All Episodes

January 25, 2025 119 mins

Brian Noe, Rich Ohrnberger, and Jared Smith recap Ohio State's win in the National Championship game, last weeks NFL Divisional Round action, look ahead to Sunday's Championship Round games, Jayden Daniels' meteoric rise, and more! Plus, Parlay Platter, Prop It Up, Rapid Fire, and Follow the Money with Seamus Magee! 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You ready to Witnesses football fans, Welcome to the biggest
tailgate party in the nation. That'd be ro Fox Sports
Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by the kick of sports Box.
We're setting you up with the information you need to
watch your team win.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
We're here to break it all down.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
God, this is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented
by Matt mg app. We're live from your tailgate. Here's
Brian Nook, former Penn State All American, Rich Hornberger and
FSR betting analyst Jared Smith.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Oh what is going on? Everybody?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Welcome in here as we get you all set for
Championship Sunday tomorrow and all other good stuff that we
can shoehorn into this broadcast. You know, I'm not even
on the zoom chat just yet, guys, because I don't
want you to see me shed crocodile tears. Over here
is the Irish come oh so close to winning it

(01:09):
all and then come up short. Now now some might
listen to this and they're like, what is this a
freaking guy talking about? They were down thirty one seven?
Come come close, guys, Do we realize how close this was?
After it's really close a cover too. Oh gosh, that's
another story too.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
But after thirty six long years, the Irish the planets
aligned and Notre Dame found itself in a national championship
game and they were down by one score in the
fourth quarter and it was not to be.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
That's that's rough right there.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
I hate to be the bearer of bad news to
start off this broadcast, but that that's as rough as
it get it.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
It's it rougher, you think, like surviving whatever gauntlet they
survived to get there, or would it would it be
harder if you only got two bites out at the
apple on done? Essentially, what I mean is since expansion,
you know, and the route that Notre Dame took, does

(02:13):
it feel any sweeter knowing that they had a larger
field to contend with just making it there?

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Or are there no moral victories?

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I hear you, Yeah, it was. It's great that they
got there. The future is bright, you know, Marcus Freeman
building a real program. So I hear you're rich, But
I think I think the long journey to almost get
there does make it more painful because right like, think
of all the things that had to align you could

(02:44):
play this game. Going back to the Georgia game, you know, is, hey,
what if Kirby Smart doesn't throw the ball with his
backup quarterback? What if they don't even have their backup quarterback?
What if Notre Dame doesn't have a kickoff return for
a touchdown in that game? And then the whole Penn
State thing is what happens if Riley Leonard wasn't able
to re enter the game when he hit his head

(03:05):
on the on the ground. What if Steve Aanngelly stunk
and they didn't kick a field goal before halftime? What
if your guy Abdul Carter recovers the fumble that he
fell right on time? All these what ifs and they
might not have even gotten in the championship game if
one of those what ifs went the other way. So
that's what makes it difficult too.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, it's it is a good point because football, I
mean literally, the football itself can bounce any direction you know,
and you don't you don't know, And it's so uh,
it's like, it's so funny how over my life playing football,
whether it be in high school collegiately, you fall in
love with this sport. That's so frustrating because you're counting

(03:47):
on so many variables to help you have success that
it seems like when you do have success, there's something
else in the room with you and you know, whatever
you want to call it, the it factor, luck, you know,
if you're religious, maybe divine intervention, whatever it is. When
when you are a national champion, I mean, it means

(04:08):
so many things had to go so right for you.
And you could say, well, of course, so many things
went right for OSU because well, they're the best team
in the country, dang it. And it's like, well, yeah, yes, yes,
maybe maybe that's true, and they have great players. Then
they have an insane payroll now with name, image and likeness, money,
and and and and and.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
But there is a butt there.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
You have to have health, which is you know, there's
a lot of luck involved in that, and like you said,
you have to have the ball bounce the right way
a couple of times along your path. And if you
want to call it lucky, if you want to call it,
if you want to call it uh, the intersection of
you know, when uh uh uh, practice and experience meets

(04:53):
those moments of opportunity. Yeah, sure, but it does feel
like something else has to be in the room with you.
For Notre Dame, it wasn't there night. For Ohio State
it was. And so you get back to the drawing board.
Because every single offseason, every team, whether you were the
one hundred and thirtieth team in college football or if

(05:14):
you were the number one team like Ohio State, you
gotta throw away the last season and start all over again.

Speaker 5 (05:22):
If you were gonna go back in time, and like
before the game started, like time machine, some guy appears,
or me future Jared appears in your presence, and he says,
Notre Dame is gonna win the turnover battle tonight and
they're gonna hold Ohio State to one explosive passing play
the whole game, just one. Would you go back and

(05:44):
bet more on Notre Dame plus eight and a half?
I sure would, yeah, plus eight and a half.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Absolutely, I thought you to bet more on the money line.

Speaker 5 (05:53):
I'd probably add a wager to the money line, but
I mean, if you again, And that's how it played out.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Now.

Speaker 5 (05:59):
Ohio State died dominated yards per play, They won the
success rate battle, they run, they won the havoc battle
on defense, They caused more havoc in the game, but
Notre Dame won the turnover battle and they won the
explosive play battle. They had seven explosive plays to Ohio
State's four in the game.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
They held Ohio.

Speaker 5 (06:17):
State's offense to four explosive plays in the entire game,
three of them on the ground, one of them in
the air, and obviously the one was was the one,
it was the finisher, it was the dagger.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
But that I think Notre Dame played.

Speaker 5 (06:32):
I mean, they played almost the perfect game, Like they
didn't turn it over, they forced Ohio State to turn
it over in a key spot, and they held for
the most part for about fifty eight minutes of the game.
Jeremiah Smith without a take the top off the defense
kind of play, I just I don't know.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
I mean, if you're a Notre.

Speaker 5 (06:53):
Dame fan, bright, I just I think you just got
to tip your cap and say, Ohio State was just
they were the best team all year and the roster
finally grew up in January and you just got to
move on because they I mean, you guys really did
play a game that you had, you had the script
written for you to pull off.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
That.

Speaker 5 (07:13):
Upset with how the numbers played out here, but it
just didn't didn't work out.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, you know, last thing. And I appreciate you guys.
You know, this is therapeutic for me. Got some stuff
to get off my chest over here, you know. But
before we look to championship Sunday and all that good stuff,
if we look back to the championship game last Monday,
it's like it was that first half.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
You know.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Notre Dame had that first drive, took ten minutes, poetic,
right down the field, score a touchdown, went forward on
fourth down a couple of times, I'm like, all right,
we're gonna drive, let's do it. That was a death march. Yeah.
And then the defense they just couldn't get a stop.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
You know.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
It was three straight touchdown drives for Ohio State long drives.
I thought the offense put the defense in a bad
spot because after that first drive, Notre Dame had two
three and a half's. The next drive they had a
holding penalty. It's second and twenty five. That drive is dead,
you know. And then the next drive it was third
and five and they missed timed the shotgun snap and

(08:10):
it hit the tight end in mode.

Speaker 5 (08:12):
That was an uncharacteristic mistake. So is the penalty, the
late the personal foul late in the game. I thought
those were two very uncharacteristic mistakes that Notre Dame made
in that game.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah. And the next thing, you know, you're always preaching
the middle eight, Jared, you had Ohio State, you know,
opening half kickoff in the second half and quin Shawn
Judkins goes, I don't know, seventy ish yards or something
on that long run. Yeah, and you're you're down twenty
eight seven, you know, and had to claw back in it.
But hey, man, at least they clawed back. I'll be

(08:42):
honest with you. When it was thirty one seven, I'm like,
are they gonna get boat raced like they did against
Bama in the Georgia? I was, I didn't get there,
but I was, that's boat when you look up boat
race in the dictionary.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
That's the one the show.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, but I had forty two to fourteen Bama vibes
for a second, and luckily it didn't go there. I
just listen, if you're gonna go down, I'd rather go
down aggressively than cautiously. And to go for the field
goal was just like, guys, what, Oh? Yeah, I hate
it too. Yeah, I didn't know that decision.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, I'm not a fan of pretty losses.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
I understand why teams will do it, like because but
you know, you have a lot of guys on your
roster who are going to be back the next season,
And you know what, I don't like pretty losses, as
I'd never have as a player. I didn't understand it
as a coach. I understand the mentality or the thought process.

(09:38):
But if you're not going for it, if you're not
going for it all, what's the point? Like, it's it's it.
It hurts my soul when I see it, and so
I try to make an argument for it, and every
time I try to I fail at it.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
So, yeah, I agree with you, Brian, just be aggressive.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Did did Marcus explain that after that?

Speaker 3 (09:58):
I don't remember that?

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Explain he did? He did? He was, And listen, I
halfway get it in the moment, because you go back
to that. They have this nice drive. They get down
to about the nine yard line, they run rightly Leonard,
he goes nowhere. They throw it to Mitchell Evans the
tight end, one on one Gronk style, not even close.
Third down, you try to hit great house for a

(10:21):
little you know, fourth and manageable incomplete. So it's three
straight plays and you're thinking, man, are we gonna get
nothing on this drive? And we could cut it to
a thirteen point deficit instead of sixteen, where we don't
have to get two touchdowns to two point conversion. That's
tough to do, it is it is. It's tough to

(10:41):
do that. But man, it's also deflating to fight all
the way down there and to settle for the cautious
route and that doesn't even work out because miss cheter
dot he couldn't have missed the one against Penn State.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
I know he hadn't missed that one was Ainst State
and they want to be made that field.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
No gosh, it's just it's insane. If you're on plus
eight and.

Speaker 5 (11:08):
A half, yeah, listen, that's gambling, right, That's what it's cracks,
So you want to be a gambler.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
That's right. By the way, if you splin, spin it
to the here and now you know, fast forward it.
How about if you lost some Notre Dame plus eight
and a half money? What are you thinking about, Saquon Barkley?
Is this the waiter to uh recoup those lost funds?
Saquon Barkley's rushing prop against Washington is one twenty five
and a half, and it's come down. It's come like

(11:35):
shooting down. It was in the one thirties a couple
of days ago, but one twenty five and a half.
Howre you guys feeling about this?

Speaker 4 (11:42):
Well, if you if you love the Eagles, you don't
hate that number.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
But still one twenty five.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, I hate that number.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
I mean it is I me, you better love the
Eagles because.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
That is nuts.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
I mean yeah, if if they win, and if they
win by you know, a score or two about say
they win and they open up a decent margin, they're
gonna be handing him the football lot.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
And Saquan we know what he does when he gets
the football lot.

Speaker 4 (12:12):
He is a little bit of a feast or famine
back it was, it was even more so in college.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
As he's grown as a professional.

Speaker 4 (12:19):
He knows how to get what yards of play has
available to him.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
But you know he's gonna hit.

Speaker 4 (12:24):
A home run shot like Derrick Henry, like many of
his predecessors, eventually in a game. So it'll be two yards,
three yards, seven yards, nice little pop for ten yards
another two yard game and then all of a sudden,
seventy eight yards in a touchdown. So he's capable. We
all know he's capable. But you better love the Eagles
and have an understanding that they're controlling the clock all

(12:46):
game long. If Saquon's rushing for over one hundred and
twenty five and a half.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, I don't like that number.

Speaker 5 (12:52):
And I liked it last week at won ten because
I thought it was at least palatable.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
I think it w in the one twenties. It's just
such a big number.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (13:01):
Like and don't get me wrong, one fifty against Washington
a couple of weeks ago, right, Like, I mean, he
you know, and that was the loss. That was the
game with Kenny Pickett, so he was relied upon, I
think a little bit more in that game, and they
had a lead in that game. That was a weird game.
I went back and watched that game, you know, the
condensed version.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
This week.

Speaker 5 (13:18):
The Eagles up were up twenty seven to fourteen in
the third quarter, like late third quarter, Like that game
was not over, but it was looking very very one
sided for a decent amount of time, even with Kenny
Pickett in the game for the majority it was still
an Eagles kind of keeping the Commanders at arm's length
for three quarters and then all heck broke loose in
the fourth quarter. And even despite that, the Eagles still

(13:41):
could have won the game. They wouldn't have covered if
the divide. If Vontae Smith made that catch on third down,
he just goes down and that's it, game over. I
think they would have won by I think three or
two or two. I think two was thirty to twenty eight.
They would have won by two. They wouldn't have covered
the spread, but they would have won the game. Well,
he dropped it, they kicked the field goal, and then
Jayden Daniels had his heroics. But again twenty seven fourteen,

(14:01):
late third quarter, the Eagles had arms length for the
majority of that game. So and that was with Kenny Pickett,
So there's definitely a path for him to go over
that number.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
I just think there's better bets on the board this weekend. No,
that's fair, and man, I go back to I had
a flashback to week eleven when the Eagles hosted the
Commanders on Thursday night and I was on Saquon Barkley.
I had I think it was over ninety five and
a half rushing yard something like that for that night.
And I was sweating bullets because they bottled Saquan up

(14:34):
throughout most of that game. You know, relatively speaking, it's
not like he had, you know, twenty seven yards rushing
heading into the fourth quarter, but he was under and
I don't know that he was going to cash and
he had a nice touchdown run about thirty ish yards
something like that, and he did go over. He ended
up breaking a couple of long runs and cruised over.

(14:56):
But I'm telling you, for a long time it didn't
even look like he was going to get to one
hundred yards. So that's one thing to think of. But
then you go back to last week, Washington's rush defense
stinks and Jamiir Gibbs he had a bucko five on
only fourteen carries, you know, so I don't know. I'm

(15:16):
with you, Jared. I think you could just maybe punt
on that one and go in a different direction, because
either way, I think you're gonna be sweating that out.
What twenty five and a half is a huge number,
but as we know, he can break one long run
and you're like, holy cow, he's got eighty six at halftime,
This is not looking good.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
Right now, you know.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
And I think that numbers artificially inflated because of the
issues with Jalen Hurts. And and it makes a difference
when you have a mobile quarterback who's not his mobile
because he's hampered by a lower body injury and frankly,
he didn't look his mobile after the head injury stuff
you know earlier on.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
So it makes sense.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
Everything adds up in terms of how you can come
pose an argument. Like you said, the Commander's run defense
is bad. I mean to put it in the plainest
of terms. They just haven't figured it out all seven
season long. Everyone's been able to have success on the
ground against the Commanders, you know. Plus what Saquon can do,

(16:17):
he's magical. Plus you know the variable that Jalen Hurts
maybe running the football less in this game.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
They need to preserve him.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
So there's all of these things stacked up in that
favor of taking the over on that prop. But it's
weird because the number stinks, and when that happens, you
you know, buyer.

