September 11, 2020 • 39 mins
The Chiefs showed having the right QB and team stability matters a lot.
The Rockets being unique is vastly overrated
The Buccaneers being built to pass could be a weakness for Tom Brady
Guest: Kevin Clark
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Are sure to
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Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
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Sports Radio. Ah. Here we go on a Friday, our
(00:27):
first Friday of the football season, live in Los Angeles.
This is the Herd, wherever you may be and however
you may be listening. Thanks so much for joining us
Fox Sports Radio and right here on FS one. One
hour from now, the Blazing five five NFL Picks debuts,
(00:50):
Love My Picks, Love some Underdogs this week. Very interesting.
Joy Taylor is joining me. So we got it looked like,
sounded like mostly a regular football game, right. Well, I
wasn't prepared for all the fans, right, So I was
mentally preparing myself for completely empty stadiums, which we still
(01:12):
have to do because there are going to be some
stadiums that are empty. But the Chiefs fans were amazing.
They were there. Yeah, but it was a great night. Yeah,
I mean to me, outside of Andy Reid's foggy shield.
It kind of looked and sounded like an NFL game
or an NFL game with you know, fewer fans. I
liked it. I thought the NFL did a good job.
(01:33):
Congrats to the Chiefs and the Texans both for you know,
getting through camp and here we go. I want to
remind everybody DeShawn Watson was a better high school quarterback
than Patrick Mahomes. Deshaun Watson was a better college quarterback
than Patrick Mahomes, and one year into the league, officially,
Deshaun Watson was better than Patrick Mahomes. Remember when he
(01:55):
was setting records Deshawn's first year, He's like just going crazy.
A couple of years later, look at him. One guy
runs the league, the other is bailing water. Deshaun Watson
looked overwhelmed. We say this all the time, even for
great quarterbacks. I watched that game last night. You know
what I thought of Joe Burrow. I feel sorry for him.
(02:19):
Patrick Mahomes is the Big three, super talented, super support system,
and super coachable. Deshaun is two of those, but he
doesn't have the support system. And Deshaun Watson has been
putting a lot of makeup on those pimples for years
(02:39):
and there's just limitations. The acne's too bad with the Texans.
There's too many pimples making bad trades moving off DeAndre Hopkins,
you know, and then funny too. Once you get the
quarterback and coach right, it just everything else works. You
draft a rookie running back from LSU, I mean I
(02:59):
like him. He's that good first game. Would he be
that good anywhere else? Sammy Watkins, you know they kind
of overpaid for him. Now Mahomes and Andy Reid make
it worked, Honey, Badgers. Do you have anything left in
the tank that worked too? Once you get the quarterback
and the head coach right, everything works. I mean, Sam
Darnold was way better than Josh Allen all through high
(03:21):
school in college. Josh Allen played high school football California,
had to go to Wyoming to play. But when you
watch him now, who wins. You can be coachable, you
can work hard and be talented. What's your support system?
Anytime Patrick Mahomes makes a mistake, he's got this incredible
safety net of coaching management executives. This is why I
(03:45):
owe us support professional athletes mobility moving to a better team,
joining star players, going to better coaching, going to bigger venues,
demanding trades. Eli Manning is going to be a Hall
of Famer because before he was drafted he uttered this sentence,
I want to play for the New York Giants, not
(04:06):
the San Diego Chargers. And that is why he's a
Hall of Famer, and that's probably why no shot at
the Chargers Philip Rivers will not be. Patrick Mahomes comes
into this league as wildly talented but didn't win a
lot in college. Then he gets Brett Veats the GM
Andy Reid and they're building the old line in the offense.
(04:29):
And then he was a little bit of a gun slinger.
Last year he was only eleventh in completion percentage and
a little bit wild. And then last night, oh wait,
he took another step in the evolution. Last night he
was mister efficient. He was a tesla. He was no
longer a flamethrower. He was a surgeon. A lot of
guys come into this league. They got cannons and that's it.
(04:49):
I always use Jeff George. They never get better. That's what.
They don't have the coaching, they don't have the support system.
But last night we got another level. We've seen this
with Lamar, other level of Patrick Mahomes, audibling reading, defenses, efficiency.
It's not just talent and coachability. You need the support system.
(05:12):
That's why I'm always four players moving because they have
short careers. Here's Andy Reid afterwards. What you see is
a maturity where he's not forcing things downfield. So as
a play caller, EB and I sit there and we
go listen. We can call deep throws, but yet he'll
he's willing to check this thing down. So that's we
(05:33):
appreciate that. By the way, last night was not a
referendum against DeShawn Watson or a referendum for Patrick Mahomes,
but it is a referendum on you can't do it
alone and how valuable coaching support, executives, offensive line stability,
(05:55):
and a lack of chaos are a lot of football today.
Blazing five in one hour so unique is overrated. I
said it right there, it's overrated. Starbucks did not invent coffee.
McDonald's did not invent the burger. Amazon was not the
first person who was really good at retail. Netflix was
(06:17):
not the first channel you had to pay for. HBO
did it thirty years ago or more. But they're all
really good at it and all really efficient at it.
I think unique is overrated. Unique is like nobody's tried
this before, and usually there's a reason for it. There's
a lot of smart people in America have been since
nineteen fifty on. If something's unique, there's a reason. Usually
(06:43):
somebody thought of it and it didn't work. The Houston
Rockets came up was small ball. No, that's adorable in
the sport in America with the tallest athletes. Let's be
the shortest team in league history. Do you watch the
box score last night? Lakers had fifty two rebounds, the
Rockets had twenty six. There were thirteen offensive rebounds in
(07:04):
that game. Lakers had twelve of them. Anthony Davis tall guy,
was great. I grew up in The first great player
I saw was Wilt. The leading scorer in league history
is Kareem They're big. The first great point guide I
saw was Magic Johnson. He was six nine and a half.
My favorite rookie was Zion. The best player in the
(07:24):
league is Lebraun size. I'm not saying it's a league
for centers, but the last finals MVP. That was a
small guy. Is six six Kobe Bryant. Houston looked small,
They look exhausted, they looked tired, sort of like smaller
Damian Lillard did at the end of that series. I
(07:45):
don't believe you build around centers. But small ball it's
like the wildcat in the NFL. Remember the Miami Dolphins
did that, We're gonna hike the ball to running backs
and it was kind of effective for at a month,
and then everybody went, there's a reason you hike the
ball to the quarterback. Unique can and often does catch
(08:08):
people off guard, Lebron said after Game one of this series.
Lebron like, you know, you can't really duplicate what they do.
It's jarring, but you can figure out unique. What is
hard to beat is efficiency. Does Starbucks have the best coffee?
Up for debate? Not my favorite, but their efficiency is
(08:29):
a remarkable Is Amazon the best retailer? They're really efficient.
All I know is I click, I want it, and
it's on my step. Ten minutes later, a drone just
dropped them in my backyard. The reality was small ball.
There's a reason the professional league in America with the
tallest best athletes never really thought of it. It doesn't work.
(08:52):
They look tired, they look small. They couldn't keep Anthony
Davis off the glass. They can't get rebounds in second
chance points. They had one offensive remount all night. That
was Russell Westbrook, another small guy. Again, I don't think
it's a center league anymore. You don't need it back
to the basket center. But Luca it's hard to stop.
Why he's big for his position. Lebron big and fast,
(09:13):
Zion big and fast. The reality is the Rockets. This
is mostly nonsense. And for the record, the reaction, why
did they have no spirit? Why do they look tired?
Why would the season on the line? Didn't you get
much of an effort? Here is James Harden, James in
(09:35):
the game with so much at stake. Why did you
guys seem so flat through three quarters? Good question? Remember
the Titans, remember that movie. There's a great line reflection,
Attitude reflects leadership. No, no small ball, no center. I'm
(09:58):
nothing against Houston, but man, they struggle to beat Okay,
see they're not competitive against the Lakers. Unique Sorry, sorry,
garage bands. It's overrated. It's not about inventing stuff. It's
about becoming really efficient at stuff that has worked for decades.
The Lakers are coming up next, so suddenly the Tampa
(10:22):
Bay Buccaneers are fascinating. Are they good? We don't know yet.
We'll see Sunday on Fox against the Saints. But the
most important buccaneer is not somebody you and I have
ever discussed, and he will decide if Tom Brady wins.
(10:43):
And you've never seen him play, and I've never seen
him play. Blazing five and forty five minutes. Tom Brady
needs help? Will this guy help him? Coming up? Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and
noon Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one
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(11:06):
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Slash Heard. They're new, They're wireless, six hours of playtime
and more base Blazing five forty minutes from now, top
of our number two. I think I'm going to keep
the beard. Any who, So there are a new head
coach or a new quarterback on your roster? Who is
(11:31):
starting for nine NFL teams this weekend? I have eight losing.
