October 5, 2018 • 43 mins
Doug tells you the valuable lesson he learned watching the Patriots dominate the Colts on Thursday Night Football. He also explains why Kyrie Irving is trying to take the Anti-LeBron James route in Boston. Former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi joins the show to tell Doug if Andrew Luck is overrated and if this is a must win week for the Steelers.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
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(00:22):
of the Doug Gotli Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio, coming
to you from this sunny, wonderful city of Los Angeles, California,
where those Doyers try and go. Have two games and
(00:43):
none on the Atlanta Braves. As you may have heard
from the great Dan Buyer. Cleveland and Houston still scoreless
in Houston the bottom of the third inning. And of
course this coming a day after a Rockies come back
but then ultimately a Brewer's in playoff. Baseball is here,
Four Game Friday is here. If you like baseball, today
(01:05):
is a great day. If you don't it like, it's
like it's cool, man like, don't worry about it. Got
a great fight in m m A and UFC this
weekend We've got some awesome college football to get to,
and of course some premiere NFL games and reaction to
last night's NFL game upcoming. Let me kind of quickly
set the table for you on what on the guests
we have coming on. Man, this is a really good day.
Congrats to Cindy Katz and to Ryan Music who worked
(01:28):
together to book this show. John Middlecoff, former NFL Scout
Three and Out podcast. If you haven't heard the Three
and Out podcast, go to HERD podcast Network. You can
check out my new All Ball podcast. It's basketball and
Middlecoff does football. He's awesome, great energy, incredible insight. He'll
be joining us here in fifteen minutes. John Clayton is
gonna join us. He's got his own website going now.
(01:48):
Um and uh, of course he's got a special spot
in Pro Football Hall of Fame. John Clayton will join
us in just over an hour, and then Michael Lombardi.
So many of you text me or tweet me when
is Lombardi coming on this week? When can I learn
more about the NFL. Michael Lombardi, former GM author Scout,
will join us upcoming in the third hour of the
show to twenty West coast five twenty east coast. So
(02:11):
just stick was here. We got picks to get to.
Um you got uh some interesting discussion on Cam Newton
which comes from a Twitter suddenly Twitter beef I have
with Marcellus Wiley Kyrie is the anti Lebron will tell
you how. And the biggest game of the weekend that
might not be might not be covered, like the biggest
(02:33):
game of the weekend, but it it may be a loser,
pack your stuff, your season is over type of game
in the National Football League. Man, do we have a
lot to get to. But let's start with the obvious.
We told you so, and we didn't tell you so
because we knew how. We just knew what, right, Like
(02:53):
I couldn't tell you how if I watched two weeks ago.
I think we had Mark Slayer on two weeks ago, right,
and I was ready to hit the panic button, ready
at the panic. But I'm like, man, Tom Brady's in
his forties, all these rumors of discontent with him in Belichick. Hey,
they traded away a guy who's killing it with the
(03:16):
Rams at wide receiver and don't appear to have enough
talent at wide receiver. You don't have speed defensively, not
getting in the back. Feld like, yeah, but we have
eighteen years of data to tell us don't bail on
the Patriots. Right, we have recent history, tell us don't
bail on the Patriots. And what have they done of
(03:38):
the past two weeks in you know, in division they
thumped the Miami Dolphins and then last night they take
care of business against the Indianapolis Colts, who did cut
it to within a touchdown and then they flex their
muscles and Tom Brady through his second touchdown pass that's
his five hundred of his career. Here was Mark Slayer
(03:58):
at three times Super Bowl champion, Fox NFL and Fox
analysts two weeks ago. There's very few guys that ever
were kind of the actuators of offense that played wide
receiver in New England. It's unquestioned in my mind is
Julian Edelman. And when he does make his comeback after
his suspension, I would expect things to settle down a
(04:18):
little bit for that offense. But he is the guy
that brings energy, He's the guy that brings attitude. He's
the guy that's always you know, picking a fight. He
is that guy that guy, right, you can't the the
thing about sports that stat guy misses. And I understand
that stat guy has had a bigger role in sports
(04:41):
in the last ten years than in all the hundred
years before combined, from what the A's have done over
the last twenty five years or twenty years or so,
to what the Houston Rockets are doing to analytics now
creeping into football. Stat guy suddenly has a seat at
the table. He used to be the dorky zip popping
guy who just did rot rot. We used to be
(05:01):
called rotisserie baseball. Now fantasy guy has become analytics guy
and they have a spot at the table. But the
reason that most of them don't run the meetings, most
of them don't coach the teams. I mean, look, it's
the most interesting thing from this Red Sox Yankees series,
which is the Yankees fought Joe Girardi, their former manager,
(05:22):
tooth and nail for him to use more analytics, and
so instead they settle upon Aaron Boone who will use analytics.
But Aaron Boone was born into a baseball family. His
grandpa played, his dad played and managed, he played, his
brother played, now he's managing. He covered the game like
baseball is he was born basically on a baseball field,
(05:44):
and you're gonna take away all that inherent in ain't
knowledge and just go like, well all the numbers say this,
well like look, numbers do have a Numbers are important,
but so too are intangibles. Intangibles and you n Edelman
seven catches fifty seven yards. Those are important. But they
(06:04):
get James White going, They get Gronk six catches. Now,
Josh Gordon catches that touchdown pass, albeit it was thrown
into double coverage and frankly underthrown and he made an
incredible adjustment. They get Philip Doorset working as well. So
I think it's it's really fascinating to see the intangibles
that Edelman has, the evolution of Tom Brady within this offense.
(06:27):
How they figured out Sony Michelle can be in every
down back uh, and he can chew up some yards
and chew up some clock and give that defense which
is you can give that give that defense some time
off the football field. We didn't know how, like nobody
really knew like how they gonna go. I don't know,
like the only fallback you can have in the Patriots was, well,
(06:49):
you know, their division stinks, you know, should be pointed out.
Their next two games are against two of the elite
teams in the NFL. One the best offense in the NFL.
It's the Chiefs next Sunday night. Then they turned around.
They play on the road against the Bears, arguably the
best defense, the most dynamic pass rushing the league. And
then they get the Bills, the Packers, the Titans. They
still have some tough teams before they settle back into
(07:11):
division at home. But here are the New England Patriots,
who I mean look dead as a door nail against
the Jags, crushed by the by the Lions, who have
been utterly and completely unimpressive otherwise. At one and two,
everybody was grabbing a bucket saying, maybe this boat's got
(07:33):
a hole that is not fixable. I didn't know how
it was gonna happen. Nobody I knew knew how it
was gonna Well, the Edelman and they'll just they'll figure
it out. And sure enough, that's exactly what they have done.
They found a way to figure it out. So here's
(07:54):
what I want you to do. When when you're driving
right now and you're sitting at your desk, you're listening
to this podcast. You're going into a a meeting, or
you're you're gonna meet with some buddies tonight to watch
some baseball, tomorrow watch some college football, or maybe to
watch the Fight or maybe Sunday repeat after me. Never
(08:15):
count out the Patriots. Never count out the Patriots. Right.
This is Kansas basketball in the Big Twelve. This is
Alabama football. It's just a thing. They figure it out.
And the difference in a this in an Alabama football
(08:35):
Ittimore Kansas basketballs. No know what they look like early
in the year, Like end of the year, you're like, man,
they're gonna win their division and they're gonna be in
the playoffs. The sun rises in the East and sets
in the West, and the New England Patriots of the
team to beat in the a f C East, and
you're just gonna have to deal with probably going to
Foxboro for a playoff game if you want to get
to the Super Bowl. I know. Yeah. By the way,
(09:00):
I can't help but point out that I got into
a bit of a Twitter kerfuffle with Marcellus Wiley, a
longtime friend and now new colleague at Fox as he
wants to point out that Andrew Luck is overrated. Um,
did you watch last night? I mean, let's let's seriously
(09:21):
break down what we saw. The Indianapolis Colts have zero
talent none, They don't have talent. Their best receiving option
is Eric Ebron, who the Lions watched walk out the door.
They have no running game, that's why he throws it
so often, and they have no defense at all. They
(09:44):
should have at least tied the Titans last week, and
they were, Uh, they were at least competitive last night.
Andrew Luck, off of shoulder surgery, hadn't played in two years.
Are you aware he's leading the league in passing yards? Now,
some that is because his team stinks, but some of
that is because Andrew Luck is. He's not as good
(10:05):
as he was he was built to be. He's actually better.
He's not underrated. He's not overrated. He's underrated. Like I
get people who and this is what Marcella's tweeted was,
you know Cam Newton, guys, get onto Cam Newton and
look at Cam Newton's record, Like dude, Cam Newton plays
for a competent organization. Cam Newton played with one of
(10:28):
the top defenses in football. Cam Newton's team had been
built around offensive line. And look, Cam Newton. This isn't
the media calling out Cam Newton. If you think the
media is anti Cam Newton, the media voted him m
v P. The media voted him Heisman Trophy winner. There's
no more false narrative in the history of sports than
(10:51):
the media doesn't like Cam Newton because the media voted
him for the two most prestigious awards, one in college
and one in the NFL. So you're gonna have to
You're gonna have to try another route there. You're like, oh, well,
they're just against Like, no, not. We just realized he's
not an accurate passer. We just realized he's not great
in the red zone. You know how we realized that
because two former star wide receivers, Steve Smith, a borderline
(11:14):
Hall of Famer, and Calvin Benjamin both said the exact
same thing about playing with Cam Newton. You know, he
didn't not it's not really that accurate or that good
in the red zone and reading progressions and being accurate.
And no one's disputing any of this. No one's disputing
(11:34):
in this. Andrew Luck plays with a crumby team. He
inherited the worst team in the National Football League, a
team that had gotten completely old and that parted ways
with parts feel that well, they tried to get be
bad after when Peyton Manning was hurt. They it wasn't
just they tried to be bad. They were bad. They
(11:55):
were accomplishing their tasks. Pat Yes, I man, this is
like what they were. They weren't tanking, they were just bad.
They were awful. Their star players all got old collectively
at once, from Bob Sanders retired to the two rush
ends that they parted ways with. Edrin James was gone,
(12:18):
Peyton Manning was gone, like all the stars that had
been a dominant team for a decade, they were all gone.
