The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 2 - More on Damar Hamlin

Episode Date: January 3, 2023

More on Damar Hamlin and how the NFL handled the shocking tragedy Colin's new Herd Hierarchy   Guest: Nick WrightSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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searching Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. It's our two. We are live in Los Angeles, it's the herd, wherever you may be. However, you may be listening or viewing. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Jason McIntyre joining me today in a very solemn day, somber day, because of the current status of Damar Hamlin, who is in critical condition in a hospital. I've tried to lean on people in the medical profession. I thought Peter King brought the story of the young man who played lacrosse. This is what I've been told, that sometimes you can get an irregular heart rhythm, if there is acute or intense pressure or activity, the wrong time and the wrong spot by the heart.

And that may have happened last night, kind of a freak accident. I saw some really significant collisions at the college level earlier in the day. this kind of was your typical NFL hit, but strange things happen. It's a sport with regulated violence. I do want to say this, is that if you think about what pro football does, tailgating, for instance, is a huge part of football. People get socially lubricated. There's beer ads everywhere, and people take great pride in it.

And last night was probably as big a game in Cincinnati, Ohio that they've had in 10 years. And there were probably beers passed around, right? I thought the Cincinnati fans showed such class last night. Biggest game of the year. Biggest game in Cincinnati in years. And the stadium went silent. Nobody left. Cincinnati fans were unbelievably supportive of the Buffalo players and the Buffalo unit,

everybody players. You bring like, you know, you got 55 players, you got coaches, you got trainers. But there was a lot of emotion in that stadium. I mean, that game was the game on the schedule that, you know, that's a get your stuff done early in the day. We're watching that football game. These two could play for the AFC championship. And biggest game in a long time, unbelievable sports.

Football is very tribal. We just love our football teams. We watch it. We bet it. We consume it. We go. We tailgate. And I thought Cincinnati fans had so much class because like the rest of us, you just don't know what's happening.

But tip of the cap to the people of Ohio and Cincinnati. Really impressed. Nick Wright, first things first, is joining us. You know, I was saying earlier, you're a good friend with Bermani Jones, and he said something I thought, I was really smart this morning on CNN. I don't know if B'amani, you're really good friends with him, and somebody asked him on the CNN set. They said, can football be safe?

And he said it's like making a safe cigarette. That there are limitations to what you can do. And I do think the league is so much safer. I can remember years ago them selling tapes of violent hits. they're changing everything. There's just limited, there's regulated levels of violence. Do you think this, I asked Peter King this,

do you think sometimes it takes tipping points in moments and we make changes in lots of industries? Do you think this is a sit down, you know what? Let's get rid of the preseason. Let's not do Thursday night after the Amazon contract, or do you think that's a bridge too far? I don't know. I don't know because this to me, Colin, was such a singularly unique incident.

And you said it right before I came on. This was not a crazy hit. Nobody thought anything of it as it happened. And obviously, neither one of us are medical experts, but it seems like you and I have read a lot of the same articles this morning or watched the same interviews. with medical experts that talk about what they think happened here is almost the definition of a fluke incident, just the exact wrong hit at the exact wrong time. And I don't, there is the hit.

I mean, again, it was, I guess, the T. Higgins that delivered the hit, if you will. You can't play football without those types of hits happening. What I, what I, there's a couple things I would like to say about it. One is, I, it would appear that the timely nature of the first responders on the field is why this, at the moment, Damar Hamlin is in critical condition and not in worse condition. I think what they did was remarkable. Yeah. I mean, this, the, the, what the medical experts are saying is this young man's heart stopped.