I think Carolina with Teddy Bridgewater will beat the Raiders.
Other than that, I have them all losing. I have
Tom Brady losing. My one big NFL prediction this year.
Same quarterback and head coach with no OTAs in no
(11:51):
camp is a big advantage. I also think there's a
weird fit for Tom Brady in Tampa. This wide receiver corps,
this height end corps is built to throw the ball
down the field. Translation, the offensive line is going to
be really important. Tom doesn't like to get hit. Old
quarterbacks do not like to get hit. They like their
knees protected. They want to go to their kids high
(12:13):
school football games and not limp around the field. Young
quarterbacks are a tad more daring until they get hit
for a few years and then they don't want to
get hit. Tom Brady's got a wider receiving corps. Mike Evans,
Chris Godwin, really really good tight ends. They're gonna throw
the ball down the field, and that's who the head
coach is and Breeze and Brady. In the last four
or five years avs they've aged are winning games at
(12:36):
the line of scrimmage, checking down, being smart, getting out
audibling out of Blitz's into efficiency. Slot receivers rarely throwing deep.
This is a roster that should throw the ball deep.
What does that mean? The offensive line is going to
tell me. If you told me right now the grade
of the Tampa Bay offensive line at Thanksgiving, I would
(12:58):
tell you what their record would be. To me, I
know this is a rock star roster with Gronk and
Brady and Shack Barrett and oh there's all sorts. I
want you to pay attention to somebody you have never
seen play. His name is Tristan Worfs. He's from Iowa.
He's a right tackle. He's gonna go up against Cameron Jordan,
(13:19):
who is the best four three defensive end in football.
He's on our show all the time. You will know
by the end of the first quarter if Tom Brady
is running for his life, Tampa Bay's in trouble. That's
what this game is gonna come down to. Can the
rookie from Iowa, who, unlike other rookies at right tackle,
(13:41):
had no OTAs and had no exhibition games. These will
be his first live NFL snaps against Cameron Jordan, who's
unbelievably talented. And oh, by the way, if you were
a young person in your twenties, and you go to
the NFL and your first assignment is to protect the
(14:05):
greatest living quarterback at the greatest player in league history.
Couple butterflies, maybe a little that the pressure is on
Tristan Worths, who has a legendary calorie intake. Love the kid,
but you talk about a rough opening assignment. Best four
(14:26):
or three d in the NFL. You've got to protect
Tom Brady, new pieces, new system. You didn't want to
slide Gronk over next to the rookie from Iowa to
help out. That to me is the game. This offense
has built to throw the ball down the field, and
that's not who Tommy's been the last four or five years.
It's not who Drew Breeze has been last four or
five years. And Aaron Rodgers, by the way he's been
(14:48):
leading the NFL and throwaways. He doesn't want to get
hit either, and he's really athletic. That to me is
the game. I think Tommy and the Brady the Buccaneers lose,
and I think eight of the nine new coach, new
system or new quarterback on the roster who was starting.
It don't count the Chargers because Tyrod Taylor was there.
I have eight of nine losing. Here's joy of the news. No, no,
(15:12):
this is the herd line news. Well, Cam Newton will
be making his debut with the New England Patriots this
Sunday against the Dolphins. He will, and he can't wait
to get back on the field. Excitement level is on
a thousand, excited and happy just to get back into
(15:34):
the the rhythm of game week, you know, the preparation,
just a little, the little nuggets that you can often forget.
You know, you have to remember. I've been away from
football really for a full year. He makes a good point,
which is why I think it's kind of strange that
the line is as big as it is. I don't
(15:55):
know by six and a half in big Benn and
Cam Newton, I don't know what I'm gonna get right,
I've been away from football for a long time. The
line is Miami Fox bet Miami gets six and a
half points. Now, it is not in my blazing five.
But it was the last pick I eliminated. I'll have
you know it was. It was. It came down to
two picks. I have four I love and one I'm
(16:17):
going either way, and I didn't choose the Dolphins. But
I think they win. It's it's in New England's but
as we know, it's seventy five. It's nice right now,
and there's no home field of vantage, and they've played
really well. Brian Flores has he's a Patriot. He brought
Patriots over on deferent like toa is starting. It's Fitzpatrick,
who's been a great September quarterback. Right, it's very strange,
(16:39):
but Sam's Sunday will be Cam's first game action since
Week two of twenty nineteen, so very like you mentioned
Ben Roethlisberger, very similar. Yeah, twenty twenty is a whole
new world. We're gonna see Tom Brady in a Bucks
uniform and Cam Newton and a Patriots uniform, which is
probably the last team in the NFL that I thought
Cam would be with, but it is the last team
(16:59):
I thought would be with it. I'm really interested to
see what it looks like, what the offense looks like.
It's just there's a lot of there's a lot of
incredible storylines this year. Yeah, there's a lot of a
lot of games. I'm like, I don't know what Philip
Rivers is gonna look like behind that great old line.
I don't know. I'm Colts fans. They can't can't stop
(17:22):
telling me how great they're gonna be this year. Maybe
but not the Philip Rivers that I saw last year.
But who knows. There's just there's a lot of things
up in the air. Aside from COVID and all the
pressures and complications that it has had on the off season,
there's just been so many dramatic changes. There's a lot
to watch on Sunday. I thought last night it was
(17:42):
a really good representation product for the league. It was great.
I thought it was a terrific, terrific product, but it's great.
It looked great, it sounded great, and I honestly, I
know we say it like every day, but I can't.
I mean, I was soon there watching there, I'm watching
the game, I'm eating my lemon pepper wings. I'm like,
this is football. I can't believe it. We're in the
(18:02):
middle of a pandemic. Like if you would have told
me in March that this was going to happen, I
would be like, Okay, I'm gonna have to wait and see.
Like there's a lot that has to go down, and
they've done an amazing job. This is not a political statement,
but I believe our commissioners have done a much better
job than many of our governors. I don't think that's
actually debatable. I think I think Rob Manfred got heat,
(18:23):
put his head down, got through that Miami Marlins mess.
Baseball has done a great job. It's a good lesson
and you don't have to listen to everything in Twitter
says you're right. You should probably spend a little less
time on Facebook and smart people are going to find
a way through crisis. Yeah, just give them a little
support and something that nobody wants to give anyone time,
even though we may not have a lot of it.
(18:44):
You just have to be a little patient. They've done
an incredible job. The broadcast look it looked perfect. You
and I have only had one sport. We can't figure
out what will happen college football. We've both said we're
not quite sure how you do it with the kids
on campus. And there's also you're not paying the players,
so do you put him at risk? And that's the
only sport like I'll just watch it and see what happens.
The pro leagues have done an incredible job, right job
(19:06):
that said, thank you for the transition. Colin. Coaches, players
and parents from the Big Ten have been pleading with
the conference to bring football backs since the season was postponed.
You dropped a little nugget on what day was Wednesday? Wednesday?
I said Wednesday that I had two sources who I
way up the food chain in the Big Ten that
said there's a lot of push to play in late
(19:29):
in mid October, well the other Power five conferences starting
this week. I watched the University of Miami game last night.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day released a statement asking why
his team can't play, but he also gave some hope
of return and read in part, we still have an
opportunity to give our young men what Day have worked
so hard for. The Big Ten Medical subcommittee has done
an excellent job of creating a safe pathway towards returning
(19:50):
to play in mid October. These young men have asked
so many questions, but the one that hurts the most
is why can these other teams play and we can't. Well,
the analogy I have views is when you're a little
kid and you look out your basement window and all
the kids in the neighborhood are playing, and your mom
will let you out of the house, and so the
Bengals are playing, the Browns are playing, Cincinnati's playing, high
(20:10):
school's playing, and the Buckeyes the best program in the
state inside looking out the window, going how can we
can't play? And I get the frustration, whether I agree
that you should play or not, I get the frustration
of Ohio state Buckeye nations saying our states playing, why
can't we? How can you not be frustrated, especially when
you're seeing other college teams play around the country. Yes,
(20:31):
and you're those programs you recruit against, and some of
those programs are in places where the numbers are extrectly high. Still,
so yes, obviously we know there are political things in
play here that are keeping you know, certain states more
clothes than others, as we know. But this is a
situation that I wasn't sure that this would be possible.
But I think as time goes on, there's going to
(20:52):
be more of a push to to get them back.
