December 30, 2022 • 44 mins
Mike Harmon and Bernie Fratto (in for Jason Smith) break down the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys. Despite some first half turnovers, Dak and the Cowboys are dealing against a struggling Titans squad. Mike and Bernie also dive into the Raiders’ woes, and evaluate Derrek Carr’s decision to step away from the team. Broncos players have come to the defense of QB Russell Wilson, and Mike and Bernie discuss whether Wilson can bounce back next year, and rekindle his play in Seattle. Plus, the guys talk about how far they think the Cowboys could go in the playoffs and Lamar Jackson’s contract situation.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two a m.
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot Com, or stream
us live every night on the I Heart Radio app
by searching fs R. This is the best of The
(00:22):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio. Greetings,
Welcome in a beautiful Thursday night activity all across this
great sporting landscape, and we've got the team assembled to
get you through it. We've got our guy Bobo, We've
got Brandon, We've got Steve de Saga on the updates,
and of course in for Jason Smith tonight only Bernie Fratto.
(00:45):
You hear him on the weekends Friday nights into Saturday morning,
Saturday into Sunday on the Bernie Fratto Show. Here I'm
on the airwaves here at Fox Sports Radio, always coming
to you live from the tire ract dot Com studios
tire rac dot Com. We'll help you get there an
unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection and
over ten thousand recommended installers. Tire act dot com The
(01:07):
way tire buying should be funny little thing happened on
the way to a roll over victory on Thursday Night football, Right,
Mike Rabels coaching them up, Bernie, welcome in. How are you? Mike?
My maiden voyage with You've been looking forward to this
and yeah, I think you just said it all. It's
not very lead. This is becoming what I am now
(01:29):
dubbing what you're talking about willis game, Because if you're
a Cowboys fan, as you just said, they were expecting
a walk over, and you know they still have designs
on catching Philadelphia and you know mathematically may not be likely.
But then you look at the Titans. What you're talking about,
willis We've lost five in a row. They're sitting multiple
(01:50):
starters tonight for various reasons. We all know why. They're
facing the number three offensive league. Get They've held Dallas
to ten points and Josh Dobbs is throwing for a
hundred forty yards in the first half of which doubles
what Malik Willis is average per game in his three starts.
So what's the old saying Mica in the NFL and
any given Thursday. Well, and that's the rule of order
(02:10):
in the National Football League this year. Just when you
think you've got things figured out, things change, whether in
the Midwest, wait five minutes, something else is gonna happen.
Right all week long, expecting that there'd be no Derrick Henry,
right with the week eighteen matchup against Jacksonville on tap,
so we were watching that and monitoring injury reports. And
(02:31):
as we know at this point in the year, you
can put anybody on an injury report. Nobody's a hundred percent.
Even if you just put mental fatigue for dealing with meetings,
you can certainly do that all along. But ten three
was the score and we had a little scary moment
deck scrambling. H he gets hit, he goes down, kind
of has a moment of oh he's limping a little bit,
(02:52):
scrambles for a first down. That's all fine and good,
but then this happened. There you go, Titans Radio Network
on the call. Always love the excitement, want to get
that in as we get things flowing, the team working overtime,
uh in the back to make that happen. Dallas was
having a nice efficient drive seven plays thirty six yards
and the boom the second interception from Dak Prescott trying
to get it out to Dalton Sholtza a bad, bad pass.
(03:16):
Uh totally missed that he was standing there. It's like
thinking you're gonna throw it through a man. Uh, like
it's a Marvel superhero movie. Did not happen. Uh. The
Titans are able to move down and get a field goal.
Nice play by the rookie Traylon Burkes to make that
happen along the sidelines, setting up a field goal for
the final play of the half. And now as we
(03:38):
get things rolling here, well, now now you get your touchdown. Uh.
Drive here from the from the Cowboys to extend their lead.
Dak Prescott with the ball fake and rolls back, and
the aforementioned Dalton Schultz, good old number eighties six in
your scorecard, Uh, finds his way into the end zone.
So those got ladies and gentlemen that had the minus
(04:01):
thirteen and a half or fourteen, maybe you got it
a minus twelve. Uh, you're feeling perhaps a little bit
better here, Bernie. Well the reason number thirty seven. I
don't ever think you want to lay double digits in
the National Football League, but especially in a stamina game
on Thursday night, the line got as high as fourteen
and a half and that's where professional support came in.
Closed about fourteen, but any one of those precarious numbers, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.
(04:26):
I got a feeling that you're you're not. You're gonna
have to really earn your money to that. And I
think Tennessee's done. And I suspected that Dallas would come
out in their first drive in the second half a
little bit more sense of purpose. If you look at
the body language of the Cowboys on the sideline at
the first half, they look like they're on value. So
the bottom line is whoa, whoa, whoa. Allegedly that's right,
(04:48):
but that's I should have run that by legal first.
That's right, I say. If I think I phrase that
they looked like they were you know, I got a
few holes in my game. I could be wrong. That
could be wrong. Could have been that you're doing the
body language expert. You know it's so early into things. Well,
you know, I like to take my shots. So Yogi
Berra once said, you can observe a lot by watching,
(05:10):
So you know, I have an opinion now and then
all good Dak Prescott twenty hundred seventy one yards touchdown
and two picks thus far, and those interceptions, of course,
get all the tongues wagon. See there's Dak, there's the
deck we expect. I love the fact that Josh Josh
Jobs was signed eight days ago off the Lions practice squad,
and he's a guy that's well traveled in these Football
(05:33):
League waters at this point, uh talking to the guys
in the back and to our crew, it's like, you know,
I love guys that are gonna be around the league
for a decade here or twelve years there, and you're like, well,
this is his first career start right that That is
one of the things that really just kind of popped off,
given that he's been around as long as he has.
But come then, and you've seen him make a couple
(05:54):
of big throws, some big opportunities. Obviously playing in place
of Ryan Tanning, Hill got put to I R, which
means he doesn't come back unless they make the championship game,
which nobody was giving them. Uh, well, probably about a
snowball's chance at this point, Bertie. But we we look
at Dobbs coming in over Malik Willis night of seventeen
(06:16):
hundred forty three yards, two sacks, Haskins only falling forward
at this point six carries for thirteen yards has made
a couple of nice throws. McMath and and Chestnutt had
the thirty three yards sprint and catching sprint. So you've
got that rolling. And I mentioned the past two burkes
that went for thirty but hanging around the game, and
(06:36):
you know, Vrabel is one of those guys that just
goes and does his job right. Tennessee is never going
to be the team that gives you a bunch of
headlines except for how many yards is King Henry rushed for?
Or Ryan Tannehill's name gets sucked in when we start
going into the luminary of luminaries of that third tier
of quarterbacks. I guess would be the fair way to
(06:57):
say it, you know, just good enough. And then we
have to decide, as we'll talk about Derek Carr as
you are there in Vegas, we'll be remissed to not
get the feel on the ground there of everything going
on there. But you know, Tannehill is a guy that's
mentioned in those same same categories Derek Carr good not great.
You need a lot of to work right to make it,
(07:19):
make it pop. And with Derek Carr, you know, we'll
see if there's a second decade to be had here
in the National Football League. But for this Tennessee Squad
seven and eight fighting it out with Jacksonville for the
a f C South Crown. We've watched the fun and
excitement that is the Indianapolis Colts, which is really about
as entertaining as it gets, which is why we we
(07:41):
say Derek Carr, and I know you would appreciate this
because I immediately tweeted out the old picture from the
Brady Bunch of Johnny Bravo trying on the coat because
he fits the profile of what Chris Ballard wants to do.
And I take every opportunity to raise my hand and say,
I don't understand why Chris Ballard gets the love he does.
When you keep picking quarterbacks that are far past their
(08:02):
prime or never were, so you got they fell off
as well you probably would have expected, never had Shaquille Leonard,
and it really gave you no juice. And then Houston
you were hoping for a little more juice. And they've
played some spirited football, particularly down the stretch. But it's
not winning football. And in multiple occasions you could point
(08:25):
to Love E. Smith playing losing ball with some of
the decisions that he makes in latent games. But it's
a two team race here in the final two weeks,
and that's all the the NFL would it would like.
I mean, obviously, fantasy owners really wish Derrick Henry was
out there running for them in this game, and that
Tony Pollard was running for them in this game. Unfortunately,
(08:45):
the fantasy gods laughed at you. And here we are
with a Thursday night game, competitive but not necessarily as compelling,
with some of those stars missing from action, and that
you know, that's part of it. We should not poo
poo that Dan Buyer talked about the earlier today and
that this is an entertainment medium and fantasy owners comprise
(09:05):
a big part of the audience. But I'm glad you
brought up Josh Dobbs. People don't realize he's been in
the league six years. He languaged in Pittsburgh and his
entire six years. Uh, Mikey through a total of seventeen
passes tonight, He's already thrown nineteen and he's going to
start next week. I believe he's percent he's going to
(09:25):
start next week, and you tease at a little bit.
Remember Tennessee plays Jacksonville next week, and this is for
all the marvels in the a f C South. Whoever
wins that game wins the a f C South. And obviously,
if if Tennessee were to win, to see Tennessee loses
tonight in Jacksonville wins this weekend, they're gonna both finish
with the same record, will beating each other once, but
(09:47):
by virtue having a better record in their own division,
Tennessee will advance as the FC South champion. So next
week's game means a lot. This is a bit of
a dress rehearsal for Joshua Dobbs and I know you
your referenced Tannahill and your reference Derek car. We're gonna
get to him later and such. But this is a
chance for Joshua Adopts to prove he can make some
plays in high leverage moments. And I think ultimately that
(10:10):
might have been Derek Cars undoing, even though there's more
of the store to unpacks. So here's a chance Joshua
Adopts takes the field and it's one of those do
you define the moment or the moment definds you and
they're hanging around right now. Well, the old rule of thumb,
don't throw up on yourself, especially in the standalone game.
And thus far he's throwing the ball pretty well. Just
completed another past to Burkes for one yards as these
(10:32):
on queue, his resume pops up on the Amazon broadcast Steelers, Jaguar, Steelers, Browns, Lions, Titans.
