The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd-HOUR-1-Chiefs, Rockets, Tom Brady

Episode Date: September 11, 2020

The Chiefs showed having the right QB and team stability matters a lot.The Rockets being unique is vastly overratedThe Buccaneers being built to pass could be a weakness for Tom BradyGuest: Kevin Clark Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes,

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For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians,

and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Friday, our first Friday of the football season live in Los Angeles.

This is The Hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, thanks so much for joining us, Fox Sports Radio and right here on FS1, one hour from now, the Blazing Five NFL picks, debuts, love my picks, love some underdogs this week. Very interesting. Joy Taylor is joining me. So we got the NFL.

It looked like, sounded like, mostly a regular football game, right? Well, I wasn't prepared for all the fans. Right. So I was mentally preparing myself for a completely empty stadiums, which we still have to do because there are going to be some stadiums that are empty. But the Chiefs fans were amazing. They were there. Yeah.

But it was a great night. Yeah, I mean, to me, outside of Andy Reid's foggy shield, it kind of looked and sounded like an NFL game or an NFL game with, you know, fewer fans. I liked it. I thought the NFL did a good job. Congrats to the Chiefs and the Texans, both for, you know, getting through camp and here we go. I want to remind everybody, Deshawn Watson was a better high school quarterback than Patrick Mahomes. DeShon Watson was a better college quarterback than Patrick Holmes.

Patrick Mahomes. And one year into the league officially, Deshawn Watson was better than Patrick Mahomes. Remember when he was setting records? DeShan's first year, he's like, just going crazy. A couple years later, look at him. One guy runs the league. The other is bailing water.

Deshawn Watson looked overwhelmed. We say this all the time, even for great quarterbacks. I watched that game last night. You know what I thought of? Joe Burrow. I feel sorry for him. Patrick Mahomes is the big three. Super talented, super support system, and super coachable. Deshawn is two of those, but he doesn't have the support system.

And Deshawn Watson has been putting a lot of makeup on those pimples for years, and there's just limitations. The acne's too bad with the Texans. There's too many pimples. Making bad trades, moving off DeAndre Haas. Hopkins. And it's funny, too, once you get the quarterback and coach right, it just everything else works. You draft a rookie running back from LSU. I mean, I like him. He's that good? First game. Would he be that good anywhere else? Sammy Watkins, you know, they kind of overpaid for him.

Nah, Mahomes and Andy Reid make it work. Honey Badgers. Do you have anything left in the tank? That worked too. Once you get the quarterback and the head coach right, everything works. Sam Darnold was way better than Josh Allen all through high school and college. Josh Allen played high school football, California. You had to go to Wyoming to play. But when you watch them now, who wins? You can be coachable. You can work hard and be talented.

What's your support system? Anytime Patrick Mahomes makes a mistake, he's got this incredible safety net of coaching, management, executives. This is why I always support professional athletes. mobility, moving to a better team, joining star players, going to better coaching, going to bigger venues, demanding trades. Eli Manning is going to be a Hall of Famer because before he was drafted, he uttered this sentence. I want to play for the New York Giants, not the San Diego Chargers. And that is why he's a Hall of Famer.

And that's probably why no shot at the Chargers, Philip Rivers will not be. Patrick Mahomes comes into this league as wildly talented but didn't win a lot in college. Then he gets Brett Veets, the GM, Andy Reid, and they're building the O line in the offense. And then he was a little bit of a gunslinger. Last year he was only 11th in completion percentage and a little bit wild. And then last night, oh wait, he took another step in the evolution. Last night he was Mr. Efficient. He was a Tesla.

He was no longer a flamethrower. He was a surgeon. A lot of guys come into this league, they got cannons. And that's it. I always use Jeff George. They never get better. That's what they. They don't have the coaching.

