Hour 1 – Knicks Stay Alive

Brian Noe in for Ben Maller opens the show talking about Knicks extending the series after beating the Pacers in Game 5, and explains why there were the overrated conversations revolving around Tyrese Haliburton! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, thanks for listening to the Ben Maler Show podcast.
It's me Ben. Be sure to catch us live every
weeknight from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three
am Pacific right here on Fox Sports Radio. You can
find your local station for the Benmalers Show over at
foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What is going on?
Welcome in here, early morning hours. Love this the overnights.
This takes me back to my beginning here at Fox
Sports Radio. Love the overnight hours. Love being interactive with
you guys. Feel free to check in all show long.
Phones are open eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox,

(00:49):
also on Twitter slash x. However, you get down with
the description at the no show is where you can
find me. We are broadcasting live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios. Lots to get in two, of course, you
know me. Lots of ball on the brain. We'll be
talking football extensively tonight. Lots to get into, but we
start with hoops as the Knicks. The Knicks got Game

(01:12):
five on Thursday night. They force a game six, which
listen if you're a Pacers fan, you don't love but
if you are a basketball fan, you gotta love this
because we have sports to watch this weekend. If you
look at the playoffs here in the NHL and the NBA,
we wouldn't have anything going on this weekend. If the

(01:33):
Pacers won Game five the NHL Conference Finals, they're over.
They're done with Florida Panthers, moving on, Edmonton Oilers. They
finished dismantling their foe over there, the Dallas Stars, So
Edmonton moving on. So that's wrapped up the other side
of the NBA playoffs in the Western Conference, OKAC already

(01:57):
polished off the t Wolves in a gentleman's sweep, So
if the Pacers won Game five, we'd have a whole
lot of nothing going on in terms of the playoffs
this weekend. So we've got Knicks Pacers Game six on Saturday.
The story of Game five, few couple of bullet points here.
First one is the Knicks. They played great defense. They

(02:18):
held the Pacers to only ninety four points on forty
percent shooting. And the way the Pacers have scored in
this series throughout the pace that they play at just
fast tempo, they're hard to defend. So give the Knicks credit.
They played some really solid defense on Thursday night. Karl
Anthony Towns, it always makes me laugh when you'll hear

(02:40):
these comments after the game, but Kat was right. Karl
Anthony Towns said, Hey, we just came out with energy
and we're the first ones to throw a punch, and
that's exactly what happened. He's right about that. I just
don't understand these teams. And you'll hear some sound here
pretty soon after the game they're like, yeah, we just
we didn't play as hard as they did. I'm just

(03:02):
how is that a thing? How? How is that ever
a thing? It's just the playoffs, you know. They just
competed harder than us. They just wanted it more than us.
I don't know how any athlete can say that at
the end of a game, but you'll hear a pacer
say that in a few minutes. First off, let me
bang on Tyrese Haliburton just for a little bit over here.

(03:23):
So give the knickt credit. First off, heavy focus on
Tyrese pressured him all night, made life miserable. But on
the heels of justin epic Game four performance, he was
unbelievable Tyrese Haliburton in Game four, not Thursday night, not
the game tonight, but the game before tonight. It's Game four.

(03:45):
Thirty two points, fifteen assists, twelve rebounds, five made three pointers,
zero turnovers. Was it the first ever playoff performance? A
thirty point triple double with zero turnover? He's the first
guy to do it in NBA playoff history. How does
he follow it up? What does he do for an

(04:07):
encore on Thursday Night? Well, that would be eight points
on two of seven shooting, with six assists and two rebounds.
Didn't make a three all night long. This is why
a lot of people think and say that Tyrese Haliburton
is overrated. Now I don't subscribe to that, but I

(04:31):
can understand why someone else would and why they think
and say those things. What you saw in Game four
was the complete opposite of what you saw in Game five,
and the lack of consistency is what's driving the overrated
bus in terms of people saying those things against Tyrese Halliburton.

