December 22, 2025 • 35 mins
NFL analyst Ross Tucker expresses strong belief in Jacksonville following their impressive win over the Broncos, and praises Kyle Shanahan's coaching of the injury-ravaged 49ers. College football analyst Rick Neuheisel names Ohio State as the strongest remaining team in the CFP and shares a holiday-themed college football song. NFL analyst Nate Burleson suggests that luck never seems to find the Detroit Lions and gives his picks of the teams to come out of the AFC and NFC.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He's Ross Tucker, CBS Sports, Westwood One, and he did
Jet Saints yesterday. He'll be on the call for the
Niners Colts tonight on west Wood One. Round of applause
for a great year for Ross.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Thank you, Thank you guys for having me so much.
I really appreciate it. I was wondering if you had
an award for best guests, and I was curious where
I might fit in.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Should we start one where we put maybe our top
five or six people who join us all the time,
And maybe we'll do that. But you're gonna be up
against Reggie Miller. I mean, there's gonna be a few
people in there, Steve Young, I mean there's I don't know.
Do you want that?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Well, you know how I feel about it, Dan. If
I'm going to come in first, I think it's a
great idea. If I'm not going to come in first,
I just don't think it's joined necessary. Let me be
in my own big head, Okay, let me be first
in my own big head. I'll just assume, based on
the feedback I get from your great listeners, that I'm
(01:09):
that I'm number one. They don't need to have an
official vote and ruin my ruin my expectations.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Okay, if I said who do you believe in the most,
and I put those teams up there, So the Texans, Jags, Broncos, Patriots,
Who's first?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Right now? I would say the Jacksonville Jaguars. And I
know you guys said last, and I know you're not
believing him. They are really good. I mean I watched
them a lot, because last week I did Jets Jags. Okay,
think about this for a second. In a five game stretch,
Trevor Lawrence didn't have to play in the end of
(01:52):
the fourth quarter in four of those five. These are
NFL games. This is NFL teams. This is not a
power for versus a group of five or whatever anybody
wants to talk about. These are NFL teams where four
games out of five the Jags were able to put
Nick Mullins in the game. Then you go out to
(02:12):
Denver and you dominate the Broncos, like the Jaguars did,
their offensive lines playing very well. This is the best
we've ever seen Trevor Lawrence play. Their weapons are a
lot better than people realize. Parker Washington can play. Brenton Strams,
the tight end can play. They're like Jacoby Myers is
kind of like that guy that's always been just okay,
(02:33):
but people don't like. The Jaguars are sort of that
team Dan that has a bunch of underrated, underappreciated, under
the radar guys that are a lot better than people
realize because they don't play a lot of marquee games.
Even yesterday, okay, they're playing the team with the number
one seed. They're playing the you know, the big bad
(02:55):
Denver Broncos. That was a four h five game that
wasn't the featured Tom Brady, you know Kevin Burkhart game
that went to the Steelers' Lions. That have the Jaguars played.
I think the Jaguars played the Chiefs like in Week
four on Monday Night. That might have been their only
primetime game the whole year. Defensively, they got a bunch
of guys and as you can tell, and I noticed
(03:16):
this last week when I was there, they have an
immense chip on their shoulder. Liam Cohen, he's from Rhode Island. Okay,
he's got that New Englander in him. He takes a
fence to every he doesn't discriminate. He just takes a
fence to everything. He even drops the line about yeah,
I mean for a small market team like us, it
wasn't even a knock by Sean Payton. You know. Sean
(03:39):
Payton was just being honest and realistic. So they'll take
any little edge they can. And I know people sit
here and think, does that really make a difference. Yeah,
it does. It just stokes your fire a little bit
more every day. It's not only about the game, it's
about every day during the week, giving you the edge
to prep just a little bit harder.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, I'm not rooting against the Jags. I want their
fan base to know it doesn't I'm just saying I
got to wait to see it happen. Same thing with
the Ravens, you know, Lamar Jackson. Let me see what
you do in the postseason. I mean the Steelers, I
don't know how good they are. I know when you
get to the postseason, you get in and you lose.
(04:22):
So I would like to see a little more from you.
I want to see Drake May and the Patriots in
the playoffs in a big moment there. I mean, I
think that's just natural reasoning with a lot of these
teams show me. We said this before. I want to
see what happens with Justin Herbert in a big moment. Yeah,
you can throw for four thousand yards. All of those
(04:43):
things are great. We're a bottom line sports society.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Well, I got news for you. I got news for you.
Though Dan Mahomes is not making the playoffs. We know
that Burrow's not making the playoffs. We know that it
looks highly unlikely Lamar Jackson is going to make the playoffs.
So think about that before if we did any quarterback rankings,
any quarterback discussions, there was a clear top four, there
(05:09):
was a clear elite group, and we talk about how
it's by far the most important position in the sport,
and all that three of the four guys that are
clearly coming into the year the best of the best quarterbacks,
three of the four are not going to the playoffs.
I don't think that the Ravens are going, which, by
the way, means Josh Allen, the time is yours, bro,
(05:32):
I mean it is your time.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Can there be more pressure on Josh Allen to finally
get to a Super Bowl?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yes, there's even more because those other guys aren't in it.
There's even more. But the point I was gonna make
is a lot of those teams you just mentioned, right,
Jacksonville or Herbert or you know this Steelers, somebody has
to win these games, Dan, I mean a lot of
these teams are gonna be playing against each other. I mean,
these are the teams in the playoffs. So you just
named three of the seventeen that are going to be
(06:01):
in the playoffs in the AFC. I mean, I guess
all three of them could lose it the first round.
But somebody has to win these games. We have to
start to believe in somebody, because Malmes, he's not coming.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I didn't understand. Now, I understand the call in the
Lions Steelers game that you know it was past interference
offensive pass interference. If you want to call that, you
call that, But the fact that the play look like
it was still alive if there's no pass interference, Now,
I'm gonna play the call here and then I'm gonna
come to you because I have a couple of problems here, Marvin.
(06:35):
Play that the last play there in the lines game, fourth.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
And goal for the Lions from the nine ball game
on the line right here. They need the end zone
for the win. Jared leans in. There's the snap on
fourth down, Jared back, Jared stepping up, Jared look, he
throwing end zone. It is caught by Amen ras Shy
at the end zone. He flips it back to Goff
who talked it to the end.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
Zone for the touchdown. There's a flag that came in.
Two flags.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Did they rule them down?
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Are they going to say pass interference against dom and raw?
There's no time left on the clock. Here comes Carl Scheffers,
the officials that finally broke and we're gonna get call
right here? Is this game over or not?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Pittsburg's staying on the field, but they're really on the field.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
There's a touchdown.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
However, US interference number fourteen on the offense.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
My rule, that penalty is not enforced and there is
no replay. The game is over.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Wow, there is no touchdown.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Wow, okay, talk about a bait and switch. That is
embarrassing for the official. It's a touchdown, but there's pass interference.
There is no touchdown. Game over, good night and drive
home safely. How could you possibly say it's a touchdown
(07:59):
in Detroit and then say, but there was past interference?
No touchdown.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I think Dan, he should have sold it harder and
really pulled off a grinch move there. Jeffers should have
been like, the ruling on the field is touchdown, Detroit Live.
Except unfortunately there's a penalty of games over. You guys
lost the ye.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
But I wonder if the whistle, because they clearly had
stopped I'm on Ross Saint Brown his forward progress, right.
I don't know if a whistle, let's say there's no
pass interference, would they I guess they would have allowed
that touchdown because he said that it's a touchdown except
for there his past interference.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Absolutely they would have allowed it, which would have been incredible.
