April 22, 2025 • 43 mins
Jason Fitz and Buck Reising, in for Jason Smith and Mike Harmon, react live as the Pistons pulls off a Game 2 upset over the Knicks at The Garden! The guys celebrate the win for the Pistons and look at how they can move past New York in this series. Jason Fitz has a theory about how Aaron Rodgers may once again hijack the NFL Draft. Plus, where will Shedeur Sanders end up on Thursday?!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio. We are looking at absolute.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Chaos and panic in the mecca of the NBA is
The Knicks are struggling to figure out how to get
by the Pistons, and as we sit right now, the
Pistons with a late fourth quarter lead. Let's just remind
the world, were it not for a twenty one nothing
run in the fourth quarter of Game one, Detroit could
(00:51):
be looking at a two nothing lead in this series.
And right now absolute panic is setting in in New York.
He's buck rising up. Jason fitzbucking fits gonna be confusing.
I'm just gonna acknowledge out of the gates. You're about
to be very confused for the next few hours because
Jason Smith and Jason Fitz sound just similar enough that
people get confused on our social media sometimes. So I
(01:11):
beg you early on, don't do Jason Smith. But you
don't like what I say. All right, come at us.
He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz coming at to Live tonight.
We're gonna be with you for the next several hours.
And Buck, I'm just sitting here watching this and I'm saying, hey,
you know me, I'm an agent of chaos. I just
want people to be unhappy all the time. I don't
know why, like I want people to I always root
for the underdog, but mostly I just root for any
(01:33):
opportunity to make the majority of the people run around
like Kermit the Frog and a house fire, trying to
figure out how to get out of the place. Like
that's what I'm rooting for. And that's what we're getting
right now. Because the Pistons again get out to a
nice comfortable lead again. The Knicks are trying to claw
their way back into this thing, but Detroit man sitting
right on the edge. It looks like they could take
this game. And if they take this game, you can't
(01:55):
tell me Knicks fans aren't uncomfortable now.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I mean, it's a disaster for New York, and I
appreciate you as the agent of chaos because it's rare
that I I mean, I guess at this point in
my life, I'm pretty good at playing the straight man.
So somebody has to be there to reel you in
and put out the fires that you start. Also, it's
hilarious that poor Jason Smith is getting tweets that are
probably associated with you for all the outrageous things that
(02:21):
you said. And I still haven't yelled at you on
air publicly about the last time we did one of
these shows where you call the Master's overrated, But you
know what is overrated, FITZI Madison Square Garden, like the
atmosphere's coming.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
In with that heat.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
No, no, no, no, because it's true, Okay, nobody's scared
to play in the garden. Nobody's scared of the environment
that New York Knicks fans are so proud of cling to,
so desperately hope and pray and wish that it's going
to give them some level of advantage, and instead it
has allowed the Detroit Pistons to get or almost get,
(02:55):
their first playoff win since two thousand and eight. Provided
that there's not a magnificant collapse up ninety two eighty
eight as we sit here broadcasting live. It is something
that I've thought about a great many times because it's
still the Mecca, and it's still an incredible place to
see a game. But when it comes down to it,
teams aren't scared to play in the garden anymore.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
So little context here, I'm gonna give everybody a little
bit of context. My right arm is a tattoo of
everywhere I've ever lived, and the placist are the things
that I've done in my life that I'm proud of,
stuff throughout the course of my entire life. That's my
whole right arm. Sleep. I say that because while I
didn't live full time in New York, I did spend
many years in New York in music. And one of
(03:37):
the tattoos on my right arm is the logo to
Madison Square Garden because the worst show I ever played
in my life as a professional musician, Buck Rising, was
at Madison Square Garden, because I couldn't control my adrenaline
like I'd seen so many shows when I was a
little kid there, I was there. But here's what I
always tell people about Madison Square Garden. So at the
time when we were touring that was with the band
Perry Right, we had at the time the fourth biggest
(03:59):
song of all time it Cutchry Music. We're on tour,
we're doing it. We're playing the garden, sold out two
straight nights. We go into the I'm so excited I'm
in the garden. I get all the guys together. I'm like,
I'm gonna make you walk through the concourse and look
at all the history. I wasn't touring with a lot
of sports nuts, admittedly, but we walked through that thing
and the number of times guys rolled their eyes and
the like this place is a dump. Like the backstage area,
(04:19):
they're like, this place is a dump. The next night
we played a show at Barclays and like literally it
was a two Knights of the Garden. Then we go
over to Barclays. The first thing one of our guitar
players says is we walk into Barclays is now this
is an arena. It's just like it just shows there
is this moment. If you aren't if you aren't a
buff for the historic sports events that have happened at
(04:39):
the Garden, I think you might be like I went
to see Yukon play this year at the Garden in
some Big East basketball. I loved it. It was a
great environment, it was wild, it was crazy. But I
think you're right. I think there's probably a lot of people,
especially if you're under the age of thirty, that looks
at it. It's like, I don't know, it's just a
dimly litterina Like I just I know we're offending half
of the New York audio. It's out of the gates.
(05:01):
But I do think you're right. I don't think there's
some big, great intimidation factor for a twenty five year
old kid that's never really seen good basketball consistently come
out of New York.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Well, the New York audience is currently preoccupied because they
are the Pistons, clinging to a very slim ninety four
to ninety two lead.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
As we sit here with.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Just about a minute fifty left to go in the
fourth quarter, they finally started getting to the free throw line.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
I don't know what the hell took so long.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
It was a disaster basically until the last I don't know,
six minutes of regulation and for a lot of I
mean for the Knicks in particular, FITSI this is such
an important game to see if they can find a
way to battle through, because that's the thing that I'm
most curious to find out about this NIXT team as
(05:49):
we're getting ready to talk about NBA playoffs. So at
the course of the night, I know we're going to
get to some Lakers stuff as well, with the MAVs
general manager coming out and having his end of season
press conference tie game now four or ninety four, I
am so fascinated to see whether Tom Thibodeau and Jalen
Brunson and the rest of the New York Knicks at
this point in time can find a way to become
(06:10):
battle tested. Because there's a lot of questions about this
series in particular. But the I mean, the Pistons are
an inferior opponent. They you are on home court. If
you can't handle business tonight in Game two with a
one to zero lead, I don't.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Know when you're gonna be able to do this.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I mean, but let me take the opposite side of it.
Catastrophic is the Pistons turn the pall over. Catastrophic that
the Pistons could be facing now headed back to Detroit
down to nothing with two games they easily could have,
should have would have won like this is. This is
we always talk about. Oh man, you gotta talk, you
gotta learn how to finish games, and the Pistons are
(06:48):
not doing that. By the way, you mentioned the draft,
We're gonna talk a lot of draft Fox Sports Radios
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(07:09):
tune into Fox Sports Radio's Draft Night Live, which is
Thursday night, APM Eastern throughout the first round of the draft.
Insider Jay Glazer, Jets, former Jets GM Joe Douglass, College
Football Hall of Famer LeVar Arrington, and Fox Sports Lead
college football reporter Jenny Taff got you covered for all
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right here on Fox Sports Radio and with the live
(07:30):
video simulcast on the Fox Sports Radio YouTube page, brought
to you by Dollars Shaved Club. We have a ninety
seven to ninety four lead for the Pistons with about
thirty five seconds left. I have to stand up, like
I got to reposition my TV in my office. That's
what I just learned, Buck, because like the scoreboard, like
the score bug in the bottom left or right a
head corner of the screen, it's covered up. I can't
(07:51):
see the score bug from where I am, so I
got to stand up to see it. But everybody's just
standing up right now as this game is coming to
a close and it's it's been everything we could want.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
More well, and just imagine the atmosphere afterwards. And you're
slightly delayed because where I'm at, there's about eight point
one seconds left to go in this game, with the
Pistons clinging to that.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
Three point lead.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
The scene in the streets of New York around Madison
Square Garden, if they can't close this game out. They're
currently alive and trying to make it as close as
humanly possible and trying to get this done. But you've
got officiating that's been in the middle of this as well.
I know Pistons fans are going to be outraged on
social media afterwards if they end up surviving this one.
(08:36):
As far as the Knicks go. Fitsie and we can
get into this because I know we've got four hours tonight,
four hours you and me late.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
Four Yeah, come on, now, this is dangerous, so we
get yeah, right, you've been on a four hour date
in your life.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
You've never been on a four hour date.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Book, Come on, I mean maybe something that you know,
you started a Sunday Funday type of situation and then
it goes sideways and it ends up being four hours,
but not intentionally a four hour date. I don't I
don't think I want to spend any time with anybody.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Wait wait, wait for your girlfriend might be listening right now,
so you better just get couched the conversation a little bit.
Make sure that you know what you love four hour dates.
That's all I'm saying, Buck, That's all I'm saying. You
love for four I'm here to help you, man, I'm
trying to help you.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Oh, this is a bad time to tell you that
I'm recently single, but ninety eight, ninety four and found.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Biscuit really the last Oh my god, in the last
week this I.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Should probably have called your Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Oh man, Well, we're going to get through this together.
The tenor of the shame has changed.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
There it is there. It is Detroit basketball.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Since two thousand and eight, they have not won a
playoff game. I had to double check that that was
indeed the case getting ready for tonight's broadcast. But for
the Pistons, it's a huge opportunity to close this out
for the next man. It just throws this entire, the
entire dialogue around this, this franchise into a bit of
(10:08):
a bit of a chaos cycle, which we enjoy about
New York sports. Nothing screams chaos like New York sports.
And I'm looking forward to seeing what the conversation in
New York is after this game.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
You know, it just reminds me of a greater conversation
that's plenty of sports fanatics need to have, like and
I just the easiest way I could say, and maybe
maybe this is how we'll teach. We're gonna continue this conversation. Okay,
We're gonna continue this conversation because I think over the
course of tonight, we need to remind some certain fan
bases out there that as much as I love you,
(10:43):
and look, I'm a lifelong diehard Raiders fan, so I
know what it's like to be a maniacal fan of
a bad franchise. I get it right. As much as
I love every single sports fan, that's why we have
a job. I just think sometimes we got to remind
fans the particular teams that, hey, you're not as special
as you think you are. That's a heck of a tease.
