September 11, 2020 • 38 mins
Doug explains why the Cleveland Browns could be a surprise team in the 2020 NFL season. He also talks to former NFL scout John Middlekauff about the Chiefs blowing out the Texans on opening night and the rest of the week 1 match ups.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Doug Gottlap Show podcast. Be
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Find your local station for the Doug Gotleap Show at
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(00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What off Doug Gottlip Show,
Fox Spots Radio. Two things that we'll get to before
I give you my thoughts on Bill O'Brien one. UM
(00:42):
on the forty birthday, my friend Nate Fleming is one
of ten members of an Oklahoma state traveling party who
died in the plane crash. This going back plane crash
was almost into eighteen and a half years ago on
Super Bowl Sunday. And um, of course, and Nate was
(01:05):
a dear friend. He was a freshman when I was
a senior. He was a walk on, but he had
to he got to travel with the n c A tournament.
He was just a great dude. I'm really close with
his family and UM, he left an indeublement mark on
my heart. And uh, I miss him a great deal.
And it's interesting because you know, Um, actually nineteen a
(01:28):
half years ago, because the day before September eleven, I
played in the first ever Nate Fleming Memorial Golf Tournament,
and I like, I remember uh playing with Scott brue Plank,
who the great dude, another Oaklooma State guy, and he
was trying to teach me how to swing golf club
(01:49):
because I was just I'm not good now, but I
was terrible at the time. Anyway. Also, the obviously the
nineteenth anniversary September even we shared some of our thoughts,
saw it yesterday. I'll only tell you this, and I
mean this that if you if September eleven and the
moments that you see on TV don't resonate with you,
(02:12):
it's okay. You might be too young, you might have
lived in a part of the country where you didn't
feel it as much. I kind of doubt that. I
don't know, um, music you were at the time nineteen
years ago. You're twenty eight years old, so I'm you're
nine years old the time. What do you remember? I
just remember waking up, um, not really totally understanding everything
(02:36):
that was going on, my parents sort of explaining that
something big was happening, and then going to school and
just sort of watching it on TV. You do you
guys watch TV in school? Yeah, Romis, what do you
remember you were out here? You're an adult at the time.
You did not have children at the time, right, I
think you guys have just been married. We were married
(02:58):
for about two years. I was one of the I
piggybacking off what Dan said yesterday, it was the most
exhausting day in my radio career. I worked in a
news station. I was the technical producer for a morning show,
and I was It happened about what five fifty our
(03:19):
time local time here in California, So we were on
the air and um I did not stop working. Not again,
not to take anything away obviously the people who lived
through it in New York City, but for me personally,
I'd ever worked that hard in my radio career and
since then it was literally from that moment. So I
left work about eight I was actually worked a long
(03:41):
time because we weren't sure. I actually called Suzanne, my wife,
and told her to be prepared because I at that
point we weren't sure if they were going to come
to l A and crossing two buildings in Los Angeles
as well, That's what there was. There was, you know,
there was all this talk of l A's next. It's
gonna be in l A next. Right, they got New York,
so we were I was telling her just to stay
(04:02):
at home and that I could not leave work. And
I still remember to the day, I was just running tape.
It was. It was one of the scariest days for
me personally, even though we were I was not in
New York City. Yeah, I like, there's two different feelings too,
if you're a New Yorker and Um, I don't know
if Louise and Corbin Wahlburger are listening. They were by
(04:25):
neighbors when I lived in Kenton, Connecticut. But it's like
your perspective changes so dramatically based upon where you live, right. Um.
Corbin at the time was a young executive and his
wife had twins at home, and they lived in Battery Park,
very very close to the towers. And when it hit
the buildings, you know, he called and said, you know,
you gotta get out, and I don't remember. I gotta
(04:48):
probably call her tonight and remember thinking about hers. Just
such a sweet woman. She took her kids, put them
in the stroller. They were twins at the time, they
were like a year two years old and walk across
the bridge right like the GW Bridge. And I don't
until maybe the last couple of years. I don't know
if she's ever been back to the island of Manhattan.
(05:10):
I mean it was that like like for if you
don't remember or you're not old enough to have perspective,
it was you woke up, I was in Central time
zone and a plane this the report was a plane
hit one of the towers, and you're like, okay, well
that's weird. Maybe it was just a mistake made something.
(05:31):
And then they had cameras on the buildings because one
of the buildings was on fire. And then you you're like,
there's another plane that went into a building. Wait, now
of a sudden, you're like, holy crap, we're under attack.
And then one of them collapsed, and then the other
one collapsed, and and forget about the stories of what
(05:55):
happened to the Pentagon and what happened in the field
in Pennsylvania, like all of these reports, and there was
talk that it was gonna be l A was next.
So if you missed yesterday, I talked about how it
is in still water Oklahoma, drove to Oklahoma City, got
to do in a radio show. When I got there,
I believe I saw the second plane hit the tower
and then I saw them both come down. And our
(06:17):
job on a sports radio station was just to try
and keep people calmed, cutting occasionally on ABC News and
and you know, try and calm people down and say, look,
well we'll stick with you, We're here for you. We'll
take your phone calls. We didn't actually put anybody phone
calls on air, but we'll do so and when we do,
we will. Um, please don't like got price couch people.
(06:38):
It was really scary, but it wasn't like it was
over that day. It wasn't like just eleven and then
the rest. There was rubble and smoke for weeks in
New York City weeks. It's very scary. So look, I'm
not I'm not. You have the right an NBA player,
(07:00):
Major League Baseball player today or I'm watching the US
Open in tennis, you have the right to protest in
our country. To day is not the day to do it.
Today is a day of morning. Today is a day
to remember people who ran into a building, a burning building,
or people who are helplessly at work and died in
(07:21):
a burning building, or we're on an airplane just trying
to go see family or do go to business or whatever.
That's what today is about. The we we galvanize of
the country. For there was a time there where believe
it or not, and and Buyer, I know you can
attest this because you were in the Midwest and people
are generally pretty kind. Ramos, you don't travel that much,
so I don't know, but people who are listening to
(07:43):
my voice who traveled for a living, and I traveled
extensively right after there and then traveled internationally, played in Israel.
We were kind to one another. We just put differences
behind for a while. We were kind to one another
because our common now that he was we were Americans.
Somebody didn't like us, and they tried to they tried
(08:05):
to divide us, and we came together. And of all
the things we can learn from nine eleven, and that's
the one I want you to think about today. Let
me give you some thoughts on last night's football game.
Because I now ever tell anybody how to mourn, I
will tell us it's sports. It is a great escape.
I totally disagree with what Calherd said or tweeted over
the weekend, like, dude, this is what it's about. You know,
(08:26):
I'm gonna spend some time in thought today thinking of
nine eleven, but I also want to think about football,
so I don't have to think about all the stuff
at home or the stuff in New York City. Last
night the Kancity Chiefs, um, it was a good game
early and then ultimately the Chiefs they're up seventeen seven
to half and don't look back. Bill O'Brien became the
(08:49):
head coach of the Texans. They made the playoffs four
of the last six or four of the six years.
One of the years, Deshaun Watson got to be the
starter as a rookie and then tore his knee and
then he was out, so we kind of give up
hass a little bit. With Deshaun Watson. They made the
playoffs and back to back seasons winning the division. The
one time they didn't was winning towards a c L.
The other quarterbacks that he's had are Ryan Fitzpatrick Brock Ostwalder,
(09:14):
Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, t J. Yates, and Tom Savage. Now,
in fairness, some of that is his own doing right,
like Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer, two guys he coached
in New England. That's why they're on the roster. Brock
Oswalder was there previously, That's why he's on the roster.
