January 4, 2019 • 40 mins
Colin thinks the idea that James Harden is the best offensive player of all time is laughable. He says if you still doubt Andy Reid just look at his coaching tree and how much impact it will have on these NFL playoffs. Plus, Kevin Clark of The Ringer makes his wild card weekend picks and disagrees with Colin on every single one of them. Presented by Perky Jerky.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of 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. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher on
Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go it to Friday.
(00:24):
This is the Herd wherever you may be in however,
you may be listening live in Los Angeles iHeartRadio, Fox
Sports Radio and FS one. Joy Taylor, forget the forget
the ski sweaters. Oh you know what. It's usually it's
freezing in this studio and everyone's hoping not to say
(00:44):
anything because it's actually a nice temperature today. Look at you.
I got the arms out today. Well, you know what,
it's actually nice in Los Angeles today. It was. It
was a little warmer this morning yesterday, I mean FRIDGID
fifty nine. So we're good. It's great to see you.
Good morning, good morning. Had a one show yesterday. We
have great stuff today. This is such a fun time
(01:04):
of the year, so it makes me happy. When people
join us. We have four NFL games this weekend. We're
gonna get into that. Kevin Kevin, excuse me, Kevin Clark
at the Ringer next hour, A great young NFL writer,
Greg Jennings, Mark Schlaire at this hour. I want to
start with this though. I tell my kids all the time,
set yourself up for success. Like, if we're gonna go
(01:26):
on a vacation, even an overnight vacation, I'm like, you know,
pack accordingly, take some power bars, take some snacks. Set
yourself up for success here, okay, set you're going to
be out of your little routine here, set yourself up
for success. Well, James Harden last night had a huge night.
He's on fire. He scored forty a game. He's the
(01:47):
NBA's leading scorer. And last night he just went crazy
against Golden State. He was amazing. Oh my god, I
can't believe it. And as general manager Daryl Morey, who
I had lunch with about a month ago, who's one
of the smart guys in sports, who I really really
like and his words matter, came out and said, you know,
you could argue for him as the best offensive player
of all time. Whole bunch of ways to measure it,
(02:08):
but for me, he's in the conversation as the greatest
offensive player ever. Okay, let's go back to set yourself
up for success. Quarterbacks in twenty nineteen, twenty eighteen, and
shooters in the NBA are currently set up for success.
Let me give you a football example. Now, we all
like Philip Rivers, right, we don't love him, but we
(02:31):
like him. We're not sure he's a Hall of Famer.
This year, for the first time in his career, he
set an NFL record completing twenty five straight passes. The
next night, Marcus Mariota, who the Titans are about ready
to ship out of town, completed nineteen straight passes. A
month later, career backup Nick Foles completed twenty five straight passes.
(02:56):
You think it's a coincidence, it's this year, Kirk Cousins.
This year ye more passing yards and more touchdowns by
a mile over Troy Aikman. And that's an interesting one
to think about, because we know, we know Kirk Cousins
is a stat monster, but he's not great in big games.
Troy Aikman didn't have the stats, but was great in
(03:19):
big games. And I want you to remember the Kirk
Cousins Troy Aikman thing. Now let's talk about James Harden.
Darryl morrisy he's the best ever. I'm not going to
compare him to the best ever because that would be
Michael right, y'all love Michael or Wilt. Okay, I'm just
going to compare him to one guy, Kobe Bryant. As
a score. So when you're a scorer, does athleticism matter? Yes,
(03:41):
most of the great scores of all timing, Wilt Chamberlain,
ran Track could play beach volleyball, Wilt Chamberlain, Lebron, James,
Michael Jordan could do. Athleticism matters. James Harden athletically has
two moves. One of them is traveling. Kobe Bryant was
the NBA's Picasso. Like Phil Mickelson and Gall He's the
greatest shot maker of all time. I'm not saying the
(04:02):
best player. But Michael Jordan had stock moves, so does Lebron.
James Harden has two. Kobe came down with a blank
canvas and just made it up athletically. It is not close,
by the way, does defense also exhibit and illustrate athleticism.
(04:23):
Kobe made All NBA First Team defense nine times, Second
Team three times. Hardens a defensive liability, so athletically and
that matters. As the greatest offensive player ever, it ain't close.
Let's talk commitment. This commitment matter if you're a great
offensive player. I think Kareem was committed to the sport.
I think Jerry West, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, I think
(04:46):
Michael Jordan's as committed as any player in league history.
Harden had his jersey retired at a Houston strip club.
Kobe's got two jerseys retired at the Staples. Kobe is
known as the greatest practice player in the history of
the Lakers, and from what I'm told Magic Johnson would
(05:08):
tell you, it ain't close. Kobe Bryant, in commitment is
the most relentless practice player, most intense off the camera performer.
Only one closes. MJ. Harden, by the way, was traded
(05:28):
out of Oklahoma City because of concerns that he wasn't
totally committed. Then he went to Houston improved it by
showing up at a strip club an hour after he'd
been eliminated in a playoff series. So does athleticism matter, yep?
Not close. Does commitment matter yet not close. Now let's
talk about, you know, like actual games. What's the greatest
(05:49):
playoff moment in James Harden's career. I'll wait m because
Kobe I got six seven, eight nine on my mental
role of right now, let's go to eras you think
James Harden's had it a little easier. Never played with
a hand check. Has played in an era with European
(06:10):
centers who are seven feet two and one hundred and
nine pounds. They weighed slightly more than a trisct. Kobe
Bryant played half his career in the hand check era,
and oh, by the way, played when we had centers
who were domestic weighed two hundred and eighty and it
was their job to physically punish you if you went
to the rim. I don't even need to compare James
(06:33):
Harden to the all time greatest. He doesn't come close
to stacking up to one player Kobe Bryant. Let's get
back to the Troy Aikman Kirk Cousins comparison. I made
the knock on Aikman was always that well. I mean
he had a great coach and so many great players
around him. Of course, to knock on Kobe is well,
(06:56):
he played with Shack and he had Phil Jackson. Today,
James Harden is closer to Kirk Cousins than Troy Aikman.
A lot of money moved to a couple of teams.
First one doubted him. He has great stats and has
(07:18):
never showed up big in the playoffs. Yeah, I said
it right now. James Harden is a stat monster right now.
Kirk Cousins is a stat monster. Both are highly compensated.
Both have let their fan bases down in big spots,
(07:40):
and Kobe and Aikman, though they did have Hall of
Fame level coaches and they did have great supporting casts,
have never been given the true credit they deserved. Much
of it with Aikman because he played with a great
running game and a great coach, and a great offensive line,
and a great defense and a Hall of Fame wide receiver,
but leadership toughness, playing in crisis. Aikman's one of the
(08:02):
eight best quarterbacks I've ever seen. I put them on
the screen many times. And Kobe Bryant did have Phil Jackson,
did have Shack, and did have the Laker brand. He's
also one of the eight best players I've ever seen
play basketball, James Harden is not only not one of
the great offensive players of all time, he doesn't come
close to comparing to Kobe Bryant. Let me shift to football.
(08:30):
I just saw this story reading it this morning in
the Sporting News. That's a fine publication. NFL ratings saw
a boost on every channel, Fox, NBCCBS, Monday Night Football,
every single channel. And in fact, the story says, the
key to it is we've got Mahomes versus Baker Mayfield.
(08:57):
These two new stars are so Before I get cynical,
I'm in the story business. I'm not in the radio business.
I'm not in the television business. I'm in the story business.
I relate stories, tell stories, try to create stories. That's
all I've ever done. People that work at newspapers are
(09:17):
not in the newspaper business. They're in the story business.
The reason the NFL ratings went up because the previous
two years, do you know what the big story was
in the NFL. It wasn't a football story. It was
a political story kneeling. This year we had six riveting stories.
Let's go over them. People will tell you the reason
(09:39):
the NFL the ratings are up this year is blah
blah blah blah blah blah. The reason the ratings are
ups because the previous two years we didn't have a
really compelling, gripping story. The one we had was about
politics more than football. Let's talk about the six stories
that we had this year that you couldn't keep your
eyes off. Number one, Patrick Mahomes. Oh my god, who
(10:00):
Patrick Mahomes? Left handed passes, no look passes. We didn't
watch him play much in college. Ninety yard throws in practice.
Oh my god, who is this kid? Let's be honest
about it. He's an amazing talent at this point, a
little overvalued. Andy Reid deserves a lot of credit. He's
(10:21):
got great weapons around him. Pro Bowlers at left tackle,
wide receiver, tight end, and formerly at running back. But
the first story this year that help ratings, Oh my god,
Patrick Mahomes. The second big story this year, and again
I'm in the story business, was Hey, Baker Mayfield. This
cocky kid can play. Mayfield is what TV radio and
(10:45):
newspapers live off. He's polarizing Owen sixteen. It's a pretty competitive,
brash grabs his junk. Cocky comes on shows like this,
talks back Baker Mayfield is fun. He's one of the
first quarterbacks I turned the TV on every Sunday. The
third story you couldn't keep your eyes off, and this
was more of the car wreck you slow down on
(11:05):
the freeway to watch. Was John Gruden's massive personnel moves.
