The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd-HOUR-2-LeBron James

Episode Date: October 14, 2020

LeBron is gloating and Colin loves itColin reminds us he was right about Justin HerbertGuests: Joel Klatt, Will Blackmon Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

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

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com Or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Hurd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. It's our two. We're live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are on Fox Sports Radio and on FS1. Joel Klatt's going to join us in about five minutes. So Joy Taylor, LeBron James, and I'm loving every second of this, has now moved into the gloating stage. He's on social media, got a cigar. He's talking about, you know, pushing back on all the haters. Now, I like this. I said this. I said this.

I think last week is that every loser on Twitter wants to tell you they're the prince. They're a CEO. They're a titan of commerce. They're living with their mom. It's okay occasionally if an Aaron Rogers or LeBron James goes, now I'm pretty good. And he is gloating about it. There's a bunch of images on social media where LeBron is firing back. And Tristan Thompson, by the way, won a championship with him, was on our show a couple days ago.

And Tristan Thompson said, I. love it as well. It's about damn time. Listen, I've been telling him for years. I said, listen, man, you're the best player. You're the best player ever that's played this game. You got to start talking. I know you're the nice guy and you know, you don't want, you know, you want to make everyone

happy, but you got to talk to talk. You walk to walk. You want to dunk on guys and block shots and all that stuff. You got to let him know, put some respect on your name. And every time he gives him a challenge, he just looks at it and takes it on and makes greatness out of it. So I'm glad he said, about time. And by the way, I do think the bubble was one of the things, LeBron's not only physically the best,

I think he's intellectually and emotionally the best player in the league. Rajan Wondo was talking this week and he said, it's such a pleasure to play with LeBron. Rondo's very much a thinking man's player. He can wear people out. And LeBron and Rondo are perfect together because they really play the game, I think intellectually, at just a different level than the average athlete in America or the NBA. And this bubble to me is more significant, not less significant. Because one of the things Adam Silver was quoted as saying about a year ago, when he was asked about his players, he said they're all unhappy because social media is eating them alive.

And I tell my kids this all the time. Criticism can only do two things to you. Inspire you and motivate you or crush you. And it crushed a lot of guys in the bubble. And social media is crushing a lot of young kids. It is inspiring LeBron James. and he is gloating a little bit now, and he's saying, I heard all. Now, the advantage to LeBron, he's 35.

He didn't grow up with social media, so it's probably much easier for him to put the phone down for a day or two or three or four or five. He's done that before, and it is easier for me than it would be my daughter or my son because they grew up in it. But LeBron James isn't just the best player. He is physically the best player. I think intellectually, Rondo talked about it. He is at a different level. And I think emotionally, this bubble ate up a lot of people. and Adam Silver acknowledges social media is tough on our players.

This is the best I've seen LeBron play in a long time. I thought his leadership was amazing. I thought, I'll tell you this, I was talking to somebody yesterday. I forget it was a coach. And we talked about this and I said the advantage to the bubble is nobody had to get on planes. So these old guys like Rondo and LeBron who are older players were totally energized. Rondo and LeBrono and LeBron were playing like 27-year-old guys. defense. And that's where I think the bubble, if the league is going to make any change,

because you know how like when you have COVID has forced all of us to rethink our travel and rethink our lives and Zoom meetings? The one thing I got out of the bubble, the quality of energy from the players was unbelievable. LeBron looked like a kid. Stop with these seven-game first-round series. Shorten the number of games. These first-round playoff series. Three games. If you win the first two at home, you're on. The quality, the energy of the defense for veteran players was so good. I think that's a direct connection to. They're not on planes all year. They're not seven. I mean, good God, two at home, just for one playoff series. Two at home. Two on the road. You come back home. You go there. You come back to seal it.

I take one cross-country flight. If I flew from Chicago, Chicago to LA. I need two days with no cocktails to get over it. You can't just keep these guys were in the bubble. The quality of energy was through the roof. And go ahead, LeBron, gloat. Gloat. Now, you know, this is the time I consider this kind of mentor pupil stage of the show. Let's bring on Joel Clatt, the voice of college football for Fox Sports. Joel Clat, let's bring him on the only guest with a courage to come in studio. Great to see you. It's our pupil?

Well, you know, I like to impart wisdom on kids, and I think this is an opportunity for you to learn a little from Uncle Colin. So let's start with this before we get into the... Well, real quick, you haven't been on a cross-country flight. Apparently you're not yourself without a couple of days, no cocktails, right? I mean, my goodness. By the way, can I push back just a moment on what you were talking about there with LeBron? Yeah.

