Divisional Delight

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Why for the Geico out Kicks studios, where fifteen minutes
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think that this weekend is the best weekend of the
year in the NFL. Maybe the only come comparably good

(00:22):
weekend in the NFL is the opening weekend of the
season overall, when all everybody's hopes and dreams can come
rolling back to fruition. You can believe that your team
is much better in the off season, but in terms
of actual quality of game, I think the Divisional round
weekend is the best weekend of the year in the

(00:42):
NFL because we've got four great games to on Saturday
and two on Sunday. I think it's better than the
a f C and the NFC title game because every
year at the NFC and the a f C Title Game,
I always think, and it's been over twenty five years,
I've been thinking like this, why can't they play one
of these games on Saturday and one of these games
on Sunday? And frequently, when you only have two games,

(01:05):
one of the a f C or either the a
f C or the NFC game ends up not very close,
and so you sit around and wait for three hours
for the other game to happen, and sometimes neither of
the games are close at all. Obviously, the super Bowl
can be good or it can be bad. But the
super Bowl is like New Year's Eve. You've got all
these amateurs that show up and make the game kind

(01:27):
of not as much fun as it otherwise it would be.
If you're a legitimate NFL fan. It's not that much
fun to go to a super Bowl party and sit
around with a bunch of people who have no idea
what they're talking about and watch the game. Either they
just watch the game with a couple of friends or
by myself with my kids, uh and just know exactly
what's going on. So the super Bowl is kind of

(01:47):
an overbearing party. This weekend is the best weekend I think,
certainly in the NFL playoffs, and I would argue with
you that other than the opening weekend of the season
in the NFL, this is the best weekend of football
there is because you've got eight teams, it's basically the
elite eight of the NFL, and you always get at

(02:08):
least the idea that there might be an upset, something
that throws everything awry. I'm like most of you, I
anticipate that the a f C is not going to
have that much drama. Since midway through the a f
C season, maybe even earlier, you kind of looked at
the a f C and said, yeah, I expect for
the Steelers to play the Patriots. And that's why the

(02:31):
Jesse James catch or not catch controversy was such a
big deal because it is probably going to decide who
wins the a f C. Because I don't think the
Steelers are going to go on the road and win
in New England, and I don't think New England would
have gone on the road in January and one in Pittsburgh.
So I still think that's the most likely outcome in

(02:52):
the a f C. I've been saying it all year.
I think the NFC is wild, wide open. Anything could happen,
maybe other than the Eagles finding a way to advance
to the Super Bowl. I don't think Nick Foles is
gonna win two straight playoff games, and frankly, I don't
really think case Keenum is gonna do it either. You've
got four established, proven quarterbacks who may make the Hall

(03:13):
of Fame. Three definite Hall of Famers and Tom Brady,
in Ben Roethlisberger, and in Drew Berrees, all first ballot guys,
no question in the Hall of Fame the minute that
they've become eligible. And then you got Matt Ryan, who's
hanging right there on the periphery, and if he makes
another Super Bowl and or wins the Super Bowl, he's
probably gonna end up in there too, because he's got

(03:35):
such a tremendous amount of victories and yards and everything else.
And then you've got four complete unknowns. Okay, two of
these guys just one their first playoff game and are
still really young relatively speaking, in Marcus Mariota and in
Blake Bortles. Case Keenum has been around the legal a
little bit. I believe he's twenty nine. And then Nick

(03:57):
Foles is a similar to case keenum Um. And so
will any of those four guys step up and surprises.
I thought it probably made the most sense, frankly, to
break down each of these games, also in the way
of if you could only watch one game, A lot
of you out there are gonna be busy this weekend.
You've got a variety of different activities that you might

(04:19):
need to take advantage of take a take a responsibility for.
And so when I look at these four games, we've
got the Falcons and the Eagles, and the Titans and
the Patriots on Saturday. If I could only watch one
of those games on Saturday, I probably am gonna go
Titans Patriots. Now. I know the line in this game
is thirteen and a half, but the Titans have been

(04:41):
incredibly competitive in the last eight weeks of the season,
basically since Thanksgiving. The Titans have lost some games and
they've won some games, but every one of them has
been insanely close, Like there hasn't been a great deal
of uncertainty, and it comes to what exactly is going

(05:02):
to happen. I mean, listen to the Titans in their
last eight games. All right, I'm just trying to sell
you on this game potentially being closer than thirteen and
a half. I'm betting on the Titans to keep it
closer than thirteen and a half, all right. In the
last man, this is pretty crazy if you go all
the way back to October, all right, take it all

(05:23):
the way back to October. Other than one game where
the Titans fell apart on the road in like the
fourth quarter, because that was a pretty close game, that
was roughly a two point game late in the third
quarter entering into the fourth quarter. Here's what the Titans
of games have looked like, regardless of opponent. One by three,

(05:43):
one by three, one by four, one by four, one
by eleven. But it was on a walk off from
Derrick Henry that would have otherwise been a what a
four point win, lost by five, lost by two, lost
by four, one by five, one by one. So basically,

(06:06):
if you go all the way back to October two,
with the exception of one game, the Titans have one
or lost it by five or fewer points effectively. So
I think this Titans team will keep it relatively close
against the Patriots. Now I don't think they'll win because

(06:27):
I don't think they can stop Rob Gronkowski. If you've
looked at what Travis Kelsey did to the Titans, they
don't have a defender who can play against against Rob
Gronkowski at all. They don't have that safety, they don't
have certainly not a linebacker. They don't have anybody that
they can put against Travis Kelsey to make a difference.
But if I can only watch a one game on Saturday,

(06:49):
I'm going Titans Patriots. Also, I think Falcon's Eagle is
gonna be pretty good. The Falcons are right around a
three point favorite as the sixth seed. I think they're
gonna beat the Eagles because I think that the Eagles
will have a decent game plan because they've had basically
three weeks to get ready for this game, and I
think they're gonna play pretty well. I know the Eagles

(07:11):
fans are going to show up in insane abundance and
cheer like they've never cheered before because they feel like
it's going to be a total, maddening wild How often
are you in this position? If you are the Eagles,
you want to host the NFC even with the Carson
Wentz injury, So I'd go Titans Patriots on Saturday, I'd

(07:33):
go Eagles. Falcons on Saturday is my number two choice.
On Sunday, I think Saints Vikings, and I think Saints
Vikings is probably the best game of all four of
them if I had to rank them overall, because I
think there's so many potential outcomes here. I'm also not
a hundred percent a believer in the Vikings, even though

(07:53):
the Vikings are getting to play at home, primarily because
I'm not a hundred percent believer in case Keenum. And
as much as Viking fans will want to pretend that
they are a percent believers for Case Keenum, I know
that in reality most people are not. And do you
really believe that we could end up with an NFC
title game between case Keenum and Nick Foles. I just

(08:17):
I don't see that as likely given what has typically
happened in the NFL playoffs, which is the better quarterback wins. Right,
there are four games here where we have a clearly
better quarterback. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that Drew Brees is better than case Keenum. We know
beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ben Roethlisberger is

(08:38):
better than Blake Bortles. We know beyond a shadow of
a doubt that Tom Brady is better than Marcus Mariota.
And we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that
Matt Ryan is better than Nick Foles. Now, is it
possible that the team surrounding these guys could be good
enough to get one of the other four quarterbacks over
the line here? Certainly? Is it possible that an individual

(08:59):
games situation Marcus Mariota, for instance, could outplay Tom Brady. Yeah.
I mean because if you look at Brady over the
last five weeks of the season, he's got a passer
rating lower than Marcus Mariotta's and he's thrown just six
touchdown passes against five interceptions. He just, frankly hasn't been
very good. His passer rating has dropped thirty points. He's

(09:20):
just been average. So is it possible that finally Tom
Brady's age could catch up with him on a Saturday
night in Foxboro? Yes? Is it possible that Nick Foles
could come out and play splendid football like he did
the one year he was with Chip Kelly and through
twenty seven touchdown passes and two interceptions. Yes. Is it
possible that Ben Roethlisberger could throw five interceptions again against

(09:44):
the Jags and that the Jacks could go on the
road and win as a touchdown underdog. Yes, certainly. And
could Case Keenom come out and play lights out football? Yes.
The crazy thing about the Saints Vikings game, guys, is
that the Vikings, by the time this game kicks off
at four or forty Eastern on Sunday, will know whether

(10:05):
or not they are playing for to put an NFC
title in Minnesota. In other words, whether or not that
game is going to be played inside their dome. Because
if I'm Minnesota, I understand the idea of every game
has to stand alone and everything else associated with it.
If I'm a Vikings fan or frankly, if I'm a
Vikings player or coach, there's no way they're not sitting

(10:28):
there and thinking three, if we win three games, we
are super Bowl champs, and we can do all three
of those, probably inside of our own stadium. If that happens, Wow,
I mean, I think you have to make the Vikings
an interesting favorite. We talked a little bit about that
yesterday with Todd Ferman. How would you balance that if

(10:49):
the Vikings got to play at home in the Super Bowl,
even with all of the potential issues outstanding there? All right,
I'm gonna give you my gambling picks here momentarily come back.
In the next segment. We're also kind of giving you
a roadmap for what's today's show is gonna look like.
We're gonna go with my guy Mike Keith, who's the

(11:10):
voice of the Titans an hour two as they get
ready for the Titans and the Patriots game, and then
an hour three will go up to Boston and talk
to Casey Smith, as we do every single Friday. What
is the vibe in New England? Also gonna take your calls.
I'll open up the phone lines. What do you anticipate
in the divisional round playoff games? Which of these games

(11:33):
do you believe is the best. I'm also gonna bring
in the crew and have them break down what they
think is the best game of the weekend. If I
were ranking them right now one to four, I go
Viking Saints is the best game, alright, Viking Saints best game,
I believe. I think the second best game is probably
Titans Patriots. Then I would go Falcons Eagles, and finally

(11:56):
I would go Jags Steelers. Um would be my breakdown
out of those four games? Am I wrong? Am I right?
Your reaction? Eight? Seven, seven, six, three six nine? Will
we see any upsets? Who of these four quarterbacks that
are unproven case Keenum, Nick Foles, Marcus Mariotta, Blake Bordles
is the most likely to get a win for their team.

(12:18):
Much to discuss as we roll into what I believe
is the best weekend in the NFL the final eighth
the Divisional round playoff games two on Saturday tomorrow, two
on Sunday. Can't wait to see what's gonna happen. And also,
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car buying experience. Tossed up a question on the pole
line here pole line for lack of a better phrase,
which NFL playoff game are you most excited to watch?
You can hop in all four of them in You
can find me on Twitter at Clay Travis. Roughly a

(14:14):
thousand of you have already voted in the first five minutes,
and uh, I agree with you. You agree with me.
I said, I thought Saints Vikings was the best game
of the weekend, and in fact, you guys are so
far following my rankings to a t We'll see if
that remains the case. Saints Vikings as the best overall game,

(14:35):
Titans Patriots as the second best game, Falcon's Eagles third
best and Jags Steelers as the fourth best game of
the weekend. That is according to you guys. Kind of
hopping in there and uh and casting your votes. You
can find me on Twitter at Clay Travis easy to find.
You can go way in with your opinion on divisional

(14:55):
round a weekend in the NFL as well. Let me
bring in the crew, uh, Jason Martin and Nashville, where,
by the way, snow is scheduled to hit um at
some point. We don't know officially when the snow is
gonna hit in Nashville, but snow in the South effectively
means that everybody is gonna die. Jason Martin, have you
done your will? Who are you leaving things too? I'm

(15:16):
leaving it all to my parents. They're gonna outlive me,
which is never a good thing, and I really wish
I could have done more in my time on earth.
But hopefully they will appreciate all of the things that
I leave for them. You never want to outlive your kids.
But the snow came, this ice came, and there was
nothing we could do about it. How nervous are you

(15:37):
about the course of the show trying to figure out
what's gonna happen. Because the thing about like the southern snow,
like people are like, oh, you guys are such total voices,
like and I too, and I and I certainly understand that.
I was in Michigan, where you know, there's a foot
of snow the entire time and everybody drives around everywhere.
The thing about southern snow is it's so very often

(15:57):
accompanied by ice because we're always it seems like every
time it snows in the South, very frequently, because's not
cold enough consistently for to just be straight snow. It's
always like a wintry mix or it's always like right
on the line between whether it's going to be snow, sleet,
freezing rain, like all this stuff. And sometimes we don't
even get snow, we just get ice. Like there have

(16:19):
been many times in my life where we're hoping we're
gonna get snow and you walk outside and there's just
like a thick glaze of ice everywhere, like zero snow,
just straight ice and ice is really hard obviously to
drive on. And that's what they think might initially be
happening here. Nobody knows when it's actually gonna turn over
and become snow. It could just be like an ice

(16:40):
rink everywhere. Yeah, which would be the worst. Um, that
would be completely unfun. On the drive in, as you know,
at least I don't know that you know, the temperature
dropped as you were driving in, but the rain was
pretty prevalent on the way in. There was actually a
pretty good downpour going. When I walked out my door,
it was forty two degrees. When I pulled into the
studio and got out of my car, it was thirty

(17:00):
seven degrees when I got home last night. I got
home late because I was out late until around two am.
At two am, it was in the sixties. So that's
how much the temperature is dropping right now. The expectation
is it looks like the ice might take over around seven,
So I could be sliding on my way home. You
could be sliding on your way home, Clay, So that's
gonna be fun here on a Friday. But yeah, the

(17:21):
ice hits, that's no good. And you can pretty much
assume that it's going to because I have plans tonight
and tomorrow night that could both be canceled very easily
um by weather. And I could see that absolutely happening. Okay,
so of the NFL games, do you agree with me?
First of all, that the best weekend in the NFL
is the divisional round playoff weekend? Just because you get

