October 21, 2019 • 45 mins
Doug’s big takeaway from week 7 in the NFL was Aaron Rodgers once again separating himself from the rest of the QBs in the NFL, including Dak Prescott. He also tells you why the Saints are better than they’ve ever been before, and they’re getting better! Plus, Super Bowl Champion Trent Dilfer joins the show to break down all the QB performances from week 7.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlap
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 Gottlip 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 got Leave Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug got Leave Show, Fox Sports Radio.
I hope you're having a great day. Hope you had
a good weekend. We had a good weekend of NFL Picks.
College picks not so much. But alas we digress. Doug
(00:44):
Gotlip Show is brought to you by Discover Card. We
treat you like you treat you Lovey Smith is gonna
join us. You ruined my perfect season, Bitter Bob, that's
what That's what Illinois did to Wisconsin's perfect season. That's
a that's a wow. Brandon Weeden, former NFL quarterback, former Cowboy. Uh,
(01:08):
he's gonna join us next hour. Joe Clatt will join us.
Trent Dilfer will join us. Man, do we have a
great show for you. WHOA. I did a speaking event
in Riverside, California. There's a remarkable private school. Cal Baptist
University facilities are obscene. People are incredibly nice. Um, we
(01:29):
needs a word obscene in Baptist. People are like, whoa, No,
no, No No. Obscene can be used in a in a
positive positive not just a negative anyway. Um. I had
a couple people approached me. They're like, hey, what are
some of those sayings that you have? And I said,
you know, yoga pants are a privilege, not a right.
That's that's a big one. Yoga pants are, in fact
(01:51):
a privilege, not a right. Um. There has never been
an unsuccess bowl prognosis to any surgery performed on an athlete.
Remember that one right to a tongue of ioloa. He
just had a procedure down to his angle ankle. We
(02:14):
expected to be back in full strength of notes that like.
No one's ever gone like man, whoa, It was a
long weekend and I got no idea what happens with
this kid? Right? No one ever says that no one
gets a second opinion. No one gets a second opinion
on a good prognosis. Mr gotlie, you don't have surgery.
(02:39):
I mean still, Mr Gotlie, you don't have cancer. Sorry, Doc,
I need another opinion. You cannot full players careful players. Uh.
There are no more secrets, only facts yet to be revealed.
And here's my newest most favorite one was favorite is one?
Is this? No one hates to say I told you so,
(03:04):
and I'll say it. I love to say I told
you so. Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback I have
ever seen. And I have said that for several years
now and it's proven to be true. And I understand
that you can sit there and go like, hey, hey,
gottliep Tom Brady jewelry six rings, and you're not wrong.
(03:28):
And what Tom Brady does in his quarterbacking, there's a leadership,
a sustainability and ability to not be hurt and able
to get along, we think with others, although there have
been reports of him not getting along with Belichick in
the past. I'm not going to give I'm not going
to give the organization all the credit. I'm not going
(03:49):
to give them none of the credit. I'm not gonna
give Brady all the credit. I'm not gonna give them
none of the credit. But I do think that the
idea that Brady would be Brady without that coach, without organization.
Shan that that's in fact laughable. But the point of
Tom Brady being the best that we have ever seen
(04:10):
is quite simple, quite simple. His a game is better
than anybody else's a game. I want you to consider
that the Green Bay Packers had a short week. Granted
they didn't have to travel, but they had a short week,
(04:30):
so with less prep time playing without Davante Adams, who
is far and away his best and most consistent wide receiver,
specifically in the red zone. We told you before he
got hurt, is the best wide zone, red zone wide
receiver in the NFL since two thousand seventeen. He's his guy.
(04:51):
Without him, he pitched a near perfect game five touchdowns throwing,
one touchdown running, and a couple in complete passes us
hell over the last year and a half, in spite
of the fact last year was a disaster wins and
losses and some production wise, he has only four interceptions. Wow,
he doesn't turn it over. He's athletic, he's tough, He's
(05:15):
ridiculously accurate. He's got the arm straight to make every throw.
He can move the move in the pocket and move
the pocket and run outside the pocket, and he can
raise the level of everybody around him. Don't believe me.
Look at what he was dealing with over the past
couple of weeks due to injuries. I don't hate to
(05:40):
say I told you so. I love to say I
told you so. Now. Uh you may see be sitting
there and go like, godly, what about Dak Prescott. Well,
Dak Prescott was good, But Dak Prescott was really good.
Because of what we've always said, Aaron Rodgers has been good,
(06:03):
if not great, whether he has a good offensive line
or a bad offensive line, whether he has his go
to wide receivers, was he don't? Aaron Rodgers had a
career day without his best wide receiver. Now let's look
at Dak Prescott. How whatever you think of the Philadelphia Eagles,
they are in fact below five team and the three
(06:23):
teams that they played earlier this year were the bottom
that he lit up were the bottom feeders of the league. Right,
the Redskins were winless. The Giants who stink? I mean,
the Giants gave up like two yards rushing to the
Arizona Cardinals who don't really like to run the football.
That's how bad they are, and the Miami Dolphins, who
(06:47):
stink and are also winless. Right, So you got those
three teams as well as yesterday's Eagles, who like Okay,
he was good. If you want to compare comparables, Kirk
Cousins was better against the same defense. If I said
Kirk Cousins, would you say Kirk pay Kirk Cousins top
of the league money? Of course you wouldn't, So why
(07:08):
would you attack Dak Prescott? But the bigger point is
when Rogers doesn't have his go to wide receiver, he
can have a career day. When Dak doesn't have Amari Cooper.
After the first quarter last week, he looks like just
a guy. This Dallas offense is built around a great
offensive line, and when you didn't have Leo Collins and
(07:30):
you didn't have um uh Tyron Smith, you look below average.
When you have them both, you look outstanding. So I'm
not gonna sit here and tell you he stinks. I'm
not gonna sit here and tell you he's great. He's
exactly what we told you he was. I hate to say,
(07:51):
I told no, I don't I love to day I
told you so. Okay, he is a Honda Accord, probably
a V six Honda court Okay, don't get the V four,
get six. My mom has had a Honda Chord m
since probably two ish. She used to have an Astro minivan.
(08:18):
Oh and she got some custom striping on the side
that was slick stuff. We used to take out the
that row seats sit on the floor, so we have
like six dudes sit in the floor. My dad would
drive around basketball tournament to basketball tournament. I think it's
a gross red interior. Anyway, she got a Honda Chord
(08:39):
and a hand a chords. Back then we're like twenty
grand and now are like twenty grand. It's really incredible, right,
everything else costs more money. A cup of coffee is
a couple of bucks, a lot is like five bucks,
but a Honda Cord is still like twenty grand. It's amazing.
And they have basically the technology you need. And I
need to get the side mere camera deals. They got
(09:01):
the rear camera thing, you know, they got cruise control.
Then they got enough bells and whistles to say they
got the stuff. But they don't have all them a
stuff but they don't. They have everything you need, nothing
you don't, but nothing that blows you away. Aaron Rodgers,
(09:23):
I mean Aaron Rodgers is a BMW seven Series, all right,
the ultimate driving machine. Like, I don't know, like you're
seeing these things, these BMW's they have. UM I used
to have an Audi that would have this little screen
and you you could with your finger draw the letter
(09:46):
you wanted for the contact you needed, and it would
scroll to those contacts. It's pretty cool, right BMW. You
don't even have a You just do it to a camera,
just do like a D and all of a sudden,
everything with a D comes up. They got all these
bells and whistles that you didn't even think you needed
or wanted, and you're like, damn, that's the coolest thing ever.
They throw it all in there. Is it really expensive? Sure? Yeah,
(10:10):
it's more expensive, and occasionally it's way more temperamental breaks down,
You're like, man, I gotta take it to the beam
or dealerships. Man, But you know what, Ahano gets you
a to B Fine, you're gonna drive to Vegas. It's
(10:31):
like four hours give or take. You get behind the
wheel of a seven Series. You're like, this is the
most amazing thing ever, worth every penny. Where is it accord.
It's a motor transfation, doesn't break down. You can drive
it to the wheels fall off. There's absolutely, positively nothing
wrong with it. And have you put some cool rims
(10:53):
and tires on it. You tent up the windows, you
get the upgraded sound system. That's great. So I be
sure to catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb
Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio Whap. It's
interesting what's happened with the Saints. You know the Saints
(11:14):
went from and this is where you know you're I
guess old. When I where was a kid I was
growing up? I remember they were the Aints. They were
everything you think of the Browns the past couple of years,
or maybe the Jaguars. I can't really, it's kind of
hard kind of brown. They kind of the Browns, A right.
The Saints sucked. They sucked. They didn't draw well. This
(11:37):
cookie owner who had come down with this like umbrella
when they would win and would dance on the sideline.
The Saints were not good. A matter of fact, the
Saints ain'ts. They were the first ones to have fans
where the paper bags over their heads because they were
embarrassed to be at Saints games. So um, obviously, between
Drew Brees and Sean Payton, they collectively turned around. They
I think they have one playoff win total total before
(11:59):
they got there, and they've won a Super Bowl, They've
been to another Super Bowl. And then after um, after
bounty Gate, it hurt him and it became the Drew
Brees Show. Three out of five times, though the Drew
Brees has thrown for over five thousand yards in the season,
the Saints were actually five hundred or below, like they
were built solely around Drew Brees and just try and
(12:20):
win us a game. But we've told you this before,
and I think I think it's starting to become oh yeah, like,
no matter how good the quarterback is, if you don't
have a defense, it doesn't matter. Now the six times
in which Drew Brees has had over six d fifty
past tempts in the season, they were below five hundred
four of those times. And yet they go on the
(12:41):
road and then they beat Seattle with Teddy Bridgewater, and
then yesterday they go on the road and they beat
Chicago with Teddy Bridgewater and they're five and oh with
Teddy Bridgewater, and no one's sitting here going on, Teddy
Bridgewater better than Sean Payton, I mean than Drew Brees.
