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August 9, 2026 120 mins

NFL season is here, which has Montse Bolanos and Buck Reising excited about several players’ NFL debuts and/or return from injury. After an AFC West deep dive, Buck breaks down the Titans and what we’ll see from former #1 pick Cam Ward in year two. And are the Patriots and Bears in for a regression this season, as Montse and Buck believe? All that and a fresh round of Easy as 1,2,3,4.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, what's up? Everybody? Happy Sunday? Thank you for tuning
into Fox Sports Radio. I am Mancie Belanos. He is
Buck Rising, and we are here to hang out with
you for the next three hours. We are not alone.
We do have our executive producer, Garrett Ritt. We have
our technical producer also going to be our news anchor,
Christopher fat As. He likes to do musical chairs. We

(00:21):
all do that here. But Buck, how are you happy Sunday?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm great. I'm fresh off the practice field, happy to
be hanging out training camp in full effect. I'm actually
heading out y'all's way tomorrow, flying up so sco. We
got joint training camp practice out there with the forty
nine ers at a preseason game. So just inchin closer
and closer to the real.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Thing in inching closer and closer, except and we I
am gonna ask you questions about the Titans and how
everything is going, because I want to know. Do we
have to We do have to, of course we have to,
but we won't start with that. Let's get into it
because Buck, the Hall of Fame game has really he
made everybody get excited for football season, and I don't

(01:03):
know if a Hall of Fame game or of a
preseason game has ever trended the way it did on Twitter,
the way it was on Thursday Night. It was a
fun game from top to bottom. Did you watch it?
Did you care?

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah? I mean I go into these things with about
the same attitude every year, which is I'll probably stick
around for a quarter and then I'll bail. But I
thought about it when they took Kenny Pickett out of
the game. It's not like Kenny Pickett was the reason
for me to gravitate towards my television. I've seen Kenny
Pickett play. Not very interested in that. But I am
familiar with Haines King. Haines King is a lot of fun,

(01:38):
not just at Georgia Tech, but obviously I'm here in
Nashville and SEC Country, so I remember him at Texas
A and M. And when they put Haines King in
the game, I was like, I'll stick around for this,
and it turned into one of the more entertaining preseason
games I can remember. I was very pressed with him.
Carson Beck, who I am just completely disillusioned with on
a regular basis, and who am I I'm credibly grateful

(01:58):
for throwing that interception in the National Championship game against
my alma mater to let Indiana win the National championship.
He looked pretty good too. In fact, I think there's
probably some level of conversation happening in Arizona, certainly among
the fan base, on who actually might be the best
quarterback on that roster heading into twenty twenty six. So, yeah,
I watched the whole damn thing. I watched the game winner.

(02:19):
I saw Haines King diving into the end zone, and
you know, now he's hurt.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Now he's hurt with the hamstring injury because of that
heroic play. I was here at the news desk that day,
and it was a wild night because the Boston Red
Sox were also on a winning streak, and they went
to extra innings and they came back and won. It
was also a WNBA game the Aces and the Fever
were playing and they went to overtime. So at the
news desk, I kind of was like paying attention to everything. Scrambled, Yes, scrambling,

(02:47):
But the Hall of Fame game was so exciting from
the beginning. You mentioned it, Carson Beck, can you pick
a I As you said, we've all seen and there's
nothing inspiring or something. It doesn't do anything for me.
But car getting out there immediately made you feel like, oh,
football's back. He had a forty nine yard throw across
the field early on in the game and you just

(03:08):
felt like, wow, this looks like football, and it's been
a while since we've seen it. But it was such
a fun game from top to bottom. I don't know
how fun it was for Jacoby Brissett in terms.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Of you feel like he's feel a little threatened.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yes, as you said, I think, oh that man don't
care mats.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yes, he's holding out because he wants fifteen million dollars
a year to be a tackling dummy back there. He's
collecting his another paycheck, getting on with his day. Jacoby
sweatn't it doesn't make sense lay for the Cardinals. Man. No,
he knows that season doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
It's okay, but don't shoot. There's something you got to
you gotta tell me. There's gotta be pride, There's gotta
be a little bit of ego. There's gotta be a
little bit of something. He has not been able to
be a starter. He has been a consistent backup across
his career, and now he has the opportunity to be
a starter, and everyone thinking, yeah, okay, Carson Beck, maybe
we'll play later in the weeks once the season is underway,

(04:07):
because like you said, it's the Cardinals, so they'll give
they'll give them an opportunity. But now I feel like
that opportunity can be a lot sooner than maybe people
were expecting, and not just me, but Jacoby Brissett maybe
expecting Manci.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
This man has been in the league for ten years.
As he said, he's got sixty five starts. Well, what
I'm saying is he started plenty of football games. Hell,
I remember covering Monday Night football with him down here
in Nashville, Marcus Mariota versus Jacoby Brissett not that long ago.
He's been a starting quarterback for the Colts. He's been
a starting quarterback in Miami, He's been a starting quarterback
in Cleveland for God's sex. Man's been all over the place.

(04:42):
He's he's in it for the check at this point
in his career. And sure, I mean they're competitive athletes.
They have to be to last in that league. And
I haven't covered Jacoby personally, so I would not pretend
to know the human being. And yes, you are absolutely
correct in saying that there is a always a degree
of pride in that. But not when you're in year

(05:02):
year ten, hanging out with the Cardinals, holding out in
one of the most now ridiculous. I mean, that's what
it is. You're hanging out for a season, just getting
through getting another fifteen million dollar payday. He hadn't had
that many in his career because to your point, he
has been thought of not as a starter and not
receiving starting caliber money. But he is for Arizona because

(05:23):
it's a cheap ass organization. They're just going to patch
work their way through this thing, and you know, hope
for their sake and for their fan base's sake, if
such a fan base even exists. I've done several games
out in Arizona. I have yet to see proof of
life as far as that fan base goes. In fact,
it's kind of stunning to see Larry Fitzgerald up there
and be like, you know, you can get a Hall
of Famer for just about any franchise if you try

(05:44):
hard enough and last in the league long enough. But yeah,
I mean, he didn't care.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
I guess Honestly, I'm surprised you're saying that, but hear
I understand it.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
I've been around professional athletes way too long. Monts. Is
this level of heroism or you know, fighting for the
logo that they play for in all this crap, that's
not real. That's that's what we romanticize about sports, and
that's fine. In reality. These guys going to work just
like you and me. Jacoby Brisaid is at the end
of his career. He has an opportunity to cash in,

(06:19):
and that check cashes either way, whether he's making it
starts with the Cardinals, whether it's my guy Gardner Minshew
Minshew Mania out there, another former AFC South quarterback that
I've had the experience covering their games, and Carson Beck.
I'm sure Carson Beck is wide eyed and bright eyed
and bushy tailed to go out there and try and
be a starting professional quarterback, and he may do it.

(06:39):
I don't know what the over under on starts on
him is, but if it's you know, one and a half,
I'd probably take the over.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
I would take the over too. I just have a
hard time. You're probably right, but it's my competitive nature.
I would not be able to just be like, Oh,
that's right, I'll just the paycheck. But I guess you know,
when you're getting paid like that, you maybe start looking
at things a little bit differently. But I honestly did
not think you going to say that about Jacoby Preset.
But you're probably right. I don't love it because I
want him to be competitive, because I find I want

(07:07):
there to be a competition, Like I don't want Jacoby
Brissett to be feeling fine. Oh it's fine, course in
bag you want to take over, no problem, I'm just
gonna step off to the side and make my millions.
I guess, like that's not what I would want, But
that's true, that seems logical.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
I yeah, I mean, that's that's the reality of professional
sports at the end of the day. That's that's just
what it is. I mean, the vast majority of these guys,
Football is a means to an end, Basketball, baseball, what
have you? A means to an end. It's a way
to get out of your situation. It's a way to
make generational money for you and your family. And in
a situation like that, you probably, yeah, young pub get
out there behind that offensive line. Why don't you take

(07:43):
a few of those shots, Well, you.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Take up shots. It's true, that's true because he's been
around enough. But Hall of Fame game, Hall of Fame
game behind us. And now we have pre season week
one coming up in just a few days a buck Thursday.
How many games are there that day? Six to seven
game is going on? Do you care about any of
the matchups like specifically? I'm gonna give you some examples.

(08:05):
Do we need to see Daniel Jones come out for
the Colts because of that injury that he suffered and
all reports are saying that he looks great. Do we
need to see Daniel Jones in week one of the
preseason to see what he's looking like against the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
No, same offense, same offensive coordinator, largely continuity as far
as their personnel goes, right. The only one that the
only notable one that's not there anymore is Michael Pittman.
They brought out, brought back Alec Pierce, Josh Downs, obviously,
Jonathan Taylor just got a two year extension. The tight
end Warren is still there. So no. I mean, I
think I think is your your most important thing if

(08:38):
you're the Colts right now, is protecting him I'm going
to be covering one of these preseason games that's on
Thursday out there, so I will probably catch up on
as much preseason action as I need to, which is,
in reality, not a lot of it. I mean, this
is not This is not real football like this is.
This is not schemed. These are due too. I'm not
gonna have to remember their names in two weeks for

(08:59):
the most part. So I mean, if you're the Colts,
if you're a Colts fan, you'd probably like to see it, right,
You probably wringing your hands a little bit. That was
an eight and two football team last year. They were
the best team in the AFC for a period of time.
There's a reason to believe that they will not be
that again. Their division is frisky. Let's say Jacksonville is solid,
Houston is just hillacious. They're quarterbacks a choking dog. But

(09:21):
that's a conversation for another day or perhaps today.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
We've got three hours of stretch out on twenty of time.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
I'm a lazy river on these things, Manza. You can
take me wherever you want to go as far as
the conversation. But for the purposes of Colts fans, yeah,
I mean, you thought you had something going. Your organization
clearly thought they had something going. They traded multiple first
round picks for Sauce Gardner, and now you're just hoping
that he rebounds a little faster than your average player

(09:49):
coming off in Achilles injury, which is not realistic right
in all reality, he's probably going to be back to
form two years, two seasons from the injury, which is
why he's got a two year deal. And that was
kind of the meet them in the middle type of
situation that they had to do to get a contract
done and give him a little extra security.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Another another matchup coming up this Thursday, Cardinals. We're just
talking about them and the Raiders. Do we need to
see Fernando Mendoza out there for a week because we
know he's not going to be the starter week one?
But do we need to see him out already? He
is the number one overall picked. I feel like there's
so much anticipation with him and I know his his
The training camp has been up and down for him
hasn't been as great. Do we need to see Foranana

(10:28):
Mendoza in preseason week one?

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Hell? Yeah, I mean because I don't want to see
his ass in the regular season. I just no, I'm
in an Indiana lum. I'm so happy they're they're doing
what they're doing. Like I that's that's my football Lord
and savior for d Oh.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, he's a weirdo, stone cold weirdo, but I'm so
for that. Uh yeah. He he needs experience. He needs
to get some opportunities. He's getting some reps obviously, with
Kirk Cousins and Max Crosby getting kicked out of training
camp practice the other day for their little, uh you know,
back and forth shouting match or whatever you want to
call it. He needs as many reps as he can

(11:03):
get without actually having to play in the regular season.
He may have to play in the regular season. I'm
going out to Vegas again this year. Titans had the
Raiders last year on the road. They'll have the Raiders
again later in the season. So I'd be curious to
see who the starting quarterback is by the time we
roll on out there and see what that looks like.
But as far as he goes, they're taking the exact

(11:24):
right approach with Fernana Mendoza. They're doing everything in fact
that the Titans organization did not do for Cam Ward,
much to my chagrin and much to you know, I
think cam Ward's I mean, Cam wanted to play. Obviously,
if you're if you are in a rookie coming into
the league, if you are not yet you know, jaded
about what pro football can be. At times, as far

(11:45):
as the business side goes, Yeah, you want to get
out there. You want to fight your ass off, even
if it's not your best interest. It wasn't in his
best interest Cam's best interest last year to play. I
think in the vast majority of situations, these guys are
far better off sitting learning, not getting the holy hell
beat out of them, because if you're going number one overall,
you're probably on a bad football team. Cam got sacked

(12:07):
fifty five times last year. Some of it is offensive line,
some of it his fault because he doesn't know how
to operate in the NFL Versus what he was as
a college player, which he could run out of the
back of the pocket, he could make these escape artist
moves and make a spectacular throw down the field off
of off platform and you know, throw a sixty yard

(12:28):
touchdown to Xavier Streppo or whoever was down there for
him in Miami. That's not the case in the NFL, right,
And at some point you're going to have that learning moment, right.
The cliche is, hey, welcome, welcome to the NFL type
of moment. And the only way that you can get
that is by playing. The only way that you can
learn is through that experience. But there's so many other
things going on during your rookie year. Let him play

(12:49):
during the preseason. Kirk's the starter. That's the way that
it should hold for as long as they can.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
I'm with you. My Chargers are playing against the Texans,
but I want to dive into the AFC weston a
little bit.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
You're too much Chargers fan on it.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Listen, there's like three of us. Okay, respect you said
Cardinals have none, so we have three Cardinals have none. Okay,
go Chargos go. So I want to dive into that exactly.
I want to dive into that division. So I'm not
gonna hit this preseason matchup yet, and I want to
dive into the Titans. You and I are just scratching
the surface here, so let's take a break. On the

(13:24):
other side. I want you to tell me how it's
going with Carnal Tate. I want to know how the
Titans look because you have been up there, close and
personal what you expect with this matchup against the forty
nine ers. Even though it's just a preseason game, We're
gonna dive into that. On the other side, Balk just
scratching the surface here of the upcoming NFL season, So
don't go anywhere. He is Buck Rising. I am Monte

(13:46):
Bolano's and you are listening to Fox Sports Sunday.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
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Speaker 3 (13:55):
And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from seven
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Speaker 2 (14:05):
That's right, you can now watch The Odd Couple live
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All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
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Speaker 1 (14:21):
What's up, everybody, Thanks for tuning into Fox Sports Sunday.
I am Anti Bolanos. He is Buck Rising, and we
are just so excited about the NFL getting closer to
it and Buck Rising has an up and close look
at how a team is getting ready during this training
camp as he covers the Tennessee Titans, and I want

(14:43):
to know everything Buck, the good, the bad, the ugly,
the sexy. I want to hear it all.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
No nobody's ever called the Tennessee Titans sexy.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
We could Carnal take change that.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
I mean, could he change a three win team the
last two years to maybe a six win team? I mean, yeah,
he's a solid player. He's certainly smooth. He's as good
a wide receiver as they've had, and god knows how long.
They're a cursed franchise as far as wide receivers go,
and some of it by their own fault. When you
do dumb stuff word I can't say on FCC stafe radio,

(15:23):
like trade and AJ Brown to Philadelphia for a bag
of beans and a guy named Traylon Burks who's now
on his last gasp in Washington. I believe, and I
hope Trailing does well. I think he got a bit
of a raw deal here and probably was way overdrafted
into a very very bad situation. Now, Cardell looks smooth.
He had a really nice day to day out of practice.
For what it's worth, they did a bunch of red
zone stuff. He caught three touchdowns from Cam, two of

(15:46):
them in the red zone from Cam. It's a connection
that the young quarterback really really needs. And they just
have so few good football players here. Manci that anything
that looks even slightly professional caliber, You're like that, Okay,
maybe something as long as they don't screw him up.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Easy to get excited, it seems like. But cam Ward,
you know, coming off of a tough, freokie year. But
it's tough for a lot of teams. Like you said,
there's not a lot surrounding him. How does cam Ward
look do you? Aside from having a great wide receiver
edition of Carnal Tape? But like, do you think that
he looks like he has experience under his belt?

