Back On The Mic

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the out Kick the Coverage podcast.
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(00:23):
Radio Live from the Guico out Kicks Studios. Hope your
Friday is going spectacularly well. Fifteen minutes could save you
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all areas. I've got a pretty awesome football weekend personally
that I am excited about here as we start off Friday.
As soon as I finished this show, I am headed
straight to the airport to hop a flight down to Miami.

(01:07):
I'll do my lock it in television show from Miami
today getting ready for the Alabama Oklahoma game, which I
am ecstatic to see Kyler Murray against two h We
don't really know exactly how healthy too is gonna be,
but I still think it's gonna be a blockbuster, exciting game.
Gonna go to that game Saturday night, uh, and then
almost immediately turn around and fly back Sunday morning, and

(01:30):
I'll be going to the Colts Titans game in Nashville,
the Sunday night football game. Now, we'll be reacting to
that with you on New Year's Eve. So we'll be
on on out Kick on Monday morning, uh, hanging out
with you breaking down all of the NFL and college
football action, so we won't miss anything. There should be
a lot of fun, big games to discuss on Monday.

(01:50):
But man, this weekend, if you are a football fan,
I think it's really kind of a difficult situation to
even make decisions how to spend all your time. And
there are a lot of you out there right now
who may not be huge college football fans that are
just now realizing I think that the college football playoff
games are on Saturday. They're not happening on January one.

(02:12):
They're actually on Saturday. So as you wake up across
the country out there to start your Friday get ready tomorrow,
you better have some excuses. Everybody still got the egg
nog hangover going. Your party starts early here on Saturday
with big time games that will be rolling out. So
I think, Uh, the the easy question to ask here is,

(02:34):
and I've been on this for a little while, what
are we going to see from Alabama? What kind of
game is Nick Saban going to put together to take
on this Lincoln Riley offense? Is this gonna be an
Alabama team that comes out and thinks, oh, we gotta
score fifty five or sixty to win this game, like
what we saw against West Virginia. If you watch that

(02:54):
Oklahoma West Virginia game, Uh, where Nick Saban is thinking,
you know what, We're gonna have trouble keeping Oklahoma beneath
forty points? Or is Nick Saban able to motivate his defense?
Is he able to find some things that Oklahoma does
not do flawlessly? And is he gonna be able to
put together a game plan where the Oklahoma defense gets

(03:14):
stifled a little bit and he's able to take control
of it. Uh? To me and I made this argument
for a while. I think Kyler Murray winning the Heisman
Trophy was the worst thing that could have happened to
Oklahoma because I think there's no coach in America in
the world of college football that is better at convincing
his team that everybody hates him and that they're overrated

(03:38):
and that the world is all alied against them than
Nick Saban. And I think what you're gonna see, and
what you've already seen, is Nick Saban putting out a
little bit of that personally in the audience and into
the atmosphere. Oh, we're going up against the best player
in college football. Oh, nobody has been able to stop
this Oklahoma offense. I just hope our defense can get

(03:59):
off the fields. Sometimes he is sending a message to
his team that they have been disrespected, and if you
look at what has happened, I think there's a possibility
we could get a to a tag about Lowa Vince
Young in the Rose Bowl like performance. Why do I
say that? A lot of times when guys win the

(04:21):
Heisman Trophy and the person who doesn't win the Heisman
Trophy is playing against them in a big game. The
person who doesn't win the Heisman Trophy, comes out and
puts up the better performance. And there's no better example
for anybody out there who's a college football fan or frankly,
just a sports fan. Remember what happened when Vince Young
got passed over for the Heisman Trophy and Reggie Bush

(04:44):
won the Heisman Trophy and Matt Weiner was a finalist,
and everybody was saying, oh my god, this is the
greatest USC team of all time. Vince Young went out
and ran for over two hundred yards, and he passed
for over two hundred yards, and he put up what
I think is the best college football game I've ever
seen given the circumstances, given the stakes, and the magnitude

(05:08):
of the moment, no one I believe has ever performed
better in college football in the modern era than Vince
Young did in that Rose Bowl game against USC. And
I think a big reason why Vince Young played so
well in that game was he was really upset if
you went and watched that Heisman Trophy ceremony, that he
didn't win the Heisman Trophy. And by the way, this

(05:31):
is why I've always argued the Heisman Trophy shouldn't be
rewarded until the entire season is complete. Because anybody who
watched that USC Texas game, Vince Young would have gotten
every first place vote for the Heisman Trophy in America.
Now that Heisman Trophy is currently in storage somewhere because
they're idiots and they took it away from Reggie Bush

(05:52):
because his family happened to have a nicer home during
the season. It didn't matter at all, but they yanked
that Heis the Trophy away from Reggie Bush, and as
a result, there's no technical winner that year. Well, I
think anybody who's a college football fan would have said
it was Vince Young. Now to us said, hey, my
ankles eighty or eighty five. I don't think that is

(06:14):
by chance. I think he put that out there intentionally.
Alabama schools their players way too well for him to
not be feeling very well and for him to put
that out there without it intentionally being out there. So
I think that Tah is gonna play flawlessly. I think
he's gonna play an incredible game. I love Alabama to

(06:37):
win this game and win this game outright by over
fourteen points. About the other big college football game, Notre
Dame Clemson. Here is where I think Notre Dame has
a little bit of an advantage. I think Notre Dame
has been systemically undervalued for the first time in the
history of the program, ever since they got their ass

(06:58):
kicked by Alabama EMMA in the National title Game. I
think at that point in time, many people in the
national media, many people in Vegas, they looked at Oakland,
they looked at Notre Dame, and they said, man, we
are never gonna overvalue Notre Dame again. And as a result,
I think Notre Dame is undervalued in this game against Clemson.

(07:22):
Why do I think that. I think ian Book is
the wild card factor here. The one flaw that Clemson
has had in their game all year, all year, beyond
the shadow of a doubt, is past defense. Kellen Monde
comes out and throws for over four hundred yards against
Clemson the final game of the regular season. Jake Bentley

(07:46):
at South Carolina throws for over five hundred yards. Ian
Book has been a very reliable pocket passer. Notre Dame
has got a good rush offense, They've got a good
overall defense. I love Notre Dame as a fourteen point
on dog here, and I also like the over because
I think both these teams are gonna score. I think
ultimately it's gonna be Clemson against Alabama out in San Francisco.

(08:09):
I'll be doing the show Santa Clara. To be exact,
I'll be doing the show out there on uh Monday
and Tuesday of the title game week. But I think
both of these games are gonna be fascinating to watch.
I think that Clemson wins but does not cover. I
think the over hits. I all also think Alabama gets

(08:33):
the win, covers, but the under hits. Those are my
predictions for the big games that are taking place this weekend.
All right. On top of that, we also have major
NFL playoff situations to discuss. Let me break those down
for you right now. I said earlier, I got a

(08:54):
great football weekend. Sometimes I gotta pinch myself. I can't
believe what I get to do for a living. I
will be Alabama against Oklahoma. I'll be there in the
Orange Bowl in Miami on Saturday night, get back to
the hotel, probably do a live periscope Facebook reacting to
that game. Then I will be reacting to the games
in college football. Then I will hop a flight come

(09:17):
back to Nashville. Gear up with the cold weather gear.
Grab my boys at the house, turn around, go back
out to watch a playoff play in game the Colts
on the road against the Titans. Now we're gonna talk
to the voice of the Titans, Mike Keith here coming
up in the next segment of this show, and see

(09:37):
what he thinks. Appreciate him getting up early in the
morning to break down this game with us. But I
think the Titans are going to find a way to
win this football game. I think they're gonna break the
long stretch of Andrew luck dominance. I think that Marcus
Mariota is going to play, but I don't think we'll
even know until the last possible moment. Even more then

(10:00):
betting on the Titans here, though, I like the under
in this game. I think it's gonna be a low scoring,
ugly defensive struggle. I think somebody wins seventeen. I think
it's gonna be the Titans, all right, we know that
as a play in game. What happens elsewhere. Steelers I
believe will blow out the Cincinnati Bengals. Don't have any

(10:22):
real doubt about the Steelers winning that game. I love
Baker Mayfield against Lamar Jackson. I think six is too
many points. I think that the Browns cover against the Ravens.
I wouldn't even be surprised if the Ravens find a
way to win late. But I'm even I think on

(10:43):
the side of the Browns. I'll run through my final
playoff predictions for you of what I think the playoffs
will look like later at the end of our one.
But also I think we're in a really difficult situation here.
For the Airs. You got the Vikings, who are five
and a half or so point favorites. What do you

(11:05):
do if you're the Bears head coach Matt Naggie, how
do you handle this? Because at the simultaneous time that
your team is playing against Minnesota, you also have this
game going on in l A between the Rams and
the forty Niners. If the Rams were to lose to
the forty Niners, and look, that may not be a

(11:26):
laughable assumption, because the forty Niners have been playing better
down the stretch. Nick Mullin's pretty decent quarterback. They seem
to have found there out of the undrafted scrap heap.
How do you play that game, particularly when you consider
I think the Eagles are going to beat the Redskins,
which means that effectively, the Bears can almost pick their opponent.

(11:50):
If they don't want to rematch with the Vikings, they
can go ahead and wipe out the Vikings, and the
Vikings season could be over if go balls to the
wall and try to win that game. But if they do,
then they draw the Eagles. And I think the way
Nick Foles and the Eagles are playing is so much

(12:11):
better than what we've seen so far from the Vikings.
I'd rather play the Vikings. Plus, in terms of breaking
down the opponent, you know a divisional opponent really well,
there's no scramble to figure out what they do. You
already know, you've already played them and Soldier Field once.

(12:32):
So you're in a tough spot because you'd obviously love
to get to buy and have home field against the Rams,
But you also have to be cognizant of the fact
that the Rams are a fairly substantial favorite in this game,
and I don't necessarily know that there's a really easy
and smart way to play this. We're gonna play all
of these scenarios out at the end of our one.

(12:55):
I may even ask Mike Keith about them as well.
Mike Keyson. Mike Keith is the radio voice of the Titans.
He will join us next to break down the biggest
game of Week seventeen in the NFL. What's going to
happen between the Colts and the Titans. All that and
more coming up next in the meantime. I gotta tell

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(14:21):
is the Voice of the Titans, Mike Keith, to talk
about the biggest game in the NFL of Week seventeen,
Colts Titans. This is out Kicked the coverage on Fox
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the Geico out Kicked the coverage studios. All right, coming
back in here, Let's be joined now by Mike Keith,
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(16:06):
seven Auto. The only hard part figuring out which way
is easier. Biggest game in Nashville for the Titans since
when Mike Keith as they prepared to host the Colts
in what is a playoff play in game? I think
probably since the playoff game after the two thousand and
eight season when they hosted Baltimore when the Titans had

(16:28):
the best record that year and it ended up being
a divisional playoff game. Biggest regular season game I think
probably since a Monday night game with the Colts back
in two thousand and eight, when the Titans were undefeated
and able to win a game over Peyton Manning and
Company and stretch their their record to seven and though

(16:49):
at that point, uh, it's you know, obviously a play
in game. A year ago for the Titans when they
took on Jacksonville in the season finale, but Jacksonville had
already lunch their spot. So the fact that it's for
both teams this way could end up being for the division,
could end up being for a bye. I mean, there's

(17:11):
so many ways this thing could twist around according to
what happens in the early window, in the mid afternoon
window before Sunday night. I think it's been at least
ten years since there's been this bigger game in Nashville.
How the Titans ever played a Sunday night football game
in Nashville. A Sunday night football game in Nashville, I

(17:32):
don't think so. Yeah, I don't think they've been on
NBC and quote unquote the Football Night in America's uh
slot there, So it's uh. I think I'm correcting that
UM in at least a modern incarnation that is on
NBC right now. Yeah, I don't. I don't recall it either.
We played Sunday night there to conclude two thousand eight
in a game we played Sunday night at Indianapolis to

(17:55):
conclude two thousand eight, and the team had nothing to
play for what they sat everybody and ended up losing
twenty three to nothing. So, I mean, this whole scenario
draws back a lot of things, like the first ever
Monday night game in Nashville back in two thousand, certainly
some playoff atmosphere with Pittsburgh here after the two thousand

(18:17):
three season. You know, several of the big moments that
we've had over twenty years are kind of all drawn
together in this one moment. But for this franchise, which
up until two thousand sixteen had spent nearly a decade
being down, Uh, this is a huge moment and a
huge opportunity because Nissan Stadium is going to be packed

(18:38):
Sunday night. Clay, I don't think there's any doubt. I've
I told people in the open of the show today,
I'll be there. I feel like I've one, you know,
sometimes fantasy uh fantasy life status here because I'm gonna
be at the Alabama Oklahoma game on Saturday night. I'll
then turn around, fly back and go to this game
on Sunday night. What I think are the two most
entertaining games college football and the NFL of the weekend. Alright,

(18:59):
So and true Luck has won ten games in a
row against the Tennessee Titans. Do you think Mike Vrabel
will spend any time at all mentioning that it will
be impossible for the players not to hear it. But
do you think that angle has any storyline, uh, any
any significance other than a storyline hook in this game.
I don't think Mike Vrabel will mention it Clay because

(19:22):
I think he knows it will be mentioned everywhere else,
and he tries to really keep things fresh with the players.
He doesn't try to be labor points. I think from
his standpoint, Mike Vrabel, the player would have known this,
and because he knows that he would have known it,
he's not gonna He's not gonna give it much time

(19:43):
with the players. I would be dumbfounded if he spent
much time with it. When he was told this initially
before the first game, he was shocked. He's like, seriously, yeah,
he had no idea. So I know he's aware of it.
I know the players are aware of it, and I
think from Vrabel's style, that's absolutely the reason he won't

(20:05):
spend any time with it. He never likes to be obvious,
as if when somebody asked him a very obvious question,
you know you're not going to get a great response
from him, that's it's not what he what he likes
the best. Take it from somebody who does it all
the time. Um So no, I don't. I don't think
he spends any time with him, all right, Mike Vrabel.

