The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD – HOUR 3 – Same Old Aaron Rodgers | Bears Dominant Offense

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

Colin talks Eric Mangini about how the Patriots outcoached the Bills, how well the Falcons are playing, the Cowboys-Bucs game tonight, and more He also gives his thoughts on MLB proposing to shorten the regular season to 154 games starting in 2029 and to expand the division series to a best-of-seven format.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, welcome. come in. Dodgers, Brewers, Reyes. All of them, Dodgers, Brewers, Ray's moving to the league championship series. It's funny about the Dodgers and really throughout baseball. There is the regular season. Okay, it's about volume and consistency and showing up.

But the playoffs are different. We saw it last night highlighted in the playoffs by key moments and pressure situations. Last night, two opportunity, backs against the wall, the Braves had a chance in the fifth inning and the sixth inning to alter and change the series. Atlanta was at home. Here it was. Fifth inning.

Two runners on. Dodgers have to go to the bullpen. Alex Pescia comes in. Braves hit a rocket right at Kike Hernandez. Opportunity blown. Sixth inning. Sixth inning. Tyler Glassnow had control problems. They had to pull him. Sixth inning. They lead off with a double. Oh, that's great. But they couldn't do anything with it. The Braves were 0 for seven last night runners in scoring position. And Matt Olson and Ronald O'Kunia Jr. They're two big sticks. O'Fer four with runners in scoring position. Okay. So yet a Dodger role player once again, Andy Paez, who was benched last year in the World Series,

a guy making $800,000 a year, top of the seventh, bases loaded, bang, drives two in. The guys make an $800 grand a year. That's not even great NIL money. Benched in last year's World Series. Keyhe Hernandez yesterday. I mean, this is what they do. Regular season in baseball is elementary school.

Just show up. and yet good attendance. The playoffs in baseball are college. It's about midterms and finals. You got to ace those. The entire series, the Braves offense with runners in scoring position hit 0.043, 28 runners left on. That's historically awful. And this is what L.A. has been doing year after year after year in the postseason. I mean, Mookiee, O'Tonnie, and Freddie, oh for 11 last night. So they needed Pahez, just like last year in the World Series. They needed Pahas and his defense. And so two nights ago, Tke Hernandez with the home run.

So, I mean, this Tommy Edmonds back in 2024 was the NLCS MVP. It's not just the big guys. They also got on the road. This is tough. Six and the third of scoreless bullpen work. Glass knows got good stuff, but he was struggling with the control. So they had to go to the bullpen early. So, you know, I said this.

It was a real crisis moment. You're on the road and the Dodgers played nearly perfect baseball. They're hard enough to beat. You can't beat yourself. And for the record, all those complaining about payroll, here's the payrolls that remain in baseball. The Guardian's 30th. The raise 28. the White Sox 24th, the Brewers 19th.

What about the Dodgers? They do everything well. Their farm system right now is top three in Major League Baseball. They defend, they do everything but steal bases, and they shouldn't steal bases. Because when you have that much power, don't run yourself out of innings. Dave Roberts, on the series win,

and a nearly flawless night of baseball, road baseball, where L.A. has won nine of their last 10 road playoff games. Everybody in this room help get us to where we're at, where we're going to go. We need every single person. We talk about this. There's no more talented team than the Los Angeles got. It's the best organization in sports, top to bottom. We're smarter, we're better,

and we're tougher. We're tougher. Think about that. A guy making $800,000 a year for the Dodgers delivered last night and two guys, stars for the Braves, making $39 million combined,

did not. That is the difference. Kiki Hernandez, two nights ago, last year's World Series game seven, that's what they do. So, listen, the Yankee, fans, there's going to be excuses slash reasons they lost. You can say, well, Aaron, Judge, wasn't available. That's true. Well, the fan interference was a bad break. Absolutely true. Why did Aaron

Boone drop Ben Rice in the batting order behind Trent Grisham? I would say that's ill-advised. But none of it matters. The lowest payroll in Major League Baseball is Tampa. They beat the Yankees and were better in the regular season, and they were clearly better in this. Better defensively, they got better pitching. Their starters beat the Yankees great starters. So the slap hitting Tampa race, the slap hitters, more home runs, more extra base hits. And again, I've said this. Look at the Yankees.