And then they had a complete idiot as their general
manager and they were poorly coached outside of that. Outside
of that, Mrs Lincoln, how is the show? Need I
remind you that Chuck Pogano called a fake punt where
(12:39):
they directly snapped it to a wide receiver who was
playing under center and he was surrounded by five New
England Patriots. Do you guys remember when that happened? Their
general manager traded for Trent richardson trade a first round
picked the fourth pick in the draft. They traded for
Trent Richardson when everybody in the league knew he stunk.
(13:00):
Their intentions were to surround him with a better team
than Peyton Manning was. That's what their owners said. Hey,
you know, we we had Peyton Manning. We only got
into a couple of super Bowls. We want now, we
want to win a couple of at least a couple
with Andrew Luck. You only have guys like this ever
so often, and they've done the opposite of that. Dude,
(13:20):
they're terrible. And oh yeah, by the way, not only
are they at a talent deficit in comparison to the
Patriots were on a crazy talented team, but Frank Brek
wasn't supposed to be their head coach, Josh McDaniels was,
and their best offensive weapon outside of Luck was t
Y Hilton. He didn't play last night. They without six starters.
(13:45):
A team is not any good anyway without six starters,
including their best pass catcher. So to the Andrew Luck
is overrated. The actual answer, if you ask anybody in
the NFL, they'll say, yeah, exactly, he's underrated. He's kind
of awesome. If you thought he wouldn't come back and
throw a football why is he leading the league in
passing yards? They're actually competitive with a completely depleted roster,
(14:10):
and the media doesn't hate Cam Newton. The media voted
in m v P and Heisman Trophy winner. His own
former teammates are the ones that have taken shots at him.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug dot
Leap Show weekdays at noon eastern three pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I
told you something over the summer. I have good sources
(14:32):
in Boston, and I've never been somebody. Um, I've never
been somebody who reacts to rumors around the NBA when
I can call people in the NBA. Now, I'll admit
the people I talked to when they told me about
Kyrie Irving this summer, they're like, look, we're not gonna
sit here and tell you we know exactly what he's thinking.
(14:55):
But boy, based upon the way he acts, the things
he says to us, YE doesn't feel like he's gonna
go somewhere. Just though either he's completely duping us that
we have been we have been duped, we have been fooled,
or or here's the other possibility, um or He's not
(15:18):
going anywhere. He loves the professionalism, he loves playing for Brad.
He plays for the best GM in the NBA. They
got a chance to win a couple of championships, a
coach who everyone knows can do it, players around him,
and they've got young guys who are gonna get better.
They're not gonna get worse barring injury. The Celtics are
the favorite to come out of the East. That puts
(15:39):
him head up with a team like the Warriors, and
the Warriors have a ton of decisions to make this offseason,
and the only decision to make this offseason for the
Celtics is is Kyrie coming back? Take a listen to
what Kyrie Irving said on on the court at Boston
Garden yesterday during their FanFest. It's quite important, and uh,
(16:00):
I'm I appreciate scout, but I shared it with some
of my teammates as well as the organization and everyone
else in Boston. You guys will have me back. I've
planned on re signing here next year. You guys didn't
play the crowd noise, you didn't play the reaction. Ramos
Rama was like Ramos is at old time Laker fan
he just can't take it. He cut out the reaction.
(16:24):
But but this is where Kyrie Irving is, Hey, I
learned from the Lebron thing. I'm not doing the Lebron thing.
People ask all the time, like why would you leave
Lebron when you had a chance to win a championship?
And the reason, the reasons are pretty obvious. He knew
Lebron was going. He was tired of playing on lebronze team.
(16:46):
And every year you end up having to answer questions
about what's Lebron gonna do in this offseason. It becomes
tiredsome and tedious, and you can't just go to work
and play basketball. It's hard enough to win as it is.
It's even it's it's made more difficult when you have
to answer questions. And I think Lebron has even learned
from that, like man I gotta sign, learned from contract,
I guess stop fooling around with the Lakers. Don't pull
(17:07):
around with the Lakers because people just don't love that.
They just don't love the every year free agency thing,
every year discussion. And so Kyrie Irving coming off his
knee being cleaned up, and for people who don't know,
remember when he broke his kneecap. This is like four
years ago in the NBA Finals in game one, right,
(17:29):
they had already lost Kevin Love in a game against
the Celtics. They're playing against They're playing against the Warriors
in the finals. It goes to overtime and his kneecap breaks.
Remember that, Well, part of the surgery to fix the
kneecap was he had three screws put into his knee
and then it was kind of held together by this
mesh wiring. And at first last year, the mesh wiring
(17:53):
was irritating his skin and he just felt like it
was a nuisance and of pain. They took the mesh
wiring out and it was there was still something wrong
with the knee. They found out that one of the screws,
maybe two of the screws were infected. They had to
get him out immediately because if it becomes into bone
becomes infected, now you could your knee cap can break apart,
become brittle, and now you never play again. So it
(18:16):
was just more precautionary clean out move. And you combine
that with Gordon Hayward being out. They went to the
NBA NBA West Eastern Conference Finals Game seven without him
without Hey, we're there two best players. So I told
you guys this summer. I mean, all I've heard is
he's super happy there, loves the professionalism, loves that guys
(18:39):
show up to they have practice, whereas they weren't practicing
in Cleveland last year, didn't practice that much in previous years.
There is no turnstyle at head coach. There is no
players making decision as head coach. There's just young talent
guys get after and he's kind of the alpha with
the basketball now. It doesn't mean that it's officially official.
This is more like Facebook official, but committing and saying
(19:02):
like hey, I'm I told everybody I'm coming back if
you'll have me. That's as close to it as you get.
And that's Kyrie Irving saying we're not gonna talk about
that this year. I've learned from what it's like to
play on teams where people don't know what their stars
are gonna do in the offseason, and that's just tiresome, tedious,
and I don't have the energy to go rebuild this
(19:23):
idea that you have to get to New York, that
Kyrie wants to get to New York, and have his
own team. Why when I'm in Boston, better franchise, better GM,
you know, more proven coach. Even though everybody loves David Fizdale,
I don't need to move. Let guys come to me.
I think it's pretty smart. I think it's pretty smart.
(19:43):
Be sure to catch live editions so the Doug dot
Leap Show week days at noon eastern three pm Pacific.
He's an absolute legend in the business. When the all
time great NFL Insiders with John Clayton, go to John
Clayton football dot com if you want to learn more
than he's gonna teach us over the next tend to
fifteen minutes or so. John, thanks so much for spending time.
(20:04):
Among the things that people should know about. You are
a native of Pittsburgh. I believe that's I believe where
you that's where you cut your teeth. And I look
at this weekend, I'm like, man, another home game against
the Falcons team that's probably better than their record. I
don't know if you go must win this orly in
the season, but one three and one in that division
where the Browns are suddenly competitive is not a great
(20:26):
way to start. How important do you think this Sunday's
game is No, it's vital, I mean, because what they
haven't won a home game since last year, and now
you're gonna lose I mean, they lose a home game
to Baltimore. Now you know they could lose this one.
I mean, and right now the season is going right
down to dumpster. I mean you look at all the
problems that they have. I mean, Levian Bill's not gonna
show up to a week seven, which is a bye
(20:48):
week that really helps them out. Then they've got Ben
Roethlisberger really not getting in sync for a hundred yard
game yet with Antonio Brown, James Washington, the number three
receiver has not really you know, stepped up after our
great preseason. That's not going well. And then the defense
has been just carved up. So No, at one two
and one, they dropped to one three and one. I
mean there's the potential now that they could be two
(21:10):
and a half games behind two teams in the division
and their seasons rapidly firing away. You have more insight
than most anybody who covers the sport. John Clayton joining
us in the Doug Allip Show, Levan apparently told guys
in the offense. I'll be there week one of the season.
That's why they were so mad when he didn't show up,
and then his agent league doubt. Week ten is more
(21:31):
like it now of a sudden, it's week seven. Why
the change? Ah, Well, I mean, first off, he had
to come in because he needed to get a year
vested to make to make sure that you know, they
can just repeat with the franchise tank and he really
just loses a year of service and that so he
had to do something, whether it's coming in in November
with six games remaining or coming in and so I
think here's his tact on this uh and again it's
(21:53):
not a great one, but it's one that he's doing.
So do you think you could come in week seven
or eight? The team has a exemption and on you
for two weeks, so you can still get an eight
hundred and fifty dollar paycheck if they wish for not
doing anything, then you come in. If you have to play,
then you're instead of getting four hundred carries, which he
feared would beat down his body, now you're maybe getting
(22:15):
a little over two hundred to two hundred and fifty
touches a game or a season for the rest of
the year. So that's the strategy there, and why seven
and eight, Hey, that's right where the trade deadline is.
And so now you get there in time, sign your
contract and if they want to move you or you
want to be moved again not limited number of teams
that will be involved, then that could happen. So that
I think is a strategy, you know, one to save
(22:37):
his body, get less touches, and then see if he
can touch off some kind of a trade. John, do
you think that he will be traded? No, I don't
I think I mean, yeah, he is a possibility. I
think there's interest in Philadelphia, there's interest in the Jets,
but there's very few teams that could really fit him
into the cap and there's not a lot of teams
right now looking for running backs, and so those would
(22:58):
be the only two and I'd don't think either one
would be able to offer something satisfactory to the Steelers.
So in the end, and again you know, they can
may take the tact at that time. If they're sitting
there with a two two, four and one record, maybe
they'll say, Okay, we'll give a little bit of a
discount sale and just move on. Because at this stage.
