November 12, 2025 • 49 mins
All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.
Nick Wright reacts to the Dallas Mavericks firing GM Nico Harrison. Nick breaks down why the Luka Doncic trade will go down as one of the greatest blunders in sports history, why Dallas winning the Cooper Flagg lottery should not have saved Harrison, and what's next for the Mavs & Lakers moving forward. Next, Nick turns his attention to Week 10 of the NFL season, starting with Jalen Hurts' Philadelphia Eagles defeating Jordan Love's Green Bay Packers, and what it means for the NFC playoff picture. Then, Nick discusses an embarrassing loss for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills to the Miami Dolphins and crazy comeback wins by Caleb Williams' Chicago Bears and CJ Stroud's Houston Texans. After, Nick weighs in on how worried he should be about Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after their loss to Drake Maye's New England Patriots, and what the coaching change means with Dan Campbell calling plays for Jared Goff's Detroit Lions. Later, Nick answers your questions. #Volume
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome in What's Driving the Great Episode three p.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Ninety.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This episode has always brought to you by our friends
at boost Mobile, and Demanse is not here today. We
will explain why later in the show. If you watched
the very beginning of First Things First tomorrow or yesterday,
how could you have watched the very beginning of First
Things First tomorrow? If you walked to the very beginning
of First Things First yesterday, or if you follow my
(00:27):
wife on Instagram, you already know why Demanda's not here
if you didn't do those two things. And first of all,
why would you not have done one? And why would
you be doing the other? Why would you miss the
beginning of the show? And why are you following my
wife on Instagram? Uh, you already know if you've got
it through those sources or those avenues, but if not,
(00:48):
we will discuss it later in the show. However, we
have a ton to get to. We have a very
tight clock today because I sadly misread my calendar and
double booked myself this Tuesday. I booked myself for something
that I thought was tomorrow, but it is for today,
and we have breaking news. Nico Harrison's been fired more
on that in a second but first rate to voicemail
(01:08):
brought to you by Boost Mobile. Lebron's gonna practice with
the south By Lakers this week. Gronk is gonna retire
as a Patriot, and Joe Burrow returns to practice. The
guy loves football. Good for him. Will it matter? I
don't think so. We will discuss that in a bit.
Reminder of everyone to like, rate, subscribe, review to the pot,
(01:29):
please Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, all of it. It helps us greatly,
and I think again, stay tuned for the end of
the show for a really awesome announcement. So Tim McMahon,
who is as plugged into the MAVs as anyone with
respect to Mark Stein, telegraph this a bit yesterday on
(01:51):
The Great Hoop Collective podcast with he and Wendy and
my pal Tim Bond TIMPs talking that Nico Harrison could
be fired and Nico Harrison, Now, I don't want to
incorrectly report this as we record live or we broadcast
live at ten thirty four am Eastern, Nico Harrison has
(02:13):
not yet been fired. In a truly mortifying end to
a truly indefensible nine month reign of terror, Nico Harrison
has a meeting with MAVs ownership in twenty five minutes
(02:36):
where he will be fired. I gotta tell you, I'm
not sure I'd show up to that meeting. If Shams
has it and the whole world knows that, you know
what guys with this can be a zuom So the
impacts and implications of this are far reaching. Most note
(03:00):
is the following. And this might sound shocking, this might
sound drastic, but I believe this to be true. Teams
around the league should immediately call Dallas and ask about
(03:25):
Anthony Davis's availability. Certainly teams around the league that would
be interested, and this probably is going to have to
be something far later once you see him if he
returns pre trade deadline should ask about Kyrie Irving. And
that is because the Dallas Mavericks are now in total
(03:51):
build around Cooper Flag try to rebuild our draft capital.
That keep in mind they do not either have they
either don't have well, they either don't have a pick
or don't have their own pick. In the next four drafts,
they had gone all in around historically great superstar Lukadancic
(04:17):
and then because of Ego and Hubris Lukadancich was traded
in the middle of the night in the type of
move that if there were ever cause for a fan
base to file a class action lawsuit against management, this
(04:44):
would be it. You had one of the greatest players
ever at the very beginning of the prime of his career.
And I said it at the time and I will
say it again, And because of nothing more than power
(05:08):
and ego, you lit the franchise on fire, power and ego.
Everyone was searching for why Nico would have done this,
and the only logical and it's not logical, but the
(05:28):
only reasonable explanation was he didn't like the fact that
someone within the organization had more power than him, and
that someone was Luca. So we got him out of there.
And it will go down in the annals of sports
(05:55):
history as one of the single greatest gaffes in a
front office has ever made. That is not an overreaction,
that is not an overstatement. That is simply what it
(06:20):
was the moment it happened, and now is being exacerbated
night in night out as Luca, instead of coming off
an injury as he was last year, reminds everyone, Yes,
I am the guy who dragged a Dallas Mavericks team
to the conference finals when I was twenty two and
(06:43):
to the NBA Finals when I was twenty four, And
now I'm twenty six, and I have more first team
All NBAS under my belt than Steph Curry does. And
you got rid of me, and I don't. I also
don't think this is an overstatement. Nico Harrison will never
(07:08):
work in an NBA front office again. He's gonna have
to work for Nike or an agency or something. But
this is you cannot recover from something like this, and
the arrogance that less than you know. We are a
(07:30):
dozen games into this season and Nico after they spun
a one point eight percent lottery ball chance into Cooper Flag.
The fact that he said, do you see the vision
now was one of the most tone deaf, ludicrous statements.
(07:54):
And I'm not a MAVs fan. Hell, I'm gonna DiPT
did I guess Laker fan? Because that's who Bron plays for.
So the Lakers getting Luca, who's my second favorite player,
was and he and Bron playing together was a true dream.
(08:15):
And I'm still mad about this trade on behalf of
mad fans. I can't imagine what this is This was
a sports felony inflicted upon a fan base. And yes,
(08:36):
now the villain has been captured and is facing justice,
but it doesn't change the havoc he reeked and the
long term impact on your fandom. So I I want
(09:01):
to just revisit before we get to last night's game,
before we get to football, what I set off the
top and credit to Tim Bond, TIMPs. He's been talking
about this for a while, but now it is to
me a more because it was never gonna happen with
Nico in charge. But the Dallas Mavericks have to consider
(09:26):
a fire sale. So let me let me. I want
to give everyone the actual draft picks situation for Dallas.
In twenty twenty six, they have their pick, so my apologies,
(09:46):
I said that wrong. Twenty twenty six, they have their pick.
This year, they have their pick, and maybe that's good
because right now they're terrible. In twenty twenty seven, they're
pick basically totally unprotected, protected only for spots one or two.
(10:07):
So unprotected goes to Charlotte. In twenty twenty eight, Jesus,
the rich get richer, the thunder can swap with them.
