March 17, 2023 • 40 mins
Thoughts on the Cowboys cutting ties with Ezekiel Elliott and what it shows about the the league
The shortcomings of Michael Jordan as reports surface regarding a potential sale of his team
Looking at Aaron Rodgers' legacy
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Are you sure
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Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
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Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a furrid day,
(00:28):
live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd wherever you may be,
however you may be listening or watching. Thanks for my
gons part of your Friday J Mac Jmack. The Dukes
look sensational. Arizona did not you liked Arizona? Listen? I
didn't like them our group the numbers came out. Arizona
(00:50):
has a great idea for a run the pathless clear
in the It's just choke, epic choke job. By the way,
Prince Princeton didn't even play particular wells. They sound like
sixteenth percent from three. Just an unbelievably bad job by Arizona.
If Saint Mary's goes down today, I may call in
sick and run for cover in another country. Goodness graces,
(01:12):
I got my Dukies though, we'll talk about that. So
the lead story today, the Dallas Cowboys have released Ezekiel Elliott.
He's the star running back for years and years and years.
It's interesting for a four year period, the Cowboys centerpiece
on offense was Zeke for the last four years. The
Titans centerpiece has been Derrick Henry for three years. The
(01:36):
Panthers centerpiece was Christian McCaffrey for six to seven years.
The Vikings centerpiece was Adrian Peterson. Arguably as talented a
running backs as we have had in a long time.
Sixteen years of dominance from the run game, zero Super
Bowls and just two conference championships, both losses. You don't
(02:00):
get much of a payoff when you make your big bet,
and the Cowboys did on a running back, and it
doesn't last very long to begin with. Brady could still
come back and play again. The last three Super Bowl
champions the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twenty eighth in rushing, the
La Rams twenty fifth, the Kansas City Chiefs twentieth. Dallas
(02:27):
made the wrong bet. Jerry Jones thought he could replace
Bill Parcels, replaced Jimmy with Barry Switzer and made a
big bet ninety million, two years early to Zeke. The
last team to win a Super Bowl that led the
NFL in rushing was the eighty five Chicago Bears, and
(02:48):
let's be honest, that defense won the championship. All due
respect the best running back I've ever seen, sweetness, Walter Payton.
If you're a fan of an NFL team and you're
screaming for your team to sign your running back to
another contract, New York Giants, you've got the wrong quarterback.
(03:08):
Quarterbacks lead you to super Bowls, not run games. You
can have one, just like you could have a nice yard.
It's not selling the home. The kitchen is, the structure
is the neighborhood. The location is the bedrooms, the bathrooms.
Yards are nice, and running backs are nice too. But
Dallas made the wrong bet for three and a half years,
and you could say Colin Christian McCaffrey forty nine ers. Ah. Actually,
(03:33):
that's the greatest example to prove my point. When did
their offense officially die when seventh round rookie quarterback Brock
Purdy got hurt. They won before Christian McCaffrey got there.
They scored on plenty of drives that Christian McCaffrey didn't
lead them, but it was. When this seventh round, unknown
(03:55):
quarterback Iowa State got hurt against Philadelphia, McCaffrey was still there.
The offense dried up. No running backs taken in last
year's first round, there's a possibility there'll be no running
backs taken in this round. The NFL is all about
making bets. Who to pay big, who to pay early?
(04:15):
Patrick Mahomes pay him early, Joe Burrow pay him early.
Lamar Jackson maybe not pay him. But paying big money
to running backs second contracts, making them the centerpiece of
your offense has a very little chance of leading you
to a championship. And even if he's good, it won't
(04:38):
last very long. Once again, Jerry Jones simply made the
wrong bet. Great businessman, not so great at helping run
an NFL franchise. So I saw this story. Mythology is
a powerful thing. Happens to politicians, happened to sports stars.
(04:59):
Michael Jordan in talks to sell his steak majority steak
in the Charlotte Hornets. Now I would say this. I
was as big a fan as anybody of Michael Jordan,
but lost in all of this. In the highlight culture,
you never see Michael's misses. It should be noted he
(05:19):
didn't win squat before Scottie Pippen. He just scored a
lot and alienated teammates. He failed in baseball, he failed
badly with the Wizards. He failed with the Hornets. Michael
Jordan takeaway David Stern, Phil Knight, and Phil Jackson is
a really, really talented basketball player that probably ends up
(05:40):
averaging more points without the titles. Great players often make
terrible coaches and terrible executives, and we now know bad
owners because what made Michael Jordan great was words like
relentless and confrontational and demanding, impatient, And what makes Phil
(06:02):
Jackson a great coach is understanding, flexibility, zen mentoring, elevating
others patient mj He's still trying to settle scores, still
giving access for the documentary after Lebron won a title
in Cleveland, and many of us subscribed to the theory
(06:25):
that now the greatest of all time was Lebron James.
Michael is still incredibly motivated to elevate Michael's net worth,
his brand, his shoe apparel wildly competitive. But the best
owners and the best coaches and the best executives are
about elevating others. Michael is great at elevating Michael. Even
(06:49):
as friends, their valet guys, golf buddies, third tier players,
Michael takes care of them. They create a shield for
Mike for all the mythology, and he's as good a
basketball player as I've ever seen. He failed at baseball,
he failed at owning a team. He was bad with
(07:09):
the Wizards, and all he did was score points and
alienate people. When he got to Chicago, even Michael needed
leadership Stern, Phil Knight, Phil Jackson, and for the record,
not a lot of playoff wins without Scottie Peppin. Everybody.
Everybody needs an assist. Everybody can't live in an island,
(07:33):
even the great Michael Jordan, who's done a poor job
of owning and running and drafting the Hornets, because what
made him great as a player has made him a
bit of a disaster with Charlotte. Selfish, impatient, too demanding,
not understanding that not everybody has a forty four inch vertical,
big hands and an unrelenting drive. Love Michael to this day,
(07:57):
but Lebron, that's where these two aren't remotely close. Lebron,
everybody that plays with him. Everybody is better. He even
worked with an old crazy j R. Smith. He made
Kyrie work. Kyrie hasn't worked with anybody. He couldn't work
in Boston, didn't do squad at Duke was a disaster
in Cleveland. Brooklyn was a tire fire. How's it working
(08:21):
in Dallas? Lebron worked with Kyrie. You can compare these
two all you want. They're different people, they have different games.
But Lebron's personality has become his game and Michael's personality
has become his brand. This thing was destined to fail,
all right, Duke's gonna win this thing. I'm getting very excited.
(08:41):
Yesterday I was torn baked told by Jamac to keep
your eye on Oral Roberts. I did for five minutes.
The game was over. You know, it is interesting with
Duke to have such this clean academic think about this.
In the history of American teams brands, Duke is a
runaway number one in forty years forty years one losing season,
(09:05):
and that was the year they got off to a
nine and three start and Mike Shashevski had back surgery.
Literally couldn't move up and down the sideline. That is
the only time in forty years they've had a losing season.
Think about the second biggest Brandon college basketball probably Kentucky chaos,
(09:25):
multiple coaches, major violations, lata ego, underachieving. There is no
sport in America where the number two is further away
than the number one than college basketball. Well, North Carolina
and UCLA have have cases, but I think you're probably right.
The gap between Duke and number two is enormous. Now,
(09:49):
I didn't like Ora Robberts yesterday called the market was
all over or Roberts. The line opened at eight, it
closed at six. Two points is a big swing. The
market is undervaluing Duke because they struggled a bunch to
start the season with four freshmen, and the numbers for
the full season are not great for Duke. But I
think you're onto something. This is I mean, they were
up fourteen nothing after like the first five minutes. Also,
(10:11):
look at how hard it's been for Duke to often
pivot to the next coach, a lot of failures. John
Shire takes over for coach K. That was coach K's choice. Seamless,
absolutely seamless. They keep it in the family. I'm supposed
to talk to Jay Billis on Sunday. I'm excited about
that because this has been Duke from no major violations,
(10:34):
seamless transition, one losing season in forty years. In by
the way most years, the toughest conference for college basketball
for a large portion. I'm not sure now if it is,
but it certainly was. For Also part of the greatest
American college rivalry Carolina Duke remains Ohio State Michigan the
(10:54):
two biggest rivalries in college sports. So Duke Tennessee on Saturday.
