Brewers NLDS vs. Cubs, Badgers & the Packers Bye Week

Wayne and Matt break down the Milwaukee Brewers' NLDS matchup against the Cubs. Plus, they dive into Badgers football and discuss what the Packers' bye week means for the team.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
That's the problem with the game as it is today. Bigger, faster,
stronger doesn't make it a better game, boys and girls,
it really doesn't. It's played by better athletes, I'll give
you that much. But forty years ago, it just didn't
seem like you had these debilitating injuries in that kind
of thing, because you were able to prepare a football
team for the rigors of a tackle football season, and

(00:21):
you can't do it today.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
This is the Larovian La Pey Podcast, a production of
iHeartRadio Podcasts with host Swayne Larvy, the voice of the
Green Bay Packers, and Matt Lapey, the voice of Wisconsin
Badgers football and men's basketball. The Larovian La Pey Podcast
is presented by Pottawatamy Casino Hotel.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Your win is waiting. Hi everybody, I'm Wayne Larvy and
I'm Matt Lapey. Welcome to the Lerovie La Pey Podcast,
presented by Potawataby Casino Hotel. Coming up on this episode well,
Major League Baseball is streaming through the Division Round, heading
full speed to the League Championship Series. Will discuss Brewers

(01:03):
and Dodgers, both up to in their best of five
in the in Major League Baseball of the National League
Toronto literally blowing the Yankees away, much to my disgust.
We'll discuss that because man insists that we do. So.
The best series of the playoffs might be Tigers Mariners,
but who really cares? You know what I mean? I

(01:24):
hate to quote Jim Gaffigan, but nobody cares. We'll discuss
all of this and more. And by the way, I'm
just kidding about the Tigers, Mariners, Badgers, and Packers have
some interesting games coming up. We'll discuss it all on
this episode of the Larravie and the Pay podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Well wait, a couple of things we talked about in
the last podcast about momentum. How you play at the
end of the season doesn't always mean anything going into
the postseason. And the Detroit Tigers had an epic collapse
in the month of September, coughed up the division title
to the Cleveland Guardians. They match up in the first
round and Detroit went anyway, So you forget all about

(02:01):
the epic collapse. But back to what people who I
think who are listening to us will care more more
about are the Brewers. And the one thing that we
talked about with those guys, is their ability to beat
you in different ways. It could be by a thousand
paper cuts, but for a team that doesn't hit a
lot of home runs, it is still capable. And we

(02:22):
have seen all of that in the postseason here so far.
In their series with the Cubs, they get nine runs
without a homer in Game one, and then they hit
a couple three run bombs and a solo shot in
the other us all the runs coming via the long ball.
So there is It's what gives me optimism about this
team in the postseason as we record. This job's not done,

(02:45):
you know, going to Wrigley, but it just to me
is what makes this team so much fun to watch
is that it is not solely reliant on the long
ball or solely reliant on stringing five hits together. Too.
They can get you both ways.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
You know, I think, Matt when major league sports today
and this is playoff thing, by the way, Okay, can
I offer this? And you and I are of a
certain vintage so we remember this. Do you remember when
it used to be just the winningest team in the
National League against the winningest team in the American League,
and that was the applet Series. And if that were
the case back when we were kids. That was the

(03:23):
World Series. Those two teams made it the World Series.
So by that thinking, we'd be what into about Game
six or seven of the World Series right now, it
would be over over or it'd be over, you know,
and it would have been it would have been what
the Brewers and the Blue Jays in the World Series

(03:44):
would have been a pretty good matchup. Might still happen,
we don't know, but I'm just saying it used to
be that way. Baseball is hard to figure. We are
so tied to momentum in sports and this, that and
the other thing. And you score a you score a
ten to two win one night, and all your momentum

(04:06):
is tied up in one position. The next night, your
starting pitcher. I mean, you know, if he doesn't deliver,
there's no such thing as momentum. You can't carry runs
over from one game to the next, much as you'd
like to. And I was sitting next to a good
friend of mine who's a big Brewers fan, and he
was saying when after Game one, he was saying, boy,
I wish they could have saved some of those runs
for came two. You know, it just doesn't happen that way.

(04:28):
You can't do that. But I don't know what to
make of the momentum thing. Sure, we and football all
believe you got to be playing well going into the
playoffs that kind of thing, do you, I don't know.
I guess you do, and in that sport. But in baseball, man,
they just start the season over again and all of
a sudden doesn't matter to the Yankees won eight in
a row going into the playoffs. You know, they scrapped

(04:48):
by the Red Sox and now they're getting blown away
by the team they tied for during the regular season
atop the division and lost the season series too. So
I don't know what to make of it except this,
I think in all of sports, in all of these sports,
you have to be able to win in more than
one way, because when you get to the postseason, whatever

(05:11):
you do well, somebody will take it away one form
or another, and if you can't, manu So, if it's
power you go in into a power hitting team, you
win with a lot of home runs, somebody are going
to take that away. Pitching is probably gonna take that
most of that away in the regular in the postseason,
so you better be able to manufacture runs to survive.
The Brewers, on the other hand, God, what were they man,
you said, twenty second in the league and home runs

(05:33):
this year or twenty second at baseball, something like, yeah,
the home runs, you know. And yet they showed you
that they are versatile in both each of the first
two games, as you pointed out so aptly, they dominated
the Cubs without hitting a home running Game one, they
dominated the Cubs after spotting them a three to nothing
lead with home runs. In Game two, they obviously have

(05:54):
staying power because they can win in more than one way.
One dimensional teams don't last long in the postseason.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
And that home run by Andrew Vaughan, by the way,
after the Cubs had jumped on Aaron Ashby three on
homer in the first Andrew Vaughan we talked about, but
there's a lot of pop with him. Well sporadically here
is that was his first time runs is August fifteenth,
I didn't know, but it's not how many, it's win
and that was big. That tied the game at stabilized

(06:22):
things and on a night where the Brewers, you know,
the whole concept of the opener. Okay, that didn't work
all that well, but you get a Jacob Miseroski, you
talk about momentum going into the postseason. He was a
sensation and made the All Star team, which was a
point of a lot of conversation. I get it, but
he was, you know, he was the next big thing

(06:43):
the way he started his big league career, and then
he hit a tail spin and things weren't quite right.
And then he comes in on Monday night and he's
popping one hundred and four mile an hour fastballs at
Cubs hitters, and you know, was the control a little erratic? Yeah,
but the bottom line was he didn't give up anything,
and it's a great It was a great first postseason

