January 21, 2025 • 24 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses Ohio State’s blowout victory over Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship game, why it was so refreshing to see the uber-talented Buckeyes reach their full potential in the playoffs, whether or not Will Howard should be viewed as an NFL prospect and the likelihood that head coaches Ryan Day and Marcus Freeman make the jump to the NFL in the near future. Later, J-Mac tells us why it’s clear that the presence of Caleb Williams was the deciding to factor in Ben Johnson’s decision to choose the Chicago Bears over the Las Vegas Raiders and shares his thoughts on what he believes would be realistic expectations for Chicago.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Tuesday, January twenty first, congratulations are in
order for the Ohio State Buck guys who rolled to
the national championship. Notre Dame had a great opening drive.
They put up a little bit of a fight in
(00:31):
the fourth quarter, but it was really never in dowbt
Ohio State thirty four Notre Dame twenty three. We'll obviously
get to the game shortly. I do want to say this,
Ben Johnson to the Bears news that caught me off guard.
I was absolutely stunned by that. So we will talk
about that at the end of the podcast, but we
obviously have to open with the natty. I don't know, guys,
(00:52):
nobody thought that Notre Dame legitimately had a chance. Any
Nobody who was outside of like Notre Dame University, a
former player, Notre Dame grat nobody really thought that they
had a chance. That opening drive, though, was hell of impressive.
I mean, Riley Leonard, it was like a nine minute
drive was like seventeen plays. It's just a ridiculous effort
(01:13):
from the Irish. It looked good and then it kind
of fell apart. I mean, actually, I'm sorry. Eighteen plays,
seventy five yards, nine minutes and forty five seconds, and
then Riley Leonard after he scores the touchdown, you could
see him like, oh my gosh, that was exhausting. I mean,
for asking your quarterback to go up the middle eight
or nine times with no long carries. It was all
(01:34):
like three yards in the cloud of dust. He looked drained.
And then the sideline reporters said that after the first drive,
Riley Leonard came off the field and vomited, And at
that point you were like, all right, noted it. That
was that was fun. And then Ohio State comes down,
bing bang boom. They scored noted in three and out
Ohio State scores again, Notre Dame three and out Ohio
(01:57):
State scores again. At twenty one seven. It was like,
that's a wrap, no doubt. So if you put Ohio
State in teasers with NFL either last weekend or this
coming weekend, you're in the clear. Ohio State covers the
number favorites really cleaned up in this college football playoff.
Oh my, did they. We could break down the players
and especially the quarterbacks here shortly, but I just want
(02:21):
to give a quick shout out to the Buckeyes. I mean,
they built an incredible team, and I think I've talked
about this on the pod. Sometimes things have to happen
for you to get to where you want to be,
even if it's a not great thing, and that loss
to Michigan was the best thing that happened to Ohio
State at the moment. At the time, you know what,
twenty point favorites, you lose, It's like, oh my gosh,
(02:44):
what an embarrassment. That's terrible. Ryan Day, you got a
fire and blah blah blah. They just needed that wake
up call. You know. It sucks that it came to that,
having to lose to your rival when you're favored by
a billion points, but they needed that loss. And who
totally changed everything about this team. They came into the
playoff rested with a brand new outlook, an offensive identity
(03:08):
of pass first as opposed to run first, and like
establish the run and we want to win the line
of scrimmage. Uh. Will Howard just dropped back and just
picked teams apart. Jeremiah Smith, Abuca, this kid, Carnell Taate
and then you could toss it in the running backs
like there were a juggernaut. I'm not saying they're as
(03:29):
great as that Miami Hurricanes team that was ridiculously loaded
from the early two thousands. I don't think they're as
stacked as that FSU team that rolled to the national championship.
And I believe one of the great stats that of
college football that I've ever seen is all twenty two
of their offensive and defensive starters got some kind of
(03:52):
cup of coffee in the NFL, whether it was a
practice squad or what have you. Everybody from that offensive
defense made the NFL, which that team was so stacked
Jameis Winston team, but I think Ohio State like this is.
You look at this team, they're probably gonna have like
fifteen sixteen guys drafted. I mean, I love JTT. I
(04:14):
obviously really really like Jack Sawyer. Who doesn't The kid
Denzel Burke was thought to be a first round pick.
He has not been amazing since then. But the kid
Caleb Downs is good when he's draft eligible. Oh he's
gonna go high. He's just super talented. And then you
know the offensive skill position guys. I did a mock
draft for Fox Sports Friday. I had Sawyer going thirty
(04:35):
two to the Lions. Does he not feel like a
Detroit Lion like Dan Campbell kneecaps Jack Sawyer. I mean,
it feels like a perfect fit. I think Trevion Henderson, now,
he didn't pop in the Natty the way Jenkins did.
The running back transfer from I believe Old miss or
Mississippi State one of those. Yeah, the seventy yard touchdown run.
Henderson was kind of sort of bottled up. They didn't
(04:55):
really use him in the past game. But I think
because of his speed. I mean, he had that elect
trifying screen pass to the house against Texas. I think
Henderson's a pro. I had him first round. I don't
know if he's gonna go first round. But Ohio State
is just ridiculously loaded. This just an outstanding team. I
listen Ryan Day and Chip Kelly. If I'm the Jacksonville
(05:17):
Jaguars and I watch that, how do you not call
Ryan Day and say, hey, man, do you and Chip
want to come down to Jacksonville. Now it's not gonna
happen because they just whiffed badly on Urban Meyer two
coaches ago. So they're not going to go back to
the Ohio State. Well, but I'm just telling you guys
watching Day in chip Kelly, like what do they have
left to prove at Ohio State? And please don't say
(05:37):
beat Michigan. I just again, I get it the Ohio
State fans you gotta beat Michigan. I get it. You
hate them, but like, step back and get a little
perspective and be like bro. We had Dan Wilkin on
the podcast last week and he was saying, how like
Ryan Day's daughter plays volleyball and they're chanting fire Ryan
Day at her volleyball games, Like who needs that crap?
