Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam talk Aaron Rodgers and Kyrie Irving!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to sports back with my guy absolutely on
a Sunday night, and I am not talking about you,
eve From. When I say the shine is off, the
truth always comes out. All your behavior is gonna catch
up to you. I'll tell you exactly what I'm talking about.
I know you know who I'm talking about. Is we

(00:22):
bring you in and welcome you in. We're broadcasting live
from the ti rack dot com studios. Ti rack dot
com will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast
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should be one thing I know I never have to
say to you from I never have to say to you,

(00:43):
you know the way you treat people matters, because I
don't need to worry about that with you. I've I've
watched you not only be good to me, you're good
to everyone. I've watched you be good to everyone around you,
and so it's not gonna catch up to you. The
truth is not gonna quote unquote come out on you.
The shine is off. We're not gonna say that about you.

(01:04):
Good evening, my brother's good to talk to you. Yeah,
I'm talking about Aaron Rodgers, number number twelve, number twelve.
I'll tell you what, man, And we talk about this
all the time. We've been talking about this this year
because it's just every week we come out and we

(01:27):
see just just just poor, poor play from what some
argue as the best thrower of the football right, one
of the best quarterbacks to ever play in this league.
And I won't take any of his accomplishments away from I.
I believe, I'm a firm believer, and you earn your
accomplishments the good and the bad, and right now we're

(01:51):
seeing a lot of bad. And it starts with leadership.
I said all the time, receivers do not make elite quarterbacks.
Elite quarterbacks make receivers. And watching that game and there
were some misqus and for whatever reason, uh, you know,

(02:11):
the universe is just upset at Green Bay because they
had so many injuries today. It was just like, you know,
people were playing one play and then they were done
for the whole game. So I get it, I understand it,
But what has to happen from a leadership standpoint. As
a quarterback after practice, you don't just go study film

(02:33):
yourself or go home or whatever it is. You have
to go on the inside facility and keep the lights
on and all those young receivers and young tight ends
and all that. You guys gotta stay. You gotta stay.
You gotta talk through things. You gotta uh run routes

(02:53):
and it doesn't even have to be you go through
your plays. You run routes against air, and you gotta communicate.
That's what leadership looks like. You have to build. Report
isn't built on Sundays. You can't just show up Sunday
and be on the same page. It's not even built
in practice. Why do you think so many quarterbacks, young

(03:16):
and older quarterbacks now get together in the off season
like they plan elaborate trips. Remember the pandemic It hit
in Tom brady first year in Tampa Bay. They were
at a park breaking the law. Remember they were breaking
laws at the park. This is way back when, back

(03:37):
when Tom Brady cared. But anyway, yeah, we'll get to
that later. Go go go right ahead, yep, I remember,
and and and so it's to the point where you
can't continually just berade people. Your body language is atrocious.
You're losing people instead of gaining them. And in leading

(03:57):
them and having them follow you. You're losing people, not
only the in the locker room, but you're losing their
their their trust in your abilities. And and that's that's
that that's something big for an elite quarterback to deal with.
I know how it goes on an NFL Sunday. It's

(04:18):
hard to get to this hour of the day and
feel like you saw it all. Uh. You know, we
got the red zone channel, maybe you found a sports bar,
what have you. But if you miss key plays in
this Green Bay Detroit game, Aaron Rodgers missed touchdown throws. Uh.
And it was subtle, like the ball just needed to
be another couple of feet here or a couple of

(04:39):
feet there. And I know that's a lot to ask
of a quarterback, but but is it though, that's that well,
But that's that's greatness, right, that that is That's what
we've come to know of the great players. It's what
we've come to know of him, and certainly with the
way he carries himself, I would think that that's what
he expects of himself. I remember a quote from Aaron
Rodgers within us year or two, when I step on

(05:01):
the field, I expect greatness. Well, you're not getting it
right now. And what's worse is as soon as the
game is over, my gosh, he can't find the microphone
fast enough to talk about all of the weakness that's
around him instead of ever taking any accountability. And I
will say this, this is one thing that really just matter.
No matter what you do, no matter what you do

(05:22):
for a living, and no matter who you are, one
thing really really matters to me. And I think that
even in a business like this where talent tends to overwhelm,
we know you don't have to be a wonderful person
to succeed in sports. In between the lines that said,
if through the years you start to amass a large

(05:46):
group of people who have worked closely with you, who
are then rooting against you and starting to come to
the microphones themselves, this is what I mean by the
truth always comes. Listen to Greg Jennings talk. He comes
on a lot of Fox platforms and you can hear
it when Greg Jennings talks this dude, Aaron wears people out.

(06:09):
There are two players in the NFL who have shown
themselves to me this year. From two players in the
NFL have shown themselves to be guys who are not
the leaders we knew them to be because yes they
can win, yes they have Super Bowl resumes, and and
yes they are great players, but they left something on
the table when it comes to leadership because when the

(06:32):
chips were down, the people around them did not want
to rally around them and lift them up. They all
wanted to run for the corners of the room and say, oh,
how you like me? Now. That's what's happened to both
Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson. That's what's happened to both
of those guys this year. I think I think you
can add a couple of guys, you know, you know,
another one to that list. Who am I leaving out? Uh?

(06:55):
Tom Brady? Hm. You we're talking about elite quarterbacks and
leadership and you know, solving problems that that comes with
that status. You know what I'm saying. We're not just
talking about guys that complete high percentages of passes and

(07:16):
throw touchdowns. We're talking about the full part. You don't
get to be elite unless you bring everything to the table.
You can be good, you can be really good, but
to get to that status of all time great, I mean,
you look at the top of all time passing, touchdowns, completions.

(07:37):
These guys are still playing, still out there, and and
and and to and and look we are And I
don't even want to say things like father Time is undefeated,
right like you get that all the well, you know
father Time is. It's a whole Nike campaign with Lebron

(07:58):
about him facing Father's time. We get it, we understand that.
But if you commit yourself to come back and play,
I don't want to hear about father Time. I don't
want to hear that. I want to hear you're ready
to play at the level that we've become accustomed to,
because that is how you act. And as an elite quarterback,

(08:20):
you have to be able to solve the problem, whatever
that is. You need to be able to get with
the front office, the coaches, the players and solve the problem.
Not roy your eyes, not talk about having the problem

(08:42):
in the media. I need you to. I need you
to have the answers to the test. That's all. Well,
I agree wholeheartedly, and I would think of it like this.
A quarterback in the NFL is obviously unmatched in terms
of its importance in sports. But beyond the stuff that
we know out on the field just because they have
the ball in their hands on every play. Like if

(09:03):
you go to a baseball team, the best player on
a baseball team does not have this responsibility. Bryce Harper
didn't have this responsibility on the Philadelphia Phillies. Uh, it's
not like that. In the n b A it's a
little bit less defined because it's not solely based on
the position. But with to me an NFL quarterback is
very similar to an NBA one. Okay, a Lebron Janice

(09:27):
A Steph You're an NBA one, which means it's not
only on you to go out there and be the
main reason we win. It is also on you. Every
time anything goes on in that locker room, it's yours. Yours,
your mom, your dad, whatever whatever that role is in

(09:47):
your family, it is yours to handle and and weigh
in on and work on and help fix and all
of that. Like we could talk about the Warriors later
for instance, because they're a total mess. But for example,
for example, when Draymond Green punches Jordan Pool, who held
a press conference, it wasn't Draymond and it was in

(10:09):
Jordan Pool, Steph Curry. Steph Curry held a press conference
so he could talk about something that he had nothing
to do with. You didn't see him sell those people
down the river the way Aaron has essentially sold every
teammate out this year. It's either the receivers don't know
the routes, they're too young, or man, we've got injuries

(10:32):
and we haven't played with the people were supposed to
play with. Which if you're one of the people out
there playing who wasn't supposed to be one of the
people playing, how does that make you feel? And second
of all, how can you even do that In the
NFL and talk about injuries? There's always a team out
there more injured than you, and and and that is
absolutely by data fact, the Packers are not the most

(10:53):
injured team in the NFL this year. So that's what's
bothered me about Aaron this year, maybe even more so
than Tom because Tom's had been his own story and
obviously there's a big personal thing going on there. But
but Aaron does not seem to understand that any problem
with the Packers is your problem, dude, period, You're a problem,

(11:15):
and then everybody else is next three picks, three picks
two of them at the like, I mean literally gold line.
I couldn't even believe it. And he's killing me because
he's one of my quarterbacks with my fantasy But I'm dying.

(11:35):
I'm dying literally. I won the league. Glad you wanted
the leads, I mean I wanted. He is killing me.
I'm dying on on air right now. In fantasy. I'm
on the golf course earlier today with my brother in
law and he I guess he's got Aaron Rodgers and
Derek Carr on his team and he's having one of
those years when he picks the wrong guy every every time.

(11:56):
So right, so he picked Derek Carr last week they
get shut out in there, and so this week we're
on the course at nine am. He's like, well, I'm
going with Rogers today, and so we're driving around in
carts with the red zone on our phone, and every
time Aaron Rodgers is throwing a pick up the gold line, Uh,
wouldn't you know it, my brother in law's duff in
his next shot because he's actually ticked about Aaron Rodgers

(12:17):
instead of focusing on his golf game. I hope he
has been to money man, you you could have made
a lot of money on that golf game today. Man,
Oh my gosh, it's so funny. Um all right, from
the guy who's losing believers to the team that is
officially gaining believers. We're gonna get to that coming up next.
So glad that you're with us live from the tire
rack dot com studios. That is from salam And I'm

(12:40):
Mark Withard and this is Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports
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(13:01):
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(13:24):
You didn't have work last Sunday, though, and I was bumming, man.
I mean, it was fun to be with Aaron Torres
for a night but I'm like, oh, I Fraim has
been here just pumping up these New York football teams,
and oh, wasn't it so convenient that both of them
gotta come up and sweaken and you weren't here, and
I don't know. Now you circle back and here you

(13:46):
are now. The New York Giants didn't play today, but
here come the j E T S Jets, Jets, Jets
yet again. And I'm trying to I'm going to, well,
now I gotta talk to you from again, because I
gotta know what I'm supposed to do with this six
and three football team. You've got a division where the
entire division is over five hundred the whole. We can't

(14:08):
even find an NFC team to be over five the whole.
A f C East is above five hundred. And the
New York Jets are sitting there proudly in second place
at six and three. And it was one thing when
they had had a weird come from behind win over
the Browns, and they beat a Steelers team in quarterback transition.

(14:29):
They beat a Dolphins team when Toa was out, They
beat a Packer team that we now know is not
that good, and they beat a Bronco team that we
now know is not that good. But what do you
say now, a signature win for Robert Sala and the
New York Jets. It's still not pretty. I don't know
if it ever will be. But six and three with

(14:50):
a win over the Bills, I don't know how we
don't take notice now. And it's not just about who
they beat, and um, these teams are good and these
teams are bad. And when you're changing the culture of
a team, and I speak about culture all the time
because it's such an important thing to have when you're

(15:14):
going from being bad to good, that doesn't happen unless
the culture changes, and that's the most important thing for
a coach to do. A new coach comes to a
team that has a history of losing over a decade
or so. So what two thousand and ten was the

(15:36):
last time the day? You know, really, you know, we're
at this point at at six and three, at this
point in the year. So that's that's twelve years. And
it's been coaches, it's been quarterbacks. It's been miss after
miss after miss. And I'm not saying that Zach Wilson

(15:56):
is the quarterback of the future and it's and it
would be there for the next you know, ten years.
But what I'm saying is we're watching the culture change
right before us. Every game is a big game for
the Jets, right, so that's the advantage that they have.

