A Great Year in Sport!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:24):
listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh all right, everybody good?
Even these were coming to you live from the Geico
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Did you know that fifteen minutes
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What do you gotta do? VI? Is it? Guy? Could
I come for a free rate? Quote? Oh? Did I

(00:44):
screw that one up? No, it's not Chris Pike. Aaron Torres,
Arnie Spaniard sitting in for Jason Smith and his best
friend Mike Carmen. Nice of you do hang along with
us here on New Year's Eve? How are you doing tonight?
Torres Arnie? Never been better. I'm not gonna lie. When
we did our normal show Sunday, the whole Best Friend stick,

(01:08):
I'm not gonna lie. It didn't feel the same without
that I know that's our window, but the best friend thing,
it's really taken a hold, I think mentally to me,
let's back up. It's when we did the show Saturday.
What did I say Friday? Sunday said Sunday. Oh see,
I'm getting mixed up. However, let's never forget that you thought.
I don't even think you were working with Chris Plank tonight.

(01:28):
I think you wanted to be Oh no, I put
out on Twitter. I go coming up tonight Chris Plank
and I and I even have Paul Goes here's hoping
that Chris and Artie's better halves are out having fun
on New Year's Eve. Al they're stuck talking about Adam
Gates and Oak Coleman getting destroyed last night. Planke isn't
here tonight, Uh Plank, Uh, I think it's coming. I
think he comes on after us. To be honest with you,

(01:48):
and it was you that was filling it. I just
kind of had a you know, just a mental breakdown there.
You know what I'm saying, how how is Plank doing?
Of course, for for people everybody knows you and Plank,
you're like the Sonny and Share of the two thousands.
But he. I didn't know I it started the show off.
He started the show off. I didn't know he was there.
I didn't know he was actually gonna be on the

(02:10):
show till three minutes before the show. Was he mentally
stable though? No, absolutely not. It was completely unstable, completely unstable,
no no condition to be on the radio at all,
none whatsoever. I was gonna say, which made him a
perfect partner for you. Maybe most ever before was did
they actually take Kyler Murray's heisman and handed to two

(02:32):
on Saturday night at the Orange Bowl or I I
can't confirm that. It cannot be confirmed, but it may
have happened. It may have happened. He was he was distraught.
I could tell in his voice. We've been doing the
show now like six years. But I don't know if
you know this. I have never met Chris Pine. Really. Yeah,
I met you once and you pretend like you didn't
know who I was. Yeah, I think you actually didn't

(02:54):
know who I was. And we even just been partners
what how many months? Like five months, six months, believe
it or not, about probably about ten. I started, well,
I started the end of the n c A basketball tournament.
So that's the end of March. So I mean, I'm
no mathematician, but end of March to end of December,
literally the final couple hours of December. I thought it
was three months. Time flies when But I've never met

(03:19):
Plank and I've only talked to him on the phone
maybe four times, maybe three times. You call me all
the time? Well that makes me feel good. Yeah, No,
I I don't speak to him at all, zero, whatsoever
except what we do the show on Sunday night. So uh,
that's when we talk. That's what we That's when we
talk on the phone, but we just do it over
the radio. Sounds a little bit like your marriage. Your
wife was nice enough to send us all. I wish

(03:42):
I could have a maverage like that where I didn't
talk to my wife except for on Twitter. Oh I
except for when I texted or something like that. That'd
be great. She'd have to open up a Twitter account
just to let you know how to pick up milk
at the grocery store. And I love it. So you're
not going out after the show tonight for New Year's,
It's New Year's at home here for you after the show,
or what it's New Year's with Arnie? What's better than
that rocket New Year's Eve span your style. I actually

(04:04):
will be out right before midnight, um, but I think
I will probably be going out for a little bit.
But I want to I want to get home. I
want to go to that Rose Bowl tomorrow. Baby. I
know you don't believe in bowl games that aren't in
the playoff, but I I live right near the Rose Bowl.
I actually drove down Colorado Boulevards. It actually took me
longer to get here today because a lot of the

(04:24):
streets in Pasadene are closed for the Rose Bowl. I'm
gonna try to get to that game for a little
while tomorrow. No, hey, look, and I don't I think
it's a good thing to go to the bowl games.
But let's be honest. Is anybody watching this A and
m n c C game or the Northwestern game against Utah?
And you know, let's be let's be real real about
this thing. Nobody cares about those games when you have
the four team playoffs just over the weekend. Well, I think,

(04:48):
as I've told you many times, during the holiday season,
we watch elf, we watch home alone, we watch home
alone to home alone. Well we don't watch home alone three,
but home alone too. We do it for entertainment, per
he says. And I have no problem if these Bowl
games go on there on a TV. I'm gonna watch them. Now. Look,
am I sitting down at twelve noon to watch Oklahoma

(05:10):
Missouri first play of the game to last final possession? Now?
But it's it's background music, it's our background noise. Excuse me,
And I have no problem with it. All right. We
do have a lot to get to. It is a
super busy show. So if you want to be part
of the show, get ahold of Aaron. Aaron underscore Torres.
I'm at stinking Genius One will keep you updated on
all the late games out there, so you know, just

(05:32):
keep it right here. First things first, before we even
get anything into what happened, just give me some random
thoughts from the weekend, just you know, and it could be,
doesn't have to be in any particular order. And the
first thing I'll say is um wow and Toteo Brown,
Oh my goodness, what is going on here? Skip Practice
was mad at the Steelers got in a argument, I

(05:55):
guess for a lack of better words with Ben Roethlisberger.
I gotta tell you, Aaron, if from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
You cut away from Levian Peal, I mean, you gotta
make a clean sweep. Maybe you got to get rid
of this guy too. I can't have this around my team.
I can't have this in the locker room. And this
is not the first time that this guy has been
a cancer. I I've got the seriously think about moving

(06:17):
on from this guy, especially with all the money I'm
paying them. So maybe I'm in the minority here, but
I feel like this is a turning point for the
entire Steelers organization because for years we've kind of heard
behind the scenes that little stuff is happening here. They're
little dumb stuff, right Antonio Brown with the Facebook Live
thing and all that stuff that would to me that
was a lot bigger than we even made of it.

(06:38):
That you don't film something inside the locker room like that,
I totally agree, but it never It did, but it
didn't affect the on the field product. On the field
play They've always made the playoffs, they've always been a threat.
Last year, they were obviously the number two seed, And
as you and I have discussed a lot over these
last couple of weeks, if it wasn't for some quirky
play against the Patriots at hin Field very much could

(07:01):
have gotten the number one seed, could have gotten home
field advantaged throughout the playoffs. This year it all fell
apart and and you can say, um, well, wasn't Antonio Brown,
wasn't Levy on Belt. I don't know, but for whatever reason,
it was different this year. They are on the outside
in looking of the They are on the outside looking
in of the playoffs, and they struggle down the stretch.
I mean, look, like I said, we spent the last

(07:23):
couple of days talking about the loss to the Raiders,
the losses at other points, they lose to the Saints
with that weird fake field goal or wait, fake pun
excuse me. At a certain point something has to change
and it feels like it can't keep going status quo. Yeah,
I can't pay somebody that type of money if they're
gonna go ahead and have that type of attitude. So
that's my first thought. Another one, wow with Leonard for Nett,

(07:46):
What is going on there? Are they really can think
they're gonna get away with canceling this guy's contract because
I think their chances are a slim and none. And
I'm not an attorney but I think that Slim is
going out the door. No way, Well the players union
sit around and wait on this one and allow them
to cancel that contract. What leg do they have to
stand on here? I think this whole thing is getting

(08:07):
out of control. Oh yeah, no, And this this feels
like Tom Cofflin flexing right like you. Yeah, you watch
this guy with the Giants, Like Tom Coughlin's walking U
through the tunnel with a glass of wine or something. Yeah,
you can't do that unless you're lebron Yes, uh yeah,
I mean this feels like he's flexing. I mean, you know,

(08:27):
he called out that the two guys publicly for Net
and t J Yelden. Then of course trying to pull
away some salary and all this stuff. I'm with you.
I don't think that he can get away with it,
but I do think it's a sign that he's probably
trying to change that culture within the Jacksonville organization. I
don't know if he goes through with it, but I
think it's assigned to everybody like nobody's safe here. Yeah, wow,

(08:49):
that is that that's kind of crazy. I want to
see how that one was definitely gonna play out. So,
like I said Aaron underscore Tores. I've in stinking genius
one and my Dolphins they're making a clean break. Adam
Gay has gone, though. It seems like every team is
interviewing him, and we'll get to all the coaches and
all the quarterbacks that are available out there. That may
take like three days. Thank goodness, we're filling it again tomorrow.

(09:10):
But Adam Gates has gone and Ryan Tannehill has gone,
along with that nineteen million dollars they were supposed to
pay him. Look if Audam Gates and I thought he
did a pretty good job. Remember he had to go
a year without Tannehill because of the injury. He brought
in Jake Cutler. That wasn't going to happen this year.
You know, they've had a few injuries, but Tannehill was

(09:32):
average at best. I kind of think that they needed
a clean break. Also, as you mentioned, this might be
a turning point in the Steel organization, same thing might
be true with the Dolphin organization. Get a fresh coach
in there, get another quarterback, and there's some crafty veterans
out there that you can go after until you can
draft and maybe look into it to uh or uh

(09:54):
you know, a Lawrence or something like that. So I
like Gates. I think he'll rebounding obviously get another head
coaching job, but maybe he just wasn't a good fit
in Miami. So let me ask you, because you are,
in fact a Dolphins face. Um, so, like I look
at some of these other situations, you know, the Bengals,
are they that far off? Maybe they just need a
new voice in that locker room. Remember you had two

(10:17):
teams that went from worse the first so you're never
that far off in the NFL. But that's what I
was gonna ask. I do feel like the Dolphins are
that far off? And I know, look, I understand the
idea that they finished seven and nine overall, but you
really look at the teams that they beat in the
way that they win games. First of all, seven and nine,
they went on the last play of the game against
the Patriots and that was the only win in their

(10:39):
final four games. They went two and four in their
final six, a four point win over Buffalo, and then
I just I don't feel like they're close, I guess,
but I know I know that, But I mean just
a couple of moves here or there. I mean, look,
look what happened with the Raiders. Okay, you know, the
joke is that Gruden should win Executive of the Year.
But he turned around to franchise. He gave the Cowboys
Cooper and look with that that then they were three

(11:01):
and five dead. Then in the water turned around that
franchise just with one trade there, Luke what he did
for Chicago with Max. So you know, it's it's only
maybe you're only like a trade away, a draft away,
a pick away, a free agent siding away. And what's
a better job with not even me giving you a team?
What's a better job taking over for a team that
maybe you don't think that their quarterback might be the

(11:24):
right fit, but you gotta use him or somebody that
doesn't really have a quarterback and you can bring in
your own. What's a better fit for you? Yeah, I
think as long as you and the front office are
on the same page, I think you're right. I think
it's that it's better to have no quarterback and figure
it out than not then have a quarterback that that
just isn't good enough to win you games. Right, But

(11:44):
I do look at so many of these situations across
the league, and in terms of teams that made moves today,
and it does feel like the one common denominator in
both of them is there's a disconnect between the front
office and the coaching situation, right. I mean, the Cardinals
fire their coach after one season, Todd Bowles, Why is

(12:04):
that a problem? Well? I think when I'm at the
point I'm trying to get to some people get divorced
before after one year. They know what, you know, why
stay around for the kids when you know it's not good?
You know it's not good. Wow, aren't he Okay? I mean,
am I wrong about that? Do you bring him back
another year just because you can say, okay, now we
give him two years. Now, we could fire him three
years that we could say, you know, doing what the

(12:25):
Jets did bringing Bowls back four years? Is that any better? No? No?
And that's kind of what I'm saying though, is um
is that if you look at the teams that made
moves specifically today, and it's clear that it happened throughout
the the office throughout the season as well, Hugh Jackson
getting like going Cleveland. There's a disconnect between the front
office and the coaching staff, right. Todd Bowles wanted to

(12:48):
play a certain way. The coaching are the GM didn't
necessarily give him the personnel to play that way. There's
differing interest that the GM wants him to develop Sam Donald,
He's trying to win games, et cetera. So the only
point I was gonna get to is whether it's Miami
or any of these situations. I think the key is,
if you're a coach and you're looking at one of
these jobs, am I going to be on the same
page as the front office? I think that's more key

(13:10):
than anything else. Aaron on the score, Toras, I'm at
Stinking Genius one. Come on back Week seventeen, thoughts as
we put the season the bed, get ready for the playoffs,
Sitting in for Jason Smith and his best friend Mike
Harmon right here on Fox Sports or Radio. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific

(13:33):
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Alright,
what does it mean when Guy Goes says just fifteen
minutes could save you fifteen per cent of more in
car insurance? Means you probably should have gone The guy
dot Com fifteen minutes ago. Good evening everyone. He's Aaron Torres,
Am Marni Spanie're sitting in for Jason Smith and his
best Fred Mike Harmen. I guess I'll be in twenty nineteen,

(13:56):
what three hours before you? Right, the big boy, you're
gonna be talking me from the future. Let me know
if there's like flying cars and all, like a pill
where you can lose twenty pounds, let me know what
it's like over there. Yes, I'm gonna take two of
the pills, so I lose forty pounds. How many is
your dog gonna take? My dog? My dog's lost I
think like three pounds, so it's getting good here. I

(14:17):
needed to lose seven, so I think it saw us
like three or four pounds. Fantastic. Mr Mr Barksdale's the
name of the dog, by the way, Mr Barksdale. So
is this just a health thing or is he trying
to look good for beach weather? Like he's trying to
look good for beach weather. I got it. I respect
him Lord Stanley because we named him after the Stanley Cup.
Uh is a little heavy, but he's he's a big dog.

(14:38):
So what can you do? Well? I get it. I
mean like I said, you know, you guys get what
to three days of nice weather in the summer, you
gonna take advantage of it. Oh? Absolutely absolutely. By the way,
you would not be going to the Washington Ohio State
the Rose Bowl. Uh if this was on a Saturday
or Sunday in the the playoffs were going on, there's
no way you'd be going to that game. Well, there's
no way the game would be going on because they, uh,

(15:00):
they don't run the Rose Bowl at the same time
as any other bowl games. So well that's how the
ball game that'd be a playoff game. But sure, yeah,
I mean, look, I mean, if it's a Saturday, first
of all, I gotta come in and hang with my
boy Arnie. If it's Sunday, you know, you work with Plank.
I mean I think he wanted to work with him tonight.
But um, you know, I mean whatever, I mean, listen,
if it first of all, I have a media pass.

(15:21):
But I mean, there you go. Yeah, you aren't gonna
pay for tickets. That's what I was gonna say. I'll
go to a lot of things if I don't have
to pay for it. So a couple other thoughts from
week seventeen now as we wrap up the entire season. Uh,
And that's kind of hard to do in just a
segment or two. But the Packers, you want to talk
about one of the biggest disappointments of the season. Uh,
didn't get much worse. And even though that they won

(15:43):
that first game of the year against Chicago, you knew
that there were gonna be questions about this team going
forward if Rogers wasn't able to stay healthy. What a
terrible second half of the season, just a complete collapse.
Now they need a coach, somebody who will blend in
good with Aaron Rodgers, who will have that type of repport.
I don't even know where you go from here. The

(16:04):
reports are Josh McDaniels, uh, the offensive coordinator for the Patriots,
might be the front runner right now, and of course
he seems to have a good report with another idol
quarterback in the name of Tom Brady. Yeah, we'll be
It'll be curious to see, right because we've spent a
lot of time over these last couple of weeks trying
to figure out, Okay, who's the right fit where, And

(16:26):
it does feel like with the Packers it is a
little bit of a different deal. Right. I mean, so
many of these places are rebuilding. Tampa, the Jets, the Dolphins,
you name it. Fourth of the coaches were fired today
of the uh coaching staff in the NFL was fired.
So there you go. And so but the difference is
you've got a franchise quarterback and you've got a franchise

(16:48):
quarterback at the back end of his time in the NFL.
I think what this one comes down to is you
get a guy and it's no new news, but you
get a guy that's gonna work with Aaron Rodgers, that
that Aaron Rodgers will respect. And it's hard to find
many guys out there that fit that bill. I would
have to think that Josh McDaniels is the front runner
because he does kind of have that cachet. It's had

(17:08):
a good job, though, because you have to deal with
Aaron Rodgers. Or is that a bad job because you
have to deal with Aaron Rodgers. I think it's I
think it's not as good of a job as a
lot of people think. For a lot of Bay Packers.
Iconic historic job. I mean, this was probably one of
the top ten coaching jobs in all of sports. It wow,
and all of sports. I don't know about that. Yeah,

(17:29):
there's a try. You know it's the Yankees, like the Canadiens, uh,
you know, stuff like that, the Celtics, the New York Knicks,
iconic like that Cowboys. My concern if you're looking at
this job as a couple of things, and by the way,
I think this is probably the best job available, so
you still take it. I mean, it's better to have
a Hall of Fame quarterback and figure out how to
work out with him or work with him than it

(17:51):
is going to a place where you don't even know
who your quarterback is or all the fame quarterback on
the downside of his career. Sure, I would take that.
Let me ask you, I would take that over for
the situation in Tampa where the GM came out today
and said, yeah, whoever is coming up next here is
the head coach. They better be able to get along
with Jamis Winston. I thought that was kind of an
interesting little nugget out of Tampa today. Right, So I

(18:13):
don't I don't know if what you know, but which
would you rather have as as a guy. You're a
head coach, You're a well respected guy in the NFL,
which doesn't really suit you in real life. But let's
just assume you're well respected. Uh, do you want to
go with the young quarterback with upside who hasn't shown
it yet, or you want to go with the guy
that's proven it that just wasn't very good this, or
do I want to go with my own guy like

(18:34):
the Dolphins who sat Tan Hill is not coming back,
so I get to bring in my own quarterback and
get the truth from everybody out there. I get to
do something like that, or draft one, or you know,
work work my magic that way too. Yeah, And I
think the big question is what does what do the
Dolphins want to do in terms of that quarterback position?
Because I think that's key if you're looking at that
job specifically, is are we trying to draft and develop?

(18:58):
Are we trying, as you said in the first segmon Arney,
a one year stop gap guy like Joe Flacco, maybe
Eli Manning becomes available. To me, that's the question with
the job, like the Dolphins, is which direction are you
gonna go? Because if I'm a first time head coach,
I mean, look the guys that got fired today, Vance
Joseph um Todd Bowls. You know they didn't have that

(19:19):
franchise quarterback Todd Bowls until this year. You can say
all you want about a lot of different things. It's
really really hard, no matter who you are, to win
in this league if you don't have that quarterback Aaron
Underscore Torres, I'm it's thinking genius one. All right, let's
get to my giants because we only have like a
day and a half we're going and that might not
be enough. Uh So I'm thinking maybe they should draft Haskins,

(19:41):
keep him on the bench for one more year. So
I'll keep them on the bench for one year so
we could learn from euy Manning. Otherwise, certainly they've got
to be thinking about a quarterback much sooner than later.
This is getting ridiculous. Two years of irrelevant football. They've
got one more year turning around Youui has got one
more year and then he's got to go over uh

(20:02):
and time to retire. It's time to hang it on up.
I love the idea of drafting Dwayne Haskins, and the
thing that you have going for you is the as
things uh standing as they are right now. The Giants
are at number six. The first five picks, they all
seem for the most parts settled at quarterback. You could say,
the exception being maybe Oakland at number four, but even

(20:23):
Derek Carr is the guy until further notice. But Arizona
and San Fran or San Fran and the Jets are one, two, three,
Tampa's five. If you can get that quarterback and and
sit him on the bench for a year, like Patrick Mahomes,
like so many guys throughout history, I say go for it.
Because we saw what say Kwon Barkley can do. We saw,
we know how talented Odell Beckham is if you can

(20:44):
keep him on the field and he could keep him hydrated,
by the way to um, I like that idea, Arny I,
I actually think that's a really sharp move. If you
think you can get Dwayne Haskins at number six, I'll
tell you what I would trade my picks if I'm
the Giants to get Antonio Brown and then I have
Brown and Odell Beckham as my two wide receivers. How
about that, my friend? Huh? Well, I'll tell you what.
You better have a quarterback about there? Huh You better

(21:06):
have a quarterback that can throw the deep ball, because
oh I I oh I need a quarterback that could
just throw ten yards for crying out loud. Just get
the ball to that. That's all you have to do.
I don't know. Odell seemed pretty unhappy with Eli in
that sit down with with ESPN probably about eight weeks ago,
because they can't throw the ball deep. So if you
get go ahead, No, I was just gonna say, is

(21:28):
if you get a b you better have a guy
that can unleash it. Could you imagine getting a Tonio
Brown having Odell Beckham Jr. Having say Kwan Barkley, and
all you need to do is find one young quarterback
like a Tah, like a Lawrence to go ahead and
be your quarterback of the future. Boy, that that would

(21:48):
be scary, with it not? Or what huh oh? That'd
be terrifying. And the other thing too, is if you
can get a quarterback that opens things up deep with
the deep ball, that can throw the deep pass, that
opens up the run game that much more. I mean,
I think that was what was so impressive about se
Kwon this year. He rushed for all those yards without
really having a deep dart. Now. I know Odell was
on the roster, but it's not like Eli was a

(22:10):
regular threat to throw the ball deep. I mean it
was a lot of short passes, specifically to Sta Kwon Barkley.
So for him to rush for thirteen yards in his
first year, I think it's a great sign, especially if
you can get a quarterback that can stretch the field.
I think he has got to come out before the
season say this is gonna be my last year. I'm
gonna retire that way when things go south. If they
do go south, the fans don't turn on him immediately

(22:30):
because they can't go through another year of five and eleven,
uh six and ten that type of nonsense. Well, it's
interesting because you and I were on air the night
Lebron got hurt on Christmas Night, and we talked about
a lot about protecting his legacy, right, like, like he
can't be one of these guys that stays around and
isn't as effective and still thinks he's a star, but

(22:51):
he's not a star. And I feel like it's kind
of the same with Eli. Like if Eli wants to
retire on good terms with the Giants, I think that
guy's an icon. I think that guy never pays for
another meal in New York, But if he drags it
on for an extra year or two and it becomes
public and he doesn't want to leave and they have
to trade him. You're running down a slippery slope. I mean,
you never tell a man when it's time to go.