In twenty twenty nine, their pick goes somewhere in a swap,
(10:34):
and they do have the Lakers pick, and in twenty thirty,
my god, the Spurs can swap with them. So first
of all, in twenty twenty eight and twenty thirty, the
Mavericks first round pick is gonna go to the Thunder
(10:56):
and then the Spurs. Holy shit, in twenty twenty nine,
their pick goes somewhere. I can't figure it out. It
says two most favorable of Dallas Houston, Phoenix to Houston
and then other to Brooklyn via Dallas and Phoenix to
(11:16):
Brooklyn via Dallas, or Phoenix to Houston via Houston. Swap
for Dallas or Phoenix. I don't get it, but whatever,
the MAVs will not after this coming year's draft. They
do not have control of their their first until twenty
thirty one until Cooper flag is in the midst of
(11:37):
his second contract, so they need to recoop picks they
need to figure out, like Klay Thompson's contract is fully underwater.
Kyrie's an interesting one, and I it's just and by
(12:02):
the way, they're three and eight and I think, let
me check, I think they have literally the worst offense
in the NBA. I know. So let's just check in
real quick. Defense wins championships, because that's all we heard
from this guy. All we heard from him. Their offense
(12:29):
is oh, is it no longer dead last? The hold on?
Let me, I had it. I thought they were dead last.
Maybe I'm wrong because that says they're fourteenth right now, So, oh,
that's last year. I'm looking at last year. It's like,
(12:50):
hold on a second, This can't be correct. They can't
be the Mavericks having the fifteenth offense. No chance, all
right here we go. Oh no, if fair is fair,
they don't have the worst offense in the basketball. They
have the second worst offensive basketball to the Pacers, whose
best player Torre's Achilles in Game seven of the finals,
(13:12):
and second best or third best player left the team. Now,
I mean, this is just perfect, just chef's kiss. Perfect
defense wins championships. The Dallas Mavericks are three and eight.
They fired Nico Harrison. They currently have the third best
(13:33):
defense in basketball. Maybe that was a miscalculation because you
have the second worst offense in basketball. Good luck, MAVs fans.
I feel sick for you all right now to ours.
(13:55):
We had three dog primetime games this week. It started
with a ten to seven Broncos win over the Raiders.
It ended with a ten to seven Eagles win over
the Packers, and sandwiched in the middle was Aaron Rodgers
(14:18):
looking every bit of forty one years old, and the
Chargers blowing them out after a game that was three
to two at one point. So the Eagles win ten
to seven quickly on the Packers, and then we will
get to Philadelphia. The Packers have now lost all three
(14:42):
of their losses. Their defense has not allowed seventeen points
that I think that is more losses when the defense
allows less than seventeen than the rest of the NFL combined.
Aside from the bizarre Cowboys forty to forty tie, that
(15:08):
defense has been as advertised. But there seems to be
a weird disconnect growing between Jordan Love and Matt Lafleur.
And the Matt Lafleur thing that came out of nowhere
was Matt Schneiderman from The Athletic wrote an article this
(15:30):
morning and asked Lafloor last night about his job security,
which I did not see coming. But Jordan Love at
zero touchdowns one pick a seventy four rating over the
last two weeks, two losses, the team has scored a
total of twenty points. Now do I think the Packers
(15:51):
are gonna miss the playoffs? No, but it can't be dismissed.
Right now, they're the seventh seed, with San Francisco being
percentage points back. As the eighth seed, San Francisco has
(16:12):
a far easier schedule moving forward and green Bay has
a far tougher one. So as far as easiest schedules
moving forward, san Francisco has or toughest skill Let me
do it a different way. San Francisco has the twentieth
(16:33):
toughest schedule moving forward, so thirteenth easiest, and green Bay
has the ninth toughest. Green Bay has one game left
against a bad team, flat bad team, that's the Giants.
San Francisco has Titans, Brown's, Cardinals Panthers, so that obviously
greatly works in their favor. Now, even if San Francisco
(16:58):
gets hot, the question is could Chicago fall out of it?
Who has the second hardest schedule remaining? And that's certainly
on the board. So I don't predict green Bay misses
the playoffs, but it's certainly possible. More importantly, though, that
(17:19):
team's got to figure out what's going on with the offense.
That's the story out of green Bay this weekend. The
more interesting thing, as always, is the pat the Eagle
side of it, because the Eagles just they're they are
(17:39):
just saints of the content industrial. Uh, what are you complex?
They win, but they win in such bizarre fashion, and
they create these firestorms that you see, you see them
(18:02):
lighting fires during the game that you know are going
to sustain at least until next week, even while you
expect them to win. So yesterday was just a horrific
offensive performance where once again, after declining to trade AJ Brown,
(18:23):
they decided to pretend he's not on the team. That is,
of course, until the very end of the game, when
they have the game stone one, as all they've got
to do with thirty one seconds left is punt the ball,
(18:45):
and green Bay is going to have the ball with
around twenty five seconds left, maybe backed up inside their
own twenty worst case scenario for Philly on their own
twenty and no timeouts. Instead, Sirianni leaves the offense out there,
(19:06):
has them go for it, and then tries to feed
aj Brown a feel good highlight moment. It falls incomplete
and all of a sudden, the Packers are two plays
away from being in field goal range. Just an absolute
banana's decision, soaked in either ego or trying to play
(19:32):
Kate what you know is going to be an upset
AJ Brown. Yeah, man, we didn't go to you all game,
but we went to you when it counted. All this
just craziness, right, And it gave the Packers a chance
to win the game. It gave him a or at
(19:53):
least tie the game and then winning an overtime, so
I know. I mean, Siriani's record is what it is.
And the Eagles defense looked awesome, and while Saquan got
bottled up on the ground again, he did have the
one long reception that was huge. But Philly is just
(20:15):
such a weird team and they they simply seem allergic
to drama free wins. And I don't know what has
happened to the jail and hurts AJ Brown connection, but
(20:38):
I know it is in shambles compared to what it
once was. And Siriani's call to go for that fourth
down was just as poor game management as it gets.
And for folks that always freak out about the analytics, Boogeyman.
(20:59):
It should be noted every single analytical model preferred punt there,
every single one. Sirianni was going for a highlight moment
that could have cost him the game. With that said,
they're seven and two after they play the Lions this
(21:22):
coming Sunday night. They've got Cowboys, Bears, Chargers, Raiders, Commanders, Bills, Commanders.
So given that we expect the NFC North and NFC
West to beat up on each other, and Tampa just lost,
(21:44):
Philly's in really good shape to maybe be the one seed.
They're just such a weird team, such a weird team
that wins but in not even dramatic, just angst fashion.
So Scruffdog says Casey won the same ugly games last year.
(22:08):
No doubt Casey won close, but Casey was right or wrong,
a brilliant after the games, running onto the field, celebrating
locker room totally connected. What Casey wasn't doing was having
a weekly heart to heart with their star receiver. I
(22:32):
guess in bart because last year Casey had no star
receivers and Andy Reid calling some of the most absolutely
bizarre end of game plays. So I got no problem
with winning ugly, but that was weird and by the way,
(22:52):
and I'm not gonna spend time on it because I
just at this point I don't get why the NFL
can't get this right. But once again, the Packers are
in a fourth in inches, they line up for a
regular football play. They false start, it gets called. The
Eagles are in a fourth in inches. They line up
(23:13):
for their stupid rugby play. They obviously on lie on
live camera, not on slow moo replay false start. It
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. The biggest upset of
(25:40):
the weekend Buffalo getting blown out by Miami. And so
Buffalo is still the team that I would least like
to play in the postseason in the AFC if I'm
Kansas City. But there are some red flags here, Okay.
