The Herd with Colin Cowherd - World Series, Rajon Rondo, Cowboys, and the Lakers

Episode Date: October 24, 2018

Colin discusses game 1 of the World Series, why he sides with Houston Rockets PG Chris Paul over Los Angeles Lakers PG Rajon Rondo, why Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is a risk taker, and why the Los Angeles Lakers won't be firing HC Luke Walton anytime soon. Guests include Albert Breer, Joel Klatt, and Rob Parker. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Find your local station for The Heard at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the Iheart Radio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and right here, FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Good morning.

Good morning. World Series. We got NBA stuff going on. NFL is going to be a huge week. We have a pack show today. Today is just a great show. This is such a good time of the year. And I wanted to start with this.

You ever have a first day on the job? Heck, your first week at a job. Raise your hand. If you're driving in your car, don't raise your hand. Keep them on the wheel. Otherwise, raise your hand. If you had a first day on the job in the last 10 years, you know what that, you're always in that first day on the job fog.

You've got to meet a bunch of people and you can't remember half their names. where's the bathroom? You got the IT guys trying to set you up. You got to go to human resources and fill out of that first day on the job, that first week on the job, you don't know what floor this boss is on. You forget which hallway to take to your cubicle. You're in that first week on the job, first day on the job, fog. And the Dodgers were in a fog last night.

warm weather Los Angeles cold wet, damp, windy Fenway Park. Fenway Park's the corkiest park in baseball. This is not an excuse. I still think Boston's going to win the series. And I think Boston has more good players. But the Dodgers got a break last night. Chris Sale, the ace for the Red Sox, was not on his best stuff. Couldn't finish the fifth.

It didn't matter. The Dodgers didn't look comfortable defensively. I mean, good God, Fenway Park has a garage door in center. You're telling all these guys in L.A., National League guys who never play there. Yeah, there's this ballpark. There's a monster in left and a garage door in center, huh? They didn't look comfortable. They didn't manage comfortable.

In fact, the only two guys that actually hit, one of them was Manny Machado. The other's David Fries. Not coincidentally, guys who had played and hit at Fenway Park before. There was a moment in the seventh inning, Jock Peterson came in, and this always happens. Whenever you substitute a guy in, the ball finds him immediately, right? So Jock Peterson comes in. Joe Buck with a call. Listen.

Pops it up, left side, long run. Peterson just ended a game. Can't make the play. It's a double. The ball usually finds the new guy. And on a cold night, Jack Peterson could not get there. I mean, he didn't know where the bathrooms were.

He didn't know where the cafe was. He was just dealing with the IT guy. You ever gone to summer camp? Joy, do you go to summer camp? I went to summer camp as a kid. I did. The first two days are chaos. All these kids, all these kids,

all these counselors. How do I get to the lake? What events do I got to be part of? It's chaos. And you're just in a first day of summer camp fog. First day at work fog. Dodgers looked so uncomfortable last night. And by the way, Fenway Park, I've been to it,

is so quirky and so unique from every other park in Major League Baseball. Forget the garage Doran Center. The fans are right on top of you. In Los Angeles, fans are more casual and they show up in the second inning. At Fenway, they show up at batting practice, and they're right on top of you. It looked dark. It look cold. It look wet.

was windy. This was the classic example, and you've seen this before. A warm weather team in the NFL goes to a cold weather site, or sometimes the cold weather bears go down to warm weather Miami and just melt. Dodgers looked out of sorts all night. I didn't love a managerial move. Pitching move. We'll get to that in a little bit. But this is not a shock. That is the quirkiest. Home field advantage doesn't generally mean a ton in baseball. It's basically, it's a lot. It's basically, if you got your ace going, you quiet the crowd. But Fenway Park's, one of those rare spots. Fans on you, weather or October, totally loud and intense,

with all these quirks, nooks and crannies, Dodgers need to show up early for batting practice, take more infield because they even got a break last night. And they just didn't look right at all, at all. And by the way, the National League series they just came out of was a chess match, analytically driven. Boston's a totally different team. Boston's like, here's our nine guys.

They're really good. Better than yours beat us. This is not going to be a fight against Mayweather where it's jab, jab, move, now this is Tyson and his prime. They're coming after you. The hyper-aggressive Red Sox put their nine guys out there and they just come after you. Not that they don't like analytics, but it's not the brewers. It's not multiple trips to the amount.

They're going to put out their same guys. The Dodgers went analytics with their lineup. yesterday, outfought the room, and looked absolutely like they were in the wrong place, at least last night. All right, I want to shift to this, and I'm going to get back to some of that in a second, and I got a couple of stories on Amari Cooper. Troy Ackman doesn't like to move necessarily for the Cowboys, but let me go to the NBA quick. So there was a fight in the NBA, Saturday night, Rockets Lakers, and Chris Paul was in the

middle of it. He plays for the Rockets, and Rondo was in the middle of it. and Rondo plays with LeBron James. And like I said, you blame whoever you want. It looks like Rondo spits. And Rondo got more game suspension than Chris Paul did. And Rondo fired back yesterday. He really fired back.

By the way, fired back at LeBron's best friend. He said, everybody wants to believe Chris Paul's a good guy. They don't know he's a horrible teammate. They don't know how he treats people. I was going to let it rest. But I have kids and I teach my kids to speak up for themselves. and, you know, don't let the world tell your story. Well, I would never bring up an athlete's kids,

but since Rondo brought up his kids, let me ask him this. Do you also tell your kids, if you've been difficult, every place you work, you get a reputation, and you're not going to get the benefit of the doubt here. Tell your kids that. That's also part of the story here, since you brought them up. The bottom line is Chris Paul is demanding. I've worked with a lot of demanding people.

You can work with demanding people. I'm demanding. I've worked briefly with difficult people, and they're gasoline on any fire, they're instigators, law provocateurs, they're trying to start trouble. All you need to know about Chris Paul is the Pelicans and the Clippers got worse when he left, and the Rockets got better when he arrived, and he's always gotten along with his coaches. Doc Rivers and Chris Paul, the reputation was players resented how well they got along. that Doc Rivers and Chris Paul were too close.

Rondo can't get along with anybody. Rondo couldn't get along with Doc Rivers. He couldn't get him out of Boston fast enough. He couldn't get along with Rick Carlisle in Dallas. Rick Carlisle, I covered in Portland. Maybe the nicest guy I've ever met in pro sports. Rick Carlisle is the nicest guy in the NBA. Everybody loves Rick Carlisle.

Rick Carlisle could not get Rondo out of town fast enough. So there's a big difference between demanding, Chris Paul's demanding. He was demanding. Blake Griffin, hit your free throws. Learned a hit a three, Blake Griffin. DeAndre Jordan, be in the right place at the right time. That's demanding. That is demand.

By the way, Blake had a nice night last night, but he's disappeared without Chris Paul. So is DeAndre Jordan. Okay, demanding. I've worked with demanding people. I'm all for it. Difficult people are impossible. And so if you're going to bring up your kids about rules,

and I would never bring up your kids, but it should also be noted that you should tell your kids that life's a resume based on choices. Rondo's not going to get the benefit of the doubt in this fight. He's not going to get the benefit. He's not as good as Chris Paul. Chris Paul has multiple examples where his left teams they've gotten worse, entered a team they got better.

I mean, New Orleans was garbage. Chris Paul ends up in New Orleans. They have their best years. Leaves that go into the tank. Clippers were embarrassing for years. Goes to Los Angeles. Clippers aren't embarrassing. Beat the cross-down Lakers.

Rockets were kind of like plateaued. Oh, he goes over to James Harden. It won't work. Oh, it does. He even got along with James. Harden, who's a guard who shoots a lot. You can say what you want about Chris Paul, but he's worked with Doc Rivers, he worked in New Orleans, he's working with Dan Tony, he's worked, tell me who Rondo's work with. I mean, tell me, nobody. That's not demanding. That's difficult.

And by the way, LeBron and Chris Paul are best friends. And you just threw LeBron's best friend under the bus. Not good. That relationship, I guarantee you, is going to be strained from this point forward. I mean, LeBron won't say it, but this is why

six teams, five years. Chris Paul's not been on six teams in five years. Chris Paul was in New Orleans, doing a great job. And then they tried to trade him to the Lakers and the NBA, no, no, no, he's too good. That's not unfair. So he ends up with the clippers.

He stayed with the clippers for years and years and years and years. And then finally, he got tired of the Clippers dysfunction and went to Houston, and he'll end his career in Houston. Three stops in the NBA is no biggie. Six teams, five years, that's a you problem. That's on you. Six teams, five years is on you. So whoever started the fight, Rondo can't come out and throw arrows and sling arrows

at Chris Paul. Chris Paul's got a lot more friends in this league than Rondo does. He's a better player than Rondo is, and that goes without saying. You know, Joy, I've said this before. I understand analytics. I am for some analytics. But you like man analytics also. But I don't want to turn on the TV and watch nerds.

Okay, I like man-aletics. Now, I don't care if it's a 50-50 split. And I do believe, especially in a big volume sport like baseball, that there are certain things over time that work well, that don't necessarily work well situationally in October. John Smoltz will be on in a couple hours. He and I agree on that. But there was a moment last night for the Dodgers.

I totally disagree. They want analytics over analytics, and I absolutely hated it. And Troy Aikman doesn't hate it, but he said he's nervous about this Amari Cooper move. That's 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 I-Hard Radio app.

By the way, Fenway Park tonight will be a zoo because now they've got a lead in the series. They smell blood in the water. Fenway Park is going to be so inhospitable tonight for the Dodgers. It'll be the craziest crowd of the year in Major League Baseball. The West Coast Dodgers down all one facing David Price. By the way, Mani Machado has done very well, has owned David Price through the years. But the righties for the Red Sox now are hot. And I think Dodgers are throwing a lefty tonight. good luck. I want to say this, though. I've said this before.

Baseball managers in 2018 with analytics don't do much. That's why the Yankees Red Sox managers combined don't make as much as the Boise State football coach. And I'm not joking. The Boise State football coach coaching 12 games a year in that conference makes more than

Alex Cora and Aaron Boone combined. That's all you need to know about baseball managers. They're not going to pay many money. They don't do that much. But what they do that we all see is go to the bullpen. They walk out to the mound, they go to the bullpen, and we see it. It's right there. That's a big decision by the manager.

Ooh, he made the call to pull out. So last night, it's not that I'm anti-analytics, but some stuff works on a volume level, on a scale level, but it doesn't necessarily work in October. And Dave Roberts in the seventh inning takes out Pedro Baez, who has been on fire, was terrible early, been on fire for a month. He just blew the ball past two guys. okay and Dave Roberts is in his binder

well I want to get the lefty lefty matchup you know Dave Roberts goes tactical over practical and he brings in Alex Wood well well I like the matchup and the numbers say dude

Pedro Baez blowing the ball bass people a man who's pitching the best of his career he's been on fire for a month and he's got a hitter. It's not a great, not one of the Red Sox's best hitters coming up, and you pull him. Because, you know, the binder,

hold on, I got to look down at the binder, and Joe Buck with a call. And Nunez, a good bad ball hitter off of left-handers. That is hammered into, pinch-hit three-run, home run, Nunez. And the Red Sox open up game one. You know, and John Small,

This is driving him crazy. A-Rod, this is driving him crazy. A-Rod talked about this again last night. Alex Rodriguez. I'm flabbergasted by that move. Look, we always talk about a point guard. In order to be good, you have to see the floor. A manager has to do the same thing.

What metric are they previewed that you take out bias who's dominating, faces two hitters, strikes them both out. It didn't make any sense, do you? Scripted baseball does not work in October. It could work during the season. scripted baseball does not work in October. Yeah, there's a big difference between 162 games and the pressure of an October game in Fenway Park.

Don't overthink the room in situations. You've got a man who's blowing it by people, who's never had more confidence, he's had a great month, you keep him in and let him just, listen, man, you see this in sports all the time, where a great player in baseball, A-Rod gets into a funk and loses his confidence. We've seen LeBron James multiple times. You saw Joy in Miami. Lose confidence in his jumper. When you get pro athletes and they feel great about themselves and they got the chest puffed out and they're doing it, just let them go.

Man, it's hard enough to be a visiting team from a warm weather situation to play in that stadium this time of the year. And you've got a guy that feels great about himself and you're going to a binder. And by the way, last year in Game 7 of the World Series, Charlie Morton's a picture. for the Astros, a starter, and they put him in the bullpen. He goes the last four innings of the game. Where are the analytics on that? There are no analytics that say, use Charlie Morton, a starter. No, they brought in a man, Justin Verlander, a world-class Hall of Fame starter.

Come out of the bullpen. You go with man-alytics in these big spots. I trust Charlie Morton. I trust Justin Verlander. This idea that you can use all these analytics pocket protector stuff, It works for a lot of games. But when you get to the Western Conference finals, and it's Kevin Durant, and you got,

LeBron against him, throw that crap out. These are the two alphas in the league. Let them roll. Who's hot? And I think Dave Roberts last night, I think he did himself a huge disservice. I think the Dodgers front office, and that's the kind of stuff in baseball now.

