Aaron Torres and Jason Martin talk the Bengals and the Jaguars!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome in everybody, Fox
Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday. Eron Torres, Jason Martin here
on a playoff clinching Saturday night. As to Seger just
told you, Tennessee tightens up thirteen to ten in Jacksonville,

(00:23):
a f C South on the line in this one,
Josh Jobs slinging it all over the field. I am
eron Torres, Jason Martin joining me. We are broadcasting live
from the Diirect dot Com studios. Direct dot Com will
help you get there and unmatched selection, fast, free shipping,
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(00:45):
up thirteen ten, early third quarter, mid third quarter, Jason Martin,
what is going on, my friend? Well, second week in
a row. We've had very important football being played in
this time slot last week as me and Arnie and
of course you came and right as stroke of midnight.
Basically we're pretty close to it on the East Coast
to celebrate New Year, right after the college football playoff,

(01:07):
and here we have basically a playoff game. Uh, the
winner here wins the NFC South thing goes on, and
this is exactly the game that I thought it was
gonna be. All week long, I have not understood the
Jags have a chance to win thing because and maybe
just because I've had to cover this Titans team day
daily for much of the last decade, not this season

(01:28):
for the first time in a while. But I still
live in Nashville. I'm still watching and paying attention, and
it's kind of hard to shut the brain off when
it comes to analyzing this team. And this is just
what they do. And they're gonna run the ball with
Derrick Henry. The problem was going to be the offensive line.
But I watched Dobbs against Dallas and I thought, you
know what, he shouldn't look this good like this. This

(01:48):
is not a guy that should have just walked in
off the street two days ago and been able to
do this. But Dobbs was able to pick up the
playbook and do exactly what his coach needed him to do.
And that's again what he's doing to night. He's making
some plays. For the most part, he's keeping it within himself.
He is standing tall when he has to, he's escaping
when he has to. The Jags are gonna have to
beat the Titans. The Titans do not look like a

(02:09):
team tonight that is gonna beat themselves, and we'll we'll
find out. I mean, it's certainly he can go either
way right now. But the Titans had the look of
the team that will win this football game right now.
I don't disagree with that. Tightens up sixteen ten. Now
they did just knock through an extra field goal. Excuse me,
uh And to Jason's point, really, the Titans I thought

(02:32):
controlled the first half. Derrick Henry already eighty yards on
the ground, twenty carries. There was a long, long, long
drive middle of the second quarter there to go up,
you know, to to go up in the first half
sixteen ten again to score. Trevor Lawrence on the previous drive,
by the way, missed a wide open receiver in the
back of the end zone, which would have at the
time given the Titans are given the Jaguars a league.

(02:54):
But it is sixteen ten. Obviously the other game earlier today,
Kansas City takes care of loss. I guess they win
thirty one to thirteen. KSE now has the number one
seed in the a f C. We'll get to the
complicated a f C playoff picture in a minute, and
of course keep you updated on the Titans and Jaguars
here again tightens up sixteen ten. But Jason, you know,

(03:15):
you mentioned that I was not here last week, and
I did call in after midnight when the Georgia TCU
game went final, and the reason was, and I told
you guys at the time, and it was kind of
tongue in cheek, but I was actually supposed to be
traveling to Cincinnati for a work commitment over the weekend,
and um, you know, I would have been in the
stadium for the Monday night game in uh, you know,

(03:36):
in Cincinnati with with Buffalo and Cincinnati, but trip got
canceled because of the Southwest chaos and uh, you know,
to be blunt, this isn't about me, but I'm glad
that the trip got canceled because of what happened in Buffalo.
So you know, I know that the Damar Hamlin news
is now six seven days old at this point whatever
it is but one and we'll talk about it down

(03:59):
the road because there are ball implications about what it
means for the seating and the playoffs and all that.
Again with Casey winning today, especially Buffalo playing tomorrow. But
let's just very quickly talk about the story of the week.
DeMar Hamlin. We all know the deal by now, and
of course you know the benefit I guess you would
say of us not working until Saturday when this happens
on Monday night. We do have some largely positive updates

(04:21):
to kind of give everybody. Uh, DeMar Hamlin has has
facetimeed with teammates, you know, we we've seen the updates
about that. Cognitively, he is in very good shape, um,
and so you know, this is still an ongoing thing.
There are a lot of chapters left to be written
in the DeMar Hamlin story, but a lot of positive
updates on what was obviously a horrifying scene on Monday

(04:43):
night in Cincinnati. Jayson. Yeah, the positive news though, man,
Praise Christ Jesus. I just have to say that, like
we talked, we've talked sometimes about your wife and what
she does for a living. My wife a doctor, and
she said two days ago, it'll be a miracle if
he's not brain dead. That was literally, I mean, that's
a that's the look that she said to me. And
I asked her for more explanation because of course that's

(05:04):
way past my pay grade. I have no idea. I'm
totally out of my depth when it comes to that.
And she talked about the lack of blood flow to
the brain, especially if it happened multiple times, and having
to be resuscitated multiple times, are having the heart restarted
multiple times, which is exactly what the Bills reported happened.
And she she basically said, She's like, he's he's going
to be brain dead, and then the next day you

(05:26):
hear his cognitive function, his neurological function is intact. And
I just said, hey, remember that miracle you were talking about.
It looks like it happened, and she said, yeah, it's
this is incredible. And then of course the face time
yesterday and everything else. I just think that I don't
know what to say about the moment itself. It was surreal.

(05:50):
I will never forget kind of being super excited after
a just not entertaining Rose Bowl to watch that Bengals
Bills game, sit down, Um, all set for the end
of the New Year's weekend, and then that happened, and
then I'm glued to the set all night. I thought,
just to take it away from DeMar for a second,

(06:12):
I thought that those that were on television that night,
did an outstanding job. I think that might have been
the highlight of Booger McFarland's career. And I know that's
not a highlight that he would need, like he's done
some good work, but this because it was totally real
his reactions. I was so impressed with the level of
maturity and care that he took in those moments to

(06:33):
just be a human being. I thought Ryan Clark was
excellent all night long. I thought Joe Buck and Troy
Aikman handled it as professionally as you could have. I mean,
everybody knocked it out of the park, and it was
an impossible situation to be in because no one had
new information. So they would just send it back and
forth to the same the same silos, and they would
have the same basic opinions and they were just in

(06:55):
real time reacting with feelings. I want to credit them,
but I just feel like this was a week where
we all kind of came together in a different way.
And you look at that toy drive and you know
he had was gonna be the go fund me and
it raised like four thousand back in his days in
pit and now it's over eight million. Dollars. It's just like,
you know what, We're in a time rain where we're

(07:18):
told we shouldn't trust our neighbor because of who they
voted for, and we have all of this division and
and there seems to be so many sources out there
that are trying to divide us. Don't forget it was
your neighbor. It was people in your community that may
not agree with everything that you think that helped in
this situation. We all tend to come together in this country.
And I thought it was a really good moment in

(07:39):
a horrible spot. A horrible spot even though we're getting
positive news. But I was I was happy to be
part of the American people this week. If that makes
any sense. It does. It does, And and you know,
I think you covered a lot of my thoughts. First
of all, I know we are Fox Sports Radio. I
don't think the bosses will mind me saying that people

(08:00):
on the other network did an incredible job. And I
think the other thing to Jason and you and I
are in this time so we've all been on air
when something happens that's serious and there's nothing really to say.
It's exactly what you just said, And I go back
to something that Arnie Spannier and I were on like
an hour after John Madden died, and I think it

(08:21):
was Christmas Day or Christmas Eve or something last year.
We were filling in for maybe Jason and Mike and
there's nothing new to say, there's nothing new to add, um,
And but you and I have been in that situation
where people are coming to you for context for something
and you're just doing your best. And that was something
that was not even I don't want to belittle a

(08:41):
death in any way, but that was a lot different
than what Scott Van Pelt and Ryan Clark and all
those guys and girls were asked to do on Monday night.
So one I thought that was incredible and I remember,
you know, telling my wife that at the time, and
I remember even tweeting it out, is that, um, you know,
we as the consumer are all coming to you even
though we know there is no new information. So that's
one thing that stood out. UM. I think the other

(09:03):
thing too, you know, really quickly we got to give
credit to to the professionals. And I know these guys
and girls, they all went to school for a long
time to to to to respond to crisis like they
did on Monday night. But I'll sit there and say,
you know, it's one thing to to to be in
that moment, and it's one thing to to to have
been in those situations before. It's another thing when there's

(09:24):
seventy thousand people or whatever in the stadium, when there's
millions watching. And the response that they had was just,
you know, it literally saved saved this this young man's life.
And and so I would say that the last thing
I would say, but you know, but before we get
back to Damar Hamlin himself, Um, you know, I think
we do have to I want to get I'll take

(09:46):
a moment. And again, I know, now we're six seven
days removed, it probably doesn't matter like it did maybe
on Monday or Tuesday. The NFL. I'm not a big
if you If you make the right decision, I don't
care how long it took to get there. And I
saw a lot of criticism of the NFL for, you know,
not immediately canceling that game whatever. And again maybe now
six seven days removed, that isn't a conversation that is

(10:07):
even necessary. But I thought the professionals handled it well
on the field. I thought if the coaches were the
ones that pushed the league to cancel that game. I
give the coaches credit for having the pulse of their
locker room, and I ultimately give credit to the NFL
for understanding that this isn't about the playoffs, It isn't
about this moment in time, and isn't about this game.
It's obviously about one first and foremost the safety of

(10:29):
Damar Hamlin, but to the mental health as well of
the players that were on the field. And so those
are my only real thoughts. And again, a lot of
this is probably six seven days old, and I know
a lot of people have heard a lot of different
people on this network talk about that over the last
six seven days. But I thought everybody did the best
given that it was just a completely unprecedented scenario. Chase, Yeah,

(10:50):
and I absolutely agree. I don't think the league should
be criticized at all because they made the right decision.
It's not like they went back started playing, realized it
was it was a mistake, and stopped when it happened.
The only thing that came to mind was owen hard
to me, as somebody that worked in pro wrestling as
long as I did and and still actively cover the
industry and have written about it for over two decades.
That's the darkest mark in the history of w W.

(11:12):
E was going on with that show after Owen fell
and died in the ring and going and finishing, and
you've got guys in the ring trying to do their
job crying, and you've got people trying to do interviews
in the back crying. And it was the show must
go on mentality, And I'm not sure they've ever lived
it down. It was just a horrifyingly bad decision in

(11:33):
the moment. The NFL got this right. I would tell
you if you're out there, if you have an Athletic
subscription and you haven't read the long form piece on
Zach Taylor that was put out a day or two
ago about how this situation was handled from his perspective
as the opposing coach uh and and what Sean McDermott
has had to say about him this week, and what
his own team has had to say, and say, hey,

(11:55):
this is the guy we see every day, Like this
story might blow your mind. I didn't know anything about
Zach Taylor other than you know what we've seen on
the field. Man, it would be hard to root against
him after you read that piece like it is, it
is a really really worthwhile thing too, thing to do.
But yeah, to your point, there was not going to

(12:17):
be in terms of the time frame, there was no
precedent for this. Everybody was trying to figure out what
was going on. And I'll say this now that we're
out of that, out of that part of the discussion.
He's still in critical condition, but everything right now is
looking good. We're going to continue to pray for him,
obviously and send everything that we can his way. But

(12:37):
I feel like during that time frame from somewhere, you know,
nine to ten thirty PM my time, so maybe ten
to eleven thirty Eastern, when we weren't getting any kind
of updates at all, but there were people at the hospital,
but there was nothing being said. There was a part
of my my mind that thought he had passed away.

