January 15, 2021 • 35 mins
Clay Travis continues his discussion about Patrick Mahomes needing a rival at the QB position. 45-year NFL reporter John McClain joins Outkick to break down Urban Meyer to the Jags, coaching lifestyle in college vs. the pros, Harden mess in his city of Houston, and helps preview the upcoming NFL playoff games. Plus, Clay tells you which players have the most at stake this weekend.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'll Kicked the Coverage with Clay Travis live every weekday
morning from six to nine a m. E Stern three
to six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Finds your
local station for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio
dot Com, or stream us live every morning on the
I Heart Radio app by searching fs are you're listening
(00:22):
to Fox Sports Radio. As we finished off the first
hour of the program, I was saying that the game
that stands out the most to me of all of
these is Ravens Bills because it gives us the opportunity
to find out the question, is there going to be
a Peyton manning to Patrick Mahomes is Tom Brady? Now?
(00:45):
I understand based on the way that Tom Brady has
played this year, Brady may play five more years in
the NFL. I think it's clear he's gonna play at
the age of forty five. Maybe he's gonna play at
the age of forty eight. Who knows how much longer
Tom Brady is going to be able to play at
an incredibly high level. But I think it's fair to
(01:05):
say that given his youth, there is no one that
is anywhere near as accomplished as Patrick Mahomes. And given
that we have some older guys and maybe this is
their last run, Maybe it's not Tom Brady, Drew Brees,
Aaron Rodgers, guys who have already won Super Bowls, who
have won at a high level for generation. Basically, who
(01:30):
is that guy that has a possibility to rise to
the same level as Patrick Mahomes In some way? I
think we have a chance to see with all of
the young guns going up against Patrick Mahomes down the
stretch run of the playoffs. Here first up is Baker Mayfield. Now,
I don't know about you, guys, I don't think Baker
(01:52):
Mayfield is on anywhere near the same level so far
in his career as what Josh Allen and of mar
Jackson have accomplished. But all of our perceptions of Baker
Mayfield would change in one afternoon if he went on
the road Sunday and beat the Chiefs with his Cleveland
(02:15):
brown teammates all of a sudden, instead of being a
guy known for television commercials and for the challenges and
pratt falls of the Cleveland Browns, Baker Mayfield would turn
into a legitimate contender to make a run to the
Super Bowl. That is a life changing position that Baker
(02:37):
Mayfield could find himself in as the third year starting quarterback,
and we would maybe have to start to answer the question,
is Patrick Mahomes maybe not so far heading shoulders above
everybody else around his own age? But like most of you,
I feel like Patrick Mahomes gonna get that win. And
(02:58):
so who is going to win between Lamar Jackson and
between Josh Allen to take that trip theoretically to Kansas
City with a chance to earn a trip to Tampa
in the Super Bowl. To me, it's Josh Allen, and
(03:19):
not necessarily because Josh Allen is in any way head
and shoulders above Lamar Jackson, although he has played better
this year, but because I like the Stefon Digs addition
for the Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen more than I
like anybody on the offensive side of the ball. For
(03:39):
the Baltimore Ravens, who's able to help Lamar Jackson's probably
Mark Andrews. The best weapon that Lamar Jackson has outside
of himself. Hollywood Brown really hasn't been consistent as a
game breaking force. The Ravens don't throw the ball to
their receivers enough down the field to make a tremendous difference.
(04:00):
The security blanket for Lamar Jackson is Mark Andrews. Given
the choice between Mark Andrews or Stefon Diggs, who do
I think is going to make a big play in
a game when it's needed to be made. I think
it's Stefon Diggs, particularly because the Ravens play so much
man demand defense. Diggs has been almost impossible for anybody
to cover this year, and with the big arm of
(04:22):
Josh Allen, I think he's going to give them a
chance to make a play late that gives the Bills
a win and puts Josh Allen versus Patrick Mahomes into
the a f C Championship Game. On the NFC side, ultimately,
I think that the Packers are going to have too
much juice offensively for the Rams to keep up. I
(04:46):
don't necessarily like the Packers as big of a favorite
as they are and what I expect to be a
low scoring game, but I think Aaron Rodgers and Lambeau
will find a way to get his team to the
NFC Championship Game to beat the Rams. If that happens,
then that leads us into the second most intriguing game
of the day in my mind on Sunday, what is
(05:09):
going to happen with the Bucks going on the road
against the Saints. I like the box here. I think
Tom Brady is going to find a way to get
past the Saints. It's not a normal Ruckus environment in
the Superdome. Drew Brees, this could be his final game.
(05:30):
I love watching both of these guys play. I think
it's gonna be a shootout, but ultimately I believe Brady
is going to find a way to get past the Saints.
So I think we're gonna get Brady on the road
in Lambeau against the Packers. I think we're gonna get
the Bills on the road against the Chiefs in Kansas City.
(05:51):
That is what I am anticipating going forward. Now. What
I used to do all the time, and I didn't
do it last week, is I want to look at
the quarterbacks and pick how we are going to see
the breakdown entirely based on the quarterbacks. All right, if
(06:13):
you were just looking at these matchups and picking the
best quarterback, who would you take rams Packers, no contest,
Jared Goff against Aaron Rodgers. You would take the Packers,
Ravens Bills. I think it's a coin flip. I really
do playing better this year's Josh Allen playing better. Last
(06:33):
year was Lamar Jackson better defense the Ravens. But the
Bills are at home. I'm giving a check to Josh
Allen because of Stefon Diggs. So I'm expecting the Packers
and the Bills to be your winners on Saturday Sunday.
I don't think there's any contest. Patrick Mahomes against Baker Mayfield.
(06:54):
Patrick Mahomes, Bucks Saints another coin flip. I think Brady
is playing better this year, which is why I'm gonna
pick the Bucks. A lot of really good matchups for
the NFL. They would be ecstatic, I think, no matter
how this comes out, because they're gonna be some great
games to sell. But I want to bring in dub
(07:18):
What do you expect to happen in these scenarios? How
would you predict that these four games are gonna go well?
I gotta I gotta say right now. If I'm a
Packers fan, I'm probably a little nervous. I don't know.
I can't of the money is on your team. Nobody's
given the Rams a chance at all. And Ryan Glasbeagle
came on earlier in the last hour and he was right,
(07:42):
and he was saying, this year or this scenario is
kind of giving him flashbacks to their fifteen in one season,
and I can't help but to agree with him, because
this Rams defense is insanely good. They have the two
best play I think it's maybe the most underrated storyline
coming into these games. They have the two best defensive
players in the NFL. Aaron Donald is the best, the
best defensive lineman right now in the NFL. I don't
(08:03):
think there's hardly anybody out there would argue with me.
And the best cornerback is Jalen Ramsey. The best member
of any secondary in the NFL is Jalen Ramsey. They're
the two best. Do you agree with me? Those are
the two best defensive players in the NFL? I totally agree.
And people are, you know, looking ahead of these games
and saying, oh, we got Lamar Jackson versus Josh Allen,
(08:24):
and we got Tom Brady versus Drew Brees. I want
to see Davante Adams vers Jalen Ramsey because because that's
a matchup that actually goes on head to head you know,
Brady and Brees aren't, you know, technically playing each other.
They're playing each other's defenses. This is gonna be taking
place right in front of our eyes on the field.
Maybe the best receiver in the NFL, and I think
(08:45):
certainly the best corner in the NFL. I can't wait
to watch that matchup in particular. Yeah, I don't think
there's any doubt at all. Um, when we come back,
we're gonna be joined, by the way by John McClaine.
