January 20, 2026 • 31 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses how Indiana was able to cap off one of the most remarkable turnarounds in sports history with a College Football Playoff national championship, why he's openly rooting for the Las Vegas Raiders to pass on 'the young Tom Brady' Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft so he can fall to the New York Jets at #2, why it was so puzzling to see the Buffalo Bills fire head coach Sean McDermott but retain general manager Brandon Beane, and which of the Monday NFL head coaching (Robert Saleh to Tennessee) and coordinator hirings (Drew Petzig to Detroit) should provide the biggest dividends.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, straight Pam. It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight
Boyer for Tuesday, January the twentieth. Oh my gosh, guys,
come on, come on. How good of a game is that?
How good do we have it as football fans? Every
game seems to go down to the wire. Listen, I
(00:33):
don't care if you don't like college football. You weren't
jazzed up for Indiana Miami. You know you were spent
after watching NFL games over the weekend. It's just unbelievable
how crazy this year has started, with every game coming
down to the wire and absolute chaos. And I just
can't get over Indiana twenty seven, Miami twenty one. Not
(00:57):
for the number one, obviously, I'm thrilled that my teaser
was completed. Seattle, no sweat winner, and then Indiana we
had we gave that out last week, growed it up
on the site Indiana minus two and a half. I
will admit I was borderline sweating for Indiana at the end.
And I did do a couple of crazy bunny line
bets on Miami as they were getting the ball back,
like plus four hundred plus three ninety or whatever it was.
(01:20):
It was crazy. The game was just wild. It was
what this maybe is the new and football model, where
nobody's amazing, nobody's a juggernaut, and everybody's kind of even.
Everybody's good. No, there's no great teams. Indiana was pretty
damn awesome this year, though, And for whatever reason, every
game's close. I mean, this game came down to the
final seconds and it was It was a thriller. I
(01:41):
just need to start. Well, let's get the obvious out
of the way. First, Indiana longest preseason odds of any
national champion in the last at least the last twenty
five years. They were one hundred to one at some shops,
one hundred to one. Now, nobody who's betting that Indiana
grads in Vegas for pool season and they throw down
twenty five dollars drunk or one hundred dollars drunk on Indiana.
(02:02):
Nobody's put in real nobody's putting two bills or two
stacks on Indiana to win the national championship. Okay, there's
just not a thing. They got smoked by Notre Dame
in the playoff last year, and it was a modicum
of hype around Mendozo, but nothing like they got a
shot to go sixteen, know, within the National Championship. I mean,
that's crazy, And so that's number one. They were one
(02:24):
of the longest long shots that I can remember in
college football. This just kind of thing doesn't happen because
of the way the support has largely been structured. But
as we've seen in recent years, TCU getting to the Natty,
they did get smoked. Who else is the SMU got
to the playoff? The structure is a lot more balanced.
Everybody's got a shot. You gotta love that, right, So
(02:46):
that's number one. Number two is the whole three straight
titles for the Big Ten, I mean Michigan with Jim Harbaugh,
Ohio State last year and Indiana this year. Three straight
for the Big Ten, folks, it should be very obvious
that the sport has changed completely. Nil has flipped the
script and the Big Ten is a juggernaut. They have
(03:07):
a ton of money there. Coward at a really funny
line about how the donors in the SEC have like
car dealerships, right, and our bankruptcy law attorneys, and they're
helping fund to Auburn in Alabama and all these programs.
But in the Big Ten you've got tech executives like
(03:28):
Mark Cuban donating to I mean, Mark Cuban probably gave
more than, like, you know, eighty percent if he wanted,
he could give more than like eighty percent of Alabama
donations and Georgia donations. Mark Cuban's got billions of dollars.
And you've got that throughout Michigan. I mean, they allegedly
bought Bryce Underwood because you could do that now. I mean,
and so the money has changed, and there's way more
(03:49):
money in these bigger in these northern cities, mostly the
Big Ten, and the game done changed now. I don't
know if this will continue, but that's where we are now.
I'm sure that SEC will figure out a way to
get their way back on top, because, like you, like
the motto says, it just means war anyways. Now, I think,
so those are the two. I just need to get
out of the way early obviously. And now I just
(04:12):
need to address Fernando Mendoza.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I could probably do thirty minutes on Mendoza by myself.
I could just talk about this guy's his high school story,
college story, he's going to the pros. I'm so jealous
that the Las Vegas Raiders have Fernando Mendoza so j
Max's new NFL rankings. Teams that I root for number
one obviously the Jets. That's gonna be a labor of
love this season as they stink once again. Although I'm
(04:37):
kind of sort of liking getting Baine in the draft.
That guy is a terror off the edge. I saw
a decent NFL comp Brandon Graham, longtime stud from the Eagles,
get just a warrior coming off the edge. I like
Bane a lot. We'll see. We got three months of
this chatter. Jets are my favorite obviously in the NFL
too before two, just because of where we are and
the proximity to the to so far and going to games.
(04:59):
I think Ram and Chargers. You know, Chargers camp is
very close to our house, and we went to it,
you know, and I'm not gonna lie. I kind of leveraged, Hey, guys,
Jason over at f S one and can I get
some access to the Chargers, And you know, they gave
us good access and then kids got autographs from Harbaugh
and a couple other guys, Herbert. It was great. So
(05:21):
they automatically root for the Chargers that my buddiess got
Charger season tickets. I got another couple buddies who go
to a lot of Rams games, So it's like, obviously
I like the Rams and Chargers, and it just so
happens both are very good. I think three has to
be the Niners. A lot of NorCal transplants in where
I lived, so and I like Brock Perdy, and I
would say the Niners are probably right there. I know
(05:42):
that sounds weird, Niners and Rams, you know in the division,
but also the best NFL game I've ever been to
was Rams Rams Niners, and that was the NFC Championship game.
Just a tremendous game. I think I told the story.
We were in the parking lot, like we got dropped
off by an uber and we're walking through the parking
(06:03):
lot and we're wearing Rams gear, and these guys start
talking trash to our family, like these dud they're like
taking a piss by a car, like I don't know,
one hundred yards away or fifty yards. Don't do that
to your kids.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Don't make them.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Wear Rams gear. And they're just laughing. I mean, this
is like the middle of the afternoon. I was like, oh, wow,
we're in it. I mean, my wife and kids are
a little surprised. I mean it was kind of joking,
but Niner fans they don't mess around. They're they're very
into it. And I like the Niners, but I think
my new number four team to root for he's gonna
be the Las Vegas Raiders because I am just smitten
(06:36):
with Mendoza. Did you guys squatch that touchdown run? I'm
not even kidding. I was out of my seat going,
oh my god, like ye, dog comes running in. What's
going on? Are you guys playing it out? It's just
heroic stuff. I probably watched it a dozen times because,
first of all, great call by Signetti, right the coach,
(06:57):
who is that guy's a battle axe? You know, hey
he was. I was a jmu obviously I love me
some Signetti, but the reality he just made all the
right calls. I didn't know about kicking the field goal
to go up six. That's always a dicey proposition and
that would have bit him in the ass and everybody
would be ripping him today if that was, you know,
(07:19):
the deciding factor and they lose by one. But it's
let's say that whole drive was incredible. Mendoza just dealing.
