The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 3 - The MLB playoffs

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

World Series champion Alex Rodriguez joins the show in studio to breakdown the MLB playoffs Thoughts on the Packers loss to the Raiders last night and QB Jordan Love   Guests: Alex Rodriguez, James JonesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Here we go, live in L.A. hour three, it's the hurt. A-Rod in a couple of minutes, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. J. Mack, Nick Wright earlier, A-Rod now coming up. So we watched Jordan Love last night, lose. They got to prepare from September 8, 28th, excuse me, to October 9th. And that's what you saw. If I said this morning, you had to make a decision.

Do you draft another quarterback? I can't give you that answer in October. I need to at least see Andrew Jones. I'm sorry to sit on the fence. But I'm sorry, Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones in the backfield in the opener, like he's your dump-off safety guy. But there are some signs, if you're a Packer fan, that are a little concerning. Number one, Matt LaFleur warned us in the off-season.

Bring down expectations. Number two, very conservative play-calling pre-season. and now. They're telling you they'd rather we not throw. They had one scoring drive, eight plays, six of them runs. He only had 15 attempts going into the later stage of the game when they had to throw.

So the coach warned us, the play calling showing you, CJ Stroud has been asked since week two. Throw it 45 times. They're just letting CJ's, Andrew Luck, let her rip. Burrow, let her rip with a bad old line. Herbert, letter rip. Jordan

loved protecting. The third sign, of shows he's awful in first halves. That's a bad place to be if you're struggling because that means you're coming from behind and quarterbacking when you're playing from behind is much harder than with a lead unless you're Patrick Mahomes. And so even more disturbing is that it's getting worse week to week, meaning people have film. The element of the surprise is over. He's losing confidence now, so it's getting worse. Even more disturbing with an offensive coach and a stable franchise against a weak defense outside of Max Crosby, they had September 28th to October 9th to prepare,

and you got a nothing burger on script. Now, the great quarterbacks are great off script, but almost everybody, even a backup, could be good on script. So to me, it doesn't work so far now. Tim Tebow was barely an NFL quarterback and won seven straight games. You can win a lot of different ways in this league. You can win with Kenny Pickett right now is not great, but Kenny Pickett's got the best defense, arguably, in the league,

makes one big throw and win. Put, Jordan Love is struggling to throw the ball accurately downfield. All the data tells you that. So that's a warning sign also. If you're struggling, you got to be good early in games. You'll want to play with the lead. You don't want to be down 10, 14 points. That makes it significantly worse.

Your playbook gets buried and put their pin their ears back. So that's all trouble. Who's not trouble is Alex Rodriguez. He is here at Fox today. 22 Major League Baseball seasons, most grand slams in history, three MVP. Okay, so I am watching.

The late John Madden used to always say, if it sounds like a big game, put it on TV. We said this. I said this in the middle of the season. I know I'm a baseball casual. I said, keep your eye on Philadelphia. They hit for power. This is a team with playoff experience.

Atlanta, Philadelphia, this could be one for the ages. So kind of a takeaway. To me, these feel like loaded teams, experienced teams. I don't know who I like. Philadelphia, by the way. It's one of the craziest crowds. I mean, those Philly

home games are nuts. What do you make of Atlanta, a dominant team scuffing a little bit here? Yeah, what's up, Colin? What's up, Jason? How you doing, man? You know, the thing that you got to look at is you play 192 games if you're the Braves. They haven't played a competitive game, probably

since June. They've been that dominant. But now you take an entire week off after playing 192, and they were sleepwalking game one. They were sleepwalking halfway through that game, and somewhere they woke up, and that's what Philly has to be careful. They may have let them back into the series because you have to reset when you lose all your mojo for a whole week sitting at home. So in football and basketball, buys and time off tend to help. But baseball, it's different.

You want to get in the cage. Take yourself, for example, four or five days. off. I'm going to go to Miami. Okay, you're twiddling your thumbs. I want to get back in the cage. Do you think, I think baseball now, Ken Rosenthal had an article on this, is this the way to do it? But I do think you should better teams should benefit, right? Like, what do you do? The fact that wildcard teams may have an advantage not having time off. A hundred percent. And look, a week feels more like two months in baseball. Baseball is an everyday game. You play six, seven days a week. You take a week off. You have to go find your swing. You have to go find your swing. You have to go find

your release point. Like golf. And simulated game means nothing. Okay, that's why you need baseball people in the room. It's not like

playing October baseball. To go from a simulated game with nobody in the building to playing in that environment in Philly, which may be the best environment baseball. Now here's what I'll tell you,

Colin. Not all weeks are created equal. You take a veteran team like Jeter, Big Poppy, me. We're old. We need that time off. We can deal with it.

