The Herd with Colin Cowherd - World Series, Cowboys, Anthony Davis, and Baker Mayfield

Episode Date: October 30, 2019

Colin explains how the Nationals did the right thing with Stephen Strasburg, the Cowboys going cheap at the trade deadline, what worries him about Anthony Davis, and his thoughts on Baker Mayfield's latest drama. Guests include Nick Wright, Albert Breer, Joel Klatt, Sam Monson, John Smoltz. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 Fourth. 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 walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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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 harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming till. 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast.

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We are live in Los Angeles on High Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Halloween Eve, Halloween's tomorrow. And Joy Taylor is joining me. Game 7 of the World Series tonight. Get to that in a couple of minutes. Great to be here on a Wednesday. When there's a lot going on yesterday, it was the NFL trading deadline and hope, hope, hope, hope, hope, and it went flat. Bears didn't do anything.

Cowboys didn't do anything, Joy. You were really hoping for that move. I was really hoping for the Cowboys to make a move. Now, I want to start the show with this. Jerry Jones Joy has said he's a great businessman. Great businessman. And Jerry Jones a year or two ago had a line. He said, when I look back at my life in business, and that includes football, I've never regretted overpaying for something to get the best thing. But I have regretted going cheap, trying to save money, and then years later I have something I can't sell, I'm not happy with, and it's very limited.

Yesterday, Jerry Jones had a chance to get the best safety in football. Jamal Adams is one of the 10 to 12 best players in the national football. He's a game-changing talent in the NFC loaded with great quarterbacks. And they agreed on a first-round pick. Dallas said, we'll give you a first-rounder. You give us Jamal Adams. And you know what they argued over? And you know why the deal never came to fruition?

It was over like a fourth-round pick. Jets wanted a third. Dallas offered a fourth. Jerry, you jumped over a $20 bill to grab a five. This goes against everything you believe in. This is a special player. Dallas hadn't had a safety like this ever. Darren Woodson's the last one they loved.

All respect to Barry Church. The reality is here, this is a difference maker as a player, one of the 12 best guys in the NFL. And by the way, what was interesting is Jerry came out this week, and he said he's not happy with how the season's gone. He was hoping they'd be better at four and three. So that's very interesting. So listen to this.

I thought we would be better. Our record would be better. Just the obvious, we didn't think the Jets game would have the outcome that it had. But I do know this, that I don't know which ones, but I know you're going to get some surprises both ways. But I thought we'd be really better than this, and I'd hoped we would have been better than this by three. Jerry, the reason you're not better than this for the third straight year,

through seven games, you're 4 and 3, 3 and 4 and 3. There's a reason because you're not special at quarterback. Ever since the rookie year with DAC, and I've always said this about rookie quarterbacks, whether they're great or terrible, don't go crazy after a dozen starts. Because nobody knew what DAC was going to do. Nobody knew what DAC could do is limitations. Then everybody gets an offseason to look at DAC. And since then, he started through the first seven games, four and three, three,

and four, four, and three. You're exactly where you would be without a special quarterback. And Jerry, you could have gotten a special player to help your special quarterback. You paid for Jalen Smithy's special, DeMarcos Lawrence is special. Amari Cooper. You made the move for a special wide receiver last year and went seven and two with him. Zeke, you paid him special. You had another special player. By the way, look at the NFC right now. Green Bay, seven and one, a special quarterback talent. The San Francisco 49ers, 7 and 0, special defensive line, special head coaching talent. Look around football right now. Who's dominating at special players and special coaches? You're the guy that told us, I only regret going cheap. You agreed to give up a number

one pick to get Jamal Adams. And you fought over the compensatory little stuff that doesn't change. I went this morning and I went and looked at your last three third round picks. None of them are special. All of them play. I like Michael Gallup, but he's not a number one. And on your team there are days, he's a number three. And if you count Zeeke, he's a number four. So you're exactly where you're going to be with DAC at quarterback unless you surround

him with more and more special people. I thought Ed Wurder had a great line. He said the Cowboys had they acquired Jamal Adams. Yesterday, it would have been the defensive equivalent of last year's Amari Cooper trade. You give up a number one and more for a 24-year-old difference maker, a special player with time left on the rookie contract. I just don't get it. I mean, Dallas is always big. They go big.

They don't go small. This is a world-class football player. And you argued over a third or a fourth-round pick. I do not get it. I think he's the kind of guy that can win a playoff game late, that kind of player. the Chargers what happened when Derwin James got hurt. Their defense wasn't the same. Why do you think the Packers went and drafted his safety and got a free agent safety? Somebody on the back end, it's helped the Packers defense. Why are the Patriots always good at safety? Don't get it.

Went small instead of big anti-Jerry Jones brand. Let me segue to this. Steven Strasberg was a number one pick in baseball. But it did. didn't work out perfectly. He came into the sport throwing 100 miles an hour. He was unbelievable right into the major leagues. But he had Tommy John surgery. They put him on a pitch count. And there's been controversy surrounding Stephen Strasbourg his entire career. Last night, it all paid off. It all paid off. Eight and a third innings of brilliance. By the way, it's a bizarre world series, the home team is yet to win a game. That has never happened in Major League Baseball, the NBA, or the NHL, ever.

And if Washington wins tonight, and I'm rooting for him, I'm not rooting against Houston. I'm rooting for Washington. And one of the reasons I'm rooting for Washington is because I like the way they've handled Steven Strasbourg and, for the record, Bryce Harper. Mike Rizzo's the general manager and took nothing but crap. for pulling out Strasbourg in a playoff series for a pitch count. But he had a plan. He's strong.

He had a process that he believed in. And he didn't listen to the noise on the outside. And then Bryce Harper. Mike Rizzo got crushed because he wouldn't pay Bryce Harper a bad, ridiculous contract like the Phillies did. So they've made two moves with two special players. Strasbourg, they were patient. He no longer throws 100. He's now 93.

he's precise, he's a different pitcher. But they were always patient, they were ripped for being patient, and with Bryce Harper, they were ripped for not paying him. And I'm not rooting against Houston tonight, but I like strong leadership. I've been in this business 25 years. I'm currently, I have great management. Other places, not so great. And it seeps into every meeting and every cubicle and every corner of the building.

And Washington's an easy team to root for. Not only because their baseball history, but because they never gave up on Strasbourg. Like Zion Williamson for the Pelicans, he comes in with fanfare. It's not perfect. He's very good. He has to have Tommy John, and they were patient, and they didn't rush him, and they've always had a belief system, and they stick to it.

Same with Bryce Harper. We're not giving him a 10-year contract. We're not paying him $300 million. And you know how baseball fans are? You know, you go to New York and listen to WFAN Radio. You got to buy this guy and buy that guy and buy this guy and buy that guy. And that's just tuned it out. We'll be patient with Strasbourg.

We'll put him on a pitch count. We'll never rush him back. And we're not paying Bryce Harper. And here they are in Game 7. And the exact guy that through all of this should have gotten him into Game 7 did Stephen Strasberg, 8 and the 3rd, absolutely brilliant, game 7 tonight. By the way, don't be shocked, all hands on deck if he doesn't tonight, pitch for a batter. Because everybody, game seven of a world series, virtually every pitcher will be available.

But it's a nice story. It was a number one pick who came in throwing 100. Now he throws 93. Now he's more precise. That was a classic. A classic performance. And I find myself with a Nats, easy to root for. Not that Houston's easy to root against.

Easy to root for the Nats to win tonight in game seven. It's been a bizarre series. History of baseball, hockey, NBA. A road team has not won every single game. Isn't that crazy? It's bizarre to think about. But again, it makes sense. That's why you fight so hard to have.

All right. So game seven tonight, coming up next. Nick Wright this hour, Joel Clatt next hour, John Smolt's last hour. Coming up next, Anthony Davis was great for the Lakers last night. Not disputing that. But I find it remarkable with Anthony Davis. We're overlooking something that is right in front of us,

and we just won't admit it. And it's right there, and it's been there for years. That's coming up, plus Nick Wright. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,

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

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I will go as a respected newsman. Joy Taylor, yesterday on my Twitter account, you're going as... Well, yesterday I dressed up as Jake Shuttleworth from He Got Game, which is Denzel Washington's character for my podcast. Yes. And I think I scared Colin half to death because I walked around the corner and he was not expecting to see me.

I put it on my Twitter. It was very fine. Thank you. So Nick Wright will be joining us in a few minutes. It's also, before I get to this, very interesting in the trade deadline. Baltimore was the other team after Jamal Adams, and it's very funny. I'm just thinking about the psychology of Lamar Jackson. I've always said this.

Running quarterbacks work. They just don't last. Baltimore went out and said with Marcus Peters, we want to win now. Jamal Adams, we want to win now. Is John Harbaugh saying, I don't know how this Lamar Jackson thing is going to turn out in four years. But this year, with an old Tom Brady and a hurt Patrick Mahomes, You know, Big Ben's out. Andrew Luck retired.

Patrick Mahomes is hurt. I love what Baltimore is doing. Baltimore is saying, we're going to go for it. We don't know if Lamar Jackson's going to last for four years. But this year, Andrew Luck, Big Ben, Baker's struggling. Darnold doesn't have it right yet. You start looking around. Deshaun Watson's running for his life.

I think it's very interesting that Baltimore was the second team in on Jamal Adams. They didn't have enough. It's a real go-for-it-now mentality, which in the AFC this year with Patrick Mahomes hurt, is the right way to do it. Go for it now. Give your draft pick. Because once Patrick Mahomes gets healthy for the next decade, you're going to be looking up at Kansas City.

So it looks like Baltimore is like all in. New England gets Mohamed Sanu. They're all in. I think everybody knows that Mahomes gets healthy. It's not going to be easy in the AFC. Big Ben's coming back next year. So it's just funny that Baltimore was also in. They got Marcus Peters and they went after Jamal Adams.

They are going for it. It just came up short. So last night, Anthony Davis, was great last night. 26 and 27 from the free throw line. Lakers won Anthony Davis is great. So far this season, Anthony Davis has been two things he always is. Great and hurt.

And I'm watching this Laker team last night. And by the way, if Anthony Davis gets hurt, this roster is LeBron and worse than last year, at least defensively. It's very Anthony Davis reliant. And here's my thing with Anthony Davis. Players tell you what they are. He's been telling us what he is for eight years. Great and hurt.

82 game schedule, he averages 66. He's not getting healthier. He had a shoulder injury last night. He had a thumb injury a week ago. And by the way, this is a guy that hasn't, hasn't had long playoff series like LeBron year after year. Think about this. Think about the best bigs in NBA history. Bill Russell, Duncan, Akeem, Kareem, Kareem, Robinson, Patrick Ewing, in their prime that didn't get hurt.

Think about the great forwards in NBA history. LeBron, Bird, KG, Rashid, Marceed, Maryshire. Malone, Barclay, Dirk, in their prime. They didn't get hurt. In their prime. Patrick Ewing later. Anthony Davis and his prime is hurt. And that's with, consider this.

Unlike a lot of those other guys I name, in fact, almost all of those other guys, they went through long, arduous seven-game playoff series, seven-game conference finals, and seven-game. Anthony Davis hasn't had to deal with any of that. He plays 66 games a year, sometimes doesn't get to the playoffs,

mostly doesn't. Seasons over. How is he all banged up? Because this is who he is. I mean, LeBron James, year after year, seven gamer, seven gamer, seven gamer, seven gamer, finals, six gamer, and offseason he plays, and 80 games.

Seven gamer, seven games. Never gets hurt until last year. This is the thing about Anthony Davis. This roster, they have no bench. Last night, the Lakers roster bench, scored 27 points. And they played that bench most of the fourth quarter, and it scored 27 points.

They don't have a bench. bench. In LeBron's in his 17th year, there are times he's the worst Laker defender on the floor. This is a very Anthony Davis-centric basketball team. They're going to need 75 games from him. I don't think this team's good enough to go to Denver and win a series if four games are in Denver. I just don't think, I think the West is too good. I think Portland's better. I think Utah's better. I think Denver's better. I think the Clippers are way better. We'll see, I don't buy Houston, but they're talented. So, you know, I'm watching last night, and I'm thinking, shoulder injury?

He just had a thumb injury. And he has had the benefit of not dealing, unlike the rest of the bigs in the NBA, long playoff series. And he's still always hurt. So I think it's a cautionary tale. You know, it's funny. They gave up Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball. And one of the reasons the Lakers gave those guys up is because they were always hurt.

In the process, they get Anthony Davis, and that's a big, component to his career so far. Great night, great game. He is that, but he's already banged up. We've played four games. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Yesterday a report surfaced that the Nets were concerned about Kyrie Irving's mood swings and that he shuts down and is difficult to communicate with when he's in a ruts. But before last night's game, head coach Kenny Atkinson was quick to say The report is totally off base. Okay. All right. That is completely false.