(16:16):
This wasn't necessarily a big game for the Buffalo Bills.
They felt they were the more, more dominant team. And
this is the Jets. We beat the Jets all the time.
This is that this is right. So you come into
a game with the preconceived notion, no matter what the
record is, oh we got we got them, we owned them,

(16:37):
similar to you know, the Green Bay situation in Detroit.
But what happens is when you're changing the culture, which
Robert Sala has been trying to do for the last
three years now, you're able to have a draft where
you win the draft out of any team those players

(16:57):
are playing. I'm glad as you brought the draft up
a from I mean you. I'll tell you what there
are things we get in life that we can let go.
And here's one thing that if I never get it again,
I'll be fine, and that is draft grades. The day
after the draft. If I never get him again, I'm

(17:18):
gonna be just fine. I would like to at least
wait until we watched them play. And has anyone in
recent memory ever had a round like the Jets had
in the first round of this year. Sauce Gardener is
already a star. A star, Okay, he is a star

(17:38):
the fourth overall pick. But oh, by the way, here
comes Garrett Wilson at the tenth pick among the rookie
receiver class. He is he is, I mean, he's standing out.
He is. I mean, there are others who are playing well,
Crystal Lave with the Saints and whatnot, Drake London and
the Falcons is having his moments, but Garrett Wilson is
at minimum right there with him at the number ten

(17:58):
overall pick. And then don't forget they snuck in before
the round was over. Jermaine Johnson, who got a sack
today of Josh of Josh Allen and has been injured
a little bit this year but played very well when
he plays. I mean, this is when we can go
back and look at drafts and the Jets crushed this one,
crusted it. Yeah, and and and that's how you do

(18:20):
it right. You bring in guys that fit what you're
trying to do. As a coach, as an organization, and
now you have younger players coming in and playing at
a high level. And now even older players are looking
at them and filling the energy and understanding the shift
in what's happening. And now these guys believe this win

(18:42):
today is going to do more for the Jets than
any win they have this year, This win today, because
now they're looking like, oh, no, no, no, they're not
better than us. We can compete to hold that team
to seventeen points. This is the Buffalo Bills we're talking about.

(19:08):
I mean, they literally are just it's like a cheat code.
They're the best team, right thirty one points, forty one
point seventeen you feel you know what I mean, Like
it's I know exactly what you mean. I know exactly

(19:30):
what you mean. And and that, by the way, there's
little things too that you're dropping into the minds of
the Buffalo Bills. The Jets are undefeated on the road
this year. They've already played four road games, they've won
them all. There two and one in the division. Do
you know what the Bill's division record is? Just off
the top of your head, Off the top of your head,
Bills division records so far this year, what are they too?

(19:53):
And two and one? Oh, and they've lost both of
their vision games, and they only have a half game
lead over the Jets and the Dolphins. So I'm not
worried about the Bills, but you're dropping a little something
into their drink to just remind them this division is
not automatically yours and and and you're only a half

(20:16):
game up. And we've now got a game in hand,
and the Dolphins have already got a game in hand.
Both of them have winning division records. The Bills haven't
won a division game yet this year. That's huge, Yeah,
that is huge. This look, this is this is when
football gets because when you get to the second half

(20:36):
of the NFL season, and even the college season, but
the NFL season, because this is a clear first half.
In the clear second half, this is weak eate. Normally,
in a sixteen game season, this would be the halfway mark.
That one extra game, we get it, it's still the
halfway mark. What you do is you try to build

(20:57):
a foundation that can continue to be built upon in
the second half. Right now, you're not posturing for draft picks.
Now your goals change. Your goals changed to oh we
can we can do this thing, We can make a

(21:17):
run at this. You think the Jets thought they were
going to be contenders coming into the season. Now, they
may have talked about it in the meeting room and
they had the signs and why not us. You get
all of that stuff, but none of that, None of
that matters until you actually start playing these games. Right now,
at the halfway mark, you can't tell the Jets that

(21:39):
they don't deserve to represent the a f C in
the Super Bowl. Whether that happens or not, I don't know,
but you can't convince that locker room that they don't
deserve to be there. And that is a dangerous locker room.
That's a dangerous mentality. I talked about all the time.
I've been on teams like that. And we woke up

(22:01):
in the Super Bowl. Yep, I mean exactly that. The
Atlanta Falcons, when you played with them, we woke up
in the Super Bowl. That's it. I mean, that's that's
just what it was. We stopped listening to people and
start just believing in us. Well, because you know, the

(22:21):
Minnesota Vikings never missed a field goal all year, and
now I'm in the greatest kicker ever, they scored more
points than anybody in the history of the world. And
like you know, Randy Mass he's unguardable had seven yards
the second half of that game, the NFC Championship game.
What did you do when he missed that kick? What
did you do? This is just take me through that moment?
What I I yelled out loud because then I knew

(22:50):
we had an opportunity and I was on the field
goal team. The kick did Morton Anderson made to send
us to the Super Bowl, and I was on the
outside of the field, which meant that's where the pressure
was coming. So I knew I was about to get
ran over, like I knew I would be at the

(23:10):
bottom of six giant men, and so Ball snapped. I
get just I'm holding up. All you have to do
is just try to hold up. Don't get blown back.
I remember laying underneath the my guys there, guys, and

(23:31):
looking through someone's legs at the upright. I swear to God,
I'll never forget it. And I couldn't celebrate right away
because I was at the bottom of the back. So
instead of a car, it was a Volkswagen was sitting
on on on my on my chest and so I

(23:54):
had to I had to contain myself until everybody got
off and then ran around like a crazy person, you
know what I mean. Like, So that was that that
that's that type of a feeling that the Jets are
working towards, I'm telling you, and I look, I'm not

(24:17):
proclaiming them the best team. I'm just trying to just
enlighten people on the journey that they're on right now.
That's it. Well, yes, they're a factor. They're they're they're
a factor, you know. I mean, I was with a
lot of people today are like, what can you believe?
I mean, the Jets beat the Bills, And it's like
I get it, Like, no, I I can't really believe
that they won the game out right, But it didn't

(24:39):
shock me that it was a game, that this was
a challenge for the Bills. And look, you win six
out of nine games, um at a certain points should
stop shocking you. That they did. They end up with
more points than the other team at the end of
the game. You know, that's what these guys are doing.
And you're pointing to coaching and culture and Damiko Ryan's

(24:59):
the defen of cording to the forty nine is probably
gonna get a job next year because look at what
these forty nine or exodus assistants are doing in that division.
Mike McDaniel and Robert Salah consecutive years going to the
Jets and Dolphins, and they're both six and three and
knocking on the Bill's door. So amazing stuff. Now we're
talking about teams that are at the top. What about

(25:20):
teams a little game if you will, eve from of
why aren't they better? Uh, there are a few teams
I want to run by you. We'll do that coming
up next. But right now, it's Steve Disager time. Let's
find out what's trending out at about and welcome Stephen
for the first time tonight. Hello, my friend, Hello to
you both. In the NFL Sunday Night game is underway
with Kansas City five and two hosting Tennessee five and two,

(25:41):
but Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, with his bad ankle, is
out again, even though he did travel with the team.
Chiefs have the ball first. They're working on a twelve
play drive. They've driven down inside the Tennessee red zone.
Patrick Mahomes seven of ten passing fifty three yards. He
also has a sixteen yard scramble, so the Chiefs driving
that had a second and goal coming up mid first

(26:02):
quarter already, and this game is scoreless. Tampa Bay stole
one at home from the ram sixteen thirteen on a
late touchdown passed. Tom Brady finished thirty six forty eight
through the air fifty eight attempts and he had two
hundred eighty yards passing the game winning one yard TV,
So that's a w. Seattle want at Arizona thirty one

(26:22):
to twenty one. James Conner back from his rib injury
for the Cards, seven carries forty five yards. Meanwhile, the
rookie for Seattle, Kenneth Walker, a hundred nine yards rushing
and two scores. Jets did beat Buffalo seventeen, and it
was the Chargers twenty to seventeen winners at Atlanta on
a field goal on the final play. By the way,
Cord Darrell Patterson is back for the Falcons. He missed

(26:43):
the last month with a knee injury. Had two touchdown
runs today. Detroit beat Green Bay fifteen to nine Aaron
Rodgers one touchdown, three interceptions. Miami won its game at
Chicago thirty five thirty two in the lost justin fields.
The quarterback had fifteen carries, a hundred seventy eight yards
rushing and a score. Cincinnati, Well, it was Joe Mixon's day,

(27:04):
forty two to twenty one the final over Carolina, mixing
four touchdown runs and a TV receptions, two carries a
hundred fifty three yards for mixing. New England beat Indianapolis
to three. Colts running back Jonathan Taylor was out with
a bad ankle, so Dion Jackson had eleven carries just
twenty three yards on the ground. Two other games today

(27:25):
was Minnesota on the late field goal, winning at Washington
twenty to seventeen. Jacksonville came back to beat Las Vegas
twenty Travis etn twenty eight carries, a hundred nine yards
and two touchdowns. By the way, the Chiefs have just
settled for a short field goal of twenty three yarder
from Harrison Bucker. So it's a three nothing leaded home
against the Titans, who are about to get the ball first. Finally,

(27:47):
we're under seven minutes to go in the first quarter.
Georgia is a near unanimous number one in the New
College Football polls. The New Playoff Committee rankings come out Tuesday.
But in ap Georgia received sixty two of the sixty
three first place vote. In the coaches poll, Georgia got
sixty one of the sixty three Ohio state In Michigan
are numbers two and three. Joey Logano one NASCAR season

(28:08):
Championship taking today's finale at Phoenix. And among the four
NBA games, we've got the Clippers hosting Utah in an
hour and a half. And in that same building the
Lakers played and I put played in quotes. This afternoon,
Lakers are two and seven. They lost at home to Cleveland. Sorry,
they led by twelve in the first half. Be positive

(28:29):
thing that Cleveland wins by fourteen to one hundred. The
Calves have won eight in a row and beat Lebron today.
Lebron James had twenty seven points in the loss. He
had missed sixteen straight three point attempts this week until today.
Donovan Mitchell, now at the Calves, had thirty three points
in victory. Back to you that half team series, man,

(28:51):
oh Man. Yeah, eight and one. Now that trade looking
real good for them. There seemed to be ahead of schedule.
I do have a compliment that I want to give Lebron,
but we'll that for a little bit later on in
the show. From by the way, before we completely finished
our conversation about excuse me about the Jets. Uh, you
know we're sitting there looking at this unbelievable first round.
They had almost left out the fact that the fourth

(29:14):
pick of the second round was Breece Hall. Uh and
I know, I know he's now going for the year. Unfortunately,
that that guy was going to be and was had
already established himself as another young star. That's four of
the first thirty six picks of this draft, and it
looked like home run, triple, double home run for the