Let's see, so you know you're up three, you don't
want to give the ball back to Miami. They had momentum.
So it's fourth and five from the Miami thirty seven
yard line. Oh sorry, yeah, yeah, fourth and five. Miami
(07:40):
thirty seven. Probably too long to kick ten minutes left
in the game. But this is where you trust your quarterback.
Mendoza and Ohio State fans remember this because he did
this to them in the Big Ten title game. And
you just back shoulder throw to Becker on the right side.
Boom again, fourth and five. And it wasn't like a
seven yard out. We're talking about like a nineteen yard
throw down the field one v one Becker and he
(08:02):
trusted his guy. I Becker just always seems to deliver.
And I had to look up his recruiting profile. Are
you ready for this? Becker was the eight hundred and
ninety first rated player in the country. He was the
one hundred and thirty fourth rated wide receiver coming out
of high school. What a story. And now he's just automatic.
You know, it's just not that so how cool is that?
(08:24):
Come on? Do you guys? Not love that one hundred
and thirty fourth rated wide receiver in the country, and
now he comes up big time in the Big Ten
title game and the National Championship. He was the twenty
seventh rated player in the state of Tennessee coming out
of high school. Okay, so that's just the first big
play on the drive, the big, big fourth down throw.
(08:47):
So then they're faced with fourth and two. No, I'm
sorry for fourth and fourth the Miami twelve and you
don't want to kick there. So they caught. They burn
a time out, and you're like, ooh, what are we
doing here? Huh? Low Risky trusts his quarterback And I
heard Signetty break down this game, this play specifically after
(09:08):
the game, and he essentially said, we had seen a
similar situation and the safeties played back. We called time out.
We wanted to see if they were back. He didn't
say what the you know, the alternative play was that
the safeties were up, safeties played back, So they went
to their tendency and they called a quarterback keeper and
Mendoza makes, you know, a pretty nice move.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I think.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It wasn't a spectacular move initially, but it was good blocking.
And then came the best part. We're talking about a
jump cut from a six foot five quarterback. Now, I
compared him here on the pod and on the herd.
I said, he looks like a young Tom Brady with
his poise and in the pocket he's money. But remember
when people hear Tom Brady thought, no way, no way.
(09:54):
My buddy who used to play hoops with me moved
to Boston instantly hits me on on id, no way,
I'll bet you anything, And I'm like, wait, I'm not
saying he's gonna be Brady. When I say he looks
like a young Tom Brady, I need you to rewind
to when Brady takes over for Drew Bledsoe in New England. Okay,
go look up that Brady. He's doing for like one
hundred and ninety two hundred and thirty yards a game.
(10:16):
He's a game manager. That's what that Brady was. Don't
screw it up, make the right pass, nothing risky. You
guys can go look it up. I remember because I
was a Jets fan. I was, and and then they
were our guys were the one who knocked Bledsoe out,
and they're like, oh, we knocked out Bloodso you know
the franchise guy. Blah blah blah. It turns out that
backfire badly because Brady was amazing. So on this play,
(10:39):
Mendoza and the keeper the jump cut over and then
he hurdles his own lineman, which was pretty spectacular. You're like, oh, wow,
is he gonna get it. He's close, he's close to
getting the first and after the jump cut he gets
kind of hit and spins and at that point he's
got the first down and you're like, oh my god,
just hold onto the ball and he lunges for the
end zone in a photo that will be immortalized forever
(11:03):
in Indiana lore maybe college football history. It was spectacular.
It was like, get out of your seat and go crazy.
He lunges with two hands over the goal line and
you're like, please don't fumble, and it's a tuddy and
they go up by ten and that play right there,
like listen, we know he's gonna be the number one
pick that sinsed it for sure. So obviously this is
what I do in March madness in college football. I
(11:26):
go down rabbit holes after something incredible happens. I'm just
so happy for the guy. And we all know Mendoza's
story now with his mom, she was like a college
tennis player. I believe she developed multiple sclerosis. She's confined
to a wheelchair. She goes to all the games, but
you could see, like, you know, that's a brutal disease,
and it's just it's affecting her and it's sad to see.
It's sad to see it happen anymore. And it obviously
(11:48):
has shaped Mendoza a lot. He's deeply religious, always referencing
God did it after the game multiple times, including all
glory to God. Da da da da dada dada. Let's
fucking go you know, one of those which is hysteria
and the crowd goes wild.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I dug deeper into the Mendoza story because all these
people were saying, oh, Mendoza, he didn't even get a
walk on offer from Miami. He kind of it alluded
to it in an interview with I think it was
Holly Row after the game. So then I go down
this rabbit hole and I find this video of Mendoza
telling the story at ACC media Day right when he
(12:34):
was playing for col in twenty twenty four. Okay, So
Mendoza says, oh, I used to go to the camp.
I mean, and he's so polished. You know this guy.
I'm just telling you. He's nerdy and he has graduated
from two business schools and he's got a LinkedIn profile
that he updates regularly. I mean, I love this guy. Okay.
So he tells the story at ACC media Day and
(12:55):
there's not a mob around him. It's it felt like
there was one reporter. I don't I can't see it
anyone else. There might have been others, but Mendoza was
wearing this suit, well spoken as usual. He's like, oh,
I went to all these camps, FSU Camp, Miami Camp.
Turns out he went to the same high school as
Mario crystal Ball in my outside Miami, and so he's like, so,
I had a good camp at the Miami camp, and
I looked up to their quarterbacks and I went up
(13:17):
to them afterward. Now it wasn't the crystal Ball staff,
that needs to be clear. It sounds like it was
the Manny Diaz staff and Mendoza went up and he
was like, hey, coaches, you know, I really love Miami
and everything about it. I was just seeing if there's
any interest. And according to Mendoza, and this does not
like to seem like the kind of guy who's gonna
lie or embellish, he said, we might take you as
(13:39):
a walk on. We might consider you as a walk on.
Now that's obviously not a will take you. That's not
a hard rejection, but it's like, yeah, we'll think about
it as a walk on. Now, I think I've told
the story. I have a good buddy who I grew
up with. Soccer player, went to Tennessee, was like Gatorade
(14:00):
Player of the Year, you know, awesome soccer player, had
offers from Vanderbilt and all these schools, wanted to go
to Notre Dame. Has some family connections and went to
Notre Dame and they were like, we will, we'll make you.
You know again, he has scholarship offers from other schools
and hey, yeah, we'll make you a you know, we'll
(14:21):
make you a walk on. We'll accept you as a
preferred walk on at best. And he's like, fine, I'm
taking it, And of course he starts playing as a
freshman year in his freshman year, plays a little bit
as a walk on sophomore year starting okay, junior year.