Your young team like Baltimore, it's a week is like 10 months because the phone starts ringing. It's like having a field go and having a timeout and icing them or at the free throw line, too much time for a team like Baltimore, and you've seen that an experience. So the Dodgers, listen, it was interesting. They moved off some pieces. Kershaw gets a one-year deal. He's getting older. I felt like all year, it's not that they scaled back, but it feels like they're setting up their bank account for Otani, right? And so I look at the Dodgers, and I think this kind of felt inevitable. You know, Arizona got the pitching.

Dodgers didn't hit. I don't look at it as a failed season. It's not over yet. But couldn't you, I mean, you see a lot of Dodger games. Couldn't you kind of predict that Atlanta's hot, Philadelphia World Series experience? There are times, even in your career, you kind of feel like we don't quite have the pieces for a playoff run. Yeah, look, the Dodgers have been the class of baseball for the last 10 years. If this is their year to reset and they still win almost 100 games,

They still make it to the playoffs. The Dodgers are not going anywhere. And look, they've had some tremendous injuries. Now, you can give up nine runs in the first inning in game one and two, six and three. This is not going to work. The other thing is you can't walk 16 batters for the Rangers and think you're going to win when the Rangers don't need any help.

They're already the best office in baseball. 16 walks in two games doesn't work. But listen, I think Arizona now believes they're as good as a Dodger, if not better. And you can make an argument that Arizona may be the hottest team and you don't need to be the best team. You need to be the healthiest and the hottest. And right now, Arizona looks like they are. So it was an interesting year in the American League

where it wasn't the Yankees and the Red Sox. That's sort of been embedded the last 20 years in the sport. The Hot Stove League used to just be the Yankees and the Red Sox bidding for guys. You know that very, very well. Now here come the race who owes about every third or fourth year. They must scout very well. The Orioles get all those draft picks. They hit on several.

I mean, it was a different year in the American. The twins now were viable. You know, are they pretenders of all these new teams? Is there one you're like, I mean, Baltimore was the talk of baseball for about three months. We saw Kansas City, though, with Ned Yost. They had a great year or two, then they disappear. Do you buy any of these new teams now, the twins, the Orioles? What do you buy?

Well, I'm buying that. I don't believe the Astros are going to go home until they're actually beat in the coffin and, like, literally put in the funeral. They're that good. And they're the experienced team, right? when you think about, and they have a dynasty, they're in the middle of it. Through all the controversy, they have an owner in Jim Crane that played college baseball, that he is a little bit like Jerry Jones, where he is the owner and also the GM.

He's the smartest guy in the organization. They run a wonderful business, and they run a wonderful baseball operation. The twins are a team to watch, and I'll tell you why. They have two aces in Lopez and Sunny Gray that will pitch today, and they have two world-class guys on the left side of the infield. both of them number one picks divided by five years. Correa and Royce Lewis, two absolute studs. And Correa is a prime time player.

Yeah, a Houston guy. And when he's healthy, he's top five best talents in the world. Okay, so when you come on, we have to ask you a Yankee question. The Yankees are like the Cowboys, a legendary brand. I always feel like, as a guy that they're 3,000 miles away, It feels like it's been the same guys running it, Brian Cashman, who is a very likable guy. But there are those that say it's like Belichick in New England. Jerry Jones were the cowboys, too much power.

We need a new set of eyes and ears. When you look at the Yankees, you know, it's hard to manage. I mean, it is, that batting cage has 26 people around it. It's not the same way in San Diego. It's just not. You've been around it. Little things become big things. Is it time to new eyes?

new perspective, new culture. What do you make of where the Yankees are at today? Well, it's, it's, they're, you know, backed themselves into a corner. And they did this when Stanton came on board because it was nine years at, you know, close to $300 million, the exact same player as judges, just not as healthy. And then they tripled up and put in gallow. Look, here's what I think. I think it's hard to win in Major League Baseball. There's no question. The Red Sox, in the last 16 years, at 14, championship zone. Astros keep going back and forth. The Dodgers are consistent. You're going to have some years off in this, but here's Colin what I would say. Howe Steinbrenner? A-plus. He spent all the

resources. He keeps investing into that roster. Aaron Boone is helpless. I think he's done a really nice job with what he's had. Here's what I think is, I think the fan base has lost complete faith in the architecture of this team. I do too. And it's not just missing, but it's by far they miss. And I just think that until they look, Gene Michaels, the minute he's gone, it's gone downhill. Gene Michael was the real genius of the four championships. He was very helpful in 2009. He hasn't been around and it's just gone a one-way ticket the other way. And until they bring in baseball people into that room and less analytics, I think money ball today is losing ball. Why? Because you got to have baseball people that know how to play baseball. I mean,

When was the last time you saw a Yankee team that's always been left-hand dominant with nine righties against a righty? I've never seen that. Like, Stick Michaels always wanted lefty, switch hitters, Pasada, Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, left, right, athletic, speed, defense, pitching, open. You have none of that. Clayton Kirschaw got, it was a rough outing. One of probably maybe, you know, he always struggled in the seventh, but he got boxed here in the the first. You know, there were some comparisons early to Kofax. He still, on any given day in the regular season, can go seven innings and be masterful. What is his legacy to you?