(26:09):
One is this, As of a month ago, the Bills
had one double digit loss in the last four years.
In their last sixty games, they had one loss by
more than a score, and it was the blowout to
(26:29):
Baltimore last season. And then they avenged it and beat
Baltimore in the playoffs. They have two double digit losses
in their last month of football, ten points to Atlanta
and really getting boat raced by Miami when Miami controlled
(26:52):
every aspect of the game. That is concerning the fact
that the Bills themselves might not think they're quite good enough,
evidenced by the fact that they offered a one and
a three for Jail and Waddle. That is a little
(27:14):
concerning the fact that Josh Allen is starting to turn
the ball over again, but now it's not coming with
the quick strike sixty yard touchdowns on the other side
of it. That is a little concerning. So it's not
(27:37):
the sky is falling, but it is a little.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Also, they are going to be I now fully believe
and this is real, tangible and it matters, and it
might happen to the Chiefs too. But they are going
to be the wild card team in the AFC East.
(28:09):
They are going to be on the road for potentially
the entirety of the playoffs. That's not nothing. And when
they started four and oher with one of the softer
schedules in the league coming like as their next month,
(28:33):
they looked like they were in great shape for the
one seed, which is one thing they've never gotten since
Allen's been there. Now they're six and three with all
of a sudden weight is that a sneaky, tough remaining
schedule home for the Bucks, then a Thursday night road
(28:57):
game against a suddenly semi frisky Houston team, then at Pittsburgh,
then all of a sudden, a game against the Bengals
that people think Joe Burrow will be back for, then
at the Patriots. Then you take your breath a bit
at the Browns home for the Eagles, in a game
(29:20):
the Eagles might go into saying, hey we win this,
we can you know, one seed implications. And then at
the home for the Jets to you know as a
nice little end of season respite, so it's not nothing.
And then there's also this, which I think is noteworthy,
(29:42):
and we can fold this in to Brian Dable being
fired after another fourth quarter collapse by him. If this
goes badly for Buffalo, like badly, I don't think they'll
miss the playoffs. But if this goes, they're the five
(30:08):
seed and they go to Baltimore, which now is the
huge favor to win the AFC North and they lose
in round one, it would the Buffalo Bills consider reuniting
Brian Dable with Josh Allen, but not as a coordinator
(30:33):
as a head coach. It is something to think about. Again.
I think Dable deserved to be fired. However, I his
connection with Josh Allen was great. Josh Allen has had
massive influence on who the coordinator's post Dable would be.
(30:59):
It seems like there's a little angst there Dabel and McDermott.
According to the great Tyler Dunn, who has a great
substack that people should subscribe to. Go long TD. You know,
as reported that the Dabel McDermott relationship was not great
at the end and had a great story a couple
(31:19):
of years ago about whether or not they kept the
wrong coach and letting Dabel leave and keeping McDermott. Would
they consider bring Dabel back and reuniting him with Josh
Allen as the head coach. I'm sure they you know,
I shouldn't say. I'm sure I would think they'd love
(31:40):
him as the coordinator, but I don't know what that
relationship with McDermott is. Just something to consider now. As
far as the comebacks, this weekend, the Jags just invent
ways to lose. Some of it's on Trevor. He was
not good in that game, but the comeback was more
on the defense. It was a miracle with how poorly
(32:02):
Trevor had played that they were up twenty nine to
ten and then they just invented a way to lose.
Just a horrific beat for me and picks in the
whole nine And credit to Caleb for a second straight
weekend with clutch drives in the fourth quarter to really
(32:25):
flip the narrative on him in their season. And I
don't think the Bears are that good, but they dominated Cincinnati,
then collapsed and then stole it back. They got dominated
by the Giants and then stole it And now all
(32:49):
of a sudden, they're in Minnesota, a team that they
dominated for three quarters in Week one and then gave
the game away with a chance to get to seven
and three. And yeah, I mean there were a field
goal underdog and so and I'll say one other thing
(33:12):
about the Bears. All of a sudden, those two Packer
games late in the year don't seem quite as ominous,
and they are huge games, just absolutely huge games because
those teams are now, I guess they're both still in
(33:32):
the thick of the NFC North Race and while also
being in the thick of wait, could we miss the playoffs?
The producers are asking me worse mistakes, selling my Caleb
Stock too soon or holding onto my Trevor Stock. Well, listen,
I didn't sell my Caleb Stock. I diversified my portfolio
(33:53):
a bit, but I you know, I still I still
have some of it. The Trevor Stock might be going
to zero boys now. On the bright side, in two years,
when Trevor Lawrence is the starting quarterback for Kyle Shanahan
(34:14):
San Francisco forty nine ers and looks like the league MVP,
I'll get to have Colin's Sam Darnald moment right that
he's having right now. We'll get to Donald in a moment.
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So I got this game dead wrong. The Bucks off
(35:45):
of by get upset by Drake May and the Patriots.
The Bucks are in a bit of a rough stretch,
and they all of a sudden have a massive game
for both teams this weekend at Buffalo, And we've said
this all year that the Bucks had this Pats Bills
(36:07):
Rams stretch, which is really hard, and then the softest
final six games of the year one could ever imagine, Cardinals, Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Dolphins, Panthers.
Part of our Bucks to the Super Bowl belief was
that because of that schedule, they could be the one
seed and if they can get a split at Buffalo
(36:32):
and at the Rams, that still vary in play. If
they can get a split at Buffalo and at the Rams,
they absolutely can just sweep that right hand column and
be thirteen and four. If they lose both of those games,
then you probably have less faith in them also sweeping
that right hand of the column, and all of a sudden,
(36:54):
they're likely eleven and six, and it feels a little like, Okay,
these are the Bucks teams we've seen before. I still
believe this team has Super Bowl upside, particularly because they
are they are going to get everyone back, with the
(37:16):
possible question about Mike Evans, and they dealt with just
a disproportionate amount of injuries. But that was a game
they were up early and then got thoroughly outplayed by
the Patriots, who shout out. Listen man, everybody, every NFL
(37:41):
fan out there should look at what the Patriots are
doing and then ask themselves, why are we Why is
our If you're in a rebuild, why is our rebuild
not gone? The way the Patriots has under variable And
the answer for all of them if it's not going
(38:04):
well is we either have the wrong coach or the
wrong quarterback, unless they're a rookie rookie rookie quarterbacks or
rookie quarterbacks. But all it takes to become a contender
is the right coach and the right quarterback. Everything else
you can fill in around the edges. And if you're
(38:26):
certain you have the right coach and the teams you
know still in the midst of is still floundering, then
you don't have the right quarterback. And if you're certain
you have the right quarterback and the team's floundering, then
you don't have the right coach. It's really that simple.