By the way, yes, you get into existence. Well here's
the thing. When you're an aeronautical engineer at Tennessee and
you get straight a's you're gonna travel a lot, I
would suppose, and you're like, you're gonna have off. The
(10:53):
doors are gonna open at Southwest if this quarterback thing
doesn't work out, oh too soon. Well the either hair
Joshua Dobbs or Lou Dobbs from c Into Why you
got Lou Dobbs reference and we're gonna keep I have
no idea. That's a good question. Note to Internet folks,
(11:15):
look up and give us the CV of Lou Dobbs
born in September. So at least you didn't name a
guy who's not around seventy seven years old out of
three or four decades. It's CNN. I don't believe he.
I don't believe he ever majored in aeronautical engineering, or
nor did I. I do have an m b A.
(11:36):
You see how well that's working out for me. He's
Bertie Fratto, went for Jason Smith up Mike Armon Here
Fox Sports Radio will keep you upprized of what's going
on in this Thursday night football game. The Titans facing
a fourth down here, five forty five left to go
in the third. Looks like they're gonna stay on the
field here for the fourth down. Try seventeen six as
(11:56):
your score. And we mentioned Derek Carr. So much to unpack.
We've done it a little bit the last forty eight hours.
Is we expected it and had all the permutations. We
got the news, and then there's so much that spills
out of it. Between Davante Adams car himself and photo
shopping him into a bunch of uniforms. You texted me
something earlier saying, maybe I shouldn't buy that at all,
(12:18):
and maybe I should just figure out what kind of
street clothes he's gonna wear. We'll talk about that in
a moment. But first, yeah, what We'll get the goods
from Bernie Frottle at Bernie Friddle where you find him
on Twitter find me over at Swollen Dum. Hey, this
is Jason McIntyre. Joined me every weekday morning on my podcast,
Straight Fired with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports
(12:41):
pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day.
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
the sports book, and all the best guests. Do yourself
a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever
(13:01):
you get your podcasts. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussar then Rob Parker
week days at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio Appy. Welcome in.
It's our two of the program. Yeah, it goes by
so fast and net live for the tire Act dot
(13:23):
Com Studios Mike Harman alongside Bernie Prattle, and for Jason Smith.
Jason will be back on Monday. We will celebrate that
January second day with you. Well, Monday night football recaps
of bowl games and playoff games and week seventeen and
we'll have we'll have the airing of the grievances of
all the guys. Who did you wrong in your Fantasy finals? Yeah,
(13:44):
there's no question there'll be a lot of that going on. Uh,
the failures lining up because some of the teams based
on circumstance while it's lining up for you just long
before the games even kicked off. But you know what,
you love the name so much and you're so tapped
into them, Davante Adams, that you'll play them anyway and
watch things Strongle. It's Bernie Fratto at Bernie Frattle where
(14:05):
you find them on Twitter. You hear him here Fox
Sports Radio Friday night follows our show starting at eleven
pm Pacific time, and then the same time Saturday night
as well, and then Sunday. I believe you're doing the
two to five Pacific slot alongside the Empire from what
right here ye looking forward to it had the good
fortune of doing that several times in the past few weeks.
(14:27):
And it's a lot of fun, a little bit of
Red Zone Radio as we flowed through five ten remaining
here a third and ten coming up. Cowboys now with
lead over the Titans. So feeling a little more comfortable.
Maybe maybe maybe if you bet them. We're broadcasting live
from the tire act dot Com studios. Tire act dot
Com will help you get there on unmatched selection, fast
(14:47):
free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand
recommended installers. Tire act dot Com The way tire buying
should be Bernie the Tease at the end of Last Hour,
I steal liberally from the songbook of Taylor Swift uh
and talking about rooting for the anti here, and I
(15:08):
think that's where we're at for at least some of
us here in the media world and in the NFL fandom,
in wondering aloud, can Aaron Rodgers actually lead the Packers
into the playoffs? Because, let's face it, the world's more
interesting when a guy like Aaron Rodgers, who made a
lot of enemies the last couple of years, he did
his sojourn with Miles Teller into some woods and and
(15:33):
jungles and whatever else, the ayahuasca and everything else, and
and you can go through all the permutations. People have
a liking problem with him, and that they don't uh,
and and all of those things. Who the guy is,
the threats of retirement, wanting out, all of those rumors, whispers, conjecture.
All he's done is go and play for an exorbitant
(15:54):
amount of money. Hey, take what you can earn. Uh.
And now they move forward, and with a team that
had been left for dead well two weeks left, it'll
take some extra things and and a little bit of help.
But you're in a situation whereby you've got a couple
of home dates against division foes, and I can get
into the whole thing of division foes and scheduling, damn buyer.
(16:15):
And I did that a little bit on the I
Watch Reflex podcast. Uh this week, Bernie, Indianapolis had five
of their seven division games in the first seven weeks
of the season. Tell me how that makes any sense.
But when we look at it, you've got two games
against divisional foes, Kirk Cousins. Everybody keeps waiting for the
other shoe to drop. And then the Detroit Lions. And
(16:36):
while many monologues and soliloquies have been made by all
of us about the Detroit Lions through the years, Bernie
uh So, all of a sudden, you've got a puncher's
chance and a guy that, Let's face it, it's always
good to have a team that has its big, built
in fan base. The love and hate watching is a
very real thing right now. The Cowboys. There's a lot
(16:58):
of folks that have no vested interest in this game
other than they love the NFL and they want bad
things to happen to the Cowboys. Well, first of all,
a lot to unpack, but I got the goods for
you here, big fellas. So um, look, as far as
the NFL playoff picture, particularly NFC which is not decided.
When it comes to the Packers, I've got a blank
(17:20):
space and I'll write their name. So here's where. Here's
where they need to win twice. They need to Detroit
at Minnesota and these two games, and they're both at
home against hothouse teams going on the road. But then
they need some help obviously, right, But all they need
is for the Washington Commanders to lose one game or
the Giants New York Giants to lose both of their
(17:42):
remaining games. The Giants play the Colton Eagles and the
Commanders play the Browns and Cowboys. So if the Packers
take care of business, it would seem to me and
according to the odds, their chances to make the playoffs.
But in Vegas they're they're two to one. I think
they're gonna do it. Mike, Yeah, the door opened. And
especially when you start adding Washington and the Giants into
(18:05):
the mix, and do the Giants lose twice? Probably that
maybe maybe not eight six and one on the year,
but you've got the command or seven seven one. Turning
to Carson Wentz, which is kind of a curiosity to me.
It's like, here's the we We've scored nineteen points a
game all year, and we've had this guy that has
been waiting in the wings, and suddenly he's gonna be
(18:26):
the savior. Really that that that's the magical elixir. Uh
for Ron Rivera and company, But for the Packers. You know,
one thing lamentably right. One of the things I'll raise
my hand and say I got horribly wrong was I
was expecting that defense to have some teeth and for
much of the season they don't get me started. Please, Well,
(18:48):
you know what, I'll I'm the guy that will raise
his hand and tell you when I get stuff wrong.
A lot of hosts won't. But but about it. First
of all, the Packers the season with seven first round
picks on defense. The problem is their defensive coordinator, Joe Berry,
looks like a drunk trend across the nicety street. I've
got history with Joe Perry. Remember the two thousand and
eight Detroit lines and went o In sixteen I covered
(19:11):
that team. Who was their defensive coordinator Joe Berry? But
he had a lot of years to learn, Bernie. You know,
Leon Spins had a lot of years to pass his
driving test, and how did that work out? I would
just say this, you are not wrong in terms of
their personnel and in terms of what was perceived to be.
They just have run the wrong scheme. Be that as
it may. As long as the Packers, I think the
(19:34):
Commanders will lose to the Cowboys. I don't know about
the Browns. The Browns are a mess. And you're right.
I think the Giants will at least split one of
their last two games against the Colton Eagles. But the
real key is I think the Packers will win their
last two in Lambeau. So this is yet to be decided,
and I think it makes the playoffs all that much
more interesting, Mike If and Aaron Rodgers is there, I
really do It's not you know, listen, the opposite of
(19:55):
love is not hate, it's indifference. So people will root
for or against him. It's like the Raiders, It's like
the New York Yankees, it's like the Dallas Cowboys. We
don't have royalty in this country. Are athletes and our entertainers.
They are our royalty. So just ask yourself when the
playoffs start, do you want to see Aaron Rodgers in there?
Do you want to see a Carson Wentz? Right? You
want to see the big names? Yeah, I think I'll
(20:17):
extend it because it's another team with the large fan base.
And we obliquely touched on it yesterday, but more and
more press conferences were another day closer. I want to
get into the hardball situation, and we could do either
high hardball with storylines as we go. But we're talking
about the ravens Lamar Jackson, and I've got the timeline
(20:38):
from reporters who have assembled quotes UH of coach Harbaugh
relating to Lamar Jackson, availability at practice, injury, etcetera. And
and it gets kind of interesting because let's just say
word economy is at play here unlike us on the radio,
and we wax poetically and loquaciously UH for four hours
a night every night here on Fox Sports Radio. But
(21:00):
the point is, Mike Tomlin in his press conference, I
thought said something really, really, really great and and that
relates back to us as fans, consumers of the product,
et cetera. Like anybody on talk radio and sports television
that tells you they're not a fan is lying through
their teeth. They're rooting for something somebody somewhere, And if
(21:25):
they're only interested in the gaming portion, then I get it.
They're rooting for upcomes and and sides. I get that.
But we all started because we love the sports UH
and sports teams that we were growing up. The Pittsburgh
Steelers one of the greatest fan bases ever. I had
the good fortune of being able to go to the
Super Bowl when the Steelers and Packers collided, no real
(21:47):
dog in the fight. I've made friends going to Latrobe
for years as part of training camp tours when I
lived on the East Coast, had some great interactions with
coach Tomlin and the staff there. We had a bunch
of Northwestern people that handled a lot of media stuff.
So we talked about Northwestern and our experiences there, whatever.
