The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd Full Show for Sep 02, 2019

Episode Date: September 2, 2019

Filling in for Colin, Doug Gottlieb discusses the game plan of the Miami Dolphins, the ongoing Ezekiel Elliott situation, NFL GMs, and the difference between the Chargers and the Cowboys. Guests include Chris Spielman, Brock Huard, and Mike Sando.   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Live from Los Angeles, I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin Cowherd. Happy Labor Day, Gottlieb laboring. cow heard not. That's the way it rolled. Your college football season is underway. NFL season, a mere days from being underway. We can recap and review what we saw so far in the two previous days. And, of course, we've got more football today from the college side.

And we'll get you ready for the NFL's opening weekend, which gets underway this Thursday. Chris Spielman will join us NFL on Fox analyst, C ball, hit ball. We'll get his thoughts. on the growing sense that Ezekieliot's deal will likely be done, although it's not numbers. We're told it's not money as much as structure, but the structure does actually determine how much money you make. Spielman will join us.

How much does this affect teams? Brock Heward, I think many of you aren't, don't follow broadcasting news the way that broadcasters follow broadcasting news. And Brock Heard popped up on a Fox game this week. You're like, Brock Heward's the Fox! Yes, we got Brock Heward. We will talk some college football. We'll also talk some Seahawks football.

Brock, of course, covers their games in the preseason, and I'll get his sense of the Jedevion Clowny trade, what that means for the Hawks. Mike Sandell will join us in the third hour of the show, senior NFL rider. We got a lot to get to. We got some all-time college football stuff, right? A coach coaching from a gurney?

In the things you did not think you'd see, a hospital bed being wheeled into a stadium where a coach will be prone on his back, through video conference, talking to the team before the game and then coaching. And that might not have been the weirdest thing of the college football weekend. We also have more news regarding the Texans and the trades that they have made. But let's start with the dolphins. This from Ian Rappaport, the next four drafts, the dolphins have four,

excuse me, the next two drafts, the dolphins have four first round picks. four second round picks, two third round picks with the potential to get an additional third round pick via compensation. This from the Miami Herald. Brian Flores,

first year rookie head coach 38 years old, came over from New England. When asked if the team was, quote, tanking after trades, he said this. This game means a lot to me.

I wouldn't disrespect the game with that. We are not. We're going to try and win every game. We're going to come out, work hard, we're going to fight. We're going to play hard and try and win every game. That's what you do.

This team is motivated. We've got some talented players. We're going to get out there and try and win every game. Huh? Brian Flores. I'm clearly not tanking. No, no, no. No, this is corporate restructuring.

That's what this is. This is corporate restructuring. You know, look, you have two choices, chapter 7 or chapter 11. Right? Chapter 7 or Chapter 11. That's the, that's the big difference. There's Chapter 7 bankruptcy. There's also Chapter 13 bankruptcy as well. But chapter 7, to explain it kind of quickly, is to Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States bankruptcy governs the process of liquidation under bankruptcy laws. Okay. Chapter 7 is you're done. Okay. You're not having open any stores. You're not doing any more. Chapter 7 is liquidation. Sell off everything. It's over. Chapter 11. Now, that's what our president has done four times over, right? That's a, it's kind of an accounting trick.

That's just saying like, look, we had this old business plan. It wasn't working. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to get a little bit of help. We need a respite from pay. everybody. We're going to fire some people. We're going to bring in some new people. And we're going to try some. And we're going to try it a different way. And that, by the way, is what the Raiders did last year. At almost the

exact same time. Like, you open the old internet box today and you see Monday morning quarterback and they're doing a year later the Bears can't believe, still can't believe a year later, that they got the Raiders to do this deal. Meanwhile, like, look, last year this time, people were

saying you can't get two first round picks for Khalil Mack because then you've got to pay him $90 million. The Bears did. The Bears benefited, but so too did the Raiders. Open up cap space. Gave him two first round picks. And whether you want to use that as the prerequisite, as the look at what the dolphins are doing, or whether you want to look at baseball, the Houston Astros, who once again are in place, Justin Verlander throws his third, no-hitter of his career.

He was basically one pitch away from a perfect game. But the Astros are in position to win another World Series, or at least compete for another World Series. They did this. Go back and look at 2013. They got a blue Tarski on their home TV ratings. And you can sit there and go, well, they changed. I don't care. No one watched because they were the worst team anyone had ever seen.

And what did they do? They drafted through volume of top picks. Some of them hit. Some of them missed. And then they went and added pieces. like Justin Verlander and others in order to make one World Series win and maybe another one.

Go and look at basketball in the process of what the Philadelphia 76ers have done. So we don't have to call it tanking. We can call it chapter 11ing. It feels like chapter 7 where they're just selling off everything and they have no shot,

but that's not the reality of it. Did you know this? 15 of the last 16 seasons in the NFL. A last place team from a division became a first place team in the division the very next year. Now, it won't be that quick a process. And the reason we're seeing it done more and more is because the old way of trying to fix it on the fly, it's just too hard.

It's too hard. The salary cap is limiting. You've got to have more younger players under that rookie control. and look at every one of these teams that have bottomed out and how they're trying to rebuild. I mean, even the Raiders. The Raiders probably get out of the Derek Carr thing this year, and then they draft a quarterback who saves them a whole bunch of money. And if you're looking at the division, like, how different is this from what the Jets were trying to do?

Granted, the Jets didn't draft particularly well, right? They just cut Jekai Polite, who was their third round pick, but they got rid of their general manager. plan was still the same. Get a bunch of draft picks, get a bunch of cab space, let's try and get a young quarterback, and by the time Tom Brady retires, which does feel sooner rather than later, we'll be loaded up with so much talent.

Even Tom Brady, though. You go back and it was a different era and different finances and whatever, but Tom Brady, a six-round pick. Can you find a way to get a guy that's not going to cause you to have to pay him $30 million, $35 million? Can you load up on talent?

I mean, look, the Minnesota Vikings haven't won a Super Bowl, but they've been super competitive with the exception of, you know, two years ago when they had all those injuries. And Sam Bradford had one good game and then he got hurt. A year before, they had all those injuries, the offensive line. But how are they built? They had Teddy Bridgewater, who didn't cost him a ton of money, and they had an awesome roster around him.

And they were hoping that Teddy Bridgewater could eventually become a starting quarterback, like a franchise quarterback. He wasn't. He was just okay. and they lost on a misfield goal from Blair Walsh against the Seattle Seahawks. But that was an immensely talented roster built the same way that the dolphins are trying to rebuild themselves, the same way the Raiders are trying to rebuild themselves, the same way the chargers rebuilt themselves, the same way the Colts rebuilt themselves.

As much as it feels worse when you miss in the draft, the difference is, when you miss in the draft, you cost yourself a couple million dollars. When you miss in free agency, you cost yourself $20 or $30 million. This is the way. And everybody knows it's the way. And for the dolphins especially, like, when was the last time they were actually good? Like, really good. And the dolphins have looked themselves in the mirror and said, we are the New York Knicks.

We are chasing around the ghosts of Mark Dupor, Mark Clayton, Don Chula, and Dan Marino. and you know what? Dan Marino's not walking through that door. And the way to do it is with culture, is with character, is with draft picks. And if somebody wants to give us a ridiculous amount, two first rounders and a second rounder, for Laramie Tunsell, who's really talented,

but it's not like he plays like the best left tackle in football, you could have him. What Brian Flores is doing is the first rule of tank club. You guys know what that. The first rule of Tanc Club is? Don't talk about Tank Club. Second rule of Teng Club is, don't talk about Teng Club. So it's not what he says.

It's what they do. And oh yeah, by the way, he does want his guys to play hard. He does want them to compete. Because much like John Gruden last year, he's looking to see which guys are grabbing a bucket and trying to get the water out of the boat and which guys are like going down anyway. Going down anyway.

And the guys that grab the bucket will hang around for year two. in year three and the guys that don't, they'll sink with the ship and they'll be jettisoned off as soon as somebody wants to trade for them or as soon as their contract expires. That's all they're doing. So I know we look at the Texans and

Texans are doing the opposite. They're panicking, they're freaking out. They've got no GM. That means a new GM's probably coming and they're trying to patch holes and they're trying to fix them to fly and they won 11 games last year. Now they're going to go for it without Andrew Luck. But slow and steady wins the race. And it doesn't mean that

land the quarterback of their dreams where it's Tua or otherwise. But this process of tanking, of chapter 11ing, of trying to restructure from the ground up. I don't know if you know this, that Brian Flores, like, he actually laid into his guys because they parked in handicapped spots when they were running late. Which sounds like the worst thing on earth. And then you realize, like, all right, if you play for the dolphins for a couple years and you realize no one who's handicapped actually comes to work at the Dolphins facility. facility, which is kind of set way out away from Fort Lauderdale, whatever. Like, I do actually understand it. But to him, it was more about what it says about your character.

Are you on time? Are you doing the right thing? You know, you build these little habits. Flores, much like Gruden, much like other coaches. They brought in, they said, look, if we're going to do it, we're going to do it. It's going to be the long play. Tear it down, fix it back up. Let's not lay new tile over old tile.

Let's get up that old tile and put down some hardwood floors. Let's scrape it down to the absolute studs and redo it. Because otherwise, it looks like maybe looked at houses over the weekend. It looks like a house that's been partially redone, which means it's partially undone. And scraping it and starting over is usually the best way, if you have the finances, if you have the wherewith all for the long play. Not everybody has that.

All right, I'm coming next. Three-time All-Pro and NFL on Fox analyst Chris Spielman joins the show. What does he think about the dolphins tanking? Plus, should the Cowboys give in and just pay Ezekiel it so they can get them ready for week one, and my fantasy team can win a game. We'll discuss next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific

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I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about balligan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals.

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NFL on Fox analyst joins us. Of course, he's covered college. He's covered pro. He's played college. He's played pro. Let me get your sense of the dolphins. This feels to me a lot like what the Raiders did last year, where you're selling off your best pieces in order to load up for future drafts.

Is this, by your estimation, the NFL's version of 10th? I don't think it's tanking. I think you're looking at reality and he's saying, okay, what's our best chance to move forward as a franchise in the future? And so to be able to get what they were able to acquire makes business sense to me. I know it's frustrating for fans, but I think the price was too good to pack pass up. And it's probably a three-year plan. You know, you build for the draft next year. You get those guys one year and experience. And by year three, you're hoping. the plan starts producing victories. So, you know, and I do know that they probably want to see what they have in Josh Rosen, which I think you'll see what they have in Josh Rosen, where I imagine he'll get an extended look probably six to eight games this year, maybe more, maybe less. But I get the frustration, but I also understand why they're doing it.

Can you figure out what the Houston Texans are doing? Yeah, they think they can win, and I think they're built to win now. You have a dynamic quarterback and Deshaun Wawson. And Nuke is probably one of the – I mean, he's a tremendous wide receiver. Arguably, you know, up there with Julio and those guys, you can make an argument that he's the best in the game. It hurt when he lose Lamar Miller, but you had an offense that gave up 62 sacks last year. And so – and you're saving some money off of the Cleo, releasing Matt Cleo, who's assigned as a free agent. I get what they're doing.

They're built, and they're trying to win now. And so I understand their moves. I mean, it's aggressive. I get it, but you want to take a shot now, and they'll get one of the best young tackles in the game, and especially in an area where they struggled mightily last year. What about how they jettisoned Jadevi on Clowny? Obviously, they got to a place where they didn't want to sign him long-term,

and he obviously didn't want to show up and play in the franchise tag. Did they get enough for Clowning? Yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, what Clowning have, I don't know, do you have numbers? I think he had nine and a half sacks or something last year. But, you know, they have good young, well, pass rushers in front of Whitney and Mercilus is a pretty good player and can bring it from the edge. And, you know, I think that if you're going to be at an impasse and a player may or may not become a distraction, if you can get value for him, then you give him up. And Clonnie got a good deal because I do believe, I think, Doug, that he's going to Seattle.

And Seattle's only going to take him on a one-year deal because I don't think he's signing a friend. franchise tag up in Seattle. So I think it worked out for both parties. But I think Bill O'Brien, you know, when you don't have a general manager and you have one guy making the calls, Bill O'Brien feels like, you know, his team has built to win and win now and be a Super Bowl contender. And he pushed all the chips in the middle of the table. All in, let's go.

