Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Foxsports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching FSR. This is the best of the Doug
(00:22):
Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom of America. Doug
Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Mm hm, take the little
last of my college football picks. I'm not gonna lie
four and one, and you know, rightly it should have
(00:46):
been five and oh but listen, I digress not as
good in the NFL. But two and three right, I
think two and three in the NFL is a six
and four overall. Sorry, I made your money if you
follow all my picks. My bad, my bad, right, Ravens
couldn't complete the task and win and cover. That was,
in fact my bad, just flat out missed on a
(01:07):
couple others. The Niners are exceptionally well coached, and don't
think Jared Golf played particularly well. There's a bunch of
stuff going on in that Sunday night game, the Doyers Doyers.
The Dodgers will take on the Rays in the World Series.
I have to say this, I chose baseball over football
in terms of main TV last night, and I was
(01:30):
rewarded with fall baseball. It was awesome. It was awesome.
Like you can tell me, hey, too many games, Hey
it's boring. Hey there's a lot of stuff, but I
legitimately had a great time with my children watching the Dodgers.
And I'm not a Dodger fan. I like the Dodgers.
(01:51):
I'm an angel fan as a native. I'm not an
Angelino though, right, I'm an Orange County in no what
at I don't even know what that would be called.
But that was that was great. And John Smoltz and
Joe Davis, by the way, who called the game, because
because Joe Buck was calling Tampa versus green Bay anyway
(02:11):
a lot to get to. Let me, let me start
with the Tampa Green Bay game. What an ass whooping?
Huho whoo. And I guess part of it is everybody
catches a whooping every now and again, right, that's like
kind of what happens everybody catches a whooping, and we
(02:32):
should at some point just go hey, it's a beatdown.
It was gonna happen at some point, And Aaron Rodgers
even said I felt like we needed a little bit
of a wake up call this season because things have
been so good. I feel like we need a little
kick in the ass a little bit. Well, you got it, right,
you absolutely got it. They looked bad. They looked Do
(02:53):
you remember last year they had two regular season trips
to California and both times they just kind of asleep
at the wheel and got their butts kicked. That's exactly
what happened yesterday. Now it should be pointed out that
things were going smoothly. They're up toen nothing, and Aaron
Rodgers was kind of fueling himself as he just kind
(03:14):
of flung the ball on an out pattern to DeVante
Adams and the Buccaneers were sitting on the route and
took it back for a pick six. But I don't
believe I don't think I could be wrong, but I
don't believe any quarterback is great when you constantly have
(03:37):
a muddied pocket. But Rogers is a guy that we
thought had great escapability, great creativity and a guy who
could just flat out make plays. Now I noticed something
that I don't know how many other people meant. Is
it Tonyan right? The other the tight end, he kind
of tweaked his knee. It was on a big third
(03:59):
down where he should have been open. It was actually
right before the pick he tweaked his knee. And one
it caused them to not get a first down because
he was late out of a break because of it.
And two when he went out of the game, that
was kind of the safety net a little bit for
Aaron Rodgers over the middle against some of these blitzes.
(04:23):
But this was a house of cards. That's what happened there,
a complete house of cards, and they all fell down.
As soon as Aaron Rodgers threw those two picks, the
team collapsed. But maybe instead of paying attention to Rogers,
we should pay attention to Tom Brady and the genius
(04:44):
that is Brady. Sure, he has better offensive weapons, but
he's found a way to use Rob Gronkowski, and more
than anything, he tries to make smart plays on time,
and he covers for his inability to make as many
plays not just with the supporting cast, but with an
outstanding defense Buccaneers is the number two overall defense according
(05:08):
to Football Outsiders, when the Patriots defense ranked in points
per game in the last four seasons, first, fifth, sixth first.
All right, like Brady is the same Brady. He's fine
when he gets time, he can make throws. When he doesn't,
he's under duress, he's not very good. He's immobile. He
(05:30):
throws a nice deep ball, nice touch passes. He's not
throwing guys open nearly as much anymore, if at all.
The level of creativity has been damped down because outside
of Gronk, he hasn't worked with these other guys, So
he doesn't have a Welker, a m Mondola and Edelman,
a guy he always seems to find on third down.
(05:51):
He hasn't established that relationship yet. But in the meantime,
you know, you just play it safe, you play it smart,
and your defense, you know, keeps you in and get
she leads in games. And the Green Bay Packers crumbled
a bit, not a bit, they completely crumbled. The good
news is that that was on many levels. The Tampa
(06:12):
Bay Buccaneers, going back to their last game a week
ago Thursday, and so many other teams. The bad news
is We've actually seen this before from the Packers with
Matt Lafleur as their head coach and Aaron Rodgers at
the quarterback, and they haven't seemed to fix these problems. Right.
