Mark Willard & Ephraim Salaam discuss the Buffalo Bills Failed 2-point Conversion, 4th Down Impactful Stats & MORE!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh no, man.

Speaker 3 (00:04):
First of all, I hope everybody had a great whatever
the hell you celebrated.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
And second of all, I'm a wishing.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Early happy New Year to everybody, starting with my guy.
But then the third thing is, Ephraim, do we need
to do the same show every single week? It seems
like we're gonna do the same show every week. It
seems like it.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
They're not listening. They're not listening.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Talking to these football coaches like talking to a teenager.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
They're not listening.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Put your motorcycle jacket away and stop being mister cool guy.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Explain to me.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
In the shadow of the Bill's logo at midfield, I'm
gonna let just jump right into this. Why are you
going for two? Why are you going for two? I'm tired, brother,
I'm tired. I'm tired of this machismo. It is literally
putting certain coaches. McDermott, Dan Campbell. You're gonna be on

(01:06):
a high way to Fireville if you keep this up,
because you have good teams and you're falling short. And
Josh Allen better get ready because this is a different playoff.
There's no Mahomes, there's no Burrow and there might not
be Lamar and if he falls short this time, it's
gonna sound different in Buffalo.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
I mean there's a chance he may he may fall short.
There's a good chance. You know, this Buffalo team isn't
the Buffalo team we've seen in the past where there's
fear permeating from opponents. It just it doesn't watching them play,

(01:49):
and it's the whole season, not just some of today.
They're not as dynamic a team as we are used
to in the past. And it's evident. Number one, they
have zero weapons on the outside, yep, no one. They
lose their all world tight end. He didn't play today.

(02:12):
And you know, defensively they're hit and miss h and
offensive line wise, you I mean, it's the same, you know,
team that gave up ten sacks I think to against Houston,
who's also in the playoffs and who's also in the AFC.
So their road ahead, you know, minus the Mahomes, minus

(02:34):
the Burroughs, it's it's still as difficult as ever. In
my opinion, based on this team, I agree with you.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
I'm not sitting here saying all the Bills will or
should or whatever.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
I don't think they're the best team.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
I agree, I don't think they're the best team.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
I'm simply getting Josh and Sean McDermott ready for whatever
debate show you you'd like to point to and tell
you what it's going to sound like the day after
he loses. And by the way, oddly the fault will
lie with everyone but him.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
I've said this to you before.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
Watching the Buffalo Bills is like watching everybody's local high
school game, where every high school's got that dude, that
one dude, and you're like, yeah, the whole team's just
kind of like about that guy. He runs right, he
runs the left. Remember we used to talk about, you know,
the King Derrick Henry and his high school stats. Yes,

(03:38):
by the way, we'll talk about him again here a
little bit later, But that like, that's what Josh Allen
feels like. The Buffalo Bills are playing high school football
and it's just like, we have this really cool player
and so we're just gonna do all kinds of stuff
for him.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
And maybe because it's Buffalo, New York as opposed to New.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
York, New York, I don't know why the pressure doesn't
seem to be the same. But if that were any
other market. The idea of what has not been put
around Josh is wild because the defense is mid. You
just mentioned the receiving corps. I love James Cook and

(04:18):
outside of that, there's really The Bills are just blah,
They're just there.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
They're they're a whatever roster.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
And then they have just a phenomenal, maybe the most
talented player in the game as their quarterback. So it
masks some things, But I don't know how the pressure
cooker doesn't get turned up on that whole organization if
they fall short this time with Mahomes and Burrow, and
at best even if Lamar gets in a physically compromised Lamar.

(04:49):
If you're if you're not able to beat second year
quarterbacks like Drake May and Bo Nicks, then I just
think it's time for a hard look at themselves.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, I think that's fair.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
It is. And you this is a this is a
perfect game. You just can't lose these type of games.
Like you can't lose these type of games going into

(05:20):
the playoffs against a playoff team. You gotta be buttoned up,
you gotta be locked in, and you gotta be going
in the right direction. Now, this was a defensive battle.
It was hard fought. Both defenses came up with big
plays when needed. Yep. But when you're talking about someone

(05:45):
the caliber of a Josh Allen and him being the
reigning MVP and you know, in some circles, arguably the
best quarterback in the league, you can't do this. You
can't be you have to win these That's how you
separate yourself and look for Josh's career. Outside of the

(06:07):
first two years, he's been that guy. He's been that guy. Yep, right,
I mean Patrick Mahomes took thirteen seconds to go down
and snatch a winning away from him, Like he's done
what he's supposed to do. They change the playoff rules
because of him and what he's able to do and

(06:28):
the fans wanting to see him do that. So when
you get in a situation when you're coming down to
the end of the season and you're vying for home court,
home field advantage, you have to capitalize on this against
a team who's I guess, still trying to figure out
what type of team they are. Yeah, who's gone through

(06:49):
their own set of ups and downs throughout the season.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Well, I mean both of these teams are exactly like
all of the other teams that we're gonna watch here
in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
It feels like everybody's got some warts.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Very few teams have a very clear cut identity, and
you're supposed to know what to expect week in and
week out. There's actually, you know, maybe a couple teams
are coming into focus. I know the Rams, based on
that Seattle thing a couple of weeks ago, have sort
of for the moment, they've blown their window to be
the one seed. But I still think people think that's

(07:27):
the most defined team in the NFC. I'm starting to
get super convinced by the Houston Texans just because of
what one side of that ball looks like. That feels
like that's gonna work in January. But everybody's got warts.
And you know, these two teams that we're going to
see tonight, they've got warts, but to both eleven and four.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
So I don't know to a degree.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
I'm like, look, if you lost by one to the Eagles,
you lost by one to the Eagles. But I get
frustrated by this, and I wonder, as a former player,
how this would have landed with you. Constantly, when someone
goes forward at the end, whether it's fourth down, two
point conversion, whatever, the standard answer from a player is,
we're really excited that our coach believes in us. We're

(08:15):
really excited that our coach gives us that opportunity. And
apram I didn't play football. So you tell me when
I see you do that, it tells me you don't
believe in your team, not that you do. Think about
what you're doing. You're literally saying, hey, instead of going

(08:35):
mono a mono on our home field and let's go
to overtime on our home field. You're like, Eh, let's
see if we could just execute one play. That tells
me you don't believe in your guys, not the opposite.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
Well, when you look at it like this, it's a
situation where the game was ugly, sure, game attel the
two halves for both teams, and you're at a situation
where you know the weather is is what the weather is,

(09:11):
and you feel like, okay, we've not only come back,
but we've given ourselves a chance to win the game
in one play. We're at home. The best player on

(09:31):
the planet in their eyes, has two yards and one
play to win the game. Would you bet on that?

Speaker 2 (09:41):
I think I would, but I would have bet on
the opposite too.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
Now, in other words, the Eagles hadn't scored in two hours, right,
and so I would bet on the Bills in overtime too.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
You got to remember they struggle to score as well. Yes,
I know, and so they got an extra point blocked.
So now that's running through your head. Okay, if we
go back here and line up for this thing and
we get another one, like all of these things matter,
but the deciding factor, and I understand this from McDermott,

(10:15):
is I have essentially Superman with two yards and the win.
I'm betting on Superman, and I get it. In that situation.
Now we're offensively going up and down the court the
field and with scoring and everything is clicking. It was
like pulling teeth the entire game. Yep. Do you want
to go pull more teeth or do you want to

(10:37):
just right now? The play call absurd, like I don't
even know, I get it. You roll them out, you
give them more options and for all intents purposes, the
play was wide open and josh Air mild an easy
touchdown where no one was six yards six yards close

(10:58):
to the intend to receive. Yep. Now that's a Josh
Allen thing, right. They call the right play, they executed it,
and he missed a throw. As a coach, can you
live with that? I would? I would. I could live
with that because it's Josh Allen, He's the MVP, and
he makes that play nine out of ten times we

(11:21):
needed it. Now it didn't happen. The ramifications of that
is number one. Number one seed is off the table.
Now you have to travel. Buffalo would have a decidedly
a huge home field advantage in the playoffs because in
late December and well January correct, they're building a whole

(11:45):
nother stadium because of what weather looks like out there
in January, and so you would have the advantage of
being in that and practicing that and playing in that.
It's difficult to play in. You've given that up, But
I understand the thought process. This has been a tough,

(12:06):
tough game, both offensively defensively. Let's get it over with now,
and I will put my chips on on Josh Allen
if he's that guy. I get it.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Like even what you're saying right now is analytics, Like,
I get it, but I also think it is yet
another symptom of the disease.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
Yeah, but I don't think. I don't think any team
has blocked more kids kicks this year than than Philadelphia
for whatever reason.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
At no point am I lining up for an extra
point and thinking to myself, well, it might get blocked earlier.
I understand that. To my thinking, it's all the more
reason that it shouldn't happen again.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Isn't phil the team that blocked the kick scooped it
up and scored to win the game this year? Kicks
in that game that was a field goal?

Speaker 3 (13:08):
But yeah, and the Rams special team has been a
hot mess all year.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
But what I'm saying is they have a history of that.
I would bet on my quarter. I would bet on
my MVP than the kicker, That's all I'm gonna say. Yep,
you know how I feel about kickers. I know I'm
going to bet on the MVP Superman himself over my
kicker and Rainy Stormy Weather all of that. So I

(13:33):
understand that normally I'm on the other side of the
coin with you, like yo, bro get the points list.
But in this situation with Josh Allen at the helm,
after finally getting over the hump of I mean, so
it took some miraculous plays for them even to score
the touchdown for sure. And so do I want to

(13:53):
go a whole another ten minutes of trying to figure
that thing out? Or do I want to be right
here with the chance to win it and four seconds?

Speaker 3 (14:05):
Well, I think that this is related to what we
see teams do on fourth down throughout the league. I
did a little bit of a dive to check in
on the analytics of the analytics. So, in other words,
the teams that go ford a lot on fourth down?
Are they good teams? The teams that don't go for

(14:25):
it a lot on fourth down? Are they good teams? Yeah,
let me dive into that a little bit. Coming up next. Plus,
we got to set the table for a very fancy
Sunday night football game that's about to kick off in
Santa Clara. The forty nine Ers and Bears are both
eleven and four. Both of them still have potential designs
on the number one overall seed in the NFC. If

(14:49):
the Bears win, then the Niners can help the Bears
get that next week. If the Niners win, then the
Niners and Seahawks basically have a game for the one
seed next week. So this is good with love your
thoughts on this before it kicks off, so we'll get
all of that coming up next. We are live in
the Fox Sports Radio studios. It is week seventeen in

(15:09):
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What are you doing interrupting our promo?

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Let me put this into context.

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Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and subscribe. Ball
is in the air. Niners are gonna have the ball
first one tonight. I was going to eleven and four.
Let's go. Gonna ask you the same thing.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
I mean, you have a vested interest, so I would
I would defer to you in this absolutely well.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
To me, the entire thing to watch for is whether
or not the forty nine ers take care of the football.
The Chicago Bears this year, I think they're a good team.
I don't think they're a great team, but they lead
the entire NFL in both turnovers and turnover mark.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
That is how they get their job done.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
If you take care of the ball, you stop them
from getting their job done.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
But you know, the absence of George Kittle.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
We saw early in the there you.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Go, very first play of the game is a is
a tip ball and a pick six and the Bears
are on the board.

Speaker 4 (17:19):
What were you saying.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
I was just saying, maybe take care of the ball tonight.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah, brother, we couldn't have planned that. I'm so glad.
I defer to you that was right on time. Yep.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
That's what the Bears do, man, They're number one. This
is what they do. And I like, I wonder sometimes
and we're getting another look at this to kind of
see what this is on This just is a great job,
great job, this is a great play. But yep, yep,
Like you know, Juwan Jennings on a little inn and

(17:52):
Johnson got there first, tip the ball up in the
air and there you go. This is what the Bears do.
It's what the Jags do. Also, it's how they have
both arrived at the records they have. Sometimes I wonder
how like sustainable of a process that is, you know
what I mean our turnovers?

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Breaks? Do you make the breaks?

