January 2, 2026 • 40 mins
Jason and Buck talk about the matchup between the Ravens and the Steelers for the AFC North, if a Lamar Jackson trade is actually in the cards, who should win the MVP, if Todd Bowles could get fired if the Bucs miss out on the playoffs, and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tried.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It's a bucking Fits takeover of two pros and a
cup of Joe on Fox Sports Radio. He's Buck Rising,
I'm Jason Fitz. The people give rejoice. Buck has finally
put pants on. So that's where this day has started
and how things have gone. If you're just tuning in,
it's been that kind of a weird morning so far.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
We're gonna be with you through the whole show. Hanging out.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Look, I want to get your thoughts Buck on one
of the biggest matchups happening this weekend, and it's the
Ravens and the Steelers Sunday Night Football.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
We were talking a little bit about what it.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Means for these teams, but also there's just enough noise
that won't go away around Lamar Jackson that I'm just
trying to figure out what makes sense now for anyone
that doesn't remember. About a week ago, the Baltimore Sun
put out a column from one of their riders that
had a bunch of stuff in it about Lamar falling
asleep in meetings and the organization not being happy with
(00:49):
how many video games he plays, all sorts of conjecture
on it.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
He was asked about it when he spoke.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
To reporters about the fact that he's going to play
this weekend, and he said, do you think but let me.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Fall asleep in meetings? That's his quote. That's crazy. I'm
right in front. It's just noise.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
He also dismissed the notion that there are issues between
the quarterback and the coaches. Quote, I don't know where
the noise came from. This all just feels so weird, Buck,
Like when you have a two time MVP could have
been a three time MVP depending.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
On how you felt about last year quarterback.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Most of the time, what you know at that point
is everything's absolutely perfect and sunshine and roses, and the
team's gonna do whatever it takes for the quarterback. The
quarterback is going to do whatever it takes for the team.
We're used to that kumba yah. I don't know why
there's so much noise around Lamar Jackson. It just feels
like every couple of years we end up with some
sort of whisper that becomes a yell from some random
quotes about Lamar and the Ravens in their future together.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Yeah, but think about think about what can you think
of FITZI and we don't have to, you know, I
don't want to sit there and ask you a question
that you have to think about and kill time and
dead air on radio. But what's the difference between Lamar
Jackson and damn near every other player in the NFL
with the way that business is done.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Oh, he doesn't have an agent.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Lamar represents himself.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And Lamar is in a situation where when there is
media messaging, that happens and there always is and you're
trying to figure out, all right, did the Baltimore Sun columnist,
which is, by the way, it's the primary newspaper, Like,
that's where the noise is coming from?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You know, I'm going to look around and ask where
the noise is coming from.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
It's coming from the main newspaper, the main publication in
the city that has the Baltimore Ravens. Okay, And I'm
not saying that that makes them the most credible subject
or the most credible resource on all things Baltimore Ravens.
But it's not something to just dismiss. Is what's just noise.
I don't know where the noise is coming from. No,
somebody decided that in the city at Baltimore, they were
(02:49):
going to go to one of the biggest outlets and say, yeah,
this guy plays video games too late at night, and
he's not doing the things that he should be as
far as his diet goes, and he's not totally locked
in on the stuff that he needs to be locked
in on. That's where the noise is coming from. But
the difference between Lamar and Damn near every other player
in the NFL. And I'm not saying that he has
(03:10):
to absolutely must have an agent or some level of representation,
because I know he does have some level of advisors
around him to help him navigate this process. But the
agency part of it, the representation part of it, can
sometimes serve as a buffer for trying to get your
point across. If you're an organization that's trying to message
(03:30):
to a player, and if you don't think that the
messaging is going the way that you need it to, well,
sometimes you can make it a little bit messy. Now
the quote we don't know specifically whether this stuff that
was leaked to the Baltimore Sun is coming directly from
inside the Ravens organization. Again, we've had this conversation in
some form or fashion the last couple of weeks since
(03:51):
you and I have been filling in the idea that
I don't know who it benefits to have it out there,
because it doesn't make the Ravens look good either. It
doesn't make John Harbaugh look good, it doesn't make Lamar
Jackson look good. I don't know who benefits from having
this information out there other than the idea. And this is,
you know again, I'm just grasping at straws here. I'm
(04:11):
speculating could somebody leak this to the Baltimore Sun to
try and get fans in a mode a mindset to
prepare them for some kind of consequential offseason move involving
Lamar Jackson, which by the way, still doesn't make sense.
And I don't know how it's even possible because he
has a full no trade clause in his contract. So
(04:34):
this is one of the more difficult issues to kind
of parse Lamar Jackson's circumstance because there is no go between,
there is no middleman between his organization and him. He's
just having to deal with this, and they are having
to deal with this as directly as Jerry Jones and
how he negotiates contract in ways that contracts in ways
(04:56):
that he gets all kind of flag for and by
the way, I think Dearry doubled down on that again
this week, the idea that he's still just going to
deal directly with players as opposed to negotiating through agents.
I guess that's his right, but it does leave for
a lot more mess out there in the ether. And
while I know fans, you know, it's not the most
important thing to keep fans happy, as far as like
(05:16):
the mess made around their team. I wouldn't want to
actively antagonize Lamar Jackson. I'm not saying that you have
to completely, you know, treat him and coddle him to
a certain extent if you're the Ravens, but I don't
think that I would be. I would want even the
optics of, oh, they got a bone to pick with
(05:36):
me here, and they're going to do it through the media.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
That doesn't seem right.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
All of this just feels so disjointed with Lamar because look,
one of the arguments people will make is, well, he's
injury prone. He missed his games, so I mean, they're
gonna have to figure something out because you can't trust
him to play games. He played seventeen games last season,
so I know this year he's missed some time. The
year before he played sixteen games. So if you look
at the last three years as a body of work, yeah,
a couple of years before that he only played twelve games. Okay,
(06:02):
I mean we're still talking about out of his entire
career as a starter. His rookie year he wasn't the
primary starter. Since he became the starter, he missed one
game two years.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Oh gosh, that's really hard. I mean, what are we
talking about here.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
We're sounding these alarms, which is what we do constantly
with Lamar, and it doesn't make a lot of sense. Hell,
even I was on radio for ESPN at the time
when he was going through his negotiations to try and
get a guaranteed contract, and people had stupid things to
say about his injury then.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And there were plenty of people that were saying, oh, oh,
he's playing this thing up.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
He doesn't want to play because this is all part
of his negotiating tactic, which if you talk to any
of the people like at the time, you know, I
would talk to Stefania Bell, who covers injuries for ESPN,
and she was the one that would sit there and
say no, no, no, this is all pretty normal, but
nobody wanted to hear that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
So now even with the back contusion.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
That you know, the minute Harbaugh called it a bruise
and everybody's like, wow, it's just a bruise. Bang, He's
just you know, this is another Lamar versus the Ravens thing.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Well, why why do we immediately.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Jump to the conclusion that there's some nefarious action between
team and player all the time in this one relationship, Like,
name me another MVP caliber quarterback in the NFL that
is Lamar's age, that is accomplished, what he's accomplished, that
doesn't feel like it's kumba ya all the way, Like
we'll desperately find ways to keep Burrow and the Bengals together,
(07:24):
even if we say, oh, man, Burrow's got to get
out of there because they're never gonna win enough games.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
We know in our heart of.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Hearts, Burrow ain't going anywhere, right, Josh Allen. They don't
give him enough talent, they don't surround him with the things.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
But we know that, Josh Allen, Like, why.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Is Lamar the one NFL player we are treating like
it's the NBA where every single week we have to
decide that Yannis is gonna leave the Bucks. I'm as
exhausted with Giannis as leaving the Bucks as I am
with Lamar and the Ravens are headed for divorce because
this constantly gets talked about and none of it ever
feels real.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
I think the Ravens are also an organization, and I
I only have this perspective because and I think you
also have somebody that you work with at Yahoo that
is a diehard Ravens fan. My my EP on the
Local show is a die hard Ravens fan, die hard
Ravens Ravens fan who is in a situation where Lamar
(08:18):
Lamar is the prince that was promised right, So anything
done that looks like it even remotely slights Lamar or
feels antagonistic of Lamar like what my Ravens guy for
lack of a better term, and how to describe him.
I asked him his reaction to the Baltimore Sun piece,
and his immediate response was anything the Baltimore Sun writes
(08:40):
about the Ravens feel slanted against the Ravens and was
like not like screwing around, like not just half saying that.
He said, no, they they have a bias in which
they cover the Ravens, And I don't know that specifically,
I would be inclined to I would be inclined to
not think that everything that the Baltimore Sun puts out,
the paper of record in Baltimore puts out, would be
(09:02):
slided against the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
But isn't that, like in fact's how the fans perceive it.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Isn't that the same thing that Titans fans say about you?
You cover the Titans, and like every time I see
on your social.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Media, everybody thinks you hate the Tennessee Titan, Like this
is a weirdness in the way, and I ideal it.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
We'll do with this all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Like I'm lucky enough, and I do mean lucky, Like
I started all of this journey because of my fandom
for the Raiders. I have become friends over the years
with some of the people that have covered the Raiders
for the Athletic and some of the people to cover
the Raiders locally. And when you see what fans say
about like every single writer that isn't sunshine and roses
about everything until the team's not good, and then that
(09:43):
writer has to immediately turn the page and become fire everybody.
