Mark Willard & Ephraim Salaam Break Down Week 2 of the NFL Preseason, Talk QBs Under the Most Pressure & More!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
I bet every single person listening to the sound of
our voices will relate to this. You ever watch the
family that you thought had it all and they were perfect,
Everything looked great inside the home and then the whole
thing splits up. Or do you ever find out that
the person who looks like they've got the perfect life
suddenly is in need of therapy and suffering from depression?

(00:26):
Like everything can look right, but it's gotta be constructed
in a healthy way from the inside out or it
not gonna work. And I'll tell you which professional sports
team relates to that comment in just a moment. But

(00:46):
that comes after I say hello and good evening to
my partner E from Salam.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hello, sir, Hello, my good man. How we doing. I'm great?
How are you? What's happening this weekend?

Speaker 3 (00:57):
I've just basketball just got a more here was zoomed
up from Seal Beach.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Didn't you tell me that it was like over like like.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Like theoretically, theoretically erratically but in reality.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Found yourself some more games. Didn't you ever.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Said so this week my brand new like two month
old eleven year old, right, my two month eleven year old.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Okay, I was gonna say, dude, if you have a
two month no, no, no, no, about to take a damn
turn if we.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Have if I have a two month older, dain't mine?

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
It was uh he was playing with the twelve you team.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Okay, well.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Technically it was the twelve you team, but he was
playing against thirteen and fourteen you players.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
How does that work? Were any of them named Danny Almonte? Like?
How does this right? How does this work?

Speaker 3 (01:55):
This is this state that we are in. Lot of coaches,
a lot of parents want their talented kid to really
stick out and really shine, so they allow them to
play down one or two years because it their first

(02:21):
of all that their body control. They're more explosive. As
you know as a father, eleven to twelve is physically
is ginormous.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Now every year it's like a huge milestone. Now that
tapers off as you get an adult and it just
becomes who you are. But as a kid going through
growth and pre puberty and then puberty, your body changes
exponentiously and and it is as fast as quick. And
so when you I have my brand new essentially a

(02:54):
ten year old playing against a guy with a mustache
and his dad is on the sidelines like yeah, yeah,
I'm like he's touching the rim, right, he's not twelve, Like,
he's not twelve.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
No, I like I always I've always used this comparison,
and it sucks that we get older and so the
comparison doesn't work as well because increasingly the people listening
to us don't understand the reference.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
But it's very much Billy Madison.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yes, this is an old Adam Sandler movie where basically
an adult has to go back and be in kindergarten
and he's playing dodgeball on the playground with little kids,
like right, and he's like crushing them with the ball
and being like yeah, and it's like right, dude, you're
you're three times the size of that person. And it's

(03:48):
very funny when it's a slapstick comedy movie. Less so
when it's club basketball on an August weekend.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, it's it's it's disheartening. But this is the lens
scape of youth basketball as we speak. They are fifteen.
This is a real thing. They are fifteen year old
eighth graders. Eight, they're fourteen year old eighth graders YEP,
which blows my mind. I'm like, why are you in

(04:17):
the eighth grade at fifteen?

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Because people are overly competitive.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
You can have a learner's permit, you need to tell
me in junior high school. You can drive to school.
You can have a job. I mean, you can go
to work.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
We might be a few years away from them all
hitting the bar after class.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
I mean, it's just weird to see that. And I
try not to use myself as a comparison because I
believe I'm the outlier in terms of how I approached sports,
which was I didn't until ninth grade, and it worked
out okay for me. I still did eighty six Division

(05:01):
one offers for football and basketball as a four year
player of either sports and a one year starter in basketball,
And so I look at it differently. I see these
kids repeating fifth grade, repeating eighth grade. Sometimes you got
double holebacks, and they're like, no, no, we'll reclassify him

(05:27):
when he's a junior, and then it will put him
up in his rifle.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
I'm like that.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Just imagine you're sixteen going into high school. Just imagine
being a sixteen year old freshman in high school and
that has you graduate at twenty you're a nineteen year
old junior, right, like, this is what we're talking about.

(05:56):
And to me, I think it's just you know, look,
everybody make it to the league, but now the benchmark
is not the league anymore because you can get you
can make more money in high school and in college
in athletics than you ever do in the league. Yep,
Like most of these nil kids aren't going to make

(06:16):
a bunch of money playing professional basketball and football. It's
just and I don't knock that. If you can change
your socio economic background in college and in high school.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Please do it.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
Do it, absolutely, please do it change the course of
your family's financial his future and so, but don't take
it out on little kid Like I got a real
eleven year old going like I have a he's young, right,
he's in the sixth grade. He just turned eleven two
months ago.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yes, sir, yeah, I mean you and I we like
our youngest are I mean, yours is a little bit
younger than mine. Mine will be starting sixth grade on Thursday.
He turned eleven, uh late in the spring, and so
I know exactly a what you speak.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
So it's just it's weird and it's disheartening. Watching all
these parents live vicariously through their children. I just I
refuse to do it. I'm involved in my son's basketball
journey because he wants to play basketball, not because he
has to play basketball. I have a six to one
fourteen year old in high school, at his rightful age fourteen,

(07:27):
starting his freshman year in high school, and he can
care less about every we want to freshman orientation last
week and every single person was like, hey, are you
are you on the basketball Are you playing on the
basketball team because he's a foot taller than everyone in

(07:47):
his class already, like all of the fresh or the
dad's the parents. And I said, no, no, no, he's
you know, he's an engineer. He wants to design roller
coasters and rides and all of that. And I said, look,
I said, Rashid, you got to get used to it, man,
because people are going to be asking you that all day.
Every day. The coaches will see you walking in the

(08:07):
hall and be like, hey, let me talk to you
for a second. So just get used to it. Yep,
you know. So, hey, look it's all good. It's just
disheartening to see the levels that some of these programs
and some of these parents will go to for their
kid to feel special.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
I get it, I get it.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
I mean the hope is I think for most of
these parents is that someday their child will play offense
for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
That's the best transition I could do. So pretty good. No,
let's get it word out.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
I mean, we're working on the fly here in the
Fox Sports Radio studios. Mark Willard eat from Salam But yeah,
so my man, I had I had my first fantasy
draft yesterday. Yeah, have my first fantasy already. Yeah, already.
Because it's a groupa well that I didn't get to go.
But the group likes to get together in person, and

(09:03):
if you're going to be in person, you kind of
got to do it before school starts because then all
the dads are like, sorry, I can't go anymore. And
so we always tend to do it a little bit early.
And yeah, you get some bumps and bruises and lose
a player here and there before the year even starts.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
But you know, life goes on, so whatever. But anyway,
point is is it's what's called a super flex league.
Do you know what that is?

Speaker 2 (09:23):
No super flex, which means it's the rosters are bigger,
and you play not one quarterback. You played two quarterbacks,
two quarterbacks, three receivers, two running backs, and two flex
It's a lot going on.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
It's a lot going on.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
But in other words, what happens the first round is
largely made up of qbs. There's a lot, like you know,
that's what goes off the board first, Okay, And so
I ended up with the fourth pick, and with the
fourth pick in the draft, your boy selects Joe Burrow,
quarterback Cincinnata Bengals, and I have a feeling that I'm

(10:02):
going to be laughing at these suckers all year long,
because what the Bengals have is absolutely the perfect life
hack for fantasy football, which is incredible talent on the
offensive end, and the need to score forty eight points
every Sunday. Because now the rumors are coming up all

(10:24):
around this weekend that Trey Hendricks in their top pass
rusher who remains unsigned and holding out.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
There are now trade talks with multiple teams underway.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
You and I have talked about this already, and this
is kind of why I called the Bengals that family
that looks wonderful from the outside, but if you went
inside the house, you're like, oh, this is actually not
constructed that well. And that's kind of how I feel
about the Bengals. Everybody out there knows about Burrow and
his receivers. Everybody knows about that, but I don't think

(10:57):
that that group is built to actually go win football
games that matter.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
But yay, fantasy that's gonna be fun.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, oh yeah, you're gonna rack up now you you
you're gonna kill yep, So hold on tight and and
and let it rip. Seriously good good pick by. You
surprised he was still there?

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Well, Lamar and Josh and and Jayden Worth you know Hayden.
Oh yeah, yeah, that's what the uh, that's what the
chalk told them to do. And you know all of
us are just we're just slaves to that stupid ranking
sheet that some other human being put on the internet.
So yeah, that's what everybody does.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
Well, maybe they don't know the the context of what
the Bengals are in for. Like were we we have
a little we have an advantage because.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
We know, I mean, I.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Don't feel like it's a secret now, Like y'all we're
all want.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
To pay attention. Most people in fantasy football it did you.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Know We watched the Bengals do this last year too.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, you know, and if it's a regular draft, everybody's
taken Jamar Chase number one overall for the exact same reason.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
So absolutely, you know.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
So here here's what I'd like to ask you, and
we can go ahead and loop the Cowboys into this
as well with with Micah which is maybe an obvious answer,
but but you tell me, what precisely would you do
if you were these two teams? What precisely would you
do if you were one of these two players? So

(12:39):
we'll get to that coming up next. That's Eat from
Salam And I'm Mark Willard. Good Sunday Evening to you.
This is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Hi, this is Jay.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
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Usually in these promos they asked you to listen to
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Speaker 1 (13:04):
What the hell studio get him?

Speaker 3 (13:06):
Pullee, Ignore that fool.

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Listen to the Tony Foscope Show on the iHeartRadio app
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Speaker 2 (13:30):
We just happened to be live in the Fox Sports
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(13:51):
instant access to our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube.
Look negotiation in sports, it's always the same, their standard.
It's a staring contest. You and I have talked about
a bunch of them. Micah Parsons and the Cowboys, Jonathan
Kaminga and the Warriors, Trey Hendrickson and the Bengals, go
back to last year, Brandon Aiyuk and the forty nine ers.

(14:15):
They're like they're there are always a few every off season.
But what's odd to me is it does feel from
the outside like it's like we know where this is
all going. It's like not going to be a surprise
when we arrived there. Michael Parson's not going to be like, oh,
look he ended up being the eighth highest defensive lineman paid,

(14:38):
Like that's that's not what we're doing. So I'm sure
they're intricacies to the contract that maybe they're battling over
or whatever. But I always sort of feel like there's
a line, and I think we're right about at it.
Three weeks from today is the first NFL Sunday of
the upcoming season, and the Cowboys, in fact, because they

(14:59):
play in the opener, they play in two and a
half weeks, and you absolutely, in my opinion, arrive at
a line where the law of diminishing returns comes to play,
and that is, either the player that you finally signed
is now not fully physically ready in time to play,

(15:22):
and therefore you either get a lesser player or a
player who opens himself up to injury, or even if
the player is ready to play and doesn't get hurt,
everybody is just mad at each other and that bleeds
into the season. And we've absolutely seen examples of all
of this, and to me, from like we're here, we

(15:46):
are here, to where I would again I'm sort of
team Micah on the Cowboy thing, for example, but I
would sit everybody down and just very quickly inform them,
you realize this, this is going nowhere.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Good for any of you starting kind of like today. Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
Like, I like we've been saying all summer, all last summer,
summer before that as well. Leave it up to Jerry
Jones to just completely derail the chemistry, the energy and
training camp. Just make it a spectacle with no good outcome.

