← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
THE HERD - Hour 1 - Thunder take game 2 against the Spurs, Aaron Rodgers final season
00:40:27
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- [00:00]
Colin Cowherd
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
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- [01:00]
Colin Cowherd
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Colin Cowherd
Thanks for listening to the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports radio and noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started. You're listening Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. Injuries, attrition, things we don't like in sports may decide the NBA Championship. Aaron Rodgers final year Interesting numbers and data and studies and polls on Austin Reaves. Welcome in. It is Thursday we are live and it is the herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, watching whatever platform. Thanks for making us part of your day. Well, the Spurs Dylan Harper got hurt. Dearon Fox is hurt. He'll probably come back. The Dylan Harper injury may decide the finals. Here are my three big takeaways after watching last night. Two are not good for Oklahoma City. Number one, J Dub, Jalen Williams got hurt again. He's their number two score and it's a hammy again. So the number two score for Oklahoma City will not be 100% the rest of the series. And A.J. mitchell, young player, got hurt late quad strain. Is he coming back? So now Oklahoma City is mostly built deepest team in the league to overcome injuries more than any other team. But they're going to become now very SGA reliant. AJ Mitchell been a great spark plug. J dub gives you 20 with his eyes closed. And you know, last night SGA delivered but. And Oklahoma City's built for it. But against the spurs defense it is less than ideal. That's bad. Second big issue for Oklahoma City. The only way to stop to this point Wemby is to grab him, push him, pull him, hang on him. Hacker Shack. Hacker Shack didn't work, by the way, long term. And those foul calls, they'll double on the road. You're going to get some calls at home last night when Hartenstein had three fouls in the first half, might as well have called eight. You're not getting those calls on the road. And also Adam Silver is not going to allow, nor should he, the face of the league or the emerging face of the league, Wemby to be pulled, dragged, pushed. They're not going to allow that. It's crappy television. It's bad sports. And remember this series just set an NBA record in Game 1 ratings. You're not going to let by the way, a seven foot four guy and we're all concerned about his health long term anyway. You're not going to let people hang on him. No commissioner is going to do that. So for Oklahoma City you got two injuries. Now you're SGA reliant and the Wemby issue. So now, now San Antonio, they may have fewer problems, but it could be a series killer. Is Stefan Castle is a great player. He is a lot of things. He's a bully defensively. He's, he's 18 points. He's competitive. But what he isn't is a point guard. He doesn't have a tight enough handle. He's very loose and when it comes to point guards and quarterbacks, it's all in the details, you know, and, and he just is not a point guard. He's a, he's a great two or a three, whatever you want to label him. I love him. We all love him. He's an ascending star. He's not a point guard in Oklahoma City. And their trapping, defense and depth is, is, is a huge problem. Now. De' Aaron Fox is going to come back and play, I would guess next game. But if Dylan Harper is out, an emerging star, best rookie guard since Magic, they're in big trouble. They are in big trouble. So, I mean, last night Oklahoma City essentially won on points via turnovers. They had 27. That was the game. The game was on the turnovers. So if they don't get at least de' Aaron Fox back, they're in trouble. I cause right now we have to be totally honest about this and nobody wants to hear this. And okc, San Antonio's been the better team. Better field goal percentage, better three point percentage. They have the best player in the series, points in the paint. Oklahoma City is looking up. I mean, they had to go to Hacker Shack last night, which in the moment can work. You know how it works that you're not going to get those calls on the road. Go look at the history of the Utah Jazz with Jerry Sloan when they played really physical basketball. They go on the road, they never had a great road record despite the fact they were getting to the finals. They should have had a better road record. They were unbeatable at home because at home they got calls on the road. They didn't get as many calls. And so like Hartenstein last night, you could have had seven fouls and they're going to call every one of those. Hacker Shaq always worked way better when Shaq was on the road. So I think San Antonio's better shooting better points in the paint. They have the best player. But Dylan Harper not being available and De' Aaron Fox not at 100%. And the way OKC is constructed is a problem for the Spurs. So I think, I think Oklahoma City has more issues. But the one issue San Antonio has let Dylan Harper out, that could unravel the whole series. Second year in a row. By the way, some of these injuries are non contact. Second year in a row, NBA stars. This is what LeBron has talked about. I mean, quads, ACLs, hammies, non contact injuries for at least half of them. This game is so fast. Now is when, when Adam Silver suggested 10 minute quarters, not 12 to shrink the game. Everybody went, whoa. I don't know, maybe it's not a bad idea. So here's SGA after evening the series
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Jalen Brunson
last night is nothing special that you can do. Like, every team has their identity, and when they impose their identity more than the other team does, they usually win. We were probably more desperate than. Than they were, like, just. Just naturally because we had to get this game or else we go on the road down O2. So, yeah, some of it was that, but nonetheless, you still have to go out there and do the job.