But but there's this weird thing. He got a lot
(09:35):
of credit. Hey man, Bill O'Brien does a good job
and he's one of those guys he does a lot
with nothing right. What about when he has something? Because
I think we all I don't know what you think
of Deshaun Watson. I'm not sure he's the superstar of
Pat Mahomes. But man, he's pretty good. You know, you
could do a whole hell of a lot worse. He's
(09:58):
he played with the collapsed long, took a took a
he took a van because he couldn't ride a plane. Right,
We we know the play. Remember last year he got
like poked in the eye, through through a game winning touchdown,
passed with it like one eye. He's tougher than two
dollar steak. He's a winner, he's a leader, he's a
(10:18):
good foot, he's a good football player. I don't think
he's the best quarterback in football. I still think Mahomes
and Rogers and some of those guys are better. But
if he's a slight okay, fine, you can win a
Super Bowl with Shawn Watson. Why aren't they a little
bit better? And we can sit here and go, well,
he's not the best GM, and he had it. He
followed up a bad GM, and so he's trying to
(10:39):
put maybe they had a bad offensive line. He wasn't
the GM. Okay, but he's still a head coach. They
still took some of his advice. Some of that is
on him. Like I like Bill, I understood why he
ran the football so much. Last night I saw a
lot of Jason McIntyre has a straight fire podcast and
he basically crushed Bill O'Brien for trying to run the
(11:00):
football so much. Do you know that last year when
they beat the Kansas City Chiefs, they did so because
they ran the football so effectively they kept Pat Mahomes
off the football field. Do I think he should have
been conservative in the first half and punted when he's
at the midfield line. No, And that's part of it.
Like there's he's one of these guys like there's a
(11:20):
little Kenny Atkinson to him, right, Kenny Atkinson was great
when the Nets were terrible to get them to being
viable and having great culture. But when Kenny Atkinson had
Kyrie Irving, he just didn't have that whatever something it
was to be able to coach star players and take
them to that next level. That's what the Brooklyn Nets thing.
(11:42):
And that kind of feels like where we are with
Bill O'Brien in Houston. You know, Phil Jackson's the opposite,
feels like like, I don't want to rebuilding project. Did
you guys remember the last dance. Part of the reason
that Philip Phil Jackson wanted out of Chicago because they
knew they were gonna have to you work things, rebuild things.
(12:03):
Scotty wanted a ton of money. The rest of the
team was over the hill. He said, no, thanks, I
do not want to be a part of a rebuilding project.
Give me a couple of Give me a couple of
superstars who are young and don't know how to win,
and I can teach them how to win. I can
put them in position to allow their talents to to
It's a it's different. It's the same job, but it's different.
(12:25):
And that's the flaw of Bill O'Brian. It appears at
this moment. He gets a lot of nothing, but he
gets just some out of something, not everything out of
when he's got something. All right? Coming up next only
week one, but I think me personally, I think we're
gonna learn a lot about one football team, in particular,
(12:48):
the Cleveland Browns. I'll tell you why. Next. 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. Do you
guys remember a year ago we got ready for the
NFL season, Like I want you to think back, Okay,
(13:12):
like I have a really really good memory. So yeah,
we're coming off the Patriots winning the Super Bowl? Right
where are we? And so was the could the Patriots
win again? Um? There was a ton of intrigue about
the Green Bay Packers. They had hired relative unknown and
(13:33):
Aaron Rodgers had some weird quotes about not really digging
the fact that he couldn't audibilize the way he wanted
to audiblize. Remember that, Okay? Um, the Cowboys. Everybody thought
he got a chance of Super Bowl super Bowl here,
but Jason Garrett very much coaching for his job that
came in fruition. Um, I think people thought the Niners
(13:54):
were gonna be good, really talented, didn't know how good.
Let's see here, the Eli Manning thing was coming to
an end. Daniel Jones uh Lamar Jackson was intriguing because
he had started the second half of the year and
led the resurgent Ravens team to the playoffs. That we
knew how good he would be, right, Like, you're kind
of going through things, and but the Browns hype was real, right,
(14:19):
it was. It was real. They were people talking, they
were there were people talking about the super Bowl and
the Cleveland Browns. Horn thing talking about the the super
Bowl and the Cleveland freaking Browns. They had profile pieces
Baker Mayfield. Do you remember Baker Mayfield was taken in
in front of like a car with Tiger Remember that
(14:42):
shirtless Harry chest they were in commercial. He was in
a bunch of commercials. Can't you remember all those? Like
oh yeah, yeah, like you forget last year was the
first year that Odell Beckham Jr. Was playing with the
Cleveland brown It's like, oh yeah, they're still interesting, they're
(15:05):
super talented, and now they have a different coach who
appears to be a guy who's got his stuff together.
Kevin Stefanci spent basically his professional football life with the
Minnesota Vikings. Last year he took over his play colored
with the Vikings, and they decided we're gonna run the football.
We're gonna run it and run some more and then
(15:25):
run play action and figure out a way to make
Kirk Cousins look like the best version of himself. And
it worked out. It worked out. So I'll just be
completely candid with you and think, remember why as much
as last year was a dysfunctional mess, you know, they
(15:45):
beat the Bravens last year, like really yeah. Now, they
started off the year in Mayfield looked bad. Through three interceptions,
Brown committed eight teen penalties. That's when you knew they were, like, man,
this team is a joke in terms of discipline and
respect for their coach, etcetera, etcetera. It was foreshouting for
the entire season with Freddie Kitchen where Mayfield struggle. They
(16:08):
committed a bunch of penalties and they're one of ten
on third downs. They take on the Baltimore Ravens and look,
I think the Ravens should be really good. Do I
think they were as good as their fourteen and two
record last year? Uh? Yeah, but they've had issues at
safety and though they got they got rid of Earl Thomas.
Earl Thomas is a Hall of Fame caliber towent For
a reason, I'm interested in if if a culture replacement
(16:32):
is really that good a replacement, Like, there's some changes
there they made on the defensive side of the ball.
You've had an entire off seat to repair for exactly
what the Ravens are doing offensively, And though people have
a pretty good sense of what you're gonna do, nobody
has a real beat on exactly how you're gonna execute it.
With Baker Mayfield, you've got two star running backs, two
(16:54):
star wide receivers bringing Austin Hooper is a talented tight end.
Like I think the Brown is gonna be good. They
like they always had talent last year. They were just
terribly coached and you saw it week one and the
glim there was glimmers of talent and hope throughout the
(17:15):
season when they beat the Ravens, for example, But well
will learn a lot about them on Sunday even if
they lose, Like I had to win Are they well coached?
Are they discipline? Does their play calling makes sense? They
put Baker mayfield and third and manageable? Did they commit
a bunch of penalties? You know? I mean, look, you
(17:38):
got a dude who you paid in the offseason that
got suspended midseason last year for taking off a helmet
of a quarterback and swinging in and hitting him with
it like that really happened, really happened. So what's your
team like this year? We'll find out very soon. Be
sure to catch the live edition of The Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific. John
(18:00):
Middlecoff knows that three Out is his podcast, All Ball
Is Mine. Middlecoff has the air quality where you are
not good. I woke up this morning, you know, because
of September, I kind of looked out. It did had
this orange tint for the last couple of days, so
it wasn't orange. It was just dark, so I thought
maybe it was foggy. And then I went outside at
about eight o'clock in the morning, thick ash and I know,
(18:24):
just reading some stuff down in Santa Clara, which I'm
about forty minutes away, you know, drive from a Levi
Stadium equally as bad. So it's just something to monitor.
I know, technically, I don't think they could have a
game the day with the air quality is bad. Now
the reports are luckily with the marine rolayer up here,
the wind blows should clear out. But it's it's awful
(18:47):
right now. By the way, everything is forty minutes away
from Levi Stadium. I just want to make sure you're
forty your forty minutes away. You hop on a plane
and I remember being in San Francisco super but they're
like it was like an hour from here, like really, Like,
oh man, it's just such a joke. Okay, let's let's
get to something first. To start with last night's game.
What's your reaction to Kansas City being better than Houston again? Yeah,
(19:09):
I just think they're the clear best team in the league.
They have the best player in the league. I think,
by a country mile, the best quarterback. I mean, it's
it's pretty clear now, it's not even hyperbole. He's one
of the most talented quarterbacks we've ever seen. He made
you know, you don't even He's at the point now
where the box score doesn't even do him justice. It
is just like Wow, this guy is This guy is
awesome And clearly one thing that jumped out to me
(19:30):
about the Chiefs I wasn't worried about my homes just
he's young. He kind of reminds me of a Stephan Clay.
He comes from a pro background. Like the money, even
though it was a lot of money, I didn't think
it was gonna phase him. But when Kelsey got paid
his third contract and Chris Jones like, you never know,
you know, and those guys look like they were playing
for a contract. If those guys are gonna play that
(19:52):
hard with all the other talent they got on offense
and that little running back, who I mean I see,
I think I it might take to start the show.