(20:26):
What for people out there, obviously who are familiar with
Mike Vrabel as a player for the Patriots for so long,
obviously the defensive coordinator for the Texans, what has he
meant for this team? You've been around him. For people
out there who may not be familiar with Vrabel as
a head coach yet, what should they know? What has
he meant this year? His approach is very fresh. Um.

(20:47):
He he really came into it and told the players,
he said, I really want to get to know you
off the field. Off the field, we have a very
adult relationship there. There's out a lot of separation between people.
His attitude is, we're all grown men, we're all being
paid to take part in professional football, and so we're

(21:09):
gonna have a sort of a relationship that's not really
as colleagues, but certainly it's cordial. It's helpful where we're
not playing mind games, are trying to motivate you off
the field. But then you get on the field and play.
His whole attitude to the guys as he's like, listen,
we're going to coach you hard, because if we coach

(21:31):
you hard, will we'll win more games, you'll make more money,
you'll play better, and you'll stay in this league longer.
He said, I felt the most important thing that I
got as a player was being coached hard. And so
there are no friends out on the practice field. It
is it is on and its energy and it has

(21:53):
all of this put together. But the minute they leave
the practice field, it becomes very different. And his overall
view of managing his staff, Uh, he's very different than
I thought he would be. He's he's very less. You know,
he is involved in the defense, but he's very much
less that former player than he is more typical head

(22:17):
coach in terms of overseeing, managing, directing. Um. It's it's
really been something to watch him and he provides so
much energy throughout the building and on the practice field.
I have really been impressed with him, especially compared to
first time coaches in a variety of sports. Clay He's

(22:38):
not what I thought he would be. I'm sure there
are things he's had to learn as a first time coach,
but you haven't noticed the missteps in a way that
you often do is first time head coaches. We're talking
to Voice of the Titans Mike Keith as the Titans
get ready for the biggest game of NFL Week seventeen,
hosting the Indianapolis Colts in a playoff play in game. Obviously,

(23:00):
all week, the discussion has been about Marcus Mariota and
his health and whether he is or is not going
to play. Is this something in your mind that we
will know before Sunday? In other words, uh, is this
something that until he gets out on that that field
a couple of hours before the game and they have
to make their decision about who's gonna be active on

(23:22):
the roster and everything else, that we probably will not know.
Or do you think it's something we know beforehand. I
think it's something we may have a hint on today
after practice when coach Brabel talks to the media after
the Friday practice, is the last time he speaks. I
think you may get some hint. I think there there
may be some competitive advantage, however, to keeping it quiet,

(23:46):
and so there there may be a part of Rabel
that wants to keep it as quiet as possible. But
I don't think he's gonna play tons of games with it.
I think you will get a sense, but I think
you won't know for here until Sunday. That's just my hunch.
Having worked with coach Rabel for a year. Is there
an advantage in not saying anything and saying like, look,

(24:08):
he's gonna be questionable. We don't know if he's gonna
go until like basically the entire game prep has to
be in. Yeah, that's a great question, because I don't
know the ins and outs about how messed up that
is going to get. The staff in Indianapolis, Matt Eberfluss
has done a really nice job with the defense there

(24:31):
this year. I think they're gonna do what they do.
I think maybe from a standpoint of understanding, his mobility
might be an advantage, but otherwise I don't I don't
know that it makes that much of a difference. UH.
Teams certainly like to be able to hold cards any
way they can to be able to have any sort

(24:54):
of advantage. But I think you're asking a good question
that I'm I'm not sure that I know the answer
to how much different is the offense when Blaine Gabbert
is in as compared to Marcus Mariota. From your perspective,
I think the difference is the mobility factor. Now, Gabbert
moves pretty well, especially he's a bigger man. He's a
he's a taller, thicker guy. He's close to two pounds.

(25:15):
But you know, Blaine is a pretty good athlete, so
he's not a statue back there. But he does not
move like Marcus Mariota does. He does not have that ability.
So I think teams are going to be interested in
teeing off more against a Gabbert run offense than a
Mariot to run offense. That to me, is gonna be

(25:37):
the biggest difference is I don't think you're gonna see
read option. I don't think you're gonna see a lot
of things where he's gonna you know, it's gonna be
set for him to take off. I think that would
be a huge surprise to me. That's the area that
changes the most from Mariota to Gabbert. If Mariota doesn't play,
Even if he does play, Derrick Henry is going to

(25:59):
be a substance antial portion of the game plan in
a way that he was not the last time they
played against the Colts, and frankly, the Titans got whipped
in that game. What has happened with Derrick Henry? Would
it stunned you at all? I mean, if if I
told you right now, hey, Derrick Henry is gonna get
thirty carries, I think you'd probably say, Hey, that's a
really good sign for the Titans because it means the

(26:20):
game is gonna be somewhat close, because it means they're
gonna be able to lay on them. Uh, it's funny.
I'm gonna go see Alabama play on Saturday. Anybody who
watched Derrick Henry play with the Alabama Crimson Tide knows
he never really hit his stride until he got into
the twenties. He's a guy that doesn't seem to tire,
and he punishes a defense. Is it fair to say
that if the Titans get Derrick Henry rolling, they love

(26:42):
to give him the ball thirty even thirty five times.
I know he got the ball I think thirty three
times against the Giants, and the Titans dominated in that game.
I would yeah, yeah, because I think it does two things.
First of all, this is not in terms of the
Indianapolis defense. They are not a massively big defense, kind

(27:05):
of similar to the Titans defense, honestly, So if you're
able to line them up and pound it right at him,
that's a huge deal and would obviously take a lot
of pressure off whomever the quarterback might be, and take
some pressure off the offensive line who had a hard
time protecting particularly Mariota in the game back on November eight.

(27:27):
The other thing it does to Clay which might be
just as important, it keeps Andrew Luck off the field.
And let's say said, Andrew Luck has only been sacked
seventeen times this year, thirty six touchdown passes. He has
been fantastic. I mean, there are so many good candidates
for Comeback Player of the Year in the NFL this year,
and he's right at the top of the list. I mean,

(27:49):
what a what a season he's had, particularly as this
team's wanted aid to their last nine. But if you
get Derrick Henry the ball thirty plus times, I think
it's a fantastic sign for the type because it would
be the big equalizer in this game. How nervous will
you be before a game like this? I'm just curious
when you call yeah, I know you're talking to us

(28:10):
on Friday morning, and uh, obviously I mean I I
I will be there as a fan, right, I'm a
season ticket holder of the Titans. I want them to
win desperately. I will take my kids. Which is always
a delicate situation because this is it's rare you get
one of these situations in an NFL game in the
regular season, where if you win, you're like ecstatic, you
feel like the entire season was the success, right, no

(28:32):
matter whether you're the six seed or like you said,
potentially you could end up even the two seed depending
on what happens earlier in the day on Sunday. If
you lose, it's like you're a kid who got a
balloon at a party and you immediately let it go
and it disappeared into the sky. Right, everybody's been with
the kid who's all excited they got the balloon and
immediately it kind of deflates and flies off into the sky. Like,

(28:53):
what does this game feel like for you as it
gets closer and closer to kickoff? Because I feel like,
even though it's a play in playoff game, if you
lose in the playoffs, you're like, well, you know, we
made the playoffs and thinks to lose, but the goal
of the season was fulfilled. If you lose at home
in the final game of the regular season, it feels
a lot different than losing in the playoffs. Am I

(29:15):
wrong or do you sort of feel that psychologically too Well?
I've lost at home in the playoffs too, so that's
brutal and that was hard. But from from the standpoint,
I think you're you're you're dead on with what you're
saying with the balloon analogy, because you just this is
such an opportunity. You know that that's what this is.
If if you're the Titans and you win this game,

(29:38):
you electrify your fan base, you finally end the whole
Andrew Luck has your number, bit all of those things
go away, and you go into the playoffs on a
five game win streak, and it's almost like at that
point you're playing with house money. In an a FC
tournament this year, that is wide hope. You could see

(30:01):
all six seeds, whomever they end up being. You could
see all six seeds winning the a f C. Because
of what's happened in various weeks of the season, you
know the Titans are a team that wore out, the
Patriots wore out, the Cowboys beat Houston earlier in the year.
You know, they've they've done some good things. And if
you get this one, then you've won this clutch game

(30:24):
to get into the playoffs. If you lose, it's you know,
you're nine and seven. It's not the end of the world.
It's a third straight winning season. You've had a lot
of things go against you. But yeah, it's a vastly
different feeling. And that's this game encompasses the beauty and
the pain of the NFL. Because somebody's walking away from

(30:46):
this unbelievably excited and and that moment that all these
difficult sundays that you have go in the rear view
mirror because you won this game, and then somebody has
to feel this pain. And that's this game. Game two
is why we love the NFL the way we do.

(31:07):
Mike Keith, he's the voice of the Titans. It's a
long day on Sunday getting ready for the kickoff, right,
how much it's you you mentioned all it's at stake
here for both the Colts and the Titans. We know
now that Blake Bortles is going to be starting for
the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road against the Texans. Uh.
And obviously if the Jags were able to pull off

(31:29):
that upset and they you know, they beat the Colts
six nothing a few weeks ago, so certainly they have
the defense to be capable of doing that. How much
attention do you think the Titans and the Colts will
be paying to that game that kicks off as they're
kind of killing time waiting for this one, or do
you think they just completely tune out coaching staff players?
I mean, how do you handle that? How do you

(31:51):
tune it out? Yeah? I mean how can you logically?
I mean I can sit here and tell you I'm
going to tune it out, and that makes me a
big liar. Yeah, I would like to, because you if
you win, it just raises the stakes that much more too.
If you win to get posed to home playoff game
and potentially, hell, if the if the Patriots went out
and lost, then you could be talking about potentially getting
a bye week. Well, if the Patriots lose and Baltimore

(32:14):
loses and Houston loses and you win, you're the number
two seats. Yeah, then you have to win one home
game and potentially potentially to home games, but certainly one
home game and more than likely one road game to
go to the Super Bowl. If so, so, you can
go within within like a ten hour span, you can

(32:37):
go from potentially being the number two seed in the
a f C to being out of it. I mean,
you've got everything coming down here and that you know.
That's why every seat is sold at Nissan Stadium, and
that's why I think NBC made a good decision moving
this game, because this was the only one that's sort

(32:59):
of factored in this way when they began looking at it.
This was not gonna be the target. That was the
indication that was out there is this game was not
going to be the target. And then things just kind
of ticked off the list. You know, at one point
the Titans were number eleven in the a f C
playoffs standings, and then it was like week by week

(33:19):
they went to ten, and it was kind of like
the polls, you keep moving up the polls. Well, and
then this happened and a week out we were given
the indication, look, if if you guys beat Washington and uh,
you get in a situation where it's gonna be you
in Indianapolis for the last spot. If either Baltimore or

(33:42):
Pittsburgh loses, then your Sunday night football and and now
you know, I mean sitting around. We were here on
Sunday working watching those games, and we were dying on Sunday.
So I can only imagine how this Sunday maybe I
think for the team's it's uh, you know, I don't
know how you sequester yourself, but I would think you

(34:05):
I'm I'm gonna try. I think I'm gonna watch HDTV
or a movie. You're what you know, watch some news
program or either do something, read a book, but it
will never work outstanding stuff. As always, Mike Keith will
be watching and listening. Appreciate the time my man and
uh good luck Sunday Clay enjoyed the two games this weekend. Yeah,

(34:25):
I can't wait Hoppy to hop that flight down to
Miami here shortly. That's Mike Keith. Go listen to him
or follow him, although you're still secretly not on Twitter
right I am I'm I'm I'm not there. I can't
take the pressure. That's Mike Keith. He'll be calling the
Titans game. Appreciate the time. I'm in a up next
I'm gonna bring in Jason Martin and we're gonna dive

(34:46):
into a tough question. How do you play these scenarios
if you are one of the NFL playoff teams. I'm
gonna put everybody, We're gonna put on the headset and
pretend we're the coaches as we come down the stretch
of the NFL season. Week seventeen looms. This is how
Kicked the Coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to
catch live editions of out Kick the Coverage with Clay
Travis weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific on

(35:10):
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Welcome back,
Geko OutKick Studios. Hey sports fans. Football season still here,
big games on Saturday and Sunday, and it's time to
get in on the action with my bookie dot Net.
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(35:31):
sign up bonus. No deposit necessary. Terms and conditions apply
for entertainment purposes only, void where prohibited. Friday edition OutKick
the Coverage Appreciate you spending your morning with us as
we finish off our one. You just heard from the
voice of the Titans, Mike keith Uh, he's excited obviously
for the big game going on to play in playoff
game between the Colts and the Titans. That one's relatively easy.