(04:51):
You've got to be productive, if you're a star, you've
got to find a way to be productive in impact
each game. And he just does. And it's he's a
little bit like the Boston Celtics as a whole, because
listen from a sports gambling standpoint, the Celtics and Tyrese
Haliburton can be difficult to gamble on because they're both

(05:15):
talented enough to make you look like an idiot if
you fade them, but they are both inconsistent enough where
they can make you look like a dufus if you
back them. And so it's a mixed bag when it
comes to those teams, the Celtics collectively and Tyreese Halliburton,
because they're just so talented. On a certain night you

(05:35):
could just marvel at them, like Wow, look at this show,
and then the next performance you're like, what is happening
right now? And Thursday night was one of those what
is happening right now performances from Tyreese Halliburton. To compare
Game four to Game five, So tonight he had twenty
four less points, nine fewer assists, ten few rebounds. The

(06:01):
less fewer thing always confuses me, so you're gonna have
to have some crazy with me. I don't know which
one to use, but less all across the board. Let's less, less, fewer,
few or viewer, whichever is the right one. You can't
have you can't be minus twenty four in points, minus
nine and assists, minus ten in rebounds. Intonight's game compared
to your game four numbers. It's night and day. And

(06:25):
that's the one thing I'll give Jason Tatum a lot
of credit. Think of the Boston Celtics Superstar that was
the series right before, Like the Knicks are playing the
Pacers right now in the Eastern Conference Finals in the
season prior, they were facing the Celtics in the second round,
and before Tatum went down with the Achilles injury, which

(06:45):
is brutal, before he went down, Jason Tatum, Yeah, he
might have a quieter evening, he might have a lesser game,
but his stat line isn't gonna be eight points, six assists,
two rebounds. It's he's gonna be much more productive than that.
And that's the difference between a player on Tatum's level.

(07:08):
We're talking about healthy Tatum, not currently injured Tatum, not
rehabbing Tatum, right healthy Tatum. That's a big difference between
healthy Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton. Because Tatum, he's not going
to have a playoff stat line of eight, six and
two he's certainly not gonna have eight six and two
on the heels of thirty two, fifteen, and twelve. Like

(07:31):
he just doesn't do it. He puts up much more
consistent numbers than Tyrese Haliburton. And that's the other thing too.
Even if you gave Haliburton the benefit of the doubt
on Thursday night and said accurate things like, man, the
Knicks really focused on him. He just went off in
Game four. They paid attention to him. They pressured him
all night, they sent different bodies at him. You know,

(07:53):
they played with force all of the What do you
think they do against Jason Tatum? Tatum puts up some
monsters that lines, and they do all of those same things,
and Tatum yet will still put up more numbers than
eight six and two. So there's no benefit of the
doubt that Haliburton deserves for a Game five dud. And

(08:15):
that's why some people call him overrated. And I know
it's it's a cool slogan now like Puma came out
with his logo and everybody's wearing the T shirts over
there that cheer for the Indiana Pacers. But Game five
is an example, and it fuels all of those criticisms
of Tyrese Haliburton. You can't just disappear in a closeout

(08:39):
type situation and he did. You gotta call it like
it is, and he just he disappeared something else that
was wild. It was a little bit of deja vu
on Thursday with a completely different outcome. So first the
deja vu part, the Knicks led Game one right, first
game of the series against the Pacers. They led Game

(09:01):
one by fourteen points with two minutes and forty five
seconds remaining. That was the same exact situation Thursday night
in Game five, the same thing. Literally, the Knicks led
by fourteen points with two forty five remaining. Now the
major difference the Knicks one tonight by seventeen points. Somehow,

(09:26):
the Knicks lost Game one outright, Like when you have
a fourteen point lead with two minutes and forty five
seconds remaining, that should be a w every single freaking time.
It was an easy win on Thursday night in Game five. Somehow,
some way, it was a loss in Game one, which

(09:48):
is astounding, and that's still a loss that the Knicks
are chasing in this series. That's why they're still going
to be facing elimination in Game six is that they
kicked away Game one. And look, I I understand you
got to give the Pacers some credit where you had
Nie Smith just go nuclear, just bombing three after three
after three, he caught fire. But you still can't. It's

(10:11):
gotta be a w every single time. I don't care
if Nie Smith catches fire, whoever catches fire. You can't
miss free throws. You can't you know, have a silly
turnover or a mental lapse here or that. You can't
do any of those things that open the door so
ever so slightly for the Pacers, and they kicked it
through that cannot It still blows my mind that the

