Thanks for listening to the Best of 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. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Tuesday, live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio and fstwe It feels like an October show. Jimmy Johnson's on today, Mark Sanchez, Peter Schrager. It's like October November right now. Football, we have a full slate of exhibition games this weekend, only three weeks of those now. Joey Taylor is joining me in a very serious for those on radio, this is the kind of outfit where if Joy came down the hall at your work place, somebody would be getting fired. It's a very official looking it's my official I'm running, I'm announcing my candidacy for office outfit. Yeah, so we are not going to have a weekend without football until February. It's here, no lie is told. Good with it? Well, two things are melting down on August ninth, Trump supporters and the New York Giants. Here's the very latest brawls, not even uprawl, brawls plural breaking out at Giants training camp, involving players and coaches, an offensive line coach, a good lord. This doesn't happen very often with a star quarterback. There's a clear leader, there is deference. By the way. The Saints have had one of these this year. The Niners, who don't have a star quarterback right now, right because Garoppolo's not a lot of practice. The Giants have had one of these. It happens the good teams too. But what you see when you lack leadership, you have workplace meltdowns. I've had a couple in my career. The office, you know, kind of blows up. It's not the employee's fault, it's not my co worker's fault, it's not my fault. It's a management issue. When you have a star quarterback, first of all, the offense usually controls practice. The bad spurts are short, the good spurts are long. And the star quarterback again has that authority where you don't get into that stuff when you have a star quarterback. Very often, when you don't have a star quarterback and you have a bad quarterback, you have to repeat stuff. Coaches get snarkier, coaches get inpatient, players get in patient. Listen, it's August ninth, right, Like everybody, everybody wants to be very optimistic. But wide receivers, tight ends, running backs, offensive linemen. You can't fool professional football players. You can't fool professional athletes. Oftentimes, joy is my witness. I'll bring pro athletes, pro football players on the set and I'll ask them, as a veteran player, when you see a rookie come into camp, how many practices does it take before you are like, guy can play? Guy can't play. Almost to a player, they're like, yeah, two practices. Well, Daniel Jones been there a few years now and he's not very good. Right, And you can't fool the players, and they're getting frustrated and offense is getting manhandled. Giants have a pretty good defensive front, and this is what happens. It spirals out of control. So you don't have a star player and everybody in the building knows that at the most important position, or my crazy idea could solve some of this. Bringing Jimmy Garoppolo Colin, we don't have cap space figure it out. The Rams always due figure it out. The bad teams, the Bears can never figure out the cap The good teams, the Saints and the Rams always due figure it out. Jimmy Garoppolo has been to Super Bowls. All the players know it. Jimmy Garoppolo's won seventy percent of his starts. He just beat Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau. Is Jimmy Garoppolo Josh Allen, No, he's not, but he wins a lot of football games and a lot of big football games that the Giants watch on TV. Because their season was really over in Week nine. It's August ninth, it's melting down. I do not believe this would be happening if Joe Burrow justin Herbert Patrick Mahomes. We're quarterbacks for the New York Giants. When you're lacking leadership, it becomes finger pointing. You put Jimmy Garoppolo in there, and if you struggle with Jimmy g guy's got a point. Mirrors point fingers at themselves. Guys got to look in the mirror. That guys won. That guy elevated Deebo Samuel. That guy helped make George Kittle a pro bowler. That guy beat Aaron Rodgers. That guy gives the Rams trouble. Maybe it's us. So when you get quarterback right, this is why I've never had a problem for like the Niners rolling the dice and given up three picks for Trey Lamps. It's a lot, but if you get it right, you're set for twelve years. I mean, I remember years ago when Washington drafted RG three in the first pick, and they drafted Kirk Cousins in the fourth round, and they gave up a ton of picks, and everybody freaked out. They want a division. Despite all that, despite RG three not really working out, giving up all those picks, they want a division. A few years later, I believe they were competitive. You can give up the Rams don't even have a first round pick. When's the last time the Rams hand one. If you get the quarterback right, its smooths out practice, it smooths out arguments, it shortens crises. Everything is easier. And right now you got coaches fighting players fighting because there's no deference, there's no star. The ugly moments in practice last longer, and the idea that Daniel Jones is, even with this smart new coaching staff, is going to suddenly become an accurate thrower of the football. I do not buy Years ago, you gave a quarterback three full seasons. Years ago, you didn't have all these seven on seven camps. Years ago, you didn't have all these summer workouts. Kids didn't have quarterback mentors and coaches. So I'll give a guy. My feeling is, if I get a year of you by the second year Thanksgiving, I've made a decision. I don't need to go public with it, but I've sat down my GM, my scouts, and my coaches, and I'm like, he's the guy or he's not the guy. It took us two hours in justin Herbert's first start to figure out he was the guy. Two hours. Remember that they walked up to him right before the game against the Chiefs, the Chiefs moms, They said, hey, Tyrod Taylor had a medical problem. Can you start? By halftime? We were all like, whoa broke? And play Kyler Murray. Kayler Murray first start whoa guy can play. Joe Burrow second start doesn't take that long. In twenty twenty two, second year Thanksgiving, we know now what it is and what it is is a problem. It is a problem. So you think that Jimmy g thing doesn't make any sense. This sticking with this doesn't make any sense, all right? So speaking of New York, you guys think I leaned to California on my show. We're talking Brooklyn now. So yesterday I think it was at the end of our show, we had a real moment. So Kevin Durant sat down, to his credit, sat down with the owner, which I like. He sat down with the owner of the Brooklyn Nets Joe Tie and sigh, and he said, hey, I want to get rid of Steve Nash and the GM or trade me. So Seam's came out, Joe sigh. Kevin Durant's like, listen, Sean Marks, the GM, Steve Nash have to go or trade me. And then and then the owner came out a little bit later and said, yeah, I've our front office and coaching staff have my support. So now, what's the golden rule on this show? When stories come out? Whenever there's a breaking story. You've heard this anybody listening to me for twenty years. I always go to the same thing, who wanted this story out. I don't think the owner wanted this story out. I don't think Sean Marks and Steve Nash wanted out that Kevin Durant doesn't think they're any good. Kevin Durant side wanted this out. Why because he wants out and there was no movement in the trade market. And there's no movement because Miami wants him in Boston wants him. But the GM of Brooklyn's asking for a boatload. And so the fastest way to get fired or traded in any job is to call out your owner or call out your boss publicly. So Kevin calls out his boss and his coach, and that will speed things up. They're willing now to take less. You call out your GM, you call out your coach. It gets toxic. Now they'll get him out of the building. What it shows you is Kevin Durant really wants out. He wants out. They couldn't make a trade partner. Not because people don't want Kevin. Miami, Boston wants him, Phoenix wanted him, but they were holding firm on. You know, seven picks and five players. So to me, I think sometimes you gotta cut your losses. I'd go to Boston if you gave me Jalen Brown, a very very good player, and I could put Jaylen Brown, Kyrie, Irving, Ben Simmons, Royce, O'Neil, Joe Harris, Patty Mills on the floor next year. That's a playoff team. If Ben Simmons plays, and I think he will, that's a playoff team. Well that's all you were with Kevin Durant. What were you with Kevin Durant? Two first round exits in the second round exit. So to me, if you get Jaylen Brown and a bench player from the Celtics, forget about the draft picks. They're not gonna play for years. If you gave me Jaylen Brown, who by the way, is a great defensive player, so has Ben Simmons, Kyrie's not. If you gave me Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons, Kyrie, Irving, Royce, O'Neill, Joe Harris, Patty Mills, that's a playoff team. Well that's all you've been with Kevin Durant. You keep talking about ceiling stuff with Kevin duran Oh, You've been's the first and second round out team. So what I'm not gonna do is blow up my front office again. You think the best coaches are available, well what coach