(23:12):
But if he can retire, if he can say, like
you said, this is my last year, the fans can
appreciate him without with knowing that seeing kind of that
finish line, if you know what I mean. I think
that makes a lot of sense for Eli. Unfortunately, I
don't think that's how it's going to end. He saw
his brother and what his brother did, and what do
another team and won a Super Bowl. I could see
you I doing the same thing and saying, Okay, if

(23:33):
you don't want me to New York, so I'll go
to another team and see if I can win the
Super Bowl. And I think that's more likely. Real dumb question.
When you think of Peyton Manning, what do you think
of him as I think of a guy that is
one of the all time grades but stayed around a
year or two long. But do you think him as
a Bronco or a Colt? Oh, I think of a cult.
No way, do I think of him as a Bronco?
Not even close. I kind of think of him as
a cult now. I mean I think of him as

(23:54):
a cult, but I also I think of him sort
of as a bro. I mean, you want a super Bowl,
he ran all, you know, he wrote it off into
the sunset asking for a Budweiser on you know, on
that I would have made a difference. I mean, that's
like when Gary Peyton went ahead and Carmon went to
the Lakers. If they would have won a championship, you
never would have thought of them as a Laker. Yeah,
I guess. But he didn't win a championship though. Still

(24:20):
I'm talking about Paint Payton did win a Championshi, I'm
trying to think of another. Is there a guy that
did go on to whin? I mean, like Shock, I
guess you still think a Shack as a Laker. I mean,
he did go on to win one with Miami. I
don't know. I just feel like I feel like Peyton.
I do think of him as a cult, but I
kind of. I mean, he spent four or five years
in Denver. It's not as though it was one year
he was terrible. It was what three or four years.

(24:43):
They were really good for the front end. They weren't
very good that last year, but he still came in
and win that Super Bowl. I don't I think it's
that's because you're a momennial. You think the world started
when the Internet was invented. Well, it's gonna be really
weird when I think I'm living in eighteen and you're
in twenty nineteen and about he's aired other score tours.
I've been still genius one that worked out pretty good.
I said, we're gonna break down the entire week seventeen,

(25:05):
and we got the two teams, so we'll pick it up.
We'll talk about some of the coaches I got fired.
Let's see what's trending with our Puddy Steve the Sacred.
What's going on? To say? Good evening, gentlemen. So much
NFL news today. Marvin Lewis was fired as Bengals head
coach after sixteen years there. He went oh and seven
in playoff games. The Dolphins fired coach Adam Gaze after
three seasons. His record there was twenty three and twenty five.

(25:27):
Miami also reassigned vice president Mike Tannenbaum. The Broncos fired
coach Vans Joseph after two seasons and a record of
eleven and twenty one, and the Cardinals fired head coach
Steve Wilkes after one season. They also let go of
the offensive and defensive coordinators. Arizona just went three and thirteen,
earning the number one draft Joys for April. That offense
average fourteen points per game this past season. Last night,

(25:49):
the Jets and Bucks fired their head coaches. Cleveland and
Green Bay have openings as well. The Falcons fired offensive
coordinator Steve Sarkisian and the defensive and special teams coaches.
So dan In in Atlanta will now be his own
defensive coordinator. The Raiders new general managers Mike Mayock from
NFL Network. Oakland's coaching staff will be in charge of
one of the Senior Bowl Star teams next month. San

(26:10):
Francisco staff will run the other side. Online car shopping
can be confusing, not anymore. With True Price from True Car,
now you can know the exact price you'll pay for
your next cars. To visit True Car to enjoy a
more confident car buying experience. College football winding down on
FS one three minutes to go in the Holiday Bowl,
Northwestern has come back to lead you to a thirty
one to twenty Each team ranked in the top twenty

(26:32):
five Northwestern Wildcats with four unanswered touchdowns in the third
quarter about twelve minutes left in the Gator Bowl nineteen
rank Texas A and M up thirteen over NC State.
Trabeon Williams Starr, running back of eight m on nineteen carries,
has two hundred thirty six yards rushing and three scores.
Earlier Bowl wins for Oklahoma State and Cincinnati one point

(26:55):
victories for Oregon and Stanford. The Seattle Mariners reportedly have
a deal with Happen. He's lefty pitcher, yes Sui Kikuchi
and guys. There was earlier tonight from baseball writer John Haymon,
a fan cred that Manny Machado started following Yes Network
on his Instagram the Yankees TV stakes. He said they

(27:16):
could be a sign. Could be nothing, the writer said.
And now just about ten minutes ago, he says Machado
has now unfollowed Yes Network on Instagram. That could be
a sign. Does he not want to lose leverage? Has
he changed his mind? Is he just having fun? We
know he's interviewed with the Yankees, Phillies and White Socks
and had said he'll make his decision in the new year.
I'll quit my job if he doesn't sign with the Yankees.

(27:38):
That would be kind of an upset, wouldn't it. Well,
didn't you threaten to quit your job if the Rockets
didn't win the championships. Don't worry about that. We're coming
to your live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios.
Easy to say fifty more concerns with Geiko, Go to
Geico dot com or give them a call one eight
hundred nine for seven auto and the only hard part
figuring out which way is easier. Aaron Torres, Arnie Span,

(27:59):
you're sitting for Jason Smith and his best friend Mike
Harmon on this New Year's Eve. You do usually go
out New Year's even No, you're not a New Year's guy.
I'm not a huge New Year's guy. I don't like
the crowds. I don't you know. I'm kind of an
old I'm an old soul, as they say, Ernie. I
we went out last year to a house party. We
had some fun, we drank some champagne. But I never

(28:21):
get invited the house parties. I don't understand this. My
my neighbors have parties every year. They don't invite me,
and I'm talking about a neighbor where I I could
spit and hit her from here. That's how close we are. Wow,
that's terrifying to think of being that close to you.
I mean, I don't know. I bet your wife's probably.
I'm sure your wife gets all the invites. But they
tell not me though, that they know that we're married.

(28:42):
So they're like, no, no, we're not. You can't bring
your husband, forget about that. I live in a yeah,
very old area. Be careful, I can't. Oh so you're
the young swinging guy in the area, and guy, and
I know, so we have a lot of bears and
a lot of you know what was a bob cats
and stuff like that in the neighborhood. I think, oh,
is that? Why is that the excuse they using? They

(29:04):
can't fight? Well, you might get, you might get Yeah,
you know you guys gotta walk from your house. It's
so hard to get around you live in the boondocks.
Stuff like that. Okay, Well that's here every excuse in
the book. That's a good excuse. Next time that you're
you plan on coming to California, that's what I'm gonna say.
No, no no, no, you you'd probably stay back. You might
get eaten by a bear out here, John says, ray
board Brewin or Avali, and stop it a Brewin. I

(29:24):
don't care if you want his only Stanley Cup with
the Avalanche. And now you're gonna get me fired for
talking hockey, all right, So stop with that talk about
the whalers again. Remember when I was all fired up
about the whalers a few days ago. Yeah, you'll get
fired for that too. Slow down, so your jets. There
um a couple of things I want to get to.
We talked about some of the coaches that are gonna
be moving around. First of all, I gotta say something
barv Lewis, what a great run. I mean, look, nothing

(29:47):
bad about the guy owen seven in the playoff games,
so obviously people can remember that as his legacy. I'm
actually shocked that he didn't make it the sixteen years
or however long you made it. I don't understand though,
the in fact situation for him. And I know he's
friends with Hugh Jackson, but if they hire him, I
I don't understand what's going on here. Aaron. Yeah, the
way people talked about Marvin Lewis today was it was

(30:09):
a eulogy of his career, but it was really like
a eulogy of a person like, oh, what did a run?
It's like the guy never want a playoff game. Let's
take a deep brother, and there's nothing wrong with him.
He's not physically ill. He's not going anywhere other than
to the broadcast booth or to be somebody's assistant. Maybe
he'll get another head coaching job, who knows. But the
way people talked about him was unbelievable. But then, yeah,

(30:31):
the second part, Arnie, the fact that people are now
saying that he was really pushing for Hugh Jackson behind
the scenes and that's why he brought Hugh Jackson in.
I think it's kind of funny, ironic if you will that. Um,
you know, the the word was the reason he brought
in Hugh Jackson was that he was hoping that they
could finish strong down the stretch and he could hand
the reins to Hugh Jackson in true Hugh Jackson form.

(30:52):
They didn't win a single game since the time that
he got there, so very fitting with his time in Cleveland,
and I would expect that neither of them as a
head coach next year. I don't even know how you
can hire this guy have to go in one and
thirty one. And I'm not saying the whole thing is
his fault, but can you hire a guy with that
type of Pedigreedy just said, you know, I know it's
not all your fault, but do you have to go
back to being a coordinator or whatever before you get
another head coaching job. I mean, I don't think it's

(31:14):
a stretch to say. I mean, look, and this is
his second head coaching job too. He coached with the Raiders.
Now he only got one year there, and we all
know the Raiders are dysfunctional. And I was reading today,
by the way that uh, you know, Marvin Lewis years
ago told Hugh Jackson not to take the Brown's job
for the exact reason that we saw that the organization
isn't very good. But I think the combination of not
just the one and thirty one record, but the way

(31:37):
that they played after he left. I mean, you can argue, oh,
they don't have town, oh this, oh that the other thing.
They want a bunch of games after that man left it. Oh,
by the way, the quarterback that he didn't want to
play was one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL
over the final eight or so weeks of the season.
So to me, I thought, not just the record, but
how the Browns did post Hugh Jackson was a referendum

(31:59):
on how he is as a coach. Can you actually
make a case that Cincinnati is the best job for
two reasons? One, you have a certainly a long time
to get it going. The you know, Marva had sixteen years,
so you know, I'm not saying you'll get sixteen, but
you should have a pretty good run until they get
sick of you too. You know, Beth Ben Roethlisberger not

(32:20):
getting any younger, so you know, Pittsburgh certainly looks like
they're on the downside. Maybe you gotta deal with Cleveland,
I guess, But I would think that maybe Society is
a pretty good job. I would say it's no worse
than number two, and number one is probably green Bay,
depending on how you feel about Aaron Rodgers, and I think, look,
the realistic thing with green Bay is that there is

(32:41):
expectation that you are gonna win right away. And by
the way, Aaron Rodgers thirty five, So if you don't
win right away, they're gonna move you out and on
to the next person, because they're trying to, you know,
maximize that window with Aaron Rodgers right now. So to
your point, Arnie, look the Bengals at one point, we're
about four and one this season, so it's not as oh,
they don't have an infrastructure there. Then Andy Dalton gets hurt,

(33:03):
then A J. Green gets hurt. I think you can
make a very compelling argument that this is the second
best job. And part of it also is the division two.
What do you do? What do you make? And I
know you brought this up earlier, Tampa Bay Uh saying, yeah,
if you want to be our head coach, Jamis Winston
is going to be your quarterback. That's not the worst
thing in the world, is it. I mean, Jamis is
a pretty good quarterback, and I know f It's Magic

(33:24):
out off to a real good start there. But we
really know who the better of the two are. I
think we know who the better the two are. Here's
my problem if you take that job, right is I
think everybody whenever you take a job, you want a
fresh start. So that would be my concern is what
if Jamis is who he's been and you go four
and fourteen next year, and then you decide that you

(33:45):
have to move off of them, maybe draft a new guy.
Let's just say hypothetically they're terrible. They get the number
one picky draft to so say you go four and fourteen,
three and thirteen. Let's not add games already, but go ahead, Okay,
whatever you know, math is in my shot. Listen, they
may expand the schedule by next year. Who knows? So?
Um so yeah, so you go three and thirteen, you
get the number one pick, you take two. Uh, next
year you go six and ten. Then all of a sudden,

(34:07):
people are saying, well, he's nineteen and what or he's
nine and whatever over two years. But if you have two,
everybody's smart enough to know if you just took too, uh,
you increase your wins by two games. Like you just said,
everybody knows you're going in the right direction. Nobody's going
to fire you at that point. I mean, but do
you really though? I mean, there are guys that have
been fired to not getting too. When you're winning three
or four games, you've got to win like two games.

(34:28):
You've really got to be damn bad, and that team's
gonna probably need a quarterback. That's the way it's gonna work. Yeah,
I just think that. To me, that's my concern is
because we I mean, we're in you know, we're well
into the Jamis Winson here at this point. It's not
as though we're still trying to figure out. I don't
think he's very good, um, but to give him another
year and then if he's not good, then you're already
a year behind the eight ball, that'd be my concern

(34:50):
if I was thinking about that job. Aaron underscore Torres,
I'm a stinking genius. One will come back talk about
some of the other changes a little bit more on
Antonio Brown also eron Torres. Already spaniard in for Jason
Smith and Mike Harmon right here on Fox Sports or Radio.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven

(35:11):
pm Pacific. Great news, everybody. There's a quick way to
save money. Just switched to Geico. Go to Geico dot
com and in fifteen minutes you could say fifteen percent
of more on car insurance. He's there in Torres, a
Marni Span. You're sitting in for Jason Smith and his
bass friend Mike Carmon. We're in for one more night
tomorrow night, and then the guys are back on Wednesday.
To get your twenty nineteen started off, well, Wow, we've

(35:33):
been doing a lot of filing, big boy, a lot
going on last couple of weeks. It has been fun
and a couple of nights more like you said, an
Tonio Brown, what's going on here? What? What is he
so upset about? Yeah, they're going through a tough time,
but the whole team's going through a tough time on
their own. They were seven, there were seven, two and one,

(35:55):
and next thing you know, things start going tough and
they got to win against the Patriots. But you gotta
go ahead and deal with this as a team. You
know what I'm saying, This is a team effort. You
when is the team is? You're losing his team And
I'm not so sure what he's taking it out on
Ben Roethlisberger for what exactly did Ben do to him

(36:15):
where their words exchange? Did Ben say something to him?
Because there was nothing that came out in the media.
And another thing, you know, you're paying this guy out
a lot of money, a lot of money. He's the
highest paid receiver in the NFL. He's got to go
ahead and understand it's not going to be about him

(36:36):
every time on the field is one thing, but you
gotta show you gotta have some decorum when you're going
ahead and dealing with a situation like this, just yelling
at your all everything quarterback that that's not the answer,
that's not the solution to the problem. So if on
the Pittsburgh Steelers, I gotta really think Aaron of maybe

(37:00):
even this guy on and I know you're not gonna
get equal value for him, but you're gonna get rid
of that contract, and you may get rid of a
cancer sooner than later. Yeah, I mean, it's the old right.
It's like the the Houston Texans owner who just passed away,
Bomb mcnare. He got in a lot of trouble for
using the phrase. I believe he said the inmates are
running the prison, But what he was trying to say

(37:21):
was the inmates are running the asylum. And I don't
think it's I don't think it's a stretch to say
that it feels like the inmates are running the asylum
in Pittsburgh. That's not anything other than the fact that
how much does Mike tom would have to take? How
much culpability does Mike Tomlin have here? And that's exactly
what I'm saying is is um. You know, look the
Facebook thing that we brought up earlier with with Antonio Brown,

(37:43):
There's been other little stuff. I mean, Ben obviously every
year he kind of flirts with him I gonna retire,
am I not. That's you know, there's only so much
a coach can do. And look, I'm not saying Mike
Tomlin has to be let go after one season where
you don't make the playoffs, but it does feel like
these guys for lack of a better term, kind of
have free reign, right. I mean, look, Antonio Brown, there
were reports this week that he was skipping practice, that

(38:05):
he was skipping meetings, that he like threw a football
at some dude because he got mad at him. Um.
And so I just think that at some point it
does fall on leadership where the coach has to be
that one voice that everybody listens to. Finishing touches from
the weekend and kind of like from the year, the
Denver Broncos I mean miserably came to an end twenty

(38:26):
three to nine against the Chargers. It was a debacle
from day number one. Obviously they had to move on.
You know, I remember the time when the Broncos used
to be a powerhouse and then they went a Super
Bowl with Paid Manning. Now look what they are on
and Uh, it's gonna take the right guy to turn
that around. But I don't think it's hard to turn
around the Denver Broncos, especially in that division. I agree

(38:47):
and advanced Joseph obviously. Look, he had a defensive background,
and you know it's hard to blame a ton of
it on him without a quarterback. But the year before
he got there, Gary Kubiak went seven and nine, and
so for him to have the two seasons that he did, uh,
five and eleven last year, six and ten this year.
At a certain point, yes, you need a quarterback, but
there were winnable games that the Broncos did not win.

(39:10):
I saw stat today he was two and fourteen on
the road during his time at den Yeah, at a
certain point, I get you need a quarterback, but at
a certain point you gotta win some games too. I
don't know if we have enough time, but like I said,
we're only filling in tomorrow. So I don't know if
you need the rest of the week to talk about this.
What do you think would I say the Minnesota Vikings
and cousins um disappointment? I mean, is eighty four million

(39:34):
dollars wasted? Am I putting too much blame on Cousins?
And again, do you you win? Is a team you
loses the team? But I don't know where do you
start with this Tobacco? Well, I mean, let's be honest here,
we're looking at a team that played for the NFC
championship last year. They went eight seven and one. This
year had their playoff destiny in their hands. And let's
be honest, what is the one difference between last year

(39:54):
and this year? Quarterback? It's the guy at quarterback. And
it's not as though Kirk Cousins didn't have this reputation
that proceed did him before he got to Denver about
or excuse me to Minnesota about not being able to
win big games. I think it falls flatly on him.
And the other thing too, aren'tie is you look at
these last couple of games. Ten points against the Bears,
that debacle in Seattle on Monday night, they score seven

(40:18):
points late, lose one to seven. It's not just that
they're losing games, it's that they're not getting good quarterback
play in it. And as I said, the only dips
between last year and this year is their QB. I
don't want to put the whole thing on Cousins, but look,
that's what you kept the big money for. That's why
four or plus million dollars. Now. They did have some
tough losses earlier, and that Buffalo Bills loss really maybe

(40:39):
the reason why they didn't make the playoffs. But there
they weren't going to make a run of things. They
were not going to go ahead and be a Super
Bowl contender this year. It it just wasn't going to happen. Ere. Yeah,
I don't disagree, but I also think that you've got
the talent is there everywhere that we know about the
skill position guys, we know about the defensive guys, and
as I just said a minute, the one spot is quarterback.