(35:53):
You have to win. But I think maybe the most
difficult situation out there, and most difficult decision for anybody
is what are the Bears do? Because the Bears are
playing against the Vikings. I want to bring in Jason
Martin right now and break this down with him. Ja Mardyr,
longtime producer, sitting in here on a Friday as we

(36:14):
get ready for Saturday and Sunday, what would you do
if you were the Bears head coach here, because let
me lay out the scenario for everybody who hasn't really
thought about it that much. You're playing against the Vikings.
If you beat the Vikings, you knock them out of
the playoffs probably and are likely if you look at
odds markets, to end up playing against the Eagles. But also, simultaneously,

(36:38):
the Rams are playing and the Rams are around a
ten point favorite over the forty Niners. The forty Niners
have not won a road game all year. If the
Rams were to lose, then you potentially could end up
with the overall number two seed, get a bye week
and get to play at home in the divisional round
of the playoffs. So how in the war do you

(37:00):
play this? If you are Matt Nagy, Matt Naggy, however
you want to pronounce his name, the head coach of
the Chicago Bears. Uh you Well, I guess it depends.
Do you want to face the Vikings? Well, I think
that's the question, right, I mean, on so many different levels,
do you would you rather play? Right now? I think
it's fair to say that the Eagles are playing much

(37:22):
better than the Vikings, and they have a quarterback who
is now helming them, who has won a Super Bowl.
So it's almost like you can choose your opponent. If
you just go in and you rest everybody who is
important in the grand scheme of things to your team's performance,
then you know you're gonna play the Vikings. You know
exactly how to break them down, right, you know everything

(37:44):
about that opponent. But if you make the decision to
do that, does it psychologically give the Vikings a little
bit of a boost to beat you? And what happens
if somehow the Rams end up in a tight game
against the forty niners and you're just punting away the
possibility of getting a bye week. I think you have

(38:04):
to be updated on the score early. And this is
why my thought is on this, and this maybe a
crazy idea. I think you prepare as if you're you're
you know, win or loss depends on the outcome of
this game in terms of playoffs. And as soon as
you hear hey, the Rams are up ten or fifteen
or twenty or whatever the math is, then you kind
of ease back and take your foot off the gas

(38:26):
because you don't want to give up to me that
bye week. But simultaneously you probably don't want to play
against the Eagles either. Is that a crazy idea or
does that make sense? I mean it does. The Eagles
defense is still I mean they're playing better. Uh Minnesota's
offense now that John d Filippo is out, They're gonna

(38:47):
want to run the ball, which is what he did
not do that they had so much success with last year.
It is probably why he's no longer the offensive coordinator
under Mike Zimmer right now in Minnesota. But Chicago is
great against the run, so if they try to run
against the Bears, I don't know that they're going to
have success. You're being you're requiring a team to try
and play against one team three times in one season

(39:08):
because they're in division. So you just have to look
at it and determine whether or not the Vikings or
a team that you want to potentially see again. You know,
the other option is potentially ending up playing against the Seahawks,
which that's not a team I want to play right now.
I definitely would rather play the Vikings in this absolutely,
like I have no interest at all in playing against

(39:29):
Russell Wilson and the way that that team is playing
right now at all. And that is if the Bears
lose to Minnesota and the Cardinals were to beat the Seahawks,
which is likely not going to happen, So that's not
a very good chance. If you can get to buy,
you get to buy because if you can somehow get
a game in Chicago, that's big time because nobody wants

(39:49):
to come there and play because the weather difference between
almost everywhere else that you would be and what's likely
to happen at Soldier Field. It's about a ten percent chance,
according to Football Outsiders, that the Rams could lose to
the Niners. I think that might be low. I think
the Niners are a decent football team, and I think
we've seen how good Kyle Shanahan is just because of

(40:09):
what the offense has looked like. Nick Mullins is number
four all times, it's at least since nineteen seventy in
terms of total yards he's thrown for in his first
six starts. Pat Mahomes is only like thirty yards above him,
and Nick Mullins is only a hundred yards away from
Cam Newton, who's number one on the all time list.
That's Nick Mullins we're talking about here, folks. So it
shows how good Kyle Shanahan has been in terms of

(40:31):
his offense. So I don't know, Like the Rams are
a little leaky to me, So I think that could
be a sketchy game, Mike. I assume you go out
there and you try to beat the Vikings, but it
is definitely tricky and it's gonna be intrigue and see
what they do. The oddsmakers are not assuming that because
the line is right now, the Vikings are way more
favorites of over the Bears than I think they would

(40:52):
be if this were a game where you thought the
Bears are gonna go all out the lines around five
and a half Vikings are favored, So that's a pretty
big spread if you thought that this game was gonna
be one that the Bears are trying to win. So
we'll see exactly what ends up transpiring there. I don't
know the answer. What I will tell you is this,
I'm gonna give you my top five bottom five when
we returned start of hour two. Also, the Jags have

(41:15):
made an interesting decision when it comes to starting Blake
Bortles at quarterback. Fox Sports Radio Live from the Geico
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Rolling into our two here Friday edition shortly after the show.
In fact, almost immediately after this show, I'll be hopping
a flight to to Miami. Can't wait to go watch

(41:56):
Alabama play against Oklahoma. Then I'll be coming back Sunday
for the playoff playing game between the Colts and the Titans.
We've talked a lot about that an hour one. That
is a hell of a good double there in UH
college football and the NFL. But um, as we run
through the NFL scenarios and you just started talking talking
about what the Bears should do. UM. Usually on Tuesday

(42:20):
we do Top five Bottom five. Since Tuesday was Christmas,
this week we did not do Top five Bottom five,
So I think this will be the final top five
bottom five we do of the NFL regular season, since
come Monday morning, when we do this show on New
Year's Eve, we will have the the NFL playoffs all
set and officially underway. We won't need to rank the

(42:41):
teams anymore. We'll know how they all shook out and
what exactly is left. So let's go ahead and dive
in here Top five bottom five, and I'll let Jason Martin,
who is sitting in with me on this Friday, former
producer of the show at Jamart out Kick he hosted
on Wednesday and Thursday, appreciate him sitting in UH for
the show while I was out again. I want to
re force on Monday Friday. Now on Monday, we will

(43:04):
be on on New Year's Eve breaking down everything that
happens in the college football playoff as well as the
NFL playoff race. But in the top five, I think
there's no doubt that the Saints are the best team
in the NFL. Number one team in the NFL is
the Saints. They are and should be the favorite to
win the Super Bowl. They are basically gonna arrest their

(43:26):
guys against the Panthers. Then they have what would be
two weeks at home. The road to the Super Bowl
runs through New Orleans in some way. Uh. If they
win those two weeks at home, they get to go
to another dome in Atlanta. I like Drew Brees and
the Saints to win the Super Bowl in the second
spot I said, I don't necessarily believe in them, but
my god, if the Patriots aren't right back in the

(43:48):
mix as the number two overall seat in the a
f C, I think the a f C is wide open.
And it pains me to say this as much as
I am ready for Brady and Belichick to shuffle off
the stage as the dynasty I think they're the team
that is the most reliable right now in the entirety
of the a f C. You look at the Chiefs,

(44:10):
not sold on them. Down the stretch. You'll look at
the Texans certainly not sold on them. We don't know
who's gonna be in between the Ravens and the Steelers,
but either one of those teams have given you reasons
not to believe in them. And we also don't know
necessarily what's gonna happen in the sixth spot with the
Titans or the Colts. So I got the Patriots the

(44:31):
number two spot. Rams, they've been wobbling down the stretch
very much so, but I still have them in the
three spot, in the fourth spot the Chargers, and in
the five spot, I have got the Kansas City Chiefs.
Jason Martin, how would you respond to my top five
the final one of the regular season? Saints one, Patriots

(44:51):
to Rams three, Chargers for Chiefs five. I got the
Patriots outside the top five. The rest of it, I
basically agree with you. I've got Saints at one. I've
got the Bears at number two. I know some people
will say that's high, but their defense is gonna travel
it is traveling. Mr r Biscuit can make some plays.
I like their running game. I like Matt Naggy and

(45:12):
just his play calling and how inventive they've been. I'll
give them love. Then I've got the Rams at three,
even though they've leaked a little bit of oil. Maybe
they got right although it was against the worst team
in the NFL, and go and spoil at the number
thirty two the Cardinals on Sunday, Chargers at four, in
Chiefs at five, mainly because the Chargers were able to
beat the Chiefs, and the Chargers have much more balance

(45:34):
because they have a defense that can actually stop somebody.
The Chiefs defense is of complete and total embarrassment on
every level. It's hard to even put them at five.
I wanted to get the Seahawks in there because the
Seahawks just beat them and they also have a bit
of a defense to go along with Russell Wilson. But
I'll keep Kansas City in the top five. So I'll
go Saints at one, Bears at two, Rams three, Chargers
four in Chiefs five. All right. Obviously, the big disagreement

(45:56):
here is I have been critical of the Patriots all sea,
and I think everything is rounding into shape right now.
For the Patriots, I think they'll go out and beat
the Jets, although the Jets have been improved down the
stretch of the season. I think they beat the Jets,
and then you look at the rest of the a
f C and I actually think they're the most reliable

(46:17):
team in the a f C. I don't think they're great,
And I think Mike Keith was correct in our one
when he was talking with us and he said, look,
the Colts are the Titans if you make the a
f C playoff picture. This is the kind of schedule
where you feel like any of the six teams that
are in the playoffs could make it. But what is
it about the Patriots that you're not sold on them

(46:37):
to such a degree that you don't even have them
in the top five. They've got no playmakers. I don't
trust their defense at all. Gronk is old and he
hasn't had a good year. Brady either is not healthy
or he's finally starting to show his age. Josh Gordon
was the guy that was making plays for them, and
he of course is no longer there. There's nothing that
scares you except playing in their building, and that can
certainly help you. But if I'm doing power rankings or

(47:00):
I'm trying to do a top five bottom five, I'm
basing it on the football team and what I see
in front of me, and what I see is just
not a very good New England Patriots team. Now, again,
that ridiculous stat that I've used on this show before
that the Patriots with Tom Brady at quarterbacks in two
thousand six have only lost two games at home period,
regular season or playoffs. That's absurd. So are they going

(47:21):
to go deep in the playoffs? And could they get
to the super Bowl? Yes? Do I think one of
the they're one of the five best teams in the NFL.
Absolutely not. See, here's the problem that I think is
gonna play out. I think that the Chiefs could very
well choke and lose in the divisional round, which would
mean that the road to the super Bowl would run
through Foxborough. And as bad as the Patriots have been
at times this year, I just don't think they're going

(47:44):
to lose at home with a spot to the super
Bowl available. And so that to me is why if
you look at it when I ranked top five, it's
to me like the teams that are most likely to
win the Super Bowl, And as much as it pains me,
I think the most likely super Bowl to me right
now is ain't Patriots. So there's my top five. I'm
not buying into the Bears. I don't think that Mitchell

(48:05):
Drabinsky is healthy, and I don't buy into him playing
really well in the postseason. Now. I do agree that
the defense is very good, but I think ultimately the
postseason typically turns into a quarterback derby, and your quarterback
has to play really well, even if you want to
point last year and Nick Foles. Nick Foles not a
great quarterback, although he's played pretty decently again this year,

(48:25):
and I think maybe he's sent enough of a enough
of a sign that somebody's gonna give him twenty or
twenty five million dollars in the offseason to play quarterback.
But he played incredibly well once he got rolling in
the postseason, and I just don't know that I believe
Trabisky has that opportunity or ability right now. All right,
let's go into the bottom five, bottom five in the NFL.

(48:45):
Right now, I have got as the best team in
the NFL right now. The Detroit Lions twenty nine spot,
I'm going with the Oakland Raiders, who obviously got a
nice win and have played decently, let's be honest, down
this wretch and beating both the Steelers and now the Broncos.
They dominated that game. The Raiders. I've got a thirty.

(49:07):
I'm with you a little bit. We talked about the
maybe that the Rams aren't gonna win that game. Thirty one,
I've got the Jets, and thirty two I've got the Cardinals.
Any disagreements on a substantial level. There run the run
through five again, Ryan's Raiders, forty, Niners, Jets, Cardinals. Okay,
I've got the Jags still down there. Um, I was torn.

