November 16, 2017 • 37 mins
Doug talks about 76ers C Joel Embiid's dominating night against the Lakers and the real reason why tanking works in sports. He also tells you why this NFL season reminds him a lot of the 2015 NBA season when the Warriors and Steph Curry won their first championship. Plus, Sammy Watkins from Rams joins the show to talk about their high powered offense and his departure from the Buffalo Bills.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the dun Got Lead show
on Fox Sports Radio. What Up. It's a Dot Got
Leave show Fox Sports Radio coming to you live and
direct from Los Angeles, also known as em beat Down
after Joe l em Beat in the seventies. Sixers come
in and get a win over the l A Lakers
(00:22):
actually get win over the Lakers and the Clippers two
out of three nights. They had a night off in between,
and Beat and Simmons a real and spectacle. We'll get
to why. Uh and Beat and Simmons show kind of
the The true art to tanking is not just about
single season tanking. It also relates in many ways to
(00:44):
to college football more so maybe even in college basketball,
but we'll get to that upcoming in about four or
five minutes. Uh. Look, there's the discussion about Jerry Jones
trying to strong arm the compensation committee into UH RE
thinking the contract negotiation with Roger Goodell. There's the uh
(01:05):
compensation committee acting heavy handed in their own rights. But like, hey,
that's contract detrimental to the league. We could if we
wanted to try and sue for the right to take
over your team. This is what we known as a
urinating contest. And I'm saying it because I think urinating
is actually considered an okay word, and a pissing contest
is not an okay word. That's what it is. Like, really,
(01:30):
this is what we're doing. Uh, Like, there's so many
other things that that's what we're discussing. Like, no one
in the right mind thinks that Jerry Jones gonna lose
ownership and control of the Dallas Cowboys, but they are.
They are going to the mattresses no matter what, going
(01:52):
to the mattresses. Right, it's business. It's not personal. It's
just business and Jerry Jones, whether it's business or personally,
it feels really personal. Since Zeki Elliott got suspended for
more games than he believes or a lot of people
believe he should have, and yesterday accepted that suspension and
oh yeah, by the way, an NFL spokesperson said, his
(02:16):
acceptance of the suspension tells you all you need to know.
In other words, the NFL sitting there going like, see
told jump he did it, now he's admitting it. Or
Zeke Elliott's like, look, just legally, there's nothing I can
really do anymore. It's just gonna cost me money. It's
not gonna change anything, so I'll just accept it. But
(02:38):
everybody has dug in and the compensation coman. He's like, Hey,
if you're gonna get Papa John's to come out and
launch and unprompted attack on our league, on our players,
on the state of our league, and our players are
saying that to Jerry Jones, then we're gonna We're gonna
crack back at you because you are hurting all of
us in business. This is not personal, Jerry. Everybody one too,
(03:00):
the mattresses in the National football Let's talk some Joel
Mbach how we Oh my god, Oh he was unbelievable.
He was so good. Look, I'm one of these guys
that I'm not really easily impressed. Have you seen my family?
(03:20):
Family's favorite movie is family's favorite movie is Despicable Me.
That's like our fair our favorite movie. Part of it
is it's ridiculously funny. Right. We love Dave. Uh. Dave
is one of the minions. Of course, we love grew
and we love the little girls. Despicable Me. Uh, it
was outstanding, really really funny and um. One of the
(03:44):
other reasons we like it was in my wife's car.
She is a DVD player, right, because every family needs
some sort of device in order to keep the kids quiet.
But my kids have kind of grown out of the
put a DVD on and they sit there and watch
and don't it. And now they have like devices. The
girls have phones. You don't hear from them, but they're
off kind of doing their own thing. Um. So my
(04:07):
wife had like Despicable Me on just basically on a
loop on repeat for like a year. So everyone in
my family knows every word to that movie. And one
of my favorite parts of it is it goes back
into Gru's childhood and how his mom is never impressed. Mom,
I built an actual rocket, right, like she's not. That's
(04:32):
how I am. Because everything is the latest and greatest,
especially in this offense heavy NBA all right, because ball
handlers dominate the ball more than they used to. You
you're gonna see more points, more assist because you have
more usage from the James Hardens, Russell westbooks um of
(04:53):
of this world then you saw previously. And because you
can't touch a guy out in the perimeter, and you
see perimeter players get to the free throw line of
ton uh, create shots for themselves, create shots for others.
Use of illegal screens on pick and rolls. Its much
like the NFL. Numbers are skewed towards the offense. Same
in the NBA. And so when you see box scores,
(05:16):
you're like, right, which is a lot like grus mom.
But last night was different. And I'm not gonna sit
here and tell you that the Lakers are lining up
Abdul Jabbar uh, Kevin McHale, Moses Malone. Defensively, you're talking
about Brook Lopez and Andrew Bogat. Those are the two big,
(05:38):
big guys who were assigned to Garden Joel and Beat
and Bead played thirty four minutes. Remember he's not a
minutes restriction. Things supposed to play thirty three minutes. He
went over at thirty four. He had forty six points,
fifteen rebounds, seven assists, and seven block shots like it.
And as dominant as the numbers sound, it was more
(06:01):
dominant to actually watch here's them beat on how he
played untrul double blocks. Uh. But I mean, I just
like I said, I just want to play basketball, and
you know, play the iway. I was a false and nothing.
I was playing with the ball. Yeah, he's playing with
(06:22):
his teammates fourteen of twenty and in this era of
you can't score in the low post, he can. In
this era where you have to have stretch fives, he
can also shoot threes. Made two of them. He is
and and I look, I loved nineties basketball, of nineteen
eighties basketball, but we do. Steve Kirr talked about this
(06:45):
last year in the NBA playoffs. I'm talking about Lebron
or Steph Curry, you're any of these guys. Everything that
we have has gotten better. I've always dreamed of having
a classic car, dreamed of having a sixty six Corvette.
Some people like the sting Rays, a little bit older
Carvette sting Rays. But if you've driven a two thousand
(07:07):
seventeen Corvette, they have power steering. Uh, They're faster, they're quicker,
they're made better, they will last, in fact longer. They're lighter,
they're better on gas, they're ridiculously safe. A two thousand
and seventeen Corvette is in fact a better car. Now,
you may not feel the classic cool vibes of a
(07:27):
sixty six Corvette, and it may lose value as as
as opposed to a sixty six Corvette because of how
limited is uh actually gains value year to year, But
in terms of what is it actually a better car
to drive? It's not closed. My mom got a new
air conditioner about two years ago, right, and she can't
believe how much cooler and how much more efficient. Uh,
(07:51):
the air conditioning unit is. Windows are made better. You know.
People always say they don't make them like they used to.
You're right, they don't. They make them better. They're less
expensive to make make, they can make them more quickly
and generally generally there are exceptions to it, but we
evolve in terms of our build quality. Human beings in
(08:12):
many ways are evolving and becoming better than the same. Otherwise,
we're the only part of society. We're the only creatures
that aren't evolving otherwise. And that's all Joel Embiad is.
When when Seaquille O'Neill came in the league, like people like,
well he's the most compare him to to Wilt Chamberlain, Like, yeah,
(08:33):
well Chamberlin was a freak athlete back then, but he
was not three hundred pounds and moving like shock. Now
you add in the fact that Joel Embiid can actually
shoot and handle the basketball. He's athletic on the perimeter
and with his footwork like a chem Elijah On, only
taller and more skilled. And yet he's just overwhelmingly strong
(08:56):
the way that Shack was. That guy is the real deal.
Oh yeah, and like Shack has a bigger than life
personality where he he doesn't appear to he is actually
having fun playing basketball. Alright. Last thing, Um, the greatest
tweet I think and Bead ever had was Sam Hinky
(09:18):
died for all of our sins. Right, you remember that
one when he got fired, And so I point out
last night that Hinky essentially got fired for drafting and
beat fourth by the way, remember because he had the
injury drafting Simmons Um, they signed Robert Covington, that guy was.
He was basically a D League player. They drafted Sarge.
