November 28, 2018 • 43 mins
Colin talks about a common theme among all of the NFL Division leaders and why it’s a big lesson for the Dallas Cowboys moving forward. He agrees with the new College Football Playoff rankings and thinks Ohio State doesn't deserve to be in. Plus, Chargers Center Mike Pouncey talks with Colin about Philip Rivers being a trash talker and why they are tough to beat with Joey Bosa back. Presented by Perky Jerky.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowherd on
Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. This is the Herd.
(00:25):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening
live in Los Angeles iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one.
Joy Taylor is joining me as I was on a
Wednesday tomorrow on Fox. It's a Saints Cowboys big game.
Big games. Just came off a huge NFL weekend, college weekend.
We'll get to some college football in a little bit here.
(00:46):
I want to start our show today. I what I
do sometimes. Joy. It's a Wednesday. So I get in
and I look at the standings and I say, guys,
give me the standings, and then and then I try
to see what comes to what link can I have?
So there's eight divisions in football, eight divisions in football.
Here's the current leaders, the Patriots, the Steelers, the Texans,
(01:10):
the Chiefs, the Dallas Cowboys, the Bears, the Saints, and
the Rams. Hmm, what do they all have in common? Well,
let's talk about that for a second. Great defense. That's
what it is. They all have a great defense. Oh wait, no,
Patriots are second to last in sacks. The Chiefs have
(01:30):
the worst passing defense in the league. Yeah, it wouldn't
be great defense. I'll tell you what it is. It's
a great head coach. No, that's that's not Bill O'Brien.
See a great head coach? Is Jason Garrett a great
head coach? Noldn't wouldn't be that. Okay, okay, okay. It's
a veteran quarterback. It's got to be a Hall of fame. Really,
(01:54):
Mitch Trubisky is a Hall of Famer. Prescott's a Hall
of famer. Okay, Colin, I'll tell you what it is.
You gotta have a great running back. Really, Texans have
one of those. Really, Bears are Bears have great running backs?
That's interesting. We have all these divisions. Will say, well,
(02:15):
what is the common thread? It's very easy. The common
thread is quarterbacks are on a discount. Three of the
eight division leaders here are the quarterbacks. Three of the
eight division leaders are veteran quarterbacks, giving the team a
team friendly deal. Breeze, Brady, Ben could make a lot
(02:36):
more money on the open market, have a lot of
leverage right now, Breeze only makes twenty four. He's absolutely
worth over thirty. Ben twenty three. You kidding me, Brady
twenty two. So three of the eight division leaders are
veteran quarterbacks who are very good, giving their team a break.
The other five of the eight division leaders are quarterbacks
(02:59):
on a rookie deal Trabisky, Goff, Mahomes, Watson, Prescott, allowing,
much like the previous deals their general managers to have
a more complete roster. Only two teams leading divisions star
(03:20):
veteran quarterbacks giving their teams a break, not taking every penny,
allowing their gms to put more good players around him
and the rookie quarterbacks, some good, some great, some okay
that the team doesn't paid their quarterback much so they
can get two more great defensive players and a really
good slot receiver. That's it. The top six paid quarterbacks
(03:43):
in the NFL, none of them lead a division. Doesn't
even matter if your quarterback's great. Aaron Rodgers is. Third
place doesn't even matter if your roster's good in your
quarterbacks good Kirk Cousins. Second place doesn't even matter if
your quarterback has talent Flacco Stafford makes too much money.
(04:05):
Not in first place, That's it. If you want to
make the most money on your deal, let me ask
Dak Prescott. Who's the next guy coming up for contract? Dak,
you want to win games? Give the Cowboys a break, Dak,
(04:25):
want to have better teammates, want to keep the Layton
vander Eshes for the remainder of your contract. Give the
Cowboys a break. First of all, you're in Texas. No
state tax that matters. Play in New York, playing Los Angeles,
play in San Francisco that no state tax in Dallas,
(04:46):
No state tax in Texas. Dallas coursed in Texas. Secondly,
you think he has that Campbell soup commercial if he's
quarterback in the Jags, or that Oi Course yogurt commercial
if he's quarterback in the Bengals. I say this all
the time. I've worked in my business for thirty years.
A lot of people are chasing money. It will limit
what your company can put around you. Breeze could make
(05:10):
more money. Ben could make more money, Brady could make
more money. But what they want to do is win
games and be playing in late January. That's the only
teams only. That's what I've said about Aaron Rodgers going forward.
It's going to be very interesting with Aaron Rodgers. Aaron
Rodgers is making thirty three million a year for the
(05:31):
remainder of that contract. Aaron Rodgers is going to have
to play with younger, cheaper players. That is not a debate,
That is not an opinion. Aaron Rodgers, and I'm not
blaming him, made a choice. I want thirty three million.
That's ten million more than Breeze. You can get for
that ten million dollars per year, a better pass rusher
(05:55):
and a better receiver, maybe a better left tackle and
a better center. We all have choices, and I don't
think quarterbacks brand is based on what they make. I
think twenty years from now, when we sit around and
we talk about Elway and we talk about Marino, we
talk about Elway much more fondly. He's got rings. Dak Prescott,
(06:18):
your next up, choose wisely give the Cowboys a team
friendly deal. All right? College football Playoff Joel Clatt next hour,
we'll yell and scream at each other. Nick write to
Kenyan Martin. Mike Pouncey of the Chargers multiple time Pro
Bowl Center used to be a dolphin. So last night
they came out with the new college football rankings, and I,
(06:38):
first of all, didn't have a problem with it. I
have Oklahoma in my four. They had Oklahoma at five,
meaning Oklahoma's going to get in when Georgia loses Obama.
So they had Obama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, and then
they had Oklahoma five, Ohio State six. The key to me,
of course, is they have Oklahoma head of Ohio States slightly,
(06:59):
which they should. I think Oklahoma is better than Ohio State.
I've stopped listening to Ohio State fans. They didn't make
any sense mid season talking about that coach they enabled,
and they make no sense now having lost a Purdue
by twenty nine points, and they still think they could
get in over Oklahoma, who lost to Arrival on a
neutral field in the last second field goal, and they'll
go back and beat that team Texas this weekend. Oklahoma's
(07:22):
the clear choice. Oklahoma scored forty plus points in all
but two games. Oklahoma has done something at least one
thing great all year. I'm not saying they have a
great defense. I'm not saying their special teams are great.
I'm not saying they had the best game plan for
every game. But in ninety percent of the times they
(07:43):
came out to the football field this year, Oklahoma was
a great offense. They ran it, they threw it, they
protected their quarterback, and they scored over forty What is
Ohio State done all year to convince me they're a
Final four team? Did they run the ball every week? Nope?
They play great defense every week? Nope? Did they have
(08:03):
great coaching every week? Did you watch the Purdue game?
They scored under thirty three times? In the week Big
Ten where northwesterns in the championship game and Northwestern couldn't
win one out of conference game and then mopped up
on the week Big Ten. Lincoln Riley the coach of Oklahoma,
and I'm all in Oklahoma here their corner over Ohio State. Again.
(08:25):
If you lose by thirty to Perdue and you don't
get why nobody's into your stuff, I don't know what
to tell you. But Lincoln Riley brought up the point
about we're getting too caught up on oooh people score
a lot of points on Oklahoma Football's changed. I think
the stanzards have certainly changed. I think we see that
at all levels, high school, college, in pro that the
(08:46):
amount of offensive output that all these different teams are
putting out is it's just simply different than what it's
been before. You know, certainly every team out there is
trying to be great on offense and be great on
defense and special teams. Ultimately, you've got to find ways
to win games, and that's what our guys have been
able to do here. And by the way, Ohio State
fans are saying, what about Oklahoma's defense, Buckeye fan, you
(09:08):
just gave up thirty nine points to Michigan's offense, which
looks about nine years past its prime. Thirty nine at
home to Michigan State sort of, I formation pound down
the throat offense, gave up fifty one to Maryland. I
want to hear about your great defense. But by the way,
even the SEC which plays great defense, the best defense
(09:30):
in college football. Sorry but didn't didn't Oklahoma dropped forty
eight and it last year, didn't you Seef drop thirty
four on the great Auburn team. Look around football, folks,
everybody's scoring over thirty. Most teams, the good ones are
scoring over forty. Oklahoma tends to score over fifty. I'm
(09:52):
not a look at around the NFL right now. Everybody
tells me how great the Chicago Bears defense is. You
do get they gave up over thirty to New England
Aaron Rodgers. I'm watching Chicago play a week after a week.
People move the ball up and down the field on him.
And that's the best defense in the NFL. I hear
about the Rams all. They're great players. They give up
like twenty five a week, twenty eight a week. Where
(10:13):
are the great defenses in the NFL. I don't see
them to Jaguars defense, Steelers lead the NFL, and Saxes
had a great defense. I just saw Case Keena move
up and down the field. You're all caught up in
Oklahoma's defense. By the way, Oklahoma hasn't had a great
defense in years because they play in the Big twelve.
And the way to win in the Big twelve that
spread the ball out so many good quarterbacks warm Weather.
(10:37):
Everybody throws at great receivers and backs. It's not a
great defensive conference. But to win the Big Twelve got
to sling it, and they do. But when they match
up with the s SEC teams, they also score forty
plus on them. Beat Alabama four or five years ago,
beat Auburn couple of years ago, should have beaten Georgia
last year. Nobody's shutting out Oklahoma, and as Lincoln Riley said,
(10:58):
this is the new age. Forget your grandpa's football, forget
your dad's football. It's not even your older brothers football.
In the last three years, offense has exploded. In the
past twelve months, it's been almost a meteor and I
am firmly entrenched and I'm glad the Committee sees it
that way too. Oklahoma's one spot ahead of Ohio State,
(11:19):
meaning if they both win this weekend and Georgia loses
and they willed Obama, the Sooners will get in over
the Buckeyes. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays in noon Easter not a Empacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Big Band
came out yesterday. I'm Big Ben, of course I like
Big Ben. He threw a terrible interception against Denver, and
(11:42):
Big Ben came out and he was kind of saying,
the receiver ran the wrong route, and you know somebody
else did this, and I would have done this and whatever.
But the quote that I really liked was this by
Big Ben. I'm not changing. I'm still gonna sling it.
