The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - An End of an Era in Pittsburgh, Placing the Blame for Eagles Loss

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

The Texans were clearly the better team last night from the start.Thoughts on the future of Mike Tomlin and Aaron Rodgers.Jason Kelce is placing the blame for the Eagles loss to the 49ers in the wrong place.The Bears-Packers feud is great for the NFLSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We are live. We're in Chicago. It's the herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be watching or listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. The truth, once the playoffs arrive, always reveals itself. You can't trust the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Pittsburgh Steelers are Sears Department Store. 3.1 yards per play.

Lowest yards per play in the last nine years in the playoffs. And they got turnovers. Three times Houston gave them opportunities. 13 total first downs, awful on third down, couldn't run the ball again. if the Steelers were just competent offensively. And I know the Texans are good, but you had a ball game. Pittsburgh's longest drive in the second half, 23 yards. So they're not going to fire Mike Tomlin.

Aaron's, of course, going to always defend him. They have no young quarterback for the future. It's one of the oldest rosters in the league. The money's mostly spent on defense. Pittsburgh is stuck in a mediocrity loop. and they're never terrible, but exceedingly average. And they've become so consumed with stability, loyalty. Hey, at least we're not Cleveland.

Yeah, but either are the Chiefs, the Rams, or the Niners, and they take swings. I mean, a prime example of the Steelers, they go get D.K. Metcalfe, and yet the Steelers are last in the NFL with Air Rogers in air yards per attempt. So they buy a sports car and don't know how to drive it. And it's not just about not winning a playoff game for nine years. I went and looked at Mike Tomlin's last 13 playoff games. There's six blowout losses. In fact, in their last seven playoff games,

they have not led for a single snap in the second half in any of them. The games aren't that competitive. You thought last night was competitive, start of the fourth. You knew who the better team was. So there's an old saying about, you know, You can't save your way to being wealthy, just being content. And that's how I feel about the Steelers. You know, they want to be, they're content, which to me just feels like a weighted blanket.

I just don't get it. You got to take swings, increase risk. We're going into another season. Aaron will take off. They won't have any urgency at quarterback. It's actually the easy way out in life to not offend anybody and be loyal to all your employees. That is the easy way out in life. It's hard to fire people.

And I'm not insisting that you should fire Tom. It's not what I'm saying. He'd get a TV job or another job in one second. He's more than competent. Stop spending money on defense. Okay? Last night, like I know in Pittsburgh, and I get it. It's an old school, proud town that putting fries on a sandwiches,

cool. But the rest of the country took the fries, moved him on a plate, put parmesan cheese, and truffle salt on them. That's what the rest of us do. It's time to spend money on offense. It's time to today work on getting your next star quarterback.

Free agency, college, whatever you've got to do. But I just, I feel like, I mean, I suggested, remember this a couple years ago, oh, out, I was mocked when I suggested T.J. Watts still in his prime. before the injuries mount,

moving for two first round picks. Pittsburgh's like, nah, we're going to make him the highest paid non-quarterback in the league. A few more injuries, T.J. Watt now 0 and 5 in playoff games. You're grabbing on to the wrong stuff. You spend way too much money on defense. Every, I mean, again, you can be loyal to your best employees, right? I'm not asking for anybody to be fired here.

It's not my thing. I was surprised that John Harbaugh was. Harbaugh and Tomlin, you can argue, you know, kind of the same resume. But it's like Baltimore is flexible, understands offense, spends on offense, drafts and develops, they're trying new stuff and new coordinators, new things. I never feel like Baltimore's outdated. They just couldn't beat Mahomes or Josh An. Allen. So Aaron Rogers, after the game, asked about his future as a Steeler.

I'm not going to make any emotional decisions. Disappointed, you know, obviously, I'm such a fun year. Way, Dan, do you want it to be here? I'm not going to talk about that. Eric, how do you approach just what you decide to do next? Yeah, just get away and then have the right conversations. Okay, so Aaron's going to disappear for a while. He did that in his prime.

