February 29, 2024 • 37 mins
Doug explains why all of the news coming out of the recent NFLPA team grades for workplace conditions means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Doug weighs in on comments made by Caleb Williams this week about the legacy he wants to create. Doug welcomes NFL Analytics expert Eric Eager onto the show to talk about the running back market, the combine and all of the other major headlines around the NFL. Plus, Dan takes Doug through a game of "For Better or Worse?".
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to the Doug Gottlieb Show podcast. Be
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Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio Coming to you from
(00:24):
the tyrack dot com studios tyrack dot com. Well you
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over ten thousand recommended stallars tyrat dot com. It's the
way tire buying should be. So this is making its
rounds and I find it to be hilarious, hilarious. Do
(00:47):
you guys take surveys if you'd like to hold on
after this call, there's a three question survey you can
sign up for.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
If I have a negative experience, I'm definitely taking that survey.
That's my that's my revenge, that's my recourse, right.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I think so? I think so we all get chances
to take surveys, and yet very few of us actually
take you up on that survey. But I the of
one and six NFL players produce some eyebrow raising highlights
and low lights for franchises across the NFLPA released a
(01:30):
second annual report on clubs. What's most interesting is like, look,
they're gonna pick apart the Chargers because they charge extra
for daycare even though they don't have daycare on site.
I mean, and apparently the Chargers when they travel, they
have their equipment go with them instead of goes separate,
(01:52):
which is time consuming, and they have to wait on
the tarmac. Like these are first world problems to me.
The top five and overall scores the Dolphins, the Vikings,
the Packers, the Eagles, and the Jaguars. The bottom five
were the Steelers, the Patriots, the Chargers, the Chiefs, and
the command Well were the Chiefs huh yeah, the Steelers hmmm,
(02:23):
so I understand that we can sit there and go, hey,
Patrick Mahomes is the magic elixir. Magic elixir. The Chiefs,
by the way, their ownership got like an F plus.
Did you guys see that? I didn't know there's an
F plus.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
It is F.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It is F like once you crowd across the F threshold,
you're in an F. There's like, well, you got an
F plus. You know, two grades which don't shouldn't really
exist are D minus and F plus. Those two can
probably and D plus really like you're in a D.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
You're a D.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
No, No, I'm a D plus, mom, Like now you're
at a D.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I want to say, Josh McDaniel's got an F minus
when they ranked the coaches F minus.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Uh Josh McDaniels, Oh from the Raiders, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I was thinking of Mike McDaniel, who, by the way,
he got like a C plus or something like. He's
beloved by the media, beloved by hard knocks. In real
life they're like, eh, C plus which probably again, we
(03:27):
can draw him lots of uh inferences. We can guess
what's the what's the likely popular guess on this one?
What do you think why Josh McDaniels doesn't rate out
Mike McDaniel doesn't ride out better. He gets all he gets,
all the shine, he gets all the attention. People love it,
and he's you know, they think he's playing to the cameras.
(03:48):
I'm sure, yes, Dan.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Byron, I would also think that the offense probably loves
Mike McDaniel more than the defensive players. Fair enough, so
maybe you get an average grade there because it's a
great point.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Like again, there's no why in these things. There's no why.
But here's the biggest thing. You want to let me here,
circle up, kit, huddle up. None of it matters, It
just doesn't. No player looks at this and goes, well,
I don't know. I can't go to the Chargers because
(04:20):
of daycare issues. If they're a free agent, they leave
because they weren't going to be compensated at the right level,
or they weren't going to be used in the right way.
I mean, look, man, you're there. Yeah, do you have
to live there?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
But the reality is it's a job. It's a high
paying job. If you're a free agent, it's a job
you have to take a look at and you weigh
a lot of factors, and I guarantee most of these
factors don't actually matter. No, because man, the food of
the cafeteria stinks, So I'm not going there, Like what
is this summer camp? You know? Reality is the elite
(05:06):
guys that take care of themselves. They're on their own
program as far as eating anyway, That's reality. Yes, trainers matter,
coaches matter, relationships matter, But so does how much you're
gonna get paid. Are they gonna use me in a
way in which I'll be able to play well? If
I play well, I'm gonna have good stats. If I
have good stats, I'll make more money. I don't actually care.
(05:30):
And if you don't believe me, one of the lowest
rated teams is the Kansay Chiefs, and they won two
of the last three Super Bowls. And you can say, hey,
that's the magic of Mahomes, that he's the magic elixir.
But like, look, you got a beloved head coach, you
got really good personnel, you got a great quarterback, you
got a great fan base. That's the stuff that matters.
(05:52):
It's actually a great to me. This is as we
look forward to the professionalization of college sports. Let me
explain something which does not matter nearly as much as
you've been told matters. Oh Man, facilities. If all things
are equal, and the coaching relationships are equal, and the
(06:14):
playing time is equal, and the money is equal, and
the location is equal, can it then push you over
the top. Sure, sure, a facility can't hurt, but that's
not why you get a guy. All facilities look great
in midweek weekend facilities. All stadiums look great when there's
(06:36):
people in them. Great. The Jacksonville Jaguars are a welcoming place.
And I'm sure a lot of the Jacksonville Jaguars scoring
so Ella's they hated Urban Meyer, right, So anything since
Admyer's like, wow, breath of fresh air the last two years.
On the other hand, is that going to help them
land free agents? Is that going to change their culture?
(06:59):
They scored one of the highest in the league. How
they play this year, how they back up a playoff
season in which they won a game in one of
the greatest comebacks in NFL history.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It didn't.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
What effects winning is not how nice they are to
your kids. Would you like them to be nice to
your kids in the family room, you know, waiting outside
of the stadium. Sure, would you like to have Can
you run a class organization? How you hit yourself? Absolutely? Absolutely,
(07:32):
But it doesn't determine whether or not you win or lose.
And some of that believe or not is actually good? Yeah,
it's actually good. This is gonna every athlete who played
I believe in college and most professionally, especially college will
know that this to be the fact. Like you usually
(07:54):
don't love your head coach or so you're sitting. It's
a good cop bad cop thing, whether the assistant coaches
are bad and the head coaches good cup, or usually
the head coach is bad cop and the assistant coach
is a good cup. Like that's how it was for me.
And you usually don't like the guy. You gotta respect
the guy, but you don't like the guy. And what
it does is it builds up in us against the world.
(08:19):
And the same thing happens when you don't have the
best facilities. I mean, look, that's what triggered the Great
Indians run of Major League, right, Remember the worst it got.
They put him on the plane with the props. You know,
they didn't have hot water in the locker room. How
they play better and better and better, And I mean,
(08:43):
you know they had to trick klue Heywood. They had
to trick klue Heywood. But the point is, and Clueywood
took him yard how many times in the regular season.
But the bigger point is if it worked for Major League,
and it works for the Kansasity Chiefs, it's gonna work
for everybody else. But I like, you're trying to please
(09:04):
everybody with things that don't matter. Would you like your
organization be like, hey man, they do a real class
job and in the families of class, they do relocation well,
they help take care of kids, they have like all
these things. Yes, absolutely, you can be a first class organization,
but it does not in any way determine whether or
not you're gonna win or lose, or in any way
(09:25):
determine whether you're gonna hang on to most free agents,
that's the reality to it. And you can say it's
an outlier. But the Pittsburgh Steelers are bottom five. And
I granted they didn't have a great year, but they
did have a great year because they weren't highly graded.
