May 10, 2021 • 40 mins
The Knicks are overachievers
Baker Mayfield is the right fit for the Browns
Aaron Rodgers might work out in Denver
The Clippers have a hard time scoring in the clutch
Guest: Albert Breer
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Monday, live
(00:28):
in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be
and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio
FS one. One hour from now, Where Colin was right,
Where Colin was wrong? Little over an hour from now.
Davante Adams Superstar wide receiver. He is an all timer
for the Green Bay Packer. Stops by Joey Taylor's out
(00:49):
today and Alex Curry stepping in again after a wild
Angel Dodger weekend series in which the Angels got the
better of the Dodgers. These days, who doesn't I think
everyone does, but I mean it's not often you see
thirty six runs in two games. It was wild. It
was a wild first two games and then an easy
two one win yesterday. Big fight in the stands on Friday.
(01:11):
That was not the only fight. There was a fight
at our pre and post game set behind me after
the game. I mean, you say one thing, those fans
are going at it. Well, let's start here on a Monday.
So yesterday afternoon, on Mothers Day, Happy Mother's Day to
everybody out there. I made it a point. I wanted
to watch the Knicks versus the Clippers. And I've said
this before. You know, most NBA regular season games, most
(01:33):
Majordigue Baseball regular season games, most NHL regular season games
that don't matter a ton, but you do get the
occasional late season series or late season game that matters.
And there's a handful of NBA regular season games at all,
you know, circle and go. I want to watch that one.
And this was an interesting one. The New York Knicks
kind of a direction list mess forever have a basketball team.
(01:55):
Everybody now likes the band of overachievers. And they were
on a West Coast road swing, fifth West Coast game,
so it kind of weary and tired, and he had
the well rested Clippers. Everybody was planning that mattered. Kawhi
and Paul George. They had two days off, So my
feeling was going into the game is you're gonna have
a Clippers team rested with a bunch of energy, National
(02:16):
TV game, And but I think you know the Knicks
will fight for a while, but they're tired. Nope, that's
not what happened. Nope. The Knicks fell behind ten one,
were often behind, and just kept fighting and fighting and
outworked and outplayed and out defended the Clippers in Los
Angeles and one and Julius Randall didn't play particularly great.
(02:40):
This was about Reggie Bullock, this was about defense, This
was about Terrick Rose. And I gotta tell you two
things jumped out to me first time in twenty five years.
The Knicks have a future because they have a direction. Okay,
it's not just hey we got a bunch of cap space.
Hey we're gonna land this glamorous free agent. Yeah, that
never happens. This is actually a real team, a band
(03:02):
of overachievers. They play real defense, they play really hard.
There's about seven guys that can give them somewhere between
twelve and eighteen points tonight. They have an excellent head coach.
And that's the second thing is that they are not
a championship team this year and maybe not next year.
They're not expectations, be realistic. This is what hurts organizations
that aren't winning for a long time. They get unrealist.
(03:25):
Cleveland Brown fans are like super Bowl or bust. Cleveland's
probably not gonna win a super Bowl. In fact, I'm
gonna go with they're not. But they're a playoff team.
They can win playoff games. The Knicks are a playoff team.
They can win a playoff series, but they don't have
enough offense, not a nightly basis to be a championship team. Also,
one of the great advantages of the Knicks is they
(03:45):
play their ass off. They play hard. That wins a
lot of games in the regular season, but everybody in
the playoff plays hard, and so that equals out and
you need town. Brooklyn's gonna play hard in the playoffs.
Lakers gonna play hard in the playoffs. These star studded team,
they take nights off. They're not energized. I mean, they
call Rajen Rondo playoff Rondo. He plays hard when the
(04:05):
lights are on. But it doesn't matter to me. Because
the Knicks now have a direction. It's so much easier
in life to get somewhere when you actually point to
something and you're going somewhere. And it's not just that
the Knicks have been bad. They've never stood for anything
in recent years. What are they They're not good at
(04:27):
really anything in particular, what is the foundation of the house.
What is it? The Knicks have it? Play real defense,
They're very coachable. You get maximum effort every night. That
is not a championship team, but it's a forty five
win team in the regular season, and that in the
East can get you four or five seed. And they
(04:49):
are absolutely good enough to win a playoff series. They
just lack offensive firepower. But you know, it's funny for
all the glamour and the wealth and the stars of
New Year, or if you really go back to the
history of New York Knicks basketball, and when I was
a kid, the first time I started watching sports was
(05:09):
like nineteen seventy one, nineteen seventy two. The two championships
for the Knicks came in nineteen seventy and seventy three,
both against the Lakers with Jerry West. The Lakers were
known as flashy and offensive. The Knicks were all about defense.
Walt Frazier, still a broadcaster, was a seven time All
NBA defender. They were about defense. And everybody always thinks
(05:33):
New York is flashy. That's not about it. That's not
what it's about. Even Syracuse basketball, the most popular college
team in New York now, is about that zone defense
that Beheim plays. New Yorkers like their team's tough. The
New York Giants Super Bowls, everally never been about offense.
They've been about defense. Joe Namath is one of the
only like offensive driven New York championship teams. And when
(05:58):
you really look, I mean Mariana Rivera the Closer. They
don't win any of those World Series under Tory without
Mariana Rivera the Closer. And so you New York's all flashy,
but the Knicks won with defense over the flash year Lakers.
Pat Riley's teams were all about defense, and this team
is all about defense and effort. It just fits New York.
(06:19):
I've said this before. It's not a coincidence that every
great Laker team starts with offense. Wilt, Jerry West, Gail Goodrich.
Those teams won like thirty three straight in the seventies.
At one point, Magic and Kareem Shack and Kobe that's
really what they're about. Last year was weird. It was
(06:41):
kind of about defense and a D and Dwight Howard
and JaVale McGee and size. It was such a weird
Laker championship. But again it was a pandemic year. It
was a weird year. The Detroit Pistons. Every time they've won,
it's been about defense. You kind of mirror your city
and if you go back and look at Knicks basketball,
it's always been defense and tough and effort Nanthony Mason
(07:04):
and Charles Oakley and Walt Frazier and that's what this
team is. They're not that gifted. Derrick Rose is kind
of reinventing himself. He played great yesterday. Julius Randall is
a max effort guy, not flashy shoots. Three is better
than he used to but in a mathematical driven league
now where threes beat two's. Lakers bailed on him. Nick said, okay,
(07:26):
what else? And we're not landing the stars we want.
He's been great. They have RJ. Barrett, Reggie Bullocks, a
defender of plays hard. This is a classic Knicks team.
They stand for something, they are something, they're good at something.
What a joy to watch them play. Not a championship team.
Don't go nuts, don't reach and overpay Randall, don't reach
for a injury, Riddles star. That's not what Jar. You're
(07:50):
not Brooklyn Offensively, you're not. That's not what Jar. Don't
get silly, don't be the Browns. Don't make a big
reach and overpay. Your foundation is excellent. You play defense,
you're well coached, you play hard. You're overachievers. And that has,
frankly in New York, been the recipe for winning championships.
It's Willis Reid hobbling on the court. It's the Knicks
(08:13):
tackling Michael Jordan. It's a fun watch. They're not pretty,
they're not glamorous, they're not that vertical. But it's a
great watch. All Right. I saw this yesterday. Cleveland Browns
will not be trying to trade for Aaron Rodgers. We
love Baker. Okay, whether or not I agree with that,
(08:36):
there is a point here is that Aaron Rodgers, as
great as he is, is not for everybody. And he's
not and that's important to think about. I don't think
he fits with the culture of the Colds very much
a team. I think he would actually be a step
(08:57):
back for Andy Reid. I think Holmes is more coachable.
There's this thing about Aaron Rodgers. It's always been the
stat that all the cheese hats can't really argue with.
Aaron's a Baylor. He's not a foxhole guy. He's just gifted.
(09:17):
One of the things about Russell Wilson and Tom Brady,
they're optimistic to the point of being corny. Tom Brady
trails a Super Bowl twenty eight to three and wins.
He trails that Seahawk team by ten in the fourth
quarter and wins. Tom Brady has thirty nine fourth quarter
(09:38):
comeback wins in his career. And what makes that number
amazing is how often did he even trail in the
fourth quarter? They average twelve thirteen games a year. Aaron
has seventeen fourth quarter wins. Oh Colin, that's because they
don't trail much either. It is Russell Wilson, and he's
got thirty five percent more than Erin. Joe Flacco has
(10:02):
more than Arin. Andy Dalton has more than Arin. Derek
Carr has more than Arin. Matt Stafford has more than Narin.
Matt Ryan has more than Aaron. Aaron is not a
foxhole guy. He sours very quickly. One of the amazing
things about being sort of optimistic. And it's funny my
(10:27):
my ex wife's very optimistic and sometimes my daughter will go,
you know, some mom is sometimes too optimistic. And I
always say, as opposed to what cynical optimism, overtime wears
better than cynical. And Brady and Russell Wilson border on corny.