Speaker 4 (16:24):
Now?

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Does he seem more comfortable? How is it working with
a new head coach and Robert Sala? Like, how is
that going?

Speaker 4 (16:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Cam's not somebody who you ever like. Cam's basically a
seventy five year old man. He's his superpower that he is.
You know, he just doesn't have a lot of outside interests,
which is good if you're a football player. Yeah, want
you don't want him to have a lot of hobbies
and other interests otherwise you end up with Will Levis
down here doing nationally televised mayonnaise commercials six weeks after

(16:52):
he's benched, which was a very bad idea from the jump.
I'm sure many people told him that, and I'm sure
he got paid plenty for it, so maybe it was
worth it. Cam. Cam's never you know, blanched at any
of this or balked at any of this. He's uh.
I think if you talk about things that make quarterbacks special,
if he has anything that you would consider elite, it's

(17:13):
not necessarily his talent because he's not you know, he's
not a number one overall pick in the in the
sense of Joe Burrow. I don't really. I would not
put him in the category of even Trevor Lawrence, who
took I don't know about five years to kind of
figure it out, and we're still not sure about Trevor.
There's there are some plays where he you know, he'll
throw across his body and do some things that he

(17:34):
shouldn't and gets away with it and makes you think
of Pat Mahomes or maybe you know, here for people
in Nashville, Steve McNair from a time gone by. He's
he'll be He'll be solid. He's gonna need he's gonna
I mean, like any young quarterback, Montsie. He needs a
quality team around him. He needs a run game. Had
no support that way last year. Their offensive line was
dog water. It's probably gonna be pretty bad again. They

(17:57):
need a complimentary football team for him. He was dropping back,
you know, thirty five times forty times a game. That's
not a successful formula for any player in the NFL.
You can get away with that occasionally if you need
to play a certain style week to week depending on
the opponent. They had no run game to speak of
until basically the last third of the season, and their

(18:19):
offensive linely offensive line, finally got it stuffed together barely,
and they looked kind of like a competent NFL football team.
Sala you know, his relationship with Salad whatever, not nearly
as important to me as his relationship with Brian Dable, who,
I don't know how long he's going to be here,
the offensive coordinator formerly the New York Giants head coach,

(18:41):
who has a lot of experience in quarterback development, who
was trying to get the Giants to trade multiple first
round picks in that twenty twenty five draft four cam
Ward before they ultimately settled on Jackson Dart and I
talked to the general manager here, Mike Borganzi, about that.
He said Dabel was outside of the Starbucks in Indianapolis
where we all go for commonhead that draft, trying to

(19:02):
talk him up on another player that they might potentially
take with the number one overall picks, so the Giants
could maybe slide in on Cam at three. Didn't work
out that way, and ironically enough they both end up together.
That's a relationship, that's that's interesting. That's going to be
Cam's best chance at success. And again the NFL, you
lose offensive coordinators anytime they have even a monicum of success.

(19:24):
How Matt Lafleur was here, didn't have a good season Titans.
They were one win away from making the postseason, Marcus
Mariota got hurt and Blaine Gabbert started a winning in
game against Andrew Lux Colts one hundred years ago, and
Lafleur was gone very quickly after that when the Green
Bay Packers job became available, even though it wasn't an
offense that you would say, yeah, that's something that you

(19:46):
would want to hire to become an NFL head coach,
So it really depends on how things go with table.
They should be frisky. I think most most sportsbooks that
you look at have them at five and a half
six and a half games. I'd probably be comfortable giving
them six games. You know, I could be talked out

(20:07):
of it one way or the other on the schedule.
Of course, health is the one thing that you can't predict.
But they should at least be competitive, which is not
something I've been able to say for basically four years.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
In competitiveness is what you want. You mentioned offensive coordinators,
I mean, just talk to Jalen heard how many he's had.
But with the Titans, there's been a lot of reports
of training camp with Elick I don't know how to
say his name, Eli Elicky a manor, elick I a manor.
Is that a lot of reports that he is looking
really really good? Do you think that that is accurate?

(20:39):
Or are people as you said, because the Titans have
not been so great, is it easy to get excited
over something that's not actually that big of a deal.
Do you think there should be excitement there with him?

Speaker 2 (20:50):
I mean yeah, because that's that's your fourth wide receiver.
If things hold serve. They signed Wandell Robinson in the offseason.
He's a starting caliber player.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
Calvin Ridley is as My next question was Calvin Ridley.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah, Calvin, who I like very much personally. He has
been just a disaster here and there's been a lot
of things that have been disastrous here. So it's not
it's tough to im I'm not going to put all
of that at Calvin's feed. God knows Calvin. I don't
know if he's I don't think they want him to
be a top three player or a guy who's gonna get,

(21:23):
you know, twenty thirty snaps a game. I think if
you can use Calvin in Spurts and you've got a
number of different players. Chim ray dk is another rookie
from that same draft class. He and Alicia Manor gutter
Hell'm a fourth round tight end. All three of those
players picked by the team in the fourth round last year. Yeah,
So Alex pushing like kJ Osborne for the fourth or
fifth guy and a roster and he's looked good. He's
looked good. He's looked bigger, laying playing faster. He's always

(21:46):
been a physical player. If you can if you can
get great depth. You're in a great position. It's probably
the deepest wide receiver corps the Titans have ever had. Again,
low bar, but yeah, you should feel good about the
situation that they have. They're just trying to do as
many things to support Cam more as humanly possible. The
one thing that they did not address sufficiently is the
offensive line. Elick, though, I think, is a player. You know,

(22:09):
he'll probably be somebody's fantasy darling at some point this year,
though God since Derrick Henry, I would not recommend drafting
Titans players in fantasy football.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Do you think the biggest hole is the old line
or is there something else that you're seeing within the Titans?

Speaker 2 (22:24):
They're gonna suck. I mean, that's not a good unit.
And really, you know it's on Cam Like it sounds counterintuitive,
but he plays a style of football that makes life
harder on an offensive line. The Dable system. You know
Tom Brady New England Patriots system, he's been in, he's
been in Vegas or Oakland. I guess with Derek Carr
for a period of time, or excuse me, with Josh

(22:46):
Allen and Buffalo. I'm thinking of his offensive line coach,
who's with the Patriots and the Giants Carmen Brisillo. But yeah,
Cam has to get the ball out quicker. He can't
try and hunt these superhero plays he was famous for
in college. That's just not a sustainable way of living
in the NFL. And I would say half of those
fifty five sacks were definitively on cam Ward last year.

(23:07):
So he has to improve because he's going to have
to make chicken salad out a chicken. You know what?

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Is that going to be something he can break thating
the feeling of holding the ball too long and looking
for that hero play. That's something he can get out of.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Will of Us couldn't do it. But Will's a bit
of a head case. And Will, you know, talked about
rewiring his brain in week two after he kind of
peed down his leg against the Jets a couple of
years ago. So you know that's Cam. Cam's stubborn. So
it's like Dart a little bit. Dart, you can't talk
out of running the way that he wants to run
because that's his mo as a player, to his detriment,

(23:43):
that's not a good idea. I'm not saying that Cam's
like a problem that way. Dart is. I would not
buy Jackson dart stock. I think that's as big a
red flag as you can have in a situation like that.
And Cam's definitely stubborn. He definitely wants to play his way,
and they're trying not to tweak that too hard. But
we'll see. He's got more adults in the room this
year instead of fake Ted Lass Obrion Callahan, who ironically

(24:05):
enough is in New York with Jackson Dard. They basically
just swapped quarterbacks this offseason and probably better suited for
Brian who, again I like personally but was just a
disaster as a head coach.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
Here, well, the Titians are going to play the forty
nine Ers on Thursday. You're going to be there. Let's
dive it to what's going on in San Francisco, but
first let's head over to Chris Perfett technically not yet
at the news desk, but he's going to give us
an update on what's going on today in the world
of sports. Chris, what is going on technically still technically
technically still technically.

Speaker 5 (24:34):
Technically technical are all right?

Speaker 6 (24:36):
Let's get you caught up on everything that's going on
and a little bit of NFL News to start. Teddy Bridgewater
is heading back into retirement. The Lions put him on
reserve on Sunday. Head coach Dan Campbell and said they
would not play Jered Goff in the first preseason game
even if they didn't have a cornerback, but that won't
have to be a problem as they signed Josh Dobbs
the roster.

Speaker 5 (24:57):
It's a second stint with the Lions.

Speaker 6 (25:00):
Back Haynes King, the hero from Thursday's Hall of Fame game,
suffered a hamstring injury during that game. Panthers have signed
quarterback Kyle Trasps to take his place in camp. Bears
wide receiver Luther Burden reportedly suffered a groin injury at
Saturday's training camp. He is now expected to miss some time,
according to Ian Rappaport, and Saints guard Dylan Raduns is

(25:20):
done for the season with a torn acl this coming from.

Speaker 5 (25:23):
Head coach Kellen Moore.

Speaker 6 (25:25):
NBA legend Don Nelson passed on Sunday at the age
of eighty six. Nelson won five championship hips with the
Celtics as a player, but as a coach, he holds
the second winningest record of all time, only passed by.

Speaker 5 (25:38):
White. I just blank. I should have written down the name.
Excuse me. That is terrible to ignore me.

Speaker 6 (25:42):
Second winning is record of all time, one three and
thirty five wins, Greg Popovitch. That's why I don't know
why I've blanked on the name so bad. I am
so sorry.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
It's a tough one, but you got it.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
I sometimes it.

Speaker 5 (25:54):
Happens that just happens in my head. Sometimes I do not.

Speaker 6 (25:57):
I have the opposite to steel trap, an extremely rusty
trap of a head, one three hundred and thirty five
wins for Don Nelson between Roles, the Bucks, the Mavericks.

Speaker 5 (26:05):
The Knicks and the Warriors.

Speaker 6 (26:08):
Braves pitcher Chris Sale was actually ejected before the game
against the Yankees, where you continued to argue with umpires
over the back call from I can't even say that right.
He's saying, I'm an or here and I can't say
balk call. Yesterday, Braves defeated New York, however, to one
in extra innings.

Speaker 5 (26:27):
What'd you think of that, Monci.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Just the fact that he was arguing today.

Speaker 5 (26:30):
I'm still going he's still going on.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
I would have done the same thing. I would have
been like you were yesterday you're wrong today.

Speaker 5 (26:35):
Yeah, I'm not pitching. I got time time for you today.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
You want to eject me? Okay, great, it's hot out
here anyway, I'll go back inside.

Speaker 5 (26:43):
No, probably ac in the clubhouse. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (26:46):
Jacob miss Rowski became the fastest player, I mean second
fastest player in baseball history to reach two hundred strikeouts,
and the first this season here on Sunday. But he
got got later in this game, as Cody clements Homer
and off miss Rowski to tie the game in the six.
Brewers ultimately walk it off four three in ten innings,
and Phillies walk off the Blue Jays in the twelfth

(27:06):
seven to six of a Derek Hill single.

Speaker 5 (27:09):
Back to Monci Blanios and Buck Brising, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Chris Perfett, who will be going to the news desk
in just a second, but he's technically our technical producer
right now. Still Buck, Yes, Titans in their first preseason
game taking on the forty nine ers, who I don't
even know what to make of the forty nine ers
at this point, to be honest with you, Bucket, seems
like it is the same bleep, just a different day,

(27:35):
you know what, Like it's injuries already surrounding this entire
team after what they went through last year, even though
Kyle Shanahan managed to get some wins with the team
after injury injury week after week. Now there's you know,
injuries already surrounding the forty nine ers, and Kyle Shanahan,

(27:57):
who was in a car accident recently, tends to be
there and coach, I really don't know what to make
of the forty nine ers this year.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah, they're well, just quickly before we move on. I
hate that for Dylan Wrightings. Dylan was a second round
draft pick here in Tennessee. He's has not been a
good player. But you know, that's not an unnecessary thing
for me to say. I suppose it's a shame for
him because I know he's been trying to make it
happen down there in New Orleans, had an opportunity to start.
So just a lot of injuries here in the early going,

(28:29):
but I guess that's always the case. That is also
a part of football coming back as injuries coming back. Yeah,
the Niners are it is probably the end and they've
had a hell of a run like they have them
and the Eagles, man, are you think that they're living
on borrow time. The Niners really felt that way last season.
Obviously you mentioned Robert Soliz here in Tennessee now, he

(28:51):
was the defensive coordinator there last year. They had nobody
in a game that I covered out there in Week
fifteen of last season, and they were still finding ways
to feel the competitive defense. Not like one of the
statistically better defenses by any stretch of the imagination, but
they were just on borrowed time the whole way through
and shockingly went on the road to Philadelphia, won a

(29:12):
playoff game and had their season then end very shortly thereafter.
Glad to hear that Kyle Shanahan is doing better. That's
been a weird story.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
I'm very weird.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
The journalism side of me once more information and is
very upset with the San Francisco forty nine ers reporters
who allegedly had information about this accident and weren't reporting
it at the time of the situation. Nobody can footage
all these different things. Very conspiratorial, this Kyle Shanahan deal.
Either way. I know he's been dealing with a concussion.