I'm a quarterback that's gonna go out and sling it.
I'm you know, you talk about gunsling or whatever you
want to talk about. I'm not gonna worry about interceptions.
(12:05):
I hate doing them that they bother me. But I'm
gonna go out and play my game and try and
help us win football games. So you know, you talk
about guys that miss a basketball, right, you miss freeze?
Are you not big? Do they stop shooting? No? They
keep shooting because you trust yourself. You know, here's why
I love this. If you go to Vegas, you gotta
spend money to make money. The guy's making money in
(12:26):
Vegas is not the grandma playing the Nickels slots. Okay,
it's the big poker player, the big black deck Taylor,
the back rot player, the craps player. You're sitting at
their table and you're throwing big money at it. You're
not gonna win big if you don't bet big. That's
why I don't win. I don't win big in Vegas
because I don't like bet and big. I mean, if
I win three hundred and fifty bucks, I'm overjoyed. That's
why I've never won big in Vegas. And I don't
play slot machines because everybody smokes around him and it
(12:48):
makes me sick. So I never go to Vegas winning most.
I'm gonna wins like a thousand bucks, but I don't
bet big. I love guys that go big in the NFL.
Andrew Luck some interceptions wins, Patrick Mahomes, Ben Deshaun Watson,
they throw the ball downfield. You're gonna get a lot
of picks with those guys. And I love all of them.
I'm all in on all of them. But isn't it interesting?
My favorite quarterback is Brady. My second favorite quarterback could
(13:11):
be Breeze and their precision guys. In fact, my favorite
four quarterbacks in this league are Brady, Luck, Breeze, and
Russell Wilson, and they're all everything. You know. Luck throws
pixies down the field, Brady and Breeze or precision. Russell
Wilson's a little of both plus incredible athleticism and mobility.
There's a lot of different ways to win in this league.
The key with Big Ben is his organization. In the NFL,
(13:38):
you can win with Ben, you can win with Breeze,
you can win with Russell. The key is does the
team identify your strength and then build around it. Of
the last ten AFC Super Bowls, the Steelers and the
Patriots have seven, and the reason is they have two
completely different quarterbacks. Brady's more academic. I think he's a
(14:03):
more coachable, probably a better teammate. He's more precise less
down field, bends the opposite and all those things. He doesn't.
He's not gonna audible a lot of the line of scrimmage.
He has very simple audible. He's gonna go back and
crank it down field. Yet, between the two they got
seven to ten, and the credit goes to the Patriots
and the Steelers for identifying what they are. The Steelers
give Big Ben deep threats speed, the Patriots give Brady
(14:28):
precision route runners. This is why Kansas City and Mahomes,
Philadelphia and Carson Wentz get deep threats, pay deep threats.
That's who they are. They're not as precise as they
are deep ball throwers. Same with Deshaun Watson. Keep giving
him deep threats. Dak Prescott didn't work with Dez because
Dak Prescott needs to see the open receiver and throw
(14:48):
to the open receiver. That's why a Marie Cooper works,
because a Marie Cooper separates and gets open. Dez Bryant
doesn't separate, So the Cowboys realized a Marie separate rates.
That's what Dak needs. By the way, Mitch Trubisky does
not have a great arm, So Mitch Trubisky, what does
he need. The Bears have surrounded him with running backs
(15:10):
who can catch and possession receivers with good hands that
run precise routes. Same with their tight ends. It's all
about identifying what the quarterback does. Jared Goff of the
Rams throws a beautiful eighteen to forty eight yard football.
He throws great long intermediate routes that they gave him
(15:31):
with Robert Woods, Cooper Cup, Brandon Cooks a deep threat.
He's great over the top and good deep to intermediate routes,
and that's what they run. So I don't have a
problem with Big Ben. If you want to look at
attempts downfield home runs. That's what he is. You can
win a lot of ways in this league. The key
is the team identifying your strength and building around it.
(15:53):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
dayson noun Easter nine am Pacific. You know when you
get older and I don't consider myself all old. I
don't consider myself old. I mean, I am kicking it baby.
Every night with me is Marty grow at my house.
It is fun. But you learn stuff over time, okay,
and I have learned over time. I've never overspent on
(16:15):
anything that I use a lot. I've spent a lot
of money on a grill, but I like to grill.
I grill a lot, so I've never thought to myself, boy,
I overspent for that grill. I also like I'm kind
of a homebody. I like to watch movies. I'll spend
big money on a home theater. I've never once thought
I'm getting robbed here now. I'm not a big fan
(16:37):
of driving. I don't drive much to work. I take
Uber a lot. Cars don't mean much to me. I
don't I don't spend any money on cars. I'm not
a car guys. Some people are some people have to
like salespeople drive three hours a day. I know people
that drive an hour and a have to work hour
and a half home. Go buy yourself a nice car.
I don't drive that much. Twenty minutes to work, thirty
home and I'm rent a car guy. I use uber all,
(16:58):
I can I walk places I have. They're not a
big good car guy. So the Dallas Cowboys went out
and they got a Marie Cooper and everybody said, well, well,
you know, it's a lot to give up for a
first round pick and is very expensive. Let me ask you,
do they need a receiver and are they going to
(17:18):
use it a lot? Who gives a rip? Don't jump
over a twenty dollar bill to get to a five.
Here's the stats on the Cowboys pre impost Amari Cooper.
Oh wait, they're way better for our radio audience. Three
and four before him for three and one after sixty
more yards a game, fifty more passing yards a game,
significantly better on third down. They were going to use
(17:42):
him a lot. They're using him a lot. They're targeting
him a lot, and he separates so whenever I you know,
Jerry Jones, And here's the earth thing Dak needs receivers
that separate. Dak is not an anticipation thrower. Dak is
a I see you open, I'm gonna throw you. You're open.
Dez didn't separate. That's why Dak and Des never worked.
(18:05):
Jerry Jones talked about this. This is a great route runner.
That's what Dak needs, and they're going to use the
heck out of him. Don't worry about spending a little
too much if you use something. Here's Jara Cooker does that.
He is as another route runner as has ever put
on the Battle's Capital uniform. And he's a that. He's
(18:28):
running himself. He's route running himself open. You know. The
other thing is they have their linebackers. They have their
running back, they have their left tackle, they have their
slot receiver, they have what they believe is their franchise quarterback.
They've got tremendous athletically linebackers, and I like one of
their corners. What do they need? They need the wide receiver.
(18:49):
They're going to have about the twenty third pick in
the draft, and I don't think the two best college
receivers are going to be available in twenty eighteen. Have
you seen what people are paying for Sammy Watkinons and
Brandon Cooks. There's two great college receivers and multiple teams
drafting ahead of them, Like, I don't know, the Jets
need two receivers, the Colts need a receiver. The team's
(19:10):
drafting ahead of Dallas, who are worse than Dallas. Most
of them need receivers. You see what's happened with a
catch rule being flipped. They wouldn't get one of the
best receivers at twenty three or twenty four. Gonna have
at least two receivers go in the top twenty. So
but I'll go back to something the older I am.
I never overspent for something I get a lot of
(19:31):
use out of. I always look at that and think, yeah,
you know my grill. If I spend a lot for
my grill, I use a thing seventy five times a year.
So I mean, you can spend ten grand on a
grill because grills last forever. Who cares if you're gonna
use something. By the way, Chris Carter talked about the
acquisition of Amari Cooper. I liked it from day one.
Chris Carter did two when I coached Amari in high
(19:55):
school before he went to University Alabama. He was one
of the most mature route runners that I had ever
seen in high school. Him and Larry Fitzgerald right up there.
The one thing Jerry did good Before he acquired Amary,
he went back to Alabama, he talked to Nick Saban,
and Nick Saban wrote him a prescription of how to
attack Amari Cooper, how to bring him into the fold,
(20:17):
and how to get the best of I think it's
a good move. I think Jerry was right. I think
he's a great fit. I do not think they'll be
the Saints, but I think Dallas came down to a
really simple thing. He's better than what the draft would provide.
We're going to use the heck out of him. Let's
not get caught up in money. Jerry Jones had a
(20:38):
great quote about a year ago about something else. He said,
the only time I regret buying things is when I
go cheap. Jerry Jones said, similar to how I believe.
I've never regretted anything that I spent a little more
money on if I thought it was elite. A car,
a stadium, a team, a suit. I've never regretted anything
that's great. Very rarely. You take your wife in a vacation.
(21:01):
You spend a lot for the hotel, right, and then
you leave the hotel and you're like, you know, that
wasn't worth it. We should have been We should have
been across the street at the cheap hotel. It just
it pays spend a little more for nice stuff. You're
gonna use. What's up everybody? This? John Middlecoff from the
Three and Out podcast on Colin Coward's podcast network. You
(21:22):
like Colin show, you'll definitely like mine. I talk a
ton of football, got a lot going on this week.
JJ Watt Texans, They're for real. Aaron Rodgers, major issues,
Baker Mayfield, Hugh Jackson, Jalen Ramsey, won't shut up. We
got a lot to discuss. Again, Subscribe to the Three
and Out podcast with me, John Middlecop I hear this
(21:45):
a lot. People think more is better. You ever watched
like CNN? I don't mean either, but let's pretend we did.
They have those shows on every night, but they have
like thirteen panelists. I'd rather just watch like one guy
or one woman. Rachel Maddow by herself, Sean Hannity by himself,
Bill maher by himself. I don't need like thirteen people
on the set yelling and screaming. Maybe one two, that's it.
(22:08):
I don't think more is better. I think better is better. Okay,
that's that's I don't. I don't believe you just add
a bunch of teams and people do a set and
it's been no, no, just give me good people, that's
all I need. Better is better, not more better. So
this more. I'm hearing a lot of this. In college football.
The rankings came out last night. You got you gotta
(22:29):
have eight team playoffs? Eight. God, it can't just have four.
They gotta have eight. Okay, okay, So so let's let's
say we did have eight. Let's look at the eight
teams that would play in the playoff this morning. Oh really,
I need to see Michigan again. I just saw Michigan.
They gave up sixty two. I'm done with Michigan. I
(22:50):
need to see By the way, UCF, ah, congrats. Oh wait,
they lost their quarterback. And by the way, if they lose,
you know who would be in instead of UCF Florida. Oh,
Florida would be in. That would be great, except Florida
has already gotten smoked. They got beat by Kentucky by
eleven lost to Georgia by nineteen in Missouri twenty one.