(12:57):
And I feel like there's a lot of people out
there that thought we were either gonna wake up to
that news the next day or we were gonna get
it before the night was out, because it was almost
like they know, but they're trying to let the family
know and all these other kinds of things. But it
just it felt so odd that when when you get
up and you get the positive news the next morning,

(13:18):
it was just like, holy cow, like this, I mean
everything about the drama that night, I have never really
experienced anything like that watching sports, anything even close to that.
As a matter of fact, we've seen some horrifying scenes,
some scary stuff, but that was unprecedented on every level.
And again, I think that everybody involved, from the league,

(13:38):
to the teams, to the coaches, to the players, to
those in the media that night, especially on the four
Letter that had to do it in real time, I
thought all of them came through with flying colors, and
I was proud of each and every one of them.
Agree with everything you said. The latest update as of
about mid day today, Damar Hamlin is breathing on his
own and his neurological function is quote excellent, according to

(14:01):
the physicians in Cincinnati. So obviously don't suspect that we
will get any updates during our show, but we'll keep
you updated if we hear anything. But that is great
news out of Cincinnati in an otherwise scary scary situation.
On Monday night, Fox Sports Radio Errant Torres Jason Martin
coming up, We now look at it from the football
perspective as the Bills still battling obviously for playoff seating

(14:25):
playoff first, same with the Bengals. As a matter of fact,
Casey has already played today. We let you know what
that all means. That's coming up next. Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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(14:46):
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(15:08):
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(15:30):
more all your protection in one place. Bundle and save
at Progressive dot com. Since we last left you, a
little bit of an update in that Tennessee Jacksonville game. Uh,
the score right now in that one Tennessee and Jacksonville
of course playing win in your in end of the
third quarter at is sixteen to ten Tennessee leads. Josh

(15:53):
Dobbs did throw an interception, does not appear as though
it will cost them necessarily. Will see as the four
third quarter is over, we head to the fourth and
we'll keep you updated on that. Jason, I, what's your opinion?
You know, we we obviously opened the show by talking
about the story of the week to Mark Hamlin, and
obviously there's a lot of you know, real world aspects
to it, a lot of real serious stuff and and

(16:14):
you know, obviously we discussed a lot of that to
lead the show. There is some football elements to it
as well, though, and and obviously part of the reason
why why some wondered if the game would or should
be canceled was because of the fact that uh the
number one seed uh is still was still at that
time very much up in the air. I think you

(16:35):
and I both agree, I know you do because we
just talked about it, that it was the right decision.
It was the only decision to cancel that game. But
with it, the NFL has this weird setup that I'm
still not totally sure I understand how this playoffs is
gonna work, but my understanding for people who have not
followed the story all week. Kansas City did play earlier
today they beat the Raiders thirteen in Vegas. They've actually

(16:58):
clinched the number one seed. Right now, they are tied
with Buffalo in the lost column. Obviously they cannot lose anymore,
and Buffalo will have one less game to play total.
So there is the possibility that Buffalo would essentially, if
they win tomorrow against New England, would essentially finish about
a half a game behind the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas

(17:19):
City would finish the regular season fourteen and three. They
have finished the regular season fourteen three. Buffalo can only
finish twelve and three because that game on Monday was canceled.
And so my understanding, Jason is if Buffalo were to
win tomorrow, um, that would make them again tied with
Casey in the lost column. Casey is the number one seed,

(17:40):
and we'll get the home field advantage. But if Casey
and Buffalo were to meet in the a f C
Championship game, it would actually be played on a yet
to be determined neutral field, because obviously, you know, would
be somewhat unfair to Buffalo because they they in theory,
could have had the same record with the head to
head win one. You know, please tell me if I
got any of that wrong. I don't think that I did.

(18:02):
But two, by the way, Jacksonville has kicked a field goal,
So it is now sixteen thirteen at the start of
the fourth quarter. I apologize for that. I must have
missed that, uh as they were going to commercial break,
But it is sixteen thirteen in this winner take all
a f C South game. But one, did I get
the a f C at least the top of the
playoff picture. We still got to talk about Baltimore and
Cincinnati tomorrow. But did I get it right? And do

(18:25):
you have any fundamental issue with the decision of the
ends of the NFL this week. I don't think you
got it wrong. I would have said basically the same
thing that you did. It's very convoluted and kind of
complicated depending on various scenarios. And it's an unfortunate spot
to be in, uh when it comes to just the
records and what you've done all season and now things

(18:47):
kind of changing and largely because of stuff that's totally
out of your control. But this is an unprecedented situation
and as bad as the Bills in or the Bengals
could end up having it as a result, it's still
not as bad as what could have happened to Damar
and and what did happen to Damar. And I think
that's the thing, like when you weigh at all, I

(19:07):
understand what the super Bowl means, and home field advantage
and home field advantage and the buy and I get
all of those things, but it's still just not comparable.
And I think that that they know that. I know
that there's a report out there that the Bengals are
real upset right now because of a possible coin toss
and all this other kind of stuff. At least that's
that's the way they felt earlier today. But I also

(19:29):
saw Joe Burrow say two days ago or maybe it's
three days ago, that there were some of his teammates.
He said, there's some people in our locker room that
aren't ready to play Sunday, meaning in our next game,
still aren't ready because of what we what we saw,
you know, watching this guy and and in that horrifying
moment everything else. This is still shaking some of these guys.
And it may still be the same way in Buffalo,

(19:50):
may even be worse for Buffalo because they're closer tied,
of course with him being an actual teammate. But there's
just no there's no rules, there's no there's no instruction
manual for this, Aaron. So I don't really fundamentally have
an issue with it because they had to come up
with something, and I just kind of struggle and just
say that's about as fair as I guess you could

(20:10):
do it. I mean, they can't make up the game
once they decided that somebody was probably gonna be at
a disadvantage. That's unfortunate, but that's that's the result of
something that almost turned into another tragedy. Absolutely, and it
was funny. I was talking to the guys before the show.
By the way, Jacksonville has forced to three and out

(20:31):
Tennessee will punt them the ball. Tennessee up sixteen thirteen
minutes left in the fourth quarter. Will keep you update
on this. This is an a f C South win
in your in scenario, the winner of this game will
get the four seed in the playoffs. That much we know, Jason,
the four seed will come out of this game. But
but the top of the a f C is still

(20:51):
a little bit convoluted. As you said, and you know,
I'm with you. I was talking to the guys about
this before the show, and kind of same thing. I
was making sure I didn't miss anything or didn't misunderstand anything.
What I said was, you know, one, I can't be mad.
I guess if you're a Bills fan, maybe you're a
Bengals fan, you're somewhat upset. But again, the alternative is

(21:13):
something much worse for Damar Hamlin, and I think most
people understand that. The other reason I just can't get
worked up. Jason, we're coming off two years of COVID cancelations. Yeah,
we're like nobody, Yeah, nobody played the same amount of
games in the NBA and in college football, and in
college I was telling the guys before the show, like,
we had a college football season where Ohio State made

(21:35):
the College Football Playoff playing six games and I think
Alabama played eleven. Like I can't get mad that we're
a half a percentage point off. And so again I
get if you're a Buffalo fan and you kind of
feel like we should get the buy and whatever, But again,
you're not gonna have to go to Arrowhead to play
the a f C championship game. And so I'm with you.

(21:56):
I I you know this is one again in of
it is because it is tied to uh, what easily
could have been a very tragic event that thankfully doesn't
appear as though it was. But I just can't get
worked up because the NFL, in a once in a
lifetime scenario um had to kind of call an audible
and there was going to be somebody at a disadvantage.

(22:18):
I should mention, by the way, and then we'll get
to the Segre maybe to Sagar can fact check me here.
This is like you know, middle school, when you have
both your parents read a paper to make sure you're
getting all the facts right. But the Bengals and the
Ravens also play tomorrow and the Bengals are the three seed.
But I guess there's some scenario where if the Ravens win,
they might have to do a cooint. I don't really

(22:38):
fully understand, So I'll tell you what. How about we
throw it over to Steve the Sager, who is the
consummate professional, smarter than both of us, smarter than both
of us, and I'm sure you have much better answers
than me. Again, it's a serious scenario that led to
this what's straight and torres out here because I'm not
sure I fully understand everything going on tomorrow, and we

(22:59):
all agree that larger things, way larger things are in
play here this past week before we even get into
the discussion. By the way, it is tightens up sixteen
thirteen at Jacksonville early fourth corridor. And yes, as far
as that cancelation on Monday night that essentially cost the
Buffalo Bills a shot at the top seed. The Chiefs

(23:19):
remember lost at home to Buffalo head to head already
this year. The Chiefs needed Buffalo to lose once in
these final two weeks, and it turns out Buffalo didn't
win or lose on Monday night. So as we look ahead,
you've got yes. If Buffalo wins tomorrow, then a potential
Buffalo versus Kansas City a f C title game would

(23:40):
be at a neutral site, but Kansas City against anyone else,
it's gonna be in Kansas City, that Buffalo else not
Casey would see, the one seed will be hosting the
a f C Championship unless it's against Buffalo. That's the
only if regarding Kansas City because they're at fourteen and three,
bills only eleven three, and the Bengals are not involved

(24:02):
at all for the one seed because they have eleven wins.
In again, Kansas City got win number fourteen today. The
thing was that if the Bengals had won at home
Monday night, that would have been a head to head
win against the great Buffalo team in the standings, Cincinnati
might not have had anything to play for tomorrow, could
have rested some players. There is the chance that the

(24:24):
Bengals have to win and avoid that potential coin flip
you talked about, which would determine the site of a
Bengals Ravens playoff game next weekend. And that's possible. I
mean the way that because the Chargers are involved in this.
If the Chargers win at Denver, I could see the
Chargers winning at Denver. And if you look at the
a f C standings, we know tonight this winner Tennessee

(24:48):
at Jacksonville takes the a f C South title and
as a division champ is automatically the four seed and
as of now, would be hosting the Chargers. You say,
why not the Baltimore Ravens because the chart Richers have
a better conference record than the Ravens. Chargers would get
the five seed. That would shove Baltimore down to six.
And guess what that sets up Baltimore Cincinnati in a

(25:09):
possible coin toss that we were talking about. So we've
got sixteen thirteen. Tennessee leads at Jacksonville, twelve minutes left
in the game. Derrick Henry twenty four carries eighty seven
yards rushing. Jacksonville as a team twelve carries just twenty
three yards. Joshua Dobbs one touchdown, one interception for Tennessee.

(25:30):
Trevor Lawrence a touchdown just over two hundred yards passing
for the Jags. It was attend nothing. Titans lead in
the second quarter, holding on sixteen thirteen right now. They
were fortunate early fourth to hold the Jags to the
thirty six yard field goal. After a turnover, Titans held
onto the lead. Kansas City did clinch the one seed

(25:50):
in the a f C and the by next weekend.
With today's win at Las Vegas thirty one thirteen. Philadelphia
quarterback Jalen Hurts after a strange shoulder, is expected to
play tomorrow. The Eagles can clinch the NFC's one seed
and a first round by you mentioned the College National
Championship Game. It's coming up Monday night in l A,
where the Rams won a Super Bowl a year ago.

(26:12):
TCU star running back Kendry Miller, with a sprained m
c L says he's questionable for the Monday game. We
can update the weather for the football weekend. By the way,
for the NFL tomorrow games at about thirty degrees tomorrow
include the home games for Buffalo and Chicago, the home
games for Cincinnati and for Pittsburgh. There's gonna be rain

(26:32):
in Seattle. I'm not sure that's news at this point,
but Seahawks will be hosting the Rams in rain and
temperatures in the forties and the Sunday night game to
end the regular season is Green Bay hosting Detroit Tomorrow night.
Temperature in the twenties. And then we've got the college
national title game in l A Monday night. Remember it
rain second half of the Rose Bowl. We've had rained

(26:53):
during this past week in l A. And the rain
will resume on Monday. The good news is that new
Rams day Um has the translucent roof over the field
and everything should be fine on the artificial terror. Back
to you, Thank you to Segor Sager. Will you be
at the title game? You you know, Dan Buyer will
be there. I will be studio on Monday. Bob, did

(27:15):
Arnie mandate that? Or now he has still no power? Harney,
it sounds like I didn't miss anything any of Arnie's
new material. Arnie doesn't no new material on any friend. Yes,
all right, well, thank you to Seger. I was at
that Rose Bowl. By the way. It was not a

(27:36):
very good game, not very good weather, but yeah it was.
It was still it was still cool because yeah, like
I said, I was supposed to be in Cincinnati, so
go to the Rose Bowl instead. But thank you to Segre,
Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday. Uh, the Tennessee Titans
have forced a punt. They will have the ball back
up sixteen thirteen, eleven minutes to go. We'll keep you
updated on that, Jason, but I'll tell you this, we

(27:59):
we just probably in the last few hours, I got
a kind of an interesting nugget that I do think
could have some big picture ramifications. Uh not this coming season,
not the playoffs, but potentially next season. As I'm not
sure if you saw this, Jason, but this came out
at about six, but you probably, I mean, I don't
know a couple of hours ago. Anyway, New Orleans Saints

(28:22):
have given permission to you'll, actually I forgot your Broncos.
I know this story very well. Okay, flora is Hers.
Do Broncos have permission from the Saints to interview Sean Payton? Apparently?
What is it after January eighth that I hear? So?
What what is the deal there? And as Sean Payton

(28:42):
riding that our white horse literally and figuratively into Mile
High Stadium and I'm sure they don't call it that
anymore to save your morbid franchise, Jason, what's mean? He's
definitely the kind of coach that could walk in and
be like, hey, Russ and that might be what's needed
right now. Um, Sleey Hackett wasn't a guy that carried
that level of cloud. We know what Sean Payton is

(29:05):
as an offensive head coach. We know what he is
as a head coach in general. Uh. The one thing
that that I would lament is if this meant Taysom
Hill was gonna be a Bronco. I was like, I
might rather lose for half a decade than have Taysom
Hill joined the team, just because I've always despised like
the way that he was used more than not him personally,
just the way that Sean Payton always felt like he
wanted to be the smartest guy in the room by

(29:26):
putting Taysom Hill in and taking Drew Brees out of
key situations even in playoff games years ago. But we
know what Jean Payton is. I would be thrilled as
Sean Payton was a coach, by the way. I'd be
thrilled if I had a real reason to cheer for
Jim Harbaugh now, because I think he's become likable the
way I cheered for him at Stanford. I wanted to
see him succeed in San Francisco the first couple of years,

(29:48):
then kind of the act worth then for a little while,
and then over the last few years, I feel like
he's become a lot more just likable, affable with what
he's done. So if he ended up the Broncos coach,
I'd be fine with that. But the pain thing is
interesting just because the Saints still own the rights, and
it would still involve sending something to them like my coach,

(30:08):
which is such a strange scenario, and right they don't
have the assets that some of these other franchises do,
and there will be other teams that want Sean Payton,
and um, I mean, I don't know. I I know
that I would love to see it because I know
that he's the kind of guy that could walk in.
If anybody could walk in and just get it done,

(30:29):
it would be him. And there's not any reason to
think that the money bags behind the Denver Broncos won't say,
what do you want twenty five million year and just
pay him to try to come in and fix the thing.
There's no there's no rule on that. And we don't
generally know what a lot of these coaches make. We
know Belichick makes more than just about anybody, and I
don't mean in the NFL, I mean college as well.

(30:49):
And then you've got guys that are making basically top
level college money, guys like your mcveigh's and some of
those dudes. I've heard the athletic kind of talking about
this over the last few weeks. And McVeigh there's news
about him too that we'll talk about. But I Sean,
I don't know whether he ends up the coach, but
I'm good with it, Like at this point in time,
I mean, that's exactly the kind of guy in the
room that the team needs. They need the exact opposite

(31:11):
of what they just had. They had a dude that
was in way over his head, no question, Sean Payton
walks in there and commands that level of respect. So
and that was gonna be my follow up. By the way,
that the Jaguars have now forced a punt, so it's
turned into a little bit of a punt fest that
you know, big, big night for kickers and punters in
this one. H Jacksonville Trails sixteen thirteen Tennessee punting back

(31:32):
to Jacksonville just under ten minutes to go. In this one,
we'll keep you updated here. Winner in this game goes
to the playoffs as the a f C South champion, Um,
and that was gonna be kind of my follow up
is is with Sean Payton and maybe we get to
McVeigh next segment because I'm fascinated by his deal and
we'll obviously talk hardball at some point tonight as well. UM,
But with Peyton is is you know, I think this

(31:53):
is an interesting scenario from this perspective, is and I
think by the way it kind of plays into the
hardball perspective as well too, right, Like, we're gonna learn
how badly Jim Harball wants to get back to the
NFL because the jobs that he's kind of appears to
be flirting with, even though I know he put out
the statement the other day, are not very good jobs.
And with the Broncos, I would just say this for
Sean Payton, and I know they're your team. It just

(32:16):
feels like, after we heard for forever um that he's
only gonna go someplace that has great ownership, that has
a great quarterback, that is in position to win caps
like like basically he wants the pseudo perfect scenario. I
think we all thought it might be the Chargers if
the Chargers missed the playoffs, they are obviously in as
the Sayre just told us. Um, So it's just weird,

(32:37):
right like because because to me, I just all I
think it really speaks to is how badly does this
guy want to coach? If if if coaching is in
his blood and he doesn't want to do TV and
he doesn't care and he just wants back in, then
I do think probably, you know, this one probably makes
the most sense out of the ones that are probably
going to realistically be available this year. But I also

(32:59):
do think, you know, in weird stuff happens, you just
never know. Uh, it just feels like there's gotta be
a better one. You know, you're a super Bowl winning coach.
You your legacy is set. Um, they're gonna build a
statute for you in New Orleans at some point. I
guess if you just really want to coach that bad
that's one thing. But this just doesn't feel like the
one to me, Jason. It just really doesn't unless maybe

(33:20):
the guy just really wants to coach that badly and
doesn't care where he's getting back in. Yeah, and and
also just maybe he sees something there. Maybe he feels
like Russ still has something mean who knows what it is,
but I mean, the perfect fit for him. If you're
not looking at Dallas, you're probably looking at the Chargers,
right Like if Staey were to get OUTSTD, you go there.
You've got Justin Herbert, You've got those receivers, You've got Eckler,

(33:42):
You've got that young defense with studs like Darwin, James
and Bosa and those guys like you walk in like
and I don't know, we're gonna we can tail into
the McVeigh conversation maybe to any hour or or at
least in the second hour of the show, But I
feel like the McVeigh story is a story. If he leaves,
it's because he knows that can't win right now, and
he knows they're not gonna win next year because they've

(34:03):
already leveraged all their assets for the future in the
Stafford deal, and Stafford may be done, like he this
might be over, Like he may look at the team
and say, you know, we don't have enough over the
next couple of years, and there's not much more that
we can do. We're already you know, cash strap beyond belief.
We can just keep on trying to refinagle the finances,
but we're not gonna be able to compete and I

(34:25):
can't stand losing. So you can look at it and
say that, And maybe Peyton thought that about the Saints.
Maybe he always wanted to keep coaching, but he realized
the Saints couldn't compete with the situation they had at
quarterback with the injury to Michael Thomas. That look, he
came back and then he got hurt again, and then
he was shut down for the year, all of those things.
Maybe maybe they're similar stuff here. I still think Sean

(34:47):
Payton wants to coach football. I do. I agree with
you that there would be other opportunities that feel like
they would be better. Although if you believe that Denver
has this great wide receiver corps, which is what we
all have thought for the last few years, and you
get Javonte Williams back and he's a good running back
and a young guy coming off an injury, but he's

(35:07):
don't have a ton of mileage on his body, and
a defense that played well, and still they couldn't win
games because they couldn't score points. If that's what you're
brought in to do, and you trust yourself. Maybe you
could like maybe maybe maybe it's a better situation in
his mind than it is from us looking outside. This
is Fox Sports Radio, Aaron Towards, Jason Martin company, live
from the tirect dot Com studios. Uh, maybe continue the

(35:30):
conversation on Sean Payton, but I definitely want to get
to another interesting development on the other Sean Sean McVeigh
is he done with the Rams? Will discuss that next
Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Aaron Torres,
Jason Martin Here on a Saturday night. We could talk

(35:50):
about how complicated other banks make it to redeem credit
card rewards, and we could talk about it with Discover
how you can redeem your rewards for cash in any
amount at any time. I mean talk about amazing learn
more Discovered dot Com slash redeem rewards terms apply. As
I said before the break, if you are a punter
or kicker playing for the Titans or Jaguars tonight, you

(36:13):
have earned your salary because another Jacksonville punt has given
Tennessee the ball uh inside their own thirty as it
appears as though they will be there a third and
one right now with Tennessee up sixteen to thirteen, five
nineteen left in the game, incomplete past Tennessee gonna go

(36:34):
for it on third down, trying to eat up the
clock here, uh, with with just a couple of minutes left, Jason,
I know we talked about it to lead the show
and will certainly talk about it once the game goes final.
I mean, this is kind of going exactly the way
that we thought. And I know you said this the
other days, or you said this to lead the show.
Is that I think there was a sentiment because the
Jaguars obviously have Trevor Lawrence, because Josh Dobbs has been

(36:57):
playing for Tennessee, that people thought that it was gonna
sub how be uh a Jacksonville bloodbath. I never really
saw that. I know they came in on a four
game win streak, but I was hoping for a little
bit more offense, but not surprised by this sixteen thirteen
score with five minutes to go. Yeah, and this is
the team that if you're Jacksonville, this isn't the team
that you want to play against because they've got twenty

(37:19):
two and now Derrick Henry could run the ball and
just run this clock, and that's exactly what they're doing.
They're getting first downs on third down because they're just
getting a few yards here and there, but they're doing enough.
Dobbs right there, was got just a yard and a half.
It's boring, is snot? But it may just be enough
to win the division again. And like for four or
five days now, I thought Tennessee was gonna win this game,

(37:40):
and I still think maybe Trevor is gonna get an
opportunity to win it. They can hold it to a
field goal. But this is fourth quarter. Derrick Henry, all
of the shoulders and stiff arms and everything that Jacksonville's
defense has eaten all night long, and a busy night
for Derrick Henry in terms of carries, I think that's
twenty nine carries now for him in this game. Usually

(38:01):
he does this damage right around now. So I'm almost expecting,
if I had to just bet on something, I almost
expect Derek's about to break one and that's gonna put
this game out of reach. But it's not over. But
Jacksonville has had their opportunities. Trevor Lawrence missed an open
receiver in the end zone and he overthrews a Jones
on a big time third down on the last series.

(38:22):
He's been really good throughout much of this season. Tonight
he's had a few crucial just bad throws, and it
might be enough to keep Jacksonville out of this thing.
Absolutely here as we are under four minutes to go,
Derrick Henry with the ball, as Jason said on third down,
carrying this by the way, I think so right now

(38:43):
the Chargers are in line to play the winner of
this one, so you know, it'd be an interesting scenario.
And once this game goes final, we'll talk about who's
gonna be where and all that stuff is. As Tennessee
is now lining up on third and eight, Uh, it'll
be under three minutes to go by the time that
they snapped the ball. Uh. To be an interesting It'll
be an interesting showdown, certainly if we get Trevor Lawrence

(39:04):
versus Justin Justin Herbert, if that is indeed what we
get two really young quarterbacks. But also would be an
interesting scenario this Tennessee defense against Justin Herbert as well.
Under three minutes to go, as Tennessee is going forward
on third down, and it will be an incompletion, Jason Martin,
as I've said many times as it it appears as

(39:25):
though we have an interesting development in this and we
need to find out what happened here. We're gonna have
see a replay. I know we're doing real time and
it's not the best radio because we haven't told you
what happened. But jackson has the ball in the end
zone with a touchdown. It looks like it's an incomplete pass,
but we need to see when Dobbs was hit to
see if his arm was going forward. I thought it

(39:45):
was hit as it was already going forward and it
should be an incompletion and probably a point coming up
for Tennessee. But here's the replay to see YEA, it
was third and long. Josh Dobbs drops back to pass.
He throw, and I'll tell you a second, it's gonna
be a bang banger. As they are in video replay,
Josh Dobbs dropping back to pass. His arm does appear

(40:07):
as though it's sort of coming forward, but I think
his hand was still on the ball. In real time,
it looked as though, uh, it was an incomplete pass.
Jacksonville picks it up, Jacksonville returns it as we go
to break Jacksonville up nineteen to sixteen. We will keep
you updated on this a FC South on the line,
Fox Sports Right. Welcommend everybody our to Fox Sports Radio.

(40:30):
We are broadcasting live from the Direct dot Com studios.
Direct dot Com will help you get there an unmatched
selection fest, free shipping, free road hazard protection, over ten
thousand recommended installers. Direct dot Com, the way tire buying
should be. We are under two minutes in Jacksonville, and
for those of you who are in the car, can't

(40:52):
check your phones, can't talk to friends. That fumble by
Josh Dobbs was in fact recovered and returned for a
touchdown by Jacksonville, and it appears as though they have
forced yet another fumble on Josh Dobbs. They did. It
appears as though the Titans recovered this one, but the
previous one. Right before we went to break, there was

(41:13):
a play on the field that looked at first glance
like an incomplete pass. It was picked up by Jacksonville
and returned. It was later ruled in fact it was
a fumble and now a touchdown. Jacksonville leeds twenty to
sixteen UH and Jacksonville continues to get pressure on Josh Dobbs.
Now in an obvious passing situation with Tennessee under two

(41:35):
minutes to go, Jason Martin, Jacksonville up twenty to sixteen
in this one. Yeah, um, look for Dobbs who lost
the ball there and got it back. I wish I
could explain to you, Aaron, how bad Tennessee's offensive line is.
Dudes that did not start the season expecting to play
or be a part of this roster. Guys that have

(41:55):
been drafted over the past few years that can't get
on the field, can't stay on the field, aren't healthy.
You've got a rookie in the game right now, You've
got an undersized guy on the left side. Like it's uh,
it ain't good. Let's just put it that way. Dobbs
has had to escape a lot and he gave the
big fumble play. He was blindsided from behind, lost the
ball strip right there. Josh Allen knocked it out of

(42:17):
his hands. He was able to get it back. It's
just been dangerous and this is one of the reasons
why you have thirty plus carries for Derrick Henry and
he's barely got a hundred yards in this game. Because
the offensive line against the defense from Jacksonville that has
gotten better and has certainly become more aggressive going to
the point of attack at the line of scrimmage. This
is it right here. It's third and twelve at midfield,

(42:39):
one forty six year down four. If you're Tennessee with
a division on the line for both these two teams, Um,
this is what you want. I mean, this is a
dramatic game. Certainly it's been a lot of field goals
and not a whole lot of offense, but at least
you got some drama and you can tell it has
a playoff field to it, like you can tell how
much these two teams want it as a was to

(43:00):
like Raiders earlier, which was just a football game. Like
I was flipping, I was into I was watching the
Last Dance. I was started watching that and reminded myself
how much I enjoy watching that. I actually flipped over. Yeah,
I was more into the ninety six Bulls that I
was three Kansas City Chiefs. Um yeah. No. First of all,

(43:21):
by the way, for people who did miss that earlier,
today Kansas City did beat Las Vegas thirty one to thirteen. Obviously,
Vegas is playing a bunch of backups and Jared Stidhon
was playing a quarterback. But with that, when Casey does
clinch the number one seed in the a f C,
as we discussed earlier, UH it that the how the
playoff plays out remains to be seen. By the way

(43:44):
Jacksonville has forced a fourth down. Jacksonville up twenty to sixteen. Uh.
One thirty seven left in this game really quickly, Casey
does clinch the number one seed. But because Buffalo did
not obviously play Monday night, we all know the situation
with Damar Hamlin. The way the set up in the
a f C would work is as follows. If Kansas

(44:04):
City were to win out and play Buffalo in the
a f C Championship game, even though they're the number
one seed, it would actually be on a neutral field.
That is the latest on that situation. Buffalo, of course
plays tomorrow in New England. If Buffalo loses by the way,
Casey does get not only a number one seed, but
would have home field advantage throughout, and the Tennessee Titans
are down to their last play potentially of the season.

(44:26):
Jason Martin here, Jacksonville up twenty to sixteen. There's one
thirty seven left. It's fourth and thirteen again Josh Dobbs,
the backup has been in all game, obviously for Bryan Tannehill,
who has been out for a few weeks. But Jacksonville
gets one stop here on fourth or thirteen. They are
your a f C South champions. As as Jacksonville and Tennessee,

(44:48):
I've played, as Jason Martin said, a very compelling game,
a fun game. It's not an aesthetically pleasing game, but
it has been to say the least entertaining. Tennessee will
come up short. Jacksonville will get the ball back with
one thirty left. It looks as though Tennessee has just
one time out Jason Martin, So that how about that?

(45:09):
The Jacksonville Jaguars, Jason, are three kneel downs away just
about from being your a f C South champion and
going to the playoffs. Jason, Yeah, look, it's amazing. You
want to talk about a bad division. Tennessee had a
six game losing streak and still was playing for the
division tonight. Like that that is incredible, Like that should

(45:32):
never happen. But that's just just the state of division.
The Colts were an embarrassment. The Texans have been an
embarrassment for a very long time. Jacksonville, we saw that,
we saw flashes in the first couple of weeks, and
we got excited, and then we're like, well, you know,
there's still some growing pains here. You can see they
are a better football team, but how much better. I
will say this, it's more exciting to have Jacksonville in

(45:54):
this thing than it is Tennessee because Trevor is more exciting, certainly,
and Josh Dobbs or Malik Willis to whoever it is
gonna play quarterback for Tennessee. Tennessee's boring football team to
watch because they have no horses offensively, and because of that,
that's one of the reasons you look. And they don't
have a general manager right now now. And we heard
Colin Cowherd during some of our rejoined stuff during the

(46:16):
break suggests Aaron Rodgers to Tennessee that was joked about
last year. Who knows. Um, we'll see whether or not
they bring Ryan Tannehill back, but they just don't have
a lot of interesting pieces, especially on offense. Outside of
Derrick Henry. The Jaguars have a second year quarterback that's
kind of a wonder kin. And now you get the
you get that potential of Trevor Lawrence against Justin Herbert,

(46:40):
and that's an exciting playoff matchup. This Jacksonville team is
more fun to watch right now, and I think that's objective.
I just I understand maybe you would disagree, but I don't.
I just feel, like most people, it's more fun to
watch Jacksonville play football right now than it is Tennessee.
Tennessee is a dull football team to watch. I was
gonna say, I don't really know who could disagree you
with no disrespect intended to the Tennessee Titans, who listen.

(47:04):
You know, we knew they're what their shortcomings were coming in.
You and I were on air, Jason, you coming directly
from the stadium last year when they lost in the
you know, the second round, the divisional round weekend to
the Cincinnati Bengals, and we knew what this team shortcomings were.
At the same time, I thought, you know, they really
during the early part of the season, really listen, they

(47:26):
did what you have to do to put yourself in position,
which is exactly what happens. We know they take a
couple of losses. Ryan TANNEI Tannehill gets hurt. Excuse me, uh,
and they will end the season on a seven game
losing streak. As Jacksonville again up twenty to sixteen forty
five seconds left, they have the ball to kneel downs away.
Really one from being your a f C South champ.

(47:47):
So let's talk a little bit about Jacksonville. So, first
of all, I agree, I think there's no doubt they're
the more interesting team. And I think there's a couple
of reasons to one. You know, we've kind of seen
the Tennessee story, right, great running game, great defense, physical, tough,
limited at quarterback. So I think there's a few elements
to the Jacksonville story. Is one, it's it's just been

(48:10):
so long. There's they've been so bad for so long. Um,
you know, we don't need to relitigate the whole Urban
Meyer thing, but that was a disaster. You finally get
what you think is the franchise quarterback, and then it
doesn't work out. The head coach they bring in Doug Peterson,
smart higher in the offseason. So one, just a new team,
new blood, they've been bad for so long. But then
I think to your point is the Trevor Lawrence element

(48:33):
of it is that, um, you know, listen, we're we're
we're we're phasing out for sure of the Tom Brady
and uh, you know, Aaron Rodgers kind of era of
the NFL. As this one, by the way, is final
Jacksonville on a under basically under two minutes strip and score, Uh,
they take the lead. They win this game twenty to sixteen. Again,

(48:55):
a strip and score late is what led to a
Jacksonville twenty to six teen win. Jason, and So, I
think what I would say about about Jacksonville is this wasn't,
by any stretch of the imagination, a Trevor Lawrence vintage performance.
But I do think we're all really intrigued about watching
this kid. And you know, I think the other thing
too is Trevor Lawrence has such a unique story, right,

(49:15):
Uh comes out of the scene as a freshman it Clemson. Um, really,
we got to watch him for three years. This wasn't
a Joe Burrow that kind of blew up at the
last minute or a guy that we didn't know a
ton about going into the NFL. We saw him for
three years. He was you know, we can all remember
his freshman year when it was already decided that he
was going to be the number one pick in draft.

(49:37):
It was just a matter of him getting there. So
I think that's where the intrigue comes in. Is is one,
Jacksonville was just some fresh blood. I think that'll be exciting.
But then two on top of that, I do agree
with you that I think everybody's curious to see Trevor
Lawrence in his first playoff appearance next Saturday or Sunday. Yeah,
And I said, I said very early in this season
that I felt like Jacksonville had the potential to be

(49:58):
this year's Cincinnati Angles from last year because you have
a number one pick. That year one. It didn't go
great for Burrow. He got hurt and got knocked out,
but they were struggling. They didn't have all their pieces.
And then Trevor, of course had urban Meyer. He probably
would have rather been injured than have had urban Meyer.
To be quite frank, the difference between this Jags team

(50:20):
and what I think they're seeling can be right now
and the Bengals team last year is there's no Jamaar
Chase on this team. There's no Tee Higgins on this team.
There's some good players. I mean, Christian Kirk has been
better I think than any of us should have expected
that idea of it was a joke to pay him
that money. He's played very well this year, he really has.

(50:40):
He almost had a hundred year hundred yards tonight, by
the way, plus a touchdown, six sketches nine nine yards
and a touchdown. Marvin Jones has been pretty good. Evan
Ingram has been a good good pickups, Zay Jones out
of nowhere has had a really nice year. They have
made some things, but they don't have they don't have
the star level players are round Trevor on the offensive

(51:01):
side of the ball, especially the receiver position to go
to a Super Bowl this year. But outside of that,
I mean, you look at a young core and you
look at a coach that knows what he's doing. Uh.
Doug Peterson was a great hire. I liked it when
it happened, and he's an adult in the room and
you can see how Trevor has flourished underneath him. And

(51:21):
I'm just excited to see what Jacksonville can do. Like
all credits of Tennessee with all the injuries that they
had for even having an opportunity tonight to do this,
but this is the league is better when you have
guys like Trevor Lawrence in your postseason playing well. I mean,
look at the a f C playoffs right now and
think about most of the quarterbacks that we're about to see, Mahomes,

(51:44):
Alan Burrow, probably Lamar. Now you add Trevor, Yes, like
that's bro, that's what you want. There's nothing more that
you could want as a football fan than that The
a f C playoffs is gonna be bonkers. It absolutely is.
Jacksonville does officially clinch that playoff spot. They win the

(52:06):
a f C South. Twenty to sixteen is the final score. Again,
a strip and score late gives them the victory. Jacksonville
is headed to the playoffs. They will be the four seed.
Right now, it looks as though they will play the
Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers take care of business tomorrow,
they will clinch that fist spot. Fox Sports Radio errant
towards Jason Martin here on a Saturday night, coming up.

(52:27):
More reaction to the Jacksonville Jaguars clinching the FC South,
what it means for these playoffs, and a look at
the rest of what should be a crazy, crazy Sunday
in the NFL. This is Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody,
Fox Sports Radio eron towards Jason Martin here on a
Saturday night football fans, be sure to tune into Fox
Sports Radio's Countdown a Kickoff presented by Bet MGM on

(52:50):
Sunday morning three hours before kickoff. That's right, tune in
on Sunday morning, ten am Eastern as we take you
live all the way to kick Off on Fox Sports
Radio and I Heart Radio app presented by Ben MGM.
Saw the guys out in Cincinnati today doing the Saturday show,
So shout out to all those guys, Brian No and
the crew there, or towards Jason Martin from the tire

(53:12):
rack dot Com Studios. Jason, let's put a little bit
of a bow on this a f C South situation
again for people just joining us. Jacksonville does on a
scoop and score recovery late in the game. When twenty
to sixteen in this game, and it appears as though
Jacksonville will very likely played the Los Angeles Chargers in

(53:33):
the next round. Jacksonville, of course, has locked in the
number number four seed. Excuse me, h. If the Bengals
win tomorrow, the Chargers would be locked into the number
five seed. If the Ravens win, Uh, it gets a
little bit more complicated, but it looks as though it
will probably be the Rams playing Jacksonville. First of all, Jason,

(53:54):
we talked a minute ago about Trevor Lawrence, and I
think I speak for basically most of the football can
assuming world when I say that, I think we're all
kind of more excited for Jacksonville in in any potential
playoff game because of Trevor Lawrence. But I would kind of, uh,
you know, just say this is that, uh, in what
was obviously the biggest game to this point of his

(54:15):
NFL career, Trevor Lawrence wasn't great. Twelve yards, one touchdown,
had a couple kind of key overthrows in big spots
that could have really put some cushion for Jacksonville. Did
did today change anything for you in terms of him?
I mean, not not the you know what his upside
could be long term, But I think you mentioned the
fact that whoever he plays, he's gonna be facing very

(54:38):
likely a really good quarterback, very likely justin Herbert Um does.
Did did tonight change anything for you? Give you any
more concerns with Trevor Lawrence? Because again, Jacksonville wins. But
I think we all thought, you know, Trevor Lawrence is
gonna rise to the occasion, was gonna play his best.
And that was the furthest thing from the truth. You
have to look at what's on the other side, and
what's on the other side is a to see defense

(55:00):
that's excellent. Like coming into the year, I thought there
were no brainer top ten, maybe even top five defense
in the league, especially up front. They didn't have Deniko
Autry playing in the first game against Jacksonville back in
Week four teen. Deniko Autrey is the secret weapon to
the entire defense. In my opinion. He sits next to
Jeff Simmons. He allows Big Jeff to really get at it.

(55:21):
But Deniko Autrey is just an absolute beast. Didn't have him. Um,
you had Christian Fulton back, he had a Monty Hooker back.
Both those guys in the secondary have been out for
a long time. This team was a little healthier than
they had been and no one could run on them.
And that's the other problem for Trevor Lawrence. Everything was him.
Like they ran as a team fourteen carries for nineteen
yards in this game. They're not going to see a

(55:44):
defense that can stop their run nearly as effectively in
the playoffs as what they saw today. Not that I'm
picking Jacksonville to do anything massive from this point forward,
but they couldn't run it at all. Like everything was
Trevor and the defense knew it now. Trevor had some throws.
He did not play great, But there's another thing he
didn't do. He didn't turn the ball over, he didn't

(56:05):
fumble it. He didn't throw a pick, and at times
he has thrown some interceptions. Uh, not as much as
of late, but that has that's dogged him and even
dogged him sometimes it Clempson. So he didn't make the
crucial mistake that that cost him the game. He had
a couple of bad throws. I guess everybody's entitled to those,
but at least they weren't thrown to the guys in
the opposite jersey. So he didn't do anything that was

(56:28):
gonna harm the football team they were gonna have to overcome.
He just wasn't able to manage things as effectively against
a pretty stout Shane Bowen led. You know, Mike Vrabel
defense that has been good now for a couple of
years and showed up and showed out tonight, and really
the Titans defense played well enough by farts and win
this football game. This was another occasion where Titans offense

(56:52):
against and improved Jacksonville defense. That was going to be
the difference than it was. So for people who think
I'm exaggerating this Jacksonville, you know, the the offense didn't
really carry them. This stat from ESPN Stats and Info,
Jaguars are the first team since two thousand to pull
off a fourth quarter comeback without gaining a first down
in the fourth quarter, So zero four first doubts in

(57:15):
the fourth quarter. I wasn't exaggerating when I said that
the punters and kickers and the edge rushers to certainly
all earn their money today. Jacksonville survives, they will very
likely play the Chargers in the opening round of the
playoffs next week, and we could get a very intriguing
justin Herbert Trevor Lawrence matchup in that one. Jason from
the flip side perspective, you know you've said you said it,

(57:37):
and I think anybody who listens to us knows you
live in Nashville. You're very close to the Tennessee Titans.
Like what is next for them, right because they don't
have a GM right now, unless I guess you know,
I know that. Um what's his face? One of my
blank ats name Mike Vrabel. Uh, you know, he's kind
of in charge of player personnel. But obviously the quarterback
position remains in in in flux and in question in like,

(58:00):
where does this organization go from here? Because I talked
about it, I think late late in the last hour,
maybe the beginning of this segment or the beginning of
this hour. But we we kind of saw the best
version of the Titans last year and it wasn't good
enough to get them out of the divisional round. And
I actually remember talking to you about that. It's like
it's never gonna break better. Number one seed path to
the playoffs coming through Nashville. So now we're a year

(58:22):
further removed from that. Ryan Tannehill obviously is coming off
some major injuries. What do you think is next for
this organization. They're gonna have to upgrade the receiver position.
They're probably gonna have to dog out some of the
veteran salaries and some of the guys that they brought in.
Um I said before the season, either Ryan Tannehill or

(58:43):
Derrick Henry would not be with this team next year.
I don't know what the quarterback scenario is right now,
but and I sent this text and then I deleted.
I was gonna send it to you guys, and I
deleted it during a commercial break. Maybe I'm wrong about this,
but I'm gonna go ahead and put it out there.
I think Derrick Henry has played his last down. I

(59:04):
just do like, eventually you have to start doing something different.
I think Mike Vrabel is the best coach in the NFL.
If he's not, he's one of the three best. He
is outstanding what he's what he has done, and how
he's coached up this team considering some of the deficiencies
that they've had from a talent perspective, they had a
record number of injuries. They suited up over ninety guys.

(59:26):
Last year they hit like eighty four. I think this
year you can maybe talk about strength and conditioning issues
of pushing guys too hard in practice. But Rabel's the
hack of a coach. Shane Bowen is an excellent defensive coordinator.
Todd Downing the offensive coordinator. I think he's probably not
gonna be here next year. But eventually your identity has
to change. Teams are not winning championships with the Derrick

(59:48):
Henry lad style anymore. And that's that's why I've looked
at it and just said, he's not gonna get better.
He's he had two thousand yards, He's not gonna have
two thousand again. And he didn't, and he missed a
couple of aimes this year. It's gonna be more wear
and tear. He had the injury last year. I just
look at it and I say, I think there is
an over fifty chance, just a gut feeling, that he

(01:00:10):
is not a Tennessee Titan next year. That is very,
very very interesting. As the Tennessee Titans again fall to
Jacksonville really quick, what does that mean for the quarterback situation? Jason?
I mean, I don't know. I mean, you could run
back with Tannehill. They are in a spot where they're
not gonna be financially screwed if they let him go. Now,
they couldn't do it last all season because of the

(01:00:31):
dead cap number, but you can do it this year. Um,
but you don't have the quarterback on the roster. You
know it, because they didn't play Malik Willis tonight. The
fact that they knew Josh Dobbs gave them a better
chance to win the division than the guy that they
went up and drafted this past season and who had
played for them a little bit. And by the way

(01:00:52):
I saw him in practices, I went to a combined
practice and watched him. He wasn't ready. He's not an
NFL player yet. It was gonna take some time. But
that look like to me he's not part of their
future plan, at least not in the immediacy. I don't
think he's ready to take over next year. So you
gotta go do something. Whether Colin's right and it's Aaron
Rodgers or whether or not it's a Derek Carr. But

(01:01:12):
I think if it's Derek Carr, it might as well
be Ryan Tannehill, because I think you have kind of
a similar player there, the Kirk Cousins, the Tannehills, the
Derek Carrs, those kind of guys. And I'm still bad,
I'm still blown away. Bernie Fretto last week, I may
have to ask him the same question again, Bernie saying,
just his gut feeling is a fifty chance that Derek
Carr retires. I I was just blown away by that.

(01:01:36):
But but Bernie is a very savvy, smart guy, and
when I thought about it, it made more sense. But
they could get out from underneath Tannehill. But the question
is are you gonna get better than that? The only
thing is are you tearing it down to the studs
because you know you're not good enough to win next year?
Last year was your opportunity. You had the one seed,
you had the bye, you had it all in your house.

(01:01:59):
You got beat by Joe Burrow. You have fired the
general manager since and right now that's the thing, Like,
you can't do a quarterback situation until you have a
general manager. So there's a lot of a lot of
issues for them. Indianapolis a lot of issues for them.
The Texans are a walking issue. And then there's Jacksonville.
Jacksonville right now looks like they should be in line

(01:02:21):
to own this division for the foreseeable future because they
know they've got their quarterback and they're the only team
in the division that can say that, zero doubt about that.
Jacksonville again, is your a f C South Champs. This
is Fox Sports Radio err toorist Jason Martin broadcasting live
from the tirect dot com studios, and we are brought
to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.

(01:02:43):
Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,
a TV and more all your protection in one place.
Bundle and save at Progressive dot Com. Coming up, we
look at some of the other games on Sunday with
major playoff implications, including that big one on Sunday Night.
But before we do, though, toss it over the news
desk to se what's going on. So most of the

(01:03:04):
playoff spots in the a f C are clinched before
the final day tomorrow. Kansas City one today and clinched
the one seed. Jacksonville want its fifth game in a
row and it's clinched the a f C South title.
In fact. As for the quarterbacks that are going to
the postseason, from the a f C Football reporter, r
emirof points out there all between the age of twenty

(01:03:24):
three and twenty seven, aged three, Trevor Lawrence, aged three,
Patrick Patrick Mahomes. By the way, and you mentioned that
at the moment it would be the Chargers at Jacksonville
next weekend. In the postseason, the Chargers just need to
stay ahead of Baltimore in the standings after things finished tomorrow.
And I have been thinking about this for a couple

(01:03:45):
of weeks, that that would be a good matchup for
the Chargers, and not because of the reason people would
naturally think, oh, you get to play the fourth best
division winner. No, it's because the Chargers got killed by
Jacksonville this year. This was a late September game in
l A. Jacksonville was up sixteen ten after halftime and
beat him thirty eight to ten. It was a typical

(01:04:06):
Charger loss in that they could not run the ball
and could not stop the run as far as you know.
Sometimes going into the playoffs for whatever, that's so human reason.
Sometimes they think, you know, we've already played this team
and we beat him, and the motivation, it's just the opposite.
If it's Chargers at Jacksonville next weekend, just for the record,

(01:04:28):
And why would the Chargers get the five seed and
not Baltimore. They have the same record ten and six
right now. The Chargers win the tiebreaker because they have
one more conference win than the Ravens do. In other words,
the differences the Chargers won on a late field goal
at Cleveland in October, and the next week had that
Monday night game against Denver where the Chargers won on

(01:04:51):
an overtime field goal. And also we had a month
ago the Chargers narrow win against Miami, and then before Christmas,
the Chargers played a very close home game against Tennessee
and won that if the Chargers lost any of those games,
it would be different and Baltimore would be up to
the five seed. The final score in Jacksonville tonight sixteen

(01:05:12):
over the Titans, who are eliminated and lose their final
seven games of this season. Jags win on a fumble
return for a touchdown with under three minutes to go.
Jacksonville beat Tennessee last month as well, so they sweep
the season series. NFL Network says, for the first time
in seventeen years, Kansas City one today thirty one thirteen

(01:05:34):
at Las Vegas Chiefs clinched the one seed in the
a f C and the By next weekend. The Saints
gave Denver permission to interview coach Sean Payton, who is
still under contract with New Orleans. Philadelphia. Quarterback Jalen Hurts
after a strange shoulder, is expected to play tomorrow against
the Giants. The Eagles can clinch the one seed in
the NFC and the first round by and the Giants

(01:05:55):
reportedly will be resting starters and in fact starting quarterback
Davis web according to The New York Post. In the
NBA Boston one at San Antonio, Jayson Tatum thirty four points,
Chicago beat Utah, thirty six for Zach Levine and thirty
five points for Damar DeRozan. Dallas and Orlando with victories,
and as for the late game, it's Sacramento ahead of

(01:06:18):
the Lakers eighty three. They're not even midway through the
third quarter of that game so far Lebron James twenty
points and six assists. And in college hoops, number nine
Gonzaga has taken the lead at Santa Clair with seven
minutes to go sixty six sixty two. Already Number five
Arizona lost at home to Washington States seventy four to

(01:06:39):
sixty one. And two baseball notes, the Phillies acquired all
star lefty reliever Gregory Soto from the Tigers. Seattle will
give alfielder Aj Pollock a one year deal. NFL wins
for Kansas City and Jacksonville back to you Thank you,
Steve the Seger. This is Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports
Saturday Error Towards Jason Martin live from the tyrac dot
com studios, and can talk about how complicated other banks

(01:07:01):
make it to redeem credit card rewards. Or we could
talk about how we discover you can redeem your rewards
for cash in any amount of any time. I mean
talk about amazing learn more discovered dot com slash redeem
rewards terms apply. What do you go an hour? An
hour from right now, I'm gonna give you. I'm gonna
do something nice for you here hour from right now.