They didn't have a great year because the quarterback play
wasn't good, the offensive coordinator wasn't good. They got rid
(09:48):
of him. Then finally they found the right quarterback and
Mason Loft let him to the playoffs. That's it. That
That doesn't mean. That doesn't mean you go cold water
in the high tubs. That doesn't mean you go to
a turbo prop. That doesn't mean you haven't ride the
greyhound to games. Okay, it's all within reason, but if
you do backflips to make everything perfect, there's a certain
(10:12):
amount of hunger needed, there's a certain coagulation. It's just
a great word. It doesn't coagulates a great word? Does
anybody like there's of the ten best words in the
English language. Coagulation or coagulate is one of my ten favorites.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
It's impressive. It's a good word. What was the one
that Lorena loves?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
The word juxtapose, juxtaposition or juxtapose.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
I like the word, perhaps just because it sounds great.
Perhaps you know, I.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Like nefarious, nefarious, fiefdom also a great word. Fieft them
offics are a great word. But coagulate, I mean, like,
how did I use it in a sentence? It was
a really good sense. I had a really good thing going.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Doesn't coagulate specifically have to do with blood.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
It's used for blood, right, but why can't you use
it for other things? You know what it is? What
is something happen when it coagulates?
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I have no idea. I just always heard when.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Your blood coagulates, what happens thickens, It thickens, it hardens,
it sticks together, it becomes That's what a scab is.
That's coagulated blood. Now you have it, you can have it,
you know, in your blood vessels as well, right, and
if you're a hemophilia, your blood does not coagulate, but
(11:27):
to coagulate, Yeah, it all the cells tightened together and
then they form like a bond and a barrier. And
that's what you're looking for with teams. It doesn't matter
who the enemy is, right, That's what coaches search for
all week is they search for enemies. Hey, look what
this guy said about you. Look at that reporter said
(11:48):
about you. Look what they said about you on Fox
Sports one. Look what they said about you on Fox
Sports Tree. Can you believe what Dan Buyer said about you?
You believe what Calhard said, what Dan Patrick said. They're
looking for enemies. You can have enemies within guys. Listen,
I love you. I don't know why management decided to
(12:08):
put you up in this crappy motel and to make
your fly coach, but look clearly they're not in It's
us against everybody that coaggulates a team. It brings you together,
it tightens you, it hardens you. It's not the worst
thing in the world, not the worst thing in the world.
And the easiest parallel I can give you is Texas football.
(12:35):
And Texas basketball. Now, Texas won a big game last
night against Texas Tech, and my boy brought Cunningham, who's
like an Austin Kid's gonna be the mayor down there.
He went after basketball, got kicked out of the game
for using his shoulder to go after ball. I don't
think it was a dirty play, but it was a
necessary play. It shows toughness. And Texas for a year,
for twenty years they were down in football, maybe fifteen
(12:57):
years they were down in football. And what did Texas have.
They had the best of everything. They've been the best
in NIL even before NIL. They got the best facilities
and they got new facilities to go with that. All
these kids that they had been recruiting at the end
of mac Brown's era, they were still recruiting really well.
(13:17):
And you go through the list of coaches and they
recruited really, really well. And what they would do is
they'd have kids come to their camp as juniors gonna
be seniors, and sometimes it's gonna be sophomore is gonna
be juniors And they just handpicked the twenty five best
from the class in the state of Texas and they
get them and they'd roll them out and they couldn't
win games. Do you know why? Because everybody thought they
were soft. Everybody thought they were given everything. They were
(13:39):
never told no, they were never hardened, they never had
to coagulate. This stuff doesn't win football games. Win's the
a pr battle. But anybody says, like, well, free agents
will bull bull, You go where your most guys go,
(14:02):
where they're gonna make the most money. Then they go
where they're gonna winky. Then they go where there's a
position coach that they know or a head coach that
they know, that they can trust, that they can relate to.
That's really it.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
That's the job.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It's not oh my gosh, we have the worst hot
tubs or cold tubs in the league. That works. What
are you gonna say there, Jase tu do.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
You guys also get this? And they just started doing
this right? And I think it's a good It's good
for us. It creates good context because there's always interesting
things within. But and I think you're right. I don't
know if it really matters in the grand scheme of things,
but it strikes me as such a gen Z thing.
Like we started worrying about workplace conditions in the last
ten to twenty years. We want to make sure that
(14:47):
you're safe, that you're comfortable, that you enjoy your time
and your coworkers. There was a time and place where
when you get paid to go to do a job,
you didn't need to enjoy it. In fact, it's a
good chance you didn't enjoy it. Like at some point
it became a thing where if you show up to work,
(15:08):
if you don't enjoy it, then it's a toxic work environment.
This whole poll just kind of strikes me as a
gen Z thing.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Dan, Yeah, what I think is interesting to kind of
go along with his, but a different branch. You mentioned
the three worst teams, which stands out to me. With
the three worst teams, those are legacy ownerships in the
National Football League, the Steelers, the Cardinals, the Chiefs. It's
been the family business for the bid Wells, for the
(15:38):
Hunt family, for the Rooney family, that they aren't willing
to adapt or to change because or whatever. But that
really stood out to me. And it's not an old
owner in terms of age, but I do think in
terms of business and where it is that it really
the three f's were in for teams that have had
(16:00):
football in their family for fifty to one hundred years.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, I would also say that there's there's a couple
other things that come to mind. What's interesting about the
Chiefs and to a less he sent to the Steelers
is they both won, and I don't know when the
poll was taken, right, there has to be some contact
when was the poll taken?
Speaker 5 (16:19):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
And are there any wise on some of the stuff,
because some of it's like, you're just like, what about
like the Dolphins owners got an a plus by Steven Ross, who,
by the way, yesterday said he's looking to sell the team.
And Stephen Ross has been widely criticized by social media
because he's thrown events for Trump. Right, well, players don't
(16:43):
seem to care. So what is it about Stephen Ross
as an owner that you like? I've been in their facility.
It's fine, it's nice. I mean, part of what Miami
has going for is it's warm. Right, It's just it's warm,
and that I don't know if you've ever been in
a place that's always warm, But generally people are in
much better moods, whereas in Pittsburgh you just not. And
(17:11):
of course the Chargers are forever kind of chasing it, right,
there's a level of unhappiness with one the fact that
they're not winning. Two they were in a temporary facility.
They're building like the nicest facility on earth. But I
guarantee there's going to be more unhappiness. They'll be happy
with the facility, with the training staff, with everything. Now
they'll be unhappy with Oh my god, the cost of
(17:33):
living just doubled. And oh yeah, by the way, if
I'm going to stay where I used to live with
the old facility was, the traffic's gonna be ridiculous, Like
you can't please everybody. So look, I get that. It's
great to come to a place of work where it's
really nice. We, for example, at Fox Sports Radio, have
(17:53):
a beautiful, brand new studio, beautiful brand new studio, and
for us, I do think it helps because, for example,
in this studio, I can see Dan clearly. The old
one I couldn't see him at all. I can see
j Stew I can see Chris Purffett, I can see
the fact that Dan has layers and layers of medication
(18:14):
because he's fighting this thing. He's fighting this this cold off.
So it's cool, it's fun. It feels like people are
investing in you people, But does that keep you hungry?
Does that make you win football games? There is no
direct correlation, and we're in a bottom line business and
(18:35):
that's the bottom line.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Doug olimb Show. I saw this quote from Kayleb Williams
as the saying goes the legends live on. That's my
goal of playing football, not the money, not the fame,
to be immortal. I want to reach the sense of
being a leged being at the table, having a rightful seat,
through hard work and energy. And it's time I've put
(19:10):
the time I've put into the game that we all love.
