May 28, 2025 • 43 mins
Colin wants Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton to get the respect he's earned after a historic performance to put Indiana up 3-1 against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals
He believes Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers deserve each other at this point after Terry Bradshaw's recent comments about Pittsburgh's quarterback situation
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 on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. 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 Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, it is a Wednesday. We are in Chicago. It's live.
It's the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for joining us, making us part
of your day. Greg Olsen stops by today. I gotta
tell you if j Mac, I know you love those knicks.
(00:49):
But Halliburton's doing what he did to Milwaukee and Cleveland.
He's doing the same thing. I'm fu he is he is,
he is really something.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I gonna lie.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I'm gonna be a little ornery today. Well, what's it.
Season's over.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
It's done, Pacers, Thunder feel the excitement in the finals?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Well, listen this series. This series has come down to
two players, the two point guards, and the most overrated
player in the league has bested the clutch player in
the league, Tyres Halliburton. A performance for the Agents it
doesn't even sound right. Thirty two points, fifteen assists, ten rebounds,
(01:31):
zero turnovers, never been done in the playoffs against the Knicks,
team known for defense, with the legendary defensive coach. I
said it yesterday. Brunson may be the better pure closer,
but Halliburton's a starter, the best middle reliever, and a closer.
It's the entire package. And I don't really see this
(01:51):
as a New York failure. It's another close game. I
see it as the ascension of a rock star in
this league. This was Tyrese Halliburton's magnus opus. The Pacers
are now eleven and three in playoffs. They're eleven and three.
They're only three losses. Otherwise they're eleven and oh, they're
(02:14):
only three losses. Are game three losses when they lead
two to zero, so they take their foot like any
pro athlete would, a little off the gas. That's it.
Otherwise they're eleven to zero and the Pacers the front
office has done a great job to surround Halliburton with
players that can run with him. And it's empowering. I mean,
(02:38):
how good does Pascal Sayakham? Look? Now, I mean, what's
amazing about Halliburton. He doesn't even lead the Pacers in
usage rate. That's insane for thirty two points and fifteen
assists and again no turnovers. With Brunson the great closer,
(02:59):
a lot of times Nick players are standing around watching
him work his guy and get that great shot, and
you can feel uninvolved. I mean, Halliburton had thirty two
last night. I don't remember that much scoring. I remember
the pace, I remember the assists. Indy did what they do.
They turned it into a track meet, and every game
(03:21):
in which they've controlled pace they've won, not just against
the Knicks, against Milwaukee and against Cleveland and now against
the Knicks. I still like New York a lot. I
think they need to tweak it. I'd go Katie over
kat But I love Indy. This is about Indy. Very
rarely if Halliburton is on the floor. Do they even
(03:42):
get bad half court possessions. That's hard in the NBA,
and that second half got a little bit sloppy. But
they're a high tempo up and down ball movement. Who
would not want to play with Halliburton. It feels Indy
feels like one of those young tech companies that are
like collabor and empowering, and you can bring your dog
to work and people want to work there forever. That's
(04:05):
what they feel like. I mean the fact that even
one NBA player suggested forget voted, suggested that Halliburton is overrated.
I mean again, look at Pascal Siakam, who's always been
a good player. He looks like he should be first
team All NBA. Look at Rick Carlyle, a forgotten coach.
Now he looks like he's an innovator and one of
(04:27):
the more creative offensive geniuses. And I've known Rick for years.
He's always been an excellent coach and a great guy.
But this is what Magic or Michael or Halliburton can
do to a coach. He accentuates all your skills as
a coach. The reality too with Indy here, New York
may be better, but you could argue they've peaked. Indy's
(04:50):
only getting better. They have a very friendly cap sheet.
They have to figure out what to do with a
good player, not great Miles Turner. They're not quite sure
what to do. But this is a a young and
improving and ascending roster that quickly and easily disposed of
Milwaukee favored Milwaukee of favored Cleveland and now of the Knicks,
(05:12):
and here's Haliburton after.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Just time, me aggressive, trying to respond. I felt like
I let the team down in Game three, so it's.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Important for me to come out here and just make plays.
Speaker 6 (05:22):
And you know, Guy's put me in a position to
make plays and trying to play my game and uh, Matt,
it's a big win for us.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Did Dad in the building have anything.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
To do with that?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm glad.
Speaker 6 (05:31):
Passing the building man makes it that much more.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Sweet and just something to remind you of how special
last night was. I'm just I'm totally taken. But the
fact he has no turnovers to play it at this pace,
never turn it over. Thirty points, fifteen assists, and ten
rebounds in a single game in playoff history. The other
(05:55):
players who have done it are MVPs and champions, Oscar
Robert twice and the Joker in Denver. That's what we're
talking about, and he was voted by players a handful
is the most overrated player in the league. Again, the
NBA fans and media too often celebrate dynamic what they
(06:17):
don't celebrate. Remember, Lebron used to get crushed for this
because he wouldn't always take the final shot, and Lebron,
who I defended, would say, other people are open. That's
what Phil Jackson finally finally convinced Michael Jordan to do.
Get it to Packson, get it to curve. If guys
are open, get the better open shot. It was when
(06:39):
Michael finally embraced that that he became a legend. Lebron
did it out of high school. That's Halliburton. He'll drop thirty,
have fifteen assists, and you don't remember the points as
much as the assists and the pace. Everybody on this
team is playing a notch above who they are. I
(07:00):
love Carlisle, but that's about Haliburt. Okay. So, Terry Bradshaw
Fox Sports, long time former Steel great four rings, was
asked on a radio station, We've got the we've got
the audio here about his former team of Steeters potentially
signing Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
That's a joke. He shouldn't they That is just to me,
is a joke.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
What are you going to bring him.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
In for one year?
Speaker 6 (07:24):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (07:25):
They?
Speaker 6 (07:25):
I mean.
Speaker 7 (07:27):
Right, no, man, that guy needs to stay in California.
Speaker 8 (07:31):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Ju own barking and risk the gods out there.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Uh. By the way, I've had an epiphany. I'll get
to that in a second. So it should be noted
as Aaron doesn't have a team yet. Josh Allen on
a team with much less turnover, the Buffalo Bills, Josh
Allen in his prime, better at this point, arguably better,
ever more committed, is that his team's ota. Aaron doesn't
(07:58):
have a team. I was thinking about this morning. Aaron
Rodgers and the Steelers have something in common. Neither take
the duty of quarterback with great urgency. Both the Steelers
and Aaron have a Yeah, We'll get to it eventually. Yeah, yeah,
I'll sign with the team. Eventually, we'll figure out the
(08:18):
quarterback eventually. I mean, think about San Francisco and Kyle Shanahan.
They just signed Brock pretty to a massive deal, and
yet this year in the draft, Kyle says, I want
another quarterback, and they draft a kid out of Indiana,
a little bit of a semi you know, Brock pretty
clone ish a lot of snaps in college. They're already
looking for another quarterback. The Green Bay Packers, you all
(08:40):
know this. They draft quarterbacks three years before they let
him on the field. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their left tackle,
their two quarterbacks, they're top receiver and a really good
running back in Najee Harris. And their answer is, eh,
I think Aaron's our quarterback. We're not really sure. I mean,
(09:00):
I mean, the Steelers have become the sixty six year
old guy who's never put a penny in his four
to one K and is trying to convince us Listen,
I've got a plan. Believe you me. I'm all good here.
So at this point I have an epiphany. I have
been saying Aaron and the Steelers is a bad fit.
I'm wrong. It's a great fit. I mean, in lives,
(09:22):
what's the rule. You gotta find somebody that matches your energy,
the Steelers at quarterback. We'll get to it. Aaron on
committing eh, maybe later. I am here for the Steelers
and Aaron Rodgers are a little Rodman, Carmen Electra. They're
a little Tom Arnold, Roseanne barr Angelina, Jolie, Billy Bob.
(09:43):
I am here for the dysfunction. I mean, the whole
time I've been like this is a weird fit. Not really.
For the record, there's a reason the Steelers now are
near the top of the NFL in longest playoff wind droughts.
They're at eight years now. They're not the Dolphins of
the Raiders of the Jets, but they're creeping up the
most important position. And it always was quarterback. It was
(10:07):
always a head coach quarterback league. But more than ever,
it's much easier to protect who's going to win divisions,
especially in the Steelers AFC. Who's got the best quarterback
and does he have a good offensive coach? And do
they treat the position with importance and urgency? Steelers don't,
Aaron doesn't. I'm wrong. It's a match made in heaven,
(10:27):
all right, J Mack. We have a lot of stuff today.
Greg Olsen stopping by a really interesting story here in Chicago.
So they're having the OTAs, and you know, Caleb has
said I want to be coached hard. Apparently Ben Johnson
is coaching him hard. So we'll get to that. I
(10:47):
know you're a little bummed out about the Knicks, but
does it make it feel better that you are witnessing
an all time series by an ascending star.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
No, not at all.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
What do you how a sudden there's major issues with
the Knicks. This brunts and Towns combo through four games
together on the court, it's minus twenty four. All of
a sudden, the spotlights on the Knicks send It's like,
WHOA Do these two even work together again next year?