(29:36):
Jets in those first four picks. Yes, Uh, it's it's
literally like we did the work, all right. They didn't
waste any picks. They knew what they wanted to do,
they knew the areas they wanted to attack, and they
did that right. They didn't go all crazy, let's get

(29:59):
another court back in. Let's I mean, you could have
won any They could have just panicked like a lot
of teams do. And they didn't. They did not panic.
They got better defensively, they got more offensive weapons and
and and they've just it's paying dividends, and you know,

(30:21):
the sign of a good team when young players, multiple
young players can come in and contribute. That means the
development offseason, training camp, preseason, and during the year. The
development is where it's at. And that's your that's your
position coaches, that's your coordinators. That's how you you know

(30:45):
a staff is doing what they're supposed to do. So
good with the way they have played at six and
three now and among the more surprising teams the NFL.
Next to the New York Giants, the Seattle Seahawks, who
lost again but wanted to hit a couple of teams
that are on the other side of this conversation you
certainly because of where we started today with Aaron Rodgers,

(31:06):
we've kind of had the Packers conversation already, but a
couple more teams e from I want to run by
you and play a quick game, or why aren't they better?
Let's start with this one. Davante Adams was quoted today
after the loss in Jacksonville, there's no way that we
should be losing like this. The Raiders were up seventeen
to nothing against Jacksonville, ended up losing the game seven

(31:28):
to twenty uh and for the Jacks. I think snapping
a six game losing streak in the process. What's going
on there? Why aren't the Raiders better? You gotta get
pressure on quarterbacks. They had zero sex today. They allowed
Trevor Lawrence to told of all thirty one times no sex,
and they can't stop to run. You have to do

(31:50):
one of the other. Okay, And I love Mason Crosby,
he's tremendously all of that great stuff. You have to
be able to do one of the others. You can't
give up a hundred and sixty eight yards rushing and
another two thirty five in the air with no sacks.

(32:14):
So now you're you're just allowing the other team, in
this case the Jaguars, to dictate what they want to
do in the game. And look, Vegas came out on fire.
They were clicking. Second half, Goose said nothing and you

(32:35):
gotta be able to sustain. That's two halves. Shout out
to Jacksonville from making the adjustments they needed, scoring seventeen
points in the second half and winning that game for
the Raiders. Got a lot of talent Darren. Not having
Darren Waller available is hurting him a little bit. But
you can run the ball all right, Josh Jacobs. When

(32:58):
he's given the ball, he's a road grader. You gotta
run it more, and you gotta put your team and
and and in the in the right position to win.
It's crazy to me how much talent the Raiders have.
And then you're looking you're looking at their record and

(33:19):
you're like, how how is this even possible? Means today,
yes he did. They were nuts, ten balls, hunter yards.
He saved me today. He saved me. He's on my
fantasy for I have him as well, So he saved me.

(33:42):
You know, Other than that, I would have been like,
oh God. But when you allow a team to win
the time of possession that's dominating on the ground and
and you don't put pressure on the quarterback, it's hard
to win in this two and six Now for the

(34:03):
Las Vegas Raiders. Two more teams I want to throw
at you over in the NFC that are in the
same division. One of them incredibly high profile, will do that.
Coming up next, it is Fox Sports Sunday. That's Eat
from Salam. I'm Mark Willard on Fox Sports Radio. Okay,
it's Mark Willardy from Salam. It's the Fox Sports Radio
and Fox Sports Sunday. Don't forget the tailgate presented by

(34:26):
the Big Green Egg. Nothing beats the flavor of live
fire cooking on a Big Green Egg, the most versatile
grill you'll ever own, backed by a lifetime warranty roll
with the best shop online for free delivery at Big
green egg dot com. Lifetime warranty, free home delivery, Big
green egg dot Com. I'll ask it to you this
way from because I think what's wrong with the Los

(34:47):
Angeles Rams is rather obvious. Uh, They've had a ton
of turnover on the offensive line and then more injuries
there as well, So they can't run the ball and
they don't have time to throw the ball, and they're
completely out of sync. And their defense is fine, but
it's not like overwhelmingly great Emmin donald Is is just fantastic,

(35:08):
but you know you you can avoid him in certain
spots if you're the offense on the other end. And
so here they are at three and five. Do you
look at what's happening to them though, and specifically say,
this is them now paying up for all the draft
capital that they gave up to go after the big

(35:28):
name after big name and pay it felt like they
had no salary cap. No one could figure out what
was going on. It was just like pay them, pay
and pay and pay them. Is that what this is? Is
Is that? What? That's what's happening right now? Eventually you're
going to have to pay the price. When you pay
the price, you understand what I mean by that. Eventually

(35:51):
it's going to catch up with you, right you. They
went all in last year and it worked. They won.
They gave up the draft capital, gave up everything, They
won a super Bowl. It was a success. What comes
after it wasn't sustainable. We know that it wasn't sustainable.

(36:13):
So what this is the aftermath of that? Now? They're
still talented enough to to be better than three and five.
But let me break it down for you. Cooper Cup
got eight receptions today, Alan Robinson got three. Nobody got

(36:36):
more than one after that. So between two guys, that's
eleven receptions. That's not gonna work, especially when you're only
running the ball twenty four times for sixty eight yards.
That's two point hey, that's two point eight yards to carry. Look,
football isn't isn't hard, man, It's just numbers. It's just math.

(37:00):
You have three plays, four and well you have four plays.
Now in today's NFL, you have four players to get
ten yards. That's it. It's as simple as that. If
you're handing the ball off and you're getting two point
eight yards to carry, that's not gonna get you where
you need to go. If you're only you're you're throwing

(37:25):
the ball and you're only getting six point one yards
per completion, that that's that's difficult to do. So you
have both sides of the passing and the running game.
Heavily relied on Cooper Cup because he got three carries. Also,

(37:47):
so you have one guy and I get it, Triple
Crown winner. He's the you know, nobody has had a
season like that since ever, you know, Jerry our Megatron.
But you're in a position where people are gonna let
Cooper Cup eat because nobody else is feasting, right, And

(38:09):
it's easy to prepare for a team when they allot
they're just gonna don't let Cooper get his touches, don't
let him do his thing. Nobody else is involved, and
that's the problem. You can't consistently keep lining up hoping
Matthew Stafford and Cooper Cup are going to save you

(38:32):
them not being able to run the ball. I mean,
could you imagine if Christin McCaffrey, if they had, if
they just think about it, they had any type of
capital that an't exact a capital to get Christie McCaffrey
completely changed this whole time. We saw what they just

(38:53):
saw it last week. I was I wasn't. I wasn't
here with you because was my my my father in
law's birthday. He's a Diehart Niner fan, and I took
him to the game, beautiful seats right right there, and
we just watched Christian McCaffrey go bonkers. Right. Imagine if

(39:16):
the Ramps were able to acquire Christians, it would have
solved so many of their issues. It would have added
another element in dynamic to their offense well, and it
solved the problems for the other team in the division instead.
And I wonder though, if they're next based on what
you're saying, when you give all the capital up, when

(39:36):
are you gonna have to pay the piper? And obviously
the forty Niners have suddenly become aggressive in giving up
their draft capital as well. Trey Lance, Christian McCaffrey, What
what happened? What what did Malcolm X say? Your chickens
will come home to Ruth. Yes, you know what I mean. Like,

(39:58):
you can only dodge it for so much for so long, man,
Eventually you're gonna have to pay the fee. Um Arizona
Cardinals are on this list as well. We got a
few more teams to get to and we will. But
also coming up next, I mentioned that it was time
to give a compliment to Lebron James. We will and

(40:19):
pretty much no other player in the NBA gets this compliment.
We'll explain next. Yeah, and just like the Kansas City Chiefs,
we are running up and down the field because that
is what we do every single Sunday night right here
on all of these Fox Sports radio platforms with e
from salam Mark Willard broadcasting live from the ti iraq

(40:39):
dot com studios. Tirac dot com will help you get there.
And I'm Matt Selection fast free shipping, free road hazard
protection and over ten thousand recommended installers ti iraq dot
com the way tire buying should be. Uh, you know
we were talking off the off the jump there from
about Aaron Rodgers and how the truth always comes out
and how things will catch up to you and I

(41:02):
really I do really believe this about life. When you
put yourself out there on a certain journey or on
a crusade or whatever, you will be challenged with something
that's sort of in the same sphere that maybe isn't
your passion to see if you'll call you kind of
hold up your end of the bargain in another way.

(41:22):
And I know that that can be a little fuzzy,
so let me let me explain exactly what I mean.
NBA players have been at the forefront of many, many
social causes, and many of them have been about race
and ethnicity and treatment and all of that. Starting I
really believe they first started to find their voice in

(41:42):
a wonderful way when the Donald Sterling stuff was going
down with the Los Angeles Clippers, right, And so that's
been I think, a great thing for the sport. It's
been a great thing for society. I love how the
players in many ways started to realize the voice that
they have, the platform that they had. But now you
get to a situation where it is not exactly the

(42:04):
same cause, and many of the same players have just
sort of been like, well, wait a minute, can't we
just can't we just move on and play basketball because
this didn't really fit what we wanted to talk about,
and it's kind of an inconvenience when Kyrie Irving goes
out and starts to put something and promote something on
his platform that is anti Semitic. I it was very

(42:27):
I'm very curious to hear what you had to say,
but it was very important for me tonight with the
platform that we have to complement Lebron James, who a
took his episode that was featuring Kanye West on the
Shop and did not air it, and he said he
took it completely out of the archives, and then specific

(42:49):
to what happened with Kyrie Irving over the last few weeks,
had this quote. I can't speak for four D fifty players,
but I don't condone hate to any kind, to any ray,
to Jewish communities, Black communities, to Asian communities. You guys
know where I stand. He caused some harm, and I
think it's unfortunate. I don't stand on the position to

(43:11):
harm people when it comes to your voice or your
platform or anything. So it doesn't matter what color your
skin is, how tall you are, what position you're in,
if you are promoting or soliciting or saying harmful things
to any community that harms people, then I don't respect
it and I don't condone it. That was about as
firm of a stance as any NBA player took. And

(43:33):
I thought it was the only stance that felt like
it didn't come off as somewhat hypocritical to be honest
with you. Yeah, Look, with the whole Kyrie thing Kyrie
has had, Um, this is not the first time people

(43:54):
have felt a certain way about something Kyrie has said
or done. Sure. Um, So it was like the world
had ended or something. You have to really take in
it too to account. And the source, you know, he

(44:16):
liked this movie. When I was promoting this movie on
this platform, Uh that has some uh anti Semitic views
or our language. I haven't seen the movie, so I
don't know. And and then when he was asked about it,
he was cryptic, you know, and and and just elusive,

(44:37):
like Kyrie can be right, like we this is this
is Kyrie, this is we know this. And and so
you know, people lashed out at NBA stepped up and
and and suspended them and find them and and a
lot of people you know, will come out. Look, in
a world so divided, with so much divisiveness. The political

(45:03):
climate in this country is atrocious. Right. We got elections
coming up in a couple of days. And it's just
if you just watch TV and then adds the salacious
and the I mean, it's just it's it makes you
almost feel dirty. This is the current climate we're in.
When it comes to, you know, speaking up about one

(45:26):
being on one side of defense, what should never be
an issue is being racially religiously gender inappropriate. Yep, right.

