The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 3 - Breaking down the cream of the crop

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

Fox Sports NFL analyst Mark Sanchez joins the show in studio to break down what Lamar Jackson has done to continue evolving as one of the league's elite QBsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Oh, here we go. It's our number three. Live in L.A., it's the hurt. Wherever you may be. However you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. You know, you've got to be grateful in life. Last night I sat home and went and got a workout in, got real cut up, just throwing iron around.

Then I came home, sat down, diet coat. I'm running on the Diet Coke kick. sat down and poured a Diet Coke, ice, lemon, twist, a lot of rocks, nothing else in it. And I sat and watched the Lakers first half. And then I went over and watched the World Series a little bit. Then I started watching both. And, you know, the Nuggets were great early, closed it late, better team. They're fantastic.

Defending AD today. And then I watched that World Series, the last five or six innings. I kept going back and forth, and they just, Arizona's pitching. Arizona controlled that game from the very beginning. They tied it up with a home run, but the best hitters couldn't hit. Yeah. I'm so shook about your diet Coke. I didn't think you drank soda.

My mom wouldn't let me as a kid. My mom was British, and she believed it. My mom was a mile ahead on eating healthy, so I had to have raisin brand. Oh, gosh. I'm no kidding. I'm a kid. I'm like, let's not worry about downstairs. I want something that tastes good.

Give me count chocula. And then I wanted to drink Coke and Pepsi. I couldn't do any of that stuff. I was always like juices and healthy stuff. Yeah, yeah. So my mom didn't give us all that stuff. Capri's son? Do you remember those?

I'm older than that. Oh, geez. I didn't realize it. I'm so old, the big thing was don't stare at the sun. That was a big thing, mom said, don't stare at the television. Don't get too close to the television and don't stare at the sun. You'll go blind and don't look at Playboy. That was another thing that would make you go blind.

So that's kid, you had a lot of those things back when I was a kid. Now it's like, you know, it's just cats and dogs living together. everybody eats and drinks whatever they want. Do you remember when your friends would be like, where does your dad hide the playboy? You know, like when the parents left us? Oh, I got a playboy story that would embarrass me. It's for my final book. You want to save it for tomorrow?

I'll save it for the book. It's not getting on television. It is not getting on TV at Fox. It's a thing called the FCC. I'll save it for the book. All right. Let's bring him on. We haven't had him in a couple of weeks, and we have missed him.

Mark Sand that got them dependently into playoff. Let's go. We're back. We missed you. We missed you. I miss you. Oh. Okay.

One more than you. So what Mark does is something that is not easy. He makes me smarter and he brings on clips. I don't know. So he's going to do some Lamar stuff in about five minutes. But Mark also takes you inside. And it's very interesting. So fans probably don't know this.

But Jim Ursay went to Twitter and ripped the refs. Now, I'm going to set this up for Mark. tell people how it works behind the scenes in the NFL, then pivot to the Ursaid stuff. Every week there's plays that are questionable calls, potentially, from the referee. You thought it was a hold, maybe it isn't, it is, whatever. They have some egregious ones at the end,

uncatchable ball, the ball lands in the tunnel. Every team has those. Yes. And so for the cold specifically last week, they had probably a longer reel than normal of plays that you send to the league. league and say, hey, this should have been a holding. This should have been a pass interference. This was uncatchable. And it happens with every team every week. Every, all 32 teams, unless you're

on the by week, you send in this team. And then the league's going to send you a response by Tuesday or Wednesday. Okay, you send them in on Monday or Sunday or Sunday. It comes back Tuesday or Wednesday. Well, you get it. And it's just kind of like, okay, somewhat of a vindicated feeling like, okay, yeah, all right, we were correct on this one. Or you sent in 15 plays and 13 of them were correct. Well, during the season, you just kind of keep that to yourself. And you just kind of move on. Yeah, because this thing, everybody hears about it, right? If you're going to start complaining publicly about it, then everybody's going to hear it. The referees that you're going to get the next few weeks. You know, it's just not a good idea,

karma-wise. And maybe in a playoff game, when there's nothing left, you lost the game, and you get the real back, and you're like, see, there were four holding calls that we missed. okay, who cares? You got months until your next game and everybody kind of forgets about it. But during the season, it's like, what are you talking about it? That's not going to change anything.

If anything, it almost bites you moving forward. Like, what are these crews going to think? Maybe they're going to just let guys play when you're expecting a call. Maybe, I don't know, I just was really shocked because you don't see that. That an owner would go out. Yeah, like owner, coach, everybody knows.

Public. You just don't want to air it out publicly in that form. In my opinion. You just keep that stuff tight to the vest, understand where the call should have been, and you keep playing ball. And hopefully it comes around and evens out over time. One of the things I like about football, I cover it. I have sources.

