January 6, 2020 • 40 mins
On today's edition of Straight Outta Vegas, RJ Bell and the crew discuss the Ravens being heavy favorites to win the Super Bowl. RJ says that the distance between the Ravens and the second best team is as big as he's seen in a long time. Plus, the guys discuss Mike McCarthy taking over in Dallas for the Cowboys, and why his winning percentage makes this a good higher. Also, RJ says that Jerry Jones has had 2 of the best coaches of all time in Jimmie Johnson and Bill Parcells and until he realizes he had that type of talent in the building, he will never be able to live up to his expectations. RJ and guys also discuss the upset in Foxboro last weekend, and what the future will hold for Tom Brady and the Patriots, citing Brady isn't done in the NFL but his time as a Patriot might be.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. This is straight out
of Vegas with the voice of Vegas, your host r
J Bowna, the pregame show America has always wanted from
(00:40):
the veggest trip Ear's r J bow. That's right, I'm
r J Live on a big Monday, live from Las
Vegas on two hundred i F s our stations across
this great nation. Wow. For big NFL games, We're gonna
be bray can down each and every one of them
(01:03):
and looking ahead, just a little look ahead on Monday
to next week. What's the lines and such? Joined in
studio pros who know full house, Brad Powers and Steve Feazick.
Sports bettors listen for the money. Sports fans listen to
no more than their buddies. And let me tell you, man,
there's been some dumb takes out there today on radio,
(01:27):
almost enough to make your head hurt. But this isn't
the case at all with this fellow. You can't have
pros without Joe's Joan is not always good to be
here are Jane Yes On a day in which we've
got not one, not two, but four NFL playoff games
to recap? What is the Vegas lead on Monday. I
gotta tell you something, this rarely happens. Jonas is I
(01:48):
was gonna lead with one of the games, and then
I got a memo I don't want to say from who.
They said, if you want to stay in the sports
talk club, and remember that's the club at Super Bowl,
you get to eat shrimp, get to talk politics with
Clay Travis, that kind of stuff. Who who wouldn't want
to be there? So I've got to start with the
(02:09):
Cowboys high Yeah, that's right, And Mike McCarthy was named
the brand new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, as
reported by Jay Glazer of Fox Sports earlier today. Yes,
and that was a nice get for j and I
probably have a different opinion than most on this, and
it really is premised upon what do we know? Meaning
(02:34):
we hear a lot of guys on talk radio talk
a lot about football, and I always asked myself the
non players, you know, former players, the non coaches, former coaches,
let's put that universe together, which is almost everyone. Right,
There's a few former players now, but on the opinion
(02:54):
shows not as much. Right there used to be. You
always needed a guy in a boot, you know, John
Madden and Summer. All right, so you've got in that case,
you've got you know, you got two people that knew
their stuff. But these days it seems like that there's
been so many kind of meat head type former players
let's be candid in media at different times that we've
(03:17):
kind of rebelled against it. And now it's a lot
of people like a Nick right, And I consider Nick
to be extremely bright. He's a bright fellow. And I
thought about three of his takes today. We're about as
dumb as I've ever heard. And not because I know
I'm right, because I know what I don't know. So
(03:39):
to some degree, I don't really know what McCarthy's gonna
do with this team. I just know that here's a
guy that's one a good bit in the NFL. So
the idea that that's somehow bad because he's a retread,
you know, you hear retread? Well, Belichick was a retread
right off horrible you know, relative performance with the Browns.
(04:03):
So you know, five years he didn't. It wasn't like
you got fired in a year. It was five years
with the Browns. One playoff appearance for Belichick. So to me,
I'm gonna stick to what I feel that I'd be
willing to bet. And you know we can talk about
you know some U or specifically the one Nick right
(04:25):
take guy so disagreed with, but with McCarthy. And let
me ask you, Jonas, if you look at the Packers
offense this year, it's not any better than last year. No,
it's not. People are being intoxicated by the record and
they're not actually paying attention what they're watching. And if
(04:47):
you're watching this Packer team, I actually think the passing
offense has regressed. The running offense is better, no doubt,
but passing wise, I think they've completely regressed. And I
think it's dangerous for even what I just said to say, Well,
doesn't the head co supposed to affect the defense? Yes?
And how much of it is what La Fleur did
with them, and how much of it was they hit on,
(05:09):
you know, physics, famous Smith brothers, and I don't know.
And you know what else I know that Buffalo maybe
could have made the Super Bowl if they had won
against Houston. It wasn't all that different than when Philadelphia
three years ago on their Super Bowl run. We're in uh,
the opponent, Atlanta was inside the ten yard line last
(05:31):
than two minutes left and were over sixt chance Atlanta
was to win that game. How different would we be
thinking about the Eagles if they had lost in the
first round three years ago or in the division round,
but they had to buy and then what happened the
next to let's say, just happened exactly the same man
we'd be talking about, you know, borderline. Should he maybe
(05:52):
be replaced, right? Yeah? But instead they they Julio Jones
doesn't make the catch, they go on and win the
Super Bowl. Nick Foles gets a big contract. Here we are.
The NFL is not like sports like the NBA, where
there's no one game that's gonna decide and no one
(06:13):
half of football is going to decide it. And it's
in the NBA, the better team wins a seven game
series a vast majority of the time. In the NFL,
the better team wins more than half the time. I
don't even think it moves to sixty. So there's a
lot of luck when you have to win three or
(06:33):
four games. And that's why what you see Belichick has
done and the Patriots is the is the perfect example
of that. The idea that they could have won almost
every Super Bowl they lost. In fact, everyone they lost
they could have easily won, and they could have lost
almost everyone that they won the you know there maybe
(06:56):
you can pick some exceptions out the Carolina when May,
but man, and there was I mean, you tell me
what named the Super Bowl that that the paths were
in that you couldn't envision that game going the other way.
There was none. Imagine if they were nine and oh
or imagine if they were oh and nine. I mean,
so it's not like the Bills when they went oh
(07:17):
and four and they got you know, obviously the Giants
game couldn't win either way in that run of four.
But those Cowboy games didn't couldn't have, right, they were domination.
You don't see any team, any team ever dominant. And
maybe the last one was the Bears in five. But
I'll have to think about it. That one every game
(07:38):
in the playoffs convincingly. Can you think of one? Uh now, yeah,
I think that's the only one that I got, And
there might be one other one in there, because I
don't remember every Cowboys of those you know, dominating teams.
But let's just say this century, in the more recent memory,
I can't think of one fast, can you think of
one in which, uh since two thousand on that the
(08:01):
team won three or potentially four playoff games handily, where
it's like, you can't see how they could have lost
that game. The only thing that comes to mind is
the second Denver Bronco team I think would fairly easily coasting.
And the other one is the Ravens from two thousand.
Their closest game was the a f C title game
when they beat the Raiders by thirteen. Okay, and remember
(08:23):
that did the century start in two thousand or two
thousand one? We want to bring that debate back up, Jon,
but I guess the game would have been in two
thousand one either way. So to me, the fact that
we're saying there might be two or three in the
last twenty years, I think really speaks to that there's
a lot of luck in this. And I think some teams,
(08:43):
you know, and I think Colin Cowher does an interesting
thing when he says, all right, here's my eight teams
or whatever the number is that I think could win it.
And to me, of the teams that could win it,
I think the Saints certainly would be on my list
right now. I have somehow there was a redraw and
the Saints getting got back into it like a rebuy
(09:05):
in a poker tournament. You'd be a hundred million or something.
But to get back in fast, would you think, oh,
no way, the Saints could, no way, could they win
the Super Bowl? Oh I still have the Saints of
my number one team in the NFC. Of course they
could win the Super Bowl. So this is this I
think we're burying the lead here. So you're saying that
after reevaluating for what happened yesterday, which you know, you
(09:27):
you regrade or do an adjustment to your power ratings
in the NFC right now the list is, yeah, the
Saints number one, just ahead of the forty niners of
Vikings number three. Okay, that's interesting. So if there's any
statement Jonas that speaks to the idea that we simply
don't we we react to results, and that is such
(09:52):
the thing to do generally, because if all you react
to is what's in your head, it's a constant debate.