They don't have the support system. But last night, we got another level. We've seen this with Lamar. Another level of Patrick Mahomes. Audubling, reading defenses, efficiency. It's not just talent and coachability. You need the support system. That's why I'm always four players moving because they have short.

careers. Here's Andy Reid afterwards. What you see is a maturity where he's not forcing things downfield. So as a play caller, EB and I sit there and we go, listen, we can call deep throws, but yet he'll, he's willing to check this thing down. So that's, we appreciate that. By the way, last night

was not a referendum against Deshawn Watson. Or a referendum for Patrick Mahomes. but it is a referendum on you can't do it alone and how valuable coaching, support, executives, offensive lines, stability, and the lack of chaos are. A lot of football today, blazing five in one hour. So, unique is overrated. I said it right there.

It's overrated. Starbucks did not invent coffee. McDonald's did not invent the burger. Amazon was not the first person who was really good at. retail. Netflix was not the first channel you had to pay for. HBO did it 30 years ago or more. But they're all really good at it and all really efficient at it. I think unique is overrated. Unique is like nobody's tried this before. And usually there's a reason for it. There's a lot of smart people in America have been since 1950 on. If something's unique, there's a reason usually.

somebody thought of it and it didn't work. The Houston Rockets came up with small ball. No, that's adorable. In the sport in America with the tallest athletes, let's be the shortest team in league history. Do you watch the box score last night? Lakers had 52 rebounds. The Rockets had 26.

There were 13 offensive rebounds in that game. Lakers had 12 of them. Anthony Davis, tall guy, was great. I grew up in the first great player I saw was wilt. The leading score in league history is Kareem. They're big. The first great point guy at Arsaw was Magic Johnson. He was six, nine and a half. My favorite rookie was Zion. The best player in the league is LeBron, size. I'm not saying it's a league for centers, but the last finals MVP that was a small guy is 6-6-6-Cobriant. Houston looks small. They look exhausted. They look tired. Sort of like

smaller Damien Lillard did at the end of that series. I don't believe you build around centers, but small ball, it's like the wildcat in the NFL. Remember the Miami Dolphins did that? We're going to hike the ball to running backs. And it was kind of effective for about a month. And then everybody went, there's a reason you hike the ball to the quarterback. Unique can and often does catch people off guard.

LeBron said after game one of this series. LeBron's like, you know, you can't really duplicate what they do. It's jarring. But you can figure out unique. What is hard to beat is efficiency. Does Starbucks have the best coffee? Up for debate. Not my favorite.

But their efficiency is a remarkable. Is Amazon the best retailer? They're really efficient. All I know is I click, I want it, and it's on my step 10 minutes later. A drone just dropped it in my backyard. The reality was small ball. There's a reason the professional league in America with the tallest best athletes never really thought of it. It doesn't work.

They look tired. They look small. They couldn't keep Anthony Davis off the glass. They can't get rebounds in second chance points. They had one offensive rebound all night. That was Russell Westbrook, another small guy. Again, I don't think it's a center league anymore. You don't need a back to the basket center.

But Luca, it's hard to stop. Why? He's big for his position. position. LeBron, big and fast, Zion, big and fast. The reality is the rockets. This is mostly nonsense. And for the record, the reaction, why did they have no spirit? Why do they look tired? Why with the season on the line? Didn't you get much of an effort? Here is James Hardin. James, in the game was so much at stake. Why did you guys seem so flat through three quarters? Any question?

Remember the Titans. Remember that movie? There's a great line. Reflection. Attitude reflects leadership. Small ball, no center. I'm nothing against Houston, but man, they struggle to be to O KC. They're not competitive against the Lakers.

Unique. Sorry. Sorry garage bands. It's overrated. It's not about inventing stuff. It's about becoming really efficient at stuff that has worked for decades. The Lakers are. Coming up next.

So suddenly the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are fascinating. Are they good? We don't know yet. We'll see Sunday on Fox against the Saints. But the most important buccaneer is not somebody you and I have ever discussed. and he will decide if Tom Brady wins. And you've never seen him play. And I've never seen him play.

Blazing 5 and 45 minutes. Tom Brady needs help. Will this guy help him coming up? Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhancement. enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the fourth. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we picket here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because, of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your Podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way 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

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I think I'm going to keep the beard. Anywho. So there are a new head coach or a new quarterback on your, roster who is starting for nine NFL teams this weekend. I have eight losing. I think Carolina with Teddy Bridgewater will beat the Raiders. Other than that, I have them all losing. I have Tom Brady losing.

