Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam talk the Raiders win and Messi's win!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Does anybody else need to drink? To drink? Seriously? Uh?
Does anybody else need a drink? Spike the eggnog? This

(00:21):
day started at seven in the morning and it hasn't
taken a breath. I like, wow, all right? From salant
Mark Wellard, what's going on? Everybody? Happy Holidays? I hope
everybody is uh is getting errand's done. The sports today
sort of mirrored I think how all of our lives
feel today from I know, you don't rock this way.

(00:43):
You just seem like you just got it all under
control all the time. But the majority of Americans, they're like, Okay,
this is the last weekend before it all. It's all
gonna hit the fan. I've got seventeen things on the
to do list. We gotta get it all done. That's
what life feels like today, and that's what sports felt
like today. And and I know you and I want

(01:04):
to and we will spend a healthy amount of time
on what I felt was the best soccer match at
a high level that I've sat down and watched play
for play in my entire life. But that's gonna get
pushed for just a few minutes, so you can walk
me through the art of a bone head play. This

(01:25):
is what I want to talk about right at the
gate because we hear it all the time. Oh my gosh, right,
it's a Monday morning thing to do. Did you see
the bonehead play? Can you take me to the field
through the anatomy when you have your professional athlete and
and something like that happens. And for those of you
who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm specifically pointing

(01:48):
at the finish of the New England Patriots in Las
Vegas Raiders game, which was one in basically a lateral
pick walk off in Las Vegas and the Raiders win
this thing thirty to twenty four. I always want to go, man,
it's easy for us to be like, wow, that's a
bonehead play, but like, what was your reaction to that? Um?

(02:12):
I couldn't believe it. Uh it. It's one of those
plays where, first of all, the game was very anemic,
and then it picked up. Uh. Two teams battling, both
still alive in the playoffs, uh, in the playoff hunt.
And so every possession matters, Everything you do matters, every

(02:36):
penalty matters, every yard you get matters, and for you
to play to tie, you're ready to go into overtime,
have another chance to to win the game. And you decide, uh,
let's try the Music City miracle, right, Let's try to

(02:59):
do something where you have a zero point two percent
chance of it being successful opposed to going out of bounds,
going down or whatever. And I get it. Your juices
are flowing, you know, Romando, Uh, he had a big run.
Of course, by design, they're never gonna let you get
to the end zone. You can run all you want

(03:20):
before you get to the end zone. He flips it
back to Myers. Myers is like, okay, now let me
flip it back to who Like I just threw a
squirrel pass into the air and Challenge Jones were just
standing there and it was like, okay, I'm gonna take this.

(03:42):
And then Mac Jones I don't know he you know,
he played quarterbacks for his whole life, Like at no
point ever in his life had he ever played any
other position. So, I mean, we talk about life coming
at you fast. You're like, I'm sitting here, We're in
a tie football game. Okay, I'm you to pressure. I'm
the quarterback of a football day. And the next thing

(04:02):
you know, it's like, hey, my man, I'm gonna need
you to tackle Chandler Jones, like like right now, and
and if you don't, that's a wrap. Like but back
up for a second. We're talking about decision making in
the moment, and I think we all get the idea
of making a bone head decision in the moment. Can

(04:23):
I back up though, and ask you even called this?
It's the type of play that has a point zero
zero zero zero zero two percent chance of working. Why
would you ever do that in a tie game? Like?
Why is that that's gonna be the play from the playoffs?
You know that right? Right? Didn't it? Did the sideline

(04:44):
say let's do something like this, Like in what on
what planet do you not just go to overtime? Why
would you even start missing with the football? Man? That
that is heartbreaking. That is heartbreaking and idiotic all at
the same time. So you know, it's like, come on, man,

(05:11):
we don't see that at the Patriot uniform. We've never
seen something like that under Bill Belichick. That's that's that's
the antithesis of Bill Belichick. Bill probably going crazy, man, right,
he's probably going crazy, right, you know what, He's probably
not saying anything, which is worse it's just silence. You've
been that, You've been that. Do nothing on that plane, right,

(05:35):
no music, no nothing. Everybody got to sit there in
their seat with their hands folded and stare at nothing,
no movies, no nothing. Football equivalent of when your parents
look at you and go, I'm not mad, right mom, Mom?
Just disappointed? Mom? Dad? Are you okay? Are you okay?

(05:56):
Are you okay? Well, we'll talk about this later. Are
you guys okay? I mean that that was that was heartbreaking?
But from does that get called from the sideline? Is that? Yeah?
You do? You do you call the lateral thing. You
see how I go, but you don't. You don't do
it like that though, like when when when it's over,

(06:17):
it's over. You can't make it keep going and you
always have to look where you have to look and
see if you're actually throwing the ball to somebody. I
don't even I mean, to be honest with you, I
don't even understand trying it, because you're right, you don't
do it like that, But to do it at all

(06:41):
nine times out of ten it ends up in the
hands of the other team. How viable. I can't I'm look,
I was looking. I'm sorry. I was looking at the
standing and I'm like, how is this that that demensions
keeping one another in it? Exactly? Saints beat the Falcons
and all four putred teams are still in play to

(07:03):
host a playoff game in four weeks. That's like the
set Seattle seven and nine seven. I think this is worse.
I mean, if you watch the way that thing played
out where the Bucks had a double digit lead at
halftime and then just kept handing the Bengals the ball

(07:24):
in the red zone over and over and over again
until they won it. Just what a what an incredibly
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(07:47):
my question of Bill Belichick, and he doesn't like he
doesn't like irrelevant questions, But I think I have a
very relevant one. Did you call that? And if you did,
what were you doing? There's no there's literally all next
to nothing good can come from that. You weren't losing.

(08:09):
If you don't want to throw the hail Mary, lay
down and let's go play overtime. Which would you have
had a better opportunity if you would have decided to
throw the haill Mary. So just a decision making from
the play call to the execution of the play call.
It was just losing football, and that's something that you
normally get from a Patriots team, a Belichick team, and

(08:32):
it's just like, Okay, well, I guess the other shoes
dropping right, Like it's why wouldn't you go for the hill? Mary?
I mean you you've got Mac Jones in his second
year a couple of weeks ago with sideline video of
and who I'm not a lip reader, but whatever he
was doing and scream whoever he was screaming at. You know,

(08:54):
you've got an offense right now that's being run by
defensive coordinators, and then you have a situation like this,
and it scrambles our brains because we've watched Patriot football
with that man as the coach for more than twenty
years now, and I don't think I can think of

(09:16):
another time where something like that happened where you were
just like the week comes to a close. I know
we still got two football games left, but the week
comes to the close and you're like, the the idiot
play of the week came from the New England Patriots.
I can't think that that's now. I honestly, I cannot

(09:37):
think of that happening in the last twenty five years.
That was I mean, the probability of that working out
for the Raiders was zero point zero zero one percent.
In respect that you allow those type of odds to
beat you, you don't deserve to go to the playoffs.

(10:01):
We're we're it's three games left in the season. If
you're not buttoned up and ready to go, now, it's
time to start prep preparing for for for for the
offseason and what we've got the decisions you have to
make on the roster, and like the real teams are
gearing up to go play. Man, I was crazy, and

(10:21):
I know you can't. You there's one dumb play and
you look at the some of the game, but that
when it's it, when it's so far out of the norm,
you're like, okay, that just that just seems right. And

(10:44):
I mean, just an orgasmic four minutes in real time
for the Chargers who fly down the field get the
game winning field goal over the Titans. Then that happens
in Las Vegas and it's a one two punch that
puts the Chargers in position to go the postseason. M
hm and and and oh, by the way, speaking of

(11:06):
feeling all the fields, um, I texted just about every
Raider fan I know to say that now that now
that had to feel. That had to feel good. Right later,
fans will they will never ever ever be over the
touch game. But but that had to be about as

(11:29):
close as they'll ever get to being over. It was
that play right there. Well, I don't know because the
tough game that turned into all kinds of you know,
that was the super Bowl. This is just trying to
make the playoffs, so unless but I tell you that
I know, but you're right. If they're going to win
the super Bowl, that played. But that's how that's how

(11:50):
big it is, right, So if they if they make
the playoffs and they go on to really win the
Super Bowl, we can look back at that play and
be like, this is this is why, this is the play,
This is why you know, we had the opportunity to
even win the Super Bowl. And yes, it will eclipse
the tuck rule. Okay, so if you haven't heard the

(12:14):
play by play of what happened in Las Vegas. We'll
have that for you combined with this. Everybody knows Andreas Kntor.
If you don't know the name off the top of
your head, I'm sure you've heard someone. Whenever there's a
goal in soccer, good goal. That guy Andre's cantor. He
is the most famous soccer announcer in the history of

(12:35):
the world, and he hails from Argentina. I wonder if
you'd like to hear what he sounded like when Argentina
won the World Cup. And I'd love to ask from
if you two felt like that was the best soccer
match you've ever watched in your entire life. So that's
all coming up right around the corner as we get
going on Fox Sports Sunday with from Salam. I'm Mark

(12:59):
Willard on Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. Hey,
what's up, everybody, It's me three time pro bowler Lavarrington,
and I couldn't be more excited to announce a podcast

(13:20):
called Up on Game what is up on Game? You asked,
along with my fellow pro bowler t J. Hudshman's OTTA
and Super Bowl champion. That's right, Plexico Birds. You can
only name a show with that type of talent On
it Up on Game. We're going to be sharing our
real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up

(13:41):
on Game with Me LaVar Arrington, t J. Hudgman's ATTA,
and Plexico Birds on the I Heart Radio app, Apple
Podcast or wherever you get your podcast from. Mac Jones
hands it off on a drad mondre Stevenson breaks out
of a tackle on the fifty has the forty five,
breaks away from another tackle, pitches it backwards and now

(14:03):
Jakobe Meyer's spinning around. He throws it to Tandler Jonson
midfield step forward. Tandler Jones breaks it towards the end zone.
It goes, oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, I can't
believe what I just saw. Again, I can't believe what

(14:24):
I just saw. This is unbelievable. Go wow. On the
first night of honor, it's American Las Vegas, hey man.
Good things happen when the lights go down in Las Vegas,
like the manure of baby Happy Honaka. Exactly. It's a miracle, right,

(14:52):
you know. Adam Sandler once upon a time said eight
crazy nights. Well this is the first one. Here we go.
Holy smokes, that's right. Even the mccabees were like, wow,
that was a miracle. That yeah, that was amazing. She'sh
So there you have it. The Raiders win, the Patriots lose,

(15:15):
the Chargers benefit, and the a f C continues to
sort of take shape. And oh, by the way, you
know what else is sort of Nike now all of
a sudden come to the party with a lot of
these things that have happened. Hey, keep an eye. I'm
the Jacksonville Jaguars. They come the a f C South.

