May 4, 2024 • 40 mins
LaVar Arrington, TJ Houshmandzadeh, and Plaxico Burress talk about the Lakers firing of Darvin Ham, the idea of Steelers backup QB Justin Fields returning kicks next season, Davante Adams praise of Packers QB Jordan Love, and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Christ. I'm he'll put you up on game because I
know that we need it.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You want NFL experience, then this is the show for you.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is is.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Up on Game. Put you up on Game with LeVar
ary Te, TJ Houshman, Zanna, and Plaxico Burress.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Did you hear that? LeVar Arrington, t J. Hutchman, Zada,
Lexico Burras.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
It's a show with three of the best to ever
do it on and off the field, live from the
tire rack dot Com studio, so Fox Sports Radio. Now
here's pro bowlers LaVar Aringtet, TJ. Hushman, Zanna, and Super
Bowl champion Plaxico Burress.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
All right, all right, all right, oh right, Happy Saturday
to everybody out there. This is Up on Game. We're
broadcasting live from the tyreck dot Com studios. Tirack dot
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Sports Radio up. All right, you can listen live on
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it is you get your podcasts from. Make sure you
you know, subscribe and follow the podcast. Happy Saturday. How's
everything going, man? How's how you feeling? Man? I'm feeling good.
(01:55):
Ready to uh yeah, ready to have a great show,
you know, locked in, loaded, locked and loaded, locked and loaded.
All right, Well let's let's uh let's get to I mean, well,
first of all, before we get to it, uh you
always say, you know clear skys, you know clear, you
know I want you. We are at the Pacific West Coast,
(02:21):
but we might as well put the Pacific Northwest coast.
You get. Are you getting concerned? It's like this every
day now, every day, and then it clears up like
in the middle of the day. Yeah he uh yeah, man,
I don't know what's going on, but it's been like this,
like this is probably the worst share. And I've been
here my entire life pretty much. He has been like
(02:43):
the worst share as far as rain the overcasts of
the weather. Who knows what's going on? Man? Well, speaking
of overcasts and bad weather and rain, Darvin Ham is
walking under a rain cloud in La the rain falls. Hey, hey,
(03:07):
so it's falling on him. What was your initial reaction.
I know we'll have cuffs on and we'll get his reaction.
I know Cuff said he's the worst coach in the NBA.
Uh so we'll hear from him an hour two. But
what is your initial reaction to the firing? So listen,
(03:32):
when we got eliminated. Okay, let's go back. Let's go
back a gamer. Let's go back a couple of games
when we lost. Someone to say it was do you
remember the game when Ad said, we don't know what
we're doing. We're just out there running around. That to
(03:52):
me was domino the domino, the first domino to fault.
Because just a few weeks ago, Jennie Buss she comes out.
She says, Darvin Ham will be our coach next year.
That's what she said. So then Ad makes that comment, Okay,
game two up by twenty points. We should have won
(04:15):
that game. There's no way you should lose a game.
Those type of players, we don't we lose. Okay, it's
the playoffs. Now they've beaten us, what was it eight
nine times in a row. Game three, we lose, Game four,
we win, Game five, we lose again on the last
(04:36):
play of the game, last second shot, so to speak.
And when you look at that, to outplay them the
entire series, minus the last five minutes in the fourth quarter,
and then the last domino that fell for me when
I said, you know what the Lakers gonna get rid
(04:57):
of Darbenhom was that the wh the season was over.
Lebron does this press conference at the end of Game
five and he was asked, are you gonna be a
Laker next year? And he said, I'm not gonna answer
that question. I'm not gonna answer that question. That let
the Lakers brass know. I don't want Darvin Ham. If
(05:20):
Darbenham is a coach, I'm out. If Darvinham's a coach,
I'm out. Now. If Darbenham isn't the coach, we might
got a ball game here.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Now we can talk, all right, let me ask you
so that it took you took those little words from
Lebron James and y'all basically put it in that category.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And yeah, you no, no, no, no, the Lakers took
those words from Lebron James. They took those words. They
knew what that meant, because just two weeks ago, plex
Gendy Buss said, Darvin Ham will be our coach like
matter of fact, So what changes in those two weeks? Like,
let's just be honest, we should have beat the Denver Nuggets,
but it's management and ownership like so disappointed that we
(06:03):
didn't beat the Nuggets that you fired Darvingham. So they
really think, like, so basically, what's trying to say.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
If Lebronwood he came out of support and supported Darvingham,
he would still be the head coach.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
But this this isn't the like the NBA is a
superstar league. It's a superstar league. If they don't like
what the coach is doing, he gotta go. That's just
what it is, Is it right to Darvin Ham? No,
it isn't. But then Darvin Haam, did you see what
he said? It is hard to win when one of
(06:36):
your starter bleats the bed for ten straight games. He
said that. So now you Darvin Ham, like, you know what,
I don't want to be here either. What head coach?
You know comes out says that what head coach you know,
comes out and says, if one of your starters bleats
the bed for ten straight games, what you're gonna do?
(06:58):
And so that starter was DM Jelo Russell and DeAngelo
Russell And he's right, Yeah, but Dan, but what coach
says that? Who does that? You don't say that as
a head coach publicly? It's so Darby. He should have
called out the rest of him too. No, no, Noah,
he should have called out you starting Cam Reddish twenty
(07:21):
plus games at the start of the season, when the
number showed you when he was in the lineup, y'all
couldn't do anything like you. You you should call out
you got Austin Reeves and Lebron James on the bench
at the same time, when who's gonna be your main playmaker?
When neither one of them are in the game, that's
what you should call out. So you agree that he
should have been fired. Yeah, I think it was inevitable.
(07:44):
I really don't.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I don't care if they made it to the Western
Conference Finals or whatever the case may be. I think
Darvnhem here was on a chopping block a long time ago.
The only thing that could have saved this job is
doing the World Championship, I really believe done. And it
doesn't matter who gets who gets the Lakers coaching job,
it's gonna be tough for anybody. So the expectations of
(08:09):
the Lebron and AD and this team and this organization
moving forward, no matter who.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
The coach is, it's still gonna be the same thing.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Next year, we're still gonna be talking about the same
exact thing. D'Angelo Russell, AAR fifteen, Lebron and a D.
Can they get done? Their window in the Western Conference
is closed.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
It's closed. It's done. These young teams are too good.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
They're so good at at their age that they will
not be able to compete with the with the Minnesota's
and Denver and and and these other young team in
the Western Conference. They just have to, you know, look
themselves in the mirror and be honest with themselves. We
have to get younger, and we have to get better,
(08:57):
and we have to do it quickly because they still
okay in Denver, in Minnesota, they're not going nowhere for
a while. So you're gonna have to deal with OKC
in Minnesota and the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference
for at least another five or six seven.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I want to play Denver again in the playoffs. I
want to play them again. Well you didn't. You don't
get to do it. I can't even watch it, like
I be so angry watching these games. Man, I'm like, oh, Man,
you gotta take your emotions out of it, TJ. I
can't emotion, Man, you gotta take your emotions out of brother,
(09:35):
come like that, you cross some time. I can't help myself, Man,
can I help? Can I ask this real quick? I
know we're up against the break, but and and looking
at it being because of a D and Lebron? Was
it because of a D and Lebron? They brought in Darwnham?
I believe they did. And you know how it goes, Man,
(09:58):
does that work? And I'll be I'm gonna be honest.
