with strong opinions, and sometimes I roll my eyes at him. But I want to congratulate you on one where you were right, and I push back on it. Joy, I'm not sure if you were here for this, but you've heard it. You used to call Matt Stafford, and you're from that area.
Starting point is 00:31:31 So you get pushback. Oh, yeah. You call him Stat Padford. Right. And Thanksgiving, Chase Daniel can't beat him at home. And I sat there and I thought of Rob Parker. I thought, we're 10 years into Matt. I don't have a signature win.
Starting point is 00:31:45 10 years. He is Statt Padford. He is because he has these numbers. If you look at his numbers, he has Hall of Fame numbers. Yes. But when it comes to big games, it just doesn't happen. Here are the Bears who have played late Sunday night. Late.
Starting point is 00:32:02 Right? Turn around and they come on Thursday in Detroit. They lose Mitch Tribisky, who doesn't play. Chase Daniel hadn't started an NFL game in four years, Colin. That's supposed to be a layup for the Lions to win that game. And Stafford, those two picks, no interceptions. It's a bad game. And this is 10 years.
Starting point is 00:32:22 I think his record now is like 6. and 54 against teams that finish over 500. He doesn't beat anybody, no playoff wins, and he could throw all the yards and touchdowns, but most of them come when the Lions are down, and then he makes the scores respectable, but he has not, I mean, what a bad first pick for the Lions. Everybody thought, if you're Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn, the GM there, you've got to really think, as you go forward, are we going to win anything here? No, listen, when you called him stat Pat, for you.
Starting point is 00:32:53 I thought it was funny and I kind of rolled my eyes, but I watched that game and you were the first guy I thought of. Now, I said earlier today that we never want to be our parents, right? We want to be cooler than our parents, smarter than our parents, hipper than our parents, hopefully more successful than our parents, most of us, right? You think that, right? But we all become our parents. Rogers and Fav don't want to become each other, but they're becoming each other. Their first 10 years in the league, look at these numbers.
Starting point is 00:33:19 Each have a Super Bowl, multiple MVP's, 9-10 winning season, 6 Pro Bowls. and by the way, the way Favs' career is ending is what Aaron's is going to, which is hurt but playing, kind of erratic, still iconic, little stubborn, not easy to coach, and a 500 team on the road. You say I'm going to regret this. This will be the worst take you ever had ever since you said that Kwame Brown needed more time with the Lakers. I'm telling you, Colin, you are so off on this, and I'll give you the reasons why. To even say that Brett Far, I mean, Aaron Rogers close to Brett Farb is absolutely ridiculous. First of all, Aaron Rogers, this is 14th season, but really, you know how you always have the dog years and human years? Yeah. In real NFL years, this is only 10.
Starting point is 00:34:13 He sat three years behind Brett Farb, didn't play, so he didn't get the, you know, beat up from being a quarterback. then the two years when he got, when he got injured, you put those together. That makes another year. So there's four years. Aaron Rogers will win two Super Bowls before he's age 40. He will have a new life once they get rid of McCarthy. Once they get a new offensive coordinator and once they add some other pieces, we've seen the Packers moving that way.
Starting point is 00:34:44 They, Ted Thompson, the GM. Yeah, they fired him and blamed him. They blame Ty Montgomery, and then they blame their defense. But all I'm saying is, Aaron Rogers, when you try to put him with Brett Far, first of all, he has the highest quarterback rating of any quarterback in the history of the game. That's something. He also has the best touchdown to interception ratio than anybody. The next guy is Tom Brady.
Starting point is 00:35:08 Aaron Rogers is 4 to 1. Tom Brady's 2 and a half to 1. It's not even close. And this bad year that he's having, you forget that he got hurt, his knee early in the seat, the first game of the year. And here's the other part that I think he's on a pace, Colin, to get 30 touchdowns and two picks. So this is a bad year for Aaron Rogers,
Starting point is 00:35:28 30 touchdowns and two picks. And you're telling me this is the sunset. This is the sunset. This is discount double check coming back. I'm telling you. It's my worst take since. Kwame Brown. By the way, I still think he just needs a little more time.
Starting point is 00:35:43 He just needs more time. Okay. Okay. So again, I love that you live in Michigan. You are a former Detroit sportscaster and sports writer. And so you are locked into that region. And I'm saying this to a friend the other day. I said Big Ben had a terrible pick. I still think he's a great quarterback. Jim Harbaugh loses to Ohio State. Okay. Like everybody in the Big Ten is, I still think Jim Harbaugh is a great coach. You disagree? I totally disagree. When you use the term great, he hasn't won anything. You know what, Jim Harbour, I still don't even get it. Coming off of that loss, I mean, what an embarrassing loss to your rival.
Starting point is 00:36:23 He's now 0-and-4. Colin, it was so quiet in Ann Arbor after that game that you could hear a mouse urinate on a pair of wrinkle khakis. That's how bad it was. People couldn't believe how bad that they would lose. And in Jim Harbaugh, no coaches ever, no Michigan coach has ever been 0-and-4 against Ohio State. and in that game, had that been Brady Hulk or Rich Rodriguez, they would run him out of town.
Starting point is 00:36:49 There's no way. He's paid at a championship level, and he's never won a championship. Okay, now, I will say that. What he is paid is because of leverage because he'd been to a Super Bowl. I get it. So he didn't win in San Francisco. He didn't win in Stanford. He got to a Super Bowl.
Starting point is 00:37:04 That's not what it's about. Sports has a short menu. So you don't think Andy Reid is a good coach. It's winning losses. Andy Reid, too. Wake me up when he wins a championship. You could do all you want at some point. That's why in Buffalo, right, no one ever mentions Marv Levy as a great coach, as the greatest coach in the NFL. He went to four straight Super Bowls.
Starting point is 00:37:24 You know what he didn't do? He didn't win. Bobby Cox went to 16th straight. He won 16 straight National League East Divisions. They won one championship with three Hall of Fame pitchers on the same staff from more than a decade. That's not good enough. Jim Harbar, I don't know why people, they like them. But why they give him a pass.
Starting point is 00:37:44 At some point, you got to ante up. Nobody in the Big Ten's beating Ohio State in the last 10 years. That's why they brought him to Ann Arbor, so you can't use that as an excuse. Anybody else, and Brady Hulk put in a performance like that, that's the second most points Michigan has ever given up. This program is the most overrated program. They've won one national championship since the Louisiana Purchase. Colin, come on.
Starting point is 00:38:11 enough already if you're a Michigan fan. How could you accept this? I thought getting Sabin there was the Louisiana purchase. Okay. Finally, you've got a Tuesday. You're upset with LeBron. I'm not upset with LeBron. I got news that they are going to put that statue outside the queue in Cleveland for LeBron.
Starting point is 00:38:33 They are. Yeah. I've heard about it. And in one hand, it's going to be LeBron with a suitcase and the other one with a plane ticket. I mean, that's the statute they should have for LeBron as he walked out on him. And here's the other part. Everybody's ripping the Cavaliers. Oh, the Cavaliers are terrible.
Starting point is 00:38:49 You see what happens when LeBron leaves? Yes, because LeBron is the worst GM in the NBA. He's the one who destroyed that franchise with signing Tristan Thompson, his buddy, and J.R. Smith. That was not a great move. I admit that Tristan Thompson, he overvalued him. Those are the guys that LeBron wanted signed and got big deal. J.R. Smith.
Starting point is 00:39:10 did like J.R. Smith. Then they made those big trades for George Hill and Jordan Coxton and Larry Nance, Jr. As if that was going to change anything. So you say, and then the best player he ever played with, right, on the Cavaliers, didn't want to play with him. Kyrie. Cairo he wanted out. So you asked yourself, why are the Cavalier so bad?
Starting point is 00:39:30 And then his handpicked coach, Tyrone Lou, got fired after five or six games this year. So the reason Cleveland is bad is right, is because that's what LeBron. James left behind as a GM. And finally, let's see if you can agree with me on anything. I saw RG3, Vince Young, and Mark Sanchez tear it up as rookies. Mark Sanchez got to back-to-backed AFC championships, beat Brady and Manning in New England and India. No doubt.
Starting point is 00:39:56 No doubt. Maturity, or lack thereof, unraveled all three of them. I know everybody's crazy because Baker Mayfield lit up Cincinnati in Atlanta. But I got to tell you, I don't like this nonsense pushing back at Hugh Jackson, ripped him again yesterday. Do you like it? Not at all. 100% it's immature, it's dumb. Take the high road. You beat him.
Starting point is 00:40:17 So you could have gone over and just said, hey, coach, whatever, good luck the rest of the way. And the whole notion, he has no history. He doesn't understand that Hugh Jackson worked there twice and his friends with Marvin Lewis, right? They're good friends. And he got fired from Cleveland. He didn't walk out on the Browns to go to Cleveland to say,
Starting point is 00:40:35 yeah, I'm going to go to Cincinnati so that I can beat Baker, may feel in two games late in the season. It makes no sense. What is he talking about? No, I think it's interesting. We do this all the time. And I understand we fell in love with RG3 because of his personality. Big smile. We fell in Lamar-Sanchez, Playboy, USC, GQ, Vince Young, Texas, one of the great college players. One of the greatest college players I've ever seen. Yeah, one of the great college players, he and Tebow are two of the greatest college players I've ever seen. And we fall in love of these guys. Bakers played like. Like four good games that everybody likes.
Starting point is 00:41:10 Cincinnati's defense, dead last. Atlanta's next to last. Kansas City's atrocious. They gave up 500 yards, three games in a row in Cincinnati descent. So I just look at this stuff. And I understand Cleveland has gotten beaten up so badly that they want to feel good about themselves. I totally get that. And if I lived in Cleveland right now, I would feel good about Baker.
Starting point is 00:41:27 I'd be excited. But man, this is nonsense. There's no win in any of this stuff. No, it's not. And I think he made a bad. I saw Damien Woody push back on him. And rightfully so. I think Baker should just go out there and play.
Starting point is 00:41:40 You don't need to get involved. You know, getting back at a coach who got fired. Why would you- And then bringing up that he lost 30 games? I thought that too. That's just weak. It's a bad look. It's like it's personal and juvenile.
Starting point is 00:41:52 Heard hierarchies coming up next. Rob, you hit it out of the park. Thanks, buddy. One hour from now, Leighton Van der Resch, the Cowboys stops by in LA. It's the herd. Hour two, here we go. This is the herd. wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles.
Starting point is 00:42:10 IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Joy Taylor is back from the Blizzard in Kansas City. She's wearing her awesome ski sweater. It was very cold. Do you ski? I am not good at skiing. No, I do not ski. You are a big skier.
Starting point is 00:42:25 I love skiing. Someday, I'm going to retire, ski 80 days a year. I don't think it was ski weather, though. No, not really. It was blizzard. There's not a lot of skiing in Kansas City. It's very flat there. It was a...