But they were always very affable uh and and hooked
you up to get accessibility to the players some of
(22:10):
the uh coutrements that go there. They had a dorm
you could stay in if you were doing a multi
day visit. Kind of cool. You'd eat in the same
mess hall as the players. But he brought it down
to this, Bernie of getting flexed into the Sunday night
game means you're still playing for something, right. It still
means that this game matters, and there's a lot of
(22:32):
people that look at it because on the surface, Ravens
with Tyler Huntley going up against Kenny Pickett a f
C North battle, you look at it. Where's the sex appeal? Right?
This isn't the hard hitting Ravens of years past. Lamar
Jackson's not gonna go all of those things. The star
power isn't necessarily there except for the longevity of these
(22:54):
squads and they're they're big fan bases. But it is
still to that point of you you're tapping into that
NFL culture and teams that do have that bit of following, right,
Any time Pittsburgh schedule comes out, what's the first thing
you have websites crashing trying to figure out accommodations and flights.
(23:15):
And I don't mean that glibly uh is glibly award.
As we talked about the snaff woos people have gone on,
you know, I had to undergo here. Wherever you may
be listening, we appreciate you giving us your time. If
you're stuck in an airport or on the road, be patient.
You'll get there. I know it sucks, okay, just it'll happen.
But but we know when the Steelers are on the
(23:36):
road there on the road, and their fans are come
into town. And and I think from Mike Tomlin at
this point, to have the Steelers again long shots and
and things that need to fall into place, but still
being viable not only for the five hundred season but
potentially for a playoff birth it's it's just good for football. Well,
first of all, you you mentioned the the greatness of
(23:59):
the steel their backers and the you know, the dedication
of their fan base. I covered Super Bowl forty Detroit
two thousand six Steelers. It was basically it was basically
a Steeler's home game, honest to God, and it was
an amazing turnout. So they travel well. Baltimore clinched the
playoff berth. Last week they beat Atlanta seventeen to nine.
(24:22):
They looked really, uh less than stellar. Let's say Pittsburgh
can win that game. Pittsburgh's currently holding down the number
eleventh slot. They're one of four FC teams that are right,
and it just seems like the stars are aligning. They
were all set to retire Franco Harris's jersey he passed.
Kenny Pickett was barking out Franco Franco and his cadence.
(24:44):
They beat the Raiders and dramatic fashion, didn't look good
doing it. Uh they get, you know, they got Look
as long as t J. Watt is healthy. The Steelers,
I mean they were two and six at the bye
week and three and seven on Thanksgiving, all of a
sudden other seven and eight and they're alive. So this
game is extremely meaningful and if you're Baltimore, you don't
want to hit into the playoffs with a loss, and
(25:05):
you don't want to beat Pittsburgh least. What was the
old you know adage Mike For a decade or so,
when these these two teams played, and this when it
was the Ray Lewis years, etcetera, it was always a
field goal game. It's it's still a hotly contested situation.
And now you realize that Lamar Jackson, he's missed ten
practices in a row. His availability is very much in question.
But Tyler Huntley, even though you know they don't draw
(25:28):
pictures in the scorebook when it comes to wins and
don't ask college is tom Anny. He is two and
one and so this will be a very much of
this is a will be a watched game with a
national perspective and playoff implications on the line. That's about
as good as you can ask for me. Well, and
that's the thing, right with all of these games, you're
you're hoping there's something valuable to you as a fan
(25:49):
and as a viewing audience, and certainly for us in
sports talk radio and television. You know you're finding your
angles with with Cowboys and Titans. Titans are playing for
next week, but the Cowboys, there's still a lot of folks,
all right, you're eleven and four. I don't care, yawn,
show me when you show me when it matters Minnesota,
(26:10):
A lot of one win games, right, That was what
the Raiders were last year. Everybody try what they did.
They got into the playoffs. Sometimes that goes the other way,
and but the karma went ad with the Raiders lost
all of those now and gave up big leads. And
we've we've really hammered that over the time here this
last six seven weeks. But all of those games went
(26:31):
to Minnesota, who under Mike Zimmer couldn't win Layton games. Right.
That was the entire thing that submarine there one season
is they couldn't finish games and gave up in one
score games. They were atrocious. So it's just gone the
other way. The van flow of the NFL responsibi. Hey,
a couple of quick things to piggyback on what you
(26:52):
just said. First of all, even if these two teams
were four and twelve Sunday night, people don't really truly
understand the or the NFL when it comes to sports betting.
Christmas Day, there were five NBA games, there were three
NFL games. The NFL wagering attracted five times as much
money in three games as the cumulative effect of five
(27:14):
NBA games. That's the power of the National Football League
and it's not just the game and the outcome and
the totals. There's profits and all sorts of things, uh
in between. To your point about the Raiders last year
and the Vikings this year and last year, and of
course some of those last minute Zimmer losses were chip
shot field goals that went awry. You know, insert your
(27:34):
own joke. Now, the bottom line is this, what goes
up must come down. And in the National Football League,
the Vikings have to five the odds they've had a
game and they turned the ball over four times and
one six percent chance of doing that. In history of
the National Football League, there are eleven and oh and
one score games. But when you can textualize that, Mike,
their points per game, uh differential this year is slim
(27:55):
and and and for that to happen and to be
outyarded by the tune of about sixty eight yard, it's
per game that equates to really not an eleven and
three team or a twelve and three team. It's more
like a seven and six team. So when they get
to the playoffs, I refuse. I know our guy, Adam Kaplan,
I love Adam. He called him frauds. I think he did.
I don't want to misquote him. Bottom line is, I'll
(28:15):
never call a twelve and three team a fraud. What
I will say is this that when you get on
the field in a playoff game where it's winner go home,
and those peccadillas show up against a team that can
play in all three phases that's in the playoffs for
a reason, your weaknesses have a tendency to be exposed.
So the Vikings fans should be concerned. Be sure to
(28:36):
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app Lock
and Loaded, Hair the Tire Act dot Com, Fox Sports
Radio Studios. The Marching Band refuses to yield the field,
so we'll just have to scream over the top of
them here as we celebrate the end of Thursday Night
(28:59):
Football twenty three seventeen. Your file, Well, how was he
that I was gonna start singing Vincent? But that's a
song nobody knows, Bernie, it's a very good time. Of course,
you're referring to the great Don McLean of Apple American
pie fame, and the song was about Vincent Van go oh,
this is good stuff. Now tortured artist. I mean, yes,
you know Don McClean. They had an American Pie. This
(29:20):
is you. You'll appreciate this. So obviously we have the
movies and some of the raunchy team teenage angst kind
of thing, but they also had a Tops trading card,
the famous trading card company. We we knowed all the
big sales that hit the auction blocks or whatever else,
but they actually years ago did a series of sets
over a couple of years called American Pie and it
(29:42):
was commemorating a lot of pop culture moments. At one
point I did buy a event warn card, so I
don't know if it was a shirt or pair of
pants of Don McClean, just for giggles. He had quite
the career. Obviously, the song American Pie has become a standard,
and he even had a fourth bit driddle which had
(30:03):
a nice little uh staccato step to it. But vent
between Vincent and American Pie that put him on the map.
There you have it. He's Bernie fratt Ian for Jason
Smith on Mike Carmen has become the alive for the
tireract dot Com, Fox Sports Radio Studios tireract dot com.
We'll help you get there. An unmatched selection, fast free shipping,
pre road hazard protection and over ten thousand recommended installers.
(30:25):
Tireract dot com The way tire buying should be. Cowboys
thirteen the final UH outscoring the Titans ten nothing in
the final frame to get to that thirteen total. Joshua
Dobbs acquitting himself quite nicely on the night two one
and one, two sacks. He saw trail on Burns. Why
(30:46):
they went after him? A couple of big catches four
for sixties six, Robert Woods came over from the ramp
five for thirty nine and a score. All fine, that's all.
The losing side of things was Hassan Haskins, the leading
rusher for the VIC Torre has Cowboys uh and we
get into the playoffs, seating and all of that fun stuff.
So much to be determined to hear these final two weeks,
(31:07):
Bernie but Prescott overcame the two first half interceptions, finishes
with two eighty two two and to Malik Davis spells.
Tony Pollard for you fantasy nerds like me out there,
gave you a little over eight points on his twelve
touches Ezekiel Elliott barely fell forward. Actually he didn't. He
was at one point nine yards per carry, but he
(31:29):
did find the end zone. To give you some love
and ceedee Lamb eleven for one hundred. That is a
nice night for you for fantasy purposes on his fourteen targets,
but the start of the night, Dalton Schultz, all sorts
of old TV references. We can get into that or
roadhouse as it were, seven catches on ten targets, fifty
six yards and to count them two touchdowns as the
(31:50):
Cowboys succeed and proceed. And what I love about our industry, Bernie,
is that the Cowboys this is it's a nice win, right,
It's a nice standalone win. You pull away late and
maybe you backed your your your backers by winning by
four teen depending on where you got in in the touchline.
But the idea is it's like, Okay, that's a nice win.
(32:12):
Check the box. You're expected to win that game. Titans
pretty much benched anybody of note. No disrespect to any
of those that did participate, but a lot of starters
got to sit this one out. In anticipation of Weekday
eighteen for the a f C South Crown against the
Jacksonville Jaguars, so it was expected that they would win.
So now we do the old improvisational act of yes,
(32:34):
and and what does it mean? At this point, we're
waiting for playoff seeding. Take care of your own business,
see where the chips fall. And then everybody just wants
to see what Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys will do
with the playoffs anyway, because we mentioned him a little
bit earlier related to the Broncos. And you can go
into any other opening that may may open, opening that
(32:56):
may come available, I should say in the coaching world,
uh that Sean Payton's face, just like all quarterbacks has
been a fixed to sweatshirts and ball caps of so
many other teams. That the Cowboys are still out there,
And I say, and here is still in Los Angeles.
Chargers made the playoffs. But if Stanley goes out in
the first round and they have the opportunity to get
(33:18):
Sean Payton, don't you like Sean Payton? Moore? Yes? Right,
I mean, if you have the opportunity, you make the upgrade.
