December 18, 2017 • 44 mins
Big Ben talks about the overturned TD in Steelers vs. Patriots, the "index card first down" in the Cowboys game, Maller to the 3rd Degree, Insta-Advice Line, and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Ben Maller Show on
Fox Sports Radio and the Game of the Year in
the NFL. Every week there's a game of the Year
in the NFL. The Game of the Year in the
NFL was the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers,
and play the Hits. I had a program director early
(00:22):
in Michris play the hits. Don't go off the grid,
do don't go outside the box, stay in the box.
Of course, I've always followed that, as you know. That's
why I've succeeded to the pinnacle broadcasting here the coveted
overnight slot at Fox Sports Radio. But it was an
emotional roller coaster type of game for the Patriots more
(00:43):
than the Steelers. In the end, it became that for
the Pittsburgh Steals. But in the span of approximately five
minutes of real time, the Patriots had gone from a
classic Tom Brady game winning drive they take the lead
into watching their defense gets stopped on in the blink
(01:04):
of an eye, the Patriots had defensively just imploded, vomited
all over the field. But leading up to that, you
had Rob Gronkowski take over. It looked like if you
play football around Thanksgiving and the parents versus the kids.
Gronkowski is the defenders, so these Steelers try to stop him.
(01:27):
Was a gigantic mismatch, and Rob Gronkowski essentially took over
that go ahead drive a couple of big plays there.
Dion Lewis eventually scored what looked like the game winning
touchdown with less than a minute to go in the
fourth quarter. And you know what happened to have happened
after Maybe now, if you had gone to get like
a beer, which would have been a really bad time
(01:49):
to get a beer, Like if you had decided I
need to go to relieve myself, I'm gonna go to
the powder room, which is what they say in Canada,
you would have missed a sixty nine yard reception by
Juju Smith Schuster that then set up what looked like
it this was gonna be the game winning touchdown, right
Jesse James right over the middle into the end zone.
(02:11):
Touchdown Steelers, And everyone's saying, oh man, they gotta make
sure they kick the extra point because there's still a
little time left. There's like thirty seconds, less than thirty
seconds for Brady to get back. Except it wasn't a touchdown.
It was a touchdown, but it wasn't a touchdown Jesse James.
Upon further review, the NFL determining that the James touchdown
(02:35):
reception no good. Take it off the bart. Now, at
this particular moment, you had to think, Hey, the Steelers,
the worst case scenario, the doomsday scenario, is Okay, they
kick a field goal, the game goes to overtime, they
get another opportunity in overtime, and both teams will possess
(02:56):
the ball in the overtime. They're okay, it's bad, but
it ain't that bad. And I am convinced if Ben
Roethlisberger had done the right thing instead of the wrong thing,
that this particular play, wall terrible, wall horrific would not
have been to the defining event a week fifteen in
(03:18):
the NFL. But instead, with a chance to at worst
go to overtime with a field goal attempt, Ben Roethlisberger
did the thing you cannot do. He was intercepted by
darn Harmon and that's it. See you later. Game over,
Patriots get to win, they go to the victory formation.
(03:39):
Terrible play by the Steelers quarterback there, But let's not
bury the lead here. More on that later because Roethlisberger
had a lot to say. But let's let's get to
a rather simple question. We believe in simple things here,
we're simple people, and it's very simple. Was Jesse James
catch a catch? Now? In the bizarre world of foot,
(04:01):
the most ridiculous world that these people live in, the
theater of the bizarre, in that area of football, it
was not a catch. It's a terrible rule. It's a
horrifical Now to expand on this, my viewpoint on this
particular this the Jesse James catch. At the end, you've
(04:23):
got common sense, letter of the law, the pardon, and
then you've got hart stopping. You've got all that mix together,
and I'll buying them all together in a nice little
holiday package here. But the first thing, if I'm playing
football with you, you and I are together, we're playing football,
and that same play happens, that same catch. Although I'm
(04:49):
assuming we're not going to play with Jesse James, a
tight end from the NFL. But let's just say I'll
be the one making the catch because I'm very similar
athletically to an NFL tight end. So I make the
catch and then and all right, I cross over my
imaginary goal line. I'm into the end zone. I'm at
the park. We're at the park. Does anyone amongst us say, oh, no,
(05:12):
that's not a catch. You didn't follow all the way through.
Of course not. You don't bring that up. Nobody brings
that up. No buddy brings it up. It's common sense.
You see a play like that, it's a touchdown. It's
a touchdown. But the NFL's survive. You have to survive
(05:33):
the ground like the ground monster of the NFL. H
you in mind. From a financial standpoint, here I benefit.
It was a push situation. I had the Patriots, so
I did okay here. I did okay with this. But
much like in past instances with Megatron, famously or not
(05:56):
so famously in the a random Lions Bears game in Illinois,
the outcome of that play and more recently a couple
years back, the Dez Bryant catch, I continue to maintain
the absurdity of all of this, And even if you
happen to enjoy the New England Patriots, you can admit
(06:17):
the ridiculousness of this. The Jesse James had a knee down.
He had reached across the goal line at that point,
I guess he's no longer a receiver, then he's a runner.
But the Dez Bryant catch, the NFL rules could stop.
O laid it on thick. There they were preaching all
over the place. They had their toties of the NFL
(06:39):
giving out all kinds of propaganda about this. Mike Pereira,
who does a great job on Fox, the long time
czar of NFL officiating, he chimed in and he took
the company position on this. He says, if you're going
to the ground, you have to hold onto the ball
when the ball hits the ground. Going to the ground,
Trump's lunge reaching to try to get extra yards to
(07:03):
score a touched and so he essentially said, you do
it at your own peril. Trying to push the ball
across the end zone is frowned upon among the dopes
that put the rules together in the NFL. That's the
bizarro world of football. Like in most circles, coaches were said, boy,
that's a great play by you. You really want to
(07:24):
score that touchdown, You've got to reach fort push that
ball across the goal line. In the NFL, the dopes
on Park Avenue, you're a heathen and you turn the
ball over. It's ridiculous. It's the most silliest thing. In
this case, an anycomplete pass, but if it goes out
of the end zone, then it's a touchback. We saw
that in the Raider Cowboy game, the Sunday Nike. But
(07:47):
this particular rule, people, I've heard a lot of so
called experts and geniuses that claim to be informed pundits
on all things NFL, and they rant and raved like
looted takes here that the NFL must do something about this. Right,
the NFL has got to put a stop to this.
(08:07):
They got to change the rule. This is one of
the big rule issues the NFL phases. They don't care
by the letter of the law that they put in.
They like this again spirit of law. Hey, it's a touchdown,
right common sense play. The NFL is all about the
letter of law on this. And all the outrage and
(08:30):
all the people that have called up radio shows all
night long and will continue to call in over the
next twenty four hours, and this general hullabaloo directed at
that particular play in the Steeler Patriot game, it's good
for business. Just to be clear, there are separate rules.
I know the NFL. I read the rule book. I
(08:52):
got a headache from reading the NFL rule book. But
you would think when the ball crosses the plane of
the goal line, that's it. Everything stops, right. I mean again,
it comes down to the difference between a pass catcher
and a runner. And but how many times we've watched
an NFL game and seeing a running back cross the
(09:12):
goal line and it's like a hand grenade. The ball
just goes everywhere and they don't do anything about that.
Why didn't he didn't maintain possession of the ball all
the way through the goal line? Or did he? And
then it doesn't matter? I mean, but see the NFL,
the people that put the rules together again, I feel
(09:34):
like they are dopes. The NFL loves this and Paul
can't hit the ground if you're the running back, but
not if you're a receiver. And by the letter of
the law, the NFL got it right. The laws flaw.
It's stupid law, its silly. My advice is to change
it back to the way it used to be. I've
been preaching about this for several years. No one listens
(09:55):
to me. Shame on you, you morons. The NFL should
listen to me. This all got changed due to the
Burt Emmanuel call in the playoffs years ago. Most people
don't even know who that is anymore, Burt Emmanuel. But
you don't have to force the as far as force
outs and allow the ball to touch the ground and situate.
(10:16):
It's it's just absurd. It's just absolutely absurd. And you know,
even the broadcast, Tony Romo, who's played in the NFL
for how many years, even he was at first He's like,
what are they reviewing? I don't understand, and then all
was like, oh, okay, it's like somebody whispered in his ears.
What was going on on this particular a situation. It's
(10:36):
just just ridiculous. And so now the outcome of all
of this, the Patriots get a pardon. They're the benefactor
of this. Belichick and Brady survived. Now they could have
won the game anyway if the Steelers had kicked the
field goal and then gone to overtime, and you would
have liked the Patriots chances in overtime. But the Patriots
(10:57):
now eleven and three, they've won their ninth straight AC
East title. That's a record for division titles fifteen and
the last seventeen AFC East titles are gone to the Patriots,
and the road to the Super Bowl, barring a major
hiccup against lowly bottom feeding teams such as the Buffalo
Bills and the New York Jets who come into Tom
(11:17):
Brady's house in Foxborough, means that that's where the championship
of the AFC likely will be decided. And so that's
where we stand. And you know, how confident are you
that the Patriots are actually going to be able to
navigate their way through the postseason, because that was some
shaky defense at the end. But you look around and
(11:40):
is there anybody legitimate like the Steelers are frauds the
way they finished this game, and not even the Jesse
James play, because I will give the Steelers that should
have been a touchdown, but how they reacted to it.