Starting point is 00:42:36 Very good point. The snow was going sideways. I don't think it's ideal for skiing. Okay, I got two things I'm going to get to here. One of them, why I like Oklahoma over Ohio State, if I have to pick, Alabama's in, Clemson's in, I would put Oklahoma in, and you can argue about the fourth team, but Notre Dame's getting in, even though I did not like what I saw this weekend,
Starting point is 00:42:56 Notre Dame's getting in. So it's going to come down. Notre Dame's in, Clemson's in, Bamazin. Who's the fourth? I'll take Oklahoma over Ohio State, and I'm going to give you an argument in five minutes why. Plus, Doug Gottlieb this hour. I've been told late in Vanderech has been moved to our last hour.
Starting point is 00:43:09 Cowboy practice a little late. Don't want to get in the way of that. But it'll be on the show today. So we do this every Tuesday, top of the second hour. I spend way too much time on this. It matters to me. It's my top 10. After Monday Night Football, I've seen all the games.
Starting point is 00:43:22 Here we go. Heard hierarchy. Time is now. Let's go. The top 10 NFL teams, according to college. Number 10. Dallas Cowboys. Listen, they're third in scoring defense.
Starting point is 00:43:35 I think their front seven is excellent. They've got all sorts of range and athleticism and length and speed in their front seven. I like their left tackle. They're running back and Amari Cooper, too. Here's the downside to Dallas. They can only win a certain way. They're five and one when Ezekiel Elliott has over 100 yards. They're one in four when he's under 100 rushing yards.
Starting point is 00:43:56 So that's going to give really elite teams in the playoffs a game plan. Stack the box. Now, Amari Cooper helps, but I think this is a team. that has to win a certain way. Now, they can win because they're really talented in certain spots, Cowboys at 10. Number nine. This is the team I kind of fell in love with about three or four weeks ago. I love what they're doing in Indianapolis.
Starting point is 00:44:19 Again, outside of Darius Leonard and maybe Kenny Moore, I don't love their defensive personnel, and they are limited. But they have won five straight. They're averaging 34 and a half points since week six. This is a great story. I mean, they've got guys who you've never heard of. of Darius Leonard and guys who were busts, Eric Ebron, and they got a coach, you know, Frank Reich that wasn't even their first hire, but Andrew Luck is carrying a rebuilt offensive line.
Starting point is 00:44:48 I love this story. They're the first team I watch every week. It's the first game I put on to Colts. I got them at nine. Number eight. L.A. Chargers. You know, we're going to pay attention to Philip Rivers, and I get it. But six of their last seven games, in 2018, they're surrendering less fewer.
Starting point is 00:45:05 than 20 points. This is really a defensive story. I know we've fallen over with their receivers and Philip Rivers, but in this era of football, to hold people under 20 points is pretty remarkable, and they've done it in six of their last seven games, chargers at eight. Number seven. I move the Houston Texans ahead of them. They've won eight straight. I really like this team, and the difference I think is Deshawn Watson's mobility and their emerging running game. Now, it should be noted. I love Deshawn Watson, but he's thrown for few. fewer than 250 yards in six straight games. So the staff in Houston's figured it out.
Starting point is 00:45:41 We're not asking him to throw 40 times, but his mobility, throw it 24 times. They've got their running game. And by the way, they're sixth in sack so they can get after the quarterback Texans at seven. Number six. Here's another team that all the things they always do they're doing again, the Patriots have won seven of eight games. Here's the downside, why I don't have them in my top echelon. 30th in sacks.
Starting point is 00:46:06 Now, there have been years where they're inconsistent getting to the quarterback. Last year is one of those years. I think they need to play at home doing in the playoffs. I do like their running game. Rex Burkhead has been activated. Sony Michelle, the rookie's terrific. James White's an unbelievable receiver. So I think their running backs are the best they've been in years.
Starting point is 00:46:28 But when I get no pass rush and they're inconsistent over the top, and Gronk is a 50-50 coin flip. to be healthy. I put them only at six. Number five. Chicago Bears. I was wrong on him. I whiffed on them. It's the NFL team. I just didn't see it coming. I watched Trubisky as rookie year, and I don't get it. I still don't love Trubisky. They've won five straight.
Starting point is 00:46:48 Again, their best eight players, according to pro football focus, are all on defense. Number two in scoring defense, their third down defense is fantastic. They get you off the field. And I just think this is a two-prong story. great defense, great head coach, marginal quarterback being elevated magnificently by that coach bears at five. Number four. I picked the Steelers to win the Super Bowl, and my final four teams usually in the herd hierarchy are to me the teams that should end up in your championship games. I think Pittsburgh, here's my issue, though, and here's always my issue in their last two games.
Starting point is 00:47:25 Seven turnovers. Good hell. Could they finally button things up? Um, there's so much I like about him, but do you trust them? Even against New England, do you trust them? I just don't know what to do with them, but they're offensive personnel. They are also, also it should be noted, the Pittsburgh Steelers lead the NFL in sacks. That's why I give them the edge.
Starting point is 00:47:52 They make the other quarterback uncomfortable. Steelers four. Number three. L.A. Rams. Questions about their defense. But Todd Gurley basically leads football in every rushing. category, and they've scored 30 plus points in eight of their 10 games. I do think Aaron Donald is amazing defensively, but I think Indomac and Sue sort of goes to
Starting point is 00:48:12 his own drummer. I think Marcus Peter sometimes is playing ISO defensive football hero ball. I do not trust their defense in big spots. They've got big names, big stars, but also big egos. There's not, I see this a lot with the Rams. They're a fireworks show, but they have to score 30 to beat the Seahawks. have them at three. Number two. Kansas City. Here's what's amazing about the hurt hierarchy this week. I think there's nine good teams and then there's my number one team. Here's my problem with
Starting point is 00:48:43 the Kansas City Chiefs. Last and past defense. Most penalties and penalty yards in the NFL. Does that sound like a Super Bowl winning team? I get so much flash. There's so many things I like about it. That's the worst past defense in the league and the most penalized team in the league. And so my number one team, and this is what I think we have in the NFL this year, I think we have one great team and nine really good ones. My number one team, the Saints. The Saints, what are they not doing well? And nobody in this league is going to New Orleans and winning a playoff game. No chance. The fewest giveaways. The fewest sacks allowed. They don't get penalized. You can't run on them. They can run. I mean, outside of their secondary, which even that's gotten better in the last
Starting point is 00:49:25 two weeks. I feel like the Saints are at one level. Even number two, Kansas City. Awful past defense. Most penalties. Young quarterback. I don't see them going to Foxborough and winning a playoff game or going to Pittsburgh. Heard hierarchy.
Starting point is 00:49:42 One great team, the Saints, and everybody else this week. Okay. So tonight, tonight's the college football playoff rankings, right? I've watched all the games, all the big teams. teams. I'm just going to give you the six best teams I've watched in order. Bam is the best team I've seen. Clemson's second best.
Starting point is 00:50:01 Oklahoma's third best. George's fourth best. I dropped Notre Dame after this weekend. I just questioned their perimeter speed. I had two NFL executives text me during the Notre Dame game and say, oh, they're going to get boat race by Clemson. They can't run with them. An Ohio State will probably be, you know, I put
Starting point is 00:50:19 them six. They had one great game and a bunch of average ones. The big argument is going to come down to this. Because Notre Dame is going to get in because they're not going to lose. Alabama and Clemson, Notre Dame are getting in. Georgia's going to lose. It's going to come down to Ohio State, Oklahoma. I am firmly ensconced in the Oklahoma group, and here's why.
Starting point is 00:50:38 Two reasons. First reason. Oh, their defense. Time out. Was their defense great two years ago? Because they beat Auburn. Was their defense great last year? Because I saw him go to double overtime and should have beaten Georgia.
Starting point is 00:50:51 Was their defense great four years ago when they beat Alabama? I've seen Oklahoma against the SEC. Okay, I've seen them against the SEC. They're really good. Beat Nick. Didn't have a great defense that year. Beat Auburn, good Auburn team. They didn't have a great defense that year.
Starting point is 00:51:09 Last year they should have beaten Georgia, double overtime, had it, and lost it. They didn't have a great defense last year. Oklahoma's got what the SEC can't solve. Great offensive coach, mobile quarterback, ton of playmakers, and NFL bodies on the offensive line. I know they can go toe to toe with all these SEC teams. Now, I'm not saying they're going to win all of them,
Starting point is 00:51:30 but here's the second reason, and this is the biggie why I choose, Oklahoma and Ohio State. Everybody always talks about wins, wins, wins, wins, folks, college football, average teams. Purdue has some good wins. Arizona State's got a couple of good wins. Iowa State's got impressive wins.
Starting point is 00:51:47 Crappy and average college football teams have impressive wins, often more than one. Purdue. Iowa State. But here's what teams that win a national championship never have a 29 point loss to Purdue. Oklahoma's, I don't look at your wins. I look at your loss. That's what I look at.
Starting point is 00:52:12 Oklahoma's loss is a last second field goal to their arch rival on a neutral field, which they will avenge this weekend. So they will have beaten every team they play. when they beat Texas this weekend. Okay. You can't have a 29 point loss to Purdue and get into the final four. In the last 28 years, here's the worst losses ever by a team that won a title. It ain't that bad.
Starting point is 00:52:41 Ohio State lost by 14 to a good Virginia Tech team. Alabama lost to Auburn, their rival, a team full of 13 football players, and LSU lost to a great Florida. team or a good Florida team in 2003. In 28 years, nobody that's won a title has had a 29-point loss to a team like Purdue, which lost to eastern Michigan and got beat by Missouri and Minnesota. Purdue is average. I don't want to just stack up wins because I watch college football every weekend.
Starting point is 00:53:14 I see all the time, I see average teams get upset wins. So of course Oklahoma's got good wins. Of course Ohio State has good wins. Of course they do. I always go to your loss. If you deserve to be a final 14, you can't lose by 29 to Purdue. Can't. Not allowing you in there.
Starting point is 00:53:36 So to me, Bama, Clemson, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame are the teams. For the record, I think George is better than Notre Dame. And even after they lose this weekend, I think George is better than Notre Dame. but I don't think it's fair that Alabama would have to play Georgia twice. I don't think that's fair. I don't think that's fair that, you know, Bama beats them by two touchdowns, and a month later they have to play them again. I think that's totally unfair.
Starting point is 00:54:06 Be one thing if they, you know, they faced off in week three. I don't like that, you know, in the next month you got to play the same team. But the Ohio State Oklahoma thing is real simple to me. I got a track record of Oklahoma giving great SEC defenses fits. And number two, I can stomach their loss. I can't stomach a 29 point loss to per don't. There you go. Right, Doug Gottlieb around the corner.
Starting point is 00:54:35 Layton Van der Leicester, the Cowboys, Tony Gonzalez, too. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Thursday night football returns this week with two of the biggest teams. in the league is Ezekio Elliott, Dak Prescott, and the Cowboys. Take on Drew Breeze, Michael Thomas, and The Saints. It all starts at 730 Eastern on Fox NFL Network and streaming on Prime Video. These Thursday night games, for the record, all the ratings are up at all the networks. I know, you know, we're trying to kill off the NFL.