Defensively, mid. Farm system, 25th out of 30 teams, according to people that rank farm systems. Defensively, awful, at least in this series. Aaron Judge, great, but let's be honest, he's 34, 35 by now. season. So the Yankees to me have become Nike. You have this massive brand, but because of arrogance, I mean, let's be honest, smaller, sharper executives at other shoe companies have chipped away. And you look up and you still, you still make the playoffs. You still sell a lot of shoes, but you're not fundamentally the same company. Same execs, same arrogance, same manager,

same general manager. And there are so many smart young people and make Major League Baseball. Do the Yankees have any of them? Because I think they become the old guy that brags that he still has a flip phone. A couple years ago, there was an article, Brian Cashman, said, hey, we have the smallest analytics department in the American League East. Yeah, that's not a brag. Go to the website of the Yankees. One person has the title of quantitative analysis, analyst. One. One. Dodgers have seven and several working under them. And the Yankees GM is bragging, hey, it's in the age of information, we have less. I mean, seriously here.

So, I mean, the Yankees offense against the race, these are all lowest in the postseason series in franchise history, batting average 1.30, on base percentage 192, slugging percentage 239. Now, I know Aaron Judge wasn't available. I get it. but for the record last night, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, O'Tonnie went 0 for 11 for the Dodgers. Okay, who got them the lead two nights ago? Kike Hernandez, utility infielder at 4.5 mil a season.

Who got them the big hit last night? Andy Paix has 800 grand a year. So you can make all, by the way, the Braves stars didn't hit. The Dodgers stars in this series didn't hit. Outside of Ben Rice, no, the Yankee stars hit. So, I mean, just to me, it's not just fire this guy.

It's beyond that for the Yankees. Same people, same front office, same arrogance. I'm telling you it's Nike. They're still selling shoes, but, man, people have nibbled away on the margins, and it's not the same company, and the Yankees aren't the same team. Here was A. Rod and Jeter last night. Something has to change. Something has a change.

I'm not talking about personnel, but I'm talking about a philosophy. There has to be a philosophy change. They played better than the Yankees all season. They played better than Yankees in this particular series. In terms of what's next, I don't know. You know, I think that's the best way to answer. I do not know what's next. How would you fix him?

I don't know. And neither to the Yankees, apparently. we all know that baseball managers matter and a bad one can tank a team, but a good one gives you four wins. I don't think Aaron Boone, you know, listen, baseball fans, because baseball, there's a lot of time in between plays and pitches, and, you know, it's a little bit of chess. So every baseball fan's absolutely sure they could manage the Yankees and they couldn't, obviously.

So I don't think Aaron Boone dismissal, you know, changes. some of the issues inside the organization. They're not committed to analytics like, say, the Dodgers are. So, you know, it's not an easy solve. Now, John Carlos Stanton's only got one more guaranteed big year left. So that'll, you know, that'll clean up some money. And they're starting pitching's fine. You don't have to attack that.

But be nice if they got a little better defensively. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. Hey, is Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio? Now, in addition to hearing us live weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific, on Fox Sports Radio, we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube channel for the show. Yep, that's right. You can now watch Covino & Rich live on YouTube every day.

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Must be 19 years of age or older to play. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned about your gambling or that of someone close to you, visit connectsonterio.ca. So Sean Payton's like, yeah, I'm going to take that play-calling thing back. You kind of felt that was going to happen.

I'm a believer if you're great at something in life, don't stop doing it because it's hard to be great at two things, let alone, you know, I mean, just be great. I don't care if it's long distance running, playing the piano or play design and play calling. Don't give it up. If you're great, keep doing it. Eric Mangini, former head coach, Browns and Jets.