You know how they hand out in college those posters
with like the schedule. He's the guy in the poster,
and I mean it. We're still buddies, and he has
(14:43):
a good job, and we talked frequently. I got I'm
not gonna lie. I got my idea of building a
men's league dynasty from him because he built a soccer
dynasty in men's leagues in Pennsylvania, And like, I love
these stories of guys who were like told not really,
but well you could. You can walk on if you
And of course, so when Mendoza gets kind of rejected
(15:04):
as like we would consider you, we might consider you,
He's like, that was a sad night. That was a
sad night for me. It was a sad realization that
Miami is not gonna be my path. But man, has
it worked out great for him. Huh. Imagine being told
by your dream school, nah, yeah, we're not gonna take
you as a walk on, and then you come back,
(15:25):
what five years later, beat them essentially in their home stadium,
hard Rock to win the national championship and go sixteen
and no, Like that's the type of shit you see
in movies.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I'm not even kidding. That is incredible. The school says
no thanks, and you don't like, you know, you don't
get angry. You just realize, Okay, that's not my path.
I gotta find my own. And he ends up going
to cal cooking, transfers to Indiana and they go sixteen
and oh win the national championship by beating my That's
(15:59):
the stuff dream are made of. Man sports just do
some crazy things. And I'm just completely fascinated by the
Fernando Mendoza story. He was excellent in the game. I
know the stats will be like, well, you know, well
he only do for one hundred and eighty six yards.
He made the big time throws you had to make. Okay.
(16:19):
So I mentioned that Charlie Becker pass the back shoulder.
There was another one on the final drive, fourth and five,
another back shoulder to Becker. The DB's penalizing the shit,
just grabbing holding it, catches it another nineteen yards. I'm
just telling the guy can make the throws. And that's
when I compare him to young Brady. You just see
(16:40):
him out there. Here's the thing, though, Young Brady didn't
move like Mendoza does. If there's if there's any way
on earth, the Raiders pass on him, the Jets have
to get him, which is would be great. Now then,
now I know what you're saying, Well, Jack, why don't
we do Why don't we just trade up? We've got
draft capital. Historically that doesn't work. Usually it does not work. Now,
(17:03):
I know you can say Patrick Mahomes they traded up.
That that was different. That was a ten. The Chiefs
had just made the playoffs. They had Alex Smith. The
Jets have nothing. I mean their defense was abysmal. They
just don't have a quarterback. I like Breeze Hall, I
like Gara Wilson. They've they've got, you know, cap room,
They've got a lot of picks. I don't know what
the cost would be for Mendoza. I don't love trading up.
(17:27):
I just the Brice Young thing has backfired. I mean,
who is the other one? I forget this. I ran
a chat GPT search of all the teams that traded
up for a quarterback, and the history was not great.
Because because Coward and I debated this, Coward thinks we
should definitely do the deal. For the Jets, oh, here
(17:48):
it is here it is so here is a not
an incomplete history. So the Jets traded up the fifth
for Mark Sanchez. That worked. They went to two trade
AFC title games. But they had a good team before that, right,
they traded up to fit. They weren't three or four
or five win team. The Rams traded up for Jared Goff.
(18:09):
That did work. They did go to a super Bowl.
They also had Sean McVay, who you know, he took
over his coach and kind of sort of helped. Maybe
the Jets can find their own coach. The Bears traded
up for Mitchell Trubisky. That did not work obviously, Panthers
for Bryce Young they got to the playoffs, but eh,
Commanders traded up for RG three. That worked for like
fourteen games and then he got hurt. Let's see what
(18:31):
else I don't like this whole Oh trade up for
Christian Ponder, you know at twelve, or Blinge Gabbert, Johnny Manzel,
you know a lot of these Eagles traded up for
Wentz that kind I don't know that it worked. They
got super bowls out of it, but not because it
wentz Giants. Oh no, the Giants just took Saque. They
(18:51):
didn't trade out. Oh Niners traded up for Trey Lance.
That's a recent one that totally flopped at three. Complete disaster.
I mean, yes, you can find some and I know some.
So Lamar Jackson, No, no, no different, guys. You're a
thirty that was a thirty two in the first round.
There's no pressure on Lamar when he's taken thirty. Second.
If you trade up for Mendoza, all the pressure in
(19:13):
the world is on him, all of it. I mean again,
Mahomes at ten, there was no pressure when he was drafted.
It it's not even a guarantee. You're close to it
that he was gonna be amazing and he got to
sit for a year. You could sit for a year
when you're taking tenth and Alex Smith is in front
of you, who was in former number one pick. You
can't sit if you go to the Jets. You can't
sit if you go to the Raiders. So like, not
(19:36):
all trade up through ideas of sitting. Not all that
stuff is created equal. I'm guessing the Jets, Jets stand
pat and end up with Ruben Bain or somebody, but
we got months to figure that out. Just to quickly
put a bow on this game. I thought there was
a world where Carson Beck could have significantly helped himself
and his draft stock. I didn't see a lot. I
(20:00):
don't know what. My buddy texted me that he looks
like Marilyn Manson. I guess he's got those big crosses
under his eyes. I don't know what to do with Beck.
He's gonna be a tough one because he I don't
want to say that looks like Tarzan, plays like you
know what. But he's a big, tall dude with a
live arm, but for whatever reason, in the pocket just
(20:21):
never looks comfortable. I thought the Miami running back Fletcher
look pretty damn good at a big, strong, fast Obviously,
Malachi Tony is a machine. So Miami had nineteen receptions,
ten of them by Tony for one hundred and twenty two.
He's just a live wire. You get him the ball
in space and he's cooking just about anybody. He's awesome.
(20:43):
Bain had a sack, two and a half tackles for loss.
His oppo, Mesador had two sacks and two tackles for loss.
I'm telling you. Those two guys are first round picks.
They're very good. It was a tremendous game. I did
not see it, Miami keeping it that close. We had
a shot to win. I thought it would be you know,
they covered Miami did They covered eight and a half,
(21:05):
They covered seven, seven and a half. I think the
look ahead was five and a half, at which point
Indiana would have covered that. Maybe the books got crushed.
That would be great. But overall, completed college football season
a fun playoff. Man, it was fun. Different teams. I'm
actually I don't want to Yeah, well, all right, so
(21:28):
one of my kids plays volleyball and her team has
a tournament coming up in Vegas, and of course, you know,
some of the dads are planning some fun shenanigans. But
more importantly, I want to identify some college football futures
to to fire on. So I'm going to be paying
very close attention to the portal. Remember we had that
good Texas Tech hit from last year to make the
(21:49):
playoff that was That was a big win and I'd
love to deliver a couple more, though, so I will.
I'll be locking in here before we dive into college
hoops and the end NBA had a weird night last night.
But we can't really, I just don't think we have
time to get into this. Yeah, let's not my next
got destroyed. Yeah, we're not gonna We're not gonna go
(22:10):
into NBA. I do want to quickly talk one NFL
story that broke on whoa.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Okay, so we're recording this after midnight. This just popped
breaking news like live in the moment. The Titans are
working to finalize a deal to hire Robert Sala as
their next head coach. Welcome back to the AFC, Robert Sala.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Oh my goodness. That is a big one. Robert Sala
will get cam Ward he had. I think that's a
good good get for Robert Sala. I thought they would
go offense with cam Ward. They're going defense in Robert Salah. Interesting.