I think you're going to put Clay and Kershaw as one of the top, you know, three best pitchers of our generation. I mean, he is cemented of our generation. And it's because the longevity, he got the championship in 2020. He's got the Cy Youngs. He's done it with one team, and he's done in one of the biggest markets on the planet. A lot of pressure game. A lot of pressure. And here's a young man who does a lot of the community, has never got himself in trouble. He's the gold standard for pitchers. And a game like game one is going to really do nothing to his legacy.

The Dodgers should not be dependent on Kershaw to win a championship this year. He's an additive, but he's no longer the Kershaw that needs to be the number one guy. He can be the three or the four and go from there. But he's got a one-year deal. He's not that guy anymore. way, if I had to guess, if I said, you said he's one of the three pictures of our generation, I'm just going to guess. Kirsha, Verlander, Pedro.

That's fair. That's fair. Is that not pretty good? I'm a Mariner fan. I don't think we got two hits off Pedro for a decade. That's true. Oh, you know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Couldn't get. So, no, in Verlander, I mean, he's just, he reinvented himself. He's a stud. He really is. And he gets better with age. Sometimes, you know, some of these guys. guys, you know, Jamie Moyer got 100 wins after the age of 38. I mean, some guys figure it out late, right?

And Verlander's one of them. And he's a study. He's in tremendous condition. All right, Fox Sports, he's got to go. It's A-Rod. We always appreciate you stopping by when you're in the room. We always appreciate this. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encourage. 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 IHard 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.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

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

Each episode, we pick 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, a crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your All right. Welcome back. Good to have you in, J. Mack. A. Rod stopped by. Appreciate that. James Jones for the end of the show. I'm not trying to be negative on Jordan Love, but I watch C.J. Stroud with all that dysfunction, bad old lines, first time play caller, kid plays Baltimore, throw him out there and he's money. Jordan Love's been sitting for three years at some point. How much time is, I mean, you watch all these Burrell, Herbert, C.J. Stroud. Doesn't take long to figure. Everybody always points to Josh Allen. Josh Allen was jumping over at human beings his rookie year. He was 6.6.250 in a huge arm.

Jordan Love isn't that. So Josh Allen had Superman quality. He's like Lamar Jackson. It's like, okay, I don't know what it is. That just looks different than everybody. Josh Allen just looked different than everybody. Jordan Love looks kind of, he's okay. He's not big.

He's not a power thrower. He doesn't look, you know, he's not jumping over people, but it's just like everybody that's great, this league was great fast. Mahomes, Burrow, Herbert, Trevor Lawrence had a bad rookie year because the coaching culture. But by year two last year, he got him to the playoffs. Find me all the guys that were like late developers. What about Gino Smith? You want to wait nine years and have him grow up? I mean, it's like Jordan Love. I mean, Gino Smith's an outlier. Like I just find me all the slow developing quarterbacks who in year four, now you could say, well, Aaron Rogers, it's a different

world now. That's 20 years ago. That's 18 years ago. It's seven on seven drills. Generationally different. It's an offensive league. You can't do what you could do defensively. You can't take Aaron's rookie year and compare it now. Aaron joined the NFL and you could slam people into the turf. Like it's a different league. You've got to be ready to play by Thanksgiving of year two. I got to see stuff. Like Daniel Jones, like what year are we on? Come on. Jay Mack with a news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Let's quickly revisit the Cowboys after that blowout loss to the Niners. Dack called it the most humbling game he's ever been a part of, but Micah Parsons, he sees it a little differently. This is quite the take from Michael Parsons. I don't think they really are higher level than us. I think we're the same caliber playoff team, if not the same talent standard as them. I just feel like we need to really. reconsider some things, get together, and fix some things.

I feel like it was a few plays away. The score don't really shape what really happen out there. Yeah, I don't. That's not what I saw. Micah seems delusional. I'm sorry. I mean, it did go a little bit. Put the tape on.

You know? Go look at McCarthy. Dialing up run after run after run. Like, Colin, listen, I know Dax's taking a lot of heat, understandably, but I'm just telling some of these play calls from McCarthy and Schottenheimer, you know, they were down 217, and it's like third and, and they're in San Fran territory. I don't know if you remember this.

