The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 2 - New Blazin' 5 picks for the weekend, helping the growth of Caleb Williams, Joe Flacco recent success, Dave Wannstedt

Episode Date: October 17, 2025

Colin delivers his Blazin’ 5 featuring his favorite bets for week 7 of the NFL season Former Bears HC Dave Wannstedt stops by The Herd to talk about the improvement of Caleb Williams, what HC Ben Johnson has done to help his growth, Joe Flacco recent success with the Bengals and moreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 crying. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know I love you, dog.

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iHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go, hour two on a Friday. Good week so far. Bingo shocked all of us. Old creaky Joe Flacco. Outplayed Aaron Rogers, and Aaron played well. Dodgers continue to roll.

Their bullpen has apparently been solved. So they take a 3-0 lead on the Milwaukee Brewers. J-Mack, you and I both had. very good weeks last week on our picks. I was four and one. I think you were like... Three and two. But I hit Bengals last night.

Remember? Five and a half, told you guys. We've had underdogs, you know, last year it was a favorite year. This year it's more underdog. Off of four and one week, I am ready to go on our Blazing Five. That's a hot one.

Let's Blaze It Up. It's Collins Blazing Fire. Dolphins and Browns. I like Cleveland at home minus two and a half. There's an argument. When Cleveland's at home, they have the best defense in the NFL. PFF has it as the highest-graded defense. You cannot run on this team.

And the wins are going to be over 40 miles an hour. The gusts are, and it's going to be rainy. Dylan Gabriel, he'll be fine. They're not going to ask much. The Dolphins only win this year came up by a win over the Jets barely. They have been outgained in five or six games. They have culture issues. The quarterback calling out the coach.

and they give up the second most yards per play in the league. You're talking about an elite defense at home against the Dolphins defense that is atrocious, and generally if your defense is bad, it's worse on the road. I think it's mostly low scoring, sloppy. I trust Cleveland's defense to carry the day, maybe get a turnover and points, 24-17 Brown's win and cover. Giants at Broncos.

I like Denver to win and win big. Do you know Jackson Dart yards per play is behind Russell Wilson this year? And Russell Wilson got benched. This defense is the best in the league. Best third down defense. Best Red Zone defense. Leads the NFL in sacks. Okay, they're 2 and 0 at home, both comfortably.

And Jackson Dart, let's not kid ourselves. Russell Wilson had fewer giveaways and average more yards per play. Jackson Darts the better story. He's got good energy, but against this defense in Denver, forget about it. The Broncos defense at home this year is unbelievable, relentless pressure. And again, I think the Giants are a really fun story, but their own three on the road this season. I'm going to take Denver to win 28 to 20. Cover the spread.

Don't think it'll feel this close. Commanders and Cowboys. Take the over 54 and a half. I don't care of Terry McLaur in place. Opposing quarterbacks against the Cowboys and Commanders are completing 68% of their throws and a passer rating almost 110. Both quarterbacks are going to eat. The commanders have scored 24 points plus in four straight games.

But their run defense has gotten worse with injuries, and their secondary is a mess. CD Lambs back for the Cowboys. But the problem is they allow the most big plays in the NFL. F out. With or without Terry McLaurin, I think you're going to get wild scoring. The Cowboys defense this season is lasting virtually everything, and now Washington's has progressively gotten worse over the last three weeks. I don't need Terry McLaurin.

That's not the issue. Remember, when Washington scored points against Chicago and turned it over three times, they didn't play a clean game, and they scored points. I'm taking the over. Commanders win. That's not my play. 3027, take the over 54.5. Hackers and Cardinals.

I think Green Bay wins. I'm taking the seven. It's moved up to seven. Arizona, it doesn't matter if Jacoby Berset or Kyler Murray play. Kyler Murray, foot injury may play. Last week, Kobe Berset had nine big plays against the Colts. Okay. And Green Bay has yet to win a road game. They're very young.

They're a little banged up on offense. Listen, Arizona, all six of their games this year, most in the NFL have been one score games. They've let in the fourth quarter of five of their six games. And they're always feisty at home. And Green Bay is not taking the ball away this year. The Arizona offense, Green Bay is going to have to prepare for Kyler Murray and Jacoby Brissette. I think that's a disadvantage. I'm going to take Green Bay to win close.