That's four of their five starters, plus TEJ McConnell was
(09:42):
somebody they signed as an undrafted free agent. Yes, they
missed on Jillo local fourth, They've missed on new Lands Noel,
if you will who they drafted. He wasn't drafting number
one over all. I think he was fourth as well,
coming off a torn a c L. But the art
of tanking, which was perfected by the Houston Astros is
(10:02):
much like what the seventies sixers have done. The Astros
didn't hit on every draft pick during the four or
five years in which they were terrible, and they drafted
high in the Major League Baseball Draft, But it's about
the volume of top picks that they were able to obtain,
and that's what the seventies sixers did. You can't be
bad for one year. That's what the Celtics did wrong
(10:24):
when they had Rick Pettino. They were bad for one year.
They had two lottery picks and they missed on Tim Duncan.
It's about volume of quality picks. You've got to be
bad for a substantial amount of time. You have to
commit to sucking a right. No, no, no, that it's
not good enough to just be bad one year. You
gotta be bad for multiple years. It's a lot like
(10:46):
college football. College football, one five star is not going
to is not going to to change how good a
program you are. Even when Robert Kimdici signed with Full Miss,
of course that was the class that started it all right.
They had three, you know, great five stars, and of
course everybody's like, oh, they're all going to Old Miss.
I wonder what's going on there, right, But what if
(11:09):
you actually look those recruiting You signed three big guys.
Now a bunch of four stars want to go and
play with those guys because of the five stars, let's
say of them hit on being all league caliber players.
On the four stars, let's say thirty of them hit
on being all league caliber players the three stars with
(11:30):
the percentages dropped. It's the same thing in the NBA
and Major League Baseball, the NFL, but the volume. The
Jacksonville Jaguars, they were bad for a substantial amount of
time and now even though their quarterbacks still stinks, they
just have so many players. Niners of the same way
when the Niners had Jim Harbaugh, they just had so
(11:51):
many players from so many years of drafting early in
the draft that once they figured out Alex Smith and
made him a more efficient quarterback, simple five things got
him a couple of better position players, brought in an
ant Kwon Bolden, for example. Once they got those things set,
all of the depth of talent was overwhelming. And that's
what the seventies sixers have. They have a depth of
(12:12):
young talent which is overwhelming. It doesn't mean they're gonna
win a NB be a championship. But it means that
is the true process. Commit to being bad for several years.
Draft as many good players, get as many draft picks
as you can. Your hit rate is say it's fifty fifty.
That's fine, and if you get one Embiid or one Simmons,
(12:34):
you'll be better off. They got them both, and now
Philadelphia has gone from a vapid waste land of basketball
to a well spring of well spring of young talent
and maybe a destination for one of these high priced
free agents this off season. You know, there's a reason
they signed J. J. Reddick to a one year, twenty
(12:55):
three million dollar deal that comes off the books and
allows them to bring in a superstar or two for
years to come. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Eastern
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Let's be honest, millions of you who play
fantasy football are upset with our next guest. You know,
(13:16):
let's he doing breaking his wrist? Who? Who does that?
David Johnson, arguably the best and most versatile running back
in the NFL. Superstar for the Arizona Cardinals did something
really really dumb. He went and broke his wrist playing football.
It's matter with you, dude, How are you gonna go
and screw up everybody's fantasy team like that? I know, man,
(13:37):
I'm sorry. I screwed it all up for everyone. You
know a lot of people that take me number one
overall and I let him down. How much do you
how much do you hear that as opposed to the
fact that, like, look, it also obviously hurt your uh
the Arizona Cardinals as well, Like what's the balance of
fantasy discussion to Cardinals discussion? Uh, it's pretty over balanced
(13:58):
with fantasy probably seventy thirty uh sixty forty Uh. It's
it's uh, fantasy has taken up big um impact and
national football. And that's all I was saying in the offseason,
and that's all always hearing, you know before in the
preseason and all that, and you know, ended up getting
hurt in the first game to not health these fantasy owners. Okay,
(14:21):
so uh, where what is the status of the rehab?
I know you're not going to play the rest of
the season, but but like to those of us are
like Okay, we can't even pay attention to you because
we're so mad at you forgetting hurt. I know it's
not can follow, but we don't. I don't know if
I don't know for sure if I'm not playing the
rest of the season. But I just got the cast
off from rehabbing trying to get the range of motion
and the strings back in the wrist. Who knows, No
(14:43):
one knows how long it's got to take, just because
the risk is such a tricky thing. But you know,
I'm trying to get back as fast as i can.
But on the other hand, I want to make sure
that my wrist is as much range emotion as it
can can and you know, and as strong as it
can be. Yeah, but I'll bet this, this is just
a guess. I'll bet you know more now about about
(15:04):
the wrist than you ever thought possibly. Like, dude, there's
a bunch of different bones in there and ligaments, and
you can probably name every different one and all this
different stuff. My guess is you know more about the
human the male wrist than anybody else walking down the street.
Oh yeah, that's definitely true. I know more about the ligaments,
especially since that's what happened to me. I can name
you a few of the ligaments, and I definitely know
(15:25):
more than I've ever known about the risk and especially
risk injuries and rehab than I've ever known. And I
can probably speak, you know, talk to people about it.
I talked to doctors, my doctor, and he can you know,
we can have a good conversation about it. Okay, So
help help me out, like, explain to me the layman
doug Otlip Show, Fox Sports Radio David Johnson our guest
(15:46):
thanks to the good folks at Rocking refuel by Shamrock Farms.
Um uh, explained to me why, like you know, like
I'm not gonna say you just like tape it up
and put some robot testing on it, right, But but
like couldn't you do like a splint cast deal and
and and like go play on it like once it heals,
(16:07):
and so it's like immobile, Like what what why is
this risk injury? So so, but I know others have
suffered it before and the same thing has happened, But
what is it about this risk injury that's so bad
that you can't play through it? The biggest thing really, um,
like you said, guys have played it but not running
back or receivers. It's always deeper the guys who don't
have to carry the ball, guys who don't necessarily have
(16:29):
to catch the ball all the time. And especially like
I said, maybe in a running back, I have to
be able to carry the ball in both hands. Um
And with it being a ligament and not just a bone,
it's even more um of a of a significant injury
because ligaments, you know, they have to be able to stretch,
and they have to be able to bend um and
stuff like that. And that's the big thing with this
(16:50):
risk injury. It's not just a bone where it's cracked
and then you know, you give it time to heal.
You got now that it's been in a task trying
to you know, heal itself. Now I have to be
able to be able to elongate again and be able
to bend and you know, have the strength to not
hopefully not do it again. Yeah. Plus I mean like
and I you know, I think also uh, in order
(17:12):
to lift, you know, for the for the strength of blocking.
You know, there's so many things you actually you need
your wrist for. You have to have not your if
your left wrist right, yeah, left is correct, and it's
and you're right handed, right. Yeah. Okay, So is there
anything that you normally, like you couldn't play video games
right with the with the cast on? Like what else
were you limited, uh with with the cast that you
(17:35):
couldn't do that you normally do really just have to do,
not really limited, but yeah, limited and just had to adjust.
So like even the simple things tying my shoes. Um,
big thing with me having a new barn and sticking
him up and being able to carry him, um comfortably
and um confidently to where I don't feel like I'm
gonna drop him. And then uh, you said video games, Yeah,
(17:58):
but um, really that's about it. Um, A lot of
stuff you do one handed, like I'm doing here ping pong.
I played, you know, with one hand in my right hand.
Luckily it was my off hand that I injured. Yeah, okay,
So now how's the newborn sleeping? Most importantly, he's doing great.
He sleeps. Um. My wife has done a great job, Megan.
He sleeps about seven to six in the morning seven
(18:20):
and night to six in the morning. So he's doing
really good. That's awesome, And that's awesome. If you got that,
that's great. Now you when when you hold him, how
do you do you do the football hold? Where do
you are you familiar with the football hold? Right where
the face is like almost face down in your hand.
It's actually good for their stomach where you can go
to pat him so he burps, or do you go
over the shoulder, Like what's his favorite way to be held?
(18:41):
Over the shoulder? Um, he doesn't really like the football hold.
