January 5, 2026 • 40 mins
Ben Maller talks about the Ravens losing to the Steelers and missing out on the playoffs after their rookie kicker shanked a 44 yd kick to win the game, who deserves the majority of the blame, if Aaron Rodgers' Steelers are a good team, Rams HC Sean McVay saying Matthew Stafford is the MVP, and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Peekaboo. I see you. Well, I don't actually see you,
because that would be rather odd, but I do hear you,
and it is I Ben Maller. We are back for
a new season, a new year of Bennie versus the Penny,
as we kick off twenty twenty six in style on
the original Recipe podcast, and we start out with that
(00:20):
Raven Steeler game on Sunday Night Football, the AFC North
Championship game. Who do you blame for Lamar Jackson and
his Ravens missing the playoffs? Is there someone you blame there? Also?
Are the Aaron Rodgers Steelers a good team or just
a fortunate team? As they make the postseason on a
(00:43):
missed field goal by the Ravens at the very end,
and Rams head coach Sean McVeigh said that Matthew Stafford
is the MVP, not a surprise. But what say you?
What say you? As the season is now over the
regular season and the MVP award is a regular season award.
We'll talk about all that and more settling for four
(01:05):
hours of talk radio. It's our number one and it's
yours right now.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, if you had the Ravens making the postseason, which
just about everybody, did you are a loser? Well come
in the beginning of another night and another year for
me of the Ben Malor Show.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
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(02:41):
And we are back at it again. Here I saw
some cockroaches watching the Well, maybe I was away for
a little bit, so maybe they fix the infestation, but no,
they have not. They have not, So you're just kind
of like seeing an old friend. When you see a
little cockroach squirming around on the floor, You're like, Oh,
that's that's where I belong here. Those are my those
are my insects right there. It's kind of cool. So
(03:03):
our lead this hour is from Western Pennsylvan It's excited
to be back here. We're looking forward to a lot
of fun and we'll have some Mallard meet and greets
during the course of the year in random places to
be determined at a later date. Hopefully we'll make it.
The plan is to make it to an Ohio meet
and greet at some point this year, but that is
all stuff we will talk about as we work our
way through the overnight. We'll start out in Western PA.
(03:26):
It was the AFC North Championship game. There was the
final game of the twenty twenty five regular season. The
NFL has jammed two hundred and seventy two regular season
games into one hundred and twenty two days. This all
started back on September fourth of last year, way back
(03:47):
in twenty twenty five. You might remember the Cowboys and
the Eagles. They got together. It was a real spinner,
a slobber knocker. Literally, it started with a giant loogie
flying out of the mouth one of the Eagle players,
and that's how the season began. And it ended with
Lamar Jackson returning to lead the Ravens into Pittsburgh. Winner
(04:08):
gets the playoffs, a rangle against Aaron Rogers. So the
winner gets the division. The loser goes on a nice vacation,
nice tropical vacation somewhere. So there really are no losers,
and there's either go on a vacation, you go play
a playoff game somewhere. So you had Mike Tarico, Chris
Collinsworth on NBC. They had the call. Now, I don't
(04:30):
if you watching it or not. Maybe you were not
watching it. I don't know what else you're watching, nothing
else to watch. We watched it, and this was a
roller coaster of a game, a roller coaster the game.
Aaron Rodgers gets the headline on it. He threw the
go ahead touchdown to Calvin Austin with fifty five seconds
(04:50):
left on the clock. However, the Steelers they missed the
extra point, giving Baltimore an opportunity, and the Steelers ended
up getting the I don't know how you say it here,
they ended up getting the benefit of the idiot kicker
in this game. They squeezed past the Ravens twenty six
twenty four. All the Ravens need was needed was a
(05:12):
field goal, and they did get into field goal range
rather quickly. A complete meltdown by the Yinzers defense as
Lamar Jackson, that was MVP Lamar in the fourth quarter
as he sliced up the Steers took Baltimore down the field.
They're set up what in modern NFL is a chip
shot field goal forty four yard field goal attempt by
(05:34):
Tyler Loop. Who Tyler Loop make the kick? You're in
the playoffs. Missed the kick and that's it, You're done.
And as time expired the kick went up and yeah,
he went to the to the right side of the goalpost,
not through the goal post. Who goofed? I've got to know.
(05:58):
And so with that these have advanced. They will have
a home game wild Card weekend, but not on Saturday,
not on Sunday. Instead, on Monday night, they will take
on the Houston Texans that'll be the match up there
on Monday Night. Have they had of that a couple
of years ago Monday night football in the playoffs? So
(06:21):
that'll be the story with thisburd Now. The better story though,
for our purposes, is in the losing locker room. The
Baltimore Ravens are dun Skis and the window for Lamar
Jackson to get her done. Now. He's been a terrible
big game quarterback in his career and played really well
down the stretch in this game. Didn't play this so
(06:42):
well in the middle part of the game, but down
the stretch played very well. At in the end not enough,
and so Baltimore is done. Here is their head coach
John Harbaugh as we discuss, and he points out that
even though the idiot kicker missed the cake, he says,
apparently there were other people to blame. Think it was
what you saw. This game is pretty much what you've
(07:04):
seen all year from the heart and fight standpoint. Just
didn't play well enough to you know, close it out.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
You hear the question in the answer on this one,
and uh, you know here John Harbaugh asked about the
Ravens situation. Now, it's it's pretty uh it's low hanging through.
It's kind of obvious what Harball is gonna say. But
let's take a listen, this just happened. You feeling when
one another shots with the guys? Yeah, I'm is he
(07:38):
supposed to say? No, these guys suck. They're so bad.
I'm so happy I never have to coach that team again.
My god, they're horrible. I think Sports with Coleman, the
podcast guy in Baltimore do a better job, Uh playing defense?
Is some of these stiffs? What else is he gonna say?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
All right, we'll hear from Mamar in a minute, But
let's start with just the why angle lens on the
Ravens as they do not qualify for the playoffs. To question,
as we discuss who do you blame? Who do you
blame for Lamar Jackson the Ravens not qualifying the bar,
the very minimum bar and make the playoffs. Hey, this
is the great, all time Greats Hall of Fame quarterback
(08:18):
Lamar Jackson and they're not even in the playoffs. All right,
So my thoughts on this, I've got flatulence, way back machine,
and trump card, and we will combine all of these
things together and we're gonna present to you a combo
meal deal. So that's the first ever combo meal deal
that we're gonna give you here of sports take. So
(08:40):
a we are going to blame a kindergarten song is
who we're going to blame? All right, Crank up the
old boombox. Damn Bones a classic song, Den bones. Right,
the headbone is connected to the neck bone, the neck
bones connected to the backbone. Except in Baltimore, the whole
skeleton system, the whole skeleton there was held together by
(09:03):
duck tape and some Elmer's glue and a lot of
wishful thinking. And in the end, Lamar, who played thirteen
games this season. Now the Ravens played seventeen. Lamar played thirteen,
and he missed chunks of the games he did play
in for the Ravens. A bunch of those games Lamar
played in he was playing in a dingy if you
know what I'm saying there. It was kind of like
(09:25):
your phone was at twelve percent when they had Lamar
out there twelve percent and then ends up dying at
twelve percent. Well, on the phone's not supposed to die
twelve percent. He should get down like five percent. You
should have another seven percent, but it died at twelve
percent unreliable when it actually mattered unreliable. Baltimore was six
(09:47):
and seven in games started by Lamar Jackson at a
losing record. This year, they were two and two in
games he did not play in. He also lost to
three non playoff teams. The Ravens did this year and
got swept by the Pittsburgh Steelers. So that's a pretty
good way to not make the postseason. And so you're
(10:09):
losing to non playoff team teams that did not end
up qualifying for the postseason. There's kind of like trusting
some cheap tires in a rainstorm. You could get away
with it, sometimes it doesn't really work all that much.
There so seven games with one or zero touchdown passes
for Lamar this year, seven of them played thirteen. Seven
(10:30):
of them he had no touchdown passes or one touchdown.