I mean, I'm in raw. First of all, that was
about blatant a past interference. I don't know why he
was doing. He went right after the guy and just
two hands shoved him. Probably didn't need to do it,
but he did. But can you imagine if Jared goff
on a pitchback the touchdown diving into the end zone
(09:02):
for the Lions to be able to go to the playoffs,
and that that's how that game had ended. But you
have to call it a touchdown, Dan, if you're gonna
call the two point conversion in the Seattle Rams game
where Sharbonag just walks over and picks up the ball
that's in the end zone. I gotta be honest with you,
I had much more of a problem with that. That
to me should not have been two points for the Seahawks.
(09:25):
The whistle blue in that one, and that one the
whistle blew. In my opinion, as a player, once the
whistle blows, nothing after that should count. Because what would
have happened if the whistle blue and Sharbonage just walking
over to pick the ball up. Am I allowed to
just come in and just crack him?
Speaker 5 (09:44):
No?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
I would have been penalized. So if Sharbonae's going to
score the two point play, but if I came over
and just annihilate him, they would throw a penalty on me.
Then you can't say the two point conversion counts. I
had a real problem with Thursday night, way worse than
and then Cheffer's in that game yesterday.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
He's Ross Tucker CBS Sports Westwood One. He'll be on
the call for the Niners and the Colts on Westwood one.
What is DK Metcalf doing with the fan his team
is winning, He's probably going to be suspended for a
game you make contact with the I know fans say
(10:23):
a lot of bad things, negative things, but you can't.
You can't take matters into your own hands. What do
you think the NFL does.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I think that they probably will suspend him because this
is a lot different than the fan initiating physical contact,
or the fan, you know, somehow coming on the field
or anything like that. DK metcalf went all the way
over into the stands. It wasn't like the guy was
(10:53):
right behind him. I mean, that was a good ten
yards behind him. Obviously, whatever the guy said. The guy
told the Detroit Free that he called DK by his
real name.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
It's whatever the D is and the K is, and
I guess I didn't know that. But now evidently DK
does not like that. By the way, now every defensive
back knows that DK does not like if you call
him by his real first name. But you can't do that.
You cannot walk over. I feel very strongly when fans
cross over the line that that's very different to me.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
This.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
You're allowed to say whatever you want to say from
the stands. You're allowed to say whatever you want to say,
and a player cannot go over there and initiate anything,
especially putting their hands on them. I think the NFL
has to come down on him hard. Right or wrong.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Your game tonight, Explain to me how the Niners are
doing it this year.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
They are a really very well coached team.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I mean, this might be Kyle Shanahan's best coaching that
he's done. And nobody's going to talk about it. When
you lose your two best defense players, Ayuki is a
no show. Debo's gone. I mean, you had Mac Jones
for a while. Now perty in the most competitive division
in football.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
It's incredible. You're right, it might be Kyle Shanahan's best
coaching job. You know, they have sixteen sacks. That's by
far the worst in the NFL. Everybody else has at
least twenty two.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I'll give Sala Miles Garrett has more sacks than the Niners.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Miles Garrett has six more sacks than the Niners.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I'll give Sala a lot of credit because you lose
two of the top twenty players in football on defense,
and he still has had a couple games where they
gave up less than ten points. We'll see what happens. Tonight.
My guess is, Dan, they'll drop eight in coverage and
pack it up and in and force Philip Rivers to
try to have to fit the ball on tight windows
(12:52):
or throw it deep. But they're just very very well
coached both sides of the ball. The offense is a machine.
Here's you. I think it's crazy. Watch the game a night, Dan,
and tell me that McCaffrey hasn't lost just a little.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Oh yes, definitely he's lost it.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
And the guy's gonna have two thousand yards from scrimmage.
He's third in the NFL with over said, he's gonna
have four hundred and eighteen touches. The last time somebody
had over four hundred touches was McCaffrey had four, oh
weeight in twenty nineteen. I'm in awe. Imagine this, Okay,
imagine not being the player you used to be and
(13:33):
losing a step or half a step, and yet you
go out and get an NFL football over four hundred
times and have over two thousand yards. That guy coming
off of the two injuries last year, that guy is
an absolute warrior. I'm incredible. I'm like, he's one of
those guys in my in my Hall of Fame that
(13:53):
I'm in awe of that he's able to do is
the mental and physical.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Toughness just like you.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Just hey, listen, I had to fly from New Orleans
to through Chicago to Indianapolis to get here to call
a game with unbelievable horror the night. I mean, you know,
profile is encouraged. I know that. I don't know when
the last episode they've done is. But I had to
stay and I had to stay in a merry out
here and I just went to the M Lounge. Breakfast
was delicious. It's it's not easy, man, You're my hero.
(14:26):
Thank you, buddy. Merry Christmas to you, save travel. Yeah,
Merry Christmas, guys, thank thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
That's Ross Tucker.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAPP.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Pauly Fools Go Here with Tony Fools Go.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (14:44):
As everybody knows, we're the hosts of the award winning
Paully and Tony foolsco show. Yeah, but instead of us
telling you how great we are, here's how Dan Patrick
described us when he came on our show.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
What are you doing interrupting our promo?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
You wasn't talking about you.
Speaker 8 (15:02):
You took those clubs totally of context.
Speaker 7 (15:04):
Oh yeah, well after this promo, I'm gonna take you
out and beat you.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Let me put this into context.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Shut up.
Speaker 7 (15:11):
Yeah, anyway, just listen to the Pauli and Tony Fusco
Show on Ieartradio, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeing, let's bring in Rick Neuheisel, CBS Sports College football
analyst feels like those who didn't want tu Lane or
James Madison in the playoffs certainly got what they wanted.
Speaker 6 (15:30):
Oh I agree, I agree, And I think someday we're
going to get to a point where James Madison Tulane
are going to get to play each other, and we
just need to get that game the kind of stage
that it deserves, you know, a New Year's Day stage
where they can play for a group of five or
a group of six, whatever it ends up becoming national champion.
(15:52):
The fact that we're taking players from them, you know, annually,
just basically taking their all start team and putting it
on the powerful rosters with lavish gifts. It makes it
difficult for them to compete when they get to this
portion of the year.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Best team remaining is who.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
I still think it's Ohio State. I know Ohio State
got comfortable not trying to be too explosive offensively and
lean into their defense, and Indiana kind of exposed them there.
But I believe you know, with Ryan day now back
probably calling play's heartline spending, just like I said, the
Colin kleinb dilemma, having to get ready for what's going
(16:36):
on at South Florida. I think that Ohio State has
the makings of the offense that can win a national championship,
and they've certainly proven themselves defensively.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
The best matchup coming up is who.
Speaker 6 (16:53):
Goodness gracious, I love the Rose Bowl Indiana. I mean,
if you're an Indiana fan, are you just absolutely have
red marks all of them for the times you've been
pinching yourself. I'm been trophy winner, he's been trophy winner,
and now the Big Ten championship. You've been to the
(17:14):
College Football Playoff now two years in a row. It's
too good to be true. And now you're going to
the Rose Bowl to take on Alabama. I mean This
is like some psychedelic dream that most of these folks
had back in their college days. This is too good
to be true.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
First half social media, Notre Dame fans talking about Alabama
no show down, seventeen to nothing, and then they went quiet.
The second half there, it.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
Went pretty quiet, pretty fast. Although Brent Benables has got
to be sitting there look at himself in the mirror,
go what was I doing? Third and five? Sending out
my kicker to kick into the wind from fifty one
yards away after he missed a chip shot. It was
not the exemplary head coaching one oh one by coach Enables,
(18:05):
but still a good year and a whale of a comeback.