I don't mind it because what happened. What do you
have to accomplish to have immortality?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
You have to win?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
And if we look back, it's really interesting. Do you
guys remember when Cam Newton came out. When Cam Newton
came out and you can google this right, he was
asked about, you know, like his goals and he wanted
to be an icon, but it wasn't about winning like
he wanted to be a cultural icon to change the culture,
(19:49):
the perception of the position. And I will say this,
he's actually done that, right, He's done it. He's more
than a football player. He wanted to be the big show.
He wanted to be a cultural icon.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
He wanted to.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Dress different, walk different, talk different, purport himself differently than
all of his contemporaries. And he has.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
He didn't win a Super Bowl. And to me, the
thing I'll always hold against Cam Newton was I think
they were down six winnable game against a great Denver
Broncos defense. It was a fumble. It was on the
field in the Super Bowl, and afterwards he was just like, man,
I ain't giving up. I could somebody could take out
my legs, going to get going to get in that ball.
(20:41):
But it's the Super Bowl. You literally only got one
shot and you let somebody else pick up what became
a dam deciding fumble because you want to protect yourself,
which plays into the exactly what he was about. He
was about protecting Cam, protecting Cam's image. Caleb saying, I
want to be I want to be immortal, Okay, I
(21:02):
want to be immortal, with exception of Dan Marino, any
other and he's like the only exception. And even Dan
Marino's the been to one super Bowl, never won one,
It's always going to be held against him. All the
other immortals have one thing in common. They win. So
(21:25):
I don't mind it. I don't mind it. I don't mind.
Eric Eager joins us. He's an NFL analytics expert. He's
the VP and partner for Summer Sports UH Sports Analytics Company,
and he co hosts the Summer Sports Show podcast with
former NFL GM Thomas de mittroff Uh And of course
he's joining us from the from the combine and Eric
(21:47):
with analytics. How much is that used in their evaws
of college players these days?
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Doug, it's good to talk to you. Yeah, it's you know,
it's it's used quite a bit now in terms of
having to discern the players who skip this event altogether. Now, right,
You're you're getting, you know, no Drake May, no Jaden Daniels, obviously,
no Klea Williams. Marvin Harrison isn't even coming to the event,
(22:16):
he's not even interviewing with the teams in person. You're
not getting as many players even doing the three cone drill.
For example, there's some you know, not even doing the forty.
So a lot of times, you know, the analytics have
to impute kind of what the athleticism of these players are.
And I know my boss who Thomas, who really loves
(22:38):
kind of sitting in those stands and watching those guys
do their do those thing athletically on that field. It
now comes down to the numbers guys taking those you know,
the the data from the chips either on the field
you know, when they're in college, or you know, either
in some of the workouts and trying to come up
with a proxy for how athletic the players are. In addition,
(23:00):
do you know sort of all of the production metrics
that you get from their college film.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Okay, in regards to running backs, I think running backs
are going to be the biggest discussion point on the
free agent market, and I don't think it's really close, right,
And you have all these running backs for a coming
off of whether it's a franchise tag or a one
year deal, say Kwon Barkley, Tony Pollard, Derrick, Henry, Josh Jacobs,
(23:28):
who else, I forget anybody Else's a couple others. I'm sure,
what do analytics tell you about some of these guys
and what their true value should be.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Well, the hard part is that you know, for example,
with Tony Pollard, it's so context specific. You know, when
Pollard was behind Ezekiel Elliott, he was a five yard
per carry back and when he had to carry the load,
he was a four yard per carry back. Some of
that had to do with injury, but a lot of
that had to do with the fact that you know,
(24:00):
as volume goes up, efficiency goes down. Some of it
has to do with, you know, as your offensive line changes,
your efficiency changes. And I think that that's true. You know,
when you look at Sekwon Barkley, who has had two
phenomenal years of his career and then other years have
been beside by injuries, beside by bad offensive play. Generally speaking,
(24:20):
these teams have wised up to the fact that when
you're going to give big contracts, big guaranteed dollars to players,
that player has to sort of transcend a lot of
the extern external things. And you know, football is a
very contextual game where every player kind of is is
no players independent of the others, but there are players
(24:41):
like you know, positions like quarterback and defensive end and
to a lesser extent cornerback where they're less independent, you know,
or less dependent than others. Running back is maybe the
most dependent position on other positions. And you know, I
think teams are just less willing to give out a
lot of money to players who are just going to
depend upon the dollars you give to others players.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I frankly really agree with you. Okay, what's the next
step in analytics? What what do you think is going
to change the most in the short term in the
NFL because of the use of analytics.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
I think, I think, to me, it's going to be
player development. So the NFL has, you know, with the
twenty eleven you know, collective bargaining agreement. You know, we
had this the four year contract for players, right where
Sam Bradford when he was drafted first overall in twenty ten,
(25:38):
got a fifty million guaranteed deal and Cam Newton his
contract in twenty eleven as the first overall pick wasn't
even close to that money, that much money overall. And
you know, the NFL in the response, you know, it
became kind of a potato chip league where you know,
you draft players and you turn and burn players, and
there wasn't a ton of value in developing players. But
what we've seen is a decrease and value, you know,
(26:01):
in inability of offensive lines and defensive backfields, in linebacker play,
and a lot of that is just because we've put
so much of a de emphasis on developing players at
positions where development matters a lot, like offensive line. And
you know, in my opinion, because we don't have the
quarterbacks that kind of transcend offensive line play. The big
(26:23):
Ben Roethlisberger's, that Drew Brees is, the Tom Brady's, the
Peyton Mannings. Those guys are all retiring out of the league.
And some of these guys that are coming out of college,
you know, the Bryce Youngs of the world, they're you know,
Jaden Daniels. Those guys are going to be really dependent
upon the five guys in front of them. That the
the front offices that leverage analytics, that leverage you know,
(26:43):
their offensive line coach in conjunction with the dorks like
me uh to make their offensive lineman, you know, squeeze
ten percent out of each of those five guys using
tracking data, using h you know, production metrics and things
like that. Those are the teams that are going to
get an edge, and it's going to be an edge
that's unrealized because you know, previous incentive structures in the
(27:03):
league have made it so so much less valuable over
the course of the last ten to fifteen years to
develop those those positions.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
It's really, I mean, it's super interesting. One thing on analytics.
Have you noticed that anytime a coach makes a controversial
decision to go for it, it's always blamed on and
like all analytics right where like Dan Campbell when they're
up fourteen twenty four to ten against the forty nine
(27:33):
ers instead of kicking the field goal now grit, I'm
sure did analytics say to go for it there?
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Anyway it did, But yeah, it has evolved into like
anything I don't like as analytics. Right when it's like,
you know, no one got after Kyle Shanahan for going
for that fourth down, like basically the exact same fourth
down that Dan Campbell got you know, killed for down three,
you know, late in a playoff game. Now they converted
(28:00):
to George Kettle and you know, no one is spoken
of it since because they converted it. It's the exact
same situation. And you know, I think that obviously analytics
is about the process versus the results. But yeah, whenever
you don't like the results, you blame it on analytics,
and whenever the result is good, you kind of say, well,
of course anybody would have gone for that play.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah, well I like it. They went to Dan Campbell
and he was just like, this is who we are,
this is what we do. It was a gut feel
like you never mentioned analytics at all, and then of
course everybody's like, well, of course it's analytics. Of course
it's of course it's it's analytics. Eric Heber NFL analytics expert,
VP and partner at Suomer Sports, and he co hosts
the Sumer Sports Show podcast with former NFL GM Thomas
(28:45):
to Mitchell, if you're at the Combine India, all right,
give me a quick preview the next pod that drops,
what's gonna be on it?