Fans no longer want reporting on their favorite team. Fans
want confirmation of their emotions with their favorite team.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
I that's well to some extent, Yeah, there is that
out there in the universe. Like I don't think people,
you know, I don't think fans are banging the banging
the table for you know, hardcore down the line, big
jay journalism anymore.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Like I don't think people really care that way.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
I will also say, and again, I don't know the
nature of the Baltimore Sun's coverage.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I read this piece.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
It's an opinion column with information reported stuff being mixed
into it. That is also kind of skewed the way
that I think fans perceive the coverage of their team.
Because FITZI, I started as a beat guy, but now
I'm as much an opinion guy as I am a reporter.
Right I do a talk show. I give opinions on
(10:42):
the talk show. We're we're doing a national talk show
right now. You and I do opinion stuff for Fox
from on the weekend. So it's it's kind of skewed
where I don't just do straight this is what happened
in the game today, This is who's.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Out, this is who's in Like, I don't.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
I don't just do that anymore, right, I do a
variety of different things, and so because I also offer
opinions based on my perspective as somebody who covers the team,
people will then take that opinion and be like, well,
you just hate them, when in reality, I do hate
some of the things that they do.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I hate bad football.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
They play a lot of bad football here in Tennessee
of late I think that the reason that they play
a lot of bad football is because their organization has
been has been. Doesn't mean that they can't change and
learn from the behavior, but it's because it's been poorly
run and they've made a lot of bad choices since
being one of the most competitive teams in the AFC.
I think that's fair commentary on the team. But I
(11:38):
do understand the fans who gripe about the idea of well,
that's just your opinion, yeah, but it's an informed opinion.
What the Baltimore Sun is doing here is offering you
information and then surrounding it with opinion. I understand why
that's hard to parse. I don't know if fans actually
care that way, but it does kind of muddy the waters.
As far as how fans perceive coverage to some extent
(11:59):
their I still don't think it gives them the excuse
to say to just throw their hands up in the air,
ignore the information that's being provided to them, and say, well,
you just hate the team. You don't know what you're
talking about. And when the team starts to when the
team starts to turn, like cam Ward for example, I'll
just again, I'll bring it through my prism. I've been
very critical of cam Ward. My whole position has been
(12:21):
I expect more. He's not just another rookie quarterback. He's
the number one overall pick. I reserve the right to
have a higher standard for the guy that's supposed to
change the franchise's fortune. Even if I completely and totally
understand that the franchise he's been dropped into is a
hot mess okay, and he's having to work up hill
on a lot of fronts, I still would like for
him to play better. And then he starts to play better.
(12:43):
Here in the last month, nobody's watching Titan games. I am, like,
you know, just being having my eyes held open, and
you can't look away.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You're not allowed to look away. It's my job. I
cover every game.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I'm gonna be in Jacksonville tomorrow to cover their season
finale again. It's the Mighty Jaguars, and that'll be great,
if for no other reason, to have the regular season
just over at this point in time. But cam Ord's
starting to play better, and so I've started to comment
on the idea that cam Ord's starting to play better,
and then all of a sudden, the feedback from fans become, oh,
now you want to jump on the bandwagon, Now you
(13:17):
want to now you want to praise guy.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Don't don't change it up?
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Is some of the don't don't change up, or are
some of the commentary that I've gotten on social media whatever,
And I'm like, no, I'm allowed to adjust the analysis
of what he's doing in real time if his performance
on the field starts to improve, Like that is the
point he's not playing well enough, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Once he starts to play better, now let's talk about that.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
But that's not how That's not how we have kind
of shaped the discourse around not just sports.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I mean, you could say this is politically this You could.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Say this about basically any subject matter, anything that anybody
has an opinion on.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Ever in any walk of life.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
This is kind of how we've shaped things in social media,
created an even bigger echo chamber to that effect where
it makes it almost impossible to get through to people.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
By the way, at the home depot, makitda tools or
built for the pros who show up early with.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Tools built to last job after job, year after year.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
When the job calls for the best call on makda
available at the home depot help pros get more done.
To your point, I will say buck every single year
except for this one. This year, I've been very loud
that I think Pete Carroll should and will be fired.
I'm not getting any blowback from Raiders fans until this.
Every single year, a tradition like no other in the
summer is when I get murdered. For all the media
(14:36):
I do covering the Raiders. People always ask my opinion,
and every year I say, ah, that's as a six
win team this year, that's usually about my answer. Fans
come at me the entire summer. I'm an idiot, I
don't know what I'm talking about. I'm a moron. I'm
not high enough on this team. Obviously, I've never watched
Raiders game in my life. And then when the season
goes off, the Rails and they win four or five games,
and I'm not losing my mind because that's about where
(14:56):
I thought they would be. All of a sudden, Why
am I not being hard no up on these coaches?
Why am I not being tough enough on these players?
I suck like it's just funny. I will continue to
die on the hill that the fans at some point
just want us to everybody that covers their teams. They
just want us to reinforce the opinions they already have.
They want a buddy to yell with. They don't want
(15:17):
actual analysis or coverage of any of it. For all
of that, Buck, I think there's one important reason that
Lamar isn't going anywhere.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I guarantee it.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And frankly, if you're listening to this right now and
your favorite team needs a quarterback, you are upper Creek
this offseason, We'll tell you why he's Buck rising. I'm
Jason fitz Fitz, I don't know my own last name.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
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Speaker 1 (16:16):
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
On YouTube, Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
It's two Pros and a Cup of Joe on Fox
Sports Radio. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz. It's fucking
Fits takeover.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I really try and whisper as often as possible in shows,
just because I know how uncomfortable it makes.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Buck.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
You can hang out out with us every single Saturday
from six to eight pm.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I whisper there too.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
But what does it sound like if you whisper? I
feel like you don't have a very good whispering voice.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
No, yeah, you I don't think I've ever whispered in
my life.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Look, this is my general theory, Lorena. Is that anything
that you say, if you whisper, it makes it creepy.
Like if I look at Buck today and I'm like, man,
your beard looks good today. Man compliment a man?
Speaker 3 (17:08):
That's fine. If I say, hypock, your beard looks good today.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Now, if we go to the Indiana playoff game together
and I'm like, man, we are playing well today, suddenly
we right, it's great. If I lean over, I'm like, hey,
we're playing well today.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
See.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
I don't like that. Make it stop. I don't like
any of this. I don't like whispering. Why would just
let me talking to in a normal volume. I know
I'm striding an obnoxious but it's better than the whispering.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I don't there's a whole industry. Clearly I'm missing out.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I pay enough money for the damn colm Ap on
a regular basis to have somebody read me sleep stories.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I might as well.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
I might as well try and get in on that
action myself.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I don't know if I could do that as well.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Oh that was good.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
That was good.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Know what I am? I I'm impressed again? Do it again, Yeah,
one more time.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
I don't know whether or not Matt Stafford deserves.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
To win the MVP, but I know that he's.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
A better MVP candidate than direct mais. This is my tank.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
It's alarming how many people in their car right now
are just so uncomfortable. We have, we play, we have
we have turned sports talk radio into something that is
People are people driving right now.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
The people pay good money for what we just turned
sports talk radio. Wait too, Okay, I think you're welcome. Yeah,
you're welcoming. Yeah, we won't even charge you the four
ninety nine minute. Look you don't, are you?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Who is the MVP to you right now?
Speaker 4 (18:47):
I mean the MVP to me is the same it's
been the whole way through. It's Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford
is the most valuable player in the NFL this year.
He's playing his best career football at thirty seven years old.
He's playing on He has helped make the Rams the
best team in football.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I understand that they have.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
You know that they've dropped a game to the Falcons
that made his MVP odds plummet, And and maybe that's
enough for the fifty people that vote on this to
look around and say, yeah, prisoner of the moment, Derek
May is the guy. Matt Stafford sorry about it, Bud you.
I think he threw a third of his interceptions all
season just in that Falcons game. And I don't I mean,
he didn't play his best football. But Atlanta came out
(19:25):
there with a plan to kick somebody's ass and they
did exactly that. I think it was a good performance
by the Falcons defense that made Matt Stafford struggle. That way,
you're allowed to play good defense even if you're an
eliminated from the postseason team like Atlanta is, against a
team that's still vying for playoff position. And I guess
what the Rams can the Rams the highest seed that
(19:47):
they can be at this point in time is five, right,
If I'm not.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Mistake, five is the highest it can be.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Six.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
I just my my whole, my whole argument with Stafford
is really simple. If he'd ha done that, if he'd
have played that game that he most recently played on
Monday Night Football. Let's say in Week four, he had
a three interception game in Week four, but the rest
of the season was exactly the same for Matt Stafford
and the numbers are exactly the same for Matt Stafford,
and the Rams record is exactly the same. Just because
(20:16):
he had a game like that earlier in the season
versus later in the season, that makes him more of
an MVP candidate. I don't understand that. I don't understand
how people and I'm very confused by Vegas being that
prisoner of the moment around it. I assume they have
better information than we do, Like, what do they know
about that one game that's going to tank Matt Stafford's odds?
