The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - The Chiefs are at the top again, Niners can't stay healthy, Baker Mayfield is playing like a MVP

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Colin Cowherd breaks down why the Chiefs proved they're still the team to beat after a dominant win over the Detroit Lions The 49ers can't seem to stay healthy and so far this season Baker Mayfield is playing like a MVP  Thoughts on the Chargers win over the Dolphins and why Justin Herbert is simply better than Tua TagovailoaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Markeep coming to him, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart

Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

wherever you get your podcasts. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant,

and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday

on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. Hour number one. I'm not sure we can get all this show into the next three hours. We are live. We are in Chicago, and it is the herd. One hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. I don't think we should waste any time. Everybody's worst nightmare is now official. The Kansas City Chiefs once again are the best team in professional football. three weeks, Mahomes was wobbly. They were averaging 20 points a game. And in their last three games, they're now averaging 32 points along with that defense and along with those special teams.

Sorry NFL, they did it again. Kansas City, only Andy Reed in Patrick Mahomes. They're the only people in this league that can take number two and number three wide receivers. They can take Hollywood Brown and Ju-Jew Smith-Schuster and backup left tackles and okay running backs and get into the 30s. Xavier Worthy with any other team, would he be this good? All they do is make it work. Andy Reed is the great chef. He's the Gordon Ramsey. Everything in the kitchen has a roll.

Let's just keep tinkering. Let's keep figuring out a way to make everything work. Put it into our ecosystem and let's make it florism. By the way, this is what Kansas City does every year. When you get into these big games, they play differently. No penalties, no turnovers, one punt. Wine all you want about the penalties. Well coached teams, Belichick and Brady did this for years.

They don't turn it over and they don't get penalized and they don't pump much. The NFL seasons are incredibly long. You can't overreact to O and two or three and three. Again, get people healthy. Make everybody count in the kitchen. Three weeks ago when they beat Baltimore, everybody said, well, Ravens are beat up. Yeah. Right now, so is Tampa.

So is San Francisco. A lot of teams in the NFL are beat up. It doesn't matter. With this defense, this play calling, people get distracted. The NBA is about talent and appeasing the star. The NFL is about the O-line, the defensive coordinator, about the NFL. entire system and it's about the culture. This is a locker room of 53 guys, not five that really, really truly matter. And here's Kansas City. They keep tweaking, add a little salt, make everything

in the kitchen work. Prime example last night. When their offensive line, the first couple of weeks, offensive line, it was messy. It was not very good. They had no running game. O line was bad. last night, despite the Detroit Lions, having a 10-minute opening drive, Kansas City one time of possession. With this offensive line, that was a bit chaotic and a bit messy five weeks ago. And I know you don't want to hear it, but Rishi Rice is coming back. The receiving core now, all right, worthy is a two, Ju-Jew Smith-Schuster's a three, Hollywood, Brown is a gadget four.

Oh, that's a, and with Mahomes and Reed pulling the levers, that is a way, above average receiving court. Travis Kelsey again in a big spot. He arrives. So this is what Kansas that he does. First three weeks, very choppy. Last three games, 32 a game. And Detroit's a good team. But they were so focused last night. Here's Patrick Mahomes on being the youngest quarterback to ever get to 300 touchdown passes. It's extremely cool. I mean, I've been blessed. I always say it and I mean it like I've been blessed like I drafted here in Kansas City a great community great ownership and then getting one of the best football coaches of all time and some of the greatest players of all time around me and so makes my job be a lot a lot easier when I'm

really throw to some great ones and let's let's continue let's have some fun and we've got a long career ahead and we'll see how we can get to that's the best team in the NFL right now Kansas City Chiefs one punt no turnovers no penalties dominating an excellent Detroit Lions team Okay, so the last couple of weeks, Baker Mayfield has had to go on the road out west, Seattle, San Francisco, good teams. And in both games, Baker Mayfield was the difference. He's missing Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and Bucky Irving, Emeka Abuka got hurt in the game. Baker willed his team to a W.

As you guys all know, this league is about toughness and resilience. Don't be a victim. Deal with it. Baker's not the biggest. He's only 6-1. He's not the most athletic. But his fight picking up that first down on the run is A-plus-plus. The dude was missing his top four receivers.