And they handed off to a running back who's not even Tony Pollard. It was like the backup running back on third and fourth. What are you doing? They settle for the field goal. Sanfrette comes down, touchdown, game over. Like 2810. You're not coming back.

A lot of questions. Not only about DACB but McCarthy as well. They got rid of their offensive coordinator last time. This season goes awry. This Chargers game this weekend. Oh, ho. Come on. You've got to be rooting Herbert here.

Well, forget what I'm rooting for. Dallas, after being embarrassed, I think we'll have a very hearty effort. The Chargers with Kellynmore and Justin off of an extended vacation should be very good. Kellynmore circled this game the second he took that job. And they had the by week to cook up some stuff. But isn't this in Dallas? No, no. It's out here so fine.

Well, that means it's basically Dallas. Yes, yes, okay. I see what you're doing. They're well done. It'll probably be, you know, listen, Eagles Rams was like 70-30, maybe more. I don't know if you saw late in the game. It was like all green. I don't know.

It's going to be a lot of Dallas fans, but... We welcome them to Southern California. Yeah, enjoy the weekend. Enjoy the 70-degree weather and the beautiful women and the beaches and life out here is not bad. Let's go to college football. Georgia had a nice win over Kentucky 51-13. Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops wasn't happy. And then after the game, he made some comments to fans who were not happy with the loss.

Here's what Mark Stoops had to say. I just encourage them to donate more because that's what those dudes are doing. I can promise you, Georgia, they bought some pretty good players. You're allowed to these days. We could use some help. That's what they look like when you have 85 of them. I encourage anybody who is disgruntled to pony up some more. He's not wrong.

You can buy players now. It's legal. That's why Kentucky basketball will be fine and Carolina basketball will be fine. I mean, in the end, the Oklahoma's and the Texas's and the Georgia's, they spend more money on it. So, I mean, he's not wrong. It may don't, you know, you can be offended by it, but, you know, now George is also a better football program. Why are Kentucky fans surprised? George has won back-to-back Natty's, and they blew the doors off Kentucky.

Why are Kentucky fans upset? I don't get what they're. I think the two, I think the three programs were the best players are Georgia, Michigan, and Texas. I just don't think Texas had a great weekend. but I think when the dust settles, Georgia, Michigan, and Texas will be up there. Yeah. Hey, Stoops, instead of complaining, why don't you hop on the private jet,

go around to the most wealthy Kentucky graduates and ask them for money? Not the fans who were on social media chirping. Those guys don't have any money. Go to the big money graduates of Kentucky. That's part of the job description now, isn't it? Well, just, I don't know. I think, yeah, probably.

I think you've got to kiss the ring of the rich guys. Facilities don't matter anymore. Kids want money. Like USC's doing groundbreaking for more football facilities. Kids don't care about that. USC's facilities are fine. Go pay me. Show me the NIL.

The facility stuff, that's like 12 years ago with Oregon football. There was a time for it. Oregon's facilities are fine. Kids want money. Some of these videos are the facilities where you go in the locker room. It looks like a five-star resort. And every kid's locker is incredible. That's nice.

But by the way, everybody shares that. They don't share the money you get from NIL. Also true. I see where USC is. Oh, new facilities. Why? Go get the best players because George is paying. And I'm not blaming anybody for paying them.

But the facility arms race is over. Kids want money. They don't care about my locker. But is it just throwing money at kids? Because listen, you can throw money at five-star guys. They come. They don't show up. They get fat and happy.

And then they transfer out. I don't think. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't pay recruits. I would pay guys who have a year of college. and have shown great promise. Oh, so you would poach. Yeah, I mean, I would poach.

It's not even poaching. The bottom line is kids. You go to Ohio State, and all their tackles are four and five star guys, and they recruit four a year, and I'm a four-star guy, and it just happens that there's a legendary guy in front of me. You could be a really good player in transfer. I mean, if you're an Alabama running back, he doesn't recruit two-star running backs,

but you got two four-five-star guys ahead of you, and you want to play, so you go down the street and play for, you know, Mississippi State. So Georgia crushes Kentucky. They probably see one or two young guys on the roster who showed well. Hey, that guy's got some juice. Hey, can we go after him? And then you throw NIL money and poach a kid from Kentucky to Georgia. That's the strategy, right? Yeah, I mean, I think bottom line is a lot of kids get overlooked. You end up, you know, you end up at Arizona State and all of a sudden Oregon comes knocking and says, hey, you know, we probably should have recruited you harder. We apologize. Here's 50 grand.

