The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 2 - NFL stories this week

Episode Date: September 28, 2023

Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to breakdown some of the issues the Eagles have had on offense to start the season Looking at the Patriots-Cowboys game this weekSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day in the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, Hour 2 live in Los Angeles. It's the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, thanks for making us part of your day. Greg CoSell in a couple of minutes. If you bet football, fantasy football, want to get smarter at football. It's our 15-minute NFL meat sandwich, all sorts of film breakdown.

I want to say this. It is amazing how over-the-top people get sometimes in our industry. I don't want to be a wet blanket. But this idea that Dame Lillard not going to Miami, is crushing players and the players have no power. They sent him to the best team potentially now in the league, which I think is a better fit, which is he chose an extension.

Teams have a right once you choose the extension to trade you where they want to trade you. Like, players, just because Dame didn't go to the precise destination, it seems like I went to his IG and his Twitter, Dame's happy. Is he as happy as Miami? Miami's one of those places. It's a little like Los Angeles.

Everybody's sure they want to live there. And then they live there for a while. It's like too big, too fast, too much. I can't handle it. A lot of actors chase dreams here. Most leave. Quit their job at Applebee's. Okay.

L.A. and Miami are very alluring. Give me the lights. give me the blank, give me the money, give me the fame. 90% of actors end up being bartenders. Okay, Miami, we've seen a lot of NFL stars and NBA

seen a lot of baseball stars. We've seen, how many people have owned Miami? Two, Marino D. Wade. Like, a lot of things are attractive. Doesn't mean it's the best landing spot. Milwaukee? It was good for Fars. One green Bay.

good for firearms. Good for Aaron Rogers. They've been good for a lot of people. It's been good for Janus. A lot of people go to Miami. They don't get distracted in Milwaukee. A lot of people go to Milwaukee, excuse me. They don't get distracted in Milwaukee. They don't get hounded in Milwaukee. You don't

have the pressure in Milwaukee. The best player between the heat and the bucks is Janus, and it's not particularly close. Dame joined the best player. That's usually an NBA history a finals ticket. Isn't it? Isn't that a finals ticket?

So, I mean, Miami is its own galaxy. I love Miami. I love Los Angeles. But there's a lot of people that end up there and think it's a perfect spot, and it's not a perfect spot. And then there's a lot of people that go to places like Milwaukee or Green Bay. And they call it home and they really like it. And they can kind of like do what they want. They don't get hounded. Not in aggressive media.

big enough to do stuff, small enough to hide. I don't know. I think it's going to be fine. I think Dame's going to be great there. I think they have a chance to win a championship in the next two years. I think it's going to be fine. Again, teams have a right once you sign extensions. They didn't do him wrong.

And send him to Washington. And send him, you know, some hapless franchise. And send him to Milwaukee. Got the best player arguably in the league. I mean, if you'd have gone to Denver with Yokic, would that be a bad trade? You go to Yonis and Milwaukee. That's a bad trade. They both have a superstar player and then two or three other really high-end player.

Would Denver have been a bad place to go? Playing with Yokic? Now, you'd probably have to give him up a Jamal Murray or something, but would that have been a bad place to go, Denver? Well, two years ago, Milwaukee was Denver. They were winning the title and we thought they were going to win the next three. And Milwaukee's a great place to go. anytime a great player joins arguably the league's best player, generally you're hoisting a trophy.

You can't tell me Dame got hosed. Wizards is host. This ain't host. Jemak, are you ready for Greg Kostell? Are you ready to glean information that nobody else provides? Can you ask him if I should start Lamar Jackson and Fantasy or Russell Wilson? It's a tough weekend. Here we go, Greg Kossel, 44 years NFL films.

All right, so we were talking about this. A week earlier, Jordan Love in the fourth quarter against Atlanta, we were hoping and waiting, it was kind of a dud. Saints is the opposite. Dudd early, Derek Carr gets hurt, and Jordan Love looks pretty good and capable in the fourth. Now, my guess is young quarterbacks are roller coasters.