The game. This is how rough it is for the
NCAA tournament. Do you know what the standalone game is
to start Saturday NCAA Tournament. It's nationwide game for everybody,
Furman against San Diego State. Everybody. That's the standalone game
called like everybody always wants the upset, but then you're
(11:18):
stuck with Furman. What you want is a couple of
eight nine upsets, an occasional five twelve. You want the one, two, three,
and four is to win. It's good for ratings. They
have huge fan bases. Also, do you really want a
Duke an Arizona, A, UCLA A Kentucky? You really want
to bounce? First weekend those are big brands that everybody's
(11:39):
got an emotional historic connection to. How about Kansas Arkansas
Saturday telling you right now, give me, give me Arkansas
on the money line on that one. Now listen, that's
not an Arizona call. This is Arkansas, CA That'll be
a good games in the history of Arizona basketball. And
I say this with respect. They've broken a lot of hearts. Yeah,
Tucson is a great college basketball mecca. Yeah, even great
(12:00):
lud Olson. You see Gronkowski's reaction. He was like walking
at some event and the fans were like, Arizona lost.
He turns, He's like, what like floor that was? That
was a shocking development in the NCAA tournament. Yeah. You know,
if Arizona was a bar, you know why it would
go out of business because it's always one and done.
I think, oh wow, look at you. Jokes are flying
(12:22):
on a Friday morning. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Herd weekdays and Noon Easter not a Empacific
on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app.
It is interesting, if you've had any sustained success, people
eventually hate you. It could be staff, it could be
the Yankees, it could be Alabama football, it was the
New England Patriots. They'll find ways, make believe ways to
(12:43):
hate you. I don't understand why anybody has disdained for
Duke unless you're Carolina and you're a primary rival, or
your Kentucky and you're jealous. But no major violations, academically superior.
One losing season. You'd almost take a COVID year and
the Mike Chevsky back surgery year. You could take those out.
(13:03):
I don't know what they're what there is to dislike
about Duke. I mean, they've had the occasional player Christian
Layton or who I covered, people found him unlikable. I
didn't you know. JJ Reddick irritated some doesn't irritate me.
Grayson Allen drove me nuts. But everybody's got a player
or two in the history of their program that drives
to nuts. I just think Duke's likable, smart, they're NBA
(13:25):
players are smart. They're not always great, but they don't
get into a lot of trouble. They're good citizens. And
I don't know. I'm rooting for Duke. Even when I
covered you and LV, if you and LV didn't win,
I wanted to see Duke Quinn. So Aaron Rodgers is
not officially a Jet yet. It is interesting, and I
think it's kind of being downplayed that Aaron Rodgers did
(13:46):
admit that he was ninety percent retired when he went
into the retreat, came out and said, I'll be a
Jet if you were ninety percent anything, that's what you're
eventually going to do really quickly. So I don't assume
he's going to play long for the Jets, but it
is interesting had he retired, what would his legacy be,
(14:07):
because not all great quarterbacks age well. Joe Namath a
great example, far more interceptions than touchdowns, losing record, iconic,
but nobody already thinks he's an all time great. They
did at the time. Brett Farve not very redeemable lately
off the field, a turnover machine, even though he had
great offensive coaches. He was more iconic than amazing gun slinger.
(14:32):
Feels like, you know, the John Wayne of acting. It's
sort of outdated. Steve Young, by the way, has aged well,
many believe now probably correctly, the great runner, the great thrower. Eventually,
he would have been even greater had he not had
to sit behind Joe Montana for years. What if Aaron retired,
I think, much like his personality, it would be complicated, efficiency,
(14:55):
a plus arm, excellent but under it, achieving in the
playoffs and difficult, aloof and prickly. That's fair. That's an
incredibly fair thing to say, very complicated. Brady was very clean.
His resume is clean. The go to New England super
Bowl in Tampa, huge deal at Fox Sports, Peyton Manning,
(15:17):
clean super Bowl and Indie Iconic super Bowl in Denver,
massive success, lots of fun stuff off the field. John
Elway retired, multiple super Bowls, iconic, big business success now
golfs a lot. But Aaron reminds me a lot of
Big Ben. That's what I think about. That's how we
(15:39):
don't talk Big Ben since he left a lot of
it's his own doing. Think about Big Ben and Aaron
Rodgers the similarities. You're left with holes and underachievement and
lots of drama and what are the three things they
have in common? Both only semi committed in the off season.
There were big jokes about Big Ben. He disappeared in
(16:02):
the off season. Aaron Rodgers now disappears in the off season.
Both struggled with young teammates Aaron this year. Great example,
big Ben his entire career, young skill players, he struggled.
They took the attention away from him, and Big Ben
and Aaron off seasons life. You can see him retiring
(16:22):
playing golf with a handful of close friends and that's it.
But I think it's complicated his legacy, much as Aaron
Rodgers is complicated. First ballot, Hall of Famer, excellent arm,
unique style, terrific career, but Prickly can be difficult to coach.
Demanded transparency, yet gave teammates, coaches, and the Packers very
(16:46):
little of it. J Mack with the News, No, no,
this is the herd Line News. You put it that way.
I'm really excited for Aaron Rodgers to get to New York.
G Prickly, That's what we love in the Apple. All right,
let's get started with the big story. Yesterday, college basketball
upsets fifteen seed Princeton nine nothing run in the final
(17:09):
four minutes. Arizona's up fifty five fifty, They got the
lead and the ball for thirty left and it just chokes.
And there's no other way to describe it, beside the
Princeton didn't shoot well, didn't shoot free throws, well, didn't
shoot threes. Well, this was I don't like to use
the word choke, but Arizona got you're sitting there watching it.
They got tight. They got tight. It happens, and anyone
who plays basketball a lot, Yeah, you know, down the stretch,
(17:32):
it could be tough. And I also think Arizona didn't
play with a lot of physicality down the stretch as well.
There's a thing you can tell watching some of these games.
If you see one team diving for every loose ball,
challenging every shot at the rim, that team wants it badly.
I didn't see that from Arizona yesterday, and I didn't
see a lot of it from Virginia. They were also
on the upset end. Listen, you could say what you
(17:53):
want when a twenty three year old point guard just
tries to chuck a pass down the court the way
Key Hay Clark did, form an intercepts at Furman and
then comes down and hits the three. That was another
meltdown by a good team. Column. Well, I think when
you go in as a favorite, you're tight. To begin with.
Arizona's history a lot of gagging in the tournament. They're
thinking about that, and I thought in the last five
(18:15):
or six minutes, I didn't think they played a good
basketball game. But again, Princeton wasn't not like Princeton hit
six straight threes or print. It's not what it was.
They weren't that efficient either, And still one I will
say this, I love the tournament. The night games were
pretty brutal. I mean Louisiana kept it kind of close
with Tennessee and Houston didn't play well, but there wasn't
like any drama in the night games. I mean UCLA
(18:36):
one by I think thirty three. Over the last twenty years,
the NBA, because it's become so international, is the most
talent that it's ever been, and college basketball because of
the one and Done is the least talent that it's
ever been. So the gap years ago, you could watch
a college basketball team and they would have Patrick Ewing
as a junior surrounded by NBA guys that were seniors.
(19:00):
I'm not saying they could compete, but five slam a
Jamma had Drexler and Larry Msho and Michael Young and
a Kimlajuan. Saint John's didn't even win a championship and
they had Mark Jackson and Walter Berry and Bill Wennington
and Chris Mullen. You had these teams with four and
five NBA guys and I'm not saying they could have
beat NBA teams, but they looked like semi pro teams.
(19:23):
If you get two NBA players like a Kansas hun
A roster, it stands out. The quality of play, it's low.
The games are in the fifties regularly. The number one
overall seed Alabama has arguably the best player in the tournament.
Brandon did not have a basket and they still won
the game handily. He's supposed to be like the number
two or three thick in the draft. He didn't make
(19:44):
a basket and an NZIA tournament game. Next up, Kevin Durant.
He's been out since March eighth, tweaked his ankle in
pregame warm ups. KD has missed those four games and
the Sons have gone one and three. But it sounds
like KD is progressing. Here's what he's Here's Monty Williams
with an update on his start. It's just part of
his progression. He hasn't done anything outside of that, and
(20:10):
you know, we obviously have to not just be careful.
It's just a lot of boxes need to be checked.
So we'll see how he responded to just standard shooting today.
We'll reevaluate tomorrow. And every day is a progression. That's
what he's done. You guys have just somebody had their
phone on and saw it. But there's a normal progression
(20:32):
to this type of injury. And that's just where he's
at right now. He's just doing standstille shots. I don't
know if I have to wait and see. So it's
the fourth seed in the West. I don't think you
bring him back before the before the playoffs right now,
maybe one game to get him twenty minutes up to
speed or something. But they're just they're four. They're one
(20:53):
game up on the Clippers. So four or five Sons
Clippers first round. That's a that's probably one of the
most There's so much that could swing for both franchises.