And strictly speaking of my observation and my experience with them so far, it's absolutely not true. I say I'm the moody one. I really am. I hate it. Like I'm cranky and I have my ups and down. So if there's just natural human behavior where guys are up and down, that's different. But from my perspective, I just give Kyrie an A-plus on his consistency and his spirit. And it's been great.

Let me ask you this, though, where did it come from? Because in the NBA, we all know the game in the media. It's a star-driven league. The NBA media generally is favorable to stars to get access to them. So who's leaking the story? This is not a league that's covered harshly. It's generally covered by the NBA writers favorably. moderately. Right. And I mean, if a report like this is going to come out, you imagine it's been

sourced by multiple people, not just going to run with one person complaining about Kyrie's mood. That'd be irresponsible and obviously very easy to refute. And I mean, anybody could have a bad day with someone. I mean, you've had a bad interaction, bad first impression with someone. And then the next time you see them, you're like, oh, well, you know, clearly they were having a bad day. So I do think there's something to maybe Kyrie's personality isn't absorbed by everyone the same way. DeAndre Jordan said he echoed Atkinson's statement saying it's just human nature and Kyrie isn't negatively affecting the team. I mean, Kyrie is the team right now.

So whatever mood Kyrie's in or whatever Kyrie is going through, that's just everyone's going to have to ride that wave and everyone's personality is different. I mean, you would love a scenario where, you know, your superstar is completely consistent and bright and happy every day. It makes everyone feel good. That's just not reality and that's not life. Like everyone's not in a good mood every day. I think this is more to Kyrie's reputation that people would believe that his personality is affecting the team. You know what I mean?

Like Kyrie's reputation at this point is I want to be the guy and I want to be the number one. And if he's up or down, that's going to affect the entire team. I think that it's probably being overblown and we're going to watch everything Kyrie does this season. And I think next year it's going to be a completely different story. I mean, I don't think that the story of the Nets and Kyrie can be told without Kevin Durant out there. That's fair. So I just don't know what to make of them this year. The Bengals benched Andy Dalton yesterday and announced that rookie Ryan Finley will start week 10 when they play the Ravens.

Not a great birthday for Andy Dalton. It's been disappointing season to say the least, but Y receiver Tyler Boyd says it doesn't all fall in the quarterback. He said nothing seems to be going right this season. It's not Andy's fault. There are plays he wishes he had back out there and every guy in this locker room feels the same way. The quarterback is just the most pressured position. I praise Andy for what he's done there, done here. He's got great numbers, a pro bowler.

He's a number one quarterback in my eyes. It's a nice thing to say. It's a nice thing to say, but it's time to get a new quarterback. That's pretty much it. Reports this morning say that Andy Dalton doesn't agree with Zach Taylor's decision, obviously, to bench him. But he wishes it would have happened well before the trade deadline, so he and his team could have evaluated the landscape for quarterback needy teams. Now, that I do kind of side with Andy on. Yeah, yeah.

He has been there with the team. He has been the guy. You feel like, I mean, he's been a stand-up citizen and a good teammate as far as, you know, all accounts. So I do feel like in some situations like that, you knew the season was lost two games ago. Right. You could have started putting that out there. Like, I highly doubt that they came to this conclusion this week. I mean, this is a dramatic, this is a dramatic franchise changing moves.

So let's just mention the teams that are going to change. Tennessee, go get a new quarterback. Miami get a new quarterback. Cincinnati, get a new quarterback. Chargers need to draft a quarterback. We got about six, seven teams here that need a quarterback. There's more than that. The Broncos will probably be in the quarterback conversation.

Tampa Bay, yeah. Bears should be. I'm not sure if they will after yesterday. I think the Steelers were probably draft a quarterback too. They would have they're smart. Maybe not high, but in the middle rounds, probably looking for another quarterback as well. But they have Big Ben for two years. I mean, Cincinnati needs a new starting quarterback tomorrow.

There's at least a solid nine teams that are in the quarterback conversation. Yeah. We didn't even mention the Redskins. And we're not thinking about Carolina because we think they have two, but I'm not sure they love either. There's a lot of teams in that conversation. So I do think it's fair for him to have asked, like to say, you know, I wish I would have had more time as opposed to being benched the day of the trade deadline. Yeah. But, I mean, not that it's saying that there would have been moves, but you can't tell because you had no time.

That said, that said, this offseason for quarterback movement is going to be. going to be an all-timer because the draft really, I don't feel like anybody knows exactly what's coming out of this draft in the quarterback position. And there's so many pieces. Teddy Ridgewater, where's he going to fall? But I will say this. The Joe Burrow kid at LSU is now, I just saw a mock draft this morning. Tua, Justin Herbert, Jacob Easton at Washington, and Burrow, those four are going to be in the top

10. Those are all going to be drafted in the top 10. Sure, but does anybody feel strong? in any particular direction. I like all of them and have a question about all of them. But all of them feel like first in 2019, they all, Burrow, Eason. Yeah, they're probably. Herbert.

Top 10, top 15 picks. And by the way, there's the kid at Utah State. I've seen him play. I haven't mentioned Jalen Hertz. So I think we're going to have, this could be a seven first round quarterback draft year. And the whole NFL is going to probably look differently at the quarterback position next year. Finally, the Patriots and 49ers are the only teams without a lot.

loss and a chance to go undefeated through the regular season. And according to Fox Bet, the Patriots are plus 350 to go 16 and 0, while the 49ers are more of a long shot at plus 3,300. The teams won't play each other this year, so both could potentially complete the 16 and 0 feet. But New England has the Ravens on Sunday night and the 49ers take on the Cardinals tomorrow night on Fox. So only four teams have finished the regular season undefeated. The last to do it was the Patriots, obviously, in 2007, lost a both of the Giants. Thank you to the Giants for that. I don't really get too

crazy about the 16 and O thing. I could care less. I don't care. And unless you do it and win a Super Bowl, I don't know why it matters. It doesn't. I could care less. You know this. I'm not an awards person. I'm not into the Heisman. I don't care about MVP.

I've never been an awards person. I just don't care about regular season awards. It's fun. It's a nice accomplishment. It's something special that, you know, you have at the end of your career. But like I guarantee you Bill Belichick does not care about that 2007 undefeated season. He doesn't even think about it because they didn't win the Super Bowl.

So who cares? It doesn't, it's, no one even mentions it unless we're having this conversation again. I guarantee you, but have gladly taken a loss during that regular season and not had that, you know, award and had a Super Bowl instead. But I do think that both of them will end up losing multiple games. So I do too. By the way, Baltimore, New England this weekend is a real tasty matchup for New England. Remember, Russell Wilson has beaten New England and Foxborough.

Colin Kaepernick has. and Cam has. When Belichick faces off-script quarterbacks, even in Foxborough, he has struggled. This is, Lamar's a lot of off-script. There's a lot of things you can't prep for. Kaepernick, they were crushing New

England in Foxborough. Russell beat him. Russell almost beat him twice. And Cam beat him. So when you get, you know, Bill's, Peyton Manning, by the way, in Foxborough was 2 and 11. Yeah, no, I'm very excited for this game. Yeah. Lamar's off script. Belichick hates that. So it is Sabin, by the way.

Sabin hated facing, you know, Johnny Manzal and Deshaun Watson. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. I thought the Cowboys yesterday argued over a fourth-round pick. It goes against everything I believe Jerry Jones is. And with that, via the Coward Global Satellite Network, my buddy Nick Wright, first things first.

I was shocked. If you look at right now, who's winning in football? Deshawn Watson is special. Aaron Rogers is special. Niners defensive line is special. It's a lot of special winning. Jamal Adams, you're in New York, is a top 12 player in the NFL. Were you surprised the Cowboys agreed to a first round swap, but they struggled with a later

pick? Did that surprise you? Yeah, I'm surprised the Cowboys didn't do the maybe more impulsive thing and just pull the trigger and go for it. I don't think it's necessarily bad that they didn't end up trading for another star player. The Cowboys issue is not lack of top-end talent. Their problem is lack of depth and their lack of ability to win when any of that top-in talent is not playing or is unhealthy,

or they're missing a left tackle, or they're missing their right tackle, or they're missing one of their wide receivers. I didn't look at the Cowboys and said they're a safety away. I looked at the Cowboys and said they're a team that needs to be able to win when they're not fully healthy in a league where no one is. ever fully healthy. And so how do you get depth? You use mid-round picks. You use cheap players on their rookie first-round contracts. So I am surprised they didn't go out and do it, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing they didn't go out and do it. To me, the Cowboys need to use that

first-round pick in a Belichick fashion this year to acquire a couple second-round picks so they can get more quality second-line players than more superstar front-line players. By the way, they're four-and-three. Jerry Jones said he's disappointed. I predicted nine and seven. They feel like what they are with DAC. Seven games, they're four-and-three, three-and-four, four-and-three. That's what they are. Are they where you thought they'd be? They are where I thought they would be. I think you and I were similar on Dallas, that they would be alive for the playoffs potentially, but not actually make it. To me, they were a nine-win team that if everything went just right could win 11,

and if things went really poorly, they'd win 7. The reason Jerry's disappointed is because they lost to the Jets. I mean, he really did say that, actually. He said, I thought we would beat the Jets, and how could you blame him? Like, everyone beats the Jets, and that Jets' loss looks even worse when you see. Maybe in the moment, it's like, well, maybe. with Darnold, I mean, I've heard Colin Cowher talk about him since he was 11, maybe he's going to actually turn into, but then Darnold saw ghosts the following week and that got beat by the

fighting Gardner Minchus the week after, so that loss stinks even more. But the issue for Dallas is they've been building towards this season. And this season in the NFC, there are five teams that are without any question better than them in the Packers, the Saints, the I would also include the Seahawks and the Vikings. Those five teams are clearly better. They're in the argument with the Rams and the Panthers and the Eagles. And Dallas was, I don't want to say all in on this year, but they clearly believe this is their moment. The only reason they're on that left side of the bracket is because of the division that they're in when they really should be in the hunt part of the graphic. So I think for Jerry, it's disappointing. For me, it's as

I know you and I, Anthony Davis is two things. Great and always hurt. And he's both. I worry about guys. LeBron, the second chapter of his book after first chapter is, oh my God, he's amazing, is second. His durability is absurd. So was Jordans. Mostly so was Kobe's. I'm worried that we're four games in and Anthony's had a thumb injury and a shoulder injury. And by the way, this bench is not built to save this team. They need Anthony to play 75 games. He averages 66. Are you a little concerned that he is already banged up four games in? Well, so here's the thing. Anthony Davis will get some type of minor injury every year. But I think it should be noted that if we throw last year out, because last year he didn't miss games due to injury, he games due to the team holding him out due to the trade demand and wanting to retain his value. The previous two seasons, he had played 75 and 75, and in every year of his career, he's played at least 61. And so the idea he has suffered a lot of minor injuries, but know what I would

call major injuries. Obviously, the Lakers have no path to a championship without a fully functional LeBron and Anthony Davis at the end of the year. I think, you're overstating their lack of bench, however, because Kyle Kuzma's not playing for them yet. Kuzma's either going to go into the starting lineup, not what I would do, or become their featured player off the bench, which is exactly what I would do. I also think they're going to have Andre Aguadala in six weeks, which will further upgrade that bench. But the Lakers, for all the concern and the LeBron and is he going to play defense, he's playing the best defense he's played in five years. Well, what are they going to do with the starting lineup? Starting lineup still isn't right.

Despite all that, check the old point differential. Who's number one in the NBA and point differentials we sit here today? Oh, it's the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron in year 17s, he's just doing exactly what he said he would do. Deferred Anthony Davis averaging 10 assists a game. And AD put up a line last night that no one has put up in the history of the league, 40 and 20 and less than 31 minutes. It's a pretty good story. if it's not a perfect start. When you came, you had multiple offers, I should tell the audience this, multiple offers from multiple networks, but you chose ours because of relationships.

And I'm a big believer. I don't go to these monolithic companies because of the brand. I follow people I trust. I think Kevin Durant made a mistake, bailing on Steph Curry and pursuing Kyrie Irving. Forget the brands, the laundry in the city. I don't care. And I think we've got Kyrie in reports now that he's unsettling to Brooklyn. I can't think of a player who left a dynasty with three years left in the dynasty.

I can't think of a star that did that. What do you make of these early reports on Kyrie's personality conflicts and weirdness that's unsettling to some in Brooklyn? Well, listen, the question with Kyrie is always going to be, is the juice worth the squeeze? because it is a hell of a squeeze, man. And I think the answer is yes. I think Kyrie has shown you.

He is a way over qualified Robin. And if you give him a Batman, you can win the title. The problem for Brooklyn is he came with a Batman, but the Batman right now has a severed Achilles that he's rehabbing. So now you've got to hold on for dear life and hope that the artist doesn't implode. KD in this article calls him an artist. And he is an artist. He says, I don't mess with an artist.

