November 10, 2021 • 41 mins
Aaron Rodgers responds to his latest criticism
The Browns feel like a playoff team
If OBJ signs with the Packers
Green Bay hurt themselves
Guest: Nick Wright
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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 are on a Thursday, Wednesday.
(00:27):
Excuse me, I can't even tell it? Did is live
in Los Angeles. It's The Herd wherever you may be
and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio
FS one. Of course it's a Wednesday. I get Nick
Wright later this hour in Joel Clatt top of next
Hour in Jersey Mikes Jersey Mike subbs, be a sub above.
It's great to be in. I took a melotone and
last night three milligrams cut it in half. You know
(00:50):
how medicine affects me immediately, same and severely, and so
I took one and a half milligrams at eight of melatonin.
I woke up at five to fifty five this morning,
and I mean I was running into doors and my
wife could take fifteen milligrams at stare at the ceiling
(01:10):
all night. What. I don't know what it is with medicine,
it all works immediately. I am this exact same way
anytime I've ever had a surgery of any kind and
they give me like the serious stuff. Yeah, I'm like,
how do people take this and then do things? Yeah?
I take it and I am asleep out for eight
hours like immovable. Yeah, I don't know in the same way. Well,
(01:33):
so I'm going to talk about Aaron Rodgers. I do
think we're very close now to moving to football the
game against Seattle, which I think Green Bay win. That's
much more interesting to me. But Aaron did respond yesterday
about the time my show ended about you know, the
tsunami of criticism he faced around America, and I'm not
going to get into the apology that wasn't an apology,
(01:55):
you know, I don't really care. The thing that was
most interesting to me, and it's the thing that's most
interesting about Aaron Rodgers. He had the quote, I'm an athlete,
not an activist, And I think this is kind of
fascinating about Aaron Rodgers. The difference between Brady and Rodgers
is not just that one has all the super bowls.
Tom Brady knows what he is, is true to himself,
(02:21):
understands what he likes and doesn't like, and is true
to it and doesn't feel limited by it. Aaron wants
to be a Jeopardy host, he wants to be an activist.
He's kind of changed his look this year. I don't
know if he knows himself, and I think sometimes this
is what happens when you, you know, get into your
late thirties, not married, no kids, You're the son. Everything
(02:42):
revolves around it. What are you? Who are you? What
matters beyond you. I'm only really surprised about Aaron Rodgers
that he went public with his thoughts on the vaccine.
I said, I was not surprised he did not get
the vaccine. Aaron's about Aaron, But Aaron Rodgers, knowing that
he's legendarily thin skinned, knowing that he doesn't like criticism,
(03:06):
that is so understood Kevin Durant and Aaron Rodgers. Aaron said,
I'm gonna ramble for eighteen minutes about the thing people
are arguing about online all day, and I'm good with it.
I love blowback, I love pushback. Really, in a country
where seventy two percent of Americans are vaccinated three out
of four people, and seven hundred and fifty thousand have died,
so a lot of people are connected to people who
(03:27):
have died. Aaron thought, yeah, I'm totally comfortable with going
into a very polarizing topic and taking all the blowback
because you know, I'm legendarily thick skinned. Bra You're the
one guy in the league that shouldn't get into this stuff.
And for the record, I've always said with athletes Lebron
of Aaron Rodgers, it doesn't bother me if you talk politics.
(03:50):
I'm generally not interested in your opinion on them. I'm
gonna go to doctors, not Aaron or Joe Rogan. That's fine,
but I'm okay with Aaron having opinions. But understand, you're
gonna get the smoke, and Aaron's never been a guy
that likes the smoke. Brady doesn't like the smoke and
avoids it. Brady knows exactly what he is. I don't
(04:11):
like it. I'm kind of funny on social I'm goofy
and funny. Brady understands who he is, He knows thyself,
he knows exactly what he is. He knows what he
doesn't like. He doesn't like controversy. He was deeply bothered
by deflate gay. He don't like it, and so he
stays away from him. I mean, if you don't like heights,
(04:31):
you don't bungee jump. Aaron doesn't like heights, and thought,
I'm gonna I'm gonna bungee jump without a chord. I'm
just gonna jump off the bridge and see what happens.
Aaron doesn't know as a thirty seven year old, exactly
what he is and what he likes. That to me
is shocking. You know, they do call it self awareness,
like I don't. I don't care in my business, lots
(04:54):
of people can handle criticism. And Coulter bring it on.
She'll stoke the fires. Bill Maher stoked the fires in politics.
Bernie Sanders, he'll go right into enemy territory. Ted Cruz
a conservative, I'll go right into enemy territory. Mark Cuban entrepreneur,
Elon Musk. We have Howard Stern, we have political people,
(05:20):
we have entrepreneurs. I can go give you athletes. They're
all very comfortable with a smoke, so by all means,
go into it. But when you're not comfortable with it,
You're legendarily famous for being thin skinned, and yet at
thirty seven, you're not seven or seventeen or twenty seven.
(05:41):
You'll get grown man thinking, yeah, I'll be good with it.
It's not about knowing me. You don't know you. And
I think that is a big difference between Brady and Rogers.
Aaron is like searching at thirty seven, Jeopardy host, I'd
(06:01):
be an activist. Brady wants to be a dad, a husband,
and a football player. Totally comfortable with him And by
the way, what's wrong with that? What would be wrong
with Aaron Rodgers just being a great quarterback he is
and a great pitch man he is. He's great at
those two things, but he's searching. Even this year, his offseason,
(06:24):
a different look got very zen in the summer. Bill
Simmons and I talked about this last week. You get older,
you're single, you're not married, you have no kids. You know,
some guys, guys can get a little weird. You're kind
of trying to find yourself. He's been trying to find himself.
But I find it fascinating that at thirty seven, he
thought he could just ramble for eighteen minutes about the vaccine,
(06:47):
take a contrarian opinion from seventy two percent of the country,
and then like three days later, be like, oh, I
give you this. Well, of course you don't like it.
That's not your space, that's not who you are. No
thy self, Aaron still searching. So I thought this was funny.
(07:08):
You know. I tend to be I think as America's
honesty broker. I try to be upfront, and sometimes I
think I'm almost too nice to Baker Mayfield. I really do.
I just don't think he's that great. But it's funny.
I was looking at the standings today, the playoffs standings
if we had playoffs today. So I want you to
I want you to look at this NFC and afs AFC.
(07:28):
So let's start with the NFC. I mean the Cardinals,
the Packers, the Bucks, the Cowboys, and the Rams. I
think we'd all agree those feel like good playoff teams.
The top of the NFC. Those feel like I mean,
by the way, Rams just had a crappy Sunday, but
those feel like really good playoff teams. The Cardinals, the Packers,
the Bucks, the Cowboys, Rams. They can beat them multiple ways.
(07:48):
You know, they've they've all got I think really good quarterbacks.
Those are playoff teams the bottom of the NFC. Who
the heck knows who's gonna get in. Those are not
teams are gonna win right now at Saints Falcon's Day.
If those could be replaced tomorrow, who cares? In the AFC.
You know, it's it's there's a lot of stuff here
that doesn't feel true. Titans, Ravens, Chargers, Bills, Raiders, Steelers, Patriots.
(08:13):
Raiders a playoff team. Steelers a playoff team with that offense.
But as you look at those two, I'm gonna ask
you a question. What's the one team in the NFL
now that you look at and think, oh, they'll they'll
get in to me? It's the Browns. Listen, there are
(08:34):
certain ingredients in the NFL that if you have those ingredients,
you better make the very good cake. The Browns have
arguably a top three offensive line in the NFL. The
Browns have, in my opinion, the best running game in
the NFL. It's top two or three. And they also
(08:55):
have right now a top three defense in terms of
yards allowed. Okay, if they don't make the playoffs, you
need to grow up. It's on Baker folks, The LA
Chargers this morning have the ninth best offensive line, the
twenty second best run game, the twenty third rated defense,
and they're a four seed. Why because they've got a
(09:16):
great young quarterback. The Philadelphia Eagles are the team that
most aligns with the Cleveland Browns in term of a
line ranking, running game ranking, defensive ranking. The year they
won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles, Like, the ingredients
for Cleveland are playoff ingredients. If I wasn't talking about
the Browns and I just said, yeah, it's it's arguably
(09:38):
the best offensive line in football. It's arguably I love
Nick chibb. It's the best running game in football. And
the defense, you don't get many yards off them. I
mean it's like top three defense. You'd be like, oh, yeah,
that's the playoff team. Obviously. In fact, that's not just
a playoff team. They should win a game or two.
