March 17, 2025 • 35 mins
On today’s episode, Jason brings us an in-depth preview of the upcoming NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Later, J-Mac discusses the Cincinnati Bengals’ decision to make Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins two of the highest-paid wide receivers in NFL history, whether or not leaning into an ‘all-gas, no brakes’ system will come to back to bite them and what other NFL teams can learn from the Bengals style of roster building.
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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 McIntire.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up Straight Fire, FA It's me Jason McIntire,
Straight Fire for Monday, March seventeenth. Oh man, it was
a glorious weekend. March Madness is officially here. If you
could can't really tell, my voice is kind of sort
of fading. I got a little I don't know. I
(00:31):
usually avoid getting sick because I, you know, pride myself
on being an ox and I don't get sick. Not
quite a man cold, but just like a throat thing
where I'm losing my voice now it could be could
be the guys. I spent the weekend coaching H one
two I think four basketball games, youth basketball game, so
(00:53):
you know, I'm getting after it and before we get
to the brackets, and obviously the huge news for the
Cincinnati Bengals that they fans are getting about, which it's
great news, but you know, I don't think you should
be that giddy. You know, you look at coaching youth sports,
and I've talked about this for a while. I think
one of the most rewarding fun things I've done is
coach my kids. Memories that I'll have forever, and I'm
(01:17):
very competitive. You guys couldn't tell I play in multiple
men's leagues. It just so happens that my teams are
always kind of in the mix. Well that's because I
love this stuff, you know, and I'm a competitive and
I make sure kids who have a practice, and you know,
I get on the parents. I make sure I draft
kids who I know the parents or I know the
parents are going to get the kids to practice. And
I'll be honest, totally upfront, I thought this was the
(01:39):
weakest team my son has had in years. It was
a combined seventh and eighth grade, and I don't know,
a ton of seventh graders and a lot of the
best I would say, like the top ten, maybe the
top eight kids in the grade didn't play because they're
prepping for freshman ball. So it was a lot of
like Newish guys. And I'll be honest, I did think
our team was great. We lost one game season, and
(02:00):
going into the playoffs, I'm like, listen, it's not gonna
be I didn't even know when the championship game was,
and of course I start to get into it. We
catch a bit of a break when the number one
overall pick decided to skip a playoff game so that
he could play in a club game. And I'll never
really understand that, but I'll tell you more in a sec.
And then we play in the second round against my buddy,
(02:21):
and it just so happens we only had five guys,
so no bench, no subs or anything, which you think
is a major drawback. However, my buddy's team had all
eight of his players and they were a really good team.
They were favored air quotes, and I was extremely nervous
because I thought we were gonna get blown out. They
had their two best players. And then of course, the
morning of the tournament, there was a club tournament and boom,
(02:44):
my buddy's son, who's a very good player, turns his
ankle and he couldn't really play or do much. So
we caught a bit of a break there, and our
role players just caught fire. We get the win. I'm shocked,
and I'm like scrambling. Oh wait a minute. I got
to coach the championship at three o'clock Sunday and the
brackets come out at three o'clock and I'm like, oh man.
And then my daughter's game, we had a stacked team.
(03:05):
We were very good. We kind of cruise to the title.
That game was right after that, so like I'm yelling
all weekend getting after it. Anyways, my son's team, you
guys all love this. Just humor me for a sec.
We're going up against a team that the only team
that beat us. Now I wasn't there, but still they
beat us pretty soundly. They had four really good players,
one of them is on that prep for the high
(03:27):
school team. And we scrimmaged them three times and they
smoked us every time. Now it was on a small court,
we didn't have all our guys, but it was like, damn,
this team passes. They know what they're doing, and we
got destroyed, and our guys were nervous. And of course
the morning of the championship game, the other coach is
Jay Mac. Can we reschedule? My top three players all
have club conflicts? And I'm like, Carlos, you're my guy,
(03:49):
but bro, tell these parents. You know there's a club
tournament every other weekend. You couldn't tell me what happened
in your club tournament three months ago or six or nine.
Nobody remembers. I was like, oh, yeah, I think we did. Okay,
we had two and one. The local basketball league. There's
one season, one tournament, and that's it. That's it. You'll
remember this five years from now ten you won't remember
(04:11):
the club. So he's like, all right, I'll work on him.
Turns out two of the guys showed up, and my buddy,
who I play in the men's league with, he's really good.
He's the one who lives around the corner from Klay
Thompson and his son is the seventh grader. And I'm
just telling you, guys, if he gets a little taller
and once he hits puberty and gets stronger, he's going
to be a lights out player. He is unbelievable. I
(04:33):
had thirty two points, carried us to the victory, and
so I get home from two titles one, I'm on
cloud nine. I'm going through the video because he has
like a nerd. I watched the video afterward and pull
clips and put them online and just like set him
to the parents like I'm committed. I'm in. And then
I sit down and look at the brackets. Last night,
I'm like, shit, I missed the selection show. You know,
(04:53):
this was like the first time in twenty years. I
live for March Madness, gambled on it all weekend. Saturday
was a monster Day was very good. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
not great, not great, but we rally and here we
are And now my inbox has just slammed with are
you entering this bracket challenge? GBS? Yahoo, Local work. There's
(05:13):
so many guys texting me do you want to know
my bracket challenge? Twenty bucks? And who can say no
to this stuff? It's like, I love the brackets, and
I've long compared brackets to going out to bars and
meeting girls in your in your early twenties. It's a
numbers game. If you just sit back and hang with
the dudes and maybe go up to one girl and
kick game or whatever, and you get the stiff arm
(05:35):
or hey, good talking to you. I'm out. That's it.
You're over one done. If you are that guy who's
super friendly and you're trying to make moves and you're hey,
how are you? And you what's going on?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Hey? And you I don't know, shoot your shot with
ten women? How many numbers do you think you're gonna get?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Three?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Four? Like, it's a numbers game, and with the brackets,
that's how I treat them. So I am twenty bracket guy. Now,
in the last three years, brackets have taken a backseat
to this thing called a Calcutta where you bid on teams.
You get a group and bid on teams and hopefully
your team goes far and you win money. So the
first year I did it, I thought this was amazing.
(06:14):
We had a pretty famous actor. I'm not gonna say
his name, but he's been in a lot of good movies.
Super nice guy, lives locally and he's buddies with a
couple guys that I know, and he staked most of it.
And we had Kansas, and that was the tournament where
Kansas made an amazing run and smashed North Carolina. I
think they rallied to beat North Carolina in the title game.
(06:34):
But it was awesome. We all had a nice little
windfall and it was like, oh, just Calcutta stuff is easy, right.
But then the next year we pivoted to a different
Calcutta and oh no, no, no, we did the same one,
but it went extremely poorly and we were like, all right,
let's not do this.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
One.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Guy whoever off puts in the most money usually has
the most say. So if you're putting in ten percent
and so's your buddy. And then the big guy's putting
in sixty percent. Well he's going to overrule you because
he's putting, you know, mid five figures on the line,
high five figures. And so that one did not go well.
So we pivoted to a different one. And last year
we were in a great spot and then it all
(07:14):
fell apart in the Sweet sixteen. One night in one
fell swoop we went. We had three teams left in
the Sweet sixteen. All of them lost. They were all favored,
and they all lost. One of them was Houston when
they lost their their guard got injured early, and I
was like, f life.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
As you can tell, I put in a lot of
effort and energy into brackets, and I will just I'm
not gonna put picks on Twitter. I just put one
on yesterday just because I've been talking about it and
I wrote about it for Fox Sports. Just one that
that's the only one that I'm gonna put on. That's
the use. That's the Tritons of UC San Diego. I've
been high these guys for a little bit. They are
(08:01):
an awesome story there. There was a great read in
the Athletic about what their coach has done. They went
from D three to D two. He's doing. His whole
roster is mostly D two and D three guys, and
they just play their ass off. They play this no
middle defense which I employed to my local teams here. Yes,
at the youth level, where it's basically like we're not
letting you get to the middle. No floaters, no layft,
(08:22):
none of that. And they play amazingly. They hustle their
butts off. This team is feisty and I'm When the
brackets came out, I wasn't there. I saw some people
got three and a half. I did not get that.
I got two. I got three plus three for the Titans.
It's down to two and a half. As I look
at the lines right now, I'm just telling you this
team is tough and gritty. Now. The drawback is they
(08:45):
don't really have a lot of size. However, Michigan has
some size. They got the big kid he transferred. He
was on that. I think the FAU team that went
to the final four and they have another big guy
who solid who showed well in the Big Ten Tournament.
