Baker Mid-Field

Episode Transcript
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US only. Last night, we completed Week a eleven of
the NFL, and it looked like it was going pretty
well for the Tennessee Titans as they got up ten

(01:05):
nothing early in the game. Then the Houston Texans came
storming back to score fourteen unanswered and the Titans were
faced with a fourth down decision. Fourth in a yard.
What do you do inside the Texans five yard line.
The Titans elected to give the ball to their tight
end on his first carry since high school. He was

(01:26):
blown up on the play, did not advance for the
first down was a little bit short, and then the
Texans took the ball and on the next play this
is what happened. Here's Milner over right guard, has a
little und breakit tackle ten, fifteen, twenty right side, he's
on the sideline, the forty fifty. He's gonna go all
the way the thirty, but twitty the ten, the five

(01:50):
rock and roll touchdown Ustan nineties seven yards. The Texans
whipped the Titans, and in the process, I believe the
Texans won the a f C South. They now have
the Texans do a two and a half game lead
over the second place Indianapolis Colts, and there are only

(02:13):
five games to go, and the Colts have to come
to the Texans in two weeks, and that effectively can
slam the door on the division. Obviously, the Colts have
been playing very well. They would know they would have
to go on the road and win. But even if
the Texans lost that game, they've got the Jets you'd

(02:33):
think the Texans would be able to get past the Jets,
and they've also got the rapidly fading Jaguars. And if
you really want to buy in to the Browns, I
guess you can. I'm not convinced that the Browns are
going to be a world beater. Those are three of
the five teams remaining. Even if the Texans were to

(02:54):
lose to the Colts, it's hard to figure out, honestly,
barring an injury to DeShawn Watson, how the type the
Texans are not going to win this division? Now? How
good are the Texans? I don't really think we know.
I think Deshaun Watson has been really outstanding. I always
say I like to wait until there's at least two

(03:16):
years of tape on a guy, or at least one
full year, and Deshaun Watson is just playing his first
full year right now. And I think the worst thing
you can say about Deshaun Watson so far is that
he has shown that he is uh sometimes been prone
to injury. He's had injuries at Clemson, He's had injuries

(03:36):
already in the NFL. In terms of when he's healthy
on the field, he's been an outstanding playmaker. You have Hopkins,
who is a top what seven or eight wide receiver
in the NFL. Even the trade for Damarius Thomas looked
like a good trade last night, as Damarius Thomas had
two touchdown passes, beating a Dory Jackson, meaning that the

(03:57):
teams in the state of Texas who made move certainly
we know how good to Mari Cooper has been for
the Dallas Cowboys. He may be the difference maker for
them in terms of winning the division. To Marius Thomas,
at least last night, was a big time difference maker
for the Houston Texans. Now on the other side of
the ball, the Titans have a lot to work on
their offensive line, which has been much bally who much

(04:20):
praised can't block anybody. Marcus Mariota has been sacked I
think thirty seven times on the year, which is near
the tops in the NFL. If they could actually protect Mariota,
I think anybody who watched the game last night said,
my god, Mariota is really accurate. He had the second
most accurate game in the history of the NFL at
the quarterback position last night. In fact, if you had

(04:42):
shown me these stats beforehand and told me how good
Marcus Mariotta was gonna play. I probably would have bet
every single spare dollar I had on the Titans. Marcus
Mariota last night went twenty two for twenty three, uh,
for nearly a perfect passer rating a completion percentage of
ninety five point seven. It's second best all time in

(05:05):
the NFL for a minimum of twenty attempts with Philip
Rivers who went who went what like consecutive passes in
a row against the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday. So
in back to back days, the two highest completion percentages
in a single game in NFL history with a minimum
of twenty attempts have been made. And I think there

(05:29):
is a reason for continued growing optimism about Marcus Mariota.
If you are a Titans fan. The problem is he
has no weapons. Uh. The Titans, other than Corey Davis
have almost no wide receivers that are even worthy of dressing.
And then the offensive line camp block and they can't
run the ball either. So there are a lot of issues.
I think the Titans need to go back and look

(05:50):
at the roadmap for what the Indianapolis Colts did when
they made a made a decision that they were going
to protect Andrew Luck and they went into the draft
and they took first round picks on the offensive line.
Going forward, I think the Titans have to figure out
what to do with Taylor, the one. They are paying
him more than any left tackle I believe in the

(06:11):
history of the NFL. And he can't block anybody, and
he's good for a couple of personal fouls every game.
Uh there other first round right tackle doesn't look like
he's come back healthy from his knee injury. He's consistently
getting beaten all over the field. And then J. J.
Watt was a was a beast, and sometimes you can't
leave your tight end to block one on one against J. J. Watt.

(06:35):
But I do think as as we kind of run
through the NFL so far through eleven weeks, and I'm
gonna get into top five and bottom five at the
top of our two, so you can pin to put
a pin in that one. At the top of our two,
I'll give you my top five and bottom five in
the NFL. Let me also tell you this, We've got

(06:56):
a loaded show. We'll be talking with Charles Davis in
the next segment breaking on everything that's happened in the
NFL through eleven weeks. And then an hour two, we're
gonna bring in my guy, Jeff Shorts. He's gonna step
in for Mark Schlarrath, who is ill, who will be
recovering from from a sickness, and we'll be back with
us next week. And then an hour three we'll talk
to Petros Papade because and we'll talk to him about

(07:17):
all the mess going on at USC and the decision
to bring back Clay Hilton and what he sees kind
of going forward from from that decision making. But I
have watched a lot of NFL, like like many of
you have, and I think much of the NFL over
the course of an eleven, twelve, and certainly sixteen game

(07:38):
season is about selling you artificiality. In other words, if
you go and pull any one game that your team
has played over the course of the NFL season, you
can convince yourself that they are a playoff caliber team.
Doesn't matter how bad the team is. If you squint
hard enough and look at a win, you can say,
you know what, we're pretty decent. But over the course

(08:00):
of the season, what the NFL does is disabused notions.
It eliminates the idea that your team typically is very good.
And I think that's where we've reached with the Tennessee Titans,
and honestly where we have reached with about twenty five
of the NFL team so far thirty two teams overall
in the NFL, I think they're about twenty five teams

(08:22):
that have given you ample evidence that they're not very good.
And I think there are only three teams that have
consistently proven that they are elite so far in the NFL.
And I don't think that we're gonna expand that list
very much. And those three teams which have given you
consistent performances, you know what you're gonna get weekend and

(08:44):
week out. Doesn't mean they might not lose. But those
three teams are the Saints, who I think are the
best team in the NFL, the Chiefs, and the Rams.
Now you can argue bell those teams don't have defenses.
They've consistently not posted strong defensive performances. But I think
we're in a new era. I think the idea that

(09:05):
your defense is going to be a determining factor in
the NFL is probably not going to be true. We
have seen that the offensive side of the ball has
become infinitely more important than the defensive side of the ball,
and that cliches like defensive defenses win championships simply are
no longer true. Your defense might win a championship, but

(09:28):
it's gonna be because they stop a really talented offense
one more time than the other team does, much like
we saw in the Rams and the Chiefs game. Now,
I don't think every NFL game certainly is gonna come
down to one. But if you look what happened in
the Super Bowl last year between the Eagles and the Patriots,

(09:50):
you have got the greatest defensive coach maybe of all
time in Bill Belichick, and he got lit up by
Nick Foles, and he's got a rocket sign. It's this
defensive coordinator in Matt Patricia, who now is in charge
of the Detroit Lions, and they were hopeless in figuring
out a defensive game plan that made sense against Nick Foles.

(10:13):
Nick Foles. That's where we are in the NFL right now,
which is why those three teams have distinguished themselves. Now
are the Houston Texans, which have now won eight games
in a row, a legitimate Super Bowl contender. No, I
don't believe that they are now. Doesn't mean that they
can't win a playoff game, because right now, if we

(10:35):
look at the playoffs standings, we know what we know
that the Patriots have slid their way up into another
bye week. It's what they managed to do every year.
I'm gonna do the a f C first. If the
season we're ending today, the Kansas City Chiefs would be
the overall number one seed. The Kansas City Chiefs have
not won a home playoff game since. That's a mind

(11:00):
blowing statistic for everybody out there to start off your morning.
The Chiefs have not won a playoff game since nineteen
three at home. Joe Montana was the quarterback for the
Kansas City Chiefs the last time they want a home
playoff game. That's an unbelievable statistic. So I'm not sure
that I'm willing to buy in. Even as good as

(11:22):
Patrick Mahomes has been. Uh, the New England Patriots would
be your two seed in your three spots, so it's
a big win for the Houston Texans. Be the Houston Texans,
and in your four spot you'd have the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Those would be the four teams that would win divisions
in the a f C and a host home playoff games.
Then in the five spot, well, you've got a really

(11:44):
good team in the L A Chargers close to a
team that is that is deserving of championship consideration, honestly,
and I believe they can end up giving the Chiefs
a run in that division. And then the six spot,
I'm not sure exactly how the tie breaks are going
right now, but I'm gonna tell you that the Indianapolis

(12:05):
Colts are the sixth best team in the NFL. So
even if the Colts don't win that division against the Texans,
they might be playing in a situation where they just
go back to Houston and they play head to head.
How about the NFC. In the NFC right now, your
number one overall seed the New Orleans Saints. Your number
two overall seed the L A. Rams. Obviously, the tiebreak

(12:28):
there being the Saints win over the Rams down in
New Orleans. I think it's gonna be hard to not win, uh,
to go through the Superdome and beat the Saints as
long as they maintain that home field advantage. In your
three spot, A lot of people want to argue this
team as a legitimate threat to win the Super Bowl.
I don't buy it, Chicago Bears. And then in your
fourth spot, you've got right now the Dallas Cowboys. The

(12:51):
other two teams that would be getting the wild cards
right now, well, the Minnesota Vikings, who have obviously proven
that they can perform decently in UH in the postseason
in recent years, and now we get to see how
they do with Kirk Cousins and UH. I believe it
would be who would it be the Seattle Seahawks. I
think would be the succeed overall in the NFC. There's

(13:12):
your picture right now. Through eleven weeks, will continue to
break this down. Top of hour two, I will give
you top five, bottom five. We're gonna talk to Charles
Davis next, and then after Charles Davis, I'm gonna jump
onto this story about Baker Mayfield and Hugh Jackson and
why everyone arguing that Baker Mayfield has somehow behaved inappropriately
is an idiot with his responses and reactions to the

(13:35):
way that the UH that the team responded in the
wake of the win over the Cincinnati Bengals and Hugh Jackson.
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(15:01):
nine dollars. This is Outkicked the Coverage Up next, it's
Charles Davis on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch
live editions about Kick the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays
at six am Eastern three am Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Welcome back, Geico,
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car buying experience. We are always confident with Charles Davis.
He's at CFD twenty two on Twitter. He had Seattle

(15:46):
at Carolina. He's gotten to see the Panthers play quite
a few times, I think this year, and coming up
he's got the Bears at the Giants. So let's start
with you, Charles. Thanks for waking up early with us
this morning. Let's start with the Panthers there at six
and two, they're rolling. I believe they've now lost three
games in a row and they're sitting at six and five.
What's the story as they come down the stretch. I

(16:08):
know the Panthers still have two games the left against
the Saints, which obviously doesn't bode well in that final five.
What do you see from them as they finish out
the season, Clay, What what I see is a little
bit of puzzlement. I can't believe that they're sitting in
a spot where they've lost three in a row. I
can't believe they went to Detroit last week and didn't win.

(16:29):
They had more than their share of opportunities in this one.
And this is not a criticism. This is just kind
of how it went. And I think this is where
the problem was. They moved the ball well within the twenties.
How many times we said that about a football team.
And they didn't cash in enough in the red zone.
I mean, they used Cam as a short yardage runner,
which is a natural deal on a couple of occasions,

(16:50):
didn't pick up the yards they needed for first down.
They didn't capitalize on on other key opportunities during the ballgame.
They were fortunate in a lot of ways. Christian McCaffrey
had a monster day, Cam had a monster debt. McCaffrey
I think had four or five fumbles clack but didn't
lose any of them, which, as you well know, its
extremely unusual in the NFL when the ball pops free.