Let's see what they have. I do think losing Lamar Miller hurts a little bit. I get that they traded Cleveland for Duke Johnson, but I don't know if Duke Johnson is going to be that every down guy that you need them to be, Lamar Miller was certainly a key part of that offense. Yeah, they also got Carlos High, I think, as well. But yes, you lose Lamar Miller, you're starting running back. And that's a massive loss.

Chris Spielman, joining us here in the herd. I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin. Let's get to the Dallas Cowboys, where we're told now there's momentum to get this Ezekieliot deal done. if you're the Cowboys, you just say to hell with it. Let's just do it. Let's just get him in camp. Or do you drive that a hard bargain, even if it costs you a week or two?

So you do the guy at the Tidesco, the guy at the chargers? Yes, Telesco. Yeah. You're coming in or we're not talking about it anymore. It's over. So, look, I think Zeeq's a special player. He really is. I mean, he's dynamic as they come.

If I do do a deal with a running back, and running backs get the raw end of the stick, I follow the argument about running backs forming their own union. You know, I get that because by the time they're in their fifth year, people start looking at them little cross-eyed. How much wear and tear does he have on the tires, you know? So if I'm the Cowboys, Vick is 24 years old. I try to sign them up for four more years, and at 28 we sit and revisit.

But usually I think statistics tell us that around 27 or 28 years old, analytics will tell you that these running backs are starting to lose it. And so if I'm the Cowboys, I pay Zieg because I do think they think they're ready to win the Super Bowl. I know Jerry thinks they're ready to win the Super Bowl. Well, it would be tough to win it without one of the best running backs, if not the best, most complete running back in the game. Do you think they're close to a Super Bowl team? I think as much as anybody. I mean, that's a great thing about the NFL.

I don't know what's going to happen every year. You know, everybody thought the Vikings were close to the Super Bowl team last year. They go 7-8-1. Now, are they going to bounce back? So it all depends on injuries that they can stay healthy. I think having Amari Cooper, if Jack Prescott can improve, you get Zeke Elliott. The defense is really good and solid. The linebackers, they signed Jaylett Smith, the long-term.

Van der Loche or whatever the kid's name is, played really well. Van der Rush. Van der Esch, yeah. Yeah, thank you. And so I do think they have potential like anybody else. Chris Spielman joining us, NFL on Fox. Your first game is where? Minnesota and Atlanta, Saucans are visiting the Vikings. Perfect.

That's a really good, interesting first week matchup because the Vikings are disappointing last year. The Falcons were disappointing last year, and we'll see how that matchup plays out. I'm really looking forward to it. It feels like Dalvin Cook is, you know, obviously the football. first year knee injury, and last year they had so many big game blunders. It feels like this is a year in which they figured out how to use him. He's figured out how to be in every down back. Is that an accurate portrayal of what you've seen so far from the Vikings running back?

Yeah, you know, Dalvin had a hamstring issue last year. It just wasn't himself. I think for this offense and Kurt Cousins to be most effective, just that goes for a lot of things like with Dak Prescott, for him to be most expective. You've got to have a great running back. Dalvin Cook, I don't know if you saw the third preseason game showed that he was back when the first one

against the Cardinals for 85 yards, and plus he's a very good receiver out of the backfield. I think it's obviously beneficial. I do think you need two running backs in the game, and I think the Vikings have that, whether it's Dalvin Cook or the kid from Boise, their draft choice. I'll have his name down by Sunday. Alaston or Alastair or something like that.

You know, a kid by the name of Boone, who they really like. And you go to Atlanta, you know, the interesting thing about Atlanta, if you're watching a matchup, they may very well start two rookies on the right side of their offensive line, McGarry, out of Washington at right tackle, and a 14th pick out of Boston College Lindstrom at right guard. So that's a pretty good matchup. And, you know, it's tough for a rookie. You imagine this now, Doug.

You have a rookie offensive tackles facing the speed of DeNeil Hunter coming off that edge. I mean, that's going to be an eye opener because there's not many faster than DeNeil coming out the corner on a pass rush. Is Julio still Julio? Like, have we? Yep. I'm sorry. I just, yeah, I think he's amazing. I think he is, you know, there's so many great talents at wide receiver and what Julio Jones.

is and what he does for that team. He makes everybody better around him. He makes a tight end better because you've got to where's Julio. He makes really better because where's Julio? So he makes Devonthe Freeman better because where's Julio? You always have to account for him. And when you always have to account for him and you decide to commit to taking Julio out, then that helps everybody else.

And so I'm interested to see if his contract becomes an issue. I don't think it will. I think they're close. but I think Julio Jones is an amazing player. Fascinating. Let me ask you about a team that, like, it's really interesting. Chris Bealman joining us. There are teams in the NFL which we literally don't ever talk about national radio.

Like I'm blown away by no one even talks about the Bears. I know they lost in the first round, their first game at home, but their defense dominated league. And Trubisky, you know, kind of like golf the year before. You know, some of it was systems. Some of it is coming into his own. what should we make of the Bears this time around on a defense which lost their defensive coordinator, but still is so incredibly talented?

So I better lose a defensive coordinator than lose a Khalil Mack. I think, you know, there's really good defensive coordinators out there, really good, talented guys. But there's not really good. There's not a lot of other Khalil Max out there, right? And the Bears defense played really well. and their Vic Pangio told me this last year Kalil Mac changed the culture of the locker room and the culture of the defense and I said sure I hear that

every single week right but I went out to practice and I watch Kalil Mac practice on a Friday afternoon no pads supposed to be a walkthrough he's so focused and moving at such a high tempo that he elevates everybody around them and the bears have very good defensive players and Chuck Pagano's the coordinator now I'm not mistaken. Is that correct?

I think so, yeah. And so I think whoever is a coordinator, you know, don't over, my dad was a football coach, and he had great players. And when I was nine years old, he said, you want to know being a good football coach, you key is Chris? I said, what's that, dad? He said, don't overcoach the great players. Get out of their way and let him make plays.

And I still believe that holds true from high school football to the NFL. Chibisky is, I think, a really good player and is only going to get better and better because he works at it and he cares. A lot of guys say that. I know that to be true about Mitch Mr. Trabisky. And I think he improved his accuracy thrown in a big way last year. So I expect him to get better. You did Lions preseason games. Patricia caught a lot of heat from media for things he said, how he handled it, some of the ways in which he tried to motivate the team. But there's a little bit of what Flores is doing in Miami that Patricia tried to do in Detroit last year, break it all the way down, build it back up.

Where are the Lions in year two under Matt Patricia? I think they're in good shape. I think the roster is really good. Carry-on Johnson. Not many people know this about carry-on. I think he was second-in yards per carry last year. I think it was over seven yards per carry for running backs. Now, he had some injuries, but when he's healthy, he's really good,

not only running the football out of the backfield, they picked up C.J. The Rams wouldn't have been in Super Bowl without C.J. Anderson last year. So that's a nice little one-two combination. They're wide receivers. Their top two, Marvin Jones Jr., Kenny Gallaudet, underrated as group. You had Danny Amdola in there. You got Snacks Harrison, who has improved that rushing defense ever since he came over from a trade by 30 or 40 yards per game, better on rushing defense. The thing with them, like everybody, I think, you know, you've got to be.

to stay healthy in the offensive line. And they're not very deep on the offensive line. Frank Ragnall got hurt. They're starting center, number one draft pick. Hopefully, if you're a lion's fan, he'll be able to play and recover quickly. Jared Davis is starting middle linebacker

I think is going to be out a little bit longer. He was a really good player. He had 100 tackles and six sacks. I think one of only two players last year to be able to do that. But I do think they have some solid backups at linebacker, and they'll be able to hold before until Jared gets back.

The biggest question for them is their offensive line. But as far as talent goes, I think the Lions certainly have the ability to be a surprising team. I really did in the preseason. I think they're very capable of being a 10-win team this year. Wow. We'll see him against Arizona, against the Cardinals in that head coach is in Cliff Kingsbury. Go ahead.

You know, the interesting thing about that, Doug, is Matt Patricia is going to set the stage on what or what not to do against Kyler Murray and Cliff Kingsbury. and I think I have a feeling of what I would do against this type of offense, but you know, you've got to be able, and it's the reason why corners are so valuable, right? You've got to be able to play man against this type of offense. Or I think Cliff and Tyler are so used to digging and dunk, and they'll think and donkey to death and they'll stay patient donut. So I'm interested in see what Matt Patricia does against Arizona

and how he sets forth, how teams will defend Cliff and Tyler. Chris, great stuff. Safe travels in Minnesota. Obviously, I'm sure your brother's going to cook up a nice meal for you when you get to town. He better. Yeah, he better. On the other hand, you're going to have to take, you're trying to play the neutral broadcaster role,

and his team's got to go out and show themselves to be good. He's going to go out and making more money than he was. He got plenty of free meals. Now, I said, Rick, I said, you spend the Vikings money like it's your own, man. You didn't spend nothing on me, so we'll see what he does. But my mom's there, so she'll take care of me. There you go. Fair enough.

Safe travels, Chris, thanks for joining us. Hey, thanks, Doug. Have a great day, buddy. You too. Chris Spielman, NFL on Fox. The Falcons taken on the Minnesota Vikings. That's a 1 o'clock game on Fox, 1 o'clock Eastern Time game. Remember, those are come up this Sunday.

Like, we are, it is here. It is here. Starts with Packers Bears on Thursday night. All right, let's get to Ryan Music with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Doug, let's kick things off with the NFL. In his Football Morning in America column,

Peter King revealed some insight into Patrick Mahomes, chief's quarterback as a leader in the locker room. So last season, we know the Chiefs and Kareem Hunt had the chiefs had to deal with the Kareem Hunt situation. And Mahomes reached out to head coach Andy Reed and asked to be the one to talk to the team privately without any coaches there, just him and the team. Andy Reid took a moment to think over this and he told Peter King, I thought about it. This was coming from him.

I could tell it was something he really wanted to do. It's different coming from a player. And what I found from Patrick is what he thinks usually is coming from the right place. I thought it'd be good. So Patrick Mahomes, in his first year as a starter, team dealing with controversy during a successful season, stepped up, was the one to handle the situation, pushed the coach aside. That's interesting. You know, we talked a little bit with Chris Bealman about Mitch Trubisky. You know, the Bears people told me that, look, they thought Mahomes had a higher ceiling than Trubisky.

But one, Trubisky hadn't played a ton in college, so they felt like he would develop as time went on. but like Trubisky is such a great dude and so beloved. Whereas Mahomes wasn't a bad guy in college, but there were questions about, you know, late to meetings, kind of a little bit of flake, very, very, very, very, very laid back. That's the term. It wasn't no negatives, but there wasn't the positive in terms of they thought he was a get

behind me leader, and that's what they thought Mitchell Trubisky was. This obviously shows how he's grown and how he learned with Alex Smith that first year and how immature is a football player. Just because sometimes guys aren't that guy in college doesn't mean they can't grow into that guy. Yeah. And I think, as you said, you know, learning from Alex Smith, getting that year to transition, you are able to learn.

You know, so much of the NFL now when you get that quarterback who can play on a rookie contract, it's like, all right, let's go. Get him out there, trot them out there. And maybe it's more maturing as a person as much as it's, you know, trying to act. to the speed of the NFL. But you were talking about Mitch Trubisky. The Bears are taking on the Packers, as you said, the first game of the NFL season. And we heard a lot about the Packers and Aaron Rogers this offseason.

He let his feelings be known about their new head coach, Matt LaFleur, implementing a new offense. He questioned some of the limitations he's had for calling audibles at the line of scrimmings. They even disagreed about having joint practices during training camp. Matt LaFleur said he loved him. Aaron Rogers said he hated him. So they kind of had some back and forth, but as we prepare to kick off the season, it looks like Aaron Rogers is changing his tune a little bit. He said, this is according to ESPN, I think everybody needs to understand this is going to be the first iteration of our offense.

And because it's a new scheme and there are new pieces, this is, we're just going to grow from this point. I'm excited about the stuff that we have and the stuff we've been working on. There's going to be even more. So starting to lay the groundwork for, hey, you know, we're just going to be, We're just getting things started. Don't expect to see everything out there in week one, you know, just starting with the basics and growing from there. Right. I mean, you know, it's interesting.

You'll see in the first couple weeks and throughout the season that younger quarterbacks, we talked about Trubisky this year. You look at the young quarterbacks. Jared Goff early on, the first half, especially those first 15 plays that they script. They look great. World beaters. World beaters. And long, you know, they're just like, boom, they get up the line of scrimmins. They see it.

