The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - NFL preseason

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

Colin reacts to the Broncos first preseason game under new head coach Sean Payton and why this team might not be the easy fix Jordan Love's performance and why he doesn't look like the special QBs Green Bay have had with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers Trey Lance doesn't didn't play well against the RaidersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It is great to have you in live. In Los Angeles sits the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. One hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. Plus Kevin Clark from the ringer stops by. Jay Mack had a wonderful, beautiful vacation. Good to have you back in. He texted me late last night. Ready to go.

Got a little cold. That's okay. You had one last time, right? I did. I'll say it was a lot of bad football, so you have to sort through it. You know what you really realize is that quarterbacks get blamed and talked about, but there's a lot of bad offensive line playing the league. And if you don't play starting offensive line, play, it's bad.

Yeah. How about that Jets defensive line? Look really good against Carolina. Sure did. Yeah. Well, let's start with this. So the Broncos did something I don't think I've seen for quite some time. They kept their offense on the field for the first four drives of the game,

and that's with a veteran quarterback. And so it wasn't very pretty until the final play of the final drive. So what does it tell you in the offseason for Sean Payton and the Broncos when he has publicly ripped harsh the previous coach? And he kept starters in for four series on their first preseason game. It tells you this is not as plug and play as he hoped. They got a lot of work to do. It's not necessarily coming together. On a lot of those drives, they were dealing with second and third team Arizona

Cardinal defenders. That's a bad team and an average defense, and they couldn't move the ball. So I do feel like Sean Payton, this is a heavy lift. He's got three things to rebuild. Russell Wilson's game and confidence. That goes without saying he was good when he had time to throw, but he's got to rebuild that. The second thing is he has to rebuild the culture, which he's talked about that publicly.

It was a mess in the building. and number three, he's got to build the offensive line. And it was shockingly bad. So again, Russell was pretty good when he had time to throw. But all of this in a division with the reigning dynasty in the league, the Kansas City Chiefs. So again, I thought Russell Wilson was good five for five when he had time to throw, but he was under pressure 64.5% of the time, according to pro football focus. And Russell Wilson likes the deep ball.

We all know that. You're not going to throw a deep ball. you don't have time to throw. So that's another issue he's got to deal with. So my takeaway was Russell Wilson looked a little thinner, a little lighter, looked like he had a little more pop, a little more juice. But the offensive line was shockingly bad, and this is a heavy lift. Add in Sean Payton's enormous contract, that's pressure in the building.

Add in Russell Wilson's a very public figure. add in the general manager from the previous coach, the previous GM who hired the disaster as a head coach. He's still in the building. And again, add in Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes. So the other thing to remember is when Sean was in New Orleans in the NFC South. He was not only the best coach in his division, he was often the only competent offensive coach in his division.

So if Sean came up with a clever game plan with Teddy Bridgewater, Tassum Hill, Drew Brees, James Winston. He was winning 75% of his games. One year he went 5'0 with Bridgewater in the middle of a season as a backup. In this division, he could have the most clever, thoughtful, unique game plan and get outfoxed by Andy Reed, who's in his division twice a year. So this is a big lift for Sean Payton. They're not there yet. It's pretty obvious when you keep the offense in veteran quarterback.

for four series and you don't really light it up until the last play of the last series. This is not plug and play. It's a lot of stuff to rebuild and fix. Sean's certainly capable of being it. But the AFC's tough. The division has the dynasty. The O-line's a bit of a mess. And Sean talked after.

We looked at the numbers and we went one more with the offense. You know, I wanted to, shoot, I wanted to score, you know, and leave with a good taste in our mouths. We'll look at the tape tomorrow. There'll be a number of things that we'll be excited about. There'll be a number of things we've got to clean up. And so, you know, we're in a race to do that now that we have, you know, an opponent on film against us. So we start from there. All right.

So that was the offense that I think a lot of us wanted to watch, at least me. Wanted to watch it. Thought Russell was good when he had time. Thought the O-line was a mess. And I thought Sean Payton proved by, you know, the last couple of weeks in what's happened there and a lot of noise and a lot of heat, they're not there. they're not there yet. They're not there yet, and he's going to figure it out, and he knows with his contract and all eyes on him in a division with Kansas City,

he got to hurry up and get there. All right, here's the second quarterback I wanted to watch Jordan Love. So less than seven yards per completion, less than five yards per attempt. What am I supposed to make of it? Well, I make of it the biggest throw of the game, clean pocket, wide open, tight end, and he not only missed it, he missed it badly. Bro, it's year four in the NFL.