(20:37):
That way, when you have mentioned many times, and I'm
sure other people have as well, that Drake May has
the same record against teams with a winning record this season.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
As does Jackson Dark Like.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
I'm not saying that what the Patriots and Drake May
haven't done or have done is non impressive. It is
very impressive the way that they've turned it around. He
has taken the kind of leap that every fan base
wants to see their franchise quarterback take.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
You too.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
He's doing it with an offensive coordinator that's not gonna
leave him for a head coaching job in Josh McDaniels,
and he's doing it with a head coach that's there
to be basically be the adult in the room in
Mike Frable and handle the situation and get the best
out of the rest of the roster. Even though quarterback
development isn't that guy's specialty. Matt Stafford is just playing
god teer football, and because his latest performance was not
(21:23):
the best version of himself, it doesn't wipe away the
rest of the season.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
That guy's the MVP.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, this is a weird year.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
And it's funny because I saw Desmond Howard on game
day before the end of the college football season say,
maybe there just shouldn't be a Heisman winner this year.
The award is so special, maybe nobody is deserving of it,
which I think is.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
A laughable take.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
But this year, when I look at the MVP, I think,
to me, it's just really hard to find that one
person that has been so unbelievably unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Like, if I had to say, who do I.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Think has willed their team to the most victories, there's
ar to me that looks at Josh Allen. But Josh
Allen has played easily the same type of cupcake schedule
in many ways that the Patriots have. There's so much
similarity in the schedule that they play as a division
within the same division. That's why I keep going back
to Christian McCaffrey, who I think, you know, just being
the calming presence around a forty nine ers team that
(22:18):
has seen absolutely like the forty nine ers are looking
at the number one seed, possibly depending on what happens
this weekend in a year where Christian McCaffrey has gone
off several times, no matter whose quarterback has been right.
So maybe the cheet code isn't just Kyle shanahan. Maybe
it's also Christian McCaffrey. But it's so rare for running
backs to win the award. I acknowledge that, So, you know,
(22:39):
then it becomes do you think that Matt Stafford has
been more impressive week in and week out on the
whole over Drake May? And I keep struggling to find
the Drake May moments this year that just are the cemented.
Oh my god, there's your MVP. Drake May has been
very good, and I think the rise of Drake May
has been incredible, and you're right, Josh McDaniels just do
(23:00):
a great job with them. All of these things can
be true. But when we tell the story of this
season at the end of the year, when we tell
the story of how this NFL season went, is it
singularly Drake may the story that because that's how I
usually think of an MVP. Last year, it was so
difficult because there were two candidates. I don't think you
could tell the story of last season without sitting there saying, wow,
(23:20):
look at these ten things that Josh Allen did and
look at these ten things that Lamar did, and I
don't even know how to stop them. Like you could
have made the argument to me that the Jackson Smith
and Jigbuck could be an MVP candidate, right, because we're
just seeing such exceptional product and production from a couple
of players that aren't quarterbacks, and I don't feel like
the quarterback position has given us.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
That clear Oh my god, here's your guy.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
This guy has just put the team on his back
and like Superman moved mountains to make it happen.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
This year, Well, it's the sucky part is it just
become a quarterback award. So that's the prism that we're
it seems that people are thinking about it. Do you
know the last time a non quarterback one MVP?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Oh God, that's what ten years ago.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
More than that twenty twelve Adrian Peterson like it's been
it's been a long time, and basically it's just been
quarterbacks the rest of the I mean not basically, it
has been quarterbacks the rest of the way through, and
not just it's been quarterbacks the rest of the way through.
FITZI I covered a Derrick Henry season where he broke
two thousand yards, became only the eighth player in NFL
history to have a two thousand yard regular season, and
(24:28):
Derek got one MVP vote. Now was a COVID year
and people weren't attending games. But that doesn't you know,
that doesn't let the voters off the hook. There's only
fifty of them, and they're selected from you know, NFL
broadcasting and media. They're selected from the AP board that
puts these things together. There are fifty people who saw
Derek Henry have a two thousand yard season and said, yeah,
(24:50):
that guy, he can have ah MVP vote, and MVP
vote is crazy in that situation.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
And Derek Henry's still doing it.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Hell, you can make the argument Dereck Henry's the most
valuable player on the Ravens, right now, given what he's
been able to do and what he's been prevented from
doing by their damn coaching staff. To a certain extent,
I think that we have so pigeonholed our thinking on
MVP that you cannot give consideration to Christian McCaffrey as
an MVP because you just feel like you're wasting your vote,
because at the end of the day, you still feel
(25:19):
a quarterbacks the most important position, even if there are
players having more dominant seasons at other positions that are
almost as equally or equally responsible for their team success
as the guy getting them the ball.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Remember about a year ago right now, when our conversations
on sports talk radio everywhere where what Derrick Henry was
doing and Saquan was doing. We were about to see
resurgence of the running back position. Right Like a couple
of teams paid them, they had a bunch of wins.
This is going to change that position forever. Now, Buffalo
did pay James Cook this offseason, and James Cook is
having a spectacular year. But if you just go up
(25:54):
and down the list, like do we really feel like
we're back, We're still in that resurgent running back era.
I mean there are certainly very very good running backs,
but it is back to the same conversation we've had
most years. You can have a ton of productivity at
that position and it doesn't necessarily equal wins. I mean,
Jonathan Taylor's the second leading rusher. We know that the
Cults are not headed to the playoffs. Jon Is I think,
(26:17):
maybe the most dynamic player in the entire NFL, and
Atlanta not going to the playoffs. Devon ah Chan from
Miami fifth leading rusher, not going to the playoffs. In fact,
Javonte Williams for the Dallas Cowboys as we sit right now,
for a Cowboys team that for years couldn't figure out
the running back position is sixth in the NFL with
twelve hundred yards rushing not going to the playoffs. So
(26:37):
it is it's wild because to your point, Buck like,
it shouldn't just be a quarterback award. But also, if
you have the best running back in the NFLF, you
have one of the best running backs in the NFL,
you ain't winning as many games.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
It doesn't correlate the same way.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
So I don't know how to value the position when
it doesn't correlate to actual wins.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
For a football team.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I struggle with like the resurgence of the running back position,
because it's not the resurgence of the running back position.
It's a lot of special players at running back. Like
there is no other Dereck Henry. There's just not there's
no other. I mean, I know there are players who
have accomplished more at that position in NFL history than
Derek haz although that list is getting shorter and shorter
(27:18):
every game that he plays. He keeps creeping up the
record books, and he's already got a bunch of NFL records.
And again, as I mentioned, he's one of eight players
to eclipse two thousand yards rushing in a single season.
But just because there are players who have more statistical
accomplishments doesn't mean that there's a precedent for a player
like that. Hell, I gave Christian McCaffrey a lot of
crap when he signed that big deal in Carolina because
(27:41):
of the lack of availability that followed immediately with that contract.
Once the money went up, he played significantly less games.
And I understand he was working through injury. It's not
his fault or anything like that, but it was just
one of those things where you looked around and said,
this is why you don't pay them, because their bodies
don't hold up the same way. And all McCaffrey has
done has been super durable, super available. Besides what one
(28:03):
season in San Francisco and he's one hundred and ten
yards away from having a thousand yards rushing and a
thousand yards receiving this season on one of the best
offenses in football. I just think that there are so
few special, truly special players at their individual positions that
we try to make it a larger conversation about positional
(28:26):
value when in reality, it's no that guy has a
superpower at running back or that guy has a superpower
at quarterback. That doesn't mean that applies to every position
or every single player at that same position across the league.
It just means that the Ravens have one of those
guys and you don't.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Well, that's why analytics at time, whether we're talking about
analytics in game or analytics in roster construction. Like, I'm
a big believer, and you need all the information and
data you can possibly get, but you can't also just
use blanket statements for any of it. You can't sit
there and say well, the analytics say that I go
for it on fourth an eng in this situation, it's like, okay, well, also,
you've gone for it six times this game you haven't.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Gotten it, so maybe the analytics aren't right.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
You know, sometimes gameplay situations change some of these conversations.
To your point, you can sit there all day long
and say, Okay, don't pay running backs. Well, the answer
is only pay special players. Like that's the real answer
is pay pay the most talented people in the world,
and the rest of them if they're not amongst that,
oh my god, elite level, then make a decision about
(29:26):
wins above replacement. That's the deeper conversation. Wins above replacement
is why quarterbacks are going to be so tough this
offseason to figure out too, Buck, because you know, we
talked earlier about well Lamar and the rumors around Lamar.
You mentioned Stafford being an MVP candidate. Will Stafford not
a spring chicken? And what's interesting, as much as we
talk about the running back position wins above replacement, I'm
(29:48):
trying to figure out how we're going to replace some
of these quarterbacks in the NFL, because again, there's guys
staying longer and longer in college, right, so you have
more nil opportunity, and that means that guys like Dante.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Moore aren't certain come out. We don't know if Dante's
going to come out.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
And if you look at the list of available quarterbacks
in the draft this year, it's for Nana Mendoza and
then basically nothing if Ty Simpson and Dante more don't
come out. So then you look at the list of
available free agents in the NFL Draft and at the
quarterback position, and it is a just awful, awful list
of quarterbacks that nobody really thinks is going to be
(30:24):
a savior. So it's funny because even the decisions of
who you pay and how you keep them can't be
made in the vacuum.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
You have to figure out what else you can get attainably.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
For anybody in the world that says, you know what,
fire that guy, my answer is always, well, who you're
replacing them with? Same with the quarterback position, if the
answers get rid of that bumb okay for who? Because
the top free agents in free agents at the quarterback
position next year or Russell Wilson, Marcus Mariota, and Zach
Taylor and to Rod Taylor and so like, I don't know.