Seven points is too many. 24, feisty Arizona with either quarterback at home, keeps it close. Buckingeers at Lions. One of my favorite bets of the weekend. I like the Lions to win in cover. First of all, the Lions are not only 9 and 2 at home the last couple of years. They average 37 points a game at home. They're a different offense.

Very good. Jared Goff leads the NFL in completion percentage. That Chiefs game, Kansas City's the best team in the league, probably by a touchdown. Now, when this team gets home, they are lethal. And their defense is taking the ball away this year, top five in the league. And Baker Mayfield has a lot of, as J-Mex told you, the last couple of weeks, turnover-worthy plays. So the bucks have trailed in the fourth quarter in five of their six games.

24th in scoring defense. They're missing a couple of corners. So a team that is really stacked on offense comes home after an ugly loss. they face a Tampa team that is winning close but trailing in all their games finally their separation I don't think it's a great Sunday for Baker and the Bucks lions win it Lions cover 28 to 21 a game I strongly considered was the Colts beating take the points with the Colts over the Chargers but reportedly Khalil Mack and Joe All are going to play for the Chargers so I'm not betting against Harbaugh if he's got his starting left tacker

and his best pass rusher. So again, I'll take the Browns in an ugly game with horrendous weather against the Miami team that's got cultural issues right now and more. I'm going to take the Broncos comfortably. The over in the Cowboys Commanders Wild Shootout. Green Bay to win, but look ugly Cardinals cover. And I think the Lions, I think the Bucks have been a really fun team to watch. But man, coming off an up.

ugly lost, Detroit at home. I'm going to take the win and the cover. Jay Mack thoughts. I like three of those a lot. Browns are my biggest bet of the weekend. But what could possibly go wrong, Colin? Rookie quarterback and 40 mile an hour wins. So we'll see what happens with the Browns. I don't get the Cardinals love, but, you know, that's your guy, Kyla Murray. Maybe you got inside info. Okay. There we go. Big college game this weekend is USC Notre Dame. I talked about this. I talked about this game yesterday. Going forward, it's not about this weekend. Notre Dame's going to win and probably win comfortably. It's not about this weekend. It's about the relationship between the two.

It's gotten uneven. USC now plays in arguably the best conference in the country. And, you know, the Big Ten also added USC rival, Oregon, Washington, and UCLA. They didn't take Cal and Stanford. They took the big boys in the Pac-12. So the conference now going forward is incredibly formidable for USC, which has struggled winning at Maryland and winning at Illinois. Forget Columbus and Ann Arbor.

They didn't win at Ann Arbor last year. So my take is going forward. Let's renegotiate. We'll play Notre Dame every other year and it's got to be early. That's not unreasonable. I'm not saying you have to cancel it, but we're going to renegotiate this deal early. We don't want another cold weather game.

We're struggling as it is as a program. Now, Notre Dame fans are saying, we don't need this game. Well, this year you actually do, but the other thing is, because you lost in Miami and Texas A&M, but the other thing is going forward, the ACC is not a good conference. And there's a lot of discussions that Clemson's

going to go to the SEC or Florida State, so it'll become an even weaker conference. And that's your conference affiliation. So you'll play Clemson, you've got that on the schedule. What if Florida State leaves? What have Miami left to the SEC? So my take on this whole thing is, going forward, I think USC and their

athletic director need to sit down and renegotiate. Let's play a little less frequently, and we're going to play early. We're not going to play late. I'm sorry, but that's not unreasonable. Michigan, Notre Dame used to play, and now they don't, and the sport has grown. It's all going to be okay. Again, I don't think this is a great matchup for the Trojans. Notre Dame has the ability to pick you apart throwing or bludgeon you with their run game, and my take is Notre Dame is going to be able to run the football on USC. And that's going to set up third and short, second and four, and USC's corners are the weakness of the team, and I think Carr will pick them apart.

So I don't think this is a good matchup. I think Notre Dame wins by 10. But, you know, it'll be fun to watch. But going forward, if I was USC, I would sit down and say, okay, let's do it every other year. Not every great game has to be played every single year going forward with the playoff. It's just a different sport. One more herd?

