January 10, 2026 • 40 mins
In Hour 3 of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, Steve DeSaegher fills in for Mike as the guys react to Fernando Mendoza’s performance and double down on their belief that Dante will be a Jet. NFL insider Jason Cole joins the show to share his insight and analysis.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hello, Welcome in side hour three The Jason Smith Show
with special delivery Steve de Sega in for Mike Harmon.
A big football Friday. We got NFL insider Jason Cole
coming up at about twenty minutes as we start taking
a look at all the big NFL games this weekend.
But uh boy, to put a cherry on top of
(00:50):
this Sunday for the Indiana Hoosiers, who improved to fifteen
and zero. They are one game away from winning the
national championship in foot ball. Just think about that. I know,
we know that we've watched them all year, but Indiana
is going to win the national championship in football.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Team basketballs exactly a team that did not even bend
to a Rose Bowl since the nineteen sixties until last
week they.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Dismantle Oregon look and Oregon played terribly. It was their
worst played game of the year. But a lot of
that always has to do with who you're playing against.
You had Dante Moore throwing a pick six on the
first play of the game. That should have been your
final clue that it's gonna wind up be in Indiana's
Night five touchdowns Fernando Mendoza, Indiana actually runs four yards,
they throw four. It is a perfect game for Indiana,
(01:40):
and it was never in doubt once you got to halftime.
Now this is the again. There's certain stories in sports
Steve where even years later, I still can't believe they're true,
Like I still, I can't believe that happened, Like I still,
you know, like I can't believe the Royals won the
World Series in twenty fifth. Yes it was against the Mets,
but I can't believe the Royals won the World I mean,
come on, man, the Royals won the World Series. They
(02:02):
alost won too, I mean the Royals won the World
Series right, like it in some stories. Just I know
I saw them and I saw it happen, but I
just can't believe it.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Marlin's won two.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
The Marlins won too, Yes, and and they won. They
won the first one, dismantled their entire team, got rid
of everybody, got a whole new team, and won the
second one.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I mean, the Giants had not won a World Series
their first fifty years in California, and then they win
three and five years with and you can't name a
batter they had aside from Buster Posey in the entire
light up. Probably that's it.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Oh, come on, they had Mays McCovey, They had some dudes,
man Marish out by me.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Thompson was really good for a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well he had that one big home run. You know,
Tom's just you really just had that one.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I bet a good call from John Miller.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, and as Cerulean blue as Bobby Thomson looks out
over Ralph brancup. But uh, this is your big hot
taken and it's a great positive night because I mean, look,
I don't know how else you cut this up. Indiana,
And we've mentioned this. They have zero football tradition. Zero.
As you said, the last time they were in the
(03:10):
Rose Bowl was nineteen sixty seven. Doesn't mean they haven't
had good years. Doesn't mean they haven't had years or
they've they've gone well in one bowl game.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It almost means that their big moment was winning the
Copper Bowl. Yeah I saw, yeah, yeah, Copper bull Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean their overall record, they are nearly two hundred
games under five hundred and you're their entire run and.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Had coming into this year the most total losses of
any college football program. And now this year, once we
finished the final in Miami a week from Monday, they
could wind up outscoring their opponents by five hundred points
just in this season.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
They've been playing football since eighteen ninety nine. Okay, they
finished right now, they're the number one team in college football.
Last year, number eight team in college football during the
pandemic season, which is kind of weird. It's kind of
it's kind of hard to break that down. They were
six and two, they finished eleventh overall. They lost the
Outback Bowl, but the last time they were ranked in
(04:13):
the final college football playoff pole of the year. You
gotta go all the way back to, you know, from
the last couple of years ago, twenty twenty. You have
to go back to nineteen eighty eight when they were
eight three and one, they were ranked nineteenth and nineteen
seventy nine. They were fourth that year in nineteen sixty seven,
(04:35):
so we're jumping twenty years every time we go to.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Nineteen seventy nine, I believe was Lee Corso's team at
the Holiday Bowl.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah. Yeah, then you got to go back to nineteen
forty six when they finished twentieth. I mean, this is
and the forties.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Was the last time they won any league championship outright
in the sport of football.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
They have zero football tradition. Again, it doesn't mean you
can't have good years once every twenty years, but that's
Indiana no football tradition for their existence. There are two
hundred games under five hundred and in two years, okay,
in two because you can't say, well, even building towards it,
right because you look at what Tom Allen did that
year in twenty twenty when they went six and two.
(05:13):
Indiana's record the next three years two and ten, four
and eight, three and nine. Okay, so you're talking about
a record that is that they were nine and thirty one,
you know, going in or nine and twenty nine those
last three years. Time Island gets let go, Kurt Signetti
comes in and it's like, who is this guy? Right,
Signetti comes in his opening press conference was weird. Now
(05:35):
it seems like it's very Jim tressel escort. It's like,
what is this guy talking about? In two years? In
two years, Indiana has gone from zero tradition and now
they're a dynasty. Finishing eighth last year in the playoff,
now the overwhelming favorite, there at least a touchdown favorite
to win the national championship when they play Miami again.
(05:57):
I don't know that there's been a more unlike success story.
You got to go back to some of the great
unlikely success stories of all time, like Miracle on Ice
or Villanova Georgetown and Buster Douglas Mike Tyson the Miracle
Mets in sixty nine.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
But even the Villanova won, they had a really not
that good regular season. It was such a huge field
because it's a basketball tournament, right, and.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
That's one game, I mean, that's what that's Villanova winning
one game, right in one season? The Jets winning one
game in one season. Miracle on Ice is a two
week run by the US hockey team, Like this is
coming from absolutely nothing to have a dynasty in two years.
That's the most unlikely success story. I mean, you have
(06:42):
to go back to these sorts of records, like at
least the last twenty five years, I have not seen anything,
maybe thirty years, I've not seen anything like this Indiana
sudden burst on the scene under Kurt Signetti into where
they are right now, where they have not just hey,
we had a great season and everything went our way.
We had one great year and then you know, things
(07:03):
get back to normal. This is we had a great
year last year, and now we've become the best program
in college football, imer Trophy winner, everything else. You want,
the most unlikely sports story the last twenty five thirty years.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And I invite it. And by the way, they have
the TCU quarterback has already said he's going to transfer
into Indiana if you're wondering who's going to take over
at quarterback. But it's all in the context of the
new landscape of college football, is that you can't have
the blue bloods plow their way through and dominate with rosters.
(07:35):
In the old old days, of course, the USC rosters
were legendary, and even if a guy wasn't going to
be starting, he would still go to USC and they
could just pack the rosters with like we saw with
Alabama running backs three and four deep, instead of spreading
her around. Now, if a guy's not playing immediately, he
can transfer and play somebody else. Or if you're like Mendoza,
(07:56):
he can start at Yale and no, I'll get to
play at Cal and Okay, after a couple of starting
years at Cal, I'm going to finish up here at
this one place. Who knew what this one year would
turn out to be? Heisman Trophy and maybe National Championship game.
I applaud all of this. I think this is great
for the sport of college football, as bad as the
overall has been all and not all the changes have
(08:18):
been great. As we know, it's the wild West out there.
But it does, in a weird way, even the playing field,
does it not?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, what it does is is it evens the playing
field for the teams that are a notch below the elite,
right because in the nil are obviously, hey, players from
smaller schools are going to go to a little bit
bigger schools. The players from but you're right, Texas te
to go up there.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
They have huge money. Now, It's not like they've always
been awful and boom top ten, and not just in
this one sport. The athletic department is really the profile
is raised.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, the schools that get hurt are the lower level
D one teams. You know, the MAC Conference gets hurt.
Teas at the lower level of the Power for Conference
is get hurt because they're the ones that lose the
really good talent that they normally would keep that say, hey,
you know, I've had a really good year here at
Pittsburgh and you know we're top twenty five team, but hey,
(09:11):
I'm going to Miami to be the quarterback next year, right, Like,
those are the teams that get hurt, or the teams
at the bottom of the Power for conference in the
smaller D one conferences.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
But I'm leaving UCLA for Oregon exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Well, well, listen, are you leaving Jerry new Heidel. Now,
I don't think you're leaving Jerry new Heisel. You're really
in there for Jerry Newheiseel.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It really does force teams. And I talked about this
with what Miami has become. It really does force football programs.
Athletic departments in general is say are we really committing
to football? Because that's been one of the knocks against
the UC system in California, for example, is it's been
part of the athletic department and not dominated the athletic department,
(09:50):
like it to an unusual degree has at too many
other places. Now you just get stomped over and passed.