Speaker 3 (18:15):
But this is what the Bears and Jacks are doing, man,
And as long as they keep doing it, they're gonna
keep winning.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
Well, let me give the listeners a little bit of
insight on why teams that historically win to turnover margin
by large sums, why they're more than likely going to
make the playoffs. When you break it down into the
simplest form, it's about possessions. So you would think, if

(18:45):
you can get three possessions a quarter, right, that's six
and a half, that's twelve in a game, that's what
you want. You want to at least get three possessions,
and of course not, sometimes you get more, sometimes you
get less, depending on the other team. All right, team
goes on the seventeen play drive, eats up nine minutes. Yeah,

(19:07):
you're not gonna get three in a quarter. That's designed
for you to go out there and get as many
three and outs as you can by your defense, or
turn the ball over to get more. Once So, the
forty nine ers have already ended one of their possessions, correct,
and without the Chicago Bears having an offensive possession, they've

(19:29):
already scored. Now you're two fold behind the eight ball,
double space behind the eight ball. Number one, you've given
away a possession number two. You're down now. So if
the Bears come out and they have three possessions this quarter.
They've already playing with house money. Okay, So in the

(19:51):
simplest form, when teams can gain extra possessions for their offense,
when defenses can do that, it bowls well. Number one,
you eat up more clock. Number two, you give your
offense a chance to really score. Now, in this situation,
the defense scored for you. Right, it's been fifteen seconds
of the game, right right, You're already down. So now

(20:15):
you have to climb a hill. They have to score
in this possession to just even it back up. And
that's one of the reasons why the turnover margin is
so important, because the more possessions you have, you take
opportunity from the opposing offense and you have the ability

(20:38):
to manage the clock and put points on the board.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
I mean, when it happens that fast, you're essentially just
being like, well, let's just start they start over start
the game with the Bears up seven nothing, yes, you
just you know, And the Niners got the opening kick,
So that means the Bears now get a seven to
nothing lead.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
And get another possession.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
They get the ball to start the second half, which
is a very sought after thing.

Speaker 4 (21:02):
And go three and out right and they've got third
and long. Now, this is when it stacks against you
when you when you start the game like that, this
is when it stacks against you because if you now
go three and out and they get the bar the ball,
even though only on the road, with all the momentum,
now you're in full long.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
You're in trouble. And this forty nine Ers defense is young.
They will be challenged by everybody. We know the forty
nine Ers, they do their business right now by kind
of outscoring people. They don't have a great defense because
they've lost their two best defensive players, and tonight, by
the way, they don't have.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
George Kittle either.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Now George Kittle's backup or one of his backups actually
just converted that third down, so the Niners go into
Bears territory, and that's a big that's an effective play.
But still it's to the point that you just made.
I'm in full agreement. What happened to Trent Williams. I
don't know he started the game. Look at that he

(22:00):
is no longer in the Gaston pleasance in the game, so.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
I'm wondering if something happened to him maybe on the
interception return.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
That's a good point.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
He's in the medical tent and that doesn't that is
a huge problem.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
Well, I could have told you that was coming, because
for whatever reason, last week was the week where everyone
sort of noticed that Trent was having a fully healthy year. Honestly,
I'm not kidding. Like you started to hear people talk
about it. You're like, you know why he quiet because
he's coming into this year and he's getting old. And
everyone was like, remember he did the interview after Monday

(22:37):
Night football and everyone's chanting one more year and he's like,
I'm not going anywhere. I'm doing more than one more year.
So everyone started talking about point. You know what, Trent
actually is playing well and he's made it through the
whole season healthy.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
That lasted one play.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
Good lord, Yeah, and I hope it's okay. And if
there's any news about him, I'm sure this person could
let us know. And that is one steep to sacre boom.

Speaker 7 (23:05):
Good evening to you, gentlemen. Is already seven to nothing
Bears at San Francisco and the opening couple of minutes
in this game, we'll get to the Philadelphia and Giants
wins in a moment. But the Bears now have twenty
two interceptions in NFL high this year. And yes, tight
end George Kittle is out with an ankle injury. One
of the Niners beat writers points out there, with Kittle

(23:27):
on the field, how much better the run game is
this season? It's over four yards of carry and eleven
touchdown runs with him on the field, but with him
off the field, it's three yards of carry and one
rushing touchdown. This year, they do have not only Juwan
Jennings that you mentioned, Ricky pearsall wide receiver is active
for this game tonight, but it is, believe it or not,

(23:51):
an early and I mean early score. First play from
scrimmage for the visitors from Chicago, who we have a
path to a one seed here with a win tonight.
Now the forty nine ers will be the one seed
in the NFC if they win their last two games.
The finale is against the Seahawks. How are things gonna

(24:12):
be if the Niners fall behind? And yes, left tackle
Trent Williams is in the medical tent, so Austin pleasants
at less left tackle to open that second drive of
the night. Wow, seven to nothing. Bears quickly in a
battle of eleven and four teams at Buffalo, Philadelphia ended
the Bills four game winning streak thirteen to twelve. Eagles

(24:33):
led thirteen to nothing at the half. Philadelphia's defense with
five sacks last week, and Philly clinch back to back
division titles. Giants who've lost nine in a row were
at Las Vegas, which has lost nine in a row
well the final thirty four to ten. Giants Wandel Robinson
of New York targeted fourteen times at eleven receptions one

(24:54):
hundred and thirteen yards. Raiders tight end Michael Mayer nine
catches for eighty nine yards brought Bowers as up ir
more on this in a minute. Seattle won its six
straight game, twenty seven to ten the final at Carolina.
Seattle currently the one seed in the NFC after defeating
the Rams, Rams try and play catch up in the standings,
playing tomorrow night at Atlanta. For the moment, the Rams

(25:15):
are way down at seed number six. That's how competitive
things are in the conference. Miami at home beats slumping
Tampa Bay twenty to seventeen. The Bucks have lost four
straight and seven of their last eight. Drake may have
New England at five touchdown passes at the Jets form
in the first half forty two ten the final. The
Patriots on the road now eight in zero and they
have clinched the AFC East Crown. Jacksonville won its seventh

(25:39):
straight game twenty three seventeen at Indianapolis. Colts have lost
six in a row. The Colts were eliminated Saturday, so
they'll likely start qb Riley Leonard in the finale. Cleveland
ended a four game losing streak beating Pittsburgh thirteen to six.
Steelers host Baltimore next Sunday, could have clinched the division title.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
Today.

Speaker 7 (25:58):
New Orleans has won four in a row thirty four
to twenty six. The final at Tennessee. Tyler Shuck three
hundred thirty three yards passing and two scores. Cincinnati sent
Arizona to an eighth straight loss thirty seven fourteen Joe
Burrow three hundred five yards passing and two touchdowns and
an update, we have a nine ers TD, a one
yard toss from Brock Perty to Jake Ton just as

(26:19):
you mentioned, getting some tight end time here seven to seven.
We're only about four minutes into this game. Perty is
four of seven passing fifty two yards, the one touchdown
and the one pick six. As for the NBA, we
did have finals today of the Thunder winning again one
twenty nine one oh four over Philadelphia chet Holmgren twenty

(26:42):
nine points. Raptors beat Golden State one forty one to
one twenty seven in overtime. The Wizard's got a home
win against the Grizzlies one sixteen to one twelve despite
thirty one points from Jaron Jackson, and Portland has beaten
Boston one fourteen to one oh eight despite thirty seven
points from Jalen Brown. In the NHL, Pittsburgh lead six

(27:03):
two at Chicago in the second period. Wins today for
Columbus for the Lightning in a shootout. And now about
these Raiders who are two and fourteen and have lost
ten in a row. And Gino Smith, who had one
touchdown two interceptions, left with an ankle injury. He's thrown
the most interceptions for any Raiders quarterback since Kerry Collins

(27:24):
over twenty years ago. For the Giants to get this
win and this final score a lopsided win, apparently, it's
only the second time in the last eleven seasons they
had even led a road game by twenty more points.
So two great items from Associated Press in the Bay Area.
Who has the most victories? What NFL team at a

(27:48):
legiant stadium in twenty twenty five because the Raiders have
won they lost at home today? The answer the Chargers
have two because they finished last year in January of
twenty twenty five a win and then beat him there
this season in September. There's a team that has more
wins in the Raiders stadium than the Raiders do. And

(28:09):
Pete Carroll losing again by twenty four So how many
times in his NFL career has he lost games by
twenty four points or more? Well, his first season years
ago with the Jets, he didn't lose a single game
by twenty four and then his years with the Patriots
that's about fifty games worth of coaching. Only once all
his years with Seattle that's almost two hundred and fifty games.

(28:32):
Just six times did he lose by twenty four points
or more. Already in one season with the Raiders four times,
including against the Giants. For crying out loud, he's lost
by twenty four or more.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
Back to you, So for years wherever the Chargers play
has been the Raiders actual.

Speaker 7 (28:51):
Home, you could term it that way.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
And now where the Raiders play is the Chargers home
wonderful as well as as a nice little turnabout is fair.

Speaker 7 (29:04):
Play there, And it was brought up by one of
the guests last night that it's kind of the Raiders
have taken over as the location in the NFL where
the visiting fans dominate.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
Well, I mean, you get a trip to Las Vegas,
you get a trip to Las Vegas and your team
is there. And by the way, I've been to a
Legiance Stadium, not bad. Like the first story I always
tell that gets every fans attention, Like you know, sometimes
you're like we're out.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
I'm not.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
It's kind of like if I'm at a bar, I'm
not going to ask how much are the cocktails before
I buy one? Like we're here, right, So I go
to the concession of Allegian and my wife and I like,
just like a couple snacks and a water but it
was like four items and U and they go, Okay,
that's thirteen dollars really, And I went, excuse me, so

(29:54):
what now there's going to be thirteen dollars?

Speaker 7 (29:57):
It's the master's or right game I.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Was immediately like, you're gonna give me all the stuff
that I ordered?

Speaker 4 (30:02):
Right?

Speaker 3 (30:03):
And then they gave me all the stuff that I ordered,
and they're like, that'll be thirteen dollars.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
I was like, now that boom, that's like wow, does
that change the stadium experience?

Speaker 7 (30:17):
Now? People need to know what these new stadiums, these
are cash less venues.

Speaker 4 (30:21):
Now.

Speaker 7 (30:21):
Yes, early in the existence of Allegian Stadium in Los Vegers,
everything went down. I don't know if it was a
football or a wrestling show or something, but they wound
up having to give away hot dogs stuff they had
already cooked, and they could not accept cash. They're just
not set up for that. Everything is cashless.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
Right, So but this in this case, things were working.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
I used the card and everything, and then they gave
me all the stuff and it was like thirteen dollars.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
So I was like, okay.

Speaker 7 (30:48):
By the way, one of the longest lines at Dodger
Stadium now that they're cashless is the line to trade
in your cash for a card to use at the
concession stand.

Speaker 4 (30:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Yeah, I mean soon enough, I don't, you know, like cash,
what are we doing there?

Speaker 7 (31:02):
Yeah, they'll just put the whatever on your right hand
or forehead in your walk around exactly.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
Just give me a bar code on the back of
my neck.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Just beep it.

Speaker 4 (31:10):
Oh, it's coming exactly. It's like, have you been in
the airport and you've gone into the like the Amazon
store or something like that. They have like the little
concession like, yeah, you just walk in. When you walk in,
it scans your device and then you just grab what

(31:30):
you want and walk out.

Speaker 7 (31:31):
Well, they have that in the Amazon shopping carts. They're
Amazon Grocery.

Speaker 4 (31:36):
Yeah, you just go in there and you grab what
you want and you walk out.

Speaker 7 (31:39):
It's one of those sci fi movies. The futuristic is
as you walk down the street, you are targeted for
advertising because of the chip in you. And we're getting
close to that with people's online.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
Oh, we're for sure there, We're for sure there. There's
there's no question about Actually, you know, holidays, everybody's around
with the family and we're talking about we're talking with
my nieces and nephews about my aging parents and all
of the like I had to set the uber ap
up from my parents. You know, I don't know how

(32:10):
to do this, and and and they're you know, like
At one point, my sister jokes with the kids, goes, now, see,
this is what it's like. So in another thirty years,
you're going to need to help us and and.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Be nice to us and everything.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
And my niece goes, well, but you guys get all
of this stuff so like it'll be I'm like, right,
but this stuff isn't going to be the stuff anymore.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
Like I think what you guys just.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
Said, like barcodes and walking in places where people are
reading our minds and the stuff.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
But what I'll tell you, we have an advantage over
our parents' generation. How so because we grew up with
technology in our You're correct.