(17:13):
And then Cam I thought played one of the best
games I've ever seen him play. Cam Newton made one
mistake a throw into the end zone to Chris man
Hurts in the red zone, and Bradley McDougall made a
terrific play and intercepted the ball. But as I said
during the broadcast, my my biggest question would be in
that type of a situation, if it's Greg Olsen running

(17:36):
that route, I can see giving him an opportunity and
taking a shot. But Chris Manherts had one catch on
the year, I'm not sure that's the guy I'm going
to and that type of coverage that situation. But again,
that's the only criticism really that I have, because I
thought he was magnificent in the game, accurate, decisive, ran
the ball much better than he did against Detroit. But

(17:58):
that team is just there. There's something And again I'd
love to put my finger on it. That prevented them
from scoring obviously read zones and then defensively being able
to take the ball away. And they really were hurt
by Dante Jackson's injury early. Clay, I mean, he's having
a really nice year out on the corner of the
kid from l s U. He got hurt on the
first play of the game and it made a chain

(18:19):
reaction at the corner because corner Elder came in the
youngster out of Miami struggled. They ended up replacing him
with their starting nickel captain Munderland. Than Elder had to
come in when they went to the nickel situation and
that's where they took advantage of it on the fourth
and three when Russell Wilson hit David Moore for the
big touchdown. So I think that that was a big
part of it too, losing that rookie corner because it

(18:41):
changed things that they did on defense. You have been
a big proponent for Christian Christian McCaffrey for a long time.
You mentioned the fumbles, but in both the running and
the passing game, he was over a hundred yards and
tremendous performance. Is he underrated still. I mean because because
it's interesting if you think about how much bigger of
a star Christian McCaffrey would be. And I think this

(19:02):
all started for him with playing at Stanford, because I
I think it's first of all, there on the West coast. Secondly,
it's not usc it's not Oregon. It's not a sexy
team that's scoring a ton of points necessarily, and everybody
has seen play. I've asked this question. Can you imagine
if if he had played in the Big Ten at
a school like Ohio State or anywhere in the SEC

(19:25):
where he's being seen all the time, night in and
night out. I still feel like he's a little bit
under the radar. He is, he is under the radar,
and people continue to look at him, look at his frame,
and still say the same stuff they said about him
coming out of college, which wasn't true then. It's definitely
not true now. I don't know if he can run
the ball inside. He's just a third down back. He

(19:46):
can only play in space. It was never true then,
and if you watch any type of tape and sit
there with an objective eye, it's not true. Now. There's
nothing he can't do um in fact, when we were
getting ready for the game and we talked, Bobby Wagner
was one of the best middle linebackers in the game.
In fact, we probably had the two best ones in
our game and him and Luke Keikley. We asked him

(20:07):
about McCaffrey and he said, yeah, yeah, yeah, he does everything.
We all know that. He said. The thing that keeps
jumping out at us when we're watching and all the
guys are talking about it, tell me tackles he breaks.
So does that sound like a guy who can't run inside. No?
The answer, of course is no. He has underrated and
he should have won the Heisman when he was at Stanford.
I think to your point, Clay, sometimes we overlooked things.

(20:30):
I really don't buy as much into that East coast
west coast thing because people see games all the time.
I know that other games started such a Yeah, okay,
I get it, but we've had West Coast guys win
the Heisman, so that's not about what it is. Stanford
might be part of it, yes, Alabama being as great
as they are, because I believe Derrick Henry won it
that year and was a deserving winner. But I didn't

(20:51):
think he should have been the winner. You know, I'm
fortunate enough to vote in the Heisman, and I've actually
voted for McCaffrey that year. You have called the Titans
preseason games. I don't know if you got to stay
up and watch all of the last night's Monday Night
football game. But here's Marcus Mariota stat line twenty two
of twenty three three three passing yards, two touchdowns, a

(21:14):
nearly perfect QBR rating, the second most accurate quarterback performance
that has ever existed in the history of the NFL
for a guy who attempted twenty or more passes, and
that's behind only Philip Rivers, who did it against the
Cardinals on Sunday. What's wrong with the Titans? What's going

(21:36):
on with the team? There? Five and six? They got
four home games left in the final five. Yes, they
can maybe get to eight and eight, nine and seven,
but they haven't given any indication that anything better than
that as at play. You're familiar with this team, What
did you see in Monday Night? But what I saw was,
you know, I mean, obviously the accuracy, the you know,

(21:57):
plays made were terrific, but a lot out of it
was in chase mode, you know, because the Texans. Although
Tennessee went down I believe scored first. The Texas actually
set the taste in the ballgame. So the chase the
entire time, and then when you have great opportunities to
take advantage of things, balls on their on the three
yard line, the Texans are on their own three shadow

(22:19):
their goal line. If you can hold them in there,
flip field position, give your offensive chance. Nope, Mark Miller
on a trap play in ninety seven yards and he's gone.
You know, it's things like that that you're watching and
you're going, ah, not taking advantage of opportunities and giving
yourself your best chance. Did they have some big plays?
They sure did that pastor Corey Davis downfield, but they

(22:41):
were down twenty seven ten at the time, I believe. So.
So these are the things you know you're you're not
close enough where that play makes that difference. And that's
that's what they've got to get to get a grasp on.
And their division all of a sudden has changed, hasn't Clay.
I mean, preseason we were talking Jacksonville and Chase that
Jacksonville is irrelevant in the division, and they're relevant about

(23:04):
moves they're making you know, with coaches and benching quarterbacks,
not about their play on the field, and we didn't
see that coming. The Colts, yea, they started about like
we thought, and now all of a sudden they are
a factor. The Titans had controlled the division for a
short time, and guess what, who's got it now? The
team that started going three and is now one eight
in a row. And I think I saw one of

(23:25):
those the last sports Bureau things collect the first type
of teams won eight straight games after losing their first
three since you know, probably the nineteen thirty four Providence
steam Rollers or someone like that. You know, it's one
of those, one of those types of stats. But they
are leading the division. They're playing with a lot of confidence,
so it's gonna be tough to see them getting headed
right now through eleven weeks. I I was starting off

(23:47):
the show, I said, there are only three teams that
I feel like really confident in the Saints, the Rams,
and the Chiefs. Now, none of those teams, you can argue,
if you're listening right now, have a very good defense.
Are there any teams feel like if you're looking ahead
to the Super Bowl, you watch a lot of games,
you call them you've been interacting with a lot of
different teams. Is there anybody else you'd put up there

(24:08):
with those three that based through eleven weeks? And you
can say, look, the Patriots, I understand that argument, but man,
they've been awful against the Lions, the Titans, and the Jags.
They've all they haven't been very good on the road. Um,
you can argue the Bears. I'm not sure I believe
in Mitch Drabinsky right now as the difference maker. You
can even argue the Texans given what we saw last
night and the fact that they've won eight in a row,

(24:29):
but I'm just not sure that they're there on that
same level. How would you break down the NFL right
now kind of looking ahead as to who you think
the favorites are from a championship perspective? Yeah, well, I
think the favorites of the teams you've mentioned, obviously saying
you said Saints, Rams, and Chiefs, right, Yeah, they're clearly
the three best. I think they're clear three best. I
was ready to make Pittsburgh part of that, but the

(24:52):
last couple of weeks they're still good. Don't get me wrong, Clay,
But the last couple of weeks you'd like, because you know,
I thought they were gonna go to Denver and win. Okay,
and I know it's tough, mile high blah blah blah,
Denver's five and six. Okay, I'm not about to sit
there and like, oh yeah, Denver, you know, annoying and no, okay,
I thought they were gonna go there and win. So
that was that one. Give me a little ding. Fortunately

(25:13):
for them, their a game and a half clear in
their own division. The one team that I am locked
in on are the Los Angeles Chargers. Okay, they they
want in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. They took
the hit last week, and so you know, here I
am disparaging Denver. Heet. Denver's won two in a row
and two pretty important ball games for themselves and put
themselves back in the spot where we have to talk
about potentially, although they're not a clear favorite to to

(25:36):
fight for the playoffs, but they're still still hanging in there.
But all in all, the Chargers are now gotten back
Joey Bosa. And if we don't think that's important, did
he not have two sacks on Sunday and his first
came back. He makes a difference, a huge difference because
now Melvin Ingram's like, oh my brother is back, thank you.

(25:57):
I'm not gonna get doubled on as as much trying
to get to the order back Derwin James, the rookies
playing well. Casey Hayward is a ball magnet as always,
Desmond King. I loved him coming out of Iowa, and
I'm so glad to see that they brought him out
and didn't play him at corner and played him more
in the safety hybrid role because i think that's what
he does best. And he had to pick six against
Russell Wilson two weeks ago, and of course how high

(26:18):
power they are, and and Philip Rivers pitching around and
being so accurate last Sunday. That's the team that I
would fear a lot right now if I'm in the
a f C. And I'm really hoping that they get
to the week fifteen game with with Kansas City in
Kansas City without any more dings because if so, if
if if the Chargers win in Kansas City, hold serve

(26:41):
until then, then we've got a tie at the top
of the an f C West. And we've been talking
about Kansas City all year long, but there are only
one game clear of the Chargers right now, and that
one could be fun down the stretch. You mentioned the Steelers.
They are hosting the Chargers and Ben Roethlisberger. The last
two weeks. Has guys gone from like a hunt guy
with hundred and eight you know, QBR too, down to

(27:02):
like a seventy eight I mean, which is incredibly mediocre.
I mean, that's Blake Bortle's level. What is going on
there with the Steelers. I had an interesting discussion we're
talking yesterday. Do you think it's possible that James Conner
was not pacing himself in any way as he came
down the stretch of the NFL season because he really
kind of at the back of his mind thought, Levian

(27:22):
Bell is going to come back. I've got to make
sure that everybody understands how good of a player I am.
And he's kind of hit that wall because he hasn't
been the guy to go for sixteen weeks. And if
you don't have that rushing attack, I mean, his performance
has fallen off the reservation as well. Any possibility of
that in your mind, there there's always that possibility, Clay
and and it's just human nature too. The other part is,

(27:44):
don't forget how did the Steelers regulate it? Because I
don't have any numbers in front of me, so I'd
have to look at it touches and usage and all that.
But for James Connor, if we go ahead and just
trace it through and without without me playing, you know,
amateur psychologist and putting on a card again with with
the patches on my elbows and having a pipe. The
kid beat cancer, came back. It wasn't quite the same

(28:08):
as you would imagine, but was still pretty good at Pit,
but ends up being you know, a mid round draft
choice and in a great story. But I'm not sure
anyone thought that he would ever ascend back to being
the James Conner we saw in his early days at
Pit when he was incredible, and then this year happened.
So yeah, I think it's a distinct possibility that, you know, hey,
pace myself, you kidding me? Every day, I'm I'm enjoying

(28:31):
the heck about what I'm doing. I've beating the odds
beyond beyond all belief. And yeah, when is that Levyan
Bell character going to show up again? And how do
I fight for playing time? All that comes into play.
It'll be interesting to see if they find a way
to get him a little bit of a second win
down the stretch. Because the guy that I'm looking at
this similar without that same backstory is Christian McCaffrey with

(28:55):
the Carolina Panthers class I believe he's playing like of
there snaps on offense. They had they had C J.
Anderson and they released him, and I thought he was
going to be the perfect compliment and give him a blow.
So now his backup is camera and artist pain and
going into our game, he had believed one carry on
the season, and at the end of our game, you

(29:16):
know he carries he had on the season one. So
you know, you look at that and you're like, Okay,
I love these kids and they're terrific, but let's see
if they can, you know, see if they give them
a little bit of a break. Although I know neither
one on once come off the field and McCaffrey showed
me that Sunday big long run fifty nine yard runs,
stays on the field, carries it again for fifteen on
the next play, and we remarked, how rare is that, Clay?

(29:39):
How often do we see now the guy makes a
long run on every level of ball. And what's the
first thing he does? Taps his helmet. I need a blow?
What Go get the ball again? Man, you're hot, Go
get it again. He stayed on the field, and I
love that about him. Is Blake portals done in Jacksonville?

(30:00):
If he's not, I don't know why he's not. If
you're benching him for Cody Kessler saying we gotta find
a spark. If I know they didn't say it, I
didn't read it. But isn't that usually what we say
in press conference one oh one? We've got to find
someone who's gonna give us something. I love Cody, love him.
He knows that. If I were standing right in front
of him, he would know that. I would say that

(30:20):
to him. I've known Cody Kesler since college. Loved the kid.
Do I think he's the answer? No? And I would
say that and he would be like, I hate you.
I get it, okay, But they are at a desperate
point and this isn't about wins and losses anymore. This
is we stuck with you as long as we could.
Blake Bortles hang out over there for a while while

(30:42):
us in the brass and our ownership convenes a conversation
about what we're gonna do with you in the offseason.
That's what it tells me. We know they're not trying
to get to the playoffs at this point. That stuff
is done. But Cody Kessler is the auditioning for the job.
You can say that he's a placeholder right now. They've
got to figure out what they're going to do at

(31:03):
the quarterback position. And you and I have talked about
this before, and we'll talk about plenty as time goes on.
I don't think this is a quarterback rich draft for
the college kids coming out, not like last year where
everyone was diving into the pool thinking quarterback. I think
this is gonna be a tougher evaluation on kids, and
if you're going to dive in, you better really feel

(31:25):
confident about them. And some of these kids might artificially
get pushed up in the draft. I'm not going to
say that they become Christian Ponder, EJ. Manuel that crew.
But we'll see. But it always happens. Clad we start
off saying a quarterbacks are not that. By time we
get close to the draft, what are we saying? We
got four franchise quarters. I don't know that we do.
I really don't. Last question for you, what would you

(31:48):
have thought if you were on the Browns playing against
your former coach, Hugh Jackson like Baker Mayfield and the
Browns wear. We really haven't seen a situation like this before.
Not a different year, which is kind of common, but
the same year that your coach gets fired, he coaches
against you. You know, it's so high profile that that

(32:09):
it got in our face. I think that if we
did a little bit of search and research, we see
guys get fired and end up on teams that end
up playing people twice a year. But this was so
high profile head coach, and you know the middle of
the year. A lot of times they get fired in
the off season they joined other teams. Here's here, here's
the thing. This is a fifty four year olds perspective. Okay,

(32:30):
and I saw what Baker said at the press conference.
All right, goes to another team, plays twice a year.
I get it. That's a college mentality. Okay, that's a
loyalty mentality. Huge actually got fired by the Browns. He
didn't leave the Browns to go to Cincinnati. He got
fired by the Browns. So they thought he needed a job,

(32:51):
was looking for a job, got a job. That's a
fifty four year olds perspective. A twenty two year old
who as the starting quarterback of the Browns, who is um,
how do I say this brash? That's his perspective and
the things that make Baker Mayfield who he is and
and fuel the greatness that we've seen from him so
far and what we expect to see in the future.