My one big NFL prediction this year, same quarterback and head coach with no OTAs and no camp is a big advantage. I also think there's a weird fit for Tom Brady in Tampa. This wide receiver core, this tight end. core is built to throw the ball down the field. Translation, the offensive line is going to be really important. Tom doesn't like to get hit. Old quarterbacks do not like to get hit.

They like their knees protected. They want to go to their kids' high school football games and not limp around the field. Young quarterbacks are a tad more daring until they get hit for a few years and then they don't want to get hit. Tom Brady's got a wide receiving core, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, really, really good tight ends. They're going to throw the ball down the field and that's who the the head coach is. And Breeze and Brady in the last four or five years, as they've aged,

are winning games at the line of scrimmage, checking down, being smart, getting out, audibling out of blitzes, into efficiency, slot receivers, rarely throwing deep. This is a roster that should throw the ball deep. What does that mean? The offensive line is going to tell me, if you told me right now the grade of the Tampa Bay offensive line at Thanksgiving, I would tell you what their record would be. me, I know this is a rock star roster with Gronk and Brady and Shaq Barrett and oh, there's all sort of. I want you to pay attention to somebody you have never seen play.

His name is Tristan Wirfs. He's from Iowa. He's a right tackle. He's going to go up against Cameron Jordan, who is the best four three defensive end in football. He's on our show all the time. You will know by the end of the first quarter if Tom Brady is running for his life, Tampa Bay is in trouble. That's what this game is going to come down to. Can the rookie

from Iowa, who unlike other rookies at right tackle, had no OTAs and had no exhibition games, these will be his first live NFL snaps against Cameron Jordan, who's unbelievably talented. And oh, by the way, if you were a young person in your 20s and you go to the NFL, and your first assignment is to protect the greatest living quarterback and the greatest player in league history. A couple butterflies, maybe, a little. That the pressure is on Tristan Wirthes, who has a legendary calorie intake.

Love the kid. But you talk about a rough opening assignment, Best 4-3-DE in the NFL. You've got to protect Tom Brady, new pieces, new seats, new system. You want to slide Gronk over next to the rookie from Iowa to help out. That to me is the game. This offense

is built to throw the ball down the field and that's not who Tommy's been the last four or five years. It's not who Drew Breese has been last four or five years. And Aaron Rogers, by the way, he's been leading the NFL and throwaways. He doesn't want to get hit either and he's really athletic. That to me is the game. I think Tommy

and the Brady, the Buccaneers, lose. And I think eight of the nine, new coach, new system or new quarterback on the roster who was starting. I don't count the chargers because Tyrod Taylor was there. I have eight of nine losing. Here's Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, Cam Newton will be making his debut with the New England Patriots this Sunday against the dolphins. Yes, he will. And he can't wait to get back on the field. Excitement level is on a thousand. I'm excited and happy.

Just to get back into the rhythm of game week, you know, the preparation, just the little the little nuggets that you can often forget. You know, you have to remember I've been away from football, really, for a full year. He makes a good point, which is why I think it's kind of strange that the line is as big as it is. Well, I don't know. By six and a half on Foxbat. Big Ben and Cam Newton. I don't know what I'm going to get. Right.

They've been away from football for a long time. The line is Miami. Fox bet Miami gets six and a half points. Now, it is not in my blazing five, but it was the last pick I eliminated. I'll have you know. It was it came down to two picks. I have four I love and one. I'm going either way.

And I didn't choose the dolphins, but I think they win. It's in New England. But as we know, it's 75. By the way. It's nice right now and there's no home field advantage. And they've played really well, Brian. Ryan Flores has, he's a Patriot. He brought Patriots over on defense.

And it's not like Tua is starting. It's Fitzpatrick. Who's been a great September quarterback. It's very strange. But Sunday will be Cam's first game action since week two of 2019. So very, like you mentioned, Ben Rathesbrugger, very similar. Yeah. It's 2020 is a whole new world.