Huh wow, Okay, sorry in the moment, a bit of
(23:13):
a surprise. That's a hit for the Niners. Man. They
just can't they can't retain great people. It's tough you
hire great people, it's tough to retain them. So Shanahan
and company, I don't know, there's a forty nine ers offseas.
It's gonna be real interesting. Man, Like, what do you
do with Ayuk? You now lose Sala? How many defensive
starters do you get back? McCaffrey had such a monster
(23:36):
workload this year. Again I'm getting off track here, but
Robert sala initial reaction is he's probably a great hire
and didn't really have much of a chance in New York.
The whole Aaron Rodgers situation. It was just out of
his control and Rogers was just such a petulant. No,
(23:57):
I don't want to go off on Rogers, but you know,
like Robert Salas, so, I do think he's gonna have
a good chance.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
I was.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I was probably a year early on the Titans. I
think they're gonna be very interesting this year. I think
the Kevin Stefanski hire in Atlanta is excellent. I think,
stop me if you've heard this before. I like the
Falcons a lot. Next year we'll see how Pennix performs.
But they got some they got some dudes there, and
Sefanski's a really good offensive coach the big one though,
and I don't think this is a big Jeff Hafley
(24:25):
hired in Miami the Packers defensive coordinator. That to me
is very uninspiring. But hey, it's the Dolphins, that's what
they do. Maybe it works. I don't know. I think
that the McDermott firing is interesting. It is kind of
sort of backfiring because there was an outcry in Buffalo
on Monday after the news broke early in the morning,
(24:47):
like wait a minute, Bean is keeping his job, and
not only that he's getting promoted, but we're firing McDermott.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
For what.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Because of some dicey referee calls, Like if Brandon Cook's
catch stands as it should have, then you're telling me
the Bills probably win that game and are playing in
the AFC title game, And are we firing me dermot then?
And oh, by the way, the release from the owner
had like they misspelled the word admirable, and it was like,
(25:21):
whoa what are we doing? They misspelled a word in
the first sentence of the release announcing his firing, And
then people started to scrutinize all of beans draft picks
and they're like, oh, Bean's been around for a while. Yeah,
how many Pro Bowlers? How many All pros is he drafted?
He started looking and it's like, ooh, this is the
same GM now president who went on the radio to
(25:42):
argue with some meat balls in Buffalo and be like, yeah,
what are you guys coming after us for not drafting receivers?
And then he was like getting combative about it, and
then oh, would you look at that in the playoff game,
the only receiver he's got a Shakir and he could
have used receivers. He's still on a tight ends. Running
backs never have many receivers. Just stunning stuff. I mean,
McDermott becomes an interesting head coach. I don't know where
(26:06):
he lands. By the way, that's ten NFL head coaching
jobs that opened up. Here's a not so hot take.
I'm of the belief once the Chiefs and Mahomes went down,
expectations went up for the likes of Harbor with Lamar
and McDermott with Allen and this was quote unquote the
(26:26):
year for them to break through because the Kings aka
Mahomes and company were done and because they didn't break
through and win it, and now we got prickin Jared
Stidham and Bo Nick's facing Drake Bay. I'm of the
belief that those owners acted impetuously and said, well, this
is the chance to do it. N the coaches can't
do it. We're not firing the quarterback. Let's fire the coach.
(26:47):
And again I'm not I'm not some like McDermott's an
amazing head coach, just a bit of a puzzling firing.
But hey, I also have seen the numbers. Hey, some
of these they have good runs, but they can't break through,
and then they fire him, and then they hire another
guy and presto, they break through and win the Super Bowl. Well.
I also will remind Buffalo fans that in the seventeen
(27:11):
years before McDermott showed up, there were zero playoff appearances
for Buffalo, seventeen year playoff drought. As a Jets fan,
I know what that's like. But you get a coach
like that, you kind of hang on to him. Now,
I don't. I guess they think they can get somebody good.
I think Dable would be fine because he's been there.
It seems like they really want to keep Joe Brady
(27:33):
in the building because he's in high demand. Just a
crazy NFL off season that keeps getting crazier. Robert Salah
to the Titans in real time. Very fun. Oh one
last hire Drew Petzig. Pet Zing, Sorry, pet Zing is
the new OC in Detroit, not Mike McDaniel, as everybody wanted.
(27:55):
Drew Petzing. I haven't done my haven't done a deep
dive into the Arizona offense that he could not get
stuck in the mud, could not get out of the mud.
But Detroit it feels very mid although I don't want
to crush it, because who knows, maybe this guy is
very good. I don't want to destroy the higher but
initial reaction is EH one injury to report. Zach Charbonnay
(28:21):
out for the rest of the season, torn acl so
he will not suit up against the Rams. Now that
is interesting because A he's a much better blocker than
Kenneth Walker. B he's your between the tackles runner and c.
In each of the meetings against the Rams, he had
thirteen touches, runs and catches, so he's an integral part
of that offense. Now, their tight ends are very good.
(28:43):
Kenneth Walker's obviously very good. The third string back, I'm
spacing on his name, but he is I think he
was in Chicago maybe, but Vilas Jones is that who
it is. But I do think that is that's a
bit of a hit to the Seattle offense. And we'll
see how the Rams defense plays given the one less
day arrest, the overtime, all that stuff. But just so
you know that's baked into the line. Everybody knows that
(29:05):
Vegas knows that it's all baked in. I think the
read has to be that that hurts, and I would
give a slight edge to Chrishula. I saw an unbelievable
stat about the Rams and why they were so good
against the Bears. Inside either was a goal to go
or inside the ten or inside the red zone. I
(29:27):
guess the numbers say, regardless of what you do, you
have to play zone against Caleb Williams when it gets
in close. And even though that's not the Rams tendency
most of the season, they did it every time against
Caleb and apparently it worked and that led to allegedly,
well not allegedly. I'm just based on what I'm reading
(29:49):
and what I'm seeing Ben Johnson his quotes about He's like,
we weren't having any success, so I didn't go for
two after the touchdown. We just were not having any
success inside the five or goal to go or whatever
it was. And it was like, oh, Chris Shula is
really freaking smart. And this is the weird thing about
the NFL, Like there is a lot of analytics that
(30:09):
really really do matter and I can't calculate EPA, but
that stuff matters and you've got to look at it deeply.
And Chris Shula. Shout out to him for what he did.
Now it's interesting because he's in the NSC Championship game,
but he's also interviewing for jobs, and jobs are going
how do you navigate that? How do I plan for
Seattle round three versus interview with the Browns or Arizona Cardinals.
(30:38):
That's not a great job, but it's in the division.
Whatever other jobs are open, Like, you got some decisions
to make here, and you're you know, you don't want
to blow it because when you're hot, you're hot. But
I don't know, I don't know how he's going to
handle that. Shul a very sharp mind. I like him.