I've done that when he was younger, um, smaller, I
was able to do the football hold. Now he's he
squirms too much. Now I gotta kind of cleanch him
a little bit tighter, and I just have him over
the shoulder. It's pretty awesome to like, look, it sucks
that you got hurt, and I know how competitive you
are and and and you know, getting hurt a little
(19:02):
bit last year obviously, like you want to be healthy
a whole year. But to get a chance to spend
time with him in the family, like, man, that's that's
that's kind of a blessing in disguise, isn't it. Yes,
it definitely, it's definitely a blessing in disguise. Like you said,
I get to see um see him a lot more, Um,
and then really good to see his mouthstone. But you know, honestly,
I have been with the football team as much as
(19:24):
I can. So I actually did go to the meetings,
I went to away games, I went to practice and
rehabbed and stuff like that. So, um, I got a
little bit more time. But honestly, I was always still
trying to be a part of the team. And I'm
still trying to be with my brothers and still trying to,
you know, stay a part of the team. And uh
made them feel that I'm still there for them. H
(19:45):
David Jerome Johnson see gonna go by d J, d
j J or d J d J two. Like what's
what's like? Because that's the whole thing you think about
when you're thinking about names, right, Like what's the nickname?
What's the worst thing could be? Obviously you went with
with with tell with your name. So what's the nickname
gonna be? It's just d J. It's gonna be nice
and simple. Um, I'm easy for everyone to remember. Um, Okay,
(20:09):
so tell me about this ping pong tournament you're doing
at local boys club. Like, were you a ping pong
dude before you broke your wrist? Yeah? I actually had
just started getting into it. Um, well, not just I've
been playing for a little bit before I had heard
my wrists, and you know, I got really big into
it and try to play as much as I can.
I actually have two ping pong tables at home. I
(20:30):
have a ping pong jugging machines what I call it,
um where it shoots out ping pong balls, And so
I play all the time. And I'm out here right
now with the Boys and Girls Club, you know, um,
with Rock and Refuel helping me. Um, being out here
and just having fun and uh, you know, just playing
with the kids. David Johnson joining us on the Doug
Gotlip Show. So how good are you? I would say, Um,
(20:54):
I don't know. Scaling one to ten, I'll give myself
a stick. I'm not quiet as good as I want
to be, but you know I'm not the worst. All right.
We thank the folks at Rock and Refuel. We can't
wait till your back on the field healthy. In the meantime, Uh,
take care of that little dude and and your wife
all well, being a good teammate. Appreciate you join us, DJ,
and thanks for joining us on on Fox Sports Radio.
(21:16):
Thank you for having pleasures mind. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. Let's get to Sammy
Watkins of the l A Rams. He joins us on
the Doug Gotlup Show. Sammy, how are you hey? Um,
(21:37):
I'm sure when the schedules came out you got traded
right before the season, Like people didn't think, Hey, this
could be an NFC Championship game preview, but this feels
like a kind of a clash of the Titans. What's
your what's your thoughts on the Vikings matchup? Um, just
a great team. Um, it's a it's a great um
challenge to this organization in it in US and we
(21:58):
really look forward to it. So like your, Um, we're
a great team and you know they're a great team,
so we both gonna matchup pretty well. They got a
great defense, we've got a great offense, and UM, I
just can't wait to play. Yeah, And um, look thirty
three last week, fifty one, the week before, thirty three
the week before that, and explosive offense. Of course you're
you're head coach Sean McVeigh has re engineered at Jared
(22:21):
Goff playing exceptionally well with all the talent that you have.
All Right, here's what I want. I want the truth.
When you were traded to the Rams from the Bills.
Where were you when you got the news? I was
actually in the building. Um, I thought it was gonna
be like a little skin I had to do in
front of the team because that's what we were doing
at the time. Well, obviously it wasn't that. And you know,
(22:43):
I'm in a great situation right now with a great
team and we're doing well. Wait, so they came to
you and they're like, hey, you're trading to the Rams.
You're like, you thought they were kidding. Well, of course
I thought it was planned because I never thought I
would be traded. So a nice spot of the business.
And wasn't it bad? What's what they did? No, I'm
having no great season when we're winning and I'm happy
(23:06):
here and that no question about it. So you get
out the plane, you go to the Rams facility. What
was what was the when when Sean McVeigh started to
show you the offense talk about your role within the offense.
What did he say it would be? Um, a little
bit of everything you know, this offense is unique because
it's there's so much there's so much you can do
in the offense. Um, there's really no X Y Z
(23:28):
or asked. Um, everything is interchangeable. And um, you can
have fun with that because at least we got makes
my game either the game can come to me and
I can just go out there and have fun and
play ball. Yeah, it's it's amazing because like, look the
sheer numbers in terms of targets, Like you're not number
one in targets. Um, but because you have so many guys,
(23:50):
they're just so many options for golf. Did you know,
like when you went out to your first practice, you
look around Robert Robert Woods, I'm sure you didn't know
who Cooper Cup was. Everybody knew who Girly was. It's like,
how long did it take you to realize the depth
of talent that you guys had in the offensive side
of the ball Warregon knew the guys that they had here. Um,
well Woods Woods played with you right right exactly, and
(24:13):
then just to see that practice and watch those guys
and then start packing, then you started with notice like, hey,
this seems gonna be pretty good. Even the young guys.
They're playing at the level and um, you know that's
just part of it. Yeah, seam, Um, you can throw
to anybody and they can make a play. You don't
have to be a particular guy. Did you uh like,
did look did you burn your winter coat? Like, come on,
(24:34):
tell me. Honestly, when you found out it was l
a and you got out to play, You're like, wait, wait, wait,
I don't need I don't need that. I don't need
that hat, I don't need those mittens, I don't need
snow tires anymore. Did you burn your winter coat? That's
the left everything up there? Honestly, Um, when I came here,
I just knew it's gonna be the best weather, the
best conditions. So I really need to make the best
for this because you never know what's gonna happen. Not
(24:55):
this year, no question, contract year obviously, and you having
a good one team having a good one, Um, did
how long did it take for you know? Like, look,
when having been in Buffalo, you understand this, Like when
losing has been such so embedded in the franchise, it
gets to the fourth quarter and some teams just have
this or maybe it's the fans. They just have this
(25:18):
assumption that something bad is gonna happen. Was there a
moment to which everyone bought in? Was there a moment
because look the early part of the schedule you played,
you played Indianapolis, they didn't have a quarterback, they're not
very good. You played San Francisco, they're not very good.
Was there a moment? Was it the Dallas game? What
where was it when everyone started to truly believe this
(25:38):
could be a special season? Well? My thing early on,
of course you got to go to those tests and
that first test, the guys tested, self tested team, and
I think we have passed most of those tests throughout
the week with you know, playing down, coming back to
being ballast um, losing, no resking. It's not planning, a
planning where you want to play. So I feel like
(26:00):
um on both sides of the ball and special teams
and now, um we got a great chance to you know,
continue to prolong that season and keep going. How are
you better this year than you were last year's? Mom?
I think it really just health wise, I'm in a
different um mental um capacity with basically just going out
(26:23):
there playing freely, UM, not worry by any injuries, not
worry about gona hot and I've have been three years
since I felt this good, you know, to go out
there and beat physical, block one full sweet routes, to
get open um and have fun. Now, I just think
that's that's what that's what helped my game. UM this year. Yeah,
no question health, so you don't so so it's to
(26:43):
the point where you no longer think about the foot, right,
Zach and I really just got to that point, honestly,
maybe last four weeks song because you know, buff ball,
I wasn't really doing too much. It was more so
working me in and then I got here. It's the
same thing. I had to basically get used running routes
to use from my foot again. And now I feel
(27:04):
like I'm just over there at hump. I can run
every route for speed. I can play at a high level,
UM and not worry about my foot. What's up? What's
McVeigh really like? Cool man? He's a young guy. He
got a lot of energy, UM, and we all can
connect on him, UM, connect with him on on football
in general because he knows so he knows so much.