Speaker 5 (28:51):
Yeah, Thomas, are gonna go over what we saw is
here at the Combine. I mean we've met with you know,
basically every team here.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
You know, it's always so much fun to talk to
these teams and get a pulses kind of not only
you know what the questions they're asking, like, you know
what they're valuing. Like I said, I think a big
thing right now in the NFL is going to be
player development. I just I think that because quarterbacks carried
this league for the last decade or so, we overlooked
(29:18):
a lot of deficiencies in coaching and deficiencies and a
lot of the weak link systems that quarterbacks brush over.
With a lot of these guys not necessarily being as
strong as they used to at that position, I think
a lot. I think a lot more of these, you know,
weak link systems, secondary offensive line, those are going to
(29:39):
be on the forefront now.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Hey, Eric, I can't wait to hear the pod tell
Thomas we said hello, thanks so much for being our guests.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
Doug, thanks for having me on. Take care.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Hey guys, are we okay saying the word analytics repeatedly
on the radio because a lot of people think it's
a bad word. So I just want to make sure
I get still one of the one of the words
you're all how to say.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
I thought it makes you smart or was that I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
I I was about to say, I've been adjusting the
dump button quite a bit and rapid fire.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Ya just don't pronounce it differently. That'll get you in trouble.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Wow, Yeah, I did not see that coming.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
What just looking out for you guys.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Maybe when he's a little under the weather, it gets
a little more blue with his language.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
You never know, a little little different there. What is
the diagnosis of this? I heard Big Mike say, how
are you feeling? You said not well? And he said
stay the hell away from me, which is but for
people who don't know Big Mike runs our facility.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Yeah, I had a sore throat that kind of developed,
uh never heard a little over twenty four hours ago
and it just kind of hasn't gone the way it's
going around. Yeah, last time here. Yeah, I was just
telling the guys last night's night sleep stunk.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
It was awful.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Just hoping to hoping to shake it.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
But that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Okay, So a little what's the what's the plan for
shaking shaking the don't?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
We are our our world is upset down away from
you know, away from work right now. So it's uh
so yeah, so we're trying to figure it all out.
And I think some R E S T would be great, all.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Right, get some R S T. Yes, we want to
make sure that you get some R E S P
e c T. But working well being sick, that's what
something means to me.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
We just had this argument.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
We talked about it last week. If do you go
in sick now like before you never did, and so
I think your job is different.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
You have your own studio like, but that's true. The
only thing you have to do is take off that
little mic cover thing whatever, wipe down your computer, you
know whatever. Nick Cope was in there before you. You
wait till he was out. Now you're in like literally
he's in his own little box, his own little box.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yes, so I think you're good, you know. I mean
I thought Jay Stu's showing up, but it has Matt Suit.
I thought that was a little much.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Dude.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Yeah, this is a little uncomfortable, like he's that's a
You don't want to make him feel bad for being sick.
It's not his own fault, right, And we hope everything
that's going on home gets better.
Speaker 6 (32:11):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio let Express Employment Professionals.
Help hire your next pro. Forget about posting jobs and
sifting through resumes interviews with unqualified applicants. Move up to
the pros. Good to expresspros dot Com. Final location near you.
That's the Expresspros dot Com. Now it's time for the
Express pros Pro of the Week. The Pro Theeek goes
to Cavs swingman Max Strus, who had a half quarter
(32:39):
at the buzzer to beat the Mavericks last night, ending
a ending to a fifteen point fourth quarter for Strus.
Congrats to Max Streus for being our Express Pros Pro
of the Week. Let's get to a game.
Speaker 6 (32:54):
This is game time on the Doug Gottlieb Show.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Doug not to be the bearer of bad news, but
it's circulating around social media that actor comedian Richard Lewis
has passed away. So curb you, curb your enthusiasm and
the most recent stuff. But yeah, circulating around that he
is he's passed at the age of seventy six. Still
waiting for the TMZ confirmation. But that's one of the
(33:23):
past the long.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Uh yeah, I mean Richard Lewis kind of in the
in the world of comedy renowned. I don't know if
in mainstream, like you know, Richard Lewis died, like who,
But in comedy it's a lot like Gary when Gary
(33:45):
Shandling died, you know, and I know he had the
Gary Shandling Show, But like in the world of comedians,
people were like, dude, Gary Shanling was incredible. Richard Lewis
mush to say, all.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Right, let's get to a game. Let's try to lighten
things up, all right, Peter, Richard Lewis, the game today is.
Speaker 6 (34:02):
For better or worse?
Speaker 4 (34:04):
All right, for better or worse. Jaden Daniels versus Drake May,
the LSU product versus the North Carolina product.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
M LSU product versus the North Carolina pard. I'm gonna
go with Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Daniels better than May.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Yeah. Obviously, the athleticism. I love the fact that Jayden Daniels,
you know, the guys in there Zona State helped clean
out his locker. They clowned him when he left, and
all he did was go win the Heisman Trophy. I
just think he has the inner toughness, the athleticism. I
think his release is a little shorter, and uh yeah,
(34:49):
I mean obviously Drake may gigantic arm, but it doesn't
strike me as necessarily the most effective one. I'm gonna
go with Jade Daniels.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
How about this one? For better or worse bench press
versus squats? Uh depends, But I would have loved to
have a great bench press, but my better numbers were squats.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's I mean, I bench press
is more applicable than people think. A lot of it
is mind over matter early on, and then yeah, I
mean you do. You can get a big old chest
and big old arms, and for football especially like it's
really appropriate because you gotta push people off, you gotta explode.
But I would actually say I'm with you. I think
(35:42):
squats are actually a more effective and plus you know,
it's all about that base, about that base.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Yes, For better or worse Nevada's buzzer beater last night
versus the Calves buzzer beater last night.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I'm gonna go with the Calves. And here's why. So
Nevada the same player who missed three out of four
free throws, right, yep.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
Jared Lucas.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Yes, so Jared Lucas, who my brother signed. He's actually
from I think Los Alto's high school. He scored like
almost thirty seven hundred high school points, like second all
time lean scorer in Southern California history to Tracy Murray. Anyway,
Jared Lucas great dude, but he missed three out of
four free throws, then came back and made the game
when he shot. The thing about the Max Shrews play was,
(36:28):
I don't know if you saw that. Calves got a
steal and then Lucas stole it back and the MAVs
got a dunk like right before they threw the ball bounce,
So the sequence of event was so wild, and they're like,
oh my god, how are you gonna lose on that play?
And then Max Shrews throws in a half court shout.
They didn't lose on that.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Yeah, And if Nevada, if Lucases doesn't go down, they
go to overtime. Yes, but Streus has won the game
as opposed to losing it, all right, for better or
worse Read Shepherd versus Jeff Shepherd. O.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
I'm gonna go read Shepard all right. Jeff shepperd did
win a national checkamionship as his son. His mom also
was a hooper reed Shepherd great performance game when he
shot with thirty five last night on the road at
Mississippi State in Stark, Vegas. But I'm gonna go read
because he's done it at a higher level as a freshman.
Although we all know college basketball more water down than
it was when its Davilas.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
And quickly for better or worse, Leapier versus non leap
year because we got one tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
I like leapier like another day, twenty nine days and
that's cape day's game.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
This is game time on the Doug gott Leap Show,
all right.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Coming up next to the Doug Gotlib Show. Here on
Fox Sports Radio, we do something we call the the Midway.