Starting point is 00:55:05 It's stronger than ever. The ratings are fantastic. And one of the things, games are longer this year because there's more offense. This goes back to one of the things I say. stop worrying about how long games are. Just make sure they're fun while they're on. That's baseball's issue. It's not a length issue.
Starting point is 00:55:22 It's an activity issue within the game. Last night I watched three episodes of Narcos. I was never like, you know, this thing would be a lot better at 49 minutes. 54 I'm out. If you entertain me, first date with my wife, seven hours, felt like an hour. Just entertain me. I don't care about the time. NFL games are longer than ever because all the incompletions.
Starting point is 00:55:40 Who gives a rep? You're giving me three and a half hours of fun? I like it. All right, by the way, this is interesting. I just read a story this morning by a smart guy, Jeff Schwartz, played in the NFL, good dude, comes on the show. His whole headline is Mike McCarthy is ruining the Packers. I don't believe that to be true, but I do think it's time for divorce.
Starting point is 00:55:59 I get it. Here's the downside. Remember, they got rid of the GM. They trade Thai Montgomery. The downside to getting rid of a boss is that you have to hit a home run with the next boss, or then it's you. right that's why you always you always want to kind of make your boss work because what happens is if you force your boss out and the next guy comes in and you don't hit it off with him it's going to
Starting point is 00:56:26 affect erin's legacy oh he was he's j cutler with talent and trent and dilfer talked about this yesterday clearly mccarthy and rogers there's a fissure it's not working it's obvious to see there's definitely a disconnect calling they've always had a very sympathetic relationship shift between quarterback and play caller. I think the biggest thing I've seen is that they've tried to incorporate some new concepts. They've tried to incorporate some more cluster formation, some motions, some stuff that's not typical of them to work the middle of the football field.
Starting point is 00:57:00 And Aaron hasn't been comfortable with it. It looks like Aaron is trying to get the easy way out on play and try to attack downfield when there is stuff in front of them open. So the downside of moving out McCarthy is if the, next guy comes in and it doesn't work, it's going to affect your legacy. But they're going to move on. They're going to get a new coach. I think they'll win for their next five. They won't win in Chicago, but they'll beat the Arizona, as Atlanta, as Detroit. They will. I mean, Aaron's going to do that.
Starting point is 00:57:26 But the two issues going forward about if you move McCarthy out, our number one, Aaron's now making 33.5. You're going to play with younger players the rest of the way. That's just the way it's going to be. That's an issue. You're not going to go in the free agent market, and that was never a strength. And number two is, outside of Lincoln, Riley, at Oklahoma. Who's the next genius? Who is the next guy? I don't know. I think Lincoln Riley would go to the Dallas Cowboys before Green Bay. So it's going to be easy to watch Aaron. You know, Rob Parker says two more Super Bowls. I think you could certainly get there. But there's some issues going forward moving out McCarthy. More pressure, big contract. Who's the next Sean McVeigh? You tell me. I hear
Starting point is 00:58:06 Lincoln Riley from everybody. All my sources love Lincoln Riley. There's not a lot. You could end up just getting a dirt cutter who, by the way, has been fired three times. I like. him but that may be the best available option joy taylor with the news no no no turn on the news this is the herd line news so a lot going on with the browns this year and since Greg Williams has become their interim coach four weeks ago we're just seeing how much is difference something you know a little bit about accountability and things like that and Brown Center J.C. treter had an interesting explanation for it I think it's something that we desperately needed I think
Starting point is 00:58:44 I think he's really reigned everybody in and got everybody focused on one single goal. I think his leadership has been very strong. He fires up the team. He's got that personality. I think the rules and what's expected of each person on the team when it comes to penalties and misd assignments and all these little things, I mean, they're spelled out for you. There's no confusion about what's going on. So it sounds like there was a lack of discipline with Hugh Jackson there.
Starting point is 00:59:09 And I also think Hugh Jackson and Todd Haley, I think they can both coach. I do think there's some ego, and then in the same building there was clashes. But you got to remember this. If this is true, they had four overtime games. Just think about how good this team could have been with a few less penalties, one less turnover, a little more discipline. Well, that's what discipline does, though. Yes.
Starting point is 00:59:34 It tightens the screws. Exactly. It's a game of inches, right? So every down counts, every mistake counts, and especially if you're a bad team that hasn't learned how to overcome those mistakes because every team is going to have mistakes during a game. But if you're disciplined, then those, like, we talk about the Patriots, they're a disciplined team. Yes, it might be boring, but they're disciplined. If you don't make the turnover, Tom Brady talks about it.
Starting point is 00:59:54 If I don't turn it over, we've been 95% chance of winning. Yep. There you go. Just don't turn the ball over. It's going to be boring, but that's what it is. It is interesting, though, that there was that much lack of accountability. I know, like, a mid-season change at coach kind of gives you a little spark sometimes, and, you know, he really motivates the guys. and I don't really like that idea of like a motivator.
Starting point is 01:00:15 By the way, a lot of times a coach, Dan Campbell did this in Miami. He's good for a month. That is exactly what came to mind when I heard that he's, that he motivates the guys. Dan Campbell was like a firestorm. For a month and a half. But he's not. Just tossed around yelling, victory. It's like, okay.
Starting point is 01:00:32 It's not a long term. Right. I want to see how the rest of this season goes before I start flipping out. But they are winning games, so that's what you're supposed to do. So Levyon Bell is already leaving breadcums on social media. about his impending free agency. He commented on an NFL Instagram post that highlighted
Starting point is 01:00:48 Andrew Luck's outstanding season and wrote Just Imagine followed by several emojis, the big eye emojis. Now, you talked about this before, Leveon, when we were talking about the possibility of his show training him there. He'd be a very interesting personnel
Starting point is 01:01:04 fit, but I got to tell you what I am hearing, not from Chris Ballard, but hearing from people who know Chris who run to the Colts, what they're really building is culture. They've watched New England. And Lavian comes with a... He's so talented. There's a lot of noise.
Starting point is 01:01:20 I watch the Colts. They have three running backs. None are great. But you know what? All are interesting. They're all B-minus. Marlon Mac. They have a Wilkins, a kid out of NC State. You know, you give them 9 to 11 carries and touches. I'm not sure
Starting point is 01:01:36 Labian Bell and the bigness and the noise. I don't think it fits in these culture going forward. Well, they do have a major amount of cap space. They're going to have $123.7 million in cap space. So they have the money. They're going to spend, I will say this. They're going to get a pass rusher.
Starting point is 01:01:54 They're going to draft one, and I think they're going to pay for one. The Colts have two major issues. They've got to get a number two receiver, and they need a pass rush. I think they're going to pay for both and draft both of those positions. I love the idea of Andrew Luck having a piece, Leveon Bell, especially because, you know, we haven't seen Leveon in a while. Remember, Levyon Bill is pretty good at catching the ball also. So he's a multifaceted tool out there for someone like Andrew Lough to have.
Starting point is 01:02:22 But there's so many factors that go into Leveon at this point having a year off. And the money that he's going to be asking for. Finally, the Houston Texans are back in playoff contention. They scored to Titans last night, 34-17. And they also made some impressive history. They became the first team to start 0-and-3. and win eight straight games. We just did herd hierarchy,
Starting point is 01:02:45 and it gave me a little thought. Remember at the beginning of the season? You stuck the dolphins in there, stuck a line in there, and the herd hierarchy? Yeah, I wasn't consulted on that to be transparent. I was not asked my opinion
Starting point is 01:02:58 about whether they should be in the herd hierarchy, but everyone was freaking out, and everyone was freaking out about the Texans, their own three start, and now they've won eight straight games, and Sean Watson looks great, and they're back in playoff contention, and who'd have thunk it.
Starting point is 01:03:10 Well, Clemson was a really good football program, always. And then Deshaun arrived and Houston's been a really solid football roster. And Deshaun arrived and I don't think it's a coincidence. I've said this before. Johnny Mansell and Nick faced twice. But never did Nick have multiple weeks. Saban had six weeks twice for Deshawn Watson. Six weeks and couldn't stop him.
Starting point is 01:03:35 There are things about Deshawn. I don't want Deshawn 45 times a game. But there are, he has got an ability to extend plays. And you know what? When there's an open receiver, he hits said receiver. That's a big deal. That's what Dak drives me crazy. Open receiver.
Starting point is 01:03:49 Aaron Rogers Sunday. Open receiver doesn't hit said receiver. So I'm a Deshawn fan. I don't think he's as talented as luck. I don't think he's that. I don't, I went to me, he's more talent than luck. But there's something there about the kid that's magic. It's hard to, you know, deny.
Starting point is 01:04:06 Joy of the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. I got a lot of stuff. Let's bring in the Dugger, Doug Gottlieb, college football, college basketball. This week, he was doing NFL play-by-play with the Chargers and the Cardinals. By the way, you did the Josh Rosen game.
Starting point is 01:04:24 And we both know Josh Rosen. He's a Southern California kid. I didn't watch a ton of that game for obvious reasons. It's a Chargers. It wasn't much to watch. Okay. What do you make a Rosen? I can't believe what I saw from the ears.
Starting point is 01:04:37 no Cardinals. I've never seen anything like it. Matter of fact, I had several people with the Chargers reach out to me and say, text to me, what is this? What are we watching? The Cardinals get up 10 to nothing, and the Chargers were kind of asleep. And then the Chargers score, Philip Rivers actually fumbled, and the Cardinals miss a 46-yard field goal.
Starting point is 01:04:53 And after that, it's 35-10 before Josh Rosen gets the ball back in the second half because the Chargers scored last drive of the first half. Yeah. scored the first drive of the second half. They throw the ball four times the entire second half. They've done that like twice this year. It was as if they did turtle formation.
Starting point is 01:05:09 Let's put our head in our shell and let's just, let's pack it in for the week. Now, they cut Andre Smith, the former Bengal, right tackle. So obviously they might not have thought they could protect him. That could be it. But to have Byron Lefowitz got this job mid-season, you would think with a rookie quarterback with Christian Kirk and Larry Fitzgerald and a rookie play caller who's trying to make a name for himself, it'd be like bowl game offense, right? Let's go Oop to you, put four on one side, one and the other,
Starting point is 01:05:35 and let the kid throw it. Like, what's the point of playing him if you're not going to play him? Yeah. They did nothing. Now, look, I think it's going to be difficult. It's always going to be difficult to protect guys, but he's a guy who you fear injury because he had injuries when he was at UCLA. He had an injury that stopped him from playing tennis.
Starting point is 01:05:53 But I was blown away by the fact that they didn't give him any real reps or a chance to at least accumulate some info and some data. What's the point of playing him his entire rookie year if you're not going to actually play him? You can bring in any of their backups to hand the, Sean Glenn's there, have him hand the football off. Yeah. All right. Let's get to stuff now that are national topics. They're a big deal.