Speaker 5 (16:37):
Beware, I go gain well if you're gonna bet a
rushing prop for the Eagles this week. And the other
thing to keep in mind you mentioned it rich the
you know, the dichotomy with Hurts. He's kind of being
you know, everyone's clowning and trashing Jalen Hurts this week,
and listen, he hasn't had the best postseason, no doubt.
And the Eagles don't really need to throw it a
lot when they're running it as well as they have,

(16:58):
but optics. The first two games of the playoffs, they
face the Packers and the Rams, who run incredibly heavy
zone looks. The Commander's run mostly manned well. Jalen Hurts
a top ten quarterback against man. He's a bottom ten
quarterback against zone. So if you want to talk about
a by low opportunity, I'd say Jalen Hurts his passing yards,
get some one on one coverages on the outside with

(17:20):
Devonte Smith and AJ Brown, and everyone's you know, oh,
Jalen can't throw He's not throwing it well, and that's
all I've heard all week.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Well, this is a better matchup for him to throw it.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
He's gonna have one on one man coverage on a
lot of these stud receivers on the outside, compared to
two deep zones in the snow. Last week against the
rams like just not a conducive game to throw it.
So if you're gonna bet at this week, I'd go
gain well rushing over hurts, passing over.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
I think that's kind of the value plays this week.
And Saquan, let's ladder it to the under here, let's
go now, you're getting spicy under eighty. Oh boy, yeah,
I don't know. I don't know if we want to
go there. We're often running. We've got rich Oronberger, Penn
State All American, Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian.

(18:06):
Now it's football time at betmgm. Use code countdown and
receive up to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets
if you don't win your first bet. When you're registered
with betmgm, you'll get instant access to a variety of
parlay selection features, live betting options, signature bets, and the
best daily promotions in the business. Download the betmgm app
today or visit betmgm dot com and use code countdown

(18:28):
to receive up to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus
bets if that bet loses. All right, Coming up next,
we'll look forward to championship Sunday. This team was the
definition of impressive? Was anybody else? It is Fox Sports
Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to kick Off presented
by BETMGM. All season long. Betmgm's offering you a second
chance on your first touchdown bet in the NFL. When
a customer places an NFL wager on a first touchdown
score bet and he doesn't score first, but score second,
BETMGM will return one hundred percent of their stakeback ian cash.

(19:19):
All right, fellas, So as we look forward to championship Sunday,
let's look back to the playoff games last week. And
I was just thinking about this. The Commanders were the
definition of impressive. What they did against the one seed
Detroit Lions, won by two touchdowns, forced five turnovers, Jaydon
Daniels spectacular. They were impressive. Was any other team that's

(19:44):
still alive in the playoffs impressive? Last week? If you
go through this, the Chiefs weren't impressive. They outlasted the Texans,
but Joe Mixon had a really good game right running
the ball. So the Chiefs just they won. They weren't impressive.
The Bills won, but they're up twenty one to ten
at halftime. They're really conservative in the second half, scored

(20:04):
six points. I wouldn't say they were impressive. Some might disagree.
I wouldn't say they were. And then Philly Saquon Barkley
was unbelievable over two hundred yards rushing. But they almost
coughed away a thirteen point lead. Can you cough it away?
You can cough it up, you know whatever. They almost
messed up a thirteen point lead with under five minutes

(20:26):
left in the game, like you blanked, and you're like,
holy cow, Stafford and the Rams are driving. They got
a chance to win. That would have been one of
the all time choke jobs in NFL playoff history. I
think the Commanders were the only impressive team last week
that's still alive in the playoffs here.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
I was impressed with the Bills because I felt like
controlling that game as well as they did, because that's
what they did. They had the Ravens under control for
the majority of that game was about as best you
could hope for against such a time group. That's a
really talented offense for all the reasons. We know Lamar

(21:05):
Jackson and and Derrick Henry and they love to play
with the lead. That's a front runner team, you know,
So being able to get control of this game, seize
it early, and and like you said, you know, even
though they didn't score a ton of second half points,
they did what they needed to do. They got a
little conservative, but they did what they needed to do
to move on to.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
The AFC Championship game.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
I don't have too many problems with that when it's
a w In terms of the Commanders, obviously extremely impressed
with them. Jaden Daniels being a rookie handling a moment
like that, it's tough.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
It's tough.

Speaker 4 (21:40):
You're you're not playing with the perfect group. There's some
serious holes on this team. You got to make make
up for a lot on offense for what your defense lacks.
And he was able to do that, and able to
do it against one of the scariest teams left in
the field.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
So credit where credit is due.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
The most impressive team was the Commanders, but I was
impressed with the Bills beating the Baltimore Ravens.

Speaker 5 (22:06):
Yeah, all the teams that won the yardage battle all lost.
Very strange weekend. I did increase Buffalo in my ratings
because of what you guys said about how they played
clean football and playing clean football in the playoffs you like.
I know it isn't sexy, but I think it should
be because there's one thing I also noticed about the

(22:29):
box scores over the weekend and the box scores the
entire postseason.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
This shouldn't come as a surprise.

Speaker 5 (22:35):
Teams that win the playoffs or teams that win the
turnover battle in the playoffs are seven to zero in
the playoffs. So far, There's been three games that have
finished even where both teams have not turned it over.
Kansas City Houston was one of them. But Houston out
gained Kansas City, but Kansas City didn't make any mistakes.
Houston took eight sacks, Tiny Fairburn missed three field goals.

(22:57):
Ravens game obviously, all the mistakes that ball More made, obviously,
all the mistakes that Jared Goff and the Lions made.
Matthew Stafford had some mistakes. The Rams turned it over twice.
The Eagles did not turn it over. So I think
we need to reframe the way we view the playoff
games compared to the regular season, where looking impressive in

(23:17):
my eyes is just not beating yourself. Teams that are
playing clean football, in my eyes, even if it's not
sexy and explosive like the Commanders were, if you're just
doing what the Bills did, which is, don't beat yourself,
allow the Ravens to make all the mistakes, make the
plays when you need to make it, don't make any

(23:38):
dumb penalties. Buffalo had one penalty in the game for
ten yards, Ravens five for forty three. Like, I know,
that isn't sexy and it's not going to show up
on a Sports Center Top ten play, but in my
eyes and the playoffs, it should because that's how you
win postseason games in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, it's a huge part of it, no doubt. Troy Aikman,
he was quoting Jimmy Johnson a couple of weeks ago,
and he said something to the effect of Jimmy would
always say, it's not the team that makes the most
good plays, it's the team that avoids the most bad plays.
That's such a great quote, and playoff football is a
lot like that. To your point, Jared, or to Jimmy

(24:14):
Johnson's point, I don't know what, Jimmy, but yeah, you
don't have to just be outstanding in every phase and like, well,
that's impressive. Sometimes not shooting yourself in the foot is impressive.
It's just I look at you know, like these other
teams that did that. The Ravens did that. Absolutely they

(24:35):
did with Mark Andrews his turnovers, Lamar had two turnovers.
You look at the Lions, my gosh, five turnovers including
a pick six, twelve men on the field. That was
the definition of beating yourself was what the Lions did
last week. And it's not like Jayden Daniels needed any

(24:57):
additional help because he was electric on his own. I'll
tell you who I was impressed with beyond just the
performance last week with Jaden Daniels. I'm impressed with Jaden
Daniels this week because he was asked about the underdog
role and I love his answer to that whole thing.
Listen to what the Washington quarterback had to say.

Speaker 6 (25:17):
Everybody tried to write like an underdog story, but for us,
it's just we'reg you go out there and playing confident, like, no,
we can compete against these guys, and that's a very
good team. So it's nothing like I take a little
extra motivation. I'm already motivated to go into the game,
regardless if it was Week two or you know, the
Nfcity Championship game.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
I love that. I really love that because it lets
you know his whole mindset where he's not like they're
not giving us I respect. You know, He's like, we belong.
Let's just go out there and play confidently. I'm not
worried about the underdog role or anything like that. Doesn't
it remind you of Joe Burrow a couple of years ago,
remember when they made it all the way to the
Super Bowl, and he had the same a similar thought

(25:58):
about the underdog role.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
I'm tired of the underdog narrative and we're a really,
really good team.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
We're here to make noise, right.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
I love that because there are some teams that they
couldn't embrace the underdog underdog role more. But Burrow and
Jaden Daniels both LSU guys. They're like, we belong. We're
not just some David like we're Goliath. Also, I love
that whole mindset from them.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
I agree.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
I think the majority of the NFL feels that way.
If you think about what it takes to even just
be on the field, you know, the durability that it takes,
the talent that your team needs to have, the the
the quarterback that you need to have. I mean, not
everybody has a Joe Burrow, not everybody has a Jaden Daniels.
I mean, think about the quarterbacks that are left in

(26:42):
this playoff field right now.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
They're all special.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
So it's there's a lot of things that have to
coalesce for you to be one of the final teams standing.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
And so when you're interviewing a.

Speaker 4 (26:53):
Playoff quarterback who's most likely a special talent, who's most
likely playing on a team filled with special having a
special year, it's really difficult to motivate yourself off a
betting line, like it almost seems stupid or foolhardy if
you're a player. I never looked at the spread. It
never made sense to me because football was so what's

(27:15):
the word I'm looking for?

Speaker 3 (27:17):
Haphazard?

Speaker 4 (27:18):
You know, you see it all the time, bad teams
who don't have any business beating you know, a better
team well, they can win. So unless you've got your
ducks in a row as a goliath, unless you have
your ducks a row in a row as a team
that should win, you'll get taken down by a couple
of Davids with their little slingshots around the NFL. Because

(27:38):
guess what, those Davids around the NFL, they've got Pro
Bowl talent too.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
So it's like it's a league with great parody.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
And I love quarterbacks realizing that young quarterbacks, i should say,
realizing that early in their career, like, you don't get
to the postseason unless you're good. So the underdog mentality
it's not gonna flow. You have to you have to
have a little bit more you. You have to have
a little bit of arrogance. You have to have a
little bit of swagger. And Jaden Daniels undoubtedly as swagger,

(28:09):
Joe Burrow Joe cool.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
We know he does.

Speaker 4 (28:11):
And so it doesn't shock me that those are their soundbites,
isn't it great?

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Rich didn't care about the points bread back then, but
now he's doing a Yeah there you go, it comes
full circle.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
Maybe, Yeah, now I'm doing the show brought to you Byeah.

Speaker 5 (28:27):
Yeah, that's right, Bill Belichick would be so proud of
you walking down those long hallways in New England just
doing your betting show. Now here, all these years later,
there's something to be said about just what Jaden's done
this year in the context of a rookie quarterback having
the success that he's had. Kyle Brant had this great
tweet after the game last Saturday night, and he said,

(28:49):
rookie quarterbacks to start an NFC title game where their
team's scoring defenses ranked that year.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
So there's been now six of them.

Speaker 5 (28:57):
Jayden's going to be the sixth rookie quarterback to start
a championship game. Brock Purty, Mark Sanchez, Joe Flacco, Big Ben,
Sean King all had first third, third, first third scoring
defenses in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
Jane Daniels eighteenth. Wow.

Speaker 5 (29:15):
And I think he's a different kind of rookie because
of the fifth year and the experience and the mobility,
and you know, those other guys except for actually, no,
I was gonna give Big Ben a little bit of mobility,
but you know, he's just one of those guys that's
so big he can stay alive in the pocket like
all those other guys. Perty Sanchez, Flacko Roethlisberger, Sean King,
love you, Bud. Not mobile quarterbacks, like I think, you know,

(29:37):
the experience the fifth year, the mobility, it just takes
away a lot of It covers up a lot of
wartz that some rookies have, right raiding defenses, doing things
like you could just bail, Like there were plays against
the Lions where they were bringing they were bringing a
lot of blitzer in that game, and he's like, screw it,
I'm bailing and he's just running around the edge five ten,
fifteen yards and you know, resets the down and distance.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
It just it calms everything down.

Speaker 5 (30:00):
You know, That's an ability that he has that, frankly,
not a lot of quarterbacks have, even the ones today
that are mobile. Like I wouldn't put Mahomes in the
mobility category of Jane Daniels, And I know he has mobility,
but I think his level of legs are different, and
the calmness, the coolness, like all that comes with the experience,
like like he's a different breed, Like he's not like
these other rookie quarterbacks. I think starting a title game

(30:22):
because of the quote you mentioned and because of some
of the other characteristics he has.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
You know some of the characteristics you're talking about with
Jaden Daniels, it reminds me of Lamar Jackson. And I
would just, uh, I would like to know if you
can grant me some rant status here for so I've
been saying on the rundown last night. I've been waiting
all night for it. I'm dreaming about it.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
I can't Tankeris know about appearance. Oh man, here we go, baby.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
I saw something that it just made my eyes bulge
in anger. Over here, okay, is the athletics as they
put a newsletter together, and it's a good little rundown
of what's going on and all that type of stuff.
And there was one thing that caught my attention the
other day and it just reads like this, Mark Andrews

(31:12):
drop right. Remember Mark Andrews of the Ravens. He dropped
a two point conversion. So Mark Andrews drop quote kept
the overstated narrative surrounding Lamar Jackson's postseason deficiencies alive for
another year. End quote, writes Michael Silver, who suggests we
instead appreciate Jackson's brilliance. And I just thought to myself,

(31:38):
good lord, what are we doing here? Like you gotta
call it like it is. You don't have to be
the biggest hater on the face of the earth to
just watch and say, Lamar through a terrible interception, he
had a horrible fumble that led to a touchdown, and
we're supposed to celebrate his brilliance. It's like, get out

(32:00):
of here with that. That drives me crazy. Lamar is
super talented, but he's a two time MVP, he's possibly
a three time MVP, and he just hasn't played well
enough in the postseason. That's not being a hater. His
passer rating is eighty four point six in the playoffs.
That's in the neighborhood of Cooper Rush this past season

(32:23):
for the Cowboys. That's what Lamar has done in the playoffs. Again, like,
it's not just crushing the guy who's super talented. It's
got to be better in the postseason. And I think
this is the bigger picture that I find interesting is
that a lot of times if someone has something critical
to say, people say, oh, you're just you're taking this

(32:44):
way too personally. You know this is personal for you,
that you're hating on the guy. Really, sometimes it's the
other way. How come flowery comments are never personal, right, Like,
how come someone saying, hey, let's celebrate Lamar's brilliance after
he us two turnovers again in a playoff game. How
is that not personal? How is it just the critical

(33:06):
statements that are personal? I think flowery statements when it
isn't called for is also personal. And I'm not saying, hey, guys,
let's just hate on Lamar. Let's come right, like it's
the hater party over here. But you gotta call it
like it is. He's capable of better and it hasn't
been as good as it needs to be in the postseason.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
That's just the truth.