(49:29):
I'll keep the Bills at right now. Just their offense
is it's just really difficult to watch. I think they've
done a decent job actually, but again, I'm looking at
what I'm seeing on the field. I got the Raiders
at twenty nine. I got the Jets at thirty. This
is a ridiculous stat about the Jets. The Jets have
three Pro Bowlers this season. This may show how bad
the Pro bowlers. Three Pro Bowlers this season. That's as

(49:50):
much as the rest of the a f A, a
f C. East combined, meaning the Patriots, the Dolphins, and
the Bills have three and the Jets have three. That's
a stunning statistic. To mention, I've got the Jaguars at
thirty one because they're just I can't give this team
any credit because of how me first they are. They're

(50:12):
gonna bring Doug Moron back, there's the Blake Bortles situation
going into the final week. They've completely just flustered that
entire situation, and their window may have been one playoff
run over. I agree with that. Here's what I would
say about the Jags and the reason why I left
them out seven of their last eight, other than the
game that I think it's fair to say they mailed

(50:32):
in on Thursday night against the Titans. The Jags have
either one or been within six in seven of their
last eight games. So while they have been bad in
terms of result, the on field difference has not been
that substantial. And I want to hit you with that question.
You just mentioned Blake Bortles getting the start against the Texans.
To me, that's a sign that there may be some

(50:52):
animus between the Jags and the Texans, because if I'm
a Texans fan, I hear that, and look, you may
make fun of Blake Bortles, but I don't think there's
any doubt that his ceiling is higher than Cody Kessler's, right,
And I think it's interesting that they have decided to
bring him back for the final game. I do think
that what we've seen from Cody Kessler, the ceiling is like, hey,

(51:13):
I won't turn the ball over necessarily, but I have
absolutely so the floor is like, maybe a little bit higher,
But there's no ceiling at all to me. When I
hear they're starting Blake Bortles for the finale, what I
think is, hey, the Jags are really trying to win
this game. I mean maybe so the scenario I keep
seeing in my head, especially with John Harbaugh coming back,

(51:34):
and the fact that Lamar Jackson's only loss to this point,
whether or not it continues along his pathway or it's
going to be short lived in terms of his success.
Only the loss he had was to the Chiefs in overtime.
He's played well in terms of not coughing enough, not
making those key mistakes. Joe Flacco and Jacksonville is what
I'm waiting to see happen. Yeah, it just seems like

(51:55):
a move. And I'm not saying Joe Flacco is that good,
because I don't necessarily think that you is. But Jacksonville
don't have a whole lot of options because of their
cap situation and how much money that they've given to
Blake Bordles. Joe Flacco I think would make them much
better than they are now. So that's what I'm waiting
to see. So I don't know, you know, the the
announcement came out a couple of days ago that Justin

(52:16):
Herbert is gonna stay in school yep, and he's gonna
stay at Oregon. So that's yet another quarterback that's not
at all Dwayne Haskins maybe the first one off the board. Yeah,
I mean, I don't think there's any doubt at all
about that. I mean, I think that it is a
very mediocre quarterback draft. So if your team has been
tanking in the hopes of getting somebody at the top
of the draft board, you mentioned it, Dwayne Haskins is

(52:39):
gonna be loaded. Looks like it could be really really
this and maybe maybe Herbert staying will draw somebody else out.
Drew Lock will do well. I think at the top
of this year's draft. Maybe it'll draw somebody else out
that people are not anticipating. Will Greer obviously sitting out
the Bowl game. So there are quarterbacks, but I don't
know that there's any that immediately kind of set the
pulse racing. UM. So yeah, that's certainly worth debating. When

(53:02):
we come back, we're gonna go down to Miami. We'll
talk with my guy Lance Taylor at the Lance Taylor
he's getting ready for the Alabama Oklahoma game, which I
am going to hop on an airplane for shortly. We
will talk about that with him. Uh and uh. In
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(53:25):
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(54:30):
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(54:52):
There are a lot of big games coming up this
weekend in the NFL and in college football. In college football.
The numbers will be massive for Alabama against Oklahoma as
well as for Notre Dame against Clemson. Those games will
be being played tomorrow on Saturday. I think it's gonna
catch a lot of casual football fans by surprise because

(55:14):
usually you think of those games being played on New
Year's Day, and instead they're playing them on Saturday. So again,
those games are going on tomorrow. Got kids events, you're
running around four and everything else. We bring in Lance
Taylor jocks down in Birmingham. He is presently down in
Miami getting ready for this game. As soon as I
finished the show today, I will be hopping a flight

(55:35):
to fly down to Miami to watch this game on
on Saturday there in the Orange Bowl. So LT, what
should be the vibe as we get ready? I'm gonna
start with the Alabama Oklahoma game, because you'll be there,
I'll be there. Are you concerned at all with two?
Talk Aboula's health? You know early on Clay and let's
go back. I mean we've seen him this month, the

(55:55):
one time against Georgia and he was injured. You know,
he couldn't move, he wasn't the same to and I
think everybody would agree. If he doesn't come out of
the game and Jalen Hurris doesn't go in, Alabama doesn't
win the SEC Championship, and who knows, maybe they're not
in the College football playoffs. With all that said, you know,
as he got the procedure done and as he progressed,
everyone around Alabama camp said that he seemed to be

(56:16):
close to a percent. He even said it, and then
he kind of backtracked and said, you know, I should
be eight d eight five percent. I don't know. Um,
most feel like it's not gonna be a big deal. Uh.
The luxury for Alabama is they've never been in this
situation before that You've got a backup that's twenty six
and two and probably playing the best football of his
career as a non starter, seeing what he was able
to do against that Georgia defense in the SEC Championship games,

(56:38):
so against what is one of the worst defenses in
college football, the worst statistically past defense. UM, I don't
really think it matters who Alabama starts. They're gonna be
able to score points on this Oklahoma defense. And you know, ultimately,
I think two is gonna be fine. And I think
even if he is eighty or eighty five percent. I
think this is an Alabama team that should be able
to score forty plus points. All right, So let's go

(56:59):
into to UH the the sort of psychology of this game.
My belief is that Nick Saban is going to be
able to play to his extreme advantage the fact that
Kyler Murray won the Heisman Trophy. Now, some people may
be rolling their eyes and saying, there's no way Alabama's
gonna play harder than they already do. I disagree. I

(57:20):
think there are a few coaches that love playing that
we don't get any respect card more than Nick Saban,
And in this situation in particular, he can point to
Kyler Murray beating out to UH and say they expect,
meaning the larger community, for Kyler Murray to run wild
on you guys. I think as a result, Alabama is
in a really good spot here from a defensive perspective.

(57:42):
Fair or foul, I say fair. You know it's the
point you brought up weeks ago. You even brought it
up before the ceremony. If Kyler Murray actually doesnt want
to Heisman Trophy, this is gonna be great motivation in
the Orange Bowl for Alabama, and this week you've heard
it multiple times from Nick Saban say, we're going to
get the best player in college football. I think that's
a subtle job where his team can even hear that

(58:02):
sound bikes, and I think it's extra motivation. I think
it's not only for that defense to do what they
can to shut down Calin Murray and by no, by
no means do I believe that Lincoln Riley's offense won't
have a little success against one of the better defenses
in college football. But I think it's also motivation for
Tula and this offense to go out there and tilt
play to put up bigger numbers against this Oklahoma defense.

(58:24):
So yeah, I agree with I think it is extra
motivation for Nick Saban in Alabama. We're talking to lands
Taylor at the lands Taylor on Twitter. All right, let's
go into the game itself. I think a lot of
times when you bet on games, a big part of
success is figuring out what the pace of a game
is gonna be. Almost n C double a tournament's got style.
I think Alabama can go out and score for score

(58:45):
with Oklahoma if they want to. But I tend to
think the Tide's gonna take some air out of this game.
Lay on that Oklahoma defense, pound them with the run game,
not try and stretch the field and score on every
single play. Just body blow him over and over again. Also,
keep that Oklahoma offense off the field, keep their defense fresh,

(59:07):
because I think one thing Nick Saban has seen is
his defense can get tired late. I think when they
lost to Clemson, if you remember that game, clearly Alabama's
defense got tired late and it was because Alabama wasn't
able to convert some third downs. I think that's gonna
be a factor in this game, which is why I'm
playing the under. I think the psychology plays in there.

(59:27):
The under over unders opened it, they got up into
like eighty one or eighty two. It's now back down
in the mid seventies. Ish you agree or disagree with
me on that. Well. I do think Mike Likesley in
this offense can play out however they want, and I
think they can go out and they can score points
and they can be efficient and looking. If you really
want to keep Kylie Murray out the field, that probably
would be the best strategy, But you know, I don't know.

(59:50):
I mean, if you're playing the Tour of Strength. I mean,
this has got to sling it all over. And let's
not forget I just mentioned this earlier. Oklahoma as bad
as they are against the run sometimes um they are
statistically the worst team against the past. But it's kind
of hard to forget. And I brought this this name
up to you a couple of weeks ago on my show,
Puca Williams, and I'm sure ninety nine point nine percent

(01:00:10):
of your listeners right now, I have no idea who
that is. It's a Kansas running back who went for
two hundred and fifty two yards against this Oklahoma defense.
I mean the average I think it was almost twenty
yards to carry something insane. And if Puca Williams can
do that behind that Kansas offensive line, and by the way,
they scored forty points on Oklahoma, just imagine what not

(01:00:30):
j and and Damian Harris and Josh Jacobs can do
behind that Alabama offensive line. So I don't necessarily disagree
that that might be the philosophy and that might be
the strategy going into this game. But again, Alabama has
been balanced all year, and I just think the run
is going to be so successful You're gonna have so
many opportunities, uh, to go up top to what is

(01:00:51):
you know, maybe the best collection of wide receivers in
college football. So how would you play this? If you
you're sitting down there, You're down on South Beach and
living in it up this week. I'm gonna be down
there soon. How are you gambling on this game? I
think the side is more difficult than the total. And
again I hear your strategy and the number has dropped,
and I think there's from start money coming in on

(01:01:12):
that under. I've just never seen a total this high
in Alabma football history, and you mentioned it hit in
the eighties and now we're looking, you know, kind of
the high seventies. UM. I think Kyler Murray and this
dynamic offense, they'll be able to score on this Alabama defense.
Alib be, this defense didn't look their best last last
time we saw him out against Georgia. UM, and I
think Alabima will score will So I think I would

(01:01:33):
play this over and I think the side is about right.
I think Alavima wins this game by anywhere from ten
to twenty points. UM. I could see this number hit
right on fourteen. Would you play. If you think the
numbers about right, would you buy that? Did you like
to buy a half point? Would you buy the half
point to get down to thirteen and a half? Yeah?
I do sometimes. I mean a big game like this,
these standalons. I mean it's a super Bowl, like a

(01:01:53):
f C, NFC Championships. You know, obviously camp buy on
three in the NFL, But anytime it sits on a six, seven,
and ten, fourteen, one of those numbers. You know, if
you're gonna put a lot of equity in the three
and a half hours of a big game like this,
you know you hate to push. So yeah, I probably
would buy. All right, let's go to Notre Dame Clemson.
We're talking to Lance Taylor at the Lance Taylor on Twitter. UM.

(01:02:14):
A couple of things that stand out to me about
this game as I've done my research. Clemson has been
awful at times in the passing defense. As good as
their front seven is, they're back for their linebackers dropping
whatever the reason is. You had Jake Bentley go for
over five hundred yards passing against him. You had Kellen
Mond go for over four hundred yards passing uh for

(01:02:35):
Texas A and M and South Carolina. Neither one of
those guys ever remotely came close to those numbers against
anybody else in book is a pretty good passing quarterback.
I tend to think that Notre Dame is being undervalued
here because I think people look at what happened several
years ago against Alabama think of Notre Dame as a
lightweight team. And so I am on Clemson, I've got

(01:02:58):
him at fourteen. I'm on the over. I think points
will be scored in this game, but I think fourteen
is too many. You agree or disagree? Um, I kind
of disagree. Um, I do agree with this. I think
a lot of Notre Dame's history has caught up with him,
and I think a lot of people are playing against
Notre Dame because of that reason. And the last time
we saw him in this situation, I mean we remember

(01:03:19):
how bad they were against Alabama in two thousand and twelve.
I mean that wasn't even a game. Uh. And you
look at Notre Dame in the last twenty years in
BCS and New Year's six games, I mean they're oh
in five and they've lost all those games by double digits.
So I think a lot of this is based on
the past, this could be the best Notre Dame team
we've seen over the last twenty years. I'm not gonna
doubt that. And I think it's a much different offense

(01:03:40):
with Ian Book and Dexter Williams. There. Uh. This Clemson defense, though,
can be dominant and you know, I know without Dexter
Lawrence is a little bit different. But it's really next
man up for these guys. And you know, I do
lean Clemson in this game. I think Clemson will be
able to effectively run the ball. I think Trevor Lawrence
will have his opportunities, but I think more so it's
just this Clemson defense will dominate. So you think Alabama

(01:04:03):
Clemson will be the matchup? Yeah, I think we're gonna
get Aldona Clemson part four. I don't know if people
want to see it. I think it's going to be
your best matchup. Um, I just think too much talent
from those two teams. All right, So let's say Alabama
wins and we're talking about and I'm sure we will
have plenty of time to talk about this Alabama Clemson.
Do you still think in the wake of the SEC
title game that there is a conversation to have about