(07:07):
appearance for him. Now you know, long way to go
here if this team is to reach the goals that
it wants to reach. But it was I view this
series Wayne as the pressures on the Cups. You know,
they're the they're a top ten team. I think they
are tenth in payroll at least opening day with the
Brewers are the one remaining team in the postseason that's

(07:28):
in the bottom third in payroll. The whole Craig Council story,
which is fodder for fans and had a lot of media,
a lot of venom being thrown his way with the
players maybe, but probably not nearly as much as fans.
But you know, the Cubs are They're the big market
team and it's on them. So the Brewers are playing

(07:49):
like a team that is just fine being doubted, just
fine being the little old Brewers, poor old brew crew.
Can't you know, can't hang and bang with the big boys.
And it's a role that they are really embracing. And
through the first two games hits shown, I mean, just
the way they have at all levels, their defensive work,

(08:10):
the pitching, and then the hitting in Game one, a
lot of doubles in Game two, three homers.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, you know, bullpen game the other day. I was
a little surprised with that, Matt, because you know, the
Brewers had a week to get their pitching kind of
straightened out. But I guess the injuries on their staff
forced a bullpen game, and now they're pitching is really
set up as they had to Chicago.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, you get a Quinn Priester who's more of a
ground ball pitcher at Wrigley, which is never a bad thing,
you know, depending as you know from your years, you know,
calling the Cubs games, or it were simply a tending
games at Wrigley Field. It could be either a really
good place to pitch or a really bad place to pitch,
depending on which way the win's going. So if it's
kicking out, somebody like Priester becomes even more important. But

(08:56):
they're in a great spot. Yes, teams have come back
from down oh two, So it's it. It isn't over yet.
I'm not gonna chirp at my Cub's friends quite yet,
but I'm getting my material ready. It's but it's it's fun.
I think this kind of a series is good for
it's good for the game. I think it's a way

(09:16):
because it's the Cubs, You're You're probably getting a decent
national audience, and a lot of those people are watching
the Brewers for the first time, and it's a way
to introduce the nation really to you know, they know Yelich,
they are probably somewhat familiar with Freddy Peralta, but they
may not know a whole lot about Bryce Terang South
Freeley and Caleb Durbin and all these other guys, and

(09:38):
and the mizz a little bit. But a lot of
these other other players, pit or pitchers. They don't know
a whole lot about so and if if they can advance,
and if it's the Dodgers, which as we record, appears likely,
but either way, Dodgers of the Phillies. If the Brewers
can get through and get to the LCS, more and
more people are going to get introduced to this team,

(09:58):
and I think more and more people are going to
really enjoy watching them.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Cubs beat the Brewers seven to six in the regular
season series. There was a good matchup between the two obviously,
So this series, yeah, heads to Wrigley Field. The one
thing I wonder about, and I was thinking ahead because
the Dodgers have the Phillies down two games to none
heading over to LA as we record this podcast on
Tuesday morning. The thing that interests me is if the

(10:28):
Dodgers and Brewers hook up as it looks like they
will in the National League Championship Series. Now, the Brewers
swept the Dodgers both in Milwaukee and in LA. I
understand the Dodgers weren't quite whole. They had a lot
of injuries throughout the season, that type of thing. Right now,
they look whole and they look like they're playing tremendous

(10:49):
ball that's a great matchup on paper, Phillies and Dodgers arguably,
you know, the two of the top three teams in
the National League regardless of record. But I just think
what impact that regular season would have in a matchup
of the Brewers and the Dodgers. Does it you know?

(11:12):
I don't know, And like I said, it's such a
the postseason is such a new ballgame and almost you
almost forget what they did against each other during the
regular season. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
I think with the Brewers it would be by guess, Wayne,
because you have so many young guys who would be
playing on that kind of a stage for the first time,
that it could help a little bit. And knowing that, hey,
don't you know you're not gonna have a deer in
the headlights look going going out to LA for games,
you know, for Games three and four, but playing them

(11:42):
period because you know that you can not just play
with them, but you know you can beat them. I
don't know what the Dodgers if they think they're a
healthier team right now, So I don't know. I don't
know if it's a If it's a I would seriously
doubt if it's a negative for the Dodgers, but I
think it could be a little bit of a boost
for these younger Brewers players saying, yeah, we can play
with these guys. And again, I think we both know,

(12:04):
being around teams for as long as we have, either
the college or the professional level, it's a hell of
a lot easier being the underdog than be in the favorite.
Everybody wants to be the underdog. Everybody wants to be doubted.
I mean, we've heard, We've heard Dodgers players and Yankees,
you know, last time they won the World Series, nobody
thought we could do this. Like, no, actually, everybody thought
you could do this. You were ill because you've got

(12:26):
a jillion dollar payroll. But and like everybody likes to
embrace that. And I've seen that years and years, for
years and years covering Wisconsin teams. So I think sometimes
there's something to be said for being too young to
know better. And the Brewers seem to be a collection
of guys who are too young to know better. They're
just having a lot of fun playing the game, and

(12:47):
they're playing it very very well.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
It should be amazing. Yeah, it would be an amazing matchup,
I think, And they were probably the two best teams.
Though the Phillies would have something to say about that,
or though they get a chance to have something to
say about that, as they had La to butt down
two games to none in the American League. Boy, Toronto's
a really good team, man, they kind of stumbled in September.

(13:10):
The baseball season is so darn long. I don't know
how teams it's hard to play on a on edge,
you know, liked nobody won one hundred games. For example,
this year in Major League Baseball, the Brewers, who were
the winningest team, I think they won what ninety seven
nineteen seven games, which is the most they've ever won.

(13:30):
Even the vaunted eighty two World Series team didn't win.
They won ninety six, not ninety seven games. This Brewers
team did. In the American League, you know, you had
Toronto in New York. The Tigers for a while were
the best team in baseball through like mid July, and
then they hit a dead patch. I don't know what

(13:52):
to make of all this, but the ebb and flow
of a major league regular season is one thing, but
in the postseason, it's it seems like something happens, there's
a different switch and as we just mentioned a moment ago.
Whatever you did in the regular season, however you were playing,
coming into the postseason, as soon as the regular season
is over, there's a new slate. It's a whole new thing.