You don't quite know what you're going to get. What did the film say on Jordan Love's comeback against the Saints? Well, I'm really glad you added that line about, young quarterbacks because as you know Colin you're on every day so we live in a week to week league and people want to make bold statements about quarterbacks particularly young ones week to week and I think that's a little ridiculous because they're going to have ups and downs and I think love I don't think he was really bad by any stretch for those first three quarters um you know I think when you watch love there's a couple of things that stand out regardless of let's say the result of the

plays. And by the way, there are a number of drops this week. But I think Conwood stands out with love is it's clear watching him that he knows what he's looking at. He understands how to process the routes versus the coverage within the two, three seconds demanded. He throws a good ball. Now, he's going to have to be, and you pointed this out when we first started talking about him a number of weeks ago. I think there are some throws he misses that he has to make. Yeah. And we'll see if that changes. You hope it does. I don't think it's tragic. in the sense that that would make him a bad player, but he still needs to make those throws.

But for the most part, he looks like he belongs, he sees it the right way, he delivers the football, he looks like an NFL quarterback. Yep, that's what I think, just misses occasionally once or twice a week a throw he should hit.

Maybe he'll get better at that. Okay, C.J. Stroud, his comp was Jared Goff. And I said this before the draft. Jared Goff's pretty good. It's not a terrible cop. And he's a big kid. it looks like to me, I said this week, he's a professional.

He stands in there. You know he wants to stand and throw. He doesn't want to run around that much. But again, these are small sample sizes. Very encouraging last week, what does the film say on C.J. Stroud of the Texans? And you hit on something really important. He wants to stand and deliver. And there was always a concern coming into the league.

How would he handle muddy, noisy pockets, which he didn't face a lot of at Ohio State? And so far, that's been a positive. You know, I kept thinking about how do I want to describe Stroud after watching his tape? And I came up with this, and then hopefully it's clear. There's kind of a mental and physical efficiency to his game. He plays with a desirable combination of pocket patience and decisiveness. He never looks like he's hurried or playing fast. He looks like he did in college.

And I think that's a really good sign for a quarterback. Will he have a bad game? Look, they play the Steelers this week. It's in Houston, but it's still the Steelers. And their O-line is to be kind of work in progress. There's still some injuries. And it's very possible you could have a bad game. But again, that doesn't mean he doesn't have a chance to be a really good quarterback.

I think that the way in which he has played through three weeks is really, really positive. So Justin Herbert's been good the day he arrived. But it's noticeable to me with the coordinator change, he's become much better in the second half as well as the first. I thought last year the Chargers were a bad second half offense, and Dad approves that. So I don't know what's happening, but it does feel like I get four quarters of Justin Herbert being great.

Last year I felt like I got a half, and then something in the film or the schematics changed. What is the film saying on Justin? Yeah, and I'm being honest, that's hard to know for sure because you don't know how things are game-planned or adjusted in a specific way. We just don't know that. Even someone like myself watching tape,

there's a lot of minutia that we're just not familiar with. But, you know, I would say Justin Herbert is, and I think of a lot of quarterbacks in the past. He's rare in this sense. He's a power thrower with really good accuracy. Okay. There's not a lot of guys like that. I mean, you think of a Troy Aikman, a Carson Palmer,

guys with big arms who were power velocity throwers, and yet were really precise with their ball location. And I think Justin Herbert falls into that category. And I think that, you know, he's only going to get better and better as he works in Kellynne Moore's offense. And hopefully, I know Mike Williams is out now, so it's going to be really interesting to see if the TCU rookie Quentin Johnston, who's obviously next man up, if he can sort of fill in for Williams, who's a very good receiver. And obviously their defense can be a question. You know, it raises a question to think about, Colin, and I know you think about these things.

If you're on a really, really good team, okay, think of the Philadelphia Eagles. If you're on a really, really good team and your quarterback doesn't necessarily play real well and you win because you can win even if your quarterback doesn't play well, that's one thing. What if you're not on a really good team and it's up to the quarterback to have to be really great all the time. And then he can't be great all the time because that's not realistic.

We then say, well, the quarterback's not very good. You know, it's one. It's true. It's one of those interesting things. And that's how we tend to judge and evaluate quarterbacks. Yeah. And I think he has to save the chargers more often than they elevate him. So the Cardinal, Josh Dobbs isn't going to be somebody that, you know, we're going to spend a fortune

on and build around. But he's, you know, he's a well-like kid. He's got some size. He moves. He made some throws. What did Arizona do to Dallas's defense? What did they do? That was actually, believe it or not, and then, you know, people might think,

oh, you're nuts. But that was actually one of my most fun tapes to watch this week because, you know, I had to see what they did to, you know, win that game. And by the way, they've been leading going into the fourth quarter in every game they played this year. But I thought that, and they have a young coaching staff. And most people would say, hey, If you're a young head coach, you want to get some veteran coordinators. Jonathan Gatton didn't do that.