He is one of the best that has ever covered
the NFL. He's been doing it for forty five years.
We'll see how he thinks Urban Meyer is going to
do as a new coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Will
(09:05):
also ask him what he thinks about the Deshaun Watson drama.
Since he's in Houston, I'll even ask him what he
thinks about the James Harden drama, and we'll have him
break down. These four games with us should be a
lot of fun. Be sure to catch live editions about
Kicked the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six am
Eastern three am Pacific. John McClean joins us now. John
(09:27):
has been covering the NFL for I believe it is
forty five years. Big news afoot last night officially Urban
Meyer named the next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
We have been talking about it on the program as
we have been moving throughout. John, You've watched a lot
of Jags games over the years. They play your Texans
(09:47):
that you've been covering for some time twice a year.
How do you think Urban Meyer will do? And based
on conversations that you have had, is there any doubt
at all that the Jags will be pairing Urban Meyer
as the head coach with Trevor Lawrence as their franchise quarterback,
presumably of the future. No doubt whatsoever about Meyer getting
(10:07):
Trevor Lawrence based on everything I've been told Shod Khan,
the owner who's been talking to him quite a while,
as adamant he wants Trevor Lawrence because it will help
himself take it when things get back to normal. I
thought it was very interesting. Clay at the University of
Texas approached Meyer and they were told he was not
(10:28):
coming back to coach for health reasons. He's retired two
times for health reasons, so either shot Khan had already
been in touch with him, or his health got a
lot better real fast, because you never know how a
head coach is gonna do. And when he spent his
whole career in college, Nick Saban's a good example, but
Meyer's one. Everywhere he's been, he's had exciting offenses. He's
(10:51):
coached a lot of great players who went on to
be great in the NFL. I think it's gonna be
good for the league and especially good for the MC South.
But something people have to remember, since shot Gun has
been the owner there, they've been. Their team has been
awful except for two thousand seventeen, and when they won,
so many of their star players wanted out, wanted to
(11:14):
bail on them. So that culture has got to change.
That had start paying players when they deserve to be played.
But I can't wait to see Urban Meyer and Trevor
Lawrence two times this season. How much does this make
the Jags a story unlike they've almost ever been a
story before? And let me unpack exactly what I'm asking there.
(11:34):
The Jags have made playoff runs before. They did it
with Mark Brunel, they did it with Blake Bortles. Those
haven't necessarily been playoff runs that have uh sort of
grabbed the attention of the nation and made people care
outside of that playoff run. I would believe that Urban
Meyer being the cultural flashpoint he is in the world
of football. You either love or hate him. And now
(11:56):
Trevor Lawrence with all of the expectations, this is gonna
make the Jags a really compelling storyline in the NFL.
We didn't talk about him hardly at all throughout this
entire season on out kick. I think we'll be talking
about him a ton. Now. That's a great way to
describe it. Compelling. They're gonna have multiple national pev games
(12:16):
for the first time since probably two thousand eighteen when
people thought they were going to be a Super Bowl
contender after they reached an FC Championship game. So the
fact that Urban Meyers coached all over the country. He's
been on the West Coast, he's been there close to
the West Coast, he's been in Mid America. I think
it now he's on the East Coast. I think this
(12:37):
will get a lot of attention in the NFL, It'll
get a lot of attention in college football. And then,
of course with Trevor Lawrence going there, and they've got
some good receivers, they've got some good offensive lineman. They
just need to improve their defense. They had a good
rookie running back James Robinson, but they have boxed a
lot of high draft choices like Blake Bortles, who was
(12:59):
third overall. But it doesn't look like if everybody's right,
I gotta botch Trevor Lawrence. They just got to make
sure they put people around him. They have the resources
to do it with draft choices and salary cap money.
What's a reasonable expectation for urban Meyer? Okay? I mean
he's won three national championships, two at Florida, one at
(13:20):
Ohio State. He's won everywhere when undefeated at Utah. As
you mentioned, he's coached all over the country, and if
you look at the college coach to the NFL ranks,
I believe I'm correct, three have won a super Bowl
after winning a national championship. We've got uh Pete Carroll,
Jimmy Johnson, and Barry Switzer. You would probably know better
(13:41):
than me. I think I'm hitting all three of them
that have managed to do that. Do you think urban
Meyer joins that club or is that too high? Of
a standard to set for him. Boy, that's that's a
high standard. I've asked me that after the first season,
to see how he does as a rookie. You know,
we would think if Nick saban it stayed my Ami
that maybe and got control of personnel, which he didn't have,
(14:04):
that maybe Nick would have won a championship instead of
Dante Culpepper. Well he wanted Yeah, right, that's a great story.
Culpepper coming off a knee injury, was shoved down his
throat and it didn't work out, and of course he
went back to Alabama. When Jimmy Johnson came to the Cowboys,
(14:24):
everybody thought they were nuts. Ryan in Row would they
want a college coach? And he turned out to be
a great Barry Switzer that shocked everybody, and he wanted
Super Bowl with Jimmy's players did a great job that
one season, and so is they got a long way
to go to be in a position to do that.
I mean, they're awful. They got the first pick. They
(14:45):
were so bad to tex and swept them as bad
as they were. But what they've got to have there
is a culture change. Confidence, people believe in the organization,
fans to get behind them, and I think urban Meyer
can do it. But they got a worry over there.
He's retired twice for health reasons. He's under a lot
of pressure. Do we think he'll last more than two
(15:06):
or three years considering why he's had to retire two times?
What do you think? So let me take a step back,
and we've talked about this some on the show already.
Urban Meyer is not now a play calling guy who
is enmeshed in the minute by minute management of the
offense or defense he used to be at a younger
(15:27):
age in college football. It seems to me he's being
brought in to establish the culture of the Jacksonville Jaguars
and be the overarching CEO of the team. Do you
think he is a good fit with Trevor Lawrence based
on what you know about Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence, from
everything we know, is very coachable in that way since
(15:48):
high school. He gets to stay close to home. I
think urban Meyer needs experienced NFL coordinators on both sides
of the ball. Someone who has worked developing quarterbacks needs
a really good quarterback coach. Urban Meyer knows what a
good quarterback kids. He's coached a bunch of them and
throughout his career, especially head Ohio State. But I think
(16:09):
he's gonna have to manage a game clock management, He's
gonna have to be in there working on personnel. There's
a lot of pressure that goes on with coming in
this situation and adding the top pick. But people are
gonna be fired up, everybody's gonna be interested. I just
hope the pressure is not too much on him to
where he has more health issues because he's a great story.
(16:32):
It's it's interesting for urban Meyer because in college, if
you lose three games at a place like Ohio State
or Florida the seasons and disaster, you go nine and three,
people are up in arms. God forbid you go eight
and four at either of those places in college, that
is a poor season. In the NFL. If he could
go eight and eight in his first season at Jacksonville,
(16:54):
people would be ecstatic. Have you talked idy at all
with college coaches and understanding what success looks like in
the NFL and how to cope with losing in a
way that, frankly, you don't have to do in college
when you're at a top program. It's happened to a
lot look at Chip Kelly. Everybody thought Kelly was going
to be a success. He had one good year at
(17:16):
Philadelphia and it just overwhelmed him. Now he's back in
college football. I think today coaches are more knowledgeable about
the NFL, about the differences in college football. And I
think if a good head coach hires good assistant coaches,
and that doesn't doesn't mean coordinators, good position coaches, starting
with quarterbacks in the offensive line, they have a better
(17:40):
chance to succeed. Usually a head coach his first staff
is his worst because he brings in his friends and
then if he figures out, they gotta go. Like Mike
McCarthy did with Mike Nolan, they got a better chance
to turn it around. And so I hope urban Meyer
gets an experience to NFL staff instead of bringing in
(18:00):
a lot of his college buddies, because it is a
whole different game and the personalities of the players. You know,
the union runs baseball, the agents and the players run basketball,
and the owners run the NFL. But the agents and
players are getting more of a chance to do that.