He single handedly made the Bears the best defense in
the league by giving them Khalil Mack. And he made
the Dallas Cowboys a viable playoff contender by giving them
Amari Cooper. Week to week, you could not keep your
(11:27):
eyes off the car wreck known as John Gruden and
the Raiders. The fourth grade story this year, the Dallas
Cowboys roller coaster three and five to ten and six.
You can't pay Dak too. You're gonna have to pay Dak.
The Amari Cooper addition, beating the New Orleans Saints an
almost inexplicable performance. The fifth big story this year, and
(11:50):
I don't think anybody would deny this. The diva drama
in Pittsburgh. The first month of the year, it was
all about Lavian Bell. That one ended. For the next
five weeks, it was all about Big Ben and Tomlin.
That one ended, And at the last two weeks it
was all about Antonio Brown stars are interesting. They're even
more interesting when they're fighting with each other. People can
(12:12):
compare them to whoever you want. It was a reality
show and the sixth biggest story. I know they're not
based on the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean, but it was
the Green Bay Packers man overboard first game of the year.
Aaron Rodgers gets hurt again, he limps around for the
next month and a half. He comes back, doesn't get
(12:33):
along with Mike McCarthy, eye rolling, contempt, passive, aggressive quotes.
Then Mike McCarthy gets fired. Six captivating, gripping football on
the field stories, week after week after week. That is
why the ratings are up. That is why football is back.
That the number one story in this league is not
(12:55):
a political story. It's a story. That is the reason
we've always watched on Sundays and Mondays and now Thursdays
and Saturdays. On the field. Can't turn away stories, and
we had six great ones this year. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
(13:18):
the iHeartRadio app. I've not been big on the Bears
this year, and this is the way it works is
I'm a sportscaster. My job. I'm loyal to honesty because
my honesty I had it locally, I had it regionally.
I had it at my former company. I have it
at this company. Advertisers have laughed, bosses of laugh. Formats
have changed. I am loyal to honesty. It travels with me.
(13:40):
And when I don't buy into somebody, I didn't buy
into Aaron Rodgers as a rookie because he was like
six and ten and I said, show me something. I
know he's got a great arm farve one, show me something.
Green Bay fans have hated me since in Cleveland. I
don't necessarily buy into Baker Mayfield for finishing in third place.
The other fan base this year that can't and me
(14:01):
and is Chicago. And I've said I was never a
huge fan of Mitch Trubisky. I didn't like his release.
He couldn't win the starting job the year before he
made the NFL, couldn't beat out a non NFL quarterback
at Carolina. I watched him playing college a couple of times.
I didn't see it. My executives in scouts who I
talked to, didn't love him as a thrower. He's a
(14:23):
very good athlete. He reminds me of a poor man's
Jimmy Garoppolo. He I mean, seriously, I think they almost
look alike. They play alike, but I think Garoppolo is
a better arm talent. And now I do think Chicago's
general manager Ryan Pace is brilliant. I think the coach,
Matt Naggi's my coach of the year. Historically, it's a
kind of dysfunctional organization. Their defense is amazing. Khalil Mack
is the next Lawrence Taylor. But I've never been a
(14:44):
Trubisky guy until today because I read this quote from
Mitchell Trubisky of the Chicago Bears. He said, you know,
I got off social media to improve my mental health.
He said, why would I let these voices, these distractions
get into my head. I gotta take care of this
football team, so I'm not going to get into social media.
(15:06):
So I would like to remind you that the Chicago
Bears quarterback who led his team to the playoffs said
I don't want to be a distraction. Baker Mayfield, who
finished third, said I am the distraction. I love this stuff. Now,
Baker Mayfield took a shot at me, called me grinch,
very hurtful. I cried for several nights. But the point
(15:27):
is I do not believe it's a coincidence that of
the current quarterback playoffs, Brady Breese, Wilson, Luck Rivers, Lamar Jackson,
Troubisky folds into Shaun Watson, most have very small social
media footprints. Now, obviously, Russell Wilson's married to a superstar,
Tom Brady's married to a superstar, and Drew Brees is
(15:48):
a superstar, so they have large followings. But if you
follow Drew Breese, he talks about family. You follow Russell Wilson,
he talks about kids. You talk to Tom Brady, he
talks about his parents and his kids. Those are small,
non elevated, non controversial social media platforms. Social media, to me,
(16:08):
is sort of a loaded gun. Be very careful. Don't
use it after a couple of cocktails. You're gonna get
in trouble. Mitch Trubisky, like the Great Ones, is like
I'm out on this stuff. I gotta worried about this.
The quarterback everybody loves Baker Mayfield is I love this stuff.
That's why when I hear people saying Cleveland is the
(16:31):
number one job available in the NFL. I keep saying
time out. General manager John Dorsey got run out of
Kansas City, not because he wasn't competent. He did a
great job in Kansas City. Ego couldn't get along with people.
Owner Jimmy Haslem legendary higher fire, higher fire, relentless, higher fire,
(16:56):
impatient Baker Mayfield social media pot stir. This morning, I
read a story Josh McDaniels of the Patriots enthusiastically interested
in the Brown's job. As Joyce said yesterday, I'm officially
questioning his judgment. He traded up to get Tebow and
passed on Andrew Luck. This stuff matters, It matters, folks.
(17:19):
Jay Cutler had a great arm, personality, was wrong. Aaron
Rodgers has great talent, personality's passive aggressive. Jeff George best
arm in league history, couldn't get along with people. Mitch Trubisky,
though I think he's an incredibly limited arm talent, is
out on social media, meaning I'm in on Mitch Trubisky.
(17:42):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine a Empacific. So I saw a
story this morning a guy on the internet all twelve
of the head coaches in the playoffs right now, All
twelve come from the coaching trees of two men, Bill
Walsh and Bill Parcels. All twelve coaches this weekend. Belichick,
(18:03):
Garrett Anthony Lynn, Bill O'Brien, Sean Payton come from Parcels.
Pete Carroll, John Harbors, Sean McVay, Matt Naggie, Doug Peterson,
Frank Wright, Andy Reid come from the Bill Walls tree. Now,
of course, the difference is Bill Walsh is considered greater
than Bill Parcels because he had Joe Montana. That's the difference.
(18:23):
He had Joe Montana. One of the reasons I've always
liked Andy Reid is he has elevated, extended or saved
the careers of five quarterbacks. He literally got five different
quarterbacks to the playoffs. Donovan McNabb, Jeff Garcia, saved Michael
Vick's career, Alex Smith, and Patrick Malomes. That's unbelievable. Now,
(18:45):
Belichick gets all the credit because you know, he wins
super Bowls, But that's because Belichick has Tom Brady. He
was fired in Cleveland. But here's what's remarkable, and this
is why I've said Andy Reid's the most undervalued coach.
Not to say that Belichick's overvalued, but look at the
coaching tree of Andy Reid. Look at the resonance, look
(19:07):
at the impact, Look at the influence in the NFL
right now. John Harbaugh won a Super Bowl. Yeah, Frank
Reich probably the AFC coach of the year. Matt Nangey's
the NFC coach of the year. Doug Peterson won a
Super Bowl, Ron Rivera, Todd Bowles, Pat Shermer, Sean McDermott
who got to a Super Bowl. Ron Rivera got to
(19:27):
a Super Bowl. So the difference between Parcels and Bill Walsh,
one of them had Joe Montana and the other had
you know, Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler, Tony Romo, good players,
but not Joe Montana. The difference between Andy Reid and
Bill Belichick. One as Tom Brady and one has had
Jeff Garcia. So when you talk about coaching trees, and
(19:50):
I think this stuff matters a lot, it's resonance beyond yourself, impact,
beyond yourself, influence beyond yourself. Look at Andy Reid's coaching tree.
Inches It's beautiful, is flourishing, It's a very healthy tree.
Look a look at Bill Parcell's coaching tree. That thing
needs watering. That's not very good. His guys have all
(20:11):
been mostly busts, except Bill O'Brien, who's been a marginal success.
So Parcels I've always been a huge fan of because
I think he took less and one a ton. That's
not to say Bill Walsh wasn't great, but if you
have Joe Montana, that's an advantage. I love Belichick, but
(20:33):
a big part of his legacy is Tom Brady. Andy Reid,
like Parcels, has resurrected, save elevated all sorts of careers.
Tony Romo ain't Tony Romo. You know, Parcels found him,
Parcels groomed him, and then Parcels hands him off to
Jason Garrett. So this is this goes back to why
(20:53):
the people that don't get Andy Reid. I kind of
roll my eyes. It's like the people that don't get Parcels.
You have to put everything in context. Andy has taken
five different quarterbacks, five different quarterbacks to the playoffs. He
was not given the opportunity to coach a legend. Here's
crossing your fingers and hoping Patrick Mahomes is his legend.
What is going on? John Middlecoff from the Three and
(21:15):
Out podcast, broad to you by Colin Coward's podcast Network Playoffs.
