THE HERD - Hour 1 - Victor Wembanyama faces game 6 tonight, Eagles soap opera continues

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Herd with Colin Cowherd (Guest Host: Jason McIntyre)

Episode: THE HERD - Hour 1 - Victor Wembanyama faces game 6 tonight, Eagles soap opera continues
Date: May 28, 2026
Co-host: Rachel Nichols
Key Guests: Al Harrington, James Palmer, Ian Rapoport, Jovan Buha, Kevin O’Connor

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Overview

This hour of "The Herd" with guest host Jason McIntyre (filling in for Colin Cowherd) and co-host Rachel Nichols dives into two major sports storylines:

1. Victor Wembanyama’s playoff performance and the magnified scrutiny of young NBA stars.
2. The ongoing "soap opera" of the Philadelphia Eagles, particularly the fractured relationship and potential trade drama involving QB Jalen Hurts and WR A.J. Brown.

The episode explores basketball’s ever-changing expectations and narratives, the intensity of NFL team dynamics, issues like flopping in the NBA, and evolving player-coach relationships in the NFL. Expect a blend of sharp analysis, humor, and insightful guest contributions.

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Main Sections & Insights

1. The Victor Wembanyama Discourse: Hype, Patience, and the Sudden Backlash

• Time Stamp: [03:44]
• Discussion:
  • Jason McIntyre opens by highlighting the intense, reactionary criticism Wembanyama is facing after a poor Game 5: 4 of 15 shooting, 6 rebounds, and avoiding the media.
  • Pushback on the “all-time prospect” narrative emerges as Wemby fails to dominate every playoff game.
  • Al Harrington’s Perspective ([05:11]):

    “I know we call him an alien but I think for some reason he's actually human. Guys get tired... They're wearing on him... On the offensive side, the guys did a great job last night of being overly physical with him, making things tough.”

  • Jason urges patience, reminding listeners of historical context:
    • Magic Johnson won with Kareem as a rookie; Bird and Olajuwon were older and more experienced.
    • Michael Jordan didn’t reach the Finals until year 7.
  • Wemby’s supporting cast remains young and inconsistent.
  • McIntyre’s takeaway—stop the whiplash takes:

    "Can we just take a deep breath? He was amazing in game one... The Spurs are way ahead of schedule." ([05:43])

  • Jason's prediction: Spurs win Game 6, Wemby rebounds, and the narrative will flip again.

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2. Eagles Soap Opera: Hurts, A.J. Brown, and a Team in Turmoil

• Time Stamp: [08:09]
• Discussion:
  • The episode shifts to the Philadelphia Eagles, focusing on the Ice Age between Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown.
  • Hurts meets the media, unbothered/sarcastic about AJ Brown:

    “I haven't talked to AJ... I saw the beautiful wedding photos... But yeah, I haven't talked to him since the end of the season.”

  • James Palmer’s Insight ([10:30]):

    "Andy Reid told me after Jalen lost to the Chiefs in that first Super Bowl ... it's the best Super Bowl performance he's ever seen anyone play." "If Jalen fully trusts it, he will evolve and he will change. That's what Sean Manion has to do—convince Jalen that these are the things we have to do as an organization."

  • Jason lampoons the Eagles’ recurring drama with a soap opera analogy, noting continued tension despite the team's recent success.
  • Ian Rapoport’s Update ([13:08]):

    "[A.J. Brown] Patriots the most likely destination... not being willing to give up a first round pick... there's a chance this could drag on for the foreseeable future."

  • Jason explains teams like the Patriots are slow-playing, while the Eagles try to drum up trade interest.
  • Jalen Hurts on the split ([15:36]):

    "There’s obviously been lingering, a lingering thing, but none can replace all the greatness that we—we achieve together."

  • The consensus: this relationship is over; trade rumors will define the lead-up to June 1.

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3. Lamar Jackson & the Pressure Cooker in Baltimore

• Time Stamp: [20:13]
• Key Points:
  • With coach Harbaugh gone, "it's Lamar’s show now."
  • Lamar Jackson’s contract comments:

    "I just want to keep those conversations private... we restructured the deal... that conversation is in 2022; this is 2026. We gonna leave that conversation in 2022." ([21:43])

  • The hosts question whether Lamar’s leadership has forced a pivotal crossroads for the franchise.
  • Jackson’s playoff record (3–5) lags behind the hype ("two MVPs, and three playoff wins"), raising the stakes.
  • Jason:

    "If you run your coach out of town, you're about to get a new contract, isn't it kind of your show? I think the pressure is on Lamar in Baltimore." ([24:17])

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4. OTAs & Modern Player Priorities

• Time Stamp: [25:32]
• Notable Story:
  • Justin Herbert skips OTAs to support girlfriend Madison Beer’s European tour.
  • Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, asked about it, jokes:

    "Do you need a ride to the airport?... This is a guy who's in the building all the time... so yeah, I was happy, happy, you know, good balance." ([26:02])

  • Discussion evolves: what's acceptable to miss in pro sports? Does it matter for team chemistry/offensive installs?
  • Rachel Nichols notes,

    “It’s OTAs and Jim makes a great point…this is a guy who’s in the building all the time. Yeah, so what is he really missing that he doesn’t already know?” ([27:52])

  • Discussion turns light as they discover Madison Beer has 39 million IG followers.

