The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 2 - MLB predictions, Dante Moore's skill set, James Franklin let one get away, Joel Klatt

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

Colin gives more thoughts on the Wild Card rounds in the MLB and gives some predictions FOX Sports CFB Analyst Joe Klatt stops by The Herd to talk about the Wisconsin-Michigan matchup, Oregon Ducks QB Dante Moore, Penn State HC James Franklin, and moreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Joel Clatt in five minutes. So, um, Padres can still beat the Cubs. Played yesterday. Cubs win game one. Podres have to play a certain one. Outside of Mani Machado and Tateef, they don't have any home run hitters. Cubs have six guys who can hit over 20. hit over 20 home runs. So the bottom line is there is a way the Padres have to play.

It's got to be moving runners. They let baseball and sacrifices. That's what they do. They win 3-2, 4-3. Occasionally Machado stands up for Tateith. They don't hit home runs. But they lead baseball and sacrifice hits, and they have a great bullpen. But that bullpen is much more effective when you lead in the eighth inning and ninth inning.

And so yesterday I'm watching this series. I'm like, oh, Padres can win this series, but they don't have the margins. They have to win a certain way, and they couldn't get the hits. Their best three hitters went 0 for 11. And the Cubs only had six hits, but two were jacks. And that's really the difference here. There's stylistically, San Diego only got one hit with runners in scoring position. They had seven opportunities, but they couldn't get the hits.

So they just don't have very wide margins. They have to hit with runners and scoring position. they got to get base knocks. That's what they do. Because they're not getting three and four run innings on the deep ball. So the reality of this series is the games, I think the games will be really close. But yesterday is kind of how the Padres are built to play.

Move runners over, keep the score low, get a lead sixth inning, go to the bullpen. Mike Schilt is the manager. Here's his thoughts on rebounding in game. too. We know what it's, you know, what we're looking at, right? So, I mean, you know, we got to take care of business tomorrow to set ourselves up to take care of business on Thursday. And we expect to do that. And, you know, our clubhouse right now, it's disappointed, but nobody's hit, nobody's hanging their head. You know, it's a good club that knows what they're capable

of doing and is eager to show up to go compete tomorrow, they want to get the ball, and we'll take it from there. The Yankees loss is different, but somewhat similar, is that they have a way to win too. It's the opposite of the Padres. They don't sound. sacrifice. It's all power. Having more money doesn't mean you don't have problems. More money, more problems. It's just different problems. The Yankees don't do a ton well, especially with Garrett Cole injured early in the season out. The bullpen's not very good. They don't sacrifice. You know, runners in scoring position. We need a single. That's not what the Yankees do. They're the opposite of the Padres. It's all power. And I mean, when's the last time the Yankees overachieved?

that's a fair i mean brian cashman 28 years randy lebyn 25 years erin rogers erin rogers erin boon eight years they're they're really patient i respect that but the kansas city royals low revenue low payroll tampa are getting to the world series as often in the last 15 years 20 years so yankee fans have had enough i mean yesterday is a prime example of the yankees they struck out 13 times well of course they did they're the yankees they strike out a lot so i said that last segment i mean the angels and the rockies strike out more. The Rockies have more home runs than the Padres. Rockies won 43

games. And the Yankees strike out at the Colorado Rockies pace, a team that won 43 games. So the Padres and Yankees are the opposite that I think they've got they have a certain way they have to play. The Yankees have to get

home runs in high leverage spots. And you go to the ninth inning, and here comes 100 mile now Eraldus Chapman, and good luck. that's good luck here's Aaron Boone I thought we had you know a lot of really good at bats against him I thought Caboeros at bat the inning before was really good you know obviously Goldie getting us going judgey smoking a ball belly doing his thing and then I thought G you know G didn't get any results tonight but I thought I thought he had a lot of

good swings a lot of just misses and you know they got us tonight yeah that that's not going to play well in sports talk radio in New York. But, I mean, Milwaukee is the most complete team in baseball. I think that's inarguable. Dodgers bullpen,

yikes, Yankees, Yankee strikeouts, bullpen, yikes. Cincinnati doesn't, you know, they don't have, they're going to get overwhelmed by the Dodgers. Padres can't get any big innings off the deep ball.

So, Cubs, pretty complete. Brewers, really complete. Mariner's pretty complete. But it's a wild playoff. You have low payroll, small market, big market.