But last year Tampa Bay losts thirty eight to three
(10:51):
in Week nine. That season could have been over, but
it isn't. With Tom tom Pom Pom, Tommy Raw Raw,
Tommy Son at the end of the tunnel, Tommy, that's
one of the great assets of Brady. It's not the biggest,
not the strongest, not the fastest. He's got a will
and a belief will get through it. It's also what
(11:13):
makes Russell Wilson unique, and some of his teammates roll
their eyes at him. That's not who Aaron is. Good God,
you think Aaron and Green Bay is a weird fit.
You think he gets frustrated with Green Bay Cleveland. The
first sign of dysfunction he would be eye rolling through
the tunnel is that Aaron is great, but he's not
(11:35):
for everybody. You need stability, you need smart people. He
sours on things quickly. And Baker Mayfield, for all my
misgivings about him, right now, he's a good fit. He's eazy.
He fits Cleveland, overlooked, often mocked, a little small, not
(11:56):
the most gifted, but a gamer. Got some fight. You
can back him into a corner. He'll come out swinging.
That's kind of what Cleveland needs now. Aaron Rodgers is
not for everybody. By the way, the Denver Aaron Rodgers
rumors are heating up. Robert saul I had an interesting
(12:18):
weekend as head coach of the New York Jets. We'll
talk about that as well. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Herd weekdays at noon Easter nine am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio.
I enjoy spa like comfort Navy in tankless water heaters
go to Tankless Made Simple dot Com Tanklessmade Simple dot Com,
(12:38):
Navy and fifteen year limited warranty so the NFL Network.
Jesse Palmer reports this weekend, Denver remains the number one
landing spot for Aaron Rodgers. One of the things to
remember is Denver right now has the second most cap
space in the NFL. So that's a real thing. You know,
there's very few hope list teams in the NFL, and
(13:01):
by hopeless, I mean no shot at the playoffs, and
and and a really really low ceiling at best. Denver
is one of those teams. I think there's five in
the NFL that they're there's no chance of a playoff
spot of the New York Jets rookie head coach, rookie quarterback,
(13:21):
worse roster easily in their division. Philadelphia Eagles really question
marks at coach, question marks at quarterback. And I don't
I think they're rebuilding much more than they'd like to admit.
The Houston Texans dysfunction everywhere. Detroit Lions, they've done a
good job in the offseason to upgrade their offensive line.
(13:42):
It maybe the strength of the team, but they got
a new coach, a new quarterback learning a new system.
They're just not really good. And then there's the Denver Broncos.
And four out of those five teams don't have a
good enough roster, or just have rookie this or rookie that,
or they're just swimming in chaos. That is not the issue.
(14:05):
In Denver, their rosters good enough to make the playoffs.
It is, and their coach is on the defensive side,
strongly respected, and it's not an organization that really swims
in chaos. It's just not. It's generally been the Steelers
with a mountain range. I mean it. Denver's well run. Historically,
(14:25):
John always struggled at GM, but they're well run. To me,
it's may, it's early, it's may. You got time and
you got cap space, go for it. Denver had two
big issues this offseason, secondary awful and quarterback question marks. Well,
they've answered the secondary. Nobody in the NFL did a
(14:46):
better job than to solve their secondary issue than Denver
except Cleveland. Cleveland did the best job, but they went
and got in Denver. Patrick certan great corner, number one
rated corner number one or two at alab Bama, and
Kyle Fuller a very high end corner from Chicago. Still
can't figure out why Chicago couldn't make that work on
(15:07):
the books. So they're not going to be a good
team at corner. Their only other question was quarterback. They
got cap space, They have time. They have a good
enough roster. As Jay Glazer says, when you're driving to
your facility and you know you're not a playoff team.
GMing and coaching in the NFL. It's a miserable, miserable experience.
(15:28):
And I contend Denver and Aaron doesn't fit everywhere. He
would work here. He's got respect for Elway. Peyton Manning
had that, I mean cut Peyton Manning salary. Peyton mann
didn't like about it, but he didn't criticize it publicly
because Elway's an all timer, and Elway is better than
Aaron Rodgers all time, and you know the history of football,
(15:51):
and Aaron knows it. And because Peyton Manning won a
Super Bowl, Aaron knows that Aaron would have to be
on his best behavior for Aaron, and I think he
could be two or three years give it a run.
But this one works to me on so many fronts.
This is not a chaotic organization. It's a good enough
roster and their only weakness is quarterback Alex for the News.
(16:17):
This is the herd Line news Well Zion Williamson. Zion
Williamson is out indefinitely with a fractured left ring finger
he sustained last Tuesday versus the Warriors. And this is
an injury which Pelican's vice president David Griffin thinks could
have been avoided. He's injured now because of the open
season that there's been on Zion Williamson in the paint.
(16:41):
He has been absolutely mauled in the paint on a
regular basis, to the point that other players have said
to him, I'm going to keep doing this to you
because they don't call it. So there is more violence
encouraged in the paint against Zion Williamson than any player
I've seen since. You know it's actually you could say
(17:02):
it's complaining. But if you watch Zion play and when
I catch Pelican games, yea. Some of it is Zion
is so big and create so much contact himself you
can't call a foul on every play. Some of it
just that he is he is, He's there's a kar
Malone thing. You could have had kar Malone shooting twenty
two free throws a night. You could have James Harden
doing that. So when players create contact, some of it
(17:25):
just doesn't get called. Shack was like that. But I
would say this is that the downside of being Shack
or Zion, when you're that strong, when you do hit them,
they don't budge. They're really hard to officiate. Zion is hard, yeah,
and he's leaning in, so it's one of those I
don't think these these complaints shouldn't go unheated, like this
(17:48):
is a real complaint. Yeah, it was a complaint for
years by Phil Jackson against Shack. He was so enormous
that a lot of the body blows that would knock
over or lean a player you just don't call. And
I find there are certain players in the NBA that
are harder to officiate. I thought Lebron James early in
his career. He was because Lebron didn't trust his jumper
(18:08):
early in his career, so he drove to the basket
a lot. It was hard to really officiate Lebron because
he got hit and he was so durable and strong
and forceful you couldn't really tell that he got hit.
So the league actually find Griffin fifty thousand dollars for
this comment right here. The league didn't like it. What
are your thoughts on that, Well, that's what they do.
They have to protect the fabric of their league. But
(18:30):
I don't think David Drown I didn't know. I think
Zion right now is the hardest guy in the league
to officiate. I thought Shack was. I thought early Lebron was.
You know. I mean, listen, there was the old joke
if Michael missed a mid range jumper, then he had
to have been fouled. Yeah, you know, I mean like
Michael complained a lot about it too. But you know,
at sixteen feet, if Michael pulled up and he didn't
(18:52):
hit it, he would complain. And the feeling was he
probably was foul because he shoots about seventy five percent
in those midrangers. And this is a big hit for
the Pelicans. I currently in eleventh in the West. They're
fighting for that play in spot. It's unclear if Zion
is actually going to make it back for the playoffs.
If they make it in the playoffs, and these are
the big guys that the NBA needs to be playing
in the postseason if you want the viewership. Ye. So
(19:14):
I think it hurts all around. But let's move on.
Because Mike Holgrin won a Super Bowl with the Packer,
so he knows a thing or two about the organization,
and he is not impressed with the way that Green
Bay has been dealing with the Aaron Rodgers situation. They
didn't handle it very well. I don't think. I can't
imagine a relationship between the coach or management or whoever's
(19:35):
making the decisions and a star quarterback like that getting
to this point. I just can't imagine it. I wouldn't
allow it. It wouldn't happen. I think it should have
not gotten to this point. Well, Mike's also a great communicator.
Holmgren was known as just anybody could walk into Mike
Holmgren's office. He was always very communicative. He was not
a barker. Some of these guys bark, you know, back
(19:58):
in the seventies, eighties nine, these they bark, and guys
don't want to go into their room, you know, their
coaching office. Mike was a communicator, so it would never
have gotten to this point. He did say though, that
this is the second time the Packers have gone through
something like this, and it was kind of the same
thing that they did with Brett Farve when they drafted
Aaron Rodgers, and he believes they should have just kind
of talked it out before it got to this point,
(20:20):
smoothed it out. I think they're they're almost to the
point of no return with everything that we keep hearing
back and forth. Yeah, I mean, if you're some people
Farv and Rodgers are a little more difficult to coach. Yeah,
just talk to him, talk to them, keep them in
the loop. Yeah, it's the MVP. Do whatever you can
to keep them there. Guys. We'll see how that plays
(20:41):
out well. Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf participated in the
USA Track and Field Golden Games yesterday, where he ran
the one hundred meter dash. Metcalf, who was six four,
two hundred and thirty five pounds, is known for being
one of the fastest players in the NFL, but that
wasn't enough to keep up with these sprinters. Metcalf finished
in a ten point three six seconds, but came in
(21:02):
last place. If he would have finished a sub ten
point five seconds, he would have qualified for the Olympic
trials next month. Metcalf said he felt blessed just to
be able to test his speed against the world class athlete.
