Andy Furman & Bucky Brooks Preview NFL Week 1, Michigan Upsets Oklahoma, and Key Matchup Breakdowns

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, where was the biggest surprise of the day? That's
coming right up. Good morning, everybody. Welcome, welcome, welcome to
Fox Football Sunday on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
He's Bucky Brooks.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm Andy Furman, and we're broadcasting live from the Fox
Sports Radio studios. And before we get rolling, let me
remind you that with the iHeartRadio app, you can stream
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
Just search Fox.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Fox Sports Radio and the after stream was live all day,
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it always pops up at the top of your screen.
And Bucky Brooks, how are you, Bucky Brooks?

Speaker 3 (00:39):
I'm doing great. What's going on, Andy? How you doing?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
I cannot believe what happened yesterday.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
But before we get on rolling, we've got to introduce
our new executive producer, Emi Funes.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Emi, how are you? Welcome, Emi. Emi, how are you?

Speaker 4 (00:54):
I'm doing good.

Speaker 5 (00:55):
Good.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Thank you. Thank you for the warm welcome. Love having
you with us.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
You're part of the family right now. Okay. Now let
me get into this now.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
I don't understand, Bucky Brooks, how Ohio State or anybody
can blow a 20-point lead and evaporate it in the
fourth quarter.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Tell me, explain that to me. You played the game.
I did.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Ohio State, the Buckeyes, number one, and they will not
be number one this week. They blew a 20-point lead.
They lose at Texas yesterday, 24-23. And I'm watching the
game for three quarters, and in my mind I'm saying,
Arch Manning, Heisman Trophy winner?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Are you kidding? I kind of flipped a little bit now.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Didn't have great stats, 23 for 37, but he brought
him back. That's exactly what they did. How surprised were
you with the Ohio State shrinking?

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Uh, really surprised. I was surprised because, um, on paper,
you think this team has all the things that you
need to be a champion. They still come in the
national title. They still didn't go to college football playoff
and do all the things that they want, but you
would think a team with as many first rounders that
they have on their roster, they'd be able to finish
that game. And they didn't. And in the fourth quarter,
it comes down to execution. You have to be able

(02:07):
to finish off drives. You have to be able to
milk the clock. When you go to turtle situation means
slow the game down, obviously execute your plays, but, get
first downs, chew up clock, and eventually you win. Ohio
State wasn't able to do that. But I think the
most impressive part of the comeback was just the overall
resilience of Texas. Fourth and a bunch, a few different times,

(02:28):
they were able to convert. And so to me, when
you look at Steve Sarkeesian and what this Texas program
has become, he talked about Texas tough, the spirit, the fight.
They showed all that. And with the Buckeyes... man, there's
still this little missing element that they lack when it
comes to kind of like the toughness and maybe the
fortitude that you're used to seeing for the teams that

(02:51):
reign supreme through our college football.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
You know, there's a lot of fodder that goes into games,
pregame notes or whatever it may be. I don't take
a lot of, I guess, a lot of faith in
this stuff.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
It doesn't mean much.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
But since moving to the SEC back in 2024, Steve
Sarkeesian's Texas Longhorns were 0-5 against Ohio State and Georgia, okay?
I don't know what that means going into a game,
but I guess it's good pregame talk, I guess, a
coach uses for his team. But the one person I
really felt for yesterday, one guy on that whole field
yesterday was– Jeremiah Smith. This guy, to me, should be

(03:28):
the Heisman winner as of today. I mean, I love
the guy. He's a tremendous player.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
And through the third quarter, Jeremiah Smith had more receiving
yards than Texas did on offense. I mean, it's unbelievable.
I mean, this guy could play, but what he needs,
I think, is a running mate. He needs someone to
help him out. Otherwise, they're going to be in trouble.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Do you agree?

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Um... No, I think they're going to be fine. You
know what I'm saying? I think early in the season
it's kind of hard to tell who's who and what's what.
Jeremiah Smith is the best receiver in college football and
arguably the best player in college football, and we'll be
able to talk about that when it comes closer to
the draft. The one thing that I would say you
would like to see him do is he has some,

(04:12):
I wouldn't say easy catches, but there were some hard
opportunities where if he comes down with them, it extends
drives and those things, and he wasn't able to pull
those things in At some point, you want to see
your premier player. If you're Ohio State, find a way
to help us get out this game by making a
special play. They have enough around them. Chris Henry Jr.

(04:33):
is going to be fantastic. They've got enough weapons around them.
They can finish it off. Julian Singh, to me, is
a really talented quarterback who can throw it all over
the yard, a bit of a gunslinger, but it works
for them. They just need to make these critical plays
in those critical junctures of games to finish it out,
and Jeremiah Smith has to be a big part of it.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
May I make a detour with your permission? When I
mentioned Jeremiah, may I make a turn just a little straight?
Watching Jeremiah Smith, the wide receiver for Ohio State, obviously
he's making a plea for the Heisman Trophy. I warned
this in my mind. I have to share it with you.
He's making big money at Ohio State. There's no doubt
in my mind. NIL getting paid for Ohio State. A

(05:13):
valuable member of the Buckeyes. I've got to ask you this,
and it's a serious question, really, but I don't know
who could give me the answer better than you. How intimidated, seriously,
are the professors at The Ohio State University to pass
him in class?

Speaker 2 (05:27):
I'm just wondering.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
I mean, this guy is the backbone of that football team,
him and the quarterback, okay? He goes to class maybe
twice a week. I don't know what he does, okay?
Maybe he's not doing that well. Maybe he's falling behind.
Can a professor actually— Fail this kid.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I mean, how intimidated do these professors get knowing that
these guys are the backbone of this football team?

Speaker 3 (05:48):
Well, it won't really matter because the semester ends and
the football season is over. I mean, so it really
won't have a bearing. But from what I learned, a
lot of the kids aren't taking classes on campus anymore.
Most of them are taking some kind of online classes.
uh situation to be able to go through it because
it allows them the freedom to go to more workouts
spend more time on their craft go to film and

(06:10):
do that maybe they have a bit of a hybrid
schedule one or two classes on campus the rest are
taken online so i don't even know if they have
interaction with the professors if the professors even know who
it is that they're teaching because they're just names and
student id numbers on a page um but i don't
think um look I would say that the professors have integrity,

(06:34):
but I don't think we've heard about any academic issues
the last two or three years since the college football
world has changed with NIL and other stuff. Going to
school is a part of it, but I don't think
it's the priority that it once was in terms of
making the appearance of college sports look like an amateur sport.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
I knew you'd have the answer for me.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Look, in the fourth quarter, this guy Smith had 164
receiving yards. And at that time, they said he moved
into second place in the history of the Ohio State
football program with over 2,700 career receiving yards. He needs
just 116 more to break Michael Jenkins' school record. It's
unbelievable what he has done. He's a great player, and
I hate to see him go down the tubes. Look,

(07:17):
I thought the team would be undefeated, and they were
number one.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
I mean, I really did. And to lose like that,
it's got to be heartbreaking.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
But I want to hear from Arch Manning on postgame
how they did it.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Let me hear it, Arch.

Speaker 4 (07:30):
I'm so proud of our guys on all three phases.
They weren't very pretty, but we found a way to win.
That's what good teams do.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Okay, and last year they played Ohio State.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Let's hear from March about the matchup against Ohio State
last year.

Speaker 6 (07:43):
This game last.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
Year created a lot of adversity for you that you
had to overcome.

Speaker 7 (07:47):
How would you describe the satisfaction now coming out with
the win?

Speaker 3 (07:51):
I had nightmares about that game last year, so we're
glad to get a win tonight. Have a good night
in Austin. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Unbelievable, really.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
So what does this do for college football right now?
I mean, honestly, when I had the preseason rankings, I
still don't understand how Indiana could not be number one
because they're the defending champs. They put Ohio State number one,
and they may very well, as you say, win it all.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
At the end.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Oregon right now is a big disappointment. I don't know
what happened to Oregon. Maybe their quarterback should have went
to the pros.

Speaker 6 (08:19):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
I don't get what happened there. And Oklahoma State, another
big game. Let's talk about the Cowboys of Oklahoma State.
Last week we talked about them losing to Tulsa, which
should never happen. They had a tremendous upset yesterday. They
had a 21-game losing streak against FBS competition. They beat
Oregon 39-31 at Stillwater yesterday, and this is after losing

(08:41):
to Tulsa. And their quarterback, to me, looked pretty good.
I watched the game on TV, Drew Mestermaker. He looked
pretty good yesterday.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
Yeah, he did look pretty good. One of the things
that Oklahoma State was able to do is they were
able to jumpstart their offense because the quarterback and the
coach followed each other. So you know exactly what to do.
You know what to expect. And what Oregon got a
taste of was that high-tempo offense that Morris has brought
with him everywhere he's gone. And it's a problem. And
what you saw is, man, they picked up first down

(09:09):
after first down. They whooped Oregon. in every aspect, every
phase of the game. And it's really surprising because an
Oregon team that is well-constructed, well-put-together, that typically plays well
under the leadership of Dan Lanning, the last two weeks
they haven't played as well. And so maybe we missed
a mark a little bit early on anticipating what Oregon

(09:30):
was going to be. Doesn't mean that they can't get
back to where our expectations were. But right now they
certainly aren't playing great football. And that loss to Oklahoma
State is startling. and it's eye-opening for a team that
was expected to be a heavyweight in the Big Ten.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Well, back-to-back kind of poor performances are a question mark
right there. I mean, they had a problem with Boise
State last week, and they lose to Oklahoma State. Again,
when you're playing these preseason games, and these basically are
preseason because the conference really hasn't started yet. They're almost
like tune-up games, I think. They're almost like preseason exhibition games.
A lot of these teams are paying opponents to win.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
They bring them in. I saw what Louisville did the
other night.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
They must have gave Villanova a tremendous check, and they
beat the living daylights out of them.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
That's what they do, to tune up.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
And then you get a little bit of a confidence builder,
and when conference play starts, you're ready to rock and roll.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Not happening right now for Oregon.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
No, it's not, but it's early. And I think we...
As the football public, we have to get used to
understanding that some of these teams are going to lose,
that we shouldn't expect to see undefeated teams, that the
more that they challenge themselves to play good opponents, they're
going to lose. And the parity has made it where
the difference between the top teams and the middleweights are

(10:51):
not as much as what we thought. And so you're
going to see more upsets and more things because the
talent is now spread out throughout college football as opposed
to being in these Blue Blood programs where the twos
and threes could be and would be starters elsewhere. Those
guys are going elsewhere to play and get money, and
then they'll come back to the Blue Blood programs.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
You know, I'm going to say right now that I
somewhat was against the NIL situation. Not that they're getting paid,
but you like to follow a kid's career. Comes in
as a freshman, maybe not playing well, and he develops
when he becomes a junior or a senior, you see
him blossom. You know, right now, the competition's a lot
better because guys who are backups, who really deserve to play,
and maybe they're blue chippers out of high school, they're

(11:31):
going to another school and they're playing right away. I
think it makes the competition better, and the field is
somewhat wide open now.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Don't you agree?