(29:44):
I know that that has been kind of you know,
a day to day proposition he's been limited. No, we're
not doing injury reports at this time of year, but
that would be a very difficult situation. They've had basically
a ragtag group of people, including the former Dolphins offensive
line coach Chris Forrester, who was famous for a number

(30:04):
of things, including strippers and cocaine dating back to his
time in Miami if you remember that scandal at the time,
and has been in San Francisco for quite some time.
So that was a funny name to see pop back
up on my radar. The Niners, though, man, I think
that's over They're the second oldest roster in football. This season,
they had twenty players sit out of practice. It's like

(30:25):
the second where maybe two and a half weeks into
training camp and you already got twenty guys sidelined. Sala
We asked him about this electrical substation thing, and he's
a bit of a conspiracy theorist as I understand it,
So I was hoping for a better answer than yeah,
it's totally overblown, which is what I would also tell
my football team before I was getting ready to ship
them out there and have joint practices in the shadow
of the Giant electrical substation that looms over every forty

(30:48):
nine Ers practice. They're trying to figure out how the
hell they're going to have a practice. They don't have
the bodies to get a requisite snap count in to,
you know, really get the most competitive value out of
these upcoming joint training camp practices. They're in a bad spot.
Their schedule is not you know, it's not the worst,
but they do play in the toughest division in football.

(31:08):
I'm not saying that like they're going to get overtaken
by Arizona and have a fourth place finish or something
like that, but they are very If you're talking about
regression candidates, it's between them and the Patriots for the
biggest ones. I think in twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Six, I totally agree with you that the forty nine
there's no way the forty nine ers can kind of
even replicate what they managed to do last season coming
out with twelve wins after all the injuries. Because now,
but what sucks is I agree with you that I
think the door is closed. I think it's like wrap
it up, like this is it. But they did not
feel that signing Mike Evans, who is injured already. I

(31:42):
mean I think it's a hamstring injury and nothink crazy,
but signing Mike Evans clearly forty nine ers feel like, no,
we're we were right there. They, like you said, won
a playoff game, won all these games, and I just
looking at them now, I'm like, I don't even know
how you put out a team besides party is Brock
Party and who Brock Party and who?

Speaker 2 (32:04):
And you know, for large stretches, they didn't even have
Rock Party. Shanha's a wizard, so you know what I'm saying, Like,
Shanahan is genuinely a wizard. So I'm not going to
completely count them out. I probably should. I think I
think this is the time to sell on the Niners.
If you were backing me into a corner on it,
they'll probably find a way to scheme up games or

(32:28):
scheme their way out of games that they have no
business winning this year. But this just this feels like
a team that is already on its last leg, and
that leg has a polled hammy and is thirty three
years old. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
I don't want to completely dismiss them either, but to
be honest with you, I don't see the forty nine
Ers getting into the playoffs, don't. I don't see them
being able to do it this year. I feel like,
not just their division, but other teams and other divisions
are definitely going for one of those spots.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, I mean that division is just it's glacious.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
You're going for third place. But how good is your.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Feel so bad for Arizona? They just exist in this
absolute murderer's row of the Rams, Niners, and Seahawks. As
far as the NFC goes, I mean, how many teams
would you take over the forty nine ers to make
the playoffs right now? You definitely take the Rams of
the Seahawks. Obviously, you've got to have one team from
the NFC South unfortunately. Yes, yeah, I don't think Chicago's in.

(33:31):
I would. I feel pretty good about Green Bay and
Detroit this year, Philly and Dallas. So there's a number
of teams that I would think would certainly be vying
for a San franc At one of the one of
the playoff spots that San fran occupied last year. It's
just a really tough situation. And this is this is
where you kind of run into it with Brock Purdy,

(33:52):
right when you're paying him that much money, and he's
not one of these you know four or five guys
that can trag drag just about any team that he's
on into the postseason. He's His elite trait is that
he's very, very good, the best maybe ever at executing
what Kyle Shanahan wants to execute. He is a human
video game controller for lack of a better term. And

(34:12):
you've got Kyle Shanahan working the joysticks and it's a
it's a perfect symbiotic relationship. But when Kittle's not available
and your left tackles thirty eight and playing at a
reasonably high level for a thirty eight year old, got nos.
Trent Williams has been one of the best offensive linemen
we've ever seen, but still aging, You've got Mike Evans,

(34:32):
You're You're already losing Pearce all for the year. Right
before the season. You got Ayuk still posting on Instagram,
and your solution is to bring back Deebo Samuels.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Do they want to use him all over the place?
They said, Do you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2 (34:48):
They want to want to play running back anymore? No,
That's why I went to Washington in the first place.
He's like, I'm not taking carries out of the backfield.
Get out of here, Get out of here.

Speaker 7 (34:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
One team that you didn't mention that I think could
sneak into the playof that's trying to get in there now.
I'm saying sneak because they didn't make it last year.
But the commanders, to me, the commanders have a chance
because I think Jayden Daniels is that good. But the
NFC is gonna be tough. It's gonna be just tough
in general. On the other side, Buck, somewa, we.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Can talk about that commander's opinion because I think you're
dead wrong.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
We can talk about that. We can talk about we
won't do that next, but we can talk about that.
I'm down on the other side. Some people are born
with it, Buck, They're just born with it, and we're
gonna talk about that next. Don't go anywhere, he is,
Buck Rising. I am Anti Bolanos and this is Fox
Sports Sunday.

Speaker 5 (35:34):
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.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Search FSR to listen live Fox Sports Sunday. I am
Anti Bolanos. He is Buck Rising, haying out with you,
talking a lot of NFL. But I'm gonna switch it
up on you right now. Buck. I know you're not
a baseball guy, but there's a story that happened this
week that in case you missed a buck, you have

(36:04):
to know about it. So the Phillies had an auction
and the auction winner was a man I believes seventy
three years old named Lewis Colb And what he got
to do was go into the play by play booth
and call an inning of the Phillies game like in
live time and boock. Some people are just born with it,

(36:29):
and they.

Speaker 8 (36:29):
Count even know. At two and two, Lily, the number
four batter in the Nationals batting order, they left hander
swung on and fouled down the left field line. There
will be no play on that one back into the spectators.
So with all that rained, as Bedford Lakes had more lakes,
now we do, or at least Our Lakes are a

(36:52):
little bit more filled the capacity. There has been a
croud of course, swung on ad popped up into a
shallow left field and cut out there by Brandon Marsham.
That is the second out of the inning.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
Well, Phillies games are more fun with the family. Bring
yours on Saturday, September Firth fifth for Giant Family Day
when Phil's host the Braves at six oh five kids
fourteen none to received an ice cream Teams Squeeze bottle
is at Phillies dot com to purchase tickets today.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
Could you tell who was who?

Speaker 2 (37:26):
No, I just was having hard time staying a white.
They're talking about the rain on the Baseball podcast.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
There's a different clip where plea there.

Speaker 9 (37:36):
Had to do the third inning Phillies on top two
to one, and we're pleased to welcome Lewis Kobb from
Medford Lakes, New Jersey. He is our Phillies Fantastic Auction winner.
He outfit the competition to spend an inning and do
some play by play in the booth. Than Lewis, welcome,
glad to have you here. Thank you Scott. It's a
thrilled to be here. It's a life flowing dream to

(37:58):
be in the Phillies broadcast booth.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
So here we go.

Speaker 8 (38:01):
Payter. But the first pitch to our tage that's in
there for strike one call fills with two at the
bottom of the second to take the lead. As we
start at the top of the third, Payter delivers it's
bounced foul.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Todd, Yeah, you get right. When they passed it over Buck,
the first time I heard this, when they passed over
the mic to this guy, I was like, all right,
when are they going to pass the mic to the
new guy? When are they gonna actually and then.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
He goes in, Oh, you could tell what he would
do the fake cheesy broadcaster voice Bazi, no.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
No, you cannot you. He did it so smoothly, and
then like, I, you know, there's more to play, and
I don't want to bore you since you're not a
baseball guy. But he even goes into the like in
the moment of pause that happens a lot in baseball.
He mentions like their upcoming schedule. He did it so seamlessly,
and it's just one of those things that's frustrating and

(38:51):
awesome to see. Like, doing play by play is incredibly hard.
I try to do it out home all the time.
I can't do it, not even baseball. Oh yeah, it's
it's so hard. Some people are born with it. But
because of the way this industry works, Buck, you can't
really just go in interview for this job. It's all
about who you know or who you're related to. That's
it's already like been decided who a play by play

(39:13):
person is gonna be. You know, this isn't going on LinkedIn.
This isn't going on Indeed, this isn't going on those
pages where you could apply to do this job and play.
You know, I think at one point I thought it
would be awesome, But it's hard. It's hard to keep
like you were bored. If I did play by play
you told me you sound boring, I would kick you
in the shin sou.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I got nothing for that guy.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
You know what I'm saying. It's so difficult to me
about baseball, And that's the best part of it. Buck.
You sounds like such a hater, But it's just like
a matter of like, man, there's people out there who
could do this job, probably better than the ones that
are doing the job.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
Oh hell yeah, I'm sure somebody could do my job
way better than I could. But you know, tough, but
you're not a play by play No, No, I have
no actual skill. I just yelled for a living pretty much.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
I was. It was a great experience and I feel
like good job on the Phillies. For doing that, maybe
this will lead to other people getting a rare opportunity
to do something. Is no, he does cover I think
local high school and they did ask him jokingly if
he would go do the Phillies job, and he's like,
as long as I can still do the local high

(40:29):
school that I do. So you know he's not gonna
go anywhere. You and I are not going anywhere. We're
just getting started. We got two hours to go and
we've got to dive back in. What's up? Everybody happy Sunday?
Thanks for tuning in. I am Monti Bilanos. He is
a buck arising hanging out with you on this Sunday
where we're wishing football was here, but it's almost here.

(40:51):
Hall of Fame games started things off. We all got
really excited. We've got preseason. Buck is all into the Titans,
believing that they can be just a smidge better this year.
Six wins is what he thinks.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
That's infinitely generous. If you're asking me, you make me
sound a lot more optimistic about about him than I
actually am.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
You're you're a tough critic of the Titans because you're
I know, I know, and you're up there, close and personal,
so you see it also from a different perspective than
the rest of us on the other.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Side of eleven years, I got secrets.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah you guys, Yeah they're not they're not good, but
you're you're a harsh critic and I understand. I understand.
And we dove into the times a lot. So if
you missed the first hour, you're gonna have to tune
into the podcast because right now what we're going to
dive into is the A of C West Division in
the NFL. And it's not just because my Chargers are
in there, but there's a lot with this division book,

(41:48):
with every single team, there is something to discuss.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Well, let's start with your Chargers. Let's start with I
think your quarterback's a choking dog.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
Well, I don't you know what, I don't disagree with you,
I don't I don't disage. He has given me such
awesome moments all in the regular season, and then in
the postseason he looks like a shell of himself. It's
like there are times where a quarterback will make a
wrong play in the playoffs, but you can tell that

(42:16):
he was like, Ah, they just didn't get that. They
just didn't get that throw. They just didn't do this
with Herbert during the postseason. I almost feel like it's
not even him, Like I don't see the same guy
that I see during the regular season. And it's a
very frustrating thing. And I feel like every year in
the last couple of years, there's a lot of hype

(42:37):
going into the start of the new season with the
Chargers and with Justin Herbert, and I'm just like, listen,
that's my quarterback, that's my QB. I get it, bet
All Bettle. He's over here having his hair braided by
Madison Beer. Like, I don't know how to make of that.
He's either going to have the best season he's ever
had or somehow it's gonna be even worse than what

(43:01):
I've seen.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Yeah, I mean, he's fifty two and forty three as
a starter, and QB win loss is not, you know,
the best and most effective way to judge the effectiveness
of a player, especially in the ultimate team sport that
is football. The girlfriend thing, I don't care about it.
I mean, I'm sure there'll be some level of dialogue around,
you know it is, what's he doing getting his hair braided?

(43:23):
Sitting around a training camp man out. Whatever. If it
helps him, great, If it doesn't, it could help everybody's
personal life spills into your work life in some former
fashion at some point, people are you know, it's it's
an easy thing to fixate on, because I think he did.
He missed a little bit of voluntary work this offseason
because they were in Europe, right, they were going to concerts.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Yep, she was in concert and he went with her.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah, which you know, good boyfriend of course and smart man. Right,
it's probably you know, you don't want to get into
a confrontation about something like that if it's avoidable. So whatever.
He with Mike McDaniel's obviously a fascination. They have the
to be one of the coach player pairings that define
this upcoming NFL season. And I have a lot of

(44:06):
respect for Mike McDaniel as a as a football mind,
especially as an innovator in the way that he schemes
a run game. The Dolphins, you know, whatever they were
last year, they turned into one of the more effective
rushing football teams by the end of the season with
and Hn is a very very effective player out of

(44:27):
Texas A and m down there in Miami. Well, compensated
now at this point, and somebody who they want to
continue to build around as they try. And you raise
that thing from the Ashes McDaniel though, is it's not
somebody I take seriously. But that's what Jim Harbass for
Herbert is not somebody I take seriously. So that combination

(44:47):
of those two is going to be so important to
the outcome of the NFL season because that division's up
for grabs. I know, you know this. The Chiefs have
never been more fraud Now, maybe they bound, but that
doesn't mean that they can still just wiel their way
over the Chargers and the Broncos right now, which are
definitively better football teams than the Chiefs are. Chiefs have

(45:11):
the best quarterback of the bunch. Obviously, we'll see what
he looks like coming off of the ACL tear, the
late ACL tair. I know he's full go, which is
crazy to me. Michael Parson's talking about Week six and
Mahomes is already out there full go during training camp.
The Chargers man Omarion Hampton is going to be I
think the most important football player not named Justin Herbert

(45:33):
for your team this year because having him as a
legit bell Cow running back in a system that is
so incredibly creative in the way that they scheme opportunities
and explosives in the run game to find that complimentary balance,
and they've had it. Mancie, I know you probably weren't
some great fan of Greg Roman, but I'm thought Greg

(45:54):
Roman did a pretty nice job as far as giving
him balance and not needing to lean on him. Right,
the most efficient version of quarterback play is the one
that doesn't have to drop back thirty times game. If
you can go seventeen of twenty one for two touchdowns
and a couple of rushes, like, you're feeling pretty good
about that as long as you've got balance to your attack.