(15:38):
I remember having a conversation with you like week three,
and you're like, dude, the Jags and and you know
it's the other it's the the a f C version
of the NFC South. It's the a f C South.
It's not quite as bad. But the Titans quietly lose
three now four in a row. And look at the

(15:58):
plucky little Jags with went over Dallas and they're a
game out from there right there. Yeah, it's uh, I
talked on on I actually picked them and my my
weekly pick them this week. Um as did I. Yeah,
you know what I mean, great minds think like uk

(16:19):
at that look at that. But people got it. They're
always competitive and they're they've been getting better. So if
you've been a lot of people don't pay attention because
I mean, Jacksonville 're not on TV a lot, but
you know we watch. I watch every game and so
just watching them watching you know how they're going about things.

(16:40):
And you know that Titans game was it was a
big game. Trevor Lawrence is it's kind of finding his way.
You have to just erase last year for the Titans.
It was a horrible experiment with the Urban Meyer and
the whole t bow thing. Like they just didn't get off,
uh to the right start, not having a Travis at

(17:05):
at the end. Uh he missed all of his rookie
year being hurt. Uh. It just a new direction. Doug
Peterson came in some substability there. They're playing good enough
football to where you have to take them serious, and
Trevor Lawrence is learning. He had some uh, some mistakes.

(17:28):
He had a huge run uh in that fourth quarter
that was going to seal the game for he fumbles, right,
these are things that you know he's going to learn
as this continues to to to go on. But when
when you look up, man, he's the thirty two hundred
yards and twenty touchdowns and six interceptions. It's completing over

(17:51):
sixt his passes. You know, quietly he's becoming an NFL quarterback.
A viable quarterback has uh you know, more than a
couple three hundred yard passing games. All right, Aaron Rodgers
doesn't have any right, So when you when you when
you but when you really look at things like that,

(18:12):
it's like, Okay, I see what you doing, Trevor. I
see what you're trying to do. And a lot of people,
you know, you write them off because you know the
number one of division is whack. So it's like, but
you know, asks the Cowboys. Now we we talked about
the Cowboys, uh, and you know these being trapped games,

(18:35):
Philly and um cowboys had trap games because everybody's gearing
up for that big show now Christmas eve Um, I
tell you what we we do this every week and uh,
with what you were just saying, might as well do
it right now. I mean we got a Sunday night
football game with two playoff hopefuls, but nobody ever really
talks about either of them as actual players. There are

(18:59):
four teams in the NFC right now, at least, I
feel like we get here every Sunday and we go, Okay,
how are we doing now? And the Vikings pulled the
most Vikings thing that they've done all year yesterday in
that it wasn't just as simple as once again, they
sneak away with a victory that didn't look like they

(19:21):
would have and it was close, and their point differentials
weird for a team that has their record. I mean,
they overcame a thirty three point deficit and I have
no idea whether to compliment their or rip them. It's
amazing to come back from thirty three down, but I
also want to go, how the hell did you get
down by thirty three against the Colts in a half.

(19:41):
So there's so, there's them, And then you said Eagles
trap game, Cowboys come from a head loss against Jacksonville
forty niners with our guy brock Purty very impressive on
Thursday night. How do you handicap those four now that
we've seen them all again? Um, look San Francisco. Man

(20:02):
is is dangerous. San Francisco is dangerous. Minnesota's fools goal. Okay, Um,
I I can't in all honesty sit here and say
I have faith in Minnesota of making a deep playoff run,

(20:22):
because I do not. Too many times they've been in
situations where they just don't look good, like they don't
look they look like they're playing two types of football
in games and teams that you expect to do do
well in the postseason know who they are, they stick

(20:45):
to who they are. Some games they run the ball,
some games they don't. Like You just you don't know
what Minnesota is gonna bring to the table. And yeah
they're eleven and three despite that. But when it all
comes down to it, I got Philly at one, I
have San Francisco at two, I have Dallas at three,
in Minnesota four. Yep, I think I would do it

(21:09):
the exact same way. Um, although are we sleeping on
anyone else? I'll tell you this, my man, we we
Here's another team and and I don't know that they're
a factor to win the NFC, But I don't know
if Minnesota is either. They just played each other last
week and Minnesota lost to them, and no one will

(21:31):
talk about it today because it was just kind of
like wh umv. But to go against that Jets defense
on the road outside it's December, You're losing with two
minutes to go. The Lions have won six and seven,
and I'm I'm taking notice. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, you

(21:53):
you have to be afraid if you're playing if you're
playing the Lions. Let's look at this schedule right now.
If you're the well, the Panthers are you know, the Panthers,
even though they you know, they'll show up and play
you now, they'll they'll write, they play hard, they're just
you know, they're they're especially offensively, they're they're short on talent.
But when you look at this, I mean the Panthers,

(22:17):
the Bears, and the Packers, I don't believe any of
those teams are in the playoff. I mean pretty much
everybody is still in the playoffs except for you. Right.
The Panthers technically are, yes, but but this is a
perfect opportunity for the Detroit Lions to finish up ten

(22:38):
and seven, which would be crazy. The Detroit Lions, listen
to me, can finish ten and seven and and find
themselves in the playoffs. That is that is really what's

(22:58):
going on here. Jared Golf is playing his best football
and that's including the Super Bowl, uh, the Super Bowl year,
the run of the Super Bowl, Like I mean, it's
crazy man feeling wanted and needed and and and in
all of those good things. But when you you look

(23:20):
at at what he's been able to put together, you
know he's going to eclipse his his his best numbers. Right.
I believe that super Bowl run he was he threw
fort hundred yards, thirty two touchdowns, twelve interceptions. Right, He's
at thirty six hundred yards right now with three games left,

(23:40):
twenty three touchdowns and seven interceptions. But he's comfortable. He's
not looking over his shoulder. It's amazing how relaxed as
a player you feel when you're not constantly being told
you're going to be replaced. And I think that's where
he is now. He's found a home. There's no doubt

(24:05):
we all felt like he was a placeholder. I don't
think they do. And they were one in six, uh
there now seven and seven with their only loss being
a three point loss to the Buffalo Bills. No shame there.
And I'm telling you with the way this structure is
playing out with the downfall of the Seahawks and the
Giants and Commanders are gonna sit here and beat one
another up tonight. And I'm gonna tell you I think

(24:28):
I think the Lions are going to the playoffs six
man one in six. You want to talk about one
and six? Yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's really a
hell of a story. Um, Okay, I don't know how
we got through a half hour and held the World

(24:49):
Cup at day from you, because you you texted me,
You're like, we're not even I don't even want to
talk about anything else night after that match this morning,
which was absolutely in unsane. Um, it really was the
best of the best, best of the best versus best
of the best, and all of those things that you
can say. So uh, we'll let you hear the most

(25:12):
emotional call in the history of Andre's Cantor's career and
talk a little bit about messy versus imbope here in
just moments. Let's get Brian Finley in here as well, though,
the third member of our team tonight. Find out what's trending.
Help being Mark and he from always good to work
with you guys on this Sunday, So we do have
that Sunday night football game happening right now. Not a

(25:33):
whole lot going on here between the Commanders and Giants,
scoreless about halfway through the first quarter. As to what
you were referencing earlier in your show, it was one
of the inconceivable mistakes that Jacoby Myers made for the Patriots,
throwing a backwards past that was caught by Raiders Chandler Jones,
who rumbled all the way into the end zone, the

(25:55):
last player the game to give the Raiders a win
against the Patriot. It's now after the game, Patriot said
coach Bill Belichick said that he did not call a
Hail Mary, and that it was a mistake and that
all they were supposed to do is run a draw play.
Mac Jones, who missed a tackle of Chandler Jones, said,
it's quote on me close quote to have made that tackle.

(26:18):
And Jacobe Myers then was asked in the post game
what he saw out there and why he made that.
As you guys referenced the bone had decision that the
lateral attempt that was picked off, He said he did
not see Chandler Jones back there and should have just
went down. Meanwhile, Yeah, I mean it makes it. That's
good breakdown right there. Oh my gosh, because well that

(26:42):
was a tight game. We also had a tight game
at Sophi Stadium between the Titans and the Chargers, and
Cameron dick Or, the place kicker for Los Angeles, had
a chance to give his team a three point lead
with seconds to go. Snap kick is up and it
is good. Cameron Ticker puts the Bolts up three with

(27:03):
four seconds to go. What a tribe that would be,
Matt money Smith, Chargers Radio. So they would go on
to win. The Chargers says they got it done seventeen
to fourteen against the Titans. Also, the Bengals pulled through
against the Buccaneers thirty four to twenty three, where Cincinnati
outscored Tampa thirty one to six in the second half. Yeah,

(27:23):
and Tom Brady responsible for two pixie from in mark
and two lost fumbles, so four total turnovers. That did
not help his team's cause. Elsewhere, the Eagles, they got
a five to twenty win against the Bears, Jalen Hurts
rushing in three scores, so Philadelphia is now thirteen and
one on this season. A win for the Chiefs thirty

(27:44):
to twenty four against the Texans, and that was an
overtime Jack McKinnon with that twenty six yard touchdown run
n o t to win it four case as they
improved to eleven and three on this season. The Jaguars
went in on a pick six in the extra session
in overtime forty to thirty four against the Cowboys, so
that's a bit of an upset right there. We also

(28:04):
saw the Lions come through with a late touchdown Jarard
Goff finding his man from fifty one yards out on
fourth and one with inside two minutes to go, twenty seventeen,
Detroit winning against the Jets in what has Detroit now
believe it or not at seven and seven on the season,
which is right where the Jets are, by the way,
and that golf touchdown throw was to Brock right as

(28:25):
we mentioned on fourth and one. Another notable score here
the Falcons. They fall short against the SATs twenty one
to eighteen, Andy Dalton coming in with those two touchdown tosses,
and the Steelers with Mitch Drobiskie as quarterback in this
one with no Kenny pick it out because of a concussion.
It's to sixteen victory for the Steelers. Sam Darnald made

(28:47):
an appearance one touchdown past two d twenty five yards
passing in that one. And then, as you guys alluded
to the last thing, the World Cup. Believe it or not,
it seems so long ago considering all the electrifying actions
we've seen from the NFL. But as you guys are
about to talk about Argentina winning a stunner against France
in penalty kicks, as a messy had his fingerprints all

(29:09):
over that game. As they send it back to Ephraim
and Mark, Oh my goodness, Um, you know that NFC
South they're just talking about with Tom Brady and the
Bucks at the top of the aisle will dive into
this is this is this something that that is going
to be an unmatched blemish for Tom Brady. UM. Now,

(29:29):
one game separates all four teams, all four of them
have a point differential of minus twenties seven or worse.
Um and the other three teams in the division have
all decided to do in one form or another, just
be like, you know what, we won't We don't really
need to address the quarterback position this year, and and
Tom Brady can't shake him. So it's it's insane. What's

(29:51):
happened with that division. It's gonna lead to weird discussions
in January. We'll get to that in a little bit.
But he from I've been dying to know what you
think about out the World Cup matchup, let's prime everybody.
With Argentina a Tunil lead at half, they give it
up basically in a one nine second period with about

(30:12):
ten to fifteen minutes left to go in the match.
That sends it to extra time, where Argentina takes the
lead again, only to have a handball late allow France
to draw even again. Leads to penalty kicks and Argentinean
announcer Andre's cantor when Argentina wins on p k's four

(30:35):
to two. This is what it sounded like. Dude, I

(31:00):
I got Pio Blue com got dude, I got piok
and blue on. I hat dude down. They come pill,
they're gonna go. They don't see Louisa. He plies you

(31:20):
good too, ful Helo, he's your talking, Helo, he's your
look here you seeing a loutanic one gem I hadn't
be got pire, no move, you don't see you compre
then gove lore no points and they opened my needs.
You no seems to flee. I cantine. Now listen, it's

(31:44):
a cantina in the calony and compel the cool lo
I copp got on pretty dress out man. You sound right, man? Right?