(06:00):
You know, just because you lost to Michigan, you won
the national championship. Like, I don't know. I'm just floored
by this. And maybe I don't get the passion if
you will, it's sports, guys, I don't get it. So
if I'm Ryan Day and chip Kelly as a package
deal going anyway, they just looked that that team looked
amazing in the playoffs, just a spectacular run. I do
(06:20):
want to talk about Will Howard briefly, so as Will
Howard's carving up Notre Dame. I think he started fourteen
for fourteen. He finished seventeen or twenty one, two thirty one,
two touchdowns, eleven yards per attempt. He looked pretty damn good.
Six four two thirty five scrambling well. He had sixteen
carries for fifty seven yards. You watch him and you're like, oh,
(06:43):
wait a minute, who whoa whoa. Now, Now forget the
Oregon game, that Oregon debacle early in the season, forget
the Michigan game where he may or may not have
been concussed. You stripped those two out, and you're like, wow, Okay,
this guy was at Kansas State. Now he's at Ohio State.
What do we have with Will Howard? Is this guy
a pro prospect? And I opened up social media and
(07:07):
I see all these people, Wow, Will Howard. He might
be a first route pick. I don't know, and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa whoa. So he's twenty three now he'll be twenty four,
like Week three next season. Okay, this guy's been playing
college football forever. He graduated high school. I don't know,
(07:29):
two thy twenty. It looks like he joined Kansas State
as an early enroly. In January twenty twenty, he was
the backup to Skyler Thompson, who's been with the Miami Dolphins.
Down for a minute, Will Howard has started looks like
forty two college football games, and obviously he looked amazing
at Ohio State. Now people were drawing the parallel to
(07:51):
and again they're not going overboard. Hey, Joe Burrow couldn't
crack the quarterback room at Ohio State. Then he goes
to LSU, was mediocre for a year and then popped
and he had a stack deck with Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Blase,
Blase Blase. And people are trying to draw the parallel. Well,
that Will Howard's got a loaded offense. Why can't he
(08:12):
be a first rump pick? And I'm like, let's just
slow down, Okay, let's just pump the brakes for a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
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Speaker 2 (08:30):
First, of all, the Joe Burrow stuff is nonsense. Joe
Burrow had, when you look at his numbers, arguably the
greatest college football season any quarterback has ever had. He
put up astronomical numbers. Okay, insane stuff. And I'm not
saying Will Howard could not have done that if they
ran the ball more or you know, called off the
(08:50):
dogs against you know, Maryland and Minnesota or what have you.
But let's just let's chill with Will Howard as a
first trump. Yes, it is certainly interesting. He deserves a
closer look after this playoff run. Maybe it just took
a while to click in the Chip Kelly offense. He
by all accounts good kid, academically strong, but this is
(09:15):
not a guy who had to go through multiple progressions
and struggle to like throw guys open and battle really
difficult zone defenses. I mean he was out there basically
dropped back and oh, I'm throwing to maybe the best
NFL prospect at receivers since Randy moss In. Jeremiah Smith Abuka,
(09:40):
I think is a first round pick. I had him
in the twenties in my mock draft. Like it's those
guys are getting open all over the place, it didn't
matter who they were facing. And then I'm handing off
to two running backs who were definitely going to be drafted,
Like I got an offensive line. That's pretty damn good.
Everything lined up for Howard. I'm not saying he's nothing.
I just I don't know. I don't think there's any
(10:00):
way he's in the cam word class or shoulder. I
know Jalen Molroe did not look good at times, but
I think we're going overboard just a little on Howard.
I do think, yeah, he will get drafted. You know,
maybe he's a third, fourth, fifth round pick and somebody's
intrigued by him. You know, if you pair him with
Kevin O'Connell or Sean McVay, then yeah, I think anything's possible.
(10:21):
But there's only like six of those offensive mines where
anything's possible if you don't have a quarterback like the
Jets and you go and hire Aaron Glenn, which it
seems like it's trending that way. I don't know. I
don't have any hope for like you go to the Jets, like,
I don't think it's gonna go well, you know, Aaron Rodgers,
good luck with that. So I like Howard, I just
I don't. I think it's a little premature to say,
(10:43):
hey man, he was great on the big stage and
a lot of people are parachuting into college football and
just watching the playoff. They didn't watch all season. Howard
was good, he was not great. Then again, yes, I
know Brock Purdy was good, not great his final two
years at Iowa State, and so yes, people can mature
and growth is not linear. Sometimes it's a windy road.
(11:06):
And sure Howard could pop if he lands with Kyle Shanahan.
I mean hasn't almost everyone, with the exception of Trey
Lahan's pop with Kyle Shanahan. So yeah, if he goes
to the right spot, I do think will Howard. I
just I don't see first or second round pick. As
for Riley Leonard, I don't know. I mean, I know this,
the stats were a little inflated. Twenty two thirty one
(11:26):
two fifty five, two touchdowns. I mean they're down three
scores most of the second half. At one point, I
think it was thirty one seven, and so you know,
he's just yeah, I was thirty one seven. And then
he gets the Great House touchdown. By the way, I
had any time touchdown for a great House, which plus
four thirty five, which offset some other losses. That that
(11:46):
was the kid Great Hoouse is not bad and he
just you're chucking every play, and so yeah, he added
some stats when Ohio State was kind of sort of
in prevent mode. I'm not as big on Riley Leonard
is everyone else, you know. I don't see Josh Allen.