(10:34):
Knicks somehow lost Game one. It was the same scenario
on Thursday. I'm watching it and I'm like, holy cow,
they're winning by fourteen points with two forty five remaining.
It's like burned into my brain now. It's almost like
the Patriots beating the Falcons in the Super Bowl, where
twenty eight to three is just burned in your forehead forever. Now,

(10:55):
you know, the Knicks leading by fourteen points with under
three minutes to go. Somehow that was a loss in
Game one. Somehow they won Game five by seventeen points.
How can that be? How can you win one game
by seventeen and lose the other game out right? I
don't know. Somehow we're here. That blows my mind. The
other thing that blows my mind. This is why I

(11:17):
was alluding to earlier. Pascal Siakam, who's had a really
strong series and has made his presence known throughout, had
a monster game earlier on. We scored almost forty points
right around there in Game two. Everything runs together now,
but now after Game five, Pacers lost the game. They

(11:39):
never led throughout the entire night. This is what Pascal
Siakam had to say in the postgame press conference. They
played harder than us.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
I think.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
I think they played harder than us, you know, on
lose balls, like rebounds, like all that.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
We got to be able to win that battle.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
I agree with them, but it blows my mind that
a player could say that at the end of a game.
How can that be? I listen, I love basketball. I
love the NBA. I understand it's not everybody's cup of tea.
That's fine. I love it. I always have, and I
don't want to turn it into like an NBA versus
NHL thing. A lot of people love to do that.

(12:14):
I'm really not that guy. You can love both. I
love the NBA playoffs. I dabble with the NHL playoffs,
but I can recognize how great the NHL playoffs are.
You don't have to pick one and just talk trash
about the other. You can enjoy both. I don't know
why people act as if you can't just enjoy both,
but whatever. So I'm not the one that like pits

(12:34):
one against the other. But I will say this, even
though I'm not that guy to bang that drum, this
is not an NHL thing. Have you ever heard an
NHL player after a playoff game say, yeah, they just
kind of wanted it more than us. Yeah, I just
you know, the loose pucks, the fifty to fifty situations,

(12:57):
they just they got everything out, hustled us. We just
we didn't bring the energy they I've never heard that.
But the NBA, as much as I love it, you
will have games. This happened. Okay, see just one in
a Gentleman's sweep over Minnesota. It crushed them throughout, but

(13:17):
they lost Game three by what forty two points? And
SGA at the end of the game, he was just
like yeah, you know, we just didn't bring it from
an energy and a focused standpoint. Just yeah, didn't have
that either of those things. And I'm sitting there like,
how how is that that. I know, they're a young team,

(13:38):
they're immature at times. You have a two zero lead,
you can explain it, but it still baffles me. Where yeah,
you could even explain it with the Pacers to a degree.
Where the Pacers are the ones with a three to
one lead, maybe they feel like, all right, we don't
have the same sense of urgency. We've got game picks
at home in our back pocket, the Knicks. This is

(13:59):
it do or die. So yeah, you can explain it
to a degree. But just like Siakam said right there,
they played harder than us. How can anyone outplay how
can anyone just out effort you? It blows my mind.
I never will understand that, Like, yeah, we just didn't
have the energy tonight. We just you know, they outworked

(14:20):
us all night long. But you will hear that. Man,
It's crazy to me. But I'll tell you what. The
Pacers have a secret weapon for game six that they
did not have for game five. You know who that is.
That is John Halliburton, that's right, Tyrese Haliburton's dad was
not in the garden. He was not in the building

(14:42):
for Game five. Tyrese Haliburton DoD performance. You go back
to game four, John Halliburton in the building, huh, in
the building over there at gamebridge Field House, watching his
son dismantle the Knicks. So Papa Halle will be there
for game six in Indy. That is the good luck charm.

(15:03):
That is the kryptonite for the Knicks right there. They
have to compete against the Pacers and John Halliburton. It
does give me an excuse to play maybe my favorite
audio of all time. This goes back to John Halliburton.
He couldn't attend any Pacer games at home since the
Bucks series because he went out on the floor and

(15:23):
he was talking smack to Jannis. This is what he
said afterward. This is like a follow up interview with
John Halliburton in his own words, what was going on
as he stood in front of Yannis saying things seem
to be talking trash. This is what he said to
TMJ four.

