July 26, 2024 • 41 mins
Looking at the college football power houses and the pressure head coaches face
Should the Colts let Anthony Richardson be a running QB?
Guest: Mark Kaobly
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're
(00:22):
listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back hour two. It
is a Friday Steelers camp. Into the hour. Big ten Media.
Jeff Schwartz, former Oregon duck Nfler is going to be
joining us in five minutes. A lot of stuff college
football is percolating big time as well. Jmac just went
(00:43):
live to Paris with Mark Few. I could have talked
to him for an hour. They didn't have an hour,
but I could have talked to him for an hour.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I like, so, muscleman, you're getting back on the college
basketball track.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I'm giving you some a nudge in that direction.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Well you are, plus I think the ni L I
he helps college basketball. I mean if you could go Duke, Gonzaga, Villanova,
Kansas or G League and you make the same money
if you get the right coach, I get a Mark Few,
or I get a Bill self or I get you know,
if I get a top coach, or I can go
to the G League, I'd rather be in college campus.
(01:18):
Plus the college campus in the in the march madness
is such a marketing tool, such a promotional device for
your shoe deal. So I mean, that's why Zion got
the big shoe contract. That's so to me. You know,
I'm not saying there's not good coaches in the G League.
Nick Nurse was there. You know, Eric Musselman was there. Uh,
there's been, There'd been good coaches in the G League.
(01:38):
But I'm saying, if I could go to Kansas or
a Gonzaga or a ucon for one year, I know
I'm an NBA prospect or G League, I'd go with
Dan Hurley.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's probably the Hey, I would rather go Overseas or
G League because I don't have to pretend to do
school for a year before.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I go to the NBA. You know, like I don't
have to go to class. What a sham?
Speaker 4 (01:57):
This is?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Like I just want to play basketball and eat health
and get on the right track. And you know, I
don't think that's the right attitude. I'm kind of with you.
I would you know, the college campus makes a lot
of sense, But try to tell him that to an
eighteen nineteen year old.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
If I hit the lottery, I'm gonna call Dan Hurley
up and slide him a few Can I do that?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Hur You think he needs a feme's with probably not.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You need a couple of bucks. You're probably right. They're
probably well funded. Yeah. Is it legal for us to
do that? Can we give to an nil?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Ryan?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Can you check on that?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It's your money?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Well, I know, but we're supposed to be above routing.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I'm not above anything.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I'm a Jets fan. If the Jets had an nil,
you'd give him a monthly check.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
How about this?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
If Steph Curry was the demanded a trade from the
Warriors tomorrow and went to the Houston Rockets, I'm now
a Rockets fan.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I ride with Curry, not necessarily the Warriors. Does that
make sense or you?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Let's get back to that. Is it legal to do
nil as a sportscaster? Could I give to a collective?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I'm just asking a question.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I don't know what's the problem with that.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Gover Well, the audience may think you're in the pocket
of a school. You put yourself in the pocket, though
they don't control you. By the way, Let's you know what,
let's just go to Jeff Schwartz, a former NFL or
Oregon duck. I don't know the answer to that, Jeff.
Do you know the answer to that? You were a
Big Ten Media days. If I wanted to give to
(03:20):
an NFL or you wanted to give to Oregon, is
it okay to do that?
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Yeah? Why not? There's no rules against it. I think
the Washington Huskies could use some of your money.
Speaker 6 (03:29):
You should.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
You should throw them some money, calling they could use
some more nil cash. It's all about the money now, right.
So you know Oregon only gets players that want money
and when they when they decommitted to go somewhere else
is because the culture and the love of the sport
at that school. So Washington could use some folks some
of your direction.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Right, I'll ponder that. So you go to the Big
ten Media days before I get to Oregon, USC it
was there an overriding theme? Was there something that jumped
out to you in the in the Big ten Media days?
Maybe it was Oregon.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Well, A lot of people like orgon which I did
not kind of expect, even though I know they were
voted second and sort of the unofficial media poll for
Big Ten meny day. But there was a lot of
organ love, which I thought was unique for going to
a brand new conference in the tradition of the Big
Ten and what they stand for and what they have
been and what they are going to be. That Oregon
was so promlebedly. A favorite part of that was Orgon
doing a good job with marketing, putting that duck on
(04:23):
the river and Dan Lenny making some comments with what
he said. But Colin, my takeaway is the health and
strength of the quarterbacks in this conference. I judge the
strength your quarterbacks in your conference, right or wrong, by
how many show up to media Day. So look around
the country. The SEC had twelve. I believe the Big
Twelve had nine. The a SEC requires all quarterbacks to
(04:44):
be there. The Big Ten had five out of eighteen teams.
That's it. Will Howard wasn't there. Now I think Ohio
Sate doesn't bring transfers, but I would bring your starting quarterback.
Drew Allen wasn't there for Penn State. And this question
marks all over this co if it's a quarterback, and
we know how important that is. Top of the conference
as well. If you get to Oregon Ohio State, is
(05:05):
you all going to be good? What's happening in Michigan?
Does I will find an offense? So to me, it
is all about quarterback, quarterback quarterback. If Riola is good
in Nebraska and that defense plays as well as it
has last season and can be watch out for them.
So to me, the theme of the whole three days
was is my quarterback going to improve? Is my transfer
going to play well? Because a lot of defenses, there's
(05:27):
some good offensive line, some good skill guys, but comes
down the quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Lincoln Riley complained a little about Nil, said, we're almost there,
almost there. My takeaway was USC may not have Oregon,
Nil or Texas or whatever. It's fine. I think the
bigger issue with USC inside the program, what I'm hearing
is they don't think their high school recruiting is very good.
I mean so, and I look and I follow USC's
(05:52):
depth chart. They have no depth offensively. And my take is, Lincoln,
this is what you do. You're an offensive guy. They
don't even have a you know, they don't have an
elite quarterback right now?
Speaker 7 (06:02):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I send some frustration in the USC world for very
mediocre high school football recruiting. Do you sense that, Oh,
I certainly do that.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
I think you see that in the depth of the
offensive defensive lines positions that Lincoln Riley admitted this offseason.
They can't go portaling for that right. He came in early.
He tried to build up the trenches with the offensive
defensive line in the portal and realize you can add
certain pieces by bear Alexander is a good defensive lineman,
but you get you have one of those guys right now.
You have to build up those units with high school recruiting,
(06:35):
and so now into year three, they're really in those
positions where you are year one, which is okay, Now
we're going to really put focus into those guys, and
we know it takes a couple of years. Now, I
have some young offensive linemen that played well last year.
They're going to play this year. But it's about building
the depth. When you look at the best defensive lines
in the country Michigan, Georgia the last couple of years, Clumson,
over the years, they rotate a lot of defensive linemen.
(06:58):
You need eight guys to play. I know USC has
won maybe two guys with with pro potential. So to me,
it's about, Okay, we've acknowledged a problem, which is we
did not go hard enough in recruiting those high school
players and those positions. We have to make up for that.
The problem is that's USC is now year three, right,
and there's expectations there to win a conference to being
(07:18):
the playoff, and it takes years to build those you know,
those lines up. So I'm not sure we're going to
see the results USC fans want with wins and losses.
But I appreciate the acknowledgement that we didn't do things
the way we need to. We're gonna fix that. The
defensive Highers, as you know, are fantastic. They're gonna produce
when they get the right players in there.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
A college football twelve team playoff now, I'm not sure
if I'm right or not. I probably like LSU more
than other people. I'm trusting Brian Kelly, but I do
think Utah wins the Big twelve over Kansas State, a
team like Boise State or Liberties guaranteed to get in.
I think Oregon wins the Big ten. You're looking at,
you know, my rundown. I think what's problematic is a
(08:01):
Tennessee or in Iowa could be a very very very
good team and get bumped out by a team like
Florida State winning a week conference, Utah winning a week conference,
or Liberty anything here, jump out? Am I missing anybody
or any slight here? When you look at my projected bracket.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
There's a couple of teams I think you're missing, but
not teams where I'm like, oh wow, calling through missing
that team. Look, I think your point about the big
ten teams, I think those are in. I think the
SEC it's about right. I think people are a little
under valuing Alabama. They're plus eight.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Same here, same here.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Yeah, Kalin Debor is one hundred and four and eleven
as a head coach. Yeah, even you take out Sue Falls,
I think he's like thirty seven and nine in Division
one football and they have talent, Yeah, some left, but
he brought them in. I think the one team that
I look at in this thing, it's not on this list.
It's sort of a wild card as Miami. Right, Miami
schedule is pretty easy. They have a couple of land
(08:58):
mindes here. But cam Ward is really good. Yes, if
Mario can get your best out of cam Ward, Damy
Martinez is good. They running back unlike you know what
we talked about with USC and the offense, defensive line.
Mario has recruited those positions well into year three and
those guys are now big contributors upfront. Did you have
to avoid that one crummy loss? That one decision? And
(09:18):
with the ACC the way it is with Clemson sort
of teetering on talent. Florida State is interesting. They lose
a lot of players. I'm not quite sold on DJU
being great for them to Miami. To me is the
one team out of all these and I think is
the wild card because look, no Dame schedule they're in.
I mean they might go twelve to zero. I think
they're in the big ten teams look about right. Maybe
to your point about Iowa, if they get a little
(09:39):
bit of offense this year with their schedule, they could
see ten and two and be a playoff team, and
you don't want to play Iowa in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Finally, I said this Harbaugh leaving, You think it's a
favor for Ohio State and I see it the opposite. Now,
Ohio State has to win the conference. I mean, Harbaugh
has been in the NFL. He succeeded to say he's
better than Ryan Day, Like that's not a big leap.