Think about what you just said a minute ago. So
Dallas gets the w tonight and as you aptly put it.
Look that when they add up to victories at the
end of the year, they don't ask Cole just how many.
But if you're a Dallas fan, I gotta believe right
about now, if you're being honest with yourself, you got
(33:40):
rope brooms from your rosary knowing what could happen into
the playoffs. And here's why. Right now, the Cowboys are
a number five seed. They're not gonna win their division,
which means it's likely I believe this scenario will be
they'll have to go to Tampa Bay play the number
four seed Bucks week one. So now I got a
world playoff game against the corner rat. That's gonna be
dangerous us. And you're going outside on grass where Dallas
(34:02):
is one in three in the year, outside on grass,
you've got to be a little worried. If you're a
Cowboys fan, you'll take the double tonight. But at the
same time, as you look forward, you just have to
be honest with yourself and say, this team has a
few holes to iron out and that's the cure. And
you've got guys playing hurt. I mean, you see Michael Parsons,
(34:23):
he's got a giant bandage on his hand. He's running
around there looking like he's ready to get or to
put a glove on him getting the next edition of
Creed or an extension of the Rocky franchise. That's gotta
where we're at. He he's taped up, he's just waiting
for the glove man to come over. So, I mean,
(34:43):
we've got that rolling on, and he's got mirriad other
things going on. He's not working with the same gait
that he was earlier in the season. You've got Tony
Pollard who's been a big part of your offense. He
misses tonight. Yeah you can. You can always throw it
as a all right, you're supposed to win this. You've
out Malik Davis, he'd still have Ezekiel. You expect to
win this game. But anytime a guy has to miss
(35:05):
this and you've got an injury that legitimately puts him out,
like I don't know how serious Derrick Henry's hip thing is,
it just becomes a can you check a box? So
we put it into the into the sheet of why
he's missing the game other than you don't want him
to play today, but you know that you're gonna be
to figure this one out next week is their season
(35:25):
and and Derrick Kennry is gonna be there Bell cow
and I got Josh Dobbs, got some valuable reps tonight
that's gonna make and making players to Burke's and to
to Robert Wood. So I think there's some opportunity there.
And it's the curiosity first career start for a guy
who's been in the league. We talked about his travels earlier,
(35:47):
uh in the show. But let's let's face it. As
much as we like talking about Tennessee Titans football, unless
we don't, uh we that's a national radio show. Let's
pulling the show and excitement. The Titans are the Cowboys, No,
the Cowboys that Hey, look you get the Titans and
Cowboys and Amazon on Thursday night. Who needs sex? Right,
(36:10):
Let's move on. Wow, that was that escalated quickly. That's
what we do here in Fox Sports Tree. I'm a
guy that is usually a yes and approach. As I said,
the improv so I want both m that's it. That's
That's all I'll say to that. Uh. And this is America.
This is the land of opportunity, choice and gluttony. There's
(36:31):
no question about it. Speaking of which, the good folks
in Baltimore gluttonizing over the lack of answers, like really
they're they're trying to feast on just very few words
coming from coach Harbaugh. John Harball, who in the past
has been you know, loquacious and giving and and loud
(36:53):
and and giving you long answers related to anything having
to do with this squad related to Lamar Jackson, and
there there seems to be the tipping point that has
been reached in terms of his patients with his quarterbacks
injury and having to answer questions about it missing another practice.
We saw reports earlier today numerous stores of well, he's
(37:14):
been really good at getting to his rehab assignments and
and getting the work done, which is great all finding
good but off of a website that is accumulated this
part of the sp Nation, the Baltimore beat down. Uh
Kyle Barber has amassed some of the quotes going on
with John Harbaugh when asked about Lamar Jackson, and I
(37:38):
thought you might be entertained by this. Uh So, going
back to the fourth of December against Denver, this is
post game, but Lamar has a knee. It's not a
season ending type of knee. We'll get more test tomorrow.
Let you know how long it's gonna be. We'll see.
Hopefully i'll have something for you tomorrow. Certainly by Wednesday
it'll be more definitive. Keep going, uh presser on Monday,
(37:59):
do you have an update in Lamar? Yeah, he's been
through m R. Eyes. I'd say it's week to week.
It's gonna be a weekly thing. So as the week
goes on, we'll see for this week, probably less likely
for this week, but hey, it's not impossible. After that
it will come more and more likely. On the seventh,
asked once again, is it a sprain? Yeah, I don't
think I'm gonna get any detailed diagnosis on that. We'll
(38:20):
let it play out. The Friday of that week, we
didn't see Lamar for the past three days. Is it
gonna be Tyler Huntley? Yes, it looks like it's gonna
be Tyler. Move forward. Now these are getting shorter, right.
You mentioned Lamar Jackson consideration for this week. This is
on the twelve. I just don't know. I don't know.
You make some kind of statement, it turns out to
(38:41):
be you just don't have enough information to make it yet.
That's how these injuries work. Now. Reminder, that's the full
eight days after you're saying it's like, yeah, it's not serious.
Probably week to week and we'll get there. Goes to
the nineteen. Do you expect Lamar to return this week?
This is from a guy named James Jamison. Hensley asked question, quote,
I knew you're gonna us that or somebody was a
(39:01):
couple other injuries coming up, and I think I'm gonna
climb behind the barricade of it's probably not the time
to put a lot of information out there on our
injuries for competitive purposes. Shorter, I'm not commenting on any
of that stuff right now. We're gonna get ready for
the game, and the guys will be on the injury report.
(39:22):
Lamar Jackson not pressing practically. Is it gonna be Tyler
Hunley on Saturday? It does? It does, and then the
twenty four, and then the six, and now today it
was hey, uh, it was reported as a PCL injury.
Do you know if it was a sprain or strain?
Harbaugh quote, I'm not really, it's not for me to say.
We're just coaching the guys out here right now. That's
(39:45):
where we've gotten to do John Harball. It went from long, Hey,
we're optimistic. It's week to week. There's some in Baltimore
speculating that now there's there's the bit of the business
side of things with Lamar Jackson that's tugging at him
as much as any knee injury. So so you started
your chronological narrative back on December fourth, after he after
(40:06):
the Denver game, and he was somewhat specific, and here
almost four weeks later, Uh, you know, Baghdad, Baghdad, Bob's
got nothing. It was the thing with the guy in
the place exactly you ever, Mike, You know those people
that they just never the equivocate. You asked him a question, Uh,
you have a hard time making up your mind. Well,
yes and no, that's what it sounds like the last
(40:27):
month and now who knew. I'm starting to think, Now, Lord,
forgive me for this. I go to confession this week.
I've started thinking Lamar Jackson's just a little diabolical because
I don't believe he's going to all his treatment. There
have been reports that he's missed some of his treatments,
and he realizes now when you watch this offense, that
does does not look good. He's in a de facto
(40:51):
way making the case that this is how much Baltimore
needs him. Take a look into your future, Tyler. You know,
Huntley not good. So Lamar Jackson probably first and foremost
wants to get himself healthy. But this has sort of
turned in like a hockey conversation where they're so vague
of two. It's an upper body injury, that's what they exactly. For.
(41:13):
All we know he's got, you know is Bunians are
acting up. They're just not telling us. So the longer
he sits out and the more it's evident that Baltimore
needs him. Uh. The real question here, the subtext is
does Lamar Jackson benefit from this and does it actually
help his contract situation, which still Mike is the elephant
in the room. Well, that's it. And and Mahadi has
(41:34):
been the loudest I mean basically yeah, have you ever
seen the episode of The Simpsons? And and this is
me because I gotta embrace the inner child and me
sometimes that's what you do. Is is the Bart Simpson
episode where he has the access to all the police
gear and he grabs all the megaphones and uh goes
testing and then all the stuff blows out, all the
(41:55):
windows blow out of the cars and horns and sire
and start all. That's kind of where Lamar's But that
was what Bashati sounded like after the Deshaun Watson contract,
was nobody's getting that much money, nobody's worth that much money.
What are you doing over there in Cleveland? Now some
of it was to rib a fellow division owner. The
(42:17):
other part is I gotta pay my quarterback. What the
hell are you doing to me? And I think philosophically,
and it goes back to the style of play longevity,
Like I'll always celebrate the length of a career of
Cam Newton before the hundred carries plus sacks plus everything
else wore his body down to where he wasn't the
(42:39):
same dynamo that he once was. And Harbaugh in the Ravens,
and like they need to find more receivers that that
show up on a on a given day than what
they've done for Lamar Jackson. But given the way he's
worked his body, is is he a guy you want
to commit guaranteed money for for four or million guaranteed kids?
(43:00):
But it's all it's all rumor, conjecture, speculaut he wants
what the shawn wantson got and that's never gonna happen
with any anybody again that that is just a complete
one off. And I like your Simpsons reference there, because
who is Steve Bischotti? Here is the Chief Wigham? Because
(43:20):
somewhere if he gets the Chief Wigham and says where's
all the cool gear? What pictures does he have on Bashatti?
And I don't know that's a hackney Now, that's a
hackneyed old sort of a reference. It's kind of weak.
But something isn't really adding up here. And this is
just a dumpster fire. And this is a team you
know that's they get there in the playoffs, right, they
clinched a playoff birth. But something just smells rotten in
(43:44):
Denmark about this whole thing. And you, you know, you
sort of laid it out quite nicely there back December fourth,
after the Denver game, he says, we have more more
for you in a couple of days. We're in December
twenty nine, and we know left now, yeah, we got
we got no more information now, so you have those
options that are still out there as we spin the
quarterback carouself always the sign trade franchise tag. There's there's
(44:07):
some of those in the bag as opposed to, hey,
let's commit another hundred eighty million dollars or the two
hundred million or whatever that price of poker is. But
to your point, yeah, he's trying to say the longer
he's out. Look how stagnant stale this offense is, and
yet they'll be there flexed into Sunday night football against
the rival Pittsburgh Steelers kicking contest. He could very well
(44:32):
be that. But on brand name alone, in the standalone game,
in this day and age where thirty two states have
legalized sports fanning, we're gonna be watching. Oh, there's no
question about it. I mean we even watched Crighton and
De Paul more than we watched NBA games. We'll get
into that in a minute, because you know what, because
normally we get a young Sheldon reference out of Steve
when we do television ratings
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two a m.