(33:12):
That's what you get with it. Okay? Do you know
the story always doubted everyone is He keeps the hit list,
had one since the sixth grade, right on down the line.
It's like it's like the movie stripes. You just made
the list, buddy. That's what I was like with with you, right,
It's like you just made the list, buddy, all right?
And that's it. That's how Baker views it at four

(33:33):
year old me. That's just my perspective. The man got fired,
needed a job. This is what ends up happening. You
go to places where people know you and her friends
and what have you. It's it's really much ado about nothing,
but it became something and it was great theater for
all of us, wasn't it. The Marris Random hand, and
he was the football the whole thing. What it told

(33:54):
me though at the end, was that that was a
team that, unfortunately for Hugh Jackson, I don't think was
ever going to get over the hump with him as
the head coach. It just seemed like there was too
much that comes popping out. Now, it's not just your
normal Oh you went to another team. Let me give
you grief about it, because we see guys go to
other teams, other coaches, and after the game people are

(34:14):
hugging it out with them. Did you see Rebel last
night the end of the game. Did you see all
the Houston guys come up to him. It's unbelievable. Hey, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.
With Hugh, they were coming out of an entirely different way.
Outstanding stuff. As always, Charles Davis, we will talk to
you next week. Thanks for getting up with us. Good.
That's Charles Davis at cf D twenty two. When we

(34:35):
come back, we'll talk a little bit more about that
Hugh Jackson decision. I'll bring in the crew see what
they think about that, and also we will go ahead
and get your setup for top five bottom five at
the top of our two still much more to talk to.
Jeff Schwartz and Petro's Papadakis joining us an hour two
and our three. This is outcheate the coverage on Fox
Sports Radio. Oh, we're getting close to Chris miss music again.

(35:01):
We're coming to you live from the Geico Outkicks Studios,
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(35:21):
which pretty much leaves no room for anything else. No
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what you got Formula man Well on the guy Co scoreboard,
we lead off with Monday Night football in Houston, where
the Texans beat the Titans thirty four seventeen to Shaun
Watson three touchdowns for the Texans, two passing one rushing,

(35:44):
and Lamar Miller ran for a hundred and six to
two yards, including a franchise record ninety seven yards score.
Houston's now eight and three on the year. They've won
eighth straight. That's a franchise record. Tennessee drops to five
and six on the loss despite a solid game from
quarterback Marcus Mariota completed twenty two twenty three pass is
for three d three yards and two touchdowns. Games a
note in the NBA, Kevin Durankos forty nine points leading

(36:05):
the Warriors over the Magic one sixteen to one. Ten
Celtics knocked off the Pelicans in New Orleans one oh seven.
James Harden had fifty four points for Houston, but his
with his Rockets lost to the Wizards in overtime on
one Spurs a point better than the Bulls one o
eight one oh seven, and the Hornets beat the Bucks
one ten to one oh seven. The supports brought to
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(36:25):
but not anymore. With True Price from True Car Now,
you can know the exact pressial pay for your next
cars if it's a true car, and enjoy more confident
car buying experience. Back to Clay Travis and the Geico
OutKick the coverage studios. We are indeed here in the
Geico out Kick studios, and I am fascinated by the
Baker Mayfield drama with Hugh Jackson. You didn't see it
after the game, Baker Mayfield refused, it was really awkward.

(36:47):
First of all, Hugh Jackson, Uh Damarius Randall. I believe
it was picked off an interception and handed it to
Hugh Jackson. I think that's the equivalent of about as
low as you can go as a head coach in
the NFL. And I don't know if you Jackson wasn't
aware of how disrespectful that was, but it was pretty
ridiculously humiliating. And then to be a guy who went

(37:11):
whatever it was, four thirty six and one, I can
three thirty six and one, whatever his record was, to
get fired and then to take a job at a rival,
UH divisional team in the same year that you got fired,
and then get your ass kicked by the team that
you were fired from, who you couldn't win games with

(37:33):
because they weren't talented enough. I don't know how Hugh
Jackson gets hired to be a head coach ever again
in the NFL, after the way that transition has gone,
and I'm gonna continue to build on this. I'll start
off the top of our two. I would actually like
to get your calls eight seven, seven, nine, six, three
six nine on this. I think there is a difference,
and we just heard you just heard Charles Davis talking

(37:55):
about it. Everybody has a different perspective. I think there's
a difference between taking a job after a year, you
get fired, you sit out a couple of months, and
then you take a job. I don't think there's anybody
on the planet who begrudges a coach who gets fired
from taking a job with another team, even if it's
a bad look. I think there's a total difference between

(38:18):
getting fired during the season and deciding that you have
to immediately go coach somewhere else and coach against your
own team, the team that you were asking to give
all of their blood, sweat and tears for you. I
can't think of another coach that has done that in

(38:39):
the NFL, in college football, in the n b A,
in Major League baseball. Maybe you guys can, if you
can think of one, share it. You can find me
on Twitter at Clay Travis. I'm not talking about next
year because immediately a bunch of you knuckleheads are gonna
come in and give me coaches who have gone and
coach somewhere else the next year. That's totally valid. I

(39:00):
get that. That is a decision that happens all the time.
You have to go make a living. But Hugh Jackson
is getting paid millions of dollars to fulfill his contracted term.
Why does he need to go coach somewhere else in
that same year, Sit out a couple of months, and
then make the decision of where you want to go
after that when all those jobs come open and you

(39:22):
can decide on your future immediately. Going and being a
special consultant effectively offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, to
me is nonsensical. And Hugh Jackson got what he deserved
when Baker Mayfield and the Browns kicked his ass. I
thought it was well deserved. I don't blame Baker Mayfield

(39:42):
at all for feeling the way he did. I don't
blame any of the Browns for feeling the way they did.
Do you agree with me? Eight seven seven, six three
six nine will also dive into top five bottom five.
This is Outkicked the coverage on Fox Sports Radio from
the Geico out Kick Studios, where fifteen minutes could save

(40:03):
you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Visit Geico
dot com for a free rate quote as well. It's
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(40:24):
to perfecting casual use. Promo code Clay for twent savings.
That's promo code Clay c l A Y at untucket
dot com. Good holiday Christmas presents there for you. Uh.
Last night we got the conclusion of NFL Week eleven.
The Houston Texans surged back from a ten nothing deficits

(40:46):
scored seven unanswered, effectively put the game away late with
a touchdown pass to de Marius Thomas, the man they
traded for from the Denver Broncos. Two touchdown passes for
Damarrius Thomas the Titans despite what was nearly a perfect
passing day from Marcus Mariotta twenty two of twenty three
nearly perfect passer rating for Marcus Mariotta. They beat the

(41:10):
crap out of the Titans, taking a three game lead
basically over the Tennessee Titans, effectively eliminating the Titans from
any sort of competition for UH this UH for this division,
and in the process they extended their lead over the
Indianapolis Colts. Barring a complete collapse or injury to Deshaun Watson.

(41:31):
It's hard to see how the Texans are not going
to be your a FC South Divisional champs. UH. There
are there as much to get to. Will give you
a top five bottom five here in a little bit,
But I am diving into a interesting question around this
Baker Mayfield drama. I was tweeting about it some with
Doug Gottlieb yesterday. I don't see Baker Mayfield as remotely

(41:56):
in the wrong here. I don't see anybody who is
on the Cleveland Browns who was upset at the decision
that Hugh Jackson made. Maybe one of you can think
of someone who has done this in the world of football,
where you get fired by a team and immediately that
same year go start coaching on another team. I haven't

(42:19):
ever seen it. And again, It's not as if Hugh
Jackson needs a job. He is being paid for his contract.
He's making millions of dollars in football without having to work.
I can't remember this ever happening. So Baker Mayfield was
asked about the fact that he didn't seem to want
to give a hug to Hugh Jackson after the game,

(42:40):
and he had this to say, Uh, in his post
game left Cleveland goes down to Cincinnati. I don't know.
That's just somebody that was in our locker room asking
for us to play for him and then goes to
a different team we played twice a year. Everybody can
have their spin on it, but that's how I feel.
So I don't blame Baker Mayfield at all. You heard
Charles Davis say he keeps a uh, he keeps a

(43:00):
list everywhere of everybody who is, uh, you know, upset
with him. And he also then went on Instagram and said, uh,
let's see what did he say exactly on Instagram. I'm
gonna have to click view on Instagram and uh, this
is always a challenge in some respects. But he was
responding to uh, to a discussion about this incident, and

(43:25):
he basically said. What did he say? Why can't people
just give me the headline and studen thing to leak everything?
Does everybody have this one? Uh? What was his exact comment?
Um that that he said, everybody always has to link everything.
There's like forty comments on this Instagram thing. Just give
me the headline here. That's all I need is the
headline of exactly what he said. Here is what he said.

(43:48):
I didn't feel like talking. I mean, he left Cleveland
and goes down to Sinnati. It was just somebody in
our locker room asking us to play for him. That's
what we just played. Uh, there's no hate, but it's
a rivalry and that's just how I'm gonna treat it.
That's how our team should read it too. And uh,
they said on ESPN, Baker Mayfield needs to grow up,
and uh, Mayfield said, uh, not even comparable. I didn't

(44:10):
lose thirty plus games, be fake and then do that.
I wasn't going to have a scholarship. Good try, though, buddy.
And that's because there was a criticism of Baker Mayfield saying, well,
you left Texas Tech and went to Oklahoma. That's a
really bad argument in general to make. So In my opinion,
Baker Mayfield is in the right here. I think that

(44:32):
Hugh Jackson is UH is behaving in a strange way.
You've already got millions of dollars that you are owed
under your contract. You can sit out. It's not uncommon
for coaches to get fired during the year when they're
not having success. It's unheard of for a coach to
then go, I believe and coach for another team. I

(44:53):
understand why Baker Mayfield was upset. I understand why other
Cleveland Browns players were upset. I understand why the interception
happened and they handed Hugh Jackson the football. I think
what we're learning here is that Hugh Jackson is not
a very good football coach and was detested by the
Cleveland Browns team in general. Bait. This is a crazy stat.

(45:14):
Baker Mayfield, since Hugh Jackson has been fired, has got
the second highest quarterback rating in the NFL, behind Drew Brees.
That's a stat that should make you say, wow. We
all know the history, UH, the trajectory of awfulness that
has existed with the Cleveland Browns since they have fired

(45:35):
Hugh Jackson. With that new coaching staff, Greg Williams as
the head coach, Freddie Kitchens as the offensive coordinator. Baker
Mayfield has been the second best quarterback in the NFL
from a quarterback rating perspective. He's the first rookie to
post top plus one forty quarterback ratings and backs to

(45:56):
back weeks with the over twenty past attempts. Ever, I
believe Eve, so I am on Baker Mayfield side here.
I think this is not akin to a player. This
is not in any way an analogous situation. To me,
Hugh Jackson has violated kind of an unwritten rule here
in the NFL, in football in general, you don't switch

(46:17):
sides if you're a coach in the middle of the season,
even if you were fired. I don't see this as
being like, oh, Hugh Jackson's gotta feed his family. Yeah,
he's making millions of dollars already. He's not doing this
for money. This seems bitter, This seems parts into me.
I applaud Baker Mayfield for saying what I think a
lot of people are thinking. I will open up the

(46:38):
phone lines eight seven seven nine six three six nine
and let you guys way in Danny g I'll go
around the crew. Whose side are you on here? Baker
mayfielder Hugh Jackson's well, even though Hugh Jackson was on
the losing side Sunday. What this kind of reminded me of,
Clay was your boy Butch Jones smoking a cigar after
Alabama beat Tennessee. I think that's a bad look. But

(47:01):
at least it's the next year, right, right, But both
guys had made up titles and we're in the middle
of awkward situations where if it were you and I
we'd probably just stay hidden in the background instead. When
Hugh was looking for Baker at midfield, it kind of
felt like remember me, Remember me, as he's kind of
being pushed out of the way and definitely ignored by Baker.