And urban Meyer's got to understand what he's getting into,
(18:22):
the different restrictions he's getting into. But he's a smart guy.
You can't win everywhere like he does and not have
a really good chance to be successful on the next level.
His health is an interesting point, and you mentioned that,
and I want to circle back around on it. I
talked to coaches, as I'm sure you do, and some
of them look on the NFL season with some measure
(18:44):
of of excitement. Who are college coaches? And the reason
I bring it up And I know it's a grind,
and I know it's tough, but they say, hey, when
you're in NFL, you got the draft. You don't have
to be texting sixteen, seventeen and eighteen year old kids
all the time obsessed with what that next recruiting class
looks like. Now. The flip side is you can't go
(19:06):
sign ten first round draft picks in the NFL either.
You only get one, and it's a lot tougher to win.
But the NFL schedule is arguably more forgiving to having
a life outside of the NFL season, even more so
post COVID, where I think a lot of teams recognized, hey,
a lot of the time, maybe we're not being as
productive as we thought we were. We don't have to
(19:28):
be on the facility. All this time, we can do
a lot of stuff remotely with the fact that name,
image and likeness is coming to college football. I am
hearing more discussion from college coaches about being open to
the idea of going to the NFL as a lifestyle move. Yes,
you know, from when you go into training camp in
July until your season ends in January, it's a grind.
(19:51):
It is a beast like like every season is. But
once you're done with the season, you can kind of
have a life outside of the season. Do you buy
into that? Compared to college football? You know a lot
of college football and pro coaches as well. How would
you compare the lifestyles and are you hearing college coaches
making some similar comments. First of all, the only time
(20:13):
NFL coaches get a break is two weeks in gin.
That's it. They gotta worry about the draft, they gotta
worry about free agency. Unlike college coaches, they got an
entire offseason program, different stages of it, in which they
are the head of it. They have to ride herd
over all their players who are supposed to be at
hering to the off season program. College coaches don't have
(20:34):
it either. Yes, they don't have to recruit as many,
but they are recruiting free agents, and sometimes it takes
more than money. I've never known a head coach who
came in after six am. I've never known a head
coach who went on before eight to ten pm. I'm
amazed they don't have more health issues. And this year,
because they also had to deal with the coronavirus protocols
(20:58):
set down by the NFL and navigate channels they never
had to think about, the job was even tougher for them,
and they had to be able to adjust on the fly,
like Cleveland losing four coaches, including Kevin Stefanski before a
playoff game. So I think it's tough on both of them.
But you've got just as many or more hours than
(21:20):
in the NFL to work than you do because you
make a lot of money and you want to make
sure you earn that money. As far as college coaches
trying to come for head coaching jobs, I haven't heard that.
As far as assistant coaching jobs, maybe assistant coaches work
a lot too, but not as much as those head
coaches do. And of course they're under enormous pressure. They
(21:44):
have to meet with the media every day. They it's
a different media market from where a lot of those
college coaches come from, where they can treat people, they
can be rude, they can blow them off. They do
whatever they want because in a lot of cases, they're
bigger than the governor. In the NFL, nobody is, including
Bill Belichick, the greatest coach in NFL history. Let's talk
(22:06):
about your town of Houston. First of all, have you
canceled your dinner reservation at James Harden's restaurant, which is
inauspiciously now I believe scheduled to open uh in about
a week uh the week after he has blown town.
James Harden quit on his team. He quit on his
team a long time ago, and he ripped them. He
(22:28):
should have just said he wanted out. He didn't need
to say it's not fixable. That's a shot at the
new coach, Stephen Silos, the players they brought in, and
they're mad about it. And the controversy was ongoing. Harden
was getting killed by fans and media here for weeks.
He came in out of shape, he looked like he
played for the Texans. He wasn't scoring like he did before.
(22:51):
He just quit on him to get what he wanted,
and understand you. It's a business. You want to get
traded somewhere. You do what you can do. But you
don't quit on your players. You don't not play hard,
you don't show up out of shape, you don't take
shots at your teammates and your coach. It was a boy.
It is better as can be here. I can't wait
(23:12):
till Harden comes back with the nets, when they're able
to have a sold out crowd. They'll be scalp and
take his play as it will be like the super bologist.
We're talking to John McLean, Houston Chronicle, Deshaun Watson simultaneously.
You guys in Houston, I found yourself the center of
turmoil in the professional sports marketplace. Is this story between
(23:35):
he and the owner and the GM, the new GM
and everything else overplayed, nationally underplayed. How would you assess
Deshaun Watson's relationship going forward with the Texans and where
we're going from here? Absolutely overplayed? All anonymous sources being
leaked by people close to Watson. Watson is not weighed
(23:56):
in on it. Here's what I'm told by everybody who
covered Necessario, worked with him or used to work with
him and I did podcast stories. Fans are ripping me
for doing puff pieces on Nick Cassario. I said, because
everybody I talked to speak value of him. Nobody says
anything negative, and everybody says he's a great talker. He's
(24:17):
got six Super Bowl rings. Watson wants to win one.
He can tell Watson, you want to win a Super Bowl.
I know how to win a super Bowl. It starts
with a great quarterback. Let's do this together. Watson never
said anything about wanting to be involved in the general
manager search. It was all about the head coach and
it's Causario's baby. He came in Monday. He reached out
(24:39):
to four coaches. He'll reach out to more. One of
them was Eric the Enemy, and he'll hire the coach.
And when he does, he'll run it by Watson, I'm sure,
and then everything gonna be hunky dory. Everybody's hoping they'll
hire Eric the Enemy. But if he goes to Super Bowl,
he uses the Super Bowl coaches don't get in coaching
jobs except in a rare instance. Uh, I'd love to
(25:01):
see Mr b Enemy. People here would be fired up.
He might get another job before that. And uh, if
the owner fired Jack Easter be the executive VP of
Football Operations to wipe his hands of everything associated with
Bill O'Brien, and then hired Derik The Enemy could be
just the opposite. Here, people be on cloud nine. Let's
(25:21):
go into the four games. We're talking to John mcclainman
covering the NFL for forty five years. He's at the
Houston Chronicle. I appreciate him getting up early with us
on this Friday morning breaking everything down Tomorrow, John, We've
got Rams Packers and we've got Ravens Bills Saturday games.
What do you expect to see in those two contests?
Who do you favor? Who do you think wins? I
(25:42):
think the Ravens Bill is going to be the best
game in the NFL this weekend. Maybe not the one
everybody wants to see for nostalgia purposes, like the Bucks
and the Saints, but Baltimore is on a role. Baltimore
runs the ball, great play, great defense in Tennessee. And
Josh Allen is having an outstanding season. It's so hard
(26:05):
to play to get you wrap your head around the fact.