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We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

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

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Boy, is the last Bears head coach the winter road play? game and the last Dolphins coached to win a playoff game period 39 years coaching you see him on the big 10 network all the time he's my friend dave wanstadt he is joining us uh he lives in chicago most of the year and then he goes down to the he goes down to the warm weather of florida undisclose location so um you know i i i said earlier last hour i said the one thing that's pretty clear to me is they got the right coach if you look at the numbers there are a touchdown better i think they're more intentional i feel like i'm watching a plan uh ga Caleb is is playing within structure more often than last year.

What do you see Caleb development year two? Some of the biggest things that you see if you go back and watch the tape close is in the past, pressure, eyes would start looking at the pressure and he'd be on the move. He did that his whole career at USC, always on the move, trying to find somebody deep. What's happening now is he's sitting in the pocket and he's winning. more patiently for receivers to come open in the middle of the field. That's the one thing that's jumping out at me. And I'll tell you what, I think he's doing everything that he can do to try to master this offense.

And there's a lot to it. I know last week, Ben cut down on things. I mean, he simplified things coming out of the buy, which everybody was surprised how he was going to handle the buy week. And he said he actually cut down, and they had some physical. practices. I mean, Ben's got a lot more old school in them than what you might think for a young coach. And so, yeah, the thing that's missing is the big plays. You know, when Detroit, I mean, when Ben was there, they were, I don't know what they are this year, probably just the same,

but they were second in the league a year ago in yards after the catch. Right. That's the thing that the bears are missing right now for some reason. And I think it has to do with our running game. By the way, Loveland's a rookie, Luther Borden. So Ben Johnson's a new coach, where we have to be fair, Bo Nix now, he's had 20 starts with Sean Payton. This is all new. And again, last year, Bo Nix in September, it was turbulent. So the one thing I look at it and I think to myself, they're averaging a touchdown more a game. That's production.

Yep. But it looks right. Right. Like I feel like when I go into games, I see what they're trying to do. Like when they ran the ball against Washington, you're like, oh, that's what the Bengals did last night. That's a power offense. So I can see what they're trying to do. Last year, I kind of felt it felt making it up as they go.

Yeah, and they, and Ben has, he had a nine and a half minute drive against Vegas. And in that drive, I think there were 11 plays or 12 plays. All of them except one were runs. I love that. And he's getting Caleb under center. and, you know, at the end of the game against Washington, they couldn't run up inside. They were having a tough time.

So Ben makes the adjustment, and the last three or four runs that they had, they were getting Andre Swift, which he does best on the edge. Yep. You know, so then in the game adjustment on what we got to do to be successful, I think that's something that's showing up with Ben also. I mean, so it's all good that way.

So you have great history. You're from Pittsburgh. Coach Pitt, fourth year in a row, it's the highest paid defense, and the fourth year in a row, it's not in the top ten. I think what would be discouraging for me if I was the Steelers, the run defense last night was brutal. Yeah. How do you clean it up?

Is it a personnel thing or a scheme thing? You know, everybody thinks that when you got the high school, when you're in the NFL, there's no such thing is a trap game. Well, let me tell you something. I don't care what level of football you're on. if you to play great defense defense is simple know what to do and give a fanatical effort you know the offense the offenses are going to be uh influenced by rain and wind and weather and crowd right not the defense and i when i see a team play like pittsburgh did last night on defense you don't see the

passion no it tells me that emotionally they were not all in uh when i say all in i mean like in a frenzy, we say, ready to play defense and get off of blocks and tackle and do all that stuff. No, I didn't see it. And you see it every week in college. You see it. I mean, you've got to be all in and you can't start getting ready for that fight the night before. It has to build during the week. I don't think they did that. Why is Tomlin so great on Monday night football, 22 and 4 with an extra day and so bad on Thursday? He also struggles against Flacco, but a lot of people have. like Thursday night games, I made the argument yesterday that he doesn't love Thursday night games. He gets less practice, less time on task, and some of these veteran coaches kind of resent Thursday night games.

They don't like them. Yeah, we played and I coached in a lot of Thursday night games, you know, obviously being at Dallas, and then when I was at the Bears, Dolphins, I mean, going back to Thanksgiving Day games, which is a Thursday. And we always felt that a lot had to do with how you're going to play that Thursday on how you executed and played the week before because it carries over. That's right. And, you know, and the Steelers won. You know, the Steelers won.