And it's not even just LeBron-specific. I just think it's this, you know, you're very into kind of feeling yourself and this puffing your chest out. I love it when Rogers talks back and LeBron talks back and all this different stuff. Just at home, think about this for a moment. Those people that hate you don't want to hear what you have to say. Those people that love you regardless, they don't need to hear what you have to say. The only way that your words are impactful is if you're respected, right? And I'm not saying he's not respected.

I'm just saying, like, throwing it out there just to get favor with the people that love you is never going to be the way to generate any impactful meaning with your words. So there you go. Well, I like to puff the chest once in a while. I bet you do. I bet you do. Speaking of puffing the chest, where is the state of Texas and Tom Herman today? They are wildly entertaining and there is something wrong on that. 18 and 12 in the big 12.

Yeah, you know, what's fascinating to me is that they're entertaining right now under Herman kind of like a car crash is entertaining, right? Because you can't take it. It's like a beautiful mess and you can't take your eyes off it. And it is. And that's really frustrating for that fan base. And the fashion in which they continue to go out there and lose games and play, the sloppiness, the lack of execution, that's wearing on people down there,

in particular with where their roster is, and I gave you the stats last week. They had, coming into the season, 30 players with starts. That's so many guys. I mean, that's such an experienced roster. They have a quarterback that's now started 37 games. They've got the fifth most talented roster in all of college football, and they're out there getting punts blocked and having personal foul calls at the wrong.

It's just very sloppy, and it's wearing very thin, in particular in a year in which a lot of people thought this was going to be the year for Texas. that they could dethrone Oklahoma, not only in Red River, but potentially for the Big 12 championship. So even in a COVID year, I got to tell you, that game Saturday was not good for the outlook of the future of that staff, in particular Tom Herman. And just a side note. And this is what I think gets lost a lot of times when we discuss things like this. People are, you know, it's usually black or white. Oh, all or nothing, you know, he's gone, he's not gone.

A lot of it has to do with the nuance in the context of losses. And in the context of the last two losses for Texas, Chris Delcani is Tom Herman's boss. He's the athletic director at Texas. Guess where he came from? Where? TCU. That's who they just lost to. That doesn't sit well with a guy who just left TCU to go to Texas because he thought it was bigger.

It was better. I can do more things at Texas. And then you sit there and you watch TCU beat your club in a year in which they're supposed to be really good. That doesn't sit well with the decision maker. and then the context of the loss to OU with OU and their roster where it's at, and I explained this last week, with the rebuild that OU is clearly under, that was a devastating loss for Texas.

Now, we'll see what happens with the future of the season and how they can get back to some semblance of quality play. But, you know, even in a COVID year, watch out down there in Austin. So I was, it's funny about the SEC. The defenses aren't so hot in the SEC either. Not anymore. My goodness. So it is interesting.

What in Alabama's defense, this is not. They got torched by Ole Miss. Not a special defense. I watched it. It's not as good up front. It's not quite as fast. It's just not, it doesn't make you as uncomfortable as a quarterback. Alabama always makes you uncomfortable.

It's just not quite as, so here's my question. What if it's not the defense's fault? What are you saying? I'm just saying, what if it's not specifically any of these defenses? What if it's the evolution of offense has nullified the effect of even great defenses. Because great defenses all have one thing in common, and that is that they are great at the defensive line position, right?

They win the line of scrimmage, and then it makes you struggle offensively for the rest of the game. And the spread offense, Colin, has totally neutralized the effect of the defensive line. Because the spread out, the modern offense, and now I think it's really permeated throughout college football, and you've got some great coordinators out there. But what you're seeing right now is the neutral. of great front seven players by the spread offense because the spread offense, if run and executed

correctly, is always right. You've always heard the old adage in baseball that like great pitching always beats great hitting, right? Well, great offense always beats great defense in the modern college football because the spread offense neutralizes the numbers. There's always options available. You cannot cover the amount of options that the spread offense presents to you. And I think that's why you're starting to see some of these teams struggle. The only way that you can get past that as a defense is if you have great man-to-man corners. That's the only thing. It's not even defensive tackles anymore, although those are a great plus.

I'm not saying that you don't have to have those. I'm just saying that if you don't have great corners that can just lock down wide receivers and take away that option because they're better man-on-man, then you're going to struggle as a defense. So let me talk about this Trevor Lawrence thing. So I said this week, everybody's saying, oh, what teams will take Trevor Lawrence in the draft? And I said, let's turn the telescope around. What teams won't?