And they, they gave him CPR. and the defibrillation live on the field, which is what is giving him a chance, as his family said, to fight right now. It's a remarkable job by them. And then I think what we saw in the aftermath was kind of the best and the worst of us societally, which is like the best of us was people were so sad

and so distraught and wanted to do something that they have now given more than $3 million to DeMar's charity of choice. That is the best of us. That is the hopeless. We all feel hopeless. What can we do? Let's do something. And that's the best. And then

when I say the worst, I feel like we have a bad tendency Colin. When something tragic happens, we want to find a boogeyman. And sometimes it's just terrible things happen. Like the volume

of people that were like, the NFL wanted them to play. Shame on the... The NFL did not want them to play five minutes later. What I am certain is true is that somewhere written on a piece of paper is, hey, if there's a horrific injury, you can give

the players up to five minutes, and they were just going down the list. You know what I mean? I guess that's what we're doing. But there was no chance Roger Goodell or Troy Vincent were like, yeah, get them back out there and then the players vetoed it. That didn't. But people wanted someone to be mad at. They wanted to be mad at a tweet.

or they wanted to be mad at the league or charlatans wanted to be mad at vaccines, because it's hard for us to reconcile that sometimes horrible things happen, and there's nothing anyone could have done about it. And so it's a hard thing to deal with, and I think the people involved did the best they possibly could in a brutal situation. You know, I was saying this earlier, Nick, is that, you know, like a natural disaster, the president calls a governor who calls the mayor, who calls the National Guard, who talks to the men and women on the ground. And it takes a long time. There's miscommunication. To your point is,

you're right. I mean, Roger Goodell's greatest fear is last night. The idea that it's easy to have seven different phone calls. And then eventually we see the Buffalo trainers coming out and wrapping up all their stuff. To your point, let's just be sympathetic and less judgment. I don't think they were ever playing. I don't think there was... Football players have been... and athletes, but football players in particular have been conditioned

that if someone suffers a football injury, you have to compartmentalize and move on. And we have seen guys, you know, be carted off, and it's good news that they have movement in their toes, and the game goes on. We as fans, players, everyone acknowledges

that is part of playing this game. This was so clearly different. As soon as I heard Joe Buck say the word CPR, I felt like everyone knew, okay, this is unprecedented territory for everyone. No one in the NFL has dealt with this. And because of that, I thought it was unfortunate

that folks that have previously always wanted to use, you know, the NFL as a punching bag at times, said, ah, look, another instance they don't care about, that's not what this was. This was moment by moment scary situation for everyone. And I don't think there was ever a plan to have that game resumed once it was clear. This young man's life was in danger. Nick Wright, joining us first things first. I suggested this this morning, out of respect for the family, it's a tie.

You don't replay the game. It's a tie, whatever the seed is. The reality is, I've heard this from a couple coaches, since technology has improved the ability for a quarterback to hear a coach on the road, home field just doesn't mean what it used to four or five years ago. And, you know, if the Chiefs gets the one seed, I don't think anybody argues, this is a tie, let the chips fall where they may. Cincinnati played road games to the Super Bowl last year. My takeaway is, don't play this thing. If they meet later, that's great.

What do you do, although it's obviously secondary today, what do you do with the game? What do we do with it? I think that I don't think it's something that can be decreed. I think it has to be a discussion, and I think the bills get to take lead on it. I think that the bills get to, you know, have the loudest voice in the room. Do you want this? It obviously can't be a loss for either team. That would be an absurdity.

Do you guys want it to be a tie, or do you want to try to play it, recognizing it's going to be condensed weeks going into the most, you know, the playoff part of your season. I think you're right that I think what they will do is call this a tie. And I don't know, there is no fair way to go about this. I think that would be the fairest way if that is what Buffalo wants to do. And I, yeah, I mean, I don't, you're right. That is obviously not the focal point today. That is something that the NFL is going to have to decide upon at some point and probably some point relatively soon.

And I would let the bills, coaches and players have the loudest voice in that room in deciding that. You know, it's interesting. We both love NFL and NBA. And it's always been sort of understood in the NBA. You need about three guys. It used to be if you had two great players, you could get to a championship. It feels like the game is so global and so talented. so gifted and there's so many great players. You need three now.