is available now? The good guys are off the market. Tyler's not leaving the Clippers to go to this mess. So you're not going to get a great coach. You're not going to get a great GM. Kevin's thirty four. Kevin's hurt a lot. Kevin wasn't happy with Steve Kerr great coach. Kevin isn't happy with Billy Donovan, who I thought so at least a good coach, And he wasn't happy with Steve Nash, who appears to be a little overwhelmed, but as a smart guy, I know him could get better. Like all of us, pretty learned, pretty smart play the game could get ben. Jason Kidd, by the way, is a better coach today than he was when he first came in. Why Jason smart? He's been around the league. Jason Kidd was a little overwhelmed first year or two. Jason Kidd got better as a coach. Tylu Today's probably better when he first became a coach. I think Steve Nash will get better as a coach. Smart guy. So but the story here is Kevin wanted this poppy out. Kevin wants out this idea. He'll come back, He'll get along. You put this out, you want to kind of embarrass or humiliate your boss, and so your boss says, forget it, get him out of the building. I'm ticked off, and so somebody's gonna get Kevin Durant. My takeaway now is Kyrie's probably gonna come back. He has no market, but Kevin's probably gonna force their hand and he'll be somewhere and it'll be very exciting. If you put Kevin Durant in Miami with most of that crew, it feels like a championship level team. I think Kevin Durant with Jason Tatum and Marcus Smart and Robert Williams, to me, feels like potentially a championship team that's better for the NBA. He's not going to go to a bad team. And I don't think Brooklyn is terrible. If they move off him and get Jaylen Brown, a draft picker two and a bench player, they got players, But I mean, what are you really giving up? He couldn't get you past the second owned. So if you get into the playoffs and get bounced in the first round, that's what you've been mostly with Kevin Durant. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. I am reading this morning. I went in on the Angry Bird app Twitter, and I went and found all these New England Patriot reporters in Boston. That's a big city with a pretty tough media. But you know, when you cover a team for twenty years and they're the gold standard of the sport, you know it's much tougher to take your whax at Belichick, Zach Cox. It's been ugly. The offense is ugly. Tom Curran perpetually overwhelmed offense. Mike Rees, who I work with, might be time to give Dante Scarneckia a call for an independent evaluation. Greg Bdard's a pro arguably the worst start of offense to camp. Phil Perry offense looks broken, it was apparently, and for all of that, and then I got a run down of the plays and they couldn't complete anything three yards down field. It was just a disaster. And I was thinking about this. If you were let's say you were a head coach in the NFL and you'd had a dynasty and you really privately did not like the owner because the owner did something one time that really ticked you off. And you had your money, you had your legacy, you had your rings, and you were trying to sabotage the organization. Let's just pretend here. What would you do if you were trying to sabotage it. You'd first of all tick off your superstar quarterback and he would leave town. Well that happened. You'd have your legendary older coaches retire at the same time get out of the building. Ernie Adams don't taste garneck you. You'd bring back failed coaches and then put them in positions to fail. Matt Patricia offensive coordinator now that he's never done that. You would have really strange drafts where players have no real value around the league when you leave overpay for marginal free agents. So they did that last year. That handicaps you, at least in the short term for mobility financially. And oh, by the way, let go of really great players at key positions. That have increasing value over the last five years. Cornerback j C. Jackson. Now they did all of those. I am in no way saying Bill Belichick privately doesn't like Robert Kraft, although I've read it in books. What I am saying is, if you were trying to sabotage a NFL team, I think this is what you do a dynasty. I mean, how many bad moves can they make? I mean, there's no precedent for taking a defensive coordinator who bombed as a head coach and moving him to defensive coordinator. We don't have a precedent for that. You wouldn't do that in high school. Even in high school, you'd be like, yeah, it's a defensive guy. We're not gonna put Bob on the run of the offense. He's a defensive guy, especially with the second year quarterback who needs support. Look at how the Bengals treat Burrow in the in the in the Chiefs have treated Mahomes, and how the Bills, even with a defensive coach once again, keep giving Josh Allen better coaches more support, drafting offensive lineman, anotherwide receiver. Patriots will going the opposite. Wait and I'll tell you. It really feels like Blockbuster at the end, where you have this business and they're doubling down and they're just the Hulus and the Amazons and the Netflix, and they're doing another business. And that's the Chiefs and the Rams and the Niners and all these smart offensive teams. They're literally in another business. And New England is even drafting mac Jones. Mac Jones is old school. What you're not looking for in twenty twenty two is a slightly undersized pocket passer with no ability once the play breaks down to make anything happen. Even the drafting of mac Jones feels like it's old school and past sort of its time. It is. I mean, the Patriots have no feel for offense. How do I know that they currently have the most expensive receiving car in the NFL and arguably the worst. I mean, you can say what you want about the Packers receiving corps. They got a couple of rookies here, and Sammy Watkins was good, Randall Cobb was good, but they're past their prime. I mean, we got nobody here, So it is. I mean, honestly, if you were trying to sabotage it, it would look like this tick off Brady overpay for average free agents, weird draft, two brilliant coaches, old guys out put guys in positions that are obviously in the NFL's never made more offensive leaning. Maybe you could have done this in nineteen sixty eight or seventy four. The idea that a defensive coach is going to run your offense. I just I think this organization does not have a feel for offense. How can you pay this much money for wide receivers and not have a single guy that can separate Davonte Parker from Miami. They let him go of one hundred and thirty one receivers in the NFL. Warren Sharpe, who does analytics smart Guy, said he separated less than any other receiver the last two years. So I don't know. I you know, obviously I'm doing this a little tongue in cheek with a sabotage thing, But I mean, at some point football is not that complicated. You take care of your star quarterbacks. If you get a young quarterback, you do everything you can with coaching, offensive line, You don't let Shack Mason go. You draft a lot of receivers, you get really, really high end ride receivers. You don't go cheap at wide receiver, and you certainly in a division with Josh Allen, don't let go of your best corner. Yikes. I don't get it. I just do not get it at all. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific. Odell Beckham went to LSU. That's obviously if Ball Factory. So he was on social media the other day talking to von Miller and he asked him on like Instagram, hey, as your is the locker next to you available in Buffalo? And you know I've had My takeaway is the Rams do something really really well. The La Rams have become the NFL's image rehab center. If you're considered a diva, if you're considered a bust, if you're considered an underachiever, go to the Rams, be productive fit in their culture, and then somebody swoops in and pays for you. Austin Corbett, Dante Fowler, oh, bj von Miller, Leonard Floyd. Who they're going to keep around. Sometimes they'll keep you around, but the culture is so strong with the Rams and that you know, it's almost like the Golden State Warriors Andrew Wiggins. People thought he was a bust. He goes to the Warriors and we're all like, he's our best athlete. That's why culture matters in sports. You can get players who you know they need support, they need strong leadership, and the Rams have done this. And so I don't think the Rams want to sign Odell Beckham, but they don't want to send the message to the league we don't take care of our guys. What they want is what von Miller did. You thought he was kind of done. He comes to the Rams, he crushes in the playoffs, he gets big money from the Bills, and two weeks later says, god, I miss La. It is great branding. Everybody wins, the Rams win, the player wins. They've already got Cooper Cup and Allen Robinson, so they got their stars. Van Jefferson's an excellent third, and they also have two young receivers two two at well and Ben's Governick from Notre Dame. They're not I don't know if they're stars, but they're promising. They don't need a thirty year old guy with three injuries. They really don't. That's not what they need. But again, I've seen them walk this kind of tight rope with multiple players. Kay comes in with an attitude or a reputation. Could be fair, could be not fair. They come in, they deliver for the Rams. The Rams make them feel loved. They're productive. Almost all these offensive guys are productive in Sean mcvay's system. And then they kind of you know, Rams get a lot of pub They put him out to the market. Somebody comes in, swoops and pays for him. So I don't think and it's it's a balance here. You want to keep sending the positive vibes to the market. It's a player's friendly organization. I mean, remember when Jalen Ramsey got here, it was like boy diva trouble. Oh, but everybody gets quiet with the Rams. I've never seen more star players talk less. It is the quietest organization I've ever seen. So I think I think in the end Beckham will move. I think they'd like to keep them around as long as they can, because in the end, if somebody goes down. Odell was tremendous as a RAM last year, and tremendous quickly, like and Andrew Wiggins with Golden State. When the culture is good, you can take guys, fit them into your culture and they pop fast. And Odell popped by a second game in LA and it's not an easy system. He popped fast. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories 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, you listen to it. I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or ever you get your podcast. Jimmy Johnson two Super Bowl championships, college football championships, flock sports. So um, you know it is interesting about who to pay and who not to pay. And you were kind of you were you were really kind of the godfather of this is that you look around the NFL. Now you can't pay maybe a guard, a linebacker, a tight end. I mean, the game's changed, Jimmy. You gotta pay your quarterback, your left tackle, edge RuSHA mccorner, and a weapon. And I kind of, I kind of look at some of these teams like Dallas and they're like, we're gonna let a Marie go and we're gonna let Cedric Wilson go and Jimmy I'm like, okay, that feels like to me in twenty twenty two, I don't know if I could be outbid for both those guys. I don't know if I love that move your thought, Well, you know, I'm concerned also, you know about the wide receivers and not having Marie Cooper you know there, But you know, he missed a lot of time, He missed a lot of games. At times in critical situations, he wasn't on the field, and I think that's one reason why they were willing to depart with him. And they like some of the young guys. And now the problem is they're going to have some guys that are gonna be unavailable at the start of the season because of injury. But they still are probably the most talented team in the NFC East. And so Philadelphia has gotten better, maybe they're closer, but they should still win the division. Yeah. Um, you know, it's this New England thing. Is weird that listen, it's hard. We know Belichick's smart, right, Like, like I know Greg Popovich for the Spurs is a great coach, but sometimes cultures change. Jimmy, you were able. Nick Saban's done this. Nick has done a very good job to pivot. Nick now admits you can't. You can't hold good offenses under twenty five points. You just can't do it. The world's changed, the rules have changed. You got defensive coaches, coach, and offense special they got a cornerbacks coach, coach and backs and I'm like, I don't know, Jimmy, I don't And yesterday there were seven reports that the offense is a mess. What am I supposed to make of that? Because I know Belichick's a brilliant guy. He's the best. So Colin, let's look at it this way. When Josh McDaniels left and they brought in defensive guys and Patricia's working with the offense, all of the media says, oh, there's going to be a problem. And so they watch practice and they see one drop ball. I said, oh, I told you there's going to be a problem, that the offense is out of sink and so yeah, you know, the media was looking for a problem, so they found it. Now, are they going to get better? Or are they gonna Is there concerns I don't think there's a concern with Bill Belichick. There may be a concern with the media. You know, it seems like to me that bunch scored over forty points a bunch last year. Now, I know they had Josh McDaniels, but it also seems to me that sometimes when everybody's storing the ball all over the field, doing something different gives you an edge. Look at the Baltimore Ravens right now, loving the football, and so I think Belichick has a handle on what they're doing. Plus, on top of this, if you're an outstanding coach, if you're a smart individual, you can adjust. In fact, RC Buper, the general manager of the Spurs, came down. You mentioned Papavich a few minutes ago. He said, you know, Pop's going to retire. When he says, he said, what would you be looking for in a coach? Would you be concerned about a college coach? I said, RC, I said, give me somebody that's really smart, give me somebody that's really passionate about what they do, and give me somebody that's willing to work night and day. I could care less how much he knows he'll be outstanding. Yeah, yeah, smart usually does win. You're right, okay, smart you're hard workers. Yeah, you know. I was not a big fan of Two. I said it on the air. He's a little small, he's not super athletic. I think he's a good kid. But if you're in a division with Josh Allen twice a year, I'm gonna have a quarterback deficit. You know, when you at Troy Aikman, you went into every game you have the best quarterback in division. Boy that wins a lot of games. Right, But I will say this, TA has always been accurate high school college, even last year. And my takeaway is if you could find a left tackle and some weapons. I think he's not Drew Brees, but I've seen him accurately throw the football and my guess is he makes a real leap this year. That's my gut feeling. What do you think. I think the only concern is protection, and I think with McDaniel coming from the forty nine ers, their run scheme, you know, their blocking schemes as good as anybody in the league. Comes from Mike Chanahan and of course Kyle and two. You know, we've always said about two, he's got a nice touch on the ball, and from my understanding, In fact, I talked to the general manager, Chris Query, just a couple of days ago. I told him. He said, man, you brought in some talent. You with Tyrek Hill and with Bottle, You've got a couple of burners on the outside. Plus they've got an outstanding tight end. So I think they're going to be able to put some points on the board. Plus they played outstanding defense last year. I think the Dolphins make a big jump this year. Yep, so do I. You know, Jimmy, it's I remember asking you you can't just look at wins and losses for a quarterback. Akman's first year he lost a ton of games, But you told me by practice two, practice three, you knew you had the guy. You knew you had. There was a leadership thing, there was a size, there was an accuracy thing. And listen, Trey Lance. I remember when Jake Locker came out of Washington to Tennessee, and I grew up in Seattle, and I remember telling people that buddies that were scouts. I'm like, I just don't think he's accurate enough. I love everything else about him, athlete, good kid, coachable, and I these Trey Lance reports that he's completing fifty percent of throws at practice. I mean, if you're that coach and you're sitting there and then after practice you watch film, how long do you stay with that? I mean, can you take fifty to sixty five percent? I mean, what do you make of that? Inaccuracy? Yeah, that's an learn for that position. You've got to be accurate. And uh, you know they're gonna be good on defense, They're gonna be able to run to football. They have a tremendous amount of talent. And at this stage, if he is inaccurate, he's not gonna be able to carry this football team. But hey, Tom Brady didn't carry their football team at the early stage, right. A lot of quarterbacks don't carry it early. Just like you know, you mentioned Troy. You know, I told Troy, I said, just hang in there, you know, and he said, Coach, we're gonna be fine. Just bring me enough talent around me. And you know, they've already got the talent around Trey Lance. So I think with the running game, with the defense, they'll be able to see if he can become more accurate. But if he's gonna win a championship, he's going to have to be an accurate passer. Yeah, yeah, you know, it's hard to repeat. We haven't had a repeater since two thousand and three, two thousand and four. Now, first of all, a lot of it is because there's just a lot of good teams. It's hard to win in the NFL. It's not college foot ball where you get twenty five first round picks every year. So the Rams are gonna try to repeat. Um, take me, you did it. You're one of only six coaches that's ever done it. What was the hardest part you won? What was the hardest part about that second year? You had the talent, you had the momentum, you had all your coaches, but it wasn't easy. What was the most difficult part, Colin? You know, everybody in the organization says, what about me? I need a raise, Um, I'm going to write a book, I'm gonna have a TV show. Um, you know I want more money. Everybody. You know it just I didn't get enough, you know, credit for what we did right, and so you know, Emmitt Smith rubbing my hair right there after the first Super Bowl, what did he do he held out the first two games of the season the next year. More money, right, everybody