But now Harbaugh's out, Washington and Michigan are in rebuilds
(10:09):
USC is still building. Only Oregon has a roster close
to Ohio State in my opinion, and they play in Eugene.
If he loses that game in Eugene, I mean, my
take is there's more pressure on Ryan Day. And I
said this yesterday, is that I don't know what they
are other than talented. They're a little like Texas and
(10:30):
sark love the roster, not sure what they are. I
always knew what Saban's Bama teams are or Kirby's Georgia teams.
You know, they're like even Lincoln Riley, I kind of
know what they are and what they're not. Ohio State
and Texas are just talented. How much pressure on Ryan
Day this year?
Speaker 5 (10:48):
You can feel you can feel the pressure talking to
him on the radio, you know, like that he understands
what is expected of them. I'm like, well, look, Organ's
there's a lot of expectations. But day Lang's in year three,
you know, like Ryan Day is now I think of
year six for seven they've lost the rival three straight years.
That rival won a championship, by the way, while he's
been there, and I think that there's pressure and they colin.
You know this, Everyone knows this. They spent a lot
(11:11):
of resources on making that roster the best in the country,
a lot of resources. They brought in Chip Kelly to
be offensive coordinator. It's a little different philosophy offensively than
what they've had over the years. Run the football a
little bit more. They need to pair sort of Ryan
Day's passing game with Chip Kelly's run game. Formationally, defensively,
they could rush the passer. They brought in Caleb Downs
like they have Burke. I mean, they got they got dudes,
(11:32):
and so they have to at the minimum, got to
be Michigan and got to be the Big Ten championship game.
That probably guarantees you a spot in the playoff. But
it's about four or five teams this year that are
legitimately championship or bust in Ohio State's one of them.
If they don't win a championship this year, maybe you
win a playoff game, your fans back off a little bit.
But the expectation this year with the roster, it comes
(11:54):
down to my opinion to how good Will Howard plays.
Is championship or bust.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, I mean Michigan, say what you want. They had
an opportunity in the roster and they brought home the trophy.
When Alabama or Georgia had the best roster, they bring
home trophies. Ohio States arguably got the best roster. You
can't be the sixth best team in the country when
the playoff is done. So Jeff Schwartz, Fox Sports analyst,
former NFL offensive lineman, is always good seeing you.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Bud want to be here, thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
You bet.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Some of these football powerhouses are good every year, but
they're fan bases, Fewer NFL games, scarcity of games. Ohio
State will only play one game all season in the
regular season. Oregon, where somebody has equal talent. In the NFL,
you can see good teams. You can see a good
(12:43):
Colts team years ago go down to a bad Jacksonville
team and get upset and it's not shocking. So college
football more pressure on coaches because they're like six brands
in the country that always have more good players. You know, Bama, LSU,
and Georgia always have great players. When Texas has the
right coach, always better players. Ohio State. Michigan doesn't. Michigan
(13:05):
doesn't recruit like Ohio State. Ohio State is an SEC
team North Like on average in my lifetime, four schools
have the best players if they have a great coach. Bama, LSU, Georgia,
Ohio State. Now it used to be usc but the
West Coast high school football does not produce like it
used to years ago in the Pete Carroll era. It's
(13:26):
just there's not as many good players in California as
there used to be. There's a lot of pushback on
high school football from parents out west that you don't
deal with in the South or the Midwest. So it's
at Ohio State. You may all year face one team
that has your talent. That Georgia Ohio State game. When
you watch that game, that Georgia one, you're like, okay,
(13:48):
there's twenty six NFL players on the field. That was
a rare game for them, where you were like, okay,
Ohio State, Georgia. They look like the speed, the quarterbacks,
the edge rushers. But there's I mean, Ryan Day's teams
are talented. Texas has been talented my entire life. What
are you? I always know what Bama is. Last year
(14:09):
with Caitlin de Boor, I knew what Washington was and
what they weren't. Ohio State just talented, and they've got
to get out of that space.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
So I was able to look up some college football
lines for some of the bigger games this season. You
want to just get well, guess the too easy ones. Okay,
Michigan at Ohio State. Now this is late in the season.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
My guess right now today is Ohio State minus eight
and a half.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Okay, it's Ohio State minus nine and a half. Now
the big one that's gonna be tough. Take your time
on this. Ohio State at Oregon. Who's favoring them by
how much?
Speaker 1 (14:41):
I would say Ohio State by one and a half,
Oregon minus one. Yeah, that's that's gonna be the game
of the year. Probably, Yeah, that's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Again, these lines, it's early. You can't get down too
much on these.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I don't think I think Ohio State thinking, yeah, we
play in the big House. There's one hundred thousand people.
Oregon is so much louder than Michigan. I mean it's
only like fifty five thousand. Oregon is the loudest small
stadium in the world. It's built into the ground, so
that place is going to be I've been there for
(15:13):
big Oregon games. There's only two stadiums out west where
you can't hear Washington Husky Stadium in Oregon, and because
of it's not open air. Oregon's built into the ground.
It's louder than Washington. Washington's got, you know, the sound,
and the some of the sound escapes. The two loudest
stadiums I've ever been in Gainesville, Florida, because it's long.
Well yeah, it's built up so the sound has nowhere
(15:34):
to go but revert back and forth. And Oregon in
Ohio state saying fifty thousand, we play in double of that.
In Michigan, Camp Randall's way bigger. They're not as loud
as Oregon. You better come in knowing you will not
hear your coaches.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Isn't Camp Randal the one that does jump around?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, right by the way. Great. People just have no
They go to Oregon. They look at the stadium. I
think it's not very big. You can I can stand
if you and I are within four feet, I couldn't
hear you talk, could not hear you.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
The case it in ann Arbor at the Big House.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
No, the all of it escapes because the way it's built,
the sound escape Oregon is in the ground and loud.
The old one was even louder than this one. This
one's still definitely Do you.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Want to try to get us tickets to that game?
Do you like how I did you see what?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
I didn't get us tickets to the game? You want
to goz I'd go, that's the game of the year
in college football. I hope we have it at Fox.
I don't know, but that's the game of the year.
That That is unbelievable. It's like a couple of years
ago Texas played Bama and you're like, that game you
want to be at. Plus it's I think it's reasonably
early in the season, so it won't be is it
(16:40):
in October or something? I don't think it's late October twelfth?
So the fall and Eugene, Oregon sixty five degrees? Oh great, man,
if you can hook it up, see if you can
give your your your JV basketball team a couple of
days off.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Six one more Heard the Herd streams twenty four hours
a day, seven week within the iHeartRadio app search her
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Fox Sports Radio and Tiraq giving away a set of
four tires every two weeks this summer. Go to Fox
Sports Radio dot com to figure out the rules and
enter furnished by ty Iraq. By the way, I've said
this before, not every quarterback is a four to oh
one K. Shane Stikeen has a quarterback, Anthony Richardson, wildly dynamic,
didn't play a lot in college, big strong, you know,
(17:28):
kind of a combination of yellow Lamar Jackson, but you
have Cam Newton size. And my takeaway is, yes, he
got hurt last year, but his superpower is running and
being dynamic. Let him do it. If you buy a Maserati,
you're not buying it to put it in the car
pool lane. Let him go. Every other year, draft a
(17:48):
quarterback mid rounds if he gets hurt. But the kid
is just pops on television. Here's his coach, Shane Stikeen
on why he wants Anthony Richardson. He wants him to
run last this to a lot.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
It's just like, hey, how are you gonna limit the
run game?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And I kind of think like, shoot, are you gonna
limit Steph Curry from you know, shooting three pointers.
Speaker 8 (18:08):
Well that's one of anthony strengths, right, so we're not gonna,
you know, get away from that.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
That's what he does.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Well yeah, I mean, Cam Newton, you got eleven years,
but he won an MVP, he made Carolina relevant, he
won a division, he got to a super Bowl. I
just think, you know, it's it's what makes Lamar Jackson.
Lamar Jackson is the ability to put complete and utter
(18:33):
fear in defenses. Anthony Richardson is a bigger, stronger Lamar Jackson.
So what if he lasts eight years, Just every other
year draft a quarterback fourth round, you know, give him
a good left tackling weapons. But this kid's too good
not to let him run. If you haven't watched him
yet and he didn't play much last year, you talk
(18:54):
about somebody that just pops. Anthony talked about his running style.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
My Les has always been one of my superpowers, you know,
so try trying to take that away from me. You know,
I don't think that's that's a good, good, good thing
for for this offense. You know, it just it just
more so me, you know, playing a little bit more smart.
I learned how to take care of myself for my teammates,
and you know, and knowing wanted to make the right
player and no one want to, you know, try to
get an extra few yards, so you know, don't don't
(19:22):
take my legs away, but you know, just be more smart.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
He he was way better than I thought from the pocket.
A lot of that Shane Steichen and a lot of
that's hard work. But I I, I don't believe everybody's
built to play twenty one years like some guys in
this league. Michael Vick. I remember the first time watching him, thinking,
not gonna last long, It's gonna be unbelievable. Cam Newton.