What happened last night is the same thing that happened
against the Niners twice last year. Just overwhelmed by a
(06:36):
pass rush, and once they got behind, Aaron Rodgers seemed
to revert to some of his old habits. And oh yeah,
by the way, Aaron Rodgers was off. He was just
not good. It was a moment to put the league
on notice they could not do it, and instead Tampa,
of just brimming beaming with confidence, ends up scoring thirty
(06:58):
eight unanswered points. That's remarkable. There was a lot of
interesting things that happened yesterday, the Colts getting three touchdowns
down and coming back against a young Cincinnati team, the
Tennessee Houston game that went overtime. The Vikings continue to
struggle as Atlanta got their first win. I don't know
(07:23):
if I'm using this term correctly, but low key Cam
Newton was trash yesterday. He was bad, and I do
wonder if we all overreacted to Cam early in the
season much the way we overreact to others that we
have low expectations of early in the season. Jared goff
was Goffel. I love that I got a chance to
(07:44):
see to a play. I do think that Detroit is
a lot better than their record. Again, Baker Mayfield, as
we told you, was the week link and man did
it looked like it yesterday in Pittsburgh. But the number
one thing that I learned is same old Packers, where
when Rogers falters and gets a little bit behind and
a little bit pissy with the play calling, with his
(08:05):
own play, with his pass protection, they don't react well.
And they were just overwhelmed by a pass rush. And
that Tom Brady's smart. Don't just find a team with weapons,
find a team with a defense so that you can
make plays or not make plays, and if you don't,
the defense can pick you up. Different team, different uniform,
(08:27):
different coach, different offense, same Tom Brady, same Tom Brady.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. We got a
lot to get to. Let's turn to trend do for
Super Bowl champion quarterback. He's also the head coach at
(08:48):
Lipskimb Academy, who I'm sure you guys get a dominant
win this weekend. This week we did another shoutout, our
fourth in the last six weeks, forty one nothing forty
one nothing good. So it's not like Greg Williams offense
working against defense. It's you guys working together. I want
to ask you about Carson Wentz because the first half
(09:09):
couldn't have been any worse. The second half I felt
like he balled out. Now. I know they lost and
there was a weird call for the two point conversion
that they went for, But am I wrong to think
that he actually played really, really well. Yeah. I think
he's really showing that warrior spirit that he has. I
think that's what most people have got to know him
to the draft process, grew to love about him, and
(09:32):
then he showed that He's shown that early in his career.
He's a great competitor. He'll fight to the bitter end.
Same thing makes you laugh, makes you cry, you know.
Sometimes he does these Superman type things and you giggle like,
oh my gosh, how the do that? And then they'll
do it again and it'll be an interception. So it's
the same Brett Favre mentality of trying to win every
single play. But there's something admirable about that. I mean,
(09:52):
the kid's a great competitor. He doesn't make excuses and
things go bad. It's the positive guys. Teammates love him,
as coaches love him. I mean, I really think he's
one day going to be a champion. He's going to
take a team from Week one all the way to
the super Bowl, and all this character and gritty he's
developing early in his career is going to pay off.
Try Delver our guests and the Doug Gottlieb Show on
(10:13):
Fox Sports Radio. What happened to Aaron Rodgers after the
two picks? It just that it looked bad, But I mean,
talk me through everything. Yeah, it looked a little bit
like a defeats mentality. I did call him this morning
and he was killing him for being a front runner
and all that stuff. I'm not willing to go there.
I think Aaron's a great competitor. I think he was frustrated.