That's a layup. That's bad. I know you say, well, what about this and what about that? They're hand holding him. That is a third down, clean pocket, bad miss for a college quarterback. He is what I was told throughout the offseason I thought he would be. He's a game manager. There's no special there.

You can say what you want about Justin Fields at 5 and 20. you see wow all the time. I saw wow this weekend with Anthony Richardson. I don't expect Anthony Richardson to be refined and polished. But if you're still wearing floaties, year four in the pool, you're not Michael Phelps. In fact, maybe swimming's not for you. That's what I noticed. That play, that pass on a third down.

In fact, Jordan Love, I know you don't want to hear this, but we have so many smart, analytic people, pro football focus. Warren Sharp. Jordan Love had the cleanest preseason pocket of any quarterback Thursday on. He had the least pressure, and they're still babysitting him. Under five yards an attempt, you cannot miss open throws. This stuff, the rollout to the opposite side, that stuff's layout stuff. It's going to come down. And I've said that's before. I don't need you to be great on every play. but those third downs, clean pocket, those are layups for quarterbacks in the NFL. Those are layups.

Throwing to the back of the end zone. Well, I mean, so you overthrow it. You can't underthrow it. That's not a special throw. That's an NFL franchise quarterback throw. So you start looking at the yards. Kenny Pickett, year two, and that O line is not as good as the Packers. And that's a defensive coach, Mike Tomlin.

Kenny Pickett averaged 10 yards per attempt. Jordan Love Under 5 with an offensive coach, year four in the system, better old line. It tells me they're coddling and handholding. Now, Matt LaFlewer after they continue to say all the right things. I thought it was solid, you know, obviously he would love to have the one throwback to Musgrave over the middle on that third down. But I thought all in all, he went out there, he executed the plays. And, you know, he didn't force anything. I thought he made great decisions and played a, the,

position really well. I know what you're saying. Colin, how can you judge him on that? It's year four. I'm going to judge him on a clean pocket, wide open tight end, miss him badly on a third down. He had the cleanest pocket. This Packer's situation is built to succeed. Matt Lefleur's system is good for quarterbacks, good old line, starbacks, talented receivers, though young, musgraves are brilliant young athletic tight end. Safe system. Quarterback succeed with Lafleur. They succeed in Green Bay and a large part of it is.

They've always got protection. He had the cleanest pocket of the weekend, and it's still five yards an attempt. What do you want me to do with it? I mean, I watched Indianapolis and Anthony Richardson, and that kid is really raw, but they kind of let him do him stuff. Now, no, now, he had a terrible interception. Okay, it's year one. It's preseason one.

I'm almost expecting you're going to be a bit of a mess, right? Anytime, you know, when you have young kids in the house, They spill stuff. Like, I get it. But year four, push, push, challenge, challenge. I just don't see it with Green Bay. They're not challenging him. This is just safe stuff.

And I think basically they're telling you what they have. We're going to kind of manage this thing. Hopefully our defense is better. We like our coach. We like our running backs. And it's going to be a very safe, safe offense. Now, here's the thing. The division's better.

Kirk Cousin's going to give you 25 a Sunday. Justin Fields now, who look pretty good. got weapons. We know Detroit's got a good offense. So the game manager would work if you had San Francisco's defense or Cincinnati's defense or Pittsburgh's defense. Then you can do a lot of this game managing stuff. But Green Bay's defense was bad last year. Hopefully, Jaya Alexander returns to his great cornerback form. But this division, Chicago, Detroit are going to be better offensively. And Minnesota with Kurt Cousins and their offensive head coach is going to be at least very good, top 10, 12 in the NFL.

I just don't think game manager is good enough. All right. San Francisco, Tray Lance, man, Niner fans are amazing. Did you see that game in Las Vegas? It was 75% Niner fans. For when you live out east, you know the Yankees are big and the Red Sox are big. Like, you know the big brands. If you've never been out West, you don't understand how big the Niners brand is, Denver West.