And that's great. The problem is sometimes the artist cuts their ear off. And then you're like, oh, well, that's a little too much. And listen, Kyrie's a different cat. The first game of the year, he has the opportunity for the game winner. He tries the old NBA street slip and slide where you fall over and you pull up for the jump shot. People can say he tripped. man, I know I would bet any amount of money that's a move he's been working on,

but he damn near made it. A couple games later, he has another chance at a game winner, and the game in between he hit the game winner. He's averaging 38 points per game. If you're going to get that, you're going to have to deal with the fact that during a team photo, you're like, hey, Kai, as was in the story, can you take your hat off? And his response is, nah, bro, that's what Photoshop was invented for.

Like, really? You won't take your hat off? And in Kyrie's defense, he's probably thinking, man, I didn't work this hard to have to take my damn hat all. You'll figure it out. That's who he is. And the Nets know it. I saw you guys played Kenny Atkinson's interview where he's like, no, I'm the moody one. Smart play by Kenny.

Because I guarantee you, Kyrie read that article and wanted to know who's talking. Who is talking about me right now? And Kenny wants to put his arms around him, but he's a different type of guy. But listen, Kyrie chose relationships. Kevin Durant chose relationships. DeAndre Jordan chose relationships. They all wanted to play together. We're going to have to wait a year to see it.

And we'll see what the next look like on the back in. One last very small point. Should be noted. Jackie McMullen wrote this piece. She is a brilliant, well-respected Hall of Fame caliber writer. Yep. She also is based out of Boston. And it felt to me a lot like she had been hearing things from Boston

over the last couple years about, what a headache Kyrie can be, and that informed her in reporting on this piece. By the way, I've only got a minute left, probably about 40 seconds. Chiefs didn't make a move at the trading deadline. I think Baltimore wanted to get Jamal Adams because they don't know how long Lamar Jackson's going to last, but Patrick Mahomes is hurt, so we're going to go for it. Patriots, Mohamed Sunu, Patrick Mahomes is hurt, we're going to go for it. 30 seconds.

Did it bother you the Chiefs weren't more aggressive to fix their D? Of course. And the only thing that may be bothered me more about the lack of activity was the one name the chiefs were attached to was Laveon Bell. You've got to be kidding me. This is a guy who you drive past his house and the roof's leaking, but he's got a $140,000 Mercedes out front. And you drive past the next day and the roof is falling apart, but the Mercedes now has new rims. You're like, hey, man, what are you doing? Like, this is your focus where you need another offensive weapon?

Listen, the idea is evidently in Patrick and his double-jointed knee, we trust. I'm concerned about the defense, but as soon as Patrick Mahomes comes back, I'm going to pick him to beat your beloved Patriots. I'm certain of it. So listen, we'll just see how it goes. Andy Reid thinks timeouts, challenges, and defense are overrated. We'll see if he's right. That's funny.

Nick Wright, that's why I got a show here. First things first. Good seeing you, buddy. Thank you. You too. Good to see you, Colin. Good to see you, Joy. Happy Halloween tomorrow. He got me laughing. That was very, very funny. Okay, Jamal Adams, the White House and the Jets have one thing in common, and it's bad for both. That's coming up next, the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the Internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling. you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode,

we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month,

I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever 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 line's, You know these kids. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? This Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves,

I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us every. everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Vick Synex nasal spray works up to 12 hours. Stuffy nose, top of your list, Vic Synex nasal spray. It's cold and flu season. You know, when it comes to the White House and your professional favorite teams, right?

You can always tell when there's a house divided because of leaks. Okay, leaks are telling you people are covering their own arse. Remember when Magic and Rob Polinka were running the Lakers? They couldn't finish a conversation. It made the L.A. Times. The Clippers trade Blake Griffin, not a peep. Chris Paul, not a peep.

They acquire Paul George, not a peep. They get Coie Leonard, not a peep. The Lakers couldn't make a move without going public. And that tells you people are trying to save their arse, and they're protecting their territory. Where the clippers, everybody's in. Doc's in, West, Balmer, Michael Winger, the players. They're all in.

It's a house undivided. Yesterday, the New York Jets, seven different reporters had various stories on players being shopped. Lavian Bell, Jamal Adams, Marcus Maya, talented young safety, Robbie Anderson. Why are they getting out? Muhammad Sanoo goes to the Patriots. It literally doesn't make the news until he's wearing a Patriot jersey. I mean, it never gets out. don't give you this nonsense.

Well, we didn't leak it and we. All I know is everything the Jets do, somebody's covering their ass. And that's why it leaks. Greg Williams can't stand Adam Gase. Adam Gase can't stand Greg Williams as defensive coordinator. Chris Johnson's an owner got caught on tape ripping his coaching staff. Jamal Adams is furious because he's an unbelievable player. He's on Twitter yesterday and he said, they told me they wouldn't shop me.

And now they're shopping me. And regardless of who's shopping who, why? Why does it get out? Why would it get out? There's two people on a phone call. If you're Joe Douglas, the GM, and I don't know him, my sources like him, but if you're Joe Douglas, you just say, we'll talk. If it makes the wire, if I see it anywhere on Twitter, it's out.

Done. I won't make the move. I'll trade them to your rival. That's all you've got to say. I've done this in my life before. I've talked to people. I said, if it makes the newspapers, if it makes the wire, I'm dumping you. the deal's done.

That's how New England does business. It makes Twitter, we're out. Atlanta didn't talk, and New England didn't talk. Think about the Clippers. They got rid of Chris Paul. Lloyd and I wake up one morning. It's like Chris Paul's been traded. I didn't even hear about that.

You didn't hear about Paul George. They worked on that Paul George deal for two weeks. Paul George was leaving Oklahoma City. No one was even thinking that was a possibility. Paul George leaving Westbrook. It would have been our lead. topic for four straight days. Didn't make the news.

Didn't make Twitter. I mean, Rob Plinkin, Magic Johnson, good God. It's everything. The LA Times might as well have been planted in the Magic's office. Because everybody was protecting their butt and protecting their space and protecting their brand and protecting their image. And so I don't want to hear about this. Joe Douglas talked about it yesterday.

He's the new, I don't know this guy. I know people that know him and they like him. I heard he's a great hang, great guy. But this stuff yesterday, there's seven different reporters leaking stuff. And they're legitimate reporters. They're not making crap up. A lot of guys had the same stuff. Jay Glazer was here.

He broke the Leonard Williams story. Here's Joe Douglas. We've fielded a lot of calls on a lot of players. Some players has been public. Other players hasn't been public. You know, one thing I will say is that on the players that were leaked out today, Those weren't players that we were shopping. But, you know, where I'm from and what I was taught is when a team calls you,

you should always listen to what they have to say. I totally agree. But then don't call reporters. Stuff gets out when you want it out. Okay, that's the only time stuff gets out. I have had in my career four or five major stories. We've been recruiting people at FS1 for three years. we've been recruiting people here.

None of them got out. None of them. We've been going after our rival's best people. None of them gets out. We make sure none of them gets out. We don't talk. That's when you have well-run management. Stuff doesn't leak constantly to protect your butt.

The Jets are embarrassing. That's an embarrassing. Of course, you know, I will give Levy and Bell credit. I mean, thank God these Jets players. Leonard Williams is a good guy. Jamal Am's a great guy. guy. Lavian Bell's a good guy. The players have been great in all this. Lavian Bell came out yesterday on social media and he's like, hey, let's just be patient. This is part of the business. Let's understand it. It was like, what a grown-up way to handle it as your bosses are leaking everything. It's just nonsense. God, thank God I'm not a Jets fan. How frustrating would this franchise be. Nothing gets out with the Clippers. Nothing gets out with the Celtics. Nothing gets out with the Patriots. I experienced being a Jets fan for a year.

Oh, that's right. It was a good year, though. Don't use your girlfriend shampoo. Dove Men Plus Care available at Walmart. For your hair, guys, Dove Men Plus Care. Hour 2 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you, exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsLice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. 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 walks up to me, he goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama wants you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode.

The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balligan. I'm not worried about McKinney.

My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here.

Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Ah, here we go on a Wednesday hour number two. Joel Clatt in five minutes. We're going to argue. This is The Hurd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. I Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

Joel, Joy Taylor, is joining me. It is Halloween Eve. Tomorrow is the big night. You got it a Thursday night football game. Tonight's Game 7 of the World Series on Fox. Tomorrow on Fox, it's Arizona. It's going to be fun. Kyler Murray, Cliff Kingsbury,

against that 49er defensive front. So the next two nights, Fox owns American sports eyeballs. Can't wait. Game 7 tonight, NFL tomorrow. Joy, how are you? I'm great. So yesterday was a trading deadline. You know, the one team I said, you know, I've been really rough on Chicago.

I've been rough on Chicago. They probably hate me there. I should probably stay out of Chicago for the last year. I didn't buy their 13 and 3. I thought the offense was all smoking mirrors and tricks. And then I said they're going to drop way back this year and not be a playoff team. Eight and eight, nine and seven at best. Great roster, great coach.

Don't have a quarterback. Then the trading deadline, they don't move. And I don't get it because I saw a story this morning that Teddy Bridgewater is going to get 15 to $18 to $20 million in the off season. You could have had them at the trading deadline for our first round pick. Chicago says, no, we're going to stick with it. So I had Jay Glazer on yesterday, and I said, why in the world would you stay with Mitch Trubisky? 32 starts.

It's not working. He's the 50th rated quarterback in the NFL this year. That means 15 backups are better. Here's Jay Glazer why they're sticking with him. I think Chicago, people said there's time to move on from Trubisky. You can't. They put too much into him right now. You really got a ride and die and see.

Is this a slump? Can we build them up? Like, that entire organization, hits themselves to that wagon, you can't bail out until every wheel has fallen off. Okay, and then I started thinking this morning, I was driving in, I said, am I being too tough on the Bears?

And what's happened to the Chicago Bears is what has happened to most of the NFL not named the Dallas Cowboys. It's really hard to find a franchise quarterback. The Dallas Cowboys have had five. Don Meredith, Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Tony Romo, and they believe Dak. The Patriots have had three,

Steve Grogan, Bledsoe, and Brady. Brady's just lasted forever. San Francisco's had two. I don't count John Brody, good not special. Joe Montana, Steve Young, and I don't count Garoppolo yet. Miami has been looking since Elway or Marino and Denver's been looking since Elway. They've had one and a half. Craig Morton, again, eh.

It's Elway and Peyton Manning for a couple of years. One and a half. I like Jake Plummer. I like Craig Morton. I wouldn't call him franchise, you know, guy you build around. for 15 years. It's impossible to find quarterbacks in this league. The Saints have had two and you could argue Archie Manning doesn't

count. I would count him because I thought he was the only redeeming thing for 15 years for the Saints and then Drew Breeze. It's hard to find quarterbacks. John Elway can't find quarterbacks. I grew up a Seattle Seahawk fan. You know how lucky we were? We found Jim Zorn as an expansion team.

And then went to Dave Craig. Two guys, none of us watched in college. Then we got Russell Wilson. I feel like as a Seattle fan, I'm the luckiest guy in the world. Jim Zorn? Dave Craig? Dave Craig, I thought, went to dentistry school. He was great for a decade. Then I get Russell Wilson. The Chicago Bears have been looking for a quarterback, a franchise 12-year guy since Sid Luckman, and when Sid Luckman played, they didn't wear shoes. I'm almost sure of that. Cleveland had Otto Graham and then 30 years and nothing. They're praying Baker Mayfield's a quarterback. In fact,

this morning, I looked at this morning. I went in the NFL. If I said, today and for three years, which teams have a quarterback, barring injuries. Today for three years, in three years from today, you're absolutely sure they'll have the quarterback playing today. Can't count Brady. Buffalo, Sam Darnold, Baltimore, so I go, Buffalo, Jets, Ravens, Browns, Texas, Kansas City, Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Packers, Atlanta, Niners, Seahawks, Rams, Cardinals. that's 14 of 32.

Are you sure about it, Lena? And by the way, by the way, Cleveland's so dysfunctional, they may butcher the Baker thing. I'm not sure the bills love Josh Allen, and who knows what's going to happen with the Jets. I don't count Derek Carr, because I had the last year, all I have said is I like Derek Carr, and nobody seems to like Derek Carr.

So I'm banging on the bears, and I guess my point is it is hard to find franchise quarterbacks. Miami, Denver. They get one. They can't find a replacement. Chicago's been looking forever. In fact, I said this morning, the Jets had Namath. They've never really had the next guy.

The Bills, Jim Kelly, never had the next guy. Cleveland's Otto Graham. And Bernie Cozhar. Kind of. You get a lot of halves. You get a lot of Dave Craigs. You get a lot of halves. All right.

And with that, whole Joel clap. Voice of college football on this. the Clatster lead college football analyst. A big one this weekend, by the way. USC is going to shock the world, beat Oregon, and screw up the entire Pact 12. Oh, okay, interesting. They are really good at home. They're great at home.