(16:38):
I mean, we know he's gonna get paid, so why
wouldn't you just pay him? And so I I mean, look,
I don't I don't feel bad for him. I don't
feel sorry for him. You get what you get. As
at a certain point, he's stubborn. He's got all these
sound bites talking about the deals done. I shook hands

(17:01):
and back when I bought the Cowboys and who knows
nineteen whatever and ever we did it over a handshake
and a malt liquor whatever whatever it is. Is goofy yep,
Because you weren't negotiating with out the principle of the

(17:26):
other who the owner of the Cowboy. You weren't negotiating
with the owner's son. You were negotiating with the owner, right,
Like if you go into a room and Jerry Jones,
the owner of the old owner of the Cowboys, his
son was like, yeah, I'll sell it to you for
that much, and then dad was like, what, No, absolutely not.

(17:47):
You can't then be like, no, we agreed, that's what
it's gonna be. Well, he doesn't have the ownership stake,
he's not the negotiating partner. Michael Parsons isn't negotiating his
own contract. This isn't a Lamar Jackson situation. He has
an agent. So you can't go negotiate with a player

(18:08):
without his representative present and then say, oh, the deal
is done. We're just waiting back when I did deals,
that's this is not then, man, are you crazy? Yes,
a wink in a handshake is legally binding. Well, it

(18:29):
turns out, sir, right, and so just holding on to
that whole good old boy, this is how we do it,
and this is how I'm gonna do it. It's just
gonna cost you more money.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
D You're a completely right, but B this is what
what I see just keeps happening repeatedly, and I guess
we shouldn't be surprised because this is professional sports. And oh,
by the way, people in professional sports are unnecessarily competitive.
It's just the way that it works. And maybe you

(19:05):
could say, well, it's not unnecessary. That's the deal. Everything
for a lot of these people is a competition all
the time. Practice is a competition every day. The game
is obviously a competition. You're competing for free agents in
the offseason. What happens though, in a situation like this
is you got teammates to start. Now, now we're competing

(19:28):
with one another. And this does not come down to
what I feel it should come down to, which in
this example, for instance, is the Cowboys being like, would
we like Mi com parsons to play football for us?
This is why nobody can understand what they're doing, because
of course the answers, yes, what.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Are we doing?

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Nobody thinks, no, we don't want my comparsons on the team.
And I bet Mica doesn't want to be on another team,
or at least it didn't start out that way. I
don't know where he's at now. So everybody actually has
the same goal. But instead of going all right, then
let's find a way to take that common goal and

(20:09):
further our competitive goal, which is to win football games
instead trying to win against each other. I need to
win the deal, and I've watched a ton of GMS
negotiators do this. I want to win the deal, and
once you do that, I believe you're screwed. I don't

(20:32):
really think that there's too often where that ends up
being a good thing, because then there's hurt feelings. It
goes all the way to the end where deadlines spur action,
and in the age of social media, we then see
the deal and the public will run with this side
one and that only furthers all of the discontent as

(20:55):
opposed to what should be happening right when the deal's done,
which is player and team now on same page, let's ride.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
But it doesn't always happen that way. And I and I'm.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
Speaking directly, like, if you want the latest example, a
UK and the Niners was this year's Micah and the.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Cowboys, and it's exactly what happened.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
And everybody is still livid with each other today. They're
still all livid with each other. And they'll say they're not,
but they're at minimum livid with.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
The situation and that's where this is heading.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
So you know, as some of the roots against the Cowboys, yay, right, like.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Keep going, it's.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
So dumb, it's so dumb, right, So I don't know.
And then Bengals what it would like. Trey Hendrickson has
been super quiet. What what would you do if you're him?

Speaker 3 (21:56):
I mean, being traded would be the best thing for him.
I'm sure he wants. I mean, he's been nothing but
a leader. I think them, I think that the hesitation
for them is they just redid his deal for him
and this extra year he's on was the year and
he negotiated for himself I think two years ago. Remember

(22:21):
he wanted more money. They gave him a little bit
more money. Uh, and this is one of those years
that he wanted. So he's got it and he led
the league in sacks last year and they're like, yeah,
we just did your deal. He's outplayed his deal and

(22:41):
everyone else is getting paid. So he's like, look, I
want to get paid. So I mean, go join somewhere else.
If there's a if there's a taker, you know, go huh.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
If I if I'm the Bengals, that's I'm keeping.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
I mean I keep them just like I keep Steve
de Seger no matter you know what do you want it?

Speaker 1 (23:08):
And Steve de Sager.

Speaker 5 (23:13):
And Steep to say, I'll just I'll just start talking
to say Steve de Sager, thank you and hello again, gentlemen.
We've got an NFL exhibition going on Fox TV right now.
At Chicago, mid first quarter, seven nothing Bears over the Bills.
Quarterback Josh Allen not playing for Buffalo tonight.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Mike White got the.

Speaker 5 (23:35):
Start, went three and out on their first drive. It
was an impressive first drive for the Bears to begin
the game. Seven plays, ninety two yards and in under
four minutes a touchdown to pass from Caleb Williams thirty
six yards alaminees at Kias. In fact, Williams is six
to ten one hundred and six yards passing in the
score already. We still have seven minutes left in the

(23:56):
first quarter. The other game earlier today was at New Orleans.
The Saints got a late touchdown pass and two point
conversion from Spencer Rattler to tie Jacksonville seventeen all no overtime.
In the preseason, the Eagles acquired wide receiver John Metchi
from the Texans. Scottie Scheffler was the golf winner in Maryland.
The PGA's Tour Championship starts Thursday. Sebastian Munos won the

(24:19):
lib Golf event in a playoff over John Rohm. WNBA
wins for Las Vegas and Indiana. Washington won ninety five
eighty six over La. There's a Major League Baseball game
in Williamsport, Pennsylvania tonight. No, not at the little league field.
It's the Mets, leading three to nothing over the Mariners
bottom of the third. They're playing in a minor league

(24:40):
part there and annual visit. Philadelphia already won today eleven nine.
At Washington, the Dodgers beat the Padres again, five to four.
The Dodgers are first in the NL West, two games
over San Diego. They'll play against each other again next weekend,
this time in San Diego. Today, Mookie Betts with a
solo homer in the bottom of the eighth for the
lead for San Francisco beat Tampa Bay seven to one.

(25:03):
The wind of Logan Webb, Colorado six to five over Arizona.
The Rockies have won.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
Three in a row.

Speaker 5 (25:09):
They are thirty five and eighty nine on the season.
Angels won in ten innings at the A's eleven to five,
Cincinnati and ten innings beat Milwaukee three to two. There
goes the Brewers fourteen game winning streak. The Brewers are
first place in the NL Central, eight games up on
the Cubs, who won today four to three over Pittsburgh.
Texas a ten to four winner at Toronto. The win

(25:30):
the Nathan Valdi eleven and three. Jose Burrios took the loss.
Toronto is first in the AL East, Boston five games back,
Yankees five and a half behind. Boston was beaten at
home five to three by Miami Yankees an eight to
four winner at Saint Louis, the Cardinals have lost five
in a row. Baltimore won twelve nothing at Houston. Houston's

(25:51):
the first place team in the ALS. They were up
game and a half over the Mariners to start the day.
Atlanta a little too little, too late one It's fifth
in a row, five to four at Eveland, victories for
Minnesota and for Kansas City. Casey beat the White Sox
six to two. The White Sox have lost for in
a row. They are forty four and eighty on the
season and as far as the NFL preseason, it will

(26:14):
end this Saturday night. We've got a couple of games
on Thursday, we have a few on Friday, including the
Bears at the Chiefs, and then a lot of Saturday games.
By the time we get to the late game this
Saturday Raiders at Cardinals, that will be it for the
NFL preseason. That means we are that much closer to
real NFL football and that comes in September.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Back to you, let's go, let's go. And by the way,
dumb idea time, how long are we?

Speaker 2 (26:43):
How far away are we until they turn the preseason
into a reality show.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
So here's what I mean.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
Most good reality shows that have shown the ability to
last on TV for a long time involve eliminating people,
survivor The Bachelor.

Speaker 5 (27:08):
All right, might be familiar with one of those shows.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Okay, it's possible. So seeing as so many.

Speaker 5 (27:15):
Bachelor we're talking about The Bachelor.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
The Bachelor, So seeing as so many of these coaches
have little to no interest at all in playing football
players who are going to play football come September.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
Hi, Sean McVay. More on that in a second.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Why don't we actually get to know some of the
way Hard Knocks does. Let's get to know some of
the people trying to make a team, and after each game,
then let's let's.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Have cuts.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
After each game.

Speaker 5 (27:56):
Each game.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Hey, I'm trying. I had to think like a real
entertainer here, Okay. I mean if I had told you
about TikTok twenty five years ago, what would you have said?
But my like, dude, what are we doing with this?
What are we doing with this preseason? Like from an

(28:19):
entertainment perspective, I have no problem with the idea that
coaches like we need to evaluate our third string. Great,
how are you going to entertain the public with that?
Let's get to know these people, and it doesn't need
to be immediately after the game. But like, okay, if
you finished your game two days ago, you come on

(28:41):
after the game that just finished and now let's see
your cuts.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
Well that, I mean, that's what Hart not Knox is for, right,
I mean, you get to know the guy, the one
guy who's doing this and.

Speaker 5 (28:53):
Well edited, it's packaged.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yeah, we already have it. Are you talking about for
every team?

Speaker 2 (28:59):
I believe I entered this by saying bad idea time.
But my point is is I would like to find
a way I would write totally but like, I would
like to find a way to make some of this watchable.
Sean McVay is over there holding out the backup quarterback.
The backup quarterback is now not allowed to.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
Play and sitting upstairs himself.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
But not even coaching. He what's the coach right right?

Speaker 1 (29:30):
The forty nine ers.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
He's doing it like a G league, right, I mean
the summer league, and your assistant coach goes to coach
the summer league team.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Shannon HiT's not calling the plays. He doesn't call the plays.
He's letting Clint Kubiak call the plays.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
Sean Payton passed that off last night.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
There you go, So you know my rule and content
from it. I know it's one of yours too. If
you tell us that you don't care, I'm home do
the same.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
But they do care, right, But we need to know
what they ca care about, and what they care about.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
Is no, I'm telling the fans care we do what
what we did it? You yourself had a self imposed
countdown to football training camp, to preseason, to all of.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
That, right, But this is in football. Like every time
we get here and then we're like, oh.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Right now it's some football in there.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
But but you're so clamoring for anything outside of baseball,
then preseason is welcome. The Hall of Fame game is welcome.
Like they won, they won the Raiders, the NFL won

(30:44):
the summer. When it comes to viewers and watching, you
know people are rewatching preseason games when they replay on
NFL Network.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Do you know what the Bears preseason record is coming
into this game that they're playing the night it's oh
and one. That tells you right there, how much everybody
gives a rip about the final score of these four.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
They don't care about it.

Speaker 5 (31:09):
You didn't even know they could tie.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
I'm not a wonderful reference, Steve, thank you.

Speaker 5 (31:18):
By the way, that is in our benefit, not just
the coaches, that they don't go to overtimes.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
When no one wants to see that of course.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
And and by the way, how's it working, how's the
bubble wrap working? Because every team I know all has
twenty injured players.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
I know.

Speaker 5 (31:39):
Well, I could speak to the game I saw last
night with the Rams, and as long as they hits
to the.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Head going flag that wasn't a penalty.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
No coach is ever gonna play anybody.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
I get it. I have always wondered this when people go,
good lord, we couldn't just play and have it count
right away. We can't do that. And I'm alway, like
you mean like college.

Speaker 5 (32:02):
This is CFL in like week eleven at.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
This point, right, they just okay, it counts go preseason.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
No, just like your first.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Game count preseason.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Well, look we're about to go to two instead of three.
You agree, right, We're gonna go to eighteen games and
then they'll lop a preseason game off.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
I don't know, man, you I would.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
Prefer the world. That's exactly what they're gonna do. And
they'll have everybody play one international game.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
And I bet where we're heading for preseason because again,
just keep forwarding this, go another five six years down
the road, and I would bet that everybody you've heard
of gets between one and zero preseason series that that's
gonna be the window either do one or do none.