Or have the Pacers unlocked something that the Celtics did
not see that the Pistons didn't see. And now it's like, well,
(11:20):
do we keep Towns or do we move them? Like
I'm a little nervous for the next this offseason, I
think the gi honest shatter is going to be back
and play pretty quickly. If they lose Game five.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Well, I honest would obviously make them better. I don't
know if they have the pieces, but I think KD
is a much easier list. And I've said this for
the last three days, is that this series is it's
actually can be great because I don't think that I
said this the last two days. The Knicks are not
a championship team. They've got holes, and a better team
is showing you what the holes are. It's not a
gaping hole. It's that they need to catch and shoot score.
(11:56):
KD not a guy that needs the ball to score
and move Brunson out of the way. Kat The reason
they don't work together. A they're poor defenders, so simultaneously
Halliburton is abusing them if they're ever both on the court.
And secondly, kat needs the ball. He's one of the
few bigs that gets the ball out top and then
drives in. Doesn't really need a pass or an assist.
(12:17):
He can kind of break it down and do it himself.
The problem is then Brunson is inactive in the offensive
half court set. So it's I think, what happens when
you lose? Why did we lose? That's that's what a
good NFL team does. We're a good NBA team. What
is it? It's not the coach, It's not Brunson, Brunsinger,
Brunsinger lead. You've got to find something. Mitchell Robinson's actually
(12:38):
great for what he is. Hartenstein would have been great.
But Cat doesn't work for two reasons, and it's on display.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
You say it's the coach. I mean they're gonna have options.
The Knicks can say, hey, let's bring in Katie, let's
go after your honest or they could say we love
our team, let's run it back with Michael Malone's head
coach instead of Thibodeau.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I don't think that's the solution. All these games have
come down to the last four minutes.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
And they're losing them. They blew game one like you.
I don't know, man, maybe I'm just a despond.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You don't blow out Lamar Jackson or John Harbaugh because
you lose close to the bills of the Chiefs. You
try to find other areas to improve. You don't get
rid of your foundational bedrock. A plus pieces. Tibbs isn't
the issue. The issue is the roster construction. Remember Bridges
has been really good. Towns solved an issue. They needed
(13:28):
a second score and they didn't trust Julius Randall, who,
by the way, can disappear in spots. Kat is a
more natural offensive player, so he was an upgrade over Randall.
But it's always been steps in this league. So it's
always about find the coach for your star, and then
it's can you find complimentary pieces. Cat was an upgrade
(13:49):
over Randal. KD is an upgrade over based on styles
catch and shoot, He's an upgrade over.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Cat, And so you're saying, Jason calm down, come out
next year. It's basically Pacers Knicks, maybe the pistons and
the caves in the East.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
And why can't the Nicks get right back to try
it to the finals?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, no need, It's just been a series of smart
steps Randall to Cat and now try to get You
know you're gonna have to give up if you give
up Cat to get KD and I'm the Knicks. I
want a draft pick. I want something beyond that. It's
just not a it's a it's not because Cat is younger,
but it's worth considering. Get help turning your home into
(14:30):
cash with Rocket Mortgage called one eight hundred and four
Rocket to learn how your home can help funnel renovation
payoff consolidated high interest at called eight hundred four Rocket
or visit Rocket dot com. Rocket Mortgage l LC license
in all fifty states.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Caleb Williams, their USC quarterback, struggled as a rookie. They
wanted for him to improve on two things, Number one
body language and number two pre snap procedure. So I've
always been I think body language is a really big deal.
I don't care if you're a mayor. I don't care
if you're a ceo. I don't care if you're a quarterback.
(15:22):
I'm glad this is mentioned, and I'm glad Ben Johnson
cares about this. So this is according to Albert Breer.
They want to improve on body language and they want
to improve on pre snap improvement. So I think those
are totally legitimate. In fact, one of the rare criticisms
I had of Caleb in college he could be moody.
I saw it when he played Oregon State up in
(15:43):
court Vallas. He eventually won the game with a great
dot down the sideline to Jordan Addison, but on the
sideline he had to be counseled and consoled by Lincoln Riley.
He got a little bit moody and kind of checked out,
And that's okay. He's an emotional kid. I think ideally
you'd want your quarterback to Jalen Hurts stoic. You could
be fiery, but you can't be poudy. You can be aggressive,
(16:06):
but you can't have an attitude. And I thought that
Oregon State game it was a little bit of hey man,
we need you to check back in body language matters.
So I think it needs to be worked on. He
came back in that game. By the way, there's the
winning touchdown that Jordan Addison. The pre snap concerns. I
think Heady had a better head coach his rookie year
in the NFL. If he had inherited Kyle Shanahan, we
(16:27):
wouldn't talk about that. I think some of that comes
with experience. I mean, Mahomes had Andy Reid. It still
took him two and three years, so I think he'll
get better at that. I think a lot of that
was just he didn't have a very good coaching staff
and at USC, Caleb Williams I don't think his last
year at USC trusted the O line. He shouldn't have,
and so it was a lot of hero ball in
(16:49):
him ad libbing. And I don't think Lincoln Riley necessarily
trusted the O line, so he let Caleb Williams ad
lib and call his own shots. I think he'll be
fine there. What I do fine with a lot of
the great quarterbacks of all time. Peyton Manning's like this.
They think like accountants, precision details, almost Mathey. Caleb's a creative.
(17:12):
He's a creative. Mahomes is a creative and that's fine.
It takes a special coach to coach a creative. It
takes Andy Reid. Okay, is Ben Johnson Andy Reid? I
don't know. Is Ben Johnson a great quarterback coach as
a head coach like Sean Payton or Kyle Shanahan or
Andy Reid. I don't know. I think so. But I
(17:34):
know that Caleb Williams said I want to be coached hard.
And this is interesting. This comes from Adam h Oge.
Adam Hoges, I think so. At the OTAs the story
is that Ben Johnson has been ripping Cole Comet for
some mental mistakes. He also it's interesting, according to Adam
(17:55):
that what appeared to be the best throw of the
day when Caleb hit DJ Moore deep down the left sideline,
it was probably more like a deep out, and Caleb
came back toward Ben Johnson, the rookie coach, and Ben
Johnson said, yeah, you can't do that. That's coaching. So
Caleb Williams I was expecting. I was hoping that Ben
(18:16):
Johnson's impact would be immediate. The impact has not quite
been immediate. So again, I think when you're coaching creatives,
and Lamar is a creative. Mahomes is creative. Steve Young
was one of the first I ever saw that. I'm like, oh,
Brett farr was a bit of a creative. They're harder
to coach. Go ask Mike Holmgren what coaching Brett Farve
(18:39):
is like, you got to embrace it. It's a fine
line between John Gruden. That's John Gruden when he was
an assistant about coaching Farv. It's really really hard. It
takes a great coach, not a good coach. And Caleb
didn't have that last year. You hope he has it,
But Matt Hasselbeck says, don't expect miracles in September.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I don't think you know right away.
Speaker 8 (19:03):
I mean Troy Aikman started out really poorly his rookie year,
Like they didn't do well. Peyton Manning, you know he
I think he might have led the league in interceptions.
Eli Manning get bench for Kurt Warner, Like there's all
these stories of young quarterbacks. He doesn't start out well.
At the end of the year, I think a decision
will be made on him one way or the other.
(19:24):
And it's just fair to say if you watch the film,
he's off to a very very slow.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Start last year. J Max said the Barrels will be
the most interesting team in the league, and they were
for about four games. I actually do think because we
now have a young quarterback with a really sharp offensive coach.
And I think everybody needs a king maker in life.
You could be a mayor, you could be a lawyer.
(19:49):
Everybody needs a king maker. Bo Knicks got his, Jaden
Daniels have, Cliff Kingsbury got his. Caleb had his at
Oklahoma and USC he had Lincoln Riley, he had his kingmaker.
And so to pull all that talent out now, can
Ben do it? Can Ben do it with the Bears?
We'll see j Mackle the news, Turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
This is the herd Line news, all right.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Colin, let's bust right in.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
The Atlanta Falcons had OTA's yesterday and Kirk Cousins was
a no show. Very interesting given that they have announced
Michael Pennix will be the full time starter. Cousins made
it clear he wants to be the starter. Colin, I'm
not going to mince any words here. I think Atlanta's
screwed Kirk Cousins. They signed him to a big, splashy
(20:36):
deal last year. He said he wants to end his
career in Atlanta, and what like a month later, they
go out and draft Michael Pennix and then of course
the Falcon sag last year.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Pennix is the starter, and now Atlanta has Kirk Cousins
that he don't want to be there. They have to pay.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Atlanta has twenty seven and a half million guaranteed dollars
this season even if he's released, so they're not dumping it.
Lanna could trade Kirk Cousins to Pittsburgh I don't know wherever,
but obviously they were the team that gets Cousins. They
don't want to pay the full free so Atlanta's there
a tough spot, and I think they brought this on themselves.
(21:13):
I'm sorry, I'm siding with Kirk Cousins here.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Well if I mean, it looked really good until about
late October. Remember Aaron and Kirk Cousins were the opposite.
Aaron off the surgery, old guy off the surgery was
really struggling early. There was the last seven eight starts.