We're going to see Tom Brady in a Buck's uniform and Cam Newton in a Patriots uniform, which is probably the last team in the NFL that I thought Cam would be with. It is the last team I thought he would be with. I'm really interested to see what it looks like, what the offense looks like. So am I. It's just. There's a lot of incredible storylines this year. Yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of games.

I'm like, I don't know what Philip Rivers is going to look like behind that great O line. I don't know. My Colts fans, they can't stop telling me how great they're going to be this year. I could be. Maybe, but not the Phillip Rivers that I saw last year, but who knows? There's just, there's a lot of things up in the air. aside from COVID and all of the pressures and complications

that it has had on the off season, there's just been so many dramatic changes. There's a lot to watch on Sunday. I thought last night was a really good representation, a product for the league. It was great. I thought it was a terrific, terrific product.

It was great. It looked great. It sounded great. And I honestly, I know we say it like every day, but I can't. I mean, I was sitting there watching there. I'm watching the game. I'm meeting my lemon pepper wings. And I'm like, this is football. I can't believe it. We're in the middle of a pandemic. If you would have told me in March that this was going to happen, I would be like, okay, I'm going to have to wait and see. Like, there's a lot that has to go down. And they've done an amazing job. This is not a political

statement, but I believe our commissioners have done a much better job than many of our governors. I don't think that's actually debatable. I think the, I think Rob Manfred got heat, put his head down, got through that Miami Marlins mess. Baseball's done a great job. It's a good lesson in you don't have to listen to everything that Twitter says. You're right. You should probably spend a little less time on Facebook. And smart people are going to find a way through crisis. Just give them a little support and something that nobody wants to give anyone time, even though we may not have a lot of it.

You just have to be a little patient. They've done an incredible job. The broadcasts look perfect. You and I have only had one sport. We can't figure out what will happen. College football. We both said we're not quite sure how you do it with the kids on campus. And there's also you're not paying.

in the players, so do you put them at risk? And that's the only sport. I just watch it and see what happens. The pro leagues have done an incredible job. Great job. That said, thank you for the transition, Colin. Coaches, players and parents from the Big Ten have been pleading with the conference to bring football back since the season was postponed. You dropped a little nugget on what day was it? Wednesday.

Wednesday. I said Wednesday that I had two sources who I weigh up the food chain in the Big Ten that said there's a lot of push to play in late. mid-October. Well, the other Power 5 conferences starting this week, I watched the University of Miami game last night. Ohio State coach Ryan Day released a statement asking why his team can't play, but he also gave some hope of return. It read in part, we still have an opportunity to give our young men what they have worked so hard for. The Big Ten Medical Subcommittee has done an excellent job of creating a safe pathway towards returning to play in mid-October. These young men have asked so many questions, but the one that hurts the most is why can these other teams play and we can't.

Well, the analogy I have used is when you're a little kid and you look out your basement window and all the kids in the neighborhood are playing and your mom will let you out of the house. And so the Bengals are playing, the Browns are playing. Cincinnati's playing. High school. High school is playing. And the Buckeyes, the best program in the state inside looking out the window going, how can we can't play? And I get the frustration. Whether I agree that you should play or not, I get the frustration of Ohio State Buckeye Nation saying, are states playing?

Why can't we? How can you not be frustrated? especially when you're seeing other college teams play around the country. Yes, and those programs you recruit against. And some of those programs are in places where the numbers are extremely high still. So, yes, obviously we know there are political things in play here that are keeping certain states more close than others, as we know. But this is a situation that I wasn't sure that this would be possible,

but I think as time goes on, there's going to be more of a push to get them back. So Forbes released their list of the most valuable NFL franchises in 2020. And shocker, the Dallas Cowboys are at the top of the list again. This is their 14th consecutive year. They've held that spot, which is remarkable. They're valued at $5.7 billion with the Patriots at a distant seconds of $4.4 billion, followed by the Giants, Rams, and 49ers in the top five. Do you know where the Kansas City Chiefs are?

23rd. Market size matters in the NFL. Well, yeah, I mean, these. These numbers really shouldn't be that surprising. Look at the cities where these teams are in. I still, I still, if I was a billionaire, let's say I was Jeff Bezos. And I have. Well, I think he's, isn't he a trillionaire?