(27:25):
And mcause it was what the players want and and
Jared and um, he let us just really UM, mash
the game plan and go out there and execute. Well. Look, man,
it's it's great to see not just see you healthy,
but understand that mentally you feel healthy. We know that
confidences and confidence in your body that your body is
not letting you down anymore is a huge part of
(27:46):
of anybody's, any athletes game. Thanks much for spending some
time with us. Best of luck against Minnesota and we'll
see you when you come back home to l A.
Thanks for joining us. Yeah, that's Sammy Watkins joining us
on the Dug Outlet Show. How about that. Be sure
to catch live editions The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays
at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. We don't talk
(28:07):
enough about conditioning in sports radio and in sports talk.
We just don't a good portion of it. This is
gonna sound this is gonna sound like a little like
Cam Newton, uh, laughing at a female reporters question. But
this is the I played you didn't. And there's a
lot of dudes on TV that never really played a
(28:29):
sport and they're talking about sports and they don't understand
how much conditioning plays a factor, not just and conditioning
is not just did you do run lines and suicides
at the end of practice. It's overall conditioning, eating, eating, sleeping,
and yes, training and and and Like coaches, especially in
(28:50):
the college game war coach just can if you're trying
to find that very magic, magical mix. How do we
we talk with David Shaw about this? You guys remember
this conversation we had about Stanford. How much do you hit?
How much do you condition? You're getting ready for the
first game of the season. You want guys to be
(29:10):
able to tackle cleanly. You have to run tackling hitting drills.
In the other hand, you can't get guys hurt, and
you want them to be at that magic conditioning level
as well. Conditioning is a huge factor. It's discussed in
every locker room, every coach's office, every front office, in
every sport, college and pro, and yet on TV nobody
ever talks about, Hey, man, I think they look tired
(29:30):
last night. Well, I think he looks tired or he
doesn't have naturally good because some guys have naturally good conditioning.
And while you may not think that as a factor,
think about somebody you know who's a buddy of yours,
You'll have a friend who they can train and train
and train and train, and yet they still can't get
in great shape. And you have other friends that they
haven't done anything in weeks, and you go out and
(29:50):
play pick up basketball and they're not tired. You're like,
what in the hell. They're just people that are everybody's
wired differently, and just because you're a professional athlete doesn't
mean that you have that professional athletic now true conditioning again,
different different sports, different types of conditioning. I think we
also don't talk enough about culture um in that the
culture of a team is in many times as important
(30:15):
as the actual talent of a team. But maybe the
biggest factor that we we've begun. I think with more
with more athletes on TV, they'll mention it more often,
and they'll say it, but they don't know necessarily. It's
kind of like the old definition of pornography. You know
when you see it, or you know when you don't
(30:37):
see it. Confidence. Lonzo Ball has no confidence, right he is.
He's kind of out there in the deep end and
he's technically staying afloat, but he's not actually swimming. You know,
you guys know what that It's like it's not even
the doggy paddle. It's like he's kind of flopping around there.
(30:57):
It looks like he kind of knows what he's doing,
but he doesn't really. He's had water wings his whole life,
and now somebody's like ahead and he's not just in
a pool in which he can touch his feet, and
he's in like he's in the deep end of the NBA.
He's got dudes coming at him left and right, like
(31:19):
when you haven't guarded anybody in your life, Like right
when he was in high school and au basketball, playing
for his dad, all he did was try and get steals.
So you're either guarding Ben Simmons, who's six ft nine
fifty pounds just gonna bulldog you or go around you
and get to the rim, or you're gonna guard JJ Reddick,
(31:40):
who didn't even shoot well. I mean, like JJ Reddick
was oh of eight from three, but jjs a pro
and he's gonna be in perpetual motion, constantly moving at
the basketball, or you're gonna gonna stick you on Robert Covington,
whom we had on a couple of days ago, and
I don't know if you guys saw he's set to
sign an extension, four year, sixty seven million dollar extension.
(32:03):
He's had a remarkable you're shooting the basketball from three,
he's there three and D guy like, we can't hide you.
It's just it's a it's a league in which it's
really really hard to hide a point guard that can't
play defense. But the problem with it, and the problem
(32:25):
with is really simple as it is really complex. How
do you have him regained his confidence without killing his confidence?
I told you guys, my son closed out that that
playoff baseball game on It was a Saturday or Sunday
Sunday morning, right, and he's up there and they got
a ten run lead, and he's kind of it's kind
of floundering and he's getting super nervous, and the other
(32:47):
team is doing chance and the umpire was kind of
squeezing him a little bit. And he's eight years old
against nine and ten year olds and he's just getting
a little flushed. Hit a kid loaded the bases, and
he's starting to like tear up, and I'm thinking it's
like all the time out I talked to him, calm
him down, but I'm thinking, like, look if I don't
take him out, and he gives up this lead and
(33:08):
he loses, Like that's a scar, not for life, but
for a long period time. Plus like the rest of
the parents are like, what are you doing right? But
if I do take him, I take the ball from him,
Now I kill his ability to show that he can
fight back and close this thing out. So I let
him finish it out in the end. Up my point is,
(33:28):
and he ended up closing the thing up. The point
is with a Lonzo, if you put him send him
to the G League in an effort to regain his confidence,
you're gonna kill his confidence because you took him out
of the real NBA and put him into the G League.
But if you leave him in the NBA, it's really
hard to regain your confidence while you know tonight tomornight,
Phoenix is coming at him, Then Denver's coming at him,
(33:52):
Then Chicago's coming at him, and then Deer and Fox
and Sacramento is coming at him, then the Clippers, then
he's got the Warriors. On November twenty nine, Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app, and now
(34:14):
a Curious decision from the Buffalo Bills to pull Tyrod
Taylor on Wednesday after saying he would remained the starting
quarterback on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. He was nick right
from first Thing's first opinion, this flatly does not happen
to a white quarterback. The margin of error and the
prove it level for black quarterbacks coming out of college
(34:37):
and once they get to the pros is so drastically
different then for their white counterparts. That is why Russell
Wilson falls to the third round behind a guy like well,
the I don't know Brandon Wheedon. That is why Dak
Prescott falls to the fourth round behind a guy like
I don't know Christian Hackenburgh. That is why Deshaun Watson
(34:58):
is not even consider heard for the number one overall
pick despite dominating in college year after year. That is
why Tyrod Taylor falls to the sixth round and then
gets replaced by Nathan Peterman in order four. A black quarterback,
even to this day, to be considered a Blue Chipper
out of college, you know what you gotta do. Go
win the Heisman Trophy and maybe the national championship. Cam
(35:21):
Newton did that, and then there was still debate whether
or not Blaine Gabbert should have been taken ahead of him.
Jamis Winston was a top quarterback, taking that I missed
that one. Marcus Smart is not black, but he's also
not white. He's Hawaiian and he was taking number one overall.
I'm not like Tyrod Taylor's five ft nine, five ft ten.
(35:41):
That's why he's a running quarterback. It's he's a classic
backup quarterback. That's why you know Russell Wilson's also five
ft ten and slid in the draft. Dak Prescott was
an athletic quarterback who was inaccurate in college and got
a d U I that's why he probably slipped from
the late second, early third round to the fourth round
by wait, Teddy Bridgewater, Michael Vick. Those guys were all
(36:03):
taken earlier. Um, I this is playing a race card
when it's not. You're like playing you're playing a card
game to which doesn't really You're like gin like we're
playing poker, not really what the game we're playing there.
I'm not saying that there aren't implications of race and
(36:23):
different parts of sports, but Tyrod Taylor being pulled doesn't
have anything to do with more than the team struggling.
He hasn't been good. He is an athletic quarterback who
happens to be black. He's also happens to be small.