You were like, oh, Aaron's got a little spring. Kirk
was the opposite. He looked really good for six or
(21:38):
seven weeks. Remember, I think he had a Monday night
football game or something that was amazing, or a Thursday
night game, whatever it was against Tampa, and then down
the stretch he fell apart. He looked tired. Remember that
one game against like the Chargers were like, he can't
make the outs, he can't throw outs. So he and
Aaron old guys off injuries. Aaron, it took a while
for him to get his to get his step, and
he was pretty good at the end of the year.
I defended Aaron, he was pretty good at theater. I
(22:00):
thought Kirk Cousins was excellent for like six seven weeks.
Then he just he wore out. He didn't have energy,
he didn't have his legs. So I still think Aaron
can play, and now I still think Kirk Cousins can play.
I think both needed another off season. Now, you know,
I don't know how hard either is working right now.
Aaron's got personal stuff, Kirk's not showing up the ots.
(22:22):
But I do think Aaron and Kirk, with like a
nextra year off the injury, can both be quarterbacks that
start in this league.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Okay, yeah, okay, we think that. But what should the
Falcons do Because Kirk Cousins is undern should show up.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
He doesn't trade him.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I probably trade him. I'd wait at some point before
the trading deadline. Last year, over fifty quarterbacks played. Just wait.
In the NFL, the answer at quarterback is waight that
somebody will need a quarterback.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
So if you're advising Kirk Cousins, hey, Kirk, you should
be showing up at OTAs.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Uh No, I mean I I ot, I think the
answer will. I think OTAs for veteran are a tad overrated. Now. Now,
if you're in a new team and a new system,
you know it's not you probably first couple of years
should go. But I don't think it's I think Kirk
knows he's going to be dealt well.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
The problem here is that they've announced Pennix as a starter.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
So no matter what happens at camp, right Pennix is awful,
Cousins crushes, it don't matter.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
We're going with the young guy. So what if I.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Mean again, Pittsburgh has the Aaron Rodgers thing. After that, Colin,
you look around the other twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
No, it's the worst quarterback room in the league, no question.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
But there's there's really no other spots unless there's an injury, you.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Know, and I feel here's my question. Here's my question.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
I made a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
What's the Indianapolis Colt situation right now?
Speaker 5 (23:44):
So Anthony Richardson versus Daniel Jones. It's funny they asked me,
do you want to do that? In herd line headlines
this week? Who do you think is gonna be the starter?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Well?
Speaker 5 (23:53):
I think Kirk beat out those guys. Sure, But if
that's the case, why go get Daniel Jones? Why not
just go after Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah? No, I mean I think Daniel Jones is going
to beat him out.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Okay, we'll have to talk about that tomorrow. Next up,
Colin is the Jags. They promised Travis.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
Hunter, their first round pick, who they traded up for
the ability to play both ways, but he won't be
able to practice receiver and cornerback on the same day
in OTAs.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Here's new head coach Liam Cohen explaining.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Why we won't put him in that situation to have
him do that, although I'm sure he'd probably want to.
He still meets defensively every day that he's on offense,
so he's getting the mental part of it and being
able to catch up on some of the communication, some
of the corrections off the film from the defensive side
(24:47):
of the ball. So he's getting a lot of the
mental and it would probably be unfair to put him
out on the grass and do both and ask him
to go do that and see success.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
I actually agree with this. Ups on offense, go to
the meetings on defense. But playing wide receiver with a
young quarterback, it's a timing game. Corner is not a
timing game. It's a raw talent game, and he's got
loads of that. But I think this is actually the
smart approach.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Hey, you also don't want to wear him down this early.
I mean both.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Ways in practice, right out of the shoot. I don't
think that's a good idea.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
They're handling a good I just I don't know what
to make of this team. It's just bizarre. Final story,
Let's go to the NBA.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Timberwolves, down bad three to one in OKC tonight.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
They're big underdogs.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Chris Finch is still not happy with the way Anthony
Edwards is big defended off the ball, and he's right.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Take a listen.
Speaker 9 (25:45):
We've seen this level of physicality before, not one from OKC,
but throughout the playoffs, I think off ball they were
super handsy. You know, their off ball defense was largely
focused on and you know, trying to trying to jam
him up and keep him from being able to get
the ball in clean space. Throughout the entire series there,
(26:07):
I can't remember an off ball foul that's been called
after four games, which is kind of unique. So that's
just the speaks volume of the credit to their off
ball defense.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So, by the way, he's right, last night it got
really sloppy for about four to five minutes, like really
it looked like rugby and I'm sitting there watching it.
And also, let me defend Karl Anthony Towns now, he
initiates a lot of the contact. He may be the
most fouled player in the league because he's so long. Okay,
(26:36):
there's a lot of Karl Anthony Towns to foul, and
he's kind of awkward, and he does initiate contact. And
there was a moment last night under the basket. I
think Kat was fouled four times. None were called. So
I do think, like I love the intensity and the physicality,
But when coaches complain about it, they're not wrong. They're
(26:58):
not wrong. There are you know, like when nick fans
are saying where is the whistle? Nick fans aren't wrong.
Historically you'd get the whistle even by playoff standards. So
the refs are letting a ton go. I think it's
fun to watch. But last night there was a four
or five minute stretch it looked like flag football that
there was a lot of contact.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
I will say the Knicks shot thirty nine free throws
last so like they were going on line. But this
whole inconsistency finches on it. Colin, here's a homework assignment tonight.
When you're watching the game, forget what's happening on the ball.
Watch what they're doing to ant off the ball. Louke
dort is literally hugging him. Colin both arms around him,
and then you could see, oh, let me pull the
(27:39):
arms away. He's grabbing the jury. That's not basketball.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I don't like restricting the movement. And this is the
stuff they were trying to do to seth Curry back.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Before he got injured. It's just it's not basketball. It's dumb, reductive.
I think it makes it like the Rockets were doing
this to Curry, and obviously Kirk complained, but the inconsistency's
just so frustrated.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
J mclanews.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Greg Olsen around the corner, I saw this story. Cham's
Shiranya thinks the NBA off season could be the craziest ever.
I do not, because I think free agency is dead
or mostly dead, and the reason being is the new
CBA the Supermax. Everybody now moves with trades, So sign
(28:25):
your super max and then eventually trade the player if
he's just gruntled or unhappy. I think free agency is
sort of dead, which whatever. NFL free agency isn't Baseball
free agency because there's only four teams that can have
forod the best players is dead. NBA free agency feels dead.
The NBA now is more of a trade league, and
that's fine. I love the trade deadline. But I saw
here a guy like Bobby Marks at ESPN does a
(28:47):
great job. He had the top twenty five NBA free
agents this summer. His Tier one is shaky Lebron, James Harden,
Julius Randall, Kyrie Irving. I actually think Josh giddeyon tier
three is interesting as six seven and a half point
guard but in my opinion, it's in my opinion, there
are two free agents or two guys I'd trade for
(29:10):
that would change outcomes. Number one, Yannis. If you put
Jannis with Wemby and as Steven Castle Stefan Castle in
San Antonio, okay, you got a championship team, there'd be
no dynasty in OKC. You put Wemby on San Antonio,
that's a game changer. If he joined Houston or Cleveland,
depending on what they had to sacrifice and give up,
(29:33):
those are potentially championship teams. And number two is KD.
KD is Sea Salt. Put him on everything it works,
plug and play, catch and shoot. I think KD the
Knicks makes a ton of sense, and that's the one
thing that Nick fan should take out of this potential
loss to the Pacers. You see what you need because
(29:55):
of Brunson's ball centric and ball usage ways. You need
a guy that can late in the get the ball
and score. That is KD. If you put him on
the Knicks, I think you're back to the conference finals.
If you put him on Orlando Detroit, Houston absolutely instantly
a better team. So I hear about Kyrie off an
ac tear pass, Lebron gonna be forty one pass James
(30:20):
Harden off another dismal postseason hard pass. I mean, the
only thing signing James Harden guarantees you is you're gonna
get Memorial Day off that year. I mean, so, I
love Bobby Marks, but the tier one stuff here Lebron hardened,
Kyrie feel really played out now. Nas Reed, I think
(30:42):
he works on every team. Great energy, size, athleticism. I
love Nasri, but he's about tier five. Josh Giddey. To me,
he's a very interesting player, a six seven and a
half sixty eight point guard, very athletic, moves really well.
But I think free agency because of the super Max
and new CBA, I think it's kind of dead, and
that's okay, that's fine. I love trades. Everybody loves trades.
(31:03):
For hot water that never runs out. Fifteen year limited warranty,
try a Navvyan tankless water heater. Go to Tanklessmadsymbol dot
Com High Efficiency local rebates fifteen year warrants Tanklessmadsymbol, dot Com,
NAVI and Greg Olsen. Next.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon eastern nan am Pacific.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
Hey Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world. We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of
sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't
seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact
that we've been friends with the last twenty years and
still work together. I mean that says something.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Right, So check us out.
Speaker 6 (32:04):
We like to get you involved, to take your phone calls,
chop it up. As they say, I'd say the most
interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive
show on planetar. Be sure to check out Cavino and
Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app
from five to seven pm Eastern, two to four Pacific,
And if you miss any of the live show, just
search Covin on Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and
of course on social media.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
That's Covino and Rich. We don't get him often. He's
a busy guy of fourteen years in the NFL, great
broadcaster for Fox Sports. He's got tight End University back
for a fifth year. Of course it was gonna work.