Complete negligence by the Steelers at the end of the game.
You still have over time in your back pocket and
you just vomited all over the field there and threw
(12:01):
that away as well. All right, So the Ben Mall
Show on Fox and we'll take your phone calls on
this if you want to be part The number eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven, seven, nine, nine,
six six three six nine. We're also on Twitter at
Ben Mallard. That's at Ben Mallory. Can be part of
(12:23):
the festivities. I think Eddie Garcia is here. I believe
he's right over there there he is, Edmund Dallas steamboat
blah blah blah Garcia, he's right over there. Yeah, I
am right over here. Y, I will. I will agree
with pretty much everything you said. All right, stop right there, period,
we move on. Good job by you, monologue. The only
thing I would maybe take issue with is that, you know,
(12:46):
the NFL doesn't care because this is good for business.
I'm not sure that this is, but they love this.
Oh it's great for business. Well, I don't know. Person's
gonna stop watching. People say they're gonna stop watching you
over this listens watch with all the stuff that's going
on in the NFL. Yeah, I can only tell you this. Look,
am I still watching? Yeah? But am I as excited
(13:06):
about the NFL as I was ten years ago? No,
you're a bitter old guy. You know, us young hip millennials,
we still like it, you know, with a with all
the crap. I mean, the game is not as physical
as it used to be and I understand why, but
still it's not as enjoyable. And then the anthem stuff
for some people obviously, uh. And then these rules that
(13:27):
are ridiculous. I mean, I don't I don't understand. I've
never heard an explanation why this rule was put in place,
the focus on the you know, completing the catch through
the ground and all that stuff. Who thinks this is
a good idea? Who's excited about this? I get a
competition committee to put this together? Right the years ago?
(13:48):
This was there for what reason? Was it to overturn
some great injustice? Usually something bad happens and you react
to it. Who was out there saying, my god, We've
got to make sure these guys catch the ball, fall
to the ground and hold on to it for five
seconds before we can rule that this is a touchdown
or even even worse. And I know we'll talk about
what happened in the Raider Cowboy game with Danny g
(14:08):
but this we were putting rules in place to prevent
something exciting from happening. Guys diving for the goal line.
We don't want guys diving for the goal. Mike Perez
said he worked for the NFL for years. He said there,
he said, you you do it basically your own peril.
It's ridiculous. Do I love guys diving for the pylon.
I love guys diving for the goal. That's what I
(14:30):
want to I don't want to see people penalized for
trying to do that. But as far as like the
Raider Cowboy game which ended on a Derek Carr dive
to the end zone where he fumbled it and it
went out of the end zone, and of course they
then they assume that the other team would have gotten
the ball, and then they give it to the other team.
I saw the Rams earlier. Todd Gurley this year had
(14:52):
a ball out of the end zone that was same
well similar outcome, but it wasn't exactly the same as
what Derek car did. But still it's it's it's so,
how do you know the other team's gonna be covertic
get the ball? I've never understood most fumbles, the team
that fumbles recovers most of the time. It's not a
change of position, how many or change of possession. There's
people that fumble all the time and their own team
(15:12):
recovers it. H I say, hey, just give the team
that fumble the ball the one yard line if you
want to punish them, put it back to the five
yard line if you want, or the ten yard line. Right.
That's but that's way too severe punishment for it seems
we're not losing. I just I do disagree with you.
I'm not saying I'm gonna stop watching, but I'm no,
(15:34):
I'm saying my my enjoyment of the NFL compared to
ten years ago is not even closed. Why because it
happened to your team, Because it's gonna happening for several
years this way it's been happening. No, I'm saying, when
you and when you put it all together, with everything
that's been going on, I'm just saying, I'm not a
fan of a fan of this league as much as
I used to be, not even close. I smashed my
remote control. The battery cover won't go back on duct tape,
(15:58):
Doctor horrible. I am boycotting the last two Raider games.
So are they Actually they're gonna be boycotting as well.
They will not be showing you up. So they've decided
to take those those last couple of games. Be sure
to catch live editions of the Ben Maller Show weeknights
at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeart Radio app. There are but a
(16:20):
handful of plays in any individual game where you're gonna
remember that and in the outcome of the game. We
often talk about you remember the turning point, and then
you remember the final score. Now, the Raider Cowboy game,
there were a couple of things that stood out. In
addition to the fact that the Cowboys won the game
over the Raiders by a field goal, you had Derek
(16:41):
Carr fumbling out of the end zone, and then the
ridiculous touchback rule which gave the Cowboys possession of the
ball when the Raiders had it. We're driving and Car
fumbled and they, of course the NFL knows for sure
at that point that the other team's going to recover
the fumble, and so the Cowboys got the ball out
at the twenty yard line, sealing the victory. But let's
(17:03):
go back, though. Let's go back because the Cowboys what
turned out to be the game winning drive where they
were there was a key first down call Dak Prescott
on a quarterback keeper is a fourth down and one
at the thirty nine yard line of the Dallas Cowboys,
(17:23):
roughly five minutes or so to go in the game,
and Dakota Prescott decides again. The Cowboys call to play
run a quarterback keeper up the middle, fourth and one,
trust your offensive line, get the first down, right, tie game. Well,
the way the ball was spotted, it was just short
of the forty yard line. They call the chains out.
(17:47):
There's a meeting of the minds, right, they get together
and these like a bunch of blind blind mice, one
leading the next one. And they stood there and Jeans Stator,
the referee, and he's trying to figure out They're looking
at this. It's very close, very the margins are very
thin on this. The call. The ramifications of this call
(18:08):
are humongous because remember it was at the Dallas thirty
nine yard line. So if the Raiders had gotten possession
of the football in this spot, they would have been
able in theory just to get like five more yards
and they would have kicked the field goal. They could
have taken the lead. There still would have been time
left for the Cowboys to come back. But anyway, the referees,
(18:30):
Jean Sterator and his crew, they were trying to figure
it out. And Sterator folds up an index card to
see if there's enough room between the tip of the
football and the chain right to pull on the end
of the chain. And even though there was space, there
(18:51):
was space between the very beginning of the football, the
nose of the football and the poll. Despite that, Jene
Sterator ruled not at all. That is a first down.
Cowboys move the chains and the Cowboys would go down.
They would end up getting a field goal, and as
the game played out, that turned out to be the
(19:12):
end of the game. The Cowboys ended up winning by
that margin that first down on that drive. They then
matriculated the ball down the field the kicked what turned
out to be it was a nineteen yard field goal
on that drive with less than two minutes to play,
and that was the game. Before we comment on this,
let's hear from Jack del Rio. Jack del Rio, the
(19:34):
Raider coach, who I'm sure you really enjoyed the way
that game ended. Yes, never seen air like that somehow
turned into a first down. The air between the ball
and the stick that you're short, okay, goes the other
way period. Well, now they see the Cowboys actually got
(19:56):
the benefit that. Here's more from Jack del Rio, who
quoted one of his players. Here, this is del Rio
quoting Let's see if you can guess which Raider player
Jack del Rito's quoting. I don't want to get fined. Okay,
I'm not happy with the things were done. Yeah, shout
out different situations throughout the night. I had a different viewpoint.
(20:20):
I saw Air. I was pretty obvious that's right. He
should have quoted him and said that Marshaun got a
little testy with the referee after that play. Yeah, I
don't know. Actual actually have the car fumble upset there.
Here's the other side. It takes two to ten go.
Here's Jason Garrett who was the benefactor. I'm going to
(20:41):
assume the position that Jason Garrett approved of this, but
the decision to use the index card by Jene Sterator.
Explain that to me, Jason Gart, what do you think
of all that? I don't know that I've ever seen
that one. Really, it seems like that's the method they
use to decide. One of my concerns wasn't like the
stick was kind of on an angle, and I thought
(21:02):
that was working against us. But eventually they straightened it
out and they broke the card out and we made
it by the thickness of the card. They were gonna
bend that poll whichever where they had to bend that
poll to make sure that was a first down at
that particular point that that thing would have been laying
on the ground, if that's what it took to get
that call to be a first down in favor of
(21:23):
the Cowboys. Dak Prescott, who not only is a quarterback,
he sucked in this particular game. He asked him he
was terrible, reaffirming my award winning a hot take last
week that the two good games that Prescott had against
the Redskins and the Giants were a mirage and he
was just bad all the way around. But here's a
(21:43):
Dak Prescott giving his ten cents on the end of
game situation. I've never seen the referee pull out a
card that was interesting, but I felt like I got it.
I feel like it wasn't that close. We got it anyway,
so it doesn't matter. But that was interesting. Cowboys won
a game where Dak Prescott had two hundred twelve yards
passing two interceptions, a quarterback rating of fifty nine point five,
(22:06):
and they win the game on the road. But let's
let's break it down. Listen, what did you make? Simple question?