And the last two teams, last three teams know that no,
this cat know the book on him keeping the pocket
and can't get it done, and and some of it's
not his own doing. They trade away Sammy Watkins, They
(36:45):
lost Robert Woods. Robert Woods has gone to They lost
some of their town town round him because they were
kind of planning to play for next year. But I
I just I gotta tell you, I don't see it
all that much, right, Um, what's the man's name? From
the Raiders is the number one overall pick from L
s U who flamed Jamacus Russell like he he didn't
(37:08):
suck because he was a black quarterback. He sucked because
he was hooked on scissor and he sucked. It wasn't
good enough to be quarterback. That's all. That's all,
This is the best of the dun Got Lead show
on Fox Sports Radio. What Up. It's a Dot Got
Leave show Fox Sports Radio coming to you live and
direct from Los Angeles, also known as em beat Down
after Joe l em Beat in the seventies. Sixers come
in and get a win over the l A Lakers
(00:22):
actually get win over the Lakers and the Clippers two
out of three nights. They had a night off in between,
and Beat and Simmons a real and spectacle. We'll get
to why. Uh and Beat and Simmons show kind of
the The true art to tanking is not just about
single season tanking. It also relates in many ways to
(00:44):
to college football more so maybe even in college basketball,
but we'll get to that upcoming in about four or
five minutes. Uh. Look, there's the discussion about Jerry Jones
trying to strong arm the compensation committee into UH RE
thinking the contract negotiation with Roger Goodell. There's the uh
(01:05):
compensation committee acting heavy handed in their own rights. But like, hey,
that's contract detrimental to the league. We could if we
wanted to try and sue for the right to take
over your team. This is what we known as a
urinating contest. And I'm saying it because I think urinating
is actually considered an okay word, and a pissing contest
is not an okay word. That's what it is. Like, really,
(01:30):
this is what we're doing. Uh, Like, there's so many
other things that that's what we're discussing. Like, no one
in the right mind thinks that Jerry Jones gonna lose
ownership and control of the Dallas Cowboys, but they are.
They are going to the mattresses no matter what, going
(01:52):
to the mattresses. Right, it's business. It's not personal. It's
just business and Jerry Jones, whether it's business or personally,
it feels really personal. Since Zeki Elliott got suspended for
more games than he believes or a lot of people
believe he should have, and yesterday accepted that suspension and
oh yeah, by the way, an NFL spokesperson said, his
(02:16):
acceptance of the suspension tells you all you need to know.
In other words, the NFL sitting there going like, see
told jump he did it, now he's admitting it. Or
Zeke Elliott's like, look, just legally, there's nothing I can
really do anymore. It's just gonna cost me money. It's
not gonna change anything, so I'll just accept it. But
(02:38):
everybody has dug in and the compensation coman. He's like, Hey,
if you're gonna get Papa John's to come out and
launch and unprompted attack on our league, on our players,
on the state of our league, and our players are
saying that to Jerry Jones, then we're gonna We're gonna
crack back at you because you are hurting all of
us in business. This is not personal, Jerry. Everybody one too,
(03:00):
the mattresses in the National football Let's talk some Joel
Mbach how we Oh my god, Oh he was unbelievable.
He was so good. Look, I'm one of these guys
that I'm not really easily impressed. Have you seen my family?
(03:20):
Family's favorite movie is family's favorite movie is Despicable Me.
That's like our fair our favorite movie. Part of it
is it's ridiculously funny. Right. We love Dave. Uh. Dave
is one of the minions. Of course, we love grew
and we love the little girls. Despicable Me. Uh, it
was outstanding, really really funny and um. One of the
(03:44):
other reasons we like it was in my wife's car.
She is a DVD player, right, because every family needs
some sort of device in order to keep the kids quiet.
But my kids have kind of grown out of the
put a DVD on and they sit there and watch
and don't it. And now they have like devices. The
girls have phones. You don't hear from them, but they're
off kind of doing their own thing. Um. So my
(04:07):
wife had like Despicable Me on just basically on a
loop on repeat for like a year. So everyone in
my family knows every word to that movie. And one
of my favorite parts of it is it goes back
into Gru's childhood and how his mom is never impressed. Mom,
I built an actual rocket, right, like she's not. That's
(04:32):
how I am. Because everything is the latest and greatest,
especially in this offense heavy NBA all right, because ball
handlers dominate the ball more than they used to. You
you're gonna see more points, more assist because you have
more usage from the James Hardens, Russell westbooks um of
(04:53):
of this world then you saw previously. And because you
can't touch a guy out in the perimeter, and you
see perimeter players get to the free throw line of
ton uh, create shots for themselves, create shots for others.
Use of illegal screens on pick and rolls. Its much
like the NFL. Numbers are skewed towards the offense. Same
in the NBA. And so when you see box scores,
(05:16):
you're like, right, which is a lot like grus mom.
But last night was different. And I'm not gonna sit
here and tell you that the Lakers are lining up
Abdul Jabbar uh, Kevin McHale, Moses Malone. Defensively, you're talking
about Brook Lopez and Andrew Bogat. Those are the two big,
(05:38):
big guys who were assigned to Garden Joel and Beat
and Bead played thirty four minutes. Remember he's not a
minutes restriction. Things supposed to play thirty three minutes. He
went over at thirty four. He had forty six points,
fifteen rebounds, seven assists, and seven block shots like it.
And as dominant as the numbers sound, it was more
(06:01):
dominant to actually watch here's them beat on how he
played untrul double blocks. Uh. But I mean, I just
like I said, I just want to play basketball, and
you know, play the iway. I was a false and nothing.
I was playing with the ball. Yeah, he's playing with
(06:22):
his teammates fourteen of twenty and in this era of
you can't score in the low post, he can. In
this era where you have to have stretch fives, he
can also shoot threes. Made two of them. He is
and and I look, I loved nineties basketball, of nineteen
eighties basketball, but we do. Steve Kirr talked about this
(06:45):
last year in the NBA playoffs. I'm talking about Lebron
or Steph Curry, you're any of these guys. Everything that
we have has gotten better. I've always dreamed of having
a classic car, dreamed of having a sixty six Corvette.
Some people like the sting Rays, a little bit older
Carvette sting Rays. But if you've driven a two thousand
(07:07):
seventeen Corvette, they have power steering. Uh, They're faster, they're quicker,
they're made better, they will last, in fact longer. They're lighter,
they're better on gas, they're ridiculously safe. A two thousand
and seventeen Corvette is in fact a better car. Now,
you may not feel the classic cool vibes of a
(07:27):
sixty six Corvette, and it may lose value as as
as opposed to a sixty six Corvette because of how
limited is uh actually gains value year to year, But
in terms of what is it actually a better car
to drive? It's not closed. My mom got a new
air conditioner about two years ago, right, and she can't
believe how much cooler and how much more efficient. Uh,
(07:51):
the air conditioning unit is. Windows are made better. You know.
People always say they don't make them like they used to.
You're right, they don't. They make them better. They're less
expensive to make make, they can make them more quickly
and generally generally there are exceptions to it, but we
evolve in terms of our build quality. Human beings in
(08:12):
many ways are evolving and becoming better than the same. Otherwise,
we're the only part of society. We're the only creatures
that aren't evolving otherwise. And that's all Joel Embiad is.
When when Seaquille O'Neill came in the league, like people like,
well he's the most compare him to to Wilt Chamberlain, Like, yeah,
(08:33):
well Chamberlin was a freak athlete back then, but he
was not three hundred pounds and moving like shock. Now
you add in the fact that Joel Embiid can actually
shoot and handle the basketball. He's athletic on the perimeter
and with his footwork like a chem Elijah On, only
taller and more skilled. And yet he's just overwhelmingly strong
(08:56):
the way that Shack was. That guy is the real deal.
Oh yeah, and like Shack has a bigger than life
personality where he he doesn't appear to he is actually
having fun playing basketball. Alright. Last thing, Um, the greatest
tweet I think and Bead ever had was Sam Hinky
(09:18):
died for all of our sins. Right, you remember that
one when he got fired, And so I point out
last night that Hinky essentially got fired for drafting and
beat fourth by the way, remember because he had the
injury drafting Simmons Um, they signed Robert Covington, that guy was.
He was basically a D League player. They drafted Sarge.