Yesterday was great. With that, Joel Clatt, joining us live, the voice of college football at Fox. He's got Wisconsin at Michigan Saturday. So I'm watching we went into a season. There were quarterbacks we all like. Drew Aller, Cape Kludnik. We all were like,

okay, these guys are really good. And I had said, the interesting guy, about two weeks ago, I said, Dante Moore throws the ball like a pro quarterback, and he's got movement. His ability to go to Penn State with that crowd and to be stoic and unbothered and have that temperament. Like, it was a little jaw dropping. And to juxtapose him next to Aller, who doesn't have the feel, to me, doesn't have the feel for the game that Dante Moore does.

It just feels like Dante Moore. Some guys just, it's just kind of innate. They've just got a feel for it. I don't know. I watched him and I said yesterday, if I had a number one pick, I think I'd pick Dante Moore. I think he's that good. Is he not? I think at this point, he would be one of my favorites for the Heisman Trophy, you know, and I do think he's that good. And, you know, you just described it as stoic and unbothered.

I would say calm. He was calm. He was calm in the pocket. He was, his face was calm. And it didn't matter the situation. It didn't matter if it was the first snap of the game they're dealing with the crowd noise, all those fourth downs that they would go for, where he was, he was carrying the football, it didn't matter if he got hit, if he was having to leave the pocket to make throws, make throws from the pocket, if he was having to drive the football, throw with touch across his body. He did all of it. And by the way, probably the best play that he made was that one that you're showing right now where, you know, it's in double overtime and maybe the best defender in college football or edge rusher in college football, the night did

a sudden, is bearing down on him unblocked and he calmly just protects the football, scoops it under him, steps up in the pocket, leaks out towards his right and delivers a dart. I mean, his ability to make plays is fantastic, but it's more than that, and you're touching on it. It's this calm nature that he has. And I think that that's born through preparation and ability. He's got great confidence in himself, everything around him. And when I talk with Will Stein, their offensive coordinator, you know, he tells me that Dante prepares as well or better than anybody he's ever been around. And he was around Teddy Bridgewater,

who was historically one of the great preparers in college football at Louisville. So I think that the sky is the limit for Dante Moore, not only in college football here at Oregon in this season, but ultimately, you know, in the National Football League. So I have defended James Franklin. Yes, he's losing.

But I defended for years, Ryan Day. I'm like he's losing to Harbon, Michigan, and Georgia. Give me a break. James Franklin's losing to the right people. That said, That felt like a game you have to win. Home, Dante Moore never played in front of that crowd.

You have mostly even players. You're at home. That one felt like, okay, I've defended James. You've got to win that game, don't you? I would agree with you. And I've done the same thing. You know, so I bring up this stat last week. They were in the regular season,

oh for their last 14 and top 10 matchups going back to 2016. We talked about that. But this one was the first time that they were both the higher ranked and the favored team. So like you're saying, in a lot of those matchups, they're 18th in the country going to number two Ohio state. And it's like, listen, you're probably not going to win that game. So I think the narrative is a little bit overblown, although it is factual. And this is one that you sit in the bucket where you've got to win this game. Oregon's in largely a rebuild.

Here's what's scary for the Big Ten is that that's a rebuilt team. Transfer Portal and young players everywhere. True freshman back, D'R. Hill. two freshmen at corner, one red shirt, one true. Like I said, rebuilt offensive line through the transfer portal, a quarterback that's making his first starts as a duck, and in particular in an environment like that. Meanwhile, Penn State has all of these experienced players back,

including Drew Aller, they're a quarterback, and they can't win the football game, and that's the alarming part for Penn State. And so this is what I would say for Penn State, is that you've got to have a clear-eyed evaluation. You've got to have some competitive integrity and evaluate yourself honestly. What is going wrong in these moments?

And I think that you've got to come down to two conclusions, Colin. Number one is this offensive system that they're trying to run is not a fit for Drew Aller. And unless you're going to change the quarterback, you better change the offensive system or at least how you go about it philosophically. He is not an RPO quarterback that wants to be a point guard, fast hands, fast feet type of guy. And yet that's the offense that they try to run. I think they need to take a page out of what Ohio State did a year ago, which they went and lost to Oregon in the regular season in Eugene,

and they changed their defense because of it. Why did they do that? Because of the players and the player's skill set. They wanted to get Caleb Downs more involved in the action, and so they changed the structure of their defense to better suit the players that they had. Well, they need to change the structure of the offense at Penn State to better suit their quarterback.