He may be. He may be a gazillionaire. He's close to it. He's words we don't even have yet. We're running out of words to describe how much money he has. So if you were worth 50 billion. Right. You telling me I only have to spend five and a half billion to own the Dallas Cowboys.

I will argue they're worth double that. Yeah. In a world now where people. make, Amazon and Jeff Bezos will make 900 million in a day. The Dallas Cowboys are only worth $5.5 billion. The Clippers sold for $2 billion like five years ago, didn't they? Well, think of it also. These aren't just things you can just go buy. Like, oh, I have $50 billion. I'd like to go spend $6 billion on something. No, that has to be available for purchase. Like these aren't just available out there either. So that, that to me, makes it more valuable as well. It's very hard to get

these. I was told he's worth $204 billion. I think it's correct. Jeff Bezos? So I got to spend five of it to own the Cowboys. I mean, if you're going to buy the Washington Post or whatever he bought, you're not going to buy that? You know what? I think it's

kind of surprising he hasn't tried to buy a team. Maybe he doesn't want to get involved in that. I'm not saying Jerry says itself. Sports fans are very, you know, we're temperamental. Yeah. Good stuff. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurd Lie News. 30 minutes from now are blazing five very good start last year rocky finish we struggle down the stretch we bring in one of my faves kevin clark writer nfl for the ringer formerly at the wall street journal and he is joining us now brought to you by mercedes ben's the best or nothing very smart guy great reporter and um all right kevin clark in a friday for the record i have a beard you have a mustache yeah 2020 is a lot of different stuff can we start with that it started with laziness for me

now it's a fashion statement. And I don't know if it's going to go away. When life returns to normal, I think the facial hair stays. I don't know. I mean, I think you have great facial hair right now. But I just feel like this is a long-term plan for me that started out as a short-term plan. Yeah, agree totally. All right. So I watched last night, and my takeaway was, oh, wait, now Patrick Mahomes is efficient, too. He went from gunslinger to surgeon. I thought, you know, this will never make his highlight real games, but I was kind of blown away by his efficiency. see last night, you? So when I talk to people around the league, but what this season's going to look like,

everybody said that it's going to be the obvious stuff. You know, Lamar Jackson's going to be hard to tackle. Patrick Mahomes is going to be a great passer because defenses just aren't going to be ready for. I mean, it's what people say about curb your enthusiasm, right? Is that Larry David is just playing a heightened version of himself. Right. That's what all the great players are going to be doing this year. And Patrick Mahomes is going to be a better version of Patrick Mahomes because defenses will be

more simplified coverages and they'll be able to take the next step. dominance is the key this year. And Patrick Mahomes will be able to take the next step. And I think it's really interesting to see how good he can get. Because listen, he's going to make $503 million over the next decade. He is the best quarterback in football. And you wonder where the ceiling is. And right now, I don't know if there is one.

I don't know if there is one because this is also, this is a season about cohesion, about being on the same page. Who's more on the same page than Andy Reid, Eric Biedemi, Patrick Mahomes, Tyree, Travis Kelsey. And now Clyde de lair, I mean, this is a series. I don't see much competition outside of Baltimore in the AFC. NFL rider the ringer, Kevin Clark, our friend bring him on often. So I say everybody likes Tampa Bay to some degree.

And my theory is defense will carry them early. Todd Bowles is underrated. Front seven's very good. And then I think the offense will catch up. But if I said to you, Kevin, it doesn't go well. It doesn't go well. And I say, Kevin, predict it doesn't go well. What's the problem?

Where is the potential pothole landmine for this team? I would say kind of what the opposite of the Mahomes thing, the cohesion thing. No one cares about throwing passes to the inch like Tom Brady. And all of a sudden, instead of 20 years of institutional memory in New England and knowing exactly where everyone's going to be, not only on the field, but in the building, he's coming in and trying to replicate that very quickly in Tampa Bay. You cannot get those sort of OTA-type reps on high school field. in Tampa. You just can't. And so I think there might be a slow September or October with Tom Brady. I think it's going to happen for him. But I think that maybe there might be some communication issues or

timing issues or verbiage issues in the offense. You're just learning all new things in a year where that's really hard to do. I'm never going to bet against Tom Brady. I think the bucks are going to make the playoffs. But I think that we're going to see a better bucks in November and December than we are September, October just because of the mechanics of this season. There are nine teams that either have a new head coach slash system or a new quarterback on the roster that they're starting. I think eight lose. I do think Carolina at home beats the Raiders who don't travel well or play much defense. So let's talk a little bit about Baker and Stefansky.

