December 20, 2018 • 44 mins
Doug thinks the Patriots will ultimately be fine without Josh Gordon after he’s placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List once again. He also tells you why Nick Saban will probably never return to the NFL. Celtics head coach Brad Stevens joins the show and tells Doug what Eastern conference is like without LeBron James.
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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
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for The Doug Gottlieb 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 gottli Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom
Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Getting you
ready for the Holiday season, Man, I hope you're well.
M m m m m m m. You know every
(00:48):
year we get ready for the NFL Draft, for the
NBA Draft, and people say red flag, go here, the
red flags. You know, it's too much red flags, too
much investigation about people. Can you play a Kenyan? Not play?
We have become very much a pro player, anti establishment society.
I say this all the time. It starts in school.
(01:10):
Johnny comes home with a bad report. Wow, the teacher.
The teacher is out to get him. Something wrong with
the teacher, like no, maybe it's and and a lot
of it is. We think a bad report for Johnny
reflects poorly upon us, or maybe we thought we were
mistreated when we were students. All right, we don't like Congress,
(01:31):
we don't ever like the president. Well it's this president
of the previous one. Like one of the amazing things
about this president, however polarizing, is he is uh the
previous president who was somehow equally polarizing in spite of
the fact he didn't use nearly as insightful of tweets
or language at all. Like we we quickly forget that
(01:51):
there were a group of people who just didn't like
the dude. But part of it is we don't like
anybody in power. We don't like the NBA and fell commission.
We like the NBA commissioner, but that's only because we
feel like he does everything that the players want him
to do. So part of it, like, look, we have
a we have an issue with people in power and
(02:13):
how we handle that. I've even seen when Josh Gordon
essentially removed from the league today for some sort of
issue with their substance abuse policy. I've seen people Mike
Florio from Pro Football Talk, Oh, it's just the arcane
philosophy of the NFL, Like, are you kidding me, the
dude is an addict. The dude has a problem. I
(02:36):
don't know if it's weed. I don't know if it's drinking,
I don't know if it's drugs. Like it's It's one
of the most mind blowing, stupid tweets of all time
to throw some sort of support behind Josh Gordon because
he may have gotten popped for weed. Do I think weed,
(02:57):
which is legal in most states, should be something we
test four in the NFL? Probably not. But it's different
when an addict who's had mental health issues test positive
for something that's illegal. He knew he was a sip
of beer, a smoke of a joint, a Papa pill
away from being out of the league, and now he is,
(03:20):
and I get that there's a freak out factor. Well,
don't buy Bergreen bananas. Canceled Christmas. The Patriots aren't winning
a Super Bowl. Okay, it's possible that the Patriots super
Bowl hopes disappeared with Josh Gordon, who had four catches
a game, but last year they did it without Julian Edelman.
(03:43):
They got all the way to the Super Bowl, and
then in the Super Bowl, Brandon Cook's got a concussion
barely played. Do you know how many times the Patriots
punted in the Super Bowl? Not one? Right, I'm not
telling you anything that you don't know. I'm just recycling
your memory. And does Gronk appear to be slow? Yeah,
(04:09):
he's not the same. It should be pointed out that
Jason Witten was far slower. Antonio Gates has been slow
for years and still really effective. So while it changes
the Patriots, it doesn't eliminate them, like in in a vacuum.
The Patriots just lost a game where Tom Brady looked
(04:29):
old and the offense looked to not have enough weapons.
But for the playoffs, they will have Edelman, they will
have Gronkowski, they will have Sony Michelle, they will have Brady,
and their defense isn't terrible. And you're talking about the
a f C. And in the a f C you
got the Texans, who they've already beaten and we've just
beaten at home by the Colts. You'll probably have the Colts.
(04:52):
You're gonna have the Chargers, who are are the opposite
of everybody else. They're getting healthy, but they're still the Chargers, right,
They're still we until proven otherwise, they're the Chargers. I'm
the Kancity Chiefs without their start running back and Sammy Watkins.
Oh yeah, by the way, their their defense isn't any good.
So in a vacuum, the Patriots have major, major issues,
(05:17):
But the world doesn't occur in a vacuum. They had
the Dolphins beaten, and yeah they lost to the Titans
and the Steelers on the road, but they got the
Bills and the Jets are gonna end up with eleven
wins on the season, and they'll still have most of
their top past catching threats they picked up at Josh Gordon.
(05:37):
They traded for a Josh Gordon, knowing full well that
there were red flags galore, but they did so because
they needed another pass catcher. They needed anybody. There was
a sense of desperation a little bit there, and maybe
they thought they could save him, and turns out they can't.
He can't be saved. Like the Kancity He used to
(06:00):
do the same thing two weeks ago when they signed
Kelvin Benjamin. Benjamin was jettison from Carolina. Then he got
cut from the Buffalo Bills. Like, man, you got cut
from the Buffalo Bills. Damn, you gotta be terrible to
get cut from the Buffalo Bills. They did, and he's
on the street and they're like, yeah, you know, he's
(06:20):
one cupcake away from being a tight end. He can't
break free. But at this point in the season they
needed just another body, another warm body who could catch footballs.
So like, look, we always talk about red flags occur
for a reason. And while society may tell you that's
just the man doing too much research, this is why.
(06:42):
Because fame and financial success can be really hard to
handle for some guys. Whether they like to drink too much,
like to smoke too much, like the party too much.
This is exactly what what can happen. But the Patriots
knew this was the risk. It was a risk that
they knew full well was worth taking. They hadn't gotten
(07:04):
to Josh Gordon in terms of he wasn't necessarily good
enough and oh yeah, by the way, drafting or signing
a guy, a lot of it's about trust. I have
a friend who I played for a for an addict
in college. Eddie Sutton isn't isn't he was addicted to alcohol.
(07:25):
He's an alcoholic. This is not earth shattering stuff, But
I have I have friends like why you just can't
trust an addict, because an addict is addicted to that
substance and they will do anything. It's because their brain,
because some sort of chemical imbalance that causes them to
be addicted. Now I have a different view of it
because I do think that there are ways in which
(07:46):
you can you can help fix addiction, or maybe not fix,
but you can remedy them, like, look, this is the
risk you run and trying to do it on the fly.
When he'd spent years away from football and he wasn't
the same since he got back. That's why he getting
beaten up. So I know today is an easy day
(08:06):
to pounce on the New England Patriots. They didn't lose
their best pass catcher. They didn't lose some sort of
game breaker. He was a pet project. And guys eat themselves,
drink themselves. You know, some guys have. Some guys liked
women too much. It gets them out. Something will get
(08:27):
plenty of talented guys out of the league. And they
rolled the dice. And the thing about dice is sometimes
you know the odds are not in your favor, and
they weren't here. And they got a lot out of
Josh Gordon. They got forty catches out of Josh Gordon
on sixty eight targets. He got three touchdown passes. But
(08:48):
let's not kid ourselves. He caught three touchdown passes. He
was the guy they thought could take the top off
the defense, and the Pittsburgh Deals did not double team him,
and he could not make them pay over the weekend.
We know his value, so they'll have to find a
way to use Corderell Patterson and Philip Dorset and Chris
(09:08):
Hogan and Rob Gronkowski and James White and Julian Edelman
and Sony Michelle and you know what, I'm not gonna
bet against them because they lost Josh Gordon, who wasn't
on their team to start the year, won't be on
their team to finish the year. Do you know why?
Because last year they didn't punt in the Super Bowl
in spite of the fact they didn't have Julian Edelman
all season long, and they lost Brandon Cooks in the
first quarter. History is on the side of the Patriots
(09:33):
and the world doesn't occur in a vacuum. The Kansi
Chiefs lost the league's leading rusher from last year. They're
not the They're not the only team that's dealing with lost,
dealing with injuries, and having to make things up on
the fly. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Doug Dot Leap Show weekdays in noon eastern three pm
(09:54):
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio App.
I don't think Saban wants wants the NFL thing. I
could be wrong, um, but I don't think he wants
the NFL thing. I think he wants. I think he
likes what he does. I think there's an energy to
young people. There's an energy to recruiting, to turning over
(10:14):
your roster, which you don't have in the NFL. And
you know, again, it's like you said, if you didn't
take the Giants thing, and the Giants thing and the
timing just didn't work out right, the front office wasn't
available in the off season. That's where we said this
last year. If Bill Belichick was leaving the Patriots, he
would have done it last offseason when he could have
(10:34):
worked for the Giants. It's the one franchise he hadn't
affit before would go work for now. You have a
general manager there who calls all the shots. He's like,
I don't think the Saban wants to go and and
and now all of a sudden you have to find
a new quarterback and eventually part ways with Eli. Manning
is a quarterback like that. That's not something he's doing.
You know, the Jets. As much as the Jets have
(10:56):
a you could reshape the roster with cap room. They
don't have a ton of draft picks because they did
leverage a bunch of their draft picks to get Donald,
but they do have a young quarterback. But going to
the Jets feels like again, I gotta go into the
clippers and go into the nets. It's not a great
long term strategy. Be sure to catch live editions so
(11:17):
the Doug Dot Leap Show week days in noon eastern
three pm Pacific. Rad Stevens, head coach of the Celtis
eighteen and twelve on the season, joins us on Fox
Sports Radio. Why why do you think that was? I mean,
I look, I know you've been doing this long enough
to know there's certain nights when you don't have it.
But why wasn't your team the better team last night? Well?
I think in the NBA you always have to start with, um,
(11:40):
what the other team do well? And they're playing great.
They won their last four games. They dominated the three
previous games to play in US, and then they just
continued it last night when they took the lead in
the third quarter, they never looked back. They're playing UM
really free, UM with great, great energy and togetherness on
both sides of the war. And UH, I think the
(12:01):
uber a trade UM gives him another UH spark. And
you know it looks like and we've been here UM
with a group UM that you've been young and hungry before,
and it was playing like a young and hungry group
and they were just better than us last night. And
you know, there's things that we could have done better.