(14:15):
I don't know if that's mental or physical or what,
but it just to me, it's interesting to see how
these teams advance. And you and I talked about a
last podcast about how you know, I mean, teams have
come out of winning eighty some games and gone on
to get to the World Series. So I don't know
what to make of the playoffs A round a round.
I think regular season, the postseason, and then postseason. Each

(14:38):
round is different. It seems like and that it's like
starting over again.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
Yeah, that's when you want to get hot at the
beginning of your postseason game. One of your first post
of your first postseason game. We met you how the
Braves won it all four years ago they won eighty
eight games. Two years ago, the Diamondbacks got to the
World Series winning eighty four regular season game. As a
matter of fact, it's the team with the best record
in the regular season doesn't win it far more often

(15:05):
than it does.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
Is a World Series.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
It just and I think this year. It is. People
have talked about it, and I think there's merit to it,
is that this baseball postseason is really wide open. It is,
and you know, I always I get a little bit
nervous to say the team of the best record is
the best team because the schedules aren't exactly lined up.
But what I like about the Brewers and what I

(15:29):
think gives them the best chance is we've talked about
their versatility, and they're a good defensive team. So are
the Cubs, and they've kind of booted the ball around
here a little bit so far in this series. But
the Brewers are a very athletic team. They just put
pressure on you all the time. They've got so many
guys who've can run. They do all these things, and

(15:51):
as we mentioned, the occasional home run or a flurry,
which we certainly saw in Game two. It's it makes
it fun, it does. I think for fans. We've had
this running joke with with people, but on the with
the radio platform that we're involved with that at iHeart
like you can either embrace the agony of the postseason

(16:12):
where you're hanging on every pitch, you know, and there's
been a lot of angs with Brewer fans of this
whole cub series thinking well, you could do that. You know,
you could either embrace it or go be a Pirates fan,
you know, be a fan of a team. It's not
any good. It doesn't sniff the postseason, So give me
the pain. This is the kind of torture I think
any sports fan wants to go through. But I get

(16:34):
the risk reward, if you know, we're kind of used
in this state to having our hearts broken at some point.
But and I'd rather keep knocking on the door than
being a team that doesn't even get an invitation of
the neighborhood. There's a distinct difference.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Well, I can't agree with you more. Let me ask
you this just you know Pat Murphy from your time
with the Brewers and all, to me, it seems like
he makes his big a difference as a manager could.
And I don't mean by putting on a squeeze play
or defensive alignments or things like that. I'm just talking
about managing people and putting them in the right frame

(17:11):
of mind to perform their best, which I think is
what a baseball manager. Yeah, you have baseball decisions to make.
Who are you going to start in game one, How
are you going to play this hit or that hitter?
You know, I get that. Will you bunt with runners?
You know? Do you want to squeeze here? You know,
all those things come into play. I get that. But
the over the course of a long haul, I think

(17:34):
that the job of a manager is just get everybody
in the right frame of mind to win.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yeah. I think the players that they have talked about
that he lets them be themselves. But he has certain
non negotiables. He's a little different from not a little
he is different from most of the modern managers that
if he needs to call out someone publicly, he'll do it.
You know, if it's not hit the cutoff man or

(18:01):
not running out a ground ball or pop up, he'll
yank you and he might sit you. You know. He
had the famous line about Ortiz saying, I'm a little
bleeped the manager's bleeped off at Joey Ortiz right now.
That's why he's not in the lineup. You don't hear
baseball managers speak that way in media sessions. It's more
it's very private. I mean that the old line is

(18:23):
and it's probably the same thing in pro football that
if if a manager or a football coach speaks in
negative in a negative context about a player, isn't the
player who's going to complain, it's the player's agents who's
going to call the general manager or maybe go right.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
To the top, is hey, what's the deal here?

Speaker 3 (18:42):
Pat doesn't seem like he cares about that, And I
think the players get it, you know, for a young team,
those guys understand it. And I think too, Wayne, Again,
this is outside looking at It's been four years now
since I've been, you know, filling in with that club,
so it is definitely arms length. But it just seems
to me when you have veteran guys who are really

(19:04):
good dudes too, who understand it, Guys like Yellich and
I know Woodroof is not on the roster for this series,
but a guy like Brandon Woodrooff, Yelich, I would I
would throw Rhys Hoskins in there as well, even though
this is just his second year in Milwaukee. But you
have really solid guys who who've taken a few laps
around the circuit at the big league level, they understand it,

(19:26):
and then the younger guys feed off of that, so
it they just seem to be really good at all levels,
from the you know, the baseball management side with Matt
Arnold his group, to Murphy to the veteran players, and
then these newer guys have just they have just followed
in seamlessly, and it's another reason why they've been just
so much fun to watch. I mean, Murphy's at pregame

(19:47):
and postgame media scrums are most of those things are
really dull. He keeps it interesting, you know, he can
he can chop it up with the with the reporters,
and I think those reporters leave there or man more importantly,
I think Brewer fans you maybe learn something almost every
time that he talks, and not many managers in baseball.

(20:08):
You're gonna walk away feeling like you've learned something.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, and you know what that is in almost all
press conferences anytime, and I know they have press count.
We have them in the NFL. I mean the coach
talks every day before practice or after practice whatever. And
you know, I just remember this going back twenty some years.
I remember Mike Sherman getting off the podium, and I

(20:35):
have Jeff Blumm was the PR guy, and I happen
to be just sitting right near and Sherman gets turns
and gets after a press conference, gets off the podium
and says it, turns to Blumb and says, well, I
guess I told them nothing. Chapel that the problem with
all of this is that the people in the fray

(20:56):
don't understand that this is their opportunity to connect with
the fan. These these press conference tell us something. Even
if you're telling us nothing, make it sound like it's something,
you know what I mean. The best interviewers are those
The best interviewees are those who can not give away
the secrets of the store, but can pretty much tell

(21:18):
you what product is on the shelves in why it's there,
you know, that kind of thing. There's such a paranoia
in football, as you know, Matt, and you cover basketball
as well, and not quite as much in basketball, but boy,
the football paranoia. I don't know if it's just the
one game a week or what the deal is, but
coaches and football people are so they think everybody is spying.

(21:40):
I don't know. I don't know why they don't have
people shooting down stuff out of the air, like drones
and things like that, because if it was hallis I know,
he would be worried about drones more than anything else,
more than who he's playing that week. But you know,
it's just the football people have forever paranoid. They all
think the world is a it's a US against the

(22:02):
world mentality. It always is every football team. This is
not indigenous to just any team. It's every team. And
you know, I think that whole mentality leaves you with
You go to one of those press conferences, you sit
there and say, Wow, this is just fifteen minutes. I'll
never get back, do you do?