(41:02):
You've gotta be better than Kirk Cousins has been, especially
in these big games. Our one in the books Cruising
along Tonight. Coming up next hour, Jason herschel And will
stop on by NFL writer for US be Nation in
Sports on Earth More NFL to get to We'll talk
about some of the biggest surprises and disappointments, will get
you ready for the playoffs. That's what everybody wants to

(41:22):
talk about. That's coming up neck stick around for that
right here on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. All Right,
dot is us. We're coming to you ive from the

(41:43):
Geico Fox Sports Radio Studios. Did you know that fifteen
minutes could save you fifteen percent of more in car insurance?
What do you have to do? Visit guy dot com
for a free rate quote. One hour away from twenty nineteen,
at least here on the East coast, Aaron Torres on
the Web coast, you still got what another four more
hours before you get in the twenty nineteen big boy. Yeah,

(42:05):
I'm not gonna lie. I spent probably about three quarters
of our first hour together thinking that at the top
of the hour, which is right now, you would be
in teteen. So math not really my strong step, not
at all. I'm gonna shoot for some addition and subtraction
lessons in twenty nineteen. That's my hope. I think it's
pretty cold outside tonight, so I hope everybody at least
up here. It is a matter of fact. One of

(42:26):
our listeners and you can go ahead and tweet us
at the Aaron on the Score Tours and I'm at
stinking genius one Antelope says, hey, stinking genius, Happy New Year,
Arnie snow here and negative twenty five wind chill wow wow,
And he has called listening to us in Duluth, Minnesota,
I know how that I know that wind chill gets

(42:47):
uh wow wow. Yeah, you're you're you're you're not used
to that in Los Angeles area. Well, that's what I
was gonna say. I mean, the reason that you're not
at a Christmas party or a New Year's party right now,
we learned was because one of the cold weather to
your neighbors were very concerned about bear attacks in your area.
And it had nothing to do with your personality at all.
So I'm glad we learned that in the first town. Yeah,
it's what's the last time you were while you were

(43:08):
just out here in December right for the Yukon game. Yeah,
it was it was in the twenties. It wasn't like
in the negatives, It wasn't terrible. Two years in Los
Angeles is not nearly as fun as on the East
Coast and New York and stuff like that. L A.
It's so spread out. There's not like one gathering area.
It's got to find that one bar, that one you know,

(43:30):
restaurant that everybody goes to. Yeah, I think you can
make the case for pretty much anything in l A
is like that, is that there isn't that downtown scene.
It's always fun when when you know myself, I'm sure
when you lived here, when you travel to a city
where there's one like centralized downtown, right, I'm just trying
to think of an example. I've actually never been to Nashville,
but I hear Nashvilles like that. Uh. L A is

(43:51):
just so spread out. You just you're not gonna get
a million people in one place. It kind of loses
its appeal on a night like tonight where everybody gets
together and does one thing. But hey, you can't beat
the weather, right, Uh No, you can't beat the weather,
that's for sure. I want to get to a bunch
of stuff this hour. Jason Hersch's gonna join us in
about fifteen minutes from now. Ernie sends in a good
tweet says, didn't Antonio Brown get the memo that the

(44:14):
days of the winding, narcissistic drama queen wide receivers are over?
T O? Chad Johnson, does Bryant, all the other divas
aren't even in the league anymore for a reason, he
can go hook up with Levian Bell and Pat Well. Uh,
Chad Johnson's not a busis old now and so it's
t O. But I get his point though. I like that.
I I I certainly understand that in the days of

(44:35):
you know, the drama queens, they're they're over now in
the NFL. So I had an interesting conversation this morning
between Doug Gottlieb and Rob Parker about Levian Bell. Where
do you stand on it? Because I don't think it
made him look good. I don't think that it's a
guarantee that because he took a year off, now he's
gonna be refreshed and re energized. Rob Parker seemed to
lean that way. Doug Gottlieb filled the opposite. I'm curious

(44:55):
where you lean on Levian Bell. After the you know,
I know Rob said that he won uh, he won nothing.
He won nothing. Anytime you've lost what was it, fourteen
million dollars, fourteen fifteen million dollars, that's number one. You
never get that money back. And he may get a
big contract now, but that's the first thing too. He
really looks bad uh in public perception. And I don't

(45:15):
know if that means anything. I don't know if that
comes to meaning endorsements or lost money like that, And
who knows, maybe he'll get like a funny endorsement making
funny of him, of fun of him sitting out the year.
But I think he's gonna make less money because he
said out the year from endorsements and commercials compared to
what he would have done if he would have come
into Pittsburgh alsothing. So so that's number two. Three. I

(45:36):
think less teams will be interested in him because he
did sit out, and the teams know that there's no shenanigans.
You gotta pay him top dollar or you're not gonna
get him at all. So there's not gonna be any
uh discount or anything like that. So no, I don't
think he wanted all Aaron, Yeah, and I totally agree.
And it's not like he's gonna make it up on
the back end of his career, right, It's not like
he's a basketball player that can play at least thirty

(45:59):
five quarterback at Major League baseball player or whatever. He's
gonna be twenty seven in about a month here. Uh
So he'll be closer to than twenty seven by the
time the next football season kicks off, or he'll be
closer to seven, I should say, when the next football
season kicks off. And I think even with the year off,
I don't think that means that, oh now he's refreshed

(46:19):
and recharged and it's gonna be uh you know, he's
gonna add some years on the back end. I understand
he was taking a lot of touches, a lot of carries,
a lot of catches out of the backfield and all
that when he was on the field, But I also
think that there's something to be said for taking hits
and for going through the grind of a game week.
And and I'm not saying that that it won't be
beneficial to some degree to have missed the season, but

(46:42):
I don't I think that he could struggle to get
back into kind of game shape and get his body
game ready after sitting out a year as well, and
by the way, that was just fourteen million dollars in sary.
I think they would have made the playoffs, Levian Bell,
he would have gotten playoff money and and stuff like that.
And who knows how it would have played out, And
who knows if they woudn't even resigned them if he
would have come on in Yeah, and and exactly. And

(47:03):
I understand the argument, you gotta protect yourself, you gotta
protect your body. They were wearing him down over these
last couple of years. But I also do think there's
something to be said for the idea of like, I
get that side of it, but I don't know that
sitting completely out of football does anybody any good as well?
Does it never worked for anybody else and any sports
sitting out an entire year and then coming back and

(47:25):
not missing a beat. I'm trying to think of anybody.
I can't really, nobody immediately comes to mind. I was
thinking about remember the year that they say maybe Michael Jordan,
but that was at the end of his career. Well,
he but if people forget this though, he came back
for the playoffs in whatever it was ninety five I think,
and they lost early in the playoffs. That was when
he was wearing number forty five. I mean, people think

(47:48):
that he won three championships, left for two years and
came back. He came back on the back end of
that that season and they lost to the Magic in
the playoffs, and so, uh, look MJ's the goat and whatever,
but it's still even him. It took time to get
more comfortable. The one I was thinking of remember the
the year that Maurice Claret and uh, Mike Williams tested

(48:09):
the NFL draft process and both in the process thought
they were gonna get eligible and right Mike Williams the
wide receiver for USC correct and neither of them was
anywhere close to the player they were when they came back. Now,
you could argue they're young, they made some bad personal
decisions as far as how they spent their free time
too much having fun, not enough staying in shape. But
I think the point remains, it's not easy to just

(48:30):
take a year off of football and come back the
next year. Does if he even had a brand, But
does sitting out hurt your brand or didn't make a
difference whatsoever. Well, it's a great question. I would love
to know what you think. I think it could go
either way, right, I mean, I think there's obviously gonna
be those people that think, oh, he should have played,
he let his team down. But I could see a
Marshawn Lynch type situation. Remember when the Marshawn had the

(48:53):
I'm just here so I won't get fined, And then
he got all those commercials right after that, right, And
part of it was the Seahawks won the Super Bowl,
but um, he got all those commercials. I remember doing
Skittles commercials and all that stuff. So I could see
it going both ways. But by the way, part of
that is he's got to perform and he's got to
play well when he comes back. And then the question, too,
aren't he becomes what kind of team is interested in him? Right? Like,

(49:16):
there's a lot of teams that you here have cap space.
Some of them you think would utilize him, well, the
Indianapolis Colts, But then there's teams like the Jets, like
the Raiders that are gonna have money to spend. And
it doesn't matter how good you are if you go
three and thirteen or as I said a minute ago,
four and fourteen. But you know, four four and twelve
or whatever, that doesn't help the brand either. There's nothing

(49:37):
that helps the brand more than winning. Do you think
he wants to play in the division? Does he want
to go ahead? He can't play for Cleveland because they've
got themselves are running back. But does he want to
play in the division so he gets two shots at
Pittsburgh every year? Or what? I think he wants to
play with whoever is gonna sign him to the most money,
Get me that, get me that paper, get me that green.
I don't really care. Yeah, I think you're right about him.

(49:58):
I can't wait to see the team signs of I.
I think I could probably find odds of Vegas odds
on who's the favorite and stuff like that. So I'm
very curious to see how that one's going to playoff.
There's there's no doubt about that. So Levian Bell, we'll
see which team is gonna gohead inside them. All right,
it's playoff time. This is what we've been waiting for.

(50:18):
This is what it's all about. Um. You know, when
I look at the playoffs, three of the four games
under a field goal in point spread, So what they're
saying is the only reason you're favorite by two and
a half points is because you have home field advantage.
These are going to be I think they're gonna be two,
maybe even three teams a road teams when in the

(50:39):
first week in the playoffs. But what's so fascinating to
me about all these all these games is they're basically
all rematches, right, I mean the Colts, Yeah, Colts and
Texas played just a few weeks ago, right, Seahawks and
Dallas played early in the year, and I will remember,
I was gonna say the the last time they played
in the playoffs, Cowboys lost to the Seahawks on the
Tony Romo by extra point. Yes, I remember that very well,

(51:03):
and I'm sure Cowboys fans do too, but oh, I'm
sure they do. So you have that one. And then,
by the way, Chargers and Ravens just played literally two
weeks ago, So that to me is kind of the
interesting thing is how much do you take away from
an earlier matchup? How much do you say, now, you know,
playoffs are a different beast, Some of the games are
a different venue, different team is at home and on

(51:23):
the road. But that was the thing that stood out
to me when we got the matchups last night, is
is who how many teams are playing teams that they're
familiar with. I don't know why we're putting the Eagles
Bears on the back burner. Maybe because we think that
the Bears should be able to win this game, but
I have never Look, I'm not giving up on Nick
Foles anymore. He'll get the start. What I don't even
know what to make of him. Where is he gonna go?
Who's going to want him? How much can they give him?

(51:46):
What does he have? Can he take? If he took Philadelphia?
Could you imagine if he goes to the Super Bowl?
Back to back Super Bowls? If you could take Philadelphia
to back to back Super Bowls? Kincha, kids are going
to buy abby and do something. Kids are going to
tell or kid to go somewhere, do something. I don't
know understand why nobody wants this guy. I was just
gonna say, I have thought of the game plan for
your Miami Dolphins. Folds and folds and Levi on Bell

(52:09):
in the off season. Let's do it super Bowl whatever
next year? Uh yeah, No, I mean, look, I think
to me, this is the most fascinating storyline of the
first weekend in the playoffs is just can this guy
stay hot? I mean, it's amazing because they shut down
Carson Wentz just because they basically came to the conclusion,
we can't make the playoffs. Let's get him rest, let's

(52:31):
get him healthy. For there they go. They beat the Rams,
they beat the Texans, two teams that made the playoffs.
Then they of course, uh you know, they win yesterday
in Washington. I mean, it's just unbelievable what this guy
has done. And I'm with you, Arnie. I think it's
gonna make for a compelling storyline if this guy keeps
winning in the playoffs, because i I it seems so

(52:51):
obvious to keep Harson Wentz. But if this guy keeps
winning big games the way he has, I don't know
if you can do it. No, no, you stop it.
There's no they have no choice. They're all in on
Carson Wentz. They've got to get rid of Nick Foles
after this season. So time has run out, the clock
has ticked away, and Nick Foles is going to be gone.
The only question is how much pressure pressure is Carson

(53:12):
Wentz gonna have on him from here on out until
he wins the super Bowl, because I'll always say Nick
Foles won a super Bowl. Nick Foles took us to
the playoffs the following year. Carson Went's gonna win a
super bowlcause he's gonna be a Nick Foles shadow all
this time. Oh yeah, no, I think that's totally fair
and it's amazing. And we talked about this throughout the season,
aren'ty but a year ago? Now, I guess fourteen fifteen

(53:34):
months ago. I mean, we're talking about Carson Wentz is
a potential m v P. We're talking about him is
the face of one of the faces of the NFL
going forward. Now, not only is he not the hot,
sexy young quarterback like a Patrick Mahomes or Baker Mayfield,
but oh, by the way, uh, you might not even
be the quarterback period in Philly. Again, a lot of
stuff still has to happen, but yeah, man, it's he

(53:56):
is always gonna be held to that standard and he's
gonna be the quarterback of Philly. They don't have a choice.
But you're saying if they go on a run. You
just said they go on a run. But they can't.
It's too late. They already have Carson once on their contract.
They they can sign Nick Foles on their give him
the money that he's going to want. It's just it's
impossible to have two quarterbacks for that type of money.

(54:16):
They they have to move on from Nick Foles. They
don't have a choice. They were able to keep them
this year. They had him under contract, but that's it.
They're they're done. They can't keep them. They have to
let him go. So your Miami Dolphins nick Foles. Yeah,
I think that that could be a good fit. I
think there's a lot of places where he could be
a good fit where he wants to be a starter. Unfortunately,

(54:37):
Green Bay and and and Cleveland won't be one of
them or two of them there. Either will the Jets,
and either will Arizona. So you cross those four off
the bat, including Tampa Bay which is five. So it
doesn't leave a lot of places for Nick Foles to
go when with with these coaching openings out there. Yeah,
I was gonna say, now, it's all the teams that
we've talked about over the last week with Miami, maybe

(54:58):
the Giants, maybe the Jags. Not many places though, all right,
he's the NFL writer. Fresbee Nation in Sports on Earth
his name Jason Hershorn. He joins us. Next, He's Aaron Torres.
I'm only Spaniard. We're sitting in for Jason Smith and
his best friend Mike Carmen right here on Fox Sports
Are Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of The

(55:18):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific. Alright, great news, everybody. There's a quick
way to save money. Just switch the GEI. Go go
to geiko dot com and in fifteen minutes, you could
say fifteen per cent the more on car insurance. He's
Aaron Torres, AMRNTI Spanier, sitting in for Jason Smith and
his best friend Mike Carmen. Please please please be safe

(55:39):
out there. I know we're about forty minutes away from
New Year's Eve, at least here on the East Coast.
Everybody else soon the foul be safe, called Uber, call
her friend, take a cab, walk or stay where you are,
do whatever you have to do to stay safe. All right,
let's go to the Geico Fox Sports Celebrity Hotline. Jordius

(55:59):
Now he's the NFL writer for Recipe Nation, also Sports
by Sports on Earth. You could tweet him at b
y underscored jb H. It's Jason Hershaw and how you
know what, Jason, Happy New Year? Aren't happy New Year?
My friend? And you know, let's start with my Miami Dolphins.
They get rid of case. Obviously Tannehill's gone so along

(56:20):
in the along with that nineteen million dollar contract he
was going to have. I thought Ross the owner was
going to wait a little bit and decide what was
going to happen. What changes mind. Rumors are that the
player revolt started and they wanted gaze out what's going
on in Miami. Well, because many reports as to why

(56:40):
a decision was made so quickly in Adam gaze and frankly,
I'm not sure that any of it is totally dependable.
Not not saying that the reporters themselves are not dependable.
But anytime you have a decision like this where it's
necessary surprise firing, but the timing of it is surprising,
you're gonna see stuff like that that's going to support
that decision. It doesn't mean that it's long. It's just
that we cannot without knowing more information, no for certain

(57:04):
that that is why it happened. One of the names
that was kind of a huge name for about the
last three or four or five weeks, maybe two months,
was Lincoln Riley. Obviously, Oklahoma lost this week the Oklahoma
Sooners at the college level, but it seems like that
buzz has died down. Have NFL teams given up on
getting Lincoln Riley this offseason? I would be very surprised

(57:25):
if NFL teams that were already interested in Lincoln Riley
have really pulled back on him. They're they're going to ask.
There's no reason not to. He's probably the most dynamic,
young offensive name that's on the market. He may not leave,
he may not take the interview, but there was absolutely
no harm in trying it. Because he's not currently an
NFL coach, teams don't have to worry about all those

(57:46):
restrictions that have to deal with with assistant on teams
currently in the playoffs, because, as you know, if an
assistant coach is currently with the team that's either playing
this up on the weekend or playing the following weekend,
there's all of these coops they have to jump through.
That is not the case with Riley. It's just a
question of whether y wants to take that interview, and
again there's no reason not to ask. Let me ask
you this, Jason, Let's go to Cincinnati. I can't believe

(58:07):
I have to ask you if you were surprised after
sixteen years that Marv Lewis finally got his walkie papers
oh and seven on the playoffs? Why now? Why this year?
Why wasn't it sooner? And is it really true that
you Jackson maybe next to in line? What's going on there? Well, honestly,
it's a little bit surprising in that we never know
what's going to happen with that Bengals organization. It seemed

(58:28):
like Marvin Lewis was a dead man walking this time
last year and ended up getting an extension out of it.
So anyone going into week seventeen, things they knew what
was gonna happen with Marvin Lewis was really just grasped
me at Straws and they had the Bengals one. Perhaps
he would have got another extension. We really don't know.
But after sixteen seasons within itly more success than any
Bengals coach has had at least my lifetime. It doesn't

(58:52):
it doesn't make sense that he's gone now that they
weren't ever able to win a playoff game. It seemed
like the time had finally come to have a new
voice in that room. So gonna bounce out to Arizona now.
Steve Wilkes gone after one year. Obviously, Arizona finished three
and thirteen overall. Did you feel like this was a
quick trigger after only one year. I mean, it's definitely
a quick trigger anytime you fire a coach after one year.

(59:14):
But yeah, I do think it made sense for Arizona
to do this. Steve Wilkes came in, and it's not
as though there was a lot of talent in Arizona.
Think everyone understood that going in, but it was a
defense that had functionated a reasonably high level under the
previous regime and it really just fell apart. And that
was wilkes special thing. And if he's not seeing the defense,

(59:36):
we know that he is not bringing that offensive expertise
that you really need. With Josh Rosen, the early first
round pick from a year ago, that just didn't really
make sense. There wasn't really a path for him to
succeed at that point. It kind of does feel unfair
to Wilkes because he was thrown into a situation where
he really couldn't succeed. But if you're the Cardinals, there's
really no reason to run it back knowing that you're

(59:58):
just not gonna get what you need. Mason Hershaw and
joining us here NFL right of frusty nation in sports
on Earth. All right, Jason, let me get this right.
Jets haven opening, they said, you know what, we want
to talk to Matt Campbell from Iowa State, and he goes,
I think I like it right here in Iowa State.
That's a better job than the New York Jets. What
am I missing something here? Now? I'm gonna pass on

(01:00:21):
that one. What's going on here, Jason? I think this
is a little bit of a particular candidate not necessarily
having no interest in the Jets job, does not having
interest in any NFL job. This year, Campbell Jett signed
an extension with Iowa State. Now that's true of a
lot of coaches who end up making the jump, but
in his case, I really think he wanted to stay
there another year, see what was on the market, not

(01:00:41):
just in the NFL but in college football a year
from now, and evaluate those options. So again, this doesn't
look great for the Jets. Obviously when human NFL STA
or turned down for a team that's barely in the
Big twelve. But really, I just don't think any team,
regardless of who it was, was going to be able
to pull Macampbell out of Aims this year. So Tampa
Bay not only is dirt cut her out, but then

(01:01:03):
the GM comes out today and says Jamis Winston is
coming back. Whoever is the next coach has to be
able to work with Jamis Winston. Considering that we kind
of have a track record on Jamis Winston, do you
think this might scare any candidates away, just in the
sense that it's like, we're giving this guy another year.
They might have to move on with him for a year.
And then if you get stuck with Jamis Winston for

(01:01:25):
a year and it doesn't work out, you're behind the
eight ball in terms of getting this thing going. Yeah,
and it's not the only reason to be concerned about
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers job, but that's one of the
biggest ones. It's not just that we haven't seen Jameis
Winston mature off the field. We really haven't seen the
mature on the field. He still throws far too many interceptions,
makes far too many mistakes, and he's going into the

(01:01:47):
fifth year option. It's expensive because he was the number
one overall pick. There's just a lot of reasons not
who we love that from that job. From a personnel perspective,
and you think of it from a wider perspective as well.
The general manager there, Jason Ltte, is not guaranteed to
be there this time next year. So if you're going
in as a head coach, even if you manage to
navigate those Jamis Winston Waters, that not particularly talented roster.