But but the difference is in fact the defense. Right
they're allowing eighteen points per game, eighth in the league,
(13:02):
sixty seven yards rushing per game. That that's personal league.
And while that doesn't matter as much, and when you
have a lead, teams don't run the football as much,
the fact is, if you can make somebody one dimensional
where they have to throw the football, it usually plays
into your hands. Six yards per past tempa is third
in the league. Like their defense is filthy. They've rebuilt
(13:22):
this thing, not around Drew Brees, but through the defense.
All seven games they're tied for fifth, and sex second fewest,
and penalties second fewest, and miss tackles. They're just better defensively.
They're not a Drew Brees and a bunch of other
dudes team. And now Drew Brees comes back, you can
be back at practice. Doesn't mean he plays right away,
(13:44):
doesn't mean they need to play him right away, but
it's fascinating that we do. You need a dude to
win you a game? Yeah, yeah, you need a guy,
because there's gonna be a game in which your defense,
you know, has a missed assignment, gives up a big touchdown,
gets you by behind, and you need which which Which
is what they did versus the Texans. If you remember
(14:04):
this year, Drew Brees won them that game. You're gonna
need that in the playoffs. And frankly, Drew Brees wasn't
good enough against the Rams last year. Like people get
so caught up in the well. They missed the past interference, Hey,
past interferences on third down, first down, He threw a
ball away that he you can't throw away the clock
is running, would have been better off to take a knee.
(14:26):
They got the ball first in overtime, didn't score, didn't
score a touchdown, all of these things, like Drew Brees
wasn't good enough. You still have to have a dude
to win you game. But in order to get there,
in order to win big, in order to be over five,
you gotta have a defense. You gotta have a team.
Case in point, the Saints, when they didn't have a defense,
it didn't matter how good Drew Brees was, they weren't good.
(14:46):
Now they do have a defense, and by the way
they usually when Alvin Kamara is in have a running game,
and now they get Drew Brees back. Granted later on
his career, he's not what he used to be. He's
better indoors he was outdoors, but he's better than Teddy Bridgewater.
That's the legit Super Bowl contender team that's not built
around breeze, and that gives them a chance to win
another one. Be sure to catch the live edition of
(15:07):
The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m. Easter
noon Pacific. Stug Gotlip Show here on Fox Sports Radio
and every Monday. We are so blessed, so lucky to
have a Super Bowl champion, a long time NFL alst
and the head coach of Lipscomb Academy. You can check
them out on social media at lips at l a
mustang FB only high school coach, only one. I'm only
(15:27):
high school program in America, full time academic coach, full
time nutritionist, NFL strength coach, best weight room in the country, barbershop,
You've got a concert venue, and of course they have
Trent Dilfer and other former NFL players and high level
college coaches on staff and train joins us on the
Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio t V. I
(15:48):
I I start with the premise of of I told
you I don't actually hate to say I told you so,
because I like to say I told you so. And
for a long time I've been sitting there saying Aaron
Rodgers is the best I best quarterback I've ever seen. Um, obviously,
yesterday wasn't. It was an incredible game, But did anything change?
(16:08):
Did something change with the offense? Was that the opponent?
Did they simply catch some of his passes? Did anything
change yesterday for the Green Bay Packers? Well, I think
it's a really great discussion because Aaron's obviously I'm with you.
I think he's a generational talent. I think he both
his mind, body, and soul. I take all three. He's
(16:29):
a complete package. But he's had too much put on him,
especially at the end of the McCarthy era. They got
lazy offensively. We talked about it. It was like, Okay,
throw the balls out and Aaron will make something happen.
Now you're going to see Aaron Rodgers when his job's
actually easier. You know, sometimes great the greatest actually need
(16:49):
a little bit of that burden. Take taken off of them,
and then the fullness of their greatness comes out. His
job is easier because there are a three face football
team now. They're really good on defense, they get the
ball act, they have good schemes, special teams they've had
made dramatic changes special teams, wise fuel position, starting average,
net pun average, field goal percentage that go on and
(17:11):
on and on, and then offensively, they've created a structure
for him where they can get in tight formations and
run the ball, then run action out of it and
get a tight end matched up on a bad linebacker,
a running back matched up on the weakest linebacker, receiver
crossing the field and getting lost in the in the muck.
I mean, they're getting him kind of freebie looks where
(17:32):
he had to earn thirty five looks a game last year.
Now I's only having to earn it on third down,
tight red zone critical moments, which is really all you
should have to earn it. On the coaching staff, the team,
everything should lighten the burden of these quarterbacks for the
majority of the game and let them be great when
they need to be great. Only um, okay, let's let's
(17:56):
let's get to uh the Dallas Cowboys. UM. Obviously statistically
and in terms of final score, everyone is going to
point out that they played well against the Philadelphia Eagles.
How much of that was play calling? How much of
it was dak How much of it is having your
bookend tackles back. I think majority is having your dudes back.
(18:18):
It's more than just the best left tackle and football
and a rising superstar right tackle. It's having Amari Cooper
played the whole game. Remember last week he has gone
after five minutes. It is having Randall Cobb back, who's
kind of your space finder slot. You mean, the guy's
going to find those soft spots and move the chains
for you. It's allowing Tavon Austin now to become an
auxiliary player and have special plays for him. I think
(18:41):
a lot of as you're getting your dudes back. I
think when your dudes are back, play calling gets better
because you have more confidence. Confidence and play calling. I'm
learning This is as a high school coach, even you know,
you go, you know, you kind of puck her up
a little bit when your dudes aren't there. You kind
of try to, you know, mitigate damage to a certain degree.
But and your dudes are there, you're a lot more aggressive,
(19:02):
You're a lot more free flowing. All of a sudden,
your mind things clear, and I think a lot. Kellen
Moore called the game that way. I think Das played
pretty darn well. Even in the three game losing streak.
He's had some big mistakes far. That's pressing because you
know they don't have your dude, so um, I just
think gaving that many pieces back, if it's just one guy,
no excuse, no reason, move on two guys. Oh that's tough.
(19:25):
But it was four guys for them last week that
are critical players for them, and now they got them back,
and now you see the fullness of what the Cowboys
can be. What about the Eagles, I'll fix them. Are
their issues their average? I mean I have been telling
calling this. You know he's been a buyer, and I'm like, dude,
cell cell, cell, cell cell. They don't have the Biggs
they used to have. They got no juice. On offense,
Carson Wentz has to earn everything. Carson Wentz has become
(19:48):
what Aaron Rodgers had to do the last few years,
where he's got to earn every single yard. When you're tight,
ends are your biggest playmakers. You don't have a dude
that can just take a seven yard completion turn into
a seventeen yard game. It's hard work. These defenses are good,
even the Dolphins defense is good. I mean, it makes
it really hard to be consistent, to be explosive when
(20:09):
you're big plays are generated by your tight ends. I mean,
Jeffrey is a really good player, but he's a target guy.
You know what I mean by the target guys are
gonna run out, there's gonna be a target, he's gonna catching,
he's gonna fall down. You know, you need guys that
have run after the catchability. They got juice, they got
roadrunner beat beat to him that they can take an
average play and make it a great play. And if
you don't have that as a quarterback, it is an
(20:30):
all day sucker every single week. Um, okay, let's let's
let's let's discuss the Saints because they use some creativity
right there in some option game. Uh, they did a
little bit of everything, and they go and they beat
the Bears in in Chicago. Uh. I mean this has
to solidify them as a Super Bowl hopeful. What do
they look like when Drew Brees returns? Oh, they're just
(20:52):
so well coached. I mean, Sean Paynton doesn't get enough credit.
They're so well coached offensively. I mean they find ay's
to make Teddy Bridgewater get explosive plays. And Teddy is
a really good player, but he's more in that managerial category.
He doesn't have a ton of juice himself. But they
find ways to kind of create matchups, create explosives. Um,
(21:15):
the bells and whistles they use, the pre snap eye
candy they use is second to none. Um. I mean,
Sean Paigne does not get enough credit. Now, Dennis Allen
running that defense and that Sean's guy, Now you're seeing
a talent to defense. Not take anyway from their talent,
but schematically they mix it up and you never know
what's coming. I get anxiety watching it because if I
(21:36):
was quarterback, I'd be freaking out. Uh. And then again,
a special teams has not talked about enough. They're really, really,
really good on teams and they create problems for you.
And every week you know that Sean's gonna either try
to steal a possession by going for something or trying
to block something, and that you know that that preparation
week for the other team. Now they gotta day to
(21:56):
cap probably twenty more minutes, and of course the week
to prepare against the same which takes twenty minutes away
from defense, twenty minutes away from offense, and kind of
again us, this word adds a little anxiety to your
group playing them, because they know that Sean cares about
special teams as much as anybody in football. That's a
voice of trend tail First Super Bowl champion NFL analysts
of course, head coach at Lipsko Academy, follow them on
(22:18):
Twitter at l a Mustang FB. What about the Bears?
How big are their trabisky issues? I think it's big. Um.
I think it's a very common case what I call
the love button syndrome. It's when you have a love
button as a GM or a coach and you're just
all in on somebody. You overdraft him, you've given him
the leash, you've made excuses for him, you've you've supported
(22:41):
him with personnel and coaches, and it's not happening. Typically,
when he's your love button, you're not gonna cut bait.
You're gonna hold on too long. And I think you're
seeing that in Chicago's the thirty one starts. Now he
was overdrafted, had attempts in college. We know now as
quarterback geek, to know that you're taking a huge risk
(23:02):
if your quarterback hasn't had over a thousand, more likely
fifteen hundred reps as a college player or throws, I
should say, because you start extrapolating that out for all
the practice reps and how many times he was had
the ability to be the quarter back in game and
in practice. So here's the guy that was really green. Talented,
(23:23):
great kid, but really green. And then they throw him
into the fire because he makes a couple of splash plays.