And now that's just to be like on the periphery
(38:46):
of contending. To actually win a championship, it takes a
lot more, but you can turn it around that quick
in this league if you have the right coach and
the right quarterback, and the Patriots are showing you that,
and I think Drake while Stafford to me is clearly
the MVP right now. I understand the reason Drake May
(39:08):
is the best MVP odds is they think he's likely
to be the one or the two seed, and there's
a chance because of how good Seattle's been that Stafford's
a wild card and that just really hurts your ability
to be legal to be MVP for the quarterback of
a wild card team. So that's why the odds are
where they are. But through ten weeks, Stafford's been the MVP,
(39:32):
but Drake May is now just gonna be a perennial
top five quarterback. I really believe in that. I think
he's that good. He's only twenty three, he's big, he's strong,
he's tough, he's legit and Vrabel Rabel's game management stuff.
I just like so much that he's so he's always
(39:53):
thinking about stuff. He did something and it almost cost
him and maybe it's not even the right PA move,
but it's something I from my couch have wanted my
team to do for years, which is recognized. At the
end of the half. The goal is not necessarily simply
score a touchdown, the goal is two. Like let me
(40:20):
put it like this end of half. Too often teams
don't recognize, all right, if we score a touchdown and
leave the other team plenty of time and they go
down and get a field goal, that is only one
point better than if we just killed all the clock
and kicked the field goal ourself. That's only a way,
(40:42):
you know. It's seven to three versus three. Nothing's only
one point better. And if we and if we score
a touchdown and leave them plenty of time and they
go down and get a touchdown, that's a net zero
as opposed to grinding out the clock and kicking a
field goal, which is a net positive three. Rabel was
thinking about that, which is why when he had first
(41:04):
in goal from the one and Tampa having zero timeouts,
there was a minute forty left he took a knee.
Now the Patriots afterwards lied about it. That's fine, that's
what he was doing. And I know some of the
analytic models things that's a mistake. I thought it was
incredibly sharp. Incredibly sharp. Where you are you feel like
(41:25):
we're still going to be able to get a touchdown.
So let's limit the amount of time the opposing team's
gonna have to come back on us. I think it's
super sharp, and so I listen. I know Drake May
said Videvea blew up the play. I do not believe him,
and I think the Patriots are really buttoned up. Hey guys,
(41:50):
you ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rents going up,
streaming services are going up. Even your favorite burrito spot
suddenly thinks, sauls it should coss extra boost Mobile. You
and your phone don't have to play the will this
go up soon?
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Game?
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Why? Because Boosmo was a unlimited talk, text and data
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same price you'll pay for life. So switch now for
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they remain active on the boost Unlimited plan. All right,
(42:23):
Lions beat the commanders. The commanders are done. Dan Campbell
took over play calling. I'm not sure if I fully
buy that he took over all play calling, but he
did have his glasses on play sheet in hand. This
is something interesting to monitor with the Lions as the
(42:43):
Lions have a really important stretch coming up. I'll be
totally honest, I was that afternoon window of the Lions
blowing out the Commanders, the Seahawks blowing out Arizona, and
the Rams blowing out the Niners was kind of uninspiring.
(43:05):
I wish one of those games had been good. So
I'm not gonna say I was checked out, but I
was watching Rams Niners the closest. But that's a good
bounce back win for Detroit. And then the night game
Chargers Steelers, Aaron looked old and looked like he didn't
want to get hit. I mean that, and all of
a sudden, the Ravens are minus two eighty or something
(43:26):
to win the division. The Steelers margin arra has evaporated.
The Chargers, on the other hand, looked awesome and credit
to Justin Herbert. And I don't think I did a
great job on TV on this yesterday, so I want
to just clarify here. I think Herbert was excellent in
that game, and I think Herbert has the ability to
(43:49):
be excellent. The point I was trying to make on
TV yesterday was I just don't want if he's not excellent,
or if the Chargers end up collapsing, or if they're
nine to eight and sneak into the playoffs and losing
Round one, I just don't want to hear how oh,
(44:11):
it's like, what do you want from him? Is offensive
line's hurt? It's the NFL, man, everybody's dealing with something.
The Chargers have had bad offensive line injury. Luck Luckily,
they have a great defense, a great head coach, supposedly
a great quarterback, and we just saw them against Pittsburgh
dominate with the team they're gonna have moving forward. So
(44:36):
if Herbert's supposed to be one of the five best
quarterbacks in football, which all of his fans swear he is,
then they should be a legitimate contender right now. And
let's just on Sunday night, they looked like it all right.
The other games quickly Broncos beat the Raiders. I'm gonna listen,
We're into a ton of Broncos chief stuff this weekend,
(44:58):
and this week I should say the the event is awesome.
Bo Nicks is not good. He is not scary, and
I believe he is the reason they are going to
go from eight and two to being a wild Card
team Colts beat the Falcons thirty one to twenty five.
Jonathan Taylor is maybe one of the best running backs
(45:19):
of his generation. The guy for his NFL career has
averages one hundred and ten yards from scrimmage per game
and nearly a touchdown per game in seventy seven games.
Just an unbelievable football player. Jets beat the Browns twenty
seven to twenty thanks to a couple kicker or special
teams touchdowns. Justin Fields completed six passes in that game, saying,
(45:41):
to meet the Panthers seventeen to seven in a game,
I'll just be totally honest. I was not locked in
on at all. Tyler Schucket looks like played, Okay. Ravens
be the Vikings twenty seven to nineteen in the game
I did watch closely. Great win for the Ravens. Not
a great game for the Ravens, and they they just
(46:02):
haven't looked like the Ravens yet this year. Maybe that's coming,
but at this point they just need to stack wins
and then maybe the two best teams in football. Not
much to say about them right now other than they
might be the two best teams in football. The Seahawks
annihilated the Cardinals second straight game. They were up twenty
eight to nothing in the second quarter, and the Rams
(46:23):
beat the Niners soundly, and now we get Seahawks Rams
this weekend. I cannot wait more on that, those two
teams and Thursday show, and I am not going to
do the very sappy.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
I might.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
I don't. Demonse would be mad at me about this,
and I kind of want to do like a long
form tribute to my son because the news is my son,
my co host Demonse is not going to be here
for the next few weeks because my son is now
(47:02):
a dad and his baby girl, Mila, was born Sunday morning,
and I'm just so so yes, I'm a grandfather now
and I'm just so over the moon happy. My wife's
(47:24):
out there in California and I I, uh, I can't
describe it. And again I don't. This should have been
Demande's announcement to make, but we didn't really plan it
that well in that he was like, I'll announce it
(47:45):
when I come back, and then with is you know
it's gonna be on social media? Like what? So, this
is what I want to say. Demand has not had
the easiest go of it, and he for people that
know about my family whatever, you know, my wife was
(48:06):
very very young when she had Demanse under some really
tough circumstances. And he's been through a bunch and he,
like everybody you know, has had some successes and some failures,
and you know, it's sometimes been maybe more down on
himself than I you know, felt was right.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
And and his his fortitude and ability to just continue
striving forward and what he's the man he's turned into
in the last five years, from just announcing to his
mom and I he's leaving the house he needs to
(48:52):
go figure it out on his own and got a
job in the Midwest building fences to just kind of
become a.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
Grown man and on that from there to where now
he's worked at Fox for a few years, does a
great job there, is so good and so fun on
this podcast, and now is starting a family of his own.