But stuff like that gets unveiled to me all the time. People will call me and say, hey, you forget that people don't know stuff like that sometimes. You know, when you're in it so much, you forget. So with Jalen Hertz, I've got a little bit of a theory. So they're still productive, they're still winning. They have not been as good in the red zone, despite having good tight ends, good run game, all this stuff. And I have a theory on this is that he's not healthy and that Siriani in a congested space, because they're already using the tush push six times a game.

He doesn't want him running as much. He would do it if it's a playoff game. But Siriani's like, listen, we see the film. We can win these games. But in the red zone, we're not putting him out there to be in situations. So the other night against Miami, he had a bootleg, and he immediately sat. And when he got up, he wasn't right, but he took like smaller steps to hide the limp. That's exactly right.

And then 25 plays later, he runs to the sideline, and he couldn't hide it. And you're like, that dude is not close to 100%. And you heard him in the post game. They're like, what's up? You had something on your knee and half time you were the last one out, whatever. And he goes, I'll be right. I mean, you can tell. They're hiding the injury.

And you can tell he's not opening up in his stride. He doesn't look like he would separate. He's even with the guy and then he just separates to the sideline, gets out of bounds. That's normal. The other day, he was fighting just to beat the guy to the sideline instead of cruising out of bounce. And it just doesn't look the same. But that's how he got hurt last year in the red. I believe it was in the reds.

Oh, no, they were backed up, but he hurt his shoulder keeping the ball. That's the problem with some of this when you're going to run the guy that much. So right now they're thinking long term. Okay, we got to, we got to, this is a marathon, not a sprint. We got to keep this guy healthy. He gives us a chance to win, which means if he's not going to run as much, then he's going to have to beat you from the pocket. And that is not his first or best attribute.

So what are teams doing? They're trying to like mush rush, basically like mirror the ends and keep them in the pocket. Don't let him escape and absorb them when he tries to escape. Instead of going after him and letting him get the edge on you, you have to just kind of silo them in the pocket and let them try and see over those big mountains of men, offensive linemen, and let them beat you from there, because that's not his best attribute. And we both like Philly eventually. Oh, I love Philly.

This isn't like their obituary by any means. They're fine. It's just this is going to change, change their formula to win every week. If they had their druthers, they'd rather just run it the way they've run it before and let him tote the rock anywhere from seven to 12 times a game. But right now, they're trying to keep that to like five or less. You can tell. So I actually like the London games because I wake up at about 630.

It's on. And then I just get football till the night. Just rip your Diet Coke. There you knock them down early, baby. I go early to the sauce. So two weeks ago, Lamar against Tennessee first half. And I sat there and watched it, Mark. And I thought it was the best half of football.

I saw a player in the league play. I thought he was brilliant. Now, red zone stuff can sometimes be choppy. But you've got some video on Lamar Jackson. And I want you to do what you do well. I said the other day, take out Patrick Mahomes. I think he's the second guy in the league. Every defensive coordinator is scared of.

Well, I think the way they're running some of their plays, and you think, triple option, like, okay, triple option. We know how to, we need one for the dive, we need one for the quarterback, and we need somebody for the pitch man. Okay, great. But what's the way these guys are running triple option? Okay.

Lamar's going to read the end like he always does on this clip that they're going to roll here in just a second. All right. And this is nothing special, just an easy motion. Boom, Lamar's going to go like he's going to hand it to the back. He's got the chance to run around and who's he reading? The end happens to be Aidan Hutchinson. He's got his eyes on Hutchinson and he's going to tell the story.

Okay, great. Aidan Hutchinson wants to take the back. His eyes are on the back. You're giving unless. Giving unless Aiden Hutchinson's going to make that play in the backfield, boom, there goes Lamar. He knows he's got space, but wait, there's another defender. Well, wait, where's my pitcher? man. I'm supposed to have a guy on my flank right here and I just flip it to him. He does the rest.

Now he's got two pitchmen and they're already running routes and now he's got to read a guy as he's avoiding a defender and boom, he just throws this thing right inside because that defender widens. It's triple option but becomes almost quadruple option. Triple option with a read. It's pretty sweet. It's pretty sweet. I wish I could do this stuff. The read stuff at the end is easy. That's just a basic oblique stretch on a defender. Now is this new stuff for them? They've run it before but right now he's just running it at such an efficient clip. I mean, these things are hard to do. How do you beat it? You got to play man to man and tell that end instead of choosing between the running back and quarterback, you go blow up that mesh. Right where the exchange point is, you go put your Rydell helmet right in the quarterback's

chest, and they won't run that anymore. You play man to man. You got a guy for him, and then these two defensive backs, instead of having that read on one player with two players, you got man to man on both of them. And then it makes your life hard. That's where the RPO game kind of sucks. And this keep game and all this triple option evolving stuff, it really sucks versus man to man. And it makes it really hard. And once you hand that ball off and that dude just puts his helmet in your chest a couple times, you're like, hey, let's get to another run maybe.