Oh we found something. Well, now the love button grows.
Now you're more in love, more in love. Well, then
it balances out and he becomes who he really is,
and you lose perspective of who he really Isn't tough
to cut bait kind of deal for our guest in
(23:43):
the Doug Gottlieb Show on the Minnesota Vikings fixed, Yeah,
and and again I like saying I told you so too.
I can now that I'm not on TV. I said
it four or five weeks ago when when they were struggling.
Watch out for the Vikings because they will figure out
this run run action game. They're not a passing team.
There are run run action team that can just knife
you in the passing game. But you know these three
(24:06):
yard games, but well, oh they're throwing the eyes out
of it. No, they're throwing it purposefully. They're setting things
up to get free runners in the secondary. This is
what a Kuba Yak influenced team does. He's done it
forever and he's the one behind the scenes as the
quote unquote offensive consultant that's setting the framework for this offense.
And go back to his team in two thousand and
(24:28):
fifteen with a very average Peyton manning, and look at
who they were there. Dominant on defense, they had a
good running game, and they got chunk plays in the
passing game. And that's exactly what this Vikings team is doing.
So I think there's a lot of comparable to the
two thousand and fifteen Broncos and this Vikings team as
you forecast it out. I think the Vikings are very
(24:48):
very much for real. Now. They didn't play great defense
yesterday would scare me, but they got beat by a
bunch of plays. You know, guys just making plays, playing
beyond the xs and ohs Um, But when you look
at the Vikings, when you either defense, there are a problem.
They just gotta be better at the ball. They weren't
that great against Stafford and Jones yesterday. Kind of the
point of over, you know, that point of truth, the
(25:10):
moment of truth where it was about playing the ball. Um, okay,
Lamar Jackson yards rushing only not out of twenty, but
more importantly a road win in Seattle. Is this sustainable?
That's the that's the question. I think it's sustainable in
the regular season. I think it's sustainable the first time
through a season. Um, much like r G three, much
(25:32):
like Kaepernick, much like guys that rely on run first
stuff where you have to create define looks with your
legs as a runner. Um, it's a problem. It's very
hard to defend. I'm not taking anything away from it.
Typically the NFL, after a year's cycle and really deep
dive in the playoffs, you take away what a player
(25:55):
does best. That I mean, that's the golden rule of
good defense. And if you can take away him as
a runner, that's simply all you have to do is
take away him as a runner and make him be
a passer. We saw those couple of weeks where they
got out over their skis and they stopped running them. Um.
Then he's just a guy. You know, he's a very
good deep ball throw, but he's just a guy when
it comes to the completion game. So UM, it's gonna
(26:18):
be interesting to see how quickly teams say, Okay, we're
not gonna let you run the football the march Jackson,
no matter what of our dead bodies. We might give
you some stuff in the passing game, but let's see
if you can do it for sixty minutes. Let's see
you can do it in the weather changes. Let's you
can do it in the playoffs and we have more
time to prepare for you. Let's see if you can
do it next year. Um, we have yet to see
a quarterback who's a run first guy sustained this year
(26:42):
and in year out. I tend to agree with you. Um,
I feel like Andrew Luck left a super Bowl team,
um in his early retirement. In the meantime, there are
four and two and uh, yesterday Jacoby pre sent four
touchdowns no interceptions at home against the against the Texans.
What is the ceiling for the Colts? It's really I
(27:04):
I mean I love Andrew Luck, and I sympathize with
Andrew Luck. And I think I might have said this
with you. Anybody's dealing with chronic pain, Errol Bowll, syndrome, arthritis,
chronic headaches, back pain, you get what Andrew Luck is
going through emotionally. So I I give Andrew Luck a
Hall pass because he's doing some real chronic pain stuff.
(27:25):
But Jacoby brissets the real deal. Now again, a lot
of a quarterback success has to do with his pedigree,
has to do with his college experience, the reps, his tootelage.
He had a good one at NC State. Then he
goes through his pre draft process. Who's his mentor, Bill Parcels. Okay,
Now I goes to New England. Who's pouring into him,
Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniel's Tom Brady. It's kind of like
(27:48):
the the ultimate trifecta. There poor in India and he
goes to Ending. He gets to play a little bit,
He gets to see Andrew play. He's got an next quarterback,
Frank Wright, who believes in him. He's got a general manager,
Chris Ballard who traded for him. So he's his love
button and he gets to sit there and look at
Brian Horror's one great pros in this league every single day.
(28:09):
And in the quarterback room, I was just a well
Gradge Johnson's a new coach there. It's an NFL guy,
a great quarterback guy. So just his pedigree, his upbringing
the guys that have poured into him is top level stuff.
And then he's really talented. He's a big, physical guy
that has a huge throw catalog, that can read the
field sideline to sideline, and there's only a handful of
(28:31):
those guys that can drop back and go sideline the
sideline and have the talent to split the ball over
the yard, and he's one of them. Pretty amazing stuff,
trying great stuff. We'll get your your breakdown of Donald
and Brady coming up next week. We appreciate you joining
us on Fox Sports Radio. Thanks. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
(28:54):
within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R
to listen live. Joe Class League college football analyst for
Fox Sports. He was all set to head to a hostage,
still gonna go to a hot stage is Wisconsin was
supposed to come in undefeated Badgers, undefeated buck Eyes in
the shoe, and then Wisconsin loses to Illinois. How the
hell that happened? Well, so there, I mean, there's a
(29:17):
couple of explanations. I think that the first explanation is
that you've got to realize that Wisconsin doesn't play with
the same amount of just outward great talent as some
of the other really quality teams that were undefeated in
the country. So their margin is going to be um
a lot more narrow than other teams, do you think.
I think you see that in basketball as well, Douga.
(29:38):
And so then when you when you see a team
that doesn't convert touchdowns when they're in the red zone,
when they turned the ball over twice in the fourth quarter,
and they don't play their best football, they don't have
the players to overcome that margin, and they end up
getting beat. Another thing that happened is that their defense,
for whatever reason, they were not as dominant on first
and second down, which allowed Illinois to give you first downs.
(30:00):
When that happens Illinois using tempo, then the tempo starts
to work. It was really the first team that I've
seen on tape um used tempo to their advantage against Wisconsin.
No one else has gotten to that fourth, fifth, sixth
play in the series in order to take advantage and
get a big play down the down the field. So
I think those those are the reasons why Wisconsin lost.
(30:23):
They always played with a thin margin and it came
up to buy them last week, Doug Gallam show, you're
on Fox Sports Radio. That's the voice of of Joel Klatt.
Ohio State conversely, on a Friday night game had to
be moved to the Big Ten network. Was completely and
thoroughly dominant. But look this Wisconsin team, as you said
defense Jim Leonard, they've been awesome and they will run
(30:44):
the football if they get ahead, that game gets really short.
How do they match up with with only you know,
a couple of days prepare. How does Wisconsin match up
with the House State? Well, I think that they're probably
a more favorable matchup than any other matchup when it
comes to an opponent for Ohio State. Because here's the
here's the stark reality about Ohio State. They've been so dominant.
(31:05):
What that what teams have not been able to force,
justin fields to do is play a one dimensional game,
you know, with with really meaningful second half snaps and
let's say a one possession game where the run game
is not there for him to throw off of UM.
So we still, at least at this point in the season,
are a little bit searching with or or analyzing a
(31:26):
bit of an unknown with Ohio State. And that's exactly
how they will react when they face adversity, or at
least on field adversity. That's the charge for Wisconsin this
week is to go in there. What I would do
is I would focus all of my assets defensively on
stopping j K. Dobbins. Force them into being one dimensional
force um this court of act justin fields to throw
(31:47):
from the pocket, use a lot utilizing those hard edge
with the outside linebacker like Zach Bond to keep them
in there and throw from the pocket. I think that's there.
They're their best chance this week. And then offensively, they're
gonna have to obviously hang out of the ball better
than they did a week ago. But then they've also
got to create touchdowns when they get into the scoring area,
because the best, the best way to get beat by
(32:07):
a team that's probably more athletic than you is if
you start trading touchdowns for field goals. Joel Clad joins
us in the Doug Out Life Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Jalen hurts was about as good as anyone could be.
Right like it, it keeps getting better. I'll grant you,
He's not like he's playing against eighty five Bears, But um,
(32:30):
has he gotten this much better? Or is the offense
just that good? Well? Oh man? They I mean they defensively,
they like Wisconsin, don't have a huge amount of margin
defensively because I don't think that they have great players
outside of Kenneth Murray. Their offense obviously, is so potent.
You know, I think you and I when we watched that,
(32:51):
I think it's I think it's the best offense in
the country. I think Lincoln Riley is the best offense
of coach I've seen, not only in the country, but
maybe any level of football. What he is doing is
so creative on the offensive side, and and what that
allows Alex Grinch to do is it allows him a
bit of wiggle room. And what he's done is is
he's taken a few areas of football and he said,
(33:12):
we're gonna be tangibly better in these areas that that
I think we can control can he control whether his
players are better than the opposition, Well not yet. It's
his first year, so he has may able to recruit,
So what can What can you control as a player.
You can control your your discipline, your effort, and your
ability to go out there and run to the football,
which falls in line with effort, and they're trying to
(33:35):
maximize that and I think that has really paid dividends
for them, and in particular the speed with which they play.
So he changed the schematics a bit so that they
can just react and run and that's helped. Can it
murray out? We see how fast he plays. He plays
on the defensive side, So I don't think it's necessarily
been some sort of magic dust that Alex Grinch has
sprinkled on them. Um. I think that they can still
(33:58):
struggle at times, in particular if they don't put pressure
in the face of the quarterback because their corners are
not great. We see him get handy and we see
some penalties get thrown their way in terms of the corners.
But overall that effort, the sound nature of the defense,
the fact that they're lining up prior to the snap
with a clear goal and a detail of what they
(34:19):
need to execute, allows them to play with that maximum effort.