Speaker 7 (11:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Yeah, the field is wide open, and it's one of
the reasons why we're seeing some of these top programs
struggle more against teams that used to be runaways because
they don't have the depth that they had before to
hold a significant advantage over their opponents. This is good
for college football. It's good for college football in terms
of having more teams that can get into the mix.

(11:59):
To be able to watch upsets, to be able to
know a man on any given Saturday, your favorite team
could go down. That makes it compelling to watch. The
game last night was not one of those David Inga
live games, but I will say like Oklahoma State is
an up-and-coming program with a new coach. This is a
significant win for them. They hadn't beaten an FBS opponent.

(12:21):
I think it was like 21 straight losses they had taken.
So this is huge. This is eye-opening around the league,
but it tells you how quickly you can turn around
a program. I'm not saying that Oklahoma State is all
the way turned around, but how quickly you can turn
around a program in this era with a transfer portal
and NIL allowing you to upgrade your roster quickly.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Okay, but on the other side of the coin, back
in the day, before NIL, you get a coach who
brings in recruits. They usually give that coach two or
three years before those kids develop. I think right now,
you're not going to give the coach that kind of time.
I mean, you're bringing kids in. We're spending big money.
You better show some results right now. Don't you believe
that the coach's, I guess, lifeline is a lot less

(13:01):
right now than it was before?

Speaker 6 (13:02):
100%.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
Yeah, I do believe it's a lot less.

Speaker 6 (13:07):
It is.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
It's been reduced. But it's hard, though, because every situation
doesn't work in every situation, meaning like that blueprint that
we're talking about with transfers and NIL, throwing cash at people,
it won't work in every environment. The tricky thing for
the coach is he has to understand quickly what works
for his culture, what works for his university, the environment

(13:31):
that he has, and then adapt. So we talk about
all the transfers that were at Oklahoma State, and now
I'm looking at North Carolina. And even though it was
a win against East Tennessee State, they've done it with
40 freshmen coming in a recruiting class, and it's more
of a draft and develop and rebuild with some coming
on board. And so we don't know which way is right.

(13:52):
You have to figure out what's right for your program.
That's the hard part, and that's where you need patience
from your alumni base.

Speaker 1 (13:59):
Yeah, and that's the question I have because they said
last night that Ohio State had eight new starters coming
in in the lineup this year, and they still ranked
them number one preseason, not even knowing who these eight
guys are.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
That is the question I had.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Well, the question that I would have is why are
we even ranking people in the preseason when we haven't
seen them? There aren't any preseason games. There aren't any
scrimmage games. There aren't any spring games where we can
see and assess who's who and what's what. And in
a transient... landscape where we don't know how the pieces
of the polls are going to fit, how quickly it's

(14:35):
going to take for this team or these teams to
develop the chemistry. All of those free season polls are
trash because you don't know. You're just throwing darts. And
then we get mad when the teams don't live up
to expectations that are unrealistic based on the lack of
knowledge that we have about these teams.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
No, you're exactly right. What do you know about this kid?
I mean, I got to talk about him a little
more because he had a hell of a game yesterday.
Drew Mistenmiker, the quarterback, made his debut yesterday for the
Cowboys of Oklahoma State beating Oregon.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
He threw for 317 yards against Oregon.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
He ran for 109 yards. He threw three touchdowns. I mean,
really and truly. And he opened that game, I think
he had like a 75-yard run. I mean, so I
really didn't know much about this guy. Do you know
about him coming into the season?

Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, I knew about him because that was his quarterback
at North Texas, and he's a former walk-on who lit
it up. And it's one of those things where we
talk about systems and players and how the biggest part
of the evaluation when you look at a player is
how does he fit within the system. He's a perfect
fit for what they want to do. And Oregon, you know,
this is hard because it's hard to get your players

(15:42):
sometimes to to look at a team, to look at
a team that, like North Texas, that doesn't come from
a Power 4 program, to look at players you don't
know about, you hear about a former walk-on, and maybe
you don't respect them the way that you need to
respect them. And before you know it, you have been
hit in the mouth and you can't recover. To me,
it was a little bit about that. And then it

(16:03):
was a lot about, like, look, Oklahoma State playing at
a high level out the gate. This was akin to
their Super Bowl. They treated it as such, where Oregon
treated this like another game, like a walkover, and they
weren't able to turn the thing around when it got
out of hand.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Let's stay in the state of Oklahoma for a second
right now because you've got one team on the way up,
which is Oklahoma State, the University of Oklahoma.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
The Sooners, I'm not too sure about them, really. I
really not.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
I watched that game yesterday, and you talk about their quarterback,
John Mateer, did not impress me at all.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
He had a fourth-quarter interception.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
They lose to Michigan 17-10, and basically they gave them
the game.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
They should have beat Michigan. I really believe that.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Michigan really and truly coming off that Western Michigan game
a week ago, all of a sudden now they're beating Oklahoma.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
It doesn't say much. Oklahoma's 1-1-1. And guess what? I'm
looking at their schedule.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
They still got Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, Texas A & M,
and Missouri on their schedule. I'm telling you right now,
they may either, A, have a losing record or not
going to the playoff or both.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
Now, you being very disrespectful to Michigan, Michigan knocked off
a team that everybody expected Oklahoma to go in there
and beat the brakes off of them. That was the
expectation given how they struggled. Michigan struggled against Western Michigan
and the struggles of the quarterback. And everyone talked about
Brent Venables, the defensive guru, is going to throw this

(17:22):
at them, and Michigan won't be able to do it.
Michigan won the game. We got to give them their credit.
We can't change our narrative and our perspective on Oklahoma
based on how Michigan throttled them. And even though we
can talk about Oklahoma giving the game away and those things,
you have to tip your cap to... Michigan for finding

(17:42):
a way to get it done. And you got to
be able to tip your cap to them for controlling
the game. I mean, they play from in front, which
is what they needed to do. They, I mean, that's
part of it. Bryce Underwood, still like he's going to
be under siege from the fan base. But they did
enough to win. And ultimately, if we're going to reward
Arch Manning for kind of gutting out a win, you

(18:04):
have to give the same credit to Brett Underwood. If
we're saying a win is a win, he won the
game and did enough to be a big part of
why they were able to win.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Okay, but going into that game, didn't you honestly think
after what you saw of Michigan a week ago that
Oklahoma would roll over Michigan?

Speaker 2 (18:20):
I did. I really thought they would.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
I mean, look, I expected Oklahoma to win. I don't
know if you can anticipate, like, teams rolling over top
teams early because there's just so much unknown. But I
did expect Oklahoma to win. Look, man, they couldn't move
the ball the previous week against Western Michigan. I thought
Venables and their defense would play at a level that
it would make Michigan melt down, and they didn't. So

(18:46):
hats off to them. Give them a ton of credit
for what they were able to pull off, what they
were able to do.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Okay, last but not least, if I was an agent,
I'd say Dante Moore, quarterback at Oregon, you made a mistake.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
You should be in the NFL this year. You should
have left. Agreed? He should have left.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
I mean, it depends on what your priority is for
going to the league. If the priority was to make
as much as he can as quick as he can, okay,
we can argue that. That draft position, he would have
been maybe one or two compared to being in the teens.
But if we're talking about long-term development, which is what
he said, nah, playing another year, getting more reps, whatever.

(19:25):
Doing all of that matters more than going early but
not being ready when you get there. Because when he
gets there, he has to play, and he's going to
have to play right away, and the judgment is going
to happen fast. So for me, this was a long-term ploy.
Don't worry about the fast cash. Worry about developing your
skills so you can make the long cash down the road.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Okay, last but not least, two schools in the state
of Indiana, Notre Dame 52 zip over Rice. Indiana 55
zip over Howard.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
Okay, I mean. I'm not surprised, but still in all.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
Look, there was a time when I used to really
get upset how coaches roll up the score. You can't
help it because what you do is you put in
your second and third guys, and those guys really want
to show what they have because they'll probably never play
again the rest of the year.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Once the snowball starts rolling down the hill, sometimes you
can't stop it.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yeah, but I will say this. I am frustrated and
annoyed a little bit by some of the power teams
taking on some of these schools from, like, historically black
colleges and universities, and they're thumping them in a way
that is detrimental to the players and the coaching psyche.
So when you see Miami Hank 70-plus on Florida A & M,

(20:40):
And you see the testy handshake from Quinn Gray or
whatever because it's an unfair fight, right? I mean, Pham
goes into the fight with both hands tied behind their back.
They don't have enough personnel. They can't compete with Miami.
Miami has the best that money can buy. And yet
here they are running through a team that simply has

(21:03):
to take the game because it's a money game. To me, man,
I hate these. I hate watching these. I saw Houston
do the same thing. to Southern, and some of this
other stuff. I just don't like it. I don't like
these money games. I would prefer a competitive schedule from
beginning to end. Man, quit playing these lower-level schools. Find
someone at your level that you can play with, and

(21:24):
then we can see who's who and what's what. But
to me, a lot of the games outside of what
we talked about, Texas, Ohio State, A lot of games
this week were in, but it was a wash. It
was a waste of time. There was nothing that we
were going to get out of watching these teams beat
inferior teams.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
There's no doubt about that, but let me go back here.
I hate to see Howard, as you say, traditionally black school,
get ripped by Indiana 55-0, but I'm sure Howard agreed
to that because that game probably paid for their entire
athletic budget for the rest of the year.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
It's all about the money, right?