As Jim Morris said, playoffs, they're here, baby. We're talking
NFC playoffs, both the big games. We're talking both the
AFC playoff games. We are getting ready for all things
NFL playoffs. I can't wait. Subscribe to my podcast three
(21:37):
and Out with me, John Middlecoff wherever you listen to
your podcasts. You cover the NFL for the Wall Street
Journal and now he covers the NFL for The Ringer.
He's very good on social media. I really like this guy.
His name is Kevin Clark. We've had him on before.
Let's bring him on again. I love him. He does
something I do my Blazing five picks, and I take
myself too. Seriously. You have your what do you call
(21:59):
your picks Picks of the week. Yes, and they're surprisingly
the same as my Blazing five. We both get about
fifty eight percent. That's gambling, dad, exactly, it's gambling. So
before I get to the games, a couple of things
I want to talk about. Now we go into this weekend,
and if I said to you, who's the mobile quarterback?
Everybody would say, Lamar Jackson. You have an interesting story
(22:20):
on the ringer about Deshaun Watson. And I said this
when he came out. I said, Nick Saban faced Johnny
Manzil a couple times, but it was in a regular season.
Nick had six weeks twice to prepare for Deshaun Watson
and could never stop him. You have an interesting story
on Deshaun Watson and how hard he is debat and
(22:41):
if you do, you barely do. He has not lost
a game by more than one touchdown since high school
twenty thirteen. September of twenty thirteen, he lost to Buford
High School. After that, he has not lost by one
touchdown since The Patriots couldn't do it. Alabama couldn't do it.
You know, I think at this level you have to
have some sort of intangibles. I mean, we look at
(23:01):
Russell Wilson. He has been in terrible situations. Deshaun Watson
literally had to drive a bus or ride in a
bus across the country to play Jacksonville because his ribs
were too injured. Because he has the worst offensive line
in the league. And I think that Deshaun Watson's ability
to keep his team in this throughout. I mean, some
of those Texans problems, there's coaching problems. The fact that
(23:22):
they were able to recover from Owen three to be
in a probably a favorite in a wildcard game. Worst
offensive line in the playoffs easily, I mean they were
actively harming him. I mean it was offensive. How bad
that offensive was awful and it was threatening his career.
The fact that he was able to turn it around
and it is probably going to win a playoff game
this weekend is unbelievable and it speaks to everything he's done,
(23:43):
not only at Houston, but at Clemson and at Gamesville
High School, Georgia. You know, it's interesting. I said coming
into the season, I thought Donald Rosen and Baker could win. Now,
I think Donald's the greatest pure talent. But I knew
the Jets had nothing. I said, Josh Allen and Lamar
they're not ready to play. So when people say Colin
(24:03):
you're shocked by Baker, I say no, no, no no, no, no.
I you know he's accurate. I never said a bust.
I wouldn't draft him. I don't want to be tied
to that stuff for ten years Lamar is shocking. To me,
Lamar Jackson is shocking. Hardbaugh deserves respect. So I went
and watched Lamar Jackson live. I gotta see this thing.
What blew me away was his total control of the game.
(24:26):
He's playing with a Hall of Famer, probably Philip Rivers,
never against a good defense. I am shocked by what
I'm seeing now. I said, very draftable. I would have
taken him second, third round. I can't believe he's this good.
What do you make of Lamar Jackson? I make that
the Chargers have a problem on their hands. And here's why.
(24:47):
They're built to stop modern NFL offenses. They're built to
stop the Chiefs. They're built to stop the Saints. They've
got Derwin James, who can do anything back there. They've
got two pass rushers, and Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram
who can get up the field. They have Casey Hayward,
a very good cornerback. Well, Lamar Jackson is not the
modern NFL. You know, no one has run at the
quarterback edition like him since nineteen seventy two. Who's that
(25:07):
Bobby Douglas are there? Wow? Yeah? And so you start
to look at it and you say, this is a
guy who's solving the modern NFL and Lamar Jackson by
being completely antithetical to the modern NFL. He's just running
the ball. Defenses are getting smaller, linebackers are becoming more
irrelevant to the game, and if you can actually line
(25:28):
up and run the ball all the time, you have
the definition of a matchup problem. Yeah. One more thing
before we get to the games. You know, there's a
lot of openings and there's a lot of coaches. I
said this yesterday. The city of New York, between the
Giants and Jets has had five coaches and five years.
And there's this current narrative that Mike McCarthy's too simplistic,
(25:48):
he hasn't evolved. And my argument is, is he organized, prepared?
Does he have a good work ethic? Yes? Yes, yes,
That peanut butter and jelly sandwich is fifty years before
me fifty years after will taste delicious. The things that
he's good at matter. I'm not saying he's got the
best cheekbones. He's not hip, he's not lit, he's not cool.
But his teams were organized, prepared, massive discipline. I am
(26:10):
and by the way, Aaron Rodgers came out of college, Kevin.
It had a weird throwing motion. It was junior college kid.
He was raw and ad liber. Isn't that? Sam Darnold
like to me, Mike McCarthy and the Jets feels like
of all the coaching searches, an absolute perfect fit. Am
(26:31):
I nuts on that? So I want to address something
you asked when we looked at the map of hate
about who hates which teams? He said, who could possibly
hate the Jets? The answer is Jets fans. They hate
the Jets and they've The reason is because they've made
a mistake after a mistake. The last time there were
eight openings was twenty thirteen. Do not look at that list.
It is it is not safe for work. It is bad.
(26:51):
And you know Andy Reid is the only coach who's
still there. And when you look at that list, he
was the safest coach. We knew what we were getting good.
One thing you don't want to do is develop a
coach alongside a quarterback. We have no idea of Zach Taylor,
the quarterbacks coach from La Rams can call plays. We
have no idea. All we know is he knows Sean McVay.
He can text Sean McVay every once in a while.
(27:13):
Congratulations Zach Taylor. But I just don't know why you
would want to take a risk when you know Mike
McCarthy can win games. And that's what I understand that
you want the higher ceiling. But Lincoln Riley's not coming,
Pathittzgeriald's not coming, David Shaw is not coming. When you're
dealing with the NFL pool right now, Mike McCarthy is
very high on my list. All right, let's go to
(27:33):
the four games. Let's start with the Colts Texans. I
have no strong feeling. Generally, if teams meet again after
a team beat him, the better team does win, you
feel like there's revenge. But teams win for a reason
they have better personnel or they're better teams. I don't
like the idea that the Texans have the worst offensive
(27:55):
line remaining in the NFL. With very little conviction, I
would take the col and have no confidence. Where would
you lean? I'm leaning towards the Texans. And here's why
we talk all the time about the problems A great
quarterback and solve you know who else solves great problems.
Aside from having Deshaun Watson. DeAndre Hopkins is a problem solver.
If you throw the ball to a cover DeAndre Hopkins,
(28:17):
he becomes uncovered. That's he's one of the few guys
he's almost like Shack a little bit, yeah, where you
can just throw the ball in his direction and something
good is going. He didn't have a drop this year. No,
that's unheard of, and you know, nearly two hundred targets.
It is unbelievable, And it's just it's one of those
things where I think that that's going to be I
think that home field is. It's real. It's very chody.
(28:40):
Nobody who's played in the Super Bowl has won a
road game since twenty twelve. Well, slow, slowdown, time out,
hold on, say it again. Nobody who's played in the
Super Bowl has played in a road game since twenty twelve.
In the playoffs, Joe Flacco and Colin Kaepernick did it
on the same day in twenty twelve and in twenty twelve.
Isn't that amazing? That's an amazing stat right? Have we
(29:02):
just not noticed that you're just throwing haymakers? Good lord?
So you like Houston. I like Houston because of the
little alleges. I think that both these teams ain't they
tied and points fifty eight in their matchups. I love
Andrew Luck, I love Frank Reich. I think that you
know the defense on Indianapolis. They are they have the
Albert Briers said it on this show. They have the
capability to go forward and be a dynasty because they
(29:22):
have a lot of really good years. They're a better
story than a team right now. I mean, let's be honest.
I agree, I agree, and I just think Houston is
ready to win right now. Jj Watt, I mean he is.
Somehow JJ Watt, one of the most famous players in
the NFL, is not getting the credit he deserves after
a fifteen sacks season. So I think they've I think
the offensive line. You know, if they had an offensive line,
(29:44):
it would be a good they wouldn't be playing this weekend, right,
But everything else favors Houston. Texas all right, almost talked
me out of my pick. Here's the only game I
feel strongly about. Again, I feel the story of Seattle's
rebuilding success year is better than the team. I would
take Dallas by a touchdown over Seattle. I think they
have better personnel. I think Amari's a real difference maker.
(30:08):
Russell Wilson's probably my favorite quarterback next to Brady and
Luck of all time. But again, I think Seattle's story
is awesome. I don't think the personnel. I think it's
Bobby Wagner and a bunch of kids. I'd take Dallas here.
So these teams are basically mirror images except the quarterback
and the coach. Both of those things favorite Seattle strongly.
(30:32):
And so when I start to look at it, there's
a couple of matchup things. What I'm fascinated with. Bobby
Wagner has miss less than one percent of his tackles
at the NFL level in his career. That is unheard of.