There's no question about it. We were disappointed in how
(12:24):
we played. But you know, I've been through it long
enough to know that the other teams out there too,
and they played great. Yeah. I love that we have
a tendency to do that. In the media, what do
we act like, Well, you know, you give such and
such team like a week to prepare, like you know
the other team is preparing to write like they're not
sitting there going like, oh man, we're gonna shut this
thing down. They got a week to prepare. Um. It's
(12:46):
what's interesting to me, though, is they trade away Tyson Chandler,
who the guys and the Lakers are like, Man, he's
the best teammate we've ever had, unbelievable leaders like and
now they trade away Ariza, who's also seen as a
vet and a leader. So they trade away the two
guys that were supposed to really kind of control the culture,
and you know, it feels like in the short term
(13:06):
they're playing better because of it. How do you explain that, Well,
I think every situation is different. Every You know, I
don't know anything about those guys from the outside looking in.
They look like great teammates and certainly have been impacted
winning at the highest level, So who knows. It's sometimes
it's about the right mix and guys getting opportunities and um.
(13:27):
And you know, they're getting Booker back healthy, which obviously
helps them a great deal. Um. But you know it's
coincided with a lot of their other younger players really
um coming to the forefront. You know, everybody talks about
some of the other rookies, but Eyton was the first
pick in the draft and he's averaging sixteen and ten.
You know, he's he's had a really good start to
his his NBA career. Um, And I think sometimes those
(13:49):
first picks get over scrutinized a little bit, um instead
of appreciating what they do. And he's certainly getting a
lot done. Um. And then Josh Jackson has really come
around and he really hurt us last night. So you know,
we'll see how that all ends up over the course
of the year. But um, they out played us last night.
No excuses from our end. Brad Stevens joining us in
the Doug Gottlips Show on Fox Sports Radio. You and
(14:12):
I have talked on air off air about Gordon. Um.
You know, he has not been the player he was
before injury, but he has gotten better and it feels
like off the bench he's giving you, he's giving you
a little bit more of what he used to be.
What's your assessment is a guy who knows his game
so well and you're watching him kind of evolved back
(14:33):
hopefully to the player he was before that that grew
someome injury. What's the status of Gordon Heyward as of today. Well,
he's made a lot of the right plays for us.
He when we weren't making shots earlier in the year,
he was still making all the right plays off pick
and roll. He's gotten so much better, um been ten
years ago and reading the game, and and he's been
(14:54):
so well coached, um during that time in Utah. I
just think he's he's you know, at a really really
good level with understanding the game. And it's just a
matter now of getting his confidence back to the point
where it's an every night thing. And and um, you know,
you see great glimpses he's played, Um well, Um, but
(15:15):
I think that he'll be better in game forty than
he wasn't twenty. He gets better than game sixty than
he wasn't forty, and so on. There's a lot of
expectations for your team because even without him and without Kyrie, obviously,
you guys were able to, you know, a couple of
made shots away from going to the NBA Finals. But
now that you have everybody together, the question was always
how would how would you make it work? Um? You
(15:38):
know you you You've told me and you've said it
on air. Hey, look think about you know, we had
Jalen Brown coming off the bench after he heard his
hamstring late last year. Guys have been willing to accept
different rules, but how how difficult or maybe different has
it been this year considering some of those guys whose
roles have changed showed that they can take on greater
rules in the playoffs last year. Well, first of all,
(16:00):
have been great guys, and you know, I know that
it's not easy, you know, on an individual, case by
case basis, depending on who you're asking about. UM, But
that's part of being on a good team. And we've
gotta we've gotta we've got to focus more on UM,
less about you know, from our perspective, on on how
(16:20):
much we're playing or when we're playing, and more on
playing better and uh, and that's kind of been our
our focus. We were better, uh in the last month
than we were in the first month. But we'll find
out a lot more about ourselves over the next few weeks.
We've got to, you know, quite a schedule coming up
and it's every other day, so it doesn't stop for anybody. Yeah,
how much did it change now with Bains out all
he broke his hand. Uh, that's a you know, that'll
(16:42):
be that'll be an interesting one. We'll have to replace
Bains by committee. You know, Bains can give us something
that a lot of other guys can't, especially with al out,
you know, with the you know, he is um one
of the best rim protectors in the NBA because of
two things. Number one, on his he's he's way better
laterally than people realize. And number two is he will
(17:04):
throw his body in front of you, regardless of who's coming.
And you know, occasionally that will get him on, um,
you know, the highlights in the way you don't want
to be on the highlights if been getting dunked on.
But he'll also draw two charges and create four missus
by doing it every game or every other or every week.
And I just think that there's such value in that,
(17:26):
that grit, that toughness, the size obviously, and so we're
gonna have to replace him by committee. You know. Obviously
we've got Daniel Tyson, who's been good for us in
his year and a half here, and then Robert Williams
has really done a lot of good things. So we're
we're excited about both those guys, and they're gonna get
way more opportunity, um, you know, with Alan danes out,
(17:46):
no question, and they're gonna get opportunity with I mean,
like you got Milwaukee coming in tomorrow, then you've got Charlotte,
you got Philly on Christmas Day, you go to Houston. Uh,
then you you know, you got to Memphis. And saying
it like you there's this is a soft spot of
the schedule, but it but it's a great opportunity for
those guys to show that they you know, in their
in their own right, deserve minutes, even when you know
(18:08):
Al comes back, even when Baines comes back. No, hey,
and I and I played Division three, so I feel
like I can say this, Um. You know it's not
like um, when I was a butler, where we could
sprinkle in the Division two game in the middle of
the schedule just to lighten the load a little bit.
You know that doesn't work in the NBA. There are
no nights where you get a chance to to be
(18:31):
anything less than your best. When you are, you can
beat and last night was a great example of that.
And you know, we know we have to be a
lot better, um, if we want to have a chance
tomorrow against a really good Milwaukee team. Have have you?
I don't know if you've thought about this, like, look,
you haven't got the NBA Finals yet, but the fact
that you're playing one of the big games on Christmas Day, Like,
this is kind of an amazing journey. Uh, there's a
(18:51):
lot of things you can accomplish in life, and you're
checking off like just about every every every box your
kid growing up in Indiana and now you're one of
those games on Christmas Day. Like, yeah, I grew up
in southern California. We used to you go to the
park in the morning and play basketball and then watch
all the games on Christmas Day. Pretty cool to be
playing the seventy six ers in a in one of
those huge games, no question. And this is our third
(19:13):
one in a row. We played at New York UM
three years ago or two years ago, and and uh
Marcus Smart hit a big shot to win the game.
And UM that was a great experience because we took
all our families all went together on the plane and
we all woke up in in Manhattan early and UM
had Christmas Eve dinner together and then played at noon
(19:35):
and we're all back uh in time, you know, six
or seven at night. And then the last two years
we've had the five thirty game Eastern Time. So played
Washington here last year and they beat us. UM, but
you're able to wake up in the morning with your
family and spend time with them before you head onto
the gym and get ready. And same thing now with Philly.
It's a it's a it's a pleasure to be a
(19:55):
part of that game. It's an honor to be a
part of that game. And you know, I don't take
it for granted. Um. You know I always said our group,
the the group we had in here, um with Isaiah
and Jay Crowder and Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynok and
and all of those guys. Um, I thought that, you know,
they gave us a chance to play in that a
(20:17):
couple of years ago, and um, that really did feel
a little bit different than the previous year. Is getting
an opportunity to play on Christmas Day. Brad Stevens, head
coach of the Celtics, kind of to spend some time
of this year in the Doug got Lip Show on
Fox Sports Radio. I got a Butler game tomorrow night. Um,
I tell people aver time, Huh you see Irvine, right, Yeah,
Irvine's good that I've heard they're good, and I know
(20:39):
they're really well coached. Yeah. No, m Russe the course
coached and uh he's no D three guy, but he
coached in the NBA coach with the Warriors. I actually coaches,
actually coaches kid. Nay you He's got just a great
kid named Darius, his son. Uh so I have a
good relationship with him. Um, in the place of you, coach,
I didn't even expect to go here. Like I tell
people all the time, like, Okay, I gotta go to Ku,
(21:00):
gotta go to Butler. I've actually never been to Cameron.
Never been to Cameron. Is there an NBA? Is there
an NBA place where you walk in and you're still
like kind of kid in a candy store? Now the
ones here? I mean, and and I'm not just being
a homer, I mean it's just different. Um. Every place
has its great nights, every place has its great games.
(21:22):
When you have a great team, every place is excited. UM.
When you're coaching the Celtics, you know, regardless if you're
on the road and you're playing in front of a
half full place, there's a lot of green in the building.
But coming to a game here, especially in the playoffs,
you know, I I don't know that I've ever experienced
anything like it. I was there were a couple of
games in Indiana at Market Square. UM, when I was
(21:45):
growing up when the Pacers and Knicks were in the
middle of their UM Eastern Conference Finals games that I
remember vividly and remember the roof almost coming off. Obviously,
you go to any of these places in the playoffs,
it's going to be an electric atmosphere. But if you
haven't been to a game in Boston, UM, it's unique,
it's special, and there there is no place UM to
(22:06):
play home games like here. All right. It's a good
point because I actually have two courtside tickets because I
bought in an auction for me for me and my
for me and my son. And obviously schedule aside, Like
should I do the l A one seven? Right? Is
that that the is that the one to come to?
I mean l A like it feels like my childhood right,
Lakers Celtics. I will say this when you go to
(22:32):
when you go to play the Lakers and Staples Center,
I mean you can feel the electricity. I think that
just the even when when both of us were not
as good my first year, you know you could tell
that it was just a it's just a different It's
just a different game every year. Is there a different
field of the Eastern Conference with Lebron out of the conference. Well,
(22:52):
I just think the Eastern Conference is deeper now. I
think this is the deepest it's been maybe since I've
been here. Obviously, Slee Lebron being gone, Lebron is you
know what he did, go in the eighth straight finals
is incredible. Um And um, you know that that in
and of itself probably hasn't talked about enough as far
as one of the great great accomplishments in all of basketball.