Speaker 3 (21:56):
It is all about the money, but you know what
it can't do? It can't undo the scars that are
left by getting whooped like that. Like, that's the part
that people don't understand. So, like, yeah, oh, we'll be
able to fund the rest of the athletic department by
taking this $ 600, 000 check. But for a lot of these
coaches in play, man, it's hard to dig those players
out of a humiliating, embarrassing loss. It's humiliating to get

(22:18):
beat 70-7. Like, I don't care what you think going in,
knowing that the other team is superior. There's nothing like
getting beat like that. And then it also can become
a bit of a safety hazard when there's notable discrepancies
between the kind of talent that you have, the size,
the athleticism, the build, the access to the weight room

(22:39):
to prepare yourself for games. And what you have from
some of these heavyweights like Miami and even now Indiana
and those things. It's just not a fair fight. And
I'll be honest with you, I don't know what the
big schools get out of it besides a win on
the ledger and, I don't know, a chance to play
the young guys. I really don't know what they get
out of playing someone that they are that superior to

(23:01):
in a matchup.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
I hear what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
He's Bucky Brooks. Get him on X at Bucky Brooks
at Andy Furman FSR. 877-99-FOX.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
That's our number. That translates to 877-99-663-69.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
We're going to ask Bucky in this hour, the playing
game on hour number two. But will their streak be
snapped today? We'll tell you all about that next. All right,
this could be a case of strange bedfellows, really. That's
right around the corner. All right, good morning, everybody. This
is Fox Football Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. He's Bucky Brooks.

(23:33):
Sports Radio studios. And we're going to have Ace Bucky
with Emmy in about 10, 12 minutes from now. But, Buck,
let's get into the games on schedule today. It's NFL Sunday,
and I can't wait. And I got to ask you,
one of the best games I think today are the
Buffalo Bills at Houston. Because the Houston Texans have that
tremendous pass rush. And today there's a streak on the line.

(23:54):
The Texans' five-game home winning streak is tied with the
Seattle Seahawks for the longest active streak in the NFL.
And a win today would tie their longest home winning
streak in franchise history.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Including the playoffs, all right?

Speaker 1 (24:06):
So I'm looking at this game right now, and the
pressure really to me is on Buffalo and Josh Allen.
I mean, they're trying to climb the mountain every single year,
and they fall off.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
They can't get to the top.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
I mean, the Texans right now, that defense, that rush defense,
the pass rush, it's going to really give a headache
for sure to Josh Allen today.

Speaker 6 (24:25):
Agreed?

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, look, I'm going to say this. I think this
might be the best defense in football, just the way
that D'Amico Ryans has been playing. They play with their
hair on fire. They're fast. They're physical. They get after
it in a few different ways. And they make life
challenging for Josh Allen. Now, the bigger thing, the bigger
storyline is, how does Joe Brady manage it all? And

(24:48):
what I mean by managing it all is, how does
he take the promotion from offense coordinator to head coach
and oversee the entire team while making sure that offense
plays at a high level. As a first-timer, man, that's
a lot of information to take in. That's a lot
to kind of deal with. I am just curious to
see how he handles the promotion because the expectations in

(25:10):
that part of New York, western New York, they expect
the Buffalo Bills to be a Super Bowl to bust him.
They don't have time nor patience to wait for a
coach who's undergoing on-the-job training. So he has to quickly
figure out whatever it is and find a way to
make sure this team is playing their best ball right
out the gate.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Okay, I'm going to put on my offensive coordinator hat.
I don't have one because there never was one, but
I'm going to put it on anyway. And you tell
me if I'm off base. I want to stop or
slow down that Texas pass rush. How do I do that?
I really got to give the ball to James Cook
a lot. James Cook, they're running back on Buffalo. He's
got to have 25 to 30, maybe 35 carries today, correct?

Speaker 3 (25:47):
I mean, they need to get the running game going.
And whether that's all him or whether that's a collection
of guys playing with him, yeah, I think against the Texans,
you have to make a concerted effort to slow them down,
to maintain enough balance that they can't pin their ears
back and just get into hunt mode at the line
of scrimmage. So, yeah, running the football, and I will
say this, Attempts matter more than yards. You've got to

(26:10):
be committed to getting 30 to 35 attempts because each
attempt forces the defense, to be honest, and it forces
them to abandon some of the aggressiveness that they want
to use to slow down your passing game. Right.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
And I'm going to pick Houston to win this game.
The game is in Houston right now, of course.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
But all hell is going to break out in Buffalo
late this afternoon and all day tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
Agreed?

Speaker 2 (26:34):
If they lose. People are going to be jumping off
bridges there. It's going to be crazy.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
I mean, it's going to be crazy. If they lose,
it's definitely going to be crazy. It's not going to
be a good look. I can guarantee that for sure.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
All right.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
I'm going to go now to the Baltimore Ravens playing
in Indianapolis. And why do I bring this game up there?
Because I'm really concerned what's going on in Baltimore with
Lamar Jackson. First of all, it's going to be his
first game. I say strange bedfellows. First game with the
new offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle. I don't know what that means,
but I think that any time this changes, I don't
care what business you're in.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
You could be any kind of business you are. You've
got a new leader, a new supervisor.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Things change. And it's changing now. And more than that,
he's still waiting for his contract. Why they're holding him up,
I don't know. So I think there's kind of internal
problems there in Baltimore, correct?

Speaker 5 (27:28):
Maybe.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
I think there's something definitely to it. why is the
contract situation being held up? I will say if you're Baltimore,
it's a tricky situation to determine how much you want
to pay him when you want to pay him. You
need to or you want evidence of him in this offense.
You want evidence of him being able to stay healthy
this year, and you want to make sure that the

(27:51):
decline that we might have saw on the field last
year was just a hiccup, a blip on the radar,
not the beginning of the end when it comes to
the way Lamar Jackson may fade or decline at the
end of his NFL career.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
Okay, I'm hearing rumors right now, and tell me if
you're hearing the same ones, that Lamar Jackson is going
to leave the Baltimore Ravens, go to the New York
Jets next year, and they're going to get a new
coach who used to coach the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Have you heard that?

Speaker 3 (28:22):
I have not heard that. I don't think that would
be true. I don't see that. Yeah, I don't see that.
I don't see that coming. That's a nice rumor. I
don't see that coming. I don't think Mike Tomlin is
going to coach again. I think Mike Tomlin is going
to fall in love with the lights, being on TV,
different lifestyle. I think he's going to be able to
do that and coach the masses through their screen before

(28:45):
he jumps in. And I also think Lamar Jackson and
New York, I don't know if that's a match made.
in heaven just in terms of someone who's been able
to kind of remain a low-key persona in Baltimore. Well,
if he goes to New York, everyone is going to
be around him. Everyone's going to know everything. I don't
know if that's really the life that he wants to
lead on and off the field.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
Well, I will say this. I'm pretty impressed with him
on TV. I like watching him on TV. I think
he's good. I really do. It looks like he's been
there for years.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about the
pressure and the scrutiny that is in New York is
much different than in Baltimore. The daily accountability that the
reporters and the newspapers hold you to is different than
what he faces in Baltimore. Do you want to jump
in that market and not play for necessarily the greatest
team or some would say like a dysfunctional organization? I

(29:36):
don't know. I haven't worked there, but there are a
lot of things that go into it and It would
be another team because, as you're mentioning, you're saying it
would be a different coach. So now it's another layer
to the organization resetting and doing all that. Man, that's
hard at that stage when the only thing that's really
holding Lamar Jackson from being the guy that people celebrate

(29:57):
as a surefire Go Jack guy, he's going to win
the Super Bowl. Does he believe that that team, the
New York Jets, can get him to where he wants
to be as a champion? Man, I don't know. I
think you explore other spots before you settle on the Jets.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
I hear what you're saying. I just heard that rumor.
I thought maybe you've heard something on that. Now, as
far as the Colts are concerned, I don't think they
have much of an offense besides Jonathan Taylor running back.
So I think the Ravens roll on this game.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
I really do.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
And no matter what the status is with Lamar Jackson,
he'll have a great game.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
But I'm looking at this about– you agree?

Speaker 3 (30:27):
No, wait a minute. I just want to know, what
do you think, when you say they roll, how many
points do they win by?

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Two touchdowns. Two touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Okay. That's a lot in the league. Okay, all right.
I'm just trying to make sure. That's a lot. All right.
I mean, you basically called– You basically called the Indianapolis
Colts Howard.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
21-7, something like that.

Speaker 7 (30:46):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
All right, here we go. Next thing, I'll cut you off.
So it was Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
Falcon Steelers, and everybody's going to have their eyes on
Aaron Rodgers right now. And now all of a sudden,
the Falcons are down to Cooper Rush, a quarterback. So
what does that do for them?

Speaker 2 (30:58):
I mean, they're in trouble.