(10:33):
It's come pretty easy for the Packers this year. They've
had that really nice balance of Aaron's commands, spread stuff
with the line of scrimmage and Matt's you know, action
power stuff, and so far they've kind of had everybody
off balance, and this Todd Bowles and this defense kind
of got out from a little bit and you can
sense some frustration. The biggest thing I saw on it's
(10:53):
hard to see on TV. I haven't watched the coach's tape,
but I know Todd Bowles and I know how I
defend you, and you could see kind of half of
these looks on the TV copy. Is he you know,
he doesn't let you read his mail. What I mean
by that is most great quarterbacks didn't get there. They're
gonna use the count to kind of figure out. They're
going to open your envelope and read the mail that
you have, meaning they're going to figure you out. And
(11:14):
he doesn't let you do that. So everything you do
against him has to be after the ball snap. And
I think Aaron guessed a little bit. I think he
thought he saw what he thought he was going to
see one thing, and he saw another after the ball
was snap and got him in trouble and he never
really figured him out. And that happens I've seen it
happened to Tom Brady. Playing against Rex Ryan before. If
they play each other again in the playoffs, I would
(11:36):
think it would be very different. I think he will
have a better opportunity to figure out how Todd Bowles
attacked him, how the defense attacked him, and I'll have
more answers. Yeah. No, it's really stunning to see a
team that look that look looks so good, look looks
so bad. Does feel like Brady? I know the score
wouldn't indicated thirty eight straight unanswered points. His level of
(11:58):
comfort is he's finding ways to get Gronk the ball.
That seems to me kind of the change that I've seen.
What have you seen again? I know only TV copy
in that offense and how they're evolving, I would agree
with that. I think he you know, you got to
have your blanky, right, Every little kid likes to have
their blanket makes them feel comfortable, and a lot of
times that's the tight end, especially when it's a Hall
(12:19):
of Fame tight end. And Gronk, I think Tom is
you know they've they've morphed the offense between his kind
of high completion percentage stuff he did in New England
and the highly aggressive down the field stuff that Bruce
arians is always done. But the nice balance in there
is the tight end because you can do both, and
(12:40):
you know it takes time to it. We're just two
weeks into the regular season if you count the first
four as the preseasons didn't have a preseason, so you know,
getting comfortable, getting fitting. Maybe that's right. Getting new people
to fit properly takes some time, and I think you're
starting to see Brady and Gronk fit into this Arian's
(13:01):
offense and kind of put their signature on. I think
is only going to get better. They still they may
still have some ebb and flows, but I think it's
going to be really good by the end. What's what
was wrong with Cam Newton yesterday? He's not built for
this type of He's built for a very specific offense. Okay,
so he's built to be a power runner, threatened teams
(13:23):
with his legs being action passed, kind of chunk thrower.
He's not built for this completion based offense. I mean
the most it's the last play, but it's the most
clearly obvious play of the difference. Is they dial up
a really good conversion play there at the end on
fourth down, and they have two open receivers. If he
goes it on time inaccurately, it's a first down and
he dirts it. I mean it's that's the difference between
(13:46):
him and a guy that's a surgeon from the pocket.
They need to be very creative around what type of
offense they run with Cam. I totally agree with you, right,
I mean, like it's they're just gonna be some There's
some things he does that are extraordinary, but there's some
things that limit him. And if you try and do
the things that limit him, that's what you're going to get. Yep,
(14:08):
I think, and I think if you're not one of
the handsful of the best, right so you're Rogers, You're Brady,
your Mahomes Russell, whoever you want to put else you
want to put on that six to eight best of
the best of the best. You have limitations and it's
up to your play caller to avoid those things. It's
(14:29):
not a bad thing. Still probably go to a bunch
of Pro Bowls with limitations, But in critical moments you've
ever recalled the stuff that's not a limitation for the player.
What's different about Kirk Cousins this year as opposed to
last year? You know, what. Honestly, I don't know. I
don't know. I'm I walked in yesterday. You know, I
had a bunch of them on. I'm watching that. When
I'm watching their receptions, I'm like, what is going on?
(14:50):
I don't know. I wish I did. I like Kirk
rooting for Kirk. It's amazing how much one receiver. Losing
a receiver can hurt a team, and getting a receiver
can help a team. With Diggs going to Buffalo and
leaving Minnesota, I don't know if it's as simple, but
it should has looked at them, well, is it? Maybe?
Is it Steffans because they did get Jefferson. I know
Jefferson is not where Diggs is now right as as
(15:12):
as a rookie, I just wondered to love jeff I
just I just wonder if it's Stefanski not having Stefanski
a guy who he really you know that that that
and I know that they were running some of this
system last year without Stefanski with Stefanski, but is it
is it that what was the opposite last year? Remember
he was struggling when Stefanski was taking the lead and
Kubiak took over. So it's actually it's the opposite of that,
(15:36):
I would. I mean, I was expecting Kirk to have
a huge year because Kubiak was running the show completely
last year. It was Kubak that balanced the thing out.
I mean, go back to the beginning of last year.