(45:49):
I I'm trying to raise my two sons. Like we
we celebrate Chris Mahana Quantica. I'm Muslim. I didn't grow
with Christmas. I didn't go for you. You can see
what I'm saying. Like, I want to speak more about
me than on Kyrie, Right, Like I grew up Muslim,
I'm Muslim. I have never celebrated Christmas, like no Santa

(46:12):
Claus and no stockings. Right. We celebrated Kwanza, which isn't
which is an African custom uh to build unity, education, community,
all all of those things. My wife grew up celebrating
Christmas big part of her life. Neither one of us

(46:33):
are Jewish, but we recognize all of these holidays coincide
with each other Hanakah. So we celebrate Chris Mahana Kuantica.
We educate our children on every single one of these holidays, right,
and we have the Minora, we have the Christmas tree,

(46:57):
we have like we we did. We do this because
we're trying to raise individuals to be less judgmental and
more encompassing of what the world truly represents. There is
no just one way. And so if you if you're
not focused on that as a parent and as a

(47:18):
grown up as an adult, then you're doing it wrong.
You're doing it wrong. And that's where I stand on it,
right I I look, hey, man, people have enough issues
that they're dealing with themselves. I don't have enough time

(47:38):
to hate something. I really don't, you know what I'm saying.
I'm trying to make it every day. Brother, It's so
much easier to just right. It takes energy. It feels
like too much energy to be mean and to hold
all of that in. Yes, right, I congratulated there. They're

(48:02):
they're extremists in every single religious sect that's ever been
They're they're extremists that may not speak to the true
core of of of of whatever religion you choose to
be or choose to follow. But that's where education comes in.

(48:23):
We are at a time where we can educate ourselves
because literally we walk around with a computer and are like,
you can do the reson, you can find anything you
want old scripture, Like it's certain things that people just

(48:45):
believe without doing any reason. I'm just gonna believe it,
you know, right, Like that's what I was mom, and right,
if mom and Dad tell you something, you believe that.
That's what I was told. Right. And when I got older,
I was able to, you know, really look at I
was very conscious. I would look at you know, you know,
my beliefs and myself and being a Muslim helping me

(49:07):
raise raised me to be the person I am today
with respect and love and and and and honor and
in my marriage with as a dad uh and the
discipline it takes to be that person. And so wherever
you wherever you sit in this country, in this world,
in life and your spirituality and your faith and your

(49:30):
belief that is something that you can speak to now.
I mean that always coincide with what others think. But
that's what we need to do. More listening, less talking,
less yelling, more listening and that's where I stand. I
think that is incredibly well said. Um. There are two
aspects of this um. With regard to sort of the

(49:52):
way it was handled, I think you just sort of
cleaned up one of them very very nicely. The other one, though,
is simply about platform and and what does it mean.
I always whenever this comes up, I think back to
that famous old commercial that Charles Barkley did. I think
it was for a deodorant or something like that, right

(50:12):
where he was like on a horse and he's like,
I am not a role model. And I always thought
to myself, Huh, you don't get to choose. Actually, you
don't get to tell other people who looks up to you.
You simply get to choose who you look up to,
which I think you did a very good job of
just explaining in your own life. But Charles Barkley can

(50:33):
say I'm not a role model. That's not gonna stop
kids from having his poster on their wall. The same thing, right, So,
same thing when Kyrie says, well, I just put it
on a platform, you know, I put a lot of
stuff on a platform, and then take it to his
teammate Kevin Durant, And I feel bad for k D
in a way because we know k D every time. Plus,

(50:58):
he really just wants to ball. That's all he wants
to do. That's the way k D is built. He
doesn't want to get into anybody's anything. He just wants
to play hoop. He don't want to do anything else
in his life. He doesn't want video games, he doesn't
want side businesses. He wants the ball to go in

(51:19):
the basket. That's it. And then he ends up with
this and he and and and a quote which doesn't
really sound great, and then he had to sort of
come back around and explain it. Here's the original quote.
I ain't here to judge nobody, talk down to nobody
for how they feel or view or anything. I just
didn't like anything that went on. I feel like it

(51:40):
was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just
kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization. I
just don't like none of it. Well not actually, no,
k D. You can't just bury your head in the sand,
especially as a Brooklyn Nets organization that's been doing that
by the way for two years. You can't just bear
your head in the sand and go, well, that's just

(52:01):
let's just hide and if nobody notices ni Kyrie Irving
is promoting anti Semitic UH products, Let's just go away
for a couple of weeks and then we'll come back
and play basketball and then it'll be fine. You don't
get to do that. And so I'm glad that the
NETS organization finally showed a spine, But I feel bad

(52:21):
also for NBA players who are having to speak to this,
even though it's not not their jam. But but I
thought that show the bottom line is similar to what
you and I are doing. Right, If you have any
sort of a platform, and even if you don't, what
you put on there is your responsibility. And if you're
coming out of college in the next few years and

(52:43):
you end up in a job interview and they know
what's on your social media, don't be surprised. Here's the fact, Jack,
you're responsible for what you put on your dang platforms. Period.
You're absolutely right. And look, I will say this, I
want all of that, especially with Kanye and all of that.
The thing with the whole Kanye situation and when he

(53:06):
came out and went crazy, but he's been he's been,
you know, derogatory towards towards his own people for a
long time. You know some of the things he says,
I need the same energy from companies and all of that.
When he's speaking about black people the way he was
speaking about you know, Jewish people or white people, are

(53:27):
anybody else? All right, let's not let it get to
Oh now he's talking about us. Now, we gotta take
everything away. You see what I'm saying there. There's a
double standard that's happening right now. And so if we're
if we're gonna keep that energy and hold people accountable
for what they say, then let's hold him accountable for
what they say. You feel me, that's as real as

(53:52):
I can get. Let's hold him accountable for what they say.
Accountability is uh, maybe the number one word in our
world right now. Period. Football fans, be sure to tune
into Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff presented by Bet
MGM on Sunday morning. That's three hours before kickoff on

(54:14):
Sunday mornings. Tune in Sunday morning, ten a m Eastern.
We'll take you live all the way to Kickoff on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app presented
by Bet mgm. Alright, we keep on rolling, it's he
from salam Mark Willard and coming up next, one NFL
team that outed itself over the last eight days with

(54:35):
the head scratching move of the year. That's coming up
on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go again, Hey,
from here we go again. It comes Patrick Mahomes completing
three quarters of his passes fifte buck sixty one and
a touchdown note pics. Yet the Titans have a fourteen

(54:56):
to nine lead and they've completed three passes. When you
got a guy like Derrick Henry, my god, you lean
into it and and look, a lot of people. I
picked Tennessee. I mean I had to with the points.
It's like and a half comes big. That's huge. It's

(55:19):
a lot of points in the NFL. But but the
thing that Malik Willis gives you that uh Tannehill doesn't
is that threat of the read option. And when you
have a linebacker a lot I mean, excuse me exactly,
a linebacker, a running back like a Derrick Henry, and

(55:41):
a mobile quarterback and a Molick Willis, right, you have
eleven Russias for fifteen hundred and fifteen yards between two
of them, and that's just a different look. Kansas City
is not prepared for that look, and that's you can
sneak up on the team. Now, will this continue with

(56:02):
them make adjustments to halftime. I don't know, but right
now they can't stop to run. They haven't been able
to stop running all year. So this is a team
that is run heavy. They won last week last week
running the ball. I feel like Rabel and the Tennessee Titans.
Every year, you're just watching the a f C coming

(56:24):
together and you're like, yeah, you know those Chiefs, the Bills,
somebody's coming out of the north right. You're like, the
Ravens are solid, the Steelers used to be the Bengals. Now, Okay,
I get the a f C and you get to
the end of the year and it's Christmas and you're like,
how the what the hell is going on? Yeah, like,
I have not even thought of them all year? Why

(56:46):
are the Titans hosting playoff games? Kill happens every year?
Killed the whole league. No one knew, no one, no
one knew. Nobody even talks about the time. They just
like it's cool. Man. Remember Derek Harry miss four weeks
last week last year, right, right, four weeks they're five
and two. They've got a let's see, quick math, quick math,
two and a half game lead in their division, and

(57:09):
they're ahead of the Chiefs right now. It might be
a three game lead in the division in a couple hours,
and no one has even thought of them. They could
be six and two and and part of the reason
you can go ahead and uh, I don't know, maybe
you can use ink already and say that the Titans
will be hosting at least one playoff game come January.

(57:30):
We got a long way to go. Well, here's the
thing though, part of the reason you could do that,
if you want to use pencil, fine, maybe of those
racer mates, okay, do those I don't even know. Those
things did not work, man, I'm like, yeah, exactly, don't worry.

(57:52):
I I date myself worse than that all the time.
I made a Ginger or Mary Anne reference on the
radio exact. So anyway, Um, the Indianapolis Colts are in
second place, and I can't tell if they're tanking. They
are three five and one. Two weeks ago they were

(58:14):
three three and one. They benched Matt Ryan. Part of
it was that he was hurt, but they were like,
he's hurt, but he's also not coming red they'll be
healthy in eight days and you're never going to see
him again, even though we mortgage the next three years
for him. We're gonna go with Sam Ellinger and and

(58:34):
I don't know about you eat from my my first
thought was, oh, they well, they must see something in practice,
because they also got Nick Foles on that team, So
there is a veteran option if you are thinking, hey,
we're three and one and we could you know what
I mean, like we could make the playoffs in this
division because it's kind of a weak division. The Jackson

(58:54):
Texans are in it, so we could do it. And
they were like, no, no, no, Sam Ellinger and I went, oh,
Sam must be doing some things in practice the pre special,
all right, and then he came out and played two
weeks of football. It's like, what the hell are they doing?
What are they doing? I've never seen a team tank
from the five record before, but it feels like that's

(59:15):
what they're doing right now. Yeah. It just it doesn't
feel like, um, they have an answer, right it's watching
the Colts play. Um, it just makes you mad, right, No,
Jonathan Taylor, It's it's not it's not fun to do

(59:42):
it really isn't and and New England is not like
they're not they're five and two, the night World beaters.
But once again, they're just with no offensive coordinator. They're
just plugging along exactly. The problem is they're in a
division where it just it might not be enough, right,

(01:00:04):
it just might not be enough because Buffalo and the
Jets Miami, I mean, they're they're they're all. They're all good, man,
there really are. It's like the NFC. The NFC bes right,
they're all good. The two, three, four, five, six, seven,

(01:00:27):
eight nine. Sorry, I'm counting up a FC teams for
the winning record. They've got nine. The NFC is taking
job applications for playoff spots right now, and the an
FC has got nine teams with a winning record, including
one division that is entirely on that side of the fence,
the whole division. You got teams. You've got the NFC South.