Speaker 4 (15:40):
It might have seemed like I was looking at him,
but I really will I were looking through him.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
That is my favorite just excuse slash description of all time.
I was looking through him. No, I wasn't talking trash
to him. I was just looking through the guy. I
still I love that he said that with a straight face.
It's I want that excuse to work for me sometime.
You know, if I get caught looking at an Instagram

(16:06):
booty model, I could just say no, no, no, I
wasn't looking at her. I was looking through her booty,
is what I was doing. That's all I was doing.
Can you imagine that excuse actually flew? That was amazing
piece of audio. But anyway, John Helliburton, not at Game five.
We'll be at Game six. We'll see how it shakes out.
We have sports to watch this weekend.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
Huh.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
That's good, very nice. We got a lot to do.
Like I said, phones are always open. Love being interactive
with you guys. Whenever I fill in for Big Ben,
I will be doing a Big Ben impression coming up next.
You can look forward to that. It's either an impression
or a blatant ripoff. I'm not sure which it's gonna be,

(16:46):
but we'll see how it lands. You know, it's sports radio.
We just roll with it, and you guys determine what
it ends up being, you know, coming up next. Something
pretty crazy has happened in the NFL in each of
the past ten seasons, but will it happen again this year.
It's a great stat and I'm gonna blab about it
for at least fifteen minutes straight unless someone calls in.

(17:09):
That's basically what's gonna happen. I'm pribaban no in for
Big Ben Malar, keep it locked right here on Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (17:15):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
I'm pribb knowing for Big Ben here on Fox Sports Radio.
Listen to that my girl Mary Mack spinning the metal
and she didn't come in just like sticking her big
toe in the water. This is a cannonball in the
deep end. You kidding me? We're letting our hair down
here in the early hours. Love that nice pull by you.

(17:46):
Very good job, Mary Mack. Yeah, very nice. Like we
didn't get fined by the FCC either. You knew exactly
when it was when the mf was coming. That was
beautiful right there. I was I gotta be. Here's not
your first go around, Mary Mack. You know the veteran
veteran leadership love that. Okay, So, uh, I'm gonna get

(18:10):
to a crazy This NFL stat blows my mind. I'm
gonna get to it in just a couple of minutes. First, though,
some people want to check you in and uh, hey,
if I say we're gonna be interactive here, we've got
to be interactive here, right, it's false advertising if we're not.
So you chime in, militia. We'll get you on the air.
Let me go first out to New York. Eric is

(18:31):
up first, Eric, what's going on?

Speaker 5 (18:32):
Man?

Speaker 2 (18:32):
You're on Fox Sports Radio to sir Goodbue. What's on
your mind?

Speaker 5 (18:37):
Okay? I have a quick trivia question. Who is the
only player did a home run for the Milwaukee, Boston
and Atlanta Braves.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
It's easy, No, no idea, no anyway?

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Is it?

Speaker 2 (18:49):
What is it? What's it? It sounds like Hank Aaron?
But what's the trivia question again?

Speaker 5 (18:54):
Who's the only player did a home run for the Atlanta,
Boston and Milwaukee Braves? What did you say?

Speaker 2 (19:00):
I said it initially sounded like Hank Aaron, But I
have I don't know.

Speaker 5 (19:04):
It's Eddie Matthews. And how about this one? What's the
chant for Kent Towns and Brunson? What's the chair for them? If,
if I may say so?

Speaker 2 (19:17):
What to win the series?

Speaker 5 (19:20):
No, what's the chance for Brunson in Towns? What's the
chant about? They say Towns and uh once and co
m vps CO m VP's baby.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
I don't get it. Like what for the Eastern Conference Finals?
That what you're saying?

Speaker 5 (19:35):
Yeah, the MVP suring the whole year Brunson in Towns
and I like. I like when Brunson shoots the fadeaway
to jump shot. I like when uh. I like when
they pick up the ball the big man booms up
the doll and hert is good on the fast break.
I think the Knicks is gonna win Game six in Indiana,
which they should, and then come back to Madison Square

(19:57):
go on a baby where they mech is Mill. The
New York Knicks will prevail ay that runs and uh,
I just want to give a shout out to Brianna.
She's a nice worker, and keep up the good work
and hopefully she'll get a good job one day, you know,
in the future.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
All Right, Eric, we appreciate that, man. Nice. Yeah, I
don't think the Knicks are going to force game six.
John Halliburton is gonna be in the building in game six.
You know you got to compete with that. That's a
lot to deal with right there. But all joking aside
the Pacers. I know they had a dude in game five,
but that's the Knicks backs against the wall. It's a

(20:34):
much different situation going on the road and taking down
the Pacers. They're gonna be going one hundred miles per hour.
I think the Pacers close them out. But hey, that's
why they play the games. We'll see what happens. Let
me go out to my guy, Emmitt is in Olympia.
You gotta got a high standard to live up to.
Eric started us off on a very fast track over here,

(20:55):
and but what is on your mind? Buddy?