You know what I mean? Let me just pitch this ball right away. Let me just toss this to Zayflowers right away. I don't want any part of that. But they're playing zone and they attacked it. The next part is where I think he's taking his game to the next level. And most importantly, it's bunch formation, basically three receivers all in one little bunch,

and Baltimore is notorious for running crossball motion to go from three by one to two by two, right? Or to get a blocker in front of one of these halfbacks, whether it's counter or pullers or whatever. So they're motioning a ton cross ball. But watch this little cheat motion that Miami's made popular, this little start inside, and then exit to the outside of the formation, same side. So watch.

They're going to start in bunch. here comes the clip boom three players three defenders okay now bunch is a problem for defenses there's so much communication going on right here how are we going to stop this we see the guy at the point he goes okay i got Andrews cool i'm on it i got the point now the other guys are still talking and while they're talking linderbaum is getting everything inside handled who's rushing who's a downrusher who's the back got boom so these guys are saying what's the crossball motion see he's motioning to his other defender. There's the six guys inside.

We got six guys to block. Five O-Lyman, one half-back. One's for the back. The rest, O-line, we figured out. However they show up, we block them. Boom, this motion outside stuns these guys for a second. Watch the corner outside. He bumps outside, and he's locked on the outside receiver.

He goes, oh, stops for a second, creates all this leverage inside. Here comes that opening because there's one for the back. They got it protected and watch this leverage throw. The only thing that Lamar, or the offense regrets is the throw to Bateman. Because if you hits him in stride, 88 and out the gate, coach, that thing's gone. But look at all this communication up front, how much stress you're putting on the defense, how you're attacking and gaining leverage with motion.

You're not just motioning for the sake of motion. This little cheat motion is taking over the NFL, and it's really cool how coaches are using it. But look at Lindelbaum. He's handling everything inside. Boom. 55's down. Hey, 42's down. Halfback.

You good? Boom. Yep. I got my guy. I know. There's six coming. Great. Five or six coming. There's nobody in the middle of the field. So how do we get these defenders in outside leverage? We motion them, line them up the right way. All this stuff happens in fractions of a second and Lamar is all over. The only thing I would say was a throw. But when you watch it in real time, like this is, this is, this is the game. This is football. This is NFL football. This is NFL. football drive to drive, designing plays to beat specific coverages and leverages. And when you don't have the leverage, you create the leverage. All this is happening. Everything we just talked about for like two and a half minutes is happening in less than eight seconds, less than nine seconds. Boom. It's fast, man. And he's picking it all up. He's handling it. And then the next play, they run the run play. And you're stuck. And then they hit you again with the leverage play. You're like, oh my God. It's basketball on grass, right? It's like a four on three fast break.

you know what I mean and and you're just out leveraged you're out matched you're outnumbered and they don't quit it's that's the way Lamar 16 and one against the NFC so if you've never faced him oh it's a nightmare not only is it 16 and one it's a lot of Detroit stuff it's a lot I remember the Chargers telling me the first time they faced Lamar as a rookie they're like all right we've got to go where do we go right the Rubik's cube and then the second time they faced him they had more success but it's it's he's a lot to he's an avalanche if you've never played against him before. Exactly.

Okay, so there's a Josh Allen thing. So I said there's two quarterbacks in the NFL that I think are gifted, Herbert and Allen, but they don't have a guy. And you know, it's the old saying in Vegas, I got a guy. I need a room this weekend. I got a guy. Right? Like, so Tom Moore for Peyton, Josh McDaniels for Tom, Clements for Aaron Rogers,

Breeze had Peyton, Patrick, Montana Walsh, most great quarterbacks. You know, we fans sit down. we watch these games. But if you don't have a guy that gets you through crisis, Herbert, third O, C, four years. Brian Dable was his guy.

He left. That's not a knock on Ken Dorsey, but the mistakes are up. And everybody, there's something about the guy, you trust a little more, your guy in Vegas that gets the room. There's something about him.

He always gets you the room. The room. And I feel like with Herbert and Josh Allen, who does he lean on in crisis? Who's his guy? and it's not a knock on Dorsey, but Day Bowl's special. I think the most important thing is the dayball idea. And Josh even mentioned it in one of the clips you said, yeah, I think I need to think a little less and just play.