And that's kind of stuff that's first teams on. I
don't know they're good enough without a running game, but
it was certainly a roll tide type of evening.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
All Right, you promised a song the last time you
were on, so.
Speaker 9 (18:21):
I have it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I'll have it. Okay.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
The topic is, oh, we're in the Christmas time of year,
so it will be self explanatory. Hang on for a
second as I adjust myself in my beautiful studio here,
and just remember my boy sounds a little bit basis.
It's just because it's early am.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Where I am. And by adjusting yourself, you mean you're
adjusting the guitar that you're playing. The guitar is right here.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
I had to put you on a speaker.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Okay, I can do all things, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Let me give the full introduction. He's a CBS Sports
College football enlist. He gave us Born in the SEC
years ago the Ballad of Johnny Manziel years ago, and
here he is in the Christmas Spirit Rick Neuheisel.
Speaker 9 (19:11):
The song is entitled just let him play college Football.
Speaker 10 (19:17):
Discombob you, lady, but don't let that get you to frustrate.
Just sit yourself down and say, let him play, Let
him play, Let him play.
Speaker 9 (19:37):
Coaching carasel this spinning and are the only book Screenny,
but don't you show just may let him play, Let
him play.
Speaker 10 (19:51):
Let him play. When we finally get to the game,
woll show the young got to be.
Speaker 9 (20:02):
Better with da shame, notre dame. Soon the season wind go,
so don't stress about the coming and going, even though.
Speaker 10 (20:16):
There's no signs of slowing.
Speaker 9 (20:19):
If he he get crunk, we pray, let him.
Speaker 10 (20:23):
Play, let him play, Let him play. The holidays now
upon us, and it doesn't take noster dommas to predict
what's on its way. Wash him play Washington, play wash
him play.
Speaker 9 (20:43):
Eli Drinker said. The game is that, he said, some.
Speaker 10 (20:48):
Kind of reedy piskin clue old miss Winter and lay
yet rich. But the stift comes from hell. Lets you
sounds so bounding.
Speaker 9 (21:05):
The sound you hear a head pounding? Help me went out?
Say let play play that.
Speaker 10 (21:17):
Play Let's play walk play.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah you did it again. This is this is where
you smash your guitar. Don't you didn't that how you
entered where for good?
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Merry Christmas to you, Happy New Year, Thank you game,
my friend, Thank you.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Buddy, always a treat. Happy Holidays.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Rick neu Heie. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
tal 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 (22:09):
Nate Berson's Busy Guy NFL Christmas Game Day and that'll
be on Netflix. Uh so you you'll be in the
booth for the Cowboys and the Commanders, and you know
these games sound good when the season comes out. Nate,
where you go, man? Cowboys? And the commanders here, all right,
let me hear you sell it.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
Well, listen, you're right.
Speaker 8 (22:32):
Initially, you know, they reached out and they said this
is going to be the Cowboys commanders on Christmas Day.
I'm thinking, oh wait, we got an NFCS survivalry. This
is going to be one of the biggest games of
the Year's Dak Prescott.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
They're fighting for a chance to make a Super Bowl run.
Speaker 8 (22:52):
Jayden Dawns riding everybody just how good he is at
the quarterback position, great defense.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
This is an offense, it's not it's not a chess,
it's not a checkers game. It's chess.
Speaker 8 (23:02):
All of the good things that we like to say
in sports. And then it falls off the rails. The
Cowboys have another year of disappointment at not being contenders,
and then just injuries decimated this commander's team.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
But here's the thing. It still as a rivalry game.
And you have a couple.
Speaker 8 (23:19):
Of cool people in the booth with a bunch of
people surrounding the game. We're gonna have fun. It's Christmas Day.
We're gonna talk exces and Oo's stories about bros. And
the reality is football always finds a way of making
itself entertaining even if the playoff implications aren't there.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
Listen, we got a ton of stuff. We could talk about.
Speaker 8 (23:39):
Christmas movies, Christmas Day routines, we can talk about being
in the playoffs versus booking your vacation. I think Matt
Ryan and I were on the set yesterday trying to
figure out who we're gonna put in our all Christmas team.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
You know, who's Santa, Who's Rudolph?
Speaker 8 (23:56):
Down the line, we got a ton of stuff to
fill time if the game doesn't give us the entertainment
we need. But I have a feeling that Cowboys Commanders
is going to be Clint Key of the entertainment.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
We will need.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, So Cowboys Commanders at one Eastern with Iron Ego
and Matt Ryan. Then it's the Lions in the Vikings.
Pregame begins at eleven am Eastern on Netflix.
Speaker 8 (24:18):
Those two matches sounded really good a few months ago.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I'm still trying to figure out how the official says
touchdown and then says, however, okay, so help me understand
that in the Lion Steelers game, where it's not a
touchdown because there was a penalty, So why would you
start with your ruling calling it a touchdown and then saying,
(24:48):
but there was past interference, no touchdown. Game over drive
home safely.
Speaker 10 (24:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (24:53):
See, I listen, man, Let's keep it real. This is
what I like to I like to keep it real
with you. I was d to about the Vikings playing in
NFC North went to Seattle for four years, right, and
then I had an opportunity to sign another deal, so
I went to Detroit and now I remember when I
got there, guys were scoring.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
They were like, look, the league, the league.
Speaker 8 (25:14):
Doesn't like us, and Nate playing here is rough, not
just because we're trying to exercise demons, but when a
game is on the line, it tends to go the
other way, you know. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, no, no, no, no.
I've been in the league for seven years now, and
I get it. There's some close calls, but football is football, right,
(25:34):
And they're like, no, no, nay, I don't think you understand it.
When it comes to the Lions, there are certain games
that just don't go our way, even though everybody knows
they should. Now, I remember questioning that, doubting that, and
then one year we open up in Chicago, it's a
close game. You know, those Division games are really like
two and it's the Lions versus the Bears.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
We're in Chicago. Last minute, hell Mary threw up to
Calvin Johnson. He catch is it?
Speaker 8 (26:00):
He has it in one hand, puminent with his big
old MITSI slides on the hip. He even has like
an elbow down and then he goes to get up
on both hands and one still has the ball in it,
and he just pushes himself up off the ground even
less the ball go Even the Chicago Bears, we're dapping
us up, saying, hey, good game, good game.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Yeah, yeah, y'all won that one.
Speaker 8 (26:20):
We'll see y'all a little later on, you know, in Detroit,
and as the rest are sitting there meeting with each other,
we're sitting back and thinking, what the hell are you
meeting about?
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Game over? That's a catch. We're one and on right now.
Speaker 8 (26:32):
Sure enough they come back, they look at the cameras
and they say, incomplete past game over.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
I was blown away. I really was.
Speaker 8 (26:42):
And I can't help but to think about all of
these moments throughout Detroit Lion's history where our eyes see
one thing, but then the reality is something else. Now
I'm on rock. He extended fully on that one by
the goal line. I think nine times out of ten
they're looking for that full extension. They're gonna call that
a touchdown. Before that though, where they call it a
(27:03):
pick play. But the DV pushed it out. I believe
it was Tesla push tim smart played by the DV,
by the way, because if you push a guy into somebody.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Else, you lose balance.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
The key is when you're running a pick play, you're
swimming over the guy, you're running through the guy. You're
making a move to make it seem like you're running around.