That's four of their five starters, plus TEJ McConnell was
(09:42):
somebody they signed as an undrafted free agent. Yes, they
missed on Jillo local fourth, They've missed on new Lands Noel,
if you will who they drafted. He wasn't drafting number
one over all. I think he was fourth as well,
coming off a torn a c L. But the art
of tanking, which was perfected by the Houston Astros is
(10:02):
much like what the seventies sixers have done. The Astros
didn't hit on every draft pick during the four or
five years in which they were terrible, and they drafted
high in the Major League Baseball Draft, But it's about
the volume of top picks that they were able to obtain,
and that's what the seventies sixers did. You can't be
bad for one year. That's what the Celtics did wrong
(10:24):
when they had Rick Pettino. They were bad for one year.
They had two lottery picks and they missed on Tim Duncan.
It's about volume of quality picks. You've got to be
bad for a substantial amount of time. You have to
commit to sucking a right. No, no, no, that it's
not good enough to just be bad one year. You
gotta be bad for multiple years. It's a lot like
(10:46):
college football. College football, one five star is not going
to is not going to to change how good a
program you are. Even when Robert Kimdici signed with Full Miss,
of course that was the class that started it all right.
They had three, you know, great five stars, and of
course everybody's like, oh, they're all going to Old Miss.
I wonder what's going on there, right, But what if
(11:09):
you actually look those recruiting You signed three big guys.
Now a bunch of four stars want to go and
play with those guys because of the five stars, let's
say of them hit on being all league caliber players.
On the four stars, let's say thirty of them hit
on being all league caliber players the three stars with
(11:30):
the percentages dropped. It's the same thing in the NBA
and Major League Baseball, the NFL, but the volume. The
Jacksonville Jaguars, they were bad for a substantial amount of
time and now even though their quarterbacks still stinks, they
just have so many players. Niners of the same way
when the Niners had Jim Harbaugh, they just had so
(11:51):
many players from so many years of drafting early in
the draft that once they figured out Alex Smith and
made him a more efficient quarterback, simple five things got
him a couple of better position players, brought in an
ant Kwon Bolden, for example. Once they got those things set,
all of the depth of talent was overwhelming. And that's
what the seventies sixers have. They have a depth of
(12:12):
young talent which is overwhelming. It doesn't mean they're gonna
win a NB be a championship. But it means that
is the true process. Commit to being bad for several years.
Draft as many good players, get as many draft picks
as you can. Your hit rate is say it's fifty fifty.
That's fine, and if you get one Embiid or one Simmons,
(12:34):
you'll be better off. They got them both, and now
Philadelphia has gone from a vapid waste land of basketball
to a well spring of well spring of young talent
and maybe a destination for one of these high priced
free agents this off season. You know, there's a reason
they signed J. J. Reddick to a one year, twenty
(12:55):
three million dollar deal that comes off the books and
allows them to bring in a superstar or two for
years to come. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Eastern
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Let's be honest, millions of you who play
fantasy football are upset with our next guest. You know,
(13:16):
let's he doing breaking his wrist? Who? Who does that?
David Johnson, arguably the best and most versatile running back
in the NFL. Superstar for the Arizona Cardinals did something
really really dumb. He went and broke his wrist playing football.
It's matter with you, dude, How are you gonna go
and screw up everybody's fantasy team like that? I know, man,
(13:37):
I'm sorry. I screwed it all up for everyone. You
know a lot of people that take me number one
overall and I let him down. How much do you
how much do you hear that as opposed to the
fact that, like, look, it also obviously hurt your uh
the Arizona Cardinals as well, Like what's the balance of
fantasy discussion to Cardinals discussion? Uh, it's pretty over balanced
(13:58):
with fantasy probably seventy thirty uh sixty forty Uh. It's
it's uh, fantasy has taken up big um impact and
national football. And that's all I was saying in the offseason,
and that's all always hearing, you know before in the
preseason and all that, and you know, ended up getting
hurt in the first game to not health these fantasy owners. Okay,
(14:21):
so uh, where what is the status of the rehab?
I know you're not going to play the rest of
the season, but but like to those of us are
like Okay, we can't even pay attention to you because
we're so mad at you forgetting hurt. I know it's
not can follow, but we don't. I don't know if
I don't know for sure if I'm not playing the
rest of the season. But I just got the cast
off from rehabbing trying to get the range of motion
and the strings back in the wrist. Who knows, No
(14:43):
one knows how long it's got to take, just because
the risk is such a tricky thing. But you know,
I'm trying to get back as fast as i can.
But on the other hand, I want to make sure
that my wrist is as much range emotion as it
can can and you know, and as strong as it
can be. Yeah, but I'll bet this, this is just
a guess. I'll bet you know more now about about
(15:04):
the wrist than you ever thought possibly. Like, dude, there's
a bunch of different bones in there and ligaments, and
you can probably name every different one and all this
different stuff. My guess is you know more about the
human the male wrist than anybody else walking down the street.
Oh yeah, that's definitely true. I know more about the ligaments,
especially since that's what happened to me. I can name
you a few of the ligaments, and I definitely know
(15:25):
more than I've ever known about the risk and especially
risk injuries and rehab than I've ever known. And I
can probably speak, you know, talk to people about it.
I talked to doctors, my doctor, and he can you know,
we can have a good conversation about it. Okay, So
help help me out, like, explain to me the layman
doug Otlip Show, Fox Sports Radio David Johnson our guest
(15:46):
thanks to the good folks at Rocking refuel by Shamrock Farms.
Um uh, explained to me why, like you know, like
I'm not gonna say you just like tape it up
and put some robot testing on it, right, But but
like couldn't you do like a splint cast deal and
and and like go play on it like once it heals,
(16:07):
and so it's like immobile, Like what what why is
this risk injury? So so, but I know others have
suffered it before and the same thing has happened, But
what is it about this risk injury that's so bad
that you can't play through it? The biggest thing really, um,
like you said, guys have played it but not running
back or receivers. It's always deeper the guys who don't
have to carry the ball, guys who don't necessarily have
(16:29):
to catch the ball all the time. And especially like
I said, maybe in a running back, I have to
be able to carry the ball in both hands. Um
And with it being a ligament and not just a bone,
it's even more um of a of a significant injury
because ligaments, you know, they have to be able to stretch,
and they have to be able to bend um and
stuff like that. And that's the big thing with this
(16:50):
risk injury. It's not just a bone where it's cracked
and then you know, you give it time to heal.
You got now that it's been in a task trying
to you know, heal itself. Now I have to be
able to be able to elongate again and be able
to bend and you know, have the strength to not
hopefully not do it again. Yeah. Plus I mean like
and I you know, I think also uh, in order
(17:12):
to lift, you know, for the for the strength of blocking.
You know, there's so many things you actually you need
your wrist for. You have to have not your if
your left wrist right, yeah, left is correct, and it's
and you're right handed, right. Yeah. Okay, So is there
anything that you normally, like you couldn't play video games
right with the with the cast on? Like what else
were you limited, uh with with the cast that you
(17:35):
couldn't do that you normally do really just have to do,
not really limited, but yeah, limited and just had to adjust.
So like even the simple things tying my shoes. Um,
big thing with me having a new barn and sticking
him up and being able to carry him, um comfortably
and um confidently to where I don't feel like I'm
gonna drop him. And then uh, you said video games, Yeah,
(17:58):
but um, really that's about it. Um, A lot of
stuff you do one handed, like I'm doing here ping pong.
I played, you know, with one hand in my right hand.
Luckily it was my off hand that I injured. Yeah, okay,
So now how's the newborn sleeping? Most importantly, he's doing great.
He sleeps. Um. My wife has done a great job, Megan.
He sleeps about seven to six in the morning seven
(18:20):
and night to six in the morning. So he's doing
really good. That's awesome, And that's awesome. If you got that,
that's great. Now you when when you hold him, how
do you do you do the football hold? Where do
you are you familiar with the football hold? Right where
the face is like almost face down in your hand.
It's actually good for their stomach where you can go
to pat him so he burps, or do you go
over the shoulder, Like what's his favorite way to be held?
(18:41):
Over the shoulder? Um, he doesn't really like the football hold.