Just play football, right? So how am I simplifying this? Does that land to you? Well, how are the Baltimore Raven simplifying this for Lamar Jackson? So we can play fast. Yes. what do you do well and what can you handle can you handle that triple option that turns into the four and five options okay great let's do that let's evolve to that well where's where's josh at with

that and where was he when day ball was there where is he now how do we continue to build on it but the most important thing i think in processing the guys who are elite processors eliminate stuff off their plate people who are really good at compartmentalizing and then eliminating distractions whether it's in your daily schedule or in a football game on any given play, there's five options, but not really. Not all five options. Rarely are you going to go one through five and have all that time to just pat the ball back there and cook stakes in the backfield, okay?

It doesn't work like that. So how do I eliminate and get to the answer fast? What clues am I taking from the defense that give me information immediately? Are we using bunch formation enough? Are we using these motions enough to show me leverage, to tell me exactly what this defense is trying to do. Essentially, you're just trying to, in some ways, undress the defense. Give me the whole picture. Boom. And we know what to do. And so I think some of that's getting lost in, okay, if it's not perfect, if I don't see it the right way,

well, I'm going to go make a play. And if you're going to play like that, it's a lot like Hertz played against the Jets. If it's going to be backyard football, every down, one, it's not sustainable. Two, it's exhausting. The play caller calls the play with an intent with a purpose. Sometimes he's wrong, but most of the time he should be right. Occasionally, you got to bail him out. But if every play, he calls a play and nobody knows where that ball's going to end up, you usually have a pretty good idea. Okay, it's going to two to three. Ooh, he's probably going to have to check this down. Oh, we're really stuck here. Throw this one away. You know that before the ball snapped, generally. But if you have no idea, and it's just a free-for-all

out there, it's exhausting and unsustainable. It's too hard, and they're feeling that. All right, I want you And I thought, Joel Clat did a good job, but you have done both NFL and college. So in the NFL, the signals are eliminated because – but in college, we all know people steal signals, watch signals, but you don't have the equipment. Even though every – you know, college football makes $8 billion a year. They can't afford a McDonald's headset. So in the end, what happens in college football is you watch TV. I remember Mack Brown telling me this when the other place had the Longhorn Network. He goes, everybody was listening to our practice as they were taping the network, and they would watch a random practice.

And they would just hear in the background, X, Y, 2. Yeah. We found people stealing stuff off the Longhorn Network. Yeah. So the idea that anybody steals place, everybody does in college. Everyone. Everyone. When you hear the Michigan story, though, does it feel like Russian espionage to the next level?

What's it feel like to you? Here's the difference. So in the NFL, I can remember, especially with Chip, when you, when you hear, you, play at such a fast pace, it forces the defense to communicate fast. And how do they communicate fast and efficiently? A lot of times they have to signal. So you have guys on your sideline looking at the other sideline. And the defense, I mean, you have to communicate quickly. Remember, you have fractions of a second. We just showed these plays. So when they go like this, is their signal over to pirate. Pirate. Okay. Well, I'm getting covered two. And they're going to pirate

the defensive lineman. Like, okay, there's going to be a run stunt up front and I'm getting covered too. I got a whole laundry list of plays that I know I can run and cover two. So we're going to get up to the line scrimm and say, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. Fake everybody out.

Boom, and you're kind of waiting, waiting. And then they come and, you know, they talk in your headset and say, all right, you're getting covered too. Boom, get to a play. Get to a beater. Well, that's easy. That's like stealing.

Okay? So we've been in situations like that by the second quarter. You know almost all their calls. And even if you don't know it perfectly, you just know, hey, five-man pressure, man, fire zone. And that's what you need to know. Yeah, that's all you need to know. Fire zone, you know, whatever, three deep, three under.

That's what they played. Okay, and we're confirming it on the pictures, like, boom. Okay, this was the signal. What did he do? He rubbed his arm and then he went like a throw. He threw a dart and then he did like a throat slash, whatever it is. And you start to pick apart their signals. Now, in college, you do the same thing.

It happens. But if you're sending people weeks before to go watch their games to advance scow, that's where people are, like, wait a second. In the NFL, you send scouts out, and they know personnel signals. They know, you know, uh, zebra, usually a Z with your fingers. Yeah. Tiger, that's three wide receivers, one tight end, one running back, just to steal personnel because defense is going to call their calls by personnel and down in distance. Tiger was this, two tiger claws. That meant two tight ends, two receivers in a back, whatever. So you're picking off stuff like that, personnel stuff. But you could

do that in advance because it's the NFL. You're allowed to send advanced scouts. in college you can't really do that. So that's where people are like drawing the line like, dude, you can't, you know. But don't you think Ohio State, Purdue, Iowa, everybody else are they doing that? They have some idea of what you're running. Yeah, they have a great idea.