Starting point is 01:06:15 Baker Mayfield, never thought he'd be a bust. I thought it'd be a better case Keenham, too accurate. But I've seen RG3, Mark Sanchez, and Vince Young tear it up and maturity unraveled all of them. Dak had a great first year. Maturities actually saved him. It's his best asset. I watched this Hugh Jackson, a Baker stuff. I think it's nonsense.
Starting point is 01:06:36 I know everybody's in love with Baker Mayfield. This stuff, I've seen guys unravel, rookies who had great years. You just don't do what he did. You don't. You take the high road, right? Because the truth is that while I think he and especially his teammates in the locker room didn't like the media tour that Hugh did when he was here and he was other places, he was trying to explain why they couldn't have success in Cleveland,
Starting point is 01:07:00 and I'm sure those guys in the locker room thought, well, you're talking about me when you said you didn't have your guy. Right. The truth is that Q Jackson, based upon what I've been told, you go back two years ago, he wanted to draft a quarterback, and Sashi Brown wouldn't take a quarterback in the first round. He wanted Wentz and Mahomes. Correct. Not just Wentz, Mahomes, but also Chibisky, who's from Ohio.
Starting point is 01:07:18 You know, he's like, give me one of these guys. And they're like, no, we don't like it. Here's Deshaun Kaiser. Right, right. They couldn't trade for A.J. McCarron. So I understand that Baker is simply defending himself and his teammates. and this is what Baker does. Like this is, I tried to tell you last year
Starting point is 01:07:36 that when he was at Oklahoma, he's not Manzell. Manzell, when he was at A&M, not all the guys were in on Manzell. It wasn't, all the people in the locker room are in on Baker because he's all about them. The problem is the perception within the league and the way it comes off.
Starting point is 01:07:52 Like, guys are going to get cut and they're going to take the first job they can get. Coaches are going to get fired, and they're going to take the first job. Hugh Jackson, when he got fired from the Oaklanders, went back to Cincinnati Bengals. When he gets fired with the Browns, There's very few other places that he can go.
Starting point is 01:08:05 You go back to where you're respected, to where you have a friend who's a head coach. Besides, it's the Bengals. You know, they should have fired Marvin a long time ago. Right. So I just think it's a lack of awareness for how the business works. It's a lack of awareness or maybe even caring for how people perceive you. But I also think, and this relates to Rosen, is that everything we've been told about him leading up to the draft is in fact true. Same thing with Rosen.
Starting point is 01:08:29 Rosen's brilliant, but he's going to have to be challenged. Otherwise, he's going to get. board and he's going to be a problem. That's the case with Arizona. And you're going to have to protect him. With the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield, like he's a guy who guys in the locker room really like, but he's going to say and do some things with rub a lot of people the wrong way. And the more success he has, the more he does think it's about him
Starting point is 01:08:50 and that ego can't get a little. Before we, we've got to pump the brakes a little bit on the Browns. They play great the last two weeks. He has seven touchdowns, no interceptions. They beat the Bengals, who are the worst defense in the NFL. By it. Worst defense in league history. They're horrendous. The last play-by-play game I did was Saints versus the Bengals.
Starting point is 01:09:10 The Saints did not punt. No, I mean, they went into victory formation before the two-minute warning. I know. I've called two NFL games in my life. And as Brian Baldinger, my partner told me like, hey, do you only call blowouts? Apparently, the Bengals are awful and the Raiders are bad. Yes. And so I'm not saying, and they've been drafting talent, they have talent.
Starting point is 01:09:32 And as I think Joy pointed out, if they had the discipline, they would have been better. Right. And look, Hugh wasn't a good head coach in Oakland. Wasn't a good head coach there. Right. And what happens is when you'd have two forces, offensive coordinator or head coach, budding heads, everybody's trying to be nice to the players, a lot like when parents are fighting and going through a divorce, right? You know, everybody, you buy your kid stuff so that you have them on team mom or team dad.
Starting point is 01:09:57 Right. That's all Hugh Jackson was doing. He wasn't disciplining anybody because he wanted to have guys on his side. It ends up backfiring. You lose games. You lose your job. Okay. We actually, I want to take a break and come back. We have a ton of stuff. You've got some insight on the Lakers. You're very well connected to the Lakers. You've got some thoughts in Ohio State. You actually text and DM Aaron Rogers, and I'm going to throw something at you with Aaron Rogers.
Starting point is 01:10:19 And you can tell me if I'm wrong or not. But we got a lot of stuff. Doug Gottlieb also, Leighton Van derRest to the Cowboys. We'll join us next hour. Tony Gonzalez joins us as well. Get an extra 5% off every purchase every day at Lowe's. items bigger, small, use the Alo's advantage card, subject to credit approval, C store for details, US only. Doug Gottlie Fox Sports Radio.
Starting point is 01:10:39 You've actually texted a few times and talked to Aaron Rogers. I'm not saying he doesn't want to win. I don't think he wants to be coached by Mike McCarthy long term. I think it's obvious. When I'm watching him Sunday, and I've said this over the last month, sometimes I think he throws the ball away
Starting point is 01:10:54 and it's a message to the Green Bay sideline. And the message is, that's it? That plays crash. That place sucks. Yeah. Am I nuts on that? I don't think you're nuts. And in fairness, and for full disclosure, I have not texted or DM with him anytime
Starting point is 01:11:09 recently. So I'm not telling you from a place of knowledge. But I watch every game. And there are some throws you're like, you know. And now look, and he's also reached this point where people like me have said he's the best quarterback I've ever seen play. And he missed a throw late, right? He missed his best wide receiver late in the end zone.
Starting point is 01:11:25 Could have been a game-changing play. It did his hands. But look, this feels like. a couple different things. Remember, they cut Jordy Nelson, didn't offer him a new contract, they get rid of his quarterback coach. That ticked him off. That ticked him off.
Starting point is 01:11:39 And he's a guy, he's a cut and dry guy. Like, you're either in or you're out. There's no like, there's no acquaintances, right? There's friends and there's enemies. That's Aaron Rogers. And so you have to understand that. And so then they went and bought him a shiny ring, you know, make it up to him by giving him this ridiculous new contract.
Starting point is 01:11:57 And Aaron Rogers is like, I think with him, It's about more than a contract. It's about I want a chance to show off my talent, but I need everybody around me to be working with me and understanding kind of my vision. It's the problem with, I think, genius. I think he's brilliant. But I do think he can be flawed in that you're either in or you're out.
Starting point is 01:12:16 I don't know whether he's doing it purposefully. It does appear that way. But they remind me, McCarthy and Rogers, they remind me of a couple that's simply staying together to get through the holidays, right? Like, let's let's just get through the holidays. let's have family over. Let's exchange gifts, you know, and we'll part ways after the holidays. Like, you start looking for a place to find, and that's what it feels like.
Starting point is 01:12:39 I do think they could win all five of their next game. Yeah, they could. And I love the Aaron Rogers. Like, well, how are you going to win your next five? He's like, well, we're going to be done. Right. He just goes through it. But it just, it appears as though whatever fractures there are in their relationship, his lack of respect for the play calling.
Starting point is 01:12:56 He looks at inferior quarterbacks. Like, I heard cousins. Mitch Trubisky, right? I think, I think he thinks like, look, Mitch Trubisky has a guy who Matt Nagu comes in and they got all these quarterback gurus, right? They got Dave Ragon, who's a former quarterback, is their quarterback coach. They got Mark Helfrich, who's brilliant. You know, they got Matt Nagy, they come in. And all they're trying to do is make their quarterback look good.
Starting point is 01:13:16 And he doesn't feel like he has that support. Let me push back on this, though. I don't think Aaron Rogers is the easiest guy in the world to coach. No question. Trubisky comes in. Save me. Aaron's like, listen. I think Aaron's tougher to coach than people think.
Starting point is 01:13:31 Yes, but Trubisky, and I heard you talk about Deshawn Watson and the kind of it factor that he has. Now, look, there are different points. If you would have had Aaron Rogers in year two, I think he would have been a lot more receptive. That's my point. Exactly. Than he is now. I think he's tough. I think Farrv at the end of his career, last seven years, Farr've had a way to do it.
Starting point is 01:13:50 I remember Farrv having a quote saying, I got a great Farr's story for you. I'm sorry. No. When Farr was in New York, I had somebody on their staff tell me they'd come in and they'd have their game plan on Friday night and they'd give it to him. And he'd go, nope, nope, nope, nope,
Starting point is 01:14:09 give me a running back behind me, give me a guy in motion, give me two out wide, I'll figure the rest out, right? And they'd be like, but we got this match. And he's like, but I'm Brett Farr. This is how we're going to do it. Yeah. And that's kind of what happens. I think, I think, Doug, it's symptomatic.
Starting point is 01:14:24 of wealth and talent. And when you start accumulating piles of things, LeBron's harder to coach today than year two. It's why some people stay single until they're like 45, 50 years old. I don't know how you do that, right? Because once you're 45, 50 years old, you're like, no, no, no.
Starting point is 01:14:39 On Sundays, I get up and I get the paper, I get coffee, and nobody bothers me. Then I come home and I watch football all day. Now a sudden you're a wife, kids, like, it's really, really hard. You do get set in your ways. Yes, and it's not, nothing against Aaron Rogers. I think Brett Farve, to your point,
Starting point is 01:14:53 It was very much like that at the end. Okay. Ohio State crushes Michigan. Yes. Your takeaway. Well, first, I love Rob Parker. I do. I love his passion.
Starting point is 01:15:04 Okay. But the idea that Jim Harbaugh hasn't done a spectacular job or that no one's holding him accountable. Matter of fact, media members are holding him. Fire Jim Harbaugh. He's getting crushed. He is getting crushed. But he's completely turned that program around.
Starting point is 01:15:19 What it exposed was not that Jim Harbaugh, we all knew his office. offense is slightly archaic and he's trying to fit in shape Patterson. What it exposed is the Big Ten is exactly what we all thought it was for the last decade. Only you did change your tune once you came over here and we had the Big Ten rights. I have to point that out. And also, Paul Chris looked like he was a great hire. And by the way, Harbaugh came in. And then Levy Smith went and then all of a sudden, I'm looking at Scott Frost.
Starting point is 01:15:47 And I said before the year, there's a lot of good coaches in this. Who's like, James Franklin's an excellent. I mean, it's like, terrific staff. So to me it was, they're not going to have the athletes of the SEC, but man, they're making inroads. And then I watched that game like you and I'm like, crap, it's Ohio State and just a bunch of slow teams. You're right.
Starting point is 01:16:05 This is why Ohio State was picked to win the league. Last year they were super young. Now they've come of age. This Ohio State without their best player. Nick Mose is not playing for them anymore. And this is, I thought you watch Tua at Alabama, and you watch Haskins, and you're like, what would Ohio State look like if they actually had a good quarterback?