Milwaukee may just not, if Middleton's not 100%, they just don't have enough good players. The NFL has changed. A lot of this is analytics. The NFL doesn't have the global personnel that basketball or baseball do, especially basketball or soccer. But what they've done is they've made the sport for safety reasons and television reasons very offensive. And so if you don't have a great quarterback, you have no chance to win. And as I watch, and I do think the game is safer. You're in a good spot. As somebody from Kansas City, you have Patrick Mahomes. When you look around this league right now, I always think with Mahomes, and you're a fan and you don't hide that at all,

where is Mahomes now because I can argue the next three great quarterbacks in the sport actually four are all in the AFC Burrow, Alan. There's no doubt. Right. When you look at your team and this team, they're just, he's such a good kid. I don't know how well you know, Patrick. He's such a wonderful ambassador for the sport. What is realistic?

Because last night I'm watching that game mostly because it's Burrow and Allen. The quarterbacks, if it's backups, I'm not even interested. Well, I think your point, correct. I think your point, I'll get to the Chiefs in a moment. I think that we're in a weird spot where you have all of these great young quarterbacks, but 90% of them are concentrated in one conference. So you mentioned if you don't have a great quarterback, you can't win. Yeah, except the fact that the Niners very well might be the Super Bowl favorites in the NFC.

despite their quarterback, and I think that's up and down that conference, particularly with Jalen banged up. I think that the specter of the quarterbacks in the AFC are one of the reasons that a guy like Zach Wilson doesn't get even two full years. Is one of the reasons that you see the Raiders just say, Derek Carr, you're the 13th best quarterback in the league. But unfortunately, that makes you the ninth best quarterback in the AFC. we got to move on. And so I think that obviously the chiefs, the two teams we saw last night, are positioned incredibly well. I think the Chargers and Jaguars are both potentially positioned very well. And by the way, Colin, your buddy, Bryce Young, is probably going to the AFC as well.

Yeah. Via Houston with the number one pick of the draft. And so if you are in the NFC, I think you might be able to patch it together with a great roster. You know what I mean? And substandard quarterback play. In the AFC, I feel like if you don't have a guy that you think can be a league MVP one day, you're going to continue to be searching because there are so many guys right now that can be league MVP's one day already playing that position in that conference.

First things first is the show. He is the host. It's Nick Wright on a somber day. We appreciate your insights, buddy. Thanks. Colin, thank you. The network's lucky to have you today. Thanks, brother. All right. Thank you.

Yeah, you know, when you talk about, like today is not a day we want to talk, you know, a ton about what you do with the game and it's a tie. And people can say it's unfair. But I was thinking about this this morning because obviously the safety and the health of Damar Hamlin's number one. That goes without saying. And then over the course of the next four or five days, we'll probably move into what do you do with that game is that I don't have a problem with a tie. because sports are inherently unfair. If you look at college football, there's just more great high school football players in the South.

They continue to dominate the sport. All right. In the NBA, there are glamour markets where players want to play and don't want to play. Okay. In baseball, there's no real salary cap. The New York Mets will have a greater payroll, I think, than the bottom six teams in the sport combined.

All right. you know, with that money comes expectations and the Mets may crumble down the stretch because there's so much heat on them and the expectations are so high. So, and, you know, football's not always fair either. You know, Stan Cronkey is very well healed and can write checks in the offseason that certain organizations or owners can't. So I don't worry too much. As long as there's basic rules, officials in all sports, you have to follow the rules.

I'm good with it. But calling it a tie and go down the tie breakers. I think Nick's suggestion that ultimately Buffalo gets the loudest voice in the room on what to do with this game. I don't know if there's room in the schedule, but that's kind of where we're at today. I'm not going to do a highly produced herd hierarchy today, but I will give you who I believe in order are the 10 best teams in the national football league. We do it every 20 weeks, 25 weeks a year. We do it every Tuesday at this time, so I pushed it back a little bit today for Damar Hamlin. Here are my top 10 teams, I believe, in the NFL right now. Out of respect to winning all these close games, they're 11 in O in one possession games,

which doesn't make sense. I would put the Vikings at 10. They are an atrocious defensive team. I would put the Packers ahead of them at 9. Now, Green Bay obviously blew them out. But there are Sundays that teams just, you get blowouts. I'd put Green Bay at number nine. Do you guys want to put it up?