(17:41):
four games, you get two on Saturday, you get two
on Sunday, And let's be honest, you pretty much know
that of those four games you're probably gonna get at
least two good games, might get four, good games, might
get three. But if with four going on and this
being the best eight teams in fury remaining in the NFL,
you feel pretty good about getting at least two good games,

(18:02):
whereas in the a f C and the NFC title
games a lot of times either one or both of
those games are blowouts. Do you agree with my ranking
of the four best games, starting with the Vikings hosting
the Saints as the best game, then Titans Patriots, then
the Eagles and the Falcons, and finally the worst game
if you had to rank them, doesn't mean it might

(18:22):
not end up being the best game. But Jags on
the road against the Steelers, Well, first, this is the
best week in the NFL schedule. You do get four games,
you get the teams with the buys, and you get
four teams that already won playoff games, so you have
teams that you want to see. You get to a day,
it's like it's a game in another game, and a
game in another game the next day. You get to
see all of it, and you know that there are

(18:44):
four teams left at the end of that that are
going to compete for potential Super Bowls. So that's impressive.
I agree pretty much with your rankings. Minnesota New Orleans
to me, is a clear number one UM. I actually
think Sundays intriguing as a whole because in those two games,
you have the number one and number two ranked defense
in the NFL against two Hall of Fame quarterbacks, and

(19:04):
you have a major discrepancy between quarterbacks. As good as
case keenum has played, nobody's putting him in the class
of Drew Brees, and certainly we've had our say about
Blake Bortles and it's not in the same stage as
Ben Roethlisberger. But those two defenses are elite defenses, So
to me, those are intriguing matchups. But I would still
probably lean your direction and go with Minnesota New Orleans

(19:27):
and then Tennessee, New England with a healthy Marcus Mariota
going up there just to see what can happen. I
think it's possible that the Patriots win that game by
four touchdowns, and it's also possible that it goes in
the opposite direction and it's a very very tight game
until late and then we see Gronk. Because I do
agree with you on that. I had said the exact
same thing coming out of wild Card weekend earlier in

(19:49):
the week that after watching Travis Kelsey's act, unless Jonathan
Cyprian is gonna knock Rob Gronkowski out of this game,
they're not. There's nobody wearing a Titans uniform that can
stop um. So I don't see how they're gonna get
that job done. So I don't know how close that
game is gonna be. But I would go Minnesota, New Orleans, Tennessee,
New England. I might because, look, Philadelphia has got the

(20:11):
number four rank defense. I just Nick Fowles has not
thrown a pass for more than twenty yards since he
took over. I don't think for uh for Carson Wentz,
so I just don't buy into that at all. In
Atlanta seems to be rolling. Their defense is speaking at
the right time. I think I might go Jacksonville Pittsburgh because,
other than the Texans game near the end of the season,

(20:33):
Pittsburgh has played down to their competition all season long.
I want to see whether or not they show up
ready for blood and knock Jacksonville out even with that defense,
to make me feel better about my prediction of the
Steelers going to the Super Bowl even having to go
through Foxborough. So I might reverse Atlanta Philly, but I
think those two are pretty close. The two that I'm

(20:54):
certainly most intrigued are the two late matchups UH New Orleans,
Minnesota one Tennessee, New England too. Let's go out to
l A. Danny g is dealing with the death in
the family. So I believe we have Justin and Nick?
Am I correcting that? Who are in studio in l A?
Which game are you guys most intrigued to watch as
we get ready for Divisional round weekend in the NFL

(21:16):
on Saturday and Sunday. Well like you guys, and I
doubt that there's gonna be much disagreement with anybody on
this that my game I'm most intrigued in is the
Saints Vikings. Um, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Clay. I think
the game that is least intriguing to me that I
could definitely miss and not even see is is New
England and Tennessee. You're just a hater of all things

(21:39):
that have any connection whatsoever to the South. It doesn't matter.
It's Chick fil A, it's uh. It's to clear the record,
I don't hate Chick fil A. Chick fil A is good.
It's just not as good as you all profit up
to be. Yeah, you're wrong on that in all respects.
By the way, the votes are rolling in UM in
terms of what people are most excited to see and

(21:59):
when you give people were options and nearly half of
them are voting for SATs Vikings. I think that gives
you a pretty good sense for how much people are
looking forward to Saints Vikings. Uh. Second most Titans, Patriots,
third most Falcons Eagles, and the fourth most desirable game
of the weekend Jags Steelers holding up the rear here.
Let me bring in uh my guy, Eddie Garcia find

(22:21):
out what's shaken in the world of sports. All right, clear,
Let's start with the NBA last night, where the Raptors
rolled over the Cavaliers one thirty three to ninety nine.
Toronto didn't have two of their starters Kyle Lowry was
injured and Sergeon Baker, who was suspended. They still beat
up on Cleveland. They had seven different players scoring double
digits with the Cavaliers. They now dropped six of their

(22:41):
last eight games. Celtics rallied down twenty two points to
beat the seventy sixers in a game played in London,
one fourteen to one oh three. Lakers over the Spurs
one Clippers beat the Kings once one to one fifteen.
In the NFL, the league is looking into whether the
Raiders followed the Rooney rule to interview minority coaching candidates
when they hired on Gruden. Steeler star running back Levian

(23:02):
Bell says he may retire from the league if the
team uses the franchise tag on him for a second
straight seasons. Report is brought to you by True Car
online car shopping kid. Be confusing, if not anymore with
True Price from True Car. Now you know the exact
price you will pay for your next car. Visit True
Car and enjoying more confident car buying experience in Clay.
One more note from the NFL or the league announced

(23:22):
three more games that we played in London next season
in October, Raiders versus the Seahawks, Eagles versus the Jaguars,
and Chargers versus the Titans. Good stuff as we roll
on car the company Alive from the Geico Outcakes Studios.
Or it's easy to say fifteen cent of more on
car insurance as Geico Geico dot Com or call seven Auto.
The only hard part figuring out which way is easier.

(23:44):
Here's the other question I have about the divisional round
playoff games. We've got four really established quarterbacks right again,
I think all four have a really good shot to
make the playoff. Uh, make the playoffs? All four of
a really good chance to make the Hall of Fame,
three of them or first ballot Hall of Famers. Beyond
a shadow of doubt. I believe uh, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger,

(24:05):
and Drew Brees. It would be stunning to me if
all four of those guys, all three of those guys
aren't immediately in the Hall of Fame. I think Matt
Ryan has a pretty good chance to make the Hall
of Fame when you look at all of his statistical
accomplishments and you assume that at some point he's likely
to win a super Bowl. I don't think that's a
crazy proposition that Matt Ryan one day could be a

(24:28):
super Bowl winning quarterback and then could also go in
as a Hall of Famer. Maybe some people out there
think that's crazy. I don't think that's a crazy proposition. Now,
Matt Ryan is also thirty two. He will turn turn
thirty three this year. He will probably go on and
play another five years or so, maybe a lot longer,
obviously with the guys like Brady and it appears Drew

(24:51):
Brees kind of extending the shelf life of how long
a quarterback can play. But Matt Ryan's been a four
time Pro bowler, uh at two thousand ten, well, fourteen
and sixteen, he has been an NFL Most Valuable Player?
Is that a crazy idea? Jason Martin, that Matt Ryan
could also end up being a Hall of Famer, Well,
I don't think. I think the jury is still out.

(25:13):
He's right now in my hall are very good, but
there are still I think five more years of his
career that are gonna shot. He's got a good shot
right now that it's it's certainly not ridiculous to assert
that he pretty three of those guys are definitely Hall
of famers, maybe a fourth who could be a Hall
of Famer depending on how his final five years of
his career goes. And then you've got four guys that

(25:35):
are completely unproven. Okay, You've got case Keenum, who is
twenty nine years old and has kind of been a
journeyman quarterback that this year has played very well with
the Vikings. You have got Marcus Mariotta, who's a young
quarterback twenty four years old and his third year. Has
not had a great season with the Titans in his
third year statistically, but if you go back and look

(25:57):
kind of break down his numbers this year, he leads
the NFL and fourth quarter or overtime comeback wins. He's
got five of those. He could have had six of
them if the Titan defense had been able to get
a stop against the San Francisco forty niners. So he
hasn't been great, but he's been pretty good in crunch
time when the Titans have needed him to deliver an

(26:18):
opportunity for them to win. In fact, he's the difference
between the Titans being in the final eight of the
playoffs and probably being four and twelve. Frankly, it's the
winds that Marcus Mariota has gotten down the stretch I
ran through earlier in the show. How close. Basically every
game the Titans have played since mid October has been
with the exception of the one game against the Steelers

(26:40):
when they got blown out in the fourth quarter. But
that game was pretty close for the first three quarters,
so you run. In fact, I think that would have
been a two point game if Delaney Walker catches a
touchdown pass that you or I should catch um late
in the uh the third quarter there So even that
game was pretty close until the Titans fell apart late. Okay,
So you then go to Blake Bortles, who just won

(27:02):
a playoff game despite throwing for eighty seven yards. He
did run, to his credit, for eighty eight yards, but
I think there is a great deal of discomfort with
the idea that the Jags would pay him a substantial
amount of money, and all of the Blake Bortles enthusiasm
has basically disappeared in the last three weeks, when Bordles

(27:22):
has been awful on the road against the forty Niners,
then awful on the road against the Titans, and then
frankly awful, even though the Jags won a game against
the Bills, one of the worst playoff games we have
ever seen in the history of the modern NFL, for sure.
And then finally you have Nick Foles, who had one

(27:42):
really good year but has been a journeyman quarterback otherwise.
My other question for you guys, in addition to which
games you expect to be good, are if you had
to pick one of those four guys to pull off
a win in this playoff, to pull off an upset
because the four proven quarterbacks are all well, let's be honest,

(28:04):
Drew Brees is not favored. But I think that's a
that's a fairly uh, that's a fairly competitive situation. If
you had to pick one of those four guys to
pull off an upset. Does everybody on the show go
with Case Keenum or is somebody else gonna go with
another quarterback? I'm gonna go I'm gonna be honest with you,
Marcus Mariota. I think Mariota is the best of the

(28:24):
four unproven quarterbacks out there. I understand everybody out there
who's a Vikings fan, they're saying, are you crazy? Case
Keenum has been great a year. Yeah, I understand, but
he still hasn't started that many games, and ultimately, what
I saw in his performance against the Panthers gave me
a lot of nervousness about how he might perform in
the playoffs going up against the Hall of Fame quarterback

(28:46):
and Drew Brees. So I'm not voting for case Keenum.
I have zero faith in Blake Bortles and Nick Foles.
I think has been really bad down the stretch, so
of the four unproven quarterbacks, even though I think his
team is substantially worse than the Patriots, I think that
Mariota and Brady may be closer to each other right

(29:08):
now at this exact moment because Brady's come down, and
I think Mariota has elevated his performance down the stretch,
especially the last two weeks where he has made plays
with the stiff arm and the scramble against Jacksonville and
then a lot of plays going seven for seven on
third down against the Chiefs and then obviously also getting

(29:29):
that block to get Derrick Henry the win. I think
that Mariota's team just completely believes in him right now
to make plays in some form or fashion. So of
the four unproven guys, I'm going Mariota. I'll ask the
rest of the crew. I'll also open up the phone lines.
Who would you believe in of the unproven guys? Eight
seven seven six three six nine. Your chance to react,

(29:53):
because we've got a couple of guests, so I don't
think I'm gonna take that many phone calls today. So
if you want to hop in and talk about these
Divisional round play off games at all, open phone lines
right now for the final segment of our one eight
seven seven six three six nine. I'm Clay Travis. You're
listening to out Kick the Coverage, second hour, Mike Keith,
Third hour, he's the voice of the Titans. Third hour,

(30:14):
Casey Smith from Boston. That's our roadmap for the day.
Come hang with us. Hope you're having a great Friday
in January. As we get ready for the NFL Divisional
Round playoff games? Who do you believe in the most
of the four unproven quarterbacks as we get ready for
this game and which game we're most looking forward to.
We'll take your calls. Eight seven seven, three six nine.
I'm Clay Travis, and this is Fox Sports Radio. Final segment,

(30:39):
Friday Edition, I hope all of you having spectacular mornings
we get you ready for the divisional round of the
NFL playoffs going on tomorrow and Sunday. But first, what
does it mean when Geico says just fifteen minutes could
save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance? Means
you probably should have gone to Geico dot com fifteen
minutes ago as well, wouldn't You'll love a bigger tax refund.

(30:59):
Tax Slayer was recently rated number one for maximum refunds,
so you have more cash to spend on whatever the
heck you want this tax season. Go out and slay it.
Max your refund at tax slayer dot com. I am
Clay Travis. Thank you for spending your Friday morning with
us here. Put up another poll question, double poll questions

(31:20):
in the first hour, both of them having to do
with the NFL Divisional round playoff games coming up this weekend,
so you can go track these down if you want
to vote. On the first I asked three thousand of
you have voted in the first twenty minutes or so,
which NFL playoff game are you most excited to watch?
And Saints Vikings is running away with it forty percent
of you saying Saints Vikings, percent of you saying Titans Patriots,

(31:44):
eighteen percent of you Falcons Eagles, and sixteen percent of
you saying Jags Steelers. So that ranking the exact same
ranking that I gave you if I had to pick
best game on Saturday. Is Titans Patriots, best game on
Sunday Saints Vikings? But if I had to rank them,
my rankings are the exact same as your votes are
coming in. All right. The next question I asked is uh,

(32:07):
in a thousand of you have voted in this in
the first five minutes here, of the four unproven quarterbacks
in the NFL playoffs this weekend, which ones do you
believe in the most? You can go vote on Twitter
at Clay Travis and I will give you the the
update here momentarily. But I want to pull my crew
um in both Nashville and l A and see who

(32:29):
you guys would believe in Jason Martin, who do you
believe in the most? If this was one on one
and then it isn't, I would go with Mariota, but
it's not. I would I think it's Keenum and I
don't think it's close. And honestly, you're you're gonna hate
this and you're gonna kill me for this. But I
think it's Keenum, and then it's Bortals, and then it's Mariota,
and then it's Folds. Mean in likelihood to win the game.