(32:28):
I mean that's what if I get to like one
in the afternoon and I haven't had coffee yet. That's
a little bit what I sound like. But my god,
I mean you sort of feel like he should just
retire right now, like that. If he did, he would believable.
It would be everything like it would have been. It
would have all been worth it totally. I mean, let

(32:51):
me just me what a moment. Let me tell you
what moment, how big this is for people. You know,
in American culture, we don't look at soccer um like
the rest of the world looks at it. So when
Olympics come around, of course we're patriotic. We want the
US to do well. And our our US women's team
is is amazing. I have a lot of fanfare. Our
men's team is trying to get there. We got a

(33:13):
young team, so in we should you know, we should
be coming into our own. But for places like Argentina, Brazil, France, uh,
you know, Portugal, Germany. This is like everything and the

(33:39):
announcer Wall was watching the game this morning. The announcer
was saying that people have given up everything, They've sold
everything and spent their life savings to attend these World
Cup matches. I'm talking about when they get back home tomorrow,

(34:05):
m they don't know what they're gonna do, right, right,
but it was important enough for them to experience something
like this, which in some cases is a once in
a lifetime opportunity to be there on the soil when

(34:27):
your team wins the biggest game in the world. And
making no mistake, the World Cup Final is the biggest
game in the world. And it's not even. It's not
even anything. The Super Bowl can fit in the World
Cup's pocket, right like it's it's not even, it's not even.

(34:50):
So that's how big and important that that's why that
man was weeping, we weeping tears of weeping, couldn't even
can He realizes he may never see anything like this again,
especially with lying on MESSI arguably the greatest soccer player

(35:17):
to ever play, and it plays for your country. So
the jubilation, the admiration, the emotion, all of those things.
He he may still be crying a drunk cry now
or right right like like it's gonna be a lot

(35:41):
of people waking up in a few hours, not knowing
where they are, what happened. They know they were had
some type of celebration, and and and now they've they're
waking up trying to get back to their hotel room
or wherever they would stay, trying to make flights. But
it's one of those ones in a lifetime events that

(36:02):
I watched with my wife is morning and we were
in it. It was one of the best World Cup
games I think ever that I've seen. Yes, and the
back and forth in my faith, you know how I
feel about Himbope Kelly on my favorite player who won
the Golden Boot. Uh, and I believe he had nine

(36:24):
with the nine goals this World Cup. He came in
with five, scored a hat trick and regulation that's eight.
And then he had a penalty kick that he scored
nine goals and in in World Cup. That is crazy man. Uh,
it was. It was an unbelievable spectacle, more to say

(36:47):
for sure. Live from the Tairack dot Com Studios. More
on Matt coming up next from salat Mark Willard. It's
Fox Sports Sunday on Fox Sports Radio All Right, Live
from the Tairack dot com studios. Is hey now Fox
Sports Radio Tailgate presented by the Big Green Egg. Nothing
beats the flavor of live fire cooking on a Big
Green Egg. Most Versatile Girl You'll ever owned, back by

(37:09):
a lifetime warranty roll with the best shop online for
free delivery at Big green egg dot Com. Lifetime warranty,
free home delivery, Big green egg dot Com. From is
it definitive for you? I know that this is you know,
like maybe especially here in America where we haven't watched
the all the World Cup matches or whatnot, but that

(37:30):
was the most engaging World Cup match I can ever
remember watching. Is that number one for you? When we
saw this morning, it just was thrilling because um Argentina.
Argentina took a commanding lead UH and their defense was amazing.

(37:52):
You want to talk about the time of possession that
they had in the first half was unreal. They were
forcing France to play sporadic, turn the ball over a lot.
They were aggressive and they they made France early substitutions

(38:17):
UH and Bobby switched position, went to a midfielder instead
of on the wing, and they were just trying to
figure out, you know, how to penetrate that defense, that
smothering defense. Second half, with the two old lead, they
didn't pressure as much and Bobby moved back to the

(38:38):
wing and showed why he's probably the next greatest soccer
player in the world. You literally, I mean he was amazing,
and so and and and so like. Once they scored one,
then it was it was to one. The energy completely changed.

(39:02):
And literally sixty two seconds later and Bob makes that run,
he gets another one, and now it's too too. Now
there's a whole it's a whole different ball game, it's
a whole different match now. And then Messi does something
phenomenal in extra time. I think it was nine minutes later.

(39:24):
You know, if Bobby comes back and it's going to
get to tie you back up like it was. It
was back and forth, back and forth, edge of the bed.
We just has to hurry up and finish because football
is about to start. Like that type of energy. Yes, yeah,
it was. It was beautiful, beautiful sports and the best

(39:44):
thing about it. And by the way, I don't know
if we would feel this way if France had one.
But there's one thing that came out of this that
that and maybe the world is better at this than
we are. I'll explain exactly what I'm talking about coming
up next on this one on Fox Sports Sunday. That's

(40:06):
exactly right, that's right where we are broadcasting live from
the tairack dot com studios. Ti rack dot com will
help you get there on matched selection, fast free shipping,
free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers.
Tirac dot com The way tire buying should be with
e from Salon Mark willing to work in our way
through Week fifteen of the National Football League schedule, while

(40:30):
also saluting maybe the best soccer match uh many of
us can ever remember with the World Cup this morning
and bo our producer I thought said something that was
really interesting earlier today from which is that this match
and this very rare in sports where you get this
because of the way we view sports, there's always got
to be a loser, and right like, there's no points

(40:52):
for second place, and then we gotta show up on Monday.
Especially in our business, we had to rip all the
people who did all the wrong stuff, even you and
I all oh, I think this was completely fair. We
started our show tonight with my gosh, this was one
of the most bone headed things I've ever seen on
on an athletic field. But this World Cup match was
special because there was there was no one who came

(41:18):
out of this with egg on their faces. This was
one of the absolute best things that we've ever seen
in sport, the best versus the best, and they were
both at their best, and we walk away from it
simply saluting everything that we saw. However, I only think

(41:41):
that that was the case because Argentina one, they had
it so many different times. You have a two nail
lead and then you score in extra time and you're
up three to plus add in the factor that Messy
is so much older than himbop A and he's never
won before, and France is the defending champ. How are

(42:04):
we feeling about this match? I think we're still incredibly
impressed with both players and both nations. But if France
wins in in penalty kicks, how does that change the
emotional vibe around this this entire finish, it changes it
a lot, because, uh, France one last year they were

(42:26):
defending champions, they were looking to be the third team
to repeat it champions Um and you know, the first
team since two I believe Brazil Um. The thing that
really made it emotional is this is probably Messy's last

(42:46):
World Cup, right, and this is the one you know,
award that has eluded him in a story career. We
just saw the indie of that in the knockout stage
with Christian Christian Christian Aldo Um Christian Yes, Christian Christiano

(43:14):
so we we We just saw the ending of that
legacy in terms of greatness for their country. Right. He
was on the bench, came into the game, lay, they lost,
walked off the pitch head down. What's next? And to
have Messy in a situation to where he's still revered

(43:37):
on the team, team first guy, and have him to
accomplish this and possibly his his final World Cup, it
just means so much more. Killing him is going to
be there in four years he's twenty three years old.
He's gonna be bigger, stronger, faster, right, and more dominant.

(44:00):
Is that possible? He's got me faster in four years? Yeah?
I mean he burst on the scene four years ago
as a nineteen year old kid who was amazing. They
win the World Cup, they come back. They they're on
the cusp of of repeating. And then you have Messy,

(44:21):
you know, carried off and and in in a in
a cloud of of of you know, emotion and and
and victory and now he has something. And I was
looking at Twitter, uh, and a lot of people like
end of debate, right, because Ronaldo and Messy have been
it's been debated who's the best soccer player in the

(44:43):
world for it has been like that for years. So
now with that exclamation point that MESSI just you know,
received on his career, it's like, end of debate. We
don't have to talk about anything else. And he's he
was the main old score for his team, so it
wasn't like he was just writing shotgun. He was the

(45:07):
reason they were there and the reason they won. So
I mean that's emotional. It really is, especially if you
know what soccer. I I wake up on on a
Sunday morning and I'm gone, look a dog in the fight.

(45:29):
I love the sport. I want to watch. Um, we
had a blast, had a very memorable for me, at
least memorable bringing because father suntime is always incredibly memorable.
And uh, my fifteen year old son and I we
went fishing and uh and and we just took the uh.
We took the mobile device out there to the lake
is perfectly quiet and you know, put some put some

(45:52):
poles in the water, see if we can catch some trout.
And we sat there and we watched Messy play a
bob out in the peaceful wilderness and it was incredible.
It was incredible. There were a few few times where
I let out such a yell because of near misses
and things that were going on in this match where
my son was like Dad, and I'm like, they're not

(46:17):
gonna get into the boat if you keep yelling. This
is a quiet space. Um. But but yeah, this, I mean,
I didn't have a dog in the fight, but I
immediately with a two nail lead, I'm like, oh no,
he's got to win now, He's got to win because
of that dynamic which about and maybe it is American,

(46:39):
maybe it's not um where it's like, gosh, you know,
if you if you lose, sorry, it's the it's results driven,
too bad. It doesn't matter if you played well, you lost, period.
And and it is like that in soccer sometimes even
more than other sports. If you don't play up to

(47:00):
your capabilities, but that just wasn't the case. So for
him to play at the absolute top of his game
in his final World Cup and have a lead twice,
lose the lead single handedly, not single handedly, but individually,
give his nation the lead again, and have that almost
go away again. By the end of this thing, I

(47:23):
was like, oh my god, I'm like, he's got to win,
like she just like, you know, all of a sudden,
I'm born again, Argentinean. I'm like, he's got to win
or else this whole thing would have felt different, even
though the performances by these two men would not, like,
nothing would have changed. But he had to win. He

(47:45):
had to win. Yeah, it was My wife was pulling
from Mescy. Of course I was one for France UM
and she was just screaming. We were cheering, you know,
and it made it that much special for me just
to experience is that with with her. And the funny
thing is I was on my show UM that I

(48:05):
was doing yesterday. UM. When I left the house, we
were we were watching the Colts game and we was
thirty three nothing at halftime, so we we turned it off.
When I got to the station, it was to thirty six.

