Clay Works On New Year's Eve

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:48):
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offer not available in all areas. The NFL playoffs are
set why wild Card Weekend begins on Saturday. First game
that will be played, Colts at Texans UH will be
on ESPN Saturday at four thirty UH. Then we have

(01:14):
the Seahawks against the Cowboys, the Chargers against the Ravens
on Sunday, and the Eagles against the Bears the Seahawks
Cowboys will be Saturday UH night, So let's dive into
what happened this weekend. We have got a ton of
reacting to do. I want to start with Sunday Night football,

(01:34):
which ended with the Colts. Congratulations to Andrew Luck. He
officially owns the Titans more so than any player has
owned a franchise in the history of the NFL. Never
before has a quarterback gone eleven and oh against a
franchise in the modern era of the NFL, in the

(01:58):
Super Bowl era of the NFL, never before has one
player started eleven and oh against another team. That is unprecedented,
that is her unheard of. Andrew Luck owns the city
of Nashville and the Tennessee Titans like one player has

(02:18):
never owned another team in the history of the NFL,
and he dominated last night. One bad throw all night
it was returned for a touchdown, kept the game close.
Blaine Gabbard is atrocious. He is a disaster. You knew
at some point in time he was gonna fall apart,
and he did with about eight minutes to go in

(02:40):
this game when he had an atrocious interception that effectively
ended this one. That is the storyline from the Colts perspective,
from the Titans perspective. Everyone out there listening to me
right now, I have gotten made fun of for the
last four years for being a Marcus Mariota fan, for

(03:01):
believing in Marcus Mariota. I can no longer defend Marcus
Mariota after he didn't play last night. Some people out
there are gonna say, oh, it's unfair to question a guy.
Let me tell you this. If you practice on Thursday
and Friday and you are listed as questionable on the

(03:24):
team scouting report, then you won billion percent have to
play on Sunday with your team's playoff future on the
line at home and what was the biggest home game
in a decade in the NFL. You may well get

(03:44):
few opportunities to actually make the playoffs in your career.
In fact, the average quarterback does get few opportunities to
make the playoffs in his career. The average quarterback gets
even fewer opportunities to make the playoffs in a year
like this, where frankly, I think anybody who makes the
a f C this year could make a run to

(04:07):
the super Bowl if they just got a couple of
breaks and if things went well for them. There is
no dominant team in the a f C this year.
I'm not sure there's a dominant team in the NFC,
although I do feel like the Saints are a more
substantial favorite in the NFC than anybody in the a
f C. The Chiefs have not won a home playoff

(04:27):
game in twenty five years. Joe Montana was the last
quarterback to win a home playoff game for the Kansas
City Chiefs. The Patriots are a little bit wobbly. They
don't look like the Patriots normally due as they enter
into the playoffs. You've got a three seed in the

(04:48):
Houston Texans that can't block for Deshaun Watson and is
getting him killed on a game by game basis. You've
got a four seed in the Baltimore Ravens. They can't
run the football and so sorry that can only run
the football and has a quarterback that can't really throw it.
Did you see what happened at the end of that
game when credit to the Ravens defense for making a

(05:10):
play against Baker Mayfield. I think we have the audio
on this. Uh, let's play the audio of the final
play the game. If you happen to mention to miss this.
Last year the Ravens lost at home to barely miss
the playoffs, it looked like that might well happen again.
Then on fourth and ten, this play happened. Fourth and ten,
Baker Mayfield to throw under pressure, his passes intercepted. C. J.

(05:33):
Mosley picks it off. Go down Mosley with the interceptions.
The haze and the bar, and the Ravens are in
the playoffs and this house is on fire. They are
dancing in the aisles. Happy New Year. The Ravens are
back in the postseason. So the Ravens did you see
on third down when they really needed a first down?

(05:56):
What they did? They ran the freaking op shin like
it's Nebraska in nineteen. They rolled out and attempted to
run the option with Lamar Jackson. I'm sorry, you can't
win a playoff game if your go to play is
to run the option on third and five, which is

(06:20):
what the Ravens did. Now credit to them on how
good their defense has been, but the Ravens have no chance.
I mean, the underline it as many times as you want.
The Ravens are the one team in the a f
C that I believe has zero chance of actually winning
the Super Bowl. You gotta have a quarterback who can
make plays in the passing game in order to win
the Super Bowl. The Ravens don't have one. So look,

(06:42):
I think it's fun to watch Lamar Jackson. Maybe down
the years ahead he could develop into more of a
passing quarterback, but in the meantime, I think the chances
of him leading the Ravens to the Super Bowl are zero.
And then look, I think Philip rivers Is is a
good story. I actually think I'm gonna pick the Chargers

(07:03):
to beat the Ravens. I know we just saw them lose,
but I think the Chargers come back and beat the Ravens.
I think there's a good chance of that in the playoffs.
And I think there's a good chance that the Colts
go on the road and beat the Texans. I think
the Colts are the superior team in that matchup, notwithstanding
the fact that the Texans have found an ability to
get into the playoffs uh and and win that division.

(07:26):
But I think Colts are better. We saw the Colts
go on the road and win at the Texans a
few weeks ago. I think we'll see it again. I
think Andrew Luck is better than Deshaun Watson. I think
the Colts offensive line protects Andrew Luck better. But but
that is that is the playoffs. They're wide open. They
are wide open in the a f C. And I
think Marcus Mariota and his advisors made a business decision

(07:50):
not to play on Sunday. And now, as much as
I have been a Mariota guy, if you have gone
four years in your NFL career year and you have
been unable to finish the season in three of them.
Rookie season injured before the season is complete, second year

(08:11):
injured before the season is complete, now, fourth year injured
before the season is complete. You may be a great guy,
and I think Mariota is. You may be at times
have shown flashes of brilliance even and I think Mariota has,
But ultimately, you have to be available for your team

(08:33):
at the times that they need you in order to
get big money. And I just don't think Marcus Mariotta
is worthy anymore of being considered a franchise quarterback. A
franchise quarterback plays in that game. A franchise quarterback when
he is listed as questionable and practices on the field

(08:53):
on Thursday and Friday has to make himself available for
his team on Sunday. You can say, well, he could
have gotten more severely injured. Guess what. It's the NFL.
Every time you take the field, you face the possibility
of career ending injury. You have to be a gladiator.

(09:13):
That's why you get paid big money to go out
and make plays when you are able to play at all.
And if you are able to practice on Thursday and Friday,
as Mariota was, and if you are listed as questionable
for this game, you can't sit out. I'm sorry. It's

(09:35):
the biggest home game in a decade. There's no way
on earth that Steve McNair would have set out this
game for the Tennessee Titans. The result is I don't
think the Titans can give Marcus Mariota money. I think
it's gonna be hard for him to overcome this with
the fans, with his teams. I think it sucks. I
wish the guy was healthy, but ultimately you have to

(09:58):
show up and play. It's a what have you done
for me lately? League, and your health matters. Look a
lot of people right now listening to this show driving
into work who feel like crap. You have to show
up and play. I could do the greatest radio show

(10:19):
on the planet. If I missed three months of work
because my voice would get uh inflamed, wouldn't be my fault.
Wouldn't be my fault that I couldn't stay healthy. I
wouldn't have this job. If I could do nine months
of radio, but the other three months I couldn't work,

(10:42):
I wouldn't be on the show. They'd find somebody else
to do the job. I think that's what the Titans
have to do. Three out of four years, Marcus Mariotta
hasn't been able to finish a season healthy. And everybody
who listens to this show knows. I've been a big
believer in Marcus Mariotta. But I'm also a bright line
business guy. You gotta be on the field in the
games that matter. If you want big money, you gotta

(11:04):
be a big time player. You gotta be out there
sometimes when you don't feel well. You gotta be out
there sometimes when you are hurting badly. Even everybody ripping
Kirk Cousins today, and I certainly get it. If I'm
a Vikings fan, I'm not happy about Kirk Cousins. I'm
not happy about the way that season ended, but at
least he was out there with his guys trying to

(11:26):
get into the playoffs. Like I picked the Vikings to
make the playoffs. That performance they put forward yesterday was pathetic.
If I'm a Vikings fan, I'm sitting around saying, man,
who can we fire now? We already fired the offensive coordinator.
We only put up a hundred and sixty four yards
of offense. That's unacceptable. But at least Kirk Cousins was

(11:49):
out there battling, even if he was bad. Twenty thirty
three a hundred and thirty two yards. I can handle losing.
I can't handle not showing up for the fight. That's
what more. Because Mariota did. People on Twitter, they're yapping,
they're angry at me for saying it. That's the truth. Look,
you come back, you want to make twenty plus million

(12:10):
dollars a year. You got to prove to me that
you're gonna do everything you can. It's a gladiator lead.
You gotta put your body on the line every week,
and Mario didn't do that. You know what didn't happen.
Titans didn't come out and go balls to the wall.
Defending him either, I'll tell you exactly what I think
happened with Mariota, will break down the NFL playoff picture.

(12:32):
I appreciate all of you. Happy New Year in advance,
thanks for hanging out with us here on out Kick
the Coverage. I'll also open up the phone lines. My
guy dub is there early fielding your calls. Will react
to everything you can tell me. If you think I'm
being unfair, if you think I'm being harsh and saying
that Marcus Mariota had to absolutely, positively one billion percent
play last night. If you're questionable and you practice for

(12:56):
two different days, there's no way you can't play. Stephen
the air would have been out there. Stinks to be healthy,
stinks to be hurt when you need to be healthy.
Stinks to put your body on the line. That's literally
what the job is. You have to be willing and
able to put your body on the line, even when

(13:16):
you don't feel anywhere close to If you're questionable, you
ain't questionable in a big game. You gotta go. If
you can practice. If you can practice in Mariota did
on Thursday and Friday, then you one hundred billion percent
positively have to go. It's a sad truth. This is
outa the coverage eight seven seven six nine. I'll impact

(13:38):
more of this for you and we'll talk NFL playoffs.
Congrats to everybody in Who do I think now is
going to move on to the super Bowl? Will discuss
this is outca the coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back,
Happy early New year. Geico outkicks studios car shopping and
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(13:59):
and in voice. True Car shows you what other people
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confident car buying experience. This is a confident show. My
name is Clay Travis. We're reacting to the NFL playoffs
being set. I had a great weekend, went down to Miami,

(14:22):
watched Alabama play against Oklahoma. In personnel, I'll give you
a breakdown of that. Top of our two. So we
dive into college football in the upcoming national title game
between Alabama and Clemson. But we are unpacking the games
that took place yesterday, including the last night's game. UH
the Indianapolis Colts punched their ticket the final team to

(14:43):
join the twelve team NFL playoffs. I think they have
a chance to go the Super Bowl. I really do,
with the way Andrew Bluck is playing, the way they're
protecting him with that offensive line. Ultimately, it is a
quarterbacks league and the Colts are getting hot down the stretch.
One bad performance on the road against the Colts. Other
than that, after that one in five start, they are

(15:05):
now nine and one. To do that math right live
math on the air always difficult, but one reason they
got the win because Marcus Mariota didn't play. What do
I think happen? Why do I think Marcus Mariotta did
not go out and play. I think it's dueling doctors.
A lot of people who don't spend a lot of
time in the medical profession don't understand that ultimately diagnoses

(15:27):
is a art as much as it's a science. In
other words, if you've ever had an injury and you
go see multiple doctors, you're gonna get multiple opinions. I
think the only explanation for the way that we saw
this thing play out is that the Titan team doctors
were saying Mariota can go. Marcus Mariota went and got
his own opinion, and those doctors said he couldn't go.

(15:51):
It's the only explanation otherwise, if the Titan team doctors
were saying, oh, Marcus Mariota's season is over, then there's
no way on earth you should had him in practice.
No way on the planet to justify him being out
there on Thursday and Friday in practice, even if it's
non contact. Teddy Bridgewater destroyed his leg in non contact practice.

(16:17):
If you are the Tennessee Titans and your doctors are
saying Marcus Mariotta is done, he can no longer play,
he's got significant injury, then go ahead and put him
on I R and finish the season that way. Still
an ugly end of the season, but at least you
eliminate all questions about whether or not he can go.
You don't let him practice on Thursday and Friday. You

(16:37):
don't list him as questionable, you don't have the news
come out on Sunday morning that's leaked by his agent
that he's not gonna play. I think Mike Vrabel did
not force Marcus Mariota to play, because ultimately, every player
makes the decision whether or not he's gonna go, and
ultimately Marcus Mariotta made the decision I'm not going to go,

(16:58):
and I think in the process basically ended his tenure
with the Tennessee Titans. I think he'll come back in
year five on his option year. I think he'll get
hurt and I think basically his career will be over.
That's what I've seen in four years of the seasons
that Marcus Mariotta has played in the NFL, he hasn't
finished the year two cruel, brutal world in the NFL.

(17:20):
If you can't play, you don't get paid. The time
when he started a season, he hasn't finished it. I
think it'll be eight percent after year five, and then
I think he'll be off and done. I think Titans
will be back to drafting a quarterback saying the same thing.
By the way, it's gonna happen with Jamison Winston. Tamp
Bay Buccaneer is gonna walk away from him after a
fifth year where he doesn't get it done. Both the

(17:41):
guys are gonna be bust. My opinion, based on everything
that I've seen through four years. Kirk Cousins sucks didn't
play well this year, at least he was on the field.
We got a lot of calls eight seven, seven, nine,
six six three six nine. Gonna let everybody react as
we roll into the NFL games. Let's go for to
Derek and Oregon. What's up, Derek say about Marcus Mariotta.