(01:02:11):
The guy who hired you might be gone, in which
case you yourself are gonna be on shaky ground. So really,
if that's got the least attractive opening, it's in the
bottom two or three. All right, Jason, Then let's get
over to Green Bay. Uh, good job or not? Because
you have to deal with Aaron Rodgers. How close are
they to turning it around and winning again? Is Josh
McDaniels really the front and runner of the offensive coordinator

(01:02:33):
for the Patriots? What's what's the story in Green Bay? Well,
you asked a lot of questions. Well, we'll start with
the Rodgers one. Aaron Rodgers being there, is a feature,
It is not a bug. Obviously, thinks did not go
well for Green Bay in and there's certainly a lot
of discussion about Aaron rodgers relationship with a now fired
head coach, Mike McCarthy. But anytime you can work with

(01:02:55):
a Hall of fame quarterback still in his prime, and
Aaron Rodgers is that type of player, it is going
to make it an extremely attractive place to coach, and
not the most attractive place to coach. And that's part
of the reason why we've seen names like Josh McDaniels
at times, Lincoln Riley now possibly Pat Fitzgerald's with Western
coach who just won his bowl game tonight. There's a
reason why those guys are potentially interested because even with

(01:03:17):
a lot of uncertainty, you still have a Hall of
fame quarterback. That's the most important thing any roster can have. Now.
In terms of McDaniels, I do think that that's the
front order of the guy to beat. Fitzgerald may take
that interview ultimately, but I'm not sure that he's only
going to take the job simply because he's in such
a comfortable spot in Evanston with Northwestern, his alma mater

(01:03:37):
and really that program is at the highest point it's
been in not not just Fitzgerald's time as head coach there,
but really in the last thirty years. So that doesn't
mean he can't. It just simply means that it's going
to be surprising if he does. I look at the
remaining options, McDaniels makes the most sense for all parties.
McDaniels gets that high quality quarterback that he's worked with
in New England. He also gets, frankly, the nice runway

(01:04:00):
so that even after Rogers has gone in four to
five years, they can figure out maybe who's the successor
is going to be and he can have input on
that decision. And the Packers have been one of the
most stable franchises for for the past thirty plus years.
So when you have all of those things in one place,
it makes a lot of sense for someone like McDaniels.
And again, McDaniels, with his offensive expertise, the way that

(01:04:20):
he's managed to make the most out of the Twilight
Brady's career, it just seems like the right marriage for
this period. All right, before I let you go, last question,
what will be the big surprise out of all the Hirings.
What's the one we don't see coming, but you see coming.
What what's gonna happen that's just gonna totally shock us. Well,
at this point, I'm not sure that anything's gonna totally

(01:04:41):
shock us, but I feel like the Bengals are gonna
end up making a higher that's gonna have a lot
of us scratching our heads. And I don't think it's
gonna be Hugh Jackson, to be clear, but I do
think the person who ultimately gets that job is not
someone who we're really talking about for any other job.
The Bengals run that organization much definitely than virtually every
their franchise in the NFL. They frankly have fewer resources

(01:05:04):
because of that ownership group than any other team the
NFL or almost any other team in the NFL, and
they've made strange decisions before when it comes to these
high level coaching decisions. As part of the reason why
I think Martinus is able to last so long because
even with his work, he was able to bring stability
to the organization. So it was surprising, for example, if
if their special teams coordinator Simmons and ends up getting

(01:05:27):
that job someone again as far as we know, he's
not in consideration for any other head coaching job. I
really think that that kind of outcomes on the table
for Cincinnati. All right, He's Jason hershorre in NFL, Ride
of Fresbee Nation, Sports on Earth. Jason. Always a pleasure.
Have a great new year, my friend. Always appreciate your
time and enjoy the games this weekend, alright, anytime, already.

(01:05:47):
Take care, alright, take care, Jason Hershor and everybody giving
you the breakdown. Nobody knows, uh, nobody knows the coaching
changes better than Jason. He keeps his nose to the grindstone,
gets everything in, all the information out there. Always love
having him on. All right, let's check out and see
what's trending with every buddy, Steve the Seger. What's going
on out there? So much in the way of NFL news.

(01:06:10):
Nine News Denver, for example, reported the Broncos will interview
Chuck Pagano for their head coaching vacancy. S n Y
New York said the Jets planned to interview Jim Caldwell
for their vacancy. Marvin Lewis was fired as Bengals head
coach today. The Dolphins fired Adam Gaze after three seasons.
The Broncos fired advanced Joseph after to The Cardinals fired
Steve Wilkes after just one season three and thirteen Arizona

(01:06:34):
earning the number one draft choice in April. Cardinals average
just fourteen points per game this year. The Raiders new
general managers Mike Mayock. Titans linebacker Briana Rapko retired after
ten years with Washington and Tennessee. Chargers tight end Hunter
Henry will take first team reps at practice this week.
Finally back from a torn a c l in May.
The Chargers playoff game is in Baltimore Sunday, one pm Eastern.

(01:06:56):
The Bucks announced quarterback Jamis Winston will be back next year.
He'll earn nearly twenty one million dollars next season, ending
his rookie contract. The Bill say running back Lashawn McCoy
will return next season to finish out a five year deal.
He'll turn thirty one in the summer. Steelers wide out
Antonio Brown was absent from last Saturday's walk through and
while inactive, left yesterday's game at halftime. According to NFL Network,

(01:07:19):
NFL opponents for are set now that the year's regular
season is over. The Dallas Cowboys, for example, will host
the Rams, Vikings, and Packers on next year's schedule, and
Dallas has road games at Chicago, at New Orleans, and
at New England. By the way, after tonight's bull victory
for Northwestern, coach Pat Fitzgerald of the Wildcats said quote,

(01:07:40):
I'm not going anywhere. Online car shopping can be confusing,
not anymore. With True Price from True Car, now you
can know the exact price you'll pay for your next car.
So visit True Car to enjoy a more confident car
buying experience. Northwestern's holiday bull win was a comeback down
twenty to three at the half, still beat Utah thirty
one to twenty. Texas A and M was down thirteen
seven in the second quarter, and won fifty thirteen over

(01:08:04):
NC State at the Gator Bowl boll wins for Oklahoma
State in Cincinnati one point victories for Oregon and Stanford.
Back to you, all right, thanks at the Saga, of course,
giving us the latest in all the scores. What's happening
in the world. By the way, we're coming to you
alive from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios. It's easy
to say fifteen more in corncrance with Geico. Just go
to Geico dot com or give them a call one

(01:08:25):
eight hundred nine four seven auto. And the only hard part, well,
that's figuring out which way is easier Again we go
right back to the Geico Fox Sports. Somebody how a
by joining us out host of the game at one
oh two nine in Tuscaloosa, Alabama does afternoon drive down there?
It's Ryan Fowler. How are you doing after that world
win weekend? My friend, oh Man, Oklahoma kind of gave

(01:08:49):
Alabama a little bit of a scarer and in that
first quarter, I thought you and on all of us,
which we were still right, but I mean I thought
like we may have missed it because it was about
to be a really, really big blowout. But Oklahoma gave
him a little credit. They were resilient through and you know,
Alabama kind of took their foot off their throat. What way, Wait,
did did they really give you a scare where you're

(01:09:10):
where you're really scared by the end of the game. No,
but I was supposed to say that, Arnie. I'm sorry.
I was so so I want to jump off that Ryan,
because this is I got a bone to pick with
every Oklahoma fan out there, uh, including you know, all
the ones listening to us. Now, I'm supposed to believe
that because Kyler Murray was so incredible that he completed

(01:09:33):
just over fifty of his passes and kept Oklahoma within
eleven points, that justifies him getting the HIGs. Because that's
what I heard this weekend was oh, well, you know
how much worse would it have been without him? To me,
I'm saying, if you're the best player in college football,
you put your team on your back and you get
them to victory in Tuscaloosa. I know you got some
crimson tinted glasses on, but what was the buzz about

(01:09:54):
Kyler Murray? And to h was he robbed three weeks
ago in that Heisman. Well, you know what, I hope
that this happens. I hope because I'm a Husman voter,
and good lords, they may be taking my you know,
my vote after after what I'm about to say. It's stupid.
We're still in old school football. Think about it. Okay,
we used to vote and the bowl games were meaningless. Right,

(01:10:18):
they voted prior to the championship. Uh so you would go, okay, Alabama,
and so they would vote and then they would go
play a bowl game. Seventy three, Alabama won the national
title once to the bowl gaming lost, but they were
still champions because all this happened prior to the actual
bowl game. Well, we're stuck in the in the forties
and the fifties and the sixties. We got to change this, man.

(01:10:39):
I want to see the best players against the best teams.
I don't want to see you know, what Kyler Murray
can do against Army and you know Oklahoma State and Kansas.
I want to I want to see what he can
do against the best of the best. Hopefully, if one
thing comes out of this that we readjust this. Why
do we vote, uh for all these stupid awards, all

(01:10:59):
of them? Why don't we vote in two weeks left
in the season. I've got some Hall of All American
ballots that are do you two weeks part of the
end of the season? Wow? Wow? Yeah, I mean it's
it's crazy vote when you I mean, are you saying
that this one doesn't count? Well, look at two Okay,

(01:11:20):
last year's championship performance. So if on the current procedure,
the National Championship game never counts, it never counts, It
never counts the year prior or the current year. So
what do you get for it? I mean, we gotta
we gonna come out of the fifties and sixties. Man,
it's let's let's let's change it a little bit. Here

(01:11:41):
we ask about Nick Saban. I thought he was a
lot more animated on the sideline than usual. I thought
he almost became a distraction for his team. He was
really screaming and yelling at just about everything. Am I
thinking this too much? Or what? Well? You know what,
I'll tell you that headset was a ten out of ten,
I mean, more accurate than any Notre Dame court of
I think, yeah, yeah, well, and no, no, Ernie, I

(01:12:05):
think that's a great point. I haven't really thought about
a distraction. Why but because I think he knew Nick
Saban coaches when when his teams are up harder they does,
and so I think he was he was not very
happy with him kind of taking the foot off their throat.
I mean, I mean, listen, if Alabama would have kept
the foot in the pedal down, they would have beat Oklahoma,

(01:12:26):
you know, fifty five to seven. All of us we're talking,
I mean, think about it. I mean, listen, but Alabama
did not keep their foot on the throat. They'll need
to do that on on Monday if we're gonna talk
about a national title for for Alabama, I mean they
I think Nick Saban was unhappy. I I talked with
him in the post game, and you can hear he

(01:12:46):
was not very happy with his team. Uh you know,
letting letting them back up off the mat. Man, you
gotta you got a team like that, you gotta kick
him and stomp him and keep your foot on their throats.
So what do you think did happen that after the
first quarter as we on the up twenty eight? Nothing?
And then I will say, to the credit of Oklahoma,
they've they've not only played him till for Tilly actually
outscored him after the first quarter. Yeah, I mean, I

(01:13:08):
just think it was very simple. I think Alabama become
very very complacent and uh, you know, I think they
thought it was gonna be easy and it wasn't. And
a credit to Colahoma, and you cannot skip over those guys.
You gotta give Lincoln Riley credit. He called a and
I'm not sure how much was this on the television,
but he called, uh, a complete team meeting at the

(01:13:29):
end of the first quarter and he gave them an absolutely.
I mean you could see it. It was a butt shooting.
I mean he was because see the problem with with
with Oklahoma is that word Alabama, that that staff on
their chest. It they went a lot of games where
they get off the bus and I kept watching Oklahoma
in the warm ups. They kept turning away because physical

(01:13:53):
size wise, Alabama was just it was built different. That
looked like a big twelve team. You know, you know,
fast and small and and but but you compare those
Alabama Uh, they're monsters out. But but now here's the
one thing. And I know you guys are gonna be
trying to shift to Clemson. Glimpson start scared of that
Alabama Wren. It didn't intimidates him like it does the

(01:14:15):
other teams. So you you can't win with that. Clemson
is one of the very few teams that's not afraid
to play Alabama, that that that helmet didn't do anything
of them. They're like so okay. And I thought that
was something that was early on, not just you know,
in the last couple of years, but from the first
time Alabama played those guys, what what is the key

(01:14:36):
then to the Clemson game, because I thought Alabama is
going to be able to move the ball. I don't
know if that Clemson defense is on part with that
Alabama defense. You know, guys, And this is gonna sound
so crazy. I don't know if we know anything about Clemson.
Like they played three ranked teams and all three of
those ranked teams. I mean, we know something about Alabama.

(01:15:00):
We're they're battle tested. Notre Dame. Man, that's garbage team.
I'm sorry, are you post out there? But no, no, listen,
they don't know. They can't deserve to be in the playoffs,
playoffs many they need to go play Navy for the
Independent Championship for Army or whatever. Get out of college football, man,
take that crap. Go back to the South then, you guys.

(01:15:22):
You guys have showed up on every time that we
bought into this Notre Dame hunt. They let us down
the same stadium a couple of years ago, Alabama, Uh,
Alabama to fort two to four teens and it could
have been sixty five four team. But Alabama's calling off
the dogs in the third quarter. Um, So do we
really know anything about Clemson? I mean, I'm not trying

(01:15:44):
to be mean, they've had a great season, they've also
had for the weekend. They've had the weakest schedule UH
known demand for a team. Do we really know anything
about Clemson? I mean to be honest, like, we know
they can beat you know all these little but listen,

(01:16:04):
I'm I'm actually with you on that. I looked it up.
Before the Notre Dame game, they had played one of
the top forty defenses in college football. That was actually
Texas A and M. Before Trevor Lawrence was even the
starting quarterbacks. So I think that actually transitions nicely to
what I want to ask you next, Ryan, is I
came on your show two months ago the day that
Trevor Lawrence or shortly there after, Trevor Lawrence was named

(01:16:25):
the starter. Everyone in America was freaking out. How do
you move past Kelly Brian he legend the playoff? Ryan
Fowler told me, he said, I believe that Dabbo believes
that Kelly Bryant can't beat Alabama. And this isn't about
this week, It's not about next week. It is about
the college football playoff, and Trevor Lawrence gives him a
better chance to beat Alabama. So one I want to

(01:16:47):
pat you on the back, because I do enough patting
him myself on the back. But I gotta give you
credit because you're the only one that was saying that.
Do you still buy it and are yet all concerned?
I mean, this is a guy with a very much
a prototypical pro style. He doesn't have the legs that
Kyler Murray does, but man, does he have a nasty arm. Oh,
he's got a nasty arm. There's no doubt. I mean, listen,
he'll be a you know, a big time draft pick

(01:17:09):
coming up at a couple of years. But uh, listen,
Kelly Plott, I've watched that show before. No, he and
Dabbo knows with with that schedule. And I talked with,
you know, a couple of people back in the summer
from the Glimpson staff, and they knew their schedule. They
were not going to be tested. I mean I talked
to uh one or two members of the coaching staff

(01:17:31):
and they were not but they knew that the schedule
was setting setting up very favorable for them. So it
wasn't Dabbo getting ready for his schedule. It was okay,
we're able to get through. We cannot feed Alabama with
Kelly Bryant. We're gonna have to We're gonna have to
make a move because we've seen that show uh down
in New Orleans last year that that kid couldn't do

(01:17:51):
anything nothing. I mean it looked you know, I mean
they're offense late an egg. Uh So when when you
begin to kind of think about it, No, it was
a future move and this kid's I mean, he's the
real deal. He's the real till. I mean, he's a
big time talent. And you know, I don't know how
much you guys are talking about on the national level,
but Christian Miller, Alabama's number one edge rusher, went down

(01:18:14):
in that game with that injury to the hampstry. I
had asked Dix save it in the post game, you
know how severe was Uh the m R. I nothing public,
but we're hearing that there's a chance that there's a
chance here be Alabama fans because listen, they'll pick up
on anything he said. There's a chance he may not play.
He may play, but there is hope. Uh. And when

(01:18:35):
I saw him laying on the turf, I didn't think
there was any hope that he'd be getting ready to
go back and have a chance to play. But there's hope.
There's a practice of hope. Not big hope, but small hope.
If he's not able to go, you gotta remember they're
like several springs down on their edge. Rusher. They've lost
Chris Allen, they've lost Terrell Lewis, which was a beast.
I don't know where they would go. Jamie Mosley is

(01:18:57):
a was a walk on at the times or a
scholars it. But you gotta find somebody if you have
to slod one of your middle guys out to the
edge and maybe bring a you know in the experienced
middle guy, because you cannot sit back there and let
Trevor Lawrence sit back there and pick you apart. You're
gonna have to come hit him and hit him in
the mouth. He's Ryan Fouer, host of the game one
oh two nine. He's on Monday through Friday to p

(01:19:19):
sixty p one oh two nine, The tied in Tuscaloosa.
You have a great New Year's my friend, and uh
enjoy the championship. Gables speak to you later, all right.
Happy to hear your guys appreciate you. Guys, appreciate you,
Ryan Follower. Everybody We're gonna come back finish out the
hour gets to the haft Tive right here on Fox
Sports are Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of

(01:19:40):
The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app. What does it mean when
Guy Goes says just fifteen minutes could save you fifty
percent of more in car insurance mean you probably should
have gone the guy go dot com fifteen minutes ago.
He's here and torres A Marty Spaniard sitting in for
the guys. Jason Smith and his best friend Mike Carmen

(01:20:03):
were in one more night tomorrow night, and then the
guys will be back on Wednesday. Thanks to Ryan Fowler
for stopping on by. By the way, Aaron, I don't
know if I told you this staff or this give
you these numbers from what I saw. I think it
was on Clay Travis's Twitter handle. Uh, the Georgia Alabama
SEC Championship game got one million more viewers then the

(01:20:27):
semifinal game. Did I Did I get that right? Is
that the way it was? That's crazy? Huh? That is
what Clay said. I saw that too. It was really interesting.
What do you make of it? I have a theory,
but I'm I'm open to suggestion from you. Well, I
just it goes to show you that people thought that
was going to be a good game. Those were the
name brands though, you know, so were the semifinal games

(01:20:51):
with the name brands. But people didn't tune into that.
So I'm thinking they just thought that, you know, they
wanted to see the SEC championships. It's all about SEC
football when it comes to college football. I wonder. I
feel like Clemson still isn't a name brand. I think
Oklahoma's a name brand. I think Notre Dames a name brand.
I don't think Clemson moves the needle um last year.
By the way. Yeah, I just think it was it

(01:21:14):
was that early window. It was that it was Saturday.
It's not prime time. We're all waiting on Bama Oklahoma
two of versus Kyler. That's the only thing I can
think of Saturday at four o'clock. What more do you want?
And then you got the eight o'clock game. Well, I mean, look,
let's be honest. Here, the first game of the NFL
Wild Card weekend Colts Texans I'm guessing it's not going

(01:21:36):
to get the same rating as Cowboys Seahawks. Right, Cowboys
are a name brand because of the time, though it's
it's because of the teams involved. I don't know about that.
I would I would venture to guess that if we
went back and looked through all of wild Card weekend
that probably the early game doesn't get as good of
a rating. Hey, that's why they are the early games.
So it's just it's just a thought, but it is

(01:21:59):
a very compelled thing. I don't know if that helps
the argument. We need to expand the playoff, we need
to keep it at floor, we need to contract it
to two. But it's very clear that people more people
had interested in that Alabama Georgia game than Clemson. Orders
you gotta get more name brands in there, and I
think you're right about that. And the selection committee can't
have another year where there's gonna be a million a
million less viewers than the SEC Championship. That you just

(01:22:21):
can't allow that. That's that's a slap in the face.
But you know we'll pick that up. Two hours are
in the books where at halftime of the show, we
are just cruising along we'll come back reset, we'll get
to some NFL start talking about the playoffs, more on
what happened in college, so we'll get to all that
coming up next. Remember he's an errand on the score, Torres,
I'm it stinking genius one, so you can get through

(01:22:43):
that way right here on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific.
Welcome to twenty nineteen. Happy New Year, everybody, as we're
coming to you live the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios.
Did you know that fifteen minutes could save you fifteen

(01:23:05):
percent of more in car insurance? What do you gotta do?
Visit geico dot com free free rate quote. E's Aaron Torres.
I'm already span your sitting in for the guys. Jason
Smith is best friend Mike Harmon as we break in
twenty nineteen, Torres, though you're gonna have to wait about
another three more hours. I take it. Yeah, tell me
what it's like in the future. Uh, tell me about

(01:23:26):
if if if we have flying cars yet things are
great in the future. Matter of fact, coming up next segment,
I'm going to give out the winning lotto numbers. Stick
around for that. You're gonna wanna definitely hear that one,
won't you. By the way, what do you think our
ratings would be if I said I had the winning
lotto numbers? Stick around for that? The last segment, the

(01:23:46):
last segment of the one Am Hour, by the way,
talking about looking into the future. So here at Fox
Sports Radio here in the Geico l A studios. Uh,
somebody put together everyone's preseason NFL predictions. Yeah, so best team,
worst team, super Bowl champ, all that stuff. I'm not
gonna lie. My picks still look pretty good. I had
Patriots over Rams, but I was going through it right now, Arnie,