wants more. And this is the thing I've talked to A bunch of coaches are trying to repeat, you know, the same thing I told Bill when he first came down after his first Super Bowl. I said, your secretary is gonna want to raise you know, everybody wants more, and that's what you're gonna have to deal with. You know, right off the bat, the Rams, as talented as they are and as good at coaching staff as they've got with Sean McVeigh, now, I think, you know, I give them a better chance than most as far as repeating, well, you know what helps them a little bit. Aaron Donald, Stafford, Bobby Wagner, Cooper copp are not necessarily high maintenance guys. I mean they're kind of guys, like you had to some of these guys that they're football guys. They get their money, they're happy, they don't have a lot of what I would call like high maintenance guys. Right Like that feels like it matters. Yeah, it was easy for me, or somewhat easy. I mean it seemed like it was tough at the time, but we had the youngest team in the league on the first Super Bowl and the second Super Bowl, the youngest team and the lowest paid team, and so we were able to do it. You know, those young guys, they didn't know any different. I would screaming, holler at him and tell him, here's what we're gonna do. They didn't question that. Sometimes when you got the old vets, they say, oh, wait a minute, do we need to be working this art? You know, and so that may be a problem, but it wasn't a problem with me because we had so many young players. Finally, Mario Crista Ball. I think Miami is going to be pretty good this year. Now they have to go to Clemson and to Texas A and M and those are probably els. But they've got a quarterback. They throw the ball. What they didn't do last year. They weren't very good on the offensive line, they weren't very consistent running it. And I think that's Crista Ball's game, So I think he's gonna be I think from the transfer portal they'll run the football week one, because that's what Mario did it Oregon, which is hard because there's no players in that state. So I think usc and Miami both have new coaches, Texas now Starks in year two? What is realistic? Because the nil for Miami's pretty good. They got a guy down there that's gonna write checks. I mean, they knew Ruins is writing checks. So I'm not criticized and I'm just telling you what I'm hearing. So what is realistic? Jimmy, this transfer portal, you didn't have that. Lincoln Riley went and got eight he wentn't got nine starters? What is realistic for Miami this year? I think if they could win their division, and oh I think I think it would probably be unrealistic to say that they're gonna be a playoff team. But if they could win their division, that would be a start. Because all these new players, and they have been recruiting unbelievable, you know, as good at recruiting as there has been. And then mry O, he was always known as one of the top recruiters ever and he's going to take some of these new players a year to really get into the system and to fit in. Uh So, if they could win their division, I would be happy, and that would be a start. But they I did one thing. They putting all the money into the program. He is hard as good an assistant coaching staff. I've seen the best since oh since I was there. I've been blown away by his staff. I couldn't believe. I didn't know they had that kind of money. Jimmy, they went, they went, all of a sudden. The alumnus is, we're tired of this eight and nine wins. We want more. Great seeing you Jimmy as always, you look fantastic and we'll talk soon. All right, coming good talking with you. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. The College Football Coaches Poll came out, and this is a particular interest, and I thought it was very very accurate. There was very little there I didn't agree with um. I thought, you know, coaches tend to know it. I think UCLA will end up because their schedules week and they return a very very good defensive line, they only play one tough road game or again. I think UCLA will end up in the top twenty five. The three that I'm really interested in. As you well know, if you listen to the show USC at fifteen, Miami at seventeen, in Texas at eighteen, and I think that those are reasonable places for them. I think they're each going to lose two or three games. The question is of these programs. Because of the transfer portal, it is much easier for all of these programs to get better fast. Nick Saban's the best college football coach of all time. Okay, four years into Michigan State, they were like six and six. His third or fourth year at LSU, they lost five games. His first year at Alabama they lost to Louisiana Monroe. And that's Nick Saban. Okay. The transfer portal has you know, I always talk about this with quarterbacks, Joy that I'm not going to give you three years anymore. The world's changed. These kids that come into the NFL now they have ten thousand throves by the time they're like seventeen years old. You get a year and Thanksgiving at that moment, Thanksgiving weekend, year two, I gotta see something. If you're not it, you're not it. I'm not giving you there. I'm not gonna say, well, let's wait for December. By Thanksgiving, I got what do I got? Twenty four starts. That is way more than enough. I mean, Kenny Pickett started for three or four years in Pittsburgh. I'm not giving him three years in the NFL. By next year at Thanksgiving, I want him on the field. And I'm making a decision because that's why all these young guys are popping. So all of these guys are going to succeed. Now, Texas has two great quarterbacks. They don't quite know which one it is. But Sark had to rebuild a Mass, Mario's rebuilding a mass. Lincoln. They're all very similar. I think they're all they all have a presence, they're all good recruiters. They're all gonna kick butt. My guess is based on you know history, is that USC has got a four or five advantages here. They'll be better faster. If you ask me who the best coach is, well, I mean Lincoln Riley's never won less than eleven games he's got in four years. He has ten losses, I think, and like eight have been down to the wire. Also, I think Caleb Williams is the most talented quarterback any of these guys have. And that includes the Van Dyke kid at Miami, who's a first round quarterback. I think Caleb Williams is an elite thrower, an elite runner. I think he's unbelievable. I saw him at Oklahoma last year, is like wow. I think USC as a recruiting edge because unlike Texas in Miami, they don't have multiple other great programs they're recruiting against. Miami is recruiting against Clemson, Florida State, Florida, Bama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia. Texas is recruiting against Oklahoma, all the SEC schools. Texas and m USC mostly in my life, when they get the right coach, John McKay, John Robinson, Pete Carroll. By year two, they're dominant because they're the biggest Western brand and outside of Phil Knight an Oregon coming in with an nil check and that's it's legal. So I'm not not going to Oregon. But that's what they're doing. They're gonna get who they mostly who they want, mostly not all the time. I mean, guys get poked. Notre Dame recruits here, Michigan does. So the four boxes that to me matter for Texas, USC best coaches, sc best quarterback recruiting edge, and the conference isn't very good. Pac twelve died about six years ago. It's just not very good. I mean, it really isn't like like Oregon Utah. Now USC, I do think UCLA is a little undervalued, but h and that's by the way, that's not a knock on crystal Ball and Sark. I just think, folks, I got four years eleven wins each year. Eight of the ten losses for Lincoln were like down to the wire. So I think USC is gonna be really good. But the advantage to all of these and that's why I am a fan of the transfer portal is teams are asking you, the fans, to pay more money every year. Get out of here with this rebuild crap. I'm not spending one hundred and ninety bucks for a ticket to a college football game and watch you for four years rebuild. USC literally got nine to ten starters out of the transfer portal. Miami has literally overnight fixed their offensive line, and Sark, who walked into a program with some dubious line play. They had line, they had running backs. But in the end, I think Texas gonna be pretty good this year. So there you go. By the way, Lincoln Riley seven of his ten career losses have been by a possession, and six of his losses have been due Bama Georgia, the greatest college team ever LSU with Burrow, his rival Texas once, his rival Oklahoma State once, and probably the most underrated program in the country Baylor, which has been good for like seven eight years. Nobody ever talks about him. So six of his ten losses you can lose Tobama Georgia and Joe Burrows LSU team, I'm gonna give you those. That's okay. So I think they're gonna be really good. They're gonna be really good fast. They do not have defensive linemen on the interior. I don't think they're good enough defensively to be to Georgia, to be the Obama, to be the Ohio State, to be the Clemson. I don't think they are. They're not there. But offensively they're fine. They can win a national title with their offense today, their coach today, their quarterback today, their receivers today, they're O line today,