Now, in Stafansky, in fact, Coach Case Keenham, I think he's going to make it more run-centric. I think Baker is going to be a component to it. Not the driver of it. That's my guess. What are you hearing? What's your thoughts about what we see from Cleveland, who, by the way, has a brutal opener at Baltimore. Yeah, I think that the Baltimore thing, you kind of throw that out.

Okay, their season starts from week two on Thursday against Cincinnati. You might have been right. So I talked to Andrew Barry, the Browns GM, this week actually. We talked a bit about how he's just, he's building around the quarterback. But when I hear building around the quarterback, I think a lot of people here getting O'D Beckham or getting, you know, some of the things they've done the last couple years where it's weapons. But I think that a lot of it is just the basics.

And that's, you traded Kevin Zitler for Olivier Vernon. Everybody got excited and I hyped them up. But it turns out you need a guard. And it turns out that signing Jack Conklin to play tackle is a great move. And we skipped so many of the basics last year that mistakes were made. And I think that now they've seen a year of not only Baker's bad habits, but also just the holes that they had in that hyped up roster. And they were able to plug them very quietly without.

out hype. I really like Kevin Stefansky. I really like the things that they're going to do. And I just, I have a lot of optimism because this is a post-hyped team that's able to see where mistakes were made. A lot of that was Freddie Kitchens. I put way more blame on Freddie Kitchens for Baker's 2019 than you do. But I think there's a huge addition by subtraction thing in Cleveland right now. Now, by the way, we said yesterday, all the issues in Cleveland, you cannot totally unfair to blame Baker. He's a kid. He's had too much instability here. He was fine in Oklahoma. when you have a very stable program. So this is an interesting one.

The other day, I was reading a story and Aaron Rogers said, I think we're a little under the radar. I don't. I think we all kind of know what Green Bay is. Last year, they were talented, but a little bit of a finesse team that got pushed around by the Chargers, pushed around by Philadelphia, pushed around by San Francisco. So they go to the draft and they get a blocking tight end and a physical running back, an interior offensive lineman.

But here's the question. Is the last three years Aaron Rogers completion percentage down? pass a rating down. Two years ago, I was told it was clickbait if I said, I don't buy the Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady, goat conversation. One is and one's just super talented. Have we seen, in your opinion, Kevin, the best Aaron, and it's just from this point forward, it is just a little bit less every year. I don't want to get into the goat conversation, but I'm going to make a comparison. It's going to confuse you in that sense. Aaron reminds me at this stage a little bit of Tiger Woods.

And what I mean by that is that there's still the capability on every time he drops back to see the best thing you've ever seen in this sport. I mean, he might roll out and, you know, he might go back to the sort of proto-Moholmes thing he was doing a decade ago. And there's always that possibility. He still has that. It's just becoming less and less likely every time. I still think he's one of the most talented pastors we've ever seen. I still think he's capable. We saw, you know, he was one game away from the Super Bowl last year,

but that kind of gets dismissed because of how large that gap was between Green Bay and the 49ers. I like what they did. Could they have added a receiver in the first round? Absolutely. I think that's a separate thing. But as far as trying to get a little more physical, trying to play San Francisco style of ball,

I'm fine with that. And I think that he still has the capability to be a top 10 quarterback. And I still feel like he has a lot of the things he had when he was in league quarterback. I just think time comes for us all, and I just don't think he has the capability to be the best quarterback in football anymore, and that wasn't true two years ago.

