January 2, 2022 • 45 mins
Bernie Fratto previews Week 17 in the NFL, is joined by @NFLRefStats1 Joe Gibb, and previews Week 17 in the NFL!
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With the voice of Vegas your host r J Men's Money.
You are now about to witness to Stress of the Street.
Knowledge from the biggest strip the pregame show America has
always wanted. Here's Bernie freddo Well in a world of problems.
(02:12):
We've got solutions. And in a world of questions, we've
got answers. And let me begin by wishing everyone a
happy new year, and here's to a prosperous and in
our complex world, there are objective truths, there are personal feelings.
Our job tonight and every night is to make sure
you don't confuse the two. And if you watch that
(02:35):
rolls bowl to day once again, you'll see, as I've
said many times before, sports of the greatest reality show invented.
And you can script everything, but the outcome sports are
true reality show. Reality shows are not a reality show.
They're scripted. Well, sports are scripted too. You've got game plans,
you've got schemes and they fall apart, and you can
(02:57):
script everything but the thing. And that's the reality of life.
Asked Bill Buckner, asked Betty White. She was all set
to turn one hundred on January and they're planning a
big party. And I went to a movie today and
they had a big commercial for her party, and uh,
rest her soul. She passed yesterday at the tender age
of had me fool came out of nowhere? It just
(03:20):
gave an interview the other day was vibrant. It's reality.
You can predict everything, but the outcome that's nowhere more
evident than um in the sports world. I'm Bernie Fratto.
We're Comedy Life from Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. Tonight,
we opened by giving a final tribute to the great
John Madden what he meant to the NFL. I've got
(03:41):
a couple of good maddened stories. If you really think
the NFL would be as popular without personalities like John Madden,
well think again. But I think you already know that
there's a lot you know about them. There's probably a
lot you don't. We'll have a little fun with that
here in a minute about fifteen minutes, will be joined
by Joe Gibbs of an NFL ref Stats, who have
an update on all the idiot syncracies and we've witnessed
(04:04):
among NFL referees this year. Uh non calls, bad calls,
odd calls, in inconsistent calls, what to expect in terms
of heading into the playoffs, and some crews that have
established themselves with certain patterns. Joe have that for Uce.
After Brian Finley's update, will follow up on the continuing
(04:25):
saga of the missed extra point to bacle in the NFL.
And finally we'll share who are the most profitable and
least profitable teams to have been on in sports this
last calendar year. A couple of surprises and a couple
of obvious ones sports or entertainment, but they're more than that.
They are shared experience. As such, people want to talk
(04:45):
about them. You've come to the right place. We've got
a lot to talk about tonight. This is straight out
of Vegas, the pregame show you always wanted. And as
they say in Austin, Minnesota, it's gonna be lit. What's
the significance of aust In Minnesota? John Madden was born
in Austin, Minnesota, but you didn't know that. And all
(05:09):
the credibility that John Madden has accrued in his lifetime
stems from the fact that he was a phenomenal coach
and he coached the Raiders to victory over the Vikings
in Super Bowl eleven in January seventy. Game is played
at the Rose Bowl. I was at that game, and
I'll tell you what I'm gonna get into John Mannen's
coaching record in a minute. But the tributes have poured
(05:31):
in and and perhaps none better than Bill Belichick who
said about John Madden, he said, quote, we all inspire
to have a successful career. John Madden has had about
five of them. And there's even a Shakespeare quote that
I think is fitting when it comes to John Madden.
Shakespeare once said, after an individual dies, the evil that
(05:51):
men do lives after them, but the good is often
interred with their bones. Not the same with John Madden.
People remember the good, people remember the personal interactions, and
at the age of eighty five, his name has been
synonymous with football for generations. It's hard to think of
someone more revered in the history of the game and
the randomness just a week ago on December when they
(06:17):
had the All Maddened special on Christmas and three days later,
who knew he'd be gone? And interestingly enough, his larger
than life personality, people actually revere him from the standpoint
of they know him more. For instance, as a broadcaster,
he worked for All More All for a major networks
as a color commentator. He was also the namesake of
(06:39):
the NFL's exclusive video game Men, and a lot of
the younger generations known him purely through the game console
and or the butt light commercials and by simply lending
his name to the Madden game console. He cemented his
legacy decades ago, and and I think John personally made
about fillion dollars. But here's the thing, none of this
(07:02):
really happens if if Madden hadn't been this incredible coach.
And there's a there's a there's a tendency to think
that a lot of successful commentators are only in the
booth because they really couldn't cut it on the sideline.
And actually that's true. Uh, No matter how glib been
funny and cute, Tony Romo is, and Tony Romo he
is a world class athlete. Uh, he's a scratch golfer. Uh,
(07:26):
you know, dunk of basketball. He was a starting quarterback
in the NFL, put up good numbers, but it never
wanted anything. He never did it even it matters, matter
of fact, the only ever, I can't help it, Tony,
every time I think of you, and when it really
mattered you, you botched the hold on the field goal
in Seattle. So Tony's in the booth. Uh. And he
didn't cut it on the field anywhere near the way
(07:47):
that John Madden did. Madden coached ten seasons. It was
a head coach ten seasons in the NFL, as for
the Raiders, only one team. He went a hundred and
three games one oh three, thirty two and seven he
had back then, they had a lot of ties. Now
I'm pretty good at math. That means he averaged ten
wins a year. If you average sen wins in year
in the NFL, you're gonna make a lot of money,
(08:08):
which he did. Madden did this though during fourteen game seasons.
They didn't go to the sixteen game season until after
John Madden retired. Now it's a seventeen game season. Madden
average basically ten three, ten and three and there seven
ties in her every year as a Raiders coach. As
(08:29):
a matter of fact, he basically won three out of
four games he ever coached in the Nashville Football League.
Madden also coached in an era where there are a
lot of head coaches that made made into the Hall
of Fame. John Madden won sixty seven percent of his
games versus other Hall of Fame coaches. And oh, by
the way, John Madden never had a losing season. Now
(08:55):
you know, I think you'd agree both Bilichick and Nick
Saban or Hall of Fame coaches, they went. They in
against each other twice while Saban was in the NFL,
and they were actually one on one. So imagine every
time you're you're across the sideline, you look across the
sideline at another NFL Hall of Fame coach and you
you're beating them. Almost seven times out of ten of
(09:16):
his games. As I mentioned, he won one Super Bowl,
made Super Bowl eleven. They destroyed the Minnesota Vikings that
day thirty two to fourteen. The game is at the
Rose Bowl. And in Madden's ten seasons, he went to
six an FC title games. He also reached the a
f L Championship game in his first season, and this
was before the merger. Madden, to this day still has
(09:40):
the highest winning percentage among coaches with over a hundred wins.
And that's why he's in the Hall of Fame. He's
in the Hall of Fame as a coach. He was
a good football player in his day, played at count
Poly San Lucibis Bow was drafted into the NFL and
hurt his knee, but went into coaching. Now, why was
John Madden so brilliant? Well, we'd have to take four
hours to describe of that. But if I capsualize that.
(10:02):
It's basically that if you signs up John Madden at
the end of the day, he was an incredibly keen observer.
He had the ability to see things in people and
see things employer and players and players that he coached
and scouted that they didn't know existed. Meaning he could
look at you, he knew where you were, he knew
what your ceiling was, and he knew how to get
(10:24):
you to your ceiling. And his instincts were impeccable. Madden
was also a genius at reading people and even when
he was their stories, even when he's a young linebackers
coach in the NFL in his twenties, he was recognized
as a guy that was renowned for being able to
explain things incredibly Well, that's not something a lot of
(10:48):
people can do. Uh. He was a word smith in
his own right. He didn't claim to be one of
these guys that used words, but when Madden spoke, he
had an impeccable way of making his words resonate. I'll
tell you who who else? Uh recognize? This was Commissioner
Roger Goodell. In two thousand nine, Roger Goodell tapped John
(11:09):
Madden on the shoulder, and he appointed him in a
special role. He wanted him to be an advisor on
the NFL's Competition and Safety Committee, and and John Madden
was highly effective on that committee. And one story that
that that comes to mind has to do with you
may or may not remember, many many years ago, teams
(11:32):
would line up for a field goal and the defensive
unit would place either a linebacker or a safety or
a corner right behind the nose guard, and their goal
was to try to time the snap and try the
time the execution of the kick to where they'd get
a running start, launched themselves off the back of the
(11:54):
of the nose guard, get get to a point in
the air and try to read the angle of the
kick and blocked the kick and and oftentimes it was effective. Well,
the Competition Committee assembled a group one year and this
was on the agenda as to whether or not they
should address that and whether or not they should keep
it so that it's legal. And so this is way
(12:17):
before zoom calls. But they had a conference call, and
on the conference call, of course, was was John Madden.
