January 5, 2023 • 35 mins
Jason and Mike recap a big night from the NBA including the Lakers beating the Heat without LeBron or AD and think the Lakers just need to be a .500 team within the wide-open Western Conference. Robert Saleh is sticking by Zach Wilson come hell or high water and the guys say this is a bad idea. Plus, more from the NBA and the NFL!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:23):
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should be. Well, we got big stuff going on in
the NFL. We have a crazy story in a couple
of seconds. But just to put this in perspective, right,
the lake Kers beat the heat tonight and again to
everybody's going crazy now because the Lakers win without Lebron
and a D I think that says a little bit
(01:06):
more about the Heat than it does about the Lakers.
But the Lakers win and so far to say where
they have been at since Anthony Davis's injury, the Lakers
have been okay, and that's what they look. This is
the the the NBA season is a marathon, and for
the and for the Lakers, as you're seeing in the NBA,
(01:28):
being one of the top seeds, the top two, top
three seed is just not that important. It's not that
important anymore, and teams are not focused on being that. Yeah,
you like to play well, you like to win games
because it shows how good of a team you are
and you get into your roles. Look, obviously winning more
games is great, but the overall focus is not like
(01:49):
it was. Where I want. We gotta finish as high
as possible, gotta get that number one seed. For the Lakers,
look this year, would they be happy if they finished sixth? Yeah,
of course they would. And the West is not eight
this year though it's not as good as the teams
are at the top. It's awesome that Denver is up there.
It's awesome that New Orleans in Memphis. The West is
just not very good. Right, It's just not a good year.
(02:10):
So for the Lakers right now, you think, oh they're
in trouble here. They are seventeen and twenty one. They're
out of the playoffs. Um, it's not that big a
deal you want to There are only three games out
of first place in the Pacific, right there, only a
couple of games out of being in the playing arounds,
only a couple of games there to the middle of
the of the standings in the West. All they need
to do with a d out is be a five team,
(02:31):
and that's what they've done. They've been a five hundred
ish team since Anthony Davis went out. And as long
as they can do this till he gets back, then
they can start winning more games. There'll be a team
that could potentially finish maybe three or four games over
five hundred. Maybe they win forty three, forty four games
and they wind up getting into the playoffs. A forty
four and thirty eight type season certainly is in the
(02:52):
cards for the Lakers if they can do that, and
everything is fine, So you to to put this in
proper perspective. What the Lakers have done is exactly what
they're what they're hoped to do. Just be okay until
Anthony Davis comes back. Well, it's the beauty of the theoretical, right,
if we're gonna try to do the wishing and hoping
and celebrating three and a half weeks of great basketball
(03:14):
and everybody, um you know, leaning in and the brotherhood
of the Brooklyn Nets, why can't we do it here
for the Lakers winners of four of five, next games
against the Hawks at home, winnable game, great, all all
positive things. And if you define some roles and and
guys step up right like we watched yesterday. Okay, see
(03:36):
no shay Gil, just Alexander and doesn't matter, we put
up a hundred fifty points, right, Guys find the roles,
get a little excitable, whether it means they think they
can get dealt to go find more regular minutes somewhere
else or or in the case like tonight Shrewder who
missed some time earlier, had himself a big night Westbrook.
It's spot in. Spots played big for them down the stretch.
(04:00):
You find your your piece, and all you want is
a spot in the dance. Right. There's the business side
of it that obviously you want as many home games
as you can break in if you're an owner, right,
extra gate concessions, parking, whatever your percentages are whatever your
holdings are off all of those secondary things. But the
the other part is absolutely true. It's like home field
(04:22):
advantage in football. How huge is it anymore? Right? But
it used to be it's a field goal? Is it
really a field goal in most places? No, I would argue,
it's probably not you know, you know, going and having
to play in Buffalo, uh in December and January? Yeah,
not ideal Green Bay, Right, they get another home game
this week, uh, potentially with them making the playoffs of
(04:45):
a couple of huge winds in division to end at home.
But for the most part, No. In basketball, it's series, right,
You're you're not playing one and done or you know, hey,
best of three, so you have ample opportunity. It all
comes down to health and are your stars ready to go?
And the more time you can buy to not have
to feel like you're rushing Anthony Davis back onto the court,
(05:08):
or Lebron doesn't have to stay in Superman mode and
can take a day off when he's under the weather
or just needs a little bit for his body. As
much as I know that it pains people when players
do that, the reality is if it puts them in
a better spot for the end of April and making
the tournament in May. Don't we all benefit from it
if the stars are healthy and ready to go. Yeah,
(05:30):
I would say we do so. All good. I'm curious
to see what the next couple of weeks hold for
the Lakers here as the regular season really gets underway
in earnest. I'll tell you what I know you asked
saying on the tacos to get ready, so I should
buy all the ticket stubs on on eBay so I
(05:53):
can go and redeem tacos and just say, hey, I'm
a taco guy, give me some tacos. Tacos The Jason
Smiths with Mike Carmen live from the tire I Rack
dot Com Studios. Um, let's get into this story for
a few minutes, because it just shows you that US
soccer right now is absolutely amateur hour. The US men's team,
(06:16):
it is amateur hour. This is a story that sounds
like it comes out of what you would hear with
a youth travel team or a club team in any
sport where the where the playing is somewhat serious and
there's drama because the parents are involved. Now, the best
way to tell the story is to go back to
the end of the World Cup. You remember when Jo Reina,
(06:39):
one of the best young players United States has didn't
get a lot of minutes in the World Cup and
there's a big question, you know, why is he not playing?
He should play more. The United States is having trouble
scoring goals. Why is he not playing? And he got
a little bit of time in the final game, but
not a lot, and there was a big question. Greg
burr Halter, embattled US men's national head coach who now
has his contract expire but doesn't have a new deal
(07:00):
and is not coaching the team the next couple of games.
It's crazy. He decides to tell everybody about a week
or so after the World Cup that, well, we had
a player that we were almost gonna send home because
he was told he wasn't going to have a big
role and he kind of had a bad attitude. And
we find out that player was in fact Geo Raina
other veterans had to step in and talk to him
and get him on the right path. Now this part
(07:22):
of the story is not disputed. Rainy even says, hey,
I had a few days, but we're bad for me,
but I got it back going on. He even admits
that part of it. Now, this is awful by Greg
burr Halter, because no one does this to a player
that you're coaching, even it's a player you're thinking about
sending home. He's still one of your players. But burr
Halter couldn't stand the criticism because he knows that his
future of a as a job with the job is
(07:44):
at stake. So I want to make sure people know
there was a reason why I wasn't playing. People don't
start going crazy saying, oh, we gotta fire, we gotta
get rid of him. He doesn't know what he's doing.
He's not putting the best players out there. So he
says that, which is the wrong thing to do. Now,
since that has happened, we got a story or a
couple of days ago involving a domestic incident with Greg
burr Halter from it involves his wife, he said, and
(08:08):
he put out a statement about this when this story
broke that when he met his wife, who he's still
married to today they have kids, there was an incident
where they got an argument and he kicked her legs.