It's going to be generation after generation passed if don't
keep up.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, because now it's the team. That's why. That's that's
why I love this era. It's so great with the
nil and everything going on, because now it's those teams
just below the blue bloods, right, Like it's that you
have that group of ten or fifteen teams you know
from the SEC the Alabamas and the Auburns and LSU.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
And Ohio State still took it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
At Ohio State and Michigan and Penn State in the
in the in the big ten, right, you have the
group of ten or fifteen schools that hey were always
going to be above everybody else because they could give
more money to people. It's much more prestige, all of it.
But now that group of you talk take an average
conference where maybe it's the top two teams in each
(10:43):
conference that always run things. Now you open it up
to maybe the next four or five teams after that,
where now they can compete because they're gonna get those
guys from the lower schools because they figured out NIL.
And what you need is you have rich alumni, you
have a head coach can figure out NIL, and suddenly
you know teams like Miami and for the most part
(11:04):
up until last couple years, but you have them with
Jordan Travis, they were great, like look Miami, Florida State,
Clemson had run the ACC for so long, but now
because of NIL. Look at teams like SMU, Georgia Tech.
Duke figured out NIL in a big way, right, Mandy
d As a Duke has figured out, Hey, this is
how we do it NIL at Duke. And so now
(11:25):
you're talking about those four teams just below those three
that are getting things done right. Texas Tech has figured
out the NIL era, BYU has figured out the nil era.
So now the Big twelve has more teams there. And
in the Big Ten, yes, they Morpheden came in. We
had teams coming in from the Pac Ten as well.
I get it, but Oregon, USC, Washington, so many of
(11:47):
these teams now you're not each each big conference. The
Big ten is not just worried about, well is it
Ohio State or Michigan, And then every five or so
years a Wisconsin or a Penn State jumps in something
like it's every year it's hey, we got to watch
out for these six teams in these Power FI and
Power for Power Fight conferences. So now every year, because
of the nil era, you have twenty five or thirty
(12:11):
teams that could potentially, hey, improve enough with the transfers
coming in and get in and win games and get
to the playoff and do what Indiana's done. It's not impossible.
Then it's not saying well it's a it's an unfair playfield.
Now it's all balanced. But those are the teams that
are good. You're gonna see those teams that can stay
at the top, that were those middle of the pack
(12:31):
conference programs that rise up because look, everybody is unique,
has their own thing figuring out the nl era. Still
certain schools have not figured it out. You would think
they would, but they're still struggling. But you look at
some of those schools that I just mentioned that, Yeah,
these are now yearly power schools or teams that you're
talking about playoffs and how they can win because hey,
the transfer portal nil money wise. We have the right
(12:54):
coaches in. We have the coaches that are comfortable with
the portal. We have the coaches that are out recruiting
all the time. Doesn't need to be a coach that's
got a great offensive system and getting the right guys
or a great defensive system. It's who can come in,
bring in the most talent, keep them at the top,
get players, and cycle through guys every year that new
players can come in, jump right into a system and win.
(13:15):
I mean you have gone from hey, here's these ten
or fifteen teams every year, one of them is going
to win the national championship to now now you're at
thirty thirty five teams that can come in and win
the national championship, and that's awesome for college.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
One and bring guys in and make them a team.
This is not fantasy football. And how many five star
recruits can you have because we're not getting an Indiana
team full of five star recruits in the final and
they're completely dominating the Big ten. In the old days,
it used to be a joke that it was really
the Big two and the Little eight, you know, back
when they had actually ten teams maybe you don't know this. Kids.
(13:46):
That's why they called the Big ten because for many
years they only had ten teams. Now it's I think
that was.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
The Big eight. It was the big two in the
Little six, that's what it was. It was Oklahoma, Nebraska
and the other body.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
In the Big ten. It was Michigan, Ohio State, and
teams Indiana and Purdue in Northwestern and their face would
rarely be above water. I'm glad you brought up the
name of Florida State because the last forty years of
college football they've been one of the premier programs, not
just with Bobby Bowden. And yet when all of these
conference changes come about, who's complaining the most in the ACC? Hey,
(14:20):
we don't want to split our TV money. We're the
reason why anybody pays attention to the ACC. It's US,
It's Florida State, and you know, on and on. So
Clemson and Florida State really pounded their foot to the
point where where SMU joined, For example, they said, okay, fine,
we won't take any of your team meet money for
seven years just to be able to join your league,
(14:42):
and okay, well come on in Son and but they
were able to and This gets back to nil SMU
was able to rouse up the boosters and get so
much money on its own as soon as it became
in name only an ACC team that it made difference
for them. The irony is that teams in the ACC
(15:03):
are quickly This quickly passed Florida State.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Bye exit out about a fresca. Jason Smith, Steve de Sager.
Here at Fox Sports Radio, we have more breakdown of
Indiana's win over Oregon. But coming up next, we take
a look at the big NFL Wildcard playoff weekend. What
are some big upsets? Who's gonna win by twenty points?
Keep it right here, Jason Smith, Steve de Sager in
(15:26):
from Mike Harmon. This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Steve.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Be sure to 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 iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Hey, It's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from seven
to ten pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, we are
excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
That's right. You can now watch the Odd Couple live
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Speaker 5 (16:01):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
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Speaker 1 (16:12):
Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Steve Desanger in for Mike Harmon.
Right now, Steve, we got Jason Cole NFL anals coming
up in a second. But first, Alex Tishert's gonna want
to do a little something for you, so can allow
him to do it. Then we'll go to Jason Cole.
(16:36):
All right, let him finish one more, let him finish.
Indiana beats Oregon fifty six twenty two, a nice little
segue into NFL playoff preview. Is joining us now on
(16:57):
the hot line. Nobody better than the aforementioned longtime NFL
insider Hall of Very Good voter. Check him out of
the thirty third team on Twitter at Jason Cole sixty two.
It is Jason Cole. Jake Cole, I'm gonna hit you
with a hot take right away. Are you ready?
Speaker 6 (17:15):
Can you?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Guys hear me?
Speaker 6 (17:16):
You're okay?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
You are you ready? Can you? I'm gonna hit you
with a hot take? Early agree or disagree. Are you ready?
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Yeah? This is bad?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Okay done? Are you really calling back?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
That's how much he loved the take.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
That's right, I don't like it. I'm gonna call you back.
I think he had bad back. He really, no, he's gonna.
I think he said, I'll call you back. It's bad.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
He heard the music okay, because the lyric is I
don't want to cause you any pain. And then for
crying out loud.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
He didn't mean it's it's this is bad like my
hot take? No, no, no, he meant like the connection is bad.
Call back. He hasn't even heard what I've had to
say yet, and he's heard what I've had to say
for the last few years. He usually waits untilaughter I
say something and then says it.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
These things are not mutually exclusive. It could be both,
all right.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So here he is back with a better connection, Jake call,
Are you ready for my hot take? Agree or disagree?
You're ready?
Speaker 4 (18:15):
What do we got?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Okay? Dante Moore had the craptastic game he did tonight
to avoid being drafted by the Jets number two overall.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Tho I was on a Jets I was on a
Jets podcast earlier this week, and I was saying, yeah,
if you're if you're the Jets, I mean, and I'm sure,
I'm sure the Jets that sort reached out to him
already to go, hey, how do you feel about it?
If we you know this happened, it's gonna be like, Okay,
(18:51):
I need to hear a real plan and not that.
Like Dante Moore has like an extensive amount of leverage.
If he wants to go in the nshol he's got
to do it. And the oside is, you know, one
of the odds.
Speaker 6 (19:05):
That you're going to get drafted any higher.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
You know, if you if you wait another year, and
you know, you risk getting hurt like the kid from
Penn State and all those other things that we talked about.
But the other thing is you can get drafted by
another bad team next year. All of that said, it's
pretty scary when you're thinking about getting drafted about that
by the Jets. And so yeah, the Jets have to
(19:30):
like if they're going to make that move, and more
is going to come out and they make and they
draft him, like they've got to convince him that he
wants to do this, and so they have a short
amount of time to convince him that this is actually
a good idea.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Well, it's not like the other teams at the top
is not you can go to San Francisco or it's
every year it's the Browns and the Jets and the
Raiders and the Cardinals. Somebody those of those teams are
any good and somebody's going to take you.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
So okay, yeah, but you always for somebody who's like,
got the number one pick, already has a quarterback. And yeah,
I mean it's the Jets. This this sports is desperation.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Okay, I mean right, all right.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Yeah, I mean you know, I mean Jack Wilson's mom
wouldn't want to do that again if she had to.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
No, no, no, no, definitely. I'm gonna stay on YouTube
and do my thing. And I like him playing for
the first time on the field with Miami. All right,
So look, let's get to some of the games this weekend. Look,
we'll start with the games tomorrow. Uh, we got rams
in the Panthers. See, here's the thing, and I told
Harmon this j Cole is that I love the Bears
(20:45):
every second, every way in this game, except I can
see one very bear like play happening like a double
doink and it costing them everything. And we talk about
this play all week next week, Like I could see
Jordan Love completing a pass off of the skycam that
bounces to Romeo Dubbs who takes it all the way
for a seventy five yard touchdown, and replay can't do anything,
(21:07):
and that's how the Bears lose. I can see that happening.