And I put the top 15 teams in the draft today, the draft order in the draft. Yeah, that is more fascinating. That's a great question. So the Bengals, they love Burrow, and the Chargers love Justin Herbert. We were wrong on Herbert, you and I. No, no, I think you were wrong. I think you were wrong on Herbert. Congratulations on Herbert.

Giants would absolutely take him. absolutely Atlanta's moving off 36-year-old. They're just not going to move off him yet because of cap space. Jets would take him. Chargers won't. Washington would. Jags would. If I don't see Tua,

if I see... That's the interesting while I was looking at the doll. I don't know about... If I see Tua for eight games and I'm like, well, Burrow and Herbert are having no problems with this league, and he is choppy. Do I consider it? Lions would.

Broncos would. I love Wence, but you could get a first round pick for Wend's. I just don't think that the Eagles would, are going to be bad enough to get up there. I know the Bengals won't. 49ers, damn right they would. And even New England, I think they're going to sign Cam to a two-year deal. Yeah, New England would.

So my takeaway is with Trevor Lawrence. I look around this league and I'm not sure there's, I counted seven teams that wouldn't take him. Seattle, Green Bay, Kansas City. Yeah, that's fascinating right there. And you know what's fascinating to me is then how valuable do the pieces become that he's replacing? How valuable does a Daniel Jones become or a Matt Ryan to a roster that's ready to win right now or a Darnold? This was a prime example. So if you're the Jets, the Colts are a quarterback away, they have the line, they have the defense, all the analytics.

They've got the running back. They got the coach. They got the GM. They had Jacoby, Bersett, and Philip Rivers. They can't even roll out. Sam Darnold to Indianapolis. Well, I mean, maybe any of those guys. right. Daniel Jones might fit in Indianapolis. He can move. You're absolutely, I think Indy is the most ready to win right now. Absolutely. You know, of a lot of those teams. Maybe Matt Ryan, although I don't know if they want an immobile guy, but he could be a, listen, if I'm the 49ers and I'm like, I'm sorry, wait, Matt Ryan could be available. That's a team that I would, if I was Matt Ryan, I would really look at because Matt Ryan has had success in that West Coast offense before with Kyle Shanahan when they went to a Super Bowl and probably should have beat the Patriots. that would fit right there. So that's another interesting piece.

And by the way, I don't want to get just caught up in like Lawrence is the only prize possession. I think that you might have the same exact discussion about Justin Fields with all those teams. Ohio State quarterback. And maybe Trey Lance, the North Dakota State kid, who is phenomenal, by the way. He's only going to play one game. He already played it a couple of weeks ago.

But he's going to have that type of acumen coming into the NFL in particular with what the guys have done that have come from North Dakota State. So this is going to be a fascinating NFL draft this spring, in particular at the quarterback position, because there's going to be, like you said, 14, 15 teams that are going to have to make a decision. Okay, so let's talk about Justin Herbert. Now, I had said we had tape. Oh, interesting. I had said about Herbert.

This is such a lie. I said about Herbert. Mentors don't lie. Please tell the truth. I said about Herbert. I said, after the Rose Bowl, I said, you know who he reminds me of? A lesser Trevor Lawrence. Big, smart, tall, strong, confident, can run.

You did not like him at all. You thought he was just a... I was victim of... By the way, this happens to GMs and scouts all the time. And I talked to him about this, and I fell hook-line and sinker. I had him last year live at USC, and I wasn't impressed. And so I was like, ah, and it stuck with me. It clouded my ability to evaluate what he was.

And then, to be quite honest with you, I didn't love Oregon's offense. was a seethrower. He waited to see guys over and he didn't anticipate a lot. So I was like, this is not going to quite translate to the league. And it's totally flipped. He's out there anticipating windows, throwing beautiful balls down the field. His arm has always been very special.

And then he's showing that athleticism like you're showing right here, him getting out of the pocket, the ability to have the arm strength to continue to get the ball down into tight windows. He has been a huge bright spot, I think, in the NFL. And a guy that the chargers have got to be elated about in terms of their future at the quarterback position. I was, by the way, I'll always do this. Colin won't. I was dead wrong on Herbert and happy to say that

because I'm really glad he's having success. Well, I won't say that because after the Rose Bowl, he torched Wisconsin. Is that right? Okay. Yeah, we have tape of it. We couldn't find it this morning, but we had tape of it. Okay, so this is interesting. Here's your top 10 as Clemson, Ohio, State, Bama, Georgia, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. You have Notre Dame at 5.