(30:52):
I mean, I'm looking around side Taylor. Oh sorry, Zach Wilson.
I combined Zach and Taylor. Sorry about that. Daniel Jones
is on that list. Let's see what happens to him.
But he's not gonna play any meaningful football next year.
All of that to say that decisions on who you
pay and how you pay them.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Are just not made in a vacuum with NFL roster construction.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yeah, it's it's one of the things. I think that,
and I feel like we do this so often, or
we do this too often that I don't want to.
I don't want to just like fingerwag at NFL fans
and be like, no, you don't understand how this works.
But to a certain extent, I think, I think that
you have a misconception about how things work, and that
(31:36):
a lot of a lot of times that fans get
caught up in the way that one team goes about
its business, ignoring that their team's their favorite team situation
is not even remotely similar to whichever team they are
comparing it to.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Right, We got this a lot. In Tennessee.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
I cover the Titans on a daily basis some flying
a jackson They've got practice later today. I'm finding that
flying to Jacksonville on say, Saturday to go cover their
season finale, thank god. And Titans fans are citing Detroit
and you know last year's Washington team as we'll look
what Detroit and Washington did, we can do that too. Okay, Well,
(32:14):
how's that going for Washington right now? And how solid
was that foundation? Theoretically? Washington built around Jayden Daniels when
it was an aging roster and you were just super
healthy the whole way through, and now he's not healthy,
and now you're one of the worst teams in the sport.
Detroit very very singular type of situation, also with I
think a lot more stable components than a place like Tennessee,
(32:37):
whose ownership is wildly erratic and has fired a head
of state of the organization each of the last four seasons.
After promising to not do it again. This time, she's
fired a guy six games in. By the way, she
was right, they are a better football team without Brian
Callahan than they were with Brian Callahan. Doesn't mean that
just because she didn't stick to the plan or do
(32:57):
what they said she was going to do the whole
way through patients over panic was the line here doesn't
mean that you got it wrong, but it still means
that you have a situation where you're looking around at
me like, okay, but can you trust your owner to
actually stick to the plan to give you the necessary
time to rebuild this thing the way that for example,
the Lion's got. Dan Campbell got a lot of grace
(33:17):
early on in his career. Jared Goff got a lot
of grace early on in his career as Detroit worked
their way up to that level of competitiveness. It didn't
happen overnight. It didn't happen in two seasons. It took
some time here. So this is what I think fans
are most guilty of is looking around in comparison shopping,
when in reality, no situation in the NFL has created
(33:38):
equal because you don't have You do play under the
same rules, and you do play under the same salary
cap as far as your roster construction goes, But it
doesn't mean that your teams are run the same way
and that you can recreate a situation that you like
elsewhere just because you think it's your turn.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
I mean the number of times I've heard we should
have drafted Mahomes. Okay, Well, would he have sat under
Alex Smith learned for a year while he was coached
by Andy Reid with the stable organization around him to
get the best of him.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Probably not. That's just a reminder that you're right.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
These systems absolutely they matter through every single pass of this.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
They absolutely matter. All right.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
So with all that to be said, we've got a
huge weekend of NFL action that's gonna have consequence. Where's
the pressure lie this weekend? Who's under the most of it?
We'll tell you next. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitzbuckingfits,
hanging out with you for two Pros and a cup
of Joe on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. So bucking Fits takeover a two Pros and
a cup of Joe. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
Don't forget with the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
App, you can stream us wherever you happen to be.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Catch us and all of the Fox Sports Radio lineup
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Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream
Must Live all day, every day, and be sure to
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Speaker 3 (35:08):
Of your screen. What's old is new again? Like radio presets,
You can now do that in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Who doesn't love that? He's Buck rising out Jason Fitz.
It's a big weekend, and I'm trying to figure out
where pressure lies in some of these situations. Because we've
got some winning your in, losing your out moments. We've
got some teams that they've absolutely fallen apart.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
We've got coaches that could be on the hot seat.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
So let's look at some of these pressure filled places,
Buck and figure out.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
What to make of it.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Like, do you believe as we sit right now, that
there is a possibility, just the possibility, that Tampa Bay
could be firing their head coach?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Because it's wild to me.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
The Buccaneers have a winning their in game against the
Carolina Panthers, right so that it's that simple for them.
But in the meantime, this is a Buccaneers team that
is absolutely free falling.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
I mean absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Free falling from where they were earlier in the sea.
And even though Todd Bowles has only been the coach
for a couple of years, there are plenty of Bucks
vans calling for his head. Is there pressure in your
mind for Tampa Bay to make a change if they
missed the playoffs?
Speaker 4 (36:11):
I mean, is there pressure? Sure, like there's gonna be
pressure from fans, But I don't know how you could
look at Todd Bowles's circumstance and say, yeah, it's on
that guy name now he's He's been more publicly frustrated
than we've ever seen Todd Bowles. Although did you ever
hear that rant that he went on a couple of
(36:32):
weeks ago after they lost? Did they lose to the Yeah? Falcons?
I want to say either way, he kind of excoriated
the way his team performed and how much his team
actually cared going into it. And he did it in
one of the funniest like he's just such a monotone
person and he dropped a bunch of f bombs in
the middle of this. You know, it's as close to
(36:53):
a diatribe as I feel like Todd Bowles gets, but
he just did it very flatly. It was one of
the funnier rants I've I I don't know how you
look at Todd Bowles circumstance this year and say, yes,
quarterback was hurt, his quarterback was healthy. When his quarterback
was healthy, he was an MVP candidate early on. When
(37:13):
his quarterback was not healthy, they struggled and Baker, you know,
looked like Baker in Cleveland when he was dealing with injury,
which is not the best version of himself, and a
little uncomfortable, and you know, playing a bit fast, faster
than you'd like him to be. Your franchise left tackle
missed some time at the start of the season and
since then has been back in the lineup, but that's
(37:34):
not been an excellent performance. You have a circumstance with
the wide receiver corps where yeah, you drafted a Mecca
Buca because you have to at some point prepare for
life after Mike Evans, as he's getting up there in age.
But I don't think that. I mean, I'd be curious
to see how many snaps have a Mecha Buca. Chris
(37:54):
Godwin and Mike Evans actually played together this season, like
been on the on the field at the same time
for as much as they have invested. Because all three
of those guys have missed time due to injury this season,
their defense has not been good relative to what we
expect Todd Bowles's defenses to do. I would expect that
there would be some personnel changes there if Bowls were.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
To be retained.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Maybe maybe it sounds like excuse making to Bucks fans,
but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
I don't know how you don't look at the season.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Maybe not quite as dramatic as the Colts, but like,
what is a Colts fan to do but throw your
hands up in the air and be like, yeah, our
entire plan went to hell because the quarterback got an
achilles injury. That doesn't mean that the decisions weren't right.
It just means that the thing that happened to you
is the thing that happens to some NFL fan base
every year, which is injuries completely derail your best made
(38:48):
or best laid plans.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
I feel like that's Tampa Bay circumstance.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Well, and at some point you and I have joked
about the fact that almost every fan base seems to
want their head coach fired. I look at ownership and
I look back in the past and say, okay, what
indications can we take and what has this ownership group
gone through. So if you look at that from the
Tampa Bay standpoints, just look at what's happened over the
last fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Raheem Morris won it was seventeen and thirty one.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
As the head coach and was fired. Greg Ciano was
eleven and twenty one for two seed. He had two seasons,
he was fired. Lovey Smith got two seasons eight and
twenty four, he was fired. Dirt Cutter sucked at this too,
nineteen and twenty nine, over three seasons.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
He was fired.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Right that same ownership group lived through all of that
before they got to Bruce Arians.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
Now they get to Todd Bowles.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Todd Bowles has won the NFC South in twenty two,
twenty three, and twenty four.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Hell Mike win it this year. Even if he doesn't
win it.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
I can't imagine an ownership group with a coach that
is above five hundred throughout his career that has gone
through Dirt Cutter, Lovey Smith, Greg Shana, Raheem Morris in
between John Gruden and Bruce Arians not looking at it
and saying, hey, we're gonna be patient because we know
how hard it.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Is to find the right coach.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
I just like you talk about Amy Adams in the
way that she is shrunk, in the way that she
handles the Titans. I think when you look at ownership, look,
even if the Bucks get just absolutely destroyed this weekend,
I don't think ownership is making a change. I don't
think they should make a change. I think good organizations
are patient and they let it play out. This is
just the beginning for Todd Bowles. Let's see if it
(40:18):
looks like maybe you could argue he's hot seat next year,
we'll look at some of the other pressure situations across
the NFL.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Coming up next, He's buck rising on Jason Fitzwerning for
two pros and a cup of Joe
Tried.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It's a bucking Fits takeover of two pros and a
cup of Joe on Fox Sports Radio. He's Buck Rising,
I'm Jason Fitz. The people give rejoice. Buck has finally
put pants on. So that's where this day has started
and how things have gone. If you're just tuning in,
it's been that kind of a weird morning so far.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
We're gonna be with you through the whole show. Hanging out.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Look, I want to get your thoughts Buck on one
of the biggest matchups happening this weekend, and it's the
Ravens and the Steelers Sunday Night Football.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
We were talking a little bit about what it.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Means for these teams, but also there's just enough noise
that won't go away around Lamar Jackson that I'm just
trying to figure out what makes sense now for anyone
that doesn't remember. About a week ago, the Baltimore Sun
put out a column from one of their riders that
had a bunch of stuff in it about Lamar falling
asleep in meetings and the organization not being happy with
(00:49):
how many video games he plays, all sorts of conjecture
on it.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
He was asked about it when he spoke.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
To reporters about the fact that he's going to play
this weekend, and he said, do you think but let me.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Fall asleep in meetings? That's his quote. That's crazy. I'm
right in front. It's just noise.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
He also dismissed the notion that there are issues between
the quarterback and the coaches. Quote, I don't know where
the noise came from. This all just feels so weird, Buck,
Like when you have a two time MVP could have
been a three time MVP depending.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
On how you felt about last year quarterback.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Most of the time, what you know at that point
is everything's absolutely perfect and sunshine and roses, and the
team's gonna do whatever it takes for the quarterback. The
quarterback is going to do whatever it takes for the team.