And then the last thing would be game management. You know, I thought at the end of the half, they did a poor job of leaving time for Oregon, and Oregon got an extra possession out of that. And in those types of games, you've got to do everything perfect. So James needs to be better at game management. And then I think that they need to take a hard look in the mirror at exactly what they're trying to do offensively and what Drew Aller can do.

And they need to marry the two together. Okay, I don't think anybody's going to beat Ohio State because I think they're going to struggle to score. Last year, I felt like Ohio State between the receiving core, the quarterback play, stud running backs were both doing well in the NFL. I thought they just had too much offensive firepower, as Oregon found out, the first game and the second, the second one, Oregon couldn't keep up offensively. I look at this defense for Ohio State. Now I look at the defense, and I'm like, to go to Seattle, Jedfish, they got,

Washington's got some offensive pieces. They don't have Ohio State. They just, they made all the big plays. I think it's a different version. And, by the way, last year they had Chip Kelly. So over the course of the season, that offense got smarter, it got more efficient. It just grew and grew and grew and at the end it was a train. This is Matt Patricia.

And, okay, now all of a sudden you start looking at it and you're like, oh, Arch Manning couldn't figure it out. Oh, Jed Fish and Washington couldn't figure it out. Okay, this is powerhouse personnel, great offensive coach. I think Ohio State looks like a team that's going to play for the national championship. You know, you remember watching Usain Bull. run the hundred. Yeah. And he was the fastest, but it looks like he was running the easiest.

Remember that? And like everybody else is like, you know, like this. And he's just kind of gliding through the line, looking back at people. That's what Ohio State feels like to me right now because they haven't even gotten into fourth gear offensively. Like they haven't needed it. They've played very conservative football and relied on their defense. And here's what's interesting.

And Colin, I don't disagree with your premise, although I would just say, I think that's selling last year's team just a little bit short. That was the number one defense in college football a year ago. The number one defense. And they're better this year. That's the scary part. It's different this year. It's different because of the speed and athleticism that they have in particular at the second level. Two guys that I want to point out, Sunny Stiles, which is a experienced linebacker that moved from safety a couple of years ago. He's a terrific player. And then this new starter that they have Arvel Reese, you should hear scouts talk about Arvel Reese. is a game wrecker at the linebacker position and they're so long and fast that opposing offenses

can't do anything against them. That's why DeMond Williams, who's a really terrific running quarterback dual threat guy, he couldn't get loose because these guys were spying him. Oh, hey, by the way, the best defender in the sport is behind those guys and Caleb Downs. So it provides an opportunity for a young defensive line to continue to develop, which they are. Caden Curry had three sacks last week. And that's what makes them such a dangerous team and why the offense has just been gliding along. Second gear, third gear. We haven't even seen the best from Julian Sane and Jeremiah Smith. And they're just developing themselves into a team. That's what worries me for the rest of college football is the team that looks like they're running the easiest is actually running the

fastest right now. So I went to the USC game and my takeaway, people were banging on Lincoln Riley because they scored too fast in the end. And my takeaway is when you're on the road with 20-year-old kids and you can score a touchdown, score a touchdown, their offensive line was missing their left tackle. I would disagree with that. I would disagree with that. You think they should have played around and gotten cute?

Well, no, they didn't need to play around and get cute. They just needed to keep the integrity of the drive that they were on. So they got the ball down six. So they're down 14. They go down and score and go for two. Okay, great. All right. The analytics tell them to go for two.

they get it. So now they're down six and an extra point's going to win the game if they can put the ball in the end zone. And I will give you this. You have to score. And I understand that. And you'll take a score whenever you get it. However, the drive, as it was constructed, the philosophy of that drive, they got the ball with around four minutes to go and they wanted

to make it the last drive. That's how they executed. That was the philosophy of the drive, the integrity of the drive up until the point where they're just inside of the red zone and now there's just inside of two minutes. They have bled all of that time. They're running the football well. They're throwing some screen routes. They're moving the ball. Illinois still has all three timeouts left. There's about a minute 55 and all

a sudden on first down, you take a shot to the end zone like out of the blue. No, no, no. You keep the integrity of the drive. That doesn't mean that you're messing around. It doesn't mean that you're trying to drain the clock. It just means that you're in the philosophy of how you're moving the football. If they hand the football off once, great. Twice, even better. You're draining the timeouts. You're draining the clock. And then you can still get a first day. down in that moment, which would have been just inside of the six yard line, and you can still score. So my criticism was just that at first down was not the time to take a shot. If you want to take a shot on third down right there, you know, I would be fine with that.