And so now Greg burr Halter has to deal with
the fall out of this and what is this about,
what was this and how serious was this event? And
it's a it's a big thing. Now you're talking about
(08:28):
this is a guy that that kicked a woman, even
though it was years ago. He's talking about the story
that would normally be enough to say, oh boy, this
is kind of insane. But now we get the story
of rain As parents Claudia rain A, former US men's
team captain who was a youth teammate of Greg burr
Halter when they played, and Geo Raina's mom, who was
(08:53):
also involved in this. During the World Cup, Claudia Raina
was not happy about out what was going on with
his son, why he wasn't playing, and according to reports,
he had hinted that he had information about a really
bad story that he was going to tell us Soccer,
meaning that he had information about this domestic incident involving
(09:16):
Greg burr Halter. He didn't say what it was. He
never told me buddy, but reports are says that hey,
I have I I have stuff that really is not
gonna play well regarding the US men's soccer team, and
it turns out to be this domestic violence incident for
Greg burr Halter. So that's what he said. He said,
I never said anything about it, but reports are he
he had hinted I had something, And today Danielle Raina,
(09:39):
his wife, Jeo's mom, said she absolutely told US Soccer
Sporting director Ernie Stewart, also a former US men's player,
about burr Halter's past domestic violence incident because, wait for it,
she was frustrated by comments made about her son after
they got eliminated from the World Cup. She was not
(10:00):
happy that Geo Raina was getting criticism for not being
a great teammate, not being ready to play, and burr
Halter was getting a pass for everything else, knowing full
well this was in his past. So she's the one
that brought this to US Soccer and that's why this
story is so shocking and it shows you that it's
absolute amateur hour. This was not a blackmail situation. This
(10:24):
was just the rain has decided to do this because
they wanted to get even with Greg burr Halter, right.
They wanted to get even with him because they didn't
like the fact that is that their kid didn't play.
I mean, this is something that you deal with at
a at a club and travel levels. I'm not happy
my kids not playing. So I'm gonna find a way
to stick it to the head coach, you know. And
I gotta be honest, Mike. Look, you know, I I've
(10:46):
coached a pretty high level soccer and softball the last
couple of years. Your daughter plays soccer at a really
high level, and you know, there's drama that goes into it,
and parents are upset when their kids don't play and
they want to know, and there's this that, and so
and so got an argument with here. But this is
the is level of soccer in the United States, and
it's emails and messages from a parent who is upset
(11:07):
their kid wasn't playing and got blame for when they
didn't play well and the team didn't play well. So
I'm gonna get even with the head coach by sending
this out there and letting people know about this. That's
us soccer right now. This is amateur our Yeah, it's
like kindergarten or you know, ratting out your brother or sister. Hey,
what happened to this? Uh? He did it? You know? Uh?
(11:30):
The old Family Circus cartoon that was always not me,
not me, And then you had the little the Little Goats.
You at his name he got out of the shirt
was not me. Oh my god, I completely forgot about
that guy. I used to read that cartoon all the time.
I love family Starts, one of them, one of my favorites.
My mom every once in a while will still send
it out. What's at justinph I'm just saying, Jason reads Frostburg.
(11:52):
I've read I've read more books than than than I
don't know. Well, yeah, well that's that's true. Uh No,
I actually do, I actually do read it. I probably
read about seventy books a year. Picture I read a lot.
What doesn't matter. But book is a book. We ate
z it don't count. The book is a book that
(12:17):
I mean. That is one of my New Year's resolutions
to get back into. And I've got a couple of
biographies that are that are waiting to get cracked into.
I finished the Elton John one me. It was pretty good.
Uh yeah, nice, nice, yeah, nice, easy, breezy, uh with
a lot of weird turns three book, but on we go. Um,
(12:37):
you just have these kinds of situations. You've seen it,
and I've had coaches that I've heard get the you know,
third degree from a parent, especially once you're you know,
paying for club, right A I s oh, everybody has
to play, So that resolves itself for the most part,
not not fully because there's still arguments over positions and
opportunity here there or whatever. But in clubs like you
(12:59):
can watch coming touch to practice, maybe you'll get your
answer and you can tell that that is not the
answer the parent was looking Forward's like not really, come
come watch a workout. Uh, you might see why, why
and how and and how this all comes together. In
this case, it's just such petty, nonsensical behavior, like obviously
(13:19):
from a a larger issue of you know, we get
into talk of domestic disputes and such in the sporting world. Right.
The other one bubbling to the surface this week is
what went on with Dana White, a guy who said
he's got a no tolerance policy in the UFC. Very
curious how that gets applied to the guy in charge
(13:40):
here going forward. But you have that part of the angle.
But the you know, in the immediacy, a guy whose
contract is now lapsed, how much of it and relates
to this right from the optics and what it means
versus whether you believe he's the guy that takes you
to the next level as a coach. All those things
intersect year, but it comes down to petty. I didn't
(14:03):
like what people were saying on social media about my son.
There you go. Ricardo Peppy did a podcast. He he's
playing overseas. Uh, he's he was asked about, you know,
the US team and his his participation and not being
selected to go to the World Cup. Said he got
the call and hung up on burr Halter immediately, didn't
(14:25):
get an explanation, didn't let him tap dance around. Why
and you know, hey, you know you're nineteen, you'll have
your time, not none of that, never got to any
of the platitudes. Just said hung up on him and
moved on. So that's the other story that's breaking today.
Uh He's like, yeah, I had to go convince my parents.
I wasn't lying to them. So it's it's that kind
(14:45):
of scenario. So you've got those two Burr Halter stories
that run together. This one is is just just so terrible,
such petty, nonsense, childish. Another guy's gonna have to go
and rain is gonna have to do interviews and and
apologize or chastise his parents, Like this isn't done can't
wait to see his response, Mom, Daddy you kidding, like
(15:08):
you know mom and dad fighting your fights when you're younger,
or stepping in where like no, no, I'm okay, I
can do this myself. Now, no, I got, I got
your son. We're gonna leak this information back to the
the US men's national team and see where it goes
from there, because we didn't like that they made fun
of you on social media and questioned your work ethic. Really,
(15:32):
come on the real house husband's of US soccer. There
you go. This is a full family. This is a
full family. Don't this is a full family. This was husband,
bring your family. Let's go out family man, I mean amateur.
And this at least this is going to make bring
the big change that people want from the United States
men's tea right or led Tasso if the players really
(15:56):
need to and you know they need to kick in
the ass, sure you can't go forward with this Like
here's a head coach who you know, you don't know
how much the players are behind him, and you have
this controversy that none of them look good on and
and it's look, he's an a two B coach, like
just strictly on the field. Hey, he did what he
was supposed to do. He got the team back to
being a top fifteen team in the world now, But
(16:18):
is he Is he a next level coach? No? So
they probably need somebody else. This is going to accelerate
that because they need to show that there are adults
in the room and we can handle situations like this,
and it's not about emails and text messages from parents
that are upset my kids not playing well, and and
and and people think that he was, you know what,
wasn't doing the right thing with the team. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
(16:40):
Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the i Heart Radio app
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harman Shark or something. It's actually Tacos from
the Lakers winning. We're live the Tire Act comes Studios. Yeah,
one o nine, they gave up Taco. The fact that
(17:04):
it's now moved to one tent is pathetic though, come on, no, no, no,
come on, make it harder. That's moving with the times
in the NBA. Come on the offense, It make it
one ten. Well, the other part is this way we
know people are going to uh come to get the
free taco, and then they're gonna spend another thirty bucks.
We don't get to play the bulls every night. Well
(17:25):
then and and that's what they look. Companies go into
this going we want to give this away. We don't
want there to be like, oh, hey, what's every three
months you get a free taco. No, we want people
to come in, We're gonna give you a taco, and
you're gonna buy a drink or something. Up is the
the extra business. I would love to see the average
bill of someone that actually redeems the taco promotion. Yeah,
(17:48):
you should see for the Knicks. The Knicks is when
they hold a team under a hundred and fifty points,
everybody gets free taco so that they have it all
anything away for free. Dolan's trying to sell off pieces
of his empire, right so you guys that, Yeah, selling
off night clubs and whatever else is gonna be weird.
Nick Man, where is he supposed to play when he
(18:09):
goes to town? I mean, if he sells that venue,
he doesn't have a place to set up his You
can follow Hobo Live at the Coffee Shop. He's gonna
he's gonna sell the assets. But the but part of
the deal is going to be I get to play
here whenever I want to. It's gonna be written into it. Hey, hey,
Dolan is the opening act for Hobo Live. What the
hell are you talking? Dolan opens for Day Here's some
(18:35):
good friends of mine, Jason and the Hobo. What three
vote do do? Do? All? Right? So, uh, come hell
or high water, we have to do this story right now.