The only thing they'll be able to get for Leviianville
(23:18):
after this season is a third round compensatory pick in
two thousand twenty. John Clayton joining us in the Doug
Outlive Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Um, look, I
think the Raiders thing is is fascinating. There's been a
lot of negativity from fans around the league over dealing
Khalil Mack, but that comes after people in the league said, well,
(23:39):
they never get two first round picks for Cluemack, and
they did. Gruden seems to be taking a long term
approach while kind of while undercutting Reggie Mackenzie's power and
some of the moves he's made in the past. What's
your take on what's going on in Oakland. Yeah, I mean,
I think this is the fear. I think when you
have a coach as the main guy acquiring talent, I mean,
it becomes to see and you can see how messy
(24:01):
it is. I'm and even got messy this week when
basically he threw Reggie Mackenzie under the bus by saying, well,
he took two safeties in each of the last second
round or two years ago, and the first rounder. Uh,
you know, the last year and now, uh, they he
wanted Derwin James, and Derwin James is having a great
season with the Los Angeles Chargers, and so you have that,
and then you have a roster right now with fourteen
(24:23):
to fifteen guys in their thirties. And now the complaint is, boy,
there's not a lot of speed on defense. Well, duh,
you don't have a lot of youth on defense. They've
had injuries that have really wiped out most of the
defensive line and so it's a mess. Uh, you can
see that. Coaching wise, he'll be fine. I mean he'll
He's got a good growth thing going on right now
with Derek Carr. He's getting the most out of Marshawn Lynch.
(24:45):
That's encouraging. But what happens now they get into the
second happen things fall apart on defense, And I know
John has already said it's like, hey, it's hard to
find defensive ends. Well, you had a pass rushing defensive
end right now is the m v P, say boy,
John Clayton, Joe Us on the Doug Gallup Show, what
about Chicago? Uh, the defense looks great. Rabinsky stat line
(25:05):
last game was incredible, but but there is a certain sense, Hey,
when the the Manton Naggy's um play calling, when the
preset plays run out, Nowson Rabinsky leaves a lot to
be desired. They're surprisingly really really competitive. Heck there downright good.
They're on a bye weeek to get Miami on the
road next week. What's the league saying though about Robinsky
(25:26):
now they're getting a chance to see him second time around, Well,
we're The big thing is that it's a shame that
they had to buy a week this week because he
wanted to see how much of that was Drabinsky and
how much of it was going to be the Tampa
Bay defense, which is right now the worst in football.
And so you know, because I know I was on
the sidelines for the week to Monday night game, and
I mean you can see once the script was done
fifteen to seventeen play that he was great in the script.
(25:49):
But you know it starts to fall apart. I mean,
he throws four or five yard passes and he has
to try to his accuracy seems to go. He rushes
things a little bit. Now that got right going against Tampa,
and maybe what happens is that that's the big step
that he needs to take it for the entire game.
But after the sevent team plays for the first three games,
it was very spotty. Now again, how much it was
(26:10):
the Buck's defense, how much it was Mr Mrs Robinsky.
One thing we know for sure, the combination of Mattenegi
and Trobinski ultimately is going to be a very good one.
He's great coming from Kansas City and match system. I mean,
you can see he's got the talent in Trabinsky. It's
just a matter of getting him out of the script
and doing things after the first quarter. Um, you look
at Denver and the collapse in the fourth quarter against
(26:31):
the Kann City Chiefs. It wasn't so much their defense
relenting to Pat Mahomes that you can see happening, as
Mahomes has been been immensely, immensely dominant here so far
in the season. It's their offense and you know, bringing
in case Keenum and not being able to score against
the worst defense in the sport coming in coming into
the game. How secure is Vance Joseph, a guy who
(26:53):
almost lost his job after one year last year. You know,
I think he's in a shaky situation now again. And
it was funny because you know, being there for that
game and talking to people saying, like all the Bronco
people were saying, Okay, well, tough game against the Chiefs,
but boy, if things go bad and they lose to
the Jets, that could really get the season out of control.
And I was like, what because it's a it's a
pretty good team, but I mean, you can see there's
(27:13):
definite problems on offense. I mean, case Keenum, I don't
think he's had a touchdown pass what since the first
game when he had three his interception totals because you know,
he'll tend to try to be a little bit of
a gun slinger, which he stayed away from in Minnesota
last year, but that was the interception totals about five
or six. Uh. You know, they have the running game
going and that's encouraging, but it's been inconsistent with the
(27:36):
passing game, so that has to be a concern. And
then on defense, I think what happened against the Chiefs
basically was that they fatigued. The Broncos did in the
second half, and that you can see is both a
mental fatigue and also a physical fatigue because they did
a great job of playing some soft zone in the
first two downs and really containing ter bisks. I mean,
you're controlling Pat Mahomes. He wasn't able to get the
(27:57):
ball down field, so that was encouraging. And then the
second part of it was that, uh, you know, they
he came back and they started run the ball because
they're in a soft zone. Once the running started going,
the fatigue started going in, and then he started getting
hot and moving around and he just wore them out
in the second half. Sam Bradford has now been deactivated.
He's losing money by the week. Um, Philadelphia was able
(28:18):
to flip into a first round draft pick. Any sense
that Arizona is gonna be able to move Sam Bradford
you gets something in return? No, I think it's gonna
be impossible because he's you know, you know, I know
three and twelve thousand a week is in a roster bonus,
and that's going because now he's a third string quarterback.
He's not on the active roster. But you're still talking
about a twenty million dollar contract. Now the signing going
to sport of it's already gone. But I think it's
(28:40):
gonna be tough. And then you start to wonder Okay,
what what Sam Bradford are you going to get? Are
you going to get the one that completed seventy one
of his passes at Minnesota, or you're gonna get the
one that Mike Zimmer said has a degenerative needs and
couldn't get the ball downfield with Arizona. So I think
there has to be but I think it's gonna be
hard to get value right now for Sam Um. What
about Dez? You know, he he went from kind of
(29:02):
blowing off the Browns interview, which we saw in Hard Knocks,
to openly opening for the Patriots. They brought in all
kinds of wide receivers not named Dez Bryant. Now even
went so far as to say, hey, look, my first
preference is still to go to the Dallas Cowboys, a
team he crushed on Twitter after being released. What's your
sense of whether or not Dez Bryant plays in the
NFL this year? I mean, somebody's got to sign him,
(29:22):
because he's too good of a talent not to be signed.
It's just a matter what team is going to take
what could be a potential headache, because if things don't
go right for Dez on the field, then he tends
to blow things up on the field or on the sidelines,
and so that becomes a problem. And so I mean,
is it worth taking that risk that you're going to
have some potential problems with Dez? But again, when you
(29:42):
need a receiver, uh, you you need something. I mean
you saw that the Patriots made the move and they
trade for Josh Gordon. I mean somebody, for example, you
look at a team like San Francisco. Now they're probably
not going anywhere losing their quarterback and their running back.
But let's say that they were off to a better start.
You know, with the injuries that they've had the wide
receiver position, they could have right reached out. But somebody
(30:03):
will do it. I think it just has to look
at the injury list and see who's wiped out. You know.
The one would be interesting, uh if we're following today
now it's not gonna happen this week, is that the
Packers are down potentially three wide receivers. You know, Randall
Cobbs already out to other receivers have to wait to
the market to see if they're going to be able
to play. Their top three receivers are all banged up.
If they have to carry those injuries over for a
(30:25):
week or two. Maybe that could be a team that
would consider it, but again maybe not. Yeah, and it
doesn't doesn't seem like that will happen. Dalvin Cooke, you
think he plays. I know he's gonna try and give
it a go. Minnesota once again, Uh, just crushed by injuries.
Take on the Eagles who have been a little bit
disappointed so far this year. What are you hearing about
Dalvin Cooke? Yeah, I mean he is questionable game time decision,
but I think he'll be active. But how good he's
(30:48):
going to be able to play? Because and even this
is like even from the middle of the preseason, that
burst hasn't been there yet. I mean it just seems that,
you know, he's still hasn't got the ability to really
explode yet. And so my guest would be, you know,
you bring him and have him do seven or eight
carries just to try to get him going and get
him positive. But you know it's still a question mark.
(31:10):
You know, he's been limited in practice and right now
questionable on the injury reports. Great stuff, John Clayton, go
to John Clayton Football dot com. John, thanks so much
for checking in with us. We appreciate your insight so much.
On Fox Sports Radio, hey, thank you. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
(31:31):
and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s
R to listen live. Michael Lombardi is a former general
manager of the nash Football League. I would implore you
to pick up Gridiron Genius, A master class and winning
championships and building dynasties in the National Football League. It
is on sale now. It is excellent. Um. Look, I
hadn't jumped ship, but many people had the Patriots look
(31:55):
bad against Jacksonville. They made they made Blake Borrows look
like a top five quarterback in the NFL. And I
guess we should have figured out that, hey, Miami was
a little bit fraudulent, and Indy's and he's, you know,
one of the bottom five in terms of overall talent
in the league, and they didn't have t Y Hilton
as well five other starters last night. But it feels
(32:15):
like the Patriots are figuring it out. And am I
wrong to think it's not just the opponent, it's the
Patriots getting better? Well, I think, look, you know, getting
Edelman backs a huge help. And then I haven't Josh
Gordon on the outside gives them some help they had.
You know, they lost three players last year. They lost
Brandon Cooks at sixty five catches, they lost Danni Amadona
that sixty one catches, and they lost Dion Lewis that's
(32:36):
nine hundred yards. And before Jacksonville and after Jacksonono, none
of those three guys we have been replaced. Sonny Michelle
didn't do anything he did against the Miami and he
came out last night again played well. That replaced Dion Lewis,
and then we saw Edelman come back. He'll certainly replace
the Danny Amadona, and then Josh Gordon has given him
some presence on the outside. So you know, I think
(32:58):
that's the missing piece. I think when you watch the Patriots,
it's still gonna come down to can they get better
on defense? Can they get faster? Are they gonna be
able to compete against a really good Kansas City team
that comes into town next Sunday night to face them? Mhm?
And what's the answer to that? Can you get I
mean getting faster? The answer always for the Patriots is
always about first half point differential. It's always about building
(33:21):
the league. The Patriots always have had their offense set
the tempo like it did last night. They get off
to a fast start. If they forced one punt the
game that starts to become a fourteen nothing game, and
they play from in front. And that's how they do things,
and that's how they've done it very well, and earlier
in the season. Because their offense struggled, the defensive problems
which have always been there, became magnified. And I think
(33:41):
what you saw last night, Look, the Coats might be
one and four, but there are a good one in
four team, if there is such a thing. They've been
in every game other than one last night into the
fourth quarter. They've had chances to win every game they've
played in into the fourth quarter. They're the best red zone,
the best third down team in football going there last night,
and they converted forty seven percent of them last night
without why Hilton. So I think that the Colts are
(34:02):
a good team. I think that the fact that Patriots
gave up points to him really is not a bad
omen for the Patriots. But I think their offense control
the pace and that's what it has to happen all
the time, all right. Michael Lombardi, who is an absolute
legend in the profession front office football, He's an absolute legend.