(47:22):
So not a good look. And I think Hugh Jackson
should have just stayed on the sideline and, better yet,
walked into the tunnel when that game ended. Yeah, I
don't think Hugh Jackson should have taken the job. I
think if you have any semblance of understanding of how
that's gonna look to other people, now, maybe the answer
is the Cincinnati Bengals are such a disaster and Marvin

(47:43):
Lewis is never gonna fight get fired. Evidently he has
perpetual right of coaching with the Bengals, even though they're
now five and six and have fallen apart and they're
stink and they've never won a playoff game during I
think what is like sixteen or seventeen years now that
he's been there, And so maybe he brings in Hugh
Jackson because everybody in the Bengals organization is just clueless.

(48:04):
Uh what about you, Eddie Garcia, what do you think
about this situation in general? Uh? Is this an embarrassing
look for you? Jackson? Well, look, I agree with you
on a lot of the points that you were talking about.
I don't blame the players for using it as motivation,
and I don't think Hugh Jackson's much of a coach.
But I gotta say, when you get fired by a

(48:24):
company or an organization, I don't think you hold them.
I don't think you owe them anything. I think if
he feels, for whatever reason, that going to Cincinnati is
the best for his career, he's gonna do what's best
for him. So, but can you think of anybody else
ever doing this? Off the top of my head, no
other than players, I mean players, when they get cut,

(48:44):
they'll join a rival team. I totally get that, and
some people will make the player argument. The difference to
me with players is one they have a limited shelf life.
So even if you're a great player, you don't have
very long to sit around and be able to play.
And most player contracts are not garan teed. If you're
the kind of guy who gets cut, then you typically
are not going to be making millions and millions of

(49:06):
dollars to do nothing. Um So I think that's, you know,
the difference between a player and a coach. I think again,
precedent comes into play here, and the fact that nobody
does what Hugh Jackson does and every player does is
I think pretty significant. Well, It's it's one thing to
say should he have done it or not? I just
but like I said, when I just probably try to

(49:28):
put myself in that situation. You know, if I get
fired by the radio station and I get offered a
job somewhere else, if it's a rival or whatever, I'm
probably gonna do what's best for me and not really
care about you know, where the guys I left behind. Yeah,
I think that's a little bit different because it's not
as if you're scheming to uh to try to beat it. Now.
I will say this, if they fired me on Fox

(49:49):
Sports Radio and they continued to pay out my contract,
I have a noncompete, So it's not as if I
could suddenly go to a rival radio station and be
a to work. We probably have to get involved in
litigation in order for me to be able to do
my job. So the Browns did not give him, or
did not have to give him permission to go to Cincinnati.

(50:10):
I guess not. I I'm surprised by that. I would
think that by and large, that would be something that
is disallowed. Um because again, most of the time in
the NFL, if you're under contract, you're not allowed to
go somewhere else. And look, he knows a ton of
interior secrets about the Browns. I wouldn't want him to
coach against me if I were, even if he's a

(50:31):
bad coach. He knows a lot about my players and
everybody else. And again, some people are not gonna understand this.
There's a difference between sitting out the rest of this
year and then coaching next year. I don't think a
single person on the Browns would have remotely thought Hugh
Jackson had broken any kind of rule internally, But the
fact that no other coach does this. I can't think

(50:52):
of a head coach who has gotten fired in any
major sport and then the same year gone and coached
again the team that fired him. It just seems incredibly
bitter and uh and and filled with rancor to me,
what about you? And I understand what the argument if
he wasn't making any money, Like if you work at
FedEx and you get let go and then ups has

(51:16):
got a job your average person, Yeah, go get another job,
like and and if you're doing radio updates for Fox
and they fire and clean house here, uh and then
they then you got an opportunity to go to another
rival station, go for it. Like, but that's the difference
between you don't have a job and you do have
a job. If you were getting paid to do not

(51:37):
work at all, and and then you decided to try
to do that to violate your contract, like I couldn't
do that. Um, what about you, Roberto, how do you
see the shaking out? Um? I kind of see both
sides here. I understand Mayfield being upset because he should
have been the starter to begin with UH to begin
the season. But then it would be different if you
would have gone to They say the Colts are another

(52:00):
team in the division, but you know he has history
with the Bengals. He was their offensive coordinator there. He
did go to another team in the division. Yeah, I know,
but but he's got a history with the Bengals though.
That's my point. He's got a history with the Bengals.
He was there oppsite. Yeah, they would totally get that.
You know you're gonna be coaching against your former team.
Maybe if you went all the way across the country

(52:20):
and you went out to I don't know, Seattle and
they're not on the schedule and you have a good
relationship there. The other thing is sit out for two months.
It would be my argument, what about you? What's your
thoughts on this? I don't really have like strong feelings.
I get it for Hugh Jackson. I mean, after we're
going three thirty six and one, I don't know if
I would wait too long, and as soon as I
got an offer to go somewhere, I'd probably take it. Yeah.

(52:43):
I just think it's a bad look. Let's go to
your calls eight seven, seven nine six three six nine.
I'll let you guys react. Chad in Southern Indiana, Chad,
what's up? Calling from the triangle of the Colts, Tennessee
Titans and the Bengals. Once again, the front office shows
they are the jokers full of an morons in Cincinnati.

(53:04):
Um my son runs d to college and if you
go to transfer, do you have to transfer to it
uh school outside of the conference if you want to
run the following year. Otherwise you have to sit out
a year. That's the NBA real. I don't know how
this happens in the NFL with this even coach and
the Eddys point here are threety six and one. I
don't know what in the world doesn't that he thinks

(53:26):
he's gonna do in that conference as an offensive coordinator.
I mean, his offense has been a joke in Cleveland,
they get rid of him. But now Baker Mayfield going
off the chains, going crazy. I mean this Cincinnati, you
know they'll just continue to lose fans. They're the joker's
school of the NFL. And when I'll be of that conference,
they'll take the place of the Cleveland Browns. Unfortunately. Yeah,

(53:48):
I thinks for a call, I actually feel bad for
Cincinnati Bengal fans because it seems to me that Marvin
Lewis has perpetual right to that coaching job, no matter
what the results are. And not only does he feel
like he has that, but he brings in Hugh Jackson,
who then gets his own team dunked on again. I
actually believe and this is crazy because the Bronchos were

(54:08):
given up for dead. I think the Broncos are going
to go on the road now. But by the way,
Andy Dalton is out for the rest of the season
and they're gonna be starting Jeff Driskell. I think things
are gonna get worse. Mitchell in Ohio, what's up? Mitchell? Hey,
what's up Clay. I just want to say I kind
of agree with them both. I mean, I could see
why Baker would be upset, but at the same time,

(54:29):
I mean, you know, he's got to think of himself,
and you know, the Browns record doesn't really reflect I
think there was a pretty good team up there for real.
They just got screwed along at the beginning of the year.
I mean, they should at least have eight wins. So
I'm just saying I think the man deserves another job
and eight wins. You think they should be eight and three? Oh,

(54:51):
I mean they definitely won the Oakland game when they
reverse that call on that first down that you know,
the Browns could have just taken a knee if they
got that first down when they reverse that call, that
was just the craziest thing I've ever seen. Therefore, six
and one they shouldn't have a wins best case scenario.
Maybe you can say the Browns could be whatever it is,

(55:13):
six and five, but four or six and one, I mean,
come on, eight and three. They're not first place in
the a f C North caliber team that would be
set up to be hosting a playoff game. In theory,
you don't have eight and three Browns going on the
road against the eight and three Texans. Chad in Uh, sorry,
our Nett in Pasadena. I think it is Arett. What's up?

(55:37):
Good morning, Thanks for taking my call. I'm not really
for sure what direction the conversation is going in right now,
so let me just wait and quickly on Hugh. Uh,
you know, the man got fired, and I don't believe
that he should be held against him. Um, the fact
that he took another job in the division with the
Bengals in the same year, sagain in the same year.

(56:02):
I have no issue with him taking a job on
January you know, third or whatever, the day after the
NFL season ends and you decide where you want to go.
I agree with that, but I think if you look
at the reaction from the Browns players, it seems to
suggest that there's an issue there, right. So if there's
an issue there, if they're not happy or we're not

(56:24):
was not happy with he as a coach, then obviously
he wasn't happy or he was not happy that he
got fired. So perhaps it's sort of like a you know,
we'll take this, you know, I can get a job
here and we can beat you guys or whatnot, which
didn't happen, by the way. Also, Baker, you know kind
of really I thought should have taken a different approach. Um.

(56:45):
I understand what he's saying. You know, it's a rival,
you know, I want to treat it like that. But
the game was over, right, and I can understand that
demeanor post or a pre game, but post game, I
think you should be a bit more uh no like
or just display more sportsmanship and shake the man fan.
He didn't allow it like they kind of tapped each

(57:06):
other thanks to the call. He didn't want to give
him a hug. That's weird, right, I mean, that was
weird that Hugh Jackson went in for a hug. That
was a if you haven't seen that video, Hugh Jackson
is clearly trying to go in for a hug, and
it definitely was awkward. It looked like a bad high
school date that nobody knew how to end. And trust me,
I know all about those. Finally, let's go to Rob

(57:28):
in Miami. What's up? Rob? So? I'm a Bengals fan,
longtime Bengals fan. I've bastard, but anyways, I live in Miami.
I'm a Bengals fan. They're they're driving me absolutely nuts. Man,
Marvin Lewis, he sucks. He's got to go. Hugh Jackson. Look,
he's doing what he's got to do. He owes nothing

(57:48):
to the Browns for him to to go and coach
for a team again that where he was happy. He
put happy with the Bengals and and he was successful
with US. I'm andy Dalton had the best year of
his career when when he was with US and and
and he took a better opportunity to go coach the Browns,
and I can't blame him for want to come back
to somewhere happy. Well, thanks to the call, we will

(58:10):
go and we'll talk to Jeff Schwartz about this. I'm
obviously more fired up than some of the callers are.
I think Baker Mayfield and the Browns are completely in
the right here. If you get fired and then you
go coach another team in the same division in the
same year, that's unheard of. Again, if you can think
of an example of this happening ever before. I think

(58:32):
it's just another illustration of Hugh Jackson's cluelessness and further
for why he should have never been hired by the
Browns in the first place, and why I wouldn't touch
this guy with a ten foot poll on my coaching
staff in uh the weeks, months and years ahead. I
think this guy is toxic. I think his players don't
like him. I think he's clueless when it comes to

(58:53):
simple social decisions. That's my opinion on Hugh Jackson. Does
Jeff Schwartz agree with me? He's spent eight years in
an NFL locker room. We'll get a little bit of
a player perspective from him. Will also try and figure
out what in the world happened last night with Monday
Night football and his brother plays on the Kansas City Chiefs.
Does he believe the Chiefs have an okay enough defense

(59:14):
to roll to the Super Bowl. This is OutKick the
Coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live
editions about Kick the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at
six am Eastern three am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. It's Christmas Music season,
Believe it or not, It's gonna sound like this for

(59:35):
the next month on this show. I gotta do a
test at some point to see whether our ratings actually
go up with Christmas music. Christmas music starts to dominate
in every radio market. My argument has been we should
just all take a month off and turn sports talker
radio into Christmas music. Welcome back, Geico, OutKick Studios. Car
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(59:56):
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We treat you like you treat you. We're gonna talk
with Jeff Shortz, he spent eight years in NFL locker rooms.
But first let's go ahead and bring in Eddie Garcia

(01:00:16):
to find out what shake in the world of sports
and great news. Is a quick way you could save
money switched to Geico. Go to Geico, don common. In
fifteen minutes you can say or more on your car insurance.
On the Guy goes scoreboard, we start with Monday Night
football where the Texans beat the Titans thirty four to seventeen.
Nice night for Houston quarterback DeShawn Watson, who had two
touchdown passes into Marius Thomas. He also had a touchdown run.

(01:00:36):
Speaking or running about running back Lamar Miller, who rushed
for a hundred and sixty two yards for Houston and
had a franchise record ninety seven yard touchdown run. The
Texans are now eight and three on the year, with
their franchise record eighth winn in a row. Tennessee falls
to five and six is by the solid game from
quarterback Marcus Mariot, who completed twenty two of twenty three
passes for three and three yards and two touchdowns. NBA

(01:00:57):
Games of Note, Kevin Durant goes for forty nine points,
leading the Warriors over the Magic one sixteen to one ten.
Celtics beat the Pelicans in New Orleans one oh seven
over time of the Wizards to take care of the
Rockets one thirty one. James Harden had fifty four points
in the loss for Houston. Spurs get by the Bulls
in Chicago one o eight, one o seven, and the
Hornets beat the Bucks one ten to one oh seven.