I need to see Florida again. Oh by the way,
(23:12):
if we had an eight team playoff, you know what
wouldn't matter this weekend the game everybody in the country
wants to watch George Obama. Why would I have to
watch it? What would be the point of watching it.
I don't have to watch it. They're both getting in,
So everybody wants more teams. I've never in my life,
one time in my entire I've been watching college football
(23:34):
since the seventies, I've never once thought, you know, that
number eight team got hosed, that three lost Georgia team,
they got hosed. They're the best team in the country.
I bet I've never said that. I've never even thought
the fifth best team is number one. So I know
(23:56):
everybody wants to weeks more and more. When you go
to a nice restaurant, have you ever have you ever
really gone out to a nice restaurant, like you know,
you're like, I my spay one hundred and fifty bucks tonight, right,
like a nice restaurant, maybe even more. You gotta go
with the couple couples, is it a great restaurant because
it's a buffet and they just keep piling food on.
Or is it a great restaurant because the food is
really great. That's why it's a great restaurant, not because
(24:20):
they pile on more pudding. Stop with the more argument.
Just give me better. I don't need any more than
four teams. Give me Alabama, give me Clemson, give me Oklahoma,
and then get me undefeated, Notre Dame. I'm good with that.
I don't need this team Michigan again. It would get
rid of that pesky deserving argument that you like so much.
That's another one. When my kids say deserving, I'm like,
(24:43):
talk to the hand, obviously, isn't that Oh no, no, yeah,
I use the classics. When my daughter will say, like
I deserve, I'm like, not even not even listening. You
earn life. You don't deserve squat. You know. The difference
is you compare it to the NFL, and in the NFL,
they're all NFL teams, they're all pro teams. You can
win on a Sunday. The difference between Alabama and the
(25:04):
eight team is insane. It's a separation, is not. The
gap is unbelievable, massive, right, after you get four or
five teams, the gap to like eight, nine, ten, eleven,
start looking at the teams. Florida separation is obvious. Florida
got boat raced by Kentucky, a basketball school. Missouri neither.
And I'm not as against expanding as you are, but
(25:26):
I see your point when you lay it out that way. Yeah,
not deserving. You got to earn your way into the
cow herd college playoffs, that's right, And talk to the hand.
I do all the classics. You raised the roof, so
I do. We raised the roof at my house, Joe.
I'm so glad you brought that up. One more herd.
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
(25:47):
a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen
live or on demand whenever you like. Joel Klatt's joining me.
All right, son, Hey, So here's the college football playoff
rankings last night. I didn't never problem with it because
Oklahoma is ahead of Ohio State. When Georgia loses Tobama,
then I'm gonna get Oklahoma. I think Oklahoma wouldn't lose
(26:08):
by twenty nine to Purdue. So are you okay with
those rankings? Yeah? I didn't have a huge problem with it.
I think the resume, the body of work for Oklahoma
is certainly I think more impressive than Ohio State, thank you.
I will say this, though, Ohio States singular performance against
Michigan is better than any singular performance that Oklahoma has
had as a whole. As a whole, do you think
(26:28):
winning at West Virginia against an NFL quarterback is easier
than beating Michigan in a nineteen eighty eight offense at home?
I will say that the flaws that I've seen from both,
at least Ohio State has proven that they can fix
some of their flaws. I mean, listen, in the last month,
Oklahoma has had historically bad defense. They're right now one
hundred and twenty fifth in the country in total defense.
(26:50):
In the last month, one hundred and twenty fifth. Do
you know they've given up one hundred and eighty nine
points in November one eighty nine. If you want to
know some sort of context for that in the calendar year,
if you take Alabama's playoffs last year and their entire season,
they've given up one ninety four. That's five more points
than Bama has in November. That's insane. Yeah, Oklahoma has
(27:11):
a tackling problem that I will acknowledge. Okay, So, so
wouldn't you hold on before you wouldn't you say either
team is flawed, Like, there's not a great answer in place.
So listen. My whole thing is, I was telling the
staff this this morning. I was telling the staff this
this morning. People think everybody wins. Average people get good
jobs and have good days. Right, sure, and marry beautiful women. Right.
(27:34):
You got to avoid catastrophe in life. Okay, So if
I interview, I'm a principal, I'm interviewing for a wonderful
high school. I'm gonna interview to be a principle. I
could be great for two hours. But if the last
thing I said was I do like to date teachers,
especially the married ones, check please, I'm out of the job.
You're done. When you interview for a job, it's not
about saying smart stuff. It's about avoiding the catastrophe you have.
(27:57):
You know, I've embezzled at every country company I've worked for.
That's how you lose a job. That's not gonna be
a problem here, though, No, Oklahoma, Ohio state, there's a
bunch of good stuff. I like Ohio State had a catastrophe.
They lost by twenty nine to per don't Yeah, that's
not good enough. I'm not disagreeing with you, but you
cannot overlook the fact that Oklahoma also has as a
(28:18):
catas What is it, I just explain a catastrophe one
hundred and eighty nine points winning those games. Oh my good,
that's not a catastrophe. A catastrophe is losing the army.
You just said, Colin that you like you can say
a bunch of great things in an interview, but one
thing I just saw. They say a lot of great
(28:40):
things offensively, and they've given up one hundred and eighty.
But a college football a catastrophe's losing. They win all
those games. They're winning those games. You can't lose by
twenty nine to an average football team. You're up. That's
a job interview. You said the wrong thing the last sentence.
You're out. Check please month. Okay, now here's another thing.
(29:02):
I am not into trends. You're very much a trends guy.
I didn't realize. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you explained. By
the way, in my house we still raise the roof.
It's an all time classic. You've probably got a new
hand thing you guys do in your family because it's cool.
I'm not into cool, so I'm not into this eight
It's clear I'm not into this eight team playoff. That's
(29:22):
the hot thing. And my takeaway is, oh, really, I
need to see Michigan again. I really need to see
UCF now with a backgroup. Are you trying to say
that I am an eighteen? That's be honest about this.
I bet you'd like the sixteen teams thirty four never
and let me tell you why. There's a very clear
argument why I hate the fact that we're probably headed
to the eight teams? Do you think we are? The
(29:44):
three two argument is compelling. You can make a case
that the third team in the country deserves at least
a shot at the national time. I agree that argument
gets diminished when you're argument between four and five. Four
and five you do what we're doing right here arguing
betwe I mean fatally flawed resumes. I think they were
flawed last year when you had a non champ Alabama
(30:04):
gets a two loss, Ohio State flawed resumes? Right? Can
you make a case maybe one of them deserves a
chance at the national title? Maybe you really want to
start arguing between three loss Florida, three loss, LSU thank you,
two loss Michigan. You cef out of a nonpower five.
I don't want to have that argument. I don't want
to have that argument. It's not compelling. No one cares
(30:26):
about that argument, and quite frankly, those teams don't deserve
a chance at the national championship. You're still raising the
roof at your house. I don't know about that, writing
books over here, raising the roof. I told my daughter
the other day, talk to the hand. I know, it's
like nineteen ninety four, but that's in my house. We're
you got nineteen ninety four all over the house. All right,
(30:47):
what do you? What do you? And I like Hardball?
We do, but that was bad, not great. Gonna be
honest with you. I like and I still think by
the way you guys are going to do the bit
Oh yeah, you know, I mean I think in the
mid today, not when you give up? What do we
make up? What do we? Because you and I still
like Carball? I still like Harball. But here's here's the problem.
(31:09):
Here's the you love analogies. Ready, Yeah, Jim Harbaugh is
becoming dangerously close to falling into the Mike Leach realm,
the Wall Zoo coach. Yeah, and you might be thinking
to yourself, well, is that a shot. Well, it's not
necessarily a shot. Let me give you some context for this.
There are two coaches that have wild success at a
lot of places. I would say Mike Leach is having
(31:32):
wild success State. Here's the problem. When you take away
they're one thing that they hang their hat on. They've
got nowhere else to go, have no second Guess that's
one of the reasons why it's so it's been so
hard for Mike Leach to win a division championship. He's
never done it at the college level. He's never won
a conference championship. Guess what Harbaugh has never done, never
won a conference championship. And what I saw last week
(31:54):
was a team that came in favored, probably should have won,
and had nowhere to go once they couldn't run the
ball effectively on base downs. See because when they're ahead
and they're running it effectively on base downs, now they
can get the tight ends involved, and now it's play
action pass and it's what he wants to do. If
you take his blue blueprint from him, he has an
(32:15):
inability to win those games. Versus I'll just say Ohio
State has won games all different ways. They have Oklahoma
has had to win games all different ways, running the ball,
some games, passing the ball, other games. Sometimes their defense
shows up. Maybe not no use case in a one
hundred and eighty nine in the last month. I don't
know if you've heard, but Ohio State is one of them,
all sorts of different ways. You can't necessarily make that
(32:37):
argument for Michigan. They don't necessarily, but you're not saying
a game that they can't use their blueprint. Okay, it's
very fair. Big Ben through a bad pick. I still
love him. I can still love hardball and think he's
a great coach. But I don't think he's I don't
think he's the greatest coach, but I still think he's
fantastic coach. He just needs to adjust a little bit,
(32:58):
you know, if if they're able to throw the ball
on base downs a little bit, be able to get
off of blueprint and still be successful. He's absolutely He's
the perfect guy from Michigan. They're having so much more
sat they're so much better off right now than they
were in the seven Yankee under Lloyd Carr and Brady Hoke.
Do you know that their overall record in the seven
years between h Lloyd Carr and Jimmy Harbost So I'm
(33:22):
talking about the Rich Rodriguez Brady Hook era, their record
was the exact same as Oregon State over those last
over those seven years. Wow. So you tell me everyone's like, oh,
he's overrated, really because I think they would take this.
They're in the top ten and should be. Yeah, and
they lost a game to a really good by the way,
that the best should know. If they win their bowl game,
they're gonna finish about fifth. It's Michigan not happy with fifth.
(33:45):
It's an academic power, it's in cold weather, The state
didn't many high school football stars, and they were sixty
minutes away from from being there. You know what I mean.
