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 cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Wednesday. We are live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio f S one preseason games. Ready to Roll. Joy Taylor is joining me on a lively show today. Nick Wright shows up later in the hour or next hour, I should say, one hour from now, Joy, how are you. I'm doing great? Football season is here. I'm excited. There are some really interesting stories that season. To Watts, Yes, and it's been an unusually slow July and early August. There's not a lot of controversy. We were talking about this yesterday. Athletes make more money, they've got more handlers. I think they're smarter, they make fewer mistakes, and so we haven't had major controversies except one with Deshaun Watson. So an independent armorer came out, Sue Robinson and said, give Deshaun Watson six games. Roger Goodell said that's not enough. As I had said, I would double it minimum six for the preponderance of evidence and six for lying about it. Roger Goodell talked yesterday they are now pushing for a one year suspension, and here's the commission. We've seen the evidence. She was very clear about the evidence. She reinforced the evidence that there was multiple violations here and they were egregious and it was predatory behavior. That's those are things that we always felt were really important for us to address in a way that's responsible. If I own the Cleveland Browns, I'd take my lumps, take the suspension, move on. But that's my personality. I'm somebody. If I have issues in my life, I clean him off the table. My wife and I talk about this all the time. There's no reason to create anxiety for multiple people and the kids and the family. Make a mistake, we all do own up to it, pay it off, clear it off the table, whatever you got to do. I am not a big believer of fighting fighting battling conflict. I think it starts to deteriorate lots of people beyond yourself. That's what I would do now. First of all, this is one of these stories. Either get it or you don't, and I'm not going to argue with the people who don't. Deshaun Watson's a creepy predator. That's the behavior I have seen so far, and he's never been honest about it. So plus Cleveland made it worse by rigging his contracts so he makes nothing in the first year. They knew he was going to get suspended by paying him forty six million in year two and only seven hundred thousand and year one. And I've heard people argue, Oh, that's a brilliant strategy, and no it's not. It's actually dumb because it's morally corrupt, and because it's so transparent you can see it from a mile away. It didn't catch anybody off guard. It just ticked off all the owners who don't like the Haslem to begin with. So if I was Cleveland and I own the team, I just take my lumps, deal with it, and then I know I have Deshaun Watson for the following five years after that and I would crush it. But that's probably what they won't do because billionaires often don't surround themselves with people that challenge them, and the Haslems have made horrible decisions time and time again. They gave Freddie Kitchens a head coaching job. Nobody would even consider him for a coordinator. He was a position coach. Why did they do that? Because they don't have enough people in their life that would say, what are you doing? A lot of people in power don't want to be challenged. They drafted Johnny Manziel because a guy on the street told him to draft Johnny Manziel. Nobody pushed back in the building. Hell, I saw that one from a mile away. They brought back Hugh Jackson after he was one in fifteen. He went oh in sixteen, and they brought him back again. So people that don't surround themselves with people that hold him accountable tend to make bad decisions. I had a situation in my life about three days ago. Long story, won't get into it. It was an advertiser and I called four people I trust in my industry and sat down listen all of them, and not that it changed the course of where I was going, but I took their advice. The Haslems make bad, bad decisions over and over again with quarterbacks and coaches and Deshaun Watson, so I'm pretty sure they're going to absolutely butcher. This to me seems so obvious. The league is going to punish you. They're not going away. You're not popular owners. By guaranteeing the contract, you ticked off all the other owners, so you have no allies in this fight. Deshaun Watson did creepy stuff and predatory stuff, and it's right there. It seems so obvious to me. The franchise has been a mess for most of the last twenty years. What's one more year to get it off the table and eventually appeal or appease the league. But I have no confidence whatsoever the Haslams would do that. Some successful people have done it despite themselves, and the fact that this team made the playoffs and has stumbled into a really sharp young GM is almost unfathomable because if you look at the last six or seven years, they just make bad decisions this franchise, and they're not the only one. Chicago makes bad decisions, Houston makes bad decisions. Jacksonville's made bad decision the league leader, and bad decisions have been the hands and the Browns. I would take my lumps. I doubt they will, so, you know, in an act of fairness, that's the only way this could be assessed. Is I'm going to say something nice about Aaron Rodgers because I didn't love him talking about psychedelic drug use. I think if you want to change your life, you could go to a licensed professional, not out in the forest and take a tea that makes you vomit and poop. But that story has now passed. Aaron Rodgers doesn't really want to play four snaps in a preseason game. He thinks it's well, let's let Aaron describe this. I don't see any benefit to it. I definitely don't see any benefit to play in one series. You know, if we're gonna play, we should play and play a quarter, a couple of series, two or three series. If we're gonna suit enough for four plays, to me is a waste. I think that's kind of a no win situation. To the out side the building and if somebody gets hurt, oh, I can't believe they played our guys. But if we go out and have a stinker, I can't believe they didn't play them. So I think it's just you just got to do what's best for the squad. Aaron doesn't need to plan the preseason. One of the reasons I've always loved the NFL is, and I've said this many times, I'm just not somebody who lives and romanticizes about things in the rearview mirror. I'm a windshield guy, not a rearview mirror guy. And all the products we have. You ever had a product and it's new and improved, And I love that because a company has a product and then a company goes, hey, new research shows our audience doesn't love this about our product, and so we're gonna offer a new and improved product with some of the same foundational qualities, but we're going to elevate it. So I like new and improved. And one of the reasons I love the NFL is they could put a banner over the league every year new and improved. They get rid of stuff if it doesn't work, they elevate or adapt or evolve if they can improve it. The NFL is the new and improved league. Baseball struggles with change. Football doesn't do things simply because somebody before them did things. Love that kind of business. So Matt Stafford last year didn't play a single snap in the preseason. Not a snap. How do you do? Game one perfect against the Chicago Bears, three touchdowns in one hundred and fifty six pass or rating. Daniel Jones played all sorts of snaps for the New York Giants in the preseason. His first week, he lost by two touchdown twenty two at thirty seven. You can either play or you can't. Okay. In college football, think about this. It's nineteen twenty, twenty one year olds. They have no preseason and they're limited on the hours they can actually practice. NFL's not Bryce. Alabama goes from California to Alabama. First game, four touchdowns, no picks, three hundred forty four yards, limited practice, no preseason, nineteen year old quarterback. You're telling me NFL quarterbacks need preseason games. They simply do not. Tom Brady won a Super Bowl in the year in which there was a pandemic. He had no OTAs or exhibition games. In fact, he had to practice on a high school field with a helicopter hovering overhead. Aaron Rodgers I hear this, Well, he's got new receivers. Yes, so four snaps means nothing. The NFL mostly does everything right. They really do. They're the new and improved league. If it was up to me, I would reduce the preseason to one game, and I would play undrafted free agents, rookies, borderline guys, guys holding on by a string, and I'd play him for three and a half hours. And that's what I would do. I think the preseason is about injuries. It looks esthetically awful with empty seats. There is absolutely no proof that playing in the preseason makes you better. Matt Snafford Matt Stafford did not take a single snap and was brilliant with a brand new offense and brand new teammates. In Week one against the Bears, a team that had a pretty good defense. Daniel Jones played all sorts of snaps. He was awful in Week one and lost by two touchdowns. This is one of the few things the NFL needs to get right. They went from four preseason games to three. I would reduce it to one. There's an argument to be made scrimmages with other teams one three and a half hour outlet. Every other year you get a home preseason game. By the way, the attendance would probably improve if you only asked people to pay for one more game every other year instead of two home games a year, which they previously had. So I agree with Aaron Rodgers. Kind of a waste of time. Four snaps, ten snaps. Aaron can play the young wide receivers. It's called practice. You can get better there too. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdayson noun Easter nine, Ampacific, on Fox Sports Radio FS one, and the iHeartRadio app. Stuff gets out when somebody wants it out. So recently, four important people with the Lakers met together, according to a story I'm reading, Lebron James, his agent, Rich Paul, who represents Lebron, and Anthony Davis so Lebron is agent, the head coach, the new head coach, Darvinham, and Rob Polinka, who runs the organization right at least basketball operations. Those four people met and there were The story has four or five different leaks according to sources, and listen to what is leaked. That they all agreed on four or five things, and it's very important in this story that everybody was on board with these four things. Constant cohesion that means playing well with others Westbrook doesn't foster, and atmosphere of selflessness. Westbrook's ball centric often has a very My best friend is the ball attitude. Players have to play new roles. We know Westbrook has one way to play, and the offense runs through a D. According to Chris haynes Well, a d wasn't at the meeting. I think he would like that. All four of those leaked seem like wake up calls for Westbrook. None of those four because remember, Lebron's the star. There's only two other stars in the organization, Ad and Westbrook, and neither was at the meeting. None of those four sound like a shot at ad. AD does play well with others. He and Lebron's chemistry joint. I talked about this like the second game together. It was great. They want the offense to run through Anthony Davis. He wasn't at the meeting. It didn't say Westbrook he wants players to play new roles. Well, I mean Anthony Davis plays the five, plays the four. Again. He's always listened and have been a very good teammate of Lebron. James and they want to hold everybody accountable to be unselfish. We have never one time said Anthony Davis is selfish. That's not his brand. He's not always as committed as I'd love like if there would have been in this meeting a couple of other bos is like, you have to come to camp in great shape. Westbrook always does a D sometimes does that would have been a shot at a D. Or if you're a big, we need you to stop shooting threes all the time and be a big that would be a shot at a D instead. And Chris Haynes's story, the four or five agreements, according to Lebron, his agent, the president, and the coach were all things that Westbrook has to work on. Westbrook has a new agent. He wasn't in the meeting. Russ wasn't in the meeting. Ad wasn't either, but his agent was. His representation was. So this is a great example of getting something out. So Russell Westbrook and his agent see it. And this is what you're gonna get in camp. So you better get better. Get your mind to understand this is what we're asking of you. Be less selfish, be willing to play other roles. The offense isn't really going to go through you and be more cohesive like play defense. Try hey, ad, by the way, is an elite defensive player. Westbrook has regressed badly over the last five years. So stuff gets out because somebody w mounted out, and it's real clear. Lebron, his agent, the coach, and the GM those four or five boxes were all very much aimed at Westbrook and all simultaneously things a d or he does well. He is cohesive, he is unselfish, He's willing to play multiple positions, and he certainly is going to like the offense run through him. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noun Easter nine a Empacific. Dan Campbell's interesting. So he had a run as an interim coach in Miami. It didn't work well, I thought his initial press conference in Detroit he butchered it. Campbell is an incredibly passionate guy, loves his players. I find him infinitely likable, highly emotional. He cries at the drop of a hat. That's a great quality, and his players similarly are very emotional because that's kind of the passion he spreads. So this was Jamal Williams from the Lions last night. Uh. It's it's like he's taken a queue from Dan Campbell about I'm all in the world doesn't believe in us, and it's become a very very emotional teaming up. Bring it up. Well, let's all know, man, today is the minimum of effort. Do not give up. Do not feel like you're tired. Were you tired? Think of last year and think of a record. Every time I get tired or I think I can't go no more. I think a record last year wasn't it? That ain't us We can make it has some heart. I get the most about it. I'm about the quarter because I care about tall do your best. Let's go Lions three. Uh it's fun. I mean it's it's incredibly infinitely likable. I tend to think it doesn't win you any games. I think there's four things in the NFL that win you games. Talent, situational excellence, elevated quarterback play, and don't turn the ball over a lot. That kind that's the game, that's the league. You know this, Can this give you a lead at half against the bad team? Maybe? But Detroit is unique in that mostly in this league you and I are good agree on the really good teams at the top about ten, and they're really bad teams at the bottom Detroit. When you look at their schedule, they may be the only team in this league I could talk myself into them winning nine games or four. They get a real break with their schedule. Seven games on their schedule they face a team with a fairly shaky quarterback situation where Jared Goff will get better production and be a better quarterback than who they face. Washington, Seattle's Chicago, the Giants, the Jets, Carolina, Chicago. Those are young quarterbacks or Carson Wentz mistake prone quarterbacks. They also faced two talented quarterbacks, both at home and both young, Jalen Hurtz and Trevor Lawrence. So they're gonna have a quarterback either experienced edge, home field edge or consistently consistency edge in nine games. Okay, so that's you know, sixty percent of year schedule. Could they go eight and one in those games? Absolutely? They were very, very competitive last year against good teams. Often they just didn't have any depth, and they were terrible defensively. They didn't have a pass rush, they were bad on the back end, nobody gave up more late touchdowns that felt like than Detroit. So they are a very unique team and that you start looking at this schedule, and if they stayed healthy with their offensive pieces, you could see them win in nine games. I don't. I see them win in like six seven. But I think the emotional stuff makes them easy to root for. I've always felt this league comes down to four things. You gotta have talent, You got to be excellent situationally because the games are close. You have to have elevated quarterback playoff script. And you can't turn the ball over a ton an occasional pick is okay, can't fumble it, and if the balls on the turf, you better pick it up. Not them so easy to root for. Rooting Forum we said last year they were the most interesting bad team in the league. My guess is they're a seven win team. That's it. But I will say this, A friend of mine who gambles for a living thinks they're gonna beat Philadelphia. It's the bet of the week in Week one, and he thinks they're gonna win nine games and be a playoff team. So there are people who do this for a living that gamble professionally think they not my vikings. The Lions are the sleeper in the league. Mentioned a hard Knocks, by the way, is currently streaming on HBO Max, which does a nice job with sports. They were in a lot of really close games. Oh absolutely, not as many as Minnesota, but a lot against good teams. They were a Rams game was tight, the Ravens game was tight. It just felt like they needed a little more, like a little more polish, a little more experience, a little more situational. But they were right there. So I don't really I feel like that's very far off. Yeah, so you know what they needed. They needed another draft. They need four starters out of the draft and three starters and free agents. Build on something. You're trying to create a culture. When you're trying to turn around a habitually dysfunctional place, you want to build things. At the beginning. You know it's gonna be rocky, but you want to see things that you can build on where you go. 