Rest of the time, I don't trust them. All right, so let's get rid of this nonsense. What nonsense? I don't even know what nonsense we're talking about. Okay, let's watch, walking into a buzzsaw. Yeah, that's right. Buzzsaw cowherd. Ohio State, can we stop with the, we got to give a defensive end, Chase Young, the

Heisman. Why would you stop at that? He's the best player in college football. Because he beats, he occasionally beats a slow Big Ten tackle, and I'm going to give him. Occasionally. He leads the country in sacks. That's a terrible take. Let me educate you on this really quick.

This is why Chase Young is more like Charles Woodson than he is in Domican Sewer, Manteiteo. It's because it really takes three things for a defensive player to win. And Woodson had them all working in his favor. One, you've got to be the right type of player. And I think Young is in the fact that he's not only a dominant player at this level, but you don't just rate him as like a great college prospect, right? He's clearly going to be the top overall prospect in the NFL draft. You clearly can see him playing for 10 years.

You can clearly see him with potentially a yellow jacket on at the end of this thing when it's all said and done. So he is the right type of player. He's also playing on a team. And this is the next point. So he's the player. Then you've got to have a team that's in the right position to do this for a defensive player. Michigan was that team for Charles Wilson.

They were a national champion that year. Nebraska wasn't really a factor. They were a 10 and 4 football team with Indyam Knoos. And Notre Dame, while they're a good big brand, they had kind of popped up out of nowhere that year for tail. Remember, Colin, in the five previous seasons to that year where Notre Dame went to the national championship, in the five previous seasons, they went unranked for the entire season three times, the entire season. Not one week where they were. And in the other two, they were teens.

Whereas Michigan was a team that in the previous seasons before Woodson got there, did you know that they were at some point in the top 10 in the country every single year before Charles Woodson dating back to 1967. So it wasn't a pop-up. So they were at the best team. So your point is Ohio State. And then the third thing, I'm continuing to educate you here. The third possible thing is that he's got to have the stages. Okay. So not only does he have the momentum now in the middle of the year, but now he's going to have, look at their back end. Okay, the last three weeks of the year, you could argue that Chase Young is going to be playing in the most watched football game of the day against Penn State and potentially an undefeated matchup against Michigan, which you know will win

the day will be the highest rate of game in all the college football all season, and then potentially the Big Ten championship game, depending on what happens in the SEC championship game, it's going to be right there. So he's got the momentum, he's got the team, he's the type of player. Chase Young not only can, but potentially will win this Heisman trophy, and it's a real thing. Why? Because you're supposed to give it to the most outstanding player, not the most valuable player, the most important player, the most outstanding, and he's been the most outstanding to this date. How do we know he could beat those SEC tackles like he beats those slow Big Ten tackles? Oh, I mean, have you checked the league, by the way? They're littered with Big Ten

tackles from Iowa and Wisconsin, all of those teams. Okay, let's go to this. This is, and I, this is a second, SEC tackles. Here's the second thing that we've got to stop on this. Oh, okay. I watched every LSU's overrated. I'll tell you why. Auburn had 15 penalties. Okay. Has a freshman quarterback in Death Valley. And that's a three-point game going for the onside kick. Auburn would have been shelled by Alabama.

They would have been shelled by Ohio State. They would have been shelled by Penn State. LSU, if I go into your stadium with a freshman quarterback and you have an NFL first rounder and I have 15 penalties, I can't move the football for three and a half hours. I mean, let's not think. LSU moved the football. They had 500 total yards of offense.

Auburn struggle. You're right. So if I were I told you before that game, we're going to have 15 penalties and we can't move the ball. In Death Valley, yeah, against Joe Burrow. I would have said 14, something like that, three scores. I don't buy LSU. These games are way too close.

They can't close out in Florida. That's not a terrible point that you just made, which is progress. Which is progress. It's not a terrible point. I don't think that they're overrated, but that's not a terrible point. I think that their failure in that game had more to do

with what they were doing inside the 10-yard line, specifically inside the red zone, than it did the way they played overall. I still believe that if Tua is not 100% healthy, they'll beat Alabama, because they can get into a shootout and win. And with Mack Jones at quarterback, I don't believe Alabama can get into a shootout with LSU and win that game. I think if Tua plays, I think Bama is going to shell LSU. Maybe, maybe.

And you know what? If he's healthy, I will pick Alabama in that game. But if he's not, that's what I'm saying. Like LSU is in a good position right now because it's all pending on to his health. If he's ready to go, I think Bama wins the game. If he's not, I don't think Mack Jones is going to beat LSU. It's very similar to Bo Nix trying to beat LSU. At some point, they'll end up winning the football game because the opposition will just have such a hard time moving the ball.

Okay, listen, I know everybody loves Lincoln Riley and I love Lincoln Riley, but he lost to Iowa State. He just lost to Kansas State. He lost to a Texas team as a two-touchdown favorite. What do you make of what happened to Oklahoma? Well, there's one, the defense played really poorly. At one point, they gave up a score on eight consecutive series. So they're up 17 to 7. It looks like it's just going to be an OU game.

They're going to play it on their terms. And then all of a sudden, Kansas State went on a 41 to 6 run. Isn't that incredible? Two things happen, Colin. And you can blame the offense for some of it as well. They got cute. You were just showing the player kind of like that quarterback pass. They got cute and didn't run the football.

Did you know that their running backs totaled in the, the game six carries. That can't happen. There are a team that ran the ball for over 280 yards per game coming in, and then they just started throwing it around the lot because I think that they panicked. And I think that Lincoln probably panicked a little bit from a play calling perspective. And then they were unable to get off the field on third down on defense. And part of that was a really, really good game plan from Kansas State. So Kansas State was doing things like this. It's an aggressive defense for Alex Grinch in Oklahoma. They're fast flow in particular. Kenneth Murray, their best player their inside linebacker. So here's what they were doing.

They were taking the guards, okay, for Kansas State, and they would fake pull them and then put them back front side. That was fascinating. That shouldn't matter. If I have Oklahoma's talent, you have K-State, I could take my dog out there and beat you by two touchdowns. I don't know about that. Oklahoma's got NFL guys ever, everywhere.

Not on the defensive side. Let me just put it to you this way. I think it's a bad look for Oklahoma because... I'm not saying it's not a bad look, but let me just put it to you this way. Two other things that I just, and this is not in defensive, two other things. One, there's only one player on that defense that would sniff a starting spot at Ohio State. One. For Oklahoma?

That's right. That's Kenneth Murray. Okay. So they're not very good. Then if that's the case. Their talent is not even close to like an Ohio state who's a great defense. And then the last thing I would say is I don't want to be too hard on a team that's trying to do something that's never been done before. You might be thinking like, well, what are you talking about?

What are you talking about? Yeah. What are you talking about? Here's what's never been done yet in college football. A team in a nine game conference schedule winning a. all nine regular season games and a conference championship. That's never been done. Calling the closest team that's ever been to that distinction was Wisconsin in 2017,

they won their nine regular season games, lost in the Big Ten title game. So now all of a sudden, we're going to have two teams this year that are trying to do that. One of them has to have even a sniff of the playoff. That's Oregon. They've got a chance in Ohio State. Baylor's going to be trying to do it. Minnesota is going to be trying to do it as well, but I think Oregon and Ohio State are ones that have bona fide chance.

That extra conference game just makes it tough. It does. It does. it makes it tougher. That's why you see Iowa beating Ohio State or Purdue beating Ohio State. That's why you see Iowa State and Texas and Kansas State beating Oklahoma. Okay, here's Clats Top 10. Ohio State 1, I agree with. I'd get LSU out of there. I'd go Ohio State Bam. I actually like all of this. I'd get LSU out of there. Okay. Okay. Now, here's the other thing where we'll agree a little bit. I predicted Michigan would beat Notre Dame. Yeah, I did too. And guess what? If you look at Michigan's remembrance, remaining games, they're going to win nine games.

They're going to beat Maryland. They're going to beat Michigan State. They got somebody else, and then they'll lose to Ohio State. But Harbaugh is going to win nine games. They outgained Penn State, I mean, massively outgained Notre Dame. So once again, we think Michigan is Ohio State football in Alabama and USC. It is not. Bo Schembeckler had an atrocious bull record.

The minute you got him out of the Big Ten, he was like 6 and 12. Lloyd Carr losing Bull record, Harbaugh losing bowl record. Hardball losing bowl record. Michigan's an A minus program. It's not an A plus program. And it's taken a little bit for this offense to get going, but I tell you what, it got going. They ran the ball. They ran the ball like crazy against Notre Dame.

They were very efficient in the second half against Penn State. I actually think they're going to be a really tough out down the stretch. I think Ohio State, who's got to go to the big house and face what I think will be a very confident Michigan team. You know, this is a good job by Jim Harbaugh to continue to develop. The Wisconsin loss was terrible. They dropped the fourth down ball. against Penn State. And they're getting better.

By the way, by the way, one other quick thing on the top 10, everyone, all the Obama fans out there that want to harp on everybody that compliments any other team in the country and say, like, well, who have they played? I just want to throw out a stat real quick for all the Bama fans out there. Did you know that Alabama right now has the worst strength of schedule as it relates to their opponent's winning percentage in the power five, not in the top 10, in the power five?

their opponent's winning percentage is 391. That's the worst in Power 5 football. So if I hear one more Bama fan come up to me and ask me who is Ohio State played, I'm just going to hold up a mirror and be like, who have you played? No one's arguing that your schedule down the stretch is not tough. But to date, Alabama's strength of schedule is the worst in the Power 5. By the way, you know what happens when a Bama fan comes up to me? Talk to the hand.

Won't even. That's it. You do that? Very 1986 of you. Okay. So listen to this. Somebody I respect greatly just texted me. Okay.

Tell clat. Yeah, this is an insider. Oh, okay. Get your Chase Young video ready. Are you allowed to share this? I'm not going to unveil the person. He's very respected. He goes, tell Clat, Wisconsin, single-blocked young, half the time with a tight end.

No, it wasn't half the time. Go back and watch the film. I'm watching it right now on this air. Oh, are you? You're watching the TV copy? That was a tied end. That was one of the only times that they did that. They didn't block him half the time with the tie-ed.

his waist is. Now, are you, are you legitimately going to start to attack? Chase Young is the best prospect going into next year's NFL draft. And he not only can, but I think will win the Heisman trophies. Looks like a dominant player in the country. Looks like a slot receiver in the SEC. Are you serious? That one I was embellishing.

I would hope so. But he looks, his waist is thin. SEC players look bigger than that and stronger. I mean, that's the dumbest thing you've ever said. He looks a little wispy to me. How tall is he? Six-six. Oh, God, he's too tall.

His leverage will be terrible. I know a guy who is six-six. He was a little undersized. His pad level is going to be terrible. He's not under-side. He's 275 pounds. It's 6-6. He's too...

He's skinny. Might as well be a warrior backup center. Who is this? What is calling even talking about? The guy I know, well, he was a pretty good. He did okay. The guy, you know, I heard had a pretty good career. He did all right.

I mean, by the way. How much did he weigh two? He did not weigh two. He looks skinny to me. I don't think that act works in the SEC. They play real football down there. Oh, do they? They play real football down there.

All that defense they're playing when LSU is scoring 50 points. What's your upset? Oh, Joy. What? No, I love it. How about Joy? Watch out for Washington this week. Yeah, USC is going to beat Oregon.

Okay. I don't do that with my own games. I didn't ask you to do that. I'm well aware. You're sitting there knocking the best player in the country. He's two eyes thin in the waist. You're crazy. You know that?

You know, SEC FAP? You must be Halloween. You get those crazy eyes today. Arkansas, recruit Chase Young. You'd make a good slot receiver. Arkansas might be the worst team in the country. They could be. They've all lost to Portland State.

I know. I know. I think it was Portland State. All right, Joe Clad, good seeing you, buddy. You're trying to get me all heated up. I'm not going to get mad. All right. Trick or treat.

We're playing a game of NFL trick or treat next. I'm going as a respected news man. What are you going by tomorrow? Calmer than you are. What are you going to go? I'm perfectly calm. I'm going as Chubaca. We're doing the Star Wars as a family.

Talk about 80s. You said my talk to the hand was the 80s. Talk to the hand, Colin. You know what I do? Hey, Joy, you know what I do? You know what I do? We're a band of hair. I said, talk to the hand. Whoa!

Okay, I got to get out of here. Trick or treat. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Heart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsLice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. 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.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth?

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our heart radio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver 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 walks up to me, he goes,

hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on to Ernie Stewart for Chip. I'm Taude Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines.

I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. You're going to look at stats and numbers. He has no shot at making this World Cup team. and the truth about the U.S. national team.