What did you make of the double folded index card
by Jene Sterator? All right, the referee, I've got my
thoughts on this. You've got schoolyard, carrot top, and blunder.
You've got those three things. First of all, it was
a classic schoolyard move. Nowhere, to my knowledge, in the
(22:32):
NFL rule book does it say if it's close, pull
out an index card. It does not say this was
done for showmanship. Right, The use of the card was
done to enhance the drama. That's what That's what this
is all about. Then you've got Carrot Top. Why carrot Top?
(22:56):
Can you think of a better prop comedian than Carrot Top?
I mean, this was prop comedy, is what it was.
It was a bunch of referee's all standing around. They
didn't know what that. It was so close, it's like,
oh my god, what am I gonna do here? And
then Jane Sterotor with the ad lib, It's like, I
know what I'm a I'm gonna pull this this index
card out. But it was a blunder because it was
(23:17):
poorly executed. What I mean by that it was poorly
executed because, as Jack del Rio pointed out, there was space.
If there's space, he didn't get the first down. He
didn't get the first down. That's a bad job. Now
did you see what Gene Sterator said in a to
a pull a pole reporter or a pool reporter, not
(23:37):
a poll report. I guess in this case it was
a poll reporter, though that's not actually wrong. The pool reporter,
he was, asked, this is just imagine I'm the referee
here the to the pool reporter. I'm asking Gene Sterator
this question, why did you use the index card? Now?
Have you heard this? Have you heard what Jene Sterator said?
He said, quote, I didn't use the card to make
(23:59):
the final decision. The final decision was made visually. The
card was used nothing more than a reaffirmation, a reaffirmation
that what was visually done. My decision was visually done
based on the look from the poll. Does anyone believe
this by the way that he's that that was confirmation
(24:20):
that he had already made the decision to make that
particular call. Yeah, The follow up question was how did
it reaffirm the call? Stator then responded that was already finished.
He said the ball was touching the poll. I used
the card in there and as soon as it touched
(24:41):
it was nothing more than a reaffirmation. The decision was
made based on my visual from the top looking down
and the ball touching the front of the pole. So
he's doubling down on this, And he was asked again
a third time. He was asked what the purpose was,
and he again repeated the same thing and said that
(25:04):
he had already seen it with his eyes and it
was just reaffirming what he had already seen. So then
a fourth time, a fourth time, he was asked the
same question, right, and do you think he broke down
at this point, Sterritory, No, he said, the decision was
made based in my visual look from the ball that
was touching the poll. The card did nothing more than reaffirm.
(25:26):
Then he said, here the judgment was not made by
the card itself. The referee declared, it was made by
my visual looking at the football as it relates to
the line and the poll. Well, he's a hell of
an actor, Jeane Sterritory, Because the way it looked on television,
maybe my TV's broken, I don't know, but the way
it looked here, he had no idea what to do.
(25:49):
It was so close to call, and he's like, you
know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna use this index
card that I have here, and that'll be the way
that it has sided. Even though again the visual thing,
you look at the replay in that Raider Cowboy game,
it certainly appeared that there was enough space four the
set index card, which should have turned the ball over
(26:10):
on downs to the Raiders at the thirty nine yard line.
But question after question, not once, not twice, not three times,
not four times, not five times, six times, the referee
Jean Steratour was asked in the postgame pool report about
that play, and he essentially repeated the same thing every
(26:31):
single time he was Also, he was also asked if
he'd ever used the card before and how he thought
of using it, and Sterator said, it's maybe been done
at some point in someone's career. He said, but I
didn't use the card for my decision. No, no, no,
(26:52):
I used my visual looking at the ball reaching the poll,
is what Sterator said. Again, So six times he was
asked essentially the same question, and six times he gave
essentially the same answer. Now, as far as the meaning
of that the Raiders are all but done. The Cowboys
(27:12):
are still on life support for the postseason, so neither
one of these teams likely will be in the postseason.
The Cowboys, though, when you look at the NFC, if
Atlanta were to stub its toe and if the Falcons
somehow vomit against the Buccaneers, because there's a bunch of
teams that are all like lurking in the shadows hoping
(27:34):
that Atlanta will stub its toe, and Dallas is one
of those teams, but they're they're tied with Seattle. You've
got the Lions who are also right there. You've got
a bunch of eight and six teams, and then you've
got like Green Bay who lost, and they need all
of these teams to lose out to have a chance
to give the playoffs. It is the Ben Maller Show
on Fox Edmund Dallas steam Boat Realities, Garcia up right over. Well,
(28:01):
I may kick myself for what I'm about to do,
all right, because you don't need any encouragement when it
comes to honking up your team. But I didn't see
any of the rams Seahawks game, but you didn't because
I was watching obviously the Patriot stealers get missed out
on that. But I saw the score at one point,
was it thirty forty to nothing? It was forty to nothing.
I saw the score it was thirty to nothing and
(28:22):
we got to forty to nothing. My reaction was, Wow,
that was a walloping Daddy is an ass kicking Yeah
and impressive. Yeah. And this was this this meat grinder.
It's on my list days, you know, fair and balanced
talk shows. I could have started, I could have done
the first two hours or nothing. But the Rams, I
(28:43):
could have done that and it would have been great.
Radio would have been a big ratings winner. People love
when I talk about the Rams. They're the most passionate team.
They have a huge fan base and everyone loves the Rams.
They're great, but it's hard for you not to talk
about them in this case. I mean, wow, it was
I ass kissing, ask kicking is what it was. In Seattle,
they're coming apart at the seams. We had Seahawk on
(29:05):
Seahawk Crime and did you see that? Earl Thomas. Earl
Thomas questioning Bobby Wagner's decision to play through the hamstring
injury that led to a back and forth on social media,
and it was just just marvelous. The Seahawks. They cannot
deal with what's going on right now. They're they're falling apart,
(29:28):
the franchise is falling apart. And this idea that the
Seahawks are just gonna bounce back next year. They need
some major renovations that roster, because it's true, there's a
lot of guys out right now, but those are older players.
Older players are prone to get hurt. They've been around
the NFL a long time, and the Legion of Boom
long in the tooth, the core of the Legion of Boom.
(29:49):
They have to make some major changes to that Seattle defense.
That is not a team going the right direction. And
I have the forty nine ers are headed the right
direction more than in the Seattle Seahawks at this particular point.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weeknights at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app. It's Maller.
(30:14):
How about that to the third degree? This is one
big Ben gets grilled. All right. We bring in the
Coop de Loop Justin Cooper's been a report over the
weekend said that if Lebron James is to leave the
Cavs after this season, that he won't be going to
a young team, but rather a team that he would
(30:34):
be considered the missing piece for Ben which teams around
the league? Do you think that would best fit that criteria? Well?
Nothing I love more than idle speculation about the future
of Lebron James and where Lebron James is gonna end
up now. I thought he was going to the Lakers,
that was a done deal. Then he was gonna go
to Philadelphia, then he was gonna go to the Houston Rockets.
I believe he wants to be a Clipper. I think
(30:55):
he's seen the light and he really wants to be
an LA Clipper now and he'd get all the glory. No,
let's hear this is the greatest clickbait in the NBA
this side of La Vauball. But to answer you legitimately,
if if this is the criteria here, he doesn't want
to go to a young team, but rather a team
(31:16):
that would be considered missing the missing piece, if you will,
then he can have the best of both worlds, a
youngish team but a team that needs that final piece.
Or do they the Boston Celtics, who would be the
easiest option because it's in his happy place, the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics have a stable of young studs and they
(31:38):
so called magician as coach and Brad Stevens if you
value NBA coaching. The only drawback for Lebron would be
that he'd be reunited with Kyrie Irving, and there was
apparently a hitch in the plan there back in Cleveland.
That's why kyrias in Boston right now. Outside of that,
I don't buy the rocket talk. I could see Lebron
(32:01):
stumbling off to play for the Warriors. It's plausible if
Golden State were to lose this year in the playoffs,
if they stumble, that Lebron could be headed back there
to save the Warriors right a disjointed Warrior team. But
I believe more it's more likely than not. I've maintained
it all the way along that Lebron will end up
(32:21):
staying in the Eastern Conference, that he's not going to
head to the Western Conference. So I believe he'll stay
somewhere in the Eastern time zone. Next, some exciting news, Ben, Really,
it's been over sixteen years, oh okay, and then my
Lebron conversation wasn't exciting. This is more exciting. Okay, it
sounds like we may be seeing the return of the XFL. Yeah, yep,
(32:43):
you've heard it. Vince nc Mann supposedly wants to bring
back his football league. Now, if you're old enough to remember,
it debuted to pretty like pretty great ratings and a
lot of hype, but didn't end so well. After one season,
NBC decided to not continue air in the XFL, and
then Vince McMahon called it quits. They lost I think
like thirty five million in that first year, but it's,
(33:07):
you know, the stuff of legends. People still talk about it. Ben,
Do you think that it would be any more successful
this time around? Remember how excited you were a Coop
We talked about Ice Cubes three on three league and
you were really looking forward to that. We had this conversation.