So Forbes released their lists of the most valuable NFL
franchises in twenty twenty, and shocker, the Dallas Cowboys at
the top of the list again. This is their fourteenth
consecutive year they've held that spot, which is remarkable. They're
valued at five point seven billion, with the Patriots at
distant seconds of four point four billion, followed by the Giants,
(21:16):
Rams and forty nine ers in the top five. Do
you know where the Kansas City Chiefs are twenty third?
Market size matters in the NFL? Well, yeah, I mean
these these numbers really shouldn't be that surprising. Look at
the cities where these teams are in. I still, I
still if I was a billionaire, Let's say I was
Jeff Bezos and I have well, I think he's isn't
he a trillionaire? Now? He may be, he may be
(21:36):
a gazillionaire. These words we don't even words to describe
how much money he is. If you were worth fifty billion,
right you telling me I only have to spend five
and a half billion to own the Dallas Cowboys, I
will argue they're worth double that. Yeah, in a world
now where people make Amazon and Jeff Bezos will make
(21:58):
nine hundred million in a day, the Dallas Cowboys are
only worth five and a half billion dollars. The Clippers
so for two billion like five years ago, didn't they
well think of it? Also, these aren't just things you
can just go buy, like, oh, I have fifty billion dollars,
I'd like to go spend six billion dollars on something.
No that that has to be available for purchase, like
(22:18):
these aren't just available out there either, so that that
that's me makes it more valuable as well to be
hard to get these. I was told these worth two
hundred and four billion. I think it's bezo two hundreds.
So I got to spend five of it to own
the Cowboys. I mean, if you're gonna buy the Washington
Post or whatever you bought, you're not gonna buy that,
you know what. I think it's kind of surprising he
(22:38):
hasn't tried to buy a team. Maybe he doesn't want
to get involved on I'm not saying Jerry Sts fans
are very yeah, you know, we're temperamental. Yeah, good stuff.
Joey Taylor of the News, Well that's the news, and
thanks for stopping by. The Herdline. Thirty minutes from now
are blazing five, very good start last year, Rocky finish,
we struggle down the stretch. We bring in my faves.
(23:00):
Kevin Clark, writer NFL for The Ringer, formerly at the
Wall Street Journal, and he is joining us now, brought
to you by Mercedes. Ben's the best or nothing, very
smart guy, great reporter, and all right, Kevin Clark on
a Friday for the record, I have a beard, you
have a mustache. Twenty twenty is a lot of different stuff.
Can we start with that? It started with laziness for me,
(23:23):
and now it's a fashion statement. And I don't know
if it's gonna go away when life returns to normal.
I think the facial hair stays. I don't know. I mean,
I think you have great facial hair right now. But
I just feel like this is a long term plan
for me that started out as a short term plan. Yeah, agree, totally.
All right. So I watched last night and my takeaway was,
oh wait, now Patrick Mahomes is efficient too. He went
(23:45):
from gunslinger to surgeon. I thought this will never make
his highlight real games, but I was kind of blown
away by his efficiency last night. You So, when I
talk to people around the league, but what this season's
going to look like? Everybody he said that it's going
to be the obvious stuff. You know, Lamar Jackson's gonna
be hard to tackle, Patrick Mahomes gonna be a great
passer because defenses to starn't going to be ready for
(24:07):
I mean, it's what people say about curb your enthusiasm, right,
They're just Larry David just playing a heightened version of himself. Right.
That's what all the great players are going to be
doing this year. And Patrick Mahomes is going to be
a better version of Patrick Mahomes because defenses will be
more simplified coverages and they'll be able to take the
next step. Dominance is the key this year, and Patrick
Mahomes will be able to take the next step. And
(24:28):
I think that it's really interesting to see how good
he can get because listen, he's gonna make five hundred
and three million dollars over the next decade. He is
the best quarterback in football. And you wonder where the
ceiling is, and right now, I don't know if there
is one. I don't know if there is one, because
this is also this is the season about cohesion, about
being on the same page. Who's more on the same
page than Andy Reid, Eric Batamy, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill,
(24:50):
Travis Kelsey and now Kinderwood Hilaire. I mean, this is
I don't see much competition outside of Baltimore in the AFC,
NFL rider the ringer, Kevin Clark, our friend, bring him
on off And so I say, everybody likes, you know,
Tampa Bay to some degree. And my theory is defense
will carry him early. Todd Bowles is underrated. Front seven's
very good, and then I think the offense will catch up.
(25:12):
But if I said to you, Kevin, it doesn't go well,
it doesn't go well, and I say, Kevin, predict it
doesn't go well, what's the problem. Where is the potential
pothole landline for this team? I would say, kind of
what the opposite of the Mahomes thing, the cohesion thing?
No one cares about throwing passes to the inch like
(25:36):
Tom Brady and all of a sudden, instead of twenty
years of institutional memory in New England and knowing exactly
where everyone's going to be, not a way on the field,
but in the building, he's coming in and trying to
replicate that very quickly. In Tampa Bay. You cannot get
those sort of OTA type reps on high school fields
in Tampa you just can't. And so I think there
might be a slow September or October with Tom Brady.
(25:59):
I think it's going to happen for him, But I
think that maybe there might be some communication issues or
timing issues or verbiage issues in the offense. You're just
learning all new things in a year where that's really
hard to do. I'm never going to bet against Tom Brady.
I think the Bucks are gonna make the playoffs. But
I think that we're going to see a better Bucks
in November and December than we are in September October,
(26:20):
just because of the mechanics of this season. There are
nine teams that either have a new head, coach, slash system,
or a new quarterback on the roster that they're starting.
I think eight lows. I do think Carolina at home
beats the Raiders who don't travel well or play munch defense.
So let's talk a little bit about Baker and Stefanski.
(26:40):
Now in Stefanski in fact coach case Keenum, I think
he's gonna make it more run centric. Think I think
Baker is going to be a component to it, not
the driver of it. That's my guess. What are you hearing?
What's your thoughts about what we see from Cleveland, who,
by the way, as a brud Lopen or at Baltimore. Yeah,
(27:00):
I think that the Baltimore thing, you kind of throw
that out. Okay, their season starts in week two on
Thursday night again Cincinnati, Right, So I talked to Andrew
Berry the Browns GM this week. Actually we talked a
bit about how he's just he's building around the quarterback.
But when I hear building around the quarterback, I think
a lot of people here getting Adell Beckham are getting
(27:21):
you know, some of the things they've done the last
couple of years where it's weapons, But I think that
a lot of it is just the basics. And that's
you traded Kevin Zeitler for Olivia Vernon and everybody got
excited and I hyped them up, but it turns out
you need a guard, and it turns out that signing
Jack Conklin to play tackle is a great move. And
we skipped so many of the basics last year that
mistakes were made. And I think that now they've seen
(27:43):
a year of not only Baker's bad habits, but also
just the holes that they had in that hyped up roster,
and they were able to plug them very quietly without hype.
I really like Kevin Stefanski. I really like the things
that they're going to do. And I just I have
a lot of optimism because this is a post hype
team that's able to see where mistakes remain. A lot
of that was Freddie Kitchens. I put way more blame
(28:05):
on Freddie Kitchens for Bakers twenty nineteen than you do.
But I think there's a huge addition by subtraction thing
in Cleveland right now. Now, by the way, we said yesterday,
all the issues in Cleveland, you cannot totally unfair to
blame Baker. He's a kid. He's had too much instability here.
He was fine in Oklahoma when you have a very
stable program. So this is an interesting one. The other
(28:26):
day I was reading a story and Aaron Rodgers said,
I think we're all a little under the radar. I don't.
I think we all kind of know what Green Bay is.
Last year they were talented, but a little bit of
a finesse team that got pushed around by the Chargers,
pushed around by Philadelphia, pushed around by San Francisco. So
they go to the draft and they get a blocking
tight end and a physical running back, an interior offensive lineman.
(28:46):
But here's the question, is the last three years Aaron
Rodgers completion percentage down, his passer rating down two years ago.
I was told it was click bait if I said,
I don't buy the Aaron Rodgers Tom Bray the goat conversation.
One is and one's just super talented. Have we seen,
in your opinion, Kevin the best eron And it's just
(29:09):
from this point forward it is just a little bit
less every year. I don't want to get into the
goat conversation, but I'm gonna make a comparison. It's going
to confuse you in that sense. Aaron reminds me at
this stage a little bit of Tiger Woods. And what
I mean by that is that there's still the capability
on every time he drops back to see the best
(29:31):
thing you've ever seen in the sport. I mean he
might roll out, and he might go back to the
sort of proto Mahomes thing he was doing a decade ago,
And there's always that possibility he still has that. It's
just becoming less and less likely every time. I still
think he's one of the most talented pastors we've ever seen.
I still think he's capable. We saw, you know, he
(29:52):
was one game away from the Super Bowl last year.