So now you have Ezekiel Elliott, who is number one
in the NFL and yards after contact. That's gonna be
a matchup man, That is gonna be a We talked
so much about the modern NFL, about Patrick Mahomes, Drew
Brees and all these things that are just bringing the
(30:54):
game forward. Bobby Wagner against Zeke Elliot's going to bring
it back about thirty years. That it's gonna be an
old school matchup that I'm really looking forward to. And
so I'm going to take the Seahawks in this one.
I saw a staff the other day. You know, next
gen stats can can sort of quantify what passes shouldn't
be completed. Yeah, Russell Wilson is has the best completion
percentage above expectation in the entire NFL, which means he's
(31:16):
he's creating hard throws and he's completing them. Tyler Locke
has become a star. He was a slot returner, punt returner.
Nobody projected him to be anything like this. But is
it that Tyler Lockett is otherworldly good? Or is it
that Russell Wilson can create Tyler Lockett into a star.
Chris collins made a great point. I was watching a
football game recently and collins Worth said, Russell throws the
(31:37):
best deep ball in the league. He tear drops it.
And Tyler Lockett's one of those guys that runs nice
fades and nice deeps, and he is a perfect receiver
for Russell Wilsons. You like seeing. I love Patrick Mahomes,
but when you can play Patrick Mahomes and out deep
ball him, you're doing a pretty good job. All right,
let's go to so we disagree on that Chargers Ravens
I go to I think the Chargers have the best
(31:58):
personnel in the league. I think playing Lamar twice in
a month is the way to beat him, and I
don't think it's easy. I would lean La Chargers. I
go back to the matchup problem. I just, first of all,
I have all I don't know why why Wink Martindale,
the defensive coordinator for Baltimore, is not getting more head
coach love, because obviously the number one thing you are
right now as an offensive guru. But I'd rather have
(32:19):
a defensive guru with than a bad offensive guru. That's good.
So I don't know why that hasn't happened. What they've
been able to do on defense has been incredible. Marlin
Humphrey is a legitimate star. Yeah, there are pieces everywhere
that I'm hugely impressed with. So I think that the
talent level and the personnel is not as the disparity
is not as big as we think that's fair. And
then I just I truly think I think you made
the comparison to Tebow with Lamar Jazz. Well, he's better
(32:40):
than TBO, He's better, much better than Tibo. But I'm
saying it's sort of sort of an unorthodox matchup, especially
in the playoffs early in his career. They beat Steelers. Ye.
Tebow beat the Steelers yep on on a weird play
you know, broken coverage. Yeah, I mean it's you know
it is. It is a really hard I'm sure there's
a nightmare going on right now in the practice facility,
(33:00):
game planning for Lamar Jackson. So we disagreed on everything, Okay,
so this so far, Okay, So I like the Eagles
over the Bears. I say it with no conviction. Listen,
Wentz is better long term, Okay, there's a lot of
four oh one. K is better long term than bitcoin,
but the timing was right for bitcoin, and some people
made a lot of money on bitcoin. You used to
(33:20):
work at the Wall Street Journal. You know all about stocks.
I'm sure of it. I'm gonna take Philadelphia here. I
like their defensive line. I like their personnel. I like
their big game experience. They're not dynamic at wide receiver,
but they have playmakers at wide receiver, and Nick Foles
is strangely accurate, incredibly coachable. This staff clearly connects with him.
(33:41):
I'm gonna go Philly. I'm an analytical person. I like
to I believe in data and all that stuff, but
there's some sort of intangible stuff that I believe in.
And one of the things that I've always believed in.
I remember a Seahawks player Tement's a couple of years ago.
When you start to play in really low scoring games,
you get comfortable doing it because you're always one play
away from disaster. The Bears just played a game fourteen
to nine against the sarmon score forty nine ers, but
(34:03):
they were comfortable the entire game because they knew they
were never going to give a play. I think this
will be a seventeen fourteen low scoring game. It's going
to come down to one play. I think the Bears
defense is really comfortable in that environment, and I do
think I will favor the Bears in that situation. I
love Nick Foles, and I think the lesson of Nick
Foles should teach a lot of teams how to build
(34:23):
an offense, because this is two years in a row
now where Doug Peterson has had to build an offense
on the fly in December in January, and he's done
it really well by stripping everything down except what Nick
Foles likes. It's a really good coaching lesson. But I'm
going to favor the Bears just because of the talent disparity.
If this were a fully healthy Eagles team, if the
secondary was still intact, I think it's a very different situation.
(34:44):
But I also think by the way, they wouldn't be
the six seed. But I'm gonna go with the Bears again,
like you, no confidence, So we disagree on everything. The
Beautiful Thing, the story of My Life. Kevin Clark writes
for The Ringer, formerly The Wall Street journ He's just fantastic.
You can follow him on social media, where he's equally brilliant.
(35:05):
I love having you on the show. You're a busy guy.
Say hi to Bill and thanks for coming on. Thanks
for having me. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week within the
iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand
whenever you'd like. So I'm watching a little bit. I
watched a little Kawhi last night and now watched the
Warriors take on Houston, little bits of both. Last night,
(35:28):
Kawhi got roundly boot did not have a great night,
and the Raptors got smoked and James Harden had a
remarkable night. If you did not watch, here's some of
James Harden against the Warriors. It was one of his
best nights. He's on like a three week streak of
just scoring like crazy. Here it is Harden trying to
get free down to frink, down to two. It's a
Greek good good James Hardens with two Warriors it draped
(35:54):
on him. Why the way to get this to go
down in the grill of Draymond Green, a former Defensive
Player of the Year. James Harden knocks down his forty
four points very nice. I mean, the game doesn't mean
a ton now, it's obviously early January, but it was
(36:15):
fun and James a very good player. And I'm noticing something.
The new NBA's very offensive minded, the three ball revolution.
More possessions, more scoring. All the really good players in
this league are having just great years. Lebron, Anthony Davis,
Jannis Kauhai Harden, MB Damian Lillard, Paul George Kemball Walker,
DeMar de Rosen. The league is really set up for
(36:37):
offensive players, and all the good offensive players in the
league are just knocking it out of the park. There's
more possessions, more scoring, less rigidity with coaching. It's it's
very pro player, it's very pro offense. And there's one exception.
And I'm not going to be a hater. I'm gonna
be a professional here. Russell Westbrook's numbers. He's the exception.
He's the only great offensive talent in the league. And
(37:00):
he's having an awful season. Three point percentage last among qualifiers,
field goal percentage one hundred and eighteenth. I mean it's
it's literally his effective field goal percentage is one hundred
and thirty, third in the NBA. I'm not here to
be a hater. Uh. I'm all I'm saying is something
(37:21):
is going on with Russell Westbrook, and it is unbelievable.
It's incredible. He's fallen off a cliff. He's no longer
their go to score, He's no longer taken big shots
in the fourth everything, his free throws are falling off
a cliff. He's an awful three point shooter. He's a
terrible fourth quarter shooter. Again, I'm not a hater. I'm
(37:42):
not this. I'm being totally professional, But I'm not anything.
I'm hating, it, says west Brick. I did not create
the graphics I did not create the graphics. We're gonna
we're gonna blame that on the graphics people. Well, he's
shooting a brick. I did not do that. I don't
have the talent to do these groups beautiful graphics. I
have no hand in. It's a little bit of hating.
(38:04):
I will agree with you though. He isn't a terrible
shooting slump. Oh, I don't even I've never heard of this.
Ray Allen never had a shooting slump. Kobe Bryant didn't
have shooting slumps. Are like Kobe Bryant had a bad half.
It's been bad all season something. Do you know his numbers?
He has the identical numbers of Markul Foults and he's
out of the league. They got rive at Marquel Foults.
(38:26):
They have the same numbers. What is And I told
you this Kevin Durant left. Something happened. He has become
a significantly less reliable shooter in the last three years.
This year he's completely fallen off the cliff. And I
don't know what the answer. It's very bizarre. It's He's
(38:47):
free throw shooting has gone from eighty four to seventy
five to sixty four to meet joy. That's mental. That's
all that is. That. That's not one of those things. Again,
if his free throw percentage was fine, he was down
on three point shooting, I would say he had surgeries.
Not getting he's not getting the push off. He can't
hit free throws. I mean, it is I've never seen
(39:09):
anything like that this game. This would be like every
other quarterback, you know, because the quarterbacks are obviously now
completing like sixty five sixty eight. This would be like
somebody regressing and a quarterback in the league that we
all thought was great going down to forty seven percent,
you'd be like, what is it? The offensive line? Is
it what? Well, it's so consistent with his shooting that
(39:29):
it's got There has to be some sort of explanation.
It's mental. It has to be. Who think about the
two Mark l faults was a bust. He's a shooter.
It was mental. He had what they call the yips.
This has to be mental with Westbrook. It has to be.
There's it's not physical. You don't go from eighty five
at the line seventy five sixty four. I don't even
know what it is. He was an MVP two years ago.