Thanks for listening to the Best of 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. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Tuesday, live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio and fstwe It feels like an October show. Jimmy Johnson's on today, Mark Sanchez, Peter Schrager. It's like October November right now. Football, we have a full slate of exhibition games this weekend, only three weeks of those now. Joey Taylor is joining me in a very serious for those on radio, this is the kind of outfit where if Joy came down the hall at your work place, somebody would be getting fired. It's a very official looking it's my official I'm running, I'm announcing my candidacy for office outfit. Yeah, so we are not going to have a weekend without football until February. It's here, no lie is told. Good with it? Well, two things are melting down on August ninth, Trump supporters and the New York Giants. Here's the very latest brawls, not even uprawl, brawls plural breaking out at Giants training camp, involving players and coaches, an offensive line coach, a good lord. This doesn't happen very often with a star quarterback. There's a clear leader, there is deference. By the way. The Saints have had one of these this year. The Niners, who don't have a star quarterback right now, right because Garoppolo's not a lot of practice. The Giants have had one of these. It happens the good teams too. But what you see when you lack leadership, you have workplace meltdowns. I've had a couple in my career. The office, you know, kind of blows up. It's not the employee's fault, it's not my co worker's fault, it's not my fault. It's a management issue. When you have a star quarterback, first of all, the offense usually controls practice. The bad spurts are short, the good spurts are long. And the star quarterback again has that authority where you don't get into that stuff when you have a star quarterback. Very often, when you don't have a star quarterback and you have a bad quarterback, you have to repeat stuff. Coaches get snarkier, coaches get inpatient, players get in patient. Listen, it's August ninth, right, Like everybody, everybody wants to be very optimistic. But wide receivers, tight ends, running backs, offensive linemen. You can't fool professional football players. You can't fool professional athletes. Oftentimes, joy is my witness. I'll bring pro athletes, pro football players on the set and I'll ask them, as a veteran player, when you see a rookie come into camp, how many practices does it take before you are like, guy can play? Guy can't play. Almost to a player, they're like, yeah, two practices. Well, Daniel Jones been there a few years now and he's not very good. Right, And you can't fool the players, and they're getting frustrated and offense is getting manhandled. Giants have a pretty good defensive front, and this is what happens. It spirals out of control. So you don't have a star player and everybody in the building knows that at the most important position, or my crazy idea could solve some of this. Bringing Jimmy Garoppolo Colin, we don't have cap space figure it out. The Rams always due figure it out. The bad teams, the Bears can never figure out the cap The good teams, the Saints and the Rams always due figure it out. Jimmy Garoppolo has been to Super Bowls. All the players know it. Jimmy Garoppolo's won seventy percent of his starts. He just beat Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau. Is Jimmy Garoppolo Josh Allen, No, he's not, but he wins a lot of football games and a lot of big football games that the Giants watch on TV. Because their season was really over in Week nine. It's August ninth, it's melting down. I do not believe this would be happening if Joe Burrow justin Herbert Patrick Mahomes. We're quarterbacks for the New York Giants. When you're lacking leadership, it becomes finger pointing. You put Jimmy Garoppolo in there, and if you struggle with Jimmy g guy's got a point. Mirrors point fingers at themselves. Guys got to look in the mirror. That guys won. That guy elevated Deebo Samuel. That guy helped make George Kittle a pro bowler. That guy beat Aaron Rodgers. That guy gives the Rams trouble. Maybe it's us. So when you get quarterback right, this is why I've never had a problem for like the Niners rolling the dice and given up three picks for Trey Lamps. It's a lot, but if you get it right, you're set for twelve years. I mean, I remember years ago when Washington drafted RG three in the first pick, and they drafted Kirk Cousins in the fourth round, and they gave up a ton of picks, and everybody freaked out. They want a division. Despite all that, despite RG three not really working out, giving up all those picks, they want a division. A few years later, I believe they were competitive. You can give up the Rams don't even have a first round pick. When's the last time the Rams hand one. If you get the quarterback right, its smooths out practice, it smooths out arguments, it shortens crises. Everything is easier. And right now you got coaches fighting players fighting because there's no deference, there's no star. The ugly moments in practice last longer, and the idea that Daniel Jones is, even with this smart new coaching staff, is going to suddenly become an accurate thrower of the football. I do not buy Years ago, you gave a quarterback three full seasons. Years ago, you didn't have all these seven on seven camps. Years ago, you didn't have all these summer workouts. Kids didn't have quarterback mentors and coaches. So I'll give a guy. My feeling is, if I get a year of you by the second year Thanksgiving, I've made a decision. I don't need to go public with it, but I've sat down my GM, my scouts, and my coaches, and I'm like, he's the guy or he's not the guy. It took us two hours in justin Herbert's first start to figure out he was the guy. Two hours. Remember that they walked up to him right before the game against the Chiefs, the Chiefs moms, They said, hey, Tyrod Taylor had a medical problem. Can you start? By halftime? We were all like, whoa broke? And play Kyler Murray. Kayler Murray first start whoa guy can play. Joe Burrow second start doesn't take that long. In twenty twenty two, second year Thanksgiving, we know now what it is and what it is is a problem. It is a problem. So you think that Jimmy g thing doesn't make any sense. This sticking with this doesn't make any sense, all right? So speaking of New York, you guys think I leaned to California on my show. We're talking Brooklyn now. So yesterday I think it was at the end of our show, we had a real moment. So Kevin Durant sat down, to his credit, sat down with the owner, which I like. He sat down with the owner of the Brooklyn Nets Joe Tie and sigh, and he said, hey, I want to get rid of Steve Nash and the GM or trade me. So Seam's came out, Joe sigh. Kevin Durant's like, listen, Sean Marks, the GM, Steve Nash have to go or trade me. And then and then the owner came out a little bit later and said, yeah, I've our front office and coaching staff have my support. So now, what's the golden rule on this show? When stories come out? Whenever there's a breaking story. You've heard this anybody listening to me for twenty years. I always go to the same thing, who wanted this story out. I don't think the owner wanted this story out. I don't think Sean Marks and Steve Nash wanted out that Kevin Durant doesn't think they're any good. Kevin Durant side wanted this out. Why because he wants out and there was no movement in the trade market. And there's no movement because Miami wants him in Boston wants him. But the GM of Brooklyn's asking for a boatload. And so the fastest way to get fired or traded in any job is to call out your owner or call out your boss publicly. So Kevin calls out his boss and his coach, and that will speed things up. They're willing now to take less. You call out your GM, you call out your coach. It gets toxic. Now they'll get him out of the building. What it shows you is Kevin Durant really wants out. He wants out. They couldn't make a trade partner. Not because people don't want Kevin. Miami, Boston wants him, Phoenix wanted him, but they were holding firm on. You know, seven picks and five players. So to me, I think sometimes you gotta cut your losses. I'd go to Boston if you gave me Jalen Brown, a very very good player, and I could put Jaylen Brown, Kyrie, Irving, Ben Simmons, Royce, O'Neil, Joe Harris, Patty Mills on the floor next year. That's a playoff team. If Ben Simmons plays, and I think he will, that's a playoff team. Well that's all you were with Kevin Durant. What were you with Kevin Durant? Two first round exits in the second round exit. So to me, if you get Jaylen Brown and a bench player from the Celtics, forget about the draft picks. They're not gonna play for years. If you gave me Jaylen Brown, who by the way, is a great defensive player, so has Ben Simmons, Kyrie's not. If you gave me Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons, Kyrie, Irving, Royce, O'Neill, Joe Harris, Patty Mills, that's a playoff team. Well that's all you've been with Kevin Durant. You keep talking about ceiling stuff with Kevin duran Oh, You've been's the first and second round out team. So what I'm not gonna do is blow up my front office again. You think the best coaches are available, well what coach