THE HERD – HOUR 1 – LeBron and Lakers both won the divorce I Caleb Williams vs Drake Maye

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Here we go. It is a Thursday. Bears hosting the Patriots tonight in Chicago. We are live. It is the Herd, wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. All right. So sometimes businesses, teams, people get a divorce and one side wins. I really honestly believe LeBron and the Lakers divorce, they both win. Lakers opened their season last night at home against the nostalgia tour known as the Warriors, which I don't find that interesting anymore.

But I.

Not just a score. Walker Kessler, finally a legitimate rim runner and rim protector. J.J. Redick, an ascending young coach that Luka loves. Switchable wing defenders to protect Luka and Reeves, who are not good defenders. The LeBron divorce was necessary. LeBron needed people that could protect his weakness, defense, young players.

defensive-minded guys like a Jalen Brown, Vijay Edgeco. He needed them to protect his weakness, and he needed new young people because LeBron's old. He doesn't give you that juice and energy, although he's great. And by the way, Luka needed a reboot. I love LeBron, but he takes the oxygen out of the room. You're watching Luka and LeBron on the floor. You're like, who's the leader? Who gets the final shot? Well, it should be Luka. Well, he's not 100%. And LeBron's always in great shape. And Luka's not in great shape. And now it's Luka's team. And that's what they needed. And the hard part of the NBA is finding your go-to superstar, check Luka, and finding a young coach who the player likes, a young ascending coach, J.J. Redick, check. Now,

the third piece of that that the Lakers landed is Walker Kessler. In the Wemby era, he's our Kareem. You gotta have... a rim protector, you got to have a legit big. And this kid's going to benefit. I mean, he averages nine a game in his career. Walker Kessler was 12 to 12 last night. He's the biggest winner, all this stuff. Now the Lakers will add size over the next two years. You can't beat Wemby with one center.

Look what OKC is doing. They're stockpiling bigs. You got to throw waves and waves and waves and waves. So the Knicks did. Here we got Kat. We got Mitchell Robinson. You got to throw waves at Wemby. So Walker Kessler's a start. But the hardest thing in this league is superstar offensively ascending young coach. And now a big we're in the Kareem Wemby era. Like you got to have multiple bigs. People say they overpaid for Kessler. I don't know.

Do you think he was overpaid last night? He was 12 for 12. Do you think Walker Kessler, I kept arguing all offseason, well, he's been injured. Well, so was Austin Reeves. So was Luka. Yes, that's a very big question. That is a very big question. Could we get 70 games each? But the idea that Walker Kessler's overpaid, my take was always, well, I'm sure back in the Lawrence Taylor era, left tackles were overpaid. You know, the Tom Brady era, everybody in his division would overpay an overdrafted edge rushers, right? So you've got to have bigs. And that's why the Knicks beat the Spurs. They had multiple talented bigs. That's why Oklahoma City can beat the Spurs on any given night. Multiple waves of bigs. So Walker

Kessler's a start. I think they need to add more size. But what I felt watching the Lakers last night, we have a plan. It's not just a bunch of who's leading, Luka or LeBron. Old guy, nobody's a great defender. I see a legitimate rim protector, a rim runner, length, catch and shoot guys. It's not a winning championship roster. They need more size probably. But you watch the Lakers the last several years and you're like, well, I don't know exactly who should have the ball. Who's the leader? Who's protecting the rim? they've checked a lot of boxes. I mean, I watched it last night. I'm like, oh, that's encouraging.

I can see the plan. And we always talk about this. We always talk about the plan, not just getting a guy. What do you do once you have the guy? What do you protect him with? If you have Luka as your star, there's a way to build around him. It didn't matter with LeBron in his prime. Just give him four starters. He'll figure it out. It didn't matter to Michael Jordan much in his prime. He'd figure it out or Kareem or Magic in their prime. But when you have Luka, a dominant offensive player, A play initiator needs the ball. There are things you need around him. A legitimate guy to protect the rim, guys on the wing, switchable wing defenders, catch and shoot guys. They may get the ball late in the clock. So this works. This

is a real NBA team. I don't think it's OKC right now or Philly or New York or whoever, San Antonio. But a lot of being a sports fan is connecting the dots and saying, oh, I see where we're going. Sports is not that complicated. Do we have the things you need to be able to compete against great teams?

Last couple years with Luka and LeBron's been complete fool's gold. I've rolled my eyes. Laker fans hate me. You don't like.