So they're kind of sort of a problem for the Tritons.
But I'm taking them. I made the bet, you know,
(09:09):
not not the biggest wager in the world, but I
do believe they will be a significant problem. I think
Michigan is a mite overseated and they don't shoot the
three well and the Tritons do. Just reminding people who
are like, oh, Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament, so
coming into the Big Ten Tournament, they got smacked at
home by twenty by Illinois, lost at home to Maryland,
(09:30):
and then got smashed at Michigan State. So they went
into the Big Ten Tournament on a three game losing streak.
That being said, Dusty May put everything into the Big
Ten Tournament. They beat Purdue, survived Maryland, and then rallied
late to beat Wisconsin, and there are there's a lot
of Dusty May chatter. Is he gonna go to Indiana?
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Is he?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
You know? I don't know, man, I don't think this
team shoots it good enough. I know they got the
two bigs, Wolf and Golden is his name. I just
I don't fear them as a shooting team. But you see,
San Diego comes in with the longest win streak in
the country fifteen in a row, and their tallest rotational
player is six', eight so they don't have a lot of.
(10:10):
Size but what they do is they shoot the. Three.
Well they're an awesome offense and they get a lot of.
STEALS i think they'll either pull the upset or or
keep it close enough to. Cover but that was the
first BET i. Made now regarding, brackets my first whack
and AGAIN i will do. TWENTY i Have, Auburn Florida
duke And. Tennessee not too imaginative, there But i'm gonna
(10:34):
rattle off some stuff for you guys THAT i think
could be helpful and HOW i kind of how will
be looking at The Calcutta so, obviously if you don't
have A Ken pom, subscription then you're not a serious
college basketball, Gambler like that's the bare. Minimum you can
go To Bart, porvik which is free and he has good.
Numbers Ken palm is LIKE i think forty bucks for the. Year,
(10:59):
guys break that. Down if you're gambling on THE ncaa
tournament And Ken palm is forty dollars for the, year
AS i caugh up a long, year forty dollars divided
by twelve. Months let me do the elementary bat, there
forty divided by Twelve that is three dollars a, month
three dollars a, month three dollars and thirty three cents
(11:20):
a month divided by thirty days in a, month you
get eleven cents a. Day, okay that's a dime a
day For Ken pomp. Subscription like just do, it you.
Know and you look at his, numbers and this is
why in the LAST i think it's twenty years is twenty,
Five so it was in the last twenty four, years
(11:41):
no team has won the title that wasn't in the
top twenty five Of Ken palm's. Ranking, okay top twenty.
Five so if you're not in the top twenty, five,
forget you're just not winning the. Title that's how it
has gone for the last twenty four. Years that would
eliminate number twenty five is miss, again so twenty six
is old, miss twenty SEVENS ucla twenty eight To, marquette
(12:04):
twenty Nine's baylor there they're not gonna win to now
in Three in all but three, cases every champion has
been top six entering the, Tournament so you need to
be top six in ken Pum who are the top
Six Duke, Florida, Houston, Auburn tennessee And. Alabama though the
title almost certainly will come from one of those six. Teams,
(12:26):
now what are those three? Outliers will two thousand and
Three syracuse With Carmelo, anthony they were not top. Six
two they had a SUPERSTAR Nba hall Of famer twenty
Eleven YUKON i think that Was Kemba walker and then
two thoy Fourteen. YUKON i could look those, up But
(12:47):
i'm pretty sure that was the team with the guard
That lebron wanted badly in the in the. Draft let
me look at their twenty Fourteen yukon Rass Oh Shabaz.
Napier they Had Napier boat right in the back court
and twenty Eleven yukon was, Yes, Cardiac Kemba walker And Shabaz.
(13:07):
Napier so from that you can easily glean guard play matters.
Significantly but out of those, six how can you drill down? Further,
well offensive rating and defensive rating two more ken pound
stats matter, Hugely AND i know this is nerdy and
it's just a, Spreadsheet, jason games aren't played on a. Spreadsheet, okay,
fine do it your, way, guys good. Luck this has
(13:29):
worked for.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
ME i do this all.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
SEASON i do it as often AS i. CAN i
mean DURING. Nfl it's. Tough but and you look at
offensive rating and defensive rating and guess what of those
six they are four of them are for the top
offensive teams in the. Country defensively is another, question Because
alabama's defense has been. Leaky they've fallen out of the
top twenty five. Defensively, PERSONALLY i don't Think alabama will
(13:52):
win the? Title can? They sure anybody, can BUT i.
Don't alabama is leaking oil right. Now they've really been.
Struggling SO i don't put a ton of faith in. Them,
obviously being in the side the top thirty matters, defensively
and you look at defense and the number one defensive
(14:12):
team Is Saint. John's why don't PEOPLE i don't Love Saint. John's,
well they're offensively. Challenged they're sixty fifth in. Offense, folks
there are hold, on let me tell you real, quick
And i'm sorry to nerd out we'll get to actual
sports in a. Second so there's three hundred and sixty
four college basketball. Teams, okay three hundred and sixty. Four
Saint john's ranks three hundred and thirty. Eight then three
(14:36):
point shooting three thirty eight out of three sixty. Four
in free throw shoot they're two hundred ninety. FIFTH i
have historically struggled to bet on and back teams that
cannot shoot free throws or, threes especially In. March it's
a tougher, game a lower Scoring sometimes you get in
these Mostly sweet, sixteen you get in these larger arenas
(14:57):
that they're not used, to and they Strugg now there's
also the question of the. Whistle you, know, listen referees
might call it tighter than you used to in The Big,
east you, know and all of a, sudden it's, like, wait, wait,
wait what we got our guys in foul? Trouble what's
going on? Here and, Again Saint john's is a very good.
Team they are one of the most more experienced teams
(15:17):
in the. Country this is all stuff you can get
off ken com and they don't have a. Bench so
if all of a, sudden you KNOW. R. J lewis
who has been. Awesome they transfer From. UMass he's been really.
Good last year he was like THE i think The
Big East player of The Year Conference TOURNAMENT MVP R J.
Luis he's just been. Phenomenal but like if he gets
(15:37):
in foul trouble or, anyone it's, like oh, geez we
have no. Depth they don't have depth and they can't.
Shoot So i'm not as bullish On Saint john's now
they are boom. Bust remember they got hot one game
AND i think hit like eleven or twelve, Threes so anything's.
Possible but you, know if you're putting real, money it's,
SAKE i can't totally Buy Saint. John's let's see what
(15:57):
one other, stack BECAUSE i got to save some stuff
for our guests that are coming up this, week some
college basketball gambling heavyweight. Guys let's see here something that jumps.
OUT a double digit seed has advanced to the sweet
sixteen in each of the last sixteen tournaments and thirty
seven of thirty nine. Overall like that's a significant sample.
Size some double digit seed is gonna break through to
(16:20):
the sweet. SIXTEEN a couple THAT i, HAVE i Have
texas Or xavier and, again that's just in one. Bracket Texas.
SAVIOR i HAVE. Vcu keep an eye on them. There
plucky play a lot of good, defense and AS i
alluded to on social media this, Weekend wisconsin's one of
those teams where it's, like sh, yeah they just work
(16:42):
their butt off four games in four, days, right get
to the, championship. Lose they're a good, team but they're not,
great and now they have to Play thursday on the first,
day and it's at. Altitude so like if you're talking
about fatigue setting, IT i think they'll get By, montana
BUT i would guy would look to Back montana if.
Anything in THAT i Think wisconsin, wins but that next
(17:05):
game is gonna be DIFFICULT byu OR. VCU i HAVE
vcu in the first. BRACKET i did obviously double digit.
Seed you See San. DIEGO i also Have yale OVER
a AND. M fun Stat i'm sure you'll see this.
Elsewhere yale ninth in the country in, threes Ninth TEXAS
a AND m three hundred and. Seventeenth, NOW i do
like THE a AND m. COACH i just think in some,
(17:26):
BRACKETS i Think yale will be a sexy pick and
certainly a pick of. Mine So i've got some of
these teams doing some. Damage one of those two double
digit seeds will make The sweet sixteen much much more
on the tournament. OBVIOUSLY i Think Cooper flag's injury is,
significant but it sounds like they could probably hold him
out from the first round and be totally. Fine I'LL
(17:49):
i think they'll need. Him Baylor Mississippi state are. Interesting
Missisippi state is going to be a dangerous. Team you'll
Need Cooper flag for. That but, overall The duke bracket
is Fairly i'm not terrified Of bama. YET i do like,
them BUT i JUST i don't like What i've seen
lately from. Them if you're looking for a potential number
one seed to go, down this is kind of messed.
