August 8, 2022 • 37 mins
Former Pro Bowl wide receiver and Up on Game co-host TJ Houshmandzadeh is in for Chris, and he and Rob reiterate why the Brooklyn Nets would be wise to adhere to Kevin Durant’s ‘them or me’ ultimatum, argue about whether the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback job should be Baker Mayfield’s job to lose, and tell us if the New England Patriots are setting Mac Jones up to fail. Plus, World Series champion and Spectrum SportsNet Los Angeles analyst Jerry Hairston Jr. swings by to discuss the Los Angeles Dodgers’ weekend sweep of the San Diego Padres, the importance of the pitching staff heading down the home stretch, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
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(00:21):
s R. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right,
welcome in. It's the final hour of The Odd Couple
here on a Magic City Monday, and Man's flown by
Rob Parker along with my bud, former NFL All Pro
(00:43):
receiver t J Houshmanzada filling in for Chris Bussardo's vacation
in and yes, we're coming to you live from the
Fox Sports Radio studios. Do it live. I can go
out write it and we'll do it Love. That's right, Bill,
We will do it live. And we're gonna get to
some football. And this is gonna be good because there's
(01:07):
a quarterback competition and TJ's in one camp and I'm
in the other camp, so this will be interesting to see.
I'm pretty sure he's in the other camp on this
and who wins this job. But first, the story of
the day is the report that Kevin Durant met with
the Nets owner and basically demanded that the fire the
(01:30):
brain trust, the general manager, Sean Marks and Steve Nash
to coach and he would be inclined to stay in
Brooklyn or he still would want to be traded. And
Rob g does have some updated kind of news that
just came out not too long ago. That's right, less
than an hour ago. Nets owner Joe Sie responded to
(01:51):
the athletics report on Twitter. Why why would he do that?
Because you know he's like KD, He's got Twitter fingers.
He gotta get it out there into the streets. So
Joe Si on Twitter says, quote, our front office and
coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in
the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets. TJ. You know
what he didn't say was that Sean Marks and Steve
(02:16):
Nash aren't going anywhere. How about that? Did he say
that maybe he's keeping his cards close? I don't know
what I'm saying. He didn't defend them. He didn't say.
He did not. He did not. If you were defending them,
you would say, right, would you say they're not going anywhere?
(02:36):
That's what he could have said. Today was best for
the organization. And so if you do what's best for
the organization, that's a new coaching gym, because truly, there's
nothing else that you can do that will make that organization.
You get rid of the player, your team goes into
the toilet, and that does not make the team an
organization better. And so you can you can read into
(02:58):
a different ways, but that's how I look at it,
the best thing for it, and say, Okay, Katie, we're
gonna do what you want to do. Let's get a
new coach in here, because you're gonna sell tickets over
the coach or the GM. Ain't nobody watching for them, TJ.
It's just the reality of it. Am I wrong? Nobody's
watching for a general manager or gonna buy four hundred
dollars tickets to a Nets game because they kept the
(03:20):
general manager in place, not one person. That it's gonna
be really interesting these next seventy ten days and how
they navigate through this. It's out there. Kevin Durrett wants out, Um,
what are you gonna do to change it? What are
you gonna do? And so it's gonna be very interesting, Yeah,
(03:41):
no doubt. All right, here's the other story, and it
involves the Carolina Panthers and their starting quarterback jaw And
I know tj' is a Sam Donald guy. You worked
out with them, right, You know Sam really well? And
I say that that is true, okay? Or Baker Mayfield.
(04:02):
The story out there is that it's Baker Mayfield's job
to lose and that Sam Donald is the one fighting
an uphill battle despite being in Carolina the year before,
I mean last year, and Baker Mayfield's the new guy.
And what do you make of this? That it's Baker
(04:24):
Mayfield's job to lose? Is it right? Do they have
it the right way? Or is this wrong? It's not
surprising when the day they traded for him, it was
his job to lose. They would have never traded for
him if they didn't want him to be the quarterback.
And this is the problem when when you look at
(04:44):
the teams that each player has played on and the
players and their teammates that they've played with, who's had
the better teammates, who who's had the better team around them?
Obviously it's it's in a landslide that Baker Mayfield played
with the better team. The problem is when you start
to do things like how does the locker room take this?
(05:08):
They don't make decisions, but they want They see practice,
they know what's going on. And so in training camp,
if Sam Darnold is on par or out playing Baker Mayfield,
they got a problem on their hands if Baker mayfields
the starter, because Sam Darnold is gonna be well liked.
Are the guys in the locker room going to lock Baker?
The guys in Cleveland, it seemed to like them. Yeah,
(05:29):
but he got them to the playoffs. Wait a minute,
wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait he
got them to the playoffs. Really, yes see, and that's
and that's where we go wrong at that defense got
them to the playoffs. That defense got them. Well, you
want like the quarterbacks get elevated. They wait a minute,
wait a minute. They that team Baker played well, no, no, no,
(05:50):
o b J. They look at the numbers. I remember
the one big game on the road we do for
four or five touchdown. That wasn't about the defense. So
everybody had one. No, you didn't say games, you said
one numbers. Give you numbers. But but that team hadn't
won a playoff game since Moby Dick was a guppy
since the Louisiana purchase was an scroll, I mean, can
(06:13):
you give him some credit for that? TJ nothing going. No,
I'm not sad zero. I don't think Bakery is a
bad quarterback. But when you have the type of defense
that he had in Cleveland, name one player that was
a really good player for the Jets on defense was
(06:34):
Sam Park? You can't know? You can't, all right, name name, name,
name a starting receiver that he had for the Jets.
For that Sam Darnold had. Can you just name one?
What about plat last Jets? You can't even answer? What
about last year he got off They got off to
a decent start and then he went in the tank.
I'm just saying, when you put the two quarterbacks up resume.
(06:56):
I understand the defense, I understand the kind of players,
but there was a lot to be left to be
desired from Sam Donald and that's why it brought Baker
may feel in if they like what they saw despite
him not having those players, despite the defense not being
that great, they would just say Sam Donald's a guy
(07:16):
and we're gonna put better pieces around him. They have
question marks about Sam Donald as a quarterback. Is that fair.
Everything you said is true, and I know this, and
the Panthers also know this. He got hurt and it
was pretty serious and he just played through it. And
this is why in the National Football League, when you
get hurt, sit down on the bench until you get ready. Yes,
(07:40):
because they hold it against you. They know what was about.
They did it to Baker last year. Is that fair?
He was hurt? Very fair? The same thing with Baker,
same thing. You want to be out there for your team.
You play bad and they paint you like you're a bum.
And so as soon as the Panthers traded for Baker Mayfield,
(08:00):
I thought, uh, since job to lose, they would have
never traded for him. But I also believe when he's
not gonna understand that system like Sam Donald went to
an entire offseason learning that system, They're gonna give it
to Baker because they traded for him. One, How is
the locker room gonna react because Baker Mayfield has had
(08:22):
Jarvis landry O, b j Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, David
and Joku Austin Hooper on offense. Well, but let me
give you some numbers, because I know you're trying to
poop poop, Baker. Can I give it to you. You
asked for some numbers, Baker. Sixteen touchdowns, two picks in
the last ten games of that season. They finished out
(08:44):
the year ten and three. They beat the Steelers in
the playoff game. Uh, the how many games was that?
That was? Intend the last ten games? That was seven?
Three a touchdown a game. No sixteen touchdowns in those
a touchdown in a half a game, Okay, but only
two picks, so he didn't turn the ball over so much.
(09:05):
Here's the other thing. During that stretch, Mayfield ranked UH
six in the NFL and QBR third in yards per
passing attempt, trailing only to Shaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes.