I had liked him. The more you see, the less
there really is to like. In my opinion. I will
(12:09):
give Marcus Freeman, who I think should be in line
to coach the Bears the Jets, whoever he is awesome.
I will say I did not like down sixteen attempting
a field goal in the fourth quarter. Let me just
quickly set the stage in case you happen to miss this.
There were eleven ten minutes left. No, it was even
(12:30):
less than that. It was nine minutes left, fourth and
goal from the nine, and they kick a twenty seven
yard field goal. It hits the upright, Even if it
goes in, you're making a two score game. Down sixteen
to thirteen, still a two score game. I didn't get
that at all. It made no sense. I don't know
why Freeman did it. I would you just go for
(12:51):
the touchdout there you're down sixteen. So a little disappointing
there for Freeman, But otherwise I think his era is
pointing way way up and overall. Listen, national championships historically
have been dominated by the favorites, and we saw that
again in the last I think it's five years favorites
have won and covered pretty much no sweat. So congrats
(13:13):
to the Buckeyes that If you guys remember in August,
I said I went to Vegas to sign up for
the contest and I had one futures bet Ohio State
wins the national championship, and I will have to dig
up that ticket, and then I'll have to go to Vegas,
hopefully soon and cash that ticket. I have looked at
some of these early twenty twenty six college football playoff odds.
(13:38):
Arch Manning is going to have everybody betting on Texas.
But I don't know. If you guys saw Texas lost
a billion, guys, I don't know that I'd be laying
out Texas. I do think Penn State is really intriguing.
Both their running backs are back, the quarterback is back.
I think they're gonna be interesting. Let's see what happens
with the transfer portal, what Oregon does at quarterback, what
Notre Dame does at quarterback. Ohio State is losing. I
(14:01):
think everybody but Jeremiah Smith is backs and you know
they just reload. I gotta be honest, I don't understand
this grit h Garrett nusmeyerhype. Maybe I missed something. I
watched them a few times this season. I saw, okay,
big arm. I don't know, guys, I was unimpressed, but hey,
(14:22):
like I said, people can mature and improve. I would
be intrigued by what Carson Beck does at Miami next year.
I'm obviously interested in Michigan always. They are a fascinating team.
We know they load up. That bolwin they had over
Alabama was pretty impressive and they got a big time
quarterback coming in, so we'll see. So the favorites are
(14:43):
Texas fall by, Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Oregon, Penn State,
Alabama thirteen hundred, Notre Dame at fifteen hundred, Tennessee their
quarterbacks back. A lot of it has to do, obviously
with quarterback and the portal. So in the coming weeks,
I think we'll have to get a better idea of
what happened in the portal and how that felt shakes out,
(15:03):
and that we can lay some off season. But again,
I'm not one to lay like five hundred bucks on
futures and tie that up for a calendar year like
that's just that's that's not how I operate. Although to
some five hundred bucks is nothing. To me, it's something,
all right, Let's quickly pivot to I was gonna do
an NBA time. I'm gonna wait for I think Rob's
(15:24):
in tomorrow, so we'll do a little more NBA. I
did see the Warriors just got pummeled by I think forty. Jeez,
they're bad. My hottest take for Fox they asked for
like your twenty twenty five hot takes, and my number
one was the Warriors missed the playoffs. Is Steph Curry
asked for a trade? I don't think that's gonna I
(15:47):
think missing the playoffs is in line. But it doesn't
sound like Curry wants a trade. It sounds like in
the offseason he wants them to make a move on somebody.
Whoever's the disgruntled star. We'll see. We'll do plenty of
NBA here. No other college football is done, but let's
go to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
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dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I was wondering, I think yesterday on the pod and
certainly on social media, Hey, what is this Eddie George
interview stuff? Why are the hell of the Bears interviewing
Eddie George? And everybody knows there's the Rooney Rule and
you've got to satisfy the Rooney Rule. I was like, okay, yeah,
(16:36):
well I thought they interviewed other African American coaches. The
Bears have had a coaching opening since freakin' November. I
think it was Thanksgiving weekend. And you're telling me only
now you're interviewing a Rooney Rule guy or a second
Rooney Rule guy. Well, it was all I guess they
(16:57):
had an idea. As soon as Benji Johnson was eliminated
Saturday night, they scrambled to find another coach to satisfy
the Rooney rule. Enter Eddie George, and then they moved
very quickly Monday to lock up Ben Johnson, the creative
mind from the Detroit Lions, to be their next head coach. Now,
(17:19):
this is where it gets really interesting. If you remember
last year, flashback to a year ago, Ben Johnson was
interviewing for the Washington job. He jumped on a private
jet that Washington's Josh Harris sent him. In mid air,
Ben Johnson determined, I don't want this. I don't want
(17:40):
to interview. I want to return to Detroit. We've got
unfinished business. And so he said no, thank you, and
they end up with Dan Quinn. They are now in
the NFC Championship Game. Ben Johnson stays with the Detroit Lions. Okay,
they were amazing fifteen to two season. Postseason was a letdown,
not really his fault, but it was a surprise that
(18:03):
Ben Johnson was all of a sudden available Saturday night.
I'm personally surprised that everybody didn't scramble to make him
an offer. Raiders, Jags, Saints, Jets, whoever. Now, obviously he's
not gonna want to go just anywhere. But the report
about a month ago was, hey, Ben Johnson wants to
go here, there, anywhere. And oh, by the way, he's
got his GM choice, this guy who he's known, who
(18:25):
ended up in Washington. And this is where it gets
real interesting. The Raiders dumped Tom to LESCo under the
impression that hey, if we get Ben Johnson, we offer
him as GM guy, there you go. We could get
both of them. So many including myself, thought, oh, the
Raiders will get Ben Johnson. That's a hell of a
(18:46):
good get. Now you just got to find a quarterback.