(23:15):
But um, I just think the level of play. Um,
you know, night and night out is really tough. But
when you start looking at all the teams that are
really rolling right now and the different guys in the East,
and I just think there's Um, I just think there's
there's more more good teams. And I think that that's
the way it's been most every year. It's it's gone
(23:37):
up and up and up. And that's because some of
these young guys in the East have gotten older and
it becomes some of the better, better players in the NBA.
Would it would it be a fair parallel? I know
they're different, but to say that that Marcus is your
Ronald Nori, huh, Um, Marcus, you know, ron Ron was
a tremendous leader and uh and college player. Um, Marcus,
(24:04):
I always go and Ron would be the first team
laugh at this, But um, you know, Markets is a
lot better even relative to level than Ron was. But
but as far as leadership goes, as far as energy goes,
as far as all the intangibles that lead to winning, um,
you know, I think there's there's a lot of similarities.
You know, it's not a surprise that Ron has jumped
(24:25):
up the coaching ranks as fast as he has because
Ron is as special as they come from a leadership
and communication standpoint. And for him to be able to
play in those national championships and be able to play
in those final fours and helped lead us to those
final fours pretty remarkable. Um. You know, as a as
a key player without um, you know, he wasn't a
(24:46):
great shooter and and you know it wasn't like a
great offensive player, but he just was the ultimate glue guy,
ultimate leader. Marcus is a lot better player as far
as being able to do a lot more things, but
he also brings us a lot of the intangibles, no question.
He's one of those guys my brother had, you know,
Jory Gutierrez, who's who's whos played a bunch of spots
the NBA. He's actually became packed fell Player of the Year.
(25:07):
But he's like one of those guys where you're like,
games kind of ugly, but so many other other team
always wants to fight him, right that feel Marcus has
that has that quality to or some many other team
always wants to square off of him. And once he does,
he's like, Yep, Marcus has got him. He's in his head,
he's completely out of his game. Like it's an amazing
quality to have, you know, what was you know? And
and Ron wasn't like that as much. I mean Ron
(25:27):
would just Ron wasn't quite the instigator that Marcus is,
but he's but Ron, Uh. What was unbelievable about Ron
was like I'd bring him in because I knew he
wanted to be a coach and and say, okay, you're
responsible for these two guys this week, and so if
they were having any struggles or if they if things
(25:48):
weren't going right for them, it was a Ron, what
are you doing to think about bringing out the best
in them? And he was so special at that the
locker room was always ready, um because he helped to
make sure it was ready and that was a that
was a uniqueness, and that's I think that's continued when
you watch Butler play. I think that we've always been
fortunate to have guys like that. We've got just tremendous kids. Um.
(26:12):
You know, over the years playing there, Um, last thing,
Kyrie has had a couple of these games. There's that
duel he had with John Wall which it's one of
those things where I'm not sure how many people saw
it because but both of them played at such a
such a ridiculously high level. That was what like a
week ago Friday. I haven't been watching the gag. I
can't remember when the game was last week. Um. There
have been games where he shown the stuff that I know,
(26:34):
you know he has and most guys in the NBA has,
and you know, he hadn't been healthy so oftentimes in
his career last year playing with that Gympie knee where
he had to have you know two things that two
things done to it. Um. But what's your when you
give Kyrie an honest assessment of how he's playing, what
do you tell him? Well, I think Kyrie's played great, um,
(26:55):
And you know the year He had a couple of
games this year early on where he didn't get to
double figures as he was kind of coming back and
knocking the rust off and those type of things. And
you know, there were a couple of games where he
didn't get the thirty minutes either because he didn't go
back in because we were ahead late. And um, he
just kind of kept on, you know, moving on and on.
(27:15):
And after those first five or six games, as he
got back into it and he got his legs into it,
he's been spectacular offensively. He's just he knows, he just
knows how to play. He's got great shifting nous. He's
a way better cutter than I ever realized. Uh, you
can't like when he when he really um cuts and
(27:39):
and start to cut and explodes through it. You know,
there's very few guys with that explosion level, um that
can catch it and play under control and play on balance.
He's special in that regard, and he's done a lot
of good things on both ends of the court. Um.
I think he's had a really really good year. UM,
and I just think he'll continue to get better and
(28:00):
better as well, because you know, again he missed a
lot of time too, when you think about it, he
didn't He played until you know, early March or middle
of March, and then was done after that, you know,
didn't play a game again until October. That's hard to do. Uh.
Do you know what your kids are getting for Christmas?
I do? I do, um, and I'm and I've got
to Uh, I've got to finish up some of my
(28:22):
own stuff. Actually, I have to start and finish um
my own stuff. Sou Wait, wait when you see your
own stuff, you mean the gifts that you're giving or
the gifts that you're gonna receive. Because my wife just
old day and she's like, hey, by the way, you
got me this, this and this, Just so you know,
act like you know, do you actually buy the gifts
yourself and then get them wrapped in? Everything I do?
(28:43):
I do, but I but I usually wait till the
last day. I'm usually out there on and the NBA
schedules made it difficult because you know, you don't have
a whole lot of time in between these games to
get ready, so it will be a I have to
make sure that I'm prepared, focused, and I don't I
don't go out for too long, but I'll have to
get that done here in the next couple of days.
You know, there's a lot of people that are probably
(29:04):
like you know, bad Stevens has probably got all the
analytics on where he's gonna shop, the times in which
it's going to be the easiest to get in and
out there. Places. Yeah, there's a few places in the country,
as you know, Doug, where you can throw time out
the window depending on traffic and uh and Boston's one
certainly where you are as one and uh. But but
(29:25):
I think I've got a pretty good idea. We're not
gonna uh, we're not gonna waste a ton of time.
All right, we'll listen uh up until the last two
obviously the team it's turned and now of a sudden,
the injury bug has gotten you in now that the
schedule picks up, to you and your family a very
safe and mary Christmas and happy New Year, look forward
to senior in person. I'll tell everybody, uh and into
(29:45):
you said, hello, Yeah, that sounds good. I hope the
Bulldogs do well. I hope it's a good game. I
hope that uh russ are doing well. But I hope
the Bulldogs leave that one with a win. There's nothing
like going into the holiday break with a win when
you're in college. Yeah, Dogs and Dogs and eat tomorrow
night on on Fox Sports one. Thanks so much, bred Alright,
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
(30:06):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. Let's welcome to Edward,
our longtime NFL insider, and the news of the day
is Josh Gordon now back on the commissioner's list as uh.
He said he wants to step aside to handle his
(30:28):
mental health issues, but of course he violated the league's
substance abuse policy. Do we have any idea what the
substance may be. Uh, No, we don't have any specifics
about that. The NFL has now announced that he has
been indefinitely suspended, but now the details remain bige at
this point. But uh, obviously that you know, I think
(30:50):
that everybody would agree the Patriots appear at the end
of the season more vulnerable than they've been in any
recent year they've you know, there's three in five on
the road, and it now looks like they are going
to have to go on the road in the playoffs
and probably play an extra game. There have been three
times this season, Doug when they've only scored twenty points
in a game, and they lost all of those to
(31:12):
the Titans, Lions, and Steelers. And Josh Gordon's a guy,
you know, quite honestly, they took they took the gamble
with him. They made the trade, they knew it. They
were getting a guy who's missed nearly sixty games because
of suspensions over the past five or six years. I
guess fifty eight is the exact number. The timing of this,
I think is awful for the Patriots already struggling on
(31:35):
offensively now just you know, a couple of weeks from
from playing in the postseason, still trying to get that
number two seed. Uh, and they really only have two
guys on the roster. I think you were you know,
vertical threats who could possibly replace them in that's h
Philip Dorsett and Cordarrell Patterson. But both of those players
were already on the roster when they made the trade
for Gordon, so clearly they weren't happy with what they
(31:57):
were getting production wise out of those two players. Look,
I'm here and they've been searching for more wide receiving help.
You go back into the preseason, remember all the guys
they went through, right, I mean going position. They tried
They've tried everything to fix to fix this thing, even
going back to when they traded for Dorset, you know,
going back to last year. So this this, this has
(32:17):
been a couple of years where they've tried to to
give Tom Brady better weapons. As all that said. You know,
look last year they didn't have Edelman, and they didn't
and and uh but Brandon Cooks whatever, he got hurt
in the first time, ron got knocked out in the
Championship game. And but in the Super Bowl they didn't
punt like they had a lot of issue yards passing.
(32:40):
So and I'm looking at Kansas City and they're not
the same team they used to be with their injuries
and with their change at running back. Like I you know, Pittsburgh,
as as much as Pittsburgh beat them, this is the
same Pittsburgh team that lost to the Raiders and the Broncos.
And you know, I still think they can figure it
out again against Pittsburgh. Like, am I crazy to not
(33:02):
sell all of my Patriots stock? Because they found a
way to make it work in the past, and other
teams have some similar issues. Well, the Feelers have to
go play at in New Orleans this weekend, so that
that helps the Patriots. Obviously, the Patriots are I think
from a coaching point of view, between Bill Belichick and
the offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, are as good as there
(33:24):
is in football at finding favorable matchups. I mean, and
look at what they did early in the season when
uh Sonny Michelle was out and they were out out
all the running backs and they made Cordarrell Patterson, a
failed wide receiver really who was a kick returner primarily.
Uh they made him they're starting running back for three
weeks in a row, and in those three weeks he
out rushed Ezekiel Elliott. So they are a very creative team.
(33:48):
That being said, I don't think they're the team on
either side of the ball that they've been in recent years.