And that soothes a lot of grudges. Yeah. And a lot of kids are from Southern California. They're called Bounceback Kids. They leave Southern California and they go somewhere. The running back that went to Michigan comes back to UCLA, bounce back kids. They leave California, for instance. And then they don't like the weather somewhere.

They don't like the culture and they come back to California. And, you know, like by the way, USC kids, they left California because the program was a mess. Now they're winning and they bounce back. So I like, I'm for the NILs. You know, I don't think you should be able to transfer. for in the middle of a season, but for eight months, go find happiness. Perfect example. The kid, I had to just look him up. Kian Coleman, the kid who goes to Michigan State. He's from Louisiana.

And he's good at Michigan State, and then he starts to get like really good. And FSU's like, come on down, buddy. Come on now. We'll show you the N.I.L. Now he's blowing up. He might be a first round pick. Yeah. Like that's the move. A final story, Colin. Listen, I know there was a lot of baseball last night and there was NFL. But did you happen to watch Wembign Yama?

Yeah. In the preseason. Look at the flex. On Chet Holmgren. By the way, these two went at it, and I know it is preseason. But this was kind of spicy. I'm just telling you, the Wembe Njama reel that I saw on Instagram, he had like four moves that were like, holy crap. He shot a one-legged three-pointer that you think is like something you do in pickup.

Wembe Nama looks so good. I got a buddy with Laker season tickets. I was like, when is the Spurs game? I'm already lobbying to go. Wembe Gama looks so. How much do you think he averages? 18? 17 and a half.

I mean, this guy's going to fall out of bed and score 17 points. That's how good he is. Well, they said that about Chet Holmgren, didn't they? He got to hurt. Well, so that's the thing. You got to watch these guys early. Oh, I would put him on a 48 game restriction. Oh, come.

48 games? Mostly at home. I do. What? Yeah, I mean, there's 48 out of, how many games are 82? Yeah. You got to be kidding me. By the way.

You're playing him half the season? No, I'd play him about 55% of the season. Maybe 50 games. I would not play him back to backs. I want you as my teacher and as my coach. Well, no, I just think when you get these 7 foot 4 frames and they've played, you know, 20 games in Europe, and then you say, hey, come on over here and play 100, counting the preseason. Okay.

So my takeaway is you have. I said this about Chet Holmgren. I was right. I said, remember when he came in? I said, you have got to put him on a restriction. The kid needs to put on 25 pounds. He didn't even play one game last year, right? Well, I mean, it wouldn't have worked anyway.

But the point is, like, Wemby, I would literally write, I just put 58 games. So you'd have to play a couple back-to-backs. I would try to play most of the home schedule. But I would skip a road. If I had a three-game roadie in Houston, Orlando, I'd skip it. What about a minute's restriction instead of just missing entire games? I'm going to put him on a minute restriction even when he does play 50 games. You know what this sounds like?

Remember at baseball how like Oral Hershizer went to the postseason for the Dodgers and pitched like every third day and was unbelievable? It was ridiculous stuff. And now, like, guys aren't doing complete games and their pitch counts. It's like, come on. Why are we getting so soft with these? guys. And it's like, let's play basketball players when they're healthy. What's wrong with that? Well, what's wrong with it is we have like a 15 year history of big men getting hurt early and often and let's protect them a little instead of driving them into the concrete and just let's have

a long career here. That's why they gave Popovich a contract extension. Did you notice that? They gave him a contract extension before the lottery. Didn't it? Was it right after? Somewhere around Basically saying we're going to control Wemby, not the league. And by the way, I'm going to get no pushback. So Popovich said, 58 games, I'm just making this up. 58 games, 32 minutes, that's it. Okay. So the good news is you can, he's not in the same rules as Kauai Leonard was sitting out because he hasn't played.

He's a rookie. Kauai and these other guys who have been all NBA, they got to play. The Spurs will pay the fine. That's just disappointing. Don't you want to see Wembenyama? What's more important? fan or the future of my franchise. I'm not saying I'd do it for three years.

I said as a rookie from Europe or one year in college, minute and game restriction. By year two, I'm up to 70 games. You can play 38 minutes. Remember Summer League? He played like, I think, one and a half games. And that was like, oh, I'm shutting him down. He showed well.

I was like, couple. I don't know. I understand where you're coming from. I just think it's disappointing if you're a fan. A lot of Spurs fans are loading up on tickets. They better buy it in October and November. I said, I would play them almost every home game. So I would reward the local fans.

I would play them home games. But I'd skip a couple three, four game road trips. I'd just say, hey, we're just going to let him home. Because by the way, these young guys will tell you when you go to the NBA. You have to actually play defense. These guys will shed weight. I mean, they'll lose like 20 pounds in a season. I'd tail Wemby on a couple four game road trips.