You're not as specially as I tell you what.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
They almost did a Game one, they got it done.
Game two. The Detroit Pistons take down the New York Knicks,
tying that series at one and throwing this show into
complete and other chaos. It's the Jason Smith Show, but
it's not Jason Smith. No, it is, in fact, Buck
Rising and Jason Fitz. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz again.
Very confusing. Jason Fitz not Jason Smith. We trust that
(11:35):
you'll be able to figure that out.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
At you're confusing more people by drawing attention to how
confusing it actually is.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
There's really not that hard. I don't think that hard.
I don't Smith and Fits.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Okay. Look, that's why when people introduce me, every almost
everybody that knows me at any level just refers to
me by my last name. But when I get introduced
to new people, they'll be Everybody says, well, this is Fits,
and I always say, you know, I'm Jason Fitz. Not
that I care about my first name, it's just it like,
it's hard. Sometimes it's hard to fits. People hear Chris,
they hear Vince, they hear all sorts of weird things.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
So you know what you're talking too fast? Just slow down.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
I know you've had like seventy five energy drinks for
us to do overnight radio God to help us. But
I just I think this is self inflicted new wound.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I've had coming from you, coming from like the young
kid in the room that's accusing me of playing the victim.
Here he's buck rising, I'm tasting Fits. Look, we've got
a winner here, and this is a substancial moment for
this show because frankly, we've got somebody on the show
it is a lifelong, diehard Pistons fan. So Chris working
(12:36):
on the show, Chris, how we feeling Chris is a
Pistons fan. Just watched this team, even this series up
one one, get their first playoff win since two thousand
and what buck was it?
Speaker 6 (12:44):
Did you say two every year since? It's utter relief
after a twenty Like I think watching my fan base
and my friends lose all like, there was a lot
of hope to just win a series this year and
then a twenty one to oh run at the end
of Game one was probably the most deflating thing you
could ever see. And everyone's like, all right, well, this
(13:07):
team's young, just gonna have to bear this and to
grab on win one here in the garden. Now going
back to Detroit where I mean, if it's anything like
the two thousands, with that atmosphere there and this team
play playing as hard as it is, it just you
feel like you got hope again. You saw that it's
erase the twenty one ozer run, and you just you
(13:27):
just have hope again that this team, even with what's
going on with Isaiah Stewart, you just can maybe maybe
get something because it's it's a city that loves its
basketball team when it fights hard like this.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Well and FITZI, that's that one.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Chris, very happy for you, and I hope that that
that momentum continues. But that's a dangerous thing to allow
a fan base and a team who you are better
than if you're the New York Knicks, to have that
kind of hope, because, you know, the unquantifiable thing in sports,
whether you're talking about momentum, whether you're talking about intangibles
from players, guys you know, just willing themselves to the wind,
(14:04):
all the to a win. Just all the cliches and
all the different things that we use to describe the
stuff that we can't actually quantify in sports. That's such
a real thing, especially for a sports city like Detroit.
I'm an NFL reporter by trade. I got to do
my first game, Chris, you'll appreciate this at Ford Field
(14:24):
covering the Titans at the Lions. It was an absolute
ass kicking in favor of Detroit, as was the case
for many of Detroit's results this year. But just to
see the kind of passion that sports in that town
can reawaken, and the kind of energy that they bring
to each and every moment, each and every snap, each
and every possession. I'm so excited to see how Detroit
(14:46):
handles the moment with New York going to Detroit now
having lost this game in the Garden, especially with Karl
Anthony Towns not having a single second half point. I
mean I checked in about a half hour ago. He
had played twelve minutes in the second half and taken
three shots, hadn't hit one yet.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Knicks.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
We're down twelve at the time, with about six and
a half minutes to play, and I was just curious
to say, Okay, are they gonna try and get the
ball two towns down the stretch? He was completely ineffective.
He's one of the biggest stars on that basketball team.
Couldn't get it done. Now that's in his head heading
to Detroit, and I'm fascinated to see how it plays out.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
It's been very funny watching you mentioned the Lions. I'll
just get this real quick, but like every team's kind
of followed that lead in Detroit now, where you've had
first the Lions with this like really gritty attitude, and
then the Tigers who kept battling back and kept winning,
and now it seems like it's the Pistons turn. It's
kind of you mentioned it with the fan base. It's
kind of this like emotion with the with all of
(15:44):
Detroit's sports fans. They get to, like, you know, rally
around this idea of these teams that are never going
to quit and never going to just kind of give up.
So I think that's kind of their attitude going back
to Detroit. It's gonna be loud. It's gonna be really loud.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
That's one of the reasons in general, I think that
the most sucessful chapters and in most sports teams history
are when they sort of encapsulate the identity of the
community they're part of. Right Like, So there's this moment
of Dan Campbell that I don't think Dan Campbell the
coach necessarily works in every city, but Dan Campbell the
coach certainly works in Detroit, And I think that's part
(16:18):
of what you you have to find is like ways
to make your team really resemble the identity of the
community that they're part of. And you know this, this
Pistons team can obviously do that. By the way, Express
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(16:38):
expresspros dot com. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz. The
Pistons have taken down the Knicks one hundred and ninety four.
I'll also add one confidence meter to this book, Like,
if you're Kid Cunningham, you have done what you want,
when you want, how you want for two games. Like,
there's got to be you talk about confidence. Caid coming
off tonight with what I think it was thirty three points, Yeah,
thirty three points on eleven or twenty one shooting also
(17:00):
with twelve boards. I just man, they don't have an
answer for k Cunningham. So now you have a Detroit
team that's gonna go back to a absolute environment. Now
you know you would think that MSG was that for
the Knicks and it didn't make a difference in this.
You've got a Detroit team that's gonna look at it
and for the next couple of days tell themselves the
same thing. We'll all be saying, were it not for
a twenty one nothing run, they'd be up to nothing
(17:22):
in this series. Like I it's when this series started.
I picked Detroit to win in seven and that was
sort of me just trolling the entire world and saying, well,
I'll go the opposite way on it more likely, I
mean edibles more likely than the drunk But either way,
you know, either way there is there is certainly a
belief happening. But also it comes back to something that
(17:45):
you know you said at the beginning that I think
people freak out sometimes here, Like I just Madison Square
Garden is a great it's a great environment. I love it. Again.
I've had the opportunity to stand on stage at MSG
and like it. I'll never forget it. But I just
don't think when you walk into the garden, like I
just got to tell Knicks fans, I'm sorry to pile on,
(18:06):
but like these are just the moments that you remember
that you're not that special. And I think about this
all the time when Cowboys fans come in and tell me,
oh my god, the Cowboys haven't won a Super Bowl
since the nineties. Okay, like congratulations. You know how many
teams haven't won a Super Bowl since the nineties. There's
a lot of them. You know, how many teams have
never been to the Super Bowl. Like I get frustrated
(18:26):
when legacy teams pretend that they should be constantly living
in a different world, Like getting to these moments is
really difficult. And you know, for me, as a Raiders fan,
my favorite team hasn't been to the Super Bowl since
what two thousand and two? Right, Like, if you you
cover the Titans, look at the Titans history, Like if
(18:47):
Browns fans have the right to stand up and say,
oh my god, we haven't been to a super Bowl
like that, that to me makes sense. But it just
feels like the Knicks, the Lakers, the Cowboys, these huge
monetizable brands, feel like because they're super power popular, did
that means that they should automatically be going to championships?
And it just doesn't work that way. Like you're like
Taylor Swift, you're really popular and that's something that we
(19:09):
should credit. But that doesn't mean that you're the best
in the world at anything. It just means you're really popular.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Well, And I love that those fan bases will always
remind you, well, the leagues are better when the New
York teams are good, or when the La teams, or
when the Lakers are good and the Clippers will see
what happens as an actually exciting basketball team. Currently down
one to zero in their series as the Nuggets take
a three point lead early in the first quarter of
the late NBA playoff action. But you know who gets
(19:36):
to be special tonight, FITZI, Pistons fans. Pistons fans get
to be special tonight. I'm going to read you a
tweet from Tim Reynolds that was put out a couple
of days ago ahead of this playoff series. The Last
Time by at by Tim Reynolds is where you can
find this the last time the Pistons won a playoff game.
Lebron was two hundred and forty ninth on the all
(19:57):
time scoring list. Greg Popovich was nineteenth on the all
time wins list. Kevin Durant was the rookie of the year.
Wemby was four years old Westbrook, Kevin Love and Derreck
Rose were about to get drafted. And the kicker in
this tweet, which is just perfectly constructed by somebody who
(20:18):
I assume as a writer, eggs were a dollar eighty
three a dozen.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
This is one hundred years ago.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Basically that the Pistons fans have gotten to celebrate a
postseason win, and I love that. That's what gives me
the joy in sports is seeing the down trodden rise
up and knock these you know, perpetually talked about, perpetually discussed,
perpetually overrated franchises off of the mountaintop a little bit
(20:43):
and for the next I mean, I know that they're
not on much of a mountaintop at this point in time,
and that any semblance of playoff relevancy is something that
they cling too desperately. And I will admit that the
NBA is a lot more fun when New York Knicks
fans are engaged. I will completely acknowledge that that is
fact accurate. That doesn't mean that I don't like to
see him. I mean, I wouldn't say I like to
see him take a heart breaking loss every time every
(21:07):
once in a while, but it does add a little
bit more juice, a little bit more drama, a little
bit more intrigue to the kind of things that we
talk about. And that's what you're speaking to is simply entitlement, right,
the franchises that have been around the longest and that
have a story championship history, as some of the franchises
that you just mentioned do. They come with a certain entitlement,
(21:29):
and it's okay to see somebody with a little bit
of entitlement get humbled every once in a while.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, I mean, you're right in the way you're saying
titlement because it is. I feel like the adult sports
equivalent of a whiny little baby is the person that's like, yeah,
but we're really popular and everybody likes this, so we
should with championships really, like I'm sorry, Like great, the
Knicks were a really good basketball Like, look, man, I'm old.