Speaker 3 (22:19):
You miss the day's Wayne, even though I'm not sure
how much you or or you know, the Beat reporters
would have learned. But you know, Mike Ditka could go off,
Jim Mora, Bill Parcells, who you know, you tell you
they all didn't like to do those things, but they
were there was stuff there that would get you, if

(22:40):
nothing else to chuckle, probably intimidate. In some cases. There
is nobody who I can think of in the NFL
who's who's remotely close to that right now?

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Is there?

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Am I miss it? I know?

Speaker 1 (22:54):
No, I don't think so.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
I mean, hardball is eccentric. You know, he's eccentric when
they're winning, he's a goof when they're not. But he's
you don't know what he's gonna say. I think he's
a lot smarter than you know a lot of times
he appears. But yeah, I mean there is no and
I don't know if if part of it today is
with with social media. You just you don't want to

(23:16):
be that that coach who has the viral uh clip
and when you're when you're misspeaking or something like that.
But you know, the college game is kind of like
that too. I think in the Big Ten there are
there are not any real characters as coaches. Brett you know,
Brett Belamut Illinois, He'll he'll tell you what he thinks.

(23:38):
But you go around the you know, you go around
the conference and there's just not trying to think here
on my feet, which is always dangerous, but that there
really isn't you know. Dabosweeney at Clemson so obviously not
in the Big Ten. He certainly can say some things
that that will get your attention. But the college level
is much like much like that too. There's just isn't

(24:00):
that There isn't that real glib kind of make you
laugh news conference or anything close to that.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
These days, Ditcka was absolutely must see and back in
the day, this is going back into the eighties. Now
the Bears are really good and Dicka was always sounding off.
I'll tell you this story Brian Harlan, who was the
assistant public relations director back in the days when the
NFL had public relations. It doesn't any more, folks. Let

(24:30):
me just tell you what it is. It's corporate communications
that is not public relations. Okay, corporate communications is not
public relations. For those of you in class, that's the
first thing you should learn. And also Marshall mccleughan's perception
is reality in our society. Okay, now where was it? Okay,

(24:52):
so Ditka, So the Bears would do the game on
Sunday and Dicka with talk. But Monday afternoon was his
big press conference and they were in this tiny little
facility in Lake Forest, Illinois, right on the campus, and
they had their practice feel behind. It was really when
you look at today's facilities these teams, it was like,
my gosh, this is kind of crude. But anyway, so

(25:14):
there's this little pill box of a building and there's
it's just in a common neighborhood and there were five
or six or seven television trucks with the big satellite
dishes on them, and they're all getting to get you know,
congregating at about eleven o'clock in the morning, and Brian
Harlan would have to go in and wake up the

(25:38):
sleeping bear from his nap. He says, oh, my gosh,
So Ditka comes down to the press conference and the
room is filled, it's standing room only every single Monday,
and he comes down and he's just irritated. You know
what I mean. You wake up a bear in February,
Boys and girls, you got a real issue that's not good.

(26:00):
Don't do it if you ever get a chance to.
So Brian would have to do this with Ditch every week.
Every week. The result was saying that every week there
was something in that press conference that just blew up everything.
Now fortunately it wasn't social media because they were blown
up everybody's phone, but it was amazing. And those are
the days when you know, Titkett would say something about

(26:21):
Buddy Ryan's defense or whatever, and now you had a
story for the next week, you know, and on it went.
But today you don't get that. Today everything's kind of
controlled and they're going to tell you what they want
you to hear. And you know, that's I guess that's
the way it has to be in this day and age.
But I think there is more of a disconnect there
for the fan because really, what's the fan doesn't get

(26:45):
to see these guys. They don't get to go up
to any of these coaches and say, hey, what do
you about this? What about that? That's where you know
the media part comes in. But most of these, especially
the younger football coaches, they don't care about that. They
just want to coach. And I understand that, but when
you become a head coach, you have to understand what
the job is. In the job entails talking with the

(27:07):
media more often than you would like, matter of fact,
a lot more often than you would like.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, And I think at the college level, well, I
need to throw Kirk Signettes's name in there. At Indiana,
I think he's pretty He'll he'll say he doesn't care,
he's just you know, he he gets this head coaching job.
He's in his sixties and he gets the opportunity out
of power for school and he's he's kicking butt with
what they went. But the IU program has done in

(27:33):
his first year and a half there, But yeah, you
just say, and they're not. You know, at Wisconsin, Luke
Fickle does a Monday news conference and then I mean
he and I we do a television recording, a real
generic like five to ten minute thing, and then a
Wednesday radio show. But he doesn't as far as news conferences.
For all the beat reporters. It's Monday and it's postgame.

(27:56):
That's it. So and then you know he might get
requested by if it's the Big ten network or you know,
he does all all of that, you know with rights holders,
you know, the game broadcast team, you know, for television
and all that. But yeah, the the opportunities are are
pretty limited, I think for for fans or for for
reporters to to ask questions and and they used to

(28:18):
there used to be a time and it's becoming less
and less probably across the country where coaches would do, uh,
you know, some type of a booster event in the
middle of the week and and just outreach because most
of these universities are in smaller towns and you can
do that, and even that, you know at Wisconsin, you
don't see that now during the year, and I'm imagining
at most other schools. It's like that. It's much more corporate.

(28:40):
It just is, you know, with with you know, the
all the money that's at stake and all of this.
It's it's it's there's a reason that we call it
NFL Light because we're really seeing that more and more
at the college level.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, no doubt about it. How do you want to
be casino hotel? Your win is waiting, Well, Matt, let's
get out. We'll get on to the college in pro
game here, we kind of cruised into it, Badgers, I've
got it. One thing about the bye week, you know,
the bye week My big throw on the bye week

(29:14):
for me. We went out to our place in Park City, Utah,
and we're up kind of in the mountains a little bit.
But it was the first snow, the first time snow
in that mountain, particular mountain range. The washatche had hit
the peaks, so we had it was a Friday night
or something, a tremendous thunderstorm. You could tell the seasons

(29:36):
are starting to clash out there, and you know, so
it's raining and all this other stuff. And we got
up in the morning. You look up on the peaks
and there's snow. There's white stuff up there, which for
a skier is very exciting. But I will say this
really snow does not four ten you're going to have
a great winter. It really doesn't. But anyway, the first
snow up there. But I did get a chance and
it came on like it. I want to say, ten

(29:58):
o'clock in the morning, mountain time. Your game at Michigan,
and I thought the Badgers hung in there really well
for most of the day. I thought they played a
very good game. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
The one thing that they was probably with fickle about
it last week because in the Alabama game and certainly
in the Maryland game, the self inflicted stuff doomed them.
An early interception, just a bad throw that set up
a four yard scoring drive for the Terrapins in that game,
a couple of block kicks, and they've had really ill

(30:30):
timed penalties. They're not a bad team in terms of
getting a lot of penalties, but they've come at terrible times,
you know, the ability to the inability to just get
off the field defensively or stay on the field offensively
where first downs are being taken away, so on and
so forth. They were much cleaner in that regard they
played a team with more talent. They just did with Michigan.