So the conversation ensued. They talked about the pros and
cons and as to whether or not to keep it
or policing or what. And all of a sudden, after
about an hour, they realized, well, they hadn't really heard
(12:39):
any compelling arguments, so they were just gonna sort of
sheolve it for now and uh not deal with it.
And finally somebody realized, wait a minute, we've got John
Madden on the line. We haven't even John hasn't even
checked any yet. John. John was an incredibly sure guy.
He wasn't looking to dominate the room or act like
the smartest guy in the room, even though he probably was.
(12:59):
And so when John was called on, John says, all right,
so I think I understand you guys. We're just we're
just not going to change the rule, right, We're just
would you we're not gonna institute a rule, will just
keep everything it is, right. Is that sound right? And
I understand that right? They said, yeah, Athy, that's where
we're at. John, and he says, all right, we'll do
me a favor, call me, call me when someone breaks
their neck. And then what will happen is you'll change
(13:21):
the rule after someone breaks their neck. And you're gonna
ask yourself today, you want to change the rule before
someone breaks their neck, or wouldn't or before they break
their neck, And they all looked at each other and said,
he's right, He's right. This is an incredibly dangerous play.
You can't control how you're gonna land. Not everything good
could happen end up changing it. And as you can
(13:41):
see now that's no longer legal. Well, the truth of
the matter is, think how mad and handled that. He
didn't try to jump in or talk over anybody at
the beginning of the meeting. He didn't try to dominate
or steven or the conversation. He aided this turn at
the end, and he was so highly effective with his
choice of words and his inflection, and he said ability
to make his case that it was a no brainer.
(14:03):
That was John Madden. One other quick story and this
is a humorous one and that and I know it's
true because John told the story on Saturday Night Live
many many years ago. Again one of the many things
John Madden did that he garnered such positive response on.
So there's a story about the Raiders and they were
(14:24):
finishing up a road game and the bus was in
a lot and they did a head count and they
were a short one person and they had figured out
that that person was linebacker Ted Hendricks. Now there's an
old saying, I mean, you've gotta be crazy to play football.
You gotta be crazier to play defense, you gotta be
really crazy to play linebacker. And you really got to
be crazy to play lineback for the Raiders. And after
(14:46):
all that, Ted Hendricks believe he was crazy, very smart, bright,
highly talented linebacker. So they told uh, They told the
team trainer, somebody better go in and UH and and
and get and get Hendricks as the bus is gonna
leave without him. And actually Madden went in there and
he finds him in a stall, leaning over the stall,
(15:07):
staring at the commode, and Madden goes, what the hell
are you doing? Ted? Ted doesn't answer, goes, Ted, asked
you a question. The bus is leaving in one minute.
What are you doing? Tes says, I dropped a quarter
in the toilet. He goes, I don't care about that, Ted.
We gotta go what's wrong with you? And he stood there.
Hendrick stood there in kind of a catatonic state, and
(15:27):
Maddon goes, I'm telling you I'm walking out of here.
We're gonna leave, all said, and Hendricks reach into his pocket,
pulls out a fifty dollar bill, throws it in the toilet.
Man goes, what the hell are you doing? Ted Hendricks goes,
You don't expect me to go in there for only
a quarter, do you? Allegedly true story Madden surrounding himself
with eccentric guys like him and that's why he was
(15:47):
so successful. Later in the show, towards the end of
the evening, we'll bring in the crew get their thoughts
on Madden, and and the next one of the other
luminaries and sports today, Dan Rees and I mean mean
lit sorta Hank Karen. So many wonderful people who let
them contribute to the sports tapestry are no longer with
this courtesy. And these are the types of people that
(16:11):
bring sports to life. So we will we will get
to that, all right. Coming up, we're gonna bring in
a gentleman. Whenever I've had him on, we get more
response from him than any other guest. His name is
Joe Gibbs, good friend of mine, I've known it for
ten years, operates a site called NFL ref Stats. And
why don't you just hear what he's got to say.
I think you're gonna be very interested as to the
(16:34):
data he's accumulated on the certain tenancies you don't like.
Umpires have certain strike zones. And then of course you've
got situations where you've got referees who have a tendency
to call certain files in basketball, Joe's got really good
data on NFL referees, so he'll be joining us in
just a second. That's coming up. I'm Bertie Freda Where
(16:54):
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We are back on Straight out of Vegas, the pregame
show you always wanted. I Bernie Fredder come to you
live from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. This time,
let's welcome and a gentleman you've heard of on these
air waves before. Good friend of mine here in Vegas.
UH runs a site called NFL ref Stats. Say hello
(19:44):
to Joe Gibbs. Joe, happy new your buddy, Bunny, How
you doing good? Before we dive into some specific Week
seventeen matchups in terms of what could be strong officiating angles,
you noted that back on Thanksgiving, a certain he made
a certain statement about the officiating, and since then there's
been a thirty six percent drop in penalties on his team.
(20:08):
Why don't you go, I don't want to steal your thunder,
don't you go ahead and share what happened. That's correct,
and that's certain. Owner is one Mr Jerry Jones of
the Dallas Cowboys, and we remember in the optim off
of the Raiders Cowboys game on Thanksgiving that Jerry came
out and was very critical of officiating, and I remember
mentioning on your show that week. I'll be curious to
see going forward how referees approached Alice well a long behold,
(20:32):
Like you mentioned, dropping penalties against Alice. That's the biggest
drop of any team over that four game span since Thanksgiving.
So the referees, whether they're doing it purposely or subconsciously,
they're not calling as many penalties on the Cowboys since
that game. Um, and you know, you've got a high
profile owner, maybe the highest profile, and we're not coming
(20:54):
out critiquing you. Do you want to throw that defensive
passing appearance flag when it's all if we dont probably
go to hold the plank and the numbers bear that out. Now,
we're gonna talk about that as we get into this
because we've seen a lot of non calls as well.
So Week seventeen now is upon us. We're a little
over ten hours away from kickoff. Uh for a full
(21:16):
slate tomorrow. There was no Thursday game this week, so
you found a couple of strong officiating angles and in fact,
the Dallas Arizona game, UM and in terms of that
crew and then another game the Colts and Raiders, you
found an angle there, go ahead and you got the floor. Yeah,
a couple of them will get back to Dallas. While
we're on that on the topic will they're up against
(21:37):
Arizona tomorrow, and Arizona they're a non disciplined team. They're
actually getting worse progressive, so they can't go on the
exact opposite way to Dallas where they're sort of toppening
up their things as far as penalty goes. UM. But
this crew tomorrow, Scott Novac, and you may remember it
from two weeks ago, the Monday night football Chicago Minnesota
debacle where they'll throwing flags left right and set up. Well,
(21:59):
he's on that game tomorrow with Dallas and Arizona. And
I was running through the numbers, and I try to
match up what teams these penalties teams commit and if
they match up with how a referee emphasizes the games
because they focus on certain infringements. Well, sure enough, the
Cardinals commit pretty much all the key categories that Novak's
(22:22):
crew emphathize, offensive holding, false starts, roughing the pasta. Arizona's
right up the top in all those and Novak's crew
will punish you if if you're not on your game
with those particular infringements. And so so it shakes up
very nicely to morrow the Dallas given the fact that
(22:42):
they're actually getting cold less penalties and that Arizona commits
a ton of penalties that this crewd wants to emphasize.
Now there's the third game here, and this is interesting
because the Chiefs head into Cincinnati and the Chiefs get
to face the Bengals. Obviously, um who currently on the
twenty nine ranked pass defense. And how do I bring
(23:02):
that up? Because John Hussey is on the game and
he has a certain tendency. You've pointed out, Joe, the
Kansas City has been the biggest beneficiary of defensive holding
penalties in the last two years. But John Hussy doesn't
necessarily play that game. Talk about how that might be
a factor tomorrow in Cincinnati. Yeah, a couple of things. Well,
Husky is a good home field advantage referee to begin with.
(23:23):
That helps Cincinnati's cause. But yes, um, the biggest beneficiary
is Kansas City as far as defensive holding, which kind
of makes sense there you got all those guys running
around Hill Kelsey Hartman Um unless tend you know, don't
they call a lot of defensive holding penalties on defenses
against the Chiefs. Well, the Bangles are actually the least
(23:43):
penalized team in the league is year, so Zach Taylor
is obviously doing something right with the same. But Hussy
does not enforce defensive holding calls. He calls the cuist
in the NFL, and he calls the second cuist coast
interference calls. So the Bangles have actually kind of drawn
up pretty would be you know, crew here, whether they
can take advantage of or I don't know, but I'm
(24:04):
just giving you the numbers, and the numbers are that
this crew will let you hold and grab those wide
receivers and gods like Chelsea a tied end. So you
play the referee. Belichick said this, He played the whistle.