It's just unbelievable and I'm just so proud of and
we'll talk. I'll talk about about that more with him
(49:25):
when he's back. But congrats to him and Maddie on
the baby Girl. Mila, love you all so very much.
Talk to you guys Thursday.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
What's right
Welcome in What's Driving the Great Episode three p.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Ninety.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This episode has always brought to you by our friends
at boost Mobile, and Demanse is not here today. We
will explain why later in the show. If you watched
the very beginning of First Things First tomorrow or yesterday,
how could you have watched the very beginning of First
Things First tomorrow? If you walked to the very beginning
of First Things First yesterday, or if you follow my
(00:27):
wife on Instagram, you already know why Demanda's not here
if you didn't do those two things. And first of all,
why would you not have done one? And why would
you be doing the other? Why would you miss the
beginning of the show? And why are you following my
wife on Instagram? Uh, you already know if you've got
it through those sources or those avenues, but if not,
(00:48):
we will discuss it later in the show. However, we
have a ton to get to. We have a very
tight clock today because I sadly misread my calendar and
double booked myself this Tuesday. I booked myself for something
that I thought was tomorrow, but it is for today,
and we have breaking news. Nico Harrison's been fired more
on that in a second but first rate to voicemail
(01:08):
brought to you by Boost Mobile. Lebron's gonna practice with
the south By Lakers this week. Gronk is gonna retire
as a Patriot, and Joe Burrow returns to practice. The
guy loves football. Good for him. Will it matter? I
don't think so. We will discuss that in a bit.
Reminder of everyone to like, rate, subscribe, review to the pot,
(01:29):
please Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, all of it. It helps us greatly,
and I think again, stay tuned for the end of
the show for a really awesome announcement. So Tim McMahon,
who is as plugged into the MAVs as anyone with
respect to Mark Stein, telegraph this a bit yesterday on
(01:51):
The Great Hoop Collective podcast with he and Wendy and
my pal Tim Bond TIMPs talking that Nico Harrison could
be fired and Nico Harrison, Now, I don't want to
incorrectly report this as we record live or we broadcast
live at ten thirty four am Eastern, Nico Harrison has
(02:13):
not yet been fired. In a truly mortifying end to
a truly indefensible nine month reign of terror, Nico Harrison
has a meeting with MAVs ownership in twenty five minutes
(02:36):
where he will be fired. I gotta tell you, I'm
not sure I'd show up to that meeting. If Shams
has it and the whole world knows that, you know
what guys with this can be a zuom So the
impacts and implications of this are far reaching. Most note
(03:00):
is the following. And this might sound shocking, this might
sound drastic, but I believe this to be true. Teams
around the league should immediately call Dallas and ask about
(03:25):
Anthony Davis's availability. Certainly teams around the league that would
be interested, and this probably is going to have to
be something far later once you see him if he
returns pre trade deadline should ask about Kyrie Irving. And
that is because the Dallas Mavericks are now in total
(03:51):
build around Cooper Flag try to rebuild our draft capital.
That keep in mind they do not either have they
either don't have well, they either don't have a pick
or don't have their own pick. In the next four drafts,
they had gone all in around historically great superstar Lukadancic
(04:17):
and then because of Ego and Hubris Lukadancich was traded
in the middle of the night in the type of
move that if there were ever cause for a fan
base to file a class action lawsuit against management, this
(04:44):
would be it. You had one of the greatest players
ever at the very beginning of the prime of his career.
And I said it at the time and I will
say it again, And because of nothing more than power
(05:08):
and ego, you lit the franchise on fire, power and ego.
Everyone was searching for why Nico would have done this,
and the only logical and it's not logical, but the
(05:28):
only reasonable explanation was he didn't like the fact that
someone within the organization had more power than him, and
that someone was Luca. So we got him out of there.
And it will go down in the annals of sports
(05:55):
history as one of the single greatest gaffes in a
front office has ever made. That is not an overreaction,
that is not an overstatement. That is simply what it
(06:20):
was the moment it happened, and now is being exacerbated
night in night out as Luca, instead of coming off
an injury as he was last year, reminds everyone, Yes,
I am the guy who dragged a Dallas Mavericks team
to the conference finals when I was twenty two and
(06:43):
to the NBA Finals when I was twenty four, And
now I'm twenty six, and I have more first team
All NBAS under my belt than Steph Curry does. And
you got rid of me, and I don't. I also
don't think this is an overstatement. Nico Harrison will never
(07:08):
work in an NBA front office again. He's gonna have
to work for Nike or an agency or something. But
this is you cannot recover from something like this, and
the arrogance that less than you know. We are a
(07:30):
dozen games into this season and Nico after they spun
a one point eight percent lottery ball chance into Cooper Flag.
The fact that he said, do you see the vision
now was one of the most tone deaf, ludicrous statements.
(07:54):
And I'm not a MAVs fan. Hell, I'm gonna DiPT
did I guess Laker fan? Because that's who Bron plays for.
So the Lakers getting Luca, who's my second favorite player,
was and he and Bron playing together was a true dream.
(08:15):
And I'm still mad about this trade on behalf of
mad fans. I can't imagine what this is This was
a sports felony inflicted upon a fan base. And yes,
(08:36):
now the villain has been captured and is facing justice,
but it doesn't change the havoc he reeked and the
long term impact on your fandom. So I I want
(09:01):
to just revisit before we get to last night's game,
before we get to football, what I set off the
top and credit to Tim Bond, TIMPs. He's been talking
about this for a while, but now it is to
me a more because it was never gonna happen with
Nico in charge. But the Dallas Mavericks have to consider
(09:26):
a fire sale. So let me let me. I want
to give everyone the actual draft picks situation for Dallas.
In twenty twenty six, they have their pick, so my apologies,
(09:46):
I said that wrong. Twenty twenty six, they have their pick.
This year, they have their pick, and maybe that's good
because right now they're terrible. In twenty twenty seven, they're
pick basically totally unprotected, protected only for spots one or two.
(10:07):
So unprotected goes to Charlotte. In twenty twenty eight, Jesus,
the rich get richer, the thunder can swap with them.
In twenty twenty nine, their pick goes somewhere in a swap,
(10:34):
and they do have the Lakers pick, and in twenty thirty,
my god, the Spurs can swap with them. So first
of all, in twenty twenty eight and twenty thirty, the
Mavericks first round pick is gonna go to the Thunder
(10:56):
and then the Spurs. Holy shit, in twenty twenty nine,
their pick goes somewhere. I can't figure it out. It
says two most favorable of Dallas Houston, Phoenix to Houston
and then other to Brooklyn via Dallas and Phoenix to
(11:16):
Brooklyn via Dallas, or Phoenix to Houston via Houston. Swap
for Dallas or Phoenix. I don't get it, but whatever,
the MAVs will not after this coming year's draft. They
do not have control of their their first until twenty
thirty one until Cooper flag is in the midst of
(11:37):
his second contract, so they need to recoop picks they
need to figure out, like Klay Thompson's contract is fully underwater.