And those numbers despite playing three games and in clement
weather conditions that sparely hampered the passing on both sides,
(09:28):
and coincidentally, all of those happened, uh since OBJ was
lost for the season. So you gotta give the man
some credit. I give the Panthers credit to say, you know,
we did dre for for Darnold. We got off to
a good start, the season collapsed, and you know we're
gonna there's another quarterback out there who has a better
(09:48):
resume and let's make it a competition. I don't have
an issue with that, and I don't have it as well.
In that year he played well. I'll give Baker. In
twenty twenty, Baker Mayfield played well. We also got to
understand it was COVID really no fans in the stands.
It was a different type of season. Offseason was different.
(10:12):
It was the unknown. Nobody hadn't been nobody had experienced
that before. And so is it Do you give an
exception to that season because he hasn't had a season
nowhere near that. They ran the ball so effectively, they
were so good on defense that he didn't have to
(10:34):
do Just don't mess it up. Baker can play. But
is Baker a guy in a locker room that guys
willing to fight for when he was having all those
problems in Cleveland. This is what struck me. And I've said,
there's plenty of not one guy, Oh, Baker Mayfield, is
this type of guy? Not one guy? Why are y'all bashed?
(10:56):
Not one guy came to his defense. There's over sixty
guys on the team, a practice squad, guy alignment, somebody,
nobody came to his defense. That doesn't give you calls
the pause and say this is a quarterback and I
can't get one guy publicly to defend him. That's okay.
And you know what, everybody's not not when you're in
(11:18):
the quarterback because everybody he's that kind of guy, and
I get it. That could rub people the wrong way.
But if you can win, it's about winning, TJ. It's
not a popularity not he not wining. Sam Donald could
be the nicest guy in the world. He can't play.
I mean, I mean, I'd love to go out to
dinner with him. I'd love to hang out with him,
and his say I hate to do this to you.
(11:39):
I hate to do this to you, but I'm going
to There's this one guy. He played in a city
that you're very familiar with and the team you're very
familiar with. You told me he couldn't play, and I
told you he was gonna win a super Bowl. How
that turnout? Hey wait a minute, wait, wait no, no,
how that turn out? During the mid season he was
he was throwing picks to the other team and if
the forty nine ers old, what was that guy's name, TJ?
(12:01):
Who the stafford threw a pick right on Q. Don't
tell me that when you threw that ball? What'd you
say to this? Be honest? When what did I tell you?
Did I tell you that man could play? Did I
not tell you that did? What did you say to yourself? First?
When he threw that pick that should have been a
pick that probably would have changed the entire game. Everybody
(12:23):
gets a break, some take advantage of it, something, don't.
All right? All right, that's fan and we we've had
this discussion about Matthew Stafford. I met Matthew Stafford when
he was a quarterback at Georgia, and I said, he
didn't win anything in Georgia. What they win. But this
is my point. He was in Detroit and you said
that he can't win. He's a stat patter, he's this.
(12:44):
And I said, Rob, I'm picking the Rams and win
the Super Bowl because of Matthew Stafford. You told me
I was. He didn't even win the MVP. He didn't
come to because no nothing, because he threw two or
three picks in the Super Bowl. I mean, that's who
he is. And my only point is and almost anybody,
a good quarterback could have won that with the team
that was around him. You just talked about it with
(13:06):
Sam Donald not having any pieces, And now you're giving
Stafford all the credit when they had a team that
already went to the Super Bowl without him. They they
didn't win it. They didn't win it. And the Rams
were already a good team. They were a player away
that player with Stafford. All right, Baker Mayfield, say he's
(13:27):
better than Sam Donald. Let's just say he is. I
don't believe he is. I personally don't. Sam Donald's a
bigger quarterback, he's a more athletic quarterback, he's a more
mobile quarterback. Um, he's more likable. Now, the intangibles, you
just don't know, because when Sam Donald gets drafted to
(13:47):
the Jets, he you can't name a receiver that play
for You can't Robbie Anderson. He was a good player,
and he still is a good player. But when that's
the only guy that you can name. And here you
are with Baker Mayfield playing with multiple Pro Bowl players,
not just receivers, Pro Bowl players on offense, best offensive
(14:11):
line in the game in the Cleveland Browns. All right,
alex is gonna jump in and then we're gonna hear
from We want to hear from you. Good Alex would
you got so, guys, I have something to settle this
dispute and argument you in the hu chav right now?
Which one of the two has a Heisman Trophy? That's
all I'm gonna ask you, guys, Thank you very much.
All Right, there we go back, Baker. I mean, but
(14:31):
when you're when you're playing at Oklahoma, see Kyler, Murray
has Kyler. It is a team, it is. But but
you gotta admit that Sam Darnold has struggled his first
few years in the NFL, and that's why that's why
they made the trade. As a coach, you can look
at somebody and go, I know, if we get the
(14:53):
right pieces around him, this guy is good enough to
play and good enough to win games. Right, you could
do that. I'm not. I'm not gonna sit here and
defend in the way Sam has played because he has
not played well. But when you look at what he's
had around him. Last year, he had a really good
team around him. McCaffrey gets hurt, but his receiver stayed healthy.
He started off well, he just didn't finish well. Right
(15:16):
that there's no excuse for that. I can't say that
for oh, I can't make an excuse for that. What
I'm saying is I believe if he stayed healthy with
the team that they have now, he can do just
as good or better than what Baker Mayfield is going
to do. All Right, here we go my opinion. No,
I love it, You're just wrong, all right? Should should
(15:36):
the Panthers starting quarterback Gig be Baker Mayfield's job to lose?
You want to hear from you? Age seven, seven nine
ninety six sixty three sixty nine. I told Rob Genius
was right up our alley because I knew where you
sat with your man, Sam Darnold. All Right, all right,
we'll continue the conversation next with you. We want to
hear from you. It is The Odd Couple with TJ.
(16:00):
Sam Donald, Houshman Zada filling in for Chris Russard right
here on Fox Sports Radio. Stick and stay unless you're
Sam Donald and don't have a Heisman in the US,
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(16:22):
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I Couple on a Magic City Monday and my cheese
was hot. Now I like that one. My cheese was hot.
Rob Parker, TJ. Houshman Zada filling in for Chris Brussard.
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(17:06):
on Fox is the phone number. Uh, we want to
hear from you the Panthers. There's really no quarterback controversy,
not yet, because it appears as if it's Baker may
Feel's job to lose. It's his job to lose. TJ.
He kind of agrees with me, right you you thought
(17:28):
that it would be his job to lose, right once
the trade happened. So we want to hear from you
who should be the quarterback starting quarterback? And as Sam
Donald gotten the short end of the stick because he
hasn't had a lot of talent since he's coming to
the league. Will in Wisconsin, you're on the odd couple
of Fox Sports Radio. What up? Will? What's going on? Right?
(17:50):
What's going on? TJ? Absolutely what you guys are discussing.
H Baker may feel in Sam darn in their situation
right now, Yes, they equally have a chance to win
the starting position. But if you're looking at a player,
the player a mark of a quarterback great or otherwise
playing in spots you gotta make do with what you have,
(18:11):
and even guys that might not be a level of
an Aaron Rodgers, but certainly in some other spots like TJ,
like a Carson Palmer or Andy Dalton, having an ability
to make do with what you have and playing spots
that makes the mark of where you should be as
starting or playing in Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnell, respectively.