(30:52):
You know, the Badgers, like a lot of teams, they
script the first certain number of plays and they were
able to get the long touchdown drive to start the
game against Michigan, and then a long stretch where they
did next to nothing. You know, it's three plays and out.
They had a field goal drive late in the game.
But they just they they played And this is not

(31:14):
a consolation prize that Badger fans are interested in hearing,
but I think it's one of the things that you
just watch with the team. They they played extremely hard.
They didn't roll over. Now, Michigan probably played a C
game by its standards, but defensively, uh, Michigan is very good. Offensively,
it's a they've got explosive players. They got talent, but

(31:34):
it's a little bit more up and down. But if
there's something to grab onto for for all of those
guys in that building, it's that they they made Michigan
beat them. Now, there was the issue with not using
the timeouts in the last two and a half minutes,
which you know, surprised a lot of us I guess,
you know, we talked about it a little bit on
the radio and the television broadcast more so, and especially

(31:57):
with when a national broadcast talks about it that fans
the flames in social media. But I wish they would
have used them. But they also, to be perfectly honest, Wayne,
they have a lot of trouble protecting the quarterback and
they're using their third quarterback right now, and you just
wonder how much more do you want to expose him

(32:18):
in a game where the offensive limitations are so glaring
with this team. So I would have liked to have
seen him exhaust the possibilities with the timeouts. But I
can understand a little bit the concern as well. So
it's but we'll see what it all means, Wayne, because
they played they played Oregon really well last year, lost
a three point game, played Penn State really well, game

(32:40):
got away in the last quarter and a half. They've
got Iowa this week, and then it's Ohio State and Oregon.
You know, Ohio State and Madison and they go to Eugene.
Those two teams with Indiana, they appear to be starting
to separate here from the field in the Big Ten

(33:00):
to me, with Wisconsin, if you're trying to get the
program back. I mean, it's captain obvious to say you
got to find if you could beat a top twenty
five team or a top ten team. That obviously gets
everybody excited. But I think realistically, if you're trying to
climb the ladder here, got to beat your rivals. They
haven't beaten in Iowa since twenty twenty one. Their rivalry

(33:20):
gains are Iowa and then the end of the regular
season against Minnesota. If you can get those games that
that's a step. Illinois maybe is becoming one because they're
getting better. You got Brett coaching that team. But to me,
it's it's Iowa and Minnesota and Ioway's had some uh,
they've had some ups and downs. Their defense though, is

(33:42):
very very good. This could be the one of those games.
Were the first team to thirteen, that could be that
could be the magic number here here Saturday night at
Camp Randall.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, and we're all gonna be watching that, So I
hope you know it's better than that. Come on, put
on a show for us. At least come they had
a They did have it. It was a weird game they played.
I Will played out of Rutgers a few weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
And I thought I was watching a Big twelve game,
just twenty one twenty one of the half and they
get the opening kick and Kayden Weigen runs back one
hundred plus yards and back and forth they go. And
that had settled down in the second half. But it's
going to be really difficult for Wisconsin. They're not going
to win shootout games, and there's just there's been no
evidence of that. But defensively, I think this Wisconsin team

(34:29):
is showing improvement.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah, it seemed to be quarterback. He's down to the
third string quarterback. What's the status of the others? Are
they on the way back? Are on the mend?

Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (34:42):
With Billy it's it's slow.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Billy Edwards, who is there?

Speaker 1 (34:45):
You know?

Speaker 3 (34:46):
Was their quarterback?

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Was there?

Speaker 3 (34:47):
QB one? But he's he gets hurt in the first
half of the first game and we barely seen him
since Danny O'Neill. He got knocked around a lot in
the in the Maryland game, but I think with he
played it was just a handful of snaps. They were
kind of doing the little shuttle there early in the game,
and that's that's a little bit tricky. But I think

(35:07):
with Hunter Simmons On the plus side, he has better
arm strength. You know, throws a better deep ball just
as a just as a better arm than O'Neill. O'Neill
is a little bit more mobile. But with Simmons too.
You have to remember he was at Southern Illinois. He
appeared in eleven games there, three as a starter last

(35:28):
year before his season ending injury. So it's not like
he has a ton of experience playing college football period.
But I think for him, even with that lack of
game experience, to come in and make your first power
force start in front of one hundred and ten thousand people,
and however many were watching on Big Fox. They kept
it simple, but I thought he was He played pretty

(35:51):
well under those circumstances. But it's where they are. And look,
there are a lot of reasons why Wisconsin is struggling
right now. But what cannot be ignored, what cannot be dismissed,
is the fact that under Luke Fickle's watch in the
last two and a half years, the starting quarterback has
been available about forty percent of the time. That's amazing

(36:13):
and a place like Wisconsin, good luck trying to achieve
what you want to achieve. And it's not a knock
on the backups, but depth is always for most programs,
the overwhelming majority of programs, depth really matters. It's not
the only reason that they're struggling, don't you know. I'm
not trying to cover it up or be you know,

(36:34):
all flowery toward Wisconsin, but that can when you're starting
quarterbacks available forty percent of the time, that's a problem.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
Yeah, especially on the major levels of this sport, No,
no doubt about it. Hey, let me ask you something,
just your impressions. I guess going beyond the big tent.
Kind of interesting. Texas and Penn State fall out of
the top twenty five in college football. Yeah, you've got it.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
I think it's five or six teams that were in
the preseason top twenty five are no longer ranked, and
those are the true most notable. It's been interesting with
Texas because Arch Manning a lot of the national media
was ready to handle the Heisman Trophy and he hasn't
looked right. Texas just hasn't looked right offensively. Now do

(37:24):
they played? Is you know you open your season at
Ohio State and Ohio State's defense with Matt Patricia the coordinator,
they've been lights out good. But you know Florida that
that's you know, Billy Napier, the head coach there. People
have been they've been thinking when not if there's gonna
be a coaching change there, and then they rise up
on the whole field and the swamp and they beat Texas.

(37:47):
That has been you know, kind of that classic story.
A lot of years. Texas gets a lot of hype,
doesn't live up to it. Now the last couple of
years they've been in the playoffs to the semi finals.
But I think everybody is they were just going to
make that next step. Penn State. You know, they talked
over their wayne about I think James Franklin mentioned at
the head coach that could be the best collection of

(38:08):
coaching talent and roster that he's had in his time there.
But here's that tightrope that they that they all walk.
I mean, they were one play away from beating ort Yeah,
one play it just get a fourth down stop in
ot you win it. They didn't do it, or you
went down, scored, scored the second overtime and then they
pick off a pass on Penn State's possession. So you

(38:29):
are that close at Penn State to finally getting that
much needed win against the top ten team that's been very,
very elusive for Franklin. They don't get it, and it
just had to look us watching the game. We're on
the plane getting ready to come back from ann Arbor,
and it's that old line about a team beating you
twice because they go out there to UCLA and they've
had a coaching change and they're just it's a hodgepodge

(38:52):
of coaches. Rick new Heisl's sun was really good as
a coordinator for the Bruins, and Penn State all of
a sudden couldn't get a stop and so all this,
you know, the feeling was that pet but from all
of us that they were really really going to be good.
And I still think they are, but now they've got
to prove it because all the speculation about Franklin's future

(39:13):
there and is it better for him to separate? I
guess I would say be careful. You know, they've been really,
really good. You know what was different way in about
Penn State is that Franklin has been criticized for not
winning against the very best, against the top ten, but
he beats the teams that they're supposed to beat. Until
last Saturday. So now it's you know, I'm sure the

(39:35):
atmosphere is not going to be the same, at least
in the short term. But all you have to do,
you don't have to be a ken Burns historian. Here
go all the way back to last year when Ohio
State lost to Michigan again, everybody's ready to pack the
bags for Ryan Day, get out of town. And then
everything changed.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Then they got on hot streak the postseason and they
started winning. Yeah, you know, you're right. The other thing
that I think we on the outside observers, fans, whatever,
especially fans, don't realize how finite the line is between
winning and losing. When you're talking about football at this level,

(40:15):
at the major college level Division one to the NFL,
there is such a fine line between winning and losing,
and we just don't realize it because some teams win
all the time and you figure out, why can't we
be them? Well, little do you know how difficult it
is to win? But number two, how so often it
comes down to just a bounce to the ball, a

(40:36):
bit of luck, whatever it is that determines the outcome
of a game.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
It is and you see that at the you know,
sol with the Brewers last year. You know, the major
league level, or we've seen it a few times. You
get a game seven and twenty eighteen and your home,
in your home ballpark, you can't win. You're you're in
the ninth inning of an elimination game against the mess
Pete Alonzo Homers, and that's what you remember, like you're
that close. And with Penn State, you know they've won
a ton of games under Franklin, they just haven't And

(41:03):
last year they were in the semi final round. It
was a last second kick, the break a tie, they
got Notre Dame to the national championship game. So it's
it's one of the and it's very natural for fans
and I would say a lot of media as well
that no matter how good your team is, you want
to see that next step. You know, in college football,
if you're if you're a middle of the pack team, okay,
you got to get yourselves so you can get into

(41:25):
the playoff. You get into the playoff a year or two, no,
you got to go deep. Saw this with Wisconsin basketball,
Bo Ryan would get have been the Sweet sixteen on
a regular basis, like, well, they haven't been to a
final four. Well, then you get to a final four, like, well,
can you win the national championship and you find out
how brutally hard that is. You have to not only
be really good, you got to be a little bit lucky.

(41:46):
And with Penn State, given the history the tradition of
that program, they've accomplished a lot, but the fans want
a little bit more, which I get it. But there's
risk with that, you know, there's if you swing for
the fences a lot of times you don't connect and
you slide back, and that's you know that Wisconsin we

(42:09):
have seen, we have certainly seen that you swing for
the fences and sometimes you connect, a lot of times
you don't and you slide back, and now you got
to find a way to get out of the hole.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
Well, you know, it's it's interesting. Early in my career
covering the Big Eight, that's how far back it was
in Kansas City and Missouri had good football teams under
a coach by the name of Warren Powers, good football teams.
They'd get to bowl games and things like that, but
they weren't really knocking on the door. They weren't blowing
up Oklahoma and Nebraska. They couldn't get Nobody could get

(42:42):
over that hurdle at the time, so they decided, well,
we're going to go to the next level. They fire
Warren Powers and what I don't even remember who took over,
but about eight or nine or ten coaches later, maybe
two or three decades later, they were finally red ofvant again.
You know what I mean? So you fire that coach
that's really good? Uh, you know you're thinking next level?

(43:02):
Will you? This guy will take us to the next
maybe maybe not and probably not.

Speaker 3 (43:07):
Let me put it, Yeah, yeah, it's you have to
find the right fit. And in today's world of college football,
you better have the resources if you really want to
hang and bang with the big boys, you need and
you know, Indiana, everything is lined up. You know, Signettia
obviously is doing a great job, but I think their
resources have ramped up to levels that most people would

(43:28):
think are unheard of because for years and years in Indiana,
it's just something to do on a fall day when's
basketball start. But who but who knew that Indiana was
was all of a sudden, All of a sudden. The
Football School valere Vian Lapey Podcast presented by Potawatamy Casino hotel.
Your win is waiting, so Wayne. So while the while
the Badgers have a pretty daunting schedule, I hesitate to

(43:53):
say that opportunity knocks for the Packards because actually it
did with the Browns and the Cowboys, and that was
a loss in a a tie. You've got the Bengals
who are reeling right now without Joe Burrow. Then he
got the Arizona and play the Cardinals. But I got
to ask you, we haven't done this since the since
the tie. That was for you to describe that last

(44:15):
possession for the Packers. I'm I'm watching, listening and going
what are they doing? What are they doing? But it
worked out they got you know, they left the second
for the for the kick, but that was just a
why it was a really entertaining game. But man' a
wild ending.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
I thought that whole last drive though, especially when they
got in the field goal range, it almost because of
the lack of urgency and talking about just bodies moving,
you know, guys getting up to the it seemed to me,
like I said to myself, I had to say it
on the ear, said to myself, you know, are they
just trying for the field goal here? And because they

