The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - Lakers hot start, JJ Redick is know what he's doing, giving credit to Jerry Jones

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

Colin Cowherd starts with the Los Angeles Lakers hot start under head coach JJ Redick, even with LeBron James on the sidelines. Colin explains why Redick’s coaching style could reshape the future of the Lakers franchise and what it means for the NBA’s most glamorous team Then, Colin turns to the NFL trade deadline, giving Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys credit for making smart, forward-looking moves — even after parting ways with Micah Parsons. Colin believes the Cowboys are now in a better position than they’ve seen in yearsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's the herd, wherever you may be. However you may be watching or listening. Thanks for making that's part of your day. So you were at the Spurs Lakers game last night. Lakers win close late. Years and years ago, this was probably 20 years ago, I was talking to an NBA exec. I was court side of a game, and I got there early. Did you get there early last night?

Not early enough. All right, so you get there really early an hour and a half before, and night people come by, and he said something to me, and it's how I want to start my show. stars in the NBA in basketball. It's not like baseball. They don't have slumps. They can have a bad quarter.

But guys like Luca are always going to get theirs. The late Kobe, wilt, Jerry Wet, it doesn't matter. Stars get theirs. Great coaching is taking a B-minus player and making him a B-plus player.

Taking a C-plus player and making them a B-player. You're not going to turn Brody James into LeBron James. You're not going to turn. going to jump a grade and a half, but that's what JJ Redick did and he's doing this year. Rui Hachamora is a good B player. He's playing like an A player.

He's shooting 60% from the field. He's shooting 47% from three. That's an A player, career high in scoring. Now, it's early in the NBA season where even the Chicago Bulls were winning, right? Like nobody's playing defense now. But the two biggest plays in last night's game could have been Rui. Took a big charge, hit a big three. That is what J.J. Redick is doing.

So last night you didn't have LeBron, you didn't have Austin Reeves. A couple nights ago you didn't have Luca. So it's mix and match. But he's doing a great job, especially on offense, to squeeze the juice out of his mid-level players. Like, for instance, DeAndre Aiton, who they got for free, basically Portland spay and his salary. DeAndre Aiton's hot and cold, he's played very well. The best he's played. the Lakers lead the NBA and field goal percentage.

They're 5 and 0 in close games. Yet, Luca's one of the top two to three players in the world, and skinny jeans, Luca, is unstoppable. Rebounds, assists, points, putbacks. He's going to get his. Kobe always got his. But can you take those B guys? Go back to Phil Jackson.

What he got out of a Rick Fox or a Derek Fisher, that's the key to this stuff. What do you get out of your number four starter? I mean, just last week, Austin Reeves look like Luca. And I think that's what I watch with JJ Reddick. That in basketball, the top 10 global stars are just going to always get theirs. Can you squeeze stuff out of the B-minus guys? And this year, if you look at the last two seasons, because now the culture's been built by

JJ Reddick, all without LeBron James this year, six points a game more. And the new pieces, old Marcus Smart, veteran D'Andre Aiton, the young kid, Jake, La Ravia, they're all playing the best they've played right now. They're all playing excellent basketball. And the Lakers are not a good defensive team. They don't have a great defensive rim protector. They're not super athletic on the wing. But Wemby fouled out last night.

Wemby shoots 35% from the floor. They impose their will on Wembe, and it was a very impressive effort. He's not going to have many games as ugly and inartistic as last night. So what I see right now, I see coaching. I see JJ Redick taking his C plus and B minus guys and moving them up half a grade. That was always, always Phil Jackson. Kobe would have been great. Michael would have been great with or without Phil Jackson.

But it was Phil's ability to build Steve Kerr into a trustable component alongside Michael Jordan to get the most out of marginally talented bigs. That's always been Phil Jackson's greatest asset. That's what JJ Reddick does, and they're doing it without LeBron. And it's what championship teams do. It's what Dave Roberts did with Miguel Rojas for the Dodgers. Otani's eventually going to get his. Eventually Freddie Freeman's going to get his.