Baker's done that, so yeah, it should be his job
(18:33):
to lose. Thank thank for the call. Well disagree, no,
you know, yeah, yeah, I mean it's when you train,
when you have a quarterback, that's pretty much making a
guarantee nineteen million. You bring somebody else in, right, you
want that other guy to play? I mean it's just
that simple. You're gonna play the best guy. But it's
(18:53):
also a business. People don't like to look at it
that way, and the business of it is we want
to play the nineteen million dollar guy. But if I
bring this guy in, sorry, nineteen million dollar guy, you
got to go to the bench. And that's probably what's
gonna happen. Everybody's gonna get fired up to just share
anyway because they're not gonna in. That's You're probably right, Ben,
the one legged man in Alabama. You're on the couple
(19:17):
of Fox Sports Radio. What up? Ben? Well? For a change, Rob,
I'm gonna agree with you on this one. Wow, I'm shocked.
I know, I know you. Usually I like to hear
your pitch so I can fade you and go the
other way. But do you know what? Do you know
what Sam Donald's grandfather, her former UFC athlete in the
(19:38):
Marlborough Man. You know what his name is? Well, I
don't know if he's alive. His name is Dick Hammer.
That is Sam's grandfather. But anyway, he had a great
freshman year at USC. Within the next year he do
thirteen intercepts twenty six sets down played. I didn't understand
why it was so high rated coming out of UFC.
(20:00):
And of course he's throw terms of the interceptions up
as a pro for the Jet. So I think Baker
is a better quarterback. Yeah, I think he is. Thank
you for the call. Appreciate that band uh and and
and we'll see you know, it's it's it's easy to
say Baker is a better quarterback because Baker has had
more success. But when you when you look at the
(20:21):
reason why, it's like, ah, okay, best offensive line, one
of the better runnerbacks in the league, really good receivers.
You can't even name Sam Donald's running back. You can't
even name a receiver. I mean things start. You you
put Sam Darnald in that same situation, you probably get
the same results. Huh, I hear that. That's partly. But
there are guys who overachieved with little talent as well
(20:43):
and and play and those guys are but those guys
are great. Joe Burrow took a team like as a
second year player to a Super Bowl. How many guys
are Joe Burrows the point? I know that, but but
it's not impossible. And the other thing is just Sam
Donald hasn't played even when he's had it. Even if
you go look at the nice thought that they had,
(21:05):
he didn't have any impressive numbers before McCaffrey got hurt.
His numbers would just pedestrian. Would you admit that? Yes,
they were just winning. And again I'm going off of
what I've seen. I know if you've seen him up close, Yeah,
I know that. I do respect what the league is.
It's uh, what do you do when it matters? What
are your numbers saying to me? This will be interesting though,
(21:27):
because the locker room, it will speak volumes if they
phil Baker Mayfield don't deserve the starting spot because you'll
get all these Oh. An anonymous source told me that
they're upset about this. If we don't get any of that,
Baker Mayfield beat him out. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob
(21:48):
Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app. Hey I'm
Doug Got. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually
talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about
the stories about what made these people love their sport
and all the interesting interactions along the way, we talked
(22:11):
to coaches, we talked to players, We tell you stories.
You download it. He listened to it. I think you
like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug alib on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, orherever you get your podcast.
It is the Odd Couple. Fox Sports Radio in a
Magic City Monday, Rob Parker, TJ. Houshman Zada in for
(22:33):
Chris Broussard, and we're coming to you live from the
Fox Sports Radio Studios. One of my favorite people, Jerry
Harriston Junior, joins us, of course. A World Series champ
with the Yankees in two thousand and nine, played sixteen
Big league seasons and currently works for Spectrum Sportsnet LA
covering the Dodgers. Who I watch a lot and Jerry,
(22:55):
Welcome to the program. Say hi to TJ. Hey, t J. Rob,
how you guys, Jerry? What's going on? Maning great? Hey, Hey,
what a weekend. The Dodgers have cranked it up eight
in a row. But they beat up on the Padres
and we're coming off the high of the Juan Soto
sweep steaks. But the Dodgers outscored them twenty to four
(23:16):
in the three game series. Was that a statement of
series or just a series in early August? You know,
I think it was a little bit of a statement series.
You know, obviously you mentioned the Padres. They did an
incredible job getting Wan Soto, Josh Bell, who I really like,
switch hitting first baseman, Coulstring, the bat jury as well,
(23:37):
and then Hater in their bullpen. And they wanted to
come in La at least get a couple of games
in a three game series, at the very least get
one on the road. They weren't unable to do that,
and the Dodgers just outplayed them. They pitched exceptually well,
really good defense, and the hiting was outstanding. So the
Dodgers still are the class in the National League in
(23:57):
my opinion. The Padres have definitely gotten better. But you know,
the Pockets owner said, you know, they're trying to slay
the dragon up north, and that's the Dodgers, and so
far they had been unable to do that. Hey, Jared,
when was your last year playing? My last year was thirteen,
So I'm that was what the Dodgers. Correct, it was
(24:17):
with the Dodgers. We don't remember this, Maddy. We were
insisting that together, no wait, no night I remember that.
You don't remember this, but your last season playing with
the Dodgers. I took my and my son was a
baby man. I took my son to the game. We
were sitting right behind a dugout man. You threw a
ball and was like, give it to him? Really, yeah, yeah,
(24:38):
my son, he has that ball, and he was like,
how'd I get this ball? And I tell him so.
Now he's somewhat of a Dodger fan. Now I just
got into baseball. But I had to tell you that story.
I appreciate it. Were sitting right behind the duck gu
He came off the field and tossed me a ball
and was like, give it to him. Wow. So I
had to tell you that I remember that. You probably
don't because you probably tossed a thousand balls the kids.
(24:59):
You appreciate, you don't. Why you know why I remember
that is because we were in Cincinnati together for a
couple of years, I believe in oh eight and oh nine,
and when you were at the Bengals, I believe it.
I was in the Reds and I had a really
good friend, Levi Jones, also on the Bengals live in Arizona,
and and I also used you in fantasy football. Le
(25:19):
Jones was my guy. Yeah, yeah, so you know we
I know Levi and I know you know. You threw
him a little bit. And then when I saw you
at a Dodger game, I had to give your son
that baseball. So yeah, we go. We remember, we go
to quite a few games. I'm a I'm a Dog
Dodger fan. When when when you look at the Dodgers
with Walker Bueler, now Kayton Kershaw and different pictures being injured,
(25:44):
how one when when when they come back, how is
it going to be and do you think that will
affect them come playoff time? Well, I mean, let's hope
they do come back. You know, Walker Bueler were still
who not hope. I know Clayton Hershaw got a second
upper duro shot a few days ago. He's hopelly. I
(26:04):
hope that he will be back for the playoff run.
I think Clayton will be back, maybe Walker Bueller. And again,
when they do come back, they have a tremendous impact.
They're not going to come back at eighty percent seventy
five percent, They'll come back one hundred percent. So when
they do come back, I think they will not only
bolster the rotation, but definitely give lack of a better terment,
(26:26):
Dodgers are shot in the arm. That being said, right now,
the Dodgers have enough talent to win it all. And
that's something If if I would have said, Beula said, Walker,
Bueller and Clayton Hershaw would not be in the rotation,
would the Dodgers have a chance at the started season,
I probably said, you know, probably not. But the way
the guys like Tony Gonslin, Tim and excuse me, Tyler
(26:47):
Anderson have thrown the ball, both All Stars and then
guys like Julie Rus who has become an ace to
this staff, we have dusted May coming back. I think
he's going to be throwing one more rehab start, possibly
two at the most. What I hear from the reports
he has thrown I mean nasty stuff down in triple A.