Yeah. Now, there's a big gap in the world between the top four teams in college football and about five or six are good teams. I've seen Washington go to this thing and can't move the ball against Alabama. When I say Notre Dame, when I hear those first four, I'm like, yep. And then I hear Notre Dame and I'm like, yeah, it's a different group of people. I totally agree with you. And that's why when I'm doing this top 10, it's really a top four. After four, you go like that, you know, you write the top four in.

And really, you know, everyone's going to be like, oh, how's Bama behind? Who cares, right? they're the top four. So Notre Dame can't beat any of those teams? Not this week. I don't know about by the end of the year or not, but it's the college football playoff, you could make a strong argument has hurt the sport because 100%. Why? 100% because it's a self-perpetuating cycle that the most quality players go to the only teams that go to the playoff and then those teams go back to the playoff and then get the best players and then they go back to the playoff and then they get the best players and go back. Did you know that if you took Ohio

State, Alabama, Clemson, and Oklahoma. They've made 17 college football playoff appearances. 17. That's really good, right? Excellence. We love to celebrate excellence. The rest of the country combined has seven appearances. Combined, right? So the separation of the classes has become more significant due to the playoff than before the playoff. And I would make an argument that, to be honest, it's made our industry lazy because everything outside of the top four is like, well, that's no good. you're you were about to go down the road. It's like, can Notre Dame beat those? Oh, no.

Who cares, right? Well, it's not black and white like that because if I'm a Notre Dame fan, let's just put this into perspective right now. Did you know Notre Dame is trying to do this season, something that they've never done in their history? Do you know what it is? Wow. Win 10 or more games in four consecutive seasons.

Wow. They've never done that in their history. They've never done it. Even when they had a guy on a horse in the back feet. Well, partly because they're only playing like seven and eight games back there in that part of their history. But you've got Ohio State doing it year over year, Alabama doing it year over year.

Mac Brown at Texas did it year over year, and they have never gone four straight seasons with 10 or more wins. So what Brian Kelly is actually doing at Notre Dame is historically good for them. And I'm not saying that they're a tier below, and yes, they want to compete for and potentially win a national championship,

but it has made the playoff has made commentary a bit lazy because we don't acknowledge what's going on in some of these programs. Did you know that Miami has only won 10 or more games since going to the ACC one time? No one knows that, right? No one knows that. One time since leaving the Big Ten, they won ten or more games. So what Mandy Diaz is trying to do to get them to compete at the Clemson level is really, really tough.

And yet they go, they don't play well, and we want to throw them away. So, again, your take on like top four and then everybody else, yes, it's absolutely true. And it's partly due to the fact that the playoff stopping where it's, stops has hurt college football in general. Nor, I like to talk about winners. Hey, you know what? It made me think of a game. I'm going to do this game next week. I'm going to do this game next week. It's one of my favorite games. Which one? The almost upset of the week?

No. Is it coming back? It drives people crazy. I have a theory that if you take geography, history, budgets, recruiting base, all that stuff. And you have a 12 game schedule as the base of it. There's a number for every college team. Oh, I totally agree with that. So you take out your best coach ever. Washington, Don James can't count him. Right. You take out your worst coach ever Washington.

I won't bludgeon him, but take him out. And there's a number for Washington on a 12-game schedule to win. And I always argued with my friends in Seattle, it's 8 and a half to 9. You think it's 11. I would totally agree with that. Because there's no players up there. I believe the unrealistic expectations of individual fan bases are out of control. Only a minute left.

I'm going to give you the school on a 12-game. schedule. There's only, there's only, I only have three. I'm giving you the number of all these. And you can do a half. Okay. There's only like four, 11 and a half. Alabama, 11 and a half. Ohio State, 11. USC. 10. So that's very interesting. So, because I always put them at 11 because the lack of commitment from everybody else out west. But they have, their valleys are lower than the Ohio states or the Alabama's in the world. Alabama, very rarely. Alabama, very rarely. if ever goes down. And when they go down, it's very quick. Whereas USC will hit troves and it lasts for a while. Heck, they're in a trough right now. Let me give you another one. Oregon. Eight and a half.

I'd go eight. Wisconsin. Ten and a half. Oh, come. More than USC. Yeah. Oh, Lord. They're no players. They're more consistent than USC. But that's because they've had unbelievable coaching streaks. Barry Alvarez. I mean, they've got, they've had great coaches. Wisconsin, if you're asking me about which team fan base administration knows themselves better than anybody else in the country, it's Wisconsin. They understand who they are, how they have success, why they have success, and that's why they do have success year over year over year.

They were in the summer, Birkenstocks was socks. That's not a 10 and a half. I mean, so does Oregon. And I can't hold that against that. And you had Oregon is at 8.5. but Oregon was good for like a blink of an eye. All right. We'll play this game next week.