(18:12):
Up AND i just want to double check the location of.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
This but.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Why Would louisville be playing a first round game In,
Lexington kentucky Against. Creton creyton's essentially gonna be playing a
road game Against louisville in the opening. Round that does
that seem right to? You so then it's, Like, oh
What louisville playing In? Lexington? Huh what's the crowd difference
(18:41):
going to? Be, louisville especially if they Beat crayton in the,
opener and that's not a, lock but home court advantage.
SIGNIFICANT i would say crowd will be seventy to Thirty,
louisville and If louisville Faces, auburn don't be surprised if
that's like eighty Twenty louisville. Crowd and we saw this
a few years. Ago do you had to Play South
carolina IN i think it WAS i don't know if
(19:04):
it Was, columbia but in one of The. Carolinas, no
it was in definitely In South, carolina Duh and it
was like a home game For South carolina And duke got.
Wrecked like some of the that that ad is a
bad job at the. Committee keeping louisgo is like basically
a home, Game so just keep an eye out For
auburn there as the first number one seat to go.
Down i've seen some love For gonzaga Against. HOUSTON i
(19:25):
don't know That i'm totally feeling, that But houston kind
of sort of scares me because they can just offensively
just go into some droughts or it's like what are
you guys? Doing just crazy. Stuff but, anyways we'll do
much more on the tournament all.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Week Fox Sports radio has the best sports talk lineup
in the. Nation catch all of our shows At Foxsports
radio dot com and within The iHeartRadio. App SEARCH fsr
to listen. Live all, right let me bring In rob.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
G BECAUSE i want to talk about The bengals and
their explosive, move a bold, experiment if you. Will they
have gone out and, decided you know, What we're pushing
all our chips in the middle to OFFENSE fa. Defense Trey,
hendrickson thank you for your. Service but they have agreed
to terms With Jamar chase and T higgins both got new.
(20:14):
Contracts chase four, years one hundred and sixty ONE mili
one twelve million guaranteed for a wide, Receiver higgins four
and one point fifteen and guaranteed for the first two.
Years so it's not quite a one plus, one but
it's much better than the franchise tag. Obviously but essentially
what happened to The bengals is that they made a,
(20:35):
decision all, right we could break up this wide receiver,
duo which may, pay which may piss off our. Quarterback
who's our franchise. Guy we could do, that or we
can just, say, hey you know, what offensive league defense
don't win. Anything we got. It we're just going all In,
Burrow Chase higgins bring us home in the next two.
(20:57):
Years let's see how this. Rolls and that's what they've. Decided.
NOW i don't, Know, rob if this Means Trey hendrickson
gets a franchise tag or they just, decide you know,
what we're just gonna we can't afford. Him but they
have decided we're going all in our. Offense they Got
Chase brown. BACK i like. HIM i think they brought
G seki back offensive. Line. Eh but those three together work.
(21:17):
Magic now the problem is keeping them. Together chase has
been banged, Up higgins has been banged, up And, burrow we,
know has missed a ton of. GAMES i don't love, It,
ROB i do like the. Experiment we're gonna try something.
Different right when The chiefs Had Tyreek Hill Kelsey, mahomes
they were, like we can't afford. It we can't build a,
team we can't round out a, team so we gotta
(21:38):
Let Tyreek hill. Go they let him go and they
had a balanced. Team, listen they keep going to Super.
Bowls they went to The Super bowl, again but you
can start to see cracks in the facade of the.
Dynasty Travis kelcey's looking. Washed where they gonna find a
new superstar skill position. Guy defense is getting a little.
CREAKY i, mean the egos kind of had their way with.
THEM i still maintained they got to beat The, bills So,
(22:01):
ROB i don't. KNOW i don't think this is gonna
reap massive benefits for The bengals in terms of getting
to The Super. Bowl but they're gonna be fun as, hell,
obviously and keeping your quarterback happy obviously is. Important but
it kind of sort of reminds. Me do you remember
The Dan Marino dolphins when they had The marx. Brothers
why you were probably too, Young Mark duper And Mark.
(22:22):
Clayton they had a dynamic. Offense they went to The
Super bowl In marino's second. Year they never got back
to the Super. Bowl they had a loaded offense and
never had a defense that could stop a. Nosebleed and
The bengals were pretty much in that same. BOAT i
think they had five or six games when the opponents
scored forty or more. Points but this is gonna, be you,
(22:43):
know a turnstile on defense and you're Facing Lamar jackson
in the. Division and if The steelers ever figure out
a quarterback or The browns Get Shujorge sanders like they're
gonna be behind the eight. Ball it's just gonna be
tough to win without a well balanced. Roster but they
will be exciting and fantasy owners will love.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Them Rob, Absolutely that's not number one in this whole.
Situation if you are a fantasy football lover LIKE i,
am this Is god's gift to your ears because now
every game is guaranteed to be thirty plus on either.
Side so that's number. One number, two before we get
to the actual football, part shout Out Joe burrow And
Jamar chase for making sure that their GUY T higgins
(23:21):
got the. Bag Joe burrow first and, foremost he is
the franchise. Quarterback he went on a media blitz basically
since the season, ended, saying we are not letting star
players out of this. Building we do what we have
to do to keep our. GUYS i will restructure IF
i have. TO i am Keeping, CHASE i am Keeping.
Higgins that is a non starter about losing those two.
(23:42):
Guys you knew all. Along Jamar, chase at some point
was gonna get, paid whether it was gonna be the
highest paid or the second highest paid or Justin jefferson.
Money in this, case now it's the highest paid non
quarterback in our. History you knew that he was gonna.
Stay but What Jamar chase AND T higgins did very
quietly back In, december T higgins fires his, agent Hires
(24:03):
Jamar chase's, agent and it essentially becomes a package. Deal
Jamar chase, SAYS i am not gonna sign a contract with,
you no matter how high it, is unless you also
take care of my GUY T.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Higgins we are in this.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
TOGETHER i WISH i had friends like those you, guys
let me tell, you because THEN i would not be
doing this podcast in my kids playing right. Now i've
been doing it in a nice. Office. Please that's number.
Two but and the third one, is to your, point
with this, offense it should be, historic Right Joe burrow
last season saw you saw that he is as prolific
(24:41):
a pastor as we have in THE nfl right. NOW i,
mean he's this side Of Drew brees when it comes
to just slinging the football to your, point AND i
always gonna. Win but he's gonna put up. Firework he's
gonna put up. Points since twenty twenty, One Chasing higgins
as teammates lead THE nfl as from a duo, perspective
both in receiving yards nine and twelve and receiving touchdowns
(25:05):
with seventy. Four when you have the big three, together
The Burrow Higgins chase, triumvirate they win sixty seven percent
of their. Games that would be sixth in THE, nfl
behind The, chiefs The, eagles The, bills The, lions The.
Ravens sounds to me like that is the upper upper
crust of THE. Nfl so those three, guys at least,
(25:27):
offensively are. Money and if you're A bengals, fan you're
excited about. That you have these three guys locked up
for the foreseeable. Future the only problem with that, is
and again there's always a downside of the, situation that
defense is, terrible as you alluded, To, okay last, season
during a five game stretch in the middle of the,
(25:48):
year the defense allowed an average of thirty five points per.
Game cincinnati went one to. Four lest we, forget in
those two shootouts with The Baltimore, Ravens Joe row threw
nine touchdown passes and ended up zero to. Two, okay last,
year The bengals defense tied for the most losses in
(26:09):
the season this century when their offense scores at least
twenty five points a. Game in those, games they went
five and. Six, historically THE nfl winning percentage when your
team scoress at least twenty five points is eighty one.
Percent that's how bad their defense. Is and if you
want to get into the real minutia of the real
nuts and bolts of, defense they were bottom seven last
(26:31):
year in points per game and yards per, game bottom
six and sack. Percentage and you Mentioned henderson might not
be out there or we don't know about, that bottom
ten and third down, defense bottom ten and penalty, thirty
eighth in red zone. Defense all of that with them
being top seven in. Turnovers and you know this better than,
anybody J, matt because you know ball turnovers are not
(26:51):
something that you can predict on a year to year.
Basis there's some kind of Balance, historically one year you
might be top, ten one year you might Be autumn,
ten but over a five year span you're probably gonna
be somewhere in the. Middle just look at These bengals last.