(32:53):
But what I'm really asking is not likelihood to win
the game, because really that's a function of how good
the overall team teams are. I mean likelihood to go
out and play a good game. Because frankly, if you're
saying who's most likely to win, anybody voting anybody other
than case Keenum is crazy because the Vikings are a
five point favorite. Everybody else is an underdog on this list,

(33:16):
and Mariota is the biggest underdog. I just mean of
the quarterbacks that are gonna go out and play, who
were you most confident is not gonna lay an egg?
Who were you most confident is going to go out
and play well? Because if you just ask who's gonna win,
then really, if you pay attention to the line, the
betting line at all, then you really should every every
single person should be voting for case Keenom because the

(33:39):
Viking defense is outstanding, and because they're playing at home
and they're frankly a five point favorite. So case Keenom
should win, it doesn't mean that he's gonna be better
in performance than Drew Brees. Okay, alright, I miss I
misinterpreted you. I thought it was the other so that's
the way that I ranked them, So okay, what you
said is accurate. Then I think I all would probably

(34:00):
go with Keenum because I've been really impressed with what
I've seen. Even when they went to Carolina, they were
missing two of their starting offensive lineman in that game there,
and there was the third straight road game against very
talented competition for them, in a game that Carolina absolutely
had to win, and it was still close. So I
think I would still go with Keenum. But I don't
think Keenum or Mario Mariota is gonna play a bad

(34:22):
football game. So if you're looking at it from that standpoint,
not necessarily who's gonna win those games, then yeah, I
would probably go Keenum and then Mariota. What about you
guys in l A. Anybody have any faith at all
in Blake Bordles or Nick Foles. I I think that
Nick Foles. I think that they could pull off the
upset for sure. Um, I mean I don't think that

(34:44):
Nick Foles is gonna win the game for Philadelphia. That's
that's definitely, you know. But I believe Philadelphia had what
the fourth ranked defense, So I think that that's something
that you know, if the game's close, it could it
could go with a way and he can play well
enough to win game. Uh. I don't have any faith
in in Blake Bortles. I think if if, if that

(35:05):
game is gonna be close again, it's just gonna be
because of the defense and Blake Bortles not screwing up
rather than than playing well. And it's it's crazy that
he want to playoff game with eighty seven yards passing.
I mean, I just come back to that again and
again and think, my god, this is an unbelievable story
about him when he a playoff game with eighty seven
yards passing more yards rushing. What about you, Nick, who

(35:27):
do you believe in the least? You know, I'm going
beyond x's note XS and O's here, Clay, if I
can talk, you know, I think there's something to this
Patriots drama. I know, maybe maybe I'm crazy. Everyone's gonna
think I'm crazy, But I got Mariota simply because all
this Patriots stuff that's going with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady,
I could see maybe there's some locker room issues, maybe
they don't have a good game. It was like a
thirteen and a half point spread. I don't know, just

(35:48):
it feels a little trappy to me, a little trap game.
The weather is not gonna be bad. It's It's interesting
because a lot of times when people say, oh, you've
gotta go to Foxborough in January, in addition to the
fact that you're playing against Brady and Belichick and everything
that surrounds the Patriots dynasty, there's always this idea that
it's gonna be like negative ten degrees, that it's gonna
be snowy, that it's gonna be insanely cold, that you're

(36:11):
probably not as familiar with the elements as they are,
it's gonna be like forty five degrees, and it may
be a little bit rainy. And so I just I
don't think that that Patriot Maybe I'm wrong, but I
agree with you. I don't think that the Patriot aura
is as all encompassing as it has been in past years.
I think that Tom Brady in the last five weeks,

(36:33):
his his passer rating is thirty points lower than it
was in the first eleven weeks. Now, maybe it's because
he's a little bit deemed up, maybe it's because he's
not as healthy. But you combine that with the story
that came out last week about the drama between Brady, Belichick,
and Craft, and it wouldn't stunned me if Brady came
out and was just okay in this game. Now. Look,

(36:56):
Brady has won a lot of playoff games over the
years and certainly think the Titans secondary does not match
up very well with what Tom Brady wants to do.
But when I was looking at these games, I actually
thought that the Titans matched up better with the Patriots
than they did with the Steelers. Because the Steelers offer
you the danger of a really balanced offense. They can

(37:19):
run the ball inn outstanding fashion with Levian Bell. We
know that Ben Roethlisberger is a first ballot Hall of
Fame quarterback who can throw for four hundred or five
hundred yards if the situation dictates. Juju Smith Schuster has
been outstanding as a rookie this year for the For
the Steelers, they have the ability to kind of alter

(37:41):
the mindset on an offensive basis, whereas as bad of
a matchup and as tough of a matchup as Gronk is,
I don't know that anybody else on the Patriots offense
is scary at all other than Rob Gronkowski. Now, look,
Gronk may go for two hundred yards receiving and three
touchdowns against the Titans. That wouldn't actually stun me at

(38:02):
all if you look at the Titans and ability to
cover Travis Kelsey, and I think the Titan defense under
Dick Lebo, who has gone two and six against Tom
Brady and his career, has to do a really good
job trying in some way to corral Rob Grenkowski. But
other than Gronk, I don't know that. I look at
this Patriots offense and think, man, they have a lot

(38:24):
of great weapons that really are scary to me. I
don't think in the running game that they're gonna be
able to consistently run the ball against the Titans. And
if Brady plays as average as Brady has played the
last five weeks, I think the Titans have a pretty
good chance to make this a game going into the
fourth quarter. Now, I don't think the Titans are gonna win,
but I think a lot of people are gonna look

(38:45):
at Marcus Mariota and be impressed because this is a
slingshot game. There isn't that much at risk for the
Titans here. The Titans go out and lose thirty five
to ten and Mariota throws three interceptions, everybody's gonna say, Oh,
that's exactly what I expected to have happened. The Titans
are no good. They're going on the road against a
dynasty and they're a ten and seven football team that's

(39:08):
been very mediocre all year and hasn't really blown anybody out.
But I think the flip side of that is the
Titans have played everybody close since pretty much October. They
haven't been that exciting of a team. But Mariota, eight
different times basically since October, has been put in a
position where you have to win the game, and so
I think he's playing with house money here. I don't

(39:29):
think there's gonna be a lot of pressure on the Titans.
I would expect for the Titans if they can get
a decent start. Now, if they come out like they
did against the Chiefs and get down three, get ugly
in a in a really fast manner. But if they
come out and actually play decent. I think that game
could be really entertaining. And look, I'm rooting for entertainment
because I'm gonna be sitting on my couch like all
of you, watching about seven hours of football on Saturday

(39:52):
and about seven hours of football on Sunday. So I
want these games to be entertaining. But I actually think,
even though the spread on this one is by far
the biggest at thirteen and a half, that the Titans
Patriots is the best game on Saturday and probably the
second best game overall. Continue to unpack these poll results.
You can find me on Twitter at Clay Travis Our
two up next. I'm Clay Travis on OutKick the Coverage

(40:13):
live from the Ico Outkicks Studios, where fifteen minutes could
save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Visit
Geico dot com for a free rate quote. Hope you're
having spectacular Friday's about say Saturday Friday's wherever you are
across the country. We are breaking down the NFL Divisional
round of the playoffs, and we got a couple of
different poll questions up for you, and the most recent

(40:36):
one of the four unproven quarterbacks in the NFL playoffs
this weekend, Which one do you believe in the most?
Not which one do you believe is gonna win the
game the most? But which one do you believe in
the most. Thousands of you already weighing in These are fun.
I love. One of my favorite things about Twitter is
the ability to pull you guys and see what kind
of the collective OutKick consciousness is when it comes to

(40:58):
questions like these, And uh, it's pretty competitive here early
with several thousand of you voting, Case Keenum is getting
forty seven percent of the vote right now. Of the
four unproven quarterbacks in the NFL playoffs this weekend, which
one do you believe in the most? Not which one
is the most likely to win a game? Because that's
clearly case Keenom because the Vikings are playing at home

(41:20):
and they are favored in this game. The other three
guys are underdogs, but Case Keenom getting forty seven percent
of the vote, Marcus Mariotta getting thirty seven thirty six
percent of the vote, and then Nick Foles getting ten
percent and Blake Bortles getting seven percent of the vote. Uh.
Credit to you guys out there hitting the button for

(41:40):
Blake portals you are true believers in the utmost and
the other question I watched. Uh. At the other question,
I asked which NFL playoff are you most? Playoff game?
Are you most excited to watch? And this one, the
Saints Vikings is running away with it. Nearly half of
you forty five percent saying Saints Vikings is the best.
Then going with Titans, Patriots at Falcons Eagles at eighteen

(42:03):
percent and Jags Steelers at sixteen percent in terms of
which one you are most excited to watch? And to me,
these these games are not fantastic right in the grand
scheme of things. Uh, next weekend's games have the potential
to be really good. I mean, if next weekend, for instance,
we had uh, big Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers going

(42:25):
up against Tom Brady and the Patriots, as most of
us have anticipated the a f C would be in
the a f C title game for weeks and door months,
that's a really good game. Hopefully we get a game
as good as the one that took place in Pittsburgh,
and frankly, hopefully Pittsburgh gets a borderline call to go
in there to there a direction to balance out the

(42:46):
bad call that I think most of us agree was
the Jesse James catch non catch dilemma, which may end
up deciding who goes to the Super Bowl from the
a f C. So that's one side of the equation.
Other side of the equation, I think if we got
another rematch of Matt Ryan against Drew Brees for a
third time, that's probably the best matchup we could possibly

(43:07):
get in the NFC Championship Game, and that would obviously
be taking place in New Orleans, with the Saints being
able to host it if they were able to beat
the Vikings. And then obviously we also got the opportunity
there for the um for the Eagles to go on
the road. I'm sorry the Eagles to lose at home

(43:29):
to the Falcons, who would have to go on the
home road and win it. If you are a Vikings fan,
I'm also kind of intrigued by this. I think that
Patriots fans are very confident. I think that Steelers fans
are pretty confident in their game that they're at least
gonna play each other in the a f C title Game.
I think Eagles fans have no confidence at all about
what Nick Foles is going to be able to accomplish

(43:49):
or what they're going to be able to do in
the wake of the Carson Wentz injury. And I don't
blame them at all. We had Jason Martin doing research
back four or five weeks ago when the Carson Wentz
injury rehappened. And do you remember Jason Martin? I mean,
you found Jeff has Stetler is the only real example
of a guy in the modern era who has stepped
in and led a team to a Super Bowl in

(44:10):
the wake of an injury. Uh, And it's just unlikely
I think that that's gonna happen for the Eagles. UM.
I think also that there's cautious optimism among Falcon and
Saints fans just based on the fact that Matt Ryan
and Drew Brees have had decent success in the playoffs.
Are the Vikings the most nervous team in the NFC

(44:32):
right now just in terms of exactly what they're going
to be able to accomplish with Case Keenom. I know
Case Keendom has had a good year, but you go back,
what has it been like six or seven years and
the Saints basically stole the soul of the Vikings in
that NFC Title game when Brett Farve lost, looked like
the Vikings were gonna have a good chance to go
to the Super Bowl. There you can go back to

(44:54):
the uh. I think it was was that Gary Anderson
who missed one field goal all year, and the field
goal that he missed was the one against I think
it was the Falcons, right like, I mean, way back when.
So there are two teams in the NFC that have
basically stole your soul, the Saints and the Falcons. Um
and the fact that if if if the Falcons go

(45:15):
on the road and beat the Eagles, and I think
that's gonna happen, I'll give you my playoff picks here
in just a minute. But I think that's gonna happen.
If the Falcons go on the road and beat the Eagles,
then you're gonna know by the time the Saints and
the Vikings take the field that whoever wins that game
will get to play the NFC Title Game at home.
The Falcon that the Saints will know it, and certainly

(45:37):
the Vikings will know it. Um because I think again,
the Falcons are gonna win in that game and knock
the Eagles out and if that happens, it puts so
much pressure and so much intensity and so much stress
on that game between the Vikings and the Saints, because
I think whoever wins that game would then go ahead
and win the NFC. I actually think that that game

(46:01):
is going to be effectively the NFC title game. I
really do. I think whoever wins the Saints Vikings game
will be representing the NFC in the Super Bowl. And
so I know it's a divisional round game. I know
you still have the NFC title game to win, but
I think whoever wins this game between the Saints and
the Vikings is going to be the representative from the NFC.