It's in Nashville, where my daughter just got a job
and she loves that town. Greg Olsen is joining us.
(32:47):
It is a oh he's not quite ready yet. My bad. Yes,
you just Nashville is It's always been a good time.
You guys been to Nashville. It's it's, Oh, it's great time.
Drain a lot of walking. They do like to party there.
So if you're going there and you're just going to
stay to yourself, that that's probably not the place to be.
By the way, I saw a bite that I love
(33:09):
and Steve Sarkisian known Steve for years. Steve's a great
guy and he had some personal demage. He's overcoming. He's
at Texas and he does an incredible job. Steve Sarkisian
had a bite. I just want you to hear this
because I love what he said about the new college
football due to the playoff.
Speaker 7 (33:28):
The idea, I think we've all got to wrap our
brain around. I don't know if we'll ever see an
undefeated national champion again. If we do, that's a really
good team because it's just so difficult, and it's and
it's not so it's difficult, yes, because of the quality
of the opponents you play, but it's so difficult to
stay healthy that long.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Exactly. And that goes back to what I've said to
some degree about USC and Notre Dame. Notre Dame plays
physical football. They've never had the flashiest teams, the best
noted teams. It could be. It doesn't matter who the
coach was, Aaric Parsigen, Lou Holtz, it doesn't matter who
the coach was. They've always been a physical program. So
(34:11):
USC is like, Okay, now we have to play Ohio State,
Penn State, Michigan. You want us to keep playing Notre
Dame before we go into a playoff against potentially Georgia, Alabama,
LSU in Texas. That's part of it. These are nineteen
year old kids, and so when everybody's banging on USC
about well, why won't you play, why won't you play
Notre Dame, it's actually selfish. You're trying to keep this
(34:33):
is college. These are nineteen year olds. Their bodies aren't.
Their brains and their bodies will change. I mean, you
go look at college players. Occasionally you will get a
college player at nineteen and you're like, oh, that looks
like a pro. It's usually a wide receiver. It's never
an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman. I mean, Jalen
Carter was an outlier. You're like, oh, it's a sophomore
(34:54):
in college. That's an NFL player. The reality is is
that these are nineteen years old year old players. Their
brains are still developing for three or four more years.
Their bodies are still developing. How many games do you
want them to play? How many games do you want
non professionals? How many big games? That's why coaches like
Lincoln Riley It's not a lack of cowardice. It's like, listen,
(35:16):
we need some spots to be home to have rest.
Like we know, we got to play Oregon and Eugene
and Washington and Seattle and Michigan, and this year Illinois
is good in Nebraska and in Ohio State and that's
before we could get to a conference championship game potentially
or the playoff. How many games do you want to
(35:37):
beat the kids up? So I mean to me, Sarks.
I mean, never forget the last year before the expanded playoff,
how ridiculous college football was. It was so punitive if
you lost a game. The last year before we expanded
the playoff, Georgia went undefeated in the SEC regular and
(36:00):
could not get in because they lost by a field
goal to Alabama. You're out ridiculous. It's just too punitive.
So people, this is what I get asked more than
anything Right now. I get asked this question more than
any other question, which is what do you make of
(36:22):
all the change in college football? And I always say, well,
it's like any change. It's a little uncomfortable. There's some
things I don't like, but there's a lot more I like.
Is that we're going to get more big games because
coaches aren't terrified. I mean Nick Saban in his last decade,
his last dynasty decade in Alabama would not play a
(36:44):
road out a conference game. It was either home or
neutral field. I think that's good for the sport. That's
not good for the sport. That's why I love Ryan Day.
Last year lost early to Oregon and late to Michigan.
One of them is an embarrassing loss, and they still
get into the playoff. So that's kind of my take
(37:07):
on this. Nobody's going undefeated, but you're going to have
to really measure your schedule, and you got to talk
about these out of conference games. How many big, physical
teams do you want nineteen year olds to play. I
don't think the answer is eight. I think you need
you know Ohio State's you know, I was never a
(37:28):
big fan of Ohio State playing Youngstown State. I know,
keep it in Ohio, Like, I get it. I'm like,
schedule better games. But now with the playoff, I mean,
who did Ohio State play in the playoff? I got
Tennessee after Michigan, and then I have Oregon after Michigan,
like I have four more and let's be honest about
the playoff. Okay, so go look at the playoff last
(37:49):
year for all of you that demand like a USC
has to have Notre Dame beyond the big ten. Look
at Ohio State schedule. They go to Eugene early, they
play Penn State on the road, then they play Michigan,
then they open with Tennessee onto Oregon, onto Texas onto
Notre Dame. These are college athletes. How many game It's
(38:12):
like an NFL schedule relative to the players. So that's
why I'm always saying, is the whole When people, I said,
somebody asked me on the train yesterday, they said, what
do you make of college football? I'm like, it's like
all change. I think NIL is great for college basketball.
I think it's saving it. I think the NIL is
saving college basketball. Why go to the G League? You
(38:32):
can get the same money or more at Duke Arizona Yukon,
North Carolina and all the marketing because your game's are
on TV. If you're a dad and your son gets
offered Carolina Arizona Yukon to the G League, go to
college for a year, You're gonna get forty million dollars
of March madness in acc free advertising. Go to college
(38:53):
for a year, and the European players, who are unbelievable,
like the Spanish leagues, they're now considering shuddering because college
is in this country due to NIL, are buying their
best players. So college, the NIL is saving college The
college basketball went through a twenty year stretch. And this
(39:13):
is nothing against Doug McDermott or Tyler Hansborough, but the
player of the year would go into the NBA, and
he'd be a rotational guy at best. Now Zach Edie
comes into the NBA and you're like, oh, yeah, he
was great in college, and that's because he's playing against
more NBA guys, and he's really good in the NBA
All Rookie Team. And J Mack, you're a gigantic college
(39:34):
basketball fan. You cared about college basketball way more than
I did. But over the last two years of you
and I working together, you kept saying to me, Man,
you're really into March Madison. My take was, yeah, I
watched the ukon team that had six NBA guys. It
was a better product, was it not.
Speaker 5 (39:49):
I thought that was my influence on you, But maybe
it was just the actual game. The interesting point on
the college football is about the undefeated team. So I
didn't realize how many teams in recent history had been
undefeated to win the Natty twenty twenty, twenty two, twenty three.
To me, like, being undefeated is not like a big deal,
(40:09):
and it's going to be impossible obviously with the playoff.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Right, Undefeated is what a high school football power does
modern day, goes twelve to zero or Hoover High in Alabama.
That's high school. Now sometimes at the FCS level you
get that, but there's usually a loss in there for all,
like a like what is it at North Dakota State
or something. But you should not go undefeated in the NFL.
Speaker 5 (40:32):
It actually, he says, if you go undefeated in college,
it just says you didn't play anybody.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Nobody was good, you.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Know, right, even as great and dominated as Bama was,
the truth was they always had a buy before, like
LSU or Auburn, and they played you know, three Youngstown
State Citadels or Troy's and they never went on the
road at a conference. And that's the difference. So it's
some of the change for college football. I know, it's
a lot like people worry about what about the rival Well,
(41:00):
is Auburn still playing Bama? Is USD still playing UCLA?
Is Michigan still playing Ohisle State? Those are the biggest rivalries,
I mean. And so by the way, USC still playing
the City Championship against USC and UCLA they still play.
That to me is always I mean, Notre Dame maybe
more prestigious, but the USC UCLA game is crazy. Where
(41:21):
you've had really average UCLA teams. I can remember a
really average UCLA team. I think beating Pete Carroll so
like that, that game has always had a different feel
to it. So I take a deep breath, It's gonna
be okay. And the truth is Fox and ESPN got
tired of college football underperforming. It was like I've said
(41:46):
this before, college football before the last couple of years.
In the playoff, it was like a great movie with
a lousy ending, Like there were so many plot twists
that you love and the characters were great, but you'd
have like sports writers voting on it or computers voting
on it. I mean, you have a team that was
great all season, Georgia can't get in. If I recall
(42:09):
that Georgia team that Bama beat by three, that couldn't
get into the playoff, played a ball game and beat
somebody like or I had forty five to nothing. It
was insane.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
Because Fomo has gotten smarter.
Speaker 5 (42:20):
And by the way, the players win big when there
are more big games, bigger spotlight, more hype around the games.
That translates to more nil money, like everybody wins. This
whole consternation over Oh it's changing.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (42:36):
Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I just don't get bothered
by change.
Speaker 4 (42:39):
I kind of like change and embrace it.
Speaker 5 (42:41):
Then again, I moved my family across the country to
forget this network.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Well, I mean, I grew up with the Pac twelve.
It no longer exists. It's kind of a bummer, But
I'm gonna be able to make it without Cal Washington States.
I'm gonna be able to sleep and eat. We're all
gonna be okay. If that means Oregon's playing Michigan every
other year or US season playing Ohio State, yeah, I'm
gonna take it.