They run it. It works. Chains keep moving. You're like, man, they're up 10-7. They look great. Now, a sudden you get the second half, and the defenses are changing and they're pointing to their head and they're moving things around. And it doesn't look as good. Aaron Rogers has been the opposite, right?

The game plans haven't felt all that seamless. But when he's at his best is when, you know, he has to kind of work on the fly. I'm going to be fascinated to see because it does feel like they're going to try in first 15 him. It does feel like they're going to try and first 15 him. It does feel like. they're going to try and program him. And he'll still have the ability later on in the game to work it out in the fly. I just think they're trying to undersell and over-deliver.

You know, classic sales technique. Undersell, over-deliver very early on. We don't really know how it's going to look. Trust us at the end. It'll work. They're taking on the Chicago Bears. I'm guessing that they have a first 15 and an Aaron Rogers, whatever you want to do the rest of the game in order to win it.

Well, you've seen some of the similar comments come from the Arizona Cardinals and Kyler Murray. thing was, you know, week one of the preseason when he looked pretty good, it was like, oh, yeah, this is all going smooth. Then he struggled a bit and it sort of became this like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, it's just a preseason. We're not unveiling all over our offense. Just wait until week one. We don't game plan. We don't, we don't game plan. It's interesting to see how week to week in the preseason and then as you approach the regular season, how the narrative tends to change. Right. And we'll wrap it up with some unfortunate

In recent news in college football, USC quarterback JT Daniels will miss the remainder of the season. He tore his ACL and meniscus after getting sacked in the first half of their win over Fresno State. Freshman quarterback Kadan Slovis came in for Daniels, but here's the interesting part, and I picked this story because I know how passionate you feel about this topic. Last week, the original backup quarterback Jack Sears announced that he would be entering the portal, the transfer portal. Now, he didn't fully commit to removing himself from USC.

He just wanted to put his name into the portal to sort of see what his options could entail. So now the question is, does Sears come back, withdraw his name from the portal and become their backup? Because I don't know, we've talked about the Kelly Bryant situation. Like, listen, this is not like the transfer portal doesn't mean that you've been, that you can't pull it off, right? I think there's no question Jack Sears comes back. None. None. And it'd be the conquering hero. He can even ride in on, what's the horse called? What's the white USC horse called? I know Tommy Trojan's the mascot, but I don't know what the horse is called. It's got some, it's traveler, right? He can literally ride in on traveler. That's what I would do if I was Jack Sears. I wait until the game, everybody runs out.

Okay. Then he puts on his bonnet, snaps his chin strap, comes out, gets the, gets the sword, right? And he, and he, rides out on Traveler. Dum-da-d-dum-d-d-dum-d-dum-d-dum-d-dum-d-d-dum-d-d-d-dum. And then he sticks it in at midfield. And he does the Tom Brady. Let's go! And they're ready. And USC is back.

That's going to happen. We'll make that happen. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd-line news. The most surprising performance in college football this weekend. Really shouldn't be that surprising. That's next. I'm Doug Gottlie. This is The Herd.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to

controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tript Fantine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

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Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker, this guy, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on to Ernie Stewart for Chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines.

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in the IHeart Radio app. So look, I said this last year when Jalen Hertz transferred to Oklahoma, that if Jalen Hertz can win the Heisman this year, that makes Lincoln Riley officially quarterback Jesus. And it's not because Jalen Hertz hasn't shown himself to be a very good, a very good quarterback with great Alabama teams, but he's just not the thrower. He hasn't shown himself to have the accuracy of either of the two previous Heisman

trophy winners, Baker Mayfield or Kyla Murray. He had 302 yards of total offense by halftime. By the end of the third quarter, Jalen Hertz had just three incomplete passes, 493 yards of total offense. By the way, Kyler Murray had a single game high of 478 yards of offense in his Heisman Trophy season. But Jailen Hertz had 332 yards of passing, 20 of 23. 16 rushes for 176 yards.

Six total touchdowns. Three passing, three running. In his first game in a 49-31 win. Now, let me first let you breathe before you start going, I can't believe those stacks. Remember, this is the perfect storm. You have an up-tempo Oklahoma with an average at-best defense going up against an up-tenthly.

Houston team with a below average at best defense. So you're going to have more possessions and and and a terrible teams defensively. These are stats on steroids. Every stat is going to grow because there's there's more snaps now than there have ever been previously, especially when you have two teams trying to play fast. Right. The old trying to play fast thing and it hurting your defense, if you watch college football, this weekend, that was a big part of the story.

Florida State raced out to a big lead over Boise State, but they had all four or less play drives with the exception of one in the second half. They had one eight play drive in the second half, and that was their last drive of the game. The rest were four or less plays. And you're talking less than a minute on the field most times. And so your team gets tired, your team gets gassed out, and it causes your defense to become shoddy. Well, that's what happened with Houston.

Houston lost their best defensive player to the draft, fired their coach, and Dana Hogerson, who's never been a prolific defensive guy. He's an offensive guy. So before we sit there and crowned Jalen Hertz is the greatest quarterback we've ever seen, let's get some perspective. It's a bad Houston team. It's a good Oklahoma team.

And oh, yeah, by the way, we shouldn't be that surprised. Jailen Hertz was the SEC offensive player of the year in 2016. Now, was he surrounded by great players? But remember he started 16, he started 17. He played in the national championship game and then only got replaced late by Tua. And he still played in split time last year and did win them the SEC championship game against Georgia. It's not like he was Mitch Trabisky, who we never saw for three years, like just didn't play. This dude started from the day he walked in at Alabama.

He won the job as a true freshman. And then you factor in that he's playing against the terrible defense. He's playing with a magnificent mind as an offensive coach, a system that more fits his style, a system where he's going to get the ball more, throws that are easier, reads that are easier. Plus, it's not like it's the first time he's read a defense. So I guess we're supposed to be surprised by Jalen Hertz and how well he played. But the truth is, what are we surprised by? he was damn good at alibi he's a damn good college quarterback he's just not toot to viologa right he's just not that dude that dude is a freak that dude is ever bit as athletic far more accurate just a better pure quarterback right they don't say tank for tua because the NFL thinks toa stings jalen herch is a great college quarterback tua has a chance to be a great college and maybe professional quarterback

maybe he's still small left-handed there's no left-handed starters that's a bit of a switch there's other things but it's it we're acting like jalen hurts got beat out by some bum or that jalen hurts was a bum like no there was just a ceiling there with him in the in the biggest of big games he they would make him throw into tight windows and he just wasn't that accurate he could always run he could always throw but he's just better on the move and better in a college offense and better this type of air raid offense. So I get that we're supposed to be surprised. I look at what Lincoln Riley's doing, but this is what Lincoln Riley's done with

essentially every quarterback he's had. And he takes the guy who's a former SEC offensive player of the year who's had three years to study under all of the different minds at Alabama. What would you think you were going to get? And by the way, Houston stinks. Houston stinks. It's the NFL story that just won't end. The Ross and Rachel of the League we discuss next in The Herd.

One more Herd? The Herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. What up? Welcome in. This is The Herd. Live from Los Angeles, wherever you may be and however you may be making it as part of your day. Thanks so much.

I'm Doug Gottlie, filling in for Colin Cowherd, who will be back. tomorrow on TV. Instead, you just get us radio only. Fox Sports Radio on the I Heart Radio app. In TV terms, you have to go Ross and Rachel, right? You go Ross and Rachel. Friends references just work. You are my lobster.

I mean, there's a, I don't know if you guys are Starbucks guys or coffee bean guys, personally a coffee bean guy. And I like Starbucks. I like them both. I'm not like Colin where I'm going to sit here and tell you like, I won't pay a lot of money for coffee. I will. And if it's really good, I'll pay a lot of money again and again and again.

Coffee bean actually has like friends, I don't know, like friends roast. Like, you know, because obviously much of the show was based in a coffee shop where Rachel worked. Anyway, so these references and friends, I think they paid a, Netflix paid $100 million. to have friends on for this entire year, to stretch that for one more year. So it's seen regain popularity with not just college kids, but teenagers as well. Like my daughter and I were still binge watching the office.

Once we get done with the office, then we're probably going to have to move on to friends. There's obviously she's 13, so there's some part. But there's a lot of stuff that even with the office that she misses because she just wants to know the storylines because she wants to get the pop culture references. But the storyline for seemingly every friend's episode ever was Ross and Rachel. You felt like you knew ultimately they would be together.

And of course, spoiler alert, they were. Which is the only way to describe the Cowboys in Ezekielion. The Ross and Rachel. The Ross and Rachel of the NFL. And now there's, you know, renewed talks of Tony Poplar. Pollard getting to be a starter and their coaching staff saying great things about Tony Pollard. And of course, when Ezek shows up and says, why did you say those nice things about Tony Pollard? What are they going to say?

We were on a break! We were on a break! You were a whole thing out. So here's the timeline. Saturday, multiple outlets report that there was some progress in negotiations between Zeke and the Cowboys, and the expectation was that they would have something worked out by the end of the weekend. then last night multiple reports stated that negotiations had fallen flat once again they can't agree on structure the contract like total guaranteed money over how many years

not necessarily how much the contract could top out at basically zeke is holding firm as i want todd girlie's contract and then some the cowboys are saying no because todd girlie's not right and if the rams were asked hey would you like to go sign the todd curly contract again like no no we're good we'd love them all again on that one this from edwarder he always has more Cowboys have consistently shown willingness to sign their best players two extensions with two years remaining and make a player the highest paid his position. The fact that they're preparing to start the season

without Ezekieliot as a holdout says a lot about how they view his demands. I drafted Ezekieliot in one of my fantasy leagues. Would have drafted him yesterday in the other fantasy league. And my logic is they're Ross and Rachel. He doesn't really have anywhere to go. He's under contract. He's not going anywhere. and the whole sitting out thing like,

all right, he could sit out a couple games, but they're not going to lose to the redskins or lose to the giants or lose to the dolphins. They're just not. And this is not the Levyon Bell situation. He's not a free agent, there's no franchise tag like he still is under his rookie deal. Cowboys are, in fact, offering him a contract

above and beyond that of a franchise tag. They're offering him a great deal. Cowboys need him. They do need him for later in the season. They need him to win a suit bowl. the team is built around having a solid running game, takes some of the pressure off Dak Prescott because it helps hide the fact that Dak isn't Dak.

I mean, Dak isn't that special. He isn't elite. But when Dak is given all the weapon who work for, he's good, he's fine. He's, he's Draymond Green. That's who Dak is, Draymond Green. With the Cowboys, really, really effective. Without the Cowboys and all they have,

probably just a guy. But it's really hard to find a Draymond Green. Just hard to find a quarterback in this league. And he has the equity, and he continues to grow in terms of being a leader. But this is Ross and Rachel. They're on a break, but they're going to get back together. And names like Tony Pollard won't matter in a week or two weeks or a month or whenever.

And it feels like the Cowboys probably went back and said, look, we'll give you a total dollar value above that of Todd Gurley's. We just want to protect ourselves from your knee going bad the way that Todd Gurley's did. The Cowboys haven't publicly once said anything, said anything about, you know, dude, you were suspended six games and we went to the mattresses for you. Hey dude, you almost got suspended this offseason and we would have been there for you. We would have said how wrong it was. We have fought for you.

There is some sweat equity from Zeke, but there's also some equity, you know, from extended from the Cowboys. And the other thing about the Ross and Rachel story, to be honest, at some point, it did take away from the show. Right. Like I get it, Ross and Rachel. Will they be back together? Who are they dating now? When can they get back together? All this other stuff.

But I like Chandler. I like Joey. Hey, right? I like, how you doing? I like Joey. There were other parts to their relationships that I like that I wish they would have explored more. Always come. And that's how I feel like as a sports radio host.

Why am I spending so much time talking about Ezekieli if he's not going anywhere? Cowboys are going to pay him. How much they're going to pay them? Like, that doesn't really affect me. They're just trying to get, you know, cost certainty for the running back, cost certainty for the. quarterback cost certainty for their wide receiver and fit everybody in under this thing so they continue to have a really good team.

This is a war to end. It has nothing to do with the fact that I picked them on my fantasy team. Zero. Zero. In some ways, I want Zeke to hold out and still win my fantasy league so I can prove that, like, all right, so I lost a fantasy game because I picked the right guy who's eventually going to be a stud. Happens.

