Best of the Week on The Herd

This week, Colin can’t contain his excitement for the upcoming NBA Finals between the Celtics and Mavericks. A tribute to the late great Bill Walton and the legacy he leaves behind. Colin also predicts this year’s NFL playoff teams, and a riveting Monday Edition of: “Where Colin was Right and Wrong!” Plus, the great Tom Brady joins the show! 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, it is a Friday, A very very interesting Friday
live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd. Wherever you may be,
however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part
of your day. Jamax Dallas Mavericks. He was on this

(00:46):
team at Christmas because he was unwrapping presents, Mavericks dancing
in his head. They are now in the NBA finals. Uh,
something to behold last night, that first eight nine minutes. Yeah,
Luca was just insane.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
I think I texted you some expletives about how good
Luca was. We could stop this Anthony Edwards face of
the league nonsense.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
Okay, it's Luca.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Well, let's let's start with that. What's really scary about Dallas?
So they opened the playoffs against old experienced Della Clippers
got rid of them. Next it was as an Underdog,
the young, talented as sending OKC thunder got rid of them.

(01:32):
And then that was the best defensive team in the league.
The biggest team in the league, Minnesota Nah got rid
of them three for three. Next out the Celtics. They
take the most threes, they make the most threes. But
so far, three different variations, the veterans, the talented kids,
and the big, intense defenders knocked them all out. The

(01:55):
Mavericks because of those moves at the trade deadline, had
been a very good team in an era of a
lot of very good teams. We'll have our six different
champion this year. But unlike the Celtics, I actually see great.
Not all the time, but I see it, And that
first half for Dallas that was all time stuff. Luca
did what he did to Phoenix a couple of years

(02:16):
ago into Game seven. And I've said this about Boston,
who watched that last night with the rest of us.
Boston's a very very high functioning team, very good collaboration
and chemistry. But I don't see great because their number
one player, Jason Tatum, sometimes drifts, he's off ball, doesn't
control the game. The MAVs have a lower floor because

(02:38):
they are dependent often on Luca. But to me I
watched last night, Dallas is a higher ceiling. Whereas the
Celtics can overcome an off Tatum night and still win
by double digits. Now, some of that is the Eastern Conference.
Dallas can't. I don't think have off Luca Knights. But
here's the thing, he's not really having any Luca is

(02:59):
the best tough shot maker I've ever seen. You'll push
back and you'll say Steph, but Steph moves so quickly.
He's so nimble and twitchy and quick. He gets lots
of open looks. What about Kobe. Kobe could jump over
you more athletic than Luca. Luca scores body on body.
Degree of difficulty is all time stuff. He can get

(03:23):
separation from time to time, but usually it's in a crowd,
bumping off somebody, leaning into somebody. A great tough shot maker.
Another advantage for Dallas is the best way to win
a championship, unless you're a dynasty and just have more
good players, is to be a slight underdog that's actually
played better competition and beaten several teams in many close games.

(03:47):
That builds confidence that is not Boston that's absolutely Dallas. Plus,
we can now stop debating something. The two best players
in this league and it's gonna be this way for
a long time, are Yo Kich and Luca. Now again
face of the league doesn't have to be the best player.
Sometimes Tim duncan best player for years. They don't really

(04:10):
want to embrace it. But Yo Kich and Luca are
the best players in the league. What you're watching with
Luca offensively, what you're watching with him offensively is Michael
Jordan dominance, but a much better passer. And whereas we
used to complain when Lebron came into this league and
challenged mj is the greatest all time, and it was

(04:32):
a fair criticism early Lebron didn't have that killer instinct.
He passed up big shots too often. Yeah, that's not Luca.
Luca takes it as a personal affront. If a kid
thirty rows in snickers at him, he's offended by anybody
that doesn't consider him the best player on the floor.

(04:53):
So Dallas is a very good team that in spurts
of the two teams left shows me greatness. And what's
scary is those spurts of greatness are getting longer and
more sustained and happening more frequently. And I'm not sure

(05:13):
who I like in the finals. Here's Kyrie after I.

Speaker 5 (05:17):
Just had that utmost confidence when I was going to
sleep last night, waking up and shoot around, like I said,
and just feeling like we were gonna play one of
our best games and you didn't know how it was
gonna happen, but I felt that way. And that's the
type of confidence that you know, I felt. Majority of
this playoffs is just you know, no matter what's going
on in the beginning of the game, middle of the game,
before the game, you know, our words of affirmation and

(05:39):
positivity go a long way.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
The reason Kyrie Irving is in Dallas is because of Luca.
The truly all time greats forced the owner's hand, forced
the GM's hand. Kobe did this in Los Angeles, and
they went and got pau Gasol. They took a big swing.
They couldn't just sit there. I mean, Dirk Novitzky's a

(06:04):
Hall of Famer, but Dirk got his title at thirty two.
Luca is twenty five. He already has more all NBA
first team selections than Steph Curry and more all time
than Dirk. He's only been in the league six years.
Luka isn't just a Hall of Famer. He feels like

(06:26):
a dynasty guy, multiple title guy. You could be a
little more patient with just a mere Hall of famer
like Dirk, a really nice guy. But Luca's got an
edge and impatience and anger and a game that even
Dirk didn't have. So they sat there. Jalen Brunson takes

(06:49):
him along with Luca to the Western Conference Finals. They
let Jalen Brunson leave right he moves to New York
and he starts crushing. Now it's embarrassing, and Nico Harrison
and Mark Cuban think, Okay, this isn't this isn't Dirk.
This this is Dirk plus jet fuel. This is Dirk

(07:12):
playing with twenty five more pounds, stronger, a little better,
with twelve red bulls in him. This is different, Lucas different.
I don't just throw out the MJ thing. This is
what MJ looked like MJ. Moore, vertical Luke of the
better passer, like the best world's best athletes can't stop him.
I mean, game's over first ten, first, one hundred and

(07:33):
fifty three seconds, ten points, NBA game against the best
defensive team in the league, and so they take a swing,
and they needed to take a swing. And when they
took it, I remember going on the air and saying,
you've gotta do something. Don't do Andrew Louck and play
the patient game, go out and get star receivers ed rushers. Okay,

(07:56):
you gotta take a big swing. Kyrie blew up the Celtics,
blew up the calves with Lebron. He blew up Brooklyn
and I said, you gotta do it. You gotta take
a swing, and they did, and it's worked. I don't
think it's going to be a thirty five year marriage.
This is not going to last forever. They'll be divorce
proceedings eventually. I mean, let's be honest. In May of

(08:17):
twenty seventeen, Kyrie came out and said he and Lebron
had the kind of special relationship and trust that you
could never find in the league. In July requests it
a trade. Okay, So he's a very emotional guy and
it may not work forever, but bro, it's working now.

