October 7, 2020 • 47 mins
On today’s episode, Jason shares his thoughts on the Los Angeles Lakers nail-biting victory over the Miami Heat in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. LeBron James was fantastic in the second half, but it was Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who made the biggest plays down the stretch. In fact, Jason argues that it’s AD – not LeBron – who is most deserving of the Finals MVP. Not only is Davis putting up comparable stats offensively, but he’s playing all-world defense. That’s not to say that LeBron hasn’t been fantastic (and Jason has a few choice words for all the LeBron Haters out there), just that Davis has been better. Plus, ESPN NFL insider and podcast host Field Yates swings by to explain why he believes scoring is up through the first 4 weeks of the season, why he doesn’t share Jason’s optimism about the Kansas City Chiefs going 16-0, why Dak Prescott has a massive payday on the horizon – even if it’s not with the Dallas Cowboys, why the New York Jets being forced to choose between Sam Darnold and Trevor Lawrence could be the most interesting decision of this upcoming offseason, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. Good morning, everybody.
It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire on Wednesday, October seven.
What a thrilling night in sports. You had high drama
between the Yankees and the Rays. You had a fun
game between the Padres and the Dodgers. Big big war
(00:28):
out here in California. But obviously, obviously we have to
start with Lakers in the Heat Game four before we
get to it. Quick item in house cleaning. Uh. We
have a tremendous interview coming up later in the podcast
with the great Field Yates. You know him from ESPN.
He does fantasy, He is an NFL analyst. He's one
(00:49):
of their best guys. Real sharp, young guy, and um,
we talked about a lot we disagree on Deak Prescott.
I'm gonna just put that out there. It's a spirited
civil debate and you can't find that kind of stuff
anywhere right now because everything's like you're wrong or you're
just yelling. And this is like a real good discussion.
So definitely enjoy that. Remember, subscribe, rate and review. Um,
(01:12):
we are going to do a comment giveaway later this month. Yes,
I know you guys loved it. So much last month,
so we'll do that again. But let's let's dive into
Lakers heat. First of all, let's start with the gambling
aspect of it. I gave you a daily double. I
said the Lakers in the first quarter would cover two
and a half. It went up to three. I don't
know if we move lines on this podcast, but it's possible,
(01:34):
and they did cover. Thank you to Caruso and Kuzma
big shots there late in the first. But what happened
at the end of the game was this is what
adds so much drama to games. So the Lakers, after
Lebron makes two free throws, had locked up the victory,
but the spread was still in doubt, and with one
second left, Tyler hero hits the three over the outstretched
(01:54):
arm of Anthony Davis and that heat covers seven and
a half. That line actually went up to eight um
and Tyler Heroes big shot means the heat cover. They
of course lost by six, and the Lakers win a
lot of places to start. I gotta give Rob g credit.
He called Lakers in five. They are one win away
from the championship. The stat that everybody jumped on was
(02:15):
the Lakers heading into last night, we're fifty five and
oh when leading after the third quarter, best mark in
NBA history history. A couple other teams have been, you know,
sixty and one or whatever. Nobody has been undefeated in
the season leading after the third quarter. Lakers now fifty
six and oh, Lebron James, listen, he's a closer. I
(02:36):
don't want to hear the Lebron isn't clutch. Yes, it
is a fact that on the final two possessions, with
the game kind of in doubt, Lakers were leading, they
ran Lebron to the corner and it was a Rondo
Anthony Davis pick and roll. Why well, because you get
to put Duncan Robinson in a blender or Tyler hero.
The Heat were trying to furiously switch. They had Jimmy
(02:57):
Butler on Lebron. But lebronsos to the corner. You've taken
the their best defensive player, Jimmy Buckets, out of the play.
It was this genius move. I don't know if Lebron
called that or Fred Vogel or Anthony Davis or Rondo,
but it was a great play decision by the Lakers.
Rondo goes to the room for the layup and then
the next time Anthony Davis buries the three and that's that.
(03:17):
I will say this. K c P has been the
object of much scorn and much ridicule from Lakers fans.
Last year, famously, he was arrested. I don't want to,
I butcher what the arrest was. It might have been
like a drunken public or something. And he had to
wear an ankle bracelet as a member of the Lakers,
(03:39):
and on a couple of road trips he had to
stay in l a and go in like, you know,
jail for the weekend or whatever. It was embarrassing. Okay,
he's a clutch sports UH signy obviously Lebron's rich Paul guys,
and they got him to UH stick with the Lakers,
and a lot of people did not like that decision. Well,
I'll say this, k c P probably at his most
(04:01):
memorable game as a Laker. Listen in the fourth quarter
the Lakers were up to Jimmy Butler. There's like, I
think I wrote it down three minutes left. I take
all these nerdy notes during the game. Three minutes left,
Jimmy Butler gets a good look from the three uh
in the corner misses. Lebron gets the rebound, races down court,
hits KCP in the corner, boom three pointer. That swing
(04:26):
was massive. The Lakers were up to If Butler hits
that shot, Lakers are down one. He misses, KCP hits
Lakers up five, and they never really were threatened significantly
after that that. He didn't go away, but they never
like threatened to take the lead. And then later k
c P had a gorgeous jelly lay up over Duncan
Robinson and you say, oh, big deal, he's throwing it
(04:47):
in over Duncan Robinson. I'll tell you guys right now.
Duncan Robinson is a legit six ft six That's why
he's in the league. If he were six too, he
would not be in the league. Dougan Robinson is a
long guy. He almost got a piece of that case
ep lay up, but I love the jelly off the glass.
K CP finishes with you know what I think will
be his most memorable game as a Laker, fifteen points,
(05:08):
five assists, really solid performancer and Danny Green actually chipped
in off the bench. Both of those guys contributing. But
this comes down to Anthony Davis and his defense on
Jimmy Butler. Yes, that was the difference. Now, I'm sure
it will come out eventually who made this call. And
again I'm not taking credit away from Frank Vogel or
(05:31):
whoever the assistant coach who was who made this decision.
But when the Lakers opened with a D on Jimmy Butler,
it was like, Oh, I like that, spicy, A little
change in Jimmy Butler was reluctant. He had a good
start to the game. Still he would get Lakers into
pick and roll. But in the fourth quarter you noticed
he did not want to attack Anthony Davis. And when
he did in the last game, in Game three, when
(05:53):
he had his memorable what he had forty Yeah, he
had at forty point triple double, Jimmy Butler was getting
gassed up. It was tremendous. He had no chance against
Anthony Davis. Of course, he tried to attack him once
Anthony Davis pinned it against the backboard. Butler at a
good game twenty two points, but a D would sag
off of him. Butler, oh for three from deep. He
(06:13):
just doesn't even want to take that shot. And you
can't pick and roll with Bayam who they wanted to
pick and roll with because Lebron was on band. It
was a stroke, a master stroke by Frank Vogel and
the Lakers and Butler. Listen, he was really good and nine.
He was also minus eleven for the Miami Heat. Jimmy
(06:35):
Butler forty three minutes. A guy's a warrior. I love
Jimmy Butler. Now, a quick word on the m v
P voting. It's really tough to vote against Lebron, who's
thirty five years old, just doing tremendous things. Seven for
seven in the fourth quarter from the free throw line,
very clutch performance. But Anthony Davis was unbelievable at the
(06:56):
defensive end. And here's the stat that's gonna be the
big one. On Wednesday, Anthony Davis in forty two minutes
plus seventeen. The Lakers were plus seventeen with Anthony Davis
on the court. He only rested for six minutes. They
were minus eleven with a D out of the lineup.
Vocal realized it, like, we can't pull this guy out
(07:16):
of the game. I don't know if he played the
entire fourth or eleven minutes of it, but a D
was everywhere and I think that defense probably gives him
a slight edge in the MVP voting. Lakers only had
four blocks, He had all of them, and he also
had nine boards, four assists. I just thought he was
the different. Listen. I'm not taking anything away from Lebron.
He had a big fourth quarter. If you follow me
(07:38):
on social media, you know I gave out a bet
for Fox Sports that Lebron would have over forty six
and a half points, rebounds and assists. It looked dead
under at halftime he had something like, uh, twenty twenty
three or something very low. Lebron on the fourth quarter
was an animal. Assists, rebounds, points, and of course those
clutch free throws, hitting the final two with ten seconds
(08:01):
left to put him over the forty six and a
half of a great win for me on that one.
But Rob g I I gotta ask you. I know
you're a Lebron guy. You know how the voting goes.
Will the voters see man Anthony Davis's defense on Jimmy
Butler was amazing or will they see damn Lebron's averaging
practically a trouble double and he's thirty five. You gotta
(08:22):
give it to him. What's your early lean with one
game to go, my lean is that Anthony Davis will
not win finals MVP. I think it's gonna be Lebron James,
and for the narrative reasons and you know, and you
can't really go wrong with either guy. But I've said,
you know, most throughout this series. I put it out
on Twitter, Uh, Anthony Davis has been their best player,
(08:45):
not just in this series but throughout the postseason. And
I think anybody who watches the games, especially in these finals,
Lebron James is their m v P of their team
because they have nobody on their on their roster who
can create like he can and and and defend like
he can, that that mix of of both. But Anthony
Davis is their best player. And if you watch the games,
(09:09):
the stats probably say Lebron because, like you mentioned, it's
almost a twenty eight point triple double. But as you mentioned,
the defense on Jimmy Butler, the clutch three to kind
of close it last night, the defensive presence in the middle.
He had a couple of key blocks there in the
fourth quarter. The eye test tells you Anthony Davis has
(09:29):
been their most important player. He's been the guy who
has been the difference between what Jimmy, because Jimmy Butler
and Lebron have almost played each other to a wash
in in in a handful of these games now, I
was at least three of them have been kind of even.
The difference has been Anthony Davis. So if I had
to vote, I would vote Anthony Davis. I think he's
been the best player throughout the post season and in
(09:49):
these finals. But you know, when it comes to voters,
and I know a few voters myself, they're all about
the narrative. So see now that that's weird. I see
it the opposite way, rob G. I see it as
a lot of guys sportswriters who are in their forties
and fifties, and they grew up worshiping Michael Jordan's and
my opinion is they believe that Michael Jordan is the
(10:11):
greatest player in NBA history. And and I know this
sounds very sinister and almost conspiracy theory ish, but if Lebron,
if Lebron doesn't get finals MVP, he wasn't the best
player in his team. Michael Jordan got six finals MVPs.
I just I can see these guys the self importance
of some of these ink stained wretches. And I don't know,
(10:34):
rob Gi, I just feel like some of them are
probably gonna lean a D. So I just crunched the numbers. Okay,
Lebron has thirty four assists in four games now, so
he's averaging eight. Uh, not quite a triple double. However,
if he get you get sixteen assists in game five,
(10:54):
you'll average of triple double with the assists. Um. So,
I don't think he's gonna get there. But again, like
it's like, oh, he didn't get a trouble twenty eight,
eleven and eight. You know, like he's thirty five years old.