First things first, joining us. Are you surprised? I mean, he gave it a month. I think it's more Bo Nix than Sean Payton or Davis Webb, but are you surprised he took it back this soon? No, this is the season where those changes get made. We're seeing it down in Houston, where he's taking back the defense.

it's about week four, week five, week six, where things are going right, especially if it's a first-time coordinator, and that's your side of the ball where that transition usually takes place. Now, usually the first step is they move the coordinator from the box to the field or the field to the box, and then the next step is, yeah, so there's like, oh, well, he's going to see the field differently doing it this way, but it makes sense. They've been, they've had, what, minimal to no production in the first half whatsoever. No, it's brutal. It's brutal in the first quarter of the season. And Sean's been so good at it for so long.

I'm sure he's at input on all the game plans, but it's different calling the plays, having a feel for the game, having a feel for the quarterback, having a feel for what's happening defensively. And, you know, in fairness, a first-time coordinator goes through a learning curve like a rookie quarterback does or like any other rookie. And unfortunately, unfortunately, it's not a type of business that gives you a long leeway to learn. Yeah, no, I mean, I've said this about Lincoln Riley at USC.

People and Shanahan, people are like, well, they're always staring at their play card. And I'm like, yeah, they're great at it. How in college are going to find a better play caller than Lincoln Riley? Like, if that's what he's great at, and maybe he's not a great culture leader. But what he's great at, don't give it up. Just I kind of, when you were coaching, was there anything when you were a head coach, you still wanted to call. I always wanted to be involved in those got-a-habit plays.

So maybe it was a two-point play, maybe it was the fourth and one or fourth and three or whatever it was, whether it was offensively or defensively. You know, we would go through those things during the course of the week. We'd practice those things during the course of the week. Because what you wanted to do is in the biggest moments, when the games were going to be decided to make sure you had exactly what you wanted and what you felt. gave you the best chance to win. My biggest frustrations I had coach is when we would go through those moments during the week,

we'd get to win the game, and then suddenly the offensive coordinator would say, well, I had a feeling this other thing would work. And it's like, no, no, no, no, that's not how we're going to operate. You know, we're going to put the guys in the best spot to win. We're going to prepare for it. They're going to know what to do. And so it was those moments that I wanted to make sure I was dialed in and completely understood what the decision.

we're going to be that that were taking place. Yeah. So I'm going to defend, I made this argument with Aaron Rogers. When you acquire Aaron Rogers in his 40s, you've got to know two things. He doesn't want to get hit anymore, and he can be testy and rigid. And that's just, so it's up to you. If you acquire him, that's what he is. So I defend him. I wasn't here last Friday doing this.

My take is I've seen Peyton Manning and Brady and Aaron and Mahomes light up coaches. And I think when you're in a game, this creates clarity. I've seen Nick Saban throw headsets. It creates clarity. Everybody knows where we don't have time. The clock's running. What was your takeaway? I try to be fair with Aaron because he can drive me nuts.

But I'll take this confrontational live action over the passive aggressive offseason stuff. Where did you land on it? It felt very on brand, Colin. It felt like it was just a matter. time before we're going to get the passive aggressive, and then we were going to get the more demonstrative. I don't remember him doing this a lot last year. Do you remember any examples last season where he was yelling at the head coach or yelling, you know, across the guy? He didn't do that with Tomlin. Didn't happen. Didn't happen. Suddenly we're back to doing that again. And I was actually

sitting with one of my kids watching, you know, watching this take place. And he said, well, what effect does this have on the rest of the team? Well, what it does is you saw there were other examples where players were arguing with the defensive coordinator. They were calling it, you know, there's, so it, it, when you're the leader of the team and you set the tone that you're going to confront, you know, have confrontations very publicly, it permeates down. It just doesn't end with you. Then it becomes guys confronting each other on the sideline, guys confronting the coordinator,

guys confronting the position, whatever it is. And look, there's room for constructive conflict, and I'm all for it, and I get the emotional side of the game. But it's also you need to have some leadership and some poise and you know, there's space for all that stuff. It just feels like this

is a little theatrical for him and very, very much what I thought would happen at some point. Yeah. You know, I thought last week, I used this word a lot. Intention. Intentional. So I thought New England did a really good job

of coaching. They out-coach Joe Brady. So Vrable and Josh McDaniels go in and they're like, all right, we've got to make this easier for Drake. So what did they do? Trayvion Henderson, Stevenson had 27 carries. Drake May had a season high-end carries and they're like, listen,