is available now? The good guys are off the market. Tyler's not leaving the Clippers to go to this mess. So you're not going to get a great coach. You're not going to get a great GM. Kevin's thirty four. Kevin's hurt a lot. Kevin wasn't happy with Steve Kerr great coach. Kevin isn't happy with Billy Donovan, who I thought so at least a good coach, And he wasn't happy with Steve Nash, who appears to be a little overwhelmed, but as a smart guy, I know him could get better. Like all of us, pretty learned, pretty smart play the game could get ben. Jason Kidd, by the way, is a better coach today than he was when he first came in. Why Jason smart? He's been around the league. Jason Kidd was a little overwhelmed first year or two. Jason Kidd got better as a coach. Tylu Today's probably better when he first became a coach. I think Steve Nash will get better as a coach. Smart guy. So but the story here is Kevin wanted this poppy out. Kevin wants out this idea. He'll come back, He'll get along. You put this out, you want to kind of embarrass or humiliate your boss, and so your boss says, forget it, get him out of the building. I'm ticked off, and so somebody's gonna get Kevin Durant. My takeaway now is Kyrie's probably gonna come back. He has no market, but Kevin's probably gonna force their hand and he'll be somewhere and it'll be very exciting. If you put Kevin Durant in Miami with most of that crew, it feels like a championship level team. I think Kevin Durant with Jason Tatum and Marcus Smart and Robert Williams, to me, feels like potentially a championship team that's better for the NBA. He's not going to go to a bad team. And I don't think Brooklyn is terrible. If they move off him and get Jaylen Brown, a draft picker two and a bench player, they got players, But I mean, what are you really giving up? He couldn't get you past the second owned. So if you get into the playoffs and get bounced in the first round, that's what you've been mostly with Kevin Durant. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. I am reading this morning. I went in on the Angry Bird app Twitter, and I went and found all these New England Patriot reporters in Boston. That's a big city with a pretty tough media. But you know, when you cover a team for twenty years and they're the gold standard of the sport, you know it's much tougher to take your whax at Belichick, Zach Cox. It's been ugly. The offense is ugly. Tom Curran perpetually overwhelmed offense. Mike Rees, who I work with, might be time to give Dante Scarneckia a call for an independent evaluation. Greg Bdard's a pro arguably the worst start of offense to camp. Phil Perry offense looks broken, it was apparently, and for all of that, and then I got a run down of the plays and they couldn't complete anything three yards down field. It was just a disaster. And I was thinking about this. If you were let's say you were a head coach in the NFL and you'd had a dynasty and you really privately did not like the owner because the owner did something one time that really ticked you off. And you had your money, you had your legacy, you had your rings, and you were trying to sabotage the organization. Let's just pretend here. What would you do if you were trying to sabotage it. You'd first of all tick off your superstar quarterback and he would leave town. Well that happened. You'd have your legendary older coaches retire at the same time get out of the building. Ernie Adams don't taste garneck you. You'd bring back failed coaches and then put them in positions to fail. Matt Patricia offensive coordinator now that he's never done that. You would have really strange drafts where players have no real value around the league when you leave overpay for marginal free agents. So they did that last year. That handicaps you, at least in the short term for mobility financially. And oh, by the way, let go of really great players at key positions. That have increasing value over the last five years. Cornerback j C. Jackson. Now they did all of those. I am in no way saying Bill Belichick privately doesn't like Robert Kraft, although I've read it in books. What I am saying is, if you were trying to sabotage a NFL team, I think this is what you do a dynasty. I mean, how many bad moves can they make? I mean, there's no precedent for taking a defensive coordinator who bombed as a head coach and moving him to defensive coordinator. We don't have a precedent for that. You wouldn't do that in high school. Even in high school, you'd be like, yeah, it's a defensive guy. We're not gonna put Bob on the run of the offense. He's a defensive guy, especially with the second year quarterback who needs support. Look at how the Bengals treat Burrow in the in the in the Chiefs have treated Mahomes, and how the Bills, even with a defensive coach once again, keep giving Josh Allen better coaches more support, drafting offensive lineman, anotherwide receiver. Patriots will going the opposite. Wait and I'll tell you. It really feels like Blockbuster at the end, where you have this business and they're doubling down and they're just the Hulus and the Amazons and the Netflix, and they're doing another business. And that's the Chiefs and the Rams and the Niners and all these smart offensive teams. They're literally in another business. And New England is even drafting mac Jones. Mac Jones is old school. What you're not looking for in twenty twenty two is a slightly undersized pocket passer with no ability once the play breaks down to make anything happen. Even the drafting of mac Jones feels like it's old school and past sort of its time. It is. I mean, the Patriots have no feel for offense. How do I know that they currently have the most expensive receiving car in the NFL and arguably the worst. I mean, you can say what you want about the Packers receiving corps. They got a couple of rookies here, and Sammy Watkins was good, Randall Cobb was good, but they're past their prime. I mean, we got nobody here, So it is. I mean, honestly, if you were trying to sabotage it, it would look like this tick off Brady overpay for average free agents, weird draft, two brilliant coaches, old guys out put guys in positions that are obviously in the NFL's never made more offensive leaning. Maybe you could have done this in nineteen sixty eight or seventy four. The idea that a defensive coach is going to run your offense. I just I think this organization does not have a feel for offense. How can you pay this much money for wide receivers and not have a single guy that can separate Davonte Parker from Miami. They let him go of one hundred and thirty one receivers in the NFL. Warren Sharpe, who does analytics smart Guy, said he separated less than any other receiver the last two years. So I don't know. I you know, obviously I'm doing this a little tongue in cheek with a sabotage thing, But I mean, at some point football is not that complicated. You take care of your star quarterbacks. If you get a young quarterback, you do everything you can with coaching, offensive line, You don't let Shack Mason go. You draft a lot of receivers, you get really, really high end ride receivers. You don't go cheap at wide receiver, and you certainly in a division with Josh Allen, don't let go of your best corner. Yikes. I don't get it. I just do not get it at all. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific. Odell Beckham went to LSU. That's obviously if Ball Factory. So he was on social media the other day talking to von Miller and he asked him on like Instagram, hey, as your is the locker next to you available in Buffalo? And you know I've had My takeaway is the Rams do something really really well. The La Rams have become the NFL's image rehab center. If you're considered a diva, if you're considered a bust, if you're considered an underachiever, go to the Rams, be productive fit in their culture, and then somebody swoops in and pays for you. Austin Corbett, Dante Fowler, oh, bj von Miller, Leonard Floyd. Who they're going to keep around. Sometimes they'll keep you around, but the culture is so strong with the Rams and that you know, it's almost like the Golden State Warriors Andrew Wiggins. People thought he was a bust. He goes to the Warriors and we're all like, he's our best athlete. That's why culture matters in sports. You can get players who you know they need support, they need strong leadership, and the Rams have done this. And so I don't think the Rams want to sign Odell Beckham, but they don't want to send the message to the league we don't take care of our guys. What they want is what von Miller did. You thought he was kind of done. He comes to the Rams, he crushes in the playoffs, he gets big money from the Bills, and two weeks later says, god, I miss La. It is great branding. Everybody wins, the Rams win, the player wins. They've already got Cooper Cup and Allen Robinson, so they got their stars. Van Jefferson's an excellent third, and they also have two young receivers two two at well and Ben's Governick from Notre Dame. They're not I don't know if they're stars, but they're promising. They don't need a thirty year old guy with three injuries. They really don't. That's not what they need. But again, I've seen them walk this kind of tight rope with multiple players. Kay comes in with an attitude or a reputation. Could be fair, could be not fair. They come in, they deliver for the Rams. The Rams make them feel loved. They're productive. Almost all these offensive guys are productive in Sean mcvay's system. And then they kind of you know, Rams get a lot of pub They put him out to the market. Somebody comes in, swoops and pays for him. So I don't think and it's it's a balance here. You want to keep sending the positive vibes to the market. It's a player's friendly organization. I mean, remember when Jalen Ramsey got here, it was like boy diva trouble. Oh, but everybody gets quiet with the Rams. I've never seen more star players talk less. It is the quietest organization I've ever seen. So I think I think in the end Beckham will move. I think they'd like to keep them around as long as they can, because in the end, if somebody goes down. Odell was tremendous as a RAM last year, and tremendous quickly, like and Andrew Wiggins with Golden State. When the culture is good, you can take guys, fit them into your culture and they pop fast. And Odell popped by a second game in LA and it's not an easy system. He popped fast. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories 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, you listen to it. I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or ever you get your podcast. Jimmy Johnson two Super Bowl championships, college football championships, flock sports. So um, you know it is interesting about who to pay and who not to pay. And you were kind of you were you were really kind of the godfather of this is that you look around the NFL. Now you can't pay maybe a guard, a linebacker, a tight end. I mean, the game's changed, Jimmy. You gotta pay your quarterback, your left tackle, edge RuSHA mccorner, and a weapon. And I kind of, I kind of look at some of these teams like Dallas and they're like, we're gonna let a Marie go and we're gonna let Cedric Wilson go and Jimmy I'm like, okay, that feels like to me in twenty twenty two, I don't know if I could be outbid for both those guys. I don't know if I love that move your thought, Well, you know, I'm concerned also, you know about the wide receivers and not having Marie Cooper you know there, But you know, he missed a lot of time, He missed a lot of games. At times in critical situations, he wasn't on the field, and I think that's one reason why they were willing to depart with him. And they like some of the young guys. And now the problem is they're going to have some guys that are gonna be unavailable at the start of the season because of injury. But they still are probably the most talented team in the NFC East. And so Philadelphia has gotten better, maybe they're closer, but they should still win the division. Yeah. Um, you know, it's this New England thing. Is weird that listen, it's hard. We know Belichick's smart, right, Like, like I know Greg Popovich for the Spurs is a great coach, but sometimes cultures change. Jimmy, you were able. Nick Saban's done this. Nick has done a very good job to pivot. Nick now admits you can't. You can't hold good offenses under twenty five points. You just can't do it. The world's changed, the rules have changed. You got defensive coaches, coach, and offense special they got a cornerbacks coach, coach and backs and I'm like, I don't know, Jimmy, I don't And yesterday there were seven reports that the offense is a mess. What am I supposed to make of that? Because I know Belichick's a brilliant guy. He's the best. So Colin, let's look at it this way. When Josh McDaniels left and they brought in defensive guys and Patricia's working with the offense, all of the media says, oh, there's going to be a problem. And so they watch practice and they see one drop ball. I said, oh, I told you there's going to be a problem, that the offense is out of sink and so yeah, you know, the media was looking for a problem, so they found it. Now, are they going to get better? Or are they gonna Is there concerns I don't think there's a concern with Bill Belichick. There may be a concern with the media. You know, it seems like to me that bunch scored over forty points a bunch last year. Now, I know they had Josh McDaniels, but it also seems to me that sometimes when everybody's storing the ball all over the field, doing something different gives you an edge. Look at the Baltimore Ravens right now, loving the football, and so I think Belichick has a handle on what they're doing. Plus, on top of this, if you're an outstanding coach, if you're a smart individual, you can adjust. In fact, RC Buper, the general manager of the Spurs, came down. You mentioned Papavich a few minutes ago. He said, you know, Pop's going to retire. When he says, he said, what would you be looking for in a coach? Would you be concerned about a college coach? I said, RC, I said, give me somebody that's really smart, give me somebody that's really passionate about what they do, and give me somebody that's willing to work night and day. I could care less how much he knows he'll be outstanding. Yeah, yeah, smart usually does win. You're right, okay, smart you're hard workers. Yeah, you know. I was not a big fan of Two. I said it on the air. He's a little small, he's not super athletic. I think he's a good kid. But if you're in a division with Josh Allen twice a year, I'm gonna have a quarterback deficit. You know, when you at Troy Aikman, you went into every game you have the best quarterback in division. Boy that wins a lot of games. Right, But I will say this, TA has always been accurate high school college, even last year. And my takeaway is if you could find a left tackle and some weapons. I think he's not Drew Brees, but I've seen him accurately throw the football and my guess is he makes a real leap this year. That's my gut feeling. What do you think. I think the only concern is protection, and I think with McDaniel coming from the forty nine ers, their run scheme, you know, their blocking schemes as good as anybody in the league. Comes from Mike Chanahan and of course Kyle and two. You know, we've always said about two, he's got a nice touch on the ball, and from my understanding, In fact, I talked to the general manager, Chris Query, just a couple of days ago. I told him. He said, man, you brought in some talent. You with Tyrek Hill and with Bottle, You've got a couple of burners on the outside. Plus they've got an outstanding tight end. So I think they're going to be able to put some points on the board. Plus they played outstanding defense last year. I think the Dolphins make a big jump this year. Yep, so do I. You know, Jimmy, it's I remember asking you you can't just look at wins and losses for a quarterback. Akman's first year he lost a ton of games, But you told me by practice two, practice three, you knew you had the guy. You knew you had. There was a leadership thing, there was a size, there was an accuracy thing. And listen, Trey Lance. I remember when Jake Locker came out of Washington to Tennessee, and I grew up in Seattle, and I remember telling people that buddies that were scouts. I'm like, I just don't think he's accurate enough. I love everything else about him, athlete, good kid, coachable, and I these Trey Lance reports that he's completing fifty percent of throws at practice. I mean, if you're that coach and you're sitting there and then after practice you watch film, how long do you stay with that? I mean, can you take fifty to sixty five percent? I mean, what do you make of that? Inaccuracy? Yeah, that's an learn for that position. You've got to be accurate. And uh, you know they're gonna be good on defense, They're gonna be able to run to football. They have a tremendous amount of talent. And at this stage, if he is inaccurate, he's not gonna be able to carry this football team. But hey, Tom Brady didn't carry their football team at the early stage, right. A lot of quarterbacks don't carry it early. Just like you know, you mentioned Troy. You know, I told Troy, I said, just hang in there, you know, and he said, Coach, we're gonna be fine. Just bring me enough talent around me. And you know, they've already got the talent around Trey Lance. So I think with the running game, with the defense, they'll be able to see if he can become more accurate. But if he's gonna win a championship, he's going to have to be an accurate passer. Yeah, yeah, you know, it's hard to repeat. We haven't had a repeater since two thousand and three, two thousand and four. Now, first of all, a lot of it is because there's just a lot of good teams. It's hard to win in the NFL. It's not college foot ball where you get twenty five first round picks every year. So the Rams are gonna try to repeat. Um, take me, you did it. You're one of only six coaches that's ever done it. What was the hardest part you won? What was the hardest part about that second year? You had the talent, you had the momentum, you had all your coaches, but it wasn't easy. What was the most difficult part, Colin? You know, everybody in the organization says, what about me? I need a raise, Um, I'm going to write a book, I'm gonna have a TV show. Um, you know I want more money. Everybody. You know it just I didn't get enough, you know, credit for what we did right, and so you know, Emmitt Smith rubbing my hair right there after the first Super Bowl, what did he do he held out the first two games of the season the next year. More money, right, everybody