Speaker 7 (32:53):
I knew a person who was a teacher and in
their final years of teaching, it was mandatory for all
teachers to check the work email, turn on the computer
and everything instead of putting notes in your box physically. Yeah,
so this teacher before retirement simply learned how to turn
on and check the email and could do nothing else

(33:13):
with a computer at home or work.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
One of my son's second grade teacher refused to use
the chromebooks like she refused to use all on schools
across the country. Everybody's doing their work on chromebooks, right,
And so she refused to do technology in our class well,

(33:38):
and so she retired after that year.

Speaker 7 (33:41):
It's not that far different than when everything went to
tablet on the NFL sideline. You recall old school Bill
Belichick's reaction to said tablet on the sideline.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
But for us, like we grew up with video games,
we grew up with Apple music, we grew up with iPhones.

Speaker 7 (34:00):
Young enough when cell phones came about at.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
All, our parents had radio.

Speaker 7 (34:04):
Nothing was digital.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
They had the radio.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
I'm gonna trust you, okay, calling you in thirty years
when I don't get what the hell's going on.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
Yeah, but you're you're more apt to understand it because
you haven't it. You look when I told my like
when my dad got you know, before he passed away,
and he had all these apps on his phone and
all that he was trying to figure it out. He
would be telling me stories. I remember if I wanted
to you know, I had the kitchen in the court
and they had to hustle home to get to I said, okay, Dad, yeah,

(34:36):
I know.

Speaker 7 (34:37):
Yes, the antenna on top of the team, right, I
had to have one foot off the ground.

Speaker 4 (34:43):
That was his youth, like we cell phones came out
when I was a freshman in college, when really everybody
could have them and get them and stuff like that.
So I'm sixteen, seventeen years old. So I grew up
with the notion of being able to talk to somebody
outside of that house anytime I wanted to. It's not
foreign to me. Like my kids, they've never they don't

(35:06):
know what it's like to not see a person when
you talk to them. I would hand them the phone
and my mom or somebody would be on the phone,
but like, hey, Grandma wants to talk to you, and
they would look at it like where is she right,
I'm like, no, man, hold up to your ear.

Speaker 7 (35:20):
We inside the phone.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
So we had a cordless phone, right that we just
had for emergencies. I don't know what for the grid
goes down, it goes down, I don't know, right, And
so it was a situation where it was like, all right,
I gave the cordless phone to my son and I
was like, hey, can you turn this phone on to

(35:41):
make a call. He said, yeah, that's a nuh Now,
remind you just one of the plays talks again, right, Like,
So the fact that we we are the generation Mark
that had both. Okay, I'm gonna tell.

Speaker 7 (36:03):
You technological baby boomers.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yes, I feel better now. I feel better by the.

Speaker 7 (36:10):
Way I'm forty nine. Update before we break is that
Trent Williams is questionable to return with a hamstring injury
injured on the pick six first place.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
From scratch, and I'm gonna use my eyes to call
him doubtful.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
He's his gloves.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
Offs is undone.

Speaker 3 (36:26):
So then the Niners are back on offense and he's
not out there. So they did go. They they even
this thing up seven to seven. Then the Bears out
of three and out, so the Niners have at least
calmed things down a little bit after they first played
pick six. But that the larger news, yeah, is not great.
So more on that coming up in a second. Here
on the in the Fox Sports Radio studios. Its Mark

(36:48):
with Herdey from Salama on Fox Sports Radio. So we
sit in the Fox Sports Radio studios and the Bears
go three and out again after the forty nine Ers
went three and out, so things have gotten interesting and
it's seven to seven. We'll keep you up to date
on Niners and Bears and the Niners tonight will now

(37:08):
seemingly attempt to win this football game with Okay, checks notes,
no Trent Williams, no George Kittle, no Fred Warner, and
no Nick Bosa. So what I might ask, how both
of these teams are sitting here at eleven and four?

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Honestly pretty crazy?

Speaker 4 (37:28):
Yeah, I'll say it is crazy, But hats off to
both of these coaches, who, in my opinion, are in
the running for Coach of the year.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
Absolutely, easy, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Who would you vote for?

Speaker 4 (37:41):
By the way, I would give it to Cohen Jacksonville.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
Okay, yeah, I think that the four that really although, man,
we really should not be forgetting like Damico Ryans has
entered the building if you ask me, Oh, yeah, he
has entered the building. Liam Cohen, Mike Vrabel now now
Kyle Shanahan, Ben Johnson.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
Thinko been coach of the year already? Ah, that's a
good quest.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
I think he did.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
I think they He won Coach of the Year.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
C J.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
Stroud, It was Offensive Player of the Year, and then
Will Anderson won Defensive Player of the Year. If I'm
not mistaken.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
Two years ago, tamiic o'ryans, Yes, Coach of the Year
twenty twenty three.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
Yeah, okay, soul three. The world knows he can do it, right,
and so what we Once you're the coach of the year,
the expectation rises every year.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
There's no doubt this is this is why Kyle Shanahan
will not win.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
This award, right And so for me, Cohen came out
of nowhere. Number one, nobody even knew what they was like,
who's right, right, right? And it's fair, that's fair. And
the Jacksonville Jaguars had been in a place this is
Trevor Lawrence is what's fifth year?

Speaker 2 (38:57):
Our sixth year? Yeah, year five?

Speaker 4 (39:02):
And we had nothing. We it was over right. We
were moving on and the question was, well, what are
they gonna do with Trevor? That starts that began, you know,
the question and your first round draft pick? Uh, thus

(39:22):
was it to say, I can't remember it's the second
or third pick in the draft. You lose him and
you're still you're twelve and four. Unbelievable, No doubt. No
one saw that.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
A lot of these things we can say about Ben
Johnson in Chicago.

Speaker 4 (39:40):
Yes, yes, but we knew knew Ben Johnson was we
sure did. We knew what Ben Johnson was about. And
we knew his pedigree. Did you know anything about the
Jacksonville's head coach? No, gosh, no, no. And to me,
that's the thing that separates it. If we're looking at
the body of work and what they've done, and they've
come in and change cultures and and made these teams

(40:03):
instantly viable. For me, the thing would be, I don't
know who he is and where he came from, but
he did to dang thing.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
It's one of those years where there are multiple answers
to the question. And the question can be who do
you think is can be into the Super Bowl? Yeah,
the question could be who should be coach of the Year.
There's no there's nothing clear cut on any of this.
And so anyway, a pretty into the end zone for
a touchdown. So we got lots to talk about as

(40:34):
we continue, plus our top three things, our next Please.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
Well, we're doing our Sunday night watch party and it
has been off to a very active start. Okay, we're
not even done with the first quarter in Santa Clara,
the Bears with a pick six on the first play
of the game, but it's been all Niners since then,
and it's the Niners fourteen to seven, late first quarter.
We will keep you up to date on that. We're
about to unveil our three Things. I've been excited to

(41:03):
do this certainly since last night because one of them
has to do with actually that Packers Ravens game last night,
At least for me, we are broadcasting live in the
Fox Sports Radio studios. Also, by the way, before we
get to three things, feeding off of the success of
our college basketball Bracket Challenge each March, we decide to

(41:26):
do a bracket challenge for college football as well, the
college football Playoff and this one's a little bit quicker
and easier, not quite as many games. So that's right now,
there are eight teams left standing. It is Bracket Challenge time.
Compete against our Fox Sports Radio hosts and against fellow
listeners to see who has the best college football playoff bracket.
Play for your chance to win one thousand dollars. All

(41:50):
you have to do is visit Foxsports Radio dot iHeart
dot com. While I'm reading this long touchdown Luthor Burden
of the Bears. So the game now is an extra
point away from being tied up again.

Speaker 4 (42:06):
But got one.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
This game is drug all right, Foxsportsradio dot iHeart dot
com to register, you get rules, and to fill out
your bracket. Entry will be open until just before kickoff
seven thirty pm Eastern Time on New Year's Eve, which
is coming like.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
A freight train.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
Again, fill out your bracket at Foxsports Radio dot iHeart
dot com for your chance to win one thousand dollars.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
Anything you want to say before we do three things,
Let's make it happen.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
Okay, here we go three things each week at this time,
our top three observations from the football week that was,
and I'm gonna start with one that happened last night.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
And this has been a.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
Little bit under the radar, but e from if I'm
a quarterback needy team this offseason, I am intrigued by
Malik Willis. This just got interesting, right, this is getting
very interesting because he was under control last night. He

(43:11):
was throwing the ball with accuracy, he was making good decisions.
He was running the ball obviously with a lot of
both power and finesse. I loved what I saw from
him before he had to leave the game.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
That loss was certainly not on him.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
He is a free agent at the end of this year,
so a lot of talk about whether it's the draft.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
There's that Atlanta situation.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
People talk about, will someone try to pry Mac Jones
from San Francisco? What about Malik Willis? Very early draft
pick just four years ago. The rookie deal is coming
to an end, and to me, he's an intriguing guy
in this conversation, Well he is.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
And Green Bays had a history of sending a quarterback
out to market and making some money after a flash
of excellence. Uh the old Matt Flynn Uh situation where
Matt went on and made it, made himself a bunch
of money after coming in and playing a game. I
think he has seven touchdowns in the game. You do

(44:22):
something like that, somebody gonna give you a shot. Mallik
Willis definitely showed that he can play quarterback in this
league at a high level. And it'll be interesting to
see what that market is for him out there, you know,
and for teams who won't have you know, you know,
shots at the top at the quarterback draft coming out

(44:45):
the top guys. I think there are a couple of excellent,
excellent choices that you can bring in and see if
you can develop and and and and maybe turn somebody
into a star. Absolutely, yeah, he.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
Caught my eye last night.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
And obviously now the Packers are locked into the seventh seed,
so they may rest just about everybody next week. That
might include Jordan Love and Malik Willis because they are
locked in now as the seventh seed no matter what
they do, so they kind of get their own personal
buy if they want it. But I think in a
fancy primetime situation, he caught some people's eye last night.

Speaker 4 (45:21):
He did. My first one is I'm gonna talk about
the NFC South. Okay, is there a way where we
can exclude an entire division for the playoffs and give
it to someone else? Just give that spot up to

(45:45):
someone else. That'd be nice because I'd want to see
I'd rather see Detroit or Minnesota in the playoffs other
than in the I mean, for me, it's indescribable on
how both teams, the Panthers and Carolina came in today

(46:11):
with something to play for both teams did and neither
one of them showed up. Now it leads us to
a showdown for all the marbles you win and your
in next week. But for me, I just it's a

(46:33):
waste of a spot because neither one of these teams
can get out of their own way, and neither one
of them feel like they want to play in the playoffs.
It feels like everybody's ready for vacation. It's been a
good year, where like it's a total letdown in Tampa
now Carolina. It's a it's a story where it's like,

(46:54):
oh my god, they're good and then they're not, and
then they're good, and all you better watch out but
then watch out for but but Tampa Bay is disappointing.
Baker Mayfield's disappointing. I mean, he has more commercials running now.
I don't know if it's the commercials, I don't know
what it is. But the Baker Mayfield, who started this
year off as the clear favorite for MVP, is now

(47:16):
a guy dragging himself across the finish line. And I
don't know what to make of the division.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
I like, I would almost say the same thing in
a different way. I do know what to make of
the division. It is so bad, Crash, it's so bad.
The Buccaneers are just flat out bad. And the one
thing I would do at least to start the process
of what you're talking about, because obviously we can't exclude
a division, but this whole idea of them hosting a game,

(47:46):
you got.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
You gotta make a marker.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
I don't need you to have a better record than
the great wildcard team.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
I don't, but my god, you need to have a
winning round.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
You gotta have a win like period.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
If the Buccaneers win the game next week and win
the division at eight and nine, I'm sorry, you do
not get to host a playoff game at eight and nine.
And I'm tempted to even make that ten and seven,
like even nine and eight. It is like, come on, man,
what we're doing, especially with the fanciness that is going

(48:22):
to be coming out of the NFC West as far
as wild card teams whoever it may be, like, you're
you're looking at twelve win teams and who knows it
might be thirteen win teams coming at you, and and
the Bucks are going to be hosting people at eight
and nine.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
Come on, come on, it's.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
Not right, all right? Here's my second one. DK Metcalf
might have cost the Steelers the division. I wanted to
dive deep for those who didn't see the way this
played out, I thought this was fascinating.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
DK Metcalf. You and I made a big deal last week.