My fear about this story is that it's true. But wait,
but isn't every story you do too? Yeah? Well, no,
this is more about is what was said today about posturing?
(18:56):
Or is it really true? And my fear is the
story is really true. Uh. The Jets playing for Pride
on Sunday against the Dolphins and Spyler Thompson, who's probably
gonna throw for three fifty. You know that's what's gonna happen.
And Robert Sale has had to say glowing things about
Zack Wilson for the last few weeks, even though the
(19:16):
guy stinks and the Jets have to turn the page
on him. No, No, Salo made big headlines today by
not just doubling down on the fact that we have
to make Zach Wilson work. Here look at the links
he has said the team will go to to make
sure they get the best out of Zach. Wilson got
away from a little bit for one reason or another.
(19:38):
And uh, I don't know how do you find that consistency?
Like I said, it starts with knowing oneself. Call it
centers if you want. But Zack has got all the
talent in the world, and we have all the confidence
in the world and him. It's just like I said,
from this reset and we're gonna we're gonna grind with them.
We are and uh and through hell or high water,
(19:58):
we're gonna figure out how to how to get him
to where we know he can be. Through hell. Ohio,
he got away from a little bit. The season's got
away from a little bit. He got benched. He was
a number two overall pick I got away from a
little bit, just a little bit. Uh So, now from
through hell or high water, they're gonna figure out Zach Wilson. Yes, Hey,
I'm so not excited about this. That's my fear is
(20:20):
that this is true and that it's not just lip service.
To keep things together because I gotta say good things.
The season is going on. But he is now going
out of his way to say we're gonna make sure
we get the best out of Zack Wilson. Let me
just say one thing. It's over. It's over. For it's over.
It's over. If the Jets cut him tomorrow, right, let's
(20:43):
just say, right, say, I would tell Robert Salo this
all right, you think you can get them? All right?
The quarterbacks holding you back. It's the position that is
everything else you have. All the weapons will look even
better when you have a quarterback there that can do
things right. If you cut Zack Wilson tomorrow and he
was a free agent and anybody could get him and
signed him to whatever contract they wanted to, is any
(21:05):
of the other thirty one team signing him to be
their starting quarterback? No, would teams sign him to be
a backup shore. They would the guy's got experience, he's
you know, he's young. Okay, maybe you know with with
a reset, he takes some time away. We might have
an asset in himself. But is anybody signing him to
be their starting quarterback? To say, oh, the Jets don't
(21:25):
want you, Zach will take you man. You are an
upgrade over what we have right now. He is the
worst starting quarterback in the NFL. He has had the
better part of two seasons to get it. He has
not gotten it. He has not flashed, He has not
shown any reason why you should still go with him.
When solo. You can tell the beginning of his question
there when he was as got a wait for a
little bit. Well, well, he had the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh,
(21:47):
he played well against Miami. That's it you're talking about.
That's what he's got. What is Zach Wilson done. He
had one drive at the end of the game against Pittsburgh. Yes,
and now I played well against Miami. He threw for
two yards and didn't throw a touchdown. All right, that's
he set. The bar is so low for Zach Wilson,
and it's just not going to work. And everybody's got
a shape take their share of the blame. Zach Wilson stinks.
(22:10):
The Jets have not put him in position to succeed
with what they've done in the system. He's in all this,
but he has done and my fear is that this
is exactly what the Jets are going to do in
the off season. And I guarantee you if you said,
what are the Jets gonna do? After I heard Robert solotok,
they're good. Yes, they're gonna keep him because they're gonna
have a conversation to say, look, everything else we've done
(22:30):
has been pretty good. It's really embarrassing if we let
the number two overall pick in the draft go after
two years. There's only two teams that have moved on
from quarterbacks that are top two picks faster, our top
ten picks faster in the history of the NFL. Do
we want to be that team that moves away from
a guy that that that still could have talent, here's
a hint you can, because he's not good. So they're
(22:52):
gonna convince themselves that we need to bring Zack Wilson back.
But they also know we gotta win games, and if
Zach Wilson isn't very good, they have to have a
viable alternative. And I'm sorry, Mike White is not a
viable alternative. Right, since he's coming to the league. The
first game he's on fire, and then every game after
that gets a little bit worse. Right, there's a reason
why the guy was sitting on the bench and suddenly he's,
(23:14):
you know, thrust into a situation. Right, Mike White's not
the answer. But the Jets, no, we have to go
get somebody else. So here's what they're gonna do. Because
he's gonna be cheap because now instead of coming off
a year where he's led the forty Niners to another
NFC championship, Jimmy Garoppolo is coming off an injured year
and the familiarity of him with the Niners. They're gonna
sit him down and have a conversation and say, Jimmy,
(23:36):
here's what he wants you to do. We want you
to come in here. We're gonna throw the quarterback derby
open with you and Zach Wilson, and you're gonna have
to win the battle with him. But we've seen what
you can do. We like. We think you're gonna wind
up being our guy. And they will sign him to
a cheaper deal because he's not gonna cost as much.
He's not somebody got to trade an asset for. So
they'll sign him for a two year deal. Maybe they'll
(23:58):
give him between you know, ten fifteen million dollars a year.
Whatever it's going to be and that's how they're gonna
do it. They're gonna do it the safe way where
they can still say we're giving Zach Wilson a chance
instead of going bold, because if you're missing a quarterback, Hey,
call the Ravens for Lamar Jackson. They want to move
on from him, they don't want to give him money.
Call the Ravens for Lamar Jackson. Call another team, Call
(24:20):
the Packers about Aaron Rodgers. Do do something where you're
gonna bring in somebody who's good that you can build
the team around, or or build the offense around for
the next couple of seasons Zach Wilson. That they're gonna
go safe, and they're gonna say, well, we have the
quarterback position covered now when they should be going bold,
to go out and getting somebody that's gonna come in
and play well and be the guy that takes this
(24:42):
Jets team from talented but under achieving to now we're
a playoff team. But the Jets are gonna do the
Hearing what Robert Sala said today, that's exactly what the
Jets are gonna do. It's gonna be Zack Wilson, and
it's gonna be Jimmy Garoppolo, and that's gonna be the
quarterback room. Yeah, I think I gonna be curious to
see from the front office perspective and coach staff, is
there any kind of shake up debt be done there
(25:02):
from the offensive side of things. Uh. Joe Douglas, you
got a lot right, But I gotta imagine you had
a bunch of people in that locker room wondering, all right,
what are we doing because clearly this doesn't work. Mike
White a nice band aid, but not the guy. Joe
Flacco is congratulations on a career. Uh. And that one
playoff run back in the day. You were another top
(25:24):
level Joe, at least for a moment. Uh. And then
for Zach Wilson, have you seen a lot in practice
where you're just trying to figure out how to coax
that alright, because he missed the start of the season,
You missed some lineman, you lose Breeese Hall and some
of the explosiveness of the offense. Not that you're looking
for excuse making, but you're also trying to take the
totality of the season in and remembering that he is
(25:45):
still really cheap, but trying to also figure out the window,
while the other players on your roster that have acclimated
to the NFL game so quickly are still really cheap.
I'm looking at you, Garrett Wilson. Uh companies. So so
it's it's a sauce gardener for that matter, right, So
guys that you're trying to be cognizant of what the
(26:06):
window is before you have to pay the piper. I
gotta feel that he likes playing in the municipality, whether
he likes the the people he's working there. There could
be that. Uh, but in in the interroom, like you're
you're just looking at a situation and we'll watch the
(26:27):
quarterback carousel spin. Zach Wilson still a kid, because that's
the other part that comes into all of this, like
legitimately and not even going into the Stacy's mom's joke,
like it's just legitimately, he is a young dude. So
whether they need to to give him time on the
maturity or is the patient's run out Like that's the
(26:49):
Joe Douglas. I'd love to be a fly on the wall?
