Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listening to Fox Sports regg This is straight out
of Vegas with the Voice of Vegas, your host r J.
Bown collect the pregame show America has always wanted from
(00:40):
the Vegas Trip Ear's r J. Bow You know, it's
(01:03):
amazing to me how the future always has a way
of arriving ahead of schedule. It's two thousand nineteen and
it feels like the NFL regular season was a blur.
It's wild Card weekend and two games were already in
the books. Yep, it's that tell me you're do or
die time, win or go home. That's what I call
quantum physics. They matter why because these games are played
(01:25):
by human beings. That means they know they're being observed.
And you know that that could change things if you
look at the four games this week though, this weekend,
as Joe Gibera might say, they have when they have
different similarities at the quarterback position, and every one of
these games, you've got experience versus whole, Luck versus Watson,
(01:45):
Russell versus Doc Rivers versus Lamar, Jackson, fold versus Trubisky,
and when you haven't been in these situations, we really
don't know how you're going to react to the pressure
when things go wrong? Are you you going to hold
mental pictures of what you don't want to happen? This
is the season, the postseason. It comes down to a
(02:06):
word trust. Who do you trust? Coaches? Quarterbacks? Let's face it,
there are organizations well sometimes their reputation precedes them. Plus
but by the way, we're not bound to the final
two in college football championship game. They'll stop me if
you've seen this movie. Yes, it's baman Clemson again. But
what don't you expect? There's a reason these two teams
are combined one or nine and seven in the last
(02:28):
four years, and this is already the fifth year in
the new college football playoff format. Now, just like I said,
the future has a way of arriving a head of schedule.
What if I told you in the previous four the
favorite has never once covered the spread. That's a little tease.
We've got a lot to tackle tonight, get it tackle.
(02:48):
See what I did there? Right on that note, Welcome
back to another edition Straight out of Vegas. R J
is out and about. I'm Bernie Frattle. Where come do
you live? From? The Gecko? Fox Sports Radio Studios We're
fifteen minutes save you or more on car insurance. Visit
Geico dot com for a free rate quote. Now, this
is the weekend edition of Straight Out of Vegas. As
(03:08):
you know Straight out of Vegas. It airs Monday through
Friday right here on Fox Sports Radio I Heart Radio
from three to six Pacific six to seven Eastern with
r J Bell, Steve Ezec, Brad Powers, and Jonas Knocks.
Each day they take you behind the scenes, offering up
solid commentary and insights on the world of sports betting.
That way you can benefit from the years of expertise.
(03:30):
On our Saturday edition is Straight out of Vegas when
we look back at the Best of we take another
look at some of the most compelling takes and analyzes
from the previous week so you can enjoy them again.
Here's the best thing about this concept. Each of the
best of takes are designed to look ahead to this
week's NFL action. So bottom line, during the week the
guys devote five full hours they provide the finest content.
(03:54):
The weekends we just still look down to the best hour.
Of course, I'm going to add my own inflection as well,
because I live in Las Vegas too and I've been
privy to these gentlemen and they nohow for many years.
So join us every Saturday night lev pm Pacific, too
am Eastern. Yes, we want you along for the ride.
You can also join us on Serious XM Channel three.
(04:15):
This is straight out of Vegas, the pregame show you
always wanted. All right, so let's take a minute. We'll
tell you what we're gonna do tonight. Well, first, we're
gonna debrief the two games that were played today. They
were going to preview tomorrow's NFL games and the College
Football National Championship game. By the way, if time permits.
At the end, little tease here, I'm going to release
(04:38):
a big ten college basketball game, a solid dog tomorrow
morning that I think will cash. Before we go any
further though, Props huge props to the North Dakota State
Bison Eastern Washington their seventh FCS championship. They've just completed
their six week playoff. Now, if they can do it,
(04:59):
why can't the FBS do it? Don't get me started,
and I'm not going to We'll talk about this again
another day. I've already been rated this enough. Do you
want to have me on your show? Have me on
your show. You don't want to playoff, have me on
your show. We'll debate it, and you better pack a
lunch tonight. We also continue our new ten second feature,
While you Were Sleeping, our own sleep e J. It
(05:20):
features Sam see while You're Sleeping the Straight out of
Vegas staff. Well, they work to find ways so you
can distress your booking and press your friends. I hope
you were listening last week. As per usual, Sleepy J
a couple of solid sides. Well, actually he had the
Green Bay Detroit under that cash and he had the
chargers that cash. You get the picture. Sleepy J will
(05:40):
have three of the night. Also at the bottom of
the hour, I'll take you inside the Frattle House for
my weekly commentary. Black Monday came and went, and as
of right now, there are openings for head coaches in
the National Football League in twenty five percent of the league.