Not saying they're gonna get into the super Bowl. That's injuries,
that's health. That's where you're playing, When are you playing,
(10:00):
how are you playing in the moment. But we need
to be honest about this. All you fanboys and palm
palm waivers for Baker The ingredients for this cake is
you better have a really good cake or the baker
should be fired. Baker Mayfield or a baker. The ingredients
here are playoff. In fact, I'll give an example. The
only team in the league last year that was similar
(10:24):
to Cleveland. And Cleveland, it should be noted, has way
better offensive players than this team. But there was a
team last year that had a very highly ranked offensive
light not as highly ranked as Cleveland. They had a
very good running game, not as highly ranked as Cleveland,
and their defense yards allowed was top three or four,
very similar to Cleveland. That's New England. They didn't get
(10:49):
in and Cam was crucified. Fact, Cam can't get a job. Now, Cam,
we were the only show in America that slightly defended
Cam and and and again, let's just say this, Cleveland's
offensive weapons are a thousand times better than New England's
(11:09):
last year, and it ate close tight ends, wide receivers.
No Nick Chubb hanging around in Foxborough. And Cam can't
get a job, and Cam is washed, and Cam is
he was vilified in the New England region like a joke.
He's terrible. It's washed. So and Cleveland's better than that team.
(11:32):
And the AFC. I would argue this year is weaker
than last year. Cleveland needs to be in the playoffs.
It's not a big ask. I'm not asking them to
win multiple games. I'm not asking them to get his
conference championship. I'm not asking Baker to get to a
super Bowl. That's to me that there's a lot of
things that go into that. You look at the AFC
and NFC plaoffs, you tell me put them up again.
(11:55):
You tell me what team feels like a playoff team
that's not there. It's not there's one in the whole league.
It's Cleveland. I mean, you could say Colts, but they
butchered the Tennessee game, so they don't feel like a
playoff team to me. Their record, They've lost twice to Tennessee.
There's only one team here. You're telling me Cleveland didn't
have better players than Atlanta. Falcon's offensive lines a sieve.
(12:18):
It's awful. Cleveland's got significantly better offensive personnel than New England.
They got a better coach than the Raiders currently. So
that's all I'm saying. Some of you fanboys, I'm gonna
pull all heat on you now. I've been I've been
being very nice this year. A little pressure on Baker.
(12:40):
You got those good of ingredients. Gotta be able to
make a great cake because they have playoff ingredients. All right,
Odell Beckham, you guys heard the story on Odell Beckham
this morning. It was very interesting. There's some boring teams
he could go to, or one fascinating one that's coming up.
(13:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Easter ninety Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeart Radio app. So oh, b J.
We could have a decision today. Very exciting. He's got
two or three teams he wants to play for. Apparently Saints.
He'd be a good fit. Kansas City, Oh, they have
enough weapons. And green Bay. Let's be honest, that's what
(13:23):
I'm rooting for. I'm rooting for green Bay because I
think it's a better story. I'm not lying here. I
am rooting for the Green Bay story. Davante Adams, we
looked it up this morning. Has been fifty four percent
of Aaron Rodgers targets this year. Okay, folks, they needed too. Now,
the other guys like Alan Lazard, they have talent, but
(13:44):
He's had like twenty two targets this year. He's been
beat up. Aaron doesn't really trust him, and that's okay.
Brady's the same way. If Brady doesn't trust you, won't
throw it to you. And but a lot of times
it's very easy to get distracted because I didn't grow
up with social media, right, Like I didn't even grow
up with a lot of cable television, right, So it
(14:04):
was very easy you stay focused. I read my newspapers,
I watched my sports shows, I watched the games, I
did my sportscast. It was easy. It's a lot of
noise now, A lot of things get you distracted. Let's
not get distracted with the Aaron Rodgers vaccine story. Aaron's
still great, Jordan Love isn't. And eight teams are going
(14:27):
to go after Aaron in the offseason. One of them
could be the Steelers. I mean, if I was Pittsburgh
would I would unload draft picks and linebackers for years
to get Eron. So let's not lose sight of this
and all the vaccination stuff. Aeron's a stud, Jordan Love isn't.
Nine teams one Eron. Now we know Eron's not a
great general manager for the record, either is Lebron James. Okay,
(14:51):
love Lebron, but he's a player, not a GM Eron
wanted Randall Cobb. Give me Randall Cobb. He's had one
good game in eight weeks, twenty catches for three million
bucks a year, three million dollars cap hit. Okay, but
I would go to Aaron and I would say, Hey,
what do you think you want him? That's what I
(15:11):
would ask. Do you want him? We've got little cap
space here? You want him? Because Green Bay's defense has
been good missing their best corner and their best linebacker,
that side of the ball's fine. Green Bay's defense is
now good enough to win a Super Bowl. Green Bay's
online and run game are good enough to win a
(15:31):
Super Bowl. Here's where Green Bay isn't good enough. After
Davante Adams. I know, I know, I know it. There's
seven oh without Davanta Adams. Yeah. Yeah, you can win
a game with a backup quarterback. Okay, you can win
a game without Davontae Adams. But if I told you
it was gone for the next eight weeks, you think
Green Bay's better? No, So I would go to Aaron
(15:55):
and I would just say, because there's a truth in
the NFL. Great quarterbacks make everybody better. The quarterback makes
the wide receiver. The wide receiver doesn't make the quarterback. Okay,
Matt Stafford was good with Calvin Johnson. He was also
great with Cooper Cup. Like like Cooper, Cup's never been
this good, right, Cooper's good. He's like Randy Moss this year.
(16:15):
And so we know that Russell Wilson, he makes everything work.
Tom Brady makes everything work. Let's be honest. Would Davante
Adams be this good with the Jaguars. No, it wouldn't
be this good. So I would go forget all the
noise and all the vaccine stuff. I would go to
(16:36):
Aaron and just say, do you want him? We got
to space. The only thing about Green Bay that I
would be worried today is I don't suddenly trust the kicker.
Probably too late to fix that. And we've been going
two three years here on Davante Adams and a bunch
of guys. The bunch of guys aren't getting better, aren't
(16:58):
standing healthier, and Aaron doesn't trust him. I'd go to Aaron.
It's your call. By the way, you're not asking O. B. J.
To buy a home and live in Green Bay for
eight years. He's gonna be there from first week in November,
first week of January. I mean, if seriously, you know
(17:18):
you're not You're not asking him to be They're not
asking for the He wants to reboot his career. He
wants to clean some stuff up with his image, and
Aaron's gonna get the ball to him. Okay, Aaron's going
to get the ball. Aaron's dying for a number two
week in trust And to me this feels like, just
go to Aaron and ask him. Don't get all caught
up in all the vaccine stuff. Now, Aaron's great. Jordan
(17:38):
loves not nine teams want him. You don't think Pittsburgh
is gonna make a run at him. You're out of
your gourd. I mean you got like googly love eyes
between Aaron and Mike Tom and they played together. It's
like flirting on the field. Joy with the news, No, no,
this is the herd line news. Well, SUA is questionable
(18:01):
heading into tomorrow night's game against the Ravens. According to
head coach Brian Flores, they are taking a day to
day through Yesterday look good, I was making some progress
still somewhat limited, So we're just gonna take it, you know,
day to day, and there's definitely discomfort to getting better
(18:21):
swellings down. It's getting better and progress from last week,
but you know, there's still some limitations for sure. He
didn't play in Sunday's win over the Texans after fracturing
his middle finger on his starting hand the week prior,
so Jacoby Brissett will get the start again if Tuah
is unable to play, and Tua wouin service the backup.
(18:44):
He has missed the better part of five games this season,
including three games on injured reserve with fractured ribs, and
the Dolphins are currently seven and a half point underdogs
tomorrow night against Baltimore. According to Fox Bet, this is
this is not surprising. Well, this is who he is now.
I think this is who he always college in prose,
he gets hurt along. This is This was my concern
(19:07):
with Twa in the draft. Everyone was talking about all
the spectacular abilities that he has and what he did
in his college career, and I am weary of players
who have had, particularly at the quarterback position San Bradford College,
couldn't stay healthy, who have had multiple injuries while they
are in college because it is only going to get
more physical. The guys are only going to get bigger.
(19:29):
They are now grown men as opposed to young men
hitting you, and it's just going to get worse. And
that's what the story is. We just saw this the
other night. So justin fields, it's significantly bigger than two.
He's like six three two thirty eight. I mean, justin
fields is big. A safety Minka Fitzpatrick literally knocked him
(19:51):
into yesterday on the sideline. Not a linebacker, not a
rush end, not a safety literally knocked him flush. It's
like you don't see perdue safeties doing that to justin fields.
Like if you're hurting college Sam Bradford, generally it only
gets worse. And you can't have an injury prone quarterback.
(20:12):
There are certain positions where you can have injuries or
lingering injuries and play through them or make it work.
We've seen it with running backs, We've seen it with
wide receivers, certain defensive positions that you're just not touching
the ball every single like you have to be available.