Now it's been somewhat unfair to Darwin Ham. But this
is the cost of doing business when you coach the
Los Angeles Lakers, And this is what it is. And
so no player is ever gonna make all the right decisions,
and no coaches either. But when you coach these type
(10:19):
of players, this is what it is. If they don't
believe in what you're doing. You think the rest of
the team gonna believe in it, I'm gonna take it
a step further. I don't matter.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
It don't matter who the coach was at the Los
Angeles Lakers this year, they go out in the first
round of the playoffs, they was getting fired. It doesn't
matter if it's dorm to Ha anybody else. The expectations
for the Lakers are championships or at least to get
to the Western Conference Finals. It doesn't matter if it
was Darvin Ham or Larry Brown. If they got sent
(10:51):
home in the first round of the playoffs, they were fired.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Dang, that's crazy to think. I know there was some
real I was listening into Mike wilbond and and uh
steven A talk about it. Steven A seemed to be
very very upset about it. Mike, Mike wilbam was was
taking straight shots. He was super upset. Said, blame the players.
(11:16):
Why do all these these twenty million dollar players get
to just blame it on the coach. Why does the
organization just get to blame it on the coach? Blame
it on the players. I tend to agree with that.
I think the players are are much to blame twenty
twenty point lead. I'm sorry. If you were good enough
to coach them to get to a twenty point lead,
(11:37):
then what happens with the twenty point lead? And when
when when you lose it? Uh? See Darvin Ham guard one, Dude,
I ain't seen garden Ham dunk one ball. I ain't
seem shooting out one?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Do they leva a twenty point game and a twenty
five point game and.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
They did it consistently? Right now? Explain that. But that's
just me, you know what I mean, That's just me,
and this is us up on game, and that's just t. J.
Huchman's Adam Plexico Burds. We're gonna take a quick break.
Returning kicks. You played in Pittsburgh City of Steel. There
was some conversation about Justin Fields and the possibility of
him returning kicks. We'll get the guys their opinions on that.
(12:18):
On the other side of the break. This is up
on game. Fox Sports Radio will be right back.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
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Speaker 4 (12:35):
Hey, this is Tom Berducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network
and Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around
to talk a little bit about managerial decisions and what
may have occurred to the dugout maybe in the nineteen eighties.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
It's the Book of Joe podcast. I can't wait for this, Joe.
We're going to dive into what goes on in the
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Baseball, cars, wind whatever else we want to talk about.
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Yeah, well there are no boundaries, right. Listen to the
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Speaker 1 (13:05):
Welcome back in What's Up on Game? We're live from
tyreq dot com studio. It's right, we're gonna jump into this, uh,
this conversation about Justin fields he could return kicks for
the Steelers. Now, don't take it from me, and I
don't know that this is real news, could be fake news.
But there was a player in particular from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh,
(13:29):
what's his name, Jaylen Warren, that's that's Uh. He had
some interesting comments fellas about what he heard and what
he was, you know, I guess thinking about uh one,
Justin Fields returning kicks. Here we go, let's take a listen,
all right, specialties coordinator was talking about Justin Fields being
(13:51):
back there. Hold on, hold on, breaking news already. We
looked at him like, Justin Field beat that back there,
and you know it's I don't know, I think it's
I think it's cool. Now, you played for you played
for the Steelers. You were there when uh you were
(14:12):
there when Slash was there, right, absolutely quarterback? Yeah, yeah,
until I knocked his ass out.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
And then everybody he's talking about Cordell Steward. I know,
some of you younger generational, you know, people that are
listening he's talking about he's referring to Cordiell Steward.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
That was his nickname, Slash. They had to put Tommy
Maddox in after I got ahold of him in the game. Yeah,
I was there. I was there.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Unfortunately I was I had a front road front road
sheet on the sideline.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I caught up to him, A teacher caught for y'all.
He tried, he tried, you have to leave, Oh you're here.
The misspend the five games he.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Did try to. Uh, that's the I digress. Slash was
called Slash because he could do everything.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I mean, he could do any He returned punts, he
was a quarterback, he was a wide receiver in some sets.
There's nothing that he didn't do offensively, accept a block
on the offensive line, because he was a receiver, punt returner, quarterback.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
He did it all.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Put him in the backfield. There's nothing that he couldn't do.
He was a quarter was a phenomenal athlete.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Do y'all feel like justin Fields is which I think
he's a dope athlete. I don't know if he's as
as well as Slash, but I mean he's a dope athlete,
and he's he's seemingly going to be a backup. I mean,
are you guys opposed to that? Well, I think it's
a terrible idea. I really do.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
If I'm justin Fields and I understand the Pittsburgh wait, like,
the standard is a standard, and when you come through
that door, it's by any means necessary. They will plug
you in anywhere, and your job is to go out
there to do your job, and to do it well
and be effective at it. But if you're a quarterback
and you're coming off your first four or five season
(16:03):
in Chicago, the way that you know played over those
over your tenure. He is trying to build his value
and his credibility as being a quarterback. I don't think
that you go to Pittsburgh and you will start. You
start returning punts and kicks, kickoff for turns, and now
your value is no longer you being a quarterback. You
(16:29):
are now a specialist, so to speak. And it goes
back to when Lamar Jackson was drafted. He said, I'm
going to play quarterback. I'm not going into the NFL
to play wide receiver. And he made people respect him
as being a quarterback and now look at him, he's
(16:50):
a two time NFL MVP.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
If I am Justin.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Fields and his agent or whoever is representing him, I
wouldn't put myself in a position to go to Pittsburgh
to play special teams in the return kickoffs because it
does nothing for him. Obviously, it's going to help the team.
They feel that he is a better kick returnity than
(17:16):
whoever they have on the roster already. But if you
are Justin Fields and you're looking at your career moving forward,
outside of Pittsburgh and you on the side a one
year deal. You're not going to return kickoffs and punts.
You're going there to play quarterback. Stick to playing quarterback.
It's I don't get it. The heat made return kicks, Like.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Justin Fields is a good open field runner with the
ball as a quarterback, when you have the defensive line
rushing and lanes open up, what makes you believe he
can return. He's probably never returned to kick or a
punt in his life. Being a quarterback. It's just a
different ball game. And I believe the coach probably said
(18:06):
that jokingly. Jalen Warren said it publicly knowing that the
joke said it with a little sarcasm. But if there's
no way, no possible way, the Steelers are serious about this,
No way. You got other guys on your roster that
can do a job. I beg this and do this
(18:27):
job better, because if Russell Wilson goes down, then what
you got a quarterback that's been returning kicks and he
may not even be healthy. But the Russell Wilson had
he played good football last year with the Broncos. Even
though he got benched. He wasn't playing bad. But who's
(18:49):
to say Russell Wilson is gonna beat Justin Fields down.
You're talking about Justin Fields returning kicks. Let me put
this in your ear. You're justin fields and leave you.
Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
You come to Justine Fields and you ask him, you say,
we need you to return kickoffs.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Your justice fields?
Speaker 3 (19:14):
What's going? What's your answer? How do you reply? Because
if you if you say you're not gonna do it,
then you're not a good team player.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You're not a team guy.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Right now, justin fields and ask you we need you
to return kickoffs. What's gonna be your response? He doesn't
say that. His agent is gonna call up there and say,
my guy in returning kicks. He don't have to say it.
His agent is gonna do that. He don't he like
(19:46):
what you think?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
This is, bro. They they're not experiment with me. They
did not like year. This is my career, this is
my career. Let me give you all you really think
you about the experiment with my career? Return quarter beer
hold on. Now, they did not extend him. That's fine.
He's going to be a free agent and if he
(20:08):
doesn't play, what is his value coming out of this season.