Year they were top seven before that fifteen, eleven. Seventeen
so you tell me that you have that kind of
(27:13):
turnover look and your defense.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Was still that bad.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Look the trio Of, Burrow chase And higgins might put
up twenty, eight twenty nine points a game and they
still might not even make the. Postseason that's how bad
this defense.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Is not good at. ALL i also want to Add
rob that we're looking at a major uphill climb in
terms of paying your non quarterbacks most IN nfl history
for a non. Quarterback by the, WAY i hate that.
Tag this is one of those like ego things that
agents want to get out their highest paid non quarterback
(27:47):
IN nfl. HISTORY i, mean like three weeks ago it,
was or, no like a week ago Is Max. Crosby
that Was Miles. Garrett now With Stabar, chase like you're
the highest paid non quarterback for like eight. Minutes who
gives a. Shit here are the top five Current Jamar
Chase's number one did not make the playoffs last, Year Miles.
Garrett number. Two do you think they made the? Playoffs?
Nope number Three Max. CROSBY i can already tell you
(28:08):
he did not make the Playoffs number four is Justin.
Jefferson he did make the playoffs number, five As Nick
mosa and The niners obviously did. Not so what teams
are starting to find out, is damn we got to
keep up with The. Joneses pay these. GUYS i don't, Know,
rob are? You are we getting to the point, where hey,
Man Jamar chase is, Nice but CAN i get two
(28:30):
really solid quarterbacks at say twenty mili per that that
make me just as? Good CAN i get those two
to combine and give Me Jamar chase? Numbers AND i
think that's probably the next, experiment because, again this is
a a copycat league and right now everybody's just copying
eight my. SUPERSTAR i gotta pay. HIM i can't lose to.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
It, yeah you're spot on with, That and this goes
back to something that you had actually spoken. About this
might have been last summer when all the wide receivers getting.
Paid and this is really insightful. Soliloquy and if you
p one listeners of the, podcast we know What i'm talking.
About when you were discussing the wide receiver market in
football and how we're getting to a point now where
(29:11):
there are so many really really good receivers that we
might see somebody pivot and, Say i'm not gonna pay you,
Know terry McLaurin whatever it is top five receiver. Money
i'm just gonna draft somebody Because Malik nighbors is gonna
give you that same. Product production Of puknaku was gonna
give you the same kind of. Production like there's a
new wave of guys over and over and. Over And
(29:33):
Sam monson pointed this out Late sunday in the overnight,
hours friend of the, show may we'll get him on
here pretty. Soon and he noted while the cap went
up nine percent this, year which everyone was excited about
because y'll you to pay more guys and get more
star players under, contracts so to, speak with these two
deals now the top of the wide receiver market went
(29:56):
up seventeen. Percent specifically because it's so to your, point J,
mac what's the. STOP i don't know who's going to
the Next Eliitue neighbors Or Brian, thomas whoever the next
guy is it's gonna get. Paid what's the stop one
of these teams to, say you know, what we see
(30:16):
Justin jefferson and we see What Jamar chase And Max
crosby And Miles garrett are not winning a whole like
of a. Lot with these guys paying all these, dudes
why wouldn't we spin the wheel somewhere else and pay
a tight end or pay to your point two. Cornerbacks
it's a fascinating.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Conversation Like Drake london And Garrett wilson just finished year
so they played twenty, two twenty, three twenty year. Three,
OKAY i Think Garrett olson is the top ten quarterback
rud wide receiver in the. LEAGUE i Think Drake london's
probably top, Fifteen Chris olve is probably top. Fifteen Jamison
williams really really. Good but all those you can't pay
them commensurate With Jamar chasen And justin J you. Can't
(30:57):
so but what do they? Get because do you want
to lose? Them AND i would, counter we're. Approaching when
you're approaching a bubble like, this you sell AND i
know that's not gonna be. Popular oh, YEAH i Love Garret.
Wilson he's probably the top jersey, seller either him Or Breeze.
HALL i would honestly, CONSIDER i DON'T i Love Garrett.
(31:17):
WILSON i think he's got a huge, upside but at
this kind of, Mark, like do you Think Garrett wilson's
a thirty million dollar a year? Receiver The jets haven't
done anything with him as a great receiver or a rookie,
Deal so, LIKE i don't. Know man, again And i'm
probably being too, harsh but in twenty twenty, one these
were the first round, Receivers Chase, Wattle Davonta. Smith all
have been to The Super. Bowl, No i'm, Sorry Joel.
(31:38):
Jaye wattle has, Not Devanta smith. Has Canario's tony Bust
Rashad bateman hasn't totally panned. Out and you know you
get another enough bites at The. Apple look at the
twenty twenty. Draft Henry, RUGGS i think he's in prison for.
Life Jerry, judy second Team Ceedee lamb really really, good
BUT i don't know it hasn't won A Super. BOWL
(31:59):
i don't think he's winning anyth anytime. Soon as what's his?
Name the New seahawks, guy is? It Dexter? Lawrence uh,
yeah yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:06):
No uh De Marcus, lawrence Dem Marcus.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Lawrence DeMarcus lawrence noted That cowboys aren't winning anything anytime.
Soon Jalen, ragor who's kind of bounced around the, league
and Then Justin, Jefferson brendan and Ak they got, paid
but forty nine ers already have a buyer's remorse on A. Yuk,
so LIKE i just, think AND i know it's tough
because fans don't want to hear that cap is going. Up, Yes,
rob but does that just automatically mean you've got to
give more to the best receiver on the. Team AND i, know,
(32:33):
LISTEN i get. It Jamar chase is. Unbelievable they didn't
make the. Playoffs if he has to miss four, games
they're probably going one and. Three luckily they Had. Higgins
now what's the? Alternative? Jay you can't just shit on
it and say no. Alternative, okay here we. GO i
would have seen IF i could have got a boatload
FOR T higgins from The Carolina, panthers somebody with a
(32:53):
quarterback on a rookie. DEAL i would have seen WHAT
i could get on the. Market and if that's, hey,
man what's the appsking price FOR T? Higgins let me
get Hey, carolina let me get the eighth overall pick
and a, fourth And i'll give you a third and
you gotta pay Te, higgins THEN i think we're. TALKING
i don't know If carolina would entertain, that but some
teams are desperate and have the quarterback on the rookie.
(33:15):
Deal AND i don't. Know it almost feels like this
is AN nba ish rob does. It it feels like there's, like,
like didn't we talk About Jalen brown making like seventy
million dollars a year in a couple of.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Years, Yeah AND i think what it goes back To
jason is SOMETHING i. Sai i'd say to my original
point as soon As Joe burrow put it out, there
like we are keeping my. Guys there's NO ifansi buts about.
It if you want to keep me, happy you're gonna Resign,
Chase you're going to Resign. Higgins we'll figre out the rest.
Later in this weird kind of, Situation Joe burrow is
(33:49):
acting in a way That Lebron james would. ACT i
don't care about the first round, picks ye trade. UP
i don't care about adults and connect he might be.
Good we need a rim runner For, Luka doncic's trade.
Them like that's What Joe burrow is. Doing something THAT
i hope more quarterbacks would, do especially in THE, nfl
(34:09):
even if this case might be a little bit tricky
because you're boxing yourself so in to an offensive brand
of football when the guys who have leverage don't use.
It that's how you end up with situations, where, hey
we really want to keep you, Whatever Josh, jacobs but
you got to take a pay. Cut, well WHY i
(34:30):
just ran for three hundred yards and they touch. Eouts
WHY i got to take a pay? Cut, well otherwise
we have to let you. Go and until these guys
flex their muscle with these teams and ensure, hey IF
i don't get WHAT i, Want i'm out of. Here
i'm gonna be. Unhappy players are going to continue to
get screwed over in these kind of. Negotiations it's interesting
you use.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
That phrasing not gonna be, happy because you know the
fan base is going to be outraged if you LOSE
T higgins Or Jamar chase is. Pissed but you know
what else THE fa base is angry. With when you
don't win games to go to the, playoffs heads are gonna.
Roll it's either gonna be THE gm or the. Coach
AND i JUST i don't see a path to victory
here for The. Bengals they're gonna be, good. Obviously we'll
(35:11):
see if we get MORE. Nfl there's still nothing On Aaron.
RODGERS i know nobody really. Cares i'm sure you want
us to talk about The suns AND kd And. LUCA
i don't really think it's. WORTHY i did watch the,
Game AS i, said at the, OUTSIDE i was coaching
by kids in. Sports we'll take the two. Titles and
now it's on The March, mandaess all, right Good Monday.