But outside of that, I love the Bears.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Tomorrow, Yeah, I like the Bears. My only problem with
the Bears is when you live off of turnovers for
the entire season and then you start playing real games
against good teams, you don't get turnovers at the same rate.
And the and the other thing is, as much as
(21:33):
I love Caleb Williams and the and the you know
last second comebacks and all that other stuff that has happened,
like you eventually run out of luck. And this is
sort of like in the two thousand and six Bears
in the Super Bowl. You know, they had all those
you know, fourth quarter comebacks and everything was great, and
then all of a sudden, it's like, oh, you ran
into a wall in the Super Bowl. You know, you
(21:54):
came up again up against them, but you made the
Super Bowl. So that's a great thing, and you feel
really great about the foundation of what the Bears have
because Caleb Williams has played so well this year. But
as you say, it's the Bears, it could be like
some ghosts from Soldier Field that you know, that pop
(22:15):
up during the middle of the game and say, yeah,
Hollis is not allowing this to happen today.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Sorry, you know, you guys aren't ready.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
We've got Rams at Carolina on Saturday. The only thing
that scares me about the Rams is the amount and
how they've had these road losses games that frankly they
should have won, including at Carolina. They should win this
at Carolina on Saturday, right, they should.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
The problem with the Rams like they have one truly
iconic player, they have another great player, and then they
got a bunch of really good dudes, you know, like
Verse and all the other guys that they have on defense.
But like when those guys started to wear out, there's
(23:02):
no star who stirs the drink anymore on the defense.
Like there's not that one guy. You know, they don't
have an Aaron Donald and you only you know, you
only get Aaron Donald's every once in a while right,
like every fifty years you go from Deacon Jones to
Aaron Donald. It takes a while, right, So I just
(23:24):
don't know that they can.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
They're at a point in time.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Where they can raise their level to where they were
when they were at the peak of their powers earlier
this season. I wonder if they can do that, will
they get healthy enough fast enough to be able to
do that? And that's what I'm that's what I'm concerned about.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, but it's the Panthers, j Cole, Come on, I mean,
it's they're going into Philadelphia to try to win.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
I understand that the Panthers can do.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
A few things. Like, it's the Panthers, so yeah, they
should win. I just this is this is a game
where or it's the Rams to lose, if that makes sense,
Like they're gonna They're going to determine the outcome on this.
It's all about their level of play. What are they
capable of doing because there are only a limited number
of things that the Panthers can do right now. But
(24:15):
they you know, they kind of hanged up a little bit,
you know, they they.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Were pretty feisty against Seattle for two and.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
A half quarters.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Jason Cole NFL Insider with us Jason Smith. Do youve
disagree from Mike Carbon here at Fox Sports Radio. All right,
when we jumped to Sunday, harmon Is.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
Harmon Is, do you fly to Chicago for the game.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
He's actually he's taking his daughter.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
To college, taking his start to college.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Now, yeah, she's starting h spring semester.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Wow, where is young Harmonette going?
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Uh? Boise State?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
She said, I gotta go someplace. I gotta go someplace
where there's a blue field. So she's going to Boise State?
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Uh? Is that? Or you know the blue bunny farms
for the ice crenk So sometimes I mean, look.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I said, how about the red field at Eastern Washington. No, no, no, no,
blue field? Blue field? And okay, all r it's where
we're going, going to the bluefield.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
Okay, there we go. All right, So I'm moving on.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
All right. So you get to Sunday and and you
got you know, Bills, Jaguars, the Bills on the road, Jacole,
I don't know that this isn't the worst journey for
the Bills to have to not be sitting at home
waiting and like I know, Josh Allen's record away from
home isn't good in the playoffs, But I don't know that, Hey,
drawing the Jaguars going on the road and it being
(25:36):
a little bit more difficult, I don't know if this
isn't might not what the Bills need at this point
in their era, in the Josh Allen era.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Well, we're trying to sharpen their the medal is this
iron on iron? Is that there are some other cliches
we're going through out here.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Well, play games at home until the AFC Championship game
and then lose. So I mean, I've seen all the
other ones. Maybe this one's better.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
It's been said that if Josh Allen is ever going
to win a Super Bowl and get through the AFC,
like this is the year. Because obviously you know, no Borrow,
no Lamar, no, no Patrick Mahomes, right, I mean we
all know that. But the problem is that this matchup
is match for them. Run defenses are very good, and
(26:29):
Jacksonville can run the ball, and Jacksonville's defense is probably
the hottest in the league right now, and so you're
what you're wondering, can they slow down Buffalo enough and
control the tempo of the game to keep this game
in the low twenties, because if it's in the low twenties,
(26:50):
then Jacksonville, I think has a chance to win this
game if it gets over like twenty five points. You know,
if it's like a twenty twenty seven game where it
gets into the third, that's all Buffalo, you know, because
they're just so explosive, and that will put a lot
of pressure on Trevor Lawrence, and Trevor Lawrence still is
(27:12):
Trevor Lawrence. There's going to be some kind of mental
laps out there, and the only question you have is
is the mental laps going to come at such a
time that it is going to kill them? Or are
they going to be able to survive it?
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Your thoughts on the Niners on the road Sunday and
the Chargers on the road Sunday, because aren't these two
teams a little bit similar in that it's a bit
shocking that they win eleven and twelve games with the
amount of injuries they've gone through, and the Chargers, especially
with the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I was having a conversation with one of the forty
nine ers systems before the actually before the Chicago game,
and I go the your team's not very good. I guess,
I guess, I know, I know, you know, they all know.
(28:04):
It's not a very good team. Yeah no pastorsh you know,
they've got injury problems, like it's just it's a mess.
But they've gotten through this season. They got a lot
of mileage out of Mac Jones, perty played great at
certain points and got himself hot. Can they win on
(28:25):
you know, can they win in Philly? Yeah they can,
But I think it's more like again, it's Philly's game
to win or lose. It's if Jalen Carter decides to
show up, then they win this game because he can
dominate the whole middle of the field, right him and
Jordan Davis and so right like like that's that's where
(28:48):
this game is. It's a simple matchup. And you just
at this point in time, we have no idea which
Jalen Carter is going to show up from week to
week and Philly doesn't have any idea.
Speaker 6 (29:00):
And I don't think that you know, Sarahani.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Knows how to motivate the kid to get him to
play well, and I think you know she's going to
play well when there's money on the line, But then
he's going to go back to being who he is, right,
you know, like there're gonna be three to four games
every season at a Carter where you're like, I hope
he doesn't spend on somebody in the first minute, you know, right,
(29:25):
That's just what it is. So this this game all
falls on you know, Jalen Carter because their offense is
going to score enough points because they're gonna be able
to run on him. And as long as they can
keep the forty nine er trom you know again, scoring
twenty four to twenty seven points, they should roll through
this game. And when it like, you know, twenty four
to ten, because again, the forty nine ers aren't particularly good.
(29:50):
You know, like I love rock Bertie, I love what
they've done, but this is like, yeah, this is this
is a shoe string as it guess.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
He's on Twitter at Jason Cole sixty two, that is
at Jason Cole sixtyday.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Night, Monday night, Monday Pro Foot, Pro Football Hall of
Fame voter, author.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
The only person I know who knows the definition of
anti disestablishmentarianism, it is Jason call right, Take it easy, buddy,
we'll talk to next week. We'll talk and we'll talk
to you Monday going out, all right, there we go,
got him after the game on Monday, there we go.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
And that's the game. We have yet to discuss. Houston
at Pittsburgh Monday night.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah, that's a big one. We'll have more football coming
up in ninety seconds. But first, speaking of big discussions,
Steve Desager has everything that's going on tonight in the
wide world of sports. Is what's trending, Steve.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
O almost everything. Final, We've got the Lake game in
LA and the NBA Lakers have tied up Milwaukee ninety
four all with four minutes left. Oklahoma City was down
twenty one and came back for a victory at Memphis
one seventeen one sixteen now thirty two and seven road
wins as well for Philadelphia and New Orleans for the Clippers.
In Atlanta, Phoenix beat New York won twelve one oh
(31:09):
seven thirty one points for Devin Booker. Portland won it's
fifth straight edgeing Houston won eleven one oh five despite
thirty points from Kevin Durant. Golden State took off in
the fourth quarter and blew out Zacramento one thirty seven,
one to oh three. Kings have lost seventh straight Boston
beat Toronto to start the night. Anthony Davis and the
MAVs could miss a few months if surgery is required
on his left hand. He has ligament damage. Well, we
(31:31):
talked about it a lot, but yes, tonight was a
semi final and college football playoff in Atlanta and number
one Indiana looked like a number one team again, fifty
six twenty two over Oregon Fernando Mendoza five touchdown passes.