Speaker 7 (30:59):
Nothing.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Nothing. Yeah, they're in trouble. Cool rush has to play.
They're in trouble. I mean, this would be the end
of the week of the Aaron Rodgers scorched earth tour
where he tore apart everybody that has ever impacted him
in a negative way in his lifetime. So he certainly
will find some beef and some reasons to dislike the
Atlanta Falcons and Kevin Stefanski. So you're right. I think
the Pittsburgh Steelers also get this. And I think Mike McCarthy,

(31:23):
just being able to see what this team looks like
under his direction, a lot of eyes on that game.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
You know, I look at the Steelers right now, and
they've got named players for sure, but they're old.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
You know, they're old. I don't know what that means.
I mean, do they not have any gas left in
the tank? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
But I think they're going to be reckoned with. I
think they have a shot to win that division.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
I really do.

Speaker 6 (31:43):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
No. Yeah. Shot to win it. I mean, I guess
it depends on how loosely we give odds and shots. But, yeah,
they got a shot to win it. I don't know.
I think it's all open because it's so much change,
you know, in their division.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
You know, we talked about the coaching change. I mean,
there were three new coaches in that division, but the
fact of the matter is McCarthy, he's not a new coach.
I think there's a difference. See, Jesse Minter is a
new head coach for the first time, first-year head coach,
rookie head coach.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
I think there's a difference, right?

Speaker 3 (32:15):
Oh, no, no, there is a difference. Like, without a doubt,
you are right. There is a difference when it comes
to that. And look, it would be huge. in terms
of the experience that Mike McCarthy holds over some of
these other guys. It could be a huge advantage for
the Steelers as we move forward.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
You know, I'm not a big Aaron Rodgers fan for
what he does as far as the platform he stands on,
but I'm a big fan of him as a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
I think he's an outstanding.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
Quarterback and probably a first-ballot Hall of Famer, regardless of
the new voting of the Hall of Fame right now.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
I think he is.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
And I would hate to see him go out on
a losing record. You know, I just want to see
his legacy... held to a higher level uh it was
a shame what happened two years ago on that first
play when he was playing for the jets and he
got injured and didn't play again so you know and
it takes about two years to come back from an
injury like that i like to see him do well
i really do.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
I mean he's going to have every opportunity because he
got all kinds of big people uh that can expand
the strike zone form make it easy for him to
just kind of play pitch and catch um Yeah, look,
I think this is one. We just have to temper
our expectations with him because father time is definitely not
on his side. So he has to make sure that
he's able to either play with a supporting cast that

(33:32):
makes the game easier for him or he's going to
have to pick and choose when he wants to bring
his A game.

Speaker 7 (33:38):
Right.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
The one thing about him when I watch him play,
he really gets frustrated on the field, especially, you know,
when he's calling a play and someone may drop a
pass or run a wrong route. I mean, you could
see the frustration and almost like the arrogance and the
nastiness he has towards that individual.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
Do you see that as well? I don't see that
with many players, but I see it with him.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
Yeah, I mean, he definitely has and carries a chip.
And there's nothing wrong with carrying that. It can be exhausting.
But for some people, they need that to get going,
to be able to be at their best, you know.
So you got to kind of let them live and
learn whether that works. It works for them long term
or not. But like, that's just kind of a part
of his DNA, part of who he is.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
No doubt about that.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
He is Bucky Brooks. I'm Andy Furman. We are Fox
Football Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. He's the answer, man.
That's Bucky Brooks.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
And you know what?

Speaker 5 (34:32):
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(34:53):
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Speaker 6 (34:58):
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Speaker 2 (35:13):
And comment away. Time for Ask Bucky.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
This is Fox Football Sunday on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
He's Bucky Brooks. I'm Andy Furman. And, of course, we're
live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. And, Andy, are
you ready for Ask Bucky?

Speaker 6 (35:26):
I'm ready.

Speaker 4 (35:26):
Let's do it.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
Let's do it.

Speaker 6 (35:29):
All right.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
Let's get right into it.

Speaker 5 (35:31):
What?

Speaker 4 (35:31):
All right, Bucky. First one.

Speaker 8 (35:33):
What can actually be learned from college football's one-sided opening games?

Speaker 3 (35:40):
You can't learn a lot. It depends on who they're
matched up with or whatever. What you're trying to look
at is what is the feel for the overall operation.
Do you see a lot of pre-snap penalties? Do you
see a lot of faulty execution, meaning drop passes, blown assignments,
and those things? But really, you can't determine how good
these teams are until they face another heavyweight. And so

(36:00):
this is nice. It's a primer. But at some point,
we've got to get to the real thing. And so
I'm looking forward to getting to that point.

Speaker 8 (36:07):
All right, next up, what factor, if any, did the
short stay in Australia have on the Rams' loss on
Thursday to Seattle?

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Yeah, I don't think they had any factor because I
was in London last year when they did the same
thing and they beat the Jaguars by it seemed like 50.
But they really handled the Jags. To me, this was
a bit of the outside noise seeping into the locker room.
You hear about being a super team and all of this.
You have a level of complacency. And let's be real.

(36:36):
It's a rivalry game against a team that really doesn't
like you. And so they were on edge and they
didn't play well. Their minds weren't in the right spot.
And I think that was the result of it.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
All right.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
Back to college ball.

Speaker 8 (36:47):
Rutgers is now 0-2 after losing to UMass and Boston College.
How hot is Rutgers coach Greg Sciano's seat right now?

Speaker 3 (36:58):
I mean, I don't know. No one has won at Rutgers.
So they can get rid of best coach to ever
coach at Rutgers. Look, it's a bad year. Look, it's
a bad look. It certainly didn't help they lost to
UMass after UMass was, I think, 0 for the previous year.
It's a problem. But I don't know if you can
find a better coach for that university than Rutgers. Shiano
has to be better. He's been middling. But the seat

(37:20):
is hot. I just don't know if they can find
an upgrade at the spot.

Speaker 8 (37:24):
All right, back to the pros. We see several new
coaches in the AFC Central. How important is it to
hire a seasoned rather than a rookie coach?

Speaker 3 (37:34):
I mean, I think every situation is different. You got
to know what your team needs to get to the
next level, but a seasoned coach who's had success in
the league certainly has, uh, an advantage over his counterparts.
He understands how to lay the schedule out, meaning the
day-to-day schedule, the long-range schedule, off-season training camp. He's been there.
It won't be new to him being in that role

(37:55):
on the sideline, how to manage an overall game. He's
already had to work through all those protocols, whereas a
newbie is learning. And so it requires more patience as
they get that on-the-job training. But yeah, it should be
a decided advantage. if you have someone with experience, provided
they also have had a lot of success, then the
players will also buy in.

Speaker 4 (38:16):
All right, last one. What are your thoughts on international
play in the NFL?

Speaker 3 (38:21):
Look, it's part of a bigger play. They're eventually going
to have 16 games that are played overseas. They'll be
able to sell that package off and make some more money.
That money will be split between the owners and the players,
so it's going to be a good thing. I understand
why you want to raise the level of interest globally.
When you go to one of those games, it does
have a Super Bowl feel to it. So it's going

(38:42):
to continue to happen under Roger Goodell's watch.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
I got a couple of questions over here.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
I'm bubbling over here with Bucky Brooks, okay?

Speaker 1 (38:50):
If you were to look at the schedule today, NFL
schedule today, all these games, and you had to pick one,
which one do you think would be the best one
to watch? Or maybe buy a ticket to go see.
I'm just looking at the schedule. Nothing really jumps out
at me.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
Nothing jumps out if I could. Well, there's one. Dallas
and New York. That jumps out. It jumps out for
a few different things. Dallas has dominated the series recently. But, man,
I've heard nothing but good things about John Harbaugh and
the Giants and how he's cracking the whip on them,
getting them to practice hard so eventually they play hard
and those things. And then there's a small little part

(39:25):
of me that wants to see Odell Beckham Jr. get
in the game and maybe regroup. the spectacular catch that
sent him to superstardom.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Okay, I hear what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
Now, after yesterday's game, Texas-Ohio State, if I may, has
your opinion changed on Arch Manning as far as a
Heisman winner?

Speaker 3 (39:47):
I mean, as far as the Heisman, the Heisman goes
to the top quarterback on the top team. So, like, yeah,
I mean, that's fine. I think more looking at him
as a pro is where my eyes are. And I
think I'm still not necessarily comfortable saying that he's the
lead horse in this class. I think a lot of
that is based on name and reputation, family business type stuff.

(40:07):
He's a good player, though. He's fun to watch. I
give him credit for leading him back. But I don't know.
I mean, Heisman, they'd give it to him if he's
anything close to being able to win it.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
So I'm hearing now maybe Jeremiah Smith doesn't have a
chance because he's not a quarterback.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
It's always been a quarterback-driven thing. Yes, quarterback.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
I know.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
But I think he's deserving of it. There's no doubt
in my mind.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
I mean, really. We'll see.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
All right. We'll see.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
I hope he gets it.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
All right.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
You're going to bounce back with Bucky and so much more.
We're on Fox Football Sunday. Oh, the big three, that's

(41:03):
coming right up. Good morning, everybody. This is Fox Football
Sunday on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
He's Bucky Brooks.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Sports Radio studios. And by the way, with the iHeart app,
you can stream us wherever you happen to be. Catch
us at all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live
24-7 in the new and improved iHeart app. Just search
Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream us live
all day, every day, and be sure to select Fox
Sports Radio as one of your presets in the iHeart

(41:29):
app So it always pops up at the top of
your screen. And now, without further ado, let's introduce Mr. Football,
my partner and friend, Mr. Bucky Brooks.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Take a bow.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
There we go. That's it.

Speaker 6 (41:45):
That's the way.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Big day.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
What's up, Andy?

Speaker 3 (41:46):
What's up? What's up? What's up?

Speaker 6 (41:47):
What's up?

Speaker 3 (41:47):
How you doing?

Speaker 1 (41:48):
I'm just wondering, do you get a chance to watch
these games? Because I know you're busy with the Jacksonville
Jaguars football club.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
Do you get a chance to watch any of the games?