Pod we're back. Tomorrow talk to you. Then
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntire.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up Straight Fire, FA It's me Jason McIntire,
Straight Fire for Monday, March seventeenth. Oh man, it was
a glorious weekend. March Madness is officially here. If you
could can't really tell, my voice is kind of sort
of fading. I got a little I don't know. I
(00:31):
usually avoid getting sick because I, you know, pride myself
on being an ox and I don't get sick. Not
quite a man cold, but just like a throat thing
where I'm losing my voice now it could be could
be the guys. I spent the weekend coaching H one
two I think four basketball games, youth basketball game, so
(00:53):
you know, I'm getting after it and before we get
to the brackets, and obviously the huge news for the
Cincinnati Bengals that they fans are getting about, which it's
great news, but you know, I don't think you should
be that giddy. You know, you look at coaching youth sports,
and I've talked about this for a while. I think
one of the most rewarding fun things I've done is
coach my kids. Memories that I'll have forever, and I'm
(01:17):
very competitive. You guys couldn't tell I play in multiple
men's leagues. It just so happens that my teams are
always kind of in the mix. Well that's because I
love this stuff, you know, and I'm a competitive and
I make sure kids who have a practice, and you know,
I get on the parents. I make sure I draft
kids who I know the parents or I know the
parents are going to get the kids to practice. And
I'll be honest, totally upfront, I thought this was the
(01:39):
weakest team my son has had in years. It was
a combined seventh and eighth grade, and I don't know,
a ton of seventh graders and a lot of the
best I would say, like the top ten, maybe the
top eight kids in the grade didn't play because they're
prepping for freshman ball. So it was a lot of
like Newish guys. And I'll be honest, I did think
our team was great. We lost one game season, and
(02:00):
going into the playoffs, I'm like, listen, it's not gonna
be I didn't even know when the championship game was,
and of course I start to get into it. We
catch a bit of a break when the number one
overall pick decided to skip a playoff game so that
he could play in a club game. And I'll never
really understand that, but I'll tell you more in a sec.
And then we play in the second round against my buddy,
(02:21):
and it just so happens we only had five guys,
so no bench, no subs or anything, which you think
is a major drawback. However, my buddy's team had all
eight of his players and they were a really good team.
They were favored air quotes, and I was extremely nervous
because I thought we were gonna get blown out. They
had their two best players. And then of course, the
morning of the tournament, there was a club tournament and boom,
(02:44):
my buddy's son, who's a very good player, turns his
ankle and he couldn't really play or do much. So
we caught a bit of a break there, and our
role players just caught fire. We get the win. I'm shocked,
and I'm like scrambling. Oh wait a minute. I got
to coach the championship at three o'clock Sunday and the
brackets come out at three o'clock and I'm like, oh man.
And then my daughter's game, we had a stacked team.
(03:05):
We were very good. We kind of cruise to the title.
That game was right after that, so like I'm yelling
all weekend getting after it. Anyways, my son's team, you
guys all love this. Just humor me for a sec.
We're going up against a team that the only team
that beat us. Now I wasn't there, but still they
beat us pretty soundly. They had four really good players,
one of them is on that prep for the high
(03:27):
school team. And we scrimmaged them three times and they
smoked us every time. Now it was on a small court,
we didn't have all our guys, but it was like, damn,
this team passes. They know what they're doing, and we
got destroyed, and our guys were nervous. And of course
the morning of the championship game, the other coach is
Jay Mac. Can we reschedule? My top three players all
have club conflicts? And I'm like, Carlos, you're my guy,
(03:49):
but bro, tell these parents. You know there's a club
tournament every other weekend. You couldn't tell me what happened
in your club tournament three months ago or six or nine.
Nobody remembers. I was like, oh, yeah, I think we did. Okay,
we had two and one. The local basketball league. There's
one season, one tournament, and that's it. That's it. You'll
remember this five years from now ten you won't remember
(04:11):
the club. So he's like, all right, I'll work on him.
Turns out two of the guys showed up, and my buddy,
who I play in the men's league with, he's really good.
He's the one who lives around the corner from Klay
Thompson and his son is the seventh grader. And I'm
just telling you, guys, if he gets a little taller
and once he hits puberty and gets stronger, he's going
to be a lights out player. He is unbelievable. I
(04:33):
had thirty two points, carried us to the victory, and
so I get home from two titles one, I'm on
cloud nine. I'm going through the video because he has
like a nerd. I watched the video afterward and pull
clips and put them online and just like set him
to the parents like I'm committed. I'm in. And then
I sit down and look at the brackets. Last night,
I'm like, shit, I missed the selection show. You know,
(04:53):
this was like the first time in twenty years. I
live for March Madness, gambled on it all weekend. Saturday
was a monster Day was very good. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
not great, not great, but we rally and here we
are And now my inbox has just slammed with are
you entering this bracket challenge? GBS? Yahoo, Local work. There's
(05:13):
so many guys texting me do you want to know
my bracket challenge? Twenty bucks? And who can say no
to this stuff? It's like, I love the brackets, and
I've long compared brackets to going out to bars and
meeting girls in your in your early twenties. It's a
numbers game. If you just sit back and hang with
the dudes and maybe go up to one girl and
kick game or whatever, and you get the stiff arm
(05:35):
or hey, good talking to you. I'm out. That's it.
You're over one done. If you are that guy who's
super friendly and you're trying to make moves and you're hey,
how are you? And you what's going on?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Hey? And you I don't know, shoot your shot with
ten women? How many numbers do you think you're gonna get?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Three?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Four? Like, it's a numbers game, and with the brackets,
that's how I treat them. So I am twenty bracket guy. Now,
in the last three years, brackets have taken a backseat
to this thing called a Calcutta where you bid on teams.
You get a group and bid on teams and hopefully
your team goes far and you win money. So the
first year I did it, I thought this was amazing.
(06:14):
We had a pretty famous actor. I'm not gonna say
his name, but he's been in a lot of good movies.
Super nice guy, lives locally and he's buddies with a
couple guys that I know, and he staked most of it.
And we had Kansas, and that was the tournament where
Kansas made an amazing run and smashed North Carolina. I
think they rallied to beat North Carolina in the title game.
(06:34):
But it was awesome. We all had a nice little
windfall and it was like, oh, just Calcutta stuff is easy, right.
But then the next year we pivoted to a different
Calcutta and oh no, no, no, we did the same one,
but it went extremely poorly and we were like, all right,
let's not do this.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
One.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Guy whoever off puts in the most money usually has
the most say. So if you're putting in ten percent
and so's your buddy. And then the big guy's putting
in sixty percent. Well he's going to overrule you because
he's putting, you know, mid five figures on the line,
high five figures. And so that one did not go well.
So we pivoted to a different one. And last year
we were in a great spot and then it all
(07:14):
fell apart in the Sweet sixteen. One night in one
fell swoop we went. We had three teams left in
the Sweet sixteen. All of them lost. They were all favored,
and they all lost. One of them was Houston when
they lost their their guard got injured early, and I
was like, f life.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
As you can tell, I put in a lot of
effort and energy into brackets, and I will just I'm
not gonna put picks on Twitter. I just put one
on yesterday just because I've been talking about it and
I wrote about it for Fox Sports. Just one that
that's the only one that I'm gonna put on. That's
the use. That's the Tritons of UC San Diego. I've
been high these guys for a little bit. They are
(08:01):
an awesome story there. There was a great read in
the Athletic about what their coach has done. They went
from D three to D two. He's doing. His whole
roster is mostly D two and D three guys, and
they just play their ass off. They play this no
middle defense which I employed to my local teams here. Yes,
at the youth level, where it's basically like we're not
letting you get to the middle. No floaters, no layft,
(08:22):
none of that. And they play amazingly. They hustle their
butts off. This team is feisty and I'm When the
brackets came out, I wasn't there. I saw some people
got three and a half. I did not get that.
I got two. I got three plus three for the Titans.
It's down to two and a half. As I look
at the lines right now, I'm just telling you this
team is tough and gritty. Now. The drawback is they
(08:45):
don't really have a lot of size. However, Michigan has
some size. They got the big kid he transferred. He
was on that. I think the FAU team that went
to the final four and they have another big guy
who solid who showed well in the Big Ten Tournament.
So they're kind of sort of a problem for the Tritons.