And again, rob G, I have been steadfast and since
he got to l A, if he wins a championship
(11:15):
with the Lakers will mean three different teams took them
all from Miami. Didn't totally go from the basement, but
I believe they were not a playoff team the year
he got there. I'll have to double check that he
goes to three teams. The Calves go basement to the finals,
they don't win that time. Then he goes back to
(11:36):
the Calves when they had Kyrie. They go to the
finals and win goes to the Heat I know, yeah,
they got Chris Bosh too, They win a championship. And
now he goes to the Lakers, who had just endured
the worst I think five years stretch in the history
of the franchise, and he brings them to a title.
But Jason, he got Anthony Davis. Everybody needs somebody. Everybody,
(12:01):
every single superstar in NBA Finals history has needed someone
to be their wingman. Magic had Worthy in Jabbar, Larry
Bird had McHale Um. I think Dennis Johnson was a
Finals m v P in the late seventies, Isaiah Thomas
had Joe Dumars win a Finals MVP. A La Jahwan
(12:23):
had Kenny Smith. Everybody has someone helping them out in
the supporting cast. Nobody can do it alone. Kobe and Shack.
You go on down the list, and I just the
thing I keep coming back to is thirty five years old.
They said he was washed. He changes positions, becomes a
full on point guard, leads the league and assists carries
(12:45):
the Lakers to the title. I'm I'm floored by this,
and and it's weird, Rob and we're gonna we don't
have the time now to dig into it. We'll have
plenty of time in the off season. I don't help
me understand the people who really genuinely hate Lebron. I'm
telling you there is this guy on Facebook who every
(13:05):
single time I say anything on social media about Lebron,
he turns it into a post and he tags me,
and eventually, you know, at the beginning, I would humor
him by jumping in the comments and being like, hey,
this is funny, blah blah blah, and I thought like, Okay,
maybe this guy is like a normal human being and
he will enjoy the back and forth because you guys,
(13:27):
know me, if you hit me with a d M
on I G. Unless I'm absolutely flooded with them, that
they'll probably respond and rob g this dude is like
psychotic about hating Lebron. And then you start to look
around and you're like, man, there's some real animosity towards Lebron.
Like nothing he can do open a school for impoverished
(13:47):
kids in Cleveland. Nope, I'm not gonna do it. Um
going out to Florida and helping pay off uh felon
debts so they can vote in an election. No, that's
people genuinely do not like Lebron James. I don't understand
how you can't divorce the person from the basketball player,
(14:10):
because there is no argument his basketball record is unimpeachable.
And Rob Parker, who I like, he's been on this podcast.
I know, Rob, do you do a radio show with
him like this narrative that Lebron stinks and he's lost
so many chips, like like wake up? I love. Let
me just point for Rob Parker specifically because we both
(14:32):
know him pretty well. Yeah, I think there's a misconception
about what he feels about Lebron James. Now Lebron, I mean,
excuse me. Rob has said numerous times he thinks Lebron
is a great player and all time great player. I
think he might even have me like top three. So
it's not like he's disrespecting because doesn't think he's as
(14:53):
good as Michael Jordan. And then that's the debate there.
But as far as you know, the internet trolls and
some other people that work in sports media, I mean
they're just clowns. I mean they're they're looking for reasons
to be upset at him. And I'll be quite honestly,
there's a lot of things you cannot like Lebron about
I mean take up the politics aside, you know, the
the self congratulating, the the the whining to the officials
(15:17):
like that kind of stuff. I can see you being,
you know, rubbed the wrong way about. I mean he
rubbed some of the things the wrong way with me,
but as a whole what what what is that that
he does that can get you so upset? Well, I think, well,
I think what it is is Jordan to a lot
of these guys is their god. They really feel like
(15:39):
Michael Jordan is the greatest ever. He never lost in
the in the finals. And I mean listen, eventually, Rob
g we'll get to it and I'll do an entire
podcast laying out my argument about how the nineties will
water down. And it was the expansion era from eight
to like when the league added i think seven new
teams or five or seven new tans, and I mean
(16:02):
the quality of play was garbage. And that's where the
talks come up, Oh, Michael Jordan beat the Hornets, and
go look at the plumbers they had on that roster.
And then you look at the clips that are on
YouTube and it's like Michael Jordan against four white guys
and he's dunking all over them. And you know, again,
I'm not driving into it now, but I just to
(16:22):
me it's open and shut. Yes, Jordan was great, but
Lebron what he's accomplishing here at I'm just done. Just
the quick teaser to that podcast, both Charles Barkley and
Larry Bird said the mid nineties were watered down basketball. Oh,
let's file that away somewhere. I like that, all right,
So Rob g just to put a ball on this
before we get the field, Yates, any final thoughts. Can
(16:44):
the heat maybe catch the Lakers napping in Game five?
Do the Lakers we know they've lacked that killer instinct
a few times, or do they come out and just
step on the throat of Miami um the way they
kind of did against Denver Eileen a combination of B
and C there. I think that the extra day rest
is gonna be huge for Lebron James because you know,
(17:05):
he is old and he looked like he was struggling
there down the stretching Game four. So that extra day
off next game is on Friday, is gonna be big.
I think the Lakers will come out firing on all cylinders.
I think that they are gonna win that game. I'm
not confused by that at all. But Miami has proven
that they are not Houston, like they are not the
Portland's Trailblazers, Like they're not gonna lay down for anybody,
(17:28):
So you know, it's a testament to them. But Lakers
in five, I told you before the playoffs even started,
this was going to happen. So the core nation down
as your greatest call ever robbed and listen. Uh final note,
I know a lot of you guys are tweeting at
me about the NBA Finals ratings being down and some
of the worst ever. Like, yeah, we'll tackle that eventually.
(17:50):
Like I'm not diving into in the middle of the series.
I personally don't think it's a big deal because I
like basketball. I like watching the games. Do I care
that other people aren't watch seen the bubble games? I mean,
I personally don't. It could impact the league, and we'll
get to that, you know what, at a later date.
But it's the middle of football season, so I'm going
to enjoy these crazy NBA Finals and Lebron and Anthony
(18:11):
Davis and uh playoff Rondo, and I think you guys
should too. Jason likes to think he knows everything when
it comes to sports. I know what sports stands want,
but for everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does.
Let's just say I know a guy who knows a
guy who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome into
(18:35):
straight fire. A guy I've known for a while. I mean,
you've seen him on TV basically every day for the
last what six seven years? Field Yates of ESPN Field,
how are you, man? I'm doing well. I was trying
to think about when the first time we met was
in person. I feel like this been an indie Yeah,
you know what, You're right, it could have been a
super Bowl, super Bowl of the combine one of the two.
(18:55):
You are in a different, different stage of your life,
still operating the big lead and uh now you've moved
to the West Coast, very Hollywood in a lot of ways,
you know, on TV daily, moving on up in the Yeah, yeah, sure,
sure whatever. Feel um, Let's get to you. You've become
like something of a fantasy guru. You and Matthew Berry
are this dynamic duo. You have this like uh father
(19:19):
son stick on social media that plays well. I want
to ask you, we're a quarterway into the season and
how much how are your fantasy teams doing, and how
many leagues are you in? Yeah, so I'm in nine
this year, which actually was a reduction from from previous years,
which is so pathetic. There were some people and I
have learned this year that like and I think we
I shouldn't say I've learned this, but we've all been
(19:39):
reminded this year that like, everybody's going to react to
circumstances differently. And one thing that I did see a
little bit of this year was people who were less
interested in playing fantasy football at the outside of the
season because they were concerned and maybe the season wouldn't
necessarily go fully as scheduled, maybe there might be some
cancelations or postponents, maybe the NFL wasn't at the time
(20:00):
off of their mind when uh, you know, early August
rolled around because of what's going on in the world.
So the league number dropped a little bit. Um So
I would say that I'm having this weird year. I
don't remember a year like this where my teams feel
like I other feel like I'm at the front of
the pack in my league, or I feel like like
(20:20):
my season is already over. And it's been a weird
year obviously with injuries. I mean, depending on what league
size you play in, one injury can devastate you. I
play in a sixteen team league that we talked about
frequently on ESPN. It's called the war Room League, and
it's a bunch of the people that you see as
part of our our NFL cover Jeff d and Morden
Barry and Stefania and Louis Riddick and Bruski and our
(20:43):
boss Seth Markman and the whole host of others, Rex Ryan,
that hass with my brothers and on and on and on,
and I just, uh, it's a it's a random draw
every year. So I ended up with the third pick.
I got Sa Kwan in a sixteen team league, and
you know you lose your first round at running back,
especially the next thing, you know you're I mean, you
(21:03):
can't even bargain shop because in six team team leagues,
your your your available players week to week are I
mean they're their third stringers. So anyways, um, I feel
as though this year I've got sort of this big
golf between the teams. Uh, in half my league and
the other half of my league, So normally i'd feel comfortable.
(21:24):
Maybe halfway this season, I have a better assessment than
all my teams are kind of in the mix this year. Um,
some don't feel quite as hopeful. Yeah, that's a perfect
segue to the league this year, because it feels like
I feel that there's some really really good teams at
the top of the league that are awesome, and then
you want to see teams that are double digit dogs
every week. I mean the Washington I didn't even realize this.
(21:45):
Washington has lost three straight games by two touchdowns or
more and they're a big, big underdog again this week
against the Rams. I mean, how much of this do
you think can be attributed to no preseason, strange offseason,
and also some teams with new coaches, new quarterbacks or
young quarterbacks. Yeah, it's a good question, because you're right.
(22:07):
I when I was thinking about my own fantasy teams,
I did have the same thought. In the NFL, I
do our power rankings. I'm part of the people that
vote every week, and the way ESPN doesn't is we
have it's it's basically a spreadsheet and you start, you
have to you have to go one to thirty two.
You have to answer them manually. So when you get
to like eleven or twelve, you're like wow, like like
(22:31):
who's next? Right? Like how do you separate from teams like,
you know, for example, a bunch of one in three
teams like his Dallas better than even their own division Philadelphia?
Are they better? You know? Like what do you do
with the team like Minnesota now after they get one win?
Does that meet me more? In Now? There are a
lot of sort of middling teams. So what do we
(22:52):
attribute it to? I'm not sure there's a perfect answer. Um,
I think you hit on some of the points there.
I think this year, though maybe it feels, is like
this past off season there was more quarterback turnover than
we've seen in a long time. As we know, there
was a very robust quarterback market this offseason, but because
(23:13):
there was so much change, invariably it leads to some
teams that or a lot of teams I should say,
that have made a quarterback commitment. But as we know,
like quarterback it's don't always go well. So we do
have some really you know, obviously, like two years ago,
the Giants draft Daniel Jones and it's too soon to
count him out. After his rookie season, and it's probably
(23:34):
too soon to count him out four games into a
second but well, I don't you know, I think it's
probably not pragmatic to do so if you're the Giants,
right So, but what happened was we had enough teams
that went into this year either who had made a
quarterback change this offseason or we're already hitched to another quarterback, like,
for example, the New York Giants or the Washington football team.