(08:38):
And when it's working like last night and in that
first half, there's nothing like it in the league. There
is nothing like this in the league. And I said
it then and I'll say it again. Not every relationship.
You can date and you can marry, you can date, trade,
you can do a four to oh one. K Kyrie's
not lasting forever. It doesn't have to, but for the time,

(09:01):
for the moment, he's in his essence, and Dallas is
Hammon and here's Jason Kidd.

Speaker 6 (09:07):
After to be able to have a talented young man
like Hi who's playing at a high level, A lot
of people missed on it, but it's it's all right
because now they're writing about that that it does fit.
And but those two worked at it. It just didn't
happen overnight. And that's a beautiful thing. And so it's

(09:30):
all right to be wrong, and we're not always right,
but it's it's it's a beautiful combination, those two playoffs
of each other. And you can see that they care,
they care about one another when.

Speaker 5 (09:42):
They're talking about me or saying things about me as
a teammate. It's been a lot of people, you know,
I don't want it's too many people to name, but
that's not where my focus has been. It's always been
on making sure my teammates understand who I am and
what I want to accomplish with them, and being selfless
in my approach, and also realizing that, you know, everyone's
going to have a past, Everyone's going to be judged

(10:04):
for that. But I think putting your best foot forward
and focus on the future is the best place to be.
You know, all the stories and narratives are going to
exist forever. I'm sure I'll hear it too i retire.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
I mean, let's be honest, he had no market. Kyrie
irving out of Brooklyn was a hazmat spill with a jumper.
But because of that, Dallas didn't have to give hardly
anything up. We looked it up this morning. The average
cost to acquire an All Star three or four top picks,

(10:35):
pick swaps, high level players. Dallas gave up one first
rounder and two vets. That's it. They took a huge swing.
Huge swings in life don't have to pay off forever.
They have to pay off now, especially if you don't
surrender much to get them. J Mack, we are going

(10:58):
to have I think we're gonna have an all time final.
This is gonna be one of those I remember old
enough to remember when Jordan met the Utah Jazz in
the finals the first time, and the feeling was I
remember this being reported Utah is a small market, nobody
will watch, and it is I think it remains the
highest rated NBA Finals ever. You had the small market

(11:22):
guys against the legend the dynasty. You had Utah was
a physical team that gave Michael trouble. Michael could struggle
at times. Against them, you had controversial plays and calls
and star power. And this finals may not be a Lakers,
you know, Nicks. It may not be the Heat, but
it is four stars, three domestic, the hottest player on

(11:48):
the planet, the team we keep thinking is supposed to
win the big brand. To me, this is a great final.
If you go best ten players in this final, you're
getting to eight or nine, and then you're you're like,
you're getting to eight and you're like Drew Holliday and
this stuff like this is your first four players are
all Hall of famers. Yeah, your first four Hall of famers.

(12:10):
You're getting to five and you're like, Okay, poor zingis
wait wait, Derek White, Drew Holiday. Derek White's making nineteen
large a year next year and would be a two
on most teams. He could be the sixth best player
in the series.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
We oh, Derek Lively makes your top ten. Luca tried
to hand him the MVP.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Trophy last night.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
Hey that kid, how about that as a as a
rookie out of college basketball, It's not like he came
out in the old days a junior or senior. You
got one year of college at Duke, walked in in pressure,
high leverage situations.

Speaker 7 (12:41):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
I mean, if you're Dallas, you're Nico, you take a
swing on Kyrie trade deadline, then this becomes the rookie
out of Duke.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
And to your point about always getting off stuff that
doesn't work. Remember last summer they got Grant Williams. That's
from Boston. Grant Williams at like six or seven threes
in a game seven against the Bucks.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, great pick up, great pickup, greatly. Was it working?

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Trade deadline? Let's get about it here, let's go rerouted.
And that goes to your theory about it. If it's not
worry if.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
Something works, double down. If it doesn't, don't fall in
love with your idea. Just get off it. Grant Williams
didn't work, Just get off it.

Speaker 8 (13:12):
Do you want to guess the spread for game one
if you haven't lost a right, right, don't tell me,
don't tell me, don't tell me. Oh my god, I
would not Boston has been I like Dallas to win
game one.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Wow, Okay, well.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
I think they're underdogs.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
I would say Boston favored by three and a half.

Speaker 4 (13:29):
It's six and a half.

Speaker 9 (13:30):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
I love Dallas. I love Dallas. Okay, I mean Dallas
is I mean even the Minnesota series had multiple really
intense close games.

Speaker 4 (13:40):
Did lose Game one against the paper Clips and OKAC.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
But they're not the same team. They're playing with the
level of conference.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
I say Boston's more like Minnesota or OKAC.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
I don't think they're like either. I think they're like
the Warriors. They're very three reliant, and now without porzingis
one hundred percent healthy, they're a smaller team.

Speaker 4 (13:57):
Well just should be back, right.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
If you don't play at all and then you enter
a finals against the Dallas team that's playing defense like
it hasn't played forever. This is not the kind of
series that you can just merge onto the freeway and
you're just doing eighty like everybody else. This is a
This is an all timer way. I watched that last night,
and I'm like, there are I never see great with Boston.
I see incredibly fluid, collaborative chemistry, very good could win.

(14:23):
Like Dallas has these spurts. You're like, yeah, that's this
stuff is way up. But I think Boston feels like
the Warriors, but without the confidence. They play like the
Warriors without Porzingis. They're small like the war but they
don't have that attitude. They don't got Draymond, Steph Clay,
especially kd. They don't have that vibe, that feel, that confidence.

Speaker 4 (14:47):
Yeah, that's a that's a good comparison.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Dallas doesn't feel like Dallas is.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Just they're flexible. They could be any We can match
up with Bigs. We got wings, we got guards. I'll
be with you. Actually, if Horford play, if Porzingis doesn't play,
I'll take.