wants more. And this is the thing I've talked to A bunch of coaches are trying to repeat, you know, the same thing I told Bill when he first came down after his first Super Bowl. I said, your secretary is gonna want to raise you know, everybody wants more, and that's what you're gonna have to deal with. You know, right off the bat, the Rams, as talented as they are and as good at coaching staff as they've got with Sean McVeigh, now, I think, you know, I give them a better chance than most as far as repeating, well, you know what helps them a little bit. Aaron Donald, Stafford, Bobby Wagner, Cooper copp are not necessarily high maintenance guys. I mean they're kind of guys, like you had to some of these guys that they're football guys. They get their money, they're happy, they don't have a lot of what I would call like high maintenance guys. Right Like that feels like it matters. Yeah, it was easy for me, or somewhat easy. I mean it seemed like it was tough at the time, but we had the youngest team in the league on the first Super Bowl and the second Super Bowl, the youngest team and the lowest paid team, and so we were able to do it. You know, those young guys, they didn't know any different. I would screaming, holler at him and tell him, here's what we're gonna do. They didn't question that. Sometimes when you got the old vets, they say, oh, wait a minute, do we need to be working this art? You know, and so that may be a problem, but it wasn't a problem with me because we had so many young players. Finally, Mario Crista Ball. I think Miami is going to be pretty good this year. Now they have to go to Clemson and to Texas A and M and those are probably els. But they've got a quarterback. They throw the ball. What they didn't do last year. They weren't very good on the offensive line, they weren't very consistent running it. And I think that's Crista Ball's game, So I think he's gonna be I think from the transfer portal they'll run the football week one, because that's what Mario did it Oregon, which is hard because there's no players in that state. So I think usc and Miami both have new coaches, Texas now Starks in year two? What is realistic? Because the nil for Miami's pretty good. They got a guy down there that's gonna write checks. I mean, they knew Ruins is writing checks. So I'm not criticized and I'm just telling you what I'm hearing. So what is realistic? Jimmy, this transfer portal, you didn't have that. Lincoln Riley went and got eight he wentn't got nine starters? What is realistic for Miami this year? I think if they could win their division, and oh I think I think it would probably be unrealistic to say that they're gonna be a playoff team. But if they could win their division, that would be a start. Because all these new players, and they have been recruiting unbelievable, you know, as good at recruiting as there has been. And then mry O, he was always known as one of the top recruiters ever and he's going to take some of these new players a year to really get into the system and to fit in. Uh So, if they could win their division, I would be happy, and that would be a start. But they I did one thing. They putting all the money into the program. He is hard as good an assistant coaching staff. I've seen the best since oh since I was there. I've been blown away by his staff. I couldn't believe. I didn't know they had that kind of money. Jimmy, they went, they went, all of a sudden. The alumnus is, we're tired of this eight and nine wins. We want more. Great seeing you Jimmy as always, you look fantastic and we'll talk soon. All right, coming good talking with you. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. The College Football Coaches Poll came out, and this is a particular interest, and I thought it was very very accurate. There was very little there I didn't agree with um. I thought, you know, coaches tend to know it. I think UCLA will end up because their schedules week and they return a very very good defensive line, they only play one tough road game or again. I think UCLA will end up in the top twenty five. The three that I'm really interested in. As you well know, if you listen to the show USC at fifteen, Miami at seventeen, in Texas at eighteen, and I think that those are reasonable places for them. I think they're each going to lose two or three games. The question is of these programs. Because of the transfer portal, it is much easier for all of these programs to get better fast. Nick Saban's the best college football coach of all time. Okay, four years into Michigan State, they were like six and six. His third or fourth year at LSU, they lost five games. His first year at Alabama they lost to Louisiana Monroe. And that's Nick Saban. Okay. The transfer portal has you know, I always talk about this with quarterbacks, Joy that I'm not going to give you three years anymore. The world's changed. These kids that come into the NFL now they have ten thousand throves by the time they're like seventeen years old. You get a year and Thanksgiving at that moment, Thanksgiving weekend, year two, I gotta see something. If you're not it, you're not it. I'm not giving you there. I'm not gonna say, well, let's wait for December. By Thanksgiving, I got what do I got? Twenty four starts. That is way more than enough. I mean, Kenny Pickett started for three or four years in Pittsburgh. I'm not giving him three years in the NFL. By next year at Thanksgiving, I want him on the field. And I'm making a decision because that's why all these young guys are popping. So all of these guys are going to succeed. Now, Texas has two great quarterbacks. They don't quite know which one it is. But Sark had to rebuild a Mass, Mario's rebuilding a mass. Lincoln. They're all very similar. I think they're all they all have a presence, they're all good recruiters. They're all gonna kick butt. My guess is based on you know history, is that USC has got a four or five advantages here. They'll be better faster. If you ask me who the best coach is, well, I mean Lincoln Riley's never won less than eleven games he's got in four years. He has ten losses, I think, and like eight have been down to the wire. Also, I think Caleb Williams is the most talented quarterback any of these guys have. And that includes the Van Dyke kid at Miami, who's a first round quarterback. I think Caleb Williams is an elite thrower, an elite runner. I think he's unbelievable. I saw him at Oklahoma last year, is like wow. I think USC as a recruiting edge because unlike Texas in Miami, they don't have multiple other great programs they're recruiting against. Miami is recruiting against Clemson, Florida State, Florida, Bama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia. Texas is recruiting against Oklahoma, all the SEC schools. Texas and m USC mostly in my life, when they get the right coach, John McKay, John Robinson, Pete Carroll. By year two, they're dominant because they're the biggest Western brand and outside of Phil Knight an Oregon coming in with an nil check and that's it's legal. So I'm not not going to Oregon. But that's what they're doing. They're gonna get who they mostly who they want, mostly not all the time. I mean, guys get poked. Notre Dame recruits here, Michigan does. So the four boxes that to me matter for Texas, USC best coaches, sc best quarterback recruiting edge, and the conference isn't very good. Pac twelve died about six years ago. It's just not very good. I mean, it really isn't like like Oregon Utah. Now USC, I do think UCLA is a little undervalued, but h and that's by the way, that's not a knock on crystal Ball and Sark. I just think, folks, I got four years eleven wins each year. Eight of the ten losses for Lincoln were like down to the wire. So I think USC is gonna be really good. But the advantage to all of these and that's why I am a fan of the transfer portal is teams are asking you, the fans, to pay more money every year. Get out of here with this rebuild crap. I'm not spending one hundred and ninety bucks for a ticket to a college football game and watch you for four years rebuild. USC literally got nine to ten starters out of the transfer portal. Miami has literally overnight fixed their offensive line, and Sark, who walked into a program with some dubious line play. They had line, they had running backs. But in the end, I think Texas gonna be pretty good this year. So there you go. By the way, Lincoln Riley seven of his ten career losses have been by a possession, and six of his losses have been due Bama Georgia, the greatest college team ever LSU with Burrow, his rival Texas once, his rival Oklahoma State once, and probably the most underrated program in the country Baylor, which has been good for like seven eight years. Nobody ever talks about him. So six of his ten losses you can lose Tobama Georgia and Joe Burrows LSU team, I'm gonna give you those. That's okay. So I think they're gonna be really good. They're gonna be really good fast. They do not have defensive linemen on the interior. I don't think they're good enough defensively to be to Georgia, to be the Obama, to be the Ohio State, to be the Clemson. I don't think they are. They're not there. But offensively they're fine. They can win a national title with their offense today, their coach today, their quarterback today, their receivers today, they're O line today,