(23:56):
And the reality is that as of right now, you
can't tell me that Haskins is a surefire long term
answer for Washington. Heck, I'm not even convinced to be
the quarterback past like week five. As we know, there's
a lot of steam and smoke surrounding that possibility right now.
So I would just say that maybe that's part of it,
is just how much quarterback turnover there was, and the
idea that not all of those changes benefit of the
(24:19):
teams dramatically. And when I say quarterback turnover, while I
am specifically referring to this off season, I think you
have to sort of take it in totality with the
past two off seasons and really maybe even the twenty
nineteen off season as well. Um, speaking of quarterback changes,
one team that's not gonna be changing anytime soon Kansas
City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes. We saw them on Monday
(24:41):
Night Football and feel my big takeaway from that. I
looked at the schedule. I was like, they're gonna play
down to the level of some teams like the Chargers
in their division, right and then the Brian Hoyer on
Monday Night Football. But this team is pretty awesome. Um,
you know, offensively, they can put points on anybody. And
I looked at Patrick mahomess history, never lost the game.
I think he's twenty eight and seven in the regular season,
(25:03):
never lost a game by more than a touchdown, so
they're always in the mix. I think this team could
seriously go sixteen and O. And before you Scoff Field,
they only play as of now, two teams that currently
have a winning record, Buffalo and Tampa. Now the Saints
are on there, they ultimately will have a winning record
there five hundred. But the schedule is a bit of
a joke. Do you think sixteen or no is feasible
(25:23):
for the Chiefs. I don't think it's entirely off the
table now obviously, it's very difficult to do what's happened
just twice in the history of the NFL. And we'll
see how things shape up with injuries and how the
schedule catches up the teams, or whether it does catch
up two teams. Um, it's a fair question though. And
you know, I thought Monday night's game with the Patriots,
I actually thought it was just one of those first
(25:45):
of all, like two things you can always kint on
with the Patriots. They're gonna have a plan and they're
gonna play hard. Right. I also thought that that was
an emotionally challenging game for either team to be a
hundred percent locked into. Right. I mean, you thought on
Saturday there was a chance the game I get canceled
all again there and then next thing, you know, you
gotta turn around and play the game on Monday. It's
already a little bit of a challenge for teams to
(26:06):
get up with, you know, fourteen thousand stand fans in
the stand normally Arrowhead, one of the loudest places in
all sports to go and play. So I'm not been
against anything with the Chiefs this year. And um, on
a bad night for them, and I say bad with
almost air quotes, right, but on like a quote unquote
bad night, they still find a way to, you know,
(26:27):
piece it together with complimentary football. Maybe that's been overlooked
with the Chiefs is that were so and and deservedly
so fixated on how great the quarterback and how great
the offense. Is that defensively they've really become opportunistic, right,
I mean, Honey Badger is always gonna be a player
that's gonna make a mark in the course of a game.
Like Frank Clark. I mean, he's got a first step
(26:47):
coming off the edge that feels borderline on paralleled right
now in the NFL. So the Chiefs defense is no
joke and something that I think is perhaps a little
bit overlooked just because of how good they are offensive.
Let me also ask you about Pat Mahomes specifically. You know,
it was two weeks into the season and everybody's like
Russell Wilson m v P. And then you know, Aaron
Rodgers is obviously there, and there's Josh Allen, who's been tremendous.
(27:11):
I was so wrong about Josh Allen. But Field is
there kind of a Lebron James Field to Mahomes in
that he's like the forgotten guy. If you just go basically,
who's the best quarterback? Who would you want any one game?
You know, some people are gonna say Brady, some people
are gonna say Rogers. I'm not begging against Pat Mahomes.
He's got to be the guy. Are people overlooking him?
Should he not be in the m v P discussion
(27:33):
automatically every year? Yeah, it should start with him every year.
We're learning and you know it's gonna be really hard,
right because, uh, last year we saw the Chiefs without
Patrick Mahomes and they actually fared pretty well, right. I
think Matt Moore went was a two and one, three
and one. Yeah, it was competitive. Right, So people will say, like, hey,
(27:54):
isn't the argument that this team is actually better than
we give it credit? Four besides Patrick Mahomes. And I think,
to myself, it's a good roster. It doesn't mean that
it's it has to be an imperfect roster for us
to appreciate Patrick mahomes brilliance. Uh yeah, it's a fair
it's actually a fair comparison because I do think that
the lebron and I'm I'm more football guy than a
basketball guy obviously, but The Lebron conversation obviously is one
(28:16):
that I follow closely every year as we get into
the m v P voting part of the NBA calendar,
and it's a good one for Patrick Mahomes. I do think,
Jason that whether people that vote will concede it or not,
I think it's really human to latch onto narratives during
the course of the season. I know the NBA has
had that, you know, I think that's been more front
(28:36):
and center. Right the Russell Westbrook year after k D
leaves triple double season, basically have to give him the
m v P even though the team was not great,
and obviously there were players that had a much more
decided impact on a team would go on to much
more postseason success. But I would say that's with um Mahomes,
you know, I think we are there are gonna be
(28:57):
years where you know, right now, what's been the most
thrown around stats of the first month plus of the
NFL season, The fact that Russell Wilson has never received
an m v P vote. If Russell Wilson keeps up
this toward pace, and I don't mean toward, is in
like kind a throw for sixty touchdowns toward. But if
he throws five thousand yards forty touchdowns, Let's say the
(29:20):
pics are somewhere around five or fewer, maybe eight or fewer,
and they win twelve or thirteen games. I mean, what's
the chance that Russell Wilson gets a whole bunch of
m v P votes And the answer is probably very
very hot. Not quite a sympathy victory, but he's gonna
definitely get votes. You're right, the media is obsessed with
that stat field, you know, and then this next guy
I want to talk about the media has a weird
(29:43):
infatuation with this guy, and I like him, but we
need to have an honest Deak Prescott discussion field. You
know the quarterbacks, you know the coaches, you know the teams.
I just see Deak Prescott as a good quarterback, not
not great, not top five. I don't think he's top seven.
None of the DeVos A stats bear that out. And
I just don't understand the idea how they can you know,
(30:05):
people can think, oh, yeah, Jerry's got to give him
forty million dollars because he's kind of earned it, because
he's been you know, he's a mid round pick and
he was paying making nothing fields. He's making like thirty
one million this year. They can't afford a defense. They've
got an offensive line kind of in shambles. They pay
their running back a lot. They pay a Mari Cooper
a ton. If you pay Dak forty, this team is
(30:27):
going to go nowhere for the next three or four years.
And I've people just don't want to hear that argument.
How do you handle the Dak Prescott, you know, quarterback
situation in Dallas. Yeah, so I think so, okay, some
of what you said, I agree with some of that.
I think we have to sort of reassess in this
regard is that it's not that it's not Dak Prescott's
(30:50):
fault or responsibility to decide how much Ezekiel Elliott or
Jalen Smith or Lyle Collins or anybody else on that
Cowboys roster makes right, and that that's just not his
job at all. And you can't use potentially poor contracts
(31:10):
paid to other players. And I'm not saying all of
the guys that I just mentioned are terrible contracts, but
the Cowboys have been heavy handed in some of their negotiations,
no two ways about. That's a great point. You can't. Yeah,
you can't say that, Oh, that's that that should be
held against Dak. And you know, I don't know that
I would use the justification that if Dak hit the
(31:34):
open market, he would probably sign a contract close to,
if not slightly north of Deshaun Watson's deal, because it's
the open market, right, I mean, that's that's different than
extending your team where you have less leverage. Um, but
I think it's it's it's part of the it's part
of the thought process here. It's part of why Dak
understood how much leverage she had is that the Cowboys
(31:56):
made him an offer. And you know, I'm not gonna
sit here and tell you I had all the nitty
gritty what the Cowboys best and final offer was before
the franchise tag deadline passed of something. And let's just say, Jason,
it was thirty three and a half million bucks. All right?
How are you, as Dak Prescott, gonna take thirty three
and a half million dollars per year when you can
bet on yourself for one more season and potentially make
(32:18):
I really do believe, like thirty thirty nine forty million
dollars per year over a four or five year contract
and do so if you hit the open market in
whatever situation you desire. Okay, so hold on, that's a
great point. But let's let's look at that open market. Okay.
You could look around the league and say, okay, some
teams eat a quarterback. But I used that Kirk Cousins
(32:41):
example from a couple of years ago with the Vikings. Right,
so they signed him what do you make like twenty
nine million years something around there, and they had a
ready made team. They had just gone to what the
it was at the NFC championship game they lost with
case Keenum to Philly. Okay, and so they pay him
and they're like, all right, we got Kirk Cousins, were
ready to take that next step, and it didn't really
(33:02):
work out. And then what three years, I think they've
won one playoff game in New Orleans with Kirk Cousins,
maybe one, okay, and then you know, they had to
pay the rest of the team and they lose like
what five four or five or six starting defenders, and
that team is nowhere near the playoffs this year. And
in hindsight, I don't know, Field talk me out of it,
(33:25):
but I don't think it's possible to sign a guy
to thirty eight million, as you talked about and say
we can build around Doc. I mean, is there a
team out there on the open market that would do it?
Maybe a John Elway in Denver or a team. But
I look up and down the league. I don't see one.
I mean, it sounds good to todack better on yourself. Yeah,
(33:49):
there will be one. There will definitely be one. And
here's the reason why is a lot of people at
the top of these organizations are fickle. You've got owners
that are impatient, You've got general managers that have no
choice but to win now. And so this is again,
this is not reporting, This is not information that I have.
I'm just gonna start to like quickly build cases. Right,
So let's say he hits the open market. What if
you're Washington, you said, Dwayne Assens is in the answer,
(34:12):
there's a team, right, just just it is gonna keep
rifling through these. Hey, what if you're the Bears, you
can unload Nick Foles. Obviously, Mr Rbiskie, you need a quarterback.
You wanted to do that. What if Ryan Pace gets
one more shot and they say we can't draft anybody
because we're taking seventeen, right, and you get one more
shot with a good roster, presumably, What if Ben Roethlisberger retires,
uh if the Steelers and I don't have me. He
(34:33):
obviously is under contract beyond this season. But what if
he's like, I'm done, I'm good. What if Indianapolis gets
somewhat down the road but not quite far enough in
Philip Rivers decides I'm gonna go coach that that high
school team. They already have a job waiting for me. Right,
you could you could see that situation. What if the
Raiders finally passed the torch on Derek Carr. Right, there's
a team, But I think, um, you know, would would
(34:54):
would have a better shot to acquire a quarterback through
free agency than they would, uh, through the draft. The
Saints have a lot of money tied up on the cap,
but if Drew Brees retires, who knows, right, I mean,
they're gonna they have a really good roster besides Drew Brees.