We get him back for the next six weeks, along
(27:08):
with Blake, Trying Bruise, Dark Gradole, all those horses back
in either the starting rotation and the bullpen. With this offense,
they have enough talent to win it all. So yes,
we would love to have Blake. You see, we love
to have Walker Wheeler back Clayton Kershaw back. We would
love to have them back. But even if they don't,
(27:28):
the Dodgers, especially with the way they've been playing, they're
reminding of the nineties Yankees. Man, it's the top of
the lineup. Man that man, we're Mookie Freddy. Here's my
only thing though, and I'll say this, Jerry, I agree
with you. Like what they've been able to do without
those guys is pretty impressive. But now this weekend we
also saw the Mets, who have somehow stuck around all
(27:52):
year without their two big horses for a long stretch
in Scherzer and de Grom. They go to they face
Atlanta and beat them up, and those guys came back.
You go into a series and you got a face
to Graham and shows at the top of that rotation.
That's gonna be formidable too, aren't the Mets u up
there as well? Because of those two guys. I was
(28:15):
just playing at a golf tournament, charity golf tournament, I
mean Harrieen golf tournament, and we talked with Sean Green,
Nomar and John Hartarm We all work together and the
one team we talked about that kind of scares us
a little bit is New York MaTx. Anytime you have
the Gram and Max Scherzer at the top of your
rotation in a series, yes, that's troubling, but at the
(28:37):
same time, it will be a seven game series if goes.
Two teams met meat. So I still give the edge
to the Dodgers. They are so deep one through nine offensively,
especially now that Max Munsey and Cody Bellinger are starting
to swing the bats. It's about, oh my god. I
know it takes some time, but you know better and
(28:58):
better late than never. And you put those two guys
swinging hot bats with this one, two, three, punch and
four with Will Smith hitting fourth, this is the best
lineup in the National possibly in baseball. The Yankees have
to be considered as well. So again, there are great
teams out there, like the New York's mess the Yankees,
I know, they've kind of hit a snag a little bit.
They're still a great team. It's good, Yeah, They're still
(29:20):
a great team. So right now, right the best team
in baseball for my money is at Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah,
and Wayne Yard twice does does Craig kimbro struggles? Does
that concern you come playoff time. It does concern me.
Now he's made some adjustments. Yesterday he looked really good
(29:40):
coming into relief. If he can find it now, I
remember he is a Hall of Fame closer. He's a
little older now, but if he can find its meaning
his slider, his fastball command, he still has enough philosophy
he can be that lights out closer. Now that being said,
we have Blake training coming back and hopefully comes back
in a couple of weeks. This dude is nasty man.
(30:03):
He could be that closer if need beat. Evan Phillips
has has stepped up being that elite reliever this year,
really last year started it. He's been elite. The entire
bullpen has been consistent. When Mike Mark Pryor has done
to this group, the pitching coach to the Dodgers, Josh Barred,
their bullpen coach as well, they have really given a
confidence to everybody coming out of that bullpen. So you know,
(30:26):
the bullpens elite, The starting pitching has been elite, and
the hitting. You have all those three factors working in
your favor. Dodger a tough team to beat, no doubt.
His name. Jerry Hairston Junior played sixteen years in the
big leagues. We appreciate the knowledge, Jerry as always my man,
Thank you anytime. Guys, all right, appreciate it all right.
(30:46):
Other Patriots setting up mac Jones for failure. I want
to hear from TJ on this. That's right, We'll continue
and have that answer for you. Next. It is the
I Couple with t J. Houshman Zada in for Chris Mussar,
Rob Parker. Here you there on on Fox Sports Radio.
Stick and stay unless you try to set us up
(31:07):
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Rob Parker, TJ. Houshman Zada filling in for Chris Bussard.
(31:31):
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Get in the zone, Auto zone, TJ. Let's finish here.
And it has been a lot of fun having you
on the raids. And we said we used to do
a podcast together, which was always fun. And then TJ
threw me out and got somebody else. But it's okay,
it's all right, um. Mac Jones and the New England
(32:14):
Patriots who do not have an offensive coordinator and what's
the pencil's name? I just forgot his name. Matt Patricia
is kind of like overseeing the offense, but he's not
the offensive coordinator. What do you make of this? And
Mac Jones he doesn't need an offensive coordinator, he needs one.
And this is just Bill saying I'm smarter than ever
(32:36):
everybody in the room. Right, what is this? I don't
understand it. It's when you're a player in you have
a bad series and we're talking Mac Jones. Who is
he going to go off the field and discuss this with? Right? Who?
What is Matt Patricia gonna say to him? He hasn't
experienced this being an offensive coordinator. Josh McDaniels can recall
(33:02):
things from years ago when I had Tim. This is
bha in this situation, yes, do we bad possessions in
the row? And then he dug down and blah, what
is he what is he gonna say to him? And
this is also what people don't realize is they watch
TV talking players when they see this and they hear this,
(33:26):
and they're probably why is he the off as a coordinator?
He didn't even have success in Detroit. You don't think
they're privy to these type of conversations and this information.
And so I don't know what Bill's doing, but he's
setting his team up for failure and they know it
when you're going into your second year and he's struggling
(33:49):
more than he did as a rookie. In practice, that's
coaching and just an understanding of what to do and
whatnot to. I feel bad for anybody that's on the
page stress because if this does not work out, this
is a year wasted. Bill will continue to coach, and
these coaches continue to coach, but these players, this is
year wasted on their career. I don't I don't get it,
(34:10):
and I think you did nail it. Is Bill trying
to show everybody he's the smartest guy in the room.
And I know he's had success and won a lot
of Super Bowls, but this, I don't understand what a
young quarterback. I really don't. And and I think he
took a step back last year. Would you say that
a little bit? I think he did. And also like,
(34:34):
I mean Bill has been a great defensive coordinator until
he was right right until he plays Josh. It's like, why,
like why would you do this? You didn't have someone
in mind. You couldn't get Bill O'Brien to come back.
You couldn't somebody that was on staff with Josh McDaniels
at Mac would feel comfortable with hearing and hearing him
(34:58):
in his ear during game at Patricia who couldn't get
it done in Detroit, who was a defensive guy. He
was bad. He was bad with the Lions, he really was.
I don't understand. I don't understand it. Yeah, it's it's
it's surprising that they would go so off the grid
and do that to a young quarterback. Maybe maybe an
(35:22):
older quarterback. I don't know if you really want to
do that who's been around and had success in the league.
I mean Matt jos won a game where he through
three passes that one it was TJ. Yeah, I mean
I'll give you. I will say that weather and that
wind was was crazy. But I'm just trying to figure
out why why you didn't name a defensive coordinator last year.
(35:47):
That's okay, because that's your side of the ball, that
that's your expertise. Be a de facto right defensive He
knows football. He he knows offensive football. It's like he
understands the nuance is in everything that pertains to the
overall game of football, offense and defense easily. But when
(36:07):
you're dealing with a quarterback and the player you're if
your expertise is on the defensive side of the ball,
what do you tell him after a bad series? Okay,
the defense they played discoverage, bloom boom like it just
I just don't see it meshing. Well. It sucks for
mac Jones, it sucks for the Patriots. But bill uh,
(36:29):
I mean, when you test line, you can do what
you want to do. Yeah, when you won like that,
you can do just about anything you want. Can you
imagine if another coach did this? No, what would you
guys say, were the is what? We would destroy them,
no doubt. But TJ. Houshman Zada plug your radio show
on Saturdays. Man, we appreciated you filling in for Chris. Man.
(36:52):
It's my pleasure. I love doing this, you know it,
especially with you, Man, my man, no doubt. Listen to
TJ and Gang. I mean, it's a different kind of
radio show. Three football players who have something to say
and they say it. So I appreciate you appreciate that
(37:12):
show giving a listen Saturdays right here on Fox Sports Radio.