Speaker 4 (14:59):
The I'll take Dallas in game one.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, because you could hide Luca on Al Horford.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Well, you're gonna pick and roll Boston to death without
porzing or Horforro get crushed. That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon eastern non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
The great Bill Walton, broadcaster, College Venom NBA all Star,
passed away yesterday, seventy one years old. Two things about
his game I feel very strongly about. If he remained healthy,
he would be in a short list of the second
greatest center of all time to Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He

(15:39):
would not have been that score. But Shack was all
power a Keem was mostly footwork. Wilt was flashy but unfocused.
Russell was dominant defensively but limited offensively. Walton had a
dexterity that was hard to match. He was layered. He
was Jokich fifty years ago. The second thing I feel
strongly about out his game today would have aged beautifully

(16:05):
again seventy four seventy five. He was often viewed and
seen more regularly in college at National Power UCLA, where
two years he went thirty to zero than he would
be in Portland because when he broke into the NBA,
I began watching the NBA. In the Walton days in
the Pacific Northwest, you'd get college games as often as

(16:26):
NBA games, even the finals were on tape delay. What
I find fascinating about Bill Walton is not just his game,
which again I think would have aged beautifully. That he
was almost unique and mythological as a player. There was
nothing like him or his personality. And as I watched

(16:47):
people yesterday honor and celebrate him, and I realize, and
I think most sports fans do, who got a glimpse
of Bill even on YouTube highlights, that he was years
and generations and decades before his time. I wonder if
he entered the NBA now, would he be honored and
celebrated to this level. We live in a country now

(17:09):
where people are more tribal than ever, and Bill Walton
was the absolute opposite of stick to sports. I mean,
the polar opposite. Would you accept somebody who was gifted
but may have thought much differently about politics in the
world than you do. When Walton broke into the NBA,

(17:32):
he was seen as unique, funny, quirky, odd and incredibly gifted.
His best friend was nature. Second best was John Wooden.
He was like Bigfoot with a hook. You didn't see
him very frequently. I first got introduced to him in
the Northwest. You'd see him against the Sixers and Doctor j.

(17:55):
But we put our arms around the big fella. Would
we do it today. I'm afraid we wouldn't. The world
we live in doesn't have room for opinions that many
people don't agree with. And what Bill believed in. He
was anti Vietnam War and he was on the right
side of that. For the record, war we probably should

(18:16):
have never been in. But Bill had strong opinions and
he really wasn't concern how they landed. For you, Oh,
he could be a great teammate. When he went to UCLA,
he was a hippie with long hair. John Wooden said,
you need to get a haircut. He said, I'm not
going to John Wooden said, well, mish a big fella.

(18:37):
Bill got on his bicycle, wandered cross campus and got
it cut. But sometimes I wonder the people we honor
if they were around today and breaking into sports, would
we accept him as much as we honor him today.
Bill was very unique and very different. Cool stuff to celebrate.
I wish we did it today more often.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Be sure to catch live editions The Herd weekdays and
neon eastern nine am Pacific, two.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right
into the NBA great.

Speaker 10 (19:09):
Fine all happening in only one place. This League Uncut,
the new NBA podcast with me, Chris Haynes and me
Mark Stein join us as we team up to expound
on everything we're covering. Hearing and Chason.

Speaker 4 (19:24):
Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.

Speaker 10 (19:27):
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
So we were saying, since the league expanded the National
Football leag you expanded to fourteen playoff teams seven AFC
cente at seven NFC that on average there's seven new
playoff teams. And here's some other things. The new ones
last year with the Browns, Lions, Packers, Texans, Rams, Steelers.
Remember the Rams were supposed to be terrible, the Texans

(19:53):
were a laughingstock. Lions, give me a break. Now they
all made the playoffs. The six teams that miss the Bengals, Jags, Chargers, Vikings, Giants,
and Seahawks. Four new division winners last year Ravens, Texans, Cowboys,
and Lions. And at least one team since they expanded
the playoffs, at least one last place team has won

(20:18):
their division. Last to first Browns Texans in twenty twenty three. Yeah,
one team has made the playoffs. Excuse me, after finishing
last in the division the prior season. They don't necessarily
win the division, but they make the playoffs. And so
there's just certain things in sports that are true, Like
your number one pick in the NBA is not going

(20:39):
to elevate you immediately to greatness. It just doesn't work
that way. Wemby's remarkable. Thank God for the Pistons, or
they would have been the worst team in the league.
So here's the seven teams that on the surface look
like the best bets to turn their season around. Number
one's an easy one. Cincinnati. They missed the playoffs by

(20:59):
one game without Joe Burrow. That's gonna be a different
team again with Jake Browning in arguably the best division
in the league, certainly defensively really good. They missed the
playoffs by one game. Cincinnati will be a playoff team
if Joe Burrow is healthy. The second one, the biggest

(21:22):
coaching upgrade from Brandon Staley to Jim Harbaugh would be
the Chargers. They had actually made the team with Brandon Staley,
made the playoffs. Last year, everything circled the drain and
they became a really bad football team by Thanksgiving. In
the end, though, Harbaugh is not only a great coach,

(21:43):
but he's a quick turnaround artist. This team doesn't have
super Bowl perimeter weapons everywhere else they're very good. Number
three is actually the Jets. If Aaron Rodgers is just
healthy with that defense, they should win a bunch of games.
Nine to ten. I don't buy the eleven, twelve, thirteen.
He is forty will be off an achilles surgery. They

(22:07):
really have one big time back and one receiver who's
a star that doesn't have a history of injuries. But
if people are healthy, including Aaron Rodgers, they're gonna be
in virtually every game. I mean, just think of how
bad they were offensively last year. I would say four.
The biggest quarterback upgrades the Atlanta Falcons Desmen ritter A.

(22:31):
Kirk Cousins. This is a really good offense with an
excellent O line. Only Detroit's O line is better, unquestionably better.
Outside of that, Atlanta's in the top four or five. Again,
this is a really really weak division, feels like it
is most years, and kirk Cousins if he can't play early.

(22:52):
They drafted Michael Pennix. The knock on Atlanta. They don't
have a consistent pass rush, and they have too many
good quarterbacks. Say number five is Chicago. I mean Chicago
felt like a bad team last year. They won seven games,
they can't win nine with a transformational, transformative college quarterback.