Starting point is 01:16:24 This is what they look like. What would Alabama look like if they actually had a good quarterback? They're light years above everybody else. Clemson, for you. What would they look like if they had an NFL quarterback? You put Deshawn Watson. There you go. And that's what they look like.
Starting point is 01:16:35 But to me, it's an indictment. You got Northwestern your trotting out there who did not win a non-conference football game. They did not. And they're your conference, Western Conference champion, which we've always made fun of. Now, in fairness, they didn't play Ohio State. They didn't play Michigan State. they didn't play Penn State. But the point is...
Starting point is 01:16:54 The point is that... You watch this game and you saw it the same thing I did, which is it's Ohio State and a pretty unathletic conference that looks like they're going to get their ears boxed in bowl games. Right. Michigan was completely and thoroughly dominant. They spotted Northwestern 17 points and still came back to win that game, right? Right. So Michigan looked like the best defense we'd ever seen.
Starting point is 01:17:14 And they're like, well, maybe it's because they're playing against inferior competition. And now Ohio State, who had underachieve most of the season, decides to play. Finally, you've got good insight all over the Lakers. You actually tried out for them one time, right? Yes, it was down at Venice. I did Summer League one. I was Summer League team one year, a couple of free agents. You've got good contacts all through basketball.
Starting point is 01:17:35 I like where the Lakers are going. I said before the year, I think the West is way more dysfunctional than people think. Utah's not right. Boston's got its issues. Utah's really not right. But what do you make of this Laker team? What's your insight here? Well, what I've heard is that their chemistry is phenomenal,
Starting point is 01:17:51 that the addition of Tyson Chandler has not only given them more wins, like immediately, but completely fixed any sort of issues they ever would have had in that locker room. You know, he's ridiculously well respected. If he plays five minutes, plays 30 minutes, he doesn't care. He's saying all the right things. So you have the group of competitive guys that have great chemistry. You have Rondo, who's been a problem elsewhere, but they found a way to get Rondo to completely buy in.
Starting point is 01:18:20 He's a little happier now. Rondo, when he's not playing because he's hurt, is sitting there helping him coach, and they keep him in the circle. They empower Rondo because they respect him. I think they got a good thing going there. The two untold stories of the NBA are, does anybody realize the Clippers are actually in first place? Yeah. And that the Lakers, where LeBron has struggled chemistry-wise, when he's coming to a new setting first year,
Starting point is 01:18:44 they have ridiculous chemistry. The league is as competitive as it's ever been. Yeah. There are more difficult games now than ever. And I think end of the year, they'll sit there. Four seed, three seed? That's what I, the four seed feels right to me. It means that they'll host their first round playoff.
Starting point is 01:19:00 And I don't think they go and they get Brad Beale midseason. I think they want to see how the Ingram thing pans out. Like Ingram is struggling because he has to play without the basketball more with LeBron on the court. All right. And he wants to be kind of a point forward type. He's not a good enough three-point shooter. so he takes a lot of mid-range shots.
Starting point is 01:19:20 He wants to be Durant, but he's not. Like, Ingram would be the guy that if they were going to move somebody, that feels like the guy. Because around the league, you could get something for Ingram. Right. But there is this idea, and Jason McIntyre comes on your show. Well, I don't think trade him for Brad Beale. Okay, well, the Wizards don't want to trade Brad Beal.
Starting point is 01:19:38 They want to trade John Wall. Nobody wants John Wall. He's like, well, we got this Wall guy. He's better. He's way better. But he's going to be making $40 million. Yeah. $40 million.
Starting point is 01:19:47 So, Look, Brad Beale is the difference between those two guys, and Beal and Wall is, Beal is all about basketball, all about his diet, is a 34-inch waist. While his contract is bloated, it's only like $28 million. It's not brutal. And he's not old. I think he's like 24 years old. Something crazy.
Starting point is 01:20:05 But the Wizards want to tag on some other stuff. You know, the Otto Porter, who's been awful this year. And nobody wants to take that other stuff. Nobody wants to take John Wall. So I think the Lakers play it out. I think they're very happy with the change in chemistry, the change in personnel. And I think by the end of the year, they'll be able to decide who stays with Team LeBron and what they can add in. By the way, what do you make?
Starting point is 01:20:26 I think the Celtics will figure it out. I think they kind of played around with their starting. Brown was out. Marcus Smart was in. They're playing around. I think Houston's Utah's got bigger issues. Yes. You're right on Utah.
Starting point is 01:20:37 They're not. Jazz fan is killing me because I told them that in spite of, you know, your best player gets hurt. But Donovan Mitchell has rubbed some guys the wrong way. Listen, first of all, he takes a lot of bad shots. And he's a great talent. He takes some terrible shots. This is what happens. It happened last year with Kyle Kuzma, with the Lakers,
Starting point is 01:20:55 where Kyle Kuzma came out of nowhere, got all this respect, but wasn't guarding anybody. And so a lot of the veteran players like, look, dude, you can't be taking 20 shots and not guarding anybody. Mitchell's take, took 35 shots against the Sixers and didn't guard anybody at the other end. You can't fool those veterans. 10 seconds.
Starting point is 01:21:11 The Celtics might not be as talented as people think they are. There's your 10 seconds. Yeah. Gordon Hayward doesn't look like the same. Doesn't look the same. And some of their younger players haven't yet taken that next step, people expected. Doug Gottlie, hour three. Next.
Starting point is 01:21:26 Ah, here we go. Hour number three in Los Angeles. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and right here on FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me for Hour 3. These shows now kind of, they flop. because there's so much to talk about. There's college football, little NBA, tons of NFL,
Starting point is 01:21:51 where the ratings are up everywhere Thursday on this network. Cowboys and the Saints, a team that can win a lot of ways and a cowboy team that needs to win one way, which is run the football and keep it low in terms of scoring. Coming up in five minutes, just five minutes, Tony Gonzalez. And in 30 minutes, Cowboy linebacker, Leighton Van der Leyen Wanderesh, who is like the newest Brian Urlacker. Best for Last, Baker Mayfield's into a Hall of Fame,
Starting point is 01:22:15 not the one you think of. But Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers. I talk about them all the time, said something fascinating yesterday. And it reminded me of something. Nobody wants to become their parents. We all want to be a little smarter than our parents,
Starting point is 01:22:30 a little cooler than our parents, a little cooler than our parents, a little hipper than our parents. Sometimes we get around to kids and we kind of like roll our eyes at our parents. We love them. But we look at our parents and we're like, oh, I'm not going to become dad.
Starting point is 01:22:41 Oh, I'm not going to become mom. We don't want to become our parents, right? But then all these years later, I look at myself and I'm like, man, I got a lot of my dad's qualities. I got a lot of my mom's qualities. We all become our parents. And Aaron Rogers yesterday was talking about mortality. And I'm thinking about this. Aaron Rogers would never want to be compared to Farv.
Starting point is 01:23:01 Farv, Southern guy, rigid, stothering through all those picks. I'm a lot smarter than Brett Farb. And Farv never thought Aaron Rogers was as equal. Guy went to junior college, California guy, thinks he's better than everybody. they're becoming one another. Yesterday, Aaron Rogers talked about something that Brett Farr used to all the time on the back nine of his career, his mortality. Here's Aaron. Obviously, got a lot more gray in the beard than I did a few years ago.
Starting point is 01:23:32 So I know that football mortality catches up to everybody. And he never want to lose a season. We're going to battle the next five weeks and put ourselves. in a position to be in the conversation. And hopefully, it'll be enough. And like I've always said, you just got to get in. So we've got to win these five. See what happens.
Starting point is 01:23:54 It was one of my knocks with Farr's late in his career. I'm like, dude, you're like 36 years old. Stop being stubborn and rigid. You're not a grandpa. Learn a new offense. He didn't want to learn a new offense. And I think it's interesting. Aaron's talking about graying beard.
Starting point is 01:24:06 I'm on the back nine. They've become one another. Think about this. Let's go to Farr's first 10 years in the league as a Packer. and let's go to Aaron's first 10 years as a Packer. Both have a Super Bowl, multiple MVPs, nine out of 10 winning seasons, and six Pro Bowls. Both have iconic arms, commercials beloved by the fawning media.
Starting point is 01:24:28 First 10 years, same guy. Maybe one's from the South, one from the West. It's the same guy. But remember how Brett Farve's career ended. And couldn't I make an argument? This is sort of how errands will end. how did Farve's last five seasons go? Barely a 500 road quarterback, three teams, multiple Pro Bowls,
Starting point is 01:24:51 couple division titles, never got back to a Super Bowl. And oh, by the way, kind of flaky. Remember, Farv, I'm going to retire, I'm not going to retire, I'm going to retire, I'm not going to retire, kind of held the team hostage. And oh, by the way, there were a couple of quarterbacks emerging, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, who looked better. when I look at Aaron Rogers down the stretch, I think he's going to make Pro Bowls.
Starting point is 01:25:14 I think he's going to win a couple division titles. I'm not sure he's going to get back to the Super Bowl. And he's becoming a little like Farrv, whereas your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault, coach out, Ty Montgomery out, defense problem. We never want to become our parents. We all do.
Starting point is 01:25:34 Aaron Rogers, first 10 years, are identical to Fars. will his last seven be. I will say this. People always say their big difference is Fav threw a lot of picks Aaron doesn't. But even that's linked. Farrv never got hurt
Starting point is 01:25:51 because he got rid of the ball early, thus creating often interceptions. Aaron's hurt a lot because he holds on to the ball too long because he doesn't want to throw interceptions. Even on that, they're linked. No, bring it. And just never forget how it ended for Brett Farr.
Starting point is 01:26:14 Brett Farrf goes back to pass. He pumps. Now he fires over the middle. Intercepted. I can't believe what I'm seeing right now. It was intercepted by Tracy Porter, near side to the 40, and John Sullivan runs him down at the 47-yard line. You've got to be kidding me.
Starting point is 01:26:29 I can't believe what I just saw. Why do you even ponder passing? I mean, you can take a knee and try a 56-yard field goal. This is not Detroit, man. is the Super Bowl. Paul Allen, my favorite radio call ever. It is interesting though. What we try to avoid,
Starting point is 01:26:47 we often become. Farvin Rogers to me, first 10 years identical, will the last 7 or 8? It does appear he'll have a new coach and a new start in about four months. And with
Starting point is 01:27:03 that we bring on Tony Gonzalez. He jumps out of planes. He acts. Enjoy. do a lot of things. You know, when I'm watching, Aaron's kind of an ad libber. Yeah. And Deshawn last night, terrific ad liber. Russell's a little bit of an ad liber.
Starting point is 01:27:19 You didn't have that. You had pocket guys. Whenever I see ad lib quarterbacks, the media loves them. But I always think, the receivers and tight ends. Like when Brady goes back, I'm a tight end. I know where I'm going to be. I know where the ball's going to be. When I watched Deshawn, a lot of his stuff, he's just a great playmaker.