But what it appears is Ben Johnson wanted nothing to
do with a team that doesn't have a quarterback. So
he decides I'm going to stay in the division, which
is kind of some turncoach if you ask me, and
I'm gonna go to the Chicago Bears because oh, they've
got a tremendous prospect in Caleb Williams. Now, I'm sure
(19:09):
you guys saw the clip last week that went viral.
Some guys, some like prankster's got a hold of Caleb
Williams's number and texted, Hey, this is Ben Johnson. I'm
coming to Chicago. Let's go, And just like any young kid,
Caleb Williams respond actually, oh oh. And then they did
a FaceTime and of course these young kids are on
(19:31):
there like twenty year old jokers or whatever, and Caleb's like, ah, man, okay.
But it turns out Caleb Williams gets Ben Johnson and
this mastermind who's never been a head coach, and let's
be honest, guys, three years ago, nobody had heard of
Ben Johnson, Nobody like he just he kind of emerged
(19:53):
with Detroit and all of a sudden, just he went
postal and they could not be stopped. They're running hook ladders.
They had so many creative plays. I would say in
the last year they make the NFL fun, you know, like, yeah,
the Chiefs have had some good, interesting, creative stuff. I
think they've done less of it here in the last year,
maybe because they're limited or just the well has run dry.
(20:16):
But to me, Ben Johnson makes the Lions the most
fun team to watch Offensively, like Jayden Daniels is up
there because of his scrambling ability. Obviously, the Eagles have
Saquon Barkley, who's fun. The Buffalo Bills have Josh Allen.
But weirdly, Detroit's is less about the quarterback and more
about the scheme and the design. And I'm just telling
(20:40):
you they cook up the most interesting stuff in the league.
And this is a huge get for Chicago. My questions,
if you're ready, Number one, is Ben Johnson's creativity going
to be stifled somewhat by weather because a lot of
his damage has been done indoors. Yes, obviously he can
run hooking ladders outside. But inclement weather in Chicago. Instead
(21:03):
of eight dome games, you're getting eight outdoor games in Chicago,
probably four of them in really crappy cold weather with
the potential for snow and sleet and all that fun stuff. Yeah,
I'm sure his stuff's gonna work outdoors in that weather.
But I just wonder if the playbook is as deep
when you're going outdoors, because I mean, even you think
(21:24):
you think back to Detroit in the playoffs and they
had to go to San fran that's warm weather. That's fine,
you can run anything in that. The coldest weather impressive
game I might have been that Jets performance where they
ran like a fourth and one play to a seldom
used tight end and like the most important play of
the game fifty yard touchdown. I'll never forget that. I
was like, this guy's freaking good. That was just incredible
(21:46):
play and the Jets were Nobody was ready for that.
So ultimately, I think Ben Johnson's a great get for
the Bears. I I do believe you know, if you
look closely at that division, you know you don't want
to get too hot taky but let's be real, guys,
the way the Packers kind of ended the season, Jordan
(22:06):
Love up and down, Ben Johnson and Kayleb Williams, there
could be something real nice there. Now. They need to
bolster the offensive line because he goes from an elite
offensive line in Detroit to a middling to below average
one in Chicago. The defense has some has some good
stuff there, but obviously they're not an elite unit. I think,
(22:29):
you know, the weapons, assuming they keep Dj Moore, we
know he kind of flashed him on happiness this season.
I think that you know, you could argue maybe that
it the offensive skill position players aren't far behind Detroit
like a'ma Rossaint Brown's AWESO. Now just say skill position,
not offensive line. I'm a Rossaint Brown incredible. But Dj
(22:51):
Moore is really freaking good not far behind him. And
then Romadunze is probably you know, I don't know that
he's quite Jamison Williams yet, but we could see him
popping too. He was a rookie, remember Jamis and Williams
did nothing early in his career. He had the injury
at the suspension. Roma Dunze could easily pop Keenan Allen
if he's still with the team, if he's healthy, he's
a valuable piece. The Bears, running backs, tight ends, it's
(23:14):
all good. They've got an above average skill position players.
I don't think it's a massive drop off. It's the
offensive line, which is going to be key to everything.
I let's see who I had the Bears looking at
in the draft. They were picking tenth. I had them
going offensive linemen from Texas, Kelvin Banks. They have Listen,
(23:34):
the Bears have the worst offensive line in the division
by a long shot, and they've got to fix it now.
The Vikings, the offensive line was putrid at the end
of the season, but they were missing their left tackle.
He was injured. I think the arrow is pointing up
for Chicago. I don't know that I'm ready to bet
them to make the playoffs next year, but certainly they
will be in contention for a spot for a wildcard
(23:55):
next year. Ice Let's see what the Vikings do at quarterback.
Is it going to be Jj McCarthy, That's what I think.
I do think there will be some pullback for the Lions.
Let's see what they do at offensive coordinator. I don't know.
I saw somebody floating Teddy Bridgewater as the oc I
was like, come on, come on, and let's see what
happens with the Packers. They didn't seem thrilled with Jordan
(24:17):
Love's decision making at the end of the season, but
they got good skill position guys. So that division, I
think pretty clearly is the best division in football, only
because the Raiders are so bad in their division. So
I'm excited for Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears. Is
going to be a very good get for the Bears,
and now we just wait for the Cowboys. For my
Jets Jaguars, I think the Jaguars are an interesting story.