I mean, wouldn't you take Michigan fan, I'm talking to you.
Wouldn't you take every year being sixty minutes away from
being a playoff team? Thank you? Yes, yes you would.
So stop it with the oh, I don't know, Maybe
we need to make a change. By the way, you
(34:06):
need to make a change. What's your final four? Who
are the four best you've seen? Who the four best? No, no,
who are the four best teams in America? Do you Bama, Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma. Okay,
that's fair, So that's what I feel. But I'm I'm mean,
buy a nose over Ohio State. Like I said, game
last week, I think all those teams beat Notre Dame
(34:29):
this week. You know what. I totally appreciate your honesty
on that, but but they're gone. I want Notre Dame in.
They've earned the right to go and play for this
national championship. They've earned it. I'll give you that. I
want to take that away from him. But what I've seen,
you saw the USC game, George is getting better. There
are teams that are better than Notre Dame, but they've
earned the right to go. I had an NFL exec
(34:49):
text me during the Notre Dame game and say, Clemson
would blast this team by four touchdowns. He they cannot run,
he goes, I've scouted Clemson. They can't run with Clemson.
By the way, I want to do something here, Joey,
what does this stand for? Big Jay journalism? Journalism? That's
all these shows about, no opinions. All we do on
this show is journalism. I'm gonna throw a little one
at Yeah. Cliff Kingsbury's good looking. Have you ever seen
(35:11):
that guy? He's really he's good looking. I'm gonna there's
only a few guys that I blush in front of.
He's one of them. Yeah, USC offensive coordinator next seventy
two hours interesting. No sourcing on that at all. I'm
just telling you that's just my my guts. That from
my tweet. I don't follow your tweets, Oh you follow
it journalism. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(35:32):
Herd weekdays and noon Easter not a Empacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. Mike
Pouncy eight years, first year with the Chargers. By the way,
I don't know, Mike. Do you good stead again? Mike?
Do you have kids? Mike, Yes, I have two of them. Okay,
do you tell me so? You guy? You probably I
don't know if your parents were millionaires, but you're a
very successful guy, and that you have these kids. Do
(35:55):
they play football? Well? My son plays flag football. My
daughter she hates, she's just like an ultimate girl. But
my son, he's like me. He's very competitive. I don't
think they understand that we have money, you know, because
we don't raise them that way. We kind of raised
them the way I was raised. But they're awesome kids.
They love school, and my son I can't wait to
see what he girls up to because I think he's
gonna be a heck of an athlete. So you don't
(36:16):
raise them. So how do you hide? I mean, you
live in a nice house, I bet. Now, how do
you pretend that you don't have any money there? Mike, Well,
it's hard, you know, because it's hard because they get
everything they want. You know, I love my kids. I
spoiled them to death because when I grew up, I
grew up very, very poor, and so for me, I
went I told myself when I was growing up, I
want when I had kids, that I was gonna spoil
them and give them everything that I wanted as a kid.
And so they understand that we have money. They we're comfortable.
(36:39):
They get whatever they want. But we're very hard on
them because we wanted to grow up to be successful
kids too. Now it's interesting, Mike, you played in Miami,
which is a just I'll tell you you played in Miami.
In LA, You've played in fun cities, no Detroit or
Buffalo for you. You are a grinder. But is it different.
I mean you've got brother brother's teammates, my ammy and
(37:00):
the Chargers in La So and then you played college
football in Florida. It's been a charm life for you.
When you heard the Chargers wanted you, what was your
first thought? I told my agent, Joel Siegel, get me
on the first flight out there. I was excited for it.
I knew the talent that this football team had. I
wanted to play with Philip Rivers, Melvin Gordon, the running
backs awesome, and I just knew this team had a
(37:20):
big the best chance to you know, make a run
in the playoffs and do something special. Especially at this
point in my career. You know, all I care about
is winning games. I want to do something special. I
want to be remembered, and as an office a linement,
the only way to get remembered is by winning. You
played with Tebow, if I recall in college and you
want yep, so you had one of the iconic college quarterbacks.
You now play with a guy I think the Hall
(37:41):
of Famer Philip Rivers. You know they don't look like
the same quarterback right, but only different. Are there any
similarities between Tebow and Phillips perhaps personalities? I think the
competitive part of it, how much how competitive they are
when we go out to practice, when we were in games.
I think they have they both the competitive nature in them.
(38:01):
I think that's the that's the one of the only
similarities in their in their games, because you know, Philip
is a guy that you know gets rid of the
ball really really fast. He understands the game of football
so well, and uh he makes it a pleasure for
us as offers a line to play for him and
U it makes us look good because he gets the
ball out of his hands and he puts us in
the best situations to go out there and be successful
in place. I heard he's a trash talker, Philip rivers.
(38:23):
He admitted to me one tie's like I do a
little trash talking. And now can you can you validate that?
Confirm that? Oh, he talks a lot of trash by
the time he's calling a place so out of breeth
because he's talking trash all the time. But it gets
us fired up because when he gets hit, he gets up.
He talks trash to the guy that hits him. He's
talking trash to the defensive coordinators, the guys on defense,
and it's just awesome because you know he's so into
(38:45):
the football, into the game that this would makes him
so good of a player as a's so competitive and
it keeps them going, each and every player. Mike Pouncey
eight years, multiple Pro Bowl or one of the top
two or three centers in the NFL. You know, it's
a situation with the Chargers that they were in San Diego,
they're in LA and now you're in kind of a
soccer stadium thing. It is a weird NFL situation. Has
(39:06):
it been different for you? Take me through the process
of you change teams, You're in kind of a different
stadium situation. You were in San Diego. It's down. Has
it been odd? At first? It was kind of odd
because you know that our stadium a little smarter than
most NFL stadiums. But as a football team collective, we've
embraced it. You know, we embraced that. You know, most
(39:26):
of the times we're gonna be at home, but it's
gonna feel like a way game, and I think we're
when we have that edge as a football team, it
makes us play better. Because we play awesome on road
games and uh for the most part o our home
games of world games too. Mike, you fans may not
realize this. Quarterbacks obviously audible, but the center, you you
call the signals for the line and you and I've
(39:48):
always known you as a big personality guy, so obviously
you want a very smart dude playing center because you
have to call the audibles. Now, when you have a
quarterback like Philip, who is a veteran, we're in quarterback,
He's gonna audible a lot more than a rookie or
a young quarterback. Are there? I mean, is it tougher
to play with Phillips sometimes because he demands more of you.
(40:10):
I think it's easier. I'll go up there and I'll
make the mic point, but he comes up, he'll correct me,
and whenever he audible's plays, he's the guy that's gonna
make all the points. But I think it's awesome for
office a line because we just go up there and
we got to focus on Hey, who we're gonna block
on this play, and he sets the stage for us.
And it's awesome because in the past game is the
biggest for us because he knows where the blitz is
coming from, and so he sets the protection to the
side that the blitz is coming from, and it makes
(40:31):
it easier for him to get rid of the ball
when he knows the pressure is coming. It makes it
easier for us because we're not sliding away from the pressure,
was sliding into it. Joey Bosa's back last couple of games.
What's the difference practice games? What is he add do
you believe, Mike? I think he's the best pass rusher
in the NFL. And what it does is it opens
up a better pass rush for Melvin Ingram, and he's
(40:51):
a guy that gets after the quarterback. But those two guys,
when they work together, it's pretty much unstoppable on third
and long situations. So just to have him back at practice,
he just brings, you know, that excitement back. It gave
us something to look forward to when were going into
the games. I, Hey, Joey Bosa's back. We can't wait
to see him playing. He loves football. He's a big
important piece to our successor as a football team, and
so we're excited to see how you finishes out the
rest of the year. Mike, Centers generally don't get drafted
(41:14):
in the first round. You were the fifteenth pick. You're
obviously a great talent. It's funny to watch football now, Mike.
You and I mostly grew up an offensive lineman. Were
known as guys who pancake guys. It's you run the football,
you establish physicality. Well, now we play in a league.
It's flag football. Okay, so if you had to adapt
(41:36):
your game, it is a more finesse game. It feels like, yeah,
I think so, because you know, when I first came
in NFL, the game was a lot more physical and
whenever you used to drive guys to the ground and
pancake them, it used to be a glory fly block.
But now if you do that, the rep store a
flat because they figured out it's holding. Because the game
was much more, more faster, there's more athletic defensive linement,
and so you kind of have to adjust because you
(41:57):
gotta play on your feet a lot more. You gotta
keep your hands inside because they're looking forward a lot
more these days. But uh, I enjoy it. I think
the league's awesome. I think it's heading in the right direction.
It's gonna be around for a long time. By the
way you face your bro mark keis this Sunday Charger Steelers?
That is that strange? I mean to mat, did you
play at the same high school? Yes, we played same
high school, same college. Okay, same high God, that's incredible.
(42:21):
Did you when? When? Did you both know? Now, by
the way, who was the better high school player? I say,
my brother is better and everything. He's my younger brother.
What about in college? Were you a better college player? Well? Uh,
we both had the same accolades. You know, he started
as a freshman um at center or at right guard
at Florida, and he started every year he was there.
(42:41):
My freshman year, I didn't start the first six seven games.
I moved over the defensive tackle ended up starting the
rest of the season. So our Chris kind of played
out a little different. But uh, you know we're here
and we we both you know, had the same goals
growing up. You know, we're identical twins. I think my
hardest year was whenever he left his junior year to
go to the Combine and go pro. I stayed back
for my sea a year and that was the toughest
year of our lives because it was the first time
(43:02):
we were ever separated. Isn't that amazing. My mom was.
My mom was a twin. They talk about twins, and
when you guys are in a room together, you can't
stop laughing. You're very funny, guys. I imagine it was
a very funny. It was mom funny, Dad funny, sisters
funny because you guys together are like a comedy routine. Yeah,
we have a really big family and all of us are,
(43:23):
you know, really close knit. We love each other to death.
You know, we especially our sisters because you know, growing up,
you know, our family's focus was me and my brother
because we figured this was our way out of poverty,
and so our sisters kind of took a step back, like, hey,
let's you know, let the boys do everything. And so
we've always been a priest of our sisters. We love
and to death, and you know, they're part of the
reason why we're here in NFL. This day's sacrifice, as
(43:44):
they took Mike, it's great seeing you again. Congratulations. I
appreciate you taking time out of your busy work schedule
to come on our show. Thanks Bud, thanks for having
me
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowherd on
Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. This is the Herd.