We don't see managers do much. The pitching change, we see them do it. And when it doesn't go well, it just sticks out. It's just a flashing red light. Not a good look. And Smolts and A-Rod both called this puppy. Joy with the News. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So, Pat Shermer said yesterday that he expects Eli Manning to remain the Giants quarterback after the trade deadline. I don't know why that's shocking, but naturally this led to Eli being asked about it. I haven't thought about the trade scenario. This organization is the only team I've ever played for, and the only thing I know, and I love the New York Giants.

I can't. It's hard to imagine being with another organization. It sounds like Eli is kind of going to make it really difficult. I mean, you say that, and it's, although I think at this point, can you go to that emotional well if you're Eli again? Can you go to the well? Or people like, dude, you can, last year, it was the puppy dog face, Eli Manning. Right.

And everybody was like, hey, you're picking. But now you're one in six. It's time to rip the band-aid off. Well, because last year, it was mostly put on coaching for why. Like, Eli wasn't playing well, but there was a lot of pressure on McAdoo to get it together. Yeah. So there was kind of a built-in excuse there. I don't understand this trade scenario.

Where did this come from? Who's trading for Eli Manning? No, what they're doing is tanking. The Giants are actually in the Raiders are trading away good players. That's called tanking in the NFL. Because in the NFL, you have to play hard every week or you get hurt. The way to tank is what the Raiders are doing. Khalil Mack, have them.

Amari Cooper. And then you lose a bunch of games, get a dot pick, and you go get a new quarterback. The Giants, essentially, by trading Snacks Harrison is really good. And by moving Eli Apple, what you're saying is, we're giving up on this season. We want to have a top three draft pick and get a quarterback. Also, Manning has a no-track. trade clause in this contract. So, it's really up to him. So John Gurdon's second stint as head coach of the Raiders is off to a rough start, as you just mentioned. And now it sounds like

he's quickly lost the trust of many of his players. According to Vic tofer of the athletic, he said, quote, many of the players I've talked to question the coach's accountability. It was the way the trades were handled that is bothering veteran players. When what you say and what you do are two different things, there's a problem. One player who requested an anonymity. said. I've never, ever, ever understood why organizations feel the need to tell the team that nobody's getting traded or moved. I don't understand the purpose of it. I never will. You back yourself into a corner. You're almost guaranteed to have to then break your promise, a promise that you do not have to make because you are in the decision-making seat and it's a business. You don't

have to promise anyone that they're not being moved. It's nonsense. The other thing is, you can tell players a lot of things, but players know the truth. Right. And I've talked to NFL guys. I've talked to NBA guys. Players know who can really play. Okay, when you trade Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper,

two of the top three players in that locker room, you can tell the players all you want. Yeah, it's for the future. But the players are like, those are our best players. You can't BS players on who can play and who can't. And the team has no pass rush. Wow. Calil Mac.

And that's why I always said, even though Khalil Mack was expensive, he would have been 10% of your cap. And then your quarterback's 10 to 12% of your cap. Okay, I can have 22% of my cap on the two best players on the team, and they're both in key positions in their prime. Right. I think that Khalil Mack move, forget Amari Cooper.

That move resonated so negatively amongst players that now you're just seeing the repercussions of it. Yeah, you can't, I understand when a new, coach comes in or a new GM comes in, you want to establish a culture and put your imprint on things and you want to move certain players out. I get that. I'm not. But communication is huge. And you can't go and trade Khalil Mack and then talk about you need a pass rusher. Like it just doesn't even make any sense. And everything that you're saying about players is true. Not only do they know who can play, players talk to other players. Like,

if you go out publicly and say that something went down one way, all they have to do is pick up the phone and call someone and they'll get the other side. And they're more unlikely going to side with the player because they've spent time with them. They don't know you. So the entire culture in the locker room is lost. Like exactly what you're trying to establish is they're going to fall on deaf ears because you're not going to get rid of all the veteran players in the locker room. It's just a weird approach.

And the whole idea of coming in and saying that nothing is going to change and no one's going to be moved, you don't owe that to anyone. Nor do players expect to hear that. I don't get it. Say less as a coach. Exactly. Always say. Have whatever your goal is, be clear.

Rule of life. of business stuff does not need to be discussed. Exactly. Talk as little as possible. Finally, the fallout of the Chris Paul, Rajan Rondo's saga, continues, especially after Rondo's comments about Paul yesterday. I'm saying that he's a bad teammate. And now players and former players are taking sides,

including Glenn Davis. You posted this comment on Instagram yesterday. Big Baby said I played with both of them. CP3 is a very bad teammates. But again, who's Glenn Davis? Glenn Davis has got all his issues, too. Glenn, I, I like Glenn, but Baby Davis got all his issues, too.

So Baby Davis is one of the five guys in the league that's been trouble. Rondo's been one of the five guys. You know, you always say this. Who supports winners, who supports losers? Rondo is getting now supported by another guy that didn't like Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers didn't like Rondo. That's fair. That's fair.

That's very public. I don't know how I feel about the bad teammate thing. I think you can probably, for most people, find someone to say something negative about anyone. And very rarely are you going to find someone that everyone loves because everyone doesn't love everybody. So the teammate thing I don't really care about so much because it's more about results. You know, some people may say that Michael Jordan wasn't the best teammate at times. Exactly. Okay, but he got results.

So that stuff I don't care about as much. I think that there's a lot more to this Rondo Chris Paul beef than just what happened on Friday night. I think it runs a whole lot deeper than that. And I don't think it's over, actually, because they're going to play more and they may meet in the playoffs. and this has just created what turned out to be kind of a good thing for the NBA. It's a little bit of a rivalry now. Fights are never terrible for the league. People think they are.

No. But intensity and passion, early NBA, it's not bad for the league. No. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lide News. So I said yesterday, the Dallas Cowboys traded a first round pick to get Amari Cooper.

And I said, I don't, you know, I would have preferred a third round pick or a second round pick. but don't freak out over a first round pick. I'll give you a stat that I don't know how many people know this, but when Seattle had that like three to four year dynasty thing going, when Seattle was loaded from like 2013 to 2016, and they were just, they had the best roster in the NFL. Do you know in 2013 the Seahawks didn't have a first round pick? And in 2014, they didn't have a first round pick.

And in 2015, they didn't have the first round pick, and they had the best roster. You can live without first round picks. I should tell you last year, the L.A. Rams did not have a first round pick. Oh, and the L.A. Rams didn't have a second round pick last year. And the New England Patriots drafted nine players this year. Six haven't played. And one's hurt. And by the way, New England in 2016 and 2017, Joy, didn't have.

a first round pick. So Troy Aikman says, I don't know if I like the move, Dallas Radio, here it is. You hope that it works and you hope that maybe Mari Cooper is the answer, but I think there's just more to it than what I've seen from just the wide receiver.

They're trying to do something, and I guess you can applaud him for that, but a first round pick for him, I'd be a little nervous about that one. Okay, Philadelphia, by the way, didn't have a first round pick. Kansas City this year did not have a first round pick. Rams, again,

didn't have a first or a second round pick. Okay. Draft picks are important, but 30% of the guys in the first round can't play or get hurt or underachieve. Know that. Amari Cooper can play. So let's just do worst case scenario here. Worst case scenario, well, worst case scenario, he breaks his leg tomorrow. But let's go, reasonable worst case scenario.

He comes in, you're stuck with him this year and next year with the contract, right? Because the Raiders extended it. So you're going to pay him about $15, $13 million this year, maybe a little bit more next year. Okay, okay, so he averages like 14 and a half million for the next two years, and he gives you like 30 catches a year and two touchdowns. And so in two years, you get like 60, 70 catches and a few touchdowns, a couple. Okay, well, it's 2018. Couldn't the Dallas Cowboys use that from a wide receiver? Are you going to tell me worst case scenario? He gives you in two years, let's just worst case it, 60 catches. That's like two catches a game.

He's going to get more than that because they're going to try to get the ball to him. But he gets two catches a game. And he's a 60 catch. By the way, he gets in the end zone like three times. Which is, he's going to get in the end zone on that. Okay. So, hey, they could still use that production. And by the way, then after next year, you let him walk.

And it frees up money. And oh, by the way, you gave up one pick, which, by the way, the pick you were going to use for a wide receiver anyway. Have you looked at the last four? years first round wide receiver picks? I mean, they're almost all busts. So let's say it's worse. You know, in business, when you invest in something, you know, when I bet a football game,

worst case scenario, I lose my money. I don't bet a football game if I need that $75. So when you bet, anytime you bet on sports, just say, I'm going to lose. And if the worst case scenario is, I can't pay my cable bill, then don't bet. Okay, just just think, always think about worst case scenario if you buy a business, if you give up a draft pick, if you acquire somebody at your law firm, worst case scenario. Can you handle worst case scenario? Because, you know, best case scenario is easy. Oh, Mari Cooper gets 70 catches a year. That's easy. But let's say it doesn't work. And you pay them $14 million a year and on average next two years and you get 30 catches and one touchdown. All right. Well, you could still use that production. I mean, Dallas, needs more than anything, a wide receiver.

They got their linebackers. They got their defensive line. They got their offensive line. They got their star running back. And they have for the next year and a half their quarterback. And so they got that. But they could use a safety. They could use a safety.

But it is an NFL offensive league now, right? What they really needs a wide receiver. Worst case scenario, he's not worth the first round pick. All right. And you let him walk and you free up money. He did give you some production. I mean, unless he breaks a leg, the worst case scenario, he's just not worth the pick.

And then you lost a pick, which you would have used on a wide receiver. And the last four drafts, wide receivers taken in the first round is a list of who's who. I mean, I don't know. Half these guys are even in the league still. So I think, and just don't just remember really good teams in this league. Give up first round picks all the time. Seattle in their dynasty, didn't have a first round pick for three years. In fact, one of those first round picks, they gave up for Percy Harvest.

who virtually never played. And they still were a dynasty. That didn't unravel their dynasty. What unraveled their dynasty was Richard Sherman got hurt. They went a little political. They started yapping, yapping, yapping in the locker room. The offensive line kind of deteriorated. It wasn't about the first round picks.

By the way, Pete Carroll whiffed on a couple of first round picks. He was always good with fourth, fifth, and six round guys. He was good with third round guys, Russell Wilson. Pete Carroll's never been like nailing first round pick guy. even is running back pick this year first round everybody's like uh kind of overdraft for that guy so when i when i think of a business i think of worst case scenario and worst case scenario for amari cooper he's completely mediocre well you could still use the production and then let him go a year and a half and you free up money i don't think that if that's the worst case scenario that's

a good worst case scenario uh rob parker's around the corner he's got some thoughts on the world series he's a hall of fame voter in major league baseball Parker, more than the NBA, more than the NFL loves baseball. He's got some thoughts on that. He's got some thoughts on Chris Paul and Rondo. We got people, Big Baby Davis is siding up now with Rondo. I think that's more of an indictment than it is good news for Rondo. All that coming up. Plus the winner in this Rondo Chris Paul fight. It's not LeBron, but there's a winner here. That's coming up. Got so much good stuff today. Albert Breer next hour, Joel Klatte next hour. let's bring in a guy

he's like our Rondo, Joy. He's our instigator. He doesn't spit on people, though. He is very difficult, except on our show. He is Rob Parker, USC teaching sports commentary, Detroit News, New York Daily News.

You're a baseball guy through and through. You have a Hall of Aimboat. Yes, and my first World Series ever covered, you ready? 1986 Mets Red Sox, which was a classic semi-game. That was my first I was 22 years old, my first World Series I ever covered.

You were getting paid for it. Yes. Wow. Paid big time by the Daily News in New York. So you're a kid from the Queens. You're from Queens. I'm from Queens. And you've got to cover a Mets World Series.

Can you believe that? That's incredible. 22 years old. I'll never forget it. Okay, so you're a big baseball guy. And you and I talk off air a lot. When I have a baseball question, I'm always asking Rob about questions. Now, I've said before, I do like analytics to a point.

I had lunch with Darrell Mori, Houston Rockets GM the other day. He was laughing. He goes, I like your man. analytics and I said, I like them. But these are men in their 20s, they've got egos, and in pro sports, when you get into the postseason, and a guy's hot, let him be hot.

So last night, Pedro Baez, who's been hot for a month for the Dodgers, who just blew through two Red Sox, gets pulled for Alex Wood. You're a baseball guy. I hated it. And I'm talking about first guess, not a second guess after he gives up the home run. I just didn't like it.

I'm with you on this. I get the analytics. You have the numbers. Sometimes you can look at matchups. I get all that. But sometimes there has to be a feel for the game. And you look at Pedro Bias and you say, he's throwing the lights out of the ball. He's pitching great.