Are they gonna want to just, you know, necessarily implicitly
trust Taysom Hill or Jamis Winston. But if the Jaguars
(35:14):
are like, you know something, We're closer than we thought.
I never have Miami. I'm telling you, I'm telling you,
but but Miami two years ago was building this thing
back up from the from the bottom right. And then
who was more aggressive in free agency this past offseason
than Miami. So teams changed their game plans quickly. So
I understand that right now, while we don't have a sense,
(35:35):
there's no reported sense of where Dak would be interested
because for all we know he intends to be a
cowboy for life. Never will be a market for Dak Prescott. Now,
two of those teams makes sense because they're contenders, like
the Colts, I would I think there's something probably there.
They have a lot of young guys on that defense.
They haven't had to pay yet. But you know teams
that are like the Saints, they gotta pay Kamara. Uh well,
(35:57):
they did pay Kamar right and Michael Thomas, and those
contracts add up. And that's what makes the NFL so fascinating,
is it not. I mean, it's so difficult, given the
salary cap, to pay a quarterback top dollar and still
build around it. Yeah, it's a tough one, you know,
the salary cap it is I think I always find
(36:17):
it to be one of the things that is most
compelling and interesting people discuss um in any circle, right,
I mean, everybody loves talking about the salary cap, so
I always fans are and I don't mean this, I
include myself as a fan in this conversation. We're obsessed
with the salary cap. And here's the reason why. If
our team is bad, we like the salary cap because
(36:38):
it usually correlates with us having a bunch of cash
based going phote right, So hey, if you're a team
like and I'm just gonna use them for an example,
the Jaguars, you're saying to yourself, Hey, I understand that
we're a long ways away, we've got a ton of
caps based, though, what if somebody comes available? And then
when you're a good team, you get obsessed with the
salary cap because you know, you're worried about the constraints
(36:59):
and my place on your roster who might have to go?
You know, the Eagles, the Saints amongst the teams have
a bunch of money. Um that are you know, tied
to next year's salary cap. The Atlanta Falcons as well,
they're gonna have to make some interesting decisions. So um,
this is gonna be a super cliche answer, but there
are more than One way is to skin the cat
with the salary cat. So I think the good teams ultimately, uh,
(37:22):
and they don't know. This is gonna sound really ridiculous,
but I've always used this line. The best way to
avoid bad contracts in the NFL is to only do
good contracts, And I would say more so than other sports.
I feel comfortable that, like the public has a pretty
good beat on when deals are bad the moment they're signed, right, um,
(37:45):
And in the NFL, while it's not impossibly get out
of bad deals, it's certainly a lot trickier, right. I mean,
Brockos while there was was an exception, and I think
Brandon Cooks was an exception. David Johnson was an exception
as well, obviously, but it's hard generally speaking to I
just I did not realize that all three of those
deals involved the sex. No, I really wasn't. That was
(38:06):
just names that came to mind. So anyways, I do
think that it's possible that some of these actually, um,
you know that, but just think about the bad deals
for previous offseasons. A lot of times, like people are
right on this, Like people are right on it. The minute.
Some of these deals, um, you know, are are are signs.
So this Carson Wentz deal is going to be interesting,
right because they are going to have to start making
(38:27):
sacrifices here in the next couple of years. And you
can already see their skill position players are down significantly.
I know a lot of them are hurt. The defense
is still pretty good. But when they had Carson Wentz
on the rookie deal, they were able to build a
lot of really talented but one of the best rosters
in the league. I don't know that I could say that,
you know what, three years after their Super Bowl that
(38:49):
they're still there. Baltimore is a great example, right Lamar
on the rookie deal. I think they have the second
most expensive defense according to football outsiders in the league.
And you've got you know, you've got really good running backs,
You've got strong tight end, wide receiver. You see these
smart teams, go get a receiver DeAndre Hopkins for Kyler Murray. Um.
(39:11):
A team like Cincinnati is plucky all of a sudden,
right they could be active next summer. Hey we got Burrow,
we got an opportunity to make the leap. What why
not surround Burrow with you know, A J. Green's not
the guy he was. Should we go out and pay
lavishly for a wide receiver? Is isn't that the current model? Yeah?
It is. And you know, by the way, those Bangals
(39:31):
were a typically aggressive this past offseason and free agency.
Normally the Bengals are spectators. They just watch it and
they just wait for schefter notifications like the rest of us. Instead,
they actually went out there and they made some moves.
They signed DJ Reader to a four year contract worth
close to fifty million dollars. He's a defensive tackle. They
spent money along the offensive line, some of that might
have been ill fated decisions in the secondary. They signed
(39:54):
both Trey Waynes and Mackenzie Alexander. Three years for Waynes
at forty two million dollars. McKenzie Alexander was a one year,
four million dollar deal. They signed Von Bell to a
three year, eight teen million dollar deal from the Saints.
A team that rarely gets in the mix got in
the mix. So you're right. So one of other things
that I just I'm sort of thinking about this and
realizing this as we're having this conversation further, is that
(40:18):
you know, with these um like with NFL salary cap building,
because there's fifty three players, it's a lot harder for
us to find a one size fits all strategy. Not
that the NBA is simple, but I think we've realized that,
like a frequently successful model of late is you know,
star saturated rosters, two to three superstars, and you do
(40:42):
well around the margins with players that are either drafted
on rookie deals and obviously those are cost controlled, or
you find guys that are motivated to compete for a
championship and are willing to sacrifice a lot of money
along that journey. So in the NFL it's a little
bit more difficult as you've got fifty three different players,
and you know, the quarterback is always going to be
(41:03):
the biggest variance point on your roster. If you've got
a quarterback on the top of the market deal, it
limits you're ability to spend elsewhere. But if you've got
a quarterback on a rookie deal, or you're in a
really unique situation like Cam Newton with the Patriots this year,
it allows you to do some different things you wouldn't
necessarily be able to do um if you had a
Carson Wentz or if you had, you know, at the
top level of Deshaun Watson or Patrick Mahomes. Last question,
(41:25):
Field Yates, let me ask you about what I think
is probably the most fascinating Week five game. I'm just
curious as to your breakdown. Colts at Brown's cults are
favored by two and a half, and it's looks like
it's headed towards three. Indie is the stat darling right
now there at the near the top of the d
v o A charts for efficiency. I know they've played
(41:45):
kind of a week schedule. UM. And the Cleveland Browns
are the very public. Oh my gosh, they're three and one.
They just hung like almost half a hundred on the Cowboys. Um.
And any thoughts here on cults at Cleveland, Yeah, you
bar the scheduled part of Indie because that's been one
of the criticisms that I've seen. I had a stat
earlier on Tuesday about the Packers and like a really
(42:07):
historic start with some of the stuff that they were doing,
um offensively, and people immediately retorted with, you know, a
lot of it was this is awesome, this is great. Um,
packers are are awesome. And and and once again Aaron Rodgers, Rocks,
and then there were some that were like, dude, they
played like some awful, awful teams. And I always say, like,
(42:27):
it's not they don't they don't choose their schedule right.
And beyond that is you also have a like, you know,
I don't like just because they have played a week
schedule the Colts. I would say, that's a fair assessment, Like,
you know, it could also be that they eventually they're
still a pretty darn good defense. It would be really
(42:48):
interesting matchup. So I think it's a good litmus test
with the Colts defense because the Browns are the most
explosive offense they faced so far, even without Nick chubb Um,
Baker Mayfield has been a much improved player so far
this year. I think he's kind of a lever player
for them, like if he continues to play really well.
And I think in a lot of ways, playing really
well for Baker is avoiding the egregious mistakes and playing
(43:09):
with a certain confidence and composure. I don't need Baker
Mayfield throwing for three and fifty yards in a game
to feel as though he's playing at a really high
level and what the Browns need to win. If that
can keep up, then Cleveland's got a chance to be frisky.
And my last point on Cleveland that I want to
continue to be consistent on is because for the Browns,
because they've lived in the bottom of the NFL standings
(43:30):
for basically the past two decades, when they start to
do some nice things, Jason, our immediate reaction is, Okay,
how like are they a Super Bowl contender? Can they
hang with the Chiefs? I'm like, hold on, there's a
stage in between being the worst team in the NFL
and being ready to beat the Chiefs that I think
(43:50):
is totally acceptable. Right, we see teams on the rise,
sometimes it takes some time for teams to reach their apex,
and even the Chiefs I understand it is a rather
rapid assense, but like that first year when they played
the Patriots in the a f C Championship Game, it
felt kind of like there was still one more level
to them. Well, that's what we saw, one more level,
(44:11):
and they've now reached that level. For the Browns, I
think it's a handful of levels before they get to
the Kansas City threshold, but at least they've started to
like there at least only up escalator as opposed to
the down escalator where my jets are Unfortunately, all right, Field,
take great stuff. Man, we won't get into the Jets.
I'll save that for next time after they fired. All
(44:32):
right man, hey a good stuff. Keep up the good
work and all you want to plug anything you I
know your Mr Fantasy and you've got like hair products
that you're selling now, are you. That's very lucrative good agenting. Right, Yeah,
he's a great guy. Yeah, it's right. We share, we
share representation, so that certainly works. Um that they do
a great job. And what I would say here is
(44:54):
in terms of plugging things, I just want to know
when your Jets podcast comes up. That's what that's what
I'm plugging. I'm plugging your Jets podcast for you. I
want to listen to what I'll start when they get
Trevor Lawrence Tea please I'm ready for Well, that's as
last thing I'll say, because I know we gotta go
here is it's a long ways away. But I think
that's one of the most interesting conversations and debates that
(45:16):
will have that I don't there's not a right and
there's not a wrong answer. Out of the gates is
if the Jets had the first pick. Do you keep
Sam Donald and trade the pick? Do you basically put
it up for auction? Do you trade Sam Donald and
and draft Trevor Lawrence. I don't think you keep both
of them. I think that's probably uh, that's bad for
(45:38):
both parties if you draft Trevor Lawrence and still keep
Sam Donald as the backup. This is not the same
conversation as Kyler Murray and Josh Rosen, because not not
even close. I think it would be a really fascinating
conversation for the Jets to happen at some point. I feel,
isn't it a little I mean, the new GM did
not draft Donald, and once Gaze gets bounced, the new
(46:00):
coach is not tied to Donald. So to me, it's
pretty automatic. You draft Lawrence and I think you make
do you make it an open competition? I don't think
you make it an open competition? And the reason why
is that some court like the pressure it would immediately
place on Trevor Lawrence, and it is that like, let's
say he comes out of the gates, and I can't
imagine the Jets go from what they have right now
(46:22):
the skill group to looking like the chiefs out there
with the skill group by the starts with twenty one season.