Speaker 5 (32:57):
And you've talked about the NFL has won, and they
have won in so many areas including now Christmas. I
think that's been decided already took honestly.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
And Black Friday. They took Black Friday.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
And NBA has got tire tracks on its face on
December twenty.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
I told you that three years ago. I said, oh,
Christmas is over. They just lost it. The NBA just
lost Christmas.

Speaker 5 (33:18):
So last night one of the shows was breaking up
the college football talking about expanding the playoff, which is
new already, and to which I responded, the NFL still
play games in December, right, They're still going to be
there in December.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
They're not going anywhere.

Speaker 5 (33:33):
Are you aware of this, college football? Because nobody was
watching your playoff game on TNT opposite an NFL game.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
Okay, but how's this sound, Steve? Wednesday Night football? And
that's what college can do in December.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
I don't know. Own Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
Take Wednesday. It take Tuesday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is yours.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
And once we get to winter break, you can start
playing games at nine in the morning and just play them.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
All day long every Tuesday and Wednesday every week.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
Do it Eastern or Pacific Standard time.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
I was thinking Pacific, But do us out here in
the West with these London games. We're starting to get
used to that early wake up call, you know what
I mean. But you got to wake up because you're, like, dude,
am my guys healthy? You know what I mean it.
Every fantasy league has that guy who will text you
at seven am and be like, I don't know my
guy was inactive.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
I was asleep. Well that's a sorry, bud, that's a
you problem.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
I told you this story. My my uh my father
in law lives in Hawaii. Yeah, how about that wake
up call.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
In the morning.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
You want him to set his alarm for three point
fifteen to see if Alvin Kamara is active.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
You just got to stay up and that probably exactly. Yeah,
make it a bonfire night on the eaches of Hawaii.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
I mean the man is three years old.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yeah, he on fire.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Anyway, you know that idea college expansion, I'd love to
let let's talk about that a little bit more, and
in these Fox Sports Radio studios we'll do that. Coming
up next with e from Salama Mark Willard, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
You don't listening to Fox Sports Radio radio. These are
the Fox Sports Radio studios.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
And in ten minutes, something fun that I think is
developing but not a lot of people have thought about yet.
And it has to do with Netflix and big name
quarterbacks and receivers and it's gonna be fun for us,
but not fun for everybody. So that's coming up in ten.

(35:55):
Steve was just talking from about that idea of college
football expansion of the playoff. The Big Ten reportedly pushing
for maybe twenty four or maybe even twenty eight teams
in a college football playoff, up to eight automatic bids
for the Big Ten and for the SEC because they're

(36:18):
the big dogs.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
And as we know, the Big Ten is not the
Big Ten.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
It's like the Big I don't know, thirty two, whatever
the hell it is or wherever it's heading.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
First, what's your initial reaction to the idea? Then?

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Why play a college football season?

Speaker 1 (36:34):
Okay, fair question? Just put all the.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Teams in the college playoff.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
I mean they've got the time.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
I would argue, are there twenty two teams worthy of
fighting it out for a national championship?

Speaker 1 (36:53):
You love college basketball? Are there sixty eight?

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Yeah? You can play games a week?

Speaker 2 (37:01):
I understand, I understand, but but I mean in the NFL,
are there fourteen teams worthy of super Bowl conversations?

Speaker 3 (37:12):
See? The difference is.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
There's no.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
So you have what what are the big five conferences?

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Now?

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Good lord?

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Just like you know the Big this and the big
big big.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
That one over there and right, not this one so much,
and it's the big maybe not that one, right, you
say the big and then you put a number in
there that's not the accurate number, right, that's the kind
of the Big seventeen whatever of whatever, the big, the
Big twenty. Yeah, it's becoming more and more about money

(37:53):
and not about actual good football. Number one. How many
of these playoff games that we have with this twelve
team field that were pretty much unwatchable.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
I don't know, I mean to fine, unwatchable just meaning
that nobody one team was way better than the other. Yeah,
Like it's like, I don't know, when the Bills play
the Jags, do you watch?

Speaker 3 (38:25):
That's see, that's a different there's different ramifications there. There
is no college no fantasy college football. Is there fantasy
college football?

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Yeah? I mean I mean there is, but yeah, no,
it's not that you get what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
Like, you know, if even if the Bills are playing
the Jags and you have Josh Allen, okay, you're watching
Josh Allen.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Okay, But I mean again, then the ball from college basketball,
we let the one seeds play the sixteen seeds and
we make a thing out of it.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
Yeah, because college basketball is something that you can play like.
You don't have to live with that that game for
a week, right because that same number one seed is
playing that's fair the day after tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
That's fair.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Look can I I mean real quick, I don't care
how many teams it is.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
I just want all of the qualifiers to be automatic.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
I am done with at large and dudes with opinions
on who should be going.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
So it's like, every conference champion.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Make it, make it whatever the hell you want. I
don't care.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
If the third place team in the SEC is automatic, great,
you're the third place team. You're in, just like we
do wild cards in all of the other legitimate sports.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
How many how many conferences are there in Division one?

Speaker 2 (39:52):
Oh gosh, more than you think, probably.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
So we'll find out that answer.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Yeah, but just realigned then blown it up already anyway,
right right.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
So the whack becomes the PAC twelve or the PAC
eighteen or PAC twenty along with the Mountain West.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
I mean you call them conference three, four, five, and six.

Speaker 7 (40:15):
Ten conferences in the FBS ten conferences, okay, great, So
that's ten teams anyone who wins their conference championship automatic bid.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Great, and then you take ten at large.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Oh, let's talk about that phrase. We're not done with
this conversation at large. Next, don't listening to Fox Sports
Radio Radio. Yeah, moving in to Sunday night just a
little further and we're broadcasting live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Promise your fun and we'll have it.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
But also not done with that conversation with regard to
college football expansion which is being pitched apparently reportedly by
some inside.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
The Big Ten, which is the Big one hundred and
thirteen or whatever the hell it is at this hour.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
Again, Mark Willardy from Salam Fox Sports Radio Studios, and
very thankful that you're with us. When we last left you,
my least favorite phrase in the sports language was brought up.
It's called at large. I'm out, I'm out on at large.
Do you notice the way that other sports have been
able to define at large? We use words like wild

(41:31):
card or a play in team or whatever. And I
would be all in favor of that. In other words,
if the SEC is bigger and badder than the ACC,
then I don't care if you like. Tell me that
one of the out large team is the second place
team in the SEC. Tell me that one of the

(41:52):
out large teams is one of the is the third
place team in the SEC. Fine, I'm cool with it. Yes,
there's bad luck in sports. We watch for the last
I don't know how many years. Whoever wins the NFC
South is nine and eight, and then they get to
host a game the next week against somebody who's twelve

(42:12):
and five, and we don't argue.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
We do we think that's.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Too Oh no, we're annoyed, but we don't argue. We
just we just do it. We do it, and we
might say, hey, they should do this differently. Great, here's
the game, eat it, watch it, make some food, bet
on it, have fun, on to next week.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
We don't do this whole like, but my team and
Boise State and you're just, oh god stop, there's no answer.
Everybody's wrong.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
I love that everyone walks out of those conversations.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
Thinking that they won the argument. You're all wrong, me too.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Everybody who's ever had an opinion on this college football
team from the Southeast versus this collge football team from
the Northwest that plays two completely different schedules, but one
of them's ten and two and the other one's eleven
and one.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
This one's got history. Vegas is that you're all wrong.
Those are all flimsy arguments.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
That's all I would ask for from I don't care
if it's twelve teams or one hundred and twelve teams.
Define it, go get it, and then play. That's all
I've ever wanted for college football.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
I get it, and I think the top twelve teams
in the country should play for the national championship. Actually,
I think the top eight. I don't think the top twelve.
But we're at twelve, so I don't think it should
be expanded. I don't think anything. I think you have
all year, all season to get yourself in position to

(43:48):
be ranked in the top twelve, to have an opportunity
to win a national championship. You know, you don't want
a bunch of three, four or five lost teams vying
for a national champion shot. Well, except I don't care
what conference you're in.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
But the rankings themselves are produced by human beings and
their opinions.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
Yeah, but those records, you know, stand up, like, if
you're undefeated, you're you're not gonna be outside of the
top twelve.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Understood, but again, we're all playing one loss.

Speaker 3 (44:19):
You're not going to be outside of the top twelve.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
But we're all playing different schedules.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
So somebody in the the you know, the Whack or whatever,
is going to end up at twelve and zero and
go let them run it.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
We deserve a shot.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
Let run it.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
That's fine, they get a shot.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Maybe maybe they will or maybe somebody who's ten and
two in the Big ten will get a shot. I
don't know, and I can't tell you who's going to
win because it's sports.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
If you're gonna do twelve teams and there are ten conferences,
then all the ten conferences, their champs all get to go.
And whoever the two top conferences are. If we want
to do that SEC Big ten, you both get an
extra squad.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
Whoever that mayes the top conference.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Well yeah, then you're still in an opinion phase, right,
So you know somebody and that, But but I don't care,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
I just wanted to find It's just like I said before,
like if the Bucks go nine to eight and they
host the eleven and five Packers, I'll live because I
know from the beginning of the season that's what those
teams are chasing. You're chasing an NFC South Crown and
if you win it, you're gonna host a playoff game.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
I know. But that to me.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
They're trying to change that.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
Well, and maybe.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
They will, but I don't think the NFL will ever
get to a spot where they're like, we fixed it.
We're gonna get to the end of the year, and
then we're gonna huddle and then there will be white
smoke that comes out of the building and will come
out and tell you who's in the playoffs. They'll never
do it, do it because it is a flimsy political

(46:02):
way of doing business. And I just I hate it.
I've always hated it. I don't even understand how that's sports. Like,
you don't get to do everything and then have people
just decide if you won, unless you're a gymnast in
the Olympics.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
That's a good reference.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Yeah, So that's like I and I've never understood college
football's fear of moving toward this.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
They've made bajillions of dollars for years, and so.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
They want everybody to, you know, kind of get there,
be seen and heard and all of that, and then
they'll start worrying about things like but the calendar and
the travel and It's like, I'm sorry, the calendar and
the travel Stanford and calor in the acc What exactly

(47:01):
are you telling me about travel that you're worried about.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Play some games.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
Everything on the field always, that's how you decide who moves.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
Forward on the field.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
I think it would make the sport even more popular
than it already is.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
It's funny how we're already trying to change the already
change that we just had, right like, we just had
the change. This last year was the first year of
twelve teams. Correct, Now we're already trying to change it.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Yeah, why because people didn't love it?

Speaker 2 (47:35):
And I actually didn't. I mean I didn't support that change.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
I didn't get change either. I like more teams.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
I didn't think twelve was the one. Yeah, I don't
think that was the number.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Again, as I said, you could sell me on eight
twelve four million.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
I don't care the number.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
Please just make everybody have an assignment, and whoever achieves it,
that's who gets to go play.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
That's who gets to go play.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
Really, we just cut no more conferences. You just cut
them into regions west fully in favor, right, west, east Central.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
I mean I said this a bunch of years ago. Bike,
you have about the correct number of teams about.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
You might need to expand it a little bit, maybe
to eight or something.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
But there was a time where if you had just
created six super conferences maybe at times, I mean, depending
on how big you want to make them, you can
make four.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
Like the top four teams in each uh well each conference,
which would be the three.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Or what if each conference was split into two divisions
and they were very large, and therefore you have four
conferences with two divisions each. That's eight divisions and everybody
who wins a division, you.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Go, that's it.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
And I don't care if your wreck is uh, you know,
nine and three and somebody else who's in second place
in the other division is eleven and one.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
I'm sorry, that's the way it went. Boo hoo.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
Win your division and then you get to play.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
I get it, man, I see what I would do.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
No one's listening to us to solve this, so.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
Well, I hope some people are listening to the radio.
I know not.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
They're not listening to us to solve this like that.
The powers that be aren't listening's going well, those guys
have a great idea.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
I think they would if you could make it financially work.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
Oh, they could make anything. More games. They can make
that work and a heartbeat exactly.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
More games that more people are interested in because you
know the dirty secret.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
But when will they be played?