I think he still had that. So this is just natural aging curve. I mean, I think there's a lot of guys, Drew Breeze, Tom Brady, all those guys. I mean, there's an age gap there. But at some point, after age 35, 36, you're just not going to be Mahomes or Lamar Jackson anymore. So last year, once or twice on camera,

we heard Tom Brady, yelling at his receivers. Get open. Separate. Cam Newton has the misfortune of inheriting those possession receivers. What are realistic expectations for what I believe is the least dynamic, wide receiving tight end core in the league? What's realistic for him?

I think there's a very interesting thing going on in New England right now, which is they are, they've been claiming to be the underdog for 20 years, Colin. You know this. Every time there will be 8 and 1, they'll lose one game and they'll say nobody believed in us. I said, what are you talking about? Okay. So I think that the expectations are quite low. I think realistically they could be a 9 or 10 win team just because they still have talent.

Stefan Gilmore and J.C. Jackson are two lockdown cornerbacks. We saw that since we last year. I think those opt-outs really, really hurt their ability. And, you know, no one is a better judge at one. through 53 on the roster than Bill Belichick and getting those mid-tier veterans. I mean, that's been their bread and butter the last decade. It's the guys who make

$7, 8, 9, 10 million dollars and just having a deeper roster than everybody, well, if six of those guys opt out, well, that's a problem. And so I worry about New England a little bit in that regard. But from an offensive standpoint, I think Cam's going to be able to get a lot of free yardage. No one, no one in the NFL

is better at figuring out how to get free yardage whether that's on special teams, defense, offense, whatever it is, with Bill Belichick in all three phases of the game. And so I think you're going to see a lot of easy first downs for Cam Newton. But I agree with you. I think overall he's not going to have a lot of open guys.

And listen, you look at Cam's 2015 receiving core with Carolina when he won the MVP. It wasn't that good. Okay. You know, Greg Olson was a good safety valve and all that stuff. But I just, I don't think that he's really had an incredible infrastructure here. And so I think they're a nine, 10 win team. I think with the opt out for different conversation. but I like Buffalo in the AFC East.

Good stuff. Kevin Clark got a mustache. Fits him well. The ringer does great work. It is a pleasure to see you. Last night was fun. I cannot wait for the weekend. And thank you so much. Thanks for having to have it, McAllen.

You bet. Really smart guy, full of information and sourcing. Coming up next, sometimes sports is about matchups. Bad matchup for the Cowboys for an opening week opponent. I think if they played the Rams in week seven, it's different. I don't think it's a very good matchup. for the Cowboys. And remember,

So Fly is going to have no fans in it. So they're getting a break, and I still think it's a bad matchup. And I'll explain that after the break. Blazing Five, top of the next hour. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw,

unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on The Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 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, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Want to stay cool this late summer? Tommy John's cool cotton underwear, men and women go to Tommyjohn. dot com. The code is heard. H-E-R-D. The code will get you 20%

off. Tommy John. It's the only underwear I wear. In fact, I'm wearing one of their t-shirts right now. Good sleepwear and stuff? I slept in Tommy John pajamas last night. Boom. Very comfortable. Very comfortable. 20% off site-wide. Blazing 5, top of next hour. Week 1's tough. I don't know. Didn't get a pre-season.

But I feel good about my picks. I have one blowout. I love one favorite. I'm mostly underdog guy. When you give me a good quarterback and points, I always love that. That's my theory on this. I get a good quarterback. Often at home and points, I'll take him.

So I think sometimes you just get bad matchups. You know, it'd be like you come into work at a lousy night's sleep and you have a huge meeting. That's a bad matchup. You just didn't sleep well. Got a lot of responsibility and a bad day gets worse. Dallas at the Rams is not a good matchup and here's why. Sean McVeigh is a really creative coach.

Creative coaches have offseason to draw up plays. Andy Reed is great in September. Doug Peterson is four and oh in openers. Sean McVeigh is three in openers. Now, Matt Nagy's creative, but he has Mitch Trubisky. But if you have a good quarterback, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, you know, Alex Smith or Mahomes, and you get an off season to draw up some plays,

is Annie Reid about a month ago sent me some of his plays he's got for his opener against the Texans. That's what creative guys do. Sean McVeigh averages over 31 points a game in season openers. He'll be taking on Mike McCarthy. Conservative, little old, going to probably play it safe to start, new system, deck. I don't think this is a good spot for Dallas. I think I get a better coach in Sean McVeigh. And by the way, Mike McCarthy was nine and four in openers with Brett Farv and Aaron Rogers.