(01:01:17):
The NHL season continues tonight with Clay Travis Nashville Predators
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(01:01:39):
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The only hard part figuring out which way is easier.
We are often running here. We're about to be joined
by Jeff Shortz. I believe he's with us now, Jeff
Short's former NFL offensive lineman. Jeff. We're just talking about
the Hugh Jackson decision. Um and Uh I find it

(01:01:59):
to be are utterly indefensible for him to leave one
team and start coaching for another team while he's still
being paid by the team that that fired him. What
do you think and what do you think locker room
reaction is? Well, I don't think it's indefensible. I mean, look,
he's allowed to work. I think it's a very odd
I mean we've never seen a head coach you decided

(01:02:19):
to go back to work so soon, especially after making
a media tour or he basically blamed everyone but himself
for his failures, you know, winning three games and just
you know, two and a half years. So that's the
whole thing is I'm precedented, right, his record because unprecedented,
and to go on national TV on Fox, ESPN, blame
everyone but himself and then decided to take a job

(01:02:43):
coaching the other side of the ball on division rival.
It's so very odd. I don't blame him for taking
a job, but I don't understand why people don't understand
the criticism of what of of assistant players Tour Hughes
Accident for doing this. It's it's really rare new situation
like this ever. And that's my argument, Like, I don't

(01:03:06):
blame Baker Mayfield in any of the Browns. I mean,
first of all, can you imagine on that interception having
the football handed to him his coaching career should be over?
Is that the most demeaning thing you've ever seen a
player due to a coach in a football game in
the NFL? Yes, I mean, and and and the fact is,
like I think it's almost like huge. It's like accepted

(01:03:27):
the acknowledgement that it was savage because he just like
pasting the guy in the head and was like, good job.
It was. It was very savage. It looks it's clear
the Browns players, well, I think they liked him while
he was there. I really think that they did not
like the media too afterwards where he just went and
basically blamed everyone but himself. I think that really, really

(01:03:47):
hurt them the wrong way. Plus and I didn't think
this was gonna happen. They're playing really well with Greg
Williams the head coach. I mean Greg Williams, out of
all this, he might be the guy who has like
a redemption to her because obviously we know what his
issues were with what was the bounty gate and he
looks like he's doing their job equipm I mean they are.

(01:04:07):
This is what we're going to week thirteen right now
in the NFL, and we're talking about the Browns as
outside playoff opportunity. I mean, they don't have a tough
schedule coming down the stretch, and so Greg Williams should
be commended. It just goes to show you how napo
Que was for the coach oft times. What happened last
night Monday Night Football? Why can't the Tennessee Titans block

(01:04:28):
for Marcus Mariotta? And how would you assess his performance overall?
I mean Mariota went twenty two or twenty three three
yards passing two touchdowns. What did you see? You've played
on the offensive line in the NFL a bunch of
different teams. What happened last night and what has happened
the past few weeks. I mean, I think the Titans
are getting Mariota sacked more than any quarterback in the

(01:04:50):
NFL right now. I think I think that's correct. I
need to look up at total sack numbers. But this
offensive line that's being paid so much money suddenly can't block.
What do you see? Well, first of all, um, you know,
Mariota played well last night, but they don't push the
ball downfield very often, and so even the long touchdown
pass to the tight end was like a leven yard pass, right.

(01:05:11):
So part of the issue is that, yeah, these you know,
these stats look great, but they're not put pushing the ball.
Philip Rivers was twenty nine, but they're throwing the ball
downfield right there making plays. Well, let me tell you this.
It's interesting you mentioned that, like, so the stats are
that reflect I mean, they put out the number. These
are the two best passer performances in the history of

(01:05:32):
the NFL, and they have happened for people who have
attempted more than twenty passes, and they've happened Philip Rivers
on Sunday against the against the Cardinals and according to
the Stats and Info UH, Philip Rivers completed ninety six
point six percent of his passes. Uh, Mariota nine five
point seven. The average air distance for Philip rivers passes

(01:05:53):
seventeen point three yards, the average air distance for Mariota's
sixteen yards. So those were almost identical in a respect
at least. Um. So uh. And part of the problem
I think you would acknowledge is they just they can't
throw the ball very far down the field. One because
they don't have very good playmakers. I mean they they're
they have like one wide receiver total, it feels like,

(01:06:13):
and two they can't block for him, so they can't
call any pass plays that take anything longer than like
a quick hit to develop. Yeah, there's there's thirty second
and sack um and sacks for pass attempts. Obviously not
very good. I think the very worst in the NFL. Yeah. Um,
I think what happened is and I said this at
the time, and Titans fans got really upset with me.

(01:06:33):
So you guys drafted Jack Conkling and play right tackle
and and smartly the malarkey, you just gave a lot
of help. You used to give your tackles a lot
of help. Um, And there's something wrong with that. It's
not a slight against the tackles. But at the time
we were evaluating kind of it was happened around where
my brother was ranked and and I said, well, there's
an importance should be placed on how much help you

(01:06:54):
get because that changes your your mentality. If you're going
if you have thirty pass protection reps um throughout the
game was no help and your counterpart has only fifteen,
that's a big difference in in you know, in the NFL,
and just from a mindset perspective, and you had um
an offensitive Titans that helped their tackles a lot, and
now they're not doing it at all, because that's not

(01:07:15):
really you don't want to have to help your tackle
because you when you help your tackles, it limits your reads. Uh,
it limits how many guys can get in in the
formation so you can get out in the past concept,
so you don't want to chip if you don't have to.
And you're not seeing that happen this year until you
saw last night J. J. Watson running free all the
time because they're not helping it anymore. And I get

(01:07:36):
why they're not doing it, but they might have to
start doing that again. So yeah, that's how you fall quickly.
But really, the game the game hints by calling the
worst run play at all time. You didn't like the
tight end handoff on fourth down? No, I didn't like
it last night with the packard. You not to go
with the packard. The fullback dive is a ridiculously stupid
play to run in short yards. If you're gonna run

(01:07:57):
that play to do a QB steak, the quarterback is
already right there. If you're running that play, they're running
the same spot, the same exact blocking assignment. The way
the Times blocked that last night would be the exact
same way they would block it if Mariota kept it
on a sneak. I know they had the eight gaps,
all all hemmed ups. You you don't want to seek,
I said to my dad, my dad's in town. When
they motioned the tight end over, I said, they running

(01:08:18):
to the left. They have a good count on the left,
And of course they went to the right where everyone
you know where everyone was like, It's so it's lazy
coaching to call fullback dive. It's in eighteen. There are
zillion ways to get the first down. You don't see
the rams that were calling fullback dives. She's calling fullback
dove in a short yardage. It's just lazy coaching. And
that's what they get, Like I said, as soon as
it happened, that's what they get. Get stuffed on a

(01:08:40):
full back dive with a tight end and then Lamar
Miller runs for nine othern yards. What about I'm curious
from an XS and o's perspective, how do you end
up with J. J. Watt being blocked by a tight
end and not even like a blocking tight end, a
pass catching tight end and John O Smith one on one,
how does that even happen? Well, they tried to slide

(01:09:01):
the line to get basically like a max protect type
look um, but they slid away. They slip the line
away from what they should have sligned that they should
have slipped the line to what Andy had. The tight
end blocks merciless, but they're really I do wonder if
the running back was wrong there because and some of
these maths protect slides, you end up doubling the want
the d N player with the tight end and the

(01:09:23):
running back. And that's typically the way it works on
those protections because the back really has no blocking assignment,
you know, linebacker because the line is turning, so you
just take the first guy in your gapturing offense linements
when this pressure, you just blocked the guy in your
gap who comes on the pressure. So I do wonder
if the running back was wrong in that situation and
should have helped the tight end. But I mean, if

(01:09:44):
you have two guys on what the are two little guys?
I mean, I guess you hold them off just a
tiny bit. But it was just back touching. And I
don't know if if the fleur is gonna be as
as good as people thought he might. There's a lot
of cracks that offense. How good are the Texans I
don't know, man, I mean, they're averaging twitter before last night,

(01:10:05):
they're averaging twenty three point eight points a game. Deshaun
Watson hadn't thrown over two fifty uh in the last
eight weeks or something like that. Obviously, their their defense
is a lot better than I thought it would be,
especially with what I mean, he's been so injured in
his career and that I didn't think he'd come back
quite like this. Um. But so they're they're even one
eight in a row. I mean, you can't discount them totally,

(01:10:27):
but just something about them, I I just I can't
buy still. I mean the run you know, watching with
two for two ten last night, so obviously he's still
not thrown from a lot of yards. You know, you
take out that long run by by Lamar miller Um
and you know he has on your hundred yards rushing.
I mean, it wasn't a terribly great performance by their offense.
Their offensive line is kind of suspect, So I don't

(01:10:48):
I don't know what to make of them. But your
job is to win the games that are on your schedule.
They play the Browns this weekend and the Colts, I mean,
the Colts game will tell us a lot about where
they scam with that games at home too. It's it's ten.
You know, Houston is interesting. It's it's allowed really loud
stating to play in. You don't really think of them
as a place that hasn't get homefild advantage, but it
gets routy in that place. I don't think we talked

(01:11:10):
to you after the fifty fifty one game between the
Chiefs and the and the Rams. Obviously your brother plays
on the Chiefs. What did that tell you about both teams?
They're not making the Super Bowl because they don't play defense.
I mean, you have to I understand where we're at
right now. We have to you know, you have the
offensive exposure. Would definitely see that in college football even more.

(01:11:33):
I mean we an Alabama Alburn game. Who would have
ever thought that, you know, that game would be players
like I mean the SEC game and we went SA
this weekend. You know, the Big twelve championship game is
probably both teams will probably be in the high forties.
That I wouldn't be surproject at the champion of game.
Both teams were in the high forties. And it's the
way the game is right now. And but you have
to be able to make stops when it comes down

(01:11:54):
to it. And we saw teams in both those teams
they made stops on defense and that those results in touchdowns.
But I don't think that they have enough talent on
on the back end of their secondary to make stops
when it when it counts. And you look at the Saints.
The stints right now is dooding their offense is playing.
Their defense is shutting people down. I mean, we we
talk about their offense often, we forget their defense is

(01:12:15):
not allowing points. That's important in the NFL if you
have to do a little used to play a little
bit of defense. I'm really fascinated to the game on Thursday.
You know, just talents. I mean, they've allowed really under
since Week three. They when when they played the Falcons,
they've allowed um under twenty three points except when they
played the Rams and that was obviously they scored thirty five.
So you have to make some stops. I think the

(01:12:37):
Chiefs and the Rams just do not make enough stops
on defense to win the playoffs. Outstanding stuff as always,
Jeff Short, who would be your Super Bowl pick? By
the way, right now through eleven weeks, I feel like
we've seen enough so you probably would take the Saints
in the NFC. I'm guessing what would you take in
the a f C. I mean until otherwise, I'm taking
the Patriots. I just I don't I don't know how

(01:12:57):
you pick up guys them right now. And the Steelers
are really good, but they have too many issues. Um.
Like I said that open the Chiefs make it make
it this year? Um, I think it's Saints Patris. All right,
let me ask you one more. Actually, you played on
the Chiefs in a playoff game that you guys were
up huge and then you ended up losing. I think
it was to the Colts. I think I texted you
during the game before it was over, congrats. Um. But

(01:13:19):
do you think players are aware that the Chiefs haven't
won a home playoff game? Since? Does that have any
kind of lingering impact when it comes to the Chiefs.
It's a a good question. I think the players learned
about that through the media, especially, you know, they're going
to ask them that the entire week, because you know,
the Chiefs end up, you know, hosting a home game obviously, uh,
in the playoffs, and it looks right now, um, and

(01:13:41):
so there, you know, don't they't don't get that talk now.
Whether or not that that it's an overriding theme throughout
the week, probably not. But I do think that subliminally,
you know, and he's gonna call players try to win
that game knowing that they don't they haven't won home
playoff games. I mean, I don't know, He's probably be
aggressive when when he might not have to be, and
we know he just had that problem the pastors to

(01:14:02):
pass the balls. I don't think it it really has
much effect on the players, but the fans for sure.
I know the fans have a feeling. Even last year.
I mean, uh, you know when when Mariota caught that
his own touchdown pass, I thought to myself, because I
know the history that she's like, did they're in trouble?
I mean, and I think the fans felt the same way. Also,
just weird things tend to happen in these playoff games.
If they have to play like a Baltimore in in

(01:14:24):
in week in that in that game, or Texas that
we're doing that defense, weird stuff happens to Arrowhead. I
hope think it would hold off game this year. Outstanding
stuff is always Jeff Shortz. We'll talk to you next week,
my man. All right, sit here, that's Jeff Schwortz. We'll
start to talk top five, Bottom five, NFL Week eleven Action,
everybody's played eleven, Who's up, Who's down? We'll talk it
next on Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, Geico. Out Kick

(01:14:49):
Studio is never a good look when you untuck a long,
bulky dress shirt. That's why i Untucket makes sure specifically
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Clay for savings. I hear the music there in the background.