(39:51):
He cannot shoot God. It's just incredible. And again I'm
a total professional. There's no hating. I did not control
the West Brick graphic. I did not control him shooting
a brick that had nothing to do with me.
Thanks for listening to the Best of 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. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher on
Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go it to Friday.
(00:24):
This is the Herd wherever you may be in however,
you may be listening live in Los Angeles iHeartRadio, Fox
Sports Radio and FS one. Joy Taylor, forget the forget
the ski sweaters. Oh you know what. It's usually it's
freezing in this studio and everyone's hoping not to say
(00:44):
anything because it's actually a nice temperature today. Look at you.
I got the arms out today. Well, you know what,
it's actually nice in Los Angeles today. It was. It
was a little warmer this morning yesterday, I mean FRIDGID
fifty nine. So we're good. It's great to see you.
Good morning, good morning. Had a one show yesterday. We
have great stuff today. This is such a fun time
(01:04):
of the year, so it makes me happy. When people
join us. We have four NFL games this weekend. We're
gonna get into that. Kevin Kevin, excuse me, Kevin Clark
at the Ringer next hour, A great young NFL writer,
Greg Jennings, Mark Schlaire at this hour. I want to
start with this though. I tell my kids all the time,
set yourself up for success. Like, if we're gonna go
(01:26):
on a vacation, even an overnight vacation, I'm like, you know,
pack accordingly, take some power bars, take some snacks. Set
yourself up for success here, okay, set you're going to
be out of your little routine here, set yourself up
for success. Well, James Harden last night had a huge night.
He's on fire. He scored forty a game. He's the
(01:47):
NBA's leading scorer. And last night he just went crazy
against Golden State. He was amazing. Oh my god, I
can't believe it. And as general manager Daryl Morey, who
I had lunch with about a month ago, who's one
of the smart guys in sports, who I really really
like and his words matter, came out and said, you know,
you could argue for him as the best offensive player
of all time. Whole bunch of ways to measure it,
(02:08):
but for me, he's in the conversation as the greatest
offensive player ever. Okay, let's go back to set yourself
up for success. Quarterbacks in twenty nineteen, twenty eighteen, and
shooters in the NBA are currently set up for success.
Let me give you a football example. Now, we all
like Philip Rivers, right, we don't love him, but we
(02:31):
like him. We're not sure he's a Hall of Famer.
This year, for the first time in his career, he
set an NFL record completing twenty five straight passes. The
next night, Marcus Mariota, who the Titans are about ready
to ship out of town, completed nineteen straight passes. A
month later, career backup Nick Foles completed twenty five straight passes.
(02:56):
You think it's a coincidence, it's this year, Kirk Cousins.
This year ye more passing yards and more touchdowns by
a mile over Troy Aikman. And that's an interesting one
to think about, because we know, we know Kirk Cousins
is a stat monster, but he's not great in big games.
Troy Aikman didn't have the stats, but was great in
(03:19):
big games. And I want you to remember the Kirk
Cousins Troy Aikman thing. Now let's talk about James Harden.
Darryl morrisy he's the best ever. I'm not going to
compare him to the best ever because that would be
Michael right, y'all love Michael or Wilt. Okay, I'm just
going to compare him to one guy, Kobe Bryant. As
a score. So when you're a scorer, does athleticism matter? Yes,
(03:41):
most of the great scores of all timing, Wilt Chamberlain,
ran Track could play beach volleyball, Wilt Chamberlain, Lebron, James,
Michael Jordan could do. Athleticism matters. James Harden athletically has
two moves. One of them is traveling. Kobe Bryant was
the NBA's Picasso. Like Phil Mickelson and Gall He's the
greatest shot maker of all time. I'm not saying the
(04:02):
best player. But Michael Jordan had stock moves, so does Lebron.
James Harden has two. Kobe came down with a blank
canvas and just made it up athletically. It is not close,
by the way, does defense also exhibit and illustrate athleticism.
(04:23):
Kobe made All NBA First Team defense nine times, Second
Team three times. Hardens a defensive liability, so athletically and
that matters. As the greatest offensive player ever, it ain't close.
Let's talk commitment. This commitment matter if you're a great
offensive player. I think Kareem was committed to the sport.
I think Jerry West, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, I think
(04:46):
Michael Jordan's as committed as any player in league history.
Harden had his jersey retired at a Houston strip club.
Kobe's got two jerseys retired at the Staples. Kobe is
known as the greatest practice player in the history of
the Lakers, and from what I'm told Magic Johnson would
(05:08):
tell you, it ain't close. Kobe Bryant, in commitment is
the most relentless practice player, most intense off the camera performer.
Only one closes. MJ. Harden, by the way, was traded
(05:28):
out of Oklahoma City because of concerns that he wasn't
totally committed. Then he went to Houston improved it by
showing up at a strip club an hour after he'd
been eliminated in a playoff series. So does athleticism matter, yep?
Not close. Does commitment matter yet not close. Now let's
talk about, you know, like actual games. What's the greatest
(05:49):
playoff moment in James Harden's career. I'll wait m because
Kobe I got six seven, eight nine on my mental
role of right now, let's go to eras you think
James Harden's had it a little easier. Never played with
a hand check. Has played in an era with European
(06:10):
centers who are seven feet two and one hundred and
nine pounds. They weighed slightly more than a trisct. Kobe
Bryant played half his career in the hand check era,
and oh, by the way, played when we had centers
who were domestic weighed two hundred and eighty and it
was their job to physically punish you if you went
to the rim. I don't even need to compare James
(06:33):
Harden to the all time greatest. He doesn't come close
to stacking up to one player Kobe Bryant. Let's get
back to the Troy Aikman Kirk Cousins comparison. I made
the knock on Aikman was always that well. I mean
he had a great coach and so many great players
around him. Of course, to knock on Kobe is well,
(06:56):
he played with Shack and he had Phil Jackson. Today,
James Harden is closer to Kirk Cousins than Troy Aikman.
A lot of money moved to a couple of teams.
First one doubted him. He has great stats and has
(07:18):
never showed up big in the playoffs. Yeah, I said
it right now. James Harden is a stat monster right now.
Kirk Cousins is a stat monster. Both are highly compensated.
Both have let their fan bases down in big spots,
(07:40):
and Kobe and Aikman, though they did have Hall of
Fame level coaches and they did have great supporting casts,
have never been given the true credit they deserved. Much
of it with Aikman because he played with a great
running game and a great coach, and a great offensive line,
and a great defense and a Hall of Fame wide receiver,
but leadership toughness, playing in crisis. Aikman's one of the
(08:02):
eight best quarterbacks I've ever seen. I put them on
the screen many times. And Kobe Bryant did have Phil Jackson,
did have Shack, and did have the Laker brand. He's
also one of the eight best players I've ever seen
play basketball, James Harden is not only not one of
the great offensive players of all time, he doesn't come
close to comparing to Kobe Bryant. Let me shift to football.
(08:30):
I just saw this story reading it this morning in
the Sporting News. That's a fine publication. NFL ratings saw
a boost on every channel, Fox, NBCCBS, Monday Night Football,
every single channel. And in fact, the story says, the
key to it is we've got Mahomes versus Baker Mayfield.
(08:57):
These two new stars are so Before I get cynical,
I'm in the story business. I'm not in the radio business.
I'm not in the television business. I'm in the story business.
I relate stories, tell stories, try to create stories. That's
all I've ever done. People that work at newspapers are
(09:17):
not in the newspaper business. They're in the story business.
The reason the NFL ratings went up because the previous
two years, do you know what the big story was
in the NFL. It wasn't a football story. It was
a political story kneeling. This year we had six riveting stories.
Let's go over them. People will tell you the reason
(09:39):
the NFL the ratings are up this year is blah
blah blah blah blah blah. The reason the ratings are
ups because the previous two years we didn't have a
really compelling, gripping story. The one we had was about
politics more than football. Let's talk about the six stories
that we had this year that you couldn't keep your
eyes off. Number one, Patrick Mahomes. Oh my god, who
(10:00):
Patrick Mahomes? Left handed passes, no look passes. We didn't
watch him play much in college. Ninety yard throws in practice.
Oh my god, who is this kid? Let's be honest
about it. He's an amazing talent at this point, a
little overvalued. Andy Reid deserves a lot of credit. He's
(10:21):
got great weapons around him. Pro Bowlers at left tackle,
wide receiver, tight end, and formerly at running back. But
the first story this year that help ratings, Oh my god,
Patrick Mahomes. The second big story this year, and again
I'm in the story business, was Hey, Baker Mayfield. This
cocky kid can play. Mayfield is what TV radio and
(10:45):
newspapers live off. He's polarizing Owen sixteen. It's a pretty competitive,
brash grabs his junk. Cocky comes on shows like this,
talks back Baker Mayfield is fun. He's one of the
first quarterbacks I turned the TV on every Sunday. The
third story you couldn't keep your eyes off, and this
was more of the car wreck you slow down on
(11:05):
the freeway to watch. Was John Gruden's massive personnel moves.