Oregon now suddenly becoming a quasi favorite to kind of
sneak their way into the College Footall playoff with all
these other teams starting to kind of lose games. Um,
is are they legitimate? Like, I know, they almost beat Auburn,
but you watch the Pack twelve, you see how they're playing.
Are they in the class of those college football leagues? UM?
(34:43):
I think that they probably are. They've got an elite quarterback. UM.
I think that loss, though, is just people are saying, like, well,
can they get back into the college football playoff race?
And I think it's gonna be so difficult for them
to do that because they do have the loss. So
let's just say, for the sake of example, that we've
got a one loss non division champion that doesn't even
(35:05):
make it to the SEC championship game. Like, let's just say,
sake of argument, it's L s U and L s
U beats Auburn, they have one loss. With the resume
that they have the problem for Oregon is that Oregon
lost to what I would widely consider the fifth best
team out of the SEC. So if you take a
team that we all think is better than Auburn, who
beat Auburn, who has one loss, and we you picked
(35:28):
them against Oregon. I think that you can say that
they are substantially better or you know, beyond you know,
measurable doubt that they're better than Oregon. And because of that,
I think that the committee would have enough leeway, even
with a potential Pack twelve championship, to leave Oregon out.
I just don't think Oregon's got a shot at the
playoff because of that. That loss to the fifth best
(35:48):
team out of a conference that's gonna be buying for
two is ultimately going to hold hold them up. Having
said that, I really think Oregon is good. I think
it's a shame that they lost that game, in particular
with some of the secution that they had in the
red zone, dropped they had in the end zone, so
on and so forth. That's a really good football team
and the other team that people are just really sleeping
on that's gonna limit their loss earlier in the season
(36:11):
as Utah, I think if you went position group by
position group with Utah and Oregon, Doug, I think there's
and I'm I'm one of these guys, and I know
there's several other analysts out there that I talked to
who think the same way. Utah probably would get the
NOD right now over Oregon. They did this week. For
me when I put out you know my top ten teams,
(36:32):
Utah was the one that cracked the top ten. Um.
I watched the entire Michigan Pence take game. I watched
the entire game and the first half, Michigan gets down
twenty one. Nothing is not good, okay, but they come
back and who is Ronnie Bell drops the ball in
the end zone on fourth down and like, look, I
(36:53):
you and I have both I guess been a Harbor defenders.
I still am like, I don't know. I I understand
that they haven't beaten a ranked team on the road,
but we're talking about James Franklin Penn State, who's really good,
and they came back and should have tied the game.
They didn't. And I know it's ifs and butts or
(37:14):
candy nuts to be Christmas every day. I don't think
it's based upon how poorly they played against Wisconsin and
how poorly they started against Penn State. If he didn't
know what he was doing, if those kids weren't bought in,
they would have shut it down at halftime. They didn't
and could have should have tied the game. I'm not
as down on Michigan and hardball as others are. Where
(37:35):
are you today, Yeah, I'm I'm very much in line
with what you were just talking about. You're right, it's
hard to defend the specific record against you know, ranked
teams in particular on the road, right like that, that's
hard to defend and I'm not going to try to
defend it. They've got to win some of those games. Um.
I will say that Michigan football is exponentially better with
(37:58):
Jim Harbaugh than they were before he got there. And
and have they played at the top level. No. Um,
Now you can make a really strong argument that they're
playing exactly the type of football that they really should
be in terms of if you evaluated what their program is.
And this is what Michigan fans don't want to hear, Doug.
(38:19):
They only have one national championship since World War Two.
You know that was that was the greasy team. This
is not the Ohio States of the World that you
know ran through with Woody And what did Woody win
five national championships? You know, you win several national championships. Obviously,
Alabama has won several national championships. USC has won several
national championships. So Michigan fans want to put themselves on
(38:41):
that level. And yet this program, even historically under both Schumbeckler,
who never won a national championship, didn't play on that level.
Michigan is a really, really good football team. They got
their doors blown off against a really good Wisconsin team
early in the season when their offense hadn't really taken root.
What I saw in the second half was the team
that could be to anybody. They could go beat Ohio State.
(39:03):
Uh you know so in that respect, does that make
me a Jim Harbog defender? I guess And if that
makes me a Jim Harbog defender, then I'll wear that
that that title. But this is a much better football
team than when he got there, and right now they're
getting better towards the end of the season. Let's just
put it to you this way. If you were to
ask Brian Kelly after the Wisconsin game, you know, hey,
(39:24):
what do you think about Michigan, he'd have a much
different description than what he's having right now. Preparing his
fighting irish to go play that in Michigan team this week. Yeah,
I'm with you, like the Michigan Michigan people like one.
They don't realize, you know, they don't realize how tough
the league is when Penn States legit right like that
adds it's and and by the league is way tougher
(39:48):
with the and Michigan State has been legit and they've
you know, they're now they're dominating Michigan State. So I
don't you know, we're comparing apples to oranges and Michigan
people to talk about how great the program is because
they have more wins than anybody, like, yeah, okay, but
the only one one one last championship, it was twenty
years ago. It was ten years after Lloyd card one,
(40:11):
one before he finally retired, and they bounced around and
now they're a legit, solid program. Yes, you have to
take that next step. It's reasonable to want that every year.
But I think if you actually watch, is your team
getting better? Yes? Are they competing at a high level
recruiting wise? Yes? Are they competing at a high level
you really? Yes? I just I don't I fail to
(40:31):
see why what the he's a he's a weird dude. Okay,
got it. But they seem to be playing pretty good football.
Let's get to Penn State. What do we think of
the Nitney Lions. Now, I'm impressed with them. I like
I like them on defense a lot. I think that's
the thing that that ultimately makes the biggest difference for
them is that they've got speed. I think you saw
(40:54):
that on the field. Handler is just special and and
you know that safety mismatch. I don't want to be
a safety and try to cover Handler, He's too fast
for that. I've been really impressed with Clifford at quarterback.
I think offensively, they have a blueprint, they have a rhythm, uh,
they create big plays. If you look at their explosiveness
(41:17):
as it relates to other teams around the country, them
um Oklahoma is kind of an obvious one. They they're
like so far above everybody else as far as explosiveness.
But then you look at Penn State is right there.
And then defensively, I think that that speed shows up
as well linebacker position with Parsons Grossmato Sack on the quarterback,
they have speed and I think that that in some respects,
(41:41):
Doug is like the great eraser, so when they make mistakes,
those mistakes are not magnified because of the speed that
they put on the field. I think Penn State is
a really, really good football team that will likely be
an undefeated team when they go visit Ohio State and
the next the last game of the regular season, that's
the week before Thanksgiving, and that now looks to be
(42:02):
just a monumental game which will decide the East Division.
And the big tit, which I gotta tell you is
just huge. Uh to a has a high ankle spraining.
He has some surgical procedure and now we have to
sit and wait and see if he plays against l
s U. This whole thing screws up the whole thing.
Right L s U beats them, They're like, wow, we
didn't have to. Uh did you have to? Didn't have to?
(42:24):
Which is a legit like number one overall pick in
the draft. Um, you know that you're that you're sec
I'm trying to think how how to how to describe
you your s a ec reality is going to come
to fruition right the they get away with stuff that. Yes,
I do think that the listen, all those teams are
(42:44):
really good, right, I mean L s U and Alabama
are obviously really good football teams. Um, this does make
it harder for the other leagues. If I'm sitting out
there and I'm I'm the Big tin or I'm the
Big twelve, I'm a bit nervous because now, let's say,
and I gave you the example, let's say Alabama or
L s U was the team with the one loss
(43:05):
that doesn't win the division. Well, let's say now that
that's Alabama in particular with their history, and in particular
if that loss happens without two on the field who's
clearly their best player and like you said, could potentially
be the first pick in the draft. The committee has
written into their by laws and how they evaluate that
they're force supposed to take into consideration injuries and which
(43:26):
players are on the field and which players aren't on
the field. So, Doug, there is no question that I
think Alabama right now has a mulligan. I think if
Alabama wins the rest of their games and loses to
L s U, I still think they're going to the playoff,
which then puts an incredible amount of pressure on teams
(43:46):
like Ohio State and teams like Oklahoma to potentially win
the rest of their games and their conference title, and
I think you would have to throw Penn State and
on that maybe even Clemson as well. Everybody else now
is going to be pressed up into the core or
of perfection, because I do think that a mulligan will
be offered and given to Alabama in particular, if TOA
(44:07):
is not available when they play L s U. And
I don't think that that's beyond the stretch of reasonable
analysis to think that everybody else is going to have
to be perfect. Okay, we we know that Clemson all
they got to South Carolina and the a SEC title
game left nothing to really scare you. But could you,
I mean, can we, like we've been doing this, We've
been sports fans, let alone you as a former player
(44:30):
now analyst long enough, do we honestly think that Clemson
is gonna get left out of the College Fall Playoff? No,
not if they're undefeated, if they're gonna defeated, They'll absolutely
be there. They though, I do think that that people
are savvy enough when they look at that schedule to
look at Clemson as great as Clemson is, and I
do think that they're a great team that that that
(44:52):
This always sounds like a knock on Clemson to say, oh,
they're gonna have to go on defeed theirs. Their conference
is terrible. Their path to a national championship, if if
you look around the country is dug by far the easiest,
easiest path to a national championship in the country, and
there's there's not even a close second as far as
which teams out there have a a clear path, uh
(45:15):
an easy path towards potentially winning a national championship or
towards the playoff first, but they do not have a
mulligan with that schedule. That league is clearly the fifth
best league in the Power five. You can make an
argument that the American Athletic Conference is better than the
a CEC this year. Um. I know some have tried,
but um, Clemson is going to have to be an
undefeated team. But if they are, they're absolutely going to
(45:37):
be in Joel Clatt, lead college football analysts Fox Sports.
