November 18, 2021 • 37 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon rip into the New York Jets for failing to tune out the outside noise by starting Joe Flacco over Mike White. The guys explain why it is a huge deal that Mel Tucker is getting a big contract at Michigan State. Plus, a new normal may be taking shape in the MLB offseason.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Hello, Welcome inside our
four of The Jason Smith Show with my bast friend
Mike Harmon. As we watched the Suns beat the Mavericks
one oh five. Mavericks game run without Luca don Sitch,
but they fall to the Sun's Sons get twenty four
(00:45):
out of Devin Booker, nineteen and thirteen from DeAndre Ayton.
And I don't think this is a hot take, but
what we've seen so far in the NBA this season,
granted we're about fifteen games in and a lot of
teams are struggling. UH best two teams in the NBA,
Golden State and Phoenix and everybody else is kind of
(01:07):
at that next level of maybe we're okay, Maybe maybe
the Wizards are actually gonna be good. Maybe the Jazz
are good, but the Biggers and the Sons, they have
just done it better than everybody else. The Sons of
one ten in a row, and of course the Warriors
there twelve and two record after remaking their roster, their bench. Uh,
it has been some kind of start for Golden State
(01:27):
and Phoenix. And I gotta be honest because I always
say when I'm wrong or I don't see I did
not see either of these starts coming. I did not
see the start coming for Golden State, specifically without Clay Thompson.
I did not see the start coming without Phoenix. Who
I thought, Hey, they got to the top of whatever
mountain they were getting to during the NBA Finals last year,
and it was gonna be another year older for Chris Paul,
(01:48):
is gonna be a little bit more difficulty, and still
they kind of picked up where they left off. I'm
surprised both these teams didn't see it coming. Cruising along
right now are the Phoenix Suns, and question is back
half of the schedule, Chris Paul's health long term right like,
we're seeing the front loaded Lebron James not playing for
the Lakers. So now you've got massive trepidation that that's
(02:12):
just not gonna work, right, that it's gonna be one
of those years in and out of the lineup, and
then you know, sit there and hope that he can
get from April through the end of June to where
there's a parade outside Crypto dot Com Arena. But for
the Suns, it's it's the Chris Paul question overall, right,
average about thirty two minutes a game right now, four
(02:34):
teen point seven and ten point to a night. Uh.
That that's pretty Uh, that's outstanding work thus far. They're
getting good balance. JaVale McGhee given him almost ten points
a game off the bench in seventeen minutes minutes played.
I mean, they've they've got guys that are that are
filling it up and they can still get you at
a frenetic pace. And Booker right now playing as well.
(02:56):
Right he started getting the superstar calls. We talked about
it in the playoffs last year. That's translating here. Even
though the rules have changed and everybody's trying to figure
out how to navigate that seems like everybody but James
Harden is at least on the way, uh, in terms
of figuring that out. But now like the Son's. I
don't know that I'm surprised. I guess I'm just happy
(03:17):
that there wasn't a sudden drop off, you know, because
we saw what happened after the bubble, and what what
happened to the Miami Heat after that, the Lakers, and
what was a very odd year a year ago. So
hopefully some continuity flows in the East. It's a jumbled
mess at the top, which is great for US. Twitter
(03:40):
and how about a fresca Mike gets swollen down The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon. We got more NBA
on the way later on this hour, including why I'm
not that bummed about where the Lakers are and what's
been going on with them right now, even though they
lost the Bucks tonight when Janice goes for seven, one
oh nine, one oh two. But to owe you that
(04:00):
there is no such thing as rock bottom, I present
to you what happened today with the New York Jets.
The big NFL news of the day is that Jack
Wilson is not ready to come back for the Jets,
and the Jets are going to start somebody else. Okay,
that somebody else is not Mike White. Mike White, if
I could be Mike White. It's not Josh Johnson. It
(04:22):
is Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco will start for the Jets
on Sunday when they take on the Miami Dolphins. What
is the reason for this? Why Joe Flacco? In the
words of Robert sala Hey, because the Dolphins blitz a lot.
We want somebody back there who can handle it. The
Dolphins blitz Lamar Jackson the entire bleeping game on Thursday.
(04:44):
He's the most mobile quarterback in the NFL. What do
they have six sacks? How is Joe Flacco gonna get
around that? No, we gotta have Joe Flacco. Oh my god,
always gonna get the ball out fast. Oh my god.
This is you know, this is the Jets proof that
they are just gonna be their own worst enemy for
the rest of time. Alright, because now here I'll give you.
(05:04):
I'll give you Mike Harmon phrase. I get what they're
doing in theory, right, I get this in theory. Why
is it not Mike White? It makes no sense, right,
it makes no sense. Mike White was a phenomenal in
his debut. He had a really good next first quarter,
then he got hurt. Then he had a bad game
against Buffalo. If Zach Wilson isn't ready, Okay, great, I
get it. You wanted to be a pent You want
(05:24):
him for the last seven games of the season. Yes,
I'm completely okay with that. Take your time, don't rush
them back in. It's a lost season. Seven games is
more than enough time. I get it. Why don't you
go to Mike White? Right? Why don't you go to
Mike White? And this gets into why the Jets are
the Jets? Right? I get it in theory, because they
don't want a quarterback controversy. Now they they they got
(05:46):
through the Stars and then rise with Mike White. They
saw him play against the Bills, and for whatever reason,
they think, all right, well now he's done, we gotta
go back to Zack Wilson. Okay, fine, that's great. Why
won't you start Mike White? Because they're afraid of what
would happen if Mike White. And again, it's not like
the Dolphins of Sight five bears. Oh they're blitzing there.
The Dolphins they stink, They absolutely stink. But if Mike
(06:08):
White has a big game against the Dolphins, then suddenly
you have a quarterback controversy. Can you really go to
Zach Wilson again if Mike White has a good game,
or do you have to let Mike White play one
more time and then you've let a quarterback controversy engulf
the team. So I get it in theory that this
is why the Jets did what they did, because clearly
we'll start Joe Flacco, he's gonna suck, We're gonna lose,
(06:30):
and then it's easy to go back to Zach Wilson
and we got him for the last seven games. Right,
But this is why the Jets are the Jets and
why they happened in the playoffs in ten years, and
why don't know that Robert Sala can be a head
coach in the NFL. They are too worried about their
perception surrounding the team. Because if you were a strong
head coach and a strong organization, it's okay, we're gonna
(06:51):
go to Mike White. He was great, maybe he's great again.
Then when the next week comes up, we'll go back
to Zack Wilson because we took Zach Wilson's second overall
and he's gonna be our guy. If you're a strong organization,
you can make moves like that, and you don't listen
to the outside noise. But the Jets listen to all
of the outside noise. Robert Salo listens to all of
the outside noise. Why are they playing Joe Flacco? They're
(07:14):
worried that they look bad because they made it. They
traded a draft pick for Joe Flacco, which they didn't need,
which is embarrassing. So let's put him out there so
we could at least get rid of that storyline. Why
did you trade a fifth round pick for Joe Flacco?
Nobody cares about that. It's something that New York writers
right about because they like to write about negativity. Why
do you care about? The Jets? Clearly care because they're
doing this. Why can't you go to Mike White, Well,
(07:36):
we're afraid what would happen, what the optics would look
like if he winds up with another good week? Why
do you care what the optics look like? Are you
trying to win games? What are you trying to do? Really?
What what are you trying to accomplish with the Jets?
They listened to too much outside noise? Right, Robert Sala,
who said the other day, Hey, all you guys want
to throw Mike White away. Oh, we're not gonna do that.
(07:58):
This is Robert Salo from two days ago. It's truly
an amazing amalgam of silliness that you see. We're gonna
where's Robert Salitie shirt? Where's Robert sal I still got
a lot of confidence in Mike again. You know this
market fascinates me in the sense that you know, he
was anointed the next coming after one game, and now
everyone wants to throw him away like he deserves better
(08:20):
than that. Yeah. So I'm listening to everybody who loved
him and now everybody wants to throw him away because
I'm reading stuff on social media. I'm I'm hearing stuff
that I don't like. Uh, you just threw Mike White
away yourself. You just threw him away because you don't
want that narrative of what if Mike White plays well
and then what do you do for Zach Wilson. Robert
Salo listens to everything. The coaching staff listens to everything.
(08:42):
They listen to all the outside noise. And this is
why the Jets can't get out of their own way
because this is how they operate. This is how they've
operated for years. What would be the optics of this.