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5. Mark Cuban’s NBA Reform: Shorter Games?

• Time Stamp: [29:46]
• Key Points:
  • Mark Cuban proposes 40-minute NBA games to help with wear and tear and appeal to younger fans.
  • Rachel Nichols challenges the “record books” excuse, citing other historic rule changes.
  • Jason quips,

    "Is there data that shows hey if everybody played eight fewer minutes we would see less injuries?... I don't know is there numbers to back that up or is this just, you know, Mark Cuban deflecting from his political stunt last week?" ([30:52])

  • Rachel:

    “Game changes for the record books all the time… I could first I would like to see less games, but less minutes is a start.” ([31:10])

  • Concerns about ticket buyers and TV revenue.

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6. Jaden McDaniels on Injury, Growth, and New Offense

• Time Stamp: [34:34]
• Jaden McDaniels reflects on a "bitter," injury-riddled year.
  • Quote:

    “It left a bitter taste in my mouth... It wasn’t fun for me because I love football... But the passion didn’t change.”

  • New coordinator aims to reduce injury risk by playing Jaden more under center.
  • Jason & Rachel discuss trends toward minimizing hits on QBs.

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7. The NBA Flopping Debate: Out of Control?

• Time Stamp: [41:21]
• Explosive segment on flopping—especially centered on SGA (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and the Thunder.
• Jason:

  “The flopping is out of control... SGA falling to the ground, just faking—like, oh my gosh, I got clobbered… It is a major factor.” ([41:21])

• Jovan Buha’s Solution:

  “Maybe you could have retroactive fining or technical fouls for flops... Imagine Shai getting suspended because he had sixteen flopping technicals…” ([42:56])

• Kevin O’Connor:

  “Thunder do complain more... They try to work the officials more almost sometimes with like a smile on their face... SGA definitely does embellish and fall more often than others.”

• Discussion of a viral SGA “flopping” board game and cease-and-desist drama.
• Adam Silver’s recent remarks downplaying the issue receive pushback:

  "For him [Silver] to say this is not a pressing—I mean again... the Knicks called out SGA earlier this season. And now... maybe gonna face the Thunder in the finals." ([47:34])

• Rachel Nichols:

  “If you don’t like it then stop it... If he wants his lawyers to send a cease and desist... there’s a great way to stop this conversation: stop doing it.” ([47:55])

• Both agree the league needs to enforce anti-flopping rules already on the books.

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Notable Quotes

• Jason McIntyre: "I'm getting whiplash from the Wemby takes, folks." ([07:10])
• Rachel Nichols: "Game changes for the record books all the time... There are so many changes that happen in sports." ([31:10])
• Jalen Hurts: "None can replace all the greatness that we—we achieve together." ([15:36])
• James Palmer (on Hurts): "When the stage gets big, Jalen Hurts usually comes through." ([10:30])
• Jovan Buha: "Maybe you could have retroactive fining or technical fouls for flops… that would cut that out." ([42:56])
• Rachel Nichols on flopping: "If you don't like it then stop it... There's a great way to stop this conversation: stop doing it." ([47:55])

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Key Segment Timestamps

• 03:44 – Wembanyama struggles and expectations
• 05:11 – Al Harrington on Wemby's humanity
• 10:30 – James Palmer: Hurts' big-stage performance
• 13:08 – Ian Rapoport: The latest on A.J. Brown
• 15:36 – Jalen Hurts addresses A.J. Brown split
• 20:13 – Pressure shifts to Lamar Jackson in Baltimore
• 26:02 – Jim Harbaugh on Herbert skipping OTAs
• 29:46 – NBA game length debate
• 34:34 – Jaden McDaniels on injury and new offense
• 41:21 – The great NBA flopping debate

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Tone & Style

The hosts are opinionated but measured, blending humor, strong stances, and perspective from ex-players, team insiders, and national writers. The tone is conversational, lively, and unafraid of contrarian takes, especially around sports’ hottest debates.

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Summary

This hour of The Herd features a rich analysis of NBA and NFL headline dramas. Key discussions tackle the harsh spotlight on young superstars, the restless churn of NFL locker rooms, player empowerment’s new consequences, and the culture of gamesmanship infecting basketball (flopping). Guests and hosts balance hot takes with deeper context, making this a dynamic, informative listen for sports fans who want more than pure score analysis.

Transcript

[Jason McIntyre]

this is an iheart podcast guaranteed human

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[Jason McIntyre]

for by public holdings brokerage services by public investing member finra sipc advisory services by public advisors sec registered advisor crypto services by all investing involves risk of loss see complete disclosures at public dot

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com credit card thanks for listening to the herd podcast be sure to catch us live every weekday on fox sports radio and noon to three eastern nine am to noon pacific find your local station for the herd at foxsportsradio dot com or stream us live every day on the iheartradio app by searching fox sports radio or fsr now let's get

[Jason McIntyre]

this party started you're listening to fox sports radio welcome back it's the herd on an exciting thursday in the sports world we've got nfl drama brewing teammates not talking for four months and of course we've got the nba tonight yes game six everybody's fired up it's me jason mcintyre in for colin cowherd i'm joined by rachel nichols we are just flying through the week rachel i know i have to start by asking you last night felt like you know almost like a hall what is there to