Check them out Saturday, Big Noon on Fox Ohio State
taking on previously undefeated Wisconsin. My guess is he's gonna
spend a lot of weekends in Columbus the rest of
the way. Joel, thanks so much for joining us Yeah,
but have a good one.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlap
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 Gottlip 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 got Leave Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug got Leave Show, Fox Sports Radio.
I hope you're having a great day. Hope you had
a good weekend. We had a good weekend of NFL Picks.
College picks not so much. But alas we digress. Doug
(00:44):
Gotlip Show is brought to you by Discover Card. We
treat you like you treat you Lovey Smith is gonna
join us. You ruined my perfect season, Bitter Bob, that's
what That's what Illinois did to Wisconsin's perfect season. That's
a that's a wow. Brandon Weeden, former NFL quarterback, former Cowboy. Uh,
(01:08):
he's gonna join us next hour. Joe Clatt will join us.
Trent Dilfer will join us. Man, do we have a
great show for you. WHOA. I did a speaking event
in Riverside, California. There's a remarkable private school. Cal Baptist
University facilities are obscene. People are incredibly nice. Um, we
(01:29):
needs a word obscene in Baptist. People are like, whoa, No,
no, No No. Obscene can be used in a in a
positive positive not just a negative anyway. Um. I had
a couple people approached me. They're like, hey, what are
some of those sayings that you have? And I said,
you know, yoga pants are a privilege, not a right.
That's that's a big one. Yoga pants are, in fact
(01:51):
a privilege, not a right. Um. There has never been
an unsuccess bowl prognosis to any surgery performed on an athlete.
Remember that one right to a tongue of ioloa. He
just had a procedure down to his angle ankle. We
(02:14):
expected to be back in full strength of notes that like.
No one's ever gone like man, whoa, It was a
long weekend and I got no idea what happens with
this kid? Right? No one ever says that no one
gets a second opinion. No one gets a second opinion
on a good prognosis. Mr gotlie, you don't have surgery.
(02:39):
I mean still, Mr Gotlie, you don't have cancer. Sorry, Doc,
I need another opinion. You cannot full players careful players. Uh.
There are no more secrets, only facts yet to be revealed.
And here's my newest most favorite one was favorite is one?
Is this? No one hates to say I told you so,
(03:04):
and I'll say it. I love to say I told
you so. Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback I have
ever seen. And I have said that for several years
now and it's proven to be true. And I understand
that you can sit there and go like, hey, hey,
gottliep Tom Brady jewelry six rings, and you're not wrong.
(03:28):
And what Tom Brady does in his quarterbacking, there's a leadership,
a sustainability and ability to not be hurt and able
to get along, we think with others, although there have
been reports of him not getting along with Belichick in
the past. I'm not going to give I'm not going
to give the organization all the credit. I'm not going
(03:49):
to give them none of the credit. I'm not gonna
give Brady all the credit. I'm not gonna give them
none of the credit. But I do think that the
idea that Brady would be Brady without that coach, without organization.
Shan that that's in fact laughable. But the point of
Tom Brady being the best that we have ever seen
(04:10):
is quite simple, quite simple. His a game is better
than anybody else's a game. I want you to consider
that the Green Bay Packers had a short week. Granted
they didn't have to travel, but they had a short week,
(04:30):
so with less prep time playing without Davante Adams, who
is far and away his best and most consistent wide receiver,
specifically in the red zone. We told you before he
got hurt, is the best wide zone, red zone wide
receiver in the NFL since two thousand seventeen. He's his guy.
(04:51):
Without him, he pitched a near perfect game five touchdowns throwing,
one touchdown running, and a couple in complete passes us
hell over the last year and a half, in spite
of the fact last year was a disaster wins and
losses and some production wise, he has only four interceptions. Wow,
he doesn't turn it over. He's athletic, he's tough, He's
(05:15):
ridiculously accurate. He's got the arm straight to make every throw.
He can move the move in the pocket and move
the pocket and run outside the pocket, and he can
raise the level of everybody around him. Don't believe me.
Look at what he was dealing with over the past
couple of weeks due to injuries. I don't hate to
(05:40):
say I told you so. I love to say I
told you so. Now. Uh you may see be sitting
there and go like, godly, what about Dak Prescott. Well,
Dak Prescott was good, But Dak Prescott was really good.
Because of what we've always said, Aaron Rodgers has been good,
(06:03):
if not great, whether he has a good offensive line
or a bad offensive line, whether he has his go
to wide receivers, was he don't? Aaron Rodgers had a
career day without his best wide receiver. Now let's look
at Dak Prescott. How whatever you think of the Philadelphia Eagles,
they are in fact below five team and the three
(06:23):
teams that they played earlier this year were the bottom
that he lit up were the bottom feeders of the league. Right,
the Redskins were winless. The Giants who stink? I mean,
the Giants gave up like two yards rushing to the
Arizona Cardinals who don't really like to run the football.
That's how bad they are, and the Miami Dolphins, who
(06:47):
stink and are also winless. Right, So you got those
three teams as well as yesterday's Eagles, who like Okay,
he was good. If you want to compare comparables, Kirk
Cousins was better against the same defense. If I said
Kirk Cousins, would you say Kirk pay Kirk Cousins top
of the league money? Of course you wouldn't, So why
(07:08):
would you attack Dak Prescott? But the bigger point is
when Rogers doesn't have his go to wide receiver, he
can have a career day. When Dak doesn't have Amari Cooper.
After the first quarter last week, he looks like just
a guy. This Dallas offense is built around a great
offensive line, and when you didn't have Leo Collins and
(07:30):
you didn't have um uh Tyron Smith, you look below average.
When you have them both, you look outstanding. So I'm
not gonna sit here and tell you he stinks. I'm
not gonna sit here and tell you he's great. He's
exactly what we told you he was. I hate to say,
(07:51):
I told no, I don't I love to day I
told you so. Okay, he is a Honda Accord, probably
a V six Honda court Okay, don't get the V four,
get six. My mom has had a Honda Chord m
since probably two ish. She used to have an Astro minivan.
(08:18):
Oh and she got some custom striping on the side
that was slick stuff. We used to take out the
that row seats sit on the floor, so we have
like six dudes sit in the floor. My dad would
drive around basketball tournament to basketball tournament. I think it's
a gross red interior. Anyway, she got a Honda Chord
(08:39):
and a hand a chords. Back then we're like twenty
grand and now are like twenty grand. It's really incredible, right,
everything else costs more money. A cup of coffee is
a couple of bucks, a lot is like five bucks,
but a Honda Cord is still like twenty grand. It's amazing.
And they have basically the technology you need. And I
need to get the side mere camera deals. They got
(09:01):
the rear camera thing, you know, they got cruise control.
Then they got enough bells and whistles to say they
got the stuff. But they don't have all them a
stuff but they don't. They have everything you need, nothing
you don't, but nothing that blows you away. Aaron Rodgers,
(09:23):
I mean Aaron Rodgers is a BMW seven Series, all right,
the ultimate driving machine. Like, I don't know, like you're
seeing these things, these BMW's they have. UM I used
to have an Audi that would have this little screen
and you you could with your finger draw the letter
(09:46):
you wanted for the contact you needed, and it would
scroll to those contacts. It's pretty cool, right BMW. You
don't even have a You just do it to a camera,
just do like a D and all of a sudden,
everything with a D comes up. They got all these
bells and whistles that you didn't even think you needed
or wanted, and you're like, damn, that's the coolest thing ever.
They throw it all in there. Is it really expensive? Sure? Yeah,
(10:10):
it's more expensive, and occasionally it's way more temperamental breaks down,
You're like, man, I gotta take it to the beam
or dealerships. Man, But you know what, Ahano gets you
a to B Fine, you're gonna drive to Vegas. It's
(10:31):
like four hours give or take. You get behind the
wheel of a seven Series. You're like, this is the
most amazing thing ever, worth every penny. Where is it accord.
It's a motor transfation, doesn't break down. You can drive
it to the wheels fall off. There's absolutely, positively nothing
wrong with it. And have you put some cool rims
(10:53):
and tires on it. You tent up the windows, you
get the upgraded sound system. That's great. So I be
sure to catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb
Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio Whap. It's
interesting what's happened with the Saints. You know the Saints
(11:14):
went from and this is where you know you're I
guess old. When I where was a kid I was
growing up? I remember they were the Aints. They were
everything you think of the Browns the past couple of years,
or maybe the Jaguars. I can't really, it's kind of
hard kind of brown. They kind of the Browns, A right.
The Saints sucked. They sucked. They didn't draw well. This
(11:37):
cookie owner who had come down with this like umbrella
when they would win and would dance on the sideline.
The Saints were not good. A matter of fact, the
Saints ain'ts. They were the first ones to have fans
where the paper bags over their heads because they were
embarrassed to be at Saints games. So um, obviously, between
Drew Brees and Sean Payton, they collectively turned around. They
I think they have one playoff win total total before
(11:59):
they got there, and they've won a Super Bowl, They've
been to another Super Bowl. And then after um, after
bounty Gate, it hurt him and it became the Drew
Brees Show. Three out of five times, though the Drew
Brees has thrown for over five thousand yards in the season,
the Saints were actually five hundred or below, like they
were built solely around Drew Brees and just try and
(12:20):
win us a game. But we've told you this before,
and I think I think it's starting to become oh yeah, like,
no matter how good the quarterback is, if you don't
have a defense, it doesn't matter. Now the six times
in which Drew Brees has had over six d fifty
past tempts in the season, they were below five hundred
four of those times. And yet they go on the
(12:41):
road and then they beat Seattle with Teddy Bridgewater, and
then yesterday they go on the road and they beat
Chicago with Teddy Bridgewater and they're five and oh with
Teddy Bridgewater, and no one's sitting here going on, Teddy
Bridgewater better than Sean Payton, I mean than Drew Brees.
But but the difference is in fact the defense. Right
they're allowing eighteen points per game, eighth in the league,
(13:02):
sixty seven yards rushing per game. That that's personal league.