We joke about the fact all the time that I'm old,
(21:55):
Like the Knicks haven't played meaningful championship caliber basket ketball
in most of the lifetimes of the guys that are
actually playing in the league right now. Like if you
are playing in today's NBA, when's the last great Knicks
team you saw? Like, when's the last oh my god,
stop everything, I have to watch this next team that
you saw.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
And the fact is ever not in my life.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
I'm thirty one, and you mentioned I mean, my god,
two thousand and eight, where were you in two thousand
How old were you in two thousand.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
And eight ten I would have been what eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
You got playoffs everywhere you look.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
You got the basketball going on right now, You've got
the NHL in full swing. But for football fans, Jason Fitz,
it's draft season. It's the season of transaction, It's the
season a hope. It's the thing that warms your heart,
get your feeling real good after a three and fourteen
finish of four and thirteen ian finish. Whatever happened to
(23:01):
your football team in twenty twenty four, it doesn't.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Matter because it's Draft week. Baby.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
But the problem, as we sit here on the Jason
Smith Show, he's Jason Fitz fits not Smith. Even though
he's confused himself several times to night, I'm buck rising.
We're with you here for the next few hours. If
you want to give us a call. Eight seven, seven
nine nine six sixty three sixty nine eight seven seven
ninety nine on Fox is how you get involved. Draft
(23:30):
week should be a moment of hope, of joy of
no losers, No losers. You want to talk about moral victories.
You tried to give me a Knicks fan moral victory
earlier when we were talking about the Pistons winning their
first playoff game since two thousand and eight. Draft season
is the season of moral victories, but one person is
(23:52):
holding it entirely hostage. Fitsie Aaron Rodgers will not get
the hell out of our lives fast enough. And the
fact that he has not given the Pittsburgh Steelers a
decision on the week of the NFL Draft, when it
was reported several times from several credible insiders that they
would have a decision on their quarterback not named Mason.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Dan Rudolph respectfully, love you, Mason.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
It is insane to me that we are going to
have another NFL news cycle hijacked by a quarterback who
had a worse record as a starter for the Jets
last year than Zach Wilson did in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
This is where it just becomes a beautiful thing for
the lovers of chaos, all right, the agents of chaos.
This becomes a beautiful thing because the draft takes place
Thursday night, right, the draft takes place in green Bay.
Right when I think Green Bay and I think, how
do you steal the story? Like the easiest way for
(24:54):
Aaron Rodgers, who says he doesn't seek the attention, but
always seems to do things that are attention seeking, Like
most of the time, if I don't want anyone to
pay attention to me, probably don't go on the Pat
McAfee show. But you know, he says he doesn't want
the attention, but he does most of the time. I
look around and say, okay, we're just gonna get a decision.
For most guys, Nah, this is in Green Bay. You
(25:15):
can't tell me that there isn't it to me, this
is simple. Aaron Rodgers is gonna announce his decision. It's
gonna get leaked right before the draft tips off, right
before the first pickers on the clock. The entire story
in Green Bay for the first night of the NFL
Draft is gonna be about one Aaron Rodgers, because I
think he's gonna announce that he's signing with the Pittsburgh
(25:36):
Steelers just as the draft begins. Now, maybe he announces
he's retiring. Either way, whatever he announces, if he announces
it on draft night, the entire conversation for five hours
is gonna have little nothing to do with Shadour anymore.
It's all gonna be about what are the Steelers gonna
do now that they know that Aaron Rodgers. And then
(25:56):
it's gonna be the next day when you turn on,
when you tune in to your favorite Friday morning show,
if you tune into Good Morning Football on the NFL
network the morning after the first night of the Draft,
if Aaron Rodgers is announced that he's retiring, let me
ask you, what do they lead with the shock of
where Shadur was finally drafted or the retirement of future
(26:19):
Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers. We all know the answer
to this. Aaron Rodgers is going to be the biggest
story because he's going to announce his decision apt as
the first round of the Draft commences.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Either way, there will always be drama on Draft Night,
and you can check out Dollar Shave Club, Fox Sports
Radios Draft Night live throughout the first round of the
Draft on Thursday night. It is, of course brought to
you by the wonderful folks at Dollar Shave Club, your
place to get everything you need to stay smooth and
smell great. Visit dollarshaveclub dot com slash Draft and use
(26:50):
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twenty dollars or more, plus free shipping, free shipping FITZI Drama,
and free shipping that dollarsha blub dot com slash Draft.
Be sure to tune into Fox Sports Radio's Draft Night Live,
which is Thursday night at eight pm Eastern throughout the
first round of the draft. Insider Jay Glazer, former Jets
(27:12):
general manager Joe Douglas, college Football Hall of Famer LeVar Errington,
and Fox Sports Lead college football reporter Jenny Taft. Well,
have you covered for all thirty two picks with predictions
and reactions. That's Thursday at eight pm Eastern throughout the
first round of the draft, live right here on Fox
Sports Radio and with a live video simulcast on the
(27:33):
Fox Sports Radio YouTube page.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Make sure you subscribe. Brought to you by Dollar Shave Club.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
It would be the most Aaron Rodgers thing in the world,
because I'm sure you know you've talked at great length
on your various Yahoo platforms, per potentially even here on
Fox Sports Radio about Aaron Rodgers appearance on McAfee and
how he said he's what was the line that he's
not decided on anything and he's not attached to anything.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
It was something a little.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Bit more transcendent sounding than that, but you get my point.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
I'm paraphrasing.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
He talks a lot without actually saying anything, But there
is going to come a time where Aaron Rodgers actually has.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
To make a decision.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
I'm convinced Vincy that, and I love your Tinfoil had
conspiracy theory here. It delights me to no end because
that would just give me another reason to tee off
on a quarterback who I think has been washed for
quite some time, and we continue to talk about is
talk about him as if he's still super Bowl caliber,
super Bowl champion Aaron Rodgers, and we are many were
(28:38):
many years removed from him even being Green Bay and
of ea Aaron Rodgers at this point in time, It's
been a long time since I've seen Aaron Rodgers actually
be the player that he used to be. I'm just
I'm convinced he's gonna play football somewhere in twenty twenty five.
There's too many teams who will literally hold their draft
(29:02):
hostage while he makes a decision. Throughout the course of
an offseason and get edged by the fact that Aaron
Rodgers could play for us. Aaron Rodgers could make us
a competitor. Aaron Rodgers could keep us relevant in the
AFC North as we try and scrounge and claw and
scrap our way past Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph and
Justin Fields and Russell Wilson and all these different things. Hell, Minnesota,
(29:23):
I know they passed on him this first time around,
but are you telling me if JJ McCarthy doesn't look
exactly the way that Kevin O'Connell wants him too, that
they wouldn't at least consider giving that ex in Aaron.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
Rodgers a call.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
I guess it's not technically an ex but you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I think Minnesota would be the one place he would
want to go. What gets tricky about this is what
do you do if you Pittsburgh. Like to me, it's
pretty shocking to see one of the most stable and
respected organizations in all of sports left in this game
of musical chairs with no answer at the position. Like
everybody else at least figured out some so, I mean,
(29:58):
not like the Giant's answer, but I at least understand
what they're like, I understand, Hey, it's the best of
a bad situation. Like the hell else you gonna do? Right?
Like I understand what their approach is, I don't understand
how Pittsburgh got to this point, you know, And if
you talk to people that I've talked to Charles Robinson
at Yahoo a lot on our show Inside Coverage there,
you know, he's made it very clear that Arthur Smith
(30:19):
just simply didn't want Russell back, and they thought that
there would be the opportunity to maybe work something out
with Justin Fields, and Justin Fields didn't want to be there.
So now what do you do? Well, you gotta have
some sort of like Mason Rudolph could not have been.
You're not even your plan d coming in. There's just
no way in my mind that the Steelers, a competent,
well run organization like this is what happens to bad teams.
(30:41):
The Steelers may still win nine games because they're the
Pittsburgh Steelers, but they're stuck and this becomes just like
the Kenny Pickett draft I was working. I was covering
the draft the year that Kenny Pickett was drafted, and
my immediate reaction on air when the pick happened was
I don't like this pick because Kenny Pickett isn't a
first round quarterback. This just feels like a team needed
a quarterback and he was the best guy there at
(31:03):
the position they needed. That's what it feels like. The
Steelers are gonna get stuck doing like when they get
when the Steelers are on the clock with I think
twenty first pick off the top of my head, when
they are on the clock with the twenty first pick,
my god, Like I think by then they may be
stuck with the fourth best quarterback in this draft. So
like it gets really tricky depending on what happens with Shador,
(31:24):
depending on like if Shador is free falling, are they
taking him there? But also, I mean Schefty was the
one that tweeted out yesterday. He talked to a GM
that doesn't have a first round grade on a single
quarterback in this year's draft, Like, even if they take Shador,
is that really the law that's the answer. Like Chador's
best situation is not having to play this year. So
I man, I don't know. I feel like the Steelers
(31:45):
are screwed. And because the Steelers are screwed, they're sitting
at the altar of Aaron Rodgers. But that's not a
place I ever want to be because I don't think
Aaron Rodgers at his core, gives a damn about anybody
else's altar. He's only gonna do what he wants to do,
when he wants to do wants to do it, and
that's the way he's always operated. So they're relying on
somebody that I just don't think you can rely on.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
I don't understand why he still gets extended that latitude.