I've done that when he was younger, um, smaller, I
was able to do the football hold. Now he's he
squirms too much. Now I gotta kind of cleanch him
a little bit tighter, and I just have him over
the shoulder. It's pretty awesome to like, look, it sucks
that you got hurt, and I know how competitive you
are and and and you know, getting hurt a little
(19:02):
bit last year obviously, like you want to be healthy
a whole year. But to get a chance to spend
time with him in the family, like, man, that's that's
that's kind of a blessing in disguise, isn't it. Yes,
it definitely, it's definitely a blessing in disguise. Like you said,
I get to see um see him a lot more, Um,
and then really good to see his mouthstone. But you know, honestly,
I have been with the football team as much as
(19:24):
I can. So I actually did go to the meetings,
I went to away games, I went to practice and
rehabbed and stuff like that. So, um, I got a
little bit more time. But honestly, I was always still
trying to be a part of the team. And I'm
still trying to be with my brothers and still trying to,
you know, stay a part of the team. And uh
made them feel that I'm still there for them. H
(19:45):
David Jerome Johnson see gonna go by d J, d
j J or d J d J two. Like what's
what's like? Because that's the whole thing you think about
when you're thinking about names, right, Like what's the nickname?
What's the worst thing could be? Obviously you went with
with with tell with your name. So what's the nickname
gonna be? It's just d J. It's gonna be nice
and simple. Um, I'm easy for everyone to remember. Um, Okay,
(20:09):
so tell me about this ping pong tournament you're doing
at local boys club. Like, were you a ping pong
dude before you broke your wrist? Yeah? I actually had
just started getting into it. Um, well, not just I've
been playing for a little bit before I had heard
my wrists, and you know, I got really big into
it and try to play as much as I can.
I actually have two ping pong tables at home. I
(20:30):
have a ping pong jugging machines what I call it,
um where it shoots out ping pong balls, And so
I play all the time. And I'm out here right
now with the Boys and Girls Club, you know, um,
with Rock and Refuel helping me. Um, being out here
and just having fun and uh, you know, just playing
with the kids. David Johnson joining us on the Doug
Gotlip Show. So how good are you? I would say, Um,
(20:54):
I don't know. Scaling one to ten, I'll give myself
a stick. I'm not quiet as good as I want
to be, but you know I'm not the worst. All right.
We thank the folks at Rock and Refuel. We can't
wait till your back on the field healthy. In the meantime, Uh,
take care of that little dude and and your wife
all well, being a good teammate. Appreciate you join us, DJ,
and thanks for joining us on on Fox Sports Radio.
(21:16):
Thank you for having pleasures mind. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. Let's get to Sammy
Watkins of the l A Rams. He joins us on
the Doug Gotlup Show. Sammy, how are you hey? Um,
(21:37):
I'm sure when the schedules came out you got traded
right before the season, Like people didn't think, Hey, this
could be an NFC Championship game preview, but this feels
like a kind of a clash of the Titans. What's
your what's your thoughts on the Vikings matchup? Um, just
a great team. Um, it's a it's a great um
challenge to this organization in it in US and we
(21:58):
really look forward to it. So like your, Um, we're
a great team and you know they're a great team,
so we both gonna matchup pretty well. They got a
great defense, we've got a great offense, and UM, I
just can't wait to play. Yeah, And um, look thirty
three last week, fifty one, the week before, thirty three
the week before that, and explosive offense. Of course you're
you're head coach Sean McVeigh has re engineered at Jared
(22:21):
Goff playing exceptionally well with all the talent that you have.
All Right, here's what I want. I want the truth.
When you were traded to the Rams from the Bills.
Where were you when you got the news? I was
actually in the building. Um, I thought it was gonna
be like a little skin I had to do in
front of the team because that's what we were doing
at the time. Well, obviously it wasn't that. And you know,
(22:43):
I'm in a great situation right now with a great
team and we're doing well. Wait, so they came to
you and they're like, hey, you're trading to the Rams.
You're like, you thought they were kidding. Well, of course
I thought it was planned because I never thought I
would be traded. So a nice spot of the business.
And wasn't it bad? What's what they did? No, I'm
having no great season when we're winning and I'm happy
(23:06):
here and that no question about it. So you get
out the plane, you go to the Rams facility. What
was what was the when when Sean McVeigh started to
show you the offense talk about your role within the offense.
What did he say it would be? Um, a little
bit of everything you know, this offense is unique because
it's there's so much there's so much you can do
in the offense. Um, there's really no X Y Z
(23:28):
or asked. Um, everything is interchangeable. And um, you can
have fun with that because at least we got makes
my game either the game can come to me and
I can just go out there and have fun and
play ball. Yeah, it's it's amazing because like, look the
sheer numbers in terms of targets, Like you're not number
one in targets. Um, but because you have so many guys,
(23:50):
they're just so many options for golf. Did you know,
like when you went out to your first practice, you
look around Robert Robert Woods, I'm sure you didn't know
who Cooper Cup was. Everybody knew who Girly was. It's like,
how long did it take you to realize the depth
of talent that you guys had in the offensive side
of the ball Warregon knew the guys that they had here. Um,
well Woods Woods played with you right right exactly, and
(24:13):
then just to see that practice and watch those guys
and then start packing, then you started with notice like, hey,
this seems gonna be pretty good. Even the young guys.
They're playing at the level and um, you know that's
just part of it. Yeah, seam, Um, you can throw
to anybody and they can make a play. You don't
have to be a particular guy. Did you uh like,
did look did you burn your winter coat? Like, come on,
(24:34):
tell me. Honestly, when you found out it was l
a and you got out to play, You're like, wait, wait, wait,
I don't need I don't need that. I don't need
that hat, I don't need those mittens, I don't need
snow tires anymore. Did you burn your winter coat? That's
the left everything up there? Honestly, Um, when I came here,
I just knew it's gonna be the best weather, the
best conditions. So I really need to make the best
for this because you never know what's gonna happen. Not
(24:55):
this year, no question, contract year obviously, and you having
a good one team having a good one, Um, did
how long did it take for you know? Like, look,
when having been in Buffalo, you understand this, Like when
losing has been such so embedded in the franchise, it
gets to the fourth quarter and some teams just have
this or maybe it's the fans. They just have this
(25:18):
assumption that something bad is gonna happen. Was there a
moment to which everyone bought in? Was there a moment
because look the early part of the schedule you played,
you played Indianapolis, they didn't have a quarterback, they're not
very good. You played San Francisco, they're not very good.
Was there a moment? Was it the Dallas game? What
where was it when everyone started to truly believe this
(25:38):
could be a special season? Well? My thing early on,
of course you got to go to those tests and
that first test, the guys tested, self tested team, and
I think we have passed most of those tests throughout
the week with you know, playing down, coming back to
being ballast um, losing, no resking. It's not planning, a
planning where you want to play. So I feel like
(26:00):
um on both sides of the ball and special teams
and now, um we got a great chance to you know,
continue to prolong that season and keep going. How are
you better this year than you were last year's? Mom?
I think it really just health wise, I'm in a
different um mental um capacity with basically just going out
(26:23):
there playing freely, UM, not worry by any injuries, not
worry about gona hot and I've have been three years
since I felt this good, you know, to go out
there and beat physical, block one full sweet routes, to
get open um and have fun. Now, I just think
that's that's what that's what helped my game. UM this year. Yeah,
no question health, so you don't so so it's to
(26:43):
the point where you no longer think about the foot, right,
Zach and I really just got to that point, honestly,
maybe last four weeks song because you know, buff ball,
I wasn't really doing too much. It was more so
working me in and then I got here. It's the
same thing. I had to basically get used running routes
to use from my foot again. And now I feel
(27:04):
like I'm just over there at hump. I can run
every route for speed. I can play at a high level,
UM and not worry about my foot. What's up? What's
McVeigh really like? Cool man? He's a young guy. He
got a lot of energy, UM, and we all can
connect on him, UM, connect with him on on football
in general because he knows so he knows so much.
(27:25):
And mcause it was what the players want and and
Jared and um, he let us just really UM, mash
the game plan and go out there and execute. Well. Look, man,
it's it's great to see not just see you healthy,
but understand that mentally you feel healthy. We know that
confidences and confidence in your body that your body is
not letting you down anymore is a huge part of
(27:46):
of anybody's, any athletes game. Thanks much for spending some
time with us. Best of luck against Minnesota and we'll
see you when you come back home to l A.