What's the fall that it's like the default uh point
in a movie when somebody wants to make a decision
on something and so they go on social medial. Well,
how is this playing on Twitter right now? And then
(09:02):
you didn't you get the shot of the person scrolling
through and they're either seeing positive tweets or negative tweets. Oh,
we can't do It's like every every news show now
or every show now that likes to show their hip. Hey,
let's let's have a big thing and say hey, because
because what happen being said on Twitter is such a
big deal, let's look and see, like that's what the
Jets do. What's gonna keep us off social media the most?
What's gonna have the less the least amount of of
(09:25):
of criticism, And that's what we're going to do. So
let's do it that way. And this is why you
can't win, because if you were a straw, if you
and this is why I don't know that Robert Sale
is cut out to be a head coach in the
NFL because he listens to too much outside stuff and
the product on the field is absolutely terrible. So when
you put all this together, what am I supposed to
think the Jets have been bad for a decade and
they're gonna continue to be bad because they can't get
(09:46):
out of their own way. Because part of it is this.
You can fight one opponent, which is the other team,
but when you're fighting the other opponent and you're fighting
yourself and you're fighting the perception of the team in
in the in New York City, forget it. You're never
gonna win. And that's why the Jets suck. I'm sorry.
I tried to fill that space between and didn't let
the inane commentary of Robert Salis speak for itself right
(10:08):
there as you you alluded to. Uh yeah, Mike White second,
coming back him all that. Well, if if you want
to see what he is, he has to play right,
So put him on the field. Joe Flacco, you want
the veteran presence against the blitz. Great article, uh that
I saw New York Daily News that goes through the data.
(10:29):
The data Miami Dolphins defensive blitz is forty percent of snaps.
They did it forty times against Lamar Jackson. He covers
zero defense. Uh. You look at the dominance of the
Dolphins against Flacco last year, in that regard right four
nothing loss, hundred eighty six yards interception and was sacked
(10:53):
three times over the last three years. UH completion percentage
uh in for the Ravens fifty nine for the Broncos
in seventy seven point eight passer rating, and then the
Jets against the Blitz sixty three pass ready. Yeah, let's
get him out there because he's gonna be able to
(11:15):
handle it expertly. So UH, you might as well let
Mike White go out there see what he can do.
And if you have to go have a quarterback controversy, great,
because if Zack Wilson, I I don't believe that he's
a guy that's gonna cry about it. Right, you may
have other people in that locker room that maybe you
feel like there's divisiveness. Maybe it's the sports talk radio
(11:39):
chatter and the fans and it's you know, put the
fish wrap away. They're grown ass men, and Zach Wilson
to this point has said all the right things. Maybe
he's crying behind the scenes, I don't know, but at
least in front of a microphone, he's been a man
talking about and learning and watching these guys play. Taking
the criticism about just like Patrick Mahomes the last couple
(12:02):
of weeks. Will he be patient and take what the
defense gives him? And then you watched him light up
the Raiders on Sunday Night Football. Right for Zach Wilson,
he said all the right things, and if he's truly
that guy, then this shouldn't be an issue. He's gonna
get his chance. It doesn't need to be today. Remember
rookie contract. He got a little signing bonus. That's great
Number two overall, pick a lot of pomp and circumstance
(12:24):
back in April. You know what, it doesn't mean a
damn thing in week eleven. If he's not ready physically
and he's not ready to lead right now, he still
needs to grow. And if Mike White's a guy that
right now is having his moment in the sun, and
you really want to do an evaluation, go see if
he can handle the blitz. Because putting Joe Flacco out
there does nothing. It absolutely impedes any progress you're trying
(12:47):
to make, except what you now have a controversy because
veteran Joe Flacco is there, which would you rather have?
What does what does this do for the team to do?
That's what I mean, it's why am I going out
there to play Sunday? We're just going out there to lose?
What is it gonna be a punching bag? You might
You might as well get one of those, you know
pillows that are being advertised for the holidays that has
(13:10):
Joe Flacco's face on it and let that get punched around.
Waste of time, waste of space is like like you
know Tani pillow that you can get out. It's a
full body thing, so it's just tall. So it's like
one of those body pillows. I know. It comes in handy,
you know, if you're having trouble sleeping. Maybe it gives
you that support, you know during pregnancies. I know. It's
(13:31):
a big thing, right, It's like a full length pillow
and you and you can kind of lean into it. Well,
now you can have one. You can have one made
of you Smith. How about that? That's the gift that
keeps on getting. We're gonna open up our own Etsy
store and we'll sell Jason Smith body length pillows. Twitter
and out about a Fresco Mike at Swollen Dome Again.
(13:53):
My team exists to make you feel better about yours
jets yo. And oh, by the way, uh, Joe Flacco's vaccinated.
So now the Jets have run into a non vaccinated
controversy with their fourth quarterback of the season. Only the
Jets can I can? I can I address that really quickly?
You know, because he went in and but like, well,
(14:14):
you know, I didn't want it to be a distract
or whatever else. You know what else nobody else asked
because you weren't a guy that was expected to see
the field, so you know what it wasn't. You weren't
going to the podium unless you were doing one on
ones with someone off on the side of the locker room.
Of what you're seeing of these young guys, you you
weren't the guy front and center. So that's why it
(14:35):
wasn't asked, and you weren't asked for your opinion, and
now you have been and now well I can't wait
to see the headlines tomorrow. I might look those up. Now.
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 I Heart
Radio app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
(14:56):
My best Friend Mike Harmon a little bit more on
this melt Tucker story before we get into the quarterback
who would take a do over every single day of
the week and twice on Sunday. Uh. You know, melt
Tucker of Michigan State is on the cusp of getting
this incredibly large extension. When it happens tomorrow, uh or
the next forty eight hours, it's going to be incredibly
(15:18):
large because he's gonna be the highest paid coach in
the Big Ten and the highest paid African American coach
and professional sports right ten years technical well, okay in
all but okay, no semantics, but yeah, that's true. That's true.
No, No No, we don't pay anybody here, uh, in all
(15:39):
of sports. He'd be a state university. So folks are
upset about that. So that's that's a whole other thing.
I can't help you. There. So a large thing there
for him, right obviously, I mean it's a big deal
to it's a it's a it's a huge day when
that happens. People look. To be the highest paid African
American coach in all of sports is really something. But
from the field perspective of it, why is he getting
(16:00):
this extension? It goes to what is so important when
it comes to teams with incredibly bitter rivals. Right, he's
getting this extension because one, yes, I'm sure l s
U other schools are hot on him because Michigan State
as well as he's coached this year. I can see
they did give him a raise normally, but ten years
and million means Okay, somebody's really coming for you now,
(16:23):
and so we got to give you so much more
money so you don't leave. So that's why the large money. Well,
he's only in the second year of his six year
deal exactly. He want you's sixteen and thirteen. That's his
overall record as a head coach, right, yeah, I mean
last year you push away. Colorado is Colorado. It's not
Cordell Stewart and Michael Westbrook running around. No, he's tripling.
He's gonna triple his salary every year the last three
(16:45):
years from Colorado to Michigan State. Michigan State. This year
he's now my hero color I mean, it's unbelievable. What not,
not just the style of play that they've adopted there
and obviously the success this year, but to be able
to triple your salary like that, let's go who and
And the thing is is that why is he getting this? Yes,
the part about L s U and other schools is
(17:06):
one thing. But he's won two really big games. Right
last year was two and five, but he beat Michigan.
So now and in the college football Game of the
Year this year, what did they do? They beat Michigan.
Gus john he owes Gus Johnson part of this contract
because that game, it was like there was one head
coach on the field. It was good Meltuck. Look what
(17:26):
he's doing. This is unbelievable. Melt Tucker has done this.