This is a story with Jimmy Groppolo. That's the reason
why trailiance is there. It just doesn't work like they're
going to be in the quarterback market next year. Part
(20:33):
of it is because of the way that they handled
to his start in the career of his career, but
also he cannot stay healthy and this was pretty predictable
when he looked at his college career. So the NFL's
increased emphasis on the taunting penalty has gotten a lot
of criticism through the first half of the season. Mike
Tomlin is a fan of the rule. We're just trying
(20:55):
to clean our game up. We embraced the responsibility that
comes with being the models that we are this game
being played at the highest level. We understand that people
that play at a lower level watch us and often
mimic the things that we do and how we conduct ourselves,
and just largely as a league competition committee specifically, there
(21:15):
was a desire to improve in that area and so
um that's been expressed to our guys. Very rarely do
I disagree with coach coach symbodico here. Mike Tomlin and
I see the world the same way. Respectfully, This is
a horrific rule, and you know, I don't wish for
these things, but how can you just pretty predictable. I mean, listen,
(21:40):
he's very stern and direct, and I can see where
he's coming from. However, this is literally affecting the outcome
of games. It is an emotional sport. Guys pumped themselves
through full of tor it all and pills and work
through horrific injuries and play through burst spleens to get
out there and put on a performance. And if they
(22:03):
get a sack, they should be able to celebrate. Just
can't taunt, can't go to the other side. But that
isn't that's a subjective mood that the referee is in. Well,
who can who can you know? Can be get off
my lawn guy and decide to throw a flag and
change the outcome of a game. New rule on the show,
If Mike Tomlin says something, it's true, I respectfully disagree.
(22:26):
The Steelers haven't been called for a taunting penalty this season.
And by the way, why you don't mess. Mike Tomlin
tells those guys, Hey, I don't understand this. I bet you.
Tomon tells them this. Guys celebrate all day long amongst
our That's Belichick's rule. You should be happy you scored
a touchdown, Celebrate with your teammates. Don't walk over and go, hey,
(22:46):
you see that, because that's what got him in trouble.
I just it's gotten out of control. There's thirty three
taunting penalties this season. There were eleven last year, and
obviously the Steelers benefited from the one called the other
night with Cassius Marsh so that helps set up their
game winning field goal. It did affect the game. I
think it's nonsense. Fans hate it, myself included fans. Yeah,
(23:10):
they're only the actual consumer fans. The Stealers us the
Lions on Sunday and are currently eight point favorites according
to Fox. But now, I'll be honest with you, Detroit
to play there, They're not gonna win the game. I'm
done taking these big lines. After the after the Cowboys
this weekend, I was like, I'm not I'm not getting
suckered into that again. But that does feel. It feels
(23:33):
like a little sucker like the Lions are not good. No,
the Lions aren't good, but they're off of buy and
Pittsburgh's offense doesn't blow people out. Yeah, eight points we
have to remember this. Eight points is still a lot
in football games. Yeah, but it's as we've had these
crazy lines this year like college. So the NFL has
completed its review of green bas COVID protocol violations. Yea,
(23:54):
the Packers have been fined three hundred thousand dollars for
protocol violations. Aaron Rodgers and Alan has already been fined
fourteen thousand, six hundred fifty dollars each for attending the
Halloween party while unvaccinated, and according to Mike Florio, other
teams are outraged how the league shows to handle. Give
me a break. One source said, that's bleep. You could
(24:16):
fill in the blanks. Rodgers only penalized for attending the
Halloween party. The leagues that the Packers were warned about
future violations that would result in escalated discipline, change of
draft physician, loss of draft choice. I could, I could
defend I will defend the Packers for an hour on
this because the Raiders in the Saints last year lost
a draft pick, appealed it and got it back, and
last year was we wait wait, yeah it was, yeah,
(24:39):
it was way more punitive. Rogers wasn't fine for the
press conference violations because that falls on the club to
unfortunate protocols. But you know people are outraged. They want
draft picks, they want, you know, a pound of flesh.
I don't have any problem with the with the punishment
because here's here's where I stand on this, and obviously
everyone knows how ridiculous I feel this whole situation was
so clearly I disagree with how this was handled. But
(25:02):
as far as the league goes, you can't start handing
out unprecedented, egregious punishments for these things, because then what
happens the next level, like how far does it go up?
This is this is a precedented fine. This is what
the fine is. And then if now they know, if
it happens again, then then it gets crazy. Last year,
timing is everything. Last year we didn't have a vaccination,
(25:22):
you didn't have fantic games yet, games being moved around. Right,
the Raiders Saints lost a pick and they appealed it
and got it back, So give me a break on
Green Bay should lose a pick. That's ridiculous. By by
the way, you know, they absolutely should have been fined. Absolutely, Yeah,
you brought protocols define but by the way, it's also
a punishment. Aaron, you're gonna miss this game and you
(25:43):
can't practice for the next one. It's not like that's
light punishment. He's Aaron Rodd. He's not being punished. He
has to because like that is the amount of time
you have to quarantine if you're unvaccinated and you test positive.
So he's actually not even being punished right now. I
know everyone that thinks that this is a hoax thinks
he's being punished, But that's how long you're supposed to
quarantine if you are unvaccinated and you test positive. So
(26:05):
he's actually not even being punished right now. He's just
doing what he's supposed to do because that's the doctor's
how you're supposed to do, if you believe it doctors anymore.
So the real punishment is just the fine. But I
don't think I don't think that it was like not enough.
This is how you started and then it builds up
from there. All right, joy with the news. Well that's
the news, and thanks for stopping by the Herd Live Mercedes.
(26:26):
Ben's best or not and let's bring him on. First
things first, All right, let's just go to the OLDBJ
thing here, Kansas City Saints. I heard New England Green Bay.
Who should obj sign with? Well, I think his decisions
should be based on how good is the quarterback, how
good can the team be? So green Bay would check
(26:48):
every box. Who would want if you had confidence that
Aaron Rodgers is going to be there past this year?
Because while where Odell picks doesn't mean it has to
be where he plays next season, what would be best
for him in his career is he picks a place
it works and he stays there. So Green Bay was
you know? I told you before the year I thought
(27:10):
Cleveland should trade him to Green Bay to appease Aaron Rodgers,
and because Cleveland didn't need him. I think green Bay
makes sense. I think Seattle makes sense. I obviously think
Kansas City makes a ton of sense. You have continuity
at quarterback, they're going to win that division, and they
need a number two wide receiver. The Patriots, to me,
make no sense because he has dealt with mediocrity at
(27:31):
quarterback most of his career, why would he want to
deal with it more? Yeah, he'd be the number one
receiver and the Saints. Let me put it like this, Colin,
I will be very disappointed, not like parentally disappointed, but
like as a fan disappointed in Odell if he picks
the Saints, because then, in my opinion, he'll be picking
home and targets over what has been the hurdle, which
(27:54):
is quarterback play. They've got Trevor Simeon. They've got an
h back as their quarterback hierarchy right now, and next
year I guess they'll have Jamie's coming off in ACL.
I want to see Odell with a star quarterback. So
go to Green Bay, go to Kansas City, go to Seattle,
maybe even Hey, you can come visit you, Colin. Go
(28:15):
to La with the Chargers in your beloved Justin Herbert,
who I think you had as the best quarterback in
the AFC until he fell off a Clifton the last month.
Go somewhere like that. Don't go to Trevor Simeon just
because it's home. That would be my advice. All right.
So we are at the halfway point in the NFL,
and the Chiefs deserved credit. They may look awful, but
(28:35):
they're winning while looking awful. They look bad against Green Bay,
they won, they look bad against the Giants they won.
The only counts is a double in your little pocket schedule, right,
So now they go to the Raiders. Raiders are off
a kind of bad loss. Let's say Kansas goes Giants
the chief speak, Kansas City goes to the desert beats
(28:59):
the race. Are they in your mind? Okay, we're onto
season two. They fix their issues. I think if Patrick
Mahomes starts looking like Patrick Mahomes again. So the first
quarter of the first four games of the season, Mahomes
was arguably the best quarterback in football, and the defense
(29:21):
was historically bad. The next quarter of the season, Mahomes
has had three of if you took his six worst
games of his career, three of them have been in
the last month, and the defense, all of a sudden,
is showing something of a pulse. The question is can
they get the Mahomes from the first quarter of the
season combined with an improved defense. I am optimistic for
(29:44):
this reason. Colin that, and I know it's a one
it's a singular thing, but I believe in this. I
think Mahomes had developed an odd like quarterback Yips and
Aaron Rodgers. Actually, in the last interview he did with
McAfee before all the vaccine and COVID stuff came out,
he talked about how quarterbacks can go through golfer like
slumps and sometimes it just takes one throw to snap
(30:08):
you out of it. He I thought the game against
Green Bay was the worst he has ever looked. Yeah,
and then the final play of that game, Colin, Yeah,
he looked like Patrick Mahomes got it was a must
have it play, got out to his right, saw Tyreek,
threw it with his hips, not even turned strike. So
I think if he comes out against the Raiders and
(30:31):
plays well, he's back, because this idea the league's figured
him out is just nonsense. He was one guy for
the first sixty plus games of his career and he's
been a different guy the last month. So I do
think in the a f C, where you know, I
did my tears today, Colin, the five best teams in
the league are all NFC teams, and the next ten
(30:53):
are the AFC teams, all kind of jumbled together. I
think the AFC, certainly the AFC West, is there for
the taking. Now Mahomes has to get back to being
Mahomes or none of it matters. I think that one
play against Green Bay to ice the game might have
gotten him back on track. I don't think that's I
don't think that's wrong because I thought that was a
(31:13):
play that looked like mahomes. All right, So before I
get to your MJ Scotty thing, which I can't wait for,
how about a minute on minute or two on Aaron Rodgers.