Whoever loses this series. The Suns lose this series, the
round of the Clippers, Chris Paul is gone. He will
be out of feed even if Andrew Wiggins came back,
and it's I think unlikely in the regular season, he's
(21:16):
not going to be ready in the first round. Of
the playoffs too. I mean, he's gonna have to play
himself back into shape, right So to me, this is
Denver is sitting there thinking John Morant issues Wiggins right now,
some private time off, Kevin Durant hurt. I have doubted
Denver all year, but maybe this is the year. Don't
(21:38):
forget Lebron, Kyrie Luca all hurt out right now. I'm
just curious what happens to the Clippers if they lose
that first round series to the Suns. Paul George see
you later. I mean, you can't lose in the first
round with a super team of Kawaya and Paul George.
Remember in the off season they were doing t shirts
with like John Wall on it. Now they're all excited
(21:59):
they got Westbrookly like the West is an absolute cluster.
I mean, if you really think about it, maybe this
is the year that Denver got every single break. You
got injuries up and down, no excuse his buddy. Yeah,
three time MVP would listen Milwaukee Denver to me would
be interesting. I don't think it'd be great by network standards,
(22:21):
but I think it Listen. Denver's had some really good
teams in my life. The Carmelo teams. This team for years,
the Issel and alex English fat Lever teams, They've had
very good teams. If your wife says Colin, I would
love to take this trip in the middle of the
NBA Finals and it's Milwaukee Denver. Do you just give Okay, Fine,
we'll do it. Probably. Final story. Caleb Williams, your guy,
(22:42):
USC star quarterback forty two touchdown passes, won the Heisman,
but man, he is not satisfied with how things ended.
They had a loss. I won't even say the team
they lost to in the bowl game. It's just too embarrassing.
But here's how fired up Caleb Williams is for next season.
I want to destroy you. I want to make you
as small as the pauper. To the best of my ability,
(23:02):
what I play against you. I'm circling every game on
our schedule. It bothers me a lot that I'm heading
into my third season, haven't been to the playoff yet.
Felt like I was one game away both years. I
want to get to the playoff and win in Natty there.
That's the reason I played football. I don't care about
the other stuff. I want to go out there, compete
and dominate. I'd like to hear that from my franchise quarterback,
starting QB one for the Jets in two twenty four.
(23:25):
Maybe can they make the playoff next year? Is there
enough talent on that defense column? They have absolutely upgraded defensively,
Like the linebacking corp will be significantly better, the D
line will be better. So they brought in They're they're
going heavy into the transfer portal, which I think if
you want to compete now and you have Caleb Williams,
(23:45):
don't don't don't rely on freshmen, go get like juniors
and seniors. So last year they went into the transfer
portal and solved their offense. We saw that forty five game.
This year they went into the transfer portal much more
concerned about the O line in the defense, and I
think they got significantly better players in the portal this
year than last year, Like guys who would have started
(24:07):
and been all conference. They went and got all conference
guys and brought them up. Last year they got guys
that were just average guys at programs like Alabama. This
year they went out and got like the best linebacker
at this school, the best corner at this school, the
best defensive Lineman prospect at that school, people are probably
like linebackers who cares they couldn't tackle anybody in the
(24:27):
past depth. So by the end of the year they
were beat up and felt like they had five hundred
yards of offense and they might have had six hundred.
I don't know. Yeah, j Maack with the news, Well
that's the news. I was thinking about this if I said,
one are the biggest brands in American sports Nike, NFL,
(24:50):
Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Notre Dame Football, uh, Lakers,
Green Bay Packers. Is Duke the number one collegiate brand
in America. Just think about it, I mean, the biggest brand. Yet,
Nike's one of the biggest sports brands in the country.
(25:12):
The NFL, the shield is one of the biggest brands.
Then there's like Steelers, Cowboys, Packers, Yankees. I think classified
Celtics have not won enough titles in the last twenty
five years. It feels like Lakers have, so I think
Lakers also is a more glitzy, flashy brand. There's a
(25:32):
bunch of college football brands that are popular, but to me,
they're all kind of close. Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State.
They all kind of feel close, like it feels like
Duke here and then like seven eight programs Kansas, Kentucky,
UCLA are a notch below it. To me, Duke has
(25:53):
had one losing season in forty years and there was
an excuse for it, Mike Schevsky's back surgery. I just don't.
But but again, I haven't winning the tournament, not because
I think they're a great team. I think they're an improving,
ascending team with really good players, and I think that's
good enough to win the championship. Now, I didn't think
Kansas was a great team. They were an ascending team
(26:14):
with a couple of NBA bodies. That's good enough now
in college basketball to win a championship. So are you
playing well? Are you ascending? Are you athletic? Do you
have a couple of two three NBA bodies? And Duke
checks those boxes. So, but I covered them years and
years ago, and I was covering U and LV, Stacy Agman,
Larry Johnson, Tark And you know, I liked the teams
(26:35):
I cover. You have relationships, but I have Duke was
my second favorite team. I love dealing with coach k
I thought they were classy and smart and academic, and
they're NBA guys. Arnold was great, but they're mostly really
good guys. And I think over time, sustain success equals animosity,
and people can say, well, there was this, this, this,
Kentucky's number two in my opinion, Kansas, Kentucky, Carolina, and
(26:58):
it just feels like there's a big, big drop off.
It's like Pittsburgh and Duke. They just don't fire coaches, right,
It's constant solid basketball football tradition. The difference is the
Steelers haven't given you in the last fifteen years, the
big payoff at the end of the season. If Duke
can win transitioning to John Shire, I mean that that
(27:22):
is really something. It is. It's different. I mean because
of back college basketball is such a one and done
culture that it's not like if Nick Saban left, you
could see somebody coming in a Bill O'Brien or a
Sark or whatever taking all of Nick's momentum and his
players and his culture and winning a national championship. You
could see that happening. But in basketball, because there's such
(27:45):
a high rate of turnover. When coach k leaves, the
players are gone. You don't you don't have much. You
inherit one or two players, but it's this whole sport
is now just one and done transfer portal. If you
could go coach katish Shire in a championship, I mean
that speaks to the culture, the focus of the tradition,
(28:07):
the momentum, the intelligence of that basketball program. That is
hard hard to do in college basketball. Like they always
say in baseball, momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher. That's kind
of what it is in college basketball now. If Calipari
left Kentucky next year, they'd lose six of their players
to the NBA. Calipari's got, they'd have all new players,
all new coaches. I mean, it's just college basketballs so
(28:31):
transactional and so transitional right now as a sport. I
think the Duke's story is unbelievable. How well they're playing now. Yeah,
part of the argument against them was that this is,
you know, because of the COVID year, there's a lot
of fifth year seniors, a lot of twenty two, twenty
three year olds, and Duke's got like nineteen year olds
and starting lineup. That's a huge gap at that age. However,
we're talking about nineteen year olds who were gonna be
(28:52):
the NBA next year. They're sixth band comes off and
just buries two threes and you're like, he's a six
eight sixth ban who gonna be in the NBA next year?
And the seven footer Lively. I think it's the Lively
sin in the lane, just swatting everything. The kid Philip
Kowski unbelievable. This team is pretty loaded, and I love
their point guard Jeremy Roach. Yeah he was there last year. Yeah,
(29:14):
he's he's probably a second round NBA guy. He was,
you know, I mean, obviously the best rookie in the
NBA this year is a duke guy. Yeah. Yeah, So
it's it's just a it's a really cool American tradition
that has had for forty years. No dips. Yeah, and
by the way, they've also had one of the great
programs in the country down the Road. So it's like
(29:34):
not easy. It's not like those guys down the road. Um,
I think they missed the tournament un see. Yeah, they're
out of industry. That's take any shots there. Their coach,
by the way, went to my high school, Hubert Davis
Northern Virginia. Nice guy, super nice guy. Yeah, be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon
Easter not a Empacific. Hey, I'm Doug got The podcast
(29:55):
is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all
the time, but it's more about this worries about what
made these people love their sport and all the interesting
interactions along the way. We talked to coaches, we talked
to players, We tell you stories. You download it. He
listened to it. I think you'll like it. Listen to
All Ball with Doug Gotlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(30:18):
or wherever you get your podcast. Sunday, the NASCAR Cup
Series heads to the High Banks in Atlanta, where full
throttle pack racing will be on display. Who will survive
every turn and be into it to win at the end.
The Engines fire Sunday at three Eastern on Fox. So
there's the Aaron Rodgers drama and then there's the Lamar
(30:41):
Jackson drama yesterday. He can go now and try to
get options and offers from other teams. I don't think
there's going to be a huge market for him, but
it is interesting. I looked it up this morning. I
went and got the last thirty four starts. That's two
full seasons for Lamar Jackson. So we've talked a lot
about games he's missed. Well, let's talk about games he's played.