Chris Bussard's vacation continues, but we'll be back right here
tomorrow for you, so make sure you stick and stay
to Fox Sports Radio and The Odd Couple
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
to check us out live every weekday from seven pm
to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific, or 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 Fox Sports Radio. All right,
welcome in. It's the final hour of The Odd Couple
here on a Magic City Monday, and Man's flown by
Rob Parker along with my bud, former NFL All Pro
(00:43):
receiver t J Houshmanzada filling in for Chris Bussardo's vacation
in and yes, we're coming to you live from the
Fox Sports Radio studios. Do it live. I can go
out write it and we'll do it Love. That's right, Bill,
We will do it live. And we're gonna get to
some football. And this is gonna be good because there's
(01:07):
a quarterback competition and TJ's in one camp and I'm
in the other camp, so this will be interesting to see.
I'm pretty sure he's in the other camp on this
and who wins this job. But first, the story of
the day is the report that Kevin Durant met with
the Nets owner and basically demanded that the fire the
(01:30):
brain trust, the general manager, Sean Marks and Steve Nash
to coach and he would be inclined to stay in
Brooklyn or he still would want to be traded. And
Rob g does have some updated kind of news that
just came out not too long ago. That's right, less
than an hour ago. Nets owner Joe Sie responded to
(01:51):
the athletics report on Twitter. Why why would he do that?
Because you know he's like KD, He's got Twitter fingers.
He gotta get it out there into the streets. So
Joe Si on Twitter says, quote, our front office and
coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in
the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets. TJ. You know
what he didn't say was that Sean Marks and Steve
(02:16):
Nash aren't going anywhere. How about that? Did he say
that maybe he's keeping his cards close? I don't know
what I'm saying. He didn't defend them. He didn't say.
He did not. He did not. If you were defending them,
you would say, right, would you say they're not going anywhere?
(02:36):
That's what he could have said. Today was best for
the organization. And so if you do what's best for
the organization, that's a new coaching gym, because truly, there's
nothing else that you can do that will make that organization.
You get rid of the player, your team goes into
the toilet, and that does not make the team an
organization better. And so you can you can read into
(02:58):
a different ways, but that's how I look at it,
the best thing for it, and say, Okay, Katie, we're
gonna do what you want to do. Let's get a
new coach in here, because you're gonna sell tickets over
the coach or the GM. Ain't nobody watching for them, TJ.
It's just the reality of it. Am I wrong? Nobody's
watching for a general manager or gonna buy four hundred
dollars tickets to a Nets game because they kept the
(03:20):
general manager in place, not one person. That it's gonna
be really interesting these next seventy ten days and how
they navigate through this. It's out there. Kevin Durrett wants out, Um,
what are you gonna do to change it? What are
you gonna do? And so it's gonna be very interesting, Yeah,
(03:41):
no doubt. All right, here's the other story, and it
involves the Carolina Panthers and their starting quarterback jaw And
I know tj' is a Sam Donald guy. You worked
out with them, right, You know Sam really well? And
I say that that is true, okay? Or Baker Mayfield.
(04:02):
The story out there is that it's Baker Mayfield's job
to lose and that Sam Donald is the one fighting
an uphill battle despite being in Carolina the year before,
I mean last year, and Baker Mayfield's the new guy.
And what do you make of this? That it's Baker
(04:24):
Mayfield's job to lose? Is it right? Do they have
it the right way? Or is this wrong? It's not
surprising when the day they traded for him, it was
his job to lose. They would have never traded for
him if they didn't want him to be the quarterback.
And this is the problem when when you look at
(04:44):
the teams that each player has played on and the
players and their teammates that they've played with, who's had
the better teammates, who who's had the better team around them?
Obviously it's it's in a landslide that Baker Mayfield played
with the better team. The problem is when you start
to do things like how does the locker room take this?
(05:08):
They don't make decisions, but they want They see practice,
they know what's going on. And so in training camp,
if Sam Darnold is on par or out playing Baker Mayfield,
they got a problem on their hands if Baker mayfields
the starter, because Sam Darnold is gonna be well liked.
Are the guys in the locker room going to lock Baker?
The guys in Cleveland, it seemed to like them. Yeah,
(05:29):
but he got them to the playoffs. Wait a minute,
wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait he
got them to the playoffs. Really, yes see, and that's
and that's where we go wrong at that defense got
them to the playoffs. That defense got them. Well, you
want like the quarterbacks get elevated. They wait a minute,
wait a minute. They that team Baker played well, no, no, no,
(05:50):
o b J. They look at the numbers. I remember
the one big game on the road we do for
four or five touchdown. That wasn't about the defense. So
everybody had one. No, you didn't say games, you said
one numbers. Give you numbers. But but that team hadn't
won a playoff game since Moby Dick was a guppy
since the Louisiana purchase was an scroll, I mean, can
(06:13):
you give him some credit for that? TJ nothing going. No,
I'm not sad zero. I don't think Bakery is a
bad quarterback. But when you have the type of defense
that he had in Cleveland, name one player that was
a really good player for the Jets on defense was
(06:34):
Sam Park? You can't know? You can't, all right, name name, name,
name a starting receiver that he had for the Jets.
For that Sam Darnold had. Can you just name one?
What about plat last Jets? You can't even answer? What
about last year he got off They got off to
a decent start and then he went in the tank.
I'm just saying, when you put the two quarterbacks up resume.
(06:56):
I understand the defense, I understand the kind of players,
but there was a lot to be left to be
desired from Sam Donald and that's why it brought Baker
may feel in if they like what they saw despite
him not having those players, despite the defense not being
that great, they would just say Sam Donald's a guy
(07:16):
and we're gonna put better pieces around him. They have
question marks about Sam Donald as a quarterback. Is that fair.
Everything you said is true, and I know this, and
the Panthers also know this. He got hurt and it
was pretty serious and he just played through it. And
this is why in the National Football League, when you
get hurt, sit down on the bench until you get ready. Yes,
(07:40):
because they hold it against you. They know what was about.
They did it to Baker last year. Is that fair?
He was hurt? Very fair? The same thing with Baker,
same thing. You want to be out there for your team.
You play bad and they paint you like you're a bum.
And so as soon as the Panthers traded for Baker Mayfield,
(08:00):
I thought, uh, since job to lose, they would have
never traded for him. But I also believe when he's
not gonna understand that system like Sam Donald went to
an entire offseason learning that system, They're gonna give it
to Baker because they traded for him. One, How is
the locker room gonna react because Baker Mayfield has had
(08:22):
Jarvis landry O, b j Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, David
and Joku Austin Hooper on offense. Well, but let me
give you some numbers, because I know you're trying to
poop poop, Baker. Can I give it to you. You
asked for some numbers, Baker. Sixteen touchdowns, two picks in
the last ten games of that season. They finished out
(08:44):
the year ten and three. They beat the Steelers in
the playoff game. Uh, the how many games was that?
That was? Intend the last ten games? That was seven?
Three a touchdown a game. No sixteen touchdowns in those
a touchdown in a half a game, Okay, but only
two picks, so he didn't turn the ball over so much.
(09:05):
Here's the other thing. During that stretch, Mayfield ranked UH
six in the NFL and QBR third in yards per
passing attempt, trailing only to Shaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes.
And those numbers despite playing three games and in clement
weather conditions that sparely hampered the passing on both sides,
(09:28):
and coincidentally, all of those happened, uh since OBJ was
lost for the season. So you gotta give the man
some credit. I give the Panthers credit to say, you know,
we did dre for for Darnold. We got off to
a good start, the season collapsed, and you know we're
gonna there's another quarterback out there who has a better
(09:48):
resume and let's make it a competition. I don't have
an issue with that, and I don't have it as well.
In that year he played well. I'll give Baker. In
twenty twenty, Baker Mayfield played well. We also got to
understand it was COVID really no fans in the stands.