(00:25):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening
live in Los Angeles iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one.
Joy Taylor is joining me as I was on a
Wednesday tomorrow on Fox. It's a Saints Cowboys big game.
Big games. Just came off a huge NFL weekend, college weekend.
We'll get to some college football in a little bit here.
(00:46):
I want to start our show today. I what I
do sometimes. Joy. It's a Wednesday. So I get in
and I look at the standings and I say, guys,
give me the standings, and then and then I try
to see what comes to what link can I have?
So there's eight divisions in football, eight divisions in football.
Here's the current leaders, the Patriots, the Steelers, the Texans,
(01:10):
the Chiefs, the Dallas Cowboys, the Bears, the Saints, and
the Rams. Hmm, what do they all have in common? Well,
let's talk about that for a second. Great defense. That's
what it is. They all have a great defense. Oh wait, no,
Patriots are second to last in sacks. The Chiefs have
(01:30):
the worst passing defense in the league. Yeah, it wouldn't
be great defense. I'll tell you what it is. It's
a great head coach. No, that's that's not Bill O'Brien.
See a great head coach? Is Jason Garrett a great
head coach? Noldn't wouldn't be that. Okay, okay, okay. It's
a veteran quarterback. It's got to be a Hall of fame. Really,
(01:54):
Mitch Trubisky is a Hall of Famer. Prescott's a Hall
of famer. Okay, Colin, I'll tell you what it is.
You gotta have a great running back. Really, Texans have
one of those. Really, Bears are Bears have great running backs?
That's interesting. We have all these divisions. Will say, well,
(02:15):
what is the common thread? It's very easy. The common
thread is quarterbacks are on a discount. Three of the
eight division leaders here are the quarterbacks. Three of the
eight division leaders are veteran quarterbacks, giving the team a
team friendly deal. Breeze, Brady, Ben could make a lot
(02:36):
more money on the open market, have a lot of
leverage right now, Breeze only makes twenty four. He's absolutely
worth over thirty. Ben twenty three. You kidding me, Brady
twenty two. So three of the eight division leaders are
veteran quarterbacks who are very good, giving their team a break.
The other five of the eight division leaders are quarterbacks
(02:59):
on a rookie deal Trabisky, Goff, Mahomes, Watson, Prescott, allowing,
much like the previous deals their general managers to have
a more complete roster. Only two teams leading divisions star
(03:20):
veteran quarterbacks giving their teams a break, not taking every penny,
allowing their gms to put more good players around him
and the rookie quarterbacks, some good, some great, some okay
that the team doesn't paid their quarterback much so they
can get two more great defensive players and a really
good slot receiver. That's it. The top six paid quarterbacks
(03:43):
in the NFL, none of them lead a division. Doesn't
even matter if your quarterback's great. Aaron Rodgers is. Third
place doesn't even matter if your roster's good in your
quarterbacks good Kirk Cousins. Second place doesn't even matter if
your quarterback has talent Flacco Stafford makes too much money.
(04:05):
Not in first place, That's it. If you want to
make the most money on your deal, let me ask
Dak Prescott. Who's the next guy coming up for contract? Dak,
you want to win games? Give the Cowboys a break, Dak,
(04:25):
want to have better teammates, want to keep the Layton
vander Eshes for the remainder of your contract. Give the
Cowboys a break. First of all, you're in Texas. No
state tax that matters. Play in New York, playing Los Angeles,
play in San Francisco that no state tax in Dallas,
(04:46):
No state tax in Texas. Dallas coursed in Texas. Secondly,
you think he has that Campbell soup commercial if he's
quarterback in the Jags, or that Oi Course yogurt commercial
if he's quarterback in the Bengals. I say this all
the time. I've worked in my business for thirty years.
A lot of people are chasing money. It will limit
what your company can put around you. Breeze could make
(05:10):
more money. Ben could make more money, Brady could make
more money. But what they want to do is win
games and be playing in late January. That's the only
teams only. That's what I've said about Aaron Rodgers going forward.
It's going to be very interesting with Aaron Rodgers. Aaron
Rodgers is making thirty three million a year for the
(05:31):
remainder of that contract. Aaron Rodgers is going to have
to play with younger, cheaper players. That is not a debate,
That is not an opinion. Aaron Rodgers, and I'm not
blaming him, made a choice. I want thirty three million.
That's ten million more than Breeze. You can get for
that ten million dollars per year, a better pass rusher
(05:55):
and a better receiver, maybe a better left tackle and
a better center. We all have choices, and I don't
think quarterbacks brand is based on what they make. I
think twenty years from now, when we sit around and
we talk about Elway and we talk about Marino, we
talk about Elway much more fondly. He's got rings. Dak Prescott,
(06:18):
your next up, choose wisely give the Cowboys a team
friendly deal. All right? College football Playoff Joel Clatt next hour,
we'll yell and scream at each other. Nick write to
Kenyan Martin. Mike Pouncey of the Chargers multiple time Pro
Bowl Center used to be a dolphin. So last night
they came out with the new college football rankings, and I,
(06:38):
first of all, didn't have a problem with it. I
have Oklahoma in my four. They had Oklahoma at five,
meaning Oklahoma's going to get in when Georgia loses Obama.
So they had Obama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, and then
they had Oklahoma five, Ohio State six. The key to me,
of course, is they have Oklahoma head of Ohio States slightly,
(06:59):
which they should. I think Oklahoma is better than Ohio State.
I've stopped listening to Ohio State fans. They didn't make
any sense mid season talking about that coach they enabled,
and they make no sense now having lost a Purdue
by twenty nine points, and they still think they could
get in over Oklahoma, who lost to Arrival on a
neutral field in the last second field goal, and they'll
go back and beat that team Texas this weekend. Oklahoma's
(07:22):
the clear choice. Oklahoma scored forty plus points in all
but two games. Oklahoma has done something at least one
thing great all year. I'm not saying they have a
great defense. I'm not saying their special teams are great.
I'm not saying they had the best game plan for
every game. But in ninety percent of the times they
(07:43):
came out to the football field this year, Oklahoma was
a great offense. They ran it, they threw it, they
protected their quarterback, and they scored over forty What is
Ohio State done all year to convince me they're a
Final four team? Did they run the ball every week? Nope?
They play great defense every week? Nope? Did they have
(08:03):
great coaching every week? Did you watch the Purdue game?
They scored under thirty three times? In the week Big
Ten where northwesterns in the championship game and Northwestern couldn't
win one out of conference game and then mopped up
on the week Big Ten. Lincoln Riley the coach of Oklahoma,
and I'm all in Oklahoma here their corner over Ohio State. Again.
(08:25):
If you lose by thirty to Perdue and you don't
get why nobody's into your stuff, I don't know what
to tell you. But Lincoln Riley brought up the point
about we're getting too caught up on oooh people score
a lot of points on Oklahoma Football's changed. I think
the stanzards have certainly changed. I think we see that
at all levels, high school, college, in pro that the
(08:46):
amount of offensive output that all these different teams are
putting out is it's just simply different than what it's
been before. You know, certainly every team out there is
trying to be great on offense and be great on
defense and special teams. Ultimately, you've got to find ways
to win games, and that's what our guys have been
able to do here. And by the way, Ohio State
fans are saying, what about Oklahoma's defense, Buckeye fan, you
(09:08):
just gave up thirty nine points to Michigan's offense, which
looks about nine years past its prime. Thirty nine at
home to Michigan State sort of, I formation pound down
the throat offense, gave up fifty one to Maryland. I
want to hear about your great defense. But by the way,
even the SEC which plays great defense, the best defense
(09:30):
in college football. Sorry but didn't didn't Oklahoma dropped forty
eight and it last year, didn't you Seef drop thirty
four on the great Auburn team. Look around football, folks,
everybody's scoring over thirty. Most teams, the good ones are
scoring over forty. Oklahoma tends to score over fifty. I'm
(09:52):
not a look at around the NFL right now. Everybody
tells me how great the Chicago Bears defense is. You
do get they gave up over thirty to New England
Aaron Rodgers. I'm watching Chicago play a week after a week.
People move the ball up and down the field on him.
And that's the best defense in the NFL. I hear
about the Rams all. They're great players. They give up
like twenty five a week, twenty eight a week. Where
(10:13):
are the great defenses in the NFL. I don't see
them to Jaguars defense, Steelers lead the NFL, and Saxes
had a great defense. I just saw Case Keena move
up and down the field. You're all caught up in
Oklahoma's defense. By the way, Oklahoma hasn't had a great
defense in years because they play in the Big twelve.
And the way to win in the Big twelve that
spread the ball out so many good quarterbacks warm Weather.
(10:37):
Everybody throws at great receivers and backs. It's not a
great defensive conference. But to win the Big Twelve got
to sling it, and they do. But when they match
up with the s SEC teams, they also score forty
plus on them. Beat Alabama four or five years ago,
beat Auburn couple of years ago, should have beaten Georgia
last year. Nobody's shutting out Oklahoma, and as Lincoln Riley said,
(10:58):
this is the new age. Forget your grandpa's football, forget
your dad's football. It's not even your older brothers football.
In the last three years, offense has exploded. In the
past twelve months, it's been almost a meteor and I
am firmly entrenched and I'm glad the Committee sees it
that way too. Oklahoma's one spot ahead of Ohio State,
(11:19):
meaning if they both win this weekend and Georgia loses
and they willed Obama, the Sooners will get in over
the Buckeyes. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays in noon Easter not a Empacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Big Band
came out yesterday. I'm Big Ben, of course I like
Big Ben. He threw a terrible interception against Denver, and
(11:42):
Big Ben came out and he was kind of saying,
the receiver ran the wrong route, and you know somebody
else did this, and I would have done this and whatever.
But the quote that I really liked was this by
Big Ben. I'm not changing. I'm still gonna sling it.
I'm a quarterback that's gonna go out and sling it.
I'm you know, you talk about gunsling or whatever you
want to talk about. I'm not gonna worry about interceptions.