In his last thirty four starts. He's twenty two and twelve,
(31:05):
about a seventy percent winning percentage, sixty one total touchdowns,
almost two touchdowns a game. You get ninety one and
a half passer rating, and completing sixty four percent of
his throws in a division with Joe Burrow, I think
I would bring him back. But I was talking about
this this morning is and I saw a story where
(31:28):
Washington's bringing in Jacobe Brissette to compete with Sam Howell,
and that was one of the teams I thought should
pursue Lamar Jackson. Washington is treating it like it's the eighties,
like it's the seventies, like you can win with that.
And so for the radio audience, this is too many names.
But for the television audience, put the NFL head coaches
(31:51):
on the screen. Offensive guys. About two thirds of the
coaches are offensive guys. Let's concentrate on the defensive guys,
and let's run through the defensive guy. Jonathan Gannon Arizona
wasn't the first choice. No idea. John Harbaugh not an
offensive coach. I believe if he was an offensive coach,
they would resign Lamar Jackson. But he may believe, and
(32:14):
he may spread this gospel to the front office. We
can win a lot of games without a great quarterback.
Sean McDermott. I thought Josh Allen regressed this year. I
thought the game at home against Cincinnati and the playoffs
was embarrassing. Matt Eberflus fourth place offense is a wreck.
Brandon Staley. Despite excellent offensive weapons, they were one of
(32:36):
the bottom three offenses in the NFL in the second half.
Bill Belichick, defensive coordinator, was given the offensive coordinator job.
Dennis Allen major offensive regression since he took the job
in Sean Payton left Robert Sala fourth place team couldn't
score touchdowns in the last month. Mike Tomlin good, not great,
(32:59):
missed the playoffs. Pete Carroll resigned, Geno Smith Andrew Locke
in twenty twenty three. Really, Todd Bowle's offense is a mass.
Mike Vrabel love him, but it's regressed. Ron Rivera thinks
Jacobie Brissette sam, how's the answer? Anybody else noticed this.
Sean McVeigh and Andy Reid had good quarterbacks. Alex Smith
(33:26):
was making Pro Bowls, golf got to the Super Bowl.
They upgraded from good quarterbacks to better quarterbacks. Look at
those defensive coaches. I think part of this is I
think if McVay or an Andy Reid or a Sean
Peyton coached Baltimore, they would be creating a sense of urgency.
(33:46):
This guy is twenty two and twelve. He's a ninety
two passer rating, sixty four completion percentage, two touchdown, a
game performer. Now, the injuries and mom is an agent
makes this really clouded and unorthodox and more difficult. But
I just see these headlines and do these defensive coaches
(34:09):
do they understand how it's pivoted. When Bill Belichick goes
out and signs Juju Smith Schuster to a three year contract,
Andy Reid one and done, see a pal that tells
you somebody's tone deaf and somebody against the current culture.
(34:30):
So I Lamar Jackson thing is fascinating. Maybe I'm wrong,
maybe he piqued, Maybe it's over, And I will give
Robert solid credit for the Jets. You know he's banging
that table. We got it. They bailed on Zach Wilson
very quickly. They should have Mike White let him go.
You know, Aaron Rodgers one, maybe Lamar Jackson's two. There's
(34:52):
a lot of people with Baltimore ties inside the Jets building.
So that's stupthing you gotta watch for. It is interesting
with Aaron Rodgers, he said he was ninety percent retired.
He still could because as the Packers have the leverage here,
they keep pushing back. We want first round picks. Initially,
(35:13):
Tom Pellicero reported it's not first round picks. Mike Florio
reporting now it is first round picks, So believe who
you want. Obviously, compensation is the big hold up, and
the Jets don't have the leverage. They don't have a quarterback.
So I mean, j Mac, you're a big Jets fan today,
you gotta take Aaron or Lamar. Let's just say it's
(35:34):
an aeron issue. Just think about this, So do you.
I tend to believe what the Packers are doing now
is like they didn't have leverage for years with Aaron, right,
and they were kind of timid and very cautious. Leroy
Butler came on the show yesterday and said finally they
pushed back. But what's interesting now is they have leverage
(35:57):
and what they're I wonder if they're in the reces
of their mind, they're thinking, listen, we heard Aaron say
on that show, on the YouTube show, I was ninety
percent retired. So as Green Bay thinking, I'm gonna use
that against Aaron push delay. But what if Aaron just
(36:17):
says I'm out, I'm duck. If you're ninety percent retired
and you don't have a new job yet, though it's
close and it gets frustrating, would you consider just walking away?
So this is a tough one because something you just
said just stuck in my head. So the Jets GM,
Joe Douglas and the assistant GM both spent a lot
(36:39):
of time in Baltimore. Yes, you also said, and I
think everybody would agree I don't totally but that the
Packers have leverage. So how can the Jets grab back
the leverage? How do they gain it back? Well, I
would run over to one of these reporters, Glazers, chef
to Rappaport. Hey, Jets have a deep the front Jets
front office is deep knowledge of the Ravens. They like
(37:01):
Lamar Jackson, they know his work ethic, blah blah blah,
and all of a sudden, the Jets have another option,
right because right now they have no options. You're saying
in Zach Wilson, why aren't they creating that they have
another option with Lamar Jackson? Is it because the front
office knows something about Lamar and does not want to
get in Lamar Jackson business because that's the easy way
to gain back leverage. Hey, we really want Aaron Rodgers. Oh,
(37:21):
by the way, this Lamar Jackson guy who's thirteen years
younger than him won an MVP recently. Yeah, he's available.
We'll make a play for him. Why are they not
making a move on Lamar Jackson? Give me the answer.
I think they believe they'd rather make a two year
bet with Aaron Rodgers instead of a four year bet
with injury prone Lamar in their world, because if you
(37:41):
make a bet with Lamar, more of it is guaranteeing
the injury prone. Are we sure? Well, I'm just saying
on the last twenty two starts, he's missed forty percent
of them, ten of them. So last twenty two Raven
games he's missed ten. So it's something okay, but time.
Remember late in the season, Schefter reported he was going
to be coming back like Christmas Eve or the day
after Christmas, and then he just never came back. Is
that about the contract or was the injury that serious?
(38:03):
Either one? I don't like. I don't like either answer. Okay.
In the playoff hunt, he threw a tantrum. Okay, let
me let me ask you if you're Baltimore and you
did Jet to make a move on him. They have
the fifteenth pick. That's not bad, but like, are you
just letting Lamar Jackson walk out the door. You're gonna
(38:23):
make a move and get him because guess what, there's
a chance. Peter King said he don't want to play
for that thirty two million dollars. No, he doesn't. So
my takeaway is, I would I move him for a
first round pick? I would sign Lamar. I think he's
really exceptional. Who another team or the Ravens. No, if
I was the Ravens, I would sign him in a
division with Joe Burrow. They tried though, well, they've made
(38:44):
their first offer and if there is a market. The
question is if there's a market for Lamar, then he's
gonna get one hundred and seventy five million or something
there about, and he'll be happier. But what if he
doesn't get a market and for the record, it's drying up.
Are the Jets the last team land? And then hear
what he wants because you're saying one hundred and seventy
five million, that sounds great. Would you do three years?
(39:06):
The number I keep hearing is right the exclusive tag.
It's somewhere in the forty five fifty mill right somewhere
in that range. So say, fine, we'll guarantee you three
years at one hundred and fifty mill. That's three years
fifty fifty fifty and when you turn like twenty nine
and a half thirty, you'll come back for another bite
at the apple in another contract. Would Lamar Jackson do that?
I don't know. He doesn't talk. That's the problem. We
(39:28):
have no idea what he wants. So go pivot back
to Aaron Rodgers today. So Aaron says, I think talking
on the YouTube hurt him a little. He basically told
you I was going to retire. Well, green Bay now
has that is knowledge. So green Bay is like, we're
really I'm not saying they're tormenting him. But their takeaway
is we're in no hurry. The way the bonus sets up,
(39:49):
we can pay it in September. So green Bay now
can kind of toy with Aaron. And I do think
in the building there's a little animosity toward him. I mean,
let's be honest. He came out of that retreat and
said he was surprised they move off him. But that's recent.
What about the MVPs and the Super Bowl in the
NFC Championship Kas Listen, your wife can treat your great,
she treats you bad for a month. That's what you're
(40:10):
living in. That's your reality. The reality now is green
Bay Fields ignored and manipulated and marginalized for the last
eight to nine weeks. Can fix that now while he's
still on his way out. You can fix anything. Everything's fixable.