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'll like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or ever you get your podcast. The reason professional sports leagues have, like the NFL has got an NFC or an AFC, and the NBA has got a Western Conference and an East Conference, because you want some geographic symmetry, so all corners of the country are involved. That's why they add playoff teams. You want more people in the game. Baseball right now the Dodgers and Padre has got a lot of money, and in the middle of the country, Saint Louis's viable, and then Atlantezoa's viable. Texas you got the Astros crush it. You got the Mets and the Yankees doing well. Baseball right now, it's got some really nice symmetry going on where every part of the kind, even Seattle's had a good year, the Pacific Northwest, everybody's getting a little loved. You're sprinkling around love, and I think baseball's having a very good year for it now. It's a little top heavy, but I think it's been really good for baseball. The arms race, the pres Dodgers feel like the Yankees Red Sox a few years ago, and I thought for a while the sport felt very Northeast dominated. It was like the Hot Stove League was the Red Sox and Yankees outbidding people. That's not good for the sport. I think baseball's in a really good spot now. College football is not in a good spot. But I saw a story today. I think the transfer portal is really going to help USC Miami in Texas. You can get good much faster than you could years ago. That of the top fifty newcomers according to ESPN, of the top fifty newcomers that means freshman or transfer portal editions, USC had seven of them. In my argument, the two best Kayla Williams and Jordan Addison. This is currently the problem with college football. Here's what the map of the United States. Here's where your top national title contenders are based. A and M, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Bama, LSU, Georgia, Clemson at LSU is in a rebuild. They'll be fine by next year. Nobody in the Pacific Northwest, nobody in the West, nobody in the Northeast, nobody near close enough really to me to get to a Minneapolis or a Detroit. Ideally, if I could pick seven teams to be really viable and the sport I think would flourish, I would pick these seven or eight programs. You'd have a flashy program in the Pacific Northwest, so you cover Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon, Oregon. Then I would have the biggest brand out west, and you're in Los Angeles, the biggest city out west. USC. I would have Texas covered the State School of Texas, UT. I would have Michigan, which is right next to Detroit, and you know, a thirty minute flight over to Chicago represented Notre Dame's the biggest independent brand. I would want Penn State to be big because there's a ton of Penn State graduates all over Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. I would then take Georgia because it's closest to Atlanta, it's a growing state, it's a big brand. And Athens, where Georgia is located about I think it's about ninety minutes outside of Atlanta. And then I would have the state of Florida represented by Miami because I think it's the most glamorous brand and it's the biggest media market. Ideally that I'm not saying Ohio State and other schools Oklahoma wouldn't be viable. But in a perfect world, to get more discussion major market and smaller market, you'd have La touched Texas, George at Miami, Penn State covers the northeast, big independent and in Michigan. That would be perfect college football. And guess what I'd talk about it. More talk shows would talk about it, more networks would dedicate more time to it. So if you love college football, the current map outside of the South is not good for the sport. This is why the NFL and the NBA has got a Western and an Eastern conference. So I think it's I think it's I love the sport, but it's got a massive hole. That's why I am for conference realignment because what we have is not working and it's getting worse, and so I want Texas Oklahoma to go to the SEC to make it better. So George has got another tough game in Alabama's got another tough game, and I love the Texas A and M's growing it gives Alabama another tough game, because I get that. It's not anti Alabama. It's pro competitive balance. And I don't look at necessary like baseball people say, well, it's the halves and the have nots. I look at it and I think you got West Coast representation, Pacific Northwest representation, Northeast. Cardinals are still good, Braves are always good. You got a team in Texas crushing that, to me is when the sports are good. We're all involved. One more Heard. 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. I involved him as often as I can. Nick right, co host. First things first, so it's interesting, Yeah, let's talk about that. Hold on, can we can we stay on the college football thing just for a second. Alright? I know that's not what you brought me on. I just wanted can we show your map again? Which I can? I ask a question about it? Okay, go ahead. So what you're the collins Ideal college football map? Yeah? Okay, So one request and then one question. The request is you were like, hey, Penn State can represent you know, the Northeast. Why don't we put a team that's actually in the northeast representing the northeast. Why not replace Penn State with Syracuse Donovan McNabb, Marvin Harrison, great legacy, let's just consider it, Colin. But more importantly, yeah, more importantly is this okay? That's fine? Why does Notre Dame have to be on there? Why don't we kick Notre Dame out and put Ohio State on there? Because Notre Dame is an independent brand, of the biggest independent brand ever, and I think there's value. You already have the big ten represented. So in my map with Penn State in Michigan, this is not a slight Ohio State, but Notre Dame has the greatest sidewalk alumni, So I like that. Yeah, okay, you know what was another great independent brand, Sears and Roebuck. But it's also something of the past. No young people care about Notre Dame, like, let's get Ohio State or something else. But otherwise let me. The reason I wanted to bring it up was, I actually think this is great. I think this is with those minor tweaks, I think you're exactly right that what works against college football is its regionalness, if that's a word, and if this could happen, it would be great for the sport. I actually think you're right. Now, go ahead, I'll stop hijacking your show. Okay, Well, I thought about something the other day. I talked about it on our podcast before I brought you on. I said, I think you could make an argument that Kevin Durant is the first sports victim of social media. Is that I believe if there's no Twitter, no Instagram, Kevin Durant doesn't hear, and he loves you know, he's a single guy with a lot of money going home and he's on that device. He does not hear. You're a sellout. You joined the team you couldn't beat. Like when he left Westbrook, I got it. He and Westbrook didn't work together in my opinion. Westbrook's two ball centric. But there was no reason to leave the Warriors. It was the constant chirping that he was a sellout and if social media was not here, he would have stayed. But be that as it may. Now he's in Brooklyn. Now he has said, according to Sean Sharenya, that I want Nash gone, Sean Marks gone, or I'm gone What did you make of that? I don't think Kevin Durant actually wants those guys fired. I think he just wants to be traded. I think if he wanted Sean Marks and Steve Nash fired, he would have gone to Joe Si a month ago when he did the original trade demand, and he would have quietly and privately said, listen, if you don't fire these guys, I'm going to demand a trade. I read this very differently than most. I read this as Kevin Durant asking for something he knew he would not get in order to make it untenable for them to bring him back, because he was starting to get concerned that they might actually bring him back. And so this was him upping the auntie to a level that is pretty unprecedented. Like Colin, it is still mentioned to this day that Magic Johnson got his coach fired. Remember Magic went to Jerry Boston said I'm gonna you know, I want you to fire the coach or trade me, and they fired the coach and the next day we still remember the Dwight Howard stan Van Gundy moment when stand's like, yeah, Dwight ask for me to be fired. Players flatly demanding a coach getting fired is not unprecedented, but it's extreme. A player demanding a coach and general manager get fired. I have no precedent for it, at least not in modern NBA history, and it's why I think Durant. I think Durant understood Joe Sige's not gonna do it, and they also, I don't believe can ask Steve Nash to now coach Kevin Durant. I think it was actually a really smart move if his single goal is to get traded, and I think that is his single goal is to make sure the Nets trade him. Obviously, Westbrook doesn't work with a d and Lebron or anybody at this point in his career. So Chris Haynes wrote a story with multiple sourcing and the four things, the four primary things that Rich Paul Lebron, Rob Polink and Darvenham agreed with the four things we put them down. They all appear to be shots at Westbrook, which is, be less selfish, get along with others, be willing to play a new role, and the offense will run through a D. So Ad wasn't at the meeting either, but none of these appear to be a shot at a d who actually plays very well with others and has played the five and the four. This felt like to me, Hey, Westbrook, you and your agent better figure out what we're going to ask of you day one of practice. That's how it landed for me. What say you? Yeah? I think that's right. But I also think the Lakers are not planning to have Russell Westbrook on the roster. I think that we get very I think the Lakers are planning for Brook to blow up and for them to get Kyrie Irving and for Russell Westbrook to be gone, and that if that doesn't happen before the season, that that will happen during the season. I listen, the Lakers obviously cannot compete for a championship with the roster as it is presently constituted, and there is a chance they are