But I'm taking them. I made the bet, you know,
(09:09):
not not the biggest wager in the world, but I
do believe they will be a significant problem. I think
Michigan is a mite overseated and they don't shoot the
three well and the Tritons do. Just reminding people who
are like, oh, Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament, so
coming into the Big Ten Tournament, they got smacked at
home by twenty by Illinois, lost at home to Maryland,
(09:30):
and then got smashed at Michigan State. So they went
into the Big Ten Tournament on a three game losing streak.
That being said, Dusty May put everything into the Big
Ten Tournament. They beat Purdue, survived Maryland, and then rallied
late to beat Wisconsin, and there are there's a lot
of Dusty May chatter. Is he gonna go to Indiana?
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Is he?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
You know? I don't know, man, I don't think this
team shoots it good enough. I know they got the
two bigs, Wolf and Golden is his name. I just
I don't fear them as a shooting team. But you see,
San Diego comes in with the longest win streak in
the country fifteen in a row, and their tallest rotational
player is six', eight so they don't have a lot of.
(10:10):
Size but what they do is they shoot the. Three.
Well they're an awesome offense and they get a lot of.
STEALS i think they'll either pull the upset or or
keep it close enough to. Cover but that was the
first BET i. Made now regarding, brackets my first whack
and AGAIN i will do. TWENTY i Have, Auburn Florida
duke And. Tennessee not too imaginative, there But i'm gonna
(10:34):
rattle off some stuff for you guys THAT i think
could be helpful and HOW i kind of how will
be looking at The Calcutta so, obviously if you don't
have A Ken pom, subscription then you're not a serious
college basketball, Gambler like that's the bare. Minimum you can
go To Bart, porvik which is free and he has good.
Numbers Ken palm is LIKE i think forty bucks for the. Year,
(10:59):
guys break that. Down if you're gambling on THE ncaa
tournament And Ken palm is forty dollars for the, year
AS i caugh up a long, year forty dollars divided
by twelve. Months let me do the elementary bat, there
forty divided by Twelve that is three dollars a, month
three dollars a, month three dollars and thirty three cents
(11:20):
a month divided by thirty days in a, month you
get eleven cents a. Day, okay that's a dime a
day For Ken pomp. Subscription like just do, it you.
Know and you look at his, numbers and this is
why in the LAST i think it's twenty years is twenty,
Five so it was in the last twenty four, years
(11:41):
no team has won the title that wasn't in the
top twenty five Of Ken palm's. Ranking, okay top twenty.
Five so if you're not in the top twenty, five,
forget you're just not winning the. Title that's how it
has gone for the last twenty four. Years that would
eliminate number twenty five is miss, again so twenty six
is old, miss twenty SEVENS ucla twenty eight To, marquette
(12:04):
twenty Nine's baylor there they're not gonna win to now
in Three in all but three, cases every champion has
been top six entering the, Tournament so you need to
be top six in ken Pum who are the top
Six Duke, Florida, Houston, Auburn tennessee And. Alabama though the
title almost certainly will come from one of those six. Teams,
(12:26):
now what are those three? Outliers will two thousand and
Three syracuse With Carmelo, anthony they were not top. Six
two they had a SUPERSTAR Nba hall Of famer twenty
Eleven YUKON i think that Was Kemba walker and then
two thoy Fourteen. YUKON i could look those, up But
(12:47):
i'm pretty sure that was the team with the guard
That lebron wanted badly in the in the. Draft let
me look at their twenty Fourteen yukon Rass Oh Shabaz.
Napier they Had Napier boat right in the back court
and twenty Eleven yukon was, Yes, Cardiac Kemba walker And Shabaz.
(13:07):
Napier so from that you can easily glean guard play matters.
Significantly but out of those, six how can you drill down? Further,
well offensive rating and defensive rating two more ken pound
stats matter, Hugely AND i know this is nerdy and
it's just a, Spreadsheet, jason games aren't played on a. Spreadsheet, okay,
fine do it your, way, guys good. Luck this has
(13:29):
worked for.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
ME i do this all.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
SEASON i do it as often AS i. CAN i
mean DURING. Nfl it's. Tough but and you look at
offensive rating and defensive rating and guess what of those
six they are four of them are for the top
offensive teams in the. Country defensively is another, question Because
alabama's defense has been. Leaky they've fallen out of the
top twenty five. Defensively, PERSONALLY i don't Think alabama will
(13:52):
win the? Title can? They sure anybody, can BUT i.
Don't alabama is leaking oil right. Now they've really been.
Struggling SO i don't put a ton of faith in. Them,
obviously being in the side the top thirty matters, defensively
and you look at defense and the number one defensive
(14:12):
team Is Saint. John's why don't PEOPLE i don't Love Saint. John's,
well they're offensively. Challenged they're sixty fifth in. Offense, folks
there are hold, on let me tell you real, quick
And i'm sorry to nerd out we'll get to actual
sports in a. Second so there's three hundred and sixty
four college basketball. Teams, okay three hundred and sixty. Four
Saint john's ranks three hundred and thirty. Eight then three
(14:36):
point shooting three thirty eight out of three sixty. Four
in free throw shoot they're two hundred ninety. FIFTH i
have historically struggled to bet on and back teams that
cannot shoot free throws or, threes especially In. March it's
a tougher, game a lower Scoring sometimes you get in
these Mostly sweet, sixteen you get in these larger arenas
(14:57):
that they're not used, to and they Strugg now there's
also the question of the. Whistle you, know, listen referees
might call it tighter than you used to in The Big,
east you, know and all of a, sudden it's, like, wait, wait,
wait what we got our guys in foul? Trouble what's
going on? Here and, Again Saint john's is a very good.
Team they are one of the most more experienced teams
(15:17):
in the. Country this is all stuff you can get
off ken com and they don't have a. Bench so
if all of a, sudden you KNOW. R. J lewis
who has been. Awesome they transfer From. UMass he's been really.
Good last year he was like THE i think The
Big East player of The Year Conference TOURNAMENT MVP R J.
Luis he's just been. Phenomenal but like if he gets
(15:37):
in foul trouble or, anyone it's, like oh, geez we
have no. Depth they don't have depth and they can't.
Shoot So i'm not as bullish On Saint john's now
they are boom. Bust remember they got hot one game
AND i think hit like eleven or twelve, Threes so anything's.
Possible but you, know if you're putting real, money it's,
SAKE i can't totally Buy Saint. John's let's see what
(15:57):
one other, stack BECAUSE i got to save some stuff
for our guests that are coming up this, week some
college basketball gambling heavyweight. Guys let's see here something that jumps.
OUT a double digit seed has advanced to the sweet
sixteen in each of the last sixteen tournaments and thirty
seven of thirty nine. Overall like that's a significant sample.
Size some double digit seed is gonna break through to
(16:20):
the sweet. SIXTEEN a couple THAT i, HAVE i Have
texas Or xavier and, again that's just in one. Bracket Texas.
SAVIOR i HAVE. Vcu keep an eye on them. There
plucky play a lot of good, defense and AS i
alluded to on social media this, Weekend wisconsin's one of
those teams where it's, like sh, yeah they just work
(16:42):
their butt off four games in four, days, right get
to the, championship. Lose they're a good, team but they're not,
great and now they have to Play thursday on the first,
day and it's at. Altitude so like if you're talking
about fatigue setting, IT i think they'll get By, montana
BUT i would guy would look to Back montana if.
Anything in THAT i Think wisconsin, wins but that next
(17:05):
game is gonna be DIFFICULT byu OR. VCU i HAVE
vcu in the first. BRACKET i did obviously double digit.
Seed you See San. DIEGO i also Have yale OVER
a AND. M fun Stat i'm sure you'll see this.
Elsewhere yale ninth in the country in, threes Ninth TEXAS
a AND m three hundred and. Seventeenth, NOW i do
like THE a AND m. COACH i just think in some,
(17:26):
BRACKETS i Think yale will be a sexy pick and
certainly a pick of. Mine So i've got some of
these teams doing some. Damage one of those two double
digit seeds will make The sweet sixteen much much more
on the tournament. OBVIOUSLY i Think Cooper flag's injury is,
significant but it sounds like they could probably hold him
out from the first round and be totally. Fine I'LL
(17:49):
i think they'll need. Him Baylor Mississippi state are. Interesting
Missisippi state is going to be a dangerous. Team you'll
Need Cooper flag for. That but, overall The duke bracket
is Fairly i'm not terrified Of bama. YET i do like,
them BUT i JUST i don't like What i've seen
lately from. Them if you're looking for a potential number
one seed to go, down this is kind of messed.