They have a young coordinator group. But I thought their game plan against a highly aggressive Cowboys defense was really, really good. A lot of backfield actions. And what do backfield actions do? It's eye candy for aggressive defenses. They react to those things instantly. And then a lot of misdirection concepts, also a good thing against aggressive defenses. And they really got the Cowboys DeVen's defense.

defense kind of a little hesitant, a little uncertain, or reacting to the wrong thing, seeing what they thought was going to happen, and it didn't happen. And yes, of course, what they did is they ran at Parsons. And you saw on the first drive, they did the zone read to Parsons side, and Dobbs ran for 44 yards. So, you know, and I like what you said about Dobbs. You can line up and play with Josh Jones. Now, no one's going to say he's the guy for the future, but you can line up and you can run your offense with Josh Dobbs. By the way, Trayvon Diggs, I don't think the Cowboys can be as aggressive on the back end as they were with him. I thought that was a real to me.

That's not a Michael loss. I think he changes the way Dan Quinn can play. Did the film show that? Well, it didn't this week, but it's going to be interesting because the cards did go after Duran Blan. Yes. And Blant had some issues in this game, as I know you noticed. So as we get further into the season and they play in their division, for instance, the commanders with three really good wideouts, the Eagles.

with really good wide outs. Will Dan Quinn have to scale back? Because the Cowboys play the highest percentage of cover one, which is man coverage with a single high safety. They play the highest percentage in the NFL. So the question is, will he have to scale that back because he doesn't have two quality outside corners? So we've seen this. Mark Brunel was underdrafted. Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Tony Romo, undrafted, Kurt Warner. Is it possible Brock Purdy? And this happens about every year or two. I mean, Puka Nakua for the Rams was underdrafted. The kid's a star.

He went in the fifth round. He looks like he's a much higher round player. Is it possible Brock Purdy is just underdrafted and he is a franchise quarterback? What's the film say? You know, those are tough questions because I did Brock Purdy. I actually watched his tape for three years at Iowa State. And while I thought he was a draftable player and he was drafted, I didn't think he was a, you know, a top 50 type pick. Now, you know that I'm a big believer in coaching.

I'm a big believer in the marriage between quarterback and coach. No one will argue that Brock Purdy is a high, high-level talent. The one thing that he's clearly shown is he's clearly shown that mentally he's a very strong player. He sees it correctly and he makes the right kinds of throws. Now, he'll miss some, by the way. And because here's an example, there are a really, really good team. So there are games in which his numbers are by no means off the charts because they don't have to be. But I was very happy to see him come back this past week.

He was not really good the week prior and he was actually very poor on third down. And this week they played a Giants team this past week. It seems like it happened about a month ago because it was Thursday night, I believe. But the Giants blitzed him a ton and he handled it really, really well and made some excellent throws against the blitz. but I think you have a great marriage of coach, quarterback, and he's on a great team that has multiple ways in which to win games. He doesn't have to win games by himself.

So I want to talk about Philadelphia. They're 3-0, and my eyes tell me Jaylon Hertz hasn't played particularly well, but they are so good, O-line, D-line, that they don't have to have great linebackers. They don't always have to be great at quarterback. They win the tug-of-war, as I call it, every week. They're just bigger and stronger. So if you, Shane Steichen left, the O.C. We predicted on this show, Philadelphia would pull back without Stuyken.

They played a bunch of bad quarterbacks and bad teams. Schedule's tougher. Anything on film, Greg, with Jalen Hertz, that does concern you a little. Yeah, it does. And they're a great example, Colin. They have the best O-line, D-line combination in the National Football League. and I don't think that's debatable. And I think that they can win games without their skill players necessarily being great.

And Jalen Hertz through three games has not played at the same level he did a year ago. I think that he's struggling a bit with what he's seeing, how he's processing it. There's too many snaps in which he's dropping his eyes when he didn't get a clear picture on his primary read. And I think you're going to see defenses attack him a little bit to try to force him to do that because he's perceiving pressure that's not really there. And when he's doing that, he's dropping his eyes. But they are such a good team. It relates back to the question I threw out, you know, just a few minutes ago.