I thought big Ben even though he played a long time,
(19:45):
I thought he aged quickly well. But I wanted big
Ben in those early to middle years. I wanted him
ad libbing. It was backyard football, but he was great
at it. Here's j Mack with the news.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Turn on the news. This is the hard li news.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
How about our favorite offseason team done, New York Giants.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Half day out of the news, He's bums.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Hard Knocks has provided us with so many good talking
points already. The latest comes from the last episode where
Brian Dabele references a conversation he had with a notable
college football coach that influenced the Giants draft plans.
Speaker 8 (20:21):
The crazy thing is is there's not many coaches that
want one hundred and five scholarships.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
You know, we want to keep our walk ons.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You know it's wrong bite. I would imagine if Saban,
who has great pass rushes and corners, had a problem
with Neighbors, then you're gonna have a problem, because that's
what That's what Nick does better than anybody, is take
out your best receiver.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Basically on the video, Dable's talking everybody, He's like, oh
I just talked to Saban.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
That's Nick Saban.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
He says it for with emphasis, and Neighbors had a
monster game against him last year ten for one, s
one and a touchdown.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
I remember remember t Y Hilton. Yeah, okay, so I
remember saying this years ago. I was at the other
network he played for, like Florida Atlantic, and I watched
highlights and Saban was just building his empire and he
he gave Alabama per problems. And you know why, Alabama
looked at the film and said, Okay, we got to
roll the coverage over on this kid, and it's like,
(21:18):
I mean, if you're beaten and if t Y had
a good career, if you're beaten, Nick down the field
with those corners FIU Florida International, you're gonna be hard
to contain in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Listen, neighbors, they got the young kid from Tennessee Hyatt like,
they got some some talent, but it's young and there's not.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Enough of it. We gain more about the old line.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
The offensive line is the big problem. It's just tough
for me to make a case.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
So now you don't have a back that can pop
and give Daniel Jones second and short, third and short.
So it's gonna be more pressure and more third and
long because this old line's not great and the run
game lost the guy.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Remember they made a move on the tight end from
the Raiders. The guy uh he retired, Yeah, ages up
and retired.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Like it's just things are not going well right now
for the New York Giants.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
All right, let's move on to the Raiders. Gosh, this
is freaking embarrassing.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So they had training camp this week and a seventh
round rookie made a really dumb move. So one of
the fans for the Raiders brought a Kermit puppet dressed
up as Patrick Mahomes and the Vegas rookie safety Trey
Taylor's his name, grabbed the puppet from the fan and went.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
To the videotape in here.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
Oh boy, so earlier in the year, A ton of
stuff like that happens. You'll get handled. When it gets handled,
Petrick Dumby like people send that to say, ay, sugar, wow,
it is it. I'm not really honestly, everybody kind of
just lessen you play. I mean, they know how I
am saw. They don't need to send me if they
may keep me motivated.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Oh trouble.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Mahomes is already aware of it now. Antonio Pierce addressed
the team instantly. Because this one viral on social media,
Mahomes is getting asked about it.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Pierce said that we nipped it in the bud. It's
over with.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Maybe maybe from your side the things you don't think
the Chiefs are talking about this, I don't know, man,
So we circled it on the calendar.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Week eight. Mahomes and the Chiefs against the Raiders should
be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Chiefs by thirty just organizationally, are you surprised this came
from the Raiders.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
I mean, this is the seventh round rookie out of
Air Force. He might not even make the team for
all we know. He just made did something dumb. He
was all excited to be a camp People are making
fun of Mahomes and yeah, revenge should be pretty sweet
air for Mahomes and the Chiefs. Final stories to the
NBA with the Sixers added Paul George this offseason, biggest
move in the league, and they're confident they.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Can match up with the Celtics next season.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
How confident will Darryl Moury said this in a recent
radio appearance.
Speaker 10 (23:44):
I'm a big objective data guy, and you know we're
right there in the conversation with a very small number
of teams, you know, top top three, top two, top
four in the league somewhere in there. Obviously got to
give the Celtics their credit. They won the title. Excellent team,
they brought everybody back. They're the target. But you know,
we don't feel like we give up anything to them,
(24:07):
and we're going to be coming to to take the
title away from him.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, Philadelphia talks a lot, Boston wins a lot, big difference.
I think they'll be really good. But should be noted
Embiid has been the big disappointment in the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
And he's ever healthy in the playoffs, and Paul George
is always he's always something with that guy. I mean, listen,
I don't think we can make a definitive statement on
the Sixers until the playoffs are here.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
And who's healthy, right, I think that's completely change.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I know you don't play that game.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I love Paul George and Maxie, but it's all in
the health of the big guy. As the league gets bigger,
is he available?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And for the Celtics, Porzingis with the surgery, he could
be out for like five months. So there's a world
where the Sixers are the number one seed right now.
They had home court advantage now they actually didn't two
years ago. They could have taken out Philly if we
could have taken out the Celtics, and of course Chason
Tatum went nuclear in the fourth quarter. But it should
be good six Ers Celtics probably for the Eastern Conference site.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I keep your eye on the Knicks, keep your on
the Knicks, and also keep your eye on Indiana. I
say Orlando, no, Well, I think Orlando's good, but I
think Indiana's ahead of them. Jmack with a news.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
So you saw a little at Dabbo Swiney. So college football,
by the way, has the oldest demographic of all the
sports outside of baseball and baseball. In college football, they
just go kicking and screaming with any change. As people
get older, study show they get more conservative they want
fewer changes. So Nil was going to ruin college football.
(25:43):
Ratings went up. Transfer Portal was going to ruin college football.
Ratings went up. PAC twelve disbanding going to ruin college football.
Last year, ratings went up. Take a deep breath. I
remember years ago when Christian McCaffrey at Stanford, it was
like a second tier bull said, I'm not going to
play in that bowl game. I'm gonna go to the NFL.
Oh lord, oh lord. If you had to hear another
(26:05):
just it's like politics. The world's ending constantly, Democracy at stake.
Christian McCaffrey had carried stand for no reason to play
in like the Liberty Bowl. And so now here's the
I like Dabo swinging, but so here's the story. Apparently
is that as part of the settlement House versus the NCAAK,
(26:25):
schools can no longer be limited in the number of scholarships,
but to reduce expenses. Because now teams can carry eighty
ninety one hundred players on scholarships, it's going to get
rid of walk on programs. So a lot of these
walk ons they're not going to be around college football.
And Dabo Swinging was a walk on in Alabama, so
(26:46):
he has great fondness for them. But those kids can
all go to FCS schools or maybe they earn a scholarship.
But there's just walk ons are not why we watch
college football. But Dabo is worked up over over. Walk
ons apparently have a very murky, tenuous future.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
The crazy thing is is there's not many coaches that
want one hundred and five scholarships.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
You know, we want to keep our walk ons.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
You know, it's it's hard to manage you know, that
many guys, and when you have that many guys on scholarship,
you think you've got transfers. Now you way to that
gets that number gets there, it's going to be a lot.
So it's gonna change a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yeah, again, I think the walk on programs. Nebraska was
legendary for years. Clemson's got a good walk on program.
You know what, college football is going to be fine. Basically,
in the NCAA case, you cannot limit the number of
scholarships the program is going to have. Like Dabo said,
that doesn't mean you want a hundred scholarships. Now the
(27:49):
limits eighty five. That's getting blown out. I'm sure, I'm
sure some schools will add players, but players also want
to go where they can play. And if George's got
one hundred and five players, you're not getting on the
field unless you're great. They'll be carrying thirteen corners, twelve
wide receivers. Six are gonna play four. We're gonna play
a lot. So it's just it's just college football fans
(28:12):
and baseball fans. Any change is met with resistance, and
I get it. I was watching a story on HBO
last night. I'm watching this series on Charlie Hussel Pete Rose,
and one of the Red's former announcers said, in Cincinnati,
there's parts of Cincinnati that have lived there for fifty years.
They've never left the house they grew up in. And
that's like college football fans it's very regional, very tribal.
(28:35):
We don't want change all these changes. All I see
is the revenue go up and the ratings go up.
And ratings are truth serum to the viability of any sport.
When college basketball is went down for fifteen years, the
sport wasn't as viable. If the ratings are good, that
means the public's captivated and interested and nobody's watching. For
walk Ons, they can go play at Eastern Washington University.
(28:58):
They can go play at an FC school, get a scholarship,
have a great time, and actually play. The sport's gonna
be okay. We're gonna go to Steelers camp coming up next.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 11 (29:17):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get to.
Speaker 12 (29:26):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for. Yeah, you blobber list name and me.
Speaker 11 (29:41):
Well you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 12 (29:45):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 11 (29:59):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promise and also uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
A little harder.
Speaker 11 (30:06):
It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.
Speaker 12 (30:09):
There you go, over promising and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen to over Promised
with Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Mark Wally is a senior writer NFL for The Athletic,
which I suggest you sign up for a subscription of
The Athletic if you love the NFL. There's just great
insight and Mark's been doing this a long time covering
the Pittsburgh Steelers and he is now joining US live.
So I said earlier today that Russ and Tomlin are
(30:40):
kind of in the same boat. They haven't felt relevant
for years. Russ hasn't won two playoff games in a
single season in a decade. Tomlin hasn't won a playoff
game in a long time. I think it's seven years.
They both have rings, they both have status, They're sitting
on piles of money and fame, blah blah blah. But
I do feel like they kind of need each other
(31:02):
this year. Is that kind of a fair summation of
what this Steeler season will look like?