[Rachel Nichols]

do there's nothing no nba without a game at least one night right how

[Jason McIntyre]

did you spend your last night without any basketball in the telly i actually

[Rachel Nichols]

yesterday was my wedding anniversary so we went out to dinner the whole family

[Jason McIntyre]

it was lovely awesome well congratulations very exciting i did much less exciting stuff thank you help my kids with end of the year school and then i watch dutton ranch are you watching that by any chance no but is it good because i yellow spin spin off it's fine it's fine i like the girl who plays beth yes very good listen nobody on that show is as good as victor wembanyama and that's where we're starting today's show folks listen hey i'm sure you heard the news victor wembanyama failed his game five test against the thunder he was not good at all four of fifteen shooting six rebounds come on bro you're seven foot four seven foot five you can you should grab every rebound and then he ducked the media afterwards not great not great at all and it gets to the point where people are starting to wonder like shucks hey how could we call this guy the greatest prospect in sports history not just basketball sports history if he can't even win a playoff series against the defending champs and i'm trying to take a deep breath guys i know he had forty one and twenty four in game one and now everybody just expects that on the regular but we had al harrington on the show former indiana pacers forward yesterday and he had some interesting insight into wembanyama because a lot of people are now bailing oh wemby come on he's not delivering every game here's al harrington on wembanyama

[Al Harrington]

struggles so i know we call him an alien but i think for some reason he's actually human guys get tired you know what i'm saying i mean they're wearing on him you know these they're playing every other day and every other day they expecting maximum output out of him obviously defensively there's nothing you can do with them on that end but on the offensive side you know the guys did a great job last night of being overly physical with him making things tough making them catch the ball a little you know further out of his comfort zone and i think if they continue to do that that gives them an advantage he's spot on

[Jason McIntyre]

listen obviously the thunder are going to adjust they're a great team i mean they won the title last year you know they got they're they go ten deep but i do want to preach a little patience and i know you can't really do that in sports as a hot take society you got to come out firing he's either the best or the worst he's awesome or he's chopped liver listen wembanyama has been great in the wins he has not been spectacular in the losses he's also twenty two years old the spurs won thirty four games last year they won sixty two this year decent little jump but j mac wait a minute hey magic johnson got to the finals as a rookie woman yama didn't do that magic johnson went to the lakers who had kareem abdul jabbar who was on his way to being one of the five best players in nba history okay well hey wait jason larry bird olajuwon year two those guys got to the nba finals wemby's not even going to get there again take a deep breath those guys went to college larry bird in year two in the nba was twenty four years old olajuwon was twenty three again slow down i know you want to kill wembanyama but like take a deep breath i mean michael jordan couldn't get to the finals until year seven seven can you imagine if we have to wait for year seven for wembanyama they'll be calling him a bust for the next four years that's how crazy the media has gotten it's like hey whoa jason shaq okay that's the guy shaq got there in year three to the finals they got swept by the rockets shaq got there again that was his second playoff run what happened the year before in shaq's first playoff run they got swept in the first round by the pacers who had the immortal frontline duo of dale davis and rick smiths listen guys this is what i i wanted to do this my whole life so any argument you have bashing wemby i can just bat it down the way wemby patrols the lane okay i love this stuff and again i'm out here defending wemby because i believe in him can we just take a deep breath he was amazing in game one matching that for the entire series is going to be tough and did you look at who helped him out in game one his second best player was dylan harper a rookie who had twenty four points his third best player was steph castle my man castle who's a twenty one year old his point guard in that game dear and fox didn't even play so the spurs are way ahead of schedule i mean i think they were plus six thousand to win the title before the season now they're two games away from the finals are they going to get there well wemby has to show up tonight that's undeniable and i am of the belief that the spurs win they cover the three and a half i think wemby has a really good game and it sets up a saturday night where you're going to have to scrap your weekend plans if you had planned to go camping you better hope somebody's got a generator because you're not going to want to miss wemby in game seven i don't want to go guaranteeing victory in game seven they got to win game six tonight who knows maybe caruso goes bonkers again but i like the spurs tonight i think wemby gets it done and i think everybody's like okay all right wemby is back to being the greatest prospect in sports history i'm getting whiplash from the wimby takes folks now let's move to the nfl and the soap opera that is the philadelphia eagles now i've been out here for a few years now defending jalen hurts i have demanded that mister cowherd every time he refers to hertz refer to him as super bowl mvp jalen hurts but the drama is undeniable between hertz and his former bff aj brown and yesterday for the first time hurts met the media and of course he's peppered with questions hey what's up with you and aj brown and hertz you know very calm cool and collected takes a sip of water makes a little joke and says i haven't talked to aj you know i saw the i saw the beautiful wedding photos it looks like he had a great time i'm happy for him but yeah i haven't talked to him since the end of the season we had a guest on this week who said hold up hold up aj brown and jalen hurts go way back they were on recruiting visits together they were facetiming each other these guys were tight now they haven't spoken not even a text message you can't hit em with a what up bro you you wanna wanna work out wanna throw somewhere nothing i mean i think we all know right now it's very problematic and for some reason everybody seems to be blaming hertz we had james palmer on the show earlier this week talking about hertz and i'm defending him and take a listen to james palmer andy reid