How many of those games did you watch, Coop zero? Yeah,
exactly like the idea of bringing back the XFL, or
(33:27):
I read over the weekend it's going to be called
the United Football League. I mean, the idea is wonder who.
It's absolutely wonderful. I completely endorse it. I want to
see it now as anyone to actually watch it, probably not.
I mean, there's a passion for football in America and
the United football. If they call it that, they can
(33:47):
position themselves as being the anti NFL. You know, they
have the violent hits, They respect the police, you know,
they respect the flag and all that, and yet they're
a swashbuckling demolition derby of football. All of that is great,
but it takes a good amount of time to build
up any kind of a following, and it's that generational thing.
(34:10):
It takes a number of years. And so my advice
to Vince McMahon this time, if you want to be
a pioneer in the game of footballs and many of
the things the XFL did, the NFL eventually copied and
stole and used as their own. But the main thing,
it's like a startup restaurant. You have to have the
budget to lose money over an extended period of time
(34:32):
and stay with it when your investors are knocking down
your door. You have to be able to stay with
it or else forget about. I don't even waste your time.
Next now, Ben John Gruden isn't the only former coach
turn TV analyst that gets mentioned for open jobs. Every
so often Bill Coward gets his name thrown out there
as well. Now he shot those rumors down, saying that
(34:53):
he's comfortable where he's at, because supposedly he was going
to be the next coach of the New York Giants.
But you've argued made times that John Gruden is highly
overrated and wouldn't be all that good coming back. You
don't know why people keep throwing his name out there.
Do you think the same of Kaur? But Bill Kauer
a very good coach. Cower' is a better coach than Gruden. However,
he should also stay off the sidelines. I wouldn't hire him.
(35:17):
I mean, number what, Bill Kauer has been out of
the frying pan for so long, there is an expiration
date in any I mean, I understand you're off. If
I did radio and all of a sudden stopped doing
If I did nothing, if I didn't even do a
podcast and then that's it, and then I decided to
come back and go into it, it would it would
sound horrific like he's been off. The great Bill Kauer
(35:39):
last coached in twenty h six. It's been over a
decade since he was doing this. A lot has changed.
There the players in the NFL, the core of the NFL.
These guys were like twelve and thirteen the last time
Bill Kauer coached in an NFL game. It's been a
long time. In Kawer, He's gonna be sixty one, which
is not over the hill for an l coach. Next
(36:01):
NFL season, he seems perfectly satisfied providing cliche filled, snooze
inducing commentary on CBS. There are younger coaches I would
prefer to see given an opportunity. Look at the success
Sean McVeigh has had in LA. You can ram it
all day, you can ram it all night. Find the
next Sean McVay. Let Bill Kaward continue to draw everyone
(36:25):
into a coma on television. There it is Mallard of
the third degree? How did we do? Benny Pass? This edition?
That winner. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
(36:47):
Hey you sports figure, guy or girl, when you talking
to son, here's some instant advice. Hold that thought. No
one's paid attention to me for ten whole seconds. And
if you don't like it, and oh oh, it's the
Instant Advice line unscreened radio. Who needs our advice? So
(37:07):
many people need our advice. We can only pick one
a week to do this. The candidates we had, we
had gene strator on how to properly decide on what
a first down is and what is not a first down.
We could have given advice to Ben Roethlisberger on how
to properly throw his coaches under the bus. We didn't
(37:28):
do that. The play that everyone's talking about here is
at the end of the Steeler Patriot game, home field
advantage in the NFL decide in the AFC anyway decided
by the catch rule. Jesse James looked like he had
scored a touchdown. The crowd sounded like they had witnessed
a touchdown by their reaction, and they went to instant
(37:51):
replay and it wasn't a touchdown. So your advice to
the NFL on how to handle the catch rule. If
you want to be part of this eight seven seven
ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six
six three six nine, we'll say hello to you on
line one. You're live on the air. When you hear
(38:12):
my voice Line one, your advice to the NFL on
how to properly handle the catch rule. Thank you for
that line too. Your advice to the NFL. Line two,
I suggist. They do like Davante Adams and give everybody
the finger like he did when he got a concussion. Yeah,
sounds good. That's solid advice. Line three, Your advice please
(38:34):
to the NFL on how to properly handle the catch rule?
Two hands. Oh see, he just did the two hands,
not the rest of it. That's good. Line Line four, Hello,
Line four, advice to the NFL on how to correct
the catch rule. I tell those guys. Line five Hello,
(38:57):
Line five, who describe what you eat again? Because you
make me sick. Line six, you're on the air. We're
giving advice to the NFL on how to handle the
catch rule. Line six, luke fut sixteen. Oh, it's in
the Bible. They just gotta read that and then they'll
be good. Everyone opened up the Bible. Line one, Hello,
(39:18):
Line one, My advice to the NFL would be not
support your peasant public and Fox Sports News go. Now, yes,
that's that's an outdated reference, but thank you for that.
Line two, Hello, go. Your advice please to the NFL
on how to handle the catch rule. Let Bella decide. Yeah,
there he is pin in the ass. Line three, you
(39:40):
are actually eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. Try
your luck, no screener, you're live on the air. When
you hear my voice, Hello, Line three went from me
to screw you. Line four, you're on the air, Go yes, Ben.
I would look the NFL right square in the eye
and say get a line five. Hello, your advice to
(40:02):
the NFL on how to properly handle the catch rule? Yeah?
I would jerk on stuff, leg straight, defenzi and say hi,
I like to say. Line six, you're on the air,
advice please to the NFL on how to handle the
catch rule. I would have good Gell called Donald Trump. Yes,
(40:22):
I'm sure. Well that's a good question. Will the President
in his morning tweet storm, which usually comes about the
time we get off the air, will the President address
the NFL catch rule? Or does he have to avoid
that because he's been telling everyone not to watch the NFL.
It's an awkward situation. Line one, Hello, Yeah, I bet
(40:45):
he will say, because he and Belichick are still tight
the president, so he'll probably say something jerk yourself. Line too,
you're on the airline too. Your advice to the NFL
on how to properly handle the catch rule. They need
to take a lesson from Peyton Manning. They need to
learn how to hand their ball, because Peyton Manning's the
best ever, unless he's not, uh all right. Line three. Hello,
(41:08):
Oh it's Donald Duck. Donald. What would you do to
change the NFL catch rule? Donald rumps? Whatever you said? Yes,
Angeles ram, Oh, okay, good. Donald Duck's a ram fan
of Line four. Hello, it's still sad. This is the
last things an advice plane of the year. Oh yeah,
(41:29):
I said, this is a good point. This is the
last one of the here who knew? Line five, I
don't look at it in that term. We have a
whole archive of instant advice lines. To go back on
the podcast and listen to. Hello, Line five the Raider
Nation called lambs Well. Hello, Danny Fading you out there.
(41:51):
It's a violation. Line six. You are next. Line six,
we're giving advice to the NFL on how to handle
the catch rule. Drink more, smoke more, and make love more. Yes,
make love Montana. That's where Tammy hangs out. Line one. Hello,
Line one, Jonas Knox is a douche, All right? Line too, Hello,
(42:13):
line too, that's not nice? Line too, I like Jonas,
go ahead. Line two, ask your mama, your mama nothing.
Kids like more in like fifth grade than your mama.
Jokes and they love it. Stop this future atrocity. That
guy's got his own YouTube channel. Uh doing that kind
of stuff? Line three, Hello, Hi man, this is a
(42:36):
betty and my advice would be the Russell. Where's the
what happened to the captain in Newport? We haven't heard
from the captain since the dating game didn't go so well?
Line four? Hello, how's the playoffs? All right? Line five,
(42:56):
you're next on the air. It's instant advice. Line radio
time shifted it. We're giving advice to the NFL on
how to properly alter the catch rule. Let the ram decide.
Line let the Rams do whatever they want. Line six, Hello,
we've already heard that line has that new I cut
(43:18):
you off? Line one go it's a worm bicycle. Yeah,
pencil neck Ray, that's the guy. He's at his best
in short doses. Pencil neck right, pencil magnet. A whole
wall of sound bites from pencil neck Ray. Hello, line too,
(43:38):
you're on the air, go consoled with Tom Looney. No, no,
nobody needs to talk to Tom Looney. Oh nothing, Line three,
go hello, line three, they need to talk to Twinkle
toes Maller. Well, listen, I wasn't on the stage dancing,
and not that I'm opposed to that. All right, we
do one more and only one more. If it's good,
(43:59):
I'll take credit. If not, I will blame the Cooper
loop who will pick the final call on the instant
advice line for the NFL on how to handle the
catch rule. Take your time, Coop, don't mind that we're
on the air. I know you're pausing to think about three.
Line three. All right, we just talked to line three,
but somebody else is calling in line three. You are
(44:19):
the final call on the instant of ice line of
the NFL. Go ahead, line three, Yes, the NFL said,
channel of the lake, William Shatner, and go to the ballet.
There it is the final call. Go to the ballet.
I bet Chats loves the ballet, check mate. Those are
his people at the ballet, right, Those are yeah, front row,
(44:41):
drinking the wine, hanging out looking at the little program
with all the names of the Russian ballet dancers like
he knows who they are. That's that's shots right there.