But that kind of gets dismissed because of how large
that gap was between Green Bay and the forty nine.
I like what they did. Could they have added a
receiver in the first round. Absolutely, I think that's a
separate thing. But it's as far as trying to get
a little more physical, trying to play San Francisco style
of ball. I'm fine with that. And I think that
(30:13):
he still has the capability to be a top ten quarterback,
and I still feel like he has. He has a
lot of the things he had when he was in
lead quarterback. I just think time comes for us all
and I just don't think he has the capability to
be the best quarterback in football anymore. And that wasn't
true two years ago. I think he still he still
had that. So this is just natural aging curve. I mean,
(30:34):
I think there's a lot of guys, Drew Brees, Tom Brady,
all those guys. I mean, there's an age gap there,
but at some point after age thirty five, thirty six,
you're just not going to be Mahomes or Lamar Jackson anymore.
So last year, once or twice on camera we heard
Tom Brady yelling at his receivers get open separate. Cam
(30:56):
Newton has the misfortune of inheriting those possession receivers. What
are realistic expectations for what I believe is the least
dynamic wide receiving tight end core in the league. What's
realistic for him? I think there's a very interesting thing
(31:17):
going on in New England right now, which is they
are They've been claiming to be the underdog for twenty years. Colin,
you know this. Every time there will be eight and one,
to lose one game and they'll say nobody believed in us.
So what are you talking about? Okay, So I think
that the expectations are quite low. I think realistically they
could be a nine or ten win team just because
they still have talent to find. Gilmore and J. C.
(31:38):
Jackson are two lockdown cornerbacks. We saw that sis we
last year. I think those opt outs really really hurt
their ability. And you know, no one is a better
judge at one through fifty three on the roster than
Bill Belichick and getting those mid tier veterans, and that's
that's been their bread and butter the last decade. It's
the guys who make seven, eight, nine, ten million dollars
and just having a deeper roster than everybody. Well, if
(31:59):
six of us guys opt out, well that's a problem.
And so I worry about New England a little bit
in that regard. Well, from an offensive standpoint, I think
Cam's gonna be able to get a lot of free yardage.
No one, no one in the NFL is better at
figuring out how to get free yardage over whether that's
some special teams, deep defense, offense, whatever it is, the
Bill Belichick in all three phases of the game. And
(32:20):
so I think you're gonna see a lot of easy
first downs for Cam Newton. But I agree with you.
I think overall he's not gonna have a lot of
open guys. And listen, you look at Cam's twenty fifteen
receiving corps with Carolina when he won the MVP. It
wasn't that good. Okay, you know, Greg Olson was a
good safety ballot and all that stuff, But I just
I don't think that he's really had an incredible infrastructure here.
(32:42):
And so I think I think they're nine ten win team.
I think with the opt outs, it's a different conversation,
But I like Buffalo in the AFC East. Good stuff.
Kevin Clark got a mustache, fits him well. The ringer
does great work. It is a pleasure to see you.
Last night was fun. I cannot wait for the weekend.
And thank you so much. Thanks for having mccollin. You
bet really smart guy, full of information and sourcing coming
(33:05):
up next. Sometimes sports is about matchups. Bad matchup for
the Cowboys for an opening week opponent. I think if
they played the Rams in week seven it's different. I
don't think it's a very good matchup for the Cowboys.
And remember so far is going to have no fans
in it, so they're getting a break. And I still
think it's a bad matchup. And I'll explain that after
(33:26):
the break Blazing five top of next hour. Be sure
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(33:47):
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Week One's tough. You know, I don't know, didn't get
a preseason. But I feel good about my picks. I
have one blowout, I love one favorite. I'm mostly an
(34:10):
underdog guy. Like when you give me a good quarterback
and points, I always love. That's my that's my theory
on this. I get a good quarterback often at home
and points, I'll take him. So um I think of
I think sometimes you just get bad matchups. You know.
It'd be like you come into work at a lousy
night's sleep and you have a huge meeting. That's a
bad matchup. You just you just didn't sleep well, got
(34:31):
a lot of responsibility, and a bad day gets worse.
Dallas at the Rams is not a good matchup. And
here's why. Sean McVay is a really creative coach. Creative
coaches have off season to draw plays. Andy Reid is
great in September, Doug Peterson is four and own openers.
(34:53):
Sean McVay is three and owen openers. Now. Matt Naggie's creative,
but he has mitched Trubisky. But if you have a
good quarterback Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, you know, Alex Smith, Mahomes,
and you get an offseason to draw up some plays.
Andy Reid about a month ago sent me some of
his plays he's got for his opener against the Texans.
That's what creative guys do. Sean McVay averages over thirty
(35:17):
one points a game, and season openers he'll be taking
on Mike McCarthy, conservative, little old gonna probably play it
safe to start new system, Dak. I don't think this
is a good spot for Dallas. I don't. I think
I get a better coach and Sean McVay. And by
(35:38):
the way, Mike McCarthy was nine and four and openers
with Brett Favan, Aaron Rodgers, and that was against Leslie
Fraser and Jim Caldwell and John Fox and Lovey Smith
and Jim Schwartz. Very conservative coaches, many of them defensive coaches.
In fact, all of those defensive coaches except I think Caldwell,
But I say McVay, I think clever, I think Dare,
(36:00):
I think exotic, and I think McCarthy. I think kind
of stayed and conservative and safe, and I think this
is a good spot for the Rams, who I think
have the second or third best wide receiving core in
the NFL. The Rams bring back the same coach, the
same left tackle, the same quarterback, the same tight end,
the same system, the same two top receivers. Peter Schreger
(36:25):
talked about Dallas this year and Mike McCarthy. I am fascinated.
They Oh, this Mike McCarthy thing goes Colin because look,
let's call it like it was, Steve Wilkes and the
Arizona Cardinals led by Josh Rosen beat Mike McCarthy and
the Packers. They fired Mike McCarthy and midway through that season,
and he was out of work all last year. So
(36:46):
we're supposed to believe that all of a sudden, Mike
McCarthy is going to suddenly become this rejuvenated coach of
the year type guy. Let's see if Mike McCarthy is
the magic elixir that gets Dak Prescott over the hump.
You know, this is just kind of your class. There's
nine teams with a new coaching system and a new quarterback,
and I don't like any of them this weekend except Carolina,
(37:08):
because I really think Teddy Bridgewater is underrated, and I
don't trust the Raiders who were a awful team last
year and didn't have OTAs or a preseason to work
out their issues. But I you know, it's funny about this.
You think to yourself, like, I'm watching last night and
this is what's scary about Kansas City. This was the
time to beat Kansas City. Think about this. So when
(37:29):
you tell people you got to go to Kansas City
to play the Chiefs, first thing you think about is
that's one of the loudest places. There weren't many fans
last night. What's the weather? By November, it's like hailing sideway.
But the weather was perfect. Well, mahomes, mahomes and read
are coming off the Super Bowl, you would totally get
(37:50):
them being flat in the opener. The weather was perfect,
which it never is in Kansas City. There was no
crowd to speak of, no crowd noise, and Kansas City
rolled it. Okay, that was your opportunity. And if you
if you ever want to beat a Super Bowl check
I mean even Belichick. They make the Super Bowl. You know,
when you go to the Super Bowl, you also play
longer and longer and longer, and as the keep to
(38:13):
Leep said yesterday in the show, you go back to
your hometown. A lot of these football players are from
small hometowns. They go to big universities and NFL teams,
and you go back to Allen, Texas and you're the
big star and you're in the parade and everybody loves you,
and you just get off to a late start. You're
not as good as shape when you go to OTAs
or Camp. That was the moment to beat Kansas City
(38:33):
and it wasn't really even competitive. Now, one of the
things we always say about Friday's Friday's all about hope,
Monday's all about overreaction. So these Thursday games, everybody Houston's
gonna win games because they have Deshaun Watson and Bill O'Brien. Historically,
it's pretty good at engineering an offense. But so don't overreact.
(38:55):
I think we have to as we watch football all Sunday,
We've got to really be honest about this. With no preseason,
every nobody really knows. Tampa doesn't know what they're gonna
look like. Tom Brady doesn't know what this is gonna
look like. He doesn't. You can't you can't replicate full
speed practice against buddies in the locker next to you
(39:18):
and full speed game. I think there's gonna be a
lot of surprises. There'll be a little sloppiness. I do
think defenses are gonna play fairly vanilla schemes, don't get
too complicated, which could mean a big offensive weekend. We
saw the NBA bubble was all offense. Games were every
other night. You didn't have time to adjust defensively, so
it was great for offense. I think we're gonna see
(39:40):
a lot offense Sunday, kind of generic defenses, great offenses,
blazing five hour two next
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Are sure to
catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern,
nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox
Sports Radio. Ah. Here we go on a Friday, our
(00:27):
first Friday of the football season, live in Los Angeles.