I think the DV recognized that, and I was like,
I'm gonna shove him.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Throw my balance. Now I'm all balance. I'm just trying
to stay up.
Speaker 8 (27:24):
It looks like I'm leaning one way or the other,
and it looks like a pick play. But I still
think that was a perfectly executed play. Touchdown by the Lions.
Game over. But here we are again another example of
how we think one thing and the rest call another.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Okay, wait mate, you you actually thought that the NFL
had something against the Lions.
Speaker 8 (27:45):
People that played for the players that played for the
Lions said that to me, and I thought to myself, nah,
and I can't be And then when they took that
catch away from Calvin, A lot of Lions fans, in
Bears fans and people that just love, you know, big
plays by Calvin Johnson, they remember this play. He caught
that damn ball. I don't care what anybody says. The
whole Like back then, it was like the action of
the catch. You gotta catch, you go to the ground
(28:06):
and get up and then walk to the locker room,
take a shower, and take the bus home and the
flight and then bury it in the backyard. I just
feel like that catch, right there was a catch and
that just it just it left a sour taste in
my mouth. Listen, the cookie's gonna crumble one way or
the other. I just felt like we weren't getting, you know,
our crumbs.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
And that changed football. You know, they really did that
whole complete the processed nonsense. I mean, you're you're an
ex wide receiver. I can't imagine, you know, even that
play with the Ravens where you know, uh, you got
two steps and the football move is to have the
ball away from the That is a football move. Yeah,
(28:47):
So I don't know what would you teach you have
to overcatch. Now it feels so you have to over catch.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Listen.
Speaker 8 (28:54):
I feel bad for past catchers, and in DB's in
particular because one past catchers, we have to focus on
which we're supposed to do. We get paid to catch
the ball, figure out a way to tuck it away
before it gets punched out because the peanut punch has
become wildly popular. Instead of going for the tackle, guys
are just going for the ball. So catch, tuck away,
(29:15):
snug away from the dB and then get one two three.
It's not just one two, it's one two three. And
to be honest, hold on to that thing until the
whistle blows.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
Don't let it go.
Speaker 8 (29:26):
Don't allow the DV to play with it after the
whistle because they might take it away. And then on
the flip side, I feel bad for some of these dbs,
even mind backers. A guy catches the ball and then
he's he's basically figuring out what his aim point is
gonna be. I'm gonna take his shoulder and I'm gonna
shove it right into your sturnum. I'm gonna hit you
in the shoulder. I'm gonna hit you in the upper region. Shoot,
(29:46):
I might try to take out one of your ribs,
but I'm using my shoulder.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
Old school football.
Speaker 8 (29:51):
A lot of guys when they catch the rock, they
see that and then they crouch. I'm not gonna call
it coward, but they crouch down, which lower there is the.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Level of their helmet.
Speaker 8 (30:01):
So now you might have been aiming for this right here,
my chest, shoulder, maybe even my rib.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
But if I see you and I.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
Don't want to take that shot, and I crouched down,
now I'm putting my helmet in a place where you
aren't intending to hit, and all of a sudden it's targeting.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
Man, I feel bad for these dudes trying to tackle
right now.
Speaker 8 (30:18):
And then if you're going low and taking out people's
cleats or knees, now all of a sudden you're looking
You're looked at as a guy who doesn't want to
go up top.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
So you're stuck. You're really stuck.
Speaker 8 (30:29):
So I just feel like there's some rules that we
still got to tweak a little bit without making the
game softer as of some traditional traditionalists would like to say.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Nate burleson NFL today on CBS, and you can see
him on Netflix. That'll be on Christmas Day, NFL Christmas
Game Day, He'll be in the booth Cowboys and the Commanders.
But you bring up that punch out, it's a violent
I can punch you as hard as I want in
the arm and say I'm going for the ball.
Speaker 8 (31:00):
Correct, No doubt. You can hit you. You can aim
just about anywhere like you can. You can wink wink
miss and hit a guy and his and his nuggets.
You can hit him in his stomach. You can even
you know, hit him in his arm and bruise it up.
But it's a play that I think if you're doing
it with intentionality not to hurt the ball carrier, I
(31:22):
don't mind it at all, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
I think it's one of the smartest plays in football.
Speaker 8 (31:27):
Listen, you know if you if your team is going
to rally to the rock, that means the first guy
there can take that that that guesstimation, that that that
risk to.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
Go for the ball. And if I miss, you know
the troops are coming behind me.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I'm gonna make you, uh make a pick of the
AFC right now today.
Speaker 5 (31:47):
All right, let's do it. Who you got.
Speaker 8 (31:50):
The Buffalo Bills I believe that even when they win ugly,
they're still victories. And they we've seen them win big
and we see them put up points. They're anchored by
a fantastic running game with James Cook, and then when
Josh Allen wants to be a running.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
Back, you can. You can make any throw in the book.
Speaker 8 (32:08):
The passing game might not be as prolific as some
others in the league, but they run through their tight ends.
The passing game goes through their tight ends and their defense.
They're true ben vedon't break. I know it's cliche, but
they are that. Also, let's just talk about like X
factors or non X factors being in their way. This
might be the best path that Josh Allen has ever
(32:31):
had to face. We're talking possibly know Lamarrow, right, it
looks like they're on the outside looking in. No Joe Burrow,
no Patrick Mahomes. If not now, then win now. I'm
not knocking I'm not knocking Bonnicks. I am also not
knocking Drake may and I'm for sure not knocking Trevor
Lawrence because he might be playing the best football out
(32:52):
of all quarterbacks right now. But if you're not facing
that big three of Mahomes, Burrough and Jackson. I think
Josh Allen has to really take this team and look
at them and say, listen, we are facing some young
guys who have not been in this position. They don't
know what it's like to want close out of season,
(33:12):
let alone fight for an AFC title game. So let's
take advantage of the fact that we have been there.
We know what this feeling is like to be in
the postseason. Oh and more importantly, we know what it's
like to go home after the AFC Championship game and
then have to watch the rest of the Super Bowl
week with you know.
Speaker 5 (33:32):
The everyday civilian that doesn't play football.
Speaker 8 (33:35):
So I just feel like this is I won't call
it the path of least resistance because that will be
dismissive to the Broncos, Patriots and Jaggs. I just feel
like this is the best path that Bill's fans in
this Bill's team has ever seen to a Super Bowl run.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Give me your NFC pick before you got to go.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
This is tough, man. I'm torn.
Speaker 8 (33:56):
It's like I'm torn between you know, two exus, you know,
and then they both fine and we had good times,
you know. Listen, it's those two exes are for two
different reasons. The Seattle Seahawks because I played for him
and I'm from Seattle and you have to respect the record.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
And also beating the Rams.
Speaker 8 (34:15):
Speaking of the Rams, Matt Stafford like, that's my former quarterback,
So essentially the Rams are my X two. And I
just feel like it's funny because we saw that game,
right and it was a big time game on Thursday,
and while thinking this is going to help us decide
who we have faith in in the NFC, not just
the NFC West, Seattle wins and people are like, yeah,
(34:38):
but I still trust the Rams, and you know, and
I get it. There's question marks about how for real
Seattle is. I think there's also question marks how Sam
Darnold will finish the season and show up in the postseason.
I just think these two teams, one of them will
represent the NFC. And I know everybody saying, what about
the Eagles Nate They're figuring it out?
Speaker 5 (34:58):
Yeah they are, but you know I'm biased, Okay.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
In the final fifteen seconds, the Rams walk into a
party and Seattle walks into a party. Which one are
you taking home?