And by the way, I probably pick Tony Pollard to replace. him because he's going to get the ball a bunch and they're going to run the ball down the giant's throat. But the, oh wait, it's on, it's off, it's on, it's off. They're close to negotiations to fall apart. It's moving towards the conclusion. It's stalled. This is Ross and Rachel. Right. And as much as we would like to believe there's some sort of possibility that Zee could go elsewhere,

Cowboys aren't stupid, right? Like they're smart enough to understand and evaluate talent properly to put on one of the most talented teams in the NFL to draft that offensive line, to draft those defensive players, to draft Ezekieliot, but they're dumb enough to let him walk away over a couple of million dollars

in some language in a contract? No, not happening. And Ezekieliot isn't dumb enough to say, I'm going to turn down, you know, what's probably in the neighborhood of, you know, 35 mil guaranteed for two, three, four weeks when you're not getting paid for those four weeks. This is the same thing that goes on when you own a house and somebody kind of gives you a little bit, not a low ball offer?

You know, like you got your house in the market for 350 grand. Somebody comes in and says, you know, I'll give you two for it. Like, no. But somebody comes in and gives you a 315 and you're like, I don't know, man. 3.50 is a reasonable price. And they're like, well, 322 is our last. last offer. And now it's August. Now it's September. Kids are in school. Families are moving less. Like, kind of got to move it. Otherwise, you got to sit on it for a whole other year.

And if you sit on it for a whole year, the price might go up or we might creep into a recession. It might go down. Or it might be the same. And all you did was, you know, basically pay the other dude's mortgage for a year instead of getting that cash on hand. That's where Zeke is. could I hold out for a couple million more? I could, but I'm costing myself all this money that I'm not making. And of course, the Cowboys don't have to find him. I mean, we're champion Levyon Bell who signed for less than he thought he should get. The coach that he plays for doesn't like the contract that he was signed to.

And oh yeah, by the way, like the heart of it was, he lost out on $14 million last year that he will never get back. Now you can sit in your mind and go like, hey, Leveon Bell won because he was willing to stick it to the man to get his freedom to be in New York. He's on a worst team and he's made $14 million less over the life of his career that he can never make back. You are never getting that money back. Ever, ever, ever. So if you're watching this Cowboys saga and you're like, look, I know they're going to end up together. I know it. I know it.

Just look at friends. Zeke. Cowboys. They're Ross and Rachel. They're going to eventually be together. This song and this dance is like, come on. This is not the NBA where guys can leave. This is the NFL and he's under contract for actually four years more.

I mean, Chris Spielman, excuse me, Chris Spielman joined us last hour and he's like, look, if I was the Cowboys, that's time to a four-year deal. And then let's see. That's really what they're going to. have him for. The money this year, the money next year as a fifth year option, and then two franchise tags. This is why the Cowboys, the only thing the franchise tags hurt you is dollar for dollar,

those go towards the cap, and they're trying to do some math so it doesn't cost them in the cap, and they're not locked into Todd Gurley's deal where the fourth year is guaranteed sometime during the first year when your knee can go bad. Coming up next, college football on Fox analyst Brock Heward, joins the show. Does he think Jalen Hertz is now a Heisman Trophy candidate? We discuss next.

One more Heard? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,

and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and for more follow timbo slice of life 12 and the tick tock talk podcast network on ticot welcome to my new podcast learn the hard way with me your host and your favorite therapist care games and in recognition of mental health awareness month i'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests i'm talking tripp fontaine ryan clock sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines as we have real conversations

about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, IHeartRadio app, search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you

to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? This Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBronheading. into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,

he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

just had kind of an epiphany sort of conversation on man and Ryan music and produces my show. Doug Gottlieb show, by the way, is 3 to 6 Eastern, 12-3 Pacific, follows this show on Fox Sports Radio. We, we, man, we got it. We're actually thinking the exact same thing.

I almost want to share it with Brock Heward. You know, I'm going to do that. Brock Hewer joins us. New college football analyst on Fox, of course. been doing a long time locally in Seattle, own radio show in Seattle, of course, nationally with ESPN. And Brock, you're awesome this weekend. We're so happy to have you as part of the family.

But as a former quarterback, tell me if you like this analogy, okay? When you and I were kids, right, and you grew up in this incredible athletic household, where in Washington? We were the poor man's manning family, Doug. As I like to frame us, but yeah, we were just south of Seattle.

Piala, Pugh Allop. How you spell? P-U-Y-A-L-U-P, the biggest city in America that starts and ends with a P, Native American for the land of friendly people. So, and at one time, the seventh largest fair in America. So let's go. All right. Excellent.

This is the type of stuff that people tune. I actually do believe they. Okay. So at your high school, how affluent was the area you grew up in? Very middle class, the lower middle class. Okay. Yeah. So the people who went to the nice high schools and who had the nice cars and parents drove the nice cars, what did they do for a living when we were kids? Ooh, probably doctors and lawyers and such. Yes, right. Doctors and lawyers and such. And now people who kill it, what do they do?

Own their own businesses. Own their own businesses, consultant sales, and financial guys, right? Financial guys like, right? And they're the ones with the nice. cars and the boats and the trips and the IG light, right? Doctors and lawyers still make a nice amount of money, but no one, but doctors carry so much insurance, it's so expensive, puts yourself through school, let alone can you get into medical school. And, and, you know, like lawyers just kind of saturated the market. And yes, there are some lawyers that kill it, but there's a, you know, there are so many lawyers that just kind of saturated the place. I think that's what running backs are. Running backs are doctors and lawyers where they're sitting there going like, hey, we used to.

to be the guy. And now they still make a good amount of money, but they don't realize that everybody else has found a way to make more. Yeah, and I think it's just been proven, too, Doug. It's so short-lived, the beating that they take. You know, it's funny being out of the game. And I remember feeling this way, especially when I was done and get back on the sidelines, doing stuff with the Seahawks and pre-and-post game, and getting on the

actual sidelines and watching the collisions, those guys take as much as any else. Quarterbacks can protect themselves. The line play has always been the line play, but the speed and the violence that those hits, I just, I cringe sometimes when I sit on the sidelines. So I think if there's a way in the analogy to add some short-lived nature to it, like I don't know if they're coal miners or I don't know what it is, but there's just a term limit to just what you can do at that spot as well. I think also greatly impedes the earning power. I want to ask you, but before we get to college stuff, because it was a crazy college weekend.

The Seahawks made a massive trade and got got Chadevian Clowny. My issue with Clowny is, now they only have a one-year deal. But even what John Snyder said is why nobody wants to pay Clowny long term. Like when he plays, he's a freak. But the problem is he just doesn't play that hard all the time. How do you think it works with Clowny in Seattle this year? Well, I think it's the right fit, Doug, because he's, He's incentivized every single week to play.

The promiseory note between the two was that the Seahawks would not franchise him. I think this is the spot you want any pass rusher in. What the Cowboys had to Marcus Lawrence in a couple times, Seahawks had Frank Clark in last year. And now you've got two between Vigian's shoulder, Dedevian Clowney's knee. I think getting both of those guys to be in a highly incentivized spot week after week where basically if you get a sack a week,

you're making a million dollars plus a week. So you know that you get those guys exactly where you want them. And I think the incredible aspect of that trade, and I think this only happens because Bill O'Brien is acting right now in a dual role, is the CX only paying half of that number. Yeah, they're only paying $8 or $7 million, and the Texans are paying the other half. It's just like, what?

Pretty incredible. Yeah. That's what you want. If I'm a GM over my years in the league and watching the league, like the position that I want incentivize the most are defensive linemen. And to have two of them that both want their pot at the end of the rainbow and Ziggy and Jadavian and playing in that stadium, I think they become legit NSU.S. West contenders with that move over the weekend.

Oh, by the way, they take on the Cincinnati Bengals who have one of the worst offensive lines ever constructed at the link this upcoming weekend. That game could get out of hand in a hurry. Brock Hewer, joining us, college football on Fox analysts. let's work our way backwards in the college football weekend. I guess we're supposed to be surprised that Jalen Hertz was awesome in a new offense, but like he was a damn good college player

for a couple years of Alabama. Now you put him in Oklahoma against a terrible Houston team. You give him a bunch of possessions because neither team really stops anybody, right? And you put him with Lincoln Riley and they figure out how to use him. I'm not really that surprised that he was awesome yesterday. What was your reaction to how he played?

I think the coolest part about all of it, Doug, And we know that Jaylen is such a quality kid, all right? And we all witnessed it together, him celebrating for somebody else, which just doesn't happen very much, and especially at that position in college sports more than anywhere else. And to just see him postgame is disappointed in his 500-yard day resonated the most. There was nothing phony about that. That was genuine. You could just tell, like, yeah, to your point, I'm a good player.

I know what I'm capable of. I'm in the perfect fit against an opponent. that was just giving up massive space and yards and voiding zones and took advantage of it. But to have a 500-yard day in your outing and not in any way to be satisfied with it, I think speaks volumes. I also believe that Jimbo in Lincoln, Lincoln Riley and Jimbo Fisher are two guys with an offensive horsepower, a football IQ, a play action game and just a plan each and every week. That's better than everybody else, that they are just ahead of the curve.

They're the Sean McVeigh of college football, and it's fun to watch them from my position, put that plan together each and every week. Oregon drops a touchdown pass and misses a gimmy field goal, right? And then they fumble in the red zone, all in the first half when they probably could have put Auburn away. Don't manage the clock well in the second half, specifically the fourth quarter.

And what do you know, Auburn comes down, wins the game on a Bowdox touchdown pass, which I didn't think it was a particularly good throw. but it ends up winning them the game. And so now the SEC is great. The Pact 12 stinks, whereas Oregon felt like they were the better team, at least week one in the season. What's your biggest takeaway from Oregon, Auburn?

Yeah, that was a debacle for Oregon. I don't think there's any way to frame it. Everything you just laid out was rightfully so. And, you know, Larry Scott took a little heat at the end of the week saying, hey, listen, you know, you can throw all the arrows at me, the commissioner of the conference, but I'm not the one coaching. I'm not the one putting the plan together. I thought the plan was horrific

after they got a lead. The fact that Bo Nix is a true freshman who is as scattered as he was in that game, that he's the one throwing a little flood route, wide open out route on third and 10 at the most critical juncture. And it's not Justin Herbert, you know, a future NFL guy.

Everything about the game management, the fourth and one call, the burning a timeout. The first half was some physical debacle and errors on the field that maybe you can explain the way is the first game. The second half was a clock management, a game management, a play calling debacle. And really unfortunate is Larry Scott has to make that flight home, you know, from Texas,

and he was down there. And that should have been a 35 to 10 as far as the disparity to me and some of the play. And unfortunately, you let Auburn and that QB get comfortable. You let that stadium erupts, and the PAC 12 has more egg on their face. Yeah, and now JT. Daniels is out for the year. what do you think Jack Sears does? Like here's a kid, he gets beat out, he puts himself in the transfer portal. I offered up that he should hop on traveler, put the uniform on, hop on traveler,

and literally ride his white horse into the Coliseum. I think they take him back. I would, you know, I would absolutely invite him back and hopefully he didn't burn any bridges on his way out and has that opportunity because, yeah, you're going to need some, additional help. Having said that, Doug, I thought Utah's win at BYU you goes under the radar. They mauled and manhandled a good BYU team that's tough to beat

in an opener there. I thought Jacob Eason was awesome for Washington and absolutely looked apart. And, you know, I think those two are going to, and Stanford, frankly, played better defense than I imagine they could. Their personnel's taking some steps. So there were some bright spots. Just unfortunate, the national narrative will absolutely be the failures of a program and a quarterback that in a team really in that moment that should not have had that happen. And nobody's paying Tennessee gets beat at home by Georgia State.

There's some other Missouri gets beat up at Wyoming. Obviously tough to win on the road in altitude, but still it did in fact happen. Like the SEC was not, even if the top of the SEC was perfect, the rest of it was not. And add in Memphis beat in Ole Miss and yeah, it's just in close games with a bunch

of them. Miami very much should have kind of, they kind of organed the opener. They had Florida beat and allowed them to stick around and get them as well. So yeah, it was a wild weekend. I tweeted out afterwards, Doug, I don't know. I know you love college football too, but it just felt, and we get another one tonight, it just felt as emotional as it's ever felt in week one with both the game.