The Hoosiers lead was forty two to seven in the
third quarter and that included three touchdowns in the first
half after forcing turnovers. So college football's finale is in
(31:54):
Miami against Miami on Monday the nineteenth. By the way,
college hoops USCA in overtime one at Minnesota NHL just
three games. Winnipeg had lost eleventh straight but beat LA
five to one. Washington a five to one win at Chicago,
Utah one at home four to two over Saint Louis Brooks.
Koepka applied for reinstatement to the PGA Tour. He just
(32:14):
left Live Golf with one year left on his contract.
He can still compete in all of the majors this season.
We know that based on his PGA Championship title from
twenty twenty three. Former Mets relier Ryan Stanek is signing
with the Cardinals. Former Philadelphia outfielder Max Kepler was suspended
eighty games for a ped violation. Tonight, figure skater Amber
Glenn won her third straight US title. The Olympic team's
(32:37):
going to be picked on Sunday, and that'll do it.
Can't wait for that final, even if it is this
kind of a blowout. Indiana has been so entertaining to see.
I can't wait for college football's finale a week for Monday.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Incredible night Tonight by Indiana, they blow the doors off
of Oregon. We'll have more on that game coming up
in twenty minute, but our NFL preview continues this weekend.
There are two teams playing. I don't care who they're
I don't care if they have buys. I'm gonna pick
them to lose because I don't believe in them at all.
(33:12):
Who are they? We get into that coming up next
Jason Smith, Steve de Seger, and for Mike Harmon, This
is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Be sure to 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 iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
And before we get to the NFL, just gotta give
you a quick update of what's going on right now
in the NBA. The Bucks lead the Lakers with sixteen
seconds left to go in regulation. It is one oh three,
one oh one. Luka Doncic fouls out. He has called
for a foul on Kevin Porter taking a three, and
(33:52):
it's one of the worst calls I have ever seen.
Luca doesn't touch Porter, the official is looking right at him,
doesn't even touch him, but Porter just crumples to the
ground like he got hit. They blow the whistle. I
thought Luca was gonna fight the official. You see the
replay and it's insanely bad. How this call was Luca's
(34:13):
screaming all the way to the bench. I really don't
get it. And Lebron James not a final minute for him.
He just had a shot blocked at the rim going
in for a layup, and then he just had the
ball stolen away. Honestly, the Lakers last possession was Giannis
pokes it away as he's driving to the hoop. So
you had two bad plays by Lebron and a horrible
(34:33):
foul call. Luca is still yelling at the official about this,
and the Bucks are gonna win this game over the
Lakers with six tens of a second left to go.
They have the basketball. I mean, look, two bad possessions
by Lebron. I get it happens, but wow, that foul
call is just absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
In Milwaukee's gonna make the two free throws with under
a second to go and that will do it. And
the Lakers record at home will be ten and seven
this year. To write home a bit man.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Then that is just that is absolutely Look, I don't
know that the call. I don't know what was worse,
Lebron's two possessions or the call. I mean, I think
Lebron's two bad possessions equally as bad as the call
on Luca that found them out of the game.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
You're referring to it like as if this was a
playoff game, it would forever be known as the call.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
As soon as you said maybe the worst NBA call,
I've whoa, how could we even quantify what has been
the worst in the NBA for cred out loud?
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I mean, just the fact the official is looking right
at him, Luca doesn't touch him, and you can see
that Kevin Porter just crumples, just crumples to the crowd
and it's, oh, come on, man, you have to see
that better than that. You have to put yourself. You
got to see that play better than that man's that's inexcusable.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
So Kyle Kuzma gets a win down.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, getting at w Right coming off the bench for
thirteen points for the Bucks tonight. And Giannis doesn't want
to get traded down. Maybe we're on the way back up.
Giannis wants to stay. So look, we'll have more basketball
up next.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Dowt.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
We got to get to John Morant a little bit
here because now suddenly he is on the trading block.
But according to what Rick Buker told us last night,
it may not happen. But look, with this weekend coming
up in the NFL playoffs, there are two teams I
am not believing in at all that I am not
going to pick to win that I know they're going
out in the playoffs because they are paper tigers. And
(36:23):
that's the forty nine Ers and the Steelers. All right,
I don't believe in the forty nine Ers at all.
They were exposed by Seattle's defense. The silver lining is
Kyle Shanahan's a great head coach. He's that great for
a team that's not any good that got by with
Mac Jones and then brock Purty showed up, and they
still were able to nearly come within one game of
home field advantage over the season. The forty nine Ers
(36:46):
are not good. They are a paper tiger. And look,
I don't expect them to go on the road and
win this game. And then the Eagles win this game.
They'll be sending home an imposter because the forty nine
Ers are absolute imposters. The Eagles win game and the
forty nine ers going suddenly, It's okay, they had an
overachieving regular season, but I'm not believing in them. They're
(37:06):
going home.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
There have been games when Phillies offense has not been
that great. I don't think their offense has to be
that great to win this game against San Francisco. The
turnover margin for the forty nine Ers is a minus six,
worst among playoff teams. Needless to say, compare that to
what you were talking about earlier in the show with
the Bears are the best in the league at turnover
margin a plus twenty two. We've got a Niners team
(37:28):
that's a minus six and going on the road, and
they were in the shootouts recently, and they do not
have a pass rush. What do they have to offer
at Philadelphia? They've had better teams in the playoffs than
this one, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Look and you saw how painful the end of that
Seahawks game was for Brock Purty. What he was getting
hit so hard on every playoff, Like take him out
of the game, you're not gonna You're not winning this game.
But he's getting absolutely dis.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Like Mick yelling throw in the towel. It is like,
I mean from the corner.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
It's like the Seahawks are in the huddle going, who's
getting him on this play?
Speaker 4 (38:03):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (38:03):
I got him, man, I got him lined up. We
got a great stunt ready. You want tew I hit
Brock party like it was. It was tough watching him
get hit. It's like watching Rocky get hitting the ribs
in Rocky one. He goes, your ribs are broken, and
Apollo's just working on the ribs and working on the ribs. Uh.
The Steelers, Yeah, they're going.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Home even though it's a Monday night game at home.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
It's a it's a Monday night game at home. The
thing is, no matter what the weather is, defense travels well,
and nobody wants to play the Texans, who have the
best defense in the NFL. Look, the top five defenses
are all still playing right now. Houston's playing, the Chargers
are playing, the Rams are playing, the Broncos are playing,
Seahawks are playing. The five best defense in the league
(38:45):
are all playing. And the Steelers don't really do anything. Well, yes,
they'll get DK Metcalf back and that's great, But like Pittsburgh,
just watching Mike Tomlin do the do the do the
whole celebration at the end of the game last week
after Tyler Luton missed a field goal, I'm like, do
you really think you're that good a team? You happen
to get by in the worst division in football? Well, okay,
the NFC South, in the second worst division in football.
(39:08):
You really think that Houston is gonna come for Aaron
Rodgers And they have been licking their chops all week
long to get ready for this game. Yes, it's Monday night,
and I know Rogers was really good at the end
of the season. I give him all kinds of credit
in the world from playing as well. But man, is
it gonna be a painful Monday Night for him because
the Texans defense is that good there at the level
(39:29):
we thought they would be at the beginning of the season.
The game we saw brock Perdy go through with the
Seahawks last week, this is the game Aaron Rodgers is
gonna go through against the Texans. At the end, he's
gonna go that's it. I don't care that I played well.
I'm retiring. I can't get hit like this anymore. I
Am not getting You watch how fast he gets rid
of the football and throws it early and throws the
(39:50):
ball into the ground to get to so he doesn't
get hit by that Texans pass rush because I've seen
that happen. He gets happy feet, he throws the ball
before his receivers turn around because he just can't get
hit anymore. You watch how many possessions go by the
wayside for the Steelers, because that's gonna happen on Monday.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
Just watch.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
It's a superb Texans defense and they'll force turnovers, and
their turnover marchin is best in the AFC, and they
only allow seventeen points a game and only about two
hundred and seventy five total yards a game, both of
those best in the AFC. Just for the record, the
trivia is the Steelers at home on Monday Night football
have won twenty three straight. It goes back to nineteen
(40:26):
ninety one. I can't see them winning against a Houston
team that, by the way, has won nine in a row.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Also, yeah, it is. I'd love to be able to say,
at the end of this game, Hey, this is a
game where Aaron Rodgers is showing how good he is.
Maybe plays another year, but I think this is a
game that he says that's it. I can't do anymore.