(23:14):
They've upgraded the offensive line. They've actually drafted pretty good.
And if you go to look at Matt Ebervlus's defense
Week ten on last year when they got Montees sweat,
it was really really good. I think you have to
keep your eye on Indianapolis. We loved what we saw
with the quarterback Anthony Richardson, and we love Shane Steikn.

(23:34):
They went nine and eight with Gardner Minshew and Anthony
Richardson is like jump off the television explosive. I think
you got to keep your eye on the Colts and
number seven the Jaguars. They went nine and eight last year.
And how many different injuries did Trevor Lawrence suffer during

(23:56):
the season. Christian Kirk, their number two receiver, was out
for much of the season. They drafted that receiver out
of LSU Brian Thomas, so kirksback Trevor's healthy. Brian Thomas
offensive coach weird division We don't know if Tennessee's any good.
So it does feel like if you had to make

(24:16):
a bet, either there's a coaching upgrade, a quarterback upgrade,
a health upgrade, an acquisition upgrade. Bears, Bengals, Chargers, Colts, Falcons, Jags, Yes,
the New York Jets. I do not think the Jets
are going to be a great team, but could they
be good to very good if Aaron's healthy and Breese

(24:38):
Hall doesn't get banged up. Absolutely, Miami now is paying
all their money to wide receivers. How's that going to play?
As to a wants a contract and probably doesn't get
one going into the season. I like Miami. Miami and
the Jets play. I believe last game of the year.
I think it could be a deciding game. It's in
cold weather, New York. That helps. But I do think

(25:01):
those are the seven teams. I look at Bears quarterback
up grade, Bengals quarterbackup grade, Chargers coaching upgrade, Colts quarterback
up grade, Falcons quarterback up grade, Jaguars, health upgrade, Jets
quarterback up grade.

Speaker 4 (25:15):
Okay, so you want to take it next level? I
love this. These are great teams.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
Now look at last year's playoff teams, and tell me
who's not making it and who each of these are replacing.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
I'll give you Falcons over Bucks. That's an easy Well,
let's go back.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Let's go back to the beginning of this segment, the
first graphic when we named the playoff teams last year. Yes,
so let me throw one at you off the top. Okay,
So I would say in the AFC, Pittsburgh is odd
man out.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
Agree.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
I think Baltimore's not going anywhere. Best running organization arguably
Burrow was back. Deshaun Watson's whole season was weird. Is
he gonna play? Is he not? We like their GM
and we like their coach, we like their old line,
we like their weapons. I would say Pittsburgh out the
division's tougher. I think Miami, do we really believe Tua

(26:06):
is going to be healthy again? I think that's arguable.
Outside of that, I'm sorry, I think the Bills are fine.

Speaker 3 (26:13):
The only problem is you have two teams, Jags and Colts,
from that division. So will you now put three in
with the Texans? Or do Texans slide back with a
tough first place schedule but their roster's pretty sick?

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Well, let's go to the NFS. Okay, I don't like Dallas.
I think they couldn't improve their team. M I think
Mike McCarthy's on the hot seat if they struggle in
the first six weeks. I think they're going to become
very Dak dependent without having a solid run game. A
CD lamb. Now, you hope he gets signed early to

(26:46):
get rid of that drama. But I think Dallas there
is a history when they're very Dak dependent, throwing thirty
eight times or more. They're a sub five hundred team.
I think Washington makes a big leap up. So Washington
was the eighth team. I would have said made the playoffs,
but I haven't seen Jane Daniels play. But I think
Washington's better. Philadelphia is better. They got their coordinators in

(27:06):
Saquon Barkley. Dallas could miss the playoffs. I think the Bucks, Bucks,
I mean it.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
Was we got that, but there's one other you gotta pull.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Well, no, right now, I said the easy ones for
me are the easiest ones are Steelers, Dolphins, Cowboys, Bucks,
Browns two right Browns two okay, okay, so Cleveland, Miami, Pittsburgh.
So I'm at five and I would say Dallas and Tampa.
Now we also know this to be true. There will

(27:37):
be a team that will lose a star quarterback. Yeah,
so I'm not going to predict who that's going to be.
But sixty six quarterbacks played last year, so there's no
question that some great quarterback in this league. I mean,
if Matt Stafford, they made the playoffs. If Matt Stafford
goes down, rams aren't making the play Two years ago,
he went down right, and he tends to, even if
it's banging his hand in a helmet, he gets banged up,

(27:59):
he sits in the park to the very end, he
takes shots. They're all lines better interior. I don't know
if it's great left tackle. But there will be a
team more too. Anthony Richardson last year, we love the Colts,
and then he got hurt. We love the Bengals, then
Burrow got hurt. So I can look at five and say,
circumstantially they won't be as good. You know there's going
to be two more that lose a quarterback.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
Yeah, ultimately, I kind of like it now. The other
one is you have Lions and Packers making it again
along with Bears, so that division becomes very very challenging.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Well, I think there's an argument it's the best offensive
division in football. The AFC North is the best defense
division in football, So I yeah, I think Minnesota finishes
probably fourth. Yeah yeah, And that is an offense that's
only missing a star quarterback.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
Well, they're like, who's starting Week one? Is a Darnold
Darnol We'll see you think Darnold?

Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, I think he'll start. He'll get some reps. So yeah,
I mean, I don't think any of this, but six
point eight new playoff teams per year. That's crazy, or
is it? I think you know, it's funny. So the
league has gone out of its way, we know this
with rule changes to protect the quarterback. Yet sixty quarterbacks play.

(29:14):
The year before that, it was like fifty four or
fifty five somewhere around there. So the league is doing
everything they can so as simultaneously, the league is doing
its best job to protect quarterbacks. There's an argument that
because the players won in the CBA and got fewer practices,
that it's hurt the offensive lines more than any unit.