He single handedly made the Bears the best defense in
the league by giving them Khalil Mack. And he made
the Dallas Cowboys a viable playoff contender by giving them
Amari Cooper. Week to week, you could not keep your
(11:27):
eyes off the car wreck known as John Gruden and
the Raiders. The fourth grade story this year, the Dallas
Cowboys roller coaster three and five to ten and six.
You can't pay Dak too. You're gonna have to pay Dak.
The Amari Cooper addition, beating the New Orleans Saints an
almost inexplicable performance. The fifth big story this year, and
(11:50):
I don't think anybody would deny this. The diva drama
in Pittsburgh. The first month of the year, it was
all about Lavian Bell. That one ended. For the next
five weeks, it was all about Big Ben and Tomlin.
That one ended, And at the last two weeks it
was all about Antonio Brown stars are interesting. They're even
more interesting when they're fighting with each other. People can
(12:12):
compare them to whoever you want. It was a reality
show and the sixth biggest story. I know they're not
based on the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean, but it was
the Green Bay Packers man overboard first game of the year.
Aaron Rodgers gets hurt again, he limps around for the
next month and a half. He comes back, doesn't get
(12:33):
along with Mike McCarthy, eye rolling, contempt, passive, aggressive quotes.
Then Mike McCarthy gets fired. Six captivating, gripping football on
the field stories, week after week after week. That is
why the ratings are up. That is why football is back.
That the number one story in this league is not
(12:55):
a political story. It's a story. That is the reason
we've always watched on Sundays and Mondays and now Thursdays
and Saturdays. On the field. Can't turn away stories, and
we had six great ones this year. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
(13:18):
the iHeartRadio app. I've not been big on the Bears
this year, and this is the way it works is
I'm a sportscaster. My job. I'm loyal to honesty because
my honesty I had it locally, I had it regionally.
I had it at my former company. I have it
at this company. Advertisers have laughed, bosses of laugh. Formats
have changed. I am loyal to honesty. It travels with me.
(13:40):
And when I don't buy into somebody, I didn't buy
into Aaron Rodgers as a rookie because he was like
six and ten and I said, show me something. I
know he's got a great arm farve one, show me something.
Green Bay fans have hated me since in Cleveland. I
don't necessarily buy into Baker Mayfield for finishing in third place.
The other fan base this year that can't and me
(14:01):
and is Chicago. And I've said I was never a
huge fan of Mitch Trubisky. I didn't like his release.
He couldn't win the starting job the year before he
made the NFL, couldn't beat out a non NFL quarterback
at Carolina. I watched him playing college a couple of times.
I didn't see it. My executives in scouts who I
talked to, didn't love him as a thrower. He's a
(14:23):
very good athlete. He reminds me of a poor man's
Jimmy Garoppolo. He I mean, seriously, I think they almost
look alike. They play alike, but I think Garoppolo is
a better arm talent. And now I do think Chicago's
general manager Ryan Pace is brilliant. I think the coach,
Matt Naggi's my coach of the year. Historically, it's a
kind of dysfunctional organization. Their defense is amazing. Khalil Mack
is the next Lawrence Taylor. But I've never been a
(14:44):
Trubisky guy until today because I read this quote from
Mitchell Trubisky of the Chicago Bears. He said, you know,
I got off social media to improve my mental health.
He said, why would I let these voices, these distractions
get into my head. I gotta take care of this
football team, so I'm not going to get into social media.
(15:06):
So I would like to remind you that the Chicago
Bears quarterback who led his team to the playoffs said
I don't want to be a distraction. Baker Mayfield, who
finished third, said I am the distraction. I love this stuff. Now,
Baker Mayfield took a shot at me, called me grinch,
very hurtful. I cried for several nights. But the point
(15:27):
is I do not believe it's a coincidence that of
the current quarterback playoffs, Brady Breese, Wilson, Luck Rivers, Lamar Jackson,
Troubisky folds into Shaun Watson, most have very small social
media footprints. Now, obviously, Russell Wilson's married to a superstar,
Tom Brady's married to a superstar, and Drew Brees is
(15:48):
a superstar, so they have large followings. But if you
follow Drew Breese, he talks about family. You follow Russell Wilson,
he talks about kids. You talk to Tom Brady, he
talks about his parents and his kids. Those are small,
non elevated, non controversial social media platforms. Social media, to me,
(16:08):
is sort of a loaded gun. Be very careful. Don't
use it after a couple of cocktails. You're gonna get
in trouble. Mitch Trubisky, like the Great Ones, is like
I'm out on this stuff. I gotta worried about this.
The quarterback everybody loves Baker Mayfield is I love this stuff.
That's why when I hear people saying Cleveland is the
(16:31):
number one job available in the NFL. I keep saying
time out. General manager John Dorsey got run out of
Kansas City, not because he wasn't competent. He did a
great job in Kansas City. Ego couldn't get along with people.
Owner Jimmy Haslem legendary higher fire, higher fire, relentless, higher fire,
(16:56):
impatient Baker Mayfield social media pot stir. This morning, I
read a story Josh McDaniels of the Patriots enthusiastically interested
in the Brown's job. As Joyce said yesterday, I'm officially
questioning his judgment. He traded up to get Tebow and
passed on Andrew Luck. This stuff matters, It matters, folks.
(17:19):
Jay Cutler had a great arm, personality, was wrong. Aaron
Rodgers has great talent, personality's passive aggressive. Jeff George best
arm in league history, couldn't get along with people. Mitch Trubisky,
though I think he's an incredibly limited arm talent, is
out on social media, meaning I'm in on Mitch Trubisky.
(17:42):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine a Empacific. So I saw a
story this morning a guy on the internet all twelve
of the head coaches in the playoffs right now, All
twelve come from the coaching trees of two men, Bill
Walsh and Bill Parcels. All twelve coaches this weekend. Belichick,
(18:03):
Garrett Anthony Lynn, Bill O'Brien, Sean Payton come from Parcels.
Pete Carroll, John Harbors, Sean McVay, Matt Naggie, Doug Peterson,
Frank Wright, Andy Reid come from the Bill Walls tree. Now,
of course, the difference is Bill Walsh is considered greater
than Bill Parcels because he had Joe Montana. That's the difference.
(18:23):
He had Joe Montana. One of the reasons I've always
liked Andy Reid is he has elevated, extended or saved
the careers of five quarterbacks. He literally got five different
quarterbacks to the playoffs. Donovan McNabb, Jeff Garcia, saved Michael
Vick's career, Alex Smith, and Patrick Malomes. That's unbelievable. Now,
(18:45):
Belichick gets all the credit because you know, he wins
super Bowls, But that's because Belichick has Tom Brady. He
was fired in Cleveland. But here's what's remarkable, and this
is why I've said Andy Reid's the most undervalued coach.
Not to say that Belichick's overvalued, but look at the
coaching tree of Andy Reid. Look at the resonance, look
(19:07):
at the impact, Look at the influence in the NFL
right now. John Harbaugh won a Super Bowl. Yeah, Frank
Reich probably the AFC coach of the year. Matt Nangey's
the NFC coach of the year. Doug Peterson won a
Super Bowl, Ron Rivera, Todd Bowles, Pat Shermer, Sean McDermott
who got to a Super Bowl. Ron Rivera got to
(19:27):
a Super Bowl. So the difference between Parcels and Bill Walsh,
one of them had Joe Montana and the other had
you know, Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler, Tony Romo, good players,
but not Joe Montana. The difference between Andy Reid and
Bill Belichick. One as Tom Brady and one has had
Jeff Garcia. So when you talk about coaching trees, and
(19:50):
I think this stuff matters a lot, it's resonance beyond yourself, impact,
beyond yourself, influence beyond yourself. Look at Andy Reid's coaching tree.
Inches It's beautiful, is flourishing, It's a very healthy tree.
Look a look at Bill Parcell's coaching tree. That thing
needs watering. That's not very good. His guys have all
(20:11):
been mostly busts, except Bill O'Brien, who's been a marginal success.
So Parcels I've always been a huge fan of because
I think he took less and one a ton. That's
not to say Bill Walsh wasn't great, but if you
have Joe Montana, that's an advantage. I love Belichick, but
(20:33):
a big part of his legacy is Tom Brady. Andy Reid,
like Parcels, has resurrected, save elevated all sorts of careers.
Tony Romo ain't Tony Romo. You know, Parcels found him,
Parcels groomed him, and then Parcels hands him off to
Jason Garrett. So this is this goes back to why
(20:53):
the people that don't get Andy Reid. I kind of
roll my eyes. It's like the people that don't get Parcels.
You have to put everything in context. Andy has taken
five different quarterbacks, five different quarterbacks to the playoffs. He
was not given the opportunity to coach a legend. Here's
crossing your fingers and hoping Patrick Mahomes is his legend.
What is going on? John Middlecoff from the Three and
(21:15):
Out podcast, broad to you by Colin Coward's podcast Network Playoffs.
As Jim Morris said, playoffs, they're here, baby. We're talking
NFC playoffs, both the big games. We're talking both the
AFC playoff games. We are getting ready for all things
NFL playoffs. I can't wait. Subscribe to my podcast three
(21:37):
and Out with me, John Middlecoff wherever you listen to
your podcasts. You cover the NFL for the Wall Street
Journal and now he covers the NFL for The Ringer.