Was they're not as good as they were last year.
They're better because they haven't had clearly they having a
running game in a year and a half. We'll think
about their offense last year was not as good as
two years ago when they lost to the Patriots, and
that offense when he won the m v P up
(20:15):
until that video came out and we learned that Kareem
Hunt kicked the girl. They were dominant because they had
it all right, they could run it. They could throw
it to their running back and then they had the receivers. Well,
now Sammy Watkins is better. They had a heart of
him that doesn't even play. Kelsey and Tyreek are still
in the peak of the powers. And what's crazy is
Mahomes is clearly better. Not physically he had the same,
(20:36):
but mentally, like he's just the more reps you getting
anything right, especially football when it comes to reading defenses.
Him and Andy just you get to the point with
a coach and the quarterback, they're just gonna be on
the same page more and more, and that's kind of scary.
John Minelkoff joining US three, owns the podcast I got
the show here on Fox Sports Radio. Um, I'm intrigued
(20:56):
by Cleveland. You know, they beat Baltimore last year despite
beating his funk still mess. I like what they've added
across the board. I think Stefanski's solid, you know, I
think he's gonna hold him accountable. I'm just I'm gonna
I'm intrigued by what they look like when they take
on Baltimore. Well, because I'm with you, I I think
this about the Ravens. Historically in the NFL, great running
(21:17):
backs always get their's right. The elite running back, it
doesn't matter the scheme, and Adrian Peterson and lt uh
you know, an Emmett to Walter Payton the best. But
running schemes, especially ones that are kind of unique, like
what the Ravens have been doing. We saw it years
ago with Kaepernick and Harbaugh the Wildcat once upon a
time do get neutralized after a period of time, and
(21:39):
you need to expand. And I think every team in
that division, now let's not even count the Bengals, but
the Browns and the Steelers, who have a lot of talent,
spend all offseason studying how to neutralize that and put
it all on Lamar. Now it's I think that they're
actually will be able to slow up the running game
a little bit. It won't look like I mean, let's
face it, last last year looked like Tommy Fraser in Nebraska.
(22:01):
It was a joke. It was like no team in
the league could stop it. It's not gonna look like
that forever. But the Browns their problem was Baker was atrocious.
They couldn't score. I mean, he basically threw as many
picks his touchdowns. He should not be as bad. Obviously,
if the fans Ky can just get him playing like
Cousins run the ball. They got two studd run. I mean,
Chubb is a star and Kareem Hunt might be a
(22:22):
bad guy or whatever, but he's a really good player.
You got O'Dell, you got Jarvis, you add Austin Hooper,
they added the offensive lineman. There is no excuse for that.
This the personnel on that offense to not be I
don't know, top six seven in the league. I mean
you could argue like three or four. Just Baker still young,
and he who knows how truly good he is, but
the talent around him his top notch. Can I tell
(22:42):
you one that I think is a mismatch that I
don't know? If? I mean, I'll be intrigued to hear
your your feedback. John middle Cops, our guest former NFL
scout of course three owns the podcast talented media guy
now here on the Doug Gotlie Show on Fox Sports Radio.
So the Carolina Panthers essentially turned over their entire roster
except Christian McCaffrey, who's a great running back, right, But
(23:03):
to bring in Teddy Bridgewater, who's the spot starter. Um,
you know, I mean everybody's gone from last year. You're
bringing a head coach I think everybody likes is a
culture changer. I don't know, but it's just his first game,
Bridgewater's first game as the guy, and the Raiders. I
don't think they're going to be great and win that division,
but they clearly are an improved football team on a
(23:25):
year to year basis. Why would Vegas think that's a
three point game. I don't know. I already put a
sizeable wager on the Raiders and uh I think, under
no circumstances, I will hate Gruden and car if they
lose this game, because they should. They should molly wap them.
I mean, they really should. I like Joe Brady what
he did last year. We all marveled at the l
s U Tigers, right, he was a quality control guy
(23:46):
a couple of years ago, Like this should be a
different animal for him. It shouldn't be this easy. And
let's face it, Teddy Bridgewater relative to his, you know, competition,
was not Joe Burrow relative to his competition. I also
think the Raiders match up pretty well in the sense
of their linebacking corps has been the slowest in the
league the last I don't know decade. Now. They add
Little Tin from the Rams, who's a you know, fly
(24:09):
around guy. They add Kuolkowski from the Bears, like they
should be able to You can't really stop McCaffrey, but
he shouldn't just destroy him, and then the Raider their
team on defense. The Panthers, like Luke Kickle, ain't walking
through that door. Their their roster is bad. The Raiders
actually have a functional offense. They the stats weren't terrible
last year, but it didn't quite look right. But if
(24:30):
Josh Jacob's going, I've talked to coaches on that staff.
They say Darren Waller is even better, and he was
a pro bowler last year. My one question mark would
be it's hard for sometimes rookie wide receivers to hit
the ground running. They have Rugs who you know was
a dominant college player. If they love this Brian Edwards
guy from South Carolina, I mean those guys are starting
(24:51):
with with Renfro. Who Renfro is good. You know Tyrone Williams,
who I think me and you both like, is just
out again. You know he's hurt. He's been hurting now
two years in a row. For the Raiders to me
if he was there with all the young guys, I'd
feel really good. I'd like the Raiders is like a
wild card team, and I still kind of do uh well,
I just have to see how their defense looks, but
that they should. There is no excuse for them not
(25:11):
to beat the Panthers by ten plus points. Help me
out with this. Miami beat New England last year. End
of last year. I get to New England added Cam Newton,
but you know, I don't know who he's gonna throw to.
Their defense has been decimated by COVID, right with these
guys opting out? Yeah, um um. And and they're starting
Ryan Fitzpatrick, who's really good early early in any season.
(25:33):
And Miami's added a lot of talent. Why are they
such sizeable dogs? That's a good question. I mean, it's
probably just the New England kind of aura, even though
it shouldn't still be. Like you said, with all the
opt outs, Tom's not there. I just not the same team. Uh.
For as much the buzz that Cam has gotten, we
really besides maybe a handful of media members and the
coaching staff, no one's really seen him. So it's just
(25:55):
as of right now, it's just a lot of buzz.
We'll see how it actually looks. I think if you're
betting on the game, Miami and the points is the
smart bet because do you see this game being a
high scoring game? Just in general, this game feels like
seventeen to thirteen or something like that. Now, I would
imagine Bill, this guy got him at the end of
the season last year. It cost them the two seed.
(26:17):
You know, it kind of through the mojo of the
franchise off a little bit. Now, I had a I
had a scout in the league. Tell me a couple
of days ago. He's like, go to there too deep
on defense and just name starting naming the players, and
tell me if you think they're gonna be good on
defense the Patriots and I kind of looked. I'm like,
I don't even know who some of these guys are.
I mean, they're depending on young players. Uh. Now, they
still got Belichick, which I think he always gets to
(26:39):
benefit of the doubt, but that they're dealing with a
lot of players that are just either rookies or young
players that no one has much experience in the NFL
to go from a defense statistically, Remember, they were really
good last year, and it's just are they going to
be a top fifteen defense with all these randos, probably
not in clearing. Their offense is not gonna be that great,
So maybe I trust Belichick. I still think they're gonna
(27:02):
be competitive, but there is a path for it to
kind of go sideways a little well, I don't even know.
I don't know if I want to make grand predictions
about to go in sideways. I'm just talking about first
game of the season. When I say sideways, I mean
like a six, just just you know, in game. Why
would they give gil More and more money for this year?