(29:36):
Because offensive lines in football are very much a cohesion
and chemistry play. They're practicing less, so offensive line play
has regressed badly over the last three to four years,
maybe longer. In the CBA, they don't practice as much,
and of all the units that need time, of all

(29:58):
the individual units, it's probably o line. So the league
is doing it through safety measures protecting the quarterbacks. But
the players think they win. Right when you go to
the CVA, it's like, oh, we won. We don't have
to practice as much. That's awful for the league. You
want your offensive lineman to practice. And as the league

(30:19):
is more mobile and younger, you're getting I mean, how
many times does an offensive line bring everybody back? It's
almost unheard of. Somebody's a free agent, somebody gets moved.
I mean, it's just almost unheard of. Like offensive line,
now you have what they call swing tackles. The left
tackle can play right tackle. It used to be you
were a left, you were a right. Now you have
guards moving to center, so there's so much mobility on

(30:42):
the offensive line. We've also had two or three great
offensive line coaches retire, like Dante Scarnekia. Jimmy Johnson's told
me for years the hardest good coach to find on
the staff is offensive line coach. So you've got legends retiring,
fewer practices, more mobility and flexibility swing tackles, so the
offensive line now is just in flux all the time,

(31:04):
and quarterbacks go down.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
I know you mentioned the Ravens as a team not
going anywhere. One of my buddies did a thing online
where he said the Ravens have lost more players who
played fifty percent of their snaps than any playoff team
in recent memory. And like they lost a lot of
guys and their defensive coordinator. Be careful with the Ravens
this year. My brother goes to Gaines.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
He's a fan. Just be careful with the Ravens.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
Called Greg Olsen around the corner hour or two.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Eastern not a em Pacific.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
We do it every Monday. It's called Colin Wright, Colin wrong,
and here we.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Go where Colin was right?

Speaker 1 (31:39):
I said Luca on Tuesday last week, of all the
remaining players, was the best player. Yes, he can be selfish,
doesn't play well with everybody in his career, but he
leads the NBA playoffs and points assists, third in rebounding indisputable.
His degree of difficulty even on his made shots is

(32:00):
like something I've almost never seen before.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
We were right on that where Colin was raw.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
But I was wrong on the Mavericks. I didn't know
if they could beat the Clippers. I thought they'd losed
a young and fun okac. I thought Minnesota would dispose
of them, probably in six or seven. But gafferd PJ.
Washington to go along with Luca and Kyrie, have become
a really dynamic, energetic team that is tremendous if the

(32:29):
games aren't close late.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
I was wrong where Colin was right.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
Well, I said Boston would get to the finals and
it would be sweeps or gentlemen sweeps. Throw in the injuries.
They're forty one and eleven against the East. Part of
it is the East is dreadful. The other part is
the Celtics are deep, resourceful, and they improved their coaching staff.
You are seeing what virtually everybody, including our show predicted.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Where Colin was raw.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
Ant is not quite ready to get to the finals.
He was very good against Phoenix and Denver. He has
struggled from the field team low plus minus. I love
watching him play. I think he works really hard. I
think by the end of next year he could be
the face of the league with Wemby and maybe Luca.
But right now he's shooting thirty nine percent from the field.

(33:18):
He looks a bit tired, he's lost some energy, and
at times on his jumper, he's lost some confidence.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Where Colin was right.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Robert Sala, according to reports, is going to get more
involved in the offense, which worries me. I talked about
this in the last couple of weeks with Nat Hackett.
Since Sala arrived three years ago, it's the lowest scoring
offense in the league, regardless of coordinator and quarterback. I
like Robert Sala, but I thought Hackett was Aaron's buddy,

(33:48):
not an elite candidate. And here we are where Colin
was wrong. The Suns, according to a reporter Evan Sidery,
are hoping to pursue Lebron James get older and more expensive.
I don't get it.

Speaker 7 (34:04):
That one.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
I don't get at all. I hope this kid has
got good sources, because I do not understand even doubling
down on this group. I like Booker, but you could
get a haul for him. What you don't want to
be in this league is old, brittle and expensive and KD.
Beale and Lebron together to me is problematic.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Where Colin was right.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
Sean Peyton publicly this week we showed you earlier, came
out and said bo Nicks is ahead of schedule. This
doesn't surprise us. Bo Nicks at Auburn at Oregon insanely accurate.
Sixty one college starts in two good conferences, so you
know what you're getting. And I also think the key

(34:47):
with bow Nicks he looks like a Sean Payton quarterback.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Where Colin was right.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
DJ Moore, star receiver for the Bears, defended justin field
to the end. And I wait until he has a
couple of practices with Caleb Williams and he's going to
be a Caleb Williams guy. This week, Dj Moore acknowledged, Yeah,
this guy's good. I like him a lot. Pro athletes

(35:14):
are mostly about winning, and some become later in their
careers about money. Sometimes they go hand in hand. But
Caleb Williams, in my opinion, is a transformative prospect. You
need help, you need production, you need the right coach.
But the kid is just different. Where Colin was right,
where Colin was wrong.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
On a Monday, be sure to catch live editions of
the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, not a Empacific.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Well, he's part of the team.

Speaker 7 (35:40):
Now.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
It's too bad I don't run a four four five
and have good hands, because if we had some sort
of networking or mural thing, I think we'd win. Tom
Brady joining us live now from an undisclosed location, I'll
just say it's nice. And he's got a better studio
than I do today. All right, twenty three years, seven
super Bowls, five MVPs. You said something recently, Michael Rubins,

(36:01):
Michael Rubin's Place, brilliant guy for fanatics, and you were there,
And I want to play this bite because I had
a little pushback on this roll that bite of Tommy.

Speaker 11 (36:09):
You have fifty three guys on the team, and you
think it's about you, ay about you, It's about us.
And the biggest problem I see with a lot of
the young players today, you guys are making it too
much about I and me because of social media, because
of branding and all that. It's fine, you're not going
to win. There was a difference between being a star
and being a champion.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
So I heard that and I said, in your era,
you may have had a star quarterback coming out of
college every five years and l Way a Peyton Manning,
but even a big Ben was a nobody. Even you
at a Michigan you're battling for starts. Could I make
the argument that it's virtually impossible to come out of

(36:48):
college now you're paid in il to come out of
college and not be a bit of a celebrity, that
it's harder to avoid those trappings today Tom that it
was in your era.

Speaker 9 (36:58):
Yeah, that's a great point. I really that kind of
hit home for me. When I went to the University
of Michigan. I forgot we had lost in one of
the playoff rounds and coach Harbought invited me back to
do a national signing day, and it was Jared Jeeter
was there, and they almost formatted the day at Michigan
as the NFL Draft, and all these kids were basically

(37:21):
coming from high school to college. And I remember leaving
there that day thinking that it was a great event
for the University of Michigan, and it was a really
cool event for a lot of the players and the
families who were being recruited out of high school. But
at the same time, I think we were doing a
real disservice to those young aspiring athletes because we were giving

(37:43):
them so much fame and notoriety just for playing high
school football. And you're right, I think a lot of
the things that we see now because of really the
digital age and the proliferation of information spread so quickly
to everyone, where.