He's so much bigger he is, especially in the chest
and shoulders. He is. If you had a guest who plays,
who plays, who plays, who plays another sport just and
(21:25):
I don't think group Tyreek Hill, I think is actually
faster than Dk Metcalf, and I wonder. I don't think
he's a track athlete. There's guys in the NFL that
actually were track guys and football guy. I don't think
DK was other a track guy. He's just football guy
who was fast. Yeah. Patrick Mahomes actually tweeted that he
tipped his hat and then he said, uh, Cheetah, you next, Yeah,
(21:46):
Tyree Hills. Actually, I don't know if Tyreek was another
track guy, but I think he's actually faster than DK.
Metcalf got it be fun, Alex with the news. Well
that's the news, and thanks for stopping the Herdline news.
All right, there's a lot of stuff to unpack over
the weekend. Albert Brier is one of our information guys
joining us now sades bench the best or Nothing. Albert
(22:09):
from Monday Morning Quarterback. Uh, you know, I was saying
the Cleveland Browns came out and said we're not We're
not gonna get Aaron. We're gonna keep Baker. And I
think Baker's got that kind of overlooked mentality, that street
fighter quality that's perfect for the kind of the you
know what the Browns are now. But but I was saying,
Albert that Aaron is not for everybody. He's not there,
(22:33):
you know when you get him. You know, this is
what Eric Manginie had said when they went out and
got far He said, we're not built for FARV right
now Far in New York. We're this young rebuilding team.
I do think Aaron fits Denver in one of the
reasons always in the building and Peyton Manning went there
(22:54):
and won a Super Bowl, so there's a sense that, hey,
we've done this before and it's worked. I think that
helps Denver a little if they went and got air
in your thoughts. Yeah, you know, I think it's sort
of similar to Brady and the Bucks. And I think
you're right when you look at, you know, the fact
that there could be a limited market for Aaron Rodgers.
(23:14):
There were only two teams that were bidding on Tom
Brady at the end. It was the Bucks and the Chargers.
And I think it takes, you know, more than just
the infrastructure around the quarterback to make it attractive to
that quarterback. It's also the willingness to go all in,
because he's not gonna want to go there unless you're
willing to put yourself on a two or a three
year timeline and start mortgaging contracts and doing all the
(23:37):
things that Tampa did to make the situation as good
as it was for Tom Brady last year. And so
you know, I think that's part of what Andrew Barry's
getting at um. And you know, Kevin Sefanski would be
getting at with the Browns where they would sort of
have to blow up the way that they built the
Browns so methodically and go with the model and the
(23:57):
Bucks have employed with Tom Brady. Now in the Broncos circumstance,
if you do that, you got an older head coach,
you got a first year GM who's coming in and
could do this kind of on a short timeline that
would buy him some time if he wanted the short
term to then rebuild after that. And then you look
at the roster. I mean, Mike Bunchet came in and
(24:19):
really fixed that offensive line last year. There were serious
holes there and by the end of the year they
weren't one of the better offensive lines in football. Yeah,
and then you look at the skill talent Colin Jerry,
Judy Courtland, Sutton, kJ Hammler, no offense, all these guys
who were ascending who might be able to take the
next step the same way, say Chris Godwin took when
(24:40):
he got with Tom Brady, by the way, a very
good point in their offensive line, because left tackle was
seen as a huge liability and by the end of
the year you had a pro bowler at left tackle.
So that's a very good point. You know what. I
read a story this morning. It was an anonymously sourced
which generally gives you a juicier People are willing to
(25:00):
say stuff without being sourced or quoted that Aaron, you
got to clean the front office for Green Bay. It's
he's he's burrowed in, he's embedded. You got to move
some people. Just kind of your take. And when you
read or hear stuff like that valid or not, I
think there's a communication problem. Um. Yeah, I think that's
(25:21):
really what it boils down to. And yeah, I think
Aaron Rodgers wants the thing built around him again, the
same way the Bucks are built around Brady. And I
think that's had an impact on a lot of quarterbacks.
By the way, Colum like, I think there's almost like
a lebron effect going on in the NFL right now,
where there's one thing for Brady to do what he
didn't go to Tampa. It's another thing when it works,
and it really did work. And so I think part
(25:42):
of this for Aaron is looking what he's up against
and wanting the Packers to be ultra aggressive and trying
to build a winner around him, the same way Tampa
has done that for Brady Um. You know. But I
do think that that that that the root of all
of this, you know, goes back to drafting Jordan last year,
and I think what made that, I think particularly a
(26:04):
problem for the Packers is the fact that the communication
wasn't great leading up to it. They actually called Aaron
Rodgers while he was while they were on the clock
and about to take Jordan Love. And I actually think
like the difference in making that call two or three
two or three day days ahead of time and saying, look,
just a heads up here, we really like the Utah
State quarterback. We may go up and get him would
(26:26):
have made a world of difference. But the fact that
he had to find out the way he found out,
I think really put their relationship in a different place,
you know. And then they get all the way to
the end and they're there in the championship game, and
you know, I think he sees the way that Tampa's
treated Brady and how aggressive. Again, the Chiefs have been
building around the Homes and the Bills have been building
around Josh Allen, and I think he's saying, I've accomplished
(26:49):
a lot on the MVP of the league. I want
my team to treat me the way those three teams
treat their quarterbacks. And again, it's the way the Packers
have done it forever. It's worked for them forever. But
I do think the communication issue is one of the
things that's a play here. Two other things I want
to I want to address this the Patriots. I think
(27:09):
they acknowledged this offseason by going big into free agency
they had just missed and on a lot of offensive
skill people, and they're not particularly deft at it. You're
feeling on if anything changed, I'd been told by two
sources through the years. Then in mid January, Bill sort
of called off the scouts and just said, I'll take
it from here. That's what I'd been told by people.
(27:31):
I trust it has And then Bill came out there
was an acknowledgement somewhere. Maybe you broke the story that
Bill went against his scouts on wide receiver to kill Harry,
and it came out that He's like no, no, no no,
and they're like, no, no, Bill, that's not where we
should go. Have they have They kind of moved the
chess pieces as Bill acknowledging he needs help in that regard. Yeah,
(27:53):
And I think he really got that message when people
started leaving the building there or a bunch of scouts
to let their contracts expired and left because they didn't
feel like their input was valued. They didn't feel like
they were a big part of the draft process, and
they wanted to go to a place for a career
development reasons where they would be able to be more
involved in the draft process. And Nikil Harry I think
(28:13):
was a flashpoint for a few different reasons. Number one,
it kind of played into all the things that were
going on and the things that Bill had been internally
I think kind of criticized for which were he puts
too much value in his coaching relationships. He's very close
to the old Arizona State coach Todd Graham, and then
he puts value in his own experience over the experience
(28:34):
of others. Nikil Harry came in and crushed his dirty
visit in Foxborough and despite warning signs that were put
up by his scouts, he blew through them because he
had a good experience personally with a guy in a
single day. And so, you know, I think part of
what's happened in Foxborough over the last few months has
been an acknowledgement that the way that they were doing
(28:57):
it the last few years didn't work, and then it
cost some quality people along the way. And so my
understanding is Dave Ziggler, who's sort of the new Nikossario there,
and Elliott Wolf Ron Wolf's son have spearheaded or reworking
of the scouting process. Bill has been in the building
a lot more over the last month rather than being
out in the road, And you know, I think the
(29:18):
idea is we want to have a more collaborative process
in the building, and we need to reshape the way
we do some of these things. And one of the
things that I know other teams had noticed about the
Patriots and the way they handled this year's draft. If
you look at their draft class up and down, there
was always a Belichick curveball in the past, guys like
Jordan Richards and Tavin Wilson that were way overdrafted this year.
(29:40):
If you look at their class, all highly productive college
players who were drafted right about where the league expected
them to be drafted, and I think that is a
sign of where things have gone. I think that Bill
is putting a lot more trust in his scouts this year.
Part of it is that you have to because the
COVID restrictions on how much coaches can do on the road.
But I do think that there's a change that's happened there,
(30:01):
and if it works, I would expect it to be permanent. Finally,
Jimmy G in situations interesting in San Francisco. So generally
there is a feeling most people don't think Aaron Rodgers
would be traded in season. I do think Miami Giants
are interesting. If those coaching staff lose faith in Daniel
Jones or two by the end of October and say
(30:23):
we got the roster, we got the wrong quarterback, I
think they could do it. But Jimmy G is interesting.