My lead today was one of the great things about Brady.
He knows what he is, football and family. He doesn't
want to be controversial. He's not into it. He avoids it.
Aaron doesn't like it either, but rambled for eighteen minutes
(31:35):
about a vaccine got crushed and then came flying out
of the you know, out of his house. I like this.
I like it. Yeah, we know you don't like it.
You've been thin skinned like Kad forever. So that might
takeaway is he lacked self awareness. It's like if you're
afraid of heights, Yeah, you don't jump off a bridge,
you don't bungee jump. What is your big bowp wrap
(31:55):
your arms around that big ball? On this topic today, well,
he seemed to apologize for misleading the public, but I
think since then he has misled the public more so.
There's a few things here that I just reject. And
you know, I've always been a fan of Aaron, but
(32:16):
you know, he claimed the NFL an NFL doctor told
him if you'd get the vaccine, you can't get COVID.
The NFL has said, we never said that, and there's
no doctor that says that, because that's obviously not true.
So that to me was just a misleading statement, if
not a lie. He also said that you know that
he was not frivolous in his research. Well, yes, your work,
(32:40):
if your work, if you were consulting as one of
your experts, Joe Rogan, and it was the topic wasn't
mixed martial arts or podcasting. That is being frivolous in
your research by definition. And it's just when he said,
he seemed to have such a patent miss understanding of
(33:01):
what the vaccine does and what it's supposed to do.
That if I, Colin, if I said, I dedicated a
lot of time to studying the NFL, and I watched
that Chiefs Packers game, and let me tell you, the
Packers were having a ton of trouble on the field, goals,
the holes. So I mean, why don't they just use
the kicking tea Like, obviously that would be better. You
(33:22):
would walk away from them being like, oh, this guy
who spent no time studying that because that's not allowed.
So when you just get blatant factor is wrong. I
don't believe you that you have spent a ton of
time studying it. But lastly, and most importantly, I think
is this, and this just crystallized for me this morning.
What Aaron clearly believes is that I think he believes
(33:44):
he was immunized, and he clearly believes the vaccines for
many people are dangerous and ineffective. So you are, Aaron Rodgers,
one of the most powerful, popular, potent athletes in the world.
We are in the twentieth month of a pandemic that
(34:05):
in this nation alone has taken three quarters of a
million lines, and you think three months ago you have
come up with a better cure than the vaccines. Do
you not have a responsibility to tell someone about it
other than Miles Teller? Shouldn't you like, I don't know
(34:26):
somehow to tweet? Hey guys, I cured COVID. Here's the
steps And if you really believe you're immunized, and it
was better in the vaccines, And the only reason you
didn't tell people was because you didn't want to be criticized.
Sort of the most selfish things that's ever happened in
sports history. Guys, I cured the pandemic. Why didn't you
(34:46):
tell anyone? Well, I didn't want to mean tweet from
Cowherd about it. What use your megaphone, buddy. So the
whole thing is frustrating to me. And I've always liked Darren,
but it's really frustrating to me. Colin, all right, finally,
I wish we had more time on this. But let's
be honest about this. You are the last remaining sportscaster
in America that defends Pippin over MJ. And Pippin is
(35:09):
saying in his new books, Michael selfish, he didn't give
me enough love. The floor is years. Well, I don't
defend him over MJ. I just Colin. You know I'm
dedicated to many things, my family. You know, this show
The Herd that I've been coming on for five years.
I don't know I've ever been compensated for it, other
than nice calls from Colin Cowherd and NBA truths and
(35:36):
this Scottie is his own worst spokesperson. Scottie, if you're watching,
here is the case you need to make. Fact one,
Michael Jordan played five seasons in the NBA without me
as a teammate. Zero of those seasons he was above
five hundred. Fact two, Michael Jordan went to the playoffs
(35:56):
three times without me as a teammate, all below five
hundred season and Scott in the playoffs, how'd they do
one and nine? Not in series? In games? Fact three?
You know the heroic effort. Michael Jordan gambled all night
in Atlantic City and got criticized for it when we
were down O two to the Knicks going for our
(36:16):
first three peat? How did MJ play after gambling all
night in ac when we were down O two a
de facto elimination game. He went three for eighteen. I
was ten of twelve, twenty nine points saved our season.
Fact four. Our last year with MJ, we won fifty
seven games. The next year without him, we won fifty
(36:39):
five and I was third in the MVP race. Fact five.
After MJ quit a second time two years later, I'm
a key member of a Blazers team that's this close
to going to the finals if not for the Shaq
Kobe epic comeback. That's the case, Scotti. Not why don't
we talk about the bad back game, Scotty, We don't
talk about the bad back game because you scored eight
(37:00):
points like you had a bad back. The other points
are the points you should be making, my friend, And
I'm here to help you because I just want people
to have an accurate portrayal of NBA history. That's right.
I have no agendas here. This is not about Lebron
or Kareem or anything. It's just an accurate portrayal of
NBA history. Column That's what I care about. I'll tell
you you are you that's a very I mean, I
(37:23):
listened to you. It's like Michael Jordan management. This was
Muggy Bogus. After that, you can sell my friend like no,
I mean no, I mean that's he's I mean he's
sixteen inches taller than Muggs at credit there. But no,
I mean all right, Nick, right, First things first, I'm
gonna take a break. We went long and I loved
all of it. It's the Herd. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Herd weekday, said Nun Eastern a Empacific.
(37:46):
I'm George Reister, host of the Reister or Wrong podcast.
This is the intersection where sports, business, society, and pop
culture beat the truth. Absolute fire on Monday's win stays
in Fridays facts only. Make sure you check your feelings
at the door, because nobodys is allowed. We keep it
(38:07):
one hundred. This is where real conversations happen. Listen to
the Rights are Wrong podcasts on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, Escape QuickBooks, quicksand
with netsweet by Oracle the number one financial system. Go
there now NetSuite dot com slash heard by the way,
(38:27):
I will defend. There's a lot of people out here
in media world that have an agenda against Aaron Rodgers.
I'm critical of him, but I don't have an agenda
against him. I don't think State Farms should cancel, and
I'm not calling for his advertisers to bail on him.
Nor do I think the Green Bay Packers should lose
draft picks. Losing draft picks to me is pretty simple.
(38:50):
Are you doing something that somebody else is involved outside
the building. Belicheck lost a draft pick for taping the Bengals. Okay,
that now we have somebody outside the building that you
are potentially taking information that you're not legally supposed to have.
(39:11):
That to me, you can lose a draft pick. But
the Saints and the Raiders and the Packers butchered protocols.
That's a fine to me, But you're screwing up your
own team. I mean you can have you know, Aaron
now is missing games. Green Bay hurt themselves, and so
that's I'm not a big fan of taking away draft picks,
but if there's somebody else involved and you're subtracting something
(39:34):
from them, the Patriots were subtracting some privacy issues the
Bengals are allowed to have. You can't tape their sidelines, right,
you can't do that, and so and Belichick got in
trouble with that years ago, a spygate that to me,
you could it rises to a draft pick. I don't
believe going to a Halloween party, I'm taking away your
(39:54):
third draft pick. That doesn't feel right. Basically, in the end,
Aaron can't play last week and can't practice this week.
So you know, Aaron hurt his own team more than
he hurt anybody else. So that's where I fall on
this stuff. And you know, I would overwhelmingly like to
put the aeron vaccine stuff behind us, because I do
(40:15):
think you listen to me for opinions on sports, not
politics and stuff. But Aaron went out there and discussed it.
So therefore, as a football player, I am going to
react to Aaron discussing it and putting himself out there
and clearly State Farm. You watch State Farm commercials the
last three or four days. Aaron's not on him. They
(40:36):
didn't fire him, they just took him off their commercials.
They have other spokespeople and a health company, did you know,
eliminate him in their relationship. I forget what it is.
Maybe it's a Milwaukee health company, whatever it is, but
I you know, people think you're anti Aaron. No. No,
I'd overwhelmingly like to talk about Aaron the football player.
(40:58):
I think the Seattle game, I think all this really
goes away, and I think most of it's gone away anyway.
If Aaron comes out against Seattle, they match up very
well against the Seahawks. It's one of my favorite players
of the week. I think they're gonna beat Seattle. I
think Aaron could be a little rusty. But the one
thing Green Bay doesn't do is Seattle doesn't do, is
cover the back end. Jamal Adams as a playmaker doesn't
(41:21):
have a ton of range in pass coverage Seattle's corners
or the weakness to the franchise. Their pass rush is
hit and miss. I would rather not talk about Aaron
and vaccines, but when he goes eighteen minutes, now I
gotta talk about it. Okay, that's kind of how this
game works. I'd rather not talk about the stuff you
(41:42):
get mad I talk about, but when players go there,
then I gotta go there because I talk about those
star players, be it Lebroner, Aaron Rodgers, Joel Clats around
the corner. Hour two
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 are on a Thursday, Wednesday.