I know this is a great year, but men, if
it's gonna end like this, I can't do it. Man,
every inch of my body is in pain from this game.
(40:55):
Every bit
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching fsrleas give this.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hello, Welcome in side hour three The Jason Smith Show
with special delivery Steve de Sega in for Mike Harmon.
A big football Friday. We got NFL insider Jason Cole
coming up at about twenty minutes as we start taking
a look at all the big NFL games this weekend.
But uh boy, to put a cherry on top of
(00:50):
this Sunday for the Indiana Hoosiers, who improved to fifteen
and zero. They are one game away from winning the
national championship in foot ball. Just think about that. I know,
we know that we've watched them all year, but Indiana
is going to win the national championship in football.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Team basketballs exactly a team that did not even bend
to a Rose Bowl since the nineteen sixties until last
week they.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Dismantle Oregon look and Oregon played terribly. It was their
worst played game of the year. But a lot of
that always has to do with who you're playing against.
You had Dante Moore throwing a pick six on the
first play of the game. That should have been your
final clue that it's gonna wind up be in Indiana's
Night five touchdowns Fernando Mendoza, Indiana actually runs four yards,
they throw four. It is a perfect game for Indiana,
(01:40):
and it was never in doubt once you got to halftime.
Now this is the again. There's certain stories in sports
Steve where even years later, I still can't believe they're true,
Like I still, I can't believe that happened, Like I still,
you know, like I can't believe the Royals won the
World Series in twenty fifth. Yes it was against the Mets,
but I can't believe the Royals won the World I mean,
come on, man, the Royals won the World Series. They
(02:02):
alost won too, I mean the Royals won the World
Series right, like it in some stories. Just I know
I saw them and I saw it happen, but I
just can't believe it.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Marlin's won two.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
The Marlins won too, Yes, and and they won. They
won the first one, dismantled their entire team, got rid
of everybody, got a whole new team, and won the
second one.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I mean, the Giants had not won a World Series
their first fifty years in California, and then they win
three and five years with and you can't name a
batter they had aside from Buster Posey in the entire
light up. Probably that's it.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Oh, come on, they had Mays McCovey, They had some dudes,
man Marish out by me.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Thompson was really good for a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well he had that one big home run. You know,
Tom's just you really just had that one.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I bet a good call from John Miller.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, and as Cerulean blue as Bobby Thomson looks out
over Ralph brancup. But uh, this is your big hot
taken and it's a great positive night because I mean, look,
I don't know how else you cut this up. Indiana,
And we've mentioned this. They have zero football tradition. Zero.
As you said, the last time they were in the
(03:10):
Rose Bowl was nineteen sixty seven. Doesn't mean they haven't
had good years. Doesn't mean they haven't had years or
they've they've gone well in one bowl game.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It almost means that their big moment was winning the
Copper Bowl. Yeah I saw, yeah, yeah, Copper bull Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean their overall record, they are nearly two hundred
games under five hundred and you're their entire run and.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Had coming into this year the most total losses of
any college football program. And now this year, once we
finished the final in Miami a week from Monday, they
could wind up outscoring their opponents by five hundred points
just in this season.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
They've been playing football since eighteen ninety nine. Okay, they
finished right now, they're the number one team in college football.
Last year, number eight team in college football during the
pandemic season, which is kind of weird. It's kind of
it's kind of hard to break that down. They were
six and two, they finished eleventh overall. They lost the
Outback Bowl, but the last time they were ranked in
(04:13):
the final college football playoff pole of the year. You
gotta go all the way back to, you know, from
the last couple of years ago, twenty twenty. You have
to go back to nineteen eighty eight when they were
eight three and one, they were ranked nineteenth and nineteen
seventy nine. They were fourth that year in nineteen sixty seven,
(04:35):
so we're jumping twenty years every time we go to.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Nineteen seventy nine, I believe was Lee Corso's team at
the Holiday Bowl.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah. Yeah, then you got to go back to nineteen
forty six when they finished twentieth. I mean, this is
and the forties.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Was the last time they won any league championship outright
in the sport of football.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
They have zero football tradition. Again, it doesn't mean you
can't have good years once every twenty years, but that's
Indiana no football tradition for their existence. There are two
hundred games under five hundred and in two years, okay,
in two because you can't say, well, even building towards it,
right because you look at what Tom Allen did that
year in twenty twenty when they went six and two.
(05:13):
Indiana's record the next three years two and ten, four
and eight, three and nine. Okay, so you're talking about
a record that is that they were nine and thirty one,
you know, going in or nine and twenty nine those
last three years. Time Island gets let go, Kurt Signetti
comes in and it's like, who is this guy? Right,
Signetti comes in his opening press conference was weird. Now
(05:35):
it seems like it's very Jim tressel escort. It's like,
what is this guy talking about? In two years? In
two years, Indiana has gone from zero tradition and now
they're a dynasty. Finishing eighth last year in the playoff,
now the overwhelming favorite, there at least a touchdown favorite
to win the national championship when they play Miami again.
(05:57):
I don't know that there's been a more unlike success story.
You got to go back to some of the great
unlikely success stories of all time, like Miracle on Ice
or Villanova Georgetown and Buster Douglas Mike Tyson the Miracle
Mets in sixty nine.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
But even the Villanova won, they had a really not
that good regular season. It was such a huge field
because it's a basketball tournament, right, and.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
That's one game, I mean, that's what that's Villanova winning
one game, right in one season? The Jets winning one
game in one season. Miracle on Ice is a two
week run by the US hockey team, Like this is
coming from absolutely nothing to have a dynasty in two years.
That's the most unlikely success story. I mean, you have
(06:42):
to go back to these sorts of records, like at
least the last twenty five years, I have not seen anything,
maybe thirty years, I've not seen anything like this Indiana
sudden burst on the scene under Kurt Signetti into where
they are right now, where they have not just hey,
we had a great season and everything went our way.
We had one great year and then you know, things
(07:03):
get back to normal. This is we had a great
year last year, and now we've become the best program
in college football, imer Trophy winner, everything else. You want,
the most unlikely sports story the last twenty five thirty years.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And I invite it. And by the way, they have
the TCU quarterback has already said he's going to transfer
into Indiana if you're wondering who's going to take over
at quarterback. But it's all in the context of the
new landscape of college football, is that you can't have
the blue bloods plow their way through and dominate with rosters.
(07:35):
In the old old days, of course, the USC rosters
were legendary, and even if a guy wasn't going to
be starting, he would still go to USC and they
could just pack the rosters with like we saw with
Alabama running backs three and four deep, instead of spreading
her around. Now, if a guy's not playing immediately, he
can transfer and play somebody else. Or if you're like Mendoza,
(07:56):
he can start at Yale and no, I'll get to
play at Cal and Okay, after a couple of starting
years at Cal, I'm going to finish up here at
this one place. Who knew what this one year would
turn out to be? Heisman Trophy and maybe National Championship game.
I applaud all of this. I think this is great
for the sport of college football, as bad as the
overall has been all and not all the changes have
(08:18):
been great. As we know, it's the wild West out there.
But it does, in a weird way, even the playing field,
does it not?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, what it does is is it evens the playing
field for the teams that are a notch below the elite,
right because in the nil are obviously, hey, players from
smaller schools are going to go to a little bit
bigger schools. The players from but you're right, Texas te
to go up there.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
They have huge money. Now, It's not like they've always
been awful and boom top ten, and not just in
this one sport. The athletic department is really the profile
is raised.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, the schools that get hurt are the lower level
D one teams. You know, the MAC Conference gets hurt.
Teas at the lower level of the Power for Conference
is get hurt because they're the ones that lose the
really good talent that they normally would keep that say, hey,
you know, I've had a really good year here at
Pittsburgh and you know we're top twenty five team, but hey,
(09:11):
I'm going to Miami to be the quarterback next year, right, Like,
those are the teams that get hurt, or the teams
at the bottom of the Power for conference in the
smaller D one conferences.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
But I'm leaving UCLA for Oregon exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Well, well, listen, are you leaving Jerry new Heidel. Now,
I don't think you're leaving Jerry new Heisel. You're really
in there for Jerry Newheiseel.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It really does force teams. And I talked about this
with what Miami has become. It really does force football programs.
Athletic departments in general is say are we really committing
to football? Because that's been one of the knocks against
the UC system in California, for example, is it's been
part of the athletic department and not dominated the athletic department,
(09:50):
like it to an unusual degree has at too many
other places. Now you just get stomped over and passed.
It's going to be generation after generation passed if don't
keep up.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, because now it's the team. That's why. That's that's
why I love this era. It's so great with the
nil and everything going on, because now it's those teams
just below the blue bloods, right, Like it's that you
have that group of ten or fifteen teams you know
from the SEC the Alabamas and the Auburns and LSU.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
And Ohio State still took it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
At Ohio State and Michigan and Penn State in the
in the in the big ten, right, you have the
group of ten or fifteen schools that hey were always
going to be above everybody else because they could give
more money to people. It's much more prestige, all of it.
