May 3, 2021 • 38 mins
Chris and Rob discuss the Lakers latest swoon debate if this team should still be considered a championship contender, and tell us why Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst could be unemployed soon if Aaron Rodgers is serious about the 'him or me' ultimatum. Plus, Super Bowl champion Brady Poppinga swings by to discuss the culture shock that Zach Wilson will likely face in New York, tell us why he doesn't think Aaron Rodgers would've become the best version of himself if he had to play immediately, why he doesn't expect Rodgers to 'get over' his frustrations with management anytime soon, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
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(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of The Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. You're out there
in La the Lakers, all right. The Lakers are struggling, struggling,
as our man Joe Namis would say. They've lost six
(00:44):
of their last seven, struggling seven of their last nine.
And since Lebron's come back, they've lost two straight or
since he was back. He's out tonight. He reaggravated his
ankle injury, so he's out tonight. And he, you know,
the little few games he played, he wasn't able to
(01:05):
really help them much. He played fine, but they couldn't
win and they lost. The bad teams, all right, Sacramento
without two of its best players, Toronto without two of
his best players, and the Lakers are in six places.
They played Denver tonight without Lebron, so that could be
an l They could be that's gonna be an l
(01:28):
You already know I would think so, I would think so. Um,
but they could be in seventh place and in the
play in after tonight because Portland plays Atlantic. That's gonna
be a tough one for Portland, but they may win that.
So what are your thoughts. I mean, I'm not ready
to right off the Lakers, but obviously they got major concerns.
(01:51):
And I always say I'm looking looking the drop file
for throw the towel in, because I'm throwing the towel
in on the Lakers. I told you this before are
that they had too many things that needed to go right,
you know, like trying to say it was that when
Lebron got hurt, you said it. At some point you
said they're done. I don't know if it was when
(02:13):
he got hurt or before. I'm throwing the toweling on
the Lakers. Only from the standpoint that Lebron's already said
he's not going to be a hundred percent. He's already
got it. He said that for the rest of his career, right,
But but that doesn't bode well for this year. I
think he just considering where they are and how they've
(02:34):
looked because you just laid it out Sacramento with out
there two best players, Toronto comes in down by twelve
early throttles them. Really, don't let the score fool you.
Toronto handle the Lakers. That's with Lebron and that's with
a D. Right. And here's the other thing, the squad
(02:56):
that maybe people thought. You remember, people were talking about
it all they won the championship, and they won the offseason.
All this team is so much better than the team
that won the championship. I just don't. I don't buy
into that. Were the second seed in the West when healthy,
so they were playing well before all the injuries. I
(03:16):
still don't believe that they were better than the team
that won the championship. And I'm talking about maybe on paper, Chris,
But you know, there's a difference between being on paper
and actually playing and the chemistry and cohesiveness, do you
know what I mean? Like, there's a difference. You can
look at paper all you want and say, oh god,
they're they're they're great on paper. So A D wasn't
(03:39):
looking good, Chris before the injury. Radio Chamberlain compared to
what he's been looking like since he got back from
me injured. Right, But but even before that, you you
talked about it, We both talked about it. We thought
with the championship in his back pocket. Second, you know,
with the whole idea that he would come out be aggressive,
(04:02):
b d MVP of the league. Let Lebron take some rest,
a back seat and gear up to the championship. Right,
That's what we thought. And he didn't come out that way.
And then I know he got injured, but he didn't
come out that he's dis employing that that he didn't run.
I honestly that that makes that should have been the
game player man like you basically taken I don't want
(04:25):
to say taking the season off, but you you kind
of you've mailed it in this season and now, and
that's that should happened from him. No, he's he's too
young to not feel like he should have gone out
and said, you know what, I got my championship. Lebron's
still here. Now you know what I'm gonna do. I'm
(04:46):
gonna get my MVP Chris in my back pocket. I
could get both of them and then have a chance
to go back to back. And once you do that,
you change the perception of you, of who you are
as a player, and it didn't feel like Anthony Davis
had that game plan going into the season. And you
just said it again. Since he's been back, and I'm
(05:07):
not here to I don't know how hurt people are,
and I'm not gonna rip on people coming back from
injuries or or where they are. But he just hadn't
been that good. And when you look at this team
and that Sacramento lass. I watched the Laker post game show.
I mean, you know, it was like, uh, what do
you call those uh those dolls that give out with
the heads that bob bobble heads, bobble heads. I know, right,
(05:31):
I was gonna close dolls with the hands that bobble right,
they were all bobble in their hands, Chris, because they
couldn't understand it, like like was that worthy? And yeah,
you know they were just like like like like these
games are so important? What are they doing? You just
had Sacramento Toronto at home? Chris? Those should be wins. No,
(05:52):
So so I'm out on the Lakers. I just think
too many things have to go right, and already we've
seen that they haven't. And you know what I think
the season might be better off them going into the
playoff game, playing game and losing, and that might be
the way this season ends. Oh but what do you
mean though, No, I'm just meaning that that's the way,
(06:15):
because yeah, it could end that way because it's just
so much that they would have to overcome in order
to try to win another championship. Well, for them to
if they let's say hypothetically they finished seventh, for them
to not even make the playoffs, they'd have to lose
to Memphis in a one and done, which you know
could happen. I mean I wouldn't pick it, but yeah,
one and done, anything could happen. Then they would play
(06:38):
the loser the winner of game, and that team, let's
say it's Golden State, would have to beat the Lakers twice, right, right,
So it's still unlikely if they get the seventh or
eight seed that they won't make the playoffs, but anything's
possible at this point. I'm gonna break it down like
this for Laker fans, and like it's I'm not ready
(07:01):
to totally write him off, but I hear where you're
coming from. Rob number one. They here's some of their
concerns Lebron James the health all right, six seven years ago,
Lebron would have been back much earlier from this ankle injury,
and he would have been fine once he got back.
But now that's Rob. This is what happens. People think
(07:21):
you retire what you retire because you can't play basketball anymore. No,
you get old, the superstars get old. It takes you
a lot longer to recover from injury. Right, you can't
play at a higher level as consistently. And you wonder
is father time. I'm sure it being thirty six years
(07:43):
old in his eighteenth year has something to do with
this injury and how long it's taking him to get back,
just like it did a few years ago. So that's
number one. And then Rob, we've said it many times.
When Lebron came back two years ago, he wasn't able
to carry them. He probably needed more of a ramp up, right,
(08:04):
more time to get going. And don't you remember he
was like playoff, right, he thought he was activated, and
he went out there and they lost to three or
four bad teams and it cost him. They went eight
and thirteen. Rob after he came back and then he
shut it down. He maybe wasn't ready but that might
be the case. Now he might not get close to
(08:24):
one hundred percent and he probably won't be able to
carry him if that's the case. Secondly, you mentioned the ad.
Here's the numbers, Rob, since he's come back from injury.
Sixteen and a half points, six and a half rebounds,
thirty nine percent, shooting eighteen percent from three. Think about pretty.
(08:46):
I mean that's not even that's that is downright bad, right,
And and Andre Drummond with those two, how's that working out?
Not well? And I'm glad you brought that up because
it's not working his a D. The net rating with
a D and a D both of them are a
d's Drummond and Anthony Davis on the court is negative
(09:10):
six point six. When it's Anthony Davis and Mark Gasol,
Rob is plus eight point eight. And you heard last night,
I don't know if you saw it, Kyle Kuzma said
we got issues. We're not together, not as a team,
not as a staff. He and one thing he said
is Mark Gasol should be playing more Rob. That tell
(09:33):
you've been covering sports a long time. We both have.
