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January 11, 2025 41 mins

Jason Smith & Mike Harmon react to Ohio State vs Texas!

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio. Hello, Welcome inside
the Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon,
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(00:24):
should be. All we continue to pray for Los Angeles
and everything with the wildfires going on the backdrop of
this week. At least we had some good news today
with some of the fires going out, some of the
fires continuing, new fires starting. Feels like there's a little
bit of momentum going throughout the show tonight. If we
get any big news, of course from here in LA,

(00:46):
we will.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Bring it to you.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
But as I've said all week, our businesses sports, and
boy do we get a close one going on right
now in the National Championship semifinal eight and a half
to go in the third quarter Ohio State on top
of Texas forteen to seven, and and Mike, I have
I have bad news for Texas and I have good
news for Texas. What do you what do you think

(01:08):
for Ohio State being the overwhelming favorite. Both of you
and I picked Ohio State. What do you want first?
The good news are the bad news for Texas well, the.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Fact that Texas isn't covering right now?

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Okay, well, okay, all right, let's let's the gambling aspect
of it is different. Yes, the gambling. Is there someone
standing outside your room right now cracking their knuckles, going, hey, harmon,
you don't come up with the money after this game,
I'm gonna pay you a visit.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
No, I mean there's a lot going on here. I
mean the fact that you gave up a giant touchdown
run to a guy who should have been kicked out
of the game. It is did I did I go
off the grid too far?

Speaker 4 (01:42):
No?

Speaker 3 (01:43):
No, no, no.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
The bad and the bad news is for your Texas
is Look, we talked about this, why did both of
us pick Ohio State. Ohio State's got the more talented roster,
But just the last few weeks you can see that
Texas just seems to be running out of gas. Uh.
The season is long for everybody, obviously, but this is
the longest we've ever had a college football season in Texas.

(02:07):
Look you look at where they were. You look at
their results and how they've played. Maybe they peaked right
you saw them at the end of the season. It
wasn't quite the Texas that we saw middle of the year,
where hey, no matter who was playing quarterback, it didn't matter, right,
didn't matter if it was Arch manning in for Quinn
you or that, it didn't matter. Right. They were still
winning games. But you see the last few weeks and

(02:28):
things are getting a little bit more difficult, and the
escape against Arizona State closer than it should have been,
with Clemson losing to Georgia, beating Texas A and M
by seven, not rolling over Kentucky who was one.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
In seven in the conference.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Like this is why I looked at Texas and I said,
are they really gonna have enough against this absolutely loaded
roster of Ohio State who looks like they're peaking at
the right time. So the bad news for Texas I
look as go, are they really running out of gas?
Because offensively, it's just so difficult for them to get
anything going, and it's it's really hard to watch this

(03:03):
once proud offense, uh you know, as that used to
go up and down the field where we talk about
quinn Ewers being a future high first round draft pick
to man Arch Manning's gotta play. He's got to play.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Now.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
We need arch Man, we need arts. It's not working.
Nothing's working. Steams are key, you'd make a move. I
mean Texas, Yeah, they look like they're running out of gas,
and certainly that looks to be the case so far.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Well, and you saw the fact that you had someone
with a surname Manning, uh being able to come in
and give you a big run. Not often do you
see that?

Speaker 4 (03:32):
Right?

Speaker 1 (03:32):
No, he's the he is the most he is the
most nimble of all the Mannings.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
I mean, he is other than Copper back in the day.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
But no, no, come on, dude. Arch is faster than
Tyreek Hill. We saw that earlier this year.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Tyreey Kill doesn't run anymore. No, I'm saying, I'm out.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
It doesn't matter. Arch runs like thirty eight miles an hour.
The highest speed Tyreek Hill ever got was twenty two
corner line. Absolutely absolutely fast.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, for Texas. A couple of things, One the receiving corps.
Much everybody has the giant wacky doctors game operation thing
going on of what's hurting now, Here's an ankle, there's
a knee, there's a there's a problem. And then the
interior line in Ohio State just shot out of a
cannon here time and again, getting after viewers and making

(04:18):
them step up. They had that great drive at the
end of the first half, it's all right, we're going
in even and then in anane defensive alignment, bad decision
number three, we just point at you and say, why
are you running randomly at the quarterback and leaving all
this space for Henderson to sprint? So you know, all
of that work, a long protracted drive, big play, big throw,

(04:42):
and just like that, you give up the touchdown on
one play seventy five yards going the other way. So
you know, you're climbing up that hill. It's the Sissifus thing, right,
I'm getting there. I'm getting there. I slipped it them
all the way back down. Let's climb again. So that's
what they're trying to do now here. As we're midway
through the third.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
You know, it's funny you say that because the Trigg
on Henderson touchdown was just an incredible answer by Ohio State,
and it's the last thing they really did offensively, and
you could see that play coming sure, because I'm watching obviously,
you know, my wife is in all kinds of Texas
gear tonight, right, because you know Michigan.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
She doesn't want to allow State to it.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
She's sitting there, she's singing, she's singing the eyes of Texas.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Oh, she's going crazy.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
And as soon as that play happened, I turned and
I said, uh oh, because you could see Henderson catch
that pass and there are two offensive linemen for Ohio
State not just in front of him, but they run
about fifteen yards downfield before they encounter anyone from Texas.
And I saw that coming and I said, uh oh,