We're used to that kumba yah. I don't know why
there's so much noise around Lamar Jackson. It just feels
like every couple of years we end up with some
sort of whisper that becomes a yell from some random
quotes about Lamar and the Ravens in their future together.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Yeah, but think about think about what can you think
of FITZI and we don't have to, you know, I
don't want to sit there and ask you a question
that you have to think about and kill time and
dead air on radio. But what's the difference between Lamar
Jackson and damn near every other player in the NFL
with the way that business is done.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Oh, he doesn't have an agent.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Lamar represents himself.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And Lamar is in a situation where when there is
media messaging, that happens and there always is and you're
trying to figure out, all right, did the Baltimore Sun columnist,
which is, by the way, it's the primary newspaper, Like,
that's where the noise is coming from?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You know, I'm going to look around and ask where
the noise is coming from.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
It's coming from the main newspaper, the main publication in
the city that has the Baltimore Ravens. Okay, And I'm
not saying that that makes them the most credible subject
or the most credible resource on all things Baltimore Ravens.
But it's not something to just dismiss. Is what's just noise.
I don't know where the noise is coming from. No,
somebody decided that in the city at Baltimore, they were
(02:49):
going to go to one of the biggest outlets and say, yeah,
this guy plays video games too late at night, and
he's not doing the things that he should be as
far as his diet goes, and he's not totally locked
in on the stuff that he needs to be locked
in on. That's where the noise is coming from. But
the difference between Lamar and Damn near every other player
in the NFL. And I'm not saying that he has
(03:10):
to absolutely must have an agent or some level of representation,
because I know he does have some level of advisors
around him to help him navigate this process. But the
agency part of it, the representation part of it, can
sometimes serve as a buffer for trying to get your
point across. If you're an organization that's trying to message
(03:30):
to a player, and if you don't think that the
messaging is going the way that you need it to, well,
sometimes you can make it a little bit messy. Now
the quote we don't know specifically whether this stuff that
was leaked to the Baltimore Sun is coming directly from
inside the Ravens organization. Again, we've had this conversation in
some form or fashion the last couple of weeks since
(03:51):
you and I have been filling in the idea that
I don't know who it benefits to have it out there,
because it doesn't make the Ravens look good either. It
doesn't make John Harbaugh look good, it doesn't make Lamar
Jackson look good. I don't know who benefits from having
this information out there other than the idea. And this is,
you know again, I'm just grasping at straws here. I'm
(04:11):
speculating could somebody leak this to the Baltimore Sun to
try and get fans in a mode a mindset to
prepare them for some kind of consequential offseason move involving
Lamar Jackson, which by the way, still doesn't make sense.
And I don't know how it's even possible because he
has a full no trade clause in his contract. So
(04:34):
this is one of the more difficult issues to kind
of parse Lamar Jackson's circumstance because there is no go between,
there is no middleman between his organization and him. He's
just having to deal with this, and they are having
to deal with this as directly as Jerry Jones and
how he negotiates contract in ways that contracts in ways
(04:56):
that he gets all kind of flag for and by
the way, I think Dearry doubled down on that again
this week, the idea that he's still just going to
deal directly with players as opposed to negotiating through agents.
I guess that's his right, but it does leave for
a lot more mess out there in the ether. And
while I know fans, you know, it's not the most
important thing to keep fans happy, as far as like
(05:16):
the mess made around their team. I wouldn't want to
actively antagonize Lamar Jackson. I'm not saying that you have
to completely, you know, treat him and coddle him to
a certain extent if you're the Ravens, but I don't
think that I would be. I would want even the
optics of, oh, they got a bone to pick with
(05:36):
me here, and they're going to do it through the media.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
That doesn't seem right.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
All of this just feels so disjointed with Lamar because look,
one of the arguments people will make is, well, he's
injury prone. He missed his games, so I mean, they're
gonna have to figure something out because you can't trust
him to play games. He played seventeen games last season,
so I know this year he's missed some time. The
year before he played sixteen games. So if you look
at the last three years as a body of work, yeah,
a couple of years before that he only played twelve games. Okay,
(06:02):
I mean we're still talking about out of his entire
career as a starter. His rookie year he wasn't the
primary starter. Since he became the starter, he missed one
game two years.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Oh gosh, that's really hard. I mean, what are we
talking about here.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
We're sounding these alarms, which is what we do constantly
with Lamar, and it doesn't make a lot of sense. Hell,
even I was on radio for ESPN at the time
when he was going through his negotiations to try and
get a guaranteed contract, and people had stupid things to
say about his injury then.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And there were plenty of people that were saying, oh, oh,
he's playing this thing up.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
He doesn't want to play because this is all part
of his negotiating tactic, which if you talk to any
of the people like at the time, you know, I
would talk to Stefania Bell, who covers injuries for ESPN,
and she was the one that would sit there and
say no, no, no, this is all pretty normal, but
nobody wanted to hear that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
So now even with the back contusion.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
That you know, the minute Harbaugh called it a bruise
and everybody's like, wow, it's just a bruise. Bang, He's
just you know, this is another Lamar versus the Ravens thing.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Well, why why do we immediately.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Jump to the conclusion that there's some nefarious action between
team and player all the time in this one relationship, Like,
name me another MVP caliber quarterback in the NFL that
is Lamar's age, that is accomplished, what he's accomplished, that
doesn't feel like it's kumba ya all the way, Like
we'll desperately find ways to keep Burrow and the Bengals together,
(07:24):
even if we say, oh, man, Burrow's got to get
out of there because they're never gonna win enough games.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
We know in our heart of.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Hearts, Burrow ain't going anywhere, right, Josh Allen. They don't
give him enough talent, they don't surround him with the things.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
But we know that, Josh Allen, Like, why.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Is Lamar the one NFL player we are treating like
it's the NBA where every single week we have to
decide that Yannis is gonna leave the Bucks. I'm as
exhausted with Giannis as leaving the Bucks as I am
with Lamar and the Ravens are headed for divorce because
this constantly gets talked about and none of it ever
feels real.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
I think the Ravens are also an organization, and I
I only have this perspective because and I think you
also have somebody that you work with at Yahoo that
is a diehard Ravens fan. My my EP on the
Local show is a die hard Ravens fan, die hard
Ravens Ravens fan who is in a situation where Lamar
(08:18):
Lamar is the prince that was promised right, So anything
done that looks like it even remotely slights Lamar or
feels antagonistic of Lamar like what my Ravens guy for
lack of a better term, and how to describe him.
I asked him his reaction to the Baltimore Sun piece,
and his immediate response was anything the Baltimore Sun writes
(08:40):
about the Ravens feel slanted against the Ravens and was
like not like screwing around, like not just half saying that.
He said, no, they they have a bias in which
they cover the Ravens, And I don't know that specifically,
I would be inclined to I would be inclined to
not think that everything that the Baltimore Sun puts out,
the paper of record in Baltimore puts out, would be
(09:02):
slided against the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
But isn't that, like in fact's how the fans perceive it.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Isn't that the same thing that Titans fans say about you?
You cover the Titans, and like every time I see
on your social.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Media, everybody thinks you hate the Tennessee Titan, Like this
is a weirdness in the way, and I ideal it.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
We'll do with this all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Like I'm lucky enough, and I do mean lucky, Like
I started all of this journey because of my fandom
for the Raiders. I have become friends over the years
with some of the people that have covered the Raiders
for the Athletic and some of the people to cover
the Raiders locally. And when you see what fans say
about like every single writer that isn't sunshine and roses
about everything until the team's not good, and then that
(09:43):
writer has to immediately turn the page and become fire everybody.