(00:27):
Excuse me, I can't even tell it? Did is live
in Los Angeles. It's The Herd wherever you may be
and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio
FS one. Of course it's a Wednesday. I get Nick
Wright later this hour in Joel Clatt top of next
Hour in Jersey Mikes Jersey Mike subbs, be a sub above.
It's great to be in. I took a melotone and
last night three milligrams cut it in half. You know
(00:50):
how medicine affects me immediately, same and severely, and so
I took one and a half milligrams at eight of melatonin.
I woke up at five to fifty five this morning,
and I mean I was running into doors and my
wife could take fifteen milligrams at stare at the ceiling
(01:10):
all night. What. I don't know what it is with medicine,
it all works immediately. I am this exact same way
anytime I've ever had a surgery of any kind and
they give me like the serious stuff. Yeah, I'm like,
how do people take this and then do things? Yeah?
I take it and I am asleep out for eight
hours like immovable. Yeah, I don't know in the same way. Well,
(01:33):
so I'm going to talk about Aaron Rodgers. I do
think we're very close now to moving to football the
game against Seattle, which I think Green Bay win. That's
much more interesting to me. But Aaron did respond yesterday
about the time my show ended about you know, the
tsunami of criticism he faced around America, and I'm not
going to get into the apology that wasn't an apology,
(01:55):
you know, I don't really care. The thing that was
most interesting to me, and it's the thing that's most
interesting about Aaron Rodgers. He had the quote, I'm an athlete,
not an activist, And I think this is kind of
fascinating about Aaron Rodgers. The difference between Brady and Rodgers
is not just that one has all the super bowls.
Tom Brady knows what he is, is true to himself,
(02:21):
understands what he likes and doesn't like, and is true
to it and doesn't feel limited by it. Aaron wants
to be a Jeopardy host, he wants to be an activist.
He's kind of changed his look this year. I don't
know if he knows himself, and I think sometimes this
is what happens when you, you know, get into your
late thirties, not married, no kids, You're the son. Everything
(02:42):
revolves around it. What are you? Who are you? What
matters beyond you. I'm only really surprised about Aaron Rodgers
that he went public with his thoughts on the vaccine.
I said, I was not surprised he did not get
the vaccine. Aaron's about Aaron, But Aaron Rodgers, knowing that
he's legendarily thin skinned, knowing that he doesn't like criticism,
(03:06):
that is so understood Kevin Durant and Aaron Rodgers. Aaron said,
I'm gonna ramble for eighteen minutes about the thing people
are arguing about online all day, and I'm good with it.
I love blowback, I love pushback. Really, in a country
where seventy two percent of Americans are vaccinated three out
of four people, and seven hundred and fifty thousand have died,
so a lot of people are connected to people who
(03:27):
have died. Aaron thought, yeah, I'm totally comfortable with going
into a very polarizing topic and taking all the blowback
because you know, I'm legendarily thick skinned. Bra You're the
one guy in the league that shouldn't get into this stuff.
And for the record, I've always said with athletes Lebron
of Aaron Rodgers, it doesn't bother me if you talk politics.
(03:50):
I'm generally not interested in your opinion on them. I'm
gonna go to doctors, not Aaron or Joe Rogan. That's fine,
but I'm okay with Aaron having opinions. But understand, you're
gonna get the smoke, and Aaron's never been a guy
that likes the smoke. Brady doesn't like the smoke and
avoids it. Brady knows exactly what he is. I don't
(04:11):
like it. I'm kind of funny on social I'm goofy
and funny. Brady understands who he is, He knows thyself,
he knows exactly what he is. He knows what he
doesn't like. He doesn't like controversy. He was deeply bothered
by deflate gay. He don't like it, and so he
stays away from him. I mean, if you don't like heights,
(04:31):
you don't bungee jump. Aaron doesn't like heights, and thought,
I'm gonna I'm gonna bungee jump without a chord. I'm
just gonna jump off the bridge and see what happens.
Aaron doesn't know as a thirty seven year old, exactly
what he is and what he likes. That to me
is shocking. You know, they do call it self awareness,
like I don't. I don't care in my business, lots
(04:54):
of people can handle criticism. And Coulter bring it on.
She'll stoke the fires. Bill Maher stoked the fires in politics.
Bernie Sanders, he'll go right into enemy territory. Ted Cruz
a conservative, I'll go right into enemy territory. Mark Cuban entrepreneur,
Elon Musk. We have Howard Stern, we have political people,
(05:20):
we have entrepreneurs. I can go give you athletes. They're
all very comfortable with a smoke, so by all means,
go into it. But when you're not comfortable with it,
You're legendarily famous for being thin skinned, and yet at
thirty seven, you're not seven or seventeen or twenty seven.
(05:41):
You'll get grown man thinking, yeah, I'll be good with it.
It's not about knowing me. You don't know you. And
I think that is a big difference between Brady and Rogers.
Aaron is like searching at thirty seven, Jeopardy host, I'd
(06:01):
be an activist. Brady wants to be a dad, a husband,
and a football player. Totally comfortable with him And by
the way, what's wrong with that? What would be wrong
with Aaron Rodgers just being a great quarterback he is
and a great pitch man he is. He's great at
those two things, but he's searching. Even this year, his offseason,
(06:24):
a different look got very zen in the summer. Bill
Simmons and I talked about this last week. You get older,
you're single, you're not married, you have no kids. You know,
some guys, guys can get a little weird. You're kind
of trying to find yourself. He's been trying to find himself.
But I find it fascinating that at thirty seven, he
thought he could just ramble for eighteen minutes about the vaccine,
(06:47):
take a contrarian opinion from seventy two percent of the country,
and then like three days later, be like, oh, I
give you this. Well, of course you don't like it.
That's not your space, that's not who you are. No
thy self, Aaron still searching. So I thought this was funny.
(07:08):
You know. I tend to be I think as America's
honesty broker. I try to be upfront, and sometimes I
think I'm almost too nice to Baker Mayfield. I really do.
I just don't think he's that great. But it's funny.
I was looking at the standings today, the playoffs standings
if we had playoffs today. So I want you to
I want you to look at this NFC and afs AFC.
(07:28):
So let's start with the NFC. I mean the Cardinals,
the Packers, the Bucks, the Cowboys, and the Rams. I
think we'd all agree those feel like good playoff teams.
The top of the NFC. Those feel like I mean,
by the way, Rams just had a crappy Sunday, but
those feel like really good playoff teams. The Cardinals, the Packers,
the Bucks, the Cowboys, Rams. They can beat them multiple ways.
(07:48):
You know, they've they've all got I think really good quarterbacks.
Those are playoff teams the bottom of the NFC. Who
the heck knows who's gonna get in. Those are not
teams are gonna win right now at Saints Falcon's Day.
If those could be replaced tomorrow, who cares? In the AFC.
You know, it's it's there's a lot of stuff here
that doesn't feel true. Titans, Ravens, Chargers, Bills, Raiders, Steelers, Patriots.
(08:13):
Raiders a playoff team. Steelers a playoff team with that offense.
But as you look at those two, I'm gonna ask
you a question. What's the one team in the NFL
now that you look at and think, oh, they'll they'll
get in to me? It's the Browns. Listen, there are
(08:34):
certain ingredients in the NFL that if you have those ingredients,
you better make the very good cake. The Browns have
arguably a top three offensive line in the NFL. The
Browns have, in my opinion, the best running game in
the NFL. It's top two or three. And they also
(08:55):
have right now a top three defense in terms of
yards allowed. Okay, if they don't make the playoffs, you
need to grow up. It's on Baker folks, The LA
Chargers this morning have the ninth best offensive line, the
twenty second best run game, the twenty third rated defense,
and they're a four seed. Why because they've got a
(09:16):
great young quarterback. The Philadelphia Eagles are the team that
most aligns with the Cleveland Browns in term of a
line ranking, running game ranking, defensive ranking. The year they
won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles, Like, the ingredients
for Cleveland are playoff ingredients. If I wasn't talking about
the Browns and I just said, yeah, it's it's arguably
(09:38):
the best offensive line in football. It's arguably I love
Nick chibb. It's the best running game in football. And
the defense, you don't get many yards off them. I
mean it's like top three defense. You'd be like, oh, yeah,
that's the playoff team. Obviously. In fact, that's not just
a playoff team. They should win a game or two.
Not saying they're gonna get into the super Bowl. That's injuries,
that's health. That's where you're playing, When are you playing,
(10:00):
how are you playing in the moment. But we need
to be honest about this. All you fanboys and palm
palm waivers for Baker The ingredients for this cake is
you better have a really good cake or the baker
should be fired. Baker Mayfield or a baker. The ingredients
here are playoff. In fact, I'll give an example. The
only team in the league last year that was similar
(10:24):
to Cleveland. And Cleveland, it should be noted, has way
better offensive players than this team. But there was a
team last year that had a very highly ranked offensive
light not as highly ranked as Cleveland. They had a
very good running game, not as highly ranked as Cleveland,
and their defense yards allowed was top three or four,
very similar to Cleveland. That's New England. They didn't get
(10:49):
in and Cam was crucified. Fact, Cam can't get a job. Now, Cam,
we were the only show in America that slightly defended
Cam and and and again, let's just say this, Cleveland's
offensive weapons are a thousand times better than New England's
(11:09):
last year, and it ate close tight ends, wide receivers.