He's told his team this, he done that. And there's
Jim Hardball and melt Tucker said, I'm gonna make sure
our team he's reading quotes and he's got I mean,
he was such melt Tucker's hehe man. You would think
after this game was over, hey melt Tucker, maybe he's
like the next Vince Lombardi. But when you beat your
bitter rival and you do it in such a way
(17:49):
in the Game of the Year, this is how you
succeed as a head coach. This is why Jim Harbaugh
has never gotten the hug from Michigan because he doesn't
beat Ohio State. He barely beats Michigan's State. So yeah,
he's still kind of on the outside looking in, and
he and he's at arms length until you can win
some rivalry games. And yes, there have been incredible uh
(18:10):
face plants by Michigan in these games, but it doesn't matter,
they're not winning them. When you beat your arch rival,
and you do this, you increase your brand and and
everybody wants you to stay around because some years you
can go two and nine or two in ten. But
if you're if if Jim Harbrow went to Intent every
year but he beat Michigan State in Ohio State, they
would say, lifetime contract. We don't care about not going
(18:31):
to a bowl game. We don't care to go. You know,
the rest of the year, go oh in ten and
then the last two games beat Michigan State in Ohio State. Great,
what will you can stay here forever? That's how big
it is to beat your arrival. Is melt Tucker getting
this contract if he doesn't beat Michigan State. Life doesn't
beat Michigan like this, of course, not if they lose
that game or if it's not the game of the
(18:51):
year and you don't see Walker go for five touchdowns
and all the pageantry associated with it. He's not getting
that extension. That's why beating your ride is such a
big deal. This is how you stay head coach. When
you lose to your big rival, they can't get you
out of town fast enough. Look at what he's doing.
Now he's beat Michigan twice. He's gonna and now he's
gonna be making ten million dollars a year, and he's
(19:14):
got the longest deal that He's got a better deal
than Nick Saban's got. I mean, this is what you
do when you wind up beating Michigan and you beat
them twice, and you beat him like that, you make
Jim Harbaugh cry as he walks off the field. This
is what happens to you. Well, his contract under these terms,
at least as what's been reported, would put him second
to Saban, which is amazing. Again, we talked about the
(19:36):
ties all night long. Right, he was a grad assistant
to Saban all those years ago at Michigan State. Here
from Crane's Detroit business. Let me get to the business
side of this. You've got uh Matt ish Bia uh
CEO of u WM Corp. Wholesale mortgage lender based in Pontiac, Michigan,
and Steve Saint Andre, the CEO of Shift Digital. They
(19:59):
do digital marketing in the automotive retailing sector. They are
basically funding Tucker's extension. They are the alums that are saying,
we got our guy. He's beating hardball, he's beating Michigan. There,
Michigan state alum and saying, all right, let's keep them there.
(20:19):
And that's exactly what they're doing with that big salary.
Uh two, when it comes down to the you know,
on the field presence, Yeah, it's it's all about beating Michigan.
It's all about those results. The rest of it builds,
and you build a culture, you build a program. Hell
he has, he's not even working with his own guys
at this point. And I think that's got to be
(20:41):
part of the right, that's got to be part of
the exciting process of it. You know, it's the We've
seen it in the NFL a number of times. All right,
took these guys, you know, teams that they couldn't get
over the hump with, and took them to the promised land.
You'd go back to Tampa and and probably one of
the best examples. Uh, and then we see it in
(21:01):
college football as well, where you can get some run.
It's like, all right, now we get to see what
you can do with your recruits. And to this point
we don't know, right, you only had the year at
Colorado and here here, here we are, right. I mean,
you gotta you got a very short, short run as
a head coach, certainly been with very successful programs coordinator
(21:22):
with the Bears at Alabama, at Georgia and all the
way through. I mean, you've got, uh tremendous resume. And
now it's you've seen enough at least and how you've
handled and clearly he's won the room when it comes
to those fun dinners that coaches hate going to. After
a while, obviously impressed the money men behind the program
(21:46):
to say, all right, you know you've got the keys
to the kingdom, what the end buyouts and all of
those Those are always the fun you know, details that
eventually come out in the watch, but usually not until well,
we need to have those details right when the program
stumbles or stubs its toe. But right now, from L. Tucker,
(22:06):
I mean, come on, how how huge is this um?
Here in year two of a six year deal as like,
oh no, no no, no, that that's good. Push that aside
for a minute. Here's what we want to do. We
want to keep you here for a decade and give you,
well what nearly double your salary over what you're making. Now,
how does that? How does that sound to you? You
(22:26):
really get a chance to build, because that's what everybody wants,
right to build the program. We always see the four
or five year deal. How many coaches really don't even
get a chance to do that anymore, even at the
collegiate level. It's one thing at the pros where they say,
go build a program. Brian Flores in Miami, they got
there too fast last year, so the expectations got higher,
the schedule was harder, and they've stubbed their toes and
(22:50):
and had all sorts of problems. Right and now we
we talked about Miami and well you're jets. But when
we get it, you know, for for college coaches. Now
and now he's got the security to really go and
put his stamp on it, and we'll watch how it goes.
It says, hey, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa. All
(23:15):
you teams up the top of the list. We're here
to stay and I love it. I mean it's great
for the conference, even though that's one more team that
my beloved Northwestern Wildcats have to go do battle with
Twitter it out about a fresca might get swollen down.
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Never underestimate what beating your rivals will do. Be sure
(23:36):
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey,
it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallory
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Baker Mayfield said that he was about as beat up
(24:19):
as he's been in his NFL career. But he's going
to give it a go. He's going to play on Sunday. Uh.
Number one, he has to. We told you he has
one week away from losing his job at the starting
quarterback with the Browns. They're not gonna sit back and
and and wait for him to catch fire. If it
hasn't happened by now, it's probably not going to happen.
(24:40):
And it one more bad game by Mayfield and he's
going to be replaced. They'll go to case Keenom for
a spark, someone who can move the offense down the field.
And if he doesn't play against the Lions and case
Keenom plays, guess what, case Ka's gonna play great against
the Lions. Why because it's the Lions, and then he's
gonna keep the starting job. So yeah, Baker Mayfield's out
to play. He's one game away, one bad game away
(25:03):
from losing his starting job. Right, But we've gone over
that in a bit of a different direction. I guarantee
you right to have another conversation about Baker Mayfield. If
I went up to him and I said, okay, dude,
I can give you an NFL do over. I can
take you all the way back to the moment you
were selected by the Browns and you get an NFL
do over from that point on, would you take it?
(25:24):
He would say, yes, give it to me. Whatever you
need to do, sprinkle that that dust, that magic on me, whatever,
whatever Harry Potter spell you have to do, do it.
I will take it. Because he is in this not
even seeing the end of my rookie contract before I
get bench situation. Because of his own mistakes, he comes
in as a very cocky, arrogant quarterback. I'm gonna break
(25:47):
the mold for quarterbacks in the NFL. I'm a former
walk on. I wear that like a I wear that
like a badge. I'm a former wide Look what I'm
doing now. I'm gonna take this league by storm. There's
a reason why quarterbacks don't come into the league with
that kind of ad too, because you can't keep it
up and you come into the league thinking you're going
to be a superstar and you wind up getting chewed
(26:08):
up by the league. Because right now, Baker Mayfield saying, man,
NFL is harder than I thought it was. I thought
it was gonna get easier. No, no, no, it's harder
than I thought it was. And from the beginning, he
came in with that know it all attitude. He came
in right away saying, hey, let's go dude, this is
this is my team. I'm gonna come out and I'm
gonna play. Well, look at me, Look at me. And
he started to fight with radio host. He fought with
(26:31):
Colin Coward. He fought with me, He fought with He
continues to fight with people, media feuds, he fought. He
fought with his players. When Duke Johnson was looking for
a new contract and he was thinking about holding out, well,
we're all here moving towards the same goal. You know what, Baker,
let Duke Johnson figure his own situation out. Why are
you opening your mouth on that? That didn't make any sense.
(26:52):
I want Freddie Kitchens to be my head coach. I
love Freddie Kitchens. Freddie Kitchens we all knew as a disaster,
but you don't know anything about the NFL or who
you best o C is going to be. But Freddie
Kitchens becomes the head coach, and what happens, Freddie Kitchens
is a disaster and he's let go after one year.
Not gonna shake Hugh Jackson saying, oh, you talk bad
about us behind thee all this stuff. Okay, what does
(27:12):
that reflect on Baker Mayfield? He wanted to fight every
single battle, and he wanted to say look at me. Right,
He's got all the TV ads that have been running,
I want to all the trappings of being a star,
and he's struggling and he can't figure things out because
when you come into the NFL there's a big learning curve.
And this is why the only quarterback that's ever done that,
(27:34):
that's ever come in and said, hey, look at me,
I'm an entertainer has been Cam Newton. That's the only one,
the only one in modern NFL history that's come and
say look at me, look at me, I'm a star
has been Cam Newton. The only guy that it's worked for.
Everybody else you're out of the league and you because
you wind up being someone that doesn't really understand what
it means to be a quarterback. I get you want
to be yourself. I get you, Hey, this is kind
(27:54):
of who I am, and I understand that. But when
you come in as a quarterback, it's not just about you. Right,
If you're a wide receiver or a running back or
a shutdown cornerback or a linebacker defensive end. Yeah, you
can make it about you and go and talk about
your sacks and your pressures, because that's how it goes.