I'm not sure based on what we've seen from Brady
in the last couple of weeks that he's what he's
been And I know for certain Rob Grunkowsky is not
the dominant matchup problem that he's presented for other teams.
I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Yes I do, Um,
(34:08):
I mean this ground played football next year. Well, you know,
the interesting thing is that Bill Belichick has a hard
earned reputation for moving guys um a year early. And
it's worth noting that he tried to trade Rob Gronkowski
in the offseason for the Detroit Lions and Matt Patricia
and Grunk refused to go. But that indicates to me
(34:32):
that Belichick is as long as a year ago saw
him as a descending injury prone player. Uh. He obviously
wouldn't have done that if he was one of the
unique players of football. I guess you could argue while
he misjudged Chandler Jones in that regard. But I think
Bill Belichick sees this as a potential end of Rob
Gronkowski's too are certainly in New England. What about what
(34:54):
about Brady? He said he wants to play until forty five. Obviously,
you know BELI check knows that that father father time
is is ticking. Um. He's had moments where he's been
very good. He's been moments where he has been average.
He's been moments where he's he's looked old. What is
there any discussion, any chatter about his future. I I
(35:15):
assume that the Patriots would want to keep him at
quarterback as long as possible now that there are agenda
is the same as as Brady is now that they
don't have the air apparent. I mean, if they still
had Jimmy Garoppolo, then perhaps they would be willing to
force Brady out um if that's possible, But I don't
think under current circumstances. They likely see a quarterback that
(35:36):
they can acquire who's going to give them better production.
At this point his career, the Brady is now quick,
no question about Doug otlip show here on Fox Sports Radio.
Let's go around the Nation Football League. With all the
injuries to New England. I look at the Chargers who
beat Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh beat Kancity in Kancity, and looks
like Hunter Henry is going to give it a go
in the playoffs. At least Melvin Gordon not on the
(35:57):
injury list. Austin neclar might not play Saturday, but you know,
barring a setback, he'll play in the playoffs. I mean,
the only thing that holds you back is they might
have to go on the road, but they've played essentially
every game on the road this season. Are the Chargers
the team to beat in the a f C. Well,
they've they've gone and I think there are five and
one on the road already and the only loss was
(36:17):
to the Ram so it wasn't really even a road trip.
Um Uh. They played the Rams early in the season.
I think they lost by ten. Yeah. I think the
Chargers are as good a team as there is in
all of football because they've got an experienced quarterback, They've
got a ground game with Melvin Gordon, an elite runner,
and they've got three outstanding receivers, and if they get
Hunter Henry Beck, they've got a unique threat at the
(36:39):
tight end position and and up run on defense, they're fantastic.
And they have a couple of corners who can match
up uh. And they've got Derwin James who's a freak
who could play any position and you know, rushed the passer, UH,
play cop Bridge create turnovers. So yeah, I like the
Chargers a lot, and I don't think we can rule
out the possibility that they wind up winning the a
f C West. The Green Bay Packers haven't, you know,
(37:03):
they want to get out ahead of it and announced
that they're looking for a head coach. You know, part
of it though, you still have Ted Thompson, who's, you know,
like a lifer packet guy. Even guten Kuns who just
took over as general manager, Like he's from Wisconsin, he's
a packer. What's the Likehoo, they reached out outside of
that football family to make a higher I well, I
don't think Ted Thompson's gonna be all it involved. He's
(37:25):
kind of been devoted to a consultant role and and
so I think this is gonna be Mark Murphy's decision.
He's the president. He restructured things last year when he
reassigned Ted Thompson to give himself, uh the ultimate power
in this kind of a decision. So I think that
they will go outside the organization. My understanding from people
(37:46):
close to the Packers organization is that his first choice
is Jim Harbaugh. Whether Hardball can be talked out of
leaving the University of Michigan, which at this point he
said he's staying, which could just be him protecting his
recruiting class, remains to be determined, But I think that's
where he'd like to start. I think Josh McDaniels is
a guy. The new England offensive coordinator we mentioned earlier
(38:08):
would be somebody of interest for obvious reasons. And I
do think it's it's gonna be an interesting dynamic to
see how how Aaron Rodgers plays in all of this
from the standpoint of on one hand, you look at
him as a great asset with probably five more years
of high level play left, and on the other I
think you questioned some things about him that we've heard
(38:31):
from teammates and so forth that aren't as positive that
might cause uh coach is positive bout getting involved. Um,
there's a renewed chatter that Vance Joseph won't make it
to year three, any chance that Mike Shanahan becomes the
guy again in Denver. But I don't think Dance Joseph
is gonna make it the year three because he also
didn't make it a year two, and it had been
(38:51):
have left up to John Elway, you wouldn't have. Only
Joe Ellis saved his job Elway one at Shanahan a
year ago. Oh Uh, Joe Ellis wouldn't allow it. I
assume that he still won't allow that given the friction
that existed between the two of them. I think it's
interesting that Elway has been out obviously scouting quarterbacks that
(39:13):
they Broncos might try to get high in the draft
this year. At the same time, he's also been talking
to a lot of these college coaches who run spread
type systems that we've seen become more popular in the NFL.
So I think it's a curious higher to see if
the Broncos go with somebody that Elway knows personally, or
they take a leap of faith with somebody who maybe
a college coach. Uh. And then the New York Jets
(39:36):
there you know, look, there's no secret there. They want
somebody who can they want to change things. Um, and
they got Sam Donald who has impressed a lot of people,
especially considering he doesn't have a lot of people around him. Um,
they got a ton of calf space. They don't have
a ton of draft picks. But there's the thought that
they will go out and hire an offensive guru. What's
it like good that happens. Well, I mean that's not
(39:59):
been what they typically done. They've always gone kind of
the NFL assistant route. You know, They've had Al Grow
and Herm Edwards and Eric Mangini and Rex Ryan and
Todd Bowls. Um. But I think Mike McCarthy is a
guy who would be atop the list of Stanton. It's
there in a pretty smart hire given what you just
talked about, the need to get a coach who can
(40:21):
look at everything through the eyes of a young quarterback.
And you can argue that Mike McCarthy only won one
Super Bowl and he had Brett Farve and and Aaron Rodgers,
two of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game.
At the same time, he did have great success, winning
six division championships, and he got the NFC championship games
as a matter of some kind of routine. So I
(40:43):
think McCarthy is a guy who makes a lot of
sense for the Jets. There was there was some talking, Hey,
maybe Mike Zimmer's feeling some heat when he had to
make a change at coordinator one weekend. It feels like
it worked. It feels like there was more creativity. If
they make the playoffs, isn't enough. Yeah, I mean you're
always looking at, you know, guys who could be the
(41:05):
surprise firing, and I think it could be Zimmer depending
on what happens. A lot of people think it could
be Ron Rivera, It could be Jay Gruden, it could
be John Harbaugh, depending on you know, how their teams
doing the plaffs. Could be Jason Garrett and Dallas depending
on how this team plays over the next six weeks. UM.
But I would ultimately be surprised if Zimmer got fired
(41:26):
simply because I mean, that's assuming that the new coordinator,
Kevin Stefovski, continues to have success. Obviously, Zimmer hired the
wrong guy for what he wanted, um, because he wanted
to run the football and that's not what the previous
coordinator wanted to do. So, uh, he's got, He's got
the guy he wants. Now he's got he's putting pressure
(41:48):
on him to call the game he way he wants
it to be called. And if that was more of
a Minnesota improvement than it was the good fortune of
playing the Dolphins, then and they can make a run
in the playoffs again. That I think Mike Zimmer say.
Edward's an NFL inside You can follow him on Twitter
at Edward or r F and check out a doomsday podcast.
Cam Newton's gonna be shut down for the rest of
the season. It's pretty obvious as to why if you
(42:09):
watched him against the Saints, the struggles to throw the football. Uh,
he did have his shoulder operated on previously. What are
the Carolina Panthers privately saying about their future with their quarterback. Well,
I think they're they're concerned about, you know, the physical
punishment that he's taken and the need, as you said,
last offseason, to have shoulder surgery, and whether it's required
(42:31):
again this year remains to be seen. But you know,
he only through four interceptions in Carolina's first eight games,
but he's thrown nine in the six games since and
they lost all of them. So whether they still see
him long term as a guy who leads their franchise
or now as a guy who's you know, injury prone
and too risky and not a good enough passer to
(42:52):
get them where they want to go, I think remains
to be determined. But I think there was no question
that he needed to be shut down at this point
with them having a most no chance of making the playoffs,
and as you said, it was quite evident at the
end of that game that he couldn't make the pros required,
uh to create success on that side of the ball.
In fact, I talked to a defensive coordinator after the
game and said, he said, I don't think you can throw,
(43:13):
and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they shut
him down. So that was that person's observation, and obviously
that proved to be correct. Odell Becomjr. Is not being
shut down. He did miss last week, and of course
there was the embarrassing lack of effort on an onside kick,
but the game of new contracts, I just is there
anything the Giants can do to remedy that situation. Well,
(43:33):
it looks like he's not gonna play again this week.
He didn't practice today, so it looks like he's gonna
miss a game for the third straight week with a
thigh contusion. I think that's an unusual number of games
for an NFL player to miss with that kind of
an injury. I don't know how much of it is
the circumstances the Giants find themselves in um and I
(43:54):
don't want to really question his commitment to his team,
but I am just saying that from what we've seen,
and other players have played with more significant injuries than
a quad contusion when their teams need them to play
and for a lot of reasons. I'm sure the Giants
have some misgivings about the financial commitment that they made
Odell Beckham Jr. Considering any number of things that have
(44:15):
happened with him this year, He's the absolute best of
what he does. He's done it forever and he's kind
of have to do with us once a week. Edward
or NFL Insider fall on Twitter. You want any information
in the NFL at Edward or RF or check out
the Doomsday podcast. It's a must listen if you like me,
love the NASHTA football Leake Ed Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.