I think some of the coaches and Mack Brown's tears and guys coming back, these transfer quarterbacks in new environments and some of them exploding on the scene. And for Tate Martel, you know, having to watch and maybe play wide. You just threw it all in the pot. It was an emotional weekend of college football, I think a beautiful weekend to begin and something I think the game will build off here in the weeks and months ahead. You have Nebraska-C-U this weekend, don't you? I do.

And talk about a little bit of stop the hype. Everyone ready to crown Nebraska and Tom Osborne second coming and Scott Frost. And they rushed 44 times for 98 yards against South Alabama. So their defense is pretty salty, but they've got some work to do, and that's going to be a wild environment. Yeah. And, of course, I know you're going to bring up, they have so many, they have so much history there, right? They have the Davidson catch that was 97, I think that was. I think you're right.

97, old big, big eight to big 12 rivals. And, of course, you get to, you get to, hey, I did want to ask you about the Stanford win over Nebraska. Obviously, I don't know if you know the lines, but obviously that was a weird cover late by Stanford, when the all time, excuse me, over Northwestern. But the other thing, though, is, and we saw this with Oklahoma State beating Oregon State, is West Coast schools on the trimester system when the kids aren't on campus. That makes for terrible environments, doesn't it? I will shoot you a picture after this segment ends. I'll text it to you, Doug, of the stadium seven minutes before game time.

And I sat in the hotel afterwards, and it was one of those moments, and maybe you have them or don't. You maybe are more impulsive than I am. But I sat there and I was like, should I tweet this? And I honestly had a tweet ready. And Herm Edwards is going through my head. I deleted it. I have a tweet ready.

I delete it. I'm like, maybe it will come up at some point this year. Wait until you see this picture I send you. It was embarrassing. Stanford has won more games than anybody in the conference the last 10 years. And I don't care that your students aren't there. They aren't at Washington either. And that stadium was mostly full in their season opener or certainly two-thirds of the way full.

Wait until I show you this. picture before seven minutes before kickoff. It was a tough scene. And again, I'll mention Larry Scott. He says, hey, I can control what I can control. I can do what I can do as commissioner. But if you all don't care and there's apathy and you don't pass these stadiums and you don't beat the doors down, you know, I can only take this thing so far. So that was, yeah, that was a tough beginning and a bunch of those conference stadiums. You mentioned A&M and the offensive ingenuity of their head

coach. They're going to Clemson. They're going to Clemson. to Death Valley. And as much as we just all assume, Clemson is plug and play new dudes and you still have Trevor Lawrence, seven new offensive starters. How close do you think A&M Clemson ends up in? I think it's a game into the second half. And then it just becomes about just the overall depth, I think, of where Jimbo has his guys. You know, it's neat now. Doug, my little brother is an analyst there. He got his foot in the door. And I think my little brother, Luke, is an awesome football guy. He's been a coordinator in three spots. It's grinded.

It's done a great job. And it's been fun to talk to him throughout the summer, the spring, this fall. And he's like, it is amazing what this guy, Jimbo can do. And what he really asks and demands of the guys to do, the bar that he sets, and these kids just jump over it. And it was the same way at LSU, same way at Florida State. And obviously, I think he's done a heck of a job here early at A&M. He will keep that a game.

He will give his kids a plan as he did a year ago. obviously at home, but he will give them a plan in place, and then it will just be whether or not they've got enough physical bodies and depth, I think, to maintain against the most talented team in football. All right. Last thing. Look, I've seen this at Oklahoma State when they used to play with so much tempo. You've seen it a bunch with Oregon, and we saw a little bit of it with Oregon with their inability to manage a clock.

But nothing speaks more to the trappings and dangers of not being able to play at multiple speeds. than what happened to Florida State, right? Like, they race out and everything looks great, and all of a sudden you realize that Florida State's defense was on the field for 106 plays in the heat. Here's a team playing at home, right? Yep. They train in the heat, they train in the heat,

and they're falling out with cramps, and they can't, they just, that was a conditioning win, but it was also a game planning win, understanding time score momentum. How much of that do you put on the offensive coordinator? How much of that do you put on Willie Taggart? Yeah, you do. And they're going to fight back at you and say, hey, this is what we are, man. You celebrate these teams and basketball to give you 40 minutes of hell, and that's the way they play and that's their, they press, and this is just who we are. This is our identity. It is what we do. And yet I am reminded of what David Shaw said so poignantly in our production meeting on Friday. He said offensive yards and passing yards, passing yards in particular. Passing yards are for two people, offensive coordinators and losers. So if you want to put a, up all your stats, you can do that.

We're here to win football games and manage football games, and I always think that's the best way to find a way to win. You know, Kendall Bryles is their new offense coordinator, obviously our Briles' son. This is what happened with him, that Michigan State Baylor debacle, or Baylor had the big lead in the Cotton Bowl years ago, right? It was, I think, his first game

call in plays, where you got caught different when you got that lead in the second half and you got to run the football. Brock, great stuff, as always, on both NFL and college. Safe trip to Boulder. It is beautiful at every time of the year, but early in September. It's going to be amazing.

And watch out for Ralphie. That is a real buffalo on the field. No question about it. I'll shoot you that little pick, and hopefully we can do this again, Dad. Yeah, I'm guessing it'll be a real full stadium up at CU this weekend. Thanks for joining us. You bet. All right, it's Brock Hewert, college football on Fox analyst.

How many people tweeted out like, wait, Fox got Brock Heward? Yes, yes, yes, we did. Urban Beyer also, by the way, awesome. in studio. You're like, man, I had no idea. You had no idea? You thought the guy just recruited like a madman and won all these college football games because he didn't have an incredible football IQ and personality?

Now you do. Get to rhyme music with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, Doug, people are still reacting, analyzing the most surprising story of the summer when Andrew Luck unexpectedly retired from the NFL. former NFL quarterback Carson Palmer, who struggled with injuries throughout his career, told Peter King, quote, I remember going to rehab every day. I remember you feel guilt from your teammates.

It's hard when you're Andrew Luck and you're the face of a franchise, when you're the guy that's taking up 22% of the salary cap and the guy that's on every ad around town, all those things that come with being Andrew Luck. I think that weighs heavy on the heart. So Carson Palmer thinking a little bit of guilt, whether it's earned, or not dealing with injuries and what's that like having to face your teammates every day when you're going in for rehab, but you can't play. It's got to be a hard thing, especially because

Carson Palmer is having twice. He was the highest paid player in the sport twice and got hurt the very next game. You know, Bengals signed a long-term contract. They play the Steelers in the playoffs. Kim of Ed Olhofen rolls up on his knee. He gets hurt. He's out for a year. And then the injury in Arizona came after

he signed the biggest contract we'd ever seen. Carson-Balmer's a real dude, and I do think that there is a little bit of guilt. Like, you're making a bunch of money just showing up, especially when you're a quarterback and everything is designed to protect you. Interesting perspective. And they also went on to talk about, you know, multiple reports after the fact with Andrew Luck retiring had said that the Colts tried to convince Luck to go on the IR, which would leave open the door to a return maybe later on in the summer or later on in the season.

If he decided, oh, look, now I've had a little bit more time to rest. My body feels right. I can come back. But Luck had refused that saying he just wanted to call it quit. and Palmer said that's actually probably the best way forward for the Colts. He said, quote, now Jacobi Brissette, the quarterback now filling in for luck, is free. Jacobi can go and play and take over and lead and take a stand up in front of his guys and team meetings without having to worry with something like, well, I don't want to make it look like I'm trying to take over Andrew's job

because this is still Andrew's job. This is completely freeing for the organization to go forward into the season. Well, look, I get that, you know, people get to make me out because what I tweeted last week about Andrew Luck to be in like the ultimate luck hater. I don't. I think there's a lot of positives to come out of this. I'm just pointing out that the idea that an NFL starting quarterback at 29 years old would walk away from the game because he was worn down by rehabbing,

and we're talking about rehabbing an ankle or calf issue. This is not something that our fathers or even our generation has done, right? Tape it up, put some rope and tussing on it, and let's go. That's football mentality. But some more tussin on it. Mortussin. But that's not, and now you're, and oh yeah, by the way, people that are, remember, you got mad at Colts fans for booing him.

You see Djokovic got booed last night, walking off the, off the court at the U.S. Open? He was trailing, you know, two sets to none, and he had a shoulder issue. I mean, the problem is fans, like, look, I spent a bunch of money to see you play, and now you're all of a sudden going to bail on me because you're half hurts. Like, what? So, I understand some of the booing. I'm not a boo guy. I've never booed anybody in my life.

Probably since I've turned like 12. I don't think I booed anybody. But I do understand some of it. And I hope people understand that while like this part's of Andrew luck, hey, I'm going to remove myself. It helps Jacoby percent. It helps the franchise. I have no expectations of coming back.

If I did, would I come back there? Yeah, I guess. But I'm not even, I can't even think that way. Some people need clean breaks. I do think that you have to at least say there's a very different mentality now. Get yours and get out than they're ever used to be in the NFL. We'll wrap it up with this, Doug. Staying in the NFL.

You're someone who likes to think outside the box. You don't always fall in line with common thought. So let's see if you agree with what John Gruden and the Oakland Raiders are doing. Because they're definitely thinking outside the box here. The Raiders picked up quarterback Deshaun Kaiser off waivers after he was released by the Packers over the weekend. Now, why are we talking about backup quarterbacks? Well, the interesting thing now is Deshaun Kaiser makes this the fourth quarterback on the Raiders 53-man roster.

Now, for perspective, most NFL teams carry two. Very, very rarely do they carry three. Yeah, they have four. And now they have four. Doesn't make any sense. Doesn't make any sense. Derek Carr, the starter, Mike Lennon's second string, Nathan Peterman, third string, and now Deshaunkeye. I mean, the only thing that makes sense if they can find an injury that Peterman or Kaiser has where they can put him on IR, right?

Or cut him. And no one else claimed Kaiser. So I don't, obviously, they couldn't get him on their practice squad. But it's obvious he likes Peterman. Like Peterman the draft. Seems like he likes Peterman now. Glennon just is solid, right? He's been a starter.

He's been through a bunch of stuff. Carrying for a quarter. This is what he did in Tampa, though. Go back and look. His issues in Tampa once Brad Johnson got old was he would have too many quarterbacks and would fall in love with a different one each week. And that's right, music with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Okay, so there are a couple of big moves in the NFL this weekend. Doug Gottliebunner, this is the herd. Involving the Houston Texans. And I realized something about the way the league works. General managers are like wedding planners. I'll explain next.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

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Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mom, I want you.

to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the Chip.

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The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here.

Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. I have not seen the new Dave Chappelle special. Everybody's raving about it. I will watch it. I'll report back.

Colin even tweeted about it. So, you know, suddenly now it's brave to not be PC as a comedian when I kind of thought that was their job. But whatever. The Dave Chappelle. Chris Rock, of course. Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle. probably two of the current best stand-up comedians going.

Eddie Murphy supposedly is going to have, and he's going to do Saturday Night Live, but he's going to have his own Netflix special in like a year, right? And Eddie replaced Richard Pryor, and Chris Rock really replaced, or Dave Chappelle, replaced Eddie. Right. Chris Rock has this great line.

Like, you can drive your car with your feet, but that doesn't make it a good idea. Right? You ever heard that line for Chris Rock? I can't do the, you can drive your car with the feet, but it doesn't make it a good idea, right? That's not as famous as his OJ, like, I ain't say he should have killed her, but I understand, right?

Chris Rock's got some great stuff. But the idea of driving your car with the feet reminds me of what's going on in the NFL. Like, okay, do we all understand that the Houston Texans are like, wait. Hold on. Indy lost their quarterback. Tennessee doesn't like their quarterback. Jacksonville got Nick Foles that thinks that's somehow an upgrade because they've been a mess.

Ramsey wants more money. Brady has one foot in the grave of the football quarterback grave. Like, let's just kind of be honest. Is Tom Brady still an unbelievable quarterback? Sure. But he faded at the end of last season. And if you can get after him and the Texans can get after him, I mean, I think you think the impossible dream.

Pittsburgh has a better culture but doesn't have the talent that they had. I mean, like, there's a reason Leveon Bell got the money he did in Antonio Brown. Those guys are super talented. They may be a better cohesion of team. It's like Cleveland, really? Chargers, you know, Derwin James hurt. Russell O'Kung hurt, or he's got the blood clots. Melvin Gordon, still holding out.