Speaker 4 (20:56):
Oh Brian, and that was so fast. I mean this
man he was on role. But how you doing, Brian?
Good to talk to you. It's been a while, you know,
I know you've had a lot going on, but you've
you never missed a show on getting you know, big
shots to you, going through all the hell things and
then being back. What was it four or five days
after it initially happened and being back on the air
for Countdown. That's incredible.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah, man, well thanks, I appreciate that. Yeah, it was
I didn't even realize it was on Synco de Mayo
for those that don't know, I had a stroke. I
had freaking had a stroke on Cinco de Mayo and
uh yeah, I made it to Countdown on Saturday. It
was weird, emmed. I'll just tell you real fast. That
first show that was a trip, man, because I would
speak for like a minute and it felt like I

(21:38):
ran a ten k. I just have to sit there
and be like, Holy I felt like I was going
to pass out. But I'm feeling a lot better now. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
Good to hear it. Man, you sound great. You sound
like you never lost a step, So shout out to you.
But I want to talk about the Knicks Facers Game five. Now,
I completely agree.

Speaker 5 (21:55):
I mean, this was the.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
Worst time for a Halburton dud. But to be fair,
you know, maybe like there's a bit conspiracy that he
wants to close it out. You know, the Daddy's touched
with John Holburt in Game six Indiana, So I think
that that's what's gonna happen. But this Knicks team, like,
they're a fun team. Man like Jalen Brunton and Kat
it is a great duo. Even though that last call
wer I still don't know what he was trying to
say there, But they're awesome, but I think they're lacking

(22:18):
a little bit of defense. And the New York Knicks,
you know what they give me, they give me Indiana
Pacers vides where they're gonna be here this year. They're
gonna come back. You know, Brunton and Kat it was
the first year there officially together on the same team
and it really worked out. So they're gonna come back.
You know, have this offseason to read, you know, fine
tune the roster, get some guys out there that can
make the team more deep. Get some defense because I

(22:39):
think Jalen Brunson and Cat it's kind of a defensive liability.
Mitch Robinson, he's trying, but I mean he's not anything
too special, but he's been followed. But they need to
refix this roster and they will be in the Eastern
Conference final those next year. I'm booking it. They'll they'll
be back. They're gonna be a scary team. Brunson is
a dog.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah, I don't know, man, I Nick thinks are good.
I don't want to undersell them in in the East.
I mean, they're gonna be one of the teams that
you know have have a shot to win the conference.
But I don't know what you're gonna do to really
tweak it to the point where you know they got
I still look at them against Boston and if Tatum

(23:19):
doesn't go down, that changes the dynamic. Hey, maybe the
Nicks still win. Are they still good enough to beat Cleveland,
who they didn't play this year?

Speaker 5 (23:27):
You know?

Speaker 6 (23:27):
I I think they're gonna be that b I wentn't crazy,
but to be fair, And it could be the collapse
by Cleveland they had there in that second round against
the Pacers that was horrible.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
I mean, it could be one of those things where
maybe the Cavaliers are like the thunder and you know,
they just take this year, get the experience, and guys
like Evan Mobley and Darius Garland and DeAndre Hunter will
be fully healthy next year. It's gonna The NBA is
so interesting and it sucks that you know, no one's
watching it during the regular season because we've got so
many fun teams.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, no, there are, but that's the thing you gotta
ask yourself. And the Pacers smacked around the Cavs in five.
Can you see the Knicks smacking them around in five?
I have a hard time seeing that. So if we're
talking about the Knicks coming out of the East, next
year's PACER's still gonna be there.