Stay home, eat. How many football fans watching now are saying, boy, can you imagine if Caleb Williams came? I know, I know, came to the end. NFL and they were like, oh, let's only play 12 or 13 games because you played a certain amount of college. Sean McVeigh basically told like Andrew Whitworth and Aaron Donald before the league mandated it. Like no pads, no hit. I mean, Sean McVeigh got knocked early. A country club.

Veterans are like, hello. Well, veterans. Well, I mean, that's what I would do with veterans in the NFL, like an old let. Trent Williams Niners. What? I don't want him near hitting. That guy's smart. That guy.

I don't want the bosses. They don't need to practice. Just show up in the meeting rooms. The fans want to see the stars. Fans want to see the stars in Llemenyama. Well, they're going to see them. 58 games, not 82. You'll see plenty of them.

It's called YouTube. It's called TikTok. It's called IG. Are you done? 20 points are good numbers. J-Mack for the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Herd Lie News. Yeah, I mean, sometimes you have to manage stuff. It's okay. You know, I pay for the tickets. It's like, hey, listen, when you buy those tickets, there's a warning on the back if you go to a baseball game. If you get hit by a foul ball, can't sue the team. You know, when you buy a basketball ticket, you don't know who's going to play. Now, the NBA has smartly stepped in when it looks like certain stars has taken stuff up.

But I do think for rookie bigs first couple years, I would go Wemby 58 games, 68 games, first two years. And then I would go minute restriction, 32 minutes to 36 minutes. Then you're off. And then he can play what he can play. But by the way, that's what old stars play. I mean, there's about a seven-year prime. Well, Michael Jordan did this and Michael Jordan did that. He barely played.

What, nine years in the league or something? LeBron's on your year 20? One other thing, did you see the conspiracy theory about this whole sitting-out stuff in the NBA? So the TV deal is up after this season. And the NBA allegedly wants it stars to play so the ratings can go up so they can then get a larger TV deal. Well, I don't think that's a conspiracy. I think that's smart business. That's not a conspiracy.

A conspiracy's man didn't land on the moon. Well, come on. It's not a conspiracy that I talk more pro football than college because it helps my ratings. That's not a conspiracy. I do. Yeah, you want your stars to play. The ratings go up. And when you renegotiate, you got a little more power.

Yeah. But the NBA is saying it's for the fans. It's for the fans. They're not saying anything about the TV deal. That's the only reason I put conspiracy. Well, you don't have to give everybody every detail of everything. Also fair. Adam Silver's running it.

Yeah, I mean, I don't, we hired you for a lot of reasons. You're a nice guy. You work hard. I'm a nice guy. You work hard. I mean, you don't have to tell everybody everything in the world. You do some things for business. I mean, you don't have to give out all the secrets and all, you know, it's just like.

I don't give out all my gambling secrets. I know. Believe me, I know. And that was really struggling in week one. And now you're trying to steal mine. Oh, please. This bangles head-to-head game is going to be awesome. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m.

Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these people love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way. We talk to coaches, we talk to players, we tell you stories. You download it, you listen to it, I think you like it.

Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 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, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

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

unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple 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 on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. 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.

podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Nine years in the NFL, eight with the Packers, one with the Raiders. He was great with both. Super Bowl champ against the Steelers. James Jones, he'll be on Speak Today. So I always feel like the more I trust my kids, their intelligence, their maturity, the more I allow them to do, right? Like as a parent, when I watch coaches with quarterbacks, the more you trust their talent,

the more you trust, you know, whatever it is, I'll watch how you call a game. Now it's different from my kids. There's things I worry about I don't with the quarterback. But I do worry about. I watch the preseason with Jordan Love. Man, it was easy stuff. It was good. What did you see last night?

Well, I saw Coach the floor being really safe last night. You know, he called the game extremely safe, you know, kind of tried to protect Jordan and love and, you know, not have him make some of those mistakes. And it's crazy because to start the season, you kind of felt like the whole playbook was wide open, you know, being behind Aaron Rogers for three years, you know, being able to prepare behind him for three years and, you know, see the good, see the bad and all that. You got to sense those first two weeks that the whole playbook was open. Now, keep in mind, he's without three of his best offensive linemen. Jenkins, Bactiari, you know. But so C.J. Stroud and he's cutting it up. Absolutely. He's without Aaron Jones, so I know that that has a lot to do with play calling.