(01:15:11):
It's gonna be Christmas season for a long time here
on OutKick. And for those of you out there who
want to get a copy of my new book, it's autographed.
You can go to OutKick dot com you can buy it.
I actually am signing all of them. We have sold
thousands of them through the site. I have signed them
all and they have all been shipped out to you.
You can go buy one if you or your friend

(01:15:32):
you think that's a good Christmas president OutKick dot com.
Just go into the store and you'll see where you
can click and uh and buy that that Christmas present.
My new book, Republicans by Sneakers to which is also
gonna be in bookstores all over the country. Um, we're
gonna talk about the worst five teams in the NFL
so far this year. Many of the years we would

(01:15:52):
have done this list, the Detroit Lions would have been
one of the worst five teams. And boy, you know
what's going bad for your friend guys When Alex trebec
is pouring some salt in your wounds. Last night, I
believe it was on Jeopardy. The Detroit Lions are not
good at football, right And there is a category called

(01:16:14):
twenty thirty, which is twelve years from now, obviously, and
they're trying to predict the future on Jeopardy. And this
was the clue, and this was what it sounded like.
If you are a Lions fan, please cover your ears.
Let's do predictions by please. As of two thousand eighteen,
this NFC North team had never even made the Super Bowl,

(01:16:37):
much less one it. But by gotta happen right day.
Who are in the Detroit Lions? Yes, so yeah, so
everybody out there just letting the Detroit Lions have it.
And and I was laughing about this when I watched
this video online yesterday, but I was also thinking, I'm

(01:16:58):
thirty nine eight. At some point you get to an
age where you start to think, you know what, it's
probably a decent chance my team may never win a
Super Bowl during my lifetime. So the Titans are my team.
They were playing on Monday Night Football last night. They
got whipped. Doesn't look like they're gonna have much of
a season at all this year, to fall to five
and six. They're thirty two NFL teams. And we all

(01:17:22):
know that Super Bowls are not evenly distributed, as Detroit
Lion fans well know. But even if every team won
over the next thirty two years, I'm probably not gonna
be around for see that many teams. Like how many teams?
So I'm thirty nine. I was thinking to myself this,
uh yesterday when I saw that Detroit Lions clip, and

(01:17:43):
I was laughing at it a little bit. Let's assume
that I lived to be eighty. That's a you know,
double my life right now in the next forty one years.
How many different teams do you think will win a
Super Bowl? Twenty the are not that good that the Titans,
my team will ever win the Super Bowl in my life.

(01:18:06):
And if you're a Browns fan, or if you're a
Lions fan, or you're a fan of a team that's
perpetually mediocre to bad, as you get to be might
like when you're a kid, you're like, oh, at some point,
even though this team stinks, now they'll win a championship.
When you get to be thirty nine, you gotta look
down the road and say, Okay, I'm almost a middle

(01:18:27):
age it's probably unlikely that everything's gonna continue to go great.
I don't wanna, you know, rain on everybody's parade this
morning as we complete Week eleven in the NFL. But
the way this typically works right now in the NFL,
maybe things will change. The top. You know, five to
eight quarterbacks are consistently competing four Super Bowls every year,

(01:18:52):
and you might not win it that year, but you'll
at least be in the mix. But there's only five
day eight super Bowl quarterbacks, and those guys typically don't
switch teams unless there's a major injury situation or unless
you want to argue Kirk Cousins is the top quarterback
and you bungle things so badly like the Washington Redskins.

(01:19:14):
How many different teams in the next forty years will
actually win Super Bowls or even play in a Super Bowl? Sorry,
Falcon fans, been so so close. I don't know the answer,
but I was probably setting the number around twenty, and
that might be high because I think a lot of
the same teams will play and win Super Bowls over
those years. There's thirty two NFL teams might not happen. Sorry,

(01:19:37):
Detroit Lions, Alex Trebeck off the top rope on you,
and when we return, we'll give you the top five
and bottom five in the NFL and we'll talk to
Petros Papadakis about the disaster that is usc football. This
is out Kicked the Coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Why
from the guy go out Kick Studios where fifteen minutes
could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

(01:20:00):
Visit Geico dot com for a free rate quote, and
we're brought to you by Discover Card. We treat you
like you treat you, and we hope to treat you
pretty well. Here in the final hour of the show,
Tuesday edition. My name is Clay traviss Is. Out kicked
the coverage last night. If you went to bed early
or you just weren't paying attention, the eleventh game of
the NFL season was completed for everyone. We now have

(01:20:23):
five games left for all thirty two NFL teams and uh, well,
the Houston Texans they took it to the Tennessee Titans
seventeen win. If you had told me Marcus Mariotta was
gonna go twenty two of twenty three for over three yards,
two touchdowns and no turnovers, I would have bet pretty
much every spare dollar I had that the Titans would win. Unfortunately,

(01:20:44):
Tennessee Titan defense collapsed and the game was really decided,
I believe on a fourth and one called midway through
till late in I guess it was the second quarter.
The Titans are down fourteen to ten. They elect to
go for it from the three yard line. They hand
off to their tight end on what effectively is a
fullback dive. They get smashed, and on the next play,

(01:21:08):
this is what it sounded like when Lamar Miller was
handed off to from his own three yard line. This
is the Houston Texans Radio Network. And here's Miller over
right guard, has a little oun brexit tackle ten fifty,
twenty right side, he's still the sideline. The forty fifty,
He's gonna go all the way, the thirty, the twenty,

(01:21:28):
the ten, the five, rock and roll touchdown, Yostan nineties
seven yards. That is uh, like I said, the Houston
Texans Radio Network. And that is the story as we
come now into the twelfth game of the NFL season.

(01:21:48):
I was talking to last break about the Alex Trebeck
throwing shade at the Detroit Lions their thirty two NFL teams.
Twelve of them, according to dub have never won a
Super Bowl. The foul Plkins, the Cardinals, the Bills, the Panthers,
the Bengals, the Browns, the Lions, the Texans, the Jags,
the Vikings, the Chargers, and the Titans. Now, some of
those franchises are younger than others and uh, and some

(01:22:12):
of them obviously are not. It is a legitimate question,
I think a good one. How many of those twelve
will win a Super Bowl in the next forty years.
I don't know necessarily that the odds are that good
for a lot of these teams. We'll see again, some
of them are young. If you're a Texans, you know,
the Texans are what like ten fifteen years old? Whatever

(01:22:32):
the math is there on the Texans franchise, The Jags
relatively young, the uh, the the uh. Let's see. Some
of these others are teams that have waved in as
members of the original a f C conference. But they've
been around for the entirety of the Super Bowl and
we have at least played what are we on now,
like the fifty four Super Bowl, the fifty third whatever
the math is there, There's been a lot of super

(01:22:55):
Bowls and uh, and still we have twelve teams that
have never won a Super Bowl. Fifty three super Bowl
coming up? All right? Uh? In our three Typically on
the Tuesday edition of the show, we usually dive in
and give you our top five bottom five. So that's
what I'm gonna do here, and then we're gonna be
joined here shortly by Petros Papadakis, who I'm gonna give
an open forum to discuss the usc coaching situation with

(01:23:18):
the decision made by the Trojans to continue with Clay
Helton as their head coach. Here we go. I'll do
the top five first, and can give me the melodic tunes.
I'll give you something positive to begin with, counting down
the Saints are the best team in the NFL right now.
On my television show Lock It In, that I do
with Rachel Bonetta, Todd Furman, and Cousin Seal every single

(01:23:40):
afternoon four thirty Eastern, three thirty Central to thirty Mountain
one thirty Pacific, I bet on the Saints to win
the Super Bowl. Uh. And I believe the Saints are
going to win the Super Bowl. I think they have
to be the favorite right now, assuming they keep Drew
Brees healthy, and they have home field, which they do
right now. I don't think anybody's gonna go into a
Super Dome and beat them. I also like their chances

(01:24:03):
to play well again in the Dome. Remember Atlanta is
going to have the Super Bowl as well, uh, and
so I feel really good about the chances of the
New Orleans Saints to to win the Super Bowl. I
think they have to be the favorite in the entirety
of the NFL right now. It seems like forever ago
these two teams played because they played on Monday night,
then they had their bye week. The Rams and the

(01:24:24):
Chiefs are in my second and my third position right
now on the best teams in the NFL. In the
fourth spot. I bumped them back up despite what we
saw them do against the Tennessee Titans, because ultimately, the
more I think about it, the more I believe in
the New England Patriots. Now that it is late November
moving into December, I think they'll find a way. Right now,

(01:24:45):
they are the number two seed overall in the a
f C in the five spot. I know they lost
a week ago to the Broncos on the last second
field goal, but I have got the Chargers in my
five spot. In the others receiving votes category, I have
got the Bears, the Texans, and the Steelers. I feel
like those are the eight best teams in the NFL

(01:25:06):
right now. Again, the top five Saints, Rams, Chiefs, Patriots, Chargers, Bears, Texans, Steelers.
If you want to make it the top eight your thoughts,
Danny g Well, just like how you had the Cowboys
dead a couple of weeks ago, you also had the
Patriots dead. So I'm gonna ask you, Clay, are the
Cowboys gonna move into the Cowboys? Will never? Cowboys will

(01:25:28):
never be in the top of the list. There's six
and five the Patriots. I think there are three teams
right now that you can say have been I think
head and shoulders better than everybody else in the NFL.
I think everybody who watches the NFL has to have
the Saints, Rams, and Chiefs as the three best teams
in the NFL outside of those three. And I understand

(01:25:48):
you can say, oh, the defense of the Chiefs and
Rams aren't any good. I'm not really focused on that, honestly,
because I think the offense has been so good that
it doesn't really matter. But outside of that, everybody has
given you ample reason to believe that they're not actually
that good. The Patriots, for instance, are sitting right now
at eight and three, but they got destroyed by the

(01:26:10):
Tennessee Titans. They got whipped pretty soundly by both the
Detroit Lions and by the Jacksonville Jaguars. All three of
those teams have losing records. That's why I'm a bit
apprehensive about saying the Patriots are back or the Patriots
are gonna be healthy now. The flip side is the
Patriots have only played two games with Julian Edelman, Rob

(01:26:31):
Gronkowski and Sony Michelle all active. When all three of
those guys have been active, they've averaged thirty five points
per game and their two and oh. So that is
a strong argument I think for the Patriots when everybody
becomes healthy being good that if I'm doing that's the
bull side. If I'm doing the bear side, man, when

(01:26:51):
you get whipped by the Titans, the Lions, and the Jags,
you're capable of losing to a lot of football teams
that aren't very good. And that something we haven't said
about the Patriots in a very long time. And again,
I think you can make an argument. The Bears. I'm
not sold on Mitch Drobiskie. I'm not sold on his
ability when push comes to shove to make a lot

(01:27:11):
of plays. He seems to me like a one read
guy and then bail and Uh, So I'm not sold
on them. I do love that defense. The Texans. I
I just there's something about the Texans that I just
don't feel like is uh is super Bowl caliber. And
the Steelers, I don't know what's up with Ben Roethlisberger
or James Conner. The last two weeks. They have been

(01:27:32):
awful on the road against the Jags and on the
road against the Broncos. When it comes to actually scoring
points in Roethlisberger has not been very good. So that
is the top five in the NFL. I actually gave
you my top eight bottom five the list of sadness.
Most of these teams are either breaking in a new
quarterback or they're going to be drafting a new quarterback.

(01:27:52):
Uh in the spot, I've got the Jets. Uh. The
Jets are on the road against the Titans. Here, I've
got tickets to go the Jets and the Titans play,
and I'm thinking to myself, what am I doing with
my life? Why am I gonna go watch the Jets
and the Titans play a football game. I should have
something better to do with my life. I should be
doing something more productive. But here I'm gonna be sitting
in the in the stands watching the Jets and the Titans. Uh.