(01:00:51):
The Buccaneers are in first place at four and five.
So you've got a division in the NFC where everybody's
got a losing record, and division in the a f
C where everybody's got a winning record. I mean, those
ANFC playoffs are going to be a problem from the
second they start like, there's not gonna be an easy
game for anybody. Look, man, this this is a this

(01:01:17):
is a good year where we got a lot of parody.
Teams that we thought would be better are not. Teams
that we thought were pushovers are not. All of this
all makes for a terrific route to the to the

(01:01:38):
second half of the season. I'm excited about it. Right,
What will these teams like the Rams and the Buccaneers
and the Green Bay Packers, will they be able to
stop from stumbling? Or is it the you know, is
it time for the new the Philadelphias and the Giants

(01:01:59):
and the Jet right? Is it time for the user
in teams that don't have elite quarterbacks and dynamic signal callers.
It's I mean, I'm telling you, yeah, it is. It's
like Mahomes and Allen and then a bunch of people
that are sort of doing it a different way because

(01:02:19):
Stafford and Rogers and Brady and uh, I mean, I
could you know, Russell Wilson. These guys are all cruising
around with bad records and teams that don't They do
not look scary at all, and not even just bad records,
They're just playing awful football. It's hard to awful football right.

(01:02:40):
Oh my gosh, I'm no. We were begging. It's like
he was on national TV the first four weeks in
a row and people were writing petitions radio. So one
of the a f C teams that does have a
winning record and supposedly the next big thing at the
the quarterback position just got established as almost a touchdown

(01:03:05):
underdog next week? So are they really? Are they fake?
We'll get into that team coming up next, but it's
time for Steve to say to get in here with
what is trending in the middle of Sunday night football
and more. Hello Steve, Hello, and in the wide world
of sports is going on in this Sunday night game.
Titans lead late first half. Guys, I cannot over emphasize
how dominant the Chiefs were in this game the first

(01:03:27):
quarter plus, but they were only up nine nothing at
the time. Tennessee has come back with back to back
touchdown drives, back to back touchdown runs by Derrick Henry.
He has nine carries ninety two yards and the two
scores about three minutes left in the second quarter, Titans
fourteen to nine. Now, when Tennessee was down nine nothing,
the Titans offense had one first down at the time.

(01:03:49):
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill is out again with the bad ankle.
Malik Willis with eighty two yards passing in the first
half again, Derrick Henry with nine two yards on the ground.
Patrick Mahomes a hunt sixty one yards passing in the
first half and a score, but to open the game,
the Chiefs did have a fifteen play drive and settled
for a short field goal, and then when Mahomes did

(01:04:10):
throw his touchdown pass to start the second quarter, the
extra point kick was missed, so Titans lead fourteen nine
and had the ball under three minutes to go in
the first half. Tampa Bay stole one from the ram
sixteen thirteen on a late touchdown pass. Tom Brady. By
the way, at one point in this game here at age,
he became the first in NFL history to throw for

(01:04:31):
a hundred thousand yards regular season and postseason combined. That's
all Seattle want. It's at Arizona thirty one twenty one.
Kenneth Walker, the rookie running back from Michigan State, a
hundred nine yards rushing in two scores, Minnesota one on
a late field goal to seventeen at Washington. Chargers won
seventeen in Atlanta on a field goal final play and

(01:04:53):
the Jet Speed Buffalow seventeen. I hear a fantasy manager
in the background after that incomplete newing in Cincinnati, I
used to sit next to a guy in the press
bucks where he would do because you can't hear in
the press bucks. He would always have a thing he
called the fantasy clap where instead of clapping his hands together,

(01:05:16):
literally just both index fingers together clapping. It made no
sound whatever, but at least it got it out of
his system. Ought to buy This week, by the way,
plenty of teams, including San Francisco and next Sunday night,
the forty Niners will be hosting the Chargers. Baltimore tight
end Mark Andrews had been listed as doubtful for the
Monday night game at New Orleans shoulder injury. He is

(01:05:38):
now officially out and not traveling to that game, and
for New Orleans, defensive back Marshawn Lattimore out with an
abdominal injury. Georgia a year near New Yorn animous number
one in the college football polls. New Playoff Committee rankings
come out Tuesday. Ohio State in Michigan are numbers two
and three in the polls, with TCU up to number four.
Tennessee fell the number five, and from the Pact twelve Conference,

(01:06:01):
Oregon it's number six, USC number eight, U c l
A number nine, Utah's number thirteen, and Washington is backing
at number twenty four. Joey Logano won the NASCAR Season
Championship today, taking the finale at Phoenix. Updating at fourth
down coming up for the Titans and they lead at
Kansas City, which just over two minutes left first half,
fourteen nine. Back to you, great stuff, Steve, and uh

(01:06:24):
may may just slightly. Your statement that you're not allowed
to cheer in the press box, you're not supposed to cheat.
That is correct in the in the press box. You
and I have covered college football plenty, and you know
that people in college football are just well it's bananas. Yes,
if you've ever covered a road game, for instance at

(01:06:45):
Notre Dame, oh yes, there is cheering in the press box.
Just go to South Bend and there's plenty of it. However,
I don't want to be a hypocrite like I'm now
at a point in my career where I can go
ahead and admit this, Steve, and I've known you this long.
Friends stints where when I worked in l A, I
didn't hide it, but let's just say didn't broadcast where

(01:07:05):
I was from originally and where my allegiances were with
regard to my favorite sports teams. And uh, there were
there were a few games a few years in fact,
where the Giants and Dodgers were very very close in
the standings late in the season Barry Bonds Giants, Yes,
very close late in the season, and I would be

(01:07:27):
there in Dodger Stadium in the press box every night,
and I just learned. I learned sometimes how to lift
the top of my shirt over my mouth at the
right time and make it look like maybe I was
just kind of clearing my throat or whatever. And it
was my way of just being like, like if I
had to let out a little something going on, because

(01:07:48):
it couldn't do that in the press press box. Uh.
My my favorite moment that came out of this After
a particularly close and stressful Giants Dodgers game, I happened
to be the first reporter into four er Dodger managers
Jim Tracy's office, and the Dodgers had won a close
game and I was warned the heck out because of it.

(01:08:09):
And the door opens and he catches my eye first
and he gives me one of those like Rye grin headshakes,
like phew, we got away with one, didn't we there?
And I couldn't describe the feeling that went through my
body of like, Jim, you're the nicest man alive. You
have no idea. With every fiber of my being, I

(01:08:30):
was rooting against you out there. I'm here to work,
I'm not here to run for you. But but but yes,
can I get a comment on the on the game tonight? Uh? Skip?
And then of course, as Jim Tracy was wanting to do,
he will repeat your name while answering the question, and
therefore you editing all night. I was at an Angel's

(01:08:51):
fresh box once where two guys from the local Spanish
language station got just daytime day credentials, not season, just
for that day because one Gonzalez was gonna win the
home run title and when he hit it out, they
cheered in the press books and immediately a guy from
Angels PR pointed at the two of them individually and

(01:09:11):
without saying a thing, gave them the thumb and they
were out of the press box. But that person with
angels pr is not in jail now, is he checking?
It was before checking? Okay. There was one USC football
game I covered where the two people they sat next
to me were Nebraska boosters visiting for the game in

(01:09:32):
the press books. So what are we doing here? Joke
from when you're down on that field. Man, it's funny.
Sometimes you got no idea what's going on? You don't
like it's so funny. There was a former SC lineman.
He graduated and then he wanted to kind of get
into broadcasting. And the first time the very next year,

(01:09:52):
he comes out outside the stadium at USC and there's
a thousand tailgates and there's food and music and people
are just going not seven hours before the game. He goes,
I had no idea any of this ever happened. Like
he's like, had no clue what the how you all
were doing while we were in our heads against each

(01:10:13):
other for the whole trojan walk that they do now
between the tailgators to get into the stadium. But yesterday,
and I'm glad you brought that up. This is why
yesterday they had the afternoon MLS championship game next door
at the L A f C Soccer Stadium next to
the Coliseum. USC had homecoming last night. All of the
parking was taken for USC because they didn't know the

(01:10:35):
soccer game was going to happen until they won the
semi final the previous weekend, so literally nobody in a
sold out event that Fox carried good park down there.
So what they did was you could park at Dodger
Stadium five six miles away and shuttle to the soccer
game yesterday and then it went overtime and penalty kicks
and everybody was tailgating at USC when thousand people were

(01:10:57):
coming out of the soccer stadium after it is anybody
home yet? Have you talked to any of these people?
Make it? I'm cassing just about you. Did you have
like a like a realization moment where you're like, I
didn't know what the hell was going I was playing,
I didn't know what without you're carrying on like fools.

(01:11:20):
The whole like kilgating thing was. I mean, when people
get to the stadium, I'd like to get there around
three and a half, almost four hours before the game.
People got to the stadium like four hours before that,
and I'm like the day before, I'm like, what is

(01:11:41):
happening here? Right? Why? But people make it it's an
e fit. I mean, he's so expensive to get in
these games, you might as well get it all in
if you're parking and getting into a game that This
is what used to be the problem for the Chargers
in San Diego. People would pay for one parking space
and take up two or three because they'd be there

(01:12:01):
all day. I mean set up a grill in the
whole thing. TV's out there. They had all kinds this
inflatable pools. I'm like, what is what are y'all doing? Guys,
Juffy houses. That's funny, that's true though. Yeah, I'm lying
bigger and I'm and this is coming from someone who

(01:12:21):
and this is life goal here. I still have never
been to an SEC football game. So I'm sitting here
talking about this and there's another level that I don't
even know about. Oh my gosh, uh crazy, all right,
it's live from the tire Rock dot Com studios. Uh yeah,
They've got a winning record and supposedly one of the
quarterback in grades. Yet there a touchdown underdog coming up

(01:12:44):
already next weekend we'll tell you we're talking about gett
into It. Coming up next with you from Salam Mark
Wellard on Fox Sports Radio. That's it from Salam. I'm
Mark Willard. It's Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday on
a Big Sunday night, bringing Week nine in the NFL
to a close and a reminder of the Fox Sports
Radio tailgate presented by the Big Green Egg. Nothing beats

(01:13:06):
the flavor of live fire cooking on a Big Green Egg.
It is the most versatile grill you'll ever own. Back
by a lifetime warranty roll with the best shop online
for free delivery at Big green egg dot com. Lifetime warranty,
free home Delivery, Big green egg dot com. Hey, how
would you answer this question? Have we made too big
of a deal about Justin Herbert um In in terms

(01:13:32):
of what? What? Have we crowned him too early? Have we? Have?
We put him on a list where he doesn't belong
as of yet? I know, you know, not only coming
into this year did I hear his name alongside Mahomes
and and Alan a lot? And I know what, Look,

(01:13:54):
Alan has never won a Super Bowl either, But I
think we put them on that list more in terms
of raw talent than in terms of accomplishment. But I
wonder and even in that a f C West, you
and I talked about this, right like the a f C. West.
Oh my gosh, here we go. You know it's gonna
be Wilson and Herbert and Mahomes and even Derek Carr

(01:14:16):
now with Davante Adams. Did we get that conversation with
Herbert going too early in your opinion? Well, I don't
think so. I mean, you look at his numbers from
uh last season, he threw for five thousand yards UM,
thirty eight touchdowns and interceptions are a little bit high
for for for me, his rookie year he threw forty

(01:14:40):
three hundred yards and thirty one touchdowns. So I think
he has the most three hundred plush yards games in
the first three years of his career in any other
quarterback in NFL history. So when you started talking about
do we give him something that he doesn't deserve yet
we're talking purely, purely on his abilities, then absolutely not.