That's what sports are. When your quarterback, it's different because
it's more than just about you. And Baker Mayfield never
(28:16):
got past the part where I'm the center of everything
and it's all about me. It's about other things, and
he hasn't learned how to lead the right way. He
hasn't learned how to be able to put his the
imprint on the game that he has wanted to. So, yeah,
if you are from a do over, I guarantee he
would go back to the beginning. Let me be drafted
right now, and I'm coming into the league a bit
of a different way, and I'm not gonna hurt my
(28:39):
shelf life. I'm not going to be somebody that's going
to be abrasive, not gonna be somebody that when I'm bad,
it looks worse because of my attitude. I want to
be someone that comes in it gets benefit of the
doubt as I'm learning becoming a good quarterback. Because if
he came in that way, we'd be right now going okay,
well maybe book Baker's he's flashed, but before look how
far they got in the playoffs last year. Baker's a
(29:00):
guy who's just having a downtime right now. But when
you want to stand up and be polarizing, it's easy
to take the other side and go, look at all
for all this, how great you are, look at how
you're failing, and that becomes the narrative, and that seeps
into everything. It seeps into who you are as a player,
it seeps into your team, it seeps into the league.
So this is why Baker Mayfield is where he is
(29:20):
right now. Do over, he would take it. Always gotta
be careful when you start fighting with windmills, because here's
the here's the big problem. The next one pops up right,
and if the play isn't commensurate, you're in trouble. Where
he got drafted. You can't really use as much as
you want to internally use the underdog tag on it,
it doesn't work anymore. Right Externally, you became the guy,
(29:44):
so now you wear it. And certainly the commercials are fine,
Like folks get upset about those. Those are all recorded
in the off season. It's not his fault that they
play them endlessly, and when other commercials have to be
taken out of a cycle for business reasons, see uh,
the last couple of weeks, others get cycled back. So uh,
(30:05):
you know, obviously different companies and and stuff involved, But
the point is the same that you cycle in and
suddenly people seem like you were working instead of practicing.
On Thursday morning, you were out at a video shoot,
you flew out to California, you showed up at the
(30:25):
Rose Bowl, and you did three more commercials. No, that's
not the case. That's not the way it works. But
perception becomes reality and people get mad. And if folks
on national or local talk shows start to take umbradge
with it, then it becomes a bigger narrative and starts
to spiral. And here the team also evolved in and
(30:46):
became much more than just Baker Mayfield. Right. It's a
running team, right, that's what they want to do. They
just paid those offensive lineman not necessarily to pass block
for him, but to be road graders for Nick Chubb
and Kareem hunting you, Ernest Johnson and whoever else cycles
in at the next need. Jarvis Landry even complaining about
(31:07):
his role and his targets. So there's some discontentedness, some
malcontentedness going on there. It wasn't all just Odell Beckham Jr.
Versus Baker Mayfield. So yeah, I mean I would think
that to some degree you'd want to maybe hold your tongue,
particularly the bag one that's that's the one that that
always gets people mad is when you start getting into
(31:29):
other people's contracts. Don't do that. That that's the one
you've got to keep behind closed doors. Give no crack.
Hope I get he gets what he needs, and hope
he's with us soon. That that should have been the answer.
Clap your hands and move forward. But sometimes you can't
help yourself. And unfortunately you can't hit rewind or snap
your fingers like Thanos and make it go away. Now
(31:50):
you just have to do the best you can. Try
to get healthy and see if you can't get back
into the playoffs again, you know, so you can secure
your giant bag that people are talking about Twitter at
how about a fresco Mike gets swollen downe the Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Rman do over Baker,
you would take it you would coming up next, something
(32:10):
we predicted and prognosticated last night is already coming true.
What is it? Find out next? Right here? Fox Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets, Mets, Mets, Mets, Mets, Mets, Mets, Mets,
cuse you know. 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
(32:32):
the I Heart Radio app Fox Sports Radio The Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harman. Hey, Now,
congratulations to Corbyn Burns on winning the n l S
I young, behold the mighty hand of Burns laying down
the l A Laws Corbin Burns and on this uh.
(32:55):
And congratulations to Robbie Ray for the sy On Award
in the American and t J. Certainly Robbie Ray was
mant to win this this year. I couldn't even do
that with his great faith, but I wanted to get
Mat Ray. But you say Robbie Ray, I immediately think
of Robbie Rist and then I want to talk about
(33:16):
cousin Oliver, and that gets us back into Sharknado. And
then it's a whole convergence of things. First it was
Madonna in Now it's Robbie Ray of Light in winning
this Cy Young Award. So uh, while the time we're
getting the m v P announced tomorrow and great Mike
Schmit's announcing the National League winner. I wonder who's gonna
(33:37):
win that one? But yeah, uh is already coming true.
Right when Noah Syndergard signed his one year, twenty one
million dollar deal with the Angels, by Noah good luck? Uh?
What was this? What was this a precursor of a
Suddenly guys are gonna get big deals and guys like
Marcus Strolman are gonna get two fifty million dollars. Well
(33:59):
if Nderguards getting one year and twenty one million. No,
this is what's gonna be a precursor of whenever there
is labor strife and you're wondering what the labor situation
is going to be. Like, owners don't spend money, even
though they know we're gonna play the games, we're not
gonna lose seasons. They don't spend money. So what's going
to happen is this we said it last night, It's
(34:19):
already happening. You're gonna see star players sign one year
deals for fifteen twenty thirty million dollars, and already today
Brandon Belt says, no, I'm staying with the Giants one year,
eighteen million, justin Verland, are going somewhere. Nope, staying one
year million with the Astros. This is how it's going
to go as players signed one year deals for a
(34:41):
lot of money because they know I'm not going to
get that big five, six year deal I'm looking for.
So I'll sign the one year deal now and then
when the labor situation gets settled sometime early in the
spring before the season starts, then I can talk extension
with my team during the season, or I'll hit free
agency again at the end of next year and and
and still get money. And who knows what the landscape
(35:04):
is gonna be. Likely it's more money. Everybody's got more
money to spend and everything else. So that's what it's
a precursor of, is that, Hey, I'm taking this one
year twenty million. You're gonna start seeing players not get
nervous about it, but say, is it really worth it
to wait? And I'm sitting around not employed in the
middle of February and I gotta take one year six million,
or do I take one year twenty million or twenty
(35:24):
five million? Now, when it's gonna be out there for me,
this is where you're gonna start seeing all the star
players start to gobble up these big time short term
contracts for one year somewhere in that range. Watch, that's
how it's gonna happen. You also have the opportunity then
for everybody yell collusion. Uh if it goes that way,
So the next derivation of the labor disputes will will
(35:48):
roll right as we go to the full on d
H next year. So we've got that work in forest. Um,
you know a couple of the examples. Thus far, Synder
guards a roll the dice proposition. I don't know how
many teams we're gonna line up to offer him multiple
years where you have the desperation of the angels to
(36:08):
get Can you stop talking about our starting pitching already? Look,
we signed a guy, okay, and and maybe they can
work some magic down there. I mean they were, they're
they're near Disneyland, and maybe that'll work out for them
with Brandon Belt, Can he stay healthy? Can he be
a guy? I mean twenty nine home runs, four teen
doubles in his one plate appearances. Uh, just fifty nine
(36:32):
r B I on that, but you know you're looking
at a guy that's he's a jag when it comes
to first basic. Yeah, those are pretty good home run totals,
but you see the RB I, that's a lot of
solo shots. So if if we're gonna say they don't
matter for starting pitchers, they don't matter here. Uh. And
they're just part of a much larger congo line you
(36:54):
had going with the giants having career years all over
the place. Uh, and then the third guy lander, same thing,
older guy injuries and rolling the dice. I need to
see one of these other guys, m Marcus Simeon or
one of these to see what the offer is on
the table, their relative to the predicted projected yearly totals.
(37:17):
But it's a fun process. Nonetheless, though, to see some
of these dominoes start to fall twitter around. How about
a fresca Mike gets swollen done? The Jason Smith's with
Mike Harmon Our best of podcast goes up in about
ten minutes on iTunes wherever you listen to podcasts, it
is there. Subscribe to us rate to us. Listen, We'll
love you forever and ever and ever. My buddy Ben
(37:38):
Mall are coming up next. This is Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Hello, Welcome inside our
four of The Jason Smith Show with my bast friend
Mike Harmon. As we watched the Suns beat the Mavericks
one oh five. Mavericks game run without Luca don Sitch,
but they fall to the Sun's Sons get twenty four
(00:45):
out of Devin Booker, nineteen and thirteen from DeAndre Ayton.