we get, you know, A.J. Brown's not here. You lost Diggs and booty from last year. Like Hunter Henry's good. He's not George Kittle. So the take was, we are going to commit to the run. We're going to, even if it's not super productive. And I watch that game, and I'm like, that's exactly what you should do with a young

quarterback. And I just, your, your philosophy on that is that some, I always say football's complicated, but I can generally see what you're trying to establish as a consumer. And I'm watching that game, and I'm like, that is good coaching by Vrable. That is good coaching. Your takeaway on Drake May was awful, and now he's been resurrected. Well, I, I've said this all along. And I, and I, you don't. I've talked about this a little bit, you go into every season with who you want to be and who you think you're going to be. And then as the season unfold, the good coaching staffs figure out who they need to be. Because it doesn't always work out with what you intend to do is what you're

actually able to do. But as it unfold, you realize, okay, this is what's going to give us the best chance to win. And then you lean into it, even though it may be totally different than what you would ideally how you would ideally operate. But the realities of each season are so different. And to Mike Vrable and to Josh McDaniel's credit, yeah, things have changed. A.J. Brown isn't there right now. Drake May is struggling. Yeah.

Things are, there's challenges here with all the high expectations and all those things come to play. So, okay, let's take a step back. Let's make sure he's, Drake May is as comfortable as we can possibly make them. Let's lean into the running game. and let's take some pressure off of them and then figure out who we need to be in order to go just win this next game.

And then you reload and recalibrate the next week when AJ Brown comes back, that changes the equation. But you're going to see a bunch of games and seasons unfold here as a consumer where people are beating their heads against the wall trying to be something they aren't. And all it does is just lose game after game. And at the end of the season, like,

I don't know what happened. I can't figure it out. Yeah. I said this week, I said a baseball manager and an NFL coach are different. And baseball, don't get too high, too low. It's a long season. Like Dave Roberts of the Dodgers, a lot of stars, a lot of passion, a lot of expectation. Bring the heat down.

In the NFL, oftentimes by mid-October, you're a good team playing a dog. You've seen the film. You should win by 10 points. NFL coaches, to me, it's about inspiration, You know, hey, we play once a week. We've got to be dialed in. And sometimes desperation. You have to sell guys.

I know it's the Arizona Cardinals, but this is, boy, they're way better on film than you guys think. So the intensity of it. My favorite coaches in the NFL, they're intense. Like McVeigh and Ben Johnson. They're just intense. Vrabel's got his own level of intensity. So when Matt LaFleur got the job, I made two calls. and one of the guys said, I worry that LaFleur, he gets, Vrable was such a big presence in Tennessee,

is intimidating. Matt LaFleur was like a church mouse. I'm like, I don't know if he can lead a room, man. I didn't see it in Tennessee. I was in those rooms. And Vrable's so over, over Barry. You know, Jim Harbaugh can be that. He just takes over a room, oxygen.

And I look at LaFleur, and I said this the other day, I said, even in the Ben Johnson, Matt LaFleur press conferences, one guy I want to run through a wall for. The other guy is like, well, it's really about. the players and I'm like, there is something about, you play one game a week. You know, with Matt, I'm like, smart guy, nice guy, but sometimes I want, I want more gas. I want more, I want more energy. Is that a reasonable media take? It is a reasonable media take as long as that's true to your personality. So with Bill Belichick, it wasn't these big inspirational speeches, but what he could really do, and he did

through the film is he created that sense of desperation every single week. So it wasn't necessarily the rah-rah speeches, but he could go up there. We were playing, we were like 14 and 1, and Jacksonville was like 1 and 14 at the time. And we came out of the film where we did the preview. And I remember talking to my wife and saying,

man, this Jacksonville team's pretty good. This 1 in 14, she's like, oh, this should be an easy week. I'm like, no, no, no, you should see the things they do on kickoff. because he created that sense of urgency by showing you all the ways that they could be you, all the things that they could do to derail your season. So that was true to his personality. Then there's some other guys where they aren't very good with the film and they created other ways, whether it's, and look, Bill Parcells was good with both, but Bill

could find an angle with each player. He would find guys and he would tweak them a little bit each week. And everybody was different. And everybody got a little stumping different from Bill, but he had such a great sense of how to operate on a human side. Sure. And it wasn't, again, the big speeches, but it was the individual conversations and the way he just jab guys a little bit each week to get them to feel that sense of urgency. So, Dak Prescott plays tonight. I was, Greg Kossel was on earlier.