And that's something I think that happened with Andrew Luck.
I can't believe that more people defend that Andrew Luck
wasn't a disappointment. It was like if the day of
the draft. If Andrew Luck right when he was picked
(10:15):
number one, if you had sat down with a buddy
Jonas and said, you know something, I am a pessimist
on Andrew Luck. I am selling I just don't think
he's gonna be this good. What would have been the
framework of like if you would have made a bet,
if you would have said he's never gonna make a
Super Bowl never and his amount of and he's gonna
(10:40):
retire at a time when it was his discretion to
retire out of the league and under ten years. Yeah,
there we go out of the league by his own choice.
He gives up. I know, Oh my god, he said
he gave up. No, he did. What else could you say?
He quit playing by choice? And I'm not saying it
was a wrong choice. Who am I to say? Right,
(11:04):
It's like some people they they hit the lottery and
they decided to work hard, or some people decide they
want to retire. That's all everyone's choice. But as a
football player, if you choose not to play, it's hard
to say you're a heck of a football player, and
especially if you haven't delivered on your promise yet. And
(11:26):
I'm not saying Andrew Luck wasn't a top five or
seven quarterback, but the idea that he didn't underperform is absurd.
But if you asked Colin Cowherd and I do every
chance I get when we do our different things, is
I'll say Andrew, you know, was a bust borderline. It's like,
oh no, no, he didn't have the right offensive line.
(11:46):
Oh he didn't have the right gm uh. And it's
like over a decade, Well, I mean, look at it
this way, go to another number one pick. Who's closer
to a Hall of Famer or who's who's head closer
to a Hall of Fame career? Cam Newton or Andrew Luck?
The answers Cam Newton. It's an interesting point actually, which
kind of makes me shutter a little bit, right because
I'm not a huge fan of either. Went to a
(12:07):
Super Bowl one an m v P mean, I mean,
if you were doing it on the back of a
baseball car or a football card, no doubt that's a great,
great concept. So why am I stressing this are jo
straight out of Vegas? It's because if we don't trust
the results in the short term, which I don't, meaning
(12:29):
within range, I think teams are usually gonna like the
Bengals were not a good team this year, right, what's
the plus or minus? I think once a team makes
a super Bowl, it's almost every one of them could
win three games in a row. All right, once they
make the playoffs, they could win three games in a row.
(12:50):
So to me, maybe if a team is playing the
first weekend and they're on the road and they're like
a nine and seven, you could say that team, you know, unlikely,
very unlikely. But I even think back to the Ravens
when they won it recently, the most recent time they
entered the playoffs to one, right, and remember that Denver
(13:13):
game with the Flacco long you know, they're almost a
helm we got behind him. I mean that was the
same playoffs, right, I mean, tell me when that ball
was in the air. How good were the Ravens. Yeah,
they were a playoff team, but one play, one lucky play,
(13:33):
and they win a super Bowl. Well, if you were
to take if you were to rank the best team
and the worst team in this playoffs, would you go
Baltimore one and say, like, who would be the worst
team of all the teams are qualified for the player?
You know, that's a fascinating question. I think Baltimore one
is unequivocal. I would say this, the distance from Baltimore
to the number two team is about as big as
(13:56):
I've seen in a while. So fas I know you
don't have every single one of your power ratings for
the last ten years in front of you, but just typically, well,
right now, what's the distance between Baltimore and the number
two team? Well, it's only a point in a half
r J. Because I've got Kansas City power rated through
the moon. But those two teams have huge separation. Um,
(14:19):
Baltimore is four and half points above New Orleans from
a number three team. All right, so this is fascinating.
The number three team isn't one of the final eight teams? Right,
New Orleans out, and you've got Kansas City close to Baltimore.
I think you might be a little high on him, though.
(14:40):
Let's get fast credit. He led the way in the
national media talking about Kansas City being as good, if
not better than they were when they were four now
and no one thought that his case was so logical
it was unimpeachable. And everyone that heard it said, okay,
and here we are, we're seeing it, all right. So
(15:00):
I agree with you generally, who do you got number four?
And what's the distance between the Ravens and number four? Yes,
San Francisco, number four five points worth in Baltimore. All right,
So that's fascinating. So right now we're saying the likely
super Bowl matchup has the f C favored by you know,
upwards of five points. By the way, just a quick thought,
(15:21):
we might want to make it better as we're speaking.
What's the a f C NFC generic super Bowl line?
Right now? It's still minus three r J. And we're
on the same page. I'm gonna bet that tonight. Oh tonight.
I think you're doing the same Brad Power's mistake. Yeah,
I don't know if you realize this fact. We're not
just talking amongst ourselves right here, right two hundred stations,
(15:42):
a couple of hundred thousand people listening. We might want
to do that during the commercial. What do you think, Jonas? Yeah?
I think so you got some some things you gotta
keep in the hold stair, you know, maybe too late here.
I just pulled up one sight and it's up to
minus four and happened that quick. No, I didn't check
this morning. All right, So here's what we're gonna do
(16:02):
when we come back. I'm gonna finish up our take
on McCarthy and how I think our inability to really
assess the results in the short term applies to my
I guess critique of this hire for the Cowboys, And
we're gonna get into Tom Brady and all the crazy
(16:23):
takes about the Patriots, and that's coming up next. He's
r J Bell. I'm Jonas Knox. Is the pregame show
you've always wanted right here on Fox Sports Radio. Be
sure to catch live editions of Straight Out of Vegas
weekdays at six pm Eastern three pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. It is
Straight out of Vegas here on Fox Sports Radio. You
(16:46):
can check out this show on the I Heart Radio app.
Coming up here in just a couple of moments, we
will dive back into the hiring of Mike McCarthy and
then take a look back at some of the the
games for this past weekend, including the stunner at Foxborough.
I want to let you know that Straight Out of
Vegas is brought to you by Auto Zone. AutoZone has
(17:08):
more ways for you to get what you need when
you need it. With their free same days store pick up.
You can place your order online and grab what you
need today. It more than fifty six hundred auto Zone
locations get in the zone auto Zone. As discussed earlier,
Mike McCarthy is the brand new head coach of the
Dallas Cowboys. Jay Glazer was the first to report for
(17:31):
Fox Sports that McCarthy was the higher there in Dallas.
So they go from Jason Garrett reportedly and according to
uh Adam. According to Adam Schefter, Mike McCarthy had a
sleepover at Jerry Jones's place, and then they decided that
Mike McCarthy was the guy after the sleepover. So there's
a lot that we can do with that story and
(17:52):
that detail to the story. But nonetheless, Mike McCarthy the
brand new head coach in Dallas. So so you like
the sleep of her store, I just think it's you know,
it's a it's a nice sprinkle on top. You know.
The funny thing is that a friend of mine, actually
a good friend of mine, uh Don van Notta, who
is a great writer for ESPN. He's won three Pulitzer Prizes,
(18:16):
So whenever we take a picture, it's like three Pulitzer
prizes between us, you know, three zero and Fez was
in a picture once and it was two super contests,
three Pulitzers and me. So yeah, so you know, you
gotta hang around with people that are elite. But Don
wrote a famous article about Jerry Jones. I think it's
(18:38):
been three years now, and he spent weeks and weeks
with Jerry Jones and you know, just hanging out with him.
And it's just funny. How how many rooms do you
think Jones house has. I'm envisioning it's like you remember
that movie The Toy with Richard Pryor. Okay, I'm envisioning
it to that, and there's they're just it's this giant
(18:59):
mansion with room is everywhere, security system, there's a wonder
wheel and an insane toy room. I just like one
of those big palaces. It seems like a Jerry move exactly.
So everyone's thinking, like, uh, McCarthy's on the couch. He's
just you know, he's a little too big for the couch,
but okay, he bread. Jerry brings out a blanket, but
he's got on like his soap pajamas, and it's like, hey,
(19:21):
if you do anything, you don't be afraid to wake
me up. And you know we don't have any bottled water,
but uh, you know that taps. Okay, come on right.