(01:24:09):
there was only two people that had the Cards Arizona
Cardinals finishing with the worst record. And what did I have?
I put the Cults with the worst record. It was
one of the eleven Ryan's that work here. I'm not
sure which Ryan it was. And Arnie s Now, maybe
there's another Arnie s that I don't know about. Oh,
so I did put the Cardinals is the worst team?
Arnie span Your really could see into the future, and

(01:24:32):
you predicted the Arizona Cardinals would end with the worst
record in the NFL this season back in August. That's
better than my Super Bowl pick of the Packers and
uh and the Steelers. I mean, I wasn't gonna bring
that up, but since you bring it up, Yeah, that
was that was terrible. By the way, my my super
Bowl looks great. I have to give myself a little credit.
I had the Tampa Bay Bucks finishing in last place
or with the worst record, and I would say if

(01:24:54):
it wasn't for a little fitz Magic in week one
or week two, I might have hit that. Okay, Yeah, well,
I mean by uh, they weren't gonna be the worst team.
I think that's a little bit of a reach there. Well,
they won two games because it fits magic early, and
they finished five and eleven, so the worst record was
three and thirteen. So if jamis played the whole season,
I might have gotten my three and thirteen. I might
I might have been tied with you by the end

(01:25:15):
of the season, you know, before we get more into NFL,
and I know we have a lot of college football
to get through. Thanks for Ryan Fowler for Jordian's last hour. Also, uh,
and and obviously we got Alabam mcclempson to touch on
also just one story that kind of can me under
the radar um that I thought it was kind of funny.
You know, we always talked about what's gonna happen when
Brady retires, when Gronk retires, when Belichick retired. Um, we

(01:25:39):
had a pretty big retirement after Sunday. I don't know
if you picked that up. Did you see what Brady
did right after the uh, after the game on Sunday?
I did not what happened. He immediately ran to the referee,
Walt Coleman. I don't know if you know who Walt
Coleman is. He's been a referee in the NFL. Oh,
I think for like a hundred years. Yeah. So I

(01:26:02):
go to high school with you as well. No, no, no, no,
he stopped stop. Really good guy, great guy, and Tom
Brady wanted to run over. First thing he did was, uh,
give Walt Coleman a handshake, a hug, whatever it was,
talked to him, and I'm thinking, well, that's very nice.
Maybe Walt Coleman God forbid as an illness and that's

(01:26:22):
why he's retiring, or wants to spend more time with
his family or whoever, and then Robert Kraft also wanted
to wish Walt Coleman the best you know what I mean,
the owner of the of the Patriots. He was probably
the ref during the tuck rule game. Maybe wasn't really
wow who he was. Oh, Mike Key was the reft

(01:26:44):
that overturned the tuck rule. If I was Brady, I'd
give me a kiss on the lips. I'd say, you
made me the best quarterback of all time. That's what
I was gonna say. I would give him my first born.
What does he have three kids when he need three kids. Yeah,
I would say, take one of my kids. Oh, and
one of the trucks I won for the m d G.
Take one of those. I'll give you one of those.
And um, I don't know, I'll hook you up on

(01:27:07):
one of Giselle's relatives. Come on, I've got you. I
owe you my whole Sure, Robert Kraft, I'd give five
percent of the team if I had to. Who needs
TV twelve when you got all the rests in your
back pockets? Exactly? That's wild. If I was if I
could imagine what Brady told him to. Brady said to him, Hey, man,
I owe you for making up that rule that what
would you call it, the tuck rule? That was that

(01:27:29):
was genius thinking about that at the spur of the moment.
That was great. By the way, Um, you know, Drew
Bledso obviously went out at some point that here. I mean,
if Brady, it's kind of like what we're talking about
Nick Foles a few hours ago. It's different, obviously because
foll has already made a Super Bowl run. But I mean,
you know, correct me if I'm wrong. I don't remember
my history here. But if Brady doesn't get that team
to the super Bowl, I don't think there's any guarantee

(01:27:50):
that he has that job the next year. No, no, no, no,
there's no guarantee. I'm not sure. Now, I can't know
off the top of my head. I don't think it's
an exaggeration to say this guy made Brady. Now, Brady's talented.
For anybody listening in New England, it's nothing against Brady.
But you know, you go, you fill in for Drew
bled So. But I believe at the time Blitzer was
I think he had just signed and he was the

(01:28:11):
highest paid quarterback in the NFL at that point, and
you know, you go to the first round and losing
the playoffs at home to the Raiders. I don't know
if we're bringing you back next year, but they go
on to win the Super Bowl. Now, Brady is the
one of the greatest of all times. Some like Rob
Parker might say the luckiest of all times. So, uh,
it's interesting. What what do you think? Walt Coleman said

(01:28:31):
back to Tom, like, you know my pleasure. I'm glad
I can help you out. Twenty years ago or whatever,
fifteen whatever, how many years was it now to seventeen
years ago? Glad I could help you out. And boy,
it took a lot of searcher, but I found that
rule for you. Tob I did that. I was I
know exactly, he said, Mr Kraft my ring, no longer fits.
Can I get it the craft? Um, let me give

(01:28:54):
you these numbers. Oh no, no, that's not my telephone number.
That's my bank account number. I'd be expecting a wire
any time this week. You could go ahead, just put
it into that bank account. And I've gained a few
pounds in the Super Bowl ring that you guys gave me.
After that no longer fits. So I just want to resize.
Don't you think that's funny that Craft and Brady we're
aware that it's his last day as a referee and

(01:29:16):
had to go up and head Shacob and give him
a hog and stuff like that. That's crazy. Did anybody
ask them about it in the post game? I don't
think so. Nobody had the guts to do it. By
the way, what are they gonna say, Tome, you wanted
to think the guy that made you the greatest of
all time? We got a question, are you gonna ask
you say something like we saw you run over and
talked to was name Van Coleman? Yeah, Wald, calm walk Coleman.

(01:29:37):
So what are you gonna say? So what did you
have to say that? Because oh, I I just wished
him the best. And then that would have said, well,
was it Wald Coleman, the one that overturned the talk world?
Tom and Tod would have said something like, gee, I
don't know, you would have That's exactly what he would
have done. That slice smile said he may have. I'm
not sure was he? I I don't remember, I'm not

(01:29:57):
you know, he might have pulled the urban Meyer. You know,
I have memory loss after all these By the way,
it says Robert Kraft presented a game ball. That's not
that's not a joke. I'm not kidding around. This is
some of the stuff that was on Twitter. Uh. Tom Layden,
I don't I think he's one of the reporters said,
looks like Robert Kraft presented the game ball. The Walt Coleman,
who was retiring, just walked into the officials room of

(01:30:19):
the ball and a camera came out empty handed. Unbelievable
the fixes and and okay, he came out in the
hand and right, the ball wasn't there, and either was
Kraft's ring on his hands. You're right he took that
off and gave it to that right. As I said,
I bet that balling game. It was probably a little
deflated to maybe years, same jokes, new year, same jokes.

(01:30:44):
I love that. I'm just telling you you could have jokes.
We could do jokes for two hours with this. I
could you could do a Saturday Night wife skit with Todd,
Brady and Kraft. What why did Belichick do anything? Belichick
didn't want to thank him or what. That's what I
was going say. Belichick gives no one credit for anything,
just so he would have walked up the Belgic so Bill, no,

(01:31:04):
thank you, And Bill would have said, we're on the
Kansas City already. Come on, now, what do you were
on the Kansas and we're on the twenty nine. Do
you think when somebody wishes him Happy New Year, he
just says we're onto nineteen, like, no, no happy new Year,
no best wishes, no, I love you sweetie to his
girlfriend if he still has one, just you know, we're on.
I'd like to see Ahm mount rushmore of Belichick, Craft

(01:31:26):
Brady and Walt Coleman and there he is. Just I
would love to see a picture of the four of them.
How how great would that be? Uh? Yeah, I'm trying
to think who else outside of Walt Coleman. Maybe Uh
I couldn't tell other than the hockey. I couldn't tell
you who in a Reugh Free was until this happened. Yeah,
well I was thinking maybe that maybe Eric Mangini when

(01:31:48):
Belichick shoved him out of the way when he tried
to shake his hand right after us. But what do
you think? What do you think Weik and Kennedy would
say you played for the Raiders. Then I would want
to say to Walt Coleman if he was playing in
this game. Wait a minute, while, don't thank Tom. I
want to go ahead and say a few yeah. I mean, imagine,
he goes, I'm not giving you anything, Walt, I may
throw something that show. The only thing worse than playing

(01:32:10):
in that game, I mean that was I mean, I
vividly remember that night because I was living in Connecticut
at that time, and we're talking feat of snow plural.
It was miserable. I remember, I'm dating myself now. I
had to take the dog out, and it was you
couldn't go ten you know, you couldn't go ten feet
in front of the house because there was so much snow.
Imagine being in that game, having that game one on

(01:32:33):
the road. You think you're getting out of there alive,
and then some bogus rule that nobody else is aware
of gets popped up and the Patriots steele to win
and maybe the greatest dynasty in the history of the NFL.
I wonder if both Coleman has a beach house, a
private jet and all that stuff there, somebody looked at
That's what I'm saying. I'm telling you he's got the
Super Bowl ring mounted at the at the house, and

(01:32:55):
that's unbelievable. I can't believe I nailed that right off
the top. I mean, I guess it makes I'm surprised
the round warrant wasn't chanting wal what you know, the
entire Fox b the Patriots. The Patriots should have taken
him off on their shoulders there the final game, his
final game. I can see them putting him on the
big screen in the and the you know, the Patriot
fans are pretty uh, you know, pretty smart to beginning with.

(01:33:16):
They can see the whole place just cheering, you know,
where they put his picture up there. They should have
like reenacted the tuck rule on the on the video
trot or something like that after the game. Oh yeah, no,
it would have been great. I still like the idea
of putting walk Coleman on your shoulders and walking him
off the field in his final game. Is he going
to be in the Patriot Hall of Fame but he
goes to Canton, it's his bust going to be the Patriots.

(01:33:38):
I I just think that's hysterical. So if you want
to cover it on that Aaron Underscore Tours, I've been
stinking genius. One I happened to bring up locally on
my show and obviously we carry the Patriots. They didn't
think it was as funny as you and I thought
it was funny, you know what I mean. I was
gonna say, what was the response to that one, because
I imagine it wasn't very pretty Well, It's like, oh,
we were at the arty to bring up something that

(01:34:00):
happened twenty years ago or whatever. Well even at the
Larady to bring up something, you know, something that we've
all gotten past. I'm like, oh, relaxed, it's just a
fun story. You know. You think, of course they got
past because they won. You think the Raiders are over it.
I mean, that was like the last great moment in
Raiders history until a year ago and a couple of
years ago and they made the playoffs. It's so funny.
Eddie just said, you guys are angering every Raider fan

(01:34:21):
listening to Coast to coast like nails on a chalkboard. Well,
that's generally everything that you have to say, though, right, Well,
but you know what that's Plike though, I wonder I
think Plank would have h I think I told the
story to Plank. He kind of got sick in his
mouth over that thing, or what he was still thinking about.
Kyler Murray getting turned into saw that not my anyway,

(01:34:41):
Just a little a side note. I wanted to say
after that, nobody gave it hockey a hugging uh you know,
a game ball after his last game, I don't fake
gave him a two fitness gym member. Yea, that's what
they gave him. I'm on fire right now. New Year
knew me. Let's go at be New Year everybody. It
is twenty nineteen here on the East coast. You guys

(01:35:04):
are still back in eighteen. I was on the West
Coast out there, so I would say last week, we
were on Christmas and night and we had so many
people check in, where are you? What are you doing?
I'm gonna ask the same I'm sure it's a lot
of the same people, but what are you doing that
you're working New Year's Eve? I'll say, this is that
you're not alone if you're working or you're at Oh no,

(01:35:24):
this isn't like Christmas. This is like more of a
made up how it's not even really a holiday. But
they're not alone because there was Spanier and Torres. Where
else would you want to be? First voices? A lot
of people heard in twenty nineteen were spanning and tours.
I guess in theory, Di Seger probably beat us to it,
but you get the point. But no, I the Seger
did the update right to the top of the hour
on Okay, I'm POI twenty nineteen doesn't sound like a

(01:35:46):
some type of historic year. It's like I'm gonna party
like it's nineteen ninety nine or two thousand. But twenty
nineteen doesn't have any big ring to it, you know
what I mean? No, No, it just feels weird because
I know you feel the same way. I think most
people probably listening at this hour, remember the year two thousand,
y two K all that stuff we're gonna shut down,

(01:36:09):
and now we're talking about twenty years ago. Next year
is y two K. That's crazy, yes for people, don't know,
for any of our millennial listeners. I'm not millennial, by
the way, mature. So all the computers, what was it
they were set to? Everyone go back to zero. I
thought everyone thought their computers would go back to the

(01:36:29):
year zero when we went from So if it did anyway,
by the way, I don't even know what would happen. Well,
what was it like back then? Oh, it was terrible. Yeah,
so bad. We had no electricity, We use candle light,
walked five miles uphill both ways to school. It was
just horrible, you know what I mean? It sounds mostly
like what it's like in Vermont where you're living a

(01:36:50):
All right, we're gonna come back. I want to comment
a little bit more on the Alabama Clemson game. Will
wrap up the semifinal game, and we have a lot
more to get to in the NFL as we take
a look at the playoffs scenario. Aaron underscore Torres, I'm
at stinking genius one. Where are you listening to us?
How are you listening to us? And were are you working?
What are you doing on this New Year's Eve? You'd

(01:37:12):
love to hear from you. Uh filling in for Jason
Smith and his best friend Mike Harman right here on
Fox Sports or Radio. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays at
ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. Alright, good evening everyone,

(01:37:35):
Happy New Year. If you're on the East Coast, What
does it mean when says just fifteen minutes can save
you fifteen percent or more in car insurance to meet
you probably should have gone the guy do com fifteen
minutes ago, Happy twenty nineteen. Where are you listening to us?
How are you listening to us? And what are you doing?
Are you working on this New Year's Eve a couple

(01:37:56):
of weeks? I want to get to real quick. Aeron
Adam says, why doesn't anybody remember that the tuck rule
was in the divisional round. The Path still had to
beat Cordell Steward Steelers in the a f C title game.
How come that never gets mentioned? Hashtag selective history. But
that kind of ruins the story, you know what I mean?
I mean, look if he but he loses in the
divisional round, who cares? I mean, you don't. You don't

(01:38:18):
get out of the your first game in the playoffs,
it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if it's wild card
weekend or divisional round. If you don't get if you're
a rookie quarterback. I think he was a second year
quarterback at that point. It's kind of what we're saying
with Carson Wentz a minute ago. I believe Drew Bledsoe
was the highest paid quarterback in the NFL at that
point and as greatest Tom Brady was during the regular season.
If he's just some dude that can get you to

(01:38:39):
the playoffs, I mean, look, Andy Dalton has gotten teams
to the playoffs. Tim Tebow has gotten teams to the playoffs.
It's easy to say now with revisionist history that Tom
Brady is obviously not only vastly superior to them, but
maybe the greatest quarterback of all time. But at the
time nobody knew that. And so if you lose in
the first round, I think they go back to Drew
Bledsoe and Tom Brady is looking for a new home.
Eddie says, it's New Year's even l a not far

(01:39:01):
from Torres. I'm on vacation. I don't have to deal
with any of the traffic for the rest of the week.
Also plan on breaking out the midnight sacks and some
a C d C. Bring on twenty nine. It's a
C d C. That's what like nineteen eighty two or
something like that. How farre you're going back there? Ready? However,
you celebrate as long as you're safe and happy and healthy.

(01:39:22):
More power to is what I said. Vinny says, New
Year's check in working at the Ford Motor Company and
deer Born truck plant and deer born in Michigan got
to get the machines ready to make those F one fifties.
Thanks for being in the radio to listen to Happy
New Year, Love F one fifties. Man, I want in
F one I love those things. I was gonna say,
My lady is in the car in the market for

(01:39:42):
a new car. So maybe something that Vinny gets his
hands on tonight. Uh you know, me and the lady
will get our hands on. Lad. I need something, Yeah,
I need something for good in the snow. Though I
think I one fifties are good in the snow. I
wonder if they make us snowmobiles over there. That's what
I really need. You have what you don't have to
just be careful though I don't have a snowmobile. A
lot of people do it think I would, though, Well,

(01:40:03):
I used to data girl that lived up in uh um,
what do they call it? Upstate in New York, and
everybody there like it was just a write of passage,
like you had that you had your truck. But you
all said, and that's like what they did for fun
in the wintertime is oh Yeah, we'll grab the snowmobiles,
will go do whatever it is people do on snowmobiles.
I'm a city kid. I like to stay inside where

(01:40:24):
it's warm, have a cold beverage, and I'm not a
big snowman. Tim sends us, and don't forget that Brady
got hurt in the game in Pittsburgh and bledso had
to come in to win it for them. Sure, but
I think I did forget that. I don't forget that.
I mean I kind of did, but I I also
didn't really because I do remember that was the conversation

(01:40:45):
going into Super Bowl week and Belichick ended up going
with Brady. So who knows, Maybe Tim's right, Maybe um,
you know, maybe Belichick knew all long that Brady was
the guy and Drew Bledsoe. But what we gotta remember
about that time is that, you know, Belichick didn't have
the cachet that he does now where he could just
push aside quarterback with the salary that Drew Bledsoe had.

(01:41:07):
I think that it was. I think it was a
really interesting turning point. By the way, I got one
two RNY that you weren't tagged on. It's from Strucker
Joe Double O seven. I'm on the road driving a
truck for the third year in a row on New
Year's listening to you guys, so happy New Year's Where
is he driving through that? You say where he's going through?
I he did not say, Joe, You're welcome to hit
us back at Stinking Genius one at Aaron Underscore Tours.

(01:41:29):
I'm curious. I want to know where everybody's at tonight.
All right, so what are you listening? How you're listening
and are you working on this New Year's Eve? By
the way, New Year's Eve, it's kind of a made
up holiday. It's not even close to all the other
ones out there. I I bet you people are just
going about their business and and doing their work and
stuff like that, not like a Christmas or Christmas Eve
or anything like that. Torres. It's definitely a young person's

(01:41:50):
how they look. I think it's a thing everybody gets
together with family, with friends. You have some champagne. But
I mean, I remember even last year. I know you
were on air probably with Chris plank Uh in the
New Year, and I went to a little family thing.
You know. By twelve fifteen, twelve thirty, I was ready
to go home. So I think if you're not of
the younger generation, the younger variety, the single variety, I

(01:42:11):
don't know that it has as much of feel. Here's
a weird one hastick of genius. I'm working today and
tomorrow without pay. Hello from the National Weather Service in
Salt Lake City, Oh. Hashtag government shutdown? Got political there?
My my brother in law lives out in Park City. So, okay,
we're talking about one of the bowl games tonight was

(01:42:33):
the Holiday Bowl? Did you know that coming into today,
Utah coach Kyle Winningham had the best Bowl record ever
for a coach with more than ten Bowl games. I
know Utah well, I know he had a good record,
but I didn't know it was the best of the bunch.
I believe he was eleven and one coming into this game.
And during one of the breaks, Jonas and I had
a good conversation. He's like, why do you think that

(01:42:54):
guy's never pursued a big time job? I said, you know,
when you're getting paid three four million dollars a year
and you're happy and you don't have to worry about
if I Fitzgerald over in Northwestern Bingo because I was
saying him, I said, yeah, he could take the USC
jol but you have one bad year at USC, they
want to run out of town. I mean Clay Helen
won the Pack twelve last year. They want to run
him out of town this year. So uh, Sometimes I

(01:43:14):
think these guys they just get a good gig. They
enjoy where they're at, their family enjoys where they're at.
But yeah, the the utah UT's lost today, but I
think that Kyle Winningham is still like eleven and two
in Bowl games. I want to retouch on what I
said when we saw on Clay Travis's Twitter where he
said there was a million more viewers for the Alabama
Georgia SEC Championship then there was for the semifinal games

(01:43:35):
on Saturday, and I think you kind of nailed that. Yes,
Notre Dame as the cache and name Clemson really doesn't
Albama in Oklahomas. But people thought they were gonna be
a blowout. That's not good. That might be one of
the reasons why. And remember now this is probably the
third year in a row that ratings have been down.
They were down when they had the New Year's Eve game.
Remember that when it was on New Year's Eve, was

(01:43:57):
that two years ago. Yeah, it was. I was in Phoenix.
The second game it was Ohio State Clemson and it
was slaughter. Yet I don't know what ratings were last year.
This year we found out there's a million less that
can't continue. When you're getting big, big, big, big money
uh two ahead and put those games on TV, you
are going to have to stretch it out a little bit.
And by the way, going from four to eight just

(01:44:18):
adds more money uh to everybody's pocket. So you know
when when when money's involved, you gotta follow the money train,
the money trail. Well, who's who does it? Guarantee money too?
Because okay, get to the one the networks pay it
to carry it too. It goes to the schools and
the conferences, so they'll enjoy it. I mean, it's just

(01:44:39):
a trickle down effect. But if ratings are going down
for semifinals, do you think advertisers are lining up to
pay for quarterfinal games? Especially care Because ratings went down
in the NFL and nobody's gonna go ahead and really
pull out, They're gonna still pay the enorminant exorbitant prices there.
And remember I gave you two reasons why they went
down one. Maybe the cache to one was on New

(01:45:01):
Year's Eve. So there are some reasons, but that's not
going to keep advertisers from spending big money for the
College National Championship. Well, I I don't think it's as
done of a deal as a lot of people do,
because I think what we have to remember is this
is that as things stand, all these contracts are signed
years in advance, and all of these all these networks
have committed to these regular season conference games. And so

(01:45:23):
I think that the powers that be at all these
networks have to really sit down and say, do we
devalue our regular season products. You mentioned a minute ago
the SEC Championship game had a million more viewers than
Notre Dame Clemson. You could think of, you could think
of a lot of reasons why we talked about it.
Is Clemson not a name, name enough cachet brand. Is

(01:45:44):
it possible that everyone thought Notre Dame was gonna get
blown out and when they did get blown out, they
turned off? I don't know, But what I would say
is and also to holiday on a Saturday where people
want to go out because they're not really working, it's
vacation time. Totally fair point and so if you're an
advertised you want to reach an audience, why do you
want to gamble on maybe a quarterfinal game with UCF

(01:46:05):
versus Clemson as opposed to just putting all your money
in the SEC championship game in saying, I know the
audience is there, right, and that is a good point.
Matter of fact, we'll touch on that. I want to
get more as we wrap up what happened in college
football from the weekend. We'll get ready for Alabama Clemson
should we go from four to eight. So all that's
coming up first, though, Let's see what's trending with our
buddy Steve the Sager. Happy Happy New year to you

(01:46:29):
on the East. And by the way, comparing ratings, this
past NFL regular season averaged eighteen million viewers on Fox
eighteen million for Sunday NFL as for the college football
the ratings were great last year for the semifinals because
it was Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. It averaged about
twenty five million last year, so yes, down this year.