But again, stay in the integrity of the philosophy that you had from the beginning of the drive. Yeah, J. Mack texted me after the touchdown. He goes, oh, good win for USC. And I said, Illinois has a great kicker. They scored way too fast. And their defense looks fatigued. they can't get a pass rush now i turned to gus right after the touchdown and i said illinois wins right after the u sc touchdown as soon as that they took a shot and he caught that ball brett beillamah must have been thrilled on the sideline i know that sounds wild it does i get it i understand but illinois had been moving the ball all day long the only thing that stopped them were fumbles at the goal line and they got a great kicker they were winning in the game

So when everybody banged on Harbaugh for years, Joel Clatt and myself were like, you think he can't coach? Settle down, take a deep breath. A lot of the flame throwers at other networks went crazy. You and I didn't. When people wanted Ryan Day fired, you and I were like, yeah, he's losing to Harbaugh, who's been to Super Bowls, he's losing to Georgia. Ryan Day's a really good coach.

And he wanted Natty. So Kalin DeBore, I said this when Bama hired him, Greg Burns. I said he could have hired Dan Lannning, Southern Ties. He could have gone after Debo, Southern Ties. There were a lot of people he could have hired. And Greg Byrne goes, no, I'm going to go west. And I'm going to get that Washington guy. And I thought, despite being a great coach, you know, the SEC has gobbled up a lot of good coaches.

And I thought it was kind of a gutty hire. You know, Dabo could have been there if you threw a ton at him and other guys. Dan Lannning has that southern background. When he was beaten Georgia and out-coaching Kirby, smart. My take was, why are you doubting Ryan Day, Jim Harbaugh, and Kaelin DeBore? Do you not think they can call? I thought his first half game plan was unbelievable. Yeah, it was incredible. It was incredible. I loved their answer. That team looks far different than the team that lost to Florida State. I mean, not even the same team at all. The effort level

was different. The offensive line play in terms of protecting the quarterback was much different. And that's actually the main point is that if they can protect Ty Simpson, he's an extraordinary quarterback and they've got great weapons on the outside with Williams and Bernard. So they can throw the football. And DeBoar and Ryan Grubb, remember Ryan Grubb was not there last year. He was the offensive coordinator for the Seahawks after they were together in Washington. Now Grub is back with him. And when they have the right fit at quarterback, it's really beautiful.

They had that with Michael Pinnock's at Washington. Now they have it with Ty Simpson at Alabama. So they can throw the football as well as anybody in the country. My worry for Alabama, though, is that there's still some glaring holes, right? now with the way that they play. They gave up 200 yard rushing to Georgia. They gave up 200 yards rushing to Florida State and they don't run the football very well. So Ty Simpson basically has to have a cape on his back. The game plan has to be perfect for them to go win. That makes me nervous in what I think is a balanced league. I don't think the SEC is a great league this year with a

great team, but it's balanced and it's going to be a lot of one-score games. They might be in a one-score game this week at home against Vanderbilt with Diego Pavia. And if you all of a sudden have an off day throwing the football or your offensive line is not protecting well that day, you're finished, you're done. And so that's what makes me worried about Alabama is it's not the Alabama that we're used to. Everything you said about Kaelin DeBore, I agree with. He's a great coach. There's no doubt.

But this seems to be, I don't want to say a one-trick pony, but there is one clearly excellent part of this team and several average areas of this team. And that would worry me going forward. Yeah, listen, let's be honest about college. football now. It is not just Georgia Bama Clemson. That's right. It's very, very even. And what happened about four years ago in the

transfer portal is it used to be Bama, Georgia, if, oh, left tackle goes down. Well, we got a five-star guy behind him. Yeah, they stockpiled talent. That guy now goes to Louisville, or Texas Tech, or he gets purchased. So Alabama and Georgia

don't have the depth, the dominant depth. They have really good players, but if a running back gets hurt, the second running back is not an NFL player sometimes. When I'm watching Georgia, I'm like, they're just not as fast. They're not as dominating. And by the way, Bama's got good players, but they have holes. Under Saban, you're like their third corner was unbelievable.