(46:14):
So how Mike McDaniel goes about getting the best version
of Justin Herbert remains to be seeing because everybody would
look at that. Dude'd be like, that's he's made in
a lab. Like, of course, I'd want the opportunity to
coach him, right. I just don't know if he's not,
you know, mentally small and the most important moments.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
And I think that's a fair way to put it,
because I agree, I feel like he passes the eye
test a lot during the regular season, but then again
you come into these big moments late in the season, playoffs,
whatever it may be, and it's just like a different guy.
And I don't know if it's mental. That's why this
whole thing with Madison Beard, it's like you're right in
the grand skive of things. It's like everybody has a
personal life, who cares? But with Madison Beard being so

(46:51):
present in the already training camp or just being a
topic of conversation, there's only in week seven, it's either
going to be Wow, Madison Beer has really unlocked something
for Justin Herbert, he's really comfortable, he looks good, or
it's gonna be Madison Beer is a distraction and Justin
Herbert has taken a step back. Which there's only two

(47:12):
ways it's gonna go. There's not gonna be an in between.
It's either we have to.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
Have smarter football conversations, because that's just an indictment of
us if that's the way that this ends up going. Now,
I'm not talking about you and me specifically, obviously we
know ter but that's it.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
But you know that's how it's gonna go, especially like
the show before us uh VJ VJ and c Ryan.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
I love those two j Yesterday.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Yes VJ was like months, I think it's gonna be
Chargers and Rams in the Super Bowl. And I was like,
he's like, you don't see that, you don't you don't
like your Chargers. And I was like, this feels like
the same. It's every year. It starts like this, VJ.
Every year there's excitement with the Chargers for whatever reason,
they're adding a player, a new Harbaugh as a new coach,
like you said, Mike McDaniel coming in, which I am

(47:54):
excited about to see how the offense looks. But my
excitement it's happed. It's like, Oh, I just I hope
it's going to be a competitive season and they'll trust them.
I don't. That's what it is. I don't trust them.
There's no reason to trust them.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
I think that's completely fair. I mean, listen, there's nothing
wrong with having excitement about your football team. And you're right.
I am a tough critic of the football team that
I cover, but that's because they do a lot of
dumb stuff, and they've traded one of the most competitive
franchises in the AFC the last couple of years before
Burrow and the Bengals arrived, the Titans were regularly competing
in the postseason. They had six consecutive winning seasons. Now
they're a laughing stock. They got a worse record than

(48:30):
the Jets, the Raiders, the Browns and all these other
bottom dwellers in the last careers. So it's it's, you know,
it's pretty crazy how quickly that can turn. And they
have had just a supernatural level of dumb these last
couple of years that have kept them bad with a
system that is designed to keep these teams competitive, to
keep that hope alive, right because the NFL still needs
your dollars, They still need you interested to a certain extent,

(48:52):
so you got to really go out of your way
to just outright crater an NFL franchise for an extended
period of time. Argers have this reputation, even going back
to Philip Rivers again, Mancie, I don't have to tell
you this. As a fan, I have been excited about
Chargers football teams, I think every year for like the
last ten years, you know, and every year they give

(49:15):
me a reason to be like, why the hell did
I do this again with the Chargers? Now that is
not you know, it's not historic that the history is
not relevant to this year's team. Other than you know,
fans who are superstitious. I'm not down on superstitions necessarily.
I'm not somebody who traffics in that. I don't believe
it has. It only has as much of a hold

(49:36):
on you as you allow it to. If you let
something like that get in your head, not as a fan,
but as a professional athlete, you're probably not cut out
for the pros in the first place. So I'm not
saying that you know, Justin Herbert has in the back
of his head or Keenan out. I know Keenan is
not on the roster anymore. But like any Chargers player
right has it in their head. They know we're the Chargers,
so at some point both of our starting tackles are

(49:58):
going to go down and all of this will go
to hell. You know, that's That's not how they're thinking
about it. And there's nothing wrong with a fan having
optimism about their team, having hope for their team in
a particular time of year. But you have to consider
the track record of everybody involved. Jim Harbaugh has been
a success in the NFL. He is having success, He
has proven his worth already, and I think he is.

(50:20):
You would tell me this, Manzi, But I think he's
earned back a great deal of that trust because he's
simply an adult in the room. Right You're not. You're
not out there running around with Brandon Staley trying to
big brain his way through through playoff games and things
like that. You know what I mean? Like this, this
is this is a professional NFL coach. He's got an
offensive coordinator that is well renowned and a quarterback that anybody,

(50:44):
anybody would want to work with if they got the
opportunity too. That's a lot of pressure. Now, professional athletes
should want to Pressure is a privilege, right. You have
to earn the right to have expectations. So my thing
with the Chargers has been perpetually. Yes, they are a
quality regular season team, and that brings a certain level

(51:06):
of expectation, but they have not earned this level of
hype that they are being given simply because the idea
of the marriage of these two things, the coach and
the offensive court or excuse me, the quarterback and the
offensive coordinator, looks really really good on paper. I just
I need proof of concept. I need a month of
Chargers football before I'm willing to go along with any

(51:26):
kind of conversation about Super Bowl contention.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
I'm one hundred percent out with you because it's like
everything you just said is like, yeah, like I can
trust Harbaugh, I can trust McDaniel, but they're not the
ones playing like I can trust what they're doing on
the sideline, but the Chargers and Justin Herbert on the
field in actual moments that it mattered, they've left me
down and they've left a bad taste in my mouth.

(51:49):
So the trust here in this division to me, right
now before the season starts, there's no reason for me
to not say the Broncos don't win this division. Now
come week seven, maybe you and I are having a
different conversation, but I feel like some people are expecting
the Broncos to take a a big step back, And
for me, I know that they won a lot of
games that were very close last year, a lot of

(52:10):
you know, one score games, and their margin of era
was really really small because again they were down in
a lot of games and then managed to win them.
But to me, like the Broncos, there's no reason for
me to not trust them when I have Patrick Mahomes
coming off a major injury. I don't know who he's
throwing the ball to. I have no idea, no clue.
But there was trust at one point with Mahomes and

(52:35):
with and Angie Reid. But right now, to me, it
makes no sense to say that the Bronco that it's
not the Broncos division and in a regression in the
sense like, Okay, they may not win fourteen games. I
think that's what they want. They may not win fourteen,
but I still think they that it's their division to lose.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
That defense is cheat code, and that you know, in
the same way that we don't we just don't generally
talk enough about defense as far as the analysis goes.
And that's I mean, you could say that in any sport.
To be completely honest with you, because I mean, you
were you asked, you were asking me earlier in the
show manse what's sexy about the titles thing? No, you know,
not really anything. Defense not sexy, you know, I mean,

(53:14):
sacks are Sacks are fun, and interceptions are fun, turnovers
are exciting and all these different things. But the touchdowns,
the wide receivers, the quarterbacks, the running backs, those are
the those are the highlight reel players that we that
we show up as fans and enjoy as fans because
defense is you know, defense can impact the game and
obviously has a huge level of impact, but it's not

(53:35):
one that we're really willing to think too much about.
We put an outsized level of importance on the other
side of the ball, whereas I mean that that Broncos
team Bo Nicks has no chance in hell without that defense.
Stroud has no business anywhere near the postseason without that
Houston Texans defense. Right, he was an absolute abomination last
year and they had the best defense in the sport,

(53:57):
so it was good enough to get them into the
divisional round, and he had a full blown melt down
the likes of which I don't know that I've ever
seen covered that Ryan Tannehill three interception playoff game against
Joe Burrow and the Bengals when they went to the
Super Bowl, which is one of the just worst outings
I've ever seen for a number one seed. So with that,

(54:18):
it's really about the defense in that division that you
think is going to give their other side of the
ball the most opportunities to kind of cash in that way,
I would I would buy Broncos stock even though I'm
not the biggest bone Knicks fan, I think there's enough
there to kind of insulate him. And certainly they had
one of the better acquisitions of the offseason, right trading

(54:39):
for Jalen TV for Jalen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins,
and Sean Payton being willing to give up play calling,
which is a fascinating dynamic for the first time in
his career. We'll see how long that actually lasts, and
if Sean Payton does not at some point getting thirty
year old Davis Webb's ear and being like, what the
hell are you doing? This is my offense, You're ruining
it or something. Still probably picked the Chiefs to win

(55:01):
the division. Saying no, I mean is it's It's probably
the most boring answer I could have to be like, Yeah,
they'll be back. They've got the best quarterback, they got
the best coach, and they draft pretty well. On defense,
the offensive line is good, they Payton, Kenneth Walker. It's
not sexy to do anymore, it's not exciting to do anymore.
I'd rather see the upset. I'm tired of the Chiefs
just generally as a viewer. Sure, you know it got

(55:24):
broke once. I don't think it's unfixable.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
I'm all for dynasties, so I don't mind if the
Chiefs come back on top, don't.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
I don't mind all for dynasties.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
I really am. I love dynasties, even though I mean,
I'm a char I'm a Chargers fan, no dynasty there,
a Clipper fan, no dynasty there. But I am a
Dodgers fan. There's a little bit of dynasty happening in
real time there.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
Oh. I don't watch basketball, and I know I know
what's going.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
On with the Dodgers exactly, but I do like dynasties.
They don't they don't bother me. I think they're good
for the sport. I think it causes I'm all for
like hate watching and all that, So I'm not against
the Chiefs coming back on top. I just have a
hard time believe even that Patrick Mahomes is really one
hundred percent. And I'm again week seven. Maybe I'm changing
my mind and I'm like, man, they really are back

(56:07):
on top, but they are the Kings. I don't see
it yet. And with bo Nicks, I'm with you, like,
I don't think bo Nicks is is that great but
I think he is in a position that works for him,
and the Broncos, as you said, made moves to help
him even more with offense. Their defense was the main
reason that they got to where they got and there's

(56:28):
no reason for me to think that they're not gonna
do it again again. I don't think they're gonna have
the same number of wins, but I do think that
they can. They can take this division again, and I
feel like a lot of people are thinking they're gonna
regress because Bonnicks. I don't think there's a lot of
true fans of Bonnicks. I mean people that look at
him and are like, yep, that is a quarterback I
would like to take if he became available. Nobody is saying.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
That, well, Sean Payton did right, set Pete. That's the
whole thing. Sean Payton was lost something. You don't think
that guy should be drafted twelfth overall, you're dumb. I'll
take him that. That guy's perfect for what I'm trying
to do, and thus far, Sean Payton has been proven
right again. Geography, you want to talk about conversations that
aren't sexy. Geography matters so much more than the actual

(57:09):
skills and abilities of these guys, like the situations that
they land in, and how that allows them to foster
and grow and develop and turn their talent into legitimate skill.
It matters infinitely more than what the individual can bring
to the table, because it's not an individual sport. You
even like Burrow. Burrow is one of these dudes that

(57:31):
you would take on any team in a vacuum because
he's got the ability to drag a team to the playoffs.
And yet, Manzi, I told you, I covered that Bengals
Titans game that the Bengals had no business winning. They
haven't been to the playoffs since, and they've got one
of the guys, right, Like, that's so many more layers
to it than just one individual can provide. Bo Nix

(57:54):
seems to be okay with the idea that he's a
cog and the machine right, the fast Already quarterbacks are
all of them, all of them. Me and VJ were
having this conversation yesterday, and I was happy to hear
him agree with the principle. If they're all system quarterbacks,
they are all tasked with playing in a system, how
much more they can give you above and beyond? Right,
How many more plays they can make out of structure?

(58:16):
How many more things can they get away with? How
much you know, how when the play breaks down and
things aren't right, how many more opportunities can they give
you than the average guy in an NFL vacuum. But
I just I think that bo Nix is exactly where
bon Nix needs to be, and I think so very
few quarterbacks actually get the benefit of that.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
I one hundred percent agree with what you just said that, yes,
the quarterbacks are also some quarterbacks and bo Nix is
in a perfect position for him, like he's thriving here,
I get. And it doesn't matter because he's not being moved,
so as long as it works. And Sean Payne, like
you said, likes him, so it's working out. And I
do I really right now? Do you think the Broncos
will take this division again? But maybe I'm wrong, Maybe

(58:58):
the Chargers will surprise me, Maybe the Chiefs do it.
It's not going to be the Raiders. I mean, we've
got Max Crosby smacking Kirk Cousins and they're getting in
little fights and getting kicked out of practice.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
Which I love. I just I love the idea, the
visual of the two of those human beings looking the
way that they do, having any kind of confrontation is
just delightful.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
And then the fact that Kirk Cousins, the reports are
you know that he got mad and like stood up
to Max Crosby. It's just kind of like Max Crosby
will crush you in two seconds, Kirk Cousins. But I
do like that Kirk has a little fire in him.
I do I appreciate that because I think he knows
the plan is for him to pass the torch, right

(59:42):
is just when is he going to pass the torch?

Speaker 2 (59:44):
But that's the plan, Yes, absolutely, and a good one,
a sound one. And I'm glad to see that the
Raiders are at least going in with the right approach.
We'll see how long they stick to their guns, though,
because as soon as you know Kirk has a bad
outing or something like that, people are going to start
calling for the young guy because it's the unknown is
more exciting than the thing that you just saw throw
two interceptions at a losing effort.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
So what do you think we'll see for Nana Mendoza.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Oh well, let's take a look at the Raiders' schedule.
As a matter of fact, because I do. I do
think that it is going to be when is there
bye week. Let's see, right, so they've got the Dolpho.
They open with the Dolphins. I thought it'll be a cakewalk.
They've got your Chargers on the road at the Saints.
That's not exactly a pushover home for Chiefs at Patriots

(01:00:29):
their bye week. Okay, so they I bet we start.
I bet we see Mendoza around November. I think if
the Jets are, you know, again the bottom feeder, the
way that we all expect the Jets to be. I
think at the Jets in you know, November first is
when that game takes place. I feel like that's a
decent way. Now, maybe you don't want to start him

(01:00:50):
on the road, but your home games, yeah, your home
opponents Dolphins, Chiefs, Bills, Rams, Seahawks in that as they're
playing the NFC West this year as well, Chargers, Broncos
home for Titans. I would I would think that they
would probably get him going against the Jets or at
least around there. You don't want to throw him to

(01:01:11):
the Wolves Garrett defense, No, you really don't.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
But you know, Kirk Cousins, I don't know what we're
going to get from Kirk.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
So I Kirk was fine. You know, I was stunned
Atlanta let him go. I just more on behavior all
over the NFL from time to time that just leaves
you scratch in your head.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
Kirk, I know Atlanta doesn't know what they're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
You get rid of Kirk Cousins for the sake of
what Tua and then Cooper Rush and you know, I know,
you know too has had MVP numbers in previous years,
and Tua has had success in his NFL career. I
don't want to say that he can't ever be a
starting caliber quarterback again, but you had a starting caliber quarterback.
He was better than Pennix. They had a good they
have a good roster in the lane, they got an

(01:01:49):
offensive line that's paid. They finally got Bijan right, They've
got Kyle Pitts and Drake London under contract. At this
point in time, like Kirk Cousins was playing good, complimentary
football for them, and it was weird to see them
just kind of shrug their shoulders and be like, nah,
we'll pay you to go away and you can go
play in Vegas.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
It almost seemed like Atlanta thought they were going to
see immediate results instead of waiting for it to click,
and they got rid of Kirk. I agree with you,
way too fast, way too fast. I don't know what
their thought process was, and I don't think they know
what their thought process is now because they again Tua's
gonna be your Week one starter. It looks like that
was the plan. There's no way that was a plan

(01:02:26):
all along. We went along with the AFC West, but
there was so much to discuss their Buck on the
other side, I know you already said who you think
is gonna maybe regress this coming season, But let's talk
about those candidates because I have a few that I
think can regress for this new season. So we'll dive
into that next. Don't go anywhere. He is Buck Rising.
I am Anti Bolangos, and this is Fox Sports Sunday.