Is he and Sala After these comments, you know what
prompted the hell or high water defense of the quarter
back today. There's there's no reason for it at this point.
That's a end of the year summary, because then you
can go away for a couple of months and it's
easy to say by drafting everything changed. You know, we
(27:11):
went back and reevaluated whatever. Now, now you've got to
own this for at least the next week and a
half before you do exit interviews. Uh. And the New
York papers are not kind. Hey apparently Hey Joe d Yeah,
I talked to all the players. None of them want
Zack to be the quarterback. What do we do? I
just said, hell or high water? Man, I don't know
what to do. Nobody wants them. Maybe they're gonna have
(27:34):
to give them their scooters back. It's what you got
Frost Park before your vacation. What did I tell you
was gonna happen? Uh, that that game Thursday night game? Yeah,
the one against the Jacks, that they were gonna keep
Zack Wilson for next year. And what did your coach
say today? Yeah? I know, I know, I know. You're
(27:56):
basically blood brothers at this maybe you're the head coach
of the Jets and I didn't know this that you
were made the head coach and you're making these decisions,
could be you never can't tell her man, No, it's
it's it's just that curiosity, right. You want to show
him support. And I guess Robert Salo is not a
(28:18):
guy that's going half ass into it, right, He's going
it's the Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation. Never do
something half ass the whole ass, you know. So, I
mean that's kind of where we're at in his defense
of his young quarterback, because I don't know what he
looks like in practice, and what they see in in
what the film and and chalkboard work is that they're
(28:40):
trying to figure out where's where's the problem and how
do they they solve the piece of the equation. No,
I mean, yeah, it maybe one of those where you
just come back to your professor and you say, I
think the answer is, uh, this is undefined. Well I
put it down. Do you have the guts to put
it or do you think you you need to go
(29:01):
back and reevaluate. As for Robert Salo, right now, look,
they got a lot of love for everything else that
was going on with this squad. So I think that's
what he's also banking on that he's got a little
bit of cash, because remember he looked over his head
to start things and then it kind of got into
a good spot for them, only to watch it crumble again. Uh.
(29:22):
And the only thing that's the glaring problem is the
quarterback position. So maybe he's looking for a little bit
of grace that draft pick. He's got all the receipts. Man.
Now we went from maybe he'll sign it. He went
from I'm gonna get receipts to now he's getting receipts.
Now he's got to give the receipts back. This is
(29:43):
where he's at. Now. We're just keep giving receipts back
and forth. We got receipts in the middle of the season.
Now he's giving them most receipts. Oh man, I'm picturing
him trying to balance his checkbook, going, here's the Zach
Wilson receipt, crumpled it up, throwing away. Now there Zach
Wilson re up, throwing away, doing the extra turns. Soon
you're trying to turn in your receipts like you actually
gave us the coupons that came with the receipts instead
(30:06):
of the actually receipt A bad plays around a CBS
receiver and now those are big receipts. That's a big receipt.
Just keeps going. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio The Jason
Smith Show with My best friend Mike Harman live from
(30:30):
the tairaq dot com studios. Time now for the Progressive
play of the night. Progressive making things even easier to
help you bundle your home and car insurance together so
you can save on both. Learn more at Progressive dot
com or one eight hundred Progressive. Well, it looked like
the Warriors are gonna walk away with a winned home
over the lowly Detroit Pistons, except Sadiq Bay had other ideas.
(30:53):
Heys gets it in City fire Ship. Just cant if
it's if it's good? Wow? Count they had counted the
Pistons win on the road, they win in Golden State.
Who has been the best team at home? Uh? In
(31:16):
order biggest wins by the Pistons since two thousand Game
five against the Lakers in two thousand and four tonight
Pretty accurate? That could be? Yeah, I can't really think
of any that stand out in the interim. Yeah, I
mean that, that's really what it is. The biggest wins
Number two, number two on the list, Number two seventeen
(31:37):
off the match, four of ten from three point range.
As the Warriors look like that men, because they would
look like they were gonna lose the game, right, and
then they come back and well they gave it away,
Number two, number two. Now we've talked a lot tonight
about quarterbacks. We did a bit on the Jets a
few minutes ago about look, the Jets need to move on.
(31:57):
Let's look for a quarterback and let's go. Let's bold
and get somebody. Right Lamar Jackson, you know he's going
to be available. That that the Ravens will listen. But
let me tell you somebody else who's gonna be out
there that you can call and you can get me,
you can get And that's justin Fields. Wait, wait, what
what justin Fields? That? Yes, he's out this Sunday, and
he's not gonna get a chance to set the record
(32:19):
for most yards rushing in the season by a quarterback.
Nathan Peterman is gonna play for the Bears instead. The
overunder for interceptions is up and around seven, but Here's
the thing. Justin Fields has made great strides this year
right still is it needs a little bit work more
on on this passing game because that's not where it
should be. But where he is as an offensive weapon
(32:39):
of talent, he's made big strides. But here's the thing.
The Bears can finish with the worst record in the NFL.
Right now, it looks like they're gonna pick second, but
if they lose Sunday in the Texans win, guess what
the Bears are picking first and Bryce Young and resetting
your timetable for a quarterback is now you've got a
(33:00):
brand new quarterback number one overall. He may be better
than Justin Fields, Like the guy sees the field better
than any prospect the last ten years. That's Bryce Young.
So you now can say, well, wait a minute, we
can reset our clock, have a rookie on a rookie
quarterback contract for the next four or five years. We
can get draft picks for Justin Fields because somebody will
(33:21):
be really interested in him, because a couple of teams
because he's made big strides. And ask the Bears do
they love Justin Fields or do they like Justin Fields?
I think they like him and I think if they're
picking number one overall, they can't turn their back and
not take a quarterback. So yeah, Bryce Young is who
we take. We reset the clock, we trade Justin Fields,
(33:43):
we get draft picks for it, and we move on.
They the vibe with them is kind of like a
Eagles Jalen Hurts from a year ago. They like Jalon Hurts,
but do they love him. No, They tried to look
into other situations to get other quarterbacks. That's kind of
where the Bears are right now with Justin Fields. They
like him, but if they pick first boy taking a
quarterback there, it's really hard to not do that. You
(34:03):
can call and get Justin Fields this offseason. Yeah, it's
the curiosity of what the regime wants to do because
everybody that's installed on the president to be named here
soon maybe Kevin Warren, the big ten. Uh, they didn't
draft Justin Fields. Now, you still do have several years
left on his rookie deal, whereby you can look and say,
(34:23):
all right, he's made strides. Assuming that gets he sticks
around and doesn't get a job somewhere else that he
likes more. Uh, that you get that level of continuity,
consistency and maybe Justin Fields is a hell of a
recruiter because they've got a lot of money to spend.
Now it's a question can you go find a receiver
(34:43):
or two to compliment the guy that fancies himself a
top three receiver in Chase Claypool, who you traded for
earlier in the season. Commit has shown at times you
have to make a decision. Uh. David Montgomery and Khalil
Herbert coming off injury obviously need more work at the
offensive line. But for for Fields, as exciting as he
(35:06):
was at times, ball security is still an issue decision
making under dress. Uh. Certainly in issues you can point
out some really horrific uh interceptions thrown, especially that Lions
wanting where a kuda? Uh said what do I have here?
And walked into the end zone right past Justin Fields?
So uh, there there's a lot to break down there.
(35:27):
But with the amount of draft capital they already have,
the opportunity is certainly there to build around Fields. Just
do you like someone a little more in the draft process? Twitter?
And how about a fresco Mike gets swollen down the
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. You've
got our best of podcasts going up in about ten
minutes on iTunes, wherever you listen to podcasts, it is there.