He's certainly going to do it now. It's his life. Hall of Famer first ballot, smart guy, he's got a big, broad life, he's going to disappear. And Mike Tomlin's not getting fired, and they're going to downplay. They've got any concern about quarterback issues,

but they will continue to be a team that is not a viable Super Bowl organization. They won't be. Now, Aaron, and I guess to his credit, he was pretty feisty on the bench last night. He was obviously not happy. He defended Mike Tomlin-Affro. I want you to listen to this. Mike T. has had more success in damn there anybody in the league, you know, for the last 19, 20 years. And more than that, that when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don't think about making a change.

but there's a lot of pressure that comes from the outside and obviously that swayed decisions from time and time but it's not how I would do things and not how the league used to be okay let me stop right there it's not what the league used to be that's right the NFL's now smarter shrewder and more offensive the league isn't what it used to be but the Steelers are they spend all their money on defense so so you know what the league is now

it's not what it was when Tomlin took over the Steelers. We're just a good defense in a run game, got you to a Super Bowl, and won it. Now it's about offensive coaches. It's about quarterbacks and passing games. It's about spending your money at left tackle quarterback, two weapons, maybe even a center, not on a second pass rusher. So that mindset that Aaron just voiced is precisely why the Steelers feel outdated. The last nine Super Bowl champs, nine for nine,

have top 10 offenses. The Steelers, once again this year, 26th on offense. For a city that worships bridges, Pittsburgh needs to cross one. It's time to change the way you're doing business. Sears, J.C. Penny, we're cool. Now we all shop online.

Like, you got to stop the money on the other side. So the NFL is richer. General managers are younger and very aggressive. Howie Roseman, less need. Go look around now. The best GMs are young and they're taking big risks and they're very busy at the trade deadline. I mean, I'll give you credit for D.K. Metcalfe.

But at the same time, George Pickens left. And I'm not sure who's already better. This year it was Pickens. And I don't buy into, well, the league was better years ago. No, it wasn't. It's safer now. It's smarter now. The GMs are less risk-averse.

So, you know, I'm just, I'm looking at Aaron Rogers against playoff teams this season. And I thought Aaron played very, very well. I defended Aaron. Everybody is my witness the entire year. But judge a team not how you were against the Bengals without Joe Burrell or the Cruddy Browns. And the AFC this year was weaker. This year, even Aaron Rogers against playoff teams had a passer rating of 70.

It was 1 in 5. That's with Aaron, who I thought played really well most of the year. I really did. Based on what I saw his last year in Green Bay and with the Jets, I thought Aaron played very well, except against the good teams. And you could watch Aaron's body language on the first drive last night. He got upset with a teammate.

He was upset on the bench last night. And I said, Steelers are offensive quicksand. Aaron just stepped into it. And to his credit, he elevated this team. Aaron deserves a lot of credit. For 42 years old, I thought he played really well. They don't have a number two receiver. D.K. Metcalf got himself in trouble, had to miss two big games.

Run game. I like Jalen Warren. The O line was better than I thought. Some of that goes to credit, Arthur Smith and Aaron Rogers. But the last nine Super Bowl champs, nine for nine, top ten offenses. The world has pivoted. it's pivoted and and that that city that worships bridges they are just struggling to cross it to the other side all right j mac congratulations you hit your first bed of the weekend i know you were freaking out

last night well it's funny i the whole the whole second half i'm like the texans are the better team the texas are going to win this game but pittsburgh did this all year long they just sort of hung around in games where they couldn't generate much offense so it was at least you know fourth quarter was entertaining for a while. Happy to get a side right. The Texas defense took over. I just don't know what they're going to have going into New England without Nico Collins. That concussion would look brutal. I can't imagine a scenario where he plays. The defense is awesome, but Colin, that offense, what has happened to C.J. Stroud? I mean, that guy has regressed since his rookie year. I'm not seeing it. Well, thank God for Woody Marks and Christian Kirk.