So you would have thought that that would have carried over. Obviously, they played pretty well last night. Yeah, you know, not bad. Yeah, no, and you're right. I mean, Aaron, Rogers, and maybe that's a little bit of the problem. Maybe now they're to the point where Aaron's playing good. You know, he'll pull aside in the fourth quarter. Right.

And you can fall into that trap, too, as a team. I'm not saying they did. but when you get no sacks, when you get no sacks, they struggle to get to Flacco. Coach, coach, they got no sacks, and Joe Flacco's not going to get out of your way. You know, I mean, you got to get to them. Pittsburgh comes up with no sacks. To me, wow, that light goes off right there.

That's just a matter of not getting it done, really. Okay, so I want to ask you about Philadelphia. So in your career, and this happens, you hire a coordinator. If you hire a position, coach, that's not very good, you can hide him. but if you hire a coordinator that doesn't work, and you may not know until about week seven or eight, so Philadelphia takes their passing game coordinator, makes him the offensive coordinator,

he'd never been a play caller, and suddenly they can't run the ball. What do you do as a head coach, if you're Nick Seriani? Yeah. And I'm not saying this guy is not it, but he's been a coach that's been very beholden to his coordinator. Like when he had Stuyken, they were great. Brian Johnson didn't work,

because Nick's not a scheme guy. He's more of a CEO type. Were you ever on a team anywhere, college or pro, where you made a decision on a coordinator, and in the middle of a year you knew, it's not as good as I thought? Yes, yes, but that's the job of a head coach. I mean, I worked with Kevin Betola.

He's a good coach. We were together at Buffalo, and Stuyken, he brought in from the outside. This is what's so strange about that, that I don't buy into it, that it's Patola. I mean, he's calling the place, but they brought in Stuyken from the outside. They brought in Kellanmore from the outside. But Kevin Batola, they were together at Indianapolis, I believe it was. We're Stiking and him. I mean, these guys have been together a long time.

So, Saryani, I mean, if there was a place that shouldn't miss the beat, I was saying that in August. I mean, he's hiring a guy, elevated the guy that knew the system, knew the players, with buttons to push, I don't get it. I'm not putting this on the play caller. I'm definitely not. Maybe the variety of plays he's gone, but it goes back to the head coach. There's not a play

that's called. I don't like that when all of a sudden it's the coordinators on either side of the ball or a guy runs a fake punt and they blame, that comes through the head coach. You got the final say so. It's on you. So I lived in Tampa briefly. You

were there in Tampa. I said before, Cleveland, because they've lost so much, the media is pretty bitter, the fans are harsh, the weather's harsh, you're in a division with the Ravens and the Steelers and Joe Burrow. So I think Baker in Cleveland was actually at times very

good, but his personality didn't mesh necessarily with the Stefansky and the new system. Tampa's different. I've tried to explain it to the people that have never been there. It's very laid back. The glazers are mostly hands-off. It's kind of a chill city. The media's, you

were there. It's not a northeast or a cold weather, tough, bitter, angry, loud media. I think sometimes for guys like Baker who have big personalities, fit matters. You know what they'll call? I agree with you, but I would take

it, I would enlarge your thought and say, all of Florida's that way. Coach, when I was at the Miami Dolphins, we win the division and they put playoff tickets on sale. and they put a picture of the first person that bought a playoff ticket. It was a lady from Detroit.

I mean, I mean, that's not happening in Pittsburgh or Chicago, you know, or Cleveland. And so I think that Baker is, it's, all of Florida is transplants. It's all transplants from all over the country. So it's not as. And Baker's a transplant. Yeah, and it's not as parochial. No, no. So Baker fits right in.

I mean, he'll sit down and there'll be guys from five different states at the bar. You know, so, I mean, it's, I mean, they go and support the team. Did you ever think he'd be this good? No, but I am so excited for him. I really, he's carrying that team. He is carried. They're all beat up. He has carried that football team with his desire to win at the end.

I mean, I think the guy has been phenomenal. I think he's in a hunt for MVP. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I would vote him today. I would, I would hit, he would be MVP and then Mahalms would be runner up. Because he had starting running back out. He had Evans out. Dodwin's out.