(46:23):
Can't say that about any other game that's going place
taking place on the divisional weekend, But I think whoever
wins that game will find a way to go on
and win and advance to the NFC to play in
the Super Bowl. And if you are a Vikings fan,
you want to talk about an incredible position to find
yourself in after years and decades of futility. You know,

(46:44):
if you win three games at home, probably probably gonna
get a chance to play three games at home. If
you keep winning that you will win the Super Bowl.
I don't know how you don't think about that. If
you're a Vikings fan, as you, your team is taking
the fee on Sunday afternoon to try to advance, all right,
I teased it a little bit in advance. Uh let

(47:07):
me go ahead and give you my gambling picks here.
I'll also circle back around on the gambling picks an
hour three. We're gonna be joined by Mike Keith. He's
the voice of the Titans. We're gonna break down this
Titans and Patriots game and see what you guys think
about it. But to me, there are four plays this
weekend the I've already bet these games myself. These are

(47:28):
the exact picks that I'm gonna take. Uh so, so
play them with with a great deal of trepidation or excitement,
depending on whether you have any confidence in me at all.
I am going with the Falcons to win the game
against the Eagles by three or more. The line is three.
I wish I had gotten in it two and a half,
but the Falcons are a three point favorite. I loved

(47:50):
the way they played on the road against the Rams.
I think this offense is starting to gel. More importantly,
the Falcon defense has been outstand name down the stretch
in this season. The Falcons have been playing and fighting
for their playoff lives for basically the entire second half
of the season, and so I feel like they're not
gonna be overwhelmed by the situation. I feel like Matt

(48:12):
Ryan is a lot better than Nick Foles, and so
I am taking the Falcons to go on the road
and beat the Eagles. In the other Saturday game, I
think the Patriots are gonna win by seven or ten points,
but I think thirteen and a half is way too
many points for the Patriots to be favored over the
Titans by when you look at the fact that the

(48:33):
Titans have effectively played everybody they've played since mid October
to five points or less. I think this game is
gonna be close in the fourth quarter. I think ultimately
the Titans won't be able to cover Rob Gronkowski, but
so I like the Titans to cover the thirteen and
a half year. In terms of the Sunday games, I

(48:53):
think the Steelers is gonna blow out the Jags, I
really do. I think the Steelers ben Roethlisberger through five
interceptions the last time these two teams played talked about
whether or not maybe it was time for him to
hang up the cleats. I think the Steelers are gonna
come out and dominate the Jags. I think they're gonna
basically stack the line of scrimmage. You know exactly what
you're gonna get, and they're gonna tell Blake Bortles you

(49:15):
have to beat us. And I don't think there's any
way that Blake Bortles is good enough to go on
the road in January in Pittsburgh and put a team
on his shoulders. He's too inaccurate, he's too unreliable. Even
in that game, I believe I'm correct when the Jags
went on the road and beat the Steelers, I think
Bordles through for like a hundred yards down the stretch.

(49:36):
Bordles has been awful. He's been throwing a lot of interceptions.
The offense for the Jags has not been impressive. I
just don't think they're gonna be able to score. In
the last two weeks of the season, the Jags offense
has produced ten total points. Are thirteen total points. I
believe thirteen total points. They're averaging less than a touchdown
in the last two weeks of the season against decent

(49:57):
teams and the Titans and the Bills. I think that
Steelers are gonna shut them down. This game is not
gonna be close. I'm going with the Steelers by double
digits in that one. And I'm going with the Saints
to pull off the upset over the Vikings. But certainly
I'm taking the Saints plus five. So those are the
four gambling picks for me as we go into the

(50:18):
divisional weekend. Play them at your at your at your
These are not blood band guarantees, I should say. So.
I am going again Falcons minus three, I'm going Titans
plus thirteen a half, I'm going Steelers minus seven, and
I'm going Saints plus five. Those are my picks as
we move into the divisional weekend. Alright, up up next, Titans.

(50:42):
Voice of the Titans, Mike Keith, he's gonna join us.
We're gonna be breaking down the Titans and the Patriots
here with us here on out. Kicked the coverage from
potentially snowy Nashville. This maybe the end of the city
of Nashville and surrounding communities. As you know it, winter
storm rolling through as we're doing the show, right now,

(51:02):
so pray for the city of Nashville. Winner is officially here.
Up next, it's Mike Keith. Ironically enough Titans heading on
the road to Foxborough, where it's gonna be warmer. They're
getting on the plane here in a little bit, they're
gonna take off and they're gonna land in Foxborough, where
it's gonna be a lot warmer than it is here.
I am Clay Travis. You're listening to get the coverage.
This is Fox Sports Radio. Car shopping could be confusing

(51:24):
with terms like dealer price, list, price, and invoice. True
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True Car to enjoy a more confident car buying experience.
This is a confident show, and maybe we've got a
confident team in the Tennessee Titans going on the road.
I know the Patriots are confident because they never lose.

(51:47):
We bring in now the voice of the Titans, Mike Keith,
to get ready for one of the four big Divisional
Realm playoff games. And Mike, first of all, I want
to start here, how big for the Titans was the
road win over Kansas City. I think it's huge for
the development of everything going on with this organization right now, Clay,
because I think you've done several things this year to

(52:10):
take care of some things that people can no longer
talk about. The losing streaked Indianapolis, not making the playoffs,
not having one a playoff game and all. So all
of those things are now out the window. Is you
kind of take another step trying to become one of
those consistent playoff teams, which I think it's what everybody

(52:31):
wants to become. But the other thing too is getting
to be involved in January football, getting to be involved
in a game at Kansas City, and now this weekend
getting to be involved in a game at New England.
I think it's a big lift for this overall development
and what the Titans are trying to do. And obviously
it's an incredible opportunity. How big is it for the

(52:55):
Titans in the context of having one one playoff game.
It's almost like you're at the poker table and you've
already started off by winning, and you put some of
your winnings in your pocket, and now you're just sitting
at the table, thinking hey, maybe I'll win the big pot,
and at the same time, you're like, worst case scenario,
I step back from the table and I feel like
I've made a little bit of money. Is that kind
of where the Titans are playing with house money at

(53:16):
this point? I think to a certain extent, I think
for the long term, they certainly are for the long term.
I think you're saying you've already won. You you're you've
already you know, put the put the winnings in your
pocket now, and whatever you decide to play with is
just extra money that you have. If if the Titans
don't win this ball game, nobody's gonna say, oh, what

(53:38):
a disappointment. How could you guys do this? You you
let us down, what you crumbled. You're not gonna hear
any of that. You're gonna hear you lost to the Patriots. Well,
and and then if you were to go in by
some chance to pull off a victory, then suddenly the
rebuilding process, which has been going on for a couple
of years, has been accelerated to a very different level.

(54:01):
And where you are is perceived to be a different level.
So I think the Titans are in almost a no
loose situation this weekend, and I think the players sense
that from what they're getting from the outside. Certainly, the
word from the Boston area and the word from the
national media is you have no chance. And do you
buy that? Do you think the Titans have no chance? Oh?

(54:24):
I think the Titans have a chance. Sure. I mean,
this is the NFL. That's the that's the beautiful thing
is this is This is not uh, you know, college
basketball where you're playing a Division two team and they
have no shot, or when one of our Football Championship
Series teams takes on one of our Football Bowl Series

(54:44):
teams quite often, they have no chance. No, this is
the NFL. The Titans can win this football game. Now,
they'll have to do a lot of things that people
don't usually do in January and Foxburg and everything too
is they'll have to play a much more consistent game
than they've played at any time this year. We've seen flashes,

(55:05):
but we haven't seen the whole thing. They don't have
to be perfect, but they'll have to play a much
more consistent game. So sure, I think they've got a shot. Absolutely.
How healthy is Marcus Mariotta? More healthy than he's probably
been since September I think, I mean the injuries that
he's had overall. He had the hamstring that he did
in uson on October one, injured a shoulder, in a

(55:26):
knee November twelve against Cincinnati. Against Arizona on December ten,
he heard a knee and he was coming back off,
you know, having surgery for a broken lower leg. And
so it's been a year of of kind of trying
to pull it all back together. I don't know that
he's but he certainly is closer than he has been
at any point this year. How much does his team

(55:48):
like Marcus Mariota. I mean, when you see the way
the team reacts to him, whether it was the scramble
play against Jacksonville that put this team into the playoffs effectively,
even though he through two touchdown passes, one of which
was to himself, it seems like the team went crazy
on the block that he threw for Derrick Henry to
end that game. How much of a beloved figure in

(56:11):
the locker room is Mariota? Very much so? And you
see it's very genuine. I think the other part two
was before the Jacksonville game, a couple of veteran linebackers
went to him and said, hey, you realize you've never
been in these situations before. Lay it all out here
the fox that Brian A. Rackpo and Wesley Woodyard would

(56:32):
feel like they could go to him and have that conversation,
tells you, hey, you're one of the guys. This is
a kind of respect that we have for you. The
belief in him is tremendous, and it's one of the
things that's certainly, in my opinion, gives the Titans a
chance this weekend as they play in Foxboro. This team
has a quarterback that they believe in in every way,

(56:54):
shape and form, not just on the field, but they
believe in him otherwise. They take keep serious sleep, they
want to play for him. It makes a difference. One
of the things that's interesting about Mariota Um and what
he's done this year is the numbers are not great,
you know, roughly, even on the touchdown passes and the interceptions,
But it reminds me a little bit of Steve McNair

(57:16):
back in the day in this respect, it always seemed
like Steve McNair had the ball late and needed to
do something to find a way to win, and Mariota
I believe this year leads the NFL in fourth quarter
or overtime wins with five. I think that number is correct.
And he's had the ball in his hands a couple
of other times against the Rams, against uh uh, the

(57:38):
the forty Niners, and against the um certainly the Arizona
I believe where anything could have happened right, they could
have won, they could have lost. He's been in these
situations a ton. Now. He came through against the Chiefs
with a big time touchdown pass to Eric Decker. Has
he really challenged mentally? Now when you look at basically

(57:58):
this entire season, about half the time he's had the
ball late in the fourth quarter or overtime, needing his
team to have him find a way to win. The
most important thing that's happened to this offense this year
Clay has been that you know, if the if the
San Francisco lead holds up, he would have had six
of those drives because they get field goal for people
who don't know. And then the forty Niners came back

(58:21):
and bombed one through literally on the final play of
the game to win. Yeah, because he scored with a
minute seven to go to put him ahead um that,
you know, his stats haven't been good. The offense regressed
this year in terms of statistics. They haven't been as
good in the red zone overall. They certainly haven't been
as good on third down. And there's gonna be a
lot of that that I'm sure they're gonna break down

(58:42):
in this offseason about where it went wrong. But what's
gone right is late in games, late in situations where
you gotta have it. He's come through very consistently, and
he's had this experience. You know, he had four of
these experiences his first two years and as you mentioned,
he's had eight of them this year. Uh, that's a

(59:04):
big deal. And that's a big deal for a quarterback
because truly, in this league, we judge quarterbacks on wins
and losses. You know, you could say, well, you know,
it's the other guys and and and it is I know,
I mean, I know they're twenty one other players and
special teams and whatever. But your your quarterback directs it,
he leads it. It goes back to the question you

(59:24):
were just talking about how the team follows him, what
they think of him. Does that factory in you bet
it does. I mean, you look at a guy like Brady,
you look at a guy like Roethlisberger, you look at
a guy like Aaron Rodgers. There's a level of expectation
on that team that this is what our guy is
going to do for us in this situation, regardless of statistics.

(59:45):
I think Mariota has established himself in that way this season.
When you look at the weather conditions a lot of
times when you're playing in Foxborough and the games tomorrow, Uh,
it's Friday, and and they're starting to look at the
weather condition it's actually not going to be that bad. Right,
It's snowing in Nashville, and the expectation is that it's

(01:00:07):
actually gonna be a little bit balmy up in Foxborough,
which is amazing considering it's you know, mid January at night. Yeah,
it's true. And you know the playoff game we played
their fourteen years ago, it was minus or i should
say it was four degrees that kick off, and it
was below zero when the team ended. And then we
played up there in two thousand nine, a game that
we lost fifty nine to nothing, and all around the

(01:00:29):
area it was raining and when we got to Foxborough
it was raining snow. It was literally twelve degrees colder
in Foxburgh than any of the surrounding areas, and it
was so when it looked like it was raining, it was.
There were snow flakes. And I'm not talking of a
freezing rain. And I know if they're meteorologists listening, probably

(01:00:52):
I've never seen this before in my life, so you
don't have any idea what can happen. Thus, if we
get there tomorrow night and forty and it's not snowing,
I mean, we'll feel like we've we've shown up in
Palm Springs, but the weather isn't supposed to be a
big concern, which a lot of times in Foxborough is
one of their big advantages, right that they can play

(01:01:13):
in that cold weather and other people can't, and especially
if they have a snowplow driver on hand. Yeah, no kidding. Uh,
we're talking to Mike Keith. He's the voice of the Titans.
He'll be calling the Titans at the Patriots game on
Saturday night. Uh, Mike. For people out there who may
not be familiar with the Titans, And I think that's
a huge percentage of the people that are listening to
us right now. They may know Mariota, they may know

(01:01:34):
Derrick Henry a little bit from having what he did
when he was with Alabama. But in terms of other
offensive weapons, what should people be looking for? Delaney Walker?
Maybe a little bit for fantasy because he's had some
pretty big numbers, But wide receiver wise, the Titans are
gonna have to get more than they've gotten so far.
Probably who's out there for the Titans at wide receiver

(01:01:55):
that could make plays in this game. They went to
Corey Davis at Kansas City and he had four catches
in the ball game and seemed to find his range
a little bit. Not necessarily big plays, but throwing on
the outside to take advantage of his ability to get open.
So I think he's involved. The guy I'm looking for
his Rochard Matthews. He has not shown up much in

(01:02:16):
recent games. You know, he'd had a late season injury
that he'd been trying to fight back from. I think
if the Titans are going to have a shot to
win this football game, they need some big plays down
the field. Richard Matthews is the guy who's consistently done that.
The other name obviously Eric Decker. He's a name that
people all over the NFL know, and he's also a

(01:02:37):
name that Patriots fans know from his days with the
Broncos and with the Jets. He's played there, he knows
what to expect, and he had a big catch in
Kansas City late for a touchdown that may have gotten
him back on track. I think the receiver position Clay
is gonna be huge tomorrow night due to the fact
that I think the Patriots will do everything they can

(01:02:59):
to take it away to Landy Walker. Defensively, is there
any reason to believe that Titans can get to Tom
Brady and or cover which may be just as important
Rob Gronkowski because they didn't do a good job against
Travis Kelsey before he got injured late in the first half.
Gronkowski obviously the most difficult matchup at tight end. I
would probably say for anybody in the NFL, what can

(01:03:21):
the Titans do there? Well, he's gonna get his The
big thing is you've got to tackle him, and that's
the That's the whole focus that the Titans have a
lot with this Patriots passing game, whether it's Crooks or
whether it's Hogan or a Mandola or somebody out of
the backfield, and certainly Gronkowski. The big thing is tacked like,

(01:03:42):
don't let them get on long, you know, in place
where they break a tackle and go forty yards. That's
what happened to the Titans early in the game at
Kansas City, Tyreek Hill makes a five yard catch and
an intupthing of forty five yard game. Brady doesn't hold it.
He's gonna get rid of football. You've got to knock
them down, and you've got to try to make him
kick field goals. The Patriots are going to be a

(01:04:05):
team that's gonna move the football. Dave Tom Brady is
the greatest quarterback of all time. He's not gonna hold it.
If you could get him in a situation where you
make him kick field goals, and then you're in this
game as it goes, and then suddenly they have to
try to do a few more things where they hold
the football. Then I think you've got a chance to

(01:04:25):
get to Brady. Probably not early, though, Clay, because I
don't think he's going to allow you to do that.
And you know, will they try to even win the
ball once? I mean, that's the amazing things about the Patriots.
If they come out and they say, you know what,
we've got to throw it every down they will. They're
not scared to do that in the least, even as
well as Dion Lewis has played this year at running back.