Speaker 6 (31:07):
Yeah, I think you're right.
Speaker 13 (31:08):
I mean I think Tomlin and Russell Wilson are one
of the own, one of the same, and I think
that's why they get along so well. Russell Wilson even
talked about how much he enjoys just talking and have
conversations with Mike Commlon. Now that's not unusual mostly all
the players come out and say that. But yeah, definitely,
I think they're in the same I mean, for the
(31:28):
most part point of their career. Right as Tomlin would say,
there's more days behind him than there is in front
of him.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
That same goes with Russell Wilson.
Speaker 13 (31:37):
So that's why one of the reasons why I think
that Russell Wilson gets every shot in the world plus
about three more before they even think about moving towards
justin fields. I think they are very similar and what
they want and how they approach things, and they they're
similar mindset too.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I mean, Russell Siarra Rich, he's a star. Pittsburgh sort
of a working class town. It's a blue collar work
ethic in the building that's always been the Steelers. It's
very you know, it's like Green Bay, but maybe even
more conservative more about defense. How do you will Russell
be accepted in Pittsburgh? What do you make up so
(32:15):
far in that kind of weird, interesting relationship.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
I'll put it this way.
Speaker 13 (32:19):
Whoever is Russell Wilson's pr agent needs a promotion in
a raise because since the day he's signed here, he's
done everything perfectly right in order to win over to
fans and knowing what to say, knowing what to do,
knowing what to act like.
Speaker 6 (32:35):
It's just been amazing.
Speaker 13 (32:36):
I mean, you see him at Pirate games, you see
him at NCAA tournament games. He's talking about the banning
brother sandwiches. So he's doing all he can to get
to that point right now. But the bottom line is
if he comes out week won two and three and
doesn't play well, the fans will turn on him in
a second. I mean, that's just how it is in Pittsburgh.
It doesn't matter who it is if you don't produce
(33:00):
somewhere else. And that's the case right now. I mean,
we don't know what Russell Wilson can do. He's doing
everything right perfectly to the tea right now leading up
to the point of getting on the field, and he
hasn't gotten on the field up here in the trope
quite yet. But like I said, whoever his PR team is,
he knows he's smart. He knows how to get in
(33:20):
the good graces of the fans. And I've never seen
it as quickly of people gravitating to a guy like
Russell Wilson becoming one of their own, even though like
you said, he's Hollywood, He's so this is Jesus guy.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
That's outside schedule is brutal in the last couple of months,
But if you look at the early schedule. Mark the
games in which Pittsburgh is better are on the road.
You want that at Denver, at the Colts, at the Raiders,
at the Commanders. They also get the teams they may
(33:53):
be an underdog, the go either way games. They get
him at home, Chargers, Cowboys, Jets. My guess is they
start pretty well. I think Pittsburgh when they get to
the buy in week nine is a winning team. I
think their defense is good enough to win close home games.
You're smiling a little bit. What do you I think
(34:14):
they'll start well and end poorly. What's your take when
you look at the schedule in their current state?
Speaker 6 (34:19):
Yeah, I agree with you with the schedule.
Speaker 13 (34:21):
I mean it's easy early easier or early on where
they can get some wins. But the problem is, probably
six out of the last seven years, they've got off to
an unbelievably slow start. Yeah, they've had to make up
for it in the back end of it. Yeah, So,
I mean we say it last year they had to
get off to a fast start to have any chance
because they had a late stretch of tough games. It
didn't happen, so they put themselves behind the eight ball.
(34:44):
So you're right, they do have winnable games early at home,
not tough places to go to.
Speaker 6 (34:50):
Last year or two years ago. I think two years ago.
Speaker 13 (34:53):
Last year we went to Atlanta and the Steelers went
to Atlanta and it was eighty percent Steeler fans. Yeah,
I mean I could see the same thing happening in
Indianapolis again.
Speaker 6 (35:03):
So they do have that advantage. But you look at
the history and it's not good under Tomlin, least over
in the last five, six, seven years of starting off quickly.
Speaker 13 (35:14):
Yes, it's going to be probably the determination factor of
this team could compete or not.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah, it's a good point if you look at the
offensive coaches in this league like McVeigh, Shanahan, Andy Reid.
Historically offensive coaches, they bring some new things under the
table and start very quickly. The defensive coaches, Tomlin and
Belichick McDermott tend to be better middle and late in
the season. So that's a very good point. I want
(35:41):
to talk justin Fields in Chicago to the very end,
despite not winning enough, people loved him. He's likable, he's
one of the guys. He's not you know, he's authentic.
He's getting a bunch of snaps. Now what happens. If
he kind of blows everybody away in preseason, what's gonna
happen is a two game losing streak. Is he coming
(36:03):
on the field.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
I don't think so. I just don't see it right now.
Speaker 13 (36:07):
First of all, I understand what you see from justin
fields because you see it every single day, even out
here in camp.
Speaker 6 (36:13):
The time he takes off to just be able to
go talk to.
Speaker 13 (36:16):
The fans and sign for the fans, that's very unusual,
and everybody does love him. Yeah, But you know, as
for the locker room, it's all about who wins and
who gives them the best chance to put up numbers,
and I don't think there's much of an opportunity. I mean,
barring Russell Wilson gets back here soon and he's supposed to.
It was just a little tweak of a calf muscle
(36:37):
that he was pushing the sled around and during a
running drill to start camp. I don't know why he's
pushing the sled around doing running drills, but he should
be back soon enough. You get to that point, you
have to give him every opportunity to learn this offense
and push you forward here.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
So I think it's very difficult for him to.
Speaker 13 (36:58):
Be able to overtake Russell Wilson unless, I mean, even
if it's a catastrophic disaster to start this season, I
think Russell Wilson's going to get the benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, I don't see him as a playoff team in
their division.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
Do you. Well, that depends.
Speaker 13 (37:19):
I mean, let's see what Baltimore does, Let's see what
a team like Cleveland does.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
I'm not quite sure where they are.
Speaker 13 (37:25):
They're going to have to win anywhere at least the
minimum of ten games.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Right. If you don't get the ten wins, you have
no chance of winning the division. Here. They've changed so
much stuff on offense that.
Speaker 13 (37:37):
You don't know how quickly they're going to start on
on offense, from you know, a handful of coach to
Arthur Smith to rookie offensive lineman, the both quarterbacks, to
the whole entire wide receiver crew other.
Speaker 6 (37:50):
Than George Pickens.
Speaker 13 (37:51):
If they get those guys up the speeds fast enough,
Tomlin's proved that, you know, the longer the season goes on,
the better off that they get.
Speaker 6 (37:59):
But you're going to have to win.
Speaker 13 (38:00):
I mean, they beat Baltimore six out of seven games, right,
they've handled well Cincinnati without Joe Burrow for a couple
of times.
Speaker 6 (38:09):
It's going to take a lot.
Speaker 13 (38:10):
They're gonna have to be pretty much near perfect, but
you're gonna have to win ten eleven games, and that's
really pushing in my estimation.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah, Mark A Bully Cabali, a senior writer The Athletic,
covers the Steelers as always, my friend, I appreciate you
giving us a few minutes since some insight to Pittsburgh.
Thanks man, I call all right, Mark Amali The Athletic. Yeah,
their schedule is really interesting, so I tend to look
at it and the games that are you might be
an underdog. They get a lot of those at home, Chargers, Cowboys, Jets, Ravens.
(38:43):
Through Week eleven, they get a lot of those. To
the midway point, they get a lot of the tough games.
They could be a dog at home. That helps. That's
worth two or three points. The games they should win,
you know, facing Vo Nicks, the rookie quarterback Week two,
young Anthony richardson Week four, the race, Week six, Commander's
Week ten, rookie quarterback. They get those on the road,
(39:05):
so they'll be favored in those games, and those are
the games you like to go. You know, if you're
a favorite, why do you want to waste a home
game as a six point favorite? I don't. I kind
of see Pittsburgh as nine and eight, but I do
think they're going to pick up some wins. The Atlanta
games fascinating. They're an underdog that game. You know, Tomlin's
(39:27):
teams have started slow, but they do generally play very
well as a road as you know, Jmack, They're a
very good road dog. So if you told me in
that game early, I would probably take Pittsburgh plus two
and a half because Kirk Cousins hasn't taken live snaps,
Pittsburgh defense has geled for years, and Tomlin is a
(39:50):
great road dog coach.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, I'm looking at the depth chart for the Steelers.
There's a chance they start two rookies on the offensive line.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Well one of them is great.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Well yeah, but come on, there's a learning curve for that.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Just so I'm not feeling the Steelers team, Dude, I'm
seven wins, maybe seven eight worse than the division.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
We agree they have the worst quarterback in the division.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Well, I trust Russell Wilson in a big spot over
to Sean Watson.
Speaker 7 (40:19):
I do.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I'm I think Russell was be ish last year. I
don't trust to Sean.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
At all in thirteen and three years for russ just.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
I know I'm not. I'm not. But you heard what
Mark said. He's been perfect fans relationships players.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
He kind of gotta be. He's because of an option.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
By the way, here's Tomlin earlier this week on the
quarterback situation, rust up at nothing has changed. How do
you plan on working those reps with Tendon.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
John very carefully?
Speaker 5 (40:54):
You guys think I'm actually back myself into a corner.