No, no, no.

It was just a bunch of nonsense. It was three guys that can't defend. No rim protector. No switchable wing defenders. This is a real team. It's not a great team yet, but it's going to be fun to watch. Cross your fingers on Lucas Health, Reeves Health, and Walker Kessler. I pushed back day one. Everybody said they're overpaying for Walker Kessler.

I don't buy that at all. There is no overpaying for a legitimate shot blocker to protect Luca and engage with Wemby. You can't overpay for that. There's just a limited number of bigs. I mean, that's why OKC went and got Mara. Did you watch Mara? Even a few minutes, you're like, oh, yeah, that works. That's what you got to have. And if you're the Lakers, you're looking at Wemby and OKC. How do we match up with that?

OKC's got a wave of bigs, and San Antonio's got Wemby. You can't overpay for Walker Kessler. So I thought it was really, really encouraging, and I think Luka– Now, can we get to Dallas, Luca? It's your team. Take the responsibility. Be in great shape. That's very hard to do with LeBron, and that's not a criticism. But the Sixers got what they needed. Maturity, distribution, championship pedigree. They got that. That's what the Sixers needed. They didn't need another young guy who could score. That's not, they needed championship. The Lakers needed some oxygen back into the room and they got it.

It's Lucas team with JJ Redick. And here, here's Luke after this is the Lakers.

You know, it's one of the biggest organizations in the world. If not the biggest, uh, some very, it's a very, uh, a lot of honor, uh, just to be the, the face of the franchise. And, you know, I hope I can stay here long and, um, It doesn't feel, I mean, not different, but like I said, it's very much an honor and just.

Enjoy this moment. Okay, so tonight, Bears hosting the Patriots. And I just use the word plan. NFL teams that don't really know what they're doing think once you get the star quarterback, we are home free.

The Bears.

And the Patriots understood getting the star quarterback, Caleb and Drake May, is step one. Step two, don't go cheap. Get an elite coach, Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel. Ben doubled the win total first year. Vrabel tripled it. That's only the second part of the plan. The third part's really important is protective. The Colts got Andrew Luck, thought they had the right coach, never had a good offensive line.

The Cincinnati Bengals have screwed up Burrow. He can't even make the playoffs. Why? Because they got the quarterback, but they went discount on the coach. Yeah, they got a receiver, but they never had a good offensive line. That's why Joe Burrell can't even make the playoffs. For years, the Jaguars have screwed up Trevor Lawrence until they finally got the hottest offensive coach on the market, Liam Cohen. What do you know? They win virtually every week. It's not just get the quarterback. So many of these organizations, the Bengals or the Colts or Jacksonville, then they go discount on the coach. It really is a three-step plan. Get the coach or the quarterback first. Let's just say you got to find the quarterback in the draft. Find the star.

This is what the Bears did and this is what the Patriots did. They got the quarterback in the draft and then Within a year, let's get the hottest coach on the market. Vrabel was the hot veteran commodity. Ben was the hot young commodity. And then both attack the offensive line. Vrabel drafts a left tackle. Ben Johnson spends money on the interior O-line. Ryan Poles figured it out.

He's a former offensive lineman, Bears GM. If you're going to buy the Maserati, you've got to have the insurance policy, and that is the O-line. It's not just get weapons. You can find armor on St. Brown in the fourth round. I mean, look at Matt Stafford. He had Calvin Johnson. They could never figure out great O-lines. And then when the Lions finally get Jared Goff and have a legitimate big-time GM, what do they do? Panay Sewell. They draft tackles.

You can find Jameer Gibbs, Amaran St.

Brown.

You can find those guys. Find the quarterback, spend big money on a legitimate red-hot coaching hire, and protect him. And that's what they've done. Both these quarterbacks have helpful run games. Both have workable tight ends. A Hunter Henry, a Colston Loveland, a Cole Komet. Wide receivers are hard to find. Some pan out, some don't. That's always no first-round position. Bust more than wide receiver. But Patriots' back-to-back seasons, first round, they go to the offensive line. That's a plan.

It's not just, uh, it's Vrabel, figure the O-line out. We'll get the weapons later. That's what Ben Johnson did. First thing Ben Johnson's like, figure the O-line out. Some of the weapons hit, some of them don't. But I think what you're watching is like real plans. And Caleb's going to get a lot of attention. Chicago's a big sports town, middle of the country. Caleb's game's very dynamic.