Did you know Christian Kirk was the leading receiver on Wild Card weekend? Most yards of any receiver or tight end was Christian. It was a Texas A&M kid and that I think he went to like an Arizona bounced around. He actually works in Houston. Yeah, yeah, no, that's right, Jacksonville. He works in Houston. He had a great night for him. So some thoughts about Philadelphia, a former eagle, a former eagle is defending the wrong people.

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Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Jason Kelsey is not only a proud former Philadelphia Eagle, he's probably the second or third best safe center that's ever played the game. He passionately blamed the Eagle players for their loss. He said, we just didn't make our guys highest paid, a lot of money on offense. We didn't make plays. I disagree. When a department in your company is in a death spiral, it's on management.

Okay, and the Eagles offense has been circling the drain for, nine months. That's on the offensive coordinator or the head coach. The players, these same expensive guys last year were crushing it because they had Kellyn Moore who went to the Saints and the Saints offense this year with Tyler Shuck was better than this offense in Philadelphia. Managers and department heads, and that's what an OC is, they control things like game plans, game design, and your job or mine, tax.

Allen acquisition. This is not, I mean, my take on Philadelphia all year is, what is the offense? I don't know half to half. Matt Hasselbeck talked about this yesterday. I do have a problem with identity. And, you know, to me, the identity of this team has to go through Seekwan. You know, the last five games, Seekwon was pretty darn good. What the Eagles had been doing in the past was so, so good.

And what they've been doing, I would say, for the last, like, year and a half, It just feels like they're trying to be something that they're not. And so, you know, whatever they want to be, like, go be that. But to me, Sequin's got to be a part of it. And that physicality up front, that needs to be a part of it as well. And just take Ben Johnson what he did week one with the bears when he got the job, created accountability, was tough on his quarterback, publicly, privately, accountability to everybody, cleaned up the negative.

plays, went, sat down with Ryan Poles and said, I'll take the job if you fix the interior or the O line. I mean, a real imprint, a plan of attack. I don't know what Philly is. I know Nick Sariani is very dependent

on the skill of the O.C. There's a picture. I think it was from like HBO or something. There was a picture in a meeting of the Philadelphia Eagles this year, and sorry for the radio audience, but it talks exclusively about negative plays or turnovers. Can't turn the ball over. Don't turn the ball over.

We win if we don't turn the ball over. Yeah, that can't be front and center. You know who turns the ball over all the time? The Niners, the team that just ended your season with 60% of their money banged up all year. You know who else turns the ball over a lot? The Seahawks, number two in the league. A number one seed who didn't have to play last weekend. You know who else turns it over?

Last seven games, seven picks, Matt Stafford. Rams are favored on the road against Chicago. Offense is about creativity, ingenuity, and risk. You can't be paralyzed, but can't turn it over. You don't want to turn it over. You don't want to turn it over, especially in the red zone. But the year Stafford won the Super Bowl, he led the NFL in picks, and Peyton Manning for about a seven-year period,

as he was winning his division. Led over seven years, the league in picks. And Farrve had a lot of picks, and Elway had a lot of picks, and it's okay. It can't be front and center. So I always say this, what are you? You can see it on TV how well the Indiana Hoosiers are coached. You can see it. I watch Philadelphia.

When I'm asking, I'm not sure what they are with all that talent, That's not, don't blame the employees. That's on management. A head coach is basically your CEO. The coordinators are department heads. Vic Fangio, that department's humming. Right down the hallway, Kevin, the OC, his isn't. I'm not blaming the players for that.

Because all those guys were great last year with Kellan Moore. Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This. is the herd line news. Not good in Philly. Also, not good in Houston, despite the win last night, Colin.

I mean, C.J. Stroud was a complete disaster. He fumbled five times. Now, he only lost two of them, but it's like he couldn't control the snap. I've never seen anything like it before. C.J. talked about it after the game. We had some problems with the snaps. Me catching them, you know, got to find a way just to catch him and then take care of the ball.