No Nick Chubb hanging around in Foxborough. And Cam can't
get a job, and Cam is washed, and Cam is
he was vilified in the New England region like a joke.
He's terrible. It's washed. So and Cleveland's better than that team.
(11:32):
And the AFC. I would argue this year is weaker
than last year. Cleveland needs to be in the playoffs.
It's not a big ask. I'm not asking them to
win multiple games. I'm not asking them to get his
conference championship. I'm not asking Baker to get to a
super Bowl. That's to me that there's a lot of
things that go into that. You look at the AFC
and NFC plaoffs, you tell me put them up again.
(11:55):
You tell me what team feels like a playoff team
that's not there. It's not there's one in the whole league.
It's Cleveland. I mean, you could say Colts, but they
butchered the Tennessee game, so they don't feel like a
playoff team to me. Their record, They've lost twice to Tennessee.
There's only one team here. You're telling me Cleveland didn't
have better players than Atlanta. Falcon's offensive lines a sieve.
(12:18):
It's awful. Cleveland's got significantly better offensive personnel than New England.
They got a better coach than the Raiders currently. So
that's all I'm saying. Some of you fanboys, I'm gonna
pull all heat on you now. I've been I've been
being very nice this year. A little pressure on Baker.
(12:40):
You got those good of ingredients. Gotta be able to
make a great cake because they have playoff ingredients. All right,
Odell Beckham, you guys heard the story on Odell Beckham
this morning. It was very interesting. There's some boring teams
he could go to, or one fascinating one that's coming up.
(13:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon Easter ninety Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeart Radio app. So oh, b J.
We could have a decision today. Very exciting. He's got
two or three teams he wants to play for. Apparently Saints.
He'd be a good fit. Kansas City, Oh, they have
enough weapons. And green Bay. Let's be honest, that's what
(13:23):
I'm rooting for. I'm rooting for green Bay because I
think it's a better story. I'm not lying here. I
am rooting for the Green Bay story. Davante Adams, we
looked it up this morning. Has been fifty four percent
of Aaron Rodgers targets this year. Okay, folks, they needed too. Now,
the other guys like Alan Lazard, they have talent, but
(13:44):
He's had like twenty two targets this year. He's been
beat up. Aaron doesn't really trust him, and that's okay.
Brady's the same way. If Brady doesn't trust you, won't
throw it to you. And but a lot of times
it's very easy to get distracted because I didn't grow
up with social media, right, Like I didn't even grow
up with a lot of cable television, right, So it
(14:04):
was very easy you stay focused. I read my newspapers,
I watched my sports shows, I watched the games, I
did my sportscast. It was easy. It's a lot of
noise now, A lot of things get you distracted. Let's
not get distracted with the Aaron Rodgers vaccine story. Aaron's
still great, Jordan Love isn't. And eight teams are going
(14:27):
to go after Aaron in the offseason. One of them
could be the Steelers. I mean, if I was Pittsburgh
would I would unload draft picks and linebackers for years
to get Eron. So let's not lose sight of this
and all the vaccination stuff. Aeron's a stud, Jordan Love isn't.
Nine teams one Eron. Now we know Eron's not a
great general manager for the record, either is Lebron James. Okay,
(14:51):
love Lebron, but he's a player, not a GM Eron
wanted Randall Cobb. Give me Randall Cobb. He's had one
good game in eight weeks, twenty catches for three million
bucks a year, three million dollars cap hit. Okay, but
I would go to Aaron and I would say, Hey,
what do you think you want him? That's what I
(15:11):
would ask. Do you want him? We've got little cap
space here? You want him? Because Green Bay's defense has
been good missing their best corner and their best linebacker,
that side of the ball's fine. Green Bay's defense is
now good enough to win a Super Bowl. Green Bay's
online and run game are good enough to win a
(15:31):
Super Bowl. Here's where Green Bay isn't good enough. After
Davante Adams. I know, I know, I know it. There's
seven oh without Davanta Adams. Yeah. Yeah, you can win
a game with a backup quarterback. Okay, you can win
a game without Davontae Adams. But if I told you
it was gone for the next eight weeks, you think
Green Bay's better? No, So I would go to Aaron
(15:55):
and I would just say, because there's a truth in
the NFL. Great quarterbacks make everybody better. The quarterback makes
the wide receiver. The wide receiver doesn't make the quarterback. Okay,
Matt Stafford was good with Calvin Johnson. He was also
great with Cooper Cup. Like like Cooper, Cup's never been
this good, right, Cooper's good. He's like Randy Moss this year.
(16:15):
And so we know that Russell Wilson, he makes everything work.
Tom Brady makes everything work. Let's be honest. Would Davante
Adams be this good with the Jaguars. No, it wouldn't
be this good. So I would go forget all the
noise and all the vaccine stuff. I would go to
(16:36):
Aaron and just say, do you want him? We got
to space. The only thing about Green Bay that I
would be worried today is I don't suddenly trust the kicker.
Probably too late to fix that. And we've been going
two three years here on Davante Adams and a bunch
of guys. The bunch of guys aren't getting better, aren't
(16:58):
standing healthier, and Aaron doesn't trust him. I'd go to Aaron.
It's your call. By the way, you're not asking O. B. J.
To buy a home and live in Green Bay for
eight years. He's gonna be there from first week in November,
first week of January. I mean, if seriously, you know
(17:18):
you're not You're not asking him to be They're not
asking for the He wants to reboot his career. He
wants to clean some stuff up with his image, and
Aaron's gonna get the ball to him. Okay, Aaron's going
to get the ball. Aaron's dying for a number two
week in trust And to me this feels like, just
go to Aaron and ask him. Don't get all caught
up in all the vaccine stuff. Now, Aaron's great. Jordan
(17:38):
loves not nine teams want him. You don't think Pittsburgh
is gonna make a run at him. You're out of
your gourd. I mean you got like googly love eyes
between Aaron and Mike Tom and they played together. It's
like flirting on the field. Joy with the news, No, no,
this is the herd line news. Well, SUA is questionable
(18:01):
heading into tomorrow night's game against the Ravens. According to
head coach Brian Flores, they are taking a day to
day through Yesterday look good, I was making some progress
still somewhat limited, So we're just gonna take it, you know,
day to day, and there's definitely discomfort to getting better
(18:21):
swellings down. It's getting better and progress from last week,
but you know, there's still some limitations for sure. He
didn't play in Sunday's win over the Texans after fracturing
his middle finger on his starting hand the week prior,
so Jacoby Brissett will get the start again if Tuah
is unable to play, and Tua wouin service the backup.
(18:44):
He has missed the better part of five games this season,
including three games on injured reserve with fractured ribs, and
the Dolphins are currently seven and a half point underdogs
tomorrow night against Baltimore. According to Fox Bet, this is
this is not surprising. Well, this is who he is now.
I think this is who he always college in prose,
he gets hurt along. This is This was my concern
(19:07):
with Twa in the draft. Everyone was talking about all
the spectacular abilities that he has and what he did
in his college career, and I am weary of players
who have had, particularly at the quarterback position San Bradford College,
couldn't stay healthy, who have had multiple injuries while they
are in college because it is only going to get
more physical. The guys are only going to get bigger.
(19:29):
They are now grown men as opposed to young men
hitting you, and it's just going to get worse. And
that's what the story is. We just saw this the
other night. So justin fields, it's significantly bigger than two.
He's like six three two thirty eight. I mean, justin
fields is big. A safety Minka Fitzpatrick literally knocked him
(19:51):
into yesterday on the sideline. Not a linebacker, not a
rush end, not a safety literally knocked him flush. It's
like you don't see perdue safeties doing that to justin fields.
Like if you're hurting college Sam Bradford, generally it only
gets worse. And you can't have an injury prone quarterback.
(20:12):
There are certain positions where you can have injuries or
lingering injuries and play through them or make it work.
We've seen it with running backs, We've seen it with
wide receivers, certain defensive positions that you're just not touching
the ball every single like you have to be available.