What is his value? I don't know, and we can, like,
let's be brutally honest about this. He was he was
traded to Pittsburgh for a now laders, you know, a
(20:29):
pack of now laders, some nerds and back of hipps
and a bag of chips. I mean, and listen, it's
a rookie deal. But they got him on a rookie deal.
They don't need to pay him pay him yet. So
with that being said, it's only up for the Steelers.
(20:50):
But for Justin Fields, this is a very curious position
for him to be in because he has no leverage
monetarily speaking, contract wise, he has no leverage. And theory,
he could become a free agent after this season and
it wouldn't even matter. And theory, because of how small
his contract is, they could cut him, They could get
(21:13):
rid of him. They could, They can do a lot
of things, and they can try to make him return kicks,
and they can. They can do what they deem is
best for their team. The Pittsburgh Steelers are well run organization.
There's no way they are legitimately thinking about Justin Field's
(21:34):
returning kicks. There's no way. Let me tell you about
no way. My rookie year.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Two thousands, we had some guys to go down and
special teams, like four or five guys, and we didn't
have enough players to run down on kickboff team. They
put you on kickoff on the first round pick them
number eight pick in the draft. Coach Kyle would come
to me and said, Plex, let me talk to you, So,
(22:06):
what's going on couch? He said, we need you to
run down on kickoff team this week and to get
some reps. I said what he said, Yeah, I know,
you know you did it in college, blah blah blah.
And he was like, you know, it's for the team.
We just need to get a look. Would you know,
would you mind just running down on kickoff team for
(22:29):
the next two or three days guys get healthy in practice?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
In practice? I was like, I could do that, but
what if hear the bade you do it in the game? Plex,
I didn't. I didn't come here for that. That's not
on my contracts. Then why you do it in practice?
To give him a long yeah, yeah, I was giving
them a look.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I mean, I wasn't necessarily happy about it, but it
was the fact that you know, you know, the kickoff
you know, you run down and you gotta jog back.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I'm already a rival.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
See, I'm already running for a living, and now you
want to get me more conditioning. I wasn't necessarily happy
about it, but I went out there. I ran that
on kick off team. And this this is what comes
with Pittsburgh because this organization, this team, in this locker room,
they are so selfless. If you are not willing to
(23:23):
get out of yourself and sacrifice everything for the team,
I can almost guarantee you the rest of this team
gonna be looking at you crazy. And it's not like
that everywhere else. It's a different kind of environment in
this locker room. If you are not willing to lay
down for your brothers in that, Pittsburgh still a locker room,
(23:45):
or you're gonna have some issues.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
That's the culture that's in there.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And anybody that that's played there, they'll tell you the
same exact thing. Hey man, we need to get back
there and catch a punch dog, all right.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Man. I guys put this in context, though, plex When
you came in in two thousand and like you said,
you weren't playing those special teams. I come in the
year after you running down on kicks is put this
in context for the people that are listening. The Special
Teams coach would get up in that meeting, y'all and say,
(24:18):
because you know, back then it was a wedge and
they were putting an offense and defensive linemen on the wedge,
this is what I was in those meetings, y'all weren't. Yes,
I was.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Let me got tracked. When you're a rookie in Pittsburgh.
Ask any rookie that goes there. I don't care if
you the first pick of the draft or the midst irrelevant.
If you're a rookie attend all special and that Special
Teams coach will say you not, LeVar, You do not
split the wedge. You attack it head on.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
If you go in there and try to split them,
if you try to split the weg, you are getting
cursed out. They wanted the wedge though, Okay, so you
know you lock ORMs. You will say me, you and
plex all locked ORMs and we running. They don't want
anybody to go in between them. You full body take
(25:18):
them on, knock them out. Yeah. Yeah, attack it head on.
Means whoever your guy is, you better put him on
his ass. If you try to split the wedge, they say,
you're opening up a gap. And so we literally would
be in games bro and in meetings, and he would
(25:39):
rewind certain game clips of other guys in the league
trying to split the wedge giving up a big return.
Guys that attacking head on, hurting themselves and hurting the
other guy. Man. So like head On, man, I used
to go into that web in college. You crazy five,
I was the five. I was. You wanted to wear
(26:01):
you crazy him?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
I was, remember I remember we played the Atlanta Falcons
in the first preseason game. This had to have been
two thousand and two. It was Kendrel Bell's rookies. Oh
my god, they had him at one. He runs straight
down the field and to this and to this wedge
you're talking about, and they flat line Kendrel Bell to
(26:23):
really flat lined the man when he got up and
ran to the sideline and says, no, this is no joke.
I thought he was going down a set of a
set of stairs because he was running to the sideline
and every step he took he looked like he was
going down to some steps.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
He never made it to the sideline and fell out
boo and We was like, you can't just run down
there willing to that wedge like that, even back then
they had offensive linemen back then, Drell Bell is going down.
Believe you mean that means a flat going down.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
And it goes back to that and talking about this
wedge and those are the players that which and when
that boy got hurt in Buffalo.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I'm serious, man, when Kenchwell Bell ran it to the
you know he was a four to three guy at fifty.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
That was a grown ass f Bro Georgia. He hit
so hard, bro made hard. I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
He said they flat line. If they flat lined. We
was like, dog, you can't run down there too that
web like that. I guess he could. He never played
the kick off team again. Dang all right. That came
from Cam Hayward's podcast. By the way, uh I doubt
(27:39):
this is a real story, But knowing who Danny Smith
is and how he is a joke, I wouldn't put
it past him. I wouldn't put past through the tray.
But he probably did say it jokingly, So we'll leave
it at that. Let's get an update from Isaac long Cron.
We're gonna talk some Chicago Bears, uh team after that.
(28:00):
So what you got at low LaVar.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
What we got is a big trade in Major League
Baseball that became official today as the San Diego Padres
acquired two time batting champion and two time All Star
Luis Arise from the Miami Marlins. New York Yankees ace
Garrett Cole threw off a mound today for the first
time since being shut down in spring training because of
an elbow injury. The NBA a short time ago find
(28:22):
Los Angeles Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell twenty five thousand dollars
for verbally abusing a game official immediately after the Lakers
season ending loss to Denver this past Wednesday. Round two
of the playoffs tips off tonight. It's seven pm Eastern
from Minnesota as the Timberwolves host Denver tonight at eight
pm Eastern in the Stanley Cup Playoffs from Boston. Game
(28:45):
seven of the opening round series between the Bruins and
Toronto Maple Leafs. Also today, the one hundred and fiftieth
running of the Kentucky Derby post time at six forty
seven Eastern. Fierceness is the morning line favorite at five to.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Two seventeen fierceness is number seventeen to seventeen horse.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
I'm just saying, I wonder who you're picking back to you, guys.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Thanks, I love seventeen horse. Huh. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
I think fierceness is he's three to one and he
is a seventeen horse. Stop playing with man. Come on, man,
I'm gonna be watching, you know, be a little sloppy today.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
The track is wet.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
It's always a little sloppy today. And it rained all
day yesterday for the Kentucky Oaks. But the day the derby,
it's gonna be wet, so it ain't no telling who
gonna win it, all right.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Well, speaking of Justin Fields, the team that he was
the starter for that got rid of him to bring
in Caleb Williams is the Chicago Bears, And there's been
a lot of conversation about the Bears after the NFL Draft.
I'm asking you, guys, with what they have on their
(30:04):
offensive side of the ball today, what do you believe
is the ceiling for this Chicago Bears offense. Wow, I'll
be honest. I like what they have on paper, and
I like it a lot. They the Bears, I believe
(30:28):
were seven, seven and ten last year, obviously had the
number one pick via the trade with the Carolina Panthers.