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Colin Cowherd
All right, so Aaron Rodgers yesterday went out about halfway through our show and said, hey, this is gonna be the last season. And. And so I always felt when Aaron was in his prime, because he was such a pretty player, I mean, I always thought Elway was better than Marino, but Marino was prettier. The aesthetic, the way he let go of the ball is release. I mean, Marino was just like, magical to watch. Same with Aaron Rodgers. And I don't think Favre's the comp. I always thought Aaron's comp was Dan Marino. You want more titles, you want more trophies, right? Marino didn't get any. Aaron got one. But, God, they're beautiful throwers of the football. I mean, Aaron, like, throws with his feet, not on the ground. It's like. It's like a magician. It's wild. But I always thought he was a little overvalued in his prime where people were saying, he's better than Brady. And I'm like, Brady's stacking trophies. What are we doing here? This is not baseball where we care about your stats. It's football. Show me your Lombardi's. But now I think Aaron's actually massively undervalued. So I want to remind everybody, especially the media that keeps telling me he's really. He's washed. He did win the AFC north last year over a stacked roster in Baltimore in Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow, who played a handful of games. But he did win the north, by the way. At 41, he almost threw as many touchdown passes as Bo Nix, Josh Allen and Sam Darnold. With an awful receiving core. In fact, Aaron was the only quarterback in the league with this stat line. At least 65% completion percentage, at least 24 touchdowns, and seven or fewer interceptions. He was the only guy in the league. Bad receiving core, broken offensive culture, hit and miss offensive line, and an average running back room. In fact, PFF last year went and rated all wide receivers and tight ends in the league, right? Top 50 Steelers had nobody. Arizona had two. Okay, so you're talking about a broken offensive culture for years, a bad receiving room. I mean, I like Friarmouth, but, you know, whatever. They didn't have very good weapons offensive line until last year. Aaron gets some credit for this. Was sort of disjointed. And so I, I, I. And he carried him to 10 wins. And by the way, he had to win games against the Lions and the Ravens to get into the playoffs. And he was excellent against both, considering what he was working with. Against Detroit, he had 270 yards, no turnovers. Against the Ravens, he had 290 yards and no turnovers. He had to win those games. Those are good teams. There was a lot of pressure. He had a one man receiving core and he won both games and played well. So, and I, and I, and I. People will say this, and this always happens if the ending to the movie is bad. Everybody said the movie is bad, right? You could have had a good movie with a bad ending. People say, well, just see him against the Texans in the playoffs, folks. Patrick Mahomes played the Texans. His passer rating that day, 19. Sam Darnold was engulfed. Played his worst game against the Texans. Go look at Josh Allen against the Texans. The LA Rams had the number one offense in the league. They were a hot knife through butter against the Seahawks multiple times. And the Seahawks had a good defense. But when the Rams, McVay and Stafford and Pukinakua and Devonte Adams and all the fellows played the Texans, they couldn't move the ball. They couldn't pick up first downs. The Texans had the best defense in the NFL in at least half a decade. It's Legion of Boom. Good. So this idea, I always thought Aaron, and I was always like, aaron's good. I think he's better than Favre. Stop with the Brady. I'm not even putting him in the Manning and Joe Montana space. Give me a break. He's great, but stop now. It's ridiculous. Even people I respect in the media are like, not very good. He won the division. It was a good division. Lions, Ravens, W's. Look at his stat line. Terrible receiving core, broken offensive culture. RJI was like, guys, come on. He inherited a mess, a dysfunctional offensive culture. He's going to be good this year. They got Michael Pittman. He's going to be good. They're going to be good. They're going to vie for the division for seven weeks. Totally. He could go 6 and 17 and
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RG3
oh,
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Colin Cowherd
I have become the life preserver of sanity with Aaron Rodgers, here's RG3 yesterday.