(01:15:03):
Now in terms of the winds and the playoff appearances,
they haven't happened yet. I mean, frankly, he every year
he has less and less receivers to throw the ball
to me. How often has he had Mike Williams and
Keenan Allen for multiple games to throw the ball to
seemingly never and today had neither. So now you're putting

(01:15:29):
this young man with supreme talent. I tell you what,
if you put him in Miami, who oh god? If
you put if you put him in Minnesota, you feel
you feel? I feel you? Okay, I'll say this. I
asked the question because I genuinely wanted to know where

(01:15:50):
you're at. And I'm genuinely a little confused by that team.
I know what I think they should be, I know
what I think they can be. It doesn't feel like
they are yet. But they're also not bad. Obviously they're
not bad. It's a five and three football team. I
don't know if he's also like there's something that dynamic

(01:16:13):
nature of Justin Herbert has sort of seemingly disappeared since
that Kansas City Rib injury game in Week two. UM
he's only had one three yard passing game and that
was at Houston back at the beginning of October. Outside
of that, it's just been, um a little bit less dynamic.

(01:16:35):
Not bad, but just less dynamic, and so I scratched
my head sometimes when I look at that football team,
because here they are there five and three. It does
feel like sometimes they lose games and in ways that
they shouldn't. You know, this is a team that lost
a football game to the Jags by twenty eight points

(01:16:55):
earlier this year. This is right. This is a team
that got blown off the field against Seattle in their
home building. I know they don't really have a home building,
but right, they in their home building just a couple
of weeks ago. It's a team that has a negative
point differential, which is weird when you when you have
a winning record. It's a team that has been established

(01:17:18):
as a six and a half point underdog at San
Francisco for Sunday Night football next week, which we'll get
to kind of hang out and talk about while we're
watching it next week at this time. So I don't
know like it. They're good. They're just like I'm trying
to figure out why the ball doesn't drop into the cup.
It keeps just kind of stopping right before it has

(01:17:41):
to fit into Joshua Palmer. Who is that? Right? Who
is Joshua Palmer? In no disrespect to him or his family,
but you get what I'm saying, like what coup are
we are? We are we trying to pour into So

(01:18:03):
him being able to get this team to five and three,
just with the rash of injuries that they've had, is
you You're like, oh man, this is this is crazy.
As well as his own injury, I've had what he had.
It is not pleasant, brother, it is not. It looked

(01:18:27):
very painful, did not did not seem like breathing was
was going to be an easy thing. But he'll still
stand in there and he'll still sling it with the
best of him. Um, and when they do get healthy,
and if they do get these weapons back, then he'll
continue to to to throw the ball like he has

(01:18:49):
since he's been in the league. Injury. Yeah, that happen
on Thursday Septem. Is he over it yet? No? No, no, no,
Because what happens is you consistently play, he consistently get hit,
You consistently get it. Doesn't it doesn't fully heal. It's better,

(01:19:10):
it's less painful, but you'll do something or you'll get hit,
or you'll fall or your tweak or turn and it'll
you know, exacerbate it a little bit. It's just it's
it's part of it, you know what I mean. So
he's a warrior. We know he's a warrior. We know
he'll he'll line up there and he'll he'll he'll play
through anything. And I respect that as as a quarterback

(01:19:32):
from a quarterback, I really respect that because those guys
in the huddle, they can look in his eyes and
they can see that he's willing to to step up
and do whatever it takes. Uh, well, that'll be fine.
Next Sunday night to to check out Christian McCaffrey's new
new team and uh and this team we're talking about
in the charges on Sunday Night football. Um, coming up next?

(01:19:52):
Did we hold onto our hatred a little bit too long?
That's coming out? Yeah, that's right. We're keeping it moving
here on week nine, the National Football League working through
everything that's been taking place in the NBA as well
as we broadcast live from the ti iraq dot com studios.
Ti iraq dot com will help you get there on

(01:20:13):
matt Selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, and
over ten thousand recommended installers. Ti iraq dot com. The
way tire buying should be from Look, it's fandom, the
cool thing about fandom and sports. You get to do
whatever the hell you want. Okay, there are rules, but
you don't have to follow them. For instance, I don't

(01:20:36):
like it when someone tries to be Tommy two team.
Don't tell me that's your one team, and then when
they lose, oh yeah, that's my other team, and then
you got all their gear and you're going to their games.
You get one team. I also would challenge parents who
raise children too. It's like, well, yeah, you're a Steelers

(01:20:58):
fan in the NFL, you're gonna be a Bulls fan
in the NBA. That kind of stuff. But if you
want to do it, you get to do it. So
if you want to still hate the Astros, you can.
You're mainly mad at a logo or jersey or maybe altove.

(01:21:19):
Outside of that, you're mainly talking about a new group
of players, a completely new regime, a totally different manager.
And by the way, if you want to have the
conversation about how they weren't the only ones who are cheating,
we certainly can. I still hear most people as the

(01:21:39):
Astros become World Series champions yesterday talking oh I hate
the Astros, can't root for the Astros. I don't know.
Can you root for the White Sox? Are we still
upset about the Black Sox scandal from a hundred and
twenty years ago? Like? How long? What's the statute of
limitations on MISSI from? How I gonna New England first game? Ye?

(01:22:01):
Think about it. So that's what fandom is. You hold
on the same coach though, same coach, same coach, but
you know, once you get labeled as a cheater, then
it's hard to shake that off. Asked the guys who
you know were suspended for performance enhancing drugs in baseball
and now it just follows them, right, no matter what

(01:22:24):
they've done or you know, done in the past before
or after. It just you got guys in the Hall
of Fame, We've got Hall of Fame careers who people
want let it go. Well, that's because they're baseball players.
It's very unfortunate that they weren't football players. I didn't
hear anyone at the bar that I was at when
DeAndre Hopkins rolled into the day. Nobody No one cares.

(01:22:47):
Nobody nobody did it. Yes, nobody cares. So it's you know,
it's been such a big stigma and baseball that you know,
people fill a certain type of way. They can't let
things go and that goes into the cheating and uh
you know, Dodger fans will never let it go ever.

(01:23:09):
Uh so you know that as I was like, whatever,
We're just gonna move on, you know, shout out to
Dusty Baker, Man, my guy. I got a chance to
meet him working over at Fox Sports one, and um,
you know, it's just a great dude in Northern California.
You know, that's how we do it up there. That's
just that is loved man. And by the way, I

(01:23:30):
do wonder uh some of that from from even Dodger fans.
I mean, I get it. Dusty Baker was a Northern
California and as a manager of Synonymous with with the
Giants and the and the Bonds years and all that.
But Dusty Baker was a Dodger. Like no Dodger fan
have any love for the fact that Dusty Baker won

(01:23:52):
the World Series last night stout man. Yeah right, yeah,
really really good. See and I find I find that
group now if you want to still hold over what
Bregman altove. I'm sure there's a couple others, but outside
of that, it's interesting because I find this Astros group

(01:24:16):
mainly because of Dusty Baker, but my god, could Alvarez
be more fun to watch? I mean there's I just
I don't know. I found this to be a group
that's like I have I have nothing against this group.
I find this baseball, this brand of baseball to be very,
very easy to root for. I mean, we're sitting here

(01:24:37):
talking about the city of Philadelphia has suddenly become like
the national Darling That was weird, right, like Bryce Harper's
team Now is that it's like, oh with it? Bryce Harper.
I've always liked him, I mean really like, I don't know,
but I don't know. The whole thing just felt weird
to me. It was like I thought, I thought, I

(01:24:57):
thought we should have moved on by now. Yeah, it
would seem like that would be the logical thing to do.
But when a fan has been logical, well never fanatic, Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
But that said, um, it's uh, it's a rap. And
I think the best team one yet pretty entertaining World

(01:25:21):
Series that they were able to put together. Uh, those
crowds in Philly, my gosh, good job. I didn't I've
been worried about the city of Philadelphia now for a
couple of weeks. Because it's a city that's built on depression.
It's it's a city that's built on fights in the
parking lot. It's a city that's built on being angry
at your sports team and calling in sports radio stations

(01:25:45):
and telling everybody about all the people who suck and
stink and should be fired. And I'm like, they're making
a run to the World Series and their football teams
eight and oh, I like, I don't know what these
people are gonna do. Yeah, it's um, it's a it's
a situation where, look, the Phillies shouldn't even have really

(01:26:08):
been there. But you know, you can I can't take
anything away. They played the games, they played the games,
they showed up, they played the game. So I can't.
I can't I get it. I can't sit here. Your
your Falcons went to the Super Bowl and a lot
of us well, but we were the number two seed

(01:26:29):
and we had to buy all right in the playoffs,
Like it's a different they were seven and seventy five, right. Well,
In fact, I saw I saw a stat the other
day that actually caught my attention that I didn't know
until we got to the playoffs. Do you know that
outside of their games against the Washington Nationals, the Phillies

(01:26:50):
were a five hundred team. That's crazy, how about that?
Like they literally were. They were twelve games over five
hundred just against the Nationals. And you look at the
two teams in you know East, they both won a
hundred and one games, right, So it's it's a little
different path, right, they got there, and now it's like

(01:27:14):
the thing I do like about it though, is it.
Lets you know, right, remember the nine and seven Giants
and they went up against the sixteen and old Patriots
in the Super Bowl. Remember that, right, very well? Like

(01:27:35):
shout out to the run, right, like shout out to
the run that someone can go all right? Like that?
That is that That's that's the key to the second season.
It doesn't matter how you get there, just as long
as you get there. And so I'm I'm a proponent
of Look, once the regular season is over, all bets
are off, nobody's the favorite because everybody has an equal

(01:27:57):
shot and you never know when it's gonna And for
the Phillies, it just was hitting. It was hit, and
they came out and the I mean the Patres, the Braves,
to defend the champs, like hello, you and I talked
about it just a couple of weeks ago when the

(01:28:18):
Padres had eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers from the playoffs,
and it felt like, and we do this whenever there
are teams This isn't just the Dodgers, because there were
a bunch of them. You mentioned all the teams that
didn't end up getting there this year, but this was
mainly a National league discussion this year. Um, and sometimes
it is beating the New York Giants, great example, or

(01:28:39):
go back to the Beast Mode game with Marshawn Lynch
when a seven and nine team hosted a playoff game
and won it. Whenever this stuff happens, we we do.
We have the conversation of, well, I I think we've
structured the playoffs incorrectly, and and and and and because
how can you be this good for a hundred and
sixty two games and then have to go home after five?

(01:29:01):
And I'm thinking to myself, and if there's one thing
that I really, really really I don't want sports to
get rid of, it's the surprise. Like I had a
visceral reaction to what everyone was saying, because literally, I

(01:29:21):
was thinking, you feel like what you're doing, it feels
like you're trying to take away the surprise. And I
don't want that. I don't want to know what's in
my Christmas gift. Always I was hesitant. No, I don't really.
I was always as a kid, I was hesitant to
give my parents a list because, by the way, my

(01:29:44):
mom was a great shopper, she was fantastic. She knew
me really well. I was like, you got this surprise me. Well,
I never heard Christmas, but whatever, Birthday whatever. I just like,
that's the Titans. Are they still winning? I didn't check
in yet. Are they still winning? The Times winning right now?