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot Com, or stream
us live every night on the I Heart Radio app
by searching fs R. This is the best of The
(00:22):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio. Greetings,
Welcome in a beautiful Thursday night activity all across this
great sporting landscape, and we've got the team assembled to
get you through it. We've got our guy Bobo, We've
got Brandon, We've got Steve de Saga on the updates,
and of course in for Jason Smith tonight only Bernie Fratto.
(00:45):
You hear him on the weekends Friday nights into Saturday morning,
Saturday into Sunday on the Bernie Fratto Show. Here I'm
on the airwaves here at Fox Sports Radio, always coming
to you live from the tire ract dot Com studios
tire rac dot Com. We'll help you get there an
unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection and
over ten thousand recommended installers. Tire act dot com The
(01:07):
way tire buying should be funny little thing happened on
the way to a roll over victory on Thursday Night football, Right,
Mike Rabels coaching them up, Bernie, welcome in. How are you? Mike?
My maiden voyage with You've been looking forward to this
and yeah, I think you just said it all. It's
not very lead. This is becoming what I am now
(01:29):
dubbing what you're talking about willis game, Because if you're
a Cowboys fan, as you just said, they were expecting
a walk over, and you know they still have designs
on catching Philadelphia and you know mathematically may not be likely.
But then you look at the Titans. What you're talking about,
willis We've lost five in a row. They're sitting multiple
(01:50):
starters tonight for various reasons. We all know why. They're
facing the number three offensive league. Get They've held Dallas
to ten points and Josh Dobbs is throwing for a
hundred forty yards in the first half of which doubles
what Malik Willis is average per game in his three starts.
So what's the old saying Mica in the NFL and
any given Thursday. Well, and that's the rule of order
(02:10):
in the National Football League this year. Just when you
think you've got things figured out, things change, whether in
the Midwest, wait five minutes, something else is gonna happen.
Right all week long, expecting that there'd be no Derrick Henry,
right with the week eighteen matchup against Jacksonville on tap,
so we were watching that and monitoring injury reports. And
(02:31):
as we know at this point in the year, you
can put anybody on an injury report. Nobody's a hundred percent.
Even if you just put mental fatigue for dealing with meetings,
you can certainly do that all along. But ten three
was the score and we had a little scary moment
deck scrambling. H he gets hit, he goes down, kind
of has a moment of oh he's limping a little bit,
(02:52):
scrambles for a first down. That's all fine and good,
but then this happened. There you go, Titans Radio Network
on the call. Always love the excitement, want to get
that in as we get things flowing, the team working overtime,
uh in the back to make that happen. Dallas was
having a nice efficient drive seven plays thirty six yards
and the boom the second interception from Dak Prescott trying
to get it out to Dalton Sholtza a bad, bad pass.
(03:16):
Uh totally missed that he was standing there. It's like
thinking you're gonna throw it through a man. Uh, like
it's a Marvel superhero movie. Did not happen. Uh. The
Titans are able to move down and get a field goal.
Nice play by the rookie Traylon Burkes to make that
happen along the sidelines, setting up a field goal for
the final play of the half. And now as we
(03:38):
get things rolling here, well, now now you get your touchdown. Uh.
Drive here from the from the Cowboys to extend their lead.
Dak Prescott with the ball fake and rolls back, and
the aforementioned Dalton Schultz, good old number eighties six in
your scorecard, Uh, finds his way into the end zone.
So those got ladies and gentlemen that had the minus
(04:01):
thirteen and a half or fourteen, maybe you got it
a minus twelve. Uh, you're feeling perhaps a little bit
better here, Bernie. Well the reason number thirty seven. I
don't ever think you want to lay double digits in
the National Football League, but especially in a stamina game
on Thursday night, the line got as high as fourteen
and a half and that's where professional support came in.
Closed about fourteen, but any one of those precarious numbers, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.
(04:26):
I got a feeling that you're you're not. You're gonna
have to really earn your money to that. And I
think Tennessee's done. And I suspected that Dallas would come
out in their first drive in the second half a
little bit more sense of purpose. If you look at
the body language of the Cowboys on the sideline at
the first half, they look like they're on value. So
the bottom line is whoa, whoa, whoa. Allegedly that's right,
(04:48):
but that's I should have run that by legal first.
That's right, I say. If I think I phrase that
they looked like they were you know, I got a
few holes in my game. I could be wrong. That
could be wrong. Could have been that you're doing the
body language expert. You know it's so early into things. Well,
you know, I like to take my shots. So Yogi
Berra once said, you can observe a lot by watching,
(05:10):
So you know, I have an opinion now and then
all good Dak Prescott twenty hundred seventy one yards touchdown
and two picks thus far, and those interceptions, of course,
get all the tongues wagon. See there's Dak, there's the
deck we expect. I love the fact that Josh Josh
Jobs was signed eight days ago off the Lions practice squad,
and he's a guy that's well traveled in these Football
(05:33):
League waters at this point, uh talking to the guys
in the back and to our crew, it's like, you know,
I love guys that are gonna be around the league
for a decade here or twelve years there, and you're like, well,
this is his first career start right that That is
one of the things that really just kind of popped off,
given that he's been around as long as he has.
But come then, and you've seen him make a couple
(05:54):
of big throws, some big opportunities. Obviously playing in place
of Ryan Tanning, Hill got put to I R, which
means he doesn't come back unless they make the championship game,
which nobody was giving them. Uh, well, probably about a
snowball's chance at this point, Bertie. But we we look
at Dobbs coming in over Malik Willis night of seventeen
(06:16):
hundred forty three yards, two sacks, Haskins only falling forward
at this point six carries for thirteen yards has made
a couple of nice throws. McMath and and Chestnutt had
the thirty three yards sprint and catching sprint. So you've
got that rolling. And I mentioned the past two burkes
that went for thirty but hanging around the game, and
(06:36):
you know, Vrabel is one of those guys that just
goes and does his job right. Tennessee is never going
to be the team that gives you a bunch of
headlines except for how many yards is King Henry rushed for?
Or Ryan Tannehill's name gets sucked in when we start
going into the luminary of luminaries of that third tier
of quarterbacks. I guess would be the fair way to
(06:57):
say it, you know, just good enough. And then we
have to decide, as we'll talk about Derek Carr as
you are there in Vegas, we'll be remissed to not
get the feel on the ground there of everything going
on there. But you know, Tannehill is a guy that's
mentioned in those same same categories Derek Carr good not great.
You need a lot of to work right to make it,
(07:19):
make it pop. And with Derek Carr, you know, we'll
see if there's a second decade to be had here
in the National Football League. But for this Tennessee Squad
seven and eight fighting it out with Jacksonville for the
a f C South Crown. We've watched the fun and
excitement that is the Indianapolis Colts, which is really about
as entertaining as it gets, which is why we we
(07:41):
say Derek Carr, and I know you would appreciate this
because I immediately tweeted out the old picture from the
Brady Bunch of Johnny Bravo trying on the coat because
he fits the profile of what Chris Ballard wants to do.
And I take every opportunity to raise my hand and say,
I don't understand why Chris Ballard gets the love he does.
When you keep picking quarterbacks that are far past their
(08:02):
prime or never were, so you got they fell off
as well you probably would have expected, never had Shaquille Leonard,
and it really gave you no juice. And then Houston
you were hoping for a little more juice. And they've
played some spirited football, particularly down the stretch. But it's
not winning football. And in multiple occasions you could point
(08:25):
to Love E. Smith playing losing ball with some of
the decisions that he makes in latent games. But it's
a two team race here in the final two weeks,
and that's all the the NFL would it would like.
I mean, obviously, fantasy owners really wish Derrick Henry was
out there running for them in this game, and that
Tony Pollard was running for them in this game. Unfortunately,
(08:45):
the fantasy gods laughed at you. And here we are
with a Thursday night game, competitive but not necessarily as compelling,
with some of those stars missing from action, and that
you know, that's part of it. We should not poo
poo that Dan Buyer talked about the earlier today and
that this is an entertainment medium and fantasy owners comprise
(09:05):
a big part of the audience. But I'm glad you
brought up Josh Dobbs. People don't realize he's been in
the league six years. He languaged in Pittsburgh and his
entire six years. Uh, Mikey through a total of seventeen
passes tonight, He's already thrown nineteen and he's going to
start next week. I believe he's percent he's going to
(09:25):
start next week, and you tease at a little bit.
Remember Tennessee plays Jacksonville next week, and this is for
all the marvels in the a f C South. Whoever
wins that game wins the a f C South. And obviously,
if if Tennessee were to win, to see Tennessee loses
tonight in Jacksonville wins this weekend, they're gonna both finish
with the same record, will beating each other once, but
(09:47):
by virtue having a better record in their own division,
Tennessee will advance as the FC South champion. So next
week's game means a lot. This is a bit of
a dress rehearsal for Joshua Dobbs and I know you
your referenced Tannahill and your reference Derek car. We're gonna
get to him later and such. But this is a
chance for Joshua Adopts to prove he can make some
plays in high leverage moments. And I think ultimately that
(10:10):
might have been Derek Cars undoing, even though there's more
of the store to unpacks. So here's a chance Joshua
Adopts takes the field and it's one of those do
you define the moment or the moment definds you and
they're hanging around right now. Well, the old rule of thumb,
don't throw up on yourself, especially in the standalone game.
And thus far he's throwing the ball pretty well. Just
completed another past to Burkes for one yards as these
(10:32):
on queue, his resume pops up on the Amazon broadcast Steelers, Jaguar, Steelers, Browns, Lions, Titans.