(18:12):
Up AND i just want to double check the location of.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
This but.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Why Would louisville be playing a first round game In,
Lexington kentucky Against. Creton creyton's essentially gonna be playing a
road game Against louisville in the opening. Round that does
that seem right to? You so then it's, Like, oh
What louisville playing In? Lexington? Huh what's the crowd difference
(18:41):
going to? Be, louisville especially if they Beat crayton in the,
opener and that's not a, lock but home court advantage.
SIGNIFICANT i would say crowd will be seventy to Thirty,
louisville and If louisville Faces, auburn don't be surprised if
that's like eighty Twenty louisville. Crowd and we saw this
a few years. Ago do you had to Play South
carolina IN i think it WAS i don't know if
(19:04):
it Was, columbia but in one of The. Carolinas, no
it was in definitely In South, carolina Duh and it
was like a home game For South carolina And duke got.
Wrecked like some of the that that ad is a
bad job at the. Committee keeping louisgo is like basically
a home, Game so just keep an eye out For
auburn there as the first number one seat to go.
Down i've seen some love For gonzaga Against. HOUSTON i
(19:25):
don't know That i'm totally feeling, that But houston kind
of sort of scares me because they can just offensively
just go into some droughts or it's like what are
you guys? Doing just crazy. Stuff but, anyways we'll do
much more on the tournament all.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Week Fox Sports radio has the best sports talk lineup
in the. Nation catch all of our shows At Foxsports
radio dot com and within The iHeartRadio. App SEARCH fsr
to listen. Live all, right let me bring In rob.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
G BECAUSE i want to talk about The bengals and
their explosive, move a bold, experiment if you. Will they
have gone out and, decided you know, What we're pushing
all our chips in the middle to OFFENSE fa. Defense Trey,
hendrickson thank you for your. Service but they have agreed
to terms With Jamar chase and T higgins both got new.
(20:14):
Contracts chase four, years one hundred and sixty ONE mili
one twelve million guaranteed for a wide, Receiver higgins four
and one point fifteen and guaranteed for the first two.
Years so it's not quite a one plus, one but
it's much better than the franchise tag. Obviously but essentially
what happened to The bengals is that they made a,
(20:35):
decision all, right we could break up this wide receiver,
duo which may, pay which may piss off our. Quarterback
who's our franchise. Guy we could do, that or we
can just, say, hey you know, what offensive league defense
don't win. Anything we got. It we're just going all In,
Burrow Chase higgins bring us home in the next two.
(20:57):
Years let's see how this. Rolls and that's what they've. Decided.
NOW i don't, Know, rob if this Means Trey hendrickson
gets a franchise tag or they just, decide you know,
what we're just gonna we can't afford. Him but they
have decided we're going all in our. Offense they Got
Chase brown. BACK i like. HIM i think they brought
G seki back offensive. Line. Eh but those three together work.
(21:17):
Magic now the problem is keeping them. Together chase has
been banged, Up higgins has been banged, up And, burrow we,
know has missed a ton of. GAMES i don't love, It,
ROB i do like the. Experiment we're gonna try something.
Different right when The chiefs Had Tyreek Hill Kelsey, mahomes
they were, like we can't afford. It we can't build a,
team we can't round out a, team so we gotta
(21:38):
Let Tyreek hill. Go they let him go and they
had a balanced. Team, listen they keep going to Super.
Bowls they went to The Super bowl, again but you
can start to see cracks in the facade of the.
Dynasty Travis kelcey's looking. Washed where they gonna find a
new superstar skill position. Guy defense is getting a little.
CREAKY i, mean the egos kind of had their way with.
THEM i still maintained they got to beat The, bills So,
(22:01):
ROB i don't. KNOW i don't think this is gonna
reap massive benefits for The bengals in terms of getting
to The Super. Bowl but they're gonna be fun as, hell,
obviously and keeping your quarterback happy obviously is. Important but
it kind of sort of reminds. Me do you remember
The Dan Marino dolphins when they had The marx. Brothers
why you were probably too, Young Mark duper And Mark.
(22:22):
Clayton they had a dynamic. Offense they went to The
Super bowl In marino's second. Year they never got back
to the Super. Bowl they had a loaded offense and
never had a defense that could stop a. Nosebleed and
The bengals were pretty much in that same. BOAT i
think they had five or six games when the opponents
scored forty or more. Points but this is gonna, be you,
(22:43):
know a turnstile on defense and you're Facing Lamar jackson
in the. Division and if The steelers ever figure out
a quarterback or The browns Get Shujorge sanders like they're
gonna be behind the eight. Ball it's just gonna be
tough to win without a well balanced. Roster but they
will be exciting and fantasy owners will love.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Them Rob, Absolutely that's not number one in this whole.
Situation if you are a fantasy football lover LIKE i,
am this Is god's gift to your ears because now
every game is guaranteed to be thirty plus on either.
Side so that's number. One number, two before we get
to the actual football, part shout Out Joe burrow And
Jamar chase for making sure that their GUY T higgins
(23:21):
got the. Bag Joe burrow first and, foremost he is
the franchise. Quarterback he went on a media blitz basically
since the season, ended, saying we are not letting star
players out of this. Building we do what we have
to do to keep our. GUYS i will restructure IF
i have. TO i am Keeping, CHASE i am Keeping.
Higgins that is a non starter about losing those two.
(23:42):
Guys you knew all. Along Jamar, chase at some point
was gonna get, paid whether it was gonna be the
highest paid or the second highest paid or Justin jefferson.
Money in this, case now it's the highest paid non
quarterback in our. History you knew that he was gonna.
Stay but What Jamar chase AND T higgins did very
quietly back In, december T higgins fires his, agent Hires
(24:03):
Jamar chase's, agent and it essentially becomes a package. Deal
Jamar chase, SAYS i am not gonna sign a contract with,
you no matter how high it, is unless you also
take care of my GUY T.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Higgins we are in this.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
TOGETHER i WISH i had friends like those you, guys
let me tell, you because THEN i would not be
doing this podcast in my kids playing right. Now i've
been doing it in a nice. Office. Please that's number.
Two but and the third one, is to your, point
with this, offense it should be, historic Right Joe burrow
last season saw you saw that he is as prolific
(24:41):
a pastor as we have in THE nfl right. NOW i,
mean he's this side Of Drew brees when it comes
to just slinging the football to your, point AND i
always gonna. Win but he's gonna put up. Firework he's
gonna put up. Points since twenty twenty, One Chasing higgins
as teammates lead THE nfl as from a duo, perspective
both in receiving yards nine and twelve and receiving touchdowns
(25:05):
with seventy. Four when you have the big three, together
The Burrow Higgins chase, triumvirate they win sixty seven percent
of their. Games that would be sixth in THE, nfl
behind The, chiefs The, eagles The, bills The, lions The.
Ravens sounds to me like that is the upper upper
crust of THE. Nfl so those three, guys at least,
(25:27):
offensively are. Money and if you're A bengals, fan you're
excited about. That you have these three guys locked up
for the foreseeable. Future the only problem with that, is
and again there's always a downside of the, situation that
defense is, terrible as you alluded, To, okay last, season
during a five game stretch in the middle of the,
(25:48):
year the defense allowed an average of thirty five points per.
Game cincinnati went one to. Four lest we, forget in
those two shootouts with The Baltimore, Ravens Joe row threw
nine touchdown passes and ended up zero to. Two, okay last,
year The bengals defense tied for the most losses in
(26:09):
the season this century when their offense scores at least
twenty five points a. Game in those, games they went
five and. Six, historically THE nfl winning percentage when your
team scoress at least twenty five points is eighty one.
Percent that's how bad their defense. Is and if you
want to get into the real minutia of the real
nuts and bolts of, defense they were bottom seven last
(26:31):
year in points per game and yards per, game bottom
six and sack. Percentage and you Mentioned henderson might not
be out there or we don't know about, that bottom
ten and third down, defense bottom ten and penalty, thirty
eighth in red zone. Defense all of that with them
being top seven in. Turnovers and you know this better than,
anybody J, matt because you know ball turnovers are not
(26:51):
something that you can predict on a year to year.
Basis there's some kind of Balance, historically one year you
might be top, ten one year you might Be autumn,
ten but over a five year span you're probably gonna
be somewhere in the. Middle just look at These bengals last.