But Ben Johnson talked about this week what he sees with Drake Maye.

It's a dangerous combination of a guy that's an elite deep ball thrower along with he can crush you with his legs also. And I think that combination is deadly. And it's really picked up steam over these last three games. You can see that their offense is putting up points in bunches right now, three-game winning streak, and a ton of explosive plays throughout.

And it sounds easy, get the quarterback. But I think Cincinnati has never spent big money on a coach, and they can't figure out the O-line. And even Joe Burrow can't make it. Andrew Luck retired early. Trevor Lawrence, a great talent, bouncing around, can't get anything to really work. Oh, then they find Liam Cohen's absolutely red hot. Let's go spend money on him. I can give you a million examples of had the Carson Palmer Cincinnati. You had your 20-year guy. Couldn't get it right. So credit to the Bears front office and the Bears ownership and the Patriots front office and the Patriots ownership. It is not just the quarterback. I can give you 10 where they butchered it.

Spend money on your Shanahan. Go spend money. What did McVay do when he got to the Rams? The hottest coach, Andrew Whitworth, left tackle, stole him from the Bengals. Bengals, yeah, you could have one of the best left tackles. Go ahead and take him. So... By the way, the Patriots' first-round draft pick staff just told me that Caleb Lomu did not give up a pressure or a sack last week.

And he was going up against David Bailey of the Jets, who's having a remarkable rookie season for the Jets. Didn't give up a sack or a pressure. First two years, Vrabel, O-line, O-line, up front. That's the plan. All right. I know J-Mac is feeling it with Luka. He's already got him penciled into the number three spot in the West.

I tried to tell you guys yesterday, the day before, keep an eye on Luka and Walker Kessler, who basically is, what, the new Jabbar, the new Wilt?

I mean, he didn't miss a shot. He had like 10 dunks.

He is. Yeah, there was a lot of pushback on what they paid him. And, you know, it's like when you were young in your 20s, I know I was. I had a car that caught on fire. I'm not joking. It was an AMC Pacer. It was 1987. So when you're young and you can't consistently get to work or get things, you can't pay enough for good transportation. Spend the extra money, either buy a really high-end used car or a nice car. You can't spend enough. When you've had trouble getting to work, you spend what you got to spend on transportation. We have the next Kareem. His name is Wemby. Look at what Sam Presti's doing in OKC.

We can't have enough waves of big people. And so like like Walker Kessler is a necessity. He is a left tackle and you're in a division with Lawrence Taylor rushing the quarterback. You can't pay enough for your left tackle. Just do it. And so I will defend what the Lakers, you know, I will defend that signing.

By the way, we're going to spend like three months trying to figure out where to let Steph Curry lands because we cannot continue this. This Warriors team is is horrible. I don't want to see Curry go out like this.

I don't.

Get him onto a contender and let's see him play in the playoffs.

That second half last night was unwatchable. The Warriors are horrible, Colin.

And they're such a bad matchup to these Lakers.

Jimmy Butler's not coming back until February or something like that.

Okay. Ant was pretty interesting last night. By the way, Brian Kelly and our. Brady Quinn, both pushback, not on Arch Manning, on Sark. That's very rare when a former coach is willing to criticize a current high-profile coach. All that coming up live in Chicago.

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Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon, and comment away. You're now entering the no bull zone sponsored by Credible. Great rate. None of the bull. So, listen, there are certain things NFL GMs, all of them talk about. As the Seahawks host the Chiefs this week, I think it's as good as any NFL game so far this season. And Brett Veach is a great GM. And all GMs know, you do not sign running backs to massive deals, second deals, especially if they've had a few injuries or they're heavy carry guys. But you can't be rigid in this league.

The Chiefs, and I'm looking at all the numbers from 2018 to 25, they were a terrible run team. And as Mahomes was coming off an ACL surgery and would be less mobile, presumably, They're like, it's supposed to be a buy low, sell high league. And the Chiefs were like, well, we're going to buy high because we have a massive hole.

You can't be terrible at anything in the NFL. A lot of people pay attention to Seattle letting them go. The bigger story is Brett Veach really paid a lot for a guy with a lot of carries who'd been dinged up a little bit from Michigan State on. He was a great player. But remember, in Seattle, he split carries.