So I think if you bring in Trevor Lawrence, part
of what you're signing up for is the bumps along
the along the road, right, I mean, it's it's gonna
be some uh, some growing page. It's gonna be some
days where you wonder if you know he wishes the
ex stated Clemson for one more year, and then they're
(46:43):
gonna be moments where it's brilliant and you're gonna say
to yourself, Wow, this is why Trevor Lawrence currently and
we're having this conversation early October, is regarded as the
best quarterback prospect probably since Andrew Luck and maybe right
there since like the eighty three draft class. I mean,
that's how how that's how how excited we are about
Trevor Lawrence right now, All right, field, I won't take
(47:03):
up any more of your time. Thanks a lot, man,
keep up the good work and good luck enjoying the
season and with your Fantasy nine teams. Yeah, I'll take
three championships that could happen alright, man,
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. Good morning, everybody.
It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire on Wednesday, October seven.
What a thrilling night in sports. You had high drama
between the Yankees and the Rays. You had a fun
game between the Padres and the Dodgers. Big big war
(00:28):
out here in California. But obviously, obviously we have to
start with Lakers in the Heat Game four before we
get to it. Quick item in house cleaning. Uh. We
have a tremendous interview coming up later in the podcast
with the great Field Yates. You know him from ESPN.
He does fantasy, He is an NFL analyst. He's one
(00:49):
of their best guys. Real sharp, young guy, and um,
we talked about a lot we disagree on Deak Prescott.
I'm gonna just put that out there. It's a spirited
civil debate and you can't find that kind of stuff
anywhere right now because everything's like you're wrong or you're
just yelling. And this is like a real good discussion.
So definitely enjoy that. Remember, subscribe, rate and review. Um,
(01:12):
we are going to do a comment giveaway later this month. Yes,
I know you guys loved it. So much last month,
so we'll do that again. But let's let's dive into
Lakers heat. First of all, let's start with the gambling
aspect of it. I gave you a daily double. I
said the Lakers in the first quarter would cover two
and a half. It went up to three. I don't
know if we move lines on this podcast, but it's possible,
(01:34):
and they did cover. Thank you to Caruso and Kuzma
big shots there late in the first. But what happened
at the end of the game was this is what
adds so much drama to games. So the Lakers, after
Lebron makes two free throws, had locked up the victory,
but the spread was still in doubt, and with one
second left, Tyler hero hits the three over the outstretched
(01:54):
arm of Anthony Davis and that heat covers seven and
a half. That line actually went up to eight um
and Tyler Heroes big shot means the heat cover. They
of course lost by six, and the Lakers win a
lot of places to start. I gotta give Rob g credit.
He called Lakers in five. They are one win away
from the championship. The stat that everybody jumped on was
(02:15):
the Lakers heading into last night, we're fifty five and
oh when leading after the third quarter, best mark in
NBA history history. A couple other teams have been, you know,
sixty and one or whatever. Nobody has been undefeated in
the season leading after the third quarter. Lakers now fifty
six and oh, Lebron James, listen, he's a closer. I
(02:36):
don't want to hear the Lebron isn't clutch. Yes, it
is a fact that on the final two possessions, with
the game kind of in doubt, Lakers were leading, they
ran Lebron to the corner and it was a Rondo
Anthony Davis pick and roll. Why well, because you get
to put Duncan Robinson in a blender or Tyler hero.
The Heat were trying to furiously switch. They had Jimmy
(02:57):
Butler on Lebron. But lebronsos to the corner. You've taken
the their best defensive player, Jimmy Buckets, out of the play.
It was this genius move. I don't know if Lebron
called that or Fred Vogel or Anthony Davis or Rondo,
but it was a great play decision by the Lakers.
Rondo goes to the room for the layup and then
the next time Anthony Davis buries the three and that's that.
(03:17):
I will say this. K c P has been the
object of much scorn and much ridicule from Lakers fans.
Last year, famously, he was arrested. I don't want to,
I butcher what the arrest was. It might have been
like a drunken public or something. And he had to
wear an ankle bracelet as a member of the Lakers,
(03:39):
and on a couple of road trips he had to
stay in l a and go in like, you know,
jail for the weekend or whatever. It was embarrassing. Okay,
he's a clutch sports UH signy obviously Lebron's rich Paul guys,
and they got him to UH stick with the Lakers,
and a lot of people did not like that decision. Well,
I'll say this, k c P probably at his most
(04:01):
memorable game as a Laker. Listen in the fourth quarter
the Lakers were up to Jimmy Butler. There's like, I
think I wrote it down three minutes left. I take
all these nerdy notes during the game. Three minutes left,
Jimmy Butler gets a good look from the three uh
in the corner misses. Lebron gets the rebound, races down court,
hits KCP in the corner, boom three pointer. That swing
(04:26):
was massive. The Lakers were up to If Butler hits
that shot, Lakers are down one. He misses, KCP hits
Lakers up five, and they never really were threatened significantly
after that that. He didn't go away, but they never
like threatened to take the lead. And then later k
c P had a gorgeous jelly lay up over Duncan
Robinson and you say, oh, big deal, he's throwing it
(04:47):
in over Duncan Robinson. I'll tell you guys right now.
Duncan Robinson is a legit six ft six That's why
he's in the league. If he were six too, he
would not be in the league. Dougan Robinson is a
long guy. He almost got a piece of that case
ep lay up, but I love the jelly off the glass.
K CP finishes with you know what I think will
be his most memorable game as a Laker, fifteen points,
(05:08):
five assists, really solid performancer and Danny Green actually chipped
in off the bench. Both of those guys contributing. But
this comes down to Anthony Davis and his defense on
Jimmy Butler. Yes, that was the difference. Now, I'm sure
it will come out eventually who made this call. And
again I'm not taking credit away from Frank Vogel or
(05:31):
whoever the assistant coach who was who made this decision.
But when the Lakers opened with a D on Jimmy Butler,
it was like, Oh, I like that, spicy, A little
change in Jimmy Butler was reluctant. He had a good
start to the game. Still he would get Lakers into
pick and roll. But in the fourth quarter you noticed
he did not want to attack Anthony Davis. And when
he did in the last game, in Game three, when
(05:53):
he had his memorable what he had forty Yeah, he
had at forty point triple double, Jimmy Butler was getting
gassed up. It was tremendous. He had no chance against
Anthony Davis. Of course, he tried to attack him once
Anthony Davis pinned it against the backboard. Butler at a
good game twenty two points, but a D would sag
off of him. Butler, oh for three from deep. He
(06:13):
just doesn't even want to take that shot. And you
can't pick and roll with Bayam who they wanted to
pick and roll with because Lebron was on band. It
was a stroke, a master stroke by Frank Vogel and
the Lakers and Butler. Listen, he was really good and nine.
He was also minus eleven for the Miami Heat. Jimmy
(06:35):
Butler forty three minutes. A guy's a warrior. I love
Jimmy Butler. Now, a quick word on the m v
P voting. It's really tough to vote against Lebron, who's
thirty five years old, just doing tremendous things. Seven for
seven in the fourth quarter from the free throw line,
very clutch performance. But Anthony Davis was unbelievable at the
(06:56):
defensive end. And here's the stat that's gonna be the
big one. On Wednesday, Anthony Davis in forty two minutes
plus seventeen. The Lakers were plus seventeen with Anthony Davis
on the court. He only rested for six minutes. They
were minus eleven with a D out of the lineup.
Vocal realized it, like, we can't pull this guy out
(07:16):
of the game. I don't know if he played the
entire fourth or eleven minutes of it, but a D
was everywhere and I think that defense probably gives him
a slight edge in the MVP voting. Lakers only had
four blocks, He had all of them, and he also
had nine boards, four assists. I just thought he was
the different. Listen. I'm not taking anything away from Lebron.
He had a big fourth quarter. If you follow me
(07:38):
on social media, you know I gave out a bet
for Fox Sports that Lebron would have over forty six
and a half points, rebounds and assists. It looked dead
under at halftime he had something like, uh, twenty twenty
three or something very low. Lebron on the fourth quarter
was an animal. Assists, rebounds, points, and of course those
clutch free throws, hitting the final two with ten seconds
(08:01):
left to put him over the forty six and a
half of a great win for me on that one.
But Rob g I I gotta ask you. I know
you're a Lebron guy. You know how the voting goes.
Will the voters see man Anthony Davis's defense on Jimmy
Butler was amazing or will they see damn Lebron's averaging
practically a trouble double and he's thirty five. You gotta
(08:22):
give it to him. What's your early lean with one
game to go, my lean is that Anthony Davis will
not win finals MVP. I think it's gonna be Lebron James,
and for the narrative reasons and you know, and you
can't really go wrong with either guy. But I've said,
you know, most throughout this series. I put it out
on Twitter, Uh, Anthony Davis has been their best player,
(08:45):
not just in this series but throughout the postseason. And
I think anybody who watches the games, especially in these finals,
Lebron James is their m v P of their team
because they have nobody on their on their roster who
can create like he can and and and defend like
he can, that that mix of of both. But Anthony
Davis is their best player. And if you watch the games,
(09:09):
the stats probably say Lebron because, like you mentioned, it's
almost a twenty eight point triple double. But as you mentioned,
the defense on Jimmy Butler, the clutch three to kind
of close it last night, the defensive presence in the middle.
He had a couple of key blocks there in the
fourth quarter. The eye test tells you Anthony Davis has
(09:29):
been their most important player. He's been the guy who
has been the difference between what Jimmy, because Jimmy Butler
and Lebron have almost played each other to a wash
in in in a handful of these games now, I
was at least three of them have been kind of even.
The difference has been Anthony Davis. So if I had
to vote, I would vote Anthony Davis. I think he's
been the best player throughout the post season and in
(09:49):
these finals. But you know, when it comes to voters,
and I know a few voters myself, they're all about
the narrative. So see now that that's weird. I see
it the opposite way, rob G. I see it as
a lot of guys sportswriters who are in their forties
and fifties, and they grew up worshiping Michael Jordan's and
my opinion is they believe that Michael Jordan is the
(10:11):
greatest player in NBA history. And and I know this
sounds very sinister and almost conspiracy theory ish, but if Lebron,
if Lebron doesn't get finals MVP, he wasn't the best
player in his team. Michael Jordan got six finals MVPs.
I just I can see these guys the self importance
of some of these ink stained wretches. And I don't know,
(10:34):
rob Gi, I just feel like some of them are
probably gonna lean a D. So I just crunched the numbers. Okay,
Lebron has thirty four assists in four games now, so
he's averaging eight. Uh, not quite a triple double. However,
if he get you get sixteen assists in game five,
(10:54):
you'll average of triple double with the assists. Um. So,
I don't think he's gonna get there. But again, like
it's like, oh, he didn't get a trouble twenty eight,
eleven and eight. You know, like he's thirty five years old.
And again, rob G, I have been steadfast and since
he got to l A, if he wins a championship
(11:15):
with the Lakers will mean three different teams took them
all from Miami. Didn't totally go from the basement, but
I believe they were not a playoff team the year
he got there. I'll have to double check that he
goes to three teams. The Calves go basement to the finals,
they don't win that time. Then he goes back to
(11:36):
the Calves when they had Kyrie. They go to the
finals and win goes to the Heat I know, yeah,
they got Chris Bosh too, They win a championship. And
now he goes to the Lakers, who had just endured
the worst I think five years stretch in the history
of the franchise, and he brings them to a title.