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Unidentified Sports Analyst
I think Aaron Rodgers is one of the all time greats, but I also think that him coming back to the Pittsburgh Steelers makes them legit AFC north title contenders and legit super bowl contenders as well. He's got DK Metcalf, they bring in Michael Pittman Jr. From the Colts, they draft Jeremy Bernard from the, from Alabama and Now he's got 6 foot 4, 6 foot 4, 6 foot 1 wide receivers out there that he's used to throwing the ball to. And he wouldn't come back and partner with the guy that he won a Super bowl with and Mike McCarthy in Green Bay if he didn't feel like they could win it all.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, he just wanted more money. You know, he's always been a little mysterious last several years offseason, you know, that's, that's who he is. The schedule is completely workable. Gets kind of tough. Week 10 or 11, that's fine. I mean Joe Burrow, will he be available? Week 10? Ish. We don't know. I mean last couple of years that has been a. And I don't say that being glib like Burrow has struggled with health. All right, J. Mac, so what a bummer. The Dylan Harper injury is such a bummer. Last year it was Halliburton and Tatum. Now it's J Dub, it's Harper, it's the Aaron Fox, it's A.J. mitchell. I mean, you know, it's interesting the sport where you get tackled football. The rosters tend to be healthier. I mean go look at the Seahawks roster. At the end of the year everybody's healthy. They played the Patriots, almost everybody's healthy. The NBA playoffs now, spurs are all banged up. OKC is all banged up. I mean it's, it's, this is what we, they talk about. The pace of the game is so fast now. And players, when you start having non contact injuries, you do have to consider the Adam silver suggestion of 12 minute quarters becoming 10 minute quarters. It's not going to affect anything. Oh, what about the record books? Wemby's going to rewrite them all anyway. Who cares, right? Like get over the record books. This is not baseball, it's not Mickey Mantle. We don't care about that stuff.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
I mean there is a world where they just bake in some extra days off during these western. I mean this is the most hype playoff series the league has had in I don't know, a decade. And now you instantly have like three of the top. I don't Know, eight guys in the series injured. It's just devastating. Colin, I'm really ticked off. Hopefully my Knicks stay healthy tonight. Need the Knicks big time.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, it'll be interesting to watch emotionally where Cleveland's at. I mean the advantage Cleveland has because they had the game one and gagged. They're not a young team. I mean Donovan Mitchell's been around a long time. James Harden's been around a long time. Evan Mobley's pretty young. But if you look at their backcourt and those are the guys that are going to have the ball and control the tempo. These are not guys that literally can't handle an ugly loss. I said this when the Knicks came back to win. Chuck Daly, rest in peace, lost big leads. Phil Jackson, Steve Kerr, Red. Red Holtzman. You know, you can go back to the Knicks. Great teams lose leads, especially Jason in this three ball era. Yeah. Where I mean Golden State, you know, would come back from 14 down to win. People occasionally beat Golden State when they were, you know, the warriors were up 14. So I don't think it's the 70s or 80s. If you lost an 18 point lead, it was devastating. I think you just lose leads now. So I mean there was never in my lifetime in the NBA. You'll see stuff now where it's like a 30 to 8 run. Like that's not that abnormal in the NBA. There was a run, I forget it was during the regular season. I swear to God it was like 28, 0.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Yeah. But this was the biggest blown lead, I believe in the last 13 years. Yes. Of the NBA plus. So as a result, I like your, the way you're attacking this. How does Cleveland bounce back? I bet the Knicks first half, I think the Knicks, who ended this game hot as hell. They shot. They made six of their last nine threes. They got in that zone, that rhythm. They were like, okay, this is what works, this is what doesn't. Quick hook on Josh Hart, who's a non shooter. And I think the Knicks run out. I don't know if they'll run away and hide, but I think they come out smoking hot in the first half.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, yeah. The staff found this. Yeah, this was it. The. Remember when the Raptors went on a 31 nothing run against the Magic in March And Orlando's got talent. Yeah. So, I mean it's so, it's, it's so. You know, everybody's saying, oh, the Cavs, you got veteran guys with the ball in their hands. You've got a good staff. You, you know, you got guys with some mileage on there. This is the new NBA. You lose leads quickly now a 22 point lead with nine to go. But again, the Knicks were a great fourth quarter team. You were on the road. Brunson's an elite scorer. It's not the first time he's been hot. He's one of the best fourth quarter players in the last decade in the league. The Knicks do that to people. Knicks did that to a lot of teams over the last couple years. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app hey, it's Ben, host
- [18:06]
Ben Mather
of the Fifth Hour with Ben Mather. Would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what in God's name is the fifth Hour? I'll tell you. It's a spin off of the Ben Mather Show, a cult hit overnights on fsr. Why should you listen? Picture, if you will, a world where we chat with captains of industry in media, sports and more every week. Explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast brought
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- [19:23]
Colin Cowherd
EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and perfect for everyday life. Drive daily with confidence everywhere you go. Most Americans drive 40 miles a day. Most EVs are equipped with 200 to 400 miles of range. They've got fewer parts, fewer repairs and fewer headaches. With hundreds of new and used EV models available today, there's an EV to fit every lifestyle and every budget. I love my electric vehicle. It's easy. No more gas stations. The way forward is electric Learn more atelectric for all.org
- [20:00]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
and Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show. Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [20:13]
Colin Cowherd
Oh, no. We help people customize and save on
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Colin Cowherd
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
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- [20:29]
Colin Cowherd
Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it.