(01:04:48):
Looking ahead, Mariott is coming into his fourth year. Regardless
of what happens at the end of this season, He's
coming in for his fourth year. I believe the way
the contracts are set up now, the Titans would have
a potential option for his year. Do you think the
Titans have seen enough that they're gonna try to get
Mariota signed to a longer term deal or do you
expect them to just let him play his fourth year

(01:05:09):
and then talk about it at the end of next season.
I would imagine they will do whatever, And I don't
know all of the semantics of whether it's taking the
fifth year or doing the extension or whatever. The Titans
are committed to Marcus Mariota. They believe in Marcus Mariota.
A lot of what they will look at in terms
of improvement in this offseason will be how to build

(01:05:29):
around him. There's no doubt in my mind they're gonna
do whatever it takes to ensure that he's with them
long term and that he's successful long term. No question Mike,
appreciate the time, enjoy the game. Tomorrow will be listen.
We're listening and we're watching. It's gonna be a lot
of fun. Look forward to it. Thank you, Clay Travis.
I appreciate it. Thanks to Mike Keith. That'll be fun
to watch and or listen to tomorrow. Titans on the

(01:05:51):
road against the Patriots. Let's go ahead and find out
now with my guy Eddie r c O. What's shaken
right close start in the NBA where we had four
games the schedule, including the Raptors having no trouble beating
the Cavaliers one thirty three to ninety nine. The final.
Toronto gets the lop sided win despite two starters being
out of the lineup Kyle Lowry's injured and Sergivaka was suspended.

(01:06:12):
Toronto had seven different players scoring at double digits as
Cleveland lost for the six time in its last eight games.
Celvis down twenty two points that come all the way
back and beat the Seventies six to one oh three
in a game played over in London. Lakers beat the
Spurs one. It was the Clippers top of the Kings
to one fifteen. Some notes from the NFL The Panthers

(01:06:32):
have hired veteran coach NORV Turner to be their next
offic'sive coordinated to the league and nows three games we
played in London next season in October Raiders versus Seahawks,
Eagles versus Jaguars, and Chargers versus Titans. His supports brought
to you by True Car. Online car shopping can be confusing,
but not anymore. With True Price from True Car now,
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next cars as a True Car and enjoying more confident

(01:06:54):
car buying experience. And Clay Steelers running back Levy on
Bell says he may retire if the team uses the
franchise tag on it for a set a straight season year.
Olds one of the best all around running backs in
the game, and he said, I'm not going to settle
for anything. I know what I do and what I
bring to the chable. I'm not going out here and
getting the ball four at times if I'm not getting
what I feel I'm value that end quote. He later
went to Twitter and said quote, I'm trying to win

(01:07:15):
a Super Bowl. I can care less about what happens
after this season. My biggest thing is I'm focused on
this team that I'm on right now. Whatever happens next
year is irrelevant to my goals. This is such a
stupid thing to do. If you're a Levy on Bell,
there's a zero percent chance he's gonna retire. Zero, I
mean literally zero. So when you go out and say, oh,

(01:07:36):
if I don't get what I want, I'm gonna retire,
You're not Barry Sanders, You're not thirty years old, you're
not having played for a long time. I mean, I'm
not kidding about this. There is literally a zero percent
chance that you're gonna do what you're threatening to do.
So why do it? And why do it right now?
Like as you're getting ready for the playoffs. I mean,
nobody believes you. I mean right, I mean, I don't

(01:07:57):
think there's anybody out there who believes in any stre
actually the imagination this is a legitimate threat. I just
think it's stuff like this is stupid. I mean, for
it's like failed negotiation if you want, but don't go
out and make yourself look thoroughly ridiculous in the process, Like,
nobody believes that you're willing to actually do this. We're
coming to alive from the Geico Outkicks studios where it's
easy to say or more on car insurance with Geico,

(01:08:20):
go to Geico dot com or call eight hundred nine
four seven Auto. The only hard part figuring out which
way is easier. And we are rolling through the Friday
edition OutKick the coverage. We have been breaking down a
couple of interesting questions for you out there as we
get ready for the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Two questions that I have put up on Twitter that

(01:08:41):
I was curious to see what your responses were of
the four unproven quarterbacks in the NFL playoffs this weekend.
Which one do you believe in the most around, Let's
see what the numbers are. Around six thousand of you
have voted on this poll so far. You can always
go find our polls at Clay Travis. I try to do,
you know, at least four or five polls a week,

(01:09:02):
because I think they're pretty interesting to be able to
see what you guys believe. And uh percent of you
say you believe in case Keenum the most, thirty six
percent of you say you believe in Marcus Mariott the
most seven percent believe in Blake Bortles like to thank
Blake Bortles mom and dad for hitting a vote refresh
over and over again. There, and Nick Foles is getting

(01:09:23):
ten percent of your support in terms of who you
believe in the most. And I've also asked which NFL
playoff game are you most excited to watch? Saints Vikings
is running away with this thing. Percent of you saying
you're most excited to watch Saints vikingsent of you saying Titans, Patriots,
eighteen percent Falcons Eagles, and fourteen percent Jags Steelers. So

(01:09:48):
that is the breakdown there. Okay, we have got a
crazy animal thunderdome story that I found. I saw this
and I was like, my god, this can't be real.
I can't believe this actually happened. It is from Naples, Florida,
of all places, and it involves a bear. I'm gonna
read you that story. And I bet Jason Martin and

(01:10:09):
the crew have been able to find some animal thunderdome
stories as well. We've talked all NFL playoffs so far.
Let's take a break and get some animal thunderdome for you.
That'll be our next segment, and then an hour three
we'll reset the NFL Divisional playoff games, and then we're
gonna go up to Boston and see what the vibe
is as the Patriots, who are a prohibitive favorite to
advance to the super Bowl. And when the super Bowl

(01:10:31):
get set to begin their playoff run, first game they
will have played since the blockbuster story about the discord
that exists basically between Belichick, Brady and Bob Kraft, the
owner of the Patriots. We will talk about all that
and more. Will continue to break it down for you.
I am Clay Travis's outcake. The coverage on Fox Sports Radio.

(01:10:53):
Wouldn't you love a bigger tax refund? Tax Layer was
recently rated number one for maximum re funds, so you
have more cash to spend on whatever the heck you
want this tax season. Go out and slay it. Max
your refund a tax slayer dot com. We've talked all
about the NFL divisional round games. Will circle back around
to that at the top of our three and breakdown those.

(01:11:16):
We've got a couple of poll questions up. You can
go check out my Twitter feed vote on those. I'll
re reattach them, rediscuss dive back into them at the
top of our three We're also going to be joined
by Casey Smith live from Boston as the Patriots get
ready to defend their Super Bowl title. What kind of
story is that going to be in the Boston area.
We will discuss, But first it's time. You've been dreaming

(01:11:40):
of it, you've been begging for it. It's Animal Thunderdome,
ladies and gentlemen. I'm just glad. I was scared, boys
and good. I thought he thought I was like this
enormous piece of chicken dot and times. Here this is

(01:12:07):
Animal thunder Dog daughter. This is pretty crazy. Uh, the
story that that I read. You know, I was down
in Naples, Florida for Thanksgiving, and I was there an
entire week South Florida, beautiful place, spectacular town. And the
whole time that I was there, I was never thinking,
you know what, this is the kind of place where

(01:12:29):
I expect a bear attack to happen. This seems totally
like unprovoked. This is like the pearl harbor of the
Animal Thunderdome. You don't anticipate that you're gonna be a
victim of a bear attack in Naples, Florida. But a
man was attacked, becoming the first ever person to be
attacked by a bear in South Florida and around ten thirty,

(01:12:51):
this guy, Andrew Muner, was in an apartment complex and
let his dog outside. Moments later, the canine suddenly ran
back inside aired. According to officials there in Naples, that's
when a bear attacked the man and mauled his face
with its paw. He was rushed to the hospital, where

(01:13:12):
he underwent a four hour surgery and received forty one
stitches for cuts across his head and chest. He said
during the attack he saw three bears, not even one bear,
three bears, and then all of them were about five
feet tie five ft tall. The Florida Fish and Wildlife

(01:13:34):
and Conservation Commission said they will start setting up traps
and conducting bear searches in the Naples area now soon.
It's one thing if you got attacked by a shark,
it's another thing even if you got attacked by a alligator.
But a bear attack when you're just letting your dog outside, Uh,

(01:13:55):
this is pretty crazy. And Jason Martin, are you with
me here? That of all of things you would expect
to happen in Naples, Florida, bear attack is not anywhere
near the top of the list. Yeah, that's not what
I would think would get me. You want to talk
about an alligator or some kind of a reptile or
something like that. I get you a heat stroke. I

(01:14:15):
get you at times, maybe drownings, whatever it might be.
I'm not rolling out of my back porch to get
my dog into Leven after it's done into business, looking
and seeing Smokey next to me, ready to take a
chunk out of my face like that's Florida is already
a problematic place to live. We've explained that on Animal
Thunderdome before. But if the three bears are around and

(01:14:40):
there's no Goldilocks, it's time to get out of Florida.
There's no well. I I love the state of Florida.
Um and Naples is awesome, But to me, bears in
Naples it's just different levels stuff. All right? What else
you got justin? You got your bobcat story? That's right now?
This one? Uh it's you know, it's not as I guess, Uh,

(01:15:01):
we have no what nobody getting attacked here, But now
the animals, I guess are attacking education. Earlier in the week.
This week, a bobcat and its kittens disrupted classes at
an Anthem High School and that's in Arizona. Now. The
students were kept inside buildings at a Boulder Creek High
School for at least an hour while the Arizona Game

(01:15:23):
and Fish Department employees worked to wrangle the Bobcat and
retrieve her two kittens, which had been hiding in a
drain pipe near the school cafeteria. So I guess while
the students were on the holiday break, the the Bobcat
and her kittens thought, oh, this is a nice deserted place.
Didn't this happen in California, like somewhere outside of l A.

(01:15:44):
Didn't we have bobcats just wondering story it was. It
was a cougar, I think it was, and it was
just chilling, and it was like it was before the
kids were there, and I think it was like a Sunday,
so so there weren't actually any kids there, so it
wasn't quite the same. Now. I guess that Bobcat heard
the story about the cougar and say, well, why are

(01:16:04):
you going to show up on Sunday? If you want
to actually do damage, you need to show up when
the children are there. I thought you were talking ramped
it up. I thought you were talking about the cougar
that got caught in the Yeah, that's true. Maybe I
got the coup maybe it was a bobcat, but this
is not that same story. But yeah, the the cougar
that was caught in the luggage was a completely different thing.
All right. What else we got is that it well, no,

(01:16:26):
it's actually not. Um you can see a lot of things.
You can see a lot of wildlife, a lot of
things in the wild when you go to Walmart. Usually
that's just the customers of the greeters. But shot at Walmart.
So much for that that sponsorship we had lined up.
I'll be going unprovoked attack at Walmart just out of

(01:16:47):
left field. You just go after Walmart and knowledge solid shoppers.
Customers in a Texas Walmart captured video of a different
kind of wildlife flying and swooping close to customers browsing
the storage grocery section. What would you assume, Clay, based
on what I just told you that would be like
animals around in Texas inside and grocery and the way

(01:17:08):
that I described them as swooping? What what would you
assume those would be? Like an eagle? Maybe? How about
a large colony of bats in the daytime, yes, well
six thirty pm, so not really the daytime. It happened
right there after rush hour on Monday, and the video
shows these bats swooping between customers in the grocery section.