I would put the Chargers at 8. They're getting healthy. Joey Bosa is returning. And their defense now, they've got 14 sacks in three games. J. Mack was on this early. They were banged up. The last three weeks they've gotten healthy. The Chargers are really, really talented.

I'd put the Jaguars on a four-game winning streak at number seven. Trevor Lawrence, since week nine, is the best quarterback in the NFL. That includes Joe Burrow. That includes Patrick Mahomes. They got a decent pass rush at times. And Trevor Lawrence is what we expect that he would be. I would put Philadelphia at 6. They're 0 and 2 without Jalen Hertz.

So that shows you his importance. They run a different offense with Jalen Hertz. They're getting though banged up on the D-line. A little banged up, I believe, at tight end. So I'll put them at 6. Dallas is 8 and 2. I would put them at 5. They're 8 and 2 since Dak returned.

I always feel like the Cowboys, there's a certain way they have to play. DAC has to be complimentary. The running game has to be humming. And I do question Mike McCarthy situationally in big spots, but I have them at five. The Buffalo Bills, I would put at four. They make mistakes in the red zone. I've often compared them to Mike Tyson, the fighter, not much of a jab, knockout power. On any given Sunday or Monday or Thursday, they can overpower.

the best teams in this league. Kansas City at three. They're the number one scoring offense. It does feel like they're still kind of figuring out the receiving game and the offense. Sometimes I feel like they're playing backyard football. It just happens to be televised. They're so easy offensively. San Francisco with Brock Purdy is number two.

They're just overpowering. I don't think anybody would disagree here. If you watch the Niners play visually, they look like. like the team with the most great players. And Cincinnati at number one, not only are they winning, they're great against the spread because we still don't respect them as much as we should. I think largely because they don't have a lot of big name defensive players.

It is a tremendous defensive team. Their right tackle, Isle Collins is out. But the offensive line is significantly better than it was a year or two ago. They've had the same starting offensive linemen. We're one of two teams in the first. first 15 games of the season before Collins got hurt. So they don't have a lot of chaos up front. That's a position group offensive line that is often, you know, riddled with injuries, and they've been mostly very healthy. So those are my top 10 teams right now in the NFL in order.

I think it's weird that a team would be 11 and 0 in one possession games, and yet I put Minnesota at 10, but in two of their biggest spots of the year, and that's what the playoffs are. they're pressurized spots. They have been absolutely unwatchably bad. Kirk Cousins has just not been able to deal with some injuries. Things have to be set up perfectly for them. So that's where we are now. Let's take a break.

Live in L.A., it's The Herd. 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. 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, 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,

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podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your problem. podcast. All right, welcome back. We'll keep you updated on Damar Hamlin. In fact, here's Jason McIntyre with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So as we discussed pretty much all show in Cincinnati last night, Buffalo Bill's safety, Demar Hamlin collapsed on the field, later determined that he went into cardiac arrest. The latest is that he's in critical condition at one of the top trauma centers in the country. Here's a statement from the Hamlin family.

On behalf of our family, we want to express the sincere gratitude for the love and support shown to Damar during this challenging time. We are deeply moved by the prayers, kind words, and donations from fans around the country. Your generosity and compassion means the world to us. Please keep Damar in your prayers. We will release updates as soon as we have them. And obviously from this show, our thoughts and prayers go out to the Hamlin family. He had a, I believe, a toy drive that had garnered about $300,000 in donations.

It was, I believe, last check over $3 million this morning. Many of those people, obviously, from Cincinnati and Buffalo. Buffalo has a very unique spot in the NFL, Green Bay and Buffalo, where there are smaller markets. And people are not distracted. The bills are a huge part of Buffalo. and they're not going to apologize. It's like a college football vibe. Absolutely.