This is the Herd, wherever you may be and however
you may be listening. Thanks so much for joining us
Fox Sports Radio and right here on FS one. One
hour from now, the Blazing five five NFL Picks debuts,
(00:50):
Love My Picks, Love some Underdogs this week. Very interesting.
Joy Taylor is joining me. So we got it looked like,
sounded like mostly a regular football game, right. Well, I
wasn't prepared for all the fans, right, So I was
mentally preparing myself for completely empty stadiums, which we still
(01:12):
have to do because there are going to be some
stadiums that are empty. But the Chiefs fans were amazing.
They were there. Yeah, but it was a great night. Yeah,
I mean to me, outside of Andy Reid's foggy shield.
It kind of looked and sounded like an NFL game
or an NFL game with you know, fewer fans. I
liked it. I thought the NFL did a good job.
(01:33):
Congrats to the Chiefs and the Texans both for you know,
getting through camp and here we go. I want to
remind everybody DeShawn Watson was a better high school quarterback
than Patrick Mahomes. Deshaun Watson was a better college quarterback
than Patrick Mahomes, and one year into the league, officially,
Deshaun Watson was better than Patrick Mahomes. Remember when he
(01:55):
was setting records Deshawn's first year, He's like just going crazy.
A couple of years later, look at him. One guy
runs the league, the other is bailing water. Deshaun Watson
looked overwhelmed. We say this all the time, even for
great quarterbacks. I watched that game last night. You know
what I thought of Joe Burrow. I feel sorry for him.
(02:19):
Patrick Mahomes is the Big three, super talented, super support system,
and super coachable. Deshaun is two of those, but he
doesn't have the support system. And Deshaun Watson has been
putting a lot of makeup on those pimples for years
(02:39):
and there's just limitations. The acne's too bad with the Texans.
There's too many pimples making bad trades moving off DeAndre Hopkins,
you know, and then funny too. Once you get the
quarterback and coach right, it just everything else works. You
draft a rookie running back from LSU, I mean I
(02:59):
like him. He's that good first game. Would he be
that good anywhere else? Sammy Watkins, you know they kind
of overpaid for him. Now Mahomes and Andy Reid make
it worked, Honey, Badgers. Do you have anything left in
the tank that worked too? Once you get the quarterback
and the head coach right, everything works. I mean, Sam
Darnold was way better than Josh Allen all through high
(03:21):
school in college. Josh Allen played high school football California,
had to go to Wyoming to play. But when you
watch him now, who wins. You can be coachable, you
can work hard and be talented. What's your support system?
Anytime Patrick Mahomes makes a mistake, he's got this incredible
safety net of coaching management executives. This is why I
(03:45):
owe us support professional athletes mobility moving to a better team,
joining star players, going to better coaching, going to bigger venues,
demanding trades. Eli Manning is going to be a Hall
of Famer because before he was drafted he uttered this sentence,
I want to play for the New York Giants, not
(04:06):
the San Diego Chargers. And that is why he's a
Hall of Famer, and that's probably why no shot at
the Chargers Philip Rivers will not be. Patrick Mahomes comes
into this league as wildly talented but didn't win a
lot in college. Then he gets Brett Veats the GM
Andy Reid and they're building the old line in the offense.
(04:29):
And then he was a little bit of a gun slinger.
Last year he was only eleventh in completion percentage and
a little bit wild. And then last night, oh wait,
he took another step in the evolution. Last night he
was mister efficient. He was a tesla. He was no
longer a flamethrower. He was a surgeon. A lot of
guys come into this league. They got cannons and that's it.
(04:49):
I always use Jeff George. They never get better. That's what.
They don't have the coaching, they don't have the support system.
But last night we got another level. We've seen this
with Lamar, other level of Patrick Mahomes, audibling reading, defenses, efficiency.
It's not just talent and coachability. You need the support system.
(05:12):
That's why I'm always four players moving because they have
short careers. Here's Andy Reid afterwards. What you see is
a maturity where he's not forcing things downfield. So as
a play caller, EB and I sit there and we
go listen. We can call deep throws, but yet he'll
he's willing to check this thing down. So that's we
(05:33):
appreciate that. By the way, last night was not a
referendum against DeShawn Watson or a referendum for Patrick Mahomes,
but it is a referendum on you can't do it
alone and how valuable coaching support, executives, offensive line stability,
(05:55):
and a lack of chaos are a lot of football today.
Blazing five in one hour so unique is overrated. I
said it right there, it's overrated. Starbucks did not invent coffee.
McDonald's did not invent the burger. Amazon was not the
first person who was really good at retail. Netflix was
(06:17):
not the first channel you had to pay for. HBO
did it thirty years ago or more. But they're all
really good at it and all really efficient at it.
I think unique is overrated. Unique is like nobody's tried
this before, and usually there's a reason for it. There's
a lot of smart people in America have been since
nineteen fifty on. If something's unique, there's a reason. Usually
(06:43):
somebody thought of it and it didn't work. The Houston
Rockets came up was small ball. No, that's adorable in
the sport in America with the tallest athletes. Let's be
the shortest team in league history. Do you watch the
box score last night? Lakers had fifty two rebounds, the
Rockets had twenty six. There were thirteen offensive rebounds in
(07:04):
that game. Lakers had twelve of them. Anthony Davis tall guy,
was great. I grew up in The first great player
I saw was Wilt. The leading scorer in league history
is Kareem They're big. The first great point guide I
saw was Magic Johnson. He was six nine and a half.
My favorite rookie was Zion. The best player in the
(07:24):
league is Lebraun size. I'm not saying it's a league
for centers, but the last finals MVP. That was a
small guy. Is six six Kobe Bryant. Houston looked small,
They look exhausted, they looked tired, sort of like smaller
Damian Lillard did at the end of that series. I
(07:45):
don't believe you build around centers. But small ball it's
like the wildcat in the NFL. Remember the Miami Dolphins
did that, We're gonna hike the ball to running backs
and it was kind of effective for at a month,
and then everybody went, there's a reason you hike the
ball to the quarterback. Unique can and often does catch
(08:08):
people off guard, Lebron said after Game one of this series.
Lebron like, you know, you can't really duplicate what they do.
It's jarring, but you can figure out unique. What is
hard to beat is efficiency. Does Starbucks have the best coffee?
Up for debate? Not my favorite, but their efficiency is
(08:29):
a remarkable Is Amazon the best retailer? They're really efficient.
All I know is I click, I want it, and
it's on my step. Ten minutes later, a drone just
dropped them in my backyard. The reality was small ball.
There's a reason the professional league in America with the
tallest best athletes never really thought of it. It doesn't work.
(08:52):
They look tired, they look small. They couldn't keep Anthony
Davis off the glass. They can't get rebounds in second
chance points. They had one offensive remount all night. That
was Russell Westbrook, another small guy. Again, I don't think
it's a center league anymore. You don't need it back
to the basket center. But Luca it's hard to stop.
Why he's big for his position. Lebron big and fast,
(09:13):
Zion big and fast. The reality is the Rockets. This
is mostly nonsense. And for the record, the reaction, why
did they have no spirit? Why do they look tired?
Why would the season on the line? Didn't you get
much of an effort? Here is James Harden, James in
(09:35):
the game with so much at stake. Why did you
guys seem so flat through three quarters? Good question? Remember
the Titans, remember that movie. There's a great line reflection,
Attitude reflects leadership. No, no small ball, no center. I'm
(09:58):
nothing against Houston, but man, they struggle to beat Okay,
see they're not competitive against the Lakers. Unique Sorry, sorry,
garage bands. It's overrated. It's not about inventing stuff. It's
about becoming really efficient at stuff that has worked for decades.
The Lakers are coming up next, so suddenly the Tampa
(10:22):
Bay Buccaneers are fascinating. Are they good? We don't know yet.
We'll see Sunday on Fox against the Saints. But the
most important buccaneer is not somebody you and I have
ever discussed, and he will decide if Tom Brady wins.
(10:43):
And you've never seen him play, and I've never seen
him play. Blazing five and forty five minutes. Tom Brady
needs help? Will this guy help him? Coming up? Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and
noon Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one
and the iHeartRadio app. Acon's wireless earbuds the E twenty
(11:06):
five every day get fifteen percent off by raycon dot Com.
Slash Heard. They're new, They're wireless, six hours of playtime
and more base Blazing five forty minutes from now, top
of our number two. I think I'm going to keep
the beard. Any who, So there are a new head
coach or a new quarterback on your roster? Who is
(11:31):
starting for nine NFL teams this weekend? I have eight losing.