When you can acquire Kenan Island in the trade, you
already have Dj Moore, You're able to draft Caleb Williams
and Roma donze that right there. If Caleb Williams is
(30:52):
what we all expect him and believe him to be offensively,
you give him about two to three weeks to kind
of get their feet wet, get an understanding, and it's
really more so Caleb than anybody else. Once that happens,
this offense can be scary because you have a proven
(31:15):
receiver that's done it year after year after year after
year in Keenan Allen. You have a guy that can
get down the field, take a quick screen to the
crib in Dj Moore, and you have a guy who
I believe can do all of those things in Rome.
And Caleb, in Minnie's eyes, is a generational quarterback, is
(31:39):
one of the best quarterbacks that come into the league
in sometime, and so if he can play near that
potential as a rookie, I expect the Bears a content
for a wildcard spot because this offense will be much better.
I mean, the North is up for the is up
for grabs, though, right, I mean Detroit pretty good.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Detroit should be the team that will win the NFC News.
I wouldn't say it's up for grabs, okay, I mean,
if you're looking at the whole division, I would say,
right off the bat, it looks like the Chicago Bears
will be competing with the Detroit Lines to win the division.
I don't believe Minnesota is there and and I just
(32:22):
don't think that you know, Minnesota's gonna be able to
compete with you know, these two teams being the fact
that you know, you just got rid of of Kirk Cousins.
Justin Jefferson is there now and there's no telling how
much longer he's going to be there, not knowing what
this quarterback situation is going to look like moving forward.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
So y'all, like Jack J.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
McCarthy, I think he's thing's going to be good, But
you can't expect these rookie quarterbacks it's coming in to
make a splash.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I don't think he's going to be better than current.
I mean that's what we're basing that off of them
being a wild card team for the Bears, right, But
I would say that if you put these two guys
side by side based off of what they have done
in college, I was everybody would agree that Kylen Williams
is the better quarterback. Correct, Yeah, Okay, so I would
(33:11):
I would say for the for the Chicago Bears, offensively,
I think that the biggest addition, you know, outside of
of Kylen Williams was going to be Keenan Allen. I think,
you know, from a mentorship standpoint and in the wide
receiver tootel is that that Roma was going to need
like he has two guys that he can lean on.
And that was one thing out that was that that
(33:33):
was you know, uh, you know, precious for me because
I came in and Courtney Hawkins was was a twelve
year veteran at the time and and he was a starter.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And I came in day one and you know because
job and took his position and the man was humble
enough to be professional. And this man coached me and
taught me like I was his son, and it blew
me away.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
So I don't know that is rare in today's sports.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
But I would say for Rome that you know, Keenan
and DJ Moore that obviously, you know, the rookies room
and Caleb, they're going to make some mistakes and you know,
but I think this office is going to be a
lot better than it was last year. But it's going
to be all about how soon and how quickly can
(34:26):
Caleb and these receivers h you know, come together.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
That's Plexico Burst, that's t J. Hitchman's Ouda. I'm LeVar Arrington. Listen,
we're gonna talk some Davante Adams on the other side
of the break. But until then, just kind of, you know,
let it soak in what you just heard, man, because
they putting you up on Game. That's right, This is
up on Game. This Fox Sports Radio will take a
quick ass and we'll be right back. All right, all right,
(34:55):
welcome back into the show that says up on Game.
We're live from tyrack dot com studio. Shortly after the show,
our podcast will be going up, So if you missed
any of today's show, don't worry about it. Be sure
to check out the podcast. Just search up on Game
wherever it is you get your podcasts, and be sure
to also follow, rate and review the podcast as well. Again,
(35:17):
just search up on game wherever it is that you
get your podcasts and you'll see the show post it
right after we get off the air. Davante Adams fellas
he came out, he has some interesting comments. I'm curious
to hear what you guys think about it. He said
he has no regrets with the Green Bay trade. But
(35:38):
Jay Love is balling right now. I mean, from y'all's perspective,
when you say something like this to me, the first
thing I'd be thinking is I wish I had him.
And if that means I wish I had him, then
what is the real conclusion of him saying? You know, okay,
(36:00):
when you say when you say you know, no, no,
no disrespect, you know before you say what you're gonna say,
we all know you're about to say something disrespectful. You
know what I mean, Like this is nothing against you.
But you know when you when you have certain things
you say before you make a point, you know that
it means something different. Right now, I don't know that
(36:23):
that's the case here. What y'all think Devontae Adams is
looking at how well Jordan Love played, He's looking at
his quarterback situation last year, and then it's pretty much
the same thing this shit, and he's like, Damn, I
(36:44):
made the wrong decision one hundred percent, that's what he's thinking.
And so, I mean, he's kind of stuck in the
decision he's made. He has to make the best of it.
But when you look at what Jordan Love did is
his first year as a starter, and that Vita Adam
looks like and I had Jimmy g then a and
(37:07):
O'Connell and this year I'm gonna possibly have a O'Connell
and Gardner Minshew as my quarterback. Damn, I a messed up.
That's all it is. And it's nothing you can do
about it. Nothing you can do about it.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I don't believe he was really throwing any shade or
disrespecting anybody. I think he was just really showing respect
for Jordan Love and how he played last year. I
don't I don't think like you said, he don't have
any regrets. But if you look at Green Bay and
where they are now, are they are they one of
the contenders, you know in that division, maybe maybe the
(37:48):
third best team, depending on depending on how the Chicago
Bears look this year.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I said, they're easily the second best team in that.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
I don't think Green Bay is looking like a champion
and ship contending football team right now. In the state
of the Green Bay Packers, I just don't see that,
you know, moving forward anytime soon. But I think for
the Raiders, I think that they have enough tools. I
think defensively they're going to be a lot better this year.
(38:17):
So they lost what like five games within six points
last year, so you can't really say that, you know,
they had a bad season, but they didn't make the
playoffs there the first five or six games they lost
by less than five or six points, which is crazy.
So I think they'd be better offensively. I think defensively
is where they're going to make their mark. Everybody know
(38:39):
that they're in the AFC Western. You gotta go cut
the head off the stake in Kansas City. With Patrick Mahomes,
I don't think that's going to be being easier, especially
with him getting the additional worthy which is only going
to make the office more explosive.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
But I think that the Las Vegas Raiders are.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
In a better state football team than where Jordan Love
and the Green Bay Packers all right now, what I
mean outside of Kansas City in the AFC West, who
is going to be the second best team in the division,
(39:19):
have a chance to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
The Los Angeles Charged they might be a problem this year.
I'm saying they might be a problem.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
I believe that the Raiders who make the playoffs this
year as a wild card in the AFC West, and
it will not be the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
I think they needed a quarterback. I think they need
a quarterback. The Raiders have all the pieces except for
a big piece that's under center. That that's the problem.
That's it. That that that is the biggest problem. Like
the Raiders have a solid team top to bottom offensively, defensively,
but they got every play they have the worst quarterback
(39:58):
in the division in his three has shown if your
quarterback is the worst one in the division, you going
a minute, you walking with who's the quarterback in the Broncos.
It don't matter who it is, it's best than what.
Then it's either gonna be Jared Stillham or bone Nicks.