So this was not for most of the season. This
was not the ENVP version of Lamar Jackson. It was
Lamar LIGHTE caffeine free, low calorie, low calorie for Lamar,
and so they played with their food all season, they
being the Baltimore Ravens, and wound up thanks to the
(10:53):
kicker there at the end, going to detention instead instead
of going to the postseason. So this was it's kind
of like microwaving your leftovers and calling it gourmet. You
should at least put it in the air fighter, don't
put on the microwave. I don't know anything that tastes
good other than popcorn in the microwave, and even that,
you can make it on the stove and it would
(11:14):
taste better. That's just my hot food take. That's my high.
I just I don't like things in the microwave. I don't,
sam I am, I don't. I just don't like them.
So and now the postseason, Boogeyman has a right things
that go bumpity bump in the night for the ravens
Lamar's name certainly will be floated through talk radio like
(11:38):
flatulence floating through an elevator. And so we hear a
lot about Lamar. Here's Lamar, here's his thoughts. He was
asked about the future, and here's what he had to say.
This off season.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
There's a lot of questions about your contract, your sellarchist numbers.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Do you do you feel you will you'll be back
as the race for a record season.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
He just lost the game. You know what, there's a
new game, you know, a game to put us in
the playoffs. I'm not even thinking about that right now.
That to be honest with Sean, don't still caught up
in what just happened. You know, that's not my focus
right now. Sounds like a guy that does not want
to play for the Ravens anymore. The easy answer, the
simple answer, is I love it here. I don't want
to play aywhere else. Lamar didn't say that. Lamar said
(12:19):
I haven't thought about that, which means that in my
mind he's thought about playing somewhere else. He didn't want to.
He didn't give a straight answer, didn't give a straight answer.
It sounds like a guy that does not want to
play for the Baltimore Ravens anymore. That's the sound of
Lamar Jackson. And there's a real debate. There's a real
debate here about Lamar and he has been a battering
ram type of quarterback for the Ravens. And so do
(12:42):
you keep riding the horse, of course, until the horse
collapses and goes to the glue factory, or do you
decommission as a Raven Lamar Jackson a year or two
too soon, and you do that before the wheels fall off.
It sounds like Lamar's not real happy. I mean the
easy answer, I love it here. I don't want to
play whe else. I haven't thought about it, but I
don't want to play. Why would I want to play somewhere?
(13:03):
I didn't say that. Instead, he gave the default answer, Well,
you know, we just played a game. If you know
you like it somewhere, don't you say you like it there?
Am I wrong? Am I reading this wrong? I don't
think I am. It's a simple thing to say. I
love it here. Oh my god, I want to go
anywhere else. Listen. I love Fox Sports Trade, every cockroach
(13:24):
that drops from the ceiling. I love it. The smell
of trash when I come in on a Sunday night
into a Monday. I love the aruma of the trash
here because I love it here. It's not like, well,
I don't know if I like it. I don't know,
you know, I mean, think about it, you know. I mean,
I'm just trying to do a show. I'm just trying
to get through the monologue. I'm just trying to get
through the bloody monologue. That's all I'm trying to come
(13:45):
on now. As for John Harbaugh the coach, he seems
relatively safe. I don't think they're gonna get rid of him.
This is a this is a situation similar to Mike
Tomlin tenured professor at Harvard. You're not gonna get rid
of John Harbaugh. Not at this point. On the Pittsburgh side,
the question for the esteem paddle are the airin Ragers
(14:08):
Steelers a good team or just a fortunate team? All right?
So the answer is yes, no, maybe so with a
lot of pepto, just extra pepto. This feels a lot
like every other Mike Tomlin Steeler team post Ben Roethlisberger,
(14:28):
Like it doesn't feel any and like the names have
changed slightly. The names are a little different for the
Steelers Pittsburgh. They stumbled and they bumbled. It was like
a shopping cart with a bad wheel. There's a one
hundred shopping carts in front of the store. You pick
the one that has the bad wheel, and then you're like,
(14:48):
what do I do? Do I put it back and
give somebody else the one with the bad wheel? Do
I try to push it? Do I try to find
a different cart? While I'm in this that's my move,
go to Costco. I get the one with the bad
wheel and I take it. And then people just they
leave their they leave their carts around the story. So
I'll just grab someone else's car because they don't use anymore.
They just leaving on side. That's it. But you look
(15:10):
at Pittsburgh, this did not look like a playoff team,
did not sound like a playoff team. You look at
the way they played this particular game. They stumbled and
bumbled as we said there, especially late in the game
Lamar Jackson, when we just did a serenade about Lamar
in this situation. When you look at the play in
the fourth quarter, Lamar was really good, really good. He
pulled out the butcher knife. Lamar Jackson had seventy two
(15:33):
percent almost of his passing yards for the whole game
in the final fifteen mins, one hundred and seventy one
of two thirty eight and a couple of touchdowns. Error
free football for Lamar Jackson. And it was an oil painting.
He was a museum piece. That was Lamar the Ravens
had gotten when he was winning regular season the MVPs.
And it was still not enough. Why because Mike Tomlin
(15:54):
went to the way back machine and it was a
wonderful life for Mike Tomlin. Clarence, the jill had a
terrible towel, and the divine intervention. There was a full moon,
I guess a few days back there, cosmic event, the
whole thing there. Pittsburgh blows an extra point and then
Baltimore says, all right, ball, don't lie. You blew an
(16:14):
extra point. So let's have our kicker do the old
loop d loop and miss the kick face plant chip shot,
modern NFL field goal, And so that happens. Now, do
the Steelers scare you if you aren't like the Texas
we're on in Houston. You're in Houston. Are you afraid
of Pittsburgh? No, hell no, nobody's afraid of Pittsburgh. However,
(16:36):
they are lethal at home. They have been lethal. That's
what they have done in primetime games. They get the
Monday night slot, the Steelers, and they're like a giant
anaconda that doesn't look that fast until until it's too late.
And so you got a dome team. You got a
dome team from Houston going to frigid Pittsburgh with temperatures
(17:01):
around freezing. The long term forecast for a week from
this Monday here. So the weather math looks good. With
the malor math CJ. Stroud's not very good. Although these
teams played in the regular season in Pittsburgh lost by
seven thousand points, but that was the regular season and
the playoff team. So this is a playoff team obviously
(17:22):
much different situation. You're so good team, eh, now, fortunate
team Pittsburgh, Absolutely fortunate team. And sometimes that's all you need,
all right. Meanwhile, to La we go, La la land.
The Rams procured the number five seed and the closest
thing you can get to a bye without actually having one.
The losers of Carolina what a suck team that is,
(17:43):
who got into the playoffs backed in they lost their
game on Saturday, and then because of the Atlanta victory,
the Panthers, a losing franchise, is in the playoffs. So
the Rams get the half by there, that's not the story.
Sean mcvayh comny about Matthew Stafford post game. Now he
was asked about the MVP Award. Stafford in the running
(18:07):
for the MVP award. They're finished up completing twenty five
of forty passes two fifty nine four touchdown passes for
Matthew Stafford to fatten up the stat sheet against that
pathetic Cardinal team, which actually have a lead late in
that game. Rams pulled away though in the final part
of the fourth quarter, but nonetheless so question Rams head
(18:28):
coach Sean McVeigh saying that Matthew Stafford is the MVP.
What say you? All right? So on this one, this
was Sean McVay grabbing the megaphone and working in the room,
is what it was. I was working the room here
and think we have here's a listen to mcvagh. Here's
a McVeigh commenting about Matthew Stafford. And this is just
(18:51):
a little sound bite, but little give you a flavor
of the coach. Take a list. Yes, I think Matthew's
the MVP of the league. He played that way. Wouldn't
want anybody else leading the way. Got a lot of
respect for a bunch of people in this league, but
there's nobody I'd rather have being the quarterback of the
LA Rams than Matthew Stafford. His play speech for itself.
Keep in mind the Rams did look elsewhere last offseason,
(19:11):
but he can bought them back. He played well. So
that was a stump speech by Sean McVay, not a sermon,
not a sermon. It was a little stump speech. It handshakes, backslaps.