and I said, it took me a while to warm up to Dak, because what you can't see on film or in a game is intelligent sometimes, aptitude, maturity. Dak's got a meddling vanity owner. He had the Des, Brian Zeke years, Moody George Pickens, mica drama, coaching carousel. And I'm like, this guy, I mean, if the, if the Cowboys are a rock band, he's the manager that makes sure they clean up the hotel room and get on stage on time.

Like, he's such a grown-up. And it took me a long time because aesthetically, it's like, uh, it's not, yeah. When you watch Dak, what do you see? Yeah, you're exactly right. I just looking over the last five years of Dak's production, that's had great seasons. I mean, he's had three different offensive coordinators.

And he's had great seasons with each one of those guys and each one of those philosophies. So there was like a 37 touchdown season. There was a 36 touchdown season. There was a 31 touchdown season. The two years where he was off over the last five, he missed a bunch of games with his thumb injury. That banged him up when he had a lot of the interceptions.

And another one of those seasons he missed about half the games. He has been the consistent rock of that organization. And every year they've been really productive offensively. But now it's three different defensive coordinators in the last three. years. It really, he hasn't had a rock solid defense since Dan Quinn was there. And he's still figuring out a way

to make them competitive at almost every day, make them competitive in almost every season. I didn't love all the bravado at the start of the season, Colin, I didn't, I thought we could have done without that. And then to go out and lose the Giants in the opener.

But, you know, I love that he has goals. I love that his goal is a Super Bowl, just think he could have kept a little quieter. Yeah. That's me. That's my mantra. I just play under the radar, you know, just try to hide from the public.

That's always the way to go. That's why you and I go. You're under promise over-delivered and everybody's happy. And you work with Nick Wright, who's the opposite. So that's a juggling actor. It is, it is. My Jerry Jones. Yeah.

All right. Yeah. Yeah, Dak is, Tampa is, I'm telling you, man, Liam Cohen left that building. And there's a lot of smart people in Tampa. And they got good front office. They draft well and they own their stuff. Liam Cohen goes down the road to Jacksonville. And it's like, Jacksonville's great.

And Tampa's a bit of a mess. Dude can coach. J-Mack patiently waiting with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I just love this time of year. this time of day, Colin.

Right now, Thursday, the injury reports are coming in, and they're big everywhere. Let's start with the Cowboys. Good news. They got Tyler Smith. He has been activated. Obviously, the all pro left guard is back. And according to Ian Rappaport, he's going to be a go tonight. It's a mild surprise.

I thought they'd wait another week. That's a big get back, obviously, for this offensive line. We know they want to run Giovante Williams. Bucks have struggled to stop the run at times this year. And Joey Porter, who they just traded for, played and showed well against Houston. He's listed as a starter tonight. Fortunately, he doesn't have any great wide receivers to go up against. I hope

everybody understands the value of Joey Porter. Like when you play in a division, you got Malik neighbors, Terry McLauran, you know, you've got Wicks at Devonte Smith. When you play in a division and everybody's got true number one, that Joey Porter move is bigger than

people think. Look at how many great receivers. The Rams, Devonte Adams, and Pooka Nakua. Like a lot of the best teams, Mike Evans now is at San Francisco. You start looking at Amaran St. Brown with Detroit, Justin Jefferson, Minnesota. The best teams in the