We got a lot of commercials. This show has a lot of commercials because it's very popular. It's very popular. I've heard. You know who tells me? The host, ad nauseum. That was funny. Got one off finally.

Very good. All right. I got Will Blackman around the corner. I'm going to take a break. We just blew right through that segment. All poor advertisers had to suffer. We don't have time for you. It's the herd.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeart radio app search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like 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 ten days i'd put on ten pounds i was having trouble stopping the muscle growth Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Today on FS1, the NLCS continues with game three

as Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger. Lead the Dodgers against Ronald O'Cuna Jr. And the Braves, coverage begins. at 5 Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. I'll be watching that today. That was kind of wild yesterday. Dodgers fell into a hole, came roaring back. These two teams should score runs,

but the Dodgers were not hitting going into yesterday's game. So we're going to have a real series here going forward. Good stuff. By the way, you know, I said this earlier about the Tennessee Buffalo game last night. It takes you five or six games to kind of feel. Like Bill Belichick's always said, there's two seasons in the NFL, there's pre- Thanksgiving, there's post- Thanksgiving. What's interesting about Buffalo is everybody's beating up a little bit on Josh Allen.

He had a really bad pick, but he had no time to throw. The question about Buffalo is going to be this. What about their defense? Because I watch Tennessee's offense, and I watch Baltimore's offense, and I watch Kansas City's offense, and I watch the Raiders offense, and I watched the New England's offense with Cam. And I thought, coming into this season, Buffalo's defense, it was number two in the NFL last year. I don't know what the answer is. And they were missing a couple guys last night.

Buffalo's defense is not good enough to get to a Super Bowl today, not through the AFC. So Josh Allen's not the problem. Josh Allen made throws last night. It's insane looking. He's making throws that like, I'm not even sure Mahomes can make some of these throws. He's not the issue. He didn't have a lot of time.

He had one bad pick. But I don't know what happened to Buffalo's defense. Is it personnel? Is it coaching? Right now, it is not good enough to win the AFC. You're not going to beat Baltimore with that. You got clobbered by Tennessee. You're not beating Kansas City.

And, I mean, they beat the Raiders a couple weeks. ago, so I guess, you know, they're good enough to beat the Raiders, but if you look at them right now, third down percentage, they're 30th. Point to game, 21st, passing yard. And last year, they were great. So I don't know what happened, because Sean McDermott's a great coach, but something's different where they're, they're an offensive team now. And when their offense stalls, they're done.

Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the Herd Line News, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, the best or nothing. The Rams hired new offensive and defensive coordinators before this season. And Sean McVeigh thinks that handing over some of the responsibility to do his staff has helped him focus more on the team as a whole. He said what I wanted to do is try and be more present with our team, be around defense, special teams in the offense a little bit more, be around the staff members a little bit more. Adding those guys has been really huge in terms of being able to just kind of take a step back. That's definitely something that I'm trying to do.

Well, he's also been, he's had this offense now, Joy, for several years, so Goff knows it. So you can hand a little bit of a responsibility off to Goff and Andrew Whitworth, the offensive line. There's a lot of, you know, I mean, you don't have to be in every meeting now. Right. And they've seen the results of it. Their offense has improved fourth and total yards per game. They were seventh in 2019. Seventh in rush yards per game.

They were 26th in 2019. And their defense has improved across the board from 2019 to 2020 as well, scoring defense total defense and past defense are all in top five in the NFL. I was shocked how they physically dominated Washington. Now, Washington's not as good at quarterback, but when you watch that game, it was like, oh, this is a mismatch. It's like a bad fight in the octagon. You're like, oh, this isn't close.

Like they couldn't block Aaron Donald. And no, you know, they're a bad call, that Buffalo game. Even though I won that bet, they're a bad call away from being undefeated. I think your point, yeah, I agree with that call. That call was awful. Buffalo fans were freaking out. Like, it's okay. People get bad calls.

The Rams will get over it, but you can just admit then it when it was a bad call. Like sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't, but it was a bad call. But to your point, when you have your system in place for a couple years, this is, to me, what great coaches and great leaders do. Just delegate a little bit. Hire great people so they can be great at their job so that you can take care of everything. Like, when you're the head coach is a lot more going on. We don't really think of head coaches in the way in the, in the, in the, in the, in the, in the,

pros the way that we do in college. But there are still a lot of interpersonal relationship stuff that head coaches have to handle that we don't talk about it because obviously in college it's amateurs and they're much younger. But there's a lot that's on your plate as a head coach, especially in a year like this that you're dealing with. So being able to rely on your coordinators is

massive. But that's what happens when you hire the right people. So during the Bucks lost to the Bears last Thursday, Tom Brady was seen yelling at his teammates on the sideline. And they're still very upset about it. And Bruce Arian says he's perfectly fine with his quarterback doing that. Just be yourself. I don't have any problem with it. At least I don't have to go back to and cuss them out.