It was a different type of season. Offseason was different.
(10:12):
It was the unknown. Nobody hadn't been nobody had experienced
that before. And so is it Do you give an
exception to that season because he hasn't had a season
nowhere near that. They ran the ball so effectively, they
were so good on defense that he didn't have to
(10:34):
do Just don't mess it up. Baker can play. But
is Baker a guy in a locker room that guys
willing to fight for when he was having all those
problems in Cleveland. This is what struck me. And I've said,
there's plenty of not one guy, Oh, Baker Mayfield, is
this type of guy? Not one guy? Why are y'all bashed?
(10:56):
Not one guy came to his defense. There's over sixty
guys on the team, a practice squad, guy alignment, somebody,
nobody came to his defense. That doesn't give you calls
the pause and say this is a quarterback and I
can't get one guy publicly to defend him. That's okay.
And you know what, everybody's not not when you're in
(11:18):
the quarterback because everybody he's that kind of guy, and
I get it. That could rub people the wrong way.
But if you can win, it's about winning, TJ. It's
not a popularity not he not wining. Sam Donald could
be the nicest guy in the world. He can't play.
I mean, I mean, I'd love to go out to
dinner with him. I'd love to hang out with him,
and his say I hate to do this to you.
(11:39):
I hate to do this to you, but I'm going
to There's this one guy. He played in a city
that you're very familiar with and the team you're very
familiar with. You told me he couldn't play, and I
told you he was gonna win a super Bowl. How
that turnout? Hey wait a minute, wait, wait no, no,
how that turn out? During the mid season he was
he was throwing picks to the other team and if
the forty nine ers old, what was that guy's name, TJ?
(12:01):
Who the stafford threw a pick right on Q. Don't
tell me that when you threw that ball? What'd you
say to this? Be honest? When what did I tell you?
Did I tell you that man could play? Did I
not tell you that did? What did you say to yourself? First?
When he threw that pick that should have been a
pick that probably would have changed the entire game. Everybody
(12:23):
gets a break, some take advantage of it, something, don't.
All right? All right, that's fan and we we've had
this discussion about Matthew Stafford. I met Matthew Stafford when
he was a quarterback at Georgia, and I said, he
didn't win anything in Georgia. What they win. But this
is my point. He was in Detroit and you said
that he can't win. He's a stat patter, he's this.
(12:44):
And I said, Rob, I'm picking the Rams and win
the Super Bowl because of Matthew Stafford. You told me
I was. He didn't even win the MVP. He didn't
come to because no nothing, because he threw two or
three picks in the Super Bowl. I mean, that's who
he is. And my only point is and almost anybody,
a good quarterback could have won that with the team
that was around him. You just talked about it with
(13:06):
Sam Donald not having any pieces, And now you're giving
Stafford all the credit when they had a team that
already went to the Super Bowl without him. They they
didn't win it. They didn't win it. And the Rams
were already a good team. They were a player away
that player with Stafford. All right, Baker Mayfield, say he's
(13:27):
better than Sam Donald. Let's just say he is. I
don't believe he is. I personally don't. Sam Donald's a
bigger quarterback, he's a more athletic quarterback, he's a more
mobile quarterback. Um, he's more likable. Now, the intangibles, you
just don't know, because when Sam Donald gets drafted to
(13:47):
the Jets, he you can't name a receiver that play
for You can't Robbie Anderson. He was a good player,
and he still is a good player. But when that's
the only guy that you can name. And here you
are with Baker Mayfield playing with multiple Pro Bowl players,
not just receivers, Pro Bowl players on offense, best offensive
(14:11):
line in the game in the Cleveland Browns. All right,
alex is gonna jump in and then we're gonna hear
from We want to hear from you. Good Alex would
you got so, guys, I have something to settle this
dispute and argument you in the hu chav right now?
Which one of the two has a Heisman Trophy? That's
all I'm gonna ask you, guys, Thank you very much.
All Right, there we go back, Baker. I mean, but
(14:31):
when you're when you're playing at Oklahoma, see Kyler, Murray
has Kyler. It is a team, it is. But but
you gotta admit that Sam Darnold has struggled his first
few years in the NFL, and that's why that's why
they made the trade. As a coach, you can look
at somebody and go, I know, if we get the
(14:53):
right pieces around him, this guy is good enough to
play and good enough to win games. Right, you could
do that. I'm not. I'm not gonna sit here and
defend in the way Sam has played because he has
not played well. But when you look at what he's
had around him. Last year, he had a really good
team around him. McCaffrey gets hurt, but his receiver stayed healthy.
He started off well, he just didn't finish well. Right
(15:16):
that there's no excuse for that. I can't say that
for oh, I can't make an excuse for that. What
I'm saying is I believe if he stayed healthy with
the team that they have now, he can do just
as good or better than what Baker Mayfield is going
to do. All Right, here we go my opinion. No,
I love it, You're just wrong, all right? Should should
(15:36):
the Panthers starting quarterback Gig be Baker Mayfield's job to lose?
You want to hear from you? Age seven, seven nine
ninety six sixty three sixty nine. I told Rob Genius
was right up our alley because I knew where you
sat with your man, Sam Darnold. All Right, all right,
we'll continue the conversation next with you. We want to
hear from you. It is The Odd Couple with TJ.
(16:00):
Sam Donald, Houshman Zada filling in for Chris Russard right
here on Fox Sports Radio. Stick and stay unless you're
Sam Donald and don't have a Heisman in the US,
that's right. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Odd Couple with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at
seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
(16:22):
and the iHeartRadio app. I had a Glizzie in my mouth,
and we need to lose that too. It is the
I Couple on a Magic City Monday and my cheese
was hot. Now I like that one. My cheese was hot.
Rob Parker, TJ. Houshman Zada filling in for Chris Brussard.
And auto Zone has your free services you need to
(16:44):
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fifty six hundred locations nationwide, auto Zone is here to
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Getting the job done just got easier. Restrictions apply. Get
in the zone. Auto Zone eight seven seven ninety nine
(17:06):
on Fox is the phone number. Uh, we want to
hear from you the Panthers. There's really no quarterback controversy,
not yet, because it appears as if it's Baker may
Feel's job to lose. It's his job to lose. TJ.
He kind of agrees with me, right you you thought
(17:28):
that it would be his job to lose, right once
the trade happened. So we want to hear from you
who should be the quarterback starting quarterback? And as Sam
Donald gotten the short end of the stick because he
hasn't had a lot of talent since he's coming to
the league. Will in Wisconsin, you're on the odd couple
of Fox Sports Radio. What up? Will? What's going on? Right?
(17:50):
What's going on? TJ? Absolutely what you guys are discussing.
H Baker may feel in Sam darn in their situation
right now, Yes, they equally have a chance to win
the starting position. But if you're looking at a player,
the player a mark of a quarterback great or otherwise
playing in spots you gotta make do with what you have,
(18:11):
and even guys that might not be a level of
an Aaron Rodgers, but certainly in some other spots like TJ,
like a Carson Palmer or Andy Dalton, having an ability
to make do with what you have and playing spots
that makes the mark of where you should be as
starting or playing in Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnell, respectively.
Baker's done that, so yeah, it should be his job
(18:33):
to lose. Thank thank for the call. Well disagree, no,
you know, yeah, yeah, I mean it's when you train,
when you have a quarterback, that's pretty much making a
guarantee nineteen million. You bring somebody else in, right, you
want that other guy to play? I mean it's just
that simple. You're gonna play the best guy. But it's
(18:53):
also a business. People don't like to look at it
that way, and the business of it is we want
to play the nineteen million dollar guy. But if I
bring this guy in, sorry, nineteen million dollar guy, you
got to go to the bench. And that's probably what's
gonna happen. Everybody's gonna get fired up to just share
anyway because they're not gonna in. That's You're probably right, Ben,
the one legged man in Alabama. You're on the couple
(19:17):
of Fox Sports Radio. What up? Ben? Well? For a change, Rob,
I'm gonna agree with you on this one. Wow, I'm shocked.