(01:02:51):
It's Fox Sports Sunday. I am Anti Bolanos. He is
Buck Rising. If you missed any of today's show, you'll
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(01:03:14):
it right after we get off the air. Buck Rising
and I here discussing the NFL season that we're just
so excited and inching closer to with preseason in a
few days Week one officially of the preseason. But there
are some teams already where we're already discussing who's going
to take a step back, who is not going to
be as good as they were maybe last year, And

(01:03:37):
you already have am Is that your only nomination? You
mentioned the Patriots that you thought would take a step back,
would be a regression year for them.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
Yeah, I mean the Patriots were the luckiest NFL team
I think I've ever seen season. Yeah, the schedule is
as as cupcake as you could possibly find. We're also
incredibly healthy, which is a luck thing. I mean, yes,
it sucks that it comes down to that, and some
teams overcome, right. I saw v Abel do it here
in Tennessee in twenty one. They dressed the most players

(01:04:11):
in NFL history over the course of an NFL season.
I think it ended up being like ninety three ninety
two dudes and still found a way to be the
one seed and then you know, proceeded to poop themselves
in the divisional round against the aforementioned Joe Burrow Bengals.
So it is possible, but it's really damn hard to do.
I'd picked the Patriots. They're playing a first play schedule.
I think they're a better roster than they were last year.

(01:04:32):
For sure, they screwed up a number of different things.
I think that their defense actually overperformed. You very rarely
see the teams that spend that way in free agency
actually get the dividends, actually see the value that they
paid for in free agency. It very rarely works out
that way. And to the Patriots credit and to those
players credit and the coaching staff's credit, they got the
most out of guys like Milton Williams and Carlton Davis

(01:04:55):
and a number of other defensive Harold Landry, number of
other defensive free agents that they signed en route to
that Super Bowl run. But yeah, I don't think it's
a stretch by any sense of the imagination to say
that the Patriots will not win as many games as
they did last year. I think if they end up
going ten and seven and they're pushing the Bills for

(01:05:16):
that division. Bills are I haven't looked at the odds
in the AFC East. I assume the Bills are favored.
Maybe I shouldn't given them. The Patriots did get the
better of them on the road last year and were
able to win the division. But yeah, I'd say San
Francisco in the NFC and New England in the AFC
are the most likely. Just just playing the percentages right.
There's no way they stay that healthy and are that

(01:05:39):
lucky for two consecutive seasons.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
I mean, you're not wrong about all of that. When
it comes to the Patriots that schedule. I forgot about
how they were healthy pretty much the entire season. At
em aj Brown, I can see a regression. It makes sense,
it makes sense. I don't know if the regression is
going to be as big as I see with other teams.
Like I don't know if the Jaguars eight game winning

(01:06:05):
streak that we saw at the end is going to
come back this year. Like I did not believe in
the Jaguars at the time. I thought that it was
just like they were playing really good, But it wasn't
necessarily that I was looking at a team that I
was like, oh, you make me believe. I didn't believe.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
You know when they went to deverye one, I bought in.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
You bought in.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
Yeah? They I mean they were playing like the best
team in the AFC. Yeah, on the stretch, and I
you know, they were. They were a really efficient Josh
Allen performance away from beating the Bills at home and
advancing into into the AFC postseason. I would have picked them.
You know, if we were just picking teams that were
in the postseason picture to win the Super Bowl, I
would have picked the Jags of the AFC last year.

(01:06:47):
I thought they were better than playing better football than
anybody at the time. And Josh Allen had a really
nice day. Didn't do it in superhero mad Max style,
the way that we I think we typically associate Josh
Allen superhero performances. He just kind of paper cut them
to get to death. And it was the difference of
four or five plays between two really good teams. I

(01:07:07):
think Jacksonville is gonna be all right. I think year two.
The fact that both of those or both of those
coordinators interviewed for head coaching jobs and went back telling
name Campaelly their defensive coordinators stud I think Jacksonville's defense
has not nearly talked about enough, given that Trevor Lawrence
and Liam Cohen obviously is a marriage that matters so much,
but that defense gave them plenty of opportunities really stat

(01:07:30):
against the run in particular, they did a good job
making teams one dimensional as far as other teams that
I might take. You know, Washington was my pick a
year ago, again just playing the percentages on the hill.
They were wildly healthy in that run of the NFC
Championship game with Jaden Daniels in his rookie year. VJ
said he he could potentially foresee another RG three situation

(01:07:54):
with Jade and Daniels in Washington. They are the oldest
roster in football. I don't think it's talked about nearly enough.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
We were last year right as well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
I believe that's right. I don't remember off the top
of my head, but they're definitely not gotten younger, appreciably younger,
even though I don't think Bobby Wagner and Zach Ertz
are still running around out there. I yeah, we can
talk later about Washington because I know you said you
wanted to mention it. A little later in the show.
There's not another team that really jumps off the page

(01:08:27):
to me as far as a team that had success
last year, Well, Buffalo, I could see Buffalo. You know,
losing Sean McDermott is no small thing. I think the
some of the red flags coming out of Bill's media
availabilities right now. Saw an offensive lineman the other day
talking about how, oh, I'm blanking at Joe Brady, who's

(01:08:47):
the new head coach there, the former offensive coordinator. Kind
of gives off, you know, your fun uncle vibe substitute
teacher vibes, which is not necessarily something you want to
hear around an NFL program. I wouldn't feel great about that,
But they still have one of these quarterbacks, right, so
they should be okay. I just yeah, I'd probably if
you made me maybe pick a wild card, I'd probably
say Buffalo.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
Let me throw a team at you. The Chicago Bears,
oh for sure, right for sure, Like they have to.
They have to take a step back from what we
saw last year.

Speaker 2 (01:09:17):
Their turnover luck is that's not something that you can recreer.

Speaker 1 (01:09:20):
No, not at all. They trailed in love Kevin Bayern.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
I had Kevin here for the majority of his career.
He's a really good player. I'm glad to see him
still doing things at a high level. He's obviously in
New England again with Rabel. Rabel's just getting the whole
band back together up there in New England. But yeah,
the turnover luck is the turnover luck, and just the
miracle wins at.

Speaker 1 (01:09:41):
The end of the meame wins.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
It's not I mean, it's it's awesome. It's awesome to watch.
I was in a Chicago We have one a bar
that's very Chicago based down here in Nashville called Red Door.
I watched that Packers Bears playoff game at Red Door
at Midtown and Nashville. The vibes were awful and then
they were absolutely elect which is why you love live sports,
especially in the postseason, because anything can happen that way.

(01:10:05):
And it doesn't mean that Caleb Williams can't continue to
ascend right as a player, but that that was just unbelievable,
that that is what they did last year is not sustainable.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
So many things went and went and went their way,
and I just don't see it happening this year. And
I feel like Detroit and Green Bay knows that. So
there I see Detroit possibly getting back on top of
the division or green Bay, even though green Bay I'm
just like, I feel like green since Aaron Rodgers left
green Bay, I don't think they've done a better had
a better season than the seventh seed. And at what point,

(01:10:39):
I don't know. I'm supposed to just keep believing that
they can do it, but I don't know if they can,
but I keep being told that they can.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Yeah, they're kind of like your Chargers.

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
They Yes, yes, you read my mind. Yes, I was
going to make that good. Yes exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
I'm sorry that didn't mean as.

Speaker 1 (01:10:55):
No no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not
at all, but you're literally in my thoughts. That's exactly
how I feel about the Packers.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
Yeah, I had, like I mentioned, I had Matt here
for a year before he got the Packers job, and
so I think he is a good head coach. I
know he gets a lot of criticism because of exactly
what you're saying, Like he's got a little bit of
a not quite a Mike Tomlin effect going on. But
they just have a ceiling that they continue to hit
despite being perpetually in the postseason and the expectation in

(01:11:22):
Green Bay is championship. Their skill guys, I mean Tucker
Craft's coming back off of injury. He was a really
nice piece for them, and I think that hurt them
in a huge way. They traded away down Tavian Wicks.
They let Romeo Dobs go this offseason. I do like
Jordan Love as a player, and it's yeah, I'm in
this real weird purgatory with them too right now, where

(01:11:45):
I'm just kind of looking around being like I don't
necessarily have expectations of them, but I do think that
they're a quality football team. The Micah Parsons timeline obviously
has a huge impact on how effective they're going to be,
especially in a division that did not have a losing
football team in it. Last year, the Lions were nine

(01:12:05):
and eight and in fourth place.

Speaker 6 (01:12:07):
M hm.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
I agree, Listen, Packers have a good football team. But
that's that's as far as it goes for me. Like,
I don't that's as far as it goes, And I
agree they make me feel like the Chargers. But let's
go over to the news desk. The Lions fan at
the news desk, I think is hoping that they take
the division this year, Chris Perfect.

Speaker 5 (01:12:29):
Yeah, migrating over here.

Speaker 6 (01:12:30):
Yeah, I guess I am not a huge believer in
Lafleur because I've watched him get flustered against teams like
the Lions. It seems like every time they'd line up
on fourth down before we get like really red in
the face about it. So oh, they had the Lions
number this year. It's just the Lions. Just gotta stay healthy,
seems like the big thing. And also hope that third
time is a charm on trying to figure out the

(01:12:52):
offensive coordinator. But hey, you know, it's kind of put
up a shut up year for Jared Goff. But that
season's a little ways away. And speaking of those Lions,
they do have a new quarterback in the room, Teddy Bridgewater,
who's been around the team for quite a while but
obviously was taking time away coming back to the NFL
after becoming a high school football coach, is now heading

(01:13:12):
back to retirement. The Lions put him on reserve. Dan
Campbell had said that they would not play Jered Goff
in the first preseason game even if they didn't have
a quarterback. Don't need to worry about that, though, because
the pastronaut has landed in Detroit. Lions pick up Josh Dobbs.

Speaker 2 (01:13:27):
What no, I love Dobbs? Oh yeah, I had him
here obviously. He's a University of Tennessee legend.

Speaker 6 (01:13:32):
Dobbs a man, He's a very he seems like he's
a very nice guy from what I've seen from him too.
The hero of the Hall of Fame game, Haines King,
suffered a hamstring injury during that game. Panthers have signed
quarterback Kyle Trask as King is expected to miss time.
Baseball scoreboard out here make that eight of the last
nine lost for the Dodgers. They sorry, Monzie, it looks

(01:13:54):
like he'd gotten off the schneid yesterday with a win
over the d Backs. D Backs fight back hit for
a win four to two. Currently, the Tigers are in
extra innings and hold a three to one lead on
the San Francisco Giants and still in the top of
that inning, So Tigers have a chance to maybe add
more to that we'll see.

Speaker 5 (01:14:16):
Earlier in the day.

Speaker 6 (01:14:17):
Jacob Miserowski became the second fastest player in baseball history
to reach two hundred strikeouts, the first this season. Cody
Clemens was able to homer off Miserowski to tie the game,
and the six Brewers were walking off in the tenth
to four to three, so Misrowski will not get the
win in spite of the mark being set. NBA legend
Don Nelson passed on Sunday at the age of eighty six.

(01:14:39):
Nelson won five championships with the Celtics as a player
and as a coach. Holds the second winningest record of
all time at one thousand and three one hundred and
thirty five wins between the Bucks, Mavericks, Knicks, and Warriors,
who he all coached, and in the w NBA they
have clinched a playoffs spot. The Minnesota Lynx, their guard

(01:14:59):
klem Bride set a single game three point record ten
three pointers. She also finished with a career high forty
three points in a one to oh three ninety victory
over the Dallas Wings. Now we kick it back to
Monti Bologno's and Buck Rising.

Speaker 1 (01:15:14):
Thank you so much, Chris Perfet. You are listening to
Fox Sports Sunday. As you just heard, he is Buck Rising.
I am Monty Bolanos. On the other side of this,
running backs are getting paid forever. Just for now. Let's
see what Buck thinks we're gonna talk about that next.
Don't go anywhere. He is Buck Rising. I'm Monty Bolanos.
This is Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Sunday. I am

(01:15:38):
Monty Bolanos. He is Buck Rising, hanging out with you,
dissecting the upcoming season of the NFL and Buck. Running
Backs are getting paid, running backs are being appreciated in
real time. Jonathan Taylor got paid, Jamiir Gibbs got really paid,
and so did be Jean Robinson. Is this a trend

(01:16:00):
that you think is going to last? You've been You've
been covering football for so many years. For the longest time,
it felt like the running back was not valued. In fact,
like you know you it didn't help when the Chiefs
drafted who was it, Isaia Pacheco in the seventh round
and it had like a great year. It was just
kind of like, Okay, you could get a running back easily,

(01:16:20):
even in the later rounds. But now they're getting paid
here to stay? Are we here to appreciate running backs
for a long time or is it just for for now?

Speaker 2 (01:16:32):
Well, I think it's a mistake to say that they're
getting paid. Do you know who Matthew bergern Is. No,
he's the guard on the Atlanta Falcons. You know how
much Matthew Bergeron.

Speaker 1 (01:16:41):
Makes, uh yeah a lot, twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:16:44):
Four million dollars a year. You know how much Bajon makes.

Speaker 1 (01:16:47):
What's his number?