And, you know, I've said this before. My wife used to be in sort of human resources, a business in the restaurant business, and she had to travel to Cleveland's, Pittsburgh, a lot of those northern cities. She told me multiple times the nicest people that she has ever met. We're from Buffalo.

It's a remarkable city full of wonderful people. and we have, is that story breaking right now? I'm going to bring this up. Tom Pellisero, excellent reporter, NFL Network. Roger Goodell has informed the bills and the bingles. The game will not be resumed this week. That was expected. Yeah.

I would imagine. No decision. I'm reading this live, no decision yet on a later date. I still suggest. Yeah, it won't be this week. It won't be this week. I mean, there's really no way you can wedge a game Wednesday or Thursday.

We don't know what's going on with Hamlin. So likely result is a tie, and we'll just figure out everything else later. Yep. It's secondary. Next story here, Ron Rivera and the commanders. You know, they had a tough loss with the playoffs on the line. He made the mistake of putting in Carson Wentz for Taylor Heineke. Didn't seem to go over too well in the locker room.

Wentz three picks in a 2410 loss of the Browns. Ron Rivera was asked yesterday, If you regretted making the change at quarterback, here's what he had to say. To me, it was always about winning that it was in our hands. I mean, we control our destiny, basically, and that's the truth of the matter. Being 02 and 1 in the last three games was probably a thing that really pushed me more than anything else. And that's what I looked at. And as I said, coming off of the last quarter of the 49er game, I was relatively optimistic in terms of feeling what Carson could do.

That's a rough one for Rivera. It's going to be a tumultuous offseason in Washington likely. We know Dan Snyder. Maybe selling the team. Yeah, big picture they have to get somebody to engineer this offense. And currently they don't have them in the building. Wenz is done. It makes you wonder about what does Carson Wens go from here?

I don't know that there's a spot for him. He's also not cheap. So you're spending money on somebody that's just right now. He's, I think it's over. If you're looking for a team that could get in the Derrick Carr sweepstakes, Washington has a very good fleet of receivers, but Carr has a no trade clause. Right. Derek Carr can control where he goes.

So I know David Carr, David said yesterday, stability is going to be key. So you're not going to Washington. You're not going to Houston. Indianapolis feels no. Indianapolis, to me, was always a great job. And then in the last six months to a year, it's gotten very impulsive. So Indianapolis now has kind of joined a group of teams. I'd stay away from because I think the owner's making all the calls or most of them.

So, Indy, Washington. I think you can write off. Did you say Houston? I think you can write them off. Bobby Smith is doing some things this week. So I think the Jets ownership is suboptimal to me, but I love the GM. I like the coach. I think the roster is really close.

That one feels right. Also, Derek's been, you know, the Raiders are a big brand. Derek's been in big games for a long time. He's not going to be overwhelmed with New York and the media. He's been around the league a long time. Yeah, we'll see. Final story, Titans and Jags Saturday night. They released the schedule for this weekend.

Titans and Jaguars are in prime time. Colin, a bit of a curveball here. Mike Vrable, coach of the Titans, who you like a lot, announced yesterday that Joshua Dobbs, who had only attempted 17 career passes before last Thursday, is getting the start over rookie Malik Willis. obviously Dobbs has been in the league for a minute. He was at Pittsburgh.

Listen, the guy's thrown passes. Malik Willis is not completing passes. Also, something that has to be noted. He is a four-point chemical engineer major in college. So the kid is functioning at a really high level. He does not look rattled against Dallas at all. No, I thought he looked really good. They don't have anybody to throw to.

So when I heard that, I'm like, oh, well, that's, who knows? Yeah, this isn't an indictment of Malice. Willis, he's just not ready for a win and in playoff. They played at Liberty. This kid played it in the SEC. Remember the Malik Willis game against Kansas City? I think it was Sunday night football. I don't. He threw like four passes or four completions.

It was like, you know, you're not going to succeed doing that. The Jags are considerable favorites. I think it's a touchdown. Joshua Dobbs is, I'm interested to watch that. I'll just say this. The Titans rested almost everyone relevant last week against the Cowboys. They will be very fresh for this game. I don't think it's a slam dunk that the Jags win this one.