(01:46:50):
By the way, America's Game of the Week for Fox NFL,
which is that late afternoon slot, twenty two million average
for the regular season, most watch show, highest rated for
a tenth straight year. We have breaking news in college
football from our Bruce Feldman that West Virginia coach Dana
Holgerson is expecting to become the new head coach at
the University of Houston. That they have offered him the

(01:47:12):
kind of de Westford Virginia will not five years, twenty million.
The deal expected to be wrapped up in the next
thirty six hours. That from Bruce Feldman, who was sideline
reporter at our coverage of the Fox game in the
Bay Area. Oregon seven six over Michigan. In that Bull game,
Oregon punted eleven times. Attendance was thirty thousand in the

(01:47:33):
Bay Area. There you go, Stanford in Cincinnati with Bull
wins Oklahoma State as well. Tonight, Texas A and M
was actually trailing first half but still won fifty over
n C State and on FS one the Holiday Bowl
winner Northwestern in a comeback over Utah and after the game,
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said I'm not going anywhere. Good
for him, of course, there are plenty of NFL openings

(01:47:55):
a quarter of the league. The Jets and Bucks fired
there and coaches last night. Cleveland and Green Bay have
openings as well. Marvin Lewis today fired as Bengals head
coach after sixteen years and zero playoff wins. The Dolphins
fired coach Adam Gaze after three seasons. Miami also reassigned
vice president Mike Tannenbaum. The Broncos fired coach Vance Joseph

(01:48:15):
after two seasons, and after one year in Arizona. The
Cardinals fired coach Steve Wilkes and the offensive coordinator and
the defensive coordinator. The Falcons fired offense, defense, and special
teams coaches. The Raiders new general manager is Mike Mayock
from NFL Network. You need to make good choices, and
with True Car, you've got a star on your roster.
So when you're ready to sell or trade in your car,

(01:48:36):
check out True Car. True Cash offer not available in
all areas. And the Seattle Mariners reportedly you have at
least a four year deal with jaffanese lefty pitcher. You say, Kikuchi.
Seattle will open the regular season in Tokyo this year.
At that's the A's in March. How convenient? Back to you,
all right, thanks for the second. We're coming to you
live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios easy to

(01:48:58):
say more gunch with Geico. Just go to Geico dot
com or give them a call one eight hundred nine
four seven auto And the only hard part figuring out
which way is easier. Brandon sends us and I'll be
working at the valet at the Treasure Island Casino in
Minnesota tonight. We brought in the New Year with the
Blues Brothers. Yeah, anytime you're working at a casino, you're

(01:49:20):
having fun. I love casinos there. You don't You don't
play blackjack or anything like that, though, do you know,
I just kind of pop around with the machines. I'm
kind of, like I said, I'm an old soul. I
told you this the other day. When sports gambling comes
to California, it's all over. I think the powers that
be in California are actually doing me a massive favor.
Like they thought about it. They were like, yeah, maybe

(01:49:41):
we'll bring it twenty nights. They like Torres, He'll he'll
never he won't be able to pay his rent, so
uh so, yeah, no, being in a casino would be fun.
I have to imagine, by the way, being at the
valet um probably either really good tips or really bad tips. Oh,
I know people that do valet in Vegas that make
easily over a hundred fifty four year easy. Yeah, not

(01:50:02):
bad that I'm really good. Tell me about that problem
with Vegas It gets hot during the summertime. Yeah, but
you know you got a c uh stink of genius.
Just got all fork heading home for a cigar a
drinking my pillow listening at Casey m Ill. Appreciate you
doing that stink of genius. Happy New Year from Joplin,
Missouri on the road this year. You guys are awesome.
Thanks for hanging out with us. We appreciate it. I

(01:50:23):
we love the listeners out there. Listening from Escondido, California's
Josh Uh formerly the four Twenties Specialists. Love you guys.
Tell the knucklehead and Utah he still gets paid government
shutdown or not so that all growing up with a
big boy Twitter account Specialists was one of our number
one listeners back in the day. But Jane Lestly working

(01:50:45):
from home for Norman Regional Hospital and listening on the
radio hashtag boomer sooner until next year. Appreciate what you do, Jane,
and Ernie says, Happy New Year, guys. I'm also working.
I can tell you what I'm doing, but I'd have
to kill your for us was just say I'm the
boss like Rick Ross already, hopefully at least one of
your losing teams could actually be at five hundred. Happy team.

(01:51:09):
I don't think that's going to happen to ours. I
have nothing to look forward to. My Nicks already eliminated
from the playoff race. I am not feeling real confident
about my Mets, even with the trade to get uh
Diaz and um uh Cano. So I have to wait
for the dolphins of my Arizona Wildcats next August and September.

(01:51:30):
Arizona Wildcats might make the tournament. UH two more wins
on the schedule right away after yesterday at U C
l A. So I gotta feel good about that. No,
I don't feel good. No, well, I don't feel good
about anything until next September. It's gonna be a long
year for me and another one working the swing shift
maintenance UH in Washington until eleven thirty Pacific, then getting

(01:51:52):
up at six thirty open up my coffee shop for
all those who partook a little too much. Yeah, is
coffee really good? Hum and thanks for filling in for
how about a fresca his coffee. Is that gonna sober
you up if you've been drinking too much? Is that
really true? Does just make you a drunk full of coffee?
I don't know. I'm more of a diet coke or
coke kind of guy. After and I meet Coca Cola

(01:52:14):
there by the way, after a hard night drinking the
carbonation of something. For me, coffee really doesn't do much.
Let's be honest. The only thing you can do is
eat some greasy food. Prey for the best. Now, you
and a bunch of Mollendials got all worked up. The
first thing you said after the game was, Wow, it
looks like two are really proved that he's the Heisman
winner over Murray. You know I was. You look at
two Wi, you look at Murray, you look at Haskins,

(01:52:35):
you look at Lawrence. Uh. Two is the best of
the bunch. But just because you're better than everybody else
doesn't mean you should get the Heisman. It's obvious what
you do in the course of the year and not
what you're doing the playoff game. Yeah, I mean I disagree.
I think that part of it is if you're the
best player in college football, like Kyler Murray is, you
have to be better than nineteen of thirty seven passing

(01:52:56):
uh and you have to get your team closer than
eleven points after the first two possessions, because nothing. I mean,
if he's the best player in college football that he
got your within eleven, you look, you can't do it
by yourself, you know that, especially against the defense like Alabama.
Stop it. So it's the old gazelle. He can't throw
and catch himself. Yeah, pretty much cheat, I'll go with that.

(01:53:17):
That's a good boy. I mean, I feel like part
of it is is that you can say that he
needs to be better or that he did as much
as he could. I would argue nineteen and thirty seven.
I don't care the circumstances. I don't care the defense.
You've got to be better than that. If Tom Brady
goes nineteen and thirty seven and the Patriots lose, there
is no excuse. They could be playing the eighties six Bears,
and there's no excuse for Tom Brady. There's no excuse

(01:53:39):
for Tom Brady. But Tah and Murray Haskins, those guys, Lawrence,
they're not considered the greatest of all time. So he's
gonna save the best player in college football, and you
got he could barely complete his passes against the best defense.
Are you saying that there? He was really the true
Heisman winner? He should have been uh twenty five or
twenty seven for four hundred yards and fourth doutch sounds.

(01:53:59):
I mean to and four with a much better team.
I mean, is it really a better team that? Yeah,
they were fourteen point favorite. So Vegas gets things wrong.
That Vegas doesn't put lines up to lose money. They
make money, Well, then I don't. I never I've never
running out of excuses. I just I've just never heard
of a guy getting credit for covering a spread I

(01:54:20):
I did. Yeah, you know I saw that. You put
that out all a sudden. We give credit when games
are closed. Yeah, sometimes you gotta give credit where games
are closed. Let me say this, This is how you
know Alabama is a great football program. When teams play
them tough, they get credit as if they actually won. Right, Oh,
Kyler Murray, he kept it within eleven points, proves he

(01:54:40):
should have won the Heisman. Oh, Georgia nearly beat Alabama.
Let's give him a juice box, a pat on the
back and put him in the playoffs. Aretie, I remember,
why why shouldn't you look at that though White? Wait? Wait, wait,
why shouldn't you look at what they lost by? Seven?
Was at eight in that game by Alabama and Georgia,
And look and look at the other games, like when
Clemson beats Notre Dame thre the three and have that comparison,

(01:55:02):
because Notre Dame had a better resume over the course
of the season. I mean Georgia, their their players did
a lot of chipping on Twitter. But the reason they
didn't make the playoff was because they lost Alabama. It's
because they lost by twenty at l s U. You
want to play with the big boys, you gotta beat
the big boys. They played to top ten teams all year.
They got embarrassed in one game and lost to Alabama
the other one. You think if we would have had eight,

(01:55:22):
that would have stopped all this. This should have been
in No, I think it's worse the only way, And
I'm not a big fan of giving automatic bids to
conference champions. But if people I see people saying, well
we shouldn't give automatic bids, well then we're just gonna
argue about who should be seven eight, and who's gonna
get left out at wrong with automatic bids. I have
no problem with that. But you know, you keep saying, well,
what happens if the Northwestern would have won the Big

(01:55:44):
Twelve with their record, Well, then Northwestern gets in and
then maybe we probably take Ohio State. Anyway, it goes
back to what you were saying a minute, Garney. Do
you think the powers that be at ESPN and Fox
Sports and all the people that cover this want Northwestern
in the college room. They don't. But but if the
four teams they don't know. If there's a eight teams,
they can deal with one team getting on in. But
it's not one team. It could be them. It could

(01:56:05):
have been Pitt who lost. You would think the NFL
would like it when Seattle got in with eight and
eight record. No, but you know what, they deal with
it because they've got other good things in the NFL playoffs.
That's the NFL. Though it's a different sport. As I said,
there's a reason you don't get Caesar salad on a
cops salad because you don't get Caesar dressing on our
cops out There are two different salads. NFL and college
football are different they're different, but you can overcome a

(01:56:29):
mistake when you have eight teams instead of just four teams. Well,
how many mistakes does Georgia get? They lost by twenty
and l s U they lost. That's it. Don't that.
Don't that stop stop because don't give me the don't
give me the Alabama game. That's not why, Well they're
not in the four team playoff of the Alabama No, yeah,
it's because l s U. So why does l should

(01:56:51):
be three top ten teams in the first what month
and a half did they not? Why does an ls
you deserve to be in over Georgia? Why an LSU?
You know, they also had a little it of a
tough time in the last month and a half of
the season, but they beat Georgia and Georgia big Georgias
claimed the famous they almost beat Alabama. Well, if LSU
beat Georgia, then l s you should be in right. No,
I mean now, now you're just going to get he

(01:57:12):
beat them and they beat them. Now you're going through that. Wells,
but that's gonna look at records though, That's what I'm doing.
And Georgia had ten very nice eleven very nice wins.
They had no great wins and Oklahoma. Notre Dame, first
of all, won every game on their schedule. They played
all over the country. They played a bunch of ranked
team Syracuse in Michigan and Stanford and Virginia Tech. They

(01:57:36):
won every game on their schedule. Oklahoma was a conference champ.
I just don't know what is on George's resume that
makes them more worthy of a bid than Notre Dame
or Oklahoma. Right, if you want to get in Aaron
underscore Torres, I'm a stinking genius one. When we get back,
we'll finish out the hour bringing the sega. See what
the late scores of news and notes are going on.
We've still got plenty going on in this new Year's

(01:57:57):
right here on Fox Sports Radio. Sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays
at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Alright, great news, everybody.
There's a quick way to save money. Just switched the Geiko.
Go to geiko dot com and in fifteen minutes you
could say fifteen percent or more on your car insurance.

(01:58:20):
Happy to year, everybody. I hope you're into your twenty nineteen.
At least we are on the East coast. The rest
of you will be catching up real shortly, that's for sure.
Before we do anything else, let's see what's trending and
what's shaking with the late night news and notes and
scores with our buddy Steve the Sacre. What's going on
out there? To say, well, we had that breaking news
from our Bruce Feldman in college football at West Virginia's

(01:58:41):
Dana Holgersson is due to become the next head coach
at Houston. He adds that Lane Kiffin was among those
who interviewed for that head coaching job, but it is
due to be a five year deal for holgers Do
you want to hear a crazy story. Yeah, My buddy
is is a radio host down in Houston. When Major Appleway,
who just got fired, got hired. This was post Tom Herman.

(01:59:02):
He's doing his radio show. He's saying, Houston has to
go get Lane Kiffin. You can't. You're not a big
time program if you don't get if you take it,
Major Applewaite Tillman for Tita, who is the big time
booster of Houston, who by the way, now owns the
Houston Rockets is driving around, calls into a show and says,

(01:59:24):
you don't know what you're talking about, and you can
still find the audio online. And my, my buddy, yeah,
my buddy was like, this was one of the greatest
things that ever happened in my career. Now, the argument
at the time was that they didn't believe that high
school coaches in Texas would send Lane Kiff in their players.
I don't know if that's changed, but it was. He
was on air and the major booster who signs the

(01:59:46):
checks called into a show. H Texas quarterback Chris State
of Texas team in Houston. That didn't work out quickly, No,
I mean he was the offensive coordinator under Herman. They figured, oh,
we want a bunch of games under Tom Herman. It
will be a smooth transition. Yeah, maybe not. I mentioned
the Fox Bowl game in the Bay Area today, Oregon
seven six over Michigan State. Is oddly that was the

(02:00:08):
final score, yet another low scoring. Brady Quinn broadcast Oregon
pund of eleven times in the game. I sense a
common denominator here. Rushing as a team Oregon twenty seven
carries thirty seven yards is an Oregon quarterback with a
future NFL quarterback. Today they had thirteen full drives, eleven
first downs on the school decision and Herbert will be back.

(02:00:31):
Who do we have on our show? Oh, he's crazy
to go to go back to college. Well, if you're
not ready for the pros, don't go. And it was like,
he's not ready. Attendance thirty thousand in the Bay Area
in the same stadium that a week from tonight will
be hosting the National Championship Game. But it's needs to
be repeated every year that the college football bowl games
in December do get some ratings. There was a game

(02:00:53):
a couple of weeks ago, the Frisco Bowl, san Diego
State getting shut out by Ohio. You and a million
and a half people were watching Ohio You against San
Diego thought they were watching Ohio State. They didn't know.
The Minnesota Georgia Tech blowout in front of nobody in
the stands over two and a half million viewers, Vanderbilt
Baylor almost three and a half million. Last week's Iowa

(02:01:15):
State Washington State five and a half million viewers. Wait
a second there, to Stager, that was the game that
I said, look at you say people don't care, Arnie,
and literally like eight of the top ten trends on
Twitter where Iowa State, Washington State, And all Arnie said
was you're a millennial. Trends don't matter. Nobody's watching. That's
one of the highest rated bowl games so far, in
the Alamo Bowl. So there you go, Arnie. And then

(02:01:38):
there are the college football semifinals, which, yes, the ratings
were down from a year ago, but still even that
Clemson Notre Dame blowout last weekend got seventeen million viewers.
The Alabama game got nineteen million. How many did the
Alabama Georgia one get them? Like twenty million or something
like that in the SEC Championship. Yeah, in between those
two numbers from Saturday. Yeah, better than the Notre Dame

(02:01:59):
Clemson Yes, uh so. Compare the college football semifinals with
college Basketball's semifinals final four. Those semis average thirteen million,
so the college football semifinals last weekend average eighteen million.
By the way, Floyd Mayweather has had his New Year's
e boxing exhibition in Japan. It took them less than

(02:02:19):
three minutes for Mayweather to knock out his opponent, a
Japanese kickboxer effect knocked him down three times, and then
the opponent's dad threw in the towel in the first round.
That's the thing is. It was a scheduled three round
contests against a kickboxer and no kicking was allowed. So
the forty one year old boxer dominated and it was

(02:02:40):
over before round one. Kicker. But correct exactly. Okay, and
uh I mentioned earlier the quote for Northwestern's coach Pat
Fitzgerald after he's come back when tonight, I'm not going anywhere.
There are eight openings out of thirty two NFL teams
currently also mentioned the NFL opponents for or said Patriots

(02:03:00):
have an interesting schedule that Dallas Cowboys will be hosting
the Rams, the Vikings, and the Packers next season. I
wonder if one of those will be picked for Thanksgiving.
Dallas has road games at Chicago, at New Orleans, at
New England. First place schedule right there. Yeah, And so
now that is done, they can put things in order

(02:03:21):
for next year. We don't know exact dates or anything.
And finally, an all time NBA record was set tonight
in Houston. James Harden with an eighth straight game with
at least thirty five points and five assists. In fact,
the four travelings dot Com nine turnovers a triple double
though with forty three points and without Chris Paul they
win again. That's five straight wins for Houston, finally looking

(02:03:42):
like they should beat Memphis. All right, thanks for not
the sag three hours or in the books, the Power
Hours coming up next, come back, We'll get you to
the playoffs scenario wrap up week seventeen. Talk about the
coaches that were fired? What about the quarterbacks that are
on the loose? Torres has got the brig up ul
a basketball lots to get to all that coming to
next year. On Fox Sports Radio, be sure to catch

(02:04:05):
live editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman
weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Oh all right,
let's go Power Hour of the show as we're coming
to you live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio Studios.
Did you know that fifteen minutes could save you fifteen
per cent er more in car insurance? What do you
have to do? Just visit dot com free free rate quote,

(02:04:27):
Happy New Year, Welcome to twenty nineteen, Torres. You still
have a couple more hours before you which twenty nineteen
like the rest of us. Yeah, I am here in
no flying cars, no, pretty much. It's all the robots
are not yet running the world. I am not a
robot myself, just a regular guy with Mike. Happy New Year,

(02:04:47):
aren't How does New Year? How? Tree? Like? What did I?
We don't have any cars like the Jetsons. I thought
we would have had that by now by by the
year twenty nineteen, but but that hasn't happened. But we
do have the TVs where you can look at each
other East Time and all that. That that was just
like the Jetsons when I was a kid. There you go,
look at look at what brought us Happy New Year?
And everybody in the Central time zone. I'm still back

(02:05:09):
here in I level more hours ago. You got mountained
in the Pacific. I know, I live in the past.
It's it's a weird, weird time, my friend. We want
to know where are you listening to us? How are
you listening to us? Are you working on this New
Year's Eve? New Year's Day? So we're glad we're able
to keep your company, Eddie, says millennial boy. I like
that and you should use that in your intro. The

(02:05:31):
stinking Genius and Millennial Boy live from The Guy Goes Studios.
How about the King of the Roaring twenties instead of
stinking Genius. That would fit you well too. I'm trying
to think what else happened? Were you? Uh, you're definitely
one of those flower children? Yes, yes, stuff like that.
You were one of those flower children. Weren't you just
walking around doing god knows what? Well? That was a

(02:05:52):
little bit before my time, right, Rudy says, driving a
truck hauling water to the oil fields of Central Texas
making some cash the best cure for New Year's even
duced hangover. Uh so I want to say a lot
of Rudy out there. Jim says, the SEC Championship was
on a network TV. I couldn't watch the playoff games?
Was that on have ESPN? But how does that explain

(02:06:15):
Alabama getting like twenty million viewers and being up significantly?
And how does that explained, by the way, last year's
Alabama Georgia National Championship game not the SEC title this year,
but the National championship last year was like million viewers.
So what are you saying that it didn't affect him,
that it was uncable or what I think your boys
making something up over there aren't over. That's a year

(02:06:36):
full of lies. Apparently, Mike's ripping me saying Alabama won
the game the way There was never any doubt about that,
and to was far greater than Kylercent covering the spread
comment was idiotic. Yes, I will say, uh, Mr roaring
twenties over here. I don't know what what football was
like back then with leather helmets, but when I grew up,

(02:06:56):
the best player on the field was expected to win games.
He didn't get a pat on the back the juice
box for covering the spread. Judge says, Happy New Year,
my friend. Much love to the Mallard militia and Fox
Sports Radio family. Happy New Year to you. Chris Plank
filling in for Ben Maller tonight, so he's coming up
in a less of an hour, so stick around for that.