What's the greatest buzzer beater any of us have seen
in person? That's next to the Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox
Sports Radio, The Midway
Thanks for listening to the Doug Gottlieb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to five
Easter twelve, two 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 app aspar Boom. What Up America,
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio Coming to you from
(00:24):
the tyrack dot com studios tyrack dot com. Well you
get there. Unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection,
over ten thousand recommended stallars tyrat dot com. It's the
way tire buying should be. So this is making its
rounds and I find it to be hilarious, hilarious. Do
(00:47):
you guys take surveys if you'd like to hold on
after this call, there's a three question survey you can
sign up for.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
If I have a negative experience, I'm definitely taking that survey.
That's my that's my revenge, that's my recourse, right.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I think so? I think so we all get chances
to take surveys, and yet very few of us actually
take you up on that survey. But I the of
one and six NFL players produce some eyebrow raising highlights
and low lights for franchises across the NFLPA released a
(01:30):
second annual report on clubs. What's most interesting is like, look,
they're gonna pick apart the Chargers because they charge extra
for daycare even though they don't have daycare on site.
I mean, and apparently the Chargers when they travel, they
have their equipment go with them instead of goes separate,
(01:52):
which is time consuming, and they have to wait on
the tarmac. Like these are first world problems to me.
The top five and overall scores the Dolphins, the Vikings,
the Packers, the Eagles, and the Jaguars. The bottom five
were the Steelers, the Patriots, the Chargers, the Chiefs, and
the command Well were the Chiefs huh yeah, the Steelers hmmm,
(02:23):
so I understand that we can sit there and go, hey,
Patrick Mahomes is the magic elixir. Magic elixir. The Chiefs,
by the way, their ownership got like an F plus.
Did you guys see that? I didn't know there's an
F plus.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
It is F.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It is F like once you crowd across the F threshold,
you're in an F. There's like, well, you got an
F plus. You know, two grades which don't shouldn't really
exist are D minus and F plus. Those two can
probably and D plus really like you're in a D.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
You're a D.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
No, No, I'm a D plus, mom, Like now you're
at a D.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I want to say, Josh McDaniel's got an F minus
when they ranked the coaches F minus.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Uh Josh McDaniels, Oh from the Raiders, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I was thinking of Mike McDaniel, who, by the way,
he got like a C plus or something like. He's
beloved by the media, beloved by hard knocks. In real
life they're like, eh, C plus which probably again, we
(03:27):
can draw him lots of uh inferences. We can guess
what's the what's the likely popular guess on this one?
What do you think why Josh McDaniels doesn't rate out
Mike McDaniel doesn't ride out better. He gets all he gets,
all the shine, he gets all the attention. People love it,
and he's you know, they think he's playing to the cameras.
(03:48):
I'm sure, yes, Dan.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Byron, I would also think that the offense probably loves
Mike McDaniel more than the defensive players. Fair enough, so
maybe you get an average grade there because it's a
great point.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Like again, there's no why in these things. There's no why.
But here's the biggest thing. You want to let me here,
circle up, kit, huddle up. None of it matters, It
just doesn't. No player looks at this and goes, well,
I don't know. I can't go to the Chargers because
(04:20):
of daycare issues. If they're a free agent, they leave
because they weren't going to be compensated at the right level,
or they weren't going to be used in the right way.
I mean, look, man, you're there. Yeah, do you have
to live there?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
But the reality is it's a job. It's a high
paying job. If you're a free agent, it's a job
you have to take a look at and you weigh
a lot of factors, and I guarantee most of these
factors don't actually matter. No, because man, the food of
the cafeteria stinks, So I'm not going there, Like what
is this summer camp? You know? Reality is the elite
(05:06):
guys that take care of themselves. They're on their own
program as far as eating anyway, That's reality. Yes, trainers matter,
coaches matter, relationships matter, But so does how much you're
gonna get paid. Are they gonna use me in a
way in which I'll be able to play well? If
I play well, I'm gonna have good stats. If I
have good stats, I'll make more money. I don't actually care.
(05:30):
And if you don't believe me, one of the lowest
rated teams is the Kansay Chiefs, and they won two
of the last three Super Bowls. And you can say, hey,
that's the magic of Mahomes, that he's the magic elixir.
But like, look, you got a beloved head coach, you
got really good personnel, you got a great quarterback, you
got a great fan base. That's the stuff that matters.
(05:52):
It's actually a great to me. This is as we
look forward to the professionalization of college sports. Let me
explain something which does not matter nearly as much as
you've been told matters. Oh Man, facilities. If all things
are equal, and the coaching relationships are equal, and the
(06:14):
playing time is equal, and the money is equal, and
the location is equal, can it then push you over
the top. Sure, sure, a facility can't hurt, but that's
not why you get a guy. All facilities look great
in midweek weekend facilities. All stadiums look great when there's
(06:36):
people in them. Great. The Jacksonville Jaguars are a welcoming place.
And I'm sure a lot of the Jacksonville Jaguars scoring
so Ella's they hated Urban Meyer, right, So anything since
Admyer's like, wow, breath of fresh air the last two years.
On the other hand, is that going to help them
land free agents? Is that going to change their culture?
(06:59):
They scored one of the highest in the league. How
they play this year, how they back up a playoff
season in which they won a game in one of
the greatest comebacks in NFL history.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It didn't.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
What effects winning is not how nice they are to
your kids. Would you like them to be nice to
your kids in the family room, you know, waiting outside
of the stadium. Sure, would you like to have Can
you run a class organization? How you hit yourself? Absolutely? Absolutely,
(07:32):
But it doesn't determine whether or not you win or lose.
And some of that believe or not is actually good? Yeah,
it's actually good. This is gonna every athlete who played
I believe in college and most professionally, especially college will
know that this to be the fact. Like you usually
(07:54):
don't love your head coach or so you're sitting. It's
a good cop bad cop thing, whether the assistant coaches
are bad and the head coaches good cup, or usually
the head coach is bad cop and the assistant coach
is a good cup. Like that's how it was for me.
And you usually don't like the guy. You gotta respect
the guy, but you don't like the guy. And what
it does is it builds up in us against the world.
(08:19):
And the same thing happens when you don't have the
best facilities. I mean, look, that's what triggered the Great
Indians run of Major League, right, Remember the worst it got.
They put him on the plane with the props. You know,
they didn't have hot water in the locker room. How
they play better and better and better, And I mean,
(08:43):
you know they had to trick klue Heywood. They had
to trick klue Heywood. But the point is, and Clueywood
took him yard how many times in the regular season.
But the bigger point is if it worked for Major League,
and it works for the Kansasity Chiefs, it's gonna work
for everybody else. But I like, you're trying to please
(09:04):
everybody with things that don't matter. Would you like your
organization be like, hey man, they do a real class
job and in the families of class, they do relocation well,
they help take care of kids, they have like all
these things. Yes, absolutely, you can be a first class organization,
but it does not in any way determine whether or
not you're gonna win or lose, or in any way
(09:25):
determine whether you're gonna hang on to most free agents,
that's the reality to it. And you can say it's
an outlier. But the Pittsburgh Steelers are bottom five. And
I granted they didn't have a great year, but they
did have a great year because they weren't highly graded.