A year ago the Texans beat Josh Allen. He had
a bad second half in a wild Card game, Texans
have gone down the toilet, and the Bills have a
chance to go to the super Bowl. I think it's
gonna be the way we want to see playoff football
cole low thirties, maybe some snow outdoors in Buffalo. I
(26:26):
just can't wait. And I'm picking the Ravens to win
that game. As great a defense as the Rams have played,
it's gonna be. I think it's hard for Southern California
team to go into lambeau Field in January, where it's
also supposed to be in the low thirties, and when
with Aaron Rodgers playing as great as he's playing, he's
gonna have a test Brandon Staley, who may be the
(26:49):
coordinator with the Rams one year before he becomes a
head coach. Because so many teams have requested interviews, I
think they'll make it good for a while. But Aaron
Rodgers and the actors are gonna win that game, all right.
Sunday We've got the Browns on the road against the
Chiefs and the Bucks on the road against the Saints.
(27:09):
What happens in your mind with those two games? Browns
are a great story? Was saw it? What a great
game don't even as their head coach, and they still
beat their dreaded rival at Heinz Field. They can run
the ball. They got two running backs, cream On Nick
Chubb the starter. Both are tremendous. If the weather's bad,
(27:29):
Kansas City, they can run it. They should run it
and run some more. And Keith Patrick Mahomes on the sideline.
But I think the Chiefs, who won a bunch of
games by single digits, are gonna come alive and win
this handily. And Patrick Mahomes is headed for a second
consecutive Super Bowl. And finally this game to me, You've
(27:50):
been covering the NFL for a long time. I mean
about half the time you've been covering the NFL, you've
been covering Tom Brady stories. I think Brady has been
wildly better than anybody could have expected him to be
in his first season with the Bucks. He looks like
he found the fountain of youth. And meanwhile, Drew Brees,
there are rumors this could be it for him, This
could be his last opportunity to potentially go back to
(28:12):
the Super Bowl. How do you see this one shaking out?
And I agree with you. I think the best game
on Saturday's Ravens Bills, and I think the best game
on Sunday is Buck Saints. For Brady to throw for
any touchdown passes amazing. He had to learn a new offense,
he had some rough edges to work out. They have,
they got a good defense. The Saints pounded them twice,
(28:33):
humiliated him in Tampa. I think that Brady and the
Buccaneers are gonna win this game and go to Lambo,
and I think it's gonna be Drew Brees's swan song
and then he'll retire and go to NBC. But man,
I wouldn't mind either one of these quarterbacks winning. I'd
like to see a closed game, both of them to
play well. But what incredible careers, first ballot Hall of
(28:57):
famers of course. And uh but I think the Buck
so we're gonna win. It Is it fascinating to you
as it is to me that the a f C
has all these young gun quarterbacks. Right, You've got Patrick Mahomes,
who is the best quarterback in the NFL, certainly of
a young age, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, all of these
guys in the a f C as they get ready,
(29:18):
and certainly Baker Mayfield is super young too, all basically
twenty five or under. And then you've got forty three
year old Brady forty one year old Breeze. I think
that Aaron Rodgers like thirty seven, thirty eight years old,
whatever the heck he is, and then Jared Goff kind
of sliding in there, Isn't it kind of fascinating the
way the NFC is the old gun slingers and the
the a f C has turned into the new generation
(29:40):
it is, and you left out John Watson is as
well coming off the great season. They but those old
guys Brady forty touchdowns, Rogers forty eight touchdowns. If brew
Bray's has been healthy the whole time, no telling what
he would have thrown for. But uh, Rogers doesn't look
like he's gonna slow down anytime soon, and he said
(30:02):
he wants to play into his forties. Based on what
we've seen with Brady, they may play their forty five
years old. So it is. The disparity is unbelievable, and uh,
that'll that's why it'll be interesting to see if the
young gun like Mahomes and Lamar Jackson can win our
Josh Allen could win a Super Bowl over Brady Breezes
(30:26):
are Rogers the favorite outstanding as always, John McClean, have
a fantastic weekend. We appreciate you getting up early with
us and we will look forward to talking to you
again soon. Clay, I'm so excited about the games tomorrow
and Sunday, I can't sleep anyway. Happy to do it
as always, Have a great weekend and enjoy the games.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
(30:48):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. So we got
four different games going on too on Saturday, Rams, Packers,
Ravens Bills, two on Sunday, Brown's, Chiefs, Bucks, Saints. I'm
gonna be watching all of them. I bet you're gonna
(31:09):
be watching all of them. I bet a huge percentage
of our audience right now is going to be watching
either all of these games or a substantial portion of them.
I said earlier that the game that I'm most interested
in I think I'm flip flopping a little bit is
Ravens Bills, and in our poll question, the two that
(31:29):
you're most interested in watching were Ravens, Bills, Bucks Saints.
But what I want to get to here a little
bit is who has the most at stake? Which player
or team has the most at stake in this divisional
round playoff game? And to me, the answer is probably
(31:51):
whoever wins the Ravens Bills, because if you get to
the a f C Championship game, whether you are Lamar
Jackson or Josh Allen, yes you aren't quite to the
super Bowl yet, but if you have won two playoff
games at their age, you have become effectively a made
(32:12):
man in the NFL. That's a big deal at their age,
to win two playoff games, and there's no longer any
real doubt about whether you can lead a team to
a super Bowl. You may not do it, you might lose,
but I think those two guys are still the ones
with the most at stake, just like I said they
(32:34):
were last week. Dub Do you agree or disagree with
that theory? Well, I agree with your theory, but to me,
the one guy that has the most at stake is
Aaron Rodgers. This is back to back years. The Packers
have gone thirteen and three, and I think it's fair
to say this year's version is I think substantially better.
I think last year was kind of a food gaze
smoke in mirrors a little bit with the thirteen and three.
(32:56):
If they don't win this game against the Rams, how
big of a disappointment it would that loss be. I
mean it's got to be by far the biggest disappointing
loss that is even possible this weekend, because if you
go down the list, I think it's I think it's
actually up there. Breeze would be Yeah, that's fair. But
I think it'd be a much bigger disappointment for Green
Bay if they lost to the Rams with either an
(33:17):
injured Jared Goff or uh financial advisor at quarterback rather
than rather than Breeze losing to Tom Brady. I think
if Aaron Rodger, I think Aaron Rodgers winning two Super
Bowls would mean more to his legacy than Drew Brees,
because Drew Brees, fair or not, has never really been
in the conversation of the greatest of all time, and
I think Aaron Rodgers has and he absolutely will be
with another ring to his resume. Yeah, it's it's a
(33:40):
good argument. I think Breeze has a lot at stake
because of the disappointing run that the Saints have had
in the in the playoffs, other than the year they
beat Peyton Manning, which was got a long time ago. Now,
what was that like two thousand and I think? Okay, So,
in the last three times in the Super Bowl, sorry,
(34:00):
in the playoffs, the Saints have lost on the final
play of the game. Right. They lost on the Minister
Minneapolis miracle. They lost on the non call inner interference
that later led to a big kick by Zerline. I
think it was Greg the leg for the Rams. And
then they lost on the Kyle Rudolph touchdown pass last year.
(34:21):
If they lose again in the Superdome, I think that
one hangs over Drew brees Head a little bit, just
because I think it's likely to be his final game.
But in terms of the most to win, I don't
think there's any doubt at all. I think it's Josh
Allen or it's Lamar Jackson. All Right, I appreciate all
of you hanging out with us. We're gonna come back
for the third hour of the week, third hour of
(34:43):
the Friday Show. Finally the sorry, the final hour of
the week up next Uh, We're gonna be joined by
Dr David Chow. He will tell you the latest on
health related issues. Final hour of the week. Up next,
This is out Kick. We're breaking down more on the
divisional round, the playoff games, and talking urban to the
Jags on Fox Sports Radio. This is Outkicked the coverage
(35:05):
with Clay Traffics MHM.