Speaker 7 (38:01):
There are so many young high school athletes.

Speaker 9 (38:03):
That are getting notoriety and fame, and you're just at
such a young developmental type of age, and it's just
a challenging thing for your brain to wrap your head
around it so much. I think when I look back
to when I was coming out of college, when I
was basically getting into the pros, there were such few

(38:23):
outlets to cover you that you really felt like you
had to do a great job.

Speaker 7 (38:27):
You had to do.

Speaker 9 (38:28):
Great things to get noticed, and that was really the motivation.
Man If I could ever get on the cover of
a sports illustrated, if I could ever get written about
in the local paper, that will mean that I did
something really extraordinary, And that was a not always the motivation,
but that was really the effect of what you put
out as an athlete.

Speaker 7 (38:48):
And today it's obviously just so much different.

Speaker 9 (38:50):
So I don't know, I think resilience and determination, overcoming adversity. Yes,
those are really sustainable traits and players and athletes and
obviously entrepreneurs, businessman, look at you, look at all the
things you've had to overcome. And I just don't want
us to give so much to the younger generation before
they really have the full perspective on what those things

(39:13):
mean for them.

Speaker 7 (39:14):
So I recognize that change at Michigan that day.

Speaker 9 (39:18):
That was really like a punch in the gut for
me to go, Wow, you know, we're probably gone a
little too far with this, but you know, naturally the
pendulum kind of swings and swings back, and I just
hope these young athletes can really understand the what's really
going to make their career, not their brand or their
physical ability, but their connection with their teammates, their leadership ability,

(39:44):
them wanting to put the team first above individual goals
and recognition. When they show up every day they are
thinking what can I do to help the team win,
because that's the most fulfilling part about team sports is winning.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
It's funny and Tom, I never want to disincentivize my kids.
I always had the rule of the three c's. I said,
if you could be curious, compassionate, and competitive. You're gonna
have a great life and nice. Competitive is hard because
Dad's gonna have a nice home, will go on good vacations.
And you were known to me of your many gifts.
You had the right height, you had the work ethic,

(40:19):
You're a smart guy. You're really competitive, And I think
to myself, you can't be competitive jet skiing. How does
Tom Brady? And in a weird way, I think to myself, Oh,
I get competitive the broadcasting thing, because you're going to
get people take shots at you and be snippets. So
if you found yourself already with broadcasting, watching your tapes

(40:41):
and getting hyper competitive, is that just sort of who
you are.

Speaker 9 (40:48):
There are definitely parts of me that are hyper competitive,
and certainly they were as a player and as an athlete.

Speaker 7 (40:56):
I love that competition. I relish that competition daily. I
didn't get it.

Speaker 9 (41:00):
It was practice, if it was a game, if it
was ping pong, if we were playing trashketball in the
in the locker room, I wanted to win.

Speaker 10 (41:10):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (41:10):
There's other parts where I feel like I've matured a
little bit and I don't necessarily have to be absolutely.

Speaker 7 (41:18):
Competitive at everything. It's a little more selective.

Speaker 9 (41:20):
I think if I want to put effort into something,
then natural I'll be Naturally I'll be more competitive at
it because I'll invest.

Speaker 7 (41:27):
It a little bit of my time, a little bit
of my.

Speaker 9 (41:30):
Energy into it. Certainly with the broadcaster. I don't think
for me it's about competition. I think it's for me
it's about did I put everything I could into it?
And I did I give the fans everything that they
tuned in for? And that's really how I end up
gauging myself and and I'll have to look at myself

(41:51):
at the end of every Sunday night going did I
do a good enough job?

Speaker 7 (41:54):
Did I live up to the belief that Fox had
in me?

Speaker 9 (41:58):
Did I live up to the expectations of my teammates
Kevin Burkhart and Aaron and Tom and Richie's Ions and
rich Russo and our entire truck, the entire team. That's
that's ultimately how I judge myself in that new role.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
Yeah, good guys to work for.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
I want you.

Speaker 1 (42:13):
I just saw a story. Sean Payton was texting me
last night about bo Nix and how happy he was
with him, and then he talked about it publicly, and
we thought it was a good fit because so much
in life is fit. You know, there's a million jobs
our kids could get in the workforce, But what fits
your personality and your drive and your ascension? And I
thought bo I thought he was Drew Brees with mobility.

(42:33):
Neither throws a great deep ball, both a little undersized.
And I want you to go back to your first
camp because I don't care if it's Michael Pennix or
it's Caleb. Now, Caleb's a little grooved in here. You know,
Denver doesn't have a great roster. You know some of
these kids, c J. Stroud had to wing it on
the fly a little bit. I want you to You
may have had nightmares about it and tried to suppress

(42:55):
these memories, but go back to your first camp. I
don't view Tom Brady is nervous, but was their anxiety?
Were there times you thought I'm over my skis here?

Speaker 9 (43:08):
It's a great question, I think naturally, as an athlete,
we're all going to question as we move up to
the next level. Are we capable? Are we enough? For
most of the answers, I think we don't know. We're
going to have to wait and see the development. And
everyone asks me all the time around the draft pre draft,
which of these kids is going to be the most successful.

Speaker 7 (43:32):
There's two answers.

Speaker 9 (43:33):
One it's up to them, and two is show me
the people that are around them and are helping to
develop them. It's not necessarily about someone's physical potential all
the time. So much of it is about can you
retain information? Can you process it? Can you use the information?
Are you willing to study and go through the intricate

(43:54):
details of the game like Drew Brees was, like Peyton
Manning was, like Philip Rivers was like some of the
all time great John Elway was some of the all
time great quarterbacks were.

Speaker 7 (44:06):
You could be very physically talented.

Speaker 9 (44:08):
You could absolutely go to the wrong fit and have
a coach instruct you to do things that are almost
impossible to do. You can't assume that what these young
athletes are being told that every coach is the same.
Some coach may have one perspective, another coach may have
another perspective. So why was I fortunate because I came

(44:29):
into the Patriots when Bill Belichick was there. He's the
one that helped develop me. Charlie Weiss was there. He
helped develop me. Later in my career, Josh McDaniels was there.
He helped develop me. I could not have been the
player I was without people like that impacting my career.
My first year, I had Drew Bledsoe to look up to.
He took all the reps. I got to sit there

(44:52):
from behind and watch him every single day. I had
a real mentor to look up to, and Drew some
these teams and you look at Jordan Love who I
was watching some of those clips that you had on
before I came on, But he had.