(05:41):
this is going a long way. Henderson makes the mic room,
the right cut back. The offensive line didn't even need
to rote grade anybody just getting away, and he made
the cuts and gone. And that play, that was a
perfect counter play because you knew that Texas is going
to be aggressive and try to, you know, end the
first half on that one play and say we're going
to sack you here, we're gonna bring a lot of

(06:01):
pressure and we're gonna go to halftime and instead it's
a fourteen to seven game. So that that play, I
could see it coming happening so slow, and you see
those two big OL's coming out and I just go, well,
they're not downfield early, too early. This is this is
not gonna be good for Texas.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
But the first guy I want to interview in the
post game is is Gilbo who goes sprinting in like
he's gonna get to how you're not making a play
on the quarterback?

Speaker 1 (06:26):
No, everybody, Now you've I'm gonna get there, I'm gonna
You're not gonna get You've given up.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
Twenty yards of space where Henderson has nobody in front
of him and as you say, a couple of road
graders in front of them. Just a terrible decision. Uh,
because that ball's gone. There's there's no play on that.
Now you're just sprinting just to sprint.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
I'm right, And I thought that's the worst thing ever
is running just to run?

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Who wants to? But that's stick.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
We've talked about it with the Matt Damon Nike movie
time and time again. This is stupid.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
So in that.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Particular case, you just but you completely took yourself out
of the play. Yeah, right now, now you're going to
go and chase down Henderson, but you didn't give yourself
a chance to.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
I mean, that's gonna be that play if Ohio State
win is going to be on the All twenty two
film dissecting this play.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Why did it work? Why did that?

Speaker 1 (07:13):
I mean, they they had it was a great play design,
a great call. That's when where Chip Kelly jumps out
and says, I'm available to be a head coach again.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
I'm available to be a coach again. Hire me. So now, the.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Good news for Texas and the bad news for Ohio
State is that this is the Ohio State offense that
I have seen during the season, and especially against Michigan,
where they just sort of, hey, we're not we don't
we don't look quite as sharp. We're sort of lulling
the game to sleep here a little bit. We don't
want to make a mistake. Howard throws the interception, the

(07:46):
defense gets a three and out in Ohio States defense
have been playing phenomenal all night.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
But the offense, now.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
They were sharp early, they had they had that extra
bit of jump, and now it just it feels like
the play calls are a little bit less aggressive, they're
a little bit more don't make a mistake. Let's try
to use our talent to get down the field, and
when you lose that edge, you just sort of keep
punting the ball away. And we're getting to late in
the third quarter. And I wouldn't say this if I

(08:12):
didn't see Ryan Day and Ohio State do this when
they're involved in close games this year, because that's the
big thing about Ohio State is closing out close games.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
That's not been their forefront.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
When they can get out to a big lead and
they're playing from a couple of touchdowns in front, Ohio
State is just unbeatable. But you get them in a
close game and sometimes they're their own worst enemy, especially offensively.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
And I've not seen any jump.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
I've not seen the hey, let's throw the let's put
the dagger in the backs of Texas right now with
his touchdown drive, because a two touchdown lead at this
point would seem like it was forever. And I've just
watched them lull the game to sleep offensively. And when
you do that and you keep giving the ball back
to the other team, eventually they're gonna get down and
they're going to score. And that's exactly what just happened.

(08:56):
Now this game is gonna wind up being tied. Quinners
throws a pass in the flat. It is a touchdown.
Jaden Blue goes in from twenty six yards out. Again,
another great play against the aggressivest Ohio State, a pass
out of the backfield that had worked a couple of
times on this drive. And now Texas is an extra
point away from tying this game against Ohio State. And

(09:18):
now suddenly, if you're Ohio State, you are, oh let's
get it going again. What problem is sometimes you just
can't get it going again. I didn't see the aggressiveness.
I didn't see the Ohio State team that continue to
pile on points and pile on points saying we're the biggest,
baddest team on the block. That's the good news for
Texas right now. And this game is one kick away
from being tied. It is tied now, fourteen to fourteen,

(09:38):
three minutes left in the third.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
Anytime we can bust out a lefty kicker, we win too.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Lefty barefoot kicker. Yeah, I mean, come on, I mean
that's I mean, come It's not just a lefty kicker.
It's not just David Aker's wearing his wedding ring kicking,
you know, kicking Ballsy this is you got something else
going on.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, you got to start it and go to that
next step. But wide open out of the backfield and
an easy uh touchdown pass here For Quinn years, it'll
look like a thirty yard bomb in the box score
later on. But for Will Howard sixteen to twenty two
to twenty two, the touchdown, the interception, the interception was terrible.