You play how they call it. So if the Penguins
have done their homework and they go out there and
maybe grabbing hold a little bit more. With this crew,
(24:24):
they may well get away with it. Talking with Joe
Gibbs of NFL ref Stats, has developed a tremendous amount
of data and referee tendencies. Much like an umpire who
has certain strike zone tendencies or basketball referee who likes
to call files, Joe has has compiled a lot of
the same data for NFL referee final thing. Joe, Look,
(24:46):
we've all been We're all fans at heart, and you
watch a game and no one likes to see a
referee takeover where there's damn near flag every other played
and ruins the ob and flow of the game. It
ruins the product on the field. We all know that.
At the same time, you can't come really let him play,
But we like to see crews that really quote let
them play because it allows the teams on the field
(25:08):
to find their own high water mark. Who are some
of the cruise Joe that really let these teams play. Uh,
there's a handful of them. Just as we mentioned John Hussy,
he generally lets him play. Run Talbot another one. He's
actually eleven and four to the under this year. Run
Talbots crew. He lets him play, don't get me on tomorrow.
Don't mean to put you on the bill Vinefitch, What
are our favorites? Do you know who? You know who
(25:30):
some of these rests are there on tomorrow? Or you
want to let people know the website where they can
find whe the rests are listed. Yeah, I mean that's
all on my Twitter feed. Ben a bitch. I know
off the top of my head he's on the Rams
and the the Ravens. Um I told I might have
a week off. I think that Benevig is on Rams Ravens.
(25:52):
But um yeah, those are the guys that generally let
him play. And the general rule once you get to
the playoffs, which is a couple of weeks away. I
don't know if the NFL found out a memo or not,
but generally the penalties do go down to the playoffs
because I don't want these referees deciding games. But at
the same time they may decide games. Why not calling
(26:12):
a pass an inferience call? Which goes to the point.
Remember a couple of years back with the Rams and
the Saints in the NFC Championships, when there was a
clear pass interference call that the Saints never got that
was Bill Vanovitch, and so he didn't call it, and
then all hell broke loose. So it goes both ways.
People complain when they call it, but then if they
don't call it, they're like, well, why didn't they call it?
(26:34):
So it's a tough job. I suppose, Joel, you do
a great job with this stuff. I think it's important
we get you back on in January when we know
the playoff matchups and we know the crews. All right,
sounds good, donning, all right? That's Joe Gibbs of NFL
ref Stats, for instance. This is the kind of data
he has. If you're looking to bet the Raiders Indianapolis tomorrow,
Brad Rodgers is the referee. He's a ref and that
(26:57):
favors the disciplined home team because he he will call penalties,
and the Raiders are number one in penalties. Meanwhile, the
Cults are very well coached and they're only the number
most penalized team. Just something to look at as you
try to find that edge. Speaking of an edge, more
(27:20):
and more teams are going from for two now than
ever in the history of the NFL after a touchdown.
And when you hear these stats, about the NFL extra
point percentages currently you'll know why. But first let's go
to the man who was very inquisitive the other day.
He wanted to know if if Aaron Andrews married Aaron Rodgers,
(27:43):
would she be Aaron Rodgers. It's Brian Finding with the latest.
Thank you so much, Bernie, and with that lack of
a citement that we witnessed in the National College Football
semifinal games. Whatever we missed as far as the drama
and the heroics and the theatrics, it was all channeled
into the Rose Bowl on Saturday, where number six Ohio
State overcomes number eleven Utah forty to forty five. It
(28:05):
was an offensive explosion in pasaden As. So many records
were broken, including the play of Buck Eyes wide receiver
Jackson Smith in jigba and he had three forty seven
yards receiving and that record right there was the most
anybody has ever had in a bowl game caught in
(28:26):
FBS history. And by the way, C J. Stroud he
broke the Rose Bowl record for passing yards with five
hundred seventy three. Also, number seven Baylor took down number
eight Ole Miss twenty one to seven at the Sugar
Bowl in New Orleans. Now, keep in mind, yeah, the
Bears said ten sacks, but they also took advantage of
Ole Miss losing their presumptive first round NFL draft pick
(28:50):
of a quarterback in Matt Krell. He went down with
an apparent achle injury in the first quarter, and Ole
Miss head coach Lane Kiffin says, the x Rays came
back negative. Then there was no ore nine Oklahoma State,
as they come back and beat number five Notre Dame
thirty five to excuse me, thirty seven to thirty five.
At the Fiesta Bowl, the finding Irish had a twenty
eight to seven lead, and then the Cowboys scored thirty
(29:14):
unanswered points and hang on. In the NBA, the Warriors
topple the Jazz sixteen Steph Curry twenty eight points and
nine assists. Then there was the Nuggets Rockets game. Now,
the outcome is secondary to another story that was brewing,
and it was Rockets assistant coach John Lucas, according to reports,
at the half in the locker room, singling out players
(29:35):
and pointing out and calling out guys like Kevin Porter Jr.
And Christian Wood. Now, this led to Porter Jr. And
Lucas getting into a tiff so much so that Porter Jr.
Said the heck with this. He left the locker room,
went into his car at the half and left the arena,
and the game ended up being a win for Denver oneleven.
(29:57):
There was also a victory for the Clippers over the
Nets sixteen l a forty points in the fourth quarter
to Marta Rosen a game winning three for the Bulls
as they win a seventh straight and take down the
Wizards one to one nineteen. The Bucks Victoria's so with
the Pelicans one thirteen yards, then to Coompo a triple double,
(30:18):
and finally, as we get ready for a hectic and
exciting slate of NFL games on Sunday, forty Niners quarterback
Jimmy Garoppolo, according to reports, is not going to play
on Sunday against the Texans with that right thumb injury.
The Niners do hope to have him back for that
final regular season game or when things yeah, that final
(30:38):
regular season finale. If I repeat my words there, but
let's get back to a man in Bernie Fratto, who
was Mr Derbel. Never misses a show, never misses a game.
It's the quarterback of the show, and it is Bernie
in Las Vegas. You know, Brian that debackle in Houston.
I understand. There was also another event where Chris Wood
was asked to go back in the game. Yes, you
(31:00):
know if you starred, refused to go in. Yes. And
it's funny because I got a text about an hour
ago from Miss Kyle Ready. He says, I cannot believe
that dumb asked Chris would refused to go back in
the game. I would never do that. He should be
fired on the spot, signed Scottie Pippen. Can you believe that? Oh, Bernie?
(31:21):
It's almost as funny as the new NFL extra point stats,
which isn't funny anymore. You know, back in uh in
two thousand fifty in the NFL moved the extra point
attempt if you're kicking it from the two yards of
the fifteen yard line right thirteen little yards, but essentially
(31:43):
turned what had been a sure thing at that point.
The success rate in the NFL and two thousand and
fourteen on extra points was so what is that? You know,
out of every every thousand kicks they missed seven. So
you know, one year later it dropped five full points
(32:03):
to ninety four. You know what in the wide wide
world of sports is going on here in the NFL
hadn't been that low since nineteen seventy nine. And and
the NFL went through something like this back in nineteen
seventy four. And what happened then If you see some
of the old tiny highlight films, the goal posts used
(32:24):
to be flushed with the goal line, and you know,
guys would run into the polls and knock each other silly.
And that was way before ct s and concussions and
all that. I mean, they literally played that way for
forty years. But they decided, you know, maybe we should
move the goal posts back ten yards so nobody kills themselves. Well,
when they did that in nineteen seventy four, there was
(32:44):
a pretty significant drop off because prior to that, what
was basically a twenty point or a twenty yard extra point.
You know, you snapped the ball from the three, it
goes to the ten and the goal post ten yards back,
so it's the twenty yard extra point. They started missing
him again. I think it's psychological when with kickers line
up to kick a thirty two yard field goal, it
(33:05):
seems like it's just about automatic. But there's something about
the extra point. There's a dynamic to it to where
it's supposed to be automatic. Announced a thirty two yard
field goal from the hash and excuse me, I think
kickers they have this sort of sense of self induced
pressure and it's just not the same. The numbers bear
(33:27):
that out, just like it did back in vour. I
mean field goal, field goals are check that extra points
fell all the way to ninety point nine percent in
nine seventy six. They continue to fall. Finally they steadily
rows and it took many, many years, but all the
way back up to again n the minute they changed
(33:50):
that rule ninety ninety four four all the way down
to last year in one. This is something that I
think plagues teams, and you're seeing more and more teams
willing to go for it on on, you know, after
the go for to excuse me, after a touchdown. Look
(34:12):
what Bill Belichick did in that weather game the night
Mac Jones only through three passes he scores a touchdown.
I went four or two on the first touchdown and
made it eight nothing. So now not all teams, by
the way, are participating. If you must know, believe it
or not, there are five teams that haven't missed an
extra point this year, the Bills, the Eagles, the Ravens,
(34:33):
the Falcons, and the New York Giants. Of all teams, however,
there are five teams that are actually under eight. Now
that's dramatic, Okay, that my goodness. You're when you when
you're down to eight, you're missing one out of every six.