(27:22):
True Stefan Gilmore's announced that they get get game a
little more cash. I think I think Belichick has been
king of this this whole career. He doesn't overpay guys
that have not been in his locker room, and he
takes care of guys that have earned it in that
locker room. And I think Gilmore has been an elite
player for a couple of years. They have some cap space,
they just give him a little bump. It's kind of
like a little you know, thanks here. I just think
(27:43):
it's a Belichick way of taking care of his own. Yeah,
he's always he's always. He used to do this with
It's one of the things about Brady that that does
that doesn't go mention. Brady used to take less, you know,
chain move money around and then they give him a
little bump right before the season kind of make like
a little out of boy like this. This stuff has
happened before, and I think that we we operated on
(28:04):
this idea that Tom Ready played for a million dollars
a year, and that really isn't isn't the case. Um,
the Packers going to Minnesota, Um, but they're not gonna
have what Daniel Hunter, as you know, and I know
that the other side looks really good with Yannikakwa, but
you're trying to protect the young cornerbacks, that new defensive
backfield with a great pass rush. Now you don't have
(28:26):
the home field advantage that you normally have in the Dome,
and you don't have Daniel Hunter. How does that game
look differently now with the injury. Yeah, to me, there
are no excuses for the Packers this week. Like they're
playing with beside Davante receivers that most of us don't
think are that good. Well, the Packers believe in some
of these guys, so they should be functional against this,
I think nine career starts based on their corners in
(28:50):
this game from Minnesota that had a you know, basically
a core group of starters for nine or ten of
them for like a five or six year run. They're
going to playoffs every year. So this is a really
new Minnesota Vikings team, which I had a ton of
respect for these last several years. They were always really consistent.
Their quarterback play was always like average, but the talent
around him was so great. Kind of different. I think
(29:11):
in general, Minnesota might depend on Kirk Cousins a little
bit more Stefon Diggs, which I get. He yelled at
the quarterback and he freaked out and he was a
little emotional sometimes did have fifteen touch sounds the last
two years. They replaced him with Justin Jefferson, who I mean,
if you watch Lshoo, it's hard enough to like the guy.
He's a different type player. He's not some speed demon.
He's really more of like a slot over the middle guy.
(29:32):
Feeling is not a speed demon either, He's more of
a possession wide receiver. So who's stretching that defense that
kind of clear it out for Cooks to clear it
out for Feeling and Justin Jefferson. I'm interested to see
how Minnesota looks now. They still do have talent, and
I think Mike Zimmer is really good. We'll see, Like
Aaron Rodgers, you know he's been buddy buddy with Jordan's love. Well,
isn't it kind of easy when Jordan loves sucks and
(29:54):
Aaron Rodgers like, I'd be cool with this guy's He's
no threat to take my job. Then their second round
running back because right now listed the third string running back,
Like I just I'm fascinated to see have any of
these guys that played last year on this talented on
the team that went thirteen and three? Have they improved? Right?
Are they more of an impact players? Especially on offense,
like because when Davante got hurt last year against the Eagles,
(30:17):
devoid in their wide receiving corps was just massive. And
if one of these guys can step up to just
be like, you know, a solid NFL like two and
a half Sports, they being pretty good, You're pretty pretty good.
Shape Domino Ka our guest and Doug gotlif show on
Fox Sports Radio Last one Cowboys Rams. A lot of
people are gonna make this season about Dak Prescott. I
(30:40):
think this game is about golf and what he what
he has to offer. Yeah, I actually think the Rams
are a little more talented. People give him credit for.
I mean their offensive skill guy, especially wide receiver, pretty
darn good. The Acres guy they drafted from Florida staying
at my friends in the NFL. Love the guy. Aaron
Donald's a beast. Jalen Ramsey's a lockdown corner to me.
The question is for them on d defense, like Jared
(31:01):
got you know, had his struggles. Part of the problem.
He's got the Philip rivers where he can't move. So
when his offensive lineman can't you know, block form, he's
kind of a sitting duck. Uh. That's why it's so
key in that offense to run the ball. And they
just got to get back to consistently running the ball
and then the play action. The play action boots gosson
accurate quarterback, he'll be fine. My question is not really
(31:23):
their offense, Like I just I'm gonna give Sean McVeigh
the benefit doubt. It's just gonna be defensively and you'll
see this weekend like Jalen Ramsey's awesome. The Cowboys have
three wide receivers. He can't cover all three, Like, who
are the guys covering the other guys? Because if you
look at the roster Donald Jalen Ramsey and Michael Brocker's
and then it's just a bunch of who and you
start slamming Zeke into these random linebackers. They have a
(31:47):
new defensive coordinator. Uh. Now, the Cowboys are a pretty
big unknown right there. You have a coaching turnover, first
time Mike McCarthy's coached a game now in a long time.
There's a lot of unknown for them. But they're they
They do have a lot of talent on offense. I
do like the Rams and the points and I just
listen people act like the Rams won like five games
(32:07):
last year. They went nine and seven, and if the
rules had been two thousand twenty, they would have been
the seventh wild cards. So they're they're still they're better
than the Cowboys, you know, based on last year. We'll
see what Mike McCarthy adds with you, but I think
Gared Goff's gonna have a solid season. John mine Goff
three Out is the podcast downloading the HERD Podcast Network
can't wait to see the recap on week one's NFL games.
(32:28):
Thanks so much, dude. Uh stay safe out there, you
do du anybody I told you last week that one
team was only delaying the inevitable. Now it is inevitable.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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(32:50):
we'd like to get you something from one of the
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of uf HE line up and available finance options. This
(33:12):
is Christopers started on first things first talking about James
Harden and the Rockets lost last night. This was sad,
and the two saddest things were one. I wasn't surprised.
This has become an expectation now from James Harden. He
is now one in six. If we call last night
in elimination game, which, let's face it, it it really was.
(33:33):
He's now one in six in those games. He intered
shooting twenty from three in his in his first six
elimination games in the playfous and there's something about two
for eleven because this is his fourth playoff game where
he's two for eleven. It looked like Harden conceded, like
he just gave in and said, you know what, I
(33:55):
am that guy. I'm that guy they've been saying, I
am who doesn't that liver in the big moments? No
field goal attempts in the fourth quarter. Yeah, let's not
call it an elimination game because it was an elimination game.
That's unfair, Right, you can't skew a stat and completely
change something just because it feels like it was and
(34:17):
it's that's not But let's not do that. The rest
of his point is accurate. I think James Harden is
too tired. I don't know if he didn't take care
of himself. I don't know, if he's out of shape.
I don't know. If it's the way they play which
he dominates the basketball and it exhausts him, you know,
And now all of a sudden you get to the
playoffs and he plays more defense, and so he's not
ready for that. And then you factor in that now
they're playing every other day. I don't know what it is.
(34:39):
I just think he looks exhausted. But yeah, this is
who James Harden is. It wasn't a surprise. I have
an honest question for you, guys. Did you see the
story about the Minnesota Vikings and what they're gonna do.
They're going to recognize and in some level honor George
Floyd's family at the game, and his family is gonna attend.
(35:01):
So it's there's a little bit, a little bit of
discrepancy as exactly. You know, you don't want to look
at the headline and say honor because one site says honor,
one site says to just attend the family of George
Fluby inside US Bank Stadium. Um, and uh, the they'll
kick off playing lift every voice and sing. Traditionally known
(35:24):
as a black national anthem, is expected to be performed
live and played every week one NFL game, in addition
to the Star Spangled banner. Yeah. That that one's that
that's interesting. I don't I don't agree with that. I
(35:46):
don't agree with that. I didn't know what we're playing
a new anthem that we're doing. Okay, got it, I
just didn't, you know, I whoa that that this one
(36:09):
comes as a stunnard to me. You know, it does
go in line with one of the things that is,
it's painful to me this rhetoric you're hearing about what
the United States was based upon. Well, it's based upon no, no, no,
the writings, the Constitution, the the idea of the whole.
(36:35):
It was based upon our ideals to be the best country.
And at the time it was a bastion of religious
and personal freedom. Did we have slavery? Yes, there was
also indentured servitude. It there was like a lot of
things in that era, like like we're going, We're just
there's a lot of things going on here. I thought
(36:57):
what the Miami Dolphins have done is the best. Hey,
let's put together an incredible video. We don't want any
we just want to get down to let's work together
and make it better. I like the Dolphins playing a
little better than the Vikings plan, but once they kick off,
(37:21):
it does become about football. And uh, last night the
Chiefs they called the Chief's Kingdom, right on on Twitter.
It feels like the entire NFL is there is there kingdom.
I mean, when you watch Pat mahomes play and you
realize he's the highest paid athlete in American sports, don't
(37:42):
you sit there and elbow somebody next thing to go.
I still think he's underpaid, right, That was my thought.
It's he's getting better. He was the best in the
NFL and he's getting better. Peter King is gonna join
us up coming next. What do we see last night
and how does it foreshadow the rest of the NFL season.
(38:02):
We'll get to that next in the Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio.