Speaker 4 (33:28):
Yeah, Any anything you say about Lamar, anything you say
about Lamar that he wouldn't say about himself, I guess
you could characterize under Oh maybe you're going a little
too far, you know what I mean. But Lamar Jackson
would say all of the same things about his game
that he played that you just pointed out, the two turnovers,

(33:50):
the one real bad interception, his carelessness with the football
in the postseason over the.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Course of his career.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
He said it after the game that he's tired of
that and it's something he's got to fix. Look, you know,
here's the thing Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson is an ice
cream cone. I'm never gonna complain about an ice cream cone.
But you know what, on a really hot day, an
ice cream cone will melt because the sun's more powerful. Okay,

(34:18):
we've seen this a lot Lamar Jackson. When he's facing
the sun, you know, whether it be the Brady led
Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Chiefs Led or the Patrick
Mahomes led Chiefs or the Josh Allen led Buffalo Bills,
the cream of the crop, the class of the NFL.
He typically makes the mistakes that melts the Baltimore Ravens down.

(34:43):
Ice Cream's great. Nobody's complained about ice cream. I got
nothing but good things to say about ice cream. But
against the sun, the sun always wins, and that's been
the problem for Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Over the course of his career. That was beautiful.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
I have nothing to add. I love the ice cream. Meta.
What's your favorite flavor?

Speaker 3 (35:04):
Vanilla with rainbow sprinkles.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, I'm a simple chocolate vanilla guy.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
Okay, I could have turned out caramel sauce.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
It's very good as well. Absolutely, that's rich Oroinberger, Penn
State all American. We've got Jared Smith FSR betting analyst.
I'm Brian No, I'd have to go Suberto. I always
thought it was pronounced ice cream. I thought it was
sure Bert. I guess we're just mispronouncing it this whole time.
But at the top, Yeah, you can french it up.
You can french it up. I got no problems with that.

(35:33):
Nice All right, Coming up next to parlay platter, which
have one selection. We pull it together for a greater payout.
The theme is my kryptonite, so you might want to
run the parlay without me leg two leg parlay, just
exclude me. We'll have that for you. It's Fox Sports
Radios Campdown to Kickoff presented by bed MGM. It is

(35:55):
Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by bed MGM.
Every time you make a wage read bet MGM, you
earn bet MGM rewards points that could be redeemed things
like bonus bets or converted to MGM rewards points that
could be used towards dining shows and hotel rooms at
over twenty MGM resorts. All right, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Check this out ar late ladder.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Ah, Yes, the parlay ladder. We each have one selection.
We pull it together for a greater payout. We have
a theme that my gosh, this might be the last week.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
We have this.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
It will be it we don't we don't get one.
What's what's the theme again, Jared, Oh, it's tundydive, it's
study dove.

Speaker 5 (36:39):
Can we get a little I don't know whether we're
kind of you know, audio drops.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
We can go bind the scenes here, all right, I'll
keep it very we let's get checked up for tunny
time baby.

Speaker 5 (36:50):
When Josh Allen gets in the red zone, he turns
into like it's like radar activated, like it just I
just think Josh their book James coach stip between the
twenties guy, and when the Bills get in the red zone,
I think they look elsewhere for touchdowns and scored two
last week.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
I mean, how can you not bet Josh Allen it
might have won ten.

Speaker 5 (37:08):
It's a coin flip price. I think it's better than
coin flip odds. He finds the end zone, I think
it's more like sixty to forty. So i'llo Josh Allen
first leg and I've got I'm the short.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
End of the stick.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Today.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
You guys are going very bold with your tutty times.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
I love it.

Speaker 4 (37:22):
Yeah, yeah, I wanted to give give a pick that
I think is a little bit of a long shot,
especially with the dudes that doubt that Godair has.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
Not practiced all that much.

Speaker 4 (37:32):
The tight end for the Eagles has an ankle he's
been nursing ahead of the NFC Championship game. But I
like his impact on the game plan, especially in critical
situations for Jalen Hurts. He kind of bails him out,
especially in the red zone in tough moments. So give
me Godair. I'm gonna take him. And I think it's

(37:53):
like a plus three fifty.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Yes, three to one, but I think it's got her.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
Yeah, I know. I like friendship.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
We were we were talking about we were talking about
Shorbeys and Shebert earlier. So instead of saying Goddard, I
go go there, go there.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
It's like Rudy Gobert. This could only happen in radio.
By the way, was I was filling in for Charlotte
at the time when Dallas Goddard was coming out of
San Diego. What what South Dakota State? Yeah, And I'm like,
is it is it Goddard or Godard? Yeah, so I
asked him. I interviewed him for this fill in shift

(38:33):
in Charlotte, So I interviewed before he was drafted. So
that's it. Random radio come full circle with I should
have sent him go there unless he's then he's got her?
Is it?

Speaker 3 (38:47):
Go there? You know, you get a little crazy there.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
Now here's the thing, Jared, I have my pick in,
but it's on the same team. No, it's good, you're
a pick. It's good. I mean, yeah, obviously there's less
chance of the bills, you know what I'm saying, right,
So gets juicy though, I mean, this sucker's twenty nine
and one. We put the buying on these together. I say,
run with it, Bud, We're just say roll with it. Okay,
don't let the record show. I don't like having two

(39:13):
touchdown dudes on the same ticket on the same team.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
Time, I'm going Dalton Kincaid here because listen, the Chiefs
they're they're allergic to covering tight ends, you know, and
so that's been an achilles heel for them. It's it's
four to one, so we can get Kincaid in the
end zone. And I just think back to it is
a couple of weeks ago in the regular season, Dalton

(39:39):
Schultz had the first touchdown of the game, right, Like,
they just lose tight ends from time to time. So
I'll take Kincaid. I just I just don't love alan
En Kinkaid on the same Tuddy time Parlay time here in.
But here's the thing.

Speaker 5 (39:54):
The Bills are supposed to score twenty four points in
this game, twenty three, twenty four points depending on.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
What side of the juice and on.

Speaker 5 (40:01):
And besides Kinkaid, it's Kean Coleman, Shakir and James Cook.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
And I don't think James Cook's gonna get any touches
in the red.

Speaker 5 (40:07):
It's not as many as Josh Allen might get. And
if they're gonna throw it in, I think Kinkaid's a
good option.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
I'd be honest.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
I like this part.

Speaker 5 (40:15):
It's twenty nine to one, this part of Juicy. Yeah,
why not take a little sprinkle, come on, have some
fun championship and.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
It would be good to clear my name.

Speaker 5 (40:28):
You guys are gonna hit in mine, which yeah, one
ten is gonna lose probably, that's.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Right, right, Josh get in the end zone, man, all right,
come it up next. He's been the player of the
Playoffs thus far. Oh, welcome in here, as we're getting
you all set for championships Sunday and then some you know,
we got hoops today. I don't know that we're gonna
get knee deep into hoops. We got hoops beginning right

(40:52):
when we get off the air. You know, we got
the French game going on here again with the Pacers
and the Spurs with I call him the French freak
we Yama, you know freak when the French freak you
know that actually has better alliteration then even though it does,
you're right about that. Yeah, Wemby has been spectaculars. But

(41:13):
we look to championships sun day here to begin this hour,
and we've got the Washington Commanders at the Philadelphia Eagles.
Eagles favored by six.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
Here.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Here's my first question. Has there been a brighter star
in these playoffs so far than Jayden Daniels? Has anybody
played better football than Jayden Daniels? The answer is no.
Who else would be on the short list that's been
thriving in the postseason. There are some names there, not
a brighter star than Jayden Daniels thus far, though, right,

(41:47):
you guys concurring here, Yeah, the quarterback situation makes it
like that.

Speaker 4 (41:50):
I think, Yeah, I would say maybe only a close
second because of what he's meant to the Philadelphia Eagles
this season, Saquon Barkley.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
But there you go.

Speaker 4 (42:02):
But but I mean it's it's it's irrefutable that what
Jaden Daniels is doing comparatively is more difficult. I mean
from both standpoints the position he plays and the responsibilities
that come with that, and also the fact that he's
a rookie. Saquan's been doing this for a long time.
Jayden Daniels, this is the first rattle out of the box,
and he looks like a veteran. He's so composed. So yeah,

(42:25):
I concur he is the star of the postseason.

Speaker 5 (42:29):
No turnovers in two postseason games is great, and not
just no turnovers for Jadon Daniels, no turnovers for the
Commanders in two postseason games. And I know the Lions
defense wasn't exactly the eighty five Bears, and context matters, right,
Tampa's defense is tough, but I think of all the
games last week, Jayden Daniels had the easiest go indoors

(42:49):
no snow Lions defense straight man to man, single high safety,
like you know, a very very basic defensive structure, Aaron,
don't get me wrong. And what Aaron Glenn did with
that defense, despite the fact that they were literally throwing
out practice squad guys the last eight weeks of the year,
basically definitely deserves some love.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
I can't wait to see what he does with the Jets.

Speaker 5 (43:10):
But I think if you're just gonna ask me straight
up in a vacuum, which player, which quarterback has exceeded
the expectations by the biggest margin, widest margin, There's no
doubt about it.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
It's Jayden Daniels.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
You know.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
This is something we talked about last Sunday on Countdown
to kick Off, but I want to bring it to
you guys on Saturday because shout out to our trusted
producer Bo Benson. He texted me with a great question.
He was like, is Jaden Daniels the top five quarterback already?
And you start thinking about it? Yeah, yeah, I think

(43:45):
he is. And that might sound to some like I
need to see more than just one year. Think of
CJ Stroud. CJ Stroud was unbelievable his rookie year and
he came back to Earth big time this season. But
Jaden Daniels, if you just look at the here and
now this season, and who are you putting outside of
the top four, which are pretty much consensus guys, right,

(44:07):
guys like Mahomes and Burrow and Josh Allen. A lot
of people have Lamar up there? Who's number five? If
those are your top four?

Speaker 3 (44:15):
Right?

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Are you putting Stafford there? Are You're putting Jalen Hurts there?
You're putting Jayden Daniels there. I think he's top five already.
You can make a great argument that he's there. If
he's not, he's like sixth or seventh. He's a top
ten guy absolutely already.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
I only hesitate to agree with you for what the
same thing I feel about Jayeen Daniels today I felt
about CJ.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
Stroud last year.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
Maybe I feel a little stronger for Jayde and Daniels
because I felt better about him coming out of LSU
than I did Stroud coming out of college football. So
I will I will give him the boost there. But
the NFL, it's true, man, because you can look really

(45:02):
really good in a rookie season, and then we can
see a depreciation as teams have an entire offseason to.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
Look at the film.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
It's not on a weekly basis where you're so distracted
all season long with all the other sixteen opponents that
you have to prepare for. Then when it's your time,
the wheel lands on the Commanders on your schedule, you
only have a week to get ready for Jaden Daniels,
you know.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
So it's a very.

Speaker 4 (45:27):
Different thing when you have an offseason a breakdown film,
especially for the Eagles, especially for the Dallas Cowboys, especially
for the New York Giants who are going to face
them twice a season. Here as he can progress his
during the course of his career in division.

Speaker 3 (45:42):
So you have that.

Speaker 4 (45:44):
I will say, pump the breaks on saying that he's
a top five talent in all of the NFL, because
the reality is we don't know yet. It's in terms
of his rookie season, it's the best of all time.
I don't I think there's really much refuting that that's
what he's already done is the best rookie season of

(46:05):
all time. But I'm not going to guarantee that this
is what the rest of his career looks like. I'm
always hesitant to project that far forward.

Speaker 5 (46:15):
This is why our synergy on the show is so
great because I've actually already started my twenty twenty five
NFL prep.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
I know I'm sick, I am sick, I'm a super individual.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
You're sick, puppy.

Speaker 5 (46:29):
So the first the first thing I do when I
start my prep for the next year, it starts.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
It's very easy, it's very high level. In't really put
a lot of thought into it. A little bit of
thought into it. I take a lot of the.

Speaker 5 (46:40):
Ratings I had from this year, and I just copy
it over to a new spreadsheet. But the first thing
I do is obviously new coaching changes, OCDC changes, and
then I do my quarterback ratings.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
And right now, granted.

Speaker 5 (46:52):
There's a lot of question marks, for example, Cleveland, Vegas, Saints, Giants, Titans, Vikings,
question marks on who's playing quarterback next year. But of
the quarterbacks that I know are gonna be on the
team and starting next year, I have Jayden Daniels sixth.
I have Mahomes eight points better, Lamar Josh Allen seven
and a half, Burrow seven. Then there's a gap Stafford five,

(47:15):
Jayden Daniels four and a half points.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Better than the average quarterback.

Speaker 3 (47:18):
Right now, so.

Speaker 5 (47:21):
Yeah, I don't really think it's far fetched to call
him a top five now. I still think Mahomes, Lamar,
Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Matthew Stafford are ahead.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
That's my list. You know, it's crazy if you compared
Jayden Daniels to Lamar in the postseason, it's not even comparable. Agreed,
not even remotely.

Speaker 5 (47:38):
But it's hard when he's a two time probably and
by the way, official, I'm beyond the record right now.
I think Lamar Jackson's gonna win the MVP just because
of how the All Pro stuff shook out. They kind
of gave you the answer to Coach of the Year
two with Kevin O'Connell winning the Pro Football Writers' Award
this week. But I think you gotta give Lamar and
Josh Allen just because of the experience and because of
what they've done.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
You've got to give them the edge.