Pick up his book Gridiron Genius master Class Winning Championships
in building dynasties in the NFL. He's I mean, if
(34:23):
you go out and name the elite coaches, uh going,
you know, going back obviously to the to the the
Niner staff in the eighties dominated and change football forever.
You worked there all the way, you know, working with Belichick.
So I'm gonna ask you, Andrew Luck, your opinion number
is what I think it's coming. I think it's really
starting to come. I think the first first couple of
(34:44):
weeks of the season he didn't have it. He didn't
trust his fastball, and there were guys wide open, and
he wouldn't throw the ball in the tight windows. And
the last couple of weeks he started to throw the
ball in the tight windows. Is it back to where
it was three years ago? No? Is it going to
get there? Yeah? I hope it will. I think it's
aren't to come. I think the more strength he gets,
the more confidence he gets to his arm that he
can drive the ball in the tight windows. I think
(35:06):
you're gonna see him do it. Look, interceptions have always
been a part of Andrew lux game. He's always challenged
that edge. And I mean there's so many times when
he was having great success that you could put together
a tape of Andrew Lux dropped interceptions and it would
have tilted the balance. This kid has always taken chances,
and I think frankly, having the arm issues that he's
had has helped him not throw as many interceptions. Now.
(35:28):
He threw three last night, but I think it helped
him because he's not trying to force the ball into
tight windows. Well, but there there are some in the
media that say, man, he's so overrated. Um, you're a
front office guy. What's what is the belief in the
NFL in terms of how he's regarded. I think you
can win a Super Bowl with the player. I think
(35:48):
he's really smart. He can do things with the line
of scrimmage, he can make plays with his feet, he's
accurate with the football, and as they get better around him,
they'll be a better team. Look, they're paying a price
for the Ryan Griggson administration that happened in Indianapolis. I
mean that really wasn't very good. And you're talking to
a guy that Ryan Grigson traded a first round pick
for Trent Richardson's two. So they have not done a
good job surrounding Andrew Luck. I mean, they've made some
(36:10):
bad decisions. They didn't such the office or defensive line,
and unfortunately Andrew Lux paid a price for that with
the shoulder injury. I do think the kid's gonna come around.
I think he's gonna be a really good player. Will
he make mistakes, sure they all will, But I think
if you're gonna build a team, I think Andrew Lux
the guy you want to build a team around. Um.
I watched Monday Night Football and look, I'm with you,
I'm with everybody. I'm ma Homes and I had NFL
(36:32):
guys tell me before Mahomes, you know, broke up, broke
out this season, they were like Mahomes, what they're building
his his arm, talent, his brain, his legs, He's the
real deal. My takeaway from Monday was more Broncos got
problems there. You you know, sixty five straight times they'd
won at home with a double digit lead and going
(36:53):
against the worst defense in the sport. Case keenom can't
get can't move the ball, can't get first down, can't
get points you need to keep scoring. Is can't see
and they can't do it. Am I wrong with that?
As a takeaway? Well, you could add one more can
to that is they couldn't convert a third down in
the fourth quarter, and the Chiefs converted four of them.
So there's another cance for you. Yeah. Look, I think
if you're if you're John Alway and you're driving home,
(37:14):
and I said this on my podcast The GM Street,
if you're driving home that night after the game, you
gotta be sick to your stomach, not because you lost
the game, but the fact that Mahomes is the best
quarterback of the division and you paid eighteen million for
a guy who is essentially a backup quarterback. And the
other thing that's got to drive you absolutely crazy when
you're driving home, if you're John Elway, it's the fact
that your defense can't hold the lead. Von Miller's past
(37:36):
the quarterback every play. If you're gonna beat If the
Jacksonville Jaguars are gonna win this week and they're gonna
beat Patrick Mahomes, they're gonna do it with their rush.
You don't cover great quarterbacks. You rush great quarterbacks and
how you control them in the pocket. Your ends don't
get past the quarterback. The worst place to be in
football is two yards past the quarterback because he's yet
to turn and run that way. And against Denver, that's
(37:57):
all Denver did. They raced up the field, my homeste
stuff into the pocket, went out and threw for almost
two hundred yards when he left the pocket. Look, Jacksonville
can beat them this week, even in Kansas City, if
their rush plan is solid and discipline. Um, Michael Lombardi
joining us in the doug Otlip Show on Fox Sports Radio.
I'm hesitant on the Titans, and I'll tell you why. Yeah,
(38:20):
I watched what Jack del Rio did a couple of
years ago with the Raiders, and there was a little
bit of luck there, right, Like they went for it
on fourth down, they went you know, went for two
instead of instead of kicking extra points, and they you know,
they had kind of a magical year. Um, But am
I wrong? Is this is this Titans thing for real? Well? Look,
they haven't turned the ball over the first week of
(38:40):
the season, they did, and they've won three straight. They've
won ugly. I gotta you gotta give them credit for
mental toughness. I'm with you. I'm not buying him as
a team. I mean last week Mariota made some great
plays with the speed he can bar the fourth and fifteen,
a fourth and four. Their defense played really well against
the Carson Wentz the Eagles. They put pressure on you
know the Houston game, that made a couple of plays
(39:01):
in that game with the special teams that won the game.
I just don't know how long Listen is gonna go.
Could I see them getting upset in Buffalo? Absolutely? I
think Tennessee. The receiving corps isn't great. Corey Davis looked
like a star last week playing against the Eagles secondary,
which has often give up a lot of plays. So
I think they're gonna have to prove it to me.
To me, Tennessee is a team that's eight and eight.
They're gonna have some moments of good, They're gonna have
(39:22):
some moments of bad, and I think at the end
of the day they'll be eight and eight. Let me
ask you about the Eagles. They take on the Vikings,
and here's two teams that people thought could could both
go to the Super Bowl. Vikings invested a tony quarterback,
but they got all kinds of injuries. But the Eagles
were told, hey, when they get Carson Wentz back, all
Sean Jeffrey back, they'll be fine. Suddenly the offensive line
camp block right and then and as good as the
defensive line was and won them that Atlanta game and
(39:44):
hasn't won them more than one other games since. What's
going on in Philadelphia? I think you said it right there.
The defensive line hasn't been able to look the Eagles
defensive secondary hasn't covered anybody in two years. I don't
see why anybody can't understand this. They gave up six
d and thirteen yards and twenty six minutes to the Patriots,
yet they won the game. The Eagles have always played defense.
They played singleheaders. They played twenty six minutes, twenty seven,
(40:07):
that's all. When they have to play over thirty minutes,
they get exposed. And if their defensive line can't dominate
the game with pressure, they missed Tim Journey and badly.
If they can't dominate the game with their defensive front,
teams are gonna move the ball them. I mean el
Manning the reason he's still the quarterback in New York.
And the reason he's still they the Giants didn't draft
another quarterback this year when they had the second pick
of the draft, is because they all cited the two
(40:28):
eago games against this great Eagle defense that he lied
threw the ball against. Well, the Eagles can't cover anybody.
What they do well is rush the pastor and create turnovers.
That's what they've done. And this year they're not the
same team. In the defensive line, they missed Journey again.
The other area they're not the same is Carson Wentz
on third down. Carson Wentz last year on third down
average over nine yards per attempt. Nine yards per tempt
(40:49):
on third down, that's rare. This year he's back to five,
just slightly under six, which is the norm, and I
think that's been a problem. Um. Aaron Rodgers came out
critical of Mike McCarthy, critic of the play calling as
well as as as not getting the ball to his
more talented wide receivers. Had some drops from some of
the younger, younger guys. Does Aaron Rodgers have a legit
beef with his head coach? Well, I think oftentimes, you know,
(41:12):
the Packers have always been a young team and they
relied on some younger players without experienced I think they
need to get their core. They write rotate too many players.
I think Aaron Jones is the best running back on
their team. They need to play them and I think
time Montgomery can give him a specialty player where they
can move him around a little bit. But I think
they have to be more diversified and give the scheme
a little bit more of a chance. You know, when
you have Rogers at back a quarterback, you kind of
(41:34):
cheating the system a little bit because he's so good
at making plays with his feet, and now that he's
got the knee, he can't quite do it. It's gonna
be a tough game in Detroit. The last time they
beat the Lions. Who was on the Helm Mary on
Thursday night. The Lions play them really well, and I
think this will be a tough game for the Packers.
Michael Lombardi joining us on the Doug Gotlips Show here
on Fox Sports Radio. Huge game in Pittsburgh where the Falcons.
(41:56):
You want to talk about being competitive there one in
three and could be four, No, but you know they
failed to finish several of the games in Philadelphia couldn't
block that defensive line we talked about. Obviously, the Saints
game was one that was same with the Bengals. They
take on the Steelers, and it feels like a loser
of this game, especially Steelers at home. You lose this game, man,
(42:17):
your playoff hopes go become very very slim, especially in
a much more competitive division with the Bengals being back
and the Browns being competitive. Am I am I over
selling the importance of this game. No, not at all.
I think it's a huge game. I think the reality
here this game is the fact that the Steelers now
have lost three straight home games. They lost last year
to Jacksonville and they've lost two right now, can they
lose four? They've never lost four with like Toma their
(42:40):
nineteen and nine at home in the last few years playing,
and I think they've been more vulnerable. But I get
the sense here Atlanta's a wounded team. Grady Garrett, Grady
Garrett won't play this week to go along with a
bunch of other defensive starters. Their deepriens can't slow anyone down.
And then when you really watch Matt Ryan when he
doesn't play at home, he's not as effective as an
offensive player. I think the Steelers get get off the schnine.
(43:02):
I think right now the Falcons are a hurt team.
They are a wounded team. It has nothing to do
with anything other than the injuries that really hurt him.
Michael Lombardi. Pick up his new book. Download his podcast.
It's called GM Street, very easy to download. All of
his stuff is easily consumable, and you find that you
find yourself learning something. Thanks so much for joining us
on the Doug Otlip Show. Thanks Doug. Pleasure is all mine.