Instead, he needed Tess Johnson, heck of a catch, and Cameron Johnson, who was an undrafted D-2 athlete. That was his receiving core, and both caught their first career NFL touchdowns. Baker may feel a lot of these quarterbacks, I don't even need to name them. They get coordinators fired. Baker Mayfield's last two coordinators, he got head coaching jobs.

And again, there's a quality that Baker Mayfield has that I wish everybody in America had. He just, not everything has to be perfect. He never plays the victim. It's like, what do I got to work with? All right, let's go. That he's never pointing fingers. Baker's like, get on my back. this is a guy pulling

he's pulling a team right now they are a mess offensively they are falling he's using D2 receivers and he's beating Seattle and Seattle you see what Seattle did on the road yesterday you see what Seattle did are the Steelers this year he's beating San Francisco all I hear well Brock Purdy's guys are injured

Baker's like yeah whatevs let's go I don't think right now that Tampa Bay roster because I think of the second best team in the NFL to Kansas City, but their roster is so beat up, it's not a top 10 roster. They're missing great players. Pedal to the medal, head down, don't point fingers. Tampa's now 5 and 1. Big win after big win with Baker Mayfield.

His resilience is completely contagious and redeemable, and here he was after another W on the road. I truly genuinely trust the guys that are in there. they're ready. We talk throughout the week. Guys are on the same page, and that's real. I trust these guys, even though some of them might not have played a whole lot of ball, but if we're

on the same page, good things happen. You don't have to have the perfect play when all your guys are fighting for each other and are on the same page, and that's an example of that. Defense played great, special teams as well, and so that's complimentary football. All right, right now, Baker Mayfield, I think he's got everybody's vote as the most valuable player to do it with that beleaguered

roster on the road, beating good teams, beating really good defensive minds or defensive coordinators, feel terrible for San Francisco. Fred Warner's now injured. The whole team is falling apart physically, all their stars. But that's, you know, we often asked ourselves, you know, what's a franchise quarterback? What's the difference? The difference is when things aren't right. I hear this all the time. Well, I mean, you'll hear it from, you know, for years and years. Well, you know, we don't have Caleb's missing this or Jackson Dart was missing that. Baker's missing everything.

He's on the road. Seattle and San Francisco were good. And he's willing his team to win. He may not be the best athlete, but on that one run, he looked like it. That's what a franchise quarterback is. You don't have your best running back. You don't have your top three wide receivers. You got a defensive coach, so it's your offense.

That's what an MVP looks like. That's what a franchise quarterback looks like. It took Baker a while to get there from Cleveland and Carolina and Los Angeles. Took him a while to get there. Who cares? Some careers, you've got to let them bake. But fantastic performance. Yeah, that was great.

J. Mack, got to say this. By the way, that was in Tampa. Was it in Tampa? San Francisco. I watched so many damn games yesterday. Yeah, I was in Tampa. My bad. My bad on that, folks.

My bad. That wasn't, it was in Tampa. I watched 13 games yesterday. and nine the day before I'm lost. But, I mean, the truth of the matter is, Saul is a great defensive coordinator. To go to Seattle, you're facing McDonald, I mean, look what he did, the Trevor Lawrence yesterday. You're talking about facing the best coordinators, smart young defensive guys, pass rushes, and for him to go out there and pull that stuff is unbelievable.

I mean, I think I saw a stat after Fred Warner went out, Colin, the bucks average like 7.4 yards per play. Something insane. Without Warner, the Niners have nothing. no Bosa, no Warner. So I'm pumping the brakes on Baker. He was fantastic again yesterday. Oh, my God. I mean, he's phenomenal.

You could argue he's been the best quarterback in the NFL this season. I don't even think, I think you have to, you have to consider everything. You have to consider it. You got to consider what you have. I mean, the Seattle wins shocked us. I think you and I thought it was our second favorite bet of the weekend. By the way, how'd you, I went four and oh yesterday. How'd you do it?

Two and two waiting on one more tonight. All right. I've got Washington tonight at home over. Chicago. Bears don't travel particularly well. Not sure if you caught this to Mariners. Your guy. Cow Raleigh. Well, all right. We've got a lot to talk about.