I'll Kicked the Coverage with Clay Travis live every weekday
morning from six to nine a m. E Stern three
to six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Finds your
local station for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio
dot Com, or stream us live every morning on the
I Heart Radio app by searching fs are you're listening
(00:22):
to Fox Sports Radio. As we finished off the first
hour of the program, I was saying that the game
that stands out the most to me of all of
these is Ravens Bills because it gives us the opportunity
to find out the question, is there going to be
a Peyton manning to Patrick Mahomes is Tom Brady? Now?
(00:45):
I understand based on the way that Tom Brady has
played this year, Brady may play five more years in
the NFL. I think it's clear he's gonna play at
the age of forty five. Maybe he's gonna play at
the age of forty eight. Who knows how much longer
Tom Brady is going to be able to play at
an incredibly high level. But I think it's fair to
(01:05):
say that given his youth, there is no one that
is anywhere near as accomplished as Patrick Mahomes. And given
that we have some older guys and maybe this is
their last run, Maybe it's not Tom Brady, Drew Brees,
Aaron Rodgers, guys who have already won Super Bowls, who
have won at a high level for generation. Basically, who
(01:30):
is that guy that has a possibility to rise to
the same level as Patrick Mahomes In some way? I
think we have a chance to see with all of
the young guns going up against Patrick Mahomes down the
stretch run of the playoffs. Here first up is Baker Mayfield. Now,
I don't know about you, guys, I don't think Baker
(01:52):
Mayfield is on anywhere near the same level so far
in his career as what Josh Allen and of mar
Jackson have accomplished. But all of our perceptions of Baker
Mayfield would change in one afternoon if he went on
the road Sunday and beat the Chiefs with his Cleveland
(02:15):
brown teammates all of a sudden, instead of being a
guy known for television commercials and for the challenges and
pratt falls of the Cleveland Browns, Baker Mayfield would turn
into a legitimate contender to make a run to the
Super Bowl. That is a life changing position that Baker
(02:37):
Mayfield could find himself in as the third year starting quarterback,
and we would maybe have to start to answer the question,
is Patrick Mahomes maybe not so far heading shoulders above
everybody else around his own age? But like most of you,
I feel like Patrick Mahomes gonna get that win. And
(02:58):
so who is going to win between Lamar Jackson and
between Josh Allen to take that trip theoretically to Kansas
City with a chance to earn a trip to Tampa
in the Super Bowl. To me, it's Josh Allen, and
(03:19):
not necessarily because Josh Allen is in any way head
and shoulders above Lamar Jackson, although he has played better
this year, but because I like the Stefon Digs addition
for the Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen more than I
like anybody on the offensive side of the ball. For
(03:39):
the Baltimore Ravens, who's able to help Lamar Jackson's probably
Mark Andrews. The best weapon that Lamar Jackson has outside
of himself. Hollywood Brown really hasn't been consistent as a
game breaking force. The Ravens don't throw the ball to
their receivers enough down the field to make a tremendous difference.
(04:00):
The security blanket for Lamar Jackson is Mark Andrews. Given
the choice between Mark Andrews or Stefon Diggs, who do
I think is going to make a big play in
a game when it's needed to be made. I think
it's Stefon Diggs, particularly because the Ravens play so much
man demand defense. Diggs has been almost impossible for anybody
to cover this year, and with the big arm of
(04:22):
Josh Allen, I think he's going to give them a
chance to make a play late that gives the Bills
a win and puts Josh Allen versus Patrick Mahomes into
the a f C Championship Game. On the NFC side, ultimately,
I think that the Packers are going to have too
much juice offensively for the Rams to keep up. I
(04:46):
don't necessarily like the Packers as big of a favorite
as they are and what I expect to be a
low scoring game, but I think Aaron Rodgers and Lambeau
will find a way to get his team to the
NFC Championship Game to beat the Rams. If that happens,
then that leads us into the second most intriguing game
of the day in my mind on Sunday, what is
(05:09):
going to happen with the Bucks going on the road
against the Saints. I like the box here. I think
Tom Brady is going to find a way to get
past the Saints. It's not a normal Ruckus environment in
the Superdome. Drew Brees, this could be his final game.
(05:30):
I love watching both of these guys play. I think
it's gonna be a shootout, but ultimately I believe Brady
is going to find a way to get past the Saints.
So I think we're gonna get Brady on the road
in Lambeau against the Packers. I think we're gonna get
the Bills on the road against the Chiefs in Kansas City.
(05:51):
That is what I am anticipating going forward. Now. What
I used to do all the time, and I didn't
do it last week, is I want to look at
the quarterbacks and pick how we are going to see
the breakdown entirely based on the quarterbacks. All right, if
(06:13):
you were just looking at these matchups and picking the
best quarterback, who would you take rams Packers, no contest,
Jared Goff against Aaron Rodgers. You would take the Packers,
Ravens Bills. I think it's a coin flip. I really
do playing better this year's Josh Allen playing better. Last
(06:33):
year was Lamar Jackson better defense the Ravens. But the
Bills are at home. I'm giving a check to Josh
Allen because of Stefon Diggs. So I'm expecting the Packers
and the Bills to be your winners on Saturday Sunday.
I don't think there's any contest. Patrick Mahomes against Baker Mayfield.
(06:54):
Patrick Mahomes, Bucks Saints another coin flip. I think Brady
is playing better this year, which is why I'm gonna
pick the Bucks. A lot of really good matchups for
the NFL. They would be ecstatic, I think, no matter
how this comes out, because they're gonna be some great
games to sell. But I want to bring in dub
(07:18):
What do you expect to happen in these scenarios? How
would you predict that these four games are gonna go well?
I gotta I gotta say right now. If I'm a
Packers fan, I'm probably a little nervous. I don't know.
I can't of the money is on your team. Nobody's
given the Rams a chance at all. And Ryan Glasbeagle
came on earlier in the last hour and he was right,
(07:42):
and he was saying, this year or this scenario is
kind of giving him flashbacks to their fifteen in one season,
and I can't help but to agree with him, because
this Rams defense is insanely good. They have the two
best play I think it's maybe the most underrated storyline
coming into these games. They have the two best defensive
players in the NFL. Aaron Donald is the best, the
best defensive lineman right now in the NFL. I don't
(08:03):
think there's hardly anybody out there would argue with me.
And the best cornerback is Jalen Ramsey. The best member
of any secondary in the NFL is Jalen Ramsey. They're
the two best. Do you agree with me? Those are
the two best defensive players in the NFL? I totally agree.
And people are, you know, looking ahead of these games
and saying, oh, we got Lamar Jackson versus Josh Allen,
(08:24):
and we got Tom Brady versus Drew Brees. I want
to see Davante Adams vers Jalen Ramsey because because that's
a matchup that actually goes on head to head you know,
Brady and Brees aren't, you know, technically playing each other.
They're playing each other's defenses. This is gonna be taking
place right in front of our eyes on the field.
Maybe the best receiver in the NFL, and I think
(08:45):
certainly the best corner in the NFL. I can't wait
to watch that matchup in particular. Yeah, I don't think
there's any doubt at all. Um, when we come back,
we're gonna be joined, by the way by John McClaine.
He is one of the best that has ever covered
the NFL. He's been doing it for forty five years.
We'll see how he thinks Urban Meyer is going to
do as a new coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Will
(09:05):
also ask him what he thinks about the Deshaun Watson drama.