You heard that right. I'm going to unpack that phenomenon
in this week's Inside the Frattle House. Let's give you
(06:02):
what you came for. Let's dive into NFL. By the way,
as I said, the wild card round is underway. Did
you know that last year in the wild card round
all four dogs covered, and it depending on if you
got the best of the number. Both dogs covered today,
So for future reference, by the way, underdogs, they're ten
and one in the playoffs last season. Do you see
(06:24):
a pattern here? All right, let's talk a little bit
about the Colts in Houston. We're gonna have a little
fun here. We know the game has already been played,
but we prepared our notes and the guys had some
pretty upper cruss conversation about this game. We got a
couple of cuts we want to share with you, and
in his first cut, r J talks about the public
opinion on folks who are likely to side within this game. Now,
(06:44):
r J hadmitted he wasn't really in love with either side,
but he took a good, nice deep dive into the
line being someone in consequential because all the home team
had to do basically was win the game. He also
talks about offensive lines, running quarterbacks and when you add
it all up, a correlated parlay suggestion having to do
with one side of the game and the total that
simply met this. If you bet one side of the
(07:07):
game and it played out according to Oil's, the likelihood
is the total would move in lockstep leading to a
winning cash ticket. Let's have a listen. I don't love
Houston against the Colts, but I like Houston against the Coats.
And here's why. If you walk outside, you go to
a sports bar and say who do you want? Coats
(07:28):
or Houston, it's gonna be that's gonna one. Andrew Luck
gonna want the Coats. And to me, it's almost like, well,
the Cults are getting points and they're the better team,
but like the lines one. So we're saying Houston that
had that finished the year on an amazing run like
(07:49):
ten and three, eleven and two to finish the year,
we're saying in their home stadium, they just pretty much
have to win the game. I get Andrew Lux and
that team is mighty good. It's just I'm very comfortable
with the idea that Houston should just if it's just picked,
the winner is to win the game. But here's the key.
(08:14):
I know the Coats are gonna score if you look
at the the the kind of defense that Houston plays,
if their d line can't get pressure, then they're in
trouble because their d backs where the Texans are horrible,
and the Coats have a great offensive line. So Andrew
luck is putting up his points. I like Houston. That
(08:37):
means Houston is gonna put up their points and Houston
has and I think we're gonna see the Shawn Watson
run the ball a ton. Here's an important macro point.
Running quarterbacks are more effective in the playoffs because they're
willing to run more. They aren't worried about the injury risk.
So here's the two team best time to be bad
(08:59):
part lay. Go with Houston on the point spread and
go with over the total Houston and over. I believe
it's a correlated parlay, and we love those because parlays
that are correlated. Best time to be bad this weekend. See,
he wasn't wrong, because the Colts won and it stayed under.
(09:22):
Now I've been fascinated by the Colts because they were
one and three in the first quadrant of the season,
two and two in the second quadrant, three and one
of the third, four and on the fourth. This is
a team that started one in five and in one
of those losses they blew six leads to those very
same Houston Texans, losing in overtime. But man, did they
get it together. They're now tending one in the last
(09:44):
eleven and man, do they look good doing it? They
convert third downs at They converted their first seven third
downs today against the Texans. They've been marching out the
number one defense and points a lot since Week seven.
They only get up seven to day. And what if
I told you the Colts are only one of three
teams to scored more than a four hundred and twenty
points this season. Their offensive line has been brilliant. Luck
(10:07):
was sacked only eighteen times all year. Luck is brilliant.
He through thirty nine touchdown passes in the regular season
and mean, while the Shawn Latnson was sacked sixty two
times this year and got hit more than Rocky ball Bull.
I made no bones about it. I love the Colts.
I was on with Arnie Spanier last weekend and I
talked about all the reasons I liked the Colts, some
of which I just repeated here. Okay, so we know
(10:27):
the Colts seven. They all had the Kansas City next week.
They opened up as they opened up as a six
point dog, it's already been bent down to five. I
wouldn't be surprised if it got to four and a half.
Why people want to know how why is this happening? What?
What's the angle? Well, the Colts are on the ball
pretty well too. Today. Marlon Mack, the running back for
(10:48):
the Colts, he got a hundred and three yards against
the Texans, first time the Texans have allowed a hundred
yard rusher all year. The Chiefs have the twenty seventh
rank run defense. When you handicapped a game, you look
at three things. You look at the team strengths in
their attributes, You look at their matchups, how do they
match up against their opponent? And you look at the situation.
(11:08):
How do the Colts matchup against the Chiefs? Very well,
my friend, and I'll be on the Colts again next week.
They're the better team. And we all know by the
way Kansas City their record in the playoffs. Will talk
about that more next week. And by the way, you know,
the chief are only three and three down the stretch.
They're not exactly setting the world on fire. All right now,
(11:29):
let's review, or excuse me, let's debrief the Dallas game.
And in this first cut, r J was really emphatic.