And he's really hot for them right now. Absolutely. And I don't think Nunez, and I know he went down and got an ugly pitch and pulled it over the green monster and all that. It wasn't like a meatball by Alex Wood. So I get that. but still, it shouldn't be always about who's coming up to bat, but whether, what pitcher you want on the mound. In the moment.

In the moment, exactly. Last year, Verlander and Charlie Morton of the Astros, where in analytics does it tell you, take a start or put him in the bullpen? But Charlie Morton was hot, had a ton of confidence, last four innings, wins the series. I mean, to me, here's the other thing, is that if analytics in baseball are so special, then why aren't the Cleveland Indians

and why aren't the Oakland A's winning more? See, I love that because I know everybody, Billy Bean, analytics, the A's, I know they've made it to the playoffs with some low pay rolls or whatever, but they haven't won anything. They made a movie about winning 20 games in a row, but they never mentioned the three stunt pitchers they had

on the top of that rotation. Okay, so by the way, the Cubs are into analytics, and so are the Dodgers, and so are the Red Sox. And so are the Yankees, by the way. way. But what gets them over the A's is stars. Yes. So you need players. And some, you know, Bryce Harper now, because the defensive shifts may hit 209. But I hate the defensive shift. I would argue, I'd still like Bryce Harper in a big spot. John Smolts always says this. In the playoffs, there's a lot of pressure. Put the ball in

play. You just don't know. Some guys can hit shots in the NBA finals. And some guy, Andy Dalton in the NFL, shrinks in big games. The analytics tell you he's a beep quarterback. In big games, Andy Dalton's a C-minus quarterback. Do you think analytics, I don't necessarily think they're great for the viewer? No, I don't think so as well. I still think it's still those moments and matchups where you want to see certain players. And I still would rather see a certain guy up who's on a hot streak or whatever rather than just going totally by the book and saying, well, he's got a higher batting average than this guy. That doesn't mean you're going to get the big hit in that big moment or get the out because you have a better career mark against that player.

So I get analytics to a certain degree, but I'm not a big fan of it. I think it's taken away something from baseball. And I think fans are watching going, why are they making these moves? And even, you know, Dave Roberts, I think he overmanages. I mean, he's going, he's in an American League ballpark with a DH and going through his whole roster last night. Why do you make the only switches? So you don't have any pinch hit. at the end of the game. Yes, I don't get that. Why are you doing it? By the way, I want to shift

to a couple of topics here. This is an interesting thing. So Rondo has been difficult this whole career. I would argue Chris Paul's been demanding, but Chris Paul got along with Doc Rivers. Chris Paul gets along with Mike Dan Tony. Rondo couldn't get along with Rick Carlisle, who maybe the nicest guy in the league. You know I know Rick from Detroit when he was a head coach. Rick is one. I covered him in Portland. If you can't get along with Rick Carlisle, you can't get along with anybody. So on this fight, yesterday, Rondo comes out and calls out Chris Paul and my takeaway is dude. Come on now. There's a reason you're on your six team in five years. And I also wonder this. Chris Paul's LeBron's best friend. Was this a bad move

by Rondo to call him basically a lousy teammate? Yeah, that's a good question. And as we go forward and when he comes back, this will be an interesting thing to look at. Because that's really a good observation to see where, because of course, LeBron was what, comforting or moving Chris Paul to the side during that melee. Did you notice that? Yep. By the way, think about this. So what kind of personality?

Because LeBron can make anything work. LeBron and Wade didn't work perfectly, but they liked each other and they made it work. And LeBron and Bosch didn't work perfectly. LeBron and love didn't work perfectly. But LeBron liked them, so it worked. we know that LeBron and Lanzo both need the ball. It's not a perfect fit. Let me ask you this, though.

LeBron can make anything work. Rondo is intense and difficult. Lanzo's the opposite personality. Chill, laid back. Sometimes too laid back. That's right. The criticism is a very good point, Rob. The criticism of Lanzo, he's too chill.

But if the intense guy at work wears you out, you tend to go the opposite. direction. This Rondo fight, is it potentially helping Lanzo? The Chilled LaBron's like, dude, I can't take Rondo. He's calling out my best friend. He's too intense. I'm going to go the opposite, go with chill laid back Lanzo. This is a big moment right here, I think, Colin, from the standpoint of if Lanzo continues to play, and he's played well, right? It continues to play well. Seven threes. And make those open threes when the ball comes. Now, if he was clanking them, it would be a big different situation where they couldn't have him in there if he's not knocking him down.

He's knocking him down. And he's taking him with nobody in front of him, right? They still don't respect him. So he has open looks. If you're the Lakers and you're really serious about what is this year, is this really you can't win, you know you can't win, and you're trying to see who you're going to hold on to and how you're going to move forward. It's an audition year.

It's an audition year. So you know what? Lonzo Ball should be playing. Not a one-year journeyman who's been around. We know what Rondo can do. We know that he's important if you get to the playoffs. We've seen the playoff Rondo and the regular season Rondo. And they are a different player.

Oh, totally. So I get that. But if you're the Lakers, you've got to take a look at Lanzo to see really, A, can he play with LeBron? Is he as advertised before he got drafted? Is he really that guy? Or is he a boss? Is he not going to be that guy?

And I think that they need to look and now with Rondo being suspended and if they can get a win or two and Lanzo looks good, maybe you decide let's keep it this way and bring Rondo off the bench. Now, this is a good point. What you're saying is, this really is the year of discovery,

the year of auditioning. So why would you play Rondo? It doesn't make any sense to be honest. We know what Rondo is. There is television game Rondo, playoff Rondo, and regular season Rondo. Lanzo is the one we're trying to figure out, A, can he play?

And B, can he fit with LeBron? So why not just play them? And I'll tell you this. The Lakers are teetering, and these first 10, 13 games, Colin, are very critical. I know people are, oh, they'll be fine. That sounds good. But the difference between being one of the top four seeds and the lower four is that if they finish in the lower four, they can get a first round, you know,

series against Golden State or the Rockets and be on the road and get knocked out. I don't think that's what they're looking for. be knocked out in the first round. So if you fall into a three and ten hole or something like that, and it is doable. Look at that schedule. Oh, no, no, Rob. If they don't beat the Suns tonight. Listen, we'll talk about this later on the show.

People don't understand this. Is that, like I said, give it 30, I always felt, give me trading deadline. If they lose to Phoenix tonight, they're going to be an underdog in six of the next seven games. here's an interesting point. And you're and I are, we talk about interesting. I mean, today we talked about the World Series and the LeBron. Right. If they're three and 12, if you look at their schedule, are they a topic in all these opinion shows?

Even with LeBron and the Lakers, the Dallas Cowboys, when Tony Romo got hurt, remember that they couldn't pick up first down. Shows like this didn't talk about it. No. Lando, LeBron's in danger of not even being a topic. No, you know what? And it's not that far away. So that's why I'm saying they need to win some games like soon.

And to be honest, they were in all three of those games that they lost, Colin. In fact, they should have won. That game that they gave to the Sparks was a terrible loss. That was a terrible loss. They should have won that game. The Lakers are in trouble. Dodgers win tonight? They better win.

I think they will win tonight. They need it really bad. They can't fall behind O-2. Well, David Price is not a good postseason pitcher, but he did have, his last start was pretty good. Yeah. He's the one who got them into the World Series. he won that game. Yeah, and by the way, Machado hits David Price, did as an award.

Machado with a three-run bomb the night for the Dodgers. It's the herd. Hour two, live in Los Angeles, this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, we're on Fox Sports Radio, and right here on FS1, Joy Taylor, is joining me this hour. Albert Brear stops by and Joel Clatt. We've got all sorts of stuff going on. The World Series.

game two tonight on Fox. David Price goes for the Red Sox. They're favorite in the series. And Fenway made the Dodgers look very uncomfortable last night. I want to get back to what was a big story yesterday on the show, Amari Cooper of the Raiders being traded to the Cowboys. And I'm hearing all these stories about, oh, he's not worth the first rounder. He's going to be too expensive.

So the latest story, Mike Florio says his contract, he's going to be a girl at almost $14 million next year. Oh, 14 million. That would be 7% of the cap. Who cares? Khalil Mack is a defensive player making 22.5 million who never touches the ball unless it's a strip sack. And he's 11.5% of the bear's cap. 11.5 for a defensive player in a sport where defensive players are continually handcuffed.

By the way, Brandon Cook. of the Rams. He is their third most used wide receiver. Makes $16 million a year. He's 8% of their cap. Who cares? Who cares how much of your cap you're spending on a position of need? This goes back to something else. And I've said this for years. There's always this feeling in football that during the draft, you just draft the best player available. Never need. I don't believe that. And here's why. If my wife said, could you go to the store, honey, and get milk and bread and I came back with a rake and I said it was the best value and she said we got a rake well it's

the best value it was off 40 percent I got a rake she grabbed the rake and hit me over the head with it because she needed eggs and she needed milk and bread this whole thing about just draft the best player available well if the best player available is a quarterback and you have drew breeze in his prime you don't draft a quarterback you sell the pick this year new england always says this we just get the best player available really this year go look at who the it's drafted in the first round. It was not the best players available. They needed a running back because they lost Dionne Lewis.

They drafted a running back. And it was a left tackle guard tackle because they lost Nate Solder. They went to fill positions of need running back and offensive linemen. Those were not the two best players. You can argue both. Most people said both were a reach, a little bit of a reach. If you have key pieces like that, maybe you get the best player available. But if you need something,

Then you get that. How did that work out for the Giants this year? Okay. It's all anyone can talk about with the Giants. If you think Jerry Jones is losing sleep on this. Here's Jerry Jones. I'm going to read you a quote from Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys. Here's a quote he had years ago.

He said, when I look back on my life, I overpaid for my biggest successes every time. And when I tried to get a bargain, I ended up either getting it and not happy with it. or missing it. Now think about this. In the 60s, this is a gambler, Jerry Jones. He borrowed a million dollars in the 60s. A million dollars was a lot in the 60s from Jimmy Hoffa's Teamster Union to buy some Shaky's pizza chains. Some Shaky's pizza was a big chain.

It was the Pizza Hut of its time, right? He borrowed a million dollars from Jimmy Hoffa's Teamsters. You think this is going to make him uncomfortable. By the way, when he bought the Dallas Cowboys, fact, they were losing a million dollars a month. Look it up. They are now the most valuable franchise in the world. When he built Jerry's world, do you know what the budget was for that? $650 million.

Do you know what it cost them? $1.1 billion. It almost, it was double the cost. But Jerry kept saying, nobody like this. Nobody like that. Bigger scoreboard. Better seats. Nicer sweets.

And now that's the most valuable stadium in America. Okay. You think he's losing sleep because of Mari Cooper could be 7% of the cap. Okay, let me just tell you how this works. It's an offensive league, right? We all admit it's an offensive league. If your quarterback is 11 to 12% of your cap, that's average. if your top running back is 7%

if Amari Cooper your best receiver is 7% and your left tackles 5 to 6%. You know what that equals? 30%. That's not a third of your cap. In 2018 in the NFL, you don't think Phelan for Minnesota

is not worth 6% of your cap, 7% of your cap, and you have Stefan Diggs. I don't think it's that big of a deal. Jerry is a risk taker, an oil maverick, and his biggest successes have been spending a little more than going bargain. Jerry tells you, when I look back, every success is overpaying in the moment. When I tried to get a bargain, when I jumped over a 20 to get to a 5, I either get it and don't like it or I missed out on it. This is an aggressive guy. It's an aggressive brand. The great successes for the Cowboys have been

with aggressive Jimmy Johnson. Remember Jimmy Johnson made that Herschel Walker trade? That was an aggressive move. Change the franchise. Bill Parcells, aggressive. Change the NFL. Change the NFL. That was an aggressive move.

At the time, people were like, what in God's name is Jimmy Joe? God's the greatest move all time. Jerry was aggressive, bought a team, and by the way, cobbled together every nickel he had to buy the cowboys. I mean, Jerry was not rolling in dough. He took a huge risk. Multiple loans to buy the cow.

everything he's done, Jerry's world. 600 million? No, a billion one. So they're not losing a second asleep on this. All right. This is amazing. So the New York Giants have just traded defensive tackle, Damon Harrison to the Detroit Lions. He's a very good player. Snacks Harrison.

The Giants are essentially, you know, they're giving up on the season. They gave up Eli Manning to the Saints for a couple of picks. Snacks Harrison goes to Detroit, given up on the season. And they should at this point. They can't win, get draft picks, and get some players, right? And by the way, pro football focus says the Lions have added the NFL's leader in defensive stops on the defensive interior in each of the past three seasons. Not Aaron Donald, this guy. So he's good. And we have a lot of trades happening now in the NFL. We still got a week to go and a lot of trades.