Thanks for joining us. Yeah, that's Sammy Watkins joining us
on the Dug Outlet Show. How about that. Be sure
to catch live editions The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays
at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. We don't talk
(28:07):
enough about conditioning in sports radio and in sports talk.
We just don't a good portion of it. This is
gonna sound this is gonna sound like a little like
Cam Newton, uh, laughing at a female reporters question. But
this is the I played you didn't. And there's a
lot of dudes on TV that never really played a
(28:29):
sport and they're talking about sports and they don't understand
how much conditioning plays a factor, not just and conditioning
is not just did you do run lines and suicides
at the end of practice. It's overall conditioning, eating, eating, sleeping,
and yes, training and and and Like coaches, especially in
(28:50):
the college game war coach just can if you're trying
to find that very magic, magical mix. How do we
we talk with David Shaw about this? You guys remember
this conversation we had about Stanford. How much do you hit?
How much do you condition? You're getting ready for the
first game of the season. You want guys to be
(29:10):
able to tackle cleanly. You have to run tackling hitting drills.
In the other hand, you can't get guys hurt, and
you want them to be at that magic conditioning level
as well. Conditioning is a huge factor. It's discussed in
every locker room, every coach's office, every front office, in
every sport, college and pro, and yet on TV nobody
ever talks about, Hey, man, I think they look tired
(29:30):
last night. Well, I think he looks tired or he
doesn't have naturally good because some guys have naturally good conditioning.
And while you may not think that as a factor,
think about somebody you know who's a buddy of yours,
You'll have a friend who they can train and train
and train and train, and yet they still can't get
in great shape. And you have other friends that they
haven't done anything in weeks, and you go out and
(29:50):
play pick up basketball and they're not tired. You're like,
what in the hell. They're just people that are everybody's
wired differently, and just because you're a professional athlete doesn't
mean that you have that professional athletic now true conditioning again,
different different sports, different types of conditioning. I think we
also don't talk enough about culture um in that the
culture of a team is in many times as important
(30:15):
as the actual talent of a team. But maybe the
biggest factor that we we've begun. I think with more
with more athletes on TV, they'll mention it more often,
and they'll say it, but they don't know necessarily. It's
kind of like the old definition of pornography. You know
when you see it, or you know when you don't
(30:37):
see it. Confidence. Lonzo Ball has no confidence, right he is.
He's kind of out there in the deep end and
he's technically staying afloat, but he's not actually swimming. You know,
you guys know what that It's like it's not even
the doggy paddle. It's like he's kind of flopping around there.
(30:57):
It looks like he kind of knows what he's doing,
but he doesn't really. He's had water wings his whole life,
and now somebody's like ahead and he's not just in
a pool in which he can touch his feet, and
he's in like he's in the deep end of the NBA.
He's got dudes coming at him left and right, like
(31:19):
when you haven't guarded anybody in your life, Like right
when he was in high school and au basketball, playing
for his dad, all he did was try and get steals.
So you're either guarding Ben Simmons, who's six ft nine
fifty pounds just gonna bulldog you or go around you
and get to the rim, or you're gonna guard JJ Reddick,
(31:40):
who didn't even shoot well. I mean, like JJ Reddick
was oh of eight from three, but jjs a pro
and he's gonna be in perpetual motion, constantly moving at
the basketball, or you're gonna gonna stick you on Robert Covington,
whom we had on a couple of days ago, and
I don't know if you guys saw he's set to
sign an extension, four year, sixty seven million dollar extension.
(32:03):
He's had a remarkable you're shooting the basketball from three,
he's there three and D guy like, we can't hide you.
It's just it's a it's a league in which it's
really really hard to hide a point guard that can't
play defense. But the problem with it, and the problem
(32:25):
with is really simple as it is really complex. How
do you have him regained his confidence without killing his confidence?
I told you guys, my son closed out that that
playoff baseball game on It was a Saturday or Sunday
Sunday morning, right, and he's up there and they got
a ten run lead, and he's kind of it's kind
of floundering and he's getting super nervous, and the other
(32:47):
team is doing chance and the umpire was kind of
squeezing him a little bit. And he's eight years old
against nine and ten year olds and he's just getting
a little flushed. Hit a kid loaded the bases, and
he's starting to like tear up, and I'm thinking it's
like all the time out I talked to him, calm
him down, but I'm thinking, like, look if I don't
take him out, and he gives up this lead and
(33:08):
he loses, Like that's a scar, not for life, but
for a long period time. Plus like the rest of
the parents are like, what are you doing right? But
if I do take him, I take the ball from him,
Now I kill his ability to show that he can
fight back and close this thing out. So I let
him finish it out in the end. Up my point is,
(33:28):
and he ended up closing the thing up. The point
is with a Lonzo, if you put him send him
to the G League in an effort to regain his confidence,
you're gonna kill his confidence because you took him out
of the real NBA and put him into the G League.
But if you leave him in the NBA, it's really
hard to regain your confidence while you know tonight tomornight,
Phoenix is coming at him, Then Denver's coming at him,
(33:52):
Then Chicago's coming at him, and then Deer and Fox
and Sacramento is coming at him, then the Clippers, then
he's got the Warriors. On November twenty nine, Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app, and now
(34:14):
a Curious decision from the Buffalo Bills to pull Tyrod
Taylor on Wednesday after saying he would remained the starting
quarterback on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. He was nick right
from first Thing's first opinion, this flatly does not happen
to a white quarterback. The margin of error and the
prove it level for black quarterbacks coming out of college
(34:37):
and once they get to the pros is so drastically
different then for their white counterparts. That is why Russell
Wilson falls to the third round behind a guy like well,
the I don't know Brandon Wheedon. That is why Dak
Prescott falls to the fourth round behind a guy like
I don't know Christian Hackenburgh. That is why Deshaun Watson
(34:58):
is not even consider heard for the number one overall
pick despite dominating in college year after year. That is
why Tyrod Taylor falls to the sixth round and then
gets replaced by Nathan Peterman in order four. A black quarterback,
even to this day, to be considered a Blue Chipper
out of college, you know what you gotta do. Go
win the Heisman Trophy and maybe the national championship. Cam
(35:21):
Newton did that, and then there was still debate whether
or not Blaine Gabbert should have been taken ahead of him.
Jamis Winston was a top quarterback, taking that I missed
that one. Marcus Smart is not black, but he's also
not white. He's Hawaiian and he was taking number one overall.
I'm not like Tyrod Taylor's five ft nine, five ft ten.
(35:41):
That's why he's a running quarterback. It's he's a classic
backup quarterback. That's why you know Russell Wilson's also five
ft ten and slid in the draft. Dak Prescott was
an athletic quarterback who was inaccurate in college and got
a d U I that's why he probably slipped from
the late second, early third round to the fourth round
by wait, Teddy Bridgewater, Michael Vick. Those guys were all
(36:03):
taken earlier. Um, I this is playing a race card
when it's not. You're like playing you're playing a card
game to which doesn't really You're like gin like we're
playing poker, not really what the game we're playing there.
I'm not saying that there aren't implications of race and
(36:23):
different parts of sports, but Tyrod Taylor being pulled doesn't
have anything to do with more than the team struggling.
He hasn't been good. He is an athletic quarterback who
happens to be black. He's also happens to be small.
And the last two teams, last three teams know that no,
this cat know the book on him keeping the pocket
and can't get it done, and and some of it's
not his own doing. They trade away Sammy Watkins, They
(36:45):
lost Robert Woods. Robert Woods has gone to They lost
some of their town town round him because they were
kind of planning to play for next year. But I
I just I gotta tell you, I don't see it
all that much, right, Um, what's the man's name? From
the Raiders is the number one overall pick from L
s U who flamed Jamacus Russell like he he didn't
(37:08):
suck because he was a black quarterback. He sucked because
he was hooked on scissor and he sucked. It wasn't
good enough to be quarterback. That's all. That's all,
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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