He wasn't playing very well, and then Kubiak kind of
balanced the thing out. So I really don't know. I
wish I know you put me on the phone to
answer these questions. Okay, all right, well what about Baker? Obviously,
(15:59):
you know, just you know, full disclosure, that was what
happened was kind of my prediction of what would happened.
You can't run the football against that Pittsburgh defense are
nasty and when you take them out of kind of
their timing and the rhythm and their play action stuff.
Like you know, Baker, as you and I have discussed before,
he wants to play like somebody that he is not,
and he's just he doesn't have the athletic ability or
(16:21):
the arm and I think it's a growing frustration. But
he's also hurt and he took a couple of good licks.
What's your take on what happened to Baker in that
offense in Pittsburgh yesterday. So two things. If you go
back and look at the Steelers defenses all the way
back to when I played, they're very predictable to take
advantage of quarterbacks that can't go deep into progressions. So
(16:44):
they base their whole defensive passing game around taking away
a quarterbacks first look. So they're going to force you
to work through a progression, and they're going to do
that while they're bringing five most of the time, or
some type of exotic four and overload where they're ropping
another guy. So they just, I mean, that's been their
formula forever. Quarterbacks that gasham are guys that can work
(17:04):
deep in handle the line of scrimmage, pick up all
their stunts and blitzes, so kind of control the line
of scrimmage, and then work deep into a progression. So
every week, I've never bet on a game in my
life in any sport, every once in a while I
kind of want to bet on a Steeler's game where
they're playing a quarterback that can't get deep in progressions
because you just kind of know what the story is
going to how it's going to unfold. Now saying that,
(17:28):
I think Baker's a guy still doesn't work deeven progressions.
He's also a guy that's really lacking physical confidence in
the pocket. Part of that might be injury. I've been there.
You're banged up. You don't really feel like taking fifteen
hits in the ribs all day long, so you're going
to try to find an easy way and get out
of there. He's a guy that's his clock is speeding
up in the pocket because he doesn't have the confidence
(17:49):
to sit in there, especially when he's in gun now
for whatever reason, when he's under center as play action,
he's got a little more patience, he's got a little
more rhythm, and he's more successful when he catches. As
soon as any color shows inside, he's not playing on
the schedule. The offense, he's speeding up that schedule. It's
(18:09):
getting them a lot of trouble. Trent Deil for our
guests on the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Okay,
I watched Lamar play yesterday, and I know they won,
but I mean yesterday they were on time, on schedule,
They got this big lead, and then it felt like
the offense just fell flat and then laid in the
(18:30):
game when all they needed was a first down, they
got that one penalty, so it becomes third and nine
instead of you know, like a third and five or six.
And so he has to get in a shotgun and
four wide and the first sign of pressure he drops
his head and he looks tot. He gets, you know,
he gets to where he wants to run. Are we
seeing any sort of regression from Lamar Am I being
(18:52):
a little a might be a little too harsh in
what I'm saying. No, I think you know it's I
got to ask the question as he hit his ceiling. Well,
his ceiling is pretty high, right when you do the
things that he does, well, his limitation would be must
pass situations, you know, and everybody on TV and everybody
in the building knows he's throwing it. Now you don't
(19:14):
have to worry about all the creativity in the run game,
the action pass, multiple tight ends, crossing and all that stuff. Now,
now you're playing third down defense, and you're gonna play
it the same way against Lamar's. You're gonna play it
against Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and the rest of them.
Now he's had a distinct disadvantage. Uh. That's where the
grade one separate themselves. That's why I'm not willing to
(19:35):
put him on the mount rushmore of current NFL quarterbacks
because of that limitation you put in your aeron even
to Drew Brees at his age, of Tom Brady and
Mahomes in that situation, and they're gonna they're gonna better
handle the line of scrimmers. They're gonna better handle getting
through progressions. Lamar's not there yet. I still think he
(19:57):
can get there. He's shown enough improvement in a short
amount of time that makes me think he can get there.
But he's not there yet. And I think that's the
big key to playing Baltimore. If you go back and
look at what they've stalled as they lose on first down,
you gotta beat him on first down, because if you
beat him on first down, you have better odds of
getting him into a must pass situation, either second or
(20:18):
long or third. Must you get enough of those situations
is Baltimore. Now you're going to get Lamar at is
not his best stuff, stuff that he's still growing. And
now I have a really advance and now you have
a real chance of slowing down this offense. That's always
a trend deal for joining us in the Doug Gottlieb
Show on Fox Sports Trade a little closer to home,
(20:38):
Tennessee Titans. Look, they continue to find a way. I
love the you know, they do direct snaps so you
get the numbers count you want. They're right around the
goal line to win the game in overtime. Vrabel's getting
a lot of attention because he smartly knows the rules
and send out a guy for the twelfth man in
the field penalty. I guess I just I'm wondering your
(20:59):
level of buy. And we talked about ceilings with teams.