So yesterday, Peter King was on the show. And we asked him, why suddenly now do we have all these trades going on in the NFL? Teams are more aggressive. The young general managers and young coaches don't necessarily buy that you have to do it the way you used to. do it. So the younger GMs and the younger people making the decisions are not necessarily married to their ancestors in the league. Plus, it always helps if you can make a trade up through week eight in the NFL instead of through week six. So I like the move. It's aggressive. He's a good player. The lions are like, hey, but I just want to point this out. Now think about this for a second. So Chicago got Khalil Mack aggressive.

And Minnesota went and paid Kirk Cous. They won 13 games with Case Keenham. They went super aggressive and got Kirk Cousins. And Detroit here is being really aggressive. Who's not in the division? Green Bay. I want to give you Green Bay's schedule for the next five games. At the Rams, at the Patriots.

Dolphins at home, not an easy one. At Seattle, at Minnesota. One in four, the Bears got aggressive. The Lions just got aggressive. Minnesota was aggressive. We know that aggressive in sports is being rewarded. The Warriors had a title. Aggressively recruited KD.

Rockets were good. Aggressively recruited Chris Paul. Red Sox, aggressively, J.D. Martinez. Dodgers aggressively. Mani Machado. Just to rent, basically. Aggressive is winning in sports. Houston.

Justin Verlander. Aggressive. Okay. Green Bay Packers, once again, they could certainly use Snacks Harrison. then, nah, could have used Calio Mac, nah. Listen to this.

This is incredible. So we all admit now that Aaron Rogers is, right, great. Like probably the most talented quarterback. I think Brady's the best, easily, but he's the most talented. They are a nine and a half point underdog now to the L.A. Rams.

With Aaron Rogers. Now, I want you to think about that. What is Vegas telling you about Green Bay? They don't have any players. Has Tom Brady ever been a five-point underdog? I couldn't tell you the last time Tom Brady was a four-and-a-half, a four-point underdog, a feel underdog. Has Drew Breeze in the year of the Saints were 7-9, 7-9, 7-9, and 9 with the bad defense?

Was Drew Breeze ever a touchdown underdog? I mean, when Vegas is telling you, it's not like weather's going to be a factor. Sometimes, you know, a warm weather team going into a blizzard, Vegas is like, no shot. This is a cold weather team with a California quarterback going out west. It's going to be 80 degrees. And they're giving him Aaron Rogers nine and a half points. If Baker Mayfield's going to Pittsburgh. He gets eight.

I mean, so Baker Mayfield, a puppy, a baby, a kid against the all-time Steelers who are first or second in the league in sacks. Vegas is like, give Baker eight points. They're giving Aaron nine and a half. That is, I couldn't tell you the last time. a Hall of Fame quarterback got nine and a half. In 2018, maybe in 1980. But, I mean, think about this.

Sam Darnold's a rookie. Nobody would dispute what I'm about to say. Offensive line running backs, tied in wide receivers. Jets are weak. Jets are bottom third in the league in all of those. They have a rookie quarterback. By the way, they're so beat up at wide receiver. They're bringing guys off the street right now.

They just made a trade with Tennessee. They don't have any receivers. They're going to face the Bears in cold Chicago. and Sam Donald's only a seven-point underdog. Vegas is like, give him a touchdown. Aaron gets nine and a half. Well, I mean, if they're not telling you that Green Bay doesn't have any players, I don't know what else they have to say.

I mean, that is seriously, nine and a half is what the Buffalo bills get on the road. And we're in an offensive era where quarterbacks have never been more valuable. So you've got the best one arguably, and Vegas is like, Yeah, this is like the bills on the road with the rookie quarterback. Wow. Wow, is all I can say. All right.

Pack today. Albert Breers around the corner some NFL news. And speaking of Vegas, Luke Walton's in trouble. We'll address that next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. The World Series continues tonight with game two as Nanny Machado and the Dodgers look to bounce back from the game one loss. They take on movie bets and the Red Sox at Fenway Park. It's all tonight at 730 Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports app.

Fenway Park's going to be a zoo. They smell blood. West Coast soft finesse Dodgers. I think it's going to be a great game. Last night felt big. It really did. It felt big. Fenway Park.

The crowd, it's on top of you. It's kind of dark and gloomy and wet. And the Dodgers looked uncomfortable. But it was a great game on of the World Series. We got all sorts of stuff in the NFL. Let's go via the coward global satellite network to Albert Breer, senior NFL reporter at the Money Morning quarterback. It's great senior. Let's start with this on the Amari Cooper deal.

What is John Gruden telling you, telling I, telling the football world, moving Mac, moving Amari Cooper. What's he telling us? Tom, he's telling us about his roster. And he said this to me in August. He said what he found in January when he got there was gutted. They didn't feel like they were in a position to contend for a championship right now. And so I think we need to stop looking at the Raiders in the context of 2018 because they're looking at themselves in the context of 2020.

And so if you can do that, then you start to look at Kahliel Mack differently. You start to look at Amari Cooper differently. Logistically, they just weren't going to give Mack the guaranteed money that he wanted. And so by definition, he wasn't going to be there in 2020. And they liked Amari Cooper. They just don't like him at what he's going to cost in a year or two. He, of course, is going to cost $14 million in that option next year. And then you put him out on the free agent market before the 2020 season.

And he's bound to make $16, $18 million just based on his draft position. You can see that in what Sammy Watkins got last off season. And so I think that John Gruden arrived there feeling like the team needed to go through a full rebuild. And so when he looks at some players in his roster that have some trade value, and he says, this guy probably isn't going to be here in a couple years. You can understand why that would motivate him to see what he can get for those guys, and clearly he got a lot of value for both. Now, I think all of us believe we would like the Amari Cooper deal for Dallas.

For a third rounder, we'd love it. For a second rounder, we'd be more comfortable. But the Seahawks Dynasty didn't have a first round pick for three years right in the middle of it. The Rams didn't have a first or second this year. A lot of good teams, Kansas City, Philadelphia didn't have first round picks this year. You can win a lot of games if you. feel that, like, for instance, the Cowboys, I don't think they have a ton of needs, but they have a huge need-wide receiver in the NFL in 2018. So I'm okay with a move. But, you know, Amari

Cooper, there's a real divide here on he's not the player we thought. What do your sources and scouts say about him as a player? Okay, so his character was clean coming out of Alabama, a hard worker, a program guy, all that different stuff. He gets to Oakland. first two years. There's a guy there named Bill Musgrave. He's an offensive coordinator in 2015 and 16. This guy is tough to play for, Colin, just like Nick Saban. And Amari Cooper in that environment, Purdue. Bill Musgrave gets fired after 2016, what happens? Well, I think in that building in general, and this hit Derek Carr as well, there's a little bit of a substitute teacher effect on everyone there. And I think there were some problems with Amari Cooper's work habits. And the hope was

with bringing in John Gruden that that would change in 2018. And they have seen a little difference. It's just not consistent. And so the work habit issue existed there in 2017. It came back in 2018. It's been in and out a little bit. They've been in and out with his practice performance. And of course, now you see the inconsistency in game action as a result.

And so the hope here for Dallas is that the change of scenery is going to help him. They're very aware of all this. They've got a guy in their building in Doug Nussmeyer, who was. his offensive coordinator at Alabama. Yeah. They've got some good recon there on who he is as a person. He's not a bad guy. Nobody would ever tell you that Amari's a bad guy.

But his work habits have been an issue over the course of the last two years. And the hope now in Dallas is that as a 24-year-old receiver, being traded, will make the light turn on. And he'll go back to being the type of player that he was two years ago. Let me throw this at you. The bears were aggressive with Khalil Mack. The lions are aggressive with Snacks Harrison. The Vikings were aggressive with Kirk Cousins.

And here's Green Bay with Aaron Rogers a nine and a half point dog to the Rams, Vegas is telling you, they don't have good players. Do you think they'll make a move at the deadline? Are you surprised at their kind of passive nature as everybody in their divisions going hyper-aggressive? Well, I wouldn't rule it out. I mean, I think one thing you got to remember, there's been a point of frustration for Aaron Rogers over the last few years. They didn't feel like they had been aggressive historically in bringing in veteran players. that was under Ted Thompson. Now they've got a new general manager in there,

Brian Gutakunz, who came up in that system, but has, by reputation, a little bit more of an aggressive streak to him, and you see the way he moved up and down the draft board. Now, of course, they pick up the extra first round pick for 2019. That's capital. They're very aggressive in moving up and down the draft board on draft day, and they did bring in some veteran players this year.

They brought in Jimmy Graham. They brought in Mohammed Wilkerson, and so there was some aggression during the offseason. I would not rule out the package. is doing something between now and next Tuesday. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm just saying that organizationally, they're a lot more open to that sort of thing now

that Brian Gutakun is in charge. And again, maybe it doesn't manifest over the next week or so, but I think you will see it over the next couple of years and how the Packers operate as Aaron Rogers moves into his late 30. I've been asking everybody that comes on the show about Lavian Bell, could I make the argument? They're going to get a superstar component to an already good offense with fresh legs, no miles on the tires,

and it's all going to work out fine, and Connor will be a backup, and he is exactly what takes them over a Kansas City, over a New England, that in a weird way, this is all going to work out for the Steelers. I think this has worked out for everybody. I mean, I honestly do.

I mean, and look, we have to move the money part of it out, you know, because I don't think it was smart for a Levyon Bell to pass up money that's not going to be coming back. I don't think there was this huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for him either. But if you just want to look at it logistically now

and what this looks like for the rest of the year, yeah, I mean, they know what James Connor is now. They probably wouldn't have this amount of volume of answers on what he is as a player if Leveon Bell had reported on time. And on the flip side, from Leveon Bell's standpoint, what's his concern been the last two months? His concern over the last two months was that he's going to put more mileage on his body

and at the running back position. That's a tough thing to do when you're playing for a contract. What happens now? Well, he steps back in there. and obviously they can use him in a million different ways, but they can also spell him. He can be part of a platoon. They know that James Connor can help them be a little bit more dangerous

and bury their attack a little bit more. So Bell, I think, gets to save some miles on his body going forward to, in addition to what he's already saved, because they know how to use Connor now. And, you know, again, for the Steelers, I think this is adding another weapon to an already very good offense that's learned to play without him. So offensively, they're going to be great.

The bigger questions for the Steelers, of course, Colin, or where they have been over the last five years, which is on the defensive side of the ball. By the way, just throw this at you. People are saying, ooh, the Eagles are interested. Well, wait a minute. The one thing the Eagles wouldn't have in a trade that the Steelers need is secondary help. And right now the Eagles have one guy they trust in the secondary.

I don't buy the Eagle thing because what Pittsburgh does well is Rush the Pashler. Okay. Philadelphia has got surplus of that, but nothing else defensively. I don't think, I don't think that the running back position is a priority right now for the Eagles. Not to say they might not pick up someone with a mid-round pick, but historically they don't value running backs at that level. They like depth, they like volume at running back, but they don't, historically, again, they don't go all in on running backs. And internally, I'm just telling you they do not view running back as their top need. Right now, their biggest problems are at offensive tackle, which that is what it is, that those positions, they've invested in Lane Johnson and Jason.

Jason Peters. Those guys aren't performing to the level of their contract. Got some depth issues at receiver. The big place where I think they could make a move is in that secondary. The other round Ronald Darby haven't played to the level they thought they would. And Rodney McLeod got hurt at safety. And so the Eagles are going to make a move. I know it's, you know, Levyon Bell is like the shiny thing out there. The Eagles are going to make a move. I think it comes in the secondary. This is why we bring him on. He's got great information, incredible contacts at MMQB lead content guy, NFL reporter. Trust his words. He's always right. Albert Breyer, good talking to you, bud.

All right, thanks, Colin. By the way, Luke Walton's in trouble? I'll get to that in a second. Yikes. I don't buy, he shouldn't be. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Speaking of coaches possibly being in trouble, Jason Garrett's job as head coach of the Cowboys is likely. in jeopardy at this point. It's in conversation, although we don't really believe that Jerry's going to move on, but it is being talked about.

So, with that potential, comes some names to replace him. Bettsi.com has revealed their odds of who will be coaching the Cowboys for the team's 2019 season opener. Bet DSI is legit. Okay. So we have Josh McDaniels, Sean Payton, John DiPhilippo,

Jason Garrett, obviously, and George Edwards. Um, Would Sean Payton bail on Drew Brees? No. I don't think he would. I don't even know why this is. Now, Josh McDaniels is interesting, but I don't think he'd bail on Bob Kraft.

He's helped his family. I don't buy those first two names. I mean, look, there's only, really being the Cowboys head coach should be one of the best, if not the best job in all of sports. For coaches, yeah, it's good way up there. Yeah. I mean, just in general, like the prestige, the organization, you have obviously the full support of an owner that's well. to spend any amount of money to make things happen. Yeah.

But, you know, that's a topic I'll do in a different day. You're not going to have a lot of control. Yeah, yeah. It sounds like a great job. Right. But like Alabama football, if Nick Saban retired tomorrow, you go, what a job. That's a worst job in the world. It's replacing Howard Stern.