It's the biggest football brand out West. And I think by far. and you'll see it. There was a great example this weekend when they played the Raiders in Vegas. And it was all red. It was a sea of red. So they've been so good from John Brody, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Kaepernick got to a Super Bowl, and now they're trying to figure out the quarterback.

But that fan base is crazy. Yeah. You didn't mention much about the Raiders, though. How about their young quarterback looking good? Looking good. Young guy coming off the bench. Yeah, wasn't he wearing Derek Carr's number? I think he might have been.

I'm not sure. He gave that thing out in five minutes. You know, how much stock you put in these quarterbacks? One preseason game, a lot of back-off offensive lines. Well, that's why, to me, I'm going to judge Jordan Love now. Okay, you've been in a bunch of these camps. That's different. Trey Lans, Sam Darnold.

You've been in camp like Trey Lans. This is the same system now, year two, year three. That's when I think it's fair. Kenny Pickett now, year two. You should feel a lot better about this camp. Anthony Richardson, that poor kid, this is the first time he's ever seen NFL live action. So he had a terrible interception. Of course he did.

Andrew Luck had terrible interceptions. But by year two, three, and four, the game slows down, or at least it should. But it doesn't help that social media is breaking down every single dropback of quarterbacks. And it's like, oh my gosh, the offensive line's melting. It's like, come on, half these guys aren't going to be in the league. Well, also, when Russell Wilson had time, he was five for five. When Russell Wilson didn't have time, he struggled. So a lot of this is, and I think we've talked about this, college football, it's more.

spread out. There are very few programs, like a Wisconsin or Michigan, that do like 1998 offensive line coaching, like it's road grading. And that's why a lot of badgers and Wolverines end up in the NFL, because it's like they can run block, pass block. So I think the one unit in the NFL that feels like it's kind of deteriorated over the last 20 years is offensive line play. So if you, if you're resting old guys and you just don't want them to play because you have very thin depth on the O line, O-line play gets really bad, really fast. We've talked about this, the USFL, which is on Fox, right?

Actually, there's some NFL receivers, the cornerbacks, running backs. The O-line play is awful. If you can play O-line, everybody wants you. And so that's where I look at it, and I'm like, now that's where you've got to be able to manipulate the line of scrimmage with audibles, which I don't expect a rookie to do. But O-line play was my takeaway this weekend. It's bad. And when you get the backups, it can be atrocious.

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The Niners are pretty much in salvage stage with Trey Lance, because they gave up so many picks in the first round to get him. They're just trying to give him looks. So he had three, three and outs before throwing what was an interception, but it bounced off a player's hands and then into one of their players' hands for a touchdown. It was almost an accidental touchdown. It was not very good. His quarterback rating was the most deceiving of the weekend. He basically threw two picks and both were dropped.

I think I've seen enough. This isn't it. He's not as accurate as Brock Purdy. He's not as talented as Sam Darnold. Darnold came in, by the way, boom, home run, perfect throw down the sidelines, 37 yards. Darnold is more athletic and more talented. That's why, you know, he keeps getting chances. And Brock Purdy's more accurate.

So when I watched it this weekend, Sam Darnold is good enough to be a starter for the Niners. Now, I don't think he will be because all the reports they're going to give it to Brock Purdy, but Sam Darnold's good enough to be a starter in this league and he looked good enough here. Finally, he's got somebody that they gave him a little protection, a great play designer. But the problem is it's no time to experiment, and that's what Trey Lanz is. And this coach and this roster and this franchise momentum, you've got to win now. So Trey Lance was also pressured four times and sacked four times. So we know he's not really accurate.

So where's the elusiveness? If you pressure Lamar Jackson four times, generally he's going to escape a couple of them. So what I was told, Trey was just not as athletic and twitchy as they thought when they got him in the building and that the accuracy stuff they work with, but this is kind of who he is. It's hit and miss. It's not totally fixable. And the other thing is, he came in incredibly raw. And so if you're the Niners, what did you learn?

You can point fingers, but everybody in this league makes mistakes. I couldn't tell you the last time Belichick drafted an elite wide receiver. What has it been 15 years? I don't even know. But the Niners learned something. They have a win now roster, and they drafted a quarterback they hope would be good eventually. The timelines were off. They needed a guy that can complete passes and get the ball down the field.