(24:42):
Is everyone off of Trevor Lawrence already? Like you'd think, Oh,
we've got a franchise quarterback. Should be easy to get
a coach. And the names I'm seeing are just so unimpressive.
I don't know. Weird stuff going on in the NFL,
but never a dull moment. All right, we are back tomorrow.
Congrats to the buck Eyes. Talk to you then.
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Tuesday, January twenty first, congratulations are in
order for the Ohio State Buck guys who rolled to
the national championship. Notre Dame had a great opening drive.
They put up a little bit of a fight in
(00:31):
the fourth quarter, but it was really never in dowbt
Ohio State thirty four Notre Dame twenty three. We'll obviously
get to the game shortly. I do want to say this,
Ben Johnson to the Bears news that caught me off guard.
I was absolutely stunned by that. So we will talk
about that at the end of the podcast, but we
obviously have to open with the natty. I don't know, guys,
(00:52):
nobody thought that Notre Dame legitimately had a chance. Any
Nobody who was outside of like Notre Dame University, a
former player, Notre Dame grat nobody really thought that they
had a chance. That opening drive, though, was hell of impressive.
I mean, Riley Leonard, it was like a nine minute
drive was like seventeen plays. It's just a ridiculous effort
(01:13):
from the Irish. It looked good and then it kind
of fell apart. I mean, actually, I'm sorry. Eighteen plays,
seventy five yards, nine minutes and forty five seconds, and
then Riley Leonard after he scores the touchdown, you could
see him like, oh my gosh, that was exhausting. I mean,
for asking your quarterback to go up the middle eight
or nine times with no long carries. It was all
(01:34):
like three yards in the cloud of dust. He looked drained.
And then the sideline reporters said that after the first drive,
Riley Leonard came off the field and vomited, And at
that point you were like, all right, noted it. That
was that was fun. And then Ohio State comes down,
bing bang boom. They scored noted in three and out
Ohio State scores again, Notre Dame three and out Ohio
(01:57):
State scores again. At twenty one seven. It was like,
that's a wrap, no doubt. So if you put Ohio
State in teasers with NFL either last weekend or this
coming weekend, you're in the clear. Ohio State covers the
number favorites really cleaned up in this college football playoff.
Oh my, did they. We could break down the players
and especially the quarterbacks here shortly, but I just want
(02:21):
to give a quick shout out to the Buckeyes. I mean,
they built an incredible team, and I think I've talked
about this on the pod. Sometimes things have to happen
for you to get to where you want to be,
even if it's a not great thing, and that loss
to Michigan was the best thing that happened to Ohio
State at the moment. At the time, you know what,
twenty point favorites, you lose, It's like, oh my gosh,
(02:44):
what an embarrassment. That's terrible. Ryan Day, you got a
fire and blah blah blah. They just needed that wake
up call. You know. It sucks that it came to that,
having to lose to your rival when you're favored by
a billion points, but they needed that loss. And who
totally changed everything about this team. They came into the
playoff rested with a brand new outlook, an offensive identity
(03:08):
of pass first as opposed to run first, and like
establish the run and we want to win the line
of scrimmage. Uh. Will Howard just dropped back and just
picked teams apart. Jeremiah Smith, Abuca, this kid, Carnell Taate
and then you could toss it in the running backs
like there were a juggernaut. I'm not saying they're as
(03:29):
great as that Miami Hurricanes team that was ridiculously loaded
from the early two thousands. I don't think they're as
stacked as that FSU team that rolled to the national championship.
And I believe one of the great stats that of
college football that I've ever seen is all twenty two
of their offensive and defensive starters got some kind of
(03:52):
cup of coffee in the NFL, whether it was a
practice squad or what have you. Everybody from that offensive
defense made the NFL, which that team was so stacked
Jameis Winston team, but I think Ohio State like this is.
You look at this team, they're probably gonna have like
fifteen sixteen guys drafted. I mean, I love JTT. I
(04:14):
obviously really really like Jack Sawyer. Who doesn't The kid
Denzel Burke was thought to be a first round pick.
He has not been amazing since then. But the kid
Caleb Downs is good when he's draft eligible. Oh he's
gonna go high. He's just super talented. And then you
know the offensive skill position guys. I did a mock
draft for Fox Sports Friday. I had Sawyer going thirty
(04:35):
two to the Lions. Does he not feel like a
Detroit Lion like Dan Campbell kneecaps Jack Sawyer. I mean,
it feels like a perfect fit. I think Trevion Henderson, now,
he didn't pop in the Natty the way Jenkins did.
The running back transfer from I believe Old miss or
Mississippi State one of those. Yeah, the seventy yard touchdown run.
Henderson was kind of sort of bottled up. They didn't
(04:55):
really use him in the past game. But I think
because of his speed. I mean, he had that elect
trifying screen pass to the house against Texas. I think
Henderson's a pro. I had him first round. I don't
know if he's gonna go first round. But Ohio State
is just ridiculously loaded. This just an outstanding team. I
listen Ryan Day and Chip Kelly. If I'm the Jacksonville
(05:17):
Jaguars and I watch that, how do you not call
Ryan Day and say, hey, man, do you and Chip
want to come down to Jacksonville. Now it's not gonna
happen because they just whiffed badly on Urban Meyer two
coaches ago. So they're not going to go back to
the Ohio State. Well, but I'm just telling you guys
watching Day in chip Kelly, like what do they have
left to prove at Ohio State? And please don't say
(05:37):
beat Michigan. I just again, I get it the Ohio
State fans you gotta beat Michigan. I get it. You
hate them, but like, step back and get a little
perspective and be like bro. We had Dan Wilkin on
the podcast last week and he was saying, how like
Ryan Day's daughter plays volleyball and they're chanting fire Ryan
Day at her volleyball games, Like who needs that crap?