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Unidentified Sports Analyst
We.
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Colin Cowherd
We just contributed to First People to Do Podcasts. Pretty. Yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts, but this one's extra special. So how did we. How do we actually come up with the name hey Jonas? Guys, I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it, and, well, we were thinking. I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing a bit for the podcast. People could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad a Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that. Guys, listen to hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. You're now entering the no Bull Zone, sponsored by Credible Great race, None of the bull. So the Athletic, and I think this is the second year they've done this. I could be wrong, and it's a lot. There's a lot of tears. It's kind of confusing to me. They should simplify. But they come out with five tiers, and they've introduced the first four, and they have sub tiers. So, like, you have, like, Tier 2 and then, you know, Tier 2A, Tier 2B, Tier 2C. It's a lot. They got to clean it up a little bit. But it's interesting, in tier two, they haven't introduced tier one yet. When that'll be the top players in the league, like. Like a Luca or a Jokic. Tier 2A is, like, Steph Curry, Jalen Brunson. Tier 2B is Jalen Brown, LeBron James, Tyrese Maxey. So I've said this. Salary caps, not baseball, but salary caps make everybody's salary count. If you pay your third best player what a number two player should make, it limits how much help you can add to the roster. I've always said Austin Reeves a good player on a championship team. He's either your third or fourth best player. That is seen as hate. Well, the tears came out. He is a tier 3 player and he's not 3A. He's deep into 3B, almost 3C. And you say that's outrageous. Well, not really. It says this is how it describes a tier three player, that he's in star consideration, but ideally third best player of a big three. Oh, you mean. Exactly what I have said for two years to the word. If you ask him to be a second best player, he will be compromised. You will be compromised. So he is a 3B tier player, not a tier 1 sub. Sub tiers, not a tier 2, not a tier 3A and 3.3B. And that's a good, good player. Just to give you an example, if you just move up one sub tier, it's Stefan Castle and Bama to Bayou, Bama to Bayou, pound for pound is the best defensive big not named Wemby in the league. And he scored 83 points in a game that's just one notch ahead of Austin. And Stefan Castle is going toe to toe with the mvp. Okay, Austin got hunted the last two years in the playoffs, so that's what I've said. It's amazing if you. Maybe it's because local media tends to be favorable to local teams. So I come out like, you know, the big bad wolf here. I'm, I'm banging on players. I liked Austin Reeves a lot, but I've always said with Austin, you can't pay him like a 2 because that means you can't have a very good 4. Right? And that's the key to his contract. He's eligible to make 240. You pay him to me, you pay him in the 200s. Watch out. I mean, LeBron James said this on a podcast a couple of days ago. The Lakers need more good players to beat Oklahoma City. They're not being out hustled or outworked. J.J. redick needs more good athletes. How do you get them? People outside of Luca not taking Maxes. Here's LeBron.
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LeBron James
I have the passion and the admiration to host the Larry o' Brien trophy up every single year, but also have a realization of, you know, what particular team I have been a part of in that particular year and you know, understanding this year, you know, we fought and we played to the maximum ability of our team. We were not outworked. We were not, you know, out. You know, they didn't out physical us. They didn't outsmart us. You know, I feel like we were just out talent, you know, by OKC.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, they were out talented. And LeBron's absolutely right. And so that's the thing I like, like I've always said with Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold and you know, I love Darnold. I don't Love Darnold At 55 million, I like him at 45 million. At 35 million, Sam Darnold is one of the best values in the national football league. At 45, he's a good quarterback. At 55, then you're going to have, you can't have a number one receiver and you can't stack your defense. Right. Right. Can you keep JSN with Sam Darnold's contract? Now you can pay JSN early. If Sam's making 55, you can't even pay him late. And that's the difference with Baker. It's the same thing. I like Austin reeves, but if LeBron's not taken a veteran minimum and Luke is getting the max and deserves it, well, then that Austin contract we got to be, we got. I mean, the Rams right now, you know who they're paying and they're favored to win the Super Bowl. They're paying Matt Stafford, they're paying Trent McDuffie and they're paying Devonte Adams. Right. And by the way, McDuffie is here for the long term. Stafford for three years. I love Devonte Adams. They may move off him in a year. I mean, they're, they're trying to draft receivers because, you know, that's, that's salary cap. So again, if Austin signed for 185, love him. He's my number three, works his butt off. Good guy, good player. But the Athletics polling, which is inexact, I think they have Cooper flag lower than they should. I think they have Jalen Brown lower than they should. You know, that's my opinion. It's not perfect. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what Jaylen Brown has to do. He was in the MVP conversation. I don't know. I don't know what he has to do. I mean, I think Jaylen Brown's great. So, J. Mac for the news.