Speaker 4 (24:13):
Man.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
But it's good to talk to Emmett. Very good stuff.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
All right.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
Now, here's the NFL stuff I want to get to,
which I think is tremendous. So here's the stat and
it blew my mind. It's a little wordy, but it's
not so wordy that you're like, what's even happening right now?
So the stat is, each of the past ten seasons

(24:36):
has included at least one team that drafts in the
top eight and then makes the playoffs. Okay, so you
have to think of the teams that draft in the
top eight. One of those teams that is drafted in
the top eight has made the playoffs in each of
the last ten seasons. That's a pretty intriguing stat. So

(25:00):
if you apply it to this season, I was looking
at the teams that drafted in the top eight. Which
teams do you think have a legitimate shot to make
the playoffs? And who are you like? Yeah, no, not,
They're not gonna be a playoff team. So the top
team the Tennessee Titans. You think the Tennessee Titans have
a good chance to make the playoffs. I would go

(25:21):
with the old Vince McMahon theme music right here. Yeah, no,
the Titans are not making the playoffs this year, not
in year one. That roster needs a lot of work.
And you could sit here and say, well, hey, first
year starting quarterback, rookie starter, cam Ward number one overall

(25:41):
draft pick. What if he's like Jadon Daniels. Look at
what Washington they went from four to thirteen to twelve
and five. Just a glimpse into the future. Cam Ward
is not Jaden Daniels. Jayden Daniels a special. I think
cam Ward is just a guy. Time will tell if
that's correct or not. But I watched cam Ward a
lot and he does that playmaking ability. But I just

(26:05):
talked about Tyrese Haliburton in the first segment, right. One
of the main reasons people call Tyrese Haliburton inconsistent is
call him overrated. It's because he's so inconsistent, have one
great game and then one dud game. Now cam Ward,
he won't necessarily have one great game in one dud game,
but he'll have an outstanding play and the next play

(26:28):
you're like, what was that? The decision making is hideous
at times from cam Ward. I don't think cam Ward
is gonna be a special NFL player. I think he's
gonna be average. I think he's just gonna be a
shrug your shoulders like, yeah, he's serviceable. That's what I
see from cam Ward, and I'll be happy to eat
my words if he proves me wrong. I'm not gonna

(26:50):
be stubborn about it. But I just don't see a
difference making quarterback, certainly in year one with that roster.
I do not see the Titan sniffing the playoffs. Now,
the team that drafted second overall, that would be Jacksonville.
Jacksonville traded up, they got Travis Hunter. What do you
think about Jacksonville's chances to make the playoffs? I would

(27:10):
go here.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
So you're telling me there's a chance I would.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
I would not close the door on Jacksonville making the playoffs.
Why why would that be? Well, Trevor Lawrence got hurt
last season. Now, I'm not gonna sit here and tell
you Trevor Lawrence walks on quarterback water. He's left a
lot to be desired, but got drafted number one for
a reason. Has a ton of potential. A lot of
it has been unrealized in the NFL. But they have

(27:35):
made the playoffs before. They went nine and eight and
back to back seasons until last year the wheels fell
off the track, right. But new regime in town. You
get Leam Cohen over there, the Tampa Bay offensive coordinator.
He's new the head he's the new head coach in town.
Hate how he said Duvall, but he knows his offensive stuff.

(27:56):
But listen to this. When you have Trevor Lawrence coming
back from injury, he's got Brian Thomas Junior to work with,
Travis Hunter to work with Offensively, they get out, they
get another piece. The Ammie Brown is not outstanding, but
a decent like number two ish receiver. I mean that's
a decent that's a decent receiving corps to work with.

(28:19):
And again, if you're looking at a team that had
its quarterback miss multiple games, if you're blessed with better health,
That makes a big, big difference. It's a trash division. Yeah,
the Titans are in the same division, but you've got
a rookie quarterback and a roster that isn't as good
as Jacksonville. I give Jacksonville at least a chance to
make the playoffs. Who else? So we're looking for other

(28:41):
teams that drafted in the top eight, because one of
these teams the last ten years has made it to
the playoffs. So third, the Giants drafted Abdul Carter. What
do you think about the giants chances to make the playoffs?
Huh No chance? Yeah, no, it's not happening. That's a
brutal schedule. Now, this is all based on what happened