He's very good on social media. I really like this guy.
His name is Kevin Clark. We've had him on before.
Let's bring him on again. I love him. He does
something I do my Blazing five picks, and I take
myself too. Seriously. You have your what do you call
(21:59):
your picks Picks of the week. Yes, and they're surprisingly
the same as my Blazing five. We both get about
fifty eight percent. That's gambling, dad, exactly, it's gambling. So
before I get to the games, a couple of things
I want to talk about. Now we go into this weekend,
and if I said to you, who's the mobile quarterback?
Everybody would say, Lamar Jackson. You have an interesting story
(22:20):
on the ringer about Deshaun Watson. And I said this
when he came out. I said, Nick Saban faced Johnny
Manzil a couple times, but it was in a regular season.
Nick had six weeks twice to prepare for Deshaun Watson
and could never stop him. You have an interesting story
on Deshaun Watson and how hard he is debat and
(22:41):
if you do, you barely do. He has not lost
a game by more than one touchdown since high school
twenty thirteen. September of twenty thirteen, he lost to Buford
High School. After that, he has not lost by one
touchdown since The Patriots couldn't do it. Alabama couldn't do it.
You know, I think at this level you have to
have some sort of intangibles. I mean, we look at
(23:01):
Russell Wilson. He has been in terrible situations. Deshaun Watson
literally had to drive a bus or ride in a
bus across the country to play Jacksonville because his ribs
were too injured. Because he has the worst offensive line
in the league. And I think that Deshaun Watson's ability
to keep his team in this throughout. I mean, some
of those Texans problems, there's coaching problems. The fact that
(23:22):
they were able to recover from Owen three to be
in a probably a favorite in a wildcard game. Worst
offensive line in the playoffs easily, I mean they were
actively harming him. I mean it was offensive. How bad
that offensive was awful and it was threatening his career.
The fact that he was able to turn it around
and it is probably going to win a playoff game
this weekend is unbelievable and it speaks to everything he's done,
(23:43):
not only at Houston, but at Clemson and at Gamesville
High School, Georgia. You know, it's interesting. I said coming
into the season, I thought Donald Rosen and Baker could win. Now,
I think Donald's the greatest pure talent. But I knew
the Jets had nothing. I said, Josh Allen and Lamar
they're not ready to play. So when people say Colin
(24:03):
you're shocked by Baker, I say no, no, no no, no, no.
I you know he's accurate. I never said a bust.
I wouldn't draft him. I don't want to be tied
to that stuff for ten years Lamar is shocking. To me,
Lamar Jackson is shocking. Hardbaugh deserves respect. So I went
and watched Lamar Jackson live. I gotta see this thing.
What blew me away was his total control of the game.
(24:26):
He's playing with a Hall of Famer, probably Philip Rivers,
never against a good defense. I am shocked by what
I'm seeing now. I said, very draftable. I would have
taken him second, third round. I can't believe he's this good.
What do you make of Lamar Jackson? I make that
the Chargers have a problem on their hands. And here's why.
(24:47):
They're built to stop modern NFL offenses. They're built to
stop the Chiefs. They're built to stop the Saints. They've
got Derwin James, who can do anything back there. They've
got two pass rushers, and Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram
who can get up the field. They have Casey Hayward,
a very good cornerback. Well, Lamar Jackson is not the
modern NFL. You know, no one has run at the
quarterback edition like him since nineteen seventy two. Who's that
(25:07):
Bobby Douglas are there? Wow? Yeah? And so you start
to look at it and you say, this is a
guy who's solving the modern NFL and Lamar Jackson by
being completely antithetical to the modern NFL. He's just running
the ball. Defenses are getting smaller, linebackers are becoming more
irrelevant to the game, and if you can actually line
(25:28):
up and run the ball all the time, you have
the definition of a matchup problem. Yeah. One more thing
before we get to the games. You know, there's a
lot of openings and there's a lot of coaches. I
said this yesterday. The city of New York, between the
Giants and Jets has had five coaches and five years.
And there's this current narrative that Mike McCarthy's too simplistic,
(25:48):
he hasn't evolved. And my argument is, is he organized, prepared?
Does he have a good work ethic? Yes? Yes, yes,
That peanut butter and jelly sandwich is fifty years before
me fifty years after will taste delicious. The things that
he's good at matter. I'm not saying he's got the
best cheekbones. He's not hip, he's not lit, he's not cool.
But his teams were organized, prepared, massive discipline. I am
(26:10):
and by the way, Aaron Rodgers came out of college, Kevin.
It had a weird throwing motion. It was junior college kid.
He was raw and ad liber. Isn't that? Sam Darnold
like to me, Mike McCarthy and the Jets feels like
of all the coaching searches, an absolute perfect fit. Am
(26:31):
I nuts on that? So I want to address something
you asked when we looked at the map of hate
about who hates which teams? He said, who could possibly
hate the Jets? The answer is Jets fans. They hate
the Jets and they've The reason is because they've made
a mistake after a mistake. The last time there were
eight openings was twenty thirteen. Do not look at that list.
It is it is not safe for work. It is bad.
(26:51):
And you know Andy Reid is the only coach who's
still there. And when you look at that list, he
was the safest coach. We knew what we were getting good.
One thing you don't want to do is develop a
coach alongside a quarterback. We have no idea of Zach Taylor,
the quarterbacks coach from La Rams can call plays. We
have no idea. All we know is he knows Sean McVay.
He can text Sean McVay every once in a while.
(27:13):
Congratulations Zach Taylor. But I just don't know why you
would want to take a risk when you know Mike
McCarthy can win games. And that's what I understand that
you want the higher ceiling. But Lincoln Riley's not coming,
Pathittzgeriald's not coming, David Shaw is not coming. When you're
dealing with the NFL pool right now, Mike McCarthy is
very high on my list. All right, let's go to
(27:33):
the four games. Let's start with the Colts Texans. I
have no strong feeling. Generally, if teams meet again after
a team beat him, the better team does win, you
feel like there's revenge. But teams win for a reason
they have better personnel or they're better teams. I don't
like the idea that the Texans have the worst offensive
(27:55):
line remaining in the NFL. With very little conviction, I
would take the col and have no confidence. Where would
you lean? I'm leaning towards the Texans. And here's why
we talk all the time about the problems A great
quarterback and solve you know who else solves great problems.
Aside from having Deshaun Watson. DeAndre Hopkins is a problem solver.
If you throw the ball to a cover DeAndre Hopkins,
(28:17):
he becomes uncovered. That's he's one of the few guys
he's almost like Shack a little bit, yeah, where you
can just throw the ball in his direction and something
good is going. He didn't have a drop this year. No,
that's unheard of, and you know, nearly two hundred targets.
It is unbelievable, And it's just it's one of those
things where I think that that's going to be I
think that home field is. It's real. It's very chody.
(28:40):
Nobody who's played in the Super Bowl has won a
road game since twenty twelve. Well, slow, slowdown, time out,
hold on, say it again. Nobody who's played in the
Super Bowl has played in a road game since twenty twelve.
In the playoffs, Joe Flacco and Colin Kaepernick did it
on the same day in twenty twelve and in twenty twelve.
Isn't that amazing? That's an amazing stat right? Have we
(29:02):
just not noticed that you're just throwing haymakers? Good lord?
So you like Houston. I like Houston because of the
little alleges. I think that both these teams ain't they
tied and points fifty eight in their matchups. I love
Andrew Luck, I love Frank Reich. I think that you
know the defense on Indianapolis. They are they have the
Albert Briers said it on this show. They have the
capability to go forward and be a dynasty because they
(29:22):
have a lot of really good years. They're a better
story than a team right now. I mean, let's be honest.
I agree, I agree, and I just think Houston is
ready to win right now. Jj Watt, I mean he is.
Somehow JJ Watt, one of the most famous players in
the NFL, is not getting the credit he deserves after
a fifteen sacks season. So I think they've I think
the offensive line. You know, if they had an offensive line,
(29:44):
it would be a good they wouldn't be playing this weekend, right,
But everything else favors Houston. Texas all right, almost talked
me out of my pick. Here's the only game I
feel strongly about. Again, I feel the story of Seattle's
rebuilding success year is better than the team. I would
take Dallas by a touchdown over Seattle. I think they
have better personnel. I think Amari's a real difference maker.
(30:08):
Russell Wilson's probably my favorite quarterback next to Brady and
Luck of all time. But again, I think Seattle's story
is awesome. I don't think the personnel. I think it's
Bobby Wagner and a bunch of kids. I'd take Dallas here.
So these teams are basically mirror images except the quarterback
and the coach. Both of those things favorite Seattle strongly.
(30:32):
And so when I start to look at it, there's
a couple of matchup things. What I'm fascinated with. Bobby
Wagner has miss less than one percent of his tackles
at the NFL level in his career. That is unheard of.