And you can watch the TV copy. That's the other thing is the TV copy when they say stuff like, you know, RAM, Lyon, like these O line calls. Some of them are for passes. Some of them are for runs. And you can get them anywhere from like 80, 90 percent, correct. That's what Mack Brown says. Right. And so the problem is you have to use some of those calls

on offense when it's a play action to sound like run. You use an A, B, or some sort of combo run block call that's for a play action now. And sometimes it screws your own guys up. You know what I mean? Right, right. So it's this ongoing, you know, gamesmanship that's across the board. Everybody has that. It's just the advance idea of it. And then obviously getting caught. is part of the issue as well. You're very good today. Thank you. But you said that to Joel, so who was better?

Well, I'm just kidding. Joel, it's always confrontation. No, I saw him in the dressing room and in makeup and stuff. All right, one more. Talk to me, coach. I don't want to get into Tyson. Oh, I don't want to get into it. Secret agent, man.

Okay, but I will just say, when he comes in and moves the chains. Because if you have a bad defense, what you didn't. But if you have a bad defense, you want to mask it. And the one thing the Bears did last week, they got first downs. They dominated the clock. Justin Fields is way more talented. But he converts 40% of third downs.

The kid undrafted from a division new program got 60%. So my takeaway is, listen, we know Justin's more talented. But there's a lot of high and lows. Isn't this a moment when it showed us? Not that Justin Fields isn't talented, but the key to the Chicago team because of their lack of defensive prowesses pick up first downs and the kid did.

Well, I think some of it is the third downs they had were third and manageable. They weren't heavy on the penalties. They were heavy run on first and second down. The throws they threw on first and second down. I mean, I only think he had maybe two or three drop back actual. passes where it's five or six-man pass pro and you have four to five options in a full deal

where you have to read the entire field and have some sort of pre-snap recognition to get to the answer quickly. That's the hardest thing to do in football. So they try to limit that as best they could. Foreman went off. The run game went off. They finally found an offensive line combination. They moved Cody Whitehaired to guard and Lucas Center. And that was much better for him. So now they're road grading that front for the Raiders and picking up yards on first and second down. They're positive. So on third and four, third and three, you have everything. You got screens to DJ Moore.

You got fly sweeps. You can run it. You can sprint out the quarterback and throw a quick game. You can do so many things. And the other thing was he just didn't put the ball in harm's way. He knew the most important thing you could tell. They watched that film from the week before when he had to come in in relief and gave the ball away twice. Once for holding the ball too long and once for throwing.

on just an awful ball, terrible decision. It started off with a bad snap, and he made a bad play, a complete disaster, and threw an interception. So you could tell, they showed him those clips and said, no, no, no, never, never, never. Are we ready to play? And he was totally ready to play.

Own that moment. The stage wasn't too big. And it was pretty, I mean, the first question I asked when he sat down in our meeting, I said, how many tickets do you buy? He goes, 53. I was like, oh, buddy, you're playing for free this week, Doug. He started laughing.

He was awesome. He was a good story. He was great. You were amazing today. We love having you back. Mark Sanchez breaks it down. So proud of how, we're not obviously you're a talented guy, but you've been so good as a broadcaster. Thank you.

You're so good for us. This fall, keep mealtime exciting. HelloFresh, 40 recipes and more each week. Always delicious. Pre-Portion quick. Eat well. Eat fast. 50% off.

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Now my parley picks of the week via Draft King Sportsbook. Jags minus two and a half at the Steelers. I like Pittsburgh, but they've been outgained in every game. Jaguars are a bit undervalued. I think they win by about a field goal to four points. I'll take the Jags. Saints plus one and a half at the Colts. Derek Carr's been struggling.

He's hearing about it. There's too much talent not to beat a back. up. Colts come on of a very, very trying, difficult, physical game against Cleveland. I think they pull back. I'll take the Saints plus one and a half. Forty-nineers at home minus five and a half against the Bengals. I like Cincinnati, but they're winning and being outplayed. 49ers in a bad mood after two road losses. Come home and lean on them. I'll take the Niners by about 10. Jags, Saints, Niners. You want to take the herd parlay. Check out Drag. King Sportsbook. New users,

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Call 8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope-N-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 beings. potential. Either way, the podcast, 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, 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.

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this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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 a 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 you're just so you're not. 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 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. The brilliant EQESUB for Mercedes-B for Mercedes-Benz Digital. like technology, even the headlamps are thinking. Check it out. Good merch, mbUSA.com slash EQE-SUV. J-MAC with the news. What a show to them.

No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. First up, Patrick Mahones. He's had 12 career starts against the Broncos, undefeated in those games. Casey headed to Denver in week eight. Mahomes, trying to become the first quarterback to start. career 13 and 0 against any opponent. Otto Graham. This is even before your time, coward. 12 and 0 leading the Browns over something called the Chicago Cardinals in the 1950s. It's kind of a cheap shot, but I'll take it.