Starting point is 01:27:36 I saw Russell do it against Cam the other day. Good God. as a receiver or a tight end, can they drive you crazy? Honestly, I like them. You do. You'd rather have a guy with a little mobility. I don't, you know, if I, I'd rather take Tom Brady or Drew Breeze or whatever, one of those slicer and dizers in the pocket. But I remember I played with this guy back in Kansas City named Tyler Thickpin.
Starting point is 01:27:57 Oh, yeah, yeah. I don't know if you remember Tyler. You know, made play with his legs. Yeah. And nothing against Tyler. But, I mean, he's not an upper echelon, you know, franchise type quarterback. but I played pretty much the whole year with him, and I had, I think, 93 catches at the end of the year with Tyler Thickpen.
Starting point is 01:28:13 So you were breaking off routes. Yes. And as long as you have certain symmetry with that guy. So you liked the freelancing. I think I would have played really well with somebody, if I had that in my whole just because once it breaks down, I love that. Now I get the ad lib too. It reminds me of like, you know, playing pickup basketball where there's no plays.
Starting point is 01:28:32 Let's just go out there. Now it's in the dirt back home. And I'm good at that. I'm 6, 5, 240. You can move. I can move. I'm going to get open. I know how to get open.
Starting point is 01:28:40 So I enjoyed that. So at Cal, did you have a mobile or a pocket guy? Pocket guy. So your whole career was all pocket dudes? Pretty much all pocket guys. I did have Tyler. I played with,
Starting point is 01:28:48 you know, Rich Gannon a little bit, but I wasn't that good when I played with him. You weren't? Second year in the league. That was the dive bomb for me. Well, that was when you were partying a lot.
Starting point is 01:28:57 Partying a lot. Well, actually, I wasn't partying enough. What do you mean? I was the opposite back to, that's what happened. That's what happened.
Starting point is 01:29:04 That second year in the league, I was so focused and so concentrated. I didn't go out. I stopped drinking as much. I stopped doing, you know, staying out late. You didn't have fun? I didn't have fun. I was too tight.
Starting point is 01:29:13 I was too tight. And you had a lot of drops that year. That seven, led the league and dropped passes. You did. I bailed on you that year. But you came back. I bailed on myself. Okay.
Starting point is 01:29:25 So, you know, it's, I'm watching Aaron, and, you know, we've talked about this, that they're, you know, listen, there are divorces. You had coaches that you like, and then you fall out of love. When you are in a locker room and you know the coach isn't the coach in the future, is it weird? Is it uncomfortable? You had a couple of those. That happened a lot to me.
Starting point is 01:29:47 You had a guy in the room and you know in nine weeks, six weeks, he's not, and everybody in the room, does everybody in the room know it? Yeah, everybody knows it. He's gone, gone. And I think Mike McCarthy, everybody's talking about he's gone. Doesn't deserve. I'm going to go on record right now. I think it's ridiculous that they're going to fire this guy.
Starting point is 01:30:02 Look at what he's done, his record and all that stuff. but I understand why. It's because of Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers hasn't bashed him, but he hasn't backed him either. And because he hasn't backed him, I think the organization is going to say, well, you know, who's more important is it Aaron or Mike McCarthy? Aaron is not backing him anyway, so they're going to get rid of Coach McCarthy, which I don't agree with.
Starting point is 01:30:23 Who was the last time you were in a locker room and you had a coach that was going to be removed? It was the last time. Herm, I knew Herm was going to go. You did, and you did because you read the paper. Yeah, I read the paper. I think even he came in there and said, hey, they're going, no, we knew it. I knew he was probably going to go. I remember Coach Gunther Cunningham.
Starting point is 01:30:44 Yes. And I don't know if it was, I remember Coach Vermeal came in and replaced him, and Coach Vermeal actually came during the season to watch a game or something. He was in the locker room towards the end of the season, and then lo and behold, he was the next guy they hired. I didn't know at the time that it was going to be Dick. That was going to take his place. You can generally sense this puppy's over.
Starting point is 01:31:06 Oh, yeah. You know it's over. And you hear it in the papers. Sometimes you agree with them. You're like, man, it's over because their standards, especially for those teams that have that winning tradition that we go to the playoffs and we don't go to the playoffs. Those owners are like, forget this. These guys are shrewd, businessmen. You know, Tom Brady had a quote yesterday.
Starting point is 01:31:27 He said, listen, I don't like to make mistakes because when I make a mistake we lose, he said, and this is an amazing staff. When the Patriots don't turn it over, listen to this, they're 125 and 15. So Brady was saying yesterday was saying, you know, I don't like to turn it over because I know what happens when I don't turn it over. Here's Tom Brady talking about this. Maybe part of my problem is I've gotten older is, you know, I want to make so few mistakes. You know, maybe there's not as much aggressiveness as I would like because, you know, with aggressiveness comes a little more risk. And, you know, we have like a 95% chance of winning when we don't turn the ball over. You know, and I think that's always in the back of my mind.
Starting point is 01:32:09 You are a thinking, man. You're always going. We talk about this. You think about a lot of stuff I don't think players do. Did you find, and Aaron Rogers does this a little, holds the ball, seeking perfection, doesn't want the interception. Were you different intellectually as a player later in your career? Were there things you thought about? Like, I'm not doing that.
Starting point is 01:32:30 I've heard actors like Bill Murray, the great comedic actor, Bill Murray said there's roles now. I would have taken it 28. I'm not going to take that goofy role anymore. Yeah. It's like I've grown out of that mistake or that role. Yeah. Was that how it was for you? Yeah, Tom Hanks says the same thing.
Starting point is 01:32:47 Does he? Yeah, absolutely, I think as a player, as you keep getting older, you realize what's going to bring to team success, what's going to make you more successful, what's going to screw up your success if you do things certain that way. how to get down, at least for me as a tight end, self-preservation became a little bit more key as I got older. You didn't want to go perhaps over the middle? Well, it's not that I wouldn't go over the middle. It's just when I went over the middle and I caught the ball, it's like instead of me thinking I'm going to go ahead and make a move and turn up field and go score a touchdown, it's like, all right, I got to look around first. And there's a lot of tape of me catching the ball. And sometimes nobody's even around me.
Starting point is 01:33:23 And I'll turn and pause and look and then take off running. I did that a lot. They started making fun of me about that. But I'm like, you know, and we lived a fight another day. Like, you know, Waterboy. I don't know if you remember that movie. I didn't watch Waterboy. Did you watch Waterboy?
Starting point is 01:33:37 What do you mean you didn't watch Waterboy? You know, Adam Sandler? I have to just make a list of movies that you must watch. There's three or, I didn't watch Waterboy. Well, in there, there's a Cajun guy who says, we live to write another day. And he's like, huh? We live to divide another day. And that's what everybody's got, you're an actor.
Starting point is 01:33:55 Everybody's got a movie, a great movie they didn't. watch. What's the one with Robert De Niro Raging Bull? I've never seen Raging Bull. Yeah, I've never seen Raging Bull. Oh, one of the best. His best, Robert De Niro's best movie. Okay, so Raging Bull,
Starting point is 01:34:12 I never saw Raging Bull. It's acceptable, but I mean, Waterboys. What's the great movie you didn't see? Raging Bull. I didn't see Raging Bull. Okay, what about you? What's the great movie you would You, you... Now, Apocalypse Now. You've never seen it. Never seen Apocalypse now. You know what's interesting.
Starting point is 01:34:27 I'll tell you, Apocalypse Now is good. There's a movie called Hearts of Darkness. It's a movie about the making of Apocalypse now. It may be better than Apocalypse now. I'm not kidding you. Which one should I see first? Well, I think you have to watch Apocalypse now first. Watch the big dog and then the making of the big dog.
Starting point is 01:34:48 Okay. All right, good seeing you. Oh, I started speaking to television. I started Narcos last night. Narcos Mexico. Narcos Mexico. Yes. Tony, it's good.
Starting point is 01:34:57 And I started Bodyguard. Saw the first episode. Did you like it? I loved it. You told me to watch Narcos. I told you to watch Bodyguard. Yep. Neither is on this network so you shouldn't watch them.
Starting point is 01:35:07 But I'm just talking here amongst ourselves. Thanks, buddy. I enjoy with the news. Nope. Oh, I got to take a break. My bad. Sometimes I forget where I'm in. Start talking TV shows and I forget where I'm at.
Starting point is 01:35:20 Layton Van derresh, Dallas Cowboys, around the corner. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day. days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. By the way, Leighton Van deresh of the Cowboys will be joining us. I just talked to him during the break.
Starting point is 01:35:38 Funny, we were almost going to take him live on a training table, which would have been my career highlight. He played quarterback and linebacker at an eight-man football team in the middle of nowhere in Idaho. And I just happened to spend a lot of time in Idaho. I've been to McCall, I've been to Boisey a lot, Sun Valley. Idaho is a Rhode Island and Idaho are the two greatest states that most Americans don't know about. Idaho's an amazing place to live, amazing lakes, great people.
Starting point is 01:36:06 And same with Rhode Island out east. It gets sandwiched. Nobody talks about Rhode Island. Rhode Island's fantastic. Have you ever been to Rhode Island? Rhode Island's fantastic. No, I've not been to Rhode Island. Providence, Rhode Island, watch Hill. Oh, God, it's just the best.
Starting point is 01:36:17 So we're going to, we just talked to him in the break. I can't wait to talk to a fascinating guy. Eight-man football goes to Boise State. He really reminds me of Brian Erlacker. is that Brian Erlecker came in to the NFL, played at like New Mexico. None of us, I didn't watch him in college or high school. I didn't know who Brian Erlikka was. And you watched him for like four games and you're like, who's that?
Starting point is 01:36:36 They're just better than all the other linebackers. And you watch Van derrick. You're like, my lord, big, strong, rangy fast. And he chose linebacker over quarterback, which I'm interested because he's big enough. He's big enough to be a quarterback. So we'll talk about that. Here's Joy with the news. No, no, no, no.
Starting point is 01:36:55 on the news. This is the herd line news. So the Browns came into the year with a lot of attention on them. Yeah. And since Greg Williams has become their interim coach four weeks ago, we've seen just a lot of change and turnover and noise. And Brown's center, J.C. Treader, had an interesting explanation for all of it. He said that there was a lack of discipline. And that's changed. Here he is on that. I think it's something that we desperately needed. I think he's really rained everybody in and got everybody focused on one single goal. I think his leadership has been very strong. He fires up the team. He's got that personality. I think the rules and what's expected of each person on the team when it comes to penalties and misd assignments and all these little things,
Starting point is 01:37:42 I mean, they're spelled out for you. There's no confusion about what's going on. I think Greg Williams absolutely worked short term. It's like the really strict interim boss that takes over a company. It does no question everybody gets everybody's attention, but is that guy for eight years going to build? There's been a lot of examples Joy, where interim coaches jump
Starting point is 01:38:05 in and they really work. You were in Miami. You saw this Dan Campbell. And for like five weeks, you're like, wow. But that doesn't mean they can build the empire. Well, I think when you put an interim coach in who maybe it's their first time coaching, they come in and they have all these ideas.