And while that doesn't matter as much, and when you
have a lead, teams don't run the football as much,
the fact is, if you can make somebody one dimensional
where they have to throw the football, it usually plays
into your hands. Six yards per past tempa is third
in the league. Like their defense is filthy. They've rebuilt
(13:22):
this thing, not around Drew Brees, but through the defense.
All seven games they're tied for fifth, and sex second fewest,
and penalties second fewest, and miss tackles. They're just better defensively.
They're not a Drew Brees and a bunch of other
dudes team. And now Drew Brees comes back, you can
be back at practice. Doesn't mean he plays right away,
(13:44):
doesn't mean they need to play him right away, but
it's fascinating that we do. You need a dude to
win you a game? Yeah, yeah, you need a guy,
because there's gonna be a game in which your defense,
you know, has a missed assignment, gives up a big touchdown,
gets you by behind, and you need which which Which
is what they did versus the Texans. If you remember
(14:04):
this year, Drew Brees won them that game. You're gonna
need that in the playoffs. And frankly, Drew Brees wasn't
good enough against the Rams last year. Like people get
so caught up in the well. They missed the past interference, Hey,
past interferences on third down, first down, He threw a
ball away that he you can't throw away the clock
is running, would have been better off to take a knee.
(14:26):
They got the ball first in overtime, didn't score, didn't
score a touchdown, all of these things, like Drew Brees
wasn't good enough. You still have to have a dude
to win you game. But in order to get there,
in order to win big, in order to be over five,
you gotta have a defense. You gotta have a team.
Case in point, the Saints, when they didn't have a defense,
it didn't matter how good Drew Brees was, they weren't good.
(14:46):
Now they do have a defense, and by the way
they usually when Alvin Kamara is in have a running game,
and now they get Drew Brees back. Granted later on
his career, he's not what he used to be. He's
better indoors he was outdoors, but he's better than Teddy Bridgewater.
That's the legit Super Bowl contender team that's not built
around breeze, and that gives them a chance to win
another one. Be sure to catch the live edition of
(15:07):
The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m. Easter
noon Pacific. Stug Gotlip Show here on Fox Sports Radio
and every Monday. We are so blessed, so lucky to
have a Super Bowl champion, a long time NFL alst
and the head coach of Lipscomb Academy. You can check
them out on social media at lips at l a
mustang FB only high school coach, only one. I'm only
(15:27):
high school program in America, full time academic coach, full
time nutritionist, NFL strength coach, best weight room in the country, barbershop,
You've got a concert venue, and of course they have
Trent Dilfer and other former NFL players and high level
college coaches on staff and train joins us on the
Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio t V. I
(15:48):
I I start with the premise of of I told
you I don't actually hate to say I told you so,
because I like to say I told you so. And
for a long time I've been sitting there saying Aaron
Rodgers is the best I best quarterback I've ever seen. Um, obviously,
yesterday wasn't. It was an incredible game, But did anything change?
(16:08):
Did something change with the offense? Was that the opponent?
Did they simply catch some of his passes? Did anything
change yesterday for the Green Bay Packers? Well, I think
it's a really great discussion because Aaron's obviously I'm with you.
I think he's a generational talent. I think he both
his mind, body, and soul. I take all three. He's
(16:29):
a complete package. But he's had too much put on him,
especially at the end of the McCarthy era. They got
lazy offensively. We talked about it. It was like, Okay,
throw the balls out and Aaron will make something happen.
Now you're going to see Aaron Rodgers when his job's
actually easier. You know, sometimes great the greatest actually need
(16:49):
a little bit of that burden. Take taken off of them,
and then the fullness of their greatness comes out. His
job is easier because there are a three face football
team now. They're really good on defense, they get the
ball act, they have good schemes, special teams they've had
made dramatic changes special teams, wise fuel position, starting average,
net pun average, field goal percentage that go on and
(17:11):
on and on, and then offensively, they've created a structure
for him where they can get in tight formations and
run the ball, then run action out of it and
get a tight end matched up on a bad linebacker,
a running back matched up on the weakest linebacker, receiver
crossing the field and getting lost in the in the muck.
I mean, they're getting him kind of freebie looks where
(17:32):
he had to earn thirty five looks a game last year.
Now I's only having to earn it on third down,
tight red zone critical moments, which is really all you
should have to earn it. On the coaching staff, the team,
everything should lighten the burden of these quarterbacks for the
majority of the game and let them be great when
they need to be great. Only um, okay, let's let's
(17:56):
let's get to uh the Dallas Cowboys. UM. Obviously statistically
and in terms of final score, everyone is going to
point out that they played well against the Philadelphia Eagles.
How much of that was play calling? How much of
it was dak How much of it is having your
bookend tackles back. I think majority is having your dudes back.
(18:18):
It's more than just the best left tackle and football
and a rising superstar right tackle. It's having Amari Cooper
played the whole game. Remember last week he has gone
after five minutes. It is having Randall Cobb back, who's
kind of your space finder slot. You mean, the guy's
going to find those soft spots and move the chains
for you. It's allowing Tavon Austin now to become an
auxiliary player and have special plays for him. I think
(18:41):
a lot of as you're getting your dudes back. I
think when your dudes are back, play calling gets better
because you have more confidence. Confidence and play calling. I'm
learning This is as a high school coach, even you know,
you go, you know, you kind of puck her up
a little bit when your dudes aren't there. You kind
of try to, you know, mitigate damage to a certain degree.
But and your dudes are there, you're a lot more aggressive,
(19:02):
You're a lot more free flowing. All of a sudden,
your mind things clear, and I think a lot. Kellen
Moore called the game that way. I think Das played
pretty darn well. Even in the three game losing streak.
He's had some big mistakes far. That's pressing because you
know they don't have your dude, so um, I just
think gaving that many pieces back, if it's just one guy,
no excuse, no reason, move on two guys. Oh that's tough.
(19:25):
But it was four guys for them last week that
are critical players for them, and now they got them back,
and now you see the fullness of what the Cowboys
can be. What about the Eagles, I'll fix them. Are
their issues their average? I mean I have been telling
calling this. You know he's been a buyer, and I'm like, dude,
cell cell, cell, cell cell. They don't have the Biggs
they used to have. They got no juice. On offense,
Carson Wentz has to earn everything. Carson Wentz has become
(19:48):
what Aaron Rodgers had to do the last few years,
where he's got to earn every single yard. When you're tight,
ends are your biggest playmakers. You don't have a dude
that can just take a seven yard completion turn into
a seventeen yard game. It's hard work. These defenses are good,
even the Dolphins defense is good. I mean, it makes
it really hard to be consistent, to be explosive when
(20:09):
you're big plays are generated by your tight ends. I mean,
Jeffrey is a really good player, but he's a target guy.
You know what I mean by the target guys are
gonna run out, there's gonna be a target, he's gonna catching,
he's gonna fall down. You know, you need guys that
have run after the catchability. They got juice, they got
roadrunner beat beat to him that they can take an
average play and make it a great play. And if
you don't have that as a quarterback, it is an
(20:30):
all day sucker every single week. Um, okay, let's let's
let's let's discuss the Saints because they use some creativity
right there in some option game. Uh, they did a
little bit of everything, and they go and they beat
the Bears in in Chicago. Uh. I mean this has
to solidify them as a Super Bowl hopeful. What do
they look like when Drew Brees returns? Oh, they're just
(20:52):
so well coached. I mean, Sean Paynton doesn't get enough credit.
They're so well coached offensively. I mean they find ay's
to make Teddy Bridgewater get explosive plays. And Teddy is
a really good player, but he's more in that managerial category.
He doesn't have a ton of juice himself. But they
find ways to kind of create matchups, create explosives. Um,
(21:15):
the bells and whistles they use, the pre snap eye
candy they use is second to none. Um. I mean,
Sean Paigne does not get enough credit. Now, Dennis Allen
running that defense and that Sean's guy, Now you're seeing
a talent to defense. Not take anyway from their talent,
but schematically they mix it up and you never know
what's coming. I get anxiety watching it because if I
(21:36):
was quarterback, I'd be freaking out. Uh. And then again,
a special teams has not talked about enough. They're really, really,
really good on teams and they create problems for you.
And every week you know that Sean's gonna either try
to steal a possession by going for something or trying
to block something, and that you know that that preparation
week for the other team. Now they gotta day to
(21:56):
cap probably twenty more minutes, and of course the week
to prepare against the same which takes twenty minutes away
from defense, twenty minutes away from offense, and kind of
again us, this word adds a little anxiety to your
group playing them, because they know that Sean cares about
special teams as much as anybody in football. That's a
voice of trend tail First Super Bowl champion NFL analysts
of course, head coach at Lipsko Academy, follow them on
(22:18):
Twitter at l a Mustang FB. What about the Bears?
How big are their trabisky issues? I think it's big. Um.
I think it's a very common case what I call
the love button syndrome. It's when you have a love
button as a GM or a coach and you're just
all in on somebody. You overdraft him, you've given him
the leash, you've made excuses for him, you've you've supported
(22:41):
him with personnel and coaches, and it's not happening. Typically,
when he's your love button, you're not gonna cut bait.
You're gonna hold on too long. And I think you're
seeing that in Chicago's the thirty one starts. Now he
was overdrafted, had attempts in college. We know now as
quarterback geek, to know that you're taking a huge risk
(23:02):
if your quarterback hasn't had over a thousand, more likely
fifteen hundred reps as a college player or throws, I
should say, because you start extrapolating that out for all
the practice reps and how many times he was had
the ability to be the quarter back in game and
in practice. So here's the guy that was really green. Talented,
(23:23):
great kid, but really green. And then they throw him
into the fire because he makes a couple of splash plays.
Oh we found something. Well, now the love button grows.
