The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Tom Brady, Steelers, Browns, and LaVar Ball

Episode Date: August 14, 2018

Filling in for Colin, Doug Gottlieb discusses New England Patriots QB Tom Brady getting upset during practice, Browns OC Todd Haley drama with the Steelers and his current team, and the ridiculous comments made by LaVar Ball. Guests include Ty Law, Ice Cube, and Bucky Brooks. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be making us part of your day. I'm Doug Gottlie, along with the lovely, talented, well-prepared, Joy Taylor. Coming to you live on FS1, Fox Sports Radio, I Heart Radio app. We have, I think, a great show for you. Ice Cube's going to join us in studio, so too will

law, of course, the Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots. He's been awesome on all of our shows. And we'll talk about the Pats, the relationship between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, especially with some comments today and yesterday from the two heads of state, if you will, with New England Patriots. Man, we got, and Bucky Brooks will join us. We'll get his thoughts on what we've seen on tape so far from all the teams in the National Football League.

But I wanted to start with Brady, and it does relate in many ways. ways to Aaron Rogers. If you remember back last week, Aaron Rogers chastise his wide receiving group, especially the younger wide receivers, for having a bad practice. Tom Brady yesterday got mad and punted a ball. Now, for the record, I'm a big punter of the basketball back in my days playing basketball. Frustrating practice and you see a ball and it's just sitting there and it's looking at you, emotionless, expressionless, how dare you basketball you punted up into the stance. So some of this comes from understanding you're having a bad day. Apparently, Brady's frustrations boiled over because wide receivers combined in 11-on-11 drills for 10

drops, including three, three by Eric Decker, who of course was just signed. Now, look, could I hypothesize that this is Brady's frustration over the fact that they haven't figured out this wide receiving group. Hogan was hurt last year. Edelman was hurt last year and he suspended the first four games. And while Gronk is awesome, he's not always healthy and they don't have anybody out wide. You know, no Brandon Cooks, he's gone.

Philip Dorset has never been what they thought he would be. Cordell Patterson's more of a return guy or a jet sweep guy. I mean, Danny Amandola's gone. Heck, you look at, you know, You have two wide receivers that they sign in the offseason that are already gone, already cut. Could I hypothesize that it's Tom Brady's frustration over how could I play with incompetent people? Maybe, maybe. Could I say it's, well, it's training camp frustration, too many days with the same guys, too many days in the humidity, probably.

By the way, I like Braxton Berrios. I think he's going to be dynamic third down weapon. He just seems like that guy who the Patriots are going to find and find a way to use him. And then they have two really good running backs, especially adding Sony and Michelle, to already have any good pass-catching threat back there. But I think the big part we're missing in all of this discussion is nobody used to care. No one used to care about your numbers what you threw on 11-on-11 drills. right like patma homes what was he threw four picks in in drills going back yesterday with the can city chiefs go back 10 years ago did anybody track how many interceptions brett farve had in training camp

and pey manning's first training camp as a starter or a second training camp no no we didn't the whole idea of analytics Okay, the idea of analytics is tracking everything. But what started as tracking everything in the regular season, now tracks everything in practice in the preseason. I remember my first year at Notre Dame, played for a guy named John McLeod, longtime, longtime NBA coach, coach the Phoenix Suns in the four-over time game

against the Boston Celtics. And he used to track everything even to the detriment of how many shots you get up. You could not take a shot in that gym without somebody statting how many shots and how many you made from what spot. And the idea was a good one because it was, hey, how are you going to know where you shoot the ball best from or if you're improving if you don't have the stats? The problem with it then was if you have one manager, he would have to stat you. He couldn't just feed you.

He'd be far less productive. Nowadays, they actually have technology to which you don't have to do anything. They have tracking devices within the arena that track every shot that you take in every gym that you practice in. Regardless of, if there's somebody in there, not in there with you. The point is that not only do we have information, we have information overload. This is the era in which we live, where we actually know too much. The fact that we know that Tom Brady threw a hissy fit and punted the ball into the

stands, that he had 10 drops yesterday, three from Eric Decker. We never would have heard that 10 years ago. But that's because we track everything now. You go up to order at Chipotle, and you know how many calories there are in any possible combination of a meal. Heck, I remember when I got my first cell phone, 2000, or 99, 2000, senior year in college, got one of those Nokia jobs, you know, like little handheld Nokia things. And I remember it was like, I don't know, $2,99 for 500 minutes a month. And you're like, 500 minutes, no problem. I'll never go over 500 minutes. Then you get your first bill and you had like 1,500 minutes.

Because you had no real concept of, well, one second becomes a minute and right? And how many times you actually use the phone? You just didn't. Like I thought this is really cool. I'll never use it. I'll accept incoming calls and I'll play that snake game on it. Remember the snake game? Turns out you start tracking your cell phone calls and you can't believe how many calls you make. This is before you even texted. We track everything. We even track how many, thanks to the Fitbit, how many steps? And the problem with tracking how many steps, you're like, man, I took 10,000 steps. Is that good or bad? I have no idea.

I took 10,000 steps. Well, five years ago, how many steps do you take? No idea. Didn't track them then. How about likes and retweets? Imagine yourself 20 years ago. And you think of a really funny line, right? you think of a really, really funny line.

And the only way in which you would know if it was funny is if you're around your buddies and you'd like, hey, for example, we used something we saw on Twitter yesterday in regards to Tiger Woods, right? Congratulations, Tiger Woods wins the PGA Championship shooting 14 under. And Brooks Kepka finished his second shooting. 16 under, right? That sounds funny. And the way in which you know it's funny now is we track the likes and the retweets. Whereas 20 years ago, you would have had to walk around to people and go, hey, Tiger Woods won the PGA. Brooks Kept a second. Huh? And if somebody would laugh, you're like,

we track everything nowadays, everything we possibly have. And so I would love to freak out and say Tom Brady is not happy. He's still bitter about Malcolm Butler. He doesn't have good wide receivers. You know, that Eric Decker stinks. He's not going to be good enough. He punts the ball in the stands. That means that Decker's out. The problem is I have no control group. I don't know if Brady has punted the ball and thrown a fit for any of the last 18 years in which he's been in camp with the New England Patriots. because we didn't track it then. We didn't care then. We didn't have how many interceptions, how many touchdowns? What was 11 on 11 numbers in shells in training camp?

And so instead of freaking out over Aaron Rogers laying into his wide receivers or Tom Brady punning the football, we have to realize that we are in a completely different era of information overload in that we cover spring football games. We covered training camps. We also, like Hard Knoxes tonight, we're going to talk about that later. We cover, we have shows that show us the insides of training camps. We never had that.

I mean, imagine going, imagine going to see Hamilton being constructed, right? Who's got the third lead and watching them butcher lines early on before they're ready to be on Broadway? Before it was an award, multi-tony award-winning musical. Before that, imagine going and seeing them watch, first select who's on the cast and then go through rehearsals. It would have been brutal. That's what we're doing. That's what we're evaluating.

We have too much information. We have too many shows that focus too much on the details of how the sausage is made and we shouldn't really care. Let me know on the first Sunday. If Tom Brady throws a hissy fit because his wide receivers keep throwing the football. Now I can draw back on, hey, you know what? He wasn't all that happy with that wide receiving core going back to training camp. In fact, it reached ahead on August, what was it, 13th, 2018. He got really mad, and that's when they got rid of Eric Decker. We just track everything

nowadays, calories to steps, to likes and retweets, you know, to mentions. Do you even track how many friends we have. You can go on your Facebook and I get this many friends. Or how many followers you have. Track that. Well, I tweeted something stupid today. I lost a thousand followers. I lost a thousand people who care about what I'm saying about what I'm tweeting. I'm not saying to Tom Brady or to training camp or to any of these training camp fights. But without context, without a control group, it kind of becomes useless information or information to which we can't really decipher because we don't actually know what we're looking at. You know, I wonder whether Joe Montana ever got upset at the wide receivers not named Jerry Rice.

We don't know, we'll never know. And frankly, we didn't care then. Somehow we care now. So I'm not telling you to completely give up to the point of just don't care at all about training camp, but I'm pushed more to that side than to the freak it out because the Patriots can't seem to catch the football in the 11-on-11 scrimmage. Joy, am I wrong? Am I taking this information? Am I poo-pooing too much of this information, which we have? No, I mean, there's a oversaturation of media in general, so we cover everything because there's so many outlets

that need content. So yes, Brady punting a ball is a big deal when in reality it doesn't mean anything. To me, I just want my team to get through training camp healthy. That's all I care about. Day to day, this person had a good camp. This one didn't. There's so many factors in why someone would have a good day at training camp or not. I put zero weight in whether Brady is having a bad camp with his receivers. Yeah.

Speaking of which, there's a, it's a great point. There is a narrative coming out of Pittsburgh, which I find to be fascinating. It almost feels like it's a perfectly timed out and placed narrative. Big Ben's in his 15th season, 15th. And he's loving life. Never felt better. I'll tell you why that feels less than organic, a little bit plastic. That upcoming next.

I'm Doug Gottlieb. She's Joy Taylor. This is the hurt. Car shopping can be confusing with terms like dealer price, list price, invoice price. True Car shows you what other people paid for the car you want. So you can recognize a good price when you're ready to buy a newer used car. Visit True Car, you'll enjoy more confident car buying experience. Doug Gottlieblin for Colin here on the herd.

Tye Law, three-time Super Bowl champion, five-time Pro Bowl or two-time All-Pro. We'll join us in about 10 minutes here on set on the herd. You're here from Joy Taylor with news momentarily. Speaking of news, news out of Pittsburgh, generally pretty good heading into the season, although they're still waiting for Elle Bell to show up. But I saw this story from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. That's where Randy Fitchner, who's the new offensive coordinator, former quarterbacks coach, former quarterbacks coach for Ben Rothsburger, new OC, says that,

quote, I would say it's the best camp he's had. The only reason I say this is because he's in the best shape since I've had him. Now, obviously, when you're younger, you can probably move a little bit better, maybe your arm a tad livelier. If nothing else, there's a pitch count. You do that with all the pitchers. Rothersberger's got a great gig. We always, he basically has the Howard Stern of gigs, right?

Howard Stern does three days a week for his show, 20 weeks out of the year. How does that work? That's amazing. How do I get that kick? I guess 25 years on the radio and you'll get that. Rathusberger only is going to play one preseason game. Does a full day of practice, then a half day of practice, then a day off? How do you get that?

That's amazing. Meanwhile, he's got like three backup quarterbacks that are all fighting for that backup. position. Mason Rudolph, Landry, Jones, and Josh Dobbs, the Tennessee kid actually looks really good so far in the preseason. Now, some of this is a little confirmation bias. Remember, Randy Fitchner was the quarterback's coach. Todd Haley was the offensive coordinator. Todd Haley's now in Cleveland, and you're like, well, I'll tell you what, Ben Rosperger looks great. Well, what's different from last year? You know, he's in better shape. This is, or maybe it's me. Actually, he likes playing for me better. And we all realize that there was always a rift. There was always something to which those two did not

truly get along. It did not feel like a marriage. It felt more like they were dating, but ultimately they would break up. And that's exactly what happened. Maybe this is, you know, Rothersberger not coming in shape the past couple years. But I think a lot of it is on Haley. And I think the juxtaposition of the happiness that you're seeing in Pittsburgh without Todd Haley, the addition by subtraction, if you will. And then you read the Todd Haley story to which he and Greg Williams, another fiery personality, get into it at practice over one of Greg Williams guys, blitzing, and actually hitting Baker Mayfield the quarterback, which we all know to be a no-no. There's a reason they wear the red jerseys. They are, in fact, more important than you.

keep your hands off the quarterback, period, stop, end of story. But you go back to last week's hard knocks where you got the egos of Hugh Jackson, the egos of Greg Williams, the ego of Todd Haley. You go to this week and the arguments in practice between Greg Williams and Todd Haley, the fact that they have TV cameras on them, the expectations on Baker Mayfield, the number one overall pick. And oh yeah, by the way, you got Tyrod Taylor, who's a more than competent plug-in start.

quasi backup who led the bills to the playoffs. And you look at the happiness that's in Pittsburgh and you're like, dude, this Cleveland thing, Joy, I'm thinking about doing a 180 on something you said I disagreed with yesterday. In that, man is Cleveland interesting. Because this thing, if it goes bad, wow could it go bad. I mean, wow could it go bad. It can't be worse than last year. Yes, I do think it could be.

It couldn't be worse in terms of the number of wins or losses, right? But they were trying to be bad. This year they're clearly trying to be good. The only difference between this year and last year is they have expectations this year. That's a huge part of it. And you have the personalities of your coordinators. You have a head coach where you have a new GM that wasn't hired, that didn't hire the head coach. You got two coordinators, one who's been a head coach that obviously wants to be a head coach again.