(35:50):
Coming up next, my buddy Ben Mallard. This is Fox
Sports Radio.
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every week
night ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to
eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
night on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. I got your show
name right here there. It is right there. Just listen
to the takes as they show up tomorrow. We're live
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free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand
(00:44):
recommended installers. Ti irac dot com the way tire buying
should be. Well, we got big stuff going on in
the NFL. We have a crazy story in a couple
of seconds. But just to put this in perspective, right,
the lake Kers beat the heat tonight and again to
everybody's going crazy now because the Lakers win without Lebron
and a D I think that says a little bit
(01:06):
more about the Heat than it does about the Lakers.
But the Lakers win and so far to say where
they have been at since Anthony Davis's injury, the Lakers
have been okay, and that's what they look. This is
the the the NBA season is a marathon, and for
the and for the Lakers, as you're seeing in the NBA,
(01:28):
being one of the top seeds, the top two, top
three seed is just not that important. It's not that
important anymore, and teams are not focused on being that. Yeah,
you like to play well, you like to win games
because it shows how good of a team you are
and you get into your roles. Look, obviously winning more
games is great, but the overall focus is not like
(01:49):
it was. Where I want. We gotta finish as high
as possible, gotta get that number one seed. For the Lakers,
look this year, would they be happy if they finished sixth? Yeah,
of course they would. And the West is not eight
this year though it's not as good as the teams
are at the top. It's awesome that Denver is up there.
It's awesome that New Orleans in Memphis. The West is
just not very good. Right, It's just not a good year.
(02:10):
So for the Lakers right now, you think, oh they're
in trouble here. They are seventeen and twenty one. They're
out of the playoffs. Um, it's not that big a
deal you want to There are only three games out
of first place in the Pacific, right there, only a
couple of games out of being in the playing arounds,
only a couple of games there to the middle of
the of the standings in the West. All they need
to do with a d out is be a five team,
(02:31):
and that's what they've done. They've been a five hundred
ish team since Anthony Davis went out. And as long
as they can do this till he gets back, then
they can start winning more games. There'll be a team
that could potentially finish maybe three or four games over
five hundred. Maybe they win forty three, forty four games
and they wind up getting into the playoffs. A forty
four and thirty eight type season certainly is in the
(02:52):
cards for the Lakers if they can do that, and
everything is fine, So you to to put this in
proper perspective. What the Lakers have done is exactly what
they're what they're hoped to do. Just be okay until
Anthony Davis comes back. Well, it's the beauty of the theoretical, right,
if we're gonna try to do the wishing and hoping
and celebrating three and a half weeks of great basketball
(03:14):
and everybody, um you know, leaning in and the brotherhood
of the Brooklyn Nets, why can't we do it here
for the Lakers winners of four of five, next games
against the Hawks at home, winnable game, great, all all
positive things. And if you define some roles and and
guys step up right like we watched yesterday. Okay, see
(03:36):
no shay Gil, just Alexander and doesn't matter, we put
up a hundred fifty points, right, Guys find the roles,
get a little excitable, whether it means they think they
can get dealt to go find more regular minutes somewhere
else or or in the case like tonight Shrewder who
missed some time earlier, had himself a big night Westbrook.
It's spot in. Spots played big for them down the stretch.
(04:00):
You find your your piece, and all you want is
a spot in the dance. Right. There's the business side
of it that obviously you want as many home games
as you can break in if you're an owner, right,
extra gate concessions, parking, whatever your percentages are whatever your
holdings are off all of those secondary things. But the
the other part is absolutely true. It's like home field
(04:22):
advantage in football. How huge is it anymore? Right? But
it used to be it's a field goal? Is it
really a field goal in most places? No, I would argue,
it's probably not you know, you know, going and having
to play in Buffalo, uh in December and January? Yeah,
not ideal Green Bay, Right, they get another home game
this week, uh, potentially with them making the playoffs of
(04:45):
a couple of huge winds in division to end at home.
But for the most part, No. In basketball, it's series, right,
You're you're not playing one and done or you know, hey,
best of three, so you have ample opportunity. It all
comes down to health and are your stars ready to go?
And the more time you can buy to not have
to feel like you're rushing Anthony Davis back onto the court,
(05:08):
or Lebron doesn't have to stay in Superman mode and
can take a day off when he's under the weather
or just needs a little bit for his body. As
much as I know that it pains people when players
do that, the reality is if it puts them in
a better spot for the end of April and making
the tournament in May. Don't we all benefit from it
if the stars are healthy and ready to go. Yeah,
(05:30):
I would say we do so. All good. I'm curious
to see what the next couple of weeks hold for
the Lakers here as the regular season really gets underway
in earnest. I'll tell you what I know you asked
saying on the tacos to get ready, so I should
buy all the ticket stubs on on eBay so I
(05:53):
can go and redeem tacos and just say, hey, I'm
a taco guy, give me some tacos. Tacos The Jason
Smiths with Mike Carmen live from the tire I Rack
dot Com Studios. Um, let's get into this story for
a few minutes, because it just shows you that US
soccer right now is absolutely amateur hour. The US men's team,
(06:16):
it is amateur hour. This is a story that sounds
like it comes out of what you would hear with
a youth travel team or a club team in any
sport where the where the playing is somewhat serious and
there's drama because the parents are involved. Now, the best
way to tell the story is to go back to
the end of the World Cup. You remember when Jo Reina,
(06:39):
one of the best young players United States has didn't
get a lot of minutes in the World Cup and
there's a big question, you know, why is he not playing?
He should play more. The United States is having trouble
scoring goals. Why is he not playing? And he got
a little bit of time in the final game, but
not a lot, and there was a big question. Greg
burr Halter, embattled US men's national head coach who now
has his contract expire but doesn't have a new deal
(07:00):
and is not coaching the team the next couple of games.
It's crazy. He decides to tell everybody about a week
or so after the World Cup that, well, we had
a player that we were almost gonna send home because
he was told he wasn't going to have a big
role and he kind of had a bad attitude. And
we find out that player was in fact Geo Raina
other veterans had to step in and talk to him
and get him on the right path. Now this part
(07:22):
of the story is not disputed. Rainy even says, hey,
I had a few days, but we're bad for me,
but I got it back going on. He even admits
that part of it. Now, this is awful by Greg
burr Halter, because no one does this to a player
that you're coaching, even it's a player you're thinking about
sending home. He's still one of your players. But burr
Halter couldn't stand the criticism because he knows that his
future of a as a job with the job is
(07:44):
at stake. So I want to make sure people know
there was a reason why I wasn't playing. People don't
start going crazy saying, oh, we gotta fire, we gotta
get rid of him. He doesn't know what he's doing.
He's not putting the best players out there. So he
says that, which is the wrong thing to do. Now,
since that has happened, we got a story or a
couple of days ago involving a domestic incident with Greg
burr Halter from it involves his wife, he said, and
(08:08):
he put out a statement about this when this story
broke that when he met his wife, who he's still
married to today they have kids, there was an incident
where they got an argument and he kicked her legs.