Chiefs, like, all right, you're going to fix the defense in the fly? and the running game is not the same. So you're sitting there in Houston going, you know, it's like Marissa Tomei and my cousin Vinny, right? My biological clock is ticking. That's what their Super Bowl clock is ticking. Got Sean Watson. We got Newt Hopkins.

He's like 28, 27s. Got J.J. Watt, who's had two injury, injury took us away. Whitney Bursallis. It's kind of time now for Houston. So I get that they're going for it. But these trades, you give away two first and a second for Laramie Tunsell. Who's a talented player?

He's the best left tackle football? No, I mean, super talented, but inconsistent. You trade you Devi-on-Klani who didn't want to play for you, but if he wanted to play, you could have driven a hard bark and made him play on the franchise tag. and then there's this from pro football talk. This is what Brock Hewer was talking about. The signing bonus, $7 million is going to be paid by the Texans.

The salary is going to be paid by the Seahawks, $8 million. In other words, not only did they trade for lesser pieces, but they actually are paying Chedevian Clowny to play for the Seahawks this year. Think about that. And here's the difference. John Schneider, who is the GM, of the Seattle Seahawks, began this offseason with four draft picks

and Frank Clark ended it with 11 draft picks, including three in the first two rounds and Jedevian Clown. Seattle wants to win now, just like Houston wants to win now. They got their quarterback, they got their running back, like they're trying to figure out how to fill in for Doug Baldwin, but we've kind of rebuilt our defense

and we got, all right, this is why you need, you can drive your car with your feet, but it doesn't make a good idea. You can run a team without a general manager. That doesn't make it a good idea. You know? That's like guy who wants to represent himself. You can, well, you know, I studied law.

Even as a lawyer. Yeah, but it's not really the kind of law you do. That's okay. I'll represent myself. Why? Because you want to save some money. People do that with weddings all the time. She just has a vision.

She just has a vision and that's not a good idea. I get it like wedding planners. It feels like, what are they really doing? But the problem is if you plan your own wedding, your bride, and if you're involved, first of all, if you're not involved, then that gets exposed to more. You're not doing anything. Well, yeah, but if I say I don't like something, then I'm, you know, I'm a jerk. And if I only, what do you want a cheerleader? I mean, you don't want to spend your wedding day worrying about the wedding.

You want to spend your wedding day enjoying the wedding. But you can't do it when you're the wedding planner. Can you get married without a wedding planner? Absolutely. you can pick out all the, what are the decorations in the center are called? The centerpieces? Women are big in the centerpieces. You know, you can pick out the colors and the music and the band, the DJ and all that stuff,

and you can delegate and delegate and delegate, and you can be like Bill O'Brien and you can be the head coach and have an assistant GM and all things funneled with me. But do you want to? Right? the bride's getting her hair and makeup done. You know, she's slightly hung over from the rehearsal dinner. This is the biggest day of her life.

And she's got to worry about whether or not the bands of four-piece band or a three-piece band because some mook playing the harp got caught in traffic. No, you don't want to do that? It's not what you want to do. Bill O'Brien's trying to game plan and work out trades, and he's never been in the front office? This doesn't sound like a bad idea to anybody else. else? Oh, well, he wants to win. They all want to win.

And that's blood in the water for a John Snyder's like, they got Bill O'Brien making the decision. This is so simple. Okay, we'll take to Davey on Clyde. We'll give you a Barquevius Mingo and why don't you just pay half the salary, we'll call it good. Okay. Wait, what? He said okay. Really? NFL running backs are lawyers and doctors. Yep, they're lawyers and doctors. I'll prove it next in the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

What up? Welcome in. This is The Herd, live from Los Angeles, wherever you may be, and however you may be making as part of your day. I'm Doug Gottlie, filling in for Colin Cowherd. Uncle Collins back tomorrow. I'm sure he'll do what Colin had right when Colin had wrong, even though it's a Tuesday tomorrow. Happy Labor Day to you.

Summer, over. Okay. Fall, the best. Weather's better, travels better. Kids are in school. You got time to breathe during the day. Work. If you travel, it's way better now. Sports is better. Baseball matters. Football's on television. Basketball is right around the corner. Actually, Team USA playing as we speak. Falls better.

I don't want an endless summer. Good my summer coming to an end. I'm good. So I grew up in the city of Orange in Orange County, California. It's kind of interesting. Like my mom went to Syracuse. My dad went to Syracuse for a year, or maybe a semester, I'm unsure. My dad's favorite color was orange. We moved out to the city of Orange in Orange County.

All of the teams I ever played for growing up that my dad coached. because it was his favorite color, we wore orange. And then ultimately I played for Oklahoma State that wears orange. And now I have a pretty good tan, maybe a little bit of orange to me. I'm not sure. Anyway, the city that abuts orange, one of the city that abuts orange is Tustin. That's where I went to high school. And Tustin is a mix.

North Tustin is more estates, you know, half acre to an acre, sometimes even two acre lots. It's beautiful, beautiful area. Some horses up there. More south and central, Tustin, blue collar. You had the Tustin air marine base that has these big hangars that used to house blimps. Right. And now, obviously, there's actually regular people housing on it as the base is no longer there. So you had everything from military families, blue collar families, all the way up to the nicer side of the tracks, which was.

And I remember when I moved back, I was looking at homes. And I was like, man. These homes are amazing, but they're all built in like the late 70s, mid-80s. Who would buy these? And some Rams used to live there. L.A. Rams used to live there. Some angels used to live there. Now a lot of the angels that live down by the coast, live on a golf course.

You know? And my real estate agent said, dude, it's the 80s. Who do you think lived here? Doctors and lawyers. Like, I want you to think back to when you were a kid. And if you're anywhere between, and sorry, if you're in your early 20s, maybe you don't get this. But 35, 45, 50, right? And maybe even you get to 30.

When you were a kid, the persons whose dad seemed to have the most money and have the nicest house and was killing it was the doctor who went to the Ivy League school, you know, and went to medical school. and or the lawyer. In the 80s, it was about doctors and lawyers and maybe an accountant. Those are the people that made six figures and six figures. Now it's a big thing, but then it was a huge thing.

Now I want you to think of the jobs that kill it now. You know, you start an app and then you sell your app. But really it's the financial sector. And yeah, there's also commercial. real estate, regular real estate, but the financial sector now is what the lawyer was to the 80s or the doctor was. Now doctors have to carry all this insurance. Doctors had to pay so much for their medical school bills like, man, it doesn't mean that doctors don't do well. They still

do very well. They still make into six figures. You make it a couple hundred thousand dollars in any city in America. That's a good thing. Plus, you're your own doctor. Hey-oh. But But the top end is more limited. There's some top, like, plastic surgeons, right? There's some top heart surgeons. But it doesn't feel like you're going, you go into medicine to get rich anymore. You go into medicine because you want to help people. You're fascinated by it.

And you want to make a good living. And you will make a good living. There isn't, the floor is very, very high in medical practices. But the ceiling's much lower. Whereas financial guys, you know, in Orange County, again, where I live, where I grew up, those guys at Pimco, the bonds guys, silly money. Own your own company? Crazy money. Like obscene money.

Seen money. Obscene. Tech, startups, Facebook. I have friends that moved to Idaho and they're like, you know, Idaho's business is booming. Everybody moving out of California to Boise. What do they do? Tech, huge tech industry. Right, that's why San Francisco is the most expensive city to live in.

It's not because the doctors and lawyers are killing. It's because the tech industry. And just like the business world has changed, so too has professional sports. Right. In basketball, you used to be built around your center. Now it's not. Was it because the center would break down? Sure.

But also because as basketball has evolved, there's less efficiency in throwing the ball into the block and watching Patrick Ewing. sweat all over his opponent and shoot a fadeaway. I feel like running backs as we're waiting on Melvin Gordon. I don't know if you guys saw this story of the weekend, but the Chargers basically said in like three days, there was Melvin Gordon saying, you know, they don't want to pay me more. I might not.

I'm still, I'm dug in. I'd like to play, but I'm not going to play. That was a leaked report from his camp. Then it was the Chargers saying, hey, feel free. pursue a trade. Because what the Chargers know is in their heart, Melvin Gordon's a good player. They probably value him as much or more than anybody else.

Not only is the team not going to give a first round pick or maybe even a second round pick for him, but even if they do, then they had to pay Melvin Gordon the $13 million a year or $14 million a year he's expecting when the Chargers were at 10, which is more than they want to pay. So then yesterday came out, the Chargers

like, you know what? We're done doing contract talks. You're under contract for the next year and another year, your fifth year option, just like Zeke. If you want to show up, show up and play. Otherwise, we're going to find you because you're under contract and you're not showing up. Cowboys continue

and they're on again, off again. Are they going to get this deal? And I do feel like they ultimately get the Ezekieliot deal done. But now it's over language. And they can say it's over language, not over money, but the language is all about the money. Well, you know, I mean, like, that's just being cute.

Well, you know, the third year or fourth year being guaranteed. The team is about the language. No, what the team is saying is we don't want to guarantee every penny. We just saw what happened to Todd Gurley. It's the same situation over and over again. We've got no problem. If you can stay healthy and be productive all four years of the contract or all three years of the contract, we'll give you the money.

We just don't want to guarantee it because you're a running back. You break down. You take a beating. You're not as valuable as used to be. Star running backs make a good amount of money. like Ezekieli can sit here and go like, man, poor house, not making much. You do know that he made $16 million his first year because of where he was drafted, where he slotted.

Did that go reported? Was that nobody reported that? Which, by the way, granted, it spreads out over time. He was the highest paid player at his position before he ever took a snap. Now, the next two years he doesn't make a lot because it evens out. And then this year he does. And then next year he makes a lot more in the fifth year option. But they're sitting there going like, man, we were doctors and lawyers,

and we used to have the nicest houses and, you know. I mean, when I was a kid, every NFL team was built around one of these dudes. Bears, Walter Payton. Lions. Barry Sanders. Niners. And we all talk about the passing game, Roger Craig, high knees, right? Eric Dickerson with the 49ers.

I mean, the Rams, I mean, Eric Dickerson, sorry, sorry with the Rams. The Rams went from Eric Dickerson. to Jerome Bettis to Marshall Falk. Like they would just, and that was their guy. Now, Marshall Falk obviously was a hybrid guy, but they would always be built around their running back in many ways. In times it changed.

Now, just like, you know, the plastic, you know when you fly, you know, the airlines and they have like, these are the top 10 plastic surgeons in the country. I don't know who selects that. But like the top plastic surgeons, they all look like. They're just, I know one of these guys, and he is a really good looking guy.

and I don't think, I don't actually think he's done any work on himself. Man, he's just a good looking, like the top guys in there, they still get a lot of money. But if you're going into school now or you're trying to come out of school, you're like, man, how can I make a killing?

How can I have a couple of commas next to my name? Tech or finance industry, right? That's it. That's the deal. That's where the huge, huge money is. Huge money. and I feel like running backs are the doctors and lawyers of the 80s that they used to have the biggest house.

They used to have it going on. And now they're watching the tech guys and the finance guys. In many ways, guys, less educated than them. I have a neighbor. He's in the finance industry. And he had a good education, but he came out to Southern California, followed a girl out here and met a finance whiz while he's tending bar

because he didn't have a job. like that's not how doctors have to go through ridiculous leaps and hurdles in order to become doctors so you're sitting there as a doctor and lawyer going like wait wait wait wait wait wait wait I had to get straight days in high school straight days in college get a great get an awesome score in the LSAT or the MCAT then get into a really hard and really expensive medical school or law school pass it and then as a doctor then you have to do your residency program, 80 hours a week, and now I'm making $2.50, right? And that's, that's Zeke looking at Dak going like, wait, he's like the 15th best quarterback in the league and he wants to make $35 million a year. And here I carried my high school team, carried my college team, I've carried

this team, like, strictly based upon my skill set. And I'm going to make less than half what he's making per year? You know what the answer is? Yep. Because life's not fair. Right? There's the, there's the one to wake your kid up. Morning, son. Morning, father. Any words wisdom, father? Yes. No one owes you anything.

Life's not fair. Good morning. I get ready for school. This is the, this is the teacher argument. Should teachers make more money? Of course they should. Oh, but they get three months off. Like, do they really? You, you, you, you, think they would trade a couple of months off so they could actually make a living wage. I would get, they got to put up your bratty kid, I would guess.