(43:24):
That's Michael Lombardio.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gotlip Show at Fox Sports Radio dot Com,
or stream us live every day on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs R. This is the best
(00:22):
of the Doug Gotli Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio, coming
to you from this sunny, wonderful city of Los Angeles, California,
where those Doyers try and go. Have two games and
(00:43):
none on the Atlanta Braves. As you may have heard
from the great Dan Buyer. Cleveland and Houston still scoreless
in Houston the bottom of the third inning. And of
course this coming a day after a Rockies come back
but then ultimately a Brewer's in playoff. Baseball is here,
Four Game Friday is here. If you like baseball, today
(01:05):
is a great day. If you don't it like, it's
like it's cool, man like, don't worry about it. Got
a great fight in m m A and UFC this
weekend We've got some awesome college football to get to,
and of course some premiere NFL games and reaction to
last night's NFL game upcoming. Let me kind of quickly
set the table for you on what on the guests
we have coming on. Man, this is a really good day.
Congrats to Cindy Katz and to Ryan Music who worked
(01:28):
together to book this show. John Middlecoff, former NFL Scout
Three and Out podcast. If you haven't heard the Three
and Out podcast, go to HERD podcast Network. You can
check out my new All Ball podcast. It's basketball and
Middlecoff does football. He's awesome, great energy, incredible insight. He'll
be joining us here in fifteen minutes. John Clayton is
gonna join us. He's got his own website going now.
(01:48):
Um and uh, of course he's got a special spot
in Pro Football Hall of Fame. John Clayton will join
us in just over an hour, and then Michael Lombardi.
So many of you text me or tweet me when
is Lombardi coming on this week? When can I learn
more about the NFL. Michael Lombardi, former GM author Scout,
will join us upcoming in the third hour of the
show to twenty West coast five twenty east coast. So
(02:11):
just stick was here. We got picks to get to.
Um you got uh some interesting discussion on Cam Newton
which comes from a Twitter suddenly Twitter beef I have
with Marcellus Wiley Kyrie is the anti Lebron will tell
you how. And the biggest game of the weekend that
might not be might not be covered, like the biggest
(02:33):
game of the weekend, but it it may be a loser,
pack your stuff, your season is over type of game
in the National Football League. Man, do we have a
lot to get to. But let's start with the obvious.
We told you so, and we didn't tell you so
because we knew how. We just knew what, right, Like
(02:53):
I couldn't tell you how if I watched two weeks ago.
I think we had Mark Slayer on two weeks ago, right,
and I was ready to hit the panic button, ready
at the panic. But I'm like, man, Tom Brady's in
his forties, all these rumors of discontent with him in Belichick. Hey,
they traded away a guy who's killing it with the
(03:16):
Rams at wide receiver and don't appear to have enough
talent at wide receiver. You don't have speed defensively, not
getting in the back. Feld like, yeah, but we have
eighteen years of data to tell us don't bail on
the Patriots. Right, we have recent history, tell us don't
bail on the Patriots. And what have they done of
(03:38):
the past two weeks in you know, in division they
thumped the Miami Dolphins and then last night they take
care of business against the Indianapolis Colts, who did cut
it to within a touchdown and then they flex their
muscles and Tom Brady through his second touchdown pass that's
his five hundred of his career. Here was Mark Slayer
(03:58):
at three times Super Bowl champion, Fox NFL and Fox
analysts two weeks ago. There's very few guys that ever
were kind of the actuators of offense that played wide
receiver in New England. It's unquestioned in my mind is
Julian Edelman. And when he does make his comeback after
his suspension, I would expect things to settle down a
(04:18):
little bit for that offense. But he is the guy
that brings energy, He's the guy that brings attitude. He's
the guy that's always you know, picking a fight. He
is that guy that guy, right, you can't the the
thing about sports that stat guy misses. And I understand
that stat guy has had a bigger role in sports
(04:41):
in the last ten years than in all the hundred
years before combined, from what the A's have done over
the last twenty five years or twenty years or so,
to what the Houston Rockets are doing to analytics now
creeping into football. Stat guy suddenly has a seat at
the table. He used to be the dorky zip popping
guy who just did rot rot. We used to be
(05:01):
called rotisserie baseball. Now fantasy guy has become analytics guy
and they have a spot at the table. But the
reason that most of them don't run the meetings, most
of them don't coach the teams. I mean, look, it's
the most interesting thing from this Red Sox Yankees series,
which is the Yankees fought Joe Girardi, their former manager,
(05:22):
tooth and nail for him to use more analytics, and
so instead they settle upon Aaron Boone who will use analytics.
But Aaron Boone was born into a baseball family. His
grandpa played, his dad played and managed, he played, his
brother played, now he's managing. He covered the game like
baseball is he was born basically on a baseball field,
(05:44):
and you're gonna take away all that inherent in ain't
knowledge and just go like, well all the numbers say this,
well like look, numbers do have a Numbers are important,
but so too are intangibles. Intangibles and you n Edelman
seven catches fifty seven yards. Those are important. But they
(06:04):
get James White going, They get Gronk six catches. Now,
Josh Gordon catches that touchdown pass, albeit it was thrown
into double coverage and frankly underthrown and he made an
incredible adjustment. They get Philip Doorset working as well. So
I think it's it's really fascinating to see the intangibles
that Edelman has, the evolution of Tom Brady within this offense.
(06:27):
How they figured out Sony Michelle can be in every
down back uh, and he can chew up some yards
and chew up some clock and give that defense which
is you can give that give that defense some time
off the football field. We didn't know how, like nobody
really knew like how they gonna go. I don't know,
like the only fallback you can have in the Patriots was, well,
(06:49):
you know, their division stinks, you know, should be pointed out.
Their next two games are against two of the elite
teams in the NFL. One the best offense in the NFL.
It's the Chiefs next Sunday night. Then they turned around.
They play on the road against the Bears, arguably the
best defense, the most dynamic pass rushing the league. And
then they get the Bills, the Packers, the Titans. They
still have some tough teams before they settle back into
(07:11):
division at home. But here are the New England Patriots,
who I mean look dead as a door nail against
the Jags, crushed by the by the Lions, who have
been utterly and completely unimpressive otherwise. At one and two,
everybody was grabbing a bucket saying, maybe this boat's got
(07:33):
a hole that is not fixable. I didn't know how
it was gonna happen. Nobody I knew knew how it
was gonna Well, the Edelman and they'll just they'll figure
it out. And sure enough, that's exactly what they have done.
They found a way to figure it out. So here's
(07:54):
what I want you to do. When when you're driving
right now and you're sitting at your desk, you're listening
to this podcast. You're going into a a meeting, or
you're you're gonna meet with some buddies tonight to watch
some baseball, tomorrow watch some college football, or maybe to
watch the Fight or maybe Sunday repeat after me. Never
(08:15):
count out the Patriots. Never count out the Patriots. Right.
This is Kansas basketball in the Big Twelve. This is
Alabama football. It's just a thing. They figure it out.
And the difference in a this in an Alabama football
(08:35):
Ittimore Kansas basketballs. No know what they look like early
in the year, Like end of the year, you're like, man,
they're gonna win their division and they're gonna be in
the playoffs. The sun rises in the East and sets
in the West, and the New England Patriots of the
team to beat in the a f C East, and
you're just gonna have to deal with probably going to
Foxboro for a playoff game if you want to get
to the Super Bowl. I know. Yeah. By the way,
(09:00):
I can't help but point out that I got into
a bit of a Twitter kerfuffle with Marcellus Wiley, a
longtime friend and now new colleague at Fox as he
wants to point out that Andrew Luck is overrated. Um,
did you watch last night? I mean, let's let's seriously
(09:21):
break down what we saw. The Indianapolis Colts have zero
talent none, They don't have talent. Their best receiving option
is Eric Ebron, who the Lions watched walk out the door.
They have no running game, that's why he throws it
so often, and they have no defense at all. They
(09:44):
should have at least tied the Titans last week, and
they were, Uh, they were at least competitive last night.
Andrew Luck, off of shoulder surgery, hadn't played in two years.
Are you aware he's leading the league in passing yards? Now,
some that is because his team stinks, but some of
that is because Andrew Luck is. He's not as good
(10:05):
as he was he was built to be. He's actually better.
He's not underrated. He's not overrated. He's underrated. Like I
get people who and this is what Marcella's tweeted was,
you know Cam Newton, guys, get onto Cam Newton and
look at Cam Newton's record, Like dude, Cam Newton plays
for a competent organization. Cam Newton played with one of
(10:28):
the top defenses in football. Cam Newton's team had been
built around offensive line. And look, Cam Newton. This isn't
the media calling out Cam Newton. If you think the
media is anti Cam Newton, the media voted him m
v P. The media voted him Heisman Trophy winner. There's
no more false narrative in the history of sports than
(10:51):
the media doesn't like Cam Newton because the media voted
him for the two most prestigious awards, one in college
and one in the NFL. So you're gonna have to
You're gonna have to try another route there. You're like, oh, well,
they're just against Like, no, not. We just realized he's
not an accurate passer. We just realized he's not great
in the red zone. You know how we realized that
because two former star wide receivers, Steve Smith, a borderline
(11:14):
Hall of Famer, and Calvin Benjamin both said the exact
same thing about playing with Cam Newton. You know, he
didn't not it's not really that accurate or that good
in the red zone and reading progressions and being accurate.
And no one's disputing any of this. No one's disputing
(11:34):
in this. Andrew Luck plays with a crumby team. He
inherited the worst team in the National Football League, a
team that had gotten completely old and that parted ways
with parts feel that well, they tried to get be
bad after when Peyton Manning was hurt. They it wasn't
just they tried to be bad. They were bad. They
(11:55):
were accomplishing their tasks. Pat Yes, I man, this is
like what they were. They weren't tanking, they were just bad.
They were awful. Their star players all got old collectively
at once, from Bob Sanders retired to the two rush
ends that they parted ways with. Edrin James was gone,
(12:18):
Peyton Manning was gone, like all the stars that had
been a dominant team for a decade, they were all gone.