That tells me that there may be whispers, you know
what I'm saying like he ain't the only one, like yo,
we need Gasol getting more minutes because they see it
and they understand it. And it was nice. And I'm
not Andre Drummonds a fine player, Chris, I'm not here
(09:54):
to rip on him, but I don't know if he
really fits and that's the issue. And players know it,
you know what I mean. You don't think they know
that number. They're like the floor spread right the Lakers.
That would open things up for Ad to be not
only outside but inside as well, opens up the lane
for Lebron. So yeah, now, and here's the thing you mentioned,
(10:15):
drumming Rob. Look at the paper on paper, thirteen points,
ten rebounds, fifty three percent shooting in twenty five minutes
a night. You would look at that and be like, oh,
this is great, right, But he's the worst defensive player
on the team and that's shown in the stats and
(10:37):
what to me, And like you said, I'm not trying
to rip him. These are just I'm just pointing it out.
Just numbers right right, the numbers. Rob. He's doing what
he's done throughout his career. His numbers are great. They
were great in Detroit, they were great. The little bit
of time he played for Cleveland. But you don't win
any game, No, you don't win. And so the Lakers
(11:00):
and then Dennis Shrewder Now he could be out the
rest of the regular season with k And I'm gonna
end with this, Rob because you you said something that
a lot of people might try to call you on.
But I know what you meant. You said, too many
things have to go right. Similar for Brooklyn, right, Harden's
gotta get right, Kd's gotta stay right. They got some
(11:22):
things too. But here's the difference. It is harder to
work in the Lakers Stars than it is the Nets.
Even though Lebron is you know, we both say, the
second greatest player ever. You don't just drop Lebron James
into a lineup. No, he's the He's the lineup, right,
(11:44):
everything's gonna change. And and to be honest, even though
he's not as good as Lebrin. Same thing with Anthony
Davis and to a far lesser extent, Andre Drummond. Because Rob,
none of them are great shooters. None of them are
catching shoot guys, you know. So, so they have to
have the ball, particularly Lebron and A d. They need
the ball. And so now remember the Lakers were actually
(12:06):
playing pretty decently before a D came back because guys
were starting to understand, Okay, now this is my role.
We're getting some stuff together, and then you bring a
D back and everything changes. Then you bring Lebron back
and everything changes again. Whereas with any of the three
in Brooklyn Harden, but specific particularly Durant and then Kyrie
(12:30):
as well, you can drop them in because they're such
good shooters. That's the thing, the huge difference KD. Just
drop him in. He'll take seventeen shots. He'll take fifteen
shots right right, So you don't have to change everything
because they all can shoot the basketball. So yeah, um,
(12:53):
Rob's writing them off. I'm not ready to go that
far yet, but there certainly are issues in La La Land.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app. Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour
with Ben Maller along with my trustee sidekick David Gascon.
(13:16):
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one in God's name
is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a spin
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Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world
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(13:36):
nature and more. Let's sen to the Fifth Hour with
Ben maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever
you get your podcast. The Aaron Rodgers situation and Rob
We talked about it with Charlie about the timing being
strange because everybody, all the reporters, the plugged in NFL reporters,
are saying that this stems from the drafting of Jordan
(13:59):
Love and we all know he was upset. He talked
about what was it his scotch He had five fingers
of scotch or whatever it was he said. And we
get that. But then you go out and have an
MVP season and then a year, and then after that
season you start complaining. It's a strange thing. And I'm
(14:20):
gonna say this, I do think Aaron Rodgers is being whiny.
All right, we get it, you didn't like the drafting
of Jordan Love. But let me say this, Rob, if
anybody should understand it, it should be Aaron Rodgers because
he was in that very same position and he sat
(14:44):
for three years, so he should be able to understand.
How Okay, they drafted this guy. But it doesn't mean
they're getting rid of me. Right now. I'm going out
and doing my thing, and that's what he did. And
I do think lad and I don't know if he
has a problem with the personnel, um, but we we
(15:05):
talked with Charlie. But I think they got good personnel.
I mean, they've been thirteen and three to last two years.
They got a good coach. The the call in the
playoff game. Notwithstanding, he's still a good coach, Matt lafleur. Um,
you got DeVante Adams. You mentioned the tight end that
you love. Aaron Jones was the fourth leading rusher in
the league. The offensive line ranked second in the league.
(15:27):
Last year the defensive playoff, they lost that one of
their best offensive lineman, didn't They lose the memory got
hurt and they still played Okay, right, Yeah, So I
just David Baktiari that that's the guy guy here, Chris Yep.
I just think that he is being whiny. Um, but
(15:47):
I'm gonna say this, Rob, and because I look, sports
ain't fair, life ain't fair sometimes, and Lebron James gets
certain concessions that Alex Caruso doesn't. All right, Michael Jordan
got certain concessions that Judd Buschler did not. Chris Boussa
(16:11):
gets time off that Rob Parker's stopping stopping. Robert has
been the Anharctica, the Golden Cob knobbing with the Golden
Girls or Gordon girls and girls impersonators whatever they were, right,
That's what it was, them were Dragon. I'm gonna say this, Rob,
(16:32):
as much as I do believe Aaron Rodgers is being
whitey and just, I'm gonna call it like it is
a bit of a baby. All right, your feelings were hurt. Okay,
get over and put your big boy pants on. All Right,
you're one of the best to ever do it. We'll
be fine. We got a chance to win a Super Bowl, dude,
(16:53):
what are you doing? Okay, As much as I feel
that way, if the reports are true, that if they
fired GM, Brian Gooda Coots and all will be well
with Aaron Rodgers. He'll come back smile on his face,
ready to rock and roll and go for a super Bowl.
(17:14):
Here's what I got to say for Brian Gouda Coots
rob one word, bye bye, You're gone, You're out of here.
Brian Gouden Coops isn't gonna catch a pass, He's not
(17:34):
gonna make a block, he's not gonna make a tackle.
I'm sorry. It might not be fair, but that's the
way it is. I got to keep Aaron Rodgers and
try to win this Super Bowl. Bye. It's always about
the player. We already know that unless you're on the team,
(17:55):
that's the only time that you went out over the player.
But anybody's working for the team and there's a disagreement,
the players always gonna be kept because the game is
about players. So I don't think the dead would be
any question. Do you think they're gonna do it? I'm not.
I don't know. I'm not saying that I think that
that's gonna happen. I think Charlie hit the nail on
(18:18):
the head. I think this is a ploy for money
because it can't be about the Jordan Love. The timing,
it doesn't work, Chris, the timing doesn't work. The time
to make a stink was last year to really make
a stink and let people know how. And I'm not
talking about ripping the kid or anything, but just saying
like this makes no sense. You know, you could have
(18:41):
been you could have just done it right and you
could have done what you know, saying, hey, I don't
know if I'm coming back. This is ridiculous. We had it.
We went to the NFC Championship game last year. I
needed a little more help. All you had to do
is go, you know what I mean, help the team,
and you didn't do it. Why wouldn't you do it? Uh?
When we still have a good squad. So if that
(19:02):
was the argument back then, that's fine. The timing of
this just doesn't make sense. That is still about Jordan Love.
It has to be more than this, Chris, because you
just mentioned it despite Jordan Loves sitting there and taking
reps or not watching practice. I'm sure you're not taking
any reps, watching practice or whatever. Aaron Rodgers just had
(19:23):
probably was fine a season, maybe maybe one other season.
Chris was equal on part what he just did right.