Politicking is the term that you could use there, politicking
And you know you got to defend your quarterbacks, you
(19:32):
got to sell your quarterback to win the MVP and
all that. And you know Saffren's argument, it's no one
is wrapped up. I mean, we're at the end now,
this is it right, It's a regular season war and
there's no clear MVP even as we sit here hours
after the final NFL regular season game was played. Stafford's
argument is he's thirty thirty seven. I believe he's played
(19:53):
quarterback the season veteran. He's played like a they used
to say cab driver, I can say uber now. The
guy that knows every back alley, every short cut, every trapdoor,
no look passes, parlor tricks, and only a couple of
duds during the season. He did all that with some
gray whiskers. And the numbers, they're MVP number. You say,
(20:18):
just based on the numbers, he's the MVP. I don't
have as much debate on that. Stafford. End of the
season with the top yardage, show led the NFL in
passing yards, he led the NFL in passing touchdowns. That
seems kind of like a big deal. I don't know,
maybe not. And only eight interceptions by Matthew Stafford. That's
a tremendous accomplishment for him to only have eight interceptions,
(20:40):
so high mileage, low wear and tear, carved up legitimate defenses,
not paper tigers like the guy he's going against for
the MVP. And this still, I believe will be a
photo finish with Drake May of the Patriots, the shiny
new efficient months stir quarterback.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
There.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He's got the legs, he's the tool threat quarterback, Drake May,
and he's got the launch codes for the Patriots offense
and all that stuff. But Stafford his trump card. This
is the trump card for Matthew Stafford. The MVP voters
love the storyline. They're all almost all a bunch of
washed up sports writers, right, so they still hang on
(21:22):
a bunch of old people and they love the storyline.
So the storyline is, oh, Matthew Stafford after all these years,
and it looked like he wasn't gonna play this year,
and he played. He led the league, led the entire
league in touchdown passes and yardage, and that's an MVP.
That's that's dotting the I like the Ohio State Marching Band.
That's just wrapping the whole career up. You win the
(21:45):
MVP and you send him off to the Hall of
Fame and that's it. So that's the storyline. Now the
Drake May thing as well, Yeah, he'll have plenty of
time to win an MVP. The argument against Drake May
as well, Yeah, the Patriot played a bunch of mato Cans.
It's hard to argue against that. The easiest schedule in
NFL history. Now, to Drake May's credit, he took advantage
(22:06):
of it and the Patriots won a bunch of games
beating bad teams, which they were. That's what you're supposed
to do. So that's great. So the jury is still
out developing hot dot dot dot. It is the Ben
Mahlor Show if you'd like to comment on any of this,
as we're back at it again eight seven seven ninety
nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six six
(22:28):
three sixty nine. Also on the X Machine at Ben Malor.
That's at Ben Malor if you'd like to be part
of the live shows, so the wise guys have checked in.
The playoff card is set and the opening lines are
out for wild Card weekend in the NFL. Is anything
that really surprises us as we head off to the
(22:51):
playoffs here which will begin this coming weekend. We will
get to all of that. Will take your calls. Also
comments on X. We read a lot of comments on X.
You got to get in there and get some new
voices mixed in with the old guard. I don't know
how many guys are back on our payroll for twenty
twenty six. I mean get rid of a few people.
But anyway, I will see who's there that's at Ben
Mahler on X. We get to all of it, and
(23:14):
we'll do it next.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
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 4 (23:27):
Hey, It's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio and in addition to hearing
us live weeknights from seven to ten pm Eastern on
Fox Sports Radio, we are excited to announce brand new
YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
That's right You can now watch The Odd Couple live
on YouTube every day.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
on YouTube and subscribe. Mell Miller is back and you
It is the Ben Malor Show.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
A reminder that this show is interactive, which means you
can interact with us on social media. The matrix where
the bots play and everything is fake, but there are
some real people on there. If you would like to
say hello, use the X platform formerly known years ago
(24:25):
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say hello to Lorraine, the FSR tech Queen high Bell,
talk to me and Kooble Loop at Bronco Fan. Your
comments can and we'll be used against you in the
(24:47):
court of Sports Radio Sequlease Act according back to it
and the phone screener is needs to the password coops.
We have to get that, but we'll work on that.
You know, it's a great, great technology. It needs a password.
I don't have the passwords. I type it in, I
(25:07):
don't have the pattern. Want the password, I don't have
the password. I don't need the password. Mallard prop guy says,
the mighty Mallard Militia is ready to go. He's got
Jed who fled blind Scott, hollering James, and there's angry
Bill and e Dog. E Dog looks like he's like
(25:29):
a middle aged guy from Miami, not Long Island. The
hollowing James I have met. That looks a lot like
holloering James. That looks the image that you made on
AI looks a lot like what hollering James is like
in person when I met him at the Mallard meet
and greet Sore. There is that ferg Dog says, now
(25:51):
that the Mallard monologue is off and running there that's
how you ring in the new year. But I'd like
to respond to one of your nine year old monologues.
You predicted the twenty seventeen Golden State Warriors would be
fine after KD injured his leg late in the season,
and you were absolutely right. They won back to back titles.
(26:12):
Well done, well, thanks for a dog. I appreciate that
number of the boys they missed the Malley monologue, so
they went back to the archive, which I think goes
back to just twenty seventeen. Anything before that has been erased,
and he went back and listened to that. I know
lucky Tony was doing that, King Roy says, for a moment,
I thought you were kidnapped and being replaced. I'm glad
(26:36):
that Rogers is back in the playoffs. We all know
the NFL scriptwriters are hard at work. And what would
be a better swan song for Rogers than winning the
Super Bowl over the forty nine ers, Bears or Packers,
he says there in Northern California. The thing I'm happy about,
King Roy, is that you've just just told the world
(26:57):
you don't listen to my podcast. I was very cood.
I still did the podcast while I was away. We
did the YouTube show Benny Versus the Penny, So it's
not like I wasn't doing anything. I was still conversing
into microphones in the remote studio and whatnot is wasn't
doing the radio show every night. And the fact that
you thought I may have been kidnapped at a dead
new it dead new it that you were not listening
(27:18):
to my podcast. Bad job by you, the Fifth Hour podcast.
Come on, shame on you. I don't ferg Doog listens
and Alf and those guys, see, who else do we
have to see? Page down? Here's one. Welcome back, Mallard.
I hope you're all refreshed for the playoff push. Nice
to hear your voice out there. This is Jerry by
the way, from Rhode Island. I met her at the
malleor well not a mallor Ingrid. She she's a big shot.
(27:40):
She won this prize when the Red Sox played the
Dodgers in the World Series in twenty eighteen. She was
able to visit La we hung out there. Nice to
your voice there here in the hemispheres. And how your clippers,
How they lose so bad to the Celtics the other night. Well,
I didn't watch that game. Oh, I didn't hear the game.
(28:01):
I was busy doing stuff on Saturday. The Clippers are
having a miserable season.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Now.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
They did show a little life there for like a
week or something like that, so of course they're pretty
pretty buried, pretty buried. Yeah. Now, Michael writes and says
ten out of ten on the mall monologue. I know
it's not the ask Lorena segment, and we don't really
don't really haven't asked Loraina segment? But is it wrong?
For me to laugh too loud to wake up our
(28:28):
eighteen year old sweet cat with laughter petitor to assure
her I was okay. What is Loraina the cat whisper
or something like that. I don't understand you have like
expert cat knowledge. I'm not sure how that works. Bill,
who's your Bill? Wrights and says, can you repeat your
MySpace link again? Thanks in advance. That's Paddlebryan Pob, the
(28:52):
Great Pob. Let's see what else we got to see
page DN and we'll skip over that. Let's go to
the phones. What do you say? It's very important. The
call of the year is the most important call. This
is the one that sets the tone for the entire year.
And let's go now to the mean streets of loss Vegas,
(29:13):
lost wages, Nevada. And we start this show off with
Mouthwash Mike in sin City. Hello, mouth Washing the Mike. Welcome.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
I'm chegging you from the front skirts of the Caesars sellers.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Oh you're wandering around the strip there, Caesar's Palace of course,
a beautiful hotel.
Speaker 7 (29:42):
Give you clearly don't have a warned out for my
arrest out here right now?
Speaker 1 (29:46):
All right? Look, how proud are we you look at you.
You don't know, warrants out for the arrest of mouth washing.
What a wonderful mits for that is there? The cops
are letting you just roam around this area.
Speaker 7 (29:59):
Okay, a different areas, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I understand, I understand completely. Mouthwash Mike.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
Okay, and happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
I think we've reached we've reached past the point to
wish happy New Year. I think the first week. No, no,
I believe the rule is you have two days and
we're now moving into the fifth. So we're past that,
and we can't say Happy New Year anymore. I wish
I wish we could, because if we could, I would
wish you a happy New Year. You're one of my
favorite mouthwash Mike. What a character you are. You always
(30:33):
you always have the greatest breath in the world. There
unbelievable Mike.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Kind of question for you. Yeah, yeah, did you do
any acting back in the day, of course.