Can you take the B guys and make him B-plus guys? And J.J. Reddick talks about the win and his current culture. sometimes the things you emphasize and the things that make that you make a daily priority becomes your team and that doesn't always happen but that was a priority for us coming into this season we're just constantly encouraging and empowering our guys to get connected I believe that if you're connected off the floor you're connected on the floor I've got to tell you, the city of Los Angeles has really good coaches. McVey and Harbaugh, JJ Redick, Dave Roberts.

I mean, it's pretty remarkable. There's some, even our college coaches out here. If you look at the Lakers right now, and again, it's early. Nobody plays defense in October and November in the NBA. They really don't. A lot of teams are out of their mind shooting really high percentages. But in a very crowded West, remember, long stretches. LeBron hasn't played. Austin Reeves is out now.

Lucas missed games. It's what he's doing with Aiton. It's what he's doing with smart. It's what he's doing with these kind of B minus C plus Rui right now is playing the best basketball of his career. Rui's a nice player. He's not this nice, but give J.J. Reddick a lot of credit for that.

Okay. I was here on Tuesday, sick yesterday, and Tuesday was the trade deadline show. and I'll say this. I've been very critical of the Dallas Cowboys for a long time. But I am in total disagreement. I watched a little of shows yesterday. I'm in total disagreement with virtually every other media member on what the Cowboys did with Micah and these moves to get Quinn and Williams.

So one of the things I liked about the Micah move, it created liquidation and flexibility and diversification. they were going to be too top-heavy. And Jerry Jones is a dealmaker, and if they signed Luca between C.D. Lamb and DAC, they just have no flexibility, no diversification. They'd be top-heavy. So I think one of the things that's being overlooked

that the Cowboys did in this deal to get Quinn and Williams, they retained, they kept both number one picks in this coming draft in April. That's a big deal. They gave up a first, the draft after, because this draft has two things that benefit the cowboys. Tons of good edge rushers. Now with Kenny Clark and Quinn and Williams,

Interior linemen that are way above average. One of them's a star. They'll go get an edge rusher to add to that. The second thing they have is a quarterback. In a quarterback rich draft or eight teams are desperate for one. So those picks they give up to the Jets, they can get those back with the flexibility and diversification of two first round picks

and what you can do with it. And so the draft has an edge rusher, replace Micah, and quarterbacks don't need move down that pick. So that's what I love. The second thing is, Dallas is saying, and I totally agree with them, by acquiring Quinn and Williams and Kenny Clark, what they're telling you is they view interior defensive linemen

as more valuable than edge rushers. And I'm here to tell you, I totally agree. The New England Patriots this year spent money on interior defensive line. Number one rush defense in the NFL. You know who else has a really good interior

defensive line spends money on it? The Colts, top five run defense. Here are the teams that have excellent interior defensive linemen. Tampa, Seattle, Denver, Colts, Patriots, Rams, Eagles. That's a different body type. Edge rushers are like

wide receivers. You can find tall guys, great athletes, 6.4.5, 6.5 and a half that can catch the football or rush a passer. It is incredibly rare to find somebody who's 6-2, 320 with good feet. That's what Quentin Williams has. Okay. So Kenny Clark and Quinn and Williams give you, like, I mean, what's the strength of Philadelphia this year? Why can't the Rams beat Philadelphia? Because they can't block Davis and the kid out of Georgia. They can't block

those two interior Carter. They can't block them. That's why they lost this year against Philly. It's why they lost in the playoffs last year. They're struggling to block those guys. So Dallas has said we love Micah, but we'll take flexibility and interior D-line over an expensive edge rusher.

Julian Edelman was on my show on Tuesday, and he talked about this during the Patriots Dynasty. Brady gets credit, Grong gets credit, Belichick gets credit. He said it's the interior D-line. We wouldn't have been the New England Patriots if it wasn't for Seymour or Wilfork. And there's a bunch of other guys branch and there's a bunch of guys. But the interior part, if you got a guy that can take away two gaps, that's tough on the run game. And once you start to make a team one-dimensional and they can't run the football, then you can dial up better.

coverage for your secondary and you can get more creative. Yeah, and everybody's like, oh, Dallas is making bad moves. What they did is they said, we don't want to be top heavy with salaries. We want more flexibility. Go ask any great business person what they want. It's not just assets. It's the ability to acquire them or move off them. They want flexibility.