So the transfer portal in NIL has made this sport very even. Yeah. And by the way, how about all the people that lament those two things? And I get it. It's frustrating. But just because something's frustrating doesn't mean. mean that it's bad. Okay? And what we've seen in college football is a transformation of the sport where now 10, 12, 13 teams, I think could possibly win the national championship. Now is it

totally likely? I don't know if it's totally likely. But prior to this, Colin, and you and I used to talk about this, there were like three, maybe, that would win the national championship or could win the national championship. Well, you'd watch the SEC and it look so much faster than the big 10. Yeah, and now that's done. Now that's done. In fact, I'd say, the three best teams that I've seen so far, probably Ohio State, Penn State, and Oregon. Maybe Miami makes it. They're like, you can't even get to an SEC team

in the kind of the top four. I know people are propping up and I maybe do this with A&M and maybe Texas or Georgia or Alabama, but the elite teams in college football no longer rests in the SEC. The top of the sport now rests in the Big Ten. And it's just true.

Now, thank God you and I aren't just out here for clicks. We're giving nuance to this. That's right. It was great to see you Saturday, by the way. It was. You know what? Somebody said, do you want to go see Gus and Joel Klat? And I said, you know what? Professionals don't want to get in the way of the production.

And I did the pregame show. And I said, with the barstool guys, and I said, that's fun. I'll go downstairs and, you know, do that stuff. But a couple pros up there, I didn't want to get in the way. That's right. That's right. That's right. Saker ground up there in the booths.

We don't just let anybody in. That's right. That's right. I didn't have the passes. I wasn't equipped with the accurate passes that get you in. Joel Klatz, voice college football. Mark Sanchez next hour has got all sorts of great stuff. And J. Mack, this town, yesterday I took the train home.

There's nobody on it. Cubs game. Well, hey, listen, L.A. is rolling out the red carpet for you. I'm trying to get Dodgers tickets for the next round so you and I can hang a little bit. You know, I know you're very excited. I know people in New York think, yeah, New York is the best, Baseball City. The Dodgers outdraw both. Last time

I checked, the Dodgers drew like $7,000 more a game than New York, the Yankees. And remember, Dodger Stadium's not easy to get in and out of. Basically, and I'm saying, it's a great state. It's one of the oldest stadiums, so they're not selling new cool stuff. It's an old stadium.

It is hard to get into. Traffic in L.A. stinks. Traffic everywhere stinks. And they are, listen, I always thought it was a Laker town, and then you moved to Los Angeles, it's a Dodger town. I would slightly say Dodgers over Lakers, yes, yes. Yeah, and the other thing is, they won the division again.

It's so funny, everybody's lamenting the Dodgers. Oh, my God, what, they win, 93 games? If they would have blown just half the saves. Just think about this, 13 saves. They would have won 106 games. What seven? No, I'm bad with math. It's a little early for math, yes, yes.

It is. Folks, uh... One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straightfire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats, to help you win big at the sports book and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 was a trend. 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. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions,

the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis.

And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down. three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

You were busy last night or you went to bed in the Midwest of the East Coast, and you did not see Shohei Otani's sixth inning second home run. Here it is AM 570 in L.A. 9-1-1. Otani hits a towering ball. Deep right field. He flips the bed and watches it fly. Three quarters of the way up the pavilion. Just a mammoth blast for his sense.

second home run, and the Dodgers are pouring it on in game one. I remember a couple of years ago when I said he's better than Babe Ruth. Whoa! Folks, he is so much better than Babe Ruth. Steals, Ace, power, average. I mean, there's just nothing like him. I remember when Michael Jordan was in the league, and I can remember watching it on the couch with a friend against the Phoenix Suns in the finals.

And I'm thinking, Barkley may be the second best player in the game. And Barclay had a great series, and Barclay wasn't close. Like, that's what I feel like. Like, Gretzky. It sounds ridiculous to argue. Gretzky's not the best hockey player of all time. Like, it's just ridiculous.

And it's like, Otani is notches above Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts. You know, Hall of Fame level players. He's just an all-timer. And we all get to watch him. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

You know who else we get to watch this, the superstar? Mr. George Pickens! How about that game on Sunday night football, Colin, against the Packers? I mean, he was phenomenal. Two touchdowns. And listen, I'm not calling him a superstar.