Like I know that we are so desperate for even
reasonably effective and efficient quarterback play in the NFL, the
fact that we cannot find thirty two people to play
it at a starting caliber level anywhere in the world
thirty two people to play this position well, and it
speaks to the degree of difficulty that playing NFL quarterback requires,
(32:29):
even college quarterback, depending on which programs you're looking at,
if you want to get into the weeds there. But
I I know I've known Arthur Smith for a long time,
long before he was the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator, long
before he was the Atlanta Falcons head coach. He's just
a cute little assistant tight ends coach running around here,
quality control guy here in Tennessee before he went on
(32:51):
to become the OC and then have a successful run
that ended up getting him a head coaching job.
Speaker 5 (32:56):
I cannot it is.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I have tried to wrap my head around this ten
thousand times, Fitzy, because I know Arthur Smith. I don't
know Mike Tomlin personally, but I know enough people in
the league who have been around Mike Tomlin and the
things that Mike Tomlin has not only survived in, but
thrived in to the point where he's never had a losing.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
Season in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
And the fact that both of those men, along with
many other respected football people who work for the Pittsburgh
Steelers organization, and the respect that that organization deserves they
have earned it. The fact that they are in this
spot is as mind boggling to me as it is
to you, and to your point, because I know we'll
get to Shador Sanders at some point tonight. It is
(33:34):
Draft week, after all, there's some gas lighting around the
Giants at three. I was reading as recently as this
morning from Adam Schefter talking about the opportunity or the
potential for to see New York overdraft a quarterback, that
quarterback specifically, just because we know cam Ward is going
number one off the board to Tennessee. I can't think
(33:56):
of a worse possible situation to put Shador in. He's
have to play if they draft him, if Aaron Rodgers
is not a viable option for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And
the only reason they're in this position, FITZI is because
as recently I was at owners meetings in pom Beach, Okay,
they had and I can't remember which rooney currently is
the controlling owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the ownership
(34:19):
was on record talking about the fact that they expected
an Aaron Rodgers deal soon.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
That was a month ago.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
Almost at this point in time, they got got an
organization that almost never gets got got got by Aaron Rodgers,
who at this point in his career, is grifting off
his own relevancy that he had, I mean four or
five years ago.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
And it's I don't it really.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
It sounds like a lot of personal criticism that I
have of that man, but it is all professional at
this point in time, because I think the way that
he conducts himself is frankly not professional.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
If you allow yourself to get got by this version
of Aaron Rodgers. You have nobody but yourself to blame
it for being real. You just mentioned should Let's get
into it. Let's figure out where Schur is gonna go.
The latest and pretty shocking revelations I've heard from a
couple of people around the league about one spot that
everyone thinks is a landing spot for Shadur that I
(35:12):
just don't think is in the cards. Tell you about
that next.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
The rumors are swirling.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
It's just a matter of actually getting to the NFL Draft.
Welcome back to the Jason Smith Show. He's Jason Fitz,
not Jason Smith. I'm Buck Rising and we're hanging out
here with you for a couple more hours. Give us
a call if you want eight seven seven nine nine
six sixty three sixty nine. That's eight seven seven ninety
nine on Fox if you want to jump into the conversation.
(35:49):
The rumors are swirling around the sun of Dion Sanders,
Shadoor Sanders the Colorado quarterback, and the question becomes, now, Fitzie,
what is going to happen with Shadoor on Thursday night?
Does anything happen with Shadoor Sanders on Thursday night? It
would be a significant upset to see only one quarterback.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Drafted in the first round.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
In fact, I'm very much convinced at this point in time,
which is a conversation for another day, that the Alabama
quarterback Jalen Milroe may end up.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Being a first round pick.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
And I'm sure you've heard some things to a similar effect,
but Shador Sanders is going to dominate the headlines, provided
that your boy, Aaron Rodgers doesn't steal them away from him.
Speaker 5 (36:33):
On the first night of the Green Bay Draft. So
many teams with quarterback needs, so.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
Many teams that you could make it make sense in
your head to see Shadoor Sanders go to except for
the New York Giants at three, because that's to me
where the NFL draft, this year's NFL Draft actually starts.
It's cammore to the Tennessee Titans. That's a lock. Everything
that you hear from the Cleveland Browns is that not publicly,
(37:00):
but privately, it seems that they are headed on a
collision course to draft Travis Hunter, arguably the only quote
unquote generational talent in this draft, which leaves arguably the
best player, the best prospect in this draft, Abdul Carter,
the pass rusher out of Penn State, available for the
Giants who have an embattled coach, a more embattled general manager,
(37:23):
and an ownership who has already expressed a level of
impatience with both of those individuals. That may force you
to make a decision, or may push you to make
a decision that may not be in the best long
term interest of the franchise that you're making decisions for,
but if you think it'll give you a little extra
job security, maybe a thing about overdrafting Shadur Sainders at three.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
I mean only if you want to ruin the kid.
I can't say this is not en of Giants fans.
If your team drafts Shador, he will be at bust
and it's not his fault. This to me is so simple. Shadour,
if he goes somewhere and has some time to developed
with the coach that you know has a long term
plan for him, where they keep him off the field
for a minute, while everything sort of they work on
some of the things that obviously that are that are
(38:08):
playing an apparent in Hiss tape, then it becomes a
much different conversation. And Dan Orlovsky has said repeatedly that
he thinks, you know that that Shador is the most
difficult prospect he's ever had to try to evaluate where
he's gonna go on the draft. I have talked to
everybody this this is what I try and do. Is
somebody that's hosted to me my eighth year hosting draft
content for Yahoo. Uh, not for Yahoo the entire time,
(38:29):
but my eighth year hosting draft content. I try and
talk to a bunch of people leading up that I
think are smart. So when, as you and I've talked
about before, like when the Will Levis things started to
blow up, I talked to enough people that I had
I was confident that Will Levis thing was not you
know what some people thought it was gonna be. When
bo Nicks last year started to blow up, I talked
to enough people that I was confident that bo Nicks
(38:49):
is gonna blow up this year. I get different answers
every week when I start talking to people I genuinely
think most of the world doesn't know where Shoudo is
gonna go. I'm just becoming more more certain that he's
not gonna end up in New Orleans. And I've seen
a bunch of mocks that want to put him with
the Saints. I've seen a bunch of mocks that want
to put him with the Giants. These places don't necessarily
(39:10):
make any sense for a couple of reasons. Like Number one,
you gotta play him like you don't have another quarterback.
If you're playing him, you're gonna ruin him. And that's
very reminiscent of Trevor Lawrence. I said, you know, the
Jags would ruin Trevor Lawrence Before Trevor Lawrence ruined the Jags,
they did right, Like I think the Giants are gonna
ruin a quarterback if they take him. Like if you're
the Giants, do the simple. Think here, take your strength,
(39:32):
which is your defensive line. Make it even stronger with
the best prospect. I think the clearest prospect to see
in this year's draft, the one easy, all right, Abdual Carter.
We're gonna take him and immediately he's gonna make a difference,
and you make a team better, like this is really simple.
If they takes your door, I think that's asenine. And
where it gets complicated is I think it's asadine. If
the Raiders takes your door, I think it's asendine. If
(39:53):
the Jets takes your door, I think it's asinine. If,
as I mention, the Saints takes your door. I talk
to three different people this week that all told me
the same thing. The Saints look like they're looking at
defensive players right now, which is sort of shocking to
what everybody's logic is. I've heard some Jackson Dart love
from the Saints. I just think we're gonna be sitting
in the middle of the first round, and the real
conversation is gonna be who's gonna trade up for Shador?
(40:16):
And even that is complicated. Are you willing to give
up extra assets to go get a quarterback that some
teams have a third or fourth round great on. I
don't think that makes any sense. I agree, and I'm
gonna say this loudly. I think there are gonna be
four quarterbacks taken in the first round. I believe that
Jackson Dart, Shador Sanders, and Jalen Milroe are all gonna
go in the first round. I just think that three
(40:38):
of the four Jackson, Shador, and Jalen are likely to
go at the bottom of the first round to a
team that trades up back into the first round to
try and get an extra year maybe. And all of
this is because the league is gonna acknowledge what you
and I've heard enough times. You've heard this at the
owners meetings. We've heard this enough times. These are developmental quarterbacks.
That's just real. That's fact. That doesn't mean he's not good,
(41:00):
that doesn't mean he's gonna suck. It just means it
he's developmental. Like that's okay. That's an okay label to
put on a quarterback coming in.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
And of course you can follow along all night long
on that Thursday night with Fox Sports Radio's Draft Night
Live throughout the first round of the draft on Thursday Night.
It's brought to you by Dollar Shave Club, your place
to get everything you need to stay smooth and smell great.
Visit dollarshaveclub dot com, slash draft and use promo code
Draft for twenty percent off your order of twenty dollars
(41:31):
or more, plus free shipping, and you don't even have
to get Jason Fitz whispering smooth into your ear that way.
That's Dollarshaveclub dot com slash Draft.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
It was very haunting.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
Be sure to tune into Fox Sports Radios Draft Night Live,
which is Thursday night at a pm Eastern throughout the
first round of the draft. Insider Jay Glazer, former Jets
general manager Joe Douglas, college football Hall of Famer LeVar Arrington,
and Fox Sports lead college football reporter Jenny Taft will
have you covered for all thirty two picks with predictions
and reactions. That's Thursday at eight pm Eastern throughout the
(42:05):
first round of the draft, live right here on Fox
Sports Radio and with a live video simulcast on the
Fox Sports Radio YouTube page.
Speaker 5 (42:13):
Brought to you by Dollar Shave Club.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
It's in particular crazy fits to think a week ago,
the New Orleans Saints were moving ahead with Derek Cars
their starting quarterback. This potential shoulder injury, it's not a
potential shoulder injury. It's a shoulder issue that's going on
apparently wasn't publicly known about until days before the team's
(42:36):
voluntary offseason workout programs program started, which is insane that
they would clear him on the medicals and not realize
that he has a shoulder situation that may cost him
his upcoming season and have to result in surgery. The
fact that they are looking at defensive players runs so
counter to everything that you think that they should do
(42:57):
about the draft situation, except for the fact that we
just he's talked about Aaron Rodgers, and nobody's talked about
Aaron Rodgers in New Orleans before
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio. We are looking at absolute.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Chaos and panic in the mecca of the NBA is
The Knicks are struggling to figure out how to get
by the Pistons, and as we sit right now, the
Pistons with a late fourth quarter lead. Let's just remind
the world, were it not for a twenty one nothing
run in the fourth quarter of Game one, Detroit could
(00:51):
be looking at a two nothing lead in this series.