(01:04:24):
whether this is the greatest college football team of all
time or did the way that Georgia game went down
knocked that conversation off the off the because I don't
hear anybody having that conversation this week. As the Oklahoma
game gets closer, it's all about to his health, Kyler
Murray winning the Heisman, the impact that that could have,
and all those other aspects of the game. Uh, what
do you think? Yeah, I think it will come back

(01:04:46):
around if this happens in this Tigoolill playoff. Obviously Alabam's
got to close the deal and in the next couple
of games, and I think they've got to be impressive.
I think they've gotta be Oklahoma by double bigots. I
think they probably would have to be Clemson by double Biggetts.
And I think it's that happens. Yeah, I think can
make that argument. I think a lot of people will
forget what happened to the SEC pump and tip game,
and even people that remember, we'll stay where you started.
Quarterback was hurt and we didn't come out until the

(01:05:08):
second high and when you brought your backup quarterback and
you were able to finish the deal, Um, if Alabama doesn't,
who's play. A lot of people forget this and something
that you brought up. I mean, we haven't seen a
team since what the eighteen hundreds, and Yale beat every
one of the opponents in the regular season by twenty
plus points. And that's exactly what Alabama did. So if
they go on and they win these next couple of
games by double digits, I think they'll be there. And

(01:05:30):
you just look at this. I came across this number
the other day and this blows me away. As good
as Dabo Sweeney has been since two thousand and fifteen
against ranked opponents, He's sixteen and two Dabo is the
last three years and the only two losses were to Alabama.
Nick Saban is twenty six and three against ranked opponents
over the last three years. That's an unbelievable number. We're
talking to Lance Taylor at the Lance Taylor on Twitter. Alright,

(01:05:53):
I want to go into the Rams game. I know
you are a massive favorite of uh fan of the
old Louis Rams, now the l A Rams. How nervous
are you as they come down the stretch and how
important is it to you for them to beat the
forty Niners and lock up the number two overall seat
in the NFC. Well, I really nervous because you look
at their you know, everybody and just watching the game

(01:06:16):
this weekend and gets Arizona and I think the Cardinals
are the worst team in the NFL right now, and
watching that game, you know, the commentators are like, this
Rams team is back, and you know my and I
guess it could work both ways if the Rams really believe.
And this is kind of, uh, some motivation that they
believe they're back after you know, beating a bad Cardinal

(01:06:36):
team one to nine. So be it. But I just
had a feeling after the loss of Chicago where the
offense was inexistent. And then you look at last um
the week after when they played Philadelphia and Nick Foles
in his first starting months comes into the l A
Coliseum his first ever lost there in the regular season. Um,

(01:06:57):
Jared Golf just wasn't the same quarterback and he built
a little confident to maybe this past week with Arizona.
But now you've got San Francisco, a game at home
that you should win going away when they're playing their
third spin quarterback in Nick Mullins. You really don't have
a meaningful game from that Philadelphia loss to the first
divisional game if they do hold on and get the
two seed in a month. So I do think the
Rams will win this weekend. So I don't think it

(01:07:17):
really matters what Chicago does in Minnesota. It is important
that they get that by UH to get guys like
Todd Durley healthy. But I just don't have a lot
of confidence in this Rams team right now. And the
one thing I will say that is good Clay, is
I don't know anybody out there that is not saying
the Saints is not there. They're not going to win
the NFC now, and they're only a minus one twenty favorite.
I think all the money will be on the Saints

(01:07:38):
to get the Super Bowl fifty three. Um, And that's
my one hope, as you know, being a contrarian, that
the Rams are able to go into the Super Dome
if we move at that matchup in the NFC Championship game,
and I saw it. I was actually there a couple
of months ago, UM, and the Rams played with them,
and they played without a keep to leave, and UM,
you know, I think the Rams would at least half
confidence they would have a shot in a one game

(01:07:58):
situation like that. Okay, let's go to the playoff picture
as we come into this weekend. Uh, let's start with
Baker Mayfield versus Lamar Jackson. Right now, the Ravens around
a six point favored in this game. Who you got
and why I think I would lean Ravens because we
continue to doubt him. We did last week in Los
Angeles against the Charterers, and everybody says the game's gonna

(01:08:19):
catch up with Lamar Jackson. It hasn't. He seems to
make two or three plays down the stretch, and that
defense is lights out along with the Bears. Most elite
defense in the NFL right now is in Baltimore, and
you know you're going against a richie quarterback in Baker
Mayfield is not your typical rookie quarterback. But I just
don't think Freddie Kitchens and Baker Mayfield are gonna be
able to produce a lot of points against at Baltimore defense.
So I like Baltimore in that spot, all right? Uh

(01:08:41):
the other one, and I'll be at this game on Sunday.
I'm flying back from Miami, where we'll be watching the
Alabama against Oklahoma game down in the Orange Bowl in Miami.
I'll fly back, get back in time for the Sunday
night football game, the Colts going on the road against
the Titans. Andrew luck is one ten in a row
over the tie, Marcus Mariotta's health wobbly enough that I

(01:09:03):
honestly don't think we're gonna know a hundred percent what's
going to happen at the quarterback position for the Titans
until we actually get to the final minutes, you know,
warm up before that game actually takes place on Sunday night.
I know there'll be a lot of different storylines all
week long about oh, he looked decent in practice. No,
he didn't know all these different things. I don't think
we're gonna know until Sunday. How do you bet it?

(01:09:25):
I linked the Colt Uh. You know, that's a tough
game for a road team. But Andrew lux the guy
that doesn't get rattled. He's playing like an MVP right now,
and they just find ways to win. I can't believe
how bad they played last week, but they still found
a way to win that game. And I think Darrell
Casey being out of the Titans upfront, I think that's
a huge loss. And as you mentioned Mariota, we still
don't know if he's gonna be a dent. So I

(01:09:46):
think the Colts in this spot on the road, Um,
actually I think they get to win here. All right,
how do you play let's pretend to and the other game?
I would say that's really worth paying attention to because
I think the Eagles, I imagine you agree with me,
are going to beat the Redskins. So the question will
be if you are a let's say you're the Bears
head coach of Matt Nahey, how do you play that
game against the Vikings, knowing potentially you're gonna have a

(01:10:10):
rematch the next week at home? Do you go all out,
try to go ahead and eliminate them. I think you'd
rather play the Vikings than you would play the Bear
the Eagles personally, if I'm the Bears. But you also
want to pay attention at the same time to the
score of the Rams game against the forty niners because
that's going on at the same time, and you'd like
to be able to get certainly the number two seed

(01:10:31):
and get the home by So what do you do? Yeah,
I think it's a weird disciple, and you're right if
I'm Matt Naggie and I'm looking up and you know,
RAM San Francisco's close. I'm doing everything I can, obviously
to win that and get that two seed, because there
is such a difference in Chicago getting the week off
and hosting the Rams and what should be frigid temperatures
in late January to having to go on the road

(01:10:52):
and play in the l A Coliseum. So yeah, I
think it's gonna be interesting to see how they play
that out. I guess. I'm Matt Nagge. I'm just trying
to beat my Minnesota and UM and you're hoping that
that you know, Philadelphia doesn't win that game though, because yeah,
right now, I think I'd rather have the rematch with
Minnesota than play Philadelphia with Nick Foles. And I can't
believe we're saying this, but Philadelphia does look to be
a better team with Nick Poles right now. LT. It's

(01:11:15):
always good stuff for siate you hanging with us. I'll
see you down in Miami later today. That's Lance Taylor
at the Lance Taylor on Twitter. He is down in
Miami where I'll be headed later today. Let's go ahead
and bring in my guy Eddie Garcia. Find out what's
shaken in the world of sports. Let's start with games.
A note from the NBA on the Guy Coo scoreboard.
The Trailblazers beat the Warriors one ten to one on

(01:11:36):
nine and overtime Deami and Loward with a three pointer
with six point three seconds to play for Portland, Bogdan
Bogdanovitch should have three point at the Buzzerpard Sacramento is
the King's Edge of the Lakers won seventeen, won sixteen.
James Harden scored forty five points, leading the Rockets over
the Celtics one thirteen, and the seventy six Is beat
the Jazz in Utah one ninety seven behind Ben Simmons
triple double college football. In the Texas Bowl, it was

(01:11:58):
Baylor over Vanderbilt forty eight and the pin Stripe Bull
Wisconsin rolled over Miami three, and the Independence Bullet was
Duke outscoring Temple fifty six seven. The support brought to
you my True Car. Online car shopping can be confusing
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So visit True Car and enjoy more confident card buying experience.
Back to Clay Travis and the Geico OutKick the Coverage Studios.

(01:12:23):
I think that the m v P Award has been decided.
All that and more still to come. That's next. This
is out Kicked the Coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Be
sure to catch live editions of OutKick the Coverage with
Clay Travis weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific.
Oh welcome back Geico OutKick Studios and Hey sports fans.

(01:12:45):
Football season still here and it's time to get in
on the action with my bookie dot Net. Use promo
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No deposit necessary. Terms and conditions apply for entertainment purposes only,
void where prohibited. Zal Kicked the Coverage. My name is
Clay Travis. Appreciate you spending your Friday with us. Final

(01:13:06):
show of the week. We will be live. Important to
know on Monday, it's New Year's Eve, a lot of
people won't be working. We'll be breaking down everything that
happened in the college football Playoff in the NFL. As
soon as this show is over, I'm hopping a flight
and headed right down to UH to Miami to go
watch Alabama and Oklahoma play it out. But the biggest
game for the weekend also in the NFL Week seventeen

(01:13:29):
playoff play in game between the Colts and the Titans
and Nashville. I'll be back to see that on Sunday
as well, so we'll have a really fun Monday show
for all of you as we react to whatever happened
in those games. But in the meantime, I saw enough
on Sunday that it didn't really matter to me and
doesn't really matter to me what the Chiefs do against

(01:13:50):
the Raiders. I don't even think Drew Brees will hardly
play very much against the Panthers. Drew Brees is my
m v P. Uh. Something like thirty five thousand of
you voted on one day in our poll on the
same issue, UH, and you agreed by like fifty four
to forty six that Drew Brees was your m v
P as well. Jason Martin, is Drew Brees your m

(01:14:10):
v P? Or would you go with Patrick Mahomes Because
I think pretty much everyone would agree it's down to
those two guys. It's Mahomes for me. I We talked
about this. Jeff and I talked about this when we
were in for you earlier in the week, and both
of us agreed that whoever got it between these two guys,
we're not going to be particularly upset with because they
both had great years. But I kind of went into detail,

(01:14:32):
I won't do that now about why both passer rating
and QB are flawed stats, and that now people are
starting to look at d v O A and d
y A R and if you look at those stats,
and actually, if you look at QB are Mahomes is
one and Breezes too. And the reason why I would
give Mahomes the nod is because and I heard your
argument about this on the show as well, and I

(01:14:54):
disagreed with it, because, yes, Mahomes has lost some games
to some good teams that played against but he scored it.
But his team has scored at least twenty eight points
in those games. Three times he scored over thirty. You
can't knock a guy for losing games when he's scoring forty.
When the defense is this bad, that's the problem. That's
what makes this much more of a difficult argument. Drew Brees,

(01:15:16):
He's got a defense since Kareem Hunt went out of
the lineup certainly and went off the team for the
Kansas City Chiefs, Mahomes has had to be even better
because the space that a lot of these guys used
to have to operate they don't have quite as much.
And Mahomes has still been out there making throws and
making plays. His margin verreira has gone down somehow, even

(01:15:38):
further than it was before. So Drew Brees has a
better team around him. And Mahomes's numbers, Yes, he's thrown
a few more interceptions, certainly, and Drew Brees has but
he's approaching five thousand yards. And again, you can't ask
a guy to give you. Look, if you're scoring twenty
eight points in the NFL, you should be winning most
of your games. This Chief's team, if they score twenty

(01:16:00):
eight in the playoffs, they're gonna get beaten by two touchdowns.
That's how bad this defense is. So I look at that,
and I look at d v O A and a
couple of these other advanced analytics stats, and I just say,
Pat Mahomes to me is the m v P because
of just what he has to do to overcome one
entire side of the football. So that's why I go

(01:16:22):
with mahomes interesting argument. And by the way, Kansas City
fans care about this an enormous amount, Like I don't
hear that much from Saints fans because I think Saints
fans are a lot more focused, honestly on the Super Bowl.
I think because the Chiefs have not won a playoff
game since. I think deep down, every Chiefs fan is

(01:16:42):
just waiting for the wheels to come off their team. Uh.
And really the wheels have started to come off a
little bit down the stretch. I mean they are they
barely beat the Ravens or this is a team that
would really be limping into the conclusion. I think they're
afraid of what might happen once the postseason starts. Andy Reid,
It's amazing how often his teams start hot and then
kind of get caught up to by the rest of

(01:17:04):
the league. It feels like I think they really care
about this validation. Now, to me, Mahome's not winning it
at the age of twenty three or whatever the heck
he is right now. He's going to win an m
v P at some point in his career, and I
do think that they are. I think fifty people voting
for the m v P award. Um, and we'll ask
John McClean about this in our three because I believe

(01:17:25):
he has a vote as well. But I know Alex
Marvez came on this show on Monday and said, yeah,
I'm done, I'm voting for Drew Brees. When there's only
fifty guys voting, that's two percent of the overall vote. Um.
I think Drew Brees is gonna get this now. For
Rookie of the Year, I would agree right now. To me,
it's got to be Andrew Luck. Sorry, Andrew Luck. The

(01:17:46):
Andrew Luck is an m v peakin, and it's gotta
be Um beyond the shadow of doubt to me, Baker Mayfield,
because you look at what Baker me Mayfield walked into.
You also factor in the Hugh Jackson impact of not
being able or willing to play Baker or Mayfield early
in this season. He's got the most touchdowns right now
of any number one pick ever. He's got the Browns.