He stated that Seattle's most impressive performances were at home,
but when you put them on the road, things were
dramatically different, particularly when you unpack the opponents they beat
on the road and the situations that serrounto those games.
(11:49):
In fact, one of Seattle's road quote road victories was
at a neutral site. Let's take a listen. Every one
of Seattle's impressive wins. I'm not saying most. I'm saying
every one of Seattle's impressive wins was at home. And
(12:11):
most of those impressive wins we're deceiving in that they
didn't quite win as easily or as convincingly as it
seemed Seattle. Now, if we flip to Seattle on the road, wows.
Here's the three. They had three road wins this year
if you don't count London and London they went against
(12:32):
the raidar So okay, congratulations, it was Arizona. Seattle beat
Arizona on the road, Seattle beat Detroit on the road,
and Seattle beat Carolina on the road. Oh that sounds
like camp except Carolina was in the middle of a
seven game losing streak. So if your most impressive road
wins against a team that was in the middle of
(12:52):
a seven game losing streak, you probably don't have an
impressive road win. Well. R j's right again. Now you know, truthfully,
Seattle had won four their last six games in the road,
and this is the playoffs, the biggest stage, and you
get the Russell Wilson factor, right. He entered Saturday's game
with the record of a seventeen and six against the
(13:13):
spread as a road dog, including ten and two against
the spread when he was facing teams coming off consecutive wins.
There was one other obscure trend in this game. Wild
card dogs were six and one against the spread when
they were following a game in which they were favored
by twelve or more points. Remember in week seventeen the Seahawks,
they were favored by fourteen against Arizona. On this next cut,
(13:35):
Pheasic pointed out that Dallas quarterback Deck Prescott it really
had kind of had a rough time against the visiting
Seahawks in the past. In fact, the only two times
he faced Pete Carroll squad, he posted a very low
quarterback rating, in large part due to the style of
defense Pete Carroll plays. Lets give it a listen. I
was gonna bet Dallas, and the reason I did not
bet Dallas r J is because Dak Prescott for whatever reason,
(13:58):
small sample size, The team that he has the worst
QBR against in the league is Seattle. He's played Seattle
twice the last two years, his Cuba twice the last
two years, as in four times or two times in
two years. He's played two games one time each year,
and he's a QBR of fourteen and forty four in
those two games. Again, qbrs one, so that means below
(14:19):
average both times in the fourteen is horrendous. Yes, I
gotta be honest with you, Fays. You bring up a
great point there, because Seattle has a very specific style
of defense, and when you have a limited quarterback like that,
he might be a great game manager, but he is
a limited quarterback. Certain defenses can cause those limited guys trouble.
(14:39):
Your point is the peak Carroll defense at Seattle defensive scheme.
We've got two games town as Doc really struggled. But
now the Conaways having Mari Cooper and they're eight and
two now with him, and they're also seven and one
at home before today, and on paper the Cowboys had
the better team. Now they didn't have the better quarterback.
Both quarterbacks played well than let's face it, give it
(15:01):
up to Dak Prescott, but you gotta get up to
Russell Wilson as well. But this final cut, RJ talked
about how the public looks at NFL games since the
only played once a week. As such, the public kind
of has a tendency to overreact to a certain game
based on limited information in a short sample size. Physic
chimes in by reminding the score of a previous game
can also skew the public's perception even further. Let's give
(15:24):
it a listen. In football, because there's so few games,
the public just obsesses over every result. And to me,
that's probably the biggest mistake the public makes here. They're
gonna say, hey, they played earlier, Hey Seattle one and
won by double digits. All right, So and if you
look at Dallas's wins, couldn't you say two wins against
the defending champion Philadelphia. You could also make the case
(15:48):
the most dominating performance of the year, perhaps against the Saints.
I mean, what would could the case be made? The
Cowboys win against the Saints? Cowboys were home. That game
was one one of, if not the most impressive game
of the NFL season. Asolutely, nothing flukey about that win
at all. They outplayed the Saints, the best team in
the NFL. So I don't get how, even if you
just look at the scoreboard, I don't get how that
(16:09):
would necessarily be oh, Seattle's batter. Well, we now know
that the Cowboys won twenty two, and fortunately there was
no Tony Romo brain fart factor because he's no learner
on the team. How many times they're gonna show that
replay the two thousand seven games. Poor folks must have
been sick in Dallas, but tonight they got Well, now
the Cowboys wait, they sit and wait. Okay, they'll watch
(16:32):
the Bears and uh Philly tomorrow night. And if the
Bears win, it's real simple. The Cowboys head to New Orleans,
and right now the West Gates put up a line
here in Las Vegas. The Cowboys would be catching seven
and a half. If they end up going to play
the Rams, the Cowboys will be catching seven. Give it
up to the Cowboys, happy for you, their Cowboy Nation.