(10:14):
I mean that you might I'd put up the gift
of the guy working a telegraph because you just saw
the drift back into coverage. That was an easy, easy
pick for Texas. Also, to this point, they've absolutely neutralized
Jeremiah Smith. One catch three yards is over. Under for
the day was ninety nine and a half.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, but hey, I learned my lesson about taking the
hunting my chickens. When the under last night, Oh look
at this note tree, David, Oh this is awesome. The
under is so gonna hit. I'm great, And then like
three minutes later the under was gone. Now I've learned
my lesson.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
No, that's all of that to say to this point,
and they haven't been able to get him involved. Good
job by the Texas defense in that regard. Howard got
away with a couple of throws he didn't done that
third one, their would be interception was actually snagged, and
thus far they've only got fifty rushing yards due to
Ohio State through through almost three quarters of action. So

(11:11):
impressive work from Texas.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
Here.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
As we get down into the final minutes of this
third quarter, we've got it all notted up. The runaway
and hide even with the aggressiveness and the dominance most
downs by that defensive front. That's what happens when you
bring an extra man and you don't get home wide

(11:34):
open receivers out in the out of the backfield. So
this one's shaping up for another good one. We got
thirty one points in the fourth quarter yesterday. Let's see
if we can top that and race pass. What was
it fifty two and a half for the Ultito.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, all right, Now, I'm gonna give you a chance
here do something we've never done on the show before.
Eleven years now, you and I have been on the
eleven years, have been doing it.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
I'm gonna punt.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Eleven years now.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
I'm gonna ask you that end game, I'm going to
allow you to change your pick. It is fourteen fourteen
Ohio State Texas. Three minutes to go in the third quarter,
both you and I took Ohio State. Do you want
to stick with Ohio State or do you want to
jump to Texas? Because whatever you decide, this will.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Be your official pick.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
If you want to change to Texas, I'll let it
be your official pick for this game.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
Do I get floggeder?

Speaker 2 (12:22):
No?

Speaker 1 (12:22):
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's hey, it's if
Texas wins, and it's a hey, you got Texas and
Texas's they won.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
What a great pick you had for Texas.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Tie game, three minutes left to go, I'll allow you
to change your pick to Texas or I feel like
Monty Hall. You can either take you can give me
five times. I'll give you five dollars for every bobby
pin you have in your purse, or you could take
what's behind door number.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
So what do you want?

Speaker 1 (12:46):
You want to stick with Ohio State or you want
to jump to Texas.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
How often do people run around with bobby pins these days?

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Well, it's like if somebody was in the audience and
she had a bunch of bobby pins in her hair,
it was ah for every bobby pin in your purse.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
You know it was always something crazy like that.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
All right line right now is at forty four and
a half Ohio State minus three. I'm gonna take Texas, Wow,
because the chaos factor on the other side's far more
entertaining for our show.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Wow. I can't believe you did, Dad. What a loser
you are to changing your pic. No, I'm gonna stick
with Ohio State. I mean I I talked about him
coming in. They still have the best roster, They're still
the best team. It's it's hard for me to see
that they're going to find a way to blow this.
They've been playing so well. I know, tight games aren't there.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
For is Ryan Day get a pull of James Franklin Me.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
No, Look, Ohio State's beating some teams at least, I mean,
at least you have that so, I mean, it's not
James Franklin where Hey, hey listen, I'm just gonna beat
the teams that are right in front of it.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Hey, hey, you need to be in a conference. And
how old are you?

Speaker 2 (13:50):
You know? You know what I was like your hair?

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (13:52):
Either way, Happy birthday Marcus Freeman thirty nine today.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
You know what I was thinking about James Franklin today?
And I was I was thinking about how you know Pennce,
they just he doesn't They didn't choke, they didn't do anything.
It's just Penn State beats the teams there. When you're
Penn State, you're supposed to beat a certain number of teams, right,
that's what he's doing. Now he hasn't beaten anybody who's
on the level or a little bit better.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Right.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
That that's the whole thing about Penn State. And so
we kind of overvalued Penn State a little bit. And
I kind of think it's it's it's kind of like
I remember this, you know, you know, back to when
I was coaching, whether it was soccer or softball, and uh,
we're playing in a in a in a in a
league where okay, you know, after like five or six games,
this one team is five and oh right, and it's like, boy,
they're five and oh, it's all are they really really

(14:35):
must be?

Speaker 4 (14:35):
Really?