No. Like, you do not want to replace Belichick in New England. That sounds. You don't want to replace the guy. You want to replace the guy. You want to replace the guy. Yeah. So I don't think the Cowboys job, it sounds great, but I don't.

don't think it is. It's like the next quarterback after Tom Brady retires. Yeah, it'll pay a lot. Yeah, that it will. Okay, so James Hardin is already feeling the pressure of being the league's wins leader last year. And he also thinks that the rockets are being targeted early this season. He told USA Today, obviously, we haven't won a championship yet, but the way we've been playing, we have done pretty well. So whenever teams come to our home court or we are on the road, they get up for us, so we have got to be ready for that. They play harder. They play a lot more confidence. Now they've had a kind of a bumpy start at the sort of the season, one of their first three games. Well, they've lost a couple of good players. They added mellow. They got a little

chemistry thing going on here too. I'm not panicking about any team this far into the season. If the Lakers lose to Phoenix, the season's over. It is a very, very long season. You know what? You're joking, but people are going to be, the sky is falling. And listen, I didn't think that they were going to And let's say they lose their first four games. Joy, they should have been the Spurs. They had the Spurs beat. They were in every single one of those games. And they should have been in the Spurs.

I agree with you. They should have been the Spurs. That was a great game. But it's a very, very long season. I think everyone's going to be okay. All right. I do agree. I don't know why the Rockets did all these aggressive moves,

being that they were really at Chris Paul injury away from beating the Warriors, which at the beginning of the season, no one thought was possible. Yeah. But I do think James Hardin is right. People do get up for the Rockets. Yes. Obviously, they get up, by the way. They get up for him because there's a feeling in the NBA, right?

I talked to a scout after the year was over. He goes, let me tell you something. Players are complaining about James Harden. Oh, no, it's absolutely a thing. Chris Haynes said it yesterday. Yeah. Players are tired of it. Coaches are tired of it.

The stepback thing. Not only the stepback thing, just the way that he is officiated. People feel like it's almost like the quarterback in the NFL where he's just protected. Offensive players are protected. And he specifically gets officiated differently than everyone else. Used to be Shaq. It's part of the reason why Brandon Ingram reacted the way that he did because Harden gave him the extra shove and he overreacted.

And finally, the Sixers and Pistons played a thriller in Detroit last night, which included a theatrical performance by Joelle Ambide. In the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, Embeded made a layup to give Philly the lead and then had an amazing, amazing flop for the ages. There you go. So the reps hit Drummond, Under Drummond, with his second technical foul on the play. He was automatically ejected. And Embed felt like he'd throw a little extra mustard on at the end.

I'm pro flop. I'm pro flop as well, actually. And after the game, Embedde doubled down on the trolling with some trash talk and said he feels like he knows how to get under Drummond's skin. All I was doing was just talking and playing basketball and, you know, trying to win the game. I'll just see on the 7-1, you know, I think you could see that he hit me. And his hand actually touched my face. So that's his problem.

you know but like I said I feel like I own a lot of real estate in his head he feels like he owns a lot of real estate in his head now they lost 133 132 to the pistons last night so it didn't work out as far as the W goes but Andre drummond responded and said LOL does he if that's so he wouldn't be so excited to have me off the floor I think about it that's a silly statement I'll take the W though enjoy the flight home hashtag Emmy Award winning actor I just think flopping's part of the game yep I mean obviously they've there He's probably going to get fine because this is an insane flop.

And they want to take those kind of flops out of the game because that's obviously absurd. But I think selling fouls is part of it. Just like complaining about fouls you're not getting as part of it. Just like coaches throwing tantrums as part of it. It's all psychological part of the game. Like, that's how it works. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Okay, according to Vegas, Luke Walton is the top betting odds for the first NBA coach to be fired. Over Tom Thibodeau and Fred Hoyberg and Billy Donovan and Scott Brooks and Terry Stott's and Tyron Loo. Let me defend Luke Walton here. He's not the problem. When Luke Walton had stars in Golden State, remember that? Steve Kerr, back surgery left.

He went 39 and 4. That's a higher win percentage than Steve Kerr had that year. Number one. Number two is he won 35 games of the Lakers last year in the West with major injuries and babies. The veteran on the team last year was KCP, who, by the way, was on house arrest for a month. Westbrook, Mello, Stephen Adams, Paul George won 48 games. Lakers won 35 in the West. How?

I have no idea. I mean, it was like babies. Luke Walton's not the issue. And here's something I always look at. Do you make players better? Brad Stevens, to me, is the best coach in the NBA. Jay Crowder, Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, play great with Brad Stevens. They leave Brad Stevens, they're not the same player.

That tells you that Brad Stevens a good coach. By the way, Quinn Snyder's a great coach. Joe Ingalls was a bounce-around guy from Australia. He averages 20 a game with Quinn Snyder. He's a 25-and-5 guy. Joe Ingalls was just a bounce-around cash-a-paycheck, 10-day contract guy. He gets into Quinn Snyder's system. He's a real threat.

He's a 20-point-a-game guy. You better be guarding Joe Ingalls. Okay, everybody that's played with Luke Walton gets better. Jordan Clarkson had people fooled for three years. People were like, Jordan Clarkson should be starting. He went to Cleveland, left Luke Walton. Now he's got one of the worst contracts in the league. Can't play.

So I always look, do players get better with you? Are they their best with you? Brad Stevens, you can't even argue. I mean, Jay Crowder, Isaiah Thomas. Avery Bradley, like everybody. Everybody's better. And the Joe Ingalls in Utah, he's like a borderline all-star. There are nights that he's the most dangerous guy on the floor for either team.

Okay? Players play good with everybody they give him. Kuzma, Josh Hart, Lanzo Ball. They all play well. All these babies. They're all better than we thought. And then Brandon Ingram, everybody's getting better. Jordan Clarkson.

By the way, people out here loved in L.A. loved Nance. He goes to Cleveland. He's a guy. And here, you know, Luke is young. He played in the league. He's cerebral. LeBron likes thinkers.

Remember, when LeBron went to Miami, he didn't know about Eric Spolstra. Spolstra was like Luke Walton. But D. Wade was like Duke and coach. So D. Wade had Spolstra's back and then LeBron bought into him. Magic Johnson needs to have Luke's back. Luke's not the problem. Now, I thought he was overhyped when he got the job. You all made him out to be Phil Jackson.

Luke's not the issue. He's young. He's not rigid. He is smart. He's a thinker. He gets personnel and people get better. He's not perfect. But, I mean, folks, the fact they won 35 games last year and their veteran was KCP.

I mean, drop the mic. Walk off the stage. I think it's pretty obvious that Magic has Luke's back based off of the comments from LeVar and everything that happened last year. Yes. So it's pretty obvious that Luke is backed by the organization. but that was pre-Lebron James, and we know how LeBron has say of personnel. I think it's just ridiculous that Luke's job is even in question.

But the Lakers are not the type of organization to just fire a coach in the middle of the season. We couldn't figure it out before the season started. They got issues. It's called lack of three-pointers. They need shooters. They don't need a new coach. Exactly, exactly.

Joel Clats around the corner. We're going to have a toast. Get the champagne out. Joel Clatt, for the first time ever and I will agree on something. We will share a toast with some bubble. Get the bubbly. It's going to be a good day for clat and I. We may not be at each other's throats.

That's coming up. Sleeping in Casper. Best mattress I've ever slept on. Caspur.com. Code heard. Get your 50 bucks off. Select mattresses. Risk free.

100 nights. Ship it for free. Don't like it. Ship it out. Without a man that I argue with, it's contentiously on a regular basis. This week, we may actually have something.

in common. Let's bring in the voice of college football at Fox Sports and FS1. Joel Klatte. It's a very exciting. This is. Very exciting day. What's up, ma'am? Hi. Hey, Joe. How are you? Good. We often disagree. We do. And there's a couple things on my sheet here we'll disagree with. Okay. But you and I should toast. And you don't have, bring that over here. Come on over here. Let's toast. Wait, what are we toasting to? We were the only two guys in America right on Jim Harbaugh. Hey, look at us. Celebration.

It's a sweeping claim. Just not to ruin the cheers. Why? Why are you ruining our cheers? No one else. No one else was in on Jim. They all were two. These were the only two.

People would have been bailing on hardball. You don't think people have been bailing on hardball. It's embarrassing. By the way, he's got total control of the conference now. Right now, I mean, listen, they haven't won the division. They haven't won the conference. But right now, they look to be the. favorite with the struggles that Ohio State is having. Do you know that Ohio State has given up

more plays of 30 or more yards than every team in college football except for two? Do you know who those two are? Who? Kent State and Yukon. Boy, Ohio State's a mess. Yeah, it's interesting. And listen, the by week comes at a good time for them after that loss to Purdue. But they struggle in the red zone offensively and they really struggle giving up big plays and all they can do is throw the ball. They can't run the ball. Watch out for Michigan. Okay, listen. So, I'm going to throw this out there. This is going to make Ohio State fans mad. Urban Meyer's history is this.

He comes into your program and he wins immediately. And big. And then by the end of it, Florida, Ohio State, there are holes created. Well, we don't know if this is the end. I mean, I don't call holes. Kent State and Panera Bread, whoever that was, you tell me you don't got a problem in Ohio State.

By the way, Harbaugh is the opposite. Harbaugh does not come into your program and hit. He doesn't. It took him at Stanford, three years to get it rolling. Well, he took over a one and 11 team. By the way, Urban Meyer took over Bowling Green. Florida was a mess with Ron Zook. By the way, Ohio State was six and seven with Luke Fickle. Urban comes in and hits home runs out of the shoot. Harbaugh's a slow builder. See, I would disagree. Here's my only pushback is we haven't seen Harbaugh in a fifth year anywhere. Well, fourth year. Right. I mean, so this is what we're seeing right now is a new, a new era of Harbaugh. I think he's going to be a Michigan for

while. Here's the thing I know about Michigan. They play great defense. They lead the country in total defense. Lead the country in passing defense. They can get to the quarterback, even without Rishon Gary on the field. And offensively, they're good enough. They run the ball really well with Karan Higden. And if Jim Harbaugh, here's the Achilles heel for Michigan, if Jim and Pep Hamilton, who's kind of the pseudo-O-C, if they just let Shea play a little bit more, he needs a little school yard in him. You know who he needs in him. A little Baker Mayfield. Oh, God. That's what he needs is a little

borderline trouble. But meaning that they've got great threats down the field, very similar to what Sam Ellinger is doing at Texas, allow your big threats down the field to win for you, to create big plays. If they allow Shay to do that, then they're going to be very dangerous. But right now, they are the best team

in the Big Ten right now. By the way, and that's all I'm saying, there's a lot, if you look at Ohio State, blown out by Iowa, blown out by Purdue, When Michigan's losing under Harbaugh, they are in these games to that last second. Ohio State has become like once twice a year, they don't show up. It's alarming. There's no question it's alarming.

It's alarming. So here's a quick, and Dwayne Haskins is great, but for Ohio State fans, this is what you need to be concerned about. The 400 yards of game is great. And for the last three games he's thrown for 400 yards. But did you know that the 73 pass attempts, last week against Purdue were an Ohio state record. Yes, you knew that. Arch Leicester had like 52.

That was the previous record. Well, do you know that Tua, Tung of Ioloa at Alabama, has attempted 72 passes over his last four games? So Haskins throws 73 against Purdue. Throws for over 400 yards. Seems like, yeah, a decent performance. Tua Tunga Vialoa has thrown 72 times in his last four games. Colin, guess what he's done in those four games?

Yeah. A thousand 33 yards and 13 touchdowns. and 72 attempts. You're basically telling me, Ohio State's getting gashed on defense and can't run the football. That's the opposite of Ohio State's brand. There's something wrong in Ohio State's program. That's the truth. Now, they have a buy.

We'll see if they can get it fixed. I think they've got good players. Their offensive lines should be better. They've got running backs that should be better. J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber. In four weeks, Jim Harbaugh is going to say bye. Buy Ohio State. I run the conference.

Here's the thing. We haven't seen it. We haven't seen it from Harbaugh. That's the only wait and see to our cheers. what Joy is waiting for for her cheers, is if Ohio State can actually beat Michigan this year. No, no. You'll come on, right, you're going to be like,

see, guys, I told you. I told you about Ohio State. Michigan's winning in that game. I told you to pump the brakes on Jim Harbaugh. No, I'm not, I've never been out on Jim Harbaugh. I'm just saying that maybe there were a few more people in on Jim Harba. I thought it was only two. Are you sure?

I thought it was only two. I don't think anybody in the world. I don't think anybody. And certainly, there was only two and one of them has got a book. So you know it's a good prediction. Okay. So I'm looking at your top 10. Okay.