Fans no longer want reporting on their favorite team. Fans
want confirmation of their emotions with their favorite team.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
I that's well to some extent, Yeah, there is that
out there in the universe. Like I don't think people,
you know, I don't think fans are banging the banging
the table for you know, hardcore down the line, big
jay journalism anymore.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Like I don't think people really care that way.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
I will also say, and again, I don't know the
nature of the Baltimore Sun's coverage.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I read this piece.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
It's an opinion column with information reported stuff being mixed
into it. That is also kind of skewed the way
that I think fans perceive the coverage of their team.
Because FITZI, I started as a beat guy, but now
I'm as much an opinion guy as I am a reporter.
Right I do a talk show. I give opinions on
(10:42):
the talk show. We're we're doing a national talk show
right now. You and I do opinion stuff for Fox
from on the weekend. So it's it's kind of skewed
where I don't just do straight this is what happened
in the game today, This is who's.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Out, this is who's in Like, I don't.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
I don't just do that anymore, right, I do a
variety of different things, and so because I also offer
opinions based on my perspective as somebody who covers the team,
people will then take that opinion and be like, well,
you just hate them, when in reality, I do hate
some of the things that they do.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I hate bad football.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
They play a lot of bad football here in Tennessee
of late I think that the reason that they play
a lot of bad football is because their organization has
been has been. Doesn't mean that they can't change and
learn from the behavior, but it's because it's been poorly
run and they've made a lot of bad choices since
being one of the most competitive teams in the AFC.
I think that's fair commentary on the team. But I
(11:38):
do understand the fans who gripe about the idea of well,
that's just your opinion, yeah, but it's an informed opinion.
What the Baltimore Sun is doing here is offering you
information and then surrounding it with opinion. I understand why
that's hard to parse. I don't know if fans actually
care that way, but it does kind of muddy the waters.
As far as how fans perceive coverage to some extent
(11:59):
their I still don't think it gives them the excuse
to say to just throw their hands up in the air,
ignore the information that's being provided to them, and say, well,
you just hate the team. You don't know what you're
talking about. And when the team starts to when the
team starts to turn, like cam Ward for example, I'll
just again, I'll bring it through my prism. I've been
very critical of cam Ward. My whole position has been
(12:21):
I expect more. He's not just another rookie quarterback. He's
the number one overall pick. I reserve the right to
have a higher standard for the guy that's supposed to
change the franchise's fortune. Even if I completely and totally
understand that the franchise he's been dropped into is a
hot mess okay, and he's having to work up hill
on a lot of fronts, I still would like for
him to play better. And then he starts to play better.
(12:43):
Here in the last month, nobody's watching Titan games. I am, like,
you know, just being having my eyes held open, and
you can't look away.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You're not allowed to look away. It's my job. I
cover every game.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I'm gonna be in Jacksonville tomorrow to cover their season
finale again. It's the Mighty Jaguars, and that'll be great,
if for no other reason, to have the regular season
just over at this point in time. But cam Ord's
starting to play better, and so I've started to comment
on the idea that cam Ord's starting to play better,
and then all of a sudden, the feedback from fans become, oh,
now you want to jump on the bandwagon, Now you
(13:17):
want to now you want to praise guy.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Don't don't change it up?
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Is some of the don't don't change up, or are
some of the commentary that I've gotten on social media whatever,
And I'm like, no, I'm allowed to adjust the analysis
of what he's doing in real time if his performance
on the field starts to improve, Like that is the
point he's not playing well enough, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Once he starts to play better, now let's talk about that.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
But that's not how That's not how we have kind
of shaped the discourse around not just sports.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I mean, you could say this is politically this You could.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Say this about basically any subject matter, anything that anybody
has an opinion on.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Ever in any walk of life.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
This is kind of how we've shaped things in social media,
created an even bigger echo chamber to that effect where
it makes it almost impossible to get through to people.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
By the way, at the home depot, makitda tools or
built for the pros who show up early with.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Tools built to last job after job, year after year.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
When the job calls for the best call on makda
available at the home depot help pros get more done.
To your point, I will say buck every single year
except for this one. This year, I've been very loud
that I think Pete Carroll should and will be fired.
I'm not getting any blowback from Raiders fans until this.
Every single year, a tradition like no other in the
summer is when I get murdered. For all the media
(14:36):
I do covering the Raiders. People always ask my opinion,
and every year I say, ah, that's as a six
win team this year, that's usually about my answer. Fans
come at me the entire summer. I'm an idiot, I
don't know what I'm talking about. I'm a moron. I'm
not high enough on this team. Obviously, I've never watched
Raiders game in my life. And then when the season
goes off, the Rails and they win four or five games,
and I'm not losing my mind because that's about where
(14:56):
I thought they would be. All of a sudden, Why
am I not being hard no up on these coaches?
Why am I not being tough enough on these players?
I suck like it's just funny. I will continue to
die on the hill that the fans at some point
just want us to everybody that covers their teams. They
just want us to reinforce the opinions they already have.
They want a buddy to yell with. They don't want
(15:17):
actual analysis or coverage of any of it. For all
of that, Buck, I think there's one important reason that
Lamar isn't going anywhere.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I guarantee it.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And frankly, if you're listening to this right now and
your favorite team needs a quarterback, you are upper Creek
this offseason, We'll tell you why he's Buck rising. I'm
Jason fitz Fitz, I don't know my own last name.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn LeVar Errington and
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on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Fox Sports
Radio is taking over YouTube, and you can be a
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(15:58):
Fox Sports Radio that subscribe button and smash that notification
belt and catch all the videos from your favorite shows.
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Speaker 1 (16:16):
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
On YouTube, Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
It's two Pros and a Cup of Joe on Fox
Sports Radio. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz. It's fucking
Fits takeover.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I really try and whisper as often as possible in shows,
just because I know how uncomfortable it makes.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Buck.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
You can hang out out with us every single Saturday
from six to eight pm.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I whisper there too.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
But what does it sound like if you whisper? I
feel like you don't have a very good whispering voice.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
No, yeah, you I don't think I've ever whispered in
my life.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Look, this is my general theory, Lorena. Is that anything
that you say, if you whisper, it makes it creepy.
Like if I look at Buck today and I'm like, man,
your beard looks good today. Man compliment a man?
Speaker 3 (17:08):
That's fine. If I say, hypock, your beard looks good today.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Now, if we go to the Indiana playoff game together
and I'm like, man, we are playing well today, suddenly
we right, it's great. If I lean over, I'm like, hey,
we're playing well today.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
See.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
I don't like that. Make it stop. I don't like
any of this. I don't like whispering. Why would just
let me talking to in a normal volume. I know
I'm striding an obnoxious but it's better than the whispering.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I don't there's a whole industry. Clearly I'm missing out.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I pay enough money for the damn colm Ap on
a regular basis to have somebody read me sleep stories.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I might as well.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
I might as well try and get in on that
action myself.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I don't know if I could do that as well.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Oh that was good.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
That was good.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Know what I am? I I'm impressed again? Do it again, Yeah,
one more time.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
I don't know whether or not Matt Stafford deserves.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
To win the MVP, but I know that he's.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
A better MVP candidate than direct mais. This is my tank.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
It's alarming how many people in their car right now
are just so uncomfortable. We have, we play, we have
we have turned sports talk radio into something that is
People are people driving right now.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
The people pay good money for what we just turned
sports talk radio. Wait too, Okay, I think you're welcome. Yeah,
you're welcoming. Yeah, we won't even charge you the four
ninety nine minute. Look you don't, are you?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Who is the MVP to you right now?
Speaker 4 (18:47):
I mean the MVP to me is the same it's
been the whole way through. It's Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford
is the most valuable player in the NFL this year.
He's playing his best career football at thirty seven years old.
He's playing on He has helped make the Rams the
best team in football.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I understand that they have.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
You know that they've dropped a game to the Falcons
that made his MVP odds plummet, And and maybe that's
enough for the fifty people that vote on this to
look around and say, yeah, prisoner of the moment, Derek
May is the guy. Matt Stafford sorry about it, Bud you.
I think he threw a third of his interceptions all
season just in that Falcons game. And I don't I mean,
he didn't play his best football. But Atlanta came out
(19:25):
there with a plan to kick somebody's ass and they
did exactly that. I think it was a good performance
by the Falcons defense that made Matt Stafford struggle. That way,
you're allowed to play good defense even if you're an
eliminated from the postseason team like Atlanta is, against a
team that's still vying for playoff position. And I guess
what the Rams can the Rams the highest seed that
(19:47):
they can be at this point in time is five, right,
If I'm not.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Mistake, five is the highest it can be.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Six.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
I just my my whole, my whole argument with Stafford
is really simple. If he'd ha done that, if he'd
have played that game that he most recently played on
Monday Night Football. Let's say in Week four, he had
a three interception game in Week four, but the rest
of the season was exactly the same for Matt Stafford
and the numbers are exactly the same for Matt Stafford,
and the Rams record is exactly the same. Just because
(20:16):
he had a game like that earlier in the season
versus later in the season, that makes him more of
an MVP candidate. I don't understand that. I don't understand
how people and I'm very confused by Vegas being that
prisoner of the moment around it. I assume they have
better information than we do, Like, what do they know
about that one game that's going to tank Matt Stafford's odds?