And so now Greg burr Halter has to deal with
the fall out of this and what is this about,
what was this and how serious was this event? And
it's a it's a big thing. Now you're talking about
(08:28):
this is a guy that that kicked a woman, even
though it was years ago. He's talking about the story
that would normally be enough to say, oh boy, this
is kind of insane. But now we get the story
of rain As parents Claudia rain A, former US men's
team captain who was a youth teammate of Greg burr
Halter when they played, and Geo Raina's mom, who was
(08:53):
also involved in this. During the World Cup, Claudia Raina
was not happy about out what was going on with
his son, why he wasn't playing, and according to reports,
he had hinted that he had information about a really
bad story that he was going to tell us Soccer,
meaning that he had information about this domestic incident involving
(09:16):
Greg burr Halter. He didn't say what it was. He
never told me buddy, but reports are says that hey,
I have I I have stuff that really is not
gonna play well regarding the US men's soccer team, and
it turns out to be this domestic violence incident for
Greg burr Halter. So that's what he said. He said,
I never said anything about it, but reports are he
he had hinted I had something, And today Danielle Raina,
(09:39):
his wife, Jeo's mom, said she absolutely told US Soccer
Sporting director Ernie Stewart, also a former US men's player,
about burr Halter's past domestic violence incident because, wait for it,
she was frustrated by comments made about her son after
they got eliminated from the World Cup. She was not
(10:00):
happy that Geo Raina was getting criticism for not being
a great teammate, not being ready to play, and burr
Halter was getting a pass for everything else, knowing full
well this was in his past. So she's the one
that brought this to US Soccer and that's why this
story is so shocking and it shows you that it's
absolute amateur hour. This was not a blackmail situation. This
(10:24):
was just the rain has decided to do this because
they wanted to get even with Greg burr Halter, right.
They wanted to get even with him because they didn't
like the fact that is that their kid didn't play.
I mean, this is something that you deal with at
a at a club and travel levels. I'm not happy
my kids not playing. So I'm gonna find a way
to stick it to the head coach, you know. And
I gotta be honest, Mike. Look, you know, I I've
(10:46):
coached a pretty high level soccer and softball the last
couple of years. Your daughter plays soccer at a really
high level, and you know, there's drama that goes into it,
and parents are upset when their kids don't play and
they want to know, and there's this that, and so
and so got an argument with here. But this is
the is level of soccer in the United States, and
it's emails and messages from a parent who is upset
(11:07):
their kid wasn't playing and got blame for when they
didn't play well and the team didn't play well. So
I'm gonna get even with the head coach by sending
this out there and letting people know about this. That's
us soccer right now. This is amateur our Yeah, it's
like kindergarten or you know, ratting out your brother or sister. Hey,
what happened to this? Uh? He did it? You know? Uh?
(11:30):
The old Family Circus cartoon that was always not me,
not me, And then you had the little the Little Goats.
You at his name he got out of the shirt
was not me. Oh my god, I completely forgot about
that guy. I used to read that cartoon all the time.
I love family Starts, one of them, one of my favorites.
My mom every once in a while will still send
it out. What's at justinph I'm just saying, Jason reads Frostburg.
(11:52):
I've read I've read more books than than than I
don't know. Well, yeah, well that's that's true. Uh No,
I actually do, I actually do read it. I probably
read about seventy books a year. Picture I read a lot.
What doesn't matter. But book is a book. We ate
z it don't count. The book is a book that
(12:17):
I mean. That is one of my New Year's resolutions
to get back into. And I've got a couple of
biographies that are that are waiting to get cracked into.
I finished the Elton John one me. It was pretty good.
Uh yeah, nice, nice, yeah, nice, easy, breezy, uh with
a lot of weird turns three book, but on we go. Um,
(12:37):
you just have these kinds of situations. You've seen it,
and I've had coaches that I've heard get the you know,
third degree from a parent, especially once you're you know,
paying for club, right A I s oh, everybody has
to play, So that resolves itself for the most part,
not not fully because there's still arguments over positions and
opportunity here there or whatever. But in clubs like you
(12:59):
can watch coming touch to practice, maybe you'll get your
answer and you can tell that that is not the
answer the parent was looking Forward's like not really, come
come watch a workout. Uh, you might see why, why
and how and and how this all comes together. In
this case, it's just such petty, nonsensical behavior, like obviously
(13:19):
from a a larger issue of you know, we get
into talk of domestic disputes and such in the sporting world. Right.
The other one bubbling to the surface this week is
what went on with Dana White, a guy who said
he's got a no tolerance policy in the UFC. Very
curious how that gets applied to the guy in charge
(13:40):
here going forward. But you have that part of the angle.
But the you know, in the immediacy, a guy whose
contract is now lapsed, how much of it and relates
to this right from the optics and what it means
versus whether you believe he's the guy that takes you
to the next level as a coach. All those things
intersect year, but it comes down to petty. I didn't
(14:03):
like what people were saying on social media about my son.
There you go. Ricardo Peppy did a podcast. He he's
playing overseas. Uh, he's he was asked about, you know,
the US team and his his participation and not being
selected to go to the World Cup. Said he got
the call and hung up on burr Halter immediately, didn't
(14:25):
get an explanation, didn't let him tap dance around. Why
and you know, hey, you know you're nineteen, you'll have
your time, not none of that, never got to any
of the platitudes. Just said hung up on him and
moved on. So that's the other story that's breaking today.
Uh He's like, yeah, I had to go convince my parents.
I wasn't lying to them. So it's it's that kind
(14:45):
of scenario. So you've got those two Burr Halter stories
that run together. This one is is just just so terrible,
such petty, nonsense, childish. Another guy's gonna have to go
and rain is gonna have to do interviews and and
apologize or chastise his parents, Like this isn't done can't
wait to see his response, Mom, Daddy you kidding, like
(15:08):
you know mom and dad fighting your fights when you're younger,
or stepping in where like no, no, I'm okay, I
can do this myself. Now, no, I got, I got
your son. We're gonna leak this information back to the
the US men's national team and see where it goes
from there, because we didn't like that they made fun
of you on social media and questioned your work ethic. Really,
(15:32):
come on the real house husband's of US soccer. There
you go. This is a full family. This is a
full family. Don't this is a full family. This was husband,
bring your family. Let's go out family man, I mean amateur.
And this at least this is going to make bring
the big change that people want from the United States
men's tea right or led Tasso if the players really
(15:56):
need to and you know they need to kick in
the ass, sure you can't go forward with this Like
here's a head coach who you know, you don't know
how much the players are behind him, and you have
this controversy that none of them look good on and
and it's look, he's an a two B coach, like
just strictly on the field. Hey, he did what he
was supposed to do. He got the team back to
being a top fifteen team in the world now, But
(16:18):
is he Is he a next level coach? No? So
they probably need somebody else. This is going to accelerate
that because they need to show that there are adults
in the room and we can handle situations like this,
and it's not about emails and text messages from parents
that are upset my kids not playing well, and and
and and people think that he was, you know what,
wasn't doing the right thing with the team. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
(16:40):
Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the i Heart Radio app
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harman Shark or something. It's actually Tacos from
the Lakers winning. We're live the Tire Act comes Studios. Yeah,
one o nine, they gave up Taco. The fact that
(17:04):
it's now moved to one tent is pathetic though, come on, no, no, no,
come on, make it harder. That's moving with the times
in the NBA. Come on the offense, It make it
one ten. Well, the other part is this way we
know people are going to uh come to get the
free taco, and then they're gonna spend another thirty bucks.
We don't get to play the bulls every night. Well
(17:25):
then and and that's what they look. Companies go into
this going we want to give this away. We don't
want there to be like, oh, hey, what's every three
months you get a free taco. No, we want people
to come in, We're gonna give you a taco, and
you're gonna buy a drink or something. Up is the
the extra business. I would love to see the average
bill of someone that actually redeems the taco promotion. Yeah,
(17:48):
you should see for the Knicks. The Knicks is when
they hold a team under a hundred and fifty points,
everybody gets free taco so that they have it all
anything away for free. Dolan's trying to sell off pieces
of his empire, right so you guys that, Yeah, selling
off night clubs and whatever else is gonna be weird.
Nick Man, where is he supposed to play when he
(18:09):
goes to town? I mean, if he sells that venue,
he doesn't have a place to set up his You
can follow Hobo Live at the Coffee Shop. He's gonna
he's gonna sell the assets. But the but part of
the deal is going to be I get to play
here whenever I want to. It's gonna be written into it. Hey, hey,
Dolan is the opening act for Hobo Live. What the
hell are you talking? Dolan opens for Day Here's some
(18:35):
good friends of mine, Jason and the Hobo. What three
vote do do? Do? All? Right? So, uh, come hell
or high water, we have to do this story right now.