(01:28:16):
In about what five days or six days, whatever the
math is from now. Uh the Jets three and eight,
they are awful in the twenty nine spot. I think
the Jags implosion this year is really kind of unprecedented.
You've got Cody Kessler taking over for Blake Bortles. You
got Leonard four Net suspended for a game. He's not
even gonna play in this upcoming game against I believe

(01:28:38):
it's the Colts because, Uh, he got into a fist fight,
a legitimate fist fight during a game. He's the best
offensive weapon for the for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he's
getting into a legit fist fight on the field such
that he has suspended for a game. It has to
be driving Tom Coughlin crazy. They gave Blake Bortals fifty
four and a half million dollars. Everything has been into

(01:29:00):
astor basically since about the third quarter of the a
f C Championship Game, when it looked like the Jags
are gonna be headed to the Super Bowl, and then
the wheels came off, and the wheels have stayed off.
The Jags started off three and one, and they have
since lost seven games in a row. They're now sitting
at three and eight. By the way, it's the next
team I'm gonna go watch on my season ticket to

(01:29:22):
hit a hit list here, I've got the Jets and
Jags both coming to Nashville to watch the Titans play
forty Niners. I've got in the thirtieth spot. At least
you can make an excuse for the forty Niners because
Jimmy Garoppolo tores A c l is out for the season.
Thirty first spot. The Raiders. I don't know what they
were doing against uh Lamar Jackson. That was an ugly

(01:29:43):
defensive performance by the Raiders. Uh they gotta win, and
now it seems like they're milling and in again. They
are sitting at two and nine. I believe I'm not mistaken,
and in the worst spot in the NFL. When you
give up twenty five straight passes and lose by thirty
five or whatever the heck the final score was. The
Arizona Cardinals are not a good football team. Philip Rivers

(01:30:05):
absolutely ran rough shot over them. By the way, as
you look, I was running through the list curious, maybe
you were as I was. Who were the top five
quarterbacks so far in the NFL this year and how
does that correspond to our top teams. Drew Brees is
posting right now the highest quarterback rating in the history

(01:30:26):
of the NFL. He's sitting at a one twenty seven
point three. He's gonna be the m v P. The
Saints were the best team in the NFL, and Drew
Brees is the best quarterback in the NFL. In the
second spot for best quarterbacks in the NFL, how about
Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes is UH is dominating this year
for the Kansas City Chiefs. He's the second best quarterback

(01:30:48):
in the NFL according to Quarterback Rating. Third best quarterback
Philip Rivers. Obviously the UH the Chargers are sitting at
eight and three in the fourth spot, We've got Jared
goff And and the Rams. So three of my top
four and four of my UH top five are all
the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and then Russell Wilson

(01:31:10):
is sliding up at the five spot and the Seattle
Seahawks are making a run at a wild card berth
in the NFC. But I did think it was interesting
when you look at the five best teams in my
mind in the NFL right now, the Saints, the Rams,
the Chiefs, the Patriots, and the Chargers. That's my top five.
Four of those quarterbacks, uh Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, Philip Rivers,

(01:31:34):
and Jared Goff are right now at the very top
of the NFL passing list. And then the other guy
that I've got in that mix is not playing that
well right now. But I think everybody would agree Tom
Brady's got a pretty high ceiling. So we'll see whether
or not Brady can put everything together. But it is
a quarterback league, and I don't think it's a coincidence
that four of the top five most successful teams in

(01:31:56):
the NFL this year are being helmed by the best
quarterbacks in the NFL. I am Clay Travis. When we return,
we'll talk with my guy Petros Papadakis find out what's
going on with Southern cal whether or not. The the
excitement level for the Rams and the Chargers is riving
rising at all in the UH, in the UH, in

(01:32:17):
the in the l A area. Will also ask Petros
what he thinks about the Hugh Jackson decision, given the
fact that Petros knows Hugh Jackson. In the meantime, everybody's
got it to do. List drop off the dry cleaning,
pick up some milk. Here's an idea. Let's add save
hundreds of dollars on car insurance. Good thing is you
don't have to drop off or pick up anything. All
you have to do is go to Geico dot com
and in fifteen minutes you could be saving or more

(01:32:39):
on car insurance, extra money in your pocket. It just
may be the most rewarding to do you do today.
I'm Clay Travis. Up next is Petros Papadekas. This is
out kicked 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

(01:32:59):
s are to listen live Taylor Swift Christmas Music. In
honor of Petros Papadegus will go to him momentarily, but first,
welcome back to the guy. Go out Kick Studios car
shopping and be confusing with terms like dealer, price, list, price,
and invoice. True Car shows you what other people paid

(01:33:20):
use car. Visit True Car to enjoy a more confident
car buying experience. It's Confident Show. Eddie Garcia gave me
an update. What's shaking the world of sports? Well, we'll
start with the guy Who's scoreboard from Monday Night football
where the Texans top the Titans thirty four to seventeen.
Deshaun Watson had three touchdowns for Houston, two passing and
one rushing, and running back Lamor Miller ran through hundred

(01:33:43):
and sixty two yards and had a franchise record ninety
seven yard touchdown run in the process. Houston's now eight
and three with its franchise record eight three win for
Tennessee date fall to five and six on the season
despite a solid game from quarterback Marcus Mariota. He completed
twenty two of twenty three passes for three three cards
and two scores. Some games of note from the NBA.
Kevin Durantos points leave the Warriors over the Magic one

(01:34:05):
sixteen to one ten, over time for the Wizards to
beat the Rockets one thirty one to spite. James Harden
scoring fifty four points for Houston Celtics over the Pelicans
in New Orleans one oh seven, Spurs beat the Bulls
in Chicago one o eight, one oh seven, and the
Hornets knock off the Bucks one ten to one oh seven.
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eight nine four seven auto. The only hard part figuring
out which way is easier. We bring in now Petros

(01:34:49):
Papa Vegas at Petros and Money Show. He's also at
the Old p on Twitter and I want to start off,
you told us last week that you thought that Clay
Hilton would be back. Now that that's all been confirmed,
what are your thoughts on the state of the USC
football program. Honestly, I don't think it's ever been worse,

(01:35:11):
And I've seen it in its worst state in a
lot of different places, in a lot of different times
in my life. And I saw two coaches fired there
as a player, and it seemed a lot more stable
then that it does right now. So I'm not surprised
they kept play Hilton. As we talked about, they have
much bigger problems as a university. But the negativity around

(01:35:35):
the program and the stuff that I'm hearing that's not
even out there is mind boggling lee bad. And now
the whole staff is gonna be fired. But who wants
to come and coach for a lame duck guy who's
going to be booed at the opener next year? And
how are they going to recruit with this amount of

(01:35:55):
negativity around the football team. It's a pretty interesting situation. Now,
why is he keeping his job? Well, I don't think
Lynn Swan wants to fire him, because Lynn Swan doubled
down on him, like Pat Hayden doubled down on Lane Kiff,
and Lane Kiffin wasn't Pat Hayden's problem until he kept him,
And the same goes with Lynn Swan. Pat Hayden hired

(01:36:19):
Clay Helton, and there's a bunch of black there's more
black eyes on Pat Hayden's athletic department than he has eyes,
than all of his assistant has eyes. So why do
you want to make that your problem? Lynn Swan has
done that. Some people alleged that all he wants to
do is golf, and he seems to be bothered by
having to make these decisions, and I understand why they

(01:36:42):
kept Clay Helton. The statement that Lynn Swan put out
was one of the most tone deaf statements I've ever
heard from an athletic department, and athletic departments have a
tendency to be really tone deaf, but this one was
one of the dumbest ones I've ever seen. Whoever wrote
that for Lynn Slant should be fired along with many

(01:37:02):
other people, evidently in USC athletics. When you say in
your in your statement, Clay that you have personnel problems,
culture problems, staff problems, uh discipline problems, recruiting problems, scheme problems.
Then you need a new coach and you need a
new athletic director. These are not things that are fixable

(01:37:25):
by the people that are there. There's been some talk
that Cliff Kingsbury might be the savior on the offensive
side of that. He was on campus yesterday, and I
know he has a vested interest in living in Los
Angeles for some other reasons. But I don't think anybody
would want to go anywhere near this dumpster fire. Clay

(01:37:45):
Helton has basically stripped two or three offensive coordinators of
their duties and taking the play calling, or meddled in
the play calling, or hired his brother or some twenty
year old. They could have had North Turner to work
with J. T. Daniels. Instead they hired some guy under
thirty years old named Brian Ellis who just got fired

(01:38:08):
and took a job at Western Kentucky. That's the pipeline.
It's Western Kentucky to USC. It's ridiculous. So how does
this get? So you just hit on it. It's gonna
be in an ugly situation next year when the season starts.
What happens next year, I don't know. I mean, they
didn't crack sixty at the coliseum all year, which is

(01:38:31):
unheard of. It really is not even for the Notre
Dame game did they cracked sixty people in the college
So attendance, that's a problem. That's a that's a big deal,
and they're gonna be trying to sell what their version
of personal seat licenses are uh in college football in

(01:38:52):
the new renovated stadium. Fresno State's a very good football team.
I think it's August thirty one is the first game.
Helton is gonna get booed by the people that are there,
and I don't think the place will be even remotely
close to full. So there's a lot of circumstances that
go into this. And this problem didn't start with Clay Helton.

(01:39:13):
That started with Lane Kiffin and Pat Hayden. But it's
continuing to proliferate upon itself, and to me, it's just
it's become a giant dumpster fire. There's it's a dumpster fire,
that's a grease fire. There's no way that there's not
enough baking soda in the world right now to put
usc out. Let's pretend they came to you and they

(01:39:33):
said petros Papade. Because you are now in charge of USC,
what would you do that's not the whole universe, Yeah,
not the whole university, but to get the football football
program because there's a lot of bigger things. I bet
that you and I, as as opinionated as we might be,
probably not that well prepared to run an entire university.

(01:39:53):
Oh no, no, I just criticized people. But they need
a They need a university president. They need to action
as an as a gigantic, multibillion dollar entity that is USC.
They need that. The football program is their number one
marketing tool. But you have to have some person up

(01:40:16):
top to at least try to control your figurehead athletic
director who loves to golf, and they don't have that.
So if I was in charge of SC, I would
beg them to hire a university president as quickly as
possible to clean up all the problems that the old
university president kind of bestowed upon the university. And then

(01:40:38):
I'd go hire a head coach that is a pro
style guy, probably a defensive minded guy, and a guy
that can fix the fronts because their problems are the
offensive and defensive line, and their problems are disciplined, and
you'd have to hire a guy that wants the job

(01:40:59):
that can do that up. How much does U c
l A's rise factor in here at all with the
USC decision because they got chip Kelly? And I think
it's fair to say, if you watched USC and U
c l A down the stretch, you see l A's
on the up swing. USC is on the down swing?
Does that factor in it all too with the decision

(01:41:19):
making you have to to arrive at Clay. I don't
think it's any uh, it's any secret that the statement
you just made is true. I don't really think it
has anything to do with USC right now. USC always
recruits at a higher level. U c l A might
take a couple of guys here and there, and U
c l A recruits at the second or third highest

(01:41:39):
level traditionally of anybody on the West Coast. But Chip
Kelly doesn't necessarily bring in recruits that are five star
guys if they're five stars in his mind. Now that
he's at u c l A, when he takes a guy,
it's probably going to change his recruiting status because of
U c l A's reputation for for good recruits. Over

(01:42:03):
the years, but I don't really think it has much
to do with what's going on at USC. Chip is
so unique and so innovative. There's no doubt that their
arrow is pointing up. And the answer to that question
might change if you c l A nds up winning
ten games next year. But right now, even though u
c l a Is in a much better situation with

(01:42:24):
a coach that has full control and the trust of
the athletic department and the university, and they have a
stable university, I don't think that's changed what USC is
doing right now. How many new could you said, like
you thought almost the entire coaching staff could get wiped out.
How many new coaches are we talking about for USC? Well,

(01:42:44):
I mean, the their offensive line coach had already left
and they replaced him, but I'm not sure if that
guy is still going to stay. UH defensive coordinator Clancy
Pendergast is, I mean, he's been getting dashed all year
and they've been really on this a plan on defense,
I would say almost everybody, which makes me kind of

(01:43:04):
laugh when you see guys like I mean our friends
like Joel Klatt and guys like Kirk Herb Street who
I don't know your neighbor tweeting like, Oh, I'm so
happy for Clay Helton. USC needs stability. It's like Clay
Helton had like a twenty million dollar buyout. If he
gets fired, I don't feel bad for Clay Helton. I

(01:43:25):
feel bad for all the assistance that are going to
get fired whether or not he stays. And I'm not
happy for anybody in this situation. It's a bad situation.
You have a pretty good pulse on USC fan base,
and sometimes because you are a trojan, they get upset
with you because you are not a you know, you
try to tell exactly what your opinion is, and sometimes

(01:43:46):
that's not a very pretty picture. What is the response
among the USC fan base that you find through your
radio show, through social media, through your day to day interactions,
and how representative of it do you think it is
of the larger USC fan base, and what are they
telling you in addition to whatever your opinion might be personally, Well,
it used to be about fifty fifty. Now people are

(01:44:11):
and I'm not running around Sam Clay should be fired.
I I understand that the university has got much bigger problems.
I don't dislike Clay as a person. I think you
hear a lot of that from a lot of people,
But I think people are now waking up to the
fact that this is a bad situation and it has
been for a long time. And my problem isn't really

(01:44:32):
with the USC staff. I feel like the USC football
team and what's on the field is a product of
an old guard in the athletic department and to a
certain degree, the entire university that wants to keep control
of their little country club that they've had for so long,
and not higher new good people. I suggested to athletic
directors for USC just on the radio, because no one

(01:44:55):
would really ask me, uh, when Pat Hayden stepped down
or was fired, excuse me. One of them was Chris
del Conti, who was at TCU and now he's at
Texas doing great. And the other one was Greg Byrne,
who was at Arizona and now he's at Alabama doing great.
Both of those guys wanted the USC job and certainly

(01:45:18):
would have listened. But there's people at USC that don't
want to give up their little modicum of power, and
it's like that throughout the university, and that's why we
have such a rotten product through and through in their
number one marketing tool, the football program. So most people
now either they're really livid and angry or they're apathetic.