You know, we knew on tape that they did it. good job of, you know, punching at the ball or trying to, you know, get you to while you're throwing. It's all about, you know, moving forward and, you know, trying your best to, you know, flush it and keep going. So, you know, I thought, you know, every time we had to bounce back, you know, we made more play. So, I mean, I'm proud of our guys having a little bit of resilience in those moments. And, you know, to finish the game like that was really dope. Now, let me defend him here. Pittsburgh knew. There's two moments that you really knew. Pittsburgh knew they were not going to have drives in this game. The first reason I can tell that is to statistically, nobody moves the ball

down the field consistently against the Texans, and the Steelers knew it. If you looked at Aaron Rogers, how animated he got on that first series, they had a couple of nice plays, and then they failed to get to first. That Aaron was animated. Aaron's like, okay, we're giving you our best stuff. This is one of the drives we had to score on. The second thing is Mike Tomlin preached all week. We need turnovers. We've got to have a short field. So you could tell, pitiful. Pittsburgh, their messaging in that building all week was, we got to punch the ball out. We have got to create, I mean, that you could tell, and I can tell from Aaron's body language first drive is they knew they weren't going to move the ball much.

They knew it. That's why Aaron got so animated after drive number one that were two or the three plays that probably Arthur Smith and Aaron knew would work. And they did. So I'm going to defend him is I still really am a fan. Like I defend Justin Herbert and CJ Stride. But that was a really bad throw. It was really bad.

Yeah, that was a really bad throw. By the way, Stafford had one last weekend. Brock Purdy had two picks. One was atrocious this weekend. It happens. The game is fast. All right. Well, I mean, fine.

I'll give you some of the excuses, though. The fumbles, Colin? I mean, I honestly, when it was 7-6 after he throws the red zone pick, it's third down, too. It's like, dude, settle for the field goal. Don't force that nonsense. I wondered if they would consider. turning to Davis Mills, who, by the way, was solid mid-season filling in for an injured Strout or a concussed Stroud.

Now they have to play at New England. Colin, I'm just going to ask you this. You know I like ranking stuff, right? It's fun. My family jokes to me about I like ranking stuff. If I'm ranking the quarterbacks in the divisional round, C.J. Stroud, I think he's got to be behind Caleb Williams. I'm sorry.

Caleb Williams had a better season than C.J. Stroud. And I don't know if Stroud is seven or eight. I don't have a lot of confidence him in. in him going in New England, but I do like their defense. Oh, there's nothing not to like. It's better than the Chargers defense. And Drake May, like, couldn't move the ball, sack five times. Yeah, the under, I mean, the overrunners.

I saw the number of 41. Take the under. I think it's going to be super low scoring. Yeah. Let's move on to Justin Herbert and those L.A. Chargers still licking their wounds after that embarrassing beatdown at the hands of the Patriots. Herbert's catching flack on the inner webs from the keyboard jockeys who are coming after him. Well, defensive end, Khalil Mack says everyone is to blame, not just Justin Herbert.

He wants to win. He wants to be great for us in this organization. And we all want to be great for him. He's not into the long. He's not in by itself. It's CJ Stroud and Herbert. You know, I like both. They didn't have good days.

I'm not selling my stock. I think they're still very good, big, accurate, strong guys that sometimes get into a bad turnover space. But at least I'm consistent. I defend Darnold. This weekend, I defended Brock Purdy, who had two bad picks. I would much rather have my quarterback try to extend plays. And, I mean, that's what Herbert gets in trouble in C.J. Stroud. They're trying to extend plays.

They got guys hanging off them. And I, you know. Look at the offensive linemen in that video. They're just standing there playing Patty Cake as Justin Herbert. getting destroyed. I mean, Colin, it was sad to watch. I'll say Herbert had a rough game. It happens. He wasn't great.

Losing Hampton, or maybe they didn't think Hampton was going to play much. They had no run game. No wide receiver separating. I don't know. I mean, you talk mock draft. I know the Chargers need O'Line, but Colin, they need a stud receiver. I mean, if they can somehow get Carnell

Tate, I can't imagine he'll be there. Or the kid Tyson. They just need a game breaker. Yeah, well, that I think more than that. I think they have Trey Harris and Quentin Johnson and Ladden-McConkey and Amerian-Hampton. What happened to them against a Patriots? Well, again, guard, center guard. They need protection.