Speaker 2 (01:16:48):
Came out to twenty two and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
Twenty two and a half, twenty two and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:16:51):
Yeah, the guard is making more than the best running
back in football. The same thing just happened. Peter Skearnski
here in Tennessee is a guard. He's making twenty five
million dollars a year, which is more than any of
the running backs that have recently signed contracts. So all
of a sudden, guys that you know couldn't sniff twelve
million dollars a year, fourteen million dollars a year until
old uh Linderbaum in Vegas got twenty seven to go

(01:17:14):
play center for him. Now they are out earning skill guys,
which is a crazy thing to wrap your head around. Now,
I might hear you in I'm sure there's higher level
football minds than me that can have a conversation around well,
it's actually your offensive line that makes for the best
version of your running back. But there are also running
backs who can help bring about a better version of

(01:17:35):
the offensive line in the way that they make up
for things. I've seen Derek Henry get a thousand yards
behind an offensive line. He had absolutely no business doing
that behind. Derek's a bona fide Hall of Famer and
is still doing it. I think if I'm thirty three,
Derek's probably thirty two in change, So he's he's an anomaly.
He's a bit of a shooting star that way, and

(01:17:55):
like I said, a lock for a gold jacket whenever
it is that he decides to hang it up up.
But we're not actually seeing these guys get paid now,
I think in the way that I think most people well,
and I'm not saying that you're wrong for categorizing that way.
We have seen a rash of contracts here, and anytime
you see anything north of twenty million, it's gonna catch
your attention. But Manzi, we're not doing bell cow running

(01:18:18):
backs anymore, right, We're not doing Derrick Henry. I mean,
maybe ever Derrick Henry's, but we're not doing one guy
that's gonna get thirty five to I mean twenty five
to thirty five touches a game that way, which I
think inherently hurts the market value of these guys because
you've never had more more of a split back situation

(01:18:40):
Jamier Gibbs obviously, And I'm blanking on the on the player,
David Montgomery, Right, that's it's Knuckles Sonic and Knuckles was
a nickname, Right, You've got You've got that kind of
of tandems in almost every other running back stable for
lack of a better term in the NFL, even if
they don't have as cool of a nickname as Sonic
and but it inherently hurts their value. Now, it's still

(01:19:03):
twenty million dollars a year, and if you're not making
that kind of money, you might say, well, that's ridiculous.
That's they should be happy with what they're getting. But
I don't know, man, I'm happy to see the interior
offensive lineman getting paid, especially given the guys like Jeff
Simmons here in Tennessee are making north of thirty Jalen
Carter and in Philadelphia the same. Right, the interior guys,

(01:19:24):
the guys in the trenches are really really seeing the
way that the game has changed work in their favor financially.
But I just I don't think we're really there with
the running backs in the way that we think we are.

Speaker 1 (01:19:37):
It's interesting because the ones I mentioned were the ones
getting paid, right, But I feel like, go to Christian
McCaffrey and what he did when he showed up in
San Francisco. You could and you mentioned it, there are
running backs that can elevate you even if you're already good.
And you saw Saquon Barkley elevate Philadelphia where they win
the Super Bowl. And so I mentioned the three that

(01:19:57):
I got paid. But I feel like it's been trending
slow in this direction. Now, you're right, they're not getting
paid as much as these guards. But you got it,
the guards are. Without the guards, I don't know. I
don't know what half of the players would look like.
I don't know all the injuries would go without these
guards protecting these players. So I get it, but I
do think it's trending in that direction. But then you
said a good thing where it's like we don't really

(01:20:19):
see the Derrick Henries anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:20:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:20:21):
I don't know. You're making me think twice about my feelings, Buck,
You made me think twice. Now Now I don't know
if I feel this way about the running backs. Mmmm,
thank you, Buck Rising, that's right. What's up? Everybody, Happy Sunday?
Thank you for tuning in. Hanging out with Buck Rising
and me Moncey Bolanos alongside our crew, Garrett Ritt, our
executive producer. We've got Alex Tischer over at the technical

(01:20:46):
producing side of things. He just got here. And then
we've got Chris Burpfett, who officially moved over to the
news desk, helping us on this Sunday book. Hall of
Fame inductees we're put in over the last couple of days.
We started the show with the Hall of Fame game
that was so exciting in the NFL. But in twenty

(01:21:09):
twenty seven, we know the first year eligible Hall of
Fame players that the list is. I have it in
front of me, so, Buck, I want to tell you
these names, and I want you to tell me. Are
they a first ballot Hall of Famer?

Speaker 2 (01:21:24):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):
Okay? And you just you know, we can we can
discuss it. We can dissect it, but I'm just curious
with your thoughts. Let's start Ben Roethlisberger.

Speaker 2 (01:21:34):
First ballot Hall of Fame, Ben Roethlisberger, No.

Speaker 1 (01:21:37):
No, Okay, okay. Adrian Peterson, Yes, okay, Rob Gronkowski, yes,
Eli Manning.

Speaker 2 (01:21:48):
Well he's not first, he's not first time.

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
No, yeah, he's coming back by bad But no cam Neon,
Cam Newton, Cam Newton, sorry.

Speaker 2 (01:21:55):
Cam hell No.

Speaker 1 (01:21:57):
Cam Neon? Sorry?

Speaker 2 (01:21:59):
Cam?

Speaker 1 (01:22:00):
Can't you know?

Speaker 2 (01:22:01):
I mean, I guess he's eligible.

Speaker 1 (01:22:03):
He's eligible? He's eligible. Richard Sherman.

Speaker 2 (01:22:07):
Huh, first ballot for Sherm. I think if I have
to think about it, no.

Speaker 1 (01:22:16):
Crime, because you have to think about it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:18):
Sure, sure, yeah, okay, but it's a conversation. I just
kind of say against I'm not I think I would
be mad at it. Sure, I guess how long was Sherman?
The best corner is a really tough position to like
have an extended run as the best player at that position.
That's probably the highest variance position in all of football,

(01:22:41):
given how much you have to rely on your athleticism
and just how ja I mean these freakish these wide
receivers are anymore. He's obviously a champion played on one
of the most elite defenses that I've ever seen. It's
right up there with the eighty five Bears of the
two thousand Ravens and all these different great defenses that
we talk about with legendary status. But I don't know,
I don't. I don't think that Sherman is an obvious

(01:23:05):
first ballot.

Speaker 1 (01:23:08):
Yeah he was an All Pro five times, four years consecutive.

Speaker 2 (01:23:11):
Damn All Pro five times?

Speaker 1 (01:23:13):
Yeah, he was a five time All Pro. Yeah. Does
that change anything? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:23:20):
That's a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:23:22):
Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:23:25):
Man, I obviously have watched Richard Sherman's entire career. I
don't know how it could have just like not registered
that he's a five time All Pro. That with a
championship does matter? Again, I don't think it's an obvious
first ballot. I could hear the argument.

Speaker 1 (01:23:42):
Sure, sure, okay, Gerald McCoy, No, no, okay, okay, six
Pro Bowls, but that's not the same fifty nine five?

Speaker 2 (01:23:52):
Did he win a ring?

Speaker 3 (01:23:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:23:54):
Is he on that twenty bucks team or was he
gone by that?

Speaker 3 (01:23:57):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:23:57):
I don't think he was on that team.

Speaker 2 (01:23:59):
Yeah, I don't don't. I don't think he has a championship. No. No,
it's it's tough as an interior defensive lineman. I mean,
especially because you're not racking up the sack numbers that way.
You have to you have to really be a football nerd,
to to be able to I think make the case
for somebody like that.

Speaker 1 (01:24:14):
Mmm, okay, one more for you, Antonio Brown, right, because
here's the conversation, right, like does.

Speaker 2 (01:24:25):
What he was the best?

Speaker 1 (01:24:26):
He was the best for for several years? Yeah, seven,
I mean Pro Bowls don't matter, but like I agree,
like he was in the conversation of being the best
receiver for a while, it felt.

Speaker 2 (01:24:37):
Like and and he played at a time when pro
Bols did matter. I mean they did, they did use
to matter at one point. We have we have turned
it into Mickey mouse nonsense. Absolutely anymore of the Pro Bowl.
And and that's fine. Listen, if these guys don't want
to play an extra football game in their bodies, feel like, hell,
I don't blame him, right, that's not something now, But
I know, bitch and moan about that hard. I man

(01:24:58):
wide receiver again is though, because there's such a logjam
at the position. Steve Smith is not in, Reggie Wayne
is not in. Both of those guys would be eligible.
I you know, I didn't cover Derek Mason here in Tennessee.
D Mace was was He's still the leading receiver in
Titans franchise history was until recently. I think Mark Andrews

(01:25:18):
just broke his receptions record in the last couple of years.
He's not in the way that the game has evolved
helps guys like now Matt Stafford has a ring now,
so Matt Stafford, I think is an obvious Hall of
Fame or whenever he does retire. But Stafford was going
to be an interesting conversation just Detroit Stafford because he
has all these He's going to have all these passing records,

(01:25:39):
because of how many fight I mean, the fact that
he's had multiple five thousand yard seasons even before he
was a champion made the conversation an interesting one. And
now you know it's it's obvious wide receivers. You have
so many guys with inflated numbers that I I'm gonna
say no, but I think he should be.

Speaker 1 (01:25:58):
And so why are you saying no?

Speaker 2 (01:26:01):
I just think there's be there's gonna be too many names.
I mean, if it took to multiple times to get in. Yeah,
and Reggie Wayne is still hanging out there in the wings.
And Steve Smith is one of the few wide receivers
in NFL history with a thousand receptions a thousand career receptions.
I don't believe AB has a thousand career receptions. I
can go back and fact check that at some.

Speaker 1 (01:26:20):
Point, but he was a two time yards and receptions
leader in his career.

Speaker 2 (01:26:24):
But I don't know, yeah, because I think there's only
twelve guys in the history of the sport that have
a thousand career receptions. Steve Smith is one of them.
I believe Reggie is too, So like I said, I
think he's excellent. I think on his career and the
time that he was playing and the number of talented
wide receivers that he was better than. I think that

(01:26:45):
AB should be in. I don't think AB will be
first ballot, and I really think, I mean, I don't
think they're going to put him in just because he's
such a problem, and that's wrong. That's not how the
Hall of Fame is supposed to work. But he's I mean,
he is a disaster, and unfortunately for him, the writers,
writers have opinions that matter here, and people will keep

(01:27:07):
him out for behavioral issues.

Speaker 1 (01:27:08):
That's kind of what I thought, that he was going
to be kept out because of what has happened off
the field. And still he's still doing things off the field.
We're still talking about Antonio Brown, but for the wrong reason.

Speaker 2 (01:27:18):
No, if everybody saw that last Ryan Clark video, but
not recklessly speculate, but I don't think I've ever seen
anything that looked as much as cocaine eyes as that
video did.

Speaker 1 (01:27:29):
He's just a mess. So I'm with you, But he
is one that is interesting because I just feel like
for the longest time he was the best at his position.
But with Ben Roethlisberger, you said, no, not a first
time ballot Hall of Famer. The following year, twenty twenty eight,
it'll be Tom Brady will be eligible. Tom Brady obviously

(01:27:49):
should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. But that's
what I thought about Bill Belichick.

Speaker 2 (01:27:55):
Yeah, I feel and again recency bias has impacted this,
but I think definitive we understand who was more important
to their success. They were both important to the Patriots dynasty,
but Tom Brady infinitely more impactful Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick
a huge factor in their success. Obviously, I do not
want to detegrate. He is to me the greatest coach

(01:28:15):
in NFL history, and I understand that he's not gonna
He's not gonna get the wins record. I think Shulas
still has the wins record that way. I know that
story came out from I want to say it was
Don Van Nada or maybe Seth Wickersham at ESPN that
was talking about. They did this great piece on Sean Payton,
and Sean Payton was trying to work out a deal
with the Broncos to like let Belichick coach until he
got to the wins record and then Sean Payton would

(01:28:38):
would step in. It was one of the weird obviously
too complicated and did not work out that way. But
there is there is a case for Bill Belichick being
the greatest coach in modern day in the history of
the sport, not just modern day pro football. Tom Brady
more important to that. I would hear. Tom Brady is
more obvious to me than Bill Belichick is. Even though

(01:28:59):
I was in agree with that Bill Belichick should have
been a first ballot Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (01:29:03):
So there's no way right that Tom Brady is not
a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Speaker 2 (01:29:07):
I mean there is a way, right, the same thing
that kept Belichick out. People are petty, people are cheated. Yeah,
like it's not it's not just pettiness for the sake
of pettiness. They broke rules to be great. Now you say, well,
the rules changed after that, and they exploited loopholes and
all these different things, and the best, the best teams

(01:29:27):
and coaches and organizations will explore exploit every loophole at
their disposal to try and give themselves a competitive advantage.
So would it be outrageous? Yes? Is it possible that
he's not a first ballot guy?

Speaker 1 (01:29:42):
Yes, which is crazy, It is crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:29:45):
It depends on who's in the room. I'm not a
Hall of Fame voter. There's one in every market. Paul
Calharsky's ours here in Tennessee, so I'm not I'm not
privy to those conversations. They would be fascinating to sit
in on at some point, but obviously those are those
are for the the few who have a great depth
and knowledge of NFL history. But I mean, it just

(01:30:06):
really depends on who's in the room and how much
of a grudge they harbor towards the flight gate and
the spygate and all these other gates that were that
happened during the Brady Belichick era.

Speaker 1 (01:30:16):
M back to Eli Manning, who will should be in
Should you you think he should be?

Speaker 2 (01:30:23):
Hell?

Speaker 1 (01:30:23):
Yeah, I yes, I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (01:30:26):
He like I understand he's not the best of that bunch, right,
like in a vacuum. I've said that phrase too many
times today. But if you're looking at just quarterbacks based
on talent alone from his generation, so that's Roethlisberger, that's Rivers,
that's Rogers, that's his brother, that's Brady. I don't know

(01:30:51):
that you're taking Eli on on merit on his skill
set alone, over any of those other individuals. But he's
a two time Super Bowl champ and he did it
against the Evil Empire, right, he did it against the
Death Star. He did it against Tom Brady twice, and
yes there's a helmet catch in there. And he also
had a hillacious defense on both of those teams that

(01:31:13):
made Tom Brady's life a living hell in those Super Bowls.
But Eli Manning did it like rings are the most
important thing at the end of the day. And I
understand that you you have to gate keep a little bit.
You shouldn't gate keeping sports generally, but in the Hall
of Fame obviously. That's the point. I just think we're
gatekeeping for the wrong reasons on ELI. I think it's

(01:31:34):
a nonsense and there are like I'm not saying that
ELI should have gone in over any of the guys
that went in this year, right, Keithley is otherworldly, Drew
Brees was excellent and a champion in his own right.
Larry Fitzgerald, it took a shot at the Arizona Cardinals
early in the show, saying you can get a Hall
of Famer anywhere, but Larry is I mean, he's he

(01:31:56):
was spectacular, and I mean yeah, it truly.

Speaker 1 (01:32:01):
Did not did not matter who was that quarterback.

Speaker 2 (01:32:03):
He did it at such a high level and over
an extended period of time and with multiple different quarterback situations,
and for an organization that does not, you know, does
not support their players in the way that they absolutely
should be supported. That's one of the worst organizations in
all of football, and incredibly cheap ownership group in the
Bidwell family, and not very well thought of for good reason.