He wasn't even their goal line back in Seattle. He was between the 20 back. Charbonnet was the goal line back. He was the one scoring the touchdowns. And Seattle had to make a big-time decision. And there's an understanding in the NFL, everybody likes to play based on results. Everybody knew Kansas City was getting a really good player. But even you were surprised he was this good, right? And probably Seattle is, and Kansas City maybe a little. But what Kansas City did is not recommended. And I'll give you an example. Saquon Barkley. Oh, pay him whatever he wants. Yeah, he got you a Super Bowl last two years. Production dips.

Production dips worse. So there's an understanding in the league. You just don't pay second big contracts to running backs with a lot of carries, especially if they've been dinged up. Saquon Barkley. OK, you got the ring. But I mean, now you're kind of in a spot where there's rumors they may move him. And Kenneth Walker looks fantastic. Cross your fingers on health. But when you say, well, Seattle basically signed Rashid Shahid. Well, was he pretty valuable last year for the Seahawks, the special teams? Why did they beat the Rams? One of the primary reasons, Seahawks had great special teams. Rams had terrible special teams. Shahid was giving Seattle better field position. And the other thing is,

if DeJarian Price, the rookie running back from Notre Dame that Seattle drafted into the first round, let's be honest about this. If he was healthy and didn't get hurt, Seattle would be very good. Because Sam Darnold, like Patrick Mahomes, is way better with an elite run game. Last year on play action, Darnold was over 115 or– let me see.

What was his– oh, his passer rating was 123 play action. What is Darnold's passer rating on play action this year? 52 because his top two backs are out. So I think it's one of those situations where it is easy to say, well, I mean, look. I mean, how do you let him go? You got a lot of mouths to feed when you win a Super Bowl and you had to pay JSN and you had to spend money on Devin Witherspoon. Those guys set market leading contracts. They didn't get well paid. They are top of the market deals.

And I would have paid both. You cannot let JSN go best receiver on any Sunday in this sport. And Witherspoon on any Sunday is the best corner. You've got to pay that. I don't got to pay Kenneth Walker. I'd like to, but we don't have a second receiver that scares anybody. So, Rasheed. like, well, he's a burner.

You got to, but you can use them in jet sweeps. You can put them in the backfield. He has world-class speed. He gives us better field position. These are all tough decisions. But you have to pay Witherspoon. You have to pay JSN. And that's what this sport is. You're trying to ideally buy low, draft guys not paying anything, and then the minute they're good players, not great, let somebody else pay for them. Kansas City got into a situation for five, six years. They were atrocious at running back. So they're like, we're going to pay top of the market, whatever. We're going to pay for it. And it was the right decision.

But Shahid averaged 41.8 yards per return last year in the postseason. Number one by a mile. A big part of why Seattle won the Super Bowl. Darnold, no turnovers. And the field position on kicks was unbelievable. And if Jadarian Price doesn't get hurt, Darnold has a play-action game. And we saw last year, he's elite when he's got a run game. So I think we're looking at the results.

We're looking at injuries. It's early in the year. All you have to do is go back to the end of last season when Seattle made that move to get that Saints guy that nobody knew much about. He was huge in the postseason. Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news.

This is the Herdline News.

All right, Colin, we got to go to a spicy NBA story from last night. So obviously the Lakers beat the Warriors handily, pulled away in the second half. But the story was Luka Doncic against a rookie from Michigan, Jaxa Lendeborg. Lendeborg, a great college basketball player, wanted all the smoke from Luka. And as you can see there, they got into it in the first half. Lendeborg complaining about Luka. Luka, mouth back. And Colin, it did not stop.

It was like an eight-minute stretch where they kept arguing. This is where it gets ugly. After the game, Lendeborg was asked. This was his first NBA game ever. He was asked about Luka Doncic, and here's what he had to say.

I had a lot of respect for him. You know, just because, just watching. I didn't really watch the NBA much. I just watched highlights. Seeing him, you know, kill people all the time. But then being in there firsthand and just watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect, man. Like, that was awful. Like, me getting frustrated, it's not about, like, the foul being called. It's about, like, him complaining the entire game. And then you get the foul called. Congratulations, bro.

And then you talk to me like you did something great. Bro, come on, dog. That's just weak, you know? So it kind of, like, it kind of threw me off for a little while because, you know, like I said, I had so much respect for him.

Gone, man. Gone.

Oh, I like that. That's a rivalry.

I love that.

Wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on.

You like that. Why?