They're all right. They got hurt last week. And they're winning. Yeah. And they're winning with style late in games. Okay, let's go college. You do a lot for the Big Ten in your coverage. So my take on James Franklin firing is everybody said, oh, they're going to get Marcus Freeman.

Good luck. They're going to get Kurt Signetti just signed a new deal. Well, they're going to get the guy at Vandy. Well, that guy's got a worse record than James Franklin had at Vandy. Right. They're going to get Matt Rule, where he can't beat ranked team. teams either. So this idea that, oh, we're just going to go get this, this, this, this. The truth is, if you fire a coach, the Knicks did this with Tom Tibado. You better have a guy on

speed dial. Right. Because these days, you've got venture capital firms can help you. I mean, what do you make? I wouldn't have fired him. 13 wins the year before. He was losing close. I think the Oregon lost devastated the entire program. What did you make with the firing? Well, keep in mind now, he, at the end of last year, He's got the most, Penn State has the most returning first team, all Big Ten players and any team in the Big Ten. So he convinces all these guys, probably half of them would have been drafted, half of them that come back for another year. NL, that means money, right? He convinces the AD, we need the defensive coordinator from Ohio State.

Ohio State a year ago had the number one defense. He brings in Jim Knowles, $3 million a year. Highest paid coordinator. They're doing a big thing at the stadium, enlarging it, and redoing the sections of the stadium. So they're making all these commitments. And I tell you what, and I'm friends with James Franklin, but you know, you can lose games, but you don't lose that locker room. And I'm watching that Northwestern game. And Northwestern's blocking them.

And Northwestern's playing more physical. And I think the trap was this. And James Franklin has always been a guy. the next game. We're only talking about this in August. And I was with, I played, I was coached on two national. You're talking about Oregon and August. Thank you. And talking about getting over the top, and this is the year. When we won a national championship at Miami and the Super Bowl at Dallas,

we didn't mention Jimmy Jones. Nobody mentioned Super Bowl or National Championship until the week of the game. And you start talking that in August, and then you lose a tough game. And the team went just backwards. team went backwards. And now, in today's world, how many of these guys you think are talking that are agents every night? The NFL drafts coming up into it. I mean, it's a mess. It's a darn shame. It really is. Okay, let's wrap it up with this. There's some Marcus Freeman Penn State rumors. I think Notre Dame is a very good job, and I think they're committed to the NIL. I don't

think you're going to get him. Here's what's interesting. So Notre Dame's in the ACC, which may lose another one of their great programs to the SEC. And the ACC is not a very good conference. That's why Notre Dame signed a deal with Clemson to guarantee that game for five years. Notre Dame need USC. Not just this year because I lost the Miami-N-A-M. Absolutely. They need going forward.

And my take is, well, USC now, there will be years where they face Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Penn State, now Indiana's good. And if I'm USC, my take is, okay, let's sit down and renegotiate. I don't think it's unrealistic to say, we'll play you every other year, but it's got to be early. We're not going to do another cold weather game in November when I got Penn State and Michigan. And Notre Dame fans are freaking out and USC. You can still play them. It's not Auburn, Alabama, where you can throw a rock to the other school or historically in the same conference.

It's not Ohio State Michigan. One's an independent halfway and one's out west. I don't think that's unrealistic for USC. We'll play every other year and we'll play early. I coached at you, as you know. I coached at USC for three years and we played Notre Dame. Notre Dame back then was a big rivalry, but it was Notre Dame and UCLA, and that was it. I totally agree with you.

I mean, the chips are in USC's hands. I mean, Notre Dame can play Army, Navy, Navy. They can schedule who they want. USC's not getting away from Oregon or Michigan, you know what I mean, or Ohio State. Or UCLA. You just stopped off Penn State. You can say what you want. Now, Indiana's good.

You know, you know what this game is exactly right. It should have said Indiana first. You know where this game will help him? Jayden. Myelahma. Jayden Myama. My avi. They're quarterback at USC.