I think Carolina with Teddy Bridgewater will beat the Raiders.
Other than that, I have them all losing. I have
Tom Brady losing. My one big NFL prediction this year.
Same quarterback and head coach with no OTAs in no
(11:51):
camp is a big advantage. I also think there's a
weird fit for Tom Brady in Tampa. This wide receiver corps,
this height end corps is built to throw the ball
down the field. Translation, the offensive line is going to
be really important. Tom doesn't like to get hit. Old
quarterbacks do not like to get hit. They like their
knees protected. They want to go to their kids high
(12:13):
school football games and not limp around the field. Young
quarterbacks are a tad more daring until they get hit
for a few years and then they don't want to
get hit. Tom Brady's got a wider receiving corps. Mike Evans,
Chris Godwin, really really good tight ends. They're gonna throw
the ball down the field, and that's who the head
coach is and Breeze and Brady. In the last four
or five years avs they've aged are winning games at
(12:36):
the line of scrimmage, checking down, being smart, getting out
audibling out of Blitz's into efficiency. Slot receivers rarely throwing deep.
This is a roster that should throw the ball deep.
What does that mean? The offensive line is going to
tell me. If you told me right now the grade
of the Tampa Bay offensive line at Thanksgiving, I would
(12:58):
tell you what their record would be. To me, I
know this is a rock star roster with Gronk and
Brady and Shack Barrett and oh there's all sorts. I
want you to pay attention to somebody you have never
seen play. His name is Tristan Worfs. He's from Iowa.
He's a right tackle. He's gonna go up against Cameron Jordan,
(13:19):
who is the best four three defensive end in football.
He's on our show all the time. You will know
by the end of the first quarter if Tom Brady
is running for his life, Tampa Bay's in trouble. That's
what this game is gonna come down to. Can the
rookie from Iowa, who, unlike other rookies at right tackle,
(13:41):
had no OTAs and had no exhibition games. These will
be his first live NFL snaps against Cameron Jordan, who's
unbelievably talented. And oh, by the way, if you were
a young person in your twenties, and you go to
the NFL and your first assignment is to protect the
(14:05):
greatest living quarterback at the greatest player in league history.
Couple butterflies, maybe a little that the pressure is on
Tristan Worths, who has a legendary calorie intake. Love the kid,
but you talk about a rough opening assignment. Best four
(14:26):
or three d in the NFL. You've got to protect
Tom Brady, new pieces, new system. You didn't want to
slide Gronk over next to the rookie from Iowa to
help out. That to me is the game. This offense
has built to throw the ball down the field, and
that's not who Tommy's been the last four or five years.
It's not who Drew Breeze has been last four or
five years. And Aaron Rodgers, by the way he's been
(14:48):
leading the NFL and throwaways. He doesn't want to get
hit either, and he's really athletic. That to me is
the game. I think Tommy and the Brady the Buccaneers lose,
and I think eight of the nine new coach, new
system or new quarterback on the roster who was starting.
It don't count the Chargers because Tyrod Taylor was there.
I have eight of nine losing. Here's joy of the news. No, no,
(15:12):
this is the herd line news. Well, Cam Newton will
be making his debut with the New England Patriots this
Sunday against the Dolphins. He will, and he can't wait
to get back on the field. Excitement level is on
a thousand, excited and happy just to get back into
(15:34):
the the rhythm of game week, you know, the preparation,
just a little, the little nuggets that you can often forget.
You know, you have to remember. I've been away from
football really for a full year. He makes a good point,
which is why I think it's kind of strange that
the line is as big as it is. I don't
(15:55):
know by six and a half in big Benn and
Cam Newton, I don't know what I'm gonna get right,
I've been away from football for a long time. The
line is Miami Fox bet Miami gets six and a
half points. Now, it is not in my blazing five.
But it was the last pick I eliminated. I'll have
you know it was. It was. It came down to
two picks. I have four I love and one I'm
(16:17):
going either way, and I didn't choose the Dolphins. But
I think they win. It's it's in New England's but
as we know, it's seventy five. It's nice right now,
and there's no home field of vantage, and they've played
really well. Brian Flores has he's a Patriot. He brought
Patriots over on deferent like toa is starting. It's Fitzpatrick,
who's been a great September quarterback. Right, it's very strange,
(16:39):
but Sam's Sunday will be Cam's first game action since
Week two of twenty nineteen, so very like you mentioned
Ben Roethlisberger, very similar. Yeah, twenty twenty is a whole
new world. We're gonna see Tom Brady in a Bucks
uniform and Cam Newton and a Patriots uniform, which is
probably the last team in the NFL that I thought
Cam would be with, but it is the last team
(16:59):
I thought would be with it. I'm really interested to
see what it looks like, what the offense looks like.
It's just there's a lot of there's a lot of
incredible storylines this year. Yeah, there's a lot of a
lot of games. I'm like, I don't know what Philip
Rivers is gonna look like behind that great old line.
I don't know. I'm Colts fans. They can't can't stop
(17:22):
telling me how great they're gonna be this year. Maybe
but not the Philip Rivers that I saw last year.
But who knows. There's just there's a lot of things
up in the air. Aside from COVID and all the
pressures and complications that it has had on the off season,
there's just been so many dramatic changes. There's a lot
to watch on Sunday. I thought last night it was
(17:42):
a really good representation product for the league. It was great.
I thought it was a terrific, terrific product, but it's great.
It looked great, it sounded great, and I honestly, I
know we say it like every day, but I can't.
I mean, I was soon there watching there, I'm watching
the game, I'm eating my lemon pepper wings. I'm like,
this is football. I can't believe it. We're in the
(18:02):
middle of a pandemic. Like if you would have told
me in March that this was going to happen, I
would be like, Okay, I'm gonna have to wait and see.
Like there's a lot that has to go down, and
they've done an amazing job. This is not a political statement,
but I believe our commissioners have done a much better
job than many of our governors. I don't think that's
actually debatable. I think I think Rob Manfred got heat,
(18:23):
put his head down, got through that Miami Marlins mess.
Baseball has done a great job. It's a good lesson
and you don't have to listen to everything in Twitter
says you're right. You should probably spend a little less
time on Facebook and smart people are going to find
a way through crisis. Yeah, just give them a little
support and something that nobody wants to give anyone time,
even though we may not have a lot of it.
(18:44):
You just have to be a little patient. They've done
an incredible job. The broadcast look it looked perfect. You
and I have only had one sport. We can't figure
out what will happen college football. We've both said we're
not quite sure how you do it with the kids
on campus. And there's also you're not paying the players,
so do you put him at risk? And that's the
only sport like I'll just watch it and see what happens.
The pro leagues have done an incredible job, right job
(19:06):
that said, thank you for the transition. Colin. Coaches, players
and parents from the Big Ten have been pleading with
the conference to bring football backs since the season was postponed.
You dropped a little nugget on what day was Wednesday? Wednesday?
I said Wednesday that I had two sources who I
way up the food chain in the Big Ten that
said there's a lot of push to play in late
(19:29):
in mid October, well the other Power five conferences starting
this week. I watched the University of Miami game last night.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day released a statement asking why
his team can't play, but he also gave some hope
of return and read in part, we still have an
opportunity to give our young men what Day have worked
so hard for. The Big Ten Medical subcommittee has done
an excellent job of creating a safe pathway towards returning
(19:50):
to play in mid October. These young men have asked
so many questions, but the one that hurts the most
is why can these other teams play and we can't. Well,
the analogy I have views is when you're a little
kid and you look out your basement window and all
the kids in the neighborhood are playing, and your mom
will let you out of the house, and so the
Bengals are playing, the Browns are playing, Cincinnati's playing, high
(20:10):
school's playing, and the Buckeyes the best program in the
state inside looking out the window, going how can we
can't play? And I get the frustration, whether I agree
that you should play or not, I get the frustration
of Ohio state Buckeye nations saying our states playing, why
can't we? How can you not be frustrated, especially when
you're seeing other college teams play around the country. Yes,
(20:31):
and you're those programs you recruit against, and some of
those programs are in places where the numbers are extrectly high. Still,
so yes, obviously we know there are political things in
play here that are keeping you know, certain states more
clothes than others, as we know. But this is a
situation that I wasn't sure that this would be possible.
But I think as time goes on, there's going to
(20:52):
be more of a push to to get them back.
So Forbes released their lists of the most valuable NFL
franchises in twenty twenty, and shocker, the Dallas Cowboys at
the top of the list again. This is their fourteenth
consecutive year they've held that spot, which is remarkable. They're
valued at five point seven billion, with the Patriots at
distant seconds of four point four billion, followed by the Giants,
(21:16):
Rams and forty nine ers in the top five. Do
you know where the Kansas City Chiefs are twenty third?