They've already got the airfall by the time I get over there. So Tom's got to be Tom. I'm not going to ask him to be somebody different. He does a good job of pat him on the back, too. He might have explode, but he's going to go down there and pat him on the back and get him going. Troy Aikman used to bark at guys. Like leadership's hard. And, you know, Arian said last week that having Tom out there's like having another coach on the field, obviously he has a wealth of experience.

But this is part of the deal when you bring in someone like Tom Brady. Like this is not new, right? He would do this in New England. Oh, he did it in New England. All the time. Yes. All the time. And really, if you pay attention to it, because we talk about it at least once a year, a quarterback getting in, you know, other guys' faces or somebody having a meltdown on the sidelines.

And we act like it's this is a big deal. But the reality is where football is clearly a microcosm of society, it is also, in the same token, very different than everywhere. Other kind of workplace. Right. This is intensity. You're not running full speed directly into your coworkers or your peers for three hours straight. Oh, the testosterone. These games are urgent.

Like, your thing is when you do have a problem, Joy, you may have 12 seconds to get through. You've got to be like, boom, let's do it. Let's go. And there's high stakes, high responsibility, high level of consequences if you don't win. Forget the money and everything else. You're talking about jobs. You're talking about a lot of, there's a lot of pressures in this situation. It's a very high pressure situation.

You and I both played sports going up. I'm sure you had coaches yell at you. Oh, God. I had coaches yell at me. It's just the way you got to get over it. But at the end of the day, it's who is yelling at you. Because I had coaches who I knew had no idea what they were talking about. Not that I knew more, but I knew other coaches knew what they were talking about.

And this particular coach didn't. The only way he could communicate. was just to yell, and that's not effective. That ain't the case with Tom Brady. There's no one on that team that can tell Tom Brady anything at all. The only person I'm sure he even allows to do that is Bruce Ariens because he's the coach and he wants to be coached, but you can't just, it's okay to get yelled at by the greatest to ever do it.

It's going to make you better. Finally, Ty Lou has been mentioned in many NBA head coaching searches this year. Yes. He is the frontrunner. He's been a frontrunner for the Clippers, but Houston is also emerging as a top contender. according to Woj, Lou gains significant momentum in becoming the Rockets' next head coach after the meeting with ownership on Monday. I thought he's a Clippers guy.

Well, apparently Houston has emerged as a top contender for him as well. Jeff Van Gundy is also expected to meet with Houston this week. Well, who's taking the Clipper job? Well, it's basically between Lou and Jeff Van Gundy for Clippers and Houston. Okay, so, okay. I would take the Clipper job, though. If you try Lou? Yeah.

I get, I get, I think Kauai, listen, the Paul George issue is what it is, but the team plays well together when they play together. And I, I think Houston's just, I think it's, I said this this morning, it's the worst good job in sports. You just, the Westbrook Hardin thing over time is not going to be a great playoff. I mean, I would take the Clippers situation. It's, it's more seamless for Tailou anyway. Let's not sell all our stock because the Ravens lost to the Chiefs and the Clippers lost in the playoffs. Like, they're really good teams. I don't think anyone should overreact to what happened with the Clippers.

And I do think everyone needs to keep in perspective that the West is going to look very different next year. As will the East. Again, Katie is coming back. It's going to be a different situation. The Miami Heat are going to be a year older. Tyler, Kendrick Nonna are not going to be rookies anymore. They just went through finals series against LeBron James. Like, Boston's going to come back with a chip on their shoulder. The Phoenix Suns were incredible in the bubble. They're a developing team. Like, everything's not going to be as simple. as it was this season. Not simple, but like it's not going to be a repeat of what we saw this year.

Like the league is going to look a little bit different. The Warriors, like there's a lot that's going to change. So, I mean, Tyloo as the Cavs head coach, has a 128 and 83 regular season record, three straight finals appearances. Yeah, he doesn't take BS. So he'll call out Westbrook and he'll call out Paul George. So the thing about... I think he's a good fit either place.