(30:59):
I kind of hope he stayed with the Rams. But again,
when you get an opportunity to make the leap usually
you got to. All right, that's a long Tuesday podcast.
Hopefully rob G is back healthy. Tomorrow we'll chop up
some stuff we haven't talked about in a minute. We'll
see then
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, straight Pam. It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight
Boyer for Tuesday, January the twentieth. Oh my gosh, guys,
come on, come on. How good of a game is that?
How good do we have it as football fans? Every
game seems to go down to the wire. Listen, I
(00:33):
don't care if you don't like college football. You weren't
jazzed up for Indiana Miami. You know you were spent
after watching NFL games over the weekend. It's just unbelievable
how crazy this year has started, with every game coming
down to the wire and absolute chaos. And I just
can't get over Indiana twenty seven, Miami twenty one. Not
(00:57):
for the number one, obviously, I'm thrilled that my teaser
was completed. Seattle, no sweat winner, and then Indiana we
had we gave that out last week, growed it up
on the site Indiana minus two and a half. I
will admit I was borderline sweating for Indiana at the end.
And I did do a couple of crazy bunny line
bets on Miami as they were getting the ball back,
like plus four hundred plus three ninety or whatever it was.
(01:20):
It was crazy. The game was just wild. It was
what this maybe is the new and football model, where
nobody's amazing, nobody's a juggernaut, and everybody's kind of even.
Everybody's good. No, there's no great teams. Indiana was pretty
damn awesome this year, though, And for whatever reason, every
game's close. I mean, this game came down to the
final seconds and it was It was a thriller. I
(01:41):
just need to start. Well, let's get the obvious out
of the way. First, Indiana longest preseason odds of any
national champion in the last at least the last twenty
five years. They were one hundred to one at some shops,
one hundred to one. Now, nobody who's betting that Indiana
grads in Vegas for pool season and they throw down
twenty five dollars drunk or one hundred dollars drunk on Indiana.
(02:02):
Nobody's put in real nobody's putting two bills or two
stacks on Indiana to win the national championship. Okay, there's
just not a thing. They got smoked by Notre Dame
in the playoff last year, and it was a modicum
of hype around Mendozo, but nothing like they got a
shot to go sixteen, know, within the National Championship. I mean,
that's crazy, And so that's number one. They were one
(02:24):
of the longest long shots that I can remember in
college football. This just kind of thing doesn't happen because
of the way the support has largely been structured. But
as we've seen in recent years, TCU getting to the Natty,
they did get smoked. Who else is the SMU got
to the playoff? The structure is a lot more balanced.
Everybody's got a shot. You gotta love that, right, So
(02:46):
that's number one. Number two is the whole three straight
titles for the Big Ten, I mean Michigan with Jim Harbaugh,
Ohio State last year and Indiana this year. Three straight
for the Big Ten, folks, it should be very obvious
that the sport has changed completely. Nil has flipped the
script and the Big Ten is a juggernaut. They have
(03:07):
a ton of money there. Coward at a really funny
line about how the donors in the SEC have like
car dealerships, right, and our bankruptcy law attorneys, and they're
helping fund to Auburn in Alabama and all these programs.
But in the Big Ten you've got tech executives like
(03:28):
Mark Cuban donating to I mean, Mark Cuban probably gave
more than, like, you know, eighty percent if he wanted,
he could give more than like eighty percent of Alabama
donations and Georgia donations. Mark Cuban's got billions of dollars.
And you've got that throughout Michigan. I mean, they allegedly
bought Bryce Underwood because you could do that now. I mean,
and so the money has changed, and there's way more
(03:49):
money in these bigger in these northern cities, mostly the
Big Ten, and the game done changed now. I don't
know if this will continue, but that's where we are now.
I'm sure that SEC will figure out a way to
get their way back on top, because, like you, like
the motto says, it just means war anyways. Now, I think,
so those are the two. I just need to get
out of the way early obviously. And now I just
(04:12):
need to address Fernando Mendoza.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I could probably do thirty minutes on Mendoza by myself.
I could just talk about this guy's his high school story,
college story, he's going to the pros. I'm so jealous
that the Las Vegas Raiders have Fernando Mendoza so j
Max's new NFL rankings. Teams that I root for number
one obviously the Jets. That's gonna be a labor of
love this season as they stink once again. Although I'm
(04:37):
kind of sort of liking getting Baine in the draft.
That guy is a terror off the edge. I saw
a decent NFL comp Brandon Graham, longtime stud from the Eagles,
get just a warrior coming off the edge. I like
Bane a lot. We'll see. We got three months of
this chatter. Jets are my favorite obviously in the NFL
too before two, just because of where we are and
the proximity to the to so far and going to games.
(04:59):
I think Ram and Chargers. You know, Chargers camp is
very close to our house, and we went to it,
you know, and I'm not gonna lie. I kind of leveraged, Hey, guys,
Jason over at f S one and can I get
some access to the Chargers, And you know, they gave
us good access and then kids got autographs from Harbaugh
and a couple other guys, Herbert. It was great. So
(05:21):
they automatically root for the Chargers that my buddiess got
Charger season tickets. I got another couple buddies who go
to a lot of Rams games, So it's like, obviously
I like the Rams and Chargers, and it just so
happens both are very good. I think three has to
be the Niners. A lot of NorCal transplants in where
I lived, so and I like Brock Perdy, and I
would say the Niners are probably right there. I know
(05:42):
that sounds weird, Niners and Rams, you know in the division,
but also the best NFL game I've ever been to
was Rams Rams Niners, and that was the NFC Championship game.
Just a tremendous game. I think I told the story.
We were in the parking lot, like we got dropped
off by an uber and we're walking through the parking
(06:03):
lot and we're wearing Rams gear, and these guys start
talking trash to our family, like these dud they're like
taking a piss by a car, like I don't know,
one hundred yards away or fifty yards. Don't do that
to your kids.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Don't make them.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Wear Rams gear. And they're just laughing. I mean, this
is like the middle of the afternoon. I was like, oh, wow,
we're in it. I mean, my wife and kids are
a little surprised. I mean it was kind of joking,
but Niner fans they don't mess around. They're they're very
into it. And I like the Niners, but I think
my new number four team to root for he's gonna
be the Las Vegas Raiders because I am just smitten
(06:36):
with Mendoza. Did you guys squatch that touchdown run? I'm
not even kidding. I was out of my seat going,
oh my god, like ye, dog comes running in. What's
going on? Are you guys playing it out? It's just
heroic stuff. I probably watched it a dozen times because,
first of all, great call by Signetti, right the coach,
(06:57):
who is that guy's a battle axe? You know, hey
he was. I was a jmu obviously I love me
some Signetti, but the reality he just made all the
right calls. I didn't know about kicking the field goal
to go up six. That's always a dicey proposition and
that would have bit him in the ass and everybody
would be ripping him today if that was, you know,
(07:19):
the deciding factor and they lose by one. But it's
let's say that whole drive was incredible. Mendoza just dealing.
Let's see, so you know you're up three, you don't
want to give the ball back to Miami. They had momentum.