(12:05):
I hate doing them that they bother me. But I'm
gonna go out and play my game and try and
help us win football games. So you know, you talk
about guys that miss a basketball, right, you miss freeze?
Are you not big? Do they stop shooting? No? They
keep shooting because you trust yourself. You know, here's why
I love this. If you go to Vegas, you gotta
spend money to make money. The guy's making money in
(12:26):
Vegas is not the grandma playing the Nickels slots. Okay,
it's the big poker player, the big black deck Taylor,
the back rot player, the craps player. You're sitting at
their table and you're throwing big money at it. You're
not gonna win big if you don't bet big. That's
why I don't win. I don't win big in Vegas
because I don't like bet and big. I mean, if
I win three hundred and fifty bucks, I'm overjoyed. That's
why I've never won big in Vegas. And I don't
play slot machines because everybody smokes around him and it
(12:48):
makes me sick. So I never go to Vegas winning most.
I'm gonna wins like a thousand bucks, but I don't
bet big. I love guys that go big in the NFL.
Andrew Luck some interceptions wins, Patrick Mahomes, Ben Deshaun Watson,
they throw the ball downfield. You're gonna get a lot
of picks with those guys. And I love all of them.
I'm all in on all of them. But isn't it interesting?
My favorite quarterback is Brady. My second favorite quarterback could
(13:11):
be Breeze and their precision guys. In fact, my favorite
four quarterbacks in this league are Brady, Luck, Breeze, and
Russell Wilson, and they're all everything. You know. Luck throws
pixies down the field, Brady and Breeze or precision. Russell
Wilson's a little of both plus incredible athleticism and mobility.
There's a lot of different ways to win in this league.
The key with Big Ben is his organization. In the NFL,
(13:38):
you can win with Ben, you can win with Breeze,
you can win with Russell. The key is does the
team identify your strength and then build around it. Of
the last ten AFC Super Bowls, the Steelers and the
Patriots have seven, and the reason is they have two
completely different quarterbacks. Brady's more academic. I think he's a
(14:03):
more coachable, probably a better teammate. He's more precise less
down field, bends the opposite and all those things. He doesn't.
He's not gonna audible a lot of the line of scrimmage.
He has very simple audible. He's gonna go back and
crank it down field. Yet, between the two they got
seven to ten, and the credit goes to the Patriots
and the Steelers for identifying what they are. The Steelers
give Big Ben deep threats speed, the Patriots give Brady
(14:28):
precision route runners. This is why Kansas City and Mahomes,
Philadelphia and Carson Wentz get deep threats, pay deep threats.
That's who they are. They're not as precise as they
are deep ball throwers. Same with Deshaun Watson. Keep giving
him deep threats. Dak Prescott didn't work with Dez because
Dak Prescott needs to see the open receiver and throw
(14:48):
to the open receiver. That's why a Marie Cooper works,
because a Marie Cooper separates and gets open. Dez Bryant
doesn't separate, So the Cowboys realized a Marie separate rates.
That's what Dak needs. By the way, Mitch Trubisky does
not have a great arm, So Mitch Trubisky, what does
he need. The Bears have surrounded him with running backs
(15:10):
who can catch and possession receivers with good hands that
run precise routes. Same with their tight ends. It's all
about identifying what the quarterback does. Jared Goff of the
Rams throws a beautiful eighteen to forty eight yard football.
He throws great long intermediate routes that they gave him
(15:31):
with Robert Woods, Cooper Cup, Brandon Cooks a deep threat.
He's great over the top and good deep to intermediate routes,
and that's what they run. So I don't have a
problem with Big Ben. If you want to look at
attempts downfield home runs. That's what he is. You can
win a lot of ways in this league. The key
is the team identifying your strength and building around it.
(15:53):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
dayson noun Easter nine am Pacific. You know when you
get older and I don't consider myself all old. I
don't consider myself old. I mean, I am kicking it baby.
Every night with me is Marty grow at my house.
It is fun. But you learn stuff over time, okay,
and I have learned over time. I've never overspent on
(16:15):
anything that I use a lot. I've spent a lot
of money on a grill, but I like to grill.
I grill a lot, so I've never thought to myself, boy,
I overspent for that grill. I also like I'm kind
of a homebody. I like to watch movies. I'll spend
big money on a home theater. I've never once thought
I'm getting robbed here now. I'm not a big fan
(16:37):
of driving. I don't drive much to work. I take
Uber a lot. Cars don't mean much to me. I
don't I don't spend any money on cars. I'm not
a car guys. Some people are some people have to
like salespeople drive three hours a day. I know people
that drive an hour and a have to work hour
and a half home. Go buy yourself a nice car.
I don't drive that much. Twenty minutes to work, thirty
home and I'm rent a car guy. I use uber all,
(16:58):
I can I walk places I have. They're not a
big good car guy. So the Dallas Cowboys went out
and they got a Marie Cooper and everybody said, well, well,
you know, it's a lot to give up for a
first round pick and is very expensive. Let me ask you,
do they need a receiver and are they going to
(17:18):
use it a lot? Who gives a rip? Don't jump
over a twenty dollar bill to get to a five.
Here's the stats on the Cowboys pre impost Amari Cooper.
Oh wait, they're way better for our radio audience. Three
and four before him for three and one after sixty
more yards a game, fifty more passing yards a game,
significantly better on third down. They were going to use
(17:42):
him a lot. They're using him a lot. They're targeting
him a lot, and he separates so whenever I you know,
Jerry Jones, And here's the earth thing Dak needs receivers
that separate. Dak is not an anticipation thrower. Dak is
a I see you open, I'm gonna throw you. You're open.
Dez didn't separate. That's why Dak and Des never worked.
(18:05):
Jerry Jones talked about this. This is a great route runner.
That's what Dak needs, and they're going to use the
heck out of him. Don't worry about spending a little
too much if you use something. Here's Jara Cooker does that.
He is as another route runner as has ever put
on the Battle's Capital uniform. And he's a that. He's
(18:28):
running himself. He's route running himself open. You know. The
other thing is they have their linebackers. They have their
running back, they have their left tackle, they have their
slot receiver, they have what they believe is their franchise quarterback.
They've got tremendous athletically linebackers, and I like one of
their corners. What do they need? They need the wide receiver.
(18:49):
They're going to have about the twenty third pick in
the draft, and I don't think the two best college
receivers are going to be available in twenty eighteen. Have
you seen what people are paying for Sammy Watkinons and
Brandon Cooks. There's two great college receivers and multiple teams
drafting ahead of them, Like, I don't know, the Jets
need two receivers, the Colts need a receiver. The team's
(19:10):
drafting ahead of Dallas, who are worse than Dallas. Most
of them need receivers. You see what's happened with a
catch rule being flipped. They wouldn't get one of the
best receivers at twenty three or twenty four. Gonna have
at least two receivers go in the top twenty. So
but I'll go back to something the older I am.
I never overspent for something I get a lot of
(19:31):
use out of. I always look at that and think, yeah,
you know my grill. If I spend a lot for
my grill, I use a thing seventy five times a year.
So I mean, you can spend ten grand on a
grill because grills last forever. Who cares if you're gonna
use something. By the way, Chris Carter talked about the
acquisition of Amari Cooper. I liked it from day one.
Chris Carter did two when I coached Amari in high
(19:55):
school before he went to University Alabama. He was one
of the most mature route runners that I had ever
seen in high school. Him and Larry Fitzgerald right up there.
The one thing Jerry did good Before he acquired Amary,
he went back to Alabama, he talked to Nick Saban,
and Nick Saban wrote him a prescription of how to
attack Amari Cooper, how to bring him into the fold,
(20:17):
and how to get the best of I think it's
a good move. I think Jerry was right. I think
he's a great fit. I do not think they'll be
the Saints, but I think Dallas came down to a
really simple thing. He's better than what the draft would provide.
We're going to use the heck out of him. Let's
not get caught up in money. Jerry Jones had a
(20:38):
great quote about a year ago about something else. He said,
the only time I regret buying things is when I
go cheap. Jerry Jones said, similar to how I believe.
I've never regretted anything that I spent a little more
money on if I thought it was elite. A car,
a stadium, a team, a suit. I've never regretted anything
that's great. Very rarely. You take your wife in a vacation.
(21:01):
You spend a lot for the hotel, right, and then
you leave the hotel and you're like, you know, that
wasn't worth it. We should have been We should have
been across the street at the cheap hotel. It just
it pays spend a little more for nice stuff. You're
gonna use. What's up everybody? This? John Middlecoff from the
Three and Out podcast on Colin Coward's podcast network. You
(21:22):
like Colin show, you'll definitely like mine. I talk a
ton of football, got a lot going on this week.
JJ Watt Texans, They're for real. Aaron Rodgers, major issues,
Baker Mayfield, Hugh Jackson, Jalen Ramsey, won't shut up. We
got a lot to discuss. Again, Subscribe to the Three
and Out podcast with me, John Middlecop I hear this
(21:45):
a lot. People think more is better. You ever watched
like CNN? I don't mean either, but let's pretend we did.
They have those shows on every night, but they have
like thirteen panelists. I'd rather just watch like one guy
or one woman. Rachel Maddow by herself, Sean Hannity by himself,
Bill maher by himself. I don't need like thirteen people
on the set yelling and screaming. Maybe one two, that's it.
(22:08):
I don't think more is better. I think better is better. Okay,
that's that's I don't. I don't believe you just add
a bunch of teams and people do a set and
it's been no, no, just give me good people, that's
all I need. Better is better, not more better. So
this more. I'm hearing a lot of this. In college football.
The rankings came out last night. You got you gotta
(22:29):
have eight team playoffs? Eight. God, it can't just have four.
They gotta have eight. Okay, okay, So so let's let's
say we did have eight. Let's look at the eight
teams that would play in the playoff this morning. Oh really,
I need to see Michigan again. I just saw Michigan.
They gave up sixty two. I'm done with Michigan. I
(22:50):
need to see By the way, UCF, ah, congrats. Oh wait,
they lost their quarterback. And by the way, if they lose,
you know who would be in instead of UCF Florida. Oh,
Florida would be in. That would be great, except Florida
has already gotten smoked. They got beat by Kentucky by
eleven lost to Georgia by nineteen in Missouri twenty one.