Speaker 5 (48:00):
And I think Stafford deserves that respect, Joe Burrow deserves
that respect. Mahomes obviously, but outside of that, right like
it's Goff, Hurtz, Baker, Jordan Love, Like there's kind of
a mish mash in that middle tier that's right in
the four three three four points better than the average
quarterback range. C. J. Strouds in there two and Herberts
in there like, and then there's a little bit more

(48:21):
of a gap to the next round.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
But I think he's in that second tier right now. Okay,
so let's do this real fast. Then we'll move it
back to Commanders Eagles. Right, Let's do Jaden Daniels versus
the world. Okay, now, going into twenty twenty five, who
would you rather have as your quarterback? And I'll give
you a couple of the quarterbacks that are like outside

(48:43):
the consensus top four, right, I feel like Mahomes and
Josh Allen and Burrow and Lamar most people, I think
those are mostly the consensus top four. So if you're
looking at that next, who's number five would you rather have?
For twenty twenty five? Jayden, Daniels, are jer Gough, I
go Daniels.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
I would go Daniels.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
I would go Daniels too. Because of the brain drain
in Detroit, they lost like every coach. Okay, Daniels or Baker,
who's your guy?

Speaker 3 (49:09):
I would take Bakers?

Speaker 2 (49:10):
You go Baker there, I think I take Daniels. He
just lost his O. C. Baker's lost his OC Yeah.

Speaker 4 (49:15):
Yeah, they Yeah, the Jacksonville Jaguars stole him. But I yeah,
I don't know. I'd still go Baker.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
There.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
You got something. You got a fascination for quarterbacks to
throw interceptions. I get it now. Baker has been very,
very good. Forty one touchdowns, sixteen picks. Passer rating is
a bucko six. That's that's elite type stuff.

Speaker 5 (49:35):
Really, he's right there, like, there's not a big gap
between Baker and Jayden.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
But I would slept because of the legs. I think
I take Jayden. Okay, how about just one or two others,
Herbert or Jaden Daniels taking Herbert. You're going, Herbert, Where
do you have Daniels there?

Speaker 3 (49:49):
Rich?

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Good Lord, Herbert, I have I have Jayden Daniels.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
Probably No.

Speaker 4 (49:54):
Like I said, top ten, I can make an argument,
but top five I can't.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
I can't. And here's the reason why. Because he's a rookie.

Speaker 4 (50:02):
Yeah, I think I think a lot of people get
way over their skis with rookies. Now, don't get me wrong.
I hope he proves me wrong. I'm a Jaden Daniels fan.
I'm so impressed with what he's been able to do
this season. But I'm not gonna sit here and say like,
because he's done it one time for a seventeen game
season plus two doesn't mean I'm going to bet the

(50:24):
farm that he can return in year two and make
it look exactly the same way. Because guess what everyone
got real far over their skis. It was a forward
leam with CJ. Stroud, and c J. Stroud didn't have
a perfect team last year. He played with an injured
offensive line, he played with a mass unit of receivers
all year long, and that guy looked great, and so

(50:44):
everybody was saying, well, if he could do it as
a rookie with the problems that the Texans had, especially
offensively he lost his tight end for part of the season,
well then he's gonna be great in year two. And
I said to everybody last year, pomp your breaks. It's
his rookie season. Things change also, Defenses change.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
People catch up to what you're trying to do.

Speaker 4 (51:06):
They attack your weaknesses now and you're not only allowed
to highlight your strengths.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
You have to adjust. And guess what happened in year
two with CJ. Stroud.

Speaker 4 (51:14):
So again there's about seven or eight guys that go
ahead of ahead of Jayden Daniels, which I think is
still massively impressive that he's been able to accomplish this
much his rookie season.

Speaker 5 (51:28):
Yeah, I think the and this is a very good
argument to have because of the CJ. Stroud thing, and
really it goes back to what we were talking about with
Baker with Liam Cohen, Like CJ. Stroud and Bobby Sloweck
kind of had a weird thing this year. And it
wasn't really CJ and Bobby. I think it was more
just Bobby Slowck with the rest of the scheme that.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
They were trying to run. There just wasn't a lot
of synergy there.

Speaker 5 (51:51):
And they change, you know, they went from a full
back system to a non fullback system. They tried to
go three wide, and then the all the receivers got hurt.
Like it was just kind of like a comedy of
errors the Texans offense this year. A lot of the
blame should be placed, of course on the quarterback, but
I do think the scheme and the OC matters too,
And that's why Baker situation is intriguing. I think that's
why Jared Goff situation is intriguing. What's that lot Now

(52:13):
that Liones have a embarrassment of riches offensively with their
skill position, their offensive line, I think Baker maybe not
as buttoned up in that area where their on line
and their skill position. Guys are still very good, but
I don't I think the Lions maybe have the best
perhaps when they're all healthy.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
It's I think Jayden and Daniels because of the experience,
you have to grate them a little bit on a curve.

Speaker 5 (52:34):
I think the fifth year for these rookies, when you've
had that extra year in college, I think they're not
usual rookies, where as CJ. Stroud didn't have the extra year,
and this is kind of his you know, he's kind
of in his like sixth year of college football right now.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
Jade Daniels in his sixth year of college football right now.

Speaker 5 (52:50):
Like they're they're kind of on the same plane in
terms of the experience level.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
Here's the thing is, I think there is, to Rich's point,
such a thing as overreacting. I think there's also such
a thing as underreacting. Well, it's like, let's just pump
the brakes over here, Like we just had these coaching hires. Okay,
like you have Pete Carroll with the Raiders. What do
you think the chances are that the Raiders are playing

(53:17):
in the AFC Championship Game? What do you think the
chances are that they're the reason I bring them up?
The Raiders were four and thirteen. I guess who was
also four and thirteen before Jayden Daniels got there. The
Washington Commanders, they're playing in the NFC Championship Game tomorrow,
right like from four and thirteen to the NFC Title game.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
And c J.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
Stroud was great, they weren't playing in the AFC Title game.
They got boat raced by the Ravens last season, you
know what I mean? Like, so I hear you on CJ.
Stroud to a point, but it's like Jaydon Daniels took
over a four and thirteen football team and they're playing
for the NFC title tomorrow. Like that's a huge. The
Jags were four and thirteen. You see Jacksonville the AFC

(54:00):
title game. The Patriots were four and thirteen. You see
them in the AFC Title game next year. Like that's
what Washington has done, led by Jade and Daniel. Like
that can't be under sold.

Speaker 4 (54:11):
I get it. And I'm with you. I'm not arguing
with He's been fantastic. I'm saying, how does this project forward?
And I'm less excited about the stock than you are.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
Now. Don't get me wrong.

Speaker 4 (54:24):
The people who didn't pull the trigger on Google when
that stock was about the IPO or Apple before the
stock split nine times, they're kicking themselves in the pants
for not.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
You know, fortune favors the bolt.

Speaker 4 (54:38):
So you're bold in saying that I put Jayden Daniels
in the top five already. And what do I have
to lose by agreeing with you? Absolutely nothing. I'd be
riding the high train just like you are.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
Brian. No, but I'm not gonna do.

Speaker 4 (54:49):
It because guess what, I've seen this a thousand times,
and so have you.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
No, you haven't. Yes, you have not seen a thousand
seasons to this Calbary. We have not seen that.

Speaker 4 (54:59):
We have seen sensational rookie seasons out now. This is outstanding.
This is exceptional, and I agree with that. I said
it to you earlier. This is the best rookie season
at quarterback we've ever seen in the NFL. And I'm
stamping it. I've never seen it better. Nobody has argue, fine, one,
fine one. I'm waiting you can't. He has had an

(55:20):
exceptional rookie season, better than anybody who's ever played the
game before. Having said that, we've seen great rookies fade,
I'm not saying that he's gonna fade, but I'm saying
right now, if I'm gonna put my money on a
horse to lead my team next year, I want a
little bit. I want a little bit of a bigger

(55:41):
bite of the apple than I've had with Jayden Daniels
so far. So give me Herbert, give me Baker Mayfield.
And this argument you guys are making about oh new
offensive coordinator, So what he lost his offensive coordinator when
Dave Canalis jumped ship to be the head coach of
the Caroline Panthers.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
It went fine with Cohen, So spare me. Baker. Mayfield's
a gamer, Jade and Danil too.

Speaker 4 (56:01):
But I'm telling you right now, we're all getting very,
very excited, and it's possible. I'm not saying it's even likely,
but it's possible. We're getting a little bit over our skis.

Speaker 3 (56:12):
On Jayden dan A.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Baker was one and done at home against two.

Speaker 3 (56:18):
That's true. That's true. Listen.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Critical error in that game too, on the fumble.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
No, it was it was a bad look. It's a
bad showing. I'm not arguing with you that Jaden Daniels
is in talented. I will never argue that I think
he is. But you're not going to convince me that
we should put him in the top five of the
NFL heading into twenty twenty into the twenty twenty five
season because we've only seen him for US season. Give

(56:45):
me a bigger sample size and I'll be just as
over the moon. Maybe I'll put him ahead of Lamar
next year. You know, you know I mean, because let's
be honest with each other. Depending on what happens in
this postseason, yeah, we may have to. So I'm listen,
I'm right there with you. I think he's exceptional, but
we've seen exceptional before, and we've seen exceptional fade. We

(57:07):
literally have the example staring at us in the face
with C. J.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
Stroud. We'll see how he looks in year three, but
it can happen.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (57:15):
The Bobby Slow thing and who they get to replace
him at OC is going to be interesting.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
I think context matters.

Speaker 5 (57:20):
For example, if Jaden Daniels played in the AFC and
they had to play the Chiefs in that divisional matchup
and not the Lions, right, Like, I think it's just
the NFC is more wide open this year for a
story like Jaden Daniels to materialize, whereas a rookie quarterback
going through Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Like, the
odds of that are just so astronomical because of how

(57:43):
good those quarterbacks are that I think the perfect storm
needed to materialize, whereas Jaden Daniels had to be in
this particular situation with this team in this conference.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
I'll finish with a question. Let's flip it.

Speaker 5 (57:55):
Let's flip the number one and number two picks. Let's
say Caleb Williams is on the Commanders this year. Are
they playing in the NFC title tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
I'm not sure they are.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Yeah, I say, I know I would.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
I wouldn't think it's like you gotta get rid of
the ball on time. I'm all for, you know, like
you know, I'm all for ed libbing and stuff, but
not to the degree he does.

Speaker 5 (58:19):
It's an interesting hypothetical because I got a lot of
crap from Bears fans back in like week six when
I was like, yeah, you guys made the wrong pick,
and they're like, oh, it's too soon, and I'm like, okay,
let's let the let's let it play out.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
Bo Ben, our trusted producer, hates you right now, but
break Jared. All right, We've got Rich John Berger, Penn
State All American Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian know.
Be sure to check out the new looking features in
the bet mgm app. It's fast and easy access to
the sports you love, whether it's the easy Parlay builder teasers,

(58:52):
live betting, the daily National Lions Boost, or the new
bet slip layout. Use code countdown and receive up to
fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets. If you don't
win your first bet. Download betmgm app today or visit
betmgm dot com. Use code countdown to receive up to
fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets if that bet loses.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
All right.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
Coming up next, our good friend Seamus McGee. He got
all the goodies leading up the championship Sunday, and then
maybe I don't know a miak basketball play. You know
that he'll probably cash. We'll have that coming up. It's
Fox Sports Radios Campdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM. It
is Fox Sports Radios Campdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM.

(59:35):
Throughout the entire football season, BETMGM will offer all different
types of no sweat tokens, Be on the lookout for
no sweat same game parlay tokens and parlay boost tokens,
just to name a couple, and be sure to follow
BETMGM across all socials at betmgm. Okay, So I'm anticipating

(59:56):
MIAK basketball with Seamus McGee and all the championship Sunday
goodies will get to him momentarily. You know these totals,
real fast, guys, almost the same, right, Forty seven and
a half for the NFC game, forty eight and a
half for the AFC game. Anything that you know tickles

(01:00:18):
your fancy over or under in either of those games.

Speaker 4 (01:00:22):
I think what that represents is the fact that in
both games you have, well, actually more so in maybe
the Philadelphia Eagles Washington Commander's game, but also in the
Chiefs Buffalo game, you have one team in each matchup
who can really possess the football dominate time of possession,

(01:00:42):
and so the totals can't get too over inflated because
if Philadelphia plays their style football, they can keep a
total pretty low, even though the Commanders conversely have this
really explosive offensive. We know the Chiefs can pile up
points when they're all synced up together offensively, but the
Bills have the ability with Josh Allen's legs and obviously

(01:01:03):
their backfield to sustain the ball and tick time off
the clock. So I think the totals would have been
higher if you had more explosive offenses paired, but I
think they're about right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Well, let's get Seamus into the conversation here.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Let's do this follow the money, real good money. All right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
We're joined by Seamus McGee, team lead of sports trading
at bet MGM. Seamus, we're just comparing notes on these
totals in the two championship games. What do you think
Commander's Eagles forty seven and a half, Bills Chiefs forty
eight and a half. You like the over under a
either game.

Speaker 7 (01:01:41):
That's going to be back. I kind of lean under
in both games. The Eagles Commander's game opened at forty eight.
Took some money to move us off that down to
forty seven and a half. I really believe in the
Eagles and Chiefs defenses to really you know, thunder the
offenses for each posing team. I've show like these high

(01:02:02):
intensity games, I think you're just going to see a
lot lower scoring.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Yeah, I agree, Seamus.

Speaker 5 (01:02:07):
I think especially with the Eagles Commander's game, the third
matchup between these teams, Vic Fangio is a wizard and
the Commander's kind of outflanked Philly in that last meeting
running a lot of empty which activated Jayden Daniels's legs. Well,
now you get Fangio put that on tape, and I
think Fanjo is gonna.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Sniff that out.

Speaker 5 (01:02:26):
Did see some over money in the in the Chiefs
Bills game, which I think was intriguing. Again, these teams
know each other pretty well. I think the Chiefs, which
is a predominantly pass heavy team, maybe they do decide
to run it because we saw with the Ravens when
they decided to run it had a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Of success against the Bills last week.