Speaker 1 (14:35):
And I look, I go, they've played the four worst
teams in in the league. Like, look, they've played a
couple of teams who's gold differential as minus thirty. Yeah,
they have it. I'm not with They're not. They're not
very good. Trust without having seen them. I know, I
can't say they're really good because they haven't beaten anybody.
And they go on and then they then they start
playing the good team. See I told you, they get
a loss here, they get a loss here, they get

(14:56):
a loss here, and I kind of.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Feel that's away with Penn State.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Look, yeah, they're beating all the they've beat all the
bottom teams of the Big ten. Odd I haven't beat
Once they play somebody that's on their level or a
little bit better, that's where they come back to earth.
And that that's kind of the thing about Penn State.
It's not that they're underachieving. It's they're achieving at a
level that you would expect good to a little bit
better than good teams achieve that, but it's not a

(15:18):
great level, which is what great teams do. And so
that's why they're home. That's why Notre Dame is going on.
It's why we're seeing Ohio State and Texas playing this
fourteen fourteen game here.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah, look their schedule, as we talked about a lot
last night. For as much criticism as Indiana and some
other teams got, Notre Dame got Penn State, they lost
the games where it was a step up in class, right,
And just because you participated in a conference championship game
does not make you the champion. You get no Laurel

(15:49):
crowns for outrunning a burrow, and there's no trophies for
second place. Here, there's no metal stand. There's a winner
and there's a loser. And if you're the loser, you
have to suffer the Indians of hearing the victors marching
band in the room next to you.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
And the loser goes in the fire.

Speaker 3 (16:07):
That's pretty much it. And look, great season, great stuff,
great candor after all of that. But you know all
that that Franklin did to lead up to it, Probably
he has folks looking them a little sideways here as
we round out these final games of the playoffs. But
you know, obviously we're very excited to watch these final

(16:30):
eighteen minutes unfold to see who gets their chance to
play Notre Dame.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Three and a half to go in the third quarter
fourteen fourteen Ohio State and Texas. More on this game
coming up next, however, yes we are less than he's
eighteen seventeen hours away. SpongeBob game from the beginning of
the NFL playoffs Mike and I break down the two
games tomorrow, give you our picks, and tell you who

(16:55):
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Speaker 4 (18:05):
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Speaker 1 (18:17):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Don't have the right team on the court.

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Express Employment Professionals can help from contract placements to full
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Let us handle your hiring so you can focus on
growing your business. Well, here we are into the fourth quarter.
Right now, Ohio State and Texas tied at fourteen a piece.

(18:43):
Texas coming back to tie this game with a big
touchdown pass. A few minutes ago, Ohio State had a
big play themselves Henderson with a seventy five yard touchdown
catch and run. But right now Texas does have the
football second and three at their own forty six uh
going to the fourth quarter, so still plenty of time
for Ryan Day to Ryan Day daying could be we

(19:06):
could be day o daying could be a thing, Mike Carmon,
because I've seen it before.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
Looks like you were gonna have a little bit of
a possession for Ohio. Stay, get a little bit of momentum,
and then you get a dopey penalty from an offensive
lineman coming in and forearming a guy in the head
as the whistle's blown and quick with the dopey penalties,
you dope, but would stop punching people in the head, you,
Jacob Henderson, this guy, Come on, you would.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Be a great, like offensive or defensive line coach to
come in and yell at the players after they committed
bad penalty, like all right, freeze it right here, and
you would come in and go listen, you dope when
you do that penalty there, that's just.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Stupid me with you what you were thinking? Take me
to the coach. I know you weren't thinking.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, and then you walk on a lap you walk out,
all right, go to the defensive back room. They got
they got some questions for you. They're going to yell
at a couple of guys. Yeah, yeah, I'm good, I'm good.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
I'm good.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Hey, where all you dopes commit in these stupid penalties.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
All right, let me tell you something.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
Just give it away, the dage giving away possessions and
a tie ball game.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
So we'll have more on this game coming up in
a few minutes. Again, fourteen fourteen fourth quarter, just underway,
Texas is punting. Ohio State has the football deep in
their own territory. Now Tomorrow starts the beginning of the
NFL playoffs. The countdown, the number of games left you
can count on, well, four hands, you can count on them.
We got charging the Texans and the Steelers and the Ravens,

(20:33):
and we're gonna preview both of these games in the
next few minutes. But let me tell you first ride
you want a great hot take. Mike Tomlin is coaching
for his job tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
You really think, finally say goodbye?

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Mike Tomlin is coaching for his job tomorrow. Traded really
both he and well he either won. If some if
it looks like Pittsburgh wants to get rid of him
and another team where we could either fire him or
we could trade him, I could easily see that happening.
The rooms are not happy. Art Rooney is not happy
with how the team is going, and he kind of
got that little bit of a of a not a guarantee,

(21:08):
but he got he got that little bit of a
hey man, you got a thing's got to be better
than they were last year. It's got to be better
than just hey, we're good enough to maybe make the playoffs.
We are about super Bowls and the team has not
been trending that way. So, you know, Mike Tommin was
kind of put on the spot for this season, and
he has gone all in on Russell Wilson, right, whatever
other decisions. Look, Steelers are always gonna have a good defense.