Speaker 5 (35:09):
How many drinks have I had? Because it might be both.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
All right man, Thank you man. You guys do an
awesome job.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Thank you, Bud. That's Nate Burleson.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
He's Ross Tucker, CBS Sports, Westwood One, and he did
Jet Saints yesterday. He'll be on the call for the
Niners Colts tonight on west Wood One. Round of applause
for a great year for Ross.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Thank you, Thank you guys for having me so much.
I really appreciate it. I was wondering if you had
an award for best guests, and I was curious where
I might fit in.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Should we start one where we put maybe our top
five or six people who join us all the time,
And maybe we'll do that. But you're gonna be up
against Reggie Miller. I mean, there's gonna be a few
people in there, Steve Young, I mean there's I don't know.
Do you want that?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Well, you know how I feel about it, Dan. If
I'm going to come in first, I think it's a
great idea. If I'm not going to come in first,
I just don't think it's joined necessary. Let me be
in my own big head, Okay, let me be first
in my own big head. I'll just assume, based on
the feedback I get from your great listeners, that I'm
(01:09):
that I'm number one. They don't need to have an
official vote and ruin my ruin my expectations.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Okay, if I said who do you believe in the most,
and I put those teams up there, So the Texans, Jags, Broncos, Patriots,
Who's first?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Right now? I would say the Jacksonville Jaguars. And I
know you guys said last, and I know you're not
believing him. They are really good. I mean I watched
them a lot, because last week I did Jets Jags. Okay,
think about this for a second. In a five game stretch,
Trevor Lawrence didn't have to play in the end of
(01:52):
the fourth quarter in four of those five. These are
NFL games. This is NFL teams. This is not a
power for versus a group of five or whatever anybody
wants to talk about. These are NFL teams where four
games out of five the Jags were able to put
Nick Mullins in the game. Then you go out to
(02:12):
Denver and you dominate the Broncos, like the Jaguars did,
their offensive lines playing very well. This is the best
we've ever seen Trevor Lawrence play. Their weapons are a
lot better than people realize. Parker Washington can play. Brenton Strams,
the tight end can play. They're like Jacoby Myers is
kind of like that guy that's always been just okay,
(02:33):
but people don't like. The Jaguars are sort of that
team Dan that has a bunch of underrated, underappreciated, under
the radar guys that are a lot better than people
realize because they don't play a lot of marquee games.
Even yesterday, okay, they're playing the team with the number
one seed. They're playing the you know, the big bad
(02:55):
Denver Broncos. That was a four h five game that
wasn't the featured Tom Brady, you know Kevin Burkhart game
that went to the Steelers' Lions. That have the Jaguars played.
I think the Jaguars played the Chiefs like in Week
four on Monday Night. That might have been their only
primetime game the whole year. Defensively, they got a bunch
of guys and as you can tell, and I noticed
(03:16):
this last week when I was there, they have an
immense chip on their shoulder. Liam Cohen, he's from Rhode Island. Okay,
he's got that New Englander in him. He takes a
fence to every he doesn't discriminate. He just takes a
fence to everything. He even drops the line about yeah,
I mean for a small market team like us, it
wasn't even a knock by Sean Payton. You know. Sean
(03:39):
Payton was just being honest and realistic. So they'll take
any little edge they can. And I know people sit
here and think, does that really make a difference. Yeah,
it does. It just stokes your fire a little bit
more every day. It's not only about the game, it's
about every day during the week, giving you the edge
to prep just a little bit harder.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, I'm not rooting against the Jags. I want their
fan base to know it doesn't I'm just saying I
got to wait to see it happen. Same thing with
the Ravens, you know, Lamar Jackson. Let me see what
you do in the postseason. I mean the Steelers, I
don't know how good they are. I know when you
get to the postseason, you get in and you lose.
(04:22):
So I would like to see a little more from you.
I want to see Drake May and the Patriots in
the playoffs in a big moment there. I mean, I
think that's just natural reasoning with a lot of these
teams show me. We said this before. I want to
see what happens with Justin Herbert in a big moment. Yeah,
you can throw for four thousand yards. All of those
(04:43):
things are great. We're a bottom line sports society.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Well, I got news for you. I got news for you.
Though Dan Mahomes is not making the playoffs. We know
that Burrow's not making the playoffs. We know that it
looks highly unlikely Lamar Jackson is going to make the playoffs.
So think about that before if we did any quarterback rankings,
any quarterback discussions, there was a clear top four, there
(05:09):
was a clear elite group, and we talk about how
it's by far the most important position in the sport,
and all that three of the four guys that are
clearly coming into the year the best of the best quarterbacks,
three of the four are not going to the playoffs.
I don't think that the Ravens are going, which, by
the way, means Josh Allen, the time is yours, bro,
(05:32):
I mean it is your time.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Can there be more pressure on Josh Allen to finally
get to a Super Bowl?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yes, there's even more because those other guys aren't in it.
There's even more. But the point I was gonna make
is a lot of those teams you just mentioned, right,
Jacksonville or Herbert or you know this Steelers, somebody has
to win these games, Dan, I mean a lot of
these teams are gonna be playing against each other. I mean,
these are the teams in the playoffs. So you just
named three of the seventeen that are going to be
(06:01):
in the playoffs in the AFC. I mean, I guess
all three of them could lose it the first round.
But somebody has to win these games. We have to
start to believe in somebody, because Malmes, he's not coming.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I didn't understand. Now, I understand the call in the
Lions Steelers game that you know it was past interference
offensive pass interference. If you want to call that, you
call that, But the fact that the play look like
it was still alive if there's no pass interference, Now,
I'm gonna play the call here and then I'm gonna
come to you because I have a couple of problems here, Marvin.
(06:35):
Play that the last play there in the lines game, fourth.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
And goal for the Lions from the nine ball game
on the line right here. They need the end zone
for the win. Jared leans in. There's the snap on
fourth down, Jared back, Jared stepping up, Jared look, he
throwing end zone. It is caught by Amen ras Shy
at the end zone. He flips it back to Goff
who talked it to the end.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
Zone for the touchdown. There's a flag that came in.
Two flags.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Did they rule them down?
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Are they going to say pass interference against dom and raw?
There's no time left on the clock. Here comes Carl Scheffers,
the officials that finally broke and we're gonna get call
right here? Is this game over or not?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Pittsburg's staying on the field, but they're really on the field.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
There's a touchdown.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
However, US interference number fourteen on the offense.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
My rule, that penalty is not enforced and there is
no replay. The game is over.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Wow, there is no touchdown.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Wow, okay, talk about a bait and switch. That is
embarrassing for the official. It's a touchdown, but there's pass interference.
There is no touchdown. Game over, good night and drive
home safely. How could you possibly say it's a touchdown
(07:59):
in Detroit and then say, but there was past interference?
No touchdown.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I think Dan, he should have sold it harder and
really pulled off a grinch move there. Jeffers should have
been like, the ruling on the field is touchdown, Detroit Live.
Except unfortunately there's a penalty of games over. You guys
lost the ye.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
But I wonder if the whistle, because they clearly had
stopped I'm on Ross Saint Brown his forward progress, right.
I don't know if a whistle, let's say there's no
pass interference, would they I guess they would have allowed
that touchdown because he said that it's a touchdown except
for there his past interference.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Absolutely they would have allowed it, which would have been incredible.