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Oh, yeah, I get a chance to watch. Now, the
early ones I kind of see, like the running dialogue
while I'm on the sideline, I'm watching our game, but
I'm peeping up looking at red zone. But as soon
as our game is over, yeah, I make my way
into the building and find a spot where I can
go watch these games.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Well, you got an easy one today. You got the Browns,
so you'll be in good shape.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
No, no, no, no. I don't know why you're saying that. Like,
pro football is never that. Like, pro football is always
a one-score game. So even when the team is bad,
if you're able to beat them by a touchdown, that
is saying a lot. All of these games, the league
is designed to get to the fourth quarter. with a game.
So it is rare that you see blowouts. It's not
college football. The players are too good. And so even

(42:37):
though you, we may on paper say that, Oh, the
Cleveland Browns are terrible. One, I'm gonna tell you that
they're much better than people give them credit for in
terms of the talent that they have. But Deshaun Watson
is like undefeated against the Jaguars, like seven and Oh,
maybe 71. Like, so this is not a cupcake, a walkover.
And anyone who treats us as such could end up

(42:58):
surprised at how tight this game will be.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
You know, you make a great point because you're right.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Most of these games are decided by seven, maybe ten
is a lot, not double digits.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
And that's the way it is in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
However, what about the mindset of a player knowing they're
playing a team that is not that good? That's the key.
I mean, that's the job of a coach to say, hey,
forget their record.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
This is the way it is.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
They've got to hear that speech because I think a
lot of times when you're playing a team like Miami
or the Jets or the Browns, as a player, you
may lay back just a bit.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Correct?

Speaker 3 (43:33):
I mean, I think there's, like, look, you always have
to guard against complacency when you're coaching a team. Like,
there are various factors that can create that complacency. Either
we want to lie, we feel like we've got it,
so we start to slip on the details, or the
opponent is not viewed as a good enough opponent for
us to need our full attention. In the National Football League, though,

(43:54):
it's different because everyone is good. And every week we
see a matchup where on the outside we believe it's
going to be a blowout in the favor of one team,
and then we finish the day and the other team
has won and they just put a spanking on the
favorite team. The talent is too even. You've got to execute.
It comes down to the execution and not beating yourselves.

(44:16):
If you don't beat yourselves with the silly stuff, The turnovers,
the penalties, allowing big plays because you have blown assignments
and those things. It gives you a chance to win.
And if you just execute in those critical moments, that's
what it comes down to. So these games will all
you have to go into them thinking it's going to
be tight and they will see some surprising results. But
remember this last year, the Raiders, they might have shut

(44:38):
out the Patriots week one. And we saw the Patriots
go to the Super Bowl. So don't make too much
about what happens in week one. It is not the
indicator on what the season is going to be like.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
All right. I'm glad you'll tell that to the L.A.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
Rams.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
That's for sure.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
Now, here's the deal. You wrote for NFL.com this week.
Very interesting stuff. You talk about bounce back teams and
wild card teams. Two of the wildcard teams you mentioned
are Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And by coincidence,
they're playing today. And what you wrote about the Cincinnati Bengals,
you say you could see them competing for the Lombardi Trophy,

(45:15):
but you could also see them missing the playoffs for
a fourth straight year. Tell me the reasons why.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
Well, with the Bengals, I mean, it's kind of boom
or bust. There's a lot riding on. The performance of
the offense. Each and every week, Joe Burr and company
need to be at their best. They have to score
30 points or more to be able to win games.
That's what we know is true about the Bengals the
last few years. Defensively, they've never been able to balance
it up. They haven't matched it. with the right compliments

(45:45):
to be able to make it where, okay, this team
is ready to go. So the office always has to
play at a high level defensively. You're depending on a
bunch of newbies and free agents to find a way
to kind of make this work with a new scheme
that look, they talk about having some of the remnants
of the old scheme, but regardless, you got a new
play call. You might as well end up having a
new scheme. They are, really talented. They have the ability

(46:10):
to make it happen, but can they get enough stops
on defense to put their offense in a comfortable position?
It comes down to how good is this defense? Can
it get the middle of the pack? That'll determine the
success of the Bengals down the road.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
I heard a sportscaster say this the other day. And
I was in the car listening on the radio. I
almost drove off the road. He said that the Cincinnati
Bengals are deeper in defense than they were a year ago.
They may be better. I don't know if they're deeper,
but they may be better. But he said they could
win if Joe Burrow gets hurt. They could win with

(46:44):
Joe Flacco. I'm not so certain about that. That's what
he said. That's how good they are, that Joe Flacco
could lead them to the playoffs if Joe Burrow gets hurt.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
I mean, Flacco has come in and done that before
he did it in Cleveland a few years ago. He
certainly has the offensive weapons around him to be able
to steady the ship in a two, three, four-game absence
where he had to come in and be the emergency fill-in.
To go into the whole season with him, I think
that would be tough. But I do respect also. I mean,
I do understand that at plus 40, 40-plus, he's been

(47:18):
able to kind of carve out a nice career and
a niche because he has played well in spots.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
We'll see what happens.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
I mean, I wouldn't say that Joe Burrow is injury prone.
I think some of those injuries are freak injuries. I mean,
the wrist, the toe. He had appendicitis one year. So
I think he'll be fine.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
I mean, and he was rested.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
Certainly this preseason. And they went undefeated preseason. I think
that means a lot. I think that, you know, gives
him a little bit of confidence. We'll see what happens.
Today they're playing Tampa Bay, and you say Tampa Bay
also is a wild card team.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
What do you mean by wild card?

Speaker 1 (47:50):
They got a shot to make the playoffs, or they
could do anything in the world from Super Bowl to
not make the playoffs. Is that what your wild card
definition is?

Speaker 3 (48:01):
My definition of wild card is a team that certainly
has the potential to get into postseason and do some damage.
They're a dark horse contender. They have a lot of
intriguing pieces in place. This is going to make it really,
really hard for teams to deal with them. I'm going
to say this. Knowing Todd Bowles for a long time
and talking to him, he's really excited about this defense
and what this defense can become. He thinks that they

(48:23):
can get back to business, get back to doing what
they like to do on defense, which is pressure, pressure, pressure,
beat you up, dominate, force the issue. and force you
into a game that you don't want to play, which
is a very physical, combative game and a phone booth. Offensively,
Baker Mayfield being assigned is great, so now that takes
all of that off of his plate in terms of

(48:45):
being unsettled about who he is and Will it be
the long-term solution? All of that is significant because what
they have returning around him, good, Emeka Abuka, ready to
take the next step. Chris Godwin's been a Pro Bowl player.
Jalen McMillan on the outside. They're solid. Offensive line is solid.
Now it's about that running game with Bucky Irvin. Can

(49:06):
they get that playing? But this is a well-constructed team.
They had won a division four years in a row
before last year. I expect them to get back to that,
and I think they're kind of a nightmare team to
face if you get them into postseason.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
Well, I know Tampa Bay is counting on one of those.
their rookies, the kid from Miami, Reuben Bain, the outside linebacker.
How tough is he going to be on the Bengals today?
How miserable is he going to make the Bengals' offensive
line perhaps even today?

Speaker 3 (49:33):
He can make you kind of tight on him. That
we do know. He is a very, very, very intriguing
player because of his motor, his physicality, the violence he
plays with, and how he's a perfect fit, not only
in that scheme, but in that locker room. Meaning, The

(49:53):
Tampa Buccaneers have been at their best when they're kind
of operating with a roughneck mentality, meaning their whole goal
and intent on defense is to wreck shop, to disrupt
the game, and to make everything kind of turn into
a brawl, where it's just a physical affair, where it's
the last man standing, because they feel like they're the
tougher team. And Reuben Bain fits that. It's not always

(50:16):
aesthetically pleasing. It's not always, A, the moves and the technique.
Sometimes there's a human element to the game, Andy, where
we talk about physicality and violence. He brings the violence
every time.

Speaker 7 (50:29):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
You know, this is one of those games, and I'm
not being a homer because I'm in the Cincinnati market.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
You are being a homer. You're always a homer. You're
a homer. Just own it.

Speaker 6 (50:38):
You're a homer.

Speaker 3 (50:38):
You're a Bengals guy.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Well, maybe. Well, you know what it is? I understand.
the people who live in this market.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
And when this team loses, I mean, you can't go anywhere.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
It's terrible. That's why I want them to win. I
hate this.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
My next door neighbor puts up a black flag when
they lose. I mean, really, it's disgusting.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
It really is.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
But I will say this. This game to me is
a very difficult game to pick. Number one is the
first game of the year for both teams. But more
than that, I know it's a home game. I would
say this game may go down to the final play.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
I really mean that.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
And I think it's going to be decided by three points,
a three-point decision. I don't know who's going to win.
I mean, who do you like in this game?

Speaker 3 (51:22):
Man, it's tough. It's one of the tougher games to
pick because of all the things you say. Right now,
I'm going to go that both offenses watch each other out,
and I'm going to go with a better defense. And
a better defense to me is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
So I got the Buccaneers to win this one.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Okay, and I'll tell you what.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
I like the fact that I give a little bit
of an edge to Tampa Bay, too, not because you
have them there, but I think because if Baker Mayfield's
mind is clear now with that contract, I think that
makes a big deal. I mean, now he's going to
prove to them that they were right to sign him.
I mean, I think that's a big deal.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
Yeah, I mean, this is a huge deal. I think
getting him signed. having that peace of mind for him,
knowing he's going to be the franchise player. Yeah, it
means everything. And he has been a great leader for
them taking over for Tom Brady. He is exactly what
they needed. He has the competitive fire that Tom has,

(52:12):
but he has it in his own way. So this is, look,
it's a good thing that they were able to get
this done. Looking forward to seeing how he plays because
he has to bounce back. Zach Robinson is the new
offensive coordinator. They know each other from the Rams thing.
Last time he had somebody like that, it was Liam Cohen.
Can he get back to that level that he played
under Liam? That is what they need because if he

(52:32):
plays at that level, yeah, this team has an opportunity
to be one of those special teams.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
I'm going to go crazy.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
I'm going to go under the limb and say this
game is going to be a 24-21 game.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
And I think Tampa Bay is going to win because
of their defense.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
I don't think– I just– Bengals' offense is good, but Bengals'
defense is going to hurt him. I think Chris Godwin's
going to have a heck of a game. I think
Chris Godwin's going to have a great game today. I
think he's going to hurt them with Baker Mayfield.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
Maybe I'm wrong. We'll see.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
No. I like Chris Godwin. I think Emeka Buka's going
to end up being the number one, but Godwin is
that security blanket, you know. So it's– Look, they need
to be able to run the football because it'll help them. But, yeah,
this is going to be a good one. This is
going to be a good one. This is one that

(53:20):
I would say is kind of like must-see TV in
the early hour.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
Thank you very much. I'm going to watch that, too.
I'm not going. I'm going to watch it on TV.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
All right.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Now, you talk about bounce-back Canada. What does that mean?