(18:05):
This guy is a warrior from Oregon to the Tennessee Titans.
Let's say two weeks ago or however, when he was
doing amazing for the team as he always has been.
The team has always been behind him because he is
truly a leader. Hurt or not, he's played hurt throughout
the season. Had to play, had to play. Hold on Derek,

(18:28):
he had to play last night. Absolutely positively. If you
can practice on Thursday and Friday, you have to be
on the field on Sunday. You can't be questionable in
a game that puts your team into the playoffs. Did
you see how bad Blaine Gabbert is. If you don't go,
your team is going to lose and it's probably not
going to be close. Just like we saw last night.

(18:50):
Blaine Gabbert is awful, shouldn't be in the league, doesn't
deserve to be a backup. Blaine Gabbert is not good.
All right. If you are Marcus Mariotta and you are
able to prack us on Thursday and Friday, ultimately it's
going to be your call. You have to go. People say, oh,
the coaches took me. No, No, this is the players call.
This is a questionable diagnoses. He's not on injured reserve,

(19:12):
he's not out for the rest of the season. Could
he do damage to himself? Yes, Every NFL player that
plays when he's hurt could make himself worse. You rarely
get into the playoffs if you are a quarterback of
Mariota's caliber. When you play, what do we what do
we say? You play to make the playoffs? Right? You
gotta be there. You gotta win the game when you
have an opportunity. Mariota had a chance, he didn't do it. Derek,

(19:35):
I love him. Look, I think he's a great guy.
Loved watching him play at Oregon, loved watching him play
in the first four years. Sometimes people are surprised when
I changed my opinions. I weigh all of the evidence
before I come to a conclusion. Some people say, oh,
you're always on one side or always in the No.
I look at all the evidence, and when all the
evidence tells me something that's different than what I believe beforehand.

(19:57):
I don't look back and say, well, I used to
have this opinion. I changed my mind, and this was
a line of demarcation for me. Marcus Mariotta had to
be on the field. He wasn't. I don't think you
can consider him the franchise quarterback anymore. Let him play
in year five. He's probably gonna get hurt again, and
then you cut him and move on. Brutal world. I
don't think it's gonna happen for Marcus Mariotte. Can't stay healthy.

(20:19):
I could be the best radio host of all time.
If I missed three months every year because my voice
stops working. Guess what. Eventually, I'm not gonna be doing radio.
Can't blame the bosses, So you gotta show up and perform.
Let's go to Wayne in Kentucky. What's up, Wayne? Yeah,
I totally agree with you about Marietta. Uh uh you

(20:43):
and I like you said, we got hard at our job,
and we were hard to come and work and do
our job. And because we were paid to dude, we're
supposed to show up and we don't show up, and
then you get rid of us and Mariotta and opportunity,
but he's just not showing up. And you know, there's
another quarterback. In my opinion, it's about it's not the

(21:07):
same as him, and that's Flackhole because Blackhole was hurt
for three weeks and he could have come back down.
I know the coach has made the change the projection,
and I'm glad he did. But at the same time,
black Hole for the beginning of the season didn't want
to help Jack down, So I think he did. You
have the the attitude that say he has the same

(21:30):
attitude and barbrietto thanks to Nicole. I think Wayne has
already hit the Wayne has started to celebrate New Year's early.
I think Wayne just powered right through. Still going pot
pour one out for Wayne. Got a lot of Viking
fans who want to react to Kirk Cousins. Uh, let's
go to Paul in Fargo. What's up? Thank good morning, Clay,

(21:52):
thanks for taking my call. Yeah, yesterday afternoon was well,
what else do you call it? It was a disappointing
finish to a there a disappointing season. Like in sins.
We you know, we were optimistic when the season picked
You guys to make the Super Bowl. I picked you
guys to make the Super Bowl. Yeah, I remember, I
remember you saying that. I remember you saying that when
I listened to the show at the start of the year,

(22:12):
when we had our defense and we all had what
we thought was an upgrading quarterback with Kirk Cousins were
playing Kage Keenum. Um, you know, a lot of people
thought it was going to be a three team race
between the Vikings, the Saints, and the Rams to represent
the NFC in the Super Bowl, and the obviously didn't
turn out that way. Um, you know, at least the
Vikings fans and Fargo can take some consolation and that

(22:33):
the team that did make the playoffs, the Eagles. You know,
their quarterback, Carson Wentz played his college football and Fargo's,
so at least we'll be able to root for him,
you know. Yeah, But unfortunately he's still not on the field.
And thank you. I think Nick Foles maybe make a
hundred billion dollars. Let's go to David Minnesota. At least
Kirk Cousins was on the field, even as crappy as

(22:54):
he played. At least he was on the field when
the season came to a close. For his team, Dave,
what's up? You know, I cannot blame this on Kirk Cousins.
It has to come down as Zimmer said in the beginning,
everybody has to be held accountable. I believe I've never

(23:15):
wanted to say this. I've liked Zimmer from the beginning,
but he has to be held accountable as well. And
you know, he might be on the cutting block as
far as I'm concerned as a Viking fan, for the
play calling and for everything else that has come down
to a Kirk Cousins. He's he has no time, he

(23:35):
has no you know, you can't blame everything on Kirk Cousins.
You know he's got playmakers. But when you don't have
time to get the ball to your playmakers, you can't
really get it done. Yeah. Look, thanks for the calling.
Here is a stat that's gonna blow your mind. All right,
And I'm gonna bring in our update anchor here. I'm
gonna continue to let you guys call in. By the
way eight seven seven six three six nine, It's black Monday,

(23:59):
New Year's e uh. The NFL playoffs are set. None
of the six highest paid quarterbacks in the league made
the playoffs in Aaron Rodgers thirty three and a half
a million dollars. Packers done, Matt Ryan thirty million dollars,
Falcon's done, Kirk Cousins twenty eight million dollars, Vikings done,
Jimmy Garoppolo twenty seven and a half million dollars forty

(24:22):
Niners obviously done. Garoppolo uh is out obviously since Week
three with the torn A c l Matthew Stafford twenty
seven million dollars still never won a playoff game with
the Detroit Lions. Derek Carr twenty five million dollars Raiders
not close to being in the mix. I believe of
the six highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL, four of

(24:45):
them have never won a playoff game. Kirk Cousins never
won a playoff game with the Redskins, right, Garoppolo clearly
never won a playoff game. Matthew Stafford never won a
playoff game, and Derek Carr never won a playoff game either.
That's the six highest paid quarterback in the NFL, none
of them making the playoffs for their team. Let me
go ahead and bring in Brian Finley. Find out what

(25:06):
shaking the world of sports. Then will continue to take
your calls and will continue to react thanks Clay. The
NFL transitioning to the postseason in the a f C
wild card games, the Colts, after beating Clay Traviss Titans,
will play at the Texans at four thirty five Eastern
on Saturday. In the other the Ravens will host the
Chargers at one oh five eastern next Sunday. Baltimore safety

(25:29):
Eric Weddle got a one million dollar bonus because he
made the Pro Bowl and postseason. He told ESPN that
money is going towards quote doing something nice for all
of his teammates. What a guy there. The Chiefs grabbed
the top seed, but can they win a playoff game?
That's another story. The Patriots know how to They assume
the two seeds in the NFC. The Eagles are celebrating

(25:50):
a postseason birth. Quarterback Nick Foles is a question mark
though for their wild card game ats Chicago Sunday at
four forty eastern. According to Foxes Jake Glazer, Fols will
be evaluated later today for chest and rib injuries which
he suffered yesterday. Versus the Redskins and the other wild
card matchup, the Cowboys will welcome in the Seahawks at
eight fifteen Eastern Saints the one seed rams the two seed. Hey.

(26:14):
Online car shopping can be confusing, but not anymore with
true Price from True Car. Now you can know the
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it's a true Car to enjoy a more confident car
buying experience and quickly seth Davis of The Athletic reporting
u c l A has fired basketball coach Steve Alford.
No ward yet on who the interim head coach will be.

(26:34):
And finally Foxes Bruce Feldman revealing Ole Miss has hired
Rich Rodriguez as its offensive coordinator. That's a big get,
Clay back to you, I don't know if it's a
big get or not, honestly, also reports that Manny Daz
I believe was gonna take over at Miami. That's a
crazy story. He'd already taken the Temple job. Now two
weeks later he's coming back to take over for Mark

(26:55):
Rick in Miami. A lot of crazy news stories over
the weekend. We're alive here in the Guy Go out
Kick Studios where it's easy to say or more. On
car insurance with Geico, go to Geico Dot com or
call seven auto. The only hard part figuring out which
way is easier. Let's go to I believe we have
Let's see somebody on the v I P line. If
you're an OutKick v I P you can sign up

(27:17):
at out kick dot com. You get direct access to
the v I P line. Jim and St. Louis, what's up,
my man, Clay. It's a pleasure finally talked to you.
Appreciate the call. Hey, Um, I just want to take
a couple of seconds to say that the first the
first episode or first, um time I listened to you,
you're you're argument your boys about if you could make
the curling team Olympics style. Yeah, I still and that

(27:40):
was awesome. And then um, I got hooked over the
top with here with the Tiger Hunter. I just I
was blown away. So v I P. It's a great,
a great, great little piece of money to spend on it. Um,
as far as is Mariota thing, he needs to go
back and watch them the footage of the nine the
two thousand Super Bowl. Well with your boy, um seem yeah,

(28:01):
with McNair and with Daddie George, those boys and everybody
else on the team. I'm a Rams fan, live and
die with that team. But man, you you hit round
the head Mariotta. If he practiced, it should have been
out there. And then the guts shown in that Super Bowl.
Although you guys lost, It's it's amazing. I watched it
every year. So I just want to say hi and

(28:23):
love your show. Appreciate that. Let's continue to take your calls. Uh,
Tommy and Florida. What's up, Tommy Man, great show, Happy
New Year. The first thing I got I got two comments. One,
it's possible that Tennessee threw Mariotta out there for a
couple of practices and didn't put him on the I
R so that the Colts would think that maybe he

(28:44):
was gonna play. Yeah, let me respond to that because
some people might say that, then that is indefensible if
you know that he has severe nerve damage and might
have career ending injury issues associated with that, because putting
him out there on the field to do anything of
a physical nature at all puts him at further danger

(29:06):
of injuring himself. Right, So I don't care about If
that is true, then there's no way the team should
have ever allowed him to practice on Thursday and Friday
and should have ever listed him as questionable at all
because they're a percent lying. I also don't believe that
really changes the the the sort of preparation for the

(29:28):
game at all, Like Brillan Gabbert sucks. It's not like
you prepared differently to play against Blaine Gabbert. It just
makes it easier because you don't have to worry about
somebody scrambling as much. So I don't buy into that,
but I do think there's some people out there who
would say that. Again, if it's true that you knew
that he had severe injuries and was out for the season,

(29:48):
and you allowed him to practice and play and list
him as questionable, then the Titans should be fined millions
of dollars by the NFL for violating the injury policy.
You can continue, well, what that? That's why I agree
those are those are good points. The last point I'd
like to hear your comments about is and this is
one thing with quarterbacks I never understand, and this goes

(30:09):
to Kirk Cousins. Why does team like Minnesota pick up
a guy like Kirk Cousins and expect him to be
anything other than what he's been his entire career. It's
it never makes any sense after about three or four
years of these guys in the NFL. And he kind
of alluded this to the Jamis Winston. These guys are
what they are. They're not just gonna all of a

(30:29):
sudden find some you know, golden goose laying an egg
and grab it and say, Okay, all of a sudden,
I'm great, you know, I mean, it just doesn't sound
like that. Take you know, take a shower and wake
up and become go Montana. It's not gonna happen. Now.
I agree with you, and all the data reflects that.
I think that the Vikings said, hey, we've got Stefon
Diggs and we've got Adam Feeling. There's no way that

(30:52):
Kirk Cousins is going to be able to fail. Here.
Look how close we were to winning a super Bowl
with case keenum Usins is gonna put us on the
next level because he's a better quarterback than Kingdom, and
I think that was the risk that they took. I
agree with you. I think once you have three or
four years of a guy in the league, he's not

(31:13):
gonna suddenly become a superstar. He is what he is,
and so That's why I think you gotta turn to
page on him. If you're the Titans, That's why I
think you gotta turn to page. If you are the
Bucks with Jamis Winston, they are what you thought they were,
average to mediocre quarterbacks in the NFL that are not
capable of taking you to the promised Land. I think

(31:34):
that's been the bill has been out on Jamis Winston
for a while, and he also has off the field
related issues. I think Marcus Marcus Mariot does a great dude.
I think he had to play. If you practice on
Thursday and Friday and your listed is questionable, the NFL
is a gladiatorial league. You gotta go out there and play.
You gotta put everything on the line. He didn't do it.