Stidham or bone Nicks. And they're both better than what
(40:20):
the Raiders have, which I'll both agree with that. I
don't agree with that. You don't even don't even be
you don't think Jared Sidheam or bone Nicks is better
than what the Raiders have. Just answer the question, man,
oh my god, Plaical. Well, I'll tell you what. We're
gonna keep these conversations rolling. We're gonna get to hour
two and just a matter of moments, so you guys
(40:42):
make sure that you stay locked in. Uh. Obviously we'll
talk some more Darvin Haown. We got cuffs to Legend
coming up as well, So stay locked in up on
game Fox Sports Radio
Christ. I'm he'll put you up on game because I
know that we need it.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
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This is is.
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Up on Game. Put you up on Game with LeVar
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Speaker 1 (00:45):
All right, all right, all right, oh right, Happy Saturday
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(01:34):
Sports Radio up. All right, you can listen live on
i art radio app, my Search and FSR and Fox
Sports Radio and you can search up on game wherever
it is you get your podcasts from. Make sure you
you know, subscribe and follow the podcast. Happy Saturday. How's
everything going, man? How's how you feeling? Man? I'm feeling good.
(01:55):
Ready to uh yeah, ready to have a great show,
you know, locked in, loaded, locked and loaded, locked and loaded.
All right, Well let's let's uh let's get to I mean, well,
first of all, before we get to it, uh you
always say, you know clear skys, you know clear, you
know I want you. We are at the Pacific West Coast,
(02:21):
but we might as well put the Pacific Northwest coast.
You get. Are you getting concerned? It's like this every
day now, every day, and then it clears up like
in the middle of the day. Yeah he uh yeah, man,
I don't know what's going on, but it's been like this,
like this is probably the worst share. And I've been
here my entire life pretty much. He has been like
(02:43):
the worst share as far as rain the overcasts of
the weather. Who knows what's going on? Man? Well, speaking
of overcasts and bad weather and rain, Darvin Ham is
walking under a rain cloud in La the rain falls. Hey, hey,
(03:07):
so it's falling on him. What was your initial reaction.
I know we'll have cuffs on and we'll get his reaction.
I know Cuff said he's the worst coach in the NBA.
Uh so we'll hear from him an hour two. But
what is your initial reaction to the firing? So listen,
(03:32):
when we got eliminated. Okay, let's go back. Let's go
back a gamer. Let's go back a couple of games
when we lost. Someone to say it was do you
remember the game when Ad said, we don't know what
we're doing. We're just out there running around. That to
(03:52):
me was domino the domino, the first domino to fault.
Because just a few weeks ago, Jennie Buss she comes out.
She says, Darvin Ham will be our coach next year.
That's what she said. So then Ad makes that comment, Okay,
game two up by twenty points. We should have won
(04:15):
that game. There's no way you should lose a game.
Those type of players, we don't we lose. Okay, it's
the playoffs. Now they've beaten us, what was it eight
nine times in a row. Game three, we lose, Game four,
we win, Game five, we lose again on the last
(04:36):
play of the game, last second shot, so to speak.
And when you look at that, to outplay them the
entire series, minus the last five minutes in the fourth quarter,
and then the last domino that fell for me when
I said, you know what the Lakers gonna get rid
(04:57):
of Darbenhom was that the wh the season was over.
Lebron does this press conference at the end of Game
five and he was asked, are you gonna be a
Laker next year? And he said, I'm not gonna answer
that question. I'm not gonna answer that question. That let
the Lakers brass know. I don't want Darvin Ham. If
(05:20):
Darbenham is a coach, I'm out. If Darvinham's a coach,
I'm out. Now. If Darbenham isn't the coach, we might
got a ball game here.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Now we can talk, all right, let me ask you
so that it took you took those little words from
Lebron James and y'all basically put it in that category.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And yeah, you no, no, no, no, the Lakers took
those words from Lebron James. They took those words. They
knew what that meant, because just two weeks ago, plex
Gendy Buss said, Darvin Ham will be our coach like
matter of fact, So what changes in those two weeks? Like,
let's just be honest, we should have beat the Denver Nuggets,
but it's management and ownership like so disappointed that we
(06:03):
didn't beat the Nuggets that you fired Darvingham. So they
really think, like, so basically, what's trying to say.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
If Lebronwood he came out of support and supported Darvingham,
he would still be the head coach.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
But this this isn't the like the NBA is a
superstar league. It's a superstar league. If they don't like
what the coach is doing, he gotta go. That's just
what it is, Is it right to Darvin Ham? No,
it isn't. But then Darvin Haam, did you see what
he said? It is hard to win when one of
(06:36):
your starter bleats the bed for ten straight games. He
said that. So now you Darvin Ham, like, you know what,
I don't want to be here either. What head coach?
You know comes out says that what head coach you know,
comes out and says, if one of your starters bleats
the bed for ten straight games, what you're gonna do?
(06:58):
And so that starter was DM Jelo Russell and DeAngelo
Russell And he's right, Yeah, but Dan, but what coach
says that? Who does that? You don't say that as
a head coach publicly? It's so Darby. He should have
called out the rest of him too. No, no, Noah,
he should have called out you starting Cam Reddish twenty
(07:21):
plus games at the start of the season, when the
number showed you when he was in the lineup, y'all
couldn't do anything like you. You you should call out
you got Austin Reeves and Lebron James on the bench
at the same time, when who's gonna be your main playmaker?
When neither one of them are in the game, that's
what you should call out. So you agree that he
should have been fired. Yeah, I think it was inevitable.
(07:44):
I really don't.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I don't care if they made it to the Western
Conference Finals or whatever the case may be. I think
Darvnhem here was on a chopping block a long time ago.
The only thing that could have saved this job is
doing the World Championship, I really believe done. And it
doesn't matter who gets who gets the Lakers coaching job,
it's gonna be tough for anybody. So the expectations of
(08:09):
the Lebron and AD and this team and this organization
moving forward, no matter who.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
The coach is, it's still gonna be the same thing.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Next year, we're still gonna be talking about the same
exact thing. D'Angelo Russell, AAR fifteen, Lebron and a D.
Can they get done? Their window in the Western Conference
is closed.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
It's closed. It's done. These young teams are too good.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
They're so good at at their age that they will
not be able to compete with the with the Minnesota's
and Denver and and and these other young team in
the Western Conference. They just have to, you know, look
themselves in the mirror and be honest with themselves. We
have to get younger, and we have to get better,
(08:57):
and we have to do it quickly because they still
okay in Denver, in Minnesota, they're not going nowhere for
a while. So you're gonna have to deal with OKC
in Minnesota and the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference
for at least another five or six seven.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I want to play Denver again in the playoffs. I
want to play them again. Well you didn't. You don't
get to do it. I can't even watch it, like
I be so angry watching these games. Man, I'm like, oh, Man,
you gotta take your emotions out of it, TJ. I
can't emotion, Man, you gotta take your emotions out of brother,
(09:35):
come like that, you cross some time. I can't help myself, Man,
can I help? Can I ask this real quick? I
know we're up against the break, but and and looking
at it being because of a D and Lebron? Was
it because of a D and Lebron? They brought in Darwnham?
I believe they did. And you know how it goes, Man,
(09:58):
does that work? And I'll be I'm gonna be honest.