Well, because I think NBA is a long season. When you can get rivalries, it could be Yankee Red Sox. It could be player-on-player rivalry. So the Warriors and the Lakers have a rivalry, and now the Lakers star... an offensive machine against Yaxel, who's going to be a good NBA player, who is a willing defender, and he's the Warriors' young future. And all of a sudden, game one, he's talking trash to Luka. This is what sports is all about.

I love it. Game one. Yeah.

He just put a target on his back. You think SGA watched those highlights and heard that interview and said.

Oh, please come and guard me.

I can't wait to sauce you up. Like Luca got all the tricks in the book. Look at that right there. There was no contact by Lindenborg. Luca sold it.

Got the call.

Yaxa was ticked. Then Luca hits the half court three points at him and says, keep talking, young guy. Like, again, I like talking trash. You know that, Colin? If I'm Lindenborg, I'd say, hey, man, that was a welcome to the NBA moment. I learned a lot on my opening night.

I don't add fuel to the fire.

You know, Lucas circled this game on the calendar, next game against Lindenborg. The guy who talked trash said he lost respect for me.

Basketball is a trash-talking sport. I don't care if it's on the pavement, it's at the YMCA. There is Michael could talk a little bit about birds, the world's biggest trash talker. Not everybody is. Gary Payton was a world class trash talker. LeBron will get in your face if you get in his. I think that's part of the fun of basketball. It's a it's a little bit of a trash talking sport. By the way, the fans are right next to the court so they can hear it. So, I mean, sometimes the fans talk trash to players. So I kind of bake it in. I am OK. Like when Westbrook would get unraveled and go after, you know, yell at fans like that. That's not great. You don't want that. But I have no problem if Westbrook was

talking trash to somebody who's guarding him. Like, I like that.

In game one of your career, it felt a little early for the young fella to pop off. By the way, Luka did have 28 in the game, but only shot one of six with Lendeborg as a primary defender.

He's a great player. He's a great young prospect. He had a great summer league. He's a good preseason. Lendeborg is a big... He's older for a college kid. He's a big body. He is a highly confident player. I think I wish they had three of Linda Borg because I think the Warriors have become a nostalgia to her.

They need another one of his kind of body types. I love the fact that he's not intimidated by Luka and willing to go after him.

Yeah, I'm excited for him to go up against LeBron James. SGA, Jason Tatum. Like, it sounds like he wants the assignment. At one point, Colin, he was upset with the fouls. He put his hands behind his back and was guarding Luka. That's a sign to the ref, like, hey, you're going to call all this crap. I'm just not going to use my hands. I personally love this. This is great for the league. And, you know, maybe you're right. Lendeborg takes the baton when they move on from Curry.

Well, I mean, Draymond's past his prime and can still defend. But, I mean, if you want to be viable in this league, you've got to have young players. Now, you say, well, what about the Knicks? Well, their players are not all old. They're in their prime. You can't be an old team. The Warriors' two best players are old. They have size issues.

They have injury concerns. So, again, I would rather have a young rookie come in wildly confident than, you know, a couple yesterday, Jason Tatum disappears, won't attack the rim. That drives me nuts. You're a pro athlete, man. Be aggressive.

Totally get it.

All right, let's move back to the NFL and the monster Sunday afternoon tilt in the NFC North. Lions-Packers. Lions kind of pinging around. I saw three and a half down to three now, Colin. And let's focus on Jared Goff. He is the only starting quarterback who has not thrown an interception through five games.

Not one.

He's off to a great start.

Here's Matt LaFleur, glowing praise for the great Jared Goff.

Yeah, he's done an unbelievable job. I mean, to not throw an interception... all season long, five games in for them is pretty impressive. And he does a great job in terms of just, if you give him a sliver of light, he's going to, he's going to thread the needle.

Yeah.

Every era has a quarterback that you look back years ago. I mean, I can go back to like the eighties, Neil Lomax, Neil Lomax, the Cardinals. He put up huge numbers played at Portland state and, And you never hear Neil Lomax's name. And it's like, that guy was unbelievable. He was a machine. And you get guys like this in eras where nobody talks about the quarterback. You're going to look up at Jared Goff because he's going to play eight more years. He never gets hurt. And he's going to be all over the NFL record book. He's going to be third place for this and fourth place for that and fifth place. You're like, Jared Goff? He never gets hurt. No drama. Smart enough kid. Always available.