My fear about this story is that it's true. But wait,
but isn't every story you do too? Yeah? Well, no,
this is more about is what was said today about posturing?
(18:56):
Or is it really true? And my fear is the
story is really true. Uh. The Jets playing for Pride
on Sunday against the Dolphins and Spyler Thompson, who's probably
gonna throw for three fifty. You know that's what's gonna happen.
And Robert Sale has had to say glowing things about
Zack Wilson for the last few weeks, even though the
(19:16):
guy stinks and the Jets have to turn the page
on him. No, No, Salo made big headlines today by
not just doubling down on the fact that we have
to make Zach Wilson work. Here look at the links
he has said the team will go to to make
sure they get the best out of Zach. Wilson got
away from a little bit for one reason or another.
(19:38):
And uh, I don't know how do you find that consistency?
Like I said, it starts with knowing oneself. Call it
centers if you want. But Zack has got all the
talent in the world, and we have all the confidence
in the world and him. It's just like I said,
from this reset and we're gonna we're gonna grind with them.
We are and uh and through hell or high water,
(19:58):
we're gonna figure out how to how to get him
to where we know he can be. Through hell. Ohio,
he got away from a little bit. The season's got
away from a little bit. He got benched. He was
a number two overall pick I got away from a
little bit, just a little bit. Uh So, now from
through hell or high water, they're gonna figure out Zach Wilson. Yes, Hey,
I'm so not excited about this. That's my fear is
(20:20):
that this is true and that it's not just lip service.
To keep things together because I gotta say good things.
The season is going on. But he is now going
out of his way to say we're gonna make sure
we get the best out of Zack Wilson. Let me
just say one thing. It's over. It's over. For it's over.
It's over. If the Jets cut him tomorrow, right, let's
(20:43):
just say, right, say, I would tell Robert Salo this
all right, you think you can get them? All right?
The quarterbacks holding you back. It's the position that is
everything else you have. All the weapons will look even
better when you have a quarterback there that can do
things right. If you cut Zack Wilson tomorrow and he
was a free agent and anybody could get him and
signed him to whatever contract they wanted to, is any
(21:05):
of the other thirty one team signing him to be
their starting quarterback? No, would teams sign him to be
a backup shore. They would the guy's got experience, he's
you know, he's young. Okay, maybe you know with with
a reset, he takes some time away. We might have
an asset in himself. But is anybody signing him to
be their starting quarterback? To say, oh, the Jets don't
(21:25):
want you, Zach will take you man. You are an
upgrade over what we have right now. He is the
worst starting quarterback in the NFL. He has had the
better part of two seasons to get it. He has
not gotten it. He has not flashed, He has not
shown any reason why you should still go with him.
When solo. You can tell the beginning of his question
there when he was as got a wait for a
little bit. Well, well, he had the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh,
(21:47):
he played well against Miami. That's it you're talking about.
That's what he's got. What is Zach Wilson done. He
had one drive at the end of the game against Pittsburgh. Yes,
and now I played well against Miami. He threw for
two yards and didn't throw a touchdown. All right, that's
he set. The bar is so low for Zach Wilson,
and it's just not going to work. And everybody's got
a shape take their share of the blame. Zach Wilson stinks.
(22:10):
The Jets have not put him in position to succeed
with what they've done in the system. He's in all this,
but he has done and my fear is that this
is exactly what the Jets are going to do in
the off season. And I guarantee you if you said,
what are the Jets gonna do? After I heard Robert solotok,
they're good. Yes, they're gonna keep him because they're gonna
have a conversation to say, look, everything else we've done
(22:30):
has been pretty good. It's really embarrassing if we let
the number two overall pick in the draft go after
two years. There's only two teams that have moved on
from quarterbacks that are top two picks faster, our top
ten picks faster in the history of the NFL. Do
we want to be that team that moves away from
a guy that that that still could have talent, here's
a hint you can, because he's not good. So they're
(22:52):
gonna convince themselves that we need to bring Zack Wilson back.
But they also know we gotta win games, and if
Zach Wilson isn't very good, they have to have a
viable alternative. And I'm sorry, Mike White is not a
viable alternative. Right, since he's coming to the league. The
first game he's on fire, and then every game after
that gets a little bit worse. Right, there's a reason
why the guy was sitting on the bench and suddenly he's,
(23:14):
you know, thrust into a situation. Right, Mike White's not
the answer. But the Jets, no, we have to go
get somebody else. So here's what they're gonna do. Because
he's gonna be cheap because now instead of coming off
a year where he's led the forty Niners to another
NFC championship, Jimmy Garoppolo is coming off an injured year
and the familiarity of him with the Niners. They're gonna
sit him down and have a conversation and say, Jimmy,
(23:36):
here's what he wants you to do. We want you
to come in here. We're gonna throw the quarterback derby
open with you and Zach Wilson, and you're gonna have
to win the battle with him. But we've seen what
you can do. We like. We think you're gonna wind
up being our guy. And they will sign him to
a cheaper deal because he's not gonna cost as much.
He's not somebody got to trade an asset for. So
they'll sign him for a two year deal. Maybe they'll
(23:58):
give him between you know, ten fifteen million dollars a year.
Whatever it's going to be and that's how they're gonna
do it. They're gonna do it the safe way where
they can still say we're giving Zach Wilson a chance
instead of going bold, because if you're missing a quarterback, Hey,
call the Ravens for Lamar Jackson. They want to move
on from him, they don't want to give him money.
Call the Ravens for Lamar Jackson. Call another team, Call
(24:20):
the Packers about Aaron Rodgers. Do do something where you're
gonna bring in somebody who's good that you can build
the team around, or or build the offense around for
the next couple of seasons Zach Wilson. That they're gonna
go safe, and they're gonna say, well, we have the
quarterback position covered now when they should be going bold,
to go out and getting somebody that's gonna come in
and play well and be the guy that takes this
(24:42):
Jets team from talented but under achieving to now we're
a playoff team. But the Jets are gonna do the
Hearing what Robert Sala said today, that's exactly what the
Jets are gonna do. It's gonna be Zack Wilson, and
it's gonna be Jimmy Garoppolo, and that's gonna be the
quarterback room. Yeah, I think I gonna be curious to
see from the front office perspective and coach staff, is
there any kind of shake up debt be done there
(25:02):
from the offensive side of things. Uh. Joe Douglas, you
got a lot right, But I gotta imagine you had
a bunch of people in that locker room wondering, all right,
what are we doing because clearly this doesn't work. Mike
White a nice band aid, but not the guy. Joe
Flacco is congratulations on a career. Uh. And that one
playoff run back in the day. You were another top
(25:24):
level Joe, at least for a moment. Uh. And then
for Zach Wilson, have you seen a lot in practice
where you're just trying to figure out how to coax
that alright, because he missed the start of the season,
You missed some lineman, you lose Breeese Hall and some
of the explosiveness of the offense. Not that you're looking
for excuse making, but you're also trying to take the
totality of the season in and remembering that he is
(25:45):
still really cheap, but trying to also figure out the window,
while the other players on your roster that have acclimated
to the NFL game so quickly are still really cheap.
I'm looking at you, Garrett Wilson. Uh companies. So so
it's it's a sauce gardener for that matter, right, So
guys that you're trying to be cognizant of what the
(26:06):
window is before you have to pay the piper. I
gotta feel that he likes playing in the municipality, whether
he likes the the people he's working there. There could
be that. Uh, but in in the interroom, like you're
you're just looking at a situation and we'll watch the
(26:27):
quarterback carousel spin. Zach Wilson still a kid, because that's
the other part that comes into all of this, like
legitimately and not even going into the Stacy's mom's joke,
like it's just legitimately, he is a young dude. So
whether they need to to give him time on the
maturity or is the patient's run out Like that's the
(26:49):
Joe Douglas. I'd love to be a fly on the wall?