Speaker 2 (49:54):
My man, you have the entire month of December just
sitting there with people playing the Ohak Bowl with eight
people there.

Speaker 3 (50:01):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
What do we doing? Bowl season? What are we doing?

Speaker 2 (50:05):
And then somehow they'll come back around the other side
and be like, what do you want us to play
it on February? No, I'd like you to not take
a five week break and then come back and play football.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
Again, Like what are you doing?

Speaker 2 (50:21):
Yeah, because and you're pitching to us that, it's like, well,
they're college students.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
The bulls, the Bowls committee will will have a problem
with that.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
Why turn those into the ball games they can.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
Turn We can turn some of those off. There's about
fifteen bowls that don't need to exist.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
There's that, and then you could also make about fifteen
other bowls way more enticing.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
If they have a seven and fourteen playing in the bowl,
are a six and sixteen? Are a six and seventeen
because you just need six to qualify, right, right, they
should pump that up to eight, at least eight to qualify,
and that will I'm with you, shave some of those

(51:05):
bowls off.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
I'm with you, and then they'll go. So how do
we make up the money? And my argument would be.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
That that's the whole thing you just outlined right, that
this is a new way to do.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
That exactly, and and and the games would matter more
and people would travel to see them more, and your
building would actually be full.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
Now you got something. See how we did that together?

Speaker 1 (51:27):
December sixteenth does not need to be so boring.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
You had an idea which was trash, and then I
added to the idea which made it a viable idea
that that's teamwork. No, that is partnership.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Wait a minute, my trash idea was the whole reality
show for the NFL.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
That was trash too.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
No, I believe my college that was trashed.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
No, no, no, you needed help, But the college idea
was trash. You needed help.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
I don't mind help. Everybody needs a little help from
their friends, but I don't. The base idea was not trash.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Garbage, carbon I reject rubbish, as they say across the pond, rubbish.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
I reject the label this particular carvage. But anyway, see
we got somewhere.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
Wait, you're welcome. Thank you, you welcome America. You welcome Mark.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
Oh, by the way, never going to happen in our lifetime,
of course not no, but.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
It makes sense, makes too much sense. That of sense
makes too much sense.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Does anybody else puke in their mouth a little bit
when somebody wins that December sixteenth Bowl and they're all
out there with like some sponsored item in their mouths,
celebrating at the fifty we won? What did you win?
What did you win? You won the six and six Bowl.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
The tire Bowl, the Potato.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
Bowl, And people are actually like handing.

Speaker 3 (52:53):
That potatoes safe scissor hand or handle?

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Bowl?

Speaker 3 (52:59):
Yeah, responsible bowl?

Speaker 1 (53:02):
Be responsible?

Speaker 3 (53:04):
Right, be responsible?

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Look at that, Look at us. We're's another good idea.
You're welcome again.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
Oh lord?

Speaker 2 (53:13):
All right, something I am going to predict right now
that something very funny is going to happen a week
one of the NFL schedule. One person will not think
that it's funny, and he's a very big star. But
the rest of us, if you've got one funny bone
in your body, you will think it's hilarious and I

(53:34):
will unveil that coming up next with you from Salama,
Mark Willard, this is Fox Sports Radio. These are the
Fox Sports Radio studios with the iHeartRadio app. You just
dream us wherever you happen to be, and we hope
that you are everywhere all over the place. Catch us

(53:56):
in all of our Fox Sports Radio shows Live twenty
four to seven and the new and with iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
You just search Fox Sports Radio in the app. You
dream us live all day every day, and then be
sure to select Fox Sports Radio is one of your
presets in the I Heart Radio app.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
So then it's just right there and pops up at
the top of your screen every time you log in
and open it up. All of that good stuff. Mark
Willardy from Salam. Glad you're with us. Can we hear
a little bit of what happened? It was caught by
microphones by Netflix on the sideline a few years ago

(54:36):
when they did the.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Doc on wide receivers.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
I think Debo and George Kittle and a'man Ross Saint
Brown and maybe Justin Jefferson and Davante Adams. As a
member of the Las Vegas Raiders, was one of those profiled,
and as we got through episodes and got toward the
end of the season, it appeared that DeVante no longer

(55:01):
enjoyed playing football for the Raiders, and it was more
than just an insinuation that there was a very specific
reason why he didn't enjoy playing.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
With the Raiders. Can we hear a little bit of DeVante? Please?

Speaker 8 (55:15):
I gotta hear fall life.

Speaker 7 (55:19):
I never been hit this many times in my career.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
Every game I.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Get all right, I gotta get the bleep out of
here before I lose my bleep in life. And it
does not take a rocket sciences to figure out that
Davante did not much enjoy playing football with Jimmy Garoppolo.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
No, you're absolutely right. Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Now not lost on the crack staff reporters in Los Angeles, California.
A couple of weeks ago, he was asked, hey, uh,
you signed as a free agent with the Rams. Don't
know if anybody told you backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
Here's what Davante said.

Speaker 8 (56:10):
I love Jimmy and it was never a personal thing.
And it's been amazing. We got to, you know, catch
up and get on the right page and obviously that
was just.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
A dark moment in all of our lives.

Speaker 8 (56:20):
I think all of us were pretty miserable over there,
and we kind of caught up and laughed about it.
And we've been making place since we've been out here,
so it's been fun.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
No, Yeah, I've been making plays because actually the defense
is only.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Sort of watching you as of a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 8 (56:34):
But I bring it up today.

Speaker 1 (56:38):
That's real. That's real. The other part's not.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
And I bring it up because I am if I'm
a Rams fan super concerned by the second consecutive Saturday
of silence, which is we're gonna put Matthew Stafford through
a workout and then he'll practice on Monday.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
That's what they said last weekend. He did. Now they're
going to put him through another workout again. Yesterday.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
We haven't heard a darn word yet, but we did
hear one thing, and that was Sean McVay announced that
Jimmy Garoppolo will not be playing anymore in the preseason,
which tells me that is the week one starting at
quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. Davante, would you like
to review your free agent choice?

Speaker 3 (57:28):
Goodness, gracious, do you want to talk about. Oh man,
it's so good.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
The NFL never fails, dude, this poor guy.

Speaker 3 (57:39):
Yeah, well, heymen, good luck with that. Uh huh, good
luck with that.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
I mean it changes the outlook of so much in
the NFC, in the NSC West too.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
Now, I don't know, I don't believe that Matthew is
going to like miss the year or something. But how
does this Because I did make this comparison three days ago,
Matthew Stafford's August this year feels eerily similar to Christian
McCaffrey's August.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
That's a good point.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Remember all August, he's fine, he'll be ready all August long.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
They played three games.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
That's a really good point. These things getting ugly.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
How does that change your view of the NFC.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
Well, I mean, this bowl's well for the Niners, you know,
but yeah, with the healthy Stafford net Rams team, you know,
it's that's formidable. But if if Jimmy Garoppolo is your guy,

(59:04):
then I think they have the Rams at nine in
the power rankings. That drops them out of the top
ten easily easily. Yeah, I think it's five five teams

(59:27):
from the NFC in there. And if Matthew Stafford's not
in there. They're definitely not in the top ten teams
in football.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
Well, this is what I always like to do, because
when we're searching for answers, I always do what any
smart human being does, and that is ask Vegas. Years
ago we used to ask Jeeves. Now we ask Vegas.
And the reason I do that is because I believe
that Vegas knows.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
I think that they know what the real story here.
They know something right. So, like I'm looking at the
up to the minute.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Super Bowl odds and I'll actually say they do reflect
the public being aware that there's a problem, but they
do not reflect that Matthew Stafford is going to like
miss the year or half the year, because it remains there's.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
Three co favorites for the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Right now, it's Buffalo, Baltimore in Philadelphia, with Kansas City
just narrowly right behind. Then there's a little bit of
a gap, and you find yourself in Detroit, and then
there's a much larger gap and you find yourself at
Washington and those forty nine ers. Now two teams have
kind of fallen down that they were tied with Washington

(01:00:45):
and the Niners, and within the last forty eight hours,
they've fallen behind them. They are the Packers and the Rams,
but both of their quarterbacks are sort.

Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
Of injured here in the preseason. But they didn't fall far.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
You know, the Niners and Commanders are plus nineteen hundred,
the Packers and Rams are plus two thousand, and the
Rams are still ahead of the likes of the Vikings
and Texans and Broncos and Bengals and Bucks. So I
would argue that like there's concern, but that doesn't I mean,
if somebody really thought, dude, Matthew Stafford's back is going

(01:01:23):
to dog him all year long, dude, you might as
well line the Rams right up with the with the
Indianapolis Colts. That's essentially, in my opinion, who you'd kind
of turn into.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
Yeah, that's exactly who you turn into. Talented team with
no signal caller. Mm hm, wow, this is going to
be interesting. This back issue is a real thing. And
you got to remember I said it before. He's been
on the cusp of retirement, that conversation for quite some

(01:01:56):
time now. So it's one of those situations where.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
Did you go through that is is is retirement? Is
thinking about retirement? Sort of the same as thinking about divorce,
because I was like, was like.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Dude, as soon as you start thinking, yeah, that's a
good if.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
That work comes up, it's like, y'all are done. You're done.
If you start talking about it like that means.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
You know, because you've already in your mind gave yourself
an out right, you've already decided hmmm, I can see
myself not in this right. And once you start going
there mentally, you start playing the what if game mentally. Yeah,

(01:02:53):
it's hard to pull that thing back.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
Did you go through that at all?

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
No, I was. I really woke up and was like, well,
I don't want to do this anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
And then that was it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:04):
That was it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
Yeah, So the minute you let it in, then that
was it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
Just the pain. It was a lot of pain.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
That's what I'm saying, man, August, pain sucked for you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
It just compounded pain. That was the thing, right, like
you over thirteen years and so many games of an
off season of just dragging your it was a lot, man. Yeah,
it was a lot. And I just didn't want to

(01:03:39):
wake up feeling like that again. And the landscape for
me as a player changed. When I went to Detroit
in nine that was the first time in my career

(01:04:00):
that I didn't have an opportunity to play no matter
what I did. And so once you took, once you took,
you gotta remember I'm a seventh round draft pick, and
once you took my chance to compete away, then I
was as good as gone. That's why you know we

(01:04:23):
make sure Steve de Sager gets his time.

Speaker 5 (01:04:28):
Good evening. So what you're saying is forty nine ers
with McCaffrey last year and the Rams comments with Stafford
this year. What they're really saying is to.

Speaker 9 (01:04:39):
See here, peer, to see here, pease, while there's a
raging fire in the background, please return to your homes
and houses of worship.

Speaker 5 (01:04:53):
Nothing going on. We have two NFL exhibitions on the
Sunday schedule. One is going on right now eight first
half at Chicago. It's on Fox TV and its dominance
from the Chicago Bears. For what it's worth, twenty eight
nothing the lead over the Buffalo Bills, and no, Josh
Allen is not playing for the Bills tonight. Mike White
the starting quarterback. He's four of eight passing fifty four yards.