(01:17:29):
And it's not like it's just Bruce Wayne, like, it's
like twenty five bats that are in this grocery store.
I would get the hell out of that Walmart, like
I just I can wait, like I can get they
have a theory on why the bats just suddenly showed up.
I mean at a random Walmart. It does not appear

(01:17:52):
that they do. All that I saw is everybody's like
they need to get them out of there. They were
hurting them towards the exit. They were actually flying low
enough that they were flopping uh their wings at people
and hitting their jackets, chasing people actually out of the store.
I don't know. Maybe target hired bats, I will say
Walmart and Walmart. I will say this, by the way,

(01:18:14):
that would be a hell of a move if you
were just uh in a viral era birds attacking you.
I this happened in my neighborhood. We had a like
rogue bird, and I don't know why it was doing it.
But like if you walked on the sidewalk near him,
he would dive bomb you. And I gotta be honest
with you. You don't anticipate getting attacked from above. This

(01:18:38):
isn't the guy understand now? In World War two and
everything else, why air superiority is such an important aspect
of of military combat because it's one thing if you
get attacked by something coming at you on like your level,
like if a dog runs at you, or even an
alligator or I was like in my wrestling match with
the alligator and I was giving him the people's elbow

(01:18:59):
over and over again. Died. All of that you could
see coming right. A bird just suddenly hitting you from
above is something you don't anticipate and it's pretty intimidating.
So my kids wouldn't even walk on that side of
the of the of the sidewalk, and you never knew
when the bird was just gonna show up and dive
bomb you. And it's not like he was really hurting you,

(01:19:20):
although he would like peck you, but it was like
so startling that you would it was. It would get
in your head and you'd start to worry that you
were gonna get hit by a bird at any moment.
So I think the the Alfred Hitchcock movie Birds, which
I've watched, it makes even more sense how scary a
bird is. If you've ever just been unprovoked attacked by

(01:19:41):
a bird, I mean that's driving, And or if you're
driving in a frozen iguana falls out of a tree
and crashes your front windshield. Yeah, the iguanas I think
are thought out now in Florida, and now we got
the bears attacking. But I gotta be like the bear
attack in Naples is one of those moments where I
knew that, for instance, there are bear is in the Everglades,

(01:20:01):
but if you got lost in the Everglades and with
all the anacondas and the alligators, and you know, now
we know that sometimes the sharks are in the fresh
water in the Everglades, like the Everglades a dangerous place,
But a bear seems like an unfair thing. Like if
you're on the beach and this happened, I think, didn't
we have a beach attack in of a by a bear?

(01:20:21):
I think we did, And like the Destined Area, if
you get attacked by a bear on the beach, it
just seems unfair. It's like the bear shouldn't be there
on the beach, just like a bear shouldn't be in
a random Naples area. It just doesn't make any sense
at all. It isn't in any way a fair situation. Um.
All right, So we have got the final hour of

(01:20:42):
the show coming up. Next, we're gonna be joined by
Casey Smith. She will talk to us about the Patriots
pursuit of another Super Bowl championship, and we're gonna dive
back in and reassess the Divisional round of the playoffs,
break down the games, get you ready for them? All
that and more our three OutKick the coverage Friday and
here on Fox Sports Radio. Oh I from the guy

(01:21:05):
go out Kick Studios. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen
per cent or more on car insurance. Physic gico dot
com for a free rate quote. It is the final
segment of a fun week started off this week in
Atlanta with the National Championship game between Georgia and Alabama
on Monday and Tuesday. Finishing off the week, discussing the

(01:21:26):
NFL Divisional round of the playoffs as we get ready
for games to tomorrow on Saturday and two on Sunday.
As well, I think this is the best week of
the year in the NFL other than the opening weekend
of the year. Opening weekend of the year. Everybody's filled
with optimism. There's so much excitement about how good your
team could be, how much fun you could have over
the course of the season watching your team run its

(01:21:48):
way to the super Bowl, and then by the end
of the year there's only eight teams left. But these
games frequently we get at least two good games, sometimes
as many as four good games, so there is much
to get to. I'll break down the poll questions tell
you where we are on the divisional round of the playoffs.
Will talk to Casey Smith next segment about the Patriots

(01:22:09):
quest to win a second straight championship and where everything
is coming from on that front. But I thought this
was a little bit intriguing. A lot of you, I'm
asking what's the best game of the weekend, and a
lot of you are still very anti NFL. Large percentage
of fans out they are still angry at the NFL,
upset at the way the season has gone. And one

(01:22:31):
way you can tell about how much excitement there is
for an end of the season kind of playoff run
is what the market looks like for tickets. It cost
about two thousand dollars to get into the Georgia Alabama
National title game. That game rated very highly, even though
people said, oh, it's two SEC teams playing the second

(01:22:53):
highest rated thing to ever air on cable. All right,
what's it cost to get into these games? Right now?
This is alarming? I would think if you are a
NFL uh you know, kind of executive, if you're just
paying attention to the overall trend lines of your game.
NFL playoff ticket market update. This is on Twitter. I

(01:23:15):
just saw Darren Ravel tweeted out all four games. What
does it cost to get in the Titans at New England?
A hundred and twenty five bucks to get in? That
seems insanely affordable to me for a divisional round playoff game.
How about Jacksonville at Pittsburgh seventy five bucks to get

(01:23:36):
in their seven thousand available tickets right now on the
ticket broker sites. All right? How about Atlanta at Philadelphia?
The Eagles haven't had a home playoff game like this
where they hope to go to the super Bowl in
a very long time. A hundred and fifty bucks. How
about New Orleans at Minnesota. The Vikings man, they got

(01:23:58):
a chance to go to the Super Bowl. The Vikings
haven't exactly been in the playoffs a ton of times
over the years with opportunities this perfect. A hundred and
fifty bucks with six thousand available tickets. Would that not
alarm you a little bit if you were the NFL

(01:24:20):
Divisional round playoff games and the most expensive get in
price is a hundred and fifty bucks, and those prices
are probably gonna come plummeting down as it gets closer
and closer to kickoff based on the sheer number of
available tickets seven thousand seats available In Pittsburgh. Everybody talks

(01:24:42):
about what huge, unbelievable, amazing fans the Steelers are, and
you can get into their playoff game against the Jags
for seventy five bucks. It might be less than the
ticket cost a hundred and fifty bucks to get in
and Atlanta, Philadelphia a hundred and fifty bucks to get
in In New Orleans, Minnesota, that would make me really nervous.

(01:25:03):
If I was an NFL executive, I'd be asking the question,
why are people not clamoring to get into our stadiums
in particular if you are the Vikings, if you're the Eagles,
if you're the Steelers, and if you're the Patriots. Because
we hear so often how good of fan bases those

(01:25:23):
four teams are, why are there not more people begging
to get into those games? All four of them easy tickets?
And I'm not saying a hundred and fifty bucks is cheap,
but a hundred and fifty dollars to go see an
NFL playoff game, I mean that seems I'm gonna be
honest with you, insanely affordable to me, particularly when you

(01:25:46):
consider what frequently the ticket prices are for games like these,
Like I don't have incredible seats in my season tickets
with the Tennessee Titans. I'm lower level, but they're just
okay seats. I mean they're they're pretty good seats. They're
not great seats. I mean they're kind of curling around
one of the end zones. And I think my tickets
right now, face value are seventy five dollars each. So

(01:26:09):
when you're talking about getting in for seventy five dollars
to a Jacksonville Pittsburgh Steeler game, you're basically paying face value.
People are just trying to get their money back. The
Patriot game a hundred and twenty five bucks, I'm sure
that's close to face value too, and a hundred and
fifty bucks in Philly. In Minnesota that's not very much either. Again,

(01:26:30):
I mean, I'm looking at this saying, by the time
of kickoff, these tickets are gonna be going for less
than face value. Now is that assigned to a certain
extent of what I've been arguing for a long time
that it doesn't make sense to have these big football
stadiums because as older fans are dying off, younger fans
are like, I'll just watch it on television. Why would

(01:26:52):
I get in a car and drive all the way
over there and pay for parking and all of the
assorted cost for beer and pizza and whatever else you
go to. I mean, I talked about this from my
own perspective. I go to a lot of Titans games.
I having a season tickets, and uh, but I've got
two young boys too, And one of our kids had

(01:27:12):
a friend and we went with like the boy Scout
group I think it was or whatever it was, like
the school group went. We set away in the top
all the kids went as a group, and uh, I
went to go get each of the kids a pizza,
and I got each of them a Gatorade to drink,
and then I got myself a beer and the guy,

(01:27:33):
uh my buddy of beer, one of the guy's dads
that I was with, And it cost me sixty bucks,
nearly seventy dollars. I was like, are you kidding me?
Three personal pan pizzas, three Gatorades, and two beers like
bud Lights seventy bucks. I think there's a lot of
people out there saying, why would I pay that? And

(01:27:54):
when I look at prices like this for what should
be the signature weekend of the NFL, the eight best teams,
the eight remaining teams in the NFL, and you can
get in for that limited amount of cost, basically face
value at all four places, that's a sign the NFL
brand isn't that strong. And we talked about the fact
that the ratings are declining. Are these matchups that everybody

(01:28:17):
out there who's kind of a casual fans like man,
I can't wait to see what's gonna happen in that
Titans Patriots game. I don't think there's a lot of
people out there like that. People out there like, man,
I can't wait to see what's gonna take place when
the Jags traveled as Steelers. Yeah, I don't think there's
a lot of people who are like man, I'm gonna
build my day around that. Well, I asked you which

(01:28:37):
are the best games out there? A lot of you voting, Uh,
twelve thousand of you right now have voted since I
posted this poll about an hour ago on Twitter. Can
go vote yourself at Clay Travis on Twitter. Which NFL
playoff game are you most excited to watch? Forty seven
percent of you said Saints Vikings the final game of
the weekend on Sunday afternoon. Forty seven percent of you

(01:29:00):
all in for Saints Vikings, percent of you saying Titans Patriots,
eighteen percent said the Falcons and the Eagles, and fourteen
percent said the Jags Steelers. That's the exact order that
I ranked them in an hour one. If I had
to rank them, which games would I most like to see?
Saints Vikings was one, Titans Patriots was two, Falcons Eagles

(01:29:22):
was three, and Jag Steelers was four. Okay, Then I
took the next step and I said one of the
fascinating angles about the divisional round playoff games to me
this weekend is you have four proven quarterbacks, three of
whom are definite Hall of Famers, and Tom Brady, Ben
Roethlisberger and Drew Berrees who have all won Super Bowls.
And then in the fourth spot, you've got Matt Ryan,

(01:29:43):
thirty two years old, turtying thirty three in May, probably
has another five good years as a quarterback, at least
in the NFL, and I think he's gonna end up
having a pretty decent shot to make the Hall of Fame,
particularly if he can win a Super Bowl over the
next five years. So they have four were really proven quarterbacks,
and then you have four guys who aren't proven at all,

(01:30:04):
Nick Foles, Marcus Mariota, case Keenum, and Blake Bortles. And
nearly nine thousand of you have voted in this poll,
and I said, of the four unproven quarterbacks in the
NFL playoffs this weekend, which one do you believe in
the most? And forty seven percent of you said case Keenum,
thirty seven percent of you said Marcus Mariota, ten percent

(01:30:26):
of you said Nick Foles and Blake Bortles. Mom and
Dad have continued to hit Blake Bortles over and over
again and refreshed on Twitter to get him up to
six percent of the vote. So basically, what is the
I'm always bad at live math on the on the
on the big machine here, But eighty four percent of
you have voted for case Keenum or Marcus Mariota as

(01:30:49):
the quarterbacks that you believe in. Only six percent total
have gone with Nick Foles or with Blake Bortles. I
think that's reasonable kind of expectation as well. I mean,
case Keenum and the Vikings are five point favorites to
win the game in the divisional round the playoffs. But
if you combine the fact that these matchups are not
necessarily that sexy with obviously the ticket resell market, which

(01:31:13):
is an original kind of approximation for how much people
are excited about a game. People were willing to pay
two thousand dollars to get into Georgia, Alabama on Monday
night for the college football National title game. Right now,
you can get in for a hundred and fifty dollars
or less to every divisional round NFL playoff game. That

(01:31:35):
doesn't speak very highly of the excitement level for these
four games as we move into what should be the
best weekend of the playoffs in the NFL for theoretically
really good games the Elite eight of the NFL. Two
games on Saturday, two games on Sunday, and not a
lot of people clamoring to get in. All right, We're

(01:31:55):
gonna go up to Boston and touch base on the
with the Patriots quest to become a two time Super
Bowl champ, for Brady and Belichick, to win their sixth
UH title overall, back to back titles. That's what the
Patriots are after. They are a prohibitive favorite, their thirteen
and a half point favorite over the Titans, and their
prohibitive favorite to win the Super Bowl this year. The

(01:32:18):
path to the super Bowl, if they can beat the Titans,
will certainly run through Foxborough for probably the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In the wake of that blockbuster story that dealt with
the acrimony that exists between Brady, Belichick and Craft, what
is the vibe in Boston. We'll talk with Casey Smith
about that next right here on out Kick the coverage

(01:32:39):
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to enjoy a more confident car buying experience. Bringing Casey

(01:33:00):
Smith now as we do every single Friday Final Hour
at k A y C. E. Smith. You can see
her twitter feed. I tweeted out uh from her just
moments ago. Casey, last time we talked to you, I
think it was the middle of a snowstorm in Boston
and the storm over the Patriots with Belichick and Brady
and Craft. Has it subsided at all? Or is it

(01:33:22):
still a big conversation the story that came out that
alleged that they were not getting on well, or has
that kind of subsided Now that the playoffs are officially
beginning for the Patriots tomorrow, it's definitely not subsided. I
do expect today to be more about the actual playoff.
But last time we talked, the article had just hit,
and every single day since then, everybody's still been breaking

(01:33:44):
it down because either Brady has talked, or Belichick or
Robert Craft or whoever. And the big question is is
who did it come from? Why did it come out
and what's really the truth. And I think throughout the
week that the reason it's been the biggest storyline is
because every time you look at the Patriots, at least
over the last death Gate or so, talking about deflay
Gate or spy Gates, it's always been kind of controversy

(01:34:04):
from the outside looking in, it's the Patriots rallying around
each other because whatever is going on is coming from
the outside. The accusations, This is coming potentially from within
the locker room and surrounding Tom Brady. So it's definitely
an interesting angle. People that are calling in a local
radio say they don't want to hear the teams the
side of things anymore, but as soon as you start
talking about the actual game, they do want to hear

(01:34:25):
about it. So you know, you can't make people happy
around here. But I do expect to day to be
more about the matchup itself. But this story is not
going anywhere anytime soon, I don't think. But I do
expect the game to take precedent at least today and tomorrow.
I haven't followed it aggressively to see whether you can
actually watch this reality show yet, but Tom Brady has
allowed a camera crew basically to accompany him for much