Speaker 5 (01:02:41):
But spread wise, I mean, do you see the Chiefs,
you know, moving up to that key number of three
or because of just how much respect Buffalo's gotten in
the market. This one's probably going to stay pretty tight
until Sunday night.

Speaker 7 (01:02:54):
I'd be surprised if this goes to three. It's been
a lot of Bill's money money line and on the
plus two, so I'd be a little surprised if this
gets all the way up past two and a half,
up to three.

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
Honestly, we were discussing prop bets earlier, Seamus, we were
talking about Sakuon Barkley. The number for rushing total is
one twenty five and a half. Now, the low total
in that game kind of lends you to believe that
maybe the game plan, it should be the game plan
for the Philadelphia Eagles, But that number stinks. What side
would you fall on if you absolutely had to with

(01:03:28):
Sakuon Barkley it is?

Speaker 7 (01:03:32):
It does feel a touch high, but you know he's random.
He's random for a mile against Washington this year when
they've played, so I think that number says a lot about,
you know, his performances against them in the past. I
love the Eagles in this game in general, so I
could see them really relying on Barkley, especially late when

(01:03:52):
you're trying to burn some clock.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
How about the sides? Seamus and you're alluding to this.
You like the Eagles minus six, you like Casey minus two,
or any of the dogs. I know you're not leaning Washington,
but how about the bills of those two sides?

Speaker 7 (01:04:09):
Yeah, I love Philly at the four and a half
number at opened up that long gone, I still would
take Eagles minus six honestly, and I'm honestly I'm on
the Chiefs minus two. I think they're gonna win the game,
so I'll I'll take the points with the two.

Speaker 5 (01:04:26):
Yeah, that's always an interesting dynamic when you get a
tight line like that and you know it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
There's a lot of.

Speaker 5 (01:04:31):
Nerd math involved with do you lay the two? Do
you bet the money line? Do you have any advice
for gamblers this weekend because a lot of them, you know,
the recreational ones, don't like to lay thirty cents or
minus one thirty on a money line. But does that
make more sense because of the fact that you're seeing
a lot of bills money, maybe you get a cheaper
price on the money line.

Speaker 7 (01:04:51):
The only thing I'd say is I wouldn't buy points.
I know, easier said than done for a lot of
these games, especially right around the hooks, but I would
if you like the Eagles, just take the six. And
even if you like the Commanders, like I don't think
it's worth buying up to half a point there if
you like to command If the commander's Tom, I think
they're obviously going to have a great shot at winning

(01:05:11):
the game. I feel like it's one of those spots
where it's like the Eagles win. I think they cover
the number very easily, but I think the Commanders, if
they keep it close, they have a shot at winning.
But I'd say, you know, I wouldn't really buy any
points in these games.

Speaker 4 (01:05:25):
Here on Fox Sports Radio, Seamus Colin Cowherd's voice is ubiquitous, right.
I mean we have promos playing all the time, and
one of them he says, Hey, new information, new opinions.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:05:41):
So I'm gonna ask you a question that I'd asked
you a week ago. With the information we have now
watching how the Divisional Round played out, can you really
put up anybody over the Chiefs in terms of winning
the Super Bowl? Has anybody impressed you to this point
enough to say, well, if that's the team that meets
the Chiefs, or maybe the Buffalo Bills can out outlast

(01:06:03):
the Chiefs in the SAFC Championship game. Is there anybody
who's impressed you enough to take over the Chiefs?

Speaker 7 (01:06:11):
I don't know what I mean. Commanders have been very
impressive this postseason, but I'm still definitely not taking them
over Kansas City. But like, do you look at the Bills.
I Bill got out game by over one hundred yards
against the Ravens and they got a big call at
the end of that first half to set up first
in goal. If they play anywhere like that that they
did last week, I think Kansas City is going to

(01:06:33):
have a very easy time winning at home against them.
And trying to say Kansas City was that impressive against
Houston's defenses for real, though, I think this is the
best defense in football, second to and the second best
defensive ball probably in Philly right now. So I think
I was really impressed with the three other teams outside
the Commanders, But I think if there's any team, I

(01:06:55):
think he goes have the best shot of being the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (01:06:57):
To answer your question, that's good stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
Love all that seamous, Okay, before you go, shame is special.
What do you have for us, buddy?

Speaker 7 (01:07:07):
Now? I was it's the opening weekend of Gaelic football
over in the homeland of Ireland. Oh my god, very
very limited states offering the betting on that. So I'm
gonna go. Uh been a bit shocking here. Give me
Georgetown and the Hoyas at the amper the dunk whatever
it is now Ed Cooley comes back. They got a

(01:07:28):
big win over Nova in the last week. Some sharp
Moneys come in on the Hoyas. I think at Cooley
gets a little bit of revenge up in Providence today.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
Okay, all right, we're going g Town. I love it.
Relatively normal pick first. I know it's the school I've
heard of.

Speaker 3 (01:07:42):
I really wish you found a number of Gaelic football ye.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
Special of all time.

Speaker 7 (01:07:51):
If it's legal in your state. I think Darry gets
it done over County Torone today.

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
There is.

Speaker 5 (01:07:59):
We have made history on the show. We have ever
given out a Gaelic football pick and three years ago.

Speaker 3 (01:08:03):
That is right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:05):
You're the best man. Have a good day. We'll catch
you soon.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Have a good one.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
He is Sjamus McGee, team lead of Sports Trading at
bet MGM. Great history on Fox Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:08:15):
That's probably the first time anyone's ever given out a
Gaelic football pick.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
On any network.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
Here.

Speaker 4 (01:08:19):
Here's here's how uninformed I am about Ireland. I have
no idea if by Gaelic football he means soccer or
actual football. Okay, he means so when he says dary,
I didn't know whether to tell the joke, Well, they
got a really dangerous receiver, or hey, they got a
striker who's we're taking a look at.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
Yeah, so no clue, that's a he diving deep over there. Hey,
by the way, all these coaching hires, so we've got
seven new head coaches, right, one's still open. The Saints
job is open. But how about Pete Carroll going to Vegas? Yeah,
we've got Aaron Glenn going to your Jets there, Jared.

(01:08:59):
The one that stands out to me the most is
Brian Schottenheimer going to the county for bad reasons, right, Yes,
what are you clowns doing? No? Seriously, like, can we
rewind before this past season? Why is Mike McCarthy there
for this whole last season? Like this this franchise. Jerry

(01:09:22):
Jones is aching for a super Bowl, right, every time
we hear him, I gotta win me a super Bowl,
that whole thing. And then you get Brian Schottenheimer really, Like, again,
if you're swinging for the fences, Bill Belichick would have
been your head coach. Yet you're like, no, let's get
another puppet in here who will do what we say

(01:09:43):
and we can pick who we want as far as
personnel goes. Let's get Shoty in there.

Speaker 7 (01:09:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
Shot, He's not gonna tell us to you know, jump
in a river or anything like that. Like, come odd man,
if you want to win it all and listen, I'll
be honest, Like, sometimes the the big splash doesn't lead
to wins. Sometimes the winning the press conference that doesn't
generate a bunch of wins. I understand that fully. But again,

(01:10:10):
Brian shottennai not winning any press conference. It's not a
big splash, And what are your chances for big success
realistically with that freaking guy? Come on, you gotta do better.
I feel like Lawrence Taylor. Remember the old highlight reels
of Lawrence Taylor. He hit a Jets quarterback years ago
and he leaned down and goes, son, y'all gotta do

(01:10:32):
better than this. Yeah, And that's exactly how it applies
to the Cowboys with this hire.

Speaker 4 (01:10:37):
It is not splashy, It is not sexy. It is
not wave making, but it's the Dallas Cowboys way because
it's Jerry's way.

Speaker 3 (01:10:48):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (01:10:49):
Everything you just said, Brian and I agree with hiring Schottenheimer,
feels like they missed. However, when Sean McVay was hired
by the Rams, everybody was like, what you're doing. You're
handing the keys to an NFL team to a kid.
I mean, you have older players on the roster, and
several than Sean McVay right now. When Dan Campbell took

(01:11:11):
the job with Detroit, everybody was like, are.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
You kidding me?

Speaker 4 (01:11:14):
This guy's been an interim head coach outside that, he's
been an assistant coach. He's been like a tight ends
coach most of his career. How are you going to
give him this much responsibility? And look at Dan Campbell now,
Nick Sirianni even and now again, very different culture that
has been built in Philadelphia versus the Rams and in Detroit.
Have much more respect for what has been done in

(01:11:35):
LA since McVeigh took over in Campbell and Detroit, but
you can't argue with the results.

Speaker 3 (01:11:40):
Sirianni was a controversial higher.

Speaker 4 (01:11:42):
A lot of people thought he flunked his first opening
press conference because he did, but you.

Speaker 3 (01:11:47):
Can't argue with the results.

Speaker 4 (01:11:49):
He may get his team back to the super Bowl
after having a Super Bowl appearance a couple of seasons ago.
So it could work out for Brian Shottenheim and the
Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 3 (01:12:01):
Here's the problem, though, Jerry will be in the way.
There is.

Speaker 4 (01:12:08):
No limit to Jerry Jones in that organization, and so
it almost doesn't matter who you hire outside of maybe
Bill Belichick, because you know, one of the things he
would have told Jerry on the outset, I'm taking over
and you need to step out of the way. That's
the only way you know Belichick would have took that job.
But outside of Belichick, I mean, basically, you're hiring a

(01:12:30):
puppet because that's what Jerry wants.

Speaker 3 (01:12:33):
He wants somebody who he can control.

Speaker 4 (01:12:35):
That's what happened with McCarthy, that's what happened with Garrett
before him, and that's what's gonna happen now with Schottenheimer.

Speaker 3 (01:12:40):
So it does feel a little bit like the same
old song and dance.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Yeah, the head coaching hiring is this year. I think
we're very much on brand with the franchises that hired them,
and I think that's kind of where we're at. Like,
for example, the last four coaches for the Cowboys, McCarthy, Garrett,
Wade Phillips, and Parsons.

Speaker 5 (01:13:01):
What are those four guys have in common? One one
of them is not like the other one as a
head coach. Since the Parcels hiring, it has been And
I love Wade Phillips, but he's a defensive coordinator. Like
that's his thing, you know, the Broncos season, Like that's
his thing. Jason Garrett, Mike McCarty like it just it
feels like it's a very familiar theme of guys that

(01:13:24):
are just good enough to not really make you back
too many eyelashes, but guys that can be controlled. And
if you go back to a guy like Belichick, you're
giving up control.

Speaker 2 (01:13:34):
I've said this for years. I don't think the Cowboys
are gonna win another franchise until Jerry relinquishes some of
that control. And we'll see when he does if he does.

Speaker 3 (01:13:43):
This is a this is a.

Speaker 2 (01:13:44):
Hiring that is not gonna move the needle. I really
don't have much to add. I mean, you guys nailed it,
Like it's just not gonna move the needle. It It's
just like, you know, you're putting a guy in that's
a placeholder, and he's gonna do his thing for a
couple of years until until Jerry decides to move on.
I mean, I don't really know what else to say. Well,
this to me, we do this with players all the time.
Why don't we do it with coaches? If you have

(01:14:06):
if we have huge questions about you as an offensive coordinator,
like how are you now moving beyond that as a
head coach?

Speaker 3 (01:14:17):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
It would be like a college quarterback and we have
huge questions. There are huge holes in his game, noticeable flaws,
and he's picked to be the starting quarterback. You're like,
oh no, that's gonna work out. Like think about your
your Jets, Jared. When he was the offensive coordinator, it
was a freaking disaster. Disaster like horrible play calling, awful

(01:14:40):
clock management. He was a punchline. And now he's a
head coach. He got a four year deal. Come on,
man again, we gotta do better than this. That's just
the bottom line over here, all right. It is Fox
Sports Radio's Countdown to kick Off, presented by bet mgm
are thanks to Rapid Radios, the official communication device of

(01:15:00):
Fox Sports Radio. Rapid Radios are instant push to talk
walkie talkies offering national LTE coverage and no subscription or
monthly fee. Business owners can keep in touch with up
to two hundred staff at one time, and it's a
great alternative to a mobile phone for your kids. Go
to Rapid radios dot com now for sixty percent off
and free shipping. Use Code Radio and get an extra

(01:15:22):
five percent off. All right, coming up next, prop it up?
So many prop bet opportunities. Well, I look to fade
Saquan at the wrong time yet again.

Speaker 3 (01:15:36):
A bride you are?

Speaker 4 (01:15:39):
You're on the struggle bus, my friend man, good lordes wow, all.

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
Right, we will compare notes. Coming up, it's Fox Sports
Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Throughout
the entire football season, BETMGM will offer all different types
of boost tokens. I be on the lookout for same
game parlay boost tokens, parlay boost tokens and odds boost

(01:16:06):
tokens each NFL weekend. Alright, let's do this.

Speaker 3 (01:16:11):
Good. Prop it up? Player plays all.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
Right, shared, we start with you, what's a prop bet
that you are all over the here?

Speaker 5 (01:16:21):
Well, I'll go back to what we were talking about
earlier in the show, and I think you know, the
market is pretty set this time of year. It's hard
to find value, so you have to look to places
where other people are kind.

Speaker 2 (01:16:31):
Of poopooing and naysaying. And nobody's poo pooing anyone more
this week than Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 5 (01:16:37):
I mean, it just seems like this guy is an
afterthought in in every prop market when it comes to
this game. I know the rushing number probably is not
something you want to look at because of the knee brace,
but in his passing yards prompt that one ninety, I
mean that is comically low for a team with AJ
Brown or yeah, AJ Brown at DeVante Smith and just
an embarrassment of Richard's at the offensive skill position.

Speaker 2 (01:17:01):
So I think Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 5 (01:17:02):
Maybe the game script clips negative, right, maybe the commander
stake a lead, but just in general, I think the
number is low and everyone's going against the Jalen Hurts
narrative and he gets the face man coverage, which he's
a top ten quarterback, against this year.

Speaker 2 (01:17:14):
So I go Jalen hurts over.

Speaker 5 (01:17:16):
One hundred and ninety and a half passing or ladder
that sucker up to like two fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:17:19):
Come on, get some plus money on the board too,
all Right, I like it.