Like you've got a lot of stuff. You have the number one pick who, we can say a first round pick as a quarterback needs to play, but a number one pick always plays in the last 15 years in the NFL. Like, I do, and the expectations are real because they have added some real players, you know, a Jarvis Landry, for example. I mean, hard knocks. Yes. There really shouldn't be any expectations on the Browns in reality,

because even though they have added pieces like Jarvis Landry and they did draft Baker Mayfield, they still won zero games. last year. So there should be really no expectations in the Browns this year. There should be, but Hope Springs Eternal. I think Pittsburgh's different without Shazir. I think, you know, people think that whatever they think of,

whatever the reality of Baltimore is Baltimore should have been in the playoffs last year as poorly as Flacco performed. Baltimore feels like they're better, but I don't think anybody thinks that Baltimore is like they were a couple of years ago, right? And Cincinnati has been kind of a smoldering dumpster fire to which is like, yeah, we'll keep throwing Marvin Lewis out there. Because

it was injuries. It was this. It was that, you know, that went wrong. The division, which used to be the best division in football, with exception of the Browns, is now a division of, hey, they all used to be really good and they're trying to figure out what they are now. I think that's part of it. But think if they add Des Bryant, right? I mean, think of it. I know. I told you this yesterday. You pushed back on me. So the Rams were more interesting. It's because the Rams are better and their Super Bowl aspirations and because they're in L.A., I think Seattle's super interesting with, you know, the Earl Thomas thing. Russell Wilson, does he have anybody to block for him?

Seattle's been a dominant team in this league for the past six, seven years or so. Like, I think those teams are better and have a better reputation, but there are big expectations and then you bring in the fire personalities. And then you're seeing Pittsburgh going like, man, things are so much better around here. What did you change? One thing, Greg Williams. Todd Haley's not here. I think it's fascinating.

I'm not willing to say they're the most interesting, but it's potentially, like there's Tinder all around. Tinder all around. And all it takes is a Des Bryant, a fight over who should be the quarterback, to suddenly put that thing up in smoke and it becomes really interesting. All right.

So I'm going to give you a lot more credit for that take than I should have yesterday. Here's Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line. news. All right, so he talks about Brady having some issues in training camp, but Tom Brady shot down

the notion this morning that there are any issues with him and Bill Belichick. In an interview with WEEEI, Brady spoke glowingly of Bill. Here he is. I think our priorities are, you know, the same as they've always been. And I think that's why we get along so well. You know, we're here to win. And like I said, it's been a very professional environment that he's created. I think I'm very lucky to, you know, be in that environment.

I think he's the best coach that's ever coached in the NFL. You know, I feel very privileged to have kind of been mentored by him for as long as I have. This is a functioning relationship at this point. They're like co-parenting or staying together for the kids. No, I don't think so. I kind of think it's a marriage marriage. I think it's a marriage. Like, look, listen, clearly they have the, they went and got their story.

straight, right? Because that's what Belichick said yesterday. Belichick said he's great. Tom Brady, so let's just say we're great and put it to bed. I don't know if it's co-parenting or if it's still like a marriage, like you've been married 18 years. I've married 18 years on Sunday this

past Sunday. Congratulations. Thank you. And I actually I'm going to sell my wife out because she's landing at LAX shortly. She can't be watching this show. I don't think she's watching the show. She forgot. Like it's a rare like the guy usually forgets. woman didn't forget.

That's your job. So I called her and she totally forgot. But yeah, I mean, like, look, as long as your goals are aligned, you know, you're going to parent a little bit differently. You know, you're going to grow and evolve in your own job and your own workspace. I actually think this is, this is more of a marriage, not a marriage of convenience. I think this is a legit marriage. It's just that's what marriage has become once you've been in an 18 years. I mean, I do think that they have a shared goal because they're both insanely competitive, obsessive people.

that's what's made this work for as long as it has that in having a good solid owner that backs up the situation and doesn't meddle in football stuff and supports his quarterback for the most part of the deflategate with the exception. But I don't know. I think everything had happened last year. The only reason that I believe that is because we never hear anything out of this organization and then all of a sudden it's just like leak central. And I think the Alex Guerrero situation really upset a lot of people in the organization, the staff, not necessarily. necessarily players. Look, I think there's a lot of things that went on. There's the Alex Guerrero.

There's the Jimmy Garoppolo. Right. And there's all these contract things. They come to a head. But at the end of the day, I would guess that you look, you're like, look, Patriot's still going to go in the playoffs. Of course. They're both going to go to the Hall of Fame. They have another shot at another couple Super Bowls here. But what's going to start

getting interesting is how much longer Brady is going to, he wants to play, and if it's going to end up being in New England. Okay. So, a week ago, Aaron Rogers called the effort at his training camp. practice, piss poor. And yesterday, Roger said he's not worried about the possibility of hurting anybody's feelings by saying exactly what he thinks. Let's take listen.

I hope we're not that soft. I hope we can, you know, hear comments or read comments and not get offended by things. It's a professional environment. It's not a personal environment. The things I'm saying, I don't have some vendetta against any player. I care about winning, number one. And I'm going to say and do the things I feel like can advance us. It's going to be tough at some points.

It's not a popularity contest all the time. Obviously, as a human, you like being liked and appreciated, but I'm trying to win games because that's my job. I have no problem with Aaron Rogers doing this as long as he also does it in the locker room. If he's kind of walking the halls and only calling people out to the media, that's lame. But I believe that he's also telling these guys this to their faces.

And I don't have a problem with it. Aaron Rogers is arguably the best quarterback in the NFL. NFL. I mean, I believe Tom Brady is better, but one or two, depending on your preference. And he wants to win. Everybody being in their feelings all the time when it comes to work and winning, that bothers me. Like, everything is not personal. They're not,

Joy. You grew up in a household of athletes, okay? So we have this thing to which we don't have most people in those households don't have a sensitivity. You don't because you watch the film. You're like, oh, I sucked. And if you don't know you sucked, your coach is going to call you. But people do have egos, though.

You do have ego. Even if you are not the greatest say there's the worst receiver on his team. It still has an ego as he should because he thought he was capable of getting to the NFL and that's where he is. People do have egos, but that's what he's talking about, I think, when he talks about sensitivity. Because I agree with you.

As an athlete, you have to be able to take criticism, constructive criticism, and hard criticism or you're not going to get better. Correct. But I also think it gets people like, whoa, whoa, oh my gosh, he's calling out teammates. Like, that stuff happens all the time. Yeah, if it doesn't happen every day, you're doing it wrong.

Right. Or pointing out it was a piss poor effort. means that normally you're held to a high, normally you perform at a higher standard. So I think it's taken in, I'm guessing that in Green Bay, those guys are taking it in the light that it's, in the sense that it's given.

I think it's so many people in the media and people who are readers and viewers that have never received that type of true, honest, unvarnished criticism that take it the wrong way. Yeah, it's definitely, I agree. Finally, despite the Lakers adding the best player in the NBA, during the offseason, Fans are upset about that because it's taking Kobe's spotlight or something, whatever they think.

LeVar is not convinced that it's LeBron's team yet. He had this to say during a recent appearance on Power 106. Oh, that's Lanzo's team. It's Lanzo's team. He came over here. Whoa. He came over here. That's not Lebron's team.

He ain't homegrown. Lavaar. You can say what you want, but we know what it is. Like I told you. What is it? Lanzo didn't go to Cleveland. Lanzo didn't go to Cleveland. LeBron came here to L'A.

We already over here. He is right about that. LeBron did come to L.A. Correct. But when he came to L.A. It became LeVron's team. LeVar is the best, though. He's so good at this.

He's so good at saying the exact thing that's going to get that reaction. And whether anybody believes it or not, it doesn't matter. You know what LeVar gets? How many days ago did he say this? I believe this was yesterday. I thought it was maybe Friday. Yeah.

Yeah, the idea that now he's saying things and nobody even reacts, tells you, like we're saying it now, but it's a couple days later. Right. Just shows like we're kind of, we're kind of, like this, it's such a ridiculously outlandish,

unbelievable statement. Like, he's kind of crossed, he's, but there's never been a team that LeBron has been on that wasn't LeBron's scene. Not just that, but we've all seen Lanzo play,

and I like Lanzo more than other people, but Lanzo's lucky to still be on this team, to not have been shipped to San Antonio to get Kauai Leonard in return. I mean, he was the number two draft pick. So was DeAngelo Russell. And they got rid of him. Yeah, DeAngelo Russell.

A few other issues going on. No question. No question. But look, Lonzo, there was some things that he did well. He could not make a shot. He was a terrible finisher. And he wasn't healthy half of the season. Outside of that, how was, and I like it,

this is somebody who likes him, who likes the investment in the future. I'm just saying that Levar was not worth what we saw Lonzo give us last year. So this is not the tact that you should be taken. But the idea that things he says now don't even really resonate until a couple days later tells you how I think most of us take LeVar Ball now. Well, I think that's more of a reflection of just the Lakers in general.

Like last year, Lonzo was the story with the Lakers. And then Kyle Kuzma kind of emerged. And now it's just a completely different situation. I don't think there's any high, I mean, there's some expectations, obviously, because LeBron's on the team, but not the situation that it was last year. year. But I do think that Lonzo is going to be a completely different player this year. I agree he'll be much better. Much better. That's Joy Taylor

with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. All right, let's bring in Thai law, of course, played with the Patriots, part of three Super Bowl winning teams. He likes to forget his years with the Jets, the Chiefs,

and the Broncos. Speak of Patriots first. We'll just only former Patriot, Ty Laud, joins us here on set on the herd. Thanks so much joining us. You heard what Joyce said. I know this story came down right as you were coming off of undisputed in that yesterday it was Bill Belichick, today it was Tom Brady, and suddenly they love each other again. Suddenly it's, hey, our visions are aligned. Is this a marriage of convenience? Do they legitimately like each other? Give me your real sense for Brady and Belichick 18 years in

to their partnership, the status. I will look at it as a marriage. You're not going to get along all the time in the marriage. I mean, even though you love each other, you respect each other, every day is not going to be a good day. So I think a lot of their relationship has been taken out of context over this Jimmy Garapolo thing

and all the stuff that people just come up with that have no exact details about what's really going on. But their relationship is intact. They respect each other. They want a lot of football games with each other. They're going to go down without a doubt as the best quarterback coach combo in the history of team sports.

Period. I think that the marriage thing is great, okay, because I think everyone wants to be 18 years marriage in the couple that's making out in the corner that's all over each other, right? But there's like, like, the reality of it is, it's like, look, how much can you make out? How much love? Okay, so tell me what you're going back to the Super Bowl, so you're doing something right. Even though you came up short, you're doing something right. They had the ball, Tom Brady had the ball down five. Like, as much as the defense couldn't get a stop, like even without Brandon Cooks, they had the ball down five a chance to win the Super Bowl, yet again. So yes, they're doing a lot of things right.

Okay, so if we don't all know what's going on, give me the real, what really went down from your perspective, all the people you know with the Garoppolo situation. Well, from what I understand, because I'm not, I'm no longer in the locker room, but I am still around the area. I'm still a part of the team in the sense that I live in the area. But it was blown out of proportion. I mean, of course, Jimmy Garoppolo, he wants to get another contract.

He's sitting behind Tom Brady. So think about it from Garoppolo's standpoint, regardless of what Coach Belichick may have wanted, regardless of if Tom still wanted to play, was debating on if he was going to retire or whatnot, Jimmy Garoppolo wanted a new contract. And when it comes down to what he wants to play, how am I going to get on the field sitting behind Tom Brady?

So people forget about his feelings and what he wanted. How do you know that he didn't go and say, guys, I'm ready to go because I want to play? And I think, and from my opinion, from what I understand, that's what really went down. Of course, Coach Belichick, you have to have a backup when you're looking for the future. But Jimmy Garoppolo wanted to play, and he wanted a new contract. Are you going to pay him the type of money that he wants being a backup? Absolutely not.

When Tom Brady says he wants to play, you give that man the respect that he deserves and you let him play as long as he wants to play because he is the face of the organization. He brought championships and he can still play football at a high level, and he proved it time and time again. And after they let Jimmy Garoppolo go, he still was the MVP of the National Football League. The Malcolm Butler thing, how much carryover do you think they'll be into this season? Not much at all. That was a decision that was made, which I don't agree with.