Dallas couldn't afford a running back. Derek Henry for $8 million two years ago. Jerry's an entrepreneur. Jerry's a businessman. His hands were tied. He wanted flexibility. The ability to diversify. And then they moved their importance on defense from the edge inside.

Every executive I talk to, they always talk about rare skills, rare body types. Seattle, the GM John Snyder, just went and got a deep threat receiver for Sam Darnold. Why? How many people on the planet run a 4-2-8-40? a 4-3-2-40, not many. So Quinn and Williams is a unique body type, Chris Jones. I'm not saying Miles Garrett isn't a great edge rusher, but you can move Chris Jones all over the defensive line.

And I'm not saying Max Crosby's not amazing. But when you can get that great left tackle, that receiver that runs a 4-29, that interior defensive lineman with good feet, it's just more valuable than an edge rusher. So I like what Dallas has done. LeBron James still not playing. Apparently, he's getting closer to playing.

Ramping up to five on five. Should be back by Thanksgiving. It's going to be interesting to see how he meshes, Colin. The Lakers vibes are amazing right now. Everybody understands Luca is the fulcrum of the team. Yes. Reeves is secondary, and we all operate around him. And I think the delta between LeBron and Luca will grow.

Like the last couple of years, like last year, overweight, still healing Luca and LeBron, just depended on the night. Some nights it was LeBron, some nights it was Luca. This is Lucas team by a significant stretch. Does it feel like a guy who was the man in high school goes off to college? A new guy takes over the high school team and the guy comes back from college and is like, oh, things have changed here. It feels like everybody's catering to Luca, which I don't have a problem with.

It's just how does LeBron fit in to that offense. it could be clunky or he's a professional and says, hey, I got this. LeBron's always been better on ball than off. Because he still remains a streaky shooter. And so Luca can do both, but he is the best on ball player they have. So I want Luca. I said this before. In the offseason, I said the gap between LeBron and Luca is going to be noticeable this year.

I think Luca has a chance to win a MVP if Wembe doesn't. I think Luca is going to jump over the SGA's. the onuses this year. It's going to be a Yokic-Wemby-Luca season in the NBA. I still don't think they're good enough defensively. And you can't take too much from November NBA basketball. Nobody's locked in defensively yet. 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.

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So how did we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, 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,

people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey 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,

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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 won. I mean, she went down at 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. 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. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. You are now entering the no-bowl zone sponsored by credible great-grates and none of the bull. So LeBron James has not played this year. He will not. reportedly go on the Lakers five-game road trip.

He's got a sciatica issue. That's a nerve in the lower back and also where Napoleon was exiled to. Cyanica. So my least favorite quality in men is high maintenance and neediness. And I'm not saying LeBron's doing that, but there are those. There's some supposition that LeBron has his feeling hurt. Feelings hurt because he hasn't been offered an extension. So I don't know if that's true or not.

I think LeBron's smart enough to know the torch has been passed in L.A. And this has always been, the Lakers have always been a past the torch organization, right? Like Kareem to Magic, to Shaq, to Kobe, to LeBron. And it's clearly been passed not only in ownership from the bus family to the Dodgers owners, but now it's Lucas team. And the Lakers don't need LeBron to sell tickets, just like they didn't need Kareem to sell tickets, just like eventually they found out

they didn't need Shaq to sell tickets. There's always somebody in L.A. making a debut. And in Los Angeles, the stars are almost all young and ascending. Your Otanis and your Yoshes and you're Justin Herberts and your Pooka Nakuas and your Lukas. They're all young and ascending, with very few exceptions. I also feel like the league has a little bit of LeBron fatigue.