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Teams that had a bad year last year are going
to come back stronger this year.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Is that your bounce-back? Is that what it is?

Speaker 3 (53:35):
Yeah, absolutely. That's what it means. Like, hey, look, we
were a little disappointed last year. We're going to come back.
So both teams, by their standards, had disappointing years. The
Bengals haven't been to the playoffs in so long. I
can't remember the last time they were in the playoffs, right?
That's what it feels like. It's been so long. And
then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell off last year. They
didn't play to their standard. Todd Bowles was on the

(53:56):
high seat, finds himself on the high seat. And Look, man,
he knows. They've got to get back to being who
they've been and they're most successful. And that's when they're
a rough and rugged team. It's built for them.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
Okay, and they weren't the only ones you wrote about
on NFL.com. You wrote about some other bounce-back teams, and
one of them was the Minnesota Vikings, and I tell
you what, Justin Jefferson's really and truly got to be
pretty happy because he's got a guy that can throw
the ball to him in Kyler Murray.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
We'll see.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
And Kevin O'Connell really is this so-called, I guess, quarterback guru.
I mean, there's some pressure on him to get Kyler
Murray to get going.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
Yeah, but I'll say this, and I've said this on
multiple occasions on the show. I think Kyler Murray's the
most talented quarterback ever. that Kevin O'Connell has had. And
when I mean most talented, the guy who has the
most natural tools to play the position at a high level.
And he does it as a dual threat, meaning he
can throw it with precision from the pocket or he

(54:52):
can dazzle as a runner on design or impromptu runs.
Kevin O'Connell has never had anybody like this. This adds
layers and dimensions to this offense that we haven't seen
while still retaining the best part of the offense that
we've seen in the passing game. Kyler Murray, and this
is from Kevin O'Connell, specifically, he talks about, hey, man,
when this guy throws from the pocket, rhythm, timing, anticipation,

(55:15):
all those things rate highly. But now you get the
added dimension of being able to do it. They're just
going to try and build an offense where he gets
to play point guard, meaning he just gets to throw
it out to the playmakers and get out of there.
But then he also retains the ability to get away
from that and get off the script. This Minnesota Vikings
offense with Kyler Murray and Kevin O'Connell should be special

(55:36):
if Kyler Murray is back fully healthy and being the
player that he was prior to the injury. I'm looking
for fireworks from the Vikings.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
And what happens right now to J.J. McCarthy? I mean,
is he going to have the shot with another team now?
What's going to happen to him?

Speaker 3 (55:52):
I don't know. I mean, look. It's business. It's not personal.
He has to play well when he gets a chance.
And if he gets a chance to go on the field,
do it. But he hasn't played well enough when he's
had his opportunities. And he can be mad about it.
He can cry about it. He can whine about it.
He can say that it hasn't been unfair. That's life
in the league. You're the number one pick, a first-round pick.

(56:13):
They expect you to play at a certain level. He
missed the first year with an injury, and he's been
so-so since that point. to the point they had to
bring somebody else in, yeah, I don't know if the
ball is going to come back his way in Minnesota.
It may be somewhere else where he gets that opportunity
to do it.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Yeah. Another bounce-back team, the Kansas City Chiefs. I mean,
you're pretty high on the Chiefs right now. And Patrick Mahomes,
I mean, you don't hear anything about him coming back
from that injury. I mean, is he going to beat 100%
this year? We'll see the same Patrick Mahomes coming back.
They're getting a little older, okay, but they could get
Kenneth Walker as running back.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
That's going to help. That's going to help big time
in Kansas City.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
I'm going to be honest with you. That's been the
biggest thing that's been holding them back. They haven't had
a competent running game, and they haven't had anybody that
makes the defense fear their run game. Kenneth Walker would
give them that. And if you have to fear or
respect their running game, it changed the way you have
to defend them on the perimeter. It changes the way
that you have to– make hard decisions on whether we're

(57:12):
going to take away the big plays with two high
shells or if we're going to be willing to die
slow death with the running game peppering. Eric Biennium coming
back to, and people say, well, he's not a play caller.
He's not this. Maybe he's overrated. But here's what I
would tell you about in that building in Kansas City.
Eric Biennium is the backup. Eric Biennium is the one
that holds everyone accountable on that offense for the way

(57:36):
they go about their business throughout the week and on
game day. And sometimes when you don't have that, what
we call that guy who specializes in hard coaching, you
can slip on the details. Well, that's not going to happen.
And we've seen when he's been there, they've won a
couple Super Bowls. And he's not the play caller. but
he does some of the dirty work that Andy Reid

(57:56):
maybe doesn't want to do or isn't comfortable doing, and
that allows the offense to operate more efficiently. Look, I
think we have underestimated who the Kansas City Chiefs are.
We're going to be surprised at how well they play
this season.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Really?

Speaker 1 (58:10):
I tell you what, though, it doesn't get real easy
for them tomorrow night. They are hosting the Denver Broncos.
That's going to be a tough opener.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
It really is. Lucky for them, the game is in
Kansas City.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
Yeah, lucky for them. It's there, but look, this is
a rivalry. It's the opening game. We're going to have
the Swifties in the building, Travis Kelsey and his new bride,
all of that. There's going to be a lot of
excitement there. Look, I think Monday night is going to
be fun. It's going to be fun to see the
Chiefs back and to take another opponent that there's some

(58:43):
bitterness between that rivalry, those fan bases. Yeah, this will
be a lot of fun to see this play out
Monday night.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
And the other bounce-back team, you talk about the Baltimore Ravens,
and right now, I mean, everybody's saying Lamar Jackson has
a lot to prove. I mean, a two-time MVP, what
does he have to prove? I mean, obviously, winning a
Super Bowl, that's tough. I mean, and why is it
all on him? But I guess the quarterback does get
all the blame. That's the problem. But I know he
was injured a little bit last year, but I have
no problem with Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
I think he's great. I really do.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
And I think the problem is that can he get
along with Declan Doyle? I mean, is Lamar Jackson going
to butt heads with the new offensive coordinator there in Baltimore?

Speaker 3 (59:23):
Yeah, look, I know it. You're surprised that there's questions
about Lamar Jackson. Here's the question from a front office
standpoint that you have to make when you determine whether
to pay him or not. All right, so he's nine
years into the thing, and we've seen traditionally when you
have athletic quarterbacks or guys that have relied heavily on
their legs, when they reach 30, they tend to fall

(59:45):
off the cliff. if they don't have other pitches in
their repertoire. So if he's lost a step, and look,
last year they talked about him being injured, but it's
the first time that I've seen Lamar Jackson leave the
pocket and people run him down quickly, where he didn't
look like the best athlete on the field. If he
doesn't have that superpower, if we've taken that superpower away,

(01:00:06):
does he have enough other powers to be able to
play at a high level for the next four or
five years? That's the question and that's the concern. That's
why the deal hasn't been done because I think if
you're the Ravens, it's fair to ask, man, can we
pay him $ 60 million if he doesn't have his fastball?
Can he beat enough people with the curve and the changeup?

(01:00:28):
to do it, meaning play from the pocket and win
with pinpoint pass and then precision as opposed to the
impromptu playmaking that has been a big part of his thing.
And he's done it better than anybody else in history
as a dual threat quarterback. That's why there's some hesitancy
when it comes to the Lamar Jackson deal.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
I hear what you say, but I'm going to play
the devil's advocate and say, what's the alternative? What do
you have in the closet to replace him?

Speaker 3 (01:00:54):
Well, that's what you have a draft for. That's what
people talk about the draft coming up. Are there enough
quarterbacks in the next class to be able to find
a suitable replacement for Lamar Jackson? The money that would
go there, can you build up the other areas of
the team to help a young quarterback come in? And
it's okay to have questions about that if you're the Ravens.
I anticipate them signing him. But if you're Eric Dacoste,

(01:01:17):
you at least have to explore the possibilities and have
the discussions on what life could be like without number eight.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Does his mom still represent him?

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
Yeah, he's still been separate. And look, I'll say this.
He's done a good job. Look, he's made a bunch
of money on and off the field. I mean, like,
he's done well doing it his way. So I cannot
knock the hustle when it comes to that. But, yeah,
this is a significant one. I'm not saying that this
is the last contract, but this may be the last
blockbuster contract that he can negotiate for.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
He is Bucky Brooks. I'm Andy Furman.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
We're live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Get Bucky at...
Bucky Brooks on X at Andy Furman FSR. And, of course,
877-99 on Fox. We'll take your calls, 877-996-6369. We've got
the blame game at the end of this hour. But
there's a lot of unknowns for one NFL team.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
We'll tell you all about it next. All right, here
we go.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
It'll be a day-long challenge for this line. That's right
around the corner. Good morning, everybody. This is Fox Football
Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. He's Bucky Brooks, the man.
I'm Andy Furman. Of course, we're live from the Fox
Sports Radio studios. We're going to have the Blaine game
in about 10, 12 minutes from now. But before that,
we're going to talk football, NFL football, because that's what
they're doing today. That's what everybody's doing today.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
Everybody's life changes.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
Isn't it true, Buck? Everybody's life changes. I mean, you know,
you go into, like, hibernation if you're a guy. You
either go to the game or you stay in front
of the tube all day long. That's what you do.
I mean, how many games do you watch a week?