They had to go to school. They had to pass their certification. You know, they had to pass, they had to know how to do CPR. They got to put up with all your emails. Oh, but you only work from eight to three. Really, you think they show up at eight and leave right at three? Of course they don't. And say it's fair.

This is just how society is decided we pay certain people. All right, Mike Sandow joins the show upcoming next. We got a lot to get to. He's a senior NFL writer. What are people on the league saying about the Texans going for it and having Bill O'Brien make these interesting decisions? Plus, how do the dolphins tank? How does the dolphins tanking sit with others in the league?

We'll discuss next in the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're a friend? free because that's two different intentions

bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust I want you to just really be a good person join me Kear Gaines is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast learn the hard way open your free iHeartRadio

app search learn the hard way and listen now what's up guys this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Come on out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balligan.

I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals.

The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Doug Godley been for calling this is the herd. Have you guys seen this guy on the internet or on the interweb on Twitter who's in some mobile home park in Florida? and he's like, we got to think of something.

Like, why don't we have the Navy drop, circle the storm and drop cold ice to cool down the water to slow down the storm? Why don't we have the Air Force circle the storm? Like, and he's serious. He's dead serious, which it does bring me to my point, which is I've made this several times. The average IQ is just as close to 80 as it is to 120. I just want to make sure. And every breathing, taxpaying,

non-felony committing adult in the United States has the right to vote, including that guy. You want freedom? You got it. Thank you, Florida. Once again, you restored my faith in you that you do things unlike any other place. Doug Gottliebun for Colin, this is the herd.

Let's welcome in Mike Sandow, senior NFL writer, and he joins the show. and Mike, there's so much to get to. I think we start in Houston because they're part of two different trades, right? Clowny being sent and then paying part of the Clowny deal. And then what I think everyone feels like, massively overpaying for Laramie Tunsell. And doing without a GM, B.OB, Bill O'Brien is clearly in charge. How is the league reacting to what the Texans are doing?

Well, suffice to say, owners are in the league are not going. you know, this looks like the model. I think they have figured out how to do it. And we're all going to go with a committee and know GM. That's not happening. So clearly you need a business for your organization that's well communicated to everybody and plays that over time. And that's not what they have. You know, in the last year, their owner has passed away. They fired the GM after, I think, they showed up at their mini-camp and didn't have the tackle situation solved after getting out flanked in the draft. And here they are, basically spending $20 for a gallon of gas because they're on the side of the road and their tanks empty, you know, and that's really what they're doing. They're desperate.

Yeah, and didn't they hire their team chaplain as, right? Like, the team chaplain is like one of the heads of organization now, which just. Yeah. Yeah. And we don't really know the extent of who's doing what. We can assume that the head coach has a lot to do with the moves they're making. And usually when the head coach does, you know, they are looking for weeks. week one and week eight and what they're going to do this season.

The GM's job obviously is longer term to balance that, to communicate a vision. And they don't have that aspect, so it's hard. It's just fascinating, fascinating stuff. This is the herd, Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin here on Fox SportsRate in the IHeart Radio app. Okay, so I did, look, I get what John Snyder's done. He went from four draft picks and Frank Clark to 11 draft picks, including two first rounders and Jadevi on.

Clowny. I get that, and he only has to pay half of the boat for Gedevian Clowny. But I also know that there's a reason they struggle to move Clowny for what he should be worth and why they didn't want to pay him, because as Snyder said, when he plays, he's a freak. He doesn't play hard all the time. That's been a major, major issue. Can they solve that simply because he's in a contract year now? Yeah, I think for a year in that environment, Lee Caryl's got a demonstrated good culture in Seattle, a couple hiccups along the way, but I think for the most part,

that's part of their program, but they play hard, and it's only for one year, and he's got a ton to prove. So I would think they'll get the best from him. My concern would be that, you know, the knee is a real issue, you know, and he's only missed, I think, one game the last couple seasons. I think he's only missed a few games the last three or four years. But like if he had a knee injury or something, we wouldn't be shocked just based on the fact that it's something that has to be managed all the time. So for a one-year thing, though, I mean, Seattle was sitting there with, you know, basically, extra picks in the first four or five rounds next year. I think this is a great investment to get rid of one to try to maximize your team.

You've got a good quarterback. This isn't going to last forever. They were in the playoffs last year. No one thought they were, and they couldn't get over the hump. So I like it for a one-year rental. Mike Sandos, a senior NFL writer for the athletic joining us here in the herd. Let's go to the Miami Dolphins. And they have a rookie head coach.

He's 38 years old. And he's trying to change the culture, but it feels like what the Raiders did last year, right? This, whether you say trust the process or tanking or whatever, chapter 11ing, right, restructuring. They're selling off pieces with the intent of getting really bad before getting really good. That's what this is, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, they're definitely tearing down. And, you know, the owner said at the press conference at the end of the last season, that's what they're going to do.

But that takes a lot of time and patience. and what's the owner going to feel like when they're 4 and 12 for two years in a row, right? I mean, then are we going to have a regime change and there's a new coach? I think this is a great thing to try to do in like a white paper, you know, or at the Sloan Analytics Conference, right? Oh, here's what you do. But you've got to play the games. You've got to live with the media day to day.

You might not get a good quarterback. What if, you know, that's a huge part of this. You gave away tonsful. What are the odds he drafts someone who's good as tons with that pick? Well, did the Raiders get Khalil Mack with the picks? Probably not. So it is a hard thing to do. It's hard to do anyway.

But I don't know. You know, it's one way to do it. And if they can be patient enough, the owner's patient enough, it could be fun to watch. Yeah, it could be fun to watch, but it's going to take a long time before it's fun to watch. And then, you know, I get that they're trying to figure out what they have with Josh Rosen, but how will you know if, you know, he can't even hold on the ball. First, he can't win the job, and then, two, he can't hold on the ball long enough to really feel like he can read a defense. Yeah, no doubt.

I mean, I think that some of their move so that they already, if they don't know, they think he's probably not the guy, but he's there. And I think it's hard probably to just play him in week one if the other guy, Fitzpatrick, comes in with a huge advantage. He's played in a league a long time. He knows how to relate to the guys. He's got command of everything. I'm sure he looked better. So you go with him. If the other guy comes in and does great, pleasant surprise.

But I think it's clear they're looking for somebody next year, and it's going to be a tough start to the career for Josh Rosen. Cowboys feel like Ross and Rachel, right, with them and Ezekieliot, that eventually it'll get done, but it's close and it's not close. Now it's not money, it's language, but the language is all about the money. So, you know, we're going round and round we go. Does he play week one? I think so.

You know, I would think that Jerry Jones because the deal down he wants them there. Zique probably wants to be there, and I think the money will be good. I mean, I just, I don't think that Jerry Jones is going to hold it back on a few dollars. I tend to agree. Melvin Gordon, the Chargers have done the opposite. Like, hey, we're done talking about this. Show up, come in and play. When does Melvin Gordon show up?

Yeah, you know, I think that one could take longer. You know, I'd be a little bit more surprised if he showed up for the first week, even, too. Who knows after that? I mean, everybody has their own barometer of what missing money means to them. And he hasn't declared what his is. traditionally guys show up, week one, week two. But I think we're in a little bit of a different era with players. I mean, we've seen the extreme of Andrew Luck retire.

We've seen other young players, Borland for the 49ers, just retire early. We've seen Levian Belf sit out a whole year. Those types of things have happened, but it feels like there's a little bit of a shift in how players are thinking. So, you know, would I be as shocked as I would have been 20 years ago if he held out the whole year. I wouldn't. I think he's at least going to come in long enough to get his season, which, you know, six, eight games, something like that.

And that's probably the longest you would miss. Yeah, you mentioned Andrew Luck. How much do you think this changes the league? I mean, like, look, Tennessee had never beaten him. Houston clearly thinks they're going for it. Do you think it has a major impact on the league, just losing that one guy? Yeah, I think that it does because I think, you know, look, they've done a nice job building their team in Indy. I think they can be competitive.

But I think that they could have been a championship contender for years to come. come with luck and could have, you know, challenged the chiefs and some of the other teams that feel like they're going to give it a go for the next few years in the AFC. That's just a lot harder now. I just, no offense to reset, but, I mean, he hasn't shown that he's going to do that, doesn't have the pedigree. So I think they're probably, you know, have to keep their eye open for another guy next year and the year after and see if they can get back to the, you know, raise the ceiling to where

I think it could have been with luck. The four worst teams in league are what, the Bengals, the dolphins, right? Bengals, Dolphins, Cardinals. We'll see on the Cardinals. Yeah. No, it feels, they feel bad. They do not. Does not, do not be like, you know who you should go out?

Like, Arizona does not feel like that thing is going to be a winner. Those would be my three, and then who would the other, they're just not good team be? Wow. It helps to have in front of me a whole list of the teams. Let's go. I mean, Detroit seems better. Yeah, I think Detroit will be.

What about the Raiders? Are the Raiders any good? I think they're better. I think they're going to be, what's the over-under? What about the Redskins? Yeah, I think they're terrible. Yep. I think that's a bad place that could go south.

No doubt. They have to be in a room. You mean having two quarterbacks break your leg last year, a star left tackle that doesn't want to play for you, drafting a kid that the coaches didn't want, and he only played one year in college, and doesn't feel like a great fit for their system. coaches want to win, but their best option winning is Case Keenham, who couldn't win on his own last year.

That doesn't – and oh, yeah, by the way, the Eagles, who everybody think is good, the Cowboys, who everybody thinks is good, are in the same division. That doesn't – that feels like a recipe for a bit of a tough season. Culture there, too. You know, I just think Bruce Allen's been there a long time. It's not great. Trent Williams is sort of emblematic to me of the organization that people probably aren't excited to be there. And so I have – I do have a bad feeling. on them. I think, you know, I think they're a better team than that, but Carolina interests me because is Cam Newton going to hold up?

And, you know, there's a new owner there. And, you know, did they solve their offensive line? I mean, the offense looked good for a while last year. But if Cam Newton goes out in week six, I mean, I think that could really, you know, be a place that slipped fast. Great stuff. Mike Sandow, it gets real this Thursday with the Bears and the Packers the 100th year of the National Football League. Read his stuff in the athletes. Lettick, follow him on Twitter. He's excellent. That's why we love having him on. Mike, thanks so much. Happy football season to you. You too, thanks. All right, let's get you to rhyme music with the news. This is the herd line news. Well, Doug, you were just talking about the Chargers situation with running back Melvin Gordon there with Mike Sandow. Just a couple of minutes ago, according to Jeremy Fowler, NFL insider, Chargers running back Melvin Gordon, does not plan to report for week one as he sorts through potential trade options. during his holdout according to a source.

My understanding is he will only report back if a new development comes along. So looks like Melvin Gordon is fully dug in on this holdout. After the news that you had mentioned with Mike Sando and earlier in the show is the Chargers said, okay, go ahead, go seek a trade. Previously, they were not allowing him to meet with other teams or allowing his agent to negotiate with other teams.

So now he's had a whole weekend to find other options. no news yet and the holdout continues. Yeah, this is kind of fascinating what's happening here. It's really, really interesting what's happening. I just think he's getting bad advice. Like, they like you. You're not going to find a trade partner who's going to pay you above what the Chargers offered you.

And now the Chargers are basically they pulled the offer. It doesn't really matter in all honesty, right? Because the new money wouldn't kick in until next year. anyway. They're not going to, no one's giving them a new contract for this year. But I think from Melvin Gordon's perspective, it's the optics of it. Oh, now you're going to take back the offer. They're like, no, we're just done talking about. We gave you a long enough window. We gave you a chance to explore a trade.

There isn't really one out there. Go for it. I still think he ends up showing up. I don't think there's a, it's not that somebody wouldn't trade for him. It's that you can't trade for him and not offer him at, you know, more than what the Chargers want to offer him. And nobody wants to offer him that. Like the Texans made two trades for running backs. Neither were for him.

None, neither. No, and as you were saying, the idea that you have to give up assets, meaning draft picks, likely high draft picks, and also pay for him, was something that people sort of raised their eyebrows about regarding the Texans because they traded two first-round picks for Tunsell and Kenny Stills, a wide receiver who everyone thought the dolphins were going to cut. Right. But they also didn't immediately sign Tunsell to an extension given that's sort of what the Bears had done with Khalil Mack.