Speaker 5 (43:03):
Remember the Big East in the eighties, that was my
first taste of basketball.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
Amazing. I miss it, but you move on, you find
your South.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Greg Olsen's gonna join us next out. It's the hurb
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. 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 Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, it is a Wednesday. We are in Chicago. It's live.
It's the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for joining us, making us part
of your day. Greg Olsen stops by today. I gotta
tell you if j Mac, I know you love those knicks.
(00:49):
But Halliburton's doing what he did to Milwaukee and Cleveland.
He's doing the same thing. I'm fu he is he is,
he is really something.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I gonna lie.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I'm gonna be a little ornery today. Well, what's it.
Season's over.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
It's done, Pacers, Thunder feel the excitement in the finals?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Well, listen this series. This series has come down to
two players, the two point guards, and the most overrated
player in the league has bested the clutch player in
the league, Tyres Halliburton. A performance for the Agents it
doesn't even sound right. Thirty two points, fifteen assists, ten rebounds,
(01:31):
zero turnovers, never been done in the playoffs against the Knicks,
team known for defense, with the legendary defensive coach. I
said it yesterday. Brunson may be the better pure closer,
but Halliburton's a starter, the best middle reliever, and a closer.
It's the entire package. And I don't really see this
(01:51):
as a New York failure. It's another close game. I
see it as the ascension of a rock star in
this league. This was Tyrese Halliburton's magnus opus. The Pacers
are now eleven and three in playoffs. They're eleven and three.
They're only three losses. Otherwise they're eleven and oh, they're
(02:14):
only three losses. Are game three losses when they lead
two to zero, so they take their foot like any
pro athlete would, a little off the gas. That's it.
Otherwise they're eleven to zero and the Pacers the front
office has done a great job to surround Halliburton with
players that can run with him. And it's empowering. I mean,
(02:38):
how good does Pascal Sayakham? Look? Now, I mean, what's
amazing about Halliburton. He doesn't even lead the Pacers in
usage rate. That's insane for thirty two points and fifteen
assists and again no turnovers. With Brunson the great closer,
(02:59):
a lot of times Nick players are standing around watching
him work his guy and get that great shot, and
you can feel uninvolved. I mean, Halliburton had thirty two
last night. I don't remember that much scoring. I remember
the pace, I remember the assists. Indy did what they do.
They turned it into a track meet, and every game
(03:21):
in which they've controlled pace they've won, not just against
the Knicks, against Milwaukee and against Cleveland and now against
the Knicks. I still like New York a lot. I
think they need to tweak it. I'd go Katie over
kat But I love Indy. This is about Indy. Very
rarely if Halliburton is on the floor. Do they even
(03:42):
get bad half court possessions. That's hard in the NBA,
and that second half got a little bit sloppy. But
they're a high tempo up and down ball movement. Who
would not want to play with Halliburton. It feels Indy
feels like one of those young tech companies that are
like collabor and empowering, and you can bring your dog
to work and people want to work there forever. That's
(04:05):
what they feel like. I mean the fact that even
one NBA player suggested forget voted, suggested that Halliburton is overrated.
I mean again, look at Pascal Siakam, who's always been
a good player. He looks like he should be first
team All NBA. Look at Rick Carlyle, a forgotten coach.
Now he looks like he's an innovator and one of
(04:27):
the more creative offensive geniuses. And I've known Rick for years.
He's always been an excellent coach and a great guy.
But this is what Magic or Michael or Halliburton can
do to a coach. He accentuates all your skills as
a coach. The reality too with Indy here, New York
may be better, but you could argue they've peaked. Indy's
(04:50):
only getting better. They have a very friendly cap sheet.
They have to figure out what to do with a
good player, not great Miles Turner. They're not quite sure
what to do. But this is a a young and
improving and ascending roster that quickly and easily disposed of
Milwaukee favored Milwaukee of favored Cleveland and now of the Knicks,
(05:12):
and here's Haliburton after.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Just time, me aggressive, trying to respond. I felt like
I let the team down in Game three, so it's.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Important for me to come out here and just make plays.
Speaker 6 (05:22):
And you know, Guy's put me in a position to
make plays and trying to play my game and uh, Matt,
it's a big win for us.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Did Dad in the building have anything.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
To do with that?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm glad.
Speaker 6 (05:31):
Passing the building man makes it that much more.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Sweet and just something to remind you of how special
last night was. I'm just I'm totally taken. But the
fact he has no turnovers to play it at this pace,
never turn it over. Thirty points, fifteen assists, and ten
rebounds in a single game in playoff history. The other
(05:55):
players who have done it are MVPs and champions, Oscar
Robert twice and the Joker in Denver. That's what we're
talking about, and he was voted by players a handful
is the most overrated player in the league. Again, the
NBA fans and media too often celebrate dynamic what they
(06:17):
don't celebrate. Remember, Lebron used to get crushed for this
because he wouldn't always take the final shot, and Lebron,
who I defended, would say, other people are open. That's
what Phil Jackson finally finally convinced Michael Jordan to do.
Get it to Packson, get it to curve. If guys
are open, get the better open shot. It was when
(06:39):
Michael finally embraced that that he became a legend. Lebron
did it out of high school. That's Halliburton. He'll drop thirty,
have fifteen assists, and you don't remember the points as
much as the assists and the pace. Everybody on this
team is playing a notch above who they are. I
(07:00):
love Carlisle, but that's about Haliburt. Okay. So, Terry Bradshaw
Fox Sports, long time former Steel great four rings, was
asked on a radio station, We've got the we've got
the audio here about his former team of Steeters potentially
signing Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
That's a joke. He shouldn't they That is just to me,
is a joke.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
What are you going to bring him.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
In for one year?
Speaker 6 (07:24):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (07:25):
They?
Speaker 6 (07:25):
I mean.
Speaker 7 (07:27):
Right, no, man, that guy needs to stay in California.
Speaker 8 (07:31):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Ju own barking and risk the gods out there.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Uh. By the way, I've had an epiphany. I'll get
to that in a second. So it should be noted
as Aaron doesn't have a team yet. Josh Allen on
a team with much less turnover, the Buffalo Bills, Josh
Allen in his prime, better at this point, arguably better,
ever more committed, is that his team's ota. Aaron doesn't
(07:58):
have a team. I was thinking about this morning. Aaron
Rodgers and the Steelers have something in common. Neither take
the duty of quarterback with great urgency. Both the Steelers
and Aaron have a Yeah, We'll get to it eventually. Yeah, yeah,
I'll sign with the team. Eventually, we'll figure out the
(08:18):
quarterback eventually. I mean, think about San Francisco and Kyle Shanahan.
They just signed Brock pretty to a massive deal, and
yet this year in the draft, Kyle says, I want
another quarterback, and they draft a kid out of Indiana,
a little bit of a semi you know, Brock pretty
clone ish a lot of snaps in college. They're already
looking for another quarterback. The Green Bay Packers, you all
(08:40):
know this. They draft quarterbacks three years before they let
him on the field. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost their left tackle,
their two quarterbacks, they're top receiver and a really good
running back in Najee Harris. And their answer is, eh,
I think Aaron's our quarterback. We're not really sure. I mean,
(09:00):
I mean, the Steelers have become the sixty six year
old guy who's never put a penny in his four
to one K and is trying to convince us Listen,
I've got a plan. Believe you me. I'm all good here.
So at this point I have an epiphany. I have
been saying Aaron and the Steelers is a bad fit.
I'm wrong. It's a great fit. I mean, in lives,
(09:22):
what's the rule. You gotta find somebody that matches your energy,
the Steelers at quarterback. We'll get to it. Aaron on
committing eh, maybe later. I am here for the Steelers
and Aaron Rodgers are a little Rodman, Carmen Electra. They're
a little Tom Arnold, Roseanne barr Angelina, Jolie, Billy Bob.
(09:43):
I am here for the dysfunction. I mean, the whole
time I've been like this is a weird fit. Not really.
For the record, there's a reason the Steelers now are
near the top of the NFL in longest playoff wind droughts.
They're at eight years now. They're not the Dolphins of
the Raiders of the Jets, but they're creeping up the
most important position. And it always was quarterback. It was
(10:07):
always a head coach quarterback league. But more than ever,
it's much easier to protect who's going to win divisions,
especially in the Steelers AFC. Who's got the best quarterback
and does he have a good offensive coach? And do
they treat the position with importance and urgency? Steelers don't,
Aaron doesn't. I'm wrong. It's a match made in heaven,
(10:27):
all right, J Mack. We have a lot of stuff today.
Greg Olsen stopping by a really interesting story here in Chicago.
So they're having the OTAs, and you know, Caleb has
said I want to be coached hard. Apparently Ben Johnson
is coaching him hard. So we'll get to that. I
(10:47):
know you're a little bummed out about the Knicks, but
does it make it feel better that you are witnessing
an all time series by an ascending star.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
No, not at all.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
What do you how a sudden there's major issues with
the Knicks. This brunts and Towns combo through four games
together on the court, it's minus twenty four. All of
a sudden, the spotlights on the Knicks send It's like,
WHOA Do these two even work together again next year?