So it's fourth and five from the Miami thirty seven
yard line. Oh sorry, yeah, yeah, fourth and five. Miami
(07:40):
thirty seven. Probably too long to kick ten minutes left
in the game. But this is where you trust your quarterback.
Mendoza and Ohio State fans remember this because he did
this to them in the Big Ten title game. And
you just back shoulder throw to Becker on the right side.
Boom again, fourth and five. And it wasn't like a
seven yard out. We're talking about like a nineteen yard
throw down the field one v one Becker and he
(08:02):
trusted his guy. I Becker just always seems to deliver.
And I had to look up his recruiting profile. Are
you ready for this? Becker was the eight hundred and
ninety first rated player in the country. He was the
one hundred and thirty fourth rated wide receiver coming out
of high school. What a story. And now he's just automatic.
You know, it's just not that so how cool is that?
(08:24):
Come on? Do you guys? Not love that one hundred
and thirty fourth rated wide receiver in the country, and
now he comes up big time in the Big Ten
title game and the National Championship. He was the twenty
seventh rated player in the state of Tennessee coming out
of high school. Okay, so that's just the first big
play on the drive, the big, big fourth down throw.
(08:47):
So then they're faced with fourth and two. No, I'm
sorry for fourth and fourth the Miami twelve and you
don't want to kick there. So they caught. They burn
a time out, and you're like, ooh, what are we
doing here? Huh? Low Risky trusts his quarterback And I
heard Signetty break down this game, this play specifically after
(09:08):
the game, and he essentially said, we had seen a
similar situation and the safeties played back. We called time out.
We wanted to see if they were back. He didn't
say what the you know, the alternative play was that
the safeties were up, safeties played back, So they went
to their tendency and they called a quarterback keeper and
Mendoza makes, you know, a pretty nice move.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I think.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It wasn't a spectacular move initially, but it was good blocking.
And then came the best part. We're talking about a
jump cut from a six foot five quarterback. Now, I
compared him here on the pod and on the herd.
I said, he looks like a young Tom Brady with
his poise and in the pocket he's money. But remember
when people hear Tom Brady thought, no way, no way.
(09:54):
My buddy who used to play hoops with me moved
to Boston instantly hits me on on id, no way,
I'll bet you anything, And I'm like, wait, I'm not
saying he's gonna be Brady. When I say he looks
like a young Tom Brady, I need you to rewind
to when Brady takes over for Drew Bledsoe in New England. Okay,
go look up that Brady. He's doing for like one
hundred and ninety two hundred and thirty yards a game.
(10:16):
He's a game manager. That's what that Brady was. Don't
screw it up, make the right pass, nothing risky. You
guys can go look it up. I remember because I
was a Jets fan. I was, and and then they
were our guys were the one who knocked Bledsoe out,
and they're like, oh, we knocked out Bloodso you know
the franchise guy. Blah blah blah. It turns out that
backfire badly because Brady was amazing. So on this play,
(10:39):
Mendoza and the keeper the jump cut over and then
he hurdles his own lineman, which was pretty spectacular. You're like, oh, wow,
is he gonna get it. He's close, he's close to
getting the first and after the jump cut he gets
kind of hit and spins and at that point he's
got the first down and you're like, oh my god,
just hold onto the ball and he lunges for the
end zone in a photo that will be immortalized forever
(11:03):
in Indiana lore maybe college football history. It was spectacular.
It was like, get out of your seat and go crazy.
He lunges with two hands over the goal line and
you're like, please don't fumble, and it's a tuddy and
they go up by ten and that play right there,
like listen, we know he's gonna be the number one
pick that sinsed it for sure. So obviously this is
what I do in March madness in college football. I
(11:26):
go down rabbit holes after something incredible happens. I'm just
so happy for the guy. And we all know Mendoza's
story now with his mom, she was like a college
tennis player. I believe she developed multiple sclerosis. She's confined
to a wheelchair. She goes to all the games, but
you could see, like, you know, that's a brutal disease,
and it's just it's affecting her and it's sad to see.
It's sad to see it happen anymore. And it obviously
(11:48):
has shaped Mendoza a lot. He's deeply religious, always referencing
God did it after the game multiple times, including all
glory to God. Da da da da dada dada. Let's
fucking go you know, one of those which is hysteria
and the crowd goes wild.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I dug deeper into the Mendoza story because all these
people were saying, oh, Mendoza, he didn't even get a
walk on offer from Miami. He kind of it alluded
to it in an interview with I think it was
Holly Row after the game. So then I go down
this rabbit hole and I find this video of Mendoza
telling the story at ACC media Day right when he
(12:34):
was playing for col in twenty twenty four. Okay, So
Mendoza says, oh, I used to go to the camp.
I mean, and he's so polished. You know this guy.
I'm just telling you. He's nerdy and he has graduated
from two business schools and he's got a LinkedIn profile
that he updates regularly. I mean, I love this guy. Okay.
So he tells the story at ACC media Day and
(12:55):
there's not a mob around him. It's it felt like
there was one reporter. I don't I can't see it
anyone else. There might have been others, but Mendoza was
wearing this suit, well spoken as usual. He's like, oh,
I went to all these camps, FSU Camp, Miami Camp.
Turns out he went to the same high school as
Mario crystal Ball in my outside Miami, and so he's like, so,
I had a good camp at the Miami camp, and
I looked up to their quarterbacks and I went up
(13:17):
to them afterward. Now it wasn't the crystal Ball staff,
that needs to be clear. It sounds like it was
the Manny Diaz staff and Mendoza went up and he
was like, hey, coaches, you know, I really love Miami
and everything about it. I was just seeing if there's
any interest. And according to Mendoza, and this does not
like to seem like the kind of guy who's gonna
lie or embellish, he said, we might take you as
(13:39):
a walk on. We might consider you as a walk on.
Now that's obviously not a will take you. That's not
a hard rejection, but it's like, yeah, we'll think about
it as a walk on. Now, I think I've told
the story. I have a good buddy who I grew
up with. Soccer player, went to Tennessee, was like Gatorade
(14:00):
Player of the Year, you know, awesome soccer player, had
offers from Vanderbilt and all these schools, wanted to go
to Notre Dame. Has some family connections and went to
Notre Dame and they were like, we will, we'll make you.
You know again, he has scholarship offers from other schools
and hey, yeah, we'll make you a you know, we'll
(14:21):
make you a walk on. We'll accept you as a
preferred walk on at best. And he's like, fine, I'm
taking it, And of course he starts playing as a
freshman year in his freshman year, plays a little bit
as a walk on sophomore year starting okay, junior year.