Now it's been somewhat unfair to Darwin Ham. But this
is the cost of doing business when you coach the
Los Angeles Lakers, And this is what it is. And
so no player is ever gonna make all the right decisions,
and no coaches either. But when you coach these type
(10:19):
of players, this is what it is. If they don't
believe in what you're doing. You think the rest of
the team gonna believe in it, I'm gonna take it
a step further. I don't matter.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
It don't matter who the coach was at the Los
Angeles Lakers this year, they go out in the first
round of the playoffs, they was getting fired. It doesn't
matter if it's dorm to Ha anybody else. The expectations
for the Lakers are championships or at least to get
to the Western Conference Finals. It doesn't matter if it
was Darvin Ham or Larry Brown. If they got sent
(10:51):
home in the first round of the playoffs, they were fired.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Dang, that's crazy to think. I know there was some
real I was listening into Mike wilbond and and uh
steven A talk about it. Steven A seemed to be
very very upset about it. Mike, Mike wilbam was was
taking straight shots. He was super upset. Said, blame the players.
(11:16):
Why do all these these twenty million dollar players get
to just blame it on the coach. Why does the
organization just get to blame it on the coach? Blame
it on the players. I tend to agree with that.
I think the players are are much to blame twenty
twenty point lead. I'm sorry. If you were good enough
to coach them to get to a twenty point lead,
(11:37):
then what happens with the twenty point lead? And when
when when you lose it? Uh? See Darvin Ham guard one, Dude,
I ain't seen garden Ham dunk one ball. I ain't
seem shooting out one?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Do they leva a twenty point game and a twenty
five point game and.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
They did it consistently? Right now? Explain that. But that's
just me, you know what I mean, That's just me,
and this is us up on game, and that's just t. J.
Huchman's Adam Plexico Burds. We're gonna take a quick break.
Returning kicks. You played in Pittsburgh City of Steel. There
was some conversation about Justin Fields and the possibility of
him returning kicks. We'll get the guys their opinions on that.
(12:18):
On the other side of the break. This is up
on game. Fox Sports Radio will be right back.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
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.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Hey, this is Tom Berducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network
and Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around
to talk a little bit about managerial decisions and what
may have occurred to the dugout maybe in the nineteen eighties.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
It's the Book of Joe podcast. I can't wait for this, Joe.
We're going to dive into what goes on in the
dugout and behind the scenes in Major League.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Baseball, cars, wind whatever else we want to talk about.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, well there are no boundaries, right. Listen to the
Book of Joe podcast on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Welcome back in What's Up on Game? We're live from
tyreq dot com studio. It's right, we're gonna jump into this, uh,
this conversation about Justin fields he could return kicks for
the Steelers. Now, don't take it from me, and I
don't know that this is real news, could be fake news.
But there was a player in particular from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uh,
(13:29):
what's his name, Jaylen Warren, that's that's Uh. He had
some interesting comments fellas about what he heard and what
he was, you know, I guess thinking about uh one,
Justin Fields returning kicks. Here we go, let's take a listen,
all right, specialties coordinator was talking about Justin Fields being
(13:51):
back there. Hold on, hold on, breaking news already. We
looked at him like, Justin Field beat that back there,
and you know it's I don't know, I think it's
I think it's cool. Now, you played for you played
for the Steelers. You were there when uh you were
(14:12):
there when Slash was there, right, absolutely quarterback? Yeah, yeah,
until I knocked his ass out.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
And then everybody he's talking about Cordell Steward. I know,
some of you younger generational, you know, people that are
listening he's talking about he's referring to Cordiell Steward.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
That was his nickname, Slash. They had to put Tommy
Maddox in after I got ahold of him in the game. Yeah,
I was there. I was there.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Unfortunately I was I had a front road front road
sheet on the sideline.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I caught up to him, A teacher caught for y'all.
He tried, he tried, you have to leave, Oh you're here.
The misspend the five games he.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Did try to. Uh, that's the I digress. Slash was
called Slash because he could do everything.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I mean, he could do any He returned punts, he
was a quarterback, he was a wide receiver in some sets.
There's nothing that he didn't do offensively, accept a block
on the offensive line, because he was a receiver, punt returner, quarterback.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
He did it all.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Put him in the backfield. There's nothing that he couldn't do.
He was a quarter was a phenomenal athlete.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Do y'all feel like justin Fields is which I think
he's a dope athlete. I don't know if he's as
as well as Slash, but I mean he's a dope athlete,
and he's he's seemingly going to be a backup. I mean,
are you guys opposed to that? Well, I think it's
a terrible idea. I really do.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
If I'm justin Fields and I understand the Pittsburgh wait, like,
the standard is a standard, and when you come through
that door, it's by any means necessary. They will plug
you in anywhere, and your job is to go out
there to do your job, and to do it well
and be effective at it. But if you're a quarterback
and you're coming off your first four or five season
(16:03):
in Chicago, the way that you know played over those
over your tenure. He is trying to build his value
and his credibility as being a quarterback. I don't think
that you go to Pittsburgh and you will start. You
start returning punts and kicks, kickoff for turns, and now
your value is no longer you being a quarterback. You
(16:29):
are now a specialist, so to speak. And it goes
back to when Lamar Jackson was drafted. He said, I'm
going to play quarterback. I'm not going into the NFL
to play wide receiver. And he made people respect him
as being a quarterback and now look at him, he's
(16:50):
a two time NFL MVP.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
If I am Justin.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Fields and his agent or whoever is representing him, I
wouldn't put myself in a position to go to Pittsburgh
to play special teams in the return kickoffs because it
does nothing for him. Obviously, it's going to help the team.
They feel that he is a better kick returnity than
(17:16):
whoever they have on the roster already. But if you
are Justin Fields and you're looking at your career moving forward,
outside of Pittsburgh and you on the side a one
year deal. You're not going to return kickoffs and punts.
You're going there to play quarterback. Stick to playing quarterback.
It's I don't get it. The heat made return kicks, Like.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Justin Fields is a good open field runner with the
ball as a quarterback, when you have the defensive line
rushing and lanes open up, what makes you believe he
can return. He's probably never returned to kick or a
punt in his life. Being a quarterback. It's just a
different ball game. And I believe the coach probably said
(18:06):
that jokingly. Jalen Warren said it publicly knowing that the
joke said it with a little sarcasm. But if there's
no way, no possible way, the Steelers are serious about this,
No way. You got other guys on your roster that
can do a job. I beg this and do this
(18:27):
job better, because if Russell Wilson goes down, then what
you got a quarterback that's been returning kicks and he
may not even be healthy. But the Russell Wilson had
he played good football last year with the Broncos. Even
though he got benched. He wasn't playing bad. But who's
(18:49):
to say Russell Wilson is gonna beat Justin Fields down.
You're talking about Justin Fields returning kicks. Let me put
this in your ear. You're justin fields and leave you.
Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
You come to Justine Fields and you ask him, you say,
we need you to return kickoffs.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Your justice fields?
Speaker 3 (19:14):
What's going? What's your answer? How do you reply? Because
if you if you say you're not gonna do it,
then you're not a good team player.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You're not a team guy.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Right now, justin fields and ask you we need you
to return kickoffs. What's gonna be your response? He doesn't
say that. His agent is gonna call up there and say,
my guy in returning kicks. He don't have to say it.
His agent is gonna do that. He don't he like
(19:46):
what you think?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
This is, bro. They they're not experiment with me. They
did not like year. This is my career, this is
my career. Let me give you all you really think
you about the experiment with my career? Return quarter beer
hold on. Now, they did not extend him. That's fine.
He's going to be a free agent and if he
(20:08):
doesn't play, what is his value coming out of this season.
What is his value? I don't know, and we can, like,
let's be brutally honest about this. He was he was
traded to Pittsburgh for a now laders, you know, a
(20:29):
pack of now laders, some nerds and back of hipps
and a bag of chips. I mean, and listen, it's
a rookie deal. But they got him on a rookie deal.
They don't need to pay him pay him yet. So
with that being said, it's only up for the Steelers.