(48:28):
I believe, and I texted her a screenshot of the
score from my computer and she was like, are you
kidding me? So we turned on. I was live on
the show talking about it and live texting with her
about everything that was happening, and she was going crazy.
And I said it on the show yesterday, I just

(48:51):
felt a little bit more in love with my wife,
who I've been with for twenty years, because she loved
sports like she can with the best of them. Right,
She's like, I can't believe that call, and just the
whole nine yards. And then to have that moment with
her this morning, Uh, it was crazy. She's like, you
want some coffee, Gonna get the coffee and we're gonna

(49:12):
sit and we're just gonna and we enjoyed it. The
boys were in their room, what it was to sleep,
but when they woke up, they stayed in their room,
and you know, it was just great, man, it was
just a great morning. It's been a hell of a weekend.
I mean, you know, all the way through again that
that Vikings game. Now it feels like it was three

(49:33):
days ago because of of you know, what's what's taking place,
but you know, the snowballs getting thrown around in Buffalo
last month ended up being an unbelievable spectacle. The World
Cup this morning. The games that we've watched, the uh
you know, the Witching Hour if you will, I felt
like happened both times. You know, they called that the

(49:55):
Witching Hour. From twelve thirty to one one fifteen or
so or all the game are coming down the stretch
and crazy stuff is happening. And definitely the feature game
of that first one was Jacksonville rallying to beat Dallas
to pick six to end the game. And then it
happened again. It happened again in the afternoon. I know,
I'm giving Pacific time zone here, but it happened again

(50:16):
between four and four thirty, especially with that that Raiders
finish in Las Vegas. That's why when I started the show,
I'm like, who needs a drink? Because I need a drink.
That's what I mean. I need to drink. Oh you're
not for everybody. It's great, man, this has been a

(50:37):
phenomenal weekend. Next weekend, it's gonna be a great weekend.
You know, it's it's gonna be great. It really is.
I was supposed to get Christmas cards done. I was
m to cook during these games. I did nothing. Seriously,

(51:00):
I had promised my son and me where I'm like
house tomorrow night. I like, I feel, you know, like
we can do that for Monday night football. Um Baker
Bayfield right, Like, who doesn't want to sit down and
watch that? So, um, that's what it kicked to. Now,
with all that said, let's talk about Tom Brady. Uh
certainly not certainly not all his fault, but this division

(51:22):
is headed toward right. I mean, well, I'd love to
hear what you have to say about it because this
did this come from a head loss and this division
are headed in the direction that's gonna make people want
to make changes in the NFL. It's it's so bad.
So we'll get to that coming up next. Let's see

(51:43):
from Salama, Mark Willard, and it's Fox Sports Radio. Yeah
that's right, it's time to light the menora the first
of eight crazy Nights, and we got this one off
to a real good start. It was a crazy morning
and then a crazy afternoon followed by a crazy night
right here in the tire Rack dot Com Studios on

(52:05):
Fox Sports Radio along with you from Salam Mark Willard. Hey,
football fans, be sure to tune into Fox Sports Radio's
Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM on Sunday morning,
three hours before kickoff. Tune in Sunday morning at ten
a m. Eastern will take you live all the way
to kick Off on Fox Sports Radio the I Heart
Radio at presented by bet MGM. And if you're lucky,
you'll get to tune in and see Tom Brady turned

(52:28):
the ball over four times. He was up by two
touchdowns at halftime, Ephraim, and then he just he just
went and kept giving the other team the ball right
there with a short field, and next thing you know,
a team that had three points at halftime finishes with
thirty four on the scoreboard for an easy double digit

(52:51):
win for the Cincinnati Bengals. Listen, he's the greatest. Nothing's
ever going to change that less somebody else comes along
and does better. But the truth of the matter is, um,
this guy is the top of division right now that
no matter what he's got around him, should be an

(53:13):
absolute walk in the park. And it's not. So. No, No,
does he get a pass here? What do you think?
What time a pass? He doesn't get a pass? I mean,
Tom Brady was responsible for four turnovers. That's that. And

(53:37):
I'm not taking anything away from what tom Brady has
done in his career. Greatness his greatness, but greatness has
to be held accountable as well. And tom Brady was
eighties six and oh with having a seventeen point lead
in his career. I believe, um, this is indicative of

(53:58):
where tom Brady is right on his career. And what
happens is you start to question his decision and you
realize you're, like, man, this dude gave up a lot
to come back to do this. This whole family, everything
took a nose dive because he couldn't commit to his

(54:22):
family with the same level of commitment and he's had
for football. And now he's in a situation where they
probably will make the playoffs. And to think, all of
a sudden, tom Brady is going to be magical when

(54:43):
the playoffs roll around, it's naive to think that no
matter what happens, he's just going to regain the form
that has led him to win seven Super Bowls. Because currently,

(55:04):
as it stands now was one, two, three, four, or five, six,
seven eight their ninth, but that makes them what fourth
because they're uh winning the division a division winner. That
is correct, right, So I mean he's going to probably

(55:28):
luck up and play like the Commanders or the I
don't know, I don't know how the rest of it's
gonna maybe Detroit you're gonna get. You're gonna get the
top wild card team, which is very likely to be
the Dallas Cowboys. So that like, if there's one playoff
matchup right now, that it you know, the question mark
is in Dallas. The question mark is is whether or

(55:50):
not Tampa can hold off Carolina for crying out loud,
But assuming that they can, it's almost a certainty that
it will be the Dallas Cowboys visiting Tampa Bay a
week one of the playoffs. There'll be an underdog and
they're gonna get their butts kicked. Yeah. So this then
what does Tom Brady do? All? Right? Again? So the

(56:10):
damage is done? Of course he hasn't what are you
going home to? Right? But that's that's the mentality of
someone who's a life for the damage is done. I
don't have to answer the question are you going back
to play again? Why aren't you staying at home with me? Right?
That's done, So now he can continue living out his

(56:35):
his dreams. Of being a professional player at forty six
years old. But who does he play for? Does he
play for Tampa? Does he play for? I don't know,
you know, uh, the Colts. He can't shake the we

(56:58):
can't shake the rumor here in San Francisco, which is
mind boxing Franisco a mind boggling to me. There's another
certain rumors circulating today that that that Aaron Rodgers, if
things come to an end with the Green Bay Packers,
should yep then and it's either retirements or forty Niners.
I don't know if that's real, but that rumor is

(57:20):
floating around today all of these Bay Area related sort
of former greats. Sure, they'd love to play with Kyle Shanahan.
You see the play calling. You've always been a big fan.
I I get it, But why the forty Niners would
be interested in any of these players in their situation
in this moment. I understand Brock party has only played

(57:43):
three games, but in this moment feels like a head scratcher.
Yeah it does because they got things rolling. Um, But
if he had a chance to get Aaron Rodgers or
Tom Brady, would you go into the season? Would Brock Purty,
as you're starting. Of course you would. I mean, you're
gonna do that. Wow, you know, I mean it does

(58:04):
the rest of the way, let's see what it does.
If he wins the Super Bowl, then of course he's
earn the right to But anything less than that, I
don't think you'd take brock Purty as the starter going
into the season, even if you don't get one of
the older guys. I think you allow him to compete
with Trey Lance and can agree with that. You know,

(58:24):
I don't know if I don't know, if it's anything
short of Super Bowl, I sort of feel like that.
You know, Look, they're gonna be favorite in their first
playoff game, they are their second. Their second playoff game
as it stands, no matter where the stadium is, provided
that the Vikings can win their first game, which is
absolutely no sure thing. But if the Vikings were to

(58:46):
win their first playoff game, that's the Niners second opponent,
and I think the forty Niners would win that too.
So it's sort of like brock Purty par feels like
the NFC title game, which is a crazy thought as
of three weeks ago. But if he gets the NFC
title game, or even just arrives at the Super Bowl.

(59:08):
Isn't he kind of the presumptive at least a nose
ahead of Trey Lance going in the next year. Well, yeah,
because he's doing something Trey Lance hasn't been able to do,
and that's win games. There's win games Tray Lance. Is
that opportunities? Um, and they haven't been you know, what

(59:29):
was the expectation of of of the draft position? Not
yet anyway, still a lot to learn. But you know,
Brock Party, look and brock Party isn't you know elite
are he might not even have the elite ceiling? But

(59:51):
didn't you have to say was Tom Brady elite when
he got his start? Because he leaned heavi lee, He
leaned heavily on a tremendous defense, a dynamic coaching staff,
an offensive weapon. I mean, that was the recipe for
Tom Brady to become Tom Brady. So when you look

(01:00:12):
at the parallels, now, he's probably about a hundred picks.
I don't know how many picks were there, like to seventies,
so he's probably eight picks, probably picks later than Tom Brady,
which is pretty much the same thing. Once you get
into you know, six seventh round, there you're pretty much
the same pick um? So is this the beginning? Tom

(01:00:36):
Brady didn't light up the world. He wasn't like like
athletic he is. Look how strong his arm, what he
made great decisions, didn't turn the ball over, and he
didn't play outside of himself until he was able to
become what he is. So is is brock party in
ten years? Will we be reflecting on brock Purty? Like

(01:01:03):
after ten years of Tom Brady? Right, it seems like
I bet against it. It seems like that's impossible, but
it has happened, So I believe, I can tell you
brock Purty and his family believes it can happen. Well,

(01:01:23):
So he's shown some things, He's absolutely showing some things.
But the moment has never been too big for him.
It doesn't, you know what we've seen of him. It
just seems like the moment isn't too big. Yeah. Absolutely,
Like he's checked so many boxes already in just three games.