They had it in Garoppolo, but he couldn't stay healthy. Now they have it in Brock Purdy, and he's hurt. So my takeaway in this game is, Niner fans have seen great quarterback play for a long time. They have one of the big fan bases in America. The fans are smart. They've seen greatness. You can keep trying to convince them.

But when you're going three, three and outs, and this is Kyle Shanahan's offense. All right. This isn't some defensive, outdated head coach who can't draw up place. It's just not working. So we can go back and forth on this. But my takeaway is Darnold's good enough to be their starter and more athletic than Brock Purdy. But because of Purdy's accuracy, he's going to be the guy that gets it. Plus, he was undefeated last night.

last year when he started and finished games. Here was Kyle afterwards on Trey Lance's start playing. I mean, it got off to a rough start for everybody. I mean, with 3-3-and-outs for the whole offense the first three times. So I don't put that all in Trey by any means that the whole offense was sloppy to start. I thought he had a real good second drive leading there on the score. Made a hell of a play on the touchdown. I know it was almost a hell of a play for them with the pick.

But that was the last guy in a Bull Lake. It flashed and he put it on them. and that guy came in and tipped and made a good play. But fortunately, Dwellie was there. I wish we got that short yarder so we could finish that drive. It was hard to not put him in the third. The longer the answer, the less truthful it is. It's a lot of word salad.

Treylands didn't look very good. What are you going to do? I think I've seen enough. J-Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. One of the quarterbacks who had a tougher

preseason debut than Trey Lance was Bryce Young. I mean, Colin, it was brutal for him. You mentioned offensive line. The Jets just battered him. Almost every dropback took big hits on three of his seven past plays, including a sack on his final play of the game. O'Line took a lot of the blame, understandably. Veteran tackle, Cam Irving said the unit was not good enough and they need to fix it. He's a former patriot, I should add. Listen, Bryce Young did look a little small. By the way, Will McDonald, the Jets, I think first round pick, the big defensive end, they got maybe second round pick whatever he looked huge compared to brice selling massive well yeah and i mean this is this was a great example of the defenses are always a little ahead of the offenses

mark sanchise was on the show last week and said it's just easier the language is easier it's easier to play defense and blow stuff up in the first three weeks of camp than it is to learn a playbook so the offensive lines which is the the one unit on a football team that has to have real cohesion you don't have to have cohesion on the defensive line if you have lawrence Taylor on one side and a boast on the other, right? Like, pass rush is pass rush. So I think this was a classic example of a lot of really talented players for the Jets on their side of the ball, being way ahead of the Panthers, less talented players on their side of the ball. And it was, that's why I didn't do an opening ran on it. I couldn't take anything from Bryce Young under under duress every snap.

And the other thing, like, I'm getting caught up on sports after not watching last week, but hard knocks. You could tell the Jets coaches look very excited about this defense coming back. Sala almost has like that, you know, that grin on his face that he knows something. And they just unleashed everybody against the Panthers. It was like, we're not calling off the dogs, baby. No, that's not going to be the issue. That's, that's what's interesting for the jets, is that they're not offensively to this point close to the bills or the dolphins in the last couple years, but they've been able to stay in a lot of games just because of that front. And so now, if you have a competent quarterback with Aaron Rogers, that's why the Jets are the

big mystery. Like, can they not get in their own way? Their defense is fairly relentless. I know you like Bryce Young. You don't want to take too much away from facing an elite defense in week one of the preseason. What do you want to see in week two for hopefully some growth heading into the... Well, my guess is he'll get two series, two to three series, and he'll get better protection. They're going to work on protection. They don't have a great receiving core. They've got twos in the building. So, you know, my official picks, the Saints look really good, and Carolina looked a bit overwhelmed. So it's like watching Russell Wilson. When he had time to throw, he looked really good. He just didn't have time to throw in about 70% of his

snap. So my biggest take of the way of the weekend is O-line play stinks most of the league right now. Agreed. Let's get to the Ravens. They got their new offensive coordinator in Todd Munkin. He will be Lamar's third O.C. in six years. Lamar's excited about what he's already seen from his do OC. It's great. I've been sending him plays of stuff I've been seeing, and he's been putting them in practice, and they're working. I'm glad he's listening to me, man. The sky's the limit right now. I wish you guys could see the meeting rooms. He's full of expressing what he's got going on in his mind. His mind is everywhere. It's like, I love you as a coach right now. I'm grateful for him. I love Lamar Jackson. Very gushy. I know. He's just, you know, listen, it was a lot of ugliness

in the offseason about Lamar and is he going to play. And, you know, he's a lot of, he's He wanted maybe a different coach, a little tweak. He wanted some more speed at receiver. This is the team that Vegas really, really likes. Like in that division, there's a lot of people. Well, the whole division's good. But if they can stay healthy, they got dudes everywhere. The problem, the defense looks shaky.