They already won the trade for Jimmy G. They gave
away nothing, They got to a Super Bowl. But if
Jimmy G is six and two through seven or eight
weeks right and Trey Lance is sitting there, do you
think there's any chance that they would move off Jimmy
G and say, listen, we're good trades better than we
(30:44):
thought early, and we can still get value for Jimmy G.
Because you know by week seven there's gonna be four
teams desperate for a quarterback. Washington could be one your
thoughts on Jimmy G. Is he just here until the
wheels fall off? Or could there be a move with them?
I think it's I think it's the second part of
what you said. I think it's completely completely dependent on
(31:05):
how Trey Lance comes along. And I think if you
look at the way that this thing's played out, like
you know, Mac Jones potentially being the third overall pick,
I think gave the Niners an idea. Okay, maybe we
could move Jimmy G. If Mac Jones comes in here
over those first six eight weeks in the building and
just crushes it and looks ready. You know, Trey Lanz
was widely seen as a bigger project. He hasn't played
(31:26):
football and almost a year outside of that one game,
you hadn't seen him in a lot of critical situations
at North Dakota State. Because North Dakota State rolled over everybody.
You didn't see him playing from behind a lot. You
didn't see him in third long a lot, and so
you know there's at least this perception across the league
that he's going to need some time to develop. They'll
put him on the field when he's ready, but you know,
(31:48):
until then, Jimmy G is going to be the guy.
And I think Jimmy G's in a fantastic situation because
there's a really good team around him and Colin I
think a huge key to all of this. When Trey
landscapes in the field, they're ready to move Jimmy Garoppolo.
There's a lot of alpha's in that locker room, guys
like Trent Williams and Nick Bosa. Kyle Shanahan has to
(32:09):
be able to sell whoever the quarterback is to that
locker room because they believe that it's a championship locker room.
So it's not only going to be on Trey Lance
to win over the coaching staff and show the coaching
staff that he's ready, but he's also going to have
to be sellable to a locker room that's full of
a lot of very accomplished veterans. And so could it
happen fast? Sure, it could happen fast, but Trey Lance
(32:30):
has a lot of I think it's just like a
long way for him to go to get there. And again,
maybe it happens faster than you think. And whenever it
does happen, then I think you get the green light
to trade. Jimmy g Good stuff, Albert Brewer Monday Morning Quarterback.
Thanks guy, I appreciate it all right. Thanks going. Bad
news for the Clippers rears its head yesterday. Again. This
(32:51):
is a two year problem plus an interesting weekend for
the Jets coach Robert Sala that's coming up. Be sure
to catch live editions under Heard weekdays and noon Easter
Ninny Empacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every
weekday morning on my podcast Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
This isn't your typical sportspod pushing the same tired narratives
(33:14):
down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest
opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to
help you win big at the sports book, and all
the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to
Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app Apple
podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. By the way,
(33:35):
strangest thing this weekend I discovered you can you can
buy bitcoin and all these all these cryptocurrencies if you
have PayPal, It's just write in your phone. Yeah, that
seems dangerous. Are you just getting into crypto or were
you in early No, not in early. I'm a real
estate market guy, been since the eighties. That's what I do.
I'm not into cryptocurrency. I'm not against it. I think
(33:57):
there'll be a point in America where cryptocurrency works. I
don't know if it's now. It's a roller coaster. Oh yeah,
I mean you can buy a house with bitcoin. There's
a couple of players taking their full salary in bitcoin. Yeah.
I wouldn't, but hey to eat their own I'm not
a yeah. I mean, it depends on who you talk to.
So yesterday we started the show talking about how impressive
(34:18):
the Knicks were. The Clippers actually have a better roster
with more good players. Kawhi Leonards much better than anybody
on the Knicks. Paul George is more offensively gifted than
anybody on the Knicks. But the Knicks beat them, and
one of the reasons they beat them is the Clippers
are awful late in games. They're terrible. Paul George can
get tentative. You know, they don't have, you know, outside
(34:42):
of Kawhi another score after Paul George you can depend
on for twenty five a night. But if you look
at their late game clutch statistics, and I'll put them
on the screen here for our FS one viewers. There
are five teams in the NBA who are terrible in
something called clutch points, that's the last five minutes of
a game with a point differential of five or less.
(35:02):
Four of the teams have no talent, the Calvs, the Magic,
the Thunder, and the Rockets. Then there's a team of
a bunch of talent, the Clippers, that's second worst in
the league. What the hell is going on? It's not
that hard to figure out. This is the issue. When
Kawhi and leonards your star, he doesn't talk, he's odd,
he's nonverbal. By the way, who is second best in
(35:26):
the NBA and clutch points the Sons because Chris Paul
talks and yells and coaches and barks and screams. I
never bought into this. You know, leadership is wa talk, walks, softly,
carry a big stick, and you gotta talk. That's why
it's why the Packers and Aaron Rodgers are in trouble. Talk.
That's leadership is talking and communicating, not being a big,
(35:47):
strong guy who's silent. When Kauai is your star, you're bad.
If he's the culture center, you're bad. Laton. This is
two years now. It's been a problem them. How in
God's name are they the second worst team in clutch points?
Tylo's won a title. It's not him. They've got talent.
The other four teams around them in the NBA stats
(36:09):
are bad. This is Kawai. You can say what about
San Antonio and Toronto? Those cultures were set. He was
icing on a very formidable cake. He is the cake
with the Clippers, and he doesn't talk. He's nonverbal. He
doesn't distribute when you want. You got to give this
team to Rondo with five minutes left. Paul George very talented,
(36:33):
but his history is he gets very tentative and tight late.
Kawai can drop a bucket. Forget him leading, Just have
him be what he is. A shotmaker, that's what he is.
But you look at the Clippers, they have top eight
in the NBA bench scoring, excellent bench. They've got a
coach that's won a title. They have two stars, they've
(36:54):
got a three in d Guy Nicholas Batum. That's a
championship team. They are they are, they are ready to win,
microwave and win, and they're awful at the end of games.
It makes no sense until you think of, well, who's
who's running the team. By the way, the Sons are
suddenly great at clutch scoring. Chris Paul's verbal. Lebron's teams
(37:19):
have generally been good late. He's verbal, he's a coach
on the floor. The Warrior teams have generally been very
good late. Why Steph Curry is verbal, It's not complicated.
Stuff is that you cannot have this roster and be
this bad late in games. You got to hand it
over to Rondo. Let him do what he does. They
(37:39):
call him playoff Rondo for a reason. Last year he
was great for the Lakers in big spots, and he
wasn't a necessity for the Lakers. He was an additive
of bonus because with Lebron you had the leadership. But
this is kind of what you get when when your
culture is set with Kawhi Leonard and last year, what
was the big issue with the Clippers. I got fooled
(38:01):
on it. Chemistry. Again, Chemistry is not a problem when
your leader is a communicator. Chemistry is a problem when
your general manager in Green Bay won't talk to your
prickly quarterback, then it's a problem. So watching the Clippers yesterday,
I'm like, this roster's way too good to be this
(38:22):
bad at the end of basketball games. It makes no sense.
They are just easily disrupted. Now now, now, again, the
Knicks deserve credit. Knicks play real defense. THI but it
was a great defensive coach. But if you look at
the Knicks talent, Julius Randall's a B plus player having
an A plus year. Derek Rose is not a vertical
finisher like he used to be. He's a he's a
(38:44):
good off the bench guy. Reggie Bullock, I mean when
you really watch I mean this is a prime example.
When you watch these highlights, you just they're just don't
really have an identity late in games. Why would they
Why would they have an identity? That's not what, that's
not what. By the way, last year, if you look
(39:04):
up reports, the biggest complaint was, well Kawhi is getting
special treatment and Paul George was getting special treatment. Again,
that doesn't happen if guys talk, and you can't blame
coaches at some point. This has always been a players league.
Players have the power. The NFL's not a players league.
NBA is, so that means you make the money. Coaches
(39:28):
get fired, not stars. But then when you're bad late
in games, it falls on the player, not the coach.
I'm tired of the coach getting whacked. In the NBA.
It's a players league. You get the plotits when you
win late, you get the criticism when you lose late.
This is not a Brad Steven's issue in Boston, they
don't have enough juice. This is not a Tie Lou problem.
Collin right, Colin wrong, next, Oh, I got thirty seconds,
(39:50):
my bad misread the clock. I wanted to get to
my Roberts solid story, but now I don't have time.
Let me read a quick spot and we'll be gone.
Collin right, Collin wrong, top the next hour. If you're
still running your books on quick books, then it's quicksam bigger.