Now you're more in love, more in love. Well, then
it balances out and he becomes who he really is,
and you lose perspective of who he really Isn't tough
to cut bait kind of deal for our guest in
(23:43):
the Doug Gottlieb Show on the Minnesota Vikings fixed, Yeah,
and and again I like saying I told you so too.
I can now that I'm not on TV. I said
it four or five weeks ago when when they were struggling.
Watch out for the Vikings because they will figure out
this run run action game. They're not a passing team.
There are run run action team that can just knife
you in the passing game. But you know these three
(24:06):
yard games, but well, oh they're throwing the eyes out
of it. No, they're throwing it purposefully. They're setting things
up to get free runners in the secondary. This is
what a Kuba Yak influenced team does. He's done it
forever and he's the one behind the scenes as the
quote unquote offensive consultant that's setting the framework for this offense.
And go back to his team in two thousand and
(24:28):
fifteen with a very average Peyton manning, and look at
who they were there. Dominant on defense, they had a
good running game, and they got chunk plays in the
passing game. And that's exactly what this Vikings team is doing.
So I think there's a lot of comparable to the
two thousand and fifteen Broncos and this Vikings team as
you forecast it out. I think the Vikings are very
(24:48):
very much for real. Now. They didn't play great defense
yesterday would scare me, but they got beat by a
bunch of plays. You know, guys just making plays, playing
beyond the xs and ohs Um, But when you look
at the Vikings, when you either defense, there are a problem.
They just gotta be better at the ball. They weren't
that great against Stafford and Jones yesterday. Kind of the
point of over, you know, that point of truth, the
(25:10):
moment of truth where it was about playing the ball. Um, okay,
Lamar Jackson yards rushing only not out of twenty, but
more importantly a road win in Seattle. Is this sustainable?
That's the that's the question. I think it's sustainable in
the regular season. I think it's sustainable the first time
through a season. Um, much like r G three, much
(25:32):
like Kaepernick, much like guys that rely on run first
stuff where you have to create define looks with your
legs as a runner. Um, it's a problem. It's very
hard to defend. I'm not taking anything away from it.
Typically the NFL, after a year's cycle and really deep
dive in the playoffs, you take away what a player
(25:55):
does best. That I mean, that's the golden rule of
good defense. And if you can take away him as
a runner, that's simply all you have to do is
take away him as a runner and make him be
a passer. We saw those couple of weeks where they
got out over their skis and they stopped running them. Um.
Then he's just a guy. You know, he's a very
good deep ball throw, but he's just a guy when
it comes to the completion game. So UM, it's gonna
(26:18):
be interesting to see how quickly teams say, Okay, we're
not gonna let you run the football the march Jackson,
no matter what of our dead bodies. We might give
you some stuff in the passing game, but let's see
if you can do it for sixty minutes. Let's see
you can do it in the weather changes. Let's you
can do it in the playoffs and we have more
time to prepare for you. Let's see if you can
do it next year. Um, we have yet to see
a quarterback who's a run first guy sustained this year
(26:42):
and in year out. I tend to agree with you. Um,
I feel like Andrew Luck left a super Bowl team,
um in his early retirement. In the meantime, there are
four and two and uh, yesterday Jacoby pre sent four
touchdowns no interceptions at home against the against the Texans.
What is the ceiling for the Colts? It's really I
(27:04):
I mean I love Andrew Luck, and I sympathize with
Andrew Luck. And I think I might have said this
with you. Anybody's dealing with chronic pain, Errol Bowll, syndrome, arthritis,
chronic headaches, back pain, you get what Andrew Luck is
going through emotionally. So I I give Andrew Luck a
Hall pass because he's doing some real chronic pain stuff.
(27:25):
But Jacoby brissets the real deal. Now again, a lot
of a quarterback success has to do with his pedigree,
has to do with his college experience, the reps, his tootelage.
He had a good one at NC State. Then he
goes through his pre draft process. Who's his mentor, Bill Parcels. Okay,
Now I goes to New England. Who's pouring into him,
Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniel's Tom Brady. It's kind of like
(27:48):
the the ultimate trifecta. There poor in India and he
goes to Ending. He gets to play a little bit,
He gets to see Andrew play. He's got an next quarterback,
Frank Wright, who believes in him. He's got a general manager,
Chris Ballard who traded for him. So he's his love
button and he gets to sit there and look at
Brian Horror's one great pros in this league every single day.
(28:09):
And in the quarterback room, I was just a well
Gradge Johnson's a new coach there. It's an NFL guy,
a great quarterback guy. So just his pedigree, his upbringing
the guys that have poured into him is top level stuff.
And then he's really talented. He's a big, physical guy
that has a huge throw catalog, that can read the
field sideline to sideline, and there's only a handful of
(28:31):
those guys that can drop back and go sideline the
sideline and have the talent to split the ball over
the yard, and he's one of them. Pretty amazing stuff,
trying great stuff. We'll get your your breakdown of Donald
and Brady coming up next week. We appreciate you joining
us on Fox Sports Radio. Thanks. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
(28:54):
within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R
to listen live. Joe Class League college football analyst for
Fox Sports. He was all set to head to a hostage,
still gonna go to a hot stage is Wisconsin was
supposed to come in undefeated Badgers, undefeated buck Eyes in
the shoe, and then Wisconsin loses to Illinois. How the
hell that happened? Well, so there, I mean, there's a
(29:17):
couple of explanations. I think that the first explanation is
that you've got to realize that Wisconsin doesn't play with
the same amount of just outward great talent as some
of the other really quality teams that were undefeated in
the country. So their margin is going to be um
a lot more narrow than other teams, do you think.
I think you see that in basketball as well, Douga.
(29:38):
And so then when you when you see a team
that doesn't convert touchdowns when they're in the red zone,
when they turned the ball over twice in the fourth quarter,
and they don't play their best football, they don't have
the players to overcome that margin, and they end up
getting beat. Another thing that happened is that their defense,
for whatever reason, they were not as dominant on first
and second down, which allowed Illinois to give you first downs.
(30:00):
When that happens Illinois using tempo, then the tempo starts
to work. It was really the first team that I've
seen on tape um used tempo to their advantage against Wisconsin.
No one else has gotten to that fourth, fifth, sixth
play in the series in order to take advantage and
get a big play down the down the field. So
I think those those are the reasons why Wisconsin lost.
(30:23):
They always played with a thin margin and it came
up to buy them last week, Doug Gallam show, you're
on Fox Sports Radio. That's the voice of of Joel Klatt.
Ohio State conversely, on a Friday night game had to
be moved to the Big Ten network. Was completely and
thoroughly dominant. But look this Wisconsin team, as you said
defense Jim Leonard, they've been awesome and they will run
(30:44):
the football if they get ahead, that game gets really short.
How do they match up with with only you know,
a couple of days prepare. How does Wisconsin match up
with the House State? Well, I think that they're probably
a more favorable matchup than any other matchup when it
comes to an opponent for Ohio State. Because here's the
here's the stark reality about Ohio State. They've been so dominant.
(31:05):
What that what teams have not been able to force,
justin fields to do is play a one dimensional game,
you know, with with really meaningful second half snaps and
let's say a one possession game where the run game
is not there for him to throw off of UM.
So we still, at least at this point in the season,
are a little bit searching with or or analyzing a
(31:26):
bit of an unknown with Ohio State. And that's exactly
how they will react when they face adversity, or at
least on field adversity. That's the charge for Wisconsin this
week is to go in there. What I would do
is I would focus all of my assets defensively on
stopping j K. Dobbins. Force them into being one dimensional
force um this court of act justin fields to throw
(31:47):
from the pocket, use a lot utilizing those hard edge
with the outside linebacker like Zach Bond to keep them
in there and throw from the pocket. I think that's there.
They're their best chance this week. And then offensively, they're
gonna have to obviously hang out of the ball better
than they did a week ago. But then they've also
got to create touchdowns when they get into the scoring area,
because the best, the best way to get beat by
(32:07):
a team that's probably more athletic than you is if
you start trading touchdowns for field goals. Joel Clad joins
us in the Doug Out Life Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Jalen hurts was about as good as anyone could be.
Right like it, it keeps getting better. I'll grant you,
He's not like he's playing against eighty five Bears, But um,
(32:30):
has he gotten this much better? Or is the offense
just that good? Well? Oh man? They I mean they defensively,
they like Wisconsin, don't have a huge amount of margin
defensively because I don't think that they have great players
outside of Kenneth Murray. Their offense obviously, is so potent.
You know, I think you and I when we watched that,
(32:51):
I think it's I think it's the best offense in
the country. I think Lincoln Riley is the best offense
of coach I've seen, not only in the country, but
maybe any level of football. What he is doing is
so creative on the offensive side, and and what that
allows Alex Grinch to do is it allows him a
bit of wiggle room. And what he's done is is
he's taken a few areas of football and he said,
(33:12):
we're gonna be tangibly better in these areas that that
I think we can control can he control whether his
players are better than the opposition, Well not yet. It's
his first year, so he has may able to recruit,
So what can What can you control as a player.
You can control your your discipline, your effort, and your
ability to go out there and run to the football,
which falls in line with effort, and they're trying to
(33:35):
maximize that and I think that has really paid dividends
for them, and in particular the speed with which they play.
So he changed the schematics a bit so that they
can just react and run and that's helped. Can it
murray out? We see how fast he plays. He plays
on the defensive side, So I don't think it's necessarily
been some sort of magic dust that Alex Grinch has
sprinkled on them. Um. I think that they can still
(33:58):
struggle at times, in particular if they don't put pressure
in the face of the quarterback because their corners are
not great. We see him get handy and we see
some penalties get thrown their way in terms of the corners.
But overall that effort, the sound nature of the defense,
the fact that they're lining up prior to the snap
with a clear goal and a detail of what they
(34:19):
need to execute, allows them to play with that maximum effort.
Oregon now suddenly becoming a quasi favorite to kind of
sneak their way into the College Footall playoff with all
these other teams starting to kind of lose games. Um,
is are they legitimate? Like, I know, they almost beat Auburn,
but you watch the Pack twelve, you see how they're playing.