(01:45:40):
And that's the craziest and weirdest thing. Because now in
l A we have pro football, there's a new soccer team.
I mean, there's all kinds of stuff to do. And
if usc USC's attendances has been pretty solid for a
long time, and when that starts taking a hit, then
you really have to look around and what what's the
deal here? You hit on something that I think is interesting.

(01:46:03):
We're talking to Petro's papadegus a M five seventy l
A Sports. You can follow him at the Old p
or at Petro's and Money Show. When I was a
kid growing up here in Nashville, the number one way
to go get involved in sports was if you got
to take a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, to go watch
the University of Tennessee play. It was like getting a

(01:46:23):
trip to heaven. You know, a hundred thousand people, big
time major college athletics, a scene unlike you could find
anywhere else around me. Those are my childhood memories to
going to the Coliseum exactly. And that's when you mentioned it.
That's what it reminds me of when I think about
it now through my kid's eyes. All Right, I'm not
even gonna get into Hulu and Netflix and UH and

(01:46:44):
YouTube and all the other entertainment options they have there.
But my boys last night they watched Monday Night football.
They watched the Tennessee Titans, the local Nashville team. Yes
they got their ass kicked, but yeah, yeah, we needed to.
They need to put dad on mute. Um, So we
watched that Monday night football. Pretty big deal for your
hometown to be on Monday night football. We have the

(01:47:05):
Nashville Predators, who played in the Stanley Cup final hockey
team playing here locally. We got an MLS team coming
into town that's gonna debut soon. Uh. The Memphis Grizzlies
are down the road with the n b A uh.
And that doesn't even include all the different television games
that they can watch now. And so uh. We actually
have such an embarrassment of riches now in the world

(01:47:26):
of sports that sometimes like the idea that Tennessee matters
is really kind of on the back burner, right because
there's so many other things that can distract you. You
just mentioned l A, and obviously l A is a
much different market even now than it was when you
were a kid growing up, but in particular for your kids.
Let's say now you got the Rams and you got
the Chargers, two of my top five teams in the

(01:47:47):
NFL going on right now. Uh, you have got Lebron
coming into l A, which obviously changes everything in terms
of the overall media market and how much attention he's
gonna get, even for the Lakers, which already got a
ton of attention, how much does that start to land
a bunch of body blows. Were not even considering the
Dodgers in the World Series, all those things. There's just

(01:48:08):
so much more stuff to pay attention to that. I
think schools like SC and Tennessee, which have for a
long time had that audience that loves them no matter what,
don't understand to what degree they're now competing with every
other entertainment option out there, and so if they're putting
out a crappy product, they got to figure out a
way to get that fixed even faster than they could

(01:48:28):
have in years past. It's an interesting question because here
in l A, you know, we have the things that
we grew up with, and when like USC football was
not doing well when I was there, but when Pete
Carroll started to get it going, they had ninety thousand
in every game almost for the rest of his tenure.
So people know how to get excited about USC. It's

(01:48:50):
just a matter of them being good. But I do
think it's a different model for USC, just dealing with
the media and being a little less elitist or a
lot less elitist, because there's other things for us to cover.
You guys don't want to be cooperative, that's fine, we'll
talk rams, you know what I mean. That kind of
stuff I think is the adjustment. But when a team

(01:49:13):
does well in l A, especially a team that people
grew up with, Uh, there's going to be a great
deal of interest U C l A U S any
of that stuff. But winning really is the key. And
right now for the Chargers, I mean, they're winning, and
there still seems to be a great deal of ampathy
as far as attendance goes, and I'm not really sure

(01:49:34):
where that's going to go as this situation changes, or
the playoffs come, or they get their new stadium next year.
I don't really know what the answer there is, but
I do know that when USC does well, the the
the area gets excited. The country gets excited too, but
the area gets exciting. People still care about USC football.

(01:49:56):
Everywhere I go, everybody wants me to to fire Clay Helton,
as if I have some kind of ability to do
anything like that. I mean, it's all I hear about.
Love turns into anger and hate. Apathy ultimately ends up
being the worst result of all and sixty people showing
up for SC games is an incredibly apathetic response already,

(01:50:17):
even before next year happens. But I want to go
to your side. We're talking to Petros Papadakis. I have
had and I'm sure you have to. Because of radio.
It's almost exclusively been for radio, although sometimes writing for
what I do too. We talk every day for many
hours on the radio, and there are a lot of
people who listen, and sometimes people get upset and they're like,
screw that guy, I'll never do his show again. What's

(01:50:40):
the SC response to you been like, do you get
I I don't know the answer to this. Is there
any way that the next SC coach will come on
your show? Or do you think you're burning bridges, uh
in the process of sharing your opinion and sometimes unfortunate.
But I don't know what people want you do. You
don't tiptoe up to your opinion. I don't really have
toe up to my opinion, and I think that's why

(01:51:02):
we produced audiences that we do. No USC coach has
ever not come on the show. Clay Helton will come
on the show. I mean, I'm not. I don't. I
don't sit there and kill Clay Helton personally or say
what a bad guy he is. I just I I
just talked about the situation at the university and the

(01:51:22):
situation in the football program, and I'm honest about it,
and i'd write treat Clay with respect when he comes
on the show. Now that this situation is as volatile
as it is with their fan base, I'm not sure
if they'll offer him up anytime soon. But they're gonna
have to try to sell their recruiting class and guess
who they're gonna call the old Yeah, last question for yeah,

(01:51:47):
the last question for you, um, and this is not
USC related, but Josh Rosen never came on the show
a station because he was angry about stuff you had said.
I have no idea, but we talked to Sam Donald
like twenty times. Yeah, it's already as good as mine
with some of the players, but the coaches usually that
they you know, I know how to interview a coach. Um,

(01:52:10):
how stunned were you with what you saw in Ohio
State Michigan, with the physical and athletic beat down that
Ohio State put on Michigan. I guess I shouldn't have
been that stunned, because that can happen to a football team.
I mean, it happened to Ohio State last year. In
in Iowa, it happened to a house state when Maryland

(01:52:30):
put fifty on him, and Perdue I think hung forty
nine on them yet put him put him in a
pretty big sling in the shoe. And I saw that
Purdue team earlier in the year, and I do like
their offense. But I guess I wasn't that. I mean,
I was surprised like anybody else because I thought Michigan
had a great chance to win the game with their defense,
and I was surprised their defense buckled like that. But

(01:52:53):
it never surprises me when college kids come out flat
or don't perform or get destroyed and second half of
the game. I mean, that's just our sport. It's really
unpredictable and that's kind of the beauty of it. And
kids are hard to motivate weekend and week out. And yes,

(01:53:14):
en year old, that's what I call them kids, and
that's uh, that's how they react. That's what makes our
game great. They make mistakes, it leads to big plays. Uh,
some people can't handle the spotlight fromtimes the crowd gets
to people. All that stuff happens in college football at
a much more rapid clip than it does in the pros,
which makes it kind of a little bit more chaotic

(01:53:36):
and a lot more fun at least in my opinion,
I agree with you completely there. Thanks for the time,
good luck covering this story, and we'll talk to you
next week when the playoff field will officially be set.
Talk to them by Spencers as waking up early with
us at Petros and Money Show. Thank him for coming
on at the old p fire away with reaction to that,

(01:53:57):
lots will unpack on that USC Situa wation, and we'll
close out with with my breakdown so far through the
eleventh game of the NFL season, who is actually dominating
in the quarterback race. Maybe some names on here in
the top ten are gonna impress you. As I went
through and looked at all the statistical data. We'll talk

(01:54:17):
about that and I'll run through my top five bottom
five one more time. This is Outkicked the coverage on
Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back Geico, OutKick Studios. A message
from Welch's Grape Juice. There over four hundred crushed, decimated,
and pulverized grapes crammed into each bottle of Welch's Grape Juice,
which pretty much leaves no room for anything else. No

(01:54:39):
added sugars, no added flavors, and definitely no mercy. The
world's toughest antioxidants. Welch is tough as grapes. My top
five in the NFL Saints, Rams, Chiefs, Patriots, and the Chargers.
I've got the Bears, the Uh, the Steelers and the
Texans just on the outside looking in. Bottom five Jets, Jags, forty, Niners,

(01:55:02):
Raiders and Cardinals. That's top five, bottom five here on
out kick, as we do every single Tuesday. Interestingly, you
just heard me run through my top five. The Saints,
the Rams, the Chiefs, the Patriots and the Chargers in
that order. How does that compare with right now qb
R ranking Quarterback ranking rating according to NFL dot com

(01:55:25):
Number one quarterback in the NFL based on the numbers.
Right now, Drew Brees is posting the highest QBR in
the history of the NFL at a hundred and twenty
seven point three through eleven games. Patrick Mahomes is in
second place, a hundred and seventeen point nine, Philip Rivers
in third place. In fourth place, Jared Goff. What's interesting

(01:55:49):
about those top four. Four of them are in my
top five, and the other guy who's not in my
top five is a guy by the name of Tom
Brady who's been pretty good. So Drew Brees, Patrick Mahome, Holmes,
Philip Rivers, and Jared Goff, their stellar seasons have directly
translated into the best seasons for their teams. About the

(01:56:09):
rest of the top ten. Russell Wilson right now would
be in the playoffs. He's got team, his team rolling
big win over Cam Newton and the Panthers. Matt Ryan, Uh,
it's just a star cross career from Matt Ryan. I
feel like he's gonna be the best passing quarterback who
never wins the super Bowl, and we're gonna eternally be
talking about that twenty to three lead. I'm sorry, falcon

(01:56:31):
say fans that they gave up Cam Newton having the
best season so far statistically since he won the m
v P in the seventh spot. In the eighth spot,
Andrew Luck, He's got his Indianapolis Colts on a roll.
They're sitting at six and five, nobody can get to him.
They got an offensive line the envy of so many
quarterbacks around the NFL right now, and with him protected

(01:56:53):
and able to throw, the success has followed. In the
nine spot, Kirk Cousins, Uh will see what there or not.
The Vikings with a couple of really tough games. I
believe their next to there on the road against the Patriots,
and then they're on the road against the Seahawks. And
then in the tin spot, we got Aaron Rodgers. I
went ahead and did the top twelve eleven, Deshaun Watson, twelve,

(01:57:15):
Carson Wentz. Not a bad if you were running through
and breaking down the top twelve quarterbacks in the NFL
through eleven weeks of eleven games of the NFL season,
it's a pretty good roster right, And I don't think
it's a coincidence that four of my top five Drew Brees,
Patrick Mahomes, Philip Rivers and Jared Goff. The Saints, the Chiefs,

(01:57:38):
the Chargers, and the Rams are all right there. If
you're wondering about Tom Brady, he's posting one of the
lowest passer ratings of his career in the nineties six range.
We'll see whether or not that picks up now that
he's got Rob Gronkowski coming back healthy. But again, to me,
that stands out. It's a quarterback driven league. We know

(01:57:58):
that it's some of you are blowing me up on
social media and you're saying, oh, well, what about the
defenses on these teams. I'm not concerned about it. Bill
Belichick is the greatest defensive head coach, probably in the
history of football. He got lit up by Nick Foles
in the Super Bowl. The game has changed, evolve or die.
Same things happen in college football. Nick Saban is a

(01:58:20):
defensive head coach. He hates to have games where somebody
scores forty points and he has to beat somebody forty
two to thirty. Nick Saban recognized that he had to
make changes substantially in order to keep up with the
evolution of the game. So has Bill Belichick. That's what
makes those guys great. There are lots of people who

(01:58:41):
can find something that works and continue to do that
thing that works over and over and over again. But
you know what happens, everybody catches up with you. True
greatness requires that you evolved. This is not just coaching,
by the way, this requires for all of you driving
into work this morning. True greatness requires that you evolve
your schools, your skills to fit the changing patterns of

(01:59:05):
whatever industry you are in. Everybody knows and has worked
in an office where the old guy still doesn't have email.
Old guy without email probably not gonna do very well
in a modern era. Gotta figure out what the dynamics
are of your business and adjust on the fly. The
NFL is adjusted. It's an offensive quarterback driven lee. Either

(01:59:28):
you evolve or you die. Bill Belichick evolved. Now. He
lost the Super Bowl, but he was prepared to win
it in a shootout fashion. I'm not concerned about the
lack of defense for the Rams, for the Patriots, or
for the Chiefs, because their offenses are just that good.
Evolve or Die. This is OutKick

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