And I don't think this is a hot take, but
what we've seen so far in the NBA this season,
granted we're about fifteen games in and a lot of
teams are struggling. UH best two teams in the NBA,
Golden State and Phoenix and everybody else is kind of
(01:07):
at that next level of maybe we're okay, Maybe maybe
the Wizards are actually gonna be good. Maybe the Jazz
are good, but the Biggers and the Sons, they have
just done it better than everybody else. The Sons of
one ten in a row, and of course the Warriors
there twelve and two record after remaking their roster, their bench. Uh,
it has been some kind of start for Golden State
(01:27):
and Phoenix. And I gotta be honest because I always
say when I'm wrong or I don't see I did
not see either of these starts coming. I did not
see the start coming for Golden State, specifically without Clay Thompson.
I did not see the start coming without Phoenix. Who
I thought, Hey, they got to the top of whatever
mountain they were getting to during the NBA Finals last year,
and it was gonna be another year older for Chris Paul,
(01:48):
is gonna be a little bit more difficulty, and still
they kind of picked up where they left off. I'm
surprised both these teams didn't see it coming. Cruising along
right now are the Phoenix Suns, and question is back
half of the schedule, Chris Paul's health long term right like,
we're seeing the front loaded Lebron James not playing for
the Lakers. So now you've got massive trepidation that that's
(02:12):
just not gonna work, right, that it's gonna be one
of those years in and out of the lineup, and
then you know, sit there and hope that he can
get from April through the end of June to where
there's a parade outside Crypto dot Com Arena. But for
the Suns, it's it's the Chris Paul question overall, right,
average about thirty two minutes a game right now, four
(02:34):
teen point seven and ten point to a night. Uh.
That that's pretty Uh, that's outstanding work thus far. They're
getting good balance. JaVale McGhee given him almost ten points
a game off the bench in seventeen minutes minutes played.
I mean, they've they've got guys that are that are
filling it up and they can still get you at
a frenetic pace. And Booker right now playing as well.
(02:56):
Right he started getting the superstar calls. We talked about
it in the playoffs last year. That's translating here. Even
though the rules have changed and everybody's trying to figure
out how to navigate that seems like everybody but James
Harden is at least on the way, uh, in terms
of figuring that out. But now like the Son's. I
don't know that I'm surprised. I guess I'm just happy
(03:17):
that there wasn't a sudden drop off, you know, because
we saw what happened after the bubble, and what what
happened to the Miami Heat after that, the Lakers, and
what was a very odd year a year ago. So
hopefully some continuity flows in the East. It's a jumbled
mess at the top, which is great for US. Twitter
(03:40):
and how about a fresca Mike gets swollen down The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon. We got more NBA
on the way later on this hour, including why I'm
not that bummed about where the Lakers are and what's
been going on with them right now, even though they
lost the Bucks tonight when Janice goes for seven, one
oh nine, one oh two. But to owe you that
(04:00):
there is no such thing as rock bottom, I present
to you what happened today with the New York Jets.
The big NFL news of the day is that Jack
Wilson is not ready to come back for the Jets,
and the Jets are going to start somebody else. Okay,
that somebody else is not Mike White. Mike White, if
I could be Mike White. It's not Josh Johnson. It
(04:22):
is Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco will start for the Jets
on Sunday when they take on the Miami Dolphins. What
is the reason for this? Why Joe Flacco? In the
words of Robert sala Hey, because the Dolphins blitz a lot.
We want somebody back there who can handle it. The
Dolphins blitz Lamar Jackson the entire bleeping game on Thursday.
(04:44):
He's the most mobile quarterback in the NFL. What do
they have six sacks? How is Joe Flacco gonna get
around that? No, we gotta have Joe Flacco. Oh my god,
always gonna get the ball out fast. Oh my god.
This is you know, this is the Jets proof that
they are just gonna be their own worst enemy for
the rest of time. Alright, because now here I'll give you.
(05:04):
I'll give you Mike Harmon phrase. I get what they're
doing in theory, right, I get this in theory. Why
is it not Mike White? It makes no sense, right,
it makes no sense. Mike White was a phenomenal in
his debut. He had a really good next first quarter,
then he got hurt. Then he had a bad game
against Buffalo. If Zach Wilson isn't ready, Okay, great, I
get it. You wanted to be a pent You want
(05:24):
him for the last seven games of the season. Yes,
I'm completely okay with that. Take your time, don't rush
them back in. It's a lost season. Seven games is
more than enough time. I get it. Why don't you
go to Mike White? Right? Why don't you go to
Mike White? And this gets into why the Jets are
the Jets? Right? I get it in theory, because they
don't want a quarterback controversy. Now they they they got
(05:46):
through the Stars and then rise with Mike White. They
saw him play against the Bills, and for whatever reason,
they think, all right, well now he's done, we gotta
go back to Zack Wilson. Okay, fine, that's great. Why
won't you start Mike White? Because they're afraid of what
would happen if Mike White. And again, it's not like
the Dolphins of Sight five bears. Oh they're blitzing there.
The Dolphins they stink, They absolutely stink. But if Mike
(06:08):
White has a big game against the Dolphins, then suddenly
you have a quarterback controversy. Can you really go to
Zach Wilson again if Mike White has a good game,
or do you have to let Mike White play one
more time and then you've let a quarterback controversy engulf
the team. So I get it in theory that this
is why the Jets did what they did, because clearly
we'll start Joe Flacco, he's gonna suck, We're gonna lose,
(06:30):
and then it's easy to go back to Zach Wilson
and we got him for the last seven games. Right,
But this is why the Jets are the Jets and
why they happened in the playoffs in ten years, and
why don't know that Robert Sala can be a head
coach in the NFL. They are too worried about their
perception surrounding the team. Because if you were a strong
head coach and a strong organization, it's okay, we're gonna
(06:51):
go to Mike White. He was great, maybe he's great again.
Then when the next week comes up, we'll go back
to Zack Wilson because we took Zach Wilson's second overall
and he's gonna be our guy. If you're a strong organization,
you can make moves like that, and you don't listen
to the outside noise. But the Jets listen to all
of the outside noise. Robert Salo listens to all of
the outside noise. Why are they playing Joe Flacco? They're
(07:14):
worried that they look bad because they made it. They
traded a draft pick for Joe Flacco, which they didn't need,
which is embarrassing. So let's put him out there so
we could at least get rid of that storyline. Why
did you trade a fifth round pick for Joe Flacco?
Nobody cares about that. It's something that New York writers
right about because they like to write about negativity. Why
do you care about? The Jets? Clearly care because they're
doing this. Why can't you go to Mike White, Well,
(07:36):
we're afraid what would happen, what the optics would look
like if he winds up with another good week? Why
do you care what the optics look like? Are you
trying to win games? What are you trying to do? Really?
What what are you trying to accomplish with the Jets?
They listened to too much outside noise? Right, Robert Sala,
who said the other day, Hey, all you guys want
to throw Mike White away. Oh, we're not gonna do that.
(07:58):
This is Robert Salo from two days ago. It's truly
an amazing amalgam of silliness that you see. We're gonna
where's Robert Salitie shirt? Where's Robert sal I still got
a lot of confidence in Mike again. You know this
market fascinates me in the sense that you know, he
was anointed the next coming after one game, and now
everyone wants to throw him away like he deserves better
(08:20):
than that. Yeah. So I'm listening to everybody who loved
him and now everybody wants to throw him away because
I'm reading stuff on social media. I'm I'm hearing stuff
that I don't like. Uh, you just threw Mike White
away yourself. You just threw him away because you don't
want that narrative of what if Mike White plays well
and then what do you do for Zach Wilson. Robert
Salo listens to everything. The coaching staff listens to everything.
(08:42):
They listen to all the outside noise. And this is
why the Jets can't get out of their own way
because this is how they operate. This is how they've
operated for years. What would be the optics of this.
What's the fall that it's like the default uh point
in a movie when somebody wants to make a decision
on something and so they go on social medial. Well,
how is this playing on Twitter right now? And then
(09:02):
you didn't you get the shot of the person scrolling
through and they're either seeing positive tweets or negative tweets. Oh,
we can't do It's like every every news show now
or every show now that likes to show their hip. Hey,
let's let's have a big thing and say hey, because
because what happen being said on Twitter is such a
big deal, let's look and see, like that's what the
Jets do. What's gonna keep us off social media the most?