Speaker 7 (45:07):
Aaron Rodgers to watch.

Speaker 9 (45:08):
And that's the best type of training, in my opinion,
Watch someone else do it at a very high level,
and then try to emulate them with your own personality.
Maybe a little bit of the misnomer with the draft
is that these players can come in and all of
a sudden become this great professional player before they've really

(45:28):
had the training and the development. And it was rare
for quite a while for rookie quarterbacks to come in
and play. Maybe if you're the first overall pick, but
not if you're a second rounder, a third rounder, you
had a chance to be groomed. Well, we're not allowing
them to do that much anymore. Now we're throwing them
out there, let's see what you can do. And it's

(45:50):
a really challenging thing. If I was a young quarterback
in this day and age to go out there with
the pressure of the agents and the families, the school was,
the social media, the fans, the coaches, the owner, How
did these kids live up to that? I think it's
a real challenge for these these young quarterbacks. Hopefully they
go into a system that can embrace them, that can

(46:14):
fit and multitude they are. Hopefully they have coaches around
them that can develop them in the best possible way.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
So the Chiefs are looking to do something that's never
been done, and it's I grew up in the seventies,
so it's hard for me to believe. Sometimes the Steelers
didn't win three straight championships. You couldn't score on them.
Forget Swan and Bradshawn, Frank o'herrett, you couldn't score on him.
And then there were Raider teams with Stabler and the
Niners and the Cowboys in your teams. So I want

(46:40):
you to go to the years that you won a
Super Bowl. Let's stay in New England because in Tampa
you brought everybody back, which can actually work the opposite,
whether you get too comfortable in New England. And Julius Edelman,
who's become a friend, talks about this. Could you tell
Tom in the camp after you won a Super Bowl?

(47:04):
Would there be days you'd be driving home thinking, man,
that was a bad practice. We got a Super Bowl hangover?
Did you fight that? Could you sense that.

Speaker 7 (47:17):
There was?

Speaker 9 (47:19):
To win a Super Bowl is extremely challenging, as we know.
Even when you look the way the Chiefs won the
Super Bowl last year against the forty nine ers. It
was an incredible comeback so to speak. They played really
well at the end. The margin of there was razor thin. Yeah,
and that's the way it's going to be this year
for them as well. It's very rare. I mean I

(47:40):
would played on an undefeated team. We were the best team,
I think, one of the best in the history of football.

Speaker 7 (47:46):
In two thousand and seven, we go.

Speaker 9 (47:48):
To the Super Bowl. We played less than our best game.
The Giants play an awesome game and they end up
beating us. All these teams in the NFL are very competitive,
they're all well coached. The margin of there is razorsin
So to win one Super Bowl is extremely difficult. To
win two back to back what the Chiefs have done.

(48:08):
I mean, as we know, in the history of the sport,
nearly impossible to win three in a row. There's a
reason why no one's done it. The reason why we
haven't won three in a row because it's hard to win.

Speaker 7 (48:17):
One in a row.

Speaker 9 (48:19):
So to put three of those together in back to
back to back seasons, with drafting last a very hard schedule,
all the turnover and free agency guys continuing to be motivated,
it's a big challenge.

Speaker 7 (48:33):
And that's nothing to say that the Chiefs couldn't accomplish that.

Speaker 9 (48:36):
Believe me, everybody would probably put them as one of
the odds on favor to do it. But even that,
there's not a fifty percent chance of that happening.

Speaker 7 (48:44):
There's way less than that.

Speaker 9 (48:46):
Those players are gonna have to show up every day,
they're gonna have to put the work in like they have. Fortunately,
they have a tremendous coach and Andy Reid who doesn't
ever look backward. He's not going to say, hey, you know,
we're gonna because we were great last year, we're going
to be great again.

Speaker 7 (49:01):
This year.

Speaker 9 (49:02):
He has a very veteran experience, championship level coach who
holds those guys accountable. They've got a great quarterback in
Patrick that as we know, when he's on the field,
he's as great as a football player there is in
the NFL. Travis Kelce, what he can do at the
tight end position. It's really a great safety. Blanka Rashid
Rice coming on as a rookie, Chris Jones. I mean,

(49:23):
they've got Spagnulo back there as a decordinator, so they
have a lot of great pieces. But to win it
all again is a momentous task. No one's going to
put it past them. But we're all excited to show
up and watch on opening day and see what version
of the twenty twenty four Chiefs, what they can do,
and the goals they can set for themselves and whether

(49:45):
they can reach them.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
You know, one of the things you noticed, and again,
I think you're a compartmentalizer. I kind of sometimes watch you.
There are certain celebrities Jerry Seinfeld has this. I watch
your brain how it works, and you to isolate stuff,
compartmentalize it, become an expert at it. And that's why
I think you'll be very good at broadcasting. One of
the things you identified in Tampa was we got to

(50:10):
get a right tackle. I need a blocking tight end.
I want to power running back. You identified because the
roster was good, but they had some holes. They had
a very good guard center guard Jensen. That was uh
that was the strength of the team, and really young linebackers.
Little young in the secondary. But you identified clearly. You
and the coaches. Jason Light did one of the pushbacks

(50:32):
I have said on Aaron Rodgers, I said Stafford went
to a great on line, Tommy went to a great
on line or made it one. Russell Wilson did not,
and Aaron did not. And my belief is when you
this is why Kirk Cousins do. Atlanta works excellent, young
O line. I worry that when you get older, you

(50:54):
got your money, you may be married, you got you
don't want.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
To get hit.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
And that just that shaky O line to a forty
year quarterback off an achilles surgery. I remember the year
that you got hurt. You came back the first six
or seven games. I would watch you. You didn't like
people around your knees. I do think that all I
care about the Jets. Is that O line? Does that
concern you with Aaron that it's either old dudes or

(51:22):
rookies and a lot of guys in their prime on
that on line in New York.