I mean, I'm in raw. First of all, that was
about blatant a past interference. I don't know why he
was doing. He went right after the guy and just
two hands shoved him. Probably didn't need to do it,
but he did. But can you imagine if Jared goff
on a pitchback the touchdown diving into the end zone
(09:02):
for the Lions to be able to go to the playoffs,
and that that's how that game had ended. But you
have to call it a touchdown, Dan, if you're gonna
call the two point conversion in the Seattle Rams game
where Sharbonag just walks over and picks up the ball
that's in the end zone. I gotta be honest with you,
I had much more of a problem with that. That
to me should not have been two points for the Seahawks.
(09:25):
The whistle blue in that one, and that one the
whistle blew. In my opinion, as a player, once the
whistle blows, nothing after that should count. Because what would
have happened if the whistle blue and Sharbonage just walking
over to pick the ball up. Am I allowed to
just come in and just crack him?
Speaker 5 (09:44):
No?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
I would have been penalized. So if Sharbonae's going to
score the two point play, but if I came over
and just annihilate him, they would throw a penalty on me.
Then you can't say the two point conversion counts. I
had a real problem with Thursday night, way worse than
and then Cheffer's in that game yesterday.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
He's Ross Tucker CBS Sports Westwood One. He'll be on
the call for the Niners and the Colts on Westwood one.
What is DK Metcalf doing with the fan his team
is winning, He's probably going to be suspended for a
game you make contact with the I know fans say
(10:23):
a lot of bad things, negative things, but you can't.
You can't take matters into your own hands. What do
you think the NFL does.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I think that they probably will suspend him because this
is a lot different than the fan initiating physical contact,
or the fan, you know, somehow coming on the field
or anything like that. DK metcalf went all the way
over into the stands. It wasn't like the guy was
(10:53):
right behind him. I mean, that was a good ten
yards behind him. Obviously, whatever the guy said. The guy
told the Detroit Free that he called DK by his
real name.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
It's whatever the D is and the K is, and
I guess I didn't know that. But now evidently DK
does not like that. By the way, now every defensive
back knows that DK does not like if you call
him by his real first name. But you can't do that.
You cannot walk over. I feel very strongly when fans
cross over the line that that's very different to me.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
This.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
You're allowed to say whatever you want to say from
the stands. You're allowed to say whatever you want to say,
and a player cannot go over there and initiate anything,
especially putting their hands on them. I think the NFL
has to come down on him hard. Right or wrong.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Your game tonight, Explain to me how the Niners are
doing it this year.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
They are a really very well coached team.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I mean, this might be Kyle Shanahan's best coaching that
he's done. And nobody's going to talk about it. When
you lose your two best defense players, Ayuki is a
no show. Debo's gone. I mean, you had Mac Jones
for a while. Now perty in the most competitive division
in football.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
It's incredible. You're right, it might be Kyle Shanahan's best
coaching job. You know, they have sixteen sacks. That's by
far the worst in the NFL. Everybody else has at
least twenty two.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I'll give Sala Miles Garrett has more sacks than the Niners.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Miles Garrett has six more sacks than the Niners.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I'll give Sala a lot of credit because you lose
two of the top twenty players in football on defense,
and he still has had a couple games where they
gave up less than ten points. We'll see what happens. Tonight.
My guess is, Dan, they'll drop eight in coverage and
pack it up and in and force Philip Rivers to
try to have to fit the ball on tight windows
(12:52):
or throw it deep. But they're just very very well
coached both sides of the ball. The offense is a machine.
Here's you. I think it's crazy. Watch the game a night, Dan,
and tell me that McCaffrey hasn't lost just a little.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Oh yes, definitely he's lost it.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
And the guy's gonna have two thousand yards from scrimmage.
He's third in the NFL with over said, he's gonna
have four hundred and eighteen touches. The last time somebody
had over four hundred touches was McCaffrey had four, oh
weeight in twenty nineteen. I'm in awe. Imagine this, Okay,
imagine not being the player you used to be and
(13:33):
losing a step or half a step, and yet you
go out and get an NFL football over four hundred
times and have over two thousand yards. That guy coming
off of the two injuries last year, that guy is
an absolute warrior. I'm incredible. I'm like, he's one of
those guys in my in my Hall of Fame that
(13:53):
I'm in awe of that he's able to do is
the mental and physical.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Toughness just like you.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Just hey, listen, I had to fly from New Orleans
to through Chicago to Indianapolis to get here to call
a game with unbelievable horror the night. I mean, you know,
profile is encouraged. I know that. I don't know when
the last episode they've done is. But I had to
stay and I had to stay in a merry out
here and I just went to the M Lounge. Breakfast
was delicious. It's it's not easy, man, You're my hero.
(14:26):
Thank you, buddy. Merry Christmas to you, save travel. Yeah,
Merry Christmas, guys, thank thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
That's Ross Tucker.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAPP.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Pauly Fools Go Here with Tony Fools Go.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (14:44):
As everybody knows, we're the hosts of the award winning
Paully and Tony foolsco show. Yeah, but instead of us
telling you how great we are, here's how Dan Patrick
described us when he came on our show.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
What are you doing interrupting our promo?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
You wasn't talking about you.
Speaker 8 (15:02):
You took those clubs totally of context.
Speaker 7 (15:04):
Oh yeah, well after this promo, I'm gonna take you
out and beat you.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Let me put this into context.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Shut up.
Speaker 7 (15:11):
Yeah, anyway, just listen to the Pauli and Tony Fusco
Show on Ieartradio, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeing, let's bring in Rick Neuheisel, CBS Sports College football
analyst feels like those who didn't want tu Lane or
James Madison in the playoffs certainly got what they wanted.
Speaker 6 (15:30):
Oh I agree, I agree, And I think someday we're
going to get to a point where James Madison Tulane
are going to get to play each other, and we
just need to get that game the kind of stage
that it deserves, you know, a New Year's Day stage
where they can play for a group of five or
a group of six, whatever it ends up becoming national champion.
(15:52):
The fact that we're taking players from them, you know, annually,
just basically taking their all start team and putting it
on the powerful rosters with lavish gifts. It makes it
difficult for them to compete when they get to this
portion of the year.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Best team remaining is who.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
I still think it's Ohio State. I know Ohio State
got comfortable not trying to be too explosive offensively and
lean into their defense, and Indiana kind of exposed them there.
But I believe you know, with Ryan day now back
probably calling play's heartline spending, just like I said, the
Colin kleinb dilemma, having to get ready for what's going
(16:36):
on at South Florida. I think that Ohio State has
the makings of the offense that can win a national championship,
and they've certainly proven themselves defensively.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
The best matchup coming up is who.
Speaker 6 (16:53):
Goodness gracious, I love the Rose Bowl Indiana. I mean,
if you're an Indiana fan, are you just absolutely have
red marks all of them for the times you've been
pinching yourself. I'm been trophy winner, he's been trophy winner,
and now the Big Ten championship. You've been to the
(17:14):
College Football Playoff now two years in a row. It's
too good to be true. And now you're going to
the Rose Bowl to take on Alabama. I mean This
is like some psychedelic dream that most of these folks
had back in their college days. This is too good
to be true.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
First half social media, Notre Dame fans talking about Alabama
no show down, seventeen to nothing, and then they went quiet.
The second half there, it.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
Went pretty quiet, pretty fast. Although Brent Benables has got
to be sitting there look at himself in the mirror,
go what was I doing? Third and five? Sending out
my kicker to kick into the wind from fifty one
yards away after he missed a chip shot. It was
not the exemplary head coaching one oh one by coach Enables,
(18:05):
but still a good year and a whale of a comeback.
And that's kind of stuff that's first teams on. I
don't know they're good enough without a running game, but
it was certainly a roll tide type of evening.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
All Right, you promised a song the last time you
were on, so.