So how would you attack this? I don't know if they're going to win 10, 11 games. The offense is going to score points. So this looks like an over team to me this year. They're going to be putting up 25, 30, 40 points, and easily. I just don't know if the defense is going to get enough stops, Colin. Yeah. Well, they've now with Lamar getting paid, they're going to pay some offensive linemen,

they're tight end. At least they're putting the money on the right side of the ball. Like I do believe that, that Kansas City, Mahomes for a Super Bowl, they were 17th ranked defense. You've got to put money on one side of the ball. If you've got to have a weakness, I'd rather be on the defensive side than the offensive side. Was it Peter King who said Zay Flowers is a guy to watch in Baltimore? Real excited.

Final story, let's go to the NBA. This is a little crazy. The Sixers ended trade talks for James Hardin put out a big statement over the weekend. And following that news, James Harding decided I'm going to go to a basketball camp at a press event in China and say this about the 76ers president. So basically he said Darryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization in his apartment. Let me say that again. Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never. So basically, he said Daryl Morey's a liar and I'll never be a sixer. I'll never play for him. But the timing of this is interesting.

And the location of it is interesting given Mori's history. This is going to be big news. Well, James Harden has been over-discussed and overrated forever. This is what he does. He wants to play for who he wants to play for. And I've said this before. Part of it's on Daryl Morey. He brought him in.

Is that I don't understand these general managers. The Clippers apparently want him. This is his act. He doesn't want any of the heat. He never delivers in May. He certainly doesn't play in June. And he's been overpaid and over-discust forever. And so, you know, I don't have any sympathy for anybody here.

I mean, Harden, isn't worth the money, but Darryl Morey brought him in. And I don't understand. The NBA is very unique. If a player kind of demanded trades two or three or four times in the NFL, people would just move off him. these teams, Darrell put his arms around him. Well, this is what he is. This is what he's been in Houston, in Brooklyn. It's, I mean, Oklahoma City.

He wants what he wants, and he's going to do whatever he has to do publicly to get what he wants. This part of you just, this is kind of where we are socially. Like, a player can come out and make a bold statement. Like, he is a liar. I'm never playing for him. Period. I'm not going to take any questions.

We're not going to get any context. What do you mean liar? Can you add to what you mean? Like that's all we got. He's a liar I'm never playing for him. And people are just going to run with it and it's like a story everywhere. And we get no context on what he's talking about? He wants to trade him to the Clippers, but the Clippers won't give Daryl Morey what he wants.

So by James Harden, who's, I think he's from L.A., putting pressure on Mori, what he's basically saying is make the Clippers deal. Send me to the Clippers. Stop trying to win the trade. You're not going to win the trade. So I think it's just trying to put pressure on Daryl Morey to make it. But, you know, the clippers are going to be dealing with this in two years. They're going to have to deal with this as well. So that's the difference between the NBA and the NFL, is these guys that don't deliver high contracts, hard to coach, don't get along with teammates.

They keep landing. They just keep the plane just keeps finding an airport to land in. I just thought of this analogy, not totally thought through. Kirk Cousins has made a lot of money, put up great regular season stats, which always fails and flops in either the postseason or prime time. Is there a little Kirk Cousins with Hardin? I mean, now, Kirk Cousins hasn't demanded trades and all that. But Kirk's a team guy, never calls out the staff. And then Hardin led the NBA and assist us to you. Oh, that's great. And where was he when the, where were the games that met? None of that stuff, that's, that's all Westbrook, triple double. I don't care about your stats.

Where are you in May? Do you deliver in May? those guys can be demanding. Don't be demanding if you are an underachieving May basketball player. I'm not interested in your opinion. So I've just overhardened. And by the way, they were comparing him to Kobe years ago. Okay, that's what... Offensive. Maybe offensive.