(01:32:26):
I'm not going to make the case for ELI over
anybody that went in this year. So I'm not saying
that you can't, you can't cherry pick year over year,
but ELI needs to go in before we even having
a conversation around.

Speaker 1 (01:32:36):
Ben, I'm with you, and you just broke it down
so perfectly. You can't tell the story of football without
mentioning Eli Manning and what he did with the against
the Patriots. Like, I'm one hundred percent with you, And
it just makes it interesting because I don't know if
it's ever happened, but have two quarterbacks been inducted into
the Hall of Fame in the same year, don't. I
don't know if that's happened, and if it has, it's

(01:32:56):
very rare.

Speaker 2 (01:32:57):
Sure it has, but I can't that off the top
of my head.

Speaker 1 (01:33:01):
So then next year it would be Elimanning, but then
the following year it's Tom Brady, So then Ben Roethlisberger
would then have to maybe wait again. But Ben is
a Hall of Famer, right, like right? I mean, like
is it right? Like he is? Didn't he play on
a broken ankle? That's that's pretty bad us. But but

(01:33:24):
there's there's I know I'm joking there, but there were
other things that came with Ben Roethlisberger that people may
not have liked, you know, And so I wonder if
that will keep him out.

Speaker 2 (01:33:37):
But yeah, I mean, he had a rape discussion Exactlyethlisberger
like that. I don't think that's I don't think that's again,
and having not sat in that room myself, I can't
speak to how much the personal conduct and the off
the field issues and things like suspensions factor. And I
do know it was a factor for t O. We

(01:33:57):
all knew it was a factor for t O. I
know it will be a componversation around Antonio Brown, even
if they're even willing to entertain the Antonio Brown conversation
that that to me is a is a science experiment
for how much how great can you be while also
being just an objectively bad and listen, I I struggle

(01:34:19):
with him because I have, you know, on a human level,
I feel bad for him, even though he's a terrible
He's clearly a terrible person. Yep, Like I'm not, you know,
but football has done something to him that I think
has exacerbated some of the worst behavior. But I don't
want to use that as a tool to excuse him
for all of the bad things that he's done. And

(01:34:39):
he has done many bad things to many people in
the later stages of his career and continues to do so.
He's a very problematic individual. Roethlisberger. He's not an obvious
Hall of Famer to me, what.

Speaker 1 (01:34:55):
Two time Super Bowl champion, six Pro Bowls, sixty four
thousand yard ard, seventh all time.

Speaker 2 (01:35:04):
Maybe maybe I'm being a curmudgeon here. May Maybe I'm
sure you know I work. I work with one of
one of the guys the block for him for eleven years,
Ramon Fostery played down here at the University of Tennessee.
He does the show before mine here locally. Uh, And
I'm sure I'd be curious to get Ramone's perspective on
this because he he what he played during that that

(01:35:27):
Killer Bees era, Right, Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown and so
would have good context for that. And when they were
at their best, they were excellent. And the two the
two super Bowls obviously goes a long way. But I
don't I don't know. For some reason, I have this
like catch with Ben Roethlisberger, and I don't know why
I'm doing that. And it's not because of the personal issues,

(01:35:48):
even though obviously I don't endorse that kind of behavior.
He's not like a Kobe Bryant to me, where you
I'm not saying you overlook those issues when they come
up in famous athletes and accomplished athletes live. We did
tend to gloss over it more with Kobe than we
do with the average athlete that does have an incident
like that. Ben Roethlisberger was excellent. I do still think

(01:36:11):
that Eli should be in before him. I don't think
that's an obvious first ballot guy, but you you are
probably correct that he will eventually go in.

Speaker 1 (01:36:18):
Yeah, I'm with you that Eli should go in first,
and I also agree with you that out of the
list I gave you, the two that should be first
ballot Hall of Famers are Adrian Peterson and Rob Gronkowski.
I'm with you one, Richard Sherman is interesting. It is interesting,
but I think those two are easy ones.

Speaker 2 (01:36:37):
Man, I'm hearing on Sherm. I really would again that
you know the six all pros that position, in particular,
playing on a historically excellent defense and having Super Bowl,
a Super Bowl win, and another Super Bowl appearance in
which he should have won. He should be a two
time Super Bowl champion. Pete Carroll robbed all of those
guys of that in a critical spot, and good on

(01:37:00):
Malcolm Butler for being there to make the play that
saved the day. But uh yeah, I'd hear you on Sherman.

Speaker 1 (01:37:05):
Yeah, I I he's the one that's the most that
I have a question mark with the only one Antonio Brown. Also,
like I, if it wasn't for all the off field stuff,
I think I answer that question. Yeah, No, I wouldn't
want to be in that room to make that decision
for sure. On the other side, book, I want to
know who you think what quarterback is in the hottest

(01:37:27):
seat going into next season. Also, you're gonna be in
the hot seat because you're gonna participate in easy as one, two, three, four.
But don't worry. You have lifelines. It'll be fun. It'll
be maybe not easy. Maybe I made it too hard,
but we'll see. Don't anywhere everybody. It's Fox Sports Sunday.
He is Buck Rising. I am anti Bologos. It's Fox

(01:37:50):
Sports Sunday. I am anti Bilangos. He is Buck Rising.
Thanks for hanging out with us. Be sure to subscribe
to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Just search Fox
Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see our best videos
from all of our shows. Hit the thumbs up icon
and comment away. Let us know whose takes you agree
with and even those who you don't agree with. Just
search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and subscribe book. Who

(01:38:15):
is It might be an obvious answer, It might be
a stupid question. What quarterback is in the hottest sea
going into this NFL season? Jayden Daniels, Jadeen Daniels, Yep,
please explain, Jaydaen Daniels. Yeah, what are you talking about?

Speaker 2 (01:38:34):
He's got to prove what a fluke? Okay, it's ten
games last year? Yeah, No, what nearly is dynamic? They
were two and five in the games that he did start. Uh.
He is somebody who has a style of play that
lends itself to potentially taking hits.

Speaker 6 (01:38:50):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:38:50):
He's been like that since college. Again, he's an electrifying
player when he's right, and I'm not quite. I mentioned
earlier that VJ was hanging out with me yesterday. Fitzi's
I think coming back from his long respite and recovery.
Of course, he had an open heart surgery about a
month ago and has been on the end. He won't
leave me alone. He's trying desperately to get back on

(01:39:11):
the air. He's got too many takes. It's been just
roiling in him in these last couple of weeks where
he hasn't been in front of a microphone screaming about something.
But VJ said he got RG three vibes from Jane Daniels,
And you know, that's a comparison that I'm sure is
visceral for Washington fans. But yeah, to me, he's absolutely

(01:39:33):
got to reprove it that he's the guy. He proved
that he can be dynamic and one of the most
dynamic quarterbacks in the game. His durability questions are huge
to me. I think he's I think he's got the
potential to be an as sending player, but you could
not find a more disappointing way to follow up an

(01:39:53):
incredibly exciting season. I think that that's the kind of
player that gets a coach fired. And I don't know
how long dan Quinn is going to be able to
gut it out there as the Commander's head coach, especially
if they keep turning over offensive coordinators that way. Yeah,
I'd say Jade Daniels. I'm sure there's a more obvious one,
but that's just the one that immediately popped into my mind.

(01:40:14):
Is like, I'd like to see him do that again. Please,
Before I make any definitive statements about how good this
player is.

Speaker 1 (01:40:18):
And I feel I totally hear what you're saying, because
for me, I actually don't see it as a fluke,
even though last year was so disappointing as to the
injury and how I went for Jad and Daniels and
the Commanders, But I feel, like I told you, it
was like, I think they could be like a like
a surprisingly good team. I know they're old. I know
they're old, but they did revamp the defense a little bit,

(01:40:39):
they added weapons for Jade and Daniels. I know they're old,
and I get that. I just I truly do not
feel like his first rookie season was a fluke. And
maybe that's where I'm wrong. Maybe that's why you were like,
what do you mean you think they could actually sneak
it to the playoffs?

Speaker 2 (01:40:55):
I do.

Speaker 1 (01:40:56):
I think they could be kind of maybe a dark
horse that no one is expecting because when they're old
and maybe people are seeing it like you where it's
like you don't believe it. You didn't believe in Jade
and Daniels. You don't know if it was real or
if it was a fluke. Yeah, I get that.

Speaker 2 (01:41:10):
I get that I just I need I need a
consistent sample size of that player, not just you know,
not just making electric plays with his legs. And again,
that's a huge part of his game. It's an incredibly
effective way to sustain drives. It's a huge boon to
their rushing attack because he can create explosives. I saw him,
and again, a lot of people kicked the Titans ass
the last couple of years, but I saw him in

(01:41:31):
that rookie season, just go ape on that Titans defense
in Washington, and it was one of the more fun
performances that I got to watch, just watching somebody kick
the snot out of the team that I cover on
a regular basis. I mean the obvious one that I'm
sure that the answer that you thought that I was
going to immediately jump to with CJ. No Texans, I.

Speaker 4 (01:41:51):
Do not know.

Speaker 1 (01:41:52):
I have another one in mind.

Speaker 2 (01:41:53):
Oh my god, I don't know how it gets hotter
than CJ. Stroud. He is an atrocity. Yeah, again, I
saw Tea. I have seen many teams kick the crap
out of the Titans the last couple of years. The
Texans beat the Titans twenty eight or twenty sixth to nothing.
Last year, and he was terrible. He was truly awful.
That playoff game against the Patriots is one of the

(01:42:15):
more embarrassing quarterback performances I've ever seen, and I've seen
a lot of bad football in my life.

Speaker 1 (01:42:19):
So because of that, I feel like I unfortunately have
made my decision on CJ. Strouding. You get what I'm saying.
So that's why I didn't. I don't think.

Speaker 2 (01:42:27):
Do you think he's cooked? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:42:28):
No, I think he's cooked. I think and I don't
know if it's psychological now at this point because of
how bad it went. Yeah, like it just went so bad.
I actually think Josh Allen is on a pretty hot seat.
They fired the coach, so they blamed the coach when
in reality, how many mistakes did he have in that
playoff game? Like I think and with that story, oh

(01:42:49):
he's the best quarterback of the decade, I feel like
he's the one that's on the hottest seaton.

Speaker 2 (01:42:54):
What story called Josh Allen the best quarterback of the decade?
I didn't I miss that.

Speaker 1 (01:42:58):
It was let me see it, yeah recently, Yeah, yeah,
I did not see this. Yeah it was an opinion piece,
but somebody said he was the best quarter back of
the decade over.

Speaker 2 (01:43:09):
Patrick Mahomes, my executive producer here locally, is a diehard
Ravens fan and notable Bill's hater, and he is going
to poop himself when he reads that. That's funny.

Speaker 1 (01:43:18):
So that that's why I do. And again firing their
head coach obviously like they shifted the blame when in
reality it was like Josh Allen, you you made some
really bad mistakes when it came to the playoffs in
that final game.

Speaker 2 (01:43:28):
So oh, I think they're coming for Brandon Bean first.
I mean they still because Mazi what what how many
points they score in that game where he was not
his bet? They scored over thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:43:37):
Ye yeah, yep, yep, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:43:39):
I think I think that guy's gonna get I mean,
think about how much how much coasting Joe Burrow is
doing off of that one playoff run, you know what
I mean? Like Burrow Burrow and I'm not saying that
he's on the hot seat. Again, I don't think either
of them are on the hot seat in the sense
that you need some definitive clarity about this player before
you commit to the player long term. Both of those

(01:44:01):
franchises have already committed to Josh Allen Joe Burrow respectively
and should have right like that's not that's not a
decision that you think twice about. I don't think that
Josh Allen is in any danger whatsoever of being questioned.
In fact, I think that Josh Allen at every turn
gets far more benefit of the doubt than Josh Allen deserves.

(01:44:22):
And maybe maybe to your point what you're saying, it
will eventually happen, and the the way that we have
made I think I don't know that there are more
The only player that more excuses are made for on
a regular basis than Josh Allen is Joe Burrow.

Speaker 1 (01:44:37):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:44:39):
And I think I think nobody gets a more raw
deal than Lamar Jackson in that conversation, who I think, Uh,
you know, I can make the argument that both Allan
and Lamar are more talented players than Pat, and Pat
may just be a more successful player on better teams
with better coaching these last couple of years. That's that's
a nitpick type of argument. I don't think Josh is

(01:44:59):
an any danger, but C J. Stroud, I mean, they
got to know they're getting ready to pay this guy
potentially this is a I mean I think he has
it in him that that rookie year was not it
was not a fluke, right, But he's just been I
criticized Justin Herbert, your boy, earlier in the in the show,
for being mentally weak in big spots. I don't know

(01:45:20):
how you could look at at c J. Stroud and
I mean he is Will Levis levels of disaster.

Speaker 1 (01:45:26):
Yeah, yeah, no, I if I'm the Texans, I'm trying
to figure out my next step beyond c J.

Speaker 7 (01:45:33):
Stroud.

Speaker 1 (01:45:33):
Sure, because there's no reason for me to hold on
to hope like I'm holding on to hope with Justin Herbert.
But because he even though he has let me down
in the playoffs a lot, he hasn't done it. He
isn't He hasn't done with he Stroud did.

Speaker 2 (01:45:46):
No, he hasn't had that bad heart of a major
malfunction nobody had. I don't know that I've ever got
You're right.

Speaker 1 (01:45:53):
We Yeah, you're right. So I feel like I've just
made my decision already. So maybe that's why I don't
see him in the hot seat like others. But and
when I say a hot seat, I just feel like
if Josh Josh Allen. It's like everyone is talking about you,
and if you can't deliver this year, I don't I
don't know how the media's going to handle it.

Speaker 2 (01:46:11):
Well good. I mean, it's about time. It is like
he gets a pass. Yeah, and I'm not saying that
it's a completely unfair pass. Like. The criticism is that
he can't beat arguably the most talented quarterback we've ever
seen in Patrick Mahomes. Again, Tom Brady is the greatest
winner we've ever had. Nobody would make the argument that
Tom Brady was never talked about, is the most talented player.

(01:46:34):
But talent does not you know, talent does not mean longevity.
Talent does not necessarily mean that he lacks skill, right,
Pat Pat is Aaron Rodgers type of talent, Brett Favre
type of talent with the potential to match Tom Brady's resume.
Which is an insane thing to say, because I think
the further we get removed from seven Super Bowls, the

(01:46:55):
more ridiculous it'll sound that anybody would even attempt to
would even play in seven super Bowls. Much Let's win
seven the way that Tom did. Yeh. I yeah, Any
any criticism that Alan gets is overdue because I think
Alan Alan skates on a lot of this stuff, even
though I he may. I mean, it's between him and

(01:47:17):
Lamar from my favorite player to watch in the sport electric.