(31:55):
Eddie and Baltimore, what's up? Clay Show? The three quarter?
So we're talking about, Uh, if you're an owner, who
would you take Nick Foles, Kirk Cousins or Marcus Mariota
Because I think Nick Foles has proven himself. He got
a Super Bowl. Yeah, but I think the next quarter,
like out of the three, is going to be Marcus
Mariota to win a super Bowl. Yeah, I wish. Look,

(32:18):
I wish you were right. I don't think Marcus Mariota
has a prayer of winning a super Bowl. I just don't.
I mean, I think you look in the division right now,
he's at best the third best quarterback in this division.
He had a chance to make the playoffs, would either
have Andrew Lucker Marcus Mariotta. Everybody on the planet would
take Andrew Luck. He's one eleven straight games against Mariota's Titans.
Which other have Deshaun Watson or Marcus Mariotta. Maybe you

(32:41):
can make the argument that DeAndre Hopkins is the reason
why Deshaun Watson is as good as he's been. I
don't think it's a tough call. I think you take
DeAndre Hopkins and and Deshaun Watson. I think Deshaun Watson's
the best, the best. You can't nobody wins the Super
Bowl as the third best core back in their division.

(33:02):
You've got to be the best quarterback in your division
pretty much to win the Super Bowl. So I don't
feel optimistic at all about Marcus Mariota's future. I like
the guy. This is a put up or shut up league,
and he did not put up. He just didn't. He
had to play on Saturday. On Sunday, he had to
play last night and he didn't eight seven seven six

(33:22):
three six nine. We are reacting to the NFL playoffs
being set to Marcus Mariotta refusing to play even though
he was listed as questionable and practiced on Thursday and Friday,
to a lot of sobering wake up in the morning
to begin thoughts in the NFL, if your team did
not make the playoffs and what's their future, is the
future actually bright at all? In the case of the

(33:42):
Titans Vikings, I don't think the answer is yes. I
don't think it is. Steelers. I don't think it is.
You don't want to have an awful season. The worst
place to find yourself is where the Vikings, the Titans,
and the Steelers did just on the outside of the playoffs.

(34:03):
You were competitive enough to get a crappy draft pick.
Oh great, you finished thirteen, fourteen and fifteen overall in
the NFL. Twelve teams make the playoffs and you guys
finished thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. Now you get crappy draft
picks that are unlikely to help your team, and you
weren't good enough to actually make the playoffs. Eight and eight,

(34:24):
nine and seven. It's a death sentence in the league.
This is out Kicked the Coverage on Fox Sports Radio.
Be sure to catch live editions of out Kick the
Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six am Eastern three
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio.
A welcome back, I go OutKick Studios. Having new year
in advanced sports fans, the NFL playoffs are here. It's

(34:45):
time to get in on the action with my bookie
dot net use promo code Clay that's c l A
Y when you register for your account and get a
fifty percent sign up bonus and no deposit. Necessary terms
and conditions apply for entertainment purpose is only void where prohibited.
Danny g Am I being too hard on Marcus Mariotta

(35:06):
saying if you play on Thursday and Friday, you absolutely
positively have to play on Sunday. Clay, there were two
things over the weekend that broke the internet. Grover from
Sesame Street dropping an F bomb and you being triggered
by Mariota not playing. I I had like a half
hour of reading all the comments underneath your your Twitter post.

(35:29):
Just an amazing read. If go to at Clay Travis
on Twitter. I can't even I was just like, no, no,
I mean, in in all seriousness, I can't even keep
up with with my mentions now. I mean, like hundreds
of responses on anything. I feel like Donald Trump now
when I tweet, like it's almost impossible to even see
my mention, Like, I mean everything that I tweet, It's

(35:52):
it's wild how many responses. I appreciate all the responses
from you guys, and you guys can have your own lifestyle.
It's like a message board now underneath my comments. I
can't even hardly read him. Yeah, I do think you're
being a little hard on Marcus because I read one
report saying that his arm was numb. First of all, again,
there it's dueling doctors going on here. I think beyond

(36:14):
a shadow of a doubt, and I think his agent
has leaked things. And look, the agent's job is to
look out for the player. Um, if you're severely injured,
then he should have been immediately put on I R.
And he should not have been out there practicing on
Thursday and Friday and listed as questionable for this game.
Questionable means you can play, and it's ultimately going to

(36:35):
be probably the player's decision because people say, oh, the
coaches wouldn't let him play. No, no, no. The player
makes the decision when they are on a questionable diagnosis.
They say, okay, can you go or can you not go?
And then the coach will oftentimes defend the player when
they make that decision, But it's the it's the player's

(36:56):
decision to go or not go. And I wouldn't let
him play. No, no, no no, that doesn't happen. Yeah, and
I get that. But an example you gave on the
air a few months ago was if there was a
chance that your vocal cords were gonna go at any
moment and you could never speak again, you said you
would sit out and not do your radio. I said,
I said, you'd make a business decision. And that was

(37:19):
an example of the college right. But that's a big
difference because if I were already making millions of dollars, okay,
which is what Marcus Mariotte is doing, I said I
would make a business decision if I was a college kid.
If I'm a college kid, I'm not playing in the
bowl game because effectively, what you're telling me is, hey,

(37:39):
go out and risk your guarantee multimillion dollar contract on
this situation if I already make millions of dollars, And
there's not really an easy analogy for a radio show,
because like, what's the highest level we can achieve? You know,
it's not like we suddenly a sind to the playoffs

(38:01):
and I get into like a bracket style challenge against
Dan Patrick and Colin Calherd and everybody else to figure
out who's gonna be the greatest radio guy of the year,
and I get a huge prize at the end of
that year. But let's presume that, like I'm already making
millions of dollars. Let's say, like Marcus Mariotta, and then
I know that there is this huge prize at the

(38:22):
end of the year, and I'm gonna get awarded the
super Bowl of sports talker radio, and that Super Bowl
of sports talker radio is everything that we aspire to gain.
That's the reason why everybody is playing. Then I'm not
sitting out because my throat hurts. I'm just not doing it.
Like that's different. Then I think if you're making no

(38:43):
money and you're like, oh, it's totally makes a smart
business decision. Marcus Mariotta has made. I don't know what
the total number is, like twelve million dollars in his career,
and he has a twenty one million dollar option that's
already been picked up, so he's already made even if
he never plays an another snap, thirty three million dollars
in his career. And I just don't buy the fact

(39:06):
that he's suddenly going to get injured and never be
able to play again. He who is the last quarterback
to get injured in a game and never be able
to play again because he was so severely injured at
the quarterback position, probably Tim and that was in what

(39:27):
I mean, what do you guys can tweet me? Like
the quarterback position, it just doesn't happen that you suddenly
get injured and you're never able to play again, right,
I mean, it's almost unheard of. And find me a
guy who has gotten nerve damage and has never been
able to play again. I don't know. I want to
hear from Mario, and I wonder what he should have

(39:49):
to certainly answer questions, but the fact that the Titans
didn't cover for him is I think pretty big, Like
the Titans could have come out and been like, hey,
Mariota had a zero sent chance in retrospect. We were
dumb to put him out on the field on Thursday
and Friday. That's on us. We were trying to hide
the fact that and make the Colts think he was

(40:09):
gonna play. That was dumb. We blew this. They didn't
say that Marcus Mariota could have played and he didn't.
To me, that's on him. Got to be a franchise
quarterback guy, you've got to go. And I just don't
buy the fact that he faced career ending injury. If
he did, then there's no way he should have been
on practice on Thursday and Friday, and there was no
way he's listed as questionable. You're not listed as questionable

(40:31):
if you can't throw the ball and you face career
ending injury. Our two next live from the Geico OutKick Studios,
where fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more
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(40:52):
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True Car, True Cash offer not available in all areas. UH.
This is a fun show, I hope, even if it's
a sad day for many NFL fans out there, particularly

(41:13):
the Steelers, the Titans, and the Vikings who finished and
fifteen in a competition to be among the twelve teams
to make the NFL Playoffs. Will break down all of
those UH decisions for you and all the matchups as
we head into wild Card weekend in the NFL. Appreciate

(41:34):
you spending your New Year's Eve with us. My name
is Clay Travis. This has been the best year professionally
of my career. I want to thank all you guys
for supporting everything that I do UM and everything that
we do here at out Kick UH. The radio show
has seen blockbuster growth, affiliates coming on like crazy. I
think we were up over fifty percent in ratings this

(41:55):
year over last year, which is unheard of, UH for
this marketplace to be growing as much as we are,
and that's all because of you guys. The book came
out and did incredibly well at bookstores. Republicans by Sneakers too,
and I started a new television show which has been
a lot of fun four thirty Eastern on FS one

(42:16):
every day. Lock it in. So best year professionally of
my life. You guys are a big reason why that is.
We are reacting to the games that were played yesterday. Uh.
The best ending from the perspective of a team playing
their way into the playoffs. Well, it was what happened
in Baltimore this on fourth and ten. Look, I think

(42:36):
the Baker Mayfield has to be the rookie of the year.
Said an all time record for most touchdown passes by
a rookie. Actually gave Browns fans, Browns fans reasons for
optimism and uh and just could not quite get it done.
Missed one throw there on the final drive that would
have had the Browns and field goal range. H Baker

(42:57):
Mayfield fourth and ten drops to pass. This is what
it sounded like in Baltimore, fourth and ten, Baker Mayfield
to throw under pressure, his passes intercepted. C. J. Mosley
picked it off. So down Mosley when the intercepted. The
haze in the bar and the Ravens are in the
playoffs and this house is on four. They are dancing

(43:20):
in the aisles. Happy New Year. The Ravens are back
in the postseason. All right, the Ravens are back in
the postseason. Saturday's games, the Colts will go on the
road against the Texans. The Colts win last night Sunday
Night football in Nashville. Andrew Luck owns the city of Nashville.
I think you have to give him key to the city.

(43:40):
You might have to give him key to the governor's mansion. Uh.
The Colts. When Andrew Luck has now won eleven games
in a row against the Tennessee Titans, he's never lost
to them. It's never happened before in the history of
the NFL. Talk a lot about never happened before, and
sometimes people say, oh, Clay, you're way too much into hyperbole. Literally,

(44:01):
this has never happened before. No NFL team and quarterback
has won eleven straight before. I don't see any reason
why it's ever gonna end. I think it's possible, and
I may die before I see the Titans beat Andrew
Lux Uh Colts. As a result, the Colts are into
the postseason. It's even more remarkable when you consider it's

(44:21):
a divisional game, so it's like flipping a coin and
having it to come up eleven times in a row
in your favor. That's how good Andrew Luck is. I
think the Colts will go on the road and beat
the Texans, just like they did a couple of weeks ago.
I think the Colts are superior team to the Texans.
Think Andrew Luck is a superior quarterback to Deshaun Watson.
I'm taking the Colts to go on the road and
win that when they are ten what are they now?

(44:43):
Nine and one in their last ten the Indianapolis Colts
after starting one in five. I think they go on
the road Saturday, first playoff game of the weekend, and
I think the Colts beat the Texans. Uh. Then we
got the Seahawks on the road against the Cowboys. You
know what, I got Seahawks in this game too. I
ain't the Seahawks with Russell Wilson better quarterback than Dak

(45:05):
Prescott and the Cowboys were really mirror image football teams.
I think the Seahawks go on the road and beat
the Cowboys. That's the Saturday night game on Fox Sunday. Um,
the Chargers go on the road on against the Ravens.
You know what, I'm gonna take the Chargers here. I
think the Chargers go on the road and beat the Ravens.
Will certainly spend a lot of time talking about these

(45:26):
these games all week long, But I think the Chargers
go on the road and beat the Ravens. Uh. Eagles
Bears kind of feel like the Eagles gonna win two.
Kind of feel like a four game road team parlay.
Uh could be an order here, um as we break
down the games going ahead, that is your wild Card
weekend again. Colts, Texans, Seahawks, Cowboys on Saturday, and then Chargers,

(45:50):
Ravens and Eagles Bears on Sunday. Those are the four
games that we will see, of course, advancing and waiting
with the bye weeks. In the a f see your
number one overall seed, Kansas City Chiefs number two. Uh,
stop me if you're surprised. The New England Patriots. They
will try to get ready and wait and see who
they are gonna play. That's your a f C by teams.

(46:11):
And in the NFC, New Orleans Saints sitting and waiting
down in the Superdome, and the Rams get a decent
win against the forty Niners, they await to see who
will advance to play against them. We are unpacking a
lot of what we saw in the games over the weekend.
I am saying that Marcus Mariota had to go. He

(46:32):
is now dead to me, he was uh he played
on Thursday and Friday. I think sometimes the number one
thing that a quarterback has to be is available even
when he's playing hurt, and he chose not to do it.
Dub Am I being too tough on Marcus Mariotta. It's
just a tough situation because if you really can't feel
his arm, like you said earlier, why is he even practicing.