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
I mean, really. Do you watch every college game? I can't.
I can't watch every game. I pick and choose.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
I mean you can't watch every game but yeah i'll
certainly spend most my saturdays consumed with the college game
and part of that is because living in both worlds
and like living in the world where you talk about
draft stuff you kind of have to be aware of
what's like who's coming uh down the pipe and then
uh the nfl like having to know everything not only
for jags but just knowing the league in general it

(01:03:19):
requires you to watch a lot of games i mean
but Who can complain about that? Who wouldn't want to
watch games for a living? So, no, it does make
it where it's all-consuming. It's everything. But it's a lot
of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
There we go.

Speaker 1 (01:03:31):
Let's get into one of these games right now. Let's
talk about the Packers at the Vikings. And, you know,
you did your bounce-back teams for this year. I think
I could give you a bounce-back team for next year,
and that may be the Green Bay Packers. Because I
don't think they're doing much this year. I really don't.
A lot of new faces, a lot of firsts there,
a lot of unknowns. Jonathan Gannon, the first year, first

(01:03:51):
game as a defensive coordinator.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Cam Alcott.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
As the special teams coordinator, they got a new kicker
in Trey Smack. I think a lot of unknowns, a
lot of new things, and I think it takes time
for that to gel.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Am I correct on that?

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
Yeah, I mean, it will take some time to gel
and correct it. And Jonathan Gannon is an interesting choice
when it came to what they wanted to do in
terms of who they hired and What they're trying to
get done. So he is a guy that is a
little more versatile when it comes to what they're doing

(01:04:26):
in terms of like he wants to use a different
type scheme. He wants to be aggressive and multiple and
those things, which is great when it works out the
issue that you may have in. trying to do that
is you may never get good at any one thing.
This was a team that was a zone-heavy team, vision
and break under Jeff Halfley, so there'd be some transition there.
And they're not as talented on defense as they were

(01:04:48):
previous years. Some of those guys defected, Quay Walker leaving,
Michael Parsons being down, Novershawn Gary. So this is a
different type team that we're looking at, and we just
got to be ready to handle them. the differences in
terms of the way they play defense versus the way
they used to play it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
And last year, Justin Jefferson, under an also-ran quarterback situation,
did have over 1,000 receiving yards, but this year I
think it's going to make a big difference with a
normal quarterback. I think you'll see a major difference in
Justin Jefferson this year, although I'm looking at the list
of so-called experts, and most of the experts are picking

(01:05:27):
the Packers to win this game, and I like the Vikings.

Speaker 3 (01:05:32):
I think there's some comfort in dealing with the Packers, right?
They've been good for so long. Michael Floyd has been
really good as a coach. They've won a lot of games.
The quarterback has played fairly well for him. So there's
a reason why you're optimistic on him. But the fact
is for me that leans the game, that tilts the
game in the Vikings' direction. One, Brian Floyd's defense is terrific.

(01:05:53):
They get Harrison Smith back. We'll see how much he plays.
But the constant pressure, the exotic blitzes, the zero scheme
behind it. could cause the Green Bay Packers some problems.
And then offensively, how are the Packers going to deal
with Kyler Murray? Jonathan Gannon knows him real well, but
has he known him well enough to craft a game

(01:06:14):
plan to really stop the things that he brings to
the table? That's why this is such a compelling game.
Who do you like? I like the Minnesota Vikings. Jonathan
Gannon knows his QB1, his former QB1. So he knows
him well, but can he put him in a situation
where he has to play to his weaknesses and not
his strengths? I just don't know. I'm not a believer yet.

(01:06:36):
I have to see it to believe it. And right now,
because of that, I'm going to go with the Vikings.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
I'm going with the Vikings, too.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
There's sort of a backyard brawl over here. Commanders at
the Philadelphia Eagles right now. And the Washington Commanders, their
offensive line, oh, boy. I bet they didn't sleep well
last night because they're going against Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
That's going to be tough. I mean, really and truly,
I'd have nightmares if I had to go against those guys.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
I mean, yeah. I mean, that's difficult. Maybe the best
defensive tackle combination. I mean, you just talk about Jordan
Davis being a true nose tackle, big, heavy-handed guy that
has really improved a ton since getting himself into shape
following the draft. Like, he has worked himself into being
prime shape, what we call championship caliber shape. He's done that.

(01:07:20):
And then Jalen Carr is just a house wrecker. He
just wrecks whatever you want to do at the line
of scrimmage. And if he's motivated, if you poke the
bear enough, he's going to bring his A game. And
his A game can– completely change how you want to
go against him from a play caller. Really good game.
I like the matchups. To me, this is like the
Eagles thing. The Eagles are the much better team from

(01:07:41):
top to bottom, and I think Jalen Hurts surprises the
world in terms of how well he adapts to playing
in the Chimaneon offense.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
Okay, here's a good game note. I don't think it
means anything, but it's just a good fodder material. The
Commanders are the only team in the NFC East to
win in Philadelphia over the past four years. All right?

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
Whatever that means. It means nothing going into this game.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
I don't even think a coach would bring that up
as a pregame note. But it's a fact. And some
writer or broadcaster will use that. Just fodder. But there's
no A.J. Brown for the Eagles. How does their offense
change without him?

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
It changes in terms of more of a committee situation.
Devonta Smith naturally will be viewed as the number one.
But I'm going to tell you, keep an eye on
Dontarian Wicks. The trade that they made for the Green
Bay Packers to bring him over, former fifth-round pick. And
when you watch him, a couple things stand out. Spectacular
route-running ability and one of the best get-off-press releases that

(01:08:41):
you're going to find. Don't be surprised if you look
at the end of the night and you see him
with 100 yards, 100 receiving yards. He's that good. He's
that impressive. He's impressive throughout preseason, particularly in practice. He's
more impressive than those things. Really good player. I think
this offense is going to roll. I think it's going
to be easier for Jalen Hurts to just go through
his reason and progressions without having a wide receiver complaining

(01:09:05):
the entire time in the huddle. We may see a better,
more efficient version of Jalen Hurts because it's a more
peaceful wide receiver room, and he can just go about
his business without being distracted by having to keep someone
happy with the number of balls that hit in his direction.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
Yeah, I don't think those two guys got along too well,
did they? I wouldn't think so.

Speaker 3 (01:09:23):
No, I just think it got tight. And sometimes, man,
you just can't play on the same team as your
best friend. They used to be really, really tight. And
sometimes that can cause a thing. Like sometimes best friends
can't be roommates, right? You're around them too much. And
maybe this was that situation.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
Let me run this by because I read this about
Saquon Barkley the other day and I cut it out.
Saquon Barkley says he believes the scheme installed by Sean
Mannion this offseason featuring wide zone blocking and the quarterback
operating from under center more will open up some things
that I may not have been able to show in
my career. What does that mean?

Speaker 2 (01:09:58):
What could he possibly show?

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
Well, when we talk about up under center, what it
does is it changes the the way the defense is defended.
Like shotgun running game is easy to decipher unless you
put them in the pistol. It's going to be pretty generic, right?
Counter scheme, inside-outside zone, but you can see it because
you can always track the ball or whatever. When you
turn your back to the defense and it's the hidden

(01:10:21):
ball trick, it makes it hard for linebackers and safeties
to figure out, is it run or pass? What kind
of run or pass is it? Are we talking about
outside zone? Are we talking about counter, gap scheme, all
of those things? And if you put some motions, some precepts,
pre-snap shifting, you put what we call the insert blocks
where you have motions and guys coming in the tackle

(01:10:41):
box but leading up through can give you a lot
of problems. I think we're going to see an offense
that's really dynamic and because Hurts always gives you the
threat of the bootleg in the run game, that backside
defensive end or that backside defender, he has to what
we call BRC. He has to bootleg reverse cutback. So
he has to stay home. which then can lead Saquon

(01:11:02):
Barkley to gas you on some of these cutback runs
that are on inside zones because they stretch you one
side and then come back the other way.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
You know, I'd love to see him gain 2,000 yards again.
And every time I see that guy play or doing
those commercials on TV, I cannot believe that the Giants, A,
traded him, B, traded.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
Into a team in the same division. That, to me,
is nuts. I just can't believe it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:27):
Yeah, it wasn't a trade. They just decided not to.
They just let him walk, and they didn't think he
would come back to bite him. Now, I don't know
if he can get back to those days. We'll see
because he's a little long in the tooth. He's played
for a long time, a lot of carries. But he
still can be a very impactful player. And when I
mean impactful, look at his game based on scrimmage yards,

(01:11:49):
which is a combination of rushing yards and receiving yards.
and touches, combination of receptions and rushes. He needs to
get to 20 to 25 touches and over 100 scrimmage
yards each week. If he does that, man, he's going
to be a very impressive player. He's going to rank
as one of the tops in terms of total yards gained,

(01:12:10):
total scrimmage yards over the course of the season.

Speaker 2 (01:12:13):
I like the Eagles this game, like 21-13, Eagles winning
this game. What about you?

Speaker 8 (01:12:17):
I like the Eagles.

Speaker 3 (01:12:18):
Okay, 21-13 is reasonable. Yeah, I get that. And I
don't think the commander's defense can slow them down.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
There we go.

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
And you touched on this game saying one of the
highlight games of the day, Cowboys at the Giants tonight.
And early on, I think a couple of weeks ago,
you did think that the Cowboys could be in the
Super Bowl. Well, that team last year gave up 511
points on defense. They did beef up the defense again
this year.