Since he's in Houston, I'll even ask him what he
thinks about the James Harden drama, and we'll have him
break down. These four games with us should be a
lot of fun. Be sure to catch live editions about
Kicked the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six am
Eastern three am Pacific. John McClean joins us now. John
(09:27):
has been covering the NFL for I believe it is
forty five years. Big news afoot last night officially Urban
Meyer named the next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
We have been talking about it on the program as
we have been moving throughout. John, You've watched a lot
of Jags games over the years. They play your Texans
(09:47):
that you've been covering for some time twice a year.
How do you think Urban Meyer will do? And based
on conversations that you have had, is there any doubt
at all that the Jags will be pairing Urban Meyer
as the head coach with Trevor Lawrence as their franchise quarterback,
presumably of the future. No doubt whatsoever about Meyer getting
(10:07):
Trevor Lawrence based on everything I've been told Shod Khan,
the owner who's been talking to him quite a while,
as adamant he wants Trevor Lawrence because it will help
himself take it when things get back to normal. I
thought it was very interesting. Clay at the University of
Texas approached Meyer and they were told he was not
(10:28):
coming back to coach for health reasons. He's retired two
times for health reasons, so either shot Khan had already
been in touch with him, or his health got a
lot better real fast, because you never know how a
head coach is gonna do. And when he spent his
whole career in college, Nick Saban's a good example, but
Meyer's one. Everywhere he's been, he's had exciting offenses. He's
(10:51):
coached a lot of great players who went on to
be great in the NFL. I think it's gonna be
good for the league and especially good for the MC South.
But something people have to remember, since shot Gun has
been the owner there, they've been. Their team has been
awful except for two thousand seventeen, and when they won,
so many of their star players wanted out, wanted to
(11:14):
bail on them. So that culture has got to change.
That had start paying players when they deserve to be played.
But I can't wait to see Urban Meyer and Trevor
Lawrence two times this season. How much does this make
the Jags a story unlike they've almost ever been a
story before? And let me unpack exactly what I'm asking there.
(11:34):
The Jags have made playoff runs before. They did it
with Mark Brunel, they did it with Blake Bortles. Those
haven't necessarily been playoff runs that have uh sort of
grabbed the attention of the nation and made people care
outside of that playoff run. I would believe that Urban
Meyer being the cultural flashpoint he is in the world
of football. You either love or hate him. And now
(11:56):
Trevor Lawrence with all of the expectations, this is gonna
make the Jags a really compelling storyline in the NFL.
We didn't talk about him hardly at all throughout this
entire season on out kick. I think we'll be talking
about him a ton. Now. That's a great way to
describe it. Compelling. They're gonna have multiple national pev games
(12:16):
for the first time since probably two thousand eighteen when
people thought they were going to be a Super Bowl
contender after they reached an FC Championship game. So the
fact that Urban Meyers coached all over the country. He's
been on the West Coast, he's been there close to
the West Coast, he's been in Mid America. I think
it now he's on the East Coast. I think this
(12:37):
will get a lot of attention in the NFL, It'll
get a lot of attention in college football. And then,
of course with Trevor Lawrence going there, and they've got
some good receivers, they've got some good offensive lineman. They
just need to improve their defense. They had a good
rookie running back James Robinson, but they have boxed a
lot of high draft choices like Blake Bortles, who was
(12:59):
third overall. But it doesn't look like if everybody's right,
I gotta botch Trevor Lawrence. They just got to make
sure they put people around him. They have the resources
to do it with draft choices and salary cap money.
What's a reasonable expectation for urban Meyer? Okay? I mean
he's won three national championships, two at Florida, one at
(13:20):
Ohio State. He's won everywhere when undefeated at Utah. As
you mentioned, he's coached all over the country, and if
you look at the college coach to the NFL ranks,
I believe I'm correct, three have won a super Bowl
after winning a national championship. We've got uh Pete Carroll,
Jimmy Johnson, and Barry Switzer. You would probably know better
(13:41):
than me. I think I'm hitting all three of them
that have managed to do that. Do you think urban
Meyer joins that club or is that too high? Of
a standard to set for him. Boy, that's that's a
high standard. I've asked me that after the first season,
to see how he does as a rookie. You know,
we would think if Nick saban it stayed my Ami
that maybe and got control of personnel, which he didn't have,
(14:04):
that maybe Nick would have won a championship instead of
Dante Culpepper. Well he wanted Yeah, right, that's a great story.
Culpepper coming off a knee injury, was shoved down his
throat and it didn't work out, and of course he
went back to Alabama. When Jimmy Johnson came to the Cowboys,
(14:24):
everybody thought they were nuts. Ryan in Row would they
want a college coach? And he turned out to be
a great Barry Switzer that shocked everybody, and he wanted
Super Bowl with Jimmy's players did a great job that
one season, and so is they got a long way
to go to be in a position to do that.
I mean, they're awful. They got the first pick. They
(14:45):
were so bad to tex and swept them as bad
as they were. But what they've got to have there
is a culture change. Confidence, people believe in the organization,
fans to get behind them, and I think urban Meyer
can do it. But they got a worry over there.
He's retired twice for health reasons. He's under a lot
of pressure. Do we think he'll last more than two
(15:06):
or three years considering why he's had to retire two times?
What do you think? So let me take a step back,
and we've talked about this some on the show already.
Urban Meyer is not now a play calling guy who
is enmeshed in the minute by minute management of the
offense or defense he used to be at a younger
(15:27):
age in college football. It seems to me he's being
brought in to establish the culture of the Jacksonville Jaguars
and be the overarching CEO of the team. Do you
think he is a good fit with Trevor Lawrence based
on what you know about Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence, from
everything we know, is very coachable in that way since
(15:48):
high school. He gets to stay close to home. I
think urban Meyer needs experienced NFL coordinators on both sides
of the ball. Someone who has worked developing quarterbacks needs
a really good quarterback coach. Urban Meyer knows what a
good quarterback kids. He's coached a bunch of them and
throughout his career, especially head Ohio State. But I think
(16:09):
he's gonna have to manage a game clock management, He's
gonna have to be in there working on personnel. There's
a lot of pressure that goes on with coming in
this situation and adding the top pick. But people are
gonna be fired up, everybody's gonna be interested. I just
hope the pressure is not too much on him to
where he has more health issues because he's a great story.
(16:32):
It's it's interesting for urban Meyer because in college, if
you lose three games at a place like Ohio State
or Florida the seasons and disaster, you go nine and three,
people are up in arms. God forbid you go eight
and four at either of those places in college, that
is a poor season. In the NFL. If he could
go eight and eight in his first season at Jacksonville,
(16:54):
people would be ecstatic. Have you talked idy at all
with college coaches and understanding what success looks like in
the NFL and how to cope with losing in a
way that, frankly, you don't have to do in college
when you're at a top program. It's happened to a
lot look at Chip Kelly. Everybody thought Kelly was going
to be a success. He had one good year at
(17:16):
Philadelphia and it just overwhelmed him. Now he's back in
college football. I think today coaches are more knowledgeable about
the NFL, about the differences in college football. And I
think if a good head coach hires good assistant coaches,
and that doesn't doesn't mean coordinators, good position coaches, starting
with quarterbacks in the offensive line, they have a better
(17:40):
chance to succeed. Usually a head coach his first staff
is his worst because he brings in his friends and
then if he figures out, they gotta go. Like Mike
McCarthy did with Mike Nolan, they got a better chance
to turn it around. And so I hope urban Meyer
gets an experience to NFL staff instead of bringing in
(18:00):
a lot of his college buddies, because it is a
whole different game and the personalities of the players. You know,
the union runs baseball, the agents and the players run basketball,
and the owners run the NFL. But the agents and
players are getting more of a chance to do that.