That's brutal. And those points add up one team. The Texans,
(34:53):
the Jaguars, the Chargers, the Saints, and the Jets. Chargers
there are a team that should make the playoffs. I
would just say this, there's no I have a reason
to it. All I know is these numbers don't lie.
And I gotta tell you. Moving that uh, moving that
(35:13):
distance bat is actually added some excitement into what had
become I think a pretty dull moribunt aspect of the game.
You're line up for the extra point. You know you
can go to the kitchen and make yourself a sandwich,
or go do what you do, uh, take a break
and come back. But not not so much anymore, Not
so much anymore so one of those things where I
(35:35):
will be curious to see if and when and how
it's corrected. Or maybe we're just into this new NFL
where it's all analytics anyway, and they'd rather go for
two and you do the math on that. Maybe over
time you come out ahead, or I don't know, my
head spins when I start to overthink this kind of
stuff real quickly. Just to summarize some of the things
that Joel Gibbs said from NFL refs stats, there's a
(35:59):
matchup tomorrow Kansas City, Uh you know, check that it's
in Cincinnati. Kansas City visits Cincinnati. The referee is John Hussey,
and Joe has pointed out that John Hussey is an
excellent home field advantage ref over his career and that
certainly is holding up this year in the Bengals are
getting four and a half points. The key note is
(36:20):
that Cincinnati is the least penalized team in and Husky's
crew calls the fifth fewest penalties. So you may see
Cincinnati get the benefit of the doubt as some of
those Chief's wide receivers rome in the secondary, and they're
probably gonna need it because the Chiefs will be facing
a team in Cincinnati that their defense, uh is the
(36:42):
past defense is twenty nine. I don't know what happened
in the Arizona Cardinals are on the side of a
milk carton. But they faced you know, Dallas tomorrow. Uh.
They're tied number two in the NFL for false start penalties. Uh,
Scott Novak is number one and causing calling this number eight.
In in offense of holding, Scott Novak is number four
(37:03):
in the league and calling offensive holding, and Cardinals are
number one and roughing the pastor lack of discipline. Scott
Novak is tied for number three in this. These are
three key categories at all impact. Um, they don't really
I think really impact the Arizona Cardinals tomorrow. And the
Cardinals are gonna make the playoffs. But what was almost
(37:24):
assuredly at least one home game and possibly three weeks ago,
they look like they could be the number one seed.
Now they're looking like they're going to be spending their
life on the road. Uh when the playoffs starts. Uh.
Go to Joe's Twitter page at NFL ref stats one
and he put out a tweet December twenty nine, Okay,
(37:45):
a couple of days ago. He has the week seventeen
NFL assignments and sometimes they do manage you know, they
do matter. Uh, when it comes to handicapping a game.
I said, the best analogy I can give, and I
have used it before, is that if you are betting
a baseball game, and you know and unders an umpire
(38:07):
has a very liberal strike zone, and you've got a
picture that can really deal right, You're, you're, you're, you
know in Max Scherzer's on the mound, you're gonna be
more more likely to look at that under. And then
you know there's stats on that too. What percentage of
umpires are their games go under? What percentage go over?
What percentage? You know, does the road team win, the
(38:28):
home team win? Those those exist to another in other universes.
Joe's compiling the same thing here with the NFL, because
we are seeing patterns. And you tell me if it's
a coincidence. After that Thanksgiving game against the Raiders in
which the Cowboys lost, Jerry Jones, it's my understanding, he complained,
And thirty six less uh penalties have been called on
(38:50):
the Cowboys now since then? Coincidence? I think? Not? Alright?
Coming up, who are the two teams the Pros like tomorrow?
And uh, if you quite you know whether the Chiefs
are really back or not. I'm gonna give you some
pretty damning evidence. Yeah, they're back, whether you like it
or not. It looks like the road to the Super
Bowl in the a f C. He's gonna go through
Kansas City barring something odd. But there's still two weeks left.
(39:13):
Im Bernie Fratto or come to your live from the
Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. This is the pregame
show you always wanted, So don't go away. You're listening
to Straight out of Vegas, one of the best in
the business, Bernie Fratto. All right, back on Straight out
of Vegas, the pregame show you always wanted. I'm Bernie Fratto,
come to you live from the Las Vegas Fox Sports
(39:34):
Radio Studios. Before I go any further, I want to
thank my broadcast team back in Los Angeles, turning all
the dials, keeping its glue together. Chris Profet, Bowl Benson
and Brian uh Friendly on the updates. All right, I
want to pay off the tease the Kansas City Chiefs
in case you missed it. Alright, the first seven weeks
they were three and four, but rumors are their demise
are greatly exaggerated. Well, the first seven weeks, their turnover
(39:57):
margin was minus ten. The last eight week their eight no,
their turnover margin is plus thirteen. We're not seeing any
more of those goofy Patrick Mahomes dipsy doodle passes. The
opponents were scoring twenty nine points per game against Kansas
Dude the first seven weeks. They're now Chiefs only allowing
about twelve point nine points per game. The defensive ep
(40:18):
A rank for the Chiefs in mid October was twenty nine,
now their third. The Chiefs look very good again, and
uh if they get to if they get the W
two mont since Naty, where they're facing a twenty nine
ranked past defense, they're gonna be pretty tough to ace
out for the home field advantage throughout the playoffs they do.
(40:39):
Tennessee does have the tiebreaker against them, but Tennessee also
has one more loss. One of the games of pros
like tomorrow that I think is really under the radar,
it's shrewd. The Eagles are laying four or four and
a half at Washington. The Eagles have won five or six.
They won the stats battle in all six games. Meanwhile,
Washington only two and it against the spread in their
(41:01):
last ten divisional games. This is a I think you're
gonna see a gritty, gutty Washington football team tomorrow that's
gonna dig deep and show up and fight for Ron Rivera.
And they are getting points at home. Here's the thing
about the Eagles. Uh. I've always been a Jalen Hurts fan.
I respect him immensely for the way he conducted himself
(41:23):
at Alabama. He had his day in the Sun. I
don't I didn't think he was a legit pro prospect
that Obama. He goes to Oklahoma becomes one, and he's
done enough in the NFL to really garner a lot
of respect. However, in his last six games, Jalen Hurts
his completion percentage he's only that that's good enough for
(41:45):
a twenty six rank in the NFL. Not good. In
his last six games, he's only throwing three touchdown passes
against four interceptions. That's good for a rank in UH
in the NFL, and his penser rating only seventy three
point seven, that ranks my NFL quarterbacks. If Washington can
(42:05):
stack the box, now we know the Eagles are gonna
want to run the ball right. They don't have Miles Sanders,
but they will stick to a run heavy game because
just two weeks ago against Washington it worked. But last
week they did get some confidence. The Eagles did. Hurts
made some downfield throws um against the Giants. The Giants
(42:26):
are not good and they only did that because his
running makes didn't produce. The didn't produce on the ground.
So I like Washington. I think the Pros like Washington
in that game. You look at Pittsburgh catching points at
home against Cleveland tomorrow night or Monday night, and interestingly
enough the dog in that series five and one in
(42:47):
the last six. I get the fielding the Steelers upset them.
Big Ben Roethlisberger in his career, he's owned the Browns. Fact,
he's twenty five two and one against the brown Hands
in his career, throwing forty two touchdowns twenty two interceptions,
passer rating of point two. I have a I do
(43:09):
not trust the Browns DNA in a in a game
like this, I just simply don't. And another factor in
this game, Mike Tomlin has a way of getting his
teams up when they have had a week, a terrible
week the week before the Steve you know, as a
matter of fact, in his career Tomlin is six and
oh against the spread when coming off a loss and
(43:30):
surrendering thirty five points or more the week before. Also,
there's gonna be some emotion in hines Field on Monday night.
This is most likely going to be Ben big Ben's
last regular season game in hines Field. And not for nothing.
Both the Steelers and the Browns have a shot, believe
it or not, winning the n f C North, especially
with the two teams in front of them, the Bengals
(43:52):
they gotta beat the Chiefs and the Ravens. They're gonna
have to beat the Ramps. They're gonna have their hands full.
So again, Roethlisberger two and one against and against Cleveland
and his career, and I think Pittsburgh is still capable
of grinding out a game, so you can never really
write them off. And uh I will be a fun
Monday night game to watch, all right, that's gonna do
it for straight out of Vegas. Keep it locked right here,
(44:14):
coming up, Fox Sports Sunday. I'm Bernie Fratto. This is
Fox Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. Coming up. Keep
it locked. Look, Valentine's Day is almost here, and you
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you by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council.
Four teams remain in the NFL playoffs, and that means
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diabetes treatment decisions down. This is straight out of Vegas.
(01:51):
With the voice of Vegas your host r J Men's Money.
You are now about to witness to Stress of the Street.
Knowledge from the biggest strip the pregame show America has
always wanted. Here's Bernie freddo Well in a world of problems.