What's gonna have the less the least amount of of
(09:25):
of criticism, And that's what we're going to do. So
let's do it that way. And this is why you
can't win, because if you were a straw, if you
and this is why I don't know that Robert Sale
is cut out to be a head coach in the
NFL because he listens to too much outside stuff and
the product on the field is absolutely terrible. So when
you put all this together, what am I supposed to
think the Jets have been bad for a decade and
they're gonna continue to be bad because they can't get
(09:46):
out of their own way. Because part of it is this.
You can fight one opponent, which is the other team,
but when you're fighting the other opponent and you're fighting
yourself and you're fighting the perception of the team in
in the in New York City, forget it. You're never
gonna win. And that's why the Jets suck. I'm sorry.
I tried to fill that space between and didn't let
the inane commentary of Robert Salis speak for itself right
(10:08):
there as you you alluded to. Uh yeah, Mike White second,
coming back him all that. Well, if if you want
to see what he is, he has to play right,
So put him on the field. Joe Flacco, you want
the veteran presence against the blitz. Great article, uh that
I saw New York Daily News that goes through the data.
(10:29):
The data Miami Dolphins defensive blitz is forty percent of snaps.
They did it forty times against Lamar Jackson. He covers
zero defense. Uh. You look at the dominance of the
Dolphins against Flacco last year, in that regard right four
nothing loss, hundred eighty six yards interception and was sacked
(10:53):
three times over the last three years. UH completion percentage
uh in for the Ravens fifty nine for the Broncos
in seventy seven point eight passer rating, and then the
Jets against the Blitz sixty three pass ready. Yeah, let's
get him out there because he's gonna be able to
(11:15):
handle it expertly. So UH, you might as well let
Mike White go out there see what he can do.
And if you have to go have a quarterback controversy, great,
because if Zack Wilson, I I don't believe that he's
a guy that's gonna cry about it. Right, you may
have other people in that locker room that maybe you
feel like there's divisiveness. Maybe it's the sports talk radio
(11:39):
chatter and the fans and it's you know, put the
fish wrap away. They're grown ass men, and Zach Wilson
to this point has said all the right things. Maybe
he's crying behind the scenes, I don't know, but at
least in front of a microphone, he's been a man
talking about and learning and watching these guys play. Taking
the criticism about just like Patrick Mahomes the last couple
(12:02):
of weeks. Will he be patient and take what the
defense gives him? And then you watched him light up
the Raiders on Sunday Night Football. Right for Zach Wilson,
he said all the right things, and if he's truly
that guy, then this shouldn't be an issue. He's gonna
get his chance. It doesn't need to be today. Remember
rookie contract. He got a little signing bonus. That's great
Number two overall, pick a lot of pomp and circumstance
(12:24):
back in April. You know what, it doesn't mean a
damn thing in week eleven. If he's not ready physically
and he's not ready to lead right now, he still
needs to grow. And if Mike White's a guy that
right now is having his moment in the sun, and
you really want to do an evaluation, go see if
he can handle the blitz. Because putting Joe Flacco out
there does nothing. It absolutely impedes any progress you're trying
(12:47):
to make, except what you now have a controversy because
veteran Joe Flacco is there, which would you rather have?
What does what does this do for the team to do?
That's what I mean, it's why am I going out
there to play Sunday? We're just going out there to lose?
What is it gonna be a punching bag? You might
You might as well get one of those, you know
pillows that are being advertised for the holidays that has
(13:10):
Joe Flacco's face on it and let that get punched around.
Waste of time, waste of space is like like you
know Tani pillow that you can get out. It's a
full body thing, so it's just tall. So it's like
one of those body pillows. I know. It comes in handy,
you know, if you're having trouble sleeping. Maybe it gives
you that support, you know during pregnancies. I know. It's
(13:31):
a big thing, right, It's like a full length pillow
and you and you can kind of lean into it. Well,
now you can have one. You can have one made
of you Smith. How about that? That's the gift that
keeps on getting. We're gonna open up our own Etsy
store and we'll sell Jason Smith body length pillows. Twitter
and out about a Fresco Mike at Swollen Dome Again.
(13:53):
My team exists to make you feel better about yours
jets yo. And oh, by the way, uh, Joe Flacco's vaccinated.
So now the Jets have run into a non vaccinated
controversy with their fourth quarterback of the season. Only the
Jets can I can? I can I address that really quickly?
You know, because he went in and but like, well,
(14:14):
you know, I didn't want it to be a distract
or whatever else. You know what else nobody else asked
because you weren't a guy that was expected to see
the field, so you know what it wasn't. You weren't
going to the podium unless you were doing one on
ones with someone off on the side of the locker room.
Of what you're seeing of these young guys, you you
weren't the guy front and center. So that's why it
(14:35):
wasn't asked, and you weren't asked for your opinion, and
now you have been and now well I can't wait
to see the headlines tomorrow. I might look those up. Now.
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 I Heart
Radio app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
(14:56):
My best Friend Mike Harmon a little bit more on
this melt Tucker story before we get into the quarterback
who would take a do over every single day of
the week and twice on Sunday. Uh. You know, melt
Tucker of Michigan State is on the cusp of getting
this incredibly large extension. When it happens tomorrow, uh or
the next forty eight hours, it's going to be incredibly
(15:18):
large because he's gonna be the highest paid coach in
the Big Ten and the highest paid African American coach
and professional sports right ten years technical well, okay in
all but okay, no semantics, but yeah, that's true. That's true.
No, No No, we don't pay anybody here, uh, in all
(15:39):
of sports. He'd be a state university. So folks are
upset about that. So that's that's a whole other thing.
I can't help you. There. So a large thing there
for him, right obviously, I mean it's a big deal
to it's a it's a it's a huge day when
that happens. People look. To be the highest paid African
American coach in all of sports is really something. But
from the field perspective of it, why is he getting
(16:00):
this extension? It goes to what is so important when
it comes to teams with incredibly bitter rivals. Right, he's
getting this extension because one, yes, I'm sure l s
U other schools are hot on him because Michigan State
as well as he's coached this year. I can see
they did give him a raise normally, but ten years
and million means Okay, somebody's really coming for you now,
(16:23):
and so we got to give you so much more
money so you don't leave. So that's why the large money. Well,
he's only in the second year of his six year
deal exactly. He want you's sixteen and thirteen. That's his
overall record as a head coach, right, yeah, I mean
last year you push away. Colorado is Colorado. It's not
Cordell Stewart and Michael Westbrook running around. No, he's tripling.
He's gonna triple his salary every year the last three
(16:45):
years from Colorado to Michigan State. Michigan State. This year
he's now my hero color I mean, it's unbelievable. What not,
not just the style of play that they've adopted there
and obviously the success this year, but to be able
to triple your salary like that, let's go who and
And the thing is is that why is he getting this? Yes,
the part about L s U and other schools is
(17:06):
one thing. But he's won two really big games. Right
last year was two and five, but he beat Michigan.
So now and in the college football Game of the
Year this year, what did they do? They beat Michigan.
Gus john he owes Gus Johnson part of this contract
because that game, it was like there was one head
coach on the field. It was good Meltuck. Look what
(17:26):
he's doing. This is unbelievable. Melt Tucker has done this.
He's told his team this, he done that. And there's
Jim Hardball and melt Tucker said, I'm gonna make sure
our team he's reading quotes and he's got I mean,
he was such melt Tucker's hehe man. You would think
after this game was over, hey melt Tucker, maybe he's
like the next Vince Lombardi. But when you beat your
bitter rival and you do it in such a way
(17:49):
in the Game of the Year, this is how you
succeed as a head coach. This is why Jim Harbaugh
has never gotten the hug from Michigan because he doesn't
beat Ohio State. He barely beats Michigan's State. So yeah,
he's still kind of on the outside looking in, and
he and he's at arms length until you can win
some rivalry games. And yes, there have been incredible uh
(18:10):
face plants by Michigan in these games, but it doesn't matter,
they're not winning them. When you beat your arch rival,
and you do this, you increase your brand and and
everybody wants you to stay around because some years you
can go two and nine or two in ten. But
if you're if if Jim Harbrow went to Intent every
year but he beat Michigan State in Ohio State, they
would say, lifetime contract. We don't care about not going
(18:31):
to a bowl game. We don't care to go. You know,
the rest of the year, go oh in ten and
then the last two games beat Michigan State in Ohio State. Great,
what will you can stay here forever? That's how big
it is to beat your arrival. Is melt Tucker getting
this contract if he doesn't beat Michigan State. Life doesn't
beat Michigan like this, of course, not if they lose
that game or if it's not the game of the
(18:51):
year and you don't see Walker go for five touchdowns
and all the pageantry associated with it. He's not getting
that extension. That's why beating your ride is such a
big deal. This is how you stay head coach. When
you lose to your big rival, they can't get you
out of town fast enough. Look at what he's doing.