(01:18:07):
The Browns at seven seven and one, I think they
have a good chance to go on the road and
beat the Baltimore Ravens, which would mean they would just
barely miss the playoffs in year one with Baker Mayfield.
I think Baker Mayfield has to be your m VP
as good as Sa Kwan Barkley has been. The Giants
were not very good right last year, and they still

(01:18:29):
haven't been very good this year. They're sitting at five
and ten. Elis had a good year without Baker Mayfield.
I think that the Cleveland Browns are probably four and
twelve at best five and eleven, and that might be
too much without Sae Kwan Barkley. I don't think the
record is that much different, honestly for the Giants. I
think they might be four and twelve. They might be

(01:18:51):
three and thirteen as opposed to five and eleven or
six and ten, which they're gonna finish with. So to me,
Baker Mayfield has to be your m v P over
sake on Barkley. I don't think there's any doubt that
it's down to those two as your final contestants for
who is going to be the Rookie of the Year
in the NFL this year? Who would you take? Are
you right on this one? It's Baker Mayfield. I love

(01:19:13):
Sae Kwon Barkley. He's a generational talent, but Baker Mayfield.
The biggest damning factor about Hugh Jackson maybe being the
worst head coach in history of the NFL is the
fact that he didn't even open up the quarterback. He
didn't even open up that job during the off season.
He said it's Tyrod Taylor's and that's it. And then
he watched Baker Mayfield in camp, and he watched him

(01:19:34):
in preseason, and he's stuck by his guns with Tyrod Taylor.
If Baker Mayfield had played from day one, the Browns
are in the playoffs, they might actually win the a
f C North. Baker Mayfield is awesome. He he looks
like he has got everything that you want, including that
cocky streak that makes him want to beat teams like
the Ravens, which he may do this weekend, just because

(01:19:55):
he loved to spoil their fun. Because he just strikes
me as a winning football players sake. One Barkley is
an incredible player, just absolutely outstanding defensive Rookie of Year,
by the way, is going to be playing against Titans
probably on Sunday. The linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts, Darius
Leonard out of South Carolina State, seven sacks on the season,
so we'll get a look at him as well. Um,

(01:20:17):
as we head into the final hour of the show,
I'm gonna give you a lot of my gambling picks.
I'm also gonna talk with John McClean. We'll ask him
he's gotta vote who his m v P is. All
that and more still to come. Want to remind you
will be live on Monday. Thank you for hanging out
with us as we head into our three. My name
is Clay Travis is Outkicked the coverage on Fox Sports Radio.

(01:20:39):
Welcome back, Geico Outkicks Studios. Happy to be here with you.
Top of our three, final hour of the week as
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(01:21:00):
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I said earlier on the show, and I'd encourage you
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of you are doing every single month, that as soon
as I finished the show today, I'm hopping a flight
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(01:21:23):
as we get ready for the Alabama and the Oklahoma
game in the Orange Bowl. Then I'm unfortunate guy. I'll
hop into an airplane on Sunday, turnaround and fly back
to Nashville, where the biggest game of the weekend is
taking place between the Titans and the Indianapolis Colts. So
I thought here as we started off our three, I

(01:21:44):
would go ahead and give you my rundown of what
I anticipate the NFL playoffs to look like when they
actually are here. I did this last week. I got
pretty close. Although the one upset that really kind of
surprised me was I gotta give credit to the ray
I didn't think the Ravens would go on the road
and win against the Chargers. Everything else went exactly as

(01:22:05):
I thought it would. So as we look here at
the playoff race coming down the stretch, I'm gonna give
you my playoff picks, and then I'm gonna let Jamard
hop in and give you his playoff picks as well.
But I'll start with the a f C. I think
that the Kansas City Chiefs will take care of the
Oakland Raiders and lock up the number one overall seed

(01:22:26):
in the a f C. In the two spots, I
think the Patriots beat the Jets, and I think the
Patriots will lock up the overall number two seed in
the playoffs. In the three spot, it's a little bit difficult,
but I think the Ravens are going to come out
and beat the Browns. So I'm gonna go with the
Ravens as the three seed. And if you're hearing this,

(01:22:48):
you're probably nodding your head along, thinking, oh, Clay has
got an unexpected outcome here. I means I think the
Texans are gonna lose to the Jags. So my upset
in the a f C that I'm predicting. We know
that Blake Border is gonna be starting. I think the
Texans are gonna lose to the Jags and fall all
the way to the sixth seed. So I'm gonna have
the Texans as the six seed. We know that if

(01:23:09):
the Chiefs win, that your five seed is locked in
and that is the Chargers, And then I am going
to pick the Titans to pull off the win over
the Colts to break that streak of futility. And so
my playoff races uh in the a f C the
one seed the Chiefs, the two seed the Patriots, three,

(01:23:29):
the Ravens, four, the Titans, five, the Chargers, and in
the six seed the Texans. That means I have got
the Texans at the Ravens as one playoff game, and
that means my other game is the Chargers going on
the road and playing at the Titans as my other

(01:23:50):
wild card games going forward. Jason Martin, I will bring
you in and allow you to react to my a
f C predictions again one more time for you. Chiefs
eat the Raiders, get the one seed, Patriots beat the Jets,
get the two seed. I've got the Ravens beating the
Browns and getting the three seed. Because I have the

(01:24:10):
one upset happening the Jags. I feel like the Jags
have a good chance to go on the road and
beat the Texans. The way that Texans are playing right now,
I think Blake Bortles has a good game, I can't
believe I'm saying that, and knocks the Texans all the
way down. The winner if the Texans lose, then the
winner of the Titans Colts game would win the a
f C South. Maybe a little bit of Homerism here,

(01:24:32):
but I think the Titans get it done at home.
They're six and one at home so far this season,
have won four games in a row. Uh. That is
my prediction for the a f C. Your prediction for
the a f C. What do you agree or disagree with?
Jason Martin Chiefs and Pats one and two. I agree
with I think the Texans will beat the Jaguars. I
think they'll be in third. I think the Ravens will
be in fourth. I've got the Chargers of five and

(01:24:55):
the Colts at six. I know I just can't get there,
and I've got reasoning behind it. Quickly, I will say no.
Jurrell Casey is a big deal for the Tennessee Titans.
His season is over, not just because of what he
can do from the pass rush, but what he does
against the run that I think that this game may
well be one by Marlon Mack running the football for

(01:25:16):
the Indianapolis Colts in Nashville against the Titans. But my
big this is my big concern. I've written about this
and I've said it here locally in Nashville in the
airways this week as as well as we knew that
Titans were gonna have to win five in a road
again get into the playoffs to end the season, and
they've had a schedule that's very favorable to them doing that.
But I look at the four quarterbacks they've beaten. They

(01:25:36):
beat Josh McCown of the Jets, they beat Cody Kessler
with the Jags, they beat Eli Manning and a downpour
for the Giants, and then they played Josh Johnson here.
Those are the four quarterbacks that they played. The last
two real quarterbacks that the Titans played were division matchups
against Deshaun Watson and against Andrew Luck. And in those

(01:25:59):
two games, Andrew Luck went twenty three of twenty nine
for two ninety seven, three touchdowns at a ninety six
q b R in that game, and then DeShawn Watson
nineteen to twenty four for to ten and two touchdowns,
nine carries, seventy yards and a touchdown. It's a thirty
eight to ten loss and a thirty four to seventeen loss. Now,
do I think that the Tennessee Titans could potentially win

(01:26:20):
the game. Absolutely they could, but they've gotten torched. Their
secondary in particular, has gotten torched by the last two
real quarterbacks they played, and they haven't seen one in
a month's worth of actual game action. So you're asking
a lot of a secondary where Dory Jackson got just
humiliated basically by t Y Hilton the last time these

(01:26:41):
two teams played against one another, and you don't have
Logan Ryan out there as well, so I just can't
get there. I don't know about Mario to South. I
think he will try to play. I expect he will play.
I don't know how effective he's gonna be. I agree
with what you said earlier in the show with Mike Keith.
If Derrick Hendry's running the ball thirty more times, you've
got a chance. But I've got the Colts there. I

(01:27:03):
think Andrew Luck stays undefeated. This storyline, actually for both
teams is really good. That the wind streak down the
stretch and ending this streak against Andrew Luck. And Andrew
Luck back in his original shoulder injury that set his
career back happened in Nashville against the Tennessee Titans, so
this is the scene of that crime as well. The

(01:27:25):
first time he's been back on that field really in
any capacity since that point. So there's a whole lot
of cool storylines here in Nashville on Sunday Night. You'll
be there. I'll be there as well. It's gonna be
a heck of an atmosphere. It's gonna be a great
weekend in general. I mean, I'm excited to go see
what's gonna happen with Alabama and Oklahoma in Miami. Like
I said, I'm hopping the flight as soon as this
show is over to head down there, um, and then

(01:27:46):
I get to come back and watch basically the playoff
game of week seventeen, the Sunday night football game on NBC,
the play in playoff game between the Colts and the Titans.
All right, that's my a f C prediction. You gave
yours as well. Here's my NFC predict, uh, number one
overall seed Saints. We already know that. I think the
Rams beat the forty Niners lock up the number two.
I think the Bears lose to the Vikings but slot

(01:28:08):
in at number three. Cowboys are the four seed, the
Seahawks stay at five, and the Vikings are six. The
wild card matchups would then be Vikings at Bears and
Seahawks at Cowboys. I think the NFC is a lot
less complicated. Anything you disagree with in the NFC prediction, Nope,
that's the exact six that I have in that in
that very same order. I think that you pretty much

(01:28:31):
said that exactly as I would have. Well, we will
know exactly what the playoff ratings, uh, the playoff games
will be on Monday. I want to remind everybody as
you head into the weekend, a lot of people working
on Monday, but a lot of people not working. We
will be here so on New Year's Eve, Monday morning,
reacting to everything that happened in the college football and

(01:28:51):
in the NFL playoff race. We're about to talk to
John McClain, who is down in Houston where the Texans
will be taken on the Jags. But I want to
get your predict and here, j Mart, before we finished
this segment, what do you think happens in the college
football playoff? H Do you think Bama takes care of Oklahoma?
Do you think Clemson takes care of Notre Dame as
seems to be the consensus. How would you break that

(01:29:11):
down in terms of Clemson Notre Dame. I think Notre
Dame is better than people are giving them credit for,
but I still think Clemson is gonna actually cover. I
think Clemson is very good. I think that you made
some good points about their past defense. I just feel
like this is a situation where the other thing that's
to unfair is this Notre Dame team is nothing like
the one that got crushed by Alabama years ago. Ian

(01:29:33):
Book can throw the ball, they can run it, they
do have a good defense. This is a much different
and a much tougher minded Notre Dame team. But I've
also seen them escape against some bad opponents this year
as well. I just think Trevor Lawrence a little bit
too much. I do think Clemson will get done and
then Alabama. Oklahoma is just a heck of a football
game that I really want to see the idea of.

(01:29:54):
I look at Oklahoma and I think they're the Kansas
City Chiefs of college football in that they have a
incredible quarterback who's a hell of an athlete but can
also absolutely throw it down the field. Both of them
have baseball backgrounds as well. If you want to go
to that point, they're gonna score a lot of points,
but they're gonna stop absolutely nobody. So I look at
these two teams in Alabama and Oklahoma, and I say,

(01:30:16):
of the four units, the offense and the defense for Alabama,
and the offense and the defense for Oklahoma, which one
is gonna see something unlike anything they've seen all year long?
And how big is a discrepancy in those classifications? So
I look at it and I say, has Alabama seen
an offense as prolific as Lincoln Riley's. No, but they
have played against some decent offenses this season. Has Oklahoma

(01:30:41):
played against a defense that, even though they're not as
good as Alabama defenses have been in the past, they're
still very talented and they're still very capable of turning
you over. And the answer is no. Oklahoma's played against
virtually no defense of any salt all year, and this
Alabama offense should be able to shred the Oklahoma defense
and just cut like a nice through butter through it

(01:31:03):
to his health. I think he's gonna be fine. I
think it's probably a high scoring game, probably a really
really entertaining game. I think Alabama is gonna win it.
Thought I think you're getting Alabama Clempson Volume four. I'll
give you my picks in the final segment of this show,
uh to give you a big tease. And also I'll
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Up next, John McClain from the Houston Chronicle take us
into the NFL upcoming weekend, in particular the Texans Jags
and whether or not he feels comfortable about the Texans

(01:32:31):
as they head into the postseason. Will also get his
Super Bowl picks and more. He's been covering the league
a long time. That's next. This is How Kicked the
coverage on Fox Sports Radio live from the Guico ol
Kick Studios, where fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent
or more on car insurance. Visit Geico dot com for
a free rate quote. This is the final hour of

(01:32:53):
the week, and so at the very end of this hour,
I'll give you some gambling picks as we head into
the bowl games over the Ken as well as the
NFL games. All that's still to come. But first we're
gonna be joined by my guy, John McClaine. He's at
the Houston Chronicle. He's been there a while. He's with
us down in Houston always appreciate when he comes on
with us and he is getting ready for what has

(01:33:13):
turned into a game that could be pretty interesting between
the Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars, and with the
news coming out of Blake Bortles being the starting quarterback
uh in this final game. To me, John, and you
tell me if you think I'm reading this wrong, that's
not necessarily a great sign for the Houston Texans because

(01:33:34):
it would suggest that the Jags are trying to put
together a game plan to actually win this game as
opposed to just going through the motions. I also think,
as bad as Bortles has been at some time, his
ceiling is higher than what Cody Kessler offered, his floor
may be lower. Two. Am I reading that correctly from
your perspective or do you think this is not as
big of a deal as I'm making it out to be.