But, you know, for me, watching the game last night, like I said, I felt like Coach LaFleur was really, really safe. And the young fella did not reward him. I mean, throwing those interceptions. So he really didn't give Coach LaFleur too much confidence, you know, to go out there and call these plays. But coaches with these young quarterbacks, like we watched Justin Fields these last two games, like, holy moly like is this what this kid's going to be consistently but coach luke getzi has said you know what the playbook is open like we're running double moves we're going to get you outside of the pocket we're going to let you take these shot plays down the football field we're going to get the

ball out of your hand but the whole playbook is open and you're seeing him playing a whole lot faster so i hate how they kind of manage these games for these young quarterbacks because they're doing kind of the same thing in pittsburg you're kind of managing it we don't want you to make a mistake because we got a good defense but eventually you got to find out Eventually, you just got to let these young boys go. I coach little kids, too. And sometimes I'm out there coaching, and I do what Coastal Floor did last night and what the Pittsburgh Steelers are doing, trying to call it safe. And then I'm like, you know what, forget it.

And I'm like, dang, my kids can handle it. You know, my young quarterbacks can handle it. You know, so eventually you got to let these young players go. You got to let these young quarterbacks go and just, they just got to go out there. And they got to go through the ups and the down. I remember reading a passage from a book by Norman Shortskopf. he was the five-star, four-star general, a military leader in America.

And one of the things he always said is, is sometimes you have to do things in military to find out what you're incapable of, not capable of it. Instead of sitting on the fence, can we do this, this? Let's do it to see, are we capable of it? And I always feel like there is some babysitting early, right? Like, let's not get this guy in the crosshairs.

But my argument is when you go for it, It also lets you know what they can't do so I can address stuff in the following draft. Part of me looks at this and I think the Packers coaches are telling me that right now, four years in, they don't want to let it go. That's really, and by the way, if you look at the data, this is what concerns me. He's not good early. So they had September 28th, October night. They had some slow starts.

So James, now he's playing from behind. Exactly. Why? Like the first 12 plays are scripted, are they not? Yeah, so I think a couple things here. So they came off of two solid games. They beat the Bears. I think they went and they lost to the Falcons.

I'm not sure to schedule. But Jordan Love played well in both of those games. Then they came and they played Detroit last week. And it wasn't competitive. And they had a slow start against New Orleans, even though they had a great comeback. They had a really slow start against New Orleans. And Coach the floor came out in that Lions game, and it was five drop back passes in a row. Like, we are going to be aggressive.

We are going to let this thing go. We're going to put the ball in the young fellow's hands. And he got sack three times. And he got put behind the sticks. And obviously Detroit got the ball back, and they went up 14-0. And it was an uphill climb for that. So I do give them credit for that. But it's been consistent now with the slow starts for the Green Bay Packers.

Like all year long except week one, the slow starts have been consistent. So Coach of Floor has to find a way to get the young quarterback going. And like I said, I know he has a lot of injuries. It's people around the National Football League dealing with injuries. But he has to find a way to get this football team off to a fast start. So Jordan Love does not have to play from behind. And you can call the game the way you want to call the game. It's tough to call the game and manage a game when you're losing, right?

The San Francisco 49ers are up in every ball game. Cal Shanahan can call the game however he wants. It is no managing the game. So, you know, you can't really manage the game when you're down 10-0, 14-0. You know, you got to go try to find a way to score. So they have to try to figure out a way to start fast so he's not playing from behind. So when watching the Cowboys get dismantled, my takeaway was, Cowboy players have to watch the San Francisco offense and have to think,

damn, that's clever. Yeah, everybody. I mean, it's just weapon after weapon. Were you ever in a game? I know there was some eye rolling with Aaron. and Mike McCarthy at the end. Were you ever in a game as an NFL player and thought on the other sideline,

they're just better coach than us? Absolutely. And, you know, I've been a part of a game to where clear as day, I'm like, Lord, have mercy. You know, because the way we did it in Green Bay, we were so talented. We were stacked from top to bottom. I mean, you're talking about Jordy Nelson,

Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, myself, Randall Cobb, Michael Finley. So we could just line up and play. We didn't need no motions. Aaron could say, okay, the third corner is on Jordy, ball going to Jordy. Oh, the fourth corner's on Randall Cobb in the slot or a linebacker's on Randall Cobb? We don't need no motion or none of that. Here go to route. Go get open. But a lot of people don't have that so you have to get creative. You got to get in bunch formations, motions, and all that. But I remember a time we were in New Orleans and we were playing Drew Brees and

Sean Payton. And I remember just sitting on the sideline with a couple of the receivers. was like, look at this offense. Like, I would love to be in Champate's office out here with Drew Bray. And you just see, because you're looking at guys like Marcus Colston and those guys just go crazy. And it ain't even like it's tough catches.