Speaker 8 (40:56):
So you guys are going to ask me daily about
the rep alley Cation's a no away.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
I've been on the job too long for that.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
We'll see. I think they'll be okay, but that division
is a handful hour three can't wait on a Friday
next
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're
(00:22):
listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back hour two. It
is a Friday Steelers camp. Into the hour. Big ten Media.
Jeff Schwartz, former Oregon duck Nfler is going to be
joining us in five minutes. A lot of stuff college
football is percolating big time as well. Jmac just went
(00:43):
live to Paris with Mark Few. I could have talked
to him for an hour. They didn't have an hour,
but I could have talked to him for an hour.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I like, so, muscleman, you're getting back on the college
basketball track.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I'm giving you some a nudge in that direction.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Well you are, plus I think the ni L I
he helps college basketball. I mean if you could go Duke, Gonzaga, Villanova,
Kansas or G League and you make the same money
if you get the right coach, I get a Mark Few,
or I get a Bill self or I get you know,
if I get a top coach, or I can go
to the G League, I'd rather be in college campus.
(01:18):
Plus the college campus in the in the march madness
is such a marketing tool, such a promotional device for
your shoe deal. So I mean, that's why Zion got
the big shoe contract. That's so to me. You know,
I'm not saying there's not good coaches in the G League.
Nick Nurse was there. You know, Eric Musselman was there. Uh,
there's been, There'd been good coaches in the G League.
(01:38):
But I'm saying, if I could go to Kansas or
a Gonzaga or a ucon for one year, I know
I'm an NBA prospect or G League, I'd go with
Dan Hurley.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's probably the Hey, I would rather go Overseas or
G League because I don't have to pretend to do
school for a year before.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I go to the NBA. You know, like I don't
have to go to class. What a sham?
Speaker 4 (01:57):
This is?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Like I just want to play basketball and eat health
and get on the right track. And you know, I
don't think that's the right attitude. I'm kind of with you.
I would you know, the college campus makes a lot
of sense, But try to tell him that to an
eighteen nineteen year old.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
If I hit the lottery, I'm gonna call Dan Hurley
up and slide him a few Can I do that?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Hur You think he needs a feme's with probably not.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You need a couple of bucks. You're probably right. They're
probably well funded. Yeah. Is it legal for us to
do that? Can we give to an nil?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Ryan?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Can you check on that?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It's your money?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Well, I know, but we're supposed to be above routing.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I'm not above anything.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I'm a Jets fan. If the Jets had an nil,
you'd give him a monthly check.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
How about this?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
If Steph Curry was the demanded a trade from the
Warriors tomorrow and went to the Houston Rockets, I'm now
a Rockets fan.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I ride with Curry, not necessarily the Warriors. Does that
make sense or you?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Let's get back to that. Is it legal to do
nil as a sportscaster? Could I give to a collective?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I'm just asking a question.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I don't know what's the problem with that.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Gover Well, the audience may think you're in the pocket
of a school. You put yourself in the pocket, though
they don't control you. By the way, Let's you know what,
let's just go to Jeff Schwartz, a former NFL or
Oregon duck. I don't know the answer to that, Jeff.
Do you know the answer to that? You were a
Big Ten Media days. If I wanted to give to
(03:20):
an NFL or you wanted to give to Oregon, is
it okay to do that?
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Yeah? Why not? There's no rules against it. I think
the Washington Huskies could use some of your money.
Speaker 6 (03:29):
You should.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
You should throw them some money, calling they could use
some more nil cash. It's all about the money now, right.
So you know Oregon only gets players that want money
and when they when they decommitted to go somewhere else
is because the culture and the love of the sport
at that school. So Washington could use some folks some
of your direction.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Right, I'll ponder that. So you go to the Big
ten Media days before I get to Oregon, USC it
was there an overriding theme? Was there something that jumped
out to you in the in the Big ten Media days?
Maybe it was Oregon.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Well, A lot of people like orgon which I did
not kind of expect, even though I know they were
voted second and sort of the unofficial media poll for
Big Ten meny day. But there was a lot of
organ love, which I thought was unique for going to
a brand new conference in the tradition of the Big
Ten and what they stand for and what they have
been and what they are going to be. That Oregon
was so promlebedly. A favorite part of that was Orgon
doing a good job with marketing, putting that duck on
(04:23):
the river and Dan Lenny making some comments with what
he said. But Colin, my takeaway is the health and
strength of the quarterbacks in this conference. I judge the
strength your quarterbacks in your conference, right or wrong, by
how many show up to media Day. So look around
the country. The SEC had twelve. I believe the Big
Twelve had nine. The a SEC requires all quarterbacks to
(04:44):
be there. The Big Ten had five out of eighteen teams.
That's it. Will Howard wasn't there. Now I think Ohio
Sate doesn't bring transfers, but I would bring your starting quarterback.
Drew Allen wasn't there for Penn State. And this question
marks all over this co if it's a quarterback, and
we know how important that is. Top of the conference
as well. If you get to Oregon Ohio State, is
(05:05):
you all going to be good? What's happening in Michigan?
Does I will find an offense? So to me, it
is all about quarterback, quarterback quarterback. If Riola is good
in Nebraska and that defense plays as well as it
has last season and can be watch out for them.
So to me, the theme of the whole three days
was is my quarterback going to improve? Is my transfer
going to play well? Because a lot of defenses, there's
(05:27):
some good offensive line, some good skill guys, but comes
down the quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Lincoln Riley complained a little about Nil, said, we're almost there,
almost there. My takeaway was USC may not have Oregon,
Nil or Texas or whatever. It's fine. I think the
bigger issue with USC inside the program, what I'm hearing
is they don't think their high school recruiting is very good.
I mean so, and I look and I follow USC's
(05:52):
depth chart. They have no depth offensively. And my take is, Lincoln,
this is what you do. You're an offensive guy. They
don't even have a you know, they don't have an
elite quarterback right now?
Speaker 7 (06:02):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I send some frustration in the USC world for very
mediocre high school football recruiting. Do you sense that, Oh,
I certainly do that.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
I think you see that in the depth of the
offensive defensive lines positions that Lincoln Riley admitted this offseason.
They can't go portaling for that right. He came in early.
He tried to build up the trenches with the offensive
defensive line in the portal and realize you can add
certain pieces by bear Alexander is a good defensive lineman,
but you get you have one of those guys right now.
You have to build up those units with high school recruiting,
(06:35):
and so now into year three, they're really in those
positions where you are year one, which is okay, Now
we're going to really put focus into those guys, and
we know it takes a couple of years. Now, I
have some young offensive linemen that played well last year.
They're going to play this year. But it's about building
the depth. When you look at the best defensive lines
in the country Michigan, Georgia the last couple of years, Clumson,
over the years, they rotate a lot of defensive linemen.
(06:58):
You need eight guys to play. I know USC has
won maybe two guys with with pro potential. So to me,
it's about, Okay, we've acknowledged a problem, which is we
did not go hard enough in recruiting those high school
players and those positions. We have to make up for that.
The problem is that's USC is now year three, right,
and there's expectations there to win a conference to being
(07:18):
the playoff, and it takes years to build those you know,
those lines up. So I'm not sure we're going to
see the results USC fans want with wins and losses.
But I appreciate the acknowledgement that we didn't do things
the way we need to. We're gonna fix that. The
defensive Highers, as you know, are fantastic. They're gonna produce
when they get the right players in there.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
A college football twelve team playoff now, I'm not sure
if I'm right or not. I probably like LSU more
than other people. I'm trusting Brian Kelly, but I do
think Utah wins the Big twelve over Kansas State, a
team like Boise State or Liberties guaranteed to get in.
I think Oregon wins the Big ten. You're looking at,
you know, my rundown. I think what's problematic is a
(08:01):
Tennessee or in Iowa could be a very very very
good team and get bumped out by a team like
Florida State winning a week conference, Utah winning a week conference,
or Liberty anything here, jump out? Am I missing anybody
or any slight here? When you look at my projected bracket.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
There's a couple of teams I think you're missing, but
not teams where I'm like, oh wow, calling through missing
that team. Look, I think your point about the big
ten teams, I think those are in. I think the
SEC it's about right. I think people are a little
under valuing Alabama. They're plus eight.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Same here, same here.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Yeah, Kalin Debor is one hundred and four and eleven
as a head coach. Yeah, even you take out Sue Falls,
I think he's like thirty seven and nine in Division
one football and they have talent, Yeah, some left, but
he brought them in. I think the one team that
I look at in this thing, it's not on this list.
It's sort of a wild card as Miami. Right, Miami
schedule is pretty easy. They have a couple of land
(08:58):
mindes here. But cam Ward is really good. Yes, if
Mario can get your best out of cam Ward, Damy
Martinez is good. They running back unlike you know what
we talked about with USC and the offense, defensive line.
Mario has recruited those positions well into year three and
those guys are now big contributors upfront. Did you have
to avoid that one crummy loss? That one decision? And
(09:18):
with the ACC the way it is with Clemson sort
of teetering on talent. Florida State is interesting. They lose
a lot of players. I'm not quite sold on DJU
being great for them to Miami. To me is the
one team out of all these and I think is
the wild card because look, no Dame schedule they're in.
I mean they might go twelve to zero. I think
they're in the big ten teams look about right. Maybe
to your point about Iowa, if they get a little
(09:39):
bit of offense this year with their schedule, they could
see ten and two and be a playoff team, and
you don't want to play Iowa in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Finally, I said this Harbaugh leaving, You think it's a
favor for Ohio State and I see it the opposite. Now,
Ohio State has to win the conference. I mean, Harbaugh
has been in the NFL. He succeeded to say he's
better than Ryan Day, Like that's not a big leap.