I hope to talk to you soon, same dude, Douck.
Thanks for the opportunity and enjoy the holidays.
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 Gottlieb 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 gottli Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom
Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Getting you
ready for the Holiday season, Man, I hope you're well.
M m m m m m m. You know every
(00:48):
year we get ready for the NFL Draft, for the
NBA Draft, and people say red flag, go here, the
red flags. You know, it's too much red flags, too
much investigation about people. Can you play a Kenyan? Not play?
We have become very much a pro player, anti establishment society.
I say this all the time. It starts in school.
(01:10):
Johnny comes home with a bad report. Wow, the teacher.
The teacher is out to get him. Something wrong with
the teacher, like no, maybe it's and and a lot
of it is. We think a bad report for Johnny
reflects poorly upon us, or maybe we thought we were
mistreated when we were students. All right, we don't like Congress,
(01:31):
we don't ever like the president. Well it's this president
of the previous one. Like one of the amazing things
about this president, however polarizing, is he is uh the
previous president who was somehow equally polarizing in spite of
the fact he didn't use nearly as insightful of tweets
or language at all. Like we we quickly forget that
(01:51):
there were a group of people who just didn't like
the dude. But part of it is we don't like
anybody in power. We don't like the NBA and fell commission.
We like the NBA commissioner, but that's only because we
feel like he does everything that the players want him
to do. So part of it, like, look, we have
a we have an issue with people in power and
(02:13):
how we handle that. I've even seen when Josh Gordon
essentially removed from the league today for some sort of
issue with their substance abuse policy. I've seen people Mike
Florio from Pro Football Talk, Oh, it's just the arcane
philosophy of the NFL, Like, are you kidding me, the
dude is an addict. The dude has a problem. I
(02:36):
don't know if it's weed. I don't know if it's drinking,
I don't know if it's drugs. Like it's It's one
of the most mind blowing, stupid tweets of all time
to throw some sort of support behind Josh Gordon because
he may have gotten popped for weed. Do I think weed,
(02:57):
which is legal in most states, should be something we
test four in the NFL? Probably not. But it's different
when an addict who's had mental health issues test positive
for something that's illegal. He knew he was a sip
of beer, a smoke of a joint, a Papa pill
away from being out of the league, and now he is,
(03:20):
and I get that there's a freak out factor. Well,
don't buy Bergreen bananas. Canceled Christmas. The Patriots aren't winning
a Super Bowl. Okay, it's possible that the Patriots super
Bowl hopes disappeared with Josh Gordon, who had four catches
a game, but last year they did it without Julian Edelman.
(03:43):
They got all the way to the Super Bowl, and
then in the Super Bowl, Brandon Cook's got a concussion
barely played. Do you know how many times the Patriots
punted in the Super Bowl? Not one? Right, I'm not
telling you anything that you don't know. I'm just recycling
your memory. And does Gronk appear to be slow? Yeah,
(04:09):
he's not the same. It should be pointed out that
Jason Witten was far slower. Antonio Gates has been slow
for years and still really effective. So while it changes
the Patriots, it doesn't eliminate them, like in in a vacuum.
The Patriots just lost a game where Tom Brady looked
(04:29):
old and the offense looked to not have enough weapons.
But for the playoffs, they will have Edelman, they will
have Gronkowski, they will have Sony Michelle, they will have Brady,
and their defense isn't terrible. And you're talking about the
a f C. And in the a f C you
got the Texans, who they've already beaten and we've just
beaten at home by the Colts. You'll probably have the Colts.
(04:52):
You're gonna have the Chargers, who are are the opposite
of everybody else. They're getting healthy, but they're still the Chargers, right,
They're still we until proven otherwise, they're the Chargers. I'm
the Kancity Chiefs without their start running back and Sammy Watkins.
Oh yeah, by the way, their their defense isn't any good.
So in a vacuum, the Patriots have major, major issues,
(05:17):
But the world doesn't occur in a vacuum. They had
the Dolphins beaten, and yeah they lost to the Titans
and the Steelers on the road, but they got the
Bills and the Jets are gonna end up with eleven
wins on the season, and they'll still have most of
their top past catching threats they picked up at Josh Gordon.
(05:37):
They traded for a Josh Gordon, knowing full well that
there were red flags galore, but they did so because
they needed another pass catcher. They needed anybody. There was
a sense of desperation a little bit there, and maybe
they thought they could save him, and turns out they can't.
He can't be saved. Like the Kancity He used to
(06:00):
do the same thing two weeks ago when they signed
Kelvin Benjamin. Benjamin was jettison from Carolina. Then he got
cut from the Buffalo Bills. Like, man, you got cut
from the Buffalo Bills. Damn, you gotta be terrible to
get cut from the Buffalo Bills. They did, and he's
on the street and they're like, yeah, you know, he's
(06:20):
one cupcake away from being a tight end. He can't
break free. But at this point in the season they
needed just another body, another warm body who could catch footballs.
So like, look, we always talk about red flags occur
for a reason. And while society may tell you that's
just the man doing too much research, this is why.
(06:42):
Because fame and financial success can be really hard to
handle for some guys. Whether they like to drink too much,
like to smoke too much, like the party too much.
This is exactly what what can happen. But the Patriots
knew this was the risk. It was a risk that
they knew full well was worth taking. They hadn't gotten
(07:04):
to Josh Gordon in terms of he wasn't necessarily good
enough and oh yeah, by the way, drafting or signing
a guy, a lot of it's about trust. I have
a friend who I played for a for an addict
in college. Eddie Sutton isn't isn't he was addicted to alcohol.
(07:25):
He's an alcoholic. This is not earth shattering stuff, But
I have I have friends like why you just can't
trust an addict, because an addict is addicted to that
substance and they will do anything. It's because their brain,
because some sort of chemical imbalance that causes them to
be addicted. Now I have a different view of it
because I do think that there are ways in which
(07:46):
you can you can help fix addiction, or maybe not fix,
but you can remedy them, like, look, this is the
risk you run and trying to do it on the fly.
When he'd spent years away from football and he wasn't
the same since he got back. That's why he getting
beaten up. So I know today is an easy day
(08:06):
to pounce on the New England Patriots. They didn't lose
their best pass catcher. They didn't lose some sort of
game breaker. He was a pet project. And guys eat themselves,
drink themselves. You know, some guys have. Some guys liked
women too much. It gets them out. Something will get
(08:27):
plenty of talented guys out of the league. And they
rolled the dice. And the thing about dice is sometimes
you know the odds are not in your favor, and
they weren't here. And they got a lot out of
Josh Gordon. They got forty catches out of Josh Gordon
on sixty eight targets. He got three touchdown passes. But
(08:48):
let's not kid ourselves. He caught three touchdown passes. He
was the guy they thought could take the top off
the defense, and the Pittsburgh Deals did not double team him,
and he could not make them pay over the weekend.
We know his value, so they'll have to find a
way to use Corderell Patterson and Philip Dorset and Chris
(09:08):
Hogan and Rob Gronkowski and James White and Julian Edelman
and Sony Michelle and you know what, I'm not gonna
bet against them because they lost Josh Gordon, who wasn't
on their team to start the year, won't be on
their team to finish the year. Do you know why?
Because last year they didn't punt in the Super Bowl
in spite of the fact they didn't have Julian Edelman
all season long, and they lost Brandon Cooks in the
first quarter. History is on the side of the Patriots
(09:33):
and the world doesn't occur in a vacuum. The Kansi
Chiefs lost the league's leading rusher from last year. They're
not the They're not the only team that's dealing with lost,
dealing with injuries, and having to make things up on
the fly. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Doug Dot Leap Show weekdays in noon eastern three pm
(09:54):
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio App.
I don't think Saban wants wants the NFL thing. I
could be wrong, um, but I don't think he wants
the NFL thing. I think he wants. I think he
likes what he does. I think there's an energy to
young people. There's an energy to recruiting, to turning over
(10:14):
your roster, which you don't have in the NFL. And
you know, again, it's like you said, if you didn't
take the Giants thing, and the Giants thing and the
timing just didn't work out right, the front office wasn't
available in the off season. That's where we said this
last year. If Bill Belichick was leaving the Patriots, he
would have done it last offseason when he could have
(10:34):
worked for the Giants. It's the one franchise he hadn't
affit before would go work for now. You have a
general manager there who calls all the shots. He's like,
I don't think the Saban wants to go and and
and now all of a sudden you have to find
a new quarterback and eventually part ways with Eli. Manning
is a quarterback like that. That's not something he's doing.
You know, the Jets. As much as the Jets have
(10:56):
a you could reshape the roster with cap room. They
don't have a ton of draft picks because they did
leverage a bunch of their draft picks to get Donald,
but they do have a young quarterback. But going to
the Jets feels like again, I gotta go into the
clippers and go into the nets. It's not a great
long term strategy. Be sure to catch live editions so
(11:17):
the Doug Dot Leap Show week days in noon eastern
three pm Pacific. Rad Stevens, head coach of the Celtis
eighteen and twelve on the season, joins us on Fox
Sports Radio. Why why do you think that was? I mean,
I look, I know you've been doing this long enough
to know there's certain nights when you don't have it.
But why wasn't your team the better team last night? Well?
I think in the NBA you always have to start with, um,
(11:40):
what the other team do well? And they're playing great.
They won their last four games. They dominated the three
previous games to play in US, and then they just
continued it last night when they took the lead in
the third quarter, they never looked back. They're playing UM
really free, UM with great, great energy and togetherness on
both sides of the war. And UH, I think the
(12:01):
uber a trade UM gives him another UH spark. And
you know it looks like and we've been here UM
with a group UM that you've been young and hungry before,
and it was playing like a young and hungry group
and they were just better than us last night. And
you know, there's things that we could have done better.