Kyrie's an interesting one, and I it's just and by
(12:02):
the way, they're three and eight and I think, let
me check, I think they have literally the worst offense
in the NBA. I know. So let's just check in
real quick. Defense wins championships, because that's all we heard
from this guy. All we heard from him. Their offense
(12:29):
is oh, is it no longer dead last? The hold on?
Let me, I had it. I thought they were dead last.
Maybe I'm wrong because that says they're fourteenth right now, So, oh,
that's last year. I'm looking at last year. It's like,
(12:50):
hold on a second, This can't be correct. They can't
be the Mavericks having the fifteenth offense. No chance, all
right here we go. Oh no, if fair is fair,
they don't have the worst offense in the basketball. They
have the second worst offensive basketball to the Pacers, whose
best player Torre's Achilles in Game seven of the finals,
(13:12):
and second best or third best player left the team. Now,
I mean, this is just perfect, just chef's kiss. Perfect
defense wins championships. The Dallas Mavericks are three and eight.
They fired Nico Harrison. They currently have the third best
(13:33):
defense in basketball. Maybe that was a miscalculation because you
have the second worst offense in basketball. Good luck, MAVs fans.
I feel sick for you all right now to ours.
(13:55):
We had three dog primetime games this week. It started
with a ten to seven Broncos win over the Raiders.
It ended with a ten to seven Eagles win over
the Packers, and sandwiched in the middle was Aaron Rodgers
(14:18):
looking every bit of forty one years old, and the
Chargers blowing them out after a game that was three
to two at one point. So the Eagles win ten
to seven quickly on the Packers, and then we will
get to Philadelphia. The Packers have now lost all three
(14:42):
of their losses. Their defense has not allowed seventeen points
that I think that is more losses when the defense
allows less than seventeen than the rest of the NFL combined.
Aside from the bizarre Cowboys forty to forty tie, that
(15:08):
defense has been as advertised. But there seems to be
a weird disconnect growing between Jordan Love and Matt Lafleur.
And the Matt Lafleur thing that came out of nowhere
was Matt Schneiderman from The Athletic wrote an article this
(15:30):
morning and asked Lafloor last night about his job security,
which I did not see coming. But Jordan Love at
zero touchdowns one pick a seventy four rating over the
last two weeks, two losses, the team has scored a
total of twenty points. Now do I think the Packers
(15:51):
are gonna miss the playoffs? No, but it can't be dismissed.
Right now, they're the seventh seed, with San Francisco being
percentage points back. As the eighth seed, San Francisco has
(16:12):
a far easier schedule moving forward and green Bay has
a far tougher one. So as far as easiest schedules
moving forward, san Francisco has or toughest skill Let me
do it a different way. San Francisco has the twentieth
(16:33):
toughest schedule moving forward, so thirteenth easiest, and green Bay
has the ninth toughest. Green Bay has one game left
against a bad team, flat bad team, that's the Giants.
San Francisco has Titans, Brown's, Cardinals Panthers, so that obviously
greatly works in their favor. Now, even if San Francisco
(16:58):
gets hot, the question is could Chicago fall out of it?
Who has the second hardest schedule remaining? And that's certainly
on the board. So I don't predict green Bay misses
the playoffs, but it's certainly possible. More importantly, though, that
(17:19):
team's got to figure out what's going on with the offense.
That's the story out of green Bay this weekend. The
more interesting thing, as always, is the pat the Eagle
side of it, because the Eagles just they're they are
(17:39):
just saints of the content industrial. Uh, what are you complex?
They win, but they win in such bizarre fashion, and
they create these firestorms that you see, you see them
(18:02):
lighting fires during the game that you know are going
to sustain at least until next week, even while you
expect them to win. So yesterday was just a horrific
offensive performance where once again, after declining to trade AJ Brown,
(18:23):
they decided to pretend he's not on the team. That is,
of course, until the very end of the game, when
they have the game stone one, as all they've got
to do with thirty one seconds left is punt the ball,
(18:45):
and green Bay is going to have the ball with
around twenty five seconds left, maybe backed up inside their
own twenty worst case scenario for Philly on their own
twenty and no timeouts. Instead, Sirianni leaves the offense out there,
(19:06):
has them go for it, and then tries to feed
aj Brown a feel good highlight moment. It falls incomplete
and all of a sudden, the Packers are two plays
away from being in field goal range. Just an absolute
banana's decision, soaked in either ego or trying to play
(19:32):
Kate what you know is going to be an upset
AJ Brown. Yeah, man, we didn't go to you all game,
but we went to you when it counted. All this
just craziness, right, And it gave the Packers a chance
to win the game. It gave him a or at
(19:53):
least tie the game and then winning an overtime, so
I know. I mean, Siriani's record is what it is.
And the Eagles defense looked awesome, and while Saquan got
bottled up on the ground again, he did have the
one long reception that was huge. But Philly is just
(20:15):
such a weird team and they they simply seem allergic
to drama free wins. And I don't know what has
happened to the jail and hurts AJ Brown connection, but
(20:38):
I know it is in shambles compared to what it
once was. And Siriani's call to go for that fourth
down was just as poor game management as it gets.
And for folks that always freak out about the analytics, Boogeyman.
(20:59):
It should be noted every single analytical model preferred punt there,
every single one. Sirianni was going for a highlight moment
that could have cost him the game. With that said,
they're seven and two after they play the Lions this
(21:22):
coming Sunday night. They've got Cowboys, Bears, Chargers, Raiders, Commanders, Bills, Commanders.
So given that we expect the NFC North and NFC
West to beat up on each other, and Tampa just lost,
(21:44):
Philly's in really good shape to maybe be the one seed.
They're just such a weird team, such a weird team
that wins but in not even dramatic, just angst fashion.
So Scruffdog says Casey won the same ugly games last year.
(22:08):
No doubt Casey won close, but Casey was right or wrong,
a brilliant after the games, running onto the field, celebrating
locker room totally connected. What Casey wasn't doing was having
a weekly heart to heart with their star receiver. I
(22:32):
guess in bart because last year Casey had no star
receivers and Andy Reid calling some of the most absolutely
bizarre end of game plays. So I got no problem
with winning ugly, but that was weird and by the way,
(22:52):
and I'm not gonna spend time on it because I
just at this point I don't get why the NFL
can't get this right. But once again, the Packers are
in a fourth in inches, they line up for a
regular football play. They false start, it gets called. The
Eagles are in a fourth in inches. They line up
(23:13):
for their stupid rugby play. They obviously on lie on
live camera, not on slow moo replay false start. It
doesn't matter whatever, man. Today's show is brought to you
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with it. Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. The biggest upset of
(25:40):
the weekend Buffalo getting blown out by Miami. And so
Buffalo is still the team that I would least like
to play in the postseason in the AFC if I'm
Kansas City. But there are some red flags here, Okay.
(26:09):
One is this, As of a month ago, the Bills
had one double digit loss in the last four years.