You get the faster you'll sink. Go to NetSuite. They're
offering one of a kind type financing, NetSuite dot com,
(40:11):
slash heardnetsweet dot com, slash h E r D. Live
in La. It's the Herd.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern,
nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox
Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Monday, live
(00:28):
in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be
and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio
FS one. One hour from now, Where Colin was right,
Where Colin was wrong? Little over an hour from now.
Davante Adams Superstar wide receiver. He is an all timer
for the Green Bay Packer. Stops by Joey Taylor's out
(00:49):
today and Alex Curry stepping in again after a wild
Angel Dodger weekend series in which the Angels got the
better of the Dodgers. These days, who doesn't I think
everyone does, but I mean it's not often you see
thirty six runs in two games. It was wild. It
was a wild first two games and then an easy
two one win yesterday. Big fight in the stands on Friday.
(01:11):
That was not the only fight. There was a fight
at our pre and post game set behind me after
the game. I mean, you say one thing, those fans
are going at it. Well, let's start here on a Monday.
So yesterday afternoon, on Mothers Day, Happy Mother's Day to
everybody out there. I made it a point. I wanted
to watch the Knicks versus the Clippers. And I've said
this before. You know, most NBA regular season games, most
(01:33):
Majordigue Baseball regular season games, most NHL regular season games
that don't matter a ton, but you do get the
occasional late season series or late season game that matters.
And there's a handful of NBA regular season games at all,
you know, circle and go. I want to watch that one.
And this was an interesting one. The New York Knicks
kind of a direction list mess forever have a basketball team.
(01:55):
Everybody now likes the band of overachievers. And they were
on a West Coast road swing, fifth West Coast game,
so it kind of weary and tired, and he had
the well rested Clippers. Everybody was planning that mattered. Kawhi
and Paul George. They had two days off, So my
feeling was going into the game is you're gonna have
a Clippers team rested with a bunch of energy, National
(02:16):
TV game, And but I think you know the Knicks
will fight for a while, but they're tired. Nope, that's
not what happened. Nope. The Knicks fell behind ten one,
were often behind, and just kept fighting and fighting and
outworked and outplayed and out defended the Clippers in Los
Angeles and one and Julius Randall didn't play particularly great.
(02:40):
This was about Reggie Bullock, this was about defense, This
was about Terrick Rose. And I gotta tell you two
things jumped out to me first time in twenty five years.
The Knicks have a future because they have a direction. Okay,
it's not just hey we got a bunch of cap space.
Hey we're gonna land this glamorous free agent. Yeah, that
never happens. This is actually a real team, a band
(03:02):
of overachievers. They play real defense, they play really hard.
There's about seven guys that can give them somewhere between
twelve and eighteen points tonight. They have an excellent head coach.
And that's the second thing is that they are not
a championship team this year and maybe not next year.
They're not expectations, be realistic. This is what hurts organizations
that aren't winning for a long time. They get unrealist.
(03:25):
Cleveland Brown fans are like super Bowl or bust. Cleveland's
probably not gonna win a super Bowl. In fact, I'm
gonna go with they're not. But they're a playoff team.
They can win playoff games. The Knicks are a playoff team.
They can win a playoff series, but they don't have
enough offense, not a nightly basis to be a championship team. Also,
one of the great advantages of the Knicks is they
(03:45):
play their ass off. They play hard. That wins a
lot of games in the regular season, but everybody in
the playoff plays hard, and so that equals out and
you need town. Brooklyn's gonna play hard in the playoffs.
Lakers gonna play hard in the playoffs. These star studded team,
they take nights off. They're not energized. I mean, they
call Rajen Rondo playoff Rondo. He plays hard when the
(04:05):
lights are on. But it doesn't matter to me. Because
the Knicks now have a direction. It's so much easier
in life to get somewhere when you actually point to
something and you're going somewhere. And it's not just that
the Knicks have been bad. They've never stood for anything
in recent years. What are they They're not good at
(04:27):
really anything in particular, what is the foundation of the house.
What is it? The Knicks have it? Play real defense,
They're very coachable. You get maximum effort every night. That
is not a championship team, but it's a forty five
win team in the regular season, and that in the
East can get you four or five seed. And they
(04:49):
are absolutely good enough to win a playoff series. They
just lack offensive firepower. But you know, it's funny for
all the glamour and the wealth and the stars of
New Year, or if you really go back to the
history of New York Knicks basketball, and when I was
a kid, the first time I started watching sports was
(05:09):
like nineteen seventy one, nineteen seventy two. The two championships
for the Knicks came in nineteen seventy and seventy three,
both against the Lakers with Jerry West. The Lakers were
known as flashy and offensive. The Knicks were all about defense.
Walt Frazier, still a broadcaster, was a seven time All
NBA defender. They were about defense. And everybody always thinks
(05:33):
New York is flashy. That's not about it. That's not
what it's about. Even Syracuse basketball, the most popular college
team in New York now, is about that zone defense
that Beheim plays. New Yorkers like their team's tough. The
New York Giants Super Bowls, everally never been about offense.
They've been about defense. Joe Namath is one of the
only like offensive driven New York championship teams. And when
(05:58):
you really look, I mean Mariana Rivera the Closer. They
don't win any of those World Series under Tory without
Mariana Rivera the Closer. And so you New York's all flashy,
but the Knicks won with defense over the flash year Lakers.
Pat Riley's teams were all about defense, and this team
is all about defense and effort. It just fits New York.
(06:19):
I've said this before. It's not a coincidence that every
great Laker team starts with offense. Wilt, Jerry West, Gail Goodrich.
Those teams won like thirty three straight in the seventies.
At one point, Magic and Kareem Shack and Kobe that's
really what they're about. Last year was weird. It was
(06:41):
kind of about defense and a D and Dwight Howard
and JaVale McGee and size. It was such a weird
Laker championship. But again it was a pandemic year. It
was a weird year. The Detroit Pistons. Every time they've won,
it's been about defense. You kind of mirror your city
and if you go back and look at Knicks basketball,
it's always been defense and tough and effort Nanthony Mason
(07:04):
and Charles Oakley and Walt Frazier and that's what this
team is. They're not that gifted. Derrick Rose is kind
of reinventing himself. He played great yesterday. Julius Randall is
a max effort guy, not flashy shoots. Three is better
than he used to but in a mathematical driven league
now where threes beat two's. Lakers bailed on him. Nick said, okay,
(07:26):
what else? And we're not landing the stars we want.
He's been great. They have RJ. Barrett, Reggie Bullocks, a
defender of plays hard. This is a classic Knicks team.
They stand for something, they are something, they're good at something.
What a joy to watch them play. Not a championship team.
Don't go nuts, don't reach and overpay Randall, don't reach
for a injury, Riddles star. That's not what Jar. You're
(07:50):
not Brooklyn Offensively, you're not. That's not what Jar. Don't
get silly, don't be the Browns. Don't make a big
reach and overpay. Your foundation is excellent. You play defense,
you're well coached, you play hard. You're overachievers. And that has,
frankly in New York, been the recipe for winning championships.
It's Willis Reid hobbling on the court. It's the Knicks
(08:13):
tackling Michael Jordan. It's a fun watch. They're not pretty,
they're not glamorous, they're not that vertical. But it's a
great watch. All Right. I saw this yesterday. Cleveland Browns
will not be trying to trade for Aaron Rodgers. We
love Baker. Okay, whether or not I agree with that,
(08:36):
there is a point here is that Aaron Rodgers, as
great as he is, is not for everybody. And he's
not and that's important to think about. I don't think
he fits with the culture of the Colds very much
a team. I think he would actually be a step
(08:57):
back for Andy Reid. I think Holmes is more coachable.
There's this thing about Aaron Rodgers. It's always been the
stat that all the cheese hats can't really argue with.
Aaron's a Baylor. He's not a foxhole guy. He's just gifted.
(09:17):
One of the things about Russell Wilson and Tom Brady,
they're optimistic to the point of being corny. Tom Brady
trails a Super Bowl twenty eight to three and wins.
He trails that Seahawk team by ten in the fourth
quarter and wins. Tom Brady has thirty nine fourth quarter
(09:38):
comeback wins in his career. And what makes that number
amazing is how often did he even trail in the
fourth quarter? They average twelve thirteen games a year. Aaron
has seventeen fourth quarter wins. Oh Colin, that's because they
don't trail much either. It is Russell Wilson, and he's
got thirty five percent more than Erin. Joe Flacco has
(10:02):
more than Arin. Andy Dalton has more than Arin. Derek
Carr has more than Arin. Matt Stafford has more than Narin.
Matt Ryan has more than Aaron. Aaron is not a
foxhole guy. He sours very quickly. One of the amazing
things about being sort of optimistic. And it's funny my
(10:27):
my ex wife's very optimistic and sometimes my daughter will go,
you know, some mom is sometimes too optimistic. And I
always say, as opposed to what cynical optimism, overtime wears
better than cynical. And Brady and Russell Wilson border on corny.