Is there ceiling a Super Bowl? Can you go to
a Super Bowl playing with this kind of more limited playbook?
I don't know if i'd call it limited. Okay, I'll
start with Rabel. I think he needs to be considered
one of the best coaches on the planet. Sure not
because of the thing he did yesterday, how he manages
(21:22):
his team. And I happened to be around the corner,
right So I mean, we're literally four miles from each other.
We as a staff study them every week, so we
as as I make our offensive staff kind of look
at how our entire staff kind of look how they
do things and just have conversations about it. I think
it's a really, really, really good staff. You can learn
a lot as coaches by studying them. You know, Mike
(21:45):
for years has been kind of that. Everybody in the
NFL circle that I really trusted was saying, Hey, he's
the next great one. It's coming, it's coming, it's coming.
Now we're seeing it come to fruition. I think he's
gotten best out of some players. I mean what they've
done with Ryan Tannehill. I mean, he's in his fifteen
starts as playing at you know, MVP caliber Football's numbers
(22:08):
are ridiculous, His winning percentage ridiculous. So they're getting a
lot out of Ryan. They found obviously a dominant back,
and they build their offensive kind around that. I don't
know if it's limited in the sense that they they
just know who they are, agreed, they know who they are,
maybe as well as anybody, and that's probably their genius.
(22:28):
And I and I credit Mike with a lot of that.
I think they're very much real. I think they they
absolutely can make some noise in the playoffs, if not
make a run all the way to the super Bowl. Funny,
I actually I was talking with Ryan Music my producer
for the show, and I said that the three things
I like about them is they they know who they are,
and they're they're they're built. Even go back to when
Mike Munchak was there, Like he wasn't a great coach,
(22:50):
but it was the same plan to build the line
out right, and they've experienced some some of the playoffs.
And I also think that this style goes against how
many of these teams are built defensively, you know where
you know, obviously there are some teams in the AFC
who are built to stop the run, but many teams
are are built more you know, to always be in
(23:12):
the dime, always being the nickel, and you can't play
that way against Derrick Henry in their running game. Is
that fair? It's totally fair. And you're gonna see more
of this, you know, things always going waves, and I
think we're starting to see the end of the spread
waves because teams have drafted little, basically little and fast
on defense. And you know, even at the high school
(23:35):
and college levels. We're having a ton of success at
our high school level, but playing six offensive linemen because
everything's were a spread team. So we get in six
offensive line, we just pound you with spread receivers, right,
so you know you just see every level. You're seeing this.
You just take advantage of the trends and how teams
are formatted, and then you're going to see more of it.
They don't say about the Titans this they've overcome from
(23:57):
adversity now, you know, being here in Nashville and going
through this, all the stuff they've gone through with the COVID.
They have had other setbacks this offseason. This is a
group that gets to adversity really well, and they really
like each other. Like, this is a group that really
really likes each other. They have a ton of fun together.
How they handle the whole tornado. I mean it was
(24:18):
just a blip on the national radar, but that tornado
ripped through this community and caused a lot of up
people and that was you know, they kind of it
didn't just weather that storm. They were leaders during that
time in our community. So there's a lot to like
about this Titans team. I was busting call him this morning.
He needs to talk more about it. That's why you're
better than calling because it was on your topic list.
But this is a team that needs some national attention. No,
(24:40):
they're really, really good and I the liking each other.
I don't think people understand how important that is, you know,
like even Taylor along and who can be a polarizing
guy to some people, like when he tweeted out that
he had a torny acl but like we're doing special
things and like watch this, like it wasn't a woe
as me. I'm done, everybody that pay attention to me.
(25:01):
It was, Hey, we still got a really good team,
whether I'm playing or I'm not playing. And I think
that part of that's frable, right that Rabel at his age,
he can still get down there and knock heads with
those guys and they respect him. They'll play hard for him,
and every once in a while he shows them that
he's paying attention. And that's what I think. Like the
twelve man penalty thing is is important because it shows
he's not a meathead. He really is a thinking man's coach.