(44:54):
maybe they can win this thing. You know, do I
need to really steal it back? And yeah, that last play,
my goodness. You know, at the time you're just describing
the play and then oh, thank god, there's a second left.
I mean, don't they plan these things this way? But man,
that pass and I knew Jordan was just throwing it away,
but that ball gets tipped up into the air, that

(45:17):
last second is gone and you lost. So and I
know they took a hard look at that and the
off week that kind of thing, and I think they'll
probably handle things a little differently as they go forward.
But you know, when you look at that game, and
I think Lombardi said it, and he wasn't the first
to say it, but it's really so true. You never

(45:38):
know play to play in a football game. What the
determining what play will make the biggest difference. And it
doesn't just happen in the fourth quarter. For example, in
this game, it actually happened in the second quarter when
the Packers had a thirteen to nothing lead. They get
a pat blocked. Not only that's bad enough, but then

(45:58):
the Cowboys recovered and return it for a two point touchdown,
as they call it, So now it's thirteen to two,
and you know, how can each But you're saying, okay, well,
the Packers are still in control this thing. But yeah,
the other side now thinks they got a shot. Now
you've dominated them, You've put cothered two big touchdown drives.

(46:19):
You're dominating this team. And all of a sudden, that
play happens and it changed the complexion of the game.
Oh and by the way, it's still thirteen to two
and two minutes ago in the first half, and somehow
the Cowboys get a forced fumble. Rashid Walker misses a
block on James Houston, who reaches from behind. Jordan Love
knocks the ball away deep in Green Bay territory. Cowboys recover.

(46:43):
One play later, they're in the end zone, and you
go from thirteen to two to trailing sixteen to thirteen
at halftime in a blink of an eye. And so
but you have to go back to that blocked pat
Did the Cowboys score on their next possession. No, but
it changed the way that game went, It really did.
And you know, I know, it's only two points. I

(47:04):
get it, folks. They were still up by eleven, I understand,
but that game had changed and that's the thing.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
It was interesting watching watching the game unfold. Micah Parsons
was really quiet and then he made a big play.
I'm not convinced it saved a touchdown. Looked like Edre
and Cooper had him, had Dak lined up. But if
you're the Cowboys are going, do we really want to
put Jake Ferguson on Parsons one on one with you?
But Parsons got by him and you know, wheeled around

(47:33):
for the backside. They can that's why you got him.
I mean, he made one big play and whether that
we could debate whether that saved a touchdown, but certainly
they get really close and might change the math on
what they decide to do on fourth down there. But
all number one had to make a big play and
he certainly delivered an ot.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
You know, there are a couple of misnomers from that game,
and I was guilty of it too, because I agree
with you. It seemed like Parsons was very quiet, but
he accounted for according to the analytics, ten pressures in
that game. He had a sack, he had two quarterback
hits and seven other quarterback hurries, so he had ten
pressures in that game. It didn't seem like it because

(48:18):
Dak Prescott Matt played so well, I mean as well
as I've ever seen him play, getting rid of the football.
They had two guys in their starting offensive line gone
they were out for the game due to injury, so
they had the same problem as the Packers that but
Prescott was just outstanding, and so was Jordan Love That.
It was Hey, if you didn't have a horse of
the race. That was a fun football game to watch.

(48:39):
Even though it ended in a tie. It was just
back and forth. But no, I thought Dak Prescott just
was equal. He was really good. And you saw last Sunday.
I get it. The Jets are a bad football team,
but they went up to New York and just are
up to New Jersey and pounded the Jets. I think
the Cowboys are going to be a team Toy reckon

(49:00):
with going forward. They've started to believe. Now.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
Yeah, they did that with a lot of subs in
their own line, I think too. Yeah, this year's great
point about Parsons. We talk about that at the college
level too. I mean, the sacks are great, the TFLs
are great, but the pressure can take a toll, you know.
The more pressures you get and then he still opens
up opportunities. It was just it was a little alarming

(49:24):
to see forty points allowed collectively in an overtime game.
But you play seventeen of these some games, you know
the other guy's going to be red hot and the
other guys are going to be pretty good, and that
was what they ran into. It'll be interesting this week
with the Bengals. They look like a mess, but I
guess beware, I suppose right.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Well, absolutely, they have in Jamar Chase and t Higgins,
I think two number one receivers Dallas. When we played
them down there, they Ceedee Lamb. Their best receiver didn't
even play. George Picken just started midway through the second
quarter on He just dominated the game. He was really good.

(50:06):
These guys have two guys who are better than Pickens
in my opinion, and yet they don't have Dak Prescott
or Joe Burrow throwing them the football. And that's been
the real problem. Cincinnati doesn't run the football that well.
It's interesting when you think about this, You know, what's
your identity. There's a lot of talk about the league no,
but Philadelphia doesn't know. It's idea if Philadelphia's identity is

(50:29):
to run the football. You know, getting Saquon Barkley about
thirty touches, they've gotten away from that. You know, they're
not good enough throwing the ball, even though they have
great receivers, they're not good enough throwing the ball to
win that way on a consistent basis. And consequently, they
don't run the football effectively, they're probably not gonna win
no matter who they're playing, and we saw that this
past weekend. Same thing when it gets to other teams

(50:52):
as well, what do you do well? Do you is
your identity running the football, and if you don't do that,
then it's gonna be really hard to play effectively trying
to throw the ball. And that's what we've seen with Cincinnati.
What they need to do is run the football. They
really do need. They need a Bell cow back. Just
run the ball, throw it a few times, but run

(51:14):
the ball. Because you don't have your starting quarterback. But
Jake Browning has won before seven game run one four
out of seven games two years ago to help Cincinnati
stay afloat when Burrow was injured. But he's struggling right
now and he's turning the ball over and that's been huge.

(51:35):
They aren't good enough running the football Matt to say, Okay,
we don't have Joe Burrow, so now we're going to
run the football and we're going to win this way.
That's not how it works in football.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
So much on our question I have for you. We've
talked a lot in the years that we've done is
together about the NFL and you start to find out
after four games maybe who you are. It's not always true,
but a lot of times do we know who the
Packers are?