Starting point is 01:38:21 Now, this isn't Greg Williams' first time coaching. obviously, but, you know, they have ideas and maybe this is the opportunity that they needed. And I'm not saying that Greg Williams isn't going to work out. I'm saying I'd like to see a little bit more of sustained success before we, you know, start crowning everyone as this grand change. Obviously, Hugh Jackson wasn't working. Hugh Jackson, his record, I think, speaks for himself with what happened in Cleveland. It's not ever one person's fault.
Starting point is 01:38:44 We know that Hugh Jackson, at least from his point of view, he wanted to take quarterbacks. It seems like that would be a rational thing to do in the NFL, and he was overruled by people are above him. That happens a lot. It happens a lot with interim coaches. It happens a lot with new coaches. It's actually very few coaches in any sport who have a final say on personnel decisions. So a lot of the times it isn't just the coach's fault.
Starting point is 01:39:03 This, to me, is like, okay, you come in, you've got new blood, you were losing, you had that bad energy. Now you have a new guy at the top, and he's going to be very fiery and exciting. And then you also did some winning. So it brings some belief, which sometimes is what you need. But you also need is sustained success for anyone to believe that this is a real thing. Although from Baker's perspective, he has been, his numbers have improved since he's left. So whatever that means, whether it's just he felt like he was being constrained or if there was some actual change. Or they played really crappy defenses.
Starting point is 01:39:34 Could be that. Could be that. It could be that. Well, we'll find out. So the Celtics started the year as the favorite to win the East and reach the finals. I believe you picked them to win. Yes. The championship.
Starting point is 01:39:46 Yes. I picked them to make it to the finals. But after 21 games, so just 11 and 10, and they're not looking much like a championship team right now. And Kyrie Irving, who missed their playoff run last year because of injury, said they are reaching a desperate time. Almost at that rock bottom point where you're about to blow up, the whole team's about to blow up. You know, I'm saying that we're there, but for me, there's no more time to waste.
Starting point is 01:40:12 Yeah, I don't think you're there, but I think there's one absolute reality. Gordon Hayward off the injury is not the same player. He's just not. And is it possible that as Jason Tatum has emerged as their best young player, and Kyrie is now healthy, that it's really a lot less of that whole Brad Stevens passed the ball. It's becoming a two-man team. Like Tatum or Kyrie, it doesn't quite feel as kumbaya the unit, 10 guys play.
Starting point is 01:40:46 We're all in it together. It kind of feels like Kyrie or Tatum, they need the ball to score. And I wonder if that cohesion is off. There was, for me, that was the big question. You had a team that made a championship run last year. And then you have to implement not just Kyrie Irving, but Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward into a system that was working. So the chemistry question for me was always there,
Starting point is 01:41:14 but I just felt like because they had the success they did last year, but they'd figure out a way to make it work. I mean, again, it's very early in the season, but for Kyrie to say that they're at a desperate point, they're obviously very frustrated. So they've got to make some sort of change there. So, that's it. Joy with the News.
Starting point is 01:41:32 Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Well, I've been waiting for this all day. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. I went to a small school. I've spent a lot of time in Idaho, which is an amazing place, and Spokane,
Starting point is 01:41:46 which is by, his hometown of Riggins, Idaho, population 400. He's a high school football star, and now he is emerging as one of the great young players, offensive or defense in the National Football League via the Coward Global Satellite Network, Leighton Van derresh. Okay, I've got to start with some Pacific Northwest love.
Starting point is 01:42:07 So Idaho is stunning. You're a lucky guy to have grown up in Idaho, the fishing, the hunting, the landscape. There's a lot of space out there. when you were playing high school football, Layton, did you even think about the NFL? Or was it just like, I like my life, I'm a really good eight-man football player? Did you, was the NFL something you talked about or thought about?
Starting point is 01:42:30 Absolutely. I think I was thinking about it all the time in the back of my head. I always wanted to play in the NFL. Ever since I was a little boy, that was my biggest dream, was to play pro ball and to now get a chance to do that, me and to live out my dream and play for the Cowboys is pretty sweet. Now, Idaho tends to be Seattle Seahawk territory. There's a lot of Seahawk fans in Idaho.
Starting point is 01:42:55 Were you a Seahawk fan? Did you have a favorite team? No. Everybody was split between Denver and Seattle from where I grew up, but I never really had a favorite team, but I watched the Cowboys all the time. So that was kind of the ironic part of it all. and then ended up being here and this is where I wanted to be throughout the whole entire draft
Starting point is 01:43:18 process. So it worked out just fine and couldn't be more thankful for it. Now, college football recruiters don't spend a lot of time at eight-man football games, right? They're going to the big Seattle games and the Denver high school games and the LA games. Was there ever a concern? Like, for instance, you went to Boise State. Did anybody else recruit you? Did you have to go to camps? Tell me the story about how you ended up
Starting point is 01:43:43 because I got to tell you, Riggins, Idaho is not a hotbed for college football talent. No, no. We've had a few guys come out of there and play. We had a guy come and play for U of I and the guy for Carol, another guy for college of Idaho. But, I mean, we never really had anybody come out with D1 offers. And even I walked on at Boise State.
Starting point is 01:44:06 So, yeah, I mean, I was in class one day. and I got called to the office. And at first I was confused. I was like, I don't know why I'm getting called to the office, but I stepped out in the hallway. We have one single hall at the high school. And Avalos, our defensive coordinator at Boise State right now, he was a linebacker coach at the time.
Starting point is 01:44:28 He was standing down there with all of Boise State stuff, and I went and talked to him, and he said, he introduced himself, and it was like, man, I don't know very much about you. We don't know very much about you, but everybody's been talking about you down the valley down in Boise and saying we should be interested. So he invited me to their summer camp and that's kind of where it all started. Went and did linebacker drills, quarterback drills, tight-end drills with all the different coaches
Starting point is 01:44:51 and got on film for them a little bit. And then they offered me a walk-on spot after my senior year of football. Wow. So you go to Boise State and then you start hearing about you. And when was the first moment at Boise State when you thought to yourself, hey, I'm going to play in the NFL. I'm going to get drafted. Was there a moment, a game, an epiphany a moment? It was probably the start of my junior year at Boise.
Starting point is 01:45:24 I always thought in the back of my head, though, at Boise, like if I did what I needed to do and what I wanted to do and accomplish that at Boise State that I was going to have a chance or I was going to have a chance to. make it on to the next level in the NFL and get that chance. But it really started hitting me those first few games at Boise, my junior year, just tearing it up and playing plays on the field. I knew that if I just continue to do that and be consistent every single week in Boise and make plays and just be myself that I was going to have a pretty dang good chance at it. Jerry Jones, the star, the stadium, the Cowboys. You get drafted by Dallas.
Starting point is 01:46:03 When you step on to their practice field, when did it hit? you, oh my lord. I'm not just playing in the NFL. I'm playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Was there a moment when it was like really, it really hits you that wow, this is not just an NFL job. This is as good as it gets. I think it was a day after getting drafted, getting in the flying in the helicopter and laying on the practice field here at the star the next morning. And having everybody be there, all the reporters, there was probably like 70 different reporters with cameras out there when we landed in the helicopter and stepped out onto the field and then took uh took the tour of the star and went around and saw a bunch of the coaches got my iPad no book all that stuff so uh it kind of hit me right there
Starting point is 01:46:51 when I stepped out of the helicopter like I just really got a ride on the helicon Gary's helicopter to the star yeah to my new home and even even then like even getting drafted the night before in AT&T Stadium, that was like, that was an experience in itself, as you can, as you can imagine being there. And they're not having to travel anywhere, just being able to stay, being able to stay in Dallas and then get to fly in the helicopter to like 10, 15 minutes from downtown to the star. So, yeah, that was, that was absolutely incredible. And I'm going to remember that for the rest of my life. I mean, I don't know your parents, obviously, but they must be, I know, I know when I got my first job, my mom would still call me and say, do you need a razor?
Starting point is 01:47:38 Do you need cookies? Do you need me to send stuff? So now you're from this small town. Your parents are watching you. You're a Dallas cowboy. I mean, I don't even know how you're ever going to go back to Riggins, Idaho. They're going to have parades for you. But it is interesting.
Starting point is 01:47:52 When I kind of look at you, I find that a lot of people like your story, the eight-man football thing. Now you're in this big city. now you're a star for the Cowboys. Like, are you ready to be a leader? You're obviously a good player. But if I told you next 10 years, you're the defensive captain of the team. Is that a big leap for you? Would you embrace that?
Starting point is 01:48:17 Oh, I would embrace it. Absolutely. I mean, I've always thought of myself as a leader and just being a guy that my teammates and people around my coaches can trust on the field on and off, knowing that I'm a guy that they can come to and know that he's going to get the job done and he's going to prepare his butt off to go do it on the field and be there for the guy to his left and his right.
Starting point is 01:48:43 And I mean, I'm just, I love playing football and I love being successful, and I love the guys around me being successful. And that's the ultimate goal when, I mean, any part of the team that I want to be a part of or that I'm on. So we got a big thing to accomplish here in Dallas. I know we're far from done, but just take things, take things slow, take things one, one day at a time, one practice at a time, one week, a time, one game at a time, and just go
Starting point is 01:49:11 have that mindset that we're going to be there every single step of the way. And if I'm, if I'm a guy that they can trust to be a leader, and I know I am, I'm going to go do that. 11 people in his high school graduating class, eight-man football played quarterback and linebacker. Now, you're a good looking kid. You're certainly big enough to be a quarterback. It looks like to me you could have played quarterback. At some point, you made a decision or somebody made it for you. Maybe you could be the Cowboys quarterback.
Starting point is 01:49:44 Who knew? You were a quarterback and a linebacker. What coach told you, hey, kid, you're going to play a linebacker? That was Avalos. That was definitely Avalos. There was a bunch of colleges that were, a bunch of smaller colleges that were recruiting me out of high school wanted me to play linebacker and quarterback and basketball too so uh but avlose is like dude the way you run around the field you're gonna you're gonna be a heck of a linebacker and i mean i
Starting point is 01:50:12 trusted him he gave me the chance to go play at boisey state where i always wanted to play sure and yeah i didn't get a scholarship right off the bat but that's where i wanted to play from day one and he gave me that chance and got my name in the door and then it was like all right i'm gonna go i'm gonna make most of this i'm gonna i'm gonna prove everybody wrong which i feel like I've been trying to do my whole entire life. Sure. I'm going to doubt in what I can do. And then just taking it from there, just trusting my ability,
Starting point is 01:50:38 trusting my instincts, my preparation, and knowing how hard I'm going to work to make sure I'm successful. Leighton Van derrush. One more question. I ask this to rookies. So you watch games on TV and then you get into games. Who was the first great player that you tackled? And you thought to yourself, oh, my God,
Starting point is 01:50:56 I just tackled Julio Jones. I just tackled it. What was your first play in the NFL where you're like, after you get up from the pile, you're like, oh, yeah, I just tackled the guy I watched on TV for years. Probably Adrian Pearson. I grew up. He was probably my favorite player for years and years.