I also feel like LeBron was never in Los Angeles, nearly as popular as magic. I think he's like he's in the Kareem popularity more than the Kobe or the magic. So, you know, my takeaway in all this, LeBron's got to fall in line or leave. This is not Cleveland, and it's not even Miami. So it's a past the Torch City. And when I look at LeBron right now, or his feelings getting hurt a little bit? Does he feel like he should have been offered a contract extension? because L.A. welcomed LeBron.

They didn't worship him. Sorry. In my lifetime, Magic's the most popular Laker of all time. Kobe's the second most popular Laker of all time. There's an argument Jerry West was the third most popular Laker of all time. LeBron's not. And you got to remember, for Rich Paul and LeBron, and again, maybe they aren't in their fields.

but LeBron, do you realize the Lakers in his entire career? This is the longest he's ever been in one team for a concurrent stretch, the Lakers. So he's been an interloper and signed one-year deals for most of his career. So nobody's going to lose any sleep if they're a little less loyal to LeBron than LeBron wants.

He may understand all of this. He may get absolutely all of this. but my take is on this is you can feel it. LeBron is going to have to play off ball. It is Lucas team. It is J.J. Reddick's vision. For most of LeBron's career, I always said this. Kevin Durant could play anywhere.

You can get him the ball late in the shot clock. He can hit shots. Steph Curry and LeBron become your offensive ecosystem. Golden State has discovered young guys don't work with Steph Curry. It's just too hard. It's just too quick, too smart, too fast. That's why Steph works with older players really, really well, immediately with KD, always with Draymond, quickly with Andrew Bogot.

Young guys he struggles with. And LeBron, he has been the centerpiece. He's very opposite of KD. He becomes your offensive ecosystem, and it's over. That is done. You cannot coach this organization going forward with LeBron being a centerpiece. He's just an asset. And there are nights that Austin Reeves needs the ball

and has a mismatch advantage. Charles Barkley was on Jim Rome show and just talked about older LeBron. For all the time, I'm always going to win. There's nothing you can do about it. You know, I joked on the show a couple weeks ago. They said Syedica. They could have just real old.

It's the exact same thing. All old people back hurt. You know, he's got to accept. I hope he leaves sooner than later. Obviously, LeBron's a better player than me, but I don't want to see great players just hanging on. That's right, Charles Barkley. Nailed it. You don't want to see old guys just hanging on.

I don't have a problem with LeBron being here, but an extension? These new owners? I don't know. In fact, I would argue I would take an Austin Reeves extension. and you know how I feel about that over a LeBron extension. Say what you want about Austin Reeves, but if you can keep him around, Luke is your one, Austin's your three,

and then you go find a two, that feels like a championship level team. J-Mac with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. This is me biting my tongue. All right, let's get started with the Philadelphia Eagles, Colin.

Come on, they are coming off a buy and have a huge game against the, Packers Monday night. Packers, not in the Hurt hierarchy yet favored over the number one Eagles. Everybody likes Green Bay in this spot, right? Everybody does, including me. Let's talk about Jalen Hertz. So he was interestingly tied for first in the NFL with six completions of 40 yards and second of home with 11 completions of 30 plus air yards. Here's O.C. Kevin Petullo talking about Hertz's beautiful deep ball accuracy. he's unbelievable at it like he does a tremendous job of understanding where to place the ball

seeing the coverage knowing how to put it in a spot to where it's you know our guy or nobody and he really works at it you know if you watch i know you guys aren't down there the whole time when you watch practice and he works at it in between periods during the period like constantly he's talking to the guys here's where it's going to be here's what i'm going to do so i think it's those little extra things yeah packers and eagles is really in interesting. Top three game of the weekend. Niners, Rams is phenomenal.

But to Jalen Hertz deep ball accuracy, so, you know, because he wasn't a first-round pick because he's not six-five and strapping, because he had to transfer in college, he doesn't get the respect, I think, that he deserves. And all he does every year is check off another box of, hey, you say I can't do this. Okay, here we go. Colin, he's one of the best deep ball throwers in the league this season, period. I know he may not throw the best ball, but the numbers say, Man, he's hell accurate.