I don't know exactly what happened and why he didn't play. But I know Eric Roe becoming a player that they expect him to be. It was already in the making that he was going to be the guy to replace Malcolm Butler throughout the season. So you don't think it'll be like Seattle still can't. get over for a long time the Legion of Boom couldn't get over that Marshawn didn't get the ball. Right? And that's and that that led to some sort of riff between it and maybe kept them from winning more soup bowls or at least getting to more soup balls. That's the that's the common narrative. Do you think that you don't think there'll be any carryover to this year? Oh, the Malcolm

Butler thing. No, not at all. I mean Malcolm Butler is 65 million dollars rich in Tennessee. I think he's moved past it. Obviously someone was willing to give him that type of money and they didn't think much of it. Coach Belichick is going to move on regardless. I mean, you're going to keep trying to get it out of him, but he's not going to give it to you. I mean, the team, you know, we've all been through situations with the Patriots and the train keeps rolling and they continue to win and they continue to have success. And as long as you have number 12 back there under center, you have an opportunity to win. And I don't think when it comes to the AFC East, the other teams didn't get any stronger. Even though the Patriots teams is not as strong as it was in

the past, they still are going to win the division because the other teams didn't advance. Yeah, I mean, Miami got rid of the big name players and they got Ryan Tannhill back. The Jets are going to start a rookie quarterback. The bills are going to start a rookie quarterback. And the Patriots have Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. I'm with you. You can put them in Penn into the playoffs, barring some unforeseen thing like Brady actually getting hurt.

Ty's going to hang tight here with us. Coming up next, Zeke Elliott wants to be like a Hall of Famer. we'll get to why he wants to be like this Hall of Fame. And if it's a realistic goal, that's upcoming next. I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin. This is The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app.

Doug Gottlievin for Colin, Ty Law, three-time Super Bowl champion, continues to join us, along with Joy Taylor. Ty, I want you to listen to Ezekiel Elliott. He was talking about his goals for this coming season. Take a listen. All right, we got a little freeze there on that tape. We'll get to it in one second. All right, let's try this again. Here's Ezekielion.

I think it's just an opportunity to elevate my game. It's an opportunity to show that I can do more. And, you know, I'm excited. You know, I'm just here to do with the coaches to ask me. It's just kind of, you know, developing myself more as a rock runner. and I think in the past I wasn't really asked to run as many complex routes but now I have a couple more routes to add to my route tree Zeke Yew apparently was lost on a deserted island until they did that right he looks like castaway

way we're how far as the barbershop from training camp so Zeke apparently is studying Marshall Falk and he wants to be a better route runner he wants to be able to catch the ball more out of the back to develop the all-around game What's your take on that as his kind of game plan for his evolution as a running back? I think that is awesome because what better running back to model your game after than Marshall Falk? You know, Hall of Famer, he done so many great things. He was one of the most complete backs that we ever seen, along with him, Ladania Tomlinson, Roger Craig. You know, back in the day, was a great receiver coming out of the backfield.

So I think he, you know, took somebody that he looked up to someone that was in his era. you know, as far as when he was a young guy who he tried to emulate his game after. So I think that is awesome. If he can do half of what Marshall Falk did on the receiving end, he might find himself in the Hall of Fame one day as well. It also feels, though, like he's paid attention. Like, he's pretty smart guy, right? He's paid attention to like, hey, Todd Gurley's getting paid in after his third year

because he can catch it out of the backfield. The more you can do. El Bell can catch it out of the backfield. The way to get paid is to not just try and get 2,000 yards. You know, that's a way to get beat up. You get beat up that way, whereas when you get out in the flat, you can get out into a route. Now also one, you can get a mismatch. I mean, that's the real thing with Mike March's offense with Marshall Falk is you get a linebacker and running back.

We'll take that every single day. But also it's a way to get paid, isn't it? It's absolutely a way to get paid. The more you can do and the more touches you can get. And like you said, you're out there in open space. Ezekiel Elliott, we all know what we can do behind the line of scrimmage, but he's going to take a lot of pounding. You know, I think what makes Leveon Bell so special is what he's. he can do out in the open field and you can put him out there on mismatches against linebackers

in one-on-one situations. He's going to win that every time. It's, you know, the jury's out and see if Ezekiel can do that same thing and get out there in space and beat people as far as route running because we know what he can do when he's running the ball. But I think that is going to be great for him and great for his pockets at the end of the day. What's your feelings about Khalil Mack at this point in time? They seem to be far apart.

He's under club control. I mean, like, it's great to say, like, you can sit out a year, but nobody's actually sat out of year. Cam Chance was like four games was the most anybody's sat out. What's your thoughts on Cleal Mack in this holdout? I think that he's doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing right now. I mean, he's one of the top two, three guys, the defenders in the National Football League,

and he's seeing all this big money being thrown out there. He's wondering, what about me? I mean, this is a short shelf life in this game. So take advantage when you're hot. And I think he's a, um, He shouldn't come back until he's ready or until he gets a new deal because if he gets hurt, all bets are off. You know, the type of money that you're looking at is not going to be available to you. And I think he can sell it out a year.

But wasn't he franchised already? Not yet. Not yet. Well, if he wasn't franchisers. This is $13 million to be this year. Okay, it's $13 million this year. So if he can make $13 million this year. But that's a year of wage.

That's nothing to sneeze that. Don't get me wrong. That's a year of wages you never get back. You never get it back, but guess what? If he signs a contract extension, he's going to get that 13 plus another 40 on top of that guaranteed. So, I mean, is it worth the risk? Absolutely. So what if he goes out there right now for the 13 and get hurt?

He can come back at any time to get some of that 13. The problem with the hardballing the Raiders is they just don't have the money. Like, they spent poorly in the offseason. And that's not his fault. Like, they didn't understand the marketplace and how valuable he would be. But they just don't have. You know, Donald Penn took a pay cut yesterday, and I'm sure some of that is to free up money

so that they can sign Khal. But some of it is like, hey, look, we're in salary cap hell, and there's only so much we can actually do. Well, from Khalil Mack standpoint, shame on them. That has nothing to do with Khalil Mack. That has nothing to do with me if you guys didn't handle your business and your finances right at the end of the day because I'm a football player.

I have a short shelf life. I'm one of the top two, three guys in the league. period, I want to get paid. So, I mean, he's doing what he has to do. Okay, what about Gruden? Out of the league for a decade, comes back in, and he's clearly trying to do things his own way. He has a 10-year deal, so he's going to be there as their head coach.

What's your assessment of how he'll do in year one trying to get back up to speed? You know what? I love John Gruden. I mean, he's one of, even though I never played for him, He's one of my favorite, you know, coaches to watch. I mean, I hear he's a players coach for the guys I do know that played up under him. And I think it's going to be an adjustment. Even though he did his thing on TV, he's bringing the quarterbacks into the room.

He's a great quarterback guru. But I'm not expecting him to go to the Super Bowl, you know, right now. But I expect him to be competitive. I expect him with his big contract to find a way to get Khalil Mack, you know, his money because that is going to help you and your success. by putting the best player on your team and pay him and get him out there on the field. But I give him a couple years.

I give him two or three years. I think that he'll be in the mix and we'll be talking about these guys in the playoffs or contending for a Super Bowl. I don't want to pinch you on too much time, but we've only got about a minute left. Eagle's trying to repeat as Super Bowl champions. You've been a Super Bowl champion three times over.

How hard is it to come back that second year, when it? It's very hard. And I think this is going to be the test to the Philadelphia Eagles and they finally got a Super Bowl in Philadelphia. What type of character do they have on their team? Because right now, you hear a lot of talking coming out of Philly, which is great.

You won Fair and Square. Awesome. Super Bowl champions. But now everyone is gunning for you. You can't play the underdog. You can't play any more these masks on with the dogs out and being the underdogs. Right now, you're the team to beat, and everybody's gunning for you. So we're going to see what your team is made of.

We're going to see what type of character, with type of coaches, what type of players that you guys, are now that everyone's chasing you. So I'm looking forward to it and seeing what they got. Yeah, and this is, Joy, kind of what we were talking about. Like, I'm not disputing your, your argument about Cleveland is made stronger by the day as far as them being interesting. I just don't know it's as interesting as Philadelphia who won the Super Bowl, widely seen as maybe the most talented team in the NFL, and yet Carson Wentz didn't play. When do you play him? You know, all the barking that's coming out of there. Like, because they're a better team, it may make them more interesting. Is that fair, Joy?

I mean, I think there's a lot of good teams that are interesting, and I agree with everything that you're saying. Cleveland's interesting because they have all these cast of characters and storylines within their team. Like Carson Wentz, you know, is going to be the quarterback at the end of the day. But the question is when. Right. When? But you know it's going to happen. It's very hard to repeat, though.

No, it's really hard. It's really hard. And harder, maybe to repeat than to win it in the first place. Thai law, you'll see him on speak for yourself upcoming later on. Coming up next, Ice Cube joins me in studio. We had his thoughts on LeBron taking over his town. That's next in The Herd. What up?

Doug Gottlieb in for Colin. This is The Hurd on Fox Sports One, Fox Sports Radio, and the IHeart Radio app alongside the lovely, talented and always well-prepared. Joy Taylor. I'm Doug Gottlieb. Let's get right after it. Ice Cube, of course, award-winning musician, producer, CEO of the Big Three actor, philanthropist. Ice Cube will join us here on. set in about five minutes. I want to talk for a second about relevance and people's fear of

losing relevance. Like kids have FOMO, fear of missing out, right? It's actually, this is kind of parenting, and I know Joy, thankfully, like, you don't have to kind of go through this, but raising two 12-year-old girls, it's really, really hard from, and these are first world problems. But they got into, they went to middle school last year. And middle school, my My wife says, everybody has a cell phone. And I was like, well, why do ours have to have a cell phone? Like, they have an iPad. If they're near Wi-Fi and they need something, they can text us from their iPad.

No, no, you don't understand. Everybody has a cell phone. They no longer track who gets picked up, who gets dropped off. They need to be able to communicate with one another, which is great, especially in not knowing what the assignment is on any given day, right? You're on the group text with your friends and you text them, what's the homework? and all of a sudden you end up having a group study session without ever having to join a group study session.

Instagram can be awesome, right? Instagram in many ways has jumped past Twitter, has jumped past Facebook as the way to communicate and the way to stay in touch with friends that are lost. And for my kids, moving from East Coast back to west, there's an awesome way to stay in touch and in tune with everything that was going on there as well as meeting new people here.

The problem is that you give them the gym, this device and they move across the country, they look down at their Instagram and they see all their old friends still hanging out together, they're the only ones missing, right? It's like back to the future. Remember when the kids would start to disappear from the photos? That's what they look like. They disappear from the photos. And then they're new friends who they are new friends, but already have established relationships. They follow them. They see that they are not invited to some of the get-togethers. They're sitting at home and instead of like we were as kids, not knowing what else was going on in the world, they understand life moves on in their old place,

and life has already progressed in their new place. They're at home and they have this fear of missing out. I think adults, a lot of us, especially in the media, we have this fear of losing relevance. I can remember when I left the first place I worked for, I was there for 10 years total, nine years on campus, as they said. And you always felt some of it is kind of how the functions, but she always felt like you were relevant. You said something there. It resonated. People knew. And I left, and I went to a new place.

We started a new radio division. We were on a cable channel that was, you know, tertiary at best, in comparison to the other sports TV channels. And so you would say, you would say interesting things. For example, I'll give you one. Skip was on at ESPN, and he said that Johnny Mansell had a drink. problem based upon the people that he knew. He had a substance abuse problem. I had said the exact same thing two weeks before having really good sources, knowing exactly who Johnny Manzo was. Nobody picked it up.

Do you know why? Because the place I was wasn't relevant. It didn't get out there. We didn't have a social media team. I was the social media team, you know. And so I understand that you want to stay relevant. You want to stay in the conversation. You want to be one of the guys or one of the ladies that people are talking about what they're talking about. So I think that what LeVar Ball said on an L.A. radio station is just that. Some of it's LeVar being LeVar. But the level of ridiculousness to this statement reeks to me of a guy who understands he's no longer relevant, no longer part of the conversation. He was out of the country half the year. He started his JBA, which, by the way, had an entire season. And though they just had a championship game,

his boys, the L.A. team won the championship game, and it was pretty well attended. The fact is that it didn't get any sort of national media coverage. He's losing his relevance because his son didn't perform at the level they thought. His other son can't get a sniff in the NBA. His third son is only kind of welcome to play in his league. And I think this is a cry for relevance. Please pay attention to me when LeVar Ball said this. Oh, that's Lonzo's team. We didn't go to Cleveland? He came over here. Whoa, team. He came over here. That's not LeBron's team. He's not going to be Lebron's team. He ain't homegrown. Levar.