Year they were top seven before that fifteen, eleven. Seventeen
so you tell me that you have that kind of
(27:13):
turnover look and your defense.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Was still that bad.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Look the trio Of, Burrow chase And higgins might put
up twenty, eight twenty nine points a game and they
still might not even make the. Postseason that's how bad
this defense.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Is not good at. ALL i also want to Add
rob that we're looking at a major uphill climb in
terms of paying your non quarterbacks most IN nfl history
for a non. Quarterback by the, WAY i hate that.
Tag this is one of those like ego things that
agents want to get out their highest paid non quarterback
(27:47):
IN nfl. HISTORY i, mean like three weeks ago it,
was or, no like a week ago Is Max. Crosby
that Was Miles. Garrett now With Stabar, chase like you're
the highest paid non quarterback for like eight. Minutes who
gives a. Shit here are the top five Current Jamar
Chase's number one did not make the playoffs last, Year Miles.
Garrett number. Two do you think they made the? Playoffs?
Nope number Three Max. CROSBY i can already tell you
(28:08):
he did not make the Playoffs number four is Justin.
Jefferson he did make the playoffs number, five As Nick
mosa and The niners obviously did. Not so what teams
are starting to find out, is damn we got to
keep up with The. Joneses pay these. GUYS i don't, Know,
rob are? You are we getting to the point, where hey,
Man Jamar chase is, Nice but CAN i get two
(28:30):
really solid quarterbacks at say twenty mili per that that
make me just as? Good CAN i get those two
to combine and give Me Jamar chase? Numbers AND i
think that's probably the next, experiment because, again this is
a a copycat league and right now everybody's just copying
eight my. SUPERSTAR i gotta pay. HIM i can't lose to.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
It, yeah you're spot on with, That and this goes
back to something that you had actually spoken. About this
might have been last summer when all the wide receivers getting.
Paid and this is really insightful. Soliloquy and if you
p one listeners of the, podcast we know What i'm talking.
About when you were discussing the wide receiver market in
football and how we're getting to a point now where
(29:11):
there are so many really really good receivers that we
might see somebody pivot and, Say i'm not gonna pay you,
Know terry McLaurin whatever it is top five receiver. Money
i'm just gonna draft somebody Because Malik nighbors is gonna
give you that same. Product production Of puknaku was gonna
give you the same kind of. Production like there's a
new wave of guys over and over and. Over And
(29:33):
Sam monson pointed this out Late sunday in the overnight,
hours friend of the, show may we'll get him on
here pretty. Soon and he noted while the cap went
up nine percent this, year which everyone was excited about
because y'll you to pay more guys and get more
star players under, contracts so to, speak with these two
deals now the top of the wide receiver market went
(29:56):
up seventeen. Percent specifically because it's so to your, point J,
mac what's the. STOP i don't know who's going to
the Next Eliitue neighbors Or Brian, thomas whoever the next
guy is it's gonna get. Paid what's the stop one
of these teams to, say you know, what we see
(30:16):
Justin jefferson and we see What Jamar chase And Max
crosby And Miles garrett are not winning a whole like
of a. Lot with these guys paying all these, dudes
why wouldn't we spin the wheel somewhere else and pay
a tight end or pay to your point two. Cornerbacks
it's a fascinating.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Conversation Like Drake london And Garrett wilson just finished year
so they played twenty, two twenty, three twenty year. Three,
OKAY i Think Garrett olson is the top ten quarterback
rud wide receiver in the. LEAGUE i Think Drake london's
probably top, Fifteen Chris olve is probably top. Fifteen Jamison
williams really really. Good but all those you can't pay
them commensurate With Jamar chasen And justin J you. Can't
(30:57):
so but what do they? Get because do you want
to lose? Them AND i would, counter we're. Approaching when
you're approaching a bubble like, this you sell AND i
know that's not gonna be. Popular oh, YEAH i Love Garret.
Wilson he's probably the top jersey, seller either him Or Breeze.
HALL i would honestly, CONSIDER i DON'T i Love Garrett.
(31:17):
WILSON i think he's got a huge, upside but at
this kind of, Mark, like do you Think Garrett wilson's
a thirty million dollar a year? Receiver The jets haven't
done anything with him as a great receiver or a rookie,
Deal so, LIKE i don't. Know man, again And i'm
probably being too, harsh but in twenty twenty, one these
were the first round, Receivers Chase, Wattle Davonta. Smith all
have been to The Super. Bowl, No i'm, Sorry Joel.
(31:38):
Jaye wattle has, Not Devanta smith. Has Canario's tony Bust
Rashad bateman hasn't totally panned. Out and you know you
get another enough bites at The. Apple look at the
twenty twenty. Draft Henry, RUGGS i think he's in prison for.
Life Jerry, judy second Team Ceedee lamb really really, good
BUT i don't know it hasn't won A Super. BOWL
(31:59):
i don't think he's winning anyth anytime. Soon as what's his?
Name the New seahawks, guy is? It Dexter? Lawrence uh,
yeah yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:06):
No uh De Marcus, lawrence Dem Marcus.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Lawrence DeMarcus lawrence noted That cowboys aren't winning anything anytime.
Soon Jalen, ragor who's kind of bounced around the, league
and Then Justin, Jefferson brendan and Ak they got, paid
but forty nine ers already have a buyer's remorse on A. Yuk,
so LIKE i just, think AND i know it's tough
because fans don't want to hear that cap is going. Up, Yes,
rob but does that just automatically mean you've got to
give more to the best receiver on the. Team AND i, know,
(32:33):
LISTEN i get. It Jamar chase is. Unbelievable they didn't
make the. Playoffs if he has to miss four, games
they're probably going one and. Three luckily they Had. Higgins
now what's the? Alternative? Jay you can't just shit on
it and say no. Alternative, okay here we. GO i
would have seen IF i could have got a boatload
FOR T higgins from The Carolina, panthers somebody with a
(32:53):
quarterback on a rookie. DEAL i would have seen WHAT
i could get on the. Market and if that's, hey,
man what's the appsking price FOR T? Higgins let me
get Hey, carolina let me get the eighth overall pick
and a, fourth And i'll give you a third and
you gotta pay Te, higgins THEN i think we're. TALKING
i don't know If carolina would entertain, that but some
teams are desperate and have the quarterback on the rookie.
(33:15):
Deal AND i don't. Know it almost feels like this
is AN nba ish rob does. It it feels like there's, like,
like didn't we talk About Jalen brown making like seventy
million dollars a year in a couple of.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Years, Yeah AND i think what it goes back To
jason is SOMETHING i. Sai i'd say to my original
point as soon As Joe burrow put it out, there
like we are keeping my. Guys there's NO ifansi buts about.
It if you want to keep me, happy you're gonna Resign,
Chase you're going to Resign. Higgins we'll figre out the rest.
Later in this weird kind of, Situation Joe burrow is
(33:49):
acting in a way That Lebron james would. ACT i
don't care about the first round, picks ye trade. UP
i don't care about adults and connect he might be.
Good we need a rim runner For, Luka doncic's trade.
Them like that's What Joe burrow is. Doing something THAT
i hope more quarterbacks would, do especially in THE, nfl
(34:09):
even if this case might be a little bit tricky
because you're boxing yourself so in to an offensive brand
of football when the guys who have leverage don't use.
It that's how you end up with situations, where, hey
we really want to keep you, Whatever Josh, jacobs but
you got to take a pay. Cut, well WHY i
(34:30):
just ran for three hundred yards and they touch. Eouts
WHY i got to take a pay? Cut, well otherwise
we have to let you. Go and until these guys
flex their muscle with these teams and ensure, hey IF
i don't get WHAT i, Want i'm out of. Here
i'm gonna be. Unhappy players are going to continue to
get screwed over in these kind of. Negotiations it's interesting
you use.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
That phrasing not gonna be, happy because you know the
fan base is going to be outraged if you LOSE
T higgins Or Jamar chase is. Pissed but you know
what else THE fa base is angry. With when you
don't win games to go to the, playoffs heads are gonna.
Roll it's either gonna be THE gm or the. Coach
AND i JUST i don't see a path to victory
here for The. Bengals they're gonna be, good. Obviously we'll
(35:11):
see if we get MORE. Nfl there's still nothing On Aaron.
RODGERS i know nobody really. Cares i'm sure you want
us to talk about The suns AND kd And. LUCA
i don't really think it's. WORTHY i did watch the,
Game AS i, said at the, OUTSIDE i was coaching
by kids in. Sports we'll take the two. Titles and
now it's on The March, mandaess all, right Good Monday.
Pod we're back. Tomorrow talk to you. Then
Host
Jason McIntyre
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