But Jason, he got Anthony Davis. Everybody needs somebody. Everybody,
(12:01):
every single superstar in NBA Finals history has needed someone
to be their wingman. Magic had Worthy in Jabbar, Larry
Bird had McHale Um. I think Dennis Johnson was a
Finals m v P in the late seventies, Isaiah Thomas
had Joe Dumars win a Finals MVP. A La Jahwan
(12:23):
had Kenny Smith. Everybody has someone helping them out in
the supporting cast. Nobody can do it alone. Kobe and Shack.
You go on down the list, and I just the
thing I keep coming back to is thirty five years old.
They said he was washed. He changes positions, becomes a
full on point guard, leads the league and assists carries
(12:45):
the Lakers to the title. I'm I'm floored by this,
and and it's weird, Rob and we're gonna we don't
have the time now to dig into it. We'll have
plenty of time in the off season. I don't help
me understand the people who really genuinely hate Lebron. I'm
telling you there is this guy on Facebook who every
(13:05):
single time I say anything on social media about Lebron,
he turns it into a post and he tags me,
and eventually, you know, at the beginning, I would humor
him by jumping in the comments and being like, hey,
this is funny, blah blah blah, and I thought like, Okay,
maybe this guy is like a normal human being and
he will enjoy the back and forth because you guys,
(13:27):
know me, if you hit me with a d M
on I G. Unless I'm absolutely flooded with them, that
they'll probably respond and rob g this dude is like
psychotic about hating Lebron. And then you start to look
around and you're like, man, there's some real animosity towards Lebron.
Like nothing he can do open a school for impoverished
(13:47):
kids in Cleveland. Nope, I'm not gonna do it. Um
going out to Florida and helping pay off uh felon
debts so they can vote in an election. No, that's
people genuinely do not like Lebron James. I don't understand
how you can't divorce the person from the basketball player,
(14:10):
because there is no argument his basketball record is unimpeachable.
And Rob Parker, who I like, he's been on this podcast.
I know, Rob, do you do a radio show with
him like this narrative that Lebron stinks and he's lost
so many chips, like like wake up? I love. Let
me just point for Rob Parker specifically because we both
(14:32):
know him pretty well. Yeah, I think there's a misconception
about what he feels about Lebron James. Now Lebron, I mean,
excuse me. Rob has said numerous times he thinks Lebron
is a great player and all time great player. I
think he might even have me like top three. So
it's not like he's disrespecting because doesn't think he's as
(14:53):
good as Michael Jordan. And then that's the debate there.
But as far as you know, the internet trolls and
some other people that work in sports media, I mean
they're just clowns. I mean they're they're looking for reasons
to be upset at him. And I'll be quite honestly,
there's a lot of things you cannot like Lebron about
I mean take up the politics aside, you know, the
the self congratulating, the the the whining to the officials
(15:17):
like that kind of stuff. I can see you being,
you know, rubbed the wrong way about. I mean he
rubbed some of the things the wrong way with me,
but as a whole what what what is that that
he does that can get you so upset? Well, I think, well,
I think what it is is Jordan to a lot
of these guys is their god. They really feel like
(15:39):
Michael Jordan is the greatest ever. He never lost in
the in the finals. And I mean listen, eventually, Rob
g we'll get to it and I'll do an entire
podcast laying out my argument about how the nineties will
water down. And it was the expansion era from eight
to like when the league added i think seven new
teams or five or seven new tans, and I mean
(16:02):
the quality of play was garbage. And that's where the
talks come up, Oh, Michael Jordan beat the Hornets, and
go look at the plumbers they had on that roster.
And then you look at the clips that are on
YouTube and it's like Michael Jordan against four white guys
and he's dunking all over them. And you know, again,
I'm not driving into it now, but I just to
(16:22):
me it's open and shut. Yes, Jordan was great, but
Lebron what he's accomplishing here at I'm just done. Just
the quick teaser to that podcast, both Charles Barkley and
Larry Bird said the mid nineties were watered down basketball. Oh,
let's file that away somewhere. I like that, all right,
So Rob g just to put a ball on this
before we get the field, Yates, any final thoughts. Can
(16:44):
the heat maybe catch the Lakers napping in Game five?
Do the Lakers we know they've lacked that killer instinct
a few times, or do they come out and just
step on the throat of Miami um the way they
kind of did against Denver Eileen a combination of B
and C there. I think that the extra day rest
is gonna be huge for Lebron James because you know,
(17:05):
he is old and he looked like he was struggling
there down the stretching Game four. So that extra day
off next game is on Friday, is gonna be big.
I think the Lakers will come out firing on all cylinders.
I think that they are gonna win that game. I'm
not confused by that at all. But Miami has proven
that they are not Houston, like they are not the
Portland's Trailblazers, Like they're not gonna lay down for anybody,
(17:28):
So you know, it's a testament to them. But Lakers
in five, I told you before the playoffs even started,
this was going to happen. So the core nation down
as your greatest call ever robbed and listen. Uh final note,
I know a lot of you guys are tweeting at
me about the NBA Finals ratings being down and some
of the worst ever. Like, yeah, we'll tackle that eventually.
(17:50):
Like I'm not diving into in the middle of the series.
I personally don't think it's a big deal because I
like basketball. I like watching the games. Do I care
that other people aren't watch seen the bubble games? I mean,
I personally don't. It could impact the league, and we'll
get to that, you know what, at a later date.
But it's the middle of football season, so I'm going
to enjoy these crazy NBA Finals and Lebron and Anthony
(18:11):
Davis and uh playoff Rondo, and I think you guys
should too. Jason likes to think he knows everything when
it comes to sports. I know what sports stands want,
but for everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does.
Let's just say I know a guy who knows a
guy who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome into
(18:35):
straight fire. A guy I've known for a while. I mean,
you've seen him on TV basically every day for the
last what six seven years? Field Yates of ESPN Field,
how are you, man? I'm doing well. I was trying
to think about when the first time we met was
in person. I feel like this been an indie Yeah,
you know what, You're right, it could have been a
super Bowl, super Bowl of the combine one of the two.
(18:55):
You are in a different, different stage of your life,
still operating the big lead and uh now you've moved
to the West Coast, very Hollywood in a lot of ways,
you know, on TV daily, moving on up in the Yeah, yeah, sure,
sure whatever. Feel um, Let's get to you. You've become
like something of a fantasy guru. You and Matthew Berry
are this dynamic duo. You have this like uh father
(19:19):
son stick on social media that plays well. I want
to ask you, we're a quarterway into the season and
how much how are your fantasy teams doing, and how
many leagues are you in? Yeah, so I'm in nine
this year, which actually was a reduction from from previous years,
which is so pathetic. There were some people and I
have learned this year that like and I think we
I shouldn't say I've learned this, but we've all been
(19:39):
reminded this year that like, everybody's going to react to
circumstances differently. And one thing that I did see a
little bit of this year was people who were less
interested in playing fantasy football at the outside of the
season because they were concerned and maybe the season wouldn't
necessarily go fully as scheduled, maybe there might be some
cancelations or postponents, maybe the NFL wasn't at the time
(20:00):
off of their mind when uh, you know, early August
rolled around because of what's going on in the world.
So the league number dropped a little bit. Um So
I would say that I'm having this weird year. I
don't remember a year like this where my teams feel
like I other feel like I'm at the front of
the pack in my league, or I feel like like
(20:20):
my season is already over. And it's been a weird
year obviously with injuries. I mean, depending on what league
size you play in, one injury can devastate you. I
play in a sixteen team league that we talked about
frequently on ESPN. It's called the war Room League, and
it's a bunch of the people that you see as
part of our our NFL cover Jeff d and Morden
Barry and Stefania and Louis Riddick and Bruski and our
(20:43):
boss Seth Markman and the whole host of others, Rex Ryan,
that hass with my brothers and on and on and on,
and I just, uh, it's a it's a random draw
every year. So I ended up with the third pick.
I got Sa Kwan in a sixteen team league, and
you know you lose your first round at running back,
especially the next thing, you know you're I mean, you
(21:03):
can't even bargain shop because in six team team leagues,
your your your available players week to week are I
mean they're their third stringers. So anyways, um, I feel
as though this year I've got sort of this big
golf between the teams. Uh, in half my league and
the other half of my league, So normally i'd feel comfortable.
(21:24):
Maybe halfway this season, I have a better assessment than
all my teams are kind of in the mix this year. Um,
some don't feel quite as hopeful. Yeah, that's a perfect
segue to the league this year, because it feels like
I feel that there's some really really good teams at
the top of the league that are awesome, and then
you want to see teams that are double digit dogs
every week. I mean the Washington I didn't even realize this.
(21:45):
Washington has lost three straight games by two touchdowns or
more and they're a big, big underdog again this week
against the Rams. I mean, how much of this do
you think can be attributed to no preseason, strange offseason,
and also some teams with new coaches, new quarterbacks or
young quarterbacks. Yeah, it's a good question, because you're right.
(22:07):
I when I was thinking about my own fantasy teams,
I did have the same thought. In the NFL, I
do our power rankings. I'm part of the people that
vote every week, and the way ESPN doesn't is we
have it's it's basically a spreadsheet and you start, you
have to you have to go one to thirty two.
You have to answer them manually. So when you get
to like eleven or twelve, you're like wow, like like
(22:31):
who's next? Right? Like how do you separate from teams like,
you know, for example, a bunch of one in three
teams like his Dallas better than even their own division Philadelphia?
Are they better? You know? Like what do you do
with the team like Minnesota now after they get one win?
Does that meet me more? In Now? There are a
lot of sort of middling teams. So what do we
(22:52):
attribute it to? I'm not sure there's a perfect answer. Um,
I think you hit on some of the points there.
I think this year, though maybe it feels, is like
this past off season there was more quarterback turnover than
we've seen in a long time. As we know, there
was a very robust quarterback market this offseason, but because
(23:13):
there was so much change, invariably it leads to some
teams that or a lot of teams I should say,
that have made a quarterback commitment. But as we know,
like quarterback it's don't always go well. So we do
have some really you know, obviously, like two years ago,
the Giants draft Daniel Jones and it's too soon to
count him out. After his rookie season, and it's probably
(23:34):
too soon to count him out four games into a
second but well, I don't you know, I think it's
probably not pragmatic to do so if you're the Giants,
right So, but what happened was we had enough teams
that went into this year either who had made a
quarterback change this offseason or we're already hitched to another quarterback, like,
for example, the New York Giants or the Washington football team.
(23:56):
And the reality is that as of right now, you
can't tell me that Haskins is a surefire long term
answer for Washington. Heck, I'm not even convinced to be
the quarterback past like week five. As we know, there's
a lot of steam and smoke surrounding that possibility right now.