You can say what you want, but we know what it is. What is it? Like I told you. Lonzo didn't go to Cleveland. Lonzo didn't go to Cleveland. LeBron came here to L'A. We're already over here. He can't learn nothing from Lanzo. And Lanzo can't learn nothing from him. What they got to do is win together. Lonzo can't learn nothing from LeBron James. What we have here is, if you go to a Little League nowadays, there'll be a sign out front.

And the signs on the fence basically are trying to protect the kids from the parent that yells at his kid, but also yells at all the other kids and yells at the umpire. If his kid strikes out, it's the umpire strike zone. Or it's the coach put in the wrong place in the batting order. or the wrong kids pitching. Like LeVar Ball has become, maybe has always been, the Little League parent.

But never did I think the Little League parent would be in the NBA and have any sort of relevance. But the fact that he's saying this, a ridiculous statement. One, that it's Lonzo's team, not LeBron's, and two, that Lonzo can't learn anything to the Vermont, just shows you, here's a guy that fears losing relevance, and now we'll say anything. anything to get any sort of attention.

And with that, let's welcome in the one and only Ice Cube writer, actor, producer, and CEO of the Big Three, which is in the playoffs, which you can see live on Fox this weekend. I already know the answer. I think I know the answer. But as the resident Laker fan in the house, whose team is the L.A. Lakers, 2018, 2019? team? Whose team is it? I mean, it seemed like it's Magic Johnson's team right now. To be honest, I don't think LeBron should even be focused on that.

Like, whose team it is, this, that, and the other. And I kind of like the attitude that, can I take this out of my ear, man? Because it's always doing static. Yeah. But I like the attitude that, that, that, LeVar is bringing to the table in a way because I think when you play with a player as good as LeBron, players got to remember who they are. They can't just defer everything to what LeBron wants.

You know, at some point we all pros and we all get a paycheck from the Lakers and we all pay to do a job. And you shouldn't be looking to defer. to anybody. Now, that being said, you got to play together. Right. That being said, you got to, you know, the best player probably should get the most shots and things like that. But for the most part, guys got to come in and play. And I think that's why Magic picked the veterans that he picked.

None of them will bow down to LeBron. You know, all of them are going to come. they're going to pay homage they're going to be like yo this my teammate we're protecting lebrine but i got to play my game too and so that's what you need because if everybody just bow down to what he wants this team is not going to win no no question ice cube joining us you're fascinating to ask this question about because you've done it you've diversified your portfolio right you've gone from just a rapper to all of a sudden kind of a mogul um between movies and now the the big three and all the other different things that you've done,

it's really fascinating to see how you've diversified your own personal portfolio. How challenging is it, though, to still be a great basketball player when you're in L.A. In Cleveland, it's one thing. It's a little harder here because everybody wants your attention. Everybody, I got a project for you, Braun. I got something for you. Everybody pulling at you. And he's got shows coming on Netflix, on Amazon, on Showtime, on HBO.

How hard is it to still be the great basketball? basketball player when you're pulled in so many different directions in this city? It's not going to be hard if he keeps everything in perspective. You know, a lot of guys have been successful in L.A. You know, they thought this was going to happen to Magic Johnson, you know, that he was going to party too much. And so, look, you got to come, you got to deal with, you know, it's a lot of things to do out here, a lot of distractions.

And you have to stay focused and you have to have your priority straight. and I believe LeBron does, and he knows all of this stems from how great of a basketball player he is. And so long as he keeps that in perspective, he'll be all right. Carmelo Anthony signs with the Rockets. And look, as a longtime Laker fan, I know Bob McAdoo was once upon a time a great score that became a bench player. Bill Walton was a league MVP who became a bench player with the Boston Celtics. But some of that is the makeup of the guy. Yes.

This is Mello who just like four months ago, he was like, I ain't coming out of the bench for the Oklahoma City Thunder. And he's working with a guy in Mike Dantone that they had beef last time they worked together. Yes. Your best guess, does it work? The idea of Mello playing a tertiary or even less role coming off the bench and supporting James Hardin, supporting Chris Paul. Guys, he views as his contemporaries, but being part of the supporting cast. It's not going to work if he don't want to do it. I think Dan Tony's going to make him do it.

But everybody says they want to do it, right? Everybody says like, no, no, I'll be doing it. I just want to ruin a ring. I just want to everybody says, but the actual, hey, are you be cool in a playoff series, sitting there and watch PJ Tucker and watching Eric Gordon and Clint Capella and Chris Paul and James Harden do work while you have to sit there and wave the time?

Everybody says they want to do it until the moment they got to do it. Yeah, you know, I mean, it was the same situation a couple of years ago with Iguidala. You know, everybody was like, is he going to be able to. come off the bench for Steve Kerr. And he sucked it up, came off the bench, won a ring, and won finals MVP. So the formula is out there. You have to play your role. You're not going to always be the man. And so if Carmelo doesn't want to go to Houston and play his role, it's going to be a problem because I think Dan Tony is going to take out a little revenge and make him play his role.

The semis in the big three are in Dallas this Friday. The final of course is next Friday in Brooklyn. I love the fact some really big names are playing that are really hot. The level has jumped. I told you personally off air last year that the big three became a thing, but it had a next step in it. It feels like there's a next step that the talent is no distrary. respect to season one, but pronounced, pronouncedly better if that's a word in season two. Fair? Yeah, fair enough, for sure. You know, guys, they didn't even know what to expect season one, you know, even though they signed up, they came, they showed up in Brooklyn. It was 15,000 people out there, and I saw some 15-year vets. Eyes get this big, you know, because they realize,

man, I'm back in the arena, and too much pride, too much legacy. I know. knew they had to go hard and they went hard, but they wasn't really in shape for that. This year, they know what to expect. They knew how taxing our version of three on three can be, and you have to come in shape to be successful. And the second year guys came in shape, and our guys who have the big names who, you know, didn't play last year, you know, their tongues was hanging out for the first few weeks. and I think next year they'll come back even more in shape.

And so guys are realizing this pro sports, this ain't just the, you know, rec center. And they're preparing for it. No, the level of physicality is also something that guys, you know, it's one thing to have a big body lean on you at the YMCA or playing pickup ball. It's another thing to have a pro big body leaning on you. Yeah, they know how to do it right. Yes. And, you know, Keith Boggins played in his first game last week,

and he came over. He said, man, same what I'm used to. And that's what you want to hear. You want to hear that it's not easy in there. Guys are playing hard. It's a physical game that I grew up loving. You know, I grew up Daryl Dawkins fan, Moses Malone, you know, the artist Gilmore's of the world, you know, bruises on the inside. Even if you go back to the 90s when the Heat and the Knicks were fighting in the playoffs, like that was a brutally physical, tough basketball.

and most of these guys were in that era were just starting, we're ending in that era and that's, I think, the best embodiment of it in trying to explain how it's different for LeBron. It's not taken away from LeBron, but the league is different now. It's much more finesse, much more threes. This is probably the, like, look,

this is maybe a little bit more physical, but about as physical as it was then. Pretty, yeah, you know, it's a game that I believe, you know, big boys in the paint, you know, little boys on the outside. And if you want to go in that paint, you consider yourself a big boy and you got to handle yourself accordingly. Okay, so let's see here. Corey McGeady and Katino Mobley's team, Power taking on Tri-State and three-headed monster.

That's Richard Lewis, Reggie Evans, taking on three-s company. That's course, Baron Davis, L.A. legend, Drew League legend. And had he not torn his knee at UCLA, I think he would have gone down as one of the 20 best players in the history of the league. I still, and Baron Davis had some moments in the NBA with the Warriors when he was in top shape, but people forget what a freak he was before he tore his knee at UCLA. Without a doubt, you know, even in the big three, you know, most guys take a minute to warm up to the league. You know, first game, first two or three games, he out there showing out, you know, putting up 20. So it just shows you what kind of player he still is, but you can imagine what he used to be in the league and in college, you know,

especially if he wanted to tour up his knee. Big Three co-founder and CEO Ice Cube, kind enough to join us here on or in The Herd. Coming up next, Ezekieliot. Thanks so much, Kube. Hey, man, thanks for having me. Ezekielid says he wants to play like a Hall of Famer, but I think he actually is looking for something else.

Explain what that is upcoming next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Friday on Fox, Big Three playoffs are live from Dallas. Catch Baron Davis, Nate Robinson and other NBA stars as they hit the hardwood with a trip to the championship on the line. It all begins at 8 Eastern on Fox or stream it live on the Fox Sports app.

And don't miss the Big Three championship on Friday, August 24th. Oh, that's going to be awesome in Brooklyn. Ricky Davis, of course, and the least shocking news ever won the scoring title by two points over Corey McGettie. Me personally, I want Corey McGettys team to continue winning. That's because Corey McGettie also plays an adult league, and I don't want him to be in the adult league, right? I want a better shot of winning the adult league.

And the more Corey McGettie wins, the less likely he is to be at Sundays at Irvine Valley College. that you play in. Yes. Oh. Yes. So you want that lower level competition? Yes.

True competitor. Yes. Exactly. That's exactly what it is. Reggie, again, not surprising. Ricky Davis wins the scoring title and Reggie Evans wins the rebound title. That's just what they did in the pros. Get buckets and get rebounds.

They do in the big three. Check that out. That's Dallas this Friday night on Big Fox. Do you guys remember the movie Jerry McGuire? Remember the movie Jerry McGuire? show me the money right everybody remembers show me the money there's a bunch of great scenes from it you had me at hello you had me at hello was awesome there was also remember that um uh rene zell wiger was the only one who followed him out right she got like didn't she have the goldfish with her when she's walking

out right that he walks and nobody follows he gives this great speech who's coming with me who's coming with me who's coming with me and nobody comes with him except renée zelliger like there's a lot have things. Well, she's, I mean, she's a real one. She's the only one that mattered. There's something else that I think people do remember, but they don't remember why Cuba Good and Jr.'s character did it. And it's, I believe, why Ezekiel Elliott is doing what he's doing in preseason for the Dallas

Cowboys. Get to that in a second. Let's get to Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is not. The herd line news. All right, so Chad Kelly and Paxton Lynch switched places on the Broncos' death chart this week after, surprisingly,

Lynch struggled in Denver's first preseason game. Fans booed lynch off the field and even started a go-fund me to get him cut from the roster altogether, which is very vicious. Here's Vance Joseph on the decision. Right now, Chad's our backup, you know? Now, you know, we can, things change in this league all the time, but right now he's our backup. It's a performance league, you know, and everything we do, it's graded and it's counted. You know, and Chad, it's really more about what Chad's done, honestly, you know,

and Chad's played well. He's played with poise. He's played with confidence. You know, he moved the ball for us on Saturday night, so. And it's been that way since the spring, you know. I mean, he had a great spring. He's at a great camp, so it's his turn to be the two. He's earned that right.

Swag, Kelly. getting some run with the twos. He could become the first ever Mr. Irrelevant to start an NFL game at quarterback. Because there's only been six quarterbacks since 1936 that have been Mr. Irrelevant. Well, part of this is he can say what he wants about Swag Kelly. Chad Kelly has a lot of talent, of course, got hurt at Old Miss. You know, people forget last chance you. That was Chad Kelly before he went to Ole Miss.

But Chad Kelly has a ton of talent. But this isn't about Chad. Chad Kelly. It's about Paxton Lynch. Paxson Lynch. They tried to gift-wrap the job for him last year, and he couldn't do it. They tried to gift-wrapped the second-string job for him. He can't do it. Whether he shook or he's not good enough or a combination of the two, he got booed off the field. You see the fans started to GoFund Me. Yes, they started to GoFund Me page to get him cut from the roster. Yeah. Things have gone bad in a hurry. I'd love to say it's about Chad Kelly, but it's really more about Paxon. I feel bad for him, though. I wish people would stop using Go-Fat from him. fund me for that.

It's funny though. Is it? A little bit. I mean, I feel like if you've got time to start a go-fummy page to get Paxson and Lynch cut off the team, you may want to consider doing something more productive with your time. No question. I mean, who booze a professional athlete when he knows you performing poorly, especially when he's on your own team?

I mean... These are not people with the most, you know, with the most diverse lives. I mean, booing... Like, if you... I'm less concerned with the booing because that's kind of what sports fans do. Yeah. But taking time out of your day to go. set up an internet page to raise money to get someone cut from a team is, it's taking the extra

step. Yeah, you're putting in the extra effort. Yes, you have a level of no life that is a little concerned. It's a tiny step beyond just making mouth noises loudly. So yesterday we spoke about Calvin Benjamin's petty Instagram posts, praising Nathan Peterman's accuracy inexplicably. And it appears that Cam Newton has responded. So let's watch.