He's having a phenomenal year. Okay. Phenomenal year. 13 passes, two interceptions. If he plays big in this game on, against Notre Dame on national TV, he'll be in the Heisman race. This game will give certain players like that a big push from notoriety standpoint

and recognition standpoint. But as far as wins and losses and rankings, I don't see it. You can get all you want in the Big Ten. All you want. Yeah. By the way, the SEC teams like Bama, so during Bama's run with Sabin,

go look at Sabin's out-of-conference schedule. It was the weakest he had to buy before. Auburn. Because Nick knew. Nick wouldn't even go on the road for out-of-conference games. He'd go to Dallas and do neutral field. Nick Saban's like, we're not facing another elite team on the road. We're in the SEC.

Well, now the Big Ten is arguably better than the SEC because they added the best of the Pac-12. Right. So now you've got Nick Sabin told you what he thinks about out-of-conference. We're not doing it. Yeah, oh, no. We're going Citadel, Troy, Youngstown State, and then we're going into the SEC. This idea, oh, it means a lot.

I got to go to Otson, Seattle, Columbus. But that's that way with all rivalries. It's almost more meaningful to the alumni. You know what I mean? I mean, the USC band, tonight they're taking over Gibson's, which is a big restaurant here. Mark Carrier, I was talking to Martin today.

The band will go down Michigan Avenue, okay, playing music. I mean, it's a, they'll have a caravan from downtown Chicago, to South Bend following the buses tomorrow. They may be 50 cars. Are any of those tuba players playing defensive end? No, no. I'm just saying. Nick Saban told you what he thinks about out of conference and rivalries.

It's big for the alumni and the fans. In football, today in college football, get to the playoff. Exactly. That keeps the staff intact. It keeps the alumni happy. The tuba player will get over it. Yep, the bowl game, that's the thing of the past. Now it's the playoffs.

Good seeing you, coach. Yeah, good senior. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard Radio app. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.

Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, 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 Acapella band with their between.

Queen 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

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

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

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

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

The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Play the Fox Super 6 NFL Challenge. Download the Fox Sports app and enter for a free shot to win your share of $10,000. One of the questions is. which QB will have the most passing yards this week, Colin. Dak, Mahomes, Jordan Love, or Caleb Williams? Oh, you got, Calhurt. This one's easy. Jack. Yeah.

Washington is struggling against consistent pressure, and they're giving up big plays. I mean, you see the total is 54.5, you know. There's going to be points. Yeah, yeah. No, it's a very interesting weekend in the NFL. Well, you kind of got a sense. The AFC North now is back to being wide open, so Lamar is going to be coming back soon. Oh, yeah.

The Chargers have been struggling. That went over Miami for the Chargers without Joe Alt and without Hampton and without Quentin Johnson, a road win. That play by Herbert is much bigger than you think to stay ahead of the Chargers. So now they go back home and Alt's going to play. Kaleel Mack is back and Quentin Johnson may play. So they had a three-game stretch, man. They were just, you just sometimes in this league, you're just. trying to survive your tread water yeah tread water so that win over miami last week that play by herbert

we said it didn't feel just like game saving it was like season like uh oh here come here comes here comes denver one in london here come the chiefs uh j mac with the news turn on the news this is the herd line news all right conall let's start with that other la team the la rams now this is strange but for whatever reason the rome Red Zone has been a major issue for the Rams. They currently are 24th in the league in Red Zone TD percentage. That's with Puka Nacua and Don't Devante Adams. And now Puka will not play in London.

And all of a sudden, Colin, I think the Jags are kind of appetizing here. Can Devante carry them? Here he is on their offensive issues. I play with Aaron for, you know, majority of my career. We played nine years together, basically. And it didn't definitely start off the first couple years, let alone for a couple games. the way that we got going. So not that we have another 10 years to go, but it takes time. It's not easy. You know, Pouca and Matthews are playing together for years now, and, you know, they have a little better

understanding for where one another is going to be, what to expect, and just making it work. It's been a few where there's really no excuse for, you know, me or him or whatever, so we just got to put it together. Yeah, first of all, they're not using their tight ends much. Terence Ferguson was their first, you know, he was like a second round pick. They haven't really played him much. they've also had ball security issues with the running backs. My question is, I wonder if Sean McVey has lost confidence in Kairn Williams and Blake Corum in terms of ball security. That could be part of it where they're getting more predictable because they just don't trust handing the ball after their running backs, and they're not using tight ends a ton. So I think it's one of those things where, you know, Sean McVey got rid of Cam Acres.