(01:33:56):
First of all, thanks for having me happy New Yeuropian
and your family had a great holiday, And now you're
exactly right. The only reason to play Cody Kessler would
be if they're looking to improve the draft position to
get a higher draft choice in case they wanted to
select a quarterback or if they're gonna sign one in

(01:34:16):
free agency. But you're exactly right about Bortles now. In
the first game this season, the one in which Deshaun
Watson had a collapse a long in, a broken rib
and a bruise Sturnham and had to take a bus
from Houston to Jacksonville, the Texans one seven, and Bortles
was so ineffective Doug Broone pulled him in the third

(01:34:38):
quarter for Kessler. Patrick fumbled at the Jaguars twelve. He
was just totally ineffective. But I think we saw this
past Sunday when the Jaguars went to Miami and Miami
still had slight playoff folks. Jaguars beat him seventeen seven,
Kessler got hurt, Bortles came off the bench. I told

(01:34:59):
everybody Blake Bortles will be the starting quarterback in this game.
And last year the Jaguars swept the Texans, and in
the last game, Bortles through four touchdown passes through from
bore three hundred yards. Jevian Glinny called him trash after
that game. So there are other instances in all the
games he's played against the Texans, there have been somewhere

(01:35:22):
he's awful, and there have been a couple where he's
awesome and he's all Disney for another job because I
think we all believe that he will not be the
quarterback at Jacksonville last year, so he wants to go
out with the big time performance. You just kind of
hit on something that I think could be significant here,
which is the Jags would like to spoil the Texans seasons,

(01:35:44):
like there's not a lot of great blood between these
two teams. Is that a fair approximation of this rivalry.
It's it's strange, Clay, because he would think that the
Texans top rivalry would be with the Titans the form
of oilers, but it's never worked out that way. The
text and don't like the Jaguars. Jaguars don't like the Texans.
Bill O'Brien was six oh against his close friend Doug Moron.

(01:36:08):
They've been best friends since they were chas Georgia Tech.
And last year the Jaguars, who went on to win
the division, swept Texas, and UH players had openly admitted,
like Davon Clowney saying that about Bortles that he was trash.
Right after Bortles just trashed the defense and Clowney had

(01:36:30):
a great game in that game. But still, you know,
he's gotten a lot of grief about that. But Jacksonville
has had such a disappointing season. But if the Jaguars
could go out with an upset it victory over Miami
and an upset victory over Houston to finish six and ten,
that all season wouldn't taste quite so bitter. I think

(01:36:53):
that's uh, that's well said. Let's talk about the Texans
because this season has been such a roller coaster ride.
You lose the first several I think started off oh
and three, managed to get a couple of overtime wins
in a row, win nine games, I think it was
in a row, and now you've lost two out of
three down the stretch. How good are the Texans? First

(01:37:14):
of all, this is a great stat. Deshaun Watson has
not lost a game but more than one touchdown since
it was sophomore in high school. That's amazing today because
every the losses this year have been by seven, three, five,
three and two. Their five defeats and they're getting beat

(01:37:36):
up really bad down here. And I looked back at
Sunday's game at Philadelphia. Their running game was pathetic. Their
past defense was awful, and yet they had the game
one because of Watson threw two touchdown passes three minutes
spanning at the end of the game, and they lost
because the defense couldn't stop the Eagles. And so right now,

(01:37:58):
the Texas past defense, they couldn't stop you and me,
and they're running game. This is what I just can't
figure out, Quay. When the Texans through through uh twelve
games this season, they were third in rushing average a
hundred forty yards games in the nine game winning street
they average in the last six games of the winning Street,

(01:38:18):
they age one seventy two yards rushing. Then in the
last three they've averaged sixty six and Watson has been
their leading rusher in each game, and the offensive line
has just been blown up. And I'm thinking, why in
the world were they so good running the ball for
so long? And I wrote yesterday that the that the

(01:38:39):
running game in the past defense have to be out
the witness protection program because now you understand understand their
sudden dens appearance. But they have gone from awesome to awful,
and whatever defensives are doing against them right now, they
have they have no counter so Watson now is having
to take over the game and throw it forty times,

(01:39:01):
and that exposes him to more hits. He's about he
has Eastern sack fifties six times. Last time anybody got
sack sixty was John Kitna in two thousand and six.
So that's something they want to avoid. But it's all
on Watson's shoulders. And I guess from watching him in
those big games at Clemson against Alabama, so really apport

(01:39:23):
games here New England and Seattle. You know he likes
to he likes that white on spotlight and uh so
I think they'll be able to beat Jackson Bille. Then
they'll play I think Indianapolis because I believe the Coast
Peach Titans. What do you think of that matchup? The
a f C. Let's go into the larger NFC and

(01:39:44):
a FC pictures. You're you've been covering the NFL for
a long time. We're talking to John McLean. Uh you
can follow him on Twitter. I believe it's at McLean
underscore NFL. If I'm not mistaken. You can correct me
close enough on that if I'm wrong. So let's go.
Let's going to the a f C. I think regardless
of what happens with that play in playoff game between

(01:40:05):
the Titans and the Colts, the a f C is
as wide open as I have seen in a long time.
Would you agree? Of course, it's because there's no This
is not the strongest Patriot team we've seen. There are
three and five on the road. They do not have
home field advantage. When they've won super Bowls, there's that
home field advantage. They're unbeaten at Gillette Stadium. They'll beat

(01:40:26):
the Jets to be eight oh at home. But there
are three five on the road, and they've lots some
bad teams on the road. So if they're gonna go
back to the Super Bowl in Atlanta, they're gonna have
to win a road game, and I wouldn't bet on it.
Right now. It's wide open cans and every team play
has got a weakness. All those weaknesses can be exploited.
But I'll say this about January football. You better be

(01:40:50):
able to play defense. And that's scary for Kansas City.
Good for the Ravens, and tell you something's gonna be
weird when the Steelers are not in the playoffs. It
just seems to be a birth rate for them. To
be in and they're unless Baltimore gets beat with the Browns,
they're gonna watch it on TV, and that is strange
for Steelers fans. We're talking to John McLean at McLean

(01:41:12):
Underscore on Underscore NFL is where he is also tweeted
out you can thank it for coming on when I
put up the podcast of this show later on Friday.
All right, um, NFC, Drew Brees, let me start here.
Would he be your m v P or do you
think Patrick Mahomes should be the m v P. Now
I'm voting for Breeze. I have. I have gone from

(01:41:34):
Breeze to my homes two rivers back to Breeze. Brees
has been great against teams with winning records. He is
he is uh. He doesn't put up the gaudy yards
that he has in the past. There's been like nine
five thousand yard games in history and he has five
of them. And I think he's just played as efficiently.

(01:41:56):
He's always great, but he's been so efficient. They have
home advantage, the defense is better. They got a two
headed monstered running back right now. Play The road to
the super Bowl goes through New Orleans, and I think
the Saints of the leading contender to win the Super
Bowl because I believe they're better than anything in the
a f C. So Saints or the field in the NFC,

(01:42:18):
would you go Saints? I would go Saints. I don't
care who it is. Like the Chargers, I was on
that bandwagon after they beat Kansas City. Then of course
they lose bad a home even though they don't have
a home field advantage to the Ravens. And right now
I think New Orleans is clearly the best team in
the NFL, the most balanced team in the NFL. We're

(01:42:41):
talking to John McLean. Who do you think, So we
got the Saints coming out of the NFC, who would
you be your a f C playoff Super Bowl pick?
Right now? If you look at Andy Reid's Super playoff history,
it's not been good, especially in Kansas City Chargers, the
Philip Rivers. I would love to see Rivers and the
Super Bowl. Clay no offense to the Patriots, but I'm

(01:43:02):
on my forty of Super Bowl I'm tired of writing
about them. I'm tired of writing about Brady. I want
some new blood in there, and the Charges would be
a tremendous story, especially because of Rivers, such a class act.
I'd love the truthfully, I'd love to see Andy Reagan
in there again. I'd like to see Patrick Mahomes. Think
how exciting that would be if you had breeze in

(01:43:24):
my homes. I don't see a clear favorite. Baltimore has
a great defense, a good running game, and my sleeper.
My sleeper just got beat two weeks ago by San Francisco.
But to see Seahawks are playing great defense, They're running
the ball better than any time since their last Super Bowl,
and Russell Wilson is a clutch quarterback. If I had

(01:43:46):
to pick a sleeper to UH to reach the Super Bowl,
I would take Seattle. If I took a sleeper in
the a f C, it would beat Baltimore, and I guess.
I guess because want the Chargers to be in there.
For Philip Rivers, I'm going with l A. We're talking
to John McLean. You can follow him on Twitter of

(01:44:07):
the Houston Chronicle at McLean underscore on Underscore NFL. You're
a bailor bear alum. What did it mean to you
the award that they gave you? I think it was
last week, Clay, Thank you very much. They did they
informed me that every year Baylor picks four alumni of
the Year Distinguished Alumni Award, and there's Baylor people all

(01:44:30):
over the world doing some incredible things and every line
of work. And they informed me that that I'm one
of the four and I'm there with a doctor and
two others, and it just blew me away. It's one
of the two times I've ever been speechless. You've known
me for a while, I've got I can gap and
I was just the only thing. I thought back to

(01:44:51):
my first Baylor game in nineteen sixty when I was
a Cub scout. They beat Colorado and I became a
Baylor fan den and all the times my dad told
me about Baylor, I was my mom and dad were
still here to see it. In my it's a It's
an incredible award play, as you can imagine. And the
only thing that bumps me. I'm at the super Bowl
in Atlanta, and I would come back and go back

(01:45:14):
to Atlanta if the problem is that man, that banquet
is on the Friday night and the next morning, I've
got to be at the Hall of Fame selection meeting
at six thirty am. And there's no way I could
make it back, and so I'll have to miss it
because there's no way I'm giving up that enormous responsibility
of helping pick the class of two thousand and nineteen.

(01:45:36):
All Right, John McClean, the last question for you. You
are a big time movie buff. It is a holiday season,
a lot of people are out going to movies, getting
ready for the Oscars and everything else. One of the
best movies that people should make sure that they have
seen if they maybe have missed some well, A Star
Is Born is going to clean up and rightfully so.
And my most underrated movie, Clay, that I promised anybody

(01:45:59):
if they see it, they're gonna like it. Is a
Green book with Marsala and Vigo Mortenson. It is a
tremendous movie. It is based on a true story and
it's one that just blows you away learning things that
African Americans in that book was published for between thirty

(01:46:19):
six and sixties six to show black people where they
could stay in hotels because they weren't allowing white hotels
and not just in the South. And that's what it's about,
the relationship between these two guys, and it is tremendous, uplifting, inspiring,
and I would encourage anybody to see the Green Book.
John McLean, we appreciate the time, enjoy that game on Sunday,

(01:46:43):
and we look forward to talking to you down the stretch.
But more importantly, congrats on that big distinguished Alumni award
from Baylor. Thank you, Glad. I can't wait to watch
the games tomorrow, especially at Oklahoma Alabama game. My goodness,
that may last all night. I'm hopping on a what
are your picks by the way for the college football Playoff,
because I'm about to go hop on a flight here

(01:47:03):
as soon as we finished this hour and head down
to Miami to watch that one in person. I'm never
gonna pick against Alabama and Nick Saban ever, so I
think it'll be high scoring and no win. Although you
worried about tag of Aloa's ankle, he was limping when
he got off the plane. I saw him, peb and
any other one I like Clemson. There's a lot of
Clemson players here, DeAndre Hopkins and and Deshaun Watson. I'm

(01:47:28):
around him a lot. So they're so excited about it.
Is Whattson told us. He said, we gotta get the
dub and go to the Natty Nanny twice and saw
him going with Clemson and Alabama for the third time.
Outstanding stuff as always, John McLean at McLean Underscore on
Underscore NFL, appreciate the time, my man, thanks very much.