Speaker 9 (18:21):
I have it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I'll have it. Okay.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
The topic is, oh, we're in the Christmas time of year,
so it will be self explanatory. Hang on for a
second as I adjust myself in my beautiful studio here,
and just remember my boy sounds a little bit basis.
It's just because it's early am.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Where I am. And by adjusting yourself, you mean you're
adjusting the guitar that you're playing. The guitar is right here.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
I had to put you on a speaker.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Okay, I can do all things, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Let me give the full introduction. He's a CBS Sports
College football enlist. He gave us Born in the SEC
years ago the Ballad of Johnny Manziel years ago, and
here he is in the Christmas Spirit Rick Neuheisel.
Speaker 9 (19:11):
The song is entitled just let him play college Football.
Speaker 10 (19:17):
Discombob you, lady, but don't let that get you to frustrate.
Just sit yourself down and say, let him play, Let
him play, Let him play.
Speaker 9 (19:37):
Coaching carasel this spinning and are the only book Screenny,
but don't you show just may let him play, Let
him play.
Speaker 10 (19:51):
Let him play. When we finally get to the game,
woll show the young got to be.
Speaker 9 (20:02):
Better with da shame, notre dame. Soon the season wind go,
so don't stress about the coming and going, even though.
Speaker 10 (20:16):
There's no signs of slowing.
Speaker 9 (20:19):
If he he get crunk, we pray, let him.
Speaker 10 (20:23):
Play, let him play, Let him play. The holidays now
upon us, and it doesn't take noster dommas to predict
what's on its way. Wash him play Washington, play wash
him play.
Speaker 9 (20:43):
Eli Drinker said. The game is that, he said, some.
Speaker 10 (20:48):
Kind of reedy piskin clue old miss Winter and lay
yet rich. But the stift comes from hell. Lets you
sounds so bounding.
Speaker 9 (21:05):
The sound you hear a head pounding? Help me went out?
Say let play play that.
Speaker 10 (21:17):
Play Let's play walk play.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah you did it again. This is this is where
you smash your guitar. Don't you didn't that how you
entered where for good?
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Merry Christmas to you, Happy New Year, Thank you game,
my friend, Thank you.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Buddy, always a treat. Happy Holidays.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Rick neu Heie. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
tal 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 (22:09):
Nate Berson's Busy Guy NFL Christmas Game Day and that'll
be on Netflix. Uh so you you'll be in the
booth for the Cowboys and the Commanders, and you know
these games sound good when the season comes out. Nate,
where you go, man? Cowboys? And the commanders here, all right,
let me hear you sell it.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
Well, listen, you're right.
Speaker 8 (22:32):
Initially, you know, they reached out and they said this
is going to be the Cowboys commanders on Christmas Day.
I'm thinking, oh wait, we got an NFCS survivalry. This
is going to be one of the biggest games of
the Year's Dak Prescott.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
They're fighting for a chance to make a Super Bowl run.
Speaker 8 (22:52):
Jayden Dawns riding everybody just how good he is at
the quarterback position, great defense.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
This is an offense, it's not it's not a chess,
it's not a checkers game. It's chess.
Speaker 8 (23:02):
All of the good things that we like to say
in sports. And then it falls off the rails. The
Cowboys have another year of disappointment at not being contenders,
and then just injuries decimated this commander's team.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
But here's the thing. It still as a rivalry game.
And you have a couple.
Speaker 8 (23:19):
Of cool people in the booth with a bunch of
people surrounding the game. We're gonna have fun. It's Christmas Day.
We're gonna talk exces and Oo's stories about bros. And
the reality is football always finds a way of making
itself entertaining even if the playoff implications aren't there.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
Listen, we got a ton of stuff. We could talk about.
Speaker 8 (23:39):
Christmas movies, Christmas Day routines, we can talk about being
in the playoffs versus booking your vacation. I think Matt
Ryan and I were on the set yesterday trying to
figure out who we're gonna put in our all Christmas team.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
You know, who's Santa, Who's Rudolph?
Speaker 8 (23:56):
Down the line, we got a ton of stuff to
fill time if the game doesn't give us the entertainment
we need. But I have a feeling that Cowboys Commanders
is going to be Clint Key of the entertainment.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
We will need.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, So Cowboys Commanders at one Eastern with Iron Ego
and Matt Ryan. Then it's the Lions in the Vikings.
Pregame begins at eleven am Eastern on Netflix.
Speaker 8 (24:18):
Those two matches sounded really good a few months ago.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I'm still trying to figure out how the official says
touchdown and then says, however, okay, so help me understand
that in the Lion Steelers game, where it's not a
touchdown because there was a penalty, So why would you
start with your ruling calling it a touchdown and then saying,
(24:48):
but there was past interference, no touchdown. Game over drive
home safely.
Speaker 10 (24:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (24:53):
See, I listen, man, Let's keep it real. This is
what I like to I like to keep it real
with you. I was d to about the Vikings playing in
NFC North went to Seattle for four years, right, and
then I had an opportunity to sign another deal, so
I went to Detroit and now I remember when I
got there, guys were scoring.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
They were like, look, the league, the league.
Speaker 8 (25:14):
Doesn't like us, and Nate playing here is rough, not
just because we're trying to exercise demons, but when a
game is on the line, it tends to go the
other way, you know. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, no, no, no, no.
I've been in the league for seven years now, and
I get it. There's some close calls, but football is football, right,
(25:34):
And they're like, no, no, nay, I don't think you understand it.
When it comes to the Lions, there are certain games
that just don't go our way, even though everybody knows
they should. Now, I remember questioning that, doubting that, and
then one year we open up in Chicago, it's a
close game. You know, those Division games are really like
two and it's the Lions versus the Bears.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
We're in Chicago. Last minute, hell Mary threw up to
Calvin Johnson. He catch is it?
Speaker 8 (26:00):
He has it in one hand, puminent with his big
old MITSI slides on the hip. He even has like
an elbow down and then he goes to get up
on both hands and one still has the ball in it,
and he just pushes himself up off the ground even
less the ball go Even the Chicago Bears, we're dapping
us up, saying, hey, good game, good game.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Yeah, yeah, y'all won that one.
Speaker 8 (26:20):
We'll see y'all a little later on, you know, in Detroit,
and as the rest are sitting there meeting with each other,
we're sitting back and thinking, what the hell are you
meeting about?
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Game over? That's a catch. We're one and on right now.
Speaker 8 (26:32):
Sure enough they come back, they look at the cameras
and they say, incomplete past game over.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
I was blown away. I really was.
Speaker 8 (26:42):
And I can't help but to think about all of
these moments throughout Detroit Lion's history where our eyes see
one thing, but then the reality is something else. Now
I'm on rock. He extended fully on that one by
the goal line. I think nine times out of ten
they're looking for that full extension. They're gonna call that
a touchdown. Before that though, where they call it a
(27:03):
pick play. But the DV pushed it out. I believe
it was Tesla push tim smart played by the DV,
by the way, because if you push a guy into somebody.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Else, you lose balance.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
The key is when you're running a pick play, you're
swimming over the guy, you're running through the guy. You're
making a move to make it seem like you're running around.
I think the DV recognized that, and I was like,
I'm gonna shove him.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Throw my balance. Now I'm all balance. I'm just trying
to stay up.
Speaker 8 (27:24):
It looks like I'm leaning one way or the other,
and it looks like a pick play. But I still
think that was a perfectly executed play. Touchdown by the Lions.