But to me it goes to show you with those
old school guys like Jerry Jones, Southern guys, there's there's
a personal element to this. And back to this reoccurring
(19:44):
theme of just the crazy mind numbingly dumb takes. I
heard today this idea and again I really, I mean,
this is gonna sound like what Colin said. So I'll
just say, yeah, this is what Colin said, and I
disagree with them, this idea that we need something new
or clever. And then like one of the guys he
(20:05):
put up was Naggy, Like what certainty do we have
that Matt Naggy's supposed to be is going to be
an elite coach. He hasn't been an elite coach yet now, right,
So where where is it? Like like it feels like
(20:25):
almost like we think every were in such a critical
mode in this country, because by definition, what are you
gonna talk about in theory on talk radio if it's
not being critical. That's one of the things I love
about Straight out of Vegas is one we only have
an hour. That means we don't have to have filler.
And number two, we we probably talk gambling half or
(20:47):
if not more, of the time. That's we don't have
to then worry about filling up the other stuff with
let's do the fourth take on Matt Naggy this month
or whatever. We don't do any of that. And and
and to me, I'm proud of that because I would
have trouble doing that other kind of show. And it
doesn't mean that Colin is wrong. It means the certainty
in which people believe what they seem to believe when
(21:10):
they have no freaking idea about what's going on behind
the scenes. And anyone that's ever been behind the scenes
of anything, we'll tell you whatever is reported on it
is so far from the truth. It doesn't mean there's
no truth in it, but it's not the total truth.
And being a guy that's had you know, very positive
(21:31):
and at times negative articles written about me that were
oftentimes reported on for an extended period, the amount of
truth in those articles is laughably light. It's all about
who they talked to, it's all about when they talked
to him, and quite frankly, it's about the agenda of
(21:51):
those right in the article? What do they want to write?
Because you're gonna see that, you're gonna see more of that.
A racist sees bad things in minorities. That's just natural form.
And someone who wants to write about art article is
gonna do it. Someone wants to write a good one
is gonna do it. Someone that wants to think McCarthy's
too old school is gonna think he is. They we're
(22:11):
gonna ignore the Peter King stuff. They're gonna ignore the
fact that he won a Super Bowl. They're gonna ignore
the fact that the Packers are amongst the handful of teams,
and I mean a handful that's been consistent over the
last ten years. Now, you might say that's Aaron Rodgers. Okay,
well what about Tom Brady and Belichick. I don't know
where the line is. What I know is this belief
(22:35):
that that Aaron Rodgers is better this year just isn't true.
And we're gonna talk at length about that tomorrow. We're
gonna finish our research and give you the exact numbers.
I'm r J BO straight out of Vegas. Let me
ask you this, Brad powers with us, you had a
number about McCarthy's performance. That speaks volumes. Yeah, that McCarthy
(22:59):
was the head cooe to the Packers fifty against the Threads.
Only guys better in that time period. Phill Belichick and
I think about this, think about this a second. The
idea that during that period of time, it's not one game,
it's not one playoffs, ten years, is gonna be hundred
(23:20):
and sixty games or more than a hundred sixty right,
hundred sixty before the playoffs, there's Belichick and McCarthy. That's it.
And we're gonna sit here and say, oh, it's a
tired higher. I don't know it could be, but Jerry
Jones got rich for a reason, and he's not dumb.
(23:43):
Does he know football as well as a GM. No,
that's probably one of his big mistakes. But why don't
we agree if he wanted to bully someone, wasn't he
gonna maybe hire a guy that didn't have a Super
Bowl ring. I'm not saying McCarthy is not a company guy.
If anything, it might be the perfect higher, a guy
with gravitas. He's got the bona fides. He walks in
(24:07):
that locker room. No one's gonna say you don't know
what you're talking about. He knows football. He's not a kid.
But he also is the type to be a company man,
meaning that if Jerry wants this, he's gonna go along
with it the best he can, and he'll pound his
fist when he thinks it's really hurting him. Jerry needs that.
Jerry had two of the best coaches in the history
(24:29):
of football, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcels, and he ran
both of him off. He's not He's not getting anyone
better than that. There's no coach available today. Who's the
second best coach? Jonas Andy Reid? Uh yeah, probably Andy Reid.
Who's better Jimmy Johnson or Andy Reid? Jimmy Johnson, Bill
Parcels or Andy Reid? Bill Parcels all right, So he's
(24:51):
not getting him. Belichick is not going to Dallas, all
right unless he gives him ownership of the team. So
he couldn't get a coach as good as he had,
and he ran those guys off because they didn't give him,
Jerry Jones, his space or his control. So what's the
(25:11):
best you're gonna do, Jason Garrett, That's only there because
of the grace of Jerry Jones, which that hasn't worked,
or an elite or at least a far above average coach,
a pedigreed coach. And again he's the second best point
spread record during that era. And but a guy that
(25:33):
knows who's the boss and it's not him, Heck, that's
mighty rare. And McCarthy might be the perfect fit for that. Yeah,
and I actually my comparison to McCarthy, it's not like
it failed in Green Bay to where you know, he
was just bad all the way through. His time had
worn down, he had been there a long time, and
(25:54):
it was time to move on from Mike McCarthy. Are
you gonna trust to investing your money into a restaurant
owner whose restaurant burned down or one that just in
business failed because he didn't know what he was doing
the restaurant burned down. I'd rather take my chances on
a guy who, yes, is a retread, but a retread
who had success at the highest level that you possibly can. Listen,
Tony Soprano did that as a favorite HARDI buco right,
(26:18):
it wasn't malicious. Artie Boco next Cowboys Code. Here's the thing, Jonas,
I think we're under selling his success. Yes, alright, how
many coaches have a How many viable coaches meaning younger
than sixty five still in the game, have a Super Bowl? Alright?
(26:39):
How many viable coaches have as many playoff wins as McCarthy.
That would be something to look at, is McCarthy's probably. Uh.
And again, if someone sixty seven years old and they're relaxing, yeah,
they're not on the list, he's gonna be in the
top handful. And then you add into point spread, which
(27:00):
my definition is saying, this is what we think you're
supposed to do. If you win fifty of the time,
that means you exceeded expectations the second most. When you
hear spread, just think of expectations. So the following is true.
During McCarthy's era in the NFL, Bill Belichick exceeded expectations
(27:27):
more than any other coach, McCarthy the second most. And oh,
by the way, last point on this, Oh by the way,
when he had a year off. And I can tell
you this, I always lament after the Super Bowl. I'm like,
all right, I got six months to do some new stuff,
you know, experiment tech builds. First couple of weeks, I'm like, yeah,
(27:52):
you know, I've been working so hard. I'll put my
normal aid in today and you know, relax, maybe go
see a movie. And then it's March madness before I
know it. And then March madness is mad this, and
then in April I said, all right, I'm ready and
it takes me usually about two weeks, and then about
maybe April twenty one, I'm really going hard, heart hard
for the next year. McCarty had how many years as
(28:15):
an NFL coach, many many, and then he got fired.
And his response was what they depicted in the Peter
King stuff, which is hiring a team of other coaches
to come in, hiring the space you know rent in
the space analytics guy. I mean, to whatever degree I
would have been optimistic about McCarthy if he would have
(28:36):
went straight from the Green Bay job to the Dallas job,
wouldn't you say, Jonas that what he did to try
to say, I'm gonna identify my limitations. I'm gonna figure
out where I was sub optimal and try to somehow merge.
Would I do best with the newest? Thinking? Exactly? And
I love how people point to, well, it's he won
the he won because of Aaron Rodgers, and it's be
(28:57):
Aaron Rodgers is the reason he had success there, all right, Well,
then you know, if we're gonna put all all of
this on Aaron Rodgers, then how about the fact the
last two seasons of Mike McCarthy's time in Green Bay,
Aaron Rodgers couldn't stay healthy. He missed He missed uh
eight games or nine games the season before, and then
last year he got hurt in the opener against the
Bears and was never right afterwards, no doubt. And and
(29:19):
not only that is throughout that time in which he
was hurt some of the time. He also it's been
five years since he had elite statistics. I mean, and
we can debate that until we're blue. There's no debate.
These are numbers. He's had either average or blow average
yards per attempt for five years and this year is
(29:39):
no difference. Doesn't mean Aaron Rodgers wasn't a top, you know,
tier quarterback. He just wasn't super elite. And I don't
care how elite he was. You don't think Vegas properly
assessed how elite Aaron Rodgers was throughout this entire time.