(16:52):
And when you know you haven't won a playoff game
since Moby Dick was a Minnow, now you got that
monkey off your back a little bit. All right, We've
got lot to get to, a lot to get to.
We've still got to get to Chargers, Ravens, Eagles Bears
the National Championship game, and I might even having a
basketball game for you. I'm Bernie Fratto Comedy Alive from
the Geico Fox Sports Radio Studios. And this is the
(17:14):
pregame show you always wanted, So don't go away. You're
listening to Straight out of Vegasa. We are back on
Straight out of Vegas, the pregame show you always wanted.
I'm Bernie Fratto Cony Line from the Geico Fox Sports
Radio Studios. And what does it mean when Geico says
just fifteen minutes could save you or more on consurance,
(17:37):
You meant you probably should have gone to Geico dot
com fifteen minutes ago. All right, let's tackle tomorrow's games.
We had to Baltimore the early game. The Ravens currently
laying three total of forty two, and I do expect
that to change tomorrow. Uh, in the sense that I
expect for some reason more Charger money to come in tomorrow.
(18:00):
And you wait, I bet you'll be able to grab
Baltimore too. Sleepy things maybe one one and a half.
So be patient if you like the Ravens tomorrow and
grab him on the money line. Don't only the points.
You don't need to do that. Now, let's talk about
what the guys had to say, because in the schedule,
you know, I mean, the schedule makers didn't do the
Chargers any favors. Right, they get to travel across country,
(18:21):
they play a ten am Pacific time game. But in
this cut, r J points out there's a bigger factor
here that's gonna greatly enhance the Chargers preparation for this
game to a degree. It really puts the onus on
John Harbaugh and the Ravens to introduce some different wrinkles
because you know, if they come up with the same
formations and the same personnel groupings is two weeks ago,
when these teams already played well, that might not be
(18:44):
a good thing. The Charges have already seen this act
and now the element of surprise he's out the window.
Let's have a listen. I think a lot of what
Lamar Jackson has done. Let's give credit to hardball, Let's
give credit to the scheme. Let's give credit to the fact,
quite frankly, they play some really bad rushing defenses. The
Ravens opposed those bad rushing defenses but the Chargers got
(19:06):
beat two at home against his team. I believe getting
ready for that a second time is such a big
advantage for the Charge. It's like, this is all very
familiar to us, and now you've got to do something
different hardball, because we're we've got figured out what did
the first time. I think it's the biggest factor in
the game. Again, I'm sure you remember the Ravens went
(19:29):
into La La Land got a huge road win. Lamar Jackson,
now sixty one is the starter. You saved hardball's job
that the Ravens in the playoffs. By the way, speaking
of hardball, he's ten and five in the playoffs, two
and oh at home in the postseason. And now in
this next cut, Pheasant gives a very head turning statu
abount the Ravens and how they really differ from the
rest of the NFL. Here's why he backs his assertion
(19:50):
with specific percentages and the fact that this idiosyncratic offense
the Ravens have been running might play into the Chargers
hands the second time around. It's such physic makes no
bones about why he selects a certain side in this game,
and he calls it he's best bet of the week.
Let's have a listen. Let's face at r J. Baltimore
runs the ball sixty percent of the time. No one
(20:12):
else in the NFL runs it more than fifty percent
of the time. Why don't they run the ball two
thirds of the time because it's the typical NFL. Typical
NFL team. Why do they pass more than they run?
Because passing typically is more successful. But this quirky offense
that Baltimore has is very difficult to prepare for the
fact that the Chargers two of the last three weeks
have been able to prepare for it, I expect a
much much better performance. So how much do you like
(20:34):
this game? I like it a lot. It is my
best bet. I am on the Chargers plus the three. Now,
the Ravens formula is going to be simple, run the ball,
run the ball, then run the ball some more. That's
just simply not going to change. If you saw the
end of the Cleveland game, they only had to move
the change once on third down. The ball never would
(20:55):
have been back in Baker Mayfields dance. But they let
Lamar Jackson drop back and pass. Knew they didn't. They
were in a freaking option and it almost backfired, so
you can expect the Ravens to run the ball, but
it's worked for them, and in doing so, they've owned
time of possession. For the past seven weeks, they've average
(21:16):
holding out of the ball thirty seven minutes a game.
That means their defense, which is holding teams to sixteen
points per game. He's only on the field for about
twenty three minutes per contest, which means they stay fresh.
But here's where the matchup gets dicey. The Chargers quarterback
Philip Rivers. He's got all the experience. He's gotten more
NFL starts than Lamar Jackson. No, I got that backwards.
(21:39):
He's got more kids than Mark Jackson has NFL starts,
So the experience factor is huge here. Before we go
on with this game, though, I want to throw it
to my man, Sleepy J for with another why you
were sleeping vignette? All right, Bernie, I like the under
in this game tomorrow. A past defense for both teams
(22:01):
Ravens number five, Chargers number nine. Rush defense for both
teams Ravens number four, Chargers number nine. When these teams
played a few weeks ago, Bernie Baltimore didn't give up
a play on defense that went from more than seventeen yards.