- [27:12]
Apple Card Advertiser
No, no, no, no.
- [27:14]
Colin Cowherd
Turn on the news. This is the Herd line.
- [27:17]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Hopefully we revisit that later. I mean, Jaylen Brown and Chet Holmgren in the same group, like, I know,
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Colin Cowherd
but I've said this for years. In the NBA, you're trying to find the next Jaylen Brown. Hard worker, plays every night, both ends of the floor. And. And if he has to be a solo artist, he'll be in the MVP conversation the whole damn draft. You're trying to find Jalen Brown.
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Aaron Rodgers
Yeah.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
All right, let's start with the NBA and the end of game one. Jalen Brunson with the amazing comeback at the expense of James Harden frequently. Colin, unbelievable stat. The Knicks got Harden switched onto Brunson nine times, nine isolations. In the fourth quarter, they scored 1.9 points per action. Basically, any time they got Harden switched on to Brunson, it was a bucket. I mean, just unbelievable stuff. Yet afterward, Kenny Atkinson, who's a good coach, he had this to say about James Harden, who got cooked all night.
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Colin Cowherd
One thing about James, I'll just defend him. He's a good isolation defender, always has been. He's super smart. I said it last night. He's got great hands. I was kind of a little more upset with our backline defense at this level.
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Jalen Brunson
It's.
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Colin Cowherd
It's team defense. You know, are we, you know, helping them, sending them the right direction. Have to help there, so. Sure, we can. We can. I know everybody's putting it on James, but I'd. Say it's. I'd say it's a lot of. It's on the team. Yeah.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
I mean, you win as a team, you lose as a team.
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Colin Cowherd
Right.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
I like that credo. But the reality is they were attacking Harden. They were hunting him every single possession, of course, and he could not stop Jalen Brunson. Now, you got used tired.
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Colin Cowherd
This. This has happened for his entire career. But the proposition was different when he was giving you 32 points and 11 assists. So he's. He's, you know, he's an older player. I mean, Harden is still a tremendously gifted player. He really is. He can get a shot that. That lean back, he gets a shot. He and Lucas, you know, they just get good shots without screens. Like, it's remarkable in this league how few players can just get their own shot and a good one anytime they want. Harden's one of them. And there may be 12 in the league. Like, there are teams that don't have a guy that can do that. Right. Like. Like LeBron's always going to get a good shot. KD may be the best ever at it. But it's. James Harden gets good looks consistently and that cannot be minimized even at his age.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
He had a bad game seven against Detroit and then he wasn't great in game one. I wonder if he's running out of gas. Colin. They got a seven game first round series against Toronto.
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Colin Cowherd
Good point.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Seven games against Detroit.
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Colin Cowherd
Good point. Who. Who fell. Who literally fell apart. That's a great point.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Yeah.
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Colin Cowherd
Is. By the way, Cleveland came in. The Knicks came in rusty but with full energy. The Cavs came in tired but in sync.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
In sync. Yeah.
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Colin Cowherd
And what, what, what happened the first three quarters? Cleveland looked like the better team and ran out of gas. Yeah. But the Knicks sustained their energy even though they were out of sync and pulled away late.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
It's weird. People bag on Harden. I don't know where you are on his all time.
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Colin Cowherd
He's a Hall of Famer.
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Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
He's a Hall of Famer. But like, if you put car Carmelo Anthony next to James Harden, I don't think it's very difficult. I'm just curious where you are on Harden's.
- [30:25]
Colin Cowherd
Well, I think Harden would be viewed as better. That's just.
- [30:27]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
I mean, Harden made other people better. He's a great passer, led the league in assists. I mean scoring machine. He just doesn't play defense, which is
- [30:34]
Colin Cowherd
kind of a big deal.