Here's a really, really good team that can dominate almost every opponent on the O line and the D line. And so they win games. And they're winning them handily so far. But Hertz will have to play better, I think, for them to get to where they want to go, which is obviously when a Super Bowl. So Joe Burrough's not playing as well. Now, my guess is it's the calf injury. They don't throw the ball deep with any precision.

And that was kind of one of their, that was like not a not so secret sauce for them as they'd burn you over the top. They don't do that now. I thought Burrow did what great quarterbacks do. He didn't play well and he won. He got better in the second half. You know, he just kind of found a little bit of a rhythm, a couple of big throws. Stafford didn't. And, you know, I just felt like Joe found a way to win on a.

a night. He didn't have it. He doesn't move quite as well. You tell me, is this offense they're playing now? Is it sustainable? Or do they literally have to get back to the vertical throws? What do you see on film? Are they a threat? Can you win this way? Well, let's put it this way. I think that the borough injury is impacting him. Because Colin, what's the one thing? Look, I remember, and I'm sure you did too. I loved Burrow when he came out of college. I loved it. And so far, he's played that way in the league. one thing he does not have is he does not have a power arm. So Burrow needs to be able to use his lower body and his core in order to throw the ball down the field. I'm not talking about fades. I'm talking about to really throw the ball down the field. And right now he can't do that because

of the injury. So will that come? I guess we don't know the answer to that. I'm certainly not a doctor. I don't know the extent of the injury. I don't know how long that's going to take. But I think right now you can kind of see that he's not really working from the ground up with his the way that he normally does. And that's going to have to come, or their offense could be a little condensed. And I think he's so good, he might find ways around that. But then you get into the same conversation we just had with the Eagles. When you start playing the better teams or get into the playoffs, if they do, then it becomes

tougher. So I've seen this in a lot of sports, where the offense gets ahead of the defense. And it takes the defense about an off season to catch up. And so Miami is using so much motion. I mean, even the wildcat work for about 10 weeks. So they've added a little jet fuel to this San Francisco offense, right? Like all this motion. And I feel like some defenses are reeling.

They're just, they don't have time to break down the snaps they would in an offseason. So New England did a pretty good job of slowing it down. Buffalo's next. But when you watch it, does it feel like? Like, they're just fooling people? How do you slow it down? Well, it's not a matter of fooling. It's a lot of eye candy.

And it forces you, and I heard this term from a coach and I love it. It forces you defensively to shrink your menu because you can't get to a lot of your adjustments and calls that you might normally get to if there's no motion. So clearly Mike McDaniel and the dolphins understand this. But, you know, the thing about this, when you have Tyree Kill and Waddle, and I know Waddle didn't play last week, but it's. It's just one week, I think, is you have to be able to play with split safeties. It's very difficult to play with single high.

So what that means, for the most part, is you're going to have to create pressure with your down four. Yeah. So you have to do a couple of things against them. You have to take care of that first window, that first window throw. You've got to take that away. So if you take that away, then what has to happen? Your front four has to become a factor. If your front floor can't become a factor and Tua can sit in a clean pocket, then it's just really, really hard.

And if you don't take away the first window, if you allow these first window throws and give Tua clean pictures, it's just too hard. So we were saying this yesterday, because fewer starters play in the preseason, I almost feel like we should just throw week one out. I mean, seriously, you're seeing things in week one. I mean, the Jets look capable in week one. The bills looked awful. Well, that's not the reality. Right now, Buffalo, now you're seeing better in players. They get in better shape.

They've been hit around a little bit. Now Buffalo looks substantial. I do notice this. They're not quite as Josh Allen run reliant, it feels like to me. But you tell me, can Josh Allen, is he still, in your opinion on film, carrying the entire offense? Let's put it this way. I think they're working toward that not being the case. I think they clearly understand that that can't be the case. You just can't rely on Josh Allen every single week to be Superman, and particularly the style of quarterback that he is. Yes, he can make really dynamic plays, special plays. He's a playmaker quarterback. He's a knockout artist. But we also know what goes along with that are some turnovers here and there. So you're, you're talking. trying to scale back your offense to the extent that everything doesn't have to be about Josh Allen

every single week that, hey, maybe you can line up one week and believe it or not, you can run the ball, control the pace and tempo of a game. Josh Allen can drop back, you know, 28 times instead of 45 times. I think they understand that that's the direction in which they have to move. The question is, will that be the case when push comes to shove? Or, as you know, very often, as in all sports, you know, coaches think, well, let me put the ball in the hands of my best player. So until it's really challenged in a critical game, and it could be this week against Miami. If you get into a shootout game, my guess is the ball will be in Josh Allen's hands. And then we'll see how it goes. But I think they understand all this, Colin.