Are they in the class of those college football leagues? UM?
(34:43):
I think that they probably are. They've got an elite quarterback. UM.
I think that loss, though, is just people are saying, like, well,
can they get back into the college football playoff race?
And I think it's gonna be so difficult for them
to do that because they do have the loss. So
let's just say, for the sake of example, that we've
got a one loss non division champion that doesn't even
(35:05):
make it to the SEC championship game. Like, let's just say,
sake of argument, it's L s U and L s
U beats Auburn, they have one loss. With the resume
that they have the problem for Oregon is that Oregon
lost to what I would widely consider the fifth best
team out of the SEC. So if you take a
team that we all think is better than Auburn, who
beat Auburn, who has one loss, and we you picked
(35:28):
them against Oregon. I think that you can say that
they are substantially better or you know, beyond you know,
measurable doubt that they're better than Oregon. And because of that,
I think that the committee would have enough leeway, even
with a potential Pack twelve championship, to leave Oregon out.
I just don't think Oregon's got a shot at the
playoff because of that. That loss to the fifth best
(35:48):
team out of a conference that's gonna be buying for
two is ultimately going to hold hold them up. Having
said that, I really think Oregon is good. I think
it's a shame that they lost that game, in particular
with some of the secution that they had in the
red zone, dropped they had in the end zone, so
on and so forth. That's a really good football team
and the other team that people are just really sleeping
on that's gonna limit their loss earlier in the season
(36:11):
as Utah, I think if you went position group by
position group with Utah and Oregon, Doug, I think there's
and I'm I'm one of these guys, and I know
there's several other analysts out there that I talked to
who think the same way. Utah probably would get the
NOD right now over Oregon. They did this week. For
me when I put out you know my top ten teams,
(36:32):
Utah was the one that cracked the top ten. Um.
I watched the entire Michigan Pence take game. I watched
the entire game and the first half, Michigan gets down
twenty one. Nothing is not good, okay, but they come
back and who is Ronnie Bell drops the ball in
the end zone on fourth down and like, look, I
(36:53):
you and I have both I guess been a Harbor defenders.
I still am like, I don't know. I I understand
that they haven't beaten a ranked team on the road,
but we're talking about James Franklin Penn State, who's really good,
and they came back and should have tied the game.
They didn't. And I know it's ifs and butts or
(37:14):
candy nuts to be Christmas every day. I don't think
it's based upon how poorly they played against Wisconsin and
how poorly they started against Penn State. If he didn't
know what he was doing, if those kids weren't bought in,
they would have shut it down at halftime. They didn't
and could have should have tied the game. I'm not
as down on Michigan and hardball as others are. Where
(37:35):
are you today, Yeah, I'm I'm very much in line
with what you were just talking about. You're right, it's
hard to defend the specific record against you know, ranked
teams in particular on the road, right like that, that's
hard to defend and I'm not going to try to
defend it. They've got to win some of those games. Um.
I will say that Michigan football is exponentially better with
(37:58):
Jim Harbaugh than they were before he got there. And
and have they played at the top level. No. Um,
Now you can make a really strong argument that they're
playing exactly the type of football that they really should
be in terms of if you evaluated what their program is.
And this is what Michigan fans don't want to hear, Doug.
(38:19):
They only have one national championship since World War Two.
You know that was that was the greasy team. This
is not the Ohio States of the World that you
know ran through with Woody And what did Woody win
five national championships? You know, you win several national championships. Obviously,
Alabama has won several national championships. USC has won several
national championships. So Michigan fans want to put themselves on
(38:41):
that level. And yet this program, even historically under both Schumbeckler,
who never won a national championship, didn't play on that level.
Michigan is a really, really good football team. They got
their doors blown off against a really good Wisconsin team
early in the season when their offense hadn't really taken root.
What I saw in the second half was the team
that could be to anybody. They could go beat Ohio State.
(39:03):
Uh you know so in that respect, does that make
me a Jim Harbog defender? I guess And if that
makes me a Jim Harbog defender, then I'll wear that
that that title. But this is a much better football
team than when he got there, and right now they're
getting better towards the end of the season. Let's just
put it to you this way. If you were to
ask Brian Kelly after the Wisconsin game, you know, hey,
(39:24):
what do you think about Michigan, he'd have a much
different description than what he's having right now. Preparing his
fighting irish to go play that in Michigan team this week. Yeah,
I'm with you, like the Michigan Michigan people like one.
They don't realize, you know, they don't realize how tough
the league is when Penn States legit right like that
adds it's and and by the league is way tougher
(39:48):
with the and Michigan State has been legit and they've
you know, they're now they're dominating Michigan State. So I
don't you know, we're comparing apples to oranges and Michigan
people to talk about how great the program is because
they have more wins than anybody, like, yeah, okay, but
the only one one one last championship, it was twenty
years ago. It was ten years after Lloyd card one,
(40:11):
one before he finally retired, and they bounced around and
now they're a legit, solid program. Yes, you have to
take that next step. It's reasonable to want that every year.
But I think if you actually watch, is your team
getting better? Yes? Are they competing at a high level
recruiting wise? Yes? Are they competing at a high level
you really? Yes? I just I don't I fail to
(40:31):
see why what the he's a he's a weird dude. Okay,
got it. But they seem to be playing pretty good football.
Let's get to Penn State. What do we think of
the Nitney Lions. Now, I'm impressed with them. I like
I like them on defense a lot. I think that's
the thing that that ultimately makes the biggest difference for
them is that they've got speed. I think you saw
(40:54):
that on the field. Handler is just special and and
you know that safety mismatch. I don't want to be
a safety and try to cover Handler, He's too fast
for that. I've been really impressed with Clifford at quarterback.
I think offensively, they have a blueprint, they have a rhythm, uh,
they create big plays. If you look at their explosiveness
(41:17):
as it relates to other teams around the country, them
um Oklahoma is kind of an obvious one. They they're
like so far above everybody else as far as explosiveness.
But then you look at Penn State is right there.
And then defensively, I think that that speed shows up
as well linebacker position with Parsons Grossmato Sack on the quarterback,
they have speed and I think that that in some respects,
(41:41):
Doug is like the great eraser, so when they make mistakes,
those mistakes are not magnified because of the speed that
they put on the field. I think Penn State is
a really, really good football team that will likely be
an undefeated team when they go visit Ohio State and
the next the last game of the regular season, that's
the week before Thanksgiving, and that now looks to be
(42:02):
just a monumental game which will decide the East Division.
And the big tit, which I gotta tell you is
just huge. Uh to a has a high ankle spraining.
He has some surgical procedure and now we have to
sit and wait and see if he plays against l
s U. This whole thing screws up the whole thing.
Right L s U beats them, They're like, wow, we
didn't have to. Uh did you have to? Didn't have to?
(42:24):
Which is a legit like number one overall pick in
the draft. Um, you know that you're that you're sec
I'm trying to think how how to how to describe
you your s a ec reality is going to come
to fruition right the they get away with stuff that. Yes,
I do think that the listen, all those teams are
(42:44):
really good, right, I mean L s U and Alabama
are obviously really good football teams. Um, this does make
it harder for the other leagues. If I'm sitting out
there and I'm I'm the Big tin or I'm the
Big twelve, I'm a bit nervous because now, let's say,
and I gave you the example, let's say Alabama or
L s U was the team with the one loss
(43:05):
that doesn't win the division. Well, let's say now that
that's Alabama in particular with their history, and in particular
if that loss happens without two on the field who's
clearly their best player and like you said, could potentially
be the first pick in the draft. The committee has
written into their by laws and how they evaluate that
they're force supposed to take into consideration injuries and which
(43:26):
players are on the field and which players aren't on
the field. So, Doug, there is no question that I
think Alabama right now has a mulligan. I think if
Alabama wins the rest of their games and loses to
L s U, I still think they're going to the playoff,
which then puts an incredible amount of pressure on teams
(43:46):
like Ohio State and teams like Oklahoma to potentially win
the rest of their games and their conference title, and
I think you would have to throw Penn State and
on that maybe even Clemson as well. Everybody else now
is going to be pressed up into the core or
of perfection, because I do think that a mulligan will
be offered and given to Alabama in particular, if TOA
(44:07):
is not available when they play L s U. And
I don't think that that's beyond the stretch of reasonable
analysis to think that everybody else is going to have
to be perfect. Okay, we we know that Clemson all
they got to South Carolina and the a SEC title
game left nothing to really scare you. But could you,
I mean, can we, like we've been doing this, We've
been sports fans, let alone you as a former player
(44:30):
now analyst long enough, do we honestly think that Clemson
is gonna get left out of the College Fall Playoff? No,
not if they're undefeated, if they're gonna defeated, They'll absolutely
be there. They though, I do think that that people
are savvy enough when they look at that schedule to
look at Clemson as great as Clemson is, and I
do think that they're a great team that that that
(44:52):
This always sounds like a knock on Clemson to say, oh,
they're gonna have to go on defeed theirs. Their conference
is terrible. Their path to a national championship, if if
you look around the country is dug by far the easiest,
easiest path to a national championship in the country, and
there's there's not even a close second as far as
which teams out there have a a clear path, uh
(45:15):
an easy path towards potentially winning a national championship or
towards the playoff first, but they do not have a
mulligan with that schedule. That league is clearly the fifth
best league in the Power five. You can make an
argument that the American Athletic Conference is better than the
a CEC this year. Um. I know some have tried,
but um, Clemson is going to have to be an
undefeated team. But if they are, they're absolutely going to
(45:37):
be in Joel Clatt, lead college football analysts Fox Sports.
Check them out Saturday, Big Noon on Fox Ohio State
taking on previously undefeated Wisconsin. My guess is he's gonna
spend a lot of weekends in Columbus the rest of
the way. Joel, thanks so much for joining us Yeah,
but have a good one.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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