That's what stats get you in this sport. But it's funny. Kirk Cousins, we lament Kirk Cousins, because he doesn't deliver late. Hardin still has all his fan boys lined up around the league. That is an... In the NFL, like, Kirk Cousins is... I mean, he's like a pro-bogel level quarterback. And we lament how he doesn't deliver.

And the NBA, Harden... He's moving merchandise. Oh, my, he's the best. One of the best scores since Michael Jordan. People love... You're right. That's a fair point. Yeah, that's why the NBA players are empowered, because they are connected to the fans through their apparel in their shoes. So it's a much more visceral connection with fans than NFL players.

We don't wear our cleats of our favorite. football players, but you wear the tennis shoes of your favorite basketball player, and because of that, players know they can just do whatever they want, and their fanboys will be lined up at the Nike outlet store to buy them. And you know I like NBA jerseys. I'll wear them out regular places. You don't see NFL jerseys when you, like, go to the grocery. No. You just don't. It's totally different. Yeah. Yeah, this hardened thing. We'll see. We'll see what happened. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. line news.

Generally, touchdowns are touchdowns, and I don't care how you get them. The Chicago Bears last year were last in the NFL and yards after the catch. So they went out this weekend, and they made it easy. Luke Getsey, the offensive coordinator. There were some underneath stuff, some screen stuff, and it popped for touchdowns. I'm all for it. I don't know why teams don't run more screens in this league. The Bears' offense last year was way too reliant on Justin Fields doing something amazing.

Do you know who was number one in the NFL and yards after the catch? The Chiefs. Andy Reed dialing up layups, dialing up screens, bubble screens, letting the fast guys do the work. You know, even Mahomes is only amazing two to three times a game. It was like the Bears last year relied on Justin Fields to be amazing 17 times a game. That's not realistic. That's very much Ron Rivera with Cam early in his career. Big Ben early with Tomlin.

And by the way, another defensive coach, Sean McDermott does that with Josh Allen. These defensive coaches aren't as creative and tend to ask their star quarterbacks to be amazing. I mean, that Chuck Pagano with Andrew Luck, McDermott with Josh Allen, Ron Rivera with Cam. It's not fair. Andy Reid, even with Mahomes, he's dialing up clever all the time. underneath stuff, let my guy have layups. So I don't care how it looks. Justin Fields had some layups.

And they became points. I don't care. Justin Fields is amazing talent. You can't ask Josh Allen to be the run game. It doesn't work. It will be highlight material. But Josh Allen's first year in the league, he was a YouTube quarterback, which is what I've said about Justin Fields.

His great highlight guy. Make the game easier. him. And by the way, all the great quarterbacks have had a guy. Breeze had Alvin Camara. Brady had James White, McKinnon from a Holmes, the dump off guy, the screen guy, the layup guy. Should have 7, 8, 9, 10 of those per game. So I love what they did. I wish they did it more. Even as gifted as Justin Fields, Cam, Josh Allen, Steve Young, all these guys can be. Lamar, you can't ask him to be amazing 17 times. If you could get him. at three great Justin Fields plays where you're like, whoa, Michael Jordan scored 30 a night.

24 were mid-range jumpers. And then three times he would switch hands. He would do something that literally you and your friends who went to the game talked about for a week. You can't ask Michael Jordan to do that for 22 of his 32 points. So I like what Chicago did. Iber Fluse is like, we were last in the league in yards after a catch. Let's get good at this.

and they've added Robert Tonian, DJ Moore, Claypool last year, backs are fine, O-line's not as bad as you think, so Matt Eberfluse on the yards after catch. When you increase your skill on your football team, the catch and runs get larger, right, and the stat line looks better. So we're going to continue to do that, and certainly we're going to take our shots down the field as well, but it's a good thing to see. And it's nothing, not a real big surprise to anybody that's been around because we've all seen it in practice. That was nice. It was encouraging. I got to tell you, when I watched the Bears, just as you, I know, that's your team. As I watched him, I was like, okay, take a little burden. I've been on this for three years on Josh Allen. He cannot be your run game. You cannot ask Justin Fields to be your offense. Like there's a reason they're called receivers. They receive the ball. They're called running backs. They run with the ball. Allow them to. I thought one of the big moves of the offseason for the Bears was Robert Tanya.