(01:30:05):
Yet it still works tonight. They just picked up Patrick
mahomes Off. Well they shouldn't do that because Patrick's better,
and so the Chiefs should be able to have a
first down whenever they wanted. I don't want the surprise.
We can't wait. We can't have that in sports. That's
what makes sports sports, that's what makes it great. Travis

(01:30:29):
Kelsey bowls his helmet off to the sideline. Oh, by
the way, speaking of bowling, gosh, what team was it?
What team was it? I think it was the Vikings
did the Vikings get an interception today? And you know,
the whole defense together, that was the best defensive self.
I thought they were going to get a penalty. I

(01:30:50):
was like, it looked like more than just eleven guys.
I was like that the whole team was, the whole
sideline was out there being bowld of beans. If you
miss it. The whole team lined up like bowling pins.
And then the guy who got the pick rolls the
ball at them and they all go down except for
one guy who does that spin around thing like he's
the last pick. This was this was this was almost

(01:31:13):
the key and peel the key and peeled too many
hip thrusts. You know, we're going they were going to
draw a penalty on that. Oh gosh, that was really
funny though. Um all right, great stuff with you from
salam It's Mark Willard and uh we love that you're
here with us for the hang on Fox Sports Radio

(01:31:33):
and reminding you about the tailgate presented by the Big
Green Egg. Nothing beats the flavor of live fire cooking
on a Big Green Egg. It's the most versatile grill
you'll ever own. Back by a lifetime warranty roll with
the best chop online for free delivery at big green
egg dot com. Lifetime warranty, free home delivery, Big green
egg dot com. Okay, still ahead, a couple of teams

(01:31:57):
who we have to play. Why aren't they better? There
was a quarterback who traditionally loses the type of game
that today he won, So we'll prop him up a
little bit and don't worry from I'm I'm not hiding
from the Warriors problems. I'd love to hear what you
have to say about the Golden State Warriors and what
they just called the road trip from Hell. They went

(01:32:20):
out there and lost them all. They just went and
lost them all, and they played the likes of Charlotte
and Detroit. I mean, it was ugly Orlando lost them all.
So we'll get into that coming up next on Fox
Sports Radio. All right, we live in the t iraq
dot com studios with a from salam Mark Willard. Week

(01:32:44):
nine at National Football League continuing, Um, But I wasn't
gonna get through this without letting you get loose a
little bit while while the champs are down, because because
they are, I don't know how long it's gonna last.
But the Golden State Warriors, right, now sitting at three
and seven, just talk to a a half game ahead of

(01:33:05):
those plucky Los Angeles Lakers. What in God's green earth
is going on here? The Laker thing you and I
got into a couple of weeks ago. I think that
that's pretty right, that's pretty clear um that that that
whole thing has been constructed poorly. But this Warriors thing
has called a lot of people off guard because one,
I don't think they understand the subtleties of how this

(01:33:27):
particular roster is different. But also we're now at a
spot when you go oh and five on a road
trip with losses at the likes of Charlotte, Detroit and Orlando.
Something going on here? This is not nothing. So before

(01:33:48):
I share anything that I might be thinking, what what?
What's what's your read? What do you think going on here?
Steph looks fine? Well? Yeah, I mean when you when
you look at at this team number one, they've given
up away too many points, and I think what's lost?

(01:34:10):
And so if you look at their last one one
too three, four or five five losses on sen one
thirty they gave up one thirty four to the Suns.
They gave up to the Nuggets. I know, scoring is

(01:34:32):
up in the league and and and in all of this.
But the thing that the Golden State Warriors did better
uh than any other high scoring team was they also
played defense. They had the second UH rated defensive team
in basketball last year behind the Celtics. It's no you know,

(01:34:56):
mystery why those two teams were the ones facing each
other and in the finals. But that's been hallmark of
there's so much of of their offensive prowess comes to
the forefront because that's sexy. Everybody likes the threes and uh,
you know, the the quick shots, the back doors, the passing.
But the Golden State Warriors they, you know, play superior

(01:35:23):
defense led by Draymond Green. They don't have that now.
And so, yeah, you can score, but if you can't
stop anybody, you end up being what the Brooklyn Nets
were last year. Yeah, you can get for you know,
guys having forty thirty six get you. You're you're allowing
the other team to continue to score with you. And

(01:35:46):
that's the problem they're running into. They're not playing any
defense whatsoever. Worst upponent's point per game of anybody in
the entire league. Yeah, one point four points per game.
That's an average it's not rocket science, man like, seriously like,
it's it's literally like, But how they get there, how

(01:36:08):
they become that? First of all, I think number one, Um,
you know, Draymond is a little older. You have Pool,
you have the young guys. They're so focused on offensive output.
So offensive output is the thing like we're gonna come in,
We're gonna score a bunch of points when we come
off the bench. You get all of these you got,

(01:36:30):
you got young guys, the kids nineteen two years old.
They don't know what it is and they're all offensively gifted.
They don't know what it is to really sink your
teeth in um defensively. Yet they're not there yet. They
haven't made that transition because you gotta remember Draymond Clay.

(01:36:52):
They all had to learn how to do that. That
was something that Mark Jackson brought to them. And and
and so it's gonna take a little bit of time.
And you know they're up against it right now. I mean,
they're one game better than the Lakers. Hello, think about that. Yeah,
they're one game better than like, and they got far

(01:37:13):
greater shooters. I mean not close. I wish the Lakers
had one of those guys, my man, they want a
championship four and a half months ago, so so here
they are. Let me give you a multiple choice because
the station for which I work, flagship Station Golden State Warriors,
we hack this stuff out on the daily. So let

(01:37:35):
me give you a multiple choice based on what we
hear the most from listeners, from the other hosts of
my station, just from people looking at this team. Here
are the top things that that you're here Number one,
and I think this is along the lines of one
thing you were just saying. The bench is filled with

(01:37:57):
young guys who don't know what they're doing yet. Okay,
that's sentence number one. Is it be it's early, they're
disinterested and they don't really care yet? Is it c
a combo of those first two? And Steve Kerr is

(01:38:19):
just tinkering and figuring out what works and what doesn't
and they've got time to rally back from whatever hole
they set or is it D And I was building
towards this hows this team been horribly negatively affected by
what happened in training camp. I think there's a little

(01:38:42):
fracture there in the in the team. I think there's
a lot of distrust there um. But the reality of
the matter is there is a hangover from winning the championship.
Those young guys who are on that team, the Moody's,
the Cominga's, the pool. They won a championship. They got
giant championship rings. If you ask, if you ask any

(01:39:02):
championship team, especially in the NBA, what's the toughest part
about the next season. It's going through the grind again
from the beginning. It's the grind of an eighty two
game season. All you want to do is just get
back into the playoffs and just do what you just
finished doing a few months ago. But there's a grind

(01:39:24):
to it. These young guys don't know what that grind
is yet. And I think it's a combination of you know,
them trying to rest Clay and rest uh staff and
and Draymond because they have to. They're not gonna be
able to play all out all eighty two games and
then give you what you need in the playoffs. So
it's a combination of trying to bring the younger guys uh,

(01:39:48):
you know, bring them along uh faster and and and
with defense and and and you know, more minutes and
resting the older guys and then you find self on
a you know, a five Games kid. I also do
think it's an organization, and not to say that they've
sold everybody a bill of goods. I think they're trying

(01:40:10):
to do this, but when you're in the midst of it,
it sounds a lot easier than it is. They're trying
to do something that has essentially only sort of happened
once in the history of the NBA. You'll here teams
do this when you're on a sustained run of success,
like the Warriors are. Well, what they'll say is we're
gonna keep winning now and start transitioning for our next

(01:40:34):
very successful franchise. So we're going to sign new contracts
for Jordan Pool and Andrew Wiggins. We've still got Steph
Clay and Dre and we're gonna keep winning right now,
just like you did last June. But we're also gonna
start heightening the roles for for James Wiseman and Jonathan comingon,

(01:40:54):
Moses Moody and even Jordan Pool, and we're gonna get
ready for what we hope is the next dynasty. It's
kind of ridiculous. Actually, if you think of um, it
doesn't it doesn't work that way. The Spurs sort of
kind of maybe did something like that, But the idea
of those three guys moving on and and Clay and

(01:41:17):
or Draymond could be gone as soon as next year. Um,
the idea of hanging onto that and and and squeezing
that orange for all of its juice and then poof.
On the other side of it, you're still going to
be a team that competes till the end of the playoffs. Man,
you said it's hard to do. That might be the

(01:41:37):
understatement of the night, Like it is almost impossible to
build a culture like that and have an understanding and
players that are at that level to where you can
hand that baton off and keep doing it. So it
sort of leads him to a point where if if
you believe in analytics, the analytics would tell you you

(01:41:57):
probably should trade some of those younger pieces right now
to get some more pieces that could squeeze that Steph
orange just a little bit longer. Yeah, they're they're in
a situation where they're gonna have to come They're gonna
make some tough decisions. They have five million dollars in

(01:42:18):
luxury tax um that they're consistently paying they're not gonna
be able to keep Draymond. We know that they're not
gonna be able to keep Clay, So what do you
do trade deadlines coming up. I know they probably want
to keep Clay for the rest of the year before

(01:42:41):
they make a decision on that contract. But you know
this Draymond Green piece, if there is friction or mistrust
in the locker room, then that's something you should you
should really look at because it's not working right now. Yeah,
doubt with even salam It's mark Withllard, we will continue

(01:43:03):
plus um it was maybe one of the more underdiscussed
moves mysterious moves of the NFL trade deadline could end
up being the most interesting one in the end. We'll
get to that in a second, but it's more Steve
Disager time with what is trending On a Sunday night,
Week nine, Steve take it away. Still waiting for the
Kansas City Chiefs to wake up in their home game.

(01:43:25):
They were up nine nothing early second quarter and could
have been more. They haven't scored since, and the Titans
lead at k C seventeen to nine late in the
third quarter. If Kansas City drops this one, they'll be
tied with the Chargers for first place in the a
f C West at five and three. Kansas City kicker
Harrison Butcker not only missed an extra point earlier, he
has missed a forty seven yard field goal attempt. There

(01:43:47):
was a Patrick Mahomes interception that was dropped by Travis
Kelsey and went to the other side. Meanwhile, the two
running backs for Ksey eight carries eight yards tonight seventeen nine.
Titans in the lead, and they're playing with a rookie
at quarterback because Ryan Tannehills out again with the ankle injury.
Titans do still have Derrick Henry eleven carries, night yards

(01:44:08):
and two touchdowns. Earlier, Tampa Bay beat the Rams sixteen point.
The Rams offense is just the exact opposite of what
it was last year. The Rams are three and five
today against I think we would all agree not a
great Tampa Bay team this year. The Rams punted nine
times and had only nine first downs in fourteen drives.