Okay, so let's go to your big play of the week. They shelled, completely overwhelmed, a commander's team that actually has some talent. So you got your play of the week. Yeah. And the one thing I think we sometimes lose sight up with Josh Allen is he just makes Throws that are not easy look so easy because he's so gifted a thrower with the football. So I want to take a look at the touchdown to Gabriel Davis because this was a really intriguing play. So let's take a look at the touchdown at Davis. So here it is and you're going to see Alan drop back and he's going to stick it to Davis. And by the way, that's not an easy throw, Colin.

But here's what we have. We have Allen in the gun. So what is he seeing right now? He's seeing single high safety. That's what he's looking at before the snap of the ball. So now let's walk through what they're going to do. You're going to have jet motion by Stefan Diggs. And there's going to be a two-man route concept to the boundary side.

It's almost like a double-corner double-sale concept. Right. Okay. But now what's going to happen is there's going to be safety rotation to cover two. So what he sees pre-snap is not what it's going to be post-snap. But far as the safety now, he's going to take a step forward, which he cannot do in cover two. Why? because of the jet motion.

And now he's totally out leveraged and out of position as a cover two safety to play this sail route or corner route by Gabriel Davis. And Josh Allen just sticks it right on him. Again, not an easy throw. That ball gets there in a hurry. And you can really see it from this angle really clearly what kind of throw this is. And like I said, Colin, Josh Allen's capable of this any given week, big time throws both from the pocket and outside the pocket.

And yes, he'll turn it over on occasion. and you've got to live with that. But he is special in so many ways. Yeah, when Gabriel Davis is humming and connecting that offense is with Kincaid now, Stefan Diggs, then it gets really special. He kind of disappeared a little bit last year. He's back. The relationship's good.

So, all right, Greg Kosel, 44 years, NFL film. Thanks, Greg. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate it. Yeah, it is interesting. So he sees it, too. Jalen Hertz isn't playing as well. Why?

he lost a great coordinator. When Nick Seriani got to Philadelphia and was calling plays, they weren't good. He gave it to Stuyken. Suddenly got great. Stuyken leaves. They're back to being okay. So we think of this league in terms of head coach, pass rusher, quarterback. They're a handful of coordinators in this league.

Kyle Shanahan was when he was an O.C. Shane Stuyken, I think, has become this. They're game changers. They change lives and careers and outcomes. Philadelphia is so good they can win. But you and I both said this. We thought Philadelphia would be good. They would not bulldoze three quarters of the roster.

They are kind of what we thought. They'll win the division, but they don't look the same. I would agree, except in that Tampa game, you started to see them get shot plays. Now, they sputtered in the red zone, hurts with two bad picks. They should have had like 30 plus points in that. They started looking like Philly in the third quarter. By the way, if you're looking for coordinators who have dominated, how about Jim Schwartz in Cleveland. Holy cow. Now we did

touch on that in the preseason. Cleveland's defense, I just looked this up because I'm writing it up for Fox Sports.com. Opponents have five snaps in the red zone against the Browns' season. That's it. Five snaps. They have one trip into the red zone. I mean, that Brown's defense is impenetrable right now.

Browns Ravens is a fascinating game. Lamar Jackson getting healthy on the offensive line. They're getting their guys back. I don't know. I kind of like the Browns. I mean, so do I at two and a half. Okay. I do. but I asked Orion this earlier this week. Is Ronnie Stanley plays the centerback? Then I'm not so sure, because then I think Baltimore is a total handful.

But I mean, Stanley is an elite left tackle. The center out of Iowa is tremendous first round center. It's like, I'm sorry, left tackle and center are arguably, one calls the audible, one calls the line coverage, is the other's a left tackle. You can miss a right guard. You can't miss a left tackle in a center. You saw the Colts get to Lamar last week. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Like it was Colts, by the way. Just keep an eye on the Colts Rams this week. We haven't talked about it. It's one of these week games. Just keep an eye on the Rams' third road game in four weeks. I know. Back to back.