I mentioned it before, but I'm gonna just tell you. I need things around me just like this wall. You probably probably ask yourself like, why this wall is just so basic. But it never changed on me. It's the same wall every single day. I like that. And I need things, people around me.

It's like this wall. I ain't gonna change that ass. Same sign, same color. Well, I mean, walls can change, Cam. They can be painted over. They can wallpaper. Knock them down. You can knock them down.

You can add things to them. But I get his overall point. He wants people to be consistent around him, which is fair. I just don't know why you would. I mean, if Calvin's reaching for Nathan Peterman's accuracy, I don't, I feel like you don't need to respond. No, but I think his, we all understand his point, right? His point was not even, hey, I'm really accurate and you're wrong. His point was more, we were friends, and you do something which strikes in the heart of anything

you would consider friendship. Even if you didn't like the way I played quarterback, you didn't think I was accurate, we're really friends, you just go like, hey, man, I love my time in Carolina, I'm excited to be in Buffalo. What he did was, like, he, as a friend, it hurts more when it's a friend, when it's a legit friends. I mean, I don't, they played together. I don't necessarily know if they were friends or they were close. They were teammates. That's my,

agreed. We don't know. We don't know. But that's my take from watching it is this is not about what he said. It's about, hey, I thought we were boys. And that's, and I just didn't like how Calvin handled it when Cam approached him. Like, if you're going to say something publicly, then you should expect a public response. You're going to see him.

What is she supposed to do? Stand there and have a conversation with him. But there's no conversation to be had. I don't, I wouldn't handle any of this like this. Like, if you feel like he was the one, he's the one holding you back, that's fine to say that. But then you have to back that up. Like, everything is not someone else's fault. Even if Cam isn't the most accurate quarterback, which statistics would tell you he's not,

he's not the reason you didn't succeed. Like, that's a portion of it. A good portion. But it's not like Calvin is completely without blame. Great. Agreed. And that's where you and I see eye to eye. But let's not downplay the fact that, like, look, Steve Smith said the same thing when he left.

and he went to Baltimore. And they did go to a Super Bowl before when Calvin Hurt and Steve Smith in Baltimore, they went to a Super Bowl. And he was the League MVP. I just don't love the finger pointing. Finger pointing. Yeah, but it does. It gives you real perspective.

You know, like some systems aren't set up for guys to succeed. Some quarterbacks, you can't, you know, it's the reason that no one wanted to play with Tim Tebow in Denver. Wasn't it? They didn't like Tim Tebow. It's that they weren't going to get their numbers because he was so incredibly inaccurate. that they had to run the football at time.

Yeah. Finally, Cleveland will have a little help celebrating once their team finally wins a game. It's been a while. So I don't know if they'll remember how to act. But until then, they'll be taunted by a locked fridge of beer at local bars and places around Brown Stadium. So basically, Bud Light put fridges filled with Bud Light around different places. And they will automatically unlock for free beer around Cleveland. Did they have a golden ticket for somebody?

if you win the golden ticket and you get to go to the chocolate factory? That doesn't look like an automatic lock, but I'm assuming as soon as they win, someone's going to go and physically unlock it. It'd be kind of cool if it just popped open. Yes. Shouldn't you be able to do that remotely? Yeah.

I mean, there's probably some kind of, I imagine there's some legalities there since you have to be a certain age to drink. Yes, it's a great, listen, it's a great promotion. I think nothing can go wrong here. Congratulations to Bud Light. You just, you got on every national TV thing with this cheesy performance.

Cheesy promotion. It's very smart. But, I mean, look, they deserve it, right? They finally get a win. I guess. Congratulations. We get drinking one win. Like, does that mean the Patriots?

They don't get beer until they win their 10th game because they always win 10 games? Well, yeah, I think that's kind of the point when Cleveland wins. They finally get a free beer. Steelers at home, I'm going to go with no. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be week one. But remember, they played the Steelers very well week one last year. Really well, week one. They played Steelers well both games last time.

I don't think it's crazy, but then two New Orleans, I'm going to say no. Jets week three. That's the most likely, right? That's a Thursday night game on the NFL network. So Thursday night, at a bar, you'd just be sitting there waiting for that lock to be popped open. That's a nice thing, but light did. Yes, I would have liked it was butt ice. See people freak out about getting free butt ice would have been better.

And that's joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. I saw this story from the Dallas Morning News. Gottlie been for Colin, this is the herd. Zeke Elliott told the Dallas morning news he'd been studying film of Marshall Falk.

Huh. Here's Zeke, okay? We've got video to match and the sound. Here's Zika Elliott talking about why he decided to study the great Marshall Falk. I think it's just an opportunity to elevate my game. It's an opportunity

to show that I can do more. And, you know, I'm excited. You know, I'm just here to do with the coaches and ask me. It's just kind of, you know, developing myself more as a route runner. And I think in the past, I wasn't really asked to run as many complex routes. But, you know, now I have, you know, a couple more routes to add to my route tree. Do you remember in Jerry McGuire why, you know, why Rod Tidwell started dancing in the end zone? Remember, Joy?

Because that's how you got attention. and that's how you got paid. That was the whole idea about it, right? He was, show me the money, remember? And all of a sudden, Rod Tibwell, who refused to be a guy who would let the crowd in. He showed no emotion. It was a, he was, he just, he was a professional, wide receiver. All he wanted to, he didn't want to, he didn't want to blow kisses.

He didn't want to dance. He scored touchdowns and he wanted to get paid for what he did. And in his mind, and it became a reality, once he let people in, once he celebrated, once he had that one scene where he dances in the end zone and starts crying and going crazy and doing all those different moves, he went on to Roy Firestone show. It was up close. Remember, no, I'm not going to cry, Roy.

I'm not going to cry, Roy. And then he gets handed the paper, and he does, in fact, get the contract and he gets paid. That's all Zeke's doing here. Do I think it's great to diversify your portfolio as a running back that you want to be a dual threat? Sure. And one of the things that Zeke probably won't get recognized enough for that people in the NFL will tell you is he's one of the few guys that came out of college ready to block.

Pass protection is huge, right? Like, don't believe me, asked Tony Romo. Gronk's little brother is the reason that he broke his collarbone the first time because he missed a block on pass pro. And who was it who kicked somebody out of the huddle going back this past weekend? There's Ryan Taneyhill kicked a rookie running back out of the huddle because he missed a block on past protection because you missed a block. you can get me killed. Look, I just missed a season with a knee. I don't need him to miss another season because you miss a block. So Zika is great on pass, bro. He's a tremendous running back, but this is all about getting paid. Don't get me wrong. Don't believe me. Here's the top five

running backs in terms of salaries. In 2017, Levyon Bell, 85 catches. Jerich McInne, 51 catches. LaShawn McKinnon, 51 catches. LaShawn McCoy, 59 catches. Todd Gurley, 64, and Zeke Elliott, Elliott, only 26. Now, granted, he missed six games. But his rookie season, he only had 32 catches. One of the things that strikes me is Levy on Bell saying, like, hey, man, I need to get paid as, I'm not just a running back, I'm a wide receiver, I'm this, I'm that, and the other, like, all that's accurate, but the truth is that the best running backs in the league, Le Danion Thomas said led to league in receptions. We've seen that before. Now, you go back through Marshall Falk was a great receiving running back.

In order to get paid, you used to have to dance in the end zone to draw attention to yourself so that people knew that separated you from other wide receivers. That's one of the key kind of points and side stories to Jerry McGuire. In order to get paid as a running back, you've got to be a three-down running back. You got to run it? Pass protect, but catch it out of the backfield. Create those mismatches. Split you out wide.

Find a use for you. Otherwise, they got to find another running back to put in on third down. Zeke Elliott's smart. Football's smart. And he spent time off thinking, all right, I'm coming in my third year. Todd Gurley got paid after his third year. What's the difference between me and Todd Gurley? Well, in addition to the off-the-field nonsense, that got you suspended for six games,

it's that Todd Gurley had 64 catches last year. And he'll probably have 70 this year. And Zeke looks at it and goes like, I got to be that guy. that's the way to get paid. That's the way to get paid. All right, coming up next, the idea is a good one, because it has worked in the past.

It has worked in the past that somebody like Carmelo Anthony could switch from being a Hall of Famer, an All-Star, to coming off the bench. But there's a Tinderbox in Houston. I'll prove it to you next. I'm Doug Gottlie.

of the herd. Doug Gottliebend for Colin. This is the herd alongside Joy Taylor and yesterday it became officially official like Facebook official. Mike Dan Tony and Carmelo Anthony back in a relationship. And it is going to be fascinating to watch. Now to people who say this will never work, it has worked at least once in the past. Bob McAdoo led the NBA in scoring for a couple of years. when he was in Buffalo in the 70s. In the early to mid-80s, he came to the LA Lakers. He was a bench player, average about 10 a game. It was a star-studded roster,

and it did, in fact, for a short period of time, work on a championship team. Bringing a bucket getter off the bench is not a new idea. It is not. But I look at some of the other kind of things that are going on, and I feel like, kind of like we discussed with the Cleveland Browns, there's a potential Tinder box there. This was, it wasn't even nine months ago.

But you remember when Carmelo Anthony was a member of the Thunder and he was asked about coming off the bench, he said this. How do you feel about, you know, starting at the four or the concept of starting at the four or even coming off the bench? And the second question is, Oh. I guess that answers that part. I mean, I don't know where that started when I came from.

from. Hey, Pete, they said I got to come off the bench. Yeah, you're probably going to have to come off the benches here, mellow. Now, look, it's different when you're making $2 million. I know he's making $29 or so or $28 or so, depending on what the buyout was. He took in Atlanta. He's making plenty of money, but the actual salary from the Houston Rockets doesn't even creep up on $3 million, which makes him a movable asset or a releasable asset.

But the fact is they're going to try and make it work. Here's Mike Dan Tony after Carmelo officially became a member of the Rockets. We had long talks about how we want to play and what would mean what kind of role he would have. He's been one of the best players in the league. He's a gifted offensive player without a doubt. It's going to add to an already potent team. I'm getting excited. I think that, you know, we have to work some things out.

There might be some bumps along the way, and I'm sure there'll be a lot of naysayers that say they can't coexist. But if three guys like that can coexist, James and Chris, you've got a heck of a good chance. So I think that, like I said, I'm excited, and I think Houston should be excited. He also said, take a look at this quote, we've just got to make sure we don't get too far away from taking threes and layups and foul shots. It'll be a little bit of a learning process. But then again, if everybody is committed and you have no doubt it, can work. I used to tell people all the time, Carmelo Anthony was the best score in the league because he could score at three levels. Score it three. Not great, but he could score it three.

It's a great mid-range player and a tremendous post player. They don't post up in Houston. They don't want anybody in the post in Houston. Matter of fact, read his quote, and none of it is, hey, we can't wait to throw it in the post and play through the post. It's just not how they play. The weakest part of his game is shooting threes. And or driving and getting to playing. downhill to get to the free-thor line. You're trying to make him into what a better version offensively and a weaker version of what Trevor Areza

is. Compound that with the fact that you're depending on James Harden, who TMZ has a story that he took a woman's cell phone and, you know, tried to throw it away because there was some sort of

kerfuffle, if you will, or a scuffle between somebody in the crew he was rolling with and somebody else at a club. Look, James Hardens a lot of things. Again, great offensive player has to have the basketball, doesn't care much about defense, fakes a little bit, and then funnels you to Clint Capella. It kind of works when you have four guys defensively and James Hardin. It kind of works. But Hardin's still a go-out and hangout guy. He's a league MVP making nearly $50 million under contract per year. And he's still a go-out, hangout club guy. And he's still a go-out, hangout,

club guy at 29 years old. That's the kind of stuff you do when you're 23 years old. Carmelo Anthony, as much as he says, I want to fit in, and I want to make this work, and it's all smiles, and he wants to win a championship. He wanted to make the triangle work. It didn't.

He wanted to make it work with Mike to Antony last time. It didn't. The only time Carmelo Anthony has seen great success in the NBA by his own accounts would be when he was playing for Mike Woodson, and they went, Iso Joe. Give me the ball and let everybody else play off of me. If you think a lead singer can become a backup singer, I will, you look around the

music industry and you just don't see very many of them, even in what I do, you're a solo host and all of a sudden you're going to be a producer or you're going to have just be a role player. It's really, really hard adjustment. And when for 15 years you've played the exact same way every year and somebody's asking you to play a different way, it becomes challenging. And then there's the ego part to it. Look, if I'm advising Carmelo Anthony, I tell him, hey, you're going to go against inferior players as a six-man. Those guys aren't as good as you. You can elongate your career. Unlike Alan Iverson, who refused to come off the bench and understand what Jamal Crawford figured out a long time ago. I'm really a starter. I'm playing as a bench player. And all I have to

do is come in and generate offense. And I don't have to do all those little things. I don't have to play the role of a two-way player nearly as much. But the downside to that is there's going to be a lot of games, especially the important ones, when you've got to sit there with a towel in your hand and wave that sucker for PJ Tucker, who hasn't had nearly the career you have had, but fits better into what they want to do and how they want to do it to win a championship in Houston. And then you go down to the fact that he and Dan Tony end up having a beef that led to a divorce last time around.