And right now absolute panic is setting in in New York.
He's buck rising up. Jason fitzbucking fits gonna be confusing.
I'm just gonna acknowledge out of the gates. You're about
to be very confused for the next few hours because
Jason Smith and Jason Fitz sound just similar enough that
people get confused on our social media sometimes. So I
(01:11):
beg you early on, don't do Jason Smith. But you
don't like what I say. All right, come at us.
He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz coming at to Live tonight.
We're gonna be with you for the next several hours.
And Buck, I'm just sitting here watching this and I'm saying, hey,
you know me, I'm an agent of chaos. I just
want people to be unhappy all the time. I don't
know why, like I want people to I always root
for the underdog, but mostly I just root for any
(01:33):
opportunity to make the majority of the people run around
like Kermit the Frog and a house fire, trying to
figure out how to get out of the place. Like
that's what I'm rooting for. And that's what we're getting
right now. Because the Pistons again get out to a
nice comfortable lead again. The Knicks are trying to claw
their way back into this thing, but Detroit man sitting
right on the edge. It looks like they could take
this game. And if they take this game, you can't
(01:55):
tell me Knicks fans aren't uncomfortable now.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I mean, it's a disaster for New York, and I
appreciate you as the agent of chaos because it's rare
that I I mean, I guess at this point in
my life, I'm pretty good at playing the straight man.
So somebody has to be there to reel you in
and put out the fires that you start. Also, it's
hilarious that poor Jason Smith is getting tweets that are
probably associated with you for all the outrageous things that
(02:21):
you said. And I still haven't yelled at you on
air publicly about the last time we did one of
these shows where you call the Master's overrated, But you
know what is overrated, FITZI Madison Square Garden, like the
atmosphere's coming.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
In with that heat.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
No, no, no, no, because it's true, Okay, nobody's scared
to play in the garden. Nobody's scared of the environment
that New York Knicks fans are so proud of cling to,
so desperately hope and pray and wish that it's going
to give them some level of advantage, and instead it
has allowed the Detroit Pistons to get or almost get,
(02:55):
their first playoff win since two thousand and eight. Provided
that there's not a magnificant collapse up ninety two eighty
eight as we sit here broadcasting live. It is something
that I've thought about a great many times because it's
still the Mecca, and it's still an incredible place to
see a game. But when it comes down to it,
teams aren't scared to play in the garden anymore.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
So little context here, I'm gonna give everybody a little
bit of context. My right arm is a tattoo of
everywhere I've ever lived, and the placist are the things
that I've done in my life that I'm proud of,
stuff throughout the course of my entire life. That's my
whole right arm. Sleep. I say that because while I
didn't live full time in New York, I did spend
many years in New York in music. And one of
(03:37):
the tattoos on my right arm is the logo to
Madison Square Garden because the worst show I ever played
in my life as a professional musician, Buck Rising, was
at Madison Square Garden, because I couldn't control my adrenaline
like I'd seen so many shows when I was a
little kid there, I was there. But here's what I
always tell people about Madison Square Garden. So at the
time when we were touring that was with the band
Perry Right, we had at the time the fourth biggest
(03:59):
song of all time it Cutchry Music. We're on tour,
we're doing it. We're playing the garden, sold out two
straight nights. We go into the I'm so excited I'm
in the garden. I get all the guys together. I'm like,
I'm gonna make you walk through the concourse and look
at all the history. I wasn't touring with a lot
of sports nuts, admittedly, but we walked through that thing
and the number of times guys rolled their eyes and
the like this place is a dump. Like the backstage area,
(04:19):
they're like, this place is a dump. The next night
we played a show at Barclays and like literally it
was a two Knights of the Garden. Then we go
over to Barclays. The first thing one of our guitar
players says is we walk into Barclays is now this
is an arena. It's just like it just shows there
is this moment. If you aren't if you aren't a
buff for the historic sports events that have happened at
(04:39):
the Garden, I think you might be like I went
to see Yukon play this year at the Garden in
some Big East basketball. I loved it. It was a
great environment, it was wild, it was crazy. But I
think you're right. I think there's probably a lot of people,
especially if you're under the age of thirty, that looks
at it. It's like, I don't know, it's just a
dimly litterina Like I just I know we're offending half
of the New York audio. It's out of the gates.
(05:01):
But I do think you're right. I don't think there's
some big, great intimidation factor for a twenty five year
old kid that's never really seen good basketball consistently come
out of New York.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Well, the New York audience is currently preoccupied because they
are the Pistons, clinging to a very slim ninety four
to ninety two lead.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
As we sit here with.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Just about a minute fifty left to go in the
fourth quarter, they finally started getting to the free throw line.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
I don't know what the hell took so long.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
It was a disaster basically until the last I don't know,
six minutes of regulation and for a lot of I
mean for the Knicks in particular, FITSI this is such
an important game to see if they can find a
way to battle through, because that's the thing that I'm
most curious to find out about this NIXT team as
(05:49):
we're getting ready to talk about NBA playoffs. So at
the course of the night, I know we're going to
get to some Lakers stuff as well, with the MAVs
general manager coming out and having his end of season
press conference tie game now four or ninety four, I
am so fascinated to see whether Tom Thibodeau and Jalen
Brunson and the rest of the New York Knicks at
this point in time can find a way to become
(06:10):
battle tested. Because there's a lot of questions about this
series in particular. But the I mean, the Pistons are
an inferior opponent. They you are on home court. If
you can't handle business tonight in Game two with a
one to zero lead, I don't.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Know when you're gonna be able to do this.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I mean, but let me take the opposite side of it.
Catastrophic is the Pistons turn the pall over. Catastrophic that
the Pistons could be facing now headed back to Detroit
down to nothing with two games they easily could have,
should have would have won like this is. This is
we always talk about. Oh man, you gotta talk, you
gotta learn how to finish games, and the Pistons are
(06:48):
not doing that. By the way, you mentioned the draft,
We're gonna talk a lot of draft Fox Sports Radios
Draft Night Live throughout the first round of the draft
on Thursday, and that brought to you by Dollars Shave Club,
your place to get everything you need to stay smooth,
smoke grat. Visit dollarshaveclub dot com slash Draft. Use promo
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(07:09):
tune into Fox Sports Radio's Draft Night Live, which is
Thursday night, APM Eastern throughout the first round of the draft.
Insider Jay Glazer, Jets, former Jets GM Joe Douglass, College
Football Hall of Famer LeVar Arrington, and Fox Sports Lead
college football reporter Jenny Taff got you covered for all
thirty two picks with predictions and reactions. That's Thursday at
APM Eastern. Throughout the first round of the Draft live
right here on Fox Sports Radio and with the live
(07:30):
video simulcast on the Fox Sports Radio YouTube page, brought
to you by Dollars Shaved Club. We have a ninety
seven to ninety four lead for the Pistons with about
thirty five seconds left. I have to stand up, like
I got to reposition my TV in my office. That's
what I just learned, Buck, because like the scoreboard, like
the score bug in the bottom left or right a
head corner of the screen, it's covered up. I can't
(07:51):
see the score bug from where I am, so I
got to stand up to see it. But everybody's just
standing up right now as this game is coming to
a close and it's it's been everything we could want.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
More well, and just imagine the atmosphere afterwards. And you're
slightly delayed because where I'm at, there's about eight point
one seconds left to go in this game, with the
Pistons clinging to that.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
Three point lead.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
The scene in the streets of New York around Madison
Square Garden, if they can't close this game out. They're
currently alive and trying to make it as close as
humanly possible and trying to get this done. But you've
got officiating that's been in the middle of this as well.
I know Pistons fans are going to be outraged on
social media afterwards if they end up surviving this one.
(08:36):
As far as the Knicks go. Fitsie and we can
get into this because I know we've got four hours tonight,
four hours you and me late.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
Four Yeah, come on, now, this is dangerous, so we
get yeah, right, you've been on a four hour date
in your life.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
You've never been on a four hour date.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Book, Come on, I mean maybe something that you know,
you started a Sunday Funday type of situation and then
it goes sideways and it ends up being four hours,
but not intentionally a four hour date. I don't I
don't think I want to spend any time with anybody.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Wait wait, wait for your girlfriend might be listening right now,
so you better just get couched the conversation a little bit.
Make sure that you know what you love four hour dates.
That's all I'm saying, Buck, That's all I'm saying. You
love for four I'm here to help you, man, I'm
trying to help you.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Oh, this is a bad time to tell you that
I'm recently single, but ninety eight, ninety four and found.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Biscuit really the last Oh my god, in the last
week this I.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Should probably have called your Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Oh man, Well, we're going to get through this together.
The tenor of the shame has changed.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
There it is there. It is Detroit basketball.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Since two thousand and eight, they have not won a
playoff game. I had to double check that that was
indeed the case getting ready for tonight's broadcast. But for
the Pistons, it's a huge opportunity to close this out
for the next man. It just throws this entire, the
entire dialogue around this, this franchise into a bit of
(10:08):
a bit of a chaos cycle, which we enjoy about
New York sports. Nothing screams chaos like New York sports.
And I'm looking forward to seeing what the conversation in
New York is after this game.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
You know, it just reminds me of a greater conversation
that's plenty of sports fanatics need to have, like and
I just the easiest way I could say, and maybe
maybe this is how we'll teach. We're gonna continue this conversation. Okay,
We're gonna continue this conversation because I think over the
course of tonight, we need to remind some certain fan
bases out there that as much as I love you,
(10:43):
and look, I'm a lifelong diehard Raiders fan, so I
know what it's like to be a maniacal fan of
a bad franchise. I get it right. As much as
I love every single sports fan, that's why we have
a job. I just think sometimes we got to remind
fans the particular teams that, hey, you're not as special
as you think you are. That's a heck of a tease.