(02:07:17):
Um Lord, help me. I don't know how some other
cities do it. Uh, it's been so miserable. I hate
sports now. What's the fun and rooting for your team
to tank for years on end. That's my buddy, James.
I don't know if he's listening or what, but he
is in New York Mets fan Giants fan, Knicks fan so,
and he didn't really go to a good like he
didn't go to Mets fan, Giants fan, Nicks fan, Dolphins fan.

(02:07:40):
I we have no hope until next September. Yeah, I
mean he brings up the point that I've been arguing
with you that I don't think there's anything wrong with
trying to tank and get a draft pick. If you
think that you have a franchise altering player in Zion
Williamson or Nick Bosa or any of these guys that
you think you can get the front end of you
either draft. Obviously, the Giants probably won't get Nick Bosa
at at this point. But look, I mean at some point,

(02:08:01):
the Calves had to be really bad to get Lebron James,
and they had to be really bad to get Kyrie Irving.
Sometimes it does work out. We'll see if it does
for the next And Jim's in Universal Orlando waiting for
a fair happy new Year. Nothing like going to the Universal,
that's for sure, all right. Uh, tell us where you're listening,
how you're listening, and if you're working, Gwen, and send

(02:08:22):
it to us that Aaron Underscore tours. I'm in stinking
genius one. A right, real quick, as we wrap up
Week seventeen and we wrap up the year, I thought
it was a good year. I thought it was enjoyable,
and we had more double digit teams with victories. I
think that ever before. So I think it was Bobby
A minus yere for for the NFL. Yeah, I think

(02:08:44):
a minus feels about right. What I liked about this
year was we've the NFL feels like it's gotten so
formulaic the last half decade decade. Right, If you have
Aaron Rodgers, if you have Tom Brady, if you have
Big Ben, you're always gonna be in the mix. Uh,
and you can mix and match obviously pay Manny before
he retired. Whatever this year, the emergence of Patrick Mahomes,

(02:09:04):
the emergence of the Rams, uh, the emergence of the Bears.
I just like that there were new storylines. Now it
goes back to what we've been talking about the college
football playoff. If we get a you know, Chargers or
Ravens versus uh, you know whoever. I don't know, phill
in the blank in the Super Bowl. Does that hurt
ratings down the road. But I'll say right now between Mahomes,

(02:09:26):
between the rams, between the charges. I liked what I
saw this season. I thought it was fun, a new storylines.
I don't think ratings hurt when it comes to Super Bowls.
I think people watch anyway. I think they could always
increase when it's like a Patriot's Cowboys or something to
that effect. But Week seventeen over a lot of disappointing
teams this year that really, uh you know, could have
had big years. Pittsburgh, Carolina, Um and then all of

(02:09:49):
a sudden fell by the wayside after getting off to
some good starts, even by Dolphin's got off to a
three and all start there. Aaron, Yeah, I think the
team that, if we're talking most disappointing, I would have
to Carolina Green Bay. I was gonna say the Steelers
because and one, well exactly, and that's you can argue
all they didn't have Levian Bell. But like you said,
seven two and one to start the season to four

(02:10:11):
and one down the stretch of loss to the Raiders,
a loss to the Saints, and I know that's not
a bad loss, but I thought they controlled big chunks
of that game. They're at home. Sometimes it's out of
your control, but the Steelers have nobody to blame but themselves,
you think. And what about Carolina though, and the start
they what were they at one point? Um, they look
like a shoe in for the playoffs. They started the

(02:10:33):
year three and one, they lost to the Redskins, but
then they got right back on truck. They were six
and two at the halfway point, and then there was
nothing but els until the end of the year against
the Saints, who didn't care about that game. Yep, six
and two. They were five and oh at home at
that point. So obviously a little bit of a front
loaded schedule to a degree. I think you can make
an argument for them, but one I think the Steelers.

(02:10:56):
I just feel like personally the Steelers, they have more weapons,
they have better Personnelity's not the look. The Panthers have
phenomenal defense, defensive players, Christian McCaffrey emerging to a star.
Cam Newton, we know what he is. But Cam Newton
got banged up at the end of the year. But
I just look at the Steelers, man, I mean, we're
talking about Antonio Brown, Juju Smith, Schuster, Ben Roethlisberger, all
those guys on defense. You gotta make the playoffs. With

(02:11:18):
that roster. Your biggest surprise for a team that made
the playoffs would just say the Chicago Bears have to
be the biggest surprise. Worst last year they got the
first Trabiskie and you know, the trade for Kool Max
certainly did wonders for them. I think the answer is
the Bears. But how about my Cowboys, Arnie, I'll tell
you this. Yeah, I was on with the Odd Couple

(02:11:40):
probably about week three, week four. Uh they do their
hot seat, Yes, yes, yes, so my hot I beat
them up pretty bad. They'll never have me back on again. Well,
they laughed me off the show because about five weeks
in the season, I said the Cowboys are going to
win the NFC East. Uh. Rob Parker asked me if
I was wearing my Cold Easily jersey as I was

(02:12:01):
doing the segment. No, I was wearing my uh, you know,
my my Darrel Moose Johnston jersey. Maybe, but no, And
and I just saw Look, I saw the Eagles were
going the wrong directions and once the Redskins lost their quarterback,
it was gonna be all downhill for them. But I
still think to the credit of the Cowboys, they had
to win those games throughout the season, they had to
win late. They got some tough wins, obviously, most notably

(02:12:21):
the Saints. I do think we gotta give him a
little bit of credit as well, even though they might, uh,
you know, my things might turn out this weekend. It
was it a good thing, you know, had they not
made the playoffs, I thought that maybe Jason Garrett would
have been on the hot seat, may be fired. So
uh now they'll have to keep him longer and Dak
Prescott will be the quarterback of the future. Out of
all the teams in the NFC, in the a f C,
there's only one team that I don't think it's gonna

(02:12:42):
go to the super Bowl, and that's the Dallas Cowboys.
That's kind of interesting. I don't think the Ravens will
make it, but I could see why you would have
more faith in the Ravens than you. Ravens have a
much better defense, and I'm not sold on the Cowboy offense,
even though I'm not really sold on the Ravens offense.
But defense will can troll this and the Ravens have
a much better defense. Yeah. No, I think it's a

(02:13:03):
totally fair point on your end, But I also think look,
at the end of the day, Doc is coming back
next year anyways, Jerry Jones I only said that he
was coming back, but they're probably gonna sign him to
a long term extension. I say, you ride it out.
We'll see what happens in the playoffs first of all,
but then you ride it out one more year. If
next year is not the year, if Garrett can't develop
Doc into a better quarterback than he's been, or at
least a more consistent one, you move on from Garrett,

(02:13:25):
and then maybe you have to have the tough question,
the tough conversation about Doc as well. Also another disappointing
fan base in the Minnesota Vikings and Cousins getting the
front of it too. Uh. You know, people said this
was the biggest game in his career and he fell
flat on his face. He just didn't get it done.
This was a game they should have won because the
Bears couldn't give a rats you know what about this one? Yeah?

(02:13:46):
I mean, look, this is kind of what Kirk Cousins does.
I know, we have a lot of listeners out there
in Minnesota. When he signed up for ready four million dollars,
you knew that this was a guy that doesn't win
a ton of big games. I think coming into yesterday
it was four and twenty four against teams eventually made
the playoffs. Another clunker last week or yesterday, excuse me
a few weeks ago against the Seahawks on that Monday night. Look,

(02:14:08):
you know, at some point a guy is who he is,
and I just don't know if Kirk Cousins is a
guy that can win big games in when they matter,
you know, going forward, playoffs, regular season, whatever it is.
You said, you are who you are. So what does
that say about the Titans? And Marcus Mariotta, who practiced
a couple of times, two or three times this week,
didn't make it for the game. I saw Clay Travis

(02:14:30):
was just ripping him, saying, you've got to make it.
Is he losing the city? Is he losing the fan base? Um,
he may have to go. I like him, but he's
got to stay healthy. He hasn't been able to do that. Yeah,
I was. I was listening to what Clay had to
say this morning. I get it, he's a Titans fan,
I understand. But if you read they consulted with an
outside person, a doctor who said that he could do

(02:14:54):
very serious spinal and nerve damage to his neck, to
his shoulder area. I know you want to win the game.
I know you want to make you can't chance that though, totally,
I'm with you, and I understand the frustration of a
Titans fan, of a season ticket holder. This is the
biggest game of the season. Let's not forget, by the way,
Marcus Mariota was sacked like forty two times this year,
so it's not as though his old line did him
any favors. If you want to blame Marcus Mariota, you

(02:15:16):
better blame his offensive line for not protect him all
season long to a bunch of if you want to
go ahead and tweet on and Aaron underscore Torres, I'm
a stinking genius one uh stink of genius. It is
rare that a Giant fan winds up being a met
fan too. How did you missed the Yankee train? I was,
by the way, I was born in the Bronx, so
uh yeah, the a lot of Yankee fans out there,

(02:15:36):
no doubt about that. I was a little mess. Colts
making the playoffs were the biggest shock or they were
one in five. Yeah that they probably have listened to
a half of percent chance of making the playoffs, and
they did. I was gonna say, I could see you
being the kid in school everyone's wearing the Yankees gear
and you just say, yeah, I'm a Mets fan. Let's go,
Tom saver I named my son Shape for Chase Stadium.

(02:15:57):
That's right. And we we already agreed that if you
ever have another kid, is gonna be named MetLife right now,
or if it's a girl, Madison for Madison Square Garden,
so go with something like that. Why you're not gonna
do the sports name if you ever ever kid? Uh?
Probably not. No, maybe maybe if I have a boy
on the name of Gino after Gino or greatest women's
basketball coach time. I'm a Yukon alum, the Gino. I

(02:16:20):
like that. Yeah, that's a nice strong name. I mean,
I'm not Italian. That would help, probably, but yeah, she
has a great name. New your fellas in Miami listening
to us out there in down in South Beach, Well
give him your dolphin spiel, aren't you go ahead? I
know you're I know you're waiting. Another one says, I
hope our dolphins making good higher. Yeah you know, uh, look,

(02:16:40):
I had no problem with Gaze. I actually thought he
was a pretty good coach, but I also know there
was time for a change. And with Tannehill not coming
back in that nineteen million dollar contract, which I think
it was a twenty six million against the cap, I
figured it's a time for a change everywhere, with the
coach and the quarterback, and I guess a lot of
the players. I think I heard the kid Drake also

(02:17:00):
said that he wanted to be traded if Adam Gays
came back. So if you're losing the players, you've got
to make a change, Aaron, You've got to make that move.
So if you're g m RNY, put on your GM hat.
What are the moves you make? If you could have
any coach, maybe any quarterback that's available that's realistic. Obviously
Patrick mahomes and and Tom Brady aren't becoming available. What
moves does GMRN may? I like Mike McCarthy. I'm gonna

(02:17:23):
go with somebody who's a veteran, who I think is
a good coach and kind of got a raw deal.
I think he's ready to get right back at it.
I think that would be my higher You know who
i'd go with, I would go I wouldn't let him
leave the stadium from Saturday night. Mr Lincoln Riley. Yeah,
but he doesn't want to go though. Yeah, I know,
but I'm saying, you know, maybe I listen, I don't

(02:17:43):
than I would hire Nick Saban, But again, these guys
don't want to go. But Lincoln Riley's names at least
been attached to a couple of these openings. Yeah, I mean,
but I think he's made it clear, well, at least
I think he's made it clear that he's not gonna
be leaving Oklahoma. Yeah, and I can't Chris Pike said
he chop off his pinky fingers. Sure he was that, uh,
that he wasn't gonna leave Oklahoma. I'll tell you what,
Chris Blank has giving me some inaccurate Oklahoma information that

(02:18:05):
I may or may not have run with on Twitter
from time to time. So uh, I don't know if
I need to be done kidding, I'm kidding. But what
I will say though, is, you know, you never know
until you your hand over the big check. But I mean,
if you're Lincoln Riley in nine ten games a year,
you just have to show up to the stadium and
you're gonna have better personnel. It's hard to ask a
college coach with the money that they're making at the

(02:18:27):
college level now to go to the NFL, where everybody's
on the same page, everyone's on the same wavelength. I
think that's why we're seeing a lot of guys stay
at the college level. He's airing underscore. Torres, I'm a
stinking genius one. Where are you listening? How are you listening?
Are you working? When we get back, let's take a
look at the playoffs. Who do we like there? That's
coming up next? Aaron and Aartdy sitting in for Jason

(02:18:48):
Smith and his best friend Mike Carman right here on
Fuck Sports or Radio. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern seven and Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio. Ah app Many New Year,
Happy New Year. In this country we say happy New Year.

(02:19:13):
What does it meanway Guy Goes says, just fifteen minutes
can save you fifteen percent or more in car insurance.
Uh means you probably should have gone the Guy coddic
com fifteen minutes ago. Good evening, everyone, Aaron Torres, Arnie
Span you're sitting in for Jason Smith. It's best friend
Mike Carmen. Where are you listening? How are you listening
or your working tonight? Craig said, love the show, great job.

(02:19:33):
Thanks for giving us your New Year's Eve to entertain
your fans. Happy New Year. May please say I love
my wife. Since picture of his wife very attractive, very attractive.
I see a guy in a cast. That's not the
same person, right, No, that's not the same person. Uh.
Torres may bring some comparisons to Gino torretta Miami Hurricanes quarterback.

(02:19:56):
I want to kiss you. If you do have a
a kid, Arnie is a good name. You should think
about that, Arnie Torres. Yeah, I was thinking, you know,
if I have a if I have a goldfish, you
know something that probably maybe maybe one of those outdoor
dogs that you don't let in the house. Yeah, Like,
if you imagine having a son naming him Arnie, that's

(02:20:18):
a good name. You don't want to name my dad dog,
do you? If it was a nineteen two? You know
my dad has a nineteen what's that? Seymour? Oh, that's
a great one. Could you imagine Seymour and Arnold? What
um is Seymour is not short or anything, right, sigh?

(02:20:40):
You could they all call them siyah? Yeah, I sigh
every time I see you. I don't think there's too
many kids names sigh anymore. You know, you don't say,
let's name him Seymour. That's a pretty good name though.
What's the name of that actor that passed away Seymour
Phillips Hoffman or something. Yeah, Philip Seymour Hoffman. So they're
cy young. He's been dead for a while. He's nuts.

(02:21:01):
You know, it's old enough to see your brother man.
That's true. Listening in Rochester w h d K twelve eighty,
are you're filling it all week? Very thought continues? No,
just tomorrow and then and then we're done. We've we've
been here way too long now, We've we've outstayed our welcome.
We're like those relatives that come in two weeks before
Christmas and then on leave to like a week after
after New Year's That is, uh, so I'm getting married

(02:21:23):
in July for everybody. Most people listening over the last
couple of weeks. No, and my fiance dropped that on me.
Oh yeah, my uncle. They're coming in there from you know,
they're gonna be traveling for a waste. It will be
there like probably three weeks maybe. Yeah. Yeah, I'm listening
to an iHeart and Toledo recovering from my second total
knee replacement eight weeks apart. I had the second one

(02:21:44):
done two weeks ago. Happy New Year. Yeah, that's that's
gotta be top that happy. I believe Jim Jackson or
Buddy Jim Jackson is from Toledo, Toledo area. Ye. Wow,
So I appreciate everybody listening. How are you listening? What
are you listening? And what are you doing? Do your work?
And are you working right now? Playoff time? And uh,
I'm excited about the three of the games are under

(02:22:05):
a field goal. So what they're really saying, Aaron, is
that the only reason you're favored by that is because
of the home field advantage. Are there really that many
even games? Are we in for some real good football
on Saturday and Sunday because the last couple of years
they haven't been that good with the wild card route? Well,
I mean it makes sense if you think about it.
I mean, look, Indie and Houston is the first game
Indie just one at Houston about three weeks ago Seattle

(02:22:27):
was at Dallas. Seattle one at Dallas earlier this year
now was before the before the Cowboys got hot, but
they still want at Dallas. And then Chargers Baltimore. Look,
I know Baltimore came into l A got to win
at the stub Up Center, but that was also the
week after the Chargers played that big game against the Chiefs.
So I can see why all of these games are
so close mainly because we've seen these matchups throughout the

(02:22:48):
regular season. Doesn't take away from the playoffs because of
the matchups because they're all uh, you know, repeats, or
doesn't make a difference whatsoever. No, I don't think it
makes a difference. I mean, I don't know where you
stand on it, but to me, I'll still be watching.
I'm still into it and in the course, and yeah,
we're not gonna It's not like I was gonna turn
it off because it's a rematch of Week five or
something like that. But I was gonna say, is like

(02:23:10):
even with the Cowboys game, like, yeah, we kind of
know who the Cowboys are, but they are a different
team since they played the Seahawks. I should add the
Seahawks are different teams since they played. I think it
was Week three as well, so I look, I'm excited,
even though some of them are rematches. This is football.
Teams are completely different in uh in January than they
are in September and October. We see it in a
good way with teams like the Ravens. We see in

(02:23:31):
a bad way like the Steelers, Vikings, etcetera. Things start
on Saturday afternoon. That's the four thirty five Easter where
the Cults are gonna be taken on the Texans. Everybody's
on the cold Span wagon. When did they go nine
and one of their last ten after starting one in five,
So no doubt they're on a roll. Andrew Wock has
done incredible things with the thirty nine touchdowns. This is

(02:23:52):
gonna be a good one because the Colts do have
to go up against a pretty good defense. I'm not
sure the Texans are gonna put enough points on the
board beat the Cults. I think I might be leading
toward Andrew looking this one. Well, here's the thing. The
Texans they got really hot in the middle of the year.
They obviously won those nine straight games. Streak was broken
against Indie in Houston, but Houston was just two and

(02:24:13):
two down the stretch. Arnie. The other thing, I don't
think people realize they played a very soft schedule, which
makes sense because they went four and twelve last year.
I looked it up today. They were only two and
three this year against teams that eventually made the playoffs. One. Yeah,
one of those wins was early in the year against Indie,
before Indie kind of got their their feet going or
got their feet under him. I should say so, Houston.