Thanks for listening to the Doug Gottlap Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every week day three to
six Eastern twelve to three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for the Doug Gotleap Show at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What off Doug Gottlip Show,
Fox Spots Radio. Two things that we'll get to before
I give you my thoughts on Bill O'Brien one. UM
(00:42):
on the forty birthday, my friend Nate Fleming is one
of ten members of an Oklahoma state traveling party who
died in the plane crash. This going back plane crash
was almost into eighteen and a half years ago on
Super Bowl Sunday. And um, of course, and Nate was
(01:05):
a dear friend. He was a freshman when I was
a senior. He was a walk on, but he had
to he got to travel with the n c A tournament.
He was just a great dude. I'm really close with
his family and UM, he left an indeublement mark on
my heart. And uh, I miss him a great deal.
And it's interesting because you know, Um, actually nineteen a
(01:28):
half years ago, because the day before September eleven, I
played in the first ever Nate Fleming Memorial Golf Tournament,
and I like, I remember uh playing with Scott brue Plank,
who the great dude, another Oaklooma State guy, and he
was trying to teach me how to swing golf club
(01:49):
because I was just I'm not good now, but I
was terrible at the time. Anyway. Also, the obviously the
nineteenth anniversary September even we shared some of our thoughts,
saw it yesterday. I'll only tell you this, and I
mean this that if you if September eleven and the
moments that you see on TV don't resonate with you,
(02:12):
it's okay. You might be too young, you might have
lived in a part of the country where you didn't
feel it as much. I kind of doubt that. I
don't know, um, music you were at the time nineteen
years ago. You're twenty eight years old, so I'm you're
nine years old the time. What do you remember? I
just remember waking up, um, not really totally understanding everything
(02:36):
that was going on, my parents sort of explaining that
something big was happening, and then going to school and
just sort of watching it on TV. You do you
guys watch TV in school? Yeah, Romis, what do you
remember you were out here? You're an adult at the time.
You did not have children at the time, right, I
think you guys have just been married. We were married
(02:58):
for about two years. I was one of the I
piggybacking off what Dan said yesterday, it was the most
exhausting day in my radio career. I worked in a
news station. I was the technical producer for a morning show,
and I was It happened about what five fifty our
(03:19):
time local time here in California, So we were on
the air and um I did not stop working. Not again,
not to take anything away obviously the people who lived
through it in New York City, but for me personally,
I'd ever worked that hard in my radio career and
since then it was literally from that moment. So I
left work about eight I was actually worked a long
(03:41):
time because we weren't sure. I actually called Suzanne, my wife,
and told her to be prepared because I at that
point we weren't sure if they were going to come
to l A and crossing two buildings in Los Angeles
as well, That's what there was. There was, you know,
there was all this talk of l A's next. It's
gonna be in l A next. Right, they got New York,
so we were I was telling her just to stay
(04:02):
at home and that I could not leave work. And
I still remember to the day, I was just running tape.
It was. It was one of the scariest days for
me personally, even though we were I was not in
New York City. Yeah, I like, there's two different feelings too,
if you're a New Yorker and Um, I don't know
if Louise and Corbin Wahlburger are listening. They were by
(04:25):
neighbors when I lived in Kenton, Connecticut. But it's like
your perspective changes so dramatically based upon where you live, right. Um.
Corbin at the time was a young executive and his
wife had twins at home, and they lived in Battery Park,
very very close to the towers. And when it hit
the buildings, you know, he called and said, you know,
you gotta get out, and I don't remember. I gotta
(04:48):
probably call her tonight and remember thinking about hers. Just
such a sweet woman. She took her kids, put them
in the stroller. They were twins at the time, they
were like a year two years old and walk across
the bridge right like the GW Bridge. And I don't
until maybe the last couple of years. I don't know
if she's ever been back to the island of Manhattan.
(05:10):
I mean it was that like like for if you
don't remember or you're not old enough to have perspective,
it was you woke up, I was in Central time
zone and a plane this the report was a plane
hit one of the towers, and you're like, okay, well
that's weird. Maybe it was just a mistake made something.
(05:31):
And then they had cameras on the buildings because one
of the buildings was on fire. And then you you're like,
there's another plane that went into a building. Wait, now
of a sudden, you're like, holy crap, we're under attack.
And then one of them collapsed, and then the other
one collapsed, and and forget about the stories of what
(05:55):
happened to the Pentagon and what happened in the field
in Pennsylvania, like all of these reports, and there was
talk that it was gonna be l A was next.
So if you missed yesterday, I talked about how it
is in still water Oklahoma, drove to Oklahoma City, got
to do in a radio show. When I got there,
I believe I saw the second plane hit the tower
and then I saw them both come down. And our
(06:17):
job on a sports radio station was just to try
and keep people calmed, cutting occasionally on ABC News and
and you know, try and calm people down and say, look,
well we'll stick with you, We're here for you. We'll
take your phone calls. We didn't actually put anybody phone
calls on air, but we'll do so and when we do,
we will. Um, please don't like got price couch people.
(06:38):
It was really scary, but it wasn't like it was
over that day. It wasn't like just eleven and then
the rest. There was rubble and smoke for weeks in
New York City weeks. It's very scary. So look, I'm
not I'm not. You have the right an NBA player,
(07:00):
Major League Baseball player today or I'm watching the US
Open in tennis, you have the right to protest in
our country. To day is not the day to do it.
Today is a day of morning. Today is a day
to remember people who ran into a building, a burning building,
or people who are helplessly at work and died in
(07:21):
a burning building, or we're on an airplane just trying
to go see family or do go to business or whatever.
That's what today is about. The we we galvanize of
the country. For there was a time there where believe
it or not, and and Buyer, I know you can
attest this because you were in the Midwest and people
are generally pretty kind. Ramos, you don't travel that much,
so I don't know, but people who are listening to
(07:43):
my voice who traveled for a living, and I traveled
extensively right after there and then traveled internationally, played in Israel.
We were kind to one another. We just put differences
behind for a while. We were kind to one another
because our common now that he was we were Americans.
Somebody didn't like us, and they tried to they tried
(08:05):
to divide us, and we came together. And of all
the things we can learn from nine eleven, and that's
the one I want you to think about today. Let
me give you some thoughts on last night's football game.
Because I now ever tell anybody how to mourn, I
will tell us it's sports. It is a great escape.
I totally disagree with what Calherd said or tweeted over
the weekend, like, dude, this is what it's about. You know,
(08:26):
I'm gonna spend some time in thought today thinking of
nine eleven, but I also want to think about football,
so I don't have to think about all the stuff
at home or the stuff in New York City. Last
night the Kancity Chiefs, um, it was a good game
early and then ultimately the Chiefs they're up seventeen seven
to half and don't look back. Bill O'Brien became the
(08:49):
head coach of the Texans. They made the playoffs four
of the last six or four of the six years.
One of the years, Deshaun Watson got to be the
starter as a rookie and then tore his knee and
then he was out, so we kind of give up
hass a little bit. With Deshaun Watson. They made the
playoffs and back to back seasons winning the division. The
one time they didn't was winning towards a c L.
The other quarterbacks that he's had are Ryan Fitzpatrick Brock Ostwalder,
(09:14):
Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, t J. Yates, and Tom Savage. Now,
in fairness, some of that is his own doing right,
like Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer, two guys he coached
in New England. That's why they're on the roster. Brock
Oswalder was there previously, That's why he's on the roster.
But but there's this weird thing. He got a lot
(09:35):
of credit. Hey man, Bill O'Brien does a good job
and he's one of those guys he does a lot
with nothing right. What about when he has something? Because
I think we all I don't know what you think
of Deshaun Watson. I'm not sure he's the superstar of
Pat Mahomes. But man, he's pretty good. You know, you
could do a whole hell of a lot worse. He's
(09:58):
he played with the collapsed long, took a took a
he took a van because he couldn't ride a plane. Right,
We we know the play. Remember last year he got
like poked in the eye, through through a game winning touchdown,
passed with it like one eye. He's tougher than two
dollar steak. He's a winner, he's a leader, he's a
(10:18):
good foot, he's a good football player. I don't think
he's the best quarterback in football. I still think Mahomes
and Rogers and some of those guys are better. But
if he's a slight okay, fine, you can win a
Super Bowl with Shawn Watson. Why aren't they a little
bit better? And we can sit here and go, well,
he's not the best GM, and he had it. He
followed up a bad GM, and so he's trying to
(10:39):
put maybe they had a bad offensive line. He wasn't
the GM. Okay, but he's still a head coach. They
still took some of his advice. Some of that is
on him. Like I like Bill, I understood why he
ran the football so much. Last night I saw a
lot of Jason McIntyre has a straight fire podcast and
he basically crushed Bill O'Brien for trying to run the
(11:00):
football so much. Do you know that last year when
they beat the Kansas City Chiefs, they did so because
they ran the football so effectively they kept Pat Mahomes
off the football field. Do I think he should have
been conservative in the first half and punted when he's
at the midfield line. No, And that's part of it.