(02:12):
We've got solutions. And in a world of questions, we've
got answers. And let me begin by wishing everyone a
happy new year, and here's to a prosperous and in
our complex world, there are objective truths, there are personal feelings.
Our job tonight and every night is to make sure
you don't confuse the two. And if you watch that
(02:35):
rolls bowl to day once again, you'll see, as I've
said many times before, sports of the greatest reality show invented.
And you can script everything, but the outcome sports are
true reality show. Reality shows are not a reality show.
They're scripted. Well, sports are scripted too. You've got game plans,
you've got schemes and they fall apart, and you can
(02:57):
script everything but the thing. And that's the reality of life.
Asked Bill Buckner, asked Betty White. She was all set
to turn one hundred on January and they're planning a
big party. And I went to a movie today and
they had a big commercial for her party, and uh,
rest her soul. She passed yesterday at the tender age
of had me fool came out of nowhere? It just
(03:20):
gave an interview the other day was vibrant. It's reality.
You can predict everything, but the outcome that's nowhere more
evident than um in the sports world. I'm Bernie Fratto.
We're Comedy Life from Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. Tonight,
we opened by giving a final tribute to the great
John Madden what he meant to the NFL. I've got
(03:41):
a couple of good maddened stories. If you really think
the NFL would be as popular without personalities like John Madden,
well think again. But I think you already know that
there's a lot you know about them. There's probably a
lot you don't. We'll have a little fun with that
here in a minute about fifteen minutes, will be joined
by Joe Gibbs of an NFL ref Stats, who have
an update on all the idiot syncracies and we've witnessed
(04:04):
among NFL referees this year. Uh non calls, bad calls,
odd calls, in inconsistent calls, what to expect in terms
of heading into the playoffs, and some crews that have
established themselves with certain patterns. Joe have that for Uce.
After Brian Finley's update, will follow up on the continuing
(04:25):
saga of the missed extra point to bacle in the NFL.
And finally we'll share who are the most profitable and
least profitable teams to have been on in sports this
last calendar year. A couple of surprises and a couple
of obvious ones sports or entertainment, but they're more than that.
They are shared experience. As such, people want to talk
(04:45):
about them. You've come to the right place. We've got
a lot to talk about tonight. This is straight out
of Vegas, the pregame show you always wanted. And as
they say in Austin, Minnesota, it's gonna be lit. What's
the significance of aust In Minnesota? John Madden was born
in Austin, Minnesota, but you didn't know that. And all
(05:09):
the credibility that John Madden has accrued in his lifetime
stems from the fact that he was a phenomenal coach
and he coached the Raiders to victory over the Vikings
in Super Bowl eleven in January seventy. Game is played
at the Rose Bowl. I was at that game, and
I'll tell you what I'm gonna get into John Mannen's
coaching record in a minute. But the tributes have poured
(05:31):
in and and perhaps none better than Bill Belichick who
said about John Madden, he said, quote, we all inspire
to have a successful career. John Madden has had about
five of them. And there's even a Shakespeare quote that
I think is fitting when it comes to John Madden.
Shakespeare once said, after an individual dies, the evil that
(05:51):
men do lives after them, but the good is often
interred with their bones. Not the same with John Madden.
People remember the good, people remember the personal interactions, and
at the age of eighty five, his name has been
synonymous with football for generations. It's hard to think of
someone more revered in the history of the game and
the randomness just a week ago on December when they
(06:17):
had the All Maddened special on Christmas and three days later,
who knew he'd be gone? And interestingly enough, his larger
than life personality, people actually revere him from the standpoint
of they know him more. For instance, as a broadcaster,
he worked for All More All for a major networks
as a color commentator. He was also the namesake of
(06:39):
the NFL's exclusive video game Men, and a lot of
the younger generations known him purely through the game console
and or the butt light commercials and by simply lending
his name to the Madden game console. He cemented his
legacy decades ago, and and I think John personally made
about fillion dollars. But here's the thing, none of this
(07:02):
really happens if if Madden hadn't been this incredible coach.
And there's a there's a there's a tendency to think
that a lot of successful commentators are only in the
booth because they really couldn't cut it on the sideline.
And actually that's true. Uh, No matter how glib been
funny and cute, Tony Romo is, and Tony Romo he
is a world class athlete. Uh, he's a scratch golfer. Uh,
(07:26):
you know, dunk of basketball. He was a starting quarterback
in the NFL, put up good numbers, but it never
wanted anything. He never did it even it matters, matter
of fact, the only ever, I can't help it, Tony,
every time I think of you, and when it really
mattered you, you botched the hold on the field goal
in Seattle. So Tony's in the booth. Uh. And he
didn't cut it on the field anywhere near the way
(07:47):
that John Madden did. Madden coached ten seasons. It was
a head coach ten seasons in the NFL, as for
the Raiders, only one team. He went a hundred and
three games one oh three, thirty two and seven he
had back then, they had a lot of ties. Now
I'm pretty good at math. That means he averaged ten
wins a year. If you average sen wins in year
in the NFL, you're gonna make a lot of money,
(08:08):
which he did. Madden did this though during fourteen game seasons.
They didn't go to the sixteen game season until after
John Madden retired. Now it's a seventeen game season. Madden
average basically ten three, ten and three and there seven
ties in her every year as a Raiders coach. As
(08:29):
a matter of fact, he basically won three out of
four games he ever coached in the Nashville Football League.
Madden also coached in an era where there are a
lot of head coaches that made made into the Hall
of Fame. John Madden won sixty seven percent of his
games versus other Hall of Fame coaches. And oh, by
the way, John Madden never had a losing season. Now
(08:55):
you know, I think you'd agree both Bilichick and Nick
Saban or Hall of Fame coaches, they went. They in
against each other twice while Saban was in the NFL,
and they were actually one on one. So imagine every
time you're you're across the sideline, you look across the
sideline at another NFL Hall of Fame coach and you
you're beating them. Almost seven times out of ten of
(09:16):
his games. As I mentioned, he won one Super Bowl,
made Super Bowl eleven. They destroyed the Minnesota Vikings that
day thirty two to fourteen. The game is at the
Rose Bowl. And in Madden's ten seasons, he went to
six an FC title games. He also reached the a
f L Championship game in his first season, and this
was before the merger. Madden, to this day still has
(09:40):
the highest winning percentage among coaches with over a hundred wins.
And that's why he's in the Hall of Fame. He's
in the Hall of Fame as a coach. He was
a good football player in his day, played at count
Poly San Lucibis Bow was drafted into the NFL and
hurt his knee, but went into coaching. Now, why was
John Madden so brilliant? Well, we'd have to take four
hours to describe of that. But if I capsualize that.
(10:02):
It's basically that if you signs up John Madden at
the end of the day, he was an incredibly keen observer.
He had the ability to see things in people and
see things employer and players and players that he coached
and scouted that they didn't know existed. Meaning he could
look at you, he knew where you were, he knew
what your ceiling was, and he knew how to get
(10:24):
you to your ceiling. And his instincts were impeccable. Madden
was also a genius at reading people and even when
he was their stories, even when he's a young linebackers
coach in the NFL in his twenties, he was recognized
as a guy that was renowned for being able to
explain things incredibly Well, that's not something a lot of
(10:48):
people can do. Uh. He was a word smith in
his own right. He didn't claim to be one of
these guys that used words, but when Madden spoke, he
had an impeccable way of making his words resonate. I'll
tell you who who else? Uh recognize? This was Commissioner
Roger Goodell. In two thousand nine, Roger Goodell tapped John
(11:09):
Madden on the shoulder, and he appointed him in a
special role. He wanted him to be an advisor on
the NFL's Competition and Safety Committee, and and John Madden
was highly effective on that committee. And one story that
that that comes to mind has to do with you
may or may not remember, many many years ago, teams
(11:32):
would line up for a field goal and the defensive
unit would place either a linebacker or a safety or
a corner right behind the nose guard, and their goal
was to try to time the snap and try the
time the execution of the kick to where they'd get
a running start, launched themselves off the back of the
(11:54):
of the nose guard, get get to a point in
the air and try to read the angle of the
kick and blocked the kick and and oftentimes it was effective. Well,
the Competition Committee assembled a group one year and this
was on the agenda as to whether or not they
should address that and whether or not they should keep
it so that it's legal. And so this is way
(12:17):
before zoom calls. But they had a conference call, and
on the conference call, of course, was was John Madden.
So the conversation ensued. They talked about the pros and
cons and as to whether or not to keep it
or policing or what. And all of a sudden, after
about an hour, they realized, well, they hadn't really heard
(12:39):
any compelling arguments, so they were just gonna sort of
sheolve it for now and uh not deal with it.
And finally somebody realized, wait a minute, we've got John
Madden on the line. We haven't even John hasn't even
checked any yet. John. John was an incredibly sure guy.
He wasn't looking to dominate the room or act like
the smartest guy in the room, even though he probably was.