It all starts with Herbert having more than 1.6 seconds of a clean pocket. All right. Final story is the Athletic is reporting that John Harbaugh had lunch and an informal meeting at Giants owner Chris Mara's home about the open head coaching position. Harbaugh is reportedly the Giants number one target. The only team that has officially interviewed him is the Falcons. I don't know that that's a great fit. Harbaugh is obviously a really good coach. He's expected to meet with other teams later this week.

Fox's own Jay Glazers all over this stuff. I think it's going to be the Giants. I'm not totally buying the dolphins. Colin, what do you make of this? You know, Harbaugh, he's the bell of the ball. Everybody wants him. Well, I think if I was the Giants, I'd be incredibly excited. If I was Harbaugh, I wish there was a better opening than the Giants.

Well, is there? Is there a better one? Atlanta's interesting, but not ideal. There is no great opening. Wait, wait, Baltimore is your great opening. Stop. Why is Atlanta not ideal? Who's your quarterback?

Michael Pennix. Is he proven? I mean, he's good. Not as a pro quarterback yet. No, he's not. He's a good prospect. Can I admit that? That's not why John Harbaugh got into this league to deal with prospects, right?

Like he had Flacco, then he had Lamar. Penix does not match up to those two. So there's, Atlanta's got stable ownership and some really nice pieces. The Giants are in this cycle, Ravens is the best job. And there's an argument now that Sean McDermott won. The second best job is the Giants. Jackson Dart appears to be to me a solid franchise. quarterback. Scataboo is a number one back. Left tackle. They got to get a right tackle. They have

got to draft. Their draft pick, get a right tackle and keep Jackson Dart out of the blue tent. And the other thing is the Giants ad nauseum, I've discussed this. The Giants need a culture changer, not just a play caller. I could argue the Ravens need a play caller, Kevin Sifanski. They need somebody to get right with Lamar, right? He keeps receipts, get right with Lamar, get on Lamar's side. The Giants, it's not about play-calming. You can go hire one of those guys. They need a guy to change the awful 10-year abyss known as their culture. And I think Harbaugh is absolutely as good as the Giants can do.

So what if I, let's compare Atlanta and the Giants real quick. So Drake London is better than neighbors. We know that. Let's just start with a quarterback. Oh, okay, fine. We'll give Jackson Dart the edge. We'll give you that. Offensive line, a wash?

I don't know that there's a major advantage for the Giants. It wasn't great. Bejohn Robinson is arguably the best running back in the league. Cam Skada was nice. Bejan is a superstar. Maybe a franchise tag pits. Now you've got an offense. You see the world differently than me.

I think about my boss. Falcons, better owner. Period. I got a better owner in Arthur Blank. I play indoors. All right, so I can control the environment a little more. I play in a weaker division in Atlanta. That's great.

But in the end, I get Jackson Dart. I mean, Jackson Dart is a starting quarterback. Atlanta's got the owner. Atlanta's got the easier division. I'm not denying that. And Bejohn's great. But I get Jackson Dart. I have plenty of offensive components.

And by the way, I don't think the division outside of Philadelphia, I mean, if Nick Seriani retains his job, Cowboys, Washington, Adam Peters is rubbing people the wrong way. To me, I want weapons and a quarterback and edge rushers. The Giants have an elite edge rusher. Quarterback, running back, left tackle, weapon. That's about as good as it's going to get. I do think Arthur Blank is the Atlanta edge. And they, I think they'll probably let Harbaugh pick his GM, right? Because they got

rid of their old GM. So the Giants have Joe Shane still in place. I mean, owner. But you're talking, you're bouncing around to a lot of places. The owner for Atlanta is in play. That matters. Yeah. But I mean, last year, Michael Pennix, first of all, he's 26 coming off another injury. A concern. A concern. I mean, one guy's going into the blue tent, Jackson Dart. He's coming out of the blue tent ready to play. The other guy's just not available.