Now the Chargers are gonna go ahead. They're gonna get
a second quick look here at that Ravens offense. I
think this game is all about defense. I'm gonna go
(22:22):
ahead it. I'm taking Chargers Ravens under forty two for tomorrow.
We're gonna continue on with the analysis of this game.
A couple of quick bullet points. By the way, um,
Philip Rivers is only putting up fifteen points per game
versus top ten defense uh top ten defenses against top
ten defenses, Rivers just throwing two touchdowns and two interceptions.
(22:44):
Against all other defenses, he's putting up twenty eight points
a game and he's strowing thirty touchdowns and only ten interceptions.
So we've got a lot more to unpack on this game.
And we've obviously we've still got to get to the
barrass Philly. We've got to get to the national championship game.
And as I said, if there's time, I will give
(23:05):
you a big ten dog to play tomorrow in college basketball.
So we want to get to and by the way,
on the other side, we are going to get to
my week's commentary, my week's Inside the Frattle House commentary
of the league is looking for an NFL head coach.
There's been nine head coaches fired after the first year
(23:27):
in two thousand and six. Why why do they feel
so often when the Blessed Blade plans and all the
vetting they do and all the interviews and everything they do,
and this happens. And we're gonna talk about all that,
but first let's go to our man Ral Urban with
the latest. Well, thank you very much, Bernie. And how
(23:50):
about the day for the Dallas Cowboys. They advanced to
the NFL's Divisional round with a win over Seattle Dak
Prescott a touchdown in the air and one on the
ground Ezekiel Elliot a hundred and thirty seven yards rushing
and the score. It's just the cowboys third playoff win
in twenty two years. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Colts went to
(24:12):
Houston lockdown to two takes any and there it is.
The Colts have won it. The Colts have won it
for the tenth time in eleven weeks. The Coults are dictorious.
The Colts win at twenty one to seven. And just
like Wilbert Harrison sang back in the day, Kansas City,
here we come, and indeed they will take on the
Chiefs next weekend. Online car shopping can be confusing, not anymore.
(24:35):
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Golden State in Sacramento combined for forty one three point
field goals. Steph Curry made ten of those in his
forty two point forty two point to performance. He led
Golden Stage to a one one three win at Sacramento. Meanwhile,
(24:58):
Portland at one ten one on one win and over Houston,
the Trailblazer snap James Harden's forty point game streak at five.
He just had thirty eight. He has twelfth straight games
over thirty points in Toronto over Milwaukee Pascal Siakam Kawahi Leonard,
each with thirty points in that victory. Now back to you,
(25:22):
Bernie Ralph first, welcome back, Happy New Year, And I've
got to ask you a question, So what are your thoughts, Rolf,
when these coaches are hired and fired at such a
rapid rate. Where's the GM in this situation? Shouldn't they
be more culpable in your view if they're culpable and
hiring the guy. But a lot of times they aren't
necessarily the decision maker. And you know, when you've got
(25:43):
a GM, you've got a president, you've got an owner.
The GM is just one piece of the machine. And
if he's not the guy that pulled the trigger, he's
not the guy that should be paying the price. Wow.
Say see, that's where I like to surround myself with
people smarter than me. It's a very well crafted answer. Vince,
close your turn. I actually agree with Ralph on that
it ultimately, in honestly comes down to the owner. He's
(26:06):
the person putting those pieces into place, and he's the
one that should be really held responsible when it comes
down to it. Good stuff, guys, all right, so let's
tackle this. It's a time for this week's monologue inside
the Frattle House. Wait the kids, alert the neighbors, Grandpa,
put on pants. Here we go. You know, there's an
old joke about the coach who's hired and his boss
(26:27):
gives him three envelopes. He tells him put the envelopes
in the top right drawer and don't open the drawer. Now,
if you have a losing season, open the first envelope. Well,
the first season the team goes four and twelve when
he opens the first envelope and it simply says, blame
the assistant coaches. And year two the team goes four
and twelve. Again he opens the second envelope. It says, quote,
(26:47):
blame the quarterback. And year three the team goes three
and thirteen. Coach opens the third envelope, which just simply
says in bullprint, prepare three new envelopes, such as the
life of a head coach in the NFL out if
you don't produce results. It really is the not for
long league. But these days it's even worse. First year
Steve coach or first year coach Steve Wilkes was fired
(27:09):
in Arizona after just one season. Forget three years, he
only got one. And if you're scoring at home, he
became the ninth coach since two thousand six to get
the ziggy after his first year. And I think there's
a fundamental problem here in our fast food microwave of
an instant gratification society. I sometimes wonder if the quick
trigger deny certain folks the opportunity to blossom if they
(27:30):
just had a little more time. Have you ever heard
of Bill Belichick? I know you know he was fired
in Cleveland after four losing season, But what if I
told you his first year in New England he finished
five and eleven and it was good enough for last
place in the a f C East in his first
year as the Patriots boss. Ever heard of Mike Sachowski?