(12:59):
And so when John was called on, John says, all right,
so I think I understand you guys. We're just we're
just not going to change the rule, right, We're just
would you we're not gonna institute a rule, will just
keep everything it is, right. Is that sound right? And
I understand that right? They said, yeah, Athy, that's where
we're at. John, and he says, all right, we'll do
me a favor, call me, call me when someone breaks
their neck. And then what will happen is you'll change
(13:21):
the rule after someone breaks their neck. And you're gonna
ask yourself today, you want to change the rule before
someone breaks their neck, or wouldn't or before they break
their neck, And they all looked at each other and said,
he's right, He's right. This is an incredibly dangerous play.
You can't control how you're gonna land. Not everything good
could happen end up changing it. And as you can
(13:41):
see now that's no longer legal. Well, the truth of
the matter is, think how mad and handled that. He
didn't try to jump in or talk over anybody at
the beginning of the meeting. He didn't try to dominate
or steven or the conversation. He aided this turn at
the end, and he was so highly effective with his
choice of words and his inflection, and he said ability
to make his case that it was a no brainer.
(14:03):
That was John Madden. One other quick story and this
is a humorous one and that and I know it's
true because John told the story on Saturday Night Live
many many years ago. Again one of the many things
John Madden did that he garnered such positive response on.
So there's a story about the Raiders and they were
(14:24):
finishing up a road game and the bus was in
a lot and they did a head count and they
were a short one person and they had figured out
that that person was linebacker Ted Hendricks. Now there's an
old saying, I mean, you've gotta be crazy to play football.
You gotta be crazier to play defense, you gotta be
really crazy to play linebacker. And you really got to
be crazy to play lineback for the Raiders. And after
(14:46):
all that, Ted Hendricks believe he was crazy, very smart, bright,
highly talented linebacker. So they told uh, They told the
team trainer, somebody better go in and UH and and
and get and get Hendricks as the bus is gonna
leave without him. And actually Madden went in there and
he finds him in a stall, leaning over the stall,
(15:07):
staring at the commode, and Madden goes, what the hell
are you doing? Ted? Ted doesn't answer, goes, Ted, asked
you a question. The bus is leaving in one minute.
What are you doing? Tes says, I dropped a quarter
in the toilet. He goes, I don't care about that, Ted.
We gotta go what's wrong with you? And he stood there.
Hendrick stood there in kind of a catatonic state, and
(15:27):
Maddon goes, I'm telling you I'm walking out of here.
We're gonna leave, all said, and Hendricks reach into his pocket,
pulls out a fifty dollar bill, throws it in the toilet.
Man goes, what the hell are you doing? Ted Hendricks goes,
You don't expect me to go in there for only
a quarter, do you? Allegedly true story Madden surrounding himself
with eccentric guys like him and that's why he was
(15:47):
so successful. Later in the show, towards the end of
the evening, we'll bring in the crew get their thoughts
on Madden, and and the next one of the other
luminaries and sports today, Dan Rees and I mean mean
lit sorta Hank Karen. So many wonderful people who let
them contribute to the sports tapestry are no longer with
this courtesy. And these are the types of people that
(16:11):
bring sports to life. So we will we will get
to that, all right. Coming up, we're gonna bring in
a gentleman. Whenever I've had him on, we get more
response from him than any other guest. His name is
Joe Gibbs, good friend of mine, I've known it for
ten years, operates a site called NFL ref Stats. And
why don't you just hear what he's got to say.
I think you're gonna be very interested as to the
(16:34):
data he's accumulated on the certain tenancies you don't like.
Umpires have certain strike zones. And then of course you've
got situations where you've got referees who have a tendency
to call certain files in basketball, Joe's got really good
data on NFL referees, so he'll be joining us in
just a second. That's coming up. I'm Bertie Freda Where
(16:54):
Company Alive from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios.
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by the United States Forest Service and the Council. We're back.
We are back on Straight out of Vegas, the pregame
show you always wanted. I Bernie Fredder come to you
live from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. This time,
let's welcome and a gentleman you've heard of on these
air waves before. Good friend of mine here in Vegas.
UH runs a site called NFL ref Stats. Say hello
(19:44):
to Joe Gibbs. Joe, happy new your buddy, Bunny, How
you doing good? Before we dive into some specific Week
seventeen matchups in terms of what could be strong officiating angles,
you noted that back on Thanksgiving, a certain he made
a certain statement about the officiating, and since then there's
been a thirty six percent drop in penalties on his team.
(20:08):
Why don't you go, I don't want to steal your thunder,
don't you go ahead and share what happened. That's correct,
and that's certain. Owner is one Mr Jerry Jones of
the Dallas Cowboys, and we remember in the optim off
of the Raiders Cowboys game on Thanksgiving that Jerry came
out and was very critical of officiating, and I remember
mentioning on your show that week. I'll be curious to
see going forward how referees approached Alice well a long behold,
(20:32):
Like you mentioned, dropping penalties against Alice. That's the biggest
drop of any team over that four game span since Thanksgiving.
So the referees, whether they're doing it purposely or subconsciously,
they're not calling as many penalties on the Cowboys since
that game. Um, and you know, you've got a high
profile owner, maybe the highest profile, and we're not coming
(20:54):
out critiquing you. Do you want to throw that defensive
passing appearance flag when it's all if we dont probably
go to hold the plank and the numbers bear that out. Now,
we're gonna talk about that as we get into this
because we've seen a lot of non calls as well.
So Week seventeen now is upon us. We're a little
over ten hours away from kickoff. Uh for a full
(21:16):
slate tomorrow. There was no Thursday game this week, so
you found a couple of strong officiating angles and in fact,
the Dallas Arizona game, UM and in terms of that
crew and then another game the Colts and Raiders, you
found an angle there, go ahead and you got the floor. Yeah,
a couple of them will get back to Dallas. While
we're on that on the topic will they're up against
(21:37):
Arizona tomorrow, and Arizona they're a non disciplined team. They're
actually getting worse progressive, so they can't go on the
exact opposite way to Dallas where they're sort of toppening
up their things as far as penalty goes. UM. But
this crew tomorrow, Scott Novac, and you may remember it
from two weeks ago, the Monday night football Chicago Minnesota
debacle where they'll throwing flags left right and set up. Well,
(21:59):
he's on that game tomorrow with Dallas and Arizona. And
I was running through the numbers, and I try to
match up what teams these penalties teams commit and if
they match up with how a referee emphasizes the games
because they focus on certain infringements. Well, sure enough, the
Cardinals commit pretty much all the key categories that Novak's
(22:22):
crew emphathize, offensive holding, false starts, roughing the pasta. Arizona's
right up the top in all those and Novak's crew
will punish you if if you're not on your game
with those particular infringements. And so so it shakes up
very nicely to morrow the Dallas given the fact that
(22:42):
they're actually getting cold less penalties and that Arizona commits
a ton of penalties that this crewd wants to emphasize.
Now there's the third game here, and this is interesting
because the Chiefs head into Cincinnati and the Chiefs get
to face the Bengals. Obviously, um who currently on the
twenty nine ranked pass defense. And how do I bring
(23:02):
that up? Because John Hussey is on the game and
he has a certain tendency. You've pointed out, Joe, the
Kansas City has been the biggest beneficiary of defensive holding
penalties in the last two years. But John Hussy doesn't
necessarily play that game. Talk about how that might be
a factor tomorrow in Cincinnati. Yeah, a couple of things. Well,
Husky is a good home field advantage referee to begin with.
(23:23):
That helps Cincinnati's cause. But yes, um, the biggest beneficiary
is Kansas City as far as defensive holding, which kind
of makes sense there you got all those guys running
around Hill Kelsey Hartman Um unless tend you know, don't
they call a lot of defensive holding penalties on defenses
against the Chiefs. Well, the Bangles are actually the least
(23:43):
penalized team in the league is year, so Zach Taylor
is obviously doing something right with the same. But Hussy
does not enforce defensive holding calls. He calls the cuist
in the NFL, and he calls the second cuist coast
interference calls. So the Bangles have actually kind of drawn
up pretty would be you know, crew here, whether they
can take advantage of or I don't know, but I'm
(24:04):
just giving you the numbers, and the numbers are that
this crew will let you hold and grab those wide
receivers and gods like Chelsea a tied end. So you
play the referee. Belichick said this, He played the whistle.
You play how they call it. So if the Penguins
have done their homework and they go out there and
maybe grabbing hold a little bit more. With this crew,
(24:24):
they may well get away with it. Talking with Joe
Gibbs of NFL ref Stats, has developed a tremendous amount
of data and referee tendencies. Much like an umpire who
has certain strike zone tendencies or basketball referee who likes
to call files, Joe has has compiled a lot of
the same data for NFL referee final thing. Joe, Look,
(24:46):
we've all been We're all fans at heart, and you
watch a game and no one likes to see a
referee takeover where there's damn near flag every other played
and ruins the ob and flow of the game. It
ruins the product on the field. We all know that.