And oh yeah, by the way, you got James Horace. Harden, a go-out hangout guy at 29 years old as a league MVP who doesn't care about defense. You got Clint Capella, will he play like the guy who's trying to earn the contract that he got or live up to the contract that he already received? You don't have Trevor Reza to be the Swiss Army knife. And you have Chris Paul who plays the way I dreamed I could play in the NBA, but he's never healthy at the most important time. And it's going to be a year later, which means he's more likely to get hurt yet again.

Look, in a dream scenario on paper, in a vacuum, could it work? Hell yeah, it could work, and it could be really, really fun. I mean, you had a great offensive team. You had a great offensive player to a great offensive team that won more games than anybody else in the NBA. It sounds great, but that's not the way sports work. That's not the way life works. More is not more.

Less is more. And I get that Houston thinks we can control him, Chris Paul's his boy. he's only making $2 million and a half dollars. It's not that big a deal. But many have tried to change and have Carmelo Anthony evolved. And he had beef at the start of the Oklahoma City season being suggested to come out the bench. And the reason that Oklahoma City wanted to get as far away from as possible was, even when they were in salary cap hell, they would have found a way to try and work it out.

He wanted no part of it. Everybody says, I just want to be a part of a championship team. But I can't find anybody since Bob McAdoo. who's led the league in scoring, you know? Adrian Dantley led the league in scoring, came over the pistons. They got rid of him as a starter and brought in Mark Aguier, but neither came off the bench. There's something to having your name called.

There's something to be one of those first five that your ego just really struggles with. And I understand, if not for that ego, he wouldn't be the score that he's been. But much like we discussed yesterday, Joy, we were talking about Isaiah Thomas and his mishaps on social media. What makes you? sometimes I'll bring you down as well.

Sure, but I also don't, I don't think that the situation is the same with Carmelo in Houston as it was in OKC and obviously whatever beat him and D. Antony had, they settled or he wouldn't be in Houston because they were a Chris Paul injury away from probably beating the Warriors and most certainly beating Cleveland

in the finals. I mean, nobody believes Cleveland was going to beat Houston if they made it there, right? Correct. It should be pointing out the Warriors didn't have Igodala either. If they have Igo Dala, I do think, I think Chris Paul's a better player. Everybody gets breaks and, you know, it all works out how it works out.

But they were a great regular season team last year. Do you think they're better? Do you think they're better this year than they were last year? I don't like losing Trevor Areza, but I think they're going to be about the same. I don't think they're going to take a tremendous step back. And this is Carmelo's opportunity to prove everything, everything that you're saying wrong, his image wrong. And he's going to, he's going to be in there finishing games. He's going to.

I don't think you will be. I think they'll, I think people have reputations for reason. This is not a, this is a 15 year reputation that's been established. You got to evolve. We'll see. Old dog, new tricks. There are tons of things that we tracked now 10 or 15 years ago. We didn't.

One continues to poke up at us. We'll get to that next. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is the herd. What up? Welcome in. I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin. However you may be and wherever you may be making us part of your day.

Thanks so much for joining us alongside Joy. Taylor, we'll be with you all week long on Fox Sports One, Fox Sports Radio, the I Heart Radio app, and make sure you download the All Ball podcast on the Heard podcast network and, of course, Joy's podcast, which drops tonight? Yes, maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm crazy. Download that one as well. So you can take us with you wherever you want to go.

Also, my show, the Doug Gottlieb show, airs noon to three Pacific time after this one on many Fox Sports Radio. affiliates, three to six Eastern time as well. There, we got, we promote all of our stuff. But I want to start with this. I think the offseason has left us with a lot to talk about in terms of the Patriots. Now, some of it is, some of it is, it's an organization that has never given us much insight into the inner workings of it. So when we read stories like we read last year about Brady going to management and wanting Garoppolo gone and Garoppolo traded. Heck, the fact the Patriots traded both of their backup quarterbacks last year, kind of gambling and getting only a second and a third round pick in return for two players

who started and played relatively well. Jimmy Garoppolo gets the biggest deal we've ever seen in the history of the game, you know, perked up, peaked up our attention, if you will. But it's more that we haven't gotten any information out of this organization previously. And now we got some drip, drip, drip of information in the Malcolm Butler story. They lose in the Super Bowl.

People are saying it's not fun. You're getting some former players that weren't happy with their time there. And it becomes far more interesting as opposed to every Bill Belichick press conference. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have tried to put this thing to rest. Don't believe me. Here's Tom Brady on a Boston radio station

talking about his current relationship. with this head coach. I think our priorities are, you know, the same as they've always been. I think that's why we get along so well. You know, we're here to win. And like I said, it's been a very professional environment that he's created. I think I'm very lucky to, you know, be in that environment. I think he's the best coach that's ever coached in the NFL.

You know, I feel very privileged to have kind of been mentored by him for as long as I have. You know, not many players have been able to be coached by the greatest coach of all time. And I have. You know, I have so much confidence. in him and what his decisions are. And, you know, we're both expecting to go out and have a great season like we always have. That is not a he's great, I'm great, sort of, we got our stories in order. That is a, he's the greatest coach of all time.

I'm really fortunate. Our vision is aligned. And so look, I'm not going to dispute that it was uncomfortable with Jimmy Garoppolo last year. I'm not going to dispute that. I'm not going to dispute that Tom Brady has always feared that he, like so many other patriots, would be put out to pasture, sent to some other place. Remember, his dad came out and said, Tom Brady's going to end up with another team because that's the way it always ends up with New England Patriots. No doubt about that. But this to me feels like a marriage.

And to anyone who's been in a marriage, a real, legit, long-term marriage, you know that, that, this is what it feels like in year 18. How do I know? I just celebrated my 18th wedding anniversary. And my wife was in a different place. And my wife, and I don't mean different place emotionally or mentally. I mean, she was physically in a different part of the country. She was in Connecticut with our friends. And she actually, for the first time ever forgot. But there's no negativity towards it. Like, look, it's 18. It's not a big, not 20. It's not 15. It's not 10. It's not 25. And it's a great day, but we'll celebrate it tonight when we get a chance to hang out together. In 18 years of marriage, I've learned that you have to have your overall visions aligned.

There are going to be bumps in the road. If Jimmy Garapolo is the good, young, is the good-looking young-era-parent potential replacement, that's not any different than any marriage to which, hey, you keep, you know, spending time at school and young Johnny's grade school teacher is a really good looking younger single guy and you start to get a little uncomfortable about it. These things

happen. You're going to have arguments. You're going to have disagreements. You're going to have times to which you sleep in different beds sometimes because you snore or you smell or you just need your space. But if your overall vision is the line,

if you appreciate and respect what the other person is about and their evolution is a person, you can still succeed in this thing. And honestly, that's where I think we are with the Patriots. I think this is a marriage that'll make it the distance. And look, every marriage doesn't end up 18 years in, in a party you're making out in the corner.

It doesn't make your marriage any less healthy. It just means your marriage is different than the people that... Oftentimes, the people that make out in public fight like cats and dogs in private. That's the truth to it. So were there disagreements? Sure. I'm sure that Tom Brady didn't really get why Malcolm Butler,

whatever he did, and however he did it, deserved to be benched for the entirety of the Super Bowl when his defense couldn't get a stop. But look, we're raising three kids together, and I can tell you that I don't agree with everything that she does. I vehemently disagree with some of the things that she does. But overall, our visions align. want to get them to college and get them the hell out of our house, but do so in a manner

in which they're respectful, bright, healthy kids. We just are brought up different ways, different religions, from different parts of the country, and we have different visions for how to get there. That ain't any different than Brady and Belichick. The only reason we pay so much attention is their incredible longevity, their incredible consistency of success, and the fact that to this point we haven't gotten any information about them. What makes them tick. How do they do it? How do they not fight? Or when they do fight, how do they always stay together? We understand now that the respect is mutual. Belichick said essentially the same thing going back to yesterday. And I think it actually is in fact real. Now, the other thing that I want to point out,

and is very important to point out, is that we pay a lot more attention to training camp than we ever did previously. We didn't. Have we always paid attention to holdouts? Yes. You go back to Emmett Smith holding out the Dallas Cowboys and holding Jerry Jones feet to the fire. We paid attention to that. But we never paid attention to training camp stats. We didn't. Yesterday, Tom Brady apparently was ticked off at his wide receivers. Ten drops in 11 on 11 drills. Three drops by newest signee, Eric Decker. And he punted a ball. And he punted a ball. And And so there's the, hey, is Tom Brady upset? Is Tom Brady still upset with his offensive unit?

Does he not like the pieces that are placed around him? Is he mad at Malcolm Butler? His wide receiver stink. Jordan Matthews, they cut. Malcolm Mitchell, they cut. Julian Edelman, not back fully healthy off the ACL plus suspended the first four games. Chris Hogan was hurt last year. They just signed Eric Decker, who can't apparently catch the football,

got guys lined up wrong, and he's punting the ball. but some of this is just how the sausage is made. I mean, think about this. Aaron Rogers made people freak out when he said this going back a couple of days ago. It was one of the worst card sessions we've had. I don't know how you can make it any simpler. You literally have what the play would be in our terminology on the card.

And the effort level is very low. especially what I'm accustomed to. Aaron Rogers simply saying, hey, this is not what we're accustomed to. He came back and yesterday said, like, look, it's not personal. This is just business. He did the Godfather thing. It's not personal. It's just business.

I just want to win games. And the only reason he had to do so is because we pay way more attention to somebody's reaction post-practice in preseason in training camp than we ever had previously. training camp stats that's what we're judging somebody's level of prepper disby but this is not new I mean think about the other things that we track now that we didn't previously 20 years ago who knows how many steps we took on an average day now you got it on your watch right I mean it took 15,000 steps today is that good I have no idea I mean it's a thousand more than I took yesterday, but back when I was in my 20s, I would assume I took 40,000 steps, 30,000 steps, I don't know.

I mean, look, we didn't, 25 years ago, we never tracked our cell phone usage. And then we had cell phone minutes and minutes restriction. Now it's data limits. I mean, the first time you went in to get your phone upgraded that said, all right, we're going to give you, with this plan, you get 20,000 gigs. like that sounds like a lot right i have no idea what a megabyte a gigabyte a kilowatt i remember how many it took to get back in time and then to get back from the future you had to go 88 miles an hour but i have no idea of 10 000 megawatts gigawatts wasn't it well there's 1.21 close enough

the point is there's no real control group because we didn't track these things previously Is Tom Brady better in preseason now in 11 on 11s than he was 10 years ago? I don't know. You know why? 10 years ago, we didn't track it. How do you know if you had a good line on social media? How many likes did you have? How many retweets did you have? Same thing on Facebook.

You posted something that people like it. We tracked these things. We didn't used to. We didn't used to at all. So the point is to not totally freak out or even come close to freaking out over training camp stats that we've never tracked previously. Because there isn't the guide of the past. We can't say that Tom Brady has gotten progressively worse in training camp.

Do the Patriots know that? Yeah. But do we, as the American public, understand that Aaron Rogers has probably gone off on his wide receivers every year he's been a quarterback, especially when he has young wide receivers that don't understand the simplicity of a drill that he's been doing for over a decade. Tom Brady's probably punted the ball 15 times over. Probably throwing plenty of hissy fits. We've seen them in regular season games.

Why wouldn't he do it in training camp? Frustration does boil over. The only difference is how much we track the preseason now. How much we care now about how the sausage is made instead of eating it on Sundays in the fall. All right. Coming up next, Bucky Brooks is going to join the show. I'll get his thoughts on the marriage,

on the marriage of Brady and Belichick. Is it a marriage? or is it simply, what was it you called it? They're co-parenting, Joy. You said they're co-parenting? Co-parenting. Are they co-parenting together for the kids? Right.

Are they staying together for the kids or are they together for real? We'll get to that upcoming next. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Welcome into The Herd. I'm Doug Gottlie.

I'm Doug Gottlie. Filling in for Colin making some huge decisions here during the break. Just huge decisions. Big, big, bigly, bigly. Bucky Brooks is going to join the show in a second. He played in the league. He's worked in the league. He covers the league for the NFL network.