I need to see Florida again. Oh by the way,
(23:12):
if we had an eight team playoff, you know what
wouldn't matter this weekend the game everybody in the country
wants to watch George Obama. Why would I have to
watch it? What would be the point of watching it.
I don't have to watch it. They're both getting in,
So everybody wants more teams. I've never in my life,
one time in my entire I've been watching college football
(23:34):
since the seventies, I've never once thought, you know, that
number eight team got hosed, that three lost Georgia team,
they got hosed. They're the best team in the country.
I bet I've never said that. I've never even thought
the fifth best team is number one. So I know
(23:56):
everybody wants to weeks more and more. When you go
to a nice restaurant, have you ever have you ever
really gone out to a nice restaurant, like you know,
you're like, I my spay one hundred and fifty bucks tonight, right,
like a nice restaurant, maybe even more. You gotta go
with the couple couples, is it a great restaurant because
it's a buffet and they just keep piling food on.
Or is it a great restaurant because the food is
really great. That's why it's a great restaurant, not because
(24:20):
they pile on more pudding. Stop with the more argument.
Just give me better. I don't need any more than
four teams. Give me Alabama, give me Clemson, give me Oklahoma,
and then get me undefeated, Notre Dame. I'm good with that.
I don't need this team Michigan again. It would get
rid of that pesky deserving argument that you like so much.
That's another one. When my kids say deserving, I'm like,
(24:43):
talk to the hand, obviously, isn't that Oh no, no, yeah,
I use the classics. When my daughter will say, like
I deserve, I'm like, not even not even listening. You
earn life. You don't deserve squat. You know. The difference
is you compare it to the NFL, and in the NFL,
they're all NFL teams, they're all pro teams. You can
win on a Sunday. The difference between Alabama and the
(25:04):
eight team is insane. It's a separation, is not. The
gap is unbelievable, massive, right, after you get four or
five teams, the gap to like eight, nine, ten, eleven,
start looking at the teams. Florida separation is obvious. Florida
got boat raced by Kentucky, a basketball school. Missouri neither.
And I'm not as against expanding as you are, but
(25:26):
I see your point when you lay it out that way. Yeah,
not deserving. You got to earn your way into the
cow herd college playoffs, that's right, And talk to the hand.
I do all the classics. You raised the roof, so
I do. We raised the roof at my house, Joe.
I'm so glad you brought that up. One more herd.
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
(25:47):
a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen
live or on demand whenever you like. Joel Klatt's joining me.
All right, son, Hey, So here's the college football playoff
rankings last night. I didn't never problem with it because
Oklahoma is ahead of Ohio State. When Georgia loses Tobama,
then I'm gonna get Oklahoma. I think Oklahoma wouldn't lose
(26:08):
by twenty nine to Purdue. So are you okay with
those rankings? Yeah? I didn't have a huge problem with it.
I think the resume, the body of work for Oklahoma
is certainly I think more impressive than Ohio State, thank you.
I will say this, though, Ohio States singular performance against
Michigan is better than any singular performance that Oklahoma has
had as a whole. As a whole, do you think
(26:28):
winning at West Virginia against an NFL quarterback is easier
than beating Michigan in a nineteen eighty eight offense at home?
I will say that the flaws that I've seen from both,
at least Ohio State has proven that they can fix
some of their flaws. I mean, listen, in the last month,
Oklahoma has had historically bad defense. They're right now one
hundred and twenty fifth in the country in total defense.
(26:50):
In the last month, one hundred and twenty fifth. Do
you know they've given up one hundred and eighty nine
points in November one eighty nine. If you want to
know some sort of context for that in the calendar year,
if you take Alabama's playoffs last year and their entire season,
they've given up one ninety four. That's five more points
than Bama has in November. That's insane. Yeah, Oklahoma has
(27:11):
a tackling problem that I will acknowledge. Okay, So, so
wouldn't you hold on before you wouldn't you say either
team is flawed, Like, there's not a great answer in place.
So listen. My whole thing is, I was telling the
staff this this morning. I was telling the staff this
this morning. People think everybody wins. Average people get good
jobs and have good days. Right, sure, and marry beautiful women. Right.
(27:34):
You got to avoid catastrophe in life. Okay, So if
I interview, I'm a principal, I'm interviewing for a wonderful
high school. I'm gonna interview to be a principle. I
could be great for two hours. But if the last
thing I said was I do like to date teachers,
especially the married ones, check please, I'm out of the job.
You're done. When you interview for a job, it's not
about saying smart stuff. It's about avoiding the catastrophe you have.
(27:57):
You know, I've embezzled at every country company I've worked for.
That's how you lose a job. That's not gonna be
a problem here, though, No, Oklahoma, Ohio state, there's a
bunch of good stuff. I like Ohio State had a catastrophe.
They lost by twenty nine to per don't Yeah, that's
not good enough. I'm not disagreeing with you, but you
cannot overlook the fact that Oklahoma also has as a
(28:18):
catas What is it, I just explain a catastrophe one
hundred and eighty nine points winning those games. Oh my good,
that's not a catastrophe. A catastrophe is losing the army.
You just said, Colin that you like you can say
a bunch of great things in an interview, but one
thing I just saw. They say a lot of great
(28:40):
things offensively, and they've given up one hundred and eighty.
But a college football a catastrophe's losing. They win all
those games. They're winning those games. You can't lose by
twenty nine to an average football team. You're up. That's
a job interview. You said the wrong thing the last sentence.
You're out. Check please month. Okay, now here's another thing.
(29:02):
I am not into trends. You're very much a trends guy.
I didn't realize. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you explained. By
the way, in my house we still raise the roof.
It's an all time classic. You've probably got a new
hand thing you guys do in your family because it's cool.
I'm not into cool, so I'm not into this eight
It's clear I'm not into this eight team playoff. That's
(29:22):
the hot thing. And my takeaway is, oh, really, I
need to see Michigan again. I really need to see
UCF now with a backgroup. Are you trying to say
that I am an eighteen? That's be honest about this.
I bet you'd like the sixteen teams thirty four never
and let me tell you why. There's a very clear
argument why I hate the fact that we're probably headed
to the eight teams? Do you think we are? The
(29:44):
three two argument is compelling. You can make a case
that the third team in the country deserves at least
a shot at the national time. I agree that argument
gets diminished when you're argument between four and five. Four
and five you do what we're doing right here arguing
betwe I mean fatally flawed resumes. I think they were
flawed last year when you had a non champ Alabama
(30:04):
gets a two loss, Ohio State flawed resumes? Right? Can
you make a case maybe one of them deserves a
chance at the national title? Maybe you really want to
start arguing between three loss Florida, three loss, LSU thank you,
two loss Michigan. You cef out of a nonpower five.
I don't want to have that argument. I don't want
to have that argument. It's not compelling. No one cares
(30:26):
about that argument, and quite frankly, those teams don't deserve
a chance at the national championship. You're still raising the
roof at your house. I don't know about that, writing
books over here, raising the roof. I told my daughter
the other day, talk to the hand. I know, it's
like nineteen ninety four, but that's in my house. We're
you got nineteen ninety four all over the house. All right,
(30:47):
what do you? What do you? And I like Hardball?
We do, but that was bad, not great. Gonna be
honest with you. I like and I still think by
the way you guys are going to do the bit
Oh yeah, you know, I mean I think in the
mid today, not when you give up? What do we
make up? What do we? Because you and I still
like Carball? I still like Harball. But here's here's the problem.
(31:09):
Here's the you love analogies. Ready, Yeah, Jim Harbaugh is
becoming dangerously close to falling into the Mike Leach realm,
the Wall Zoo coach. Yeah, and you might be thinking
to yourself, well, is that a shot. Well, it's not
necessarily a shot. Let me give you some context for this.
There are two coaches that have wild success at a
lot of places. I would say Mike Leach is having
(31:32):
wild success State. Here's the problem. When you take away
they're one thing that they hang their hat on. They've
got nowhere else to go, have no second Guess that's
one of the reasons why it's so it's been so
hard for Mike Leach to win a division championship. He's
never done it at the college level. He's never won
a conference championship. Guess what Harbaugh has never done, never
won a conference championship. And what I saw last week
(31:54):
was a team that came in favored, probably should have won,
and had nowhere to go once they couldn't run the
ball effectively on base downs. See because when they're ahead
and they're running it effectively on base downs, now they
can get the tight ends involved, and now it's play
action pass and it's what he wants to do. If
you take his blue blueprint from him, he has an
(32:15):
inability to win those games. Versus I'll just say Ohio
State has won games all different ways. They have Oklahoma
has had to win games all different ways, running the ball,
some games, passing the ball, other games. Sometimes their defense
shows up. Maybe not no use case in a one
hundred and eighty nine in the last month. I don't
know if you've heard, but Ohio State is one of them,
all sorts of different ways. You can't necessarily make that
(32:37):
argument for Michigan. They don't necessarily, but you're not saying
a game that they can't use their blueprint. Okay, it's
very fair. Big Ben through a bad pick. I still
love him. I can still love hardball and think he's
a great coach. But I don't think he's I don't
think he's the greatest coach, but I still think he's
fantastic coach. He just needs to adjust a little bit,
(32:58):
you know, if if they're able to throw the ball
on base downs a little bit, be able to get
off of blueprint and still be successful. He's absolutely He's
the perfect guy from Michigan. They're having so much more
sat they're so much better off right now than they
were in the seven Yankee under Lloyd Carr and Brady Hoke.
Do you know that their overall record in the seven
years between h Lloyd Carr and Jimmy Harbost So I'm
(33:22):
talking about the Rich Rodriguez Brady Hook era, their record
was the exact same as Oregon State over those last
over those seven years. Wow. So you tell me everyone's like, oh,
he's overrated, really because I think they would take this.
They're in the top ten and should be. Yeah, and
they lost a game to a really good by the way,
that the best should know. If they win their bowl game,
they're gonna finish about fifth. It's Michigan not happy with fifth.
(33:45):
It's an academic power, it's in cold weather, The state
didn't many high school football stars, and they were sixty
minutes away from from being there. You know what I mean.
I mean, wouldn't you take Michigan fan, I'm talking to you.
Wouldn't you take every year being sixty minutes away from
being a playoff team? Thank you? Yes, yes you would.