And urban Meyer's got to understand what he's getting into,
(18:22):
the different restrictions he's getting into. But he's a smart guy.
You can't win everywhere like he does and not have
a really good chance to be successful on the next level.
His health is an interesting point, and you mentioned that,
and I want to circle back around on it. I
talked to coaches, as I'm sure you do, and some
of them look on the NFL season with some measure
(18:44):
of of excitement. Who are college coaches? And the reason
I bring it up And I know it's a grind,
and I know it's tough, but they say, hey, when
you're in NFL, you got the draft. You don't have
to be texting sixteen, seventeen and eighteen year old kids
all the time obsessed with what that next recruiting class
looks like. Now. The flip side is you can't go
(19:06):
sign ten first round draft picks in the NFL either.
You only get one, and it's a lot tougher to win.
But the NFL schedule is arguably more forgiving to having
a life outside of the NFL season, even more so
post COVID, where I think a lot of teams recognized, hey,
a lot of the time, maybe we're not being as
productive as we thought we were. We don't have to
(19:28):
be on the facility. All this time, we can do
a lot of stuff remotely with the fact that name,
image and likeness is coming to college football. I am
hearing more discussion from college coaches about being open to
the idea of going to the NFL as a lifestyle move. Yes,
you know, from when you go into training camp in
July until your season ends in January, it's a grind.
(19:51):
It is a beast like like every season is. But
once you're done with the season, you can kind of
have a life outside of the season. Do you buy
into that? Compared to college football? You know a lot
of college football and pro coaches as well. How would
you compare the lifestyles and are you hearing college coaches
making some similar comments. First of all, the only time
(20:13):
NFL coaches get a break is two weeks in gin.
That's it. They gotta worry about the draft, they gotta
worry about free agency. Unlike college coaches, they got an
entire offseason program, different stages of it, in which they
are the head of it. They have to ride herd
over all their players who are supposed to be at
hering to the off season program. College coaches don't have
(20:34):
it either. Yes, they don't have to recruit as many,
but they are recruiting free agents, and sometimes it takes
more than money. I've never known a head coach who
came in after six am. I've never known a head
coach who went on before eight to ten pm. I'm
amazed they don't have more health issues. And this year,
because they also had to deal with the coronavirus protocols
(20:58):
set down by the NFL and navigate channels they never
had to think about, the job was even tougher for them,
and they had to be able to adjust on the fly,
like Cleveland losing four coaches, including Kevin Stefanski before a
playoff game. So I think it's tough on both of them.
But you've got just as many or more hours than
(21:20):
in the NFL to work than you do because you
make a lot of money and you want to make
sure you earn that money. As far as college coaches
trying to come for head coaching jobs, I haven't heard that.
As far as assistant coaching jobs, maybe assistant coaches work
a lot too, but not as much as those head
coaches do. And of course they're under enormous pressure. They
(21:44):
have to meet with the media every day. They it's
a different media market from where a lot of those
college coaches come from, where they can treat people, they
can be rude, they can blow them off. They do
whatever they want because in a lot of cases, they're
bigger than the governor. In the NFL, nobody is, including
Bill Belichick, the greatest coach in NFL history. Let's talk
(22:06):
about your town of Houston. First of all, have you
canceled your dinner reservation at James Harden's restaurant, which is
inauspiciously now I believe scheduled to open uh in about
a week uh the week after he has blown town.
James Harden quit on his team. He quit on his
team a long time ago, and he ripped them. He
(22:28):
should have just said he wanted out. He didn't need
to say it's not fixable. That's a shot at the
new coach, Stephen Silos, the players they brought in, and
they're mad about it. And the controversy was ongoing. Harden
was getting killed by fans and media here for weeks.
He came in out of shape, he looked like he
played for the Texans. He wasn't scoring like he did before.
(22:51):
He just quit on him to get what he wanted,
and understand you. It's a business. You want to get
traded somewhere. You do what you can do. But you
don't quit on your players. You don't not play hard,
you don't show up out of shape, you don't take
shots at your teammates and your coach. It was a boy.
It is better as can be here. I can't wait
(23:12):
till Harden comes back with the nets, when they're able
to have a sold out crowd. They'll be scalp and
take his play as it will be like the super bologist.
We're talking to John McLean, Houston Chronicle, Deshaun Watson simultaneously.
You guys in Houston, I found yourself the center of
turmoil in the professional sports marketplace. Is this story between
(23:35):
he and the owner and the GM, the new GM
and everything else overplayed, nationally underplayed. How would you assess
Deshaun Watson's relationship going forward with the Texans and where
we're going from here? Absolutely overplayed? All anonymous sources being
leaked by people close to Watson. Watson is not weighed
(23:56):
in on it. Here's what I'm told by everybody who
covered Necessario, worked with him or used to work with
him and I did podcast stories. Fans are ripping me
for doing puff pieces on Nick Cassario. I said, because
everybody I talked to speak value of him. Nobody says
anything negative, and everybody says he's a great talker. He's
(24:17):
got six Super Bowl rings. Watson wants to win one.
He can tell Watson, you want to win a Super Bowl.
I know how to win a super Bowl. It starts
with a great quarterback. Let's do this together. Watson never
said anything about wanting to be involved in the general
manager search. It was all about the head coach and
it's Causario's baby. He came in Monday. He reached out
(24:39):
to four coaches. He'll reach out to more. One of
them was Eric the Enemy, and he'll hire the coach.
And when he does, he'll run it by Watson, I'm sure,
and then everything gonna be hunky dory. Everybody's hoping they'll
hire Eric the Enemy. But if he goes to Super Bowl,
he uses the Super Bowl coaches don't get in coaching
jobs except in a rare instance. Uh, I'd love to
(25:01):
see Mr b Enemy. People here would be fired up.
He might get another job before that. And uh, if
the owner fired Jack Easter be the executive VP of
Football Operations to wipe his hands of everything associated with
Bill O'Brien, and then hired Derik The Enemy could be
just the opposite. Here, people be on cloud nine. Let's
(25:21):
go into the four games. We're talking to John mcclainman
covering the NFL for forty five years. He's at the
Houston Chronicle. I appreciate him getting up early with us
on this Friday morning breaking everything down Tomorrow, John, We've
got Rams Packers and we've got Ravens Bills Saturday games.
What do you expect to see in those two contests?
Who do you favor? Who do you think wins? I
(25:42):
think the Ravens Bill is going to be the best
game in the NFL this weekend. Maybe not the one
everybody wants to see for nostalgia purposes, like the Bucks
and the Saints, but Baltimore is on a role. Baltimore
runs the ball, great play, great defense in Tennessee. And
Josh Allen is having an outstanding season. It's so hard
(26:05):
to play to get you wrap your head around the fact.
A year ago the Texans beat Josh Allen. He had
a bad second half in a wild Card game, Texans
have gone down the toilet, and the Bills have a
chance to go to the super Bowl. I think it's
gonna be the way we want to see playoff football
cole low thirties, maybe some snow outdoors in Buffalo. I
(26:26):
just can't wait. And I'm picking the Ravens to win
that game. As great a defense as the Rams have played,
it's gonna be. I think it's hard for Southern California
team to go into lambeau Field in January, where it's
also supposed to be in the low thirties, and when
with Aaron Rodgers playing as great as he's playing, he's
gonna have a test Brandon Staley, who may be the
(26:49):
coordinator with the Rams one year before he becomes a
head coach. Because so many teams have requested interviews, I
think they'll make it good for a while. But Aaron
Rodgers and the actors are gonna win that game, all right.