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Tonight, it's the final game of the world series, as winner takes all the nationals are battling for their first title ever,

while the Astros look to clinch their second in front of the Houston. and faithful. Nationals, Astros, game seven to nights at 7.30 Eastern on Fox. So Scherzer's going for the Nats, and he just had a really bad neck injury, and Grinky's going for Houston at home. At some point, Grinky, these starting pitchers have to be gassed. Verlander looked gasped last night. I think I'd take Grinky to win game seven in Houston. Greg Tooey is a Houston native. I am kind of rooting, not against Houston, but for Washington. I think their stories amazing. Mike Rizzo's the GM. He took a lot of heat for the Bryce Harper and the Strasbourg development and bailing on Harper. So I kind of want to see D.C. win this, but I'm not rooting as much. I'm rooting more for washing than against anybody.

I got nothing against the Astros. It's a well-run franchise. We're going to play trick-or-treat NFL style, Halloween tomorrow, halfway through the NFL season. You know, outside of about four teams, we're not really sure if you buy them or you don't. There's a lot of those Buffalo Bill Minnesota Viking stories out there and the Seahawks. What are they? Joy first with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

The Jets were quiet at the trade deadline yesterday, but there was plenty of talk about Jamal Adams being moved. Adams wasn't happy to be part of the trade conversations and went to Twitter to call out his team. Yeah. He said any reports of me asking to be traded from the New York Jets are completely false. At the end of last, at end of the week last week, I sat down with the GM and Coach Gays. and told them I wanted to be here in New York. I was told yesterday by my agent, the GM went behind my back and shot me around the teams,

even after I asked him to keep me here, crazy business. So, needless to say, I think this relationship has taken a turn. Now, the GM, Joe Douglas, did say that he took calls about Adams, but he didn't initiate any conversations, so they weren't shopping him. They were just fielding calls, which is pretty much semantics. What this comes down to, for me, which is what I always say in these situations, just be honest.

Players understand that it's a business at this point. I mean, Levy on Bell is saying be patient. I mean, what else is Levy on Bell going to say? He very much made it very clear that he is about business when it comes to the NFL, which I'm totally cool with. I don't really believe in loyalty in this situation because while fans are supposed to be loyal, players and organizations do not have an obligation to be loyal to each other. It's a business.

You don't have an obligation to be loyal to a company if you have a better. situation and a better opportunity for you and your family and your future. None of us do. The only difference is we don't have a group of fans in here with Colin shirts on cheering every time you have a good segment. That's the difference. So I just feel like if organizations are honest with players and what the GM said is true, of course. If you're getting offers for two first round picks for Jamal Adams, you're going to listen to that conversation. There's no need for it to make the news. There's no need for it to make the news, but also just have an honest conversation with Jamal Adams. He asked to stay here.

say we'd love to have you here. But to be perfectly honest, if the trade deadline comes up and we get a call with a ridiculous offer, I'm going to have to listen to it. That doesn't mean that we're going to shop you and that doesn't mean that we're interested in moving you. But I just have to be honest about how the business goes. We love having you here. If something comes in, we will let you know. But that's just how it works.

That's not a hard conversation to have. I'm not saying the GM lie. But clearly, Jamal Adams felt like this was not an honest conversation. This is not difficult stuff. No. Keep stuff private, be honest with people, and you'll get along. It's not. It's not hard.

I never understand it. New England does it fine. The Clippers do it fine. The well-run baseball, basketball, football teams. Just be transparent. None of this is new. And the crap never gets out with the Clippers. It never gets out with Mohamed Sunu.

New England stuff never gets out. The whole damn day yesterday was jet rumors. The last four different players. This is insanity. So Trent Williams ended his holdout yesterday and rejoined the Redskins, although he's back with the team. He reportedly has no intention of playing this season. Williams has two years left on his contract.

And by reporting before the trade deadline, he can still get credit for this year in his contract and become a free agent after the 2020 season. Speaking of a disaster of a situation, basically this just happened because the Redskins decided to be petty. And there are a lousy organization. And it's not well run. He has a base salary of $10.85 million,

but he can only make around $5.7 million after the fines. the time that he's missed. So he lost about $7 million holding out and base salary in 2020 of $12.5 million. He wants a new contract. He deserves a new contract. And if they weren't going to give it to him, just move them and get something for him.

What's the point of all this? Again, petty small organization, petty small owner, and this is why you're a joke. There's so many good teams in the NFC. Washington, I'm going to tell you something. I'm not sure there's a team in the NFC that's got less hope. This is one of the great fan bases

in the history of America. They used to have a 100-year waiting list. People now, there are empty seats when I watch those Redskinned games. They have, the Dan Snyder has, I think, irreparably, for the time being, hurt this franchise with his moves, lack of transparency, meddling. It's a bad, this is a, this is not that far off the Cleveland Browns. I got to be honest with that's what they are. I don't think that's what they are. And after a while, you go through all of these top players, you have all this talent in and out, you have all these coaches.

in and out. After a while, the one consistent thing is what's actually causing the problem. It's not hard to figure out. Finally, Stephen Strasbourg continued his incredible postseason last night to send the World Series to game seven. He nearly pitched a complete game, giving up only two runs and striking out seven to get to his fifth win this postseason. But the game was not without controversy. And the seventh inning, Shrey Turner was called out for running inside the baseline and interfering with the throw to first, which got manager Dave Martinez ejected for arguing the call. There was a couple.

It could have been. Strassburg, you know, a couple players ended the doubt. Strasbourg being brilliant. But there was some officiating umpiring, you know, same thing the NFL is going through right now. The NFL's got officiating issues. Wait until we get to the playoffs. Like, we're overlooking some of them.

When you get to the World Series and the umpiring can be iffy in these impactful watched sports. Right. It heightens everything. Oh, it heightens everything. There's also some conversations about holding on to the bat for too long. Game seven tonight. Game seven is tonight.

The Nationals recovered, obviously, and Max Scher and Zach Granky are on tonight. Coverage begins at 7.30 Eastern on Fox. Home team has not won a game yet. Never happened in the history of baseball, hockey, or the NBA. It's crazy. My news. Don't be that guy in the room.

The long, sloppy looking untucked shirt, go to Untucket.com. Code her 20% off. Also retail locations for Untucket across America. All right, we're going to play a game of trick-or-treat. Tomorrow was Halloween. I'll be on the porch, handing out produce and cupcakes to the kids. Children love fresh produce. And you go ahead and do Kit Kat.

I'm worried about a kid's teeth in America. I am a part of America that doesn't want rotten teeth. So there's, yeah, lettuce wraps. This is another gem of an idea. So we're going to play trick or treat. We all know Green Bay's good. We all know New England's good. We all know San Francisco's good.

But a lot of these teams, you know, there's still like 22 teams, 24 teams in the playoff race. We don't know it's time for trick or treat. Are they real or fake? Joy, here we go. All right. The Buffalo Bills, trick or treat? They're a trick.

Okay, they're 24th in scoring. They have not beaten a football. team over 500. So think about that. Their wins are over the Jets, the Giants, the Bengals, the Titans, and the Dolphins. I think they're incredibly well-coached. Super low ceiling at quarterback. The bills are a trick. How about the Baltimore Ravens? They are a treat. I get a world-class head coach. Can we start now acknowledging John Harbaugh, 10 and 6 in the playoffs, Super Bowl, beat Belichick twice in Foxborough, has made Lamar Jackson now a first-place quarterback. This is a team that has an identity number one in rushing.

They went out and got Marcus Peters. They tried to get Jamal Adams. They're all in a smart team that does several things well. They're a treat. In the AFC North, my Pittsburgh Steelers, trick or treat. They are a trick. I like some of their defensive personnel, but they're 28th in scoring. Come on, stop trying to convince me, Mason Rudolph's the real deal.

Two of their three wins are against winless teams, Dolphins and the Bengals. They're both tanking. So two of their three wins are against two tanking teams in the NFL. In that same division, Cleveland Browns, trick or trick? I think they're a trick. They're last in turnovers, so they have the most turnovers, the most penalties, the most penalty yards. And here's something disturbing, despite all these playmakers and despite Nick Chubb, they are 29th in third down offense. That means they're terrible situationally.

Penalties, turnovers, penalty yards, bad on third or down. they're a trick. How about the Indianapolis Colts? Trick or trick? There's a lot of things I like about him, but I think they're a trick.

All their wins are by seven points or fewer. This is a team that has real limitations. I know it's fashionable to say they don't miss Andrew Luck. Yes, they do. They're 22nd in pass offense. 18 in total offense, and that's with one of the top three offensive lines in the NFL. Jacoby Brissette is a starter,

but he's a low-end starter. He's more DAC than Andrew Luck. They're a trick. Houston Texans. They're a treat. Again, they do several things well. They're exceptional at quarterback, at wide receiver. They now have a running game. They have a running back and a receiving running back. When their offensive line is healthy, they've won every single game. Sacks are coming down. They will miss JJ Watt, but they're fourth in total offense and fourth in third down offense, meaning they're good when it matters. How about the Raiders? Rators are a trick. Bad defense. They can't defend the past. Here's the Raiders have two big problems. They're not. not good in the secondary and they have no pass rush. So if you're playing in the AFC with your Brady's and your Deshawns and your Mahomes and some of these clever playmakers and passers, they just can't defend the pass and they don't have a pass rusher

to speed up the delivery of the football. So the bottom line is they've lost all the good quarterbacks they play this year. Mahomes, cousin, Rogers, Watson, they can't beat them. The Dallas Cowboys? They're a treat. Never forget this. For all the limitations, on DAC and I think his ceiling is lower. He's been very good late in seasons. Dak is 19 and 7 in November and December. They're also second and third

down defense. So DAC has limitations, but they get your offense off the field. All right, you can't quit them. Philadelphia Eagles, trick or treat. Treat. Five of their next seven. Five of the next seven. Look at those games. At home, including the next three. Their schedule

works in their favor. They're getting healthier. I think they found their identity against Buffalo. Run the football, play action to their tight ends. I like their coach and their quarterback. I love their structure. And their schedule now gets much more favorable. They're a treat.

The Minnesota Vikings, you like that? No, I don't like that. They're a trick. One in six against playoff teams. Listen, you can't. Mike Zimmer is a conservative coach. Kirk Cousins has a bad half. He'll go Uber conservative.

They also have the most penalty yards. So they often beat them. themselves, Vikings are a trick. The Detroit Lions. They're a trick. So Matt Patricia is a very good defensive coach. With that, their last and past defense. Their defense has fallen apart.

They were lucky to beat the New York Giants last week. They got a lead on the Giants, and there were times they were struggling to get them off the field. When you have a defensive coach and are still atrocious against the pass, that means your personnel's an issue. I can guess this one, but the Chicago Bears? Total trick. Matt Nagy, brilliant coach, have nice backs and receivers.

Defensive personnel is outstanding, but their 29th in total offense. Trabisky has zero touchdown passes in four of the six games this year. How about the Seattle Seahawks? They have another problem. They have Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson and a bunch of guys. Pete Carroll's a great coach. Defensively, they don't get sacks, and they can't get you off the field. That's with Pete Carroll's schemes.

Seattle doesn't have the defensive personnel to win big games in the NFC with all those great quarterbacks. They're a trick. The Los Angeles Rams. Schedule gets easier at home. Best receiving core. They're a treat. Now, they are one of these teams. They are finding their identity here.

Between Cooper Cup and Robert Woods and Brandon Reynolds and Josh Reynolds and Brandon Cooks, they have four legitimate receivers, eighth in total offense. schedule gets easier. Offensive lines getting healthier. Watch the Rams. They are a treat and that are an ascending treat. All right, coming up next, Sam Monson, pro football focus. What's real, what's not?

Who's fooled gold? Who's not fools gold? Pro football focus, Sam Monson, lead dude coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown cold. changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions

everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlyce on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade, of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross.

Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the Fourth. 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 walks up to me, he goes,

hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, Fam? Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the, iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mishlin Endurance XT Silicon Wiper Blades, last two times longer, available at Walmart. Pro Football Focus, this is what they do. Stats, data research, none of it's nonsense. They break everything down. A quarterback makes an interception. It's not always him.

How difficult are the throws? If you play fantasy football, if you like to gamble, I think PFF's as good as you can get, go to PFF.com, put in the code QB25, get 25% off. We try to bring somebody on every week, every other week, because we think they add real value to those of you who play fantasy, to those of you who love football or bet. Their pro football-focused NFL analyst is Sam Monson joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So let's start with this. You know, the big elephant in the room, you love Baker Mayfield. I did not.

He was very good at the end of last year against worst teams. This year, a tougher schedule. He's struggling. What do you boil, Sam? what do you boil his struggles down to? Don't do it to me, Colin. I knew you were going to start with this. Look, yeah, I've got to admit it.

Baker is not playing well at all this season. Completely different to what we thought he was heading into this year. I remember coming on the show and saying that he was a top 10 quarterback heading into this season, and he's been anything but so far in 2019. And, you know, when we were looking at him as a prospect coming out, there were flaws to his game. You had to nitpick to find them. But everything that's going wrong in Cleveland so far this year is magnifying the flaws in Baker Mayfield's game.