(46:53):
It just puts him in a bad spot and makes
the team look bad for putting him in that situation. Yeah,
and I think the idea that he can't fill his
arm is not true, right. I mean, he has had
a nerve issue since week one of the season. He
has played with it off and on all year long.
And if you are listed as questionable, then it's your
call whether or not you play. And if you practice

(47:16):
on Thursday and Friday, you have to be able to
go out and play there. We we don't have any
knowledge that Marcus Mariotta is ever going to be this
close to the playoffs again for the rest of his career.
There are guys all year who will fight and put
themselves into a position to try to play a game
as big as what the Titans had at home last year,

(47:36):
biggest home, biggest home game in a decade. Uh, and
he doesn't show up and play. Sorry, I don't believe
in you anymore. This is a proved to me that
you are the franchise quarterback kind of game. You want
to make twenty million plus a year, you gotta be
the guy to go out and make a play. And
he didn't do it, didn't even take the field. And

(47:57):
I think it's particularly grading in a city where Steve
McNair exists. Steve McNair played through an unbelievable litany of
injuries over and over and over again. The toughness meter
is set at a high level in Nashville based on
what Steve McNair did. So Mariota standing in a hoodie

(48:18):
on the sideline while his team gets their teeth kicked
in because they gotta play. Blaine Gabbert, I don't know
that Mariota can come back from this, and be honest
with you, I really don't. I don't know that he
can win back over his his fans. I don't know
that he can win back over his teammates. I don't
know that he can win back over this organization. I
think he had to play and he didn't do it.

(48:39):
And frankly, I think it's hard to defend him at
this point. Sucks to be injured. Play four seasons, haven't
been able to finish three. That's kind of what you are.
You're Mr Glass. I've been the biggest Mariota guy out
there because the ceiling when he's able to play is
really high. But if you play four NFL seasons and
in three of them you've and unable to finish the year,

(49:02):
you are Mr Glass. You don't know who Mr Glasses.
Go watch Unbreakable, Go watch the new the new movie
coming out called Glass. It's about a guy who just breaks.
Mariot is really talented, should be more durable than he is.
Six ft four, two thirty pounds. He breaks sucks which

(49:24):
didn't happen. Whish he wasn't injury prone. Could be an
incredible player if he could be on the field. But
you gotta be on the field, gotta be a warrior.
It's a gladiatorial sport. Never gonna feel well you've got
a chance to put your team in the playoffs, you've
gotta be there, especially this year when the a f
C is wide open. Wouldn't stun me if anybody who

(49:46):
made the playoffs in the a f C, with the
exception of the Ravens, who I think have a zero
percent chance of winning three straight games and going to
the playoffs because they can't throw the ball. Other than
the Ravens, I think anybody can go to the Super
Bowl out of the a f C. I really, he do.
We're opening up the phone lines eight seven, seven, nine,
six six three six nine. Who should we go to first? Uh? With?

(50:08):
With all these calls, dub we got Jared in Nashville.
By the way, I asked the question, find me a
quarterback who suffered a career ending injury on the field
and never been able to come back. Some people are
saying Alex Smith. Yes, Alex Smith had a brutal injury,
and he spent a lot of time with an infection,
had a bad broken leg. Still remains to be seen

(50:30):
whether Alex Smith will come back. I think he will
come back, but he had a brutal injury on the field,
not the kind of injury that Mariota had broken leg.
It was with Alex Smith in a severely badly broken leg.
But I still think he will come back and play again.
Nobody else can even give me a name right quarterback

(50:50):
position he had. R G three certainly has had injuries
and uh and played through those injuries, and maybe that
hurt his career. I think it hurt his career that
he's just not can't be a running quarterback in the NFL.
And We've seen a lot of these guys come in
and running quarterbacks and have really great runs and then
ultimately they fade out. I think that's what's happening with

(51:11):
Mark Jackson unless he develops into a passing quarterback. Remember
how hot everybody was for Tim Tebow. Eventually he got exposed.
Remember how hot everybody was for r G three got exposed.
Remember how excited everybody was about Vince Young got exposed.
Gotta be a pocket passing quarterback at some point? Uh?
Do we say, jarn and Nashville, what's up? Jared? Hello? Uh?

(51:35):
Long time saying first time, Tyler. I was wondering what
you thought about trading Mariota for whatever we can get
and then tank him for tall he's not the best
with injuries, but you know at least he comes back. Yeah,
nobody's gonna trade for Mariota, so let's start there. Nobody
is gonna Why would you trade for an injury played
quarterback who couldn't finish the season, so you're not gonna

(51:58):
get any value for him. Uh. I think that the
Titans are in a similar spot right now that the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers are with Jamis Winston. I don't think
either franchise. Mariot has been better than Winston. He's won
a playoff game, He's had his team in three straight
winning seasons with Mariota. Of course, they were all nine
and seven seasons, which is kind of the NFL kiss

(52:20):
of death because you're good enough to be in playoff contention,
but you're not good enough to really go very far
once you get into the playoffs. And also you get
crappy draft picks. That's why I said, like, the three
teams that I think are should be the saddest this
morning waking up are the Steelers, the Titans, and the
Vikings because you finished thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen in a

(52:42):
league where the top twelve teams make the playoffs, and
as a result, you get crappy draft picks and you
didn't make the playoffs. Literally, the worst place to be
if you are an NFL fan is just outside of
the playoffs, because you don't get the excitement of getting
a player who's the top ten pick that you think
could be a real difference maker. You probably get a
middle of the round, you know, nineteen, whatever the math is,

(53:05):
ninety one, I think it is in the NFL draft. Okay,
quality player there, not that good of a player. Honestly,
it's very rare that a guy comes in as the
twenty overall pick in the NFL draft and you're like, oh,
that guy was a difference maker between us being out
of the playoffs and then we made the playoffs the

(53:25):
next year with him. Just doesn't happen in the nine
range very often, so there's not real reason for optimism.
But nobody will trade for Mariota, just like nobody will
trade for Jamis Winston. Those guys are not gonna get
multi year deals. They're gonna play on their fifth year
rookie option that both teams have picked up, and if

(53:45):
they play well, I'm still not even sure they get
a sixth year long term deal. I think there's a
decent chance that if Mariota and Winston played well, they
get franchised for another year, and you'd say, Okay, prove
to me you can be good for two straight years,
because you don't want to commit to one of these
guys and give them like seventy million dollars eighty million dollars,

(54:07):
which is in the market right now, and make a
decision like that. I think, Look, the quarterback draft looks
to be stacked. There look to be a lot of
big time quarterbacks that will be all lined up in.
I don't think the draft looks that good. Um, we'll
see what the free agent market looks like for quarterbacks.
I think somebody's gonna give a hundred million dollars to

(54:27):
Nick Foles. Might be deserved. He's been extraordinary, But by
and large, I don't think there's a ton of reason
for optimism. Let's go to who's up next? Aaron? In Longview?
What's up? Aaron? Hey, Clay a big fan. Congratulations on
the great year. He definitely earned it. Um, you already
answered my questions about Mariota, but I had a question

(54:47):
about the Seattle Seahawks. My beloved team as their championship
window closed with the loss of Paul Allen and the
change of ownership. Are they gonna be just good enough
to hang in the playoff or are they gonna be
good enough to get a get over the finish line
anytime soon? Well? I mean, first of all, I love
Russell Wilson. I think he's probably the most underrated quarterback
in the NFL. UM, and he's had an incredible year

(55:09):
this year. I just said, running through the NFL wild
Card picture, I think the Seahawks go on the road
and beat the Cowboys. Um. The problem is, it's really
hard to go on the road and win three games. Now,
positive would be if you're a Seahawks fan is what
you have travels, great quarterback, solid defense, great running game. Okay,
I love all three of those attributes, But you look

(55:30):
at the breakdown right now. If you're a Seahawks fan,
you say, okay, we gotta go beat Dak Prescott and
Dallas Cowboys. Think you can do that? Mirror image teams,
They're not a not going to be a shocker. If
Russell Wilson plays better than Dak Prescott, in my opinion,
all right, then you would go Probably probably, if you
look at the breakdowns, probably likely that you would end
up on the road because I don't think that the

(55:52):
Eagles necessarily are going to go on the road and
beat the Bears. So it's hard to know exactly how
you would shake down, but you would either go on
the road against the Rams or against UH the uh
the uh Saints. Right, you feel like you played pretty
well against the Rams generally speaking, same thing with the Saints.

(56:12):
I'd probably prefer to play the Rams, but then you
gotta win that game and you gotta on the road again.
I think it's just hard to win three road games
right coming out of the wild card spots. So I
don't think you're real strong Super Bowl contender, but I
think that that the future is still bright with Russell
Wilson as you remake that defense and continue to build
around him. Anew all right, I will didn't take your
calls reacting to the NFL weekend that was. I want

(56:34):
to tell you about what I saw watching Alabama against
Oklahoma in person down in Miami this past Saturday, a
couple of days ago. I was down for that game
as well. I'll tell you what I saw there. We'll
talk a little bit about the college football playoff. Continue
to take your calls, load them up eight seven, seven, nine,
three six nine. We will talk with Alex Marvez, our
only guest today, Monday Edition, New Year's Eve, Happy New

(56:55):
Year in advance. This is out Kicked the coverage on
Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, Geik Alt Kick Studios. Car
shopping and be confusing with terms like dealer price, a
list price, and invoice. True Car shows you what other
people paid for the car you want, so you can
recognize a good price and you're ready to buy a
new or use car. Visit True Car to enjoy a

(57:17):
more confident car by experience. I was down for Alabama
and UH and Oklahoma, and I'll tell you what I
saw Kyler Murray versus two and talking about LOOA in
a moment. But first let's go ahead and bring in
I think Ryan Finley and find out what's shaking in
the world of sports. Hey, thanks Clay. Wild Card weekend
coming up here in the NFL and the a f C.

(57:38):
The Colts will play at the Texans at four three
five Eastern on Saturday. India is only the third team
in NFL history to make the playoffs after starting a
season one and five. The Ravens will host the Chargers
at one oh five Eastern next Sunday. Of course, Baltimore
beat l A in the regular season. The Chiefs grabbed
the top seed. They've have only won one playoff games.

(58:01):
The Patriots assumed the two seed, and their resume speaks
for itself. In the NFC, the Eagles are at the
Cowboys Sunday at four or forty Eastern. According to Fox's
Jay Glazer, Philly quarterback Nick Fools will be evaluated later
today for chest and rib injuries, which he suffered yesterday
versus the Redskins and in the other wild card game.
The Cowboys overcame a three and five start and will

(58:23):
host the Seahawks Saturday at eight fifteen Eastern. Saints the
one seed, Rams the two seed. Two head coaches got
the pink slip on Sunday, Buster Cutter and Jets Todd
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(58:45):
buying experience. Seth Davis of the athletic reporting u c
l A has fired basketball coach Steve Alford. One of
the Bruins losses was to Belmont, and of course Belmont
and Clay Travis territory in Nashville. That is indeed the case.
Uh Rick Bird done a good job at Belmont. Coming
to Alive from the Geico out Kick Studios where it's
easy to say fift cent or more on car insurance

(59:07):
with Geico. Go to Geico dot com or call eight
four seven auto only. Hard part figuring out which way
is easier. I was down in Miami. By the way,
The craziest story to come out of Miami is that
mark Errick has decided to retire, and within twenty four
hours they go and grab Manny Diaz who had already
accepted the Temple job. And so Temple now is looking

(59:27):
for a new head coach. Manny Diaz now the head
coach at the University of Miami, and we'll see if
he can bring the U back. Mark Rick seemed like
he had brought the U back for a short amount
of time there. That's a wild story, wild story to
follow there as Miami and mark Errick decides to retire
and Miami goes and hires Manny Diaz from the Temple

(59:51):
owls Now. I was down in Miami for the game.
By the way, before I go to that, I've got
a pull question up for you. Uh. We spent a
lot of time talking about this on the show so far. Uh,
Poul question is simple, I'm at Clay Travis. You can
go vote in it. Marcus Mariotta practiced on Thursday and
Friday and was listed as questionable for a playoff play
in game. Do you believe he should have played the

(01:00:13):
last night at home against the Colts Um. There are
a thousand of you who have voted so far, and
eight percent of you are saying yes, eight percent of
you saying that he should have played. Now speaking of
played to a came back from a high ankle sprain,
and played basically a phenomenal game against the Oklahoma Sooners.

(01:00:34):
And this is why I've always said this, you cannot
award the Heisman Trophy until the full year, in my opinion,
is complete. Kyler Murray came out and got exposed in
the beginning of that game. Alabama shut him down for
the first quarter, took control, was up twenty eight nothing,
and effectively that game was over at that point in time.