Jerry Jones is. Are you ready for this? Listen to what Jerry Jones said about acquiring Pickens and his potential future. He's an exemplary teammate. he is exemplary in his work preparation. I'm proud to tell you that we've got some outstanding structure in our cap space that will allow us to do a lot of things that I didn't think when we finished this time last year

that we might have the room to do some of these things we're talking about doing. We paid a price for it. We had to not sign some players that we might have thought we should, or fans might have thought ought to be signed. man, we can do it now. So if you couldn't clearly hear that through that Texas drawl, or the southern drawl, I'll say, he essentially was saying, hey, if we had signed Micah,

we couldn't get Pickens. But now we didn't sign Micah so we could afford Pickens. That's right. He's going to go pay Pickens. Green Bay is going to win this trade, just like the heat did when they got Shaq, when the Lakers had to make a choice. They knew that Kobe long-term, better shape,

harder practice player, more committed. But they knew for the first couple years because Shaq was going to a very good ready to win a title team. They were going to have to eat a dirt sandwich in the trade and get crushed. But the Lakers were right. This is one of those where Dallas is right doing this. But they're going to get crushed because Green Bay is really good. They now have four first round picks in the next two years and do not need a quarterback. Do you everybody like Cleveland has two.

They need a quarterback. Rams have two. They'll draft the quarterback. to have two first round picks. That means, let's say the Cowboys have the number eight draft spot. Somebody's going to go up and offer them a third and a fourth or a third and a fifth. And they can go, okay, and then they can do that again when they move back to 12. And they can do it again.

Dallas could literally get six picks with one of their first round picks because if you go into a draft next year, I wrote it down the other day, the teams that need a quarterback next year. And I wrote down eight teams. Now I'm counting the Rams who don't need one today. but they will in a couple years. And Arizona, I think, would consider if the right one fell to them. So I counted those two.

You start doing jets and Cleveland. I didn't count the Giants, Jackson Dard. I think they'll go with them. I started counting teams. Once again, six teams, maybe eight, could put themselves in a position to draft the quarterback. And the Cowboys are going to have a top ten pick. And maybe one of the only teams, go look at the standings right now. One of the only teams that will be a top ten pick that doesn't need a quarterback.

quarterback is Dallas. This is going to work out so well for them. Right. So timeout. You had me and lost me. Okay. So a couple things. First of all, on this quarterback thing, we talk about Glass Joe Burrow. Okay. I look at the last five seasons of Jack Prescott. He's been missing a lot of games with injuries. So I don't, and he's older than Burrow.

He's 32. So I don't know that he's, the Cowboys don't need a quarterback. They got to think about a backup at some point. That being said, this idea that becoming the Cincinnati Bengals is a good thing. they're essentially Higgins, Chase, and Burrow. That's what they will be. That's not getting you to the playoffs. The Cowboys have better personnel than Cincinnati.

Where? And Burrough has been hurt multiple times, and Cincinnati's got infrastructure issues. A tiny scouting department. Dallas's defense cannot stop anybody at all this year. Dallas is a franchise that consistently, when they have it, will spend money. Spend it on DAC, spend it on CD,

Spend it on Tyron Smith, spend it on Zach Martin. They keep their stars. Here's one they didn't because they got trapped the last two years. They had no flexibility. They couldn't even spend $8 million on Derek Henry. So Jerry's like, I'm a dealmaker. I can't make any deals. And so I do not consider, if it's a word,

the frugality of Cincinnati in Dallas. When Dallas has stars, they pay them, and they often pay them early. Not all the time, but they have Jalen Smith's a linebacker. they shouldn't have paid and they paid. Cincinnati never does that. One final note. We know Pickens is, uh, in college he had some issues and in Pittsburgh. Colin, you remember when Mark Sanchez off air told us when he was with the Jets, there was a receiver who was a bit of a problem who was playing his butt off for a contract. The second he got it, he starts showing up late was an issue.

I'm not going to say the receiver's name. Jets fans know who I'm talking about. Colin, there is that risk with Pickens. We know he's playing for a contract. He has had issues in the past. He is a high risk, high reward player. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not paying. Some players are leases. Some, some relationships are dating. Pickens has been great this year.

But at wide receiver, C.D. Lambs a star. I'll go draft other wide receiver. Okay. All right. Let's move on to the Philadelphia Eagles, Colin. Now, this is interesting. Tush push. Eagles face the Broncos this week.