(20:50):
But for Justin Fields, this is a very curious position
for him to be in because he has no leverage
monetarily speaking, contract wise, he has no leverage. And theory,
he could become a free agent after this season and
it wouldn't even matter. And theory, because of how small
his contract is, they could cut him, They could get
(21:13):
rid of him. They could, They can do a lot
of things, and they can try to make him return kicks,
and they can. They can do what they deem is
best for their team. The Pittsburgh Steelers are well run organization.
There's no way they are legitimately thinking about Justin Field's
(21:34):
returning kicks. There's no way. Let me tell you about
no way. My rookie year.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Two thousands, we had some guys to go down and
special teams, like four or five guys, and we didn't
have enough players to run down on kickboff team. They
put you on kickoff on the first round pick them
number eight pick in the draft. Coach Kyle would come
to me and said, Plex, let me talk to you, So,
(22:06):
what's going on couch? He said, we need you to
run down on kickoff team this week and to get
some reps. I said what he said, Yeah, I know,
you know you did it in college, blah blah blah.
And he was like, you know, it's for the team.
We just need to get a look. Would you know,
would you mind just running down on kickoff team for
(22:29):
the next two or three days guys get healthy in practice?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
In practice? I was like, I could do that, but
what if hear the bade you do it in the game? Plex,
I didn't. I didn't come here for that. That's not
on my contracts. Then why you do it in practice?
To give him a long yeah, yeah, I was giving
them a look.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I mean, I wasn't necessarily happy about it, but it
was the fact that you know, you know, the kickoff
you know, you run down and you gotta jog back.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I'm already a rival.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
See, I'm already running for a living, and now you
want to get me more conditioning. I wasn't necessarily happy
about it, but I went out there. I ran that
on kick off team. And this this is what comes
with Pittsburgh because this organization, this team, in this locker room,
they are so selfless. If you are not willing to
(23:23):
get out of yourself and sacrifice everything for the team,
I can almost guarantee you the rest of this team
gonna be looking at you crazy. And it's not like
that everywhere else. It's a different kind of environment in
this locker room. If you are not willing to lay
down for your brothers in that, Pittsburgh still a locker room,
(23:45):
or you're gonna have some issues.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
That's the culture that's in there.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And anybody that that's played there, they'll tell you the
same exact thing. Hey man, we need to get back
there and catch a punch dog, all right.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Man. I guys put this in context, though, plex When
you came in in two thousand and like you said,
you weren't playing those special teams. I come in the
year after you running down on kicks is put this
in context for the people that are listening. The Special
Teams coach would get up in that meeting, y'all and say,
(24:18):
because you know, back then it was a wedge and
they were putting an offense and defensive linemen on the wedge,
this is what I was in those meetings, y'all weren't. Yes,
I was.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Let me got tracked. When you're a rookie in Pittsburgh.
Ask any rookie that goes there. I don't care if
you the first pick of the draft or the midst irrelevant.
If you're a rookie attend all special and that Special
Teams coach will say you not, LeVar, You do not
split the wedge. You attack it head on.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
If you go in there and try to split them,
if you try to split the weg, you are getting
cursed out. They wanted the wedge though, Okay, so you
know you lock ORMs. You will say me, you and
plex all locked ORMs and we running. They don't want
anybody to go in between them. You full body take
(25:18):
them on, knock them out. Yeah. Yeah, attack it head on.
Means whoever your guy is, you better put him on
his ass. If you try to split the wedge, they say,
you're opening up a gap. And so we literally would
be in games bro and in meetings, and he would
(25:39):
rewind certain game clips of other guys in the league
trying to split the wedge giving up a big return.
Guys that attacking head on, hurting themselves and hurting the
other guy. Man. So like head On, man, I used
to go into that web in college. You crazy five,
I was the five. I was. You wanted to wear
(26:01):
you crazy him?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
I was, remember I remember we played the Atlanta Falcons
in the first preseason game. This had to have been
two thousand and two. It was Kendrel Bell's rookies. Oh
my god, they had him at one. He runs straight
down the field and to this and to this wedge
you're talking about, and they flat line Kendrel Bell to
(26:23):
really flat lined the man when he got up and
ran to the sideline and says, no, this is no joke.
I thought he was going down a set of a
set of stairs because he was running to the sideline
and every step he took he looked like he was
going down to some steps.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
He never made it to the sideline and fell out
boo and We was like, you can't just run down
there willing to that wedge like that, even back then
they had offensive linemen back then, Drell Bell is going down.
Believe you mean that means a flat going down.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
And it goes back to that and talking about this
wedge and those are the players that which and when
that boy got hurt in Buffalo.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I'm serious, man, when Kenchwell Bell ran it to the
you know he was a four to three guy at fifty.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
That was a grown ass f Bro Georgia. He hit
so hard, bro made hard. I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
He said they flat line. If they flat lined. We
was like, dog, you can't run down there too that
web like that. I guess he could. He never played
the kick off team again. Dang all right. That came
from Cam Hayward's podcast. By the way, uh I doubt
(27:39):
this is a real story, But knowing who Danny Smith
is and how he is a joke, I wouldn't put
it past him. I wouldn't put past through the tray.
But he probably did say it jokingly, So we'll leave
it at that. Let's get an update from Isaac long Cron.
We're gonna talk some Chicago Bears, uh team after that.
(28:00):
So what you got at low LaVar.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
What we got is a big trade in Major League
Baseball that became official today as the San Diego Padres
acquired two time batting champion and two time All Star
Luis Arise from the Miami Marlins. New York Yankees ace
Garrett Cole threw off a mound today for the first
time since being shut down in spring training because of
an elbow injury. The NBA a short time ago find
(28:22):
Los Angeles Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell twenty five thousand dollars
for verbally abusing a game official immediately after the Lakers
season ending loss to Denver this past Wednesday. Round two
of the playoffs tips off tonight. It's seven pm Eastern
from Minnesota as the Timberwolves host Denver tonight at eight
pm Eastern in the Stanley Cup Playoffs from Boston. Game
(28:45):
seven of the opening round series between the Bruins and
Toronto Maple Leafs. Also today, the one hundred and fiftieth
running of the Kentucky Derby post time at six forty
seven Eastern. Fierceness is the morning line favorite at five to.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Two seventeen fierceness is number seventeen to seventeen horse.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
I'm just saying, I wonder who you're picking back to you, guys.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Thanks, I love seventeen horse. Huh. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
I think fierceness is he's three to one and he
is a seventeen horse. Stop playing with man. Come on, man,
I'm gonna be watching, you know, be a little sloppy today.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
The track is wet.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
It's always a little sloppy today. And it rained all
day yesterday for the Kentucky Oaks. But the day the derby,
it's gonna be wet, so it ain't no telling who
gonna win it, all right.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Well, speaking of Justin Fields, the team that he was
the starter for that got rid of him to bring
in Caleb Williams is the Chicago Bears, And there's been
a lot of conversation about the Bears after the NFL Draft.
I'm asking you, guys, with what they have on their
(30:04):
offensive side of the ball today, what do you believe
is the ceiling for this Chicago Bears offense. Wow, I'll
be honest. I like what they have on paper, and
I like it a lot. They the Bears, I believe
(30:28):
were seven, seven and ten last year, obviously had the
number one pick via the trade with the Carolina Panthers.