But last year Tampa Bay losts thirty eight to three
(10:51):
in Week nine. That season could have been over, but
it isn't. With Tom tom Pom Pom, Tommy Raw Raw,
Tommy Son at the end of the tunnel, Tommy, that's
one of the great assets of Brady. It's not the biggest,
not the strongest, not the fastest. He's got a will
and a belief will get through it. It's also what
(11:13):
makes Russell Wilson unique, and some of his teammates roll
their eyes at him. That's not who Aaron is. Good God,
you think Aaron and Green Bay is a weird fit.
You think he gets frustrated with Green Bay Cleveland. The
first sign of dysfunction he would be eye rolling through
the tunnel is that Aaron is great, but he's not
(11:35):
for everybody. You need stability, you need smart people. He
sours on things quickly. And Baker Mayfield, for all my
misgivings about him, right now, he's a good fit. He's eazy.
He fits Cleveland, overlooked, often mocked, a little small, not
(11:56):
the most gifted, but a gamer. Got some fight. You
can back him into a corner. He'll come out swinging.
That's kind of what Cleveland needs now. Aaron Rodgers is
not for everybody. By the way, the Denver Aaron Rodgers
rumors are heating up. Robert saul I had an interesting
(12:18):
weekend as head coach of the New York Jets. We'll
talk about that as well. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Herd weekdays at noon Easter nine am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio.
I enjoy spa like comfort Navy in tankless water heaters
go to Tankless Made Simple dot Com Tanklessmade Simple dot Com,
(12:38):
Navy and fifteen year limited warranty so the NFL Network.
Jesse Palmer reports this weekend, Denver remains the number one
landing spot for Aaron Rodgers. One of the things to
remember is Denver right now has the second most cap
space in the NFL. So that's a real thing. You know,
there's very few hope list teams in the NFL, and
(13:01):
by hopeless, I mean no shot at the playoffs, and
and and a really really low ceiling at best. Denver
is one of those teams. I think there's five in
the NFL that they're there's no chance of a playoff
spot of the New York Jets rookie head coach, rookie quarterback,
(13:21):
worse roster easily in their division. Philadelphia Eagles really question
marks at coach, question marks at quarterback. And I don't
I think they're rebuilding much more than they'd like to admit.
The Houston Texans dysfunction everywhere. Detroit Lions, they've done a
good job in the offseason to upgrade their offensive line.
(13:42):
It maybe the strength of the team, but they got
a new coach, a new quarterback learning a new system.
They're just not really good. And then there's the Denver Broncos.
And four out of those five teams don't have a
good enough roster, or just have rookie this or rookie that,
or they're just swimming in chaos. That is not the issue.
(14:05):
In Denver, their rosters good enough to make the playoffs.
It is, and their coach is on the defensive side,
strongly respected, and it's not an organization that really swims
in chaos. It's just not. It's generally been the Steelers
with a mountain range. I mean it. Denver's well run. Historically,
(14:25):
John always struggled at GM, but they're well run. To me,
it's may, it's early, it's may. You got time and
you got cap space, go for it. Denver had two
big issues this offseason, secondary awful and quarterback question marks. Well,
they've answered the secondary. Nobody in the NFL did a
(14:46):
better job than to solve their secondary issue than Denver
except Cleveland. Cleveland did the best job, but they went
and got in Denver. Patrick certan great corner, number one
rated corner number one or two at alab Bama, and
Kyle Fuller a very high end corner from Chicago. Still
can't figure out why Chicago couldn't make that work on
(15:07):
the books. So they're not going to be a good
team at corner. Their only other question was quarterback. They
got cap space, They have time. They have a good
enough roster. As Jay Glazer says, when you're driving to
your facility and you know you're not a playoff team.
GMing and coaching in the NFL. It's a miserable, miserable experience.
(15:28):
And I contend Denver and Aaron doesn't fit everywhere. He
would work here. He's got respect for Elway. Peyton Manning
had that, I mean cut Peyton Manning salary. Peyton mann
didn't like about it, but he didn't criticize it publicly
because Elway's an all timer, and Elway is better than
Aaron Rodgers all time, and you know the history of football,
(15:51):
and Aaron knows it. And because Peyton Manning won a
Super Bowl, Aaron knows that Aaron would have to be
on his best behavior for Aaron, and I think he
could be two or three years give it a run.
But this one works to me on so many fronts.
This is not a chaotic organization. It's a good enough
roster and their only weakness is quarterback Alex for the News.
(16:17):
This is the herd Line news Well Zion Williamson. Zion
Williamson is out indefinitely with a fractured left ring finger
he sustained last Tuesday versus the Warriors. And this is
an injury which Pelican's vice president David Griffin thinks could
have been avoided. He's injured now because of the open
season that there's been on Zion Williamson in the paint.
(16:41):
He has been absolutely mauled in the paint on a
regular basis, to the point that other players have said
to him, I'm going to keep doing this to you
because they don't call it. So there is more violence
encouraged in the paint against Zion Williamson than any player
I've seen since. You know it's actually you could say
(17:02):
it's complaining. But if you watch Zion play and when
I catch Pelican games, yea. Some of it is Zion
is so big and create so much contact himself you
can't call a foul on every play. Some of it
just that he is he is, He's there's a kar
Malone thing. You could have had kar Malone shooting twenty
two free throws a night. You could have James Harden
doing that. So when players create contact, some of it
(17:25):
just doesn't get called. Shack was like that. But I
would say this is that the downside of being Shack
or Zion, when you're that strong, when you do hit them,
they don't budge. They're really hard to officiate. Zion is hard, yeah,
and he's leaning in, so it's one of those I
don't think these these complaints shouldn't go unheated, like this
(17:48):
is a real complaint. Yeah, it was a complaint for
years by Phil Jackson against Shack. He was so enormous
that a lot of the body blows that would knock
over or lean a player you just don't call. And
I find there are certain players in the NBA that
are harder to officiate. I thought Lebron James early in
his career. He was because Lebron didn't trust his jumper
(18:08):
early in his career, so he drove to the basket
a lot. It was hard to really officiate Lebron because
he got hit and he was so durable and strong
and forceful you couldn't really tell that he got hit.
So the league actually find Griffin fifty thousand dollars for
this comment right here. The league didn't like it. What
are your thoughts on that, Well, that's what they do.
They have to protect the fabric of their league. But
(18:30):
I don't think David Drown I didn't know. I think
Zion right now is the hardest guy in the league
to officiate. I thought Shack was. I thought early Lebron was.
You know. I mean, listen, there was the old joke
if Michael missed a mid range jumper, then he had
to have been fouled. Yeah, you know, I mean like
Michael complained a lot about it too. But you know,
at sixteen feet, if Michael pulled up and he didn't
(18:52):
hit it, he would complain. And the feeling was he
probably was foul because he shoots about seventy five percent
in those midrangers. And this is a big hit for
the Pelicans. I currently in eleventh in the West. They're
fighting for that play in spot. It's unclear if Zion
is actually going to make it back for the playoffs.
If they make it in the playoffs, and these are
the big guys that the NBA needs to be playing
in the postseason if you want the viewership. Ye. So
(19:14):
I think it hurts all around. But let's move on.
Because Mike Holgrin won a Super Bowl with the Packer,
so he knows a thing or two about the organization,
and he is not impressed with the way that Green
Bay has been dealing with the Aaron Rodgers situation. They
didn't handle it very well. I don't think. I can't
imagine a relationship between the coach or management or whoever's
(19:35):
making the decisions and a star quarterback like that getting
to this point. I just can't imagine it. I wouldn't
allow it. It wouldn't happen. I think it should have
not gotten to this point. Well, Mike's also a great communicator.
Holmgren was known as just anybody could walk into Mike
Holmgren's office. He was always very communicative. He was not
a barker. Some of these guys bark, you know, back
(19:58):
in the seventies, eighties nine, these they bark, and guys
don't want to go into their room, you know, their
coaching office. Mike was a communicator, so it would never
have gotten to this point. He did say though, that
this is the second time the Packers have gone through
something like this, and it was kind of the same
thing that they did with Brett Farve when they drafted
Aaron Rodgers, and he believes they should have just kind
of talked it out before it got to this point,
(20:20):
smoothed it out. I think they're they're almost to the
point of no return with everything that we keep hearing
back and forth. Yeah, I mean, if you're some people
Farv and Rodgers are a little more difficult to coach. Yeah,
just talk to him, talk to them, keep them in
the loop. Yeah, it's the MVP. Do whatever you can
to keep them there. Guys. We'll see how that plays
(20:41):
out well. Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf participated in the
USA Track and Field Golden Games yesterday, where he ran
the one hundred meter dash. Metcalf, who was six four,
two hundred and thirty five pounds, is known for being
one of the fastest players in the NFL, but that
wasn't enough to keep up with these sprinters. Metcalf finished
in a ten point three six seconds, but came in
(21:02):
last place. If he would have finished a sub ten
point five seconds, he would have qualified for the Olympic
trials next month. Metcalf said he felt blessed just to
be able to test his speed against the world class athlete.