And then they had a complete idiot as their general
manager and they were poorly coached outside of that. Outside
of that, Mrs Lincoln, how is the show? Need I
remind you that Chuck Pogano called a fake punt where
(12:39):
they directly snapped it to a wide receiver who was
playing under center and he was surrounded by five New
England Patriots. Do you guys remember when that happened? Their
general manager traded for Trent richardson trade a first round
picked the fourth pick in the draft. They traded for
Trent Richardson when everybody in the league knew he stunk.
(13:00):
Their intentions were to surround him with a better team
than Peyton Manning was. That's what their owners said. Hey,
you know, we we had Peyton Manning. We only got
into a couple of super Bowls. We want now, we
want to win a couple of at least a couple
with Andrew Luck. You only have guys like this ever
so often, and they've done the opposite of that. Dude,
(13:20):
they're terrible. And oh yeah, by the way, not only
are they at a talent deficit in comparison to the
Patriots were on a crazy talented team, but Frank Brek
wasn't supposed to be their head coach, Josh McDaniels was,
and their best offensive weapon outside of Luck was t
Y Hilton. He didn't play last night. They without six starters.
(13:45):
A team is not any good anyway without six starters,
including their best pass catcher. So to the Andrew Luck
is overrated. The actual answer, if you ask anybody in
the NFL, they'll say, yeah, exactly, he's underrated. He's kind
of awesome. If you thought he wouldn't come back and
throw a football why is he leading the league in
passing yards? They're actually competitive with a completely depleted roster,
(14:10):
and the media doesn't hate Cam Newton. The media voted
in m v P and Heisman Trophy winner. His own
former teammates are the ones that have taken shots at him.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug dot
Leap Show weekdays at noon eastern three pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I
told you something over the summer. I have good sources
(14:32):
in Boston, and I've never been somebody. Um, I've never
been somebody who reacts to rumors around the NBA when
I can call people in the NBA. Now, I'll admit
the people I talked to when they told me about
Kyrie Irving this summer, they're like, look, we're not gonna
sit here and tell you we know exactly what he's thinking.
(14:55):
But boy, based upon the way he acts, the things
he says to us, YE doesn't feel like he's gonna
go somewhere. Just though either he's completely duping us that
we have been we have been duped, we have been fooled,
or or here's the other possibility, um or He's not
(15:18):
going anywhere. He loves the professionalism, he loves playing for Brad.
He plays for the best GM in the NBA. They
got a chance to win a couple of championships, a
coach who everyone knows can do it, players around him,
and they've got young guys who are gonna get better.
They're not gonna get worse barring injury. The Celtics are
the favorite to come out of the East. That puts
(15:39):
him head up with a team like the Warriors, and
the Warriors have a ton of decisions to make this offseason,
and the only decision to make this offseason for the
Celtics is is Kyrie coming back? Take a listen to
what Kyrie Irving said on on the court at Boston
Garden yesterday during their FanFest. It's quite important, and uh,
(16:00):
I'm I appreciate scout, but I shared it with some
of my teammates as well as the organization and everyone
else in Boston. You guys will have me back. I've
planned on re signing here next year. You guys didn't
play the crowd noise, you didn't play the reaction. Ramos
Rama was like Ramos is at old time Laker fan
he just can't take it. He cut out the reaction.
(16:24):
But but this is where Kyrie Irving is, Hey, I
learned from the Lebron thing. I'm not doing the Lebron thing.
People ask all the time, like why would you leave
Lebron when you had a chance to win a championship?
And the reason, the reasons are pretty obvious. He knew
Lebron was going. He was tired of playing on lebronze team.
(16:46):
And every year you end up having to answer questions
about what's Lebron gonna do in this offseason. It becomes
tiredsome and tedious, and you can't just go to work
and play basketball. It's hard enough to win as it is.
It's even it's it's made more difficult when you have
to answer questions. And I think Lebron has even learned
from that, like man I gotta sign, learned from contract,
I guess stop fooling around with the Lakers. Don't pull
(17:07):
around with the Lakers because people just don't love that.
They just don't love the every year free agency thing,
every year discussion. And so Kyrie Irving coming off his
knee being cleaned up, and for people who don't know,
remember when he broke his kneecap. This is like four
years ago in the NBA Finals in game one, right,
(17:29):
they had already lost Kevin Love in a game against
the Celtics. They're playing against They're playing against the Warriors
in the finals. It goes to overtime and his kneecap breaks.
Remember that, Well, part of the surgery to fix the
kneecap was he had three screws put into his knee
and then it was kind of held together by this
mesh wiring. And at first last year, the mesh wiring
(17:53):
was irritating his skin and he just felt like it
was a nuisance and of pain. They took the mesh
wiring out and it was there was still something wrong
with the knee. They found out that one of the screws,
maybe two of the screws were infected. They had to
get him out immediately because if it becomes into bone
becomes infected, now you could your knee cap can break apart,
become brittle, and now you never play again. So it
(18:16):
was just more precautionary clean out move. And you combine
that with Gordon Hayward being out. They went to the
NBA NBA West Eastern Conference Finals Game seven without him
without Hey, we're there two best players. So I told
you guys this summer. I mean, all I've heard is
he's super happy there, loves the professionalism, loves that guys
(18:39):
show up to they have practice, whereas they weren't practicing
in Cleveland last year, didn't practice that much in previous years.
There is no turnstyle at head coach. There is no
players making decision as head coach. There's just young talent
guys get after and he's kind of the alpha with
the basketball now. It doesn't mean that it's officially official.
This is more like Facebook official, but committing and saying
(19:02):
like hey, I'm I told everybody I'm coming back if
you'll have me. That's as close to it as you get.
And that's Kyrie Irving saying we're not gonna talk about
that this year. I've learned from what it's like to
play on teams where people don't know what their stars
are gonna do in the offseason, and that's just tiresome, tedious,
and I don't have the energy to go rebuild this
(19:23):
idea that you have to get to New York, that
Kyrie wants to get to New York, and have his
own team. Why when I'm in Boston, better franchise, better GM,
you know, more proven coach. Even though everybody loves David Fizdale,
I don't need to move. Let guys come to me.
I think it's pretty smart. I think it's pretty smart.
(19:43):
Be sure to catch live editions so the Doug dot
Leap Show week days at noon eastern three pm Pacific.
He's an absolute legend in the business. When the all
time great NFL Insiders with John Clayton, go to John
Clayton football dot com if you want to learn more
than he's gonna teach us over the next tend to
fifteen minutes or so. John, thanks so much for spending time.
(20:04):
Among the things that people should know about. You are
a native of Pittsburgh. I believe that's I believe where
you that's where you cut your teeth. And I look
at this weekend, I'm like, man, another home game against
the Falcons team that's probably better than their record. I
don't know if you go must win this orly in
the season, but one three and one in that division
where the Browns are suddenly competitive is not a great
(20:26):
way to start. How important do you think this Sunday's
game is No, it's vital, I mean, because what they
haven't won a home game since last year, and now
you're gonna lose I mean, they lose a home game
to Baltimore. Now you know they could lose this one.
I mean, and right now the season is going right
down to dumpster. I mean you look at all the
problems that they have. I mean, Levian Bill's not gonna
show up to a week seven, which is a bye
(20:48):
week that really helps them out. Then they've got Ben
Roethlisberger really not getting in sync for a hundred yard
game yet with Antonio Brown, James Washington, the number three
receiver has not really you know, stepped up after our
great preseason. That's not going well. And then the defense
has been just carved up. So No, at one two
and one, they dropped to one three and one. I
mean there's the potential now that they could be two
(21:10):
and a half games behind two teams in the division
and their seasons rapidly firing away. You have more insight
than most anybody who covers the sport. John Clayton joining
us in the Doug Allip Show, Levan apparently told guys
in the offense. I'll be there week one of the season.
That's why they were so mad when he didn't show up,
and then his agent league doubt. Week ten is more
(21:31):
like it now of a sudden, it's week seven. Why
the change? Ah, Well, I mean, first off, he had
to come in because he needed to get a year
vested to make to make sure that you know, they
can just repeat with the franchise tank and he really
just loses a year of service and that so he
had to do something, whether it's coming in in November
with six games remaining or coming in and so I
think here's his tact on this uh and again it's
(21:53):
not a great one, but it's one that he's doing.
So do you think you could come in week seven
or eight? The team has a exemption and on you
for two weeks, so you can still get an eight
hundred and fifty dollar paycheck if they wish for not
doing anything, then you come in. If you have to play,
then you're instead of getting four hundred carries, which he
feared would beat down his body, now you're maybe getting
(22:15):
a little over two hundred to two hundred and fifty
touches a game or a season for the rest of
the year. So that's the strategy there, and why seven
and eight, Hey, that's right where the trade deadline is.
And so now you get there in time, sign your
contract and if they want to move you or you
want to be moved again not limited number of teams
that will be involved, then that could happen. So that
I think is a strategy, you know, one to save
(22:37):
his body, get less touches, and then see if he
can touch off some kind of a trade. John, do
you think that he will be traded? No, I don't
I think I mean, yeah, he is a possibility. I
think there's interest in Philadelphia, there's interest in the Jets,
but there's very few teams that could really fit him
into the cap and there's not a lot of teams
right now looking for running backs, and so those would
(22:58):
be the only two and I'd don't think either one
would be able to offer something satisfactory to the Steelers.
So in the end, and again you know, they can
may take the tact at that time. If they're sitting
there with a two two, four and one record, maybe
they'll say, Okay, we'll give a little bit of a
discount sale and just move on. Because at this stage.
The only thing they'll be able to get for Leviianville
(23:18):
after this season is a third round compensatory pick in
two thousand twenty. John Clayton joining us in the Doug
Outlive Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Um, look, I
think the Raiders thing is is fascinating. There's been a
lot of negativity from fans around the league over dealing
Khalil Mack, but that comes after people in the league said, well,
(23:39):
they never get two first round picks for Cluemack, and
they did. Gruden seems to be taking a long term
approach while kind of while undercutting Reggie Mackenzie's power and
some of the moves he's made in the past. What's
your take on what's going on in Oakland. Yeah, I mean,
I think this is the fear. I think when you
have a coach as the main guy acquiring talent, I mean,
it becomes to see and you can see how messy
(24:01):
it is. I'm and even got messy this week when
basically he threw Reggie Mackenzie under the bus by saying, well,
he took two safeties in each of the last second
round or two years ago, and the first rounder. Uh,
you know, the last year and now, uh, they he
wanted Derwin James, and Derwin James is having a great
season with the Los Angeles Chargers, and so you have that,
and then you have a roster right now with fourteen
(24:23):
to fifteen guys in their thirties. And now the complaint is, boy,
there's not a lot of speed on defense. Well, duh,
you don't have a lot of youth on defense. They've
had injuries that have really wiped out most of the
defensive line and so it's a mess. Uh, you can
see that. Coaching wise, he'll be fine. I mean he'll
He's got a good growth thing going on right now
with Derek Carr. He's getting the most out of Marshawn Lynch.