And when does the BCS first come out? Well, it was five years ago, but the playoff ranking comes out Tuesday. This coming Tuesday. Yeah. Next Tuesday night. Very exciting. By the way, don't be surprised if LSU's number two in the playoff poll, but go ahead. So I'm looking at your top 10.

I've got to be honest with you. It works pretty good. I know. Thank you. No. Oh. Bama Clemson, Notre Dame, I trust. Okay.

Michigan. You trust Michigan. I don't love. their offensive line. I don't. No, no. I think they're going to win the Big Ten. They're running for over 200 yards a game. Giving up less than one and a half sacks per game. But go ahead.

Go ahead. I don't know. When I watch them, something doesn't quite feel right in that spot. Everything else I love. Love the coach. I think Chey Patterson's a little Johnny Mansell. Love the defense. Good pressure. Receivers downfield. Well, why is your question mark? I can buy that. By the way, so you have Bama Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan.

I guess I just, what I'm saying is the first three I totally trust. I kind of feel Michigan's closer to LSU in Texas. I don't quite... Yeah, there's a gap. There's a little gap with the three and the four. Well, let's be honest. The gap is between one and then everybody else.

This feels a little bit like Tiger Woods in 2000 at Pebble Beach, winning by 12 or 15, whatever it was. And the tournament for second place that Ernie L. actually won was the incredible tournament that no one talks about. But I will say this. If there are two teams out there that I think are dangerous enough and actually could compete with Alabama, it would be Oklahoma and Clemson.

Now, I've been saying Ohio State, that's clearly gone by the wayside. But Oklahoma is this interesting theory with Oklahoma. They're not going to care if Tua is going off. Because their guy goes off. Well, yeah, because it's like, well, we see this all the time. Week in, week in, week out, we're in like 50 to 49 shootouts. So is it really going to bother Oklahoma if Tua throws for 400 yards? I'm so glad you brought up Oklahoma.

Do you know what Oklahoma is averaging per game? On what? I'm averaging what? I mean, can I get a category? Just averaging. No, no, no. Well, what matters? Points.

That's the way I, the herd household. 48. Yeah. Almost 49. Sorry. Last year with Baker Mayfield, they average 45. I'm just saying. What's your point?

My point is. How many wins did Cleveland have last year? Zero. Oh, how many wins do they have this year? Two. Boom sauce! How many do they have? Do they have three?

They got overtime every week. I lose count. They got two or three. And they got a junk grab. All I'm saying is Oklahoma, and everybody's going to get mad at me for saying this. What I'm going to say is facts, and I don't care. Why are you taking this into the Mayfield? No, no, I'm not, this isn't even about.

I don't want to beat you over the head with Mayfield again. I'm going to say this. Lincoln Riley's at Eastern Illinois. Eastern Illinois? What do you? East Carolina? Let's Keith's Carolina. Okay.

And the quarterbacks are amazing. And Baker Mayfield's amazing. And then I'm watching this little guy that's a baseball player, and he's amazing. Oklahoma's offense looks the exact same as last year. How many wins? Same. Do the Cleveland Browns have with Baker Mayfield versus every other quarterback the previous 600 days?

That doesn't. I just want to know. By the way. I just want to know. Does that not matter? Do they not play to win the game? We're just playing for what? Listen, you can.

Talk about wins all I want? Yes, I can. Goulet, who do you side with on this? Because Joy is obviously anti both of us. I mean, she didn't know. Joy doesn't even get the greatness of our hardball. I'm just trying to keep a sound perspective around here. That's all.

I am. I got to tell you this, though. These people are crazy. these anti-harbaugh people. I was going to say the anti-Mayfield people. But yeah, anti-harbaugh people drive me nuts. God. Here's the thing.

And Ohio State fans, you're guilty of this. You can't compliment Michigan without people who are getting all upset. It's like, listen, Michigan's really good, and you're going to have to deal with them this year. And next year. Good luck. By the way, quick little some picks out there. Purdue, watch out for Purdue. They're going to Michigan State.

I think Purdue could win this week. And Stanford's likely to beat Washington State. Last year, Washington State, beat USC on a Friday night. The next week they went to Cal and got drilled. That was good stuff. Just letting you know. Joy, you go back and look at that tape. Cheers.

Cheers, clat. Two-man fan club. Cheers for geniuses. You're not invited. Hour three, here we go. Live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, wherever you may be,

and however you may be listening. Joy Taylor and I've been a lively first couple of hours. Rob Parker stopped by, Albert Breer stopped by. We just had Joel Clat in studio tonight. Game 2 Joy of the World Series. This is the World Series. Listen, baseball is intensely popular locally,

but to make it work at a World Series to get the biggest stars, you need a Boston, you need a Yankee, you need a Cub, you need a Dodger. So World Series game two tonight at Fenway Park, Dodgers against the Red Sox pregame starts at 7 Eastern. Well, let's talk about game one. The Dodgers, Red Sox. took game one and the Dodgers just really looked out of sorts to me. You ever have a first day on the job? Heck, your first week at a job.

Raise your hand. If you're driving in your car, don't raise your hand. Keep them on the wheel. Otherwise, raise your hand. If you had a first day on the job in the last 10 years, you know what that, you're always in that first day on the job fog. You've got to meet a bunch of people and you can't remember half their names. Where's the bathroom?

You got the IT guys trying to set you up. You got to go to human resources and fill out of that first day on the job, that first week on the job, you don't know what floor this boss is on. You forget which hallway to take to your cubicle. You're in that first week on the job, first day on the job, fog. And the Dodgers were in a fog last night. Warm weather, Los Angeles, cold, wet, damp, Windy Fenway Park.

Fenway Park's the corkiest park in baseball. This is not an excuse. I still think Boston's going to win the series, and I think Boston has more good players. But the Dodgers got a break last night. Chris Sale, the ace for the Red Sox, was not on his best stuff, couldn't finish the fifth. It didn't matter.

The Dodgers didn't look comfortable defensively. I mean, good God, Fenway Park has a garage door in center. You're telling all these guys in L.A., National League guys who never play there. Yeah, there's this ballpark. There's a monster in left. in a garage door and center, huh? They didn't look comfortable.

They didn't manage comfortable. In fact, the only two guys that actually hit, one of them was Manny Machado. The other's David Fries. Not coincidentally, guys who had played and hit at Fenway Park before. There was a moment in the seventh inning, Jock Peterson came in,

and this always happens. Whenever you substitute a guy in, the ball finds him immediately, right? So Jock Peterson comes in. Joe Buck with a call, listen. Pops it up, left side, long run. into the game, can't make the play.

It's a double. The ball usually finds the new guy, and on a cold night, Jack Peterson could not get there. I mean, he didn't know where the bathrooms were. He didn't know where the cafe was. He was just dealing with the IT guy. Dodgers looked so uncomfortable last night.

And by the way, Fenway Park, I've been to it, is so quirky and so unique from every other park in Major League Baseball. Forget the garage Doran Center. The fans are right on top of you. In Los Angeles, fans are more casual and they show up in the second inning. At Fenway, they show up at batting practice and they're right on top of you. It looked dark.

It looked cold. It looked wet. It was windy. This was the classic example. And you've seen this before. Warm weather team in the NFL goes to a cold weather site. Or sometimes the cold weather bears go down to warm weather Miami and just melt. The Dodgers looked out of sorts all night.

But this is not a shock. That is the quirkiest home. Home field advantage doesn't generally mean a ton in baseball. It's basically, if you got your ace going, you quiet the crowd. But Fenway Park's one of those rare spots. Fans on you, weather or October, totally loud and intense, with all these quirks, nooks and crannies, Dodgers need to show up early for batting practice, take more infield because that game, they even got a break last night,

and they just didn't look right at all. at all. And by the way, the National League series they just came out of was a chess match, analytically driven. Boston's a totally different team. Boston's like, here's our nine guys, they're really good, better than yours, beat us. This is not going to be a fight against Mayweather where it's jab, jab, move, jab. Now this is Tyson and his prime. They're coming after you. The hyper-aggressive Red Sox put their nine guys out there and they just come after you. Not that they don't like analytics, but it's not the brewers. It's not multiple trips to the They're going to put out their same guys.

The Dodgers went analytics with their lineup yesterday, outfought the room, and looked absolutely like they were in the wrong place, at least last night. All right, I want to shift to this. There was a fight in the NBA, Saturday night, Rockets Lakers, and Chris Paul was in the middle of it. He plays for the Rockets, and Rondo was in the middle of it. And Rondo plays with the Bron James. And like I said, you blame whoever you want.

Looks like Rondo Spitz. and Rondo got more game suspension than Chris Paul did, and Rondo fired back yesterday. He really fired back. By the way, fired back at LeBron's best friend. He said, everybody wants to believe Chris Paul's a good guy. They don't know he's a horrible teammate. They don't know how he treats people.

I was going to let it rest, but I have kids, and I teach my kids to speak up for themselves, and don't let the world tell your story. Well, I would never bring up an athlete's kids, But since Rondo brought up his kids, let me ask him this. Do you also tell your kids, if you've been difficult, every place you work, you get a reputation. And you're not going to get the benefit of the doubt here. Tell your kids that.

That's also part of the story here since you brought them up. The bottom line is Chris Paul is demanding. I've worked with a lot of demanding people. You can work with demanding people. I'm demanding. I've worked briefly with difficult people. And they're gasoline on any fire. They're instigators, law provocateurs.

They're trying to start trouble. All you need to know about Chris Paul is the Pelicans and the Clippers got worse when he left, and the rockets got better when he arrived, and he's always gotten along with his coaches. Doc Rivers and Chris Paul, the reputation was players resented how well they got along. That Doc Rivers and Chris Paul were too close. Rondo can't get along with anybody. Rondo couldn't get along with Doc Rivers. couldn't get him out of Boston fast enough.

He couldn't get along with Rick Carlisle in Dallas. Rick Carlisle, I covered in Portland. Maybe the nicest guy I've ever met in pro sports. Rick Carlisle is the nicest guy in the NBA. Everybody loves Rick Carlisle. Rick Carlisle could not get Rondo out of town fast enough. So there's a big difference between demanding, Chris Paul's demanding. He was demanding.

Blake Griffin, hit your free throws. Learn to hit a three, Blake Griffin. DeAndre Jordan, be in the right place. at the right time. That's demanding. Rondo's not going to get the benefit of the doubt in this fight. He's not as good as Chris Paul. Chris Paul has multiple examples where his left teams they've gotten worse, entered a team they got better.

I mean, New Orleans was garbage. Chris Paul ends up in New Orleans. They have their best years. Leaves that go into the tank. Clippers were embarrassing for years. Goes to Los Angeles. Clippers aren't embarrassing. Beat the Crosstown Lakers. Rockets were kind of like plateaued. Oh, he goes over to James Hardin. It won't work. Oh, it does. He even got along with James Hardin, who's a guard. who shoots a lot. You can say what you want about Chris Paul, but he's worked with Doc Rivers. He worked in New Orleans. He's working with Dan Tony. Tell me who Rondo's work with. I mean,

tell me. Nobody. That's not demanding. That's difficult. And by the way, LeBron and Chris Paul are best friends. And you just threw LeBron's best friend under the bus. Not good. that relationship, I guarantee you, is going to be strained from this point forward. Chris Paul's got a lot more friends in this league than Rondo does. He's a better player than Rondo is, and that goes without saying it. And by the way, Rob Parker brought up a very interesting point earlier that if this is indeed the year sort of discovery for the Lakers, they're not a title team. And I believe that's true.

We've called it everybody's auditioning, especially to the trading deadline. because you can't trade all these Lance Stevenson's and Rondos till December. Okay, you're not allowed to. So if this is the year of auditioning, why not just play Lonzo Ball? And I'll talk more about that around the corner. Plus, coming up next, buy, sell, and hold, one of our favorite games. A lot of stuff going on in sports, a lot of show to go.

Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. So I was listening to radio yesterday. Gary Danielson's a college football guy for CBS, and he was on with Mad Dog Russo, and they were talking about Nick Sabin and the relationship Gary has with him, having done the SEC game of the week for years.

And Gary Danielson said, Nick likes to talk ball. And if you want to talk ball, Nick will go all day. You're not trying to get something, you know, you're trying to trap Nick. But if you want to talk about ball, Nick Sabin, he'll invite you in the off season, come sit in his office, let's talk ball. Belichick does the same thing. I have a friend,

a very good friend, who about a year ago, before a Patriot game, about two and a half hours before, was on the field and was introduced through Bob Kraft to Belichick. Belichick likes to talk ball. And if you want to find the warmness in his heart,

ask him a smart question, and Bill will go on and on about it. He does this about once every two weeks. It's not his fault. If you don't come from prepared to the press conference. If you're going to interview Bill Belichick, then come prepared. But he's got to tell. And the way to his heart is ask him a football question that you genuinely want to know the answer to. And he's a great teacher. And Sabin's a great teacher.