- [30:36]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
All right, let's move on to the Dallas Cowboys and Mr. George Pickens. We love George Pickens here on the show. He's set to earn 27mil on the franchise tag.
- [30:45]
Colin Cowherd
That's a lot of money. Everybody complains about franchise tag. Players don't like it. 27 million in Texas, no state tax. You know what your check is every two weeks. That's a lot of money.
- [30:56]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
That's a good amount of cheddar. But I mean, when you look at the other wide receiver contracts, Pickens is like, hey, I'm in that class.
- [31:02]
Colin Cowherd
Time out. Part of being a great player is maturity. I'm sorry. JSN got paid early because he's. He's better than him and he is very mature. Always show part of being paid in any profession. Are you emotionally. Not just physically. Are you emotionally dependable? Larry Fitzgerald. Yes. Like Puka Nukua. They have issues now, right? I mean, Rasheed Rice, super talented.
- [31:31]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Have you seen the receiver?
- [31:33]
Colin Cowherd
Terrible. Like, so the idea that this. Sometimes the media, like glosses over this part of getting paid in any profession. Can you handle the money? Can you handle the fame? Can you handle the criticism? It's emotional intelligence. George is. He struggles with that he's a very moody player.
- [31:52]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Can you handle losing? Remember in Pittsburgh when the season was basically over, he just like stopped running routes. Anyways, Jerry Jones had an interesting quote. We got him for no reason than because there was a long term question. Through this year he'll answer all those questions. So basically Jerry's telling you we got him one more year, he's going to deliver for us. Maybe we make the playoffs after that. I'm not talking about it.
- [32:15]
Colin Cowherd
Right.
- [32:16]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
And that's probably the smart move by Jerry Jones.
- [32:19]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. Final story, Colin.
- [32:20]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Let's go to Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati. Can't call them bungles anymore because they're maybe super bowl boundaries. Joe Burrow very excited about the prospects of the new look Bengals. They've got I think seven new defensive starters. People are excited. And Joe, listen to this.
- [32:39]
Colin Cowherd
Number one thing is you have to win. And we're going to go win a lot of games this year and play great and win a Super bowl and everything that comes with that comes with that. I think this is the most talented roster that we've had since I've been here.
- [32:55]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
I much prefer the where will Joe Burrow get traded to Discussion, which is fun. But you know, he, he, he got, he got lucky. The schedule is unbelievably easy.
- [33:07]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, well, the division still has relative to NFL schedule. It's not easy, but it's. I think it's reasonable to say, listen, they have to go to Texas and then Pittsburgh in weeks two, three. Those are very losable games. And then they get the Jags.
- [33:21]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Pittsburgh is losable.
- [33:22]
Colin Cowherd
Yes, at Pittsburgh. Absolutely. They won. Tag team.
- [33:25]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Steelers are favored by one or two.
- [33:27]
Colin Cowherd
Well, you said. I said losable.
- [33:28]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Okay.
- [33:29]
Colin Cowherd
Fair, fair. So at Houston, at Pittsburgh Jags, those are three. It's not that easy now.
- [33:35]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Now do the quarterback game. Who do you got? Joe Burrow or Baker Mayfield?
- [33:38]
Colin Cowherd
Burrow.
- [33:39]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Joe Burrow or C.J. stroud?
- [33:41]
Colin Cowherd
Quarterback winning is not a quarterback stat. Do they have the old line? Do they have the pass rush? Last year Joe Burrow had to win every game by track meet. And like Sam Darnold was excellent. But Sam could have an off game and they could win. Sam could throw four picks and they're driving for a win like, like Joe Burrow. I don't think. Do I think the schedule middle end is favorable?
- [34:04]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Yeah.
- [34:04]
Colin Cowherd
But at the end of the season they have to face Baltimore at Indy. You look at Carolina and you say it's Carolina again gave the Rams fits last year.
- [34:14]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Carolina's interesting because their win Total was like six and a half. And you're like, wait, they just went to the playoffs and you know, they haven't made a decision on Bryce Young long term. I see Carolina, Indy and Cleveland in December and I'm Joe Burrow. I'm like, those teams could be tanking for a quarterback. Colin the Browns.
- [34:33]
Colin Cowherd
Now that, that's an interesting point. When, when you're facing bad teams or perceived bad teams and you're getting into week 13, you're not tanking, you're just. You're resting starters because everybody in the NFL by week eight is hurt. So it's very. It's in the NFL. You just like, hey, I'm not going to play our number two tight end. We're not going to be able to do certain things in the red zone. You keep certain personnel out so it limits what you can do. Now you don't really want to punish players but you know, Cincinnati doesn't need a quarterback so they're playing Burrow regardless late if he's healthy. And I do think, you know, this happens. We saw it in the NBA if you have a great quarterback class. We had that, the Herbert class. Right.