What if I told you when he took over Duke
in one, he went thirteen and twenty nine in conference
(27:53):
play his first three seasons in the a SEC. By
the way, just three years earlier, Duke had been to
the finals losing to Kentucky. You think coach k would
have gotten a fair shake in today's game. He's actually
said it himself, and today's climate, he would have been fired.
How about Bill Walsh? He was two and fourteen and
six and ten his first two years is to field
general for the San Francisco forty Niners. Fortunately, Editie Bartelow
(28:14):
brought him back for a third year. Walsh rewarded him
by delivering a Super Bowl championship. Now, how might Walsh
have faired in today's game? Will never know. Perhaps the
most head scratchy aspect of this whole ordeal is that
every time a new coaches hired, there's a press conference,
lots of smiles, lots of platitudes, the hope for a
better day, the belief that this new leader will be
(28:36):
missing link between the current dold rooms and the imminent
future greatness. So why does it fails at your high
percentage of the time, No team ever hires a coach
and says, let me introduce our new coach. He'll probably suck,
we probably won't get any better, the fans that get
ticked off, and we'll fire him soon. But what the hell,
that's just simply the way it works. Then, of course,
there are the Pittsburgh Steelers three coaches since nineteen sixty nine,
(28:57):
Chuck Nole, Bill Kauer and now Mike Tomlin, and keep
in mind Nolan Coward left on their own. They never
fire coaches. By the way, all three coaches won Super Bowls,
but not overnight. What do they do differently? Well, look,
there are no simple answers here. That's why it's part
of the best laid plans of NFL teams are looking
for a new head coach. Here are my quick thoughts
(29:18):
as to what I would do if I owned a team. First,
I'm gonna hire a guy who can bring in definable,
recognizable culture that moves the needle like Sean McVeigh and
Matt Nagy, you know, like the Patriot Way scoff All.
You want the organization always takes the personality their field
general and it better be an influential one. Second, I
want a guy who's smart enough to know what he
(29:39):
doesn't know, so we can surround himself with the people
who can do what he can't do. This creates synergy
to some becomes better than you know total of its parts.
Third is Pete Rose once said, coaching football is like
driving a stage coach. Without the horses, You're not going forward.
In this area, a coach can only do three things.
Set the goals of objectives, provide the tools for success,
(30:00):
and the most important thing, create the conditions where they
want to The third is the most important. A team
who plays hard for their coach always has a chance
to win. As such a coach, well, don't give your
players a helicopter, tell them to fly at twenty miles,
but only give him sixteen miles with the gas. The
NFL is a players. Game players can make you or
break you. Just ask John Harball. The Ravens were four
(30:21):
and five and Lamar Jackson they go six and one,
they make the playoffs. Jackson saved John Harball's job. Fortunately
somebody had the vision to draft Lamar Jackson. Harball had
the guts to hit him the keys of the car.
Like I said, synergy, not everybody can do it, and
then you have to give it time. Patience is a virtue.
Remember anybody can prepare three envelopes. All right, back to
(30:45):
a quick finality on the Chargers Baltimore game to close
it out. These are two the hottest teams in the
a f C. The Ravens have won six and seven
and the Charges are a nifty eleven and two straight
up in their last thirteen games. I do have a
couple of pretty convincing status here if you're looking at
back the Chargers Rivers is five and two, is the
road dog in the playoffs and he's four No. One
(31:06):
coming off a double digit win. And yes Baltimore has
had a postseason success. Yes, but the visitors they're thirteen
and seven against the spread as the dogs, it's two
thousand one. So when you add all this up your
head starts to explode. But Steve Fzik, well he likes
the Chargers. I don't necessarily want to get in front
of psick, but I don't know that I agree with him.
And by the way, real quickly, did you know, Lamar Jackson,
(31:28):
I think this man has the clutch gene. In the
fourth quarter of his games this year, huns a QB
rating of one nineteen. That's the highest in the league.
Breezes Drew Brees in the fourth quarter one eight team
Andrew Luck one o nine. By the way, the Chargers
rush offense since Thanksgiving, well, it ranks twenty nine in
yards per game. And you know, so what happened there
(31:51):
and then coming up against a pretty good defense tomorrow.
So look, one final thought, Lamar Jackson. We all know
rookie quarterback starting in the play offs there one and
ten in the situation, the only rookie to win. You
guessed it, Jackson's backup Joe Flacco. But before we move on,
let's go to our man, Sleepy j with another while
you were sleeping vignette. All right, Berne, I'm gonna go.