And yesterday, Belichick's, look at how long the answer is talking about James White, what makes him special. He's always been a very hard worker, very diligent guy, knows his assignments very, very well. Ask questions like a coach would ask him. The ability to think really far ahead what problems could occur on certain fronts. He just knows more and like Tom has at his position or Devin has at his position or Patrick in his position. High Tower, guys like that. You said he asked questions like a coach. What does that mean? Well, if you were talking to another coach about a play the coach would think ahead to what are the problems that could come up on this they do this if they do that if they do something else what if this what if this guy lines up here instead of

there it's not just what's my assignment it's okay well what if these other things happen you know how how do we handle it are we going to switch it are we going to stay with it am i going to you know could i make this call could i make that call that's called by the way in business second line thinking not just what's my job but what happens if this goes wrong what happens happens if this occurs. That's why the Patriots generally have more guys with a college degree on their roster than anybody else. But Belichick, once again, if you ask a question and you're genuinely interested, not snarky, not fishing for something, you're genuinely, genuinely interested in learning stuff. Sabin and Belichick, they'll talk. They like talking ball. They're teachers. They

like that. They love doing it. But a lot of times the Boston media is fishing for something, looking for something, looking ahead for something. Bill's not going to give you information to help an opponent. So if you're asking about Cincinnati and they play Cincinnati, he's not going to give you anything. But if you ask a moment, I got a question about, do you notice the reporter goes, what do you mean by that? And then Bill tells a story. And it's like, oh, oh, okay. There's a way to everybody's heart. Mine is a good bowl of soup. I was going to say bread. Put the bowl of soup in bread. Yeah, you bread and a good bowl of soup and I just go on forever. I'm the nicest. Either not, I'm cranky. All right, here we do it. It's called, I'm the stockbroker. You're looking for a tip.

Buy-seller-hold. Here we go. Time to buy. Colin will decide if he'll buy it, sell, or hold. Buy-sell or hold. The Patriots will not lose another game this season. Well, they're not going to lose many, but they still, in a passing league, have a dilemma. They don't have much of a pass rush. And remember, five of the. Their next seven games are on the road, and they're only one and two on the road this year. They're a better team at Foxborough.

That goes without saying. I think they're going to lose another game, but I do think they'll win their division because they have two rookie quarterbacks in it, although Miami's always given them troubles down in Miami. But John, sell, sell, sell. Patriots will lose another game. By so hold, Levy on Bell will be a Philadelphia Eagle. Well, as Albert Breer told you earlier, the Eagles don't spend a lot of money at running back. Also, Lavian Bell does not need to show up until week 10.

He's got to show up after 4 Eastern next Tuesday and before week 10, and then he will control the situation. If he shows up before that, they can trade it. And he doesn't show up into that. They can move it. So Lavin Bell just wants to control the situation. Trade deadline is next Tuesday, October 30th. And by the way, as much as Gurley got, as much as Gurley got.

Generally, teams that love their quarterback, like Big Ben, don't want to pay a boatload for the quarterback and the running back. They'll make a choice on that. Right now, Arizona will pay the running back because they're not paying the quarterback much, right? Josh Rosen's young. So I would say, John, sell, sell, sell. Levian Bell will never be an eagle. By seller hold, Cam Newton and Aaron Rogers will both miss the playoffs. Well, both right now are in the wild card position and both have.

have tough stretches. I think there's two things to look at. Vegas is telling you the truth. Green Bay is a nine and a half point underdog this weekend, which is incredible. Vegas is telling you they're not that good. They're simply not an elite football team. A nine and a half point NFL spread is what you give the Buffalo Bills

or a rookie quarterback. Sam Darnold's only getting a touchdown this weekend with no offensive weapons. In a wide receiving corps, they're picking guys off the street in Chicago against the Bears pass rush. The second thing is, Carolina's never had a back-to-back winning season, so they're always roller coaster. So even though they beat Philadelphia and look great, they're now a home dog this week. Vegas is telling you, don't trust Carolina. So, John, I think Cam and Aaron are going to be close.

I think in week 17 we're going to be asking the question, but I don't think they're probably playoff teams. Buy sell or hold, Derek Carr will get traded before the end of the season. I do think it's a real possibility that Derek Carr gets. traded. I would not trade Derek Carr. But Jacksonville, it's got pieces. If DeShon Watson got hurt again, if you were Houston, you could trade some pieces. Like, there's a handful of teams. Marcus Mariooio doesn't make the playoffs. They got some pieces. Miami. Tanna Hill doesn't make the playoffs. Gets hurt again. They got pieces. Derek Carr being traded, I think, is still on the table. But the question is, trading Mac and trading Cooper, if you trade Derek Carr, you come.

completely lose the locker room. So, John, sell, sell, sell. I do not believe Derek Carr will get traded before the end of the season. I would not trade him, but it looks like what Gruden's telling you is, we need a new roster, and you could get a lot. Don't kid yourself. You could go to a Jacksonville and get a first round pick and a start offensive end for Derek Carr. Last one, buy-seller hold.

Boston will sweep the three major championships. Now think about this. That means the Celtics would have to beat the Warriors. I have picked that. It would mean the Red Sox, who lead the Dodgers, 1-0, would beat the Dodgers. I have picked that. You would think, because I'm a Patriots guy, right? That I would love New England going forward to win.

But I don't think they match up with the Rams. I'm not sure they match up with the L.A. Chargers. And when Eric Berry comes back, And Justin Houston for the Chiefs, and I think Kansas City is going to win their division. I don't think they can win in January in Kansas City if it's this Chief's offense. And I get Eric Berry and John Houston with D. Ford the other way. I would take Kansas City in that game. So John, sell, sell, sell.

I actually think not the Celtics, but the Patriots going forward are not going to have home field against the Chiefs. And a second time, I would take Kansas City in that game. Remember this. Eric Berry, the safety for the Chiefs, is one of the top five athletes in the league. Eric Berry is an incredible athlete. He is the only guy in the league that takes Gronk out of the game. He took Gronk out of the game. I think it was last year.

So he's coming back. So is Justin Houston to go. with D. Ford. Then Tom will face a pass rush. Gronk will be out, and you've got to stop with no pass rush that Kansas City offense. I think it's a real tough row. And if they get to the Super Bowl, I just don't think they match out with the Rams. Because what Belichick does is take your best weapon away, right? We know that, Joy. Well, I'm going to take Todd Gurley away. All right. Well, we'll just throw to one of these three great receivers. I think they're a nightmare matchup. Rams are a tough, tough matchup for the Patriots. Joy of the News.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Oh, the Raiders. John Gurdin's second stint as head coach of the Raiders is off to a rough start, and it now sounds like he's quickly lost the trust of many of his players. According to Vic Tafer of the athletic, many of the players I've talked to question the coach's accountability.

It was the way the trades were handled that is bothering veteran players. When what you say and what you do are two different things, there is a problem. One player who requested anonymity. said, this is the problem that I have with the situation. I've never understood why an organization, an executive, a coach, a GM, feels the need to go to the players and tell them there's not going to be any moves made. Players are not stupid. They understand that there's a business side to the sport.

That's why they get a check every day. Every week. I mean, there's always the potential of moves being made. There's no need to lie about it. This is what, when Gruden got hired, I said this. like right after Labor Day. Gruden came to this organization as a TV personality, not as a football coach.

He'd been a TV personality for a decade. And TV personalities talk and have to be interesting. And Gruden's first 10 days of this organization of two weeks, he kept talking and saying stuff. And you're like, John, you're not on television. The guys that talk in this league too much get into trouble. Belichick's figured it out.

So Gruden has got about 13 quotes And most were in the first two weeks. And it's like John is now tapering back over the last week or two. But you've got to be careful the information to give out because it'll come back to haunt you now. And also players talk to each other. Like I'm sure that the story that Khalil Mack has, the version that he has about how things were handled, has been discussed in the locker room. Everyone knows how things really went down. And now you've created an environment of distrust between the executives and the coaches and the players.

and you're not going to clear all the veteran players out of a system when you come in. And the way that they're selling players off, one NFC South Front Office executive told Mike Freeman, quote, this is the most blatant example of a team tanking that I've ever seen. Now, the players aren't tanking, but... Well... And I don't know how much you can really tank in the NFL. Aren't the Giants sort of...

What are the Giants doing? It feels like the Raiders... You know, I mean, to me, it feels very obvious that they don't want to pick... They don't want to pull the Band-Aid off the scab publicly. John's not going to say I'm going to move off Derek Carr. The Giants aren't going to say I'm moving off Eli Manning. But tanking in the NFL

looks like what the Raiders are doing and what the Giants are doing, which is we're going to get draft picks, give up really good players. I mean, by the way, Snacks Harris and the Giants are a really good player. Eli Apple was a first rounder. Amari Cooper, Killea Mack. When you give up with a losing record

and you give up star players, you're basically, there's got to be a different word. It's not tanking. Preparing? I don't know what the word is. Strategizing. I mean, that's a fancier way of what they're doing, saying what they're really doing.

But, I mean, Khalil Mack, I don't know if that fits in that situation because that was at the beginning of the season. But Amari Cooper is. Amari Cooper maybe, but I don't know. I also feel like someone like Kalil Mack is not a replaceable player. You're not going to get that in the draft. I mean, I guess you could get that in the draft, but are you really counting on that?

And that is a position of need. So I'm not a big fan of like, let's get all these draft picks. You better be good at drafting then because that's what you're basing the future of your franchise on. So the follow-out from the Chris Paul Rajan Rondo Saga continues, especially after Rondo's comments about Paul yesterday being a bad teammate. And now some other players and former players are taking sides, including Glenn Davis. He posted this comment on Instagram yesterday, saying I played with both of them. CP3 is a very bad teammate.

By the way, Glenn Davis didn't like Doc. Glenn Davis didn't like Chris Paul and so... Well, you remember there was all of that divide between Blake Griffin and Chris Paul and Austin Rivers and D'Andre Jordan Blake Griffin kind of against Chris Paul because of the Doc Rivers situation

here with the Clippers. Take all the Clipper players. Who's done the best in the last year, Chris Paul? Also, Chris Paul has had to adjust to playing with James Hardin. But he went to Houston and they won 10 more games

and really outplayed the Warriors. I don't know how much to... I mean, there's multiple versions of whether he's a bad teammate or not, but I do think his reputation amongst players is not great. And that's probably why a big, well, it is obviously a big part of why that fight started. In football, you're not pampered. Basketball players are pampered. A.U.

College basketball, you get barked at. Football's my whole life playing football. Football coaches put on the gear. The shield is the star. Even Aaron Rogers, like, be quiet. Don't talk publicly. basketball, it's kind of like the elevation of the young man. Nike comes after you at 14,

then the AAU coach comes after you with swag at 17, and then the college basketball coach, just stay for one year, and then the NBA, you can get the coach fired. So when you get a guy like Chris Paul, who is rough on players and demanding, a lot of players just recoil. They can't take it.

Well, I would agree with all the things you're saying on that end, but I do think that there is checks and balances amongst players, and that's sort of the element of what's going on here with Chris Paul. Like, Rondo doesn't just step to Chris Paul and punch him in the face because he just was tired of Chris Paul in the game on Friday. There was a long history of buildup leading up to this. And that's why I think some other players are weighing in on this and just coming after Chris Paul in this situation.

Finally, speaking of the Lakers, you know that Kobe Bryant worked tirelessly at his crafts, and a lot of that was in the gym. Went with me shooting in the gym. and he recently revealed in his book that he took up tap dancing. He's got a little Tom Brady extra work putting in stuff going on here.

This is in response to him spraining his ankle in the 2000 finals. He's on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and he explained it during his appearance. In order to protect your ankles, you learned to tap dance. I did. Why didn't we know this? Well, it's kept secret for obvious reasons.

Do they make tap shoes in your size? Had to get a maid. Yeah, had to get them made. I can't go to the store and be like, yeah, y'all take those size 14s. My first class, though, I walked into the studio. And it's always like six-year-old, seven-year-old. Really?

Straight up, man. Studio in Santa Monica. And these kids are looking at me like, what? No. Why are you? This grown-ass man doing in here learning tap dance. It's really a funny visual of Kobe walking in there with size 14 tap dance. Kobe's always been, you know, Kobe's a bright dude.

Kobe's a very, is a fascinating guy. I mean, he was always one of the most obsessed guys. And then he's been very obsessed about business post-basketball. Kobe is very different. He's very different. You know, Michael Jordan sort of now hides. And Kobe kind of hides within his business. Kobe's completely transitioned to his brand now.

He's own business. He's like, you see he's laid back. He's like the unk hanging out, working with the young players. I think Kobe's done very well post-basketball. He's looked smart. He's hit it out of the park with projects. I mean, I've got to be honest with you. Kobe has been an elegant retiree.

A lot of people retire in sports. They're broken down. They're pathetic. They're hustling every nickel they can make. Kobe has retired and looks really refined. He's managed everything pretty well. Very, very well. He did joke that if they went 0-and-5, he would consider coming back.

for the San Antonio game. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. This is the way it works, and it works this way in a lot of different areas. You know, I like in football, if you have the really conservative, rigid football coach, Jeff Fisher defense, and you fire him, you go, let's hire Sean McVe, clever offense. In Chicago, John Fox, defensive guy.