They're wide open just off of the scheme of things. And we sitting over there like, my goodness. Like to just be in that offense. Miami's got a little bit of that now. Yes, to line up and to know like, okay, they can't press us. They can't do that because we got all this movement. We're in these bunch formations,

for me. It was just so creative. So I remember sitting over there and we got beat up. All right. We got, get out of here. A lot of people got beat up in New Orleans by Breeze. We clearly better than you today. But I just remember sitting there and talking to like, man, I would love to play in that New Orleans, Drew Brie, Champagne's office. Because they just had it going at that time. So I'm watching Cooper Cup this against the Phillies or against the Eagles, Philadelphia.

And there was like four passes in a row. And they were giving him the inside. And I'm watching, he went to college at Eastern Washington where I went to school. So I always root for Cooper Cup. And it is funny that, like, where there's certain, when you watch Cooper Cup, it's like, first of all, he's way faster that he's given credit for. His feet are insane. Stronger and all that. People don't even understand how strong he is, physically he is.

He's a complete football player. So when, do you get into these spaces when you're a receiver? and you just know he's given it to what what do you think he says when he goes back to the huddle with stafford he's let's see coach coach sean mcvay does an excellent job like a lot of people don't know that those four routes those are choice routes choice routes choice routes for cooper cup what's that means so that means he has a four-way go he can come at you he can go inside he could come at you he could stutter he could go outside he could come at you he could stutter he could hook right up he could come at you he could stutter give you a he can take the middle of the

the field. So when you have that as a defender, I'm going to send you to my people in the inside. You're still going to get the catch, but I'm going to send you to where my help is. I don't got no help outside. I'm going to send you to my help in the inside. You might get the completion. Hey, it's good play. It's eight yards, not 28. Yep, it's good play on bad coverage that we have right now defensively. Take it. That's what we've got to take. But when you watch Sean McVe's offense, Cooper Cupple be lined up in the slot, no movement. Cooper Cupple motion to the slot. movement same route though cooper couple cooper couple start on the left motion to the right in the slot same route right just seeing what kind of coverage you're going to be in is it man is his own

how often in your career were you and aaron like hey aaron i got choices here well see i wasn't the choice route guy randle cop uh Greg jennings the guys that look because he's quick twitch like me and jordy we're not quick twitch you're long we're built for the outside we're strong we're physical we'll make the tough catch we'll break a tackle you know but the guys Randall Cobb Greg Jennings that can make you miss in a phone bull. Those are the guys that you want on the choice routes because it's the sudden change of direction. So those guys, I've seen them dudes eat

on choice routes 24-7 and I'm like, man, can I just get one of them? Well, you know, the disadvantage, one of the few of being jacked up. He's on speak today, James Jones. I was saying this is that early in the year the Bengals couldn't throw deep. And then I watched them against Arizona.

I was like, oh, that back. Yeah. By the way, that, that, Jamar Chase had a day. Something else. You ever had one of those? I mean, what do you have, 200? Did he have, what do he?

Yeah, like 170? I mean, it was. I had, I had 11 catches for 170 something before, and I felt like, I mean, it was probably like 80, 90 plays in a football game. And we were playing Washington, and I had 11 catches that day for 170 plus yards. And I thought I was getting the ball every single play. And that's only 11 plays out of 80. But I'm like, Aaron is throwing it to me every single play.

Did you get tired? No, you just, you get in such a groove and a rhythm, and you just looking at the D.Bs, like, you don't stand no chance. Like, bro, after catch six, it's over. Like, I don't care what covered you in. You're such in a groove and a rhythm. And then on top of that, he's scoring touchdowns. Like, I remember, I caught three touchdowns in the game against the Bears, and I literally thought I was the greatest receiver ever to touch the grace of the grass.

I'm like, nobody could ever tell me. nothing. I only got three touchdowns on the bears. I cannot be stopped. How'd you do the following week? I don't even know. I didn't have three though. I may have one, but I don't even, I don't even remember. But, you know, it was, it was impressive to watch. But the main thing, people don't understand. A lot of explosive plays period in the National Football League come from the quarterback movie. Like, it's very rare that the quarterback says five-step drop, post route goal ball

it's very rare it's a low percentage throw he flushed out flushed out the pocket give jamar chase some chances to move and get open big plays down the football field so watching joe burrow yesterday the way he moved he took off

on a couple runs he was moving in the pocket well let you know that the calf was the calf was doing really really well and they show that hey this is the type of offense we can be I'm not surprised but one game does not tell me that they're back because I've been part of offenses like that to where we had been struggling and we get one game and then we go back to struggling. So they got to be more consistent.

James Jones, 11 catches in one game. That is a flight home. Man. Yeah, calling your family, I'm the best. Great seeing you, man. Appreciate you. Good show today, back tomorrow, live in L.A. It's the hurt. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite, unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, 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, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardweight with your favorite therapist

and hosts care games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human