He's so much bigger he is, especially in the chest
and shoulders. He is. If you had a guest who plays,
who plays, who plays, who plays another sport just and
(21:25):
I don't think group Tyreek Hill, I think is actually
faster than Dk Metcalf, and I wonder. I don't think
he's a track athlete. There's guys in the NFL that
actually were track guys and football guy. I don't think
DK was other a track guy. He's just football guy
who was fast. Yeah. Patrick Mahomes actually tweeted that he
tipped his hat and then he said, uh, Cheetah, you next, Yeah,
(21:46):
Tyree Hills. Actually, I don't know if Tyreek was another
track guy, but I think he's actually faster than DK.
Metcalf got it be fun, Alex with the news. Well
that's the news, and thanks for stopping the Herdline news.
All right, there's a lot of stuff to unpack over
the weekend. Albert Brier is one of our information guys
joining us now sades bench the best or Nothing. Albert
(22:09):
from Monday Morning Quarterback. Uh, you know, I was saying
the Cleveland Browns came out and said we're not We're
not gonna get Aaron. We're gonna keep Baker. And I
think Baker's got that kind of overlooked mentality, that street
fighter quality that's perfect for the kind of the you
know what the Browns are now. But but I was saying,
Albert that Aaron is not for everybody. He's not there,
(22:33):
you know when you get him. You know, this is
what Eric Manginie had said when they went out and
got far He said, we're not built for FARV right
now Far in New York. We're this young rebuilding team.
I do think Aaron fits Denver in one of the
reasons always in the building and Peyton Manning went there
(22:54):
and won a Super Bowl, so there's a sense that, hey,
we've done this before and it's worked. I think that
helps Denver a little if they went and got air
in your thoughts. Yeah, you know, I think it's sort
of similar to Brady and the Bucks. And I think
you're right when you look at, you know, the fact
that there could be a limited market for Aaron Rodgers.
(23:14):
There were only two teams that were bidding on Tom
Brady at the end. It was the Bucks and the Chargers.
And I think it takes, you know, more than just
the infrastructure around the quarterback to make it attractive to
that quarterback. It's also the willingness to go all in,
because he's not gonna want to go there unless you're
willing to put yourself on a two or a three
year timeline and start mortgaging contracts and doing all the
(23:37):
things that Tampa did to make the situation as good
as it was for Tom Brady last year. And so
you know, I think that's part of what Andrew Barry's
getting at um. And you know, Kevin Sefanski would be
getting at with the Browns where they would sort of
have to blow up the way that they built the
Browns so methodically and go with the model and the
(23:57):
Bucks have employed with Tom Brady. Now in the Broncos circumstance,
if you do that, you got an older head coach,
you got a first year GM who's coming in and
could do this kind of on a short timeline that
would buy him some time if he wanted the short
term to then rebuild after that. And then you look
at the roster. I mean, Mike Bunchet came in and
(24:19):
really fixed that offensive line last year. There were serious
holes there and by the end of the year they
weren't one of the better offensive lines in football. Yeah,
and then you look at the skill talent Colin Jerry,
Judy Courtland, Sutton, kJ Hammler, no offense, all these guys
who were ascending who might be able to take the
next step the same way, say Chris Godwin took when
(24:40):
he got with Tom Brady, by the way, a very
good point in their offensive line, because left tackle was
seen as a huge liability and by the end of
the year you had a pro bowler at left tackle.
So that's a very good point. You know what. I
read a story this morning. It was an anonymously sourced
which generally gives you a juicier People are willing to
(25:00):
say stuff without being sourced or quoted that Aaron, you
got to clean the front office for Green Bay. It's
he's he's burrowed in, he's embedded. You got to move
some people. Just kind of your take. And when you
read or hear stuff like that valid or not, I
think there's a communication problem. Um. Yeah, I think that's
(25:21):
really what it boils down to. And yeah, I think
Aaron Rodgers wants the thing built around him again, the
same way the Bucks are built around Brady. And I
think that's had an impact on a lot of quarterbacks.
By the way, Colum like, I think there's almost like
a lebron effect going on in the NFL right now,
where there's one thing for Brady to do what he
didn't go to Tampa. It's another thing when it works,
and it really did work. And so I think part
(25:42):
of this for Aaron is looking what he's up against
and wanting the Packers to be ultra aggressive and trying
to build a winner around him, the same way Tampa
has done that for Brady Um. You know. But I
do think that that that that the root of all
of this, you know, goes back to drafting Jordan last year,
and I think what made that, I think particularly a
(26:04):
problem for the Packers is the fact that the communication
wasn't great leading up to it. They actually called Aaron
Rodgers while he was while they were on the clock
and about to take Jordan Love. And I actually think
like the difference in making that call two or three
two or three day days ahead of time and saying, look,
just a heads up here, we really like the Utah
State quarterback. We may go up and get him would
(26:26):
have made a world of difference. But the fact that
he had to find out the way he found out,
I think really put their relationship in a different place,
you know. And then they get all the way to
the end and they're there in the championship game, and
you know, I think he sees the way that Tampa's
treated Brady and how aggressive. Again, the Chiefs have been
building around the Homes and the Bills have been building
around Josh Allen, and I think he's saying, I've accomplished
(26:49):
a lot on the MVP of the league. I want
my team to treat me the way those three teams
treat their quarterbacks. And again, it's the way the Packers
have done it forever. It's worked for them forever. But
I do think the communication issue is one of the
things that's a play here. Two other things I want
to I want to address this the Patriots. I think
(27:09):
they acknowledged this offseason by going big into free agency
they had just missed and on a lot of offensive
skill people, and they're not particularly deft at it. You're
feeling on if anything changed, I'd been told by two
sources through the years. Then in mid January, Bill sort
of called off the scouts and just said, I'll take
it from here. That's what I'd been told by people.
(27:31):
I trust it has And then Bill came out there
was an acknowledgement somewhere. Maybe you broke the story that
Bill went against his scouts on wide receiver to kill Harry,
and it came out that He's like no, no, no no,
and they're like, no, no, Bill, that's not where we
should go. Have they have They kind of moved the
chess pieces as Bill acknowledging he needs help in that regard. Yeah,
(27:53):
And I think he really got that message when people
started leaving the building there or a bunch of scouts
to let their contracts expired and left because they didn't
feel like their input was valued. They didn't feel like
they were a big part of the draft process, and
they wanted to go to a place for a career
development reasons where they would be able to be more
involved in the draft process. And Nikil Harry I think
(28:13):
was a flashpoint for a few different reasons. Number one,
it kind of played into all the things that were
going on and the things that Bill had been internally
I think kind of criticized for which were he puts
too much value in his coaching relationships. He's very close
to the old Arizona State coach Todd Graham, and then
he puts value in his own experience over the experience
(28:34):
of others. Nikil Harry came in and crushed his dirty
visit in Foxborough and despite warning signs that were put
up by his scouts, he blew through them because he
had a good experience personally with a guy in a
single day. And so, you know, I think part of
what's happened in Foxborough over the last few months has
been an acknowledgement that the way that they were doing
(28:57):
it the last few years didn't work, and then it
cost some quality people along the way. And so my
understanding is Dave Ziggler, who's sort of the new Nikossario there,
and Elliott Wolf Ron Wolf's son have spearheaded or reworking
of the scouting process. Bill has been in the building
a lot more over the last month rather than being
out in the road, And you know, I think the
(29:18):
idea is we want to have a more collaborative process
in the building, and we need to reshape the way
we do some of these things. And one of the
things that I know other teams had noticed about the
Patriots and the way they handled this year's draft. If
you look at their draft class up and down, there
was always a Belichick curveball in the past, guys like
Jordan Richards and Tavin Wilson that were way overdrafted this year.
(29:40):
If you look at their class, all highly productive college
players who were drafted right about where the league expected
them to be drafted, and I think that is a
sign of where things have gone. I think that Bill
is putting a lot more trust in his scouts this year.
Part of it is that you have to because the
COVID restrictions on how much coaches can do on the road.
But I do think that there's a change that's happened there,
(30:01):
and if it works, I would expect it to be permanent. Finally,
Jimmy G in situations interesting in San Francisco. So generally
there is a feeling most people don't think Aaron Rodgers
would be traded in season. I do think Miami Giants
are interesting. If those coaching staff lose faith in Daniel
Jones or two by the end of October and say
(30:23):
we got the roster, we got the wrong quarterback, I
think they could do it. But Jimmy G is interesting.