But now that group of you talk take an average
conference where maybe it's the top two teams in each
(10:43):
conference that always run things. Now you open it up
to maybe the next four or five teams after that,
where now they can compete because they're gonna get those
guys from the lower schools because they figured out NIL.
And what you need is you have rich alumni, you
have a head coach can figure out NIL, and suddenly
you know teams like Miami and for the most part
(11:04):
up until last couple years, but you have them with
Jordan Travis, they were great, like look Miami, Florida State,
Clemson had run the ACC for so long, but now
because of NIL. Look at teams like SMU, Georgia Tech.
Duke figured out NIL in a big way, right, Mandy
d As a Duke has figured out, Hey, this is
how we do it NIL at Duke. And so now
(11:25):
you're talking about those four teams just below those three
that are getting things done right. Texas Tech has figured
out the NIL era, BYU has figured out the nil era.
So now the Big twelve has more teams there. And
in the Big Ten, yes, they Morpheden came in. We
had teams coming in from the Pac Ten as well.
I get it, but Oregon, USC, Washington, so many of
(11:47):
these teams now you're not each each big conference. The
Big ten is not just worried about, well is it
Ohio State or Michigan, And then every five or so
years a Wisconsin or a Penn State jumps in something
like it's every year it's hey, we got to watch
out for these six teams in these Power FI and
Power for Power Fight conferences. So now every year, because
of the nil era, you have twenty five or thirty
(12:11):
teams that could potentially, hey, improve enough with the transfers
coming in and get in and win games and get
to the playoff and do what Indiana's done. It's not impossible.
Then it's not saying well it's a it's an unfair playfield.
Now it's all balanced. But those are the teams that
are good. You're gonna see those teams that can stay
at the top, that were those middle of the pack
(12:31):
conference programs that rise up because look, everybody is unique,
has their own thing figuring out the nl era. Still
certain schools have not figured it out. You would think
they would, but they're still struggling. But you look at
some of those schools that I just mentioned that, Yeah,
these are now yearly power schools or teams that you're
talking about playoffs and how they can win because hey,
the transfer portal nil money wise. We have the right
(12:54):
coaches in. We have the coaches that are comfortable with
the portal. We have the coaches that are out recruiting
all the time. Doesn't need to be a coach that's
got a great offensive system and getting the right guys
or a great defensive system. It's who can come in,
bring in the most talent, keep them at the top,
get players, and cycle through guys every year that new
players can come in, jump right into a system and win.
(13:15):
I mean you have gone from hey, here's these ten
or fifteen teams every year, one of them is going
to win the national championship to now now you're at
thirty thirty five teams that can come in and win
the national championship, and that's awesome for college.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
One and bring guys in and make them a team.
This is not fantasy football. And how many five star
recruits can you have because we're not getting an Indiana
team full of five star recruits in the final and
they're completely dominating the Big ten. In the old days,
it used to be a joke that it was really
the Big two and the Little eight, you know, back
when they had actually ten teams maybe you don't know this. Kids.
(13:46):
That's why they called the Big ten because for many
years they only had ten teams. Now it's I think
that was.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
The Big eight. It was the big two in the
Little six, that's what it was. It was Oklahoma, Nebraska
and the other body.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
In the Big ten. It was Michigan, Ohio State, and
teams Indiana and Purdue in Northwestern and their face would
rarely be above water. I'm glad you brought up the
name of Florida State because the last forty years of
college football they've been one of the premier programs, not
just with Bobby Bowden. And yet when all of these
conference changes come about, who's complaining the most in the ACC? Hey,
(14:20):
we don't want to split our TV money. We're the
reason why anybody pays attention to the ACC. It's US,
It's Florida State, and you know, on and on. So
Clemson and Florida State really pounded their foot to the
point where where SMU joined, For example, they said, okay, fine,
we won't take any of your team meet money for
seven years just to be able to join your league,
(14:42):
and okay, well come on in Son and but they
were able to and This gets back to nil SMU
was able to rouse up the boosters and get so
much money on its own as soon as it became
in name only an ACC team that it made difference
for them. The irony is that teams in the ACC
(15:03):
are quickly This quickly passed Florida State.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Bye exit out about a fresca. Jason Smith, Steve de Sager.
Here at Fox Sports Radio, we have more breakdown of
Indiana's win over Oregon. But coming up next, we take
a look at the big NFL Wildcard playoff weekend. What
are some big upsets? Who's gonna win by twenty points?
Keep it right here, Jason Smith, Steve de Sager in
(15:26):
from Mike Harmon. This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Steve.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Be sure to 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 iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Hey, It's Rob Parker and Calvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from seven
to ten pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, we are
excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
That's right. You can now watch the Odd Couple live
on YouTube every day.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out
on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Steve Desanger in for Mike Harmon.
Right now, Steve, we got Jason Cole NFL anals coming
up in a second. But first, Alex Tishert's gonna want
to do a little something for you, so can allow
him to do it. Then we'll go to Jason Cole.
(16:36):
All right, let him finish one more, let him finish.
Indiana beats Oregon fifty six twenty two, a nice little
segue into NFL playoff preview. Is joining us now on
(16:57):
the hot line. Nobody better than the aforementioned longtime NFL
insider Hall of Very Good voter. Check him out of
the thirty third team on Twitter at Jason Cole sixty two.
It is Jason Cole. Jake Cole, I'm gonna hit you
with a hot take right away. Are you ready?
Speaker 6 (17:15):
Can you?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Guys hear me?
Speaker 6 (17:16):
You're okay?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
You are you ready? Can you? I'm gonna hit you
with a hot take? Early agree or disagree. Are you ready?
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Yeah? This is bad?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Okay done? Are you really calling back?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
That's how much he loved the take.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
That's right, I don't like it. I'm gonna call you back.
I think he had bad back. He really, no, he's gonna.
I think he said, I'll call you back. It's bad.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
He heard the music okay, because the lyric is I
don't want to cause you any pain. And then for
crying out loud.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
He didn't mean it's it's this is bad like my
hot take? No, no, no, he meant like the connection is bad.
Call back. He hasn't even heard what I've had to
say yet, and he's heard what I've had to say
for the last few years. He usually waits untilaughter I
say something and then says it.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
These things are not mutually exclusive. It could be both,
all right.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So here he is back with a better connection, Jake call,
Are you ready for my hot take? Agree or disagree?
You're ready?
Speaker 4 (18:15):
What do we got?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Okay? Dante Moore had the craptastic game he did tonight
to avoid being drafted by the Jets number two overall.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Tho I was on a Jets I was on a
Jets podcast earlier this week, and I was saying, yeah,
if you're if you're the Jets, I mean, and I'm sure,
I'm sure the Jets that sort reached out to him
already to go, hey, how do you feel about it?
If we you know this happened, it's gonna be like, Okay,
(18:51):
I need to hear a real plan and not that.
Like Dante Moore has like an extensive amount of leverage.
If he wants to go in the nshol he's got
to do it. And the oside is, you know, one
of the odds.
Speaker 6 (19:05):
That you're going to get drafted any higher.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
You know, if you if you wait another year, and
you know, you risk getting hurt like the kid from
Penn State and all those other things that we talked about.
But the other thing is you can get drafted by
another bad team next year. All of that said, it's
pretty scary when you're thinking about getting drafted about that
by the Jets. And so yeah, the Jets have to
(19:30):
like if they're going to make that move, and more
is going to come out and they make and they
draft him, like they've got to convince him that he
wants to do this, and so they have a short
amount of time to convince him that this is actually
a good idea.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Well, it's not like the other teams at the top
is not you can go to San Francisco or it's
every year it's the Browns and the Jets and the
Raiders and the Cardinals. Somebody those of those teams are
any good and somebody's going to take you.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
So okay, yeah, but you always for somebody who's like,
got the number one pick, already has a quarterback. And yeah,
I mean it's the Jets. This this sports is desperation.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Okay, I mean right, all right.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Yeah, I mean you know, I mean Jack Wilson's mom
wouldn't want to do that again if she had to.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
No, no, no, no, definitely. I'm gonna stay on YouTube
and do my thing. And I like him playing for
the first time on the field with Miami. All right,
So look, let's get to some of the games this weekend. Look,
we'll start with the games tomorrow. Uh, we got rams
in the Panthers. See, here's the thing, and I told
Harmon this j Cole is that I love the Bears
(20:45):
every second, every way in this game, except I can
see one very bear like play happening like a double
doink and it costing them everything. And we talk about
this play all week next week, Like I could see
Jordan Love completing a pass off of the skycam that
bounces to Romeo Dubbs who takes it all the way
for a seventy five yard touchdown, and replay can't do anything,
(21:07):
and that's how the Bears lose. I can see that happening.