It's the tendency to hold onto the ball a little bit too long. It's the tendency to bail from these clean pockets to try and kind of roll out and play a bit of hero ball. And it's just going badly. You know, last year, when he was escaping from clean pockets, he was able to make some plays. This year, when he's escaping, A, teams know he's almost always rolling to his right. And when he does that, they're completely shutting him down. He's got five completions on those rollouts towards his right-hand side when he's trying to make a play. And that's on something like 30-odd dropbacks.

And, you know, teams have just really figured out how to squeeze Baker Mayfield and that Cleveland offense. And until collectively they work out a different game plan and a way of mitigating what defenses are doing to them, I think he's going to keep kind of sinking. And it's, yeah, it's a concern. One of the things I like about PFF is you're not into the things. that a lot of quarterback rating systems are. You judge difficult throws. Guys get bonuses for difficult throws.

So I look at your quarterback rating, and I really like it. So, you know, and that's, I always kind of laugh because Tom Brady can often not, you know, fantasy football guy doesn't like Tom Brady. Passer rating is not always Tom Brady's friend. But you're considering all the elements. What's he work with? How difficult to the throw. So give me the quarterbacks right now.

PFF thinks are the top five or six. Yes, we've just broken at a new group of quarterback rankings. and we're using a two-year sample size of PFF gray last year and this year to try and give you the best possible idea of what guys actually are. Our top few players, Drew Breeze is actually number one. Okay, he's missed some time this year, but we saw him come back, look like he'd never been out of the game. Still looks fantastic.

He's the most accurate quarterback in all of football. Number two, we got Patrick Mahomes. He's up there. Phenomenal a season ago. A little bit of a step back this year, but obviously the injuries have played a factor in. that as well. And obviously led to him missing the time. Russell Wilson, this MVP caliber season he's having in 2019, I think is very, very real and is propelling him up those rankings.

And then Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers round out that top five. Yep. Then Philip Rivers, Carson, went to Sean Watson. Glad to see Deshaun Watson in there because he not only makes spectacular plays, but his completion percentage is up near 70%. So he's doing the little things very well, which I thought first year in the NFL he did not. Lamar, James. Jackson takes on New England. I think it's a very interesting matchup. Belichick lost at home to Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Kaepernick. You go off script. Bill can sometimes struggle with quarterbacks who like to move out of the pocket. How do you think Lamar does against New England's defense? Yeah, I agree 100%. It's a very interesting matchup. And for no other reason, then,

Baltimore is really the first team and the first quarterback that the Patriots have really faced this year. They've had a very easy schedule, and Baltimore does at least look pretty much for real. They should provide a legitimate test for this New England defense, which is obviously setting all kinds of records, or at least on pace to set all kinds of records. Lamar Jackson and that Ravens offense presents very real, unique challenges to any defense because of what he can do with the ball in his hands, whether it's scrambling out of the pocket or whether it's designed runs. You have to play defense in a different way, and that's what opens up. the opportunities for Jackson in the passing game.

And it makes guys like Mark Andrews over the middle wide open because linebackers, safeties, defenders have to play that offense completely differently to respect the threat that Jackson has. So I think it's going to be very interesting to see what it is Bill Belichick tries to take away from this offense and then whether or not he's successful in doing so. Listen, Dallas didn't get Jamal Adams. They were clearly interested. So was Baltimore.

I love Jamal. I think he's a special player. Is Dallas terrible at? safety, though, would he have helped? I don't think they're terrible at safety, but I think he definitely would have helped. I agree with you. Jamal Adams is a special talent. He's got back-to-back years now with PFF grades 80 and above.

And really what makes him so dynamic is his versatility. You can line him up anywhere in that defense, anywhere in the back seven, and he's effective. Even this year, he's got 20 plus snaps lined up split out wide as a cornerback covering backs and tight ends. he is that joker on defense that allows you to match up with these problem players on offense. You know, whether it's move tight ends that you don't have a player to match up with, whether it's Christian McCaffrey-style running backs that you have nobody that can cover. Jamal Adams is the kind of guy that can neutralize those on defense for you. Yeah, by the way, we got about a minute left.

Mitch Trubisky. He ranks poorly with you, right? My eyes aren't fooling me. No, you got it. Yeah, not good for Trubisky. Yeah, I'm going to look at it right now. He is, oh, good Lord. He's tied for 31st passing grade,

22nd big time throws. Okay, I don't want to pound the kid. I just, I wanted to see your grades. There we go. Sam Munson, PFF.com, QB25 is the code. 25% off. Sam, thanks for coming on the show today.

Anytime. Thanks for having me. By the way, he makes good points on, this is why I like it, on Jamal Adams. They line up Jamal Adams everywhere. You can line him up everywhere. So you play Carolina and Christian McCaffrey, put him right in the box.

You need a slot receiver, put him outside. That's where I think Dallas made a mistake. He's a total playmaker. All you need to know about Jamal Adams, when you watch a football game on television, the only player you don't seize the safety. That's it. You see everybody,

and he ends up being on virtually half of the Jets plays. He is like Earl Thomas about six years ago in his prime. He is everywhere. His range, his power. Oh, we got some, oh, my, Baker Mayfield, just imploded with the media. All right, I'll have that coming up next. Oh, boy, what are we got here?

Cats and dogs living together next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Ah, this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are live, hour three in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, all the firefighters battling frightening fires right now in Southern California first responders

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and firefighters and first responders so a tip of the cap and support from everybody here we know how brutal that is Joy Taylor is me. So in 15 minutes, Albert Breer on the trading deadline stuff yesterday and more NFL news. New England host Lamar Jackson. I think

it's a fascinating game. But, you know, I want to start so there's new video. I'm not going to show it yet. There's new video out in Baker Mayfield. So Joy Taylor is joining us. And I know sometimes they come off is a little bit hard on Baker Mayfield. But I have said

this. Being an NFL franchise quarterback is not just about, hey, you're big in calling can run and throw. Are you a leader of men? And it's the same reason I vote president the way I do. I voted for Obama and I voted for Reagan. I voted for Clinton and I voted for Bush. I don't vote for parties. I vote for somebody I believe when the world's in chaos, you're the unemotional grown-up in the room. I don't want you on Twitter all day. Okay. When I vote for president. I'm not loyal to a party. I'm loyal to adults. That's why if you listen to this show,

I love Russell Wilson, I love Brady, I like Breeze, I like Andrew Luck. It's not some are tall, some are short, some runs, some don't. I like Lamar Jackson. I like Deshawn Watson a lot. Why? It's not about tall, fast, short run. That's not it. I'm looking for a talented guy who's an adult. on my presidents the same way I would hire my CEO, the same way I like my quarterbacks. All my quarterbacks I like of the same personality. All of them. All of them. It's the thing I like about Dak.

It's the thing I like about Deshaun. It's the thing I loved about Russell Wilson. By the way, Carson Wentz is kind of a low-key kid. A lot of stuff swimming around him. He doesn't talk. He puts in the hours. So I was never built to like Baker Mayfield as a quarterback. Now, I think he's smart.

I think he's fun. I think he's polarizing. He's great for my business. But in college, never forget with a police video. He did nothing wrong. He did nothing wrong and he ran from cops. His instinct was immaturity and bad judgment. Throwing footballs at people during pregame.

His instincts, his snap judgment is poor. Comes to the NFL, leads the NFL in interceptions. That's letting go of a ball when you shouldn't. And I'm not, listen, I'll defend him here. it's really hard to be a quarterback in this league. So the first 16, 17, 18, first 20 starts for a quarterback. I didn't bang on Tribisky until this year. This year I started banging on Trubisky because now I'm getting into 28 starts, 29, 30, 31.

So some of the interceptions are not all Baker's fault. And I don't think Cleveland's problems are all Baker's fault. But I'm not built to want Johnny Mansell, Baker Mayfield, James Winston, his quarterback. I don't like their judgment. I didn't like it in college and I don't like it in the pros. This whole, my presidents, my CEOs, and my quarterbacks. How do you handle chaos? How do you handle emotion?

What are your snap instinct judgments? Can you take a deep breath when the world's falling apart? I look to you to be Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson threw a pick in the Super Bowl. Dropped his head, looked up. That's it. That's what I want. So Baker today gets into a kind of a little te-ta-tee with a member

of the Cleveland media. By the way, the only people in America that are supporting him are the Cleveland media, and he's already calling them names. A penalty happened. The clock's not running. I don't know. Stop saying, but.

I just told you the clock was running, and we have a penalty. Do you want to give them the ball back? No, you don't play. You don't know it. It's just plain and simple. Was I happy with the job? No, we didn't score points. It's the dumbest question you could ask.

What? Is that a franchise quarterback? It looks like a franchise quarterback. frat boy. He's a frat boy. I'm not building my franchise. Deshawn Watson at a press conference. Somebody asked him a question. He laid out the playbook. Just look at Deshawn. Look at Tom. Look at Russell Wilson. Look at Andrew Luck. Look at Carson Wentz. Again, I've been critical of Aaron Rogers. But Aaron's such a super talent that I can live with some of this condescending nonsense. I can just live with some of his stuff. Aaron's so gifted. I mean, you know, there are people. There are.

people that are outliers. You know, it's, by the way, Patrick Mahomes. You don't see this stuff with him. So when I bang on Baker, grow up. You're a franchise quarterback. This is a $3, $2, $3 billion franchise. Snapping it, reporters, stupidest, dumbest, cop video, running, interceptions, throwing footballs at people.

It's just not my cup of tea. And the only people supporting him in the world, Cleveland Media. Now he's banging on them. Well, it's emotional discipline. He has none. no, that's exactly right. He has no emotional discipline at all. And that reflects, unfortunately, on the field. And you could argue that it didn't if he didn't have as many turnovers as he had. And as you said, you're attacking the very people that are the last line

of support that you have. Everyone else is just waiting to pounce on the Browns after the way that they started the season. It was so funny. I would hear this all the time with Baker. And again, I don't blame him for all of Cleveland struggles here. Yesterday, we did blame pie. 75% of Cleveland's problems are the executives who hired a position coach, who then brought in a very difficult personality at wide receiver, then traded away Baker Mayfield's best or second, probably a best offensive lineman. This is not all on Baker. So if his parents are watching, I'm not picking on your son.

He has no emotional discipline. None. There's enough of a body of evidence now that you can simply say that. I'm right. I won. I won this one. He's going to win games, by the way. Their schedule now is Charmin.

issue. They're going to win seven of their next eight games or six of the next eight games. I won this. I was right. This is not what a franchise quarterback does. They're falling apart. He leads the world in turnovers. And by the way, you know who leads the NFL on turnovers? James Winston and Baker Mayfield. The two guys I said, I don't like their personality for the position. James Winston, 91 turnover since the end of the league. It's not only number one. It's number one by like 15 turnovers. His bad judgment. Doesn't have emotional discipline.

Same with Baker. Baker's a lot closer to Johnny Mansell than any of you fanboys want to admit. Now, Baker's way more talented than Johnny Mansell. But they share the same lack of emotional discipline. I won this one. I won. I never said he was, I'll play it again. I never said he was going to be a bust.

I said he was a much better version of Case Keenum. He can win you games. When you give him a. bunch of people around him, but he cannot overcome Cleveland's dysfunction. Here's Baker again, attacking. I mean, why would you get into this with the last line of defense you have, the Cleveland media? The penalty happened. The clock's not running. I don't know. Stop saying, but I just told you the clock was already going to be at the penalty. Do you want to give them the ball back? No, you don't play. You don't know it. It's just plain and simple. Was I happy with the drive? No, we didn't

score points. It's a dumb expression you could ask. What? Three billion dollar franchise. That's your on field CEO. I just don't buy it. And he's talented. Not saying he's a bust.

Not saying he's a bust. Not saying he can't play. He's going to win a bunch of games. But this is who he is. So he was with a cop video, it's who he was in college. It's who he is in the NFL. It's not my cup of tea.

He's not built for me. He's always welcome on the couch. But these outbursts and this nonsense, I was right. And I don't do a show to be right. I always say my job is to get it right, not be right. That's why I do calling right, calling wrong on Mondays. What I'm wrong, I say it.

But this is what I was petrified of. This stuff. The picks, yelling, the nonsense, no emotional discipline. So there you go. You're too rough on him. No, I'm not. Well, also, I can see if this is, you know, a fan harassing you at dinner. Of course.

Or some outlier situation that you don't deal with every single week. And I don't defending the media. like we're dorks, who cares what we think or what we do. But this is part of your job as talking to the media. You're going to be asked hard questions. And when you're losing, those hard questions pierce you a little more. So be prepared for that. This is not a situation that you're new to or that you shouldn't expect or that's caught you off guard.