In their last sixty games, they had one loss by
more than a score, and it was the blowout to
(26:29):
Baltimore last season. And then they avenged it and beat
Baltimore in the playoffs. They have two double digit losses
in their last month of football, ten points to Atlanta
and really getting boat raced by Miami when Miami controlled
(26:52):
every aspect of the game. That is concerning the fact
that the Bills themselves might not think they're quite good enough,
evidenced by the fact that they offered a one and
a three for Jail and Waddle. That is a little
(27:14):
concerning the fact that Josh Allen is starting to turn
the ball over again, but now it's not coming with
the quick strike sixty yard touchdowns on the other side
of it. That is a little concerning. So it's not
(27:37):
the sky is falling, but it is a little.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Also, they are going to be I now fully believe
and this is real, tangible and it matters, and it
might happen to the Chiefs too. But they are going
to be the wild card team in the AFC East.
(28:09):
They are going to be on the road for potentially
the entirety of the playoffs. That's not nothing. And when
they started four and oher with one of the softer
schedules in the league coming like as their next month,
(28:33):
they looked like they were in great shape for the
one seed, which is one thing they've never gotten since
Allen's been there. Now they're six and three with all
of a sudden weight is that a sneaky, tough remaining
schedule home for the Bucks, then a Thursday night road
(28:57):
game against a suddenly semi frisky Houston team, then at Pittsburgh,
then all of a sudden, a game against the Bengals
that people think Joe Burrow will be back for, then
at the Patriots. Then you take your breath a bit
at the Browns home for the Eagles, in a game
(29:20):
the Eagles might go into saying, hey we win this,
we can you know, one seed implications. And then at
the home for the Jets to you know as a
nice little end of season respite, so it's not nothing.
And then there's also this, which I think is noteworthy,
(29:42):
and we can fold this in to Brian Dable being
fired after another fourth quarter collapse by him. If this
goes badly for Buffalo, like badly, I don't think they'll
miss the playoffs. But if this goes, they're the five
(30:08):
seed and they go to Baltimore, which now is the
huge favor to win the AFC North and they lose
in round one, it would the Buffalo Bills consider reuniting
Brian Dable with Josh Allen, but not as a coordinator
(30:33):
as a head coach. It is something to think about. Again.
I think Dable deserved to be fired. However, I his
connection with Josh Allen was great. Josh Allen has had
massive influence on who the coordinator's post Dable would be.
(30:59):
It seems like there's a little angst there Dabel and McDermott.
According to the great Tyler Dunn, who has a great
substack that people should subscribe to. Go long TD. You know,
as reported that the Dabel McDermott relationship was not great
at the end and had a great story a couple
(31:19):
of years ago about whether or not they kept the
wrong coach and letting Dabel leave and keeping McDermott. Would
they consider bring Dabel back and reuniting him with Josh
Allen as the head coach. I'm sure they you know,
I shouldn't say. I'm sure I would think they'd love
(31:40):
him as the coordinator, but I don't know what that
relationship with McDermott is. Just something to consider now. As
far as the comebacks, this weekend, the Jags just invent
ways to lose. Some of it's on Trevor. He was
not good in that game, but the comeback was more
on the defense. It was a miracle with how poorly
(32:02):
Trevor had played that they were up twenty nine to
ten and then they just invented a way to lose.
Just a horrific beat for me and picks in the
whole nine And credit to Caleb for a second straight
weekend with clutch drives in the fourth quarter to really
(32:25):
flip the narrative on him in their season. And I
don't think the Bears are that good, but they dominated Cincinnati,
then collapsed and then stole it back. They got dominated
by the Giants and then stole it And now all
(32:49):
of a sudden, they're in Minnesota, a team that they
dominated for three quarters in Week one and then gave
the game away with a chance to get to seven
and three. And yeah, I mean there were a field
goal underdog and so and I'll say one other thing
(33:12):
about the Bears. All of a sudden, those two Packer
games late in the year don't seem quite as ominous,
and they are huge games, just absolutely huge games because
those teams are now, I guess they're both still in
(33:32):
the thick of the NFC North Race and while also
being in the thick of wait, could we miss the playoffs?
The producers are asking me worse mistakes, selling my Caleb
Stock too soon or holding onto my Trevor Stock. Well, listen,
I didn't sell my Caleb Stock. I diversified my portfolio
(33:53):
a bit, but I you know, I still I still
have some of it. The Trevor Stock might be going
to zero boys now. On the bright side, in two years,
when Trevor Lawrence is the starting quarterback for Kyle Shanahan
(34:14):
San Francisco forty nine ers and looks like the league MVP,
I'll get to have Colin's Sam Darnald moment right that
he's having right now. We'll get to Donald in a moment.
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So I got this game dead wrong. The Bucks off
(35:45):
of by get upset by Drake May and the Patriots.
The Bucks are in a bit of a rough stretch,
and they all of a sudden have a massive game
for both teams this weekend at Buffalo, And we've said
this all year that the Bucks had this Pats Bills
(36:07):
Rams stretch, which is really hard, and then the softest
final six games of the year one could ever imagine, Cardinals, Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Dolphins, Panthers.
Part of our Bucks to the Super Bowl belief was
that because of that schedule, they could be the one
seed and if they can get a split at Buffalo
(36:32):
and at the Rams, that still vary in play. If
they can get a split at Buffalo and at the Rams,
they absolutely can just sweep that right hand column and
be thirteen and four. If they lose both of those games,
then you probably have less faith in them also sweeping
that right hand of the column, and all of a sudden,
(36:54):
they're likely eleven and six, and it feels a little like, Okay,
these are the Bucks teams we've seen before. I still
believe this team has Super Bowl upside, particularly because they
are they are going to get everyone back, with the
(37:16):
possible question about Mike Evans, and they dealt with just
a disproportionate amount of injuries. But that was a game
they were up early and then got thoroughly outplayed by
the Patriots, who shout out. Listen man, everybody, every NFL
(37:41):
fan out there should look at what the Patriots are
doing and then ask themselves, why are we Why is
our If you're in a rebuild, why is our rebuild
not gone? The way the Patriots has under variable And
the answer for all of them if it's not going
(38:04):
well is we either have the wrong coach or the
wrong quarterback, unless they're a rookie rookie rookie quarterbacks or
rookie quarterbacks. But all it takes to become a contender
is the right coach and the right quarterback. Everything else
you can fill in around the edges. And if you're
(38:26):
certain you have the right coach and the teams you
know still in the midst of is still floundering, then
you don't have the right quarterback. And if you're certain
you have the right quarterback and the team's floundering, then
you don't have the right coach. It's really that simple.
And now that's just to be like on the periphery
(38:46):
of contending. To actually win a championship, it takes a
lot more, but you can turn it around that quick
in this league if you have the right coach and
the right quarterback, and the Patriots are showing you that,
and I think Drake while Stafford to me is clearly
the MVP right now. I understand the reason Drake May
(39:08):
is the best MVP odds is they think he's likely
to be the one or the two seed, and there's
a chance because of how good Seattle's been that Stafford's
a wild card and that just really hurts your ability
to be legal to be MVP for the quarterback of
a wild card team. So that's why the odds are
where they are. But through ten weeks, Stafford's been the MVP,
(39:32):
but Drake May is now just gonna be a perennial
top five quarterback. I really believe in that. I think
he's that good. He's only twenty three, he's big, he's strong,
he's tough, he's legit and Vrabel Rabel's game management stuff.