(01:00:57):
Alabama never outer what about like what five minutes in
they were up fourteen nothing, and they were never not
leading by double digits for the rest of that game. Now,
credit for Oklahoma, they did not completely quit or anything
like that, but you felt like Alabama could name their
score against that defense and the Tide just decided to

(01:01:19):
take a lot of the air out of the game.
Score at halftime is thirty one to ten, Alabama's up
three touchdowns. The fact that Alabama did not cover is
brutal if you are a gambler, because they had complete
control of that game. They took a knee inside of
the ten yard line and to run out the clock
as opposed to covering. But that game was never in doubt,

(01:01:42):
and watching that game in person, I do think it's
an intriguing decision that Kyler Murray has to make. Does
he decide to go play in baseball or does he
go pro in the NFL. I don't see any reason
why you wouldn't put your name in the NFL draft.
If you were Kyler Murray at this point, somebody might

(01:02:02):
take you in the first round and think, hey, this
guy can be Russell Wilson. This guy can be a
really high level former baseball player who can make all
the throws from all the different angles. The forty nine
yard touchdown past he made was fantastic, fantastic. I know

(01:02:22):
he's undersized, I know he wouldn't measure that well, but
why wouldn't you go in the NFL draft? If you're
Kyler Murray and see where you get drafted. People say, oh,
you have a lot longer career in baseball, and that's
certainly true, but you also have a really high chance
of never making major league baseball. There are a lot
of first round draft picks in major league baseball. I'd

(01:02:44):
love to know the data on this who never end
up playing in the major leagues. The baseball draft is massive.
You have to work your way up, you have to
play in the minor leagues for a long time. There
are a lot of high draft picks in baseball that
never make the major leagues. If Kyler Murray gets drafted
into the NFL, he's gonna play in the NFL, especially

(01:03:05):
if he gets drafted highly in this draft where there
aren't necessarily a lot of big time quarterbacks. Drew Lock,
I think I'll go high Will Greer's gonna go high.
Dwayne Haskins if he officially comes out. But I'm not
sure those are three guys that just set the world
on fire for you. Drew Locks, the latest Missouri quarterback,

(01:03:27):
Blaine Gabbert, no good, Chase Daniel been around forever. Maybe
Drew Lock is gonna be really good. I love his
deep ball throw, I like his size, I like his
ability in the pocket. Will Greer flashes of brilliance, flashes
of mediocrity. Dwayne Haskins, I'm just not sold on him necessarily,

(01:03:50):
big statuesque, pocket passer kind of guy. I can see
somebody falling in love with Kyler Murray and taking him
in the first round. I really can, And if that
were to happen, it doesn't seem like it's an awful decision.
Sixty of first surrounders in the major league draft actually
make the major leagues. Okay, that's a good stat Thanks

(01:04:13):
for Dub for tracking that down. How many of those
first surrounders actually end up big time players in Major
league baseball? Half a third? You know in this idea
that if you are people like well, you can have
a lot longer career in baseball. Yeah, if you're really good.

(01:04:34):
If you're really good, you can have a lot longer
career in Major League Baseball. But if you get drafted
and get into the into the situation where you're a
franchise quarterback, you can make a lot of money in
the NFL too. So I think Kyler Murray's got an
intriguing question to decision to make. But I think two,

(01:04:55):
I should have won the Heisman Trophy. I thought on
Saturday night, we saw that to A could have thrown
for five yards against that Oklahoma defense if he had
needed to. Kyler Murray after the game was already decided,
after his team was down twenty eight, nothing made some plays.
Congratulations to him, but even Oklahoma fans did not feel

(01:05:16):
like they ever had a chance. It was kind of funny.
I was in line coming back from South Florida yesterday,
and you know how it is on like Sunday, cruise
ships disembark and I was in the Fort Lauderdale Airport,
massive huge collection of people to zoo in the airport.
It's a lot of Oklahoma and Alabama fans there, and

(01:05:37):
this guy got off a cruise ship and uh, he
was talking to some Oklahoma fans in front of me
and he said, hey, I I didn't get to watch
the game. I was on a cruise ship. He said, Uh,
was the game as close as the score? I don't
know what the final score was. What wasn't like forty

(01:05:57):
forty five to thirty four or something like that. And
the Oklahoma fans felt like they were like getting trash
talk and they were like, no, the final game was.
The final score was not as close as the game.
Even Oklahoma fans never really felt like they ever had
a chance to win that football game. Defense never got
to stop when you needed it to. Even when they
scored ten unanswered in the third quarter to make it

(01:06:20):
thirty one twenty. You never felt like Oklahoma remotely had
a chance to stop Alabama. So Alabama gets the win.
The other side of the equation, Clemson dominates Notre Dame.
I think there's a legitimate question now going forward about
whether Notre Dame ever gets the benefit of the doubt

(01:06:41):
to make the college football playoff again, because the last
time they made the big time game against Alabama, they
got destroyed. The biggest story of Alabama Notre Dame the
last time they played was how good looking a J.
McCarron's girlfriend was that how bad of a beat down
that game was, And the same thing happened minus the

(01:07:04):
good looking girlfriend against Clemson. It was an utter destruction
that we saw Clemson put on Notre Dame, and frankly,
Notre Dame didn't look ready for Prome prime time. And
I told you, I said, this is the challenge that
the College Football Playoff Committee has. Notre Dame was not
one of the four best teams in college football. They

(01:07:25):
were one of the four most deserving. But if you
were just ranking teams by whether they deserved to be
into the College Football Playoff or not, Georgia would have
gotten in over Notre Dame and Georgia would have played
Clemson a lot closer, may well have beaten Clemson. Trevor
Lawrence the hell of a player. Clemson has got a

(01:07:47):
lot of good young talent. I love te Higgins a
wide receiver. Um, he's gonna make a lot of money
in the NFL. But I think Georgia could have played
that game competitively. But that's the bad lencing act at
the College Football Playoff Committee finds itself facing. Are you
going to reward the best or the most deserving teams.

(01:08:08):
Georgia was the most deserving team, but a sorry, Georgia
was the better team. But Notre Dame was the most
deserving team. And so as a result, you know, it's
interesting to me. I was looking at these ratings. College
football playoff ratings tanked. Why didn't people watch on Saturday?
I don't know. Was it because a lot of people

(01:08:28):
were caught by surprise? Was that that the matchups weren't
very good and most people assume we were gonna get
Alabama Clemson Part four? Now people are traveling out. I'm
gonna travel out to Santa Clara, out to the Bay
Area to go watch Alabama and Clemson play for the
fourth straight year. You know, I talked to a lot
of Alabama fans and some Clemson fans too. I think

(01:08:51):
a lot of people are like, man, I don't want
to travel all the way out to Santa clar It's
expensive to follow your team. Both these teams have won
championships recently. What they should do is just play this
game in Atlanta. Would be a really difficult ticket. If
they did that. Instead, you got everybody having to travel
all the way across the country. It's not that easy.
To get to the Bay Area from most of the South.

(01:09:12):
Atlanta's got tickets, got some NonStop direct flights. No NonStop
direct flights to the Bay areas in the whole state
of South Carolina. None in the entire state of Alabama,
even where I live, not that many flights in from
Nashville NonStop to the Bay area. Atlanta has got a few,

(01:09:32):
but it's just not an easy trip, and so I
think college football has got some Saban fatigue. I think
he has so dominated the top of college football that
your casual fan doesn't even tune in because they just
assume Alabama's gonna do to Oklahoma what they did get
up twenty eight nothing. I think a lot of people
don't really care about Clemson, and I think they didn't

(01:09:55):
believe in Notre Dame. As a result, the ratings were
down like off of last year. Now, last year you
had a scintillating game in the College Football Playoff between
Georgia and Oklahoma, one of the best college football games
you'll ever see. But man, that's the exception. So far

(01:10:16):
in terms of college football. We've played ten semifinal games,
eight of them have been blowout and I think that's
the biggest argument against expanding the college football playoff to eight.
You thought Alabama was good against Oklahoma. Can you imagine
what they would have done to Central Florida if they
had gotten to play Central Florida after several weeks to prepare.

(01:10:41):
It would have been even more of a disaster. And
so I think that's the best argument against expanding to
eight is there just aren't eight teams that deserve to
be in the playoff. Speaking of which, how about Michigan.
Probably gonna unpack this later in the week. Difficult to
defend Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. Now, there's a lot of

(01:11:02):
people out there who came after me when I said, look,
Jim Harbaugh is the most overrated coach in the history
of college football. Did you see what Dan Mullen did
to him on Saturday early kick? Maybe a lot of
you didn't watch. Michigan got whipped. I aint Jim Harball
has got a real decision to make as to whether
or not he goes back to the NFL because based

(01:11:22):
on what we saw from Michigan against Ohio State and
what we saw against Florida, Florida's not a very good
team this year. Nine and three entering this game, got
dominated by Missouri, dominated by Georgia, lost by double digits
to Kentucky. It's not a good football team. They're gonna
be good, I think under Dan Mullen, not a good

(01:11:42):
football team right now. And to have that game go
the way it did. For Michigan to come back after
getting destroyed by Ohio State and then get destroyed by
Florida too, by the way, I think it's hard to
de fen Jim Harball right now, and it's hard for
Michigan fans, I think to argue, hey, you know what,

(01:12:04):
we're close to the college football Playoff and winning a championship. No,
you're not. Can you imagine what Alabama would have done
to Michigan if they had gotten by Ohio State. Would
have been a blood bath, would have been an utter
disaster for Jim Harball in Michigan. Alabama would have destroyed them,
might have beaten by fifty. I don't think Michigan is
even close to being a championship caliber team. I think

(01:12:27):
if you're a Michigan Wolverine fan in the way of
that defeat, you had to sit back and say, you
know what, I think Clay Travis is right Jim Harbaugh
is okay. I thinks maybe it's time to acknowledge that
our ceiling as a program nine and three, ten and three,
ten and two. Maybe, if everything goes perfectly, that's your ceiling.

(01:12:48):
A lot of difference between Alabama and Michigan, between Clemson
in Michigan, Hell is a lot of difference between Ohio
State and Michigan. Jim Harball has not adjusted to the
current offensive reality in the college football game, and his
pro style offense looks pedestrian and slow compared to everybody else.

(01:13:11):
Gonna open up the phone lines, take your calls to
finish off our two uh pull question up should Marcus
Mariotta have played? Given the fact that he practiced on
Thursday and Friday. We have spent a lot of time
discussing that on this show. We will also at the
second segment of our three talk with Alex Marvez have

(01:13:31):
him break down all of these NFL wild card matchups
and what he is hearing as Black Friday arrives and
many coaches will officially be relieved of their duties across
the NFL. Happy early New Year. This is outkicked the
coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live
editions of Outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at

(01:13:53):
six am Eastern three am Pacific. Welcome back Geico Outkicks Studios.
Hey sports fans, it is Wildcard weekend in the NFL,
and you may well want to gamble on the games.
And if you do, get in on the action with
my bookie dot Net use promo code Clay when you

(01:14:14):
register for your account and get a fifty sign up bonus.
No deposit necessary. Terms and conditions apply for entertainment purposes only,
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code Clay c l A Y go get hooked up there. Um,
we are reacting to the weekend that was in college

(01:14:37):
football and in the NFL. We got a couple of
different people who want to jump in. I think a
couple of interesting points here. Um, we have the uh
the numbers on. We're talking about Kyler Murray and the
decision he's got to make. And there are of the
first round UH major league baseball draft picks. A small

(01:14:59):
number of them in general end up having three plus
year major league baseball careers around or so you actually
have a higher probability of having a multi year NFL
career if you are a first round pick, then you
do if you are a first round pick in Major

(01:15:19):
league baseball. So I understand everybody out there who's making
the argument, Oh, longevity wise, Kyler Murray should go to
major league baseball. I don't think if he if he
could be a first round NFL pick, he's actually got
better longevity at the quarterback position than he does in
Major league baseball. And by the way, the other thing is,
I think if he went to the NFL and it

(01:15:42):
didn't work out for him after his rookie contract, he
could always go back to major league baseball. I don't
think if you go into major league baseball that you
could ever come back and play football again. So I
think there's a pretty strong argument that Kyler Murray should
go to the NFL instead of Major league baseball if

(01:16:03):
he wants to have the best chance to maximize a
pro career. And that's a little bit counterintuitive, but when
you look at the numbers, I think there's a strong
argument there. Uh, Kyle in Kentucky, what's up, hey, Clay
Love the show Man. Uh, I'm fairly certain to this.
I don't have Google in front of make some driving.
But I believe when Kim Griffy Junior went into the

(01:16:23):
Hall of Fame, he was the first number one pick
in the history of the Major League Baseball Draft to
go into the Hall of Fame, so that that might
be well be true. But remember, Kyler Murray was not
the number one draft pick. I think he was number
nine overall. One of the guys can look that up
for me. I think he was number nine overall in
the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft. But

(01:16:44):
but you might be right about King Griffy Jr. As
the overall to how the success rate is yeah, yeah, right,
uh well yeah, but I think Kim Griffy Jr. Was
the number one thanks for the call. Was the number
one overall number one pick, right, I think he was
the first pick in his draft, and then going into
the Hall of Fame may well may well be true.

(01:17:05):
There are certainly a lot of guys who have been
first round picks and gone into the Hall of Fame.
I don't I mean that that would that that is
not true. But I think again, Kyler Murray is a
first round pick. He wasn't the overall number one pick
in the first round, but if you look at the
statistics over the last several years, you're guaranteed a four

(01:17:27):
year contract if you are a first round pick in
the NFL. Now, I'm not sure that somebody would take
Kyler Murray in the first round of the NFL draft,
But why wouldn't you put your name in and go
through the process and see where your name got called.
And if you're a first round pick, go ahead and
try out football, and if it doesn't work, you can

(01:17:49):
leave a couple of years in. You're like, man, you
know what, I'm not tall enough. I'm having trouble seeing
over the line of scrimmage. I'm not able to make plays.
I'm not winning this job. I'm not a franchise quarterback.
You go back into the NFL, go back into Major
League Baseball. I don't see why that's a difficult decision
at all. Let's go to Chris in Michigan. What you

(01:18:10):
got for me? Hey, Clay, who love the show? Um?
As far as horrorball, you know the money's there in Michigan.
I don't know who they'd replace him with. And the
other thing ESPN is if their announcers aren't gonna get
off of who's playing and who's not playing in these games?
You know it's it's gonna make it unwatchable. I get
tired of hear and watching that Michigan game. Almost wanted

(01:18:32):
to turn it off. Oh we got four players that
aren't playing in the bowl game, big deal, you know,
talk about the players that aren't playing. Yeah, you know what,
And I thanks for the call. I do. I do
think the guys sitting out the bowl games is becoming overrated.
And what I mean by that is the guys who
are sitting out the bowl games aren't overall impacting the
outcome that substantially. The Michigan went out and lost and

(01:18:55):
got whipped. If they had had all those guys who
were sitting out, they would have still gotten whipped. Right,
Like the average fan overreacts, the overrates the impact of
one or two players. If your quarterback is sitting out,
then things can change, like West Virginia when Will Greer
decides to sit out, the line move ten points. All right,

(01:19:15):
that's a big change. That was a fundamental alteration in
the game. Unless your quarterback is sitting out, things aren't
really changing in a substantial way. All right, we come
back top of our three. We will dive back into
the NFL playoff picture, talk about the wild card games. Also,
we will talk with my guy Alex Marvez. He will
join us an hour three. This is out Kicked the coverage.