This is the best of the Ben Maller Show on
Fox Sports Radio and the Game of the Year in
the NFL. Every week there's a game of the Year
in the NFL. The Game of the Year in the
NFL was the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers,
and play the Hits. I had a program director early
(00:22):
in Michris play the hits. Don't go off the grid,
do don't go outside the box, stay in the box.
Of course, I've always followed that, as you know. That's
why I've succeeded to the pinnacle broadcasting here the coveted
overnight slot at Fox Sports Radio. But it was an
emotional roller coaster type of game for the Patriots more
(00:43):
than the Steelers. In the end, it became that for
the Pittsburgh Steals. But in the span of approximately five
minutes of real time, the Patriots had gone from a
classic Tom Brady game winning drive they take the lead
into watching their defense gets stopped on in the blink
(01:04):
of an eye, the Patriots had defensively just imploded, vomited
all over the field. But leading up to that, you
had Rob Gronkowski take over. It looked like if you
play football around Thanksgiving and the parents versus the kids.
Gronkowski is the defenders, so these Steelers try to stop him.
(01:27):
Was a gigantic mismatch, and Rob Gronkowski essentially took over
that go ahead drive a couple of big plays there.
Dion Lewis eventually scored what looked like the game winning
touchdown with less than a minute to go in the
fourth quarter. And you know what happened to have happened
after Maybe now, if you had gone to get like
a beer, which would have been a really bad time
(01:49):
to get a beer, Like if you had decided I
need to go to relieve myself, I'm gonna go to
the powder room, which is what they say in Canada,
you would have missed a sixty nine yard reception by
Juju Smith Schuster that then set up what looked like
it this was gonna be the game winning touchdown, right
Jesse James right over the middle into the end zone.
(02:11):
Touchdown Steelers, And everyone's saying, oh man, they gotta make
sure they kick the extra point because there's still a
little time left. There's like thirty seconds, less than thirty
seconds for Brady to get back. Except it wasn't a touchdown.
It was a touchdown, but it wasn't a touchdown Jesse James.
Upon further review, the NFL determining that the James touchdown
(02:35):
reception no good. Take it off the bart. Now, at
this particular moment, you had to think, Hey, the Steelers,
the worst case scenario, the doomsday scenario, is Okay, they
kick a field goal, the game goes to overtime, they
get another opportunity in overtime, and both teams will possess
(02:56):
the ball in the overtime. They're okay, it's bad, but
it ain't that bad. And I am convinced if Ben
Roethlisberger had done the right thing instead of the wrong thing,
that this particular play, wall terrible, wall horrific would not
have been to the defining event a week fifteen in
(03:18):
the NFL. But instead, with a chance to at worst
go to overtime with a field goal attempt, Ben Roethlisberger
did the thing you cannot do. He was intercepted by
darn Harmon and that's it. See you later. Game over,
Patriots get to win, they go to the victory formation.
(03:39):
Terrible play by the Steelers quarterback there, But let's not
bury the lead here. More on that later because Roethlisberger
had a lot to say. But let's let's get to
a rather simple question. We believe in simple things here,
we're simple people, and it's very simple. Was Jesse James
catch a catch? Now? In the bizarre world of foot,
(04:01):
the most ridiculous world that these people live in, the
theater of the bizarre, in that area of football, it
was not a catch. It's a terrible rule. It's a
horrifical Now to expand on this, my viewpoint on this
particular this the Jesse James catch. At the end, you've
(04:23):
got common sense, letter of the law, the pardon, and
then you've got hart stopping. You've got all that mix together,
and I'll buying them all together in a nice little
holiday package here. But the first thing, if I'm playing
football with you, you and I are together, we're playing football,
and that same play happens, that same catch. Although I'm
(04:49):
assuming we're not going to play with Jesse James, a
tight end from the NFL. But let's just say I'll
be the one making the catch because I'm very similar
athletically to an NFL tight end. So I make the
catch and then and all right, I cross over my
imaginary goal line. I'm into the end zone. I'm at
the park. We're at the park. Does anyone amongst us say, oh, no,
(05:12):
that's not a catch. You didn't follow all the way through.
Of course not. You don't bring that up. Nobody brings
that up. No buddy brings it up. It's common sense.
You see a play like that, it's a touchdown. It's
a touchdown. But the NFL's survive. You have to survive
(05:33):
the ground like the ground monster of the NFL. H
you in mind. From a financial standpoint, here I benefit.
It was a push situation. I had the Patriots, so
I did okay here. I did okay with this. But
much like in past instances with Megatron, famously or not
(05:56):
so famously in the a random Lions Bears game in Illinois,
the outcome of that play and more recently a couple
years back, the Dez Bryant catch, I continue to maintain
the absurdity of all of this, And even if you
happen to enjoy the New England Patriots, you can admit
(06:17):
the ridiculousness of this. The Jesse James had a knee down.
He had reached across the goal line at that point,
I guess he's no longer a receiver, then he's a runner.
But the Dez Bryant catch, the NFL rules could stop.
O laid it on thick. There they were preaching all
over the place. They had their toties of the NFL
(06:39):
giving out all kinds of propaganda about this. Mike Pereira,
who does a great job on Fox, the long time
czar of NFL officiating, he chimed in and he took
the company position on this. He says, if you're going
to the ground, you have to hold onto the ball
when the ball hits the ground. Going to the ground,
Trump's lunge reaching to try to get extra yards to
(07:03):
score a touched and so he essentially said, you do
it at your own peril. Trying to push the ball
across the end zone is frowned upon among the dopes
that put the rules together in the NFL. That's the
bizarro world of football. Like in most circles, coaches were said, boy,
that's a great play by you. You really want to
(07:24):
score that touchdown, You've got to reach fort push that
ball across the goal line. In the NFL, the dopes
on Park Avenue, you're a heathen and you turn the
ball over. It's ridiculous. It's the most silliest thing. In
this case, an anycomplete pass, but if it goes out
of the end zone, then it's a touchback. We saw
that in the Raider Cowboy game, the Sunday Nike. But
(07:47):
this particular rule, people, I've heard a lot of so
called experts and geniuses that claim to be informed pundits
on all things NFL, and they rant and raved like
looted takes here that the NFL must do something about this. Right,
the NFL has got to put a stop to this.
(08:07):
They got to change the rule. This is one of
the big rule issues the NFL phases. They don't care
by the letter of the law that they put in.
They like this again spirit of law. Hey, it's a touchdown,
right common sense play. The NFL is all about the
letter of law on this. And all the outrage and
(08:30):
all the people that have called up radio shows all
night long and will continue to call in over the
next twenty four hours, and this general hullabaloo directed at
that particular play in the Steeler Patriot game, it's good
for business. Just to be clear, there are separate rules.
I know the NFL. I read the rule book. I
(08:52):
got a headache from reading the NFL rule book. But
you would think when the ball crosses the plane of
the goal line, that's it. Everything stops, right. I mean again,
it comes down to the difference between a pass catcher
and a runner. And but how many times we've watched
an NFL game and seeing a running back cross the
(09:12):
goal line and it's like a hand grenade. The ball
just goes everywhere and they don't do anything about that.
Why didn't he didn't maintain possession of the ball all
the way through the goal line? Or did he? And
then it doesn't matter? I mean, but see the NFL,
the people that put the rules together again, I feel
(09:34):
like they are dopes. The NFL loves this and Paul
can't hit the ground if you're the running back, but
not if you're a receiver. And by the letter of
the law, the NFL got it right. The laws flaw.
It's stupid law, its silly. My advice is to change
it back to the way it used to be. I've
been preaching about this for several years. No one listens
(09:55):
to me. Shame on you, you morons. The NFL should
listen to me. This all got changed due to the
Burt Emmanuel call in the playoffs years ago. Most people
don't even know who that is anymore, Burt Emmanuel. But
you don't have to force the as far as force
outs and allow the ball to touch the ground and situate.
(10:16):
It's it's just absurd. It's just absolutely absurd. And you know,
even the broadcast, Tony Romo, who's played in the NFL
for how many years, even he was at first He's like,
what are they reviewing? I don't understand, and then all
was like, oh, okay, it's like somebody whispered in his ears.
What was going on on this particular a situation. It's
(10:36):
just just ridiculous. And so now the outcome of all
of this, the Patriots get a pardon. They're the benefactor
of this. Belichick and Brady survived. Now they could have
won the game anyway if the Steelers had kicked the
field goal and then gone to overtime, and you would
have liked the Patriots chances in overtime. But the Patriots
(10:57):
now eleven and three, they've won their ninth straight AC
East title. That's a record for division titles fifteen and
the last seventeen AFC East titles are gone to the Patriots,
and the road to the Super Bowl, barring a major
hiccup against lowly bottom feeding teams such as the Buffalo
Bills and the New York Jets who come into Tom
(11:17):
Brady's house in Foxborough, means that that's where the championship
of the AFC likely will be decided. And so that's
where we stand. And you know, how confident are you
that the Patriots are actually going to be able to
navigate their way through the postseason, because that was some
shaky defense at the end. But you look around and
(11:40):
is there anybody legitimate like the Steelers are frauds the
way they finished this game, and not even the Jesse
James play, because I will give the Steelers that should
have been a touchdown, but how they reacted to it.