Speaking of quarterback play, Justin Herbert, I thought the Baker run may have been the play of the day. How about the Justin Herbert play to get the ball to Ladd-McConkie? When we come back, that is all-time stuff. We talk about this all the time. I like traits with quarterbacks. I like big, strong guys over small guys. And by the way, Baker's not the biggest guy, but he makes he plays

bigger than himself, right? Bigger than his size. What Justin Herbert did yesterday on one play, I looked at it this morning on social media, switching hands during the play. We'll get to that, plus Aaron Rogers, only compliments. Dodgers are playing tonight. We have got ourselves. We have got ourselves this next week, the next four or five days, are as good as America gets for sports. Oh yeah, James Franklin got fired. I don't know what to do with that. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard Radio app. Hi, this is Jay. I'm the producer of the Paul and Tony Fusco show. Usually in these promos, they ask you to listen to the show. I'm here to ask you,

please don't listen to the show. The host are two absolute morons who have the dumbest takes on sports imaginable. Don't listen to this show so it can get canceled. Whoa, whoa, what the hell are you doing in our studio? Get him, Paulie! Ignore that fool. Listen to the Paul and Tony Fusco show on the IHart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast. He's still moving. Hey, it's us to 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 it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do 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 was... 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 in 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.

And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us

on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became a. someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like?

No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever, because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place.

As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Ely Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akela Hughes. in Rebel Spirit Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House

that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back. This is going to be an all-time week. Dodgers tonight and tomorrow against the Brewers who escape the Cubs. Mariners take a 1-0 lead on the Blue Jays. All right. So of the many bad decisions the Miami Dolphins have made over the last decade, one of them was on display yesterday drafting Tua over Justin Herbert.

When they're on the same field, you kind of see the difference. Two is small, not terribly athletic, doesn't have a big arm, three picks. Herbert's unbelievable. Six-six, tough, strong, physical moves. Top NFL quarterbacks need to rise above their circumstances. And Tua needs everything to be perfect. Herbert had no number one receiver, three backups on the offensive line, the number three or number four running back,

and Justin Herbert made a play in this game. it wasn't just game saving. It may have been season saving. As Herbert, again, backups everywhere. Old Keenan Allen, that's what he has to work with. But he made a play to Ladd-McConkie where he switched hands with the ball.

Again, on the road, backups everywhere. Seasoned, it felt like season on the, switch his hands, finds McConkey. Again, that is rising above the circumstance. which were terrible for this team. Shetting 250-pound guys or more, 76% completion percentage, two touchdowns, 112 pass-er rating, backups behind him, backups to the sidelines, backups in front of him.

Jim Harbaugh afterwards, talking about that play to Ladd-McConkie, 30 minutes later, could hardly believe what he saw. That play would be burned in my mind until they throw dirt over top of me. Justin Herbert back to throw. Defender wrapped around him. He's able to just mighty man it and shake it off and hit Ladd McConkey. On a physical level, it just can't really be done by many, you know, just a couple, you know, just a couple handful of guys really. that could do that. So it was Harbaugh who took McConkey out of Georgia, great slot receiver.

He has been unbelievably valuable his first couple of years with the Chargers. But again, it's like Baker Mayfield. You got to rise above the circumstances. Don't be a victim. Get it done. Put your helmet on. Doesn't matter where we're playing. That was probably the play of the day. Baker Mayfield's run for a first down and Herbert escaping that sack. That's what franchise quarterbacks do. Don't point fingers. All right, let's go. We're trailing on the road. Saddle up. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin, let's get started with your new number one team in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs. It was an incident last night

after the game. Brian Branch of the Lions, really talented safety, got ticked off. Isaiah Pacheco's talking. trash. He refuses to shake Mahomes his hand and then goes up and just wax Juju Smith-Schuster in the face. Now, at the time, nobody had any idea what was going on, why it happened. You can see this turns into a big-time brawl. Branch is basically ready to fight the whole team, Colin. Now, I have gone back and found the reason that Branch went after Juju, and Jujo Smith-Schuster did block him in the back illegally. It was a dirty hit. But that's no reason to lose your mind. Anyway, here's Dan Campbell afterward talking about how Brian

Branch's actions were unnecessary. Let me start with this. I love Brown Branch, but what he did is inexcusable, and it's not going to be accepted here. It's not what we do. It's not what we're about. I apologize to Coach Reed and the Chiefs and, you know, and Schuster. That's not okay. That's not what we do here, and it's not going to be okay. He knows it. Our team knows it. So that's not what we do. Yeah, I mean, emotional intelligence is really important, and people get ticked off. You've got to learn to cope.