You're not as specially as I tell you what.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
They almost did a Game one, they got it done.
Game two. The Detroit Pistons take down the New York Knicks,
tying that series at one and throwing this show into
complete and other chaos. It's the Jason Smith Show, but
it's not Jason Smith. No, it is, in fact, Buck
Rising and Jason Fitz. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz again.
Very confusing. Jason Fitz not Jason Smith. We trust that
(11:35):
you'll be able to figure that out.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
At you're confusing more people by drawing attention to how
confusing it actually is.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
There's really not that hard. I don't think that hard.
I don't Smith and Fits.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Okay. Look, that's why when people introduce me, every almost
everybody that knows me at any level just refers to
me by my last name. But when I get introduced
to new people, they'll be Everybody says, well, this is Fits,
and I always say, you know, I'm Jason Fitz. Not
that I care about my first name, it's just it like,
it's hard. Sometimes it's hard to fits. People hear Chris,
they hear Vince, they hear all sorts of weird things.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
So you know what you're talking too fast? Just slow down.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
I know you've had like seventy five energy drinks for
us to do overnight radio God to help us. But
I just I think this is self inflicted new wound.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I've had coming from you, coming from like the young
kid in the room that's accusing me of playing the victim.
Here he's buck rising, I'm tasting Fits. Look, we've got
a winner here, and this is a substancial moment for
this show because frankly, we've got somebody on the show
it is a lifelong, diehard Pistons fan. So Chris working
(12:36):
on the show, Chris, how we feeling Chris is a
Pistons fan. Just watched this team, even this series up
one one, get their first playoff win since two thousand
and what buck was it?
Speaker 6 (12:44):
Did you say two every year since? It's utter relief
after a twenty Like I think watching my fan base
and my friends lose all like, there was a lot
of hope to just win a series this year and
then a twenty one to oh run at the end
of Game one was probably the most deflating thing you
could ever see. And everyone's like, all right, well, this
(13:07):
team's young, just gonna have to bear this and to
grab on win one here in the garden. Now going
back to Detroit where I mean, if it's anything like
the two thousands, with that atmosphere there and this team
play playing as hard as it is, it just you
feel like you got hope again. You saw that it's
erase the twenty one ozer run, and you just you
(13:27):
just have hope again that this team, even with what's
going on with Isaiah Stewart, you just can maybe maybe
get something because it's it's a city that loves its
basketball team when it fights hard like this.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Well and FITZI, that's that one.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Chris, very happy for you, and I hope that that
that momentum continues. But that's a dangerous thing to allow
a fan base and a team who you are better
than if you're the New York Knicks, to have that
kind of hope, because, you know, the unquantifiable thing in sports,
whether you're talking about momentum, whether you're talking about intangibles
from players, guys you know, just willing themselves to the wind,
(14:04):
all the to a win. Just all the cliches and
all the different things that we use to describe the
stuff that we can't actually quantify in sports. That's such
a real thing, especially for a sports city like Detroit.
I'm an NFL reporter by trade. I got to do
my first game, Chris, you'll appreciate this at Ford Field
(14:24):
covering the Titans at the Lions. It was an absolute
ass kicking in favor of Detroit, as was the case
for many of Detroit's results this year. But just to
see the kind of passion that sports in that town
can reawaken, and the kind of energy that they bring
to each and every moment, each and every snap, each
and every possession. I'm so excited to see how Detroit
(14:46):
handles the moment with New York going to Detroit now
having lost this game in the Garden, especially with Karl
Anthony Towns not having a single second half point. I
mean I checked in about a half hour ago. He
had played twelve minutes in the second half and taken
three shots, hadn't hit one yet.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Knicks.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
We're down twelve at the time, with about six and
a half minutes to play, and I was just curious
to say, Okay, are they gonna try and get the
ball two towns down the stretch? He was completely ineffective.
He's one of the biggest stars on that basketball team.
Couldn't get it done. Now that's in his head heading
to Detroit, and I'm fascinated to see how it plays out.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
It's been very funny watching you mentioned the Lions. I'll
just get this real quick, but like every team's kind
of followed that lead in Detroit now, where you've had
first the Lions with this like really gritty attitude, and
then the Tigers who kept battling back and kept winning,
and now it seems like it's the Pistons turn. It's
kind of you mentioned it with the fan base. It's
kind of this like emotion with the with all of
(15:44):
Detroit's sports fans. They get to, like, you know, rally
around this idea of these teams that are never going
to quit and never going to just kind of give up.
So I think that's kind of their attitude going back
to Detroit. It's gonna be loud. It's gonna be really loud.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
That's one of the reasons in general, I think that
the most sucessful chapters and in most sports teams history
are when they sort of encapsulate the identity of the
community they're part of. Right Like, So there's this moment
of Dan Campbell that I don't think Dan Campbell the
coach necessarily works in every city, but Dan Campbell the
coach certainly works in Detroit, And I think that's part
(16:18):
of what you you have to find is like ways
to make your team really resemble the identity of the
community that they're part of. And you know this, this
Pistons team can obviously do that. By the way, Express
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(16:38):
expresspros dot com. He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz. The
Pistons have taken down the Knicks one hundred and ninety four.
I'll also add one confidence meter to this book, Like,
if you're Kid Cunningham, you have done what you want,
when you want, how you want for two games. Like,
there's got to be you talk about confidence. Caid coming
off tonight with what I think it was thirty three points, Yeah,
thirty three points on eleven or twenty one shooting also
(17:00):
with twelve boards. I just man, they don't have an
answer for k Cunningham. So now you have a Detroit
team that's gonna go back to a absolute environment. Now
you know you would think that MSG was that for
the Knicks and it didn't make a difference in this.
You've got a Detroit team that's gonna look at it
and for the next couple of days tell themselves the
same thing. We'll all be saying, were it not for
a twenty one nothing run, they'd be up to nothing
(17:22):
in this series. Like I it's when this series started.
I picked Detroit to win in seven and that was
sort of me just trolling the entire world and saying, well,
I'll go the opposite way on it more likely, I
mean edibles more likely than the drunk But either way,
you know, either way there is there is certainly a
belief happening. But also it comes back to something that
(17:45):
you know you said at the beginning that I think
people freak out sometimes here, Like I just Madison Square
Garden is a great it's a great environment. I love it. Again.
I've had the opportunity to stand on stage at MSG
and like it. I'll never forget it. But I just
don't think when you walk into the garden, like I
just got to tell Knicks fans, I'm sorry to pile on,
(18:06):
but like these are just the moments that you remember
that you're not that special. And I think about this
all the time when Cowboys fans come in and tell me,
oh my god, the Cowboys haven't won a Super Bowl
since the nineties. Okay, like congratulations. You know how many
teams haven't won a Super Bowl since the nineties. There's
a lot of them. You know, how many teams have
never been to the Super Bowl. Like I get frustrated
(18:26):
when legacy teams pretend that they should be constantly living
in a different world, Like getting to these moments is
really difficult. And you know, for me, as a Raiders fan,
my favorite team hasn't been to the Super Bowl since
what two thousand and two? Right, Like, if you you
cover the Titans, look at the Titans history, Like if
(18:47):
Browns fans have the right to stand up and say,
oh my god, we haven't been to a super Bowl
like that, that to me makes sense. But it just
feels like the Knicks, the Lakers, the Cowboys, these huge
monetizable brands, feel like because they're super power popular, did
that means that they should automatically be going to championships?
And it just doesn't work that way. Like you're like
Taylor Swift, you're really popular and that's something that we
(19:09):
should credit. But that doesn't mean that you're the best
in the world at anything. It just means you're really popular.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Well, And I love that those fan bases will always
remind you, well, the leagues are better when the New
York teams are good, or when the La teams, or
when the Lakers are good and the Clippers will see
what happens as an actually exciting basketball team. Currently down
one to zero in their series as the Nuggets take
a three point lead early in the first quarter of
the late NBA playoff action. But you know who gets
(19:36):
to be special tonight, FITZI, Pistons fans. Pistons fans get
to be special tonight. I'm going to read you a
tweet from Tim Reynolds that was put out a couple
of days ago ahead of this playoff series. The Last
Time by at by Tim Reynolds is where you can
find this the last time the Pistons won a playoff game.
Lebron was two hundred and forty ninth on the all
(19:57):
time scoring list. Greg Popovich was nineteenth on the all
time wins list. Kevin Durant was the rookie of the year.
Wemby was four years old Westbrook, Kevin Love and Derreck
Rose were about to get drafted. And the kicker in
this tweet, which is just perfectly constructed by somebody who
(20:18):
I assume as a writer, eggs were a dollar eighty
three a dozen.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
This is one hundred years ago.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Basically that the Pistons fans have gotten to celebrate a
postseason win, and I love that. That's what gives me
the joy in sports is seeing the down trodden rise
up and knock these you know, perpetually talked about, perpetually discussed,
perpetually overrated franchises off of the mountaintop a little bit
(20:43):
and for the next I mean, I know that they're
not on much of a mountaintop at this point in time,
and that any semblance of playoff relevancy is something that
they cling too desperately. And I will admit that the
NBA is a lot more fun when New York Knicks
fans are engaged. I will completely acknowledge that that is
fact accurate. That doesn't mean that I don't like to
see him. I mean, I wouldn't say I like to
see him take a heart breaking loss every time every
(21:07):
once in a while, but it does add a little
bit more juice, a little bit more drama, a little
bit more intrigue to the kind of things that we
talk about. And that's what you're speaking to is simply entitlement, right,
the franchises that have been around the longest and that
have a story championship history, as some of the franchises
that you just mentioned do. They come with a certain entitlement,
(21:29):
and it's okay to see somebody with a little bit
of entitlement get humbled every once in a while.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, I mean, you're right in the way you're saying
titlement because it is. I feel like the adult sports
equivalent of a whiny little baby is the person that's like, yeah,
but we're really popular and everybody likes this, so we
should with championships really, like I'm sorry, Like great, the
Knicks were a really good basketball Like, look, man, I'm old.