(01:34:48):
of this year. Now. They haven't actually, I don't believe,
gone into the Patriots facility or even where the Patriots
are practicing or anything like that, but there are guys
writing to and from practice with him, his kid. It's
Giselle or in it. How much of a topic has
this been and what's the actual story here? I figured
you probably know. Is this out to be watched? I've
read articles about it, but I haven't actually sought out

(01:35:10):
the video itself. It seems a little bit strange for Brady,
a guy who was typically all about football, to suddenly
allow people into a large component of his private life.
It's not out yet, and it comes out on spacebook
watch eventually. I'm not exactly sure when, um, but it's
it's already been shot and based. I mean, you're absolutely right.
It's kind of bizarre for the timing for it to

(01:35:32):
come out right now, at least the trailer to come out,
because we've always known Tom Brady to be so private
and what he does. But from what we understand and
Tommy Curran, who works up here in Boston who's a
Patriots feat writer, spoke with the documentary maker Gossam Choper
about it, and basically what he said was that Tom decided.
Tom Brady decided that what he wanted to do was
really document his journey since the Super Bowl when last year,

(01:35:56):
knowing that he was turning forty, knowing that he was
dealing with his parents, us in his sick mother. There's
kind of all the things going on behind the scenes.
And to be honest, Clay, there's been pretty mixed reaction
i think up here in New England because it's very
not Tom Brady to let cameras in, so people get
the feeling that it might be scripted, that it might
be kind of a set up thing, and that it's
kind of an eye roll. And then the other side

(01:36:17):
is is you don't see what goes on behind the scenes.
And Tom Brady is a pretty unrelatable guy. Not only
is he the greatest of all time at what he does,
he's also married to a supermodel and he doesn't eat
tomatoes or meat or anything like that. So it's like, well, hey,
like i'd like to see a care about that too,
because who in the world can relate to this kind
of thing? So, uh, it is weird timing that they're

(01:36:38):
releasing the trailer now, But in my opinion, I think
he's trying to set himself up even more so about
his brand. He knows football is eventually going to end.
But the TV twelve stuff, you know, his lifestyle change
and everything with Alex Gerrero. I think that's what it's
really going to document. But from what we know, nothing
withinside the Patriots locker room, nothing with Bill Belichick. And
I think that's an interesting angle as well. Why do

(01:36:59):
you think Tom Radi cares about his life after football suddenly?
And and the reason why I asked that question is this.
If you told me right now, okay, Clay Travis, you're
gonna have several hundred million dollars, You're gonna have a
super Bowl uh sorry, a supermodel wife along with your
five or your six or your seven super Bowls, whatever
he's gonna finish with. You're gonna be somewhat healthy, you know,

(01:37:20):
relatively healthy, good looking guy, young kids, and you don't
have to worry about being in the public eye for
the rest of your life. To me, that would actually
have a great deal of appeal. After being in the
public eye as much as he has. I've got plenty
of money, I can have an amazing life. I don't
have to have like obligations on a day to day basis.

(01:37:40):
Why does he care about this health conscious like TV
twelve lifestyle brand that he's trying to create. He's got
enough money, like you know, like and I understand the
concept of somebody saying, like, oh, why does Jeff Bezos
try to make more money? Well, the answer for Jeff
Bezos is I think he probably loves being the CEO
of Amazon and legitimately thinks he's making America better with

(01:38:05):
the way that he's able to create things with Amazon.
Like I legitimately believe that Jeff Bezos, who I believe
is the most wealthy man in America, is not doing
what he's doing to make more money. He's doing it
because he thinks he's making the world a better place
through his company and all of those things. Is that
Brady's goal? Now, Like it's it's tough for me to
psychoanalyze a guy like this because to me, if I

(01:38:26):
had hundreds of millions of dollars and my career was
coming to a close at some point like his, I
just right off into the sunset with my smoking hot
Victoria's secret supermodel wife with my couple of kids, do
whatever I wanted for the rest of my life and
not feel like I needed to be in the public
eye for years ahead. Does that make sense or is
that crazy? Yeah? No, it makes sense, and it's a
good question. But I mean my answer, at least from

(01:38:48):
what I've seen up here and from hearing people that
are around him on a day to day basis, is
that he does actually believe in this stuff that he's
doing will help people be better, not just himself with
the Alex Carrero training, with the lifestyle change. So it's
not about money, no, I mean I think there's probably
gonna be an element of that, right, I mean, who
can ever have too much money? I mean, that's the
whole thing. I mean, you see that happen all the time.

(01:39:10):
But I do believe that there is an element of
this that he believes so deeply in what he does
and how he trains and how he lives that that's
something that he wants to carry on. And look, I
mean you read some of the stuff that Alex Guerrero preaches,
like you can drink enough water and not get a concussion.
Now I know that does that doesn't likely by the way, like,

(01:39:31):
but what is it about water with these guys like
Russell Wilson had like his water and he claimed like, hey,
if you pour this on top of your head, it'll
kill the effects of a concussion or something. Right, It
was like craziness. And now Tom Brady's like, hey, if
you drink enough water, you're never going to get concussions. Yeah, no,
it's crazy. One another thing that was that Alex Carero
has said is that if you drink enough water, you
don't get sunburned, which is completely asinine as well. It's like,

(01:39:53):
this is ridicuous coming from somebody who's had skin cancer.
I'm like, come on, man, like you just that's not
even reality. But I do think that the stuff with
appliability training and how they trained for football, and just
how good I mean, let's be honest, how good Tom
Brady is at the age he is playing the best
football of his life. I think he wants to show
people that this is a real thing and move that forward.

(01:40:14):
And I don't know exactly why the motivation is now,
other than the fact that maybe he knows that the
end of his career is on the horizon within the
next couple of years, but I do think he actually
really believes in it and it's not just about money.
Then you see him selling, you know, luxury cars, and
you see him selling uggs, and you see him selling candy,
and you're like, Okay, I would probably do the same
thing too, because you maximize your name. It is interesting, though,

(01:40:37):
because he wasn't like this early or even the middle
of his career. It's just the last few years. So
I don't blame him. I don't necessarily buy in all
the TV twelve stuff, but if he does, I guess,
why not market it and make as much money as
you can and try to convince people that you believe
in this stuff and can change their life as well.
We're talking to Casey Smith k Y C. Smith. You
can go follow her on Twitter. I just retweeted her,

(01:40:57):
so if you're trying to find her and you're not
very a student using Twitter, that's an easy way to
do it all right. On the field, Brady's quarterback rating
in the last five weeks has declined precipitously. It's dropped
like thirty points. He's thrown six touchdowns but only five interceptions.
Is there a reason to believe that he's not very
healthy and or that he way he finished this season

(01:41:20):
is going to continue into the playoffs, or is this
a false story and there's no reason to actually be worried.
I think it's somewhere in the middle. I think you
absolutely have to look at those numbers, and people who
aren't are just not wanting to admit that he did
play worse through the end of the season. Now, if
you look at a couple of those games, there was
question on if he was injured, whether it was his

(01:41:41):
hand or it was his achilles, And like we mentioned
with the Olex Garrows, if he's never going to come
out and admit that he has a minor injury because
that would go against everything that he preaches about not
being injured and football unless it's a major injury. But
I also think, you know, with Groth not being available
one of those games, with them really struggling in the
run game a couple of those games, I think it's
a mixture of both. I don't think and I know

(01:42:02):
it's against your Titans, Clay, and so I don't want
to hurt your feelings. I don't think that those issues
are going to happen this weekend. I don't think the
Titans have really a chance against the Patriots, but crazier
things have happened. And if Tom Brady is injured, if
they can't get the ground game going, and if Gronk
isn't who he is, which I don't think will happen,
then maybe it'll get interesting. But I think Tom Brady
is okay. I think having that extra week to rest

(01:42:23):
will be fine. It'll be interesting to see exactly where
they start to show those signs of decline like they
did over the last five games, whether it's this weekend
or next. But I'm not worried about Tom Brady at
least this weekend. But I know there are people out
there that say, maybe he is a whole lot more
injured than however, admit, and we'll see that on Saturday night.
The weather is actually not going to be crazy, right,

(01:42:44):
I mean, because it's gotten warm and I think it's
gonna be like in the mid forties, so it's not
like intimidating as it has been in the past. Have
you paid attention at all to what the weather is
likely to be because a big part if you're not fry.
I know you live up there now, but if you're
not from Austin. A big part of the intimidation value
I think of Foxborough is it's probably gonna be insanely cold.

(01:43:06):
Tom Brady played most recently in a scuba suit or whatever.
He did, Like, there's this idea that it is the
frozen tundra up there in a way that it isn't
very many other places in you know, the in in
the north right, I mean, the Vikings have a dome,
the Eagles are substantially further south. What's the weather actually
gonna be and is there going to be an intimidation

(01:43:27):
factor in that respect? This weekend, well, we got a
heat wave that came through yesterday and it was a
whopping forty degrees. I was very excited about that. I mean,
it's supposed to be pretty mild this weekend. I mean
last weekend it's my weather accident. It felt like negative
twenty eight and I was seriously thinking about packing my
bag and had exactly texts. I was like, what have

(01:43:47):
I signed myself up for? But no, I mean a
couple of weeks ago when they played and it was
the coldest game they've ever played in Gillette, I think
that plays into it because it was so so cold,
and then you've got Bill Belichick coming out and his
short sleeves shorts, and you're like, Okay, this is what
the Patriots are this weekend. I think it's supposed to
be you know, maybe high thirties, mid forties. It shouldn't

(01:44:07):
be an issue. But I think it's supposed to drop
again for the next week. So if the Patriots do advance,
that is a factor because it is miserable outside. I
can't even walk outside just to go to my car,
let alone play football. So I would assume that that
teams that aren't used to it, it does play into it.
But I don't think the Titans have an issue this
weekend by any means. So they had a week off, obviously,

(01:44:27):
they had the huge story that dropped about Brady, Belichick
and Craft. The Patriots are a prohibitive favorite to go
to the Super Bowl and also to win it of
the eight teams remaining. Do you think that people in
Boston basically feel like it's a foregone conclusion that the
Patriots are going to be in the Super Bowl or
is their nervousness based on the way the season finished,

(01:44:50):
based on some of the off field drama kind of
assessed the Patriot fan base feeling as best you can
as the playoffs officially start for them tomorrow. I think
that they're like more people outwardly are saying that they
think the Patriots are going to go straight to the
super Bowl just because of the field right now when
you look at the teams that are in it. But
I think if you actually press them on an answer

(01:45:10):
and ask them why they're so confident, it would show
pretty quickly that there's a little bit more nervousness than
maybe in years past, maybe even last year, just because
of like you mentioned, the way they played down the stretch,
the way the defense has been up and down, and
the fact that, look, I mean, even though the Chiefs
aren't in the playoffs anymore, the way that the game
the season started for the Patriots to everybody. So I

(01:45:32):
think that the Steelers still present a big threat in
a lot of people's minds just because it is the
Steelers and maybe even the Jags. But going into at
least going into the a f D Championship, I think
people are pretty confident going to the super Bowl. I
think that there's some concern, even if people don't want
to admit it. This team is not the team people
thought they were in the off season. Yes, they're the
number one team in the NFL. Yes they're probably the

(01:45:53):
best team in the NFL right now, But there are
so many people harping on that nineteen and oh and
there's no way anybody can beat them, and that team
couldn't have been further from that. So I think people
are nervous. They just want to admit because that's what
people in New England do play. They're the best and
they'll always be the best until Tom Brady and Bill
Belichick move on, which you know, we'll see when that happens.
But until that happens, people are gonna they're not gonna

(01:46:13):
admit they're nervous. That's not what you do up here.
You're very confident and everything that you do. You were
talking to Casey Smith k Y C. Smith on Twitter.
You can follow her there, Casey, if I were telling
you right now, as Tom Brady enters the playoffs tomorrow
for what feels like the straight year that he was
going to play for two years more over, under do

(01:46:33):
you go over or under on two for Brady years
after this one, that he'll be the starting quarterback for
the Patriots. I take the over, I really do. And
I mean if that was based on just me watching
him play and not knowing exactly you know, or potentially
how he feels about it, I would still probably say too,
just because of the way he's playing, and I understand
his client the last five weeks. But then you've take

(01:46:56):
into consideration again whether the details were sex up or not.
In the set Wickersham article about all of this, you
look at how the Jimmy Garoppolo thing went down, and
I think that that shed a huge light on the
fact that Tom Brady basically spoiled the plans for Jimmy
Garoppolo and everybody else because they they drafted Jimmy to
be his replacement and he's still playing so well, and

(01:47:17):
he said, hey, I'm playing better and better. Why are
you trying to replace me? I'm not going anywhere. I
think that that is a huge indication of how he
feels that he's playing. So barring some major injury or
some lifestyle change that happens, whether it's just his family
or not, I would say the over, which is crazy
because that would make him almost forty three years old.
But if anybody can do it at least right now,

(01:47:37):
it is Tom Brady. What about Belichick? Do you think
Belichick will be back coaching next year? And is it
even worthy of discussion or to you, is that overblown?
Like we we had several people from the NFL on
last week and they're like, legitimately, we think it's fifty
fifty whether Belichick is going to be back as the
head coach of the Patriots next year. Is that crazy talk?