But right now, green Bay leverage toy make Aaron Waite.
(40:32):
It's a plan hour or two next
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Are you sure
to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern,
nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox
Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a furrid day,
(00:28):
live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd wherever you may be,
however you may be listening or watching. Thanks for my
gons part of your Friday J Mac Jmack. The Dukes
look sensational. Arizona did not you liked Arizona? Listen? I
didn't like them our group the numbers came out. Arizona
(00:50):
has a great idea for a run the pathless clear
in the It's just choke, epic choke job. By the way,
Prince Princeton didn't even play particular wells. They sound like
sixteenth percent from three. Just an unbelievably bad job by Arizona.
If Saint Mary's goes down today, I may call in
sick and run for cover in another country. Goodness graces,
(01:12):
I got my Dukies though, we'll talk about that. So
the lead story today, the Dallas Cowboys have released Ezekiel Elliott.
He's the star running back for years and years and years.
It's interesting for a four year period, the Cowboys centerpiece
on offense was Zeke for the last four years. The
Titans centerpiece has been Derrick Henry for three years. The
(01:36):
Panthers centerpiece was Christian McCaffrey for six to seven years.
The Vikings centerpiece was Adrian Peterson. Arguably as talented a
running backs as we have had in a long time.
Sixteen years of dominance from the run game, zero Super
Bowls and just two conference championships, both losses. You don't
(02:00):
get much of a payoff when you make your big bet,
and the Cowboys did on a running back, and it
doesn't last very long to begin with. Brady could still
come back and play again. The last three Super Bowl
champions the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twenty eighth in rushing, the
La Rams twenty fifth, the Kansas City Chiefs twentieth. Dallas
(02:27):
made the wrong bet. Jerry Jones thought he could replace
Bill Parcels, replaced Jimmy with Barry Switzer and made a
big bet ninety million, two years early to Zeke. The
last team to win a Super Bowl that led the
NFL in rushing was the eighty five Chicago Bears, and
(02:48):
let's be honest, that defense won the championship. All due
respect the best running back I've ever seen, sweetness, Walter Payton.
If you're a fan of an NFL team and you're
screaming for your team to sign your running back to
another contract, New York Giants, you've got the wrong quarterback.
(03:08):
Quarterbacks lead you to super Bowls, not run games. You
can have one, just like you could have a nice yard.
It's not selling the home. The kitchen is, the structure
is the neighborhood. The location is the bedrooms, the bathrooms.
Yards are nice, and running backs are nice too. But
Dallas made the wrong bet for three and a half years,
and you could say Colin Christian McCaffrey forty nine ers. Ah. Actually,
(03:33):
that's the greatest example to prove my point. When did
their offense officially die when seventh round rookie quarterback Brock
Purdy got hurt. They won before Christian McCaffrey got there.
They scored on plenty of drives that Christian McCaffrey didn't
lead them, but it was. When this seventh round, unknown
(03:55):
quarterback Iowa State got hurt against Philadelphia, McCaffrey was still there.
The offense dried up. No running backs taken in last
year's first round, there's a possibility there'll be no running
backs taken in this round. The NFL is all about
making bets. Who to pay big, who to pay early?
(04:15):
Patrick Mahomes pay him early, Joe Burrow pay him early.
Lamar Jackson maybe not pay him. But paying big money
to running backs second contracts, making them the centerpiece of
your offense has a very little chance of leading you
to a championship. And even if he's good, it won't
(04:38):
last very long. Once again, Jerry Jones simply made the
wrong bet. Great businessman, not so great at helping run
an NFL franchise. So I saw this story. Mythology is
a powerful thing. Happens to politicians, happened to sports stars.
(04:59):
Michael Jordan in talks to sell his steak majority steak
in the Charlotte Hornets. Now I would say this. I
was as big a fan as anybody of Michael Jordan,
but lost in all of this. In the highlight culture,
you never see Michael's misses. It should be noted he
(05:19):
didn't win squat before Scottie Pippen. He just scored a
lot and alienated teammates. He failed in baseball, he failed
badly with the Wizards. He failed with the Hornets. Michael
Jordan takeaway David Stern, Phil Knight, and Phil Jackson is
a really, really talented basketball player that probably ends up
(05:40):
averaging more points without the titles. Great players often make
terrible coaches and terrible executives, and we now know bad
owners because what made Michael Jordan great was words like
relentless and confrontational and demanding, impatient, And what makes Phil
(06:02):
Jackson a great coach is understanding, flexibility, zen mentoring, elevating
others patient mj He's still trying to settle scores, still
giving access for the documentary after Lebron won a title
in Cleveland, and many of us subscribed to the theory
(06:25):
that now the greatest of all time was Lebron James.
Michael is still incredibly motivated to elevate Michael's net worth,
his brand, his shoe apparel wildly competitive. But the best
owners and the best coaches and the best executives are
about elevating others. Michael is great at elevating Michael. Even
(06:49):
as friends, their valet guys, golf buddies, third tier players,
Michael takes care of them. They create a shield for
Mike for all the mythology, and he's as good a
basketball player as I've ever seen. He failed at baseball,
he failed at owning a team. He was bad with
(07:09):
the Wizards, and all he did was score points and
alienate people. When he got to Chicago, even Michael needed
leadership Stern, Phil Knight, Phil Jackson, and for the record,
not a lot of playoff wins without Scottie Peppin. Everybody.
Everybody needs an assist. Everybody can't live in an island,
(07:33):
even the great Michael Jordan, who's done a poor job
of owning and running and drafting the Hornets, because what
made him great as a player has made him a
bit of a disaster with Charlotte. Selfish, impatient, too demanding,
not understanding that not everybody has a forty four inch vertical,
big hands and an unrelenting drive. Love Michael to this day,
(07:57):
but Lebron, that's where these two aren't remotely close. Lebron,
everybody that plays with him. Everybody is better. He even
worked with an old crazy j R. Smith. He made
Kyrie work. Kyrie hasn't worked with anybody. He couldn't work
in Boston, didn't do squad at Duke was a disaster
in Cleveland. Brooklyn was a tire fire. How's it working
(08:21):
in Dallas? Lebron worked with Kyrie. You can compare these
two all you want. They're different people, they have different games.
But Lebron's personality has become his game and Michael's personality
has become his brand. This thing was destined to fail,
all right, Duke's gonna win this thing. I'm getting very excited.
(08:41):
Yesterday I was torn baked told by Jamac to keep
your eye on Oral Roberts. I did for five minutes.
The game was over. You know, it is interesting with
Duke to have such this clean academic think about this.
In the history of American teams brands, Duke is a
runaway number one in forty years forty years one losing season,
(09:05):
and that was the year they got off to a
nine and three start and Mike Shashevski had back surgery.
Literally couldn't move up and down the sideline. That is
the only time in forty years they've had a losing season.
Think about the second biggest Brandon college basketball probably Kentucky chaos,
(09:25):
multiple coaches, major violations, lata ego, underachieving. There is no
sport in America where the number two is further away
than the number one than college basketball. Well, North Carolina
and UCLA have have cases, but I think you're probably right.
The gap between Duke and number two is enormous. Now,
(09:49):
I didn't like Ora Robberts yesterday called the market was
all over or Roberts. The line opened at eight, it
closed at six. Two points is a big swing. The
market is undervaluing Duke because they struggled a bunch to
start the season with four freshmen, and the numbers for
the full season are not great for Duke. But I
think you're onto something. This is I mean, they were
up fourteen nothing after like the first five minutes. Also,
(10:11):
look at how hard it's been for Duke to often
pivot to the next coach, a lot of failures. John
Shire takes over for coach K. That was coach K's choice. Seamless,
absolutely seamless. They keep it in the family. I'm supposed
to talk to Jay Billis on Sunday. I'm excited about
that because this has been Duke from no major violations,
(10:34):
seamless transition, one losing season in forty years. In by
the way most years, the toughest conference for college basketball
for a large portion. I'm not sure now if it is,
but it certainly was. For Also part of the greatest
American college rivalry Carolina Duke remains Ohio State Michigan the
(10:54):
two biggest rivalries in college sports. So Duke Tennessee on Saturday.