Numbers coming down, by the way. Sean Payton was asked about the quote-unquote controversial tush push. Here's what he had to say. I was one that stood up in favor of. The reason I stood up in favor of is pretty simple. The powers to be don't want it for aesthetic reasons or competitive reasons, you know, or it's hard to officiate, et cetera. But I've been involved in those meetings for a long time,

and when all of a sudden health and safety was pulled into that, which might be the safest play in football, my bull-shund nose kind of went up. Are you reading anything? Is this gamesmanship on his part? Yes. Ahead of the Tush Push? No. So, by the way, Philly had that wrinkle with the Sequin Barclay handoff out of the Tush Push,

and they had a couple Dallas Goddert little shovel passes. Listen, they're being really smart with this. That being said, Colin. Very interesting game. This was four and a half. It's down to three and a half. We're waiting on word on J. Carter MRI.

Dude, I already turned my bets in yesterday on a Tuesday and I had Denver plus the point. Oh, man. Okay. The headlines crew was already asked for Friday's picks. This game will be involved on Friday. Final StoryCon, let's go to the Seattle Seahawks. Your team, I kind of scoffed at you when you said they were in the Super Bowl bubble. Hey man, they host Baker Mayfield in week five.

Now, interesting issue here is the Mariners are hosting. the divisional round at T-Mobile Park across the street from Lumen Field. The NFL game could be delayed one to two hours, and Mike McDonald addressed that situation Monday. From what I understand, it's not that big of a move, so we would just adjust our morning schedule accordingly. It's really no big deal. It's actually kind of great that we're going to be forced to move.

I think that's awesome for our city, and it's going to be a really exciting Sunday. You know what they call Seattle? Winnersville. Nothing but winners. Did you just make that up? So it's interesting because the 4 p.m. slate has some good games on Sunday. 4 p.m. for the East Coast, obviously.

Tampa, Seattle's good. Tennessee, Arizona's a dud, but Jaden Daniels returning versus the Chargers. One of us here might be at that game. And then Lions Bengals, Jake Browning getting smashed by the Lions will be fun. I'm embarrassed that I was scoffing at you for liking Seattle

in the preseason, Colin. Sometimes, you know, the squirrel gets a nut every once in a while, and I think you're on to something. I like Seattle against Baker this weekend. So do I. Boy, I'm going to be... Insufferable. I'm going to be insufferable if Darnel wins that puppy.

And the Mariners get to the world, too. That's not happening. I have Brewers beating the Mariners in six. Yankees are going. They're fine. All right. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Apparently we have a bizarro Shadour Sanders update next.

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. Hey, it's us to 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 podcast. 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. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers.

This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad. Hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves.

Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sportslice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis.

And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen should win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. Yeah, she's an outsider to win the first. French, me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Leonard Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Big Noon is back in Ann Arbor, and Michigan's own El Presente is leaving.

the charge. The pregame party starts at 10 a.m. Eastern, then it's QB Bryce Underwood, and the Wolverines going head-to-head with Wisconsin at noon. Big noon Saturday only on Fox. Okay, so I just got this footage. So before we run it, let me set it up. It'll be tough for the radio audience to understand this or decipher it. This is kind of for TV, but, you know, I got to show you the video. Dylan Gabriel is going to start for the Brown's a quarterback. But Flacco is being benched but still remains number two. Shador Sanders, even if Dylan Gabriel falters, they'll just bring Flacco back in.

So Shadour is now three. And so he was asked multiple questions by the Cleveland media today. He had a smile. I've said before. He seemed like a nice kid. smile. I don't think he's always the most mature, but he smiled. But he mouths

the words without actually speaking. It is odd. So here's what it looks like. Locally. locally, anything to say? What can you say?

Ask a third question. How much is Joe been important to both you and Dylan in terms of your guys like development to this point. From prime time to mime time, apparently that's a legendary response. So it's something. I don't know what to make of it. You know, I got gray hair.

He's in his early 12. I don't want to pick on people. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What just happened? I've never seen that in my life. I don't even know. Was he, is he doing a skit?

Like what? He's got a mother and a father. I wish them the best. I mean, I'm hard enough on J.J. McCarthy. Do we have a lip reader on staff? Like, what's he saying? You know what? He's smiling.

What is he? This is the NFL. You're a professional athlete. This is, this is not like Juko where you can joke around with this stuff. What is he saying? Well, he's mouthing it. He's not saying. it. I think the point is

he doesn't want to be quoted maybe by newspaper people. So he's mouthing it without saying it. Okay, Colin? It's on TV. No, I know. We're in the communication business. He's in the football playing business, so I think he's just I, you know what I mean? Like, I don't want to pick on him. I don't

even understand what he's doing. But whatever he's doing is going to be a big story today. It's like Wednesday. There's not a lot happening in the NFL. This is going to be everywhere. he's going to get 3 million views on Instagram, Twitter, all that stuff. Again, the NFL doesn't care about influencers. Thank God. Instagram does.