(29:03):
the previous season, but it's the most difficult strength of
schedule based on their opponents winning percentage last season. Now,
we know things can change from year to year, but
that's not a great starting scenario for the Giants. You're
hoping that what all these teams that were good in
twenty twenty four all of a sudden take a dramatic

(29:25):
step back in twenty twenty five. We know not all
of them. Will they play a tough schedule, whether it's
the toughest or like a top five tough schedule, top
ten toughest schedule, something like that. It's still a tough
road for the g Men. And look at them offensively.
You've got the two headed monster of Russell Wilson and
Jamis Winston. You've got Jackson Dart over there. How many

(29:47):
starts is he gonna have as a rookie? I just
do not. I don't see playoffs written all over the
g Men over here. It's a tough division with the
Eagles in Washington. Two teams in your own division were
in the NFC Championship Game last season. So no, I
think there's a better chance the Giants are under five
and a half wins, that's their season win total, then

(30:08):
they make it to the playoffs. How about the Patriots?
They drafted fourth. What do you think about the Patriots
chances to make it to the playoffs. I think they
look pretty good. I can't even play the dumb and dumber.
So you're telling me there's a chance their chances are
much better than that. In my opinion, you went out,
you upgraded massively. And this is a Dolphins fan talking

(30:29):
this way. Man, I'll get to my Dolphins here in
a little while. But oh gosh, man, the heavens are falling.
Not too long ago, the Dolphins were trying to compete
with the Bills for the AFC East. Now the Patriots
have passed them up. Patriots have a better roster for
sure than the Dolphins. So the Pats they play a
last play schedule. They are only four and thirteen last season,

(30:49):
but a ton of free agent acquisitions and some draft
picks that I think will help Will Campbell, Trayvon Henderson.
You gets to Fine Diggs, you know, you go out
and get Morgan Moses, solidify the offensive line, like I
like a lot of things that the Patriots have done.
Milton Williams comes over, You get Carlton Davis as a

(31:11):
cornerback to go opposite Christian Gonzalees. Like, their roster is
way better than it was last season. And I think
Drake may is a real quarterback. So yeah, I actually
think the Patriots have a decent shot to make the playoffs.
I don't think that's crazy at all. Fifth would be
the Browns and they trade it down from number two
to number five. When you think about the Browns chances

(31:34):
to make the playoffs, huh, looking good. Yeah, that's not happening.
That's They've got five quarterbacks and in twenty twenty five,
I don't think any of them are going to be
any good. Like that's a problem. Uh yeah, I just
I don't think you need to go in depth. The
roster isn't very good. It's a tough division. They don't

(31:55):
have a quarterback. They're just not good enough to be
a legitimate playoff threat. How about this one team that
drafted sixth that would be your Las Vegas Raiders took
Ashton gent What do you think about their chances to
make the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
So you're telling me there's a chance.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
I'm gonna say there's a chance, there's an out, very
outside chance. I'm not gonna sit here saying I'm gonna
take their season win total over and I love their chances.
I'm gonna leave the door ever so slightly cracked for
the Raiders because one thing I can't get away from

(32:33):
is that two years ago they were an eight to
nine football team and Aidan O'Connell was their leading passer. Now,
I know Geno Smith is not top five, he's not
top ten, but he's better than what they've had the
last handful of years, Gino Smith is at least an

(32:54):
adequate starting quarterback. You look at Geno's numbers, like, would
you know did last year? I think a lot of
people be surprised about it. If you say, what do
you think Geno's passing stats were, you know, like yards, touchdowns, interceptions,
What do you think, Oh, Geno did last season? Touchdowns,
interceptions not awesome twenty one and fifteen. But through for

(33:17):
over forty three hundred yards with a seventy percent completion
percentage or completion rate. You know that that's Hey, that's
not awful. And so it's gonna be an upgrade for
the Raiders. It's gonna be tough with the Chiefs and
the Broncos and the Chargers. I don't love their chances,

(33:39):
but for some reason, I don't know. Normally, I'm just like, oh,
I get out of here. Not happening, then forget it.
I gotta at least give them a puncher's chance to
make it to the playoffs. Now, the Jets, they drafted seventh.
What do you think about the Jets chances to make
the playoffs?

Speaker 5 (33:54):
Here?

Speaker 3 (33:54):
Huh?