(01:44:31):
Matthew Stafford was sacked four times. Tampa Bay steals it
on a late one yard touchdown. Past sixteen thirteen, Seattle
has won four in a row. Gotta win at Arizona
thirty one to twenty one. Seahawks had trailed late third quarter.
Jets win twenty to seventeen over Buffalo on a field
goal with under two minutes left. Minnesota wins twenty seventeen

(01:44:52):
at Washington on a short field goal in the final seconds.
Chargers win twenty to seventeen in Atlanta on a field
goal on the final play. Detroit over green Bay fifteen
to nine. The Packers have lost five in a row.
The Big Fox Game next Sunday, Dallas at Green Bay Dallas.
One of the many teams on a by this weekend.
San Francisco's on a by as well. Next Sunday night,
the forty Niners host the Chargers. Wins for Miami and Cincinnati.

(01:45:15):
For Jacksonville and New England, the Patriots beat up the
Colts three. The Colts on third down conversions were oh
for fourteen in this game, and quarterback Sam Ellinger was
sacked nine times at New England in this game, Joey
Lagano one NASCAR season championship, taking today's finale at Phoenix.
Logan pretty much dominated this race. Ross Jess Stain finished third.

(01:45:40):
Eight straight wins for the Cleveland Cavaliers. This is one
of the four NBA games on the Sunday schedule. Cabs
beat the Lakers in l A this afternoon, one to
one hundred, Lakers two and seven in that same building.
The late games through one quarter Clippers tide twenty nine
all against the Utah Jazz. Clips will be hosting Cleveland tomorrow.
By the way, the NBA will not be playing any
games on Election Day Tuesday. The league encourages everyone to vote.

(01:46:03):
Fifteen NBA games tomorrow night included tomorrow three and seven,
Golden State hosting Sacramento, which is three and five, and
a reminder. US women's soccer, still ranked number one, will
host number three Germany twice this month, including this Thursday
nights on FS one from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Back to you, Steve,
Thank you very much, and I love the way Steve

(01:46:24):
kind of laid out what's going on in this Titans
Chiefs game. If from remember like an hour and twenty
minutes ago, when I said the Titans have only completed
three passes, they're up by eight, They've now completed four passes.
Hey man, it's a whole new world going on. It's unbelievable.

(01:46:45):
But I tell you what they're playing. They're playing defense.
An they got another sack. I believe that's their fourth
sack of the game. They are applying serious pressure to
Patrick Mahomes. He is not allowed to do some of
the things that uh, he's been a custom of doing,
and sitting back there in the pocket of the air

(01:47:06):
getting after him. He's been sacked three times, he's been
pressured many more. But to a point you were making earlier,
I mean, the Chiefs can't open things up for Patrick
right now because they can't run the ball. He is
their leading rusher at at twenty eight yards on three kerries. Uh.
The other two guys, Edwards Lara and Pacheco, have combined
eight yards on eight carries, and they can't write like

(01:47:29):
you can't you can't move the ball that way. I mean,
it's interesting, you know, you guys were just see was
just talking about the Rams. Um the Rams can't run
the ball, and the Rams aren't gonna start winning any
games until they run the ball. Now, you can dive
into the Bucks Rams box score and you'll see that
the Bucks actually did a lot of these things even
worse than the Rams did. Uh. The only difference was

(01:47:53):
there was a Brady flash, like all of a sudden
with fifty seconds to go, there the drive that was
supposed to win the game. They had four shots from
the six yard line. They missed them all the Rams
took over. But then the Bucks got the ball back
with no timeouts and Brady for the first time in
a month and a half looked like Brady, and they

(01:48:14):
went right down the field without any timeouts and scored
the game winning touchdown. But both of those teams look
like they just are playing in honey, like they're just
totally stuck in mud, and the right they can't. I
watched a lot of that game. It looks like it's
in slow motion the whole thing. Yeah, it's crazy, man,

(01:48:38):
because we expect more, right as fans, as at this
as prognosticators. At some point, as we expect more, we
we've become accustomed to a certain level, and then when
you don't get it, it's just like, wow, what has happened?
Right now? Right, like you said, we're watching Malik Willis

(01:49:02):
from Liberty completely four of eight with eighty four yards
and they're winning this game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Oh,
because they have a hundred and fifty three yards rushing
to Kansas City thirty six and Derrick Henry just hit
the century mark on twelve carries more twelve carries a

(01:49:26):
hundred yards, two touchdowns, and so you know the thing
that they have working in their favors, they almost I mean,
they're winning the time of possession by almost ten minutes.
That's a long time. And so yeah, you don't get

(01:49:48):
a lot of shots. Patrick Mahomes even though he's throwing
the ball forty times, they have nine points. He's thrown
the ball forty times. Goodness gracious, yeah, and boy does
it tighten up to I mean, Steve was talking about it.
The Chiefs lose, they're tied with the Chargers. And oh,
by the way, if the Chiefs do lose, the Titans

(01:50:10):
are tied with the Bills for the best record in
the entire conference. The Titans, who we haven't even like
we said earlier, we haven't been thinking about them, have
not even thought about them as as a team that
you know, sort of builds the landscape of the a
f C. It starts with the Bills and Chiefs goes
from there, the Dolphins, the Ravens and whatnot. Titans are

(01:50:34):
one quarter away from being tied for the best record
in the entire conference. So wild, it's so well. So
once again, though, do not take away my surprises. Do
not take away my surprises or else what are we
doing here? What are we doing here? So I get it,
the Phillies only had eighty five wins or eighty seven

(01:50:56):
wins or whatever it was, and the Jets and Giants
don't put up a lot of passing yards and all
that stuff. But yeah, man, don't take away my surprises. Um,
you can take away the Seahawks. That's surprised, I'm not
rolling on. But but outside of that, don't take away
my surprises. Man. That that that's what this whole thing is. Uh,
Speaking of those Seahawks, would love to get a thought

(01:51:19):
or two from you on them. And also what stands
to be the most interesting trade at the NFL deadline
yet we haven't seen anything really sort of bear out
from it yet. All of that is coming up next
with the from salam Mark with it on Fox Sports Radio,
my Manny from Always Fun. You know, we're talking about

(01:51:42):
it sort of tongue in cheek. About forty five minutes ago.
Baseball players, if if you're caught cheating, right, if it's
the Houston Astros, we're still gonna root against you five
years later, even though you've got a different regime and
mostly different players. And if you you were caught with
performance enhancing drugs, my gosh, we're gonna keep you out

(01:52:04):
of the Hall of Fame and we're gonna hold that
around your neck potentially for the rest of your career. Now,
if you're DeAndre Hopkins and you can help my fantasy team,
like whatever, bro, do you Okay? Uh, we we get it,
so we we we just we care in certain spots
and then we just totally don't. And it's weird to me,

(01:52:27):
and maybe the weirdest one of them all, which has
got no publicity whatsoever because out of sight, out of mind,
I get it. But I gotta think that I could
probably suspend hundreds of players in every league before I
would get to actually being morally knocked off course, because

(01:52:51):
Calvin Ridley gambled a little bit and he's just gone,
He's complete, letely gone, and then traded. Yet they still
can't even have contact with the team that acquired him
because of this unbelievably awful thing that he pulled Kyrie

(01:53:12):
Irving is over here promoting anti Semitism in the nets
are like, my gosh, this is so you know what
I mean differ. I know it's it's of course it's different.
But my point is, and look, Nike is moving on
from Kyrie. There's definitely been punishment, but that's just the
most recent thing that pops to mind. How do we
end up here with Calvin Ridley? Well, I'll tell you how, okay,

(01:53:38):
how the number one thing for the NFL, the number
one guideline the integrity of the game when you gamble
on NFL games as a player, coach, referee, any of that,

(01:54:02):
you're now putting in question that very thing, and what
the leagues do not ever want to happen is for
the outcomes of the game to be compromised for monetary games.

(01:54:22):
That is a hard Why do you think it's been
so long that these leagues have embraced gambling? I mean
people gambling on sports has been billions and billions of
dollars for forever, back when they were betting shillings on
on you know, athletic endeavors in Greece or wherever people

(01:54:48):
have been betting on sport. The NFL, the NBA, that
they the MLB, they've all embraced sports sports books now,
but what they cannot ever do is embraced a player, coach,
anyone affiliated with an organization betting on games that they're

(01:55:12):
playing in that they just it's a hard no, that's it.
That's at the top of the list. It's a hard note. Steroids, okay,
right off the field problems, okay, But when you call
into question the integrity of the game, they all thought

(01:55:36):
they always hit protect the shield. That's what that that's
that's that's what that means, the integrity of the game.
That's why it's not that it's not that I don't
get it. I do wonder sometimes why we've accepted that,
Why we've accepted somebody who bet parlays and bet on
his team to win. I'm not saying it's okay, but

(01:55:57):
why have we decided that that should be at the
very top of the list. But because not. But but
we're not we're not using the word integrity and having
that called into question when there is child abuse or
punching pregnant women or masseuses. So they're two different, like

(01:56:22):
two different things. Though, what you have to realize is
if you do all of that stuff off the field,
and you know, those domestic issues and all those things,
you're not affecting the outcome of a game. No, Colvin
Ridley was doing parlaise and for for his team to win,
what if it was for his team to lose. Now

(01:56:44):
we have a different we got different things. But this
but but this is why the door, that's why you
can't crack that door. I get it. And I'm not here.
Here's another part part of this. I'm not here to
say that this is okay and there should be no punishment.
I am here to say the punishmentship fifth the crime.
And I don't think it dies. I mean, I get it,

(01:57:04):
understand I really, I really understand it. Because if he
were betting that they lost by if he was pointing,
betting the points bread right, and he had a wide
open touchdown and he you get what I'm saying. Now,
you get it. Not okay, it's not okay, it's not okay.

(01:57:26):
But but but when it wasn't like no, not at all,
not at all. Although I mean he had stepped away
from his team because of mental health issues during that
year as well, and so you could loop that into
the whole conversation. I truly think we probably don't fully
know what the hell has been going on with Calvin
Ridley for the better part of two years. But at

(01:57:49):
the same token, anytime something goes crazy with an NFL
player off the field, it feels like the debates like, well, okay,
let's start with four games and then we go from there.
Even the Deshaun Watson situation, four games in the five
games ends up being eleven games. This dude got a year, Yeah,

(01:58:11):
parlay message received? Yeah, message received. Why do you think
people still using steroids in baseball? The message is not
steep enough. If you avoid that contract, you allow a
team to get three hundred million dollars back. Yeah, didn't

(01:58:33):
you feel me? No, that's that's I feel you because
that was the first thought that went through my head
when Fernando Tatis Scott popped. It's like he about to
be he million? He good, exactly. But if it's in
that contract, did you avoid this out and you're not

(01:58:53):
allowed to to get a contract that exceed it for
the next two years? We got a different Now you
were the Knights, maybe I well, let me see it,
let me is it worth it. I don't know, Dill
just get did did Jacksonville just get something here? Though?
This is talented player. Yeah oh yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

(01:59:13):
They're they're they're trying to put these pieces around Trevor Lawrence,
who's shown he can play, he can play quarterback in
this league. They're trying, they're figuring this thing. Yeah yeah,
yeah absolutely, um my man, my man. It's a great
show man. Yeah yeah, yeah, I always love it. Okay,

(01:59:36):
Forty Niner is in charges play when we talk next,
so we're looking forward to that for me. From Salon
ma Mark with It on Fix Sports Radio

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