We'll get his thoughts in a second. But we had this big debate between the entire crew. He did. And it was the salmon or the steak for lunch. The salmon is cooked in a pesto sauce. The steak has a little pineapple glaze on top of it. And it's cooked in the grill. turns out that there's two possible eateries here on the Fox lot, and that ended up tilting it to the steak.

Because you prefer one eatery over the other? Well, listen, Craig is our stage manager, is the voice of reason and wisdom here, and he provided me with some great insight. It wasn't about cleanliness or preparedness. He just said, like, look, if it was me and it was my last meal on this earth, I would do the flank steak. I felt like that was a strong sale. And with that, we bring in Bucky Brooks from the NFL network. I should point out that Bucky, who's actually 87 years old, but eats fish every day, and that's why he looks so fantastic, said eat the fish because it's a healthier option, right? Yeah, I would go to fish. I would go to fish over the beach.

All right, let's start with the Patriots. I pointed out that as much as I want to freak out over their wide receivers, kind of being a mishmash, not having Edelman to start the year. You know, they've already moved on from Jordan Matthews, who was hurt and Malcolm Mitchell. I think that having a bad day and Eric Decker having three drops and the frustration, this is just, to me, it feels like this is how the sausage is made. The only difference is we cover training camp far more than we ever did in the past. Am I wrong?

Absolutely. I'm wrong or absolutely we cover it? No, we cover it more than we ever have. Like now there's so much exposure, so much access. and when you give people access, they may not like what they see. I think Tom Brady illustrates what a lot of top quarterbacks do. Like, they get frustrated. They put a lot of pressure on their receivers to perform.

Tom Brady has a level of play, a standard that he wants everyone to play up to, and he kind of sets the standard. And so when receivers are dropping balls that are not in the correct spot, it makes him look bad. And so he wants everybody to be on the same page. It's really, really similar to what you heard from Aaron Rogers, when Aaron Rogers talked about the scout team and guys not doing things correctly off the cards.

The best quarterbacks demand a lot of everybody. To me, this is a non-story. My assessment of Brady's off-season was different than most. I think the real battle that he's fighting is the battle at home. She's like, we got tons of money. You got all the Super Bowl rings in the world. We got these kids. Like, you got to be a dad.

and we've all had kind of this pull when you're a father. Like you can't be an absentee dad. You've got to be there. You want to be there. On the other hand, you still want to work. And once he says he's done in football, he's done in football. So I think that was a big reason he stayed away from the OTAs. And then, of course, they put a little money in his pocket with some of these bonuses that they added on to his contract.

He came out earlier today on a Boston radio show and said, hey, I play for the greatest. coach in the history of football, our vision is aligned. Do you believe that all is well with their marriage? I mean, I think so. I think they went through a rocky period. I think anytime you have a head coach and a top quarterback, the relationship is not always going to be smooth. Bill Belichick demands a lot of time, Brady, expects a lot of time, Brady, and their program is very demanding. And so if you have an evolved, Tom Brady, a guy who is evolving with his wife, and he's into some different things and he's becoming kind of more mindful and how he goes about living, he may kind of go back at Bill Belichick for some of the abruptness and abrasiveness that may

go on in that building because that's not how he's living his life. And sometimes you want the coach and everyone to evolve. As coaches are getting on with dealing with millennials and some of the new players that are coming to a league, you have to take a new approach. And even though Tom Brady is an older player. He kind of has a different appreciation. He would like to see some of that evolution take place in New England where they can't enjoy the workplace and win games and do all the things

that they've always done. It doesn't always have to be a fear-based approach that they've been using. I want to ask you about Khalil Mack. The Raiders went out and spent a bunch of money in the offseason and it doesn't look like they have the salary cap room to make ends meet with Khalil Mack. Plus, they're always cash-deprived as well. They're arguably the poorest team in the league in terms of the amount of cash that they have. In many ways, they're getting bailed out when they go to Vegas with all the cash they'll be able to get, but that's still a couple years away.

Donald Penn, one of their talented linemen who they're moving over the right side, just gave money back. I think that's to free up some money for Kalil Mac. Can they even make it work financially to the level that would satisfy Kalil Mack? I think there are a couple of different things at play. You're absolutely right about the Raiders being a cash poor franchise. don't have a lot of cash. And the kind of deal that Khalil Mack wants requires a lot of cash because whatever money is guaranteed immediately goes into escrow. So if they're going to guarantee 60, 70, 80 million dollars, you have to be able to

basically write a check for 80 million dollars and that money goes away. So if they don't have a lot of liquid, it makes it tough for them to do big deals like that. Secondly, I think you have a coach who is kind of looking and surveying the league doing his 10 years away. He is saying, does defense really win championships? Do you really get a benefit from paying top-notch defensive guys quarterback money? Aaron Donald, Khalil Mack, they want quarterback money.

They want 20 plus million dollars a season. Well, when you look at the defense, Khalil Mack won defensive player a year a couple years ago. The last two years, the raters have been the bottom third of the league in defense. So am I getting banged for my buck when I commit that kind of money to Khalil Mack? When I'm looking at the league and we've talked about the helmet rules, the new rules, it is all offense. It is about scoring points.

Would it be better for the Raiders to invest their money in offensive players as opposed to defensive players when defense doesn't really matter today's day? I don't know if defense doesn't really matter, but I think there's two different schools of thought. One, it's that, and there's a lot of talk in Vegas, bet the overs early on the season, because of the helmet rule.

And look, everyone wants more scoring. NBA wants more scoring. Heck, we just said what a great job the PGA did because they had more scoring at the PGA championship. and so I do think the NFL has trended that way. But there's also, do you put all your money, even defensively, you still need to win with defense, but do you put in one guy or two guys, right? That's what got Seattle in trouble is they had the Legion of Boom,

and they had to start paying these guys, and one or two guys soak up all that salary cap space. So there's two parts to it. You need a defense, but you need to spread that money out, right? It's much like in quarter. You want to spend money a quarterback, but the real way to do it is if you can get one of these quarterbacks under club control for a couple of years, years early on, then spread that money out and have an overall diverse group of talent. There's something to what you're saying. You still need to play defense, but I think you can

play situational defense and still get to the championship. Like the Patriots. You look at the Patriots, but to talk about the Patriots, they didn't pay Chandler Jones. Chandler Jones led the league in Sachs last season. They elected to move on from him a couple seasons ago. They haven't really committed a lot of money to any pass rushers. Their money goes to their cornerbacks. They prefer to play coverage as opposed to pressure. So, Maybe when John Gruden is looking around and he's surveying the league, what is the value? Everyone is getting the ball out quicker. Quarterbacks are throwing the ball out quicker.

The rules suggest that you can't really knock the quarterback around. Maybe there's a better way to build the team. And maybe Khalil Mack is not in the plans when it comes to paying him $20, $25 million, when I could go get some guys that are okay pass rushers and really load up on offense and trying to outscore people. All right. Bucky Brooks and the NFL Networks joining us. I want to ask you about what you've seen on tape from these rookie cornerbacks. We'll get to that in the second.

But first, let's get to Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So last hour, we spoke with Ice Cube about LeVar's recent comments that the Lakers aren't LeBron's team, but they're Alonzo's team and what he thought about that as the Lakers fan that he is. And let's play that back.

I like the attitude that Lavares is bringing to the table. in a way because I think when you play with a player as good as LeBron, players got to remember who they are. They can't just defer everything to what LeBron wants.

You know, at some point we all pros and we all get a paycheck from the Lakers and we all pay to do a job. I do think that's an interesting perspective on what LeVar is saying. Now, we don't have to think that LeVar is legit in saying that it's Alonzo's team. Everyone agrees that it's LeBron's team. And I think that's LeVar just being LeVar.

That's what LeVar does. But it's interesting that he said that, though, because that reminded me of Kyrie, right? Like, everyone criticizes Kyrie for leaving LeBron and he wanted to be the guy, and he's kind of under a different spotlight now because of that. But if you think about it, Kyrie was that guy who left LeBron and wanted to have his own identity and kept his own identity, and he was the teammate that was alongside LeBron when he won that championship in Cleveland. There's something to being your own guy while playing with a guy like LeBron. There's no question. Look, and for the record, I actually agree with Ice Cube in that you still got to play your own game.

Right. You got to play your game. I don't think that's what LeVar is saying. I don't think whether he's not smart enough or that's not where he's going with it. I don't think that's what he means. But Ice Cube is right. And I think that's why the vets, one of the reasons that the vets will work off the bench is he wants to see which one of those guys can elevate themselves while playing alongside. who's not scared. Remember, the Lakers, what is it, like 12 of their first 15 games, some against playoff teams.

The level of competitiveness for every one of their regular season games is going to be so much higher than last year. Because they're the Lakers. They're everybody's biggest game. You go to every team's website or Twitter page. And you look at their schedule, when their schedule came out last week, and they will all say, here's our home schedule, including two games against the Lakers. They're everybody's biggest game. So he wants to see who's willing to play their game and play with me at the same time, which one of these young guys, which is absolutely what Ice Cube saying. I just don't think that's what LeVar is saying. No, but LeVar is going to always go, like he's always going to push Lonzo.

That's his son. I don't expect him to jump on the bronze bandwagon now a sudden that he's with the Lakers. Like that's not what LeVar does. Everything they do is as a family. So I actually have no problem with anything that LeVar says when it comes to this stuff because that's LeVar. Why go off brand now? That's what he does. That's his son.

That's what he's going to say. I don't have to agree with him just because he says it. People get so caught, like, they allow themselves to get steamed up by what LeVar says. Like, that's what LeVar is going to say. Well, I don't actually think people have gotten steamed up over this one because I think we've all known, like, he's kind of gotten exposed a little bit. Son's gotten exposed a little bit. I think the part to where I would disagree with you is you start, you can, he cannot talk about Luke Walton at all. He cannot talk about the inner workings of that team.

If he does, LeVar? He cannot. Because to this point, Lonzo has not being willing to say, that's my dad, he speaks for himself, doesn't speak for me. Well, that's just not going to happen. Like, if it didn't happen up until this point, that's not going to happen. But I don't think that- If it does happen this year, he's going to be gone. He's going to be gone.

I don't know. I don't think it's that simple. I actually do. He's not good enough to have his dad calling out the coach. He was a rookie and he was injured last year. He was the number two overall pick. He was Madick Johnson's first big move. I understand, but he wasn't.

the best rookie, and right now he might not even be the second best second year player. Josh Hart would be the second best second year player on that team. Look, I like Kyle Kuzma also. Well, Kyle Kuzman would be the best, and Josh Hart would be the second best, right? He would be the third best. That's really how right now you'd have to look at it, and I like Lonzo Ball. But I'm telling you as a fact, if he calls out the coaching staff or how his son's being handled or whether or not the team competes for the coaching staff, they will get rid of Lonzo.

Al-Lanzo ball. He could, if nothing else, because he has been told time and again, like, you can talk about your son, how great he is, how great the city is, how great the team is. You can talk about other teams, whatever you want. Do not talk about the inner workings of this team. Because if it does, we've come to a point where that's it. I just, I don't first foresee that happening. It's such a different season than it was last year. And while he was criticizing Luke, I think the bigger thing that he was saying was that there's a certain way you have to coach Lonzo. And I don't necessarily. disagree with them. And I think that's why they brought in Rondo. Because he is that type of

player. He's going to push Lanzo to be tougher and play in a way that Rondo plays, which he's had success at. So after missing 29 days, 15 practices, two of the Bears' five preseason games, Rokon Smith's holdout is over. He signed his $18.4 million contract that includes $11.5 million guaranteed. And he reported the training camp this morning. I actually have no problem with him holding out and the big part of the reason why he was holding out was the helmet rule. He wanted to make sure that none of his guaranteed money was taken away if he was to get suspended for Helmets to Helmet contact with the helmet rule changing this year. Bucky, what do you think of what Roquan Smith accomplished in this move?

I think it was a smart move. I think he set the table for how other rookies are going to approach it with the CBA. Did he accomplishes? We don't know until the contract it goes through. What we saw like, so what they could do, if he was suspended for an on-to-field act, they could avoid it. some of his guarantees. He was fighting to make sure that if he has a suspension that occurs on the field, that those guarantees will be upheld. And so that's what his agents and representatives were doing, much like Sam Darner was also doing.

Yes, but did he accomplish his goal? We don't even know if he, we don't know if he signed because he ultimately gave up or if he accomplished that goal. Well, the reports that have come out, that we've gotten from sources said that, like, they met at the middle ground where the bear said if he gets a one or two games suspension, they won't void the guarantees that... It's kind of a red herring.