He could not hold the ball. He likes those smaller shiftier running backs, but Blake Corum is not. He's been totally disappointing as a third round pick. We loved him coming out of Michigan. Oh, he was just tremendous. He got dinged up against the Ravens, by the way. Had a great catch. But you're right, he's not getting the uses because it's a trust issue.

I think it's a trust issue. Here's the other thing. I saw a report that the Rams are going to arrive Saturday morning for their game on Sunday morning in London. Now, they stayed on the East Coast after the Baltimore game. But this is insanity. McVeigh must know something we don't. Because you know all the smart teams arrive way early. The Jaguars, for instance, got there Monday.

Okay, you travel a lot. You're Mr. International, okay? You know it's going to be tough to travel, and then the next day wake up and play a football game. So just out of principle, I took the Jags and the points when I saw that the Rams are arriving Saturday morning. I think that's insane. And no puka.

I don't, is a... I remember that division's tough, man. I think for young athletes, they're not out booze and they're out prepping, going to bed early. I think they'll be fine. I think as you age, international travels, more of a jet lag thing, but I don't, you know,

flying from wherever they're, they were at Camden Yards this week. If you're flying from Baltimore on the team plane to London, what is that, a six-hour flight? Yeah. That's not a big deal. Okay, all right.

We'll see on Monday, Colin. Next up, Aaron Rogers, I know you saw this last night. If yelling at his running back wasn't enough, how about this? Broderick Jones, the young man out of Georgia. Holy cow, he flat. Aaron Rogers jumped on his back.

Rogers came up with some F-bombs and shoved him. Listen, Rogers was in a feisty mood last night. That's not the smartest thing to do with an offensive lineman. What is Jones doing? He was a highly acclaimed kid out of Georgia. I mean, he's like 350 pounds. Look at this. What?

I mean, what if Rogers separated his shoulder or something? That was insane. I don't know. Any thoughts on that? I think you shouldn't tackle your teammates who are 40 years old. I don't think it's that complicated. Let me defend Aaron here. Yeah, next time you're in L.A., I'll make sure to celebrate a segment by jumping on your back

and landing on you. All right, final story, Colin. Let's go to Micah Parsons. He's been quiet. Green Bay, hey, listen, Green Bay's not on our radar this week until you picked Arizona Cardinals against them. Micah is getting in the news, Colin, because he's got some comments about officiating saying he feels the refs call more defensive penalties than offensive penalties. Take a listen.

That's the part of being one of the best, you know, that comes with some territory where parts that you hate and the parts that the league lets go. Like, they know, like, I mean, you could tell how they call the games. They don't call sides for offense, but they'll call it on defense. They won't call offensive passing the fans, but they'll call defensive pass and the fans. I mean, like, we know what you're trying to do. They want to load the points up so fans can be happy. And, you know what I mean? They'll call defensive holding, but they won't call offensive holding.

let's just wake up well i i don't think that means the league is rigged i think the league figured out after that cTE paycheck they wrote for a billion dollars practices lighten up hitting favor the offense and you know i don't think there's any question the sport is better when there's points don't hit anybody except running backs about the only position now you can get hit from any angles so he's not wrong they've tried to make the game more offensive and they're by the way it's a fine line. You don't want Canadian football. The NBA figured this out is that in the playoffs, when they let them play and it was more physical,

the ratings went up. People like physical play. But WNBA found out when it's too physical, the players get hurt and it hurts the quality of the game. So I think there's a balance, but it is clearly, undeniably an offensive game, and officials are looking for defensive players doing things that could get people hurt. I think that's fair.

Okay. I'll agree. No big, no big Disgreets. Jay Mac with a news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Line News. We have our schedule.

Jay Mack will have his picks next hour. I, you know, we will undoubtedly have an upset, but it is interesting. What is an upset now? You know, are the Raiders going to beat Kansas City? I'd probably take the Raiders to cover the spread, probably.

I don't think, I mean, if New Orleans, beat the Bears, that's down to four and a half. Upset to me is like eight points. It would be, if the New York Giants beat Denver, that would feel like an upset. Huge. I will say this. I didn't make this a blazing five pick. Houston at Seattle.