I know, I know you. Usually I like to hear
your pitch so I can fade you and go the
other way. But do you know what? Do you know
what Sam Donald's grandfather, her former UFC athlete in the
(19:38):
Marlborough Man. You know what his name is? Well, I
don't know if he's alive. His name is Dick Hammer.
That is Sam's grandfather. But anyway, he had a great
freshman year at USC. Within the next year he do
thirteen intercepts twenty six sets down played. I didn't understand
why it was so high rated coming out of UFC.
(20:00):
And of course he's throw terms of the interceptions up
as a pro for the Jet. So I think Baker
is a better quarterback. Yeah, I think he is. Thank
you for the call. Appreciate that band uh and and
and we'll see you know, it's it's it's easy to
say Baker is a better quarterback because Baker has had
more success. But when you when you look at the
(20:21):
reason why, it's like, ah, okay, best offensive line, one
of the better runnerbacks in the league, really good receivers.
You can't even name Sam Donald's running back. You can't
even name a receiver. I mean things start. You you
put Sam Darnald in that same situation, you probably get
the same results. Huh, I hear that. That's partly. But
there are guys who overachieved with little talent as well
(20:43):
and and play and those guys are but those guys
are great. Joe Burrow took a team like as a
second year player to a Super Bowl. How many guys
are Joe Burrows the point? I know that, but but
it's not impossible. And the other thing is just Sam
Donald hasn't played even when he's had it. Even if
you go look at the nice thought that they had,
(21:05):
he didn't have any impressive numbers before McCaffrey got hurt.
His numbers would just pedestrian. Would you admit that? Yes,
they were just winning. And again I'm going off of
what I've seen. I know if you've seen him up close, Yeah,
I know that. I do respect what the league is.
It's uh, what do you do when it matters? What
are your numbers saying to me? This will be interesting though,
(21:27):
because the locker room, it will speak volumes if they
phil Baker Mayfield don't deserve the starting spot because you'll
get all these Oh. An anonymous source told me that
they're upset about this. If we don't get any of that,
Baker Mayfield beat him out. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob
(21:48):
Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app. Hey I'm
Doug Got. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually
talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about
the stories about what made these people love their sport
and all the interesting interactions along the way, we talked
(22:11):
to coaches, we talked to players, We tell you stories.
You download it. He listened to it. I think you
like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug alib on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, orherever you get your podcast.
It is the Odd Couple. Fox Sports Radio in a
Magic City Monday, Rob Parker, TJ. Houshman Zada in for
(22:33):
Chris Broussard, and we're coming to you live from the
Fox Sports Radio Studios. One of my favorite people, Jerry
Harriston Junior, joins us, of course. A World Series champ
with the Yankees in two thousand and nine, played sixteen
Big league seasons and currently works for Spectrum Sportsnet LA
covering the Dodgers. Who I watch a lot and Jerry,
(22:55):
Welcome to the program. Say hi to TJ. Hey, t J. Rob,
how you guys, Jerry? What's going on? Maning great? Hey, Hey,
what a weekend. The Dodgers have cranked it up eight
in a row. But they beat up on the Padres
and we're coming off the high of the Juan Soto
sweep steaks. But the Dodgers outscored them twenty to four
(23:16):
in the three game series. Was that a statement of
series or just a series in early August? You know,
I think it was a little bit of a statement series.
You know, obviously you mentioned the Padres. They did an
incredible job getting Wan Soto, Josh Bell, who I really like,
switch hitting first baseman, Coulstring, the bat jury as well,
(23:37):
and then Hater in their bullpen. And they wanted to
come in La at least get a couple of games
in a three game series, at the very least get
one on the road. They weren't unable to do that,
and the Dodgers just outplayed them. They pitched exceptually well,
really good defense, and the hiting was outstanding. So the
Dodgers still are the class in the National League in
(23:57):
my opinion. The Padres have definitely gotten better. But you know,
the Pockets owner said, you know, they're trying to slay
the dragon up north, and that's the Dodgers, and so
far they had been unable to do that. Hey, Jared,
when was your last year playing? My last year was thirteen,
So I'm that was what the Dodgers. Correct, it was
(24:17):
with the Dodgers. We don't remember this, Maddy. We were
insisting that together, no wait, no night I remember that.
You don't remember this, but your last season playing with
the Dodgers. I took my and my son was a
baby man. I took my son to the game. We
were sitting right behind a dugout man. You threw a
ball and was like, give it to him? Really, yeah, yeah,
(24:38):
my son, he has that ball, and he was like,
how'd I get this ball? And I tell him so.
Now he's somewhat of a Dodger fan. Now I just
got into baseball. But I had to tell you that story.
I appreciate it. Were sitting right behind the duck gu
He came off the field and tossed me a ball
and was like, give it to him. Wow. So I
had to tell you that I remember that. You probably
don't because you probably tossed a thousand balls the kids.
(24:59):
You appreciate, you don't. Why you know why I remember
that is because we were in Cincinnati together for a
couple of years, I believe in oh eight and oh nine,
and when you were at the Bengals, I believe it.
I was in the Reds and I had a really
good friend, Levi Jones, also on the Bengals live in Arizona,
and and I also used you in fantasy football. Le
(25:19):
Jones was my guy. Yeah, yeah, so you know we
I know Levi and I know you know. You threw
him a little bit. And then when I saw you
at a Dodger game, I had to give your son
that baseball. So yeah, we go. We remember, we go
to quite a few games. I'm a I'm a Dog
Dodger fan. When when when you look at the Dodgers
with Walker Bueler, now Kayton Kershaw and different pictures being injured,
(25:44):
how one when when when they come back, how is
it going to be and do you think that will
affect them come playoff time? Well, I mean, let's hope
they do come back. You know, Walker Bueler were still
who not hope. I know Clayton Hershaw got a second
upper duro shot a few days ago. He's hopelly. I
(26:04):
hope that he will be back for the playoff run.
I think Clayton will be back, maybe Walker Bueller. And again,
when they do come back, they have a tremendous impact.
They're not going to come back at eighty percent seventy
five percent, They'll come back one hundred percent. So when
they do come back, I think they will not only
bolster the rotation, but definitely give lack of a better terment,
(26:26):
Dodgers are shot in the arm. That being said, right now,
the Dodgers have enough talent to win it all. And
that's something If if I would have said, Beula said, Walker,
Bueller and Clayton Hershaw would not be in the rotation,
would the Dodgers have a chance at the started season,
I probably said, you know, probably not. But the way
the guys like Tony Gonslin, Tim and excuse me, Tyler
(26:47):
Anderson have thrown the ball, both All Stars and then
guys like Julie Rus who has become an ace to
this staff, we have dusted May coming back. I think
he's going to be throwing one more rehab start, possibly
two at the most. What I hear from the reports
he has thrown I mean nasty stuff down in triple A.
We get him back for the next six weeks, along
(27:08):
with Blake, Trying Bruise, Dark Gradole, all those horses back
in either the starting rotation and the bullpen. With this offense,
they have enough talent to win it all. So yes,
we would love to have Blake. You see, we love
to have Walker Wheeler back Clayton Kershaw back. We would
love to have them back. But even if they don't,
(27:28):
the Dodgers, especially with the way they've been playing, they're
reminding of the nineties Yankees. Man, it's the top of
the lineup. Man that man, we're Mookie Freddy. Here's my
only thing though, and I'll say this, Jerry, I agree
with you. Like what they've been able to do without
those guys is pretty impressive. But now this weekend we
also saw the Mets, who have somehow stuck around all
(27:52):
year without their two big horses for a long stretch
in Scherzer and de Grom. They go to they face
Atlanta and beat them up, and those guys came back.