So the chiefs are minus 7 in Denver. Denver's defense has been plucky the last few weeks. Put aside the 70 burger that Miami hung on them. God, Mahomes. You know what this is, though? This is Brady in the air. AFC East. It's the same damn thing. He owned Buffalo, the Jets, and Miami forever. And those teams have had history. They've had some good players. I mean, Chargers, Raiders,

Broncos, they've had good players. They've had some good coaches. This is what it's becoming. You've got to dominate your division first. Brady, everybody always made excuses. Well, Brady has this, this, this. Well, you could say the same thing about Mahomes. Both of these, the two best quarterbacks I've ever seen, dominated their division. We are kind of ahead of the curve on some of this gambling stuff and looking ahead, Colin. After Denver, Patrick Bohomes has a date with Miami, and that's overseas, an international game. I know. It's a good international game.

Really good. Is there a chance they overlook Denver? Denver's not great here. And they do one of these, like, let's get out to a 17-0-0-0-0-0-coast, and maybe Denver comes back. I've been on, I've had a winning week a lot lately, and, you know, three or four of the last five weeks or whatever it is. I started really bad. I'm going generally. My theory is go with a better quarterback. I didn't on Monday night football and it burned me. So I can't go Russell Wilson over Mahomes. I'm trying to take the better. I went Lamar over God. Wait, wait. Who did you have Monday again?

I had the Niners. Purdy and Kirk Cousins is better than Purdy? Well, on a Monday night at home with that receiving crew, maybe, I think he is, yeah. I just want to bring up. You don't think Kirk Cousins is better than Brock Purdy? He's better than Brock Purdy. If he's like the 12th best quarterback Purdy's, and I said this before the game, I've always felt Kirk's in that DAC kind of 12-13, Purdy's closer to 15, 16, 17. I had Purdy 10. I had Cousins 11. Oh, Glea. Well, you really bought into that thing. I mean, it's been 15 games. He's been good. I know a sample size. Quick note on Kansas City. They're a middle linebacker, tackling machine Nick Bolton. He's a broken wrist. It sounds like he's going to be out at least a month, probably longer. That's a big injury.

Sean Payton, the game plan here is not difficult. A lot of dump-offs to Giovante Williams, P. Ryan in space, the kid McLaughlin. I keep an eye on the Broncos here. I think they'll be plucky. I don't know that they're going to win, but I think it'll be, you know, closer than the experts think. Next up, let's do another chief story because we haven't mentioned Taylor Swift in 24 hours. She's had a great impact on Travis Kelsey, obviously.

In more ways than one. The All-Pro tight end is averaging 108 yards per game with T Swift in the house, only 46 and a half without her. Micah Parsons has taken notice and he had this to say on his podcast. When there is a bad girl and she's in attendance and she's watching you, there gives you an extra boost of confidence. When you pull up to the gym and your girl's with you, I don't care who's in front of me.

Like, without a doubt in my mind, Kauai Litter could be in front of me, I got to give him 30. I refuse to go in that car on the way home. And my girl's talking about, damn, he drops you off today, huh? Nah, that's not happening. So you know what Kelston is doing. I know what's going on. He was already doing it.

So now it's like, yeah, I'm going to do it more now. Like, it's a swagger. It's a confidence when that things happen. Is Taylor Swift a bad girl? Is that what he called her? I mean, she's pretty cool. I don't think she's... What is bad girl?

That meant something different. Bad, like Rihanna's Nick Voo. Oh, okay. Bad girl, really, you know. Yeah, okay. Yeah, well, I... Yeah, I don't know how that works. How about Micah Parsons?

I mean, listen, this guy's pretty good on the mic. I told you. I should just hire him at the volume. That's a good value ad right there. He's saying it's like, I don't think he'd be a value. He's pretty polished. I think I'd have to pay for him. No, I mean, he's good.

Like he, I mean, I've never listened to his podcast, but we say an interesting stuff. I have. You have? It's good? I listen to all the podcasts. Oh. You almost sound like a little mogul over there. All right, let's get to the NBA where the league has tried to put it into load management.

This season, obviously they're trying to work on their TV. deal, so they want their stars playing. Last night, Adam Silver made an appearance on TNT's NBA pregame show, and Charles Barkley, who was, I thought he was a little out of pocket last night, but Berkeley used that opportunity to call out stars who sit out. As a player, if you're going to make $50, $60 million to play basketball three or four days a week, play basketball, man. Now, if you're injured, if you're injured, don't play. But everybody hurt you. after the first two weeks of the season,

your legs sore, your knee sore, y'all got the best shoes, you got the best medical staff, you got these guys sleeping in chambers, you got eye baths, man, if you can play, shut the hell up and play. Here, here, I like that.