(24:45):
That's encouraging. But what happens now they get into the
second happen things fall apart on defense, And I know
John has already said it's like, hey, it's hard to
find defensive ends. Well, you had a pass rushing defensive
end right now is the m v P, say boy,
John Clayton, Joe Us on the Doug Gallup Show, what
about Chicago? Uh, the defense looks great. Rabinsky stat line
(25:05):
last game was incredible, but but there is a certain sense, Hey,
when the the Manton Naggy's um play calling, when the
preset plays run out, Nowson Rabinsky leaves a lot to
be desired. They're surprisingly really really competitive. Heck there downright good.
They're on a bye weeek to get Miami on the
road next week. What's the league saying though about Robinsky
(25:26):
now they're getting a chance to see him second time around, Well,
we're The big thing is that it's a shame that
they had to buy a week this week because he
wanted to see how much of that was Drabinsky and
how much of it was going to be the Tampa
Bay defense, which is right now the worst in football.
And so you know, because I know I was on
the sidelines for the week to Monday night game, and
I mean you can see once the script was done
fifteen to seventeen play that he was great in the script.
(25:49):
But you know it starts to fall apart. I mean,
he throws four or five yard passes and he has
to try to his accuracy seems to go. He rushes
things a little bit. Now that got right going against Tampa,
and maybe what happens is that that's the big step
that he needs to take it for the entire game.
But after the sevent team plays for the first three games,
it was very spotty. Now again, how much it was
(26:10):
the Buck's defense, how much it was Mr Mrs Robinsky.
One thing we know for sure, the combination of Mattenegi
and Trobinski ultimately is going to be a very good one.
He's great coming from Kansas City and match system. I mean,
you can see he's got the talent in Trabinsky. It's
just a matter of getting him out of the script
and doing things after the first quarter. Um, you look
at Denver and the collapse in the fourth quarter against
(26:31):
the Kann City Chiefs. It wasn't so much their defense
relenting to Pat Mahomes that you can see happening, as
Mahomes has been been immensely, immensely dominant here so far
in the season. It's their offense and you know, bringing
in case Keenum and not being able to score against
the worst defense in the sport coming in coming into
the game. How secure is Vance Joseph, a guy who
(26:53):
almost lost his job after one year last year. You know,
I think he's in a shaky situation now again. And
it was funny because you know, being there for that
game and talking to people saying, like all the Bronco
people were saying, Okay, well, tough game against the Chiefs,
but boy, if things go bad and they lose to
the Jets, that could really get the season out of control.
And I was like, what because it's a it's a
pretty good team, but I mean, you can see there's
(27:13):
definite problems on offense. I mean, case Keenum, I don't
think he's had a touchdown pass what since the first
game when he had three his interception totals because you know,
he'll tend to try to be a little bit of
a gun slinger, which he stayed away from in Minnesota
last year, but that was the interception totals about five
or six. Uh. You know, they have the running game
going and that's encouraging, but it's been inconsistent with the
(27:36):
passing game, so that has to be a concern. And
then on defense, I think what happened against the Chiefs
basically was that they fatigued. The Broncos did in the
second half, and that you can see is both a
mental fatigue and also a physical fatigue because they did
a great job of playing some soft zone in the
first two downs and really containing ter bisks. I mean,
you're controlling Pat Mahomes. He wasn't able to get the
(27:57):
ball down field, so that was encouraging. And then the
second part of it was that, uh, you know, they
he came back and they started run the ball because
they're in a soft zone. Once the running started going,
the fatigue started going in, and then he started getting
hot and moving around and he just wore them out
in the second half. Sam Bradford has now been deactivated.
He's losing money by the week. Um, Philadelphia was able
(28:18):
to flip into a first round draft pick. Any sense
that Arizona is gonna be able to move Sam Bradford
you gets something in return? No, I think it's gonna
be impossible because he's you know, you know, I know
three and twelve thousand a week is in a roster bonus,
and that's going because now he's a third string quarterback.
He's not on the active roster. But you're still talking
about a twenty million dollar contract. Now the signing going
to sport of it's already gone. But I think it's
(28:40):
gonna be tough. And then you start to wonder Okay,
what what Sam Bradford are you going to get? Are
you going to get the one that completed seventy one
of his passes at Minnesota, or you're gonna get the
one that Mike Zimmer said has a degenerative needs and
couldn't get the ball downfield with Arizona. So I think
there has to be but I think it's gonna be
hard to get value right now for Sam Um. What
about Dez? You know, he he went from kind of
(29:02):
blowing off the Browns interview, which we saw in Hard Knocks,
to openly opening for the Patriots. They brought in all
kinds of wide receivers not named Dez Bryant. Now even
went so far as to say, hey, look, my first
preference is still to go to the Dallas Cowboys, a
team he crushed on Twitter after being released. What's your
sense of whether or not Dez Bryant plays in the
NFL this year? I mean, somebody's got to sign him,
(29:22):
because he's too good of a talent not to be signed.
It's just a matter what team is going to take
what could be a potential headache, because if things don't
go right for Dez on the field, then he tends
to blow things up on the field or on the sidelines,
and so that becomes a problem. And so I mean,
is it worth taking that risk that you're going to
have some potential problems with Dez? But again, when you
(29:42):
need a receiver, uh, you you need something. I mean
you saw that the Patriots made the move and they
trade for Josh Gordon. I mean somebody, for example, you
look at a team like San Francisco. Now they're probably
not going anywhere losing their quarterback and their running back.
But let's say that they were off to a better start.
You know, with the injuries that they've had the wide
receiver position, they could have right reached out. But somebody
(30:03):
will do it. I think it just has to look
at the injury list and see who's wiped out. You know.
The one would be interesting, uh if we're following today
now it's not gonna happen this week, is that the
Packers are down potentially three wide receivers. You know, Randall
Cobbs already out to other receivers have to wait to
the market to see if they're going to be able
to play. Their top three receivers are all banged up.
If they have to carry those injuries over for a
(30:25):
week or two. Maybe that could be a team that
would consider it, but again maybe not. Yeah, and it
doesn't doesn't seem like that will happen. Dalvin Cooke, you
think he plays. I know he's gonna try and give
it a go. Minnesota once again, Uh, just crushed by injuries.
Take on the Eagles who have been a little bit
disappointed so far this year. What are you hearing about
Dalvin Cooke? Yeah, I mean he is questionable game time decision,
but I think he'll be active. But how good he's
(30:48):
going to be able to play? Because and even this
is like even from the middle of the preseason, that
burst hasn't been there yet. I mean it just seems that,
you know, he's still hasn't got the ability to really
explode yet. And so my guest would be, you know,
you bring him and have him do seven or eight
carries just to try to get him going and get
him positive. But you know it's still a question mark.
(31:10):
You know, he's been limited in practice and right now
questionable on the injury reports. Great stuff, John Clayton, go
to John Clayton Football dot com. John, thanks so much
for checking in with us. We appreciate your insight so much.
On Fox Sports Radio, hey, thank you. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
(31:31):
and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s
R to listen live. Michael Lombardi is a former general
manager of the nash Football League. I would implore you
to pick up Gridiron Genius, A master class and winning
championships and building dynasties in the National Football League. It
is on sale now. It is excellent. Um. Look, I
hadn't jumped ship, but many people had the Patriots look
(31:55):
bad against Jacksonville. They made they made Blake Borrows look
like a top five quarterback in the NFL. And I
guess we should have figured out that, hey, Miami was
a little bit fraudulent, and Indy's and he's, you know,
one of the bottom five in terms of overall talent
in the league, and they didn't have t Y Hilton
as well five other starters last night. But it feels
(32:15):
like the Patriots are figuring it out. And am I
wrong to think it's not just the opponent, it's the
Patriots getting better? Well, I think, look, you know, getting
Edelman backs a huge help. And then I haven't Josh
Gordon on the outside gives them some help they had.
You know, they lost three players last year. They lost
Brandon Cooks at sixty five catches, they lost Danni Amadona
that sixty one catches, and they lost Dion Lewis that's
(32:36):
nine hundred yards. And before Jacksonville and after Jacksonono, none
of those three guys we have been replaced. Sonny Michelle
didn't do anything he did against the Miami and he
came out last night again played well. That replaced Dion Lewis,
and then we saw Edelman come back. He'll certainly replace
the Danny Amadona, and then Josh Gordon has given him
some presence on the outside. So you know, I think
(32:58):
that's the missing piece. I think when you watch the Patriots,
it's still gonna come down to can they get better
on defense? Can they get faster? Are they gonna be
able to compete against a really good Kansas City team
that comes into town next Sunday night to face them? Mhm?
And what's the answer to that? Can you get I
mean getting faster? The answer always for the Patriots is
always about first half point differential. It's always about building
(33:21):
the league. The Patriots always have had their offense set
the tempo like it did last night. They get off
to a fast start. If they forced one punt the
game that starts to become a fourteen nothing game, and
they play from in front. And that's how they do things,
and that's how they've done it very well, and earlier
in the season. Because their offense struggled, the defensive problems
which have always been there, became magnified. And I think
(33:41):
what you saw last night, Look, the Coats might be
one and four, but there are a good one in
four team, if there is such a thing. They've been
in every game other than one last night into the
fourth quarter. They've had chances to win every game they've
played in into the fourth quarter. They're the best red zone,
the best third down team in football going there last night,
and they converted forty seven percent of them last night
without why Hilton. So I think that the Colts are
(34:02):
a good team. I think that the fact that Patriots
gave up points to him really is not a bad
omen for the Patriots. But I think their offense control
the pace and that's what it has to happen all
the time, all right. Michael Lombardi, who is an absolute
legend in the profession front office football, He's an absolute legend.