You know how they hand out in college those posters
with like the schedule. He's the guy in the poster,
and I mean it. We're still buddies, and he has
(14:43):
a good job, and we talked frequently. I got I'm
not gonna lie. I got my idea of building a
men's league dynasty from him because he built a soccer
dynasty in men's leagues in Pennsylvania, And like, I love
these stories of guys who were like told not really,
but well you could. You can walk on if you
And of course, so when Mendoza gets kind of rejected
(15:04):
as like we would consider you, we might consider you,
He's like, that was a sad night. That was a
sad night for me. It was a sad realization that
Miami is not gonna be my path. But man, has
it worked out great for him. Huh. Imagine being told
by your dream school, nah, yeah, we're not gonna take
you as a walk on, and then you come back,
(15:25):
what five years later, beat them essentially in their home stadium,
hard Rock to win the national championship and go sixteen
and no, Like that's the type of shit you see
in movies.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I'm not even kidding. That is incredible. The school says
no thanks, and you don't like, you know, you don't
get angry. You just realize, Okay, that's not my path.
I gotta find my own. And he ends up going
to cal cooking, transfers to Indiana and they go sixteen
and oh win the national championship by beating my That's
(15:59):
the stuff dream are made of. Man sports just do
some crazy things. And I'm just completely fascinated by the
Fernando Mendoza story. He was excellent in the game. I
know the stats will be like, well, you know, well
he only do for one hundred and eighty six yards.
He made the big time throws you had to make. Okay.
(16:19):
So I mentioned that Charlie Becker pass the back shoulder.
There was another one on the final drive, fourth and five,
another back shoulder to Becker. The DB's penalizing the shit,
just grabbing holding it, catches it another nineteen yards. I'm
just telling the guy can make the throws. And that's
when I compare him to young Brady. You just see
(16:40):
him out there. Here's the thing, though, Young Brady didn't
move like Mendoza does. If there's if there's any way
on earth, the Raiders pass on him, the Jets have
to get him, which is would be great. Now then,
now I know what you're saying, Well, Jack, why don't
we do Why don't we just trade up? We've got
draft capital. Historically that doesn't work. Usually it does not work. Now,
(17:03):
I know you can say Patrick Mahomes they traded up.
That that was different. That was a ten. The Chiefs
had just made the playoffs. They had Alex Smith. The
Jets have nothing. I mean their defense was abysmal. They
just don't have a quarterback. I like Breeze Hall, I
like Gara Wilson. They've they've got, you know, cap room,
They've got a lot of picks. I don't know what
the cost would be for Mendoza. I don't love trading up.
(17:27):
I just the Brice Young thing has backfired. I mean,
who is the other one? I forget this. I ran
a chat GPT search of all the teams that traded
up for a quarterback, and the history was not great.
Because because Coward and I debated this, Coward thinks we
should definitely do the deal. For the Jets, oh, here
(17:48):
it is here it is so here is a not
an incomplete history. So the Jets traded up the fifth
for Mark Sanchez. That worked. They went to two trade
AFC title games. But they had a good team before that, right,
they traded up to fit. They weren't three or four
or five win team. The Rams traded up for Jared Goff.
(18:09):
That did work. They did go to a super Bowl.
They also had Sean McVay, who you know, he took
over his coach and kind of sort of helped. Maybe
the Jets can find their own coach. The Bears traded
up for Mitchell Trubisky. That did not work obviously, Panthers
for Bryce Young they got to the playoffs, but eh,
Commanders traded up for RG three. That worked for like
fourteen games and then he got hurt. Let's see what
(18:31):
else I don't like this whole Oh trade up for
Christian Ponder, you know at twelve, or Blinge Gabbert, Johnny Manzel,
you know a lot of these Eagles traded up for
Wentz that kind I don't know that it worked. They
got super bowls out of it, but not because it
wentz Giants. Oh no, the Giants just took Saque. They
(18:51):
didn't trade out. Oh Niners traded up for Trey Lance.
That's a recent one that totally flopped at three. Complete disaster.
I mean, yes, you can find some and I know some.
So Lamar Jackson, No, no, no different, guys. You're a
thirty that was a thirty two in the first round.
There's no pressure on Lamar when he's taken thirty. Second.
If you trade up for Mendoza, all the pressure in
(19:13):
the world is on him, all of it. I mean again,
Mahomes at ten, there was no pressure when he was drafted.
It it's not even a guarantee. You're close to it
that he was gonna be amazing and he got to
sit for a year. You could sit for a year
when you're taking tenth and Alex Smith is in front
of you, who was in former number one pick. You
can't sit if you go to the Jets. You can't
sit if you go to the Raiders. So like, not
(19:36):
all trade up through ideas of sitting. Not all that
stuff is created equal. I'm guessing the Jets, Jets stand
pat and end up with Ruben Bain or somebody, but
we got months to figure that out. Just to quickly
put a bow on this game. I thought there was
a world where Carson Beck could have significantly helped himself
and his draft stock. I didn't see a lot. I
(20:00):
don't know what. My buddy texted me that he looks
like Marilyn Manson. I guess he's got those big crosses
under his eyes. I don't know what to do with Beck.
He's gonna be a tough one because he I don't
want to say that looks like Tarzan, plays like you
know what. But he's a big, tall dude with a
live arm, but for whatever reason, in the pocket just
(20:21):
never looks comfortable. I thought the Miami running back Fletcher
look pretty damn good at a big, strong, fast Obviously,
Malachi Tony is a machine. So Miami had nineteen receptions,
ten of them by Tony for one hundred and twenty two.
He's just a live wire. You get him the ball
in space and he's cooking just about anybody. He's awesome.
(20:43):
Bain had a sack, two and a half tackles for loss.
His oppo, Mesador had two sacks and two tackles for loss.
I'm telling you. Those two guys are first round picks.
They're very good. It was a tremendous game. I did
not see it, Miami keeping it that close. We had
a shot to win. I thought it would be you know,
they covered Miami did They covered eight and a half,
(21:05):
They covered seven, seven and a half. I think the
look ahead was five and a half, at which point
Indiana would have covered that. Maybe the books got crushed.
That would be great. But overall, completed college football season
a fun playoff. Man, it was fun. Different teams. I'm
actually I don't want to Yeah, well, all right, so
(21:28):
one of my kids plays volleyball and her team has
a tournament coming up in Vegas, and of course, you know,
some of the dads are planning some fun shenanigans. But
more importantly, I want to identify some college football futures
to to fire on. So I'm going to be paying
very close attention to the portal. Remember we had that
good Texas Tech hit from last year to make the
(21:49):
playoff that was That was a big win and I'd
love to deliver a couple more, though, so I will.
I'll be locking in here before we dive into college
hoops and the end NBA had a weird night last night.
But we can't really, I just don't think we have
time to get into this. Yeah, let's not my next
got destroyed. Yeah, we're not gonna We're not gonna go
(22:10):
into NBA. I do want to quickly talk one NFL
story that broke on whoa.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
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Speaker 2 (22:30):
Okay, so we're recording this after midnight. This just popped
breaking news like live in the moment. The Titans are
working to finalize a deal to hire Robert Sala as
their next head coach. Welcome back to the AFC, Robert Sala.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Oh my goodness. That is a big one. Robert Sala
will get cam Ward he had. I think that's a
good good get for Robert Sala. I thought they would
go offense with cam Ward. They're going defense in Robert Salah. Interesting.