Speaker 7 (30:46):
Yeah, I did a Coca cold commercial as a young job.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Okay, we're a child actor like cool, but you were,
but you weren't in You weren't in an episode of Better.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
Call Saul and nothing like that.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Okay. I just when you have a chance, man.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
I messaged you a picture from an episode that I
recently watched, and I remember sitting there thinking, oh my,
oh my god, what.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Did you what? It's not on my phone. Hold on
a sec, Hold on a sec. I'm trying, Hold on
a sec. I take a breath, trying to find a photout.
All right, hold on, let me see here, let's see
click on this. Yeah, a little bit, yeah, a little
(31:34):
something there. Yeah, now you you haven't been to the hospital,
your how's your health? Everything okay with you? You're all right? Yes?
Speaker 6 (31:43):
Oh you know you know.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
My life.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yes, yeah, yeah, it's never it's never boring with you.
There's always something going on, whether it's cops or doctors
or who knows, boring. Yeah, all right, I care about you.
Speaker 7 (32:08):
Oh I don't even care about myself.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
No, you need to see. We're worried about you. We
want when you don't call the show for a while,
we get concerned. We're like, oh no, our buddy mouthwashed Mike.
He might be in some trouble there. Yeah, you have
to care about yourself because we care, you know.
Speaker 7 (32:24):
Right now, I'm listening to some it looks like it
sounds like kind of like Taylor Swift turned from country
to pop rockers. Something like that sounds.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
About right then, just just happened ten years ago.
Speaker 7 (32:41):
She turned in a horsesh all the horses.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I thought that was horse's hoe. Now I don't I
don't know. Listen, I must move on. You've been on
your way to everyone else on the whole time. What
about me? They're saying a mouthwash, We love you, be good,
all right, take care of yourself, please be good? All right,
all right, thank you? There he goes mouthwash Mike living
(33:09):
on the streets of Las Vegas. If you've ritten your
Caesar's Pals right now, you listen to us said say hello,
hawnk your horn. If you see mouthwashmake he's the Yes,
that's the real bag. He should go down to the
Fremont Street Experience where the iHeartMedia building is. That's really
where he belongs. He's much more of a Fremont Experience
guy than he is a strip guy, you know, just saying, anyway,
(33:32):
Josh is in Dallas. What's going on? Josh welcome?
Speaker 6 (33:36):
Well, I don't know how I can follow that up,
but uh, Drake may and or Matthew Stafford for the
MVP recently discovered or found out that the AP votes
on this, and you know, last Sunday, I think they
released a couple of tweets that said something like seven
(33:59):
of the last nine m vps were quarterbacks, and of
those seven, all of them were either one or two
seeds in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So that tells you what has happened. That doesn't tell
you what's going to happen.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
But when the when the organization who votes on the
award releases the tweets like that, they're pretty much telling
you who that is.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Now.
Speaker 6 (34:28):
I believe Stafford is the m v P played a
much more difficult schedule.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
I wouldn't. I wouldn't judge these things based on a tweet.
I'm pretty sure most of these sports writers at the
AP aren't even on X. There are a bunch of
old guys. I've met a lot of them over the
years and they don't do social media, so who knows.
I mean, maybe you're right, but would I would not.
I would not say that matters at all. And the
pages have played the easiest schedule in NFL history, so
(34:56):
that does have to factor in. And as I said,
people love the story, Matt. If you Stafford right, sucked
with the Lions, never won anything goes to the Rams.
They didn't win the Super Bowl, never been an MVP.
It's like this could be the cherry on top of
the Sunday. Thank you. You're so blown away by my take, Josh,
you have nothing else to add. There's the most amazing
(35:17):
take of all time there, all right, thank you for that.
So the odds are out. Speaking of gambling, the odds
are out for the upcoming upcoming wild Card weekend in
the NFL. And there's a couple things that stand out here.
A couple things that stand out. By the way, this
show is sponsored by DraftKings sportsbook and official sports betting
(35:38):
partner of the NFL and NBA. Right now use the
promo code Mallard I claim your special offer of DraftKings again.
Promo code Mallard Draftings. The crown is yours. The early
game the Rams on Saturday, Rams and Panthers. Rams are
a ten point favorite on the road. The gambling market
(35:58):
doesn't think much of the Carolina Panthers, and rightfully so.
That's a huge number for a road team to be
favored by ten points. On the playoffs, a Packers and Bears,
Green Bay opened a one point favorite on the overnight line.
That's already gone down to a pick them the Bills
and Jags on Sunday Buffalo one point favorite. That's a
slap in the face to Jacksonville. Buffalo one point road favorite.
(36:20):
Niners and Eagles, and the Eagles at three and a
half point favorite in that game. Chargers and Patriots, the
Pats a four point favorite at home. And then the
final game on Monday, the Texans and the Steelers. Houston
a three point favorite on the road. So the road
team's favored. You've got Houston favorite on the road. You've
(36:43):
got Buffalo favorite on the road, and the Rams and
the Packers that pick them. So the road team's getting
out of love on the early line. And no real
information on where the money is to start, so we'll
hold off on that till tomorrow. We'll see where the
money is early on in the gambling process or process.
So there is that time now for the who am I? Game?
(37:08):
Here we go the who am I? Game? So Aaron
Rodgers became the second oldest player since the merger WHO
with a run of twenty or more yards as I
was the first old timer to run for twenty or
more yards again. Aaron Rodgers, who saw the game Sunday
(37:28):
Night Rogers at forty two years and thirty three days,
became the second oldest player since the merger with a
run of twenty plus yards. I was the first old
timer to run for twenty yards or more. Who am I?
That's the question? The answer. We'll get to it and
we will do it next.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
A classic Mallard song from years gone by, and don't
forget later this twenty twenty six, in the summer time,
the Mallard Paloozo will return. So get those songs ready
and you may be the big winner. The Mallard Palooza
twenty twenty six, the biggest concert on all of overnight
(38:12):
talk radio in the summer. It is I Bill Miller.
A reminder that you can always hear this show on
the iHeartRadio app. You can stream us wherever you happen
to be. Catch us and all the other Fox Sports
Radio braggadocious bombastic blowhards that work here twenty four to seven.
It's the iHeart Radio app. Just search Fox Sports Radio
(38:33):
on the app, you can stream us live all night
every night and be searched like Fox Sports Radio. Ben
Maler Show podcast is on their fifth hour podcast watch
check that out and now watch it. You can check
it out and have those part of your presets become
a p one on the iHeartRadio app will always pop
up at the very top of your screen. And time
now to pay off the who am I?
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Game?
Speaker 1 (38:55):
And here it is Aaron Rodgers who forty two years
thirty three days became the second oldest player since the
merger with a run of twenty plus yards And I
was the first old timer since the merger and the
only one older then Rogers with a run of twenty
or more yards. That is the question. What is the answer?
(39:19):
Does anyone know the answer? And the real Martin, who
I think still works at the airport in Denver, says
the great Jose Cuervo is the answer. Alf the alien
Opiner is back. He's on the payroll, says Herb McDonald.
Running to the commode at the Buccaroo buffet, he says,
(39:39):
who else do we have? Mal prop guy going with
meth Ula Sula who fled? See who else? Tyler Loop
from Chris and des morn. There's a good video of
him right there. My cousin Vinnie from Benito, the long
Suffering Cowboy fan Randall Cunningham from Paul Sam Darnold for
MVP from FEMI, the Uber eats guy there in Minnesota,
(40:02):
beer drinking Brian from Scrooge. Do you have an answer, Lorraine?
I'm going with the crept Keeper. Okay, No, that the
correct answer is Doug Flutey. Fluty Flakes, Doug Flutey back
in twenty oh five, twenty one years ago,
Peekaboo. I see you. Well, I don't actually see you,
because that would be rather odd, but I do hear you,
and it is I Ben Maller. We are back for
a new season, a new year of Bennie versus the Penny,
as we kick off twenty twenty six in style on
the original Recipe podcast, and we start out with that
(00:20):
Raven Steeler game on Sunday Night Football, the AFC North
Championship game. Who do you blame for Lamar Jackson and
his Ravens missing the playoffs? Is there someone you blame there? Also?