(01:19:36):
Appreciate all of you. Happy New Year in advance. Appreciate
all the support you guys have given the show over
the past year. This is outcare the coverage on Fox
Sports Radio live from the guy go out Kick Studios
where fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more
on car insurance. Visit Geico dot com for a free

(01:19:59):
rate vote. Appreciate all of you spending your New Year's
Eve with me uh here on out Kick. Been a
great year for us. I hope you guys have had
a good eighteen. I hope you all have a safe
and fun uh turn into nineteen. If you decide to
stay up for New Year's Eve. If you decide not
to stay up for New Year's Eve, uh, then I

(01:20:20):
certainly understand that because guess what, your kids probably are
not going to sleep in on New Year's as well. Uh.
We have the NFL wild Card games all set and
really there was not a great deal of drama except
for in the a f C North race, which came
down between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The

(01:20:43):
Steelers gut out a win over the Cincinnati Bengals, then
stay out on their field to sit and watch the
ending against the Ravens. The Cleveland Browns, Baker Mayfield, who
I think should be your Rookie of the Year, is
driving late. Misses a three oh I think it was
on second down. Misses a throw on second down to

(01:21:05):
Jarvis Landry that would have likely put the the Browns
into field goal range. Now, the Browns missed a field
goal at the end of the first half that was
very makeable, but they would have had a chance potentially
to kick a field goal. Misses a throw on second
down that I think he would like to have back.
And then on fourth and ten, this is what it

(01:21:26):
sounded like from the Baltimore Ravens radio network. Fourth and ten,
Baker Mayfield to throw under pressure, his passes intercepted. C J.
Mosley picked it off, throw down Moseley with the intercepted.
The haze of the bar and the Ravens are in
the playoffs and this house is on fire. They are
dancing in the aisles. Happy New Year, the Ravens are

(01:21:50):
back in the postseason. One year after Andy Dalton comes
in and knocks the Ravens out of the knocks the
Ravens out of the playoffs and puts the Bills into
the playoffs. The Ravens narrowly avoid disaster they go into
the playoffs. I gotta say this, I think that Lamar
Jackson is the only quarterback in the a f C
who can't take his team to the Super Bowl. And

(01:22:12):
in particular, if you were watching this game late, did
you see what play the Ravens ran on third and
five trying to run out the clock up by two points,
they ran Lamar Jackson on the option. I'm sorry, third

(01:22:33):
and five with a chance to end the game. When
you know Baker Mayfield is going to get the ball
back and drive and have a chance to win the game.
You have to have a quarterback that you're comfortable with
throwing the football, and the Ravens don't have that. I
don't think the Ravens have a chance to win in

(01:22:53):
this year's playoffs with Lamar Jackson. I mean, look, they
have a great defense, they have a very good rushing attack,
and if they keep the game close or they have
a small lead, then they can find a way to
win and gut out victories. But ultimately, I think what
r G three has shown us so far, and frankly,

(01:23:14):
what Josh Allen has shown us so far too, is
they're a little bit of flash in the pan running quarterbacks.
And what we've seen with Tim Tebow and what we've
seen with r G three and what we saw with
Vince Young is if you're a rushing quarterback, you can
have a really good start to your career, but you

(01:23:35):
never actually advance very far at all. Not saying the
Ravens can't win a playoff game. They might remember Tim
Tebow beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime, but they are
going to get exposed at some point in time. If
the Ravens win and they were to go on the road,
for instance, against the Patriots, I think it would be

(01:23:56):
a disaster for the Ravens. I really do. Now. Defensively,
they can make plays, they may be able to keep
it close. There's no way that Lamar Jackson would have
success against the Bill Belichick defense. So we'll see exactly
what ends up happening. But for the wild card set
up the Colts, I was at this game last night.

(01:24:17):
The Colts came into Nashville, and Andrew Luck owned the
city of Nashville. He just does. He's won eleven straight
games against the Titans, which is unheard of. Nick Saban
has won twelve in a row against the University of Tennessee.
Now that's a unbelievable streak of dominance by Nick Saban,

(01:24:41):
but it's not unheard of for a college football team
to win twelve in a row, even in a rivalry setting.
What is unheard of has never happened before in the
history of the NFL for a quarterback to own a
other franchise like Andrew Luck owns the Titans. And I

(01:25:04):
started off the show talking about this. Congrats to the Colts,
props to Andrew Luck for getting it done. I think
the Colts are gonna go on the road and beat
the Texans. I think there are a better team than
the Texans are. We saw him go on the road
and win a couple of weeks ago. I think the
Texans will lose to the Colts. But I think the
story coming out of last night's game Titans and Colts

(01:25:28):
was Marcus mariot to not playing. I opened the show
with this, The Titans let Mario to practice on Thursday
and Friday. On Thursday and Friday, he practices, and then
on Sunday morning, even though he's listed as questionable, suddenly

(01:25:48):
comes the report that he's not gonna play. Unacceptable, Unacceptable
on all levels. If he is so injured that he's
not able to play in a layoff game at home,
the biggest home game in a decade, then there's no
way he should have been on the field on Thursday
and Friday in practice, And there's no way he should

(01:26:09):
have been listed as questionable. He should have been out,
should have been on I R. Should have never been
any doubt that he was not playing all week long.
When you put a guy as questionable and when he
plays on practices on Thursday and Friday, when he's on
the field, what you're telling me is he gets to

(01:26:32):
make the final call on whether or not he plays.
And Mariota made the final call and said I'm not
gonna play. Might be the smart decision, might even be
the right business decision for him, but I think it
cripples him for fans, and I think it's gonna hurt
him in the locker room in the long term, and
I think it hurts him with this organization. You play

(01:26:54):
your entire career to have a chance to get into
the playoffs and compete for an oportunity to go to
the super Bowl. We don't know if Marcus Mariota will
ever be this close to the playoffs again. And in
a playoff situation this year where it's as wide open
as possible, I think you have to play, period. I
think that's the truth. Now, the Titans organization may come

(01:27:18):
out and they may defend Marcus Mariota and they may say, oh,
this was our call. Don't believe it. When you're listed
as questionable and you go out and you practice on
Thursday and Friday, you can make the call to play.
Your team is not going to say no, no, no,
you can't play. And I think the results is this. Look,
Marcus Mariota has played four years in the NFL. If

(01:27:40):
you listen to this show, you know I am a
big Mariota proponent. But ultimately, the NFL is a business,
and Mariota has been unable to finish the season in
three out of the four games seasons that he's played
this year, got knocked out in three out of the
four seasons. No way you can commit to that guy
long term. You can't give him a hundred million dollars.

(01:28:03):
I can't do it. I feel the same way about
Marcus Mariota's I do Jamis Winston not franchise quarterbacks. Nothing
in four years has convinced me that those these are
the guys in the year five. Mariota has been better
than Winston. He's won a playoff game. He's had three
straight winning seasons with the Titans, something they've never done before.
Of course, the winning seasons are nine and seven. But

(01:28:25):
there's nothing about Marcus Mariotta that's made me convinced, Hey,
this is a guy you can give twenty million dollars
plus two a year. I think you could find yourself
in the same situation Alex Smith is in with the
Redskins right now, except Alex Smith had a lot more
durability than Marcus Mariotta. Alex Smith gets injured, Redskins are

(01:28:47):
up against it because they've guaranteed him so much money.
You bring back Marcus Mariota for year five, and I
think you do the same thing now with Jamis Winston.
You'll let them play under their fifth year option in
year five, and then you make a decision if they
can stay healthy, if they put you in the running
to make the playoffs, then you can make a decision
about their long term future on the franchise. Uh. If

(01:29:11):
you still don't feel like, hey, this guy's worth a
lot of money long range, franchise him. I think Mariota
is the perfect franchise quarterback option. If you don't think
a guy can stay healthy, why would you want to
play him on more than a year to year basis.
Jamis Winston's had off the field related issues, but I

(01:29:33):
think the Bucks and the Titans are in the same spot.
Let him play out year five, see how year five goes,
and then probably make him an offer that is nowhere
near twenty million plus a year, unless year five is
just like an m v P caliber season, and then
franchise him if you feel like you want him for

(01:29:55):
year six and make them stay healthy and be studs
for two years in a row. And then if you
see that, okay, you go out and you make the
commitment to them. But I've seen nothing to suggest that
Marcus Mariotte is the guy or that Jamis Winston is
the guy long term that you should be investing a
lot of money in I'd rather have Nick Foles than both.

(01:30:16):
You told me right now, you can have Nick Foles
for the next five years, or you can have Jamis
Winston or Marcus Mariota. I'm taking Nick Foles. I mean,
guys want a super Bowl and if you watch the
way he's played down the stretch with the Eagles, Nick
Foles looks like a franchise caliber quarterback. Now maybe it's
fool's gold. Maybe somebody's gonna give a lot of money

(01:30:36):
to Nick Foles, Gonna turn out like Kirk Cousins could happen.
But it's hard to find quarterbacks. And if you think
you just have a mediocre one, the last thing I
want to do is be connected to a mediocre quarterback
who has a major injury history. I think there's a
good chance of that being the case. We'll ask Alex
Marvez about all. This will break down all of the

(01:30:58):
NFL Wild Card Game. If you're just waking up across
the country, Happy New Year. This games have been set. Saturday,
we will see Colts, Texans, Seahawks, Cowboys, and then on
Sunday we got Chargers, Ravens, Eagles, Bears. Will break down
all those wild card matchups for you. With Alex mar Ravez.
He joins us every single Monday. He will join us next.

(01:31:20):
It's Alex Marvez at Alex Marvez on Twitter. This is
Outkicked the coverage New Year's Eve edition. Happy New Year
to you guys early. Thanks for spending your New Year's Eve,
the early part of it anyway with us here on
OutKick be safe tonight. This is Fox Sports Radio. Welcome
back Geico. OutKick Studios were brought to you by True Car.

(01:31:42):
When it comes to selling or trading in your car,
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truecr True Cash offer not available in all areas. About
to be joined by Alex Marvezman. First, Brian Finley, what
you got for me? Hey? Thank you so much? Which
Clay the NFL Turning now to the playoffs. The a

(01:32:03):
f C wild Card Games will feature the Colts at
Texans at four thirty five Eastern on Saturday, and the
Ravens will host the Chargers at one oh five Eastern
next Sunday. According to NFL insider Adam Schefter this morning.
L A running back Melvin Gordon will play despite coming
off the field yesterday with an apparent injury, and tightened
Hunter Henry, who had an a c L tear during

(01:32:24):
the offseason, will suit up as well. In the NFC,
the wild card matchups are the Eagles at the Bears
Sunday at four forty Eastern and the Cowboys versus the
Seahawks Saturday at eight fifteen Eastern. Saints, of course, the
one seed Rams, the two seed Bucks and Jets are
way out of the postseason hunt, so what do they do?
They fire their head coaches on Sunday Dirt Cutter with

(01:32:45):
Tampa and New York with Todd Bowles, and please don't
expect those two to be the oldly ones. Let go. Hey,
ready to sell or trade in your car, check out
True are True cash offered? Not available in all areas.
Set Davis of the Athletic reporting u c l A

(01:33:05):
has fired basketball coach Steve Alford, and the Bruins have
a four game losing streak right now and Finally, the
University of Miami has named Many Diaz as its next
head football coach. That was on Sunday this coming after
Mark Rick retired Sunday morning play back to you. We
are coming to you alive from the Guy Goo out

(01:33:26):
kick Studios, where it's easy to say more on car
insurance with Geico geo dot com or call eight seven Auto.
The only hard part figuring out which way is easier.
That's a crazy move at Miami for Mark Rick to
be retiring and from manny Ds to be brought back
twenty four hours, within twenty four hours of Rick retiring

(01:33:48):
from the job he'd already accepted at Temple, just absolutely wild.
Let's bring in Alex Marvez. Let's start here, Alex. How
many NFL head coaches do you think you're gonna get
fired by the end of today? Well, we got to
right that. We're still waiting on Vance Joseph. And actually
it's weird because I got some mixed signals on whether
Vance would be back. Even all sides they're pointing to