(20:37):
That way, when you have mentioned many times, and I'm
sure other people have as well, that Drake May has
the same record against teams with a winning record this season.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
As does Jackson Dark Like.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
I'm not saying that what the Patriots and Drake May
haven't done or have done is non impressive. It is
very impressive the way that they've turned it around. He
has taken the kind of leap that every fan base
wants to see their franchise quarterback take.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
You too.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
He's doing it with an offensive coordinator that's not gonna
leave him for a head coaching job in Josh McDaniels,
and he's doing it with a head coach that's there
to be basically be the adult in the room in
Mike Frable and handle the situation and get the best
out of the rest of the roster. Even though quarterback
development isn't that guy's specialty. Matt Stafford is just playing
god teer football, and because his latest performance was not
(21:23):
the best version of himself, it doesn't wipe away the
rest of the season.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
That guy's the MVP.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, this is a weird year.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
And it's funny because I saw Desmond Howard on game
day before the end of the college football season say,
maybe there just shouldn't be a Heisman winner this year.
The award is so special, maybe nobody is deserving of it,
which I think is.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
A laughable take.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
But this year, when I look at the MVP, I think,
to me, it's just really hard to find that one
person that has been so unbelievably unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Like, if I had to say, who do I.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Think has willed their team to the most victories, there's
ar to me that looks at Josh Allen. But Josh
Allen has played easily the same type of cupcake schedule
in many ways that the Patriots have. There's so much
similarity in the schedule that they play as a division
within the same division. That's why I keep going back
to Christian McCaffrey, who I think, you know, just being
the calming presence around a forty nine ers team that
(22:18):
has seen absolutely like the forty nine ers are looking
at the number one seed, possibly depending on what happens
this weekend in a year where Christian McCaffrey has gone
off several times, no matter whose quarterback has been right.
So maybe the cheet code isn't just Kyle shanahan. Maybe
it's also Christian McCaffrey. But it's so rare for running
backs to win the award. I acknowledge that, So, you know,
(22:39):
then it becomes do you think that Matt Stafford has
been more impressive week in and week out on the
whole over Drake May? And I keep struggling to find
the Drake May moments this year that just are the cemented.
Oh my god, there's your MVP. Drake May has been
very good, and I think the rise of Drake May
has been incredible, and you're right, Josh McDaniels just do
(23:00):
a great job with them. All of these things can
be true. But when we tell the story of this
season at the end of the year, when we tell
the story of how this NFL season went, is it
singularly Drake may the story that because that's how I
usually think of an MVP. Last year, it was so
difficult because there were two candidates. I don't think you
could tell the story of last season without sitting there saying, wow,
(23:20):
look at these ten things that Josh Allen did and
look at these ten things that Lamar did, and I
don't even know how to stop them. Like you could
have made the argument to me that the Jackson Smith
and Jigbuck could be an MVP candidate, right, because we're
just seeing such exceptional product and production from a couple
of players that aren't quarterbacks, and I don't feel like
the quarterback position has given us.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
That clear Oh my god, here's your guy.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
This guy has just put the team on his back
and like Superman moved mountains to make it happen.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
This year, Well, it's the sucky part is it just
become a quarterback award. So that's the prism that we're
it seems that people are thinking about it. Do you
know the last time a non quarterback one MVP?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Oh God, that's what ten years ago.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
More than that twenty twelve Adrian Peterson like it's been
it's been a long time, and basically it's just been
quarterbacks the rest of the I mean not basically, it
has been quarterbacks the rest of the way through, and
not just it's been quarterbacks the rest of the way through.
FITZI I covered a Derrick Henry season where he broke
two thousand yards, became only the eighth player in NFL
history to have a two thousand yard regular season, and
(24:28):
Derek got one MVP vote. Now was a COVID year
and people weren't attending games. But that doesn't you know,
that doesn't let the voters off the hook. There's only
fifty of them, and they're selected from you know, NFL
broadcasting and media. They're selected from the AP board that
puts these things together. There are fifty people who saw
Derek Henry have a two thousand yard season and said, yeah,
(24:50):
that guy, he can have ah MVP vote, and MVP
vote is crazy in that situation.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
And Derek Henry's still doing it.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Hell, you can make the argument Dereck Henry's the most
valuable player on the Ravens, right now, given what he's
been able to do and what he's been prevented from
doing by their damn coaching staff. To a certain extent,
I think that we have so pigeonholed our thinking on
MVP that you cannot give consideration to Christian McCaffrey as
an MVP because you just feel like you're wasting your vote,
because at the end of the day, you still feel
(25:19):
a quarterbacks the most important position, even if there are
players having more dominant seasons at other positions that are
almost as equally or equally responsible for their team success
as the guy getting them the ball.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Remember about a year ago right now, when our conversations
on sports talk radio everywhere where what Derrick Henry was
doing and Saquan was doing. We were about to see
resurgence of the running back position. Right Like a couple
of teams paid them, they had a bunch of wins.
This is going to change that position forever. Now, Buffalo
did pay James Cook this offseason, and James Cook is
having a spectacular year. But if you just go up
(25:54):
and down the list, like do we really feel like
we're back, We're still in that resurgent running back era.
I mean there are certainly very very good running backs,
but it is back to the same conversation we've had
most years. You can have a ton of productivity at
that position and it doesn't necessarily equal wins. I mean,
Jonathan Taylor's the second leading rusher. We know that the
Cults are not headed to the playoffs. Jon Is I think,
(26:17):
maybe the most dynamic player in the entire NFL, and
Atlanta not going to the playoffs. Devon ah Chan from
Miami fifth leading rusher, not going to the playoffs. In fact,
Javonte Williams for the Dallas Cowboys as we sit right now,
for a Cowboys team that for years couldn't figure out
the running back position is sixth in the NFL with
twelve hundred yards rushing not going to the playoffs. So
(26:37):
it is it's wild because to your point, Buck like,
it shouldn't just be a quarterback award. But also, if
you have the best running back in the NFLF, you
have one of the best running backs in the NFL,
you ain't winning as many games.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
It doesn't correlate the same way.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
So I don't know how to value the position when
it doesn't correlate to actual wins.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
For a football team.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I struggle with like the resurgence of the running back position,
because it's not the resurgence of the running back position.
It's a lot of special players at running back. Like
there is no other Dereck Henry. There's just not there's
no other. I mean, I know there are players who
have accomplished more at that position in NFL history than
Derek haz although that list is getting shorter and shorter
(27:18):
every game that he plays. He keeps creeping up the
record books, and he's already got a bunch of NFL records.
And again, as I mentioned, he's one of eight players
to eclipse two thousand yards rushing in a single season.
But just because there are players who have more statistical
accomplishments doesn't mean that there's a precedent for a player
like that. Hell, I gave Christian McCaffrey a lot of
crap when he signed that big deal in Carolina because
(27:41):
of the lack of availability that followed immediately with that contract.
Once the money went up, he played significantly less games.
And I understand he was working through injury. It's not
his fault or anything like that, but it was just
one of those things where you looked around and said,
this is why you don't pay them, because their bodies
don't hold up the same way. And all McCaffrey has
done has been super durable, super available. Besides what one
(28:03):
season in San Francisco and he's one hundred and ten
yards away from having a thousand yards rushing and a
thousand yards receiving this season on one of the best
offenses in football. I just think that there are so
few special, truly special players at their individual positions that
we try to make it a larger conversation about positional
(28:26):
value when in reality, it's no that guy has a
superpower at running back or that guy has a superpower
at quarterback. That doesn't mean that applies to every position
or every single player at that same position across the league.
It just means that the Ravens have one of those
guys and you don't.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Well, that's why analytics at time, whether we're talking about
analytics in game or analytics in roster construction. Like, I'm
a big believer, and you need all the information and
data you can possibly get, but you can't also just
use blanket statements for any of it. You can't sit
there and say well, the analytics say that I go
for it on fourth an eng in this situation, it's like, okay, well, also,
you've gone for it six times this game you haven't.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Gotten it, so maybe the analytics aren't right.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
You know, sometimes gameplay situations change some of these conversations.
To your point, you can sit there all day long
and say, Okay, don't pay running backs. Well, the answer
is only pay special players. Like that's the real answer
is pay pay the most talented people in the world,
and the rest of them if they're not amongst that,
oh my god, elite level, then make a decision about
(29:26):
wins above replacement. That's the deeper conversation. Wins above replacement
is why quarterbacks are going to be so tough this
offseason to figure out too, Buck, because you know, we
talked earlier about well Lamar and the rumors around Lamar.
You mentioned Stafford being an MVP candidate. Will Stafford not
a spring chicken? And what's interesting, as much as we
talk about the running back position wins above replacement, I'm
(29:48):
trying to figure out how we're going to replace some
of these quarterbacks in the NFL, because again, there's guys
staying longer and longer in college, right, so you have
more nil opportunity, and that means that guys like Dante.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Moore aren't certain come out. We don't know if Dante's
going to come out.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
And if you look at the list of available quarterbacks
in the draft this year, it's for Nana Mendoza and
then basically nothing if Ty Simpson and Dante more don't
come out. So then you look at the list of
available free agents in the NFL Draft and at the
quarterback position, and it is a just awful, awful list
of quarterbacks that nobody really thinks is going to be
(30:24):
a savior. So it's funny because even the decisions of
who you pay and how you keep them can't be
made in the vacuum.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
You have to figure out what else you can get attainably.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
For anybody in the world that says, you know what,
fire that guy, my answer is always, well, who you're
replacing them with? Same with the quarterback position, if the
answers get rid of that bumb okay for who? Because
the top free agents in free agents at the quarterback
position next year or Russell Wilson, Marcus Mariota, and Zach
Taylor and to Rod Taylor and so like, I don't know.