The game. This is how rough it is for the
NCAA tournament. Do you know what the standalone game is
to start Saturday NCAA Tournament. It's nationwide game for everybody,
Furman against San Diego State. Everybody. That's the standalone game
called like everybody always wants the upset, but then you're
(11:18):
stuck with Furman. What you want is a couple of
eight nine upsets, an occasional five twelve. You want the one, two, three,
and four is to win. It's good for ratings. They
have huge fan bases. Also, do you really want a
Duke an Arizona, A, UCLA A Kentucky? You really want
to bounce? First weekend those are big brands that everybody's
(11:39):
got an emotional historic connection to. How about Kansas Arkansas
Saturday telling you right now, give me, give me Arkansas
on the money line on that one. Now listen, that's
not an Arizona call. This is Arkansas, CA That'll be
a good games in the history of Arizona basketball. And
I say this with respect. They've broken a lot of hearts. Yeah,
Tucson is a great college basketball mecca. Yeah, even great
(12:00):
lud Olson. You see Gronkowski's reaction. He was like walking
at some event and the fans were like, Arizona lost.
He turns, He's like, what like floor that was? That
was a shocking development in the NCAA tournament. Yeah. You know,
if Arizona was a bar, you know why it would
go out of business because it's always one and done.
I think, oh wow, look at you. Jokes are flying
(12:22):
on a Friday morning. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Herd weekdays and Noon Easter not a Empacific
on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app.
It is interesting, if you've had any sustained success, people
eventually hate you. It could be staff, it could be
the Yankees, it could be Alabama football, it was the
New England Patriots. They'll find ways, make believe ways to
(12:43):
hate you. I don't understand why anybody has disdained for
Duke unless you're Carolina and you're a primary rival, or
your Kentucky and you're jealous. But no major violations, academically superior.
One losing season. You'd almost take a COVID year and
the Mike Chevsky back surgery year. You could take those out.
(13:03):
I don't know what they're what there is to dislike
about Duke. I mean, they've had the occasional player Christian
Layton or who I covered, people found him unlikable. I
didn't you know. JJ Reddick irritated some doesn't irritate me.
Grayson Allen drove me nuts. But everybody's got a player
or two in the history of their program that drives
to nuts. I just think Duke's likable, smart, they're NBA
(13:25):
players are smart. They're not always great, but they don't
get into a lot of trouble. They're good citizens. And
I don't know. I'm rooting for Duke. Even when I
covered you and LV, if you and LV didn't win,
I wanted to see Duke Quinn. So Aaron Rodgers is
not officially a Jet yet. It is interesting, and I
think it's kind of being downplayed that Aaron Rodgers did
(13:46):
admit that he was ninety percent retired when he went
into the retreat, came out and said, I'll be a
Jet if you were ninety percent anything, that's what you're
eventually going to do really quickly. So I don't assume
he's going to play long for the Jets, but it
is interesting had he retired, what would his legacy be,
(14:07):
because not all great quarterbacks age well. Joe Namath a
great example, far more interceptions than touchdowns, losing record, iconic,
but nobody already thinks he's an all time great. They
did at the time. Brett Farve not very redeemable lately
off the field, a turnover machine, even though he had
great offensive coaches. He was more iconic than amazing gun slinger.
(14:32):
Feels like, you know, the John Wayne of acting. It's
sort of outdated. Steve Young, by the way, has aged well,
many believe now probably correctly, the great runner, the great thrower. Eventually,
he would have been even greater had he not had
to sit behind Joe Montana for years. What if Aaron retired,
I think, much like his personality, it would be complicated, efficiency,
(14:55):
a plus arm, excellent but under it, achieving in the
playoffs and difficult, aloof and prickly. That's fair. That's an
incredibly fair thing to say, very complicated. Brady was very clean.
His resume is clean. The go to New England super
Bowl in Tampa, huge deal at Fox Sports, Peyton Manning,
(15:17):
clean super Bowl and Indie Iconic super Bowl in Denver,
massive success, lots of fun stuff off the field. John
Elway retired, multiple super Bowls, iconic, big business success now
golfs a lot. But Aaron reminds me a lot of
Big Ben. That's what I think about. That's how we
(15:39):
don't talk Big Ben since he left a lot of
it's his own doing. Think about Big Ben and Aaron
Rodgers the similarities. You're left with holes and underachievement and
lots of drama and what are the three things they
have in common? Both only semi committed in the off season.
There were big jokes about Big Ben. He disappeared in
(16:02):
the off season. Aaron Rodgers now disappears in the off season.
Both struggled with young teammates Aaron this year. Great example,
big Ben his entire career, young skill players, he struggled.
They took the attention away from him, and Big Ben
and Aaron off seasons life. You can see him retiring
(16:22):
playing golf with a handful of close friends and that's it.
But I think it's complicated his legacy, much as Aaron
Rodgers is complicated. First ballot, Hall of Famer, excellent arm,
unique style, terrific career, but Prickly can be difficult to coach.
Demanded transparency, yet gave teammates, coaches, and the Packers very
(16:46):
little of it. J Mack with the News, No, no,
this is the herd Line News. You put it that way.
I'm really excited for Aaron Rodgers to get to New York.
G Prickly, That's what we love in the Apple. All right,
let's get started with the big story. Yesterday, college basketball
upsets fifteen seed Princeton nine nothing run in the final
(17:09):
four minutes. Arizona's up fifty five fifty, They got the
lead and the ball for thirty left and it just chokes.
And there's no other way to describe it, beside the
Princeton didn't shoot well, didn't shoot free throws, well, didn't
shoot threes. Well, this was I don't like to use
the word choke, but Arizona got you're sitting there watching it.
They got tight. They got tight. It happens, and anyone
who plays basketball a lot, Yeah, you know, down the stretch,
(17:32):
it could be tough. And I also think Arizona didn't
play with a lot of physicality down the stretch as well.
There's a thing you can tell watching some of these games.
If you see one team diving for every loose ball,
challenging every shot at the rim, that team wants it badly.
I didn't see that from Arizona yesterday, and I didn't
see a lot of it from Virginia. They were also
on the upset end. Listen, you could say what you
(17:53):
want when a twenty three year old point guard just
tries to chuck a pass down the court the way
Key Hay Clark did, form an intercepts at Furman and
then comes down and hits the three. That was another
meltdown by a good team. Column. Well, I think when
you go in as a favorite, you're tight. To begin with.
Arizona's history a lot of gagging in the tournament. They're
thinking about that, and I thought in the last five
(18:15):
or six minutes, I didn't think they played a good
basketball game. But again, Princeton wasn't not like Princeton hit
six straight threes or print. It's not what it was.
They weren't that efficient either, And still one I will
say this, I love the tournament. The night games were
pretty brutal. I mean Louisiana kept it kind of close
with Tennessee and Houston didn't play well, but there wasn't
like any drama in the night games. I mean UCLA
(18:36):
one by I think thirty three. Over the last twenty years,
the NBA, because it's become so international, is the most
talent that it's ever been, and college basketball because of
the one and Done is the least talent that it's
ever been. So the gap years ago, you could watch
a college basketball team and they would have Patrick Ewing
as a junior surrounded by NBA guys that were seniors.
(19:00):
I'm not saying they could compete, but five slam a
Jamma had Drexler and Larry Msho and Michael Young and
a Kimlajuan. Saint John's didn't even win a championship and
they had Mark Jackson and Walter Berry and Bill Wennington
and Chris Mullen. You had these teams with four and
five NBA guys and I'm not saying they could have
beat NBA teams, but they looked like semi pro teams.
(19:23):
If you get two NBA players like a Kansas hun
A roster, it stands out. The quality of play, it's low.
The games are in the fifties regularly. The number one
overall seed Alabama has arguably the best player in the tournament.
Brandon did not have a basket and they still won
the game handily. He's supposed to be like the number
two or three thick in the draft. He didn't make
(19:44):
a basket and an NZIA tournament game. Next up, Kevin Durant.
He's been out since March eighth, tweaked his ankle in
pregame warm ups. KD has missed those four games and
the Sons have gone one and three. But it sounds
like KD is progressing. Here's what he's Here's Monty Williams
with an update on his start. It's just part of
his progression. He hasn't done anything outside of that, and
(20:10):
you know, we obviously have to not just be careful.
It's just a lot of boxes need to be checked.
So we'll see how he responded to just standard shooting today.
We'll reevaluate tomorrow. And every day is a progression. That's
what he's done. You guys have just somebody had their
phone on and saw it. But there's a normal progression
(20:32):
to this type of injury. And that's just where he's
at right now. He's just doing standstille shots. I don't
know if I have to wait and see. So it's
the fourth seed in the West. I don't think you
bring him back before the before the playoffs right now,
maybe one game to get him twenty minutes up to
speed or something. But they're just they're four. They're one
(20:53):
game up on the Clippers. So four or five Sons
Clippers first round. That's a that's probably one of the
most There's so much that could swing for both franchises.