Or have the Pacers unlocked something that the Celtics did
not see that the Pistons didn't see. And now it's like, well,
(11:20):
do we keep Towns or do we move them? Like
I'm a little nervous for the next this offseason, I
think the gi honest shatter is going to be back
and play pretty quickly. If they lose Game five.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Well, I honest would obviously make them better. I don't
know if they have the pieces, but I think KD
is a much easier list. And I've said this for
the last three days, is that this series is it's
actually can be great because I don't think that I
said this the last two days. The Knicks are not
a championship team. They've got holes, and a better team
is showing you what the holes are. It's not a
gaping hole. It's that they need to catch and shoot score.
(11:56):
KD not a guy that needs the ball to score
and move Brunson out of the way. Kat The reason
they don't work together. A they're poor defenders, so simultaneously
Halliburton is abusing them if they're ever both on the court.
And secondly, kat needs the ball. He's one of the
few bigs that gets the ball out top and then
drives in. Doesn't really need a pass or an assist.
(12:17):
He can kind of break it down and do it himself.
The problem is then Brunson is inactive in the offensive
half court set. So it's I think, what happens when
you lose? Why did we lose? That's that's what a
good NFL team does. We're a good NBA team. What
is it? It's not the coach, It's not Brunson, Brunsinger,
Brunsinger lead. You've got to find something. Mitchell Robinson's actually
(12:38):
great for what he is. Hartenstein would have been great.
But Cat doesn't work for two reasons, and it's on display.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
You say it's the coach. I mean they're gonna have options.
The Knicks can say, hey, let's bring in Katie, let's
go after your honest or they could say we love
our team, let's run it back with Michael Malone's head
coach instead of Thibodeau.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I don't think that's the solution. All these games have
come down to the last four minutes.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
And they're losing them. They blew game one like you.
I don't know, man, maybe I'm just a despond.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You don't blow out Lamar Jackson or John Harbaugh because
you lose close to the bills of the Chiefs. You
try to find other areas to improve. You don't get
rid of your foundational bedrock. A plus pieces. Tibbs isn't
the issue. The issue is the roster construction. Remember Bridges
has been really good. Towns solved an issue. They needed
(13:28):
a second score and they didn't trust Julius Randall, who,
by the way, can disappear in spots. Kat is a
more natural offensive player, so he was an upgrade over Randall.
But it's always been steps in this league. So it's
always about find the coach for your star, and then
it's can you find complimentary pieces. Cat was an upgrade
(13:49):
over Randal. KD is an upgrade over based on styles
catch and shoot, He's an upgrade over.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Cat, And so you're saying, Jason calm down, come out
next year. It's basically Pacers Knicks, maybe the pistons and
the caves in the East.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
And why can't the Nicks get right back to try
it to the finals?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, no need, It's just been a series of smart
steps Randall to Cat and now try to get You
know you're gonna have to give up if you give
up Cat to get KD and I'm the Knicks. I
want a draft pick. I want something beyond that. It's
just not a it's a it's not because Cat is younger,
but it's worth considering. Get help turning your home into
(14:30):
cash with Rocket Mortgage called one eight hundred and four
Rocket to learn how your home can help funnel renovation
payoff consolidated high interest at called eight hundred four Rocket
or visit Rocket dot com. Rocket Mortgage l LC license
in all fifty states.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Caleb Williams, their USC quarterback, struggled as a rookie. They
wanted for him to improve on two things, Number one
body language and number two pre snap procedure. So I've
always been I think body language is a really big deal.
I don't care if you're a mayor. I don't care
if you're a ceo. I don't care if you're a quarterback.
(15:22):
I'm glad this is mentioned, and I'm glad Ben Johnson
cares about this. So this is according to Albert Breer.
They want to improve on body language and they want
to improve on pre snap improvement. So I think those
are totally legitimate. In fact, one of the rare criticisms
I had of Caleb in college he could be moody.
I saw it when he played Oregon State up in
(15:43):
court Vallas. He eventually won the game with a great
dot down the sideline to Jordan Addison, but on the
sideline he had to be counseled and consoled by Lincoln Riley.
He got a little bit moody and kind of checked out,
And that's okay. He's an emotional kid. I think ideally
you'd want your quarterback to Jalen Hurts stoic. You could
be fiery, but you can't be poudy. You can be aggressive,
(16:06):
but you can't have an attitude. And I thought that
Oregon State game it was a little bit of hey man,
we need you to check back in body language matters.
So I think it needs to be worked on. He
came back in that game. By the way, there's the
winning touchdown that Jordan Addison. The pre snap concerns. I
think Heady had a better head coach his rookie year
in the NFL. If he had inherited Kyle Shanahan, we
(16:27):
wouldn't talk about that. I think some of that comes
with experience. I mean, Mahomes had Andy Reid. It still
took him two and three years, so I think he'll
get better at that. I think a lot of that
was just he didn't have a very good coaching staff
and at USC, Caleb Williams I don't think his last
year at USC trusted the O line. He shouldn't have,
and so it was a lot of hero ball in
(16:49):
him ad libbing. And I don't think Lincoln Riley necessarily
trusted the O line, so he let Caleb Williams ad
lib and call his own shots. I think he'll be
fine there. What I do fine with a lot of
the great quarterbacks of all time. Peyton Manning's like this.
They think like accountants, precision details, almost Mathey. Caleb's a creative.
(17:12):
He's a creative. Mahomes is a creative and that's fine.
It takes a special coach to coach a creative. It
takes Andy Reid. Okay, is Ben Johnson Andy Reid? I
don't know. Is Ben Johnson a great quarterback coach as
a head coach like Sean Payton or Kyle Shanahan or
Andy Reid. I don't know. I think so. But I
(17:34):
know that Caleb Williams said I want to be coached hard.
And this is interesting. This comes from Adam h Oge.
Adam Hoges, I think so. At the OTAs the story
is that Ben Johnson has been ripping Cole Comet for
some mental mistakes. He also it's interesting, according to Adam
(17:55):
that what appeared to be the best throw of the
day when Caleb hit DJ Moore deep down the left sideline,
it was probably more like a deep out, and Caleb
came back toward Ben Johnson, the rookie coach, and Ben
Johnson said, yeah, you can't do that. That's coaching. So
Caleb Williams I was expecting. I was hoping that Ben
(18:16):
Johnson's impact would be immediate. The impact has not quite
been immediate. So again, I think when you're coaching creatives,
and Lamar is a creative. Mahomes is creative. Steve Young
was one of the first I ever saw that. I'm like, oh,
Brett farr was a bit of a creative. They're harder
to coach. Go ask Mike Holmgren what coaching Brett Farve
(18:39):
is like, you got to embrace it. It's a fine
line between John Gruden. That's John Gruden when he was
an assistant about coaching Farv. It's really really hard. It
takes a great coach, not a good coach. And Caleb
didn't have that last year. You hope he has it,
But Matt Hasselbeck says, don't expect miracles in September.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I don't think you know right away.
Speaker 8 (19:03):
I mean Troy Aikman started out really poorly his rookie year,
Like they didn't do well. Peyton Manning, you know he
I think he might have led the league in interceptions.
Eli Manning get bench for Kurt Warner, Like there's all
these stories of young quarterbacks. He doesn't start out well.
At the end of the year, I think a decision
will be made on him one way or the other.
(19:24):
And it's just fair to say if you watch the film,
he's off to a very very slow.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Start last year. J Max said the Barrels will be
the most interesting team in the league, and they were
for about four games. I actually do think because we
now have a young quarterback with a really sharp offensive coach.
And I think everybody needs a king maker in life.
You could be a mayor, you could be a lawyer.
(19:49):
Everybody needs a king maker. Bo Knicks got his, Jaden
Daniels have, Cliff Kingsbury got his. Caleb had his at
Oklahoma and USC he had Lincoln Riley, he had his kingmaker.
And so to pull all that talent out now, can
Ben do it? Can Ben do it with the Bears?
We'll see j Mackle the news, Turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
This is the herd Line news, all right.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Colin, let's bust right in.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
The Atlanta Falcons had OTA's yesterday and Kirk Cousins was
a no show. Very interesting given that they have announced
Michael Pennix will be the full time starter. Cousins made
it clear he wants to be the starter. Colin, I'm
not going to mince any words here. I think Atlanta's
screwed Kirk Cousins. They signed him to a big, splashy
(20:36):
deal last year. He said he wants to end his
career in Atlanta, and what like a month later, they
go out and draft Michael Pennix and then of course
the Falcon sag last year.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Pennix is the starter, and now Atlanta has Kirk Cousins
that he don't want to be there. They have to pay.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Atlanta has twenty seven and a half million guaranteed dollars
this season even if he's released, so they're not dumping it.
Lanna could trade Kirk Cousins to Pittsburgh I don't know wherever,
but obviously they were the team that gets Cousins. They
don't want to pay the full free so Atlanta's there
a tough spot, and I think they brought this on themselves.
(21:13):
I'm sorry, I'm siding with Kirk Cousins here.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Well if I mean, it looked really good until about
late October. Remember Aaron and Kirk Cousins were the opposite.
Aaron off the surgery, old guy off the surgery was
really struggling early. There was the last seven eight starts.