This is a story with Jimmy Groppolo. That's the reason
why trailiance is there. It just doesn't work like they're
going to be in the quarterback market next year. Part
(20:33):
of it is because of the way that they handled
to his start in the career of his career, but
also he cannot stay healthy and this was pretty predictable
when he looked at his college career. So the NFL's
increased emphasis on the taunting penalty has gotten a lot
of criticism through the first half of the season. Mike
Tomlin is a fan of the rule. We're just trying
(20:55):
to clean our game up. We embraced the responsibility that
comes with being the models that we are this game
being played at the highest level. We understand that people
that play at a lower level watch us and often
mimic the things that we do and how we conduct ourselves,
and just largely as a league competition committee specifically, there
(21:15):
was a desire to improve in that area and so
um that's been expressed to our guys. Very rarely do
I disagree with coach coach symbodico here. Mike Tomlin and
I see the world the same way. Respectfully, This is
a horrific rule, and you know, I don't wish for
these things, but how can you just pretty predictable. I mean, listen,
(21:40):
he's very stern and direct, and I can see where
he's coming from. However, this is literally affecting the outcome
of games. It is an emotional sport. Guys pumped themselves
through full of tor it all and pills and work
through horrific injuries and play through burst spleens to get
out there and put on a performance. And if they
(22:03):
get a sack, they should be able to celebrate. Just
can't taunt, can't go to the other side. But that
isn't that's a subjective mood that the referee is in. Well,
who can who can you know? Can be get off
my lawn guy and decide to throw a flag and
change the outcome of a game. New rule on the show,
If Mike Tomlin says something, it's true, I respectfully disagree.
(22:26):
The Steelers haven't been called for a taunting penalty this season.
And by the way, why you don't mess. Mike Tomlin
tells those guys, Hey, I don't understand this. I bet you.
Tomon tells them this. Guys celebrate all day long amongst
our That's Belichick's rule. You should be happy you scored
a touchdown, Celebrate with your teammates. Don't walk over and go, hey,
(22:46):
you see that, because that's what got him in trouble.
I just it's gotten out of control. There's thirty three
taunting penalties this season. There were eleven last year, and
obviously the Steelers benefited from the one called the other
night with Cassius Marsh so that helps set up their
game winning field goal. It did affect the game. I
think it's nonsense. Fans hate it, myself included fans. Yeah,
(23:10):
they're only the actual consumer fans. The Stealers us the
Lions on Sunday and are currently eight point favorites according
to Fox. But now, I'll be honest with you, Detroit
to play there, They're not gonna win the game. I'm
done taking these big lines. After the after the Cowboys
this weekend, I was like, I'm not I'm not getting
suckered into that again. But that does feel. It feels
(23:33):
like a little sucker like the Lions are not good. No,
the Lions aren't good, but they're off of buy and
Pittsburgh's offense doesn't blow people out. Yeah, eight points we
have to remember this. Eight points is still a lot
in football games. Yeah, but it's as we've had these
crazy lines this year like college. So the NFL has
completed its review of green bas COVID protocol violations. Yea,
(23:54):
the Packers have been fined three hundred thousand dollars for
protocol violations. Aaron Rodgers and Alan has already been fined
fourteen thousand, six hundred fifty dollars each for attending the
Halloween party while unvaccinated, and according to Mike Florio, other
teams are outraged how the league shows to handle. Give
me a break. One source said, that's bleep. You could
(24:16):
fill in the blanks. Rodgers only penalized for attending the
Halloween party. The leagues that the Packers were warned about
future violations that would result in escalated discipline, change of
draft physician, loss of draft choice. I could, I could
defend I will defend the Packers for an hour on
this because the Raiders in the Saints last year lost
a draft pick, appealed it and got it back, and
last year was we wait wait, yeah it was, yeah,
(24:39):
it was way more punitive. Rogers wasn't fine for the
press conference violations because that falls on the club to
unfortunate protocols. But you know people are outraged. They want
draft picks, they want, you know, a pound of flesh.
I don't have any problem with the with the punishment
because here's here's where I stand on this, and obviously
everyone knows how ridiculous I feel this whole situation was
so clearly I disagree with how this was handled. But
(25:02):
as far as the league goes, you can't start handing
out unprecedented, egregious punishments for these things, because then what
happens the next level, like how far does it go up?
This is this is a precedented fine. This is what
the fine is. And then if now they know, if
it happens again, then then it gets crazy. Last year,
timing is everything. Last year we didn't have a vaccination,
(25:22):
you didn't have fantic games yet, games being moved around. Right,
the Raiders Saints lost a pick and they appealed it
and got it back, So give me a break on
Green Bay should lose a pick. That's ridiculous. By by
the way, you know, they absolutely should have been fined. Absolutely, Yeah,
you brought protocols define but by the way, it's also
a punishment. Aaron, you're gonna miss this game and you
(25:43):
can't practice for the next one. It's not like that's
light punishment. He's Aaron Rodd. He's not being punished. He
has to because like that is the amount of time
you have to quarantine if you're unvaccinated and you test positive.
So he's actually not even being punished right now. I
know everyone that thinks that this is a hoax thinks
he's being punished, But that's how long you're supposed to
quarantine if you are unvaccinated and you test positive. So
(26:05):
he's actually not even being punished right now. He's just
doing what he's supposed to do because that's the doctor's
how you're supposed to do, if you believe it doctors anymore.
So the real punishment is just the fine. But I
don't think I don't think that it was like not enough.
This is how you started and then it builds up
from there. All right, joy with the news. Well that's
the news, and thanks for stopping by the Herd Live Mercedes.
(26:26):
Ben's best or not and let's bring him on. First
things first, All right, let's just go to the OLDBJ
thing here, Kansas City Saints. I heard New England Green Bay.
Who should obj sign with? Well, I think his decisions
should be based on how good is the quarterback, how
good can the team be? So green Bay would check
(26:48):
every box. Who would want if you had confidence that
Aaron Rodgers is going to be there past this year?
Because while where Odell picks doesn't mean it has to
be where he plays next season, what would be best
for him in his career is he picks a place
it works and he stays there. So Green Bay was
you know? I told you before the year I thought
(27:10):
Cleveland should trade him to Green Bay to appease Aaron Rodgers,
and because Cleveland didn't need him. I think green Bay
makes sense. I think Seattle makes sense. I obviously think
Kansas City makes a ton of sense. You have continuity
at quarterback, they're going to win that division, and they
need a number two wide receiver. The Patriots, to me,
make no sense because he has dealt with mediocrity at
(27:31):
quarterback most of his career, why would he want to
deal with it more? Yeah, he'd be the number one
receiver and the Saints. Let me put it like this, Colin,
I will be very disappointed, not like parentally disappointed, but
like as a fan disappointed in Odell if he picks
the Saints, because then, in my opinion, he'll be picking
home and targets over what has been the hurdle, which
(27:54):
is quarterback play. They've got Trevor Simeon. They've got an
h back as their quarterback hierarchy right now, and next
year I guess they'll have Jamie's coming off in ACL.
I want to see Odell with a star quarterback. So
go to Green Bay, go to Kansas City, go to Seattle,
maybe even Hey, you can come visit you, Colin. Go
(28:15):
to La with the Chargers in your beloved Justin Herbert,
who I think you had as the best quarterback in
the AFC until he fell off a Clifton the last month.
Go somewhere like that. Don't go to Trevor Simeon just
because it's home. That would be my advice. All right.
So we are at the halfway point in the NFL,
and the Chiefs deserved credit. They may look awful, but
(28:35):
they're winning while looking awful. They look bad against Green Bay,
they won, they look bad against the Giants they won.
The only counts is a double in your little pocket schedule, right,
So now they go to the Raiders. Raiders are off
a kind of bad loss. Let's say Kansas goes Giants
the chief speak, Kansas City goes to the desert beats
(28:59):
the race. Are they in your mind? Okay, we're onto
season two. They fix their issues. I think if Patrick
Mahomes starts looking like Patrick Mahomes again. So the first
quarter of the first four games of the season, Mahomes
was arguably the best quarterback in football, and the defense
(29:21):
was historically bad. The next quarter of the season, Mahomes
has had three of if you took his six worst
games of his career, three of them have been in
the last month, and the defense, all of a sudden,
is showing something of a pulse. The question is can
they get the Mahomes from the first quarter of the
season combined with an improved defense. I am optimistic for
(29:44):
this reason. Colin that, and I know it's a one
it's a singular thing, but I believe in this. I
think Mahomes had developed an odd like quarterback Yips and
Aaron Rodgers. Actually, in the last interview he did with
McAfee before all the vaccine and COVID stuff came out,
he talked about how quarterbacks can go through golfer like
slumps and sometimes it just takes one throw to snap
(30:08):
you out of it. He I thought the game against
Green Bay was the worst he has ever looked. Yeah,
and then the final play of that game, Colin, Yeah,
he looked like Patrick Mahomes got it was a must
have it play, got out to his right, saw Tyreek,
threw it with his hips, not even turned strike. So
I think if he comes out against the Raiders and
(30:31):
plays well, he's back, because this idea the league's figured
him out is just nonsense. He was one guy for
the first sixty plus games of his career and he's
been a different guy the last month. So I do
think in the a f C, where you know, I
did my tears today, Colin, the five best teams in
the league are all NFC teams, and the next ten
(30:53):
are the AFC teams, all kind of jumbled together. I
think the AFC, certainly the AFC West, is there for
the taking. Now Mahomes has to get back to being
Mahomes or none of it matters. I think that one
play against Green Bay to ice the game might have
gotten him back on track. I don't think that's I
don't think that's wrong because I thought that was a
(31:13):
play that looked like mahomes. All right, So before I
get to your MJ Scotty thing, which I can't wait for,
how about a minute on minute or two on Aaron Rodgers.