And that was against Leslie Frazier and Jim Caldwell and John Fox and Lovie Smith and Jim Schwartz. Very conservative coaches, many of them defensive coaches. In fact, all of those defensive coaches, except I think Caldwell. But I say McVeigh, I think clever. I think daring. I think exotic. And I think McCarthy, I think kind of stayed and conservative and safe. and I think this is a good spot for the Rams who I think have the second or third best wide receiving core in the NFL.

The Rams bring back the same coach, the same left tackle, the same quarterback, the same tight end, the same system, the same two top receivers. Peter Schroger talked about Dallas this year and Mike McCarthy. I am fascinated to see how this Mike McCarthy thing goes, Colin, because look, let's call it like it was. Steve Wilkes and the Arizona Cardinals, led by Josh Rosen, beat Mike McCarthy and the Packers. They fired Mike McCarthy midway through that season, and he was out of work all last year. So we're supposed to believe that all of a sudden,

Mike McCarthy is going to suddenly become this rejuvenated coach of the year type guy. Let's see if Mike McCarthy is the magic elixir that gets Dak Prescott over the hump. You know, this is just kind of your classic. There's nine teams with a new coaching system and a new coach. quarterback, and I don't like any of them this weekend, except Carolina, because I really think Teddy Bridgewater is underrated, and I don't trust the Raiders who were a awful team last year and didn't have OTAs or a preseason to work out their issues. But it's funny about this, you think to yourself, like I'm watching last night, and this is

what's scary about Kansas City. This was the time to beat Kansas City. Think about this. So when you tell people, you got to go to Kansas City to play the Chiefs. First thing you think about is that's one of the loudest places. There weren't many fans last night. What's the weather? By November, it's like hailing sideways.

The weather was perfect. Well, Mahomes and Reed are coming off the Super Bowl. You would totally get them being flat in the opener. The weather was perfect, which it never is in Kansas City. There was no crowd to speak of, no crowd noise. And Kansas City rolled. It's like, okay, that was your opportunity. And if you ever want to beat a Super Bowl,

I mean, even Belichick, they make the Super Bowl. You know, when you go to the Super Bowl, you also play longer and longer and longer. And as Akeed Talib said yesterday in the show, you go back to your hometown. A lot of these football players are from small hometowns. They go to big universities and NFL teams, and you go back to Allen, Texas,

and you're the big star, and you're in the parade, and everybody loves you. And you just get off to a late start. You're not as good as shape when you go to OTAs or camp. That was the moment to beat Kansas. city and it wasn't really even competitive. Now, one of the things we always say about Fridays, Friday's all about hope. Monday's all about overreaction. So these Thursday games, Houston's going to win games because they have Deshawn Watson and Bill O'Brien

historically is pretty good at engineering and offense. So don't overreact. I think we have to, as we watch football all Sunday, we've got to really be honest about this with no preseason, nobody really knows. Tampa doesn't know what they're going to look like. Tom Brady doesn't know what this is going to look like. He doesn't. You can't replicate full speed practice against buddies in the locker next to you and full speed game. I think there's going to be a lot of surprises. There'll be a little sloppiness. I do think defenses are going to play fairly vanilla of schemes, don't get too complicated, which could mean a big offensive weekend. We saw the NBA bubble was all offense.

Games were every other night. You didn't have time to adjust defensively, so it was great for offense. I think we're going to see a lot of offense Sunday. Kind of generic defenses, great offenses. Blazing five, hour two next. 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 helped make you funny.

This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilts of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. On the Look Back at a podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam Jay And I'm Alex English

Each episode We pick a year unpack what went down And try to make sense of how we survived it With our friends Fellow comedians And favorite authors

Like Mark Lamont Hill On the 80s 84 was a wild year I don't think There's a more important year for black people Listen to look back at it On the IHeart Radio

app, Apple Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts This is an IHeart podcast Guaranteed Human Thank you.