Like there's he's one of these guys like there's a
(11:20):
little Kenny Atkinson to him, right, Kenny Atkinson was great
when the Nets were terrible to get them to being
viable and having great culture. But when Kenny Atkinson had
Kyrie Irving, he just didn't have that whatever something it
was to be able to coach star players and take
them to that next level. That's what the Brooklyn Nets thing.
(11:42):
And that kind of feels like where we are with
Bill O'Brien in Houston. You know, Phil Jackson's the opposite,
feels like like, I don't want to rebuilding project. Did
you guys remember the last dance. Part of the reason
that Philip Phil Jackson wanted out of Chicago because they
knew they were gonna have to you work things, rebuild things.
(12:03):
Scotty wanted a ton of money. The rest of the
team was over the hill. He said, no, thanks, I
do not want to be a part of a rebuilding project.
Give me a couple of Give me a couple of
superstars who are young and don't know how to win,
and I can teach them how to win. I can
put them in position to allow their talents to to
It's a it's different. It's the same job, but it's different.
(12:25):
And that's the flaw of Bill O'Brian. It appears at
this moment. He gets a lot of nothing, but he
gets just some out of something, not everything out of
when he's got something. All right? Coming up next only
week one, but I think me personally, I think we're
gonna learn a lot about one football team, in particular,
(12:48):
the Cleveland Browns. I'll tell you why. Next. 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. Do you
guys remember a year ago we got ready for the
NFL season, Like I want you to think back, Okay,
(13:12):
like I have a really really good memory. So yeah,
we're coming off the Patriots winning the Super Bowl? Right
where are we? And so was the could the Patriots
win again? Um? There was a ton of intrigue about
the Green Bay Packers. They had hired relative unknown and
(13:33):
Aaron Rodgers had some weird quotes about not really digging
the fact that he couldn't audibilize the way he wanted
to audiblize. Remember that, Okay? Um, the Cowboys. Everybody thought
he got a chance of Super Bowl super Bowl here,
but Jason Garrett very much coaching for his job that
came in fruition. Um, I think people thought the Niners
(13:54):
were gonna be good, really talented, didn't know how good.
Let's see here, the Eli Manning thing was coming to
an end. Daniel Jones uh Lamar Jackson was intriguing because
he had started the second half of the year and
led the resurgent Ravens team to the playoffs. That we
knew how good he would be, right, Like, you're kind
of going through things, and but the Browns hype was real, right,
(14:19):
it was. It was real. They were people talking, they
were there were people talking about the super Bowl and
the Cleveland Browns. Horn thing talking about the the super
Bowl and the Cleveland freaking Browns. They had profile pieces
Baker Mayfield. Do you remember Baker Mayfield was taken in
in front of like a car with Tiger Remember that
(14:42):
shirtless Harry chest they were in commercial. He was in
a bunch of commercials. Can't you remember all those? Like
oh yeah, yeah, like you forget last year was the
first year that Odell Beckham Jr. Was playing with the
Cleveland brown It's like, oh yeah, they're still interesting, they're
(15:05):
super talented, and now they have a different coach who
appears to be a guy who's got his stuff together.
Kevin Stefanci spent basically his professional football life with the
Minnesota Vikings. Last year he took over his play colored
with the Vikings, and they decided we're gonna run the football.
We're gonna run it and run some more and then
(15:25):
run play action and figure out a way to make
Kirk Cousins look like the best version of himself. And
it worked out. It worked out. So I'll just be
completely candid with you and think, remember why as much
as last year was a dysfunctional mess, you know, they
(15:45):
beat the Bravens last year, like really yeah. Now, they
started off the year in Mayfield looked bad. Through three interceptions,
Brown committed eight teen penalties. That's when you knew they were, like, man,
this team is a joke in terms of discipline and
respect for their coach, etcetera, etcetera. It was foreshouting for
the entire season with Freddie Kitchen where Mayfield struggle. They
(16:08):
committed a bunch of penalties and they're one of ten
on third downs. They take on the Baltimore Ravens and look,
I think the Ravens should be really good. Do I
think they were as good as their fourteen and two
record last year? Uh? Yeah, but they've had issues at
safety and though they got they got rid of Earl Thomas.
Earl Thomas is a Hall of Fame caliber towent For
a reason, I'm interested in if if a culture replacement
(16:32):
is really that good a replacement, Like, there's some changes
there they made on the defensive side of the ball.
You've had an entire off seat to repair for exactly
what the Ravens are doing offensively, And though people have
a pretty good sense of what you're gonna do, nobody
has a real beat on exactly how you're gonna execute it.
With Baker Mayfield, you've got two star running backs, two
(16:54):
star wide receivers bringing Austin Hooper is a talented tight end.
Like I think the Brown is gonna be good. They
like they always had talent last year. They were just
terribly coached and you saw it week one and the
glim there was glimmers of talent and hope throughout the
(17:15):
season when they beat the Ravens, for example, But well
will learn a lot about them on Sunday even if
they lose, Like I had to win Are they well coached?
Are they discipline? Does their play calling makes sense? They
put Baker mayfield and third and manageable? Did they commit
a bunch of penalties? You know? I mean, look, you
(17:38):
got a dude who you paid in the offseason that
got suspended midseason last year for taking off a helmet
of a quarterback and swinging in and hitting him with
it like that really happened, really happened. So what's your
team like this year? We'll find out very soon. Be
sure to catch the live edition of The Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific. John
(18:00):
Middlecoff knows that three Out is his podcast, All Ball
Is Mine. Middlecoff has the air quality where you are
not good. I woke up this morning, you know, because
of September, I kind of looked out. It did had
this orange tint for the last couple of days, so
it wasn't orange. It was just dark, so I thought
maybe it was foggy. And then I went outside at
about eight o'clock in the morning, thick ash and I know,
(18:24):
just reading some stuff down in Santa Clara, which I'm
about forty minutes away, you know, drive from a Levi
Stadium equally as bad. So it's just something to monitor.
I know, technically, I don't think they could have a
game the day with the air quality is bad. Now
the reports are luckily with the marine rolayer up here,
the wind blows should clear out. But it's it's awful
(18:47):
right now. By the way, everything is forty minutes away
from Levi Stadium. I just want to make sure you're
forty your forty minutes away. You hop on a plane
and I remember being in San Francisco super but they're
like it was like an hour from here, like really, Like,
oh man, it's just such a joke. Okay, let's let's
get to something first. To start with last night's game.
What's your reaction to Kansas City being better than Houston again? Yeah,
(19:09):
I just think they're the clear best team in the league.
They have the best player in the league. I think,
by a country mile, the best quarterback. I mean, it's
it's pretty clear now, it's not even hyperbole. He's one
of the most talented quarterbacks we've ever seen. He made
you know, you don't even He's at the point now
where the box score doesn't even do him justice. It
is just like Wow, this guy is This guy is
awesome And clearly one thing that jumped out to me
(19:30):
about the Chiefs I wasn't worried about my homes just
he's young. He kind of reminds me of a Stephan Clay.
He comes from a pro background. Like the money, even
though it was a lot of money, I didn't think
it was gonna phase him. But when Kelsey got paid
his third contract and Chris Jones like, you never know,
you know, and those guys look like they were playing
for a contract. If those guys are gonna play that
(19:52):
hard with all the other talent they got on offense
and that little running back, who I mean I see,
I think I it might take to start the show.
Was they're not as good as they were last year.