He adds things. There are things throwing over the middle he's not great at, but he adds there are certain virtues he has with his strength, his mobility, his toughness, his maturity. I've said this before. Philadelphia is a loud sports city. And there is value in having an adult be your quarterback. You've got to be able to deal with talk radio and the anger,

and they got their security guy in Siri Anis. I've said this about, he reminds me of Philadelphia's version of DAC, is that you have to deal with Jerry and an aggressive Dallas media and you're the centerpiece of the league. The things that Jalen doesn't do have not hurt him much so far in his career. I don't think he throws the ball over the middle like Matt Stafford does or Mahomes does. But his strength, his kind of dexterity as an athlete and his maturity are the intangibles that I think make him sort of DAC. I mean, if I say if you're building like a perfect quarterback and you're taking parts from all these quarterbacks,

I don't see why just Jalen Hertz wouldn't be like almost ideally the perfect quarterback. He's got the strong legs. But think, he is thrown for under 200 yards four times this year. They've won all four games. So it's not a criticism to say he is not Josh Allen. He doesn't have that size or skill set. What he does, though, he is a great fit on a physical power running team. When he throws under 200, if I told you,

You have Mahalms throws for under 200. You're like, oh, Kansas City's in trouble. If I told you Philadelphia Hurstead, you'd be like, perfect. That's how they should play. So that's telling you the talent disparity. He does have one thing over Josh Allen. He has a victory over the Chiefs in the postseason. Alan has not been able to pull that off.

Obviously, the Super Bowl win. All right, let's move on. Detroit Lions, Colin, I'm still smarting from that loss of the Vikings. One of the bigger surprises in recent weeks, they play a beat-up commanders team, but I don't know if you see. the injury report, lions themselves walking wounded. Here's Jared Goff saying Detroit will have a little extra motivation

after last season's divisional round loss to Washington. That's definitely part of it. Absolutely. I think more than that, we want to get off of a losing streak here and get a W. Certainly you're thinking about that, but I think, you know, how many games ago, nine games ago now. So we're trying to get a win this year and maybe use that as a little added motivation if we need it.

So three starters on the offensive line did not practice yesterday. Their tackles were both banged up. Well, that was Wednesday. It's Wednesday. It's early. We'll see what happens. But the line has come down. This was eight and a half.

It's now seven and a half, Colin. Yeah. I know Washington stinks. Dan Campbell, 12 and 0 against the spread after a loss. I cannot take Washington here. Can you? No, the lines are one of my favorite plays. I hope the line keeps coming down.

So I also think the Lions lost a home game where they rarely lose. So you're going to get a great week of practice. Meanwhile, Washington, and all the trade deadline rumors, I think it's a... Is there a whiff of quit here? I don't know if it's quit, but not all locker rooms are the same by November. Like there's a lot, I mean, like right now the Jets. You know, that's hard to motivate a team when the ownership and the front office doesn't appear to care about this season.

So I think, you know, the Jaden Daniels thing, Marcus Mario, It can have stretches, but it feels like Detroit's the play here. Yeah, I'm kind of with you outdoors. I need to check the weather and make sure it's not sloppy. But then again, Washington can't stop the run anyway. Their judge is not good. Final story, let's go to your Chicago Bears coming off that win over the Bengals and now hosting the Giants on Sunday.

Creep it up a little bit. Caleb Williams had a solid game against the Bengals. I mean, hell, everyone does. Caleb threw for 280 and three touchdowns. Here's Ben Johnson gassing up his quarterback. Some weeks are better than others, which we knew. But he's a lot better place now with his process than he was to start the season. You know, the week isn't necessarily smooth sailing always.

But I think that's to be expected with year one in a new system. So he's learning and he's spent a lot of time at it. So I'm very pleased with his approach. And I think we've got the right group of guys around him to help support him. And so I think we're going to continue to see him take off here second half the season. What I am hearing off the air when I text people around the league, everybody loves Ben Johnson. Yeah. Everybody thinks the Bears got the next great young coach.