We joke about the fact all the time that I'm old,
(21:55):
Like the Knicks haven't played meaningful championship caliber basket ketball
in most of the lifetimes of the guys that are
actually playing in the league right now. Like if you
are playing in today's NBA, when's the last great Knicks
team you saw? Like, when's the last oh my god,
stop everything, I have to watch this next team that
you saw.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
And the fact is ever not in my life.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
I'm thirty one, and you mentioned I mean, my god,
two thousand and eight, where were you in two thousand
How old were you in two thousand.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
And eight ten I would have been what eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
You got playoffs everywhere you look.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
You got the basketball going on right now, You've got
the NHL in full swing. But for football fans, Jason Fitz,
it's draft season. It's the season of transaction, It's the
season a hope. It's the thing that warms your heart,
get your feeling real good after a three and fourteen
finish of four and thirteen ian finish. Whatever happened to
(23:01):
your football team in twenty twenty four, it doesn't.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Matter because it's Draft week. Baby.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
But the problem, as we sit here on the Jason
Smith Show, he's Jason Fitz fits not Smith. Even though
he's confused himself several times to night, I'm buck rising.
We're with you here for the next few hours. If
you want to give us a call. Eight seven, seven
nine nine six sixty three sixty nine eight seven seven
ninety nine on Fox is how you get involved. Draft
(23:30):
week should be a moment of hope, of joy of
no losers, No losers. You want to talk about moral victories.
You tried to give me a Knicks fan moral victory
earlier when we were talking about the Pistons winning their
first playoff game since two thousand and eight. Draft season
is the season of moral victories, but one person is
(23:52):
holding it entirely hostage. Fitsie Aaron Rodgers will not get
the hell out of our lives fast enough. And the
fact that he has not given the Pittsburgh Steelers a
decision on the week of the NFL Draft, when it
was reported several times from several credible insiders that they
would have a decision on their quarterback not named Mason.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Dan Rudolph respectfully, love you, Mason.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
It is insane to me that we are going to
have another NFL news cycle hijacked by a quarterback who
had a worse record as a starter for the Jets
last year than Zach Wilson did in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
This is where it just becomes a beautiful thing for
the lovers of chaos, all right, the agents of chaos.
This becomes a beautiful thing because the draft takes place
Thursday night, right, the draft takes place in green Bay.
Right when I think Green Bay and I think, how
do you steal the story? Like the easiest way for
(24:54):
Aaron Rodgers, who says he doesn't seek the attention, but
always seems to do things that are attention seeking, Like
most of the time, if I don't want anyone to
pay attention to me, probably don't go on the Pat
McAfee show. But you know, he says he doesn't want
the attention, but he does most of the time. I
look around and say, okay, we're just gonna get a decision.
For most guys, Nah, this is in Green Bay. You
(25:15):
can't tell me that there isn't it to me, this
is simple. Aaron Rodgers is gonna announce his decision. It's
gonna get leaked right before the draft tips off, right
before the first pickers on the clock. The entire story
in Green Bay for the first night of the NFL
Draft is gonna be about one Aaron Rodgers, because I
think he's gonna announce that he's signing with the Pittsburgh
(25:36):
Steelers just as the draft begins. Now, maybe he announces
he's retiring. Either way, whatever he announces, if he announces
it on draft night, the entire conversation for five hours
is gonna have little nothing to do with Shadour anymore.
It's all gonna be about what are the Steelers gonna
do now that they know that Aaron Rodgers. And then
(25:56):
it's gonna be the next day when you turn on,
when you tune in to your favorite Friday morning show,
if you tune into Good Morning Football on the NFL
network the morning after the first night of the Draft,
if Aaron Rodgers is announced that he's retiring, let me
ask you, what do they lead with the shock of
where Shadur was finally drafted or the retirement of future
(26:19):
Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers. We all know the answer
to this. Aaron Rodgers is going to be the biggest
story because he's going to announce his decision apt as
the first round of the Draft commences.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Either way, there will always be drama on Draft Night,
and you can check out Dollar Shave Club, Fox Sports
Radios Draft Night live throughout the first round of the
Draft on Thursday night. It is, of course brought to
you by the wonderful folks at Dollar Shave Club, your
place to get everything you need to stay smooth and
smell great. Visit dollarshaveclub dot com slash Draft and use
(26:50):
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twenty dollars or more, plus free shipping, free shipping FITZI Drama,
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Be sure to tune into Fox Sports Radio's Draft Night Live,
which is Thursday night at eight pm Eastern throughout the
first round of the draft. Insider Jay Glazer, former Jets
(27:12):
general manager Joe Douglas, college Football Hall of Famer LeVar Errington,
and Fox Sports Lead college football reporter Jenny Taft. Well,
have you covered for all thirty two picks with predictions
and reactions. That's Thursday at eight pm Eastern throughout the
first round of the draft, live right here on Fox
Sports Radio and with a live video simulcast on the
(27:33):
Fox Sports Radio YouTube page.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Make sure you subscribe. Brought to you by Dollar Shave Club.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
It would be the most Aaron Rodgers thing in the world,
because I'm sure you know you've talked at great length
on your various Yahoo platforms, per potentially even here on
Fox Sports Radio about Aaron Rodgers appearance on McAfee and
how he said he's what was the line that he's
not decided on anything and he's not attached to anything.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
It was something a little.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Bit more transcendent sounding than that, but you get my point.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
I'm paraphrasing.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
He talks a lot without actually saying anything, But there
is going to come a time where Aaron Rodgers actually has.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
To make a decision.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
I'm convinced Vincy that, and I love your Tinfoil had
conspiracy theory here. It delights me to no end because
that would just give me another reason to tee off
on a quarterback who I think has been washed for
quite some time, and we continue to talk about is
talk about him as if he's still super Bowl caliber,
super Bowl champion Aaron Rodgers, and we are many were
(28:38):
many years removed from him even being Green Bay and
of ea Aaron Rodgers at this point in time, It's
been a long time since I've seen Aaron Rodgers actually
be the player that he used to be. I'm just
I'm convinced he's gonna play football somewhere in twenty twenty five.
There's too many teams who will literally hold their draft
(29:02):
hostage while he makes a decision. Throughout the course of
an offseason and get edged by the fact that Aaron
Rodgers could play for us. Aaron Rodgers could make us
a competitor. Aaron Rodgers could keep us relevant in the
AFC North as we try and scrounge and claw and
scrap our way past Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph and
Justin Fields and Russell Wilson and all these different things. Hell, Minnesota,
(29:23):
I know they passed on him this first time around,
but are you telling me if JJ McCarthy doesn't look
exactly the way that Kevin O'Connell wants him too, that
they wouldn't at least consider giving that ex in Aaron.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
Rodgers a call.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
I guess it's not technically an ex but you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I think Minnesota would be the one place he would
want to go. What gets tricky about this is what
do you do if you Pittsburgh. Like to me, it's
pretty shocking to see one of the most stable and
respected organizations in all of sports left in this game
of musical chairs with no answer at the position. Like
everybody else at least figured out some so, I mean,
(29:58):
not like the Giant's answer, but I at least understand
what they're like, I understand, Hey, it's the best of
a bad situation. Like the hell else you gonna do? Right?
Like I understand what their approach is, I don't understand
how Pittsburgh got to this point, you know, And if
you talk to people that I've talked to Charles Robinson
at Yahoo a lot on our show Inside Coverage there,
you know, he's made it very clear that Arthur Smith
(30:19):
just simply didn't want Russell back, and they thought that
there would be the opportunity to maybe work something out
with Justin Fields, and Justin Fields didn't want to be there.
So now what do you do? Well, you gotta have
some sort of like Mason Rudolph could not have been.
You're not even your plan d coming in. There's just
no way in my mind that the Steelers, a competent,
well run organization like this is what happens to bad teams.
(30:41):
The Steelers may still win nine games because they're the
Pittsburgh Steelers, but they're stuck and this becomes just like
the Kenny Pickett draft I was working. I was covering
the draft the year that Kenny Pickett was drafted, and
my immediate reaction on air when the pick happened was
I don't like this pick because Kenny Pickett isn't a
first round quarterback. This just feels like a team needed
a quarterback and he was the best guy there at
(31:03):
the position they needed. That's what it feels like. The
Steelers are gonna get stuck doing like when they get
when the Steelers are on the clock with I think
twenty first pick off the top of my head, when
they are on the clock with the twenty first pick,
my god, Like I think by then they may be
stuck with the fourth best quarterback in this draft. So
like it gets really tricky depending on what happens with Shador,
(31:24):
depending on like if Shador is free falling, are they
taking him there? But also, I mean Schefty was the
one that tweeted out yesterday. He talked to a GM
that doesn't have a first round grade on a single
quarterback in this year's draft, Like, even if they take Shador,
is that really the law that's the answer. Like Chador's
best situation is not having to play this year. So
I man, I don't know. I feel like the Steelers
(31:45):
are screwed. And because the Steelers are screwed, they're sitting
at the altar of Aaron Rodgers. But that's not a
place I ever want to be because I don't think
Aaron Rodgers at his core, gives a damn about anybody
else's altar. He's only gonna do what he wants to do,
when he wants to do wants to do it, and
that's the way he's always operated. So they're relying on
somebody that I just don't think you can rely on.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
I don't understand why he still gets extended that latitude.
Like I know that we are so desperate for even
reasonably effective and efficient quarterback play in the NFL, the
fact that we cannot find thirty two people to play
it at a starting caliber level anywhere in the world
thirty two people to play this position well, and it
speaks to the degree of difficulty that playing NFL quarterback requires,
(32:29):
even college quarterback, depending on which programs you're looking at,
if you want to get into the weeds there. But
I I know I've known Arthur Smith for a long time,
long before he was the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator, long
before he was the Atlanta Falcons head coach. He's just
a cute little assistant tight ends coach running around here,
quality control guy here in Tennessee before he went on
(32:51):
to become the OC and then have a successful run
that ended up getting him a head coaching job.