Man of the people. This is me rolling my eyes at Charles Barkwell. Why? Well, it's almost like he's in the pocket of the league. Hey, Charles, you're on a powerful show. Can you get our stars to play basketball so we can make a bigger TV deal and make more money?

I'm kind of over Barclay. I know he's popular on the web. He's the most critical analyst in America on the sporty broadcast. No other analyst rips his own sport. Everybody else panders. Hey, you know, Charles? Well, not everybody else, but. Hey, Charles, you know what?

It's great, you know, when Kauai Leonard's playing in November. You know what I want him playing? In the playoffs! I want Curry in the playoffs. You know what? I'm sorry. I don't care if they're playing in genuine. You don't.

But I'm a rural kid who went to one Sonics game every three years. to see downtown Freddie Brown. And if they'd have had load management, and I don't get Gus Williams, I don't get DJ, I don't get Jack Sigma. That's the only game I go to. I know it's easy for all you city slickers out there,

you big six-figure people to talk about, I go to a bunch of games. You get free tickets. I do not. Okay, sometimes I get free tickets. Yeah, you do. The kid that's two hours away in California from the Staples, you can get on that, well, two hours away is four miles away.

You know, it's a better investment? Go get NBA League Pass. Why are you going to Staples for? Get NBA League Pass. By the way, as a kid, just for the record, I went to like four NBA games. My whole, before I turned like 18, I went to like maybe four games. Your family was rolling in it. No, we were in the suburbs, and the Wizards or the bullets at the time.

I love the bullets. We couldn't afford the suburbs. Suburbs were fancy cars. It wasn't that big of a deal to go to an NBA game. Watch them on TV. Yeah, you know, you should sometimes go to the upper deck where I hang out at stadiums. I'd rather watch on TV than go to the upper deck. How's that?

Yeah. Again, I'm out there drinking, you know, low-brow beer. You're videotaping. When you go upstairs, you know what those people are from? Hardworking people that go to one game a year. You're in here with the sweets and the owners. Again, I maybe go to two games, three games, four games a year. Yeah, and where do you sit?

Well, I try to get hooked up with tickets. For free. Yeah. Yeah, guy upstairs goes to one game a year with his kids because he's got four of them, and he's working the double shift to pay, and the McDonald's milkshake machine doesn't work. And the guy's busting his arms. Instead of working to take to one game.

game. Get the lead pass and watch every game. What's a big difference? There's another expense to the fans. How about play when I show up? How about that? Listen, one of us is for the people and one's hanging out with the- No, listen. I like, hey, you, I didn't even say this. I say this for my podcast. I like LeBron doing load management last night. Hey, AD, you're the leader of this team. Go get us a win. LeBron. Hey, I'm slow playing this season. I'm 38, turning 39 in December. I'm in no rush, my guy. I'm playing a few minutes because you know what matters? The playoffs matter. Not November basketball. That doesn't mean anything.

You know what? I watch November basketball. I sat and gave four hours to the league last night. Four and a half. It matters to me. I watch the games. After the honeymoon of the first week is over. Stop with this like, oh, play for the fans.

Like, play in the playoffs when it matters. Boy. We just disagree. What happened? We put him on the show for a couple months. He's fancy pants over here. I'm not fancy at all. You just try a drive-through once in a while

and order a milk shake. I was a shake shack last night. Have you been to Shake Shack lately? No, but it's a little over my, it's a lot. You can't walk out of that thing for four bucks. Where are you going? Wendy's? Checkfil-A. I do like Chick-fil-A, yes.

I'm all up there. I'm all about Chick-fil-A. Jay Mack for the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lod. One more Herd? The Herd streams 24 hours a day,

seven days a week within the I-Hard Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand. whenever you'd like. Two NBA insiders, podcasting twice a week to plug you right into the NBA great buy. All happening in only one place. This League Uncut. The new NBA podcast with me, Chris Haynes. And me, Mark Stein.

Join us as we team up to expound on everything we're covering, hearing, and chasing. Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your. podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw,

unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and 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 Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. 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. podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, Wemby plays tonight. Victor Wimbunyama. Can't wait for that NBA season opened up last night. How about Chris Paul to the Warriors?

Said it earlier. Don't have to size the rings yet, but you better Google where the place is. That was nice. Rick Buecker joining us live. So, all right, what, what? The Chris Paul Warriors thing. When Steph was off the floor. It might have, you called it.

Might have been a surprise to you. It was not a surprise to me. You had an adult in the room when you needed to have one. Now, all that said, there's still the wild and crazy warriors, and that does certainly concern me. And yes, I know we're short on time, but I have to get to this, Colin. I'm pulling my resident card on this. Jay Mack, don't make us choose on load management.