There's still a lot of doubt, despite leading the NFL in big plays offensively, there are still a lot of doubts with Caleb. People, old school NFL guys, older executives, just don't think it looks as tight as it should look. And my take, I talked about Cam Newton. I think he's a... There's a lot of Cam Newton. Cam Newton's mechanics would drive you crazy. Cam playing in structure would drive you crazy. Cam's inconsistency.

He never had back-to-back winning seasons. But you couldn't deny Cam's talent. You can't deny Caleb's talent. And I actually think that win Sunday, that throw, you know, he had a couple of plays that I just don't think... I think 90% of the league doesn't make. So, I don't know. It's not going to look like a lot of... other guys look, but I also think there's a confidence with his teammates.

I really like Chicago's coaching, their personnel, and I think not that Caleb's along for a ride, but he's not going to play like a lot of guys playing. You just have to come to terms with it. It is only eight games with Ben Johnson. I was just looking up. So Cam Newton had basically the same head coach, Ron Rivera, for like almost his entire tenure in Carolina.

Caleb, year two, new coach, new system, new everything. I mean, so I'm giving him some time. I'm with you. I don't think he's looked amazing, but who cares? They're winning. And it has a lot to do with the run game. You know, I got to say his name eventually. Kyle Monongai. He's a little banged up, DeAndre Swift banged up, DJ more missed practice, a dunse

mispractice. So I'm a little concerned. Again, it's only today, Thursday. But I think I like the Bears here. Agree. J-Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd. So I will say this. During the trade deadline, you know, the Jets was a flea market. They were selling everything. Dallas comes in, the Colts come in. Buffalo didn't do anything. And their GM, Brandon Bean said, you know, I went home as mad as everybody else. Pump the brakes on criticizing Buffalo. If you look at the AFC playoff standings, just take a look at the teams that could possibly play. They could play the Indianapolis Colts, whose quarterback nobody really believes in. The number two seat is New England, where Drake May has not played two complete seasons. The number three seat is Denver, who appears to only play one way dominating the fourth quarter.

Number four is Aaron Rogers, a 41-year-old quarterback. Number six is Justin Herbert missing both offensive tackles the rest of the way. number sevens, the Jags, nobody trusts. So there's a real, first of all, the AFC Championship over the last six, seven years has been played at Arrowhead. That's not happening. So this is easily at this point in a season, the most favorable route for Josh Allen. I think their bigger issue is that Keon Coleman, the wide receiver, shocker, another wide receiver is really immature. he's shown up late he's not been dependable so you know it's year two for him you hope he

matures but you know their tight end group is excellent best running back josh has had o lines better than average josh is in his prime i don't think it's the end of the world that they didn't make a big move just go look at the afc right now it's average quarterbacks it's quarterbacks you don't trust. It's a lot of guys. So I, you know, a lot of times the barrier to a championship isn't you. It's your rival. I mean, Phil Mickelson wasn't Phil Mickelson's worst enemy. He had to go through Tiger in his prime, right? That was always, Utah Jazz were good enough to be a championship team. It was Jordan and Pippen. So I look at Buffalo. Buffalo has lost close games to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead in the post-season.

season. They may lose again. It's not going to be an arrowhead. I mean, there's no burrow this year. Lamar right now is not a playoff quarterback. So if you were a Bills fan and everybody's freaking out that didn't make a trade at the trade deadline, well, don't throw around bad money. It's right now, if you looked at who's in the playoffs, I would take the bills to win. And I didn't say that last year. Well, maybe I said it last year. I didn't say it the year before. Look at who they're playing. You trust the Colts, the young Patriots, Bo Nix in Denver, Old Aaron, Herbert with no tackles? Who trusts the Jaguars ever? So I think they're fine.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd 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, 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...

people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Oh, 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, for people could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey 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 Smigel 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 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 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 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 Slicelife 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.

Genshin won. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina 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. by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies, I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know.

Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get. your podcast. Fox College Football Friday is under the lights in prime time. Tomorrow, Jaden Mayava leads 19th ranked USC and one of the nation's best offenses against Northwestern. Tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific on Fox. Trojans about ready to go on a roll.

We talked with Clad about that yesterday. You know, they got a shot at the playoff. Well, they're going to beat Northwestern in Iowa, but then they're going to beat Northwestern in Iowa, but then they have to go to Eugene, so good luck. Indiana won there? Why can't U.S.? Well, in the U.S. He's not as good as Indiana, that's why. So you see this sometimes where a great actor has a role. Tom Hanks does the terminal. He makes a bad choice.

You see great regress. Marlon Brando had bombs. You see a Zagget, a Michelin-Star restaurant, a chef leaves. It's good, but it's not special. You see great, slowly sometimes, kind of regress into good. You very rarely see hot dog on a stick become Zaget rated. You don't see, you know, atrocious become exceptional. Like, it just doesn't happen, especially in sports.

So Sam Darnold was so bad in New York, I was like, I don't know what happened. I thought he was going to be sort of a little bit of Andrew Luck. His last two years, he is now, with all. analytics, the best quarterback in the NFL. No, I mean, and they just added Rashid, a deep threat. So now he's got a deep threat. J.S.N. That

rookie from Colorado State. The O-lines better. He's literally gone from unplayable to best guy in the league. And I was saying, if you just count quarterbacks that have played, you know, every game this year, you can't count Lamar Jackson in this,

what is the quarterback pyramid based just on this year alone for quarterback play. What does it look like? And this is what it looks like. Sorry for the radio audience. We have a little Collins quarterback performance period. Darnold's number one.

Allen and Stafford right below him. Drake May, Herbert, Baker Mayfield. Mahomes, Jones, Prescott, and golf. Now, that's not necessarily that far from reality. Now, if you're talking careers, Mahomes would be at the top. But if you're talking today, this second, Sam Darnold is the best quarterback in the NFL. It is unbelievable. You just don't see that ever.

You could say, well, what about Baker? Baker and Cleveland won a playoff game. And the year he did, his quarterback rating was, I think it was 96 or 98. I think it was 96. Sam's pass rating in New York was not even good for a backup. He had more turnovers than touchdowns. Like, forget the winning. It wasn't productive. It was awful.

We know now that everybody's awful with the Jets. But what he is doing is incredibly rare. So Bill Belichick was on a podcast yesterday. And I've said this multiple times on the show. The hottest quarterback in the league outside of Sam Darnold is probably Matt Stafford. And I've said before, where you land in the NFL matters a lot. If Stafford would have landed in Green Bay and Aaron Rogers, who can be Moody, would have landed in Detroit, we would look at Stafford differently.

Stafford was better than Aaron Rogers in high school, in college, and he's better now by a long shot. And he was better in the first three or four years in the NFL than Rogers. But Aaron had that 10, 11-year run in Green Bay because he had a really good organization. And it's going to be fascinating to see what if Matt Stafford wins this year Super Bowl. And right now I think that the best team or second best team in the league. Like what happens? Bill Belichick was on a recent podcast talking about this Matt Stafford. I don't want to put him in a class with Tom, but I mean, it's reminiscent of Brady

where it just keeps getting better and better and better. I remember when we practiced against him and played him several years ago, gotten smarter, he understands more, he knows how to use weapons, maybe just a split second quicker. He's a little harder to fool and something you might have got him with a couple years go you're not going to get him with now. What's really cruel about quarterback is by the time you master it, you're usually like 33, 34, 35.

That's when Brady started saying things to like Jay Glazer like, I've seen everything. You can't fool me. Brady talked about a Super Bowl against Patrick Mahomes. He's like, I knew what the Chief's defense was going to do better than the Chief's defense knew what they were going to do. But Brady had a great advantage. He had the best offensive line coach probably ever, Dante Scarnacia. So Brady just didn't get hit for most of his career.