You were like, oh, Aaron's got a little spring. Kirk
was the opposite. He looked really good for six or
(21:38):
seven weeks. Remember, I think he had a Monday night
football game or something that was amazing, or a Thursday
night game, whatever it was against Tampa, and then down
the stretch he fell apart. He looked tired. Remember that
one game against like the Chargers were like, he can't
make the outs, he can't throw outs. So he and
Aaron old guys off injuries. Aaron, it took a while
for him to get his to get his step, and
he was pretty good at the end of the year.
I defended Aaron, he was pretty good at theater. I
(22:00):
thought Kirk Cousins was excellent for like six seven weeks.
Then he just he wore out. He didn't have energy,
he didn't have his legs. So I still think Aaron
can play, and now I still think Kirk Cousins can play.
I think both needed another off season. Now, you know,
I don't know how hard either is working right now.
Aaron's got personal stuff, Kirk's not showing up the ots.
(22:22):
But I do think Aaron and Kirk, with like a
nextra year off the injury, can both be quarterbacks that
start in this league.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Okay, yeah, okay, we think that. But what should the
Falcons do Because Kirk Cousins is undern should show up.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
He doesn't trade him.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I probably trade him. I'd wait at some point before
the trading deadline. Last year, over fifty quarterbacks played. Just wait.
In the NFL, the answer at quarterback is waight that
somebody will need a quarterback.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
So if you're advising Kirk Cousins, hey, Kirk, you should
be showing up at OTAs.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Uh No, I mean I I ot, I think the
answer will. I think OTAs for veteran are a tad overrated. Now. Now,
if you're in a new team and a new system,
you know it's not you probably first couple of years
should go. But I don't think it's I think Kirk
knows he's going to be dealt well.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
The problem here is that they've announced Pennix as a starter.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
So no matter what happens at camp, right Pennix is awful,
Cousins crushes, it don't matter.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
We're going with the young guy. So what if I.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Mean again, Pittsburgh has the Aaron Rodgers thing. After that, Colin,
you look around the other twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
No, it's the worst quarterback room in the league, no question.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
But there's there's really no other spots unless there's an injury, you.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Know, and I feel here's my question. Here's my question.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
I made a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
What's the Indianapolis Colt situation right now?
Speaker 5 (23:44):
So Anthony Richardson versus Daniel Jones. It's funny they asked me,
do you want to do that? In herd line headlines
this week? Who do you think is gonna be the starter?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Well?
Speaker 5 (23:53):
I think Kirk beat out those guys. Sure, But if
that's the case, why go get Daniel Jones? Why not
just go after Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah? No, I mean I think Daniel Jones is going
to beat him out.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Okay, we'll have to talk about that tomorrow. Next up,
Colin is the Jags. They promised Travis.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
Hunter, their first round pick, who they traded up for
the ability to play both ways, but he won't be
able to practice receiver and cornerback on the same day
in OTAs.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Here's new head coach Liam Cohen explaining.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Why we won't put him in that situation to have
him do that, although I'm sure he'd probably want to.
He still meets defensively every day that he's on offense,
so he's getting the mental part of it and being
able to catch up on some of the communication, some
of the corrections off the film from the defensive side
(24:47):
of the ball. So he's getting a lot of the
mental and it would probably be unfair to put him
out on the grass and do both and ask him
to go do that and see success.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
I actually agree with this. Ups on offense, go to
the meetings on defense. But playing wide receiver with a
young quarterback, it's a timing game. Corner is not a
timing game. It's a raw talent game, and he's got
loads of that. But I think this is actually the
smart approach.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Hey, you also don't want to wear him down this early.
I mean both.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Ways in practice, right out of the shoot. I don't
think that's a good idea.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
They're handling a good I just I don't know what
to make of this team. It's just bizarre. Final story,
Let's go to the NBA.
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Timberwolves, down bad three to one in OKC tonight.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
They're big underdogs.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Chris Finch is still not happy with the way Anthony
Edwards is big defended off the ball, and he's right.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Take a listen.
Speaker 9 (25:45):
We've seen this level of physicality before, not one from OKC,
but throughout the playoffs, I think off ball they were
super handsy. You know, their off ball defense was largely
focused on and you know, trying to trying to jam
him up and keep him from being able to get
the ball in clean space. Throughout the entire series there,
(26:07):
I can't remember an off ball foul that's been called
after four games, which is kind of unique. So that's
just the speaks volume of the credit to their off
ball defense.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So, by the way, he's right, last night it got
really sloppy for about four to five minutes, like really
it looked like rugby and I'm sitting there watching it.
And also, let me defend Karl Anthony Towns now, he
initiates a lot of the contact. He may be the
most fouled player in the league because he's so long. Okay,
(26:36):
there's a lot of Karl Anthony Towns to foul, and
he's kind of awkward, and he does initiate contact. And
there was a moment last night under the basket. I
think Kat was fouled four times. None were called. So
I do think, like I love the intensity and the physicality,
But when coaches complain about it, they're not wrong. They're
(26:58):
not wrong. There are you know, like when nick fans
are saying where is the whistle? Nick fans aren't wrong.
Historically you'd get the whistle even by playoff standards. So
the refs are letting a ton go. I think it's
fun to watch. But last night there was a four
or five minute stretch it looked like flag football that
there was a lot of contact.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
I will say the Knicks shot thirty nine free throws
last so like they were going on line. But this
whole inconsistency finches on it. Colin, here's a homework assignment tonight.
When you're watching the game, forget what's happening on the ball.
Watch what they're doing to ant off the ball. Louke
dort is literally hugging him. Colin both arms around him,
and then you could see, oh, let me pull the
(27:39):
arms away. He's grabbing the jury. That's not basketball.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I don't like restricting the movement. And this is the
stuff they were trying to do to seth Curry back.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Before he got injured. It's just it's not basketball. It's dumb, reductive.
I think it makes it like the Rockets were doing
this to Curry, and obviously Kirk complained, but the inconsistency's
just so frustrated.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
J mclanews.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Greg Olsen around the corner, I saw this story. Cham's
Shiranya thinks the NBA off season could be the craziest ever.
I do not, because I think free agency is dead
or mostly dead, and the reason being is the new
CBA the Supermax. Everybody now moves with trades, So sign
(28:25):
your super max and then eventually trade the player if
he's just gruntled or unhappy. I think free agency is
sort of dead, which whatever. NFL free agency isn't Baseball
free agency because there's only four teams that can have
forod the best players is dead. NBA free agency feels dead.
The NBA now is more of a trade league, and
that's fine. I love the trade deadline. But I saw
here a guy like Bobby Marks at ESPN does a
(28:47):
great job. He had the top twenty five NBA free
agents this summer. His Tier one is shaky Lebron, James Harden,
Julius Randall, Kyrie Irving. I actually think Josh giddeyon tier
three is interesting as six seven and a half point
guard but in my opinion, it's in my opinion, there
are two free agents or two guys I'd trade for
(29:10):
that would change outcomes. Number one, Yannis. If you put
Jannis with Wemby and as Steven Castle Stefan Castle in
San Antonio, okay, you got a championship team, there'd be
no dynasty in OKC. You put Wemby on San Antonio,
that's a game changer. If he joined Houston or Cleveland,
depending on what they had to sacrifice and give up,
(29:33):
those are potentially championship teams. And number two is KD.
KD is Sea Salt. Put him on everything it works,
plug and play, catch and shoot. I think KD the
Knicks makes a ton of sense, and that's the one
thing that Nick fan should take out of this potential
loss to the Pacers. You see what you need because
(29:55):
of Brunson's ball centric and ball usage ways. You need
a guy that can late in the get the ball
and score. That is KD. If you put him on
the Knicks, I think you're back to the conference finals.
If you put him on Orlando Detroit, Houston absolutely instantly
a better team. So I hear about Kyrie off an
ac tear pass, Lebron gonna be forty one pass James
(30:20):
Harden off another dismal postseason hard pass. I mean, the
only thing signing James Harden guarantees you is you're gonna
get Memorial Day off that year. I mean, so, I
love Bobby Marks, but the tier one stuff here Lebron hardened,
Kyrie feel really played out now. Nas Reed, I think
(30:42):
he works on every team. Great energy, size, athleticism. I
love Nasri, but he's about tier five. Josh Giddey. To me,
he's a very interesting player, a six seven and a
half sixty eight point guard, very athletic, moves really well.
But I think free agency because of the super Max
and new CBA, I think it's kind of dead, and
that's okay, that's fine. I love trades. Everybody loves trades.
(31:03):
For hot water that never runs out. Fifteen year limited warranty,
try a Navvyan tankless water heater. Go to Tanklessmadsymbol dot
Com High Efficiency local rebates fifteen year warrants Tanklessmadsymbol, dot Com,
NAVI and Greg Olsen. Next.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon eastern nan am Pacific.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
Hey Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world. We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of
sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't
seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact
that we've been friends with the last twenty years and
still work together. I mean that says something.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Right, So check us out.
Speaker 6 (32:04):
We like to get you involved, to take your phone calls,
chop it up. As they say, I'd say the most
interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive
show on planetar. Be sure to check out Cavino and
Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app
from five to seven pm Eastern, two to four Pacific,
And if you miss any of the live show, just
search Covin on Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and
of course on social media.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
That's Covino and Rich. We don't get him often. He's
a busy guy of fourteen years in the NFL, great
broadcaster for Fox Sports. He's got tight End University back
for a fifth year. Of course it was gonna work.