And again, I think Jordan Love is more athletic. He throws a better deep ball. But in terms of like 18 yards in, read a defense, get rid of it quickly. Goff is going to go down as one of those guys. I grew up in the 70s with guys like Ken Anderson or Brian Seip, and nobody talks about Jim Hart. And all these guys could spin it. Now, everybody knows Dan Fouts, but if Dan Fouts was part of Eric Correa, everybody knew Dan was great. But there are these guys that will go 10, 12 years, and nobody mentions them.

And you're like, yeah, I watched him play. Goff is tremendous. Yeah.

Be real with me.

Jim Hart.

Is that a made-up name? I thought that was a WWE.

Wrestler back in the day. Brett the Hitman Hart and his partner Jim Hart.

I mean, come on.

Interesting, Colin.

The Lions injury report yesterday. Coming off the bye. Got a little healthier. Branch is back. They're a great defensive back in the secondary. Detroit center. Cade Mays is back.

Keep an eye. I like the Motor City. I am leaning Detroit on this one. Yeah.

Packers, listen, they punch above their weight class against the sad sack Cowboys. They're not that good of a defense. OK, let's let's come on. They're not that good defense.

I agree.

All right.

Let's go to the final story. And the 49ers, they're 6-0.

They're hot.

They're the Super Bowl favorites.

And everybody's wondering, hey, can Kyle Shanahan finally break through and win a chip? So I'm sure you remember Roddy White.

He had a good run in the NFL.

Yeah, nice career.

All-pro receiver. I think he was all NFL one year.

Yeah, Roddy was a good player.

He went on the Kay Adams podcast and was asked about Kyle Shanahan, will he ever win a ring? Because they were there together one year in Atlanta. Here's Roddy White on Kyle Shanahan.

They start like this every year. That team starts very fast every year.

The only time they haven't started fast is when they had everybody.

Hurt in college.

Tough situations and pressure situation, the over-aggressive play calls always get him in trouble.

And I think that's just his mentality. He doesn't play situational football well.

That's the only thing that I think that's really like a knock on his game.

Well, let's look at his red zone numbers through the career. Let's look at his third down numbers. I don't know if that's true. I mean, Roddy played with him. I don't think... I think it's easy when you haven't won a Super Bowl to say you'll never win a Super Bowl.

I think.

kyle and his dad are brilliant guys i think kyle is everything you want from a coach i think the only criticism i've ever had he can get a little tied to his play sheet where i do wish sometimes when trailing late in games he would kind of move off the play sheet blow it up a little bit but you know he has great trust in it that's his bible that's what he believes in he's he has the best play sheet in the league he's the only guy that works sean mcveigh But Andy Reid's one of those coaches where if stuff's not working, Andy will blow it up at halftime. Just start over. And Shanahan, this is my interpretation. He's a little tied to the play sheet.

But I can never make a proclamation or be a referendum that he'll never win a Super Bowl. Josh Allen's too good not to win a Super Bowl. Kyle Shanahan's too good not to win a Super Bowl. Yeah.

Listen, I spent some time digging into these bad losses that Shanahan had. Two in the NFC title game, two in the Super Bowl. And I'm not going to go too long here.

Just let's be real. One of them, Brock Purdy gets hurt against the Eagles in the first quarter.

That game's cooked. I think they had Christian McCaffrey filling in it or a running back filling in at quarterback. That's how bad that was. Forget that one. They lose an NFC championship to the Rams here at SoFi.

I was there.

The Rams just had an amazing game-winning drive, and Jimmy Garoppolo couldn't answer.

That's not on Shanahan. The Super Bowls.

You lost to Mahomes in the Super Bowl twice, Colin. Once, you scored in overtime, and then Mahomes came down and got a touchdown.

Not really on Kyle. The other one, you're leading by.

11 in the second half, and Mahomes goes nuclear with a bomb to Tyreek Hill, flips the game over. Again, I just don't think that– I think that Kyle Shanahan bashing is overboard, man.

I'm with you. Excellent coach.

I don't think many are bashing him. I think this is rare. This is why it's a story because it never happens. Nobody ever criticizes it. Yeah, I think he's really good. J-Mac with the news.

Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by.

The Herdline News.