Sunday We've got the Browns on the road against the
Chiefs and the Bucks on the road against the Saints.
(27:09):
What happens in your mind with those two games? Browns
are a great story? Was saw it? What a great
game don't even as their head coach, and they still
beat their dreaded rival at Heinz Field. They can run
the ball. They got two running backs, cream On Nick
Chubb the starter. Both are tremendous. If the weather's bad,
(27:29):
Kansas City, they can run it. They should run it
and run some more. And Keith Patrick Mahomes on the sideline.
But I think the Chiefs, who won a bunch of
games by single digits, are gonna come alive and win
this handily. And Patrick Mahomes is headed for a second
consecutive Super Bowl. And finally this game to me, You've
(27:50):
been covering the NFL for a long time. I mean
about half the time you've been covering the NFL, you've
been covering Tom Brady stories. I think Brady has been
wildly better than anybody could have expected him to be
in his first season with the Bucks. He looks like
he found the fountain of youth. And meanwhile, Drew Brees,
there are rumors this could be it for him, This
could be his last opportunity to potentially go back to
(28:12):
the Super Bowl. How do you see this one shaking out?
And I agree with you. I think the best game
on Saturday's Ravens Bills, and I think the best game
on Sunday is Buck Saints. For Brady to throw for
any touchdown passes amazing. He had to learn a new offense,
he had some rough edges to work out. They have,
they got a good defense. The Saints pounded them twice,
(28:33):
humiliated him in Tampa. I think that Brady and the
Buccaneers are gonna win this game and go to Lambo,
and I think it's gonna be Drew Brees's swan song
and then he'll retire and go to NBC. But man,
I wouldn't mind either one of these quarterbacks winning. I'd
like to see a closed game, both of them to
play well. But what incredible careers, first ballot Hall of
(28:57):
famers of course. And uh but I think the Buck
so we're gonna win. It Is it fascinating to you
as it is to me that the a f C
has all these young gun quarterbacks. Right, You've got Patrick Mahomes,
who is the best quarterback in the NFL, certainly of
a young age, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, all of these
guys in the a f C as they get ready,
(29:18):
and certainly Baker Mayfield is super young too, all basically
twenty five or under. And then you've got forty three
year old Brady forty one year old Breeze. I think
that Aaron Rodgers like thirty seven, thirty eight years old,
whatever the heck he is, and then Jared Goff kind
of sliding in there, Isn't it kind of fascinating the
way the NFC is the old gun slingers and the
the a f C has turned into the new generation
(29:40):
it is, and you left out John Watson is as
well coming off the great season. They but those old
guys Brady forty touchdowns, Rogers forty eight touchdowns. If brew
Bray's has been healthy the whole time, no telling what
he would have thrown for. But uh, Rogers doesn't look
like he's gonna slow down anytime soon, and he said
(30:02):
he wants to play into his forties. Based on what
we've seen with Brady, they may play their forty five
years old. So it is. The disparity is unbelievable, and uh,
that'll that's why it'll be interesting to see if the
young gun like Mahomes and Lamar Jackson can win our
Josh Allen could win a Super Bowl over Brady Breezes
(30:26):
are Rogers the favorite outstanding as always, John McClean, have
a fantastic weekend. We appreciate you getting up early with
us and we will look forward to talking to you
again soon. Clay, I'm so excited about the games tomorrow
and Sunday, I can't sleep anyway. Happy to do it
as always, Have a great weekend and enjoy the games.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
(30:48):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. So we got
four different games going on too on Saturday, Rams, Packers,
Ravens Bills, two on Sunday, Brown's, Chiefs, Bucks, Saints. I'm
gonna be watching all of them. I bet you're gonna
(31:09):
be watching all of them. I bet a huge percentage
of our audience right now is going to be watching
either all of these games or a substantial portion of them.
I said earlier that the game that I'm most interested
in I think I'm flip flopping a little bit is
Ravens Bills, and in our poll question, the two that
(31:29):
you're most interested in watching were Ravens, Bills, Bucks Saints.
But what I want to get to here a little
bit is who has the most at stake? Which player
or team has the most at stake in this divisional
round playoff game? And to me, the answer is probably
(31:51):
whoever wins the Ravens Bills, because if you get to
the a f C Championship game, whether you are Lamar
Jackson or Josh Allen, yes you aren't quite to the
super Bowl yet, but if you have won two playoff
games at their age, you have become effectively a made
(32:12):
man in the NFL. That's a big deal at their age,
to win two playoff games, and there's no longer any
real doubt about whether you can lead a team to
a super Bowl. You may not do it, you might lose,
but I think those two guys are still the ones
with the most at stake, just like I said they
(32:34):
were last week. Dub Do you agree or disagree with
that theory? Well, I agree with your theory, but to me,
the one guy that has the most at stake is
Aaron Rodgers. This is back to back years. The Packers
have gone thirteen and three, and I think it's fair
to say this year's version is I think substantially better.
I think last year was kind of a food gaze
smoke in mirrors a little bit with the thirteen and three.
(32:56):
If they don't win this game against the Rams, how
big of a disappointment it would that loss be. I
mean it's got to be by far the biggest disappointing
loss that is even possible this weekend, because if you
go down the list, I think it's I think it's
actually up there. Breeze would be Yeah, that's fair. But
I think it'd be a much bigger disappointment for Green
Bay if they lost to the Rams with either an
(33:17):
injured Jared Goff or uh financial advisor at quarterback rather
than rather than Breeze losing to Tom Brady. I think
if Aaron Rodger, I think Aaron Rodgers winning two Super
Bowls would mean more to his legacy than Drew Brees,
because Drew Brees, fair or not, has never really been
in the conversation of the greatest of all time, and
I think Aaron Rodgers has and he absolutely will be
with another ring to his resume. Yeah, it's it's a
(33:40):
good argument. I think Breeze has a lot at stake
because of the disappointing run that the Saints have had
in the in the playoffs, other than the year they
beat Peyton Manning, which was got a long time ago. Now,
what was that like two thousand and I think? Okay, So,
in the last three times in the Super Bowl, sorry,
(34:00):
in the playoffs, the Saints have lost on the final
play of the game. Right. They lost on the Minister
Minneapolis miracle. They lost on the non call inner interference
that later led to a big kick by Zerline. I
think it was Greg the leg for the Rams. And
then they lost on the Kyle Rudolph touchdown pass last year.
(34:21):
If they lose again in the Superdome, I think that
one hangs over Drew brees Head a little bit, just
because I think it's likely to be his final game.
But in terms of the most to win, I don't
think there's any doubt at all. I think it's Josh
Allen or it's Lamar Jackson. All Right, I appreciate all
of you hanging out with us. We're gonna come back
for the third hour of the week, third hour of
(34:43):
the Friday Show. Finally the sorry, the final hour of
the week up next Uh, We're gonna be joined by
Dr David Chow. He will tell you the latest on
health related issues. Final hour of the week. Up next,
This is out Kick. We're breaking down more on the
divisional round, the playoff games, and talking urban to the
Jags on Fox Sports Radio. This is Outkicked the coverage
(35:05):
with Clay Traffics MHM.
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Brady Quinn
LaVar Arrington
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