(01:01:43):
And now that team kind of goes into cruise control
mode because they're either the two seed or the three seed.
Uh is pretty much a done deal. And I don't
know that there's all that much difference in these NFC
playoffs between being the three seed on the two seed,
particularly of Minnesota's the two seed, which is the way
it's all looking. So I don't know, I don't know

(01:02:04):
where that one's going. But the Brady one, I just
think this one challenges our senses as sports fans because
all of us, I think, no matter who the player is,
we kind of root for the same thing. I'm never
the one to say you shouldn't be playing anymore. You
you you need to be done here. If somebody wants
to pay somebody and and and and wants them to play,

(01:02:25):
and they want to play them, they get to play.
That That's the way it works here. So I'll never
say that. But especially the greats, we really struggle when
we watch them at the end of their career look
like someone totally different. I don't know if Tom is
quite there yet, but he from the division is getting embarrassing.

(01:02:49):
It's a really embarrassing division, embarrassing those things dead right,
But but it's getting to a point where that can
reflect on Tom unfortunately for him. Yeah, the crazy thing
is there is a chance because they're gonna make the playoffs.

(01:03:12):
They're going to at home playoff game and people will say, well,
all you have to do the second season, All you
gotta do is get to the dance, you know, and
he'll be in there and anything can happened, and you know,
leave it up to town Brady to conjure up some
mythical magic, something right that we've seen before and make

(01:03:36):
a heck of a run. I mean he's done in
a couple of times, just in the last couple of
weeks with with comeback wins, which is actually kind of
amazing you think about it. They're six and eight and
they're like a breath away from being four and ten um,
which is which is incredible. But all right, Mark whetherdy
from salam Uh, there's another team in the NFL. What

(01:03:57):
has happened this weekend? We have to ask is it
time to sell stock? We'll get to that in just
a second, but Brian Finley gets in here with what
his trending coming up? First, Yes, guys, and there hasn't
been a lot of offense in this Sunday night game
of scarcity of such between the Giants and Commanders. But
leave it to the last two minutes of the second quarter,
and the Giants are inside the five yard line at

(01:04:19):
the hope. So the first offensive touchdown. They do lead
seven to three Giants in the midst of a second
time out that got the football with a second and
goal upcoming with one fifty one remaining here in the
opening half, the one touchdown was Cavon Thibodeaux. He was
able to pick up a fumble in the end zone
from Taylor Heineke to get a defensive score. So it
has been mostly defense in this one as they're closing

(01:04:41):
in on halftime. Earlier, we had the marvelous finish, the
miraculous finish where Jacobe Myers threw a lateral back to
Chandler Jones and the Las Vegas Raider ran it back
on the last play of the game to win it
four Las Vegas against the Patriots, thirty four the final score.
And it was play that was asked over and over

(01:05:02):
again to Vegas, said coach Josh McDaniels afterwards. And here
is how he saw it from his vantage point. When
I saw the ball up of the air, and then
I saw Chandler underneath, and I'm thinking, oh my god,
we might we might have a chance at this. And
then when he caught it, I just I saw Mac
was back there and um, just hoping that he could
avoid whatever effort that Mac had to tackle him, and
then I hope they had enough too s left in

(01:05:22):
his body to get to the end zone. The Charger
set up Juice to win seventeen to fourteen at so
far stad Him against the Titans as Cameron Dicker hit
that forty three yard field goal with the seconds remaining
to win it for Los Angeles eight and six on
the year. Justin Herbert twenty eight completions two D thirteen
yards and was able to make up for those two
interceptions a win for the Bengals and come back fashion

(01:05:43):
thirty four to twenty three against Tom Brady's Buccaneers, where
Brady had four turnovers and the Bucks blew a seventeen
nothing lead and at twenty seven unanswered points for Cincinnati
as they are now out to ten and four on
the year. The Chiefs pulled through an overtime third to
four against the Texans. Derek McKinnon are running in that

(01:06:03):
game winning walkoff touchdown in the extra session from twenty
six yards out, and that win guarantees that the a
f C West title goes back to k C for
the seventh straight year. They have had DIBs on that
they are hogging that title for the last nearly decade.
While the Jaguars full off of studying victory against the
Cowboys at home forty thirty four where Trevor Lawrence coming

(01:06:26):
in strong with US four touchdown passes, but it was
a pick six in o t Rayshawn Jakins is able
to take that back for a score that wins it
for Jacksonville. Is as Efram and Mark, we're talking about
this Jaguars team one and six to start the year.
They're six and eight now and they're four or three
at home. They've actually got a winning record at home.
Mitch Drabinsky leads the Steelers over the Panthers twenty four

(01:06:48):
to sixteen. Drabinsky in there for Kenny Pickett who was
not because of a concussion and Sam Darnald who stepped
into quarterback for the Panthers two or twenty five yards
passing and that one touchdown on Jared Goff with a
fifty one yard touchdown with under two minutes to go
for the Lions as they went in stunning come from
behind faction fashion against the Jets twenty to seventeen. Zack

(01:07:12):
Wilson was in there at QB for New York in
two touchdowns eighteen completion three hundred seventeen yards, a win
for the Eagles twenty five to twenty against the Bears.
They are now thirteen and one, which ties them for
the best start in franchise history. And the last time
they were able to do that was two thousand four,
and that was the year they got to the Super

(01:07:32):
Bowl and ended up losing. And then, as you all
alluded to, e from and Mark the World Cup. I
know that that happened seemingly seven days ago considering all
the frenziness and shenanigans that have happened in the NFL
today and what was a memorable day, But it was
Argentina winning in penalty kicks against France, and it was

(01:07:52):
I guess, in sending it back to you, e from it,
Mark had to be one of the Alzheimer's right when
you when you think about World Cup history and the
way that one ended, absolutely my favorite ever, yea, my
my favorite soccer watching experience ever. And uh and that's
wild to say when going into it, and I know

(01:08:12):
you probably wouldn't agree with this, but I kind of
sauntered into this one I know it was Argentina and France.
Now I know that it was I know everything that
was on the line for Messy. I totally get that.
In Embope, I think has solidified himself right now. Is
not just the next big thing. He probably the second
best soccer player on the planet right now. He might

(01:08:33):
be the first, but be quite franking age, Yeah, he's
He's the most effective player in this tournament for sure.
And so I I look, it's Titan versus Titan and
and I'm here for it. But I also I went
in with an automent. Like I told you, I didn't
have a rooting interest. I'm just like, I want to
see some great soccer. And by the end of this thing,

(01:08:56):
I'm yelling, I'm screaming, I'm taking laps or round the lake,
you know, I mean like it was. It was incredible.
So in a weird way, a massive sporting events snuck
up on me. Yeah, it just uh, it was a
great way to start off a football field Sunday. And
I mean football in both sense soccer and American football.

(01:09:21):
So we had great football to start and we're having
great football to end. And it just was a miraculous
sports day. I hope all that are enjoying it. I
hope you're enjoying this Sunday night football game as much
as you can. I guess coming off the excitement we've
seen already. So it's just, uh, you know, it's that

(01:09:42):
time of year for holiday cheer and being with family
and and and people you know, have all from school,
a little break from work. Uh some folks, So you
just enjoy it. Man, we got a Laker game coming up,
so hey, you know, all is all, All, all is merry.
I love that just snuck the Laker game. Yeah yeah,

(01:10:04):
I mean it won't you know, have Anthony Davis in it,
but yeah, they'll be They'll there'll be other Lakers legs man,
Dambie legs. There's certain athletes Sama's Bran. Yeah yeah, I know,

(01:10:25):
very exciting, isn't it from very exciting. There's certain athletes
when they get hurt, You're just like, yeah, you want
to ring their neck. You're like, no, you're everybody's allowed
to get hurt, but not you had your quota. You're
not allowed to get hurt anymore. That's enough out of you. Yeah.

(01:10:50):
Yeah it hurts. Um, Yeah, yeah I bet it does. Um.
I can make you laugh, though, I want to hear
what My favorite tweet was after that Patriots Raiders finish.
Greg Rosenthal, who longtime NFL writer reporter voice uh. He

(01:11:13):
wrote in Fairness, if Jakobe Myers completed that lateral mac
Jones only needed to take in sixty yards first score,
Oh my god, man, what do they do? What? What?
What were they? What? Hey? Man? Those type of players
get your planning in early for vacation. You come home

(01:11:35):
after that and be like, hey, babe, will you want
to go? I'll tell you where we're going. Coming up next.
One team that is asking all of us right now
is it time to sell stock? We'll get to that straight.
Coming up next Live tire rack dot Com Studios. Mark
Willardy from Salam Fox Sports Radio. Christmas in seven days hanukkah, tonight, kwansa,

(01:12:00):
whatever you're celebrating. Much love to you and your entire family,
You and yours, We welcome you. In Flax Sports Radio
Tailgate presented by the Big Green Egg. Nothing beats the
flavor of live fire cooking on a Big Green Egg,
most versatile grill you'll ever own, backed by a lifetime
warranty roll with the best shop online for free delivery

(01:12:21):
a big green egg dot com lifetime warranty, free home delivery,
Big green egg dot Com. All right, it's funny actually
just listening to that that stops set that break. Uh.
There was a question between Jonas Knox and Brady Quinn
that I was thinking about earlier today that I wanted
to ask you about Kyle Shanahan. So we'll do that

(01:12:41):
coming up at the top of the hour. But let's
dive right in. I don't think that yesterday was embarrassing
for this team at all. But the bottom line is
they've suddenly lost three football games in a row. You're
still buying Dolphins stock or you're selling Um, I think
there's dangerous. You gotta look at the team they played,

(01:13:02):
the conditions they played in. Uh it's a tough you know,
a tough environment. But yet they were in that game.
They had opportunities to win that game. So you can't
sell that stock. I mean with with Jalen Wattle and
Trek Hill uh raheem most playing the way they did

(01:13:23):
to you know, playing well, no interceptions, you can't you
can't sell that stock right now. I mean, the Dolphins
are a viable team. They're eight and six for a reason.
They've lost their in the row. But they've played three
pretty good teams forty Niners, the Chargers, and the Bills.
They have the Packers, Patriots and Jets left. So if

(01:13:44):
they run the table and they finish out eleven and six,
you know you've sold your stock. Um. I'm with you.
I'm with you. The Dolphins are I like the word
you use, they're a factor. Um. But I all said,
we talk about this last week. If there was one
team right now and you'd sort of push your chip

(01:14:04):
into their circle and say, that's the team I think
that has the best shot to to take out the
chiefs of the Bills and and ended up in the
Super Bowl. And you said Cincinnati, and I agree, right now,
that is the next that's the next team. And they
got to tenant for today, even though Tom Brady certainly
helped him out. But I'll tell you what, I also
this look either the Texans at all the weird stuff