(25:24):
And I don't know, I just I'm with you. I'm
in on this team. I like where they're going. I
like where they're going. I like the things they're doing. Trent,
great stuff. Go ahead, no no, no no. If we're
out of time, that's fine. You said most of it
they are a special group of kids. Taylor Lawan's a
really good guy too, by the way. A great team leader.
Brabel's got it going on both from the intellectual standpoint,
(25:45):
but also from the connection standpoint. He really connects well
with his players and his coaches. Awesome stuff, Trent, congrats
on the win. Maybe let the other team score every
once in a once in a while and not be
such a shirk. No, just let him score, let him
let you let him score it. Thanks so much for doing.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific. It's
(26:07):
interesting that Baker Mayfield gave the Browns hope. If you
go back two years ago, Baker Mayfield becomes the starting quarterback,
they won some games. I think they won seven games
that year, and Baker Mayfield and his persona and his
belief in himself and his ability to raise up teammates
(26:29):
like he gave them actual hope. But I think that
that hope that he gave him gave them allows them
to see how good they can be. And I do
believe that in order to be that good, Baker probably
won't be their quarterback. If in fact they can get
to that next level. Does that make sense? I don't
(26:51):
know it made sense. I was driving around today and
I was thinking about Baker and trying to figure out
exactly how to word what I thought, Like, I like
Baker Mayfield. I think guys like playing with Baker Mayfield.
But everyone has now seen the full Baker Mayfield, which
we saw it against George I remember in a college
football playoff. You see it at times in the NFL
(27:13):
level where he wants to run around back there like
he's Russell Wilson, he's not. He wants to make throws
like he's Brett Favre he's not. And part of and
this goes to why what I like about the Titans,
Like the Titans know exactly who they are and what
they are and why they are who they are and
what they are, and they're okay with it, Like, look,
(27:35):
we got some limitations, and you know, we're just okay
with it. I don't I don't know if Lamar can
improve to this point, but I do feel like there's
a little of Lamar still wanting to break through to
be somebody that he's not. He's not an NFL spread
game quarterback, He's not a guy he has to be.
He has to run hit their offense, and that's kind
of it. It has limitations, So there's maybe this is
(27:59):
gonna limit Lamar as well, but he has such freakis
athletic ability and arm strength that maybe he can improve
and overcome it. I just think there's some physical limitations
there and a mental and emotional limitation to go with it.
Where Baker gave them hope because of his faith in himself,
his belief in his ability to rise teammates up and
get them to a higher level. And he is a
(28:21):
competent quarterback when things are going well, but when under
duress and he tries to win games on his own,
he didn't have it. Just doesn't And that's not really
you know, it's a knock on Baker, but it's not
an ultimate like. There's not a lot of dudes that
do have that extra ability. He's a little bit too small,
(28:42):
he has a little bit less arm strength than he
should He has a little bit less athleticism than he should.
Like look, he was evaluated properly getting ready for the
draft before he had that unbelievable year at OU where
he was supposed to be a third, fourth, maybe even
a fifth round draft pick based upon his ability. But
he walks into a room and you're like, man, I
(29:03):
believe in this cat, and I believe in myself. He
has that feel. But there's just this limitation there that
we're kidding ourselves if we don't understand that it exists.
Not everybody can be a star quarterback just because they
think they can be a star quarterback and they study
the star quarterback thing. I'll tell you it reminds me.
(29:24):
I have a friend who's a broadcaster. He's been doing
it longer than I have, longer than I have. He
was a very good college basketball player. He's really good
at analyzing basketball. He has a terrible voice. He just
does not have. It's not it's just really hard to
(29:48):
listen to for long stretches. And that's kind of one
of the things that is a that people have a
predetermined bias against. You have a terrible voice, even when
you're doing television, you're not you know, we don't see
your face, we hear your voice. You can't do it.
And that's where I feel like he is. Be sure
to catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show
(30:10):
weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeartRadio app. We are twenty I don't know,
six hours or so, twenty seven hours from World Series
Game one. Clayton Kershaw is going to get the start
for the Dodgers. I don't know if that's a surprise.
(30:31):
Thankfully they didn't you use him at all. Tyler Glasnow
is gonna But Tyler Glasna was throwing yesterday in in
the Raysed bullpen late in that eighth inning, I guess,
getting ready to come in and maybe maybe save the day.
They didn't end up needing him. So there's a bunch
to get to, you know what. Let's get an experts perspective.
A guy who he was good. He was in the
(30:54):
nl MVP of course for the Philadelphia Phillies. He's Ryan Howard.
He's kind of to spend some time with this year
on the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Ryan,
how are you, hey? How are we doing? I'm doing well? Okay.