That's the reality. Games over. I don't know if he'd be suspended. He'll be fine. Yeah, he probably will be, Colin. This is not good. He's a great player. I love him as a player, but you just can't do that.

Got to grow up. Yeah, their secondary already stinks. They face Baker Mayfield next. So that would be a punitive suspension. Now, listen, you and I have played sports. We know in the heat of the moment you link your mind. I get it. It's tough. Somebody's got to reel him in or he's got to just know, I can't do that.

Juju did kind of hit him with a cheap shot, but again, it's no excuse for that. Just a quick question. Are you sure the Chiefs beating the Lions makes them the number one team? I didn't chime in earlier. It's not that they beat them. It's that they controlled them. And they don't have Rishi Rice yet. And they didn't have their offensive line all settled last night. They're getting their left tackle. They're getting Rishie Rice.

This team's dropping now 30. We watched Detroit dis- really, I mean, just dismembered teams. It was just up and down the field, dominate time of possession. The Chiefs won time of possession,

and that's after the Lions had a 10-minute first drive. That's impressive. So they didn't have their offensive line or Rishi Rice. I'm telling you, man, Patrick Mahalms, it's hard to explain.

I remember hearing this year, I thought this was the silliest thing. There used to be this saying among the analytic nerds. They would be like, winning is not a quarterback stat. Hell it isn't. You're watching Mahom, you're telling me that's not, I mean, nothing against Spencer Rattler,

but he's like 1 in 16 is a starter. You think you put Mahomes on the Saints? He's one in 16 with the same players. Patrick Mahomes is smarter. He literally sees the field better. Cognitively, he sees stuff so fast. Some of these guys don't see the feel. And then there are guys like Mahomes who not only sees it, it's like X-ray vision.

He's like Gretzky. He sees stuff develop before it develops. They're bringing in just. Jujo Smith-Schuster has done nothing. Every time he's with the Chiefs, ever notice how valuable he is? Well, what do you think? I mean, some of it's Andy Reid. Mahomes is just, he's an insane all-time talent.

I mean, is it possible the Lions were overvalued? They haven't beat a team with a winning record this season. They have really good players all over the field. They have an all-star team on offense. I'm telling you, Spags, everything you notice, it's almost like, I mean, again, one punt, no turnovers. so good in these big spots, but a lot of times, after the first drive, which is scripted, you get to the second drive, and the third drive, and the fourth drive at Arrowhead,

and it's just like there's no room. There's not a lot of, like Sam Leport is great. Leporta made a couple of insane catches. He's an all-time talent, but it's like a lot of their stuff. Spaggs knows their tendencies, and you got Chiefs just waiting for receivers who catch it. Okay. All right. Let's move to the next story, Colin. That's my Jets. I know you woke up at the butt crack of dawn on Sunday to watch the Jets accumulate 82 yards of offense. Listen, man, Aaron Glenn was not throwing the ball down the – I'm sorry, Justin Fields was not throwing the ball down the field. But I think that's by design from Aaron Glenn. Now, Aaron Glenn was under fire from the media afterward, Colin.

Here he is talking about Justin Fields and his comments after the loss. When you look at what Justin did, the games that he played, listen, I didn't think he was bad. at all. I actually thought he did some pretty good things in those four games. And this fifth game, he took a step back. You know, and I'm with you guys 100%. And we can't have that. You know, we have to get better than that. And he knows that. And he knows that better than anyone, you know. So I don't think you just try to bench a player after having one true bad game. It's not about that. What you have to do in this league is win. And in that second half, A, go to the backup. up. B. Oh, I would get Tyrod Taylor's a pro. He's been around forever. Justin Fields, Denver was in his

head. Denver was hammering him. He was done. He was done in the second half. The other thing is, I mean, there's a reason you bring Tyrod Taylor to your team, not just for injuries. You know, Justin Fields is an uneven quarterback, but it was remarkable. I mean, I'll get into it later, but on that final drive, I would have kicked a field goal. First of all, second of all, why are you asking Justin Fields to do seven-step drops, that is not who he is. Right. You had a chance on three straight plays, pick up seven yards and kick up 60-something-yard field goal or a high 50, 58, 59.