[James Palmer]

told me after jalen lost to the chiefs in that first super bowl meeting it's the best super bowl performance he's ever seen anyone ever play and when the stage gets big jalen hurts usually comes through i've always been told this i think this is the biggest part if jalen fully trusts it he will evolve and he will change that's what sean manion has to do is kind of convince jalen that these are the things we have to do as an organization to be good offensively and jalen will buy in if he fully trusts

[Jason McIntyre]

it yeah it's very weird just the drama it's just never ending do you guys remember when you were young kids in elementary school and you'd be sick and you'd stay home from school and you'd watch like the price is right and love boat and inevitably you know your mom would be watching like a soap opera or something as the world turns and you just tune in and you're like oh it's happening and you've fallen in and out of sleep so then like you know six months later or a year later you're sick again same deal watching these shows and then you notice like this is the same drama that was happening a year ago what is the show and well it's soap operas it's the same nonsense every year okay for like thirty years days of our lives whatever i don't pay attention to soap operas now but i feel like over the last four years it's whether whether it's big dom on the sidelines whether it's people blaming jalen hurts for a bad performance people hating the tush push aj brown upset reading a book on the sideline i don't i still don't know why they had an inflatable bunny rabbit in the locker room like none of this makes sense but it's always nonsense and i could understand if this were my jets a dysfunctional franchise or this were the cleveland browns or the raiders you know just bad franchises with terrible owners who are going nowhere this is the eagles who were in the super bowl twice in the last four years they nearly beat mahomes when jalen hurts was incredible as andy reid told james palmer and then jalen hurts was the mvp when they smashed the chiefs a couple years ago we were there in new orleans fox sent us down there i famously you know i got to toot my own horn here i i told i said the eagles are going to crush him eagles spanked him how is there drama when you have two super bowl trips in four years and one super bowl win so the absolute latest on the aj brown trade ian rapaport great reporter went on last night and said hey as of now there's no deal close for aj brown just know the wording

[Ian Rapoport]

actual trade though you know we're all waiting for june first to happen so the cap hit is in half for the philadelphia eagles and they could trade them i just don't know that it's going to be like snap your fingers and the deal is done because the two sides are where they have been which is the eagles wanting a first round pick in twenty twenty seven the patriots the most likely destination we'll see if someone else rises but patriots the most likely destination not being willing to give up a first round pick as of right now that means they're not particularly close and yeah there's a chance this could drag on for the foreseeable future

[Jason McIntyre]

so you know i was in newspapers magazines started a website this is how your sausage gets made folks everybody knows the eagles have to trade aj brown he's not going to be on the team next year right who wants him well he doesn't want to go to a dumpster fire he's not going to the jets he's not going to the browns i tried to pitch the raiders and people are texting me there's no way he's going there he wants to play for a winner he's a winner so you got the patriots and of course the re reuniting with rabel but the patriots are holding firm well he's not going to go anywhere he wants to come to us so we're not giving you a first if you in what's a loaded draft next year and if you've seen the patriots schedule there's a world where they win seven games and all of a sudden that pick which was expected to be you know in the twenties because the patriots just went to the super bowl maybe that pick is i don't know sixteen then it's a really dangerous pick and a huge win for the eagles but remember last week we saw a report that the rams that's not dead yet with aj brown well that's leaking out because the eagles need to drive up the price of aj brown so that the patriots give them the one so here's what's going to happen in the next you know few days leading up to june first we're going to hear a mystery team emerge lamar jackson perhaps baltimore they didn't upgrade their wide receiver room this off season could we hear the ravens are interested i do believe the raiders name will come up again with mendoza to weakest wide receiver room in the league i mean i was texting a buddy in washington have you seen the washington commander's receiver room it's scary terry mclaurin and dan quinn's on the hot seat would he get traded in the division unlikely very unlikely but if you're desperate maybe it happens so here's jalen hurts at the otas last week talking about aj brown picked the

[Jalen Hurts]

right question to sip on huh no i think for us you know we're focused on learning offense it really doesn't change in terms of our approach to improve you know there's an if obviously been lingering a lingering thing but you know none can replace all the greatness that we we achieve together that sure

[Jason McIntyre]

sounds like somebody who absolutely has played his last down with his former bff aj brown all right we got a monster show coming up some great guests listen lamar jackson i did i i didn't realize how strange things have gotten in baltimore but he's under a lot of pressure hey you know how many playoff wins lamar jackson has i mean i can count them on one hand that's not great for a two time mvp that's next year on the herd be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon eastern nine am pacific on fox sports radio fs one and the iheartradio app this is

[Rob Parker]

rob parker and i'm here with an important public service announcement whatever you do do not listen to the paulie and tony fusco show fox sports radio asked me to do a promo but i'm here to do a no mo as in don't listen to this show no mo the host of two fools from philly who have the dumbest takes ever in all of sports talk and you know if i'm saying that they must really be bad i have no idea why fox sports radio picked this up but i know where to put it down in the trash can so please don't listen to the paulie and tony fusco show no way no how brought