Game over. But here we are again another example of
how we think one thing and the rest call another.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Okay, wait mate, you you actually thought that the NFL
had something against the Lions.
Speaker 8 (27:45):
People that played for the players that played for the
Lions said that to me, and I thought to myself, nah,
and I can't be And then when they took that
catch away from Calvin, A lot of Lions fans, in
Bears fans and people that just love, you know, big
plays by Calvin Johnson, they remember this play. He caught
that damn ball. I don't care what anybody says. The
whole Like back then, it was like the action of
the catch. You gotta catch, you go to the ground
(28:06):
and get up and then walk to the locker room,
take a shower, and take the bus home and the
flight and then bury it in the backyard. I just
feel like that catch, right there was a catch and
that just it just it left a sour taste in
my mouth. Listen, the cookie's gonna crumble one way or
the other. I just felt like we weren't getting, you know,
our crumbs.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
And that changed football. You know, they really did that
whole complete the processed nonsense. I mean, you're you're an
ex wide receiver. I can't imagine, you know, even that
play with the Ravens where you know, uh, you got
two steps and the football move is to have the
ball away from the That is a football move. Yeah,
(28:47):
So I don't know what would you teach you have
to overcatch. Now it feels so you have to over catch.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Listen.
Speaker 8 (28:54):
I feel bad for past catchers, and in DB's in
particular because one past catchers, we have to focus on
which we're supposed to do. We get paid to catch
the ball, figure out a way to tuck it away
before it gets punched out because the peanut punch has
become wildly popular. Instead of going for the tackle, guys
are just going for the ball. So catch, tuck away,
(29:15):
snug away from the dB and then get one two three.
It's not just one two, it's one two three. And
to be honest, hold on to that thing until the
whistle blows.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
Don't let it go.
Speaker 8 (29:26):
Don't allow the DV to play with it after the
whistle because they might take it away. And then on
the flip side, I feel bad for some of these dbs,
even mind backers. A guy catches the ball and then
he's he's basically figuring out what his aim point is
gonna be. I'm gonna take his shoulder and I'm gonna
shove it right into your sturnum. I'm gonna hit you
in the shoulder. I'm gonna hit you in the upper region. Shoot,
(29:46):
I might try to take out one of your ribs,
but I'm using my shoulder.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
Old school football.
Speaker 8 (29:51):
A lot of guys when they catch the rock, they
see that and then they crouch. I'm not gonna call
it coward, but they crouch down, which lower there is the.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Level of their helmet.
Speaker 8 (30:01):
So now you might have been aiming for this right here,
my chest, shoulder, maybe even my rib.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
But if I see you and I.
Speaker 8 (30:08):
Don't want to take that shot, and I crouched down,
now I'm putting my helmet in a place where you
aren't intending to hit, and all of a sudden it's targeting.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
Man, I feel bad for these dudes trying to tackle
right now.
Speaker 8 (30:18):
And then if you're going low and taking out people's
cleats or knees, now all of a sudden you're looking
You're looked at as a guy who doesn't want to
go up top.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
So you're stuck. You're really stuck.
Speaker 8 (30:29):
So I just feel like there's some rules that we
still got to tweak a little bit without making the
game softer as of some traditional traditionalists would like to say.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Nate burleson NFL today on CBS, and you can see
him on Netflix. That'll be on Christmas Day, NFL Christmas
Game Day, He'll be in the booth Cowboys and the Commanders.
But you bring up that punch out, it's a violent
I can punch you as hard as I want in
the arm and say I'm going for the ball.
Speaker 8 (31:00):
Correct, No doubt. You can hit you. You can aim
just about anywhere like you can. You can wink wink
miss and hit a guy and his and his nuggets.
You can hit him in his stomach. You can even
you know, hit him in his arm and bruise it up.
But it's a play that I think if you're doing
it with intentionality not to hurt the ball carrier, I
(31:22):
don't mind it at all, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
I think it's one of the smartest plays in football.
Speaker 8 (31:27):
Listen, you know if you if your team is going
to rally to the rock, that means the first guy
there can take that that that guesstimation, that that that
risk to.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
Go for the ball. And if I miss, you know
the troops are coming behind me.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I'm gonna make you, uh make a pick of the
AFC right now today.
Speaker 5 (31:47):
All right, let's do it. Who you got.
Speaker 8 (31:50):
The Buffalo Bills I believe that even when they win ugly,
they're still victories. And they we've seen them win big
and we see them put up points. They're anchored by
a fantastic running game with James Cook, and then when
Josh Allen wants to be a running.
Speaker 5 (32:05):
Back, you can. You can make any throw in the book.
Speaker 8 (32:08):
The passing game might not be as prolific as some
others in the league, but they run through their tight ends.
The passing game goes through their tight ends and their defense.
They're true ben vedon't break. I know it's cliche, but
they are that. Also, let's just talk about like X
factors or non X factors being in their way. This
might be the best path that Josh Allen has ever
(32:31):
had to face. We're talking possibly know Lamarrow, right, it
looks like they're on the outside looking in. No Joe Burrow,
no Patrick Mahomes. If not now, then win now. I'm
not knocking I'm not knocking Bonnicks. I am also not
knocking Drake may and I'm for sure not knocking Trevor
Lawrence because he might be playing the best football out
(32:52):
of all quarterbacks right now. But if you're not facing
that big three of Mahomes, Burrough and Jackson. I think
Josh Allen has to really take this team and look
at them and say, listen, we are facing some young
guys who have not been in this position. They don't
know what it's like to want close out of season,
(33:12):
let alone fight for an AFC title game. So let's
take advantage of the fact that we have been there.
We know what this feeling is like to be in
the postseason. Oh and more importantly, we know what it's
like to go home after the AFC Championship game and
then have to watch the rest of the Super Bowl
week with you know.
Speaker 5 (33:32):
The everyday civilian that doesn't play football.
Speaker 8 (33:35):
So I just feel like this is I won't call
it the path of least resistance because that will be
dismissive to the Broncos, Patriots and Jaggs. I just feel
like this is the best path that Bill's fans in
this Bill's team has ever seen to a Super Bowl run.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Give me your NFC pick before you got to go.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
This is tough, man. I'm torn.
Speaker 8 (33:56):
It's like I'm torn between you know, two exus, you know,
and then they both fine and we had good times,
you know. Listen, it's those two exes are for two
different reasons. The Seattle Seahawks because I played for him
and I'm from Seattle and you have to respect the record.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
And also beating the Rams.
Speaker 8 (34:15):
Speaking of the Rams, Matt Stafford like, that's my former quarterback,
So essentially the Rams are my X two. And I
just feel like it's funny because we saw that game,
right and it was a big time game on Thursday,
and while thinking this is going to help us decide
who we have faith in in the NFC, not just
the NFC West, Seattle wins and people are like, yeah,
(34:38):
but I still trust the Rams, and you know, and
I get it. There's question marks about how for real
Seattle is. I think there's also question marks how Sam
Darnold will finish the season and show up in the postseason.
I just think these two teams, one of them will
represent the NFC. And I know everybody saying, what about
the Eagles Nate They're figuring it out?
Speaker 5 (34:58):
Yeah they are, but you know I'm biased, Okay.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
In the final fifteen seconds, the Rams walk into a
party and Seattle walks into a party. Which one are
you taking home?
Speaker 5 (35:09):
How many drinks have I had? Because it might be both.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
All right man, Thank you man. You guys do an
awesome job.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Thank you, Bud. That's Nate Burleson.
Hosts And Creators
Todd "Fritzy" Fritz
Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
Paul Pabst
Marvin Prince
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