The play calling at the end of the half was egregious. It doesn't make any sense. The play calling at the end of the game was as bad or worse. This team does not know what they're doing. And if you don't want to go to the backup quarterback, I thought over the course of the game, I thought, you know, we've seen this before when quarterbacks just lose their confidence. they're just out of sorts. All right, go to the veteran.

Bring it down. Move the chains. But I was sitting there like, dude, just get seven yards, kick a field goal, and walk out of there stealing a win. Instead, they're asking Justin Fields, with that pass rush, deep drops. Now you're out of field goal range. I love how you're saying, just get seven yards. They had an 82 for the game, Colin.

Their longest play all day, 11 yards. Now, listen, Fields wasn't great. That's fine. We know he's not great. But what the hell was the game play? The game plan, I can tell you this right now. They basically went and said, Justin, don't lose the game for us. We can hang around.

Denver's offense ain't great. And they just basically hung around despite the ineptitude. The Jets had a chance to win the game in the final minute. So I know they weren't awesome and they couldn't move the football. But by the way, Denver's defense is a crazy stat for you. So four times this season in the NFL, a team did not get 10 first downs, only four times. Three of them were caused by the Denver Broncos.

That's how good this defense is. So the idea that Justin Fields was going to go in there like the World on Fire, that was never happening. He didn't lose the game for them. They were in it until the end. This is a good loss, right? You're winless. You're in line to get the number one pick. You covered the spread?

Well, it's not a good loss when your coach appears to be completely overmatched as a head coach. Come on, he's a first-year coach against Sean Payton, All of Fame. Well, dude, it's beyond that. It's got a Freddie Kitchens vibe. It's got a rich coat type vibe. It's got a, we don't know what. we're doing. Is that the worst thing in the world, Colin? When you could get the number one pick because you lose 14 games, that's not the worst thing in the world. No, I'm not saying it is,

but you would like to not have to buy another coach and another set of coordinators and more position coaches. How many times can you keep flushing this green toilet? Well, let's ask the owner, Woody Johnson, who keeps making horrible decisions. Final story, Colin, is to Major League Baseball. Your Mariners last night, Cal Raleigh did it again. It a home run and Jorge Polanco had two big hits. Seattle, picking up the 3-1 win. They steal game one in Toronto. Big win for your Mariners.

That was where the Yankees got absolutely overwhelmed. I thought Toronto was going to win game one. When you come out of an emotional series, American League Championship series, I thought Seattle was just going to get engulfed with the emotion and the rest of Js. That could be a series deciding win. You're given home field advantage to,

Seattle. They play great at home. I have a number somewhere today in my notes. Cal Raleigh has been great against the Jays all year. He has just eaten them up. Game two today on Fox. Fantastic. Look at this. Cal Raleigh

in the playoffs. 483 OBP. He's batting 400. Now think about that. Think about the hitters. Think about the Dodgers Phillies. All the great hitters. Tray Turner. Bryce Harper. O'Tonnie. Freddie Freeman. Like the Dodgers, Philly

Stars could not hit. Cal Raleigh's hitting 400 against elite pitching. That is beer league numbers. That's insane. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News.

We have so much to. I'll get to the James Franklin getting fired. I wouldn't have done it, and I'll tell you why I know everybody at Penn State, all the insiders saying it was untenable, you had to fire him. We'll get to that. So I am going to shock you that for the second straight time I'm talking about the Steelers and Aaron Rogers, I've got positive vibes. They beat Cleveland. They were going to beat Cleveland, 23-9.

I mean, listen, Dylan Gabriel had no shot, totally engulfed. But here's the thing. Aaron Rogers has done two things really well. Number one, he has fit into the Steelers culture. He's not taking anything away. And secondly, he's made the Pittsburgh offense smarter. Pittsburgh's offense is unique. It's got huge targets.