Complete negligence by the Steelers at the end of the game.
You still have over time in your back pocket and
you just vomited all over the field there and threw
(12:01):
that away as well. All right, So the Ben Mall
Show on Fox and we'll take your phone calls on
this if you want to be part The number eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven, seven, nine, nine,
six six three six nine. We're also on Twitter at
Ben Mallard. That's at Ben Mallory. Can be part of
(12:23):
the festivities. I think Eddie Garcia is here. I believe
he's right over there there he is, Edmund Dallas steamboat
blah blah blah Garcia, he's right over there. Yeah, I
am right over here. Y, I will. I will agree
with pretty much everything you said. All right, stop right there, period,
we move on. Good job by you, monologue. The only
thing I would maybe take issue with is that, you know,
(12:46):
the NFL doesn't care because this is good for business.
I'm not sure that this is, but they love this.
Oh it's great for business. Well, I don't know. Person's
gonna stop watching. People say they're gonna stop watching you
over this listens watch with all the stuff that's going
on in the NFL. Yeah, I can only tell you this. Look,
am I still watching? Yeah? But am I as excited
(13:06):
about the NFL as I was ten years ago? No,
you're a bitter old guy. You know, us young hip millennials,
we still like it, you know, with a with all
the crap. I mean, the game is not as physical
as it used to be and I understand why, but
still it's not as enjoyable. And then the anthem stuff
for some people obviously, uh. And then these rules that
(13:27):
are ridiculous. I mean, I don't I don't understand. I've
never heard an explanation why this rule was put in place,
the focus on the you know, completing the catch through
the ground and all that stuff. Who thinks this is
a good idea? Who's excited about this? I get a
competition committee to put this together? Right the years ago?
(13:48):
This was there for what reason? Was it to overturn
some great injustice? Usually something bad happens and you react
to it. Who was out there saying, my god, We've
got to make sure these guys catch the ball, fall
to the ground and hold on to it for five
seconds before we can rule that this is a touchdown
or even even worse. And I know we'll talk about
what happened in the Raider Cowboy game with Danny g
(14:08):
but this we were putting rules in place to prevent
something exciting from happening. Guys diving for the goal line.
We don't want guys diving for the goal. Mike Perez
said he worked for the NFL for years. He said there,
he said, you you do it basically your own peril.
It's ridiculous. Do I love guys diving for the pylon.
I love guys diving for the goal. That's what I
(14:30):
want to I don't want to see people penalized for
trying to do that. But as far as like the
Raider Cowboy game which ended on a Derek Carr dive
to the end zone where he fumbled it and it
went out of the end zone, and of course they
then they assume that the other team would have gotten
the ball, and then they give it to the other team.
I saw the Rams earlier. Todd Gurley this year had
(14:52):
a ball out of the end zone that was same
well similar outcome, but it wasn't exactly the same as
what Derek car did. But still it's it's it's so,
how do you know the other team's gonna be covertic
get the ball? I've never understood most fumbles, the team
that fumbles recovers most of the time. It's not a
change of position, how many or change of possession. There's
people that fumble all the time and their own team
(15:12):
recovers it. H I say, hey, just give the team
that fumble the ball the one yard line if you
want to punish them, put it back to the five
yard line if you want, or the ten yard line. Right.
That's but that's way too severe punishment for it seems
we're not losing. I just I do disagree with you.
I'm not saying I'm gonna stop watching, but I'm no,
(15:34):
I'm saying my my enjoyment of the NFL compared to
ten years ago is not even closed. Why because it
happened to your team, Because it's gonna happening for several
years this way it's been happening. No, I'm saying, when
you and when you put it all together, with everything
that's been going on, I'm just saying, I'm not a
fan of a fan of this league as much as
I used to be, not even close. I smashed my
remote control. The battery cover won't go back on duct tape,
(15:58):
Doctor horrible. I am boycotting the last two Raider games.
So are they Actually they're gonna be boycotting as well.
They will not be showing you up. So they've decided
to take those those last couple of games. Be sure
to catch live editions of the Ben Maller Show weeknights
at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeart Radio app. There are but a
(16:20):
handful of plays in any individual game where you're gonna
remember that and in the outcome of the game. We
often talk about you remember the turning point, and then
you remember the final score. Now, the Raider Cowboy game,
there were a couple of things that stood out. In
addition to the fact that the Cowboys won the game
over the Raiders by a field goal, you had Derek
(16:41):
Carr fumbling out of the end zone, and then the
ridiculous touchback rule which gave the Cowboys possession of the
ball when the Raiders had it. We're driving and Car
fumbled and they, of course the NFL knows for sure
at that point that the other team's going to recover
the fumble, and so the Cowboys got the ball out
at the twenty yard line, sealing the victory. But let's
(17:03):
go back, though. Let's go back because the Cowboys what
turned out to be the game winning drive where they
were there was a key first down call Dak Prescott
on a quarterback keeper is a fourth down and one
at the thirty nine yard line of the Dallas Cowboys,
(17:23):
roughly five minutes or so to go in the game,
and Dakota Prescott decides again. The Cowboys call to play
run a quarterback keeper up the middle, fourth and one,
trust your offensive line, get the first down, right, tie game. Well,
the way the ball was spotted, it was just short
of the forty yard line. They call the chains out.
(17:47):
There's a meeting of the minds, right, they get together
and these like a bunch of blind blind mice, one
leading the next one. And they stood there and Jeans Stator,
the referee, and he's trying to figure out They're looking
at this. It's very close, very the margins are very
thin on this. The call. The ramifications of this call
(18:08):
are humongous because remember it was at the Dallas thirty
nine yard line. So if the Raiders had gotten possession
of the football in this spot, they would have been
able in theory just to get like five more yards
and they would have kicked the field goal. They could
have taken the lead. There still would have been time
left for the Cowboys to come back. But anyway, the referees,
(18:30):
Jean Sterator and his crew, they were trying to figure
it out. And Sterator folds up an index card to
see if there's enough room between the tip of the
football and the chain right to pull on the end
of the chain. And even though there was space, there
(18:51):
was space between the very beginning of the football, the
nose of the football and the poll. Despite that, Jene
Sterator ruled not at all. That is a first down.
Cowboys move the chains and the Cowboys would go down.
They would end up getting a field goal, and as
the game played out, that turned out to be the
(19:12):
end of the game. The Cowboys ended up winning by
that margin that first down on that drive. They then
matriculated the ball down the field the kicked what turned
out to be it was a nineteen yard field goal
on that drive with less than two minutes to play,
and that was the game. Before we comment on this,
let's hear from Jack del Rio. Jack del Rio, the
(19:34):
Raider coach, who I'm sure you really enjoyed the way
that game ended. Yes, never seen air like that somehow
turned into a first down. The air between the ball
and the stick that you're short, okay, goes the other
way period. Well, now they see the Cowboys actually got
(19:56):
the benefit that. Here's more from Jack del Rio, who
quoted one of his players. Here, this is del Rio
quoting Let's see if you can guess which Raider player
Jack del Rito's quoting. I don't want to get fined. Okay,
I'm not happy with the things were done. Yeah, shout
out different situations throughout the night. I had a different viewpoint.
(20:20):
I saw Air. I was pretty obvious that's right. He
should have quoted him and said that Marshaun got a
little testy with the referee after that play. Yeah, I
don't know. Actual actually have the car fumble upset there.
Here's the other side. It takes two to ten go.
Here's Jason Garrett who was the benefactor. I'm going to
(20:41):
assume the position that Jason Garrett approved of this, but
the decision to use the index card by Jene Sterator.
Explain that to me, Jason Gart, what do you think
of all that? I don't know that I've ever seen
that one. Really, it seems like that's the method they
use to decide. One of my concerns wasn't like the
stick was kind of on an angle, and I thought
(21:02):
that was working against us. But eventually they straightened it
out and they broke the card out and we made
it by the thickness of the card. They were gonna
bend that poll whichever where they had to bend that
poll to make sure that was a first down at
that particular point that that thing would have been laying
on the ground, if that's what it took to get
that call to be a first down in favor of
(21:23):
the Cowboys. Dak Prescott, who not only is a quarterback,
he sucked in this particular game. He asked him he
was terrible, reaffirming my award winning a hot take last
week that the two good games that Prescott had against
the Redskins and the Giants were a mirage and he
was just bad all the way around. But here's a
(21:43):
Dak Prescott giving his ten cents on the end of
game situation. I've never seen the referee pull out a
card that was interesting, but I felt like I got it.
I feel like it wasn't that close. We got it anyway,
so it doesn't matter. But that was interesting. Cowboys won
a game where Dak Prescott had two hundred twelve yards
passing two interceptions, a quarterback rating of fifty nine point five,
(22:06):
and they win the game on the road. But let's
let's break it down. Listen, what did you make? Simple question?