(21:31):
You know. Again, he sticks with Naji Harris even though
Naji Harris is just a guy, and I don't know
why he keeps giving him the football, But congratulations to
all the Steelers' opponents because that's what he does, is
just keep giving Naji Harris a football. Yes, because he
had four hundred rushing attempts. He's like John Riggins, he
had four he's averaging two point eight yards againts statue
now yards right, But he's gone all in on Russell Wilson.

(21:55):
And what have we seen. Russell Wilson has just fallen
off a cliff, right, because he's not been the guy
from the first week four weeks.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
We talked about it last night. Wilson is washed.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
He gave you a little bit of a jolt in
the beginning because it just seemed like it was a
little bit better offense with Wilson than it was with
Justin Fields. They were getting in the end zone a
little bit more so. It seemed like, oh, look at
Russell Wilson, and Mike Tomlin loved the fact that, Hey,
my decision because I don't care what they say he
can't stand Justin Fields because he's winning games. Everything is fine. Nope,

(22:26):
gonna go to Russell Wilson when he's healthy. For whatever reason,
Mike Tomlin is really stubborn when it comes to certain players.
A lot of coaches are stubborn, but he's overly stubborn
with guys. He's overly stubborn with Naji Harris, overly stubborn
with Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
This is is what happens.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
And he has done that, and now here you are
limping into the excuse me, limping into the playoffs, not
scoring a lot of points, having difficulty and thinking we're
gonna come in here and suddenly catch fire. Our offense
is suddenly gonna be really really good if the Steelers
lose tomorrow, and especially it's one of those games where
you watch Lamar Jackson, you know, you go in in

(23:01):
in division and he has a huge game, and and
Lamar's doing Lamar things where he's got that kind of
confidence where I'm gonna run, gonna flick the ball with
my left hand, I'm gonna be able to run near
the out of bounds and stop and tight rope down
the sideline.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
If it's one of those games.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
The Steelers are gonna say, and Ruoney's gonna say, I've
kind of had enough, Like I've seen this. We're not
getting better. We are just spinning our wheels. A lot
of teams would love to have the Steelers' problems, where
all you mean, we're making the playoffs every year.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
I'd love to have that problem. I'd love to have.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
I mean, look at the Jets or the Raiders or
any other day I'd love But the Steelers are different,
and they and and they judge success differently, and there's
not been deep playoff runs. They've been just good enough
to get in, but they are not as but not
as talents as they need to be. And the fact
that that that Tomlin has gone to the wall for
this is the team. I want to win games this way.

(23:51):
When you don't win games this way, what's gonna happen?
I mean, what's gonna happen? Eventually? It's there's gonna be
a change. Well, you've been here a long long time,
and it's just you've we had the same core of
people for a while now, and it's just we are
still the same team as we were the five years ago.
We're still no matter who was coming in and you
went to the wall for Russell Wilson, you brought in

(24:11):
these quarterbacks. We did this, and look where we're at.
We still can't score offensively, and you have problems with
guys like George Pickens, and no matter who you want
to blame about stuff, whether it's Antonio Brown or Le'Veon
Bell or Plexico Burris, whoever you it's still issues that
that crop up that you can't get past. Winning gets
you past those issues. And when the Steelers are not winning,

(24:32):
and this is the team and they're not as competitive
as you want them to be, and that's a next
level playoff, competitive Steelers are gonna say we're gonna go
get the guy who is we're gonna go We're gonna
go five because anybody's gonna want to come coach the Steelers.
We have to do something well. Mike Vrabel will say,
see you later in New England. I'm going to Pittsburgh, right.
Ben Johnson's gonna say, whoa, whoa Woa the Steelers, whoa

(24:52):
whoa woa the Steelers.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
Oh, hang on a second, Steelers, Steelers, Steelers.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
That's gonna happen. It's trust me, Tomlin's coaching for his
job tomorrow. A bad effort against the Ravens, and watch
what happens. They kind of alluded to it in the offseason.
This is a pressure year for Tomlin. If they come
up short, watch what happens.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah see, I still think you've overachieved because Omar Khan
gave you justin fields and Russell Wilson. So while you're
limping towards the end, I don't know that.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
You know.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
From a messaging standpoint, normally we could say, all right,
this guy's run his course. Look he's had knuckleheaded wide receivers.
You chronicled a few of them. And George Pickens here
the efficiency rating and his availability and want to certainly
questioned with great regularity as you go through Jalen Warrens

(25:45):
and Naji Harris not the most exciting backs, right. You
get a little more explosiveness out of Warren in the
past game. Naji Harris still did average four yards of
carryon what do you get? What do you get when
you get three of those? You get first down? But
you haven't had a real quarterback since the final vestiges

(26:06):
of Ben Roethlisberger nearly a decade ago. You've been trotting
guys out one half to the other, wishing, wanting, hoping
that they would become it's not just serviceable and keep
you around a five hundred team, but that they would
elevate you. Omark Condi's to go find him a guy

(26:27):
that's gonna take you up to the top floor in
that elevator. Not Hey, you know what we stopped between
these You're gonna have to crawl out. No, it's not good.
So Mike Tomblin's got to go back to the room
and go, hey, look what I'm doing with what you're
giving me here. I don't get to pick the groceries,
or at least that's what we're told. And not like
Bill Belichick was in his final years when it was

(26:49):
him and his dog doing the draft during the COVID years.
So yeah, I'm the first to wonder aloud about you know,
messing and you know, do you go to an alternative
when the guy hasn't won a playoff game since twenty sixteen.
He's one of those guys that we put on the
list of Man, it's been a long time. He's a

(27:09):
super Bowl winner, but man, that's a long time ago.
And so to suddenly see the Rooneys change course after
all of these years of business, boy, I'd love to
be in the room where that decision actually comes down.
You know, we've had what three coaches since uh, you
know our kids were born. Yeah no, but but look
those years ago.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
But every but look, they they still change, you know,
I mean, you know they still change.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
It's not that, hey, they.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
Never happened after you know, every twenty years or so,
the dealers need to you know, need to make a
make a change at some point. But that's the thing
is that you know, they they finished this season on
a four game losing streak. Everything looked like it was
so good. Tomlin's been there since two thousand and seven, right,
he's he's one hundred games over five hundred.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Tomlin's a really good coach.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
But sometimes it's it's it's not that all all of
a sudden, Tomlin can't coach, it's your ideas. They lose
and they get stale, and and maybe the team isn't
as responding as much as it is and you just
need a new voice in there. Now.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
The Steelers haven't.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
They've had three coaches since before I was born. Okay,
so you know, in my entire life, the Steelers have
had three head coaches. But you know, everything doesn't go
forever just because you think Mike Tomlin's gonna be there,
and he's still young enough that another team clearly would
be interested. Like I think if the Steelers knew they
were gonna part ways, they would go out there and go, okay,
we could trade you and Mike, who do you want

(28:33):
to go to?

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Where you go?

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Because I can see them just saying, you know what,
We're gonna trade you because they signed them to a
contract extension and it seems kind of crazy. But another
year of underachieving, especially when when you finish the season
the way they did where it was hey middle of
the year, things look really good. Now, oh my goodness,
we really struggle and a bad final again. It's not
as simple as a new voice. But boy, when you

(28:55):
had the same ideas that are going on, what do
you think is gonna be different next year? You could
have gone out and gotten a quarterback. This passed off,
so you could have gone out and traded for Kirk Cousins.
You could have gone out and gotten anybody. But instead, no,
let's try to make it work with Justin Fields and
Russell Wilson. Right, two guys at their previous teams just
didn't want and I'll try. That's not right, That's not
a way to make it work.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
Now, a lot of reports that Justin Fields is going
to have multiple suitors.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, no, and I saw it today Arthur Smith is saying, hey,
we might see Justin Fields tomorrow if we need to.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
I mean, like this is he's.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
Been a louting to it for a couple of weeks
and it's been clear. You know, it's almost like watching
the local news here of what you can say and
what you can't say before the bosses called you to
the office. I'll leave that there.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
But hey, hey, Mike, I said we might see justin tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
Is that cool?

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Am I cool to say that? Or should I have
not said that?

Speaker 4 (29:42):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (29:42):
I should not have.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
Seen because he went explicit, but he'd been alluding to
it the last couple of press availabilities, like he really
wants to go back to fields. He's really looking to
go back to the field, any of being told no, no, no,
but again, you know, if someone really good on the
soldier field old sidelined, if the Steelers do decide they're
tired of.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
It, find someone who loves you as much as Mike
Tomlin loves Russell Wilson. That unconditional love that no matter
what happens, you can do no wrong and I believe
in you. That is the rarest kind of love. I
feel like Tom Hanks in a movie. That's the rarest
kind of love. You can't have love. You can't find
love like that.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
Everywhere. It's love.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
It's I do know this one who loves you that much?

Speaker 3 (30:24):
If if it's certainly not from his latest movie that
nobody saw.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, oh boy did that that just that just showed
up and took off like that was it? Hey, look
what we're doing with filmmaking. We're doing something really weird.
The entire movie is from one angle.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yeah, next, what else? What's what's next? Oh? But it's
me and Robin Wright.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah next next.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
The best quote from it was Lisa Kudrou of Friends Fame,
as she was doing her stuff press availability for no
Good Deed. Well, Jack's pretty good her and Ray Romano
and Linda Cardellini and yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
That's based on the song from Wicked. Right, That's that's
what it is, right, she sings that song.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, something like that. But basically is like, why did
we need this?

Speaker 4 (31:05):
All? Ay?

Speaker 2 (31:05):
I we needed this movie? How many times do I
say that to you about a movie?

Speaker 4 (31:11):
Was it?

Speaker 2 (31:11):
We do that all the time.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
But did we really need it? I don't know that
we That's.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
Why I'm very fearful of what my letter boxed becomes
as I start writing reviews. Did we really need this movie?