So they went and got a second tight end. Tight ends are a great ally of young quarterbacks. Like help your young quarterback out. So there's some juice. So besides having DJ Moore as like a gadget guy, let's throw it behind the line of scrimmage, you know what that does. That frees up Mooney, who's a 438 guy on the outside

and Chase Claypool who can win the contested catches. Hey, you guys, the safeties have to worry about more. We're just going to ISO darnel Mooney and just throw a couple bombs to him, and he's going to beat you over the top. I love what they set up in the preseason. You come away from this, like, oh, it's a new element to the bear. You've got to prepare for that.

And now we're like, okay, well, we're doing this to set up this over here. I'm just, again, the bear's schedule is favorable. Arrowpoint. Look at you gritting. He's all excited about the bears. I was seven to eight on the bears. I have moved them up to eight or nine after this performance. So who's in the cellar in that division?

Green Bay. Green Bay. They have to be. I mean, you and I have had a lot of opinions on this division. I think we both agree the momentum and offensive personnel for Detroit's really good. Minnesota will be fine, won't go 11 and no in close games. Chicago's got much better pieces for Justin Fields. Let's see how it develops.

And Jordan loves not it. Again, you know, you're sitting poolside sending texts. And someone sent me something about the Vikings. And they were like, hey, look at how closely their offseason moves have been done this offseason. Minnesota almost seems like they're setting up next year. Like this is going to be a transition year where they start to figure out who they're keeping. Remember, new GM came in, new head coach. And it's almost like they might take more than a little step back.

I haven't totally booted them out of the playoffs. But look at their defense, Colin, you know? And look at their offensive line. It looks like they're setting up next year, the next move. Like this is, hey, we got to the playoffs last year. That's great. Nice job. If we win eight games and miss the playoffs, not a big deal.

We're setting up for the future. Well, Vikings fan base is. It's large. And the truth is they've almost always been competent in most of my life. I mean, they're very rarely of you said the Vikings are terrible. So, I mean, they certainly have built up a lot of equity with their fan base, one of the best stadiums, pull back. I mean, they've even played.

Kirk Cousins, he played Aaron Rogers 50-50 straight up. I mean, they've always been a viable team, even having to face Green Bay's superstar quarterbacks. They've always been viable. Moving off Dalvin Cook. Yeah, the Bears and the Lions have had like rudder-less. eras. I never feel that with Minnesota. I always feel like they're kind of well-run. I mean, I watched him as a kid go to Super Bowl after Super Bowl with Bud Grant, Alan Page,

Jim Marshall, and he's great friend Tarkington. They were always competent. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. He's by Carmen. I'm Dan Byard. We have a brand new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with new episodes to not only look back, at what happened, what you need to do at that minute, and also look ahead of what's coming up in the fantasy football world. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy

lineup sits, starts, fantasy football players' rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition. Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Byer on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, and wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but in cursory. 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.

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 then 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast.

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You can help those affected by the wildfires in Hawaii. Your donation enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to, and help people recover from these disasters. Go to red cross.org slash fox forward. So expectations for certain brands in sports are enormous and often unrealistic. So the Yankees have had, I mean, they're still in the wild card race, sort of. Sort of. And yesterday they got a big lead, Garrett Cole, 7 to 1, and then it all melted.

And then in the ninth inning, they gave up five runs. Here's the call by Michael Kay. And the pitch. And that'll do it. A rise will score a brutal gut-wrenching loss for the New York Yankees. As the Marlins win, 8 to 7, improbable, unbelievable, inconceivable, and absolutely devastating. Well, much like the Dallas Cowboys, they're still good, but the brand has probably surpassed the quality of the team. Brian Cashman is the longest tenured GM in baseball, but again,

he's never had a losing season. I looked it up this morning, 12 American League championship appearances. He's got a lot of rings. What do you want to do? Baseball has changed. The Yankees now are not the richest team in town. The Mets owner Steve Cohen could probably buy the Steinbrenner kids over and over. So they're the second richest team in their own city. They don't have the massive financial edge, although they're still a turnstile financially. They're an ATM, but they don't have quite the edge they had years ago with the Yes Network, which they had for years and years and years. Their farm system's not very good. Bottom 25th, I think we looked it up this morning in Major League Baseball because, you know, they don't really have patience to develop people. And it's a fair

criticism, when's the last time they drafted and developed an ace? They basically go and pay for them. But the Yankees, their last losing season was in 1992. In the Cowboys in the last decade, five of ten years, they've had a double-digit winning season. The Cowboys are the seventh winning his team in the NFL in the last decade. That's amazing. I mean, take Patrick Mahomes out and Tom Brady out.