Starting point is 01:51:17 And I know we played, Boyce State played him in the Fiesta Bowl and back in 2007. And watching him all throughout NFL and seeing how he plays, the style of play he plays with is awesome, it's hard for the game. And then actually getting to play against him, it was like, this is crazy and this is awesome.
Starting point is 01:51:39 Well, Leighton, you're a great kid. Wonderful story. You were the, let's see right here, Week 10 NFC defensive player of the week 13 tackles. Yeah, you were great against the Eagles. We wish you continued success. Enjoy Dallas and congrats to Idaho, you and your family. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:51:54 Thank you so much. You bet. Great story. Eleven people in his graduating class. Yeah, had a few more than 11. That's crazy. It is.
Starting point is 01:52:04 It's an amazing story. You know what I also like what he said is, I've been trying to prove people wrong my whole life. You know, he has a little Zach Thomas in there, too. Yes. When you see him moving around. Yeah, he's just, he can, he's big.
Starting point is 01:52:15 Look, Goulet, you know, he's a cowboy fan. You know, Goulaet just complains. Like the Cowboys are the Cleveland Browns. Goulaid nothing but complains about the Cowboys. You probably have the best linebacker in football. the next decade. I mean, you probably do. I mean, he looks like, he's Brian Erlacker to me. He's just like he's, I mean, his size. It's one of the smartest picks they've made. I'm seriously. And they make a lot of good ones, actually, but that's one of the smartest ones. He is just unbelievable.
Starting point is 01:52:39 All right, coming up next, I'm nominating Baker Mayfield for the Hall of Fame. Now, it may be the Hall of you're thinking of, but that's coming up next. Friday on Fox, the Pac-12 champion will be crowned as Utah battles Washington, then on Saturday, Ohio State, and Northwestern go toe-to-to-to for the Big Ten title. Coverage begins at 7-Eastern Friday and Saturday on Fox and the Fox Sports app. You know what all four of those teams have in common? Utah, Washington, Ohio State Northwestern. They only have one thing that they all have in common.
Starting point is 01:53:17 Really, really good coaches. Like everybody talks about recruiting, Ohio State with Luke Fickle, wasn't very good. Utah, Washington, arguably the two best coaches in the PAC 12th playing for the championship. Not like Utah gets the best players. USC and UCLA get better players.
Starting point is 01:53:35 By the way, Northwestern, you don't think the Penn States of the world get better players than Northwestern. College football is about it. There's so much about coaching. Now, in the NFL, I'm not saying coaching doesn't matter, but I think in college football, you've got really elite coaches,
Starting point is 01:53:51 and then you got gym teachers. In the NFL, you know, I take out Belichick, and I think the gap between good and average is, you know, pretty thin. You know, let me give a coaching staff credit. Houston, Deshawn Watson. I like Deshawn Watson. I think he's really, really good, and I watched him last night. But I think Houston's staff deserves a lot of credit, is they've figured out, listen, we're not going to have him throw 35 times when I keep everything in front of them. Let him make plays with his feet, some completions.
Starting point is 01:54:18 He throws a beautiful deep ball. I really, really like Deshawn Watson. And I think Houston's very fortunate. I hope they realize how fortunate. Because the most important position in American sports, all sports, is the quarterback in the NFL. And there's only 10 teams that I think have a star quarterback for the next decade. Okay, let's just eliminate elite guys, but they won't be here for a decade. Brady, Breeze, Big Ben, Rogers, Rivers.
Starting point is 01:54:45 They're great won't be here for a decade. Then let's go and eliminate five guys. who we can all admit they're rookies. You don't know how good Baker is going to be. RG3 was great as a rookie. Don't count Baker, Donald, Rosen, Alan, Jackson. You have no idea how it's going to last, two, three, four, five, six, seven years.
Starting point is 01:55:00 Then let's eliminate five guys that we know are all pretty limited guys. Bortles, Dalton, Keenham, Manning, Tannehill. Then there's eight guys with talent, but there's something missing. Their team doesn't like him. Their coach argues. Stafford Flacco, Alex Smith, Dack,
Starting point is 01:55:16 Kirk Cousins, Derek Carr, Marcus Mario to James Winston, you're left with 10 quarterbacks in this league that the owner, the GM, and the coach drive to work knowing I can win Super Bowls. And it doesn't have to be a perfect team. Now, I don't like Tribisky as much as everybody else. But as long as he is with Matt Nagy, I'll put him in this group. Never forget what Dabo Sweeney, Deshaun Watson's college coach, set about him before the draft. I'm just telling you.
Starting point is 01:55:48 They pass on Deshawn Watson. They're passing on Michael Jordan. I mean, I'm just telling you. I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. I'm just an old funky college coach. Sean Watson is the best by a long shot. Yeah, he's really a special player. All right, here we go.
Starting point is 01:56:07 Best for last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Quit holding out on us, Cowherd. It's the best for last. Okay, so Baker Mayfield, I don't love this stuff. Okay, continues to take shots at Hugh Jackson. So, you know, after the game against Cincinnati, Hugh's now coaching them because he got fired in Cleveland. Baker stepped to the podium and took a shot at his former head coach. Left Cleveland goes down in Cincinnati. I don't know. That's just somebody that was in our locker room asking for us to play for him and then goes to a different team.
Starting point is 01:56:43 We play twice a year. Everybody can have their spin on it, but that's how I feel. all right i wouldn't have gone there no point uh then he came out yesterday and somebody online damien wood he said dude you transferred you went to a rival what are you talking about baker responded to him saying not even comparable i didn't lose 30 plus games be fake and then go do that i wasn't going to have a scholarship good try though on instagram i wouldn't go there either but i thought with all this stuff baker's shown sort of an inability to stay away from criticism not not get involved on social media, kind of punch back, punched down what they tell you not to do if you're a star. So I'm inducting him into the Hall of Fame today.
Starting point is 01:57:26 Now, it's not a typical Hall of Fame. It is the All Sensitive Hall of Fame. Congratulations. Welcome to the 2018 induction ceremony for the All Sensitive Hall of Fame. Before we induct our newest member, let's take a fond look back at our past inductees. superstar Kevin Durant, who won over voters by dominating the NBA finals and the comment section on YouTube NFL receiver Odell Beckham Jr. who shattered nearly every Giants receiving record and kicking net and who can forget the
Starting point is 01:58:04 Hall's founding member legendary complainer Terrell Owens who still holds the NFL record for weirdest press conference. It's my cord bed. Today we induct our newest member. quarterback Baker Mayfield, who has exemplified all the hallowed institution stands for by taking unnecessary shots at his former coach. Congratulations, Baker, on a job well done. Now, some athletes, some people in our business respond to all that social media.
Starting point is 01:58:38 They punch back. Are you a punchbacker? I used to be a punchbacker. You were? Yeah. I don't have that much time on my hands now. Yeah, it's very time-consuming. Sometimes I find it fun, you know, to kind.
Starting point is 01:58:48 I don't let it affect me, but I kind of like to make a joke, you know, here and there if someone's being ridiculous. I don't ever let it bother me to, like, my core. But now I just find it all to be very distracting. And I have stuff to do today. Yeah, you jab. I'll jab. I mean, you could call it punching down if you want, because really people do that to get your attention. Right.
Starting point is 01:59:06 But I just don't have time for it anymore. Well, it's funny. You know, occasionally I'll go on during a game. And I'm just sitting there with my phone for two hours watching a game. And I'm, you know, I'm watching the game. And I have an iPad and I have my phone. and I'm most of the people that on Instagram or whatever site it is that would take shots at you,
Starting point is 01:59:23 you do realize if you saw him at a bar, they'd want a selfie and buy a beer. Of course. I've only ever actually have one person tell me to my face that I was terrible at what I do, which I respected. He was wrong, of course. Of course, yeah.
Starting point is 01:59:36 Yeah, I don't get those either. I'm surprised that Aaron Rogers isn't in the Hall of Fame. He didn't get in yet. You know, we talked about that. He doesn't have the full credentials. He doesn't have the gold jacket yet. because even though I know Aaron does hear everything
Starting point is 01:59:52 By the way, I was told LeBron hears everything. Remember I went to the Laker game, LeBron LeBron knows everybody in the media and he knows what everybody says and Aaron knows everybody in the media. But LeBron doesn't respond though. That's a good point. LeBron doesn't respond.
Starting point is 02:00:08 I don't know if it's beneath him. He just doesn't. You know, again, some people... What else could he do with his day if he took the time to respond? Well, if you're LeBron, you play a game, let's say you play a Laker game, and then a game's over at 10, then you go home, and I think you go home with your wife and your kids, and you probably, you know, listen to some music, watch TV, you know, you're not going to go to bed right after an NBA game.
Starting point is 02:00:29 You've got to, it's going a thousand miles an hour. LeBron probably hits at about 1.30, and he wakes up at what? Right, so I'm saying, like, what time does he have in his day to respond? 9.30, then he goes to shoot around, he comes back. You know what I, and he always napsed during the day. LeBron probably goes to internet like I do. My internet time is like two to three in the afternoon. Like I'll retweet Goulet sends me my podcast.
Starting point is 02:00:54 I retweet a couple things and I go and read stuff. And then after that I go pick up my kid from school and go work out. But that's your internet time. You got to be careful about that stuff. Yeah, you got to be limited with it. Looking for the perfect holiday gift. Look no further than the original untuck shirt untucket.com. These are shirts designed to be worn untucked, so they fall at the perfect length.
Starting point is 02:01:18 Untucket.com, big holiday, sealed 25% off on tuckett.com. Now, tomorrow on the show, Chris Broussard stops by E.J. Manuel, former NFL quarterback, good dude. And Joel Clatt, we're going to have the college football rankings tonight, the playoff rankings. The four best teams I've seen so far are Alabama Clemson, Oklahoma, and Georgia, slightly over Notre but I think Notre Dame will be in because they haven't lost. And I think Notre Dame is going to get in because they haven't lost and Georgia will lose to Alabama this weekend. Sorry, but if it comes down to Oklahoma and Ohio State, I'm taking Oklahoma.
Starting point is 02:01:55 That's going to be the big argument now. Going forward, the team that didn't get blown out by 29 points to Purdue, I like that team over Ohio State. I like Oklahoma. It's third. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in.
Starting point is 02:02:18 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 headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TV. TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.
Starting point is 02:02:48 Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app.
Starting point is 02:03:11 or wherever you get your podcasts. Wife is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions
Starting point is 02:03:25 about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app,
Starting point is 02:03:39 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me?
Starting point is 02:04:09 Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the Aihar Radio. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.