Speaker 4 (01:17:23):
You know who else I like is Josh Allen, and
I trust him in big games to play big. Josh
Allen is gonna be involved in a shootout, I think
against the Kansas City Chiefs. That's the way I see
this game going in the AFC Championship. I think it's
gonna be a high scoring affair, and we called upon,
especially against a very talented defense which the Chiefs have,

(01:17:46):
one of the NFL's top top defense is certainly the
best left in the field the four teams remaining. I
think he's gonna have to get it done on the ground.
So forty six and a half rushing for Josh Allen, give.

Speaker 3 (01:18:01):
Me the over.

Speaker 4 (01:18:02):
I think if the Bills are gonna run with the
Chiefs or have a chance to beat the Chiefs, it's
gonna rely on Josh Allen creating outside.

Speaker 3 (01:18:11):
The pocket or some planed QB run.

Speaker 4 (01:18:13):
So forty six and a half give me the over
on Josh Allen's rushing problem.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
Okay, I'm not on the opposite side of Charott, but
I'm not exactly on the same side. If that makes
any sense, where listen it could work out where both
are correct. I'm on Saquon Barkley over twenty three and
a half rushing attempts because of the matchup. Washington's rush
defense is one of the worst in the league. They're

(01:18:37):
thirtieth against the rush. It would be a mortal football
sin to not give Saquon the ball over and over
and over and over again. And so I look at this.
Look at the postseason. He had twenty five carries against
the Packers. He had twenty six carries last week against
the Rams, and that's with a couple of long touchdown runs.

(01:18:59):
He's still got twenty six rushing attempts. These are not
the Baltimore Ravens who just conveniently forget, Hey, you know what,
we should run the ball. That's actually what we do
a really good job of The Eagles are like, feed Saquon,
feed saque feed him some more. He's not full yet,
so I expect him to get over twenty three and
a half rushing attempts again. If you've got the trump card.

(01:19:20):
If you're playing cards and you have the trump card,
why wouldn't you play it?

Speaker 3 (01:19:25):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:19:25):
The trump card in this game is Saquon Barkley running
the football, So feed him. I've got him over twenty
three and a half rushing attempts.

Speaker 5 (01:19:34):
I would assume dan Quinn knows that too. And that's
where I'm thinking. If we get a lot of eight
man boxes in this game, and Jalen looks to the
right and he sees aj Brown, and he looks to
the left and he sees Devonte Smith and he's got
one on one coverage on the outside, you could.

Speaker 3 (01:19:49):
Both be right.

Speaker 5 (01:19:50):
You could both be We could both be right because
we USh gamescript flips positive for the Eagles after they
get some big passing plays.

Speaker 3 (01:19:56):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:57):
The other question is Jalen hurts. How healthy is he?

Speaker 7 (01:19:59):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
How many zone reads is Jalen keeping?

Speaker 3 (01:20:03):
Not many?

Speaker 5 (01:20:04):
And that's why let the attempts prop over the yards
for shake Quard.

Speaker 2 (01:20:07):
We go very nice. Yeah, all right, the previews roll forward. Man,
this team has got to make it only about one game.
Easier said than done. Oh what is going on? Happy
Saturday to you as we get you all set for
championship Sunday. I guess we could get you set for
hoops as well. We've got pacers and spurs tipping off

(01:20:30):
in less than an hour. We've got a man look
at the early the early slate of college basketball. Have
you guys seen this?

Speaker 5 (01:20:38):
It's it's stacked. I think I'm in that transition mode. Well,
this is like the first week I really start that transition.

Speaker 2 (01:20:43):
If we're looking right at noon Eastern time when we
get off the air, not stacked later in the day. Sure,
but when we get off the air, we're looking at
that big Campbell Hofstra tilt. You know, we've got North
Carolina against Stony Brook, and then it's highlighted by SMU

(01:21:04):
NC State, Like, how are these are noon games? I
don't get it. There's some great games in college basketball today,
but not right when we get off the ear. I
don't understand why it's like that.

Speaker 4 (01:21:15):
Yeah, you know, I think, like Jared said, I think
it is a little bit of a slow roll into
college basketball as the NFL season fades. And so I
don't know, smarter people than me are in charge of scheduling.

Speaker 3 (01:21:27):
Maybe somebody had some foresight, But.

Speaker 4 (01:21:31):
Yeah, I find scheduling in general, like where broadcasts, partners
or you know, leagues or college football or basketball play
certain games or certain matchups, especially when you know there's
gonna be a significant amount of hype based on the preseason.
How some of these matchups get landed where they are

(01:21:51):
on the schedule.

Speaker 2 (01:21:52):
It's weird, yeah, because last week we get off the air,
we had Kentucky hosting Alabama right in a freaking track.
You know that would get Campbell Hofstra. The opposite of that.

Speaker 5 (01:22:04):
Later today is Houston in Kansas with a scintillating total
of one twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:22:09):
Houston. The defense they play, Oh, it's suffocating through love defense.
Watch the Houston. That's the game for you. That'll be
a fun one too.

Speaker 5 (01:22:17):
We know the Big twelve is obviously different now, but
Houston in the Big twelve is a different animal.

Speaker 2 (01:22:22):
And the Jayhawks also, you talk about defense, they're getting
after it as well, no doubt.

Speaker 5 (01:22:26):
LSU Bamma later Tennessee Auburn, good sec matchups tonight. This
is good again. I think college basketball when you get
into this mode where you're you know, more of a
recreational college basketball gambler like myself. I focus on the
top twenty fives, but I pick one really two conferences
that I focus in on Mountain Western Horizon, and I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:22:44):
Really worry about the rest. There's just so many games.
There's so much. It's just like drinking from a fire hose.
Yeah there is. I think there are half a billion
games on tap today.

Speaker 4 (01:22:54):
I was just I scrolled through the list. You know
how you do that like long, you know, finger bumb flick.

Speaker 3 (01:23:02):
I mean it's still strollings. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:23:05):
Yeah, we got the suckers out bud.

Speaker 2 (01:23:08):
Yeah, it's like the Geico commercial, like I overdid it right,
You have to get the index finger massaged. Yeah, that's
the college basketball slate, all right. We got Bills Chiefs.
Chiefs favored by two points. Total is forty eight and
a half. It seems like deja vu from last week.
We were just talking about this fellas where you look

(01:23:30):
at the Texans taking on the Chiefs. It applies even
more to the Buffalo Bills, where we all agreed it's
just about this game, right. It's there's this Mahomes mystique,
there's Andy Reid, there's all this playoff success. They're in
the AFC Championship game for the seventh straight year. Wow,

(01:23:50):
that's what the Chiefs have done. And then you add
to it all these Bills playoff failures against the Chiefs.
I love this. At Oliver with the Bills. He said
he can still see the confetti falling when the Chiefs
won the twenty twenty AFC championship game against the Bills,

(01:24:11):
which I totally believe. But that's my thing is this
isn't about last year with Tyler Bass missing a kick.
This isn't about the thirteen seconds left on the clock
game that the Bills somehow lost. It's not about the
twenty twenty AFC title game. It's not about any of that.
It's about tomorrow and that alone. And I think that's

(01:24:34):
a huge challenge for the Bills, is to not make
the game bigger than it is. When you're thinking about
all these other pass games and you press it, it's
I think it's gonna be a challenge for them to
we said it, like play the game down, like keep
it smaller, not build it up to be bigger than
it is. They're gonna have to absolutely guard against that.

(01:24:55):
I feel like.

Speaker 4 (01:24:57):
What you just said about at Oliver, I had a
visceral memory because what he What he said is actually
actually one hundred percent accurate. You'll never forget certain moments
after a crushing loss and the confetti in Indianapolis when
the Giants beat us in the Super Bowl. I'll never

(01:25:19):
forget watching the confetti and thinking to myself, I bet
they saved money on this because we have basically the
same colored confetti, the Giants and the.

Speaker 3 (01:25:27):
Patriots, you know what I mean, that was the thought.

Speaker 4 (01:25:31):
You know, I'm like, look, I'm watching it rain down
from the rafters and then your eyes, you know, are
following some of the pieces falling, and then you're watching
the stage get assembled and Giants players hugging the people
who love them the most on the field, and you know,
you know, they're they're I mean, they're they're doing what
they should do. They're proud of themselves, and they're patting

(01:25:53):
each other on the back, and they're getting ready to
take that stage and hoist the Lombardi Trophy, and the
bottom of your belly falls out like you feel gutted,
and it is one of the worst most demoralizing feelings
in the world because everything led up to that, and
you fell a couple plays short in our case, and

(01:26:15):
in many cases super Bowl game. Super Bowls are usually
tight games. You fall short and it stings, and it
sits with you for a long time. I was fortunate
I played a six year careerros on teams that went
to the playoffs four times. There are certain guys who
play much longer careers and never even get a bite
at the apple. So I'm not sitting here throwing a
pity party for myself. But what you said is right.

(01:26:38):
You have to, even knowing all of that, if you
get another chance at dancing, you gotta somehow try to
make it small. You gotta somehow try to tighten up
the aperture, the lens on your camera to only see
what you need to do in the moment, because if
you try to take in the full picture, you are
going to come completely shut down. So, whether it's the

(01:27:03):
Buffalo Bills, you know players realizing oh my god, here
we are again.

Speaker 3 (01:27:08):
We get we get another chance, guys who were there the.

Speaker 4 (01:27:10):
Last time, or you're the Chiefs players who have an
opportunity to three peat something the world has never seen before.

Speaker 3 (01:27:16):
You got to find a way to play this game small.

Speaker 2 (01:27:20):
Yeah, this has been a weird week for me with
this game. I think the Eagles commander's game.

Speaker 5 (01:27:24):
I have a much better grasp on scheme and kind
of because we've had two meetings and you know which
coaching staff is kind of better suited to make those adjustments.
I've got the emoji with my hands to the air
here with this game, really, and it's a pick them game.
I think if you if you zoomed out and looked
at the postseason as a whole, the regular season as

(01:27:46):
a whole, I think it's very fair to say the
Bills deserve to get the market respected they're getting.

Speaker 2 (01:27:51):
I mean, think about it.

Speaker 5 (01:27:52):
The Chiefs are the two time defending champs, they have
got at quarterback, best coach.

Speaker 2 (01:27:56):
Ever, and they're laying less than a field goal in
this game. Mm like at home in.

Speaker 5 (01:28:01):
The AC Championship game, a game that they have dominated
over the last what seven years.

Speaker 2 (01:28:06):
They've been in it.

Speaker 5 (01:28:08):
It just it feels like the market wants me to
bet the Chiefs here. Okay, but then you look at
the other side and you're like, yeah, Buffalo has got
this laser focus. I mean, they they did everything they
needed to do to win against Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (01:28:26):
They didn't do too much.

Speaker 5 (01:28:28):
They didn't do not enough, right, It was like the
Three Bears Porridge, they did just enough. And I think
that in the playoffs matters, and where the Chiefs are
right now, they're not playing Like if you ask me,
forget about the playoffs, forget about the Mahomes greatness, forget
about all the mystique, and you just line these teams

(01:28:49):
up in a vacuum and said, who's playing better.

Speaker 2 (01:28:51):
Football right now?

Speaker 5 (01:28:52):
I don't think anyone bats an eye and says the Bills.
But then you have to add in this magical mystique
element that is really really, really hard to quantify and
handicap that makes me want to bet the Chiefs. So
I'm kind of again hands in the air. Is it
gonna be the dragons and the lore and the great

(01:29:13):
Game of Thrones mystique or is it gonna be the
team that's playing cleaner, better.

Speaker 2 (01:29:18):
Football at the right time. Tough decision. Well, a couple
of things. The first thing is, I think this is
one of the Chiefs' biggest advantages. We were just talking
about the Bills and not making this game tomorrow bigger
and lumping in the past losses with it, you know

(01:29:39):
what I mean, Like question the Bills they might be
thinking about last year, or the thirteen seconds game, or
maybe the twenty twenty AFC title game. There are thirteen
players that were around for all three of those playoff
losses still on the roster. Those players might be thinking
of that. You think the Chiefs are You think the
Chiefs are thinking about anything but tomorrow. They're solely focused

(01:30:04):
on tomorrow. They're not thinking about last year or the
previous year. They're not thinking of any of that, And
so I think that's a huge advantage for the Chiefs.
I think that's where the Bills need to get where
it is only about this Sunday and not previous Sundays
where they went down to the Chiefs in the playoffs,
and a couple other things. If you look at the Chiefs,

(01:30:24):
they're not turning the ball over. The last time they
turned the football over was in Week eleven against Buffalo.
They've gone eight straight games, including the playoffs, not turning
the football over. And the last thing I'll say is this,
Patrick Mahomes is freaking money. And this is how I
think of betting. If I make a bet and if

(01:30:47):
I lose that bet, I would hope my reaction is
a shoulder shrug, and I say that's betting compared to
what the hell was I think, you know what I mean, Like,
I'm not going to think that if I bet the
Chiefs and they come up short, I'm not gonna think
that at all. And I would rather take that option

(01:31:07):
going in.

Speaker 4 (01:31:08):
What you just said about the Patrick Mahomes led Chiefs
is the whole story. The fact that since the Bills
game in the regular season they haven't turned it over.
I mean, it just shows you. It just shows you
what makes them special. The Chiefs are going to force
you to make the mistake that crushes you.

Speaker 3 (01:31:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:31:30):
I compared Lamar Jackson to ice cream earlier, you know,
I say, he's like a delicious ice cream cone.

Speaker 3 (01:31:35):
I can't say anything bad about ice cream. I love
ice cream.

Speaker 4 (01:31:38):
But when you have ice cream in the sun, the
sun always wins. And so when you have an impossible
force that you're facing, it doesn't matter how great of
a a a quantity you have.

Speaker 3 (01:31:54):
There's a greater quantity waiting for you.

Speaker 4 (01:31:57):
Like the Chiefs are the sun in that Lamar Jackson,
how many times have we seen him against Patty Mahomes
and the Chiefs make the mistake that Costs his team
or the Baltimore Ravens. I mean same with the Buffalo Bills.
I mean, the Buffalo Bills look like war Daddy's baby.
I mean they are an incredible team out of the AFC.
Josh Allen is playing football like an MVP this year.