It's in Nashville, where my daughter just got a job
and she loves that town. Greg Olsen is joining us.
(32:47):
It is a oh he's not quite ready yet. My bad. Yes,
you just Nashville is It's always been a good time.
You guys been to Nashville. It's it's, Oh, it's great time.
Drain a lot of walking. They do like to party there.
So if you're going there and you're just going to
stay to yourself, that that's probably not the place to be.
By the way, I saw a bite that I love
(33:09):
and Steve Sarkisian known Steve for years. Steve's a great
guy and he had some personal demage. He's overcoming. He's
at Texas and he does an incredible job. Steve Sarkisian
had a bite. I just want you to hear this
because I love what he said about the new college
football due to the playoff.
Speaker 7 (33:28):
The idea, I think we've all got to wrap our
brain around. I don't know if we'll ever see an
undefeated national champion again. If we do, that's a really
good team because it's just so difficult, and it's and
it's not so it's difficult, yes, because of the quality
of the opponents you play, but it's so difficult to
stay healthy that long.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Exactly. And that goes back to what I've said to
some degree about USC and Notre Dame. Notre Dame plays
physical football. They've never had the flashiest teams, the best
noted teams. It could be. It doesn't matter who the
coach was, Aaric Parsigen, Lou Holtz, it doesn't matter who
the coach was. They've always been a physical program. So
(34:11):
USC is like, Okay, now we have to play Ohio State,
Penn State, Michigan. You want us to keep playing Notre
Dame before we go into a playoff against potentially Georgia, Alabama,
LSU in Texas. That's part of it. These are nineteen
year old kids, and so when everybody's banging on USC
about well, why won't you play, why won't you play
Notre Dame, it's actually selfish. You're trying to keep this
(34:33):
is college. These are nineteen year olds. Their bodies aren't.
Their brains and their bodies will change. I mean, you
go look at college players. Occasionally you will get a
college player at nineteen and you're like, oh, that looks
like a pro. It's usually a wide receiver. It's never
an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman. I mean, Jalen
Carter was an outlier. You're like, oh, it's a sophomore
(34:54):
in college. That's an NFL player. The reality is is
that these are nineteen years old year old players. Their
brains are still developing for three or four more years.
Their bodies are still developing. How many games do you
want them to play? How many games do you want
non professionals? How many big games? That's why coaches like
Lincoln Riley It's not a lack of cowardice. It's like, listen,
(35:16):
we need some spots to be home to have rest.
Like we know, we got to play Oregon and Eugene
and Washington and Seattle and Michigan, and this year Illinois
is good in Nebraska and in Ohio State and that's
before we could get to a conference championship game potentially
or the playoff. How many games do you want to
(35:37):
beat the kids up? So I mean to me, Sarks.
I mean, never forget the last year before the expanded playoff,
how ridiculous college football was. It was so punitive if
you lost a game. The last year before we expanded
the playoff, Georgia went undefeated in the SEC regular and
(36:00):
could not get in because they lost by a field
goal to Alabama. You're out ridiculous. It's just too punitive.
So people, this is what I get asked more than
anything Right now. I get asked this question more than
any other question, which is what do you make of
(36:22):
all the change in college football? And I always say, well,
it's like any change. It's a little uncomfortable. There's some
things I don't like, but there's a lot more I like.
Is that we're going to get more big games because
coaches aren't terrified. I mean Nick Saban in his last decade,
his last dynasty decade in Alabama would not play a
(36:44):
road out a conference game. It was either home or
neutral field. I think that's good for the sport. That's
not good for the sport. That's why I love Ryan Day.
Last year lost early to Oregon and late to Michigan.
One of them is an embarrassing loss, and they still
get into the playoff. So that's kind of my take
(37:07):
on this. Nobody's going undefeated, but you're going to have
to really measure your schedule, and you got to talk
about these out of conference games. How many big, physical
teams do you want nineteen year olds to play. I
don't think the answer is eight. I think you need
you know Ohio State's you know, I was never a
(37:28):
big fan of Ohio State playing Youngstown State. I know,
keep it in Ohio, Like, I get it. I'm like,
schedule better games. But now with the playoff, I mean,
who did Ohio State play in the playoff? I got
Tennessee after Michigan, and then I have Oregon after Michigan,
like I have four more and let's be honest about
the playoff. Okay, so go look at the playoff last
(37:49):
year for all of you that demand like a USC
has to have Notre Dame beyond the big ten. Look
at Ohio State schedule. They go to Eugene early, they
play Penn State on the road, then they play Michigan,
then they open with Tennessee onto Oregon, onto Texas onto
Notre Dame. These are college athletes. How many game It's
(38:12):
like an NFL schedule relative to the players. So that's
why I'm always saying, is the whole When people, I said,
somebody asked me on the train yesterday, they said, what
do you make of college football? I'm like, it's like
all change. I think NIL is great for college basketball.
I think it's saving it. I think the NIL is
saving college basketball. Why go to the G League? You
(38:32):
can get the same money or more at Duke Arizona Yukon,
North Carolina and all the marketing because your game's are
on TV. If you're a dad and your son gets
offered Carolina Arizona Yukon to the G League, go to
college for a year, You're gonna get forty million dollars
of March madness in acc free advertising. Go to college
(38:53):
for a year, and the European players, who are unbelievable,
like the Spanish leagues, they're now considering shuddering because college
is in this country due to NIL, are buying their
best players. So college, the NIL is saving college The
college basketball went through a twenty year stretch. And this
(39:13):
is nothing against Doug McDermott or Tyler Hansborough, but the
player of the year would go into the NBA, and
he'd be a rotational guy at best. Now Zach Edie
comes into the NBA and you're like, oh, yeah, he
was great in college, and that's because he's playing against
more NBA guys, and he's really good in the NBA
All Rookie Team. And J Mack, you're a gigantic college
(39:34):
basketball fan. You cared about college basketball way more than
I did. But over the last two years of you
and I working together, you kept saying to me, Man,
you're really into March Madison. My take was, yeah, I
watched the ukon team that had six NBA guys. It
was a better product, was it not.
Speaker 5 (39:49):
I thought that was my influence on you, But maybe
it was just the actual game. The interesting point on
the college football is about the undefeated team. So I
didn't realize how many teams in recent history had been
undefeated to win the Natty twenty twenty, twenty two, twenty three.
To me, like, being undefeated is not like a big deal,
(40:09):
and it's going to be impossible obviously with the playoff.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Right, Undefeated is what a high school football power does
modern day, goes twelve to zero or Hoover High in Alabama.
That's high school. Now sometimes at the FCS level you
get that, but there's usually a loss in there for all,
like a like what is it at North Dakota State
or something. But you should not go undefeated in the NFL.
Speaker 5 (40:32):
It actually, he says, if you go undefeated in college,
it just says you didn't play anybody.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Nobody was good, you.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Know, right, even as great and dominated as Bama was,
the truth was they always had a buy before, like
LSU or Auburn, and they played you know, three Youngstown
State Citadels or Troy's and they never went on the
road at a conference. And that's the difference. So it's
some of the change for college football. I know, it's
a lot like people worry about what about the rival Well,
(41:00):
is Auburn still playing Bama? Is USD still playing UCLA?
Is Michigan still playing Ohisle State? Those are the biggest rivalries,
I mean. And so by the way, USC still playing
the City Championship against USC and UCLA they still play.
That to me is always I mean, Notre Dame maybe
more prestigious, but the USC UCLA game is crazy. Where
(41:21):
you've had really average UCLA teams. I can remember a
really average UCLA team. I think beating Pete Carroll so
like that, that game has always had a different feel
to it. So I take a deep breath, It's gonna
be okay. And the truth is Fox and ESPN got
tired of college football underperforming. It was like I've said
(41:46):
this before, college football before the last couple of years.
In the playoff, it was like a great movie with
a lousy ending, Like there were so many plot twists
that you love and the characters were great, but you'd
have like sports writers voting on it or computers voting
on it. I mean, you have a team that was
great all season, Georgia can't get in. If I recall
(42:09):
that Georgia team that Bama beat by three, that couldn't
get into the playoff, played a ball game and beat
somebody like or I had forty five to nothing. It
was insane.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
Because Fomo has gotten smarter.
Speaker 5 (42:20):
And by the way, the players win big when there
are more big games, bigger spotlight, more hype around the games.
That translates to more nil money, like everybody wins. This
whole consternation over Oh it's changing.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (42:36):
Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I just don't get bothered
by change.
Speaker 4 (42:39):
I kind of like change and embrace it.
Speaker 5 (42:41):
Then again, I moved my family across the country to
forget this network.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Well, I mean, I grew up with the Pac twelve.
It no longer exists. It's kind of a bummer, But
I'm gonna be able to make it without Cal Washington States.
I'm gonna be able to sleep and eat. We're all
gonna be okay. If that means Oregon's playing Michigan every
other year or US season playing Ohio State, yeah, I'm
gonna take it.
Speaker 5 (43:03):
Remember the Big East in the eighties, that was my
first taste of basketball.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
Amazing. I miss it, but you move on, you find
your South.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Greg Olsen's gonna join us next out. It's the hurb
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.