NFC all have a really game-changing whiteout. And that Joey Porter move, I think that's going to, I think that will end up being, that will end up being a really shrewd move by the Cowboys. Well, then the question becomes, Colin, do you structurally

change the back end of the defense? And you say no more zone. We're going to have Joey Porter follow around JSN for every freaking route because I think you've got to do that when you got some of these expensive talented cornerbacks. It's not working out for sauce gardener and indie. He's falling off considerably had a really rough London game. Well, the reason you can pay him is because Caleb Downs doesn't get his big contract for four years. So you have this great play from day one safety, Caleb Downs, Ohio State. And it's like, okay, so I know my back end's going to be pretty inexpensive relative to what Joey Porter's

going to be. So as a unit, as a secondary, I can save on the back end. I'm going to pay Porter. for the next three years, four years? I think this is a big one tonight for Dallas. So they're big favorites, right? This is a different role than when they were, you know, underdogs. They got to cover a large number. And, Colin, I think they have to know in the locker room, this division is wide open, given what's going on with the Eagles.

Absolutely. Wide open now. I mean, I wish Jackson Dart was healthy because I think it would be a really fun division. I have this feeling the Giants eventually are just going to have a quarterback deficit in too many games. I mean, I think they'll win eight. I thought with Jackson Dart, that felt like 10, 11 potentially. But we need to see it from Dallas, okay?

Because honestly, the division is there for the taking. At some sports books, they are now favored to win the division. That's not, that's not the best offense. And by the way, I don't know how great Brian Schottenheimer is. Well, he has not gotten in the way of the offense. I'll tell you that. Say what you want. You know, he, do I consider him McVeigh?

No, there's one McVeigh. But Schottenheimer's offense, since he arrived, He has basically taken most of McCarthy's offense, which I think you have to be pretty eagoless. Coaches all want to put their imprint on it. They're largely doing McCarthy stuff. So, I mean, you know, it's, I don't worry about DAC in the offense. It's been established with Garrett, McCarthy, Shottie. They'll move the ball with DAC if you run the offense that DAC is comfortable with.

So the team total, yes, I looked at that. tonight for the Cowboys is 29 and a half. Would you take the over? No. Really? No, because I do think Tampa's got an athletic quarterback who could pick up first downs. We've seen athletic quarterbacks get space against the Dallas defense. So my take is I think Tampa may do okay in time of possession.

They're just not going to score a lot. Like the Giants in the opener. Yeah, they're going to take 30 minutes of time of possession, and that will limit Dallas's possessions. but Dallas will win the game. Yeah, the last three games, Dallas, over 30 points pretty easily. But keep away is the strategy. All right, let's move on to your Chicago Bears.

Tyson Bayjant's going to be under center against the Packers. Colin, this line is coming down. Yesterday, it was headed toward three. Bears injury report was brutal. It's down to one and a half. I think some sharp money coming in on the Packers. Oh, boy. This is interesting.

So, you know, Tyson Bayget, there's some film on him now, right? We've seen a little bit. He actually had three picks against the, jets that were overturned on penalties. Let me tell you. And then another interception. I'm just putting it out there for you. But here's Ben Johnson. Really interesting quote.

He said that Bayjit has the green light to throw it deep. Last week against my jets, I watched that closely. He didn't want to throw deep. He just did not want to. Jets were leaving guys 1 v1. Bejit didn't want to do it. The run game had like 275 yards. I'm just telling you.

The cheese is sharper in Wisconsin than the sharps betting the Packers. Chicago rolls. Unfortunately, I am with you. like your chest puffing confidence, because it makes me a little nervous. And Bejan has been accurate on the deep ball, six of eight for a buck 38. He's a very, very good backup. He's an excellent backup. There's a lot of good backups in this league. The kid, Huntley, in Baltimore is a very, very good backup.

And he kind of plays a similar style to Lamar Jackson. That's why I'm staying away from Atlanta, Baltimore. I think Huntley's more than capable to put up 24 points. I don't love Atlanta's defense. By the way, there are probably things that, you know, Caleb's so gifted, sometimes the more gifted players can be tougher to coach. There are probably some things with Case Kingdom and Bejant that Ben Johnson actually prefers. Like, like when Caleb, he's so dynamic, you can't ask him to just run three-step drop, distribute the ball. You want to lean into his playmaking.