It's either or. It's not as if load management has guys ready to play in the postseason. They're still not available. And they're making $50 million. You don't need to extend your career in order to get that fourth max salary. Let's just play. I'm with Charles. And Colin, this you playing the role of country bumpkin up in the 300 section, drinking Papsed.

Like, come on now. Both of you are way out of line. Okay. All right. I must be challenging my charge. Because get back to your point, yes, Chris Paul was, is not going to be an issue. But I really, I'm kind of sad today because I feel like all of the intrigue of the NBA season, at least as far as the Western Conference is concerned, was really sucked out of the very first night.

The Denver Nuggets are far and away the best team in the league. Anthony Davis is not going to lead, is not going to be the lead guy on any kind of team vying for a championship. And Devin Booker is still a hothead, wildly talented, still a hothead, can't see him leading Phoenix anywhere. And the Warriors are going to be better than last year, but I wouldn't be sizing them for rings. So let's just hope that the Eastern Conference is going to give us something to talk about, because I feel like we already know how the Western Conference is going to go. Whoa, that's a lot. Hey, how about this? Yeah.

Victor Wimb and Yama. Okay. He's put on 18 pounds. It's like, oh, here he comes. Starts tonight. What should we expect? I expect that he's going to be phenomenal. He's clearly the real deal.

But I'm also looking, Holland, have you looked at the rest of that Spurs roster? Have you looked at what you're asking him to carry? If he's not playing 35, 40, 40 minutes, which I do not expect the Spurs to be, playing him that much, or leaning on him that much, this is just not a very good Spurs team. I fully expect that they are looking at, you know what,

we don't have to worry about making the playoffs. We don't have to worry, like, we know what Victor is. Let's make another run at the lottery and find a running mate for Victor, and then we'll unleash the beast. But look, I love watching him play. to see a guy that size do what he does is so unorthodox. It was the one question I had. I don't have that question anymore. He is going to be phenomenal. It's just a matter of when do the spurs allow him to be phenomenal on the biggest stage. So I think there's pressure on Milwaukee.

Dame is older, smaller player getting dinged up. Janus is in his prime, but Brooks older, Brooke Lopez, Chris Middleton, older falling apart a little bit. I think they've got about a two-year window to get it done. I don't with Boston. Tatum in his prime. Jalen in his prime. I don't think they have a brief window. I think Boston's got about five years here, four years. I feel like last year, Milwaukee looked old. Like old. And they looked old against Boston. How do you think the Damianis thing looks six months from today? What's it going to look like? Well, they were the oldest team last year in the league. And they're the second oldest team this year. And I'm with you 100%. I don't know. Lillard solves one problem.

but the loss of Drew Holiday creates others, which is that defensively, there's just a huge question in terms of what they can be, especially if you're talking about the Boston Celtics. How are you going to match up against those Uber athletic guys on the wings? Who's guarding them? Chris Middleton, you hope that he's healthy. Damien Lillard, no chance. Pat Connitton? So that to me is the issue.

Now, the biggest question, and I agree with you, Boston Celtics look like they are going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. The big question is, is it going to be built around Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown? That's the referendum that we're going to see here. We thought that they were going to get there last year. And when they didn't, it was a look at Jason Tatum to say, can he really be the best player on a championship team? if there were no excuses last year, there certainly aren't any this year, not with the addition of Drew Holliday, who is just a headier, more solid point guard and playmaker than Marcus Smart. So that's going to be the question. I think that the Celtics at some point win a

championship in the next couple of years. But if it's not this year, then I don't know that they do it with Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. Okay, we're out of time. Rick Buecker, going to see a lot more of him as always Bukes. It's great seeing you. Thanks for calling out J. Mack. Really appreciate that. It needs to be done in a more consistent level. Thank you very much. Rick Buecker, as always money. So, yeah, that load management stuff, all right. You got the internet worked up with that load management stuff. They're all on your side on this one. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, crazy. That's insane. 50 million a year. Could you just play occasionally when you're uncomfortable? I do this show uncomfortably twice a week.

Really? What's our car? You got pulled muscle from lifting weights yesterday? Influenza, muscle, sort of, sleep like crud. I'm out here knocking down three-pointers. On nights I feel, mornings I feel like crud. I got management harping on me. What a warrior.

Fighting. Ryan back here, bingles lover. You've got the network on your back. Is your back okay? You need a massage? I mean, geez. Let's slow down on that. All right.

because who was he good today? Buecker brings heat. He's got the Westall figured out. We're an hour into it. And Joel Clat. Boy, this was maybe a top-tender show right today. Top-12. Top-12.

You know, like the bills. We're not top-10. We're close. All right. We'll see you tomorrow. First things first is getting ready, putting the suits on, getting the ties ready, expensive shoes on. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics

from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.