When you can acquire Kenan Island in the trade, you
already have Dj Moore, You're able to draft Caleb Williams
and Roma donze that right there. If Caleb Williams is
(30:52):
what we all expect him and believe him to be offensively,
you give him about two to three weeks to kind
of get their feet wet, get an understanding, and it's
really more so Caleb than anybody else. Once that happens,
this offense can be scary because you have a proven
(31:15):
receiver that's done it year after year after year after
year in Keenan Allen. You have a guy that can
get down the field, take a quick screen to the
crib in Dj Moore, and you have a guy who
I believe can do all of those things in Rome.
And Caleb, in Minnie's eyes, is a generational quarterback, is
(31:39):
one of the best quarterbacks that come into the league
in sometime, and so if he can play near that
potential as a rookie, I expect the Bears a content
for a wildcard spot because this offense will be much better.
I mean, the North is up for the is up
for grabs, though, right, I mean Detroit pretty good.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Detroit should be the team that will win the NFC News.
I wouldn't say it's up for grabs, okay, I mean,
if you're looking at the whole division, I would say,
right off the bat, it looks like the Chicago Bears
will be competing with the Detroit Lines to win the division.
I don't believe Minnesota is there and and I just
(32:22):
don't think that you know, Minnesota's gonna be able to
compete with you know, these two teams being the fact
that you know, you just got rid of of Kirk Cousins.
Justin Jefferson is there now and there's no telling how
much longer he's going to be there, not knowing what
this quarterback situation is going to look like moving forward.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
So y'all, like Jack J.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
McCarthy, I think he's thing's going to be good, But
you can't expect these rookie quarterbacks it's coming in to
make a splash.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I don't think he's going to be better than current.
I mean that's what we're basing that off of them
being a wild card team for the Bears, right, But
I would say that if you put these two guys
side by side based off of what they have done
in college, I was everybody would agree that Kylen Williams
is the better quarterback. Correct, Yeah, Okay, so I would
(33:11):
I would say for the for the Chicago Bears, offensively,
I think that the biggest addition, you know, outside of
of Kylen Williams was going to be Keenan Allen. I think,
you know, from a mentorship standpoint and in the wide
receiver tootel is that that Roma was going to need
like he has two guys that he can lean on.
And that was one thing out that was that that
(33:33):
was you know, uh, you know, precious for me because
I came in and Courtney Hawkins was was a twelve
year veteran at the time and and he was a starter.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And I came in day one and you know because
job and took his position and the man was humble
enough to be professional. And this man coached me and
taught me like I was his son, and it blew
me away.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
So I don't know that is rare in today's sports.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
But I would say for Rome that you know, Keenan
and DJ Moore that obviously, you know, the rookies room
and Caleb, they're going to make some mistakes and you know,
but I think this office is going to be a
lot better than it was last year. But it's going
to be all about how soon and how quickly can
(34:26):
Caleb and these receivers h you know, come together.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
That's Plexico Burst, that's t J. Hitchman's Ouda. I'm LeVar Arrington. Listen,
we're gonna talk some Davante Adams on the other side
of the break. But until then, just kind of, you know,
let it soak in what you just heard, man, because
they putting you up on Game. That's right, This is
up on Game. This Fox Sports Radio will take a
quick ass and we'll be right back. All right, all right,
(34:55):
welcome back into the show that says up on Game.
We're live from tyrack dot com studio. Shortly after the show,
our podcast will be going up, So if you missed
any of today's show, don't worry about it. Be sure
to check out the podcast. Just search up on Game
wherever it is you get your podcasts, and be sure
to also follow, rate and review the podcast as well. Again,
(35:17):
just search up on game wherever it is that you
get your podcasts and you'll see the show post it
right after we get off the air. Davante Adams fellas
he came out, he has some interesting comments. I'm curious
to hear what you guys think about it. He said
he has no regrets with the Green Bay trade. But
(35:38):
Jay Love is balling right now. I mean, from y'all's perspective,
when you say something like this to me, the first
thing I'd be thinking is I wish I had him.
And if that means I wish I had him, then
what is the real conclusion of him saying? You know, okay,
(36:00):
when you say when you say you know, no, no,
no disrespect, you know before you say what you're gonna say,
we all know you're about to say something disrespectful. You
know what I mean, Like this is nothing against you.
But you know when you when you have certain things
you say before you make a point, you know that
it means something different. Right now, I don't know that
(36:23):
that's the case here. What y'all think Devontae Adams is
looking at how well Jordan Love played, He's looking at
his quarterback situation last year, and then it's pretty much
the same thing this shit, and he's like, Damn, I
(36:44):
made the wrong decision one hundred percent, that's what he's thinking.
And so, I mean, he's kind of stuck in the
decision he's made. He has to make the best of it.
But when you look at what Jordan Love did is
his first year as a starter, and that Vita Adam
looks like and I had Jimmy g then a and
(37:07):
O'Connell and this year I'm gonna possibly have a O'Connell
and Gardner Minshew as my quarterback. Damn, I a messed up.
That's all it is. And it's nothing you can do
about it. Nothing you can do about it.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I don't believe he was really throwing any shade or
disrespecting anybody. I think he was just really showing respect
for Jordan Love and how he played last year. I
don't I don't think like you said, he don't have
any regrets. But if you look at Green Bay and
where they are now, are they are they one of
the contenders, you know in that division, maybe maybe the
(37:48):
third best team, depending on depending on how the Chicago
Bears look this year.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I said, they're easily the second best team in that.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
I don't think Green Bay is looking like a champion
and ship contending football team right now. In the state
of the Green Bay Packers, I just don't see that,
you know, moving forward anytime soon. But I think for
the Raiders, I think that they have enough tools. I
think defensively they're going to be a lot better this year.
(38:17):
So they lost what like five games within six points
last year, so you can't really say that, you know,
they had a bad season, but they didn't make the
playoffs there the first five or six games they lost
by less than five or six points, which is crazy.
So I think they'd be better offensively. I think defensively
is where they're going to make their mark. Everybody know
(38:39):
that they're in the AFC Western. You gotta go cut
the head off the stake in Kansas City. With Patrick Mahomes,
I don't think that's going to be being easier, especially
with him getting the additional worthy which is only going
to make the office more explosive.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
But I think that the Las Vegas Raiders are.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
In a better state football team than where Jordan Love
and the Green Bay Packers all right now, what I
mean outside of Kansas City in the AFC West, who
is going to be the second best team in the division,
(39:19):
have a chance to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
The Los Angeles Charged they might be a problem this year.
I'm saying they might be a problem.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
I believe that the Raiders who make the playoffs this
year as a wild card in the AFC West, and
it will not be the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
I think they needed a quarterback. I think they need
a quarterback. The Raiders have all the pieces except for
a big piece that's under center. That that's the problem.
That's it. That that that is the biggest problem. Like
the Raiders have a solid team top to bottom offensively, defensively,
but they got every play they have the worst quarterback
(39:58):
in the division in his three has shown if your
quarterback is the worst one in the division, you going
a minute, you walking with who's the quarterback in the Broncos.
It don't matter who it is, it's best than what.
Then it's either gonna be Jared Stillham or bone Nicks.
Stidham or bone Nicks. And they're both better than what
(40:20):
the Raiders have, which I'll both agree with that. I
don't agree with that. You don't even don't even be
you don't think Jared Sidheam or bone Nicks is better
than what the Raiders have. Just answer the question, man,
oh my god, Plaical. Well, I'll tell you what. We're
gonna keep these conversations rolling. We're gonna get to hour
two and just a matter of moments, so you guys
(40:42):
make sure that you stay locked in. Uh. Obviously we'll
talk some more Darvin Haown. We got cuffs to Legend
coming up as well, So stay locked in up on
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