By the way, yes, you get into existence. Well here's
the thing. When you're an aeronautical engineer at Tennessee and
you get straight a's you're gonna travel a lot, I
would suppose, and you're like, you're gonna have off. The
(10:53):
doors are gonna open at Southwest if this quarterback thing
doesn't work out, oh too soon. Well the either hair
Joshua Dobbs or Lou Dobbs from c Into Why you
got Lou Dobbs reference and we're gonna keep I have
no idea. That's a good question. Note to Internet folks,
(11:15):
look up and give us the CV of Lou Dobbs
born in September. So at least you didn't name a
guy who's not around seventy seven years old out of
three or four decades. It's CNN. I don't believe he.
I don't believe he ever majored in aeronautical engineering, or
nor did I. I do have an m b A.
(11:36):
You see how well that's working out for me. He's
Bertie Fratto, went for Jason Smith up Mike Armon Here
Fox Sports Radio will keep you upprized of what's going
on in this Thursday night football game. The Titans facing
a fourth down here, five forty five left to go
in the third. Looks like they're gonna stay on the
field here for the fourth down. Try seventeen six as
(11:56):
your score. And we mentioned Derek Carr. So much to unpack.
We've done it a little bit the last forty eight hours.
Is we expected it and had all the permutations. We
got the news, and then there's so much that spills
out of it. Between Davante Adams car himself and photo
shopping him into a bunch of uniforms. You texted me
something earlier saying, maybe I shouldn't buy that at all,
(12:18):
and maybe I should just figure out what kind of
street clothes he's gonna wear. We'll talk about that in
a moment. But first, yeah, what We'll get the goods
from Bernie Frottle at Bernie Friddle where you find him
on Twitter find me over at Swollen Dum. Hey, this
is Jason McIntyre. Joined me every weekday morning on my podcast,
Straight Fired with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports
(12:41):
pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day.
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
the sports book, and all the best guests. Do yourself
a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever
(13:01):
you get your podcasts. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussar then Rob Parker
week days at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio Appy. Welcome in.
It's our two of the program. Yeah, it goes by
so fast and net live for the tire Act dot
(13:23):
Com Studios Mike Harman alongside Bernie Prattle, and for Jason Smith.
Jason will be back on Monday. We will celebrate that
January second day with you. Well, Monday night football recaps
of bowl games and playoff games and week seventeen and
we'll have we'll have the airing of the grievances of
all the guys. Who did you wrong in your Fantasy finals? Yeah,
(13:44):
there's no question there'll be a lot of that going on. Uh,
the failures lining up because some of the teams based
on circumstance while it's lining up for you just long
before the games even kicked off. But you know what,
you love the name so much and you're so tapped
into them, Davante Adams, that you'll play them anyway and
watch things Strongle. It's Bernie Fratto at Bernie Frattle where
(14:05):
you find them on Twitter. You hear him here Fox
Sports Radio Friday night follows our show starting at eleven
pm Pacific time, and then the same time Saturday night
as well, and then Sunday. I believe you're doing the
two to five Pacific slot alongside the Empire from what
right here ye looking forward to it had the good
fortune of doing that several times in the past few weeks.
(14:27):
And it's a lot of fun, a little bit of
Red Zone Radio as we flowed through five ten remaining
here a third and ten coming up. Cowboys now with
lead over the Titans. So feeling a little more comfortable.
Maybe maybe maybe if you bet them. We're broadcasting live
from the tire act dot Com studios. Tire act dot
Com will help you get there on unmatched selection, fast
(14:47):
free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand
recommended installers. Tire act dot Com The way tire buying
should be Bernie the Tease at the end of Last Hour,
I steal liberally from the songbook of Taylor Swift uh
and talking about rooting for the anti here, and I
(15:08):
think that's where we're at for at least some of
us here in the media world and in the NFL fandom,
in wondering aloud, can Aaron Rodgers actually lead the Packers
into the playoffs? Because, let's face it, the world's more
interesting when a guy like Aaron Rodgers, who made a
lot of enemies the last couple of years, he did
his sojourn with Miles Teller into some woods and and
(15:33):
jungles and whatever else, the ayahuasca and everything else, and
and you can go through all the permutations. People have
a liking problem with him, and that they don't uh,
and and all of those things. Who the guy is,
the threats of retirement, wanting out, all of those rumors, whispers, conjecture.
All he's done is go and play for an exorbitant
(15:54):
amount of money. Hey, take what you can earn. Uh.
And now they move forward, and with a team that
had been left for dead well two weeks left, it'll
take some extra things and and a little bit of help.
But you're in a situation whereby you've got a couple
of home dates against division foes, and I can get
into the whole thing of division foes and scheduling, damn buyer.
(16:15):
And I did that a little bit on the I
Watch Reflex podcast. Uh this week, Bernie, Indianapolis had five
of their seven division games in the first seven weeks
of the season. Tell me how that makes any sense.
But when we look at it, you've got two games
against divisional foes, Kirk Cousins. Everybody keeps waiting for the
other shoe to drop. And then the Detroit Lions. And
(16:36):
while many monologues and soliloquies have been made by all
of us about the Detroit Lions through the years, Bernie
uh So, all of a sudden, you've got a puncher's
chance and a guy that, Let's face it, it's always
good to have a team that has its big, built
in fan base. The love and hate watching is a
very real thing right now. The Cowboys. There's a lot
(16:58):
of folks that have no vested interest in this game
other than they love the NFL and they want bad
things to happen to the Cowboys. Well, first of all,
a lot to unpack, but I got the goods for
you here, big fellas. So um, look, as far as
the NFL playoff picture, particularly NFC which is not decided.
When it comes to the Packers, I've got a blank
(17:20):
space and I'll write their name. So here's where. Here's
where they need to win twice. They need to Detroit
at Minnesota and these two games, and they're both at
home against hothouse teams going on the road. But then
they need some help obviously, right, But all they need
is for the Washington Commanders to lose one game or
the Giants New York Giants to lose both of their
(17:42):
remaining games. The Giants play the Colton Eagles and the
Commanders play the Browns and Cowboys. So if the Packers
take care of business, it would seem to me and
according to the odds, their chances to make the playoffs.
But in Vegas they're they're two to one. I think
they're gonna do it. Mike, Yeah, the door opened. And
especially when you start adding Washington and the Giants into
(18:05):
the mix, and do the Giants lose twice? Probably that
maybe maybe not eight six and one on the year,
but you've got the command or seven seven one. Turning
to Carson Wentz, which is kind of a curiosity to me.
It's like, here's the we We've scored nineteen points a
game all year, and we've had this guy that has
been waiting in the wings, and suddenly he's gonna be
(18:26):
the savior. Really that that that's the magical elixir. Uh
for Ron Rivera and company, But for the Packers. You know,
one thing lamentably right. One of the things I'll raise
my hand and say I got horribly wrong was I
was expecting that defense to have some teeth and for
much of the season they don't get me started. Please, Well,
(18:48):
you know what, I'll I'm the guy that will raise
his hand and tell you when I get stuff wrong.
A lot of hosts won't. But but about it. First
of all, the Packers the season with seven first round
picks on defense. The problem is their defensive coordinator, Joe Berry,
looks like a drunk trend across the nicety street. I've
got history with Joe Perry. Remember the two thousand and
eight Detroit lines and went o In sixteen I covered
(19:11):
that team. Who was their defensive coordinator Joe Berry? But
he had a lot of years to learn, Bernie. You know,
Leon Spins had a lot of years to pass his
driving test, and how did that work out? I would
just say this, you are not wrong in terms of
their personnel and in terms of what was perceived to be.
They just have run the wrong scheme. Be that as
it may. As long as the Packers, I think the
(19:34):
Commanders will lose to the Cowboys. I don't know about
the Browns. The Browns are a mess. And you're right.
I think the Giants will at least split one of
their last two games against the Colton Eagles. But the
real key is I think the Packers will win their
last two in Lambeau. So this is yet to be decided,
and I think it makes the playoffs all that much
more interesting, Mike If and Aaron Rodgers is there, I
really do It's not you know, listen, the opposite of
(19:55):
love is not hate, it's indifference. So people will root
for or against him. It's like the Raiders, It's like
the New York Yankees, it's like the Dallas Cowboys. We
don't have royalty in this country. Are athletes and our entertainers.
They are our royalty. So just ask yourself when the
playoffs start, do you want to see Aaron Rodgers in there?
Do you want to see a Carson Wentz? Right? You
want to see the big names? Yeah, I think I'll
(20:17):
extend it because it's another team with the large fan base.
And we obliquely touched on it yesterday, but more and
more press conferences were another day closer. I want to
get into the hardball situation, and we could do either
high hardball with storylines as we go. But we're talking
about the ravens Lamar Jackson, and I've got the timeline
(20:38):
from reporters who have assembled quotes UH of coach Harbaugh
relating to Lamar Jackson, availability at practice, injury, etcetera. And
and it gets kind of interesting because let's just say
word economy is at play here unlike us on the radio,
and we wax poetically and loquaciously UH for four hours
a night every night here on Fox Sports Radio. But
(21:00):
the point is, Mike Tomlin in his press conference, I
thought said something really, really, really great and and that
relates back to us as fans, consumers of the product,
et cetera. Like anybody on talk radio and sports television
that tells you they're not a fan is lying through
their teeth. They're rooting for something somebody somewhere, And if
(21:25):
they're only interested in the gaming portion, then I get it.
They're rooting for upcomes and and sides. I get that.
But we all started because we love the sports UH
and sports teams that we were growing up. The Pittsburgh
Steelers one of the greatest fan bases ever. I had
the good fortune of being able to go to the
Super Bowl when the Steelers and Packers collided, no real
(21:47):
dog in the fight. I've made friends going to Latrobe
for years as part of training camp tours when I
lived on the East Coast, had some great interactions with
coach Tomlin and the staff there. We had a bunch
of Northwestern people that handled a lot of media stuff.
So we talked about Northwestern and our experiences there, whatever.
But they were always very affable uh and and hooked
you up to get accessibility to the players some of
(22:10):
the uh coutrements that go there. They had a dorm
you could stay in if you were doing a multi
day visit. Kind of cool. You'd eat in the same
mess hall as the players. But he brought it down
to this, Bernie of getting flexed into the Sunday night
game means you're still playing for something, right. It still
means that this game matters, and there's a lot of
(22:32):
people that look at it because on the surface, Ravens
with Tyler Huntley going up against Kenny Pickett a f
C North battle, you look at it. Where's the sex appeal? Right?