But outside of that, I love the Bears.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Tomorrow, Yeah, I like the Bears. My only problem with
the Bears is when you live off of turnovers for
the entire season and then you start playing real games
against good teams, you don't get turnovers at the same rate.
And the and the other thing is, as much as
(21:33):
I love Caleb Williams and the and the you know
last second comebacks and all that other stuff that has happened,
like you eventually run out of luck. And this is
sort of like in the two thousand and six Bears
in the Super Bowl. You know, they had all those
you know, fourth quarter comebacks and everything was great, and
then all of a sudden, it's like, oh, you ran
into a wall in the Super Bowl. You know, you
(21:54):
came up again up against them, but you made the
Super Bowl. So that's a great thing, and you feel
really great about the foundation of what the Bears have
because Caleb Williams has played so well this year. But
as you say, it's the Bears, it could be like
some ghosts from Soldier Field that you know, that pop
(22:15):
up during the middle of the game and say, yeah,
Hollis is not allowing this to happen today.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Sorry, you know, you guys aren't ready.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
We've got Rams at Carolina on Saturday. The only thing
that scares me about the Rams is the amount and
how they've had these road losses games that frankly they
should have won, including at Carolina. They should win this
at Carolina on Saturday, right, they should.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
The problem with the Rams like they have one truly
iconic player, they have another great player, and then they
got a bunch of really good dudes, you know, like
Verse and all the other guys that they have on defense.
But like when those guys started to wear out, there's
(23:02):
no star who stirs the drink anymore on the defense.
Like there's not that one guy. You know, they don't
have an Aaron Donald and you only you know, you
only get Aaron Donald's every once in a while right,
like every fifty years you go from Deacon Jones to
Aaron Donald. It takes a while, right, So I just
(23:24):
don't know that they can.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
They're at a point in time.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Where they can raise their level to where they were
when they were at the peak of their powers earlier
this season. I wonder if they can do that, will
they get healthy enough fast enough to be able to
do that? And that's what I'm that's what I'm concerned about.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, but it's the Panthers, j Cole, Come on, I mean,
it's they're going into Philadelphia to try to win.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
I understand that the Panthers can do.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
A few things. Like, it's the Panthers, so yeah, they
should win. I just this is this is a game
where or it's the Rams to lose, if that makes sense,
Like they're gonna They're going to determine the outcome on this.
It's all about their level of play. What are they
capable of doing because there are only a limited number
of things that the Panthers can do right now. But
(24:15):
they you know, they kind of hanged up a little bit,
you know, they they.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Were pretty feisty against Seattle for two and.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
A half quarters.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Jason Cole NFL Insider with us Jason Smith. Do youve
disagree from Mike Carbon here at Fox Sports Radio. All right,
when we jumped to Sunday, harmon Is.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
Harmon Is, do you fly to Chicago for the game.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
He's actually he's taking his daughter.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
To college, taking his start to college.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Now, yeah, she's starting h spring semester.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Wow, where is young Harmonette going?
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Uh? Boise State?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
She said, I gotta go someplace. I gotta go someplace
where there's a blue field. So she's going to Boise State?
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Uh? Is that? Or you know the blue bunny farms
for the ice crenk So sometimes I mean, look.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I said, how about the red field at Eastern Washington. No, no, no, no,
blue field? Blue field? And okay, all r it's where
we're going, going to the bluefield.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
Okay, there we go. All right, So I'm moving on.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
All right. So you get to Sunday and and you
got you know, Bills, Jaguars, the Bills on the road, Jacole,
I don't know that this isn't the worst journey for
the Bills to have to not be sitting at home
waiting and like I know, Josh Allen's record away from
home isn't good in the playoffs, But I don't know that, Hey,
drawing the Jaguars going on the road and it being
(25:36):
a little bit more difficult, I don't know if this
isn't might not what the Bills need at this point
in their era, in the Josh Allen era.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Well, we're trying to sharpen their the medal is this
iron on iron? Is that there are some other cliches
we're going through out here.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Well, play games at home until the AFC Championship game
and then lose. So I mean, I've seen all the
other ones. Maybe this one's better.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
It's been said that if Josh Allen is ever going
to win a Super Bowl and get through the AFC,
like this is the year. Because obviously you know, no Borrow,
no Lamar, no, no Patrick Mahomes, right, I mean we
all know that. But the problem is that this matchup
is match for them. Run defenses are very good, and
(26:29):
Jacksonville can run the ball, and Jacksonville's defense is probably
the hottest in the league right now, and so you're
what you're wondering, can they slow down Buffalo enough and
control the tempo of the game to keep this game
in the low twenties, because if it's in the low twenties,
(26:50):
then Jacksonville, I think has a chance to win this
game if it gets over like twenty five points. You know,
if it's like a twenty twenty seven game where it
gets into the third, that's all Buffalo, you know, because
they're just so explosive, and that will put a lot
of pressure on Trevor Lawrence, and Trevor Lawrence still is
(27:12):
Trevor Lawrence. There's going to be some kind of mental
laps out there, and the only question you have is
is the mental laps going to come at such a
time that it is going to kill them? Or are
they going to be able to survive it?
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Your thoughts on the Niners on the road Sunday and
the Chargers on the road Sunday, because aren't these two
teams a little bit similar in that it's a bit
shocking that they win eleven and twelve games with the
amount of injuries they've gone through, and the Chargers, especially
with the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I was having a conversation with one of the forty
nine ers systems before the actually before the Chicago game,
and I go the your team's not very good. I guess,
I guess, I know, I know, you know, they all know.
(28:04):
It's not a very good team. Yeah no pastorsh you know,
they've got injury problems, like it's just it's a mess.
But they've gotten through this season. They got a lot
of mileage out of Mac Jones, perty played great at
certain points and got himself hot. Can they win on
(28:25):
you know, can they win in Philly? Yeah they can,
But I think it's more like again, it's Philly's game
to win or lose. It's if Jalen Carter decides to
show up, then they win this game because he can
dominate the whole middle of the field, right him and
Jordan Davis and so right like like that's that's where
(28:48):
this game is. It's a simple matchup. And you just
at this point in time, we have no idea which
Jalen Carter is going to show up from week to
week and Philly doesn't have any idea.
Speaker 6 (29:00):
And I don't think that you know, Sarahani.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Knows how to motivate the kid to get him to
play well, and I think you know she's going to
play well when there's money on the line, But then
he's going to go back to being who he is, right,
you know, like there're gonna be three to four games
every season at a Carter where you're like, I hope
he doesn't spend on somebody in the first minute, you know, right,
(29:25):
That's just what it is. So this this game all
falls on you know, Jalen Carter because their offense is
going to score enough points because they're gonna be able
to run on him. And as long as they can
keep the forty nine er trom you know again, scoring
twenty four to twenty seven points, they should roll through
this game. And when it like, you know, twenty four
to ten, because again, the forty nine ers aren't particularly good.
(29:50):
You know, like I love rock Bertie, I love what
they've done, but this is like, yeah, this is this
is a shoe string as it guess.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
He's on Twitter at Jason Cole sixty two, that is
at Jason Cole sixtyday.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Night, Monday night, Monday Pro Foot, Pro Football Hall of
Fame voter, author.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
The only person I know who knows the definition of
anti disestablishmentarianism, it is Jason call right, Take it easy, buddy,
we'll talk to next week. We'll talk and we'll talk
to you Monday going out, all right, there we go,
got him after the game on Monday, there we go.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
And that's the game. We have yet to discuss. Houston
at Pittsburgh Monday night.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah, that's a big one. We'll have more football coming
up in ninety seconds. But first, speaking of big discussions,
Steve Desager has everything that's going on tonight in the
wide world of sports. Is what's trending, Steve.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
O almost everything. Final, We've got the Lake game in
LA and the NBA Lakers have tied up Milwaukee ninety
four all with four minutes left. Oklahoma City was down
twenty one and came back for a victory at Memphis
one seventeen one sixteen now thirty two and seven road
wins as well for Philadelphia and New Orleans for the Clippers.
In Atlanta, Phoenix beat New York won twelve one oh
(31:09):
seven thirty one points for Devin Booker. Portland won it's
fifth straight edgeing Houston won eleven one oh five despite
thirty points from Kevin Durant. Golden State took off in
the fourth quarter and blew out Zacramento one thirty seven,
one to oh three. Kings have lost seventh straight Boston
beat Toronto to start the night. Anthony Davis and the
MAVs could miss a few months if surgery is required
on his left hand. He has ligament damage. Well, we
(31:31):
talked about it a lot, but yes, tonight was a
semi final and college football playoff in Atlanta and number
one Indiana looked like a number one team again, fifty
six twenty two over Oregon Fernando Mendoza five touchdown passes.