Let's let's start with the Dodgers. Obviously, record wise, perception wise,
they were the better team. But in your mind, what
(31:18):
changed that series? I think in my mind, I think
you know, obviously the Braves had a couple of mishaps
that took place. The Dodgers took advantage. I mean both teams.
I think it's Clayton Cursall put it. Both teams fed
off the momentum very very well. And I think that
going into the game seven, when when when there's a
game seven, all bets are off, And I think it
(31:41):
was a very exciting game seven. What it came down
to were, you know, some key plays and some some
key things that took place. Obviously Mookie, you know, Robin,
my guy, Freddie Freeman of the home run. You know,
then you had the rundown situation where you know, Riley
gets or the Dodgers get the double play from the
(32:03):
play at the plate with runners on second and third
with nobody out, I mean, and then obviously, yeah, you're
looking at the pitch of Kiki Hernandez coming up hitting
the game tying homer, and then Bellinger having a great
up bat and battling pitches and getting the pitch to
where he puts it up in the upper deck. So
you know, it was just a lot of Ebban flows,
(32:24):
an emotional roller coaster of a game seven. Anything cooler
than hitting that like you being a lefty, I said
this before, like, first of all lefties, it's way sweeter
to watch you guys swing and then to hit one
that effortlessly that far in that moment you've hit as
big a home runs as What is that feeling actually, Like,
(32:47):
I mean, man, it's an amazing feeling, especially things get
magnified in the postseason. You know, doing it during the
regular season is one thing, but to do it in
a situation on that kind of a stage where you know,
I think it was what seventh inning, yep, where your
team has been down over the course of the series
(33:08):
and you haven't had the best series yourself personally, but
kind of having some breakthrough, kind of having you know,
some some some come around and to put it in
bat together the way that Cody Bellinger put together in
that moment and have it hit. I bet he didn't
even feel the ball off the bat. It was probably
one of those where I think you probably felt like
(33:29):
it was so flushed you didn't even feel it off
the bat. And you know, it's a huge, huge, huge
moment for him, a big moment for the team as well,
So you know, for him, I think that's kind of
a momentum builder, and you got to watch out for
him in the series next go round, you know, the
the biggest one I can remember. I remember remember Pool
(33:49):
was hitting that one off Lidge? Was that like five?
Oh yeah, I mean, like look, remember that shook Lidge
for like a year, Like I know, he came back
and he was he was with you guys, I think
right after that, and like it, it literally shook him
for almost a year, maybe even two years before he
was back and he was right, Oh yeah. I mean
(34:10):
it's when you have those kind of situations, you know.
I don't I don't think that's a thing that's gonna
be bothersome for Chris Martin. But yeah, I mean that
home run from Pool's definitely had an effect, and you know,
it's it's just one of those things where you know,
(34:30):
you got to have a short term memory as a pitcher,
and Leggy, you know, came back had a fresh clean
slate when he came with us, and you know it
took full advantage of it and was was lights out.
Yeah no, he he blew up the next year and
then they got rid of him and came to you guys,
and then in his second year, that's when he got
back to being a dominant closer. Forty one saves, I
was an All Star, was got MVP votes, everything like it.
(34:52):
It took him a while, but he did in fact recover.
All right, so help me, help me with with this.
Let's start with Kershaw. Okay, you know Kershaw, he got
into the he got into a mess in the sixth
He's not the same picture like when you faced him, right,
He's He's just not in terms of the power obviously,
so much of it's about his his slider. What's your
(35:13):
thoughts on Kershaw starting Game one for the Dodgers. I mean,
I think it's I think it's poetic justice. I think
for a guy like Kershaw who's been there, done everything
that he's done for for the Dodgers organization, being in
this situation, I mean he's been he's been that aceh
for so many years. He's gonna be a guy that's
(35:33):
gonna be poisoned ready for the situation. So you know,
he threw well, he threw well I think against you know,
against the Braves in his start, you know, just made
a couple of mistakes. So for for Kershaw, he's just
got to go out there be himself. I know that
there's the whole postseason thing that goes on, but you know, hey,
(35:54):
he's got he's got a squad behind him that can hit,
and he goes out there posts up. Those guys are
going to be right there with him. And I think
it's you know, as the Dodgers have shown, there's a
lot of resiliency in that team. What do you do
if you're Dave Roberts and ken Ley's just not the
same guy? Like, what what do you do? Like I
put you, everybody wanted to be the manager. You've played
(36:16):
in all these big games? You know what this is?