It's going to be close. I don't know the Titans are winning, but it's going to be close. J-Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. With the DeMar Hamlin situation, critical condition in a hospital in Cincinnati, you know, I'm trying to kind of weave this through the show today as appropriately as I can.

Athletes want to play, and you often have to talk them out of playing. I saw this quote this morning from Tom Brady. who said it would bother him to sit out of a meaningless week 18 finale. This is a 45-year-old quarterback with seven trophies. Here's Tom. It's always up to coach, but, yeah, that would bother me. I missed the game other than my ACL. And then 2016, I missed the first four games.

Other than that, I played them all. We had Ryan Shazir on this show. He was terrific. about two months ago or a month ago, had to retire, injured severely. It was a life-altering injury. Similar to this, very scary. Kind of a gutting, difficult to watch, made you nervous. That's how I felt last night.

I'm sure that's how many of you felt. And I remember asking this question, and I didn't know if I should ask it, but he was just so open. and I just asked him, you know, if you look at the injury in your career, if you could do it all over again, knowing where you're at today, would you change anything? If you could do it all over again with the knowledge you have, would you play again? 100%.

I wouldn't even, if I can, right now, if I just was able to stop what I was doing, I mean, not stop what I was doing, wake up tomorrow and it was like, hey, Ryan, you're 100% healthy. I would call Coach Tomlin and like, hey, I know I won't be able to play. this week versus the Ravens, but hey, let me figure out if I can, you know, work my way back to being on the team. Not everybody thinks like you or me. There are people that I grew up in a small rural town on the coast of Washington State.

None of you have heard of it. Grayland, Washington, aptly named, Grayland, Washington, gray a lot. And there's a show, I'm not sure if it's still on the air. it's called Deadliest Catch, Commercial Fishing in Alaska. And a football teammate, the toughest guy in my high school, Wade Henley, middle linebacker, great, great guy. He was on that show. And I watched that show, and I think it's terrifying.

Water coming over the boat. If you get your leg caught in the rope, the crab nets, you're overboard. It's over. But there's an adrenaline to it. And those guys take great pride in it. You couldn't get me on a boat like that. Oil derricks, football players, UFC fighters. When I was a local sportscaster, I once did a piece on a race car driver and I got in the car.

Terrifying. Absolutely. I should have been talked out of it. And so for Ryan Shays here to say that is that not everybody is built like me. Not everybody. There are people that run into buildings. to save people during fires and shootouts. And those people are so valuable.

And that's why when a player gets hurt, you can't go to the player first. You have to go to the doctors. Sometimes players have to be kind of safe from themselves. Football is a very unique sport. And sometimes I just wonder if you have to be wired a little differently to do certain adrenaline-heavy jobs in America. but that Ryan Chazier moment kind of took me back. I thought about that driving home that day.

I'm like, he's just different. He's built differently. More on tomorrow, Hamlin. More updates. Live in L.A., it's the herd. 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 Ben. Ben, host of the fifth hour with Ben Mallor.

It would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory. journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mather show a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world where we chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and

more every week, explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mather on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 which I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clipper 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan,

so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Boar Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Congratulations, by the way, to Tulane.

16 points in four minutes to upset USC in the Cotton Bowl. We'll talk more about that tomorrow. Brian Kelly also, 10 wins. They blew out Purdue. So Brian Kelly can be at times a little cringy, certainly on social media, but he can win. He wins everywhere. He's very much like Harbaugh. Awkward sometimes, off-putting other times, very intense personality. Kind of does it his way. But Jim Harbaugh and Brian Kelly win football games, a lot, really fast. So LSU is just an unbubborn. unbelievable football program. Also, Derek Carr looks like he'll be moving his brother David Carr, defended him greatly yesterday on the NFL network there very close. The Jets does feel like the good peace. Derek Carr has something that actually in the NFL very few players have. Russell

Wilson had it. A no trade clause. Now, it doesn't always help the player. For instance, Russell Wilson fought for that negotiations. and then went to Denver and got a coach who was really not a head coach. So, you know, a no trade clause gives the player more power. And according to the story this morning, Derek, he wants teams that have stable situations. Well, let's be honest, a lot of teams with really stable situations don't need a quarterback. Kansas City is very stable. Right now, as a football team, Buffalo is stable.

And Cincinnati is and Philadelphia is. many of the stable situations have quarterbacks. So what creates instability is not necessarily just a bad GM. If you don't get the quarterback right, it's amazing to watch the New York Giants this year, where we have looked at them for a decade is just a really unraveling mess. And suddenly they get the right coach. We still don't love the quarterback,

but the coach elevates the quarterback and kind of look around to the Giants today. You know, like it was a playoff team. So so much of this sport really comes down to, is the quarterback good, Derek Carr is, and does he have the right coach? I've thought about this before. You know, when you do free agency, you think about a lot of different things. And some athletes, most pro athletes, NFL never have a no trade clause. They just go where they go, which would just be an awful thing to have to move to a bad organization.

So if I was Derek Carr, I would look at it. And increasingly, the bad organizations, to me, the owner medals. Indianapolis has gone from very stable to chaotic. Washington they meddle. Houston, they appear to be sort of lost at sea. They're just kind of bouncing around. There's the Raiders, I will say this. Josh McDaniels, I think, I defended him this year.

If he lasts four years, you don't know if the Raiders don't become stable because it does look like they have an offensive coach. they've got offensive weapons, their division's very hard. So we'll see. It's just it's easier said than done, hey, I'm going to go find a stable organization. Then just look at the owner, Detroit. Now Detroit's pretty good. That's unstable.

Chicago can't get offense right. Miami for years and years. They've been docked draft picks for things the owner's done. There's not a lot of great in the league at quarterback, at owner, at GM, at coach. There's about six great. everything in the NFL, and most of those teams have their quarterback. A team that just made a curious decision. They've got a young quarterback. They're not going to play them. They're throwing Josh Dobbs into their biggest game of the season with Tanna

Hill Hurt. If you're Mike Vrable and you look at this team and say, look at it, I had these guys in first place for almost the entire season. What if we add Derek Carr? Should they make a play for Derek Carr? Yeah, I think what's really interesting is because you have to sort of look at your environment where you're at. If you are an AFC team, Tennessee, it's different. Burrow beat you last year at home. Alan Mahomes. Here comes Lamar Jackson.

In your own division, Trevor Lawrence, Herbert. You've got five or six, all-timers. They're all in your division. So I've said this. If I was Tennessee, maybe they, I mean, Green Bay would take a call in Aaron Rogers. Of course they would. I would call Aaron Rogers. You can't go into these games.

They had a better defense than Cincinnati. They had home field advantage in a buy, and they couldn't beat Joe Burrow. So I think Tennessee and also athletes love Nashville. It's a great city. It's easy to get free agents there. If you have the right quarterback who can get on the phone with a wide receiver or a tight end or a running back and say, hey, man, come down to Nashville. It's a good time.

And remember, they just jettisoned their GM who did not want to pay A.J. brown. So there's going to be a different outlook on free agents moving forward in Tennessee. The other team that jumps out, Colin, Carolina Panthers, I'm just pointing out that Tampa Bay Buccaneers will not be a good team next year. Brady will not be there. We know. That division is very

winnable. If you're Derek Carr, you go from the loaded AFC. Well, geez, the NFC. I can make the playoffs in Carolina. They were down to a week 16 with Sam Darnold, a third stringer. Yeah. It's interesting. The other one that's out there today, and it's a real story is that Jim Harbaugh will accept the Denver Broncos job according to people like Bruce Feldman if it is offered. So that in my lifetime, I grew up with Craig Morton and John Elway. So Denver's

always been a really, really, really good football operation. And I still think they are. They just took a big swing at quarterback, gave up a lot of draft capital, and it hasn't worked. They missed on the head coach. you do. I mean, listen, everybody gets a bad coach. Everybody's had a miss. It just happens. And so he will take the job if offered. I'm not sure if this is public. I've kind of stayed off social media last 24 hours. I've been told it's $20 million. I've been told for Sean Payton, it would go to $25 million. So you start looking at those numbers. You have to consider it. Remember, Jim took a pay cut at Michigan. that's almost unprecedented. A star coach and a star program takes a pay cut.

I think it was a forced pay cut, but he couldn't beat Ohio State. Then he bounces back and did not get a pay raise last year. He was not happy. So what did he do, Colin? He goes in interviews with the Minnesota Vikings. Remember that? Yeah. So it should be noted.

Jim was super successful in the NFL. I went and looked at his record this morning. I have it on a piece of paper here somewhere. I think it was 44 and 19 and 1. So Jim was a home run. Jim's never failed anyway. it took him a little longer. Well, he won 10 games first year at Michigan.

But to play for the national championship or in the playoff took him longer. So that's a real story here. And it's a tipping point. The Walton family, that's old money. If they're going to pay $20 to $25 million for a coach, that's going to reset the market. And so I thought this morning, if I was Sean Payton, I'd let somebody else have the Denver job, let the market get reset, Carolina, and maybe. Well, the problem with Carolina is you don't.

have a quarterback yet. That's why you go get one. Yeah. I've said this. Sports go through analytical changes. So for instance, baseball, you used to not want to strike out. Now you don't want a ground ball. And so the game is now almost duly home run strikeouts. That's it. It makes the game more boring. Basketball, the analytics, it got very mathy. You got to shoot threes. so it's eliminated the classic back to the basket center. Right in the middle of Dwight Howard's career, he was useless. He couldn't hit a three, couldn't hit a jumper. And you start looking at all the analytics and sports.

Football has become because of safety, very offensive. And if you look, you start looking at the AFC now, best quarterback leads every division. And often it's the best quarterback with an offensive coach. Joe Burrell, Zach Taylor, Trevor Lawrence, Doug Peterson. Mahomes, Andy Reed. Of course, every single coach in the AFC, well, no, three out of four coaches in the AFC East are defensive coaches. But you look at the NFC, I think it was last year, seven to seven teams that made the playoffs last year in the NFC. I think it was last year.

We're all offensive coaches, all of them. So that's where we're at in this sport. I don't know about the analytics of football. I think more coaches go forward on fourth down. But what has happened that is clear is that, for you. safety reasons and television and commerce reasons, they have leaned heavy offense. If you don't have a quarterback, you have no shot. So Peter King talked about this earlier.

The Denver situation comes down to this. How do you fix Russell Wilson? That's a bad job if you can't fix Russell Wilson. It's a bad job. It's also an oil and water mix with Harbaugh and Wilson, right? Harbaugh can be gruff. You've talked at length about the interview you guys did. We know he's rubbed teams the wrong way after like three or four years and takes off.

Russell Wilson's the antithesis of that, Colin. He is, you know, Mr. Buttoned Up and super nice guy. I wonder how those two would work in Denver. It would be a fascinating experiment. Yeah. We saw he did not mesh well with McDaniels, Derek Carr. And when you get those two opposite personalities, sometimes it can go kind of awry. Yeah.

Coaches make more money. They have more power. They have a system. They have a formula. And if you don't buy into it, Belichick and Brady. And Tom was very amenable to lower money. Brady was worn out by Belichick. So you see Mack Jones in Belichick.

I think we would agree, though. You spend $4.6 billion on a team, Colin. Spending $20 million on a coach is nothing. Well, for them. Yeah, when you spend that much on a team. Yeah, no, that argument. This is a big investment. You need to enhance your investment.

You've got to spend money. Yeah. All right. Mark Schlerath will join us next hour. Speaking of that Denver situation in Harbaugh, we'll keep you update. updated throughout the day. On Demar Hamlin.

Hour 3 is coming up to hurt. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of too. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.