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[Jason McIntyre]

fun off season in baltimore for lamar jackson and the ravens and i say fun because lamar got everything he wanted it's his show now you guys have seen that tom hanks movie captain phillips he's he's tom hanks has that containment vessel the somali pirates take over and tom hanks is trying to like confuse the guys about oh the ship's broken and the guy goes look at me i'm the captain now it's my show well it's lamar jackson show in baltimore why well harbaugh's gone now some people i think it's probably sixty forty seem to think lamar jackson's the reason harbaugh is gone that lamar wanted it his way and he got his way well if that's the truth we don't i mean it still hasn't officially come out but i'm still waiting for lamar's thank you goodbye coach social media post which basically everyone does after their great after the time they spent with a coach they liked i mean josh allen was borderline in tears after mcdermott got fired right i mean lamar got what he wanted it's his show now the pressure's on so lamar spoke this week and and again some of this language is is kind of interesting you got to parse through it but here's lamar jackson when asked about the contract that he's chasing now i just want to keep those conversations private you know we you know we

[Jalen Hurts]

restructured the deal and that's what we have right now what year was that

[Jason McIntyre]

twenty twenty three twenty twenty two twenty

[Jalen Hurts]

twenty two or twenty twenty three that conversation is in twenty twenty two this

[Jason McIntyre]

is twenty twenty six we gonna leave that conversation in twenty twenty two yeah you remember back in twenty twenty two he was asking for fully guaranteed so the media is like are you still asking for that lamar is much more confident in front of the media now it's almost like you know harbaugh's gone this is my show they got jesse minter a coach i mean have you seen the odds for coach of the year gambling markets love jesse minter he's coached zero games in his in his nfl career now harbaugh was the favorite earlier minter has leapfrogged him now so it's a battle of lamar guys for coach of the year and and it's interesting because i love lamar jackson as my fantasy quarterback i don't know if i love him as an nfl quarterback he has two mvp's the numbers the advanced stats have historically been great he did dip to twenty third last year in epa not great one of his worst seasons and the thing that i don't like is at twenty nine we've seen a steady decline the last three years in rushes well that was his superpower the dual threat action i can spin it downfield i can hit the crossing routes and if you guys have everybody locked up well i'm just going to tuck and run because i'm faster than just about anybody and i can dance my way through the raindrops and get to the end zone we're seeing less and less of that so if he's now running less and i would say there's more pressure on him like guys for being completely honest and i keep mentioning this like for whatever reason lamar escapes criticism well they didn't wait beat the bills cause mark andrews dropped that two point conversion never mind lamar was bad in the first half well that game against the the chiefs they were at home remember i bet on the ravens that day i loved them in that game at home in the afc championship well that was a bad game plan that was a horrible game plan they didn't run the football what were they thinking like for whatever reason in all the big playoff games lamar just he doesn't get blamed and you saw his playoff record there on the screen three and five now i know j mack all you do is you say wins are not a quarterback stat they're a team stat correct so josh allen and his team have eight playoff wins drake may and the patriots have three playoff wins all of them last

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year

[Jason McIntyre]

lamar jackson has three playoff wins in his esteemed career he has two mvp's and three playoff wins i mean if you're if you're making a list who are the quarterbacks under the most pressure this year i think you know justin herbert has to be up there right justin herbert doesn't have a playoff win and he's thought of as one of the best quarterbacks in the league now i had my tears yesterday i didn't have herbert in the top tier i had lamar in the top tier but the guys in the top tier win playoff games in super bowls just not josh allen yet but he's got eight playoff wins and it's like what do we do with lamar like is there another quarterback under pressure cj stroud maybe by the way three playoff wins with the texans but like it's gotta be lamar if you run your coach out of town you're about to get a new contract isn't it kind of your show i think the pressure is on lamar in baltimore they made a listen it's a tough decision do you keep the quarterback the face of the franchise the star the engine or do you keep the super bowl winning coach well they made their decision we'll see how that works out for them let's go to rachel nichols with the news

[Jalen Hurts]

no no no turn on the news

[Jason McIntyre]

this is the herd line news jason

[Rachel Nichols]

let's a take stay in the nfl and i want to start with this story that raised eyebrows across the league i know you saw this headline right justin herbert skipped the first week of otas to fly to europe to support his girlfriend madison beer on her music tour now if you're saying to yourself missing practices to quote support your girlfriend what was that conversation with jim harbaugh like well it might not have gone how you think take a listen my

[Jalen Hurts]

first reaction was do you need a ride at the airport you know he's just he's just been somebody that he's just here all the time i mean he's times i've wanted to shoo him out of the building he's at every voluntary every non voluntary workout i'm the same guy that broke his hand and then he was here the next day practicing the next game stiff arming guys so yeah i was happy happy you know good balance

[Rachel Nichols]

i thought this actually brought up kind of an interesting question because it wasn't like that long ago that guys didn't even want to ask off a regular season game in baseball because the birth of their first child right or something like that and then it became like okay you can you can miss a game for your kid being born not the super bowl of course but you know miss a game somewhere what do you think sort of what's the scale like what can you miss for supporting your girlfriend and does it matter obviously it's an ota where are you on this yeah no this

[Jason McIntyre]

is a great question it's a fun topic i mean again we said aj brown wasn't there yesterday for the eagles we don't know where he maybe he's you know on his honeymoon with his new wife i don't know lamar has missed aaron rodgers famously went to egypt now that's a little different right you could schedule a trip to egypt anytime he just happened to schedule when there were otas right so herbert doesn't have control over his girlfriend who by the way is they're at laker games together she's a is she a budding pop star or is she a pop star

[Rachel Nichols]

she's an influencer who's trying they're launching a music career music career okay now

[Jason McIntyre]

that i hear the excuse i don't have a major issue with this do

[Rachel Nichols]

you rachel no i think the combination of it's otas as you said guys miss otas for lots of reasons by the way i think we know why aj brown is missing otas why why i digress something's going on there oh wait you just talked about it you know it's otas and jim makes a great point i mean this is a guy who's in the building all the time yeah so what is he really missing that he doesn't already know but it's interesting to see things go back and forth and i think you know i mean you and i are the same we don't we get sick we

[Jason McIntyre]

don't miss work yeah i i haven't missed a day i don't think since i started at fs one almost ten years ago the anniversary is coming up in like four days my ten year anniversary well a quick question though rachel i just want to ask what about the aspect that mike mcdaniel's coming in new offensive coordinator new offense should i mean should he not be there with his new oc i'm sure they're implementing new concepts now herbert defenders will say well he had like a four point six gpa at oregon he was a biology major i think he could pick up some football concepts jay yeah i

[Rachel Nichols]

mean look fernando mendoza was like i don't want to miss any minute of otas obviously he's new coming into the system but also talk about smart guy i mean he's had like two business degrees already so it's just i think it's a little bit the comfort level for otas it feels like a little bit the comfort level of the player comfort level of the coach i mean i saw this headline and i was like ooh what did jim harbaugh have to say about that because we know how intense jim harbaugh is but by

[Jason McIntyre]

the way the staff tells me madison beer has thirty nine million followers on

[Rachel Nichols]

ig i told you she's an influencer

[Jason McIntyre]

oh my gosh yeah thirty nine what is she like the next kardashian i

[Rachel Nichols]

mean you've got thirty seven million so

[Jason McIntyre]

it's i do not have anywhere near i do follow her i didn't i didn't know she had because once her and herbert started popping up at laker games i'm like who is this person okay you know attractive talented musician i'm always looking for new music musical acts

[Rachel Nichols]

to check out rachel yeah that's very generous of you doesn't hurt what she looks like either yeah not at all let's go back to the nba mark cuban has an idea to fix the nba's problems jason not by shortening the season as a lot of people have said they should but by shortening the games he has joined the chorus of voices who want to go from a forty eight minute game to a forty minute game he says look younger viewers have shorter attention spans right it would cut down on fatigue with players and also you know if you're not out there that long you can't get injured

[Jason McIntyre]

what do you think so is there a choice is it shorter season or

[Rachel Nichols]

shorter games no i mean the nba so far has said we are not doing either one of those things and the argument from a lot of people has been like that totally messes up the record books if you have shorter games or less games no one will ever break lebron's scoring record no one will ever do this or that yeah

[Jason McIntyre]

what do you think so you go forty eight minutes to what like the

[Rachel Nichols]

college game like forty minutes wnba college international games they're all forty minutes here's

[Jason McIntyre]

what i would counter is there data that shows hey if everybody played eight fewer minutes we would see less injuries like i i don't know is there numbers to back that up or is this just you know mark cuban deflecting from his political stunt last week i i don't i don't know i mean i mean look is there anything there

[Rachel Nichols]

people talking about saving jokic what two minutes a game during the regular season and that way he'd be better for the playoffs i mean these guys seem to think it's cumulative my take about the record books i just think this is very silly there are so many changes that happen in sports that affect the record books in baseball dead ball live ball and basketball hand checking not hand checking i mean the rise of the three point shot right so first of all there wasn't a three point shot then there was that changed the record books and then how it was implemented in game plans is from a sort of occasional thing to this is how all our guys shoot reggie miller right one of the best free ball guys of all time just breathtaking with that he was a top he had scored the most three pointers in the nba history from nineteen ninety eight to twenty eleven now in the time since that's a long time in the time since he's been knocked down to seven on that list it's not like he's two or three he's seven because there's been so many three point guys now and like everyone shoots three pointers big men shoot three pointers so the game changes for the record books all the time i don't know i could first i would like to see less games but less minutes is a start so

[Jason McIntyre]

it's interesting you and i agree less games ain't happening because the owners aren't taking no one wants to lose a

[Rachel Nichols]

dollar baby you're a billionaire you can't

[Jason McIntyre]

lose dollar two who's the loser in shorter games is it the tv product

[Rachel Nichols]

fewer ads to sell fewer ads to sell you know with some people you know mark says fans will like it better because it'd be like more action packed you know younger people attention spans there might be people paying for tickets though who will say well you're giving me you know this percentage less product why are my ticket prices it is

[Jason McIntyre]

weird that the nba people keep talking about less less games less time nfl wants to expand more games more international travel these are weird times everybody wants more or less there's there's no middle ground i personally i don't know i think the nba is just fine i don't know other than the flopping which we're going to be doing in five minutes that's going to get heated but i i don't think like i don't i i wish there was an easy answer i do hate the injuries that's obvious right i don't know what the

[Rachel Nichols]

solution is there i just i don't think these big bodies and sort of the spirit the guys play much quicker than they did sort of in the era they're coming out of they cover so much more ground i think it's a mile more per game than it was before it's okay it's weak what

[Jason McIntyre]

about expanding rosters add a roster spot

[Rachel Nichols]

yeah there's been a lot of question about that too coaches play your bench

[Jason McIntyre]

right remember thibodeau would never play his bench last year i have no idea and the guys wore down yeah mike brown plays his bench like play your

[Rachel Nichols]

bench yeah well again i would say i think this i'm with mark i think this is a good change but we'll see if it actually happens we gotta talk about my guy jaden mcdaniels oh yes come on jason you know it's my guy i was waiting for you to jump in there you know my guy rookie of the year in twenty twenty four and then last season did that even happen i'm not sure it happened i don't know sprains and strains to his knee hamstring left elbow it was just kind of a disaster season the schedule got a lot tougher too but didn't go well and so listen to what he had to say about where he was and where he

[Jaden McDaniels]

hopes to be it left a bitter taste in my mouth from last year and just how everything played out so you kind of just go in that that off season and just figure out ways to mentally get better physically and emotionally and everything i mean it sucked it wasn't like i wouldn't say it was like what i wanted or it was fun for me because i love football and i love it but the passion didn't change i mean it just made it more kind of like i guess a miserable feeling not be able to go out there and do what

[Rachel Nichols]

i got to do now jason you know they changed offensive coordinators and he's installing a new system to have jaden under center more and not always be running out there i don't know what do you think do you feel like that's a good move it's going to lead to having less injury better better season for him yeah i feel like

[Jason McIntyre]

we've heard that about a bunch of quarterbacks lately right jalen hurts they want to under center more because i guess you're you don't know what's coming everything

[Rachel Nichols]

out of the gun like you are more vulnerable everybody knows that yeah so

[Jason McIntyre]

we'll see what do you think of the new oc i liked kingsbury a

[Rachel Nichols]

lot yeah i mean certainly had great pedigree right but yeah clearly it wasn't working right because yes the injuries of course were part of that but there was just a lot of sort of dissonance between different parts of the offense last year so i you know i'll take it and he's happy he says he's happy he says he like it head coach says he likes it i

[Jason McIntyre]

mean how good are the skill position players for washington like i think everyone

[Rachel Nichols]

on the roster is fantastic i mean

[Jason McIntyre]

i just don't know after terry mclaurin i was looking at it it's like luke mccaffrey like i you look at

[Rachel Nichols]

the division they had a crop of older players who were just sort of at the end of their peak in twenty twenty four and that and a low strength of schedule and some luck got them to the championship game didn't happen in any of those categories last year and their qb the best guy on the team was hurt half the time yeah you know we'll see this year and part of the thing oh and the guy was hurt off the all the time half the time is that this is designed not to have him hurt half the time this is specifically a move to have him less

[Jason McIntyre]

vulnerable so you know so dan quinn would you agree hot seat i mean nfc championship missed playoffs i think if they miss again he might we'll see who's on the market that's sort of

[Rachel Nichols]

the tone of the season right because last season it was sort of felt like hey everything went wrong yeah wasn't his fault everything went wrong you have another season where it feels like a lot's gone wrong or oh man those are some weird head scratching coaching decisions then i think he's more on the hot seat but i would wait to see that i think we're maybe a

[Jason McIntyre]

year away from that okay fair enough we'll see rachel with the news well

[Rachel Nichols]

that's the news and thanks for stopping

[Jason McIntyre]

by the herd lie news listen i came into the building today thinking we were going to go in on flopping and i get a little too heated about it so the next segment we will talk about this flopping saga and earlier today rachel sent me a clip online of hey here's the forty four times sga fell to the floor in the playoffs ranked from worst to best adam silver though came out yesterday and was like i don't think this is a pressing issue what is he talking about that's next year on the herd be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon eastern nine

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[Jason McIntyre]

comes from public huh i wonder if this can beat the market everyone's talking about the nasdaq one hundred but let's get more specific software actually too broad how about software that's already profitable companies that beat the last five quarters oh and i want founders who are marathon runners that's discipline yes yeah let's see

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[Rachel Nichols]

credit card football league regular season wraps up with week ten action first fox ufl friday featuring the dallas renegades the saint louis battle hawks eight o' clock eastern then on sunday is the louisville kings against the columbus aviators six pm only on fox

[Jason McIntyre]

all right strap in because this topic is going to anger some people mostly in the heartland specifically the dust bowl folks listen it's i don't care how much you like the thunder or how much you love sga you have to admit the flopping is out of control okay and we said this after like game two the morning after thunder spurs games the autopsy is rarely about the actual play and it's all about the flopping and sga falling to the ground just faking like oh my gosh i got clobbered he he just collapses like he's helpless and he got shot i mean he's just trying to sell fouls all the time it is a major factor okay and in i'm a big soccer guy so i do know that in soccer especially the epl flopping or what they call simulation it was a big deal you know the referee shielded he can't see and then you fake it in the box and you get a pk and you get a goal that was a real thing so they instituted var and that helps to stamp it out they also put in some harsh rules where after the match when they watch the video if if it's very clear you flopped and won a call you can get a card after that and you can earn suspensions now we had jovan buha on the show earlier earlier this week and he actually talked about something similar with listen the flopping's out of control maybe they need to treat flopping like technical fouls here's yovon i think it's

[Jovan Buha]

hard to assess it in the moment right like i mean you can i don't think we want to add more reviews to the games already there are too many reviews and the review process takes too long maybe you could have retroactive fining or or technical fouls for flops i think that would cut that out right like if shay imagine shay getting suspended because he had sixteen flopping technicals that would i think that would deincentivize him to do that right so i i think maybe you could do something like that but nothing with more

[Jason McIntyre]

reviews now just a reminder this is not me pushing flopping this is not some jabronis on the internet mike brown and the knicks went to a game in okc this season and mike brown was irate cause sga shot a million free throws and he's like this this is embarrassing chris finch of the timberwolves one of the top coaches in the league has been beating this drum for a couple of years now you've got former players going online terrence ross is just saying this is out of control former's great shooter and then it really hit a crescendo this week when an online outfit called underdog sports partnered up with dylan brooks yes dylan brooks that same dylan brooks who's on the canadian national team with sga and they made a fake video game if you guys remember the game operation back in the day where you have to you know pull out do operate on people and if you hit the side with your tweezers it goes off and you lose they did one with sga and flopping now initially this was just an internet story sga has since sued and set a cease and desist to underdog saying get this off the market you can't sell anymore this is inappropriate folks underdog has responded by saying i don't know we're talking we're capturing the zeitgeist right now and they're pushing back and obviously they're getting huge promotion out of this underdog's a fantasy gambling outfit that now more people heard of because they made fun of sga and sga is pushing back so we also had kevin o' connor on the show this week he's talking the reporter yahoo sports listen to what he had to say about the thunder smiling at refs and really selling

[Kevin O'Connor]

stuff i think there's two sides of it the thunder do complain more i think they try to work the officials more almost sometimes with like a smile on their face right when they try to do it a little bit of manipulation tactic that way rather than just outwardly crying about it like you see luca do what other stars have done over the years and sga definitely does embellish and fall more often than others that said all of that said it's not like the thunder are outliers in free throw rate this entire postseason they're not being rewarded with it with this

[Jason McIntyre]

flopping and flailing around yes to be clear it's less about free throw rate and it's more about just simply the theatrics the flopping the falling the selling calls and the worst part is sga is a really good player we're talking about the league's two time mvp getting his pants pulled down by a national audience who's calling him a flopper this is an incredible chart here that our staff put together here are the players in this century who have made more free throws than baskets in the postseason sga tops the list he's got more made free throws than he does baskets i mean does it not have is it not a terrible look for the league when he makes seven baskets and scores thirty points you're like wait how oh he's selling calls i mean adam silver and listen we don't have the audio he went on the former punters radio show and talked about hey man players are taught to sell calls these days i don't see it as a pressing issue now listen i'm not sandbagging here obviously not everybody agrees with me me and rachel are in alignment john hollinger came on and was like i think tanking's worse than this i totally disagree okay this is a great draft this is an exceptional year for talent yeah a lot of people wanted to tank and tanking gotcha wembanyama tanking gotcha zion hasn't panned out but tanking does work flopping also works but it's horrible folks and rachel was on this early she's like listen if the thunder win this we're going to have a situation now where we're going to have five days of talking about flopping leading into the nba finals the new york knicks i know silver's all wrapped up in the knicks he is so thankful that the new york knicks are in the finals the biggest media tv market in the country thank you knicks so he's all geeked on that and i get that but i think he's whiffing here rachel saying that this is not a pressing issue i know adam silver is very much in the weeds he's big online i'm not saying he's watching us now but he does watch this show he's been on the show for him to say this is not a pressing i mean again the knicks called out sga earlier this season and now they are maybe gonna face the thunder in

[Rachel Nichols]

the finals well look adam specifically the nba in general very savvy about their pr adam silver is not going to go on television in the middle of a conference finals and say hey our superstar two time mvp is trying to cheat the rules like he's not going to do that so that quote to me was exactly what he should have said it was the exact right thing to say if you're adam silver it might just not be as accurate for the fan experience as far as the board game stuff you know my take always is if you don't like it then stop it right so that's what i say about you know there's unwritten rules at the end of a basketball game you don't like that they ran down the court and scored another point just don't lose right that's how you stop that same thing with sga and it's it's his decision but if he doesn't like that this is the conversation around him if he wants his lawyers to send a cease and desist to this board game there's a great way to stop this conversation stop doing it

[Jason McIntyre]

yeah that's easy it's a it's also a problem when al harrington comes on our show and says i'm like al who's going to win game five he's like well it depends on the whistle yeah like is that what you want like can you imagine going into a huge nfc playoff game well we'll see how it's officiated you don't want that crap well you want the players to

[Rachel Nichols]

determine the product yeah and here's where the officials could step in without changing anything yovon is actually it's already a technical foul so i'm not sure if you realize that it's already a technical foul they just don't enforce it so we say points of emphasis going into a season with the nfl the nba this could be a point of emphasis

[Jason McIntyre]

yeah very dicey topic coming up next we got ben volen coming on to talk all things nfl and yes there is a lebron update oh lakers be careful

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[Jason McIntyre]

podcast network this is an iheart podcast guaranteed human