Like I put you, like, what do you do? How
do you handle the ninth inning? Ran? I think with
ken Lee, you just gotta you just kind of have
to roll with it. He's got a lot of arms,
a lot of depth in the uh in the pen
over there. And again that's another guy who's who's been
(36:40):
who's been there for you throughout the year. So you're
gonna Dave is gonna give him the respect that's that's due.
But I think also ken Lee's gonna know that, hey,
this is about trying to get a ring and and
win a championship. So whatever or whenever his number is called,
he's gonna to the bill. So you know, you just
(37:01):
as that he can stay on top of things and
be there when they need them. How old Ryan, how
does she? Oh? One? One? Yeah? I got, I got,
I got three of them, three girls, uh about to
be the oldest one is about to be six, middle
and be four and uh and then the baby just
turned one. So a lot of a lot of heat
(37:22):
going around the Howard household. I got you listen, I
have twin girls are now fourteen. I'm gonna give you
some advice. Now, obviously you're in a different financial bracket
than I am, but I would keep talk to me,
keep them away from the well. The horses keep them
away from the boys. But they also are going to
keep you working. So they're going, you know, like regular athletic.
Like the horses are there. At about six, they're gonna
(37:42):
be like daddy, I want to try riding a pony,
and it's really cool, but once they go all in,
it is a constant check riding fest. I'm just gonna
that's That's where my four year old is right now.
She's on a horse kick. She's liking horses. Yeah, well,
let's haven't gone on that path yet, Okay, but if
they do. The good thing is I can attest at
fourteen there may be some interest in boys, but there's
(38:03):
no time and they got to take care of everything
down there. Whatever they get up early in the morning.
That part is good, but I don't know how it
equates in terms of financially. It's a lot. Ryan Howard
joining us thanks to Scottsfield Refurbishment program. This is awesome, right,
So Scott's is going around the country and putting all
this money into Little League in softball fields, right, that's
(38:25):
kind of what the refurbishment program is, isn't it. Yes,
most definitely. So Scott's has been going since twenty sixteen.
They've refurbished over two dozen fields with an equation of
one point seventy five million in support. And it's basically
it's gone around and helping to refurbish and revitalize these fields,
(38:47):
to give these kids the opportunity to be able to
go out play in a safe spot, in a good
spot not only for them but for their communities, and
giving them the opportunity to learn and grow in the
game of and softball. Awesome. Uh. I got eleven year
old who's a little jumpy. He got hit in the
eye with a fastball. Any uh, any words of wisdom
(39:08):
I gave you. Words of wisdom on you, on your daughters,
Any words of wisdom on trying to find a way
where he's not scared of what he thinks is wild
pitching at his age. I mean it's tough. Everybody's gone
through it, uh. I mean we've all at some point
in time gotten hit with a hit with the ball.
I got hitting the ball one time, I think playing
(39:29):
catch in the eye before the game and still played
the game. So, I mean, it just it's one of
those things that happens. It hurts for a little bit
and it'll it'll go away. But yeah, you can't you
can't be scared, can't be afraid of it. I mean,
it hurts for a second and then you just got
to jump back out there. Best you'vet We talked about
(39:50):
what it feels like to hit that baseball, best you've
ever hit a baseball in a game. Ah man, Oh,
I mean, I know there's a lot of too. From
I get it. I get it, there's a lot of
there's a lot It was like there's that one time.
There's a bunch of times when you close your eyes
you think of, holy crap, I really got a hold
of that one. Which is the one that comes to
your mind? Man, I probably got to take it back
(40:12):
to six against the Yankees and Usena. I hit the
ball up to the third deck in Philly. It was
just one of those balls where it's like, man, it
was it was like like I knew I hit it good,
but it was just kind of a surprise that like
where it landed. Yeah, and hitting it up into the
hitting it up into the third deck. But you know,
(40:34):
you only hit fifty eight that year. Have you hit sixty,
we would have had a different conversation. But fifty eight
it's you know, it's a couple short of the Marris number,
you know, and so we can't like, let's not act
like it was that special. But I'm kidding of course.
All Right, get back to wrangling those those those girlies.
Thanks so much for joining us on Fox Sports Radio.
Oh appreciate it. Thank you. All Right, that's Ryan Howard
(40:55):
joining us, former n L MVP, getting us ready for
the World Series. I love that He's like, yeah, you
probably don't even feel hitting the baseball. Yeah. Be sure
to catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific