January 4, 2020 • 37 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon welcome in the NFL Wild Card weekend with in depth game previews plus Superbowl predictions! With Jason Garrett's future still lingering over the Cowboys we tell you which available coaches will be taking open head coaching positions across the league. Lakers welcome back recently traded Lonzo Ball, Josh Heart and Brandon Ingram with a small video tribute tonight with a prominent father sitting sideline and Jason has to relive each terrible post season team picks like never before!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:22):
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
There is no bigger anticipatory situation then the Patriots tomorrow
potentially playing their final game of the year and Tom
Brady potentially playing his final game with the New England Patriots.
(00:43):
There's been a lot talked about this. We've talked about
this from months. This is where it looks like it's going,
and now you are seeing the Tom Brady leaving train
picking up a lot of momentum. Brady even said today
this is part of my wait and see where am
I gonna come back? I'm worried about the game tomorrow,
and that said Bill Belichicka said the same thing. But
outside of Brady and and the mounting evidence that he's leaving,
(01:07):
you know, the trail of crumbs with selling his house,
his trainers, selling his house, opting out of his contract.
I'll give you a big piece of new evidence that
tells you that Brady is moving on and it has
nothing to do with him. Okay, now you are seeing
all around the NFL team starting to line up their
coaching interviews. The Browns have started, the Giants have started.
(01:29):
Who is being asked to interview and wants to interview
but can't for another week because they're still playing. Josh McDaniels,
Patriots offensive coordinator. He's on everybody's list, but because of
this rule, Josh McDaniels can interview until the Patriots are
out of the playoffs, or you wait a week, you
get to that dead time when when when people can talk.
Josh McDaniels on a list here, But wait a minute,
(01:50):
Wait a minute. He was on the list couple of
years ago, and he actually took the coach job and
then he decided against it. Well, what happened back then?
More than likely people we talked to on the show,
various insiders said, listen, some kind of agreement was made
that when Bill Belichick steps down at some point, Josh
McDaniels takes over, and it's probably gonna be some time
in the New Yar future. So Josh McDaniels says, Okay,
(02:12):
I'm gonna stay. It's what I want to do. I'm
gonna wait. But now he's interviewing again, because why wouldn't
you go two years ago when you had Andrew Luck,
you had money to spend an offensive line. You didn't
know Andrew Luck was going to retire two years ago.
I mean, if you did, that was really dirty pool
not telling anybody, but you know, that's the job you take.
That's you're in a position to succeed Bud. He pulls out.
But now that Josh McDaniels is interviewing, wait, wait a second,
(02:33):
So he's interviewing. If he's interviewing, that means he might
not be next in New England for a while. Why
wouldn't he be next in New England? Because Bill Belichick
has decided, you know what, I'm gonna stay a little
bit longer. Tom's gonna leave, and even throughout this entire hey,
we get along, we get along. You know they don't
You know that Belichick and Brady each want to win
without the other one. So now that Brady looks like
(02:55):
he's gonna be the one going, Belichick is staying. So
now here's Josh McDaniels going. Why can't wait ten years
to go interview, to wait for him to retire and
step in. I'm gonna leave right now. Look it happened.
Happened in Syracuse. Mike Hopkins was supposed to be the
next head coach when Jim Beheim retired. Behead decides I'm
gonna stay for a few more years, and Mike Hopkins decides,
all right, I'm going to Washington and now he's doing
(03:16):
really good things at University of Washington. You can only
wait so long. So why is he interviewing now if
you think he's going to take over at some point
for Belichick? Because Belichick is thing, because Brady is going,
so we can show I'm gonna win without tom And
this is another piece of evidence why that divorce is
happening and tomorrow could be that last time we see
(03:36):
it happened. Look at you getting here, Josh McDaniels. Uh,
what investigatory had out Belichick at sixty seven years old?
Willie stick around at least seventy? Keep rolling on? Look,
you're twelve and four. This year, you lose the final game.
That's the only one that really mattered in all of
this because it actually had some playoff implications. That's the
(03:56):
first so that was a shocker. But with Brady, we've
lined up all the crumbs, all the tea leaves, whatever
you want to do, and it's been the foregone conclusion.
I think he's been photoshopped into about nine different teams
uniforms at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if you
couldn't find people selling Brady merch for their favorite team
at this point. That's how far some of these rumors
(04:18):
have gone. Bill Belichick, I know it's the how long
can he keep at it and want to run with
this group of players and with this coaching staff, with
Josh McDaniels. Is he ready did anything that you saw
this year suddenly decide he was gonna be the the
(04:39):
wonder kid. He's not. He's not that same guy, I
don't think right with that reputation, But there's still looking
for somebody like there's not There's nobody like that now.
I mean, look, you had Kyle Shanahan, you had Sean McVeigh,
you had that run of guys who are the next
young wonder kinned offensive corners. There's no guys like that.
Josh McDaniels had fit that a little bit. I mean,
I think teams want him to fit it a little
(05:01):
bit more than he really does. I wanted to fill
out that suit more than he really does fill out
the suit. But he does at least fall into that category.
I think it comes down to if you're thinking you're
getting him in a package deal, right, that you're getting
McDaniels and Brady together, then then we've got some some
legs here as you go, because Brady's shown the affinity
for McDaniels and obviously it's worked. So if you're at
(05:23):
one of these teams in need of a coach and
you can get the the package deal of Brady coming
along with that doesn't fit the giants who look like
they're gonna go McCarthy way anyway. Uh, Cleveland, are you
giving up on Baker Mayfield after two years? You might
want to, but you're probably not. You You elevated him
and gave him way too much power, way too much influence,
(05:44):
but then you fired everybody that he loved and loved him,
right Dorsey and and Freddie Kitchens are no longer behind
door number two pulling the strings and propping him up,
so you could certainly pull the rug out from under
him there, but then it just becomes on that a
case of fit and where you go to and most
(06:04):
of those places you're not gonna suddenly eleventh hour fire
one of those coaches to make room for McDaniels and Brady.
So I think that's one of the curiosities of this
is where would he end up because it's not a guy,
the grizzled veteran with that pedigree like we've been talking
with Jay Glazer and others, where it seemed like the
coaching hiring was gonna go this time around. Be sure
(06:26):
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Lakers lead the Pelicans to fourteen the second game, pinning
Anthony Davis against his old team that they played earlier
this year in New Orleans, and Anthony Davis went for eighty.
(06:47):
Right now, Lakers lead the Pelicans twenty six to fourteen,
and it's not so much just hey, here's Anthony Davis
against the Pelicans. But this is Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram,
and Josh Hart's first game back in l A since
the trade. They were given different amounts of warm receptions
before the game. Their pictures were and and and video
(07:07):
was shown for them on the board as they were introduced.
And I gotta be honest, this is one of those
trades that even though the Lakers had the Pelicans, because
Anthony Davis wanted to go to the Lakers, this has
worked out for both teams. Obviously, you've seen what Anthony
Davis has meant playing with Lebron James. The Lakers are
seven and seven with the best record in the West.
(07:28):
But even though the Pelicans stink, they've gotten more than
expected out of Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball so far.
I mean, Brandon Ingram's now scoring twenty five a game.
He was eighteen and seven guy with the Lakers, which
you know there's so many guys who can do that.
He has really blossom a Lonzo Ball is starting to
play extremely well. He's now a solid ten five and
(07:50):
five guy. And this is not the Lakers giving up
on Alonzo and Brandon Ingram because there's trades that are
made where well, look, you gave up on a guy
and here he blow. He played so well after you
traded him. There's no way a Lonzo Ball and Brandon
Ingram are playing like this if they're still in l A.
They're not. They're they're not the right fit in a
(08:10):
Lebron James led offense because he needs specific players that
do specific things, and a Lonzo Ball and brand Ingram
were not those guys. Was lot was gonna work for
the Lakers with a Lonzo playing point guard again and
Lebron James trying to play off that, No, that wasn't working.
What the Lakers are doing now is working. And now
the Pelicans have two players who they've gotten saying hey boy,
(08:31):
we're really getting contributions from them. And you see, restarts
and and rebirths of NBA careers come for many different reasons,
and for Alonzo and Brandon Ingram, it's it's pretty simple.
It's being the right fit. But the right fit can
be a couple of different things. Ingram's are right fit
in this offense because he's one of the go to
(08:52):
guys for points, but for Alonzo, it's a wake up
call you know how many times did you have to
see during the season the Pelicans saying, hey, he's working,
honest all the time. He's changing his shot again, he's working.
He's working, He's working. Is he working this hard? Is
he still you know, being this type of player who's
focused on the game. If he's in l a and
you're getting headlines from LaVar Ball every five minutes, no,
(09:13):
he's not. So this was the wake up call. Hey,
now you had everything, and now the Lakers shipped you out.
They were tired of you, they were tired of your dad. Hey,
I gotta focus if I want to be a really
good NBA player, and Lonzo Ball is doing that. This
is a good fit for him. It's a good fit
for Brandon Ingram. It's worked out for both teams. Alonso
is not good, uh, ten ten, five and five twenty
(09:34):
eight minutes a night, uh most of the time in
a in a backup role. And with Ingram, the question
is going to become all right, once his zion's cleared,
what what's his role? Does he get to still be
the guy? Because right now it's it's the Kevin Love
question of all those years in Minnesota. Isn't it. Can
you put up really good numbers on a bad team. Yeah,
but with with the way this team is gonna go
(09:56):
run up and down the floor, there's plenty of room
for both of them. I mean not. Look, obviously, Zion
Williamson is a big deally dunked at practice today doing
alley oops in the whole nine yards and none of
them counted. You know, I mean, how much can you
count on Zion Williamson? I mean that's the big question. Now.
The guy hasn't played and a seemingly minor injury has
kept him out throughout the NBA season, and you wonder,
(10:17):
not is this guy greg Oden, but is is he
just too big? Is he putting too much stress on
his body? Because that's the one thing we talked about forever.
The one question I have with Zion Williamson is is
he too heavy for the NBA? Is he too heavy
for the pounding? And he's at knee and different type
of joint injuries the last three years in basketball. So
what does that tell you? You're too big? You're too
(10:38):
heavy to ninety you can't run up and down the
floor like that. You're the heaviest guy in the NBA.
And you're nineteen years old, which means you're only gonna
get bigger, which means you have to figure something else out.
So right now, it's you're just hoping and cross from
your fingers at Williamson can get on the floor at
some point and be somebody who can contribute to the team.
I mean, is he suddenly gonna come on and play
forty minutes a night. Now, it's not happening. You're gonna
(10:59):
see and play low amounts some minutes he's gonna it's
it's gonna be something where let's really get him in
and see what kind of player he has. So I
don't see Brandon Ingram having a lot of trouble here
because Zion's gonna have his own difficulty just trying to
get on and be a day in and day out
NBA player. Yeah, it just in the short term, it's
it's bum slayer numbers, right it's the Dak Prescott numbers
of the NBA uh as as we're looking at Ingram
(11:21):
right now. And yes, some of the percentages are up,
some of the metrics are are moderately better than they
were as the Lakers. But he's gonna be allowed to
grow right, He's not gonna be thwarted in that, so
you at least have that opportunity you'll be able to
maximize and see what he is for the trade long haul,
I'll take. I think, at least on paper, what what
(11:42):
the Pelicans did get right in terms of number one
picks and everything else. But for the Lakers, it was
the how do we maximize what the Lebron James era
is and potentially give ourselves that next superstar injury history
and everything and and some of the theatrics to say
it nicely of getting himself and massaging his way out
(12:03):
of New Orleans as you did with Anthony Davis. But
you get a title. All you need is one, and
it justifies the whole thing that's Anthony Davis is clearly
by far and away. You put all the players you
had to get what you could get if you're the Pelicans,
because Anthony Davis was only gonna go to the Lakers.
And in the end you got a player who can
(12:24):
be a lynch pin for you for years in Ingram
and maybe a Lonzo Ball can turn out to be
someone who was a big rotation guy, you know, coming
off the bench playing twenty eight minutes. But hey, ten
five and five off the bench. You know, lots of
guys would like that. But the fact that, look, you
had to get what you get, and at least you
didn't get Alonzo Ball that's suddenly not on the floor
(12:44):
and he's scoring six points a night, three assists, and
he's disengaged. You're getting the best you can get. So hey,
that's why that was a victory for the Pelican. Well,
he's still gonna play something. Even the number one picks
are really where it comes down to, though, Right, the
players are all fine, heart uh and Gram and Ball
and Ingram's giving you some nice numbers, and he's fun
to watch for the fans, right because they at least
(13:06):
have a guy that's going up and down and gives
them some highlight real stuff. But to get that number,
that number of number one picks for on a trade
where there was no leverage at all for New Orleans,
they had to get rid of him. I mean, that's
that's a really good haul, almost as if the NBA
came in and said, hey, you really got to give
(13:26):
up something special because of the way this is played out,
you know, not to go all conspiracy theorists or anything.
But but the reality is, it makes no sense when
that's the only place they were going to do business
that they were still able to get what three first
round picks for him as well as three players. It's
kind of ridiculous. Yeah, I mean with you're you're negotiating
with one hand tied behind your back, and you did
(13:48):
pretty well, you know. Now, then the Lakers side of
it is is that here's the only the the only
dark side I see for the Lakers coming off of
what they've been able to accomplish so far. Certainly in
the regular season, look there twenty seven seven. They had
that small little losing streak that's gonna happen over the
course of the season the way the Lakers are playing now,
and this leads into how to solve this issue. Are
(14:10):
they regular season great? Are they a team that in
the regular season because it's Lebron, it's a D it's
one game out of a D two, it's gonna be
really hard to stop them. But when you get to
the playoffs, if this is the same Laker team personnel
wise we see in the playoffs that we're seeing now,
they could lose in the Western Conference semis. When you're
playing a team that's gonna clamp down defensively night and
(14:31):
the night out in a seven game series, and the
Lakers have no other place to go with the ball
because it's either Lebron or it's Anthony Davison. Boy, that
supporting cast is terrible. That's the one fear. Are they
a regular season champion type roster? Which is when it
gets to the trading deadline, I fully expect there to
be a lot of turnover and you're seeing at least
(14:52):
three new faces that are playing big minutes for the Lakers,
at least a couple of them who are shooters because
you need somebody else. And you know, Al Kuzma is
still working his way back intore where he fits now
in the new team with with Lebron and a d
be in the top two options. I mean, that's something
that's got now. Doesn't mean they can't solve it, because
easily the trading deadline they can solve and go get
a J. J. Reddick or somebody else or whoever they
(15:14):
want to go pick up and someone that can come
off the bench and give them some offense, because that's
what they're missing right now. But right now they look
like a team that boy regular season, hey, they can
rip through everybody, but you get a second round series
and a team that can play some defense, and and
I think the Lakers could be in trouble. That's the
idea of finding another shooter. We we all know that
there's a jersey with Igodala's name on it for once
(15:36):
the buyouts completed there, So we have some of those
activities that will go through in this NBA calendar as well.
So I don't think this roster's anywhere close to finished.
When when we get to mid April, I think you'll
see three or four other bodies. And let's not forget
the Kyle Kuzma trainer thing. Lebron James can try to
shrug that off all he wants. Go back and watch
(15:57):
that with be sure to catch live editions The Jason
Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific. Let's do this right now. Is now
the NFL head coaching the second round of hiring, because
the first round was Ron Rivera, Oh happy Thanksgiving. By
the way, where are the head coaching candidate's going to
end up? The Giants are in the middle of their
(16:18):
interviews the Brown just starting to conduct their interviews, and
now what about the Dallas Cowboys, because Mike Zimmer has
been rumored to be a guy that Jerry Jones wants.
That story broke earlier today and immediately the Vikings put
out a statement saying, we have every intention in keeping
Mike Zimmer. He's our coach. We want him. So whether
(16:39):
that was a flare sent up by Jerry Jones, something
that was thrown out there just to see if they
could cast a wide net, it seems like Mike Zimmer
is a name that was thrown out there and the Vikings, Hey,
we're onto you, Jerry Jones, and we are going to
try to keep Mike Zimmer. If I'm trying to figure
out who's gonna get the Dallas job, I'm gonna go by.
(16:59):
I'm gonna go have very simple philosophy that I think
you can't you can't overestimate what I'm gonna say. The
Cowboys still have Jason Garrett as their head coach, even
though you know Edward are reported last night they're gonna
they're ready to move on. It's gonna be officials sometime
in the next couple of days them there, keep him there.
Come on, keep them there. The rest of the NFL
wants Jason, Karen and Dallas. But the fact that they
(17:22):
haven't fired him yet. Seeing all of these coaches go interview,
all the names are out there, Mike McCarthy, Urban Meyer,
Mett Rule, all of these names are thrown out there.
This tells me that Jerry Jones and the Cowboys aren't
interested in any of these names, even if it's Urban Meyer.
These are not who Jerry Jones is going after. All
(17:42):
of the names you for, Josh mcday, everybody's out there.
Jerry Jones has not gone after. If none of these
people are on Jerry Jones list, if they're keeping Jason
Garrett right now, So the guy Jerry Jones wants, we
have not heard his name yet. Who's the one big
name that we have heard for a while. This is
(18:04):
gonna be the Cowboys guy. This will be the Cowboys guy.
Just wait. We talked about it a few months ago.
We have not heard his name at all yet. Adam Gate,
We have not heard his name at all yet. Lincoln Riley,
We have not heard one word about Jerry Joe. Lincoln Riley,
Lincoln Riley anywhere else. Lincoln, that's The only name of
(18:26):
all the big candidates we have not heard was Lincoln Riley.
That tells me it's gonna be Lincoln Riley. I like
your process of deduction, like you've been reading some Sherlock
Holmes while hanging out in Detroit as well. Yeah, it's
the Mike Zimmer's got one year left on his Minnesota deal.
The Vikings will do whatever they can, and it seems
(18:46):
to be a formula that's working at least to get
them into the playoffs and ready to roll here. As
long as Dalvin Cook's healthy, it seems anything is possible
in terms of their upside. But Lincoln Riley is certainly
not being connected too the disasters, right, It wasn't to
Washington before Ron Rivera became the guy. And Cleveland, god
(19:08):
knows what HASLM is gonna do there right asking for
permission from guy to interview guys, And so I'm just saying,
you know what, I'm out. I want no part of
what you got going on in that building. Wondering if
it needs an exorcism along the way for it. But yeah,
Lincoln Riley, it's been awful quiet. I don't know if
some of that is a factor of how they were
(19:28):
humbled in the semifinals, so maybe the heat is off,
so you can work on that behind the scenes. Either way,
I like the way that the Cowboys have gone about it.
Folks can laugh all they want that it's day five,
day six, whatever. He's out of. His contract goes to
the fourteenth if he keeps accepting lunch invitations to try
to sell sell them on showing up Jason Garrett that is.
(19:52):
And I can't blame Jerry Jones because you also don't
want to look desperate, and I don't think he comes
across as desperate or eking out every bit of inf
nation you can on Jason Garrett if anything. You know,
Jason Garrett at some point has to raise his hand
and say, to hell with this, I'm done. But you know,
you work behind the closed doors and behind the scenes
with Steven Jones probably helping to run this a lot
(20:15):
more than he's ever gonna get credit for along the process,
much like telling Dad and locking him in a room
so he didn't select Johnny Manziel all those years ago,
same kind of deal that there's more to it, But yeah,
keeping quiet on the active search is pretty impressive for
a guy that likes to be in front of a microphone. Well,
and don't forget this too. I mean this was kind
(20:36):
of a you know, and under the radar story a
few days ago. But the Sooner has lost a quarterback
coming in one Brock vander Griffin. Sports Illustrated has a
bit on this because it did an interview with him,
who was initially going to Oklahoma and now de committed,
and Mike Fisher wrote a column for Sports Illustrated saying
that vander Griff told s I that he would not
(20:58):
go to Oklahoma if Lincoln Riley is not his coach.
Now this doesn't mean in and of itself that Lincoln
Riley is leaving, but here's a guy that was gonna
be headed there and now he's decommitted. He's gonna go
someplace else. So I mean that we've not heard anything
about Lincoln Riley. All the other names are out there,
and Jerry Jones still has Jason Garrett as his head coach. This,
this is why it's gonna be Lincoln Riley. I mean,
(21:20):
I mean, it's it seems pretty simple. But when if
they wanted one of these other guys, Jerry Jones would
have kicked Jason Garrett to the curbs, and okay, we
gotta go get Urban Meyer. We all right. If Merbny
is gonna talk to the Browns, I don't want him
to take that Brown's job. I want him here in Dallas. Oh,
Matt Rule is talking to the giants. No, I want
Matt Rule coming up right from Baylor. I like Matt Rule.
Any of those guys, any of those names, he would
(21:42):
have already been involved in because he doesn't want to
lose them. The fact that they're still sitting around with
Jason Garrett. It's Lincoln Riley. He's the guy. See. I
like the way you did that, you made him your guy.
I do like the the fact that you had a
guy d commit. But let's face it, at this point,
Lincoln Riley at the collegiate level, was going to turn
any any that shows up at quarterback to gold. Right,
(22:02):
you're gonna you're gonna put up numbers. Uh. And if
you don't want to go there, that means you just
don't trust he's gonna be there for three years, not
necessarily that it's this year, but that you're not going
to get the significant growth and development that you are anticipating.
So no, I had a grain of salt. But just
you just need one year with Linken Riley. Apparently you
know Baker Mayfield came into look his his last year
(22:25):
he blossomed. It was it was one year for Kyler Murray.
It's one year for Jyalen. But want you got to
get your college start somewhere. You gotta get the fundamentals.
And then Lincoln comes in and cleans them up. Well
we'll call him the cleaner. Then Winston Wolf that's right,
he's all Harvey kit Tell. Just because you are a
character doesn't mean you have character. Be sure to catch
(22:47):
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. It's now time. Well,
I have to do it, Harmon. You don't have to
do all of it, but I have to revisit and
give new Super Bowl picks. My super Bowl picks are
still alive. Yeah, your pricks are still alive. You don't
have to do it as much. I I need to
do it because all of my teams have been eliminated.
(23:08):
My guys need a lot of help. But there's but
the end pick is still alive. My Steelers, Cowboys did
not work out. That didn't work out, but you know, look, hey,
the Steelers won eight game. You know Roethlisberger got hurt,
and you know, like they would have won more. The
Cowboys almost got in. But my new Super Bowl pick
(23:29):
because I have to go with teams that are involved
with it. Now Cleveland is not making it to the
Super Bowl. I am going to say, we see an
upset Kansas City. When's the a f C Championship on
the road. They beat Baltimore, they pull off the upset.
They are peaking, They are playing extremely well. Kansas City
(23:54):
was there last year. They felt just short. Baltimore hasn't
been pressure is gonna get to Baltimore enough for the
city to win. This is gonna be Patrick Mahomess moment.
And in a matchup of the two best quarterbacks new
quarterbacks in the league the last couple of years, it's
gonna be Mahomes over Lamar Jackson and Kansas City goes
to the Super Bowl. Oh, I like. I like the Bravada. Look,
(24:14):
you got a defense is playing better and they did
a good job to load management, load manage. Lashawn McCoy
for the second half of the year. His touches have
been held down, not an injury thing from all reports
that he will be and ready for the full full
load as necessary. And look, you've you've gotten reps for
other guys, Damian Williams, some spencer wear time and again,
(24:38):
and the defense playing so much better for them right now.
Some good reps in the receiving corps as well. So
looking for a little bit of a game breaker when
you've got McCole hardman out there working opposite Tyreek Hill,
I like it. It's it's it's ballsy when we go
against what is the presumptive i mean, prohibitive favorite, when
(24:59):
you go from the betting odds, the way that Baltimore's
offenses run through the year, I mean, it's it's tough,
but I I honestly feel that this is Kansas City's
time and they're gonna be the ones that go and
get and get this win because they've been through it
so recently and they know how their defense is playing
extremely well. And that's really what I'm kind of, you know,
(25:20):
banking on, is that they keep this defensive excellence through
the through the rest of the playoffs and they do
enough people to slow Lamar Jackson down. Look, they're not
going to stop them. But Kansas City, you keep scoring
bunches of points, you put a lot of pressure on
you get a turnover. Suddenly it's really tough playing catch up.
So that's why I'm going Cincinnati. That's why I'm since Yeah,
going with Kansas. Yeah, that's worse than Cleveland, man, come on,
(25:45):
come on. Although he did celebrate Sam White yesterday, remembering
his greatness of mocking Cleveland as he went, look, I
picked New England before the year. Part of it was
despite you and make you all mad and blue in
the face, but just for the fact that you have
a decent running game. Sony Michelle is still up and
around nine yards for the season in a quote down year.
(26:06):
As we knew it was gonna be a split with him.
Burkehead and of course James White out of the backfield.
Defense has been great at times. Part of it was
bum slang a good slate early. But at this point
I gotta dance with who brung me. I picked them
before the year. I can't become a coward now cheaters,
(26:27):
no matter how hard the road becomes. Right and Tennessee
will be an interesting test with Derrick Henry and the
running game, and we'll we'll pick that and then just
a little bit. But you know, a difficult road in
all the rumor, conjecture, speculation, But I don't rule them out.
You know, to be the man, you gotta beat the man.
And they're not dead yet. No, no, no, your your
teams are good. That's why I have to change, because
(26:48):
I lost mine and I can change NFC. It's it's
almost as if people are forgetting about them. But they're
the best team in the NFC. The road has to
go through them. They're going to the Super Bowl. San
Francisco is gonna defeat whoever comes in, and they're going
to Super Bowl to play the Chiefs. San Francisco is
(27:10):
the best team in the NFC. They're the best all
around team in the entire National Football League. Whoever comes in,
it's gonna be impossible for them to run the football enough.
They're not gonna throw the football, whether it's Aaron Rodgers,
Russell Wilson, Carson Wentz, whoever winds upcoming. And it doesn't matter.
They're the best team in the NFC. They're at home.
Their offense can win any kind of game. Now, that's
(27:31):
the one thing We talked about this a big deal
mid season when they were six and oh seven oh eight,
and no is that, Hey, Jimmy Garoppolo has gotta start
winning some games here because they can't always rely on
three running backs being run heavy. But Garoppolo the past
seven eight weeks to May has been really, really good,
and now they can win any kind of game in
(27:52):
the playoffs. They can win a shootout, they can win
a ground control game. Their defense is the best defense
in in the NFC and probably the second best defense
or maybe the best defense and all of football. It's
kind of a toss up you want to talk about
between them and the Patriots, But you know everybody's looking
for reasons to pick the Packers, or to pick the
Saints or pick thet are the best team in football
(28:12):
and they're at home. They're gonna beat whoever Chiefs forty
nine or Super Bowl. Yeah, the Eagles to stand them
at there, I believe it's a calculated two point five
chance to to to win it. Uh to get there
certainly a long road as well. We've talked about the
injuries at nauseam. You know you'd have a lot of
(28:34):
downfield playmaking over the course of the year. A lot
of balls also dropped where they could have been in
a much better position, just for guys getting a nice
tub of stick them before the season started. Miles Sanders
is becoming a really good running back, Jordan Howard's healthy,
and perhaps you at least get a little bit of
that thunder lightning combination. We haven't said that in a while.
(28:57):
I thought i'd bring that back from the Michael stot
Warwick unfair NFL yesteryear. You know, the the idea that
you have the guy between the tackles. Why they brought
Jordan Howard in, and Sanders has shown that he's a
pretty good receiver. Had that great connection with Wentz a
couple of weeks ago, so I'll stay with it. Carson Wentz,
I think people are starting to look at his year
(29:18):
a lot differently over these last couple of weeks. Sure,
a little bit of bum slang, a little bit of
luck helping him finish the job, and the Cowboys unable
to get out of their own way, But so looking
for Carson Wentz to make some plays and have some fun.
The forty nine is the one thing with them is
if you can run on them that it's just does
your team? Can you commit to it? Because offensively now
(29:40):
they're that much more explosive once you added Emmanuel Sanders
and whatever the hell they shot George Kittle up to
get him out there with that busted up ankle that
he had, still wondering what was going on there when
he's running downfield and screaming at Jimmy and they're finding
connection thirty yards downfield. Add Deebo, Samuel and Mostert, who's
been just a godsend to them to and half of
(30:00):
the year as well as he emerged in the leader
of the backfield, they're gonna be a really tough out.
But again, I backed myself into a corner by actually
picking too well and having two teams still alive. No,
that's great. Hey, you had your picks, You're still alive.
I had to redo my picks entire We love the Bengals.
It's good that you did take Cincinnati. There is audio
evidence that you've got the Bangles on your mind. Well
(30:22):
you know, and hey, I can I'll never pay for
a drink again in Cincinnati right there. Nor should you
be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio Whip. Let's take a look now and preview some
of the games this weekend. Wild Card weekend in the
(30:43):
National Football League. We spent a lot of time this
hour talking about the Patriots and Tom Brady, so let's
preview the NFC games. I may be crazy, call me crazy,
but I'm gonna take Minnesota over New Orleans. I like it.
Am falling for Kirk Cousins again, not really, because now
(31:04):
Dalvin Cook is back, Adam Feelings back. As long as
Cousins doesn't throw four picks, Minnesota will pull the upset.
Their defense will hold New Orleans down just enough. Minnesota
is primed for an offensive explosion. This is the best
version of their team we're gonna get. They're healthy now.
They win this game one over under. Sitting at forty
(31:26):
nine and a half. Eight is your point spread, New Orleans? Uh?
I think this is where we actually see Alvin Kamara
take on a bigger workload. Big kind of a quiet
season for him as his hat well, no, right, no,
this is one where he's got to be bigger, a
lot more. Jared Cook to go along with Michael Town.
How do you slow him down? That's the one thing
Minnesota in that secondary Uh, They're not gonna be able
(31:48):
to do. I'm taking New Orleans. Minnesota keeps it close
with Dalvin Cook running the football, but New Orleans succeeds
and proceeds. I may be fully crazy Part two, but
I'm gonna take Philadelphia over Seattle. I know my Seahawks.
Seahawks lost all their running backs. They're gonna struggle on
offense because they can't run the football well enough. Seattle
(32:09):
is in a rocky spot the last couple of weeks,
and Philadelphia is playing so well, their best football of
the season. They've won four in a row. Carson Wentz
has a lot to prove in his first playoff game.
It doesn't matter Zach hurts the weapons. If they play,
if they don't play, this will be a Carson Wentz game.
They win. He throws for three touchdowns. Russell Wilson all
(32:31):
by himself not enough. These are one team peeking and
another one still trying to figure it out. I picked
them before the season to get to the NFC title game.
I can't back away from him now. I have no
idea how it plays out, Miles Sanders, I think people
will gain an appreciation for how good a rookie year
he had. But you're right, it's all on the arm
of Carson Wentz because he can shut up a lot
(32:52):
of doubters and flip some double middle birds if they
win this one. And so those are NFC picks. How
about the a f C games this weekend. Let's kick
things off right now, Buffalo and Houston. In the words
of nothing says a Saturday playoff game more than Buffalo
against Houston. Jacked up about it? Uh, I'm gonna take
the Bills. I have seen Houston throw up on themselves
(33:15):
in this situation many times, my Texans, I know, but
this is another one because Buffalo, they have a pretty
easy formula. Their defense keeps it close. Josh Allen finds
a way to make enough plays. They get a couple
of explosive plays in the running game or the or
the short passing game, and they win. They are good
enough to do that here against Houston in a seventeen
(33:38):
fourteen type game where either it's a field goal late,
or they hold on to a field goal lead and
get to Shawn Watson to throw a pick this is
their m O. They've done it all ye, they've done
it against good teams, nearly upset. The Patriots had a
couple of tough games where boy, Buffalo really, just one
play might have tipped this game. Could it beat Baltimore?
I am going Buffalo. Eventually they're gonna play a team
(33:58):
that's too good for them, but not this weekend. Buffalo
beats Houston four. I generally hate to agree with you,
but I'm all over the Bills. That might be the
uh only card carrying member of the Josh Allen fan
club among media members. I think there's still a lot
of potential for this. Got to be an absolute stud
in the interim, makes a couple of big plays. He'll
(34:19):
make a maddening one now and again, but also making
plays with his legs. Cold Beasley scraping across the middle
has become invaluable. You got Dawson Knox making plays, Singletary
taking up a bigger role in the backfield, and defensively,
they'll be good enough to slow down the running game
and Carlos hide uh and and take that away and
with will Fuller probably not gonna go. I mean that
(34:42):
that's the tail of their offense in a lot of ways,
because then you go into the box and one on
DeAndre Hopkins and you look at DeShawn Watson becomes human,
still good, good to great, but beatable. And that's where
Buffalo takes care of business. Tennessee, New England. I would
love to pick the shocker. I would love to do it,
but I just can't see Bill Belichick losing to Ryan Tannehill.
(35:05):
For me, it just comes down to that, even though
Tennessee should be able to run the ball and Tannehill
should be able to make enough plays in the passing game,
because look, Tennessee scores points. This is not a team
that's winning on the strength of you know, here's Derrick
Henry rushing for yards and that's it. No, they're they're
scoring twenty eight points a game. Obviously it's gonna be
much tougher in New England's defense is much better. They
(35:28):
should be able to do enough things. But it's not
like the Patriots are terrible. And this is where the
oversimplification of the Patriots struggles comes back to hurt them.
And why why you see the Patriots with the image
of boy, this team can't do anything right after winning,
after being a super Bowl team. No, they're just not
as good as they were in their dominant ears. And obviously,
look they faltered last week. They're playing wild card weekend.
(35:51):
Haven't done that since two thousand and nine. This is
not a clearly great Patriots team. But still your twelve
and four is twelve and four. The Patriots are still
really good. They will have enough to win this game.
We can have our doom staying for the Patriots coming
up in the next couple of weeks and they're gonna
have their day of reckoning, whether it's Baltimore kids, whatever
it is, but it's not gonna happen this week. They
(36:11):
will have enough to beat Tennessee. It'll be closer than expected.
It won't be a great game offensively for Tom Brady.
They probably already have the plays, but they win, They
beat Tennessee, and they live to fight another day. Well,
the the apprentice is not overtaking the master here just yet.
When we look at this one, I like Tannehill, like
what you've seen for the second half. A guy playing
(36:33):
with no pressure. Now he's got pressure because it's go
out and win a playoff game for Brady and the Patriots.
You still got a defense that only gave up four
teen points per game. Gettable at times, and yes you
worry about the run game taking over a little bit,
but all at all. As you said, I don't know
that many folks that have been burying them all season
long have bothered to really watch many games. I think
(36:55):
there's enough here and they get a victory and succeed
in proceed. Well, look at you and eye and the
same side of these games. I'm a little shot three
out of four that diver happens.
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two a m.
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream
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by searching f s R. This is the best of
(00:22):
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
There is no bigger anticipatory situation then the Patriots tomorrow
potentially playing their final game of the year and Tom
Brady potentially playing his final game with the New England Patriots.
(00:43):
There's been a lot talked about this. We've talked about
this from months. This is where it looks like it's going,
and now you are seeing the Tom Brady leaving train
picking up a lot of momentum. Brady even said today
this is part of my wait and see where am
I gonna come back? I'm worried about the game tomorrow,
and that said Bill Belichicka said the same thing. But
outside of Brady and and the mounting evidence that he's leaving,
(01:07):
you know, the trail of crumbs with selling his house,
his trainers, selling his house, opting out of his contract.
I'll give you a big piece of new evidence that
tells you that Brady is moving on and it has
nothing to do with him. Okay, now you are seeing
all around the NFL team starting to line up their
coaching interviews. The Browns have started, the Giants have started.
(01:29):
Who is being asked to interview and wants to interview
but can't for another week because they're still playing. Josh McDaniels,
Patriots offensive coordinator. He's on everybody's list, but because of
this rule, Josh McDaniels can interview until the Patriots are
out of the playoffs, or you wait a week, you
get to that dead time when when when people can talk.
Josh McDaniels on a list here, But wait a minute,
(01:50):
Wait a minute. He was on the list couple of
years ago, and he actually took the coach job and
then he decided against it. Well, what happened back then?
More than likely people we talked to on the show,
various insiders said, listen, some kind of agreement was made
that when Bill Belichick steps down at some point, Josh
McDaniels takes over, and it's probably gonna be some time
in the New Yar future. So Josh McDaniels says, Okay,
(02:12):
I'm gonna stay. It's what I want to do. I'm
gonna wait. But now he's interviewing again, because why wouldn't
you go two years ago when you had Andrew Luck,
you had money to spend an offensive line. You didn't
know Andrew Luck was going to retire two years ago.
I mean, if you did, that was really dirty pool
not telling anybody, but you know, that's the job you take.
That's you're in a position to succeed Bud. He pulls out.
But now that Josh McDaniels is interviewing, wait, wait a second,
(02:33):
So he's interviewing. If he's interviewing, that means he might
not be next in New England for a while. Why
wouldn't he be next in New England? Because Bill Belichick
has decided, you know what, I'm gonna stay a little
bit longer. Tom's gonna leave, and even throughout this entire hey,
we get along, we get along. You know they don't
You know that Belichick and Brady each want to win
without the other one. So now that Brady looks like
(02:55):
he's gonna be the one going, Belichick is staying. So
now here's Josh McDaniels going. Why can't wait ten years
to go interview, to wait for him to retire and
step in. I'm gonna leave right now. Look it happened.
Happened in Syracuse. Mike Hopkins was supposed to be the
next head coach when Jim Beheim retired. Behead decides I'm
gonna stay for a few more years, and Mike Hopkins decides,
all right, I'm going to Washington and now he's doing
(03:16):
really good things at University of Washington. You can only
wait so long. So why is he interviewing now if
you think he's going to take over at some point
for Belichick? Because Belichick is thing, because Brady is going,
so we can show I'm gonna win without tom And
this is another piece of evidence why that divorce is
happening and tomorrow could be that last time we see
(03:36):
it happened. Look at you getting here, Josh McDaniels. Uh,
what investigatory had out Belichick at sixty seven years old?
Willie stick around at least seventy? Keep rolling on? Look,
you're twelve and four. This year, you lose the final game.
That's the only one that really mattered in all of
this because it actually had some playoff implications. That's the
(03:56):
first so that was a shocker. But with Brady, we've
lined up all the crumbs, all the tea leaves, whatever
you want to do, and it's been the foregone conclusion.
I think he's been photoshopped into about nine different teams
uniforms at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if you
couldn't find people selling Brady merch for their favorite team
at this point. That's how far some of these rumors
(04:18):
have gone. Bill Belichick, I know it's the how long
can he keep at it and want to run with
this group of players and with this coaching staff, with
Josh McDaniels. Is he ready did anything that you saw
this year suddenly decide he was gonna be the the
(04:39):
wonder kid. He's not. He's not that same guy, I
don't think right with that reputation, But there's still looking
for somebody like there's not There's nobody like that now.
I mean, look, you had Kyle Shanahan, you had Sean McVeigh,
you had that run of guys who are the next
young wonder kinned offensive corners. There's no guys like that.
Josh McDaniels had fit that a little bit. I mean,
I think teams want him to fit it a little
(05:01):
bit more than he really does. I wanted to fill
out that suit more than he really does fill out
the suit. But he does at least fall into that category.
I think it comes down to if you're thinking you're
getting him in a package deal, right, that you're getting
McDaniels and Brady together, then then we've got some some
legs here as you go, because Brady's shown the affinity
for McDaniels and obviously it's worked. So if you're at
(05:23):
one of these teams in need of a coach and
you can get the the package deal of Brady coming
along with that doesn't fit the giants who look like
they're gonna go McCarthy way anyway. Uh, Cleveland, are you
giving up on Baker Mayfield after two years? You might
want to, but you're probably not. You You elevated him
and gave him way too much power, way too much influence,
(05:44):
but then you fired everybody that he loved and loved him,
right Dorsey and and Freddie Kitchens are no longer behind
door number two pulling the strings and propping him up,
so you could certainly pull the rug out from under
him there, but then it just becomes on that a
case of fit and where you go to and most
(06:04):
of those places you're not gonna suddenly eleventh hour fire
one of those coaches to make room for McDaniels and Brady.
So I think that's one of the curiosities of this
is where would he end up because it's not a guy,
the grizzled veteran with that pedigree like we've been talking
with Jay Glazer and others, where it seemed like the
coaching hiring was gonna go this time around. Be sure
(06:26):
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Lakers lead the Pelicans to fourteen the second game, pinning
Anthony Davis against his old team that they played earlier
this year in New Orleans, and Anthony Davis went for eighty.
(06:47):
Right now, Lakers lead the Pelicans twenty six to fourteen,
and it's not so much just hey, here's Anthony Davis
against the Pelicans. But this is Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram,
and Josh Hart's first game back in l A since
the trade. They were given different amounts of warm receptions
before the game. Their pictures were and and and video
(07:07):
was shown for them on the board as they were introduced.
And I gotta be honest, this is one of those
trades that even though the Lakers had the Pelicans, because
Anthony Davis wanted to go to the Lakers, this has
worked out for both teams. Obviously, you've seen what Anthony
Davis has meant playing with Lebron James. The Lakers are
seven and seven with the best record in the West.
(07:28):
But even though the Pelicans stink, they've gotten more than
expected out of Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball so far.
I mean, Brandon Ingram's now scoring twenty five a game.
He was eighteen and seven guy with the Lakers, which
you know there's so many guys who can do that.
He has really blossom a Lonzo Ball is starting to
play extremely well. He's now a solid ten five and
(07:50):
five guy. And this is not the Lakers giving up
on Alonzo and Brandon Ingram because there's trades that are
made where well, look, you gave up on a guy
and here he blow. He played so well after you
traded him. There's no way a Lonzo Ball and Brandon
Ingram are playing like this if they're still in l A.
They're not. They're they're not the right fit in a
(08:10):
Lebron James led offense because he needs specific players that
do specific things, and a Lonzo Ball and brand Ingram
were not those guys. Was lot was gonna work for
the Lakers with a Lonzo playing point guard again and
Lebron James trying to play off that, No, that wasn't working.
What the Lakers are doing now is working. And now
the Pelicans have two players who they've gotten saying hey boy,
(08:31):
we're really getting contributions from them. And you see, restarts
and and rebirths of NBA careers come for many different reasons,
and for Alonzo and Brandon Ingram, it's it's pretty simple.
It's being the right fit. But the right fit can
be a couple of different things. Ingram's are right fit
in this offense because he's one of the go to
(08:52):
guys for points, but for Alonzo, it's a wake up
call you know how many times did you have to
see during the season the Pelicans saying, hey, he's working,
honest all the time. He's changing his shot again, he's working.
He's working, He's working. Is he working this hard? Is
he still you know, being this type of player who's
focused on the game. If he's in l a and
you're getting headlines from LaVar Ball every five minutes, no,
(09:13):
he's not. So this was the wake up call. Hey,
now you had everything, and now the Lakers shipped you out.
They were tired of you, they were tired of your dad. Hey,
I gotta focus if I want to be a really
good NBA player, and Lonzo Ball is doing that. This
is a good fit for him. It's a good fit
for Brandon Ingram. It's worked out for both teams. Alonso
is not good, uh, ten ten, five and five twenty
(09:34):
eight minutes a night, uh most of the time in
a in a backup role. And with Ingram, the question
is going to become all right, once his zion's cleared,
what what's his role? Does he get to still be
the guy? Because right now it's it's the Kevin Love
question of all those years in Minnesota. Isn't it. Can
you put up really good numbers on a bad team. Yeah,
but with with the way this team is gonna go
(09:56):
run up and down the floor, there's plenty of room
for both of them. I mean not. Look, obviously, Zion
Williamson is a big deally dunked at practice today doing
alley oops in the whole nine yards and none of
them counted. You know, I mean, how much can you
count on Zion Williamson? I mean that's the big question. Now.
The guy hasn't played and a seemingly minor injury has
kept him out throughout the NBA season, and you wonder,
(10:17):
not is this guy greg Oden, but is is he
just too big? Is he putting too much stress on
his body? Because that's the one thing we talked about forever.
The one question I have with Zion Williamson is is
he too heavy for the NBA? Is he too heavy
for the pounding? And he's at knee and different type
of joint injuries the last three years in basketball. So
what does that tell you? You're too big? You're too
(10:38):
heavy to ninety you can't run up and down the
floor like that. You're the heaviest guy in the NBA.
And you're nineteen years old, which means you're only gonna
get bigger, which means you have to figure something else out.
So right now, it's you're just hoping and cross from
your fingers at Williamson can get on the floor at
some point and be somebody who can contribute to the team.
I mean, is he suddenly gonna come on and play
forty minutes a night. Now, it's not happening. You're gonna
(10:59):
see and play low amounts some minutes he's gonna it's
it's gonna be something where let's really get him in
and see what kind of player he has. So I
don't see Brandon Ingram having a lot of trouble here
because Zion's gonna have his own difficulty just trying to
get on and be a day in and day out
NBA player. Yeah, it just in the short term, it's
it's bum slayer numbers, right it's the Dak Prescott numbers
of the NBA uh as as we're looking at Ingram
(11:21):
right now. And yes, some of the percentages are up,
some of the metrics are are moderately better than they
were as the Lakers. But he's gonna be allowed to
grow right, He's not gonna be thwarted in that, so
you at least have that opportunity you'll be able to
maximize and see what he is for the trade long haul,
I'll take. I think, at least on paper, what what
(11:42):
the Pelicans did get right in terms of number one
picks and everything else. But for the Lakers, it was
the how do we maximize what the Lebron James era
is and potentially give ourselves that next superstar injury history
and everything and and some of the theatrics to say
it nicely of getting himself and massaging his way out
(12:03):
of New Orleans as you did with Anthony Davis. But
you get a title. All you need is one, and
it justifies the whole thing that's Anthony Davis is clearly
by far and away. You put all the players you
had to get what you could get if you're the Pelicans,
because Anthony Davis was only gonna go to the Lakers.
And in the end you got a player who can
(12:24):
be a lynch pin for you for years in Ingram
and maybe a Lonzo Ball can turn out to be
someone who was a big rotation guy, you know, coming
off the bench playing twenty eight minutes. But hey, ten
five and five off the bench. You know, lots of
guys would like that. But the fact that, look, you
had to get what you get, and at least you
didn't get Alonzo Ball that's suddenly not on the floor
(12:44):
and he's scoring six points a night, three assists, and
he's disengaged. You're getting the best you can get. So hey,
that's why that was a victory for the Pelican. Well,
he's still gonna play something. Even the number one picks
are really where it comes down to, though, Right, the
players are all fine, heart uh and Gram and Ball
and Ingram's giving you some nice numbers, and he's fun
to watch for the fans, right because they at least
(13:06):
have a guy that's going up and down and gives
them some highlight real stuff. But to get that number,
that number of number one picks for on a trade
where there was no leverage at all for New Orleans,
they had to get rid of him. I mean, that's
that's a really good haul, almost as if the NBA
came in and said, hey, you really got to give
(13:26):
up something special because of the way this is played out,
you know, not to go all conspiracy theorists or anything.
But but the reality is, it makes no sense when
that's the only place they were going to do business
that they were still able to get what three first
round picks for him as well as three players. It's
kind of ridiculous. Yeah, I mean with you're you're negotiating
with one hand tied behind your back, and you did
(13:48):
pretty well, you know. Now, then the Lakers side of
it is is that here's the only the the only
dark side I see for the Lakers coming off of
what they've been able to accomplish so far. Certainly in
the regular season, look there twenty seven seven. They had
that small little losing streak that's gonna happen over the
course of the season the way the Lakers are playing now,
and this leads into how to solve this issue. Are
(14:10):
they regular season great? Are they a team that in
the regular season because it's Lebron, it's a D it's
one game out of a D two, it's gonna be
really hard to stop them. But when you get to
the playoffs, if this is the same Laker team personnel
wise we see in the playoffs that we're seeing now,
they could lose in the Western Conference semis. When you're
playing a team that's gonna clamp down defensively night and
(14:31):
the night out in a seven game series, and the
Lakers have no other place to go with the ball
because it's either Lebron or it's Anthony Davison. Boy, that
supporting cast is terrible. That's the one fear. Are they
a regular season champion type roster? Which is when it
gets to the trading deadline, I fully expect there to
be a lot of turnover and you're seeing at least
(14:52):
three new faces that are playing big minutes for the Lakers,
at least a couple of them who are shooters because
you need somebody else. And you know, Al Kuzma is
still working his way back intore where he fits now
in the new team with with Lebron and a d
be in the top two options. I mean, that's something
that's got now. Doesn't mean they can't solve it, because
easily the trading deadline they can solve and go get
a J. J. Reddick or somebody else or whoever they
(15:14):
want to go pick up and someone that can come
off the bench and give them some offense, because that's
what they're missing right now. But right now they look
like a team that boy regular season, hey, they can
rip through everybody, but you get a second round series
and a team that can play some defense, and and
I think the Lakers could be in trouble. That's the
idea of finding another shooter. We we all know that
there's a jersey with Igodala's name on it for once
(15:36):
the buyouts completed there, So we have some of those
activities that will go through in this NBA calendar as well.
So I don't think this roster's anywhere close to finished.
When when we get to mid April, I think you'll
see three or four other bodies. And let's not forget
the Kyle Kuzma trainer thing. Lebron James can try to
shrug that off all he wants. Go back and watch
(15:57):
that with be sure to catch live editions The Jason
Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific. Let's do this right now. Is now
the NFL head coaching the second round of hiring, because
the first round was Ron Rivera, Oh happy Thanksgiving. By
the way, where are the head coaching candidate's going to
end up? The Giants are in the middle of their
(16:18):
interviews the Brown just starting to conduct their interviews, and
now what about the Dallas Cowboys, because Mike Zimmer has
been rumored to be a guy that Jerry Jones wants.
That story broke earlier today and immediately the Vikings put
out a statement saying, we have every intention in keeping
Mike Zimmer. He's our coach. We want him. So whether
(16:39):
that was a flare sent up by Jerry Jones, something
that was thrown out there just to see if they
could cast a wide net, it seems like Mike Zimmer
is a name that was thrown out there and the Vikings, Hey,
we're onto you, Jerry Jones, and we are going to
try to keep Mike Zimmer. If I'm trying to figure
out who's gonna get the Dallas job, I'm gonna go by.
(16:59):
I'm gonna go have very simple philosophy that I think
you can't you can't overestimate what I'm gonna say. The
Cowboys still have Jason Garrett as their head coach, even
though you know Edward are reported last night they're gonna
they're ready to move on. It's gonna be officials sometime
in the next couple of days them there, keep him there.
Come on, keep them there. The rest of the NFL
wants Jason, Karen and Dallas. But the fact that they
(17:22):
haven't fired him yet. Seeing all of these coaches go interview,
all the names are out there, Mike McCarthy, Urban Meyer,
Mett Rule, all of these names are thrown out there.
This tells me that Jerry Jones and the Cowboys aren't
interested in any of these names, even if it's Urban Meyer.
These are not who Jerry Jones is going after. All
(17:42):
of the names you for, Josh mcday, everybody's out there.
Jerry Jones has not gone after. If none of these
people are on Jerry Jones list, if they're keeping Jason
Garrett right now, So the guy Jerry Jones wants, we
have not heard his name yet. Who's the one big
name that we have heard for a while. This is
(18:04):
gonna be the Cowboys guy. This will be the Cowboys guy.
Just wait. We talked about it a few months ago.
We have not heard his name at all yet. Adam Gate,
We have not heard his name at all yet. Lincoln Riley,
We have not heard one word about Jerry Joe. Lincoln Riley,
Lincoln Riley anywhere else. Lincoln, that's The only name of
(18:26):
all the big candidates we have not heard was Lincoln Riley.
That tells me it's gonna be Lincoln Riley. I like
your process of deduction, like you've been reading some Sherlock
Holmes while hanging out in Detroit as well. Yeah, it's
the Mike Zimmer's got one year left on his Minnesota deal.
The Vikings will do whatever they can, and it seems
(18:46):
to be a formula that's working at least to get
them into the playoffs and ready to roll here. As
long as Dalvin Cook's healthy, it seems anything is possible
in terms of their upside. But Lincoln Riley is certainly
not being connected too the disasters, right, It wasn't to
Washington before Ron Rivera became the guy. And Cleveland, god
(19:08):
knows what HASLM is gonna do there right asking for
permission from guy to interview guys, And so I'm just saying,
you know what, I'm out. I want no part of
what you got going on in that building. Wondering if
it needs an exorcism along the way for it. But yeah,
Lincoln Riley, it's been awful quiet. I don't know if
some of that is a factor of how they were
(19:28):
humbled in the semifinals, so maybe the heat is off,
so you can work on that behind the scenes. Either way,
I like the way that the Cowboys have gone about it.
Folks can laugh all they want that it's day five,
day six, whatever. He's out of. His contract goes to
the fourteenth if he keeps accepting lunch invitations to try
to sell sell them on showing up Jason Garrett that is.
(19:52):
And I can't blame Jerry Jones because you also don't
want to look desperate, and I don't think he comes
across as desperate or eking out every bit of inf
nation you can on Jason Garrett if anything. You know,
Jason Garrett at some point has to raise his hand
and say, to hell with this, I'm done. But you know,
you work behind the closed doors and behind the scenes
with Steven Jones probably helping to run this a lot
(20:15):
more than he's ever gonna get credit for along the process,
much like telling Dad and locking him in a room
so he didn't select Johnny Manziel all those years ago,
same kind of deal that there's more to it, But yeah,
keeping quiet on the active search is pretty impressive for
a guy that likes to be in front of a microphone. Well,
and don't forget this too. I mean this was kind
(20:36):
of a you know, and under the radar story a
few days ago. But the Sooner has lost a quarterback
coming in one Brock vander Griffin. Sports Illustrated has a
bit on this because it did an interview with him,
who was initially going to Oklahoma and now de committed,
and Mike Fisher wrote a column for Sports Illustrated saying
that vander Griff told s I that he would not
(20:58):
go to Oklahoma if Lincoln Riley is not his coach.
Now this doesn't mean in and of itself that Lincoln
Riley is leaving, but here's a guy that was gonna
be headed there and now he's decommitted. He's gonna go
someplace else. So I mean that we've not heard anything
about Lincoln Riley. All the other names are out there,
and Jerry Jones still has Jason Garrett as his head coach. This,
this is why it's gonna be Lincoln Riley. I mean,
(21:20):
I mean, it's it seems pretty simple. But when if
they wanted one of these other guys, Jerry Jones would
have kicked Jason Garrett to the curbs, and okay, we
gotta go get Urban Meyer. We all right. If Merbny
is gonna talk to the Browns, I don't want him
to take that Brown's job. I want him here in Dallas. Oh,
Matt Rule is talking to the giants. No, I want
Matt Rule coming up right from Baylor. I like Matt Rule.
Any of those guys, any of those names, he would
(21:42):
have already been involved in because he doesn't want to
lose them. The fact that they're still sitting around with
Jason Garrett. It's Lincoln Riley. He's the guy. See. I
like the way you did that, you made him your guy.
I do like the the fact that you had a
guy d commit. But let's face it, at this point,
Lincoln Riley at the collegiate level, was going to turn
any any that shows up at quarterback to gold. Right,
(22:02):
you're gonna you're gonna put up numbers. Uh. And if
you don't want to go there, that means you just
don't trust he's gonna be there for three years, not
necessarily that it's this year, but that you're not going
to get the significant growth and development that you are anticipating.
So no, I had a grain of salt. But just
you just need one year with Linken Riley. Apparently you
know Baker Mayfield came into look his his last year
(22:25):
he blossomed. It was it was one year for Kyler Murray.
It's one year for Jyalen. But want you got to
get your college start somewhere. You gotta get the fundamentals.
And then Lincoln comes in and cleans them up. Well
we'll call him the cleaner. Then Winston Wolf that's right,
he's all Harvey kit Tell. Just because you are a
character doesn't mean you have character. Be sure to catch
(22:47):
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. It's now time. Well,
I have to do it, Harmon. You don't have to
do all of it, but I have to revisit and
give new Super Bowl picks. My super Bowl picks are
still alive. Yeah, your pricks are still alive. You don't
have to do it as much. I I need to
do it because all of my teams have been eliminated.
(23:08):
My guys need a lot of help. But there's but
the end pick is still alive. My Steelers, Cowboys did
not work out. That didn't work out, but you know, look, hey,
the Steelers won eight game. You know Roethlisberger got hurt,
and you know, like they would have won more. The
Cowboys almost got in. But my new Super Bowl pick
(23:29):
because I have to go with teams that are involved
with it. Now Cleveland is not making it to the
Super Bowl. I am going to say, we see an
upset Kansas City. When's the a f C Championship on
the road. They beat Baltimore, they pull off the upset.
They are peaking, They are playing extremely well. Kansas City
(23:54):
was there last year. They felt just short. Baltimore hasn't
been pressure is gonna get to Baltimore enough for the
city to win. This is gonna be Patrick Mahomess moment.
And in a matchup of the two best quarterbacks new
quarterbacks in the league the last couple of years, it's
gonna be Mahomes over Lamar Jackson and Kansas City goes
to the Super Bowl. Oh, I like. I like the Bravada. Look,
(24:14):
you got a defense is playing better and they did
a good job to load management, load manage. Lashawn McCoy
for the second half of the year. His touches have
been held down, not an injury thing from all reports
that he will be and ready for the full full
load as necessary. And look, you've you've gotten reps for
other guys, Damian Williams, some spencer wear time and again,
(24:38):
and the defense playing so much better for them right now.
Some good reps in the receiving corps as well. So
looking for a little bit of a game breaker when
you've got McCole hardman out there working opposite Tyreek Hill,
I like it. It's it's it's ballsy when we go
against what is the presumptive i mean, prohibitive favorite, when
(24:59):
you go from the betting odds, the way that Baltimore's
offenses run through the year, I mean, it's it's tough,
but I I honestly feel that this is Kansas City's
time and they're gonna be the ones that go and
get and get this win because they've been through it
so recently and they know how their defense is playing
extremely well. And that's really what I'm kind of, you know,
(25:20):
banking on, is that they keep this defensive excellence through
the through the rest of the playoffs and they do
enough people to slow Lamar Jackson down. Look, they're not
going to stop them. But Kansas City, you keep scoring
bunches of points, you put a lot of pressure on
you get a turnover. Suddenly it's really tough playing catch up.
So that's why I'm going Cincinnati. That's why I'm since Yeah,
going with Kansas. Yeah, that's worse than Cleveland, man, come on,
(25:45):
come on. Although he did celebrate Sam White yesterday, remembering
his greatness of mocking Cleveland as he went, look, I
picked New England before the year. Part of it was
despite you and make you all mad and blue in
the face, but just for the fact that you have
a decent running game. Sony Michelle is still up and
around nine yards for the season in a quote down year.
(26:06):
As we knew it was gonna be a split with him.
Burkehead and of course James White out of the backfield.
Defense has been great at times. Part of it was
bum slang a good slate early. But at this point
I gotta dance with who brung me. I picked them
before the year. I can't become a coward now cheaters,
(26:27):
no matter how hard the road becomes. Right and Tennessee
will be an interesting test with Derrick Henry and the
running game, and we'll we'll pick that and then just
a little bit. But you know, a difficult road in
all the rumor, conjecture, speculation, But I don't rule them out.
You know, to be the man, you gotta beat the man.
And they're not dead yet. No, no, no, your your
teams are good. That's why I have to change, because
(26:48):
I lost mine and I can change NFC. It's it's
almost as if people are forgetting about them. But they're
the best team in the NFC. The road has to
go through them. They're going to the Super Bowl. San
Francisco is gonna defeat whoever comes in, and they're going
to Super Bowl to play the Chiefs. San Francisco is
(27:10):
the best team in the NFC. They're the best all
around team in the entire National Football League. Whoever comes in,
it's gonna be impossible for them to run the football enough.
They're not gonna throw the football, whether it's Aaron Rodgers,
Russell Wilson, Carson Wentz, whoever winds upcoming. And it doesn't matter.
They're the best team in the NFC. They're at home.
Their offense can win any kind of game. Now, that's
(27:31):
the one thing We talked about this a big deal
mid season when they were six and oh seven oh eight,
and no is that, Hey, Jimmy Garoppolo has gotta start
winning some games here because they can't always rely on
three running backs being run heavy. But Garoppolo the past
seven eight weeks to May has been really, really good,
and now they can win any kind of game in
(27:52):
the playoffs. They can win a shootout, they can win
a ground control game. Their defense is the best defense
in in the NFC and probably the second best defense
or maybe the best defense and all of football. It's
kind of a toss up you want to talk about
between them and the Patriots, But you know everybody's looking
for reasons to pick the Packers, or to pick the
Saints or pick thet are the best team in football
(28:12):
and they're at home. They're gonna beat whoever Chiefs forty
nine or Super Bowl. Yeah, the Eagles to stand them
at there, I believe it's a calculated two point five
chance to to to win it. Uh to get there
certainly a long road as well. We've talked about the
injuries at nauseam. You know you'd have a lot of
(28:34):
downfield playmaking over the course of the year. A lot
of balls also dropped where they could have been in
a much better position, just for guys getting a nice
tub of stick them before the season started. Miles Sanders
is becoming a really good running back, Jordan Howard's healthy,
and perhaps you at least get a little bit of
that thunder lightning combination. We haven't said that in a while.
(28:57):
I thought i'd bring that back from the Michael stot
Warwick unfair NFL yesteryear. You know, the the idea that
you have the guy between the tackles. Why they brought
Jordan Howard in, and Sanders has shown that he's a
pretty good receiver. Had that great connection with Wentz a
couple of weeks ago, so I'll stay with it. Carson Wentz,
I think people are starting to look at his year
(29:18):
a lot differently over these last couple of weeks. Sure,
a little bit of bum slang, a little bit of
luck helping him finish the job, and the Cowboys unable
to get out of their own way, But so looking
for Carson Wentz to make some plays and have some fun.
The forty nine is the one thing with them is
if you can run on them that it's just does
your team? Can you commit to it? Because offensively now
(29:40):
they're that much more explosive once you added Emmanuel Sanders
and whatever the hell they shot George Kittle up to
get him out there with that busted up ankle that
he had, still wondering what was going on there when
he's running downfield and screaming at Jimmy and they're finding
connection thirty yards downfield. Add Deebo, Samuel and Mostert, who's
been just a godsend to them to and half of
(30:00):
the year as well as he emerged in the leader
of the backfield, they're gonna be a really tough out.
But again, I backed myself into a corner by actually
picking too well and having two teams still alive. No,
that's great. Hey, you had your picks, You're still alive.
I had to redo my picks entire We love the Bengals.
It's good that you did take Cincinnati. There is audio
evidence that you've got the Bangles on your mind. Well
(30:22):
you know, and hey, I can I'll never pay for
a drink again in Cincinnati right there. Nor should you
be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio Whip. Let's take a look now and preview some
of the games this weekend. Wild Card weekend in the
(30:43):
National Football League. We spent a lot of time this
hour talking about the Patriots and Tom Brady, so let's
preview the NFC games. I may be crazy, call me crazy,
but I'm gonna take Minnesota over New Orleans. I like it.
Am falling for Kirk Cousins again, not really, because now
(31:04):
Dalvin Cook is back, Adam Feelings back. As long as
Cousins doesn't throw four picks, Minnesota will pull the upset.
Their defense will hold New Orleans down just enough. Minnesota
is primed for an offensive explosion. This is the best
version of their team we're gonna get. They're healthy now.
They win this game one over under. Sitting at forty
(31:26):
nine and a half. Eight is your point spread, New Orleans? Uh?
I think this is where we actually see Alvin Kamara
take on a bigger workload. Big kind of a quiet
season for him as his hat well, no, right, no,
this is one where he's got to be bigger, a
lot more. Jared Cook to go along with Michael Town.
How do you slow him down? That's the one thing
Minnesota in that secondary Uh, They're not gonna be able
(31:48):
to do. I'm taking New Orleans. Minnesota keeps it close
with Dalvin Cook running the football, but New Orleans succeeds
and proceeds. I may be fully crazy Part two, but
I'm gonna take Philadelphia over Seattle. I know my Seahawks.
Seahawks lost all their running backs. They're gonna struggle on
offense because they can't run the football well enough. Seattle
(32:09):
is in a rocky spot the last couple of weeks,
and Philadelphia is playing so well, their best football of
the season. They've won four in a row. Carson Wentz
has a lot to prove in his first playoff game.
It doesn't matter Zach hurts the weapons. If they play,
if they don't play, this will be a Carson Wentz game.
They win. He throws for three touchdowns. Russell Wilson all
(32:31):
by himself not enough. These are one team peeking and
another one still trying to figure it out. I picked
them before the season to get to the NFC title game.
I can't back away from him now. I have no
idea how it plays out, Miles Sanders, I think people
will gain an appreciation for how good a rookie year
he had. But you're right, it's all on the arm
of Carson Wentz because he can shut up a lot
(32:52):
of doubters and flip some double middle birds if they
win this one. And so those are NFC picks. How
about the a f C games this weekend. Let's kick
things off right now, Buffalo and Houston. In the words
of nothing says a Saturday playoff game more than Buffalo
against Houston. Jacked up about it? Uh, I'm gonna take
the Bills. I have seen Houston throw up on themselves
(33:15):
in this situation many times, my Texans, I know, but
this is another one because Buffalo, they have a pretty
easy formula. Their defense keeps it close. Josh Allen finds
a way to make enough plays. They get a couple
of explosive plays in the running game or the or
the short passing game, and they win. They are good
enough to do that here against Houston in a seventeen
(33:38):
fourteen type game where either it's a field goal late,
or they hold on to a field goal lead and
get to Shawn Watson to throw a pick this is
their m O. They've done it all ye, they've done
it against good teams, nearly upset. The Patriots had a
couple of tough games where boy, Buffalo really, just one
play might have tipped this game. Could it beat Baltimore?
I am going Buffalo. Eventually they're gonna play a team
(33:58):
that's too good for them, but not this weekend. Buffalo
beats Houston four. I generally hate to agree with you,
but I'm all over the Bills. That might be the
uh only card carrying member of the Josh Allen fan
club among media members. I think there's still a lot
of potential for this. Got to be an absolute stud
in the interim, makes a couple of big plays. He'll
(34:19):
make a maddening one now and again, but also making
plays with his legs. Cold Beasley scraping across the middle
has become invaluable. You got Dawson Knox making plays, Singletary
taking up a bigger role in the backfield, and defensively,
they'll be good enough to slow down the running game
and Carlos hide uh and and take that away and
with will Fuller probably not gonna go. I mean that
(34:42):
that's the tail of their offense in a lot of ways,
because then you go into the box and one on
DeAndre Hopkins and you look at DeShawn Watson becomes human,
still good, good to great, but beatable. And that's where
Buffalo takes care of business. Tennessee, New England. I would
love to pick the shocker. I would love to do it,
but I just can't see Bill Belichick losing to Ryan Tannehill.
(35:05):
For me, it just comes down to that, even though
Tennessee should be able to run the ball and Tannehill
should be able to make enough plays in the passing game,
because look, Tennessee scores points. This is not a team
that's winning on the strength of you know, here's Derrick
Henry rushing for yards and that's it. No, they're they're
scoring twenty eight points a game. Obviously it's gonna be
much tougher in New England's defense is much better. They
(35:28):
should be able to do enough things. But it's not
like the Patriots are terrible. And this is where the
oversimplification of the Patriots struggles comes back to hurt them.
And why why you see the Patriots with the image
of boy, this team can't do anything right after winning,
after being a super Bowl team. No, they're just not
as good as they were in their dominant ears. And obviously,
look they faltered last week. They're playing wild card weekend.
(35:51):
Haven't done that since two thousand and nine. This is
not a clearly great Patriots team. But still your twelve
and four is twelve and four. The Patriots are still
really good. They will have enough to win this game.
We can have our doom staying for the Patriots coming
up in the next couple of weeks and they're gonna
have their day of reckoning, whether it's Baltimore kids, whatever
it is, but it's not gonna happen this week. They
(36:11):
will have enough to beat Tennessee. It'll be closer than expected.
It won't be a great game offensively for Tom Brady.
They probably already have the plays, but they win, They
beat Tennessee, and they live to fight another day. Well,
the the apprentice is not overtaking the master here just yet.
When we look at this one, I like Tannehill, like
what you've seen for the second half. A guy playing
(36:33):
with no pressure. Now he's got pressure because it's go
out and win a playoff game for Brady and the Patriots.
You still got a defense that only gave up four
teen points per game. Gettable at times, and yes you
worry about the run game taking over a little bit,
but all at all. As you said, I don't know
that many folks that have been burying them all season
long have bothered to really watch many games. I think
(36:55):
there's enough here and they get a victory and succeed
in proceed. Well, look at you and eye and the
same side of these games. I'm a little shot three
out of four that diver happens.
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Mike Harmon
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