Speaker 5 (32:56):
I cannot it is.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I have tried to wrap my head around this ten
thousand times, Fitzy, because I know Arthur Smith. I don't
know Mike Tomlin personally, but I know enough people in
the league who have been around Mike Tomlin and the
things that Mike Tomlin has not only survived in, but
thrived in to the point where he's never had a losing.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
Season in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
And the fact that both of those men, along with
many other respected football people who work for the Pittsburgh
Steelers organization, and the respect that that organization deserves they
have earned it. The fact that they are in this
spot is as mind boggling to me as it is
to you, and to your point, because I know we'll
get to Shador Sanders at some point tonight. It is
(33:34):
Draft week, after all, there's some gas lighting around the
Giants at three. I was reading as recently as this
morning from Adam Schefter talking about the opportunity or the
potential for to see New York overdraft a quarterback, that
quarterback specifically, just because we know cam Ward is going
number one off the board to Tennessee. I can't think
(33:56):
of a worse possible situation to put Shador in. He's
have to play if they draft him, if Aaron Rodgers
is not a viable option for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And
the only reason they're in this position, FITZI is because
as recently I was at owners meetings in pom Beach, Okay,
they had and I can't remember which rooney currently is
the controlling owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the ownership
(34:19):
was on record talking about the fact that they expected
an Aaron Rodgers deal soon.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
That was a month ago.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
Almost at this point in time, they got got an
organization that almost never gets got got got by Aaron Rodgers,
who at this point in his career, is grifting off
his own relevancy that he had, I mean four or
five years ago.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
And it's I don't it really.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
It sounds like a lot of personal criticism that I
have of that man, but it is all professional at
this point in time, because I think the way that
he conducts himself is frankly not professional.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
If you allow yourself to get got by this version
of Aaron Rodgers. You have nobody but yourself to blame
it for being real. You just mentioned should Let's get
into it. Let's figure out where Schur is gonna go.
The latest and pretty shocking revelations I've heard from a
couple of people around the league about one spot that
everyone thinks is a landing spot for Shadur that I
(35:12):
just don't think is in the cards. Tell you about
that next.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
The rumors are swirling.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
It's just a matter of actually getting to the NFL Draft.
Welcome back to the Jason Smith Show. He's Jason Fitz,
not Jason Smith. I'm Buck Rising and we're hanging out
here with you for a couple more hours. Give us
a call if you want eight seven seven nine nine
six sixty three sixty nine. That's eight seven seven ninety
nine on Fox if you want to jump into the conversation.
(35:49):
The rumors are swirling around the sun of Dion Sanders,
Shadoor Sanders the Colorado quarterback, and the question becomes, now, Fitzie,
what is going to happen with Shadoor on Thursday night?
Does anything happen with Shadoor Sanders on Thursday night? It
would be a significant upset to see only one quarterback.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Drafted in the first round.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
In fact, I'm very much convinced at this point in time,
which is a conversation for another day, that the Alabama
quarterback Jalen Milroe may end up.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Being a first round pick.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
And I'm sure you've heard some things to a similar effect,
but Shador Sanders is going to dominate the headlines, provided
that your boy, Aaron Rodgers doesn't steal them away from him.
Speaker 5 (36:33):
On the first night of the Green Bay Draft. So
many teams with quarterback needs, so.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
Many teams that you could make it make sense in
your head to see Shadoor Sanders go to except for
the New York Giants at three, because that's to me
where the NFL draft, this year's NFL Draft actually starts.
It's cammore to the Tennessee Titans. That's a lock. Everything
that you hear from the Cleveland Browns is that not publicly,
(37:00):
but privately, it seems that they are headed on a
collision course to draft Travis Hunter, arguably the only quote
unquote generational talent in this draft, which leaves arguably the
best player, the best prospect in this draft, Abdul Carter,
the pass rusher out of Penn State, available for the
Giants who have an embattled coach, a more embattled general manager,
(37:23):
and an ownership who has already expressed a level of
impatience with both of those individuals. That may force you
to make a decision, or may push you to make
a decision that may not be in the best long
term interest of the franchise that you're making decisions for,
but if you think it'll give you a little extra
job security, maybe a thing about overdrafting Shadur Sainders at three.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
I mean only if you want to ruin the kid.
I can't say this is not en of Giants fans.
If your team drafts Shador, he will be at bust
and it's not his fault. This to me is so simple. Shadour,
if he goes somewhere and has some time to developed
with the coach that you know has a long term
plan for him, where they keep him off the field
for a minute, while everything sort of they work on
some of the things that obviously that are that are
(38:08):
playing an apparent in Hiss tape, then it becomes a
much different conversation. And Dan Orlovsky has said repeatedly that
he thinks, you know that that Shador is the most
difficult prospect he's ever had to try to evaluate where
he's gonna go on the draft. I have talked to
everybody this this is what I try and do. Is
somebody that's hosted to me my eighth year hosting draft
content for Yahoo. Uh, not for Yahoo the entire time,
(38:29):
but my eighth year hosting draft content. I try and
talk to a bunch of people leading up that I
think are smart. So when, as you and I've talked
about before, like when the Will Levis things started to
blow up, I talked to enough people that I had
I was confident that Will Levis thing was not you
know what some people thought it was gonna be. When
bo Nicks last year started to blow up, I talked
to enough people that I was confident that bo Nicks
(38:49):
is gonna blow up this year. I get different answers
every week when I start talking to people I genuinely
think most of the world doesn't know where Shoudo is
gonna go. I'm just becoming more more certain that he's
not gonna end up in New Orleans. And I've seen
a bunch of mocks that want to put him with
the Saints. I've seen a bunch of mocks that want
to put him with the Giants. These places don't necessarily
(39:10):
make any sense for a couple of reasons. Like Number one,
you gotta play him like you don't have another quarterback.
If you're playing him, you're gonna ruin him. And that's
very reminiscent of Trevor Lawrence. I said, you know, the
Jags would ruin Trevor Lawrence Before Trevor Lawrence ruined the Jags,
they did right, Like I think the Giants are gonna
ruin a quarterback if they take him. Like if you're
the Giants, do the simple. Think here, take your strength,
(39:32):
which is your defensive line. Make it even stronger with
the best prospect. I think the clearest prospect to see
in this year's draft, the one easy, all right, Abdual Carter.
We're gonna take him and immediately he's gonna make a difference,
and you make a team better, like this is really simple.
If they takes your door, I think that's asenine. And
where it gets complicated is I think it's asadine. If
the Raiders takes your door, I think it's asendine. If
(39:53):
the Jets takes your door, I think it's asinine. If,
as I mention, the Saints takes your door. I talk
to three different people this week that all told me
the same thing. The Saints look like they're looking at
defensive players right now, which is sort of shocking to
what everybody's logic is. I've heard some Jackson Dart love
from the Saints. I just think we're gonna be sitting
in the middle of the first round, and the real
conversation is gonna be who's gonna trade up for Shador?
(40:16):
And even that is complicated. Are you willing to give
up extra assets to go get a quarterback that some
teams have a third or fourth round great on. I
don't think that makes any sense. I agree, and I'm
gonna say this loudly. I think there are gonna be
four quarterbacks taken in the first round. I believe that
Jackson Dart, Shador Sanders, and Jalen Milroe are all gonna
go in the first round. I just think that three
(40:38):
of the four Jackson, Shador, and Jalen are likely to
go at the bottom of the first round to a
team that trades up back into the first round to
try and get an extra year maybe. And all of
this is because the league is gonna acknowledge what you
and I've heard enough times. You've heard this at the
owners meetings. We've heard this enough times. These are developmental quarterbacks.
That's just real. That's fact. That doesn't mean he's not good,
(41:00):
that doesn't mean he's gonna suck. It just means it
he's developmental. Like that's okay. That's an okay label to
put on a quarterback coming in.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
And of course you can follow along all night long
on that Thursday night with Fox Sports Radio's Draft Night
Live throughout the first round of the draft on Thursday Night.
It's brought to you by Dollar Shave Club, your place
to get everything you need to stay smooth and smell great.
Visit dollarshaveclub dot com, slash draft and use promo code
Draft for twenty percent off your order of twenty dollars
(41:31):
or more, plus free shipping, and you don't even have
to get Jason Fitz whispering smooth into your ear that way.
That's Dollarshaveclub dot com slash Draft.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
It was very haunting.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
Be sure to tune into Fox Sports Radios Draft Night Live,
which is Thursday night at a pm Eastern throughout the
first round of the draft. Insider Jay Glazer, former Jets
general manager Joe Douglas, college football Hall of Famer LeVar Arrington,
and Fox Sports lead college football reporter Jenny Taft will
have you covered for all thirty two picks with predictions
and reactions. That's Thursday at eight pm Eastern throughout the
(42:05):
first round of the draft, live right here on Fox
Sports Radio and with a live video simulcast on the
Fox Sports Radio YouTube page.
Speaker 5 (42:13):
Brought to you by Dollar Shave Club.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
It's in particular crazy fits to think a week ago,
the New Orleans Saints were moving ahead with Derek Cars
their starting quarterback. This potential shoulder injury, it's not a
potential shoulder injury. It's a shoulder issue that's going on
apparently wasn't publicly known about until days before the team's
(42:36):
voluntary offseason workout programs program started, which is insane that
they would clear him on the medicals and not realize
that he has a shoulder situation that may cost him
his upcoming season and have to result in surgery. The
fact that they are looking at defensive players runs so
counter to everything that you think that they should do
(42:57):
about the draft situation, except for the fact that we
just he's talked about Aaron Rodgers, and nobody's talked about
Aaron Rodgers in New Orleans before
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