(01:47:58):
Or is it possible this will be the last playoffs
we see Belichick and Brady together in New England. It's
definitely not crazy talk. I think he will be back
next year, but I don't think that it's a guarantee
like Tom Brady is. I think that there is whatever
is going on, there's an issue with how Bill Belichick
feels like things are happening. Now again that nobody's ever

(01:48:19):
going to know the actual story of what's going on
and how you know, crazy those details are. But we
know that Bill Belichick likes to make his own decisions.
That's the reason he has you know, final say on
the roster and is given those football decisions in the
first place. If that's being taken away and if he
feels like he's being undercut by Robert Craft or by
Tom Brady, or whoever it may be. It wouldn't shock

(01:48:39):
me if he was coaching somewhere else. And if the
situation is as bad as it seems to be in
some people's account, then it wouldn't shock me down the
road if there was a trade for Belichick. Now, I
don't think that's going to happen. I think that Bill
Belichick and Robert Craft and Tom Brady and cooler heads
will prevail and they'll, you know, make it work together
because they know that they're by far the best in

(01:49:00):
the league right now. But it all depends on how
bat everything is. It wouldn't surprise me. I do think
it's fifty fifty. But if I had to put money
on next year, at least, I do think he'll be
back in New England, outstanding stuff as always. Will you
actually go to the game or how are you gonna
watch it? I will not be going to the game.
I have off on Saturdays. I have to work Sundays
at least through the playoffs, so I will be at
a bar, probably drinking, watching the game, which means I'll

(01:49:22):
have to rewatch it on Sunday but hey, I'll take
my day off anyway. I can get it. You're rooting.
I mean, there's no no doubt you're rooting to go
to the super Bowl because it makes your your job
more fun and everything else. If the Patriots lost, how
would it compare to you versus say, like A and
M losing a game you went to Texas A and
M and obviously like you're you're rooting for the Patriots
because a better story if they're pursuing the super Bowl,
and it's more fun if you go to Minnesota and

(01:49:43):
gets covered the super Bowl. But how would that compare
professionally versus personally if the Aggies lose a close game? Well,
one thing is that the Aggie is always lose. So
I just accepted that, and I just I know we
can't have anything nice. But no, I mean, you know,
I'm a Cowboys playing at hard. But watching the Patriots
has been a lot of fun and the sorry lines
are always great. At the end of the day, I
want them to keep winning solely because it's a good

(01:50:04):
storyline and I get to go to the super Bowl.
If they lose, we'll have some stuff to talk about
for the next couple of weeks. I'll be very, very
sad that I'm not hanging out with you guys in Minnesota.
So come on the show live when we're on Radio
Row at least once. We'll do that for sure. It's
Casey Smith. Go follow her on Twitter at Casey Smith
k Y C. Smith. She'll be there for the big

(01:50:25):
game if you want to follow along with her for
the Patriots and run in the playoffs. Thanks thanks for
getting up early with us. That is Casey Smith. And
let me bring in my friend neddie Garcia. Find out
what chaken in the world of sports, all right, Clay, Well,
we'll start in the NBA where we had four games
on the schedule and the Cavaliers get blown out by
the Raptors one thirty three to ninety nine. Toronto didn't

(01:50:46):
even have two of their starters Kyle Lowry was out
due to injury. Sergeibaka was suspended, but seven players for
Toronto scored in double digits. Cleveland has lost six of eight.
Celtics played a game in London against the seventy six.
In Boston, rallied down twenty two points to beat Philadelphia
one fourteen to one oh three. Lakers beat the Spurs
one who was the Clippers over the Kings to one

(01:51:07):
fifteen news from the NFL Stealers star running back Levi
on Bell says he may retire if the team uses
the franchise tag on him for a second straight season,
and the leagu announcers gonna be three games in London
next year in October Raiders versus Seahawks, Eagles versus Jaguars,
and Chargers versus Titans and Clay. We mentioned it yesterday
that the Fritz Pollard Alliance that asked the NFL looking
to the hiring of John Gruden to see if the

(01:51:28):
Raiders violated the Ruoney rule to interview minority candidates. Apparently
there is some question over the timeline when Gruden agreed
to be the team's next in coach. Was it before
or after they interviewed the two minority coaches coaching candidates. Uh,
the NFL is looking into it. And if the Raiders
have found you have violated the Ruoney rule, they could
be fined or on the long end of things, it
could lose draft picks. I just again, I come back

(01:51:50):
on this story, and if you know who you're going
to hire, isn't it more of a sham to conduct
an interview and pretend that you're not going to be
making the higher I just I just don't understand how
this is a legitimate story. Yes, if you don't know
who you're going to hire, then go ahead and go
through the entire interview process. But if you're the Raiders

(01:52:11):
and you want to legitimately go out and hire John
Gruden and you're gonna pay him a hundred million dollars,
isn't it more of an insult to interview somebody that
you have absolutely no interest in hiring and then go
hire John Gruden just to check a box. Like I
don't believe in artificial interviews, and I don't think there's

(01:52:32):
any way if you're already committed to hiring John Gruden
and you're aggressively negotiating with him to pay him one
of the highest salaries in the history of the NFL.
I don't understand how you conduct an interview and how
if you're the person being interviewed, you feel like you're
doing anything other than being a sham interview. I don't
know for sure, but you know, if somebody, you know,

(01:52:54):
let's let's say that Colin Cowherd is a free agent
and somebody is deciding that they're gonna pay let's say
serious exem is gonna decide that they're gonna pay Calling
Cowherd a hundred million dollars, and then they're also like, oh,
by the way, because of like hiring restrictions, we have
to interview somebody else before we hire Calling Cowherd. I
would feel like it was an insult for me to

(01:53:15):
go and sit down and do an interview with him, right,
I mean not because I'm not interested in the same
kind of paycheck. Certainly, I'd love to be hired for
a big job like that too, But if they're gonna
pay Calling Cowherd a hundred million dollars, and they've already
agreed to do it, why would I want to sit
for an interview with them just to check a box
so that they can prove that they interviewed people before

(01:53:35):
they hired Calling Cowherd. I mean, I think the reason
why I'm using Calling an example is I think he's
the best at hosting a radio show by himself right
now in the country. And so if you take that analysis,
you know that just doesn't make any sense to me.
And so I don't understand what we're arguing for here
and also why they need to be doing an investigation.
If you know who your guy is, then go ahead

(01:53:58):
and hire him. And by the way, if John Gruden
were black or hispanic or a minority and they were
doing this, then it wouldn't violate things for them to
be paying him a hundred million dollars. I don't think
the Raiders are hiring John Gruden because he's a white guy.
I think they're hiring because they think he's the best
possible coaching higher for the Raiders based on the available
candidates out there. And you know what, I think it's

(01:54:19):
a pretty good argument for the Raiders. Is there are
there any minority Raider fans out there that are like, oh,
this is offensive to me. I would be stunned if
that's the case. Raider fans want to win this is
This is an example to me of a story that
just shouldn't be a story at all. We haven't spent
any time on it, but it's crazy to me, go
hire the best guy. If you're not sure who the

(01:54:39):
best guy is, then conduct a thorough investigate, you know,
a thorough interview process, Interview a lot of people. I
think that makes total sense. If you know you want,
go get him. Can you imagine if Ohio State had
to conduct minority interviews before they hired Urban Meyer. Like
Urban Meyer, we can get him, Okay, go get him. Alabama,
we think we can get Nick Saban, but first we
gotta go out an interview of minority candidate. Well, that's crazy.

(01:55:02):
I think everybody out there would say that he's crazy.
That if you know that you can get your guy,
and Jon Gruden is your top choice, go get him anyway.
Preaching to the choir. Probably, I bet most of you
agree with me. Final segment of the show. Up next,
we'll break down give you gambling picks and final picks
on the divisional round of the playoffs in the NFL.
I'm CLAYT. Travish. You're listening to get the coverage on

(01:55:23):
Fox Sports Radio. Montel Jordan bringing us into the final
segment here. What does it mean when Geico says just
fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on
car and charrance, It means you probably should have gone
to Geico dot com fifteen minutes ago. NFL Divisional round
playoff games had a couple of poll questions up for

(01:55:43):
you as we get you ready for what I think
is the best weekend in the NFL. Which NFL playoff
game are you most excited to watch? I love to
watch the reactions roll in here. Sometimes they surprise me,
Like when I asked you guys last week, who would
you rather have for the next three years? Belichick, Brady,
and like eighty five percent of you picked Belichick. That

(01:56:03):
surprised me. Didn't think that was gonna be the direction
or maybe anyways, A huge percentage which NFL playoff game
you most excited to watch? Saints Vikings winning by a
substantial bargin forty eight percent of you saying you're most
excited to watch Sts Vikings. By the way, a lot
of you saying you're not very excited to watch any
of these games. That's not a good sign for the NFL.
Considering that the first round of the NFL playoff ratings

(01:56:25):
were down thirteen percent, these may be down as well.
Second place Titans, Patriots, Falcons, Eagles at seventeen percent, and
Jags Steelers checking in at thirteen percent. That's the exact
order that I said I would rate them if I
were looking at it objectively to try to figure out
which one to to watch of the four unproven quarterbacks

(01:56:48):
in the NFL playoffs this weekend, which one do you
believe in the most? Forty six percent of you saying
case keenum thirty seven percent of you saying Marcus Mariota.
So they have eighty three percent of the overall votes,
with eleven thousand votes cast since I put this poll
up early this morning. Blake Bortles again, his parents sitting

(01:57:09):
there hitting refresh over and over again. Blake Bortles gets
seven percent of the vote. Nick Foles gets ten percent
of the vote. Of the unproven quarterbacks, I wanna bring
in the crew now. I gave you my picks earlier.
I'll run through them really quickly here again. I love
to gamble. I'm betting on all these games. My picks
would be I'm on the Falcons minus three. I'm on

(01:57:30):
the Titans plus thirteen a half. I am on the
Steelers minus seven. I think they're gonna win by double digits.
I think that's gonna be a blowout. And I am
on the Saints plus five against the vikings. Of these
four games, which do you think is most likely to
be an upset? Jason Martin the Saints. That's the only

(01:57:54):
one that I've got, I mean, and the other one.
I've got the Falcons winning by eleven. I've got the
Patriots winning by eighteen. I've got the Steelers winning by
a touchdown, and I've got the Saints winning by a touchdown.
And I look at the Vikings and I really would
like to see him win, Honestly, I'd like to. I'd
like to see a good story out of that and
for them to do something. But I look at Minnesota
and look at two games they beat the Falcon's head
to head late in the season, fourteen to nine. I

(01:58:16):
think that is a reasonable approximation of what they're capable
of doing. Case Keeno went twenty or thirty in that game,
But in the opener, the Vikings beat the Saints by ten,
But it means absolutely nothing. Dalvin Cook was the running
back for Minnesota. He's not there. The leading rusher at
that point in time for the Saints was Adrian Peterson
six carries, eighteen yards. That's certainly not the cases. Alvin

(01:58:37):
Kamara has emerged and Mark Ingram has had a had
had a phenomenal season. Also, Sam Bradford was a quarterback
seven thirty two in that game, three hundred forty six
yards and three touchdowns. I think Keenham could play great
and not put up a stat line quite like that
as well. The Saints defense looked like the old Saints
defense the first week of the season. Their past defense

(01:59:00):
is now relentless. Marshawn Lattimore should be getting a lot
more love than he has for a tremendous rookie season.
I think that the Saints are gonna get the Vikings
as good as I think the Vikings are. I look
at Drew Brees, and I look at all those weapons,
and I look at a well rounded unit that already
likes playing indoors. Anyway, Minnesota is not gonna open those windows.

(01:59:21):
I don't think that's the gigantic home field advantage. I
think the Saints to the team, they're gonna get it done.
I agree with you. I think the Saints have a
very very good chance of going on the road and
win against the Vikings, go out to l A. Which
of the teams do you think is most likely to
pull off an upset? I mean, I gotta go with
with Jason and say that the Saints. In fact, I

(01:59:42):
mean I think that the spread should be closer than
it is. I'm kind of surprised that the I mean, yeah,
the defense is great, but I mean Drew Brees, Drew
Brees versus Case Keenem. I don't think that they should
be favored by five points. So I definitely gotta go
with the Saints. What about you, Nick, any other game?
Are you sticking with the same one here? You know,
I'm looking at the Jaguars Dealers game. I mean, you
guys mentioned earlier Big Ben got lit up by them

(02:00:03):
earlier in the season, and you know, there's so much
trash shock around Blake Bortles. I wouldn't be shocked if
that defense shows up gets Big Ben again, and then
you know the all that trash like that is surrounding
Blake Bortles. I get to see him having a good
enough game to get them to win. I think you're crazy.
I think that the Steelers are gonna stack the line
against Blake Bortles, and I think they are gonna say,

(02:00:23):
we're not gonna let Leonard Fournette run the football at
all on us. You were gonna have to beat us.
We're gonna play man demand, You're gonna have to beat us.
With your with your arm, and I just don't think
Bortles is accurate enough. And I know Ben Roethlisberger through
five interceptions, I know that defense is good. But I
look at the past two weeks for the Jaguars down
the stretch. In addition to losing on the road pretty

(02:00:45):
substantially by the forty niners, they also only posted three
total points on offense against the Titans, and then they
only posted ten total points on offense against the Bills.
That means they're averaging less than a touchdown a game
the past two weeks. I just don't believe that there's
any way that Blake Bordle is going to go on

(02:01:05):
the road and actually have a really good game there.
My favorite bet is actually the Titans plus thirteen and
a half. Maybe crazy, but that line is substantial. The
Titans have been pretty much competitive in every game so
far this season. Lots to discuss, obviously, on Monday, will
be back just like we worked on Christmas, and just
like we worked on New Year's will be working on
Martin Luther King Day. So we will be here to

(02:01:28):
break down everything that happens in the Divisional round of
the playoffs on Monday, can't wait to come back and
hang with you guys. Nashville survived the snow. It's now
snowing outside. Pray for the city of Nashville, which is
gonna die from snow. I hope you guys have a
fantastic weekend. Enjoy the games. Will be back Monday, six
and nine am Eastern on out Kick The coverage

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