It is arguably his best season. What do you have
forty eight touchdowns? I mean it was he was magnificent
playing and simple right, so it didn't affect him where
he didn't want to play or Jordan Love. Screw them,
(19:45):
let them put Jordan Love in. I'm gonna throw twenty picks,
do you know what I mean? Like you could have
sabotaged it if you really want, if he went right right, So,
I just it doesn't make sense. I think he just
had this great year. Charlie mentioned that he got all
of his money up front. Now everything, there's no more
(20:05):
guaranteed money, Chris, it's all dead money. And coming off
a year like that, it's like he wants them to
pay like that, like he wants them to pay and
you know, the city guys getting forty and fifty million
dollars who aren't even close to him, I mean dollars
(20:27):
if he I see and I Charlie, you know, it's
hard to argue with the statement it's always about money
because so often it is. I get that, But Rob,
if it's about the money, then he ain't walking away, right.
I Mean, he's made over two hundred and seventy million
dollars in his career. He's made a lot of money, right,
(20:48):
So if he were to retire, if he's gonna you know,
playing his flag and say I'm not playing for you again.
He'd have to give them back like twenty two million
dollars over the next two years. I don't see him
doing that. Now, let me ask you this, do you
believe the reports about guten coups, Like if he gets him,
(21:10):
if he's gone, then then Rogers is okay. I think
there's a medium, there's a there's a there's a a
middle ground. I don't believe that it's that simple. I
think it's more about maybe if this guy were to grovel,
admit that he made a mistake and how he handled
it and you know, opening lines of communication that going forward,
(21:32):
there's a there's a happy medium. I just to say
that he wants his blood. They could come up with
a happy medium, Chris and some sort of payout or bonus,
do you know what I mean? And I think that
that would work more so than just strictly all right,
you fire him, I'll be back to work tomorrow. I
(21:54):
just that would look, there have to be things to
work out, but that I mean again, we're just going
off the report just don't right, you know, has something
to do with it. But Rob here's the thing. And
I think we've talked about this before. When a guy
isn't because obviously if he's willing to walk away, then
(22:17):
he's questioning I think how much he wants to play.
I get it, Oh, I want to play, not just
not in Green Bay. Okay, that's fine, But if you're
willing to retire over that when you got a team
that's been to the NFC title game the last two years,
I'd have to hear Aaron Rodgers say that before I
start to believe that. I that, Yeah, that's hard for
(22:40):
me to believe, Chris. I know that there's there's jockeying
and positioning. I think you know what I mean exactly that. Yeah,
you know how that is you posture? Oh yeah, you know,
I might. I might just quit. Uh. I remember when
I was, you know, covering the nets and players were
looking for more money, Chris, and they were negotiating, and
(23:02):
they would use me through the newspaper, you know what
I mean, like give me inside information on what's going on.
And then I remember one player telling me that he
was thinking about going to Europe to play if he
doesn't get the deal that he wants. Now you think
he's going to Europe Grade I wrote it anyway, you
know what I mean? They made the story him juicy, right,
(23:22):
I get it, but that was posturing they ain't going
to Europe. Absolutely, absolutely, Yeah, I'm with you. But it look,
this has gotten ugly and it's gonna be interesting to
see how Rogers handles it, because I I think Charlie's
right that they're not gonna trade him. Now, whether they
(23:42):
get rid of the GM or not, we'll see, but
I don't think they're going to trade him at least.
Do you know what I mean to save face? Bring
in another guy? Uh, yep, or move the GM into
something else, do you know what I mean? Like like
you don't want it, because I'm sure they don't want
to fire nah, because that would just make it like, well,
(24:05):
well what are we doing here? And Chris remember all
the other people in the front office, they don't want
to do it either, because maybe I'm next if we
just did that, if Aaron Rodgers just pulled this on him,
Oh yeah, now he can do it on your back. Right.
Remember they were already there was already talk he got
rid of Mike McCarthy. So I just I think it's
(24:30):
it's tougher to just give in to that without it
making it like he had ultimate power. And then again,
how does that look for teammates? Some might be like, man,
that that dude's the man. Other guys might not like it,
you know what I mean, like, oh he running the
team now? Oh I'm not I got dropped down the
second string or third string. Aaron Rodgers probably whispered in
(24:51):
the ear, do you know, Like like there's all kinds
of stuff. You start to think, like was that a
move from management or did Aaron want me out? Now
it can put I mean I think think a lot
a ton of guys would just they respect him and
you know what I mean, they want him back at
all cars Oh yeah, but yeah, you never know. I
mean that stuff can can seep into people's minds for sure,
even Lebron, I mean with you know him kind of
(25:14):
running a lot of the teams. He's been Anthony Davis
trade and all those players. What happened to the player?
The other the young players right as great as he is,
they were bothered by they were shook and they stopped playing.
They right from that whole thing. Yeah, be sure to
catch live editions of the Odd Couple with Chris Broussard,
(25:34):
then Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app
and our next guests played in Green Bay for six seasons,
played with not only Aaron Rodgers, but played with Brett Farve. So, uh,
he's a great guy to talk to about. This also
(25:56):
went to Brigham Young, so we'll get into some of
Zach Wilson with him. Brady Papinga, Is he is he
ready yet? Alright? Super Bowl champion, Brady Papinga, Brady, what's up?
What's going on? Guys? Great to have you on, my man,
(26:16):
Great to have you on. Now. Look, we're gonna get
to the Green Bay situation in a moment. But first
you you went to Brigham Young. You always big up
their guys. We've had you on here before, and you
just saying the praises of of of the guy down
in New Orleans. I won't I don't even need to
say his name, all right, but um, we're gonna I
gotta ask you about Zach Wilson. Um, they're excited. I'm
(26:39):
up here in the New York area. Everybody's excited about
the Jets. Draft, and most notably Zach Wilson. How do
you think, Let's just say, first from a his makeup
as a person, his character, you know, New York is
a different animal. Is he built to handle New York
City and all that comes with it? Oh? I mean
(27:03):
he's a very mentally tough kid. He's a kid though
that this is gonna be a culture shock for him, right,
He's gonna because at DYU it's like all you've heard
is how good you are, and even you know, and
it's almost like the people that did doubt him last
year at the shoulder injury and his shoulder issue and
then he was kind of a question whether I was
(27:23):
going to be the starter. As soon as he started playing, well,
I was like, oh, nothing, no doubts there. We're good. Now,
we're a believer. You know, That's not how New York is.
They're gonna constantly be doubting him and poking and prying,
and anytime he slips up, they're gonna jump on him.
All you're a bus. Oh we told you this is
too big for you. So that's gonna be new for him.
(27:43):
But to me, it's gonna come down to simply the program.
You know, and if you heard Robert Slay's talk to
him when he drafted him, he basically said to him,
to Zach, he said, hey, we're gonna prop you up.
Don't think you're gonna come in here carrying us. And
that literally, And that's in any quarterbacking situation with young quarterback,
that's how it has to be. If not, it really
(28:04):
doesn't matter the caliber of the quarterback. It doesn't matter
the mentality. Because here's the thing too, Sam Donald to
me is equivalent to Zach Wilson. Like there, it's just
one's fresh, he's got kind of a new start, where
Sam Donald is kind of you know, he's kind of
beat up a little bit and needed a fresh start himself.
So those that's two contrasts right there. One who didn't
(28:28):
have a program to support to support him in Sam Donald,
now they shipped them off. And if they have one
that can support Zach Wilson, yeah he can make every throw. Man.
That guy was making throws that I came accustomed to.
Seem like you mentioned in the intro that it's only
seeing guys like fern Riders make because I played against
him so many times acts thousands of after thousands of plays,
(28:50):
so anyway, you know, he's going to only go as
far as the program the support system around him will
take it. I say, you know, I hate to like
just put too much on somebody else because players still
have to perform and do their jobs. But being in
the right situation, Brady, and being with the right coach
(29:13):
and the right system, it does have a huge impact
when you look at we've seen it around like Adam
Gas has had failed with some guys that go elsewhere
and they're playing great, you know, and does that really
matter like with the coach and what system they're running
and whatnot, and could be the difference between making you
(29:35):
and you being a bust. Absolutely. And the best example is,
you know, the segue into Aaron Rodgers is Aaron Rodgers
because the first few years, if Aaron would have been
thrown into the wolves between quotations like Alex Smith was,
I'm not sure we are talking about Aaron Rodgers in
the same light that we are right now. I don't
(29:57):
even know if at that time I full he felt
one hundred percent like Yeah, this guy's gonna do it.
I hide my doubts year two, year three, And it
took until it was late in the year in years three,
I believe is oh seven, when we played the Cowboys
and he replaced farther, I was like, oh, there he is.
He looks like he could he could do this. And
up until that point, I don't suly I didn't know,
(30:19):
you know. And then you look at guy like Alex Smith,
whose their careers are always going to be compared. You know,
here he's thrown to the wolves. He says, all these
different coordinators, five different offensive coordinators in five years, and
he was considered a bust. And now he kind of
got back on the horse there a little bit with
Harback coming into town and you know this some good
things with Kansas City and all that, and you know,
(30:41):
had a great sixteen year career. I wouldn't say he
was a bust, but there was, for surely those comparisons
and there will always be. But if you flipped the two.
It's my point, if you've put Aaron in San Francisco
into the same circumstances as Alex Smith, and then you
put Alex Smith up in Green Bay, you know, I
would almost say, I'll explith would have been of you know,
like Aaron is right now, our first a sure fire
(31:04):
hall Famer. But man, he's uh, he's looked at differently
than he is right now. And I would say the
same about Aaron Rodgers. Let's go to Aaron in Green Bay,
and we all know what's going on. The reports are
that the problem was the Jordan Love draft, which obviously
was a year ago, and and Aaron came out after
that and had the MVP season. Why do you think that, like,
(31:28):
the timing doesn't make sense. If indeed this is about
Jordan Love, do you think it's about more than Jordan
Love or something else completely different or if not, If
you think it's love, then why now and not a
year ago? Oh well, it just comes down to communication,
you know. And I feel like the Packers are extremely
(31:51):
disciplined in their model. Obviously, that's why they're doing what
they're doing with Jordan Love, what they deal with Aaron,
you know. I mean. And by the way, this whole
drama right now, you know who created it was Eron
the fact that he turned out so well because he
replaced Brett gave not only just the Packers but the
whole NFL like, Oh, that's the model, that's what we
(32:11):
should do. And that's exactly what they were thinking when
they dropped the Georga though, like, oh man, he's gonna
be our next Jaron Rodgers. This is great, you know,
and they don't realize that Aaron Rodgers has a different plan.
You know, he's not looking at himself like he's an
ex Bret far Right, you know, he's looking at himself
like I'm Aaron Rodgers. This is it's a different era quarterback.
I mean, look at Tom Brady. These guys are gonna
(32:32):
play well into their forties now. And it's because they
are so protected. They're never gonna, you know, unless it's
a illegal hit, They're never gonna get hit below the knees.
They're never gonna have that technique which the lineman the
rushers do where they're gonna put they're gonna grab their
arm and put their full body masks on him and
try to separate their shoulder or break their collar mode
(32:54):
as they're taking to the ground. They're not gonna get
hit the head, you know, all those things that happened
to Bretton guys before him, and Aaron just looking at
and he's like, guys, I'm gonna play well into my forties.
And so it came down to communication, you know. And
I think that's really where the Packers struggle. They're so
disciplined to their model at times that they forget that
there's a personal element and there's an evolution that happens,
(33:15):
and the evolution that's happened is just what I explained.
Quarterbacks are gonna play a lot longer. So to me,
all it takes is being fully open and transparent and
basically sitting there and down and just saying, hey, man,
you know what, it's that time where we don't know
what's going to happen with you. We understand that you
got a lot of great years ahead, and with those
(33:35):
great years, we hope that you play with us, obviously,
but at the same time, if you do want to
step away, you know, whatever happens, we want to have
somebody there that as an insurance policy, and we hope
you don't take it as a slight if we draft
a guy in the first round. And I think the
thing that people that get so caught up with two
is draft status doesn't guarantee a player is going to play.
(33:58):
Draft status is simply the price the market demanded for
a specific player services coming from college. That's it. After that,
after you paid for that between quotations asset. Now it's
you let football take care of itself. And I think
that so many times guys get picked, especially in the
(34:20):
for the second round, and it's like, well, he's got
to play with got to play it. No, he'll play
when he shows you he's ready to play it. In
the case of Jordan Love, he'll play when Aaron isn't
the best quarterback on the team anymore. And that may
be five, six, seven years down the road. And so
that to me needed to be communicated and it obviously wasn't.
(34:40):
And you know that's and I think right now they're
trying to make up for that, the Packers. But Aaron,
I'll tell you, if you wrong him, it's gonna take
a bit to get him to come back around and
listen to you. That's one thing I know about him.
He sounds like a capricorn. That's the way I operate.
But anyway, Brady, I was gonna say it is but
the one thing I think that sometimes lost and I
(35:02):
get it, and everybody's an individual. But if you look
at the five greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, they all
finished their career elsewhere that like this is the norm, right,
that guys don't get to finish and get their flowers
at the end and everybody loves you. Most of these
quarterbacks wind up going somewhere else, and that's because back
(35:24):
in the day their play had dropped off. You know,
you look at like with Brett Farve. You know, in
two thousand and five, he had a terrible Season's my
rookie season in comparison to how he's capable of playing.
You know, in two thousand and six he had kind
of a revival, but he wasn't fully invested. You know,
he kept facilating in my end and my out of tiring.
(35:47):
He did that for years, so ten Thomes it was
smart for him to be like, yeah, we got to
get a replacement. This isn't the same deal. Aron has
never once before this instant, ever talked about retirement, ever
talked about playing for another team, and he came off
an MVP caliber year. So it's kind of funny that
(36:08):
they're trying to relive this ret farm to Aaron Rodgers
transition when that's not even apples apples comparison. It's a
whole new era for quarterbacking. And that's why Aaron is
like right now kind of like just beside himself. He
just won the NFL MVP and they don't even want
to guarantee him money beyond a year, which who does that,
(36:30):
you know, especially when they're kind of cap strapped. It's
like that would be the automatic go to thing. You
keep the MVP even if it goes against your model,
and you just roll with it and he's your exception.
That's fine. You can have exceptions. That's another thing that
the Packers struggle with. They struggle with thinking if they
do it for one guy, hope we're gonna have to
do it for ten others in the future. Well, you're
(36:51):
not gonna have ten other Aaron Rodgers. That's just not
gonna happen. All right. That's Brady Peppina, super Bowl champion,
former teammate of Aaron rod Just Hey, we enjoyed it, man,
Thanks for the insight. Thanks Brady, and the last time
you want our show, I can't remember. I can't remember
you were touting something and oh yeah, that's what it was. Yeah, Okay,
(37:14):
the guy who won't be playing, who won't be starting
next year, Hell that well, he'll still be playing quarterback
even if he doesn't start at the quarterback. He'll still
be playing quarterback. You said he's all that in the
baggage ships. He should be starting, right, all right, I
think he should be starting. I can go on a
whole other segment about this, absolutely, But I don't know
(37:38):
if Sean Payton doesn't like the idea of always having
kind of a change of guy coming off the sideline
like Tayson to keep defenses guessing which. By the way,
if that is the case, I don't know how Jamis
is going to handle that. That's tough for a quarterbas
It's gone. All right, we'll have you want to talk
about that at another time. We will definitely do that
(37:59):
for sure. Have a good evening, Brady, thank you, brother.
All right, you guys, two guys, thank you.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of The Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. You're out there
in La the Lakers, all right. The Lakers are struggling, struggling,
as our man Joe Namis would say. They've lost six
(00:44):
of their last seven, struggling seven of their last nine.
And since Lebron's come back, they've lost two straight or
since he was back. He's out tonight. He reaggravated his
ankle injury, so he's out tonight. And he, you know,
the little few games he played, he wasn't able to
(01:05):
really help them much. He played fine, but they couldn't
win and they lost. The bad teams, all right, Sacramento
without two of its best players, Toronto without two of
his best players, and the Lakers are in six places.
They played Denver tonight without Lebron, so that could be
an l They could be that's gonna be an l
(01:28):
You already know I would think so, I would think so. Um,
but they could be in seventh place and in the
play in after tonight because Portland plays Atlantic. That's gonna
be a tough one for Portland, but they may win that.
So what are your thoughts. I mean, I'm not ready
to right off the Lakers, but obviously they got major concerns.
(01:51):
And I always say I'm looking looking the drop file
for throw the towel in, because I'm throwing the towel
in on the Lakers. I told you this before are
that they had too many things that needed to go right,
you know, like trying to say it was that when
Lebron got hurt, you said it. At some point you
said they're done. I don't know if it was when
(02:13):
he got hurt or before. I'm throwing the toweling on
the Lakers. Only from the standpoint that Lebron's already said
he's not going to be a hundred percent. He's already
got it. He said that for the rest of his career, right,
But but that doesn't bode well for this year. I
think he just considering where they are and how they've
(02:34):
looked because you just laid it out Sacramento with out
there two best players, Toronto comes in down by twelve
early throttles them. Really, don't let the score fool you.
Toronto handle the Lakers. That's with Lebron and that's with
a D. Right. And here's the other thing, the squad
(02:56):
that maybe people thought. You remember, people were talking about
it all they won the championship, and they won the offseason.
All this team is so much better than the team
that won the championship. I just don't. I don't buy
into that. Were the second seed in the West when healthy,
so they were playing well before all the injuries. I
(03:16):
still don't believe that they were better than the team
that won the championship. And I'm talking about maybe on paper, Chris,
But you know, there's a difference between being on paper
and actually playing and the chemistry and cohesiveness, do you
know what I mean? Like, there's a difference. You can
look at paper all you want and say, oh god,
they're they're they're great on paper. So A D wasn't
(03:39):
looking good, Chris before the injury. Radio Chamberlain compared to
what he's been looking like since he got back from
me injured. Right, But but even before that, you you
talked about it, We both talked about it. We thought
with the championship in his back pocket. Second, you know,
with the whole idea that he would come out be aggressive,
(04:02):
b d MVP of the league. Let Lebron take some rest,
a back seat and gear up to the championship. Right,
That's what we thought. And he didn't come out that way.
And then I know he got injured, but he didn't
come out that he's dis employing that that he didn't run.
I honestly that that makes that should have been the
game player man like you basically taken I don't want
(04:25):
to say taking the season off, but you you kind
of you've mailed it in this season and now, and
that's that should happened from him. No, he's he's too
young to not feel like he should have gone out
and said, you know what, I got my championship. Lebron's
still here. Now you know what I'm gonna do. I'm
(04:46):
gonna get my MVP Chris in my back pocket. I
could get both of them and then have a chance
to go back to back. And once you do that,
you change the perception of you, of who you are
as a player, and it didn't feel like Anthony Davis
had that game plan going into the season. And you
just said it again. Since he's been back, and I'm
(05:07):
not here to I don't know how hurt people are,
and I'm not gonna rip on people coming back from
injuries or or where they are. But he just hadn't
been that good. And when you look at this team
and that Sacramento lass. I watched the Laker post game show.
I mean, you know, it was like, uh, what do
you call those uh those dolls that give out with
the heads that bob bobble heads, bobble heads. I know, right,
(05:31):
I was gonna close dolls with the hands that bobble right,
they were all bobble in their hands, Chris, because they
couldn't understand it, like like was that worthy? And yeah,
you know they were just like like like like these
games are so important? What are they doing? You just
had Sacramento Toronto at home? Chris? Those should be wins. No,
(05:52):
So so I'm out on the Lakers. I just think
too many things have to go right, and already we've
seen that they haven't. And you know what I think
the season might be better off them going into the
playoff game, playing game and losing, and that might be
the way this season ends. Oh but what do you
mean though, No, I'm just meaning that that's the way,
(06:15):
because yeah, it could end that way because it's just
so much that they would have to overcome in order
to try to win another championship. Well, for them to
if they let's say hypothetically they finished seventh, for them
to not even make the playoffs, they'd have to lose
to Memphis in a one and done, which you know
could happen. I mean I wouldn't pick it, but yeah,
one and done, anything could happen. Then they would play
(06:38):
the loser the winner of game, and that team, let's
say it's Golden State, would have to beat the Lakers twice, right, right,
So it's still unlikely if they get the seventh or
eight seed that they won't make the playoffs, but anything's
possible at this point. I'm gonna break it down like
this for Laker fans, and like it's I'm not ready
(07:01):
to totally write him off, but I hear where you're
coming from. Rob number one. They here's some of their
concerns Lebron James the health all right, six seven years ago,
Lebron would have been back much earlier from this ankle injury,
and he would have been fine once he got back.
But now that's Rob. This is what happens. People think
(07:21):
you retire what you retire because you can't play basketball anymore. No,
you get old, the superstars get old. It takes you
a lot longer to recover from injury. Right, you can't
play at a higher level as consistently. And you wonder
is father time. I'm sure it being thirty six years
(07:43):
old in his eighteenth year has something to do with
this injury and how long it's taking him to get back,
just like it did a few years ago. So that's
number one. And then Rob, we've said it many times.
When Lebron came back two years ago, he wasn't able
to carry them. He probably needed more of a ramp up, right,
(08:04):
more time to get going. And don't you remember he
was like playoff, right, he thought he was activated, and
he went out there and they lost to three or
four bad teams and it cost him. They went eight
and thirteen. Rob after he came back and then he
shut it down. He maybe wasn't ready but that might
be the case. Now he might not get close to
(08:24):
one hundred percent and he probably won't be able to
carry him if that's the case. Secondly, you mentioned the ad.
Here's the numbers, Rob, since he's come back from injury.
Sixteen and a half points, six and a half rebounds,
thirty nine percent, shooting eighteen percent from three. Think about pretty.
(08:46):
I mean that's not even that's that is downright bad, right,
And and Andre Drummond with those two, how's that working out?
Not well? And I'm glad you brought that up because
it's not working his a D. The net rating with
a D and a D both of them are a
d's Drummond and Anthony Davis on the court is negative
(09:10):
six point six. When it's Anthony Davis and Mark Gasol,
Rob is plus eight point eight. And you heard last night,
I don't know if you saw it, Kyle Kuzma said
we got issues. We're not together, not as a team,
not as a staff. He and one thing he said
is Mark Gasol should be playing more Rob. That tell
(09:33):
you've been covering sports a long time. We both have.
That tells me that there may be whispers, you know
what I'm saying like he ain't the only one, like yo,
we need Gasol getting more minutes because they see it
and they understand it. And it was nice. And I'm
not Andre Drummonds a fine player, Chris, I'm not here
(09:54):
to rip on him, but I don't know if he
really fits and that's the issue. And players know it,
you know what I mean. You don't think they know
that number. They're like the floor spread right the Lakers.
That would open things up for Ad to be not
only outside but inside as well, opens up the lane
for Lebron. So yeah, now, and here's the thing you mentioned,
(10:15):
drumming Rob. Look at the paper on paper, thirteen points,
ten rebounds, fifty three percent shooting in twenty five minutes
a night. You would look at that and be like, oh,
this is great, right, But he's the worst defensive player
on the team and that's shown in the stats and
(10:37):
what to me, And like you said, I'm not trying
to rip him. These are just I'm just pointing it out.
Just numbers right right, the numbers. Rob. He's doing what
he's done throughout his career. His numbers are great. They
were great in Detroit, they were great. The little bit
of time he played for Cleveland. But you don't win
any game, No, you don't win. And so the Lakers
(11:00):
and then Dennis Shrewder Now he could be out the
rest of the regular season with k And I'm gonna
end with this, Rob because you you said something that
a lot of people might try to call you on.
But I know what you meant. You said, too many
things have to go right. Similar for Brooklyn, right, Harden's
gotta get right, Kd's gotta stay right. They got some
(11:22):
things too. But here's the difference. It is harder to
work in the Lakers Stars than it is the Nets.
Even though Lebron is you know, we both say, the
second greatest player ever. You don't just drop Lebron James
into a lineup. No, he's the He's the lineup, right,
(11:44):
everything's gonna change. And and to be honest, even though
he's not as good as Lebrin. Same thing with Anthony
Davis and to a far lesser extent, Andre Drummond. Because Rob,
none of them are great shooters. None of them are
catching shoot guys, you know. So, so they have to
have the ball, particularly Lebron and A d. They need
the ball. And so now remember the Lakers were actually
(12:06):
playing pretty decently before a D came back because guys
were starting to understand, Okay, now this is my role.
We're getting some stuff together, and then you bring a
D back and everything changes. Then you bring Lebron back
and everything changes again. Whereas with any of the three
in Brooklyn Harden, but specific particularly Durant and then Kyrie
(12:30):
as well, you can drop them in because they're such
good shooters. That's the thing, the huge difference KD. Just
drop him in. He'll take seventeen shots. He'll take fifteen
shots right right, So you don't have to change everything
because they all can shoot the basketball. So yeah, um,
(12:53):
Rob's writing them off. I'm not ready to go that
far yet, but there certainly are issues in La La Land.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app. Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour
with Ben Maller along with my trustee sidekick David Gascon.
(13:16):
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
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is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's a spin
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Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world
will we chat with captains of industry in media, sports
and more every week Explorer some amazing facts about human
(13:36):
nature and more. Let's sen to the Fifth Hour with
Ben maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever
you get your podcast. The Aaron Rodgers situation and Rob
We talked about it with Charlie about the timing being
strange because everybody, all the reporters, the plugged in NFL reporters,
are saying that this stems from the drafting of Jordan
(13:59):
Love and we all know he was upset. He talked
about what was it his scotch He had five fingers
of scotch or whatever it was he said. And we
get that. But then you go out and have an
MVP season and then a year, and then after that
season you start complaining. It's a strange thing. And I'm
(14:20):
gonna say this, I do think Aaron Rodgers is being whiny.
All right, we get it, you didn't like the drafting
of Jordan Love. But let me say this, Rob, if
anybody should understand it, it should be Aaron Rodgers because
he was in that very same position and he sat
(14:44):
for three years, so he should be able to understand.
How Okay, they drafted this guy. But it doesn't mean
they're getting rid of me. Right now. I'm going out
and doing my thing, and that's what he did. And
I do think lad and I don't know if he
has a problem with the personnel, um, but we we
(15:05):
talked with Charlie. But I think they got good personnel.
I mean, they've been thirteen and three to last two years.
They got a good coach. The the call in the
playoff game. Notwithstanding, he's still a good coach, Matt lafleur. Um,
you got DeVante Adams. You mentioned the tight end that
you love. Aaron Jones was the fourth leading rusher in
the league. The offensive line ranked second in the league.
(15:27):
Last year the defensive playoff, they lost that one of
their best offensive lineman, didn't They lose the memory got
hurt and they still played Okay, right, Yeah, So I
just David Baktiari that that's the guy guy here, Chris Yep.
I just think that he is being whiny. Um, but
(15:47):
I'm gonna say this, Rob, and because I look, sports
ain't fair, life ain't fair sometimes, and Lebron James gets
certain concessions that Alex Caruso doesn't. All right, Michael Jordan
got certain concessions that Judd Buschler did not. Chris Boussa
(16:11):
gets time off that Rob Parker's stopping stopping. Robert has
been the Anharctica, the Golden Cob knobbing with the Golden
Girls or Gordon girls and girls impersonators whatever they were, right,
That's what it was, them were Dragon. I'm gonna say this, Rob,
(16:32):
as much as I do believe Aaron Rodgers is being
whitey and just, I'm gonna call it like it is
a bit of a baby. All right, your feelings were hurt. Okay,
get over and put your big boy pants on. All Right,
you're one of the best to ever do it. We'll
be fine. We got a chance to win a Super Bowl, dude,
(16:53):
what are you doing? Okay, As much as I feel
that way, if the reports are true, that if they
fired GM, Brian Gooda Coots and all will be well
with Aaron Rodgers. He'll come back smile on his face,
ready to rock and roll and go for a super Bowl.
(17:14):
Here's what I got to say for Brian Gouda Coots
rob one word, bye bye, You're gone, You're out of here.
Brian Gouden Coops isn't gonna catch a pass, He's not
(17:34):
gonna make a block, he's not gonna make a tackle.
I'm sorry. It might not be fair, but that's the
way it is. I got to keep Aaron Rodgers and
try to win this Super Bowl. Bye. It's always about
the player. We already know that unless you're on the team,
(17:55):
that's the only time that you went out over the player.
But anybody's working for the team and there's a disagreement,
the players always gonna be kept because the game is
about players. So I don't think the dead would be
any question. Do you think they're gonna do it? I'm not.
I don't know. I'm not saying that I think that
that's gonna happen. I think Charlie hit the nail on
(18:18):
the head. I think this is a ploy for money
because it can't be about the Jordan Love. The timing,
it doesn't work, Chris, the timing doesn't work. The time
to make a stink was last year to really make
a stink and let people know how. And I'm not
talking about ripping the kid or anything, but just saying
like this makes no sense. You know, you could have
(18:41):
been you could have just done it right and you
could have done what you know, saying, hey, I don't
know if I'm coming back. This is ridiculous. We had it.
We went to the NFC Championship game last year. I
needed a little more help. All you had to do
is go, you know what I mean, help the team,
and you didn't do it. Why wouldn't you do it? Uh?
When we still have a good squad. So if that
(19:02):
was the argument back then, that's fine. The timing of
this just doesn't make sense. That is still about Jordan Love.
It has to be more than this, Chris, because you
just mentioned it despite Jordan Loves sitting there and taking
reps or not watching practice. I'm sure you're not taking
any reps, watching practice or whatever. Aaron Rodgers just had
(19:23):
probably was fine a season, maybe maybe one other season.
Chris was equal on part what he just did right.
It is arguably his best season. What do you have
forty eight touchdowns? I mean it was he was magnificent
playing and simple right, so it didn't affect him where
he didn't want to play or Jordan Love. Screw them,
(19:45):
let them put Jordan Love in. I'm gonna throw twenty picks,
do you know what I mean? Like you could have
sabotaged it if you really want, if he went right right, So,
I just it doesn't make sense. I think he just
had this great year. Charlie mentioned that he got all
of his money up front. Now everything, there's no more
(20:05):
guaranteed money, Chris, it's all dead money. And coming off
a year like that, it's like he wants them to
pay like that, like he wants them to pay and
you know, the city guys getting forty and fifty million
dollars who aren't even close to him, I mean dollars
(20:27):
if he I see and I Charlie, you know, it's
hard to argue with the statement it's always about money
because so often it is. I get that, But Rob,
if it's about the money, then he ain't walking away, right.
I Mean, he's made over two hundred and seventy million
dollars in his career. He's made a lot of money, right,
(20:48):
So if he were to retire, if he's gonna you know,
playing his flag and say I'm not playing for you again.
He'd have to give them back like twenty two million
dollars over the next two years. I don't see him
doing that. Now, let me ask you this, do you
believe the reports about guten coups, Like if he gets him,
(21:10):
if he's gone, then then Rogers is okay. I think
there's a medium, there's a there's a there's a a
middle ground. I don't believe that it's that simple. I
think it's more about maybe if this guy were to grovel,
admit that he made a mistake and how he handled
it and you know, opening lines of communication that going forward,
(21:32):
there's a there's a happy medium. I just to say
that he wants his blood. They could come up with
a happy medium, Chris and some sort of payout or bonus,
do you know what I mean? And I think that
that would work more so than just strictly all right,
you fire him, I'll be back to work tomorrow. I
(21:54):
just that would look, there have to be things to
work out, but that I mean again, we're just going
off the report just don't right, you know, has something
to do with it. But Rob here's the thing. And
I think we've talked about this before. When a guy
isn't because obviously if he's willing to walk away, then
(22:17):
he's questioning I think how much he wants to play.
I get it, Oh, I want to play, not just
not in Green Bay. Okay, that's fine, But if you're
willing to retire over that when you got a team
that's been to the NFC title game the last two years,
I'd have to hear Aaron Rodgers say that before I
start to believe that. I that, Yeah, that's hard for
(22:40):
me to believe, Chris. I know that there's there's jockeying
and positioning. I think you know what I mean exactly that. Yeah,
you know how that is you posture? Oh yeah, you know,
I might. I might just quit. Uh. I remember when
I was, you know, covering the nets and players were
looking for more money, Chris, and they were negotiating, and
(23:02):
they would use me through the newspaper, you know what
I mean, like give me inside information on what's going on.
And then I remember one player telling me that he
was thinking about going to Europe to play if he
doesn't get the deal that he wants. Now you think
he's going to Europe Grade I wrote it anyway, you
know what I mean? They made the story him juicy, right,
(23:22):
I get it, but that was posturing they ain't going
to Europe. Absolutely, absolutely, Yeah, I'm with you. But it look,
this has gotten ugly and it's gonna be interesting to
see how Rogers handles it, because I I think Charlie's
right that they're not gonna trade him. Now, whether they
(23:42):
get rid of the GM or not, we'll see, but
I don't think they're going to trade him at least.
Do you know what I mean to save face? Bring
in another guy? Uh, yep, or move the GM into
something else, do you know what I mean? Like like
you don't want it, because I'm sure they don't want
to fire nah, because that would just make it like, well,
(24:05):
well what are we doing here? And Chris remember all
the other people in the front office, they don't want
to do it either, because maybe I'm next if we
just did that, if Aaron Rodgers just pulled this on him,
Oh yeah, now he can do it on your back. Right.
Remember they were already there was already talk he got
rid of Mike McCarthy. So I just I think it's
(24:30):
it's tougher to just give in to that without it
making it like he had ultimate power. And then again,
how does that look for teammates? Some might be like, man,
that that dude's the man. Other guys might not like it,
you know what I mean, like, oh he running the
team now? Oh I'm not I got dropped down the
second string or third string. Aaron Rodgers probably whispered in
(24:51):
the ear, do you know, Like like there's all kinds
of stuff. You start to think, like was that a
move from management or did Aaron want me out? Now
it can put I mean I think think a lot
a ton of guys would just they respect him and
you know what I mean, they want him back at
all cars Oh yeah, but yeah, you never know. I
mean that stuff can can seep into people's minds for sure,
even Lebron, I mean with you know him kind of
(25:14):
running a lot of the teams. He's been Anthony Davis
trade and all those players. What happened to the player?
The other the young players right as great as he is,
they were bothered by they were shook and they stopped playing.
They right from that whole thing. Yeah, be sure to
catch live editions of the Odd Couple with Chris Broussard,
(25:34):
then Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app
and our next guests played in Green Bay for six seasons,
played with not only Aaron Rodgers, but played with Brett Farve. So, uh,
he's a great guy to talk to about. This also
(25:56):
went to Brigham Young, so we'll get into some of
Zach Wilson with him. Brady Papinga, Is he is he
ready yet? Alright? Super Bowl champion, Brady Papinga, Brady, what's up?
What's going on? Guys? Great to have you on, my man,
(26:16):
Great to have you on. Now. Look, we're gonna get
to the Green Bay situation in a moment. But first
you you went to Brigham Young. You always big up
their guys. We've had you on here before, and you
just saying the praises of of of the guy down
in New Orleans. I won't I don't even need to
say his name, all right, but um, we're gonna I
gotta ask you about Zach Wilson. Um, they're excited. I'm
(26:39):
up here in the New York area. Everybody's excited about
the Jets. Draft, and most notably Zach Wilson. How do
you think, Let's just say, first from a his makeup
as a person, his character, you know, New York is
a different animal. Is he built to handle New York
City and all that comes with it? Oh? I mean
(27:03):
he's a very mentally tough kid. He's a kid though
that this is gonna be a culture shock for him, right,
He's gonna because at DYU it's like all you've heard
is how good you are, and even you know, and
it's almost like the people that did doubt him last
year at the shoulder injury and his shoulder issue and
then he was kind of a question whether I was
(27:23):
going to be the starter. As soon as he started playing, well,
I was like, oh, nothing, no doubts there. We're good. Now,
we're a believer. You know, That's not how New York is.
They're gonna constantly be doubting him and poking and prying,
and anytime he slips up, they're gonna jump on him.
All you're a bus. Oh we told you this is
too big for you. So that's gonna be new for him.
(27:43):
But to me, it's gonna come down to simply the program.
You know, and if you heard Robert Slay's talk to
him when he drafted him, he basically said to him,
to Zach, he said, hey, we're gonna prop you up.
Don't think you're gonna come in here carrying us. And
that literally, And that's in any quarterbacking situation with young quarterback,
that's how it has to be. If not, it really
(28:04):
doesn't matter the caliber of the quarterback. It doesn't matter
the mentality. Because here's the thing too, Sam Donald to
me is equivalent to Zach Wilson. Like there, it's just
one's fresh, he's got kind of a new start, where
Sam Donald is kind of you know, he's kind of
beat up a little bit and needed a fresh start himself.
So those that's two contrasts right there. One who didn't
(28:28):
have a program to support to support him in Sam Donald,
now they shipped them off. And if they have one
that can support Zach Wilson, yeah he can make every throw. Man.
That guy was making throws that I came accustomed to.
Seem like you mentioned in the intro that it's only
seeing guys like fern Riders make because I played against
him so many times acts thousands of after thousands of plays,
(28:50):
so anyway, you know, he's going to only go as
far as the program the support system around him will
take it. I say, you know, I hate to like
just put too much on somebody else because players still
have to perform and do their jobs. But being in
the right situation, Brady, and being with the right coach
(29:13):
and the right system, it does have a huge impact
when you look at we've seen it around like Adam
Gas has had failed with some guys that go elsewhere
and they're playing great, you know, and does that really
matter like with the coach and what system they're running
and whatnot, and could be the difference between making you
(29:35):
and you being a bust. Absolutely. And the best example is,
you know, the segue into Aaron Rodgers is Aaron Rodgers
because the first few years, if Aaron would have been
thrown into the wolves between quotations like Alex Smith was,
I'm not sure we are talking about Aaron Rodgers in
the same light that we are right now. I don't
(29:57):
even know if at that time I full he felt
one hundred percent like Yeah, this guy's gonna do it.