Speaker 2 (01:12:43):
This is going to be a pretty good game. I mean,
we'll see what happens with the new head coach of
the Giants, too.

Speaker 5 (01:12:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:12:49):
I mean, like what I love about the Cowboys and
what they did defensively, not only do I like the
new young defensive coordinator, Christian Park, who comes over from
Philadelphia Eagles. He's going to bring some of that Fangio
system with him, which is really good at limiting the
big plays, slowing down the running game, using light boxes
and those things. But what I like is that they

(01:13:11):
have veterans and a mix of newbies come in. So
when we think about the veterans that they have at
the line of scrimmage, Quentin Williams, Pro Bowl player. Kenny
Clark has been a Pro Bowl player. They bring Von
Miller over, former Pro Bowl player, Super Bowl MVP. They
have some young guys, Malachi Lawrence. And then you have
Ezraku coming off the edges. In the backing, Caleb Downs

(01:13:34):
joining them. Well-constructed defense. They're going to be able to
get after it. I like that. And then offensively, good
luck trying to slow down George Pickens and C.D. Lamb.
Good luck. I don't know if there are many corner
combinations that can deal with those two guys.

Speaker 1 (01:13:46):
I grew up with the New York football Giants. When
I was a little tyke, Y.A. Tittle was the quarterback.
And I loved the Giants.

Speaker 2 (01:13:53):
I really did.

Speaker 1 (01:13:54):
And I told you a story way back when. I
wrote a letter to Wellington Mara, may he rest in peace,
the owner. And one day he shipped a big UPS
box to my house with jerseys and sweatpants and everything else.
I don't know where it is anymore. But as much
as I love the Giants, I've got to go with
the Cowboys in this game. I just think the Cowboys
are better. And by the way, the Cowboys are 16-2
against the Giants since the start of 2017.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
That's disgusting.

Speaker 3 (01:14:19):
I mean, Dak Prescott owns that division. Owns the division
when you look at the pack. Traditionally, he owns it.
So it'll be hard. But here's what I'll say. This
is a great game, and this is a perfect game
for John Harbaugh. The emotions of everything, right? The 9-11
piece to it. Even though 9-11 was on Friday, there's
still going to be some of that patriotism, that emotional

(01:14:41):
feel to this game. You got that working in his favor,
and then you have him taking over a team, instilling toughness,
a work ethic, a little harder edge to it. I
like it. Upset alert. Upset alert on this one.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
I hope you're right.

Speaker 6 (01:14:59):
I really do.

Speaker 2 (01:14:59):
I love the Giants. We'll see what happens. Okay. I'll
be watching. We'll see what happens there. All right. He's
Bucky Brooks. I'm Andy Furman.

Speaker 1 (01:15:06):
We are Fox Football Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. It
is time to blow off some steam.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
Why?

Speaker 2 (01:15:11):
The blame game is.

Speaker 6 (01:15:14):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 7 (01:15:18):
Fox Sports Radio is taking over YouTube, and you can
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Speaker 6 (01:15:22):
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Speaker 6 (01:15:42):
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Speaker 4 (01:15:43):
On YouTube. Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon, and comment away.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
All right, the blame game right around the corner. This
is Fox Football Sunday on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:15:54):
He's Bucky Brooks. I'm Andy Furman.

Speaker 1 (01:15:56):
And by the way, if you missed any of today's show,
you want to catch the podcast, just search Fox Sports
Radio wherever you get your podcast. Right after the show,
today's podcast will be posted. Be sure to follow the
podcast right at five stars. You can even provide a review. Again,
just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast
and you'll find today's full show online. Post it right
after we get off the air. And by the way,
at the top of the hour, that's 8 a.m.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
Eastern.

Speaker 1 (01:16:17):
About 11 minutes from now, you'll hear Anita Marks and
Greg Cosell right here on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
But right now, it's time for the Blame Game.

Speaker 6 (01:16:26):
You ruined me. It's all your fault. No, it's your fault.

Speaker 4 (01:16:31):
This is all your fault.

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
This is all your fault.

Speaker 6 (01:16:35):
Maybe it's everyone's fault who knows he's a.

Speaker 7 (01:16:38):
Liar that's why there's the blame game let's figure.

Speaker 6 (01:16:42):
Out who to blame.

Speaker 2 (01:16:43):
Oh andy are you ready for the blame game.

Speaker 8 (01:16:46):
Andy oh i'm ready let's get some blame going let's
go all right let's start off with an easy one
here we'll go with bucky the jets last made the
playoffs in 2010 who do you blame bucky.

Speaker 3 (01:16:58):
Owner Woody Johnson, hard to win amid chaos. The organization's
constant disruption, the constant shifting of coaches and front office
people has prevented them from understanding who they are. And
because you don't know who you are, you can't get
the right players to fit. So I blame the ownership,
bad ownership.

Speaker 1 (01:17:17):
You know, I knew you'd say that. That's why I'm
not going to say that. You know who I blame?
I blame the fans. If you're really disgusted and upset,
stay away.

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
Boycott. It works. It really does. It works.

Speaker 1 (01:17:28):
But you keep on going to the games, paying the tickets, going.

Speaker 2 (01:17:33):
Out and paying $ 200 to park your car. Really, stay away.
Stay away for one. You know what?

Speaker 1 (01:17:38):
Stay away for two games. Boycott it for two games.
Believe me, there'll be a change. I understand it's Woody Johnson.
Why would he change what he does? All he does
is make Band-Aids. That's his deal. He's a Band-Aid guy,
Johnson & Johnson. But why would he change if he
keep on buying the product?

Speaker 2 (01:17:54):
And they do. So it's the fans. Blame them.

Speaker 4 (01:17:57):
Ooh, that was passionate.

Speaker 8 (01:17:59):
All right, next up, why haven't the Ravens re-signed quarterback
Lamar Jackson?

Speaker 4 (01:18:04):
Who do you blame, Andy?

Speaker 1 (01:18:06):
I blame the ownership, and they're stupid, because I love
Lamar Jackson. He's taken them to heights they never dreamt
of going to.

Speaker 2 (01:18:12):
Really, it's true.

Speaker 1 (01:18:13):
And I tell you what, I just hope it doesn't
affect his play this season.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
It'll be in the back of his mind. They will
eventually sign him. And you know what?

Speaker 1 (01:18:20):
It's going to be so stupid, because A, they'll have
to pay more. Because the longer you wait, the more
you've got to pay. And B, it's going to hurt
him because he's going to have that chip on his
shoulder during the season. That's why Tampa Bay signed Baker
Mayfield so soon.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
They didn't want him to be playing with that thing
in the back of his mind.

Speaker 3 (01:18:37):
Yeah, it impacted play. Not having a contract, not having
a deal done would certainly impact the play. He has
to focus on doing what he can control and lock in, prepare,
and do those things. And then the team. The longer
you wait, the more expensive it becomes. It's in both
of their best interests to get a deal done now
because you take away some of the odds, some of

(01:19:00):
the risk factor that would exist if he goes into
the season without a new contract.

Speaker 8 (01:19:06):
All right, let's get into some baseball. The Reds lost
to the Brewers 20-0 on Friday. How does this happen,
and who do you blame, Bucky?

Speaker 3 (01:19:14):
Oh, I blame the entire city of Cincinnati. Like, if
you can't scratch a run, like, that's ridiculous. A pro
team 20-0? I mean, you might as well play the
Savannah Bananas if it's going to look like that. So
I don't want that to play out in Cincinnati. The
people are too good, but I blame the city. They
got to want more from their teams.

Speaker 1 (01:19:36):
First of all, they quit. And I hate to use
that term with an athlete, but they quit. When you
lose 20-0, you quit. I will tell you this much
right now, and you'll think I'm out of my mind,
but I'm not. I could take nine guys, nine names
out of a phone book and score a run. Nine
names out of a phone book blindly and put them
on the field with a red jersey on and score

(01:19:57):
one run. Don't even swing the bat. You could walk
in a run. To lose 20-0, it's embarrassing.

Speaker 2 (01:20:03):
It really is. It's a shame. It's disgusting. That's what
it is. Yes!

Speaker 4 (01:20:10):
All right.

Speaker 8 (01:20:11):
Thursday night's game between the 49ers and the Rams was
played in Australia, and that had some issues. It was
played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is a premier
venue for cricket, but the oval field fit the rectangular
gridiron perfectly in the middle, and the extra space outside.

Speaker 4 (01:20:28):
created a visual distraction for fans. Who do you blame, Andy?

Speaker 1 (01:20:31):
I blame Roger Goodell. He probably failed geometry when he
was in high school. That's why he had no idea
of the dimensions of the field.

Speaker 2 (01:20:38):
It didn't fit in there, really. I mean, come on.
How stupid could you be? Go out there, measure it
out there.

Speaker 1 (01:20:43):
These fans were really upset about not seeing the field.

Speaker 2 (01:20:47):
There was some distraction there. Unreal. Unbelievable. There's always a problem. Stupid.

Speaker 3 (01:20:52):
I mean, there always is a problem, seemingly. It is
interesting that that became such a big deal. But, yeah, like,
I mean, look, playing football on the cricket field is
not what's supposed to happen. So I blame the logistics
from the NFL side. They've got to pick a better
location if they're going to play these games internationally. There
we go.

Speaker 2 (01:21:10):
Emmy, it's been a pleasure. Welcome aboard. It's wonderful having you.

Speaker 1 (01:21:15):
I hope you enjoyed us for the first time, for
the very first time.

Speaker 4 (01:21:18):
I loved it.

Speaker 1 (01:21:19):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:21:19):
We'll see you again next week, I hope, in order
to change again. You'll be back. You'll be back with.
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:21:25):
And by the way, top of the hour, Anita Marks
and Greg Cosell and Bucky. Enjoy the games today. Go Jacksonville.

Speaker 2 (01:21:32):
Right here on Fox.

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