(01:32:20):
If it weren't for Lamar Jackson, he would be a
shoeing to win the award. It's probably going Lamar. He'll
probably three peat. But I digress to prove the point.
He's incredible. Josh Allen and the Bills are incredible. But
when you take a lion out of the jungle and
you put him in Manhattan, they look out of place.
I mean because guess what, we'll capture that sucker. We'll

(01:32:42):
put him in a zoo. And that's what happens. When
you face the Chiefs. It doesn't matter how good you
are out of your natural habitat on their home field
at Arrowhead Stadium, that place rockin an AFC Championship game
where this is their seven straight time hosting this game.

Speaker 3 (01:33:00):
Are you kidding me? Good luck?

Speaker 4 (01:33:03):
I mean, because you could be as fierce a predator
in your jungle, it's tough to win in Chiefs Kingdom.

Speaker 3 (01:33:11):
M hmm.

Speaker 5 (01:33:12):
I like what Brian said because I that's why I'm
betting the Chiefs in this game, and I bet the
Chiefs earlier this week. Is because when I look in
the mirror on Monday morning and I bet the Bills
and the Chiefs win, I'm like, what was I thinking
than a field goal with Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
At home and it's the title game.

Speaker 5 (01:33:33):
But if I bet the Chiefs and they lose, I
look myself in the mirror Monday morning and I wake
up and I say, you know what, you bet on
the guy that is the magician, the wizard and he
ran out of magic.

Speaker 2 (01:33:47):
It's okay.

Speaker 4 (01:33:48):
It's the scene in Goodwill Hunting you you are playing
Robin Williams to your own Matt Gamon, where if the
Chiefs do lose, you're saying in the mirror, it's not
your fault.

Speaker 2 (01:33:58):
I'm content that the two time defending champs. What else
can I do?

Speaker 3 (01:34:02):
You did all you could do. It's not your fault.

Speaker 2 (01:34:04):
Yeah, you're not gonna do it's them. You're not gonna
beat yourself up if you bet the Chiefs and that
ends up being the wrong side.

Speaker 5 (01:34:11):
I'd rather lose with the goat than lose against the
goat like that. That's the lesser of the two evils.
If you have to lose a bet, I'd rather lose.
I'd rather be on the Titanic playing the playing the
music as it's going down, with Mahomes as my captain,
knowing that if he can't win, then I had no shot.

Speaker 2 (01:34:31):
Yeah, right, I would only push back on the goat thing,
you know, that's only Yeah, maybe he's not the goat.
I think he's got You're right, it's not the goat.
He's God Jesus, he's the goat. Apprentice is what I'll
call him right now. He's got apprentice.

Speaker 5 (01:34:50):
Is there another goat? I mean, I'm obviously strictly speaking
quarterback NFL. I don't want to get into the NBA
Lebron Michael georganas.

Speaker 2 (01:34:57):
Yeah, is there a quarterback you put ahead of him
right now? Ahead of absolutely the guy who beat him
twice in the playoffs including the Super Bowl. That's fair.

Speaker 3 (01:35:04):
Yeah, yeah, Tom Brady's my greatest of all.

Speaker 2 (01:35:07):
Right, you're right, you're right, you're right, But.

Speaker 4 (01:35:09):
I will say, but I will say, and you know,
if we're all in agreement, it's not even where it's saying,
but Patrick Mahomes, though, what he's done to this point
in his career, if there's anybody who could topple Tom
at the top, it's gonna have to be him, because well,
we'll really never see anybody who's how to start like

(01:35:29):
this again, I mean Patrick Mahomes. It's when you pointed
that out Brian earlier, that he's been to seven straight
AFC Championship games.

Speaker 3 (01:35:37):
Wild.

Speaker 4 (01:35:38):
It's just I don't even know. You can't quantify that,
so you just you just have to sit back.

Speaker 2 (01:35:44):
Does he have to win more titles than Tom to
be the goat? Brian? Like, are we grading on a curve?

Speaker 5 (01:35:48):
Well, because I agree with you, he's not the goat yet.
Tom is currently the goat. But I think the path
for Mahomes is there to be Well, I.

Speaker 2 (01:35:54):
Think, Jared, I think that if he's not gonna surpass Brady,
and he's got to surpass him in other categories, sure,
and one category would be a three pat a three
peat unprecedented. Yes, nobody's done that player team in the
history of the NFL. If he's able to do that
and he ends up with I don't know, five or

(01:36:15):
six rings and has all these individual you could make
an argument, you can, but if he's not gonna get
to seven, you gotta do some stuff that Tom Brady
didn't do, and a three peat would be a big
That's why I'm not betting against the Chiefs tomorrow. Yeah, Yeah,
that'd be a huge. He's gotta lose first.

Speaker 5 (01:36:32):
I gotta see it against somebody not named Joe Bora
before I bet against it.

Speaker 2 (01:36:37):
Fair enough, Hey, that's fair. Hey, We've got rich Oarnberger,
Penn State All American, Jared Smith FSR betting analyst, I'm Brian.

Speaker 7 (01:36:44):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:36:45):
Throughout the entire football season, bet MGM will offer all
different types of boost tokens. Be on the lookout for
same game parlay boost tokens, parlay boost tokens and odds
boost tokens each NFL weekend. All right, coming up next?
Is there a bigger question mark than this guy? It's
Fox Sports Radios Campdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM. It

(01:37:05):
is Fox Sports Radios Campdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM.
Football is here at betmgm. Use code countdown and receive
up to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets if
you don't win your first bet. When you register with betmgm,
you'll get instant access to a variety of parlay selection features,
live betting options, signature bets, and the best daily promotions

(01:37:26):
in the business. Download the betmgm app today or visit
betmgm dot com and use code countdown to receive up
to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets if that
bet loses.

Speaker 3 (01:37:36):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:37:37):
Is there a bigger question mark in Championship Sunday than
Jalen Hurts? Now, Jalen Hurts has got the knee injury right?
So is he healthy? Is he running? Is he productive?

Speaker 3 (01:37:51):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:37:51):
Those are pretty big question marks and he could answer
all of them in flying colors.

Speaker 3 (01:37:55):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:37:57):
But is there anybody else? I'll throw a couple of
names out there. James Cook, Bill's running back. How effective
is the Bill's running game against the Chiefs? That's gonna
be a big, big deal. And James Cook has been
very good in the playoffs. He had a huge game
the first game against Denver, ran for one hundred and
twenty yards in a touchdown. Good game last week against

(01:38:18):
the Ravens sixty seven yards rushing against the number one
ranked rush defense. That's pretty good. So how effective is
James Cook in that Bill's running game? Another name Isaiah Pacheco?
Is he gonna contribute? He was a big part of
their success. His rushing prop bet is at thirty one
and a half yards, like, that's where he's at right now.

(01:38:40):
But I still would have Jalen Hurts number one on
the question list. You guys, what do you think?

Speaker 3 (01:38:45):
Rich? All right, so.

Speaker 4 (01:38:48):
I'm gonna say Jaden Daniels name out loud here and
duck a little bit?

Speaker 2 (01:38:54):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (01:38:55):
Number one defense? Yeah, hey, but the Eagles, that's the thing.
Been here, A lot of these players know what this
is all about. A lot of those defenders have played
in an NFC championship game. I understand that Jalen Hurts
has banged up, but he's been here before. I mean,
he's played under this pressure and Jayden Daniels has not.

Speaker 3 (01:39:20):
So I get it, and I'm with it.

Speaker 4 (01:39:23):
I understand injuries matter, they matter, but experience in the
postseason matters too.

Speaker 3 (01:39:29):
So am I worried about Josh Allen? No? Am I
worried about Patrick Mahomes? No, obviously not.

Speaker 4 (01:39:35):
Am I worried about Jellen Hurts honestly, if he says
he's ready to play, No, I'm not worried about him,
you know what, I am worried about the untested quantity
in a huge moment like this. You are a game
away from playing in the Super Bowl as a rookie.

Speaker 3 (01:39:50):
Good luck, rook good luck. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:39:53):
I actually agree with rich on this, and I'll give
you a couple of reasons why. Okay, First of all,
I do think the matchup for Jalen Hurts is significantly better.
Completely agree with that. Like the Rams and the Packers.
First of all, they play the exact style of defense
that makes Jalen Hurts a little bit queasy, which is

(01:40:14):
zone read it multiple different windows you've got to try
to throw to and then find the right spot. The
man coverage that predominantly Washington plays is much more I'll
call it palatable for Jalen Hurts's appetite. I think there's
gonna be more opportunities for him to push the ball
down the field and make a one red throw one

(01:40:36):
side of the field. Man coverage there it is Aj Brown,
Devonte Smith, Dallas Goddard, go make plays. I think on
the other side, you get a Washington offensive line that
is now without their best offensive lineman, Sam Cosmi, who
is a He's only given up one sack all year.

Speaker 2 (01:40:53):
I mean that's really good.

Speaker 5 (01:40:55):
And I would say the strength of the Eagles is
their defensive front.

Speaker 2 (01:41:00):
What is the strength of the Lions? Not their defensive front?
Right not now? Maybe you know twelve weeks ago. So
it just it.

Speaker 5 (01:41:08):
Feels like the narrative is really negative against Jalen Hurts.
And Warren Buffett always said when there's blood in the streets,
that's when you buy. And if there's a lot of
negativity about Jalen Hurts and there's a lot of positivity
about Jaden Daniels, the market's kind of telling you, hey,
maybe you buy on Jaden, but you're not getting a

(01:41:28):
good price. If you want to buy Jalen Hurts is
the one you buy this week?

Speaker 2 (01:41:33):
Well, if you do the Jalen Hurts Jaden Daniels thing,
no doubt, styles make fights, you know, and who you're
going up against is a big deal. The other part
of that is who's going to need to do more right?
Like Jayden Daniels. His lead running back is Brian Robinson Junior,

(01:41:55):
whose rushing prop is a thirty five and a half rush. Okay,
I got Jalen Hurts. He's got Saquon Barkley in the
MVP conversation rush for over two thousand yards. Saquon's rushing
prop is one twenty five.

Speaker 3 (01:42:13):
You are.

Speaker 2 (01:42:15):
So like, there's a legitimate question of how much is
Jalen Hurts gonna have to do right like compared to
Jaden Daniels. What are the chances that the running game
is just taking all these responsibilities off of Jaden Daniels
plate like slim to none like. For for Washington to
be successful, to move the ball, score points, Jaden Daniels

(01:42:38):
has to be the guy. He just has to be,
And there's a great possibility Jalen Hurts won't need to be.

Speaker 3 (01:42:45):
I agree, I one agree.

Speaker 4 (01:42:48):
I think the pressure, if we're talking about just pressure,
it lays squarely on Jaden Daniel's shoulders. He's done so
much for this team. He is the living and actual
heartbeat of the right now, whether he realizes or not.
Because that's the other thing is, sometimes it's to your
benefit to lack experience because you don't realize how important

(01:43:13):
you are to what's happening. He may not realize it
yet now, he's a pretty bright guy. And obviously, when
we discussed Jayden Daniels coming out of LSU, you know
how I felt about him, I said then, And it's
proven out over the course of this season that he's
the most NFL ready quarterback. And he was out of
this year's draft class, and it was a big one.

(01:43:35):
We had six NFL or excuse me, college quarterbacks drafted
into the NFL in twelve picks. So I mean, that's
substantial in its own right. That's substantial. And then the
fact that he's appearing in an NFC championship game is
just otherworldly. So what you don't know can be a
benefit to you. But he's played in big games. He

(01:43:58):
understands what's happening. He's done what we've all done in
our backyards and counted down the seconds before trying to
make the big shot. You're there now, Bud, You're on
that stage. What are you gonna do with this opportunity?
And it's really difficult to keep all of those emotions
under control.

Speaker 3 (01:44:18):
Your first go round.

Speaker 4 (01:44:20):
And so I remember when I watched Jalen Hurtz, who
played an excellent game against the Chiefs in the Super
Bowl and thinking, man, this is tough. I mean, every
single moment matters in this game. He's playing excellent, but
then boom there it was. Remember he fumbled that football.
It was like a bobbled snap or something like that.
Chiefs recovered. He played a perfect game except for that mistake,

(01:44:41):
and it proved costly.

Speaker 3 (01:44:43):
And that's my point about Jayden Daniels.

Speaker 4 (01:44:46):
All it takes is one of those against the defense
as fierce as the Eagles, and as a rookie, we'll
see if he has a mistake like that and Ken
have the bounce back ability, Ken make up for it
in the game, It's difficult to do.

Speaker 5 (01:45:00):
Yeah, that was the big focus this week for me
was the Eagles defense against Jadeen Daniels and Vic Fangio, really,
who is a guy that I think, you know, gets
a lot of buzz, but I think needs to continue
to get buzz. Like if you were gonna ask me,
what's the story after the game, Like what's the headline
after the game, It's Eagles defense finally solves the jade

(01:45:21):
and Daniels explosion. Like you know, Vic Fangio makes the
right adjustments and keeps this commander's offense in check and
it allows the Eagles to kind of play their game,
which is just to lean and lean and lean, and
then eventually Saquon pops one and then you're down two
scores late. So I think if you go back and
look at the last match up from week sixteen, they
didn't play any man coverage until the seventh drive of

(01:45:43):
the game, which was when the Eagles already had a lead.

Speaker 2 (01:45:46):
So essentially vic Fangio was just kind.

Speaker 5 (01:45:48):
Of soft, soft coverage, zone, zone zone, and then they
got a lead and then boom Man blitzes off the edge. Like,
I think there's going to be a change up and
how the Commanders handle the empty if they run a
lot of empty, because that was when they really had
success in the second half of the game against Philly
back in week sixteen, they went empty.

Speaker 2 (01:46:07):
Jade Daniels had a big pocket up the middle.

Speaker 5 (01:46:08):
He started to use his legs a lot more and
Philly just didn't counter that in time. Well, now Kingsbury
shown him that, and now vic Fango's had plenty of
time and obviously a couple of data points against this
team to kind of adjust to that.

Speaker 2 (01:46:21):
So to be curious to see how they play.

Speaker 5 (01:46:22):
The running game if they, you know, put a middle
linebacker in the box. But I think the Nikobe Dean
injury matters. I think that when I watched the film
from week sixteen, that was the guy that stood out
on tape the most.