So I would just say that maybe that's part of it,
is just how much quarterback turnover there was, and the
idea that not all of those changes benefit of the
(24:19):
teams dramatically. And when I say quarterback turnover, while I
am specifically referring to this off season, I think you
have to sort of take it in totality with the
past two off seasons and really maybe even the twenty
nineteen off season as well. Um, speaking of quarterback changes,
one team that's not gonna be changing anytime soon Kansas
City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes. We saw them on Monday
(24:41):
Night Football and feel my big takeaway from that. I
looked at the schedule. I was like, they're gonna play
down to the level of some teams like the Chargers
in their division, right and then the Brian Hoyer on
Monday Night Football. But this team is pretty awesome. Um,
you know, offensively, they can put points on anybody. And
I looked at Patrick mahomess history, never lost the game.
I think he's twenty eight and seven in the regular season,
(25:03):
never lost a game by more than a touchdown, so
they're always in the mix. I think this team could
seriously go sixteen and O. And before you Scoff Field,
they only play as of now, two teams that currently
have a winning record, Buffalo and Tampa. Now the Saints
are on there, they ultimately will have a winning record
there five hundred. But the schedule is a bit of
a joke. Do you think sixteen or no is feasible
(25:23):
for the Chiefs. I don't think it's entirely off the
table now obviously, it's very difficult to do what's happened
just twice in the history of the NFL. And we'll
see how things shape up with injuries and how the
schedule catches up the teams, or whether it does catch
up two teams. Um, it's a fair question though. And
you know, I thought Monday night's game with the Patriots,
I actually thought it was just one of those first
(25:45):
of all, like two things you can always kint on
with the Patriots. They're gonna have a plan and they're
gonna play hard. Right. I also thought that that was
an emotionally challenging game for either team to be a
hundred percent locked into. Right. I mean, you thought on
Saturday there was a chance the game I get canceled
all again there and then next thing, you know, you
gotta turn around and play the game on Monday. It's
already a little bit of a challenge for teams to
(26:06):
get up with, you know, fourteen thousand stand fans in
the stand normally Arrowhead, one of the loudest places in
all sports to go and play. So I'm not been
against anything with the Chiefs this year. And um, on
a bad night for them, and I say bad with
almost air quotes, right, but on like a quote unquote
bad night, they still find a way to, you know,
(26:27):
piece it together with complimentary football. Maybe that's been overlooked
with the Chiefs is that were so and and deservedly
so fixated on how great the quarterback and how great
the offense. Is that defensively they've really become opportunistic, right,
I mean, Honey Badger is always gonna be a player
that's gonna make a mark in the course of a game.
Like Frank Clark. I mean, he's got a first step
(26:47):
coming off the edge that feels borderline on paralleled right
now in the NFL. So the Chiefs defense is no
joke and something that I think is perhaps a little
bit overlooked just because of how good they are offensive.
Let me also ask you about Pat Mahomes specifically. You know,
it was two weeks into the season and everybody's like
Russell Wilson m v P. And then you know, Aaron
Rodgers is obviously there, and there's Josh Allen, who's been tremendous.
(27:11):
I was so wrong about Josh Allen. But Field is
there kind of a Lebron James Field to Mahomes in
that he's like the forgotten guy. If you just go basically,
who's the best quarterback? Who would you want any one game?
You know, some people are gonna say Brady, some people
are gonna say Rogers. I'm not begging against Pat Mahomes.
He's got to be the guy. Are people overlooking him?
Should he not be in the m v P discussion
(27:33):
automatically every year? Yeah, it should start with him every year.
We're learning and you know it's gonna be really hard,
right because, uh, last year we saw the Chiefs without
Patrick Mahomes and they actually fared pretty well, right. I
think Matt Moore went was a two and one, three
and one. Yeah, it was competitive. Right, So people will say, like, hey,
(27:54):
isn't the argument that this team is actually better than
we give it credit? Four besides Patrick Mahomes. And I think,
to myself, it's a good roster. It doesn't mean that
it's it has to be an imperfect roster for us
to appreciate Patrick mahomes brilliance. Uh yeah, it's a fair
it's actually a fair comparison because I do think that
the lebron and I'm I'm more football guy than a
basketball guy obviously, but The Lebron conversation obviously is one
(28:16):
that I follow closely every year as we get into
the m v P voting part of the NBA calendar,
and it's a good one for Patrick Mahomes. I do think,
Jason that whether people that vote will concede it or not,
I think it's really human to latch onto narratives during
the course of the season. I know the NBA has
had that, you know, I think that's been more front
(28:36):
and center. Right the Russell Westbrook year after k D
leaves triple double season, basically have to give him the
m v P even though the team was not great,
and obviously there were players that had a much more
decided impact on a team would go on to much
more postseason success. But I would say that's with um Mahomes,
you know, I think we are there are gonna be
(28:57):
years where you know, right now, what's been the most
thrown around stats of the first month plus of the
NFL season, The fact that Russell Wilson has never received
an m v P vote. If Russell Wilson keeps up
this toward pace, and I don't mean toward, is in
like kind a throw for sixty touchdowns toward. But if
he throws five thousand yards forty touchdowns, Let's say the
(29:20):
pics are somewhere around five or fewer, maybe eight or fewer,
and they win twelve or thirteen games. I mean, what's
the chance that Russell Wilson gets a whole bunch of
m v P votes And the answer is probably very
very hot. Not quite a sympathy victory, but he's gonna
definitely get votes. You're right, the media is obsessed with
that stat field, you know, and then this next guy
I want to talk about the media has a weird
(29:43):
infatuation with this guy, and I like him, but we
need to have an honest Deak Prescott discussion field. You
know the quarterbacks, you know the coaches, you know the teams.
I just see Deak Prescott as a good quarterback, not
not great, not top five. I don't think he's top seven.
None of the DeVos A stats bear that out. And
I just don't understand the idea how they can you know,
(30:05):
people can think, oh, yeah, Jerry's got to give him
forty million dollars because he's kind of earned it, because
he's been you know, he's a mid round pick and
he was paying making nothing fields. He's making like thirty
one million this year. They can't afford a defense. They've
got an offensive line kind of in shambles. They pay
their running back a lot. They pay a Mari Cooper
a ton. If you pay Dak forty, this team is
(30:27):
going to go nowhere for the next three or four years.
And I've people just don't want to hear that argument.
How do you handle the Dak Prescott, you know, quarterback
situation in Dallas. Yeah, so I think so, okay, some
of what you said, I agree with some of that.
I think we have to sort of reassess in this
regard is that it's not that it's not Dak Prescott's
(30:50):
fault or responsibility to decide how much Ezekiel Elliott or
Jalen Smith or Lyle Collins or anybody else on that
Cowboys roster makes right, and that that's just not his
job at all. And you can't use potentially poor contracts
(31:10):
paid to other players. And I'm not saying all of
the guys that I just mentioned are terrible contracts, but
the Cowboys have been heavy handed in some of their negotiations,
no two ways about. That's a great point. You can't. Yeah,
you can't say that, Oh, that's that that should be
held against Dak. And you know, I don't know that
I would use the justification that if Dak hit the
(31:34):
open market, he would probably sign a contract close to,
if not slightly north of Deshaun Watson's deal, because it's
the open market, right, I mean, that's that's different than
extending your team where you have less leverage. Um, but
I think it's it's it's part of the it's part
of the thought process here. It's part of why Dak
understood how much leverage she had is that the Cowboys
(31:56):
made him an offer. And you know, I'm not gonna
sit here and tell you I had all the nitty
gritty what the Cowboys best and final offer was before
the franchise tag deadline passed of something. And let's just say, Jason,
it was thirty three and a half million bucks. All right?
How are you, as Dak Prescott, gonna take thirty three
and a half million dollars per year when you can
bet on yourself for one more season and potentially make
(32:18):
I really do believe, like thirty thirty nine forty million
dollars per year over a four or five year contract
and do so if you hit the open market in
whatever situation you desire. Okay, so hold on, that's a
great point. But let's let's look at that open market. Okay.
You could look around the league and say, okay, some
teams eat a quarterback. But I used that Kirk Cousins
(32:41):
example from a couple of years ago with the Vikings. Right,
so they signed him what do you make like twenty
nine million years something around there, and they had a
ready made team. They had just gone to what the
it was at the NFC championship game they lost with
case Keenum to Philly. Okay, and so they pay him
and they're like, all right, we got Kirk Cousins, were
ready to take that next step, and it didn't really
(33:02):
work out. And then what three years, I think they've
won one playoff game in New Orleans with Kirk Cousins,
maybe one, okay, and then you know, they had to
pay the rest of the team and they lose like
what five four or five or six starting defenders, and
that team is nowhere near the playoffs this year. And
in hindsight, I don't know, Field talk me out of it,
(33:25):
but I don't think it's possible to sign a guy
to thirty eight million, as you talked about and say
we can build around Doc. I mean, is there a
team out there on the open market that would do it?
Maybe a John Elway in Denver or a team. But
I look up and down the league. I don't see one.
I mean, it sounds good to todack better on yourself. Yeah,
(33:49):
there will be one. There will definitely be one. And
here's the reason why is a lot of people at
the top of these organizations are fickle. You've got owners
that are impatient, You've got general managers that have no
choice but to win now. And so this is again,
this is not reporting, This is not information that I have.
I'm just gonna start to like quickly build cases. Right,
So let's say he hits the open market. What if
you're Washington, you said, Dwayne Assens is in the answer,
(34:12):
there's a team, right, just just it is gonna keep
rifling through these. Hey, what if you're the Bears, you
can unload Nick Foles. Obviously, Mr Rbiskie, you need a quarterback.
You wanted to do that. What if Ryan Pace gets
one more shot and they say we can't draft anybody
because we're taking seventeen, right, and you get one more
shot with a good roster, presumably, What if Ben Roethlisberger retires,
uh if the Steelers and I don't have me. He
(34:33):
obviously is under contract beyond this season. But what if
he's like, I'm done, I'm good. What if Indianapolis gets
somewhat down the road but not quite far enough in
Philip Rivers decides I'm gonna go coach that that high
school team. They already have a job waiting for me. Right,
you could you could see that situation. What if the
Raiders finally passed the torch on Derek Carr. Right, there's
a team, But I think, um, you know, would would
(34:54):
would have a better shot to acquire a quarterback through
free agency than they would, uh, through the draft. The
Saints have a lot of money tied up on the cap,
but if Drew Brees retires, who knows, right, I mean,
they're gonna they have a really good roster besides Drew Brees.
Are they gonna want to just, you know, necessarily implicitly
trust Taysom Hill or Jamis Winston. But if the Jaguars
(35:14):
are like, you know something, We're closer than we thought.
I never have Miami. I'm telling you, I'm telling you,
but but Miami two years ago was building this thing
back up from the from the bottom right. And then
who was more aggressive in free agency this past offseason
than Miami. So teams changed their game plans quickly. So
I understand that right now, while we don't have a sense,
(35:35):
there's no reported sense of where Dak would be interested
because for all we know he intends to be a
cowboy for life. Never will be a market for Dak Prescott. Now,
two of those teams makes sense because they're contenders, like
the Colts, I would I think there's something probably there.