But now Harbaugh's out, Washington and Michigan are in rebuilds
(10:09):
USC is still building. Only Oregon has a roster close
to Ohio State in my opinion, and they play in Eugene.
If he loses that game in Eugene, I mean, my
take is there's more pressure on Ryan Day. And I
said this yesterday, is that I don't know what they
are other than talented. They're a little like Texas and
(10:30):
sark love the roster, not sure what they are. I
always knew what Saban's Bama teams are or Kirby's Georgia teams.
You know, they're like even Lincoln Riley, I kind of
know what they are and what they're not. Ohio State
and Texas are just talented. How much pressure on Ryan
Day this year?
Speaker 5 (10:48):
You can feel you can feel the pressure talking to
him on the radio, you know, like that he understands
what is expected of them. I'm like, well, look, Organ's
there's a lot of expectations. But day Lang's in year three,
you know, like Ryan Day is now I think of
year six for seven they've lost the rival three straight years.
That rival won a championship, by the way, while he's
been there, and I think that there's pressure and they colin.
You know this, Everyone knows this. They spent a lot
(11:11):
of resources on making that roster the best in the country,
a lot of resources. They brought in Chip Kelly to
be offensive coordinator. It's a little different philosophy offensively than
what they've had over the years. Run the football a
little bit more. They need to pair sort of Ryan
Day's passing game with Chip Kelly's run game. Formationally, defensively,
they could rush the passer. They brought in Caleb Downs
like they have Burke. I mean, they got they got dudes,
(11:32):
and so they have to at the minimum, got to
be Michigan and got to be the Big Ten championship game.
That probably guarantees you a spot in the playoff. But
it's about four or five teams this year that are
legitimately championship or bust in Ohio State's one of them.
If they don't win a championship this year, maybe you
win a playoff game, your fans back off a little bit.
But the expectation this year with the roster, it comes
(11:54):
down to my opinion to how good Will Howard plays.
Is championship or bust.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, I mean Michigan, say what you want. They had
an opportunity in the roster and they brought home the trophy.
When Alabama or Georgia had the best roster, they bring
home trophies. Ohio States arguably got the best roster. You
can't be the sixth best team in the country when
the playoff is done. So Jeff Schwartz, Fox Sports analyst,
former NFL offensive lineman, is always good seeing you.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Bud want to be here, thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
You bet.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Some of these football powerhouses are good every year, but
they're fan bases, Fewer NFL games, scarcity of games. Ohio
State will only play one game all season in the
regular season. Oregon, where somebody has equal talent. In the NFL,
you can see good teams. You can see a good
(12:43):
Colts team years ago go down to a bad Jacksonville
team and get upset and it's not shocking. So college
football more pressure on coaches because they're like six brands
in the country that always have more good players. You know, Bama, LSU,
and Georgia always have great players. When Texas has the
right coach, always better players. Ohio State. Michigan doesn't. Michigan
(13:05):
doesn't recruit like Ohio State. Ohio State is an SEC
team North Like on average in my lifetime, four schools
have the best players if they have a great coach. Bama, LSU, Georgia,
Ohio State. Now it used to be usc but the
West Coast high school football does not produce like it
used to years ago in the Pete Carroll era. It's
(13:26):
just there's not as many good players in California as
there used to be. There's a lot of pushback on
high school football from parents out west that you don't
deal with in the South or the Midwest. So it's
at Ohio State. You may all year face one team
that has your talent. That Georgia Ohio State game. When
you watch that game, that Georgia one, you're like, okay,
(13:48):
there's twenty six NFL players on the field. That was
a rare game for them, where you were like, okay,
Ohio State, Georgia. They look like the speed, the quarterbacks,
the edge rushers. But there's I mean, Ryan Day's teams
are talented. Texas has been talented my entire life. What
are you? I always know what Bama is. Last year
(14:09):
with Caitlin de Boor, I knew what Washington was and
what they weren't. Ohio State just talented, and they've got
to get out of that space.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
So I was able to look up some college football
lines for some of the bigger games this season. You
want to just get well, guess the too easy ones. Okay,
Michigan at Ohio State. Now this is late in the season.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
My guess right now today is Ohio State minus eight
and a half.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Okay, it's Ohio State minus nine and a half. Now
the big one that's gonna be tough. Take your time
on this. Ohio State at Oregon. Who's favoring them by
how much?
Speaker 1 (14:41):
I would say Ohio State by one and a half,
Oregon minus one. Yeah, that's that's gonna be the game
of the year. Probably, Yeah, that's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Again, these lines, it's early. You can't get down too
much on these.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I don't think I think Ohio State thinking, yeah, we
play in the big House. There's one hundred thousand people.
Oregon is so much louder than Michigan. I mean it's
only like fifty five thousand. Oregon is the loudest small
stadium in the world. It's built into the ground, so
that place is going to be I've been there for
(15:13):
big Oregon games. There's only two stadiums out west where
you can't hear Washington Husky Stadium in Oregon, and because
of it's not open air. Oregon's built into the ground.
It's louder than Washington. Washington's got, you know, the sound,
and the some of the sound escapes. The two loudest
stadiums I've ever been in Gainesville, Florida, because it's long.
Well yeah, it's built up so the sound has nowhere
(15:34):
to go but revert back and forth. And Oregon in
Ohio state saying fifty thousand, we play in double of that.
In Michigan, Camp Randall's way bigger. They're not as loud
as Oregon. You better come in knowing you will not
hear your coaches.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Isn't Camp Randal the one that does jump around?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, right by the way. Great. People just have no
They go to Oregon. They look at the stadium. I
think it's not very big. You can I can stand
if you and I are within four feet, I couldn't
hear you talk, could not hear you.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
The case it in ann Arbor at the Big House.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
No, the all of it escapes because the way it's built,
the sound escape Oregon is in the ground and loud.
The old one was even louder than this one. This
one's still definitely Do you.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Want to try to get us tickets to that game?
Do you like how I did you see what?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
I didn't get us tickets to the game? You want
to goz I'd go, that's the game of the year
in college football. I hope we have it at Fox.
I don't know, but that's the game of the year.
That That is unbelievable. It's like a couple of years
ago Texas played Bama and you're like, that game you
want to be at. Plus it's I think it's reasonably
early in the season, so it won't be is it
(16:40):
in October or something? I don't think it's late October twelfth?
So the fall and Eugene, Oregon sixty five degrees? Oh great, man,
if you can hook it up, see if you can
give your your your JV basketball team a couple of
days off.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Six one more Heard the Herd streams twenty four hours
a day, seven week within the iHeartRadio app search her
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Fox Sports Radio and Tiraq giving away a set of
four tires every two weeks this summer. Go to Fox
Sports Radio dot com to figure out the rules and
enter furnished by ty Iraq. By the way, I've said
this before, not every quarterback is a four to oh
one K. Shane Stikeen has a quarterback, Anthony Richardson, wildly dynamic,
didn't play a lot in college, big strong, you know,
(17:28):
kind of a combination of yellow Lamar Jackson, but you
have Cam Newton size. And my takeaway is, yes, he
got hurt last year, but his superpower is running and
being dynamic. Let him do it. If you buy a Maserati,
you're not buying it to put it in the car
pool lane. Let him go. Every other year, draft a
(17:48):
quarterback mid rounds if he gets hurt. But the kid
is just pops on television. Here's his coach, Shane Stikeen
on why he wants Anthony Richardson. He wants him to
run last this to a lot.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
It's just like, hey, how are you gonna limit the
run game?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And I kind of think like, shoot, are you gonna
limit Steph Curry from you know, shooting three pointers.
Speaker 8 (18:08):
Well that's one of anthony strengths, right, so we're not gonna,
you know, get away from that.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
That's what he does.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Well yeah, I mean, Cam Newton, you got eleven years,
but he won an MVP, he made Carolina relevant, he
won a division, he got to a super Bowl. I
just think, you know, it's it's what makes Lamar Jackson.
Lamar Jackson is the ability to put complete and utter
(18:33):
fear in defenses. Anthony Richardson is a bigger, stronger Lamar Jackson.
So what if he lasts eight years, Just every other
year draft a quarterback fourth round, you know, give him
a good left tackling weapons. But this kid's too good
not to let him run. If you haven't watched him
yet and he didn't play much last year, you talk
(18:54):
about somebody that just pops. Anthony talked about his running style.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
My Les has always been one of my superpowers, you know,
so try trying to take that away from me. You know,
I don't think that's that's a good, good, good thing
for for this offense. You know, it just it just
more so me, you know, playing a little bit more smart.
I learned how to take care of myself for my teammates,
and you know, and knowing wanted to make the right
player and no one want to, you know, try to
get an extra few yards, so you know, don't don't
(19:22):
take my legs away, but you know, just be more smart.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
He he was way better than I thought from the pocket.
A lot of that Shane Steichen and a lot of
that's hard work. But I I, I don't believe everybody's
built to play twenty one years like some guys in
this league. Michael Vick. I remember the first time watching him, thinking,
not gonna last long, It's gonna be unbelievable. Cam Newton.