(01:05:16):
Starting for the Bears tonight. Caleb Williams played two series
with six ten, one hundred and seven yards in a touchdown,
Tyson Bagent's come in and three more tds later, It's
twenty eight nothing for the home team. At New Orleans,
the Saints ty Jacksonville seventeen all Spencer Rattler, a late
touchdown pass and two point conversion. The Saints went three
for three on field goals, including a fifty one yarder

(01:05:38):
made by Blake Groupie. The Eagles acquired wide receiver John
Metchi from the Texans. The Bengals are listening to trade
offers for pass rusher Trey Hendrickson. Carolina is signing quarterback
Bryce Perkins, who was the Spring League MVP this year.
Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton left Saturday's exhibition with an elbow injury.
Scottie Scheffler was the golf winner in Maryland by two

(01:06:00):
Oaksover Robert McIntyre. Sebastian Munos won the live golf events
in a playoff over John Rahm, who nonetheless defends his
season points title. Bryceon Deshamba qualified for the US Ryder
Cup team, and in Major League Baseball, we do have
a ballgame in williams Port Pennsylvania tonight. The Mets now

(01:06:20):
up seven to one on the Mariners, bottom of the fifth,
Mark Fientos with a three run homer. Philadelphia already won
today eleven nine. At Washington, the Dodgers got a solo
homer bottom of the eighth for Mookie Bets and beat
the Padres five to four. The lost to Robert Suarez,
first place in the NLS. The Dodgers alone and first again,
now two games up on the Padres. These two will

(01:06:41):
play each other again next weekend in San Diego. Milwaukee's
fourteen game winning streak is over. In Cincinnati in ten innings,
the Reds beat the Brewers three to two. The Reds
were a game and a half out of the last
NL wild card behind the Mets, and again it's looking
like the Mets will win. Tonight. The Cubs beat Pittsburgh
four to three. Texas a ten to four winner at Toronto.

(01:07:03):
Baltimore won twelve nothing at Houston, and there's one WNBA
game going on. They've started the third quarter, third quarter,
and it's Atlanta twenty seven, Golden State twenty seven. The
Atlanta Dream from three point range two of seventeen, something
less than a dream. For their offense performance. We already

(01:07:23):
had wins for Washington and Phoenix. Las Vegas got thirty
four points from Asia Wilson. Yes, she scored more than
any team has scored in another game so far. The
Aces beat Dallas, which is nine and twenty six. Indiana
won in overtime at Connecticut, which is six and twenty
seven and no. Caitlin Clark did not play. She's missed
over a month with the Groyd injury. Their regular season

(01:07:44):
ends September ninth. Their coach said today, well, we hope
that's our hope that she comes back before the end
of the season. Standing by and New York star Breanna
Stewart isn't due to return till late August. She's been
out with a bone bruce in her knee. Minnesota All
Star and Afisa Kalla missing at least a couple of
weeks with a sprained ankle. Angel Ree Chicago still out.

(01:08:05):
In the past month, she's missed most of her team's
games with a bad back. And we go on to
football season.

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
Back to you. Yeah, and I'm watching this WNBA game
right now.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
Uh, they'll guard you, Ephraim, They'll guard you.

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
Remember how we couldn't good enough of it last year.

Speaker 1 (01:08:25):
Uh huh.

Speaker 3 (01:08:27):
Yeah, I don't know if it's the same sentiment. Does
she mean like there is not like we were doing
whole shows, we're opening shows. No, just on just the
league in general, like just the fanfare.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
In all of it, You know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (01:08:44):
It's kind of the same point I made an hour
ago where college football is talking about expanding, not realizing
that the NFL exists in December. Yeah, like I said,
they expanded their season WNBA and it's not a summer
sport anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:08:56):
That Yeah, that's you can really get lost in the shuffle.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
Absolutely you can, Absolutely you can. And you also need
to strike while the iron is hot. That said, I
might be coming from a little bit of a different
perspective because I don't have the best global finger on
the pulse of.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
All of this.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
But this team that Steve is referencing, and Golden State
is at home tonight from they have never had one
empty seat in their building all year long, not once,
not for.

Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
Any game never.

Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
Not are people watching?

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
Oh, I don't know about television rating.

Speaker 3 (01:09:42):
That's where the money comes from. Now, I don't come
from the tickets. I understand that but I like, man,
like these games were pulling like you know, three million,
two point eight minutes like that, they were really competing. Yep,
that's what I'm talking about. You know, going to any
any live sporting event is a is something that it's exciting.

(01:10:06):
It's a thing, right like it's you're you're going to
an event. It's an event. So I get that, especially
for fans, but that's not why salaries will increase because
people are going to the game.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
No, you're right, you're you're You're one hundred percent right
about that. But I I like, honestly, I can't even
speak to it. I don't know what the numbers are
this year versus last year. It does not help that
all of the stars that Steve just mentioned, and.

Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
That's the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:36):
It's our season of you don't get to see your
favorite player. So if your favorite player is not playing
on your team, on the team, do you not watch?
I know, when Caitlyn Clark Clark's not playing, attendance is down,
viewership is down. I may be the same with Andrew Reize,

(01:10:56):
it may be the same with Breonna Stewart. Like all
of all of the stars, if they're not there Asi
is you know, out there still cooking, you know, but
outside of of her, and and and a few others, Like,
is this a down year in terms of star power
for the w NBA? Season's almost over, It is be

(01:11:18):
over in two weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
Yeah, I don't know. I really don't. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
I hear a lot more about the actual basketball this
year than I did last year.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
Last year I heard a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
More about the individuals and like the tidal wave of discussion.
But like again, I can only speak for the market
in which I live.

Speaker 1 (01:11:43):
Like we are, we're.

Speaker 2 (01:11:45):
Getting closer and closer to average sports fans who actually
care about the outcome of the game.

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
There's a lot of gambling going on on on WNBA.

Speaker 1 (01:11:58):
Game, I mean, well, what the hell is there not
gambling on?

Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
Sure, but it's also working its way into the consciousness
of the sports fan.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
Yeah, I get it. In some markets, it's something.

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
I just remember us having a weekly sports talk radio show.
There's less to talk about this year, sure, Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:12:27):
Well it's becoming it's becoming something that you know, it's
been talked out and we are more used to it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
And you know, I mean, if.

Speaker 10 (01:12:41):
In fact that all these stars have been out this
long means that that's probably a reason for it too.

Speaker 3 (01:12:45):
Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:12:47):
And nobody is, you know, elbowing Caitlin in the face
and throwing her to the ground and all of these
things because she's not in the game. That's what sparks
all the debate. It's what did earlier this year.

Speaker 3 (01:13:00):
So essentially she's the lynch pin to the I mean
to the league here. Is that what we're.

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
Saying, you know, at this at a certain level, yes,
at a certain level.

Speaker 3 (01:13:12):
Yeah, Well, let's hope she comes back for the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
We got a few quarterback things to discuss. Who's going
to make it all the way through the year without
being benched, who's got the most pressure on them? And
actually coming up next, Ian's gonna hop on here and
go through a series of quarterbacks and then E from

(01:13:38):
you and I can either buy or sell, like basically,
we're in on that QB or we're out.

Speaker 1 (01:13:44):
So we'll play around with that a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:13:46):
Coming up next, we're in the Fox Sports Radio studios
with E from Salama, Mark Willard, Fox Sports Radio. All
in the Fox Sports Radio Studios, Mark Willerty from Salam Football.
Three weeks from today, full NFL Sunday. A lot of
quarterbacks that we're going to be taking a look at

(01:14:06):
that have a lot on the line. Are they going
to get to week two? Are they going to get
to Week five, ten, fifteen, etc.

Speaker 1 (01:14:13):
You get it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
Our producer Ian Roddy's going to jump in right now
and take us on a journey through a series of quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
Ephram and Eye are either going to be in or out.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
We will buy or sell this QB as being the
guy for his respective team.

Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
Ian take it.

Speaker 10 (01:14:34):
Away perfectly explained Mark. Let's start with JJ McCarthy and
then let's start with you, Mark, are you buying or
selling JJ McCarthy heading into the season.

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
I'm selling I'm selling JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 2 (01:14:44):
And that might not be fair because I've never even
seen the man who play football at the NFL level,
But I am hearing that the Vikings themselves at practice
are not terribly impressed by what they're seeing, and being
that while he's a rookie, he's actually a second year
guy like I would hope that he could hit the
ground running. I'm selling Viking stock this year. I'm out

(01:15:08):
on JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 3 (01:15:09):
I'm out because he's in a lose lose situation given
the record and the team that they had last year
with a you know of what could have been or
has been and Sam Darnold, what's the upside right right? Like,

(01:15:30):
what's the It's it's only down for him because if
they're not going to duplicate the record they had last
year and the team that they had last year, So
for him, I mean, I don't even know what the
upside is they you know, struggle in the division. Like,
so I'm selling. I'm definitely selling. There's too much pressure

(01:15:51):
on him.

Speaker 10 (01:15:52):
Yeah, he's under some of the most pressure, too much
pressure any quarterback, not just of the young guys. But
next moving on, let's go Drake May. You guys buy
selling Drake May into this year. Let's start with you, Ephrom.

Speaker 3 (01:16:03):
I'm buying Drake May, and I'm buying them because I'm
buying Mike Rabral And I think that the stability that
he's bringing back to the Patriots. He's a player coach,
but he's also a discipline level, he's a culture changer,

(01:16:27):
and so I think this bowls well for him. It
gives him that stability you need as a young quarterback
with the head coach.

Speaker 2 (01:16:38):
I'm completely buying Drake May. I'm all in on.

Speaker 1 (01:16:42):
Drake May this year. I think New England could be
a surprising team.

Speaker 2 (01:16:45):
I agree you from with your comments about Brabel, but
I also think in sort of what was a quiet
rookie campaign, there were some signs that Drake can do
some things. Many more touchdowns than interception all I know, yep,
sixty seven percent almost completion percentage. He's got legs, he

(01:17:06):
can move a little bit. I think he learned some
things now. It's good coaching. They're starting to put some
receivers around him, playmakers.

Speaker 1 (01:17:13):
I think Drake May is going to be the guy
for a while.

Speaker 10 (01:17:17):
All Right, A former number one overall pick here in
Bryce Young? Mark, are you buying or selling Bryce Young
this year?

Speaker 2 (01:17:23):
Oh boy, I'm selling. I'm selling, and it's it's probably unfair.
Like classically, this just didn't He did not end up
in a great spot. And I think that he had
some nice moments last year. He got better. He will
show that. I don't think he'll be a joke or
a doormat this year at all. But what are we

(01:17:43):
really talking about here? We're talking about whether somebody can
be the dude and win a lot of football games
and go to the playoffs, and I just don't I
don't see Bryce.

Speaker 3 (01:17:52):
Young as that I'm selling. I think he's too small.
I thought it was too small call coming out of college.
And nothing he's done in the league, even his resurgent
resurgence last year after getting benched, I just don't think
he's capable of being a sustainable starting quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 10 (01:18:14):
All right, moving on, how about Sam Donald first year
with the Seahawks, Ephim, Are you buying or selling Sam
Donald's year this year?

Speaker 1 (01:18:20):
I'm buying.

Speaker 3 (01:18:21):
I'm buying Sam because I think Sam understands who he
can be. I think he's at a place where they're
gonna love him. I think being up there with the
twelfth Man, it's gonna bowl well for him. That defense
plays extremely well up there. It's very difficult for teams
to go in there and play. And winning some early

(01:18:41):
games there in Seattle, I think will add to the
confidence that he got and just hopefully forget about the
last the last two games he played, which cost him
about one hundred million dollars. But I'm all in on Sam.
I'm buying.