There's no question about it. We were disappointed in how
(12:24):
we played. But you know, I've been through it long
enough to know that the other teams out there too,
and they played great. Yeah. I love that we have
a tendency to do that. In the media, what do
we act like, Well, you know, you give such and
such team like a week to prepare, like you know
the other team is preparing to write like they're not
sitting there going like, oh man, we're gonna shut this
thing down. They got a week to prepare. Um. It's
(12:46):
what's interesting to me, though, is they trade away Tyson Chandler,
who the guys and the Lakers are like, Man, he's
the best teammate we've ever had, unbelievable leaders like and
now they trade away Ariza, who's also seen as a
vet and a leader. So they trade away the two
guys that were supposed to really kind of control the culture,
and you know, it feels like in the short term
(13:06):
they're playing better because of it. How do you explain that, Well,
I think every situation is different. Every You know, I
don't know anything about those guys from the outside looking in.
They look like great teammates and certainly have been impacted
winning at the highest level, So who knows. It's sometimes
it's about the right mix and guys getting opportunities and um.
(13:27):
And you know, they're getting Booker back healthy, which obviously
helps them a great deal. Um. But you know it's
coincided with a lot of their other younger players really
um coming to the forefront. You know, everybody talks about
some of the other rookies, but Eyton was the first
pick in the draft and he's averaging sixteen and ten.
You know, he's he's had a really good start to
his his NBA career. Um, And I think sometimes those
(13:49):
first picks get over scrutinized a little bit, um instead
of appreciating what they do. And he's certainly getting a
lot done. Um. And then Josh Jackson has really come
around and he really hurt us last night. So you know,
we'll see how that all ends up over the course
of the year. But um, they out played us last night.
No excuses from our end. Brad Stevens joining us in
the Doug Gottlips Show on Fox Sports Radio. You and
(14:12):
I have talked on air off air about Gordon. Um.
You know, he has not been the player he was
before injury, but he has gotten better and it feels
like off the bench he's giving you, he's giving you
a little bit more of what he used to be.
What's your assessment is a guy who knows his game
so well and you're watching him kind of evolved back
(14:33):
hopefully to the player he was before that that grew
someome injury. What's the status of Gordon Heyward as of today. Well,
he's made a lot of the right plays for us.
He when we weren't making shots earlier in the year,
he was still making all the right plays off pick
and roll. He's gotten so much better, um been ten
years ago and reading the game, and and he's been
(14:54):
so well coached, um during that time in Utah. I
just think he's he's you know, at a really really
good level with understanding the game. And it's just a
matter now of getting his confidence back to the point
where it's an every night thing. And and um, you know,
you see great glimpses he's played, Um well, Um, but
(15:15):
I think that he'll be better in game forty than
he wasn't twenty. He gets better than game sixty than
he wasn't forty, and so on. There's a lot of
expectations for your team because even without him and without Kyrie, obviously,
you guys were able to, you know, a couple of
made shots away from going to the NBA Finals. But
now that you have everybody together, the question was always
how would how would you make it work? Um? You
(15:38):
know you you You've told me and you've said it
on air. Hey, look think about you know, we had
Jalen Brown coming off the bench after he heard his
hamstring late last year. Guys have been willing to accept
different rules, but how how difficult or maybe different has
it been this year considering some of those guys whose
roles have changed showed that they can take on greater
rules in the playoffs last year. Well, first of all,
(16:00):
have been great guys, and you know, I know that
it's not easy, you know, on an individual, case by
case basis, depending on who you're asking about. UM, But
that's part of being on a good team. And we've
gotta we've gotta we've got to focus more on UM,
less about you know, from our perspective, on on how
(16:20):
much we're playing or when we're playing, and more on
playing better and uh, and that's kind of been our
our focus. We were better, uh in the last month
than we were in the first month. But we'll find
out a lot more about ourselves over the next few weeks.
We've got to, you know, quite a schedule coming up
and it's every other day, so it doesn't stop for anybody. Yeah,
how much did it change now with Bains out all
he broke his hand. Uh, that's a you know, that'll
(16:42):
be that'll be an interesting one. We'll have to replace
Bains by committee. You know, Bains can give us something
that a lot of other guys can't, especially with al out,
you know, with the you know, he is um one
of the best rim protectors in the NBA because of
two things. Number one, on his he's he's way better
laterally than people realize. And number two is he will
(17:04):
throw his body in front of you, regardless of who's coming.
And you know, occasionally that will get him on, um,
you know, the highlights in the way you don't want
to be on the highlights if been getting dunked on.
But he'll also draw two charges and create four missus
by doing it every game or every other or every week.
And I just think that there's such value in that,
(17:26):
that grit, that toughness, the size obviously, and so we're
gonna have to replace him by committee. You know. Obviously
we've got Daniel Tyson, who's been good for us in
his year and a half here, and then Robert Williams
has really done a lot of good things. So we're
we're excited about both those guys, and they're gonna get
way more opportunity, um, you know, with Alan danes out,
(17:46):
no question, and they're gonna get opportunity with I mean,
like you got Milwaukee coming in tomorrow, then you've got Charlotte,
you got Philly on Christmas Day, you go to Houston. Uh,
then you you know, you got to Memphis. And saying
it like you there's this is a soft spot of
the schedule, but it but it's a great opportunity for
those guys to show that they you know, in their
in their own right, deserve minutes, even when you know
(18:08):
Al comes back, even when Baines comes back. No, hey,
and I and I played Division three, so I feel
like I can say this, Um. You know it's not
like um, when I was a butler, where we could
sprinkle in the Division two game in the middle of
the schedule just to lighten the load a little bit.
You know that doesn't work in the NBA. There are
no nights where you get a chance to to be
(18:31):
anything less than your best. When you are, you can
beat and last night was a great example of that.
And you know, we know we have to be a
lot better, um, if we want to have a chance
tomorrow against a really good Milwaukee team. Have have you?
I don't know if you've thought about this, like, look,
you haven't got the NBA Finals yet, but the fact
that you're playing one of the big games on Christmas Day, Like,
this is kind of an amazing journey. Uh, there's a
(18:51):
lot of things you can accomplish in life, and you're
checking off like just about every every every box your
kid growing up in Indiana and now you're one of
those games on Christmas Day. Like, yeah, I grew up
in southern California. We used to you go to the
park in the morning and play basketball and then watch
all the games on Christmas Day. Pretty cool to be
playing the seventy six ers in a in one of
those huge games, no question. And this is our third
(19:13):
one in a row. We played at New York UM
three years ago or two years ago, and and uh
Marcus Smart hit a big shot to win the game.
And UM that was a great experience because we took
all our families all went together on the plane and
we all woke up in in Manhattan early and UM
had Christmas Eve dinner together and then played at noon
(19:35):
and we're all back uh in time, you know, six
or seven at night. And then the last two years
we've had the five thirty game Eastern Time. So played
Washington here last year and they beat us. UM, but
you're able to wake up in the morning with your
family and spend time with them before you head onto
the gym and get ready. And same thing now with Philly.
It's a it's a it's a pleasure to be a
(19:55):
part of that game. It's an honor to be a
part of that game. And you know, I don't take
it for granted. Um. You know I always said our group,
the the group we had in here, um with Isaiah
and Jay Crowder and Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynok and
and all of those guys. Um, I thought that, you know,
they gave us a chance to play in that a
(20:17):
couple of years ago, and um, that really did feel
a little bit different than the previous year. Is getting
an opportunity to play on Christmas Day. Brad Stevens, head
coach of the Celtics, kind of to spend some time
of this year in the Doug got Lip Show on
Fox Sports Radio. I got a Butler game tomorrow night. Um,
I tell people aver time, Huh you see Irvine, right, Yeah,
Irvine's good that I've heard they're good, and I know
(20:39):
they're really well coached. Yeah. No, m Russe the course
coached and uh he's no D three guy, but he
coached in the NBA coach with the Warriors. I actually coaches,
actually coaches kid. Nay you He's got just a great
kid named Darius, his son. Uh so I have a
good relationship with him. Um, in the place of you, coach,
I didn't even expect to go here. Like I tell
people all the time, like, Okay, I gotta go to Ku,
(21:00):
gotta go to Butler. I've actually never been to Cameron.
Never been to Cameron. Is there an NBA? Is there
an NBA place where you walk in and you're still
like kind of kid in a candy store? Now the
ones here? I mean, and and I'm not just being
a homer, I mean it's just different. Um. Every place
has its great nights, every place has its great games.
(21:22):
When you have a great team, every place is excited. UM.
When you're coaching the Celtics, you know, regardless if you're
on the road and you're playing in front of a
half full place, there's a lot of green in the building.
But coming to a game here, especially in the playoffs,
you know, I I don't know that I've ever experienced
anything like it. I was there were a couple of
games in Indiana at Market Square. UM, when I was
(21:45):
growing up when the Pacers and Knicks were in the
middle of their UM Eastern Conference Finals games that I
remember vividly and remember the roof almost coming off. Obviously,
you go to any of these places in the playoffs,
it's going to be an electric atmosphere. But if you
haven't been to a game in Boston, UM, it's unique,
it's special, and there there is no place UM to
(22:06):
play home games like here. All right. It's a good
point because I actually have two courtside tickets because I
bought in an auction for me for me and my
for me and my son. And obviously schedule aside, Like
should I do the l A one seven? Right? Is
that that the is that the one to come to?
I mean l A like it feels like my childhood right,
Lakers Celtics. I will say this when you go to
(22:32):
when you go to play the Lakers and Staples Center,
I mean you can feel the electricity. I think that
just the even when when both of us were not
as good my first year, you know you could tell
that it was just a it's just a different It's
just a different game every year. Is there a different
field of the Eastern Conference with Lebron out of the conference. Well,
(22:52):
I just think the Eastern Conference is deeper now. I
think this is the deepest it's been maybe since I've
been here. Obviously, Slee Lebron being gone, Lebron is you
know what he did, go in the eighth straight finals
is incredible. Um And um, you know that that in
and of itself probably hasn't talked about enough as far
as one of the great great accomplishments in all of basketball.