Speaker 3 (49:00):
Obviously, he has been suspended for the final two games
of the year for contacting a fan in Detroit. We
get that DK Metcalf is their wide receiver one, but
it goes further than that.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
If you watched what.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Ended up happening in Cleveland today, the Steelers actually made
a nice little push at the end of the game
and they got themselves inside the ten for four shots
at the end zone.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
Down thirteen to six.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
Well, what do you need late in the game against
a good defense when the field shrinks down to about
six or seven yards, You know what you need. You
need a big bodied receiver and Aaron Jones.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
I'm sorry, Aaron Jones.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
Aaron Rodgers is very good at throwing those timing routes
to the back corner of the end zone like he
used to do with DeVante Adams years ago, and instead
it had been wheeled down to him trying to do
it with Marcus Valdez scant Lit, who's been on like
four teams this year alone, and it was incomplete, incomplete, incomplete,

(50:07):
and incomplete. And now the Steelers have got to beat
the Ravens or they're going home next week, and I
hope that DK Metcalf has learned his lesson.

Speaker 4 (50:19):
Yeah, you know why he's gonna learn his lesson, because
the reality of the situation is, per his contract, yep, yep, yep,
they end up not making the playoffs because of his actions,
which it would be because of his actions. That final
play is going to DK, and he's making that catch
nine out of ten times. Yep, that voided forty five million.

(50:44):
They're gonna walk away. They're gonna walk away. They should. Now,
if they end up making the playoffs and in the playoffs,
DK goes bonkers and they get to the second round,
the divisional round and and some way look up into
a conference championship, they'll be more forgiving of the whole

(51:11):
situation to transpire. But if they lose that game next
week against the Ravens and are at home, in my opinion,
that's the last we'll see DK. And because they have
an out.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
Yeah, you might be right, and what have awful Yeah,
what an awful feeling for him to.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
Know twenty five million dollars that's what that idiotic thing
cost him, not to mention whatever the civil suit's gonna be.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
Yeah, And so now he gets to watch that game
and hope they win and he can't do anything about
it personally, and that makes it now too wide receivers
who have just behaved their way right out of millions
and millions.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
What has happened millions of dollars?

Speaker 3 (51:54):
Dk Metcalf because of a momentary lapse in judgment, Brandon
Ayuk because that they continued lapse in judgment. But yeah, yeah,
like that's why we've been talking about wide receivers so much.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
So I'm with you on this one. I'm gonna go
to the Texans. I had a couple that I wanted
to hit. That game against the Charges was a good game.
That was a great game. It's crazy how much you
really need offensive tackles, like you have to have offensive tackles,

(52:34):
and for the Chargers not to have any, I'm talking
about any. They had a guy playing Bless his heart. Man,
you just feel bad for for for guys put in
in situations where they have to step up and do
something they're not ready to do yet are will never

(52:58):
be able to do. And that's to protect out on
an island, especially the blind side. But what I'll say
about the Texans is they're a dangerous team in these playoffs.
And the reason why is because defensively, the amount of
pressure they can put on you with four players, it

(53:19):
is unbelievable. Will Anderson and Hunter, it's crazy. I think
Will Anderson has twelve sacks and Daniel Hunter has fourteen sacks,
fourteen and a half sacks something like that. That alone

(53:40):
makes them dangerous. And oh, by the way, c J.
Strou can spend that thing, even though he hasn't had
to spend it like he's had in the past. But
they have weapons on the outside. They're will coached, They
fixed their offensive line problems. They gave up zero sacks.
Even though the Chargers can't really put pressure on any

(54:03):
it's the Texans in the playoffs are going to be dangerous.
And let's remember the last two years. Last year, with
no weapons all every single receiver on the roster got hurt.
They made it to the second round or the playoffs.
They defeated the Chargers in the wildcard round and made
it to the second round. So that's two years in
a row. C J. Stroud, Demico Ryans in that defense

(54:26):
has made it into the second round. Looking for a
third round. I think they're going to be dangerous. Don't
forget what they did to Josh Allen in Buffalo, Oh
this year in sacks. Say what now the most unsackable
quarterback in the league.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
I'm telling you. Someone asked me, like they pinned me
last week. They're like, you have to pick two teams
for the Super Bowl? What are you saying? And honestly,
I looked at the AFC and I go, I want Houston.
Give me Houston because I know that defense is going
to play and the weather's only going to get colder.

(55:05):
And I just yeah, like I Houston I think has
a real shot to end up in the last game.

Speaker 4 (55:13):
Yeah. I've been watching them looking at him. Of course,
I'm a Houston fan. I played five years there, and
I'm like, man, this is this. I wouldn't I would
not want to play them in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
Nope, nope, definitely not at all. Yeah, I feel you,
all right, Let me let me do my last one.
Get out the way for your big finish. By the way,
Niners have a first and goal at the five yard line. Again,
did we tell you this game is drunk? By the way,
this looks a lot like the last Niners game. Score
score score score, Okay, I think Schdor Sanders might be

(55:51):
the guy. Touchdown Christian McCaffrey forty nine ers back in front.
Look nothing overly impressive, but he outdueled Aaron Rodgers today.
I know he threw two picks and the touchdown that
he threw was actually just a great adjustment on the
ball by a really exciting young.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Player to me and Harold Fannin.

Speaker 3 (56:11):
But look at the completion percentage of Shador Sanders today,
seventy three point nine. And we're talking about in Cleveland
late in December. The weather was crazy. You're playing a
game with playoff implications. Am mindful too. Also with the interceptions,
because he's got more interceptions than touchdowns this year. But

(56:32):
keep in mind he has played seven games. He has
only played seven games. Peyton Manning led the league in
interceptions his rookie year, so those mistakes are gonna be there.
But what I'm seeing Ephraim is a player who looks
better each week. Each week you put him out there,
it starts to look better, it starts to look more viable.

(56:54):
And now you're putting him in high leveraged late season situation.
Last week they played Buffalo three point game. This week
Pittsburgh they win. Yes, there needs to be a more
dynamic feel to it as he grows and goes. But
if I'm gonna call Malik, willis intriguing for next year,

(57:16):
So shdor Sanders, how about that?

Speaker 4 (57:18):
Yeah? I think he's earned the right to finish developing
and play as a starting quarterback next year for the
Cleveland Browns. Obviously he has an it factor and the
ability to get the ball down the field. Those mistakes,
those interceptions, he'll learn. He's trying to do too much.

(57:39):
But you can see every week progressively he's getting better
the more time he has in the offense and the
more time he has. This offseason to be a huge
offseason for him. I don't know what's gonna happen with
the coaching staff. He may have a whole new coaching
staff and a whole new offense, which will probably set
him back a little bit. But in terms of talent,

(58:00):
I believe that, yes, he should be the quarterback moving
forward in Cleveland, so they can really bring somebody in
and develop him because he has the talent to do it.
He has more talent than his draft the position would signify. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
Indeed, all right, I always look forward to your grand finale.

Speaker 4 (58:23):
You know what this one is as a bit of
a rant and I just want to get your thoughts
on this. So as we come into we talked about
technology and the changing of eras and things like that.
What we have now is we have streamers coming into
the live sports field. Right. Everybody wants a piece of

(58:46):
live sports, and NFL being the biggest live sport we
have in this country. A lot of different platforms have
live sports, you know, Netflix and Peacock and Prime. The
thing I liked about cable and DVRs is it's easy.

(59:07):
It's easy to find, it's easy to control, right yep.
If I pause it and leave for three hours, I
can come back and it'll be right where I left it.
That is what I like, because life happens. Sometimes I
have to go somewhere. Sometimes I might have to go

(59:29):
do something and come back. But with the streaming apparatus,
they haven't quite gotten it down yet. If sometimes if
you pause it, you come back, it started over or
it's all the way live, so.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
Yeah, right right, Sometimes it worked sometimes that red line
is like this is where you stopped.

Speaker 4 (59:52):
I paused it, and I paused it last night. The
peacock game. Yeah, last night to go play with my family. Right.
We love Clue. It's the kids loving me. That's the
most wholesome thing. It's amazing. I love it. We love
We like to put the screens down and have real interactions,

(01:00:13):
human interactions.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
And we'd like to compete with each other in Clue.
Who is kernam Mustard in the in the library with
the with the rope? Okay, I come back to the
to the game. Uh huh the game is over by
the way, right, I come back. It's not paused. I
don't even know where the game is. It's gone. It's gone,

(01:00:36):
it's gone left. So I'm like, uh, where, where where's
the rest of the game? And so I'm scrolling through,
scrolling through, and then a big highlight thing pops up
and it shows me the end of the game. And
if the cats out the bag, I don't get a
chance to enjoy the game on my terms. And that's

(01:00:57):
a problem I'm having with these streams and apparatus is
get it together, all right, put it in the main
menu for the whole day, and if you can watch
it at your leisure, just like I can watch Stranger
Things anytime I want, or the hit series bell Air
anytime I want. It should be like that with the

(01:01:20):
live games. If I don't watch it live, I should
still be able to tap into it and turn it
on and watch it when I want to watch it
without the score being ruined. Sorry, it's a strong take.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
It's a strong take.

Speaker 3 (01:01:35):
I mean I always tell people, like sometimes they'll get
mad at the back, Why don you just record the
game and watch it later.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
I'm like, no, it won't work. I don't trust life.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
I don't trust me, my friends, my phone, my screen.
I don't trust that that is going to work and
I will be able to experience it because part of
my job is to know what this felt like as
a fan. Therefore, I want to watch and experience it
like a fan does. But the reason you gave for

(01:02:05):
wanting to come back to a game is a really
good reason. It's a really good reason, and so I
just think that's a strong take. The Bears have gone
right back down at the forty nine ers. Is a
flag in the field that I'm ninety nine point nine
percent sure is on the Niners. It is Colston Lovelin touchdown.

(01:02:25):
Once again. The game is drunk. It's twenty one to
twenty nine ers with an extra point on the way.
We'll get you all up to date. And remember last
hour when we said, Hey, if you go for it
a lot on fourth down? Are those the good teams?
Are those the bad teams? Let me unveil something for
you next that is coming up right here in the

(01:02:46):
Fox Sports Radio studios with you from Salama, Mark Willard,
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (01:02:51):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio search FSR to listen.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
Live, okay, live in the Fox Sports Radio studios. Hey,
a reminder, when the show's done, I'm still hour and
a half away, But if you miss any of the show, you're.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Gonna catch up on podcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:03:14):
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast
Right after the show, today's podcast gets posted, so be
sure to follow the pod rated a five, can even
give a little review if you want again. You just
search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and
you'll find today's full show posted right after.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
We get off of the air.

Speaker 3 (01:03:37):
Hey, I want to do the fourth down thing, but
Steve de Sager needs to get in here right, so
like and I got I got questions too about this
game that's going on, but not at the expense of Steve.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
So you know, Steve de Sager, everybody.

Speaker 7 (01:03:52):
I have questions.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Yeah, anybody gonna stop anybody.

Speaker 7 (01:03:59):
The last four drives combine, we have four straight touchdowns.
So we're up to twenty one, twenty one and not
yet to the middle of the second quarter. The Bears
are at San Francisco tonight. The Niners as a team
have their most yards rushing in a first half since
they acquired Christian McCaffrey three years ago. On the ground,
they're at one thirty two and counting McCaffrey himself twelve

(01:04:22):
carries eighty nine yards in a score. The night started
with brock Perties pick six. He has responded with a
touchdown run and a touchdown pass. Kyle Manungai with twenty
four yards rushing on three carries. DeAndre Swift only one
carry for the Bears in the first half. Caleb Williams
with two td passes, showing off the arm strength again.

(01:04:44):
Second quarter, it's twenty one.

Speaker 4 (01:04:45):
All this is not over.