Are the Aaron Rodgers Steelers a good team or just
a fortunate team? As they make the postseason on a
(00:43):
missed field goal by the Ravens at the very end,
and Rams head coach Sean McVeigh said that Matthew Stafford
is the MVP, not a surprise. But what say you?
What say you? As the season is now over the
regular season and the MVP award is a regular season award.
We'll talk about all that and more settling for four
(01:05):
hours of talk radio. It's our number one and it's
yours right now.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, if you had the Ravens making the postseason, which
just about everybody, did you are a loser? Well come
in the beginning of another night and another year for
me of the Ben Malor Show.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
We are in the air, EveryWare together as we are
the square peg of radio whatever that means, coast to coast,
border to border and beyond on the vast and mighty
powerful microphones of FSR emmundating Live do it live from
(01:53):
the saddles. We are back in the saddle again, the
world famous Fox Sports Radio Studios, approved by Doc Dan,
who knows that this show has made possible in part
by our friends at tire Rack. That's well, he's not
a real dog, He's just Doc Dan. I don't believe
the man's a real doctor. I've not yet met Doc Dan.
(02:14):
I will have to meet him at some point. But
for over forty years, ty Raq has been helping customers
like fer Dog, Alf the Alien Opiner and Malor prop
Guy find the right tires for how, what and where
they drive, ship fast and free back by free road
hazard protection, with convenient installation options like mobile tire installation
tire iraq dot com the way tire buying should be.
(02:41):
And we are back at it again. Here I saw
some cockroaches watching the Well, maybe I was away for
a little bit, so maybe they fix the infestation, but no,
they have not. They have not, So you're just kind
of like seeing an old friend. When you see a
little cockroach squirming around on the floor, You're like, Oh,
that's that's where I belong here. Those are my those
are my insects right there. It's kind of cool. So
(03:03):
our lead this hour is from Western Pennsylvan It's excited
to be back here. We're looking forward to a lot
of fun and we'll have some Mallard meet and greets
during the course of the year in random places to
be determined at a later date. Hopefully we'll make it.
The plan is to make it to an Ohio meet
and greet at some point this year, but that is
all stuff we will talk about as we work our
way through the overnight. We'll start out in Western PA.
(03:26):
It was the AFC North Championship game. There was the
final game of the twenty twenty five regular season. The
NFL has jammed two hundred and seventy two regular season
games into one hundred and twenty two days. This all
started back on September fourth of last year, way back
(03:47):
in twenty twenty five. You might remember the Cowboys and
the Eagles. They got together. It was a real spinner,
a slobber knocker. Literally, it started with a giant loogie
flying out of the mouth one of the Eagle players,
and that's how the season began. And it ended with
Lamar Jackson returning to lead the Ravens into Pittsburgh. Winner
(04:08):
gets the playoffs, a rangle against Aaron Rogers. So the
winner gets the division. The loser goes on a nice vacation,
nice tropical vacation somewhere. So there really are no losers,
and there's either go on a vacation, you go play
a playoff game somewhere. So you had Mike Tarico, Chris
Collinsworth on NBC. They had the call. Now, I don't
(04:30):
if you watching it or not. Maybe you were not
watching it. I don't know what else you're watching, nothing
else to watch. We watched it, and this was a
roller coaster of a game, a roller coaster the game.
Aaron Rodgers gets the headline on it. He threw the
go ahead touchdown to Calvin Austin with fifty five seconds
(04:50):
left on the clock. However, the Steelers they missed the
extra point, giving Baltimore an opportunity, and the Steelers ended
up getting the I don't know how you say it here,
they ended up getting the benefit of the idiot kicker
in this game. They squeezed past the Ravens twenty six
twenty four. All the Ravens need was needed was a
(05:12):
field goal, and they did get into field goal range
rather quickly. A complete meltdown by the Yinzers defense as
Lamar Jackson, that was MVP Lamar in the fourth quarter
as he sliced up the Steers took Baltimore down the field.
They're set up what in modern NFL is a chip
shot field goal forty four yard field goal attempt by
(05:34):
Tyler Loop. Who Tyler Loop make the kick? You're in
the playoffs. Missed the kick and that's it, You're done.
And as time expired the kick went up and yeah,
he went to the to the right side of the goalpost,
not through the goal post. Who goofed? I've got to know.
(05:58):
And so with that these have advanced. They will have
a home game wild Card weekend, but not on Saturday,
not on Sunday. Instead, on Monday night, they will take
on the Houston Texans that'll be the match up there
on Monday Night. Have they had of that a couple
of years ago Monday night football in the playoffs? So
(06:21):
that'll be the story with thisburd Now. The better story though,
for our purposes, is in the losing locker room. The
Baltimore Ravens are dun Skis and the window for Lamar
Jackson to get her done. Now. He's been a terrible
big game quarterback in his career and played really well
down the stretch in this game. Didn't play this so
(06:42):
well in the middle part of the game, but down
the stretch played very well. At in the end not enough,
and so Baltimore is done. Here is their head coach
John Harbaugh as we discuss, and he points out that
even though the idiot kicker missed the cake, he says,
apparently there were other people to blame. Think it was
what you saw. This game is pretty much what you've
(07:04):
seen all year from the heart and fight standpoint. Just
didn't play well enough to you know, close it out.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
You hear the question in the answer on this one,
and uh, you know here John Harbaugh asked about the
Ravens situation. Now, it's it's pretty uh it's low hanging through.
It's kind of obvious what Harball is gonna say. But
let's take a listen, this just happened. You feeling when
one another shots with the guys? Yeah, I'm is he
(07:38):
supposed to say? No, these guys suck. They're so bad.
I'm so happy I never have to coach that team again.
My god, they're horrible. I think Sports with Coleman, the
podcast guy in Baltimore do a better job, Uh playing defense?
Is some of these stiffs? What else is he gonna say?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
All right, we'll hear from Mamar in a minute, But
let's start with just the why angle lens on the
Ravens as they do not qualify for the playoffs. To question,
as we discuss who do you blame? Who do you
blame for Lamar Jackson the Ravens not qualifying the bar,
the very minimum bar and make the playoffs. Hey, this
is the great, all time Greats Hall of Fame quarterback
(08:18):
Lamar Jackson and they're not even in the playoffs. All right,
So my thoughts on this, I've got flatulence, way back machine,
and trump card, and we will combine all of these
things together and we're gonna present to you a combo
meal deal. So that's the first ever combo meal deal
that we're gonna give you here of sports take. So
(08:40):
a we are going to blame a kindergarten song is
who we're going to blame? All right, Crank up the
old boombox. Damn Bones a classic song, Den bones. Right,
the headbone is connected to the neck bone, the neck
bones connected to the backbone. Except in Baltimore, the whole
skeleton system, the whole skeleton there was held together by
(09:03):
duck tape and some Elmer's glue and a lot of
wishful thinking. And in the end, Lamar, who played thirteen
games this season. Now the Ravens played seventeen. Lamar played thirteen,
and he missed chunks of the games he did play
in for the Ravens. A bunch of those games Lamar
played in he was playing in a dingy if you
know what I'm saying there. It was kind of like
(09:25):
your phone was at twelve percent when they had Lamar
out there twelve percent and then ends up dying at
twelve percent. Well, on the phone's not supposed to die
twelve percent. He should get down like five percent. You
should have another seven percent, but it died at twelve
percent unreliable when it actually mattered unreliable. Baltimore was six
(09:47):
and seven in games started by Lamar Jackson at a
losing record. This year, they were two and two in
games he did not play in. He also lost to
three non playoff teams. The Ravens did this year and
got swept by the Pittsburgh Steelers. So that's a pretty
good way to not make the postseason. And so you're
(10:09):
losing to non playoff team teams that did not end
up qualifying for the postseason. There's kind of like trusting
some cheap tires in a rainstorm. You could get away
with it, sometimes it doesn't really work all that much.
There so seven games with one or zero touchdown passes
for Lamar this year, seven of them played thirteen. Seven
(10:30):
of them he had no touchdown passes or one touchdown.