(02:24:34):
I just don't know if they've been battle test. I mean,
it's a lot of wins over the Jets and the
Raiders and the Bengals and teams like that. I need
to see a little bit more out of them. I
might be leaning towards Indiana with you, how the heck
of the Cowboys made the playoffs, win the NFC East
and still not get the fan fair in the hype
that comes being a Cowboy fan. You know, every time
the Cowboys start the season, every time we get started

(02:24:56):
for another season, it's Cowboys to go to the super Bowl,
Cowboys gonna win. Jerry this and that, Ezekiel Dack. Well,
here they are in the playoffs. They had a good
run and two teams can from the NFC East. But
I'm not feeling the hype for the Dallas Cowboys. I'm
I'm not feeling the love for the Cowboys this year
in the playoffs. Well, and it's exactly what you just
said right there, is that even though they won the division,

(02:25:19):
even though they're America's team every every even though people
pay closer attention to them than just about anybody in
the NFL, they are one dimensional man, and they are
they only can win games a certain way. The defense
is obviously evolved with Layton vander Rash over the course
of the season. Jail. He got bagged up in that
last game, which was meaningless, but I guess he's gonna
be okay. Yeah, But it's just it feels like you
can only win one way if you're the Cowboys. I mean,

(02:25:40):
we saw it the other week when they got shut
out against Indie. I mean, they are a team that
if they fall behind and they can't rely on Zeke
and they can't rely on the defense, they're imminently beatable.
I think that's the game plan for Seattle. Maybe break
a few things out of the trick the bag of
tricks early and hope you get a couple of points
on the board because the Cowboys are completely different team.
If they're playing from behind, rating through the roof on

(02:26:01):
the eight fifteen game with the Cowboys and the Seahawks,
that's going to be Fox. Can you imagine what the
numbers are gonna look like for that Saturday night game.
I'm gonna be through the roof on this one. Yeah, Cowboys, straw.
Cowboys are America's team. As I said, they're playing the Seahawks, though,
because that brings it down a little bit, I think
a little bit. But I think anybody who follows the NFL,
and let's be honest, most of America at least tangentially

(02:26:23):
follows the NFL because they're betting on look at those
big words, those that say words. Listen. I gotta get
them all in before New Year. So I'm trying to
get into all my my quota of impressive words here
before midnight Pacific. But I just feel like when you
look at the Seahawks, I mean, I do think that
people that either bet the NFL or at least have
a fantasy team, they know what the Seahawks story is
and it's a team that lost a lot of guys

(02:26:44):
off last year's team, Richard Sherman, Camp chancellor Michael Bennett.
Here they are in the playoffs, and I think they're
one of the better stories in the NFL. Is a
rug for being to not believed into the Ravens because
they have a rookie quarterback with Lamar Jackson. I need
to see what he's going to put up in the playoffs.
They got a good defen but where was that defense
against Baker Mayfield and the Browns. They didn't look so
good in that game. And that was kind of my

(02:27:06):
takeaway as well, is it's one thing when the Ravens
are either playing bad teams or they're they're they're playing
teams at the right time. And I do think they
caught the l A Chargers two weeks ago at the
right time. L A was coming off that big win
over k C. First of all, the Chargers played better
on the road, and I don't think they're sneaking up
on anybody. I I think this is the one where
I don't know how Vegas has it, but I do

(02:27:27):
think the Chargers can go on the road and get
a win. All three games under three points. They're all
two and a half at least that's what it was
just today. So I'll update the lines when I can.
But the Eagles are playing the Bears. That's the only
when that opened up at six with the five and
a half, so money coming in on the Eagles early.
Better say hey, we're going and Nick Foles we trust
in this game. Yeah, and imagine how the Bears will

(02:27:48):
feel if they if they if they go out, play hard,
beat the Vikings yesterday, allow the Eagles to get into
the playoffs, and then they get upset. I mean, I
can see both sides. You don't want to go too
easy against the Vikings and give them confidence. But man,
oh man, if Nick Foles gets hot, We've seen what
can happen. I'm done doubting this guy. I mean, those
last three weeks that he got thrown into the fire
at the Rams, against the Texans, against the Redskins, I've

(02:28:09):
been blown away by how good he looks. All Right,
we got more football to get into, some news and
notes to get to. I'm curious to see what Torre
is gonna say about U c l A basketball, which
was breaking last night and we were texting each other,
So all that's coming up first, though, Let's see what's
trending is we've check it with the Saga aw Right.
A lot of basketball to get to in a minute.
First off, the NFL coach firings on New Year's Eve,

(02:28:30):
with the Bengals and Dolphins, Broncos and Cardinals all fired
head coaches. Jets and Bucks fired their head coaches the
previous night. Cleveland and Green Bay have openings as well.
The Raiders new general managers Mike Mayock from NFL Network.
Titans linebacker Brian A. Rackpo retired Chargers tight end Hunter
Henry will take first team reps at practice this week,
finally back from a torn a c l in May.

(02:28:52):
The Bucks announced the quarterback Jamis Winston will be back
next year. The Bill say running back Lashawn McCoy will
return next season. Defend a Shot a five year contract,
and NFL opponents for nineteen are set now that the
year's regular season is over, That includes the Patriots hosting Dallas,
Kansas City, and Pittsburgh next season. Online car shopping can
be confusing, not anymore. With True Price from True Car,

(02:29:15):
now you can know the exact price you'll pay for
your next car. So visit true car to enjoy a
more confident car buying experience. Come back win at the
Holiday Bowl for Northwestern thirty one twenty over Utah, which
committed six turnovers. Northwestern scored four unanswered touchdowns in the
third quarter to take the lead, and after the game,
the winning coach Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern said, I'm not
going anywhere. Gator Bowl comeback win for Texas A and

(02:29:38):
M after trailing second quarter thirteen to seven. Aggie's win
fifty thirteen against NC State over two hundred yards rushing
for Travie on Williams and three touchdowns. Liberty Bowl went
to Oklahoma State thirty three over Missouri, even though MISSOO
had over six hundred yards of offense. Oregon wins seven
six against Michigan State. Stanford a fourteen thirteen win over

(02:29:59):
pit at the Sun Bowl, and Stanford scored a touchdown
early fourth quarter as its quarterback fumbled into the arms
of a teammate in the ends of Cincinnati scored a
touchdown with under two minutes to go to win its
bowl game thirty five thirty one over Virginia Tech. So
that ends the Hokey's run of twenty five straight winning seasons.
Five more bowl games on New Year's. University of Houston

(02:30:19):
is expected to sign West Virginia coach Dana Houlgers into
a five year deal NBA history. Tonight, Houston won its
five fifth game in a row, beat Memphis. In the game,
James Harden, who had a triple double with forty three points,
set a league record with his eighth straight game with
at least thirty five points five assists. Indiana won its
fifth straight game, Pacers only a game and a half
back in Toronto. In the East, Charlotte, New Orleans with wins,

(02:30:41):
Oklahoma City and Golden State with victories, and what a
quarter for San Antonio beating Boston eventually one one eleven.
Spurs trailed early third quarter by seven and then scored
thirty eight points, not thirty eight points for the quarter,
thirty eight points in eight and a half minutes against
the Celtics to come back. And finally, college basketball Top

(02:31:02):
twelve stayed the same in the new Apeo Pole. Number four.
Virginia State undefeated with an easy win tonight Gonzaga one easily.
Creighton won its Big East opener at Providence and guys
two overtime games of note, Hartford wins at Boston College
in overt from seventy eight. It's the Hartford team that
lost its season opener to Central Connecticut. East Right had

(02:31:24):
losses to Utah Valley, Iona, Sacred Heart, Wagner already and
beat BC on the road, and the Kicker Boston College
had a guy scored forty four points out of their
seventy eight Kai Bowman. He had fourteen baskets. The rest
of the team had thirteen combined BC loses at home
and Monmouth, which was oh and twelve wanted over time
at Penn, a team that had been ten and three

(02:31:46):
attendance two thousand this past day in Philadelphia trivia for
you guys, who is the head coach in Central Connecticut.
It's a name that you know, Jeff Rulin. No, he
was an IONA, I remember that. Danielle Marshall, the old yes, sir,
and he played for like eleven and you know he

(02:32:06):
had like an eleven year and he had a much
longer MBA career than people realize. Never would have guessed
that one. When Lebron left Cleveland the first time and
all his teammates were fat in out of shape, Danielle
Marshall was one of those guys. So all right, thanks
at the sagers were coming to you live the Geico
Fox Sports radio studios. It's easy to say more corn
troops with Geico. Just go to Geico dot com or

(02:32:26):
give them a call one eight nine four seven auto.
And the only hard part, well that's figuring out which
way is easier. Matt says, Um, Seattle beat Dallas in Seattle?
Did I say they didn't? I say something to the
contrary there, Toros, I don't remember. I mean, look, I
might have said it, are you, But because I I
said that, I'm not feeling the hype with Dallas. I'mever.

(02:32:48):
I like Seattle, like it, but I don't think we
brought up uh in the earlier game. In my defense,
I'm a millennial and anything that happened more than ten
minutes ago I don't remember. Yeah, that's true, Luke says,
Happy New Year listening in England about up and start
the day at six thirty in the morning. Here cheerio
to that, Luke. Six thirty in the morning. So if

(02:33:09):
it was one of the people listening in the different countries,
you know what I mean. So I guess they don't
have sports talk radio in England. Or anything like that.
So if it's twenty nineteen where you are, Arnie, does
that mean it's like Wednesday where Luke is right now?
I have no idea what it is there. Don't get
me confused, Arnie. Are you going to still keep picking
Kansas City to lose their first round home games against
Andy Reid Bruce? You're wrong. I hope you're right because

(02:33:31):
it would let the Patriots stay home in cozy Foxboro.
I've only been picking against the Chief since John Stead
a rude, and I've been right there owing six and
whole playoff games there. Torres, Well, you've been picking against
the Patriots since week one two, and I think things
turn out pretty well for them. Alright, real quick. And
I know, uh, we're we're football heavy today. But last
night I was tweeting you or texting you or whatever

(02:33:52):
the hell I was doing, sending inappropriate pictures exactly, and
I told you that you c was gonna make a change.
You said you heard the rumblings, and then boom it
came down. Steve Alford got fired, probably because of the
Liberty game. They also lost the Belmont there's seven and six.
Now he's being linked to U n L. V. But
where does U c A go from here? What is
next for them? Who's being linked to U n l V.

(02:34:13):
Steve Alford, Yeah, he's got a great agent. That's like Arnie,
that's like you're saying you're linked to be the Patriots
backup quarterback if somebody goes down this weekend. No, that's
that's not my report. No, I'm saying whoever's reporting it,
it's it's coming straight from Steve Alfred's Asian. It's not
true at all. Well, it could be. I mean it
could be. I'm just you know, telling you what they said.
But um, overall, though, what what's the next step for

(02:34:35):
U c A. Well, I think the next step for
U c l A. There's a couple of names that
makes sense. Fred Hoiberg, who of course just got fired
by Chicago Bully the mayor, Yes, had a ton of
success at at Iowa State. Eric Musselman, the head coach
of Nevada, big fan Rick Pettino. If he can ever
get cleared by the n c A, which I'm not
sure they're in a rush to clear him, let's pass
on that. Uh yeah, I mean those are the guys.

(02:34:56):
Earl Watson, a friend of Fox Sports Radio. He yeah,
it's also in the NBA. Why not him? He's not bad.
He is that he was a former head coach of
the Phoenix Suns. All I'll say is, whoever it is
U c l A has got to make some big
boy decisions here, because they do run that athletic department
at times like it's the nineteen seventies and eats upgrade
with money, money for assistance, money for facilities. We'll see

(02:35:18):
if they have the guts to do it. All right,
here's the old adage. So I'll bring it up. You could,
you know, deny it or say that's not true. Um academics,
it isn't hard to bring in transfers. Do you have
to bring in transfers? And you know what about other
schools like Stanford, cal Duke, Vanderbilt and other good academic schools. Well,

(02:35:40):
first of all, I would say it is true, it's
really hard to get transfers into U c l A.
And what people don't know, I wouldn't it be easier
as a transfer than as a freshman? I would think
so specifically, the grad transfers the problem, Marty, because UM
U c l A is one of the most applied
to schools in the world. And what people don't know that,
but the administrations basically decided is if we only have

(02:36:03):
a hundred spots in our graduate program fulfilling the blank program,
and we have five thousand or ten thousand applicants from
all over the world, we're not gonna give it. We're
not gonna give a spot to a basketball player is
gonna be there for one year and then leave. And
so the reality is whether people want to hear it, well,
they gotta get they gotta give it to basketball players.
You know, you gotta have a team. They've you know,

(02:36:24):
they got to fill out the football team that they
gotta do that. They gotta take the athletes. I will
tell you this, there were a lot of great players
that came through u c l A under Steve Alfred,
zach Lavine, a Lonzo Ball, T J. Leaf, Aaron Holiday.
There wasn't a single one who was a transfer, a
graduate transfer, or a junior college transfer who wasn't fully
qualified out of high school. That's a fact. You can

(02:36:44):
google it. I'm just telling why. Why is their academics worse?
Are harder than Stanford or cow or not Tre Dame
or they're not competing with Stanford and cow they are
because it's the Pac twelve. But you still expects to
compete with Kentucky, Kansas Duke for national championships. And what
I would say with Duke is this is no disrespect.
But if you can play basketball, they'll find a way

(02:37:05):
to get you in. And I'm not gonna name names.
People can google it. They're private school. Correct, Yeah, but
they're supposedly a great academic institution. But I'll just tell
you this. They had a player on their on their
team last year. He went to four high schools in
four years. The school he went to his junior or
shut down after he left during his junior year. So
you wonder how good those academics were. Uh, there's a okay.

(02:37:26):
I've seen people that were home schooled that have gotten
into Harvard. I don't think this kid was homeschool when
they shut down. No, but I'm decided that this kid
played hockey. So you know, stuff like that does happen, though,
you know, yeah, no, it happens. I mean Justin Jackson,
who played at u un c uh and the now
plays for the Sacramento Kings, he was homeschool throughout high school.
Now he's playing in the NBA. I'm just saying, if

(02:37:47):
you follow the bouncing ball, uh, there are there are
a lot of kids that would not be able to
get into Duke if they could not play basketball. But
I think the Pactrove is going through a really tough
time right now. Us down to Arizona's down, the whole
conferences down. It's also that in football, I'm gonna worry
about the Pac twelve. I don't know what's going on
with it, but they need to turn it around, and

(02:38:08):
I'm not sure how they're going to do that. Well,
the bottom line is, I don't want to get two
inside baseball here. But they don't spend These schools don't
spend the way that other schools doing. It's that's not
a b all end all. But for example, U c.
L A very rarely you uses charter flights uh to
get to where they're going. That might sound minimal, that
might sound stupid, whatever, But first of all, their schools

(02:38:29):
like Day in Wichita State Providence College, they chartered a
road game. Why don't you charter because you would think
it's hard to travel in the Pack twelve, Well you
would think so, but I think U c l A
thinks we're U c l A. We don't need to
spend the money on this silly stuff, and that's just
not true. That's just not the way it is. And
people saying, oh, it's a flight, who cares? I mean,
you know, if you have to go to the airport

(02:38:50):
and sit around until after midnight to get a flight home,
or you play a game and you gotta wake up
at four am to get to the airport, it does
just throw your body clock off. I'm not saying it's
an excuse. I'm just saying that whether it's U c
l A or most of the rest of the pack twelve,
I would say your Arizona Wildcats uh spend very well
on their basketball program, but just about everybody else needs
to upgrade something. Right. Of course, he's Aaron underscore Tores.

(02:39:11):
I'm at stinking genius one. Do you have a guess
on they're gonna be there on their next head coach
or that was pretty much the next three or four
you gave us. The buzz I heard earlier was Fred Hoiberg.
I do believe Fred Hoiberg wants to go back to
the NBA if possible, but you know he's gonna have
to make a decision on U c l A first.
Those NBA jobs aren't gonna open until after the regular season.

(02:39:32):
College basketball is obviously gonna be done way earlier than that. Yeah,
I saw that breakdown. It's it's crazy that they fired
him in mid year, but I guess that have to
be done. I'm one of those guys. I just think that. Look,
they just lost the liberty, they fell the seven and six.
They played five Power Conference teams and they lost to
four of them by double digits. There's just there's no

(02:39:52):
no reason to keep him around. You're not making a
run this year. And by the way, if you do
make a running, you might have to keep the guys.
So cut bait, pay them what you gotta pay, and
move on to the next guy, aren't You're right? There's
no sports radio over in jolly old England, those old
stoggy people, stogy people, what is it? Stogy people have
no casion for that sport that they call football, But

(02:40:14):
I think they do like horse racing. Yeah, I don't
think i'd play well in another country there. What do
you think we had to do a cricket segment in
the final segment for Luke. Is that what they like
over that cricket? Yeah, exactly, all right. When we get back,
last segment, time for our picks. That's coming up next.
He's here and Torres, I'm Arnie span your word for
Jason Smith and Mike Carmen right here on Fox Sports Radio.

(02:40:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific. Many New Yeah, Happy New Year. In this country,
we say Happy New Year. Great news everybody. There's a
quick way to save money. Just switch the guy. Go
go to geo dot com and in fifteen minutes you
could say fifteen percent more on car insurance. Wow. Show

(02:40:59):
just a flu by Torres and I. In tomorrow, one
more time for Jason Smith and Mike Harmon. So and
then they'll be back to start things off on Wednesday.
Give me a little music, put me in the mood.
Let's get to our picks. Start with Indianapolis at Houston again.

(02:41:19):
I think this one's coming down to the wire. It's
gonna be a last second one. I like what Indianapolis is,
don how could you not? The turnaround they've had is
absolutely remarkable. Remember this used to team also had a
remarkable run. I think they won nine straight. Texans are
playing at home. With that being said, Indianapolis could have
a real tough time to try to go ahead and

(02:41:42):
put a lot of points on the board against this
Texans defense. I think it's gonna be tied up at
the end of the game. With one second left, Texans
kick a field goal. They win a Torres twenty six
twenty three over the Colts Wow. Because that's an ironic
score since obviously the last time these two teams played
it was Colts Wow in Houston. How about that stinky

(02:42:05):
genius Seattle gonna be in Dallas now. Look, give all
the props to Dallas Freevan getting in and winning that division. Seattle,
though I thought I had no chance at the beginning
of the year to make the playoffs, I left them
for dead. Pete Carroll's done a phenomenal job. And guess what,
it continues. Seattle's defense a lot better than a lot
of people are giving them credit for. And what you

(02:42:27):
don't know about Seattle is they actually played well on
the road. Dallas does not scare me at all. Final score,
Seattle wins it again. On the last second field goal
twenty seven, twenty four over Dallas. I like it, Arnie,
I am with you. Look Dallas, they've had an incredible
run to win that NFC East, but they can only
win one way. I mean, even when they beat the Saints,
it was a final score. They are a team that

(02:42:50):
they have to jump on the early. They have to
be able to run the ball, they have to be
able to control you with the defense. Pete Carroll is
too good of a coach, too many weapons for the Seahawks,
specifically in the run game. I think the Seahawks get
up early, Cowboys forced to use Dak Prescott to beat them.
I don't think they can do it. I like the
Seahawks this one. Chargers are in Baltimore, and look, I
give Baltimore all the props able to win that division,

(02:43:12):
to take it away from Pittsburgh, but I just can't
put all my trust in the first playoff go around
for Lamar Jackson. Now, Baltimore's defense world carry them. But
the Chargers offense, We'll figure out a way to score.
I got the Charges winning this game thirty four Torres.
I like it. I do like it. I think it
might be a little bit more low scoring than that.

(02:43:32):
But look, I think the Ravens have peaked. They could
have easily lost to the Browns last weekend or this
past weekend yesterday. And with the Chargers. Look, sometimes games
are about when you play and where you play. The
Chargers when they played the Ravens two weeks ago, they
were at home. They were riding that high of beating
Kansas City in Kansas City. I think they're now more
kind of even Stephen back to reality. I think they

(02:43:54):
come out focus beat the Ravens. I had Chicago winning
thirty one twenty over in Philadelphia. But now that they
know that Nick Folds is going to play and be okay,
I still have Chicago winning. I've added a touchdown to
the Eagles. I got the Bears winning thirty seven and
the Bears advanced. With Mitch Trabinsky totally on board with that.

(02:44:14):
Arnie Uh. Look, you know Nick Foles phenomenal story, but
he hasn't played a defense like this one. Look, he
played the Texans a few weeks ago, but the Texans
can't keep up offensively. I think this is where the
Mitch Drabinskys are with the Nick Foles story ends I
think the Bears defend their home turf. It's gonna be
a pseudo night game, late afternoon game. The crowd is
gonna be into it. First home playoff game in almost

(02:44:36):
a decade. I like the Bears. Wow, alright, and one
other game is Alabama, Alabama and Clemson. Easy for me
to say, you know, is all the credit we're given
the Clemson. They've not faced the team like Alabama. Now.
I think Alabama actually leads this game by like three touchdowns,

(02:44:57):
but then you get a couple of backdoor covers. Alabama
the wins at thirty twenty three. I gotta wrap things up, Torres,
I talked wait too long. Thanks you to Alex, Thanks
to the Sager, Thanks to Lead to Leave for producing
the show. Thanks to my partner Aaron Torres. We're back
one more time tomorrow to fill in for the guys
coming up next, Chris Plank for Ben Maller. Stick around

(02:45:19):
for him. You'll have fun right here on Fox Sports Radio.

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