Market size matters in the NFL? Well, yeah, I mean
these these numbers really shouldn't be that surprising. Look at
the cities where these teams are in. I still, I
still if I was a billionaire, Let's say I was
Jeff Bezos and I have well, I think he's isn't
he a trillionaire? Now? He may be, he may be
(21:36):
a gazillionaire. These words we don't even words to describe
how much money he is. If you were worth fifty billion,
right you telling me I only have to spend five
and a half billion to own the Dallas Cowboys, I
will argue they're worth double that. Yeah, in a world
now where people make Amazon and Jeff Bezos will make
(21:58):
nine hundred million in a day, the Dallas Cowboys are
only worth five and a half billion dollars. The Clippers
so for two billion like five years ago, didn't they
well think of it? Also, these aren't just things you
can just go buy, like, oh, I have fifty billion dollars,
I'd like to go spend six billion dollars on something.
No that that has to be available for purchase, like
(22:18):
these aren't just available out there either, so that that
that's me makes it more valuable as well to be
hard to get these. I was told these worth two
hundred and four billion. I think it's bezo two hundreds.
So I got to spend five of it to own
the Cowboys. I mean, if you're gonna buy the Washington
Post or whatever you bought, you're not gonna buy that,
you know what. I think it's kind of surprising he
(22:38):
hasn't tried to buy a team. Maybe he doesn't want
to get involved on I'm not saying Jerry Sts fans
are very yeah, you know, we're temperamental. Yeah, good stuff.
Joey Taylor of the News, Well that's the news, and
thanks for stopping by. The Herdline. Thirty minutes from now
are blazing five, very good start last year, Rocky finish,
we struggle down the stretch. We bring in my faves.
(23:00):
Kevin Clark, writer NFL for The Ringer, formerly at the
Wall Street Journal, and he is joining us now, brought
to you by Mercedes. Ben's the best or nothing, very
smart guy, great reporter, and all right, Kevin Clark on
a Friday for the record, I have a beard, you
have a mustache. Twenty twenty is a lot of different stuff.
Can we start with that? It started with laziness for me,
(23:23):
and now it's a fashion statement. And I don't know
if it's gonna go away when life returns to normal.
I think the facial hair stays. I don't know. I mean,
I think you have great facial hair right now. But
I just feel like this is a long term plan
for me that started out as a short term plan. Yeah, agree, totally.
All right. So I watched last night and my takeaway was,
oh wait, now Patrick Mahomes is efficient too. He went
(23:45):
from gunslinger to surgeon. I thought this will never make
his highlight real games, but I was kind of blown
away by his efficiency last night. You So, when I
talk to people around the league, but what this season's
going to look like? Everybody he said that it's going
to be the obvious stuff. You know, Lamar Jackson's gonna
be hard to tackle, Patrick Mahomes gonna be a great
passer because defenses to starn't going to be ready for
(24:07):
I mean, it's what people say about curb your enthusiasm, right,
They're just Larry David just playing a heightened version of himself. Right.
That's what all the great players are going to be
doing this year. And Patrick Mahomes is going to be
a better version of Patrick Mahomes because defenses will be
more simplified coverages and they'll be able to take the
next step. Dominance is the key this year, and Patrick
Mahomes will be able to take the next step. And
(24:28):
I think that it's really interesting to see how good
he can get because listen, he's gonna make five hundred
and three million dollars over the next decade. He is
the best quarterback in football. And you wonder where the
ceiling is, and right now, I don't know if there
is one. I don't know if there is one, because
this is also this is the season about cohesion, about
being on the same page. Who's more on the same
page than Andy Reid, Eric Batamy, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill,
(24:50):
Travis Kelsey and now Kinderwood Hilaire. I mean, this is
I don't see much competition outside of Baltimore in the AFC,
NFL rider the ringer, Kevin Clark, our friend, bring him
on off And so I say, everybody likes, you know,
Tampa Bay to some degree. And my theory is defense
will carry him early. Todd Bowles is underrated. Front seven's
very good, and then I think the offense will catch up.
(25:12):
But if I said to you, Kevin, it doesn't go well,
it doesn't go well, and I say, Kevin, predict it
doesn't go well, what's the problem. Where is the potential
pothole landline for this team? I would say, kind of
what the opposite of the Mahomes thing, the cohesion thing?
No one cares about throwing passes to the inch like
(25:36):
Tom Brady and all of a sudden, instead of twenty
years of institutional memory in New England and knowing exactly
where everyone's going to be, not a way on the field,
but in the building, he's coming in and trying to
replicate that very quickly. In Tampa Bay. You cannot get
those sort of OTA type reps on high school fields
in Tampa you just can't. And so I think there
might be a slow September or October with Tom Brady.
(25:59):
I think it's going to happen for him, But I
think that maybe there might be some communication issues or
timing issues or verbiage issues in the offense. You're just
learning all new things in a year where that's really
hard to do. I'm never going to bet against Tom Brady.
I think the Bucks are gonna make the playoffs. But
I think that we're going to see a better Bucks
in November and December than we are in September October,
(26:20):
just because of the mechanics of this season. There are
nine teams that either have a new head, coach, slash system,
or a new quarterback on the roster that they're starting.
I think eight lows. I do think Carolina at home
beats the Raiders who don't travel well or play munch defense.
So let's talk a little bit about Baker and Stefanski.
(26:40):
Now in Stefanski in fact coach case Keenum, I think
he's gonna make it more run centric. Think I think
Baker is going to be a component to it, not
the driver of it. That's my guess. What are you hearing?
What's your thoughts about what we see from Cleveland, who,
by the way, as a brud Lopen or at Baltimore. Yeah,
(27:00):
I think that the Baltimore thing, you kind of throw
that out. Okay, their season starts in week two on
Thursday night again Cincinnati, Right, So I talked to Andrew
Berry the Browns GM this week. Actually we talked a
bit about how he's just he's building around the quarterback.
But when I hear building around the quarterback, I think
a lot of people here getting Adell Beckham are getting
(27:21):
you know, some of the things they've done the last
couple of years where it's weapons, But I think that
a lot of it is just the basics. And that's
you traded Kevin Zeitler for Olivia Vernon and everybody got
excited and I hyped them up, but it turns out
you need a guard, and it turns out that signing
Jack Conklin to play tackle is a great move. And
we skipped so many of the basics last year that
mistakes were made. And I think that now they've seen
(27:43):
a year of not only Baker's bad habits, but also
just the holes that they had in that hyped up roster,
and they were able to plug them very quietly without hype.
I really like Kevin Stefanski. I really like the things
that they're going to do. And I just I have
a lot of optimism because this is a post hype
team that's able to see where mistakes remain. A lot
of that was Freddie Kitchens. I put way more blame
(28:05):
on Freddie Kitchens for Bakers twenty nineteen than you do.
But I think there's a huge addition by subtraction thing
in Cleveland right now. Now, by the way, we said yesterday,
all the issues in Cleveland, you cannot totally unfair to
blame Baker. He's a kid. He's had too much instability here.
He was fine in Oklahoma when you have a very
stable program. So this is an interesting one. The other
(28:26):
day I was reading a story and Aaron Rodgers said,
I think we're all a little under the radar. I don't.
I think we all kind of know what Green Bay is.
Last year they were talented, but a little bit of
a finesse team that got pushed around by the Chargers,
pushed around by Philadelphia, pushed around by San Francisco. So
they go to the draft and they get a blocking
tight end and a physical running back, an interior offensive lineman.
(28:46):
But here's the question, is the last three years Aaron
Rodgers completion percentage down, his passer rating down two years ago.
I was told it was click bait if I said,
I don't buy the Aaron Rodgers Tom Bray the goat conversation.
One is and one's just super talented. Have we seen,
in your opinion, Kevin the best eron And it's just
(29:09):
from this point forward it is just a little bit
less every year. I don't want to get into the
goat conversation, but I'm gonna make a comparison. It's going
to confuse you in that sense. Aaron reminds me at
this stage a little bit of Tiger Woods. And what
I mean by that is that there's still the capability
on every time he drops back to see the best
(29:31):
thing you've ever seen in the sport. I mean he
might roll out, and he might go back to the
sort of proto Mahomes thing he was doing a decade ago,
And there's always that possibility he still has that. It's
just becoming less and less likely every time. I still
think he's one of the most talented pastors we've ever seen.
I still think he's capable. We saw, you know, he
(29:52):
was one game away from the Super Bowl last year.
But that kind of gets dismissed because of how large
that gap was between Green Bay and the forty nine.