We've got to get him out of him. Let's get young, clever Matt Nagy offensive guy. Bill Parcells is a dictator. We don't like him. Let's go Wade Phillips. He's a players coach. What basically happens in life, this happens in relationships. You know, you date the bad boy and like, you catch him cheating, and then you go to the

conservative guy, who you know is home every night at five after work, but you may get bored because there was something about the wild crazy bad boy that did it for you. The pendulum in life swings back and forth if we get tired. of something, we go the opposite way, we go the extreme. Here's what's interesting about the Rondo fight, is that Rondo is an instigator, he's intense, he's inconsistent personality-wise. The opposite of Rondo is Lanzo Ball,

who is L.A. chill, L.A. laid-back, incredibly consistent personality. I think Rondo, LeBron can make Rondo work, and LeBron can make Lonso work. He can make both of them work. He's going to choose Lanzo. because LeBron is going to get worn out by Rondo's inconsistent play.

There's TV Rondo and Tuesday in Denver Rondo. There's playoff Rondo, regular season Rondo. That's his reputation in the league. He's an instigator. He's intense. He's highly verbal. When LeBron gets tired of him, the perfect guard is Lanzo, who is totally chill. In fact, the knock on Lanzo, he's too chill.

He's not verbal. He's not confrontational. Did you watch how LeBron handled the fight? He was the peacemaker. Remember last year there was a fight for the Lakers? Lonzo, like, disappeared. They even handle fights the same way. I think the winner in this Rondo debacle is Lonzo Ball,

who has the opposite personality. We do this in football all the time. We got the old, crusty defensive coach. Get rid of him. We go young, progressive offensive coach. You have the dictator, oh, let's get the players coach. And we generally go too far one way. And then we swing way back the other way.

And this is how it works in relationships. If you have the docile, boring husband, you go to the party boy. And then you realize, you know what? I don't like being up at four in the morning three times a week. So I think Lonzo Ball is the winner in this mess. Good show today, Rob Parker, Albert Breer, and Joel Clatt. Coming up next, an absolute must-win game for Los Angeles tonight. Best for last, I heard.

The World Series continues tonight with getting a lot. Two is Manny Machado and the Dodgers look to bounce back from a game one loss. They take on Mookie Betts and the Red Sox at Fenway Park. It's all tonight at 7.30 Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Game two, David Price starts. Postseason struggles are well documented, but he finally had a great start against the Astros in the American League Championship Series. So David Price is going.

Mani Machado has hit him through the years. In fact, I saw the numbers this morning. Five career home runs and 44 at bats against him. So Manny Machado and David Price. Price has always been one of those guys, a little temperamental, little moody, postseason, a little emotional. We'll see how it works. By the way, so John Gruden clearly doesn't like the roster, right? And I'm just thinking about this.

Gruden obviously, Khalil Mack is great. I can get picks for him. Amari Cooper, I can get picks. What basically Gruden's telling you is, I don't like the roster much. Okay. Let me just say this. We got a week left of the trading deadline. If you want two more first.

first round picks, trade Derek Carr. I mean, clearly, you and Derek Carr are having issues. Clearly, Gruden's having issues in the locker room. Clearly, there are players in the locker room having trouble with Derek Carr. Like, I like Derek Carr. I'm just telling you this, on the open market, you can get a lot for Derek Carr. You can get a lot for Derek Carr. I wouldn't trade him if I was Gruden, but clearly Gruden and he are having issues. Whenever stuff leaks out, I've always said this, It's not just what comes out in the story. It's that the story comes out. And when a story start leaking about players are losing their love for Derek Carr,

why is that getting out? Because somebody wants it out. And what that tells you, that story gets out because somebody wants it out, right? If people don't want stuff out in the news, New England never leaks anything. I don't hear anything leaking out of the Rams. I don't hear anything leaking out of the Eagles. I'm hearing a lot leak out on the Raiders.

Gruden's got a lot of media contacts. That story coming out on Derek Carr, he's lost the locker room. That only comes out because somebody wants it out inside the Raiders. And that tells you they're probably moving off Derek Carr. Why don't you go full rebuild? You got a week until the trading deadline, until next Tuesday. Do you have an option besides full rebuild at this point? Yeah, that's what you're doing.

So listen, you already got three first round picks. Get five. I'm telling you in the open market, Jacksonville would give you a first-round pick, and they'd give you an elite, I mean, if I want the Jacksonville and said, I want your first-round pick, which will probably be middle of the NFL draft, so I'll have four first-round picks, and I want an elite defensive player. Or two good players. You'd absolutely get that.

Or they'd give you a first, a second, and a, you know, a moderate player. So if you're going full rebuild, you can make the argument, baby, go all in. I don't know if Jacksonville's an option, basically. off of that contract that they gave like Bortals. But. Well, Tennessee, Marcus Marioo, you know, these organizations

Joy are so funny. What about Tampa Bay? I would not trade James Winston yet. And I'm really close. I'm really close. But you know what? With James, he makes too many great throws. He just, I'm real close on moving on. I don't like his maturity.

I think he needs to grow up. I'm going to give him one more chance. I'm close to, he makes way too many mistakes. I know. But there's something about James. I'm still holding out hope. Because, man, he's a big, strong kid. He makes great throws. I'd love Derek Carr in Miami. Just throwing it out there. No, no, that's another team. All right, best for last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet.

Quit holding out on us, cowherd. It's the best for last. Well, I've been telling you all day, this is the next two weeks are the best in sports. You know, I got baseball. I got college football on Saturdays. I've got NFL. on Sundays. NBA season just started and there's wild games and stuff. And to be honest with you, I'm a little overwhelmed. The company asked me to cut a promo for tonight's game, and I think I screwed it up. They began the season facing daunting expectations. The quest to finally bring a championship back to Los Angeles. From day one, all eyes were on this team. Then, with the eyes of the world upon them, They suffered a crushing defeat.

Right now, some people think, their season is already over, but it's not. Tonight, they have a chance to rewrite the script and get that first win against a tough opponent. The Phoenix Suns. This was supposed to be a Dodger promo, not a Laker promo. Well, you can see how I got confused. Eh, whatever. Yeah, I think I screwed up. The biggest game tonight is not just the World Series.

What if the Lakers go 0 and 4? Okay, I'm just throwing it out. Chris Haynes, NBA guy, talked about this a couple days ago. Of the teams that have gone 0 and 4 in the NBA, not good, 17% have made the playoffs. Here's Chris Haynes. I will push the panic button a little bit because I think if Coach Walton hasn't made any adjustments to that roster

or to that lineup by, you know, after that Phoenix game, game and they're still having problems, that's when I'm thinking that's the next move, not necessarily wholesale changes. All right. 73 teams have missed the playoffs. 15 have made it since the mid-80s of teams that have started the year 0-and-4. That's 17% of teams make the playoffs when they start 0-4. I don't bet NBA basketball.

I don't know what the spread is, but Phoenix hosting the Lakers. How many of those? teams had LeBron James on them? By the way, teams that are down 0 and 2 in the World Series and have overcome the deficit or 11, the percent that win the series is 21.5 percent. Joy, the bigger game tonight is... I can't say it, but, you know, I was just trying to make a point.

It's a big game for LeBron. It is a big game. I would say the world series is more impactful. Yeah, I would say you're right about that. Sleep in a Casper. Caspur.com code heard. Get you $50 off select mattresses. Casper.com code H-E-R-D.

I will say this. One of the topics we've had the last couple of days, and we've had a lot of fun with it, and there's been a lot of going back and forth. It's a really good sports topic. To me, what makes a really good sports topic is that you can be right on both sides. So when the Raiders trade Amari Cooper,

Dallas goes out and gives up a first round pick for Amari Cooper. And by the way, it has been a mixed reaction, but probably 70 to 30 against the move. Now, I've come out on the other side of it. And here's why I support the Dallas Cowboys on this. Number one, the Dallas Cowboys brand has always been aggressive. When the Dallas Cowboys aggressively bought the franchise, Cowboys were losing a million dollars a month when Jerry Jones bought them.

It paid off. They hired, they fired Tom Landry a legend for Jimmy Johnson. It paid off. They traded Herschel Walker for seven. players, it paid off. They hired Bill Parcells, aggressive guy, it paid off. He rebuilt the franchise. Jerry Jones has an all-time quote where he says, in my life, when I have overpaid a little bit, when I look back in my life, when I have overpaid for my big successes every time, when I tried to get a bargain, I either end up getting something I'm unhappy with or I'm missing it.

And so what Jerry Jones is telling you is his career. Jerry World was supposed to cost $660 million. It costs $1.1 billion. It's the talk of the nation. It's the best stadium in America right now. So when I look at what the Cowboys did, I don't think they give a rip that they're going to end up paying $14.5 million a year for Amari Cooper, who's probably more of a second round, third round pick than a first round pick. Jerry's history is he borrowed a million dollars from Jimmy Hoffa's Teamsters Union.

This is who Jerry Jones is. He is a gambler. He is a risk taker. And he's every single time he's been rewarded. When he went a little conservative. By the way, Barry Switzer got him a Super Bowl. That was a huge risk, a college coach. So now, I think a lot of people are just saying, yeah,

Mari Cooper in the end, he's not worth a first round pick. And my takeaway is the Seahawks didn't have a first round pick for three straight years in the middle of their dynasty. The Rams this year didn't have. have a first or a second round pick. The Eagles didn't. Kansas City didn't. Many of the best teams in the league didn't have first round picks. The idea that you're not having a first round pick, here's what I know about Amari Cooper. He's a tangible asset. In the worst case scenario, he gives you 35, 45 catches a year and only a couple touchdowns. That's the worst case scenario.

The Cowboys can still use that. Worst case scenario, he's just, I mean, two catches a game is 32 a year. So, Joey, is that a fair worst case scenario? He is two catches a game, which by the way, is going to be way more than that. So worst case scenario, two catches a game, and how about a touchdown once a month? Okay, so 32 catches, four touchdowns. If you had him for two years, 65 catches, eight touchdowns. That's worst case scenario? I mean, it's not, it's not ideal, but yeah, the worst case scenario is not that bad. It's not that bad. Albert Breer talked about what happened with the Raiders and Amari Cooper? So his character was clean coming out of Alabama,

a hard worker, a program guy, all that different stuff. He gets to Oakland his first two years. There's a guy there named Bill Musgrave. He's his offensive coordinator in 2015 and 16. This guy is tough to play for, Colin, just like Nick Saban. And Amari Cooper, in that environment, produced. I think there were some problems with Amari Cooper's work habits. And the hope was bringing in John Gruden that that would change in 2018.

and they have seen a little difference. It's just not consistent. Yeah, I think it's going to work. I think in the end, Amari, here's what I think happens. We forget that teams give up draft picks all the time. We do feel that first round picks are gold bars, and they can be.

The Rams got goff in the first round, Gurley in the first round, and Aaron Donald in the first round. The Chiefs got Patrick Mahomes. The Colts got luck. Yes, first round picks are often the superstars. Elway's a first rounder. Rogers are a first rounder. You can give me the outliers, but Peyton Manning's a first rounder.

Marino's a first rounder. Yes, you don't like to give those up. But the idea, the Cowboys need a receiver. They were going to draft a receiver. And I'm kind of a draft goofball. I love the draft. It's a bad receiver year. There's two good receivers in college football.

Oklahoma's got one, and he's hurt, and Arizona State's got the other. That is it. And if you go to the last four years in the NFL draft, wide receivers have been impossible to project. There's been like six busts. You know, wide receiver is the most NBA-like position in the NFL. It's always been you break the huddle first. You're kind of your own guy. You're not Willie with the team.

You are a superstar athlete. It's the 6-5 guy out in the wing making stuff happen. New England has had so much trouble drafting wide receivers, Joy, they quit doing it. They wouldn't take first-round receivers. They did Chad Jackson years ago, and it bombed, and Belichick just quit. He's like, I'll get my receivers, late rounds, low cost, or I'll get them from other teams like Wes Welker and Josh Gordon. He also has Tom Brady as a luxury.

He does. But New England has kind of moved away. Like, they will not go with receivers in the first round, and they've had opportunities, and they've had needs. Tonight, game two world series, Dodgers Trail, try to even it up at Fenway Park. Huge show tomorrow. Nick Swisher, outstanding. outstanding baseball guy joins us.

Greg Kosell, Chris Haynes and Tom Penn. Lakers desperately need to win. Not as bad, probably, as the Dodgers do tonight. All fired up. Radio, see you tomorrow. TV, stick around. Speak for yourself. Is around the corner.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy,

Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Clifford 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 want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio. Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow.

Then after that game 7, Marquis keep coming to you. 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 I Heart Radio. app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

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