And whatever there, if anything, a footballst sexy quarterback like
that is gonna get more love from the public. There's
(29:59):
gonna be a premium on them. And even with a
premium a slight one, maybe laying five and a half
instead of five, that premium didn't prevent McCarthy from exceeding
expectations many of those years after Aaron Rodgers was no
longer super elite. I don't know if it's going to
be a success, but I know people dismissing him as
a dinosaur just doesn't seem to jibe with the facts.
(30:24):
We are going to talk about that Number one coach
Bill Belichick. Be sure to catch live editions of Straight
Out of Vegas weekdays at six pm Eastern, three pm Pacific.
Straight Out of Vegas here on Fox Sports Radio coming
out ten minutes from now here on fs ARE we
will have best Bet your chance to make a little
bit of coin on a Monday night. I want to
let you know we are brought to you by auto Zone.
(30:44):
AutoZone is more ways for you to get what you
need when you need it. With their free same day
store pickup, you can place your order online and grab
what you need to date. More than fifty auto Zone
locations getting the zone Auto Zone. I'm Jonas Knox, voice
of you the Fan, He's the voice of Vegas. R
J Bell. That Phillips departure, Jonas Man, I think that's
a big story. Do you have any sense of if
(31:05):
he was pushed out or he decided to leave? Now
they just his tweet was that they didn't renew his contract,
so that sounds like he wasn't happy then probably. Wow,
that makes no sense to me. I mean, wasn't the
story all along that McVeigh was brilliant but he didn't
have the experience as a young head coach. So if
(31:28):
he could take you know, let's say a third of
his responsibilities as a head coach, which is a defense
a third, offensive third, and all the rest special teams, administration,
player management is a third. If he could hand off
a third to a veteran guy, a former head coach,
(31:48):
that lets him grow. Now, the theory is at a
certain point McVeigh will have grown enough to want to
take control of that. But would the most recent year
be an indication of his growth as a coach. McVeigh
and if anything, next year is going to be such
a challenge you gotta wonder if even if you were
almost ready, wouldn't you wait one more year? Yeah, it
(32:11):
feels like I mean, and you still got enough talent
on that side of the football to maximize you know,
what they're trying to do there. But it feels like
this is maybe they just felt like they wanted to
get a fresh voice in the room. Maybe players had
had had to tune them out a little bit, and
they're going to go in a different direction. But it
was his choice. I don't think it's encouraging. Let's just
say that now. So here's what we're gonna do. We're
(32:32):
gonna go to the Patriots next. I'm gonna give you
one stat. Then physik disagrees with it, and we're gonna
see if he can possibly uh rebuke my stat. Here
it is to ponder from January eight to January two
(32:55):
thousand twelve, So that's four years almost. The Patriots won
zero playoff games. Okay, now, Patriots zero playoff wins this season.
Last season they won the Super Bowl. And now to
match that run that happened between eight and twelve, which
(33:16):
was smack dab in the middle of the quote unquote dynasty,
the Patriots would have to have zero playoff wins next year,
and then zero playoff wins the year after, and then
we've tied, and then if they have zero playoff wins
all the way through January, it will be unprecedented. So
(33:38):
my point is to win a Super Bowl and then
not win a playoff game. If that's the end of
the dynasty, then it's happened times three between two eight
and twelve. But lone bohold, we're hearing a lot of
the dynasty's over. So when we come back, we're letting
Pheasik respond. That's coming up next TS r J. Bell,
(34:00):
I'm Jonas Knocks is the pregame show you've always wanted
right here on Fox sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R
to listen live. I'm r J. Bell, We are straight
(34:21):
out of a and I'm Jonas Knocks Voice of You
the Fan. R J. It was a stunner in Foxborough
for some people. The Tennessee Titans go into New England
and beat the Patriots in the wild card round of
the playoffs on Saturday night, the final no doubt line
was in that four and a half five range, so
a lot of respect paid to the Titans. They weren't
(34:44):
expected to win the game. And Fez, you said it
in a pre production meeting, I think the dynasty is over.
Well before the commercial, I identified that there was a
four year period between oh A and twelve January of
each the Patriots won zero playoff games. They've won zero
(35:05):
playoff games now for twelve months, so it takes another
three years before their matching. A Street that was right
in the middle of the dynasty respond well. The difference
is that Brady since simply cannot carry this team anymore.
Even when the Patriots are losing those playoff games, Brady
was a top five quarterback year after year, and this
(35:26):
year Brady right in the middle for his year long
stats are j In the last eight games he was
a well below average quarterback, turning forty three next year. Okay,
now I agree with you there, meaning I think Brady's
hit a wall. It's I mean, it's not like he's bad.
I mean, if you had to say right now, one
to thirty two Brady next year. So let's assume he
(35:48):
has his natural aging at as a guy who ages slowly.
I think it's fair to say, Brady, where would you
put him? One to thirty two? All right, I think
that's a fair number. So being the twenty best quarterback
we're walking the earth is a hell of an accomplishment.
Being the twenties best quarterback while you're forty three years
(36:09):
old is unprecedented. But can the best quarterback Jonas? Can
they lead a team to the super Bowl these days?
I don't think so, especially when a team has been
thinned out by having to pick in the twenties and
thirties for so long and quite frankly missing on some
draft choices where I think everyone's getting wrong or almost
(36:30):
everyone is. Oh, they're not giving Brady enough support. If
you go back now a year and a half, two
years and look at where the resources have gone. Uh,
you know this new trade, the draft choices of Michelle
all the way to the number one picked this year
that it was Antonio Brown. It was all about getting
Brady weapons. It's just no one's really hit the home run.
(36:54):
None of those players to be a true difference maker.
So we'll talk more pats tomorrow, But I agree with Fez,
Brady is probably number twenty next year. But I think
who's to say though the Stidhum isn't really good, no
one how good was Jimmy G. Stidham has a better
pedigree or at least equal right to Jimmy G. But
(37:16):
coming in so Jimmy G was a long shot. But
there's a reason Belichick pick stid Hum. I don't know,
but I think it's fair to say the dynasty's over
with Brady. I'm not sure the Pat's dynasty is over
jonnas Uh. Yeah, and we will wait to see what
happens there now. R J. Do you remember back in
(37:36):
the day when Larry Bird participated in the three point
shootout in the NBA and when he made the he
shot the final three and then just put his finger
up in the air and walked out. Just what I
liked about it was he his follow through was was classic,
and then he just kept his hand out there and
lifted the finger. Yeah. Because the reason I bring that
up is because on Friday you did the same thing
(37:57):
when you walked away from the basket after announcing it
was the Vikings plus the seven and a half that
was your best bet, and lo and behold, it took
overtime but Minnesota outright win at New Orleans. There's nothing
better in sports but batting. Nothing better in sports batting
than getting over seven points or six. I guess in
(38:17):
overtime you just sit back. You don't care what happened.
It's like you really think, what would it be like
to be so rich that nothing could hurt you. It's
having more than six points on the dog in overtime.
It felt might not listen. I was hoping you wouldn't
bring this up. You didn't get the memo, But I
so I'll have to address it. Um, I think I'm
(38:39):
the best I do, I think in the NFL right
now that I'm seeing it fast, I don't know. I
know you might want to buck me on this, but
is anyone seeing it better. I'm not gonna buck you
because I bucked you a few times during more than
a few times, and it has left my wallet light.
As you keep winning bet after bed against me. Wow, listen,
(39:00):
that's a lot of luck because feazes sharp. But what
I'll say is this guy's sports betting keeps changing, and
I think a lot of the old school guys, the
duct table on the shoe guys, they're in trouble. We've
seen it. But some of these new guys, they I
don't think they're steeped in the past like they need
to be, and they're making the mistake of the new guys.