They didn't have a great year because the quarterback play
wasn't good, the offensive coordinator wasn't good. They got rid
(09:48):
of him. Then finally they found the right quarterback and
Mason Loft let him to the playoffs. That's it. That
That doesn't mean. That doesn't mean you go cold water
in the high tubs. That doesn't mean you go to
a turbo prop. That doesn't mean you haven't ride the
greyhound to games. Okay, it's all within reason, but if
you do backflips to make everything perfect, there's a certain
(10:12):
amount of hunger needed, there's a certain coagulation. It's just
a great word. It doesn't coagulates a great word? Does
anybody like there's of the ten best words in the
English language. Coagulation or coagulate is one of my ten favorites.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
It's impressive. It's a good word. What was the one
that Lorena loves?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
The word juxtapose, juxtaposition or juxtapose.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
I like the word, perhaps just because it sounds great.
Perhaps you know, I.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Like nefarious, nefarious, fiefdom also a great word. Fieft them
offics are a great word. But coagulate, I mean, like,
how did I use it in a sentence? It was
a really good sense. I had a really good thing going.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Doesn't coagulate specifically have to do with blood.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
It's used for blood, right, but why can't you use
it for other things? You know what it is? What
is something happen when it coagulates?
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I have no idea. I just always heard when.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Your blood coagulates, what happens thickens, It thickens, it hardens,
it sticks together, it becomes That's what a scab is.
That's coagulated blood. Now you have it, you can have it,
you know, in your blood vessels as well, right, and
if you're a hemophilia, your blood does not coagulate, but
(11:27):
to coagulate, Yeah, it all the cells tightened together and
then they form like a bond and a barrier. And
that's what you're looking for with teams. It doesn't matter
who the enemy is, right, That's what coaches search for
all week is they search for enemies. Hey, look what
this guy said about you. Look at that reporter said
(11:48):
about you. Look what they said about you on Fox
Sports one. Look what they said about you on Fox
Sports Tree. Can you believe what Dan Buyer said about you?
You believe what Calhard said, what Dan Patrick said. They're
looking for enemies. You can have enemies within guys. Listen,
I love you. I don't know why management decided to
(12:08):
put you up in this crappy motel and to make
your fly coach, but look clearly they're not in It's
us against everybody that coaggulates a team. It brings you together,
it tightens you, it hardens you. It's not the worst
thing in the world, not the worst thing in the world.
And the easiest parallel I can give you is Texas football.
(12:35):
And Texas basketball. Now, Texas won a big game last
night against Texas Tech, and my boy brought Cunningham, who's
like an Austin Kid's gonna be the mayor down there.
He went after basketball, got kicked out of the game
for using his shoulder to go after ball. I don't
think it was a dirty play, but it was a
necessary play. It shows toughness. And Texas for a year,
for twenty years they were down in football, maybe fifteen
(12:57):
years they were down in football. And what did Texas have.
They had the best of everything. They've been the best
in NIL even before NIL. They got the best facilities
and they got new facilities to go with that. All
these kids that they had been recruiting at the end
of mac Brown's era, they were still recruiting really well.
(13:17):
And you go through the list of coaches and they
recruited really, really well. And what they would do is
they'd have kids come to their camp as juniors gonna
be seniors, and sometimes it's gonna be sophomore is gonna
be juniors And they just handpicked the twenty five best
from the class in the state of Texas and they
get them and they'd roll them out and they couldn't
win games. Do you know why? Because everybody thought they
were soft. Everybody thought they were given everything. They were
(13:39):
never told no, they were never hardened, they never had
to coagulate. This stuff doesn't win football games. Win's the
a pr battle. But anybody says, like, well, free agents
will bull bull, You go where your most guys go,
(14:02):
where they're gonna make the most money. Then they go
where they're gonna winky. Then they go where there's a
position coach that they know or a head coach that
they know, that they can trust, that they can relate to.
That's really it.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
That's the job.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It's not oh my gosh, we have the worst hot
tubs or cold tubs in the league. That works. What
are you gonna say there, Jase tu do.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
You guys also get this? And they just started doing
this right? And I think it's a good It's good
for us. It creates good context because there's always interesting
things within. But and I think you're right. I don't
know if it really matters in the grand scheme of things,
but it strikes me as such a gen Z thing.
Like we started worrying about workplace conditions in the last
ten to twenty years. We want to make sure that
(14:47):
you're safe, that you're comfortable, that you enjoy your time
and your coworkers. There was a time and place where
when you get paid to go to do a job,
you didn't need to enjoy it. In fact, it's a
good chance you didn't enjoy it. Like at some point
it became a thing where if you show up to work,
(15:08):
if you don't enjoy it, then it's a toxic work environment.
This whole poll just kind of strikes me as a
gen Z thing.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Dan, Yeah, what I think is interesting to kind of
go along with his, but a different branch. You mentioned
the three worst teams, which stands out to me. With
the three worst teams, those are legacy ownerships in the
National Football League, the Steelers, the Cardinals, the Chiefs. It's
been the family business for the bid Wells, for the
(15:38):
Hunt family, for the Rooney family, that they aren't willing
to adapt or to change because or whatever. But that
really stood out to me. And it's not an old
owner in terms of age, but I do think in
terms of business and where it is that it really
the three f's were in for teams that have had
(16:00):
football in their family for fifty to one hundred years.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, I would also say that there's there's a couple
other things that come to mind. What's interesting about the
Chiefs and to a less he sent to the Steelers
is they both won, and I don't know when the
poll was taken, right, there has to be some contact
when was the poll taken?
Speaker 5 (16:19):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
And are there any wise on some of the stuff,
because some of it's like, you're just like, what about
like the Dolphins owners got an a plus by Steven Ross, who,
by the way, yesterday said he's looking to sell the team.
And Stephen Ross has been widely criticized by social media
because he's thrown events for Trump. Right, well, players don't
(16:43):
seem to care. So what is it about Stephen Ross
as an owner that you like? I've been in their facility.
It's fine, it's nice. I mean, part of what Miami
has going for is it's warm. Right, It's just it's warm,
and that I don't know if you've ever been in
a place that's always warm, But generally people are in
much better moods, whereas in Pittsburgh you just not. And
(17:11):
of course the Chargers are forever kind of chasing it, right,
there's a level of unhappiness with one the fact that
they're not winning. Two they were in a temporary facility.
They're building like the nicest facility on earth. But I
guarantee there's going to be more unhappiness. They'll be happy
with the facility, with the training staff, with everything. Now
they'll be unhappy with Oh my god, the cost of
(17:33):
living just doubled. And oh yeah, by the way, if
I'm going to stay where I used to live with
the old facility was, the traffic's gonna be ridiculous, Like
you can't please everybody. So look, I get that. It's
great to come to a place of work where it's
really nice. We, for example, at Fox Sports Radio, have
(17:53):
a beautiful, brand new studio, beautiful brand new studio, and
for us, I do think it helps because, for example,
in this studio, I can see Dan clearly. The old
one I couldn't see him at all. I can see
j Stew I can see Chris Purffett, I can see
the fact that Dan has layers and layers of medication
(18:14):
because he's fighting this thing. He's fighting this this cold off.
So it's cool, it's fun. It feels like people are
investing in you people, But does that keep you hungry?
Does that make you win football games? There is no
direct correlation, and we're in a bottom line business and
(18:35):
that's the bottom line.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Doug olimb Show. I saw this quote from Kayleb Williams
as the saying goes the legends live on. That's my
goal of playing football, not the money, not the fame,
to be immortal. I want to reach the sense of
being a leged being at the table, having a rightful seat,
through hard work and energy. And it's time I've put
(19:10):
the time I've put into the game that we all love.
I don't mind it because what happened. What do you
have to accomplish to have immortality?