Is he and Sala After these comments, you know what
prompted the hell or high water defense of the quarter
back today. There's there's no reason for it at this point.
That's a end of the year summary, because then you
can go away for a couple of months and it's
easy to say by drafting everything changed. You know, we
(27:11):
went back and reevaluated whatever. Now, now you've got to
own this for at least the next week and a
half before you do exit interviews. Uh. And the New
York papers are not kind. Hey apparently Hey Joe d Yeah,
I talked to all the players. None of them want
Zack to be the quarterback. What do we do? I
just said, hell or high water? Man, I don't know
what to do. Nobody wants them. Maybe they're gonna have
(27:34):
to give them their scooters back. It's what you got
Frost Park before your vacation. What did I tell you
was gonna happen? Uh, that that game Thursday night game? Yeah,
the one against the Jacks, that they were gonna keep
Zack Wilson for next year. And what did your coach
say today? Yeah? I know, I know, I know. You're
(27:56):
basically blood brothers at this maybe you're the head coach
of the Jets and I didn't know this that you
were made the head coach and you're making these decisions,
could be you never can't tell her man, No, it's
it's it's just that curiosity, right. You want to show
him support. And I guess Robert Salo is not a
(28:18):
guy that's going half ass into it, right, He's going
it's the Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation. Never do
something half ass the whole ass, you know. So, I
mean that's kind of where we're at in his defense
of his young quarterback, because I don't know what he
looks like in practice, and what they see in in
what the film and and chalkboard work is that they're
(28:40):
trying to figure out where's where's the problem and how
do they they solve the piece of the equation. No,
I mean, yeah, it maybe one of those where you
just come back to your professor and you say, I
think the answer is, uh, this is undefined. Well I
put it down. Do you have the guts to put
it or do you think you you need to go
(29:01):
back and reevaluate. As for Robert Salo, right now, look,
they got a lot of love for everything else that
was going on with this squad. So I think that's
what he's also banking on that he's got a little
bit of cash, because remember he looked over his head
to start things and then it kind of got into
a good spot for them, only to watch it crumble again. Uh.
(29:22):
And the only thing that's the glaring problem is the
quarterback position. So maybe he's looking for a little bit
of grace that draft pick. He's got all the receipts. Man.
Now we went from maybe he'll sign it. He went
from I'm gonna get receipts to now he's getting receipts.
Now he's got to give the receipts back. This is
(29:43):
where he's at. Now. We're just keep giving receipts back
and forth. We got receipts in the middle of the season.
Now he's giving them most receipts. Oh man, I'm picturing
him trying to balance his checkbook, going, here's the Zach
Wilson receipt, crumpled it up, throwing away. Now there Zach
Wilson re up, throwing away, doing the extra turns. Soon
you're trying to turn in your receipts like you actually
gave us the coupons that came with the receipts instead
(30:06):
of the actually receipt A bad plays around a CBS
receiver and now those are big receipts. That's a big receipt.
Just keeps going. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio The Jason
Smith Show with My best friend Mike Harman live from
(30:30):
the tairaq dot com studios. Time now for the Progressive
play of the night. Progressive making things even easier to
help you bundle your home and car insurance together so
you can save on both. Learn more at Progressive dot
com or one eight hundred Progressive. Well, it looked like
the Warriors are gonna walk away with a winned home
over the lowly Detroit Pistons, except Sadiq Bay had other ideas.
(30:53):
Heys gets it in City fire Ship. Just cant if
it's if it's good? Wow? Count they had counted the
Pistons win on the road, they win in Golden State.
Who has been the best team at home? Uh? In
(31:16):
order biggest wins by the Pistons since two thousand Game
five against the Lakers in two thousand and four tonight
Pretty accurate? That could be? Yeah, I can't really think
of any that stand out in the interim. Yeah, I
mean that, that's really what it is. The biggest wins
Number two, number two on the list, Number two seventeen
(31:37):
off the match, four of ten from three point range.
As the Warriors look like that men, because they would
look like they were gonna lose the game, right, and
then they come back and well they gave it away,
Number two, number two. Now we've talked a lot tonight
about quarterbacks. We did a bit on the Jets a
few minutes ago about look, the Jets need to move on.
(31:57):
Let's look for a quarterback and let's go. Let's bold
and get somebody. Right Lamar Jackson, you know he's going
to be available. That that the Ravens will listen. But
let me tell you somebody else who's gonna be out
there that you can call and you can get me,
you can get And that's justin Fields. Wait, wait, what
what justin Fields? That? Yes, he's out this Sunday, and
he's not gonna get a chance to set the record
(32:19):
for most yards rushing in the season by a quarterback.
Nathan Peterman is gonna play for the Bears instead. The
overunder for interceptions is up and around seven, but Here's
the thing. Justin Fields has made great strides this year
right still is it needs a little bit work more
on on this passing game because that's not where it
should be. But where he is as an offensive weapon
(32:39):
of talent, he's made big strides. But here's the thing.
The Bears can finish with the worst record in the NFL.
Right now, it looks like they're gonna pick second, but
if they lose Sunday in the Texans win, guess what
the Bears are picking first and Bryce Young and resetting
your timetable for a quarterback is now you've got a
(33:00):
brand new quarterback number one overall. He may be better
than Justin Fields, Like the guy sees the field better
than any prospect the last ten years. That's Bryce Young.
So you now can say, well, wait a minute, we
can reset our clock, have a rookie on a rookie
quarterback contract for the next four or five years. We
can get draft picks for Justin Fields because somebody will
(33:21):
be really interested in him, because a couple of teams
because he's made big strides. And ask the Bears do
they love Justin Fields or do they like Justin Fields?
I think they like him and I think if they're
picking number one overall, they can't turn their back and
not take a quarterback. So yeah, Bryce Young is who
we take. We reset the clock, we trade Justin Fields,
(33:43):
we get draft picks for it, and we move on.
They the vibe with them is kind of like a
Eagles Jalen Hurts from a year ago. They like Jalon Hurts,
but do they love him. No, They tried to look
into other situations to get other quarterbacks. That's kind of
where the Bears are right now with Justin Fields. They
like him, but if they pick first boy taking a
quarterback there, it's really hard to not do that. You
(34:03):
can call and get Justin Fields this offseason. Yeah, it's
the curiosity of what the regime wants to do because
everybody that's installed on the president to be named here
soon maybe Kevin Warren, the big ten. Uh, they didn't
draft Justin Fields. Now, you still do have several years
left on his rookie deal, whereby you can look and say,
(34:23):
all right, he's made strides. Assuming that gets he sticks
around and doesn't get a job somewhere else that he
likes more. Uh, that you get that level of continuity,
consistency and maybe Justin Fields is a hell of a
recruiter because they've got a lot of money to spend.
Now it's a question can you go find a receiver
(34:43):
or two to compliment the guy that fancies himself a
top three receiver in Chase Claypool, who you traded for
earlier in the season. Commit has shown at times you
have to make a decision. Uh. David Montgomery and Khalil
Herbert coming off injury obviously need more work at the
offensive line. But for for Fields, as exciting as he
(35:06):
was at times, ball security is still an issue decision
making under dress. Uh. Certainly in issues you can point
out some really horrific uh interceptions thrown, especially that Lions
wanting where a kuda? Uh said what do I have here?
And walked into the end zone right past Justin Fields?
So uh, there there's a lot to break down there.
(35:27):
But with the amount of draft capital they already have,
the opportunity is certainly there to build around Fields. Just
do you like someone a little more in the draft process? Twitter?
And how about a fresco Mike gets swollen down the
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. You've
got our best of podcasts going up in about ten
minutes on iTunes, wherever you listen to podcasts, it is there.
(35:50):
Coming up next, my buddy Ben Mallard. This is Fox
Sports Radio.
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