Seattle's played in multiple big emotional games, and Seattle's actually been a better road team than a home team, strangely. Houston's an interesting team getting three points. I don't think it, I think Monday, or Tuesday morning, we view that as an upset, even though it's a three-point spread. I think Houston at Seattle, I thought about that game. I thought about taking Houston. Oh. I don't know if that.

I mean, do you see anything on the board? Now, do you like Tennessee hosting New England? So, well, let's go back real quick. So this Houston game, last week, Seattle hit Trevor Lawrence 17 times. More than any quarterback was hit, I believe, in any game this season. I think they had seven sacks. We know the Texans' offensive line stinks. So night game in Seattle, and I know the home field advantage is not what it was.

How is C.J. Stroud going to be kept upright? And Seattle's getting the defensive backs returning from injury. So I was going Seattle here. I bet the Seahawks in this favor by three. What do you see in Houston? Is it just coming off the buy? Yeah, I think you're coming off the buy. Seattle's been in many spirited, close games.

and I think, and I think, you know, off a buy, Houston's about as healthy as they've been. I think when you play big game after big game, after a big game, look at Seattle's injury report. And I, you know, I, I mean, listen, I thought Washington was going to take care of Chicago, and the home field didn't matter. So I do think Detroit at home against Tampa, that feels like a really good spot because Detroit just got whacked by Kansas City. They're in a really bad mood. And, I mean, let's be honest about Tampa. You can't keep winning like this over and over and over. Generally, it catches up with you.

I don't see a bunch of, I don't see it as a big upset weekend. I mean, one of the more interesting games to me is Atlanta at San Francisco. I think the wise guys actually like Atlanta. But Atlanta is one of those dome teams that I kind of feel like when they go on the road. I don't get the same team. And San Francisco, if you look at the practice reports, if San Francisco can bring back a couple of weapons, I like San Francisco. Totally agree. We're seeing some of these splits.

Like if Atlanta's playing in a dome, you can bet them. They're not a lock to cover, but outdoors is a totally different animal. Cleveland, for instance, at home, I think you can bet them. I do need to ask you, that Drake May line is at 7, 7.5, Colin. So now we have Drake May laying a touchdown in Tennessee. I know that there's like a dead cat bounce sometimes for teams that fire their coach, right? Is Tennessee going to get that? Hey, we got Callahan out of here.

everybody let's rally the troops i mean we saw ucla at the college level a hundred percent gets rid of their coach and nobody in the world i sat and watched that game for three hours i didn't even know what i was watching yeah they were hammering penn state i would so i mean like it just who you play next and who you played last matters in college and pro oh yeah by the way third straight road game for the new england patriots they've been road weary that's interesting World Warriors. That's very interesting. That's probably why a lot of the wise guys like the Titans as the side.

We have that in headlines. One other fun stack, because I know you like these. Indian apples' coach are going to the Chargers. You know, this is their second visit to SoFi in a month, right? Yeah. They were just out here against the Rams. You know, I will say this. The Bears have had so many disappointments at quarterback, right?

They could have had Mahomes. the Justin Fields that thought was going to be great. People are very defensive in Chicago when you talk about Caleb Williams. Everybody is like, you know, when you've been burned so many times, you could be an employee, you could be a boyfriend. When you get burned so many times, Chicago's been burned so many times at the quarterback position, they are, when you listen to Sports Talk Radio, it's nobody wants to hear anything negative.

Dave Wonstadt's a former bear coach. I think Ben was the right. choice. I think eventually Caleb is going to get, he's going to speed up his delivery. Here was Wonstat on what he's seeing with those two. What's happening now is he's sitting in the pocket

and he's waiting more patiently for receivers to come open in the middle of the field. I'll tell you what, I think he's doing everything that he can do to try to master this offense. And there's a lot to it. I know last week, Ben cut down on things. I mean,

he simplified things coming out of the buy, which everybody was surprised how he was going to handle the buy week, and he said he actually cut down, and they had some physical practices. Yeah. So I do like the Bears to win. Again, Dome team,

weather's getting cold. In Chicago, I think the Bears win. I think it's fairly close. It's, you know, 28, 24, but I like Chicago to go to four and two on the season. 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. 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, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, 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. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X 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 Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart 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, Mark keep 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.