Now he's beat Michigan twice. He's gonna and now he's
gonna be making ten million dollars a year, and he's
(19:14):
got the longest deal that He's got a better deal
than Nick Saban's got. I mean, this is what you
do when you wind up beating Michigan and you beat
them twice, and you beat him like that, you make
Jim Harbaugh cry as he walks off the field. This
is what happens to you. Well, his contract under these terms,
at least as what's been reported, would put him second
to Saban, which is amazing. Again, we talked about the
(19:36):
ties all night long. Right, he was a grad assistant
to Saban all those years ago at Michigan State. Here
from Crane's Detroit business. Let me get to the business
side of this. You've got uh Matt ish Bia uh
CEO of u WM Corp. Wholesale mortgage lender based in Pontiac, Michigan,
and Steve Saint Andre, the CEO of Shift Digital. They
(19:59):
do digital marketing in the automotive retailing sector. They are
basically funding Tucker's extension. They are the alums that are saying,
we got our guy. He's beating hardball, he's beating Michigan. There,
Michigan state alum and saying, all right, let's keep them there.
(20:19):
And that's exactly what they're doing with that big salary.
Uh two, when it comes down to the you know,
on the field presence, Yeah, it's it's all about beating Michigan.
It's all about those results. The rest of it builds,
and you build a culture, you build a program. Hell
he has, he's not even working with his own guys
at this point. And I think that's got to be
(20:41):
part of the right, that's got to be part of
the exciting process of it. You know, it's the We've
seen it in the NFL a number of times. All right,
took these guys, you know, teams that they couldn't get
over the hump with, and took them to the promised land.
You'd go back to Tampa and and probably one of
the best examples. Uh, and then we see it in
(21:01):
college football as well, where you can get some run.
It's like, all right, now we get to see what
you can do with your recruits. And to this point
we don't know, right, you only had the year at
Colorado and here here, here we are, right. I mean,
you gotta you got a very short, short run as
a head coach, certainly been with very successful programs coordinator
(21:22):
with the Bears at Alabama, at Georgia and all the
way through. I mean, you've got, uh tremendous resume. And
now it's you've seen enough at least and how you've
handled and clearly he's won the room when it comes
to those fun dinners that coaches hate going to. After
a while, obviously impressed the money men behind the program
(21:46):
to say, all right, you know you've got the keys
to the kingdom, what the end buyouts and all of
those Those are always the fun you know, details that
eventually come out in the watch, but usually not until well,
we need to have those details right when the program
stumbles or stubs its toe. But right now, from L. Tucker,
(22:06):
I mean, come on, how how huge is this um?
Here in year two of a six year deal as like,
oh no, no no, no, that that's good. Push that aside
for a minute. Here's what we want to do. We
want to keep you here for a decade and give you,
well what nearly double your salary over what you're making. Now,
how does that? How does that sound to you? You
(22:26):
really get a chance to build, because that's what everybody wants,
right to build the program. We always see the four
or five year deal. How many coaches really don't even
get a chance to do that anymore, even at the
collegiate level. It's one thing at the pros where they say,
go build a program. Brian Flores in Miami, they got
there too fast last year, so the expectations got higher,
the schedule was harder, and they've stubbed their toes and
(22:50):
and had all sorts of problems. Right and now we
we talked about Miami and well you're jets. But when
we get it, you know, for for college coaches. Now
and now he's got the security to really go and
put his stamp on it, and we'll watch how it goes.
It says, hey, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa. All
(23:15):
you teams up the top of the list. We're here
to stay and I love it. I mean it's great
for the conference, even though that's one more team that
my beloved Northwestern Wildcats have to go do battle with
Twitter it out about a fresca might get swollen down.
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Never underestimate what beating your rivals will do. Be sure
(23:36):
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Hey,
it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallory
along with my trustees sidekick David Gascon. Would mean a
lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey.
You're asking one in God's name is the Fifth Hour?
I'll tell you It's a spin off of the Ben
(23:56):
Maller short cold hit overnights on fs are. Why should
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chat with captains of industry in media, sports and more
every week Explorer some Amazing facts about human nature and
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Baker Mayfield said that he was about as beat up
(24:19):
as he's been in his NFL career. But he's going
to give it a go. He's going to play on Sunday. Uh.
Number one, he has to. We told you he has
one week away from losing his job at the starting
quarterback with the Browns. They're not gonna sit back and
and and wait for him to catch fire. If it
hasn't happened by now, it's probably not going to happen.
(24:40):
And it one more bad game by Mayfield and he's
going to be replaced. They'll go to case Keenom for
a spark, someone who can move the offense down the field.
And if he doesn't play against the Lions and case
Keenom plays, guess what, case Ka's gonna play great against
the Lions. Why because it's the Lions, and then he's
gonna keep the starting job. So yeah, Baker Mayfield's out
to play. He's one game away, one bad game away
(25:03):
from losing his starting job. Right, But we've gone over
that in a bit of a different direction. I guarantee
you right to have another conversation about Baker Mayfield. If
I went up to him and I said, okay, dude,
I can give you an NFL do over. I can
take you all the way back to the moment you
were selected by the Browns and you get an NFL
do over from that point on, would you take it?
(25:24):
He would say, yes, give it to me. Whatever you
need to do, sprinkle that that dust, that magic on me, whatever,
whatever Harry Potter spell you have to do, do it.
I will take it. Because he is in this not
even seeing the end of my rookie contract before I
get bench situation. Because of his own mistakes, he comes
in as a very cocky, arrogant quarterback. I'm gonna break
(25:47):
the mold for quarterbacks in the NFL. I'm a former
walk on. I wear that like a I wear that
like a badge. I'm a former wide Look what I'm
doing now. I'm gonna take this league by storm. There's
a reason why quarterbacks don't come into the league with
that kind of ad too, because you can't keep it
up and you come into the league thinking you're going
to be a superstar and you wind up getting chewed
(26:08):
up by the league. Because right now, Baker Mayfield saying, man,
NFL is harder than I thought it was. I thought
it was gonna get easier. No, no, no, it's harder
than I thought it was. And from the beginning, he
came in with that know it all attitude. He came
in right away saying, hey, let's go dude, this is
this is my team. I'm gonna come out and I'm
gonna play. Well, look at me, Look at me. And
he started to fight with radio host. He fought with
(26:31):
Colin Coward. He fought with me, He fought with He
continues to fight with people, media feuds, he fought. He
fought with his players. When Duke Johnson was looking for
a new contract and he was thinking about holding out, well,
we're all here moving towards the same goal. You know what, Baker,
let Duke Johnson figure his own situation out. Why are
you opening your mouth on that? That didn't make any sense.
(26:52):
I want Freddie Kitchens to be my head coach. I
love Freddie Kitchens. Freddie Kitchens we all knew as a disaster,
but you don't know anything about the NFL or who
you best o C is going to be. But Freddie
Kitchens becomes the head coach, and what happens, Freddie Kitchens
is a disaster and he's let go after one year.
Not gonna shake Hugh Jackson saying, oh, you talk bad
about us behind thee all this stuff. Okay, what does
(27:12):
that reflect on Baker Mayfield? He wanted to fight every
single battle, and he wanted to say look at me. Right,
He's got all the TV ads that have been running,
I want to all the trappings of being a star,
and he's struggling and he can't figure things out because
when you come into the NFL there's a big learning curve.
And this is why the only quarterback that's ever done that,
(27:34):
that's ever come in and said, hey, look at me,
I'm an entertainer has been Cam Newton. That's the only one,
the only one in modern NFL history that's come and
say look at me, look at me, I'm a star
has been Cam Newton. The only guy that it's worked for.
Everybody else you're out of the league and you because
you wind up being someone that doesn't really understand what
it means to be a quarterback. I get you want
to be yourself. I get you, Hey, this is kind
(27:54):
of who I am, and I understand that. But when
you come in as a quarterback, it's not just about you. Right,
If you're a wide receiver or a running back or
a shutdown cornerback or a linebacker defensive end. Yeah, you
can make it about you and go and talk about
your sacks and your pressures, because that's how it goes.