Speaker 2 (33:54):
No chance? Yeah, no, it's not not happening. The cliffs
notes version Justin Fields is their quarterback. I don't think
I need to go further than that. Just roster isn't
good enough. They went five and twelve with Aaron Rodgers
putting up respectable numbers. Justin Fields isn't gonna be able

(34:15):
to put up Aaron Rodgers' numbers? And what they're gonna
be a playoff team all of a sudden, come on,
no way, no chance? The last one Carolina Panthers drafted eighth.
Do you think about their chances?

Speaker 3 (34:26):
So you're telling me there's a chance, yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
Would say they've got a chance. Again the NFC South sucks.
Bryce Young looked like an actual quarterback for a good
portion of last season, So if he's able to play
at a similar rate or even improve, like, yeah, you
got a legitimate chance to sneak in as a playoff team.
I would say that they're alive. So there you go.

(34:50):
I would give four teams in the top eight, you know,
draft wise, a pretty decent chance to make it to
the playoffs. Four others I would say, no happening. But
what a stat huh. Each of the past ten seasons
has included at least one team that drafts in the
top eight and then goes on to make the playoffs.

(35:12):
So if you're a fan of one of these teams
that drafted in the top eight and you're on the
heels of like a three or four win season, hey,
there's hope. There is hope. And Washington great example, right,
they went from four wins to twelve wins in an
NFC title game birth, so you can see dramatic turnarounds. Hey,

(35:33):
you can stream the show in all of our Fox
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(35:54):
it'll always pop up at the top of your screen.
All right, coming up next, fans of this league have
some splaining to do that comes your way next. I'm
probably no in for big Ben Maller. Keep it locked
right here on Fox Sports Radio. I'm probably no in
for big Ben Maller here on Fox Sports Radio. Ready
for a new job. Just crank up some Slayer now,

(36:15):
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expresspros dot com. While the Slayer is playing, I think
we just roll into the tire rack play of the day.
While we're at it, Left corner Antonobe catching too clear

(36:36):
cutex Silver jaris Walker and the Nicks have a twenty
point lead. I think that that should be the rallying
cry for the Knicks. You know, just crank up some
payback from Slayer in the locker room, see if he
can get Game six. Also, hey, that was compliments of
Knicks Radio Network OG and Enobi cannon of three in
the fourth quarter. As the Knicks beat the Pacers in

(36:58):
Game five, they forced Game six on Saturday. For over
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way tire buying should be. Okay, the splaining that needs

(37:23):
to be done over here, that would be from NHL fans. Okay, So,
as I said before, I'm not the guy that's like, oh,
I love the NBA playoffs, so the NHL playoffs suck. Like,
I'm not that guy. I think it's silly. I think
it's a waste of time. The reason I bring this
up is that there are a lot of NHL fans

(37:47):
that like to say, oh, man, blowout city NBA playoffs.
What's going on? You want to watch some entertaining playoff games.
You want to watch a close playoff game for a change,
try the n HL. I've heard that for years and years,
and you can't play that game. This year. You cannot

(38:08):
play that card. If you look at what's happening in
the NHL playoffs, it is beat down city. So twenty
of the last twenty two NHL playoff games have been
decided by at least two goals. Now, you could sit
here and say, hey, it was a close game. One
team was up by a goal, there was an empty
net goal at the end. So granted some of those

(38:32):
are closer games. Some how about this that ten of
the last eleven NHL playoff games have been decided by
at least three goals. That there's no well, I mean,
I mean there were like four empty net goals at
the end there. I mean, come on, man, like, no,
these are not close games. So well, I've been hearing

(38:56):
that for years and years, and it has been true
for a lot of years. If you are looking for close,
competitive playoff games, the odds are it was happening more
frequently in the NHL than it was in the NBA playoffs.
But this year not the case. The Conference finals is
beat down city. What Edmonton did to Dallas, Holy cow,

(39:17):
it's illegal in at least thirty states. What Edmonton did
to Dallas. That was Dallas lost all nine of their
playoff games by at least three goals. They have blown
out in every loss. So NBA fan can at least
look sideways like you remember, I used to tell us
every year that the competitive games were in the NHL playoffs.

(39:38):
It's not really looking like that right now, not really
looking like that. Feel free to check in eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox, conversation continues with you talk
about walking back a story. There is a great example
of that coming up next.