So now you have Ezekiel Elliott, who is number one
in the NFL and yards after contact. That's gonna be
a matchup man, That is gonna be a We talked
so much about the modern NFL, about Patrick Mahomes, Drew
Brees and all these things that are just bringing the
(30:54):
game forward. Bobby Wagner against Zeke Elliot's going to bring
it back about thirty years. That it's gonna be an
old school matchup that I'm really looking forward to. And
so I'm going to take the Seahawks in this one.
I saw a staff the other day. You know, next
gen stats can can sort of quantify what passes shouldn't
be completed. Yeah, Russell Wilson is has the best completion
percentage above expectation in the entire NFL, which means he's
(31:16):
he's creating hard throws and he's completing them. Tyler Locke
has become a star. He was a slot returner, punt returner.
Nobody projected him to be anything like this. But is
it that Tyler Lockett is otherworldly good? Or is it
that Russell Wilson can create Tyler Lockett into a star.
Chris collins made a great point. I was watching a
football game recently and collins Worth said, Russell throws the
(31:37):
best deep ball in the league. He tear drops it.
And Tyler Lockett's one of those guys that runs nice
fades and nice deeps, and he is a perfect receiver
for Russell Wilsons. You like seeing. I love Patrick Mahomes,
but when you can play Patrick Mahomes and out deep
ball him, you're doing a pretty good job. All right,
let's go to so we disagree on that Chargers Ravens
I go to I think the Chargers have the best
(31:58):
personnel in the league. I think playing Lamar twice in
a month is the way to beat him, and I
don't think it's easy. I would lean La Chargers. I
go back to the matchup problem. I just, first of all,
I have all I don't know why why Wink Martindale,
the defensive coordinator for Baltimore, is not getting more head
coach love, because obviously the number one thing you are
right now as an offensive guru. But I'd rather have
(32:19):
a defensive guru with than a bad offensive guru. That's good.
So I don't know why that hasn't happened. What they've
been able to do on defense has been incredible. Marlin
Humphrey is a legitimate star. Yeah, there are pieces everywhere
that I'm hugely impressed with. So I think that the
talent level and the personnel is not as the disparity
is not as big as we think that's fair. And
then I just I truly think I think you made
the comparison to Tebow with Lamar Jazz. Well, he's better
(32:40):
than TBO, He's better, much better than Tibo. But I'm
saying it's sort of sort of an unorthodox matchup, especially
in the playoffs early in his career. They beat Steelers. Ye.
Tebow beat the Steelers yep on on a weird play
you know, broken coverage. Yeah, I mean it's you know
it is. It is a really hard I'm sure there's
a nightmare going on right now in the practice facility,
(33:00):
game planning for Lamar Jackson. So we disagreed on everything, Okay,
so this so far, Okay, So I like the Eagles
over the Bears. I say it with no conviction. Listen,
Wentz is better long term, Okay, there's a lot of
four oh one. K is better long term than bitcoin,
but the timing was right for bitcoin, and some people
made a lot of money on bitcoin. You used to
(33:20):
work at the Wall Street Journal. You know all about stocks.
I'm sure of it. I'm gonna take Philadelphia here. I
like their defensive line. I like their personnel. I like
their big game experience. They're not dynamic at wide receiver,
but they have playmakers at wide receiver, and Nick Foles
is strangely accurate, incredibly coachable. This staff clearly connects with him.
(33:41):
I'm gonna go Philly. I'm an analytical person. I like
to I believe in data and all that stuff, but
there's some sort of intangible stuff that I believe in.
And one of the things that I've always believed in.
I remember a Seahawks player Tement's a couple of years ago.
When you start to play in really low scoring games,
you get comfortable doing it because you're always one play
away from disaster. The Bears just played a game fourteen
to nine against the sarmon score forty nine ers, but
(34:03):
they were comfortable the entire game because they knew they
were never going to give a play. I think this
will be a seventeen fourteen low scoring game. It's going
to come down to one play. I think the Bears
defense is really comfortable in that environment, and I do
think I will favor the Bears in that situation. I
love Nick Foles, and I think the lesson of Nick
Foles should teach a lot of teams how to build
(34:23):
an offense, because this is two years in a row
now where Doug Peterson has had to build an offense
on the fly in December in January, and he's done
it really well by stripping everything down except what Nick
Foles likes. It's a really good coaching lesson. But I'm
going to favor the Bears just because of the talent disparity.
If this were a fully healthy Eagles team, if the
secondary was still intact, I think it's a very different situation.
(34:44):
But I also think by the way, they wouldn't be
the six seed. But I'm gonna go with the Bears again,
like you, no confidence, So we disagree on everything. The
Beautiful Thing, the story of My Life. Kevin Clark writes
for The Ringer, formerly The Wall Street journ He's just fantastic.
You can follow him on social media, where he's equally brilliant.
(35:05):
I love having you on the show. You're a busy guy.
Say hi to Bill and thanks for coming on. Thanks
for having me. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week within the
iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand
whenever you'd like. So I'm watching a little bit. I
watched a little Kawhi last night and now watched the
Warriors take on Houston, little bits of both. Last night,
(35:28):
Kawhi got roundly boot did not have a great night,
and the Raptors got smoked and James Harden had a
remarkable night. If you did not watch, here's some of
James Harden against the Warriors. It was one of his
best nights. He's on like a three week streak of
just scoring like crazy. Here it is Harden trying to
get free down to frink, down to two. It's a
Greek good good James Hardens with two Warriors it draped
(35:54):
on him. Why the way to get this to go
down in the grill of Draymond Green, a former Defensive
Player of the Year. James Harden knocks down his forty
four points very nice. I mean, the game doesn't mean
a ton now, it's obviously early January, but it was
(36:15):
fun and James a very good player. And I'm noticing something.
The new NBA's very offensive minded, the three ball revolution.
More possessions, more scoring. All the really good players in
this league are having just great years. Lebron, Anthony Davis,
Jannis Kauhai Harden, MB Damian Lillard, Paul George Kemball Walker,
DeMar de Rosen. The league is really set up for
(36:37):
offensive players, and all the good offensive players in the
league are just knocking it out of the park. There's
more possessions, more scoring, less rigidity with coaching. It's it's
very pro player, it's very pro offense. And there's one exception.
And I'm not going to be a hater. I'm gonna
be a professional here. Russell Westbrook's numbers. He's the exception.
He's the only great offensive talent in the league. And
(37:00):
he's having an awful season. Three point percentage last among qualifiers,
field goal percentage one hundred and eighteenth. I mean it's
it's literally his effective field goal percentage is one hundred
and thirty, third in the NBA. I'm not here to
be a hater. Uh. I'm all I'm saying is something
(37:21):
is going on with Russell Westbrook, and it is unbelievable.
It's incredible. He's fallen off a cliff. He's no longer
their go to score, He's no longer taken big shots
in the fourth everything, his free throws are falling off
a cliff. He's an awful three point shooter. He's a
terrible fourth quarter shooter. Again, I'm not a hater. I'm
(37:42):
not this. I'm being totally professional, But I'm not anything.
I'm hating, it, says west Brick. I did not create
the graphics I did not create the graphics. We're gonna
we're gonna blame that on the graphics people. Well, he's
shooting a brick. I did not do that. I don't
have the talent to do these groups beautiful graphics. I
have no hand in. It's a little bit of hating.
(38:04):
I will agree with you though. He isn't a terrible
shooting slump. Oh, I don't even I've never heard of this.
Ray Allen never had a shooting slump. Kobe Bryant didn't
have shooting slumps. Are like Kobe Bryant had a bad half.
It's been bad all season something. Do you know his numbers?
He has the identical numbers of Markul Foults and he's
out of the league. They got rive at Marquel Foults.
(38:26):
They have the same numbers. What is And I told
you this Kevin Durant left. Something happened. He has become
a significantly less reliable shooter in the last three years.
This year he's completely fallen off the cliff. And I
don't know what the answer. It's very bizarre. It's He's
(38:47):
free throw shooting has gone from eighty four to seventy
five to sixty four to meet joy. That's mental. That's
all that is. That. That's not one of those things. Again,
if his free throw percentage was fine, he was down
on three point shooting, I would say he had surgeries.
Not getting he's not getting the push off. He can't
hit free throws. I mean, it is I've never seen
(39:09):
anything like that this game. This would be like every
other quarterback, you know, because the quarterbacks are obviously now
completing like sixty five sixty eight. This would be like
somebody regressing and a quarterback in the league that we
all thought was great going down to forty seven percent,
you'd be like, what is it? The offensive line? Is
it what? Well, it's so consistent with his shooting that
(39:29):
it's got There has to be some sort of explanation.
It's mental. It has to be. Who think about the
two Mark l faults was a bust. He's a shooter.
It was mental. He had what they call the yips.
This has to be mental with Westbrook. It has to be.
There's it's not physical. You don't go from eighty five
at the line seventy five sixty four. I don't even
know what it is. He was an MVP two years ago.
(39:51):
He cannot shoot God. It's just incredible. And again I'm
a total professional. There's no hating. I did not control
the West Brick graphic. I did not control him shooting
a brick that had nothing to do with me.
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