You have to go into those situations knowing I'm going to be asked questions. I don't want to answer questions to. And they're going to bring me back to a place where I lost. So I'm angry about it. Be calm. 25% minimum of your franchise quarterback sound. Now, a big chunk is production. The other thing is, can I trust you to be the CEO of the franchise?

You're the face of the franchise. If this was a wide receiver, I'm okay. Running back, linebacker, I don't care. It's the face of my franchise. He calls all the plays in the huddle. This is the guy you put on billboards. By the way, I also don't love his judgment on 20 commercials before you've done anything. I don't love that either, but it's money.

He's newly married. They want to buy a nice house. I'm not going to bang on the commercials. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't make myself a target and make proclamations, but I'm not going to bang him for the commercials. He got married. He's polarizing.

When people come up to you and offer you a million to dollars progressive. The commercials don't bother me. I don't even really care that when guys do commercials. That's what you do. Like you make money. This is part of the job. But when you're in a situation where you're losing, an entire world is coming for you.

And you get an opportunity to, just calm everyone down and just give an answer that's calm and collected and simplified. And even if you could ask the same question 40 times, just give the same answer. He has the ability to settle all of the disturbance that's going on right now with his words and his demeanor. Sam Darnold was publicly humiliated by his franchise, publicly humiliated by the inept New York Jets, the ghost comment. Sam Darnold sat there, took every question for three days, and was humiliation. humiliated by his franchise. When I do an interview with a writer,

you know what I do before I do it? I get into the right mindset. Here come the dumb questions. And you just deal with it. Here come any questions, and you have to be careful what you say. Okay, we got Albert Breer is going to be joining us next. Also, John Smoltz from the World Series,

Game 7 of the World Series. Tonight's going to be crazy. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the iHeart radio app. Guys, stop using your girlfriend shampoo. Get your own Dovemen Plus care.

Wide range designed to give your hair the strong resilience it needs available at Walmart. Yeah, the Baker Mayfield video is out there, him snapping at reporters. Again, it's not the end of the world as one moment, but the police video, throwing at people, all the interceptions, snapping at reporters. There is this constant lack of emotional discipline, very reactionary. I don't believe that is the mindset or the personality that you can have to be a 15-year franchise quarterback. The reason I like Darnold over Baker, I thought Baker was a more accurate thrower with a better throwing motion, but I thought Darnold was more adult and had the right temperament.

It's the reason I love Deshaun Watson. It's the reason I support Dach Prescott, though I think he's terribly limited as a thrower. Dack in November and December and the anthem controversy, See, DAC is always an adult. He's running the Cowboys. It's a $10 billion organization. Look at the Cowboys history. Roger Stobach, rock-solid human being.

Troy Akeman, leader. Romo's a great broadcaster. Good verbal leader. Dak, a leader. You get into these big position. Drew Bledsoe, Tom Brady, leaders in New England. You want these big formidable, you know,

John Elway ends up being a general manager or the teamie quarterback. You need these. Now, I'm not saying he can't pump a fist and yell at a coordinator for a second. It's sports. But this is why people are weary of quarterbacks with big personalities. Because you love the guy when it first comes in. He's raw, raw.

He gets the fans excited. He sells jerseys. He gets all this energy going. But what happens when it's not good? What happens when you lose a couple games? Are you able to temper all of that energy and all that excitement and all that personality when it comes to crunch time? That's why people are weary of people with big personalities.

Do you have emotional discipline while you have all that personality? And this is why. This is why the fear is there. Yeah. I mean, it's you go look at all the great quarterbacks. The Peyton Mannings, the Brady's, the Breeze, they're very good in crisis. Like they handle the microphone, they handle the huddle. That's what we ask you.

Albert Breer is going to be joining us. You know him. Lead strategist, MMQB, lead content guy, great NFL reporter. via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Listen, the Baker stuff, I'll show it again here. It's not the end of the world, but, Albert, you have a lot of sources through this league. There's got to be some people in Cleveland today that are just kind of rolling their eyes, right? That front office, this is not a great look.

Well, I'll give you one side of it, which is what everybody thought about him coming out of Oklahoma. And this is part of what they liked about him. His defiance, I mean, look, this is the kid who was told he couldn't play in the big, 12 started Texas Tech as a true freshman. He's told he couldn't play there anymore. Went to a better program, started Oklahoma. He was told he couldn't play in the NFL, became the number one overall pick. So there is part of this where you want to be yourself and he's being himself here.

That said, everything you just talked about, being the CEO, you're part of management when you're a quarterback. And I think a lot of people feel like the way the quarterback is, that becomes the personality of the team. You see it with Tom Brady's teams. You see it with Peyton Manning's teams. and I think to some degree you've sort of seen that with the Browns. I know some people in that front office weren't pleased with the way the end of that game was handling the sideline. And the discipline issue can certainly be correlated to the way that Baker's handling things the last few weeks. And I just look right down the list, Colin, a half a dozen fall start penalties, 13 penalties in total.

It's just issue after issue after issue on the discipline side. And it's hard not to tie that to the way that Baker's handled some things over the course of his second year. I said when Baker came into the league, I don't think he's gifted enough to overcome dysfunction. But I think if you put him in a really good organization, you know, if you give him Sean McVey with the Rams, I think he'd win a bunch of games. Yeah. But Cleveland's dysfunctional. And my fear here is that Freddie Kitchens is going to take the fall here. He will make it through the season, right?

Or are we sure of that? I think unless, you know, we see more scenes like we saw last Sunday. I think Freddie is going to make it through the season, and they make a decision from there. Look, this is a precious commodity you have, and they're in a critical point in their franchise right now, where you've got the quarterback on the rookie contract, you can put infrastructure around him. We saw that what that did for the Eagles. We saw that what that did for the Rams, where we see what that's doing for the Chiefs right now. And job number one for John Dorsey and Freddie Kitchens and everybody else coming out of this season,

assuming everybody's still there, will be fixing that offensive line. Carson once had a huge year two, probably would have won MVP if he had stayed healthy through 2017. Patrick Mahomes did win MVP in year two in 2018. What are those guys have in common? They had all pro offensive linemen in front of them. Jason Peters, Lane Johnson, Eric Fisher, Mitchell Schwartz, great offensive lineman in front of them. They got to get Baker some help. That's the first piece of this before we talk about anything else.

I want to talk about the trade deadline yesterday. Dallas got very close on Jamal Adams, but there was a third or a fourth round. disagreement. What I was troubled with, and I think it's a systematic issue, when the Patriots landed Muhammad Sunu, you didn't know anything about it until the story came out. There were four different Jets players rumored to be moved. Who's leaking this stuff? Is Adam Gase won and done? Is this, is he? Here's the thing. Here's the thing. I would tell you about just the idea that information gets out there. That's the downside to what we've seen over the course of the last month.

Trade talks are far more open than they used to be. You hear names that you would never have heard five or ten years ago being bandied about, and this is the downside of it. When that doesn't work out, when you can't come to an agreement with a player that you were discussing in trade discussions, then you see the other side of it.

Players coming back into your locker room and you've got to explain to them what happened. And the jets are in that position where, well, right now there's a bunch of players in that team that weren't drafted or signed by the head coach or the general manager. And so I think there's a feeling in that in that building that everybody was going to be available. And Joe Douglas was willing to talk on everybody. It doesn't mean that every single

player was on the block, but he was going to listen to every phone call that came in. Outside of Sam Donald and Quinn and Williams, there was a price tag on everybody's head. Again, that doesn't mean he's not happy with Jamal Adams or Marcus May or even Levyon Bell. It just means that they're trying to rebuild the team in their image. They want to build up some draft capital. And they were willing to look at different ideas. to do it. Again, being open to those sorts of discussions, though, the downside of it is, if you talk about a player in a trade discussion and you don't move them, you got to deal with the fallout on the other end. You've covered New England close for years, former beat reporter

Boston Globe, and Lamar Jackson is the kind of quarterback that historically, Russell Wilson's beaten Belichick and Foxborough, so did Kaepernick, so did Cam Newton. Russell almost beat him twice. Much like Nick Sabin, Sabin struggles with quarterbacks who do things off script. Belichick similarly has struggled the first time he faces a guy off script. You know this team as well as anybody. How do you think this kind of turns out? What do you forecast for Baltimore and New England? What are you hearing?

Well, I'll tell you this. I think they feel internally like they may have the best defense of the Belichick era there. They're deep at linebacker, they're athletic at linebacker. They're deep in the secondary. They're athletic in the secondary. And that's going to help them contain Lamar Jackson. they've seen this running game before, too. They played against Kaepernick and Greg Roman's run game all the way back in 2012.

They had Greg Roman in the division when he was with the Buffalo Bills running that same run game with Tyrod Taylor, a quarterback. So they've got experience having dealt with this run game before. Lamar Jackson's a different athlete, no question about it. They're going to have to deal with him a little differently. But I'll tell you, Colin, what Bill's better at than anyone else is making an offense play left-handed. He's going to make the Ravens have to do what they don't want to do. He's going to try to make them play from behind, and I think he's going to try to make Lamar Jackson beat him from the pocket.

And that's what's so fascinating about Sunday's game. Can Lamar Jackson, the passer, beat the Patriots? I don't think he's going to let the runner beat him. Good stuff. Albert Breer, Monday morning quarterback. All sorts of good stuff. Thank you, Albert, for showing up once again late notice. Thank you, sir.

All right, thanks, Colin. All right. But by the way, are you doing the Baker thing? Okay, I'll let you do it. Joy Taylor with the news. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

So, Baker Mayfield has responded to the video, arguing with a reporter today. We're going to play the video one more time before we read his tweets. The penalty happened. The clock's not running. I don't know. Stop saying, but I just told you the clock was running. Do you want to give them the ball back? No, you don't play.

You don't know it. It's just plain and simple. Was I happy with the phone? No, we didn't score points. Dumbest question you could ask. What? So he has tweeted, everybody wants to hear the truth until they actually get it. I am who I am and always have been.

Don't call it emotional when it's convenient and then passion when it fits. I don't. I care about winning. So yeah, I'm frustrated. If I was to act like it's okay to lose, then y'all would say that I've gotten complacent. My sense of urgency is at an all-time high and if I offend anybody along the way, that's too bad. I wouldn't have done this either. again he's emotional

I wouldn't have run to Twitter to by the way his first statement in that tweet is incorrect I've never ever knocked you for your passion there's a difference between passion and running from the cops

that's just bad judgment and interceptions that's bad judgment this is bad judgment I don't mind passion I also don't like when people use the word passion to describe an emotional reaction

as if people who don't have over the top emotional reactions aren't passionate. Yeah, exactly. Like, what does that mean? So your way of expressing yourself is the only way to explain that you care? Everyone on your team cares. You think that Sam Donald doesn't care. Nobody likes to lose.

That's why I say when teens are tanking, the players aren't tanking. Coaches aren't tanking. Nobody likes to lose. You don't make it to the professional level being okay with losing. These guys are all ridiculously competitive. Of course. This is the point. This is the exact moment

when all this passion and emotional reaction should be absent. This is the time where you settle everyone down. This is when you gather everyone together. You don't have an emotional, visceral reaction to a very obvious question. It's Wednesday. You shouldn't even be talking.

Don't even answer the question. Reporters are going to do this. This is their job. Do, are there no... Does there know when they're doing, like, media training with Baker Mayfield. This is exactly why having a strong culture and a coach and GM, an owner that are a lines and a coach especially that has a no-nonsense operation running.

This would never happen in New England. At a time, it would never happen in Pittsburgh. Could you see this happening in Seattle, Kansas City? No, because you would know this is not how we do things. By the way, it's just, when you looked at that video of Baker, was he the only one standing there? look like there were seven guys around him and they were, it just doesn't ever seem quite organized there. It's not buttoned up.

I thought Albert Brewer made a great point. If you look at what Cleveland's done poor this year, it's been overly emotional penalties, right? It's a lot of, it's lack of discipline penalties. So Cleveland's, their penalties are just lacking discipline on audibles and on cadence. Isn't that the knock on Baker? Lack of discipline. Therefore, it's hard not to, as Albert said, tie.

the two together, that your quarterback who can lack discipline is leading a young team that penalties indicate lack discipline. By the way, no one's offended. Who's offended? This isn't offend me. It's just frustrating because nobody wants a dud. Nobody wants teams to go 0 and 16. Nobody wants the Browns to be bad.

It's better when the Browns are good. Everyone wants Baker to be successful. And these are the type of things that, like I said earlier, keep people from bringing in quarterbacks with big personalities because they know in crisis time it's just going to be more and more emotion and not more discipline. That's what happens every time. So load management has already begun for the Clippers. The team announced that Kauai Leonard will sit out tonight's game against the Jazz. He is expected to return tomorrow against the Spurs. This is the first back-to-back for the Clippers this season. Obviously, he missed 22 games for the Raptors last season to make sure he

was healthy and ready for the playoffs. It worked out pretty well for them. It does feel a little bit early for him to be sitting, but everyone's kind of reacting to this. Like, oh, it's so early in the season for him to be sitting. But this was the plan. It shouldn't be a shock to anyone that he is wrestling on a back-to-back. It doesn't matter if it's early in the season. Yeah, I was told, what I was told is he would play fewer than 70 games. I was told that by somebody inside the Glipper organization that, you know, they don't know the number,

but if they went to their calendar and kind of looked at back-to-back games, and if he played 69 games, because it worked last year, that would be a very reasonable number. 68, 69 games now. Remember, Paul George is a reasonable facsimile to Kauai. So I think they're going to get to a point where Kauai's off, Paul plays. Right. So that's why Paul and Kauai are the perfect combo. They're very similar players.