(39:20):
And to me being in my late forties, having done
this all these years, and I don't listen. We really
don't brag. I mean, we'll have fun if we do
something great. But I think we're I think we're seeing
the NFL. I'm seeing the NFL unlike anyone out there
right now. And we're gonna keep giving it all to
you here free. So starting tomorrow, we're gonna be looking
(39:41):
ahead at the Big Four for next weekend. The Odd
Couple is next. On many of these Fox Sports Radio affiliates,
we are straight at a Vegas. We'll be back tomorrow
six pm Eastern time, three o'clock Pacific, right here on
Fox Sports Radio and as always on the I Heart
Radio app. Ware that a good again.
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. This is straight out
of Vegas with the voice of Vegas, your host r
J Bowna, the pregame show America has always wanted from
(00:40):
the veggest trip Ear's r J bow. That's right, I'm
r J Live on a big Monday, live from Las
Vegas on two hundred i F s our stations across
this great nation. Wow. For big NFL games, We're gonna
be bray can down each and every one of them
(01:03):
and looking ahead, just a little look ahead on Monday
to next week. What's the lines and such? Joined in
studio pros who know full house, Brad Powers and Steve Feazick.
Sports bettors listen for the money. Sports fans listen to
no more than their buddies. And let me tell you, man,
there's been some dumb takes out there today on radio,
(01:27):
almost enough to make your head hurt. But this isn't
the case at all with this fellow. You can't have
pros without Joe's Joan is not always good to be
here are Jane Yes On a day in which we've
got not one, not two, but four NFL playoff games
to recap? What is the Vegas lead on Monday. I
gotta tell you something, this rarely happens. Jonas is I
(01:48):
was gonna lead with one of the games, and then
I got a memo I don't want to say from who.
They said, if you want to stay in the sports
talk club, and remember that's the club at Super Bowl,
you get to eat shrimp, get to talk politics with
Clay Travis, that kind of stuff. Who who wouldn't want
to be there? So I've got to start with the
(02:09):
Cowboys high Yeah, that's right, And Mike McCarthy was named
the brand new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, as
reported by Jay Glazer of Fox Sports earlier today. Yes,
and that was a nice get for j and I
probably have a different opinion than most on this, and
it really is premised upon what do we know? Meaning
(02:34):
we hear a lot of guys on talk radio talk
a lot about football, and I always asked myself the
non players, you know, former players, the non coaches, former coaches,
let's put that universe together, which is almost everyone. Right,
There's a few former players now, but on the opinion
(02:54):
shows not as much. Right there used to be. You
always needed a guy in a boot, you know, John
Madden and Summer. All right, so you've got in that case,
you've got you know, you got two people that knew
their stuff. But these days it seems like that there's
been so many kind of meat head type former players
let's be candid in media at different times that we've
(03:17):
kind of rebelled against it. And now it's a lot
of people like a Nick right, And I consider Nick
to be extremely bright. He's a bright fellow. And I
thought about three of his takes today. We're about as
dumb as I've ever heard. And not because I know
I'm right, because I know what I don't know. So
(03:39):
to some degree, I don't really know what McCarthy's gonna
do with this team. I just know that here's a
guy that's one a good bit in the NFL. So
the idea that that's somehow bad because he's a retread,
you know, you hear retread? Well, Belichick was a retread
right off horrible you know, relative performance with the Browns.
(04:03):
So you know, five years he didn't. It wasn't like
you got fired in a year. It was five years
with the Browns. One playoff appearance for Belichick. So to me,
I'm gonna stick to what I feel that I'd be
willing to bet. And you know we can talk about
you know some U or specifically the one Nick right
(04:25):
take guy so disagreed with, but with McCarthy. And let
me ask you, Jonas, if you look at the Packers
offense this year, it's not any better than last year. No,
it's not. People are being intoxicated by the record and
they're not actually paying attention what they're watching. And if
(04:47):
you're watching this Packer team, I actually think the passing
offense has regressed. The running offense is better, no doubt,
but passing wise, I think they've completely regressed. And I
think it's dangerous for even what I just said to say, Well,
doesn't the head co supposed to affect the defense? Yes?
And how much of it is what La Fleur did
with them, and how much of it was they hit on,
(05:09):
you know, physics, famous Smith brothers, and I don't know.
And you know what else I know that Buffalo maybe
could have made the Super Bowl if they had won
against Houston. It wasn't all that different than when Philadelphia
three years ago on their Super Bowl run. We're in uh,
the opponent, Atlanta was inside the ten yard line last
(05:31):
than two minutes left and were over sixt chance Atlanta
was to win that game. How different would we be
thinking about the Eagles if they had lost in the
first round three years ago or in the division round,
but they had to buy and then what happened the
next to let's say, just happened exactly the same man
we'd be talking about, you know, borderline. Should he maybe
(05:52):
be replaced, right? Yeah? But instead they they Julio Jones
doesn't make the catch, they go on and win the
Super Bowl. Nick Foles gets a big contract. Here we are.
The NFL is not like sports like the NBA, where
there's no one game that's gonna decide and no one
(06:13):
half of football is going to decide it. And it's
in the NBA, the better team wins a seven game
series a vast majority of the time. In the NFL,
the better team wins more than half the time. I
don't even think it moves to sixty. So there's a
lot of luck when you have to win three or
(06:33):
four games. And that's why what you see Belichick has
done and the Patriots is the is the perfect example
of that. The idea that they could have won almost
every Super Bowl they lost. In fact, everyone they lost
they could have easily won, and they could have lost
almost everyone that they won the you know there maybe
(06:56):
you can pick some exceptions out the Carolina when May,
but man, and there was I mean, you tell me
what named the Super Bowl that that the paths were
in that you couldn't envision that game going the other way.
There was none. Imagine if they were nine and oh
or imagine if they were oh and nine. I mean,
so it's not like the Bills when they went oh
(07:17):
and four and they got you know, obviously the Giants
game couldn't win either way in that run of four.
But those Cowboy games didn't couldn't have, right, they were domination.
You don't see any team, any team ever dominant. And
maybe the last one was the Bears in five. But
I'll have to think about it. That one every game
(07:38):
in the playoffs convincingly. Can you think of one? Uh now, yeah,
I think that's the only one that I got, And
there might be one other one in there, because I
don't remember every Cowboys of those you know, dominating teams.
But let's just say this century, in the more recent memory,
I can't think of one fast, can you think of
one in which, uh since two thousand on that the
(08:01):
team won three or potentially four playoff games handily, where
it's like, you can't see how they could have lost
that game. The only thing that comes to mind is
the second Denver Bronco team I think would fairly easily coasting.
And the other one is the Ravens from two thousand.
Their closest game was the a f C title game
when they beat the Raiders by thirteen. Okay, and remember
(08:23):
that did the century start in two thousand or two
thousand one? We want to bring that debate back up, Jon,
but I guess the game would have been in two
thousand one either way. So to me, the fact that
we're saying there might be two or three in the
last twenty years, I think really speaks to that there's
a lot of luck in this. And I think some teams,
(08:43):
you know, and I think Colin Cowher does an interesting
thing when he says, all right, here's my eight teams
or whatever the number is that I think could win it.
And to me, of the teams that could win it,
I think the Saints certainly would be on my list
right now. I have somehow there was a redraw and
the Saints getting got back into it like a rebuy
(09:05):
in a poker tournament. You'd be a hundred million or something.
But to get back in fast, would you think, oh,
no way, the Saints could, no way, could they win
the Super Bowl? Oh I still have the Saints of
my number one team in the NFC. Of course they
could win the Super Bowl. So this is this I
think we're burying the lead here. So you're saying that
after reevaluating for what happened yesterday, which you know, you
(09:27):
you regrade or do an adjustment to your power ratings
in the NFC right now the list is, yeah, the
Saints number one, just ahead of the forty niners of
Vikings number three. Okay, that's interesting. So if there's any
statement Jonas that speaks to the idea that we simply
don't we we react to results, and that is such
(09:52):
the thing to do generally, because if all you react
to is what's in your head, it's a constant debate.
And that's something I think that happened with Andrew Luck.
I can't believe that more people defend that Andrew Luck
wasn't a disappointment. It was like if the day of
the draft. If Andrew Luck right when he was picked
(10:15):
number one, if you had sat down with a buddy
Jonas and said, you know something, I am a pessimist
on Andrew Luck. I am selling I just don't think
he's gonna be this good. What would have been the
framework of like if you would have made a bet,
if you would have said he's never gonna make a
Super Bowl never and his amount of and he's gonna
(10:40):
retire at a time when it was his discretion to
retire out of the league and under ten years. Yeah,
there we go out of the league by his own choice.