Speaker 7 (01:04:49):
Do I even need to say that out loud?

Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
Niners are in the red zone, though I also I
want to just you know, it's not might.

Speaker 7 (01:04:55):
I get into this update. It'll be twenty eight all
San Francisco tie and George Kittle is out with an
ankle injury. Tackle Trent Williams left early with an ankle injury.
Forty nine Ers will be the one seed in the
NFC if they win these last two games to tough
matchups tonight with the Bears, a fellow eleven and four team,
and then the finale against the Seahawks. Bears are currently

(01:05:16):
the two seed in the NFC after last weekend's comeback
against Green Bay. And speaking of comebacks, the Bears have
six different wins this year when they were trailing in
the last two minutes of the fourth quarter. That's not
just the most this year, that's the most for any
team since the merger with the AFL in nineteen seventy.
Philadelphia won thirteen to twelve at Buffalo, is a thirteen

(01:05:38):
to nothing lead at halftime that ends the Bill's four
game winning streak. The Bills missed a two point pass
at the end, and Buffalo had an extra point kick
blocked with just over five minutes to go. The Eagles
offense ten drives, eleven first downs, only one hundred and
ninety yards and one a total of thirteen punts in
that game. Meanwhile, the Giants were at Las Vegas and

(01:06:00):
that was the only other game in the late window.
Each team had lost nine in a row. Giants won
thirty four to ten. Gino Smith of Vegas, their quarterback
one touchdown, two interceptions left with an ankle injury. Raiders
could get the number one overall draft choice. I was
mentioning a couple of nights ago on the research that
I saw, knowing that almost none of the country was

(01:06:21):
getting this Giants Raiders game. Almost everybody was on Fox
with Eagles at Buffalo. The only parts of the country
that got Giants Raiders apparently were parts of Nevada, parts
of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and parts of Indiana,
which I can only figure because Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza

(01:06:41):
is there and he could be drafted by one of
these teams. Raiders do have the number one overall selection.
Seattle won at six straight game twenty seven to ten
at Carolina. The Seahawks finale will be at San Francisco
next week. Seattle currently the one seed in the NFC
after defeating the Rams in a thriller, Sam Darnold won

(01:07:03):
touchdown to turnovers. Carolina ends the regular season at Tampa
Bay Strong Division Tampa Bay seven and nine now after
losing at Miami twenty to seventeen. Bucks have not only
lost four straight, they've lost seven of their last eight.
Baker Mayfield two touchdowns, three turnovers, three hundred and forty
six yards passing, but another l The Tampa Bay running

(01:07:23):
backs combined for thirteen carries thirty seven yards. New England
clinched the AFC East title with a forty two to
ten win at the Jets. Drake may five touchdown passes,
four in the first half, yet another good game for him.
He was nineteen of twenty one two hundred and fifty
six yards Patriots on the road eight and oh. Jacksonville

(01:07:45):
won its seventh straight game twenty three seventeen at Indianapolis.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence two touchdown runs the Jags in conference
now nine and two, including a win against Indy a
few weeks ago. The Colts have lost six straight and
of course they were eliminated it on Saturday, so they'll
likely be starting quarterback Riley Leonard In the finale. Cleveland
had lost for in a row was three and twelve overall,

(01:08:07):
but one at home against Pittsburgh thirteen to six. Steelers
host Baltimore next Sunday. Pittsburgh could have clinched the division
crown today, but the Steelers on third down conversions were
three for fifteen and on fourth downs zero for three.
The Browns Miles Garrett still needs one more sack for
the new NFL record for one season, New Orleans has

(01:08:27):
won four straight after a win at Tennessee thirty four
to twenty six, a shockingly high scoring game between these two.
Tyler Shuck another good game twenty two of twenty seven,
three hundred thirty three yards passing two touchdowns. The Saints
for the season were averaging just seventeen points a game,
worst in the NFC. The Titans for the season had
the second worst offense, only about two hundred and sixty

(01:08:49):
total yards per game. They had three hundred thirty six
yards in this one. Arizona's lost eighth straight at Cincinnati.
The Bengals beat the Cardinals thirty seven to fourteen. Ar
Oh Burrow three hundred and five yards passing two scores.
The Cincinnati Bengals had the worst defense in the league.
They allow thirty points a game. They allow over four
hundred yards a game. Arizona managed to pitally two thirty

(01:09:13):
three in this one and only fourteen points. The Monday
night match up the Rams eleven and four are at Atlanta.
Rams wide receiver DeVante Adams, due to the hamstring injury,
is doubtful.

Speaker 4 (01:09:25):
For this one.

Speaker 7 (01:09:26):
As for the NBA news, most of the games on
the Sunday schedule are final and that includes a Blazers
win at home against Boston one fourteen to one to
oh eights. The late game Lakers are about to start
up at home against Sacramento. In the NHL Pittsburgh leads
with a minute to go seven to two at Chicago
and updating again the game at San Francisco. They haven't

(01:09:50):
scored yet. I'm done talking. What's going on Chicago twenty one?
Well they called to twenty one.

Speaker 4 (01:09:55):
Yeah, they call timeout, so that's not really fair.

Speaker 7 (01:09:58):
So we've got a second in goal from the three
three yard line. Niners are about to score late first
half against the Bears.

Speaker 3 (01:10:05):
Rock Party did throw a pick in the end zone?
Do you guys think? Because and there was a flag
that overturned it and it became first and goal. He
and uh and Steve, do you think he saw the
flag and got risky or.

Speaker 4 (01:10:18):
Did he get lucky right there? He got lucky? You
think so?

Speaker 7 (01:10:21):
Yes, it was the guy that picked it off.

Speaker 3 (01:10:23):
That was the penalty, and the illegal hands of face
was right at the snap. It was like pearce all
came off and like pow. I didn't see when the
flag hit the ground, So I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:10:33):
That'd be a question.

Speaker 3 (01:10:34):
I'd love to see Brock get asked after.

Speaker 4 (01:10:37):
But the thing is you never know, so you don't
want I mean, you shouldn't have throw the ball in there.
It was you know, it wasn't the window was too
small anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:10:46):
But you see free play action from a corner. May right,
they got a free play.

Speaker 4 (01:10:50):
Different because you want to just score, right like you,
which he just did.

Speaker 3 (01:10:55):
And Rock Party with his second rushing touchdown of the
of the game.

Speaker 7 (01:10:59):
Guy San France. Cisco has almost three hundred yards in
the first half.

Speaker 4 (01:11:03):
They and they gave the ball away right.

Speaker 7 (01:11:05):
Yeah, pick six on the first place and scrimmaged in it.
They have run forty one plays in the first half,
only fourteen plays for the Bears offense.

Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
That's right, Like, I think the wildest status that the
Bears have twenty one points. Five minutes, five minutes and
they've got twenty one points. It's incredible.

Speaker 7 (01:11:22):
This is like that Army Oklahoma game a few years ago.
Oh god, sinners just don't touch the ball and it
still goes over time.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
Good lord.

Speaker 3 (01:11:30):
Anyway, you were saying, how about about the flag situation?

Speaker 4 (01:11:34):
Yeah, there was a there was another option available on
that pass. But he you know, I think he got lucky.
I think he was trying to squeeze it into a
tight window because it was right in front of him.
But you know that that that flag. Did he see
the illegal hands to the face. I don't know. I mean,
the only half of the ball was he right?

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
Like like if the flag came back, because he dropped
back and he's looking right and if the flag hits
the yeah, I don't.

Speaker 7 (01:12:00):
Know, early flag would be on the offense exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:12:04):
So you don't want to do that. You don't want
to put it in harm's way before you know. Yeah, yeah,
good lord, this game, Yeah, I'm entertaining.

Speaker 7 (01:12:13):
I can tell you that Niners nearing one hundred and
fifty yards rushing in the first halt. We still have
almost three and a half minutes to go in the
first had they could get the ball again.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
And what did you mention off the top of the
show in terms of their run stats when George Kittle plays.

Speaker 7 (01:12:27):
Versus what, he doesn't three yards of carry yet.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
And no left tackle Trent Williams either.

Speaker 7 (01:12:34):
Yeah, it's six yards of carry?

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:12:37):
Oh wow, this is an interesting football game. And we'll
continue hanging out and watching it together.

Speaker 7 (01:12:45):
And looking ahead. There's I know Pierce all is back
from injury and playing, but there's no sitting anybody next
week the finales against the Sea Hun.

Speaker 4 (01:12:52):
Oh no, No, everybody's up and everybody's playing, yeah, which
I love. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
I mean the teams that we know right now that
don't have any like the teams that matter, forget the
teams that have been eliminated.

Speaker 7 (01:13:03):
Green bays locked into the same bay is locked.

Speaker 3 (01:13:06):
And then outside of that, do we have any playoff
teams that are like disinterested?

Speaker 7 (01:13:11):
Not in the NFC Carolina's head to head got a
game where they have to win at Tampa Bay.

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
I mean, like the Buffalo and the Chargers and all
those teams could just be like, we don't care what
it is, but but their game does does determine seeding.

Speaker 7 (01:13:27):
Well, it's whether you go to Jacksonville or go to
New England maybe, So there's the weather difference, not just
a team difference.

Speaker 3 (01:13:33):
Well, and there's always especially if it's this wide open,
I'd want the five seed because the six and seven
could advance.

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
Yeah, and then you could end up back in your home.

Speaker 4 (01:13:41):
Building a home. You could be home, you know, down
the road.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
So yeah, Wolf, it's going to be a more interesting
Week eight team than normal, that's for sure.

Speaker 7 (01:13:50):
And don't win their division. By the way, they've beaten
the Chargers head to head. They've beaten Buffalo headed, that's.

Speaker 4 (01:13:56):
Correct, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so.

Speaker 3 (01:13:58):
So they're ahead of them in the A and Jacksonville
has Tennessee, right, yeah, I believe it. Yeah, So that's
a win if they want it. But you know, all right, uh, Steve,
great stuff is always.

Speaker 4 (01:14:12):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:13):
We'll talk to you a little bit less than an hour.

Speaker 3 (01:14:14):
We're live in the Fox Sports Radio studios, and at
long last I'll get to those fourth down numbers here
coming up next, Niner's up twenty eight, twenty one, three,
twenty three, to go until halftime in an active Sunday
night football that's e from Marks Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
All Right, we sit in the Fox Sports Radio studios.

Speaker 3 (01:14:33):
There's something really weird about to happen in this football game.
I don't know if you've heard of this before, Ephraim.
It's called third down.

Speaker 4 (01:14:42):
Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (01:14:42):
Yeah, so uh buckle up because this is gonna get
crazy up in here.

Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
We'll keep you up to date.

Speaker 3 (01:14:51):
Niner's up twenty eight twenty one inside of two minutes
to go first half.

Speaker 2 (01:14:55):
Bears have the football.

Speaker 3 (01:14:58):
All right, I'm gonna throw something, Matt, and I'm gonna
freely admit this is a little bit it's a little
bit slanted, you know. I wonder if you even had
a guess, Like if you guessed if I gave you
the top six teams that go forward on fourth down

(01:15:18):
the least, and then the six teams that go forward
on fourth down the most, what would you guess as
far as like how those teams are.

Speaker 4 (01:15:32):
I would say it's a bit of a trick question,
but I would say the teams they go for it
the most. Hmm, teams that go for it the most?
Are we talking record?

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:15:50):
Like yeah, Well, yeah, just like, how how are they they?
You know, good teams, bad teams, mediocre teams. I'd say
the teams that go forward the most have a better record, okay,
because inevitably some of those go that endy and you
are able to extend drives and you give yourself more possessions.

Speaker 3 (01:16:12):
See, I was thinking to myself, as possible, the teams
that go for it the most are the teams that
are always down right, because like, you have to go
forward on fourth down if it's the fourth corter and
you're down by ten or whatnot. But there was one
quirky little thing that showed up to me. I'm gonna
read these teams and then you tell me what stands

(01:16:33):
out the teams. The six teams that go for it
the least on fourth down this year, the Seattle Seahawks,
Los Angeles Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, the San Francisco forty nine
ers who've already gone forth on fourth and converted once tonight,

(01:16:53):
and the Houston Texans and the Denver Broncos the least
six teams that go for it the least. What What
did you notice about those sixteen.