going to have to go into the season with the roster as presently constituted. I would be, personally, Colin absolutely shocked if the Los Angeles Lakers after the trade deadline still have Russell Westbrook on the team. So I think they are going to try to create an offense and a system that could work to spite Russ. But listen. I had Russell my fifty gradest players last fifty years. He is an all timer. He also, however, as Colin Cowherd predicted, has not aged low and this act's the last act of his career, is not is even by the biggest skeptics. I don't know that they could have imagined it going this poorly, and there is no working around it. And I saw in the article that they believe Russ is going to become a more reliable corner three point You don't have a forty seven million dollars a year defensive liability who you hope can become an adequate corner three point shooter. With that said, on the right team whose goal is not to win a championship, but it is to put butts in seats and get from thirty wins to forty wins, Russ still might have some value. So I think the Lakers all of their Russell Westbrook plans Colin are actually planned C and D, because Plan A is Kyrie and plan B is that trade with the Pacers we've been hearing about four years I refer to the last year and a half. I think they only are doing this in case they are forced to start the season with Russ well as a lot of the better quarterbacks in the league are very focused. I saw some video on the home screwing around own behind the back stuff Lefty throws very disturbing. Um, I don't have them winning their division. I do have him making the playoffs. You know, this kind of goofing around stuff. You don't see Brady doing a lot of that. But you don't be that as it mayor Russell Wilson, you think. I always feel like you do believe that Mahomes doesn't get the respect the deserves. I think he does. I think we I think we love everything about him, but not on this show. Well I have not on this show. I mean I had to listen. I had to listen for a year. They has to win a big game. You're now you have the Denver Broncos winning the division? Is that correct? I do? That? Is that correct? Okay? Colin? I have known you personally for over six years. I feel like I've known you my entire life. But you and I met in person yea in the fall of twenty sixteen. Since we've known each other, Yeah, do you know how many times the Broncos have beaten the Chiefs. How many times? Zero? They haven't beaten them since twenty fifteen. They played wice a year, buddy, and now you're giving them the division. So yeah, I don't think he gets the full respect he deserves. He had what he had a bad three weeks of football, and folks were annointing Josh Allen and they're annointing Justin Herbert. And you have the audacity to say you don't see Russell Wilson doing that type of stuff. You see Russell Wilson doing everything else on his YouTube channel and TikTok feed and my god, he's more active on social media than Jake Paul these days. Yet somehow Mahomes who by the way, let's be fair. What did we see Mahomes working on there? A left handed pass and behind the back pass? Oh, he would never use that in a game, except for he beats the Denver Broncos on national television with what on fourth down? A left handed pass to save the game and the behind the back pass. I've been saying this on first things First, you know, a little birdie in my ear has told me the behind the back pass not for thirty yards more likely at the goal line, Uh gonna make an appearance in a football game this year, And you think that's crazy, But then you have seen Andy Reid, who collins in a weird place because he's got Mahomes is like the seventh best quarterback in football. But Andy Reid's gonna become the greatest coach of all time thanks to Patrick Mahomes. It's like a weird he's just locked in a glass case of emotion there. But Andy Reid has had Travis Kelcey throw goal line passes. Remember Don tari Pos three hundred fifty pounds he threw goal line passes. They do a lot of tricky stuff at the goal line, and the little Mahomes rollout with behind the back pass to Isaiah Piceco the seventh round pick they love or Clyde Edwards a layer that's coming, and so yeah, but I love it. Underdog Chiefs. Nobody believed in US Chiefs. All they've done is host four straight AFC championship games. You're given the Broncos the division. Okay, yeah, the Russell Wilson, Courtland Sutton Combo is gonna take over the West, sure, buddy. Finally you know it is for years and years people thought, you know, I was a Patriot Homer, and what I just I appreciated Brady's discipline and he wasn't flashy. He I mean, I think I'm disciplined. I mean, the guy doesn't drink a beer during the NFL season. I'm not that disciplined. But he has left, and the Patriots now are appear to me to be veering off the interstate like it's a mess up. Yesterday I saw Mac Jones at the podium. He looked dejected. They got three defensive coaches coaching offense. They have the most expensive receiving corps in the league, and nobody that can separate. What do you make I have said, I think Miami's gonna take a leap. I don't think New England's a playoff team. What do you make of what they're doing to Mac Jones? Well, listen, I think the whole thing is barreling towards a wildly disappointing season. And I agree with you, they're not a playoff team. They have, you said, the most expensive receiving corps. They have also, by a factor of almost fifty percent, the most expensive tight end room in football. No other team in the league is spending twenty million on their tight ends. The Patriots are spending thirty million on theirs. No, there's one other team in football spending fifty million on their receivers and tight ends combined. The Patriots are spending seventy million on theirs, and you might say it's the most by a mile. The league averages thirty five million. And in one school of thought as well, that's what you do. You have a rookie or quarterback on a rookie contract, you spend all this money to surround them with weapons. It sounds great, but they got the expensive part right, They got the weapons part wrong. Is it possible the Patriots have not only the most expensive group of pass catchers in the league, but the least impressive. Yes, like what team in the AFC has a less impressive group of pass catchers? The Jaguars overpaid their guys, but Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, and Marvin Jones all have one thing in common. All of them would be the Patriots number one receiving by a mile. Yeah, so you have all that. You lost not only Josh McDaniels, but he took the whole offensive staff with him. So you have an uncertainty at coaching staff. I think a quarterback who again, I will remind people, everyone acknowledged Mac Jones was going to be the most pro ready of the young quarterbacks, So why was he the last one taken in the first round? Because everyone also acknowledged that a guy who was the one hundred and sixtieth ranked recruit coming out of high school doesn't have as high of a ceiling as the others, And so could we see that mac Jones as opposed to the other young quarterbacks taking a leap, that he stays about static, but now with a tougher schedule without Josh McDaniels, where teams are not just selling out to stop the run, that he struggles. Absolutely. Here's a I threw this bet out at Patriots homer Kevin Wiles on the TV show this morning. Colin, I think the Jacksonville Jaguars will win as many or more games than New England Patriots this year. I believe in the Trevor Lawrence jump. I believe in the coaching of Doug Peterson in that regard, and I think the Patriots have a rude awakening in for him. The first four weeks of the season. They're gonna be underdogs in every game except for against Pittsburgh. The last six weeks of the season, they're underdogs in every game except for a home against Miami. Yeah, I think seven and ten is absolutely the likely outcome for the Patriots. Well, and also, the Jags play in a terribly wonky division where I don't think Tennessee's is good. And I mean, let's be honest about it, Buffalo is so far and away ahead in that division. That's two losses. They can't they can't literally Force Belichick, the greatest defensive coach ever, has not forced a punt in the last two games against Josh Ellen, and Miami's made massive offensive strides. I don't think that's crazy. I don't, I really. I think they're both gonna be about seven eight win teams. I think that's right on. How about that Nickola Buffalo, by the way, another team who's you know quarterback you've annointed at A Mahomes even though he's never beat Mahomes in a big spot either way? Why is it? Why? How did it work? Colin that because Josh Allen doesn't get to get the football, they change the rules. But four years ago, When your beloved Tom Brady wins a coin flip against Patrick Mahomes and Mahomes never gets to touch the football, nobody says a mumbling word. Mahomes should have started his career off with the Super Bowl. Never touch football. Nobody cares. Oh, Josh Allen doesn't get touch the football. Here's an idea of Buffalo. You had the lead with thirteen seconds left, keep it instead of making him change the rules for it. It's outrageous had to get that in. I'm still mad about it. Nick right later, well appointed as always, he looks fantastic the summer and the suits. You're doing him well, Nick Wright,