(01:34:09):
him being out. But the Broncos didn't announce anything after
the game. A lot of times teams do that, I
think in the case of the Arizona Cardinals. And this
may sound goofy, but it's it's awkward when the coaches
fired and being on the same flight, you know, all
the way back home. And you know, so I think
in this case with Steve Wilkes will probably wait until
the morning to go down that rabbit hole, and you know,
we it maybe a day or two after that. I

(01:34:30):
think the Cardinals to just have to see the landscape
of Okay, what's out here? Do we want to let
this guy have another shot in a Steve time, you know,
the right general manager. But you notice it. It's interesting too,
like Tampa Bay and the New York Jets, they're keeping
their general managers. Well, isn't one of the reasons that
these head coaches didn't succeed because some of the personnel
decisions weren't all that great. Interesting how these teams seem

(01:34:55):
to be giving executives more run here. And you know,
in the case of Macagnet and in the case of Jason,
Mike Cagnet and Jason, like with the Jets and Bucks respectively,
and their head coaching changes, you know, the arguments now
gonna be made, Well, they can hire their own guy
rather than being matched with someone. It worked out with
Matt Maggie, you know, and Ryan Pace in Chicago. We'll
see if it works out for these guys, but paint

(01:35:15):
me a little bit skeptical. We're talking to Alex Marvez.
Go follow him on Twitter at Alex Marvez. Al Right,
let's start with Sunday Night football. I so the Colts
and Andrew Luck are I think good enough to win
the a f C and the and and go to
the Super Bowl. So let's start on that side. There
nine and one in their last ten after starting I
believe one in five and uh, and I think they're

(01:35:37):
gonna beat the Texans on the road in that wild
card game. Um, do you agree with me about the
Colts and the fact that they're good enough to win
the a f C and this year where it seems
like it's totally wide open? And what did you think
about what you saw from Andrew Luck last night? Well,
a couple of things about this. I think it's it's
matchup wise. They match up great against Houston, right, I mean, yeah,

(01:36:00):
y Hilton average is a hundred yards receiving a game
against the Houston Texans during his career. I mean, and
that's back when the Colts didn't have a great offense.
And you know t Y by the way, nine hundred
fifty one yards in receiving since week eight. It is
the highest average in the NFL. He's averaging a hundred
five points seven yards per game during that span. But
you know what, and we're talking about Andrew Luck in

(01:36:21):
his Colts offense. Let's not give short trip to this
defense here. They have allowed the fewest points in the
NFL since Week nine. How about that? A hundred and
thirty one, that is it? And Darius Leonard obviously leading
the way with a franchise record one hundred sixty three tackles.
What an incredible rookie. I mean, Pierre de Seer, you know,
young man. I think it came out of Lindwood or
something college. I'm not choking when I say this. You know,

(01:36:43):
weird travel story for him to make it to the league.
But he's actually becoming a bit of a shutdown guy
and not letting opposing wide receivers take over a game.
And you know, Deniko Autrey, hey, if you're not good
enough to rush the passer for the Raiders like Killio Mack,
why don't you go ahead and do it somewhere else.
He's done a nice job on that front too. But
I will like this. I like to match up against Houston.
I don't like their possibilities maybe going elsewhere. And when

(01:37:05):
I say that outdoor indoor team playing outdoors potentially in Foxboro,
Andrew Luck has never beaten Bill Belichick. He didn't do
it again this season in Foxboro. And the same thing
with Kansas City playing outdoors. I'm just not sure if
they're really that they're at that step yet, that they
can do this. I don't want to sell them short,
but I think when Sunday or when this weekend very possible.

(01:37:25):
In the first game continued in week two, not so
much ugly into the season for the Tennessee Titans. Marcus
Mariotta goes out and practices on Thursday and Friday. He's
listed as questionable, and then on Sunday news comes out
and they and they say, oh, he's not gonna play.
What happened there? What do you think the future is

(01:37:48):
for Mariota? You know you've been on this show a lot.
I'm a Mariota believer. Coming in he's lost me. I mean,
I would be honest with you. Uh, this four seasons now,
three of them he hasn't been able to finits because
of injury, not playing on last night. To me, after
you go out and you're practicing on Thursday and Friday

(01:38:09):
and you're listed as questionable, I I just either the
Titans have bungled this or he has um And also
in this situation now, I don't think you can commit
to him long term because of his health status. Like
it's a little bit different than maybe with Jamis Winston,
where you question a lot of the decision making. I
just think it's unfortunate, like Mariota hasn't been able to
stay healthy, and if I'm going to be committing twenty

(01:38:32):
million plus for years to come on a quarterback, he's
got to be able to take the field and he's
gotta be able to finish the season. Well. A couple
of things about this. Number One, let's not forget the
subterfuge that goes on in the NFL. The only thing
that people saw from Marcus Mariotta when it came to
the reports about him practicing is that they see him
throwing a football on the side while the team is
warming up to go practice, and they listed him as

(01:38:54):
questionable and if we're to take to ESPN reported its
word that you know he was gonna potentially suffer permanent
damage that would have not allowed him to continue to
play football. If he took the wrong type of hit, well,
I really can't stop. Let me stop there. Every single quarterback,
if they take the wrong hit, could suffer permanent damage
and not be able to play again. Like that. Not

(01:39:16):
every quarterback is having a not every quarterbacks having a
spine specialist. Tell them entering a game, you have suffered
an injury. Okay, if that you play. If that is true, though, Alex,
there's no way on earth he should be on if
you're using the injury history in any way, the injury
report in any way is valid. There's no way on
earth that he should be out on the field in

(01:39:37):
a helmet, in a uniform doing anything at practice on
Thursday and Friday period period. Find a billion dollars if
that is true. If this guy could get paralyzed, if
he just like we know a lot of times it
happens in non contact situations. The Titans should get find
a billion dollars by the NFL because they put a

(01:39:59):
guy out in practice and said he was questionable when
there was a zero percent chance of him playing, and
also he could have gotten paralyzed in practice. All right,
my argument is no argument play. And by the way,
what about a lawsuit when it comes to potential gambling
and liability if you're talking about teams that aren't on
the up and up, and they're not they're not listing
players because, like you said, if there's a if there's

(01:40:19):
a serious risk, then someone needs to be accountable, right,
And you think the guy is gonna get paralyzed if
that's what you believe, if that report is accurate, and
and what I think happened here is multiple different doctors
giving multiple different diagnosises, and I think that the one
that they decided to put out I think it was
Mariota's agent leaking. It is the worst, most devastating one
possible to cover for the fact that his guy wasn't

(01:40:41):
going to play UM And so people are like, oh, well,
he could have gotten parent Like every single time a
quarterback lines up under center, he could suffer career ending injury.
It usually doesn't happen. Maybe it's gonna happen. With Alex Smith.
We asked this question earlier. Can you remember a quarterback
who has gone into a game and gotten injured to
such an stand that their career was over. Greg Cook,

(01:41:03):
Cincinnati Bengals, nineteen sixty nine. He would have been their
franchise quarter I mean, I'm just I'm going in order.
I mean, if you want me to, when's the most
recent well, I mean, let's I mean, you just asked
me this question on the spot. I point, I can
keep going. Burt Jones in Bradshaw. No, it doesn't happen

(01:41:24):
very often, but not very often. Are guys being told
that if you play in a football game based upon
a prior injury. And we're talking to prior injury here,
we're talking about that situation. It's a different deal. When
a player steps on the field, of course, they're assuming
a risk of being hurt. It wasn't that they told
Alex Smith before the game. Hey, listen, you know you're
you're at a higher risk of tearing up your leg
because of an injury of an injury. No, I mean,

(01:41:46):
that's the whole thing. And you know, I would love
to get more clarity of this, more than what Chris
Mortenson is reporting and where his you know, and and
the sources, and it is truly accurate. I mean well,
and and it's funny too because Dr David Chow, you
know pro football doc on Twitter, he's been saying all
week long and you doesn't expect Marcus Mario to the
plan and didn't expect him to play again anytime soon
based upon the nature of what he believed the injury was.
But it leads to some questions about transparency in the

(01:42:08):
NFL and these injury reports, and you know, are are
the Tennessee Titans going to get into trouble? And as
someone going to say, listen, this is ridiculous. You have
to be if with the public trust that has put
in you now with legalized gambling, you must be more
forthright in the way that you handle injuries and you've
been in the past. To me that that's as big
an issue as anything going going on here, because I
think that the Titans were trying to keep the Indianapolis

(01:42:29):
Colts in the dark and in the process putting the
public in the dark as well when it comes to
the status of their quarterback. And with all the legalized
gambling now is this isn't the in today's NFL. I
don't think you should be allowed to do that if
the Titans also did that, they threw their quarterback under
the bus. Because when you let him go out in
practice on Thursday Friday and you list him as questionable,
then the expectation, I think among reasonable people is this person,

(01:42:54):
this player is healthy enough to potentially play in the game,
right And if that war never the case, then the
Titans through their quarterback under the bus um And what
they should have done too is if what play with
they should have done too. And I'm sorry to interrupt,
but you know this is your show after all, But
but I mean, if if there was a diagnosis, let's
say it comes in Friday or Saturday, then you needed

(01:43:16):
to change his status on the injury report. You needed
to get him out of this game, not ninety minutes before,
you know, before kickoff of the game, but legitimately declare
him out well before upon receiving that information. So something
happened in the chain of command somewhere that's messed up.
And let's see if the NFL acts upon it, and
people are banging the drum loud enough to get them
to pay attention to it. Because I think the public

(01:43:38):
should be upset about the lack of transparency here by
the Tennessee Titans when it comes to this player, And
you're right, the Titans doing Marcus Mariot to no favors
with the way that they're handling this. And players are
told don't talk about injuries. Remember when Pat Shermer Was
leaning on Odell Beckham Jr. To not talk about how
badly he was injured. And it often happens, you know,
coaches and gms they do not feel other players paying

(01:43:59):
so to speak. So I agree with you and that
there should be some transparency to this. But I mean,
in Mark Mariota, here's the deal. I really think it's
a one year type of thing with him. They'll pay
him the twenty million dollars remaining on his rookie contract.
There's no other option on this team at quarterback. And
the upside, the Marcus Mariota has coming off of a
record setting season by all accounts when it comes to
the statistics he posted still gives them the best chance

(01:44:21):
in nineteen. Now, if you're the Titans, to do you
draft a quarterback in the second or third round, try
to develop a more credible backup than Blaine Gabbart. You
should you know at this point you're you're a pretty
stock team as it is the Titans. So I think
you move in that direction and you couch it, or
you just say, you know what, screw it, We'll go ahead,
We'll go no safety net. We're gonna count on Marcus Mariota,
and if it doesn't work out, well, we'll have the

(01:44:42):
calf space to make a move in one, either in
the draft or more likely a veteran player. But I
would like to see them draft a quarterback early on
to to couch their bed with Mariota. Mariota and Winston,
are we effectively in the same spot. I mean, I
think Mariota has been more reliable than Winston, certainly off
the yield right um. And and on the field I

(01:45:02):
think as well. He's had three straight winning seasons. UM.
But I don't think either franchise is sold on their guy.
So you go back, give him twenty million in year five,
and then you wait and see what happens. Can they
stay healthy, can they put their teams in the playoffs
or whatever else? And then you've got the franchise tag
hanging out there, right. Even if you're not convinced after

(01:45:22):
year five, you can be like, hey, you know we
can't work out a long term deal. To me, that
seems like it makes the most sense by far. So
you don't get caught with one of these massive you know,
we'll get to the Kirk Cousins situation here in a minute.
Is that kind of where you think both franchises are
absolutely listen to these numbers for the bucks? I mean,
and this is just this is fascinating to me. And

(01:45:43):
I know Ryan Fitzpatrick played some but largely Jamis Winson
this season, right, five thousand, one twenty five net passing yards,
the fourth highest total in NFL history, three points, six thousand,
sixty eight yards, forty nine touchdowns, thirty six passing t
vs three eight first downs, and a forty six percent
conversion rate on third downs. All of these franchise records,

(01:46:06):
and you finished five and eleven. So what is exactly
broken on the Tampa Bay butineers, it's the defense, right,
and the inability to to turn to get turnovers. And
also Jamis Winston at least once a game, you just
sit there and you shake your head. What do you doing? Jamis?
Why why don't you have pocket presents? Jamis? Why are
you making that throw? Jamis? Why did you have ball
bad ball security? And I don't know if you're going

(01:46:28):
to get better offensive coaches than Dirk Cutter and Todd
Monkin who worked with him on a continual basis. So
but you know what, by the Bucks keeping Jason light
as our general manager, to me, it indicates Jamis Winston
we'll be back for one more year. And yeah, I mean,
we'll see who ends up as head coach. A lot
of positive buzz about Bruce Arians, although I'm not sure
if Bruce's you know, depends upon the staff he gets together.
Bruce could have, by the way, a powerhouse staff come

(01:46:49):
into Tampa Bay. If he wants to bring in Todd
Bowls as a defensive coordinator now that he's out with
the Jets. You want to get Freddy Kitchens if he's
potentially available in Cleveland, or even Byron Leftwich, who is
his protege world God, when it is still out there.
I mean, you could get that old Arizona crew back
together if you think that's gonna help Jamis Winston play
better football. But I'm with you, one year prove it
deal for Jamis, when year prove it deal for Mariota.