So I think they're going to be just fine. This game is so fascinating. So I did a deep analysis. All three games last year, the Packers smothered Ben Johnson's offense in the first half. Packers were leading at half in all three. And in the second half, the Bears storm back because Ben Johnson makes adjustments. Can he make the adjustments without Caleb Williams if they fall behind? Now, the interesting thing is the DC last year was Jeff Halfley.

He's in Miami. The new DC's Jonathan Gannon. Gannon has faced Ben Johnson twice and Ben ran it down his throat both times. offensive line running game i i can't wait for this game i think people don't want to don't want to say this right now in the nfc nineer seahawks bears well you forgot the rams well no i didn't forget the rams i have watched the rams i have watched the rams are you blown away with our offense well it's early i i do i trust stafford it's not that early there come on it's four games in we got stafford and mcvay proven entities

I don't know. I'm sorry to think they put it on the bills Monday night. A little show of force come out and drop the hammer. This is a great week. Anyways, final story. Come, let's go to the Bengals. So this is the latest practice report. The Bengals, obviously, the disaster against Jags.

They threw the ball 54 times. And I'll give you the injury report in a moment. But Joe Burrow, after the game, said, oh, yeah, let's throw the ball more. 54 passes. And they lost. So now Burrow is changing his tune, Cowell. Or take a listen. I might have been a little emotional after a game.

Obviously, you want to have balance as an offense. And, you know, the run game wasn't good enough on Sunday. And, you know, I feel confident in myself that you put it in my hands and I'm going to make it work. But yeah, we've got to be more balanced going forward. And the big part of that is the run game. Yeah, I mean, 54 is, that's like seven-on-seven summer camp stuff. That's, like, brutal. Well, Chase Brown is a nice.

back, but he might be more of a third down guy than a between the tackles. So, Colin, here it is. Practice today. Jamar Chase is back from the concussion practicing. But T. Higgins is not. They're calling it a neck abductor. Not great. You certainly cannot throw it 54 times if you don't have both those guys, unless you're targeting like Mike Geseki 20 times. This is, Colin, look at that line. This was seven for the last three days. It's now come off to seven. Money on the dolphin. Seven to most key number in NFL gambling. Dolphins were plucky. They have been interesting.

I think, again, I'll say this. I think Malik Willis is talented, and I think Jeff Hathley's doing a great job. I really think you can't, I think you have to look at Miami. I think Halfley's done a great job. Their effort, they give you everything they have. They're super young.

And I think, I think Malik Willis is really talented. They're going to have the number one pick. That's the only question. If you're doing Survivor this week, the Bengals are one of the biggest spreads. Do you trust them on the road, chase off a concussion, maybe no Higgins? Yes. You think they'll get the win?

Because I'm leaning toward Dallas as the most likely winner this week. I think Cincinnati will win. I think they've been very disappointed in the last two weeks with their uneven offense. I think they'll play really well. I think Cincinnati will win. But Miami is going to get the number one pick. And now I would take Jermaine Smith because I think Malik Willis, for what I'm paying him and his ability, I would take Jermaine Smith.

But what's going to happen is there's going to be a bidding war. So if you have the number one pick and you don't need a quarterback, and I don't think Miami does, and Jeff Hapley, he's already, you know, does he want to start over next year with another quarterback? I think Miami's going to take that number one pick, trade down, get another three, another four, another five. And all of a sudden next year,

cultures created Miami next year is a viable franchise. It does not take three years. Now, now, because of the dead cap stuff with Tua, it's a lost season. But I think I can't wait for the draft because I don't, I think Miami may win a game or two at home. But I, the Jets have too much talent. Cleveland's got too much talent. Arizona's got too many playmakers. Those teams are going to win games.

Now, it's early October, but I thought I heard you say, just for clarity. Did I say Jeremiah Smith or did I butcher that? You would take Smith over any of the quarterbacks. My bad. You would take him over the quarterbacks in this draft if you were Miami. If I'm Miami. Wow. you are that high on Malik Willis.

I'm not that high, but I think Malik Willis for the next two years is going to be better than somebody out of college. And I'm Jeff Halfley, and I don't want to, you know, rookie quarterback. We win three games and I'm teaching him out of play. Second year quarterback. Like, I'll just take Malik. He's been in the league. He knows, you know, he knows the sport. I think Malik is talented.