(06:00):
You know, just because you lost to Michigan, you won
the national championship. Like, I don't know. I'm just floored
by this. And maybe I don't get the passion if
you will, it's sports, guys, I don't get it. So
if I'm Ryan Day and chip Kelly as a package
deal going anyway, they just looked that that team looked
amazing in the playoffs, just a spectacular run. I do
(06:20):
want to talk about Will Howard briefly, so as Will
Howard's carving up Notre Dame. I think he started fourteen
for fourteen. He finished seventeen or twenty one, two thirty one,
two touchdowns, eleven yards per attempt. He looked pretty damn good.
Six four two thirty five scrambling well. He had sixteen
carries for fifty seven yards. You watch him and you're like, oh,
(06:43):
wait a minute, who whoa whoa. Now, Now forget the
Oregon game, that Oregon debacle early in the season, forget
the Michigan game where he may or may not have
been concussed. You stripped those two out, and you're like, wow, Okay,
this guy was at Kansas State. Now he's at Ohio State.
What do we have with Will Howard? Is this guy
a pro prospect? And I opened up social media and
(07:07):
I see all these people, Wow, Will Howard. He might
be a first route pick. I don't know, and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa whoa. So he's twenty three now he'll be twenty four,
like Week three next season. Okay, this guy's been playing
college football forever. He graduated high school. I don't know,
(07:29):
two thy twenty. It looks like he joined Kansas State
as an early enroly. In January twenty twenty, he was
the backup to Skyler Thompson, who's been with the Miami Dolphins.
Down for a minute, Will Howard has started looks like
forty two college football games, and obviously he looked amazing
at Ohio State. Now people were drawing the parallel to
(07:51):
and again they're not going overboard. Hey, Joe Burrow couldn't
crack the quarterback room at Ohio State. Then he goes
to LSU, was mediocre for a year and then popped
and he had a stack deck with Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Blase,
Blase Blase. And people are trying to draw the parallel. Well,
that Will Howard's got a loaded offense. Why can't he
(08:12):
be a first rump pick? And I'm like, let's just
slow down, Okay, let's just pump the brakes for a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
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 (08:30):
First, of all, the Joe Burrow stuff is nonsense. Joe
Burrow had, when you look at his numbers, arguably the
greatest college football season any quarterback has ever had. He
put up astronomical numbers. Okay, insane stuff. And I'm not
saying Will Howard could not have done that if they
ran the ball more or you know, called off the
(08:50):
dogs against you know, Maryland and Minnesota or what have you.
But let's just let's chill with Will Howard as a
first trump. Yes, it is certainly interesting. He deserves a
closer look after this playoff run. Maybe it just took
a while to click in the Chip Kelly offense. He
by all accounts good kid, academically strong, but this is
(09:15):
not a guy who had to go through multiple progressions
and struggle to like throw guys open and battle really
difficult zone defenses. I mean he was out there basically
dropped back and oh, I'm throwing to maybe the best
NFL prospect at receivers since Randy moss In. Jeremiah Smith Abuka,
(09:40):
I think is a first round pick. I had him
in the twenties in my mock draft. Like it's those
guys are getting open all over the place, it didn't
matter who they were facing. And then I'm handing off
to two running backs who were definitely going to be drafted,
Like I got an offensive line. That's pretty damn good.
Everything lined up for Howard. I'm not saying he's nothing.
I just I don't know. I don't think there's any
(10:00):
way he's in the cam word class or shoulder. I
know Jalen Molroe did not look good at times, but
I think we're going overboard just a little on Howard.
I do think, yeah, he will get drafted. You know,
maybe he's a third, fourth, fifth round pick and somebody's
intrigued by him. You know, if you pair him with
Kevin O'Connell or Sean McVay, then yeah, I think anything's possible.
(10:21):
But there's only like six of those offensive mines where
anything's possible if you don't have a quarterback like the
Jets and you go and hire Aaron Glenn, which it
seems like it's trending that way. I don't know. I
don't have any hope for like you go to the Jets, like,
I don't think it's gonna go well, you know, Aaron Rodgers,
good luck with that. So I like Howard, I just
I don't. I think it's a little premature to say,
(10:43):
hey man, he was great on the big stage and
a lot of people are parachuting into college football and
just watching the playoff. They didn't watch all season. Howard
was good, he was not great. Then again, yes, I
know Brock Purdy was good, not great his final two
years at Iowa State, and so yes, people can mature
and growth is not linear. Sometimes it's a windy road.
(11:06):
And sure Howard could pop if he lands with Kyle Shanahan.
I mean hasn't almost everyone, with the exception of Trey
Lahan's pop with Kyle Shanahan. So yeah, if he goes
to the right spot, I do think will Howard. I
just I don't see first or second round pick. As
for Riley Leonard, I don't know. I mean, I know this,
the stats were a little inflated. Twenty two thirty one
(11:26):
two fifty five, two touchdowns. I mean they're down three
scores most of the second half. At one point, I
think it was thirty one seven, and so you know,
he's just yeah, I was thirty one seven. And then
he gets the Great House touchdown. By the way, I
had any time touchdown for a great House, which plus
four thirty five, which offset some other losses. That that
(11:46):
was the kid Great Hoouse is not bad and he
just you're chucking every play, and so yeah, he added
some stats when Ohio State was kind of sort of
in prevent mode. I'm not as big on Riley Leonard
is everyone else, you know. I don't see Josh Allen.
I had liked him. The more you see, the less
there really is to like. In my opinion. I will
(12:09):
give Marcus Freeman, who I think should be in line
to coach the Bears the Jets, whoever he is awesome.