(32:13):
I'm gonna give you something for the Eagles game. Tomorrow.
I'm a little worried about the Eagles Russian attack. Philly's
face three of the top five rush defense. This season
hasn't gone well for Philly. They didn't even rush for
sixty yards or more in any of those three contests.
Now they get the number one rush defense in Chicago.
I think everything here is gonna be on folds his shoulders.
He hasn't faced the top past defense this year. He's
(32:35):
gonna get that tomorrow against the Bears. That Bears lead
the league in interceptions and Chicago number three in sacks.
This is just way too much defense, Bernie. With the
Bears here falls, he's not gonna repeat that run. I'm
taking a Bear smart. I'm predicting a blowout, Bernie, whoa blowout? Well?
The line is currently six and a half total forty
one and a half. And if you're scoring at home,
or even if you're just by itself, you might want
(32:56):
to know this. The Bears sixteen four and one against
the spring it in their last one in Soldier Field.
We still got much more to get to. Why haven't
even begun to break down the Eagles Bears game myself?
We still gotta get to Clemson Alabama. I'm Bernie Fratto,
Comedy Alive from the Geico Fox Sports Radio Studios. This
is the pregame show you always wanted, So don't go away.
(33:19):
You're listening to Straight Out of Vegas, Vega. Be sure
to catch live editions of Straight Out of Vegas weekdays
at six pm Eastern three pm Pacific. We are back
on Straight Out of Vegas, the pregame show you always wanted.
I'm Bernie Fratto, come to you live from the Geico
Fox Sports Radio Studios. It's easy to see a fifty
(33:41):
more in co insurance with the Geico Go to Geico
dot com or call seven Auto A U T O.
The only hard part figuring out which way is easier
before I go along. By the way, I want to
thank my guys back in l A E. Vince Close, Iowa,
Sam and raw Fer when they all do a great job.
Could not do this show without you. Of course, my
on site guys, Sleepy J. The Jack of all Trades,
(34:03):
does a great job. You'll hear him again. You're weighing
on the National Championship game. All right, let's get the
Eagle Chicago in this cut. By the way, the Bears
six and a half forty one and a half. Steve
Feszek puts on his Perry Mason cap it makes a
real case for the Chicago Bears. He cites opponents, quarterback
issues and against the spread performance. Now. Feszec also unpacked
(34:24):
several key factors and variables he really must consider when
you assess the Bears season and their accomplishments from a
professional analytical point of view. PESSIC employees very much. He
employs deductive reasoning a simple as that in its purest form.
That's why listening to the pros is so viable. They
take your places you might not have thought about. Let's
(34:44):
give it a listen. Here's my case for Chicago. Chicago
is playing very well last ten games, nine and one
against the spread, nine and one straight up. I'll make
the case that they're playing even better than we think
they've been playing because Week twelve and Week thirteen to
mediocre results. Yes, they beat Detroit by seven, they barely
got by Detroit, and they lost at the New York Giants. Well,
(35:06):
those two games, Chase Daniel took over for True Whisky,
and Daniel Frankly wasn't very good as a backup quarterback.
Only average five point seven yards per pass play. If
we take out the two games with their backup quarterback,
the Bears that are last eight games with Rubisky eight
no straight up a no against the spread average scores
Chicago their opponent thirteen. I can make a case. We've
(35:27):
been talking about how well Indianapolis has been playing in
the a f C. I can make a case that
the Bears have been the best team in the NFC
all right now. Last December, it's eons a go. These
two teams in Matti Eagles wont one, two three and
Jim Schwartz, well, his defense drove Mit Drabinsky. Nancy just
showed him various schemes and looks he couldn't handle. Can
Schors do that again? Well, we're gonna find out. Speaking
(35:49):
of defense, the Bears under Vic Fangio both the league's
number one unit in every measurable category that matters. If
this is a tough game to handicap, folds is nine
and two weeks of starter, including a else and that's
a big experience advantage for the visitors. In case you're wondering,
fools is also four and one of the dog here's
more grids for the Mill. The Eagles have actually beaten
the Bears are right, three straight games. But when you
(36:10):
start the handicap this contest from a statistical analysis, the
Bears hold all the cards. In addition to a tremendous defense,
Chicago I'll gain their opponents by an average of fifty
yards per game in the second half of the season,
and by contrast, the Eagles were the exact opposite, fortunately
for Philadelphia. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, facts is facts. They won
the worst defensive all twelve playoff entrants. They've been out
(36:32):
gaining road games this year by about seven yards of game.