Speaker 1 (01:47:21):
I was gonna say, it's just that they make it exciting,
they make it fun. And so with Josh Allen, like
I agree, he gets, he gets, he gets by a
lot Joe Burrow does to Joe.

Speaker 2 (01:47:30):
Burrow like Joe Burrow is, Yeah, this is garbage, the
Joe Burrow copyation R.

Speaker 1 (01:47:35):
No, it's it's funny to be at this prospectular.

Speaker 2 (01:47:37):
And you know, I'm not mad at him because his
body keeps letting him down. And I'm more mad at
the Bengals for not figuring out an offensive line situation
how many how many years into his.

Speaker 1 (01:47:45):
Career exactly when you went to the Super Bowl, Like,
how did you not want to get this better? It
makes no sense, It makes no sense. Why don't we
head over to the news desk and see what is
going on with Chris perfet Christopher? What's up?

Speaker 5 (01:47:59):
All right?

Speaker 6 (01:48:00):
We're closing in on most of the baseball being done
for the night, except for, of course, the night Cap
and the Dodgers are looking a little snake bitten, swung
on and mashed towards the corner on its way two
nothing time it Backs. That was Diamondback Radio Network on
the call of Katel Marte to run home run. I'm sorry,

(01:48:21):
I don't I didn't even like the punt. I just
had to deploy there. But yes, the Diamondbacks do defeat
the Dodgers four to two. It is eight of the
last nine have been losses for the Dodgers. Elsewhere on
that baseball scoreboard, Tigers outlast the Giants three to one
in extra innings, Orioles take down the Rangers ten to five.

(01:48:41):
Earlier in the day, the Brewers needed extra innings to
defeat the Twins four to three and ten innings, but
Jacob Mazarowski became the second fastest player in baseball history
to reach two hundred strikeouts in that game. In the WNBA,
the Links are in the playoffs. Guard Kaylea McBride set
a single game wreck making ten three pointers on Sunday

(01:49:02):
as she hit a career high forty three points. They
roll the Wings one to oh, three to ninety. Currently
going on Golden State over the La Sparks thirty four
twenty one, six minutes to go in the second NBA
legend Don Nelson passed away on Sunday at the age
of eighty six. He had won five championships as a
player with the Boston Celtics. As a coach, he holds

(01:49:24):
the second winningest record of all time behind Greg Popovich
one three hundred and thirty five wins held between his
coaching roles the Bucks, the Mavericks, the Knicks, and the Warriors.
And a little bit of injury news, Bears wide receiver
Luther Burden reportedly suffered a groin injury at Saturday's training camp.
He's expected to miss some time now, according to Ian
Rappaport and the hero of the Hall of Fame Game,

(01:49:46):
Haines King, Sorry, I put a little flare on that
suffered a hamstring injury during the Hall of Fame Game.
Panthers have signed quarterback Kyle Trask because he is expected
to miss some time. Sorry, I just I've had that
in my hand. Haines Kang, run dang ball.

Speaker 5 (01:50:02):
That's it. That's all I've got. Thank you guys for
let me hang out. I'll see you star side.

Speaker 1 (01:50:06):
Don't go too far. We're gonna do it easy use
one two three fourth for me today. Don't go too far,
but we are gonna go to break so that you
have the time, Buck to think of the answers to
these questions. I don't want you to feel like you're
rush because you can't win the game or you can
lose it. And I'll explain that on the other side,
so they'll go anywhere easy as one two three for

(01:50:28):
the first time, with Buck Rising coming up on the
other side, I am Anti Bolanos and you're listening to
Fox Sports Sunday, Fox Sports Sunday. I am Anti Bolanos.
He is Buck Rising. If you've been hanging out with
us for all three hours, Thank you brave, yesve brave, brave.

Speaker 2 (01:50:51):
We appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:50:52):
We do. We do braver than you covering the Titans
for so many years. No, that just takes drugs, rugs
and many I feel like that's the answer to a
lot of things. Drug some money. Right, it's been fun, Buck,
But now you're on the hot seat.

Speaker 2 (01:51:08):
Oh okay, that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:51:09):
Looks easy as one two three four. It's a trivia
game and you're not alone here, so you do have lifelines.
You have chris Per fat you have Garrett Writt, and
you have Alex Tischer, which you can ask at any
time to help you figure out the answer to the questions.
You don't have to give me the entire answer. You
just have to give me a piece of the answer,

(01:51:30):
and you'll see what I mean by that. I don't
know how difficult I made this, but it's a possible
ten points that you can get. And I'm gonna say over.
I think you guys can do it. I'm gonna say
with the over under, we'll say seven and a half,
So you win the game. If you get eight points.
It's possible ten. But it's easy as one, two, three, four,
four questions. Ten possible points. Let's start, all right, buck,

(01:51:52):
Name one of two teams in the NFL that have
played in the most Hall of Fame games.

Speaker 2 (01:52:03):
One of two teams that have played the most in
the Hall of Fame game?

Speaker 1 (01:52:08):
Yes, who have participated in the most Hall of Fame games.

Speaker 2 (01:52:12):
I'm gonna say Browns because of Canton.

Speaker 1 (01:52:17):
Okay? Is that your final answer? You have lifelines also,
you could add, but I bet you can absolutely say
final answer.

Speaker 2 (01:52:23):
Well, I'd hate to go to a lifeline on the
first go round. I don't feel confident about this. I
would know what.

Speaker 7 (01:52:29):
Exact same thing anyway, for the same reasoning. Yeah, it's
right there makes sense.

Speaker 2 (01:52:33):
You know what, though, I'm gonna say Cowboys just just
because the Cowboys are always on television in any way,
shape or form. I bet the Cowboys are in their
final answer, show me the Cowboys. That is way to go.

Speaker 1 (01:52:46):
Let me tell you who. No, it's not the Browns.
It's actually the Steelers and the Cowboys. They have participated
in the game seven times. The last time that they
played was against each other in twenty twenty one. You're
on the board. Good job, Way to feel the gut,
way to get in there. Yes, okay. Next question, Name

(01:53:08):
two of three active players with the most rushing yards,
not mentioning Derrick Henry. He is at the top of
the list with thirteen thousand eighteen yard thirteen th eighteen yards,
So beyond Derrick Henry, name two of the three active
players with the most rushing yards.

Speaker 2 (01:53:31):
Saquon Okay, hmm, that's a tough one. How about oh well,
Saquon and McCaffrey.

Speaker 7 (01:53:44):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:53:46):
I don't feel good about McCaffrey though, because he's he's
as many receptions. It feels like as he is rushing yards,
it feels like it's I don't want to overthink it.

Speaker 1 (01:53:57):
Saquan McCaffrey, Final Answers, Final answer, show me Saquon Barkley.
That is correct, Sakon. Saquon Barkley is number two here,
he's got eight thousand, three hundred and fifty six. And
is it Christian McCaffrey. Oh, not Christian McCaffrey. You're right,
he's he's in the top, he's the sixth. Camara, No,

(01:54:20):
Kamara's not there any Chris, do you I guess?

Speaker 5 (01:54:24):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (01:54:25):
I was gonna guess Jonathan Taylor, but I can't think
that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:54:28):
Jonathan Taylor is actually in front of Christian McCaffrey. But
you would not have made this particular list, Garrett, and
he guesses Alex.

Speaker 7 (01:54:37):
I'm at a loss. No, I would have Jones.

Speaker 1 (01:54:42):
Maybe Aaron Jones that is correct? Actually, yeah, that wow,
Aaron Jones, Red Garrett, So it's Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs,
you guys also do yes? Eight hundred and three. Then
Aaron Jones Aaron Jones seven thousand, six hundred and twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:55:00):
No, wait, where is there Jones right now? Is he
on a roster?

Speaker 1 (01:55:03):
He is on the Vikings, the Vikings. Yes, yes, he's
still on the Vikings. Correct. No, I looked that up
before I made sure I asked the question because I
don't want to trick you. He's still on the on
the roster. Jonathan Taylor, followed by Christian McCaffrey, followed by
Joe Mixon, Nick Chubb, Alvin Kamara coming in at number nine.

Speaker 2 (01:55:19):
Good for mix.

Speaker 1 (01:55:20):
Yeah, so all right, but listen, you got you got
a point there, so you're you're good. You're good.

Speaker 2 (01:55:25):
All right, we're feeling good.

Speaker 1 (01:55:27):
We're feeling good. You're gonna need help in this one
because it's a baseball question.

Speaker 2 (01:55:30):
No, no shot.

Speaker 1 (01:55:31):
So you got lifelines, but it's not hard. Name three
of the four teams in baseball that have reached seventy wins.

Speaker 2 (01:55:40):
Oh, I have no earthly idea.

Speaker 7 (01:55:42):
I got you there.

Speaker 5 (01:55:43):
Oh that's easy.

Speaker 2 (01:55:44):
Okay, go ahead, Chris, anyhow, I'll.

Speaker 5 (01:55:48):
I'll take you a life. I'm laying Garrett, do it.

Speaker 7 (01:55:49):
The easy ones obviously, the Dodgers, Okay, Grasty want second?

Speaker 6 (01:55:55):
Uh so I know it's I could probably name two others,
the Rays and the Brains.

Speaker 5 (01:56:01):
I think we just need three, right, we just need three?

Speaker 6 (01:56:04):
Yeah, yeah, raise braves and uh, Dodgers and the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (01:56:08):
I am blindly trusting here because I have no earthly
got you all right?

Speaker 7 (01:56:12):
My Cubs actually maybe four, but we'll put that well.

Speaker 5 (01:56:16):
I don't even think they're in front, in front of
the Brewers, the Brewers.

Speaker 7 (01:56:18):
The Brewers, sorry, oh, Brewers and Cubs.

Speaker 1 (01:56:20):
Yeah, all right, so Dodgers, raise braves. Yes, show me
the Dodgers. That is correct. They just reached it. Seventy wins,
they just got there. Show me the Rays, that's right,
the Rays seventy one wins, leading their division over the Yankees.
Show me the Braves, that is correct, seventy one wins.

Speaker 2 (01:56:41):
We're cooking.

Speaker 1 (01:56:41):
Yes, the Brewers have the most wins out of anybody
so far. They have seventy four. Your Cubs are at
sixty nine, so they were very close, but not just
quite there, cigar, No, not there. All right, Let's see
how many points do you have? You have five points,
that is, so you can do it. You have to
get three out of these four, all right, so name four.

(01:57:03):
Back to the NFL. Don't worry, this was gonna be
I feel like you'll you'll find this one easy.

Speaker 6 (01:57:07):
I just I should reveal to to Buck last week
she gave us like a streaming music question. Oh you
are sure, Martin God blindsided on eminem questions.

Speaker 2 (01:57:17):
So I would have had a better chance at that
than anything. Baseball. Brother, I don't know that I've ever
watched the whole baseball game in my life. All right,
back to it sucks because we're probably gonna get a
team here, and I'm gonna have to talk about it.

Speaker 1 (01:57:27):
You're gonna have to talk about it. Yes you are.
We'll talk about it, all right, Buck, Name four of
the five teams with the worst odds to win the
Super Bowl according to bet mgm oh.

Speaker 2 (01:57:39):
Well, Titans have to be there. Shout out the hometown team, Browns, Jets, Cardinals, Dolphins.

Speaker 1 (01:57:52):
I mean, I think you gave me all of them.
You gave me four instead of five. But yeah, show me.

Speaker 2 (01:57:56):
I'm sorry, I thought you said five.

Speaker 1 (01:57:58):
Well it's four of five because there's five that are
the worst. But I think you literally gave me all
of them.

Speaker 2 (01:58:03):
I know, my bad football, show me the Titans.

Speaker 1 (01:58:06):
That is correct, plus Zille twenty five thousand, plus twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:58:13):
Thousands, You're sorry, Show.

Speaker 1 (01:58:15):
Me the Jets plus twenty five thousand as well, Show
me the Browns plus twenty five thousand as well.

Speaker 2 (01:58:22):
I think they're going to start to shan that show
you're with a sexual predator of quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:58:29):
Show me the Cardinals. That's right, plus fifty thousand the Cardinals.

Speaker 6 (01:58:34):
And I just say, I'm very proud of Buck because
he didn't fall into the trap of naming the Saints.
I think we've done this one on an earlier edition.
I think Dan did it and like everyone got got
by the Saints.

Speaker 2 (01:58:45):
Oh no, the Sights are the Sights are fine. Sts
win that division.

Speaker 7 (01:58:48):
It's the Raiders. There probably would have been the other.

Speaker 2 (01:58:50):
One, the Raiders. I would have left out the writers,
but I don't know. I feel kind of good about
the Raiders.

Speaker 1 (01:58:56):
Raiders were just above the worst five above it, so
they weren't the worst. But show me the Dolphins. You
literally gave me all the answers. Correct. They are also
at fifty plus fifty thousand. Good job, Buck.

Speaker 2 (01:59:11):
Oh I hate that for my guy in the league
with sweet Baby Angel.

Speaker 1 (01:59:16):
I'm sorry, buddy, I know, I know, but you did it.
You got nine points.

Speaker 2 (01:59:20):
You know we did We did it. Well done, well done. Team.
Without the crew, we got nothing baseball. Yes, no, no,
that I could name five baseball teams.

Speaker 1 (01:59:33):
You gotta start watching baseball a little bit like a snitch.

Speaker 2 (01:59:36):
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (01:59:37):
Why not you show Tony? You don't wan watch show?
How Tony you don't want to watch for what? For?

Speaker 4 (01:59:44):
For?

Speaker 2 (01:59:44):
What?

Speaker 1 (01:59:45):
Do you know who Babe Ruth is?

Speaker 2 (01:59:47):
Yeah, apparently there's some guy for the Cubs who's apparently
a good football player doesn't think he's real or a
baseball player doesn't think he's real. Yeah, peak, even I
know that. Oh that's the guy that you guys wanted
to talk about.

Speaker 1 (01:59:58):
Yeah, because he's looking at heavy discussion with Shoeo Donnie,
but he said that he doesn't know if Babe Ruth
existed a dumbass, he absolutely is. Book. Thank you for
hanging out with me on.

Speaker 2 (02:00:11):
This say thank you for having me Manzi. It takes
a strong will to put up with me for three hours.
I appreciate you all.

Speaker 1 (02:00:19):
I appreciate you. Enjoy training camp with the Titans. You're
coming out this way. Everybody enjoyed the rest of your Sunday.
You from Salam and Mark Willard are next. Bye.

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