(01:14:28):
that they're doing, it's either working or there are a
couple of teams who have beaten them the last two
weeks who are starting to show some warts. Dallas follows
up there near miss against Houston and loses to Jacksonville,
and now today it was the Kansas City Chiefs that

(01:14:49):
needed overtime. And this after two weeks ago losing to
Cincinnati and last week going to Denver and narrowly beating
the Broncos by six. And I'm not concerned with the
win at Denver as much as I am the fact
that Denver put up twenty eight points against them. That's
a month and a half's worth of points for the

(01:15:11):
Denver Broncos. So when I'm looking at the Chiefs right now,
I don't have any Patrick Mahomes questions. I got a
lot of questions about that defense, and I don't like
their chances going up against all of the better defenses
they're going to have to face next month. Yeah, I mean,

(01:15:32):
you know, anytime you have a Patrick Mahomes, then we've
seen him be down twenty four in the playoffs and
comes storming back and win. So when you have that
level of talent, and I'm talking about elite of the elite,
I mean that's the that's the top of the food chain,
anything is possible. Right. It was similar with with with

(01:15:54):
Brady when he was at his highest power. So any
time you know Patrick Mahomes is under center, then you
would have to lean towards Patrick Mahomes because one thing
we know, remember thirteen seconds remember that? Oh yeah, oh yeah, right,

(01:16:19):
like so he'll make you remember now, right, defense struggling,
whatever that is. He's found ways to just erase that.
And so you would always have to to give them
a viable shot. And it's late in the season. They

(01:16:41):
have things in hand. They're waiting for Buffalo to slip
up a little bit so they can have the first
round by and and and and the road to the
Super Bowl, uh, for the a f C has to
come through Kansas City. They're sitting back and waiting and
because Buffalo has a tiebreaker, but they have the Seahawks

(01:17:05):
the Broncos at home, and then they go to the Raiders.
Now I will say the Raiders always play them hard
and play them tough. Um, but it's a situation where
they're like, Okay, we're gonna well, we'll see, right, we'll see.
You know, Buffalo has the Bengals, which is going to

(01:17:26):
be a tough game for them. At the Bears next
week it will be a cake welcome Christmas Eve, and
then the Patriots, depending on you know how Bill Belichick
is feeling or whatever that could be a tough one.
Maybe maybe not, but you know, their road is considerably
harder than Kansas City, no doubt about that. Um And

(01:17:50):
and one of the thought on Miami though you're you're right,
I'm still buying stock. I still think they're a good team.
But I also think some questions of the last three
weeks have started to arise about to uh. Um, you know,
it was finally it was It feels like three weeks
ago that we finally noticed for like, jeez, dude, this guy.
They haven't lost a game that he started. He's playing

(01:18:12):
at an m VP level. And then since then these
three weeks in a row. Do you know how many
games in the first eleven of the year too, I
had a completion percentage below in the first eleven games
from the answer was one, and we're all going to
give him a pass on it because it was the
Thursday night game in Cincinnati where he got concussed and

(01:18:34):
the whole scene unfolded. Um. Now three in a row. Yeah, yeah,
he had a bad one in l a uh percentage,
but look it happened, right, it happens if he can
continue to you know, not turn the ball over. If

(01:18:56):
he can continue to throw the ball down the field, well,
if they can run the run the ball, that he'll
be okay, remind me will be all right, Mark whether
from Saloon, Fox Sports Radio and not done yet. Kyle
Shanahan is a very good coach, but confusing. I've got
a question. Next second to last game of week fifteen
in the National Football League moves into the second half.

(01:19:18):
Will keep you posted. The World Cup is a final,
Raise them to the sky, Argentina, and so much more
going on in the world. On a Fox Sports Sunday
that we are covering, talking about having a good time
and wishing you the best as we move into your
holiday season. Broadcasting live from the ti iraq dot com studios.

(01:19:42):
Tirac dot com will help you get their unmatched selection, fast,
free shipping, free road hazard protection and over ten thousand
recommended installers. Tirac dot com The way tire buying should
be I from I've got questions, okay, perfect, let me
ask this because this is confusing to me. We always
call all of these leagues what the copycat league. We

(01:20:05):
see something, it works, we copy it, and then defenses
or whoever needs to adjust. You know, for instance, you
get a player like Brock Purty who comes onto the
scene and it's like, okay, okay, young fella, you can
play a little bit. But he's gonna have to make
adjustments because the league is going to make adjustments to him.

(01:20:28):
They'll find the weaknesses. He'll have to adjust see if
he can continue to evolve and move forward and become
the player it appears he's gonna have a chance to be.
So we get all that when the forty Niners look
good though, no matter whose quarterbacking them. There's this thing,
and you've spoken about this. This is this thing that

(01:20:49):
happens like the last three weeks, party has gotten a
lot of complements around the San Francisco Barrea. So is
Kyle Shanahan. There are weak This may or may not
surprise you. There are weeks, months, even years in the
last six where I've had to go to pretty great
lengths to defend Kyle Shanahan to the fan base because

(01:21:13):
they get upset because oh, he's a genius, or if
he's such a genius, now why don't he go for
it on fourth and two? This kind of stuff. But
right now he looks like he is in his bag.
There are people running free down the sidelines. He's on
his third quarterback, and they're moving up the rankings in

(01:21:37):
terms of being favored to win the NFC. So if
Kyle Shanahan is such a great play caller and he
has this unique run scheme and he knows how to
run people open and he just needs a quarterback who
will see it, how come no one else can do this?

(01:21:58):
Why hasn't it been coppied yet? Well, you know, the
thing that Kyle Shanahan has for him is the greatest
thing that happened for Kyle Shanahan which expanded you know,
his offensive mind was when they drafted, when his dad

(01:22:22):
drafted r G three in Washington. And the reason I
say that was because I know the Shanahan offense. I
know what it was. I played in the offense with
his dad and I with Gary Kubiak, and under Kyle Shanahan,
it's the same offense. But when they got r G

(01:22:42):
three and he was more comfortable with UH run past options,
the r p O s right, this was something that
wasn't in that style of offense. That was that was
not existence. It was run first play action, right. That

(01:23:04):
was the genesis of it. So when he when he
evolved and opened up his mind offensively to accommodate a
talent like r G three where they went on a
seven game when he stream made the playoffs the whole
nine yards, that opened up something inside him to where
he got to see, Okay, if I add this here

(01:23:26):
and put this like a chemist, right, if I do this,
it's it's the same. It's almost the same here. But
so now he's evolved with that, Right, he goes to
Houston a little bit more you know, evolving. He goes
to Atlanta, it's more evolving. Now he's running the show
in San Francisco, and based on the dynamic talent that

(01:23:48):
they have around him, he's open to, oh, I can
do anything. And it's very hard to duplicate that because
the foundation, uh, it is something that it's you know,
I guess you could say it's d n A wise
because it you know, it's right, Like he's grown up
with this and he's been able to add to an

(01:24:11):
experiment with that now. So now when you look at it,
it's like, Okay, he's got something special. It's hard to
duplicate that. Yeah, so I now here's the other thing
that that one could say, um, and I think it
would be fair. And I wonder what you think, because
is it that Cas Shanahan just now has the perfect

(01:24:32):
compliment of of people and and health right or does
he finally have the exact quarterback who has a skill
set to do all these things? Or is the obvious
thing just right in front of us, which is that
as soon as they installed Christian McCaffrey as a full
time starter there seven and out. Oh well, Christian McCaffrey

(01:24:54):
allows you to do things that you know you couldn't
do with anyone on else. I mean, he's he's one
of those talents right when you add and we said
it when when when he was there, I remember we
were it was speculation. I was like, I asked you
this question, Uh, when his name came up in trade,
I said, could you imagine if Kansas City had a

(01:25:16):
Christian McCaffrey in the backfield? Could you imagine what that
would look like with the Patrick mahomes. So now you
take what does it look like with a Kyle shanahan
with Christian McCaffrey in the back food. They're going to
always put him in a position to where he has
the upper hand in terms of skill, and so that's

(01:25:40):
as a chef, that's what you want. You want the
best ingredients, and right now the San Francisco forty Niners
have the best ingredients. That's why they cook it. Yeah. Yeah,
they definitely are seven h seven wins in a row.
You've got him at what number two and rankings, and
I I sort of feel like we we keep putting

(01:26:03):
Philadelphia at number one out of respect to their records.
On Philadelphia is a good they played good football, man, No, no, no, no,
they're very very good. But in this moment, like just
eye test that defense, don't the forty Niners look like

(01:26:23):
the best team? Yeah? They do. But you gotta remember
the Philadelphia Eagles have the m v P of the
league at quarterback, that in itself, that in itself will
prepare the propel them on top of the thirteen and
one record too, that they're the only team to clinch
a playoff spot so far, and so that the n yes, yeah, yeah,

(01:26:49):
So with that, you would have to say, Okay, they
have the best record in the league and the it's
on favor for the league MVP. Of course their number
one me no matter what you feel about San Francisco.
Reality is reality? Yeah, no, I I don't. I don't
argue that. I will ask you this one one other

(01:27:10):
sort of Cale Shanahan related question, and it's this which
I find this to be holy unfair. When he gets going,
you'll hear people say, Okay, if you've got Shanahan calling
those plays, you have the number one ranked defense in
the NFL, and now you have weapons like Christian McCaffrey

(01:27:30):
and Deebo Samuel and George Kittle and Brandon Aouk. Wow,
you really just need a guy back there who won't
mess it up. We've reached a spot where it's like
the quarterback of teams like that almost can't be complimented.
If you mess it up, Oh my gosh, you're junk.

(01:27:51):
It's like you can't play in this scenario. But if
you play well, you you still get downgraded because it's like, well,
you've got every resource available. It's like being born on
third right, and then like you don't get to hit
a triple you you're already there. I don't think that's
fair to these quarterbacks. There have plenty of quarterbacks who

(01:28:15):
have not been able to succeed in this system. With
these people whatnot, Like we you still get credit right
for winning football games, even if you've got all that
around you. Yeah, you do. You get credit because the
one thing you can't do, and when you're not a
top tier quarterback and you have this much talent, the

(01:28:35):
thing you can't do is mess it up, right, So
you have to play within yourself not to mess it up.
All they're asking you to do is not mess it up.
And brock Purty is playing well pretty you got a
pretty good passing rating, plays within himself, doesn't try to
do too much. Sometimes you can get the feeling yourself,

(01:28:57):
I'm gonna do this, Oh I can make that throw. Whoa, whoa,
whoa whoa. It's like, we don't need you to make
that throw. I mean he's completing his passes. That's the
reality of it, right. The last two games he had
a passing rate into one thirty four and one seventeen.