I know. Okay. I have a great parlay for you this weekend. Thanks to Draft King Sportsbook. New users use the code heard, H-E-R-D when you download the app. All right, here's my parlay pick of the week via Draft King Sportsbook. Commanders Plus 8 at the Eagles. Philly on a short week due to Monday Night Football.

Commanders Division game. the ball, humiliated by Buffalo, teams humiliated, play better the next week. Eagles may win, I'll take the eight. Browns at home minus two and a half against the injury riddled Ravens. Browns, the best team in the league nobody's watching or cares about. I don't know how Baltimore moves the ball consistently. I'll take the Browns minus two and a half. I'll take the Rams plus one against the Colts. Gardner Minshu feels good. What a story. Rams played very poorly. They'll get the details and the run game back, they're a better team than the Colts. Rams plus one. If you want to take the herd parlay, check out Drafking Sportsbook.

New users. Use the code Herd-H-E-R-D when you download the app. 21 plus in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York. Call 8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope & Y 467-369. See show notes for full details. 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 you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

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Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we picket here,

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

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

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This is the Herdline News. So I wasn't being contrarian with my take on this Damian Luller trade. I just, I'm not buying all this. They're the best team in the East column. The favorites to win the NBA title, are you ready for this? Milwaukee? Plus 365 by the Celtics, Suns, Nuggets, and Lakers in a distant fifth. Well, I would have the Nuggets one bucks two, but I'm good with that, Suns three.

I'd have the Celtics four. I would split. Nugget Celtics to me, you could just flip. I did like a long thing on my podcast about this, but I'm just going to telling you right now, the bucks have no defensive back court. Without Drew Holiday, they are really deficient. Dame Lillard does not play defense. We know this. So their defense is the backline, Janice and Lopez. And they now have zero depth. It's essentially six guys. Bobby Portis is your six minutes. After that, it's like really unproven dudes. And you're looking at Dame 32.

Middleton, I think, is 33 or the flip-flop. And then Lopez is like 35. Well, my thing is, for Milwaukee, this is a two-year move. It is. It's an older team. So to me, it's a two-year move. But you and I also believe I don't you more that Phoenix is a two-year play because Durant case can't stay healthy. So I think Phoenix getting depth and Aiton out of town and Milwaukee getting Dame, they're doing this for a title in the next two years. The winner of this trade three years to ten is Portland. Easily.

Well, probably. I mean, I do applaud the, we applaud the bucks for going in and getting dating. You have to. But remember, I sat here last year, and I applauded Minnesota for getting Rudy Gobert. Minnesota can't get to the playoffs. They can't attract free agents. So they got Gobert. Kind of blew up in their face, right?

The Donovan Mitchell thing in Cleveland, we loved it. They losing the first round, and now there's like, Donovan Mitchell's not staying. So would you like Milwaukee more if they can somehow acquire or find bench help? You think they need another dude? And that was Grayson Allen. Grace and Allen is like a 15-point-of-game guy. He's valuable coming off the bench. I just, I don't know if Dane's going to be able to stay healthy.

riddle me this. How are Middleton, Dame, and Lopez all playing like over 70 games this season? They're not. And then you got like a 20-game slog in the postseason? No, my takeaway is you got Dame for fourth quarters May and June. You got him for six weeks of the playoffs and fourth quarters. I didn't get him for first halves in January. I got that dude for the fourth quarter and in the playoffs. But you say this about the Warriors too with Chris Paul.

Like, oh, we'll just save him for the postseason. You've got to get there. Like, I'm just telling you right now, I would, I think Boston is a better team. Oh boy. Are we still going to do this Tatum thing again? Come on. I know it's NFL season, but you stack those rosters.

Give me Boston over Milwaukee. Milwaukee's got a new coach, by the way. Like a lot of newness on that roster. The only thing I don't love about Milwaukee is Spolster as a better coach than anybody Milwaukee has. So does, but coaching in the NBA is valuable. I still think it's a player's league. I mean, we know coaching and football matters.

it's still a quarterback league. So you go Milwaukee, then Boston? I think it's... In the east. Yeah, I think it's Milwaukee one, Boston, too. And that's about where it ends. And then I think... Miami, by the way, is into trouble.

They lost their starting back. Well, why do you think they're freaking out about this? They are freaking out. That's why. Butler can complain on ID. Nothing's happening. Okay. In the West, I think Phoenix and Denver are really special.