Speaker 4 (01:17:06):
Infs ding We're all vying for the number one seed
ding ding.

Speaker 3 (01:17:13):
Now, listen to the six teams that go for it
the most, the New York Giants, the New York Jets,
the Dallas Cowboys, the Carolina Panthers, the Tennessee Titans, and.

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
The Detroit Lions.

Speaker 4 (01:17:40):
None of them are in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:17:43):
Well, obviously then the Panthers could be.

Speaker 3 (01:17:46):
But what stands out to me, because we get that
that division is a little bit of a set.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
Yeah, what what stands out to me is Dan Campbell. Yeah,
that's what stands out to me.

Speaker 4 (01:18:01):
Poor management.

Speaker 3 (01:18:02):
I wonder, and I'm not trying to use these airwaves
to fire anybody who has been quite successful by the
way I thought, but I wonder if Dan Campbell, when
when all is said and done, if he might not
end up being the Mark Jackson of the NFL. And

(01:18:23):
what I mean by that is Mark Jackson is the
one who sort of was a culture shifter for the
Golden State Warriors and things were on a real upswing
and step Stephen Clay were real young, and he nicknamed
him the Splash Brothers and all of these things. But
then the Warriors decided, you know what, we think maybe

(01:18:46):
somebody else is needed to kind of get this over
the top, Like, you're good, but how do we get
this over the top? Enter Steve Kerr. Four championships later,
you have a dynasty. Dan Campbell will always be a
wonderful culture changer, but I don't know where we are

(01:19:10):
now in terms of how he's actually coaching this team.

Speaker 4 (01:19:15):
That's a great point. I think. I think you're absolutely right.
I think I don't know if then I talked a
little bit about a lot of bit about this last week,
I don't know if the Detroit Lions and Dan Campbell
can go it can ascend higher because it was right

(01:19:40):
there for him. Literally in his third year, he was
three points away from the super Bowl and he gave
nine points away. But he didn't learn from that. He
doubled down on it. Now they're going backwards. Now they're
going backwards, and if I'm ownership, I have to look

(01:20:02):
at that. Now, he's not going to get fired because
this is the best thing that's happened to them since
Barry Sanderson, right, right, But if he has another sub
par year where they don't make the playoffs, that's when
you make the decision like oh okay.

Speaker 3 (01:20:19):
Yeah, no. It's an interesting conversation coming up next. I'm
gonna pin you you gotta pick a Super Bowl team.

Speaker 4 (01:20:26):
That's next.

Speaker 1 (01:20:28):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:20:31):
Off we go into the night, our final hour.

Speaker 3 (01:20:34):
We are not going to get you to the end
of this game, because, as we've told you a number
of times, this game is on a little bit of
a bender. So we've just arrived at halftime almost two
hours after kick Niners twenty eight, Bear's twenty one. Reacting
to all of it and everything that happened before it
throughout the week earlier. Today we're broadcasting live from the

(01:20:58):
Fox Sports Radio studios from I just would love to
hear what your answer is. If I said to you
there there can be no hammin and hawn, there can
be no ifs, there can be no.

Speaker 2 (01:21:15):
Bots, there can be no well maybes.

Speaker 3 (01:21:19):
If I asked you in this wide open NFL season,
pick a team in each conference, you gotta put a
chip in the circle. Who do you ride with to
end up back where this game is being played in
Santa Clara in February.

Speaker 4 (01:21:38):
For the Super Bowl, I take the Texans and the
forty nine ers.

Speaker 2 (01:21:45):
The forty nine ers.

Speaker 3 (01:21:48):
It's interesting that you just said that because one of
those teams I totally get because you're like, hey man,
I'm a ride defense through this thing. The other team
is to cause trying to play without a defense. They're
literally playing Bengal ball right now. The forty nine ers.

Speaker 4 (01:22:07):
Yeah, I say them because what they have in front
of them is extra motivation in terms of if they
do if they end up winning this game tonight and
a showdown between them Seattle for all the marbles. I mean,

(01:22:28):
they don't they won't have to travel. No, They're like
as they left Indianapolis.

Speaker 3 (01:22:33):
This is something we talked about on our show during
the week, where like, if the forty nine ers continue
to win, the path is created that they will not
leave their building again.

Speaker 4 (01:22:44):
They're there and I think they are. Yeah, that in
itself is is it's quite the motivator. Now. They're a
good team. They have a lot of missing pieces, but
they're they've shown and proved to us that so right,
so and that's a dangerous team. Kiddo will be back.

(01:23:09):
You know, they were even talking about I mean I
think I'm like, oh my gosh, yeah, I mean I think.

Speaker 3 (01:23:17):
The scenario that Fred is actually somewhat realistic. And I
don't even know if that's the right word, but a possibility.
It sounded to me like if they were to get
to the NFC title game, but that could literally be
two and a half wins away. If they win this

(01:23:41):
one tonight, you get Seattle and an opportunity for the
one seed and the bye and then you're you're.

Speaker 2 (01:23:48):
Already in the divisional round.

Speaker 4 (01:23:50):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (01:23:50):
You need one more win and then and then Warner
could play. That's a lot, that's I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:23:58):
A lot.

Speaker 3 (01:23:59):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, but starting with the next thirty
minutes at right.

Speaker 4 (01:24:03):
And now, Like I said, my answer may change by
the end of this game, but as of right now, yeah,
that's where that's where my answer would be.

Speaker 3 (01:24:12):
So someone asked me this earlier in the week, and
I said this through my teeth. And maybe it's also
just like a self protection device, but I said, the
Texans and the Rams.

Speaker 4 (01:24:23):
You know, I can argue that. Yeah, that's what I said.

Speaker 3 (01:24:26):
And and yes, just you know, I think our audience,
if you listen with any regularity.

Speaker 4 (01:24:30):
You get you get this.

Speaker 3 (01:24:32):
I I believe forty nine are read and so, uh,
you know, the Rams going to the super Bowl would
be uh, that'd be that'd.

Speaker 2 (01:24:41):
Be a difficult it'd be a difficult one to swallow.

Speaker 3 (01:24:45):
But I have that whole family structure, not within my
own home, but within the extended family, like sisters, A
huge Niner fan, she's married to a screaming at the
television Rams fan, and so that the text messages go
wild with these these two teams. But you know, I
just think that I think the Rams are probably as

(01:25:05):
close as the NFC gets to a complete team.

Speaker 4 (01:25:09):
But but what they.

Speaker 3 (01:25:11):
Did in Seattle a couple of weeks ago has created
a challenge for them now that they may not be
able to get out of. Not that they've got some
great home field advantage by any stretch, but.

Speaker 4 (01:25:25):
If you've got to.

Speaker 3 (01:25:26):
Send them somewhere, if you I mean, we'll see, you know,
if it's going to be January, if you end up
in Chicago, you know, some of what you're doing gets neutralized.
I don't know when DeVante Adams is coming back. I
don't know if he's coming back at all. So but
that's that's what I said when someone asked me about

(01:25:47):
a week ago.

Speaker 4 (01:25:48):
And you wouldn't be wrong. I mean, the Rams to
me are top tier, the best, if not at one
of the best if not the best team in the NFC.
They're dangerous, they play good defense, they got a young,
hungry defense in Matthew Stafford. It's probably gonna win the MVP,
although Drake may had something to say about that today.

Speaker 2 (01:26:11):
Yeah, yep, sure did.

Speaker 4 (01:26:14):
But coming down the stretch, this is as a fan,
this is what you look forward to. Games that means
something in week eighteen, and players playing an extremely high
level when things are on the line. As a fan,
I'm here for and I love it. I think it's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (01:26:35):
I think these are going to be as hard to
predict in terms of playoffs as we've ever seen.

Speaker 2 (01:26:41):
The first round will.

Speaker 3 (01:26:42):
Not have any gimmeis maybe one Maybe whoever ends up
in Tampa at Carolina you'll feel good about it.

Speaker 4 (01:26:48):
We'll see. But this can be very, very difficult to predict,
for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:26:56):
And even in the AFC, where you do have, you
know that that AFC north to still get figured out
and neither of them have sparkly records. But I think
both of those teams can be a problem. Like I
don't really think Carolina and Tampa right now can be
a problem. No, I think Pittsburgh and Baldelves exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:27:18):
Yeah, they are just a problem period.

Speaker 3 (01:27:21):
But I think Pittsburgh and Baltimore can be challenging for
whoever's going to come in there. And so yeah, the
AFC feels like, let's see how many playoff games do
you have in each conference? You get three and then
you get.

Speaker 4 (01:27:36):
Two more and then one.

Speaker 3 (01:27:37):
So that's like, I mean, I think it's six coin tosses. Yeah,
they're total coin toss.

Speaker 4 (01:27:44):
But that's what you want, right, Absolutely, you don't want
it like the college playoffs the first round or a
college player. You don't want that, do you. No? No,
although I'll I'll still defend what they're doing there. I'm okay, Yeah,
I'm okay with it.

Speaker 3 (01:28:01):
Hey, are you a point differential guy? Like, do you
think that's a good sort of like litmus test? An
accurate trail? What a team is in some cases.

Speaker 4 (01:28:16):
Mainly for the defensive output, right if if you can
hold teams and we've seen this, We've seen teams who
weren't offensive druggernauts get to the Super Bowl to win
Super Bowls because of their defense. So you know, you
get a team holding I think the not the eighty

(01:28:36):
five Bears, but the Rex Grossman Bears. I think they
were holding teams to like eleven and a half points,
twelve points right right, they were only scoring probably seventeen.
But if you look at the Tampa Bay Buccanneers with
Trent Dilford and at Simeon Rice and more in sap

(01:28:57):
defense another historic defense to the Super Bowl one like
so on the defensive side, that point differential for me
means more. Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:29:09):
I just think like sometimes you can look at teams
and you can sort of at least smell an outlier.
Like I remember the Minnesota Vikings a few years ago.
This was not the Sam Donald Vikings. This was the
Kirk Cousins Vikings that lost to Daniel Jones and the
New York Giants and the playoffs. And the Vikings had

(01:29:31):
a big, sparky record and they won almost all their games,
and their point differential at the end of the year
was like plus five. Yeah, but they won all their games.
It's just like, man, it's kind of like the Chiefs
last year. And there are some things that stand out
with point differential. The Carolina Panthers, for example, their point
differential is eight points different than the New York Giants.

(01:29:55):
Let that sink in their point differential is eight points
different than the New York Giants.

Speaker 4 (01:30:04):
And for the listeners who don't understand, point differential is
how much you score and how much you give up, right,
and the difference between those two exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:30:13):
So the higher the number and the plus that means
the more dominant you are, the lower the number you are.
The Raiders, for instance, are a minus one ninety three.
That is the worst point differential in in the NFL
this year.

Speaker 4 (01:30:26):
Yeah, that'll get you to wins.

Speaker 3 (01:30:28):
The Bears if you add in the first half of
this football game, their point differential is plus twenty six
for a team that's eleven and four. That would suggest
that maybe some bounces are going their way.

Speaker 4 (01:30:45):
All of the bounce is scoring, now, that's yeah, that's right. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:30:49):
And they lead the NFL in turnovers, which you get
credit for that, but some of those are you know,
dropped balls and tipped balls and all all of that stuff.
So the next question I wanted to ask off of
that is, especially for an offensive lineman, do you believe
in the phrase defense wins championships?

Speaker 4 (01:31:10):
Yes you do? Oh yeah, okay, I've been on the team.
Would phenomenal. It makes our job easy. Sure, it makes
our job easy.

Speaker 3 (01:31:20):
Well, I mean, we're watching a football game where forty
nine points were scored in the first half, and these
are two of the best teams. And how many teams
that are going to the playoffs this year actually play
really good defense.

Speaker 4 (01:31:36):
I think the Houston Texans do. I think the Broncos do.

Speaker 3 (01:31:40):
I think did the Broncos not raise your eyebrow with
the performance against Jacksonville last week?

Speaker 4 (01:31:45):
That's a one game, that's the one, but totality of
the amount of pressure they were putting on opposing offenses,
I mean they can play. I also think Seattle plays uh.
I agree with that. Uh, And I think the Rams
and uh.