(01:47:50):
Play Happy New Year, Happy New Year in advance to
you as well. Let me go ahead and bring in
my guy Eddie Garcia. Find out what's shaking in the
world of sports. Let's start in the NBA Games of
oats and we had our Geico player to day with
the Kings and Lakers going down to the wire. He
drives to his l three for the winds please, the

(01:48:11):
Kings gets the victory, best time expires and the money
of the Golden one centered look at the Sea of
Arms upbradged final score seventeen one sixteen khd K and
the King's Radio Network with our Geico player the day
that was Bogdon Bogdanovich with a three point at the

(01:48:31):
buzzer giving the Kings of one seventeen one sixteen win
over the Lakers. Damian Lillard had a three pointer with
six point three seconds to play and overtime, helping the
Trail Players beat the Warriors on the road one ten
to one. Oh nine, James Harden goes for forty five points,
leading the Rockets over the Celtics one thirteen, and the
Sixers down the Jazz in Utah one fourteen to ninety seven.
Ben Simmons the triple double for Philadelphia College Football and

(01:48:53):
the Texas Bowl. It was Baylor out scoring Vanderbilt forty
five to thirty eight. In the Pinstripe Bowl, Wisconsin rolled
over Miami thirty five at three and at the Independence
Bowl of was Duke over Temple fifty six to twenty seven.
On the road to the playoffs. Blue Devil's quarterback Daniel
Jones had six touchdowns in that win for Duke, five
passing and one rushing. Speaking of being on the road,

(01:49:13):
do you think it's okay to drive stone? The truth
is your reaction time slows way down when you're high.
You're not only putting yourself in danger, but everyone around you.
Stop kidding yourself. If you've been using marijuana in any form,
do not get behind the wheel. If you feel different,
you drive different, drive high and get a d U.
I now, Mr Clay Travis in the Geico OutKick the
coverage studios. We will finish off the show with College

(01:49:34):
football and NFL gambling picks to take you into the weekend.
That will be next final segment. Out Kick the coverage
on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen
live live from the Geico OutKick studios where it's easy

(01:49:58):
to say or more on car insurance with Geico Geico
dot com or call eight nine four seven Auto. The
only hard part figuring out which way is easier. This
is the final segment of the show for the week.
Appreciate Jason Martin sitting in for us on Wednesday and
Thursday alongside of Jeff Schwartz. I was on with you Monday.
We had a great collection of the best of on Christmas.

(01:50:19):
I hope you guys have had a great Christmas season
so far. I want to remind you off the top
here to make sure you download the podcast. Great guest
today UH Mike Keith talking the the upcoming Titans UH
Colts playoff play in Game an hour one. An hour too,
we talked with Lance Taylor live down in Miami as
he gets ready for UH the Oklahoma and Alabama game.

(01:50:39):
And we just got through talking with John McLean and
Houston as he gets ready for that Jaguars game against
the Titans, and we see who's gonna win the a
f C South, all of that on the horizon, um
and uh, I, as soon as we finished this segment, literally,
I'm going to immediately hop into a car and head
straight to the airport to fly down to Miami to

(01:51:00):
be there for the Alabama Oklahoma game. Encourage you to
go follow me on Twitter if you don't already at
Clay Travis and also I'll probably try and do some
live reactions on Periscope and Facebook to whatever happens and
the games taking place over the weekend. I'll get back
on the plane on Sunday, come back up here, and
uh I'll watch the Colts Titans playoff play in play

(01:51:21):
in playoff game. Uh and then I will be on
here Monday morning, so New Year's Eve will be spending
it with you guys. Look forward to that as well.
But as we typically do every Friday going into a
big college football game, I have got you gambling picks,
and I've got you gambling picks here for both the
NFL and for college football. As we head into the

(01:51:43):
weekend and uh a lot of these games uh taking place,
It's gonna be a great weekend for football if you
are a big football fan, as I know the vast
majority of you listening to us right now are, There's
been a lot of good games going on uh for
a while. But as we head in to U to
this week ken and get ready for the Friday, Saturday
and Sunday games, let me go ahead and give you

(01:52:06):
some of my picks, UH, so you guys can sit
back and hopefully make some money. And they start on
this tonight on a game going on Friday afternoon, even
as opposed to tonight, UH, the Syracuse West Virginia game.
I'm on the over there. It's sitting right around sixty seven.
I'm on the over. Then we move into Saturday early games.

(01:52:27):
Chick fil A Peach Bowl Florida going up against Michigan.
I like the Gators plus seven and a half. I
got this game this pick out earlier from my v
I p s. It's now down two around six or
six and a half. I also like the under fifty one.
I think the Gators defense will show up and play
pretty well, so it encouraged you to hop in on
that one. Uh. Later that same day, South Carolina and

(01:52:48):
uv A playing in the Belk Bowl. I like the
game Cox to win and cover that game against Virginia.
UM and uh, then we roll into the South Carolina game.
I just gave you that one. Sorry, I'm scrolling through
looking at all these picks. Then we get into the
playoff games, and look, I really like Alabama. This line
got down to thirteen and a half. I gave it

(01:53:08):
out to you on Wednesday on lock it In Wednesday afternoon,
my my gambling television show on FS one, which, by
the way, be doing later today if some of you
are still off work or whatever and you're looking for
something to entertain yourselves past some time. I'll be live
from Miami with the television show on Friday afternoon. I
gave this pick out though on Wednesday afternoon. Bama mindus

(01:53:30):
thirteen and a half. I think Bama pulls away in
this one. I also like the under. UM. I think
the under is the play here. I think Alabama's gonna
control the pace. I think they will win this game outright.
My prediction something like four or four. I think they
take the air out of the football. I think they
have a great deal of success against um Oklahoma and

(01:53:53):
the other big game that's going on Notre Dame Clemson.
I like Notre Dame plus thirteen against Limson. Uh, and
I like the over fifty five. Uh. That to me
is the play in the College football Playoff. All right,
So all of that is out there, let me bring
you in, j Mart. You heard all my picks, anything
in particular you like. I'll give you the rest of

(01:54:15):
my bowl game picks as we move into Monday. I'll
give you those out on Monday. But those are the
picks for Saturday. Uh. Your thoughts as I que up
the NFL picks here? Yeah, man, I don't really disagree,
other than I think that Clemson is going to cover
against Notre Dame, Alabama and Oklahoma. I could definitely see
going in that direction. We've seen high powered offenses come

(01:54:37):
in that have not seen something like what they see
against Alabama, and it takes them so long to try
and figure it out that they end up just not
being able to score enough points. We saw Washington unable
to really score a couple of years ago against them
when they had an opportunity, so it could very well
go that way. There are you know, there's some other
interesting matchups. The Florida Michigan game is intriguing. You feel

(01:55:00):
like Michigan should be able to handle business in that game.
And then you know West Virginia Syracuse. West Virginia should
be able to score, but Syracuse has a nasty defense,
and they also have a propensity to try and just
knock a quarterback out of a game. We've seen that.
We've seen them hit really, really hard. West Virginia goes

(01:55:20):
as their offense goes, just like basically everybody. And remember
they don't have a Will Career and not gonna have
him if you got into early. This is where you
know having some some information could help. West Virginia was
a seven and a half point favorite. This line has
swung by eight and a half points, so if you
were smart enough to jump in on Syracuse plus seven
and a half, you've got a huge middle there. But

(01:55:42):
Will Greer sitting out this game obviously impacts it in
a really really substantive, in substantial way. Yeah, no doubt.
I mean, they've got all world guys that receiver, but
not having Will Greer makes a big difference. And I
do think that that Syracuse is a is a really
solid team. So that's that's an interesting one. I didn't
hear you mentioned for doing all Burn. I don't know
if you had to pick there. I'm fascinated by that game.

(01:56:03):
I was toying around with that one. You know that,
first of all, I have no idea how Auburn is
gonna play. I didn't feel comfortable in that game. A
lot of Bowl gambling is figuring out two things. One,
who's gonna have the motivation right because you set out
for a month, who really is going to show up
and perform at a high level? And too, who's playing.

(01:56:24):
Uh So we're still finding out some of the stuff
about who's playing and how aggressive they're gonna be to
play through injuries. But the motivation factor, to me and
Perdue Auburn almost impossible to figure out. So I set
it out. Yeah, I mean, I agree with you on that.
And the motivation point is the one that I always
look at because and this is gonna upset some people
that don't want to hear it, but Auburn didn't care

(01:56:44):
about playing Central Florida last year. I know that the
Central Florida continues to talk about how we knocked down
this great SEC team should have been in a college
football playoff. No, you really didn't. You didn't knock off
an Auburn team that cared. You also knocked you also
beat one that was missing a couple of its key players.
I continue to believe that if that game actually mattered,
Auburn would have beaten Central Florida by two touchdowns last year.

(01:57:07):
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm sticking to that and I'm
never gonna have you know, I'm never gonna be proven
wrong because the game was never played. But yeah, the
one two factor in these basically exhibition games, with the
exception of the two playoff games, it really I'm I
don't gamble, but it would make it really difficult on
me to gamble because you just do have to sit
there and say, all right, do these guys care and

(01:57:27):
how many people are sitting out? I mean major apple
White got beat seventy four. Yes, that was That was
not a very pleasant game if you were a Houston fan.
And then he lost his offensive coordinator Kendall Bryle to
Florida State. So that's an ugly situation going on there.
Right now, all right, NFL Weekend Week seventeen, I'll give
you the picks that I really like. I we now

(01:57:48):
know that Blake Bordles is gonna start. I went on
Lock it In on Monday and I said, I like
the Texans. I mean sorry, I like the Jags. At
plus seven and a half, that number now down to
around six. I think the Jags pull off the upset.
If you look at this game, um, I think the Jags,
by starting Blake Bortles, are sending a message we want
to go out with a win. I don't like how

(01:58:08):
the Texans offensive line is blocking right now for Deshaun Watson.
I don't like where they're running. Game has gone. I
think that Blake Bortles comes out and knows that this
is his stage final game before he either gets traded
or becomes a free agent, wants to show what he
can do against the playoff team. I really do think
the Jags win this game. I think the Jags wanted
out right, but I love him plus the six points.

(01:58:29):
I love him even more plus the seven and a
half um In terms of other games that matter in
the playoff race, I like the Browns. I like Baker Mayfield.
I told you earlier in the show that I think
Blake Baker Mayfield has to be your rookie of the year. Um.
I think that he's gonna go out. It wouldn't stun
me at all. I picked the Ravens to win this
game if you heard my playoff picks. But it wouldn't

(01:58:50):
stun me if the Browns went on the road and
beat the Ravens. We saw this happen last year, remember
with the way the Bengals beat the Ravens to knock
them out of the playoffs. So I like the Browns
here plus the six to cover um. And I like
the Eagles to get to win pretty easily over the Redskins.
I think that the Chiefs will win with ease over

(01:59:11):
the Raiders. I think the Vikings this line now down
to around four. People are trying to figure out what
the Bears are gonna do. I wouldn't touch this game,
even though it's a big game in the playoff race,
because it's hard to figure out exactly what the situations
are gonna be at play here. Um. And then look,
I like the Titans, and I know the quarterback situation
is gonna be an uncertainty, But to me, that just

(01:59:31):
means they're gonna run Derrick Henry. You look at common opponents.
Titans beat the Giants seventeen to nothing. The game was
not that close in the end. Coults are very lucky
to get past the Giants. Titans one on the road.
Cults are lucky to get past the Giants. Titans destroyed
the Jacksonville Jaguars on a Thursday night game. Colts went
on the road and lost to them, outright. I know

(01:59:53):
the Colts beat the Texans and the Titans lost to
the Texans, but I think you look at the overall
common opponents down the stretch, I feel are about the
way the Titans are playing. I know the uncertainty at
quarterback is unfortunate, but I think right now this is
Derrick Henry's team. I think they lay on him. I
think the Titans win this game. Outright. Uh, those are
my gambling picks in the NFL as we run through it,

(02:00:16):
and if you're just waking up across the country right now,
my final picks for the a f C and the
NFC Chiefs one, Patriots too, Ravens three, Titans four, Chargers five,
Texans six and in the NFC, I think we go
with the Saints, the Rams, the Bears, the Cowboys, the Seahawks,
and the Vikings in that order, meaning your wild card games.
My final prediction for you as we head into the weekend,

(02:00:38):
I think we get Texans Ravens, Chargers at Titans, Vikings
at Bears, Seahawks at Cowboys. And I think we got
another one for the fourth year in a row, the
Alabama Crimson Tide against the Clemson Tigers. I think that
is where we're gonna head hopping a flight now. Can't
wait to get down to Miami and go see this game,
come back and see the Titans play against the Colts.

(02:00:59):
Good weekend for football. I love all of you guys.
Happy early New Year. If you won't be with us
on Monday, Happy and Merry Christmas and happy Holidays to everyone.
Thanks for hanging with us here on out kick great
nineteen coming with y'all. This has been Fox Sports Radio.

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