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 cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Wednesday. We are live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio f S one preseason games. Ready to Roll. Joy Taylor is joining me on a lively show today. Nick Wright shows up later in the hour or next hour, I should say, one hour from now, Joy, how are you. I'm doing great? Football season is here. I'm excited. There are some really interesting stories that season. To Watts, Yes, and it's been an unusually slow July and early August. There's not a lot of controversy. We were talking about this yesterday. Athletes make more money, they've got more handlers. I think they're smarter, they make fewer mistakes, and so we haven't had major controversies except one with Deshaun Watson. So an independent armorer came out, Sue Robinson and said, give Deshaun Watson six games. Roger Goodell said that's not enough. As I had said, I would double it minimum six for the preponderance of evidence and six for lying about it. Roger Goodell talked yesterday they are now pushing for a one year suspension, and here's the commission. We've seen the evidence. She was very clear about the evidence. She reinforced the evidence that there was multiple violations here and they were egregious and it was predatory behavior. That's those are things that we always felt were really important for us to address in a way that's responsible. If I own the Cleveland Browns, I'd take my lumps, take the suspension, move on. But that's my personality. I'm somebody. If I have issues in my life, I clean him off the table. My wife and I talk about this all the time. There's no reason to create anxiety for multiple people and the kids and the family. Make a mistake, we all do own up to it, pay it off, clear it off the table, whatever you got to do. I am not a big believer of fighting fighting battling conflict. I think it starts to deteriorate lots of people beyond yourself. That's what I would do now. First of all, this is one of these stories. Either get it or you don't, and I'm not going to argue with the people who don't. Deshaun Watson's a creepy predator. That's the behavior I have seen so far, and he's never been honest about it. So plus Cleveland made it worse by rigging his contracts so he makes nothing in the first year. They knew he was going to get suspended by paying him forty six million in year two and only seven hundred thousand and year one. And I've heard people argue, Oh, that's a brilliant strategy, and no it's not. It's actually dumb because it's morally corrupt, and because it's so transparent you can see it from a mile away. It didn't catch anybody off guard. It just ticked off all the owners who don't like the Haslem to begin with. So if I was Cleveland and I own the team, I just take my lumps, deal with it, and then I know I have Deshaun Watson for the following five years after that and I would crush it. But that's probably what they won't do because billionaires often don't surround themselves with people that challenge them, and the Haslems have made horrible decisions time and time again. They gave Freddie Kitchens a head coaching job. Nobody would even consider him for a coordinator. He was a position coach. Why did they do that? Because they don't have enough people in their life that would say, what are you doing? A lot of people in power don't want to be challenged. They drafted Johnny Manziel because a guy on the street told him to draft Johnny Manziel. Nobody pushed back in the building. Hell, I saw that one from a mile away. They brought back Hugh Jackson after he was one in fifteen. He went oh in sixteen, and they brought him back again. So people that don't surround themselves with people that hold him accountable tend to make bad decisions. I had a situation in my life about three days ago. Long story, won't get into it. It was an advertiser and I called four people I trust in my industry and sat down listen all of them, and not that it changed the course of where I was going, but I took their advice. The Haslems make bad, bad decisions over and over again with quarterbacks and coaches and Deshaun Watson, so I'm pretty sure they're going to absolutely butcher. This to me seems so obvious. The league is going to punish you. They're not going away. You're not popular owners. By guaranteeing the contract, you ticked off all the other owners, so you have no allies in this fight. Deshaun Watson did creepy stuff and predatory stuff, and it's right there. It seems so obvious to me. The franchise has been a mess for most of the last twenty years. What's one more year to get it off the table and eventually appeal or appease the league. But I have no confidence whatsoever the Haslams would do that. Some successful people have done it despite themselves, and the fact that this team made the playoffs and has stumbled into a really sharp young GM is almost unfathomable because if you look at the last six or seven years, they just make bad decisions this franchise, and they're not the only one. Chicago makes bad decisions, Houston makes bad decisions. Jacksonville's made bad decision the league leader, and bad decisions have been the hands and the Browns. I would take my lumps. I doubt they will, so, you know, in an act of fairness, that's the only way this could be assessed. Is I'm going to say something nice about Aaron Rodgers because I didn't love him talking about psychedelic drug use. I think if you want to change your life, you could go to a licensed professional, not out in the forest and take a tea that makes you vomit and poop. But that story has now passed. Aaron Rodgers doesn't really want to play four snaps in a preseason game. He thinks it's well, let's let Aaron describe this. I don't see any benefit to it. I definitely don't see any benefit to play in one series. You know, if we're gonna play, we should play and play a quarter, a couple of series, two or three series. If we're gonna suit enough for four plays, to me is a waste. I think that's kind of a no win situation. To the out side the building and if somebody gets hurt, oh, I can't believe they played our guys. But if we go out and have a stinker, I can't believe they didn't play them. So I think it's just you just got to do what's best for the squad. Aaron doesn't need to plan the preseason. One of the reasons I've always loved the NFL is, and I've said this many times, I'm just not somebody who lives and romanticizes about things in the rearview mirror. I'm a windshield guy, not a rearview mirror guy. And all the products we have. You ever had a product and it's new and improved, And I love that because a company has a product and then a company goes, hey, new research shows our audience doesn't love this about our product, and so we're gonna offer a new and improved product with some of the same foundational qualities, but we're going to elevate it. So I like new and improved. And one of the reasons I love the NFL is they could put a banner over the league every year new and improved. They get rid of stuff if it doesn't work, they elevate or adapt or evolve if they can improve it. The NFL is the new and improved league. Baseball struggles with change. Football doesn't do things simply because somebody before them did things. Love that kind of business. So Matt Stafford last year didn't play a single snap in the preseason. Not a snap. How do you do? Game one perfect against the Chicago Bears, three touchdowns in one hundred and fifty six pass or rating. Daniel Jones played all sorts of snaps for the New York Giants in the preseason. His first week, he lost by two touchdown twenty two at thirty seven. You can either play or you can't. Okay. In college football, think about this. It's nineteen twenty, twenty one year olds. They have no preseason and they're limited on the hours they can actually practice. NFL's not Bryce. Alabama goes from California to Alabama. First game, four touchdowns, no picks, three hundred forty four yards, limited practice, no preseason, nineteen year old quarterback. You're telling me NFL quarterbacks need preseason games. They simply do not. Tom Brady won a Super Bowl in the year in which there was a pandemic. He had no OTAs or exhibition games. In fact, he had to practice on a high school field with a helicopter hovering overhead. Aaron Rodgers I hear this, Well, he's got new receivers. Yes, so four snaps means nothing. The NFL mostly does everything right. They really do. They're the new and improved league. If it was up to me, I would reduce the preseason to one game, and I would play undrafted free agents, rookies, borderline guys, guys holding on by a string, and I'd play him for three and a half hours. And that's what I would do. I think the preseason is about injuries. It looks esthetically awful with empty seats. There is absolutely no proof that playing in the preseason makes you better. Matt Snafford Matt Stafford did not take a single snap and was brilliant with a brand new offense and brand new teammates. In Week one against the Bears, a team that had a pretty good defense. Daniel Jones played all sorts of snaps. He was awful in Week one and lost by two touchdowns. This is one of the few things the NFL needs to get right. They went from four preseason games to three. I would reduce it to one. There's an argument to be made scrimmages with other teams one three and a half hour outlet. Every other year you get a home preseason game. By the way, the attendance would probably improve if you only asked people to pay for one more game every other year instead of two home games a year, which they previously had. So I agree with Aaron Rodgers. Kind of a waste of time. Four snaps, ten snaps. Aaron can play the young wide receivers. It's called practice. You can get better there too. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdayson noun Easter nine, Ampacific, on Fox Sports Radio FS one, and the iHeartRadio app. Stuff gets out when somebody wants it out. So recently, four important people with the Lakers met together, according to a story I'm reading, Lebron James, his agent, Rich Paul, who represents Lebron, and Anthony Davis so Lebron is agent, the head coach, the new head coach, Darvinham, and Rob Polinka, who runs the organization right at least basketball operations. Those four people met and there were The story has four or five different leaks according to sources, and listen to what is leaked. That they all agreed on four or five things, and it's very important in this story that everybody was on board with these four things. Constant cohesion that means playing well with others Westbrook doesn't foster, and atmosphere of selflessness. Westbrook's ball centric often has a very My best friend is the ball attitude. Players have to play new roles. We know Westbrook has one way to play, and the offense runs through a D. According to Chris haynes Well, a d wasn't at the meeting. I think he would like that. All four of those leaked seem like wake up calls for Westbrook. None of those four because remember, Lebron's the star. There's only two other stars in the organization, Ad and Westbrook, and neither was at the meeting. None of those four sound like a shot at ad. AD does play well with others. He and Lebron's chemistry joint. I talked about this like the second game together. It was great. They want the offense to run through Anthony Davis. He wasn't at the meeting. It didn't say Westbrook he wants players to play new roles. Well, I mean Anthony Davis plays the five, plays the four. Again. He's always listened and have been a very good teammate of Lebron. James and they want to hold everybody accountable to be unselfish. We have never one time said Anthony Davis is selfish. That's not his brand. He's not always as committed as I'd love like if there would have been in this meeting a couple of other bos is like, you have to come to camp in great shape. Westbrook always does a D sometimes does that would have been a shot at a D. Or if you're a big, we need you to stop shooting threes all the time and be a big that would be a shot at a D instead. And Chris Haynes's story, the four or five agreements, according to Lebron, his agent, the president, and the coach were all things that Westbrook has to work on. Westbrook has a new agent. He wasn't in the meeting. Russ wasn't in the meeting. Ad wasn't either, but his agent was. His representation was. So this is a great example of getting something out. So Russell Westbrook and his agent see it. And this is what you're gonna get in camp. So you better get better. Get your mind to understand this is what we're asking of you. Be less selfish, be willing to play other roles. The offense isn't really going to go through you and be more cohesive like play defense. Try hey, ad, by the way, is an elite defensive player. Westbrook has regressed badly over the last five years. So stuff gets out because somebody w mounted out, and it's real clear. Lebron, his agent, the coach, and the GM those four or five boxes were all very much aimed at Westbrook and all simultaneously things a d or he does well. He is cohesive, he is unselfish, He's willing to play multiple positions, and he certainly is going to like the offense run through him. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noun Easter nine a Empacific. Dan Campbell's interesting. So he had a run as an interim coach in Miami. It didn't work well, I thought his initial press conference in Detroit he butchered it. Campbell is an incredibly passionate guy, loves his players. I find him infinitely likable, highly emotional. He cries at the drop of a hat. That's a great quality, and his players similarly are very emotional because that's kind of the passion he spreads. So this was Jamal Williams from the Lions last night. Uh. It's it's like he's taken a queue from Dan Campbell about I'm all in the world doesn't believe in us, and it's become a very very emotional teaming up. Bring it up. Well, let's all know, man, today is the minimum of effort. Do not give up. Do not feel like you're tired. Were you tired? Think of last year and think of a record. Every time I get tired or I think I can't go no more. I think a record last year wasn't it? That ain't us We can make it has some heart. I get the most about it. I'm about the quarter because I care about tall do your best. Let's go Lions three. Uh it's fun. I mean it's it's incredibly infinitely likable. I tend to think it doesn't win you any games. I think there's four things in the NFL that win you games. Talent, situational excellence, elevated quarterback play, and don't turn the ball over a lot. That kind that's the game, that's the league. You know this, Can this give you a lead at half against the bad team? Maybe? But Detroit is unique in that mostly in this league you and I are good agree on the really good teams at the top about ten, and they're really bad teams at the bottom Detroit. When you look at their schedule, they may be the only team in this league I could talk myself into them winning nine games or four. They get a real break with their schedule. Seven games on their schedule they face a team with a fairly shaky quarterback situation where Jared Goff will get better production and be a better quarterback than who they face. Washington, Seattle's Chicago, the Giants, the Jets, Carolina, Chicago. Those are young quarterbacks or Carson Wentz mistake prone quarterbacks. They also faced two talented quarterbacks, both at home and both young, Jalen Hurtz and Trevor Lawrence. So they're gonna have a quarterback either experienced edge, home field edge or consistently consistency edge in nine games. Okay, so that's you know, sixty percent of year schedule. Could they go eight and one in those games? Absolutely? They were very, very competitive last year against good teams. Often they just didn't have any depth, and they were terrible defensively. They didn't have a pass rush, they were bad on the back end, nobody gave up more late touchdowns that felt like than Detroit. So they are a very unique team and that you start looking at this schedule, and if they stayed healthy with their offensive pieces, you could see them win in nine games. I don't. I see them win in like six seven. But I think the emotional stuff makes them easy to root for. I've always felt this league comes down to four things. You gotta have talent, You got to be excellent situationally because the games are close. You have to have elevated quarterback playoff script. And you can't turn the ball over a ton an occasional pick is okay, can't fumble it, and if the balls on the turf, you better pick it up. Not them so easy to root for. Rooting Forum we said last year they were the most interesting bad team in the league. My guess is they're a seven win team. That's it. But I will say this, A friend of mine who gambles for a living thinks they're gonna beat Philadelphia. It's the bet of the week in Week one, and he thinks they're gonna win nine games and be a playoff team. So there are people who do this for a living that gamble professionally think they not my vikings. The Lions are the sleeper in the league. Mentioned a hard Knocks, by the way, is currently streaming on HBO Max, which does a nice job with sports. They were in a lot of really close games. Oh absolutely, not as many as Minnesota, but a lot against good teams. They were a Rams game was tight, the Ravens game was tight. It just felt like they needed a little more, like a little more polish, a little more experience, a little more situational. But they were right there. So I don't really I feel like that's very far off. Yeah, so you know what they needed. They needed another draft. They need four starters out of the draft and three starters and free agents. Build on something. You're trying to create a culture. When you're trying to turn around a habitually dysfunctional place, you want to build things. At the beginning. You know it's gonna be rocky, but you want to see things that you can build on where you go. 