(01:07:22):
FS one Creighton at Connecticut repeat. Oh okay, I mean
I watched it in real time, baby, so well you
can put it on again. I mean, look, you guys
have lost two in a row, you know. I mean,
I will say this, Today is not the day to
talk college hoops. I don't think there's a great team
in college hoops this year. Arnie Spaniards Arizona Wildcats lost
today to Washington State. Perdue was basically a play away

(01:07:46):
from losing a second straight the other night when they
were ranked number one in the country. I'll tell you
this really quick, and I gotta we gotta get back
to football album about four hours. We can do two
minutes on college basketball. I know everybody wants to make
today about John Calipari are getting destroyed by Alabama. Alabama's
a really good basketball They are a really good team.

(01:08:06):
I don't know if they're like National championship good, but
that is a team with three or four pros on them. Uh,
and a fun team. By the way, as the Saga
just told you, Gonzaga is playing at Santa Clara right now. Uh.
That is the only game of note going on, and
we'll keep you updated on that. The big game. Of course.
Jacksonville goes ahead and beats Tennessee to clinch the a
f C South, where they will likely play the Chargers

(01:08:28):
next week. We'll find out officially tomorrow. Speaking to tomorrow, Jason,
we got another potential win and you're in scenario in
Green Bay. Now that one's well, I'll tell you it's too,
so fans know it's a little bit more complicated than tonight. Uh.
Seattle would hold a tie break over Detroit, but not

(01:08:48):
Green Bay. So Seattle plays earlier in the day against
the Rams. The Sager told us earlier they're expecting heavy rain,
bad conditions all that. If Seattle wins, then green Bay
would get in with a win on Sunday Night Football,
Detroit by that point would be eliminated. If Seattle loses,
then we have a true win in your in for

(01:09:08):
the seventh seed in the NFC. Lambeau Field, Dan Campbell,
Aaron Rodgers, give me some thoughts, Jason. I'm excited for
this one. I really am. I mean so am. I
I just can't believe it. And it's not because this
is what's funny, which because of the alliance. It's because
of Green Bay. Dude. We were talking like a month

(01:09:29):
and a half ago about Aaron Rodgers shutting it down
for the year and him having that quote that was
super controversial about I'm gonna I'm gonna play until we're
mathematically eliminated, right right, like everybody was quitting, like everybody
a quit on them, like and Roger just kind of
was kind of smug about it a week ago, like
everybody counted us out. Dude, you counted him out. I

(01:09:50):
joked about that with Arnie last week, like it was
this was not everybody was you and everybody like your
QB one and it sounded like you were out. This
team was head when they lost to Tennessee on that
Thursday night like that, that just felt like it was
it like, Okay, this team is not very good. They're
not going anywhere. The Vikings have runaway with the division.

(01:10:11):
The Lions are a better team than the Packers are.
Then the Packers get a nice little little boon in
the schedule for a few weeks. I mean, if you
go and look at the teams that they've beaten along
this stretch, boy, they got some teams at the right time.
Like on paper, it might not have looked good originally,
remember that if you go and look at it, it's not.
It's not like they played the best in the league.

(01:10:33):
But it puts them in a spot where they just
gotta go beat the Lions, and there's no reason to
think they can't do that. I still think Detroit's more
fun to watch right now, and I would love to
see them find a way to win this. But when
you go at Bears Rams Dolphins, when two of gets well,
he he was concussed during the game. We didn't know
it at the time, and I don't need to make

(01:10:54):
light of that, but that was right. That was something
that came out later to your point that Miami was
well less than a percent. Now, I mean in the Vikings,
I just think the Vikings are one and done when
they get into playoffs. I don't care if they are
one seed or anything else. They they're not. They're not
a great football team. They have a nice record, they're
nowhere near as good to my opinion is the record is.
I still would rather see Detroit make it because I'm

(01:11:16):
more interested in watching them, but it's it's amazing to
me that we're sitting in a spot where the Packers
could end up win a with a winning record and
getting into playoffs. And they are the very definition of
the kind of team that you don't really want to
see because they at least have a quarterback that gives
you a chance. Well, and I'll take this step further
the Lions. The way that the Lions are playing, I

(01:11:36):
don't think you really want to see the Lions either.
I mean, I agree with that. Yeah, they're they're eight
and eight right now, but they've won four of their
last five and seven of their last nine. I mean,
it isn't hyperbole to say that they have been the
hottest team in the NFL. Over the second half of
the season. Um, you know, maybe outside of k C
or somebody like that. But that game again not technically

(01:11:57):
a win in your in scenario there um, but obviously
if Seattle were to lose, it becomes a win and
you're in, and that'll be a really interesting one as Obviously, again,
green Bay would clinch a playoff spot with a win,
Detroit would need some help from the Los Angeles rams.
I'll tell you what. I have one more thought on
this game and what it could mean for the offseason,

(01:12:19):
depending on how it goes. I want to discuss that next.
Aaron Towards, Jason Martin, Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody,
Fox Sports Radio. Aaron Torres, Jason Martin. We can talk
about how complicated other banks make it to redeem credit
card rewards, or we could talk about how we discover
you can redeem your rewards for cash in any amount
at any time. I mean talk about amazing learn more

(01:12:40):
discover dot com slash redeem rewards terms apply. So Jason
and I before the break, we were talking about the
potential for a play in game tomorrow night, uh, Sunday
night football Detroit at Green Bay. It's not technically a
win and you're in. It is for green Bay, Detroit
needs some help. Earlier in the day, a Seattle loss
would allow Detroit to make the playoffs with a win there.

(01:13:03):
So I was thinking about this, Jason, and I'm just
curious because it's one you know, I think we all
when we come on these air waves, we want to
have a definitive opinion on every topic and every story
and every this and every that. And I don't know
how I feel about this, Okay, so win or lose,
you know, the Green Bay situation is interesting to me

(01:13:23):
because I think we all thought, okay, like it's just
it's over like And I said, when I say, we thought,
I'm talking middle of the season. As you said, we
thought Aaron rodgers hauld shut it down. We thought there
was no reason for him to play. He said, I'm
playing until we're mathematically eliminated. That won't come until put
a potential loss tomorrow night. Why I bring it up

(01:13:44):
is because I just think the Packers are in like
a really interesting spot where win or lose you kind
of like, like, what do we feel about I guess
what I was. I guess this is the best way
to put it. How do we feel about them coming
into next year, because I think it was this thought,
it's completely over, there's no chance, there's no this, there's
no that Aaron Rodgers is regressing. But now you look

(01:14:08):
at the situation where Aaron Jones, one of the best
running backs in the league, Christian Watson, always been a
little bit banged up, has really established himself as a
guy that can be a difference maker in this league.
You have a lot of young talent on defense because
all you've done is drafted young guy, young defensive players
in the first round. And it's like, I don't know
how to feel about Green Bay, Like if they lose

(01:14:28):
this game, like you can't you have to run it
back with it. I know we were talking about Colin
and you know the tight ends in this that you
kind of win or lose, have to run it back
at least for one more year, right, Because and I'm
not doing a good job of just getting to the question,
but I want to add context because it is important
to note. Yes, Aaron Rodgers is a three year contract,

(01:14:49):
but as we've discussed many times, Mark Murphy the day
the contract was signed, said, Aaron Rodgers doesn't have a
three year contract. He has three one year deals, and
and what we all took that to mean was that
this is a year a year thing. And I bring
it up because I think in the middle of the year,
we all thought it was probably gonna be over. Now
I just don't know what to think about where this
organization is, where it's going. It took me forever to

(01:15:11):
get to my point. Jason Martin, what do you kind
of make of of Green Bay? Now? I see I
would agree with you. I think that I think you
see the signs of a young football team that's matured
enough to feel like they can go into next year
and compete. That you have found some guys you don't
have Dante Adams, I mean, you don't replace it Davante Adams.
But your point about Christian Watson's well taken. Aaron Jones

(01:15:32):
is still a solid back. You've seen the defense kind
of come alive. Yeah, they've taken advantage of some bad offenses.
But we know they had talent coming into the year
and they were underperforming. Here's what I would say. I
would say, you've got to bring your quarterback into your office,
if your matthe floor, if you are a goodakounist, and
you've got to say, how do you feel about this roster?

(01:15:55):
And let Aaron Rodgers tell you be like, we need
you to believe in these guys. We need you to
trust him, We need you to to think can you
win with these guys? And if he sounds hesitant or
reticent or whatever, I find a way to get him
out of there. That's that. I think that's it. I
think you have the makings of a team that you like.

(01:16:16):
You need a quarterback that is bought in. You need
a quarterback that cares, that's gonna show up and do
what's necessary in the offseason to put you in a
spot where you're not playing for your playoff life against
the Detroit Lions in week eighteen early January. You have
to make sure that he has bought in, and if

(01:16:36):
he's not, you see if you can find another destination
for him, and you maybe have to take a step
back in that moment, but I think you eventually have
to cut this chord. So you just need to see
how bought in he is. And he may well now
be bought in. He may now understand the talent that
they have. But I need to know that QB one,
that guy who I have a ton of football respect for.

(01:16:59):
If I'm in that building and i know what he's
capable of, and I've seen it, and i know what
he's through this year. But all of that, you gotta
be bought in twelve. If you're not, we need to
get you out of here, and we need to do
something else for you as well as for us. We've
got to cut this cord. I think you covered most
of what I was gonna say, because it's one again.

(01:17:20):
I know, you know, our job is to come on
here and have a definitive, strong opinion on everything. But
I just don't know how to feel because all the
pieces are there. Um. I don't think any of us
really think that we've seen enough from Jordan's love to
think that he's really the answer. Um. But again, you know,
it was only six weeks ago, five weeks ago Thanksgiving

(01:17:41):
that we were like it's over. It's not, it's not
gonna happen this this you know, this group, the best
days are behind are like all of those things. And
so now to have this situation where you know, one
you could make the playoffs, uh, two you could obviously
be eliminated, but you can make the playoffs, and you know,
again with the way that the matchups are shaking out,

(01:18:01):
I mean, you could have could have a potential match
up with the Vikings, who you just beat, you know,
unless I'm I'm reading these these these uh this bracket wrong.
But you just beat the Vikings a week ago. So
now all of a sudden, you're you're into the second round.
And so I'm just bringing this all up to say, like,
I just find it to be a very fascinating scenario
because I don't think there's an easy answer. And one

(01:18:22):
thing I do hope, I hope we don't get another
six months like we have the last two off seasons
of is he gonna stay? Is he gonna go? What's
the future? What's this? What's that? Um? But yeah, I
just it's just one where I've been thinking a lot about,
like is there you know, what is the scenario if
this happens, if that happens, if they win, if they lose.
And we're now at the point where I don't think
it matters, like they're they're they're on the fringe of

(01:18:43):
the playoffs, but once they get to the playoffs, probably
not good enough to make a real significant run. But
every single win, it just makes it more and more
likely that you gotta run it back. And you've got
to see especially again in a division whereas we said, Minnesota,
we get it. They're a good story. They're not a
good football team. Detroit did they catch lightning in the
bottle all that? So it's just it's a complicated deal.

(01:19:04):
Jason Martin, I have a feeling we're to be talking
about this a lot in the off season regardless. What hell, yeah,
no question. I agree with you though, Like I I
need my quarterback if I'm somebody in Green Bay, I
need my quarterback not to be a story in the
off season. Like this just needs to be over. Are
you coming back? Do you believe in these guys? All right,
we'll see in July. Like and then let's get to
work and let's see what we can pull off next year.