They can really, one of them out, the other one, you know, Paul can step up and give you a 34 in any night in this league. And Kauai's been incredible to start the season. I don't love load management for fans, but I don't know the other way around it because the season is impossibly long and back-to-back's are brutal. And while it is very early in the season, this is how it's going to go.

So I'm sure they're spacing it out properly and had a plan in place well before the season started for how all this was going to work. So you want to be ready for the postseason. That's just how it goes. Finally, Hussein Bolt is a track and field legend, eight-time Olympic gold medalist.

He retired from track back in 2017, but he was asked if he's willing to give another profession a try. So what would it take to get you on an NFL team right now? What would that offer have to be? The Patriots are Aaron Rogers called me. If the Patriots are Aaron Rogers?

They call me. They call me. I'm ready. It's fun to think about, but we always get into this talk, especially during the combine with track guys, like this guy ran track and is obviously incredibly fast. He never played football, right? No. So, yes, he's the fastest man on earth, probably still to this day.

Here he is running a 40 at the Super Bowl. You know, for a sprinter? I think that was actually in Houston. He's huge for a sprinter. He's an incredible athlete. I do think he plays some soccer also as well. Yeah, that's him running a 4-2-2 40-yard dash at the Super Bowl. He's 6'5.

That all sounds good, but if you can't catch the ball, then it really doesn't matter how fast you are. So his hands are really what's important. You can be quick, not fast, and be a great receiver. But it would be fun to see. It's also very interesting. It's only two players that are teams who'd be interested in playing for the two best quarterbacks.

He's smart. He is. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. By the way, the Discover at Miles card automatically

match the Miles. You earn first year, 35 becomes 70,000 limitations apply. Discover.com slash travel. I thought this was interesting. So PFF judges, players, right? They grade players. They had their highest graded coaches this year, and John Harbaugh for the Ravens is the highest graded coach.

12th year in Baltimore, the older Harbaugh. I think it's very interesting. So Jim is the coaching rock star. John is the coaching rock. Is that whereas Jim is intense and dramatic. and can be overbearing. John is loyal. But when you match, when you put their coaching resumes up next to each other,

they're completely different careers. But I think if you ask GMs in the NFL today and college A.Ds who they'd rather hire, it wouldn't be the rock star. It would be the rock John Harbaugh. Harbaugh's problem, and I'm to blame for this too, we don't put John Harbaugh, is remarkable. If I said there was a coach, 10 and 6 in the playoffs, beaten Belichick twice in Foxborough, and as a Super Bowl, he'd be a top three coach in the league. I never do. I say Belichick, Andy Reid,

Sean Payton. Why don't I? First of all, it's my fault. The reason I don't is because he entered very uniquely. He was a special teams coach. So I don't go, brilliant offensive guru, Sean McVeigh, Andy Reid. I don't go, brilliant defensive mind, Belichick, Pete Carroll, Tomlin. He's a special team. team's guy with a really loud, successful brother who doesn't climb the corporate ladder. He's been in Baltimore for 12 years, only one losing season. Super Bowl, 10 and 6th. This guy is a great coach. What's really remarkable is what he has done with Lamar Jackson.

So remember, Baltimore was lousy when he got there. They'd had, I don't remember what it was, John, like six, seven straight losing seasons. They weren't great. He took him over. But what's funny about John Harbaugh is how many coaches in this league could take Lamar Jackson and instantly change the entire offense from an unathletic non-runner flacco to a runner Lamar Jackson, boom, next week they won. I mean, Lamar Jackson started 14 games. I think he's 11 and 3. So I think it's up to guys like me who have a microphone.

We need to put John Harbaugh in that elite class. Super Bowl, 10 and 6, beaten Belichick. what he has done with Lamar Jackson is all-time stuff. It really is amazing. And I think I like New England this weekend, a lot of people like Baltimore. But this is an all-time great defense. This is still a baby quarterback. I mean, Lamar Jackson is still a kid.

We know how Belichick does against kid quarterbacks. Lamar's a kid. So he's going to struggle throwing the ball downfield. But I saw it was interesting. pro football focus made John Harbaugh, the number one coach. And it's like, you know what? That's on me. Why don't I mention him with Sean Payton?

Sean's only got one Super Bowl. Why don't I mention him with Andy Reid? Andy Reid doesn't have a Super Bowl. Like, why am I mentioning all these guys? He's kind of weirdly low-key. And his brother's loud, and he was a special teams guy, and he's super loyal, and he's not a career climber. And Baltimore, let's face it, they're in a division with Belichick's never

had a Hall of Fame quarterback in his division. He's had Big Ben in his division. And they're not a very noisy franchise under him. No, very defensive lead. But that's great. Harbaugh deserves, and I like Jim Harbaugh. But John Harbaugh right now is the better coach. John Harbaugh is the better coach.

The worldview from above is Harbaugh is loyal, excellent, can pivot, low drama, intense, smart. You get all the upside, none of the downside. Coming up next, John Smoltz, Game 7 World Series tonight on Fox. Smoltsy's been in these games before. These pitchers look worn out. Max Scherzer, Zach Granky, who can get to the fifth inning. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHard Radio app.

Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. All right, let's not waste any time. Game 7 of the World Series tonight on Fox. At this point, it is a battle of attrition. I thought Justin Verlander looked noticeably, tired. Can you blame these guys? 162 games, series after series. Let's go to John Smoltz, the Hall of Famer, Fox Sports Baseball analyst via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So Zach Granky goes tonight, John, and he's a great pitcher, eight and one with the Astros,

but he struggled a little bit in the playoffs, and he has not gone, not given them a ton of innings. It's game seven. What do you expect from Zach Grinke tonight? Well, you know what? Zach may have the right personality for this game. I don't think he recognizes anything that's going on around him. He's a very good athlete, but to your point, he has not delivered a five-inning performance, a clean five-inning performance. So I think for AJ Hinch, he's going to look at the first sign that he doesn't see what

Zach Grinke's doing with the secondary stuff and he'll go to the bullpen. This game cannot get away from either team. And I think for Zach Grinke, if he can get out of the gate well, that's a good sign and use his fastball and the ability for that change up. That's going to be a key for him because he works off of changing speeds and location. His location has been a little bit off for me. And that just tells me that he hasn't been connected with his mechanics. And if he can do that, come out and get some outs with his location. And the Astros are going to be okay.

And they can turn the ball over and shorten the game down for their bowman. Washington, now the Nats. You got Max Scherzer. There's some next stuff, some back stuff. He's going to be running on high emotion. And maybe that gets him through it. Maybe the adrenaline, John, is enough for Max Scher. Take me to a game seven.

Do you sort of leave your body a little bit and just the competitive firing guys like you and Max take over and get you past the aches and pains? Yeah, you've got to be a little careful, though, that you don't rush those RPMs early on because you are going to have a lot of emotion. This is what you dream about. At least it's what I dreamt about getting a chance to pitch three seventh games with something special. And Max, with all that he can do, has to make sure that he doesn't live up to his first name in Max effort too early. Because that's really the only thing that keeps great pitchers from getting in the groove early.

And he wasn't at his best the first time he pitched. He fought everything, but he fought and grinded through the game and only gave up two runs. for whatever reason the first inning has been an issue in the postseason. You got some great lineups. And I think what really the mindset you've got to have because it's been a long year and you are on adrenaline and you may be a little bit towards the empty tank, you have to grind each inning like it's the ninth inning. This will be the longest game you ever pitch in your life mentally.

And you just can't let the game get away from you. You don't have to pitch perfect. You just have to pitch each inning like the ninth inning. And when you pitch a ninth inning, you don't want to put a crooked number up there. And so that's really what the mindset for each pitcher is going to be. And you try to never give your manager a reason to go to the bullpen. And that's the one thing that you hope that each pitcher can do

so that it doesn't become quick hooks. Okay, let me ask you, when you were pitching in game sevens, did you, for instance, sleep the night before? It's got to be different, John. Your little league, Babe Ruth, Game Sevens, did you struggle to sleep? were you take me to what was your mind and body like as you took the mound for the Braves. You had 21 years in the Biggs,

but I don't think there was anything like those three nights. Yeah, I actually slept great. And I took a big nap before the game in the ballpark on the training room table. I think I missed pre-game speech by Ted Turner. I was relaxed. I think the bigger the game, the more I was relaxed. And I really enjoyed it.

I've heard other players do that when they take a nap. It's a good sign. And for me, that game was everything that I thought it was going to be when I was seven, eight, nine years old. It lived out everything I thought. I was never carried away with the pressure. I loved it. I only wish I had a few more years under my belt so I could have told my manager to go back to the dugout like Jack did. But, you know, I think if you can be prepared that you're not afraid to fail and that the moment's not too big and you can slow your heartbeat down, you have a great chance of being successful.

Because when you get to this moment, no matter what anyone tells you, if you've never been. been through it, the slower heartbeat guys are the only ones that are going to be successful, in my opinion, because these are the games where you do things you wouldn't normally do, and you look back and go, why did I do that? Why did detention take me to do that? It's normal to feel that way. It's a little not normal to be able to process it and slow it down. And I think that's where you see big moments, maybe unexpected heroes, but those players rise to the occasion. And, you know, maybe in the regular season, it doesn't have an advantage to have that kind of slow heartbeat, but it sure does in the postseason. Finally, a couple minutes left.

Astros are favored. They're at home. The Nats, Mike Rizzo, they got to feel like this is such a dream season for them. Strasbourg lost night, worth every penny. My feeling is the road team tonight, the Nats, there's a little house money feel. Shouldn't Houston, Zach Granky, at home? this roster, I feel like the Nats come in a little looser. Am I wrong on that? Yeah, there's no doubt. I mean, you know, ultimately you tell yourself whatever you need to

tell yourself to get to as loose as you can. Hey, it's just another game. We're just doing this, but they've had our fourth elimination game. But when the game gets to the point where the other team can create pressure on you or put heat on you, that's where it's no longer the freedom on the ability to play loose. If the Houston and Astros impose their way, it's going to be a nerve-wrecking game for the nationals. But conversely, the same thing. If the nationals come out early, take the crowd out of it, put heat on AJ and who to go to, when to go to them, that's where the experience of guys that have been there, done that

really, really play out. And I'm looking for those moments in the first or second inning that really tilt the game from a strategy standpoint and obviously from an emotional standpoint. Once you get into the middle of the game, all that's gone. It'll be more like a regular season game. But I can't wait for it. Just one minute left. Did you feel it was an advantage having been in a game seven as you went to your next game seven?

You felt it was an advantage? Absolutely. Okay. That game in Pittsburgh did me so much confidence that I felt it did. It's a big advantage. All right. Good stuff. John Smoltz, Fox Baseball analyst, eight-time All-Star, 21 years, Hall of Famer,

Sa Young, MVP in the NLCS. John, thank you for coming on our show. My pleasure. All right, game seven, you don't get many of these folks. You don't get many. America's Washington tonight. You're going to get Zach Granky. You're going to get Max Scherzer who's injured.

You're going to get this is what you, I mean, these are the two richest starting staffs. Here we go, rich in terms of talent. And there's a lot of money on the table. The Strasbourg delivered last night for the Nats. Can Granky at home do it tonight for the Astros? You know, Houston, and everybody felt all year. When you watch Houston play the Yankees, Houston was better than the Yankees.

They fielded the ball better. They ran the bases better. They hit better, and their clutch situational pitching was better. Houston was better than the Yankees. Don't blame anybody. It's not the manager. Houston was a better team. Nationals are crazy.

National starting pitching is rock solid. They've gone on the road. They took a two-old lead in this series in Houston. They played with total poise. Their situational hitting's been great. Their pitching was remarkable. The manager, the chemistry. So this is really fitting.

This is a seven-game series. Dodgers bullpen was not good enough to get here. The Yankees hitting, starting pitching, not good enough to get here. These are the two best teams. It's a game seven. This is what sports is all about. Crazy. Crazy good.

Can't wait for tonight. Nick Wright, Joel Clat, Sam Monson, John Smoltz all joined us. S-F-Y is around the corner. And I'm fired up. Tonight tonight's a corona. Feed up. Three and a half hours. Greg Tui is from Houston.

Greg, very stressful. Suck it up and deal with it. Yeah, I'll be a little more stress than you. 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 SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo.

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