(23:15):
But um, I just think the level of play. Um,
you know, night and night out is really tough. But
when you start looking at all the teams that are
really rolling right now and the different guys in the East,
and I just think there's Um, I just think there's
there's more more good teams. And I think that that's
the way it's been most every year. It's it's gone
(23:37):
up and up and up. And that's because some of
these young guys in the East have gotten older and
it becomes some of the better, better players in the NBA.
Would it would it be a fair parallel? I know
they're different, but to say that that Marcus is your
Ronald Nori, huh, Um, Marcus, you know, ron Ron was
a tremendous leader and uh and college player. Um, Marcus,
(24:04):
I always go and Ron would be the first team
laugh at this, But um, you know, Markets is a
lot better even relative to level than Ron was. But
but as far as leadership goes, as far as energy goes,
as far as all the intangibles that lead to winning, um,
you know, I think there's there's a lot of similarities.
You know, it's not a surprise that Ron has jumped
(24:25):
up the coaching ranks as fast as he has because
Ron is as special as they come from a leadership
and communication standpoint. And for him to be able to
play in those national championships and be able to play
in those final fours and helped lead us to those
final fours pretty remarkable. Um. You know, as a as
a key player without um, you know, he wasn't a
(24:46):
great shooter and and you know it wasn't like a
great offensive player, but he just was the ultimate glue guy,
ultimate leader. Marcus is a lot better player as far
as being able to do a lot more things, but
he also brings us a lot of the intangibles, no question.
He's one of those guys my brother had, you know,
Jory Gutierrez, who's who's whos played a bunch of spots
the NBA. He's actually became packed fell Player of the Year.
(25:07):
But he's like one of those guys where you're like,
games kind of ugly, but so many other other team
always wants to fight him, right that feel Marcus has
that has that quality to or some many other team
always wants to square off of him. And once he does,
he's like, Yep, Marcus has got him. He's in his head,
he's completely out of his game. Like it's an amazing
quality to have, you know, what was you know? And
and Ron wasn't like that as much. I mean Ron
(25:27):
would just Ron wasn't quite the instigator that Marcus is,
but he's but Ron, Uh. What was unbelievable about Ron
was like I'd bring him in because I knew he
wanted to be a coach and and say, okay, you're
responsible for these two guys this week, and so if
they were having any struggles or if they if things
(25:48):
weren't going right for them, it was a Ron, what
are you doing to think about bringing out the best
in them? And he was so special at that the
locker room was always ready, um because he helped to
make sure it was ready and that was a that
was a uniqueness, and that's I think that's continued when
you watch Butler play. I think that we've always been
fortunate to have guys like that. We've got just tremendous kids. Um.
(26:12):
You know, over the years playing there, Um, last thing,
Kyrie has had a couple of these games. There's that
duel he had with John Wall which it's one of
those things where I'm not sure how many people saw
it because but both of them played at such a
such a ridiculously high level. That was what like a
week ago Friday. I haven't been watching the gag. I
can't remember when the game was last week. Um. There
have been games where he shown the stuff that I know,
(26:34):
you know he has and most guys in the NBA has,
and you know, he hadn't been healthy so oftentimes in
his career last year playing with that Gympie knee where
he had to have you know two things that two
things done to it. Um. But what's your when you
give Kyrie an honest assessment of how he's playing, what
do you tell him? Well, I think Kyrie's played great, um,
(26:55):
And you know the year He had a couple of
games this year early on where he didn't get to
double figures as he was kind of coming back and
knocking the rust off and those type of things. And
you know, there were a couple of games where he
didn't get the thirty minutes either because he didn't go
back in because we were ahead late. And um, he
just kind of kept on, you know, moving on and on.
(27:15):
And after those first five or six games, as he
got back into it and he got his legs into it,
he's been spectacular offensively. He's just he knows, he just
knows how to play. He's got great shifting nous. He's
a way better cutter than I ever realized. Uh, you
can't like when he when he really um cuts and
(27:39):
and start to cut and explodes through it. You know,
there's very few guys with that explosion level, um that
can catch it and play under control and play on balance.
He's special in that regard, and he's done a lot
of good things on both ends of the court. Um.
I think he's had a really really good year. UM,
and I just think he'll continue to get better and
(28:00):
better as well, because you know, again he missed a
lot of time too, when you think about it, he
didn't He played until you know, early March or middle
of March, and then was done after that, you know,
didn't play a game again until October. That's hard to do. Uh.
Do you know what your kids are getting for Christmas?
I do? I do, um, and I'm and I've got
to Uh, I've got to finish up some of my
(28:22):
own stuff. Actually, I have to start and finish um
my own stuff. Sou Wait, wait when you see your
own stuff, you mean the gifts that you're giving or
the gifts that you're gonna receive. Because my wife just
old day and she's like, hey, by the way, you
got me this, this and this, Just so you know,
act like you know, do you actually buy the gifts
yourself and then get them wrapped in? Everything I do?
(28:43):
I do, but I but I usually wait till the
last day. I'm usually out there on and the NBA
schedules made it difficult because you know, you don't have
a whole lot of time in between these games to
get ready, so it will be a I have to
make sure that I'm prepared, focused, and I don't I
don't go out for too long, but I'll have to
get that done here in the next couple of days.
You know, there's a lot of people that are probably
(29:04):
like you know, bad Stevens has probably got all the
analytics on where he's gonna shop, the times in which
it's going to be the easiest to get in and
out there. Places. Yeah, there's a few places in the country,
as you know, Doug, where you can throw time out
the window depending on traffic and uh and Boston's one
certainly where you are as one and uh. But but
(29:25):
I think I've got a pretty good idea. We're not
gonna uh, we're not gonna waste a ton of time.
All right, we'll listen uh up until the last two
obviously the team it's turned and now of a sudden,
the injury bug has gotten you in now that the
schedule picks up, to you and your family a very
safe and mary Christmas and happy New Year, look forward
to senior in person. I'll tell everybody, uh and into
(29:45):
you said, hello, Yeah, that sounds good. I hope the
Bulldogs do well. I hope it's a good game. I
hope that uh russ are doing well. But I hope
the Bulldogs leave that one with a win. There's nothing
like going into the holiday break with a win when
you're in college. Yeah, Dogs and Dogs and eat tomorrow
night on on Fox Sports one. Thanks so much, bred Alright,
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
(30:06):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. Let's welcome to Edward,
our longtime NFL insider, and the news of the day
is Josh Gordon now back on the commissioner's list as uh.
He said he wants to step aside to handle his
(30:28):
mental health issues, but of course he violated the league's
substance abuse policy. Do we have any idea what the
substance may be. Uh, No, we don't have any specifics
about that. The NFL has now announced that he has
been indefinitely suspended, but now the details remain bige at
this point. But uh, obviously that you know, I think
(30:50):
that everybody would agree the Patriots appear at the end
of the season more vulnerable than they've been in any
recent year they've you know, there's three in five on
the road, and it now looks like they are going
to have to go on the road in the playoffs
and probably play an extra game. There have been three
times this season, Doug when they've only scored twenty points
in a game, and they lost all of those to
(31:12):
the Titans, Lions, and Steelers. And Josh Gordon's a guy,
you know, quite honestly, they took they took the gamble
with him. They made the trade, they knew it. They
were getting a guy who's missed nearly sixty games because
of suspensions over the past five or six years. I
guess fifty eight is the exact number. The timing of this,
I think is awful for the Patriots already struggling on
(31:35):
offensively now just you know, a couple of weeks from
from playing in the postseason, still trying to get that
number two seed. Uh, and they really only have two
guys on the roster. I think you were you know,
vertical threats who could possibly replace them in that's h
Philip Dorsett and Cordarrell Patterson. But both of those players
were already on the roster when they made the trade
for Gordon, so clearly they weren't happy with what they
(31:57):
were getting production wise out of those two players. Look,
I'm here and they've been searching for more wide receiving help.
You go back into the preseason, remember all the guys
they went through, right, I mean going position. They tried
They've tried everything to fix to fix this thing, even
going back to when they traded for Dorset, you know,
going back to last year. So this this, this has
(32:17):
been a couple of years where they've tried to to
give Tom Brady better weapons. As all that said. You know,
look last year they didn't have Edelman, and they didn't
and and uh but Brandon Cooks whatever, he got hurt
in the first time, ron got knocked out in the
Championship game. And but in the Super Bowl they didn't
punt like they had a lot of issue yards passing.
(32:40):
So and I'm looking at Kansas City and they're not
the same team they used to be with their injuries
and with their change at running back. Like I you know, Pittsburgh,
as as much as Pittsburgh beat them, this is the
same Pittsburgh team that lost to the Raiders and the Broncos.
And you know, I still think they can figure it
out again against Pittsburgh. Like, am I crazy to not
(33:02):
sell all of my Patriots stock? Because they found a
way to make it work in the past, and other
teams have some similar issues. Well, the Feelers have to
go play at in New Orleans this weekend, so that
that helps the Patriots. Obviously, the Patriots are I think
from a coaching point of view, between Bill Belichick and
the offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, are as good as there
(33:24):
is in football at finding favorable matchups. I mean, and
look at what they did early in the season when
uh Sonny Michelle was out and they were out out
all the running backs and they made Cordarrell Patterson, a
failed wide receiver really who was a kick returner primarily.
Uh they made him they're starting running back for three
weeks in a row, and in those three weeks he
out rushed Ezekiel Elliott. So they are a very creative team.
(33:48):
That being said, I don't think they're the team on
either side of the ball that they've been in recent years.
I'm not sure based on what we've seen from Brady
in the last couple of weeks that he's what he's
been And I know for certain Rob Grunkowsky is not
the dominant matchup problem that he's presented for other teams.