I thought big Ben even though he played a long time,
(19:45):
I thought he aged quickly well. But I wanted big
Ben in those early to middle years. I wanted him
ad libbing. It was backyard football, but he was great
at it. Here's j Mack with the news.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Turn on the news. This is the hard li news.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
How about our favorite offseason team done, New York Giants.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Half day out of the news, He's bums.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Hard Knocks has provided us with so many good talking
points already. The latest comes from the last episode where
Brian Dabele references a conversation he had with a notable
college football coach that influenced the Giants draft plans.
Speaker 8 (20:21):
The crazy thing is is there's not many coaches that
want one hundred and five scholarships.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
You know, we want to keep our walk ons.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You know it's wrong bite. I would imagine if Saban,
who has great pass rushes and corners, had a problem
with Neighbors, then you're gonna have a problem, because that's
what That's what Nick does better than anybody, is take
out your best receiver.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Basically on the video, Dable's talking everybody, He's like, oh
I just talked to Saban.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
That's Nick Saban.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
He says it for with emphasis, and Neighbors had a
monster game against him last year ten for one, s
one and a touchdown.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
I remember remember t Y Hilton. Yeah, okay, so I
remember saying this years ago. I was at the other
network he played for, like Florida Atlantic, and I watched
highlights and Saban was just building his empire and he
he gave Alabama per problems. And you know why, Alabama
looked at the film and said, Okay, we got to
roll the coverage over on this kid, and it's like,
(21:18):
I mean, if you're beaten and if t Y had
a good career, if you're beaten, Nick down the field
with those corners FIU Florida International, you're gonna be hard
to contain in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Listen, neighbors, they got the young kid from Tennessee Hyatt like,
they got some some talent, but it's young and there's not.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Enough of it. We gain more about the old line.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
The offensive line is the big problem. It's just tough
for me to make a case.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
So now you don't have a back that can pop
and give Daniel Jones second and short, third and short.
So it's gonna be more pressure and more third and
long because this old line's not great and the run
game lost the guy.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Remember they made a move on the tight end from
the Raiders. The guy uh he retired, Yeah, ages up
and retired.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Like it's just things are not going well right now
for the New York Giants.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
All right, let's move on to the Raiders. Gosh, this
is freaking embarrassing.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So they had training camp this week and a seventh
round rookie made a really dumb move. So one of
the fans for the Raiders brought a Kermit puppet dressed
up as Patrick Mahomes and the Vegas rookie safety Trey
Taylor's his name, grabbed the puppet from the fan and went.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
To the videotape in here.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
Oh boy, so earlier in the year, A ton of
stuff like that happens. You'll get handled. When it gets handled,
Petrick Dumby like people send that to say, ay, sugar, wow,
it is it. I'm not really honestly, everybody kind of
just lessen you play. I mean, they know how I
am saw. They don't need to send me if they
may keep me motivated.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Oh trouble.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Mahomes is already aware of it now. Antonio Pierce addressed
the team instantly. Because this one viral on social media,
Mahomes is getting asked about it.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Pierce said that we nipped it in the bud. It's
over with.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Maybe maybe from your side the things you don't think
the Chiefs are talking about this, I don't know, man,
So we circled it on the calendar.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Week eight. Mahomes and the Chiefs against the Raiders should
be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Chiefs by thirty just organizationally, are you surprised this came
from the Raiders.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
I mean, this is the seventh round rookie out of
Air Force. He might not even make the team for
all we know. He just made did something dumb. He
was all excited to be a camp People are making
fun of Mahomes and yeah, revenge should be pretty sweet
air for Mahomes and the Chiefs. Final stories to the
NBA with the Sixers added Paul George this offseason, biggest
move in the league, and they're confident they.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Can match up with the Celtics next season.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
How confident will Darryl Moury said this in a recent
radio appearance.
Speaker 10 (23:44):
I'm a big objective data guy, and you know we're
right there in the conversation with a very small number
of teams, you know, top top three, top two, top
four in the league somewhere in there. Obviously got to
give the Celtics their credit. They won the title. Excellent team,
they brought everybody back. They're the target. But you know,
we don't feel like we give up anything to them,
(24:07):
and we're going to be coming to to take the
title away from him.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, Philadelphia talks a lot, Boston wins a lot, big difference.
I think they'll be really good. But should be noted
Embiid has been the big disappointment in the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
And he's ever healthy in the playoffs, and Paul George
is always he's always something with that guy. I mean, listen,
I don't think we can make a definitive statement on
the Sixers until the playoffs are here.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
And who's healthy, right, I think that's completely change.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
I know you don't play that game.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I love Paul George and Maxie, but it's all in
the health of the big guy. As the league gets bigger,
is he available?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And for the Celtics, Porzingis with the surgery, he could
be out for like five months. So there's a world
where the Sixers are the number one seed right now.
They had home court advantage now they actually didn't two
years ago. They could have taken out Philly if we
could have taken out the Celtics, and of course Chason
Tatum went nuclear in the fourth quarter. But it should
be good six Ers Celtics probably for the Eastern Conference site.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I keep your eye on the Knicks, keep your on
the Knicks, and also keep your eye on Indiana. I
say Orlando, no, Well, I think Orlando's good, but I
think Indiana's ahead of them. Jmack with a news.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
So you saw a little at Dabbo Swiney. So college football,
by the way, has the oldest demographic of all the
sports outside of baseball and baseball. In college football, they
just go kicking and screaming with any change. As people
get older, study show they get more conservative they want
fewer changes. So Nil was going to ruin college football.
(25:43):
Ratings went up. Transfer Portal was going to ruin college football.
Ratings went up. PAC twelve disbanding going to ruin college football.
Last year, ratings went up. Take a deep breath. I
remember years ago when Christian McCaffrey at Stanford, it was
like a second tier bull said, I'm not going to
play in that bowl game. I'm gonna go to the NFL.
Oh lord, oh lord. If you had to hear another
(26:05):
just it's like politics. The world's ending constantly, Democracy at stake.
Christian McCaffrey had carried stand for no reason to play
in like the Liberty Bowl. And so now here's the
I like Dabo swinging, but so here's the story. Apparently
is that as part of the settlement House versus the NCAAK,
(26:25):
schools can no longer be limited in the number of scholarships,
but to reduce expenses. Because now teams can carry eighty
ninety one hundred players on scholarships, it's going to get
rid of walk on programs. So a lot of these
walk ons they're not going to be around college football.
And Dabo Swinging was a walk on in Alabama, so
(26:46):
he has great fondness for them. But those kids can
all go to FCS schools or maybe they earn a scholarship.
But there's just walk ons are not why we watch
college football. But Dabo is worked up over over. Walk
ons apparently have a very murky, tenuous future.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
The crazy thing is is there's not many coaches that
want one hundred and five scholarships.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
You know, we want to keep our walk ons.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
You know, it's it's hard to manage you know, that
many guys, and when you have that many guys on scholarship,
you think you've got transfers. Now you way to that
gets that number gets there, it's going to be a lot.
So it's gonna change a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yeah, again, I think the walk on programs. Nebraska was
legendary for years. Clemson's got a good walk on program.
You know what, college football is going to be fine. Basically,
in the NCAA case, you cannot limit the number of
scholarships the program is going to have. Like Dabo said,
that doesn't mean you want a hundred scholarships. Now the
(27:49):
limits eighty five. That's getting blown out. I'm sure, I'm
sure some schools will add players, but players also want
to go where they can play. And if George's got
one hundred and five players, you're not getting on the
field unless you're great. They'll be carrying thirteen corners, twelve
wide receivers. Six are gonna play four. We're gonna play
a lot. So it's just it's just college football fans
(28:12):
and baseball fans. Any change is met with resistance, and
I get it. I was watching a story on HBO
last night. I'm watching this series on Charlie Hussel Pete Rose,
and one of the Red's former announcers said, in Cincinnati,
there's parts of Cincinnati that have lived there for fifty years.
They've never left the house they grew up in. And
that's like college football fans it's very regional, very tribal.
(28:35):
We don't want change all these changes. All I see
is the revenue go up and the ratings go up.
And ratings are truth serum to the viability of any sport.
When college basketball is went down for fifteen years, the
sport wasn't as viable. If the ratings are good, that
means the public's captivated and interested and nobody's watching. For
walk Ons, they can go play at Eastern Washington University.
(28:58):
They can go play at an FC school, get a scholarship,
have a great time, and actually play. The sport's gonna
be okay. We're gonna go to Steelers camp coming up next.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 11 (29:17):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get to.
Speaker 12 (29:26):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for. Yeah, you blobber list name and me.
Speaker 11 (29:41):
Well you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 12 (29:45):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 11 (29:59):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promise and also uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
A little harder.
Speaker 11 (30:06):
It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.
Speaker 12 (30:09):
There you go, over promising and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen to over Promised
with Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Mark Wally is a senior writer NFL for The Athletic,
which I suggest you sign up for a subscription of
The Athletic if you love the NFL. There's just great
insight and Mark's been doing this a long time covering
the Pittsburgh Steelers and he is now joining US live.
So I said earlier today that Russ and Tomlin are
(30:40):
kind of in the same boat. They haven't felt relevant
for years. Russ hasn't won two playoff games in a
single season in a decade. Tomlin hasn't won a playoff
game in a long time. I think it's seven years.
They both have rings, they both have status, They're sitting
on piles of money and fame, blah blah blah. But
I do feel like they kind of need each other
(31:02):
this year. Is that kind of a fair summation of
what this Steeler season will look like?
Speaker 6 (31:07):
Yeah, I think you're right.