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'll like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or ever you get your podcast. The reason professional sports leagues have, like the NFL has got an NFC or an AFC, and the NBA has got a Western Conference and an East Conference, because you want some geographic symmetry, so all corners of the country are involved. That's why they add playoff teams. You want more people in the game. Baseball right now the Dodgers and Padre has got a lot of money, and in the middle of the country, Saint Louis's viable, and then Atlantezoa's viable. Texas you got the Astros crush it. You got the Mets and the Yankees doing well. Baseball right now, it's got some really nice symmetry going on where every part of the kind, even Seattle's had a good year, the Pacific Northwest, everybody's getting a little loved. You're sprinkling around love, and I think baseball's having a very good year for it now. It's a little top heavy, but I think it's been really good for baseball. The arms race, the pres Dodgers feel like the Yankees Red Sox a few years ago, and I thought for a while the sport felt very Northeast dominated. It was like the Hot Stove League was the Red Sox and Yankees outbidding people. That's not good for the sport. I think baseball's in a really good spot now. College football is not in a good spot. But I saw a story today. I think the transfer portal is really going to help USC Miami in Texas. You can get good much faster than you could years ago. That of the top fifty newcomers according to ESPN, of the top fifty newcomers that means freshman or transfer portal editions, USC had seven of them. In my argument, the two best Kayla Williams and Jordan Addison. This is currently the problem with college football. Here's what the map of the United States. Here's where your top national title contenders are based. A and M, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Bama, LSU, Georgia, Clemson at LSU is in a rebuild. They'll be fine by next year. Nobody in the Pacific Northwest, nobody in the West, nobody in the Northeast, nobody near close enough really to me to get to a Minneapolis or a Detroit. Ideally, if I could pick seven teams to be really viable and the sport I think would flourish, I would pick these seven or eight programs. You'd have a flashy program in the Pacific Northwest, so you cover Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon, Oregon. Then I would have the biggest brand out west, and you're in Los Angeles, the biggest city out west. USC. I would have Texas covered the State School of Texas, UT. I would have Michigan, which is right next to Detroit, and you know, a thirty minute flight over to Chicago represented Notre Dame's the biggest independent brand. I would want Penn State to be big because there's a ton of Penn State graduates all over Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. I would then take Georgia because it's closest to Atlanta, it's a growing state, it's a big brand. And Athens, where Georgia is located about I think it's about ninety minutes outside of Atlanta. And then I would have the state of Florida represented by Miami because I think it's the most glamorous brand and it's the biggest media market. Ideally that I'm not saying Ohio State and other schools Oklahoma wouldn't be viable. But in a perfect world, to get more discussion major market and smaller market, you'd have La touched Texas, George at Miami, Penn State covers the northeast, big independent and in Michigan. That would be perfect college football. And guess what I'd talk about it. More talk shows would talk about it, more networks would dedicate more time to it. So if you love college football, the current map outside of the South is not good for the sport. This is why the NFL and the NBA has got a Western and an Eastern conference. So I think it's I think it's I love the sport, but it's got a massive hole. That's why I am for conference realignment because what we have is not working and it's getting worse, and so I want Texas Oklahoma to go to the SEC to make it better. So George has got another tough game in Alabama's got another tough game, and I love the Texas A and M's growing it gives Alabama another tough game, because I get that. It's not anti Alabama. It's pro competitive balance. And I don't look at necessary like baseball people say, well, it's the halves and the have nots. I look at it and I think you got West Coast representation, Pacific Northwest representation, Northeast. Cardinals are still good, Braves are always good. You got a team in Texas crushing that, to me is when the sports are good. We're all involved. One more Heard. 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. I involved him as often as I can. Nick right, co host. First things first, so it's interesting, Yeah, let's talk about that. Hold on, can we can we stay on the college football thing just for a second. Alright? I know that's not what you brought me on. I just wanted can we show your map again? Which I can? I ask a question about it? Okay, go ahead. So what you're the collins Ideal college football map? Yeah? Okay, So one request and then one question. The request is you were like, hey, Penn State can represent you know, the Northeast. Why don't we put a team that's actually in the northeast representing the northeast. Why not replace Penn State with Syracuse Donovan McNabb, Marvin Harrison, great legacy, let's just consider it, Colin. But more importantly, yeah, more importantly is this okay? That's fine? Why does Notre Dame have to be on there? Why don't we kick Notre Dame out and put Ohio State on there? Because Notre Dame is an independent brand, of the biggest independent brand ever, and I think there's value. You already have the big ten represented. So in my map with Penn State in Michigan, this is not a slight Ohio State, but Notre Dame has the greatest sidewalk alumni, So I like that. Yeah, okay, you know what was another great independent brand, Sears and Roebuck. But it's also something of the past. No young people care about Notre Dame, like, let's get Ohio State or something else. But otherwise let me. The reason I wanted to bring it up was, I actually think this is great. I think this is with those minor tweaks, I think you're exactly right that what works against college football is its regionalness, if that's a word, and if this could happen, it would be great for the sport. I actually think you're right. Now, go ahead, I'll stop hijacking your show. Okay, Well, I thought about something the other day. I talked about it on our podcast before I brought you on. I said, I think you could make an argument that Kevin Durant is the first sports victim of social media. Is that I believe if there's no Twitter, no Instagram, Kevin Durant doesn't hear, and he loves you know, he's a single guy with a lot of money going home and he's on that device. He does not hear. You're a sellout. You joined the team you couldn't beat. Like when he left Westbrook, I got it. He and Westbrook didn't work together in my opinion. Westbrook's two ball centric. But there was no reason to leave the Warriors. It was the constant chirping that he was a sellout and if social media was not here, he would have stayed. But be that as it may. Now he's in Brooklyn. Now he has said, according to Sean Sharenya, that I want Nash gone, Sean Marks gone, or I'm gone What did you make of that? I don't think Kevin Durant actually wants those guys fired. I think he just wants to be traded. I think if he wanted Sean Marks and Steve Nash fired, he would have gone to Joe Si a month ago when he did the original trade demand, and he would have quietly and privately said, listen, if you don't fire these guys, I'm going to demand a trade. I read this very differently than most. I read this as Kevin Durant asking for something he knew he would not get in order to make it untenable for them to bring him back, because he was starting to get concerned that they might actually bring him back. And so this was him upping the auntie to a level that is pretty unprecedented. Like Colin, it is still mentioned to this day that Magic Johnson got his coach fired. Remember Magic went to Jerry Boston said I'm gonna you know, I want you to fire the coach or trade me, and they fired the coach and the next day we still remember the Dwight Howard stan Van Gundy moment when stand's like, yeah, Dwight ask for me to be fired. Players flatly demanding a coach getting fired is not unprecedented, but it's extreme. A player demanding a coach and general manager get fired. I have no precedent for it, at least not in modern NBA history, and it's why I think Durant. I think Durant understood Joe Sige's not gonna do it, and they also, I don't believe can ask Steve Nash to now coach Kevin Durant. I think it was actually a really smart move if his single goal is to get traded, and I think that is his single goal is to make sure the Nets trade him. Obviously, Westbrook doesn't work with a d and Lebron or anybody at this point in his career. So Chris Haynes wrote a story with multiple sourcing and the four things, the four primary things that Rich Paul Lebron, Rob Polink and Darvenham agreed with the four things we put them down. They all appear to be shots at Westbrook, which is, be less selfish, get along with others, be willing to play a new role, and the offense will run through a D. So Ad wasn't at the meeting either, but none of these appear to be a shot at a d who actually plays very well with others and has played the five and the four. This felt like to me, Hey, Westbrook, you and your agent better figure out what we're going to ask of you day one of practice. That's how it landed for me. What say you? Yeah? I think that's right. But I also think the Lakers are not planning to have Russell Westbrook on the roster. I think that we get very I think the Lakers are planning for Brook to blow up and for them to get Kyrie Irving and for Russell Westbrook to be gone, and that if that doesn't happen before the season, that that will happen during the season. I listen, the Lakers obviously cannot compete for a championship with the roster as it is presently constituted, and there is a chance they are