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Yet? Yeah? No, I agree, man, I don't know if
we do know who they are and we are four
weeks in. What I've seen across the league is just
a lot of penalty flags. And I don't know if
the league is tightening up on things or whatever, but
it's disturbing the flow and the appeal to the game,
and it's just crazy. The Packers are in a situation

(52:23):
where they've had some penalty problems, a lot of them.
It seems like, well, eleven in one of the games
in the game at Cleveland, and I think eight more
in Dallas. That's a lot of penalties and it's hard
to overcome that. Who are the Packers after four games.
I wasn't sure after two games. After four games, I'm
still not sure because I think, you know, I don't

(52:46):
know what to think of a man. I think they're
a special team. I think they can do special things.
But how do you lose to Cleveland? How do you
go into Dallas a team that's kind of reeling and
end up in a shout that ends up at a tie?
So who are they? Are the team that dominated Detroit
and Washington in a five day span, or are they

(53:10):
the team that's kind of struggled along here on the road.
The thing this is I sound crazy to myself saying this.
They're a very young team. They are an experienced team,
but they're still very young. And the last two weeks
I've said to myself, you know, watching the way the
gind of games have played out, I think they need

(53:32):
to mature a little bit, you know what I mean.
Lafleur said it Monday at his press conference. He says,
you know, we got we've got to be better when
the tide turns, especially when it turns against you. How
do you you know the veteran teams teams, as we
all say this, there's this cliche, Oh they just know
how to win. Really, they don't know how to win
any more than the other team. They just believe they're

(53:54):
gonna win. There's a certain belief.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
They also can stem the tide because of that leaf
in these games, and maybe the Packers are just learning
that as we go forward to these games. Easily should
have won the Cleveland game. Absolutely should not have gotten
into a shootout with the Cowboys, no need to. They
were in control of that game right through the first
two quarters. Defensively, they had plenty of control over the Cowboys,

(54:18):
but it got away, and the momentum shift and they shifted,
and they were unable to really stem the tide and
rectify the situation. These aren't x'es and o's, folks, These
aren't even Jimmies and Joe's. These are just you know
that football is such an emotion game, controlling your emotions,
being on top of it, being able to stem the

(54:39):
momentum tide because you've seen it. I mean, in an
NFL game, you got a fourteen. I think the other
team's gonna make a run at you. They're gonna make
a run. I don't know what it's gonna be, but
they're gonna make a run generally, and so you've got
to manage that the ups and downs, the ebbs and
flows of a game, end of a season. And I
think that's where the Packers are. They're a very good
football team. They need to get healthy, but they need

(55:02):
also maybe a little bit of maturity in some of
those key game situations. Not being critical. I think they're
just learning how to do that right now. The other thing,
Matt is with the Packers, and this is going to
be interesting to see turnovers. Four games, two takeaways, two interceptions,
no fumble recoveries, no fumble recoveries. According to the stats

(55:23):
I'm looking at, they haven't even forced a fumble and
four Can you imagine that. I don't think I've ever
seen that with a team I've been covering that didn't
force at least a fumble in the first four games
of the season. So interesting. They've played so well defensively
at times, and yet the most important thing a defense
does in today's day and age, it's not a yardage game.

(55:43):
It's a takeaways game. It's how good are you in
the red zone? How good are you in third downs?
And do you take the football away? I don't care
if you give up four hundred yards a game. If
you do those things, well you're gonna win. Well, I
know you're arrested.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
You're ready for thirteen consecutive weeks plus the whatever fall.
So a chance to get a little momentum.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
You know here, you know, glad you got out. I
honestly figure days. I always I really think that what
they should do is, you know, let Rock and I
Ez back into this. We should be on a play count,
you know what I mean. So I really want that
for the preseason. I really think, you know, if we
do a series, that'll be it for the preseason and

(56:22):
let's go. You know, it'll call her forty plays and
then we're good to go where we're all right.

Speaker 3 (56:26):
It's like it's like at bats with spring training. Just
gave me like twenty twenty five. I'm good. So you
get you in bubble wrap, gets you ready for the
game's really count.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
It's so oh man, No, we got to call every plays,
you know, and now to be interesting to see. I
think in the next four weeks we're going to find out.
On the Packers played home against the Bengals. The Bengals
are reeling, as you mentioned, and then on the road
at Arizona. I don't know what to make of Arizona.
And then Pittsburgh with Aaron Rodgers, that'll be a big
Sunday night deal. And uh, well, my buddy Mike Tarico

(56:56):
and everybody out there, and we'll go from there. But
I think in the next four weeks we'll have a
really good handle on who the Packers are and I
just hope they don't get banged up to the point
where you don't recognize them. You know, San Francisco's winning
with a lot of injuries, but there are other teams.
The Bengals put all those chips on that offense and
now without Joe Burrow. Wow, you know you hate to

(57:18):
see that. Honestly, as a fan, I hate to see
teams like that. But there's so many teams that are
scarred with injuries, playmakers out for the season, Elite Neighbors
in New York, Tyreek Hill in Miami. And you know
that's the problem with the game as it is today. Bigger, faster,
stronger doesn't make it a better game, boys and girls,
it really doesn't. It's played by better athletes, I'll give

(57:39):
you that much. But forty years ago it just didn't
seem like you had these debilitating injuries and that kind
of thing, because you were able to prepare a football
team for the rigors of a tackle football season and
you can't do it today.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
Yeah, well, hopefully they'll have decent health the rest of
the way. Get some banged up guys back and see
what they can do.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
Thirteen straight weeks and I can't wait to see Saturday night.
I'll be tuned in Iowa and Wisconsin, one of my
favorites in the Big ten going at it, and it'll
be great. I have half of mind and maybe just
jump in a car and drive over there. But I
had nobody to tailgate with. My guys don't tailgate anymore,
so I think I'll just watch it on.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
Well, you're probably find for people the way. They'd love
to talk to you. They love to pick her right
about the Packers And oh absolutely, it's supposed to be
a beautiful night.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
So yeah, absolutely, no, it's your de spectacular. Hey, listen,
have a good one and we'll reconvene in a couple
of weeks and hack through it again.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
Sounds are your plan again? Are your plan?

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Special? Thanks to engineer Dave Bacan, the executive producer of
the lerra Vie La Pey podcast on iHeart is Monica
whitcop for Matth. This is Wayne and We'll see you
next time on the ler of Vila Pay podcast.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
The Laravie La Pay podcast is a production of iHeartRadio
Podcasts with hosts Way Larvy and Matt Lapey, with production
engineering Dave McCann. The leare Vian lape podcast is presented
by Potawatamy Casino Hotel.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Your win is waiting.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Listen to other episodes available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.