That's almost the envy of the league. And the Yankees, several times American League championship series in the last several years. But New York's taxes are higher than ever. The pressure is through the roof. And it's sort of a turnoff to some players. They don't want to play there. They'll go to a Texas. They'll go to a Tampa.

They'll go somewhere where the taxes are lower of Florida, a Texas, wherever. I get it. I mean, Robinson Canoe went to Washington State and played for the Mariners. No state tax. He wasn't happy. But I get it. And by the way, Jerry Jones's ego. sometimes has gotten in the way.

But here's something to remember about expectations. So the Dodgers in baseball are considered the gold standard. The Dodgers are. They have one World Series title since 2009, same as the Yankees. All right. So if you're the gold standard, how bad are the Yankees? How about people are just unrealistic? I mean, I don't get certain moves, and I'm a baseball casual,

but this idea that it's a bad franchise and Cashman doesn't know what he's doing. I mean, their farm system, it is what it is. They don't have any patience. That's the reality, you know, of being a New York Yankee fan. People go on their radio stations, they yell, they clamor, they scream, they want stars, and sometimes the front office gives the fans what they want. The answer's always with everybody else's star. But the Yankees win a lot of games, and the Cowboys win a lot of games,

and they're not winning championships. Well, I could argue there's no more. Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter around. And oh, by the way, there's no Troy Aitman around. Sometimes it's just the players delivering and the Yankees don't have enough good ones. And the other thing is, we have to be honest about this, the pressure as the media has expanded in America. The pressure in New York to be a Yankee is so much greater than it is in Los Angeles. I live in Los Angeles.

And people love the Dodgers. In fact, they outdraw every other team in baseball by a lot. an enormous fan base. Very rarely do you turn on the radio and hear media ripping a Dodger. I mean, they got disappointed when Kershaw wasn't great in the postseason, but mostly it was defenders. Had a bad seventh inning here, a bad sixth inning there. The pressure is enormous.

Not every player wants it. Free agents can now are much savier than they used to be. They look at state taxes. They look at weather. They look at pressure. So I look at the Yankees and I'm like, yeah, yesterday's a really bad loss. They're like five games out of the wildcard race. They're not going to have a losing season.

Brian Cashman's resume stacks up as well as any general manager in baseball. It's expectations. Maybe those are unrealistic. Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, top of next hour. Kevin Clark of the ringer will stop by as well. J. Mack was on vacation. Texted me last night. He did not watch sports last week.

And he's always catching up. and that's absolutely okay. You did not miss much. I didn't, I asked the staff this morning, I didn't get a chance to look at Atlanta. I didn't see Atlanta play. But the staff told me Desmond Ritter didn't play. So I didn't get a seat.

I have no idea. You know, vacation, you try to kind of unplug, no Twitter, no TV. Like, you just have fun with the family. Because, you know, when we start football up, Colin. We'll have no life. It's like, you know, basically five months where it's all gambling, fantasy and like NFL every week.

Like every Sunday, on the couch. You know, my men's basketball league. Yeah. I'm playing the playoffs start next week. Okay. I told the team, like, guys, I can't do the fall because football is Sundays and like the league plays Sundays. That's how valuable, you know, the NFL is. You bail. You're like James Harden. You demanded a trade out of your men's team. Just for the, just for the NFL season. We'll be back in January. Yeah. But I appreciate that commitment. Yeah. I mean, and Saturday, college football, this season in college football is

going to be so good. Well, it's the first time I can remember. I don't need. You can go back 20 years, 15 years. I do feel like there are seven teams that could go toe to toe with Bama and Georgia. I think Michigan could, Clemson could, Texas, USC, did I say Michigan? I think there's like six or seven teams that would face Bama or Georgia and be highly competitive. I'm going to be going to Vegas to sign up for the contest soon. And I think I'm going to put some money on Michigan to win the title.

I think. I've got them facing LSU in the championship. In the championship. Okay. So we both like Michigan. Jim Harbaugh, baby. I know. It's easy to like.

For us, our 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 help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast. 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 I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Keer Games. This space is about black men's experiences,

having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.