So I don't know. It is what it is. Listen, I covered this story like crazy. I literally during the summer, because I was so interested in it, and I've said this before, the audience drives the bus, I don't. What you're interested in I talked about. So I was fascinated by it because I thought he was a good quarterback. He dropped to the fifth round.

He tore up in OTAs. And he literally was like, they had him four string. So I would go every day and just say, is this thing hitting? Is it tracking? And it was. Everybody else was fascinated. Now it's more like sad, weird, odd. And I, like the JJ McCarthy situation similarly to me is getting to a point where I didn't

buy in to him. I said it. I stated. I always want to state my opinion on J.J. McCarthy. I'm like, I buy Caleb. I buy Drake. I buy Knicks.

I buy Pennicks. I thought it was a great quarterback draft class. The one guy I pushed back on was J.J. McCarthy. I think I've been proven right. But it will get to some point. If it's a confidence above the shoulder issue with J.J. McCarthy, then I don't feel comfortable talking about it. This thing's getting odd and weird. It's gone from compelling to like crazy. Whatever that is, I don't know. I feel it's just not working.

You know, and maybe it works somewhere else. But believe it or not, I don't wake up in the morning. Like, I used to never criticize college kids, and now they get paid. They're professionals. Okay, you're like, if you come intern for Fox and we pay you, I'm going to yell at you. If you're an unpaid intern, I'm not going to. But if you got paid as an intern and you screwed up, I'd bark at you. You're a professional. That's how I view it. So I never like to criticize college kids.

Now you've got quarterbacks making more than offensive coordinators. It's a different ballgame. So he's a professional athlete. I'm going to criticize professional athletes. But there does come a point when it's like it pivots to compelling to sad. Sad. And I just don't feel like I just don't feel like I want to be part of that. But here's the thing. Somebody had to tell him, hey, hey, why don't you try this?

You can screw with the media, and it would be funny. Like, that's terrible advice. Well, whatever, but maybe that's it. This is the last time I'm going to run it. Yeah. He's got a smile on his face. He's joking around. You know, he is very, he is.

I said, when he came into the league, I said one of the things I didn't love about him, he was kind of silly. I think he's a nice kid. He grew up with some money, comfortable. He's a little bit silly for my taste. I didn't like Drew Locke. I thought he was silly. I thought Cam was distracted.

And I've said this before. James Winston, a little silly James Winston, Baker Mayfield, you know, Johnny Mansell. That's me. I'm immature, is the word? I've always pushed back. I think maturity matters a lot. I push back on Johnny. I push back on Baker.

I push back on James. And I thought he, but I just thought he was a, he threw an accurate football and moved well. But, you know, whatever. Is it possible he lost his voice and he could be? That's a great, yes. Maybe that's it. Okay. There's a cold going around.

Cleveland. Yeah. Okay. I mean, you couldn't audible, so I mean, you couldn't play anyway. It's crazy. God, yesterday was fun with all the baseball playoffs. It was really fun. In Chicago, I took the train,

it was empty. And it goes past Wrigleyville. I think one of the things that's cool about the baseball playoffs, you got small market Milwaukee, I think it's the best team in the sport. I mean, what do they go, 6'0 against the Dodgers or something this year? You have big market, New York and Los Angeles that can't get people out late in games and their

Yankees are uneven. The Dodgers just have a bad bullpen. San Diego has stars, but has to win by sacrificing and moving runners and old school baseball. And then you've got, you know, the Jays and the Brewers are lead the league in singles. Yankees, Dodgers are home runs. Home runs cost a lot more than singles hitters. But there are so many different ways to win in so many compelling stories.

and I got to give it, I got to give credit to baseball. The bigger bases, defensive shift, universal DH, speed the game up, Rob Manfred. Finally, we got a baseball commissioner who pushed back on traditionalists and that there's a way to play the game. Baseball is fast, it's fun, there's drama, there's action, small markets, big markets. This is a really good time for baseball. The games move really quickly, and yesterday was a great day. All right. Week 5 of the NFL, Mark Sanchez, as always, brings tape.

He'll join us last hour, hour three. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis' coming 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 I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva. And on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be?

I call on my GenX squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to fupas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me? Or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of? having sex sometimes. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter.

Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Deanna Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.