They're not going to avoid Roquan Smith's contract because he gets a helmet-to-helmet hit. Yeah, but you want language to back that up. You need language. Like, handshake deals are for just dummies. Like, you get it in writing. And you hold out and so you do. Yes, yes and no.

Basically, it's reported. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the language governing whether Smith's guaranteed money could be reclaimed by the team and if he were suspended on the new NFL rule. So they're finalizing the language, but you're imagining that they met somewhere in the middle where at least

they're agreeing that they're not going to avoid his guaranteed money if something like this happens. But it is going to set the tone. But he's right. It's going to set the tone for other rookies because this is a liability. The reason that defensive players are upset about this rules, because they could lose money if they're suspended for

an act where they can't, it's a split second decision that may have not been their intention. That's joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. All right, Bucky, let's quickly dive in to the quarterbacks.

Baker Mayfield, your level, everyone, I think, was impressed. Oh, you got to get him a gold jacket. Based on his preseason, right? Everyone's ready to give him a gold jacket, right? But to those of us who watch Baker Mayfield, five years in college, he is accurate. He is good at manipulating the pocket with his feet. He didn't do anything that surprised me, but I was impressed. What's the level of impressed you were?

I mean, he was solid. He was solid in his debut performance. He did a good job going against the backups when he had a chance to go against those guys. He was exactly how he played at Oklahoma. Ball comes out quickly. He's pretty accurate. When he does scramble, he prefers to go to his right. He made some plays, escaped in the pocket. I think the bigger thing that we will see when Baker plays against the better players earlier in games. How does he handle? How does he step his game up? He played pretty well, but I think the thing that was lost, Tyra Taylor played outstanding. as well. Like, as people talk about Baker Mayfield, been 11 for 20. Tyrault was 5 for 5. They went up and down the field on his direction. So, Baker Mayfield. Against better players.

Against better players. Baker Mayfield did a really good job doing what he was asked to do. The thing that we want to see is, if he gets an opportunity to play in the third preseason game against the ones, how does he hold up in that environment? Because that's more of a litmus test on what is he going to be like in the regular season. Because game one really is vanilla. You don't see a lot of exotics.

not a lot of pressures, pretty simple. He should fare well in that environment. Donald. Donald was pretty impressive. And I'm not having a different grading scale when it comes to it. But look, Sam Donald's not really playing with anybody on the outside. Sam Donald doesn't have any marquee players, even when they're playing with the ones. He's been very impressive.

He showed the composure and poise that displayed at SC. He can make plays inside the pocket and outside the pocket. And the biggest thing that anyone could knock Sam Donald for when he was coming out of SC, the turnovers. Right. takes care of the ball. He's getting the ball to the hands of the playmakers. And even after this, today, they're going against the Washington Redskins. He plays against their ones. Five for six goes right down the field. Everything is trending in the right direction for Sam Donald, just like Baker Mayfield.

But with Sam Donald, you get a true sense that he is going to be the starter when the season opens up. Is that a smart decision considering three games in 10 days without a lot of talent around you? I would like him to wait. But look, you got the shiny new toy. New York, they don't really have a lot of stuff around him. See what he can do. And then what you can do in year two, what the Rams and the Eagles did with Jerry Golf and Carson Wentz. Figure out, this is how my quarterback plays.

We need to get these kind of players around him. And in year two, the team can go from average to maybe really, really good and compete for playoffs. Josh Rosen. Josh Rosen was okay, but I think what Josh Rosen had to deal with, he had to deal with the toughest circumstances. Offensive line play was not good. He couldn't get consistent snaps that allowed him to keep his eyes up to field.

But I was impressed with his toughness, his poise, and the fact that he didn't rattle. He didn't get rattled when everything was kind of breaking down around him. They will get better, but the offensive line has to protect him. He is a guy that needs to be protected because he was... There's durability concerns. The durability concerns, but more so the way his game is, he wants to really attack you from the pocket. He needs to be protected so he can do what he does very, very well. Buffalo is enamored with Josh Allen.

I was told by two different GMs. Hey, if they want to succeed, the best thing to do is to redshirt him. But it doesn't appear like that's going to be the case. This feels like a Jacksonville six years ago all over again. Your impressions of Josh Allen. He's very much the same player that we saw at Wyoming. He's a guy that can tease you with the wild plays, but he's also going to give you some questionable moments where you wonder,

man, what is he thinking? For him, he was 9 for 19. He has amazing arm talent and athleticism. like he has the ability to make things happen in an unscripted way that you absolutely love. But in terms of playing the game and being a guy that can play in rhythm and efficient, that is not going to be his thing. I think the biggest thing for Buffalo, they need to be able to run the ball and they need to surround them with a big playmaker, which they have in Kelvin Benjamin,

and some speed, which they got in Corey Coleman, because he's a guy, he's not going to dink and dunk you down the field. He's going to take shots. And if he's able to run the ball and take shots, he can be affected. Last thing, and I didn't prep you on this one, Pat Mahomes has a higher ceiling than Alex Smith, but he has a lower floor than Alex Smith. They got a ton of talent.

They got a guy in the middle. They got guys to take the top off the defense. They have weaponry for him. It feels like, though, that a coach that has preached consistency, being solid, not train the football over, I don't know how that works year one with Pat Mahomes as a starter. Give me your forecast for Mahomes with the chiefs. Andy Reid saw Brett Farve and Pat Mahomes.

Andy Reid and I were together in Green Bay when Brett far have won three straight MVP's. He likes the fact that Pat Mahomes can go off the script and make big plays. He has intoxicating armed talent. He can push the ball down the field beyond what Alex Smith could do. There are going to be some growing pains as this offense adjust to Pat Mahomes, but Andy Reid has been good with every quarterback that he's ever been given. He's found a way to make those guys succeed from Donna McNeb to Corey Deppmer to A.J.

Feely, Kevin Cobb, on and on and on. He'll find a way to help Pat Mahomes play at an efficient level. they will win games because that offense is explosive. Andy Reid will do a good job of coaching them up. Move the sticks as the podcast. Check him out on the NFL network. He's the one and only, Bucky Brooks. Bucky great stuff as always.

Thanks for having. All right, along with Joy Taylor, I'm Doug Gottlieb. Up next, James Hardin hasn't changed, and I'm a little worried about the Rockets because of it. Tell you why, up coming next. Doug Gottlieb in for Colin. This is the herd. We've talked a little bit about Carmel Anthony signing

and whether or not that actually works. works. Melo, will he buy in to truly being a bench player? Will he accept coming off the bench or not even playing at the end of big playoff games? That's a TBD. We'll see. But I think one of the other issues that they may run into is, is James Hardin really ready to accept that he's an MVP, that you're judged differently when you're an MVP? And to understand the Hardin thing, look, in hindsight, the Oklahoma City trade was a bad one. for Oklahoma City. In all, I mean, no one would dispute this.

But we need to contextualize it, to which it has not been done ever on this show or on most TV shows. The fact is that there are two main reasons, maybe three, that he was traded. The first was, remember, they had Sir Jabaka at the time. And back then, to get to the NBA finals, you had to get past the Spurs, you had to get past the Lakers. And the Lakers had a two-headed monster with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. And so you couldn't part ways that the small ball that would absolutely work nowadays had not, the league has changed in the last five years, to which now do you not need two big guys.

You don't even really need one. So the first thing is that they made a decision, Ibaka or Hardin, we'll sit with Abaka so that here's the second part. They didn't want to go into luxury tax. And again, back then, it was before. Before this collective Barden Agreement, there was the thought that there would be a hard cap and that you wouldn't be able to go to luxury tax without being super, super punitive, which it still is, but there's better ways to avoid it.

When not knowing what the future of the cap or luxury tax would be and wanting to hold on to Abaka instead of holding on to Hardin, they swallowed hard and made a trait. But there's a third part to it. If you remember back in the season before James Hardin was dealt, from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets. The Thunder were in the NBA finals. The finals were in Miami, and James Harden was terrible.

It wasn't just that he was terrible, but he kept going out at night. Look, you can go out. Michael Jordan can go out. But he would come back and drop a double nickel the next night. James Hardin's play wasn't good enough to allow him to continue to going out

when he wasn't playing well in the NBA finals. I use as a jumping off point, because now here we are years later, James Hardens, the sitting NBA MVP, something he could have won two times previously. He has finally won. He has received the respect that he so desired, and he probably deserved based upon how dominant an offensive player he is in the regular season in the NBA, and it resulted in having more wins than anybody else.

And as we've all pointed out, they're one game away from beating the Warriors and probably winning the NBA championship. there's some grainy, worse than subrooter footage that's available now online the TMZ has of of James Harden grabbing someone else's cell phone who's trying to film him and his boys in an alley outside of a club. And instead of showing you the footage, I just, at what point are we, if you're James Hardin, you're an MVP, are you going to avoid going into the alley while your guys are potentially getting to a fight guy.

It's hard to see if it's an alley or if it's just outside of the club. It's a very dark area to which... It's a very bad video. I mean, it's pretty much confirmed that it's James Hardin, but it's a very bad video. Is it fair, at least, to go like, what are you doing? Oh, yeah. I mean, he can't be involved in situations like this. I mean, anytime you're out and there's alcohol and a bunch of people in the same place, this is something that's available, like, anywhere.

in the country, anywhere on earth that you do this. This is what can happen. It can. So it's not to say that he shouldn't go out. Like he shouldn't enjoy himself. But you've got to avoid, you got to avoid situations like this where it can escalate to this level. Right.

So for a guy who has his number retired in a strip club in Houston, I would say that you have to evolve into a more high-end level of nightclub. No, I mean, I'm thinking it has anything. You can get in trouble anywhere, really. Like, doesn't even have to be. alcohol involved. I just think he personally needs to avoid the confrontation

in that situation. Anyone can, and with cell phones, anyone can run up and stick a cell phone in your face. We've seen that, saw that in Utah. In the game. During the NBA games. People have no respect for people's personal space or whether you're a celebrity or an athlete or any of that anymore. So

you have to be mindful of that. I don't think that it's the type of club that he's going to or that he shouldn't go out. People go out all the time. And then who are these, Who are getting fights guys, right? Like, I, there's like a group, there's, everyone has a group of, when you go out with a group of guys, there's always one guy that's bump into somebody else's shoulder and what, what? You know, they'll do the, what are you looking at thing?

And I just, this is, in addition to people evolving, we used, there used to be a good portion of older people that would say Warsh and Worsh and Worshanton. And those type people are either dying off or understanding that it's Washington, right? and that you wash your clothes, I also think that we're evolving past the getting a fight because somebody bumped into you or looked at you sideways sort of guy. And I get that alcohol does, you know, it's liquid courage for many people. But you have to, we need to get past the get in a club

and get in a fight because somebody's looking at me strange sort of guy. Well, I mean, any one of us can get in trouble at any time. That's not, you know, all of us don't make perfect decisions all the time. But it's more that when you're in that, situation, James Harden needs to be the one that walks away. Because he's the one that suffers in this situation. Nobody knows who anybody else in this video is, nor does anyone care. The only

person that suffers in the situation is James Harden. So he's got to know that they're coming for him. That's just the way it is now. I'll be, I'll admit, I got into a fight at a 24-hour fitness. A guy clearly and I told the guy I cannot punch you because if I punch you,

one, I could break my hand. But secondly, if I hit you, you can sue me. And two, only something, the only thing people going to know is that I punched you. That's it. I punched you. Not going to matter at all that you started it, at all that you tried to jump me or that you're bigger than me. None of that matters. It's gotly punched due to 24-hour fitness. So I, when upon being tackled, I did, I fought dirty, but fighting dirty, you can't usually get sued for it because there's, so I guess I am getting a fight guy, but only to defend myself sort of guy. But I also didn't have a posse of guys

around me. We don't know what happens in this situation. Like, who knows what led up to this. Correct, correct. For me, like if I'm James Harden, I'm just, you got to walk away, unfortunately. Yes, you have to walk away because the whole idea of not having pride. Not unfortunately, but I'm just saying, like, you're the one who's going to suffer in this situation from reacting or for taking the phone or being involved in the altercation. Right. There's some viral video of Terrell prior flinching when you had a helmet on earlier today at Redskins camp. That's a little bit different. Not that you have to do the Kobe Bryant when Matt Barnes puts the ball on his face, but you do have a helmet and a face mask on

and you still did flinch. I think that's different than walking away in a club, which I agree is always the smart thing. She's Joy Taylor. Her podcast drops tonight. I'm Doug Gottlieb. I'll be with you all week. Try the view. I'm actually going to try the steak tonight.

The steak. This is the hurt. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. And every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight. to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day, and head writer Streeter Seidel help an 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. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker, pops up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest. surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments.

If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.