Speaker 2 (01:18:58):
We finally have disagreement selling Sam Donald's I really am like,
I think that was such lightning at a bottle last year.
I think Kevin O'Connell is such a wonderful coach. I
think that there were so many good things perfectly happening
for Sam Donald, weather, controlled environments and whatnot. I get

(01:19:19):
that he was finally in a good situation and wasn't before.
But we've got six years of data on Sam prior
to last year, and at no point did he look
anything like that quarterback. And then, as you just pointed out,
when he got to the playoffs, he looked like a
jet again. He looked like a panther again. And to me,

(01:19:39):
the sample size was not enough last year, in those
first whatever it was, fifteen sixteen games to then think
that that's going to carry over to a new city,
new franchise, new coach. I do not think Sam will
play as well as he did last year.

Speaker 10 (01:19:56):
All right, we got time for one more here. How
about Michael Pennix? Mark, what do you think buying or
selling Michael Pennox this year?

Speaker 1 (01:20:02):
I'm buying. I'm buying Michael Pennix.

Speaker 2 (01:20:04):
I don't necessarily know if he needs to be starting
fights at practice, but Pennix is a talented guy, and
I think the Falcons.

Speaker 1 (01:20:10):
Are on the way up in a winnable.

Speaker 3 (01:20:12):
Division because of the division they're in, I'm buying. If
he was in a tougher division, absolutely not, I'm going
to sail. But as we know, that division is always up,
So I'm buying.

Speaker 2 (01:20:29):
Are you buying Dylan Gabriel's explanation of what he said
for the Browns over the weekend? That's next, you're listening
to Fox Sports Radio. Off we go into our final
hour broadcast in live from the Fox Sports Radio studio.

Speaker 1 (01:20:48):
So glad you're with us.

Speaker 2 (01:20:50):
And it's always interesting whenever we start a new season
in any particular sport, there is that learning curve, and
I think as fans, we tend to look at that
as how quickly can for example, a quarterback read a
defense and how quickly can they get used to the
speed of the game, and how quickly can they get
chemistry with new receivers. But particularly for quarterbacks or any

(01:21:13):
player that's going to be in the public eye, how
quickly can you get used to talking in front of
a microphone and not saying the thing that your team
can't have you say? Even if you maybe didn't mean

(01:21:34):
it to come out that way. Woof, Once the cat
is out of the bag, off we go. Especially in
today's day and age, social media, et cetera, it can
be very very tricky. And so take a listen to this,
Ephram and everybody listening, and would love to get a
discussion going with regard to what exactly Dylan Gabriel meant.

(01:21:58):
Dylan Gabriel is one of the four hundred and thirty
three quarterbacks uh huh, vying for the.

Speaker 1 (01:22:04):
Cleveland Browns starting job.

Speaker 2 (01:22:06):
He did some good things in the most recent preseason
game for the Browns, and then during a sideline interview,
he said the following.

Speaker 11 (01:22:17):
You know, there's entertainers and there's competitors, and I totally
understand that, and my job is to compete and that's.

Speaker 5 (01:22:24):
What I'm focused on doing.

Speaker 1 (01:22:25):
Of course, we're doing.

Speaker 11 (01:22:26):
This big game, but you know, it's something that I'll
get used to and just want to be the best
team that I can and create an environment where we
can all go do our best work.

Speaker 1 (01:22:34):
That's all we want to do.

Speaker 2 (01:22:36):
Okay, very blue collar sound. I want to keep my
head down. I don't want to get involved in everything
they are entertainers and then they are competitors. You can
all imagine where everybody took that, because it was a
week removed from when Shador Sanders showed up at the
stadium having never played NFL football before, with his own entrance, music, entourage, etc.

Speaker 1 (01:22:59):
What do you think Dylan Gabriel.

Speaker 3 (01:23:00):
Meant shots fired? I mean, if you're drafted ahead of
someone considerably ahead, and you're discounted by the majority of
fans in public, and you get an opportunity to step

(01:23:22):
out there and play well, then you're going to let
them know. Right, this is an ego thing. You have
to have an ego as a professional athlete. Now you
don't have to be conceited and there doesn't have to
be conceit with it, but you have to believe you're
better than pretty much everyone in the world to be

(01:23:43):
a professional athlete athlete. The bottom line is zero point
one percent of the world's population can become a professional
athlete out of the seven point whatever billion people. There
is rarefied air in those who get there and those
who get drafted to be there. Now, whether you stay
or not, your arrogates thinner and thinner. The longer you

(01:24:04):
can hold on to that, and Dylan is just letting
everybody know, right, I can play. I played at a
high level in college. I'm a third round draft pick.
I was drafted before someone else, and I'm not here

(01:24:26):
to entertain. I'm here to be the best player I
can be. I'm not even mad at it today. To true,
I'm not.

Speaker 1 (01:24:33):
I'm not mad at it. But if you do agree
that it was pointed a should do.

Speaker 3 (01:24:42):
I think it was?

Speaker 1 (01:24:43):
Okay? Now he would like you to believe that it wasn't.

Speaker 3 (01:24:46):
Of course, of course, why no, you don't want that
bulls eye, But you say what you say.

Speaker 2 (01:24:52):
Here's the clarification after the game with regard to the comments.

Speaker 11 (01:24:57):
You know, all you in this room are entertainers and
you have a job to do, and I respect it, right,
and I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:25:04):
A competitor, so I have a job to do as well.

Speaker 11 (01:25:06):
And I think you know just understanding that that's how
I've lived by And I've said that multiple times, so
definitely not a new quote, but something that I've definitely
said before.

Speaker 2 (01:25:18):
Kay, So not the first time I've said it. I
always say that it's kind of a thing. And if
you do want to know who I'm pointing at, I'm
talking about all of you, like columnists who are sitting
in front of him at a press conference.

Speaker 1 (01:25:38):
Sounds to me like you don't.

Speaker 3 (01:25:39):
Buy it, no, no, no, not. And look he's trying
to clean it up, and it's okay, right, you don't
want that level of scrutiny as a young quarterback trying to,
you know, find his way onto an active roster opening week. What,

(01:26:00):
there's a stiff competition there, and you know, the Browns
are gonna have one more game to make some real decisions.
And I'm I'm here for it. I'm here for it.
I think I think this is what they needed. I

(01:26:22):
think the Browns in order to get out of their
much maligned past of quarterbacks, I think they needed this
level of a quarterback room with competition outside of Flacco
and and uh, what's the name the no no no man,

(01:26:49):
the massage guys outside of them.

Speaker 1 (01:26:55):
A massage guy.

Speaker 3 (01:26:56):
Man, you did it?

Speaker 1 (01:26:57):
Not me?

Speaker 3 (01:27:00):
Hey, it's Joe for the rest of your life.

Speaker 1 (01:27:06):
To that.

Speaker 3 (01:27:07):
And so you draft two kids at the same position, yep,
two round from each other.

Speaker 2 (01:27:13):
I mean that's my initial reaction is, boy, who could
have seen this coming? That there would be drama problems
in Washington. I mean, my guysh like, this is you.
You can't do it this way. You can't get it.

Speaker 3 (01:27:27):
That's why the coaches didn't want to draft your door.

Speaker 2 (01:27:30):
Right, you cannot make your quarterback room. Remember I had
said earlier, I was joking around. Here comes a bad idea.
What if we turned preseason games into an episode of
Survivor and people get cut at the end of it.
But this is not a joke. This is real. That's
what the Browns did with their quarterback room. That's what
they did. Deshaun Watson, Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco, Dylan Gabriel,

(01:27:52):
Shador Sanders. You can label each one, each one, right,
you got you already. Did you have massage guy, you
got the old guy, you got the kind of like
whatever journeyman.

Speaker 1 (01:28:06):
You've got.

Speaker 2 (01:28:08):
Rook one, and then you've got uber, superstar, big name.

Speaker 1 (01:28:14):
Here comes the show Rook two.

Speaker 2 (01:28:17):
And there's no way to navigate that, no, without all
kinds of drama.

Speaker 3 (01:28:23):
And I think, like I said, maybe that's exactly what
they need in Cleveland. Maybe they need a heightened sense
and a heightened level of competition. Kenny Pikett is hot
man out. Obviously well yeah, So you got two rookie
quarterbacks really competing and vying for to be at least

(01:28:48):
the beginning of the season the number two quarterback, the
backup quarterback. Now, Dylan Gabriel has the advantage because he's
a third round draft pick. Very few third round draft
picks get cut after training camp. But it's some fifth, sixth,
and seventh the ones who could let go. So all

(01:29:13):
of this, you know, injuries, everything matters. Dylan Gabriel he
couldn't even be his full best self because of the hamstring.
You saw plenty of times in that game where he
could have extended plays with his legs, and he opted
not to because the last thing you want to do
is re injure that hamstring in a way where you're

(01:29:34):
just on the shelf for the rest of training camp,
training camps over the next week, and so he opted
to not extend drives. Are not making a skate the
oblique injury right, not serious enough? Maybe should do it
be ready for next week. And I would do it

(01:29:59):
like Art Show did me my rookie year. There was
a starter, Corey Lucci, there was me, seventh round guy
vying four starting job. In this case, they'll be vying
for the backup job. Hey, Dylan, you'll start. Shouldure, you'll
play the second quarter. Guinny you'll play the third, should Doure,

(01:30:22):
you'll play the fourth. Whoever plays the best is number
two on the next week on the active roster.

Speaker 2 (01:30:30):
Why not if I set the over under on players
to start a game at quarterback for the Browns this
year at two and a half, what would you say.

Speaker 3 (01:30:40):
Over yep, easy, over yep easy.

Speaker 1 (01:30:46):
And that's that's losing football.

Speaker 3 (01:30:48):
Yes, now, no one was talking about the Browns being
good wow o winning team.

Speaker 2 (01:30:56):
Well, the funny thing is is, like, that's that's what
teams do when they know that they would, in the
back of their minds, like to be in the running
for an early quarterback selection the follow next year. Exactly, Well,
you just used two draft picks on quarterbacks this year.

Speaker 3 (01:31:13):
They just punt it on this year's quarterback class with
the hopes of if it works, it works, If it doesn't,
we got we got action action next year. Yeah, absolutely,
And now a third and a fifth round draft pick,
they'll eat that all day.

Speaker 1 (01:31:27):
Yeah. I get that. I get that. That's not just
any fifth round draft pick though.

Speaker 3 (01:31:31):
Yeah, but you know what I mean, like organizationally, you know,
if they if the dur moves on, they're still the Browns, right, Like,
it's not gonna have any no lasting ramification, and it'll
once he's gone, that'll be someone else's uh situation to
do with.

Speaker 2 (01:31:50):
Correct At the same time, normally, when you have a
third and a fifth round draft pick at the quarterback
position and you got whatever little competition's going on or whatever,
nobody's really watching, right, nobody's watching. Instead, what we've got
is your third round quarterback is being interviewed in the
middle of the game says something that people think is

(01:32:11):
about the fifth round quarterback. Now he's got to address
it after the game. These are the things that are
happening before season even starts.

Speaker 1 (01:32:18):
Circus.

Speaker 2 (01:32:19):
Yeah, right, which, by the way, like I could argue
and not to take it to a more serious topic
like that is apparently apparently why Colin Kaepernick never got
a job.

Speaker 1 (01:32:33):
In the league.

Speaker 3 (01:32:35):
Yeah, that is correct.

Speaker 2 (01:32:36):
Not because no one thought he was one of the
most talented sixty quarterbacks in the world. It was because
nobody wants their QB room to be a media circus,
and that would have been a bigger media circus than
this is I understand.