He gives up. I know, Oh my god, he said
he gave up. No, he did. What else could you say?
He quit playing by choice? And I'm not saying it
was a wrong choice. Who am I to say? Right,
(11:04):
It's like some people they they hit the lottery and
they decided to work hard, or some people decide they
want to retire. That's all everyone's choice. But as a
football player, if you choose not to play, it's hard
to say you're a heck of a football player, and
especially if you haven't delivered on your promise yet. And
(11:26):
I'm not saying Andrew Luck wasn't a top five or
seven quarterback, but the idea that he didn't underperform is absurd.
But if you asked Colin Cowherd and I do every
chance I get when we do our different things, is
I'll say Andrew, you know, was a bust borderline. It's like,
oh no, no, he didn't have the right offensive line.
(11:46):
Oh he didn't have the right gm uh. And it's
like over a decade, Well, I mean, look at it
this way, go to another number one pick. Who's closer
to a Hall of Famer or who's who's head closer
to a Hall of Fame career? Cam Newton or Andrew Luck?
The answers Cam Newton. It's an interesting point actually, which
kind of makes me shutter a little bit, right because
I'm not a huge fan of either. Went to a
(12:07):
Super Bowl one an m v P mean, I mean,
if you were doing it on the back of a
baseball car or a football card, no doubt that's a great,
great concept. So why am I stressing this are jo
straight out of Vegas? It's because if we don't trust
the results in the short term, which I don't, meaning
(12:29):
within range, I think teams are usually gonna like the
Bengals were not a good team this year, right, what's
the plus or minus? I think once a team makes
a super Bowl, it's almost every one of them could
win three games in a row. All right, once they
make the playoffs, they could win three games in a row.
(12:50):
So to me, maybe if a team is playing the
first weekend and they're on the road and they're like
a nine and seven, you could say that team, you know, unlikely,
very unlikely. But I even think back to the Ravens
when they won it recently, the most recent time they
entered the playoffs to one, right, and remember that Denver
(13:13):
game with the Flacco long you know, they're almost a
helm we got behind him. I mean that was the
same playoffs, right, I mean, tell me when that ball
was in the air. How good were the Ravens. Yeah,
they were a playoff team, but one play, one lucky play,
(13:33):
and they win a super Bowl. Well, if you were
to take if you were to rank the best team
and the worst team in this playoffs, would you go
Baltimore one and say, like, who would be the worst
team of all the teams are qualified for the player?
You know, that's a fascinating question. I think Baltimore one
is unequivocal. I would say this, the distance from Baltimore
to the number two team is about as big as
(13:56):
I've seen in a while. So fas I know you
don't have every single one of your power ratings for
the last ten years in front of you, but just typically, well,
right now, what's the distance between Baltimore and the number
two team? Well, it's only a point in a half
r J. Because I've got Kansas City power rated through
the moon. But those two teams have huge separation. Um,
(14:19):
Baltimore is four and half points above New Orleans from
a number three team. All right, so this is fascinating.
The number three team isn't one of the final eight teams? Right,
New Orleans out, and you've got Kansas City close to Baltimore.
I think you might be a little high on him, though.
(14:40):
Let's get fast credit. He led the way in the
national media talking about Kansas City being as good, if
not better than they were when they were four now
and no one thought that his case was so logical
it was unimpeachable. And everyone that heard it said, okay,
and here we are, we're seeing it, all right. So
(15:00):
I agree with you generally, who do you got number four?
And what's the distance between the Ravens and number four? Yes,
San Francisco, number four five points worth in Baltimore. All right,
So that's fascinating. So right now we're saying the likely
super Bowl matchup has the f C favored by you know,
upwards of five points. By the way, just a quick thought,
(15:21):
we might want to make it better as we're speaking.
What's the a f C NFC generic super Bowl line?
Right now? It's still minus three r J. And we're
on the same page. I'm gonna bet that tonight. Oh tonight.
I think you're doing the same Brad Power's mistake. Yeah,
I don't know if you realize this fact. We're not
just talking amongst ourselves right here, right two hundred stations,
(15:42):
a couple of hundred thousand people listening. We might want
to do that during the commercial. What do you think, Jonas? Yeah?
I think so you got some some things you gotta
keep in the hold stair, you know, maybe too late here.
I just pulled up one sight and it's up to
minus four and happened that quick. No, I didn't check
this morning. All right, So here's what we're gonna do
(16:02):
when we come back. I'm gonna finish up our take
on McCarthy and how I think our inability to really
assess the results in the short term applies to my
I guess critique of this hire for the Cowboys, And
we're gonna get into Tom Brady and all the crazy
(16:23):
takes about the Patriots, and that's coming up next. He's
r J Bell. I'm Jonas Knox. Is the pregame show
you've always wanted right here on Fox Sports Radio. Be
sure to catch live editions of Straight Out of Vegas
weekdays at six pm Eastern three pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. It is
Straight out of Vegas here on Fox Sports Radio. You
(16:46):
can check out this show on the I Heart Radio app.
Coming up here in just a couple of moments, we
will dive back into the hiring of Mike McCarthy and
then take a look back at some of the the
games for this past weekend, including the stunner at Foxborough.
I want to let you know that Straight Out of
Vegas is brought to you by Auto Zone. AutoZone has
(17:08):
more ways for you to get what you need when
you need it. With their free same days store pick up.
You can place your order online and grab what you
need today. It more than fifty six hundred auto Zone
locations get in the zone auto Zone. As discussed earlier,
Mike McCarthy is the brand new head coach of the
Dallas Cowboys. Jay Glazer was the first to report for
(17:31):
Fox Sports that McCarthy was the higher there in Dallas.
So they go from Jason Garrett reportedly and according to
uh Adam. According to Adam Schefter, Mike McCarthy had a
sleepover at Jerry Jones's place, and then they decided that
Mike McCarthy was the guy after the sleepover. So there's
a lot that we can do with that story and
(17:52):
that detail to the story. But nonetheless, Mike McCarthy the
brand new head coach in Dallas. So so you like
the sleep of her store, I just think it's you know,
it's a it's a nice sprinkle on top. You know.
The funny thing is that a friend of mine, actually
a good friend of mine, uh Don van Notta, who
is a great writer for ESPN. He's won three Pulitzer Prizes,
(18:16):
So whenever we take a picture, it's like three Pulitzer
prizes between us, you know, three zero and Fez was
in a picture once and it was two super contests,
three Pulitzers and me. So yeah, so you know, you
gotta hang around with people that are elite. But Don
wrote a famous article about Jerry Jones. I think it's
(18:38):
been three years now, and he spent weeks and weeks
with Jerry Jones and you know, just hanging out with him.
And it's just funny. How how many rooms do you
think Jones house has. I'm envisioning it's like you remember
that movie The Toy with Richard Pryor. Okay, I'm envisioning
it to that, and there's they're just it's this giant
(18:59):
mansion with room is everywhere, security system, there's a wonder
wheel and an insane toy room. I just like one
of those big palaces. It seems like a Jerry move exactly.
So everyone's thinking, like, uh, McCarthy's on the couch. He's
just you know, he's a little too big for the couch,
but okay, he bread. Jerry brings out a blanket, but
he's got on like his soap pajamas, and it's like, hey,
(19:21):
if you do anything, you don't be afraid to wake
me up. And you know we don't have any bottled water,
but uh, you know that taps. Okay, come on right.
But to me it goes to show you with those
old school guys like Jerry Jones, Southern guys, there's there's
a personal element to this. And back to this reoccurring
(19:44):
theme of just the crazy mind numbingly dumb takes. I
heard today this idea and again I really, I mean,
this is gonna sound like what Colin said. So I'll
just say, yeah, this is what Colin said, and I
disagree with them, this idea that we need something new
or clever. And then like one of the guys he
(20:05):
put up was Naggy, Like what certainty do we have
that Matt Naggy's supposed to be is going to be
an elite coach. He hasn't been an elite coach yet now, right,
So where where is it? Like like it feels like
(20:25):
almost like we think every were in such a critical
mode in this country, because by definition, what are you
gonna talk about in theory on talk radio if it's
not being critical. That's one of the things I love
about Straight out of Vegas is one we only have
an hour. That means we don't have to have filler.