Speaker 3 (01:32:06):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah that that that's That's not a
lot of teams.

Speaker 4 (01:32:13):
No it's not. But I'm looking at like, but it's
only fourteen of them in the dance, I know.

Speaker 3 (01:32:18):
But none of the teams that aren't going play good defense.
Maybe Cleveland ish sometimes.

Speaker 4 (01:32:24):
Let me tell you this. Let me tell you this. Yeah,
go ahead. If that Cleveland defense as it stands right
now was on any of the playoff teams that would
be the favorite to win, win the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (01:32:38):
Absolutely, But this is my point. I think that there.

Speaker 3 (01:32:41):
If I ask you how many teams in the NFL
right now are playing good defense, it's like four, maybe
not even that. Seattle played the Rams and the final
score was thirty eight to thirty seven.

Speaker 4 (01:32:51):
Yeah, that's just like in December.

Speaker 3 (01:32:54):
Yeah, it's just odd, Like does defense like nobody's playing
it anymore.

Speaker 4 (01:33:00):
Oh, it's an offensive league. It's really an offensive league.
And you look at the dynamic vision of especially young
offensive coordinators and what they bring to the tables, a
new energy coming in new styles, the RPO. All of
you got to remember the evolution of NFL offenses has changed.

(01:33:21):
Remember the time where college and professional football were completely separate.
We're not running that in college. A college would have
to conform to a pro style offense in order for
players to come from that and be ready to play.

(01:33:42):
I was lucky because in college, my offensive line coach
came from the NFL, and so he had myself and
Kyle Turley and Mike Mulano, all of us who got
drafted and went on and played in the league for
a bunch of years. He had us ready to step
in right away and played. Kyle and I were all
on the all rookie team because we had been practicing

(01:34:05):
for three four years like he practiced when he played
in the league. Now, the difference now is there's so
much carryover. And I think, and I think I could
put my finger on it. I think RG three's rookie
year with Kyle Shanahan as an offensive coordinator and Mike

(01:34:26):
Shanahan as the head coach, I think that's where a
historic offense changed to benefit the talent at quarterback. Normally,
it's quarterback has to come in and fit our system,
fit our mold. It was never well, we gonna run

(01:34:48):
what he good at until that time and RG three had,
you know, it was co Rookie of the year. They
went to the playoffs, hurt his knee, and the whole
fiasco happened after that, but they maximize his ability and
his talent based on their willingness to I ran the

(01:35:09):
Kyle Shanahan offense. From the majority of micael I was like,
wait a minute, what is that? What did the zone read?
Where did that come from? But they recognized something and
so what that did was that ushered in a new
way and a new energy of offensive coordinators saying okay,

(01:35:30):
instead of making this player who didn't come from a
pro style offense. Fit this. We want to utilize what
he does. Now. You look at Stanford and what's his
name for the Colts, Andrew Luck? Andrew Yes, right, you
look at Andrew Luck came into the Indianapolis Colts ready

(01:35:54):
to go pro style offense with hardball at Stanford, and
so teams and coaches started to say, oh, okay, well, huh,
let us do this. Lamar Jackson comes in, all right,
well we have to. And I think if Michael Vick,
if he would have had that level of attention, as

(01:36:15):
dynamic as he was, if he would have had that
level of attention and willingness to change to his strengths,
he would have been He wouldn't have been under He
would been unstoppable, literally unstoppable. I was with him his
rookie year and him trying to understand he would just
take off and go. He would just take off and go.

(01:36:36):
Could you imagine an offensive design around his abilities? Because
he was the fastest person on any field he ever
played on. And so I thought, I think that's what
we're seeing now. That's why offensively teams are being able
to score like their scoring. Sorry for the long winded soliloquy.

Speaker 3 (01:36:59):
There there were like eight touchdowns while you were talking.
It was action to just one. It was DeAndre Swift
and the Bears do make good on that opening drive
of the second half. Swift goes in from two yards
out and we are once again tied. So here come
the Niners. It's twenty eight, twenty eight. We'll keep you
up to date on that. Plus I'd like to play

(01:37:21):
a little game coming up next of why aren't they better?
And there's two teams mainly that I want to bring
up with e from Salam. I'm Mark Willard. This is
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (01:37:33):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:37:46):
All right, Happy New Year, everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:37:48):
Hope the holidays have been and continue to be just perfection.
We're in the Fox Sports Radio studios. We're watching the
Bears and Niners go up and down the field on
one another. It's a twenty eight all tie and the
forty nine Ers opening drive of the second half has
been fruitful as well, moving quickly into the high red zone.

(01:38:11):
Keep you up to date, third quarter action two teams.
Let's start with what happened last night? Why aren't the
Packers better? I don't know, man, is Micah Parsons that good?

Speaker 4 (01:38:30):
I think he was part of the energy uh huh.
I think he was part of once you lose, and
I know he was new there, but he has such
a presence. Once you lose that presence is hard to
rebound from that. And not having you know, Jordan Love

(01:38:51):
being out like it just it they should be better
like we And I've been saying this all year. I
wasn't convinced everybody had Jordan Love as you know, beginning
of the season as the you know, odds on to
win the MVP. He's an elite quarterback and I never

(01:39:14):
got there with Jordan Love. Michael Parsons did a wonderful
job sparking that off of that defense, but you know,
in a division where you know you should be just
steamrolling it, it never quite turned the corner. So the

(01:39:39):
answer to your question is why aren't there they're better?
Why aren't they better? It's because I think they lost
the engine defensively that made them feel like they could
do anything, and they just never rebounded. You know, Christian
Watson was hurt for a while. He came back. He

(01:40:01):
on find now the quarterback is gone. So there it's
a little bit of Hidd and miss there.

Speaker 3 (01:40:07):
There are a few rosters around the league where you
look at it and I'm like, I feel like you've
got a lot of answers, but I don't really like
ever buy that until you then see it and it
looks good. And the Packers for a period of time,
especially at the beginning of the year, they look you
remember the wins they were going at the beginning of

(01:40:27):
the year and the Lions and you know, opening weekend
against the I think that was against the Commanders. That
was week one or two when the Commanders were coming
off of a great year, and so it just looked
like it was all working at a really high level.

Speaker 2 (01:40:41):
And then somewhere along the road it just stopped.

Speaker 3 (01:40:46):
It just stopped, and I you know, look, okay, Jordan
Love was out, but Malik Willis was fantastic. I mean
to have to have a running back due to you,
but Derrick Henry did to them last night. In in
NFL terms, he's obviously a Hall of Fame player, but
in NFL terms, that's It's demoralizing and kind of embarrassing

(01:41:08):
to have wanted to have a running back.

Speaker 4 (01:41:10):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:41:11):
That's so, where did where did that come from?

Speaker 4 (01:41:15):
That was?

Speaker 3 (01:41:16):
That was that was the defense that didn't give up
big plays all year.

Speaker 4 (01:41:20):
That's who they were. So yeah, I don't, I don't know.
I don't. I don't know what happened. Yeah that Uh,
I mean, I guess if you give the ball to
Derrick Henry thirty six times, good thing? I know the
Steelers are like, uh, don't don't bring that, leave, don't

(01:41:43):
bring that to us. Uh oh yeah, And what's the
situation with with with Lamar? Is he playing next week?

Speaker 3 (01:41:50):
I would have to, right, I would think so, I
would think so, But I mean, you know, don't know
till you know, but I would think.

Speaker 4 (01:41:59):
So, that's the formula and we.

Speaker 2 (01:42:03):
Get Steven here.

Speaker 3 (01:42:04):
But like the Bucks and the Bills or the other
teams that popped to mind. Although I mean, I think
I gave my answer on the Bills earlier already in
this this evening, in that I really think the Bills
have kind of, you know, I think they've kind of
failed Josh Allen with the with the roster they've given him.

(01:42:26):
But Yeah, let's get let's get Steve in here because
brock Perty's dancing again.

Speaker 7 (01:42:30):
Andy from discussed what the Bills have or don't have
at white Out, by the way, and that is the
number one rushing team in the NFL, and they almost
didn't score a point in this game. Yeah, Philadelphia won
thirteen twelve at Buffalo. Bills missed a two point pass
at the end. The other late afternoon game, Giants won
at Las Vegas thirty four to ten, so the Raiders
could get the number one overall draft choice. You mentioned

(01:42:52):
the name Derrick Henry, so can we just say again
that when he was a high schooler in Florida, oh
my goodness, he ran almost two thousand and five hundred
yards as a freshman, and then the next year almost
two thousand eight hundred yards, and then two thousand six
hundred yards, and as a senior four thousand yards rushing

(01:43:16):
in one high school season. He had one game where
he ran for five hundred and ten yards. It's just
you could go, you could go for an hour looking
through Derrick Henry's by the way, he's top ten NFL
rushing as of last night too. By the way, Yeah,
brock party with a short touchdown pass to Kyle Yuchik,

(01:43:38):
and the Niners are back on.

Speaker 3 (01:43:40):
Tough not really doing it justice there Steve short touchdown
pass uh that uh, I believe for a while sounded.

Speaker 4 (01:43:47):
Like this.

Speaker 2 (01:43:54):
Now short touchdown pass, but go ahead.

Speaker 7 (01:43:57):
So it's thirty five twenty eights nine are in the lead.
Before this, only about five minutes ago on the clock,
the Bears had tied it with DeAndre Swift's two yard
touchdown run. He is now a thousand yard rusher this season,
first time the Bears have had a running back at
one thousand yards rushing since David Montgomery in twenty twenty.
Niners lead thirty five twenty eight under five minutes to

(01:44:19):
go in the third quarter. San Francisco's already won five
in a row. Each team is eleven and four. The
Bears are the two seed in the NFC right now
after last weekend's comeback against Green Bay. The Niners will
be the one seed if they win these last two
games tonight and the finale against the Seahawks. Seattle has
won six in a row after the twenty seven to

(01:44:39):
ten win at Carolina. Some halftime notes on this Bay
Area game from Associated Press there was almost no offense
from the Bears, and yet they were tied late in
the first half. They got a pick six a defensive
touchdown on the first offensive play of the night. Three
of their plays totaled up about ninety yards, but for
the rest of the first half they had sixty five yards. Still,

(01:45:02):
it was a close game and remained so, but the
Niners had four touchdowns on offense in a first half
for the first time since brock Perty's first career start
three years ago. Christian McCaffrey first half one hundred and
forty one yards from scrimmage, his most ever in a
first half, and in Bear's history, there had only been
one other game where they'd scored at least twenty one

(01:45:23):
in a first half but allowed at least twenty eight
in a first half, and that came in the bears
nineteen sixty eight opener, a game where Brian Piccolow had
a touchdown run. So when we and kind of called
what this game was going to be early here tonight,
especially having seen the previous Niners game, Yeah, it's a
little unusual for these two teams, I should say. Earlier

(01:45:48):
Miami beat Tampa Bay twenty to seventeen, you'll talk about
the Bucks. They had lost four straights seven of their
last eight. There is Carolina ending the regular season at
Tampa Bay next weekend to decide the NFC South, and
we'll find out on our next show that follows us
by the way, the exact schedule for week eighteen to
end the regular season. New England clinched the AFC East

(01:46:09):
title a forty two to ten decision at the Jets.
Jacksonville won its seventh in a row twenty three seventeen
at Indy Cleveland at home beat Pittsburgh thirteen to six.
New Orleans won its four straight thirty four to twenty
six at Tennessee. Cincinnati sent Arizona to an eight straight loss,
thirty seven to fourteen. There are two late games in
the NBA. They're both in LA. The Clippers have their

(01:46:30):
own arena now across the street from the Rams Stadium,
and the Clips are leading the Detroit Pistons seventy two
fifty nine mid third quarter as Kawhi Leonard has thirty
four points in counting. Late second quarter, the Lakers ahead
of Sacramento sixty to fifty one, twenty points so far
for Luka Donzig and in college basketball, Northern Colorado won

(01:46:51):
at Colorado, which had been eight to zero at home,
eighty six eighty one the final in the NHL A
win in the late game for Seattle at home four
to one over the Flyers and Guys. This one note
from women's college Hoots. College basketball men's and women's has
resumed after the Christmas break. Number two Texas is still undefeated.
At home, it shot sixty percent from the floor and

(01:47:12):
beat South East Louisiana one twenty to thirty eight. Come
in in a forty minute game. Southeast Louisiana had thirty
eight points and thirty turnovers. The halftime lead for Texas
was seventy to twenty oh. By the end of three
it was one oh five twenty eight.