Yeah. All right, Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Really, our last herd hierarchy for a long time is coming up at the top of the hour. Eight teams left. We'll rank them one through eight.

So a lot was made this weekend of two things. Some local reporter sucking up to Liam Come and Jacksonville, I don't know why that was so interesting to so many people. I've been in media rooms when I was younger, 20s, 30s. That happens, you know, it's not that crazy and nobody really cares outside of the media. The second thing is the F-bombs, Ben Johnson was screaming in the locker room after the Bears beat the Packers. And I got to be honest with you, I don't care.

Like, Michigan, Ohio State hate each of them. That's why I love watching it. Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark. We finally watched the WNBA. I'm all for this stuff. Conflict and tension and animosity is what every Hollywood screenwriter is trying to figure out. I'm okay with it. Ben Johnson is doing something, and what he's doing is building a fence. That fence is us against Green Bay. We're smarter than Green Bay. We're tougher than Green Bay. We're tougher than Green Bay. We're better in the fourth quarter than Green Bay. We're more resilient than Green Bay. And you know what? In one year, they were. They were smarter. They were more resilient. They were better in the fourth quarter. Yes, it's a little petty.

Whatevs? Belichick's still petty. Okay? Like, so to me, you know, the reality is most successful people, I'm talking professionally. Most successful people I've met in my life, I mean, honestly, they're a little petty. and they're ridiculously competitive. I mean, that's just the way it is.

A lot of coat. Jim Harbaugh, remember the hard slap to Jim Schwartz's back? Remember Pete Carroll when he was at USC, and Harbaugh was at Stanford, and Harbaugh, you know, I don't know what happened the interaction during the game, but Pete Carroll came up at the end of the game. Hey, what's your deal? And Harbaugh was like, hey, just competing, right?

Pete, just competing. You can't worry about it. I mean, to me, what Ben Johnson tried to do is build a, and if it takes a little hate, I'm okay with it, build a fence around the bears. We're going to be tougher. We're going to be better in the fourth quarter. We're going to be more resilient. We're going to fight harder. And that's exactly what I saw.

That's exactly what I saw in the Green Bay game. So if it takes a little hate to get there, whatever. whatever it takes to galvanize. I always said, it's really, it really does matter what your head coach is like. I think Mike McDaniel's really smart. Mike Vrable, Mike Tomlin, the Harbaas, those are alphas.

That is a locker room of 55 dudes that scored the touchdown, got the girl, people pick up their check, they're tough guys, NFL locker room. And if the coaches take, taking a shirt off and dropping some F-bombs, we in the media, get over it. I got to get over it.

They're doing this. I mean, all these movies, it always cracks me up. Most of us would not, you know, Michael Jordan is the best basketball player of all time. But Michael Jordan did not treat his teammates well. But we glamorize the athlete who punches a teammate. We glamorize Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan's suing NASCAR. Michael Jordan's tough.

Teammates didn't like Michael Jordan. That's what created his competitive fire. To this day, Michael's still competitive on a golf course. The late Kobe Bryant, same thing. Why can't coaches be? Again, Danny Parkins joked about it yesterday. Less hate in the world, more hate in sports. This is what motivates a lot of guys.

I can't speak for women. It's what motivates a lot of professional men. It could be Silicon Valley, Wall Street, NFL locker rooms. And here's Ben Johnson this week on having no love for Green Bay. There's a rivalry that exists between these two teams, something that I fully recognize and I'm a part of. And, yeah, I mean, I just don't like that team. So George and I have talked, and we're on the same page.

I'm okay with it. I really am. I mean, it's, it's, you know, heard hierarchy the last one top of the hour so i looked at the eight playoff teams left and seven of eight and maybe it's eight of eight but i think seven of eight have something in common and it's not a great quarterback and i hope all those teams out there that currently stink are watching what seven of eight and maybe eight of eight have again it's not the quarterback That's next. In Chicago, it's The Hurt.

Be sure to catch live editions of The HARD, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up? of the name Hey Jonas, guys.

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

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

on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 plays. 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 Slices Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.

Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen she went. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina. is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface.

Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Tonight, it's a college hoops triple header on FS1, starting at 6 Eastern with a classic Big East rivalry

between Villanova and Providence, then West Virginia takes on 7th ranked Houston, followed by Maryland versus USC. It all tips off tonight only on FS1. So as we put on the screen, the matchups for this weekend's

NFL playoffs. Here's what I see. I see Sean Peyton against Mike McDonald, Vrable, against D'Amico Ryan. McVeigh against Ben Johnson

Shanney, Mike McDonald, and then Sean Payton against Josh Allen, let's be honest. In 7 of 8, I see the coach. That's what I see. Seven of 8, and I'm not saying

Sean McDermott is not a good coach. I think the other seven are like really, really uniquely special coaches. All eight of those coaches, by the way, if you combine their winning percentage at 61% higher than Bill Walsh.

What they have in common this weekend is not great quarterback. We're not quite sure what Bo Nix is yet. It's not quarterback. Is Brock pretty great or does he have a great coach? Seven, and again, McDermott's a good coach. McDermott is a good coach. Nobody disputes that. I think Mike McDonald is the defensive version of Sean McVeigh.

Shanahan, McVeigh, Ben Johnson. Sean Payton. So what this weekend is, it's not about the quarterback, it's an instruction to all the crappy teams in this league called the Jets and the Giants and the Titans and Cleveland. Don't go cheap on the head coach. Go spend money on the head coach. By the way, when the Titans let go of Mike Vrable, do you know what the record is since? 6 and 28. when the Niners fired Jim Harbaugh, 17 and 47 the next four years. So Baltimore, I know you think you can just fire John Harbaugh and is all going to be good. Be very careful firing a guy who's the leading candidate in the coaching pool. Oh, which, by the way, Kevin Stefansky was. I said when Stafansky, there was rumors he would get fired, I said, will be the number one candidate, not for a team, for six teams. And he was immediately. And then

John Harbaugh got fired. And now Stafansky at worst is number two. So, you know, I didn't say he'd interview for a job. I said, no, no, Stapansky's going to interview every single job. He'll be the number one candidate. And I would argue there are those that think, because he's an offensive coach, that maybe he still is the number one candidate. He's already had a couple interviews reportedly ace both of them. So be careful about firing the best candidate in the coaching pool. So that's what I see this weekend. That's what I see this weekend. That is not a knock on McDermott. I know it sounds like it, but even Matt Hasselbeck said this yesterday. When you think of the bills, you think of one guy, Josh Allen. He literally is Superman. Like if the MVP was really just the

MVP, not like whose team was the best and you had the best stats, like Josh Allen's the MVP. feet. He is that guy. He can put a cape on and carry his team. He's done it year after year. But this is a huge opportunity for Buffalo with, you know, no Lamar, no Burrough, no Mahomes in the playoffs. This is your opportunity to throw the cape on. It doesn't matter if your defense can't stop the run. They do other things well. They're creating interceptions. They're playing well enough. This is your opportunity. Yeah, it's one of those things. There's a lot of jobs that people make great money. they're compensated. I think we all think that teachers should be paid a little more.

But whenever I hear people go, oh, college football coach, how can he be worth this? Or how can he be, or an NFL or an NBA coach? Football coaches, go look. You don't have eight great defenses this weekend. You don't have eight great offenses this weekend. You don't have eight great quarterbacks this weekend. You have seven great coaches, and McDermott's really good. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he is great. Maybe he went to Super Bowl, and I'm wrong. I mean, if he goes to Denver and wins, maybe he's great coach and I'm just wrong. Maybe it was always about Mahomes and Andy Reed. But look at all those teams.

The Rams don't even have good special teams. The Texas don't have a good offense. Is Brock Purdy a great quarterback or Bo Nick? It's all excellent coaching. So the Lakers last night just got housed. 124-1-12. And I laughed at this number. I did not watch the game.