Speaker 3 (01:32:53):
Look, but Kevin Stefanski didn't want this to be immediate circus.

Speaker 1 (01:32:57):
Well, but they've willingly signed up for it.

Speaker 3 (01:33:00):
When the owner calls down and says, Duke, then you
do this. Sure you saw the draft room, you saw
the coaches. This wasn't in the plan. They just picked
a quarterback. So now they're stuck with this situation that

(01:33:21):
they didn't want, and now they're gonna get the best
out of it. Whoever plays the best is gonna be
that guy and gonna get an opportunity to play, and
you know, essentially for his life or his career because
a backup quarterback will be called upon, multiple will be

(01:33:41):
called upon in Cleveland. So you know, it's it's it's
one of those things where, yeah, it's coming, it's coming.

Speaker 2 (01:33:57):
Speaking of rookie quarterbacks, I wonder if you're ready to
move one of their timelines up. We'll get to that
coming up next with the from Salama Mark Willard. This
is Fox Sports Radio, so we're live in the Fox
Sports Radio studios. Is shortly after the show, the podcast
will go up. If you missed any of today's show,

(01:34:18):
well that was silly, so don't do that.

Speaker 1 (01:34:21):
Again.

Speaker 2 (01:34:21):
But if you did check it out on the podcast,
just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts.
Be sure to follow and review the podcast rated A five,
and then we'll all stay friends again. Just search Fox
Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts. You see today's
show posted right after we get off of the air.

(01:34:42):
Mark Willard eight from Salam And I think, I think
if I remember correctly, and you thought this out with me,
and I thought what you had to say was was
pretty smart. We're talking out Jackson Dart of the New

(01:35:03):
York Giants and when he would probably make his first
start for the team. Russell Wilson is the starter, but
you also have to weigh a couple things in here.
Brian Dayball, the head coach is on the hot seat.
So if you're Dayball, like I always think about it

(01:35:24):
this way, when there's a new quarterback in town, when
you're a head coach, in a way, you're a little
bit incentivized to play him, not overly, because if you
play him a lot and he looks awful, well, now
you've also made a bad draft pick.

Speaker 1 (01:35:38):
But if you don't play.

Speaker 2 (01:35:39):
Him at all, and you're playing a veteran QB who
has some cachet and you lose all of your games.

Speaker 1 (01:35:47):
Well, now it's really easy to fire you.

Speaker 2 (01:35:50):
But if you play your rookie quarterback, here's the sweet spot.
Play your rookie, have him look kind of good, but
you lose. Therefore you're gonna get more good draft position.
And you can kind of explain it away, Well, we
got a rookie playing quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:36:08):
What are you gonna do.

Speaker 2 (01:36:08):
We're in a tough division, but boy, doesn't he look good.
Let's build together. That's the sweet spot. That's what day
Ball wants. You had predicted week ten for Jackson Dart,
reason being you thought find a soft landing spot, do
not start him against a really good team, and they

(01:36:32):
got a whole lot of really good team things going
on somehow on their schedule in the first half of
the year. First two games at Washington at Dallas. Let
Russell hand those. Then you come home for the Chiefs
and the Chargers. Eh, probably let Russell hand handle those.
But here's my question, because then they'll go to New

(01:36:56):
Orleans and then after that it's Philly, Denver, Philly again,
San Francisco. You had guessed week ten you'd like a
home game, but they don't have it Week ten on
the road at Chicago. Is there any chance we can
move that up to Week five in New Orleans. Yeah,
with the possibility that the Giants are zero and four

(01:37:18):
when it.

Speaker 3 (01:37:18):
Happens, happens that without a doubt, if Russell can't get
a game, he will no longer be a starting quarterback
in week four.

Speaker 2 (01:37:30):
And I asked, because Jackson played the other day. It's
preseason or whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:37:32):
But he look good, he looked good, look pretty good.
He looked good. And those are four crazy games to
start their schedule.

Speaker 3 (01:37:40):
Yeah, it's tough. It's tough living right there.

Speaker 1 (01:37:42):
Your first three weeks for Russell Wilson as a Giant.

Speaker 2 (01:37:45):
You go to Washington, you go to Dallas, you come
home for Sunday night football against the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (01:37:53):
You know why I'm so high on on Justin Herbert.
I'd love to hear because when he got his first start,
it was out the blue.

Speaker 1 (01:38:05):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (01:38:06):
There didn't have reps with the first team.

Speaker 1 (01:38:09):
Torod Taylor got the bad shot, and.

Speaker 3 (01:38:11):
You were playing the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, Tarik Hill,
Kelsey the whole nine yards and he went out there
and set them on fire. He was really good, and
in that moment, the whole world was like, oh, wait

(01:38:31):
a minute, huh, because that ideally, you wouldn't want your
rookie quarterback to run up against that buzzsaw or any
bussaw of that magnitude. You don't want to have them
learn like that. And he went out there and he

(01:38:57):
just played ball. And I looked at him and I said, oh, oh,
he's got it. I was like, he's got something.

Speaker 2 (01:39:08):
I agree, but my gosh, to borrow something that we
largely do in golf more than we do in other sports.

Speaker 1 (01:39:17):
Best player who have never won a major?

Speaker 3 (01:39:19):
Yeah, do you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (01:39:21):
This guy, he is so talented and I think has
largely performed pretty well, but it just it doesn't go
right in the playoffs and he gets hurt a lot,
and for whatever reason, that whole just that thing does

(01:39:44):
not look like it has clicked to where some of
the other qbs that feel like, from a physical standpoint,
they're the same kind of guy, have sort of reached
that spot where a lot of times it feels like
teams can win football games just because because of their presence.

Speaker 1 (01:40:02):
Allen and Borough, et cetera.

Speaker 2 (01:40:03):
Mahomes like three years ago, people were like, that's where
Herbert's head and eh, Chargers play a lot of football.

Speaker 1 (01:40:14):
Games that are like nineteen to sixteen. It's odd.

Speaker 2 (01:40:21):
Yeah, Like, I'm with you, but I don't know why
it hasn't turned into something that feels like it can
be a little bit more dominant. Four years ago he
flew from over five thousand yards.

Speaker 3 (01:40:39):
But you also have to realize he was hamstrung, no doubt,
and so that is when there's ineptness at at the
highest level for sure. Then I mean, are we blaming

(01:41:02):
some things you can't overcome? And for me, it looked
though that was one of those things. He was Brendan
Staley was so bad yep, yep, Like it was. It
was to the point where it was it was comical.

Speaker 2 (01:41:20):
Yeah, I mean, I also like some of this is
the fantasy football ification of the whole thing.

Speaker 1 (01:41:29):
Like last year, Justin was really good.

Speaker 2 (01:41:33):
He threw three interceptions all year long.

Speaker 1 (01:41:38):
The team was good.

Speaker 2 (01:41:39):
Harbaugh's good, but Harball wants to do it a certain way,
and Harbaugh does not want to lean on his quarterback
slinging the ball all over the yard, And so maybe
that's a good thing for their record, but it somehow
lessens the way people are going.

Speaker 1 (01:41:54):
To see Justin. I get it, But he didn't even
throw for four thousand yards last year.

Speaker 3 (01:42:00):
No, No, and you know he doesn't have to do
it all himself. That doesn't take away the talent that
he has.

Speaker 1 (01:42:07):
No, it's oh, I get it. It's there. So you know.

Speaker 3 (01:42:14):
When you're tapped on the shoulder five minutes before game
time and say, hey, ugh, I know we you didn't
practice with the ones all week, but you're the starting
quarterback against the Kansas City Chiefs defense and you go
out and throw for over three hundred yards. You got something.

(01:42:36):
Never never looked rattled, never looked shaken, just poise and
look up until this point in his career, he's thrown
for more yards than anybody at this point in their career. Yeah,
that's a real thing. So you know, I'm I say
all of that to say that's not the ideal spot

(01:43:02):
to have a rookie quarterback come into.

Speaker 1 (01:43:04):
No.

Speaker 3 (01:43:04):
No, he's revered because he was able to come into
that spot and show up and show out right. It
didn't it wasn't too big for him.

Speaker 2 (01:43:14):
Maybe you give Russell that game too, and you let
Jackson do Week five in New Orleans.

Speaker 1 (01:43:20):
But I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (01:43:21):
I'm impressed because Justin was able to do that, not
overly impressed, because there's something that we do that to
every hour. We tap him on the shoulder and we
say get in there, whether you're ready or not.

Speaker 1 (01:43:31):
As always ready, start talking, and that's Steve de Seger.

Speaker 5 (01:43:35):
Yeah, it's always ready, by the way, And Mark brings
up only three interceptions thrown by Herbert last year. He
threw five hundred passes last year. We think like the
way the first few weeks ago, you know, Harbor's going
to run every play for the rest of well, he
threw five hundred passes. He went eleven straight games without
throwing a pick. Yeah, last year over three hundred and

(01:43:55):
fifty straight.

Speaker 3 (01:43:56):
Pass That's pretty hard to do.

Speaker 5 (01:43:57):
And it also points out to the I don't know,
or unfairness in general of assigning wins or losses to
the record of the starting quarterback. It's a little different
than the starting pitcher in baseball. Because that Charger playoff
game at Jacksonville a few short years ago, Justin Herbert

(01:44:18):
has had no turnovers in the game and scored thirty
points in a playoff game. On the road.

Speaker 1 (01:44:25):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:44:25):
And Brandon Staley's defense literally could not get one stop
the entire second half. The last five drives in a
row for Jacksonville. They scored on all of them, including
a field goal on the final play.

Speaker 3 (01:44:39):
Surely I can't blame him.

Speaker 1 (01:44:41):
Can I add one thing to the conversation. Though he
played in the playoffs this year?

Speaker 2 (01:44:46):
Oh yeah, and he threw more picks in that game
than all year. They weren't all his fault, I remember that,
But he did throw four picks in his playoffs, even
if two.

Speaker 5 (01:44:57):
Were clearly his fault. I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (01:44:59):
Yeah, and they lost by three touchdowns.

Speaker 5 (01:45:01):
I'm just saying the whole conversation. Sure all depends, and
I mean all of it depends on Hey, the Chargers
lost a game at Jacksonville. Well, I'm not sure I
would play Justin Herbert first for that night. It je
probably not. And yet I hear even on this network,
lazy sports talk hosts bring that up, not remembering the

(01:45:23):
game at.

Speaker 1 (01:45:23):
All, Steve which ones, yeah, plural, oh thank you? Yeah? Names.

Speaker 3 (01:45:29):
No, not everybody watches all the games.