We got a lot of good stuff today. We got a lot of good– Greg Cosell's coming up, top of next hour. I think it's an interesting World Series. I don't think market size will matter as much as people think. Brian Kelly kind of taking a shot at Sark. I have got a Sark theory. And literally this morning, I came in with a theory, and my staff found all these stats that backed up my theory. I'll give you that, too. Ant-Man.

We'll discuss what we watched last night next.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9 a.m.

Pacific.

Tomorrow, the fall classic begins on Fox with two teams looking for their first ever World Series title. As the Rays take on the Brewers, Game 1 of the World Series coverage.

Begins tomorrow, 7 a.m. Eastern on Fox.

So Ant exploded last night, had an unbelievable night, and it was an interesting game because the T-Wolves faced Miami. And Minnesota and Miami both took huge, huge swings this offseason. And both were on display. Let's start with Minnesota. They wanted to move off Julius Randle. They'd become too plodding and too slow with Rudy G and Randle. Bit of a ball stopper. So they said, let's get LaMelo. sure he plays fast and sometimes sloppy but you could see they chose speed and pace over size and it was on display Ant's a great finisher but they wanted a play initiator get him the ball to finish at the rim get him the ball on the perimeter and Ant was money but you could see their swing and you could see that it worked they're taking on OKC's front

line and Wemby and they're like We don't want Wemby to just sit and wait for the offense to come down, and he redirects the ball. We want to make Wemby chase us around the court. We want OKC, Biggs, chasing us around the court. So Minnesota was a big half-court plotting team, and they were like, let's get LaMelo. He's going 100 miles an hour, and I worry about his health, and he can get sloppy, but it looked great last night.

So Miami's big swing was we got Bam on a Bayou, great size rim protector. Let's give him another, a cohort. And in Giannis, well, that didn't look so good. It looked like 1994 NBA with a couple of bigs, limited guard play, you know, weird spacing, a little old and clunky. It's going to take some work. And I like Giannis and Bam. But when they lost Norman Powell to the Bulls, it's like they could have really used him. You know, I think they got those two because their feeling was if we can win the East, those guys will match up against Wemby and OKC's bigs. It's almost like they have an eye on the finals. I don't think they're going to be a great, necessarily a great regular season team.

But I thought Minnesota's plan looked like, oh, that's what it's supposed to look like. That's good. And Miami's was, OK, that's going to need some work. I mean, they both start and initiate their offense. Bam and Giannis kind of at the same space, right? So the spacing's weird. Here's Ant. Ant's like, give me LaMelo. Give me speed. Let's run.

And here's Ant after a profound night.

We need him to be ultra aggressive at all times because every team knows that he can pass the ball. So if they know you can pass, they expect him to pass. So we need him to go score every time. Any chance he, that's why we always give him the ball. Any chance he want to score, go score. Anytime he want to pass.

Go for it.

That's why I'm like, bro, we trying to give you the ball every time you win the game.

Don't get tired.

We need you in the best shape ever because we trying to give you that and let you create and we play off for you. So that's our goal, man. To me, he's the best point guard in the NBA. So it's like, get him the ball and let him create for others.

If he can stay healthy, it'll be a fun watch. And I do agree with Minnesota's plan, which was you got Ant. He's the most athletic guy arguably in the league. Like, let's get him up and down the floor. Let's get him more shots. Let's get better pacing, better speed. There's a lot of smart people in that building. I like that plan. Miami, it is, you know, it's the Avengers around the rim, but not much else.

Okay.

This is a theory I have. The Manning name in America, it really is royalty. I mean, you've got the Matthews family, obviously, the Watts. There's a lot of great NFL families. I'm not denying that. And I've got a little bit of insight to the Mannings. My volume company, we share office space with Omaha. We have a lot of connections. The Mannings are great. Peyton's great. I'm closer to Eli than Peyton.

They're just great people. Archie was amazing. I know Cooper. Amazing families. But they are American football royalty. And there is pressure to not screw up Arch Manning. And that's not the Mannings putting it on you. It's the Mannings. I mean, Eli is the nicest big star ever. But anytime I interview him, I don't want to screw it up.

I want to make him look good. He's a Manning. They're graceful. They're humble. They're great people. So Sark lands Arch Manning. I honestly think he's trying to protect his NFL career. Because I think Arch is Archie. I don't think Arch is Eli. I don't think he's Peyton. I think he's Archie. I grew up watching Archie with those lousy Saints teams in the 70s. He was a great athlete.