Huh wow, Okay, sorry in the moment, a bit of
(23:13):
a surprise. That's a hit for the Niners. Man. They
just can't they can't retain great people. It's tough you
hire great people, it's tough to retain them. So Shanahan
and company, I don't know, there's a forty nine ers offseas.
It's gonna be real interesting. Man, Like, what do you
do with Ayuk? You now lose Sala? How many defensive
starters do you get back? McCaffrey had such a monster
(23:36):
workload this year. Again I'm getting off track here, but
Robert sala initial reaction is he's probably a great hire
and didn't really have much of a chance in New York.
The whole Aaron Rodgers situation. It was just out of
his control and Rogers was just such a petulant. No,
(23:57):
I don't want to go off on Rogers, but you know,
like Robert Salas, so, I do think he's gonna have
a good chance.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
I was.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I was probably a year early on the Titans. I
think they're gonna be very interesting this year. I think
the Kevin Stefanski hire in Atlanta is excellent. I think,
stop me if you've heard this before. I like the
Falcons a lot. Next year we'll see how Pennix performs.
But they got some they got some dudes there, and
Sefanski's a really good offensive coach the big one though,
and I don't think this is a big Jeff Hafley
(24:25):
hired in Miami the Packers defensive coordinator. That to me
is very uninspiring. But hey, it's the Dolphins, that's what
they do. Maybe it works. I don't know. I think
that the McDermott firing is interesting. It is kind of
sort of backfiring because there was an outcry in Buffalo
on Monday after the news broke early in the morning,
(24:47):
like wait a minute, Bean is keeping his job, and
not only that he's getting promoted, but we're firing McDermott.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
For what.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Because of some dicey referee calls, Like if Brandon Cook's
catch stands as it should have, then you're telling me
the Bills probably win that game and are playing in
the AFC title game, And are we firing me dermot then?
And oh, by the way, the release from the owner
had like they misspelled the word admirable, and it was like,
(25:21):
whoa what are we doing? They misspelled a word in
the first sentence of the release announcing his firing, And
then people started to scrutinize all of beans draft picks
and they're like, oh, Bean's been around for a while. Yeah,
how many Pro Bowlers? How many All pros is he drafted?
He started looking and it's like, ooh, this is the
same GM now president who went on the radio to
(25:42):
argue with some meat balls in Buffalo and be like, yeah,
what are you guys coming after us for not drafting receivers?
And then he was like getting combative about it, and
then oh, would you look at that in the playoff game,
the only receiver he's got a Shakir and he could
have used receivers. He's still on a tight ends. Running
backs never have many receivers. Just stunning stuff. I mean,
McDermott becomes an interesting head coach. I don't know where
(26:06):
he lands. By the way, that's ten NFL head coaching
jobs that opened up. Here's a not so hot take.
I'm of the belief once the Chiefs and Mahomes went down,
expectations went up for the likes of Harbor with Lamar
and McDermott with Allen and this was quote unquote the
(26:26):
year for them to break through because the Kings aka
Mahomes and company were done and because they didn't break
through and win it, and now we got prickin Jared
Stidham and Bo Nick's facing Drake Bay. I'm of the
belief that those owners acted impetuously and said, well, this
is the chance to do it. N the coaches can't
do it. We're not firing the quarterback. Let's fire the coach.
(26:47):
And again I'm not I'm not some like McDermott's an
amazing head coach, just a bit of a puzzling firing.
But hey, I also have seen the numbers. Hey, some
of these they have good runs, but they can't break through,
and then they fire him, and then they hire another
guy and presto, they break through and win the Super Bowl. Well.
I also will remind Buffalo fans that in the seventeen
(27:11):
years before McDermott showed up, there were zero playoff appearances
for Buffalo, seventeen year playoff drought. As a Jets fan,
I know what that's like. But you get a coach
like that, you kind of hang on to him. Now,
I don't. I guess they think they can get somebody good.
I think Dable would be fine because he's been there.
It seems like they really want to keep Joe Brady
(27:33):
in the building because he's in high demand. Just a
crazy NFL off season that keeps getting crazier. Robert Salah
to the Titans in real time. Very fun. Oh one
last hire Drew Petzig. Pet Zing, Sorry, pet Zing is
the new OC in Detroit, not Mike McDaniel, as everybody wanted.
(27:55):
Drew Petzing. I haven't done my haven't done a deep
dive into the Arizona offense that he could not get
stuck in the mud, could not get out of the mud.
But Detroit it feels very mid although I don't want
to crush it, because who knows, maybe this guy is
very good. I don't want to destroy the higher but
initial reaction is EH one injury to report. Zach Charbonnay
(28:21):
out for the rest of the season, torn acl so
he will not suit up against the Rams. Now that
is interesting because A he's a much better blocker than
Kenneth Walker. B he's your between the tackles runner and c.
In each of the meetings against the Rams, he had
thirteen touches, runs and catches, so he's an integral part
of that offense. Now, their tight ends are very good.
(28:43):
Kenneth Walker's obviously very good. The third string back, I'm
spacing on his name, but he is I think he
was in Chicago maybe, but Vilas Jones is that who
it is. But I do think that is that's a
bit of a hit to the Seattle offense. And we'll
see how the Rams defense plays given the one less
day arrest, the overtime, all that stuff. But just so
you know that's baked into the line. Everybody knows that
(29:05):
Vegas knows that it's all baked in. I think the
read has to be that that hurts, and I would
give a slight edge to Chrishula. I saw an unbelievable
stat about the Rams and why they were so good
against the Bears. Inside either was a goal to go
or inside the ten or inside the red zone. I
(29:27):
guess the numbers say, regardless of what you do, you
have to play zone against Caleb Williams when it gets
in close. And even though that's not the Rams tendency
most of the season, they did it every time against
Caleb and apparently it worked and that led to allegedly,
well not allegedly. I'm just based on what I'm reading
(29:49):
and what I'm seeing Ben Johnson his quotes about He's like,
we weren't having any success, so I didn't go for
two after the touchdown. We just were not having any
success inside the five or goal to go or whatever
it was. And it was like, oh, Chris Shula is
really freaking smart. And this is the weird thing about
the NFL, Like there is a lot of analytics that
(30:09):
really really do matter and I can't calculate EPA, but
that stuff matters and you've got to look at it deeply.
And Chris Shula. Shout out to him for what he did.
Now it's interesting because he's in the NSC Championship game,
but he's also interviewing for jobs, and jobs are going
how do you navigate that? How do I plan for
Seattle round three versus interview with the Browns or Arizona Cardinals.
(30:38):
That's not a great job, but it's in the division.
Whatever other jobs are open, Like, you got some decisions
to make here, and you're you know, you don't want
to blow it because when you're hot, you're hot. But
I don't know, I don't know how he's going to
handle that. Shul a very sharp mind. I like him.
(30:59):
I kind of hope he stayed with the Rams. But again,
when you get an opportunity to make the leap usually
you got to. All right, that's a long Tuesday podcast.
Hopefully rob G is back healthy. Tomorrow we'll chop up
some stuff we haven't talked about in a minute. We'll
see then
Fox Sports Radio News
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Jonas Knox
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