You know, the Hayward and Washington and D.K. Metcalf and Friermouth, it's got gigantic men. This is not like gadget receivers. Like Kansas City's doing it with some smaller body types. Pittsburgh's got massive size. And Aaron realizes that. There's no reason to take big risks down the field. For the last seven, eight years, I had said on this show, Pittsburgh had played playmakers defensively, but they just weren't, they were like tone deaf offensively. They just weren't

very smart situationally. So Aaron has fit in. It's not about Aaron. He's fit in with a culture, and he just made the offense much smarter. Now places like PFF are like, he doesn't throw the ball down the field. On this team, there's no reason to. This offense is big, strong, and physical. And I'm watching this team. He's not doing a lot of wow stuff. He's doing a lot of wee stuff. that's what this is for Pittsburgh. So now they couldn't beat Sam Darnold because I don't think this team

is going to beat the best quarterbacks, but in the AFC North right now, it's backups. So I think Aaron has downshifted. He understands he's a smart guy. He understands what the team needs from me. And in these games when you're facing

Dylan Gabriel and backups, what the team needs is the system, first down, not a lot of wild plays. I got big targets. It's like you're throwing a defensive ends. This whole team feels like a tight end, but effective,

productive enough. I like what I see. You're getting his touch, his accuracy, and his IQ. And I think he's done a great job. The numbers will tell you well, he's not throwing the ball down the field. You know what? Maybe a younger Aaron Rogers, when he was in his athletic prime, would have been

running around and running out of completions. This errand for this team, which has Mack trucks as targets in Washington and D.K. Metcalf, this is exactly the offense you should run. Get some physical matchup advantages. You can throw stuff underneath. Your big guys can break tackles. I'm really impressed by it. They may run away with this division by Thanksgiving, but he's doing that. Now, that was a great throw in the end zone. Across your body. That's an errand throw. but I think he's really figured out the right tenor for this offense. He's just moving the pocket enough.

Here he was after. I think we're playing pretty smart football. I think Art got us into a good rhythm today. And when we take care of the football and don't turn it over, we're going to have a chance in any game. And then if we can control the line of scrimmage, you know, we're really going to be playing downhill. I thought the key to the last two games have been fulfilled. first and second down. Yeah, I think it looks

pretty good. And I, you know, I, for years and years, you know, it's so funny. Aaron, remember when Aaron left the Jets and he was like, yeah, at a meeting with Aaron Glenn, I flew cross-country on my Gulf Stream, or citation or something, my private jet, and I

sat down for a meeting, and 20 seconds later, Aaron Glenn said, we're going to go in a different direction. And Aaron's like, that was weird. I watched the Jets yesterday. They're weird. Aaron's not. Aaron went to Pittsburgh and he's taken this week. The Steelers' offense for like seven years.

They can't run the ball despite using draft capital on the O line and it running back. You're like, why aren't they more effective? They just weren't smart enough. And he's a trigger man. And he deserves a ton of credit. Coming up next, another track meet involving the Dallas Cowboys. James Franklin gets fired. And there was a play last night in the lion.

Chiefs game. There was a singular play that defines why Kansas City's probably going to win another Super Bowl. Oh, it makes you uncomfortable. Makes everybody but Nick Wright uncomfortable, but I'll talk about that coming up. Typical security systems don't really prevent somebody from entering your home and breaking in. They really only react once somebody's inside the house. That's too late. Real security. should stop a crime before it even starts, and that's why you should trust SimpliSafe. They have smart AI security cameras.

Identify a threat and alert SimpliSafe's monitoring agents. 24-7 monitoring agents. It's like having a security guard stationed outside your home. Buck a day and more than 4 million Americans trust Simpli-Safe, their agents, and their smart AI security cameras. My listeners can save half, 50% on a SimpliSafe home security system, at simply safe colin.com. There's no safe like SimpliSafe.

The moment somebody steps onto your property, those cameras identify a potential threat and alert SimpliSaf's monitoring agent. 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, new?

Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson, We dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is.

Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Ely Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akila Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my performance.

personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became someone else. else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy.

But I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No. I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secret. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man.

This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever, because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. For the American League Crown continues. as Cal Raleigh and the Mariners take on Vlad Jr. and the Blue Jays. Game two of the ALCS coverage begins today at 4 Eastern on both Fox and FS1. Brewers beat the Mariners in six in the World Series.