I just like so much that he's so he's always
(39:53):
thinking about stuff. He did something and it almost cost
him and maybe it's not even the right PA move,
but it's something I from my couch have wanted my
team to do for years, which is recognized. At the
end of the half. The goal is not necessarily simply
score a touchdown, the goal is two. Like let me
(40:20):
put it like this end of half. Too often teams
don't recognize, all right, if we score a touchdown and
leave the other team plenty of time and they go
down and get a field goal, that is only one
point better than if we just killed all the clock
and kicked the field goal ourself. That's only a way,
(40:42):
you know. It's seven to three versus three. Nothing's only
one point better. And if we and if we score
a touchdown and leave them plenty of time and they
go down and get a touchdown, that's a net zero
as opposed to grinding out the clock and kicking a
field goal, which is a net positive three. Rabel was
thinking about that, which is why when he had first
(41:04):
in goal from the one and Tampa having zero timeouts,
there was a minute forty left he took a knee.
Now the Patriots afterwards lied about it. That's fine, that's
what he was doing. And I know some of the
analytic models things that's a mistake. I thought it was
incredibly sharp. Incredibly sharp. Where you are you feel like
(41:25):
we're still going to be able to get a touchdown.
So let's limit the amount of time the opposing team's
gonna have to come back on us. I think it's
super sharp, and so I listen. I know Drake May
said Videvea blew up the play. I do not believe him,
and I think the Patriots are really buttoned up. Hey guys,
(41:50):
you ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rents going up,
streaming services are going up. Even your favorite burrito spot
suddenly thinks, sauls it should coss extra boost Mobile. You
and your phone don't have to play the will this
go up soon?
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Game?
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Why? Because Boosmo was a unlimited talk, text and data
plan at a price they'll never go up. In fact,
same price you'll pay for life. So switch now for
unlimited wireless at a price that will never go up.
Only at Boostmobile after thirty gigs, customers may experience lower speeds.
Customers will pay twenty dollars per month as long as
they remain active on the boost Unlimited plan. All right,
(42:23):
Lions beat the commanders. The commanders are done. Dan Campbell
took over play calling. I'm not sure if I fully
buy that he took over all play calling, but he
did have his glasses on play sheet in hand. This
is something interesting to monitor with the Lions as the
(42:43):
Lions have a really important stretch coming up. I'll be
totally honest, I was that afternoon window of the Lions
blowing out the Commanders, the Seahawks blowing out Arizona, and
the Rams blowing out the Niners was kind of uninspiring.
(43:05):
I wish one of those games had been good. So
I'm not gonna say I was checked out, but I
was watching Rams Niners the closest. But that's a good
bounce back win for Detroit. And then the night game
Chargers Steelers, Aaron looked old and looked like he didn't
want to get hit. I mean that, and all of
a sudden, the Ravens are minus two eighty or something
(43:26):
to win the division. The Steelers margin arra has evaporated.
The Chargers, on the other hand, looked awesome and credit
to Justin Herbert. And I don't think I did a
great job on TV on this yesterday, so I want
to just clarify here. I think Herbert was excellent in
that game, and I think Herbert has the ability to
(43:49):
be excellent. The point I was trying to make on
TV yesterday was I just don't want if he's not excellent,
or if the Chargers end up collapsing, or if they're
nine to eight and sneak into the playoffs and losing
Round one, I just don't want to hear how oh,
(44:11):
it's like, what do you want from him? Is offensive
line's hurt? It's the NFL, man, everybody's dealing with something.
The Chargers have had bad offensive line injury. Luck Luckily,
they have a great defense, a great head coach, supposedly
a great quarterback, and we just saw them against Pittsburgh
dominate with the team they're gonna have moving forward. So
(44:36):
if Herbert's supposed to be one of the five best
quarterbacks in football, which all of his fans swear he is,
then they should be a legitimate contender right now. And
let's just on Sunday night, they looked like it all right.
The other games quickly Broncos beat the Raiders. I'm gonna listen,
We're into a ton of Broncos chief stuff this weekend,
(44:58):
and this week I should say the the event is awesome.
Bo Nicks is not good. He is not scary, and
I believe he is the reason they are going to
go from eight and two to being a wild Card
team Colts beat the Falcons thirty one to twenty five.
Jonathan Taylor is maybe one of the best running backs
(45:19):
of his generation. The guy for his NFL career has
averages one hundred and ten yards from scrimmage per game
and nearly a touchdown per game in seventy seven games.
Just an unbelievable football player. Jets beat the Browns twenty
seven to twenty thanks to a couple kicker or special
teams touchdowns. Justin Fields completed six passes in that game, saying,
(45:41):
to meet the Panthers seventeen to seven in a game,
I'll just be totally honest. I was not locked in
on at all. Tyler Schucket looks like played, Okay. Ravens
be the Vikings twenty seven to nineteen in the game
I did watch closely. Great win for the Ravens. Not
a great game for the Ravens, and they they just
(46:02):
haven't looked like the Ravens yet this year. Maybe that's coming,
but at this point they just need to stack wins
and then maybe the two best teams in football. Not
much to say about them right now other than they
might be the two best teams in football. The Seahawks
annihilated the Cardinals second straight game. They were up twenty
eight to nothing in the second quarter, and the Rams
(46:23):
beat the Niners soundly, and now we get Seahawks Rams
this weekend. I cannot wait more on that, those two
teams and Thursday show, and I am not going to
do the very sappy.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
I might.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
I don't. Demonse would be mad at me about this,
and I kind of want to do like a long
form tribute to my son because the news is my son,
my co host Demonse is not going to be here
for the next few weeks because my son is now
(47:02):
a dad and his baby girl, Mila, was born Sunday morning,
and I'm just so so yes, I'm a grandfather now
and I'm just so over the moon happy. My wife's
(47:24):
out there in California and I I, uh, I can't
describe it. And again I don't. This should have been
Demande's announcement to make, but we didn't really plan it
that well in that he was like, I'll announce it
(47:45):
when I come back, and then with is you know
it's gonna be on social media? Like what? So, this
is what I want to say. Demand has not had
the easiest go of it, and he for people that
know about my family whatever, you know, my wife was
(48:06):
very very young when she had Demanse under some really
tough circumstances. And he's been through a bunch and he,
like everybody you know, has had some successes and some failures,
and you know, it's sometimes been maybe more down on
himself than I you know, felt was right.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
And and his his fortitude and ability to just continue
striving forward and what he's the man he's turned into
in the last five years, from just announcing to his
mom and I he's leaving the house he needs to
(48:52):
go figure it out on his own and got a
job in the Midwest building fences to just kind of
become a.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
Grown man and on that from there to where now
he's worked at Fox for a few years, does a
great job there, is so good and so fun on
this podcast, and now is starting a family of his own.
It's just unbelievable and I'm just so proud of and
we'll talk. I'll talk about about that more with him
(49:25):
when he's back. But congrats to him and Maddie on
the baby Girl. Mila, love you all so very much.
Talk to you guys Thursday.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
What's right
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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