Pick up his book Gridiron Genius master Class Winning Championships
in building dynasties in the NFL. He's I mean, if
(34:23):
you go out and name the elite coaches, uh going,
you know, going back obviously to the to the the
Niner staff in the eighties dominated and change football forever.
You worked there all the way, you know, working with Belichick.
So I'm gonna ask you, Andrew Luck, your opinion number
is what I think it's coming. I think it's really
starting to come. I think the first first couple of
(34:44):
weeks of the season he didn't have it. He didn't
trust his fastball, and there were guys wide open, and
he wouldn't throw the ball in the tight windows. And
the last couple of weeks he started to throw the
ball in the tight windows. Is it back to where
it was three years ago? No? Is it going to
get there? Yeah? I hope it will. I think it's
aren't to come. I think the more strength he gets,
the more confidence he gets to his arm that he
can drive the ball in the tight windows. I think
(35:06):
you're gonna see him do it. Look, interceptions have always
been a part of Andrew lux game. He's always challenged
that edge. And I mean there's so many times when
he was having great success that you could put together
a tape of Andrew Lux dropped interceptions and it would
have tilted the balance. This kid has always taken chances,
and I think frankly, having the arm issues that he's
had has helped him not throw as many interceptions. Now.
(35:28):
He threw three last night, but I think it helped
him because he's not trying to force the ball into
tight windows. Well, but there there are some in the
media that say, man, he's so overrated. Um, you're a
front office guy. What's what is the belief in the
NFL in terms of how he's regarded. I think you
can win a Super Bowl with the player. I think
(35:48):
he's really smart. He can do things with the line
of scrimmage, he can make plays with his feet, he's
accurate with the football, and as they get better around him,
they'll be a better team. Look, they're paying a price
for the Ryan Griggson administration that happened in Indianapolis. I
mean that really wasn't very good. And you're talking to
a guy that Ryan Grigson traded a first round pick
for Trent Richardson's two. So they have not done a
good job surrounding Andrew Luck. I mean, they've made some
(36:10):
bad decisions. They didn't such the office or defensive line,
and unfortunately Andrew Lux paid a price for that with
the shoulder injury. I do think the kid's gonna come around.
I think he's gonna be a really good player. Will
he make mistakes, sure they all will, But I think
if you're gonna build a team, I think Andrew Lux
the guy you want to build a team around. Um.
I watched Monday Night Football and look, I'm with you,
I'm with everybody. I'm ma Homes and I had NFL
(36:32):
guys tell me before Mahomes, you know, broke up, broke
out this season, they were like Mahomes, what they're building
his his arm, talent, his brain, his legs, He's the
real deal. My takeaway from Monday was more Broncos got
problems there. You you know, sixty five straight times they'd
won at home with a double digit lead and going
(36:53):
against the worst defense in the sport. Case keenom can't
get can't move the ball, can't get first down, can't
get points you need to keep scoring. Is can't see
and they can't do it. Am I wrong with that?
As a takeaway? Well, you could add one more can
to that is they couldn't convert a third down in
the fourth quarter, and the Chiefs converted four of them.
So there's another cance for you. Yeah. Look, I think
if you're if you're John Alway and you're driving home,
(37:14):
and I said this on my podcast The GM Street,
if you're driving home that night after the game, you
gotta be sick to your stomach, not because you lost
the game, but the fact that Mahomes is the best
quarterback of the division and you paid eighteen million for
a guy who is essentially a backup quarterback. And the
other thing that's got to drive you absolutely crazy when
you're driving home, if you're John Elway, it's the fact
that your defense can't hold the lead. Von Miller's past
(37:36):
the quarterback every play. If you're gonna beat If the
Jacksonville Jaguars are gonna win this week and they're gonna
beat Patrick Mahomes, they're gonna do it with their rush.
You don't cover great quarterbacks. You rush great quarterbacks and
how you control them in the pocket. Your ends don't
get past the quarterback. The worst place to be in
football is two yards past the quarterback because he's yet
to turn and run that way. And against Denver, that's
(37:57):
all Denver did. They raced up the field, my homeste
stuff into the pocket, went out and threw for almost
two hundred yards when he left the pocket. Look, Jacksonville
can beat them this week, even in Kansas City, if
their rush plan is solid and discipline. Um, Michael Lombardi
joining us in the doug Otlip Show on Fox Sports Radio.
I'm hesitant on the Titans, and I'll tell you why. Yeah,
(38:20):
I watched what Jack del Rio did a couple of
years ago with the Raiders, and there was a little
bit of luck there, right, Like they went for it
on fourth down, they went you know, went for two
instead of instead of kicking extra points, and they you know,
they had kind of a magical year. Um, But am
I wrong? Is this is this Titans thing for real? Well? Look,
they haven't turned the ball over the first week of
(38:40):
the season, they did, and they've won three straight. They've
won ugly. I gotta you gotta give them credit for
mental toughness. I'm with you. I'm not buying him as
a team. I mean last week Mariota made some great
plays with the speed he can bar the fourth and fifteen,
a fourth and four. Their defense played really well against
the Carson Wentz the Eagles. They put pressure on you
know the Houston game, that made a couple of plays
(39:01):
in that game with the special teams that won the game.
I just don't know how long Listen is gonna go.
Could I see them getting upset in Buffalo? Absolutely? I
think Tennessee. The receiving corps isn't great. Corey Davis looked
like a star last week playing against the Eagles secondary,
which has often give up a lot of plays. So
I think they're gonna have to prove it to me.
To me, Tennessee is a team that's eight and eight.
They're gonna have some moments of good, They're gonna have
(39:22):
some moments of bad, and I think at the end
of the day they'll be eight and eight. Let me
ask you about the Eagles. They take on the Vikings,
and here's two teams that people thought could could both
go to the Super Bowl. Vikings invested a tony quarterback,
but they got all kinds of injuries. But the Eagles
were told, hey, when they get Carson Wentz back, all
Sean Jeffrey back, they'll be fine. Suddenly the offensive line
camp block right and then and as good as the
defensive line was and won them that Atlanta game and
(39:44):
hasn't won them more than one other games since. What's
going on in Philadelphia? I think you said it right there.
The defensive line hasn't been able to look the Eagles
defensive secondary hasn't covered anybody in two years. I don't
see why anybody can't understand this. They gave up six
d and thirteen yards and twenty six minutes to the Patriots,
yet they won the game. The Eagles have always played defense.
They played singleheaders. They played twenty six minutes, twenty seven,
(40:07):
that's all. When they have to play over thirty minutes,
they get exposed. And if their defensive line can't dominate
the game with pressure, they missed Tim Journey and badly.
If they can't dominate the game with their defensive front,
teams are gonna move the ball them. I mean el
Manning the reason he's still the quarterback in New York.
And the reason he's still they the Giants didn't draft
another quarterback this year when they had the second pick
of the draft, is because they all cited the two
(40:28):
eago games against this great Eagle defense that he lied
threw the ball against. Well, the Eagles can't cover anybody.
What they do well is rush the pastor and create turnovers.
That's what they've done. And this year they're not the
same team. In the defensive line, they missed Journey again.
The other area they're not the same is Carson Wentz
on third down. Carson Wentz last year on third down
average over nine yards per attempt. Nine yards per tempt
(40:49):
on third down, that's rare. This year he's back to five,
just slightly under six, which is the norm, and I
think that's been a problem. Um. Aaron Rodgers came out
critical of Mike McCarthy, critic of the play calling as
well as as as not getting the ball to his
more talented wide receivers. Had some drops from some of
the younger, younger guys. Does Aaron Rodgers have a legit
beef with his head coach? Well, I think oftentimes, you know,
(41:12):
the Packers have always been a young team and they
relied on some younger players without experienced I think they
need to get their core. They write rotate too many players.
I think Aaron Jones is the best running back on
their team. They need to play them and I think
time Montgomery can give him a specialty player where they
can move him around a little bit. But I think
they have to be more diversified and give the scheme
a little bit more of a chance. You know, when
you have Rogers at back a quarterback, you kind of
(41:34):
cheating the system a little bit because he's so good
at making plays with his feet, and now that he's
got the knee, he can't quite do it. It's gonna
be a tough game in Detroit. The last time they
beat the Lions. Who was on the Helm Mary on
Thursday night. The Lions play them really well, and I
think this will be a tough game for the Packers.
Michael Lombardi joining us on the Doug Gotlips Show here
on Fox Sports Radio. Huge game in Pittsburgh where the Falcons.
(41:56):
You want to talk about being competitive there one in
three and could be four, No, but you know they
failed to finish several of the games in Philadelphia couldn't
block that defensive line we talked about. Obviously, the Saints
game was one that was same with the Bengals. They
take on the Steelers, and it feels like a loser
of this game, especially Steelers at home. You lose this game, man,
(42:17):
your playoff hopes go become very very slim, especially in
a much more competitive division with the Bengals being back
and the Browns being competitive. Am I am I over
selling the importance of this game. No, not at all.
I think it's a huge game. I think the reality
here this game is the fact that the Steelers now
have lost three straight home games. They lost last year
to Jacksonville and they've lost two right now, can they
lose four? They've never lost four with like Toma their
(42:40):
nineteen and nine at home in the last few years playing,
and I think they've been more vulnerable. But I get
the sense here Atlanta's a wounded team. Grady Garrett, Grady
Garrett won't play this week to go along with a
bunch of other defensive starters. Their deepriens can't slow anyone down.
And then when you really watch Matt Ryan when he
doesn't play at home, he's not as effective as an
offensive player. I think the Steelers get get off the schnine.
(43:02):
I think right now the Falcons are a hurt team.
They are a wounded team. It has nothing to do
with anything other than the injuries that really hurt him.
Michael Lombardi. Pick up his new book. Download his podcast.
It's called GM Street, very easy to download. All of
his stuff is easily consumable, and you find that you
find yourself learning something. Thanks so much for joining us
on the Doug Otlip Show. Thanks Doug. Pleasure is all mine.
(43:24):
That's Michael Lombardio.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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