(01:29:19):
You know this, Yeah man, this he's like, Look, I
got a brand new you know, lamporghini, and I'm not
about to tell this up street racing. I'm not about
to race uh a dodge hatchback at the light to

(01:29:41):
prove anything. I'm just about to just go play. I'm
just I'm cruising man. It's Sunday cruising and all he
has to do with Sunday cruise. Now, somewhere along the line,
they're gonna ask him to do something. They're gonna need
him to do something, and he'll be well within himself
to do that. It was two hundred and sixty second
picking the draft. Mm hmm, it's wild man. It's set

(01:30:08):
up to be such an incredible he got drafted. Related
story credits were rolling totally. Oh gosh, thanking the people
in the broadcast, thanking the people in the broadcast booth,
and showing pictures of cameraman and their families and all
of that. Uh Fix Sports radioteil Gate presented by the

(01:30:30):
Big Green Egg. Nothing beats the flavor of live fire
cooking on a Big Green Egg. It's the most versatile
girl you'll ever own, Backed by a lifetime warranty roll
with the best shop online for free delivery at Big
green egg dot com. Lifetime warranty, free home delivery Big
green egg dot Com. Now Eve from I always have something.
This is one of the things, many things, but one
of the things I live by. Don't ever be the

(01:30:50):
person that represents the lack of fun. One NFL coach
decided to jump in and do this over the weekend.
We'll talk about that it up next with even Sala
Mark Wether. This is Fox Sports Radio. Okay, here we
are live in the tirag dot com studios. That's from Salam.
I'm Mark Willard. Happy holidays and take a breath. What

(01:31:14):
a weekend it it has been and we're all over
and all around it. Let me ask you this, hey
from Here's something I don't know about you, even though
I've known you for a while. Your roller coaster guy
to um, you know, my my kids are um like

(01:31:36):
Disney fanatics. My wife is too. And I think last
year I was on something and I realized I said, hey,
I think I'm in a position to retire the thrill
seeking roller coaster ride. I think I'm good. Um, yeah,

(01:31:57):
it happens. I don't know exactly what the age is,
but at a certain point, I'm like, I don't need
to be on a corkscrew anymore. Like speed is fine,
but it's like okay, right, like right side up, it's underrated. Yeah,
I'm cool. I just I'm okay, right with all the

(01:32:17):
trauma and the head banging and I used to do.
I'm cool, I'm good, okay, but try this with your kids.
That you try this with your kids, Disney fanatics, right,
Big Thunder Mountains, Space batter Horn Mountain, whatever, whatever mountain
they want to get. I'm not doing none of the mountains, okay,

(01:32:41):
But they get done with that ride and they're coming off,
they're smiling, they get cotton candy coming outside of the mouth,
and all this to be sitting now, hold on, say,
hold on a second, kids. I know that that looks fun,
but it is a shame that you didn't stop to
appreciate the engineering work that took place in order to

(01:33:04):
make this ride work. I'd like you to go on
it again, and instead of smiling with cotton candy and
screaming and putting your hands up in the air, I'd
like you to look at the tracks and take time
to understand what it takes to do something like this. Right,
How do you think your kids would go? What? Right?

(01:33:30):
Isn't that what Mike Tomlin of the Steelers just did
to us? Let me read this quote. This legitimately bothers me.
Minca Fitzpatrick phenomenal defensive player. Remember When the Steelers recently
beat the Falcons, there was a play at the end
of the game where Minca had a clear opportunity for

(01:33:52):
a defensive score, but with the game being decided the
moment he possessed the ball, Minca did exactly what a
good football player will do, which is just kind of
like sit down or take a knee, or run out
of bounds, whatever it may be. We see this stuff
happen all the time. I lost a fantasy football championship
a couple of years ago because Miles Sanders broke through

(01:34:15):
the defensive line of the Dallas Cowboys. They needed a
first down to simply get into victory formation. There was
nothing but field in front of him, and he took
a seat on the twenty yard line. The Eagles won
the game, and I lost from And you know what
I did. I shrug that I laughed because that's part
of the game that we play. But don't wag your

(01:34:36):
finger at us for viewing football through that lens. And
I quote, it is ridiculous that we're talking about something
other than winning, whether or not you have the Steelers defense,
and the fantasy points that you lost, or the gambling
aspects of overs and unders on a personal note, I'm

(01:34:58):
saddened often by the distract actions that can become part
of viewing and enjoying men competing at the highest level
of the game that we all love, by fantasy teams
and over and underlines it's unfortunate at times, really end
quote Mike, we're probably not watching without that stuff. Well,

(01:35:21):
I would you, and and and and look, I'm football
fan too, I watched this well before there were pools
and fantasies and well all this stuff. But like, don't
wag your finger at people for showing up on Sunday
with nachos and beer and a smile, like this isn't

(01:35:43):
this doesn't have We're not here, as he says, watch
men compete at the highest level. I mean, sure, that's
part of it, and we're fans of our teams, But
I think as an entertainment outlet, the NFL has got
it dialed. It's perfect. It's so many different things at once.

(01:36:03):
My girlfriend can't even she came over today and we're
sitting here, my son, we're watching and we got fantasy playoffs,
multiple teams, pools, pickpools, we can bet side bets. We
have so many things going on the red Zone channel.
She's looking at because I don't even know what the hell.
I don't what are you rooting for? I'm like forty
seven different things? And it's really fun, right, don't don't

(01:36:25):
wait for everything? Everything right? And I know it looked
like an idiot. I know you're like chief score, No,
not that guy like and it's ridiculous, but it's fun
and that's what we're doing here. It's part of the
pageantry of it. It's part of the entertainment of a sport.

(01:36:46):
Is entertainment, all right, you you this, it's part of
it's expanded to be to be more than just watching.
It's interactive now with the gambling aspect, with the fantasy
football aspect of it. So you have to embrace the change.
We're still looking at like look for coaches and all that.

(01:37:08):
They don't care about the points of prayers, they don't
care about any of that. And we get it. It's
all about w s and els. The more ws you have,
the better chance you are to play in that second season,
which is the playoffs. And I get it, and I'm
not mad about it. Right, He's he doesn't care about
any anything other than the win and that's his way,

(01:37:29):
in a long drawn out way of telling you, Hey man,
I don't care about none of that. Y'all can wager
over under whatever. I just want to win, and you
know they got to win. That's it. Mike Tomlin is
all about the win that and and he should be.
I guess the like I get a little uncomfortable when

(01:37:53):
you use the word distraction. It's not a distraction. Well,
it can be a distraction. It could be a distraction
in the locker if if anybody in the locker room
was worried about anything outside of the w if they're
worried about you know, the over and under, that is

(01:38:13):
a distraction. Sure, But I don't think that that that
that's happening. Where's that happening? And I also understand that
if players are getting hammered on social media by people,
you know, the stupid stuff that comes, the dumb death
threats and the because you this that the other on
the field, all of that stuff is the lunatic fringe,

(01:38:34):
quite frankly, and I would never I would never defend that.
But if you're gonna wag your finger at the way,
quite frankly, the steep majority of us consume your product.
I don't think that that the only reason he's wagging
the fingers. Somebody asked him the question, obviously, right, so

(01:38:56):
you know then then he's gonna answer like that. You know,
Mike tom right, I always right. But see, I just
you know what, This is why I love Mike McDaniel
so much. He has proven you don't need to be
that damn cookie cutter that all coaches are covering their

(01:39:17):
faces because oh my gosh, somebody might be reading lips
with binoculars up in the third day, Like gosh, you
so many of these coaches it take themselves so seriously.
It's like we're not you're not a CIA operative. You're
calling a play and and someone's gonna go try right,

(01:39:37):
It's like, execute the play. May he rest in peace,
Mike Leach. It's one of the reasons I loved this guy.
You go ask him a question and the next thing
you know, he's talking about bacon cookies. I mean, who
knows where that conversation is going. So these standardized like
we're it's just like, come on, said, who are I

(01:39:57):
know that that's not really them. I've talked to guys
who've played for Belichick. That guy at the podium. That's
not Bill, that's Bill's media persona. I don't know. I
like it when people let us in a little bit
step out of the role. Sometimes it's okay, we're not
caring cancer. Yeah no, what you're bringing joy? Joy to

(01:40:21):
the world. Wow, not if I lose my fantasy game,
right I can tell you that right now. Um, all right, uh,
much more on Week fifteen action the World Cup and
much much more just moments away. But Brian family, right now,
let's find out what is trending in the world market, Ethan,

(01:40:46):
what's going on? So we've got this Sunday night football
game happening, and Graham good oh, just made a fifty
yard field goal for the Giants formerly of the Washington Commanders,
by the way, was gonna anyway. It's seventeen to nine
New York ahead against those Anders with three eleven ago
in the third quarter. There was a touchdown by the
Commanders here in the third quarter. They went for two.

(01:41:07):
They did not get it. There was a penalty, They
pushed them back, went for the extra point and then
missed the extra point. So it's now adding onto the
Gano touched or field goal at seventeen to nine Giants.
Earlier in the NFL, we saw Chandler Jones catchy backwards
pass from Jacoby Myers and running all the way back
for a touchdown last play of the game as the

(01:41:29):
Raiders went in shocking fashion against the Patriots thirty to
twenty four. Derek carrr had three touchdown tosses in the game.
A Cameron Dicker forty three yard field goals salts it
for the Chargers in a seventeen and fourteen beat down
of the Titans at SOFI Stadium. That's justin Herbert three
thirteen yards passing, had that last two minute drive, two

(01:41:52):
minute drill drive late and he found Mike Williams to
get into field goal range and then it was Dicker
who was able to connect at the end. It was
a Bengals thirty four to twenty three win against the
Buccaneers where Joe Burrow had four touchdown passes. Tom Brady
had four turnovers, which is not exactly a recipe for
winning and his Buccaneers are now six and eight on

(01:42:14):
the season, and the Bengals improved a ten and four
and they retained sole possession of the a f C North.
The Cardinals go down against the Broncos twenty four to fifteen,
while the Texans put up a fight against the Chiefs,
but Casey prevails thirty to twenty four in overtime, and
by virtue of that win, Kansas City wins the a
f C West by doing it for a seven straight years,

(01:42:38):
so they have had dominion over that division. The Jaguars
have won against the Cowboys forty to thirty four in overtime.
Trevor Lawrence looking good four touchdown tosses and a pick
six and overtime sealed it for Jacksonville as the Cowboys
dropped a tenant four on the year. Steelers over the
Panthers twenty four to sixteen. Sam Donald one touchdown pass

(01:43:00):
and a losing effort, and the Lions got a fifty
one yard touchdown throw from Jared Goff with under two
minutes to go to sail pass the Jets twenty to
seventeen and now Detroit to seven and seven, which is
the same win loss record for the Jets as well.
The Bears come up short against the Eagles twenty five
to twenty. Jalen Hurts had those two interceptions, but he

(01:43:24):
did have three rushing scores and the Eagles are thirteen
and one on the season and are just dominating in
the NFC East. With that, let's get it back to
e from and Mark and I know that I from
you were watching this Lakers game, and now you've got
to be pretty proud. Right now, it's halftime in sixty
six to fifty two. I did hear Kyle Kuzma while

(01:43:46):
he is on Washington that the Laker fans are calling
for him to come back to Washing or come back
to l a they need him. I mean, I'd be nice.
I have always always been fond of But to answer
your question, I'm not getting too excited because I know
we have a second half to play and the Lakers
are notorious for having um slow third quarters which allows

(01:44:12):
teams to get back in So I'm just gonna be
patient and see how this thing shakes out. We'll see.
I still can't believe. I still cannot believe, and especially
when you've got a big name out right So now
Anthony Davis gonna be out for a little while with
an injury, I still cannot believe. I think I shared

(01:44:32):
this with you Opening night, uh and ring night for
the Golden State Warriors up here the Los Angeles Lakers
were the were the opponent, and I just hadn't done
it was, you know, we're football season. I had not
done the deep dive on what the Lakers had done
in their off season. And they come out and play,
and I'm like, we all know lebron a d we know.

(01:44:55):
I guess all the chatter that was going on surrounding
the name Russell Westbrook, we know that Patrick Beverley is
now on the team. And then the rest of the
team ran out, and I'm like, who the hell are
all these people? It's just like and about Laker Jersey's
in the parking lot and and right, I just like

(01:45:15):
what and even look at it now, a D s
out Westbrook is still coming off the bench. It just
feels like that one project around your house that you
just keep pushing off. The whole roster feels like a
big procrastination project. You know, this isn't the deal, but

(01:45:37):
but but so do something. Why is Russell Westbrook still
on the team? Do something? Right? M Right now? Yeah,
you're right, And according to them, they're happy with his
his embracement of the new role coming off the bench. Yeah,
but his his basketball que's still terrible and he still

(01:45:58):
makes terrible decisions, the turn overs at inopportunity times. And
yes he isn't added Spark. He has the Lakers having
one of the best benches in the league. But still, man,
I mean, I know, sure, Spark, right, he's Westbrook. What

(01:46:19):
do you do? Is there a deal out there? If
Lebron James was still acting like the Lebron I've known
in in his career, or the other maniacal competitors, the
other Tom Brady's, Michael Jordan's and Tiger Woods, then it

(01:46:40):
wouldn't look like this because he would demand that in
the final handful of years in his career, you'd give
him a chance. He's thirty seven years old and in
twelve days he's gonna be thirty eight. Well that's what
they did. And they just did what he did, what
he wanted them to do, and they wanted Westbrook and

(01:47:02):
he got Westbrook. And then now then he wanted this year.
But then he wanted what you Once you've acquired that asset, brother,
it ain't no what get rid of that, Okay, especially
coming off the year he had, so you this is
what you wanted Lebron being Lebron, Hey, they had a deal.
They won't get Buddy Hill and Turner and he he

(01:47:22):
wanted Westbrook and they got Westbrook and Westbrook can't shoot
and everybody else is old. And so now, yeah, you
don't get to be the GM anymore because we still
got to clean up this mess. So they got to
figure it out. Man. They told him that the trade deadline,
this is what you wanted, so you know, figure it

(01:47:42):
out right now. It's it's fascinating because the Lakers and
Rams feel very similar to me, which is that that
you know, they they spared no expense to acquire very
big aimes and the effort was not only are we

(01:48:04):
going to have star power, We're going to give something
to our fans, but we're also going to obviously hope
that this leads to a championship. Now, the Lakers get
during COVID, they get a ring. The Rams last year
they get a ring. But the cost for those and
you'd never trade it back. It's like, hey, it's a

(01:48:25):
ring that was the ring point. You get a ring
that is the whole point, but you would love I
sometimes as a fan, I wonder about this one ring
followed by what feels like it's going to be an
excessive rebuild or a long time before you're winning again?
Or do you would you sign up for sustain You

(01:48:49):
had to win you to get you. We had to
we had to catch the subjects. We had to catch
the Celtics. Okay, we had But like, right, Rams fans,
you got a super Bowl? But doesn't it feel now
like it's like, oh my gosh, it might be we
don't have any draft picks. Are you going to never
play again? Our coaches? Okay, I'm not disagreeing with you.

(01:49:14):
I just love it. I love when I'm rooting for
a team that says we are we're setting up a
plan so that we're gonna be here every year. We
won't win them all, but but we're gonna be here
every year. Trust the process, Right, Well, sometimes that works
and sometimes it doesn't. What they have they have? You know,

(01:49:36):
they win games? Um do they they're in the playoff hunt?
Have they won a championship? No? So did the process work?
Is it working? They bring a formidable team to the
arena every night, but it has not manifested itself into

(01:49:57):
a championship. So what would you take? Would you take
that team or would you take an opportunity to win
a championship, and I can promise you everybody in Philadelphia
will take one championship in the next five years opposed
to having a good team get knocked out in the

(01:50:17):
playoffs every year. Fully agree, fully agree. However, it's not
like there are an examples in both of these leagues
that we're talking about where team's done both when and sustain. Yeah,
that that takes time. And the thing would banner organizations

(01:50:38):
like the Lakers, they don't necessarily like to waste time, right,
They're like, yeah, that that all that sounds good. We're
trying to make it happen now at zero patients, right,
But I mean, like, go to the other team in
the l A look at the Dodgers. You know they
same year they get the pandemic. If you want to

(01:51:00):
acknowledges that a full championships, a full championship, man, you
gotta win, you win, you win, Okay, so you get
a ring. But they're also they're there every year. They're
not gonna win them all. You would actually look at
the last twelve years of Dodger baseball and go, damn,
you only got one that win the division every single year.

(01:51:20):
Just kind of like Bobby Cox is right, Well, Bobby
Cox is brave. Same thing right there. There was every
single year and they only broke through once. But that's
that's the deal. That's the deal. Like I I feel
like the Lakers they got the they got the ring,
the Rams. I know, we're trying to fill the building. Also, gosh,

(01:51:43):
it feels like it's gonna be a long time until
it all gets figured out again. Yeah, it just might. Man,
you know, but hey, title town man. We stack chips
over here, we stack chiffs over here. You know, everybody
what the clippers in charge so far? Boston and San

(01:52:06):
Francisco are online too. They have a question for you.
But okay, I mean we can be we can. We
can what you want to do? I mean nothing, count
them out? How many years back? And we going we
can go back to the beginning to count them out?
All right, it is Fox Sports Sunday. That's e from

(01:52:26):
salam Mark Willard. Coming up next, we circle back to
the best sporting event of the day and maybe of
the year, maybe of ever on Fox Sports Radio. All right, look,
I want to just take this moment Trac dot Com Studios,
because this time next week, that particular day is called Christmas. Um,

(01:52:50):
and so um, this will be my last chance in
this slot to speak to you and all of you
here in two so um, just very very heartfelt thank
you to each and every one of you for making
this a part of your evening, a part of your weekend.

(01:53:12):
A very heartfelt thank you to you. A from It's
a ton of fun to chat with you every single
weekend and I can't wait to do it into twenty
twenty three and uh and beyond. And so a happy holiday,
a happy new year, and just yeah, nothing, nothing but
absolutely love for each and every one of you, and

(01:53:34):
and UH and your families and uh at the front
of the line as you my brother. I appreciate you.
I appreciate you, man. UH. And that's very heartfelt. So
you're basically telling me you're not gonna be at work
next week, So cool, I'm not working next week, that's right, Okay,
cool cool. I mean that's basically did that whole long
saying and trying to hide the leave of you not

(01:53:54):
showing up for the people on the work. But that's cool. Yeah.
And I've I basically i've never I've never said that
I can't be passive, aggressive, that isn't my repertoire. And
so that's what I just said. Okay, I look, I'm
not mad at UH. I'll be here. I'll carry I'll
be carrying the torch UH headed into the new year

(01:54:17):
because some of us, you know, value work and and
and the people. But now, brother, on on the real note,
it's been a ball I've had. UH. We've known each
other for a long time, and it's you know, it's
been fun. Love to to get in these moments and
and talk about the day of sports and just life
in general. And thank you to UH all the board

(01:54:39):
operators and and and and all of the update deaths
and all of the the all of our personnel here
are producers everyone. Uh, it's great, man. It's great to
come to work and do something you love. And I
truly love this and I want everybody to have a
no matter what you celebrate, a happy holiday and and UH,

(01:55:01):
you know, just more love, more joy out there. Ain't
that the truth? Ain't that the truth? Yeah? Bo and
and and Sam and Brian tonight. Yeah, I appreciate you.
The same goes to UH, to each and every one
of you, and UH, and maybe the best way to
leave you and we're not all leaving you playing and
and and span your be here in UH in just
a few um. But I think no no better way

(01:55:25):
to bring at least our conversations in two to a
close UH than UH than playing for you. What is
the most emotional moment in sports broadcasting history? I I
feel very very confident in saying that, and that's a
big statement. UM. But it's funny because the World Cup
every year, every four years in America, it's always like, Okay,

(01:55:45):
are we were getting better? When are we actually gonna this?
When are we gonna that? When a soccer going to
be the same in America? Okay? The the answer in
many ways, and you've said it from it is getting better.
Four years from now we could be interesting one more
time for the people everybody. Uh. Soccer in America will

(01:56:06):
never and sound like that. And we should end the
show on this. So with this, we bid you good night. Look. Look,
I dude, p dude, I do dude. I got pig

(01:56:32):
blue blood dude, I got big blue down get dude,
I got pill blue dude. I didn't see Louisa. He

(01:56:55):
plase your good to for Luis. You're talking. You can
see a loutanic one kiss anna him on the mole. Yes,
you come on the gog no points and they opened
on myney see no things for free. I cantin now listen,

(01:57:19):
it's not a cantina in a colony. It come pon,
cool looking. How you go on the place inside? You
just put on the game popping day pet the meeting

(01:57:43):
cast out Handina handa. They complydical zone no no, no,
go ahead, cry for me Argentina. I counted him, by

(01:58:04):
the way, the great andres Cantor who hails from Argentina,
the greatest soccer announcer of all time. I counted them.
It was eleven China's. I was kind of hoping it
would be ten because that was Messy's number. But hey,
Andre's lost count. He was a little emotional. I think

(01:58:26):
we can forgive them, uh for e from salam Mark
Willard bid each and every one of you not just
a good night, but a good weekend and a good
holiday and a good twenty two happy New Year.

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