At the same time, you can't come really let him play,
But we like to see crews that really quote let
them play because it allows the teams on the field
(25:08):
to find their own high water mark. Who are some
of the cruise Joe that really let these teams play. Uh,
there's a handful of them. Just as we mentioned John Hussy,
he generally lets him play. Run Talbot another one. He's
actually eleven and four to the under this year. Run
Talbots crew. He lets him play, don't get me on tomorrow.
Don't mean to put you on the bill Vinefitch, What
are our favorites? Do you know who? You know who
(25:30):
some of these rests are there on tomorrow? Or you
want to let people know the website where they can
find whe the rests are listed. Yeah, I mean that's
all on my Twitter feed. Ben a bitch. I know
off the top of my head he's on the Rams
and the the Ravens. Um I told I might have
a week off. I think that Benevig is on Rams Ravens.
(25:52):
But um yeah, those are the guys that generally let
him play. And the general rule once you get to
the playoffs, which is a couple of weeks away. I
don't know if the NFL found out a memo or not,
but generally the penalties do go down to the playoffs
because I don't want these referees deciding games. But at
the same time they may decide games. Why not calling
(26:12):
a pass an inferience call? Which goes to the point.
Remember a couple of years back with the Rams and
the Saints in the NFC Championships, when there was a
clear pass interference call that the Saints never got that
was Bill Vanovitch, and so he didn't call it, and
then all hell broke loose. So it goes both ways.
People complain when they call it, but then if they
don't call it, they're like, well, why didn't they call it?
(26:34):
So it's a tough job. I suppose, Joel, you do
a great job with this stuff. I think it's important
we get you back on in January when we know
the playoff matchups and we know the crews. All right,
sounds good, donning, all right? That's Joe Gibbs of NFL
ref Stats, for instance. This is the kind of data
he has. If you're looking to bet the Raiders Indianapolis tomorrow,
Brad Rodgers is the referee. He's a ref and that
(26:57):
favors the disciplined home team because he he will call penalties,
and the Raiders are number one in penalties. Meanwhile, the
Cults are very well coached and they're only the number
most penalized team. Just something to look at as you
try to find that edge. Speaking of an edge, more
(27:20):
and more teams are going from for two now than
ever in the history of the NFL after a touchdown.
And when you hear these stats, about the NFL extra
point percentages currently you'll know why. But first let's go
to the man who was very inquisitive the other day.
He wanted to know if if Aaron Andrews married Aaron Rodgers,
(27:43):
would she be Aaron Rodgers. It's Brian Finding with the latest.
Thank you so much, Bernie, and with that lack of
a citement that we witnessed in the National College Football
semifinal games. Whatever we missed as far as the drama
and the heroics and the theatrics, it was all channeled
into the Rose Bowl on Saturday, where number six Ohio
State overcomes number eleven Utah forty to forty five. It
(28:05):
was an offensive explosion in pasaden As. So many records
were broken, including the play of Buck Eyes wide receiver
Jackson Smith in jigba and he had three forty seven
yards receiving and that record right there was the most
anybody has ever had in a bowl game caught in
(28:26):
FBS history. And by the way, C J. Stroud he
broke the Rose Bowl record for passing yards with five
hundred seventy three. Also, number seven Baylor took down number
eight Ole Miss twenty one to seven at the Sugar
Bowl in New Orleans. Now, keep in mind, yeah, the
Bears said ten sacks, but they also took advantage of
Ole Miss losing their presumptive first round NFL draft pick
(28:50):
of a quarterback in Matt Krell. He went down with
an apparent achle injury in the first quarter, and Ole
Miss head coach Lane Kiffin says, the x Rays came
back negative. Then there was no ore nine Oklahoma State,
as they come back and beat number five Notre Dame
thirty five to excuse me, thirty seven to thirty five.
At the Fiesta Bowl, the finding Irish had a twenty
eight to seven lead, and then the Cowboys scored thirty
(29:14):
unanswered points and hang on. In the NBA, the Warriors
topple the Jazz sixteen Steph Curry twenty eight points and
nine assists. Then there was the Nuggets Rockets game. Now,
the outcome is secondary to another story that was brewing,
and it was Rockets assistant coach John Lucas, according to reports,
at the half in the locker room, singling out players
(29:35):
and pointing out and calling out guys like Kevin Porter Jr.
And Christian Wood. Now, this led to Porter Jr. And
Lucas getting into a tiff so much so that Porter Jr.
Said the heck with this. He left the locker room,
went into his car at the half and left the arena,
and the game ended up being a win for Denver oneleven.
(29:57):
There was also a victory for the Clippers over the
Nets sixteen l a forty points in the fourth quarter
to Marta Rosen a game winning three for the Bulls
as they win a seventh straight and take down the
Wizards one to one nineteen. The Bucks Victoria's so with
the Pelicans one thirteen yards, then to Coompo a triple double,
(30:18):
and finally, as we get ready for a hectic and
exciting slate of NFL games on Sunday, forty Niners quarterback
Jimmy Garoppolo, according to reports, is not going to play
on Sunday against the Texans with that right thumb injury.
The Niners do hope to have him back for that
final regular season game or when things yeah, that final
(30:38):
regular season finale. If I repeat my words there, but
let's get back to a man in Bernie Fratto, who
was Mr Derbel. Never misses a show, never misses a game.
It's the quarterback of the show, and it is Bernie
in Las Vegas. You know, Brian that debackle in Houston.
I understand. There was also another event where Chris Wood
was asked to go back in the game. Yes, you
(31:00):
know if you starred, refused to go in. Yes. And
it's funny because I got a text about an hour
ago from Miss Kyle Ready. He says, I cannot believe
that dumb asked Chris would refused to go back in
the game. I would never do that. He should be
fired on the spot, signed Scottie Pippen. Can you believe that? Oh, Bernie?
(31:21):
It's almost as funny as the new NFL extra point stats,
which isn't funny anymore. You know, back in uh in
two thousand fifty in the NFL moved the extra point
attempt if you're kicking it from the two yards of
the fifteen yard line right thirteen little yards, but essentially
(31:43):
turned what had been a sure thing at that point.
The success rate in the NFL and two thousand and
fourteen on extra points was so what is that? You know,
out of every every thousand kicks they missed seven. So
you know, one year later it dropped five full points
(32:03):
to ninety four. You know what in the wide wide
world of sports is going on here in the NFL
hadn't been that low since nineteen seventy nine. And and
the NFL went through something like this back in nineteen
seventy four. And what happened then If you see some
of the old tiny highlight films, the goal posts used
(32:24):
to be flushed with the goal line, and you know,
guys would run into the polls and knock each other silly.
And that was way before ct s and concussions and
all that. I mean, they literally played that way for
forty years. But they decided, you know, maybe we should
move the goal posts back ten yards so nobody kills themselves. Well,
when they did that in nineteen seventy four, there was
(32:44):
a pretty significant drop off because prior to that, what
was basically a twenty point or a twenty yard extra point.
You know, you snapped the ball from the three, it
goes to the ten and the goal post ten yards back,
so it's the twenty yard extra point. They started missing
him again. I think it's psychological when with kickers line
up to kick a thirty two yard field goal, it
(33:05):
seems like it's just about automatic. But there's something about
the extra point. There's a dynamic to it to where
it's supposed to be automatic. Announced a thirty two yard
field goal from the hash and excuse me, I think
kickers they have this sort of sense of self induced
pressure and it's just not the same. The numbers bear
(33:27):
that out, just like it did back in vour. I
mean field goal, field goals are check that extra points
fell all the way to ninety point nine percent in
nine seventy six. They continue to fall. Finally they steadily
rows and it took many, many years, but all the
way back up to again n the minute they changed
(33:50):
that rule ninety ninety four four all the way down
to last year in one. This is something that I
think plagues teams, and you're seeing more and more teams
willing to go for it on on, you know, after
the go for to excuse me, after a touchdown. Look
(34:12):
what Bill Belichick did in that weather game the night
Mac Jones only through three passes he scores a touchdown.
I went four or two on the first touchdown and
made it eight nothing. So now not all teams, by
the way, are participating. If you must know, believe it
or not, there are five teams that haven't missed an
extra point this year, the Bills, the Eagles, the Ravens,
(34:33):
the Falcons, and the New York Giants. Of all teams, however,
there are five teams that are actually under eight. Now
that's dramatic, Okay, that my goodness. You're when you when
you're down to eight, you're missing one out of every six.
That's brutal. And those points add up one team. The Texans,
(34:53):
the Jaguars, the Chargers, the Saints, and the Jets. Chargers
there are a team that should make the playoffs. I
would just say this, there's no I have a reason
to it. All I know is these numbers don't lie.
And I gotta tell you. Moving that uh, moving that
(35:13):
distance bat is actually added some excitement into what had
become I think a pretty dull moribunt aspect of the game.