So this was not for most of the season. This
was not the ENVP version of Lamar Jackson. It was
Lamar LIGHTE caffeine free, low calorie, low calorie for Lamar,
and so they played with their food all season, they
being the Baltimore Ravens, and wound up thanks to the
(10:53):
kicker there at the end, going to detention instead instead
of going to the postseason. So this was it's kind
of like microwaving your leftovers and calling it gourmet. You
should at least put it in the air fighter, don't
put on the microwave. I don't know anything that tastes
good other than popcorn in the microwave, and even that,
you can make it on the stove and it would
(11:14):
taste better. That's just my hot food take. That's my high.
I just I don't like things in the microwave. I don't,
sam I am, I don't. I just don't like them.
So and now the postseason, Boogeyman has a right things
that go bumpity bump in the night for the ravens
Lamar's name certainly will be floated through talk radio like
(11:38):
flatulence floating through an elevator. And so we hear a
lot about Lamar. Here's Lamar, here's his thoughts. He was
asked about the future, and here's what he had to say.
This off season.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
There's a lot of questions about your contract, your sellarchist numbers.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Do you do you feel you will you'll be back
as the race for a record season.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
He just lost the game. You know what, there's a
new game, you know, a game to put us in
the playoffs. I'm not even thinking about that right now.
That to be honest with Sean, don't still caught up
in what just happened. You know, that's not my focus
right now. Sounds like a guy that does not want
to play for the Ravens anymore. The easy answer, the
simple answer, is I love it here. I don't want
to play aywhere else. Lamar didn't say that. Lamar said
(12:19):
I haven't thought about that, which means that in my
mind he's thought about playing somewhere else. He didn't want to.
He didn't give a straight answer, didn't give a straight answer.
It sounds like a guy that does not want to
play for the Baltimore Ravens anymore. That's the sound of
Lamar Jackson. And there's a real debate. There's a real
debate here about Lamar and he has been a battering
ram type of quarterback for the Ravens. And so do
(12:42):
you keep riding the horse, of course, until the horse
collapses and goes to the glue factory, or do you
decommission as a Raven Lamar Jackson a year or two
too soon, and you do that before the wheels fall off.
It sounds like Lamar's not real happy. I mean the
easy answer, I love it here. I don't want to
play whe else. I haven't thought about it, but I
don't want to play. Why would I want to play somewhere?
(13:03):
I didn't say that. Instead, he gave the default answer, Well,
you know, we just played a game. If you know
you like it somewhere, don't you say you like it there?
Am I wrong? Am I reading this wrong? I don't
think I am. It's a simple thing to say. I
love it here. Oh my god, I want to go
anywhere else. Listen. I love Fox Sports Trade, every cockroach
(13:24):
that drops from the ceiling. I love it. The smell
of trash when I come in on a Sunday night
into a Monday. I love the aruma of the trash
here because I love it here. It's not like, well,
I don't know if I like it. I don't know,
you know, I mean, think about it, you know. I mean,
I'm just trying to do a show. I'm just trying
to get through the monologue. I'm just trying to get
through the bloody monologue. That's all I'm trying to come
(13:45):
on now. As for John Harbaugh the coach, he seems
relatively safe. I don't think they're gonna get rid of him.
This is a this is a situation similar to Mike
Tomlin tenured professor at Harvard. You're not gonna get rid
of John Harbaugh. Not at this point. On the Pittsburgh side,
the question for the esteem paddle are the airin Ragers
(14:08):
Steelers a good team or just a fortunate team? All right?
So the answer is yes, no, maybe so with a
lot of pepto, just extra pepto. This feels a lot
like every other Mike Tomlin Steeler team post Ben Roethlisberger,
(14:28):
Like it doesn't feel any and like the names have
changed slightly. The names are a little different for the
Steelers Pittsburgh. They stumbled and they bumbled. It was like
a shopping cart with a bad wheel. There's a one
hundred shopping carts in front of the store. You pick
the one that has the bad wheel, and then you're like,
(14:48):
what do I do? Do I put it back and
give somebody else the one with the bad wheel? Do
I try to push it? Do I try to find
a different cart? While I'm in this that's my move,
go to Costco. I get the one with the bad
wheel and I take it. And then people just they
leave their they leave their carts around the story. So
I'll just grab someone else's car because they don't use anymore.
They just leaving on side. That's it. But you look
(15:10):
at Pittsburgh, this did not look like a playoff team,
did not sound like a playoff team. You look at
the way they played this particular game. They stumbled and
bumbled as we said there, especially late in the game
Lamar Jackson, when we just did a serenade about Lamar
in this situation. When you look at the play in
the fourth quarter, Lamar was really good, really good. He
pulled out the butcher knife. Lamar Jackson had seventy two
(15:33):
percent almost of his passing yards for the whole game
in the final fifteen mins, one hundred and seventy one
of two thirty eight and a couple of touchdowns. Error
free football for Lamar Jackson. And it was an oil painting.
He was a museum piece. That was Lamar the Ravens
had gotten when he was winning regular season the MVPs.
And it was still not enough. Why because Mike Tomlin
(15:54):
went to the way back machine and it was a
wonderful life for Mike Tomlin. Clarence, the jill had a
terrible towel, and the divine intervention. There was a full moon,
I guess a few days back there, cosmic event, the
whole thing there. Pittsburgh blows an extra point and then
Baltimore says, all right, ball, don't lie. You blew an
(16:14):
extra point. So let's have our kicker do the old
loop d loop and miss the kick face plant chip shot,
modern NFL field goal, And so that happens. Now, do
the Steelers scare you if you aren't like the Texas
we're on in Houston. You're in Houston. Are you afraid
of Pittsburgh? No, hell no, nobody's afraid of Pittsburgh. However,
(16:36):
they are lethal at home. They have been lethal. That's
what they have done in primetime games. They get the
Monday night slot, the Steelers, and they're like a giant
anaconda that doesn't look that fast until until it's too late.
And so you got a dome team. You got a
dome team from Houston going to frigid Pittsburgh with temperatures
(17:01):
around freezing. The long term forecast for a week from
this Monday here. So the weather math looks good. With
the malor math CJ. Stroud's not very good. Although these
teams played in the regular season in Pittsburgh lost by
seven thousand points, but that was the regular season and
the playoff team. So this is a playoff team obviously
(17:22):
much different situation. You're so good team, eh, now, fortunate
team Pittsburgh, Absolutely fortunate team. And sometimes that's all you need,
all right. Meanwhile, to La we go, La la land.
The Rams procured the number five seed and the closest
thing you can get to a bye without actually having one.
The losers of Carolina what a suck team that is,
(17:43):
who got into the playoffs backed in they lost their
game on Saturday, and then because of the Atlanta victory,
the Panthers, a losing franchise, is in the playoffs. So
the Rams get the half by there, that's not the story.
Sean mcvayh comny about Matthew Stafford post game. Now he
was asked about the MVP Award. Stafford in the running
(18:07):
for the MVP award. They're finished up completing twenty five
of forty passes two fifty nine four touchdown passes for
Matthew Stafford to fatten up the stat sheet against that
pathetic Cardinal team, which actually have a lead late in
that game. Rams pulled away though in the final part
of the fourth quarter, but nonetheless so question Rams head
(18:28):
coach Sean McVeigh saying that Matthew Stafford is the MVP.
What say you? All right? So on this one, this
was Sean McVay grabbing the megaphone and working in the room,
is what it was. I was working the room here
and think we have here's a listen to mcvagh. Here's
a McVeigh commenting about Matthew Stafford. And this is just
(18:51):
a little sound bite, but little give you a flavor
of the coach. Take a list. Yes, I think Matthew's
the MVP of the league. He played that way. Wouldn't
want anybody else leading the way. Got a lot of
respect for a bunch of people in this league, but
there's nobody I'd rather have being the quarterback of the
LA Rams than Matthew Stafford. His play speech for itself.
Keep in mind the Rams did look elsewhere last offseason,
(19:11):
but he can bought them back. He played well. So
that was a stump speech by Sean McVay, not a sermon,
not a sermon. It was a little stump speech. It handshakes, backslaps.