I'm not sure how good I feel about that after the Dodgers appear to have solved their bullpen. Probably go with Los Angeles, but be that as it may, the Dallas Cowboys lost yesterday, and they lost because their defense is a quarterback stimulus package. Everybody, everybody. Bryce Young has never been more comfortable. He couldn't have been more comfortable sitting on a couch watching the game. Dack is on fire. 11 total touchdowns, no picks, last three starts. I mean, Dak is absolutely on fire. He's playing great football, but he can't play linebacker. Maybe they should consider it. Right now, the Cowboys allow opposing quarterbacks, a hundred 17 passer rating.

and I'm told by my team this morning, that's the highest since they've kept track of that stat. There's never been a defense this bad. But I said when they traded Micah, you're going to lose this trade for a year. It's the Shaq Kobe trade. You're going to lose it for a year. Remember when they shipped, they chose, we got to move Shaq, not Kobe, and for a couple years it looked really bad because the heat were ready to win a title. But the Cowboys have two first-round picks.

it is a draft that is rich at corner and edge rusher. And they're going to use all their picks in the first several rounds to draft the defense. They don't need a quarterback. Dak is healthy and playing great. The George Pickens move. I looked at it and I thought, oh, Pickens is a one-year deal. I'm not so sure now. Dax's maturity has really tempered George Pickens kind of high maintenance.

So maybe that's a tandem that works. You can pay two receivers. I mean, you got to hit on some free labor in the draft, but I watched Dallas's offense. They look reasonably well coached. Dax's on fire, but this defense made Rico Doudal look like Earl Campbell. I mean, they gave him the ball 30 times.

You're a summer 200 yards almost. So again, it's a track meet, and Dallas has only one way to win now. They've got to hit the ribbon first at the track meet. And they didn't. Bryce Young did, and here's Dak after. I wouldn't say it's demoralizing, excuse me, but I definitely say it's frustrating, right? Like, just even the last time you have the ball,

Warden probably is not our best series of the game. If we don't score, last thing I'm doing is being frustrated at the defense. That's my problem. That's our problem. That's somebody on offense or, you know, something that we didn't do better. Okay, I want to talk about in that game last night. So remember a couple of weeks ago, Kansas City goes, they lose to Jacksonville, but it really is the foundational piece of Kansas City. They are so good situationally.

So there was a play that was called a pick. And Kansas City is like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this is not a pick. It's within a yard of the line of scrimmage. That's legal. Travis Kelsey knew it. Mahalms knew it. Andy Reid knew it. They all were pointing.

No, no, no. Mr. Official, you're wrong on that. It's within one yard of the line of scrimmage. They knew the rules better than the officials. And this is very Belichickian back in New England. Brady and Belichick, Josh McDaniel, they knew the rule book better than the officials. And they tinkered with it. And they manipulated it.

So Kansas City knew, no, no, no, no. No, that pick is legal. And they were right. Last night, Detroit gets into one of these plays. And I think Detroit's well coached. but the Jared Goff touchdown when he goes out to the flat? No. They practice that thing 10 times.

It's illegal. You've got to get that buttoned up. You can't run that play more than once a year. And when you run it, you got to get it buttoned up. It's an old rule that goes back to T formation, where Goff has to stop for at least a second. He just can't go in motion and curl off. He has to stop and set.

It's kind of a specific to quarterback rule from the lost eight. the halcyon days of football. So again, in both instances, near the go-line, huge situational play. Kansas City against the Jags knew the rulebook better than the official. Detroit, just a little play, was not buttoned up and didn't know the rule specifically. And to me, I mean, you start watching these games, I mean, games that should be 30 to nothing. like they're not. The Jets and Denver, Denver is so much better,

and Denver's incredibly well coached. Denver had the better everything. It comes down to like situational coaching, situational quarterbacking. These Super Bowls, there was a period for about 10 years where all the Super Bowls were blowouts, the Cowboys were in a few of them win them. That's not the way it is now.

Generally speaking, now Kansas City's gotten their boat raced on a couple of Super Bowls because they couldn't get the left tackle right. But by and large, these games are decided on these little situational, circumstantial plays, moments, understanding the rules. Kansas City is great at it.

They knew this pick was legal. I guarantee you they went to the rule book because the minute that play happened, they were all pointing at the ref. No, no, no, no, no, pick the flag up. So it's just, you know, it's not the end of the world, but Detroit, you got to get that right. That's a play that you run to Jared Goff one time a year. You can't run it again. It's like Philly Special.