Speaker 9 (51:27):
So in the offensive line is such an important part
of every great football team. If you show me a
great football team that doesn't have a great O line,
it's it probably doesn't exist very often. If you are,
you're pretty lucky and you better have incredible strengths every where.
So and the reason why is that offensive line is

(51:47):
really they facilitate what happens on every run play. It's
really up to them. Can they displace the line of scrimmage?
Can they push the d line back? And then in
past in past protection when it's a must throw situation,
can we give our quarterback a chance to stand in
there comfortably and make the reads? And when I've been
playing against teams that have good old lines, I can

(52:10):
hear it in the meeting rooms. I sit there in
the front row of every Bill Belichick meeting for over
twenty years. When he was coaching our defense and we
were playing a good offensive line, I knew that it
was going to be a long, hard day for our defense.
Because in the run game, they were going to push
us off the ball. They were going to create holes
in space for them to run the ball well and

(52:31):
possess it running it, and when it was a must
pass situation, that quarterback would have a chance to stand
in there and make great reads. And on the flip
side of that, when I heard that our defense could
tee off on that other old line and we can
really hold up in the run game with not as
many bodies as we needed to, I knew we were
going to get a chance to force the quarterback in

(52:52):
the mistakes, and we were going to have the ball
a lot in terms of possession because they were going
to be punning the football lot. So the choice is
always made with I was fortunate I had a lot
of great offensive lines in my career. I played with
guys I had a lot of confidence them up front. Certainly,
the center position is extremely important. It's such a unique

(53:14):
relationship the center and the quarterback have I loved all
those guys I played with.

Speaker 7 (53:19):
They were up.

Speaker 9 (53:19):
Front, they were getting everyone coordinated, and when I felt
like they had things under control up front, it gave
me a lot of confidence to stand back in the pocket.
So choosing a good team with a good old line
is paramount to the success of a quarterback. You're not
going to have a good season if your offensive line
can't hold up in protection. And I know when I

(53:39):
was at Tampa when we beat them in the Super Bowl,
the chief set is they really struggled up front.

Speaker 7 (53:45):
They had a lot of injuries that year. Andy Reid and.

Speaker 9 (53:50):
Red Beach decided to come back, revamped that O line,
and they played tremendous football since they really invested in
their offensive line. Joe Tooney came on board, they brought
in Donovan smith yep, and they really revamped that line.
And look at the way Patshako ran. Even though he
wasn't a high pick. Patrick could stand in there and
make throws down the field. So they've got to continue

(54:12):
to do that. All these teams need to make an
investment in coaching and coaching the O line and developing
the O line, and that's going to be the key
to a lot of offense success this year.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
Okay, let's look at the schedule for Fox so it
gets released. We know you're doing the Cowboys Cleveland Browns game.
So you got pretty high profile game there with Dak Prescott.
But if we show it on the screen the Fox schedule.
So when you play, you obviously watch some stuff. Maybe

(54:43):
if you have a late night game, you watch the
Red Zone. But during your career, now you're going to
go headlong into this stuff. But during your career, I
sit with a notepad for eight hours on Sunday. I've
got no social life. How close did you watch the
other teams outside of film Tommy and I'm not talking
about film study, I'm him and you didn't play in

(55:06):
a lot of one o'clock games. You were usually on
the late games because they want to get mister Brady
on TV. How closely did you watch personnel or have
you had to play catch up?

Speaker 7 (55:17):
I watched every game.

Speaker 9 (55:18):
I tried to pay attention and follow every team every week.
It's that was our job. That was to understand the
whole league the perspective. Every game counts. Those games meant,
whatever games, they meant a lot to the division standings. Ultimately,
because our team was very competitive, the conference standings were
very important. You didn't look too much beyond that, and

(55:39):
we never talked about the playoffs and so forth. But
I knew what every division opponent was doing every week
where there were upsets, where there were injuries, those were
all very important to the success of our team. You
have to win your division first. That's your best path
toward the second round of the playoffs is win your division.

Speaker 7 (56:00):
Of course, doesn't always need to happen that way. A
lot of teams have proven that wrong.

Speaker 9 (56:03):
But at the same time, if you beat if you
beat those other three teams in your division, you got
a great chance to advance to the second round of
a playoffs. So I paid attention then, I'm paying attention
now all these games We're going to have some perspective
on as we go through the season. I'm very excited
about our Fox slate that I'm involved in. We got
some incredible games. We got Chiefs at the forty nine

(56:26):
ers looking forward to that. We got a bunch of
Dallas games. We have Dallas and the Lions, some really.

Speaker 7 (56:31):
Dallas and the Ravens.

Speaker 9 (56:32):
I'm doing so a lot of the teams that I've
had a lot of familiarity with, but also having Dallas
our on our roster is extremely important for they just
draw a lot of eyeballs and I'll be excited to
cover those games.

Speaker 1 (56:46):
We'll have fun with your fam Look like I saw
one of your kids back there. Great seeing you, Tom.
I can't wait to see in the building. And I
know you're on vacation and I'm just taking time that
you would otherwise be having a good time, and I
appreciate it.

Speaker 7 (56:59):
Hey, great to be with you. Good to see you
working a Memorial Day.

Speaker 9 (57:02):
And thanks to all the incredible people and very resilient
families that have sacrificed a lot for us in this
great day that we celebrate with our families as kind
of the unofficial start of summer.

Speaker 7 (57:13):
So hope everyone's enjoying their day.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
All right. Tom Brady for twenty minutes, certainly appreciated that
undisclosed location. It does have a nice beach, you can
tell from that, you know, It's It's really interesting when
you Tom paid so much attention to when he played.
And I can remember one time years ago somebody asked
Aaron Rodgers about the Super Bowl and he goes, I
didn't even watch it. He's like, I wasn't in it.

(57:35):
I was frustrated. I wasn't in it. Brady's just and
this is why when people say, how will Tom be
as a broadcaster? I always say, well, people that are
meticulous tend to be good broadcasters. If you're very much
into details, compartmentalizing, isolating, studying, you'll be a good broadcaster.
And you know, obviously you need a good company, good marketing,
you need a good partner. It helps when you have

(57:57):
good games. But generally when people ask me, I say,
if you're somebody that enjoys the process of work and details,
that's what broadcasting is. It sounds like it's just eight
seconds of saying something fun, glibs smart after a play.
It's a lot of details and a lot of homework,
and I suspect Tom's going to be really good at it.