This isn't the hard hitting Ravens of years past. Lamar
Jackson's not gonna go all of those things. The star
power isn't necessarily there except for the longevity of these
(22:54):
squads and they're they're big fan bases. But it is
still to that point of you you're tapping into that
NFL culture and teams that do have that bit of following, right,
Any time Pittsburgh schedule comes out, what's the first thing
you have websites crashing trying to figure out accommodations and flights.
(23:15):
And I don't mean that glibly uh is glibly award.
As we talked about the snaff woos people have gone on,
you know, I had to undergo here. Wherever you may
be listening, we appreciate you giving us your time. If
you're stuck in an airport or on the road, be patient.
You'll get there. I know it sucks, okay, just it'll happen.
But but we know when the Steelers are on the
(23:36):
road there on the road, and their fans are come
into town. And and I think from Mike Tomlin at
this point, to have the Steelers again long shots and
and things that need to fall into place, but still
being viable not only for the five hundred season but
potentially for a playoff birth it's it's just good for football. Well,
first of all, you you mentioned the the greatness of
(23:59):
the steel their backers and the you know, the dedication
of their fan base. I covered Super Bowl forty Detroit
two thousand six Steelers. It was basically it was basically
a Steeler's home game, honest to God, and it was
an amazing turnout. So they travel well. Baltimore clinched the
playoff berth. Last week they beat Atlanta seventeen to nine.
(24:22):
They looked really, uh less than stellar. Let's say Pittsburgh
can win that game. Pittsburgh's currently holding down the number
eleventh slot. They're one of four FC teams that are right,
and it just seems like the stars are aligning. They
were all set to retire Franco Harris's jersey he passed.
Kenny Pickett was barking out Franco Franco and his cadence.
(24:44):
They beat the Raiders and dramatic fashion, didn't look good
doing it. Uh they get, you know, they got Look
as long as t J. Watt is healthy. The Steelers,
I mean they were two and six at the bye
week and three and seven on Thanksgiving, all of a
sudden other seven and eight and they're alive. So this
game is extremely meaningful and if you're Baltimore, you don't
want to hit into the playoffs with a loss, and
(25:05):
you don't want to beat Pittsburgh least. What was the
old you know adage Mike For a decade or so,
when these these two teams played, and this when it
was the Ray Lewis years, etcetera, it was always a
field goal game. It's it's still a hotly contested situation.
And now you realize that Lamar Jackson, he's missed ten
practices in a row. His availability is very much in question.
But Tyler Huntley, even though you know they don't draw
(25:28):
pictures in the scorebook when it comes to wins and
don't ask college is tom Anny. He is two and
one and so this will be a very much of
this is a will be a watched game with a
national perspective and playoff implications on the line. That's about
as good as you can ask for me. Well, and
that's the thing, right with all of these games, you're
you're hoping there's something valuable to you as a fan
(25:49):
and as a viewing audience, and certainly for us in
sports talk radio and television. You know you're finding your
angles with with Cowboys and Titans. Titans are playing for
next week, but the Cowboys, there's still a lot of folks,
all right, you're eleven and four. I don't care, yawn,
show me when you show me when it matters Minnesota,
(26:10):
A lot of one win games, right, That was what
the Raiders were last year. Everybody try what they did.
They got into the playoffs. Sometimes that goes the other way,
and but the karma went ad with the Raiders lost
all of those now and gave up big leads. And
we've we've really hammered that over the time here this
last six seven weeks. But all of those games went
(26:31):
to Minnesota, who under Mike Zimmer couldn't win Layton games. Right.
That was the entire thing that submarine there one season
is they couldn't finish games and gave up in one
score games. They were atrocious. So it's just gone the
other way. The van flow of the NFL responsibi. Hey,
a couple of quick things to piggyback on what you
(26:52):
just said. First of all, even if these two teams
were four and twelve Sunday night, people don't really truly
understand the or the NFL when it comes to sports betting.
Christmas Day, there were five NBA games, there were three
NFL games. The NFL wagering attracted five times as much
money in three games as the cumulative effect of five
(27:14):
NBA games. That's the power of the National Football League
and it's not just the game and the outcome and
the totals. There's profits and all sorts of things, uh
in between. To your point about the Raiders last year
and the Vikings this year and last year, and of
course some of those last minute Zimmer losses were chip
shot field goals that went awry. You know, insert your
(27:34):
own joke. Now, the bottom line is this, what goes
up must come down. And in the National Football League,
the Vikings have to five the odds they've had a
game and they turned the ball over four times and
one six percent chance of doing that. In history of
the National Football League, there are eleven and oh and
one score games. But when you can textualize that, Mike,
their points per game, uh differential this year is slim
(27:55):
and and and for that to happen and to be
outyarded by the tune of about sixty eight yard, it's
per game that equates to really not an eleven and
three team or a twelve and three team. It's more
like a seven and six team. So when they get
to the playoffs, I refuse. I know our guy, Adam Kaplan,
I love Adam. He called him frauds. I think he did.
I don't want to misquote him. Bottom line is, I'll
(28:15):
never call a twelve and three team a fraud. What
I will say is this that when you get on
the field in a playoff game where it's winner go home,
and those peccadillas show up against a team that can
play in all three phases that's in the playoffs for
a reason, your weaknesses have a tendency to be exposed.
So the Vikings fans should be concerned. Be sure to
(28:36):
catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike
harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app Lock
and Loaded, Hair the Tire Act dot Com, Fox Sports
Radio Studios. The Marching Band refuses to yield the field,
so we'll just have to scream over the top of
them here as we celebrate the end of Thursday Night
(28:59):
Football twenty three seventeen. Your file, Well, how was he
that I was gonna start singing Vincent? But that's a
song nobody knows, Bernie, it's a very good time. Of course,
you're referring to the great Don McLean of Apple American
pie fame, and the song was about Vincent Van go oh,
this is good stuff. Now tortured artist. I mean, yes,
you know Don McClean. They had an American Pie. This
(29:20):
is you. You'll appreciate this. So obviously we have the
movies and some of the raunchy team teenage angst kind
of thing, but they also had a Tops trading card,
the famous trading card company. We we knowed all the
big sales that hit the auction blocks or whatever else,
but they actually years ago did a series of sets
over a couple of years called American Pie and it
(29:42):
was commemorating a lot of pop culture moments. At one
point I did buy a event warn card, so I
don't know if it was a shirt or pair of
pants of Don McClean, just for giggles. He had quite
the career. Obviously, the song American Pie has become a standard,
and he even had a fourth bit driddle which had
(30:03):
a nice little uh staccato step to it. But vent
between Vincent and American Pie that put him on the map.
There you have it. He's Bernie fratt Ian for Jason
Smith on Mike Carmen has become the alive for the
tireract dot Com, Fox Sports Radio Studios tireract dot com.
We'll help you get there. An unmatched selection, fast free shipping,
pre road hazard protection and over ten thousand recommended installers.
(30:25):
Tireract dot com The way tire buying should be. Cowboys
thirteen the final UH outscoring the Titans ten nothing in
the final frame to get to that thirteen total. Joshua
Dobbs acquitting himself quite nicely on the night two one
and one, two sacks. He saw trail on Burns. Why
(30:46):
they went after him? A couple of big catches four
for sixties six, Robert Woods came over from the ramp
five for thirty nine and a score. All fine, that's all.
The losing side of things was Hassan Haskins, the leading
rusher for the VIC Torre has Cowboys uh and we
get into the playoffs, seating and all of that fun stuff.
So much to be determined to hear these final two weeks,
(31:07):
Bernie but Prescott overcame the two first half interceptions, finishes
with two eighty two two and to Malik Davis spells.
Tony Pollard for you fantasy nerds like me out there,
gave you a little over eight points on his twelve
touches Ezekiel Elliott barely fell forward. Actually he didn't. He
was at one point nine yards per carry, but he
(31:29):
did find the end zone. To give you some love
and ceedee Lamb eleven for one hundred. That is a
nice night for you for fantasy purposes on his fourteen targets,
but the start of the night, Dalton Schultz, all sorts
of old TV references. We can get into that or
roadhouse as it were, seven catches on ten targets, fifty
six yards and to count them two touchdowns as the
(31:50):
Cowboys succeed and proceed. And what I love about our industry, Bernie,
is that the Cowboys this is it's a nice win, right,
It's a nice standalone win. You pull away late and
maybe you backed your your your backers by winning by
four teen depending on where you got in in the touchline.
But the idea is it's like, Okay, that's a nice win.
(32:12):
Check the box. You're expected to win that game. Titans
pretty much benched anybody of note. No disrespect to any
of those that did participate, but a lot of starters
got to sit this one out. In anticipation of Weekday
eighteen for the a f C South Crown against the
Jacksonville Jaguars, so it was expected that they would win.
So now we do the old improvisational act of yes,
(32:34):
and and what does it mean? At this point, we're
waiting for playoff seeding. Take care of your own business,
see where the chips fall. And then everybody just wants
to see what Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys will do
with the playoffs anyway, because we mentioned him a little
bit earlier related to the Broncos. And you can go
into any other opening that may may open, opening that
(32:56):
may come available, I should say in the coaching world,
uh that Sean Payton's face, just like all quarterbacks has
been a fixed to sweatshirts and ball caps of so
many other teams. That the Cowboys are still out there,
And I say, and here is still in Los Angeles.
Chargers made the playoffs. But if Stanley goes out in
the first round and they have the opportunity to get
(33:18):
Sean Payton, don't you like Sean Payton? Moore? Yes? Right,
I mean, if you have the opportunity, you make the upgrade.
Think about what you just said a minute ago. So
Dallas gets the w tonight and as you aptly put it.
Look that when they add up to victories at the
end of the year, they don't ask Cole just how many.