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen down the Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon live from
the Tirech dot Com Studios. Time now to find out
what's trending in the wide world of sports and opste.
Is there a big decision that has to be made here?
In the fourth quarter between Ohio State and Texas. It's
a big fourth down. Steve de Seger has all the
details right now with what's trending.

Speaker 5 (31:43):
It's listed as a fourth and three Ohio State with
under ten minutes to go in a tie game against Texas.
They've taken a time out. Texas has I should say,
Ohio State with the ball, do you kick a fifty
two yard field goal it is indoors in Arlington, or
do you go for it on fourth and short. Ohio
State had a key touchdown right before halftime when they

(32:03):
dumped off a pass to Trevian Anderson and he went
seventy five yards for the score. So Will Howard has
one touchdown pass one interception over two hundred and eighty
yards through the air for the Buckeyes. Meanwhile, for the
Texas Longhorns, again playing in state, quinn ewers two touchdown passes,
both to Jayden Blue. This is semifinal for the College
Football Playoff under ten minutes to go. Ohio State with

(32:26):
the ball in a tie game fourteen to fourteen. Last
night Notre Dame and beat Penn State on a late
field goal at the Orange Bowl. The final is on Monday.
The twentieth in Atlanta, Georgia transfer quarterback Carson Beck committed
to Miami. Philadelphia. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts cleared concussion protocol,
so he'll start Sunday, and wide receiver AJ Brown says

(32:48):
he'll play after indee injury. Eagles wide receiver DeVante Smith
is expected to play despite missing practice today with a
bad back. Packers quarterback Jordan Love is off the injury
report after last weekend's at Elbow. He will start Sunday
at Philadelphia that Sunday four thirty Eastern, non Fox TV.
Green Bay wide receiver Christian Watson, with the bad knee,

(33:08):
is out. Vikings quarterback Sam Darll practice fully today after
the quad injury, but running back Aaron Jones was limited
by a quad injury. In the NBA seven games, just
one is still going in the third quarter at Denver
Nuggets with a big lead on the nets eighty seven
sixty eight. Nikola Jokic with twenty six points, eight rebounds,

(33:28):
tenn asists and just one turnover. Giannis an Tenakumpo with
forty one points in a Milwaukee win at Orlando one
oh nine, one oh six. New Orleans won at Philly.
It's one twenty one, twenty three, one fifteen final. Really,
the story is Dian Williamson was not playing suspended for
this game. He was late to the team flight, among
other problems like being late to you know, practices.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
C J.

Speaker 5 (33:52):
McCollum had thirty eight points in this.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
They gonna trade into the Dolphins.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
Mike McDaniel's okay with people, Yeah, bothe I mean, we'll
work on the next picking up. You did your best,
did you do your you did your It's okay, It's okay,
you could play.

Speaker 5 (34:05):
It's your next. John Smith. It just signs Zion Oklahoma
City a winner in New York one.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
That game was canceled.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
That game was canceled midway through the fourth quarter of
the The floor was wet.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
In a manner of speaking that was kind of kidding.
Six one one not closed. Shake Gilles Alexander thirty nine
points in twenty nine minutes updating they are calling it in.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
How many points from maccal bridges tonight for the Knicks?
How many? How many close your eyes? How many do
you see nothing?

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Zero?

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Zero zero?

Speaker 5 (34:34):
The Ohio State Buckeys with officially a fourth and two
with under ten minutes to go and they get it
on a quarterback run.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
They're in the red.

Speaker 5 (34:41):
Zone, chance to win this semi final.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
This is not Howard was going into the end zone
and he tripped and fell.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
Turf monster.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
He was. He was getting into the end zone.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
He read they ran a quarterback draw and it was
wide open and he was running.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
For the end zone and he just fell.

Speaker 5 (35:01):
That was a touchdown at least, Yeah, he was.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
He No, I don't know that you would have caught him.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
He by the time anybody got closer probably would have
been inside.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
The five and he just fell down.

Speaker 5 (35:11):
So instead it's at the eleven yard line officially, but
first down for the buck guys.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Yeah, thank you, Stevo.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
The Jason Smithscher with Mike carmon Live the tire rack
dot Com Studios Hi drama going on right now at
the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State on the doorstep facing a
second down deep in Texas territory. We'll have more on
this game coming up next as well as we continue
to pick and tell you who's coming up with victories
this weekend, the first weekend of the NFL playoffs. You

(35:38):
want an upset, we had an upset. I got to
come in your way. Next right here, Jason and Mike
Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio The Jason smithser with
Mike Carmon live from the tire rack dot Com studio.
Well dressed, high drama, Cotton Bowl, Ohio State in the
end zone for a touchdown. Texas looked like they were
coming back. They get a really rich, ridiculous taunting penalty.