- [35:15]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
We'll know by December how good this class is.
- [35:17]
Colin Cowherd
Right. We may know before that. Yeah. No, yeah.
- [35:20]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
I mean I'm not buying the Julian say and hype. I can't believe it's crazy but there's a lot of guys and if you are the Indianapolis Colts who don't have your first round pick, everybody it's like oh my gosh, that schedule, I'm just telling you, this is a two team division. Bengals and Ravens A greed or no,
- [35:38]
Colin Cowherd
I think the Steelers have a chance to win it.
- [35:41]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
I really feels like another jet ski bet.
- [35:43]
Colin Cowherd
Big guy J Mac with the news.
- [35:47]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
Well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by.
- [35:50]
Colin Cowherd
The Herd lie news, all sorts of things. Man, I hate to see those NBA injuries stinks. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd Weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.
- [36:05]
Colin Cowherd's Co-host or Guest Analyst
The greatest spectacle in racing is coming. It's the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500. Don't miss the pageantry and tradition of the biggest race in motorsports. Coverage of the Indy 500 begins at 10am Eastern with the green flag at 12:30 Sunday on Fox.
- [36:23]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I mean one of the things I try to do is not have confirmation bias or not have recency bias. I said this on a couple days ago when Wemby. I'm watching him in game one. I'm talking to Ryan Rosillo about this Yesterday, I don't want to have like recency bias, but I'm watching him take over that game in Oklahoma City and I'm thinking to myself, man, I'm this, he's the face of the league. I don't think, I don't think I'm overreacting to that. Like, I really don't. I mean, last night, basically Oklahoma City showed you the only way we can stop him is hang on him. And that's not going to last long term. You're not going to get those calls in the road. So. And Aaron Rodgers, I don't always agree with everything he says, but I thought he did the, he basically did the Sealers a solid yesterday. This is a guy that's always been kind of ambiguous and he just said, total transparency. It's going to be it, I'm out. And I think that now it's up to the Steelers to find the next act. But there's no, you know, with LeBron, is he leaving? Is he going? Is he? Aaron's like, yeah, it's gonna be over. And I respect that. And it's interesting about Aaron. Tom Brady was 100% football. Aaron's about 75 to 80% football and 20% independent contractor. He will speak out, he will challenge you, some passive aggressive stuff. He, you know, Aaron, I wouldn't say was always team first, but now, now in fairness to Aaron, Tom Brady was in New England, but it wore him out. And what did Tom Brady do? Leave the best football coach ever to go to Tampa, where he eventually moved Bruce Arians upstairs. So everybody wants an opinion, Everybody wants a voice. I mean, that's why social media has exploded. People that haven't had voices want strong ones. Everybody wants an opinion. And so Aaron was just willing and Manning, or maybe Tom Brady were not, or Joe Montana wasn't. Aaron in his prime was willing to give you that strong opinion sometimes publicly, which didn't know was doing big favors. So he's authentic, he's principled. You know, I, I, I said this this morning about one of the things in society that's really sad is I don't have to agree with you to respect you. Like I can respect the hell out of you and disagree with you all the time. That's done in America. If you don't agree with every policy and every position, well, I mean, you're a fraud. I can't vote for you. I don't agree with my wife, my kids on everything. I don't agree with anybody on anything. Certainly not a boss. So Aaron's whole thing is, listen, I'm just gonna, in my prime, when I don't agree with you, make it public. And a lot of times you just fall on the sword. I mean, Brady was one of those, I'm gonna fall on the sword. I, I would prefer that for my quarterback. I think quarterbacks, what's the old term in Vegas, that William H. Macy movie, the Cooler. When somebody, he was a guy with bad luck. When anybody got hot in Vegas, the casino would put William H. Macy next to the casino. He was called the cooler. Bad luck. You know, you would like your quarterbacks because they matter more to just fall on the sword, be a team guy, you know. Brady used to do a Monday radio show in Boston. He didn't need the money. He was creating the week's narrative. If they played poorly, he'd explain it. If they played great, he would bring the, you know, bring the Kool Aid down. Brady was setting the table. Big Ben did this Monday local radio. Here's the storyline for the week. Fellas, let's not get too low or too high. Aaron's just going to tell you what he thinks. And sometimes it was to his undoing. But Mike McCarthy said, you know what? I like having him.