I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Yes I do, Um,
(34:08):
I mean this ground played football next year. Well, you know,
the interesting thing is that Bill Belichick has a hard
earned reputation for moving guys um a year early. And
it's worth noting that he tried to trade Rob Gronkowski
in the offseason for the Detroit Lions and Matt Patricia
and Grunk refused to go. But that indicates to me
(34:32):
that Belichick is as long as a year ago saw
him as a descending injury prone player. Uh. He obviously
wouldn't have done that if he was one of the
unique players of football. I guess you could argue while
he misjudged Chandler Jones in that regard. But I think
Bill Belichick sees this as a potential end of Rob
Gronkowski's too are certainly in New England. What about what
(34:54):
about Brady? He said he wants to play until forty five. Obviously,
you know BELI check knows that that father father time
is is ticking. Um. He's had moments where he's been
very good. He's been moments where he has been average.
He's been moments where he's he's looked old. What is
there any discussion, any chatter about his future. I I
(35:15):
assume that the Patriots would want to keep him at
quarterback as long as possible now that there are agenda
is the same as as Brady is now that they
don't have the air apparent. I mean, if they still
had Jimmy Garoppolo, then perhaps they would be willing to
force Brady out um if that's possible, But I don't
think under current circumstances. They likely see a quarterback that
(35:36):
they can acquire who's going to give them better production.
At this point his career, the Brady is now quick,
no question about Doug otlip show here on Fox Sports Radio.
Let's go around the Nation Football League. With all the
injuries to New England. I look at the Chargers who
beat Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh beat Kancity in Kancity, and looks
like Hunter Henry is going to give it a go
in the playoffs. At least Melvin Gordon not on the
(35:57):
injury list. Austin neclar might not play Saturday, but you know,
barring a setback, he'll play in the playoffs. I mean,
the only thing that holds you back is they might
have to go on the road, but they've played essentially
every game on the road this season. Are the Chargers
the team to beat in the a f C. Well,
they've they've gone and I think there are five and
one on the road already and the only loss was
(36:17):
to the Ram so it wasn't really even a road trip.
Um Uh. They played the Rams early in the season.
I think they lost by ten. Yeah. I think the
Chargers are as good a team as there is in
all of football because they've got an experienced quarterback, They've
got a ground game with Melvin Gordon, an elite runner,
and they've got three outstanding receivers, and if they get
Hunter Henry Beck, they've got a unique threat at the
(36:39):
tight end position and and up run on defense, they're fantastic.
And they have a couple of corners who can match
up uh. And they've got Derwin James who's a freak
who could play any position and you know, rushed the passer, UH,
play cop Bridge create turnovers. So yeah, I like the
Chargers a lot, and I don't think we can rule
out the possibility that they wind up winning the a
f C West. The Green Bay Packers haven't, you know,
(37:03):
they want to get out ahead of it and announced
that they're looking for a head coach. You know, part
of it though, you still have Ted Thompson, who's, you know,
like a lifer packet guy. Even guten Kuns who just
took over as general manager, Like he's from Wisconsin, he's
a packer. What's the Likehoo, they reached out outside of
that football family to make a higher I well, I
don't think Ted Thompson's gonna be all it involved. He's
(37:25):
kind of been devoted to a consultant role and and
so I think this is gonna be Mark Murphy's decision.
He's the president. He restructured things last year when he
reassigned Ted Thompson to give himself, uh the ultimate power
in this kind of a decision. So I think that
they will go outside the organization. My understanding from people
(37:46):
close to the Packers organization is that his first choice
is Jim Harbaugh. Whether Hardball can be talked out of
leaving the University of Michigan, which at this point he
said he's staying, which could just be him protecting his
recruiting class, remains to be determined, But I think that's
where he'd like to start. I think Josh McDaniels is
a guy. The new England offensive coordinator we mentioned earlier
(38:08):
would be somebody of interest for obvious reasons. And I
do think it's it's gonna be an interesting dynamic to
see how how Aaron Rodgers plays in all of this
from the standpoint of on one hand, you look at
him as a great asset with probably five more years
of high level play left, and on the other I
think you questioned some things about him that we've heard
(38:31):
from teammates and so forth that aren't as positive that
might cause uh coach is positive bout getting involved. Um,
there's a renewed chatter that Vance Joseph won't make it
to year three, any chance that Mike Shanahan becomes the
guy again in Denver. But I don't think Dance Joseph
is gonna make it the year three because he also
didn't make it a year two, and it had been
(38:51):
have left up to John Elway, you wouldn't have. Only
Joe Ellis saved his job Elway one at Shanahan a
year ago. Oh Uh, Joe Ellis wouldn't allow it. I
assume that he still won't allow that given the friction
that existed between the two of them. I think it's
interesting that Elway has been out obviously scouting quarterbacks that
(39:13):
they Broncos might try to get high in the draft
this year. At the same time, he's also been talking
to a lot of these college coaches who run spread
type systems that we've seen become more popular in the NFL.
So I think it's a curious higher to see if
the Broncos go with somebody that Elway knows personally, or
they take a leap of faith with somebody who maybe
a college coach. Uh. And then the New York Jets
(39:36):
there you know, look, there's no secret there. They want
somebody who can they want to change things. Um, and
they got Sam Donald who has impressed a lot of people,
especially considering he doesn't have a lot of people around him. Um,
they got a ton of calf space. They don't have
a ton of draft picks. But there's the thought that
they will go out and hire an offensive guru. What's
it like good that happens. Well, I mean that's not
(39:59):
been what they typically done. They've always gone kind of
the NFL assistant route. You know, They've had Al Grow
and Herm Edwards and Eric Mangini and Rex Ryan and
Todd Bowls. Um. But I think Mike McCarthy is a
guy who would be atop the list of Stanton. It's
there in a pretty smart hire given what you just
talked about, the need to get a coach who can
(40:21):
look at everything through the eyes of a young quarterback.
And you can argue that Mike McCarthy only won one
Super Bowl and he had Brett Farve and and Aaron Rodgers,
two of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game.
At the same time, he did have great success, winning
six division championships, and he got the NFC championship games
as a matter of some kind of routine. So I
(40:43):
think McCarthy is a guy who makes a lot of
sense for the Jets. There was there was some talking, Hey,
maybe Mike Zimmer's feeling some heat when he had to
make a change at coordinator one weekend. It feels like
it worked. It feels like there was more creativity. If
they make the playoffs, isn't enough. Yeah, I mean you're
always looking at, you know, guys who could be the
(41:05):
surprise firing, and I think it could be Zimmer depending
on what happens. A lot of people think it could
be Ron Rivera, It could be Jay Gruden, it could
be John Harbaugh, depending on you know, how their teams
doing the plaffs. Could be Jason Garrett and Dallas depending
on how this team plays over the next six weeks. UM.
But I would ultimately be surprised if Zimmer got fired
(41:26):
simply because I mean, that's assuming that the new coordinator,
Kevin Stefovski, continues to have success. Obviously, Zimmer hired the
wrong guy for what he wanted, um, because he wanted
to run the football and that's not what the previous
coordinator wanted to do. So, uh, he's got, He's got
the guy he wants. Now he's got he's putting pressure
(41:48):
on him to call the game he way he wants
it to be called. And if that was more of
a Minnesota improvement than it was the good fortune of
playing the Dolphins, then and they can make a run
in the playoffs again. That I think Mike Zimmer say.
Edward's an NFL inside You can follow him on Twitter
at Edward or r F and check out a doomsday podcast.
Cam Newton's gonna be shut down for the rest of
the season. It's pretty obvious as to why if you
(42:09):
watched him against the Saints, the struggles to throw the football. Uh,
he did have his shoulder operated on previously. What are
the Carolina Panthers privately saying about their future with their quarterback. Well,
I think they're they're concerned about, you know, the physical
punishment that he's taken and the need, as you said,
last offseason, to have shoulder surgery, and whether it's required
(42:31):
again this year remains to be seen. But you know,
he only through four interceptions in Carolina's first eight games,
but he's thrown nine in the six games since and
they lost all of them. So whether they still see
him long term as a guy who leads their franchise
or now as a guy who's you know, injury prone
and too risky and not a good enough passer to
(42:52):
get them where they want to go, I think remains
to be determined. But I think there was no question
that he needed to be shut down at this point
with them having a most no chance of making the playoffs,
and as you said, it was quite evident at the
end of that game that he couldn't make the pros required,
uh to create success on that side of the ball.
In fact, I talked to a defensive coordinator after the
game and said, he said, I don't think you can throw,
(43:13):
and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they shut
him down. So that was that person's observation, and obviously
that proved to be correct. Odell Becomjr. Is not being
shut down. He did miss last week, and of course
there was the embarrassing lack of effort on an onside kick,
but the game of new contracts, I just is there
anything the Giants can do to remedy that situation. Well,
(43:33):
it looks like he's not gonna play again this week.
He didn't practice today, so it looks like he's gonna
miss a game for the third straight week with a
thigh contusion. I think that's an unusual number of games
for an NFL player to miss with that kind of
an injury. I don't know how much of it is
the circumstances the Giants find themselves in um and I
(43:54):
don't want to really question his commitment to his team,
but I am just saying that from what we've seen,
and other players have played with more significant injuries than
a quad contusion when their teams need them to play
and for a lot of reasons. I'm sure the Giants
have some misgivings about the financial commitment that they made
Odell Beckham Jr. Considering any number of things that have
(44:15):
happened with him this year, He's the absolute best of
what he does. He's done it forever and he's kind
of have to do with us once a week. Edward
or NFL Insider fall on Twitter. You want any information
in the NFL at Edward or RF or check out
the Doomsday podcast. It's a must listen if you like me,
love the NASHTA football Leake Ed Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.
I hope to talk to you soon, same dude, Douck.
Thanks for the opportunity and enjoy the holidays.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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