I will say I did not like down sixteen attempting
a field goal in the fourth quarter. Let me just
quickly set the stage in case you happen to miss this.
There were eleven ten minutes left. No, it was even
(12:30):
less than that. It was nine minutes left, fourth and
goal from the nine, and they kick a twenty seven
yard field goal. It hits the upright, Even if it
goes in, you're making a two score game. Down sixteen
to thirteen, still a two score game. I didn't get
that at all. It made no sense. I don't know
why Freeman did it. I would you just go for
(12:51):
the touchdout there you're down sixteen. So a little disappointing
there for Freeman, But otherwise I think his era is
pointing way way up and overall. Listen, national championships historically
have been dominated by the favorites, and we saw that
again in the last I think it's five years favorites
have won and covered pretty much no sweat. So congrats
(13:13):
to the Buckeyes that If you guys remember in August,
I said I went to Vegas to sign up for
the contest and I had one futures bet Ohio State
wins the national championship, and I will have to dig
up that ticket, and then I'll have to go to Vegas,
hopefully soon and cash that ticket. I have looked at
some of these early twenty twenty six college football playoff odds.
(13:38):
Arch Manning is going to have everybody betting on Texas.
But I don't know. If you guys saw Texas lost
a billion, guys, I don't know that I'd be laying
out Texas. I do think Penn State is really intriguing.
Both their running backs are back, the quarterback is back.
I think they're gonna be interesting. Let's see what happens
with the transfer portal, what Oregon does at quarterback, what
Notre Dame does at quarterback. Ohio State is losing. I
(14:01):
think everybody but Jeremiah Smith is backs and you know
they just reload. I gotta be honest, I don't understand
this grit h Garrett nusmeyerhype. Maybe I missed something. I
watched them a few times this season. I saw, okay,
big arm. I don't know, guys, I was unimpressed, but hey,
(14:22):
like I said, people can mature and improve. I would
be intrigued by what Carson Beck does at Miami next year.
I'm obviously interested in Michigan always. They are a fascinating team.
We know they load up. That bolwin they had over
Alabama was pretty impressive and they got a big time
quarterback coming in, so we'll see. So the favorites are
(14:43):
Texas fall by, Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Oregon, Penn State,
Alabama thirteen hundred, Notre Dame at fifteen hundred, Tennessee their
quarterbacks back. A lot of it has to do, obviously
with quarterback and the portal. So in the coming weeks,
I think we'll have to get a better idea of
what happened in the portal and how that felt shakes out,
(15:03):
and that we can lay some off season. But again,
I'm not one to lay like five hundred bucks on
futures and tie that up for a calendar year like
that's just that's that's not how I operate. Although to
some five hundred bucks is nothing. To me, it's something,
all right, Let's quickly pivot to I was gonna do
an NBA time. I'm gonna wait for I think Rob's
(15:24):
in tomorrow, so we'll do a little more NBA. I
did see the Warriors just got pummeled by I think forty. Jeez,
they're bad. My hottest take for Fox they asked for
like your twenty twenty five hot takes, and my number
one was the Warriors missed the playoffs. Is Steph Curry
asked for a trade? I don't think that's gonna I
(15:47):
think missing the playoffs is in line. But it doesn't
sound like Curry wants a trade. It sounds like in
the offseason he wants them to make a move on somebody.
Whoever's the disgruntled star. We'll see. We'll do plenty of
NBA here. No other college football is done, but let's
go to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
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 (16:15):
I was wondering, I think yesterday on the pod and
certainly on social media, Hey, what is this Eddie George
interview stuff? Why are the hell of the Bears interviewing
Eddie George? And everybody knows there's the Rooney Rule and
you've got to satisfy the Rooney Rule. I was like, okay, yeah,
(16:36):
well I thought they interviewed other African American coaches. The
Bears have had a coaching opening since freakin' November. I
think it was Thanksgiving weekend. And you're telling me only
now you're interviewing a Rooney Rule guy or a second
Rooney Rule guy. Well, it was all I guess they
(16:57):
had an idea. As soon as Benji Johnson was eliminated
Saturday night, they scrambled to find another coach to satisfy
the Rooney rule. Enter Eddie George, and then they moved
very quickly Monday to lock up Ben Johnson, the creative
mind from the Detroit Lions, to be their next head coach. Now,
(17:19):
this is where it gets really interesting. If you remember
last year, flashback to a year ago, Ben Johnson was
interviewing for the Washington job. He jumped on a private
jet that Washington's Josh Harris sent him. In mid air,
Ben Johnson determined, I don't want this. I don't want
(17:40):
to interview. I want to return to Detroit. We've got
unfinished business. And so he said no, thank you, and
they end up with Dan Quinn. They are now in
the NFC Championship Game. Ben Johnson stays with the Detroit Lions. Okay,
they were amazing fifteen to two season. Postseason was a letdown,
not really his fault, but it was a surprise that
(18:03):
Ben Johnson was all of a sudden available Saturday night.
I'm personally surprised that everybody didn't scramble to make him
an offer. Raiders, Jags, Saints, Jets, whoever. Now, obviously he's
not gonna want to go just anywhere. But the report
about a month ago was, hey, Ben Johnson wants to
go here, there, anywhere. And oh, by the way, he's
got his GM choice, this guy who he's known, who
(18:25):
ended up in Washington. And this is where it gets
real interesting. The Raiders dumped Tom to LESCo under the
impression that hey, if we get Ben Johnson, we offer
him as GM guy, there you go. We could get
both of them. So many including myself, thought, oh, the
Raiders will get Ben Johnson. That's a hell of a
(18:46):
good get. Now you just got to find a quarterback.