Politicking is the term that you could use there, politicking
And you know you got to defend your quarterbacks, you
(19:32):
got to sell your quarterback to win the MVP and
all that. And you know Saffren's argument, it's no one
is wrapped up. I mean, we're at the end now,
this is it right, It's a regular season war and
there's no clear MVP even as we sit here hours
after the final NFL regular season game was played. Stafford's
argument is he's thirty thirty seven. I believe he's played
(19:53):
quarterback the season veteran. He's played like a they used
to say cab driver, I can say uber now. The
guy that knows every back alley, every short cut, every trapdoor,
no look passes, parlor tricks, and only a couple of
duds during the season. He did all that with some
gray whiskers. And the numbers, they're MVP number. You say,
(20:18):
just based on the numbers, he's the MVP. I don't
have as much debate on that. Stafford. End of the
season with the top yardage, show led the NFL in
passing yards, he led the NFL in passing touchdowns. That
seems kind of like a big deal. I don't know,
maybe not. And only eight interceptions by Matthew Stafford. That's
a tremendous accomplishment for him to only have eight interceptions,
(20:40):
so high mileage, low wear and tear, carved up legitimate defenses,
not paper tigers like the guy he's going against for
the MVP. And this still, I believe will be a
photo finish with Drake May of the Patriots, the shiny
new efficient months stir quarterback.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
There.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He's got the legs, he's the tool threat quarterback, Drake May,
and he's got the launch codes for the Patriots offense
and all that stuff. But Stafford his trump card. This
is the trump card for Matthew Stafford. The MVP voters
love the storyline. They're all almost all a bunch of
washed up sports writers, right, so they still hang on
(21:22):
a bunch of old people and they love the storyline.
So the storyline is, oh, Matthew Stafford after all these years,
and it looked like he wasn't gonna play this year,
and he played. He led the league, led the entire
league in touchdown passes and yardage, and that's an MVP.
That's that's dotting the I like the Ohio State Marching Band.
That's just wrapping the whole career up. You win the
(21:45):
MVP and you send him off to the Hall of
Fame and that's it. So that's the storyline. Now the
Drake May thing as well, Yeah, he'll have plenty of
time to win an MVP. The argument against Drake May
as well, Yeah, the Patriot played a bunch of mato Cans.
It's hard to argue against that. The easiest schedule in
NFL history. Now, to Drake May's credit, he took advantage
(22:06):
of it and the Patriots won a bunch of games
beating bad teams, which they were. That's what you're supposed
to do. So that's great. So the jury is still
out developing hot dot dot dot. It is the Ben
Mahlor Show if you'd like to comment on any of this,
as we're back at it again eight seven seven ninety
nine on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six six
(22:28):
three sixty nine. Also on the X Machine at Ben Malor.
That's at Ben Malor if you'd like to be part
of the live shows, so the wise guys have checked in.
The playoff card is set and the opening lines are
out for wild Card weekend in the NFL. Is anything
that really surprises us as we head off to the
(22:51):
playoffs here which will begin this coming weekend. We will
get to all of that. Will take your calls. Also
comments on X. We read a lot of comments on X.
You got to get in there and get some new
voices mixed in with the old guard. I don't know
how many guys are back on our payroll for twenty
twenty six. I mean get rid of a few people.
But anyway, I will see who's there that's at Ben
Mahler on X. We get to all of it, and
(23:14):
we'll do it next.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
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 4 (23:27):
Hey, It's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio and in addition to hearing
us live weeknights from seven to ten pm Eastern on
Fox Sports Radio, we are excited to announce brand new
YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
That's right You can now watch The Odd Couple live
on YouTube every day.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
on YouTube and subscribe. Mell Miller is back and you
It is the Ben Malor Show.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
A reminder that this show is interactive, which means you
can interact with us on social media. The matrix where
the bots play and everything is fake, but there are
some real people on there. If you would like to
say hello, use the X platform formerly known years ago
(24:25):
is Twitter on this show and you can follow the
show at Ben Mahler. That's at Ben Mahlor. You can
say hello to Lorraine, the FSR tech Queen high Bell,
talk to me and Kooble Loop at Bronco Fan. Your
comments can and we'll be used against you in the
(24:47):
court of Sports Radio Sequlease Act according back to it
and the phone screener is needs to the password coops.
We have to get that, but we'll work on that.
You know, it's a great, great technology. It needs a password.
I don't have the passwords. I type it in, I
(25:07):
don't have the pattern. Want the password, I don't have
the password. I don't need the password. Mallard prop guy says,
the mighty Mallard Militia is ready to go. He's got
Jed who fled blind Scott, hollering James, and there's angry
Bill and e Dog. E Dog looks like he's like
(25:29):
a middle aged guy from Miami, not Long Island. The
hollowing James I have met. That looks a lot like
holloering James. That looks the image that you made on
AI looks a lot like what hollering James is like
in person when I met him at the Mallard meet
and greet Sore. There is that ferg Dog says, now
(25:51):
that the Mallard monologue is off and running there that's
how you ring in the new year. But I'd like
to respond to one of your nine year old monologues.
You predicted the twenty seventeen Golden State Warriors would be
fine after KD injured his leg late in the season,
and you were absolutely right. They won back to back titles.
(26:12):
Well done, well, thanks for a dog. I appreciate that
number of the boys they missed the Malley monologue, so
they went back to the archive, which I think goes
back to just twenty seventeen. Anything before that has been erased,
and he went back and listened to that. I know
lucky Tony was doing that, King Roy says, for a moment,
I thought you were kidnapped and being replaced. I'm glad
(26:36):
that Rogers is back in the playoffs. We all know
the NFL scriptwriters are hard at work. And what would
be a better swan song for Rogers than winning the
Super Bowl over the forty nine ers, Bears or Packers,
he says there in Northern California. The thing I'm happy about,
King Roy, is that you've just just told the world
(26:57):
you don't listen to my podcast. I was very cood.
I still did the podcast while I was away. We
did the YouTube show Benny Versus the Penny, So it's
not like I wasn't doing anything. I was still conversing
into microphones in the remote studio and whatnot is wasn't
doing the radio show every night. And the fact that
you thought I may have been kidnapped at a dead
new it dead new it that you were not listening
(27:18):
to my podcast. Bad job by you, the Fifth Hour podcast.
Come on, shame on you. I don't ferg Doog listens
and Alf and those guys, see, who else do we
have to see? Page down? Here's one. Welcome back, Mallard.
I hope you're all refreshed for the playoff push. Nice
to hear your voice out there. This is Jerry by
the way, from Rhode Island. I met her at the
malleor well not a mallor Ingrid. She she's a big shot.
(27:40):
She won this prize when the Red Sox played the
Dodgers in the World Series in twenty eighteen. She was
able to visit La we hung out there. Nice to
your voice there here in the hemispheres. And how your clippers,
How they lose so bad to the Celtics the other night. Well,
I didn't watch that game. Oh, I didn't hear the game.
(28:01):
I was busy doing stuff on Saturday. The Clippers are
having a miserable season.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Now.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
They did show a little life there for like a
week or something like that, so of course they're pretty
pretty buried, pretty buried. Yeah. Now, Michael writes and says
ten out of ten on the mall monologue. I know
it's not the ask Lorena segment, and we don't really
don't really haven't asked Loraina segment? But is it wrong?
For me to laugh too loud to wake up our
(28:28):
eighteen year old sweet cat with laughter petitor to assure
her I was okay. What is Loraina the cat whisper
or something like that. I don't understand you have like
expert cat knowledge. I'm not sure how that works. Bill,
who's your Bill? Wrights and says, can you repeat your
MySpace link again? Thanks in advance. That's Paddlebryan Pob, the
(28:52):
Great Pob. Let's see what else we got to see
page DN and we'll skip over that. Let's go to
the phones. What do you say? It's very important. The
call of the year is the most important call. This
is the one that sets the tone for the entire year.
And let's go now to the mean streets of loss Vegas,
(29:13):
lost wages, Nevada. And we start this show off with
Mouthwash Mike in sin City. Hello, mouth Washing the Mike. Welcome.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
I'm chegging you from the front skirts of the Caesars sellers.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Oh you're wandering around the strip there, Caesar's Palace of course,
a beautiful hotel.
Speaker 7 (29:42):
Give you clearly don't have a warned out for my
arrest out here right now?
Speaker 1 (29:46):
All right? Look, how proud are we you look at you.
You don't know, warrants out for the arrest of mouth washing.
What a wonderful mits for that is there? The cops
are letting you just roam around this area.