I saw highlights. I watched 10 minutes this morning on YouTube. Sacramento shot 65% from three. That's like an off night at the free throw line. And this is 100% on roster construction. It has been a 3-and-D league for a decade. They got no great three-shooters, and they have absolutely bottom three team in the league

on the D part. Outside of Jared Vanderbilt, they don't have any versional defenders with length. They just don't. So you can blame JJ Redick. Every time I go to the inner web, I go to X. It's always JJ Reddick.

The Lakers are 13 and 1 in clutch games, best in the league. So if you give JJ Reddick a close game late, he is unbelievable. But he can't keep the games close. 13 of their 14 losses, they get their doors blown off. and it's probably a bad sign when your best three-point shooter is the coach.

And unless JJ Reddick's going to pull a late Bill Russell and go player coach, they don't have enough shooters. So, and again, it has been a three-and-d league for a long time. It's not a center league. I talked about this a couple weeks ago. Between Yokic, Yonis, and Ambide, probably the three best centers in the last decade. You got two rings in 34 total years.

It's not a center league. Titles don't go through bigs. It's not the 70s or 80s or 90s. They go through wing defenders and wing scores. So here's my prediction. Rob Polenka, Kobe's former agent, has become GM, and now the new Dodger owners have made him GM and head of basketball operations, right, president.

Rob's smart. He's a good communicator. He's a dealmaker. He's a little thin skin for my taste, but whatever. Nobody likes to be criticized, and he gets criticized. But I do think he's a smart guy, a very good communicator, and he's a good dealmaker. The Luca thing is one of the top five or six deals. It had a very Jerry Westfield to it.

So I'll defend Rob Belink. I think he's more than capable. But I will say this. If you look at the Dodgers front office, this is unbelievable. I apologize to the radio audience. look at the Dodgers front office. I mean, they've got 11 vice presidents. The Lakers, Rob Polinkas, the president, basketball ops, GM,

and then Kurt Rambis does basketball affairs. The new Dodgers owners, who now own the Lakers, have to massively expand the front office, move, move Rob Polinka to just basketball ops president. Get him out of Dusseldorf. Get him out of grinding tape. Get him out of that space. If you want to win, look at the Philadelphia Eagles front office and look at the Bengals.

The Lakers have been, they're under-managed. And everybody wants to blame JJ Redick. He's 13 and 1 in close games. And people can bang on Rob Palenka. and I don't love the roster construction either. But the bus family was one of the poorest ownership groups. They don't have enough eyes. They don't have enough ears.

They don't have enough people. J.J. Reddick on last night's embarrassing loss to awful Sacramento. Literally, we can't make a shot. I mean, you look at it, first of all, they're right there with us as being one of the worst shooting teams in the league. Had 50 potential assist tonight. We converted on 21 of those. expected score we won by 24. This has been the theme.

It has been the theme. So just keep shooting, I guess. Again, you can blame the coach. There's nothing you can do when you're getting blown out. He's very good in clutch games because he's a really smart guy. And I mean, Palinka, I think, is too thin-skinned. If you're the front guy for the Lakers, I mean, I see Rambus, two or three times a year. I bang on the Lakers

all the time. He's always in good spirits. He gets it. He's a former player. That's just the world. If you run the Lakers in Lakers or the Dodgers, now the Dodgers have a brilliant GM and a brilliant ops people. They're research and development, and they've got a lot of money. When I moved to L.A., when I moved to L.A., it was a Laker town.

It is a Dodger town. And part of it is they spend money and they make money. That front office, layers of competent people with the Dodgers. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what?

We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to us. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smygle and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcasts presents Soccer Moms. So I'm Leanne.

Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast.

We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got them. Listen to soccer moms on the Iheart radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes a suspect is found guilty before a verdict is ever read in court.

On the Wicked Words podcast, I talk with the writers who dig deep into the cases that changed history, including Marsha Clark, who went from prosecuting one of the most famous murder cases to writing crime fiction. It doesn't matter that you didn't take part in the murder. If you were at the scene at all, you're guilty of murder. Every week, the real story is revealed. Join us every Monday for new episodes of Wicked Words. Listen to Wicked Words on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.