They already won the trade for Jimmy G. They gave
away nothing, They got to a Super Bowl. But if
Jimmy G is six and two through seven or eight
weeks right and Trey Lance is sitting there, do you
think there's any chance that they would move off Jimmy
G and say, listen, we're good trades better than we
(30:44):
thought early, and we can still get value for Jimmy G.
Because you know by week seven there's gonna be four
teams desperate for a quarterback. Washington could be one your
thoughts on Jimmy G. Is he just here until the
wheels fall off? Or could there be a move with them?
I think it's I think it's the second part of
what you said. I think it's completely completely dependent on
(31:05):
how Trey Lance comes along. And I think if you
look at the way that this thing's played out, like
you know, Mac Jones potentially being the third overall pick,
I think gave the Niners an idea. Okay, maybe we
could move Jimmy G. If Mac Jones comes in here
over those first six eight weeks in the building and
just crushes it and looks ready. You know, Trey Lanz
was widely seen as a bigger project. He hasn't played
(31:26):
football and almost a year outside of that one game,
you hadn't seen him in a lot of critical situations
at North Dakota State. Because North Dakota State rolled over everybody.
You didn't see him playing from behind a lot. You
didn't see him in third long a lot, and so
you know there's at least this perception across the league
that he's going to need some time to develop. They'll
put him on the field when he's ready, but you know,
(31:48):
until then, Jimmy G is going to be the guy.
And I think Jimmy G's in a fantastic situation because
there's a really good team around him and Colin I
think a huge key to all of this. When Trey
landscapes in the field, they're ready to move Jimmy Garoppolo.
There's a lot of alpha's in that locker room, guys
like Trent Williams and Nick Bosa. Kyle Shanahan has to
(32:09):
be able to sell whoever the quarterback is to that
locker room because they believe that it's a championship locker room.
So it's not only going to be on Trey Lance
to win over the coaching staff and show the coaching
staff that he's ready, but he's also going to have
to be sellable to a locker room that's full of
a lot of very accomplished veterans. And so could it
happen fast? Sure, it could happen fast, but Trey Lance
(32:30):
has a lot of I think it's just like a
long way for him to go to get there. And again,
maybe it happens faster than you think. And whenever it
does happen, then I think you get the green light
to trade. Jimmy g Good stuff, Albert Brewer Monday Morning Quarterback.
Thanks guy, I appreciate it all right. Thanks going. Bad
news for the Clippers rears its head yesterday. Again. This
(32:51):
is a two year problem plus an interesting weekend for
the Jets coach Robert Sala that's coming up. Be sure
to catch live editions under Heard weekdays and noon Easter
Ninny Empacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every
weekday morning on my podcast Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
This isn't your typical sportspod pushing the same tired narratives
(33:14):
down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest
opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to
help you win big at the sports book, and all
the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to
Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app Apple
podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. By the way,
(33:35):
strangest thing this weekend I discovered you can you can
buy bitcoin and all these all these cryptocurrencies if you
have PayPal, It's just write in your phone. Yeah, that
seems dangerous. Are you just getting into crypto or were
you in early No, not in early. I'm a real
estate market guy, been since the eighties. That's what I do.
I'm not into cryptocurrency. I'm not against it. I think
(33:57):
there'll be a point in America where cryptocurrency works. I
don't know if it's now. It's a roller coaster. Oh yeah,
I mean you can buy a house with bitcoin. There's
a couple of players taking their full salary in bitcoin. Yeah.
I wouldn't, but hey to eat their own I'm not
a yeah. I mean, it depends on who you talk to.
So yesterday we started the show talking about how impressive
(34:18):
the Knicks were. The Clippers actually have a better roster
with more good players. Kawhi Leonards much better than anybody
on the Knicks. Paul George is more offensively gifted than
anybody on the Knicks. But the Knicks beat them, and
one of the reasons they beat them is the Clippers
are awful late in games. They're terrible. Paul George can
get tentative. You know, they don't have, you know, outside
(34:42):
of Kawhi another score after Paul George you can depend
on for twenty five a night. But if you look
at their late game clutch statistics, and I'll put them
on the screen here for our FS one viewers. There
are five teams in the NBA who are terrible in
something called clutch points, that's the last five minutes of
a game with a point differential of five or less.
(35:02):
Four of the teams have no talent, the Calvs, the Magic,
the Thunder, and the Rockets. Then there's a team of
a bunch of talent, the Clippers, that's second worst in
the league. What the hell is going on? It's not
that hard to figure out. This is the issue. When
Kawhi and leonards your star, he doesn't talk, he's odd,
he's nonverbal. By the way, who is second best in
(35:26):
the NBA and clutch points the Sons because Chris Paul
talks and yells and coaches and barks and screams. I
never bought into this. You know, leadership is wa talk, walks, softly,
carry a big stick, and you gotta talk. That's why
it's why the Packers and Aaron Rodgers are in trouble. Talk.
That's leadership is talking and communicating, not being a big,
(35:47):
strong guy who's silent. When Kauai is your star, you're bad.
If he's the culture center, you're bad. Laton. This is
two years now. It's been a problem them. How in
God's name are they the second worst team in clutch points?
Tylo's won a title. It's not him. They've got talent.
The other four teams around them in the NBA stats
(36:09):
are bad. This is Kawai. You can say what about
San Antonio and Toronto? Those cultures were set. He was
icing on a very formidable cake. He is the cake
with the Clippers, and he doesn't talk. He's nonverbal. He
doesn't distribute when you want. You got to give this
team to Rondo with five minutes left. Paul George very talented,
(36:33):
but his history is he gets very tentative and tight late.
Kawai can drop a bucket. Forget him leading, Just have
him be what he is. A shotmaker, that's what he is.
But you look at the Clippers, they have top eight
in the NBA bench scoring, excellent bench. They've got a
coach that's won a title. They have two stars, they've
(36:54):
got a three in d Guy Nicholas Batum. That's a
championship team. They are they are, they are ready to win,
microwave and win, and they're awful at the end of games.
It makes no sense until you think of, well, who's
who's running the team. By the way, the Sons are
suddenly great at clutch scoring. Chris Paul's verbal. Lebron's teams
(37:19):
have generally been good late. He's verbal, he's a coach
on the floor. The Warrior teams have generally been very
good late. Why Steph Curry is verbal, It's not complicated.
Stuff is that you cannot have this roster and be
this bad late in games. You got to hand it
over to Rondo. Let him do what he does. They
(37:39):
call him playoff Rondo for a reason. Last year he
was great for the Lakers in big spots, and he
wasn't a necessity for the Lakers. He was an additive
of bonus because with Lebron you had the leadership. But
this is kind of what you get when when your
culture is set with Kawhi Leonard and last year, what
was the big issue with the Clippers. I got fooled
(38:01):
on it. Chemistry. Again, Chemistry is not a problem when
your leader is a communicator. Chemistry is a problem when
your general manager in Green Bay won't talk to your
prickly quarterback, then it's a problem. So watching the Clippers yesterday,
I'm like, this roster's way too good to be this
(38:22):
bad at the end of basketball games. It makes no sense.
They are just easily disrupted. Now now, now, again, the
Knicks deserve credit. Knicks play real defense. THI but it
was a great defensive coach. But if you look at
the Knicks talent, Julius Randall's a B plus player having
an A plus year. Derek Rose is not a vertical
finisher like he used to be. He's a he's a
(38:44):
good off the bench guy. Reggie Bullock, I mean when
you really watch I mean this is a prime example.
When you watch these highlights, you just they're just don't
really have an identity late in games. Why would they
Why would they have an identity? That's not what, that's
not what. By the way, last year, if you look
(39:04):
up reports, the biggest complaint was, well Kawhi is getting
special treatment and Paul George was getting special treatment. Again,
that doesn't happen if guys talk, and you can't blame
coaches at some point. This has always been a players league.
Players have the power. The NFL's not a players league.
NBA is, so that means you make the money. Coaches
(39:28):
get fired, not stars. But then when you're bad late
in games, it falls on the player, not the coach.
I'm tired of the coach getting whacked. In the NBA.
It's a players league. You get the plotits when you
win late, you get the criticism when you lose late.
This is not a Brad Steven's issue in Boston, they
don't have enough juice. This is not a Tie Lou problem.
Collin right, Colin wrong, next, Oh, I got thirty seconds,
(39:50):
my bad misread the clock. I wanted to get to
my Roberts solid story, but now I don't have time.
Let me read a quick spot and we'll be gone.
Collin right, Collin wrong, top the next hour. If you're
still running your books on quick books, then it's quicksam bigger.
You get the faster you'll sink. Go to NetSuite. They're
offering one of a kind type financing, NetSuite dot com,
(40:11):
slash heardnetsweet dot com, slash h E r D. Live
in La. It's the Herd.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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