That's what sports are. When your quarterback, it's different because
it's more than just about you. And Baker Mayfield never
(28:16):
got past the part where I'm the center of everything
and it's all about me. It's about other things, and
he hasn't learned how to lead the right way. He
hasn't learned how to be able to put his the
imprint on the game that he has wanted to. So, yeah,
if you are from a do over, I guarantee he
would go back to the beginning. Let me be drafted
right now, and I'm coming into the league a bit
of a different way, and I'm not gonna hurt my
(28:39):
shelf life. I'm not going to be somebody that's going
to be abrasive, not gonna be somebody that when I'm bad,
it looks worse because of my attitude. I want to
be someone that comes in it gets benefit of the
doubt as I'm learning becoming a good quarterback. Because if
he came in that way, we'd be right now going okay,
well maybe book Baker's he's flashed, but before look how
far they got in the playoffs last year. Baker's a
(29:00):
guy who's just having a downtime right now. But when
you want to stand up and be polarizing, it's easy
to take the other side and go, look at all
for all this, how great you are, look at how
you're failing, and that becomes the narrative, and that seeps
into everything. It seeps into who you are as a player,
it seeps into your team, it seeps into the league.
So this is why Baker Mayfield is where he is
(29:20):
right now. Do over, he would take it. Always gotta
be careful when you start fighting with windmills, because here's
the here's the big problem. The next one pops up right,
and if the play isn't commensurate, you're in trouble. Where
he got drafted. You can't really use as much as
you want to internally use the underdog tag on it,
it doesn't work anymore. Right Externally, you became the guy,
(29:44):
so now you wear it. And certainly the commercials are fine,
Like folks get upset about those. Those are all recorded
in the off season. It's not his fault that they
play them endlessly, and when other commercials have to be
taken out of a cycle for business reasons, see uh,
the last couple of weeks, others get cycled back. So uh,
(30:05):
you know, obviously different companies and and stuff involved, But
the point is the same that you cycle in and
suddenly people seem like you were working instead of practicing.
On Thursday morning, you were out at a video shoot,
you flew out to California, you showed up at the
(30:25):
Rose Bowl, and you did three more commercials. No, that's
not the case. That's not the way it works. But
perception becomes reality and people get mad. And if folks
on national or local talk shows start to take umbradge
with it, then it becomes a bigger narrative and starts
to spiral. And here the team also evolved in and
(30:46):
became much more than just Baker Mayfield. Right. It's a
running team, right, that's what they want to do. They
just paid those offensive lineman not necessarily to pass block
for him, but to be road graders for Nick Chubb
and Kareem hunting you, Ernest Johnson and whoever else cycles
in at the next need. Jarvis Landry even complaining about
(31:07):
his role and his targets. So there's some discontentedness, some
malcontentedness going on there. It wasn't all just Odell Beckham Jr.
Versus Baker Mayfield. So yeah, I mean I would think
that to some degree you'd want to maybe hold your tongue,
particularly the bag one that's that's the one that that
always gets people mad is when you start getting into
(31:29):
other people's contracts. Don't do that. That that's the one
you've got to keep behind closed doors. Give no crack.
Hope I get he gets what he needs, and hope
he's with us soon. That that should have been the answer.
Clap your hands and move forward. But sometimes you can't
help yourself. And unfortunately you can't hit rewind or snap
your fingers like Thanos and make it go away. Now
(31:50):
you just have to do the best you can. Try
to get healthy and see if you can't get back
into the playoffs again, you know, so you can secure
your giant bag that people are talking about Twitter at
how about a fresco Mike gets swollen downe the Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Rman do over Baker,
you would take it you would coming up next, something
(32:10):
we predicted and prognosticated last night is already coming true.
What is it? Find out next? Right here? Fox Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets, Mets, Mets, Mets, Mets, Mets, Mets, Mets,
cuse you know. 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
(32:32):
the I Heart Radio app Fox Sports Radio The Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harman. Hey, Now,
congratulations to Corbyn Burns on winning the n l S
I young, behold the mighty hand of Burns laying down
the l A Laws Corbin Burns and on this uh.
(32:55):
And congratulations to Robbie Ray for the sy On Award
in the American and t J. Certainly Robbie Ray was
mant to win this this year. I couldn't even do
that with his great faith, but I wanted to get
Mat Ray. But you say Robbie Ray, I immediately think
of Robbie Rist and then I want to talk about
(33:16):
cousin Oliver, and that gets us back into Sharknado. And
then it's a whole convergence of things. First it was
Madonna in Now it's Robbie Ray of Light in winning
this Cy Young Award. So uh, while the time we're
getting the m v P announced tomorrow and great Mike
Schmit's announcing the National League winner. I wonder who's gonna
(33:37):
win that one? But yeah, uh is already coming true.
Right when Noah Syndergard signed his one year, twenty one
million dollar deal with the Angels, by Noah good luck? Uh?
What was this? What was this a precursor of a
Suddenly guys are gonna get big deals and guys like
Marcus Strolman are gonna get two fifty million dollars. Well
(33:59):
if Nderguards getting one year and twenty one million. No,
this is what's gonna be a precursor of whenever there
is labor strife and you're wondering what the labor situation
is going to be. Like, owners don't spend money, even
though they know we're gonna play the games, we're not
gonna lose seasons. They don't spend money. So what's going
to happen is this we said it last night, It's
(34:19):
already happening. You're gonna see star players sign one year
deals for fifteen twenty thirty million dollars, and already today
Brandon Belt says, no, I'm staying with the Giants one year,
eighteen million, justin Verland, are going somewhere. Nope, staying one
year million with the Astros. This is how it's going
to go as players signed one year deals for a
(34:41):
lot of money because they know I'm not going to
get that big five, six year deal I'm looking for.
So I'll sign the one year deal now and then
when the labor situation gets settled sometime early in the
spring before the season starts, then I can talk extension
with my team during the season, or I'll hit free
agency again at the end of next year and and
and still get money. And who knows what the landscape
(35:04):
is gonna be. Likely it's more money. Everybody's got more
money to spend and everything else. So that's what it's
a precursor of, is that, Hey, I'm taking this one
year twenty million. You're gonna start seeing players not get
nervous about it, but say, is it really worth it
to wait? And I'm sitting around not employed in the
middle of February and I gotta take one year six million,
or do I take one year twenty million or twenty
(35:24):
five million? Now, when it's gonna be out there for me,
this is where you're gonna start seeing all the star
players start to gobble up these big time short term
contracts for one year somewhere in that range. Watch, that's
how it's gonna happen. You also have the opportunity then
for everybody yell collusion. Uh if it goes that way,
So the next derivation of the labor disputes will will
(35:48):
roll right as we go to the full on d
H next year. So we've got that work in forest. Um,
you know a couple of the examples. Thus far, Synder
guards a roll the dice proposition. I don't know how
many teams we're gonna line up to offer him multiple
years where you have the desperation of the angels to
(36:08):
get Can you stop talking about our starting pitching already? Look,
we signed a guy, okay, and and maybe they can
work some magic down there. I mean they were, they're
they're near Disneyland, and maybe that'll work out for them
with Brandon Belt, Can he stay healthy? Can he be
a guy? I mean twenty nine home runs, four teen
doubles in his one plate appearances. Uh, just fifty nine
(36:32):
r B I on that, but you know you're looking
at a guy that's he's a jag when it comes
to first basic. Yeah, those are pretty good home run totals,
but you see the RB I, that's a lot of
solo shots. So if if we're gonna say they don't
matter for starting pitchers, they don't matter here. Uh. And
they're just part of a much larger congo line you
(36:54):
had going with the giants having career years all over
the place. Uh, and then the third guy lander, same thing,
older guy injuries and rolling the dice. I need to
see one of these other guys, m Marcus Simeon or
one of these to see what the offer is on
the table, their relative to the predicted projected yearly totals.
(37:17):
But it's a fun process. Nonetheless, though, to see some
of these dominoes start to fall twitter around. How about
a fresca Mike gets swollen done? The Jason Smith's with
Mike Harmon Our best of podcast goes up in about
ten minutes on iTunes wherever you listen to podcasts, it
is there. Subscribe to us rate to us. Listen, We'll
love you forever and ever and ever. My buddy Ben
(37:38):
Mall are coming up next. This is Fox
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