They're better because they haven't had clearly they having a
running game in a year and a half. We'll think
about their offense last year was not as good as
two years ago when they lost to the Patriots, and
that offense when he won the m v P up
(20:15):
until that video came out and we learned that Kareem
Hunt kicked the girl. They were dominant because they had
it all right, they could run it. They could throw
it to their running back and then they had the receivers. Well,
now Sammy Watkins is better. They had a heart of
him that doesn't even play. Kelsey and Tyreek are still
in the peak of the powers. And what's crazy is
Mahomes is clearly better. Not physically he had the same,
(20:36):
but mentally, like he's just the more reps you getting
anything right, especially football when it comes to reading defenses.
Him and Andy just you get to the point with
a coach and the quarterback, they're just gonna be on
the same page more and more, and that's kind of scary.
John Minelkoff joining US three, owns the podcast I got
the show here on Fox Sports Radio. Um, I'm intrigued
(20:56):
by Cleveland. You know, they beat Baltimore last year despite
beating his funk still mess. I like what they've added
across the board. I think Stefanski's solid, you know, I
think he's gonna hold him accountable. I'm just I'm gonna
I'm intrigued by what they look like when they take
on Baltimore. Well, because I'm with you, I I think
this about the Ravens. Historically in the NFL, great running
(21:17):
backs always get their's right. The elite running back, it
doesn't matter the scheme, and Adrian Peterson and lt uh
you know, an Emmett to Walter Payton the best. But
running schemes, especially ones that are kind of unique, like
what the Ravens have been doing. We saw it years
ago with Kaepernick and Harbaugh the Wildcat once upon a
time do get neutralized after a period of time, and
(21:39):
you need to expand. And I think every team in
that division, now let's not even count the Bengals, but
the Browns and the Steelers, who have a lot of talent,
spend all offseason studying how to neutralize that and put
it all on Lamar. Now it's I think that they're
actually will be able to slow up the running game
a little bit. It won't look like I mean, let's
face it, last last year looked like Tommy Fraser in Nebraska.
(22:01):
It was a joke. It was like no team in
the league could stop it. It's not gonna look like
that forever. But the Browns their problem was Baker was atrocious.
They couldn't score. I mean, he basically threw as many
picks his touchdowns. He should not be as bad. Obviously,
if the fans Ky can just get him playing like
Cousins run the ball. They got two studd run. I mean,
Chubb is a star and Kareem Hunt might be a
(22:22):
bad guy or whatever, but he's a really good player.
You got O'Dell, you got Jarvis, you add Austin Hooper,
they added the offensive lineman. There is no excuse for that.
This the personnel on that offense to not be I
don't know, top six seven in the league. I mean
you could argue like three or four. Just Baker still young,
and he who knows how truly good he is, but
the talent around him his top notch. Can I tell
(22:42):
you one that I think is a mismatch that I
don't know? If? I mean, I'll be intrigued to hear
your your feedback. John middle Cops, our guest former NFL
scout of course three owns the podcast talented media guy
now here on the Doug Gotlie Show on Fox Sports Radio.
So the Carolina Panthers essentially turned over their entire roster
except Christian McCaffrey, who's a great running back, right, But
(23:03):
to bring in Teddy Bridgewater, who's the spot starter. Um,
you know, I mean everybody's gone from last year. You're
bringing a head coach I think everybody likes is a
culture changer. I don't know, but it's just his first game,
Bridgewater's first game as the guy, and the Raiders. I
don't think they're going to be great and win that division,
but they clearly are an improved football team on a
(23:25):
year to year basis. Why would Vegas think that's a
three point game. I don't know. I already put a
sizeable wager on the Raiders and uh I think, under
no circumstances, I will hate Gruden and car if they
lose this game, because they should. They should molly wap them.
I mean, they really should. I like Joe Brady what
he did last year. We all marveled at the l
s U Tigers, right, he was a quality control guy
(23:46):
a couple of years ago, Like this should be a
different animal for him. It shouldn't be this easy. And
let's face it, Teddy Bridgewater relative to his, you know, competition,
was not Joe Burrow relative to his competition. I also
think the Raiders match up pretty well in the sense
of their linebacking corps has been the slowest in the
league the last I don't know decade. Now. They add
Little Tin from the Rams, who's a you know, fly
(24:09):
around guy. They add Kuolkowski from the Bears, like they
should be able to You can't really stop McCaffrey, but
he shouldn't just destroy him, and then the Raider their
team on defense. The Panthers, like Luke Kickle, ain't walking
through that door. Their their roster is bad. The Raiders
actually have a functional offense. They the stats weren't terrible
last year, but it didn't quite look right. But if
(24:30):
Josh Jacob's going, I've talked to coaches on that staff.
They say Darren Waller is even better, and he was
a pro bowler last year. My one question mark would
be it's hard for sometimes rookie wide receivers to hit
the ground running. They have Rugs who you know was
a dominant college player. If they love this Brian Edwards
guy from South Carolina, I mean those guys are starting
(24:51):
with with Renfro. Who Renfro is good. You know Tyrone Williams,
who I think me and you both like, is just
out again. You know he's hurt. He's been hurting now
two years in a row. For the Raiders to me
if he was there with all the young guys, I'd
feel really good. I'd like the Raiders is like a
wild card team, and I still kind of do uh well,
I just have to see how their defense looks, but
that they should. There is no excuse for them not
(25:11):
to beat the Panthers by ten plus points. Help me
out with this. Miami beat New England last year. End
of last year. I get to New England added Cam Newton,
but you know, I don't know who he's gonna throw to.
Their defense has been decimated by COVID, right with these
guys opting out? Yeah, um um. And and they're starting
Ryan Fitzpatrick, who's really good early early in any season.
(25:33):
And Miami's added a lot of talent. Why are they
such sizeable dogs? That's a good question. I mean, it's
probably just the New England kind of aura, even though
it shouldn't still be. Like you said, with all the
opt outs, Tom's not there. I just not the same team. Uh.
For as much the buzz that Cam has gotten, we
really besides maybe a handful of media members and the
coaching staff, no one's really seen him. So it's just
(25:55):
as of right now, it's just a lot of buzz.
We'll see how it actually looks. I think if you're
betting on the game, Miami and the points is the
smart bet because do you see this game being a
high scoring game? Just in general, this game feels like
seventeen to thirteen or something like that. Now, I would
imagine Bill, this guy got him at the end of
the season last year. It cost them the two seed.
(26:17):
You know, it kind of through the mojo of the
franchise off a little bit. Now, I had a I
had a scout in the league. Tell me a couple
of days ago. He's like, go to there too deep
on defense and just name starting naming the players, and
tell me if you think they're gonna be good on
defense the Patriots and I kind of looked. I'm like,
I don't even know who some of these guys are.
I mean, they're depending on young players. Uh. Now, they
still got Belichick, which I think he always gets to
(26:39):
benefit of the doubt, but that they're dealing with a
lot of players that are just either rookies or young
players that no one has much experience in the NFL
to go from a defense statistically, Remember, they were really
good last year, and it's just are they going to
be a top fifteen defense with all these randos, probably
not in clearing. Their offense is not gonna be that great,
So maybe I trust Belichick. I still think they're gonna
(27:02):
be competitive, but there is a path for it to
kind of go sideways a little well, I don't even know.
I don't know if I want to make grand predictions
about to go in sideways. I'm just talking about first
game of the season. When I say sideways, I mean
like a six, just just you know, in game. Why
would they give gil More and more money for this year?
(27:22):
True Stefan Gilmore's announced that they get get game a
little more cash. I think I think Belichick has been
king of this this whole career. He doesn't overpay guys
that have not been in his locker room, and he
takes care of guys that have earned it in that
locker room. And I think Gilmore has been an elite
player for a couple of years. They have some cap space,
they just give him a little bump. It's kind of
like a little you know, thanks here. I just think
(27:43):
it's a Belichick way of taking care of his own. Yeah,
he's always he's always. He used to do this with
It's one of the things about Brady that that does
that doesn't go mention. Brady used to take less, you know,
chain move money around and then they give him a
little bump right before the season kind of make like
a little out of boy like this. This stuff has
happened before, and I think that we we operated on
(28:04):
this idea that Tom Ready played for a million dollars
a year, and that really isn't isn't the case. Um,
the Packers going to Minnesota, Um, but they're not gonna
have what Daniel Hunter, as you know, and I know
that the other side looks really good with Yannikakwa, but
you're trying to protect the young cornerbacks, that new defensive
backfield with a great pass rush. Now you don't have
(28:26):
the home field advantage that you normally have in the Dome,
and you don't have Daniel Hunter. How does that game
look differently now with the injury. Yeah, to me, there
are no excuses for the Packers this week. Like they're
playing with beside Davante receivers that most of us don't
think are that good. Well, the Packers believe in some
of these guys, so they should be functional against this,
I think nine career starts based on their corners in
(28:50):
this game from Minnesota that had a you know, basically
a core group of starters for nine or ten of
them for like a five or six year run. They're
going to playoffs every year. So this is a really
new Minnesota Vikings team, which I had a ton of
respect for these last several years. They were always really consistent.