Speaker 13 (31:08):
I mean I think Tomlin and Russell Wilson are one
of the own, one of the same, and I think
that's why they get along so well. Russell Wilson even
talked about how much he enjoys just talking and have
conversations with Mike Commlon. Now that's not unusual mostly all
the players come out and say that. But yeah, definitely,
I think they're in the same I mean, for the
(31:28):
most part point of their career. Right as Tomlin would say,
there's more days behind him than there is in front
of him.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
That same goes with Russell Wilson.
Speaker 13 (31:37):
So that's why one of the reasons why I think
that Russell Wilson gets every shot in the world plus
about three more before they even think about moving towards
justin fields. I think they are very similar and what
they want and how they approach things, and they they're
similar mindset too.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I mean, Russell Siarra Rich, he's a star. Pittsburgh sort
of a working class town. It's a blue collar work
ethic in the building that's always been the Steelers. It's
very you know, it's like Green Bay, but maybe even
more conservative more about defense. How do you will Russell
be accepted in Pittsburgh? What do you make up so
(32:15):
far in that kind of weird, interesting relationship.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
I'll put it this way.
Speaker 13 (32:19):
Whoever is Russell Wilson's pr agent needs a promotion in
a raise because since the day he's signed here, he's
done everything perfectly right in order to win over to
fans and knowing what to say, knowing what to do,
knowing what to act like.
Speaker 6 (32:35):
It's just been amazing.
Speaker 13 (32:36):
I mean, you see him at Pirate games, you see
him at NCAA tournament games. He's talking about the banning
brother sandwiches. So he's doing all he can to get
to that point right now. But the bottom line is
if he comes out week won two and three and
doesn't play well, the fans will turn on him in
a second. I mean, that's just how it is in Pittsburgh.
It doesn't matter who it is if you don't produce
(33:00):
somewhere else. And that's the case right now. I mean,
we don't know what Russell Wilson can do. He's doing
everything right perfectly to the tea right now leading up
to the point of getting on the field, and he
hasn't gotten on the field up here in the trope
quite yet. But like I said, whoever his PR team is,
he knows he's smart. He knows how to get in
(33:20):
the good graces of the fans. And I've never seen
it as quickly of people gravitating to a guy like
Russell Wilson becoming one of their own, even though like
you said, he's Hollywood, He's so this is Jesus guy.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
That's outside schedule is brutal in the last couple of months,
But if you look at the early schedule. Mark the
games in which Pittsburgh is better are on the road.
You want that at Denver, at the Colts, at the Raiders,
at the Commanders. They also get the teams they may
(33:53):
be an underdog, the go either way games. They get
him at home, Chargers, Cowboys, Jets. My guess is they
start pretty well. I think Pittsburgh when they get to
the buy in week nine is a winning team. I
think their defense is good enough to win close home games.
You're smiling a little bit. What do you I think
(34:14):
they'll start well and end poorly. What's your take when
you look at the schedule in their current state?
Speaker 6 (34:19):
Yeah, I agree with you with the schedule.
Speaker 13 (34:21):
I mean it's easy early easier or early on where
they can get some wins. But the problem is, probably
six out of the last seven years, they've got off to
an unbelievably slow start. Yeah, they've had to make up
for it in the back end of it. Yeah, So,
I mean we say it last year they had to
get off to a fast start to have any chance
because they had a late stretch of tough games. It
didn't happen, so they put themselves behind the eight ball.
(34:44):
So you're right, they do have winnable games early at home,
not tough places to go to.
Speaker 6 (34:50):
Last year or two years ago. I think two years ago.
Speaker 13 (34:53):
Last year we went to Atlanta and the Steelers went
to Atlanta and it was eighty percent Steeler fans. Yeah,
I mean I could see the same thing happening in
Indianapolis again.
Speaker 6 (35:03):
So they do have that advantage. But you look at
the history and it's not good under Tomlin, least over
in the last five, six, seven years of starting off quickly.
Speaker 13 (35:14):
Yes, it's going to be probably the determination factor of
this team could compete or not.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah, it's a good point if you look at the
offensive coaches in this league like McVeigh, Shanahan, Andy Reid.
Historically offensive coaches, they bring some new things under the
table and start very quickly. The defensive coaches, Tomlin and
Belichick McDermott tend to be better middle and late in
the season. So that's a very good point. I want
(35:41):
to talk justin Fields in Chicago to the very end,
despite not winning enough, people loved him. He's likable, he's
one of the guys. He's not you know, he's authentic.
He's getting a bunch of snaps. Now what happens. If
he kind of blows everybody away in preseason, what's gonna
happen is a two game losing streak. Is he coming
(36:03):
on the field.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
I don't think so. I just don't see it right now.
Speaker 13 (36:07):
First of all, I understand what you see from justin
fields because you see it every single day, even out
here in camp.
Speaker 6 (36:13):
The time he takes off to just be able to
go talk to.
Speaker 13 (36:16):
The fans and sign for the fans, that's very unusual,
and everybody does love him. Yeah, But you know, as
for the locker room, it's all about who wins and
who gives them the best chance to put up numbers,
and I don't think there's much of an opportunity. I mean,
barring Russell Wilson gets back here soon and he's supposed to.
It was just a little tweak of a calf muscle
(36:37):
that he was pushing the sled around and during a
running drill to start camp. I don't know why he's
pushing the sled around doing running drills, but he should
be back soon enough. You get to that point, you
have to give him every opportunity to learn this offense
and push you forward here.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
So I think it's very difficult for him to.
Speaker 13 (36:58):
Be able to overtake Russell Wilson unless, I mean, even
if it's a catastrophic disaster to start this season, I
think Russell Wilson's going to get the benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, I don't see him as a playoff team in
their division.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
Do you. Well, that depends.
Speaker 13 (37:19):
I mean, let's see what Baltimore does, Let's see what
a team like Cleveland does.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
I'm not quite sure where they are.
Speaker 13 (37:25):
They're going to have to win anywhere at least the
minimum of ten games.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Right. If you don't get the ten wins, you have
no chance of winning the division. Here. They've changed so
much stuff on offense that.
Speaker 13 (37:37):
You don't know how quickly they're going to start on
on offense, from you know, a handful of coach to
Arthur Smith to rookie offensive lineman, the both quarterbacks, to
the whole entire wide receiver crew other.
Speaker 6 (37:50):
Than George Pickens.
Speaker 13 (37:51):
If they get those guys up the speeds fast enough,
Tomlin's proved that, you know, the longer the season goes on,
the better off that they get.
Speaker 6 (37:59):
But you're going to have to win.
Speaker 13 (38:00):
I mean, they beat Baltimore six out of seven games, right,
they've handled well Cincinnati without Joe Burrow for a couple
of times.
Speaker 6 (38:09):
It's going to take a lot.
Speaker 13 (38:10):
They're gonna have to be pretty much near perfect, but
you're gonna have to win ten eleven games, and that's
really pushing in my estimation.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah, Mark A Bully Cabali, a senior writer The Athletic,
covers the Steelers as always, my friend, I appreciate you
giving us a few minutes since some insight to Pittsburgh.
Thanks man, I call all right, Mark Amali The Athletic. Yeah,
their schedule is really interesting, so I tend to look
at it and the games that are you might be
an underdog. They get a lot of those at home, Chargers, Cowboys, Jets, Ravens.
(38:43):
Through Week eleven, they get a lot of those. To
the midway point, they get a lot of the tough games.
They could be a dog at home. That helps. That's
worth two or three points. The games they should win,
you know, facing Vo Nicks, the rookie quarterback Week two,
young Anthony richardson Week four, the race, Week six, Commander's
Week ten, rookie quarterback. They get those on the road,
(39:05):
so they'll be favored in those games, and those are
the games you like to go. You know, if you're
a favorite, why do you want to waste a home
game as a six point favorite? I don't. I kind
of see Pittsburgh as nine and eight, but I do
think they're going to pick up some wins. The Atlanta
games fascinating. They're an underdog that game. You know, Tomlin's
(39:27):
teams have started slow, but they do generally play very
well as a road as you know, Jmack, They're a
very good road dog. So if you told me in
that game early, I would probably take Pittsburgh plus two
and a half because Kirk Cousins hasn't taken live snaps,
Pittsburgh defense has geled for years, and Tomlin is a
(39:50):
great road dog coach.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, I'm looking at the depth chart for the Steelers.
There's a chance they start two rookies on the offensive line.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Well one of them is great.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Well yeah, but come on, there's a learning curve for that.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Just so I'm not feeling the Steelers team, Dude, I'm
seven wins, maybe seven eight worse than the division.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
We agree they have the worst quarterback in the division.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Well, I trust Russell Wilson in a big spot over
to Sean Watson.
Speaker 7 (40:19):
I do.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I'm I think Russell was be ish last year. I
don't trust to Sean.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
At all in thirteen and three years for russ just.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
I know I'm not. I'm not. But you heard what
Mark said. He's been perfect fans relationships players.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
He kind of gotta be. He's because of an option.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
By the way, here's Tomlin earlier this week on the
quarterback situation, rust up at nothing has changed. How do
you plan on working those reps with Tendon.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
John very carefully?
Speaker 5 (40:54):
You guys think I'm actually back myself into a corner.
Speaker 8 (40:56):
So you guys are going to ask me daily about
the rep alley Cation's a no away.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
I've been on the job too long for that.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
We'll see. I think they'll be okay, but that division
is a handful hour three can't wait on a Friday
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