But what it appears is Ben Johnson wanted nothing to
do with a team that doesn't have a quarterback. So
he decides I'm going to stay in the division, which
is kind of some turncoach if you ask me, and
I'm gonna go to the Chicago Bears because oh, they've
got a tremendous prospect in Caleb Williams. Now, I'm sure
(19:09):
you guys saw the clip last week that went viral.
Some guys, some like prankster's got a hold of Caleb
Williams's number and texted, Hey, this is Ben Johnson. I'm
coming to Chicago. Let's go, And just like any young kid,
Caleb Williams respond actually, oh oh. And then they did
a FaceTime and of course these young kids are on
(19:31):
there like twenty year old jokers or whatever, and Caleb's like, ah, man, okay.
But it turns out Caleb Williams gets Ben Johnson and
this mastermind who's never been a head coach, and let's
be honest, guys, three years ago, nobody had heard of
Ben Johnson, Nobody like he just he kind of emerged
(19:53):
with Detroit and all of a sudden, just he went
postal and they could not be stopped. They're running hook ladders.
They had so many creative plays. I would say in
the last year they make the NFL fun, you know, like, yeah,
the Chiefs have had some good, interesting, creative stuff. I
think they've done less of it here in the last year,
maybe because they're limited or just the well has run dry.
(20:16):
But to me, Ben Johnson makes the Lions the most
fun team to watch Offensively, like Jayden Daniels is up
there because of his scrambling ability. Obviously, the Eagles have
Saquon Barkley, who's fun. The Buffalo Bills have Josh Allen.
But weirdly, Detroit's is less about the quarterback and more
about the scheme and the design. And I'm just telling
(20:40):
you they cook up the most interesting stuff in the league.
And this is a huge get for Chicago. My questions,
if you're ready, Number one, is Ben Johnson's creativity going
to be stifled somewhat by weather because a lot of
his damage has been done indoors. Yes, obviously he can
run hooking ladders outside. But inclement weather in Chicago. Instead
(21:03):
of eight dome games, you're getting eight outdoor games in Chicago,
probably four of them in really crappy cold weather with
the potential for snow and sleet and all that fun stuff. Yeah,
I'm sure his stuff's gonna work outdoors in that weather.
But I just wonder if the playbook is as deep
when you're going outdoors, because I mean, even you think
(21:24):
you think back to Detroit in the playoffs and they
had to go to San fran that's warm weather. That's fine,
you can run anything in that. The coldest weather impressive
game I might have been that Jets performance where they
ran like a fourth and one play to a seldom
used tight end and like the most important play of
the game fifty yard touchdown. I'll never forget that. I
was like, this guy's freaking good. That was just incredible
(21:46):
play and the Jets were Nobody was ready for that.
So ultimately, I think Ben Johnson's a great get for
the Bears. I I do believe you know, if you
look closely at that division, you know you don't want
to get too hot taky but let's be real, guys,
the way the Packers kind of ended the season, Jordan
(22:06):
Love up and down, Ben Johnson and Kayleb Williams, there
could be something real nice there. Now. They need to
bolster the offensive line because he goes from an elite
offensive line in Detroit to a middling to below average
one in Chicago. The defense has some has some good
stuff there, but obviously they're not an elite unit. I think,
(22:29):
you know, the weapons, assuming they keep Dj Moore, we
know he kind of flashed him on happiness this season.
I think that you know, you could argue maybe that
it the offensive skill position players aren't far behind Detroit
like a'ma Rossaint Brown's AWESO. Now just say skill position,
not offensive line. I'm a Rossaint Brown incredible. But Dj
(22:51):
Moore is really freaking good not far behind him. And
then Romadunze is probably you know, I don't know that
he's quite Jamison Williams yet, but we could see him
popping too. He was a rookie, remember Jamis and Williams
did nothing early in his career. He had the injury
at the suspension. Roma Dunze could easily pop Keenan Allen
if he's still with the team, if he's healthy, he's
a valuable piece. The Bears, running backs, tight ends, it's
(23:14):
all good. They've got an above average skill position players.
I don't think it's a massive drop off. It's the
offensive line, which is going to be key to everything.
I let's see who I had the Bears looking at
in the draft. They were picking tenth. I had them
going offensive linemen from Texas, Kelvin Banks. They have Listen,
(23:34):
the Bears have the worst offensive line in the division
by a long shot, and they've got to fix it now.
The Vikings, the offensive line was putrid at the end
of the season, but they were missing their left tackle.
He was injured. I think the arrow is pointing up
for Chicago. I don't know that I'm ready to bet
them to make the playoffs next year, but certainly they
will be in contention for a spot for a wildcard
(23:55):
next year. Ice Let's see what the Vikings do at quarterback.
Is it going to be Jj McCarthy, That's what I think.
I do think there will be some pullback for the Lions.
Let's see what they do at offensive coordinator. I don't know.
I saw somebody floating Teddy Bridgewater as the oc I
was like, come on, come on, and let's see what
happens with the Packers. They didn't seem thrilled with Jordan
(24:17):
Love's decision making at the end of the season, but
they got good skill position guys. So that division, I
think pretty clearly is the best division in football, only
because the Raiders are so bad in their division. So
I'm excited for Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears. Is
going to be a very good get for the Bears,
and now we just wait for the Cowboys. For my
Jets Jaguars, I think the Jaguars are an interesting story.
(24:42):
Is everyone off of Trevor Lawrence already? Like you'd think, Oh,
we've got a franchise quarterback. Should be easy to get
a coach. And the names I'm seeing are just so unimpressive.
I don't know. Weird stuff going on in the NFL,
but never a dull moment. All right, we are back tomorrow.
Congrats to the buck Eyes. Talk to you then.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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