You get one of those every couple of seasons. You better have it buttoned up. So Penn State, it's as strange. It really is to me. Lost three straight close games. Now they lost a Northwestern. They lost as a huge favorite out west, although I will tell you in college football,

traveling 3,000 miles, nothing feels like an upset. That's why what Indiana did to Oregon this weekend is unbelievable. College teams are young men. They do not travel. as well as professionals. In the NFL home field, I mean, Seattle can go all the way to Jacksonville.

It doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. But in college, you know, you travel to UCLA off that Oregon loss. It's not that shocking they lost. I mean, it's shocking. Now, losing to Northwestern, apparently James Franklin and the athletic director got into a shouting match in the locker room.

But here's why I worry about it. The old substitute teacher rule. If you're going to spare no expense to fire a coach and they paid Franklin 50 large, 50 million, then you better spare no expense to hire the next coach. What happens in the next six weeks if Penn State goes five in one or four and two? Because they got the players. And all the players are going to protest. We want the interim coach.

We want the interim guy. What do you do? We're going to transfer. I'm telling you, these athletic, departments, they bow. They bow to pressure. So when you fire a coach, just know that like the substitute teacher, everybody loves the interim coach. They come in, everybody's on their best behavior. Everybody's working their butt off. Generally, the interim is not as harsh. It's not as bleak or intimidating or as punitive as the head coach. Everybody's playing their hardest. They

want to curry favor with the new guys, backups think they have a chance to start, and you go in a little heater. You go in a three-game, four-game winning streak. And then the players are like, this is our guy or we're transferring, and then you're trapped. So if you're going to spare no expense to fire James, you better spare no expense to hire the next guy. So, you know, at Michigan, Harbaugh leaves, who was popular? Well, the popular assistant. So far, doesn't look very good. Now, it's too early to make a call. Bryce Underwood, Marsh, two of their best players. You know, they're kids.

Underwood's a freshman. They got a lot of good young players. Michigan brand, they still recruit well. But I always worry about it. That's how Antonio Pierce got hired by the Raiders. If you fire too early, it's one thing if you fire and there's two, three games left. There's no pressure on an athletic department to hire the guy. You hire with six games left or seven games left and you win a bowl game.

you go four and two, maybe you upset a good team. Everybody's like, as a guy, is he really the guy? Or is he the guy the roster, the substitute teacher that everybody loves? So I think it's dangerous. Bruce Feldman will stop by later in the show to talk about it. I think you get into really dicey spots. I was shocked by it. I mean, they won 13 games last season.

They had double-digit wins, multiple seasons. He's a great recruiter. Now, there's an argument. and it was, you know, just stuff gets untenable. Okay, I'm not close enough to the program to know. I went online this weekend. You know, everybody on the message board, everybody on the Reddit sites wants him gone.

But just be careful. You guys all wanted Ryan Day gone in Columbus before that Tennessee game last year. When you lost to Michigan by 20, you all wanted Ryan Day out. That's funny. You kind of like Ryan Day now. Ohio State won it last year. Probably going to win it this year. Got to be careful.

Listen to the fan base. J-MAC crazy weekend. What was your favorite game this weekend? We both had a very... Can I go with Penn State losing as my favorite game? The James Franklin. We talked about this, Colin. It's insane.

How rapidly that accelerated it. I also hit up somebody who's in the college football coaching industry, shall we say, and he gave me a name. You want it? Yeah. Clark Lee at Vanderbilt. Keep an eye on him. Young guy, very sharp, previously at Notre Dame.

Vanderbilt is pretty damn good this year. On a good run. I would keep an eye on him. I know you like the Indiana coach as well. Listen, the Indiana coach should not leave and will not leave. Well, he's making $8 million. I don't know. I mean, he's making $8 million.

It's his program. They just went to Oregon and won. Why can't they win? With a transfer portal in the NIL, if you have support from your donor base, why do you have to go to Alabama? It's a great. Alabama doesn't have the money of, right now, of you and They don't have the money of Notre Dame.

They don't have the money of Oregon. Alabama now looks pretty ordinary. Why? They don't have the donors to step up. They're not ordinary. The kid, Ty Simpson's amazing. He's good. He may go higher in the draft. Go to the mock drafts. He's a first rounder. Hour two.

Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, and the Monday. 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.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life?

That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season

of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House Wise franchise,

the drama, the alliances, M&T, everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast, guaranteed human.