(30:52):
I mean, I'm looking around side Taylor. Oh sorry, Zach Wilson.
I combined Zach and Taylor. Sorry about that. Daniel Jones
is on that list. Let's see what happens to him.
But he's not gonna play any meaningful football next year.
All of that to say that decisions on who you
pay and how you pay them.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Are just not made in a vacuum with NFL roster construction.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yeah, it's it's one of the things. I think that,
and I feel like we do this so often, or
we do this too often that I don't want to.
I don't want to just like fingerwag at NFL fans
and be like, no, you don't understand how this works.
But to a certain extent, I think, I think that
you have a misconception about how things work, and that
(31:36):
a lot of a lot of times that fans get
caught up in the way that one team goes about
its business, ignoring that their team's their favorite team situation
is not even remotely similar to whichever team they are
comparing it to.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Right, We got this a lot. In Tennessee.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
I cover the Titans on a daily basis some flying
a jackson They've got practice later today. I'm finding that
flying to Jacksonville on say, Saturday to go cover their
season finale, thank god. And Titans fans are citing Detroit
and you know last year's Washington team as we'll look
what Detroit and Washington did, we can do that too. Okay, Well,
(32:14):
how's that going for Washington right now? And how solid
was that foundation? Theoretically? Washington built around Jayden Daniels when
it was an aging roster and you were just super
healthy the whole way through, and now he's not healthy,
and now you're one of the worst teams in the sport.
Detroit very very singular type of situation, also with I
think a lot more stable components than a place like Tennessee,
(32:37):
whose ownership is wildly erratic and has fired a head
of state of the organization each of the last four seasons.
After promising to not do it again. This time, she's
fired a guy six games in. By the way, she
was right, they are a better football team without Brian
Callahan than they were with Brian Callahan. Doesn't mean that
just because she didn't stick to the plan or do
(32:57):
what they said she was going to do the whole
way through patients over panic was the line here doesn't
mean that you got it wrong, but it still means
that you have a situation where you're looking around at
me like, okay, but can you trust your owner to
actually stick to the plan to give you the necessary
time to rebuild this thing the way that for example,
the Lion's got. Dan Campbell got a lot of grace
(33:17):
early on in his career. Jared Goff got a lot
of grace early on in his career as Detroit worked
their way up to that level of competitiveness. It didn't
happen overnight. It didn't happen in two seasons. It took
some time here. So this is what I think fans
are most guilty of is looking around in comparison shopping,
when in reality, no situation in the NFL has created
(33:38):
equal because you don't have You do play under the
same rules, and you do play under the same salary
cap as far as your roster construction goes, But it
doesn't mean that your teams are run the same way
and that you can recreate a situation that you like
elsewhere just because you think it's your turn.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
I mean the number of times I've heard we should
have drafted Mahomes. Okay, Well, would he have sat under
Alex Smith learned for a year while he was coached
by Andy Reid with the stable organization around him to
get the best of him.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Probably not. That's just a reminder that you're right.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
These systems absolutely they matter through every single pass of this.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
They absolutely matter. All right.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
So with all that to be said, we've got a
huge weekend of NFL action that's gonna have consequence. Where's
the pressure lie this weekend? Who's under the most of it?
We'll tell you next. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitzbuckingfits,
hanging out with you for two Pros and a cup
of Joe on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. So bucking Fits takeover a two Pros and
a cup of Joe. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz.
Don't forget with the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
App, you can stream us wherever you happen to be.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Catch us and all of the Fox Sports Radio lineup
twenty four to seven in the new and improved Just
when you thought it couldn't get any better iHeartRadio app.
Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream
Must Live all day, every day, and be sure to
select Fox Sports Radio as one of your presets in
the iHeart app so it'll always pop up at the top.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Of your screen. What's old is new again? Like radio presets,
You can now do that in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Who doesn't love that? He's Buck rising out Jason Fitz.
It's a big weekend, and I'm trying to figure out
where pressure lies in some of these situations. Because we've
got some winning your in, losing your out moments. We've
got some teams that they've absolutely fallen apart.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
We've got coaches that could be on the hot seat.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
So let's look at some of these pressure filled places,
Buck and figure out.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
What to make of it.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Like, do you believe as we sit right now, that
there is a possibility, just the possibility, that Tampa Bay
could be firing their head coach?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Because it's wild to me.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
The Buccaneers have a winning their in game against the
Carolina Panthers, right so that it's that simple for them.
But in the meantime, this is a Buccaneers team that
is absolutely free falling.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
I mean absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Free falling from where they were earlier in the sea.
And even though Todd Bowles has only been the coach
for a couple of years, there are plenty of Bucks
vans calling for his head. Is there pressure in your
mind for Tampa Bay to make a change if they
missed the playoffs?
Speaker 4 (36:11):
I mean, is there pressure? Sure, like there's gonna be
pressure from fans, But I don't know how you could
look at Todd Bowles's circumstance and say, yeah, it's on
that guy name now he's He's been more publicly frustrated
than we've ever seen Todd Bowles. Although did you ever
hear that rant that he went on a couple of
(36:32):
weeks ago after they lost? Did they lose to the Yeah? Falcons?
I want to say either way, he kind of excoriated
the way his team performed and how much his team
actually cared going into it. And he did it in
one of the funniest like he's just such a monotone
person and he dropped a bunch of f bombs in
the middle of this. You know, it's as close to
(36:53):
a diatribe as I feel like Todd Bowles gets, but
he just did it very flatly. It was one of
the funnier rants I've I I don't know how you
look at Todd Bowles circumstance this year and say, yes,
quarterback was hurt, his quarterback was healthy. When his quarterback
was healthy, he was an MVP candidate early on. When
(37:13):
his quarterback was not healthy, they struggled and Baker, you know,
looked like Baker in Cleveland when he was dealing with injury,
which is not the best version of himself, and a
little uncomfortable, and you know, playing a bit fast, faster
than you'd like him to be. Your franchise left tackle
missed some time at the start of the season and
since then has been back in the lineup, but that's
(37:34):
not been an excellent performance. You have a circumstance with
the wide receiver corps where yeah, you drafted a Mecca
Buca because you have to at some point prepare for
life after Mike Evans, as he's getting up there in age.
But I don't think that. I mean, I'd be curious
to see how many snaps have a Mecha Buca. Chris
(37:54):
Godwin and Mike Evans actually played together this season, like
been on the on the field at the same time
for as much as they have invested. Because all three
of those guys have missed time due to injury this season,
their defense has not been good relative to what we
expect Todd Bowles's defenses to do. I would expect that
there would be some personnel changes there if Bowls were.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
To be retained.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Maybe maybe it sounds like excuse making to Bucks fans,
but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
I don't know how you don't look at the season.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Maybe not quite as dramatic as the Colts, but like,
what is a Colts fan to do but throw your
hands up in the air and be like, yeah, our
entire plan went to hell because the quarterback got an
achilles injury. That doesn't mean that the decisions weren't right.
It just means that the thing that happened to you
is the thing that happens to some NFL fan base
every year, which is injuries completely derail your best made
(38:48):
or best laid plans.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
I feel like that's Tampa Bay circumstance.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Well, and at some point you and I have joked
about the fact that almost every fan base seems to
want their head coach fired. I look at ownership and
I look back in the past and say, okay, what
indications can we take and what has this ownership group
gone through. So if you look at that from the
Tampa Bay standpoints, just look at what's happened over the
last fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Raheem Morris won it was seventeen and thirty one.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
As the head coach and was fired. Greg Ciano was
eleven and twenty one for two seed. He had two seasons,
he was fired. Lovey Smith got two seasons eight and
twenty four, he was fired. Dirt Cutter sucked at this too,
nineteen and twenty nine, over three seasons.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
He was fired.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Right that same ownership group lived through all of that
before they got to Bruce Arians.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
Now they get to Todd Bowles.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Todd Bowles has won the NFC South in twenty two,
twenty three, and twenty four.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Hell Mike win it this year. Even if he doesn't
win it.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
I can't imagine an ownership group with a coach that
is above five hundred throughout his career that has gone
through Dirt Cutter, Lovey Smith, Greg Shana, Raheem Morris in
between John Gruden and Bruce Arians not looking at it
and saying, hey, we're gonna be patient because we know
how hard it.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Is to find the right coach.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
I just like you talk about Amy Adams in the
way that she is shrunk, in the way that she
handles the Titans. I think when you look at ownership, look,
even if the Bucks get just absolutely destroyed this weekend,
I don't think ownership is making a change. I don't
think they should make a change. I think good organizations
are patient and they let it play out. This is
just the beginning for Todd Bowles. Let's see if it
(40:18):
looks like maybe you could argue he's hot seat next year,
we'll look at some of the other pressure situations across
the NFL.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Coming up next, He's buck rising on Jason Fitzwerning for
two pros and a cup of Joe
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