You're line up for the extra point. You know you
can go to the kitchen and make yourself a sandwich,
or go do what you do, uh, take a break
and come back. But not not so much anymore, Not
so much anymore so one of those things where I
(35:35):
will be curious to see if and when and how
it's corrected. Or maybe we're just into this new NFL
where it's all analytics anyway, and they'd rather go for
two and you do the math on that. Maybe over
time you come out ahead, or I don't know, my
head spins when I start to overthink this kind of
stuff real quickly. Just to summarize some of the things
that Joel Gibbs said from NFL refs stats, there's a
(35:59):
matchup tomorrow Kansas City, Uh you know, check that it's
in Cincinnati. Kansas City visits Cincinnati. The referee is John Hussey,
and Joe has pointed out that John Hussey is an
excellent home field advantage ref over his career and that
certainly is holding up this year in the Bengals are
getting four and a half points. The key note is
(36:20):
that Cincinnati is the least penalized team in and Husky's
crew calls the fifth fewest penalties. So you may see
Cincinnati get the benefit of the doubt as some of
those Chief's wide receivers rome in the secondary, and they're
probably gonna need it because the Chiefs will be facing
a team in Cincinnati that their defense, uh is the
(36:42):
past defense is twenty nine. I don't know what happened
in the Arizona Cardinals are on the side of a
milk carton. But they faced you know, Dallas tomorrow. Uh.
They're tied number two in the NFL for false start penalties. Uh,
Scott Novak is number one and causing calling this number eight.
In in offense of holding, Scott Novak is number four
(37:03):
in the league and calling offensive holding, and Cardinals are
number one and roughing the pastor lack of discipline. Scott
Novak is tied for number three in this. These are
three key categories at all impact. Um, they don't really
I think really impact the Arizona Cardinals tomorrow. And the
Cardinals are gonna make the playoffs. But what was almost
(37:24):
assuredly at least one home game and possibly three weeks ago,
they look like they could be the number one seed.
Now they're looking like they're going to be spending their
life on the road. Uh when the playoffs starts. Uh.
Go to Joe's Twitter page at NFL ref stats one
and he put out a tweet December twenty nine, Okay,
(37:45):
a couple of days ago. He has the week seventeen
NFL assignments and sometimes they do manage you know, they
do matter. Uh, when it comes to handicapping a game.
I said, the best analogy I can give, and I
have used it before, is that if you are betting
a baseball game, and you know and unders an umpire
(38:07):
has a very liberal strike zone, and you've got a
picture that can really deal right, You're, you're, you're, you
know in Max Scherzer's on the mound, you're gonna be
more more likely to look at that under. And then
you know there's stats on that too. What percentage of
umpires are their games go under? What percentage go over?
What percentage? You know, does the road team win, the
(38:28):
home team win? Those those exist to another in other universes.
Joe's compiling the same thing here with the NFL, because
we are seeing patterns. And you tell me if it's
a coincidence. After that Thanksgiving game against the Raiders in
which the Cowboys lost, Jerry Jones, it's my understanding, he complained,
And thirty six less uh penalties have been called on
(38:50):
the Cowboys now since then? Coincidence? I think? Not? Alright?
Coming up, who are the two teams the Pros like tomorrow?
And uh, if you quite you know whether the Chiefs
are really back or not. I'm gonna give you some
pretty damning evidence. Yeah, they're back, whether you like it
or not. It looks like the road to the Super
Bowl in the a f C. He's gonna go through
Kansas City barring something odd. But there's still two weeks left.
(39:13):
Im Bernie Fratto or come to your live from the
Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Studios. This is the pregame
show you always wanted, So don't go away. You're listening
to Straight out of Vegas, one of the best in
the business, Bernie Fratto. All right, back on Straight out
of Vegas, the pregame show you always wanted. I'm Bernie Fratto,
come to you live from the Las Vegas Fox Sports
(39:34):
Radio Studios. Before I go any further, I want to
thank my broadcast team back in Los Angeles, turning all
the dials, keeping its glue together. Chris Profet, Bowl Benson
and Brian uh Friendly on the updates. All right, I
want to pay off the tease the Kansas City Chiefs
in case you missed it. Alright, the first seven weeks
they were three and four, but rumors are their demise
are greatly exaggerated. Well, the first seven weeks, their turnover
(39:57):
margin was minus ten. The last eight week their eight no,
their turnover margin is plus thirteen. We're not seeing any
more of those goofy Patrick Mahomes dipsy doodle passes. The
opponents were scoring twenty nine points per game against Kansas
Dude the first seven weeks. They're now Chiefs only allowing
about twelve point nine points per game. The defensive ep
(40:18):
A rank for the Chiefs in mid October was twenty nine,
now their third. The Chiefs look very good again, and
uh if they get to if they get the W
two mont since Naty, where they're facing a twenty nine
ranked past defense, they're gonna be pretty tough to ace
out for the home field advantage throughout the playoffs they do.
(40:39):
Tennessee does have the tiebreaker against them, but Tennessee also
has one more loss. One of the games of pros
like tomorrow that I think is really under the radar,
it's shrewd. The Eagles are laying four or four and
a half at Washington. The Eagles have won five or six.
They won the stats battle in all six games. Meanwhile,
Washington only two and it against the spread in their
(41:01):
last ten divisional games. This is a I think you're
gonna see a gritty, gutty Washington football team tomorrow that's
gonna dig deep and show up and fight for Ron Rivera.
And they are getting points at home. Here's the thing
about the Eagles. Uh. I've always been a Jalen Hurts fan.
I respect him immensely for the way he conducted himself
(41:23):
at Alabama. He had his day in the Sun. I
don't I didn't think he was a legit pro prospect
that Obama. He goes to Oklahoma becomes one, and he's
done enough in the NFL to really garner a lot
of respect. However, in his last six games, Jalen Hurts
his completion percentage he's only that that's good enough for
(41:45):
a twenty six rank in the NFL. Not good. In
his last six games, he's only throwing three touchdown passes
against four interceptions. That's good for a rank in UH
in the NFL, and his penser rating only seventy three
point seven, that ranks my NFL quarterbacks. If Washington can
(42:05):
stack the box, now we know the Eagles are gonna
want to run the ball right. They don't have Miles Sanders,
but they will stick to a run heavy game because
just two weeks ago against Washington it worked. But last
week they did get some confidence. The Eagles did. Hurts
made some downfield throws um against the Giants. The Giants
(42:26):
are not good and they only did that because his
running makes didn't produce. The didn't produce on the ground.
So I like Washington. I think the Pros like Washington
in that game. You look at Pittsburgh catching points at
home against Cleveland tomorrow night or Monday night, and interestingly
enough the dog in that series five and one in
(42:47):
the last six. I get the fielding the Steelers upset them.
Big Ben Roethlisberger in his career, he's owned the Browns. Fact,
he's twenty five two and one against the brown Hands
in his career, throwing forty two touchdowns twenty two interceptions,
passer rating of point two. I have a I do
(43:09):
not trust the Browns DNA in a in a game
like this, I just simply don't. And another factor in
this game, Mike Tomlin has a way of getting his
teams up when they have had a week, a terrible
week the week before the Steve you know, as a
matter of fact, in his career Tomlin is six and
oh against the spread when coming off a loss and
(43:30):
surrendering thirty five points or more the week before. Also,
there's gonna be some emotion in hines Field on Monday night.
This is most likely going to be Ben big Ben's
last regular season game in hines Field. And not for nothing.
Both the Steelers and the Browns have a shot, believe
it or not, winning the n f C North, especially
with the two teams in front of them, the Bengals
(43:52):
they gotta beat the Chiefs and the Ravens. They're gonna
have to beat the Ramps. They're gonna have their hands full.
So again, Roethlisberger two and one against and against Cleveland
and his career, and I think Pittsburgh is still capable
of grinding out a game, so you can never really
write them off. And uh I will be a fun
Monday night game to watch, all right, that's gonna do
it for straight out of Vegas. Keep it locked right here,
(44:14):
coming up, Fox Sports Sunday. I'm Bernie Fratto. This is
Fox Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. Coming up. Keep
it locked. Look, Valentine's Day is almost here, and you
know what that means. It's timed. Luckily, you know what
makes her blush fresh blooms and gifts from pro Flowers.
(44:37):
Head over to pro flowers dot com and use code
Crunch fifteen through February four and get fifteen percent off
all the best blooms and gifts that will really make
your special someone on Valentine's Day. Get fresh this Valentine's
Day with pro Flowers. See website for details. What girls
in the Forest, our imagination, and our family bonds. The
(44:59):
four is closer than you think. Find a forest near
you and discover the forest dot org. Brought to you
by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council.
What grows in the Forest, Our imagination, and our family bonds.
The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
near you and discover the forest dot Org. Brought to
(45:20):
you by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council.
Fox Sports Radio News
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Jonas Knox
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