going to have to go into the season with the roster as presently constituted. I would be, personally, Colin absolutely shocked if the Los Angeles Lakers after the trade deadline still have Russell Westbrook on the team. So I think they are going to try to create an offense and a system that could work to spite Russ. But listen. I had Russell my fifty gradest players last fifty years. He is an all timer. He also, however, as Colin Cowherd predicted, has not aged low and this act's the last act of his career, is not is even by the biggest skeptics. I don't know that they could have imagined it going this poorly, and there is no working around it. And I saw in the article that they believe Russ is going to become a more reliable corner three point You don't have a forty seven million dollars a year defensive liability who you hope can become an adequate corner three point shooter. With that said, on the right team whose goal is not to win a championship, but it is to put butts in seats and get from thirty wins to forty wins, Russ still might have some value. So I think the Lakers all of their Russell Westbrook plans Colin are actually planned C and D, because Plan A is Kyrie and plan B is that trade with the Pacers we've been hearing about four years I refer to the last year and a half. I think they only are doing this in case they are forced to start the season with Russ well as a lot of the better quarterbacks in the league are very focused. I saw some video on the home screwing around own behind the back stuff Lefty throws very disturbing. Um, I don't have them winning their division. I do have him making the playoffs. You know, this kind of goofing around stuff. You don't see Brady doing a lot of that. But you don't be that as it mayor Russell Wilson, you think. I always feel like you do believe that Mahomes doesn't get the respect the deserves. I think he does. I think we I think we love everything about him, but not on this show. Well I have not on this show. I mean I had to listen. I had to listen for a year. They has to win a big game. You're now you have the Denver Broncos winning the division? Is that correct? I do? That? Is that correct? Okay? Colin? I have known you personally for over six years. I feel like I've known you my entire life. But you and I met in person yea in the fall of twenty sixteen. Since we've known each other, Yeah, do you know how many times the Broncos have beaten the Chiefs. How many times? Zero? They haven't beaten them since twenty fifteen. They played wice a year, buddy, and now you're giving them the division. So yeah, I don't think he gets the full respect he deserves. He had what he had a bad three weeks of football, and folks were annointing Josh Allen and they're annointing Justin Herbert. And you have the audacity to say you don't see Russell Wilson doing that type of stuff. You see Russell Wilson doing everything else on his YouTube channel and TikTok feed and my god, he's more active on social media than Jake Paul these days. Yet somehow Mahomes who by the way, let's be fair. What did we see Mahomes working on there? A left handed pass and behind the back pass? Oh, he would never use that in a game, except for he beats the Denver Broncos on national television with what on fourth down? A left handed pass to save the game and the behind the back pass. I've been saying this on first things First, you know, a little birdie in my ear has told me the behind the back pass not for thirty yards more likely at the goal line, Uh gonna make an appearance in a football game this year, And you think that's crazy, But then you have seen Andy Reid, who collins in a weird place because he's got Mahomes is like the seventh best quarterback in football. But Andy Reid's gonna become the greatest coach of all time thanks to Patrick Mahomes. It's like a weird he's just locked in a glass case of emotion there. But Andy Reid has had Travis Kelcey throw goal line passes. Remember Don tari Pos three hundred fifty pounds he threw goal line passes. They do a lot of tricky stuff at the goal line, and the little Mahomes rollout with behind the back pass to Isaiah Piceco the seventh round pick they love or Clyde Edwards a layer that's coming, and so yeah, but I love it. Underdog Chiefs. Nobody believed in US Chiefs. All they've done is host four straight AFC championship games. You're given the Broncos the division. Okay, yeah, the Russell Wilson, Courtland Sutton Combo is gonna take over the West, sure, buddy. Finally you know it is for years and years people thought, you know, I was a Patriot Homer, and what I just I appreciated Brady's discipline and he wasn't flashy. He I mean, I think I'm disciplined. I mean, the guy doesn't drink a beer during the NFL season. I'm not that disciplined. But he has left, and the Patriots now are appear to me to be veering off the interstate like it's a mess up. Yesterday I saw Mac Jones at the podium. He looked dejected. They got three defensive coaches coaching offense. They have the most expensive receiving corps in the league, and nobody that can separate. What do you make I have said, I think Miami's gonna take a leap. I don't think New England's a playoff team. What do you make of what they're doing to Mac Jones? Well, listen, I think the whole thing is barreling towards a wildly disappointing season. And I agree with you, they're not a playoff team. They have, you said, the most expensive receiving corps. They have also, by a factor of almost fifty percent, the most expensive tight end room in football. No other team in the league is spending twenty million on their tight ends. The Patriots are spending thirty million on theirs. No, there's one other team in football spending fifty million on their receivers and tight ends combined. The Patriots are spending seventy million on theirs, and you might say it's the most by a mile. The league averages thirty five million. And in one school of thought as well, that's what you do. You have a rookie or quarterback on a rookie contract, you spend all this money to surround them with weapons. It sounds great, but they got the expensive part right, They got the weapons part wrong. Is it possible the Patriots have not only the most expensive group of pass catchers in the league, but the least impressive. Yes, like what team in the AFC has a less impressive group of pass catchers? The Jaguars overpaid their guys, but Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, and Marvin Jones all have one thing in common. All of them would be the Patriots number one receiving by a mile. Yeah, so you have all that. You lost not only Josh McDaniels, but he took the whole offensive staff with him. So you have an uncertainty at coaching staff. I think a quarterback who again, I will remind people, everyone acknowledged Mac Jones was going to be the most pro ready of the young quarterbacks, So why was he the last one taken in the first round? Because everyone also acknowledged that a guy who was the one hundred and sixtieth ranked recruit coming out of high school doesn't have as high of a ceiling as the others, And so could we see that mac Jones as opposed to the other young quarterbacks taking a leap, that he stays about static, but now with a tougher schedule without Josh McDaniels, where teams are not just selling out to stop the run, that he struggles. Absolutely. Here's a I threw this bet out at Patriots homer Kevin Wiles on the TV show this morning. Colin, I think the Jacksonville Jaguars will win as many or more games than New England Patriots this year. I believe in the Trevor Lawrence jump. I believe in the coaching of Doug Peterson in that regard, and I think the Patriots have a rude awakening in for him. The first four weeks of the season. They're gonna be underdogs in every game except for against Pittsburgh. The last six weeks of the season, they're underdogs in every game except for a home against Miami. Yeah, I think seven and ten is absolutely the likely outcome for the Patriots. Well, and also, the Jags play in a terribly wonky division where I don't think Tennessee's is good. And I mean, let's be honest about it, Buffalo is so far and away ahead in that division. That's two losses. They can't they can't literally Force Belichick, the greatest defensive coach ever, has not forced a punt in the last two games against Josh Ellen, and Miami's made massive offensive strides. I don't think that's crazy. I don't, I really. I think they're both gonna be about seven eight win teams. I think that's right on. How about that Nickola Buffalo, by the way, another team who's you know quarterback you've annointed at A Mahomes even though he's never beat Mahomes in a big spot either way? Why is it? Why? How did it work? Colin that because Josh Allen doesn't get to get the football, they change the rules. But four years ago, When your beloved Tom Brady wins a coin flip against Patrick Mahomes and Mahomes never gets to touch the football, nobody says a mumbling word. Mahomes should have started his career off with the Super Bowl. Never touch football. Nobody cares. Oh, Josh Allen doesn't get touch the football. Here's an idea of Buffalo. You had the lead with thirteen seconds left, keep it instead of making him change the rules for it. It's outrageous had to get that in. I'm still mad about it. Nick right later, well appointed as always, he looks fantastic the summer and the suits. You're doing him well, Nick Wright,