(01:47:11):
And by the way, not a great free agent class
of quarterbacks. I don't think unless you're really sold on
Nick Foles, and nothing in the draft is gonna float
your boat. I don't think as far as taking a
guy as your future franchise quarterback for either of these teams.
Kirk Cousins, if you're the Viking, if you're a Vikings fan,
awaken up this morning. Um, just an absolute disaster of

(01:47:31):
a game against the Bears. You can't fire the offensive coordinator. Now,
what's the story there? Well, I mean, I think what
people expect to Kirk Cousins because of the contract and
all of the hypes surrounding him, that that he was
going to be Dante Culpepper, Randall Cunningham and France Tarkington,
I'll rolled into one and he wasn't. I mean, that's
never been Kirk Cousins. He's been an efficient quarterback who

(01:47:53):
needs a good supporting cast around. Want to take a
team to where he wants to beat, it's generally not
gonna get you beat. He's going to be very good
with a complete and percentage, and I do believe he
completed his passes this season, but he's not a game
changing quarterback. And I just listen. I get where the
Vikings were at. They just thought, Okay, we can surround
this guy with enough talent at the running back position,
have a good offensive line, and the defense will make

(01:48:15):
game changing plays. This defense was not very dynamic this season. Yeah,
we look at the yards and they gave up the
third fuse number of yards, but big plays they weren't there.
They got stale on the defensive side of the football,
and offensively it never clicked. And listen to the passing
of Tony Sperano in the in the preseason. You know,
that's just devastating for this team. And the offensive line
just wasn't all that great. I think that's a miscalculation there.

(01:48:36):
But Kirk Cousins is going to bear the brunt of this.
They need to build up better around him. Listen, you're
not doing anything with the guy. You're you're not wanna
say you're stuck with him. He's your quarterback for the
next two years. But I worry that the Vikings under
Mike Zimmer may have peaked and we may have seen
the best of the Vikings last year. Because really, this team,
with everything on the line yesterday, needed to show up
against the Bears and even with the Bears pulling their
defensive players with about six minutes left in the game

(01:48:59):
because they knew that they had the number three seat
already wrapped up well at that point and you can't win.
I think that's week's volume is about how about this
Vikings team in how much is Nick Fole is going
to get on the open market? Oh? You know that's
this He's still it's interesting. He's like a weird it's
a weird deal. It's like, let's say butterscotch ice cream, right,
it's not gonna be tasty for everyone. I think there

(01:49:21):
are some teams that perceive nick Foles as, Wow, this
is a this is a guy that can you know,
be a difference maker for us and the right place,
right time quarterback. Like I can see the Jacksonville Jaguars,
for example, thinking, man, nick Foles is perfect for US
veteran leadership. You know, it's smart guy, ben, He's won
a Super Bowl. He you know, he can do better
than Blake Bortles, that type of thing. So I would
imagine in the range of twenty four million dollars a season.

(01:49:45):
I'm not sure if he's gonna get much more than that,
because I just think that, you know, at some point
it's like with Case Keenum as well. You know, and
I know Nick is a better quarterback than Case, but
Case was about one million dollar a year quarterback. I
can see Foles get into that. The big question is this,
what type of bidding war is they're going to be
for his services? And does some team have to blow
Nick Foles away with this type of contract that is

(01:50:05):
going to give him a lot of cash upfront. I
mean twenty five million a year maybe, but he's not
going to break the bank in set a record as
a franchise quarterback. I think teams realize he's good, but
not that good. But I'll tell you this, Clay, if
he keeps winning and taking the Seagles team deep into
the postseason and beats the Bears on Sunday, we can
start adding some millions to that price tag. They're getting
those seven digits? Ready? What about Leonard four Net. This

(01:50:27):
is one of the most staggering stories I think I've
seen a long time, because there were no suggestions, at
least that I heard at L s U about this
guy being a mal content about You could kind of
see the wheels coming off with his pro career such
that what has happened in Jacksonville And for people who
don't know, you can kind of run through the what
what has gone on in the last last few weeks.

(01:50:47):
But this is kind of unheard of, right, It's weird,
you know, how how a player he want? You know,
I don't think he hits it off with Doug Morone obviously,
don't think he hits it off with Tom Coughlin. And
you know, you have the hamstring injury that's hampered him.
This he's and you know, with Leonard, it's weird. A
lot of folks you know that that I that have
been around him said that he really started to change,
you know, as as his NFL career drew closer and

(01:51:08):
became a different type of guy. As you remember coming
to the draft, he had the weight issue and he
himself admitted I didn't work as hard this season as
I could have. I mean, it's it's messy with Leonard
for net and it's weird too, Like you mentioned play
because I thought going into the season, had a chance
to talk with Leonard a training camp and he seemed
more mature than as a rookie, you know, and you know,
like where he wanted to take on a role of

(01:51:30):
team leadership. At least he said all the right things.
He had dropped his weight down to about two twenty four.
He looked pretty darn good and then everything unraveled and
his behavior yesterday sitting on the bench with T. J. Yeldon.
Basically those guys off by themselves while the Jaguars, you know,
lost another game and can't do anything on offense. I
think I'll tell you where he's at and listen after
the game and his news conference, Doug Marone said, the
locker room culture, that's on me. Some things have to change,

(01:51:52):
and we had a group there. You know, it's one
thing in Pittsburgh where guys you know, talk trash and
have issues with each other, but ultimately come together and
play on Sunday. Is well. In the case of the Jaguars,
this team had issues and didn't show up on Sundays
and that's not a winning combination. But Doug Marone, Dave
Caldwell and Tom Coughlin, I'll given one more season at
least to get this thing right in Jacksonville. It starts
at finding the right quarterback and Leonard for net A

(01:52:14):
Ca saida Sada you know I can imagine he'd be
on the trade market potentially this offseason unless there's a
real change of attitude. What do you think happens in
the wild card weekend? Is there anybody that you love
in the wild Card and you think this could be
a super Bowl team? I mean wild Card weekend. I
just don't trust Ka. I mean, Chicago huge step by
the way beating the Minnesota Vikings on the road. I'd

(01:52:36):
like to see him do it again against a better
team before I really start buying stock into them. Baltimore
Raven scary man, just scary. You know, the way that
they run the field, but everybody knows what they're gonna do, right,
nobody can stop it. I mean, and that's that's pretty
darn impressive. So I actually like their odds against the Chargers.
I mean, it would be an interesting rematch, especially as
you heard in the news update Melvin Gordon Hunter Henry

(01:52:56):
reportedly on track to play. Not sold on Houston, especially
because the winner of that, you know, potentially Houston having
to go to New England. Just I just don't buy
Houston as being that type of team. Dallas good, not great.
Seattle we're limited in the passing game at times, I
just I'm just not feeling that. I really think it's
probably gonna be New Orleans, and I believe New England.

(01:53:17):
I just think that Patriots giving that that first game
in Fox Row so huge. And do we trust the
Chiefs to win at Arrowhead Stadium in the postseason for
the first time since not necessarily sold on it because
of that defense. Last question for you, this news broke
while we were on the air, Adam Schefter reporting Mike
Mayock will be the Raiders new GM. Your thoughts, uh,

(01:53:41):
I mean, it depends if he's allowed to be a GM.
You know, he'll offer. Look, if he and John Gruden
have a good relationship and John wants to listen to
Mike Mayock and take Mike's advice and don't do things
like trade third round picks from our Tavis Bryant and
you know, don't don't sign so many old guys on
your team. But while you know, not paying attention to the
the dry app, I mean those types of things. Yeah,
there's a chance for success. But anyway, you know, with

(01:54:03):
John Gruden essentially having the final say on the personnel
matters that go on there, I don't know if John
just has to respect the guy and listen to him.
And hopefully Mike Mayock is a guy that he does respect.
They have a good relationship and the Raiders team can
move forward. Such a huge pivotal you know, such a
huge offseason for this team play as you know, having
two first round draft picks in addition to their own
the way that they are, they got to nail these

(01:54:24):
things to start laying the groundwork, not necessarily for next season,
but in Las Vegas, outstanding stuff. As always, Alex Marvez
will talk to you next week. Have a good New year,
my man. Thank you. Uh. That is Alex mor Vez
vaal And on Twitter. Final segment of the New Year's
Eve edition. Coming up next, I'll tell you who's gonna
win the wild Card games. This is out. Get the
coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the

(01:54:45):
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within
the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to
listen live. Welcome back Geico Outkicks Studios. This is out
the coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Appreciate all of you
spending your New Year's Eve with us um As we

(01:55:08):
roll into a New Year. Uh been an awesome year.
I want to thank you guys for all the support
you have shown us. Jason Martin, I think in Jeff
Shortz will be in tomorrow on New Year's Eve taking
my wife out for New Year's Eve, which is rare
because usually with the college football playoff, in the big,
big New Year's Eve bowl games, usually I'm out of town,

(01:55:29):
so it's rare for me to be back home. I
was down in Miami, got to watch the Alabama and
Oklahoma game. Really impressive bounce back from an injury by
two a UM. But as you kind of look ahead,
it's gonna be a really great twenty nineteen for us.
But you guys are a huge part of why. So
I hope all of you have great, fantastic holidays. I

(01:55:49):
hope you have a good New Year's Eve if you
get to go out. If you don't go out, I
hope you have safe and happy start to your year
as well. So everybody, just be safe. We need you
to be back with a here to start twenty nineteen.
But really, thank you so much for being so supportive
of the radio show, Periscope, Facebook, the website, UH, the
new television show Lock it in on FS one and

(01:56:12):
my book. It was a really big eighteen. I'm excited
for the things that can come in ten as well.
I told you I'll give you my picks. I'm giving
them to you earlier this week. We'll talk about these
games a lot. But Colts Texans, Uh, the Colts on
the road two and a half point underdog. I like
the Colts to win out right. I think the Colts
are gonna go on the road and beat the Texans.
Andrew Luck and the Colts playing much better, uh down

(01:56:35):
the stretch, better team, I mean, I I don't think
there's anything fake about this. I think the Colts go
on the road get the win against the Texans. I
ain't the Seahawks go on the road get the win
against the Cowboys. I like the Seahawks better than I
do the Cowboys. These are mirror image football teams. Strong
run games, solid defenses, good mobile quarterbacks. The differences. Russell

(01:56:55):
Wilson's better than Dak Prescott. And if I have to
bet down the stretch, most of the time when you
get to the playoffs, the better quarterback wins most of
the time, not all the time. Nick Foles won a
Super Bowl but most of the time, if you just
look at who the quarterback is, the better quarterback wins.
So I like the Seahawks on the road as the underdog.
Same thing Chargers Ravens to me. Third and five in

(01:57:18):
that Ravens game, It's not gonna get a lot of
attention third and five, Ravens one the option, rollmar Lamar
Jackson out and run the option with him. Fumble, fumbled
snap on the pitch there. Uh, it was a disastrous
looking play. Ravens are lucky to be in the playoffs. Ultimately,
you have to make plays from the passing, uh, from
the pocket in the playoffs. I don't believe Lamar Jackson can.

(01:57:41):
I think the Chargers were sick about the way that
they lost that game against the Ravens. I think the
Chargers come back. Philip Rivers gets that win on Sunday.
I like the Chargers to get to win there. Eagles
Bears is the one I'm most uncertain on because I
love the way Nick Foles is playing. That will be
the final one of the wild Card games on Sunday afternoon.

(01:58:02):
I love the way Nick Foles is playing, but I'm
also just kind of really ambivalent on that one, So
I'm gonna withhold judgment on that one. But I like
three of the underdogs to win outright in the wild Cards.
Give me the Colts, give me the Seahawks, and give
me the Chargers. As we roll into wild Card weekend,
I'll reserve judgment on Eagles Bears. I need to think

(01:58:24):
more a little bit about that one. Also, the Bears
I think are a five and a half point favorite,
which feels steep to me right now. I would bet
the Eagles, but I don't have as good of a
read on that one as I do as I feel
like I do on the other three games. Uh. I
got the Alabama game going up against Clemson. I'll be
out in uh sant Santa Clara for that game. We'll
be doing the show, I believe, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday

(01:58:47):
from Santa Clara out in the Bay area, So that
should be intriguing. I'm excited to see what happens in
Alabama Clemson the fourth matchup. But I also think that
the college football is in danger of almost becoming a
little bit like the NHL. We're certain parts of the
country are absolutely in love with it, and otherwise we've

(01:59:09):
seen a big hollowing out where you feel like, look
Alabama and Clemson, maybe Ohio State, maybe Georgia. They just
created such a distance between themselves and the rest of
college football, maybe Oklahoma, that you don't really feel like
there's much competition right now. Has Nick Saban been bad

(01:59:29):
for college football? We're going to discuss that on Wednesday.
UM I think it's a good topic for discussion. UH
go voting our poll question. Should Marcus Mariota have played
hell of a weekend of football? Appreciate all of you
supporting me. Enjoyed going to get to watch Alabama take
on Oklahoma, big win for the Tide, and also watching
last night big win for the Colts. Andrew Luck was phenomenal.
He owns the city of Nashville and the state of Tennessee.

(01:59:52):
Happy New Year to all of you. Thank you for
spending your morning with us on OutKick Allen good stuff
coming in twenty nineteen on OutKick

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