- [40:11]
RG3
He still throws it. He can throw with anybody. That's, you know, he made sure we all saw that in first practice Monday. To have Aaron Rodgers here, that's done it, you know, at the highest level for quite some time, for two decades to have those little things. And he's always done an excellent job of helping not only younger quarterbacks, but younger players, you know, in the locker room. So he's a tremendous resource and I would recommend that all of our players spend as much time with him as possible.
- [40:45]
Colin Cowherd
I think, I mean I was looking at the stats this morning. All time rank, 6 in wins, 1st in passer rating, 1st in TD to interception ratio, 4 time MVP winner, 1st belt hall of Famer. The question is, I think every quarterback has a comparison. Like I think Brady's comp is Montana. Not the greatest athletes, but almost mechanical, detail oriented. I, you know, Elway falls into the Josh Allen like super athlete can do anything. He's going to make some mistakes. Unbelievable ceiling. I always said Aaron Rodgers is Marino, little smaller version of Marino with a trophy. And that's a pretty good class because Marino's probably aesthetically the prettiest thrower the football I've ever seen. I would say Aaron second. I mean Aaron throws the ball feet not on the ground. You know, it's very, very Unique style. So, yeah, I mean, he's going to be. It's interesting. I always think it's interesting when it never does matter how your career ends. I mean, Michael Jordan played for the Wizards. Nobody cares. Joe Namath ended up in another uniform. So did Akeem Patrick Ewing. It doesn't really matter. I mean, Kevin Durant. We're going to think of Oklahoma City and Golden State. We're not going to talk about Brooklyn. We're not. So the jets and the Steelers don't mean anything. Aaron's first ballot. I would put him ahead of Far. We did a list on the show at the end of last year. I'm, like, kind of spitballing it. I think he's somewhere in that 7, 8, 9 space. I would put him ahead of Farve because I thought Farve was kind of reckless. I don't think Aaron was ever reckless. Aaron had a better passer rating, touchdown intercept. Aaron just didn't make as many mistakes as far as Favre may have been, you know, a little bigger arm, believe it or not. But I always thought Aaron was a little slicker, a little better in crisis and. But I think Marino is his historical comp here. Here's Aaron on why he decided to come back and how Mike Tomlin's departure affected his decision.
- [42:41]
Aaron Rodgers
Yeah, I love Mike T. I mean, I really appreciate the opportunity to come in last year and love my experience with him. And, you know, I thought when he said he was stepping away, that was an emotional moment, just because we all love him so much and care about him. And, you know, I thought that that was probably it for me in Pittsburgh. But when the decision was made to hire Mike, I sort of opened my mind back up to coming back. Could be your last year. Yes. This is it.
- [43:13]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. You know, the other thing is sometimes you have these historic outliers like Tiger woods, like, take Tiger away from golf. Phil Mickelson, not only Great, add like 25% major wins like you got. You have to consider sometimes. I mean, the Utah jazz for, like, 15 years were unbelievable. Well, there's a guy called Michael Jordan. Right? So, you know, Akeem Olajuwon was great. The minute Jordan left, they won titles. Like, it's. It's. And so it's funny. Take Brady out. Take Brady out. I mean, is Aaron the best old quarterback ever? He's 40. He's gonna be 43 years old at some point. I mean, look at last year when 10 games with a bad receiving corner, a good division. Like, again, if you take Brady out, who just is a historic outlier. Like if you take Jack Nicholson out, who was Good in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000, you know, you take Meryl Streep out, like, like, like it's almost unfair. There are these, you know, Steven Spielberg, Scorsese. There are these people that just reach heights and they, they keep doing it over and over. They do it in old age. You start taking Tom Brady out and you look at, you look at Aaron's numbers. You know, he, he's top five. I mean, best passer rating, four mvp. He's got a Super Bowl. Like, the numbers are really, really impressive. You know, you just don't, you know, standing next to Brady, it'd be like being a model standing next to a supermodel. It's like, yeah, I'm the best looking person in every other room. So it's just Aaron's numbers are fantastic across the board. 6 Most quarterback wins of all time. That's a lot of wins. But, you know, the jet seasons predictably didn't work. Didn't work for Sam Darnold either. I think it's worked for one quarterback ever. Joe Namath. That was about it. Jim Jackson joining us, Fox Sports analyst. Man, the NBA Western Conference finals, It's just come down to who's healthy and who's not. Next. This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.