And number two, we we probably talk gambling half or
(20:47):
if not more, of the time. That's we don't have
to then worry about filling up the other stuff with
let's do the fourth take on Matt Naggy this month
or whatever. We don't do any of that. And and
and to me, I'm proud of that because I would
have trouble doing that other kind of show. And it
doesn't mean that Colin is wrong. It means the certainty
in which people believe what they seem to believe when
(21:10):
they have no freaking idea about what's going on behind
the scenes. And anyone that's ever been behind the scenes
of anything, we'll tell you whatever is reported on it
is so far from the truth. It doesn't mean there's
no truth in it, but it's not the total truth.
And being a guy that's had you know, very positive
(21:31):
and at times negative articles written about me that were
oftentimes reported on for an extended period, the amount of
truth in those articles is laughably light. It's all about
who they talked to, it's all about when they talked
to him, and quite frankly, it's about the agenda of
(21:51):
those right in the article? What do they want to write?
Because you're gonna see that, you're gonna see more of that.
A racist sees bad things in minorities. That's just natural form.
And someone who wants to write about art article is
gonna do it. Someone wants to write a good one
is gonna do it. Someone that wants to think McCarthy's
too old school is gonna think he is. They we're
(22:11):
gonna ignore the Peter King stuff. They're gonna ignore the
fact that he won a Super Bowl. They're gonna ignore
the fact that the Packers are amongst the handful of teams,
and I mean a handful that's been consistent over the
last ten years. Now, you might say that's Aaron Rodgers. Okay,
well what about Tom Brady and Belichick. I don't know
where the line is. What I know is this belief
(22:35):
that that Aaron Rodgers is better this year just isn't true.
And we're gonna talk at length about that tomorrow. We're
gonna finish our research and give you the exact numbers.
I'm r J BO straight out of Vegas. Let me
ask you this, Brad powers with us, you had a
number about McCarthy's performance. That speaks volumes. Yeah, that McCarthy
(22:59):
was the head cooe to the Packers fifty against the Threads.
Only guys better in that time period. Phill Belichick and
I think about this, think about this a second. The
idea that during that period of time, it's not one game,
it's not one playoffs, ten years, is gonna be hundred
(23:20):
and sixty games or more than a hundred sixty right,
hundred sixty before the playoffs, there's Belichick and McCarthy. That's it.
And we're gonna sit here and say, oh, it's a
tired higher. I don't know it could be, but Jerry
Jones got rich for a reason, and he's not dumb.
(23:43):
Does he know football as well as a GM. No,
that's probably one of his big mistakes. But why don't
we agree if he wanted to bully someone, wasn't he
gonna maybe hire a guy that didn't have a Super
Bowl ring. I'm not saying McCarthy is not a company guy.
If anything, it might be the perfect higher, a guy
with gravitas. He's got the bona fides. He walks in
(24:07):
that locker room. No one's gonna say you don't know
what you're talking about. He knows football. He's not a kid.
But he also is the type to be a company man,
meaning that if Jerry wants this, he's gonna go along
with it the best he can, and he'll pound his
fist when he thinks it's really hurting him. Jerry needs that.
Jerry had two of the best coaches in the history
(24:29):
of football, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcels, and he ran
both of him off. He's not He's not getting anyone
better than that. There's no coach available today. Who's the
second best coach? Jonas Andy Reid? Uh yeah, probably Andy Reid.
Who's better Jimmy Johnson or Andy Reid? Jimmy Johnson, Bill
Parcels or Andy Reid? Bill Parcels all right, So he's
(24:51):
not getting him. Belichick is not going to Dallas, all
right unless he gives him ownership of the team. So
he couldn't get a coach as good as he had,
and he ran those guys off because they didn't give him,
Jerry Jones, his space or his control. So what's the
(25:11):
best you're gonna do, Jason Garrett, That's only there because
of the grace of Jerry Jones, which that hasn't worked,
or an elite or at least a far above average coach,
a pedigreed coach. And again he's the second best point
spread record during that era. And but a guy that
(25:33):
knows who's the boss and it's not him, Heck, that's
mighty rare. And McCarthy might be the perfect fit for that. Yeah,
and I actually my comparison to McCarthy, it's not like
it failed in Green Bay to where you know, he
was just bad all the way through. His time had
worn down, he had been there a long time, and
(25:54):
it was time to move on from Mike McCarthy. Are
you gonna trust to investing your money into a restaurant
owner whose restaurant burned down or one that just in
business failed because he didn't know what he was doing
the restaurant burned down. I'd rather take my chances on
a guy who, yes, is a retread, but a retread
who had success at the highest level that you possibly can. Listen,
Tony Soprano did that as a favorite HARDI buco right,
(26:18):
it wasn't malicious. Artie Boco next Cowboys Code. Here's the thing, Jonas,
I think we're under selling his success. Yes, alright, how
many coaches have a How many viable coaches meaning younger
than sixty five still in the game, have a Super Bowl? Alright?
(26:39):
How many viable coaches have as many playoff wins as McCarthy.
That would be something to look at, is McCarthy's probably. Uh.
And again, if someone sixty seven years old and they're relaxing, yeah,
they're not on the list, he's gonna be in the
top handful. And then you add into point spread, which
(27:00):
my definition is saying, this is what we think you're
supposed to do. If you win fifty of the time,
that means you exceeded expectations the second most. When you
hear spread, just think of expectations. So the following is true.
During McCarthy's era in the NFL, Bill Belichick exceeded expectations
(27:27):
more than any other coach, McCarthy the second most. And oh,
by the way, last point on this, Oh by the way,
when he had a year off. And I can tell
you this, I always lament after the Super Bowl. I'm like,
all right, I got six months to do some new stuff,
you know, experiment tech builds. First couple of weeks, I'm like, yeah,
(27:52):
you know, I've been working so hard. I'll put my
normal aid in today and you know, relax, maybe go
see a movie. And then it's March madness before I
know it. And then March madness is mad this, and
then in April I said, all right, I'm ready and
it takes me usually about two weeks, and then about
maybe April twenty one, I'm really going hard, heart hard
for the next year. McCarty had how many years as
(28:15):
an NFL coach, many many, and then he got fired.
And his response was what they depicted in the Peter
King stuff, which is hiring a team of other coaches
to come in, hiring the space you know rent in
the space analytics guy. I mean, to whatever degree I
would have been optimistic about McCarthy if he would have
(28:36):
went straight from the Green Bay job to the Dallas job,
wouldn't you say, Jonas that what he did to try
to say, I'm gonna identify my limitations. I'm gonna figure
out where I was sub optimal and try to somehow merge.
Would I do best with the newest? Thinking? Exactly? And
I love how people point to, well, it's he won
the he won because of Aaron Rodgers, and it's be
(28:57):
Aaron Rodgers is the reason he had success there, all right, Well,
then you know, if we're gonna put all all of
this on Aaron Rodgers, then how about the fact the
last two seasons of Mike McCarthy's time in Green Bay,
Aaron Rodgers couldn't stay healthy. He missed He missed uh
eight games or nine games the season before, and then
last year he got hurt in the opener against the
Bears and was never right afterwards, no doubt. And and
(29:19):
not only that is throughout that time in which he
was hurt some of the time. He also it's been
five years since he had elite statistics. I mean, and
we can debate that until we're blue. There's no debate.
These are numbers. He's had either average or blow average
yards per attempt for five years and this year is
(29:39):
no difference. Doesn't mean Aaron Rodgers wasn't a top, you know,
tier quarterback. He just wasn't super elite. And I don't
care how elite he was. You don't think Vegas properly
assessed how elite Aaron Rodgers was throughout this entire time.
And whatever there, if anything, a footballst sexy quarterback like
that is gonna get more love from the public. There's
(29:59):
gonna be a premium on them. And even with a
premium a slight one, maybe laying five and a half
instead of five, that premium didn't prevent McCarthy from exceeding
expectations many of those years after Aaron Rodgers was no
longer super elite. I don't know if it's going to
be a success, but I know people dismissing him as
a dinosaur just doesn't seem to jibe with the facts.