Speaker 3 (19:23):
You have to win?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
And if we look back, it's really interesting. Do you
guys remember when Cam Newton came out. When Cam Newton
came out and you can google this right, he was
asked about, you know, like his goals and he wanted
to be an icon, but it wasn't about winning like
he wanted to be a cultural icon to change the culture,
(19:49):
the perception of the position. And I will say this,
he's actually done that, right, He's done it. He's more
than a football player. He wanted to be the big show.
He wanted to be a cultural icon.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
He wanted to.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Dress different, walk different, talk different, purport himself differently than
all of his contemporaries. And he has.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
He didn't win a Super Bowl. And to me, the
thing I'll always hold against Cam Newton was I think
they were down six winnable game against a great Denver
Broncos defense. It was a fumble. It was on the
field in the Super Bowl, and afterwards he was just like, man,
I ain't giving up. I could somebody could take out
my legs, going to get going to get in that ball.
(20:41):
But it's the Super Bowl. You literally only got one
shot and you let somebody else pick up what became
a dam deciding fumble because you want to protect yourself,
which plays into the exactly what he was about. He
was about protecting Cam, protecting Cam's image. Caleb saying, I
want to be I want to be immortal, Okay, I
(21:02):
want to be immortal, with exception of Dan Marino, any
other and he's like the only exception. And even Dan
Marino's the been to one super Bowl, never won one,
It's always going to be held against him. All the
other immortals have one thing in common. They win. So
(21:25):
I don't mind it. I don't mind it. I don't mind.
Eric Eager joins us. He's an NFL analytics expert. He's
the VP and partner for Summer Sports UH Sports Analytics Company,
and he co hosts the Summer Sports Show podcast with
former NFL GM Thomas de mittroff Uh And of course
he's joining us from the from the combine and Eric
(21:47):
with analytics. How much is that used in their evaws
of college players these days?
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Doug, it's good to talk to you. Yeah, it's you know,
it's it's used quite a bit now in terms of
having to discern the players who skip this event altogether. Now, right,
You're you're getting, you know, no Drake May, no Jaden Daniels, obviously,
no Klea Williams. Marvin Harrison isn't even coming to the event,
(22:16):
he's not even interviewing with the teams in person. You're
not getting as many players even doing the three cone drill.
For example, there's some you know, not even doing the forty.
So a lot of times, you know, the analytics have
to impute kind of what the athleticism of these players are.
And I know my boss who Thomas, who really loves
(22:38):
kind of sitting in those stands and watching those guys
do their do those thing athletically on that field. It
now comes down to the numbers guys taking those you know,
the the data from the chips either on the field
you know, when they're in college, or you know, either
in some of the workouts and trying to come up
with a proxy for how athletic the players are. In addition,
(23:00):
do you know sort of all of the production metrics
that you get from their college film.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Okay, in regards to running backs, I think running backs
are going to be the biggest discussion point on the
free agent market, and I don't think it's really close, right,
And you have all these running backs for a coming
off of whether it's a franchise tag or a one
year deal, say Kwon Barkley, Tony Pollard, Derrick, Henry, Josh Jacobs,
(23:28):
who else, I forget anybody Else's a couple others. I'm sure,
what do analytics tell you about some of these guys
and what their true value should be.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Well, the hard part is that you know, for example,
with Tony Pollard, it's so context specific. You know, when
Pollard was behind Ezekiel Elliott, he was a five yard
per carry back and when he had to carry the load,
he was a four yard per carry back. Some of
that had to do with injury, but a lot of
that had to do with the fact that you know,
(24:00):
as volume goes up, efficiency goes down. Some of it
has to do with, you know, as your offensive line changes,
your efficiency changes. And I think that that's true. You know,
when you look at Sekwon Barkley, who has had two
phenomenal years of his career and then other years have
been beside by injuries, beside by bad offensive play. Generally speaking,
(24:20):
these teams have wised up to the fact that when
you're going to give big contracts, big guaranteed dollars to players,
that player has to sort of transcend a lot of
the extern external things. And you know, football is a
very contextual game where every player kind of is is
no players independent of the others, but there are players
(24:41):
like you know, positions like quarterback and defensive end and
to a lesser extent cornerback where they're less independent, you know,
or less dependent than others. Running back is maybe the
most dependent position on other positions. And you know, I
think teams are just less willing to give out a
lot of money to players who are just going to
depend upon the dollars you give to others players.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I frankly really agree with you. Okay, what's the next
step in analytics? What what do you think is going
to change the most in the short term in the
NFL because of the use of analytics.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
I think, I think, to me, it's going to be
player development. So the NFL has, you know, with the
twenty eleven you know, collective bargaining agreement. You know, we
had this the four year contract for players, right where
Sam Bradford when he was drafted first overall in twenty ten,
(25:38):
got a fifty million guaranteed deal and Cam Newton his
contract in twenty eleven as the first overall pick wasn't
even close to that money, that much money overall. And
you know, the NFL in the response, you know, it
became kind of a potato chip league where you know,
you draft players and you turn and burn players, and
there wasn't a ton of value in developing players. But
what we've seen is a decrease and value, you know,
(26:01):
in inability of offensive lines and defensive backfields, in linebacker play,
and a lot of that is just because we've put
so much of a de emphasis on developing players at
positions where development matters a lot, like offensive line. And
you know, in my opinion, because we don't have the
quarterbacks that kind of transcend offensive line play. The big
(26:23):
Ben Roethlisberger's, that Drew Brees is, the Tom Brady's, the
Peyton Mannings. Those guys are all retiring out of the league.
And some of these guys that are coming out of college,
you know, the Bryce Youngs of the world, they're you know,
Jaden Daniels. Those guys are going to be really dependent
upon the five guys in front of them. That the
the front offices that leverage analytics, that leverage you know,
(26:43):
their offensive line coach in conjunction with the dorks like
me uh to make their offensive lineman, you know, squeeze
ten percent out of each of those five guys using
tracking data, using h you know, production metrics and things
like that. Those are the teams that are going to
get an edge, and it's going to be an edge
that's unrealized because you know, previous incentive structures in the
(27:03):
league have made it so so much less valuable over
the course of the last ten to fifteen years to
develop those those positions.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
It's really, I mean, it's super interesting. One thing on analytics.
Have you noticed that anytime a coach makes a controversial
decision to go for it, it's always blamed on and
like all analytics right where like Dan Campbell when they're
up fourteen twenty four to ten against the forty nine
(27:33):
ers instead of kicking the field goal now grit, I'm
sure did analytics say to go for it there?
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Anyway it did, But yeah, it has evolved into like
anything I don't like as analytics. Right when it's like,
you know, no one got after Kyle Shanahan for going
for that fourth down, like basically the exact same fourth
down that Dan Campbell got you know, killed for down three,
you know, late in a playoff game. Now they converted
(28:00):
to George Kettle and you know, no one is spoken
of it since because they converted it. It's the exact
same situation. And you know, I think that obviously analytics
is about the process versus the results. But yeah, whenever
you don't like the results, you blame it on analytics,
and whenever the result is good, you kind of say, well,
of course anybody would have gone for that play.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah, well I like it. They went to Dan Campbell
and he was just like, this is who we are,
this is what we do. It was a gut feel
like you never mentioned analytics at all, and then of
course everybody's like, well, of course it's analytics. Of course
it's of course it's it's analytics. Eric Heber NFL analytics expert,
VP and partner at Suomer Sports, and he co hosts
the Sumer Sports Show podcast with former NFL GM Thomas
(28:45):
to Mitchell, if you're at the Combine India, all right,
give me a quick preview the next pod that drops,
what's gonna be on it?
Speaker 5 (28:51):
Yeah, Thomas, are gonna go over what we saw is
here at the Combine. I mean we've met with you know,
basically every team here.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
You know, it's always so much fun to talk to
these teams and get a pulses kind of not only
you know what the questions they're asking, like, you know
what they're valuing. Like I said, I think a big
thing right now in the NFL is going to be
player development. I just I think that because quarterbacks carried
this league for the last decade or so, we overlooked
(29:18):
a lot of deficiencies in coaching and deficiencies and a
lot of the weak link systems that quarterbacks brush over.
With a lot of these guys not necessarily being as
strong as they used to at that position, I think
a lot. I think a lot more of these, you know,
weak link systems, secondary offensive line, those are going to
(29:39):
be on the forefront now.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Hey, Eric, I can't wait to hear the pod tell
Thomas we said hello, thanks so much for being our guests.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
Doug, thanks for having me on. Take care.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Hey guys, are we okay saying the word analytics repeatedly
on the radio because a lot of people think it's
a bad word. So I just want to make sure
I get still one of the one of the words
you're all how to say.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
I thought it makes you smart or was that I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
I I was about to say, I've been adjusting the
dump button quite a bit and rapid fire.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Ya just don't pronounce it differently. That'll get you in trouble.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Wow, Yeah, I did not see that coming.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
What just looking out for you guys.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Maybe when he's a little under the weather, it gets
a little more blue with his language.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
You never know, a little little different there. What is
the diagnosis of this? I heard Big Mike say, how
are you feeling? You said not well? And he said
stay the hell away from me, which is but for
people who don't know Big Mike runs our facility.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Yeah, I had a sore throat that kind of developed,
uh never heard a little over twenty four hours ago
and it just kind of hasn't gone the way it's
going around. Yeah, last time here. Yeah, I was just
telling the guys last night's night sleep stunk.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
It was awful.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Just hoping to hoping to shake it.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
But that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Okay, So a little what's the what's the plan for
shaking shaking the don't?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
We are our our world is upset down away from
you know, away from work right now. So it's uh
so yeah, so we're trying to figure it all out.
And I think some R E S T would be great, all.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Right, get some R S T. Yes, we want to
make sure that you get some R E S P
e c T. But working well being sick, that's what
something means to me.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
We just had this argument.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
We talked about it last week. If do you go
in sick now like before you never did, and so
I think your job is different.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
You have your own studio like, but that's true. The
only thing you have to do is take off that
little mic cover thing whatever, wipe down your computer, you
know whatever. Nick Cope was in there before you. You
wait till he was out. Now you're in like literally
he's in his own little box, his own little box.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yes, so I think you're good, you know. I mean
I thought Jay Stu's showing up, but it has Matt Suit.
I thought that was a little much.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Dude.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Yeah, this is a little uncomfortable, like he's that's a
You don't want to make him feel bad for being sick.
It's not his own fault, right, And we hope everything
that's going on home gets better.
Speaker 6 (32:11):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio let Express Employment Professionals.
Help hire your next pro. Forget about posting jobs and
sifting through resumes interviews with unqualified applicants. Move up to
the pros. Good to expresspros dot Com. Final location near you.
That's the Expresspros dot Com. Now it's time for the
Express pros Pro of the Week. The Pro Theeek goes
to Cavs swingman Max Strus, who had a half quarter
(32:39):
at the buzzer to beat the Mavericks last night, ending
a ending to a fifteen point fourth quarter for Strus.
Congrats to Max Streus for being our Express Pros Pro
of the Week. Let's get to a game.
Speaker 6 (32:54):
This is game time on the Doug Gottlieb Show.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Doug not to be the bearer of bad news, but
it's circulating around social media that actor comedian Richard Lewis
has passed away. So curb you, curb your enthusiasm and
the most recent stuff. But yeah, circulating around that he
is he's passed at the age of seventy six. Still
waiting for the TMZ confirmation. But that's one of the
(33:23):
past the long.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Uh yeah, I mean Richard Lewis kind of in the
in the world of comedy renowned. I don't know if
in mainstream, like you know, Richard Lewis died, like who,
But in comedy it's a lot like Gary when Gary
(33:45):
Shandling died, you know, and I know he had the
Gary Shandling Show, But like in the world of comedians,
people were like, dude, Gary Shanling was incredible. Richard Lewis
mush to say, all.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Right, let's get to a game. Let's try to lighten
things up, all right, Peter, Richard Lewis, the game today is.
Speaker 6 (34:02):
For better or worse?
Speaker 4 (34:04):
All right, for better or worse. Jaden Daniels versus Drake May,
the LSU product versus the North Carolina product.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
M LSU product versus the North Carolina pard. I'm gonna
go with Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
Daniels better than May.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Yeah. Obviously, the athleticism. I love the fact that Jayden Daniels,
you know, the guys in there Zona State helped clean
out his locker. They clowned him when he left, and
all he did was go win the Heisman Trophy. I
just think he has the inner toughness, the athleticism. I
think his release is a little shorter, and uh yeah,
(34:49):
I mean obviously Drake may gigantic arm, but it doesn't
strike me as necessarily the most effective one. I'm gonna
go with Jade Daniels.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
How about this one? For better or worse bench press
versus squats? Uh depends, But I would have loved to
have a great bench press, but my better numbers were squats.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's I mean, I bench press
is more applicable than people think. A lot of it
is mind over matter early on, and then yeah, I
mean you do. You can get a big old chest
and big old arms, and for football especially like it's
really appropriate because you gotta push people off, you gotta explode.
But I would actually say I'm with you. I think
(35:42):
squats are actually a more effective and plus you know,
it's all about that base, about that base.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Yes, For better or worse Nevada's buzzer beater last night
versus the Calves buzzer beater last night.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I'm gonna go with the Calves. And here's why. So
Nevada the same player who missed three out of four
free throws, right, yep.
Speaker 4 (36:07):
Jared Lucas.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Yes, so Jared Lucas, who my brother signed. He's actually
from I think Los Alto's high school. He scored like
almost thirty seven hundred high school points, like second all
time lean scorer in Southern California history to Tracy Murray. Anyway,
Jared Lucas great dude, but he missed three out of
four free throws, then came back and made the game
when he shot. The thing about the Max Shrews play was,
(36:28):
I don't know if you saw that. Calves got a
steal and then Lucas stole it back and the MAVs
got a dunk like right before they threw the ball bounce,
So the sequence of event was so wild, and they're like,
oh my god, how are you gonna lose on that play?
And then Max Shrews throws in a half court shout.
They didn't lose on that.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Yeah, And if Nevada, if Lucases doesn't go down, they
go to overtime. Yes, but Streus has won the game
as opposed to losing it, all right, for better or
worse Read Shepherd versus Jeff Shepherd. O.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
I'm gonna go read Shepard all right. Jeff shepperd did
win a national checkamionship as his son. His mom also
was a hooper reed Shepherd great performance game when he
shot with thirty five last night on the road at
Mississippi State in Stark, Vegas. But I'm gonna go read
because he's done it at a higher level as a freshman.
Although we all know college basketball more water down than
it was when its Davilas.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
And quickly for better or worse, Leapier versus non leap
year because we got one tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
I like leapier like another day, twenty nine days and
that's cape day's game.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
This is game time on the Doug gott Leap Show,
all right.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Coming up next to the Doug Gotlib Show. Here on
Fox Sports Radio, we do something we call the the Midway.
What's the greatest buzzer beater any of us have seen
in person? That's next to the Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox
Sports Radio, The Midway
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