So stop it with the oh, I don't know, Maybe
we need to make a change. By the way, you
(34:06):
need to make a change. What's your final four? Who
are the four best you've seen? Who the four best? No, no,
who are the four best teams in America? Do you Bama, Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma. Okay,
that's fair, So that's what I feel. But I'm I'm mean,
buy a nose over Ohio State. Like I said, game
last week, I think all those teams beat Notre Dame
(34:29):
this week. You know what. I totally appreciate your honesty
on that, but but they're gone. I want Notre Dame in.
They've earned the right to go and play for this
national championship. They've earned it. I'll give you that. I
want to take that away from him. But what I've seen,
you saw the USC game, George is getting better. There
are teams that are better than Notre Dame, but they've
earned the right to go. I had an NFL exec
(34:49):
text me during the Notre Dame game and say, Clemson
would blast this team by four touchdowns. He they cannot run,
he goes, I've scouted Clemson. They can't run with Clemson.
By the way, I want to do something here, Joey,
what does this stand for? Big Jay journalism? Journalism? That's
all these shows about, no opinions. All we do on
this show is journalism. I'm gonna throw a little one
at Yeah. Cliff Kingsbury's good looking. Have you ever seen
(35:11):
that guy? He's really he's good looking. I'm gonna there's
only a few guys that I blush in front of.
He's one of them. Yeah, USC offensive coordinator next seventy
two hours interesting. No sourcing on that at all. I'm
just telling you that's just my my guts. That from
my tweet. I don't follow your tweets, Oh you follow
it journalism. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(35:32):
Herd weekdays and noon Easter not a Empacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. Mike
Pouncy eight years, first year with the Chargers. By the way,
I don't know, Mike. Do you good stead again? Mike?
Do you have kids? Mike, Yes, I have two of them. Okay,
do you tell me so? You guy? You probably I
don't know if your parents were millionaires, but you're a
very successful guy, and that you have these kids. Do
(35:55):
they play football? Well? My son plays flag football. My
daughter she hates, she's just like an ultimate girl. But
my son, he's like me. He's very competitive. I don't
think they understand that we have money, you know, because
we don't raise them that way. We kind of raised
them the way I was raised. But they're awesome kids.
They love school, and my son I can't wait to
see what he girls up to because I think he's
gonna be a heck of an athlete. So you don't
(36:16):
raise them. So how do you hide? I mean, you
live in a nice house, I bet. Now, how do
you pretend that you don't have any money there? Mike, Well,
it's hard, you know, because it's hard because they get
everything they want. You know, I love my kids. I
spoiled them to death because when I grew up, I
grew up very, very poor, and so for me, I
went I told myself when I was growing up, I
want when I had kids, that I was gonna spoil
them and give them everything that I wanted as a kid.
And so they understand that we have money. They we're comfortable.
(36:39):
They get whatever they want. But we're very hard on
them because we wanted to grow up to be successful
kids too. Now it's interesting, Mike, you played in Miami,
which is a just I'll tell you you played in Miami.
In LA, You've played in fun cities, no Detroit or
Buffalo for you. You are a grinder. But is it different.
I mean you've got brother brother's teammates, my ammy and
(37:00):
the Chargers in La So and then you played college
football in Florida. It's been a charm life for you.
When you heard the Chargers wanted you, what was your
first thought? I told my agent, Joel Siegel, get me
on the first flight out there. I was excited for it.
I knew the talent that this football team had. I
wanted to play with Philip Rivers, Melvin Gordon, the running
backs awesome, and I just knew this team had a
(37:20):
big the best chance to you know, make a run
in the playoffs and do something special. Especially at this
point in my career. You know, all I care about
is winning games. I want to do something special. I
want to be remembered, and as an office a linement,
the only way to get remembered is by winning. You
played with Tebow, if I recall in college and you
want yep, so you had one of the iconic college quarterbacks.
You now play with a guy I think the Hall
(37:41):
of Famer Philip Rivers. You know they don't look like
the same quarterback right, but only different. Are there any
similarities between Tebow and Phillips perhaps personalities? I think the
competitive part of it, how much how competitive they are
when we go out to practice, when we were in games.
I think they have they both the competitive nature in them.
(38:01):
I think that's the that's the one of the only
similarities in their in their games, because you know, Philip
is a guy that you know gets rid of the
ball really really fast. He understands the game of football
so well, and uh he makes it a pleasure for
us as offers a line to play for him and
U it makes us look good because he gets the
ball out of his hands and he puts us in
the best situations to go out there and be successful
in place. I heard he's a trash talker, Philip rivers.
(38:23):
He admitted to me one tie's like I do a
little trash talking. And now can you can you validate that?
Confirm that? Oh, he talks a lot of trash by
the time he's calling a place so out of breeth
because he's talking trash all the time. But it gets
us fired up because when he gets hit, he gets up.
He talks trash to the guy that hits him. He's
talking trash to the defensive coordinators, the guys on defense,
and it's just awesome because you know he's so into
(38:45):
the football, into the game that this would makes him
so good of a player as a's so competitive and
it keeps them going, each and every player. Mike Pouncey
eight years, multiple Pro Bowl or one of the top
two or three centers in the NFL. You know, it's
a situation with the Chargers that they were in San Diego,
they're in LA and now you're in kind of a
soccer stadium thing. It is a weird NFL situation. Has
(39:06):
it been different for you? Take me through the process
of you change teams, You're in kind of a different
stadium situation. You were in San Diego. It's down. Has
it been odd? At first? It was kind of odd
because you know that our stadium a little smarter than
most NFL stadiums. But as a football team collective, we've
embraced it. You know, we embraced that. You know, most
(39:26):
of the times we're gonna be at home, but it's
gonna feel like a way game, and I think we're
when we have that edge as a football team, it
makes us play better. Because we play awesome on road
games and uh for the most part o our home
games of world games too. Mike, you fans may not
realize this. Quarterbacks obviously audible, but the center, you you
call the signals for the line and you and I've
(39:48):
always known you as a big personality guy, so obviously
you want a very smart dude playing center because you
have to call the audibles. Now, when you have a
quarterback like Philip, who is a veteran, we're in quarterback,
He's gonna audible a lot more than a rookie or
a young quarterback. Are there? I mean, is it tougher
to play with Phillips sometimes because he demands more of you.
(40:10):
I think it's easier. I'll go up there and I'll
make the mic point, but he comes up, he'll correct me,
and whenever he audible's plays, he's the guy that's gonna
make all the points. But I think it's awesome for
office a line because we just go up there and
we got to focus on Hey, who we're gonna block
on this play, and he sets the stage for us.
And it's awesome because in the past game is the
biggest for us because he knows where the blitz is
coming from, and so he sets the protection to the
side that the blitz is coming from, and it makes
(40:31):
it easier for him to get rid of the ball
when he knows the pressure is coming. It makes it
easier for us because we're not sliding away from the pressure,
was sliding into it. Joey Bosa's back last couple of games.
What's the difference practice games? What is he add do
you believe, Mike? I think he's the best pass rusher
in the NFL. And what it does is it opens
up a better pass rush for Melvin Ingram, and he's
(40:51):
a guy that gets after the quarterback. But those two guys,
when they work together, it's pretty much unstoppable on third
and long situations. So just to have him back at practice,
he just brings, you know, that excitement back. It gave
us something to look forward to when were going into
the games. I, Hey, Joey Bosa's back. We can't wait
to see him playing. He loves football. He's a big
important piece to our successor as a football team, and
so we're excited to see how you finishes out the
rest of the year. Mike, Centers generally don't get drafted
(41:14):
in the first round. You were the fifteenth pick. You're
obviously a great talent. It's funny to watch football now, Mike.
You and I mostly grew up an offensive lineman. Were
known as guys who pancake guys. It's you run the football,
you establish physicality. Well, now we play in a league.
It's flag football. Okay, so if you had to adapt
(41:36):
your game, it is a more finesse game. It feels like, yeah,
I think so, because you know, when I first came
in NFL, the game was a lot more physical and
whenever you used to drive guys to the ground and
pancake them, it used to be a glory fly block.
But now if you do that, the rep store a
flat because they figured out it's holding. Because the game
was much more, more faster, there's more athletic defensive linement,
and so you kind of have to adjust because you
(41:57):
gotta play on your feet a lot more. You gotta
keep your hands inside because they're looking forward a lot
more these days. But uh, I enjoy it. I think
the league's awesome. I think it's heading in the right direction.
It's gonna be around for a long time. By the
way you face your bro mark keis this Sunday Charger Steelers?
That is that strange? I mean to mat, did you
play at the same high school? Yes, we played same
high school, same college. Okay, same high God, that's incredible.
(42:21):
Did you when? When? Did you both know? Now, by
the way, who was the better high school player? I say,
my brother is better and everything. He's my younger brother.
What about in college? Were you a better college player? Well? Uh,
we both had the same accolades. You know, he started
as a freshman um at center or at right guard
at Florida, and he started every year he was there.
(42:41):
My freshman year, I didn't start the first six seven games.
I moved over the defensive tackle ended up starting the
rest of the season. So our Chris kind of played
out a little different. But uh, you know we're here
and we we both you know, had the same goals
growing up. You know, we're identical twins. I think my
hardest year was whenever he left his junior year to
go to the Combine and go pro. I stayed back
for my sea a year and that was the toughest
year of our lives because it was the first time
(43:02):
we were ever separated. Isn't that amazing. My mom was.
My mom was a twin. They talk about twins, and
when you guys are in a room together, you can't
stop laughing. You're very funny, guys. I imagine it was
a very funny. It was mom funny, Dad funny, sisters
funny because you guys together are like a comedy routine. Yeah,
we have a really big family and all of us are,
(43:23):
you know, really close knit. We love each other to death.
You know, we especially our sisters because you know, growing up,
you know, our family's focus was me and my brother
because we figured this was our way out of poverty,
and so our sisters kind of took a step back, like, hey,
let's you know, let the boys do everything. And so
we've always been a priest of our sisters. We love
and to death, and you know, they're part of the
reason why we're here in NFL. This day's sacrifice, as
(43:44):
they took Mike, it's great seeing you again. Congratulations. I
appreciate you taking time out of your busy work schedule
to come on our show. Thanks Bud, thanks for having
me
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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