(01:19:24):
We don't need this to become any more of a drama.
And look at you, look at this. It's at Lambeau.
Detroit has not been good on the road all year.
Golf has done almost all of his damage at home.
This is again green Bay should win. I'm not necessarily
saying I'm we'll pick it later, but this is Green
Bay should be in the playoffs at this point when
you look at it, everything is favoring them going into

(01:19:45):
this game. Zero dout about that again, green Bay win
in your in scenario. Detroit needs to be needs a
Seattle win for it to be a scenario where they
win and they're in Fox Sports Radio. More coming up
included college football playoff title game Monday. Welcome in everybody
our three Fox Sports Radio eron Torres, Jason Martin. We

(01:20:05):
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As the Secret told you the story of the night.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have clinched the a f C South

(01:20:26):
title a win in You're in scenario. They beat the
Tennessee Titans twenty to sixteen. A late strip and score
led to the game winning score. Jacksonville headed to the playoffs,
where they will likely face the Los Angeles Chargers. Jason,
I do want to switch gears from the NFL to
college and we'll get back to the NFL very soon. Um,
but we do have one game left in the college

(01:20:48):
football season, and it is a game that I would
venture to guess probably literally nobody picked in the preseason.
I mean we we've seen the stats on what tc
US odds were coming into the year. Uh. And like
everybody else, Jason, you know, I know you and Arnie
were on last Saturday. You know, as that that TCU
Michigan game we're going was going on. I didn't think

(01:21:09):
TCU was gonna be able to beat Michigan, and so
they are now in this college football playoff title game.
They played Georgia. George is about a twelve and a
half point underdog or twelve and a half point favorite.
Excuse me, TCU a twelve and a half point underdog.
I got a lot of thoughts, but but your first
thoughts when I say title game Monday night, I'm ready
for it. I want to see it. I mean on paper,

(01:21:31):
you know what it looks like. And at the same time,
you look at how TCU has handled the transfer portal,
and how Sunny Dike's has coached up his team, and
how Max Duggan has played this year, and how Johnson
has just dominated wide receiver this year and in the
close games that they've won, and you look at it
and you just say, well, on paper, sometimes doesn't play

(01:21:55):
out that way. There's a reason why these games end
up being played, and TCU Michigan was certainly an example
of that because everybody assumed Michigan was gonna do and
Michigan showed up and did a lot of things you expected,
although you expected more on the ground, but McCarthy played
out and played out of his mind. And then you
saw Georgia. And I think that the key to this
whole thing is Georgia's secondary looks very mortal right now.

(01:22:19):
They look like you can throw on them, and that's
exactly what TCU wants to do. I'm not saying tc
is gonna win the game. I am gonna say, be
real careful if you're laying a bunch of money on Georgia.
I understand what's supposed to happen. But I do think
that there is a difference between the Georgia team of
this year and the one of last year. And I

(01:22:41):
think we've kind of known that in the back of
our heads all year. Defense is still good, nowhere near
what they were last year. Offense is still good. I
don't think they're quite as dynamic as they were last year,
even though I think Bennett is a better quarterback. They
still I mean, I still think George is probably gonna
win a game. But I wouldn't be the least bit
surprised if this thing is is a nail biter, at

(01:23:03):
least early in the second half. So I think a
lot of people have the same sentiment that you did,
which and it was the way that I perceived it is.
I think last Saturday, once we once we knew TCU
was in it, and then of course Georgia wins that
thriller against Ohio State, I think all of our reactions
where it's gonna be ugly, but I have the more
that I've thought about this game and looked into this

(01:23:24):
game and kind of looked at both teams, and really
not just again, I think the part that you just
said is important, not just the narratives that we think
because it's been a certain way in the past, but
like the reality of who these two teams are right
now this second, and who they've been over the last
couple of games. I am so with you and that
I can really see the scenario where this is close

(01:23:46):
and potentially, um, you know, down to the wire doesn't
feel right, but I don't I don't think it's going
to be. You know, we're still watching this in the
second half, is what I'm saying. Yeah, I don't think
you I know, you're in the technically the central time zone.
It I don't think people are gonna be able to
go to bed midway through the third quarter and it's
gonna be thirty one to three and and you know

(01:24:08):
anything like that. I really do think the scenario where
it's close could be in play because I think it's
a lot of the things that you said is that, um,
you know that Georgia defense, it's still really good. Nobody
doubts the talent on it. But one okay, Ohio State
they have you know, NFL wide receivers in NFL quarterback
uh C J. Stroud may have done a lot for

(01:24:28):
himself in that game, but this was an LSU team,
or this is a Georgia team that gave up thirty
points to l s U and the sc That's what
I'm saying, Uh, you know the game before at Georgia Tech.
I know, Georgia Tech is terrible but that's kind of
the point. Georgia Tech did move the ball on them.
Not super effective, but effective enough. And so that's where

(01:24:48):
I come to with this game is that I think
George is really good. I don't think they're as good
as last year, and I think they're different. The offense
is probably a little bit better than we probably give
them credit for, at least in the pasting game. I think,
to your point, run game isn't as just physical just
beat you up at the line of scrimmage as it
was a year ago, which by the way, advantaged TCU.
They're not gonna get just overwhelmed at the line of

(01:25:10):
scrimmage because they didn't get overwhelmed the line of scrimmage
against a Michigan and I don't think they will on
Monday Night against Georgia. But that's the other part. Two
is that I think the offense from George is a
little bit more dynamic with Stetson Bennett, the defense not
quite as good. I think we get a competitive game.
I I don't think tc is gonna win. I'm not
gonna come on here and pretend that I do, but
I do think it's close. I do think it's fun
and I do think tc was able to move the

(01:25:31):
ball against that Georgia defense. I'll also say this, man,
I hope it is like I I want to see
an epic title game because boy was that fun a
week ago. Like if we could just get a few
more of those like it, Really, it feels like this
season almost deserves it after those two semis. Listen, I
have a dud, Like, Okay, you've given us two good

(01:25:52):
games at the football deities now want to give us
a dud. Okay, but you look at the TCU team
and how goody they've been, how gritty they've been, And
your point is the exact one that that I've been
thinking about the whole time. Ohio State will make you
think that George is a little bit vulnerable because of
the talent Ohio State has that almost nobody else in

(01:26:15):
the country. Does we know what town Ohio State had.
They just weren't living up to it in our mind.
A lot of times during this season, it's the l
s U game because TCU is a better football team
than l s US. They just are like Kelly is
building it. But when he walked in the door, it
wasn't like that they had just ready made top five
roster kind of stuff. This TCU team is better than

(01:26:39):
that team was, and Duggan is a much better passer
than what they've seen, you know, certainly from the l
s U quarterback. So you look at all of those
factors and you just say, this TCU team doesn't strike
you as a team is gonna get blown out because
they've been on the bad side of talent multiple times

(01:27:00):
this year in conference and have won those games. I'm
picking Georgia also because I'm not insane. I I hope
I'm wrong, all no disrespect. I would love to see
tc you win it because I think it would just
open up so much for us to talk about when
we get to a twelve team playoff, because if tc

(01:27:21):
you can do it, now, we need to have a
discussion about the number six and number seven and number eight,
the number nine team, because then you have hope that
right now doesn't exist. If Georgia goes ahead and wins it, okay,
they were the best team all you're in most people's mind,
they win it, that's fine. TCU wins it. It's just
a much more interesting story. You know. It's funny that
that's one thing that I have thought about is if

(01:27:43):
I'm not so, I'm not a proponent of expanding, but
I understand that it's coming. There's nothing I can do.
If you are a proponent of expansion, what you want
is at the very least a competitive game. Because a
knock that I think a lot of us have had
that that love college football is okay, We're not, you know.
I think the knock is We're never gonna see the

(01:28:05):
Butler vcu type run in in football because it's just
it's such a physical, wear and tear sport and teams
just aren't built to beat a Georgia one week in
a Michigan, the next week of Michigan, one week in Alabama,
the next week in Alabama, and then in Michigan, and
then a Georgia a week later. If TCU comes out
to l A at Sofi Stadium after that physical war

(01:28:28):
that they had with Michigan and goes toe for toe
and isn't physically overwhelmed, it's tough for guys like me
to sit here and say that to your point that
in any given year, there isn't another team now now,
not every team in a twelve team playoff is gonna
be able to beat every other team. But you know,
if all of a sudden, a TCU team which you
know you you were out the night of the day

(01:28:50):
before the playoff was announced, but people who didn't even
know if they deserved to be in now I thought
they did. But that doesn't matter what my opinion was.
But a team that I think most people say, well,
you know, I'm come on, I mean it t c you.
I mean, if you put them on the neutral field
with Alabama, like it's gonna get ugly. I mean, if
that team beats Michigan and Georgia back to back, that
is the greatest endorsement ever for a twelve team expansion.

(01:29:13):
That maybe we have been leaving out teams better than
we realized, and that maybe, oh by the way, now
in this transfer portal era where the Alabama's and the
George's and the Ohio States probably are never gonna have
the talent advantages that they once had in terms of
total bodies, in terms of total depth, maybe this is
the new world of college football that we're looking at.
And look, how can you argue that we're gonna be

(01:29:35):
worse off by throwing Tennessee and Clemson and some of
these teams that we watched in these Bowl games playing
games to have more steaks like a USC with Cayleb Williams,
the Heisman Trophy winner and all of this stuff, Like
there's nothing that's gonna be bad about this. I just
I just completely have always disagreed with that idea. Even

(01:29:57):
if it's gonna take a little bit of luster off
for off of a couple of rivalry games here and there.
Twelve is not a hundred folks. It's still gonna take
a lot to be one of the twelve best teams
in the country, and you're gonna get some great games
amongst those second tier teams, and then one of them
is going to get a shot against the big dog
and maybe you get an upset. But even if you don't,

(01:30:18):
those early games that are being played on campuses and
all this that's just gonna be great. Like we're gonna
have so much fun talking about those games, breaking down
games that matter amongst the cream of the crop. Top
twelve to me is still elite. There has been a separation,
and to your point erin I think a separation and
if TCU wins, we know it because I think they're

(01:30:40):
what thirty two and talent composite or something like that.
It's somewhere in there. If you looked at the Talent
Composite coming into the season, they were like thirty second.
So that would just mean it is possible, folks, in
a sport where it never feels possible. They would be
the perfect time for it to happen for anybody that's
excited about the future of college football and it I

(01:31:01):
think it would take away some of that stale conversation
that we've had over the past few years. We got
Cincinnati last year didn't work out for them, but they
deserved their opportunity. And this year you get t c
un They knock off a big dog and now they
have the big dog. And if you were able to
do it, man, that's gonna be fun very quickly. What

(01:31:22):
what what would a win tomorrow like? How would we
proceed on? It is tomorrow in some places, but but Monday,
what would it do? What? What would we think of
Stetson Bennett? Because this was a guy and and people
can can pretend this didn't happen. It was literally a
year ago going into the championship game after Georgia had

(01:31:45):
lost to Alabama earlier in the season in the SEC
champions Game that we were still saying, this guy can't
win the big one. You can't win a championship with him.
He's not potentially going for back to back championships. By
the way, no quarterback in the playoff era. Now pre
playoff it's different, but in the playoff ear, and nobody's
won back to back. And this guy, he was the

(01:32:05):
reason that they beat Ohio State in that thriller. It
wasn't the defense, it wasn't the run game, it wasn't
brock Bowers, it was Stetson Bennett putting that team on
his back. Now we don't know how he's gonna He's
gonna play on Monday. But I just think it's kind
of an interesting conversation to have historically because I'm not
talking about talent wise, but in terms of what he's accomplished.