And let's not forget this is Philly's second World game
in two weeks. No rest for the world champs. Yes,
it's true Philly shut out the Redskins in the road
twenty four to nothing last week. But NFL playoff teams
coming off a shutout win, they're only two and nine
straight up and against the spread in their next game. Wait,
it gets worse teams in that situation role and eight
(36:54):
against the spread against folls coming off of win. And
of course you remember the Bear stuff Kirk Couz in
company last week to ten is Perry Mason would say,
or even better. Steve Fezik arrest of my case. You're
on her now. She just a couple of things, A
couple of bullet points here, Phillies past defense ranks thirty
and Drabinsky actually did pretty well against bottom ten past defenses.
(37:15):
Eight touchdowns, zero interceptions. All right, let's get to the
National championship game. You know it's only fitting these two teams,
Clemson and Alabama. And what's the latest line? Sleepy Clemson
is getting five. I saw five and a half today,
so they're starting to go back up a little bit. Okay,
so it's only fitting these two teams. Lockhorns again for
(37:36):
all the marbles. They are combined one O, nine and
seven in the last four years. Both units are loaded. Man.
I mean that Dexter Lawrence, the defensive end for Clemson,
even his backup is going to be drafted. But I
actually have questions about Obama's defense. They give up north
of four hundred and fifty yards against their last two opponents,
and I really believe Clemson is the better defense here.
(37:56):
Their front seven is ridiculous. Clemson's defense is a totally
different animal than what Alabama face last week. And everybody
told us last week the group think Echo Chamber told
us that Notre Dame was the right side right Ian
book could pass against this team. Not so much. They
got stuffed. Meanwhile, Obama, they went crazy on Oklahoma and
(38:17):
you saw Jerry Judy rooming around against that Oklahoma defense. Hell,
Judge Judy could have had a big game against that team.
By the way, just for good measure, Nick Saban has
never captured the crown is a number one seat, just saying,
and what if I told you dabbled Sweeney it was
eighteen and six against the spread, No excuse me, eighteen
and six straight up in fifteen and nine against the
(38:38):
spread when he faces an undefeated opponent in his career. Also,
in this the fifth year of the College Football Championship.
In this current format, the underdog has covered all four
previous contests. By the way. One last side angle for
we have our final why you were sleeping Vignetta the
night here's the side angle and last year's semifinal game,
in which you remember Obama took a part Lamps in
(38:59):
twenty four to six. See ward has it well, the
Tide had a little extra motivation that day. It seems
they were ticked off because of the year before, in
which Clemson prevailed. They actually thought Clemson scored the game
winning touchdown in the two thousand sixteen title game on
an illegal pick play. This year, the role the roles
are reversed as Dabbo and company have revenge on their mind.
(39:22):
Now I've already grabbed Clemson in the points. I got
them at six. I really think they can win the game.
All right, But before we go any further, let's start
with the sleepy j for another while you were sleeping, Vignette. Well,
I'm gonna go ahead. I'm gonna buy low here with
the total on this game currently Alabama Clemson fifty eight
and a half. That's lows it's been since this game
actually opened offensive skill positions. Glower, I'm gonna go ahead.
(39:45):
I'm gonna take the over fifty and a half of
the college national championship games. You know you you talked
about something off fair sleep They made a lot of sense.
You've you've got did you see the like deal? Over right?
So you've got both quarterbacks with vertical passing attacks. You
haven't had that Jalen Hurts having when the past, and
neither did Kelly Bryant. That's really what cost him is
gig you got good. Both these kids can throw the
(40:05):
ball downfield. So I'm with you. I you actually think
it's gonna be a high scoring game when these two teams,
I'll get going. Great news. There's a quick way you
could save money. Switched to Geiko. Go to Geico dot
com and about fifteen minutes you could say fift or
more on car insurance. Okay, we saved enough time. It's
that time of year. It's college basketball, and I said
(40:29):
that I would have my first college release of the
year and our Saturday night edition straight out of Vegas.
And it's a game that tips off tomorrow ten excuse me,
ten am Pacific time. Illinois visits Northwestern. They're catching about eight. Now,
I know that the Illinois Brad Underwoods team is only
four and ten. However, it's you ever noticed how some
teams have another team's number. Illinois got Northwestern's number. They've
(40:52):
been overwhelmed by Illinois of late. They go and six
straight up and oh five and one against the spread.
Both teams are all in three and Big ten play.
I get that, but here's the stat putting your pipe
and smoke. Against Michigan State, they got buried by Northwestern
did in games following Michigan State, they're a shaky nine
and thirty five. I like Illinois in this game, you're
(41:14):
catching eight points. I actually think Illinois could win the game. Alright, alright, folks,
that's going to do it. For this week's edition of
Straight Out of Vegas. I'm Bernie Fratto. Good luck with
all your plays tomorrow. But don't go up and excuse me,
don't go anywhere up next to man who bench two
thirty one times at the NFL Combine. He even did
(41:35):
it holding a beer in his other hand YEP, it's
my man, Jonas Knox Megan. Fox Sports Radio has the
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
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