And then you get into a Lakers, Warriors... Kings? I remember that last year? Yeah, Sacramento's... in that group. But I think it's a Suns, Denver West and a Celtics, Bucks East. I've never bought into Philadelphia. I don't now. So to me, we have

and by the way, this is usually the case. We go into an NFL season thinking about 10 to 12 teams have a shot. It gets whittled down to about seven teams. In the NBA, we tend to think it's like six. It gets whittled down to about three or four. And I think the four are the Bucks, the Celtics, the Sun's Nuggets.

And then I want to watch, do the Warriors have one last year? Lakers, one last year. Hold on. You just rattled a four finalists for NBA. But going into last season, nobody was a believer in the Nuggets. Nobody was like, oh, Nuggets are going to finals. And Miami, nobody was like, it was Bucks in Boston. So NBA had a little bit of a surprise last year, which is really great, I think, the ratings that I don't remember if they were good or not, but it was like, change is good. We like change, right? Like in the NFL, we're seeing a lot of change right now. I love Dame to the Bucks. I'm

want to watch them play. It's going to get me to a television set. I love it. All right, next Up, this is tough. The Kansas City Chiefs are going to MetLife to face the Jets, and I will step aside of mentioning Taylor Swift here, because yesterday, KC. linebacker, Willie Gay, was asked about how his team is preparing for a Zach Wilson-led offense. Love this. On tape, what are you saying from Zach Wilson in their offense?

Damn. That was a hard question, and I can't lie. The team that won't run the ball. You know, of course, man, you know, that wasn't, you know, to be funny or anything. But A-Rod got hurt and it turned into a team where, like, in panic mode almost. That's what I see, at least. And they got great running backs. So now they're just trying to pound it, pounding ground.

By the way, he is a good dude. He gets asked a question. He wants to be honest. But honestly, the Jets are horrible. He's been through meetings, films, seen them. And so that was my favorite bite I saw from anybody. he's a good kid. He wanted to be honest. And he said, I see a little panic mode.

Which, by the way, what you and I see is a fan. So let's not, I saw one headline today. Guy takes brutal a shot. No, it wasn't. I was not a brutal shot. He was trying to be professional, protect his staff and team. But he also didn't want to lie. I mean, he almost wanted to laugh.

I just love that piece of video. And I don't like what the media does. A guy takes brutal shot. It wasn't. Because when the ink-stained wretches put this stuff out there, Colin. Then the athletes are like, well, I can't say any. I don't want to say anything. I don't want to be a headline and get yelled up by the coach

and make the team run, you know, suicides or what. Like, I don't want that. What the headline should be is, Willie Gay with the most honest, diplomatic answer ever given by an athlete. Truth bomb about the Jets. Like, that's the reality. Are they, did you see what they did to Trevor Lawrence two weeks ago? Like, he was struggling against the Chief.

No, no, the Chief Defense is so fast. and they're getting a pass rush even without Chris Jones. Carlisftus looks good. Yeah, they've drafted really well on the defensive side. They are young and fast, and they create pressure without bringing extra people. They know the jets are going to be trying screen passes. I mean, they were all over anything Chicago had at the line of scrimmage. Chicago did nothing until garbage time.

It was like 41-3 maybe. I'm not even excited for this game, man. Remember when we circled this game on the calendar? Oh, Rogers. You did. You did, too. Don't lie. Rogers Mahomes?

You weren't excited for that Sunday night football? I guess I was a little. Not anymore. Finally, the Miami Dolphins, Unstoppable, too, blah, blah, blah. It pains me that Miami's so good, but how's he doing in the second year of Mike McDaniel's system? Personally, or as a team, do you remember the last time you had this much fun playing football? Um, it's probably in college. Probably in college.

It's hard in the league to do good things because guys on the other side are really good as well. They study and they're really good. But, yeah, it's been a lot of fun. That's for sure this year. He's a nice guy. I cross your fingers on his health. He's an easy guy to root for it. So after they scored 70 last week, I haven't seen the line I was looking for.

It's minus three, and Buffalo, to me, is the play. It was minus two and a half because Miami's going on the road. up northeast again. Third road game. They come off a insane offensive performance. Buffalo, to me, is the side. Just remember, it's one thing when you face total trash defenses, which is largely, but then they face the Patriots, and the Patriots slowed them down.