Speaker 7 (29:59):
Okay, a different areas, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I understand, I understand completely. Mouthwash Mike.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
Okay, and happy New Year.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
I think we've reached we've reached past the point to
wish happy New Year. I think the first week. No, no,
I believe the rule is you have two days and
we're now moving into the fifth. So we're past that,
and we can't say Happy New Year anymore. I wish
I wish we could, because if we could, I would
wish you a happy New Year. You're one of my
favorite mouthwash Mike. What a character you are. You always
(30:33):
you always have the greatest breath in the world. There
unbelievable Mike.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Kind of question for you. Yeah, yeah, did you do
any acting back in the day, of course.
Speaker 7 (30:46):
Yeah, I did a Coca cold commercial as a young job.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Okay, we're a child actor like cool, but you were,
but you weren't in You weren't in an episode of Better.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
Call Saul and nothing like that.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Okay. I just when you have a chance, man.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
I messaged you a picture from an episode that I
recently watched, and I remember sitting there thinking, oh my,
oh my god, what.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Did you what? It's not on my phone. Hold on
a sec, Hold on a sec. I'm trying, Hold on
a sec. I take a breath, trying to find a photout.
All right, hold on, let me see here, let's see
click on this. Yeah, a little bit, yeah, a little
(31:34):
something there. Yeah, now you you haven't been to the hospital,
your how's your health? Everything okay with you? You're all right? Yes?
Speaker 6 (31:43):
Oh you know you know.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
My life.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yes, yeah, yeah, it's never it's never boring with you.
There's always something going on, whether it's cops or doctors
or who knows, boring. Yeah, all right, I care about you.
Speaker 7 (32:08):
Oh I don't even care about myself.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
No, you need to see. We're worried about you. We
want when you don't call the show for a while,
we get concerned. We're like, oh no, our buddy mouthwashed Mike.
He might be in some trouble there. Yeah, you have
to care about yourself because we care, you know.
Speaker 7 (32:24):
Right now, I'm listening to some it looks like it
sounds like kind of like Taylor Swift turned from country
to pop rockers. Something like that sounds.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
About right then, just just happened ten years ago.
Speaker 7 (32:41):
She turned in a horsesh all the horses.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
I thought that was horse's hoe. Now I don't I
don't know. Listen, I must move on. You've been on
your way to everyone else on the whole time. What
about me? They're saying a mouthwash, We love you, be good,
all right, take care of yourself, please be good? All right,
all right, thank you? There he goes mouthwash Mike living
(33:09):
on the streets of Las Vegas. If you've ritten your
Caesar's Pals right now, you listen to us said say hello,
hawnk your horn. If you see mouthwashmake he's the Yes,
that's the real bag. He should go down to the
Fremont Street Experience where the iHeartMedia building is. That's really
where he belongs. He's much more of a Fremont Experience
guy than he is a strip guy, you know, just saying, anyway,
(33:32):
Josh is in Dallas. What's going on? Josh welcome?
Speaker 6 (33:36):
Well, I don't know how I can follow that up,
but uh, Drake may and or Matthew Stafford for the
MVP recently discovered or found out that the AP votes
on this, and you know, last Sunday, I think they
released a couple of tweets that said something like seven
(33:59):
of the last nine m vps were quarterbacks, and of
those seven, all of them were either one or two
seeds in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So that tells you what has happened. That doesn't tell
you what's going to happen.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
But when the when the organization who votes on the
award releases the tweets like that, they're pretty much telling
you who that is.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Now.
Speaker 6 (34:28):
I believe Stafford is the m v P played a
much more difficult schedule.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
I wouldn't. I wouldn't judge these things based on a tweet.
I'm pretty sure most of these sports writers at the
AP aren't even on X. There are a bunch of
old guys. I've met a lot of them over the
years and they don't do social media, so who knows.
I mean, maybe you're right, but would I would not.
I would not say that matters at all. And the
pages have played the easiest schedule in NFL history, so
(34:56):
that does have to factor in. And as I said,
people love the story, Matt. If you Stafford right, sucked
with the Lions, never won anything goes to the Rams.
They didn't win the Super Bowl, never been an MVP.
It's like this could be the cherry on top of
the Sunday. Thank you. You're so blown away by my take, Josh,
you have nothing else to add. There's the most amazing
(35:17):
take of all time there, all right, thank you for that.
So the odds are out. Speaking of gambling, the odds
are out for the upcoming upcoming wild Card weekend in
the NFL. And there's a couple things that stand out here.
A couple things that stand out. By the way, this
show is sponsored by DraftKings sportsbook and official sports betting
(35:38):
partner of the NFL and NBA. Right now use the
promo code Mallard I claim your special offer of DraftKings again.
Promo code Mallard Draftings. The crown is yours. The early
game the Rams on Saturday, Rams and Panthers. Rams are
a ten point favorite on the road. The gambling market
(35:58):
doesn't think much of the Carolina Panthers, and rightfully so.
That's a huge number for a road team to be
favored by ten points. On the playoffs, a Packers and Bears,
Green Bay opened a one point favorite on the overnight line.
That's already gone down to a pick them the Bills
and Jags on Sunday Buffalo one point favorite. That's a
slap in the face to Jacksonville. Buffalo one point road favorite.
(36:20):
Niners and Eagles, and the Eagles at three and a
half point favorite in that game. Chargers and Patriots, the
Pats a four point favorite at home. And then the
final game on Monday, the Texans and the Steelers. Houston
a three point favorite on the road. So the road
team's favored. You've got Houston favorite on the road. You've
(36:43):
got Buffalo favorite on the road, and the Rams and
the Packers that pick them. So the road team's getting
out of love on the early line. And no real
information on where the money is to start, so we'll
hold off on that till tomorrow. We'll see where the
money is early on in the gambling process or process.
So there is that time now for the who am I? Game?
(37:08):
Here we go the who am I? Game? So Aaron
Rodgers became the second oldest player since the merger WHO
with a run of twenty or more yards as I
was the first old timer to run for twenty or
more yards again. Aaron Rodgers, who saw the game Sunday
(37:28):
Night Rogers at forty two years and thirty three days,
became the second oldest player since the merger with a
run of twenty plus yards. I was the first old
timer to run for twenty yards or more. Who am I?
That's the question? The answer. We'll get to it and
we will do it next.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
A classic Mallard song from years gone by, and don't
forget later this twenty twenty six, in the summer time,
the Mallard Paloozo will return. So get those songs ready
and you may be the big winner. The Mallard Palooza
twenty twenty six, the biggest concert on all of overnight
(38:12):
talk radio in the summer. It is I Bill Miller.
A reminder that you can always hear this show on
the iHeartRadio app. You can stream us wherever you happen
to be. Catch us and all the other Fox Sports
Radio braggadocious bombastic blowhards that work here twenty four to seven.
It's the iHeart Radio app. Just search Fox Sports Radio
(38:33):
on the app, you can stream us live all night
every night and be searched like Fox Sports Radio. Ben
Maler Show podcast is on their fifth hour podcast watch
check that out and now watch it. You can check
it out and have those part of your presets become
a p one on the iHeartRadio app will always pop
up at the very top of your screen. And time
now to pay off the who am I?
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Game?
Speaker 1 (38:55):
And here it is Aaron Rodgers who forty two years
thirty three days became the second oldest player since the
merger with a run of twenty plus yards And I
was the first old timer since the merger and the
only one older then Rogers with a run of twenty
or more yards. That is the question. What is the answer?
(39:19):
Does anyone know the answer? And the real Martin, who
I think still works at the airport in Denver, says
the great Jose Cuervo is the answer. Alf the alien
Opiner is back. He's on the payroll, says Herb McDonald.
Running to the commode at the Buccaroo buffet, he says,
(39:39):
who else do we have? Mal prop guy going with
meth Ula Sula who fled? See who else? Tyler Loop
from Chris and des morn. There's a good video of
him right there. My cousin Vinnie from Benito, the long
Suffering Cowboy fan Randall Cunningham from Paul Sam Darnold for
MVP from FEMI, the Uber eats guy there in Minnesota,
(40:02):
beer drinking Brian from Scrooge. Do you have an answer, Lorraine?
I'm going with the crept Keeper. Okay, No, that the
correct answer is Doug Flutey. Fluty Flakes, Doug Flutey back
in twenty oh five, twenty one years ago,
Host
Ben Maller
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