What did you make of the double folded index card
by Jene Sterator? All right, the referee, I've got my
thoughts on this. You've got schoolyard, carrot top, and blunder.
You've got those three things. First of all, it was
a classic schoolyard move. Nowhere, to my knowledge, in the
(22:32):
NFL rule book does it say if it's close, pull
out an index card. It does not say this was
done for showmanship. Right, The use of the card was
done to enhance the drama. That's what That's what this
is all about. Then you've got Carrot Top. Why carrot Top?
(22:56):
Can you think of a better prop comedian than Carrot Top?
I mean, this was prop comedy, is what it was.
It was a bunch of referee's all standing around. They
didn't know what that. It was so close, it's like,
oh my god, what am I gonna do here? And
then Jane Sterotor with the ad lib, It's like, I
know what I'm a I'm gonna pull this this index
card out. But it was a blunder because it was
(23:17):
poorly executed. What I mean by that it was poorly
executed because, as Jack del Rio pointed out, there was space.
If there's space, he didn't get the first down. He
didn't get the first down. That's a bad job. Now
did you see what Gene Sterator said in a to
a pull a pole reporter or a pool reporter, not
(23:37):
a poll report. I guess in this case it was
a poll reporter, though that's not actually wrong. The pool reporter,
he was, asked, this is just imagine I'm the referee
here the to the pool reporter. I'm asking Gene Sterator
this question, why did you use the index card? Now?
Have you heard this? Have you heard what Jene Sterator said?
He said, quote, I didn't use the card to make
(23:59):
the final decision. The final decision was made visually. The
card was used nothing more than a reaffirmation, a reaffirmation
that what was visually done. My decision was visually done
based on the look from the poll. Does anyone believe
this by the way that he's that that was confirmation
(24:20):
that he had already made the decision to make that
particular call. Yeah, The follow up question was how did
it reaffirm the call? Stator then responded that was already finished.
He said the ball was touching the poll. I used
the card in there and as soon as it touched
(24:41):
it was nothing more than a reaffirmation. The decision was
made based on my visual from the top looking down
and the ball touching the front of the pole. So
he's doubling down on this, And he was asked again
a third time. He was asked what the purpose was,
and he again repeated the same thing and said that
(25:04):
he had already seen it with his eyes and it
was just reaffirming what he had already seen. So then
a fourth time, a fourth time, he was asked the
same question, right, and do you think he broke down
at this point, Sterritory, No, he said, the decision was
made based in my visual look from the ball that
was touching the poll. The card did nothing more than reaffirm.
(25:26):
Then he said, here the judgment was not made by
the card itself. The referee declared, it was made by
my visual looking at the football as it relates to
the line and the poll. Well, he's a hell of
an actor, Jeane Sterritory, Because the way it looked on television,
maybe my TV's broken, I don't know, but the way
it looked here, he had no idea what to do.
(25:49):
It was so close to call, and he's like, you
know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna use this index
card that I have here, and that'll be the way
that it has sided. Even though again the visual thing,
you look at the replay in that Raider Cowboy game,
it certainly appeared that there was enough space four the
set index card, which should have turned the ball over
(26:10):
on downs to the Raiders at the thirty nine yard line.
But question after question, not once, not twice, not three times,
not four times, not five times, six times, the referee
Jean Steratour was asked in the postgame pool report about
that play, and he essentially repeated the same thing every
(26:31):
single time he was Also, he was also asked if
he'd ever used the card before and how he thought
of using it, and Sterator said, it's maybe been done
at some point in someone's career. He said, but I
didn't use the card for my decision. No, no, no,
(26:52):
I used my visual looking at the ball reaching the poll,
is what Sterator said. Again, So six times he was
asked essentially the same question, and six times he gave
essentially the same answer. Now, as far as the meaning
of that the Raiders are all but done. The Cowboys
(27:12):
are still on life support for the postseason, so neither
one of these teams likely will be in the postseason.
The Cowboys, though, when you look at the NFC, if
Atlanta were to stub its toe and if the Falcons
somehow vomit against the Buccaneers, because there's a bunch of
teams that are all like lurking in the shadows hoping
(27:34):
that Atlanta will stub its toe, and Dallas is one
of those teams, but they're they're tied with Seattle. You've
got the Lions who are also right there. You've got
a bunch of eight and six teams, and then you've
got like Green Bay who lost, and they need all
of these teams to lose out to have a chance
to give the playoffs. It is the Ben Maller Show
on Fox Edmund Dallas steam Boat Realities, Garcia up right over. Well,
(28:01):
I may kick myself for what I'm about to do,
all right, because you don't need any encouragement when it
comes to honking up your team. But I didn't see
any of the rams Seahawks game, but you didn't because
I was watching obviously the Patriot stealers get missed out
on that. But I saw the score at one point,
was it thirty forty to nothing? It was forty to nothing.
I saw the score it was thirty to nothing and
(28:22):
we got to forty to nothing. My reaction was, Wow,
that was a walloping Daddy is an ass kicking Yeah
and impressive. Yeah. And this was this this meat grinder.
It's on my list days, you know, fair and balanced
talk shows. I could have started, I could have done
the first two hours or nothing. But the Rams, I
(28:43):
could have done that and it would have been great.
Radio would have been a big ratings winner. People love
when I talk about the Rams. They're the most passionate team.
They have a huge fan base and everyone loves the Rams.
They're great, but it's hard for you not to talk
about them in this case. I mean, wow, it was
I ass kissing, ask kicking is what it was. In Seattle,
they're coming apart at the seams. We had Seahawk on
(29:05):
Seahawk Crime and did you see that? Earl Thomas. Earl
Thomas questioning Bobby Wagner's decision to play through the hamstring
injury that led to a back and forth on social media,
and it was just just marvelous. The Seahawks. They cannot
deal with what's going on right now. They're they're falling apart,
(29:28):
the franchise is falling apart. And this idea that the
Seahawks are just gonna bounce back next year. They need
some major renovations that roster, because it's true, there's a
lot of guys out right now, but those are older players.
Older players are prone to get hurt. They've been around
the NFL a long time, and the Legion of Boom
long in the tooth, the core of the Legion of Boom.
(29:49):
They have to make some major changes to that Seattle defense.
That is not a team going the right direction. And
I have the forty nine ers are headed the right
direction more than in the Seattle Seahawks at this particular point.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weeknights at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app. It's Maller.
(30:14):
How about that to the third degree? This is one
big Ben gets grilled. All right. We bring in the
Coop de Loop Justin Cooper's been a report over the
weekend said that if Lebron James is to leave the
Cavs after this season, that he won't be going to
a young team, but rather a team that he would
(30:34):
be considered the missing piece for Ben which teams around
the league? Do you think that would best fit that criteria? Well?
Nothing I love more than idle speculation about the future
of Lebron James and where Lebron James is gonna end
up now. I thought he was going to the Lakers,
that was a done deal. Then he was gonna go
to Philadelphia, then he was gonna go to the Houston Rockets.
I believe he wants to be a Clipper. I think
(30:55):
he's seen the light and he really wants to be
an LA Clipper now and he'd get all the glory. No,
let's hear this is the greatest clickbait in the NBA
this side of La Vauball. But to answer you legitimately,
if if this is the criteria here, he doesn't want
to go to a young team, but rather a team
(31:16):
that would be considered missing the missing piece, if you will,
then he can have the best of both worlds, a
youngish team but a team that needs that final piece.
Or do they the Boston Celtics, who would be the
easiest option because it's in his happy place, the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics have a stable of young studs and they
(31:38):
so called magician as coach and Brad Stevens if you
value NBA coaching. The only drawback for Lebron would be
that he'd be reunited with Kyrie Irving, and there was
apparently a hitch in the plan there back in Cleveland.
That's why kyrias in Boston right now. Outside of that,
I don't buy the rocket talk. I could see Lebron
(32:01):
stumbling off to play for the Warriors. It's plausible if
Golden State were to lose this year in the playoffs,
if they stumble, that Lebron could be headed back there
to save the Warriors right a disjointed Warrior team. But
I believe more it's more likely than not. I've maintained
it all the way along that Lebron will end up
(32:21):
staying in the Eastern Conference, that he's not going to
head to the Western Conference. So I believe he'll stay
somewhere in the Eastern time zone. Next, some exciting news, Ben, Really,
it's been over sixteen years, oh okay, and then my
Lebron conversation wasn't exciting. This is more exciting. Okay, it
sounds like we may be seeing the return of the XFL. Yeah, yep,
(32:43):
you've heard it. Vince nc Mann supposedly wants to bring
back his football league. Now, if you're old enough to remember,
it debuted to pretty like pretty great ratings and a
lot of hype, but didn't end so well. After one season,
NBC decided to not continue air in the XFL, and
then Vince McMahon called it quits. They lost I think
like thirty five million in that first year, but it's,
(33:07):
you know, the stuff of legends. People still talk about it. Ben,
Do you think that it would be any more successful
this time around? Remember how excited you were a Coop
We talked about Ice Cubes three on three league and
you were really looking forward to that. We had this conversation.
How many of those games did you watch, Coop zero? Yeah,
exactly like the idea of bringing back the XFL, or
(33:27):
I read over the weekend it's going to be called
the United Football League. I mean, the idea is wonder who.