Speaker 5 (01:45:31):
Yeah, let's leave it that. Let's leave it at that.
Not everybody watches all the games because it doesn't fit narratives. Okay,
we've got NFL exhibition play on Fox TV right now.
At Chicago, it's Bears thirty one nothing over the Bills,
and no Josh Allen did not play tonight. It's mid
third quarter. Tyson bagent with a touchdown pass off the bench.
Caleb Williams led a great opening drive for Chicago, seven plays,

(01:45:56):
ninety two yards and an under four minutes. They were
on the board on him his thirty six yard touchdown pass.
In fact, in the first half tonight, when the Bears
led twenty eight nothing at the break, it was twenty
first downs to three advantage for Chicago. At New Orleans today,
a tie, Saints seventeen, Jaguars seventeen. Spencer Rattler of the

(01:46:16):
Saints a late touchdown pass and two point conversion. Trevor
Lawrence of the Jags one td pass, one fumble. The
Eagles acquired wide receiver John Matchi from the Texans WNBA
Everything's final. Atlanta has won at Golden State seventy nine
sixty three earlier wins for Washington and Phoenix. Las Vegas
got thirty four points from Asia Wilson in a win

(01:46:36):
against Dallas. Indiana won in overtime at Connecticut to Major
League Baseball. Seattle's Cal Rawley Is hit his forty seventh
home run of the season. The Mets lead over the
Mariners is seven to three in the bottom of the
eighth in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Mariners are going to start
a series in Philadelphia, PA on Monday night. The Phillies
did win today eleven to nine at Washington. The Dodgers

(01:46:59):
first in the West two games over the Padres, edging
San Diego five to four. This afternoon. Munki bets ait
a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth. Cincinnati
in ten innings edge Milwaukee three to two. The Brewers'
fourteen game winning streak is over because the Red scored
one and the ninth to tie and one in the
tenth to win. The Cubs with a run bottom of
the eighth beat Pittsburgh four to three. Baltimore was a

(01:47:21):
twelve nothing winner at Houston. And yes, there was golf today.
We are nearing the end of the golf season for
both the PGA and Live Golf. Scottie Scheffler was today's
golf winner in Maryland by two strokes over Robert McIntyre.
I don't know if you saw the clip, but when
I noticed this on the news last night, Robert McIntyre

(01:47:41):
hits a putt and immediately shushes the crowd that I
guess had been on him near the green. I immediately thought, oh, oh,
this is not the final round, dude, you should not
be doing that. And with Scottie Scheffler chasing him, McIntyre
shoots a final round seventy three and Scheffler, at one

(01:48:02):
point in the span of five holes, erased a four
shot deficit. Scheffler gets his fifth Tour title this year.
Scheffler now leads those thirty players who advanced to the
finale in Atlanta next week, where the first place check
will be ten million dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:48:19):
Come on.

Speaker 5 (01:48:20):
The top thirty for next weekend was finalized today. We
thought Ricky Fowler was going. He had himself safely inside
the top thirty at one point, but couldn't close it
out last eight holes today he was three over par.
Michael Kim thought he had a chance to go in
the top thirty. He was projected at number thirty in

(01:48:41):
fact as he played the final hole today. But it
turns out. Victor Hovlin, who was his playing partner, made
a birdie putt on eighteen which moved him to a
tie with Kim on the leader board, and that took
away just enough FedEx cup points knocks Kim down to
number thirty one. Congratulate the way to go. But it

(01:49:02):
is a playoff event. So it's the full twenty million
dollar perse that they doled out for the weekend, which
is the equal to any live golf perse. But Scottie
Scheffler gets another three point six million dollars for taking
this McIntyre about two point one million dollars. The PGA's
Tour Championship starts Thursday, Live Golf. The season has ended.

(01:49:22):
As far as individual stuff, we've got next weekend's team
Championship in Michigan. Sebastian Munyos won the live golf event
today in a playoff over John ram Rom shot an
eleven under sixty to tie it. This is Munyos, though,
who shot a first round fifty nine in Indianapolis this weekend,

(01:49:43):
a fifty nine despite a double bogie in the round.

Speaker 1 (01:49:46):
Oh the hell kind of a course where they playing that?
What are we doing on the Live Tour.

Speaker 5 (01:49:54):
I'm not gonna say, but I thought I saw on
fifteen John rams Putt went through a windmill.

Speaker 1 (01:49:59):
I'm just then he wins a prize.

Speaker 2 (01:50:03):
By the way, Mooney gets a spider ring just like
everybody else.

Speaker 5 (01:50:07):
Munyos gets the four million dollar first place prize. Yeah,
and if you make that punt on the eighteenth holl
your ball you don't get it back. It goes straight
into the clubhouse.

Speaker 1 (01:50:15):
Oh god.

Speaker 5 (01:50:16):
Meanwhile, Munos also banks more money because he was part
of the team champions for the weekend. So that's another
chi ching seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars bonus. But
you want bonuses. John Rahm defends his season points title
despite not winning a tournament this year. He lost in
a playoff last week, he lost in a playoff today,

(01:50:36):
but he was very good overall. So he gets too
and a quarter million for his three days of golf
this weekend. By finishing with the most points for the season,
he wins eighteen million dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:50:50):
Wow eight Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (01:50:55):
So the FedEx Cup winners got to go through this
whole thing, I'm bob that goes multi weeks and somehow
at the end of it, you you get ten million,
which is a lot of money. Sure, John Rum for
the whole season never wins, and for his efforts he
gets almost double.

Speaker 5 (01:51:15):
Yeah, he was just very good all the time. Eighteen
million dollars. Oh my god, for playing a series of
live golf tournaments, so none of which are four rounds.

Speaker 1 (01:51:25):
So worthy, Saudi Arabia ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 3 (01:51:28):
So worthy.

Speaker 5 (01:51:29):
And there's your golf of day.

Speaker 1 (01:51:31):
Woo awesome, Steve Hey. Ricky Fowler.

Speaker 2 (01:51:36):
I love Ricky Fowler, but my god, it's disappointing, right,
it just never this.

Speaker 5 (01:51:43):
Was the big name, talk about your uh has never
won a playoff type of name some years and golf
it was Ricky Fowler was on that list.

Speaker 2 (01:51:51):
Ricky Fowler for like for years, Like you could go
as Ricky Fowler for Halloween and people would be like,
I know who you are?

Speaker 1 (01:51:59):
How many golf first? Do you know? Like how you
could be Tiger and Ricky. That's about it. That's about it,
and it just it just never hit.

Speaker 3 (01:52:09):
It's like Kova, Yeah, that's a good.

Speaker 5 (01:52:13):
Except Rickey Fowler finished second a lot and he wasn't
a model.

Speaker 2 (01:52:16):
No, no not, I mean I'm sure like that. Plenty
of people think Ricky is wonderfully handsome.

Speaker 5 (01:52:23):
I don't know, not like her, sure, hair, I mean
they not like her, like her, they not like her.

Speaker 3 (01:52:29):
You made more money modeling than she? Oh yeah, ever
did right? Dennis Brand sponsorships? Bye, I mean one hundredfold,
one hundred times more.

Speaker 1 (01:52:44):
Uh huh.

Speaker 3 (01:52:45):
Hey, well, what are you gonna do?

Speaker 1 (01:52:47):
What are you gonna Doha? Man? Amazing? That's awesome. Yeah,
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:52:54):
And we we are live in the Fox Sports Radio
studios and not done working our way through some.

Speaker 1 (01:53:03):
Of those quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (01:53:05):
Maybe we ask it in a little bit of a
different way coming up next with regard to who is
really facing the most pressure, who is facing a potential
benching the soonest. We'll get to all of that as
we roll on our way out the door and make
room for Plank and Spaniard with me from salam I

(01:53:27):
am Mark whether this is Fox Sports Radio? Okay, these
right here are the Fox Sports Radio studios, Mark with
Aty from Salam. So earlier tonight, Ian took us through
a handful of quarterbacks and we were kind of doing

(01:53:48):
the are you in and are you out?

Speaker 1 (01:53:50):
Thing?

Speaker 2 (01:53:51):
Are you buying or selling them? As the team's QB
for now and into the future and making it through
the season, and I actually think we might and not
saying this was or wasn't by design. There's probably a
couple quarterbacks that weren't even on the list who I

(01:54:12):
think are facing the most pressure. And here's kind of
how I define pressure. You arrive at a spot where
it's like, Okay, we've already paid you, but if you
don't do it this year, we have a problem, and

(01:54:36):
we may not be able to get out of that
problem anytime soon. If you're a rookie, if you're on
a rookie deal even and you're expected to show out
and you don't. Bryce Young and JJ McCarthy, Okay, we'll
go do something else. But what about these two from

(01:55:00):
What on earth do you do? If this isn't the
year for Trevor Lawrence?

Speaker 1 (01:55:08):
What do you do? Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:55:09):
It's time. It's been far too long. If Trevor Lawrence
cannot summon up any.

Speaker 1 (01:55:20):
Of that.

Speaker 3 (01:55:23):
Juju that the world thought he had or was going
to be able to possess, then you have to move on.
You've changed the program, you've changed everything coaching. You know,
the Urban Meyer thing wasn't fair, but you've fixed that,

(01:55:48):
and he's consistently underperforming. So at a certain point you
have to figure out if the Jacksonville Jaguars can't compete
in the division, then you have to ask yourself, is

(01:56:10):
this the year we go get another quarterback? Because if
they start off and they're you know, saying oh and three,
then you're looking at the quarterback class next year saying, okay,

(01:56:30):
who fits. Now it was a mistake and it happens.

Speaker 2 (01:56:37):
Yeah. So the problem though, is that ooh, that money. Yes,
that contract. They did not build a potential out in
that brand spanking new deal until twenty twenty nine. Yikes,
it's twenty twenty five. So look, you know he's only

(01:57:00):
twenty six years old. It's not like he's been awful
his entire career. But you know, his next year with
a quarterback rating over ninety five will be his first.
He had one year right at ninety five in twenty
twenty two. Outside of that, he's never had a year
where he's even at ninety so to me, and now

(01:57:27):
you're starting to also, you're putting pieces around him, Brian Thomas.
Now you got Travis Hunter, got some things going on there,
and it's.

Speaker 1 (01:57:43):
Got to go well this year. It's got to go
well this year, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:57:48):
And then on a flip side, from a statistical standpoint,
I think this guy has already sort of proven his
worth consistently. The issue with him is health and apparently
the issue is also just sort of the mysterious things
going on around him.

Speaker 1 (01:58:06):
But how are you feeling about Tua right now?

Speaker 3 (01:58:09):
It's the healthying. I think Tua showed he can play
at a high level, but if he can't stay healthy,
then that doesn't even matter anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:58:23):
Sure, And so.

Speaker 3 (01:58:28):
You know, they've got the weapons on the outside, they
got the running game, they got all of these things,
and he's taking them to the playoffs when he's healthy. Now,
they're not a cold weather team, right, So going to
play in the negative eight degrees, Yeah, it's not gonna

(01:58:49):
bode well for you if you're a team for Miami.

Speaker 1 (01:58:52):
Doesn't something feels weird there this year?

Speaker 3 (01:58:55):
It does?

Speaker 2 (01:58:55):
It doesn't feels weird like I I something in my
gut is like, dude, they might be awful, like really awful,
right Tyreek?

Speaker 1 (01:59:05):
Is something's about to burst there?

Speaker 2 (01:59:09):
Like are you gonna come back and be awesome or
are you gonna turn into Antonio Brown. I can't tell
because you're out here like you're arriving at camp and
being like, yeah, our lead running back shouldn't be our
goal line back anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:59:24):
It's like, what it just feels weird.

Speaker 3 (01:59:27):
A lot of dysfunction going on, the whole.

Speaker 1 (01:59:29):
Thing feels really weird.

Speaker 2 (01:59:32):
And to his dead cap number next year is fifty
six point four million dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:59:37):
Man, So that's bill right, payment to due now.

Speaker 1 (01:59:46):
So those are those are my two.

Speaker 2 (01:59:48):
Those are my two where it's like something is going
to have to be right this year or it's just wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:59:56):
Those are those are my two.

Speaker 3 (01:59:59):
Yeah, I get you on that. That's a hoof. We've
got a lot to watch for. It's gonna be it's
gonna be an exciting, exciting time.

Speaker 1 (02:00:07):
We are.

Speaker 2 (02:00:08):
We are one week closer, my friend, we are one
week closer. Great talking to you tonight is all week.
We're doing again next week for it from Salam. I'm
Mark Willard. This is Fox Sports Radio.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Mark Willard & Ephraim Salaam Break Down Week 2 of the NFL Preseason, Talk QBs Under the Most Pressure & More!