(30:24):
We are going to talk about that Number one coach
Bill Belichick. Be sure to catch live editions of Straight
Out of Vegas weekdays at six pm Eastern, three pm Pacific.
Straight Out of Vegas here on Fox Sports Radio coming
out ten minutes from now here on fs ARE we
will have best Bet your chance to make a little
bit of coin on a Monday night. I want to
let you know we are brought to you by auto Zone.
(30:44):
AutoZone is more ways for you to get what you
need when you need it. With their free same day
store pickup, you can place your order online and grab
what you need to date. More than fifty auto Zone
locations getting the zone Auto Zone. I'm Jonas Knox, voice
of you the Fan, He's the voice of Vegas. R
J Bell. That Phillips departure, Jonas Man, I think that's
a big story. Do you have any sense of if
(31:05):
he was pushed out or he decided to leave? Now
they just his tweet was that they didn't renew his contract,
so that sounds like he wasn't happy then probably. Wow,
that makes no sense to me. I mean, wasn't the
story all along that McVeigh was brilliant but he didn't
have the experience as a young head coach. So if
(31:28):
he could take you know, let's say a third of
his responsibilities as a head coach, which is a defense
a third, offensive third, and all the rest special teams, administration,
player management is a third. If he could hand off
a third to a veteran guy, a former head coach,
(31:48):
that lets him grow. Now, the theory is at a
certain point McVeigh will have grown enough to want to
take control of that. But would the most recent year
be an indication of his growth as a coach. McVeigh
and if anything, next year is going to be such
a challenge you gotta wonder if even if you were
almost ready, wouldn't you wait one more year? Yeah, it
(32:11):
feels like I mean, and you still got enough talent
on that side of the football to maximize you know,
what they're trying to do there. But it feels like
this is maybe they just felt like they wanted to
get a fresh voice in the room. Maybe players had
had had to tune them out a little bit, and
they're going to go in a different direction. But it
was his choice. I don't think it's encouraging. Let's just
say that now. So here's what we're gonna do. We're
(32:32):
gonna go to the Patriots next. I'm gonna give you
one stat. Then physik disagrees with it, and we're gonna
see if he can possibly uh rebuke my stat. Here
it is to ponder from January eight to January two
(32:55):
thousand twelve, So that's four years almost. The Patriots won
zero playoff games. Okay, now, Patriots zero playoff wins this season.
Last season they won the Super Bowl. And now to
match that run that happened between eight and twelve, which
(33:16):
was smack dab in the middle of the quote unquote dynasty,
the Patriots would have to have zero playoff wins next year,
and then zero playoff wins the year after, and then
we've tied, and then if they have zero playoff wins
all the way through January, it will be unprecedented. So
(33:38):
my point is to win a Super Bowl and then
not win a playoff game. If that's the end of
the dynasty, then it's happened times three between two eight
and twelve. But lone bohold, we're hearing a lot of
the dynasty's over. So when we come back, we're letting
Pheasik respond. That's coming up next TS r J. Bell,
(34:00):
I'm Jonas Knocks is the pregame show you've always wanted
right here on Fox sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R
to listen live. I'm r J. Bell, We are straight
(34:21):
out of a and I'm Jonas Knocks Voice of You
the Fan. R J. It was a stunner in Foxborough
for some people. The Tennessee Titans go into New England
and beat the Patriots in the wild card round of
the playoffs on Saturday night, the final no doubt line
was in that four and a half five range, so
a lot of respect paid to the Titans. They weren't
(34:44):
expected to win the game. And Fez, you said it
in a pre production meeting, I think the dynasty is over.
Well before the commercial, I identified that there was a
four year period between oh A and twelve January of
each the Patriots won zero playoff games. They've won zero
(35:05):
playoff games now for twelve months, so it takes another
three years before their matching. A Street that was right
in the middle of the dynasty respond well. The difference
is that Brady since simply cannot carry this team anymore.
Even when the Patriots are losing those playoff games, Brady
was a top five quarterback year after year, and this
(35:26):
year Brady right in the middle for his year long
stats are j In the last eight games he was
a well below average quarterback, turning forty three next year. Okay,
now I agree with you there, meaning I think Brady's
hit a wall. It's I mean, it's not like he's bad.
I mean, if you had to say right now, one
to thirty two Brady next year. So let's assume he
(35:48):
has his natural aging at as a guy who ages slowly.
I think it's fair to say, Brady, where would you
put him? One to thirty two? All right, I think
that's a fair number. So being the twenty best quarterback
we're walking the earth is a hell of an accomplishment.
Being the twenties best quarterback while you're forty three years
(36:09):
old is unprecedented. But can the best quarterback Jonas? Can
they lead a team to the super Bowl these days?
I don't think so, especially when a team has been
thinned out by having to pick in the twenties and
thirties for so long and quite frankly missing on some
draft choices where I think everyone's getting wrong or almost
(36:30):
everyone is. Oh, they're not giving Brady enough support. If
you go back now a year and a half, two
years and look at where the resources have gone. Uh,
you know this new trade, the draft choices of Michelle
all the way to the number one picked this year
that it was Antonio Brown. It was all about getting
Brady weapons. It's just no one's really hit the home run.
(36:54):
None of those players to be a true difference maker.
So we'll talk more pats tomorrow, But I agree with Fez,
Brady is probably number twenty next year. But I think
who's to say though the Stidhum isn't really good, no
one how good was Jimmy G. Stidham has a better
pedigree or at least equal right to Jimmy G. But
(37:16):
coming in so Jimmy G was a long shot. But
there's a reason Belichick pick stid Hum. I don't know,
but I think it's fair to say the dynasty's over
with Brady. I'm not sure the Pat's dynasty is over
jonnas Uh. Yeah, and we will wait to see what
happens there now. R J. Do you remember back in
(37:36):
the day when Larry Bird participated in the three point
shootout in the NBA and when he made the he
shot the final three and then just put his finger
up in the air and walked out. Just what I
liked about it was he his follow through was was classic,
and then he just kept his hand out there and
lifted the finger. Yeah. Because the reason I bring that
up is because on Friday you did the same thing
(37:57):
when you walked away from the basket after announcing it
was the Vikings plus the seven and a half that
was your best bet, and lo and behold, it took
overtime but Minnesota outright win at New Orleans. There's nothing
better in sports but batting. Nothing better in sports batting
than getting over seven points or six. I guess in
(38:17):
overtime you just sit back. You don't care what happened.
It's like you really think, what would it be like
to be so rich that nothing could hurt you. It's
having more than six points on the dog in overtime.
It felt might not listen. I was hoping you wouldn't
bring this up. You didn't get the memo, But I
so I'll have to address it. Um, I think I'm
(38:39):
the best I do, I think in the NFL right
now that I'm seeing it fast, I don't know. I
know you might want to buck me on this, but
is anyone seeing it better. I'm not gonna buck you
because I bucked you a few times during more than
a few times, and it has left my wallet light.
As you keep winning bet after bed against me. Wow, listen,
(39:00):
that's a lot of luck because feazes sharp. But what
I'll say is this guy's sports betting keeps changing, and
I think a lot of the old school guys, the
duct table on the shoe guys, they're in trouble. We've
seen it. But some of these new guys, they I
don't think they're steeped in the past like they need
to be, and they're making the mistake of the new guys.
(39:20):
And to me being in my late forties, having done
this all these years, and I don't listen. We really
don't brag. I mean, we'll have fun if we do
something great. But I think we're I think we're seeing
the NFL. I'm seeing the NFL unlike anyone out there
right now. And we're gonna keep giving it all to
you here free. So starting tomorrow, we're gonna be looking
(39:41):
ahead at the Big Four for next weekend. The Odd
Couple is next. On many of these Fox Sports Radio affiliates,
we are straight at a Vegas. We'll be back tomorrow
six pm Eastern time, three o'clock Pacific, right here on
Fox Sports Radio and as always on the I Heart
Radio app. Ware that a good again.
Hosts And Creators
Rich Davis
Steve Covino
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.