Yeah, no, no, no. Like, there's places Mike Dan Tony doesn't work. Ty Lou will get in, his reputation is he'll get in the bronze face. And you have to, when you have a star, like Paul George needs to talking to, and sometimes James Harden, you've got to sit down and tell him the truth, and he didn't want to hear it. Tailu is respected, and he's proven he is able to work with superstars. Yes, that's a thing. Good stuff. Joy with the News.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. My buddy Will, Blackmun, former NFL, DB, Packers, Giants, Washington, good dude, wine, Somali. Not kidding, he's good. He knows his stuff. He'll be joining us. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,

FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. 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 panes.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand-new podcast. The Clifford Show.

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

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

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s.

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search, Learn the Hardway, and listen now.

Michelin Endurance XT Silicon Wiper Blades last two times longer, available at Walmart. They're great. Quad Tech repels water, snow, all that stuff. Will Blackman played for a decade in the NFL. He won a Super Bowl with the New York. York Giants and one of four players with a punt return TD and a fumble return TD in the same game. I didn't even know that.

He's put that right in the screen. That's fascinating. Will Blackman also a wine, Somalié, best dressed man. He is joining me now live. All right, we got a bunch of stuff to talk about. So my coaches yelled at me. My stepdad yelled at me. I've been yelled at my whole life.

My wife yells at me. I don't have a problem being yelled at. When Brady barks at all his teammates and six days later, everybody's still talking about. about it in Tampa. Do you think it could unravel a locker room? But why were you able to take care of getting yelled at, right? I always tell people I can play for any kind of coach as long as they don't come at me with an ego. So if they're yelling at me because they have their best interest into me, then it's all good. Like you saw how fun how much fun they had in the offseason, how Brady took care of everybody, how they worked out, how he was beloved. And he also has the

stripe. So for him to go in and cuss everybody yell and get mad, like, I mean, it's not going to deteriorate the locker room. Now, maybe go ahead. Did you ever get yelled out by a player? Oh, plenty of time. I got yelled at by Charles Woodson. I got yelled that by Al Harris.

I got yelled that by Aaron Kampman. One time I came on the plane, I forget where we were traveling to it, when I had McDonald's and he was furious that I will put something like that in my body before a game. And he lit me up. This is Aaron Ketman. He was probably the holiest guy on the team. That's funny.

So Joy and I are watching Alex Smith, and we literally are a nervous wreck. I mean, I even, I turn the game on. I'm like, oh, God, I can't watch Alex Smith play. So as a player, and you had a bunch of surgeries, how did it sit with you? One, I totally commend and respect his resiliency to even want to come back and continue to play football. I had nine surgeries. I still have arthritis in my hands, my knees, and my feet. day. I know plenty of guys who had one knee surgery and they checked out, you know, to sit there and

have 17 on, on one. I mean, I still have anesthesia in my body. I can't much imagine how much he has, but to sit there and go through that and to want to come back and also to play on that field. I play in that field for, what, two and a half years, that field is terrible. And to go out there and still have the confidence to go ahead and play, I literally was sitting on pins and needles like, oh, I just hope he's okay. But at the same time, knowing that he, he was. He was, he, would not go out there if he wasn't confident, you know, and I went through it mentally, too. Like, I did not want to play until I was totally confident. It took some time for me to trust it. So I'm very, very happy and I totally applaud him. He instantly might come back play at a year.

He just had to take one snap and he got comeback played a year. Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting. When I watch the Cowboys defense, the thing that jumps out to me is not just people are in the wrong place, but I always think I judge a defense on do they make the offense uncomfortable? Aaron Donald makes you uncomfortable. Khalil Mack or a great corner. So is the Dallas defense? Is it the scheme?

Is it the players? Is it the personnel? When you look at, I mean, God, they made the Giants look dynamic on offense. What is the problem with it, in your opinion, Will? Why no? I picked Dallas as my fantasy team for a defense this week. I picked them up because they're playing the Giants.

The biggest thing for me is I see zero. I see zero chemistry. They have the personnel. They have the people. There's no trust, no chemistry, and no discipline. And I understand Coach McCarthy. He said, I'm not a big fan of one-call defense. He hired Don Capers, who has that crazy Blitzburg type of defense.

I mean, the playbook was bigger than the offensive playbook. But sometimes when you want to get guys in the same page, especially with the limited offseason, a one-call defense is okay. Because at the end of the day, if everyone lines up what it's supposed to be, everyone knows their weakness. everyone can communicate and be on the same page. I had coaches say, listen, we can call it Cover 2 the entire game.

As long as you do your job and you know the weaknesses are, you'll be okay. I'd rather that happen than guys not knowing what happens when somebody in motions, what happens when the offense shifts, knowing situations. So for them, I would definitely simplify the defense. And to get the chemistry, they just need to spend more time and watch film together.