Does Miami get to even 30 points here? No. They can win. Yeah, I think it's a 27-24 game. But they're going to, by the way, New England created some pressure. not necessarily sacks. I think Greg Kossel pointed it out. The way to beat Miami is if you can get pressure with four,

take away their first easy read, then they become an offense. Nobody's, you know, New England did that pretty well. So Buffalo has a defensive coach. They're at home. They're not as road weary. Buffalo's the side, whether they win or not, I think the sharps are on that side. Do you want to guess Josh Allen's record against Miami? 8 and 0 or 8 in 1.

Close. 9 and 1, Josh Allen. Yeah. Well, New England and Miami can't beat him. And let's be real. This Miami defense is not anything special. Herbert was tortured her, like, until that final drive when they stopped him. So I think I'm with you on the bills. But it's how a risky play, man. By the way, the bills are just a better coach version of the Chargers.

Defensive coach, dominating quarterback, run games hit and miss, star receiver. Buffalo is just a better coach version of the Chargers. Huh. So. And a better home field advantage. So that's worth at least a point in a half because Buffalo is a great home field advantage.

What's the split for Chargers, Raiders fans at SoFi? 65-35 Raiders. This is 98% filled. So, I mean, I get a better coach and a better home field advantage, and the Chargers should have, could have won that game. Buffaloes decide whether they win or not, I'm taking Buffalo. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. That was one of my blazing five picks. you get it on Thursday. Be sure to catch live editions of The HARD weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Polly Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Yo, of course you know us as the host of the number one rated show in all the sports talk, the Pauley and Tony Fusco show.

Yeah. Now, the suits at Fox Sports Radio gave us this air time because they wanted us to tell you how great our show is. Why? Yeah, instead of us doing that, let's just let our millions of fans do the talking. Yeah, play the tape. You don't know crap about sports. Why am I even on this crap? Whoa, whoa, whoa.

That's the wrong tape. Wrong tape. Just forget that. Look, listen to the Pauli and Tony Fusco show on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 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 what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, This platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

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

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

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table. right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sunday, it's a huge doubleheader on Fox, starting with the commanders, taking on Jalen Hertz and the Eagles or other regional action. Then in America's Game of the Week, the Patriots Battle. Jack Prescott and the Cowboys, for Cardinals Niners, all on Fox and the Fox Sports app. I think the Patriots Cowboys is a much more interesting game than people think. Because Dallas now, you lose this game, you start looking at Dallas's schedule. This is an absolute urgent moment for Dallas this season.

Now McCarthy's getting criticized. Cowboys' old lines banged up. Now you've got a loss. This team was a week ago, top five team. big one for Dallas. Cowboys after this, at 49ers, and then at Chargers, they'll have a home field advantage, but it's a Kellynmore revenge special. Oh, yeah. This is a huge game for them. The number here, six and a half to seven, is crucial. Oh, the sevens are gone. Now it's six and a half. Everybody, well, not everybody, but the sharp money is on the Patriots. We know coaching matters, but so to

coordinators. Not going to pick on anybody here. Don't have to mention the name, but it's interesting. the only quarterback without a turnover this season. Do you know who it is? One, the whole league. Justin Herbert. This is also interesting. They go get Kellan Moore offensive coordinator. The Chargers now have the second most yards in the second half in the league.

Only Miami is better. Chargers now are averaging six more points per game just in the second half. Same players. They go from an awful. second half offense last year to excellent thanks to one person, Kellyn Moore. It's not a personnel thing. Same dudes. In fact, they're missing Austin Echler.

So they're missing their spark plug offensively. And they've become next to Miami the best second half offense in the league. What happened to the coordinator that was there? He went to Denver. Anybody noticed Denver's second half offensive stats? Awful. Great in the first. half, Sean Payton, right? First half, Sean Payton, scripted second half not so good.

So it's indisputable. Callan Moore has been a home run with Justin Herbert. Fewer turnovers, significantly better adjustments, a better quarterback, second half. It matters. I know we look at the Chargers and think, you know, we're not sure about the coaching. You may not like the head coach. Callen Moore has been a complete home run for Justin Herbert. J-Mac predicted it.

We thought it would matter. Three weeks in. Three weeks already a clear factor. Still a team that doesn't play a lot of actual home games. Even when they're at home, sometimes it feels like it's a 60-40 crowd for the other guys. All right. Hour three. Rick Buecker stops by.

Dame, is he upset? He wanted to go to Miami. Hour three. Next. Another podcast from some SNL. late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

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

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

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

So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert Show on the IHeard 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. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.