I hide my doubts year two, year three, And it
took until it was late in the year in years three,
I believe is oh seven, when we played the Cowboys
and he replaced farther, I was like, oh, there he is.
He looks like he could he could do this. And
up until that point, I don't suly I didn't know,
(30:19):
you know. And then you look at guy like Alex Smith,
whose their careers are always going to be compared. You know,
here he's thrown to the wolves. He says, all these
different coordinators, five different offensive coordinators in five years, and
he was considered a bust. And now he kind of
got back on the horse there a little bit with
Harback coming into town and you know this some good
things with Kansas City and all that, and you know,
(30:41):
had a great sixteen year career. I wouldn't say he
was a bust, but there was, for surely those comparisons
and there will always be. But if you flipped the two.
It's my point, if you've put Aaron in San Francisco
into the same circumstances as Alex Smith, and then you
put Alex Smith up in Green Bay, you know, I
would almost say, I'll explith would have been of you know,
like Aaron is right now, our first a sure fire
(31:04):
hall Famer. But man, he's uh, he's looked at differently
than he is right now. And I would say the
same about Aaron Rodgers. Let's go to Aaron in Green Bay,
and we all know what's going on. The reports are
that the problem was the Jordan Love draft, which obviously
was a year ago, and and Aaron came out after
that and had the MVP season. Why do you think that, like,
(31:28):
the timing doesn't make sense. If indeed this is about
Jordan Love, do you think it's about more than Jordan
Love or something else completely different or if not, If
you think it's love, then why now and not a
year ago? Oh well, it just comes down to communication,
you know. And I feel like the Packers are extremely
(31:51):
disciplined in their model. Obviously, that's why they're doing what
they're doing with Jordan Love, what they deal with Aaron,
you know. I mean. And by the way, this whole
drama right now, you know who created it was Eron
the fact that he turned out so well because he
replaced Brett gave not only just the Packers but the
whole NFL like, Oh, that's the model, that's what we
(32:11):
should do. And that's exactly what they were thinking when
they dropped the Georga though, like, oh man, he's gonna
be our next Jaron Rodgers. This is great, you know,
and they don't realize that Aaron Rodgers has a different plan.
You know, he's not looking at himself like he's an
ex Bret far Right, you know, he's looking at himself
like I'm Aaron Rodgers. This is it's a different era quarterback.
I mean, look at Tom Brady. These guys are gonna
(32:32):
play well into their forties now. And it's because they
are so protected. They're never gonna, you know, unless it's
a illegal hit, They're never gonna get hit below the knees.
They're never gonna have that technique which the lineman the
rushers do where they're gonna put they're gonna grab their
arm and put their full body masks on him and
try to separate their shoulder or break their collar mode
(32:54):
as they're taking to the ground. They're not gonna get
hit the head, you know, all those things that happened
to Bretton guys before him, and Aaron just looking at
and he's like, guys, I'm gonna play well into my forties.
And so it came down to communication, you know. And
I think that's really where the Packers struggle. They're so
disciplined to their model at times that they forget that
there's a personal element and there's an evolution that happens,
(33:15):
and the evolution that's happened is just what I explained.
Quarterbacks are gonna play a lot longer. So to me,
all it takes is being fully open and transparent and
basically sitting there and down and just saying, hey, man,
you know what, it's that time where we don't know
what's going to happen with you. We understand that you
got a lot of great years ahead, and with those
(33:35):
great years, we hope that you play with us, obviously,
but at the same time, if you do want to
step away, you know, whatever happens, we want to have
somebody there that as an insurance policy, and we hope
you don't take it as a slight if we draft
a guy in the first round. And I think the
thing that people that get so caught up with two
is draft status doesn't guarantee a player is going to play.
(33:58):
Draft status is simply the price the market demanded for
a specific player services coming from college. That's it. After that,
after you paid for that between quotations asset. Now it's
you let football take care of itself. And I think
that so many times guys get picked, especially in the
(34:20):
for the second round, and it's like, well, he's got
to play with got to play it. No, he'll play
when he shows you he's ready to play it. In
the case of Jordan Love, he'll play when Aaron isn't
the best quarterback on the team anymore. And that may
be five, six, seven years down the road. And so
that to me needed to be communicated and it obviously wasn't.
(34:40):
And you know that's and I think right now they're
trying to make up for that, the Packers. But Aaron,
I'll tell you, if you wrong him, it's gonna take
a bit to get him to come back around and
listen to you. That's one thing I know about him.
He sounds like a capricorn. That's the way I operate.
But anyway, Brady, I was gonna say it is but
the one thing I think that sometimes lost and I
(35:02):
get it, and everybody's an individual. But if you look
at the five greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, they all
finished their career elsewhere that like this is the norm, right,
that guys don't get to finish and get their flowers
at the end and everybody loves you. Most of these
quarterbacks wind up going somewhere else, and that's because back
(35:24):
in the day their play had dropped off. You know,
you look at like with Brett Farve. You know, in
two thousand and five, he had a terrible Season's my
rookie season in comparison to how he's capable of playing.
You know, in two thousand and six he had kind
of a revival, but he wasn't fully invested. You know,
he kept facilating in my end and my out of tiring.
(35:47):
He did that for years, so ten Thomes it was
smart for him to be like, yeah, we got to
get a replacement. This isn't the same deal. Aron has
never once before this instant, ever talked about retirement, ever
talked about playing for another team, and he came off
an MVP caliber year. So it's kind of funny that
(36:08):
they're trying to relive this ret farm to Aaron Rodgers
transition when that's not even apples apples comparison. It's a
whole new era for quarterbacking. And that's why Aaron is
like right now kind of like just beside himself. He
just won the NFL MVP and they don't even want
to guarantee him money beyond a year, which who does that,
(36:30):
you know, especially when they're kind of cap strapped. It's
like that would be the automatic go to thing. You
keep the MVP even if it goes against your model,
and you just roll with it and he's your exception.
That's fine. You can have exceptions. That's another thing that
the Packers struggle with. They struggle with thinking if they
do it for one guy, hope we're gonna have to
do it for ten others in the future. Well, you're
(36:51):
not gonna have ten other Aaron Rodgers. That's just not
gonna happen. All right. That's Brady Peppina, super Bowl champion,
former teammate of Aaron rod Just Hey, we enjoyed it, man,
Thanks for the insight. Thanks Brady, and the last time
you want our show, I can't remember. I can't remember
you were touting something and oh yeah, that's what it was. Yeah, Okay,
(37:14):
the guy who won't be playing, who won't be starting
next year, Hell that well, he'll still be playing quarterback
even if he doesn't start at the quarterback. He'll still
be playing quarterback. You said he's all that in the
baggage ships. He should be starting, right, all right, I
think he should be starting. I can go on a
whole other segment about this, absolutely, But I don't know
(37:38):
if Sean Payton doesn't like the idea of always having
kind of a change of guy coming off the sideline
like Tayson to keep defenses guessing which. By the way,
if that is the case, I don't know how Jamis
is going to handle that. That's tough for a quarterbas
It's gone. All right, we'll have you want to talk
about that at another time. We will definitely do that
(37:59):
for sure. Have a good evening, Brady, thank you, brother.
All right, you guys, two guys, thank you.
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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