So Brady at 44 had a 34-year-old body. That's not the case with Stafford, who got the you-know-what beat out of him for 12 years in Detroit. So he's 37, and he looks 37 with a really bad back. But I've asked the question before, if he wins a Super Bowl this year, I mean, he's already all-time, completions 8th, yards, 9th, passing touchdowns 9th.

Game winning drives fifth and wins, he's moving up fast. So there's just not many quarterbacks in the history of the league that have two Super Bowls and an MVP. It's Mahomes, Brady, Manning, Elway, Montana, Bradshaw, and Bart Starr. So there's only one quarterback in this league that can go from really, really great to historic. This is it. Quarterbacks with two Super Bowl wins and an MVP, at least one. It's all the legends. Mahomes, Peyton, Tom, Elway, Montana, Bradshaw, Bart Starr.

Stafford can get into that group. And so his last five games, 16 touchdowns, no picks, he is just on an absolute heater. The question, and he's done this, what's amazing is no training camp, he learned on the fly with Devonte Adams. So what's really impressive, you know, an undrafted left tackle, learned on the fly with Devante Adams, did not participate to any extent in preseason, and proving once again what Sean McVeigh always felt

is the exhibition season is a lot of nonsense. It doesn't really matter. But you and I, Jay Mack, you've actually been on this forever. Where you land in the NFL is about 75% of your success as a quarterback. I mean, a great example is Caleb Williams with that outfit last year. Everybody bailed on him. this year, the Bears lead the NFL in big plays. So the gap in coaching, obviously McVeigh is better than anybody Detroit had.

But here was Max Crosby of the Raiders recently talking about Stafford as a potential MVP. For some reason, just because their team wasn't the best, like, he didn't get that love until he went to the Rams. Now people are like, see? I'm like, bro, he's been doing that for 10 years in Detroit. It would be dope to see Stafford when MVP because people are like, well, is he at a Hall of Famer? I'm like, he's been top five for 15 years. I don't give a what anyone says. Can we have this conversation?

I don't give what anyone says. Oh, that's absolutely true. I mean, think about this. Think how much trust that Sean McVeigh had to have to not only trade away a Super Bowl quarterback in golf, but be willing to pay for Stafford and Goff simultaneously. So Sean McVeigh knows more football than you or me. Sean McVeigh's like, yeah, I'm going to move off Goff,

who, by the way, has been a top 12 quarterback for most of his career. He'll move off him. I'll take an old Stafford that's never on a playoff game and I'll pay for both. That is having – there are certain people – in baseballs like this a lot, where you go ask baseball players, who's really good, who's a bit of a fraud, and they'll be like, oh, no, this guy's actually great. Everybody understands it. You go ask pro football players about Matt Stafford.

they're all like Max Rosby. They're like, bro, that guy's been a top five quarterback for 15 years. He just got crappy Detroit. So it's it's and the great thing about him, he is a film room junkie.

His wife makes more news than he does. He's never in the news. He's kind of a regular guy. You know, you'll see him golf and occasionally in town at one of the country clubs, but he really is low key, very chill. But he's the only quarterback in the league. that can join a very go from great to historic this year.

Yeah. I mean, I would say he's certainly in the MVP discussion. Now getting Devante Adams clearly helps. Oh, no question. A major upgrade. I mean, Cooper Cup was like one of their core guys. He was beloved out of it. They moved off him pretty easily.

Yeah, what has he done in Seattle, Colin? Like, next to nothing. And they upgrade with Devonty Adams. Well, he's our four now in Seattle. Yeah. Yeah, they had young receiver Snyder said, we'll bring an old veteran possession guy in. But I'll say if Cooper Cup's your four, that's not a bad receiving.

But McVeigh's done a great job with Sneed and company, just constantly retooling the team. All right, Greg Kosell, it is a Thursday. It's my favorite 15 minutes of the week. One down. Here comes hour two. It is Thursday. It's the herd. 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 it. 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. 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 Smigel 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 they're 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. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive.

I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garros. Jen she's an outsider to win the French name.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Leonard Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the Iheart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicel Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal online. I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman.

Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.