Their quarterback play was always like average, but the talent
around him was so great. Kind of different. I think
(29:11):
in general, Minnesota might depend on Kirk Cousins a little
bit more Stefon Diggs, which I get. He yelled at
the quarterback and he freaked out and he was a
little emotional sometimes did have fifteen touch sounds the last
two years. They replaced him with Justin Jefferson, who I mean,
if you watch Lshoo, it's hard enough to like the guy.
He's a different type player. He's not some speed demon.
He's really more of like a slot over the middle guy.
(29:32):
Feeling is not a speed demon either, He's more of
a possession wide receiver. So who's stretching that defense that
kind of clear it out for Cooks to clear it
out for Feeling and Justin Jefferson. I'm interested to see
how Minnesota looks now. They still do have talent, and
I think Mike Zimmer is really good. We'll see, Like
Aaron Rodgers, you know he's been buddy buddy with Jordan's love. Well,
isn't it kind of easy when Jordan loves sucks and
(29:54):
Aaron Rodgers like, I'd be cool with this guy's He's
no threat to take my job. Then their second round
running back because right now listed the third string running back,
Like I just I'm fascinated to see have any of
these guys that played last year on this talented on
the team that went thirteen and three? Have they improved? Right?
Are they more of an impact players? Especially on offense,
like because when Davante got hurt last year against the Eagles,
(30:17):
devoid in their wide receiving corps was just massive. And
if one of these guys can step up to just
be like, you know, a solid NFL like two and
a half Sports, they being pretty good, You're pretty pretty good.
Shape Domino Ka our guest and Doug gotlif show on
Fox Sports Radio Last one Cowboys Rams. A lot of
people are gonna make this season about Dak Prescott. I
(30:40):
think this game is about golf and what he what
he has to offer. Yeah, I actually think the Rams
are a little more talented. People give him credit for.
I mean their offensive skill guy, especially wide receiver, pretty
darn good. The Acres guy they drafted from Florida staying
at my friends in the NFL. Love the guy. Aaron
Donald's a beast. Jalen Ramsey's a lockdown corner to me.
The question is for them on d defense, like Jared
(31:01):
got you know, had his struggles. Part of the problem.
He's got the Philip rivers where he can't move. So
when his offensive lineman can't you know, block form, he's
kind of a sitting duck. Uh. That's why it's so
key in that offense to run the ball. And they
just got to get back to consistently running the ball
and then the play action. The play action boots gosson
accurate quarterback, he'll be fine. My question is not really
(31:23):
their offense, Like I just I'm gonna give Sean McVeigh
the benefit doubt. It's just gonna be defensively and you'll
see this weekend like Jalen Ramsey's awesome. The Cowboys have
three wide receivers. He can't cover all three, Like, who
are the guys covering the other guys? Because if you
look at the roster Donald Jalen Ramsey and Michael Brocker's
and then it's just a bunch of who and you
start slamming Zeke into these random linebackers. They have a
(31:47):
new defensive coordinator. Uh. Now, the Cowboys are a pretty
big unknown right there. You have a coaching turnover, first
time Mike McCarthy's coached a game now in a long time.
There's a lot of unknown for them. But they're they
They do have a lot of talent on offense. I
do like the Rams and the points and I just
listen people act like the Rams won like five games
(32:07):
last year. They went nine and seven, and if the
rules had been two thousand twenty, they would have been
the seventh wild cards. So they're they're still they're better
than the Cowboys, you know, based on last year. We'll
see what Mike McCarthy adds with you, but I think
Gared Goff's gonna have a solid season. John mine Goff
three Out is the podcast downloading the HERD Podcast Network
can't wait to see the recap on week one's NFL games.
(32:28):
Thanks so much, dude. Uh stay safe out there, you
do du anybody I told you last week that one
team was only delaying the inevitable. Now it is inevitable.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio apps
search f s R to listen live every day. This time,
(32:50):
we'd like to get you something from one of the
other radio shows on Fox Sports Radio or from one
of the TV shows on Fox Sports One. We call
it Doug to me, I don't know about you, but
I'm ready to leave the house and we discover the
road the first ever mouths to see it already made
for people would love to drive. That's you. They go
to mas USA dot kamlar more about the entire mass
of uf HE line up and available finance options. This
(33:12):
is Christopers started on first things first talking about James
Harden and the Rockets lost last night. This was sad,
and the two saddest things were one. I wasn't surprised.
This has become an expectation now from James Harden. He
is now one in six. If we call last night
in elimination game, which, let's face it, it it really was.
(33:33):
He's now one in six in those games. He intered
shooting twenty from three in his in his first six
elimination games in the playfous and there's something about two
for eleven because this is his fourth playoff game where
he's two for eleven. It looked like Harden conceded, like
he just gave in and said, you know what, I
(33:55):
am that guy. I'm that guy they've been saying, I
am who doesn't that liver in the big moments? No
field goal attempts in the fourth quarter. Yeah, let's not
call it an elimination game because it was an elimination game.
That's unfair, Right, you can't skew a stat and completely
change something just because it feels like it was and
(34:17):
it's that's not But let's not do that. The rest
of his point is accurate. I think James Harden is
too tired. I don't know if he didn't take care
of himself. I don't know, if he's out of shape.
I don't know. If it's the way they play which
he dominates the basketball and it exhausts him, you know,
And now all of a sudden you get to the
playoffs and he plays more defense, and so he's not
ready for that. And then you factor in that now
they're playing every other day. I don't know what it is.
(34:39):
I just think he looks exhausted. But yeah, this is
who James Harden is. It wasn't a surprise. I have
an honest question for you, guys. Did you see the
story about the Minnesota Vikings and what they're gonna do.
They're going to recognize and in some level honor George
Floyd's family at the game, and his family is gonna attend.
(35:01):
So it's there's a little bit, a little bit of
discrepancy as exactly. You know, you don't want to look
at the headline and say honor because one site says honor,
one site says to just attend the family of George
Fluby inside US Bank Stadium. Um, and uh, the they'll
kick off playing lift every voice and sing. Traditionally known
(35:24):
as a black national anthem, is expected to be performed
live and played every week one NFL game, in addition
to the Star Spangled banner. Yeah. That that one's that
that's interesting. I don't I don't agree with that. I
(35:46):
don't agree with that. I didn't know what we're playing
a new anthem that we're doing. Okay, got it, I
just didn't, you know, I whoa that that this one
(36:09):
comes as a stunnard to me. You know, it does
go in line with one of the things that is,
it's painful to me this rhetoric you're hearing about what
the United States was based upon. Well, it's based upon no, no, no,
the writings, the Constitution, the the idea of the whole.
(36:35):
It was based upon our ideals to be the best country.
And at the time it was a bastion of religious
and personal freedom. Did we have slavery? Yes, there was
also indentured servitude. It there was like a lot of
things in that era, like like we're going, We're just
there's a lot of things going on here. I thought
(36:57):
what the Miami Dolphins have done is the best. Hey,
let's put together an incredible video. We don't want any
we just want to get down to let's work together
and make it better. I like the Dolphins playing a
little better than the Vikings plan, but once they kick off,
(37:21):
it does become about football. And uh, last night the
Chiefs they called the Chief's Kingdom, right on on Twitter.
It feels like the entire NFL is there is there kingdom.
I mean, when you watch Pat mahomes play and you
realize he's the highest paid athlete in American sports, don't
(37:42):
you sit there and elbow somebody next thing to go.
I still think he's underpaid, right, That was my thought.
It's he's getting better. He was the best in the
NFL and he's getting better. Peter King is gonna join
us up coming next. What do we see last night
and how does it foreshadow the rest of the NFL season.
(38:02):
We'll get to that next in the Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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