Whoever loses this series. The Suns lose this series, the
round of the Clippers, Chris Paul is gone. He will
be out of feed even if Andrew Wiggins came back,
and it's I think unlikely in the regular season, he's
(21:16):
not going to be ready in the first round. Of
the playoffs too. I mean, he's gonna have to play
himself back into shape, right So to me, this is
Denver is sitting there thinking John Morant issues Wiggins right now,
some private time off, Kevin Durant hurt. I have doubted
Denver all year, but maybe this is the year. Don't
(21:38):
forget Lebron, Kyrie Luca all hurt out right now. I'm
just curious what happens to the Clippers if they lose
that first round series to the Suns. Paul George see
you later. I mean, you can't lose in the first
round with a super team of Kawaya and Paul George.
Remember in the off season they were doing t shirts
with like John Wall on it. Now they're all excited
(21:59):
they got Westbrookly like the West is an absolute cluster.
I mean, if you really think about it, maybe this
is the year that Denver got every single break. You
got injuries up and down, no excuse his buddy. Yeah,
three time MVP would listen Milwaukee Denver to me would
be interesting. I don't think it'd be great by network standards,
(22:21):
but I think it Listen. Denver's had some really good
teams in my life. The Carmelo teams. This team for years,
the Issel and alex English fat Lever teams, They've had
very good teams. If your wife says Colin, I would
love to take this trip in the middle of the
NBA Finals and it's Milwaukee Denver. Do you just give Okay, Fine,
we'll do it. Probably. Final story. Caleb Williams, your guy,
(22:42):
USC star quarterback forty two touchdown passes, won the Heisman,
but man, he is not satisfied with how things ended.
They had a loss. I won't even say the team
they lost to in the bowl game. It's just too embarrassing.
But here's how fired up Caleb Williams is for next season.
I want to destroy you. I want to make you
as small as the pauper. To the best of my ability,
(23:02):
what I play against you. I'm circling every game on
our schedule. It bothers me a lot that I'm heading
into my third season, haven't been to the playoff yet.
Felt like I was one game away both years. I
want to get to the playoff and win in Natty there.
That's the reason I played football. I don't care about
the other stuff. I want to go out there, compete
and dominate. I'd like to hear that from my franchise quarterback,
starting QB one for the Jets in two twenty four.
(23:25):
Maybe can they make the playoff next year? Is there
enough talent on that defense column? They have absolutely upgraded defensively,
Like the linebacking corp will be significantly better, the D
line will be better. So they brought in They're they're
going heavy into the transfer portal, which I think if
you want to compete now and you have Caleb Williams,
(23:45):
don't don't don't rely on freshmen, go get like juniors
and seniors. So last year they went into the transfer
portal and solved their offense. We saw that forty five game.
This year they went into the transfer portal much more
concerned about the O line in the defense, and I
think they got significantly better players in the portal this
year than last year, Like guys who would have started
(24:07):
and been all conference. They went and got all conference
guys and brought them up. Last year they got guys
that were just average guys at programs like Alabama. This
year they went out and got like the best linebacker
at this school, the best corner at this school, the
best defensive Lineman prospect at that school, people are probably
like linebackers who cares they couldn't tackle anybody in the
(24:27):
past depth. So by the end of the year they
were beat up and felt like they had five hundred
yards of offense and they might have had six hundred.
I don't know. Yeah, j Maack with the news, Well
that's the news. I was thinking about this if I said,
one are the biggest brands in American sports Nike, NFL,
(24:50):
Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Notre Dame Football, uh, Lakers,
Green Bay Packers. Is Duke the number one collegiate brand
in America. Just think about it, I mean, the biggest brand. Yet,
Nike's one of the biggest sports brands in the country.
(25:12):
The NFL, the shield is one of the biggest brands.
Then there's like Steelers, Cowboys, Packers, Yankees. I think classified
Celtics have not won enough titles in the last twenty
five years. It feels like Lakers have, so I think
Lakers also is a more glitzy, flashy brand. There's a
(25:32):
bunch of college football brands that are popular, but to me,
they're all kind of close. Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State.
They all kind of feel close, like it feels like
Duke here and then like seven eight programs Kansas, Kentucky,
UCLA are a notch below it. To me, Duke has
(25:53):
had one losing season in forty years and there was
an excuse for it, Mike Schevsky's back surgery. I just don't.
But but again, I haven't winning the tournament, not because
I think they're a great team. I think they're an improving,
ascending team with really good players, and I think that's
good enough to win the championship. Now, I didn't think
Kansas was a great team. They were an ascending team
(26:14):
with a couple of NBA bodies. That's good enough now
in college basketball to win a championship. So are you
playing well? Are you ascending? Are you athletic? Do you
have a couple of two three NBA bodies? And Duke
checks those boxes. So, but I covered them years and
years ago, and I was covering U and LV, Stacy Agman,
Larry Johnson, Tark And you know, I liked the teams
(26:35):
I cover. You have relationships, but I have Duke was
my second favorite team. I love dealing with coach k
I thought they were classy and smart and academic, and
they're NBA guys. Arnold was great, but they're mostly really
good guys. And I think over time, sustain success equals animosity,
and people can say, well, there was this, this, this,
Kentucky's number two in my opinion, Kansas, Kentucky, Carolina, and
(26:58):
it just feels like there's a big, big drop off.
It's like Pittsburgh and Duke. They just don't fire coaches, right,
It's constant solid basketball football tradition. The difference is the
Steelers haven't given you in the last fifteen years, the
big payoff at the end of the season. If Duke
can win transitioning to John Shire, I mean that that
(27:22):
is really something. It is. It's different. I mean because
of back college basketball is such a one and done
culture that it's not like if Nick Saban left, you
could see somebody coming in a Bill O'Brien or a
Sark or whatever taking all of Nick's momentum and his
players and his culture and winning a national championship. You
could see that happening. But in basketball, because there's such
(27:45):
a high rate of turnover. When coach k leaves, the
players are gone. You don't you don't have much. You
inherit one or two players, but it's this whole sport
is now just one and done transfer portal. If you
could go coach katish Shire in a championship, I mean
that speaks to the culture, the focus of the tradition,
(28:07):
the momentum, the intelligence of that basketball program. That is
hard hard to do in college basketball. Like they always
say in baseball, momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher. That's kind
of what it is in college basketball now. If Calipari
left Kentucky next year, they'd lose six of their players
to the NBA. Calipari's got, they'd have all new players,
all new coaches. I mean, it's just college basketballs so
(28:31):
transactional and so transitional right now as a sport. I
think the Duke's story is unbelievable. How well they're playing now. Yeah,
part of the argument against them was that this is,
you know, because of the COVID year, there's a lot
of fifth year seniors, a lot of twenty two, twenty
three year olds, and Duke's got like nineteen year olds
and starting lineup. That's a huge gap at that age. However,
we're talking about nineteen year olds who were gonna be
(28:52):
the NBA next year. They're sixth band comes off and
just buries two threes and you're like, he's a six
eight sixth ban who gonna be in the NBA next year?
And the seven footer Lively. I think it's the Lively
sin in the lane, just swatting everything. The kid Philip
Kowski unbelievable. This team is pretty loaded, and I love
their point guard Jeremy Roach. Yeah he was there last year. Yeah,
(29:14):
he's he's probably a second round NBA guy. He was,
you know, I mean, obviously the best rookie in the
NBA this year is a duke guy. Yeah. Yeah, So
it's it's just a it's a really cool American tradition
that has had for forty years. No dips. Yeah, and
by the way, they've also had one of the great
programs in the country down the Road. So it's like
(29:34):
not easy. It's not like those guys down the road. Um,
I think they missed the tournament un see. Yeah, they're
out of industry. That's take any shots there. Their coach,
by the way, went to my high school, Hubert Davis
Northern Virginia. Nice guy, super nice guy. Yeah, be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon
Easter not a Empacific. Hey, I'm Doug got The podcast
(29:55):
is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all
the time, but it's more about this worries about what
made these people love their sport and all the interesting
interactions along the way. We talked to coaches, we talked
to players, We tell you stories. You download it. He
listened to it. I think you'll like it. Listen to
All Ball with Doug Gotlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(30:18):
or wherever you get your podcast. Sunday, the NASCAR Cup
Series heads to the High Banks in Atlanta, where full
throttle pack racing will be on display. Who will survive
every turn and be into it to win at the end.
The Engines fire Sunday at three Eastern on Fox. So
there's the Aaron Rodgers drama and then there's the Lamar
(30:41):
Jackson drama yesterday. He can go now and try to
get options and offers from other teams. I don't think
there's going to be a huge market for him, but
it is interesting. I looked it up this morning. I
went and got the last thirty four starts. That's two
full seasons for Lamar Jackson. So we've talked a lot
about games he's missed. Well, let's talk about games he's played.
In his last thirty four starts. He's twenty two and twelve,
(31:05):
about a seventy percent winning percentage, sixty one total touchdowns,
almost two touchdowns a game. You get ninety one and
a half passer rating, and completing sixty four percent of
his throws in a division with Joe Burrow, I think
I would bring him back. But I was talking about
this this morning is and I saw a story where
(31:28):
Washington's bringing in Jacobe Brissette to compete with Sam Howell,
and that was one of the teams I thought should
pursue Lamar Jackson. Washington is treating it like it's the eighties,
like it's the seventies, like you can win with that.
And so for the radio audience, this is too many names.
But for the television audience, put the NFL head coaches
(31:51):
on the screen. Offensive guys. About two thirds of the
coaches are offensive guys. Let's concentrate on the defensive guys,
and let's run through the defensive guy. Jonathan Gannon Arizona
wasn't the first choice. No idea. John Harbaugh not an
offensive coach. I believe if he was an offensive coach,
they would resign Lamar Jackson. But he may believe, and
(32:14):
he may spread this gospel to the front office. We
can win a lot of games without a great quarterback.
Sean McDermott. I thought Josh Allen regressed this year. I
thought the game at home against Cincinnati and the playoffs
was embarrassing. Matt Eberflus fourth place offense is a wreck.
Brandon Staley. Despite excellent offensive weapons, they were one of
(32:36):
the bottom three offenses in the NFL in the second half.
Bill Belichick, defensive coordinator, was given the offensive coordinator job.
Dennis Allen major offensive regression since he took the job
in Sean Payton left Robert Sala fourth place team couldn't
score touchdowns in the last month. Mike Tomlin good, not great,
(32:59):
missed the playoffs. Pete Carroll resigned, Geno Smith Andrew Locke
in twenty twenty three. Really, Todd Bowle's offense is a mass.
Mike Vrabel love him, but it's regressed. Ron Rivera thinks
Jacobie Brissette sam, how's the answer? Anybody else noticed this.
Sean McVeigh and Andy Reid had good quarterbacks. Alex Smith
(33:26):
was making Pro Bowls, golf got to the Super Bowl.
They upgraded from good quarterbacks to better quarterbacks. Look at
those defensive coaches. I think part of this is I
think if McVay or an Andy Reid or a Sean
Peyton coached Baltimore, they would be creating a sense of urgency.
(33:46):
This guy is twenty two and twelve. He's a ninety
two passer rating, sixty four completion percentage, two touchdown, a
game performer. Now, the injuries and mom is an agent
makes this really clouded and unorthodox and more difficult. But
I just see these headlines and do these defensive coaches
(34:09):
do they understand how it's pivoted. When Bill Belichick goes
out and signs Juju Smith Schuster to a three year contract,
Andy Reid one and done, see a pal that tells
you somebody's tone deaf and somebody against the current culture.
(34:30):
So I Lamar Jackson thing is fascinating. Maybe I'm wrong,
maybe he piqued, Maybe it's over, And I will give
Robert solid credit for the Jets. You know he's banging
that table. We got it. They bailed on Zach Wilson
very quickly. They should have Mike White let him go.
You know, Aaron Rodgers one, maybe Lamar Jackson's two. There's
(34:52):
a lot of people with Baltimore ties inside the Jets building.
So that's stupthing you gotta watch for. It is interesting
with Aaron Rodgers, he said he was ninety percent retired.
He still could because as the Packers have the leverage here,
they keep pushing back. We want first round picks. Initially,
(35:13):
Tom Pellicero reported it's not first round picks. Mike Florio
reporting now it is first round picks, So believe who
you want. Obviously, compensation is the big hold up, and
the Jets don't have the leverage. They don't have a quarterback.
So I mean, j Mac, you're a big Jets fan today,
you gotta take Aaron or Lamar. Let's just say it's
(35:34):
an aeron issue. Just think about this, So do you.
I tend to believe what the Packers are doing now
is like they didn't have leverage for years with Aaron, right,
and they were kind of timid and very cautious. Leroy
Butler came on the show yesterday and said finally they
pushed back. But what's interesting now is they have leverage
(35:57):
and what they're I wonder if they're in the reces
of their mind, they're thinking, listen, we heard Aaron say
on that show, on the YouTube show, I was ninety
percent retired. So as Green Bay thinking, I'm gonna use
that against Aaron push delay. But what if Aaron just
(36:17):
says I'm out, I'm duck. If you're ninety percent retired
and you don't have a new job yet, though it's
close and it gets frustrating, would you consider just walking away?
So this is a tough one because something you just
said just stuck in my head. So the Jets GM,
Joe Douglas and the assistant GM both spent a lot
(36:39):
of time in Baltimore. Yes, you also said, and I
think everybody would agree I don't totally but that the
Packers have leverage. So how can the Jets grab back
the leverage? How do they gain it back? Well, I
would run over to one of these reporters, Glazers, chef
to Rappaport. Hey, Jets have a deep the front Jets
front office is deep knowledge of the Ravens. They like
(37:01):
Lamar Jackson, they know his work ethic, blah blah blah,
and all of a sudden, the Jets have another option,
right because right now they have no options. You're saying
in Zach Wilson, why aren't they creating that they have
another option with Lamar Jackson? Is it because the front
office knows something about Lamar and does not want to
get in Lamar Jackson business because that's the easy way
to gain back leverage. Hey, we really want Aaron Rodgers. Oh,
(37:21):
by the way, this Lamar Jackson guy who's thirteen years
younger than him won an MVP recently. Yeah, he's available.
We'll make a play for him. Why are they not
making a move on Lamar Jackson? Give me the answer.
I think they believe they'd rather make a two year
bet with Aaron Rodgers instead of a four year bet
with injury prone Lamar in their world, because if you
(37:41):
make a bet with Lamar, more of it is guaranteeing
the injury prone. Are we sure? Well, I'm just saying
on the last twenty two starts, he's missed forty percent
of them, ten of them. So last twenty two Raven
games he's missed ten. So it's something okay, but time.
Remember late in the season, Schefter reported he was going
to be coming back like Christmas Eve or the day
after Christmas, and then he just never came back. Is
that about the contract or was the injury that serious?
(38:03):
Either one? I don't like. I don't like either answer. Okay.
In the playoff hunt, he threw a tantrum. Okay, let
me let me ask you if you're Baltimore and you
did Jet to make a move on him. They have
the fifteenth pick. That's not bad, but like, are you
just letting Lamar Jackson walk out the door. You're gonna
(38:23):
make a move and get him because guess what, there's
a chance. Peter King said he don't want to play
for that thirty two million dollars. No, he doesn't. So
my takeaway is, I would I move him for a
first round pick? I would sign Lamar. I think he's
really exceptional. Who another team or the Ravens. No, if
I was the Ravens, I would sign him in a
division with Joe Burrow. They tried though, well, they've made
(38:44):
their first offer and if there is a market. The
question is if there's a market for Lamar, then he's
gonna get one hundred and seventy five million or something
there about, and he'll be happier. But what if he
doesn't get a market and for the record, it's drying up.
Are the Jets the last team land? And then hear
what he wants because you're saying one hundred and seventy
five million, that sounds great. Would you do three years?
(39:06):
The number I keep hearing is right the exclusive tag.
It's somewhere in the forty five fifty mill right somewhere
in that range. So say, fine, we'll guarantee you three
years at one hundred and fifty mill. That's three years
fifty fifty fifty and when you turn like twenty nine
and a half thirty, you'll come back for another bite
at the apple in another contract. Would Lamar Jackson do that?
I don't know. He doesn't talk. That's the problem. We
(39:28):
have no idea what he wants. So go pivot back
to Aaron Rodgers today. So Aaron says, I think talking
on the YouTube hurt him a little. He basically told
you I was going to retire. Well, green Bay now
has that is knowledge. So green Bay is like, we're
really I'm not saying they're tormenting him. But their takeaway
is we're in no hurry. The way the bonus sets up,
(39:49):
we can pay it in September. So green Bay now
can kind of toy with Aaron. And I do think
in the building there's a little animosity toward him. I mean,
let's be honest. He came out of that retreat and
said he was surprised they move off him. But that's recent.
What about the MVPs and the Super Bowl in the
NFC Championship Kas Listen, your wife can treat your great,
she treats you bad for a month. That's what you're
(40:10):
living in. That's your reality. The reality now is green
Bay Fields ignored and manipulated and marginalized for the last
eight to nine weeks. Can fix that now while he's
still on his way out. You can fix anything. Everything's fixable.
But right now, green Bay leverage toy make Aaron Waite.
(40:32):
It's a plan hour or two next
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