It's easy to beat up on that kid because I got nothing around him. But I think. I think I'm Miami. I don't know. It's just when you lose, everything's terrible. I think Halfley's done a great job. I'm watching their effort. They play hard. They have. Shay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. Yeah. Now, if I'm the Jets, I take a quarterback. If I'm Arizona, I take a quarterback. If I'm Cleveland, I probably go with quarterback, although Deshawn's playing pretty well. but if I'm Miami, I stay with my guy.

And we don't even know. The one thing that could be interesting with the dolphins is the best college quarterback I've seen so far is the guy with the Miami Hurricanes. So if this college kid wins a natty in Miami, the fan base is going to be like draft that guy. And you may be kind of forced. I mean, he's a good player. But I mean, you could be kind of in a situation where it's like, okay, this is what Stephen Ross wants. It's what the media wants. It's what the fan wants.

And, you know, oh, the Titans, I would definitely, I think you have to consider quarterback. That's not, it has not worked out. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. An IHeart Radio experience. Carly Pierce, live at the Opera House, October 16th. Win your way in to the exclusive IHeart Radio sound check party, an intimate pre-show performance and Q&A. And then stay for the podcast. full show.

Carly Pierce, live in Toronto. Enter now for your chance to win at iHeartRadio.ca. Stream Carly's new album, Honest Woman. Available now. So Jeff Passon, baseball guy, Major League Baseball has proposed cutting the regular season schedule from 162 to 154 games. I told you about this about two weeks ago. I had heard that.

I would cut it down to 130. I think baseball, I think it's all real estate. I don't think you want to be competing. The baseball numbers are down this year, except for the Dodgers series. And I think a lot of it is you're trying to compete against college football now, where you're going to have a playoff. So college football is just bigger with two super conferences right now. A lot of big brands playing each other a lot.

And I think the NFL's king. so I would try to get baseball's regular season done by August 15th and, you know, your first series. Let's get it over by October 12th. We should be going into the World Series this week. That's how I, because the weather's still great in the Midwest. You don't want rainouts. I would get the World Series started by early October, done by October 15th, October 12th. So Jeff Passon says also part of the proposal, higher seeds, in the playoffs, get to choose their opponents. I love that.

That'll be divisive and angry. People get all freaked out. The teams will be like, oh, you chose us, huh? You thought we were weak. That'll get all sorts of animosity. That's awesome. And Division Series, expand to seven games. I'm for that.

Wildcard three into seven, seven, seven. I'm for that. I just think you should cut off more games. I think when you had baseball and all these games, it was a different society, much more. fragmented, much more distracted. I would cut games. I don't mind when baseball starts, but I think it should end two to three weeks earlier than it ends now and get into the playoffs. I mean, we guarantee you, we're going to start having rainouts here.

And, you know, then all of a sudden it's like, uh, that kills the momentum and you're going to play a game on a Tuesday or a Wednesday with no football. Now you've got Thursday night football goes again. Now you've got to play a Sunday night game against the NFL. So, But to me, it's all real estate. Sports is all real estate. The NFL has always been pretty manipulative on their schedule. Like, they're going to move free agency. They're going to change the draft for more primetime viewing during the week.

Like, they're really smart about it. Baseball, Manfred has done a lot of really good things. But baseball for a long time, Fox basically had to go to baseball and say, why don't you borrow a page from the NFL and get more intentional with your scheduling. The Dodgers and Giants should never plan a Wednesday. You know, like, well, Yankees Red Sox, that should be a weekend series every time they plan the regular season. No exceptions. Baseball was just kind of making it up as they went. It's like, no, no, no, the NFL thinks about everything. If there's a star quarterback that

gets drafted, Arch Manning, they're going to put him front and center. They start with a Super Bowl rematch. The second game is then Niners, Rams, McBey, and Shanahan. Football is very, very, smartly intentional. Not college football, not baseball. So I'm for all the changes. Speed it up. That was one of the great moves Manfred ever made. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.