I like what they did. Could they have added a
receiver in the first round. Absolutely, I think that's a
separate thing. But it's as far as trying to get
a little more physical, trying to play San Francisco style
of ball. I'm fine with that. And I think that
(30:13):
he still has the capability to be a top ten quarterback,
and I still feel like he has. He has a
lot of the things he had when he was in
lead quarterback. I just think time comes for us all
and I just don't think he has the capability to
be the best quarterback in football anymore. And that wasn't
true two years ago. I think he still he still
had that. So this is just natural aging curve. I mean,
(30:34):
I think there's a lot of guys, Drew Brees, Tom Brady,
all those guys. I mean, there's an age gap there,
but at some point after age thirty five, thirty six,
you're just not going to be Mahomes or Lamar Jackson anymore.
So last year, once or twice on camera we heard
Tom Brady yelling at his receivers get open separate. Cam
(30:56):
Newton has the misfortune of inheriting those possession receivers. What
are realistic expectations for what I believe is the least
dynamic wide receiving tight end core in the league. What's
realistic for him? I think there's a very interesting thing
(31:17):
going on in New England right now, which is they
are They've been claiming to be the underdog for twenty years. Colin,
you know this. Every time there will be eight and one,
to lose one game and they'll say nobody believed in us.
So what are you talking about? Okay, So I think
that the expectations are quite low. I think realistically they
could be a nine or ten win team just because
they still have talent to find. Gilmore and J. C.
(31:38):
Jackson are two lockdown cornerbacks. We saw that sis we
last year. I think those opt outs really really hurt
their ability. And you know, no one is a better
judge at one through fifty three on the roster than
Bill Belichick and getting those mid tier veterans, and that's
that's been their bread and butter the last decade. It's
the guys who make seven, eight, nine, ten million dollars
and just having a deeper roster than everybody. Well, if
(31:59):
six of us guys opt out, well that's a problem.
And so I worry about New England a little bit
in that regard. Well, from an offensive standpoint, I think
Cam's gonna be able to get a lot of free yardage.
No one, no one in the NFL is better at
figuring out how to get free yardage over whether that's
some special teams, deep defense, offense, whatever it is, the
Bill Belichick in all three phases of the game. And
(32:20):
so I think you're gonna see a lot of easy
first downs for Cam Newton. But I agree with you.
I think overall he's not gonna have a lot of
open guys. And listen, you look at Cam's twenty fifteen
receiving corps with Carolina when he won the MVP. It
wasn't that good. Okay, you know, Greg Olson was a
good safety ballot and all that stuff, But I just
I don't think that he's really had an incredible infrastructure here.
(32:42):
And so I think I think they're nine ten win team.
I think with the opt outs, it's a different conversation,
But I like Buffalo in the AFC East. Good stuff.
Kevin Clark got a mustache, fits him well. The ringer
does great work. It is a pleasure to see you.
Last night was fun. I cannot wait for the weekend.
And thank you so much. Thanks for having mccollin. You
bet really smart guy, full of information and sourcing coming
(33:05):
up next. Sometimes sports is about matchups. Bad matchup for
the Cowboys for an opening week opponent. I think if
they played the Rams in week seven it's different. I
don't think it's a very good matchup for the Cowboys.
And remember so far is going to have no fans
in it, so they're getting a break. And I still
think it's a bad matchup. And I'll explain that after
(33:26):
the break Blazing five top of next hour. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon
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It's the only underwear I wear. I'm wearing one of
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Week One's tough. You know, I don't know, didn't get
a preseason. But I feel good about my picks. I
have one blowout, I love one favorite. I'm mostly an
(34:10):
underdog guy. Like when you give me a good quarterback
and points, I always love. That's my that's my theory
on this. I get a good quarterback often at home
and points, I'll take him. So um I think of
I think sometimes you just get bad matchups. You know.
It'd be like you come into work at a lousy
night's sleep and you have a huge meeting. That's a
bad matchup. You just you just didn't sleep well, got
(34:31):
a lot of responsibility, and a bad day gets worse.
Dallas at the Rams is not a good matchup. And
here's why. Sean McVay is a really creative coach. Creative
coaches have off season to draw plays. Andy Reid is
great in September, Doug Peterson is four and own openers.
(34:53):
Sean McVay is three and owen openers. Now. Matt Naggie's creative,
but he has mitched Trubisky. But if you have a
good quarterback Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, you know, Alex Smith, Mahomes,
and you get an offseason to draw up some plays.
Andy Reid about a month ago sent me some of
his plays he's got for his opener against the Texans.
That's what creative guys do. Sean McVay averages over thirty
(35:17):
one points a game, and season openers he'll be taking
on Mike McCarthy, conservative, little old gonna probably play it
safe to start new system, Dak. I don't think this
is a good spot for Dallas. I don't. I think
I get a better coach and Sean McVay. And by
(35:38):
the way, Mike McCarthy was nine and four and openers
with Brett Favan, Aaron Rodgers, and that was against Leslie
Fraser and Jim Caldwell and John Fox and Lovey Smith
and Jim Schwartz. Very conservative coaches, many of them defensive coaches.
In fact, all of those defensive coaches except I think Caldwell,
But I say McVay, I think clever, I think Dare,
(36:00):
I think exotic, and I think McCarthy. I think kind
of stayed and conservative and safe, and I think this
is a good spot for the Rams, who I think
have the second or third best wide receiving core in
the NFL. The Rams bring back the same coach, the
same left tackle, the same quarterback, the same tight end,
the same system, the same two top receivers. Peter Schreger
(36:25):
talked about Dallas this year and Mike McCarthy. I am fascinated.
They Oh, this Mike McCarthy thing goes Colin because look,
let's call it like it was, Steve Wilkes and the
Arizona Cardinals led by Josh Rosen beat Mike McCarthy and
the Packers. They fired Mike McCarthy and midway through that season,
and he was out of work all last year. So
(36:46):
we're supposed to believe that all of a sudden, Mike
McCarthy is going to suddenly become this rejuvenated coach of
the year type guy. Let's see if Mike McCarthy is
the magic elixir that gets Dak Prescott over the hump.
You know, this is just kind of your class. There's
nine teams with a new coaching system and a new quarterback,
and I don't like any of them this weekend except Carolina,
(37:08):
because I really think Teddy Bridgewater is underrated, and I
don't trust the Raiders who were a awful team last
year and didn't have OTAs or a preseason to work
out their issues. But I you know, it's funny about this.
You think to yourself, like, I'm watching last night and
this is what's scary about Kansas City. This was the
time to beat Kansas City. Think about this. So when
(37:29):
you tell people you got to go to Kansas City
to play the Chiefs, first thing you think about is
that's one of the loudest places. There weren't many fans
last night. What's the weather? By November, it's like hailing sideway.
But the weather was perfect. Well, mahomes, mahomes and read
are coming off the Super Bowl, you would totally get
(37:50):
them being flat in the opener. The weather was perfect,
which it never is in Kansas City. There was no
crowd to speak of, no crowd noise, and Kansas City
rolled it. Okay, that was your opportunity. And if you
if you ever want to beat a Super Bowl check
I mean even Belichick. They make the Super Bowl. You know,
when you go to the Super Bowl, you also play
longer and longer and longer, and as the keep to
(38:13):
Leep said yesterday in the show, you go back to
your hometown. A lot of these football players are from
small hometowns. They go to big universities and NFL teams,
and you go back to Allen, Texas and you're the
big star and you're in the parade and everybody loves you,
and you just get off to a late start. You're
not as good as shape when you go to OTAs
or Camp. That was the moment to beat Kansas City
(38:33):
and it wasn't really even competitive. Now, one of the
things we always say about Friday's Friday's all about hope,
Monday's all about overreaction. So these Thursday games, everybody Houston's
gonna win games because they have Deshaun Watson and Bill O'Brien. Historically,
it's pretty good at engineering an offense. But so don't overreact.
(38:55):
I think we have to as we watch football all Sunday,
We've got to really be honest about this. With no preseason,
every nobody really knows. Tampa doesn't know what they're gonna
look like. Tom Brady doesn't know what this is gonna
look like. He doesn't. You can't you can't replicate full
speed practice against buddies in the locker next to you
(39:18):
and full speed game. I think there's gonna be a
lot of surprises. There'll be a little sloppiness. I do
think defenses are gonna play fairly vanilla schemes, don't get
too complicated, which could mean a big offensive weekend. We
saw the NBA bubble was all offense. Games were every
other night. You didn't have time to adjust defensively, so
it was great for offense. I think we're gonna see
(39:40):
a lot offense Sunday, kind of generic defenses, great offenses,
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