That's the best way to develop that kind of chemistry. You know, it's Levian, got release yesterday and Adam Gase has struggled with Jamal Adams. He struggled in Miami with some star players. He did not get along with Lavin Bell. And Jarvis. You know, you do get to, and I'm wrong on this, because I thought he had a lot of Kyle Shanahan. I thought he was a real clever guy. But you do get to a point. In your years of playing for the Giants, Washington, Packers, Jags, did you ever feel there was a coach? It didn't even have to be a head coach that sometimes couldn't deal with stars or couldn't deal with high profile guys.

Yeah, I mean, there was a point where when I was in Jacksonville, and I'll say it, coach O'Dewa, Dwayne Walker, he's now the defensive back coach for the Browns, he and I clash, not to say I was a star player, but I was a starter. And he and I clash because I almost felt like he felt like that I wanted certain control. You know, I always invited the guys out to watch film. I invited the guys out to hang out and build chemistry. and maybe he felt like I was trying to take control, which was never the case. Eventually, he and I had some heart to hearts, and he and I are really good friends.

Now I help out at his football camp here in Pasadena, and he and I are super close. But initially, we had that issue, that clash, you know. And I was like, man, maybe it's his ego. I don't know what he's getting at. But my thing is, at the end of the day, if we all take care of each other, we all win, we all get paid. And I just feel like it has to be, that has to be the. the only thing that matters for any organization, no matter, no, doesn't matter what the egos are.

It's like, let's just figure this out so we all can take care of each other. By the way, you know, I'm thinking about that yelling thing. So I've always been comfortable getting yelled at and you got yelled at. Did you ever yell at anybody? Did I ever, no, that was never my style. You know, I was never the, I was never loud. I was never raw, right. I was the one that pull guys to the side.

You know, I'll talk to you and confidence, talk to you quietly. I was never raw, raw. I was never that guy. That's interesting. Now, now, if I got to the point where, okay, I told you once, told you twice, and it's like, like, dude, like, we just went over this. You know what I'm saying? But that's just not my style, but I understand when people get out.

My first coach, I was seven years old, he cussed me out. And I remember I looked at my dad and my dad turned his back on me and walked away. I'm like, yo, like, what's up, man? But he knew that the coach loved the kids. So it was all good because it came from. from a place of love. Yeah. By the way, basketball, basketball question.

Are you a LeBron guy or a Michael Jordan guy? I'm a Michael Jordan guy. I'm a Michael Jordan guy in terms of like history, but I'm a massive LeBron fan. All right. I was going to say a lot of Michael haters having bad weeks. I was just seeing how you're sitting with all this LeBron dominating the world stuff. How's it sitting with you? No, I love, I feel like you have two different players.

You have the facilitator and you have the score. They're totally different. I respect LeBron's entire career since he was in middle school tonight. I feel like no one on earth could handle what he did. He reminds me of how Dion was for hire in the 90s. Like, if you want a Super Bowl, you hire Deon. If you want a title in the NBA, you hire LeBron. I just think just overall his package in terms of the brand and the player supersedes anyone.

But I feel like just with Jordan, in terms of his mental strength and endurance as a player to really terrify everybody else. There's no one else like him. You're a wine, Somalia. When's the last glass of great wine? What's the last great glass of wine you had? What was it? The last great glass of, you know what?

I'm tasting a bunch of, I got a bunch of, you can't see it in my office room out. I got a wine all over the place right now. I just had a Ruson from Westwood. That was pretty good. I just had, oh, Pinoir, Noir. You like Peter Noir. Peter Noir from Melville and Santa Rita Hills.

It's actually in my subscription box this month, so you buy it this time. I'm not sending you anything. Well, that was very direct. You were yelling at me. Listen. I felt like one of Brady's teammates right there getting yelled at by you. Don't be sensitive now, okay? I know you'd be getting blasted.

I know Cleveland's been winning and you're kind of like, oh, you're feeling it right now. I understand. All right. Good to seeing you, buddy. I love having it. By the right, shout out to Joy for supporting the one MVP, the only person. in the Fox building to support my brand. Oh, come on.

We support Will Blackman. Come on, stop. It was. It was great. This month was Dwayne's wine. So it was perfect. Yeah, I mean, she kind of had to, right? It was D. Wade.

Well, not really had to. All right, buddy. Will Blackman. Love him. 10 years. He's so sensitive. You know what's scary, not Will. Geico Ween.

Save money. Scary watching all those savings. Geico.com. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

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

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey,

or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. On The Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.