(36:02):
It looked like it was gonna hold them back. However,
Quinn viewers goes deep on the next play and now
it's Texas deep in Ohio State territory, five and a
half to go, facing a second down, down twenty one
to fourteen. This game is really coming down to it.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Yeah, just remember punch opponent, Okay, yeah, yeah, look at
his general direction and mock him.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Look at it, look at his jection. In point, you
get a fifteen yard penalty, helm getting called what a
ridiculous penalty, Absolutely ridiculous, but uh dex is able to
overcome it. It's a deep pass that gets them into
into the red zone and now they have second and
eight at the eleven yard line of Ohio State. Now
you want to talk about the playoff games coming up
this weekend in the NFL, everybody's looking.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
For upsets, upsets, upsets. I got it upset for you.

Speaker 3 (36:48):
You got one.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
I got upset for you.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
And it's it doesn't matter that the game's gonna be
in Arizona. Give me the Rams over the Vikings. Will
I will take the Rams over the Vikings on this
all day long. Look, I told you the Rams are
going to the super Bowl in the preseason. Not going
to back off him now right, I can't do that.
But I have seen Sean McVeigh win these games a

(37:11):
lot throughout his young career as a great head coach.
The bigger the stage, the better the Rams are. Minnesota
was awful against Detroit, right, and maybe the Lions have
a possible blueprint on how to stop Sam Darnald because
they made him uncomfortable the entire game. It really was.
It was really something I hadn't seen happen. I've seen
Donald have some blog games this year, but not but

(37:34):
not under the constant duress that the Lions were able
to keep him under. And that might be your blueprint.
Now here's the sunny side for the Vikings. I think
Sam Donald bounces back a little bit. I think he
bounces back. I think he has a good game. I
think he has one of those Josh Allen like three
hundred yard, three touchdown, two interception type games, But it's

(37:55):
those two interceptions and turning the ball over is going
to wind up killing you. I think Minnesota starts out fast.
They want to get this taste out of their mouth
from last week. Coming in, the Rams are going to adjust,
They will force some mistakes. Their balanced offense is going
to frustrate Minnesota. They win the game late. Matthew Stafford
wins it with an offensive drive and a field goal,
and we're going to say, can you believe it? Look

(38:16):
at the Rams. Here they are in the next round
of the playoffs. We wrote them off when they were
one and eleven, and here they are now. They haven't
lost a game like this is every year for the Rams.
Now they start out, everything looks awful. Players are hurt.
They can't win. But I've seen the Rams do this before.
I've seen this blueprint. Give me the Rams. I'm getting
three points. I'm not gonna need them. I'll take them
just for fun, Mike, of course, But give me the

(38:36):
Rams in this game.

Speaker 3 (38:37):
Yeah, two and a half or three, depending on where
you're looking. Forty seven. Your total great job by dem
Off everybody around the Rams, including Kelly Stafford, mobilizing things
to get fans to Arizona. It's pretty cool thing with
all these season ticket holders, Lots lots of what was
it fifty two thousand tickets sold very quickly today for

(38:59):
that game when those went on sale. But the mobilization
to get the some sort of home field advantage out
there certainly impressive. I'm gonna take Minnesota to take care
of business. I know there's been a lot made about
the sign that was up right, the the picture of
Campbell and O'Connell at the RAMS facilities of you know,

(39:20):
the we'll see you in two weeks thing, and trying
to make that a motivator. That only gets you so far.
In the end, you still gotta go play the game.
And you know, look, I love what the the Rams
have been and certainly Pukin Dakua, Kyn Williams, two very
exciting players. Cooper Cup not quite the same factor that
he was, and maybe he can be. He can be

(39:42):
a hero for what just for one day, you know,
as we celebrate commemorate the the memory of David Bowie today,
But all of that the I'm expecting Flores's defense uh
to be a lot cleaner than they were the last
time out. Uh, and for the offense to get it
back and rolling look for Donald uh and his favorite

(40:03):
weapons to make him Hey.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
Yeah, no, I look at it.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
I I don't think they're gonna It's not suddenly where
here's a here's a hey, Donald's not gonna be able
to do this because you know, clearly the Lions defense
a little bit more teeth, very aggressive. They've seen they
see the Vikings twice a year. It's not quite gonna
be that case. The Rams still have a couple of
issues defensively, and they're gonna be able to move the ball.
But I know that they're gonna be opportunistic. You know,
Sean McVay is preaching Ballhawk, get the football.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
He's gonna give.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
It to us, and and you know, look, Donald's prone
to that bad you know, to a bad turnover, and
and I think they're gonna get a couple And that's
why I like the Rams.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
Yeah, I don't think Kevin O'Connell's gonna go Uh. There's
there's no sixth things. McVeigh is ing. McVeigh is ing mcveighing,
you know, like the cambelling, Yeah, because that's what he
was doing. It's like, you could kick a field goal.
I don't want to kick a field goal. Dan camb
would field goal. He'll kick a field goal this week.
Dan Campbell would. What would Dan Campbell do? W W

(40:57):
would go, We're gonna go for it. Make you The
cod Genius is in the red.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Zone exit out by the Fresco exit, Swollen Dome, Texas,
facing a fourth and goal.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
What happens We'll tell you next.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
This is Fox
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