They have a lot of young guys on that defense.
They haven't had to pay yet. But you know teams
that are like the Saints, they gotta pay Kamara. Uh well,
(35:57):
they did pay Kamar right and Michael Thomas, and those
contracts add up. And that's what makes the NFL so fascinating,
is it not. I mean, it's so difficult, given the
salary cap, to pay a quarterback top dollar and still
build around it. Yeah, it's a tough one, you know,
the salary cap it is I think I always find
(36:17):
it to be one of the things that is most
compelling and interesting people discuss um in any circle, right,
I mean, everybody loves talking about the salary cap, so
I always fans are and I don't mean this, I
include myself as a fan in this conversation. We're obsessed
with the salary cap. And here's the reason why. If
our team is bad, we like the salary cap because
(36:38):
it usually correlates with us having a bunch of cash
based going phote right, So hey, if you're a team
like and I'm just gonna use them for an example,
the Jaguars, you're saying to yourself, Hey, I understand that
we're a long ways away, we've got a ton of
caps based, though, what if somebody comes available? And then
when you're a good team, you get obsessed with the
salary cap because you know, you're worried about the constraints
(36:59):
and my place on your roster who might have to go?
You know, the Eagles, the Saints amongst the teams have
a bunch of money. Um that are you know, tied
to next year's salary cap. The Atlanta Falcons as well,
they're gonna have to make some interesting decisions. So um,
this is gonna be a super cliche answer, but there
are more than One way is to skin the cat
with the salary cat. So I think the good teams ultimately, uh,
(37:22):
and they don't know. This is gonna sound really ridiculous,
but I've always used this line. The best way to
avoid bad contracts in the NFL is to only do
good contracts, And I would say more so than other sports.
I feel comfortable that, like the public has a pretty
good beat on when deals are bad the moment they're signed, right, um,
(37:45):
And in the NFL, while it's not impossibly get out
of bad deals, it's certainly a lot trickier, right. I mean,
Brockos while there was was an exception, and I think
Brandon Cooks was an exception. David Johnson was an exception
as well, obviously, but it's hard generally speaking to I
just I did not realize that all three of those
deals involved the sex. No, I really wasn't. That was
(38:06):
just names that came to mind. So anyways, I do
think that it's possible that some of these actually, um,
you know that, but just think about the bad deals
for previous offseasons. A lot of times, like people are
right on this, Like people are right on it. The minute.
Some of these deals, um, you know, are are are signs.
So this Carson Wentz deal is going to be interesting,
right because they are going to have to start making
(38:27):
sacrifices here in the next couple of years. And you
can already see their skill position players are down significantly.
I know a lot of them are hurt. The defense
is still pretty good. But when they had Carson Wentz
on the rookie deal, they were able to build a
lot of really talented but one of the best rosters
in the league. I don't know that I could say that,
you know what, three years after their Super Bowl that
(38:49):
they're still there. Baltimore is a great example, right Lamar
on the rookie deal. I think they have the second
most expensive defense according to football outsiders in the league.
And you've got you know, you've got really good running backs,
You've got strong tight end, wide receiver. You see these
smart teams, go get a receiver DeAndre Hopkins for Kyler Murray. Um.
(39:11):
A team like Cincinnati is plucky all of a sudden,
right they could be active next summer. Hey we got Burrow,
we got an opportunity to make the leap. What why
not surround Burrow with you know, A J. Green's not
the guy he was. Should we go out and pay
lavishly for a wide receiver? Is isn't that the current model? Yeah?
It is. And you know, by the way, those Bangals
(39:31):
were a typically aggressive this past offseason and free agency.
Normally the Bengals are spectators. They just watch it and
they just wait for schefter notifications like the rest of us. Instead,
they actually went out there and they made some moves.
They signed DJ Reader to a four year contract worth
close to fifty million dollars. He's a defensive tackle. They
spent money along the offensive line, some of that might
have been ill fated decisions in the secondary. They signed
(39:54):
both Trey Waynes and Mackenzie Alexander. Three years for Waynes
at forty two million dollars. McKenzie Alexander was a one year,
four million dollar deal. They signed Von Bell to a
three year, eight teen million dollar deal from the Saints.
A team that rarely gets in the mix got in
the mix. So you're right. So one of other things
that I just I'm sort of thinking about this and
realizing this as we're having this conversation further, is that
(40:18):
you know, with these um like with NFL salary cap building,
because there's fifty three players, it's a lot harder for
us to find a one size fits all strategy. Not
that the NBA is simple, but I think we've realized that,
like a frequently successful model of late is you know,
star saturated rosters, two to three superstars, and you do
(40:42):
well around the margins with players that are either drafted
on rookie deals and obviously those are cost controlled, or
you find guys that are motivated to compete for a
championship and are willing to sacrifice a lot of money
along that journey. So in the NFL it's a little
bit more difficult as you've got fifty three different players,
and you know, the quarterback is always going to be
(41:03):
the biggest variance point on your roster. If you've got
a quarterback on the top of the market deal, it
limits you're ability to spend elsewhere. But if you've got
a quarterback on a rookie deal, or you're in a
really unique situation like Cam Newton with the Patriots this year,
it allows you to do some different things you wouldn't
necessarily be able to do um if you had a
Carson Wentz or if you had, you know, at the
top level of Deshaun Watson or Patrick Mahomes. Last question,
(41:25):
Field Yates, let me ask you about what I think
is probably the most fascinating Week five game. I'm just
curious as to your breakdown. Colts at Brown's cults are
favored by two and a half, and it's looks like
it's headed towards three. Indie is the stat darling right
now there at the near the top of the d
v o A charts for efficiency. I know they've played
(41:45):
kind of a week schedule. UM. And the Cleveland Browns
are the very public. Oh my gosh, they're three and one.
They just hung like almost half a hundred on the Cowboys. Um.
And any thoughts here on cults at Cleveland, Yeah, you
bar the scheduled part of Indie because that's been one
of the criticisms that I've seen. I had a stat
earlier on Tuesday about the Packers and like a really
(42:07):
historic start with some of the stuff that they were doing,
um offensively, and people immediately retorted with, you know, a
lot of it was this is awesome, this is great. Um,
packers are are awesome. And and and once again Aaron Rodgers, Rocks,
and then there were some that were like, dude, they
played like some awful, awful teams. And I always say, like,
(42:27):
it's not they don't they don't choose their schedule right.
And beyond that is you also have a like, you know,
I don't like just because they have played a week
schedule the Colts. I would say, that's a fair assessment, Like,
you know, it could also be that they eventually they're
still a pretty darn good defense. It would be really
(42:48):
interesting matchup. So I think it's a good litmus test
with the Colts defense because the Browns are the most
explosive offense they faced so far, even without Nick chubb Um,
Baker Mayfield has been a much improved player so far
this year. I think he's kind of a lever player
for them, like if he continues to play really well.
And I think in a lot of ways, playing really
well for Baker is avoiding the egregious mistakes and playing
(43:09):
with a certain confidence and composure. I don't need Baker
Mayfield throwing for three and fifty yards in a game
to feel as though he's playing at a really high
level and what the Browns need to win. If that
can keep up, then Cleveland's got a chance to be frisky.
And my last point on Cleveland that I want to
continue to be consistent on is because for the Browns,
because they've lived in the bottom of the NFL standings
(43:30):
for basically the past two decades, when they start to
do some nice things, Jason, our immediate reaction is, Okay,
how like are they a Super Bowl contender? Can they
hang with the Chiefs? I'm like, hold on, there's a
stage in between being the worst team in the NFL
and being ready to beat the Chiefs that I think
(43:50):
is totally acceptable. Right, we see teams on the rise,
sometimes it takes some time for teams to reach their apex,
and even the Chiefs I understand it is a rather
rapid assense, but like that first year when they played
the Patriots in the a f C Championship Game, it
felt kind of like there was still one more level
to them. Well, that's what we saw, one more level,
(44:11):
and they've now reached that level. For the Browns, I
think it's a handful of levels before they get to
the Kansas City threshold, but at least they've started to
like there at least only up escalator as opposed to
the down escalator where my jets are Unfortunately, all right, Field,
take great stuff. Man, we won't get into the Jets.
I'll save that for next time after they fired. All
(44:32):
right man, hey a good stuff. Keep up the good
work and all you want to plug anything you I
know your Mr Fantasy and you've got like hair products
that you're selling now, are you. That's very lucrative good agenting. Right, Yeah,
he's a great guy. Yeah, it's right. We share, we
share representation, so that certainly works. Um that they do
a great job. And what I would say here is
(44:54):
in terms of plugging things, I just want to know
when your Jets podcast comes up. That's what that's what
I'm plugging. I'm plugging your Jets podcast for you. I
want to listen to what I'll start when they get
Trevor Lawrence Tea please I'm ready for Well, that's as
last thing I'll say, because I know we gotta go
here is it's a long ways away. But I think
that's one of the most interesting conversations and debates that
(45:16):
will have that I don't there's not a right and
there's not a wrong answer. Out of the gates is
if the Jets had the first pick. Do you keep
Sam Donald and trade the pick? Do you basically put
it up for auction? Do you trade Sam Donald and
and draft Trevor Lawrence. I don't think you keep both
of them. I think that's probably uh, that's bad for
(45:38):
both parties if you draft Trevor Lawrence and still keep
Sam Donald as the backup. This is not the same
conversation as Kyler Murray and Josh Rosen, because not not
even close. I think it would be a really fascinating
conversation for the Jets to happen at some point. I feel,
isn't it a little I mean, the new GM did
not draft Donald, and once Gaze gets bounced, the new
(46:00):
coach is not tied to Donald. So to me, it's
pretty automatic. You draft Lawrence and I think you make
do you make it an open competition? I don't think
you make it an open competition? And the reason why
is that some court like the pressure it would immediately
place on Trevor Lawrence, and it is that like, let's
say he comes out of the gates, and I can't
imagine the Jets go from what they have right now
(46:22):
the skill group to looking like the chiefs out there
with the skill group by the starts with twenty one season.
So I think if you bring in Trevor Lawrence, part
of what you're signing up for is the bumps along
the along the road, right, I mean, it's it's gonna
be some uh, some growing page. It's gonna be some
days where you wonder if you know he wishes the
ex stated Clemson for one more year, and then they're
(46:43):
gonna be moments where it's brilliant and you're gonna say
to yourself, Wow, this is why Trevor Lawrence currently and
we're having this conversation early October, is regarded as the
best quarterback prospect probably since Andrew Luck and maybe right
there since like the eighty three draft class. I mean,
that's how how that's how how excited we are about
Trevor Lawrence right now, All right, field, I won't take
(47:03):
up any more of your time. Thanks a lot, man,
keep up the good work and good luck enjoying the
season and with your Fantasy nine teams. Yeah, I'll take
three championships that could happen alright, man,
Host
Jason McIntyre
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