My lead today was one of the great things about Brady.
He knows what he is, football and family. He doesn't
want to be controversial. He's not into it. He avoids it.
Aaron doesn't like it either, but rambled for eighteen minutes
(31:35):
about a vaccine got crushed and then came flying out
of the you know, out of his house. I like this.
I like it. Yeah, we know you don't like it.
You've been thin skinned like Kad forever. So that might
takeaway is he lacked self awareness. It's like if you're
afraid of heights, Yeah, you don't jump off a bridge,
you don't bungee jump. What is your big bowp wrap
(31:55):
your arms around that big ball? On this topic today, well,
he seemed to apologize for misleading the public, but I
think since then he has misled the public more so.
There's a few things here that I just reject. And
you know, I've always been a fan of Aaron, but
(32:16):
you know, he claimed the NFL an NFL doctor told
him if you'd get the vaccine, you can't get COVID.
The NFL has said, we never said that, and there's
no doctor that says that, because that's obviously not true.
So that to me was just a misleading statement, if
not a lie. He also said that you know that
he was not frivolous in his research. Well, yes, your work,
(32:40):
if your work, if you were consulting as one of
your experts, Joe Rogan, and it was the topic wasn't
mixed martial arts or podcasting. That is being frivolous in
your research by definition. And it's just when he said,
he seemed to have such a patent miss understanding of
(33:01):
what the vaccine does and what it's supposed to do.
That if I, Colin, if I said, I dedicated a
lot of time to studying the NFL, and I watched
that Chiefs Packers game, and let me tell you, the
Packers were having a ton of trouble on the field, goals,
the holes. So I mean, why don't they just use
the kicking tea Like, obviously that would be better. You
(33:22):
would walk away from them being like, oh, this guy
who spent no time studying that because that's not allowed.
So when you just get blatant factor is wrong. I
don't believe you that you have spent a ton of
time studying it. But lastly, and most importantly, I think
is this, and this just crystallized for me this morning.
What Aaron clearly believes is that I think he believes
(33:44):
he was immunized, and he clearly believes the vaccines for
many people are dangerous and ineffective. So you are, Aaron Rodgers,
one of the most powerful, popular, potent athletes in the world.
We are in the twentieth month of a pandemic that
(34:05):
in this nation alone has taken three quarters of a
million lines, and you think three months ago you have
come up with a better cure than the vaccines. Do
you not have a responsibility to tell someone about it
other than Miles Teller? Shouldn't you like, I don't know
(34:26):
somehow to tweet? Hey guys, I cured COVID. Here's the
steps And if you really believe you're immunized, and it
was better in the vaccines, And the only reason you
didn't tell people was because you didn't want to be criticized.
Sort of the most selfish things that's ever happened in
sports history. Guys, I cured the pandemic. Why didn't you
(34:46):
tell anyone? Well, I didn't want to mean tweet from
Cowherd about it. What use your megaphone, buddy. So the
whole thing is frustrating to me. And I've always liked Darren,
but it's really frustrating to me. Colin, all right, finally,
I wish we had more time on this. But let's
be honest about this. You are the last remaining sportscaster
in America that defends Pippin over MJ. And Pippin is
(35:09):
saying in his new books, Michael selfish, he didn't give
me enough love. The floor is years. Well, I don't
defend him over MJ. I just Colin. You know I'm
dedicated to many things, my family. You know, this show
The Herd that I've been coming on for five years.
I don't know I've ever been compensated for it, other
than nice calls from Colin Cowherd and NBA truths and
(35:36):
this Scottie is his own worst spokesperson. Scottie, if you're watching,
here is the case you need to make. Fact one,
Michael Jordan played five seasons in the NBA without me
as a teammate. Zero of those seasons he was above
five hundred. Fact two, Michael Jordan went to the playoffs
(35:56):
three times without me as a teammate, all below five
hundred season and Scott in the playoffs, how'd they do
one and nine? Not in series? In games? Fact three?
You know the heroic effort. Michael Jordan gambled all night
in Atlantic City and got criticized for it when we
were down O two to the Knicks going for our
(36:16):
first three peat? How did MJ play after gambling all
night in ac when we were down O two a
de facto elimination game. He went three for eighteen. I
was ten of twelve, twenty nine points saved our season.
Fact four. Our last year with MJ, we won fifty
seven games. The next year without him, we won fifty
(36:39):
five and I was third in the MVP race. Fact five.
After MJ quit a second time two years later, I'm
a key member of a Blazers team that's this close
to going to the finals if not for the Shaq
Kobe epic comeback. That's the case, Scotti. Not why don't
we talk about the bad back game, Scotty, We don't
talk about the bad back game because you scored eight
(37:00):
points like you had a bad back. The other points
are the points you should be making, my friend, And
I'm here to help you because I just want people
to have an accurate portrayal of NBA history. That's right.
I have no agendas here. This is not about Lebron
or Kareem or anything. It's just an accurate portrayal of
NBA history. Column That's what I care about. I'll tell
you you are you that's a very I mean, I
(37:23):
listened to you. It's like Michael Jordan management. This was
Muggy Bogus. After that, you can sell my friend like no,
I mean no, I mean that's he's I mean he's
sixteen inches taller than Muggs at credit there. But no,
I mean all right, Nick, right, First things first, I'm
gonna take a break. We went long and I loved
all of it. It's the Herd. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Herd weekday, said Nun Eastern a Empacific.
(37:46):
I'm George Reister, host of the Reister or Wrong podcast.
This is the intersection where sports, business, society, and pop
culture beat the truth. Absolute fire on Monday's win stays
in Fridays facts only. Make sure you check your feelings
at the door, because nobodys is allowed. We keep it
(38:07):
one hundred. This is where real conversations happen. Listen to
the Rights are Wrong podcasts on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, Escape QuickBooks, quicksand
with netsweet by Oracle the number one financial system. Go
there now NetSuite dot com slash heard by the way,
(38:27):
I will defend. There's a lot of people out here
in media world that have an agenda against Aaron Rodgers.
I'm critical of him, but I don't have an agenda
against him. I don't think State Farms should cancel, and
I'm not calling for his advertisers to bail on him.
Nor do I think the Green Bay Packers should lose
draft picks. Losing draft picks to me is pretty simple.
(38:50):
Are you doing something that somebody else is involved outside
the building. Belicheck lost a draft pick for taping the Bengals. Okay,
that now we have somebody outside the building that you
are potentially taking information that you're not legally supposed to have.
(39:11):
That to me, you can lose a draft pick. But
the Saints and the Raiders and the Packers butchered protocols.
That's a fine to me, But you're screwing up your
own team. I mean you can have you know, Aaron
now is missing games. Green Bay hurt themselves, and so
that's I'm not a big fan of taking away draft picks,
but if there's somebody else involved and you're subtracting something
(39:34):
from them, the Patriots were subtracting some privacy issues the
Bengals are allowed to have. You can't tape their sidelines, right,
you can't do that, and so and Belichick got in
trouble with that years ago, a spygate that to me,
you could it rises to a draft pick. I don't
believe going to a Halloween party, I'm taking away your
(39:54):
third draft pick. That doesn't feel right. Basically, in the end,
Aaron can't play last week and can't practice this week.
So you know, Aaron hurt his own team more than
he hurt anybody else. So that's where I fall on
this stuff. And you know, I would overwhelmingly like to
put the aeron vaccine stuff behind us, because I do
(40:15):
think you listen to me for opinions on sports, not
politics and stuff. But Aaron went out there and discussed it.
So therefore, as a football player, I am going to
react to Aaron discussing it and putting himself out there
and clearly State Farm. You watch State Farm commercials the
last three or four days. Aaron's not on him. They
(40:36):
didn't fire him, they just took him off their commercials.
They have other spokespeople and a health company, did you know,
eliminate him in their relationship. I forget what it is.
Maybe it's a Milwaukee health company, whatever it is, but
I you know, people think you're anti Aaron. No. No,
I'd overwhelmingly like to talk about Aaron the football player.
(40:58):
I think the Seattle game, I think all this really
goes away, and I think most of it's gone away anyway.
If Aaron comes out against Seattle, they match up very
well against the Seahawks. It's one of my favorite players
of the week. I think they're gonna beat Seattle. I
think Aaron could be a little rusty. But the one
thing Green Bay doesn't do is Seattle doesn't do, is
cover the back end. Jamal Adams as a playmaker doesn't
(41:21):
have a ton of range in pass coverage Seattle's corners
or the weakness to the franchise. Their pass rush is
hit and miss. I would rather not talk about Aaron
and vaccines, but when he goes eighteen minutes, now I
gotta talk about it. Okay, that's kind of how this
game works. I'd rather not talk about the stuff you
(41:42):
get mad I talk about, but when players go there,
then I gotta go there because I talk about those
star players, be it Lebroner, Aaron Rodgers, Joel Clats around
the corner. Hour two
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.