It's absolutely wonderful. I completely endorse it. I want to
see it now as anyone to actually watch it, probably not.
I mean, there's a passion for football in America and
the United football. If they call it that, they can
(33:47):
position themselves as being the anti NFL. You know, they
have the violent hits, They respect the police, you know,
they respect the flag and all that, and yet they're
a swashbuckling demolition derby of football. All of that is great,
but it takes a good amount of time to build
up any kind of a following, and it's that generational thing.
(34:10):
It takes a number of years. And so my advice
to Vince McMahon this time, if you want to be
a pioneer in the game of footballs and many of
the things the XFL did, the NFL eventually copied and
stole and used as their own. But the main thing,
it's like a startup restaurant. You have to have the
budget to lose money over an extended period of time
(34:32):
and stay with it when your investors are knocking down
your door. You have to be able to stay with
it or else forget about. I don't even waste your time.
Next now, Ben John Gruden isn't the only former coach
turn TV analyst that gets mentioned for open jobs. Every
so often Bill Coward gets his name thrown out there
as well. Now he shot those rumors down, saying that
(34:53):
he's comfortable where he's at, because supposedly he was going
to be the next coach of the New York Giants.
But you've argued made times that John Gruden is highly
overrated and wouldn't be all that good coming back. You
don't know why people keep throwing his name out there.
Do you think the same of Kaur? But Bill Kauer
a very good coach. Cower' is a better coach than Gruden. However,
he should also stay off the sidelines. I wouldn't hire him.
(35:17):
I mean, number what, Bill Kauer has been out of
the frying pan for so long, there is an expiration
date in any I mean, I understand you're off. If
I did radio and all of a sudden stopped doing
If I did nothing, if I didn't even do a
podcast and then that's it, and then I decided to
come back and go into it, it would it would
sound horrific like he's been off. The great Bill Kauer
(35:39):
last coached in twenty h six. It's been over a
decade since he was doing this. A lot has changed.
There the players in the NFL, the core of the NFL.
These guys were like twelve and thirteen the last time
Bill Kauer coached in an NFL game. It's been a
long time. In Kawer, He's gonna be sixty one, which
is not over the hill for an l coach. Next
(36:01):
NFL season, he seems perfectly satisfied providing cliche filled, snooze
inducing commentary on CBS. There are younger coaches I would
prefer to see given an opportunity. Look at the success
Sean McVeigh has had in LA. You can ram it
all day, you can ram it all night. Find the
next Sean McVay. Let Bill Kaward continue to draw everyone
(36:25):
into a coma on television. There it is Mallard of
the third degree? How did we do? Benny Pass? This edition?
That winner. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
(36:47):
Hey you sports figure, guy or girl, when you talking
to son, here's some instant advice. Hold that thought. No
one's paid attention to me for ten whole seconds. And
if you don't like it, and oh oh, it's the
Instant Advice line unscreened radio. Who needs our advice? So
(37:07):
many people need our advice. We can only pick one
a week to do this. The candidates we had, we
had gene strator on how to properly decide on what
a first down is and what is not a first down.
We could have given advice to Ben Roethlisberger on how
to properly throw his coaches under the bus. We didn't
(37:28):
do that. The play that everyone's talking about here is
at the end of the Steeler Patriot game, home field
advantage in the NFL decide in the AFC anyway decided
by the catch rule. Jesse James looked like he had
scored a touchdown. The crowd sounded like they had witnessed
a touchdown by their reaction, and they went to instant
(37:51):
replay and it wasn't a touchdown. So your advice to
the NFL on how to handle the catch rule. If
you want to be part of this eight seven seven
ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six
six three six nine, we'll say hello to you on
line one. You're live on the air. When you hear
(38:12):
my voice Line one, your advice to the NFL on
how to properly handle the catch rule. Thank you for
that line too. Your advice to the NFL. Line two,
I suggist. They do like Davante Adams and give everybody
the finger like he did when he got a concussion. Yeah,
sounds good. That's solid advice. Line three, Your advice please
(38:34):
to the NFL on how to properly handle the catch rule?
Two hands. Oh see, he just did the two hands,
not the rest of it. That's good. Line Line four, Hello,
Line four, advice to the NFL on how to correct
the catch rule. I tell those guys. Line five Hello,
(38:57):
Line five, who describe what you eat again? Because you
make me sick. Line six, you're on the air. We're
giving advice to the NFL on how to handle the
catch rule. Line six, luke fut sixteen. Oh, it's in
the Bible. They just gotta read that and then they'll
be good. Everyone opened up the Bible. Line one, Hello,
(39:18):
Line one, My advice to the NFL would be not
support your peasant public and Fox Sports News go. Now, yes,
that's that's an outdated reference, but thank you for that.
Line two, Hello, go. Your advice please to the NFL
on how to handle the catch rule. Let Bella decide. Yeah,
there he is pin in the ass. Line three, you
(39:40):
are actually eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. Try
your luck, no screener, you're live on the air. When
you hear my voice, Hello, Line three went from me
to screw you. Line four, you're on the air, Go yes, Ben.
I would look the NFL right square in the eye
and say get a line five. Hello, your advice to
(40:02):
the NFL on how to properly handle the catch rule? Yeah?
I would jerk on stuff, leg straight, defenzi and say hi,
I like to say. Line six, you're on the air,
advice please to the NFL on how to handle the
catch rule. I would have good Gell called Donald Trump. Yes,
(40:22):
I'm sure. Well that's a good question. Will the President
in his morning tweet storm, which usually comes about the
time we get off the air, will the President address
the NFL catch rule? Or does he have to avoid
that because he's been telling everyone not to watch the NFL.
It's an awkward situation. Line one, Hello, Yeah, I bet
(40:45):
he will say, because he and Belichick are still tight
the president, so he'll probably say something jerk yourself. Line too,
you're on the airline too. Your advice to the NFL
on how to properly handle the catch rule. They need
to take a lesson from Peyton Manning. They need to
learn how to hand their ball, because Peyton Manning's the
best ever, unless he's not, uh all right. Line three. Hello,
(41:08):
Oh it's Donald Duck. Donald. What would you do to
change the NFL catch rule? Donald rumps? Whatever you said? Yes,
Angeles ram, Oh, okay, good. Donald Duck's a ram fan
of Line four. Hello, it's still sad. This is the
last things an advice plane of the year. Oh yeah,
(41:29):
I said, this is a good point. This is the
last one of the here who knew? Line five, I
don't look at it in that term. We have a
whole archive of instant advice lines. To go back on
the podcast and listen to. Hello, Line five the Raider
Nation called lambs Well. Hello, Danny Fading you out there.
(41:51):
It's a violation. Line six. You are next. Line six,
we're giving advice to the NFL on how to handle
the catch rule. Drink more, smoke more, and make love more. Yes,
make love Montana. That's where Tammy hangs out. Line one. Hello,
Line one, Jonas Knox is a douche, All right? Line too, Hello,
(42:13):
line too, that's not nice? Line too, I like Jonas,
go ahead. Line two, ask your mama, your mama nothing.
Kids like more in like fifth grade than your mama.
Jokes and they love it. Stop this future atrocity. That
guy's got his own YouTube channel. Uh doing that kind
of stuff? Line three, Hello, Hi man, this is a
(42:36):
betty and my advice would be the Russell. Where's the
what happened to the captain in Newport? We haven't heard
from the captain since the dating game didn't go so well?
Line four? Hello, how's the playoffs? All right? Line five,
(42:56):
you're next on the air. It's instant advice. Line radio
time shifted it. We're giving advice to the NFL on
how to properly alter the catch rule. Let the ram decide.
Line let the Rams do whatever they want. Line six, Hello,
we've already heard that line has that new I cut
(43:18):
you off? Line one go it's a worm bicycle. Yeah,
pencil neck Ray, that's the guy. He's at his best
in short doses. Pencil neck right, pencil magnet. A whole
wall of sound bites from pencil neck Ray. Hello, line too,
(43:38):
you're on the air, go consoled with Tom Looney. No, no,
nobody needs to talk to Tom Looney. Oh nothing, Line three,
go hello, line three, they need to talk to Twinkle
toes Maller. Well, listen, I wasn't on the stage dancing,
and not that I'm opposed to that. All right, we
do one more and only one more. If it's good,
(43:59):
I'll take credit. If not, I will blame the Cooper
loop who will pick the final call on the instant
advice line for the NFL on how to handle the
catch rule. Take your time, Coop, don't mind that we're
on the air. I know you're pausing to think about three.
Line three. All right, we just talked to line three,
but somebody else is calling in line three. You are
(44:19):
the final call on the instant of ice line of
the NFL. Go ahead, line three, Yes, the NFL said,
channel of the lake, William Shatner, and go to the ballet.
There it is the final call. Go to the ballet.
I bet Chats loves the ballet, check mate. Those are
his people at the ballet, right, Those are yeah, front row,
(44:41):
drinking the wine, hanging out looking at the little program
with all the names of the Russian ballet dancers like
he knows who they are. That's that's shots right there.
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