He'd sidearm it, sling it, underhand it. Arch should be running. It should be Tebow-esque. Texas should be running the ball 60% to 65% of the time, a total college offense, leaning into Arch's size and athletic ability. But if you do that, that's not the NFL. Are you screwing with his NFL career? And I think Sark almost subliminally is not running the offense that is best for Arch. He's building a pro-style offense, and that's not really playing to his strengths. And I'll give you an example. Sark, Texas ranks 50th in college football and rush attempts. How is that possible with that offensive line? The last two seasons have been Sark's two worst rushing years as a coach. 13 years a head coach.

The last two years with Arch Manning, the worst rushing years. How is that possible? These are the best old lines he's ever had. Because I think there's this feeling with Arch is like when Cignetti got Mendoza. They ran 60% of the time.

60.

RPOs never under center. NFL doesn't like any of that, but Cignetti didn't care. I'm going to do what Indiana needs to do to win a title. We're going to run a college offense. I mean, we throw the ball down the field, but there's a lot of running, a lot of RPO, never under center. That's why Fernando Mendoza can't start as a rookie. He's never been under center, right?

Like Cignetti didn't care. Still got drafted number one. My job is to win at Indiana. Who's Fernando Mendoza? Just a kid. But when Arch Manning comes in, it's that Manning– don't screw it up, OK, it's a great American football family. Great people in the Mannings aren't putting the pressure on you. It's just the name. And so Sark suddenly has an offense that never runs the ball. It's like that's not what you should be doing. First of all, quarterbacks need run game. Sam Darnold just won a Super Bowl. He needs a run game. Patrick Mahomes previous to this year, previous two years wasn't very good. He had no run game.

But I don't think it's the right offense because I look at Arch and I see Archie. I don't see Eli. I don't see Peyton. It's just my theory. But Brian Kelly, Brian Kelly kind of had this commentary yesterday on a pod.

I think it's on the play caller. I think the play caller takes a lot of the responsibility. Look, he's your quarterback. They're not going back. I mean, they're not going to bench him unless there's just a total meltdown. Look, Josh Heupel is doing it at Tennessee, playing great defense, running the football, and he's played two freshman, redshirt freshman quarterbacks.

And so you can't tell me that you can't fit this offense to Arch Manning. And maybe there has to be a meeting in the middle there.

So it's just funny. Sark's been a very good offensive coach. He's coached at Texas, Washington, USC. The last two years with Arch, his worst two rushing teams. Yet he's had the best offensive line talent. Right. Like what? And so to me, I would I would construct a more run based offense, a little Tebow ish. I'd run arch 15 times a game. But you think to yourself, what if he gets hurt? What if he gets banged up? Well, young people heal fast. But I do feel like they're not running. I watch Texas and I think, where's the run game? More running, more power. And Cignetti last year ran the ball 60% of the time, second most among all power four schools. That's with Fernando Mendoza and an O-line that wasn't as five-star-ish as Texas. Just my theory.

But Brian Kelly said it's on the play caller. Brady Quinn pointed that out yesterday on our show.

It's somewhat of a scheme, too.

It feels like when you're out there, you don't have plays building off of one another, where they're showing you the same formation, the same personnel grouping, and doing multiple things out of that to keep a defense on their toes. They've got some things to improve upon and fix, but it's not just him. It's everyone who's a part of this offense. They need to find their identity. They need to hammer back down on the details. They need to get better up front and also run the football and take some of the pressure off of them.

Yeah, to me, I wonder when I watch Texas– 65% run game, just run the ball, mall people up front, let arch run 15 times a game. I know it doesn't project to the NFL. NFL doesn't care about that. They really don't. They don't. I mean, for years and years, quarterbacks in the big 12 Prima homes were thrown for a million yards. None of them worked in the NFL.

It doesn't matter. Cignetti is like, I don't care. I don't care that we don't ever go under center. I don't care that we do a bunch of RPOs. I don't care. We run 61% of the time or 60% of the time. I don't care if it works for the NFL. It's good for Indiana. I mean, they were running the ball almost more than anybody. And Mendoza goes number one. So I think what Brian Kelly, and I say that Brian Kelly saying it, and Brady Quinn said it, a little bit of the scheme thing here. Are we making sure we're not just calling plays? We're leaning into what this kid does best. And if you watch Arch run, oh, he's big, he's strong, and he's athletic, and he can move.

That kid can move. You know, just my theories out here. Greg Kosilnick.

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