Speaker 3 (01:46:31):
To me.

Speaker 2 (01:46:32):
Nikobe Dean was just everywhere on the field.

Speaker 5 (01:46:34):
Now, Bond's taking a nice step forward since then, so
that'll be I think a linebacker that the Eagles need
to play really well. But how the Nikobe Dean injury
impacts how some of that zone coverage looks underneath for Fanjo,
I think is gonna be huge in this game.

Speaker 2 (01:46:47):
Okay, fellas, are worn't a pretty good game?

Speaker 3 (01:46:49):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:46:50):
You're mentioning the rushing yards, Jared, And it's important here.
So if you look at all four quarterbacks still in
the playoffs, they're all a threat with their legs right
rushing the ball. So if you go one through four,
most rushing yards all the way down to the least
rushing yards, we'll start with you, Rich. I'm gonna jot

(01:47:11):
these down. Okay, you get five points for each correct slot. Okay,
we'll see who has the most points between Jayden Daniels,
Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes. How do you how
do you slot them in terms of who will rush
for the most yards all the way down to the least.

Speaker 4 (01:47:30):
All right, I'm gonna say gosh, because he I feel
like he's gonna have to Jayden Daniels top of my list.

Speaker 2 (01:47:37):
Even though you hate him? All right, good, I don't
hate him. I love them.

Speaker 3 (01:47:42):
You know what?

Speaker 4 (01:47:43):
I love Jayden Daniels. I and I mean it, and
I really do mean it.

Speaker 2 (01:47:47):
Is he played in the USFL this spring, I don't.

Speaker 4 (01:47:50):
Know, yeah, honestly, Yeah, I mean it's a tune up league,
and I see a lot of places he could actually approve. No,
I uh so, Jaden Daniels, if the Commanders are gonna
have success, it's going to be predicated on him getting
them out of trouble. And I think they're gonna be
in some trouble against that Eagles defense. So give me
Jayden Daniels at the top number two. Yeah. Oh, do

(01:48:13):
we want to just go around and talk about our
top or do we wanna give our top four real quick?

Speaker 2 (01:48:17):
Get the top four? Go ahead, Okay, go top four.

Speaker 3 (01:48:19):
I'm gonna go Jaden Daniels.

Speaker 4 (01:48:20):
Josh Allen similar explanation to the commanders. I think to
run with the chiefs, Allen's gonna have to get himself
out of trouble sometimes. Also, I think there's gonna be
plenty of plan QB runs to get him going.

Speaker 3 (01:48:34):
That seems to fuel him. Then I'm gonna throw hm. Boy.

Speaker 4 (01:48:40):
This is where this is where it gets down to
the nitty gritty. Yeah, give me Patty Mahomes, then Jalen Hurts. Okay, Wow,
I think differently from last week. I think they're gonna
have to protect Hurts a little bit more. And so yeah,
I'm gonna I'm gonna say Mahomes and Hurts comes.

Speaker 3 (01:48:58):
In last place. That was a tough list, right, yeah,
really tough.

Speaker 2 (01:49:01):
Yeah, that's a tough list, I think with Mahomes.

Speaker 5 (01:49:04):
So I'm looking at the numbers now, Daniel's fifty four
and a half, Allen forty six and a half, Hurts
thirty and a half, Mahomes twenty four and a half.
So that's the order that you're going in. I think
with Mahomes, I like the attempts more, which is four
and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:49:20):
I think that's an over.

Speaker 5 (01:49:21):
For me because I think what I noticed with Mahomes
is he's not breaking the long runs. But he's running
at timely moments. And remember when you're betting rushing attempts,
kneel downs count end of half, and of course if
the Chiefs win, end of game.

Speaker 3 (01:49:37):
That's such a good tip.

Speaker 5 (01:49:38):
Yeah, I love and people forget that because we talk
about the rushing yards in college football for the quarterbacks
negative on the sacks. You don't get a lot of
rushing attempt props in the college markets. We get them
in the NFL markets for the quarterbacks. If you're getting
a four and a half and a fair price, let's
call it minus one ten, minus one twenty on a
Mahomes over four and a half rushing attempts. I think

(01:50:00):
that's a good bat. I think the Allen rushing yards
prop isn't over for me. I think the Daniels rushing
yards prop is probably priced right. Again, it's hard to
really keep this in mind because like we're thinking about
him breaking a big one, but Daniels fifty five's a
lot of yards for a quarterback. Like you've got to
break up like is if you get ten let let's
say you get ten attempts in a game, which is

(01:50:20):
kind of where he's being lined at you gotta go
six yards to carry. I mean, I mean that's you know,
that's a pretty decent number for a quarterback when you
know you really need like a big one to get
over fifty four and a half. So I'm a little
neutral on Daniels. I actually think Josh Allen's got a
chance to outgain Jayden Daniels with his legs in the
game because I think Josh Allen's gonna be running for
his life against that Chiefs defense. And obviously the Jalen

(01:50:40):
Hurts injury has to make us downgrade his number. So
I would say Allen won Daniels two, and I'd say
Mahomes three and Hurts four.

Speaker 2 (01:50:50):
But I don't think there's a big gap between those
two guys. Yeah, that's a tough one. That's the the
Jalen Hurts thing is, I know, because he's start to
know how healthy he is and he's got Saquon you know, Like.

Speaker 5 (01:51:03):
But don't you think that the Commanders know that, and
they're gonna play the Reid option to where they're gonna
make him keep it, which is gonna force him to
go like he had that what forty yard touchdown run?

Speaker 2 (01:51:12):
Because that Commander's just forty injury though too.

Speaker 3 (01:51:15):
Yeah, I hear you.

Speaker 2 (01:51:16):
I hear you on that. I just don't know how
healthy he is. Yeah, Like on a side note, sort of,
Shalen hurts. He looks the whole game and the whole
season like he began the first step of the most.

Speaker 3 (01:51:33):
Grueling the cathlon.

Speaker 2 (01:51:35):
Yeah, and he's just like, all right, let me pace myself.

Speaker 5 (01:51:38):
You know, he looks next week, impacts it at all.

Speaker 2 (01:51:42):
He knows he'll get a BUYE could absolutely could. And
Rich said this earlier. If he's he's not even on
the injury report, right, if he's cleared to go, he's
freaking going. We got a super Bowl on the line.

Speaker 5 (01:51:54):
That could be a mental thing, just to kind of
screw up the Commanders, like, oh, he's not on the
injury report. Like the injury reports like such a it's
like a tool that these coaches use now, like screen coaches,
other coaches.

Speaker 3 (01:52:06):
Heads.

Speaker 2 (01:52:06):
Man, So I'm looking at your lists. I don't want
the same list. That's no fun, you know. So I'm
gonna go with Josh Allen number one. He's got to
be the guy. I think that I think that James
Cook in the running Game can have some success. The
Chiefs defense been a little bit leakier down the stretch
than the beginning of the season, for sure. But I

(01:52:28):
think Josh Daniels Josh Allen. This again, this is like
the trade. There are no training wheels, there are no
emergency brake, there's freaking nothing, like we're running through people
at this point, you know. So I'm taking Josh Allen
number one. I like that. I'm combining them into Josh
Daniels and Daniels combined. Now that's a guy I would

(01:52:50):
take right there.

Speaker 3 (01:52:51):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:52:53):
You give me both of those quarterbacks combined. Yeah, I'll
take him. I'll go Jaydon Daniels number two because he's
just dynamic. You know, he's got the highest rushing total. Yeah,
I'll flip flop yours, Jared. I'll go with Hurts third,
Mahomes fourth. What's great about this, I wouldn't be shocked

(01:53:13):
at all if Mahomes is second. I wouldn't be just
stunned beyond belief if he's first. Yeah, he runs a
lot in the playoffs. Remember the AFC title game against
the Titans, had that long touchdown run down the sidelines,
Like Mahomes will tuck it and run in these four
and a half rushing attempts.

Speaker 5 (01:53:31):
Prop is I bet three It was three and a
half at open I hammered that, and the four and
a half I still think so bad.

Speaker 4 (01:53:37):
Yeah, key on Mahomes also looking to draw the foul
when he runs the football. I mean he really does.
To your point, Brian, Big Games, not only will he
run the football, but also he'll do it intentionally to
be like, all right, hey, maybe we could get fifteen
free ones at the end of this thing.

Speaker 2 (01:53:56):
Yeah that's true. All right, we got Rich joorn Berger,
Penn State, All American, Jared's Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm
Brian No. Shortly after the show, our podcast would be
going up. If you missed anything on today's show, be
sure to check it out. Just search Fox Sports Radio
wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to also
follow rate and review it again. Just search Fox Sports
Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll see this

(01:54:17):
show posted right after we get off the air. All right,
coming up next, the Moment of Truth Rapid Fire, three
selections a piece. My record is the same as a
documentary franchise. All right, just give you a little sneak
peek on that It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to

(01:54:38):
Kickoff presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown
to Kickoff presented by BETMGM all season long. Betmgm's offering
you a second chance on your first touchdown bet in
the NFL. When a customer places an NFL wager on
a first touchdown score bet and it doesn't score first,
but score second, BETMGM will return one hundred cent of

(01:55:00):
their steakback in cash. Props to the crew. Our trusted producer,
Bo Benson, The Dodger Zone podcast, technical producer Extraordinary Chris Purfett,
Pride of Detroit podcast. Our digital man Sager does a
great job posting our clips on social media. Appreciate him.

(01:55:20):
Top of the Hour up on Game LaVar Arrington, TJ Huschman, Zada,
Plexico Burus. They have got you covered in ten minutes
from now before the picks real fast. Random shout out
Madison Keys. I don't know if you guys have been
watching the Australian Open. She won it in the wee
hours this morning. Oh speed a Sabalanca. So that's our

(01:55:40):
first major win.

Speaker 3 (01:55:42):
It was her.

Speaker 2 (01:55:42):
Forty sixth appearance. That's over eleven years she's been trying
to win a major. Finally won one. Her previous match
against IgA Spiatak, freaking classic. I'm watching that. It's like
five thirty in the morning. I'm live ben American woman
win a Grand Slam? Is it Serena? I don't probably,

(01:56:03):
but that's all shout out to her man winning her
first major. That's awesome, So very well done. Madison Keys
getting it done at the Ayow Australian Open. I they
shortened that. I've got some picks to make. Let's do it.

Speaker 3 (01:56:19):
Rapid fire, all right, Jared.

Speaker 2 (01:56:22):
We start with you.

Speaker 3 (01:56:23):
What do you like?

Speaker 2 (01:56:24):
All right, we'll go the Vic Fangio special here.

Speaker 5 (01:56:27):
We're gonna go a Jade Daniels under to twenty seven
and a half passing yards.

Speaker 2 (01:56:30):
We're seeing this number get bet up a little bit.
I understand why all the buzz on Jayde and Daniels
this week, But two thirteen and a half. That was
the number in week sixteen.

Speaker 5 (01:56:38):
If it wasn't for that drop by DeVante Smith, he
stays under that total. In week eleven, his total against
the Eagles was two twenty four and a half. He
finished with one ninety one. I just I'm barring some
kind of crazy game script where the Eagles have a
huge lead and he's got to chase the game. I
don't see how Daniels goes over this number. Patrick Mahomes
over four and a half rushing attempts, Guys, I love
this prop. The last six playoff games for Mahomes seven
to nine, to six, six, two in that crazy cold

(01:57:00):
game against your Dolphins last year, Brian, and then six
in the Super Bowl two years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:57:05):
I just think the kneel downs count. It is a
great bet to make.

Speaker 5 (01:57:08):
For Mahomes, and I Am not going to wake up
Monday morning and hate myself for betting against Patrick Mahomes
in an AFC title game. I'll take the Chiefs on
the money line. I think they are moving on to
the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (01:57:21):
Okay, all right, very good. I like the Chiefs Bills
game to be a shootout. I think I'm gonna take
the over on this forty eight and a half. It
feels like one of those games that's gonna be a classic.
We're gonna talk about this this postseason matchup in the
AFC Championship Game for years to come.

Speaker 3 (01:57:38):
So give me the over. Forty and a half chief Spills. Okay, Chiefs,
if they win by a field goal, they will.

Speaker 4 (01:57:45):
Secure themselves a win and also cover the spread. So
I'll take the minus two on the Chiefs, and then
the Commanders. I say, keep it close with the Eagles.
I think we're gonna have a rematch in the super Bowl.
But Commanders plus six feels right to me. So give
me the dogs in that game with the points.

Speaker 2 (01:58:03):
Okay, all right, so let me start with what you
just said, Rich, I'm on the dog as well. Okayvy
Washington plus six Divisional rival right, rivalry Rivals. I could
have picked either one and it would have been correct.
Instead I said, I said rival, and it's neither.

Speaker 3 (01:58:23):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (01:58:24):
I like it a lot. But Jade and Daniels suspend spectacular.
I know he's going up against the very, very tough defense,
but I just I don't see the Eagles boat racing them.
I just don't six points in a game like this.
I think it's I think it's the better option, So
I'll take Washington plus six. I'm also in agree in

(01:58:44):
agreement with you. What's up with these wrong words? I
got KC money line minus one thirty against the Bills.
I will not hate myself. That's wrong on Monday morning.
I just like the odds of case moving on more so.
And man, there's so much stuff I love. There are
a lot of things I'm gonna go. I'm gonna add
Mahomes to the list. I don't know how effective their

(01:59:07):
running game is gonna be. You know, Isaiah Pacheco Kareem hunting,
you know. And I think Mahomes is gonna have a game. Man,
I'm gonna take over two fifty five and a half.
We've seen the Bills defense get diced up before. I
think Mahome's gonna have to be big, and I think
he will be. I'll take him over to fifty five

(01:59:27):
and a half passing yards in that game. I said,
my record is similar to a documentary franchise. I'm thirty
and thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:59:35):
Oh there is.

Speaker 2 (01:59:37):
I'm having a terrible year. I'm gonna finish the last
I don't way. There are stretches on red hot, there
are stretches of ice cold, and it just five hundred
Enjoy Championship Sunday,

Fox Sports Radio News

Advertise With Us

Host

Jonas Knox

Jonas Knox

Popular Podcasts

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

Crime Junkie

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.