But if you're a Dallas fan, I gotta believe right
about now, if you're being honest with yourself, you got
(33:40):
rope brooms from your rosary knowing what could happen into
the playoffs. And here's why. Right now, the Cowboys are
a number five seed. They're not gonna win their division,
which means it's likely I believe this scenario will be
they'll have to go to Tampa Bay play the number
four seed Bucks week one. So now I got a
world playoff game against the corner rat. That's gonna be
dangerous us. And you're going outside on grass where Dallas
(34:02):
is one in three in the year, outside on grass,
you've got to be a little worried. If you're a
Cowboys fan, you'll take the double tonight. But at the
same time, as you look forward, you just have to
be honest with yourself and say, this team has a
few holes to iron out and that's the cure. And
you've got guys playing hurt. I mean, you see Michael Parsons,
(34:23):
he's got a giant bandage on his hand. He's running
around there looking like he's ready to get or to
put a glove on him getting the next edition of
Creed or an extension of the Rocky franchise. That's gotta
where we're at. He he's taped up, he's just waiting
for the glove man to come over. So, I mean,
(34:43):
we've got that rolling on, and he's got mirriad other
things going on. He's not working with the same gait
that he was earlier in the season. You've got Tony
Pollard who's been a big part of your offense. He
misses tonight. Yeah you can. You can always throw it
as a all right, you're supposed to win this. You've
out Malik Davis, he'd still have Ezekiel. You expect to
win this game. But anytime a guy has to miss
(35:05):
this and you've got an injury that legitimately puts him out,
like I don't know how serious Derrick Henry's hip thing is,
it just becomes a can you check a box? So
we put it into the into the sheet of why
he's missing the game other than you don't want him
to play today, but you know that you're gonna be
to figure this one out next week is their season
(35:25):
and and Derrick Kennry is gonna be there Bell cow
and I got Josh Dobbs, got some valuable reps tonight
that's gonna make and making players to Burke's and to
to Robert Wood. So I think there's some opportunity there.
And it's the curiosity first career start for a guy
who's been in the league. We talked about his travels earlier,
(35:47):
uh in the show. But let's let's face it. As
much as we like talking about Tennessee Titans football, unless
we don't, uh we that's a national radio show. Let's
pulling the show and excitement. The Titans are the Cowboys, No,
the Cowboys that Hey, look you get the Titans and
Cowboys and Amazon on Thursday night. Who needs sex? Right,
(36:10):
Let's move on. Wow, that was that escalated quickly. That's
what we do here in Fox Sports Tree. I'm a
guy that is usually a yes and approach. As I said,
the improv so I want both m that's it. That's
That's all I'll say to that. Uh. And this is America.
This is the land of opportunity, choice and gluttony. There's
(36:31):
no question about it. Speaking of which, the good folks
in Baltimore gluttonizing over the lack of answers, like really
they're they're trying to feast on just very few words
coming from coach Harbaugh. John Harball, who in the past
has been you know, loquacious and giving and and loud
(36:53):
and and giving you long answers related to anything having
to do with this squad related to Lamar Jackson, and
there there seems to be the tipping point that has
been reached in terms of his patients with his quarterbacks
injury and having to answer questions about it missing another practice.
We saw reports earlier today numerous stores of well, he's
(37:14):
been really good at getting to his rehab assignments and
and getting the work done, which is great all finding
good but off of a website that is accumulated this
part of the sp Nation, the Baltimore beat down. Uh
Kyle Barber has amassed some of the quotes going on
with John Harbaugh when asked about Lamar Jackson, and I
(37:38):
thought you might be entertained by this. Uh So, going
back to the fourth of December against Denver, this is
post game, but Lamar has a knee. It's not a
season ending type of knee. We'll get more test tomorrow.
Let you know how long it's gonna be. We'll see.
Hopefully i'll have something for you tomorrow. Certainly by Wednesday
it'll be more definitive. Keep going, uh presser on Monday,
(37:59):
do you have an update in Lamar? Yeah, he's been
through m R. Eyes. I'd say it's week to week.
It's gonna be a weekly thing. So as the week
goes on, we'll see for this week, probably less likely
for this week, but hey, it's not impossible. After that
it will come more and more likely. On the seventh,
asked once again, is it a sprain? Yeah, I don't
think I'm gonna get any detailed diagnosis on that. We'll
(38:20):
let it play out. The Friday of that week, we
didn't see Lamar for the past three days. Is it
gonna be Tyler Huntley? Yes, it looks like it's gonna
be Tyler. Move forward. Now these are getting shorter, right.
You mentioned Lamar Jackson consideration for this week. This is
on the twelve. I just don't know. I don't know.
You make some kind of statement, it turns out to
(38:41):
be you just don't have enough information to make it yet.
That's how these injuries work. Now. Reminder, that's the full
eight days after you're saying it's like, yeah, it's not serious.
Probably week to week and we'll get there. Goes to
the nineteen. Do you expect Lamar to return this week?
This is from a guy named James Jamison. Hensley asked question, quote,
I knew you're gonna us that or somebody was a
(39:01):
couple other injuries coming up, and I think I'm gonna
climb behind the barricade of it's probably not the time
to put a lot of information out there on our
injuries for competitive purposes. Shorter, I'm not commenting on any
of that stuff right now. We're gonna get ready for
the game, and the guys will be on the injury report.
(39:22):
Lamar Jackson not pressing practically. Is it gonna be Tyler
Hunley on Saturday? It does? It does, and then the
twenty four, and then the six, and now today it
was hey, uh, it was reported as a PCL injury.
Do you know if it was a sprain or strain?
Harbaugh quote, I'm not really, it's not for me to say.
We're just coaching the guys out here right now. That's
(39:45):
where we've gotten to do John Harball. It went from long, Hey,
we're optimistic. It's week to week. There's some in Baltimore
speculating that now there's there's the bit of the business
side of things with Lamar Jackson that's tugging at him
as much as any knee injury. So so you started
your chronological narrative back on December fourth, after he after
(40:06):
the Denver game, and he was somewhat specific, and here
almost four weeks later, Uh, you know, Baghdad, Baghdad, Bob's
got nothing. It was the thing with the guy in
the place exactly you ever, Mike, You know those people
that they just never the equivocate. You asked him a question, Uh,
you have a hard time making up your mind. Well,
yes and no, that's what it sounds like the last
(40:27):
month and now who knew. I'm starting to think, Now, Lord,
forgive me for this. I go to confession this week.
I've started thinking Lamar Jackson's just a little diabolical because
I don't believe he's going to all his treatment. There
have been reports that he's missed some of his treatments,
and he realizes now when you watch this offense, that
does does not look good. He's in a de facto
(40:51):
way making the case that this is how much Baltimore
needs him. Take a look into your future, Tyler. You know,
Huntley not good. So Lamar Jackson probably first and foremost
wants to get himself healthy. But this has sort of
turned in like a hockey conversation where they're so vague
of two. It's an upper body injury, that's what they exactly. For.
(41:13):
All we know he's got, you know is Bunians are
acting up. They're just not telling us. So the longer
he sits out and the more it's evident that Baltimore
needs him. Uh. The real question here, the subtext is
does Lamar Jackson benefit from this and does it actually
help his contract situation, which still Mike is the elephant
in the room. Well, that's it. And and Mahadi has
(41:34):
been the loudest I mean basically yeah, have you ever
seen the episode of The Simpsons? And and this is
me because I gotta embrace the inner child and me
sometimes that's what you do. Is is the Bart Simpson
episode where he has the access to all the police
gear and he grabs all the megaphones and uh goes
testing and then all the stuff blows out, all the
(41:55):
windows blow out of the cars and horns and sire
and start all. That's kind of where Lamar's But that
was what Bashati sounded like after the Deshaun Watson contract,
was nobody's getting that much money, nobody's worth that much money.
What are you doing over there in Cleveland? Now some
of it was to rib a fellow division owner. The
(42:17):
other part is I gotta pay my quarterback. What the
hell are you doing to me? And I think philosophically,
and it goes back to the style of play longevity,
Like I'll always celebrate the length of a career of
Cam Newton before the hundred carries plus sacks plus everything
else wore his body down to where he wasn't the
(42:39):
same dynamo that he once was. And Harbaugh in the Ravens,
and like they need to find more receivers that that
show up on a on a given day than what
they've done for Lamar Jackson. But given the way he's
worked his body, is is he a guy you want
to commit guaranteed money for for four or million guaranteed kids?
(43:00):
But it's all it's all rumor, conjecture, speculaut he wants
what the shawn wantson got and that's never gonna happen
with any anybody again that that is just a complete
one off. And I like your Simpsons reference there, because
who is Steve Bischotti? Here is the Chief Wigham? Because
(43:20):
somewhere if he gets the Chief Wigham and says where's
all the cool gear? What pictures does he have on Bashatti?
And I don't know that's a hackney Now, that's a
hackneyed old sort of a reference. It's kind of weak.
But something isn't really adding up here. And this is
just a dumpster fire. And this is a team you
know that's they get there in the playoffs, right, they
clinched a playoff birth. But something just smells rotten in
(43:44):
Denmark about this whole thing. And you, you know, you
sort of laid it out quite nicely there back December fourth,
after the Denver game, he says, we have more more
for you in a couple of days. We're in December
twenty nine, and we know left now, yeah, we got
we got no more information now, so you have those
options that are still out there as we spin the
quarterback carouself always the sign trade franchise tag. There's there's
(44:07):
some of those in the bag as opposed to, hey,
let's commit another hundred eighty million dollars or the two
hundred million or whatever that price of poker is. But
to your point, yeah, he's trying to say the longer
he's out. Look how stagnant stale this offense is, and
yet they'll be there flexed into Sunday night football against
the rival Pittsburgh Steelers kicking contest. He could very well
(44:32):
be that. But on brand name alone, in the standalone game,
in this day and age where thirty two states have
legalized sports fanning, we're gonna be watching. Oh, there's no
question about it. I mean we even watched Crighton and
De Paul more than we watched NBA games. We'll get
into that in a minute, because you know what, because
normally we get a young Sheldon reference out of Steve
when we do television ratings
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.