Speaker 4 (01:47:34):
Stop it.

Speaker 7 (01:47:35):
They should have stopped it. One twenty to thirty Eight's
the final updating the NFL under five minutes to go
third quarter. Hey, the Bears are driving up toward midfield already.
It's thirty thirty five twenty eight San Francisco Brock Party
after the early pick six two touchdown passes, two touchdown
runs back to you.

Speaker 3 (01:47:56):
Yeah, I just tweeted out. Tough night for the game.
Manage your people, because what brock Perty just did would
have made Mahomes or Allan blush on a roll out
to the left and then the dance and shoes and
makes two linemen miss and then off schedule, throws the
ball to Kyle ust Check in the corner of the

(01:48:16):
end zone. Touchdown, forty nine ers. Let's see if somebody
can get a stop though or else. This is just
going to keep going on and on.

Speaker 7 (01:48:24):
They have punted one San Francisco first time this month.

Speaker 3 (01:48:27):
That's right, one punt in the month of December for
the forty nine ers. I believe the Bears have a
punt tonight as well, so they have actually used the punters.

Speaker 2 (01:48:36):
I want to ask you guys this, if the Niners.

Speaker 3 (01:48:38):
Do win this game, in your mind, what is the
top billing game next week? Niners, Seahawks, Panthers, Bucks, Pittsburgh
is draw, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

Speaker 4 (01:48:52):
I think it's the For me, I get Pittsburgh as
a draw, But for me, I think it's the Niners Seahawks.

Speaker 2 (01:49:00):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (01:49:00):
Like, I'd probably vote Steelers Ravens simply because it's like.

Speaker 2 (01:49:05):
The losers out.

Speaker 3 (01:49:06):
Yeah, the Niner Seahawks gets the top seed, but the.

Speaker 4 (01:49:09):
Losers in Yeah, but what comes with the top seed?
Like it's yeah, like that's the magic.

Speaker 7 (01:49:16):
And they would have each won six in a row.

Speaker 4 (01:49:18):
Yeah, next week, this is that's the magic. It's like,
oh yeah, it's too goli of sitting at the top
of the heels. Somebody's gonna get kicked in the teeth.

Speaker 7 (01:49:26):
But Mark's right about winner take all. I think they
picked Tennessee one year for the final Sunday Night game
for that exact reason.

Speaker 4 (01:49:32):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 3 (01:49:34):
I mean, that's just that's kind of my prediction in
terms of what they will do is Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Steve,
You're right Pittsburgh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like I mean,
Pittsburgh fan base, Niner fan base, what have you. Who's

(01:49:55):
gonna score more? The Pittsburgh Baltimore games tend to be
seventeen to fourteen.

Speaker 7 (01:49:59):
Pittsburgh has any enormous amount of primetime appearances in the
Mike Tomlin Air specifically, but just as a franchise.

Speaker 4 (01:50:06):
No doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (01:50:07):
So I wonder, I wonder, But obviously we still got
to uh the Niners. The Niners have plenty of work
to do before U before that's the reality. And Steve,
you said, we'll find out here in a matter of
just a couple hours, right, they'll release.

Speaker 7 (01:50:22):
They should because it's got to be I think, at
the at the max, six days until they are confirming
everything with teams. So usually Sunday Night football kind of
like the playoff schedule next Sunday night, they like to
before they go off the air and they'll have something
to promote for them for their game next Sunday night.

Speaker 3 (01:50:40):
And do we like do we upset? Did I hear
today that there's a Saturday window?

Speaker 7 (01:50:46):
I can't imagine there would be.

Speaker 3 (01:50:47):
I see, I wouldn't either, because I because that would
be unfair, right unless they stuck teams there that aren't
in the playoffs, right.

Speaker 7 (01:50:56):
But which is more than half the matchups next week?

Speaker 4 (01:50:59):
Yeah, you got plenty of those.

Speaker 7 (01:51:03):
Chiefs Raiders next weekend.

Speaker 4 (01:51:05):
Let's that would be the Duke against the Raiders.

Speaker 2 (01:51:10):
I'm in.

Speaker 3 (01:51:11):
That's exciting, Okay, all right, So that's where we're at,
and Steve's not wrong. The Bears were moving and now
they're super duper moving all the way into forty nine
ers territory. A third and short as we move into
the final two minutes of the third quarter forty nine
Ers thirty five Bears twenty eight.

Speaker 4 (01:51:28):
Will keep you up to date.

Speaker 3 (01:51:29):
Someone will probably have scored at least once by the
time we get back. But that is what's coming up
here in the Fox Sports Radio studios. Some final thoughts
eight from Salam Mark Willard, Fox Sports Radio. Wow, I
wasn't lying. I said when we come back, someone will
have scored. His name is DeAndre Swift. Thirty five, thirty five.

(01:51:51):
Good lord, there's a whole quarter left to play. We're
live in the Fox Sports Radio studios. Mark Willard, Eve
from Salam, you called it, Well, it's not that hard
to call. I mean, you know, these offenses are just
absolutely in total control. There was a dramatic moment in

(01:52:14):
this drive where I think Ben Johnson accurately reflected what's
going on in this game in that it was fourth
and five from the thirty yard line and he's like,
we're going for it because I think what we're doing
right now is the first person to settle for a
field goal loses.

Speaker 4 (01:52:34):
That's what it feels like.

Speaker 3 (01:52:35):
And so he's like, I'm not doing that, and he
went for it, and they got it and a couple
of plays later, they're in the end zone in this
game is tied, so fourteen fifty two to go.

Speaker 2 (01:52:44):
Niners eure up.

Speaker 3 (01:52:47):
And they haven't started playing winners outs yet, but they
might if this game gets to overtime.

Speaker 2 (01:52:53):
We'll see real quick.

Speaker 3 (01:52:54):
With the iHeartRadio app, you can stream us wherever you
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gonna pop up right there at the top of your
screen when you go in there. Yeah, I just I'm

(01:53:17):
looking at these two teams and this is a ton
of fun and it's impressive, and the quarterback play is
really good and this is it's exciting. But it's like,
so wait, one of the for these teams to do
well in January, Like one of these defenses is gonna
go against Matt Stafford and win.

Speaker 2 (01:53:38):
Is Is that what you're telling me?

Speaker 4 (01:53:39):
Oh, I'll say this, okay, I would say the forty
nine ers and the McVeigh Shanahan. Sure rivalry lends to
a better game I would say than the Bears in Rams.

Speaker 2 (01:53:57):
Yeah, you're probably right on that.

Speaker 4 (01:53:58):
Yeah, they know each other way too well. That's you know,
that's one of those you got to play against your cousin.

Speaker 2 (01:54:07):
Sure. Sure, And they split their games this year.

Speaker 3 (01:54:12):
But the last time again, the first time they played them,
the Niners were not as injured as they were the
second time they played him. The second time they played them,
Matt Stafford never got touched and the Rams scored over
forty points.

Speaker 4 (01:54:28):
So yeah, it's gonna come down to it. I just look,
coming off the game before this one to twelve to
thirteen point game, the fans are you know, they're enjoying
this one?

Speaker 3 (01:54:44):
Sure? Sure, and you got I mean like it's all
lent to it, right. It's offenses that are better than
the defenses. The weather's perfect in Santa Clara right now,
so there's none of them, you know, there's no wintery mix.
But uh, but I I do think you know, and
I can't speak for Bears fans, I know that the

(01:55:07):
Niner fan base all year long has taken each win
with a little bit of a sheepish grin because it's
kind of like, this is fun, but I don't really
believe fully that this is gonna work come January. But
because you, like you even said it, defense wins championship.

Speaker 4 (01:55:27):
That's been the sentiment for the Niners the whole year,
even by the fans. They're waiting for the other shoot
to drop and here we are playing for the number
one seed. Yeah, so wow, I mean, yeah, what what what? What?
What are people expecting.

Speaker 3 (01:55:48):
The shooter who I don't know, somebody speaking of somebody
to drop a ball like I I don't know, Like
this is just honestly, we're playing Madden right now.

Speaker 4 (01:55:59):
It's fun, it's fun entertaining. They should have.

Speaker 3 (01:56:03):
Actually Ben Johnson and Kyle Shanahan should have come out
in the second half and actually been holding those little
Xbox controllers just to just to just to clown miss thing.
I mean, Robert Sala has done a wonderful job with
the forty nine ers this year, but this has gotten
this has gotten a little a little ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (01:56:25):
Philip Rivers was going up and down on the field.

Speaker 3 (01:56:27):
He's got a grand kid, and what does this is
gonna work?

Speaker 5 (01:56:34):
You?

Speaker 4 (01:56:34):
Just like I hope Philip comes back, uh for the
beginning the next year, you do, I do?

Speaker 2 (01:56:41):
So he gets yet another year of health insurance.

Speaker 4 (01:56:44):
Health insurance, man, I get it, I get it. Big deal.

Speaker 5 (01:56:50):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:56:50):
They were at the end of that game today, they
were talking as he had his last couple of throws.
They're kind of like this, this this is probably the
last throws of Philip Rivers' career.

Speaker 4 (01:57:01):
Probably I got a game next week, don't they?

Speaker 3 (01:57:06):
Yeah, But the thought with the Colts officially eliminated now,
the thought was that maybe they'd give that one to uh,
to Ritey Letard. No, I'm just telling you what they
were saying during the game broadcast to be ridiculous, you know, like,
might as well take take a look at him, see

(01:57:28):
see see what he looks like, go into info gathering mode.

Speaker 2 (01:57:32):
I'm pretty sure Philip Rivers is not the QB of
the future.

Speaker 4 (01:57:36):
Right That ain't fourth and fourth down, they're not even
infield goal range. What do you want to do?

Speaker 2 (01:57:46):
But you're in Chicago territory?

Speaker 4 (01:57:49):
What do you do?

Speaker 3 (01:57:50):
Hotshot? Not like there's anything on the line. Might as
well go for it? Do you think they will?

Speaker 4 (01:58:00):
They gonna pin them deep? What if that mean?

Speaker 3 (01:58:04):
It takes an extra thirty seconds for them to score
a touchdown.

Speaker 2 (01:58:08):
Yeah, indeed, the punter is on the field.

Speaker 3 (01:58:10):
As we told you earlier, forty nine ers one of
the go for the least teams in the NFL. And
uh and they will not go for it on fourth
and seven.

Speaker 4 (01:58:22):
Put them on the one yard ten year line.

Speaker 3 (01:58:26):
Yep, exactly, all right, so eleven twenty three to go
plenty plenty of time. But this is kind of where
my mind goes going back to the scenarios that you
were talking about off the top. This is kind of
where that that opening play pick six, This is where
it comes into play. Yes, you know, Niner offense has

(01:58:48):
outplayed the Bears off game since then. But now you're
now you just flipped it. Now, now the Bears get
to be the team that that has a chance to
lead the way.

Speaker 4 (01:59:00):
Absolutely, Yeah, that that is going to loom large, very large.

Speaker 2 (01:59:08):
Happy New Year, dude, This is our last show of
twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (01:59:12):
We did it, man, made it to another one, but
another one.

Speaker 3 (01:59:15):
You're a resolution guy, Yeah, you know I have hope
for the same thing.

Speaker 4 (01:59:21):
Well, you know, be a better, better husband, better father,
you know stuff like that. Man, Just I'm just grounded brother.

Speaker 2 (01:59:27):
Yeah, every day be better?

Speaker 3 (01:59:29):
And you know what I always say about New Year's resolutions,
If you've already thought of them.

Speaker 2 (01:59:33):
How about now?

Speaker 4 (01:59:34):
Yeah jumping light and.

Speaker 3 (01:59:36):
The nobody says you can't start it on December twenty eighth,
December twenty ninth.

Speaker 4 (01:59:41):
Yeah, or be better next year than you were this year.

Speaker 3 (01:59:46):
But you were pretty good man. We'll talk to you
next week. For Aphram, I'm marked. Happy good night, Stay
tuned

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