The Hoosiers lead was forty two to seven in the
third quarter and that included three touchdowns in the first
half after forcing turnovers. So college football's finale is in
(31:54):
Miami against Miami on Monday the nineteenth. By the way,
college hoops USCA in overtime one at Minnesota NHL just
three games. Winnipeg had lost eleventh straight but beat LA
five to one. Washington a five to one win at Chicago,
Utah one at home four to two over Saint Louis Brooks.
Koepka applied for reinstatement to the PGA Tour. He just
(32:14):
left Live Golf with one year left on his contract.
He can still compete in all of the majors this season.
We know that based on his PGA Championship title from
twenty twenty three. Former Mets relier Ryan Stanek is signing
with the Cardinals. Former Philadelphia outfielder Max Kepler was suspended
eighty games for a ped violation. Tonight, figure skater Amber
Glenn won her third straight US title. The Olympic team's
(32:37):
going to be picked on Sunday, and that'll do it.
Can't wait for that final, even if it is this
kind of a blowout. Indiana has been so entertaining to see.
I can't wait for college football's finale a week for Monday.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Incredible night Tonight by Indiana, they blow the doors off
of Oregon. We'll have more on that game coming up
in twenty minute, but our NFL preview continues this weekend.
There are two teams playing. I don't care who they're
I don't care if they have buys. I'm gonna pick
them to lose because I don't believe in them at all.
(33:12):
Who are they? We get into that coming up next
Jason Smith, Steve de Seger, and for Mike Harmon, This
is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Be sure to 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 iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
And before we get to the NFL, just gotta give
you a quick update of what's going on right now
in the NBA. The Bucks lead the Lakers with sixteen
seconds left to go in regulation. It is one oh three,
one oh one. Luka Doncic fouls out. He has called
for a foul on Kevin Porter taking a three, and
(33:52):
it's one of the worst calls I have ever seen.
Luca doesn't touch Porter, the official is looking right at him,
doesn't even touch him, but Porter just crumples to the
ground like he got hit. They blow the whistle. I
thought Luca was gonna fight the official. You see the
replay and it's insanely bad. How this call was Luca's
(34:13):
screaming all the way to the bench. I really don't
get it. And Lebron James not a final minute for him.
He just had a shot blocked at the rim going
in for a layup, and then he just had the
ball stolen away. Honestly, the Lakers last possession was Giannis
pokes it away as he's driving to the hoop. So
you had two bad plays by Lebron and a horrible
(34:33):
foul call. Luca is still yelling at the official about this,
and the Bucks are gonna win this game over the
Lakers with six tens of a second left to go.
They have the basketball. I mean, look, two bad possessions
by Lebron. I get it happens, but wow, that foul
call is just absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
In Milwaukee's gonna make the two free throws with under
a second to go and that will do it. And
the Lakers record at home will be ten and seven
this year. To write home a bit man.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Then that is just that is absolutely Look, I don't
know that the call. I don't know what was worse,
Lebron's two possessions or the call. I mean, I think
Lebron's two bad possessions equally as bad as the call
on Luca that found them out of the game.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
You're referring to it like as if this was a
playoff game, it would forever be known as the call.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
As soon as you said maybe the worst NBA call,
I've whoa, how could we even quantify what has been
the worst in the NBA for cred out loud?
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I mean, just the fact the official is looking right
at him, Luca doesn't touch him, and you can see
that Kevin Porter just crumples, just crumples to the crowd
and it's, oh, come on, man, you have to see
that better than that. You have to put yourself. You
got to see that play better than that man's that's inexcusable.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
So Kyle Kuzma gets a win down.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, getting at w Right coming off the bench for
thirteen points for the Bucks tonight. And Giannis doesn't want
to get traded down. Maybe we're on the way back up.
Giannis wants to stay. So look, we'll have more basketball
up next.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
Dowt.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
We got to get to John Morant a little bit
here because now suddenly he is on the trading block.
But according to what Rick Buker told us last night,
it may not happen. But look, with this weekend coming
up in the NFL playoffs, there are two teams I
am not believing in at all that I am not
going to pick to win that I know they're going
out in the playoffs because they are paper tigers. And
(36:23):
that's the forty nine Ers and the Steelers. All right,
I don't believe in the forty nine Ers at all.
They were exposed by Seattle's defense. The silver lining is
Kyle Shanahan's a great head coach. He's that great for
a team that's not any good that got by with
Mac Jones and then brock Purty showed up, and they
still were able to nearly come within one game of
home field advantage over the season. The forty nine Ers
(36:46):
are not good. They are a paper tiger. And look,
I don't expect them to go on the road and
win this game. And then the Eagles win this game.
They'll be sending home an imposter because the forty nine
Ers are absolute imposters. The Eagles win game and the
forty nine ers going suddenly, It's okay, they had an
overachieving regular season, but I'm not believing in them. They're
(37:06):
going home.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
There have been games when Phillies offense has not been
that great. I don't think their offense has to be
that great to win this game against San Francisco. The
turnover margin for the forty nine Ers is a minus six,
worst among playoff teams. Needless to say, compare that to
what you were talking about earlier in the show with
the Bears are the best in the league at turnover
margin a plus twenty two. We've got a Niners team
(37:28):
that's a minus six and going on the road, and
they were in the shootouts recently, and they do not
have a pass rush. What do they have to offer
at Philadelphia? They've had better teams in the playoffs than
this one, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Look and you saw how painful the end of that
Seahawks game was for Brock Purty. What he was getting
hit so hard on every playoff, Like take him out
of the game, you're not gonna You're not winning this game.
But he's getting absolutely dis.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Like Mick yelling throw in the towel. It is like,
I mean from the corner.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
It's like the Seahawks are in the huddle going, who's
getting him on this play?
Speaker 4 (38:03):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (38:03):
I got him, man, I got him lined up. We
got a great stunt ready. You want tew I hit
Brock party like it was. It was tough watching him
get hit. It's like watching Rocky get hitting the ribs
in Rocky one. He goes, your ribs are broken, and
Apollo's just working on the ribs and working on the ribs. Uh.
The Steelers, Yeah, they're going.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Home even though it's a Monday night game at home.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
It's a it's a Monday night game at home. The
thing is, no matter what the weather is, defense travels well,
and nobody wants to play the Texans, who have the
best defense in the NFL. Look, the top five defenses
are all still playing right now. Houston's playing, the Chargers
are playing, the Rams are playing, the Broncos are playing,
Seahawks are playing. The five best defense in the league
(38:45):
are all playing. And the Steelers don't really do anything. Well, yes,
they'll get DK Metcalf back and that's great, But like Pittsburgh,
just watching Mike Tomlin do the do the do the
whole celebration at the end of the game last week
after Tyler Luton missed a field goal, I'm like, do
you really think you're that good a team? You happen
to get by in the worst division in football? Well, okay,
the NFC South, in the second worst division in football.
(39:08):
You really think that Houston is gonna come for Aaron
Rodgers And they have been licking their chops all week
long to get ready for this game. Yes, it's Monday night,
and I know Rogers was really good at the end
of the season. I give him all kinds of credit
in the world from playing as well. But man, is
it gonna be a painful Monday Night for him because
the Texans defense is that good there at the level
(39:29):
we thought they would be at the beginning of the season.
The game we saw brock Perdy go through with the
Seahawks last week, this is the game Aaron Rodgers is
gonna go through against the Texans. At the end, he's
gonna go that's it. I don't care that I played well.
I'm retiring. I can't get hit like this anymore. I
Am not getting You watch how fast he gets rid
of the football and throws it early and throws the
(39:50):
ball into the ground to get to so he doesn't
get hit by that Texans pass rush because I've seen
that happen. He gets happy feet, he throws the ball
before his receivers turn around because he just can't get
hit anymore. You watch how many possessions go by the
wayside for the Steelers, because that's gonna happen on Monday.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
Just watch.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
It's a superb Texans defense and they'll force turnovers, and
their turnover marchin is best in the AFC, and they
only allow seventeen points a game and only about two
hundred and seventy five total yards a game, both of
those best in the AFC. Just for the record, the
trivia is the Steelers at home on Monday Night football
have won twenty three straight. It goes back to nineteen
(40:26):
ninety one. I can't see them winning against a Houston
team that, by the way, has won nine in a row.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Also, yeah, it is. I'd love to be able to say,
at the end of this game, Hey, this is a
game where Aaron Rodgers is showing how good he is.
Maybe plays another year, but I think this is a
game that he says that's it. I can't do anymore.
I know this is a great year, but men, if
it's gonna end like this, I can't do it. Man,
every inch of my body is in pain from this game.
(40:55):
Every bit
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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