You go into a series and you got a face
to Graham and shows at the top of that rotation.
That's gonna be formidable too, aren't the Mets u up
there as well? Because of those two guys. I was
(28:15):
just playing at a golf tournament, charity golf tournament, I
mean Harrieen golf tournament, and we talked with Sean Green,
Nomar and John Hartarm We all work together and the
one team we talked about that kind of scares us
a little bit is New York MaTx. Anytime you have
the Gram and Max Scherzer at the top of your
rotation in a series, yes, that's troubling, but at the
(28:37):
same time, it will be a seven game series if goes.
Two teams met meat. So I still give the edge
to the Dodgers. They are so deep one through nine offensively,
especially now that Max Munsey and Cody Bellinger are starting
to swing the bats. It's about, oh my god. I
know it takes some time, but you know better and
(28:58):
better late than never. And you put those two guys
swinging hot bats with this one, two, three, punch and
four with Will Smith hitting fourth, this is the best
lineup in the National possibly in baseball. The Yankees have
to be considered as well. So again, there are great
teams out there, like the New York's mess the Yankees,
I know, they've kind of hit a snag a little bit.
They're still a great team. It's good, Yeah, They're still
(29:20):
a great team. So right now, right the best team
in baseball for my money is at Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah,
and Wayne Yard twice does does Craig kimbro struggles? Does
that concern you come playoff time. It does concern me.
Now he's made some adjustments. Yesterday he looked really good
(29:40):
coming into relief. If he can find it now, I
remember he is a Hall of Fame closer. He's a
little older now, but if he can find its meaning
his slider, his fastball command, he still has enough philosophy
he can be that lights out closer. Now that being said,
we have Blake training coming back and hopefully comes back
in a couple of weeks. This dude is nasty man.
(30:03):
He could be that closer if need beat. Evan Phillips
has has stepped up being that elite reliever this year,
really last year started it. He's been elite. The entire
bullpen has been consistent. When Mike Mark Pryor has done
to this group, the pitching coach to the Dodgers, Josh Barred,
their bullpen coach as well, they have really given a
confidence to everybody coming out of that bullpen. So you know,
(30:26):
the bullpens elite, The starting pitching has been elite, and
the hitting. You have all those three factors working in
your favor. Dodger a tough team to beat, no doubt.
His name. Jerry Hairston Junior played sixteen years in the
big leagues. We appreciate the knowledge, Jerry as always my man,
Thank you anytime. Guys, all right, appreciate it all right.
(30:46):
Other Patriots setting up mac Jones for failure. I want
to hear from TJ on this. That's right, We'll continue
and have that answer for you. Next. It is the
I Couple with t J. Houshman Zada in for Chris Mussar,
Rob Parker. Here you there on on Fox Sports Radio.
Stick and stay unless you try to set us up
(31:07):
for failure. Around the US A, Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot Com and within
the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live. It is
the couple wrapping it up on a Magic City Monday,
Rob Parker, TJ. Houshman Zada filling in for Chris Bussard.
(31:31):
AutoZone has free services you need to help you get
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(31:52):
Get in the zone, Auto zone, TJ. Let's finish here.
And it has been a lot of fun having you
on the raids. And we said we used to do
a podcast together, which was always fun. And then TJ
threw me out and got somebody else. But it's okay,
it's all right, um. Mac Jones and the New England
(32:14):
Patriots who do not have an offensive coordinator and what's
the pencil's name? I just forgot his name. Matt Patricia
is kind of like overseeing the offense, but he's not
the offensive coordinator. What do you make of this? And
Mac Jones he doesn't need an offensive coordinator, he needs one.
And this is just Bill saying I'm smarter than ever
(32:36):
everybody in the room. Right, what is this? I don't
understand it. It's when you're a player in you have
a bad series and we're talking Mac Jones. Who is
he going to go off the field and discuss this with? Right? Who?
What is Matt Patricia gonna say to him? He hasn't
experienced this being an offensive coordinator. Josh McDaniels can recall
(33:02):
things from years ago when I had Tim. This is
bha in this situation, yes, do we bad possessions in
the row? And then he dug down and blah, what
is he what is he gonna say to him? And
this is also what people don't realize is they watch
TV talking players when they see this and they hear this,
(33:26):
and they're probably why is he the off as a coordinator?
He didn't even have success in Detroit. You don't think
they're privy to these type of conversations and this information.
And so I don't know what Bill's doing, but he's
setting his team up for failure and they know it
when you're going into your second year and he's struggling
(33:49):
more than he did as a rookie. In practice, that's
coaching and just an understanding of what to do and
whatnot to. I feel bad for anybody that's on the
page stress because if this does not work out, this
is a year wasted. Bill will continue to coach, and
these coaches continue to coach, but these players, this is
year wasted on their career. I don't I don't get it,
(34:10):
and I think you did nail it. Is Bill trying
to show everybody he's the smartest guy in the room.
And I know he's had success and won a lot
of Super Bowls, but this, I don't understand what a
young quarterback. I really don't. And and I think he
took a step back last year. Would you say that
a little bit? I think he did. And also like,
(34:34):
I mean Bill has been a great defensive coordinator until
he was right right until he plays Josh. It's like, why,
like why would you do this? You didn't have someone
in mind. You couldn't get Bill O'Brien to come back.
You couldn't somebody that was on staff with Josh McDaniels
at Mac would feel comfortable with hearing and hearing him
(34:58):
in his ear during game at Patricia who couldn't get
it done in Detroit, who was a defensive guy. He
was bad. He was bad with the Lions, he really was.
I don't understand. I don't understand it. Yeah, it's it's
it's surprising that they would go so off the grid
and do that to a young quarterback. Maybe maybe an
(35:22):
older quarterback. I don't know if you really want to
do that who's been around and had success in the league.
I mean Matt jos won a game where he through
three passes that one it was TJ. Yeah, I mean
I'll give you. I will say that weather and that
wind was was crazy. But I'm just trying to figure
out why why you didn't name a defensive coordinator last year.
(35:47):
That's okay, because that's your side of the ball, that
that's your expertise. Be a de facto right defensive He
knows football. He he knows offensive football. It's like he
understands the nuance is in everything that pertains to the
overall game of football, offense and defense easily. But when
(36:07):
you're dealing with a quarterback and the player you're if
your expertise is on the defensive side of the ball,
what do you tell him after a bad series? Okay,
the defense they played discoverage, bloom boom like it just
I just don't see it meshing. Well. It sucks for
mac Jones, it sucks for the Patriots. But bill uh,
(36:29):
I mean, when you test line, you can do what
you want to do. Yeah, when you won like that,
you can do just about anything you want. Can you
imagine if another coach did this? No, what would you
guys say, were the is what? We would destroy them,
no doubt. But TJ. Houshman Zada plug your radio show
on Saturdays. Man, we appreciated you filling in for Chris. Man.
(36:52):
It's my pleasure. I love doing this, you know it,
especially with you, Man, my man, no doubt. Listen to
TJ and Gang. I mean, it's a different kind of
radio show. Three football players who have something to say
and they say it. So I appreciate you appreciate that
(37:12):
show giving a listen Saturdays right here on Fox Sports Radio.
Chris Bussard's vacation continues, but we'll be back right here
tomorrow for you, so make sure you stick and stay
to Fox Sports Radio and The Odd Couple
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