So they trade multiple first round picks for Khalil Mack and then sign him to an extension. Well, look, the whole thing, Melvin Gore, there's no reason for Melvin Gordon to leave the Chargers unless he's going to get a better contract than they offered him. And that I don't believe it exists. And now they've taken that off the table. Yeah, for now. And I honestly think that would come. I'm like, they're reasonable people. I think that would come back if he showed up.

Interesting. Okay. A couple of more little NFL notes here, and then we'll move on finishing up with an NBA story. But some smaller notes in the NFL. We mentioned this last hour. We were wondering, why did the quarterback, why do the Raiders carry four quarterbacks? You mentioned they were going to make a move. Well, they did. They're putting quarterback Nathan Peterman on the IR with a elbow injury. Ah, elbow injury. For the radio audience, I'm doing the air quotes. It's all about friends, right? Elbow injury. Right. Unlike Joey, you get it. Right, right. So it's now they have three quarterbacks, which is still not very common. So we'll see what ends up happening with the Derek Carr, Mike Glennon, Deshaun Kaiser situation.

Another note. So the Patriots brought in Demarius Thomas. He was coming off in Achilles injury, played really well in the preseason. Then it was a little bit surprising over the weekend. They actually cut him because the Patriots are already thin at wide receipts. receiver. So they thought, okay, well, why wouldn't they be bringing back to Marius Thomas? Well, typical Patriots move based off of how the waiver wire works. He was a vested veteran, so he didn't have to actually go to waivers. He just immediately became a free agent.

They actually took their first round pick to kill Harry Harris, put him on IR as he's dealing with an injury, and actually re-signed Demarius Thomas. So now Demarius Thomas is with the New England Patriots after all. It still, though, it points to like, look, Nikiel Harris. was supposed to be their jump ball threat. And there's supposed to be high hopes. And now he won't be eligible to play until week nine. And I know he's been fighting through injuries, but the idea that you draft a guy in the first round

and you're not going to have him. And wide receiver is something that you can tell me, oh, we got Josh Gordon, we're fine. That's still a major issue when you're trying to replace Rob Garnkowski. And especially with the Josh Gordon thing, I mean, even last year, they brought him along slowly. At times, he showed. some promise, but then, you know, unexpectedly out of nowhere had to step away from football again

and got reinstated. And I mean, how many times over can you keep banking on him being there for the long term when at any moment it could just be out of the league again? And the last little NFL note, Amari Cooper practicing again. He's been dealing with that planter fasciitis and looks like he should be all go for the regular season, week one. So they won't have Ezekiel Elliott, possibly. But they will have Amari Cooper. And one last note in the NFL, Doug. LeBron James filed the trademark over the weekend to own the social media rights and the naming of a show for Taco Tuesday. Taco Tuesday.

Taco Tuesday. Now, it's currently owned, and I'm not an expert in trademarks, so I don't know exactly how far this expands. But Taco Tuesday, the trademark is currently owned by Taco Johns, which is a chain restaurant over 425. locations, mainly located in the Midwest. So I don't know how maybe Taco Johns owns a specific part of the trademark, and LeBron James is trying to file for a different part of the trademark. But LeBron James, hoping to own the phrase, Taco Tuesday. That's bold.

That feels like a great lawyering, right, to where you're like, look, LeBron, I don't know, we can get this done. How many hours do you think this is, guys? Yeah, I mean, you know, it's $4.50 an hour. we can put 100 hours into this thing. We can get this thing done. Which for the bra and is definitely a rounding error. He has no idea.

Yeah. So just the idea that he came up with the barbershop, right? Remember he was very protective of the barbershop. And now he wants to own Taco Tuesday because he's gone on Tuesdays and said, Taco Tuesday when everybody says Taco Tuesday. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. You know, we saw. Tom Brady tried to file for Tom Terrific.

Well, the famous one is Pat Riley got three Pete. Yeah. Got three Pete. But people weren't saying three Pete. He just like came up with the three Pete and then he trademarked it. I don't know. It doesn't be like intellectual property that he should have. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. So Big Boys start on Thursday, right? We still have one college football game. Notre Dame, Louisville, upcoming tonight. We have the best for the last upcoming next. We have five moments from the college football weekend that I, if you haven't seen even one of these or heard one of these, you're going to sit there and go, no way.

That happened. But it really happened. We'll get to him next in the herd. 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 Heart Radio app. Doug Ghalybin for Colin. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listened to the show.

Thanks so much. Colin is back tomorrow. But look, Colin does this every day. So do we. We hold something back. It's called the best for last. It's almost the end of the show, but that doesn't mean we're phoning it in.

Nope, we grind to the very last segment. It's time for best for last. An interesting first weekend in college football, right? I could give you the best stories like Nevada's freshman walk-on kicker, making the game winner, right? Making the game winner and then not only getting the game ball but getting a scholarship. Here's the game ball and you're on scholarship. That was big. That was huge and interesting and surprising.

know, Jay Norvel says, here's the game ball and you're on scholarship. It's pretty cool. It's a great thing. But let's not get cut up in awesomeness. Let's get caught up in awesomeness with craziness and silliness and all the insane things that happen in college football. The five weirdest most college football things ever that happened on the first full weekend of college football. Number five.

Georgia State won two games last year. two. They were picked dead last in their side of, I think they're in the Sunbelt Conference. Don't hold me to it. They went into Tennessee, collected a huge check, and beat the volunteers. And the game, honestly, wasn't as close as the final score. Georgia State was the better team. Why is this fun?

Why is this funny? Clay Travis, right? Clay Travis, who, you know, grew up a Tennessee fan, started this firestorm, you know, so they wouldn't hire Greg Shiano. The loose ties of Greg Shiano to what happened, you know, at Penn State when he was there. Because they didn't like Shiano as a defensive guy and a gruff guy, and because to people in Tennessee, what he had done at Rutgers wasn't good enough, even though Rutgers, what they did at Rutgers was incredible.

Like, Shiano doesn't have great bedside manner. And he was weird with Tampa. but lots of people haven't won in Tampa, lots of college coaches haven't won, and no one's done what he did at Rutgers. Nonetheless, Tennessee in the second year after recruiting well again, and it doesn't mean that Pruitt doesn't know what he's doing, but that team appears lost. They also had a fire with the Volnavi. You know what the Volnavi is. Those are the people that show up on their boats and party before the games and they walk over to Neeland Stadium. Tennessee losing to Georgia State is an amazing way to start the college football season.

Number four. All right. Sad news from USC is JT. Daniels. They're starting quarterback out for the year, torn ACL, torn meniscus. But that's not the awesomeness of college football. Here is. They take the opening kickoff back to the house, right? That happened.

Only gets called back for penalty. All right. Was it a clip? No. It was not a clip. It was not a legal block. Block below the waist. No, no, no.

It was because they had two number sevens on the field at the same time. Now, the hardest thing about covering games and doing play-by-play or whatever in college is that they do have double numbers, but it is the job of a coaching staff to make sure if those guys are going to have the same number, there is just one rule you have to know. They cannot be on the field at the same time. And if they don't know it, you better know it. Somebody better know it. And no one said like, hey, hold on, hold on.

We got two number sevens. This isn't AAU basketball. This isn't the NBA with illegal numbers. This is college football. We'll let you double up. We have just one rule. You can't have two of the same number on the field at the same time. USC, of course, in classic Clay Helton,

does anybody actually coach these guys fashion? The answer appears to be no. Number three. This was fun. So Jackson State was playing Bethune Cookman. And they scored a long time. touchdown and they were going to celebrate in the end zone. And so their mascot comes from the sideline, runs through the end zone and gets a celebration penalty called on him.

Because why is he? Forget about the fact that he's celebrating and that he was, and the play was kind of at the outside of the end zone. He didn't even go around the white line. He ran right through the end zone like he was like he was a dude. Like he was a player. Like he had a helmet and chin straps on and wanted to help get the kids from Bethune off and celebrate with this guy. This is the, this goes to the, all of you who are we guys this weekend. Hey, we got a big one with Texas in Austin. We got big one this weekend. Like, we guy. There's only, only whys are the

ones wearing the helmets, the shoulder pads are coaching the actual team. Did you show up to two a days? Have you done the Oklahoma drill? Did you go to pregame? Did you run conditioning at six in the morning? If you didn't, it's not a wee thing. Hey, especially if you're the mascot. Number two. I like Mac Brown, right? I like Mac Brown a lot. He did an amazing job last time. He's at North Carolina.

And when he's at Texas and talking about all the, wait, we want to thank all the high school coaches in this great state of Texas that has great high school football. I think it's great to have Mac Brown back. Mac Brown dancing was funny. And, you know, you're watching old white guy dance. And he pulled it off, and he does appear. to be super happy. It's good to have him back in college football.

And maybe he can get Carolina back to where he left it off at. And they did beat South Carolina. Another team that won, I think, two or three games last year. They're beating South Carolina. What happened? Mighty SEC. Mack Brown dancing is so uncomfortably white. It made me feel hip. It really made me feel super, super hip. Number one.

And I shouldn't make fun of staff infection because I've had one. when I was in high school I had like a cut on my back I got staff infection I was running conditioning before my senior season and all of a sudden my arm was like three times the size of my other arm they're like dude you've been lifting

I'm like no I had staff infection you can lose a limb a lot of bad things can happen but I got to tell you that like this is the ultimate football guy thing Hugh Freeze coaches for Liberty Liberty had a huge home game against Syracuse to open the season

and Liberty is the biggest evangelical school in the country. And Hugh wouldn't miss it for anything. He had back surgery and apparently had staff infection. So instead of staying in his hospital bed in a hospital, he was in a hospital bed in the coaches box. I can't make it up. If you haven't seen the visual of this, it's one of the most, the best part about it is,

the game's over, Dino Babers, who's done an amazing job at Syracuse, is like, going to go do the handshake. right he does the we win the game everybody shakes his hand he runs across the field and he gets like a quarter way across the field and he points up to hugh freeze almost like he's pointing up to god but in between god and dno babers is hugh freeze who gives him a point from the hospital bed like i wouldn't miss the game even though i have staff infection i can't actually affect the game i'm going to do a video conference to pump up my team before the game but i'm still going to show up

the game in a hospital bed. That's like, like, there's Hollywood pitch meetings all the time. Like, all right, pitch, and I have a friend who he wrote for friends. And I'm sure he's listing right now. And he's probably like, I don't know if we can get that one in. Like our show is silly. But like, like, remember the show coach? He's remember the show coach, Minnesota State University.

It was great, great show. Like, I guarantee at some point somebody goes like, hey, what have we had coach? And he went through some sort of procedure. and he's in the hospital and he wanted to still be at the game but he couldn't right so we put him up in the press box but we put him up in the press box and we have like

the IV and we have a nurse and and you know he's like on his deathbed giving the thumbs up like win this one for the Gipper thing like nah that would never happen it never happened it did in fact happen it was in fact Hugh Freeze

and they did lose the game and that's the best for last that's amazing. It's one of the most amazing things I've seen, right? Like, why is he in a hospital bed? Okay, well, you're really sick. Like, dude, be in a hospital. Well, you know, I can see the game better up there.

Like, no, if you're really laying prone, you're standing up and you got a headset on, you're coaching the team, but you're just watching on monitors anyway. Why do you need to be there? I was there in spirit. I mean, that's a bizarre one. That's a bizarre one. Your first game coaching and you're in a hospital bed.

O-N-1 from a hospital bed. Now, all the stats remaining are not from the hospital. Staff infection is nasty. Scary, scary stuff. All right, Colin is back tomorrow. We still have Louisville and Notre Dame. Louisville is a shell of their former self. I'd expect Notre Dame to smash him.

Getting ready for the National Football League, I'm sure Colin will be fired up to talk cowboys, which, you know, Ross and Rachel, eventually we know Zeke's going to be there. It does not appear. Melvin Gordon is going to show up. Chargers are immensely talented team, but no starting left tackle, no starting safety, and now no starting running back, taking on the Colts who lost Andrew Luck, but claim that Jacoby Brissette is just a one-b. We'll see.

We have concluded that the Cincinnati Bengals, the Miami Dolphins, the Washington Redskins, who's the other team that's really bad? Ah, the Arizona Cardinals, they're the bad teams. All right. Have a great day. I'm Doug Gottlie. This is The Hurd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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. In 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's. gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for

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