(01:32:25):
I don't even know how to contextualize who he would
be with another championship under his belt. I guess it's
just well, certainly what he's already done and how he's
played this year. Do I think he was a Heisman finalist?
Not really, I mean I think there was. I think
other people deserve to be there in New York more
than him, despite the fact that because if you look

(01:32:47):
at a few of the games that he played this
year in particular, like it just wasn't impressive enough to
get you there. But that game against Ohio States showed
how good he can be, and we saw that in
the National Championship game last year against Alabama as well.
If TCU is beaten because of Georgia's defense and Stetson
Bennett throws three interceptions and they still win the game,

(01:33:07):
that's a different narrative than if Stetson Beenett throws for
three fifty three scores, no interceptions or something like that.
It just depends on how he plays. But if he
comes out of here with two championships, where in the
crucial moments in the college football playoff, he's one of
the reasons you're winning, a lot of people gonna have

(01:33:27):
egg on their faces, including us Aaron, because we thought
he should be benched after the SEC title game. We
thought they should have changed quarterbacks, at least I did
going into the National Championship game. Credit Kirby Smart for
sticking with his guns, because Stetson Bennett was one of
the reasons why they beat Alabama and he was incredible
in the fourth quarter last Saturday against Ohio State. This

(01:33:50):
is Fox Sports Radio or towards Jason Martin titled game
on Monday. We will obviously have reaction next week when
we come on air, and we'll obviously have a prediction
for that game. But where we go off air, coming up,
there is another college football story that's kind of interesting.
We alluded to it earlier. We'll dive in deep we
are we are, of course talking about Jim Harball. That's
next Fox Sports. Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio editors,

(01:34:13):
Jason Martin. We are brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, a TV and
more all your protection in one place. Bundle and save
at Progressive dot com. So, Jason, on top of the
college football title game, there has been, of course one

(01:34:36):
really just big college football story that obviously bleeds into
the NFL, and that is kind of the you know,
weird flirtation between Jim Harbaugh in the NFL. Now, a
couple of things, you know, kind of uh, you have
developed probably in the last thirty six to seventy two hours. Um.
One is that Jim Harball to release a statement his

(01:34:58):
plan is to be at Michigan, but no what he knows,
what the future holds. Blah blah blah blah blah. Two.
We also found out that Michigan is under a little
bit of an n c A investigation right now for holding,
you know, recruiting visits during COVID all of that stuff.
I'll be honest, Jason, I don't really know what to
make of like an n c investigation. In three, I
don't know if the n c A has any teeth,

(01:35:20):
if they're going to punish anybody whatever. Um, But I'd
really kind of just rather talk about the NFL perspective.
I guess maybe they're intertwined, maybe they aren't. Um what
do you make of the flirtation, Jason, because I'll tell
you why in a minute. I think Jim Harbaugh, at
this particular moment in time, I think he would be
making a mistake by returning to the NFL. I know

(01:35:41):
he said the plan is not to at this point,
but man, when you have three different reports linking you
to three different teams, it's hard not to feel like
he's seriously considering it. Yeah, he's got un finished business
and we know it. And losing to his brother in
the Super Bowl, he's never gotten over, and I think
that it's still an itch. He still feels like he

(01:36:03):
can go and win. He still wants a Super Bowl.
He's got Michigan at a spot where I've seen some
arguments where well, Michigan's peaked. Bullcrap. They have not handled
they have not handled the transfer portal the same way,
and they may not they Apparently Michigan is not big
in the n i L scene, and maybe Hardball is

(01:36:24):
using this and trying to leverage. I've heard some arguments
that maybe he's trying to leverage the n i L
people to step up, say look, if you want me,
I'm gonna need some help without going the Saban route
the way that Saban did in the off season last year,
but paying players. But yeah, right, exactly, yeah, um, And

(01:36:46):
maybe he's doing it for salary increase. You know, he
gave up his money a couple of years ago and
then he has won, so maybe he wants to get
more money. But I think, honestly think losing to his
brother and not winning that Super Bowl has eaten a
at him, and he is kind of a He's a
little bit different. He's wired, he's high, strong, all of
those things, and maybe he just feels like I'm built

(01:37:10):
for the NFL. That's where i want to go. The
only thing about it is whatever situation he's gonna go
into in the NFL is nowhere near as good a
job right now is what he has in Michigan. If
you just look at it in terms of which team
is closer to getting you to the ultimate prize in
their respective sport. What he's done in Michigan, it's hard

(01:37:30):
and maybe you don't want to do. And I've said before,
if it were me, I'd want to coach the NFL
because of the recruiting, the n IL and the transfer
portal and all of that. It would just be relentless
and exhausting. But he's got Michigan on the precipice. They've
beat in Ohio State two years in a row. They've
been in the College Football Playoff. They were right there
to beat TCU. Even with all the mistakes that they made,

(01:37:53):
they were this close to making the College Football Championship.
If he goes to Indianapolis, where he has the tie. Uh,
that's that's a team that needs a lot of work.
It goes to Denver. I don't really want to discuss
that out loud anymore because it's too painful as a
Broncos fan. If there's another job out there that makes
a lot of sense, maybe, So I just think he's
he's he wants to scratch that itch we saw in

(01:38:15):
the offseason with the whole Vikings thing last year. Uh,
it's it's clearly real because of what we saw last year.
It doesn't seem like it's just a tactic to get
more money. So I agree on that and and really
quickly won. Anyone who's saying that Michigan has peaked is
an idiot. Okay. Uh, that's just the bottom line, because
I'll tell you exactly why they haven't peaked, and it's

(01:38:36):
actually the exact reason why he should come back for
at least one more year. It's because they literally didn't
get elite quarterback play until the last three weeks of
Michigan season this year. And when I say they didn't
get it until, I mean from the time that Michigan
that Jim Harbaugh arrived at Michigan until the time that
until last Saturday night. The three best weeks of quarterback

(01:39:00):
play in that entire time were the last three weeks.
J J. McCarthy against Ohio State Big Ten Championship game
again in TCU. And I know everyone will say, hey,
you threw two pick six is against TCU. I was
talking about to V J. Husky about this. Uh, he
was in the studio before I came in. And people
can blame two things can be true. You can blame J. J.
McCarthy for the two pick six is that probably did

(01:39:22):
ultimately cost them the game. What I also took away
from that game is this, in any other year under
Jim Harbaugh, if Michigan fell down twenty one to six,
the game was over and J J. McCarthy threw them
back into the game when the run game was not working.
And so that's why I just don't think this is

(01:39:42):
the year to leave. And I was talking to the
guys about this in the break as well, is you
finally found your quarterback. Like what has been the criticism
and the criticism has been this guy always figured it
out of the quarterback position, Andrew Luck, Callen Kaepernick, Alex
Smith always made it work, couldn't make it work for
six years in Michigan. You finally found the guy. And now, oh,

(01:40:03):
by the way, going into next year, you're gonna bring
back J. J. McCarthy. And you know what else. Ohio
State is going to have a new starting quarterback, Penn
State is gonna have a new starting quarterback, Georgia is
gonna have a new starting quarterback. Alabama's gonna have a
new starting quarterback. Come back for one more year, especially finally, Jason,
And then I'll throw it back over to you. The

(01:40:25):
point you made is the most important one. If he
takes a job, it's gonna be a mediocre one. Guess what,
There's gonna be mediocre jobs next year too. If you
just want an NFL job, there's gonna be one available
next year too. I just think now is the time,
with J. J. McCarthy coming back to just sit wait,
be patient. I'll tell you what, Jason. You know. Rather

(01:40:45):
than cutting you short here, I want to kind of
continue this conversation. We will do it on the back end.
Before we do, though, I do want to toss it
back over to the news desk Steve to say with
what's trending? Hello again, A lot of football to discuss
quick update on the late NBA game a minute ago.
Sacramento has just taken the lead on the Lakers, one
thirty two to one thirty. But we've started this final

(01:41:06):
weekend of the NFL's regular season. Jacksonville beat Tennessee to
take the a f C South title. Today, Kansas City
dominated at Vegas to clinch the one seed in the
a f C and the by next weekend when the
playoffs open. If you needed one stat to tell you
how things are going with the Chiefs franchise compared to
how things are going with the Raiders franchise, ap points

(01:41:28):
out that in the ten years under coach Andy Reid,
the Chiefs have more wins in those ten years than
the Raiders have the last twenty years. And of course,
Andy Reid continues to dominate the Raiders head to head
eighteen and five career against them. That's a seven eighty
winning percentage. Marty Schottenheimer had a seven ninety winning percentage

(01:41:50):
in his career with the Raiders, not only continually beating
them as a Chiefs coach, but with the Chargers as well.
The Raiders, in fact, have not hosted a playoff game
in twenty years. Since they won the a f C
title and then lost the Super Bowl to Gruden. They've
had two meager playoff games in the last twenty years
and lost in both, including at Cincinnati in a close
one last year. So incredible. As for the Chiefs, they

(01:42:14):
got the win thirty one thirteen at Vegas. Chief scored
on four of their five drives in the first half.
Patrick Mahomes now the first quarterbacks in Kansas City history
to throw a touchdown pass in every one of his
team's games for the season. And this franchise continues to
dominate the a f C West. Do you know that
the Chiefs with Mahomes have literally never lost on the

(01:42:38):
road in the division sixteen n oh now against the
a f C West on the road twenty seven and
three overall against the division, the record by the way
for such a road winning streak in the division since
the merger. This is going back over fifty years of
NFL history. It's Joe Montana won eighteen straight road games
against the NFC West when he was with the forty

(01:43:00):
Niners when that division had New Orleans and Atlanta as
well as the Rams. So Ksey wins. It was thirty
one six in the fourth quarter thirty one thirteen the final,
and then tonight, Jacksonville was down at home ten nothing
second quarter and beat Tennessee twenty to sixteen on a
fumble return for a touchdown with under three minutes left,
taking the a f C South title. The Titans are eliminated.

(01:43:21):
Tennessee lost its last seven games of the season. The
Saints gave Denver permission to interview coach Sean Payton, who
still under contract with New Orleans in the NBA. Boston
gotta win at San Antonio. Jason Tatum thirty four points.
We can update the late game with the Lakers retaking
the lead at Sacramento with under thirty seconds left. One

(01:43:42):
thirty three, one thirty two. Lebron James has thirty seven
points in thirty seven minutes on the court and off
the bench. Russell Westbrook twenty two points and fifteen assists
for l A the late NHL game or one of them,
I should say, as thirty seconds left. L A. King's
had five one at Vegas earlier, with Seattle winning eight

(01:44:04):
four at Ottawa. And for college basketball, we had this
to update. Gonzaga did win ranked nine. They survived at
Santa Clara eight one seventy six, but u n l
V one at twenty one rank New Mexico eight four
seventy seven, Lobos. I've lost two straight after A fourteen
and oh started tonight Auburn beat Arkansas seventy two fifty nine,

(01:44:25):
but number five Arizona lost at home to Washington States
seventy four sixty one. Back to you, thanks, Steven Sager,
Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday eron towards Jason Martin
broadcasting live from the tirect dot Com studios. We could
talk about how complicated other banks make it to redeem
credit card rewards, or we could talk about how we
discover you can redeem the rewards for cashing any amount

(01:44:47):
at any time. I mean talk about amazing learn more
discovered dot com slash redeem rewards terms apply. So Jason,
before we got to the Sager, I kind of laid
out my argument for why I think Jim Harbash should
come back. I just think every thing is positioned for another,
you know, really another not just successful season, but a
season where you really have all the pieces there to

(01:45:07):
compete returning quarterback. Uh, it's worth noting I didn't even
mention the game is at Ohio State. And it's not
as though you're leaving potentially for the NFL for a
once in a lifetime opportunity. If this was a chance
to coach Justin Herbert, if this was a chance, um,
you know, uh, Sean McDermott got fired and you get Josh.

(01:45:28):
This is a really bad Colts team, a really bad
Carolina team, a Denver team that you have a historically
great quarterback but obviously struggled this year without much draft
capital around him. I'm going on and on, what what
what do you make of of everything that I just said? Well,
I wouldn't say a really bad Caroline, and Caroline has
got some pieces. But I tend to agree with you

(01:45:50):
unless you're just driven to be an NFL guy and
that's what you want. And that's the thing, Like if
Jim Harball has it said in his heart, I am
an NFL head coach. That's what I want to do,
just like my brother. I liked it. They're better. That's
the universe that I want to work in. Then it
doesn't matter how great the college job is. They're still
going to look to the NFL and wanted anyway, And

(01:46:13):
the Colts is the one that makes sense, Like I
would be very happy if he ended up Denver's coach.
But he played for Indianapolis. He was a quarterback for
an a f C championship team that lost to Pittsburgh
for the Colts. I remember that game very fondly. It
was an awesome football game. He has ties there. It
makes sense. It's you know, it's right there in the Midwest.

(01:46:35):
Everything else, like the only thing that would send him
to the Broncos. One of the things that would send
him to the Broncos is the Stanford connection, to Elway,
to Condoleeza Rice, to all the to a lot of
people in the ownership group. So maybe that could get
him there. Could also end up with David Shaw being
Broncos coach for all we know. But I just think it.
It just meant what's in hardball's heart. Is he obsessed

(01:46:59):
with the now stional Football League. If so, the quality
of job, you can throw it out the window. It
doesn't matter. As long as they pay him commensurate money,
he'll go. If you're looking at the best job and
the one that has the highest ceiling today, it's Michigan.
I think that's an important point that I probably have
not considered enough. Is if you just want to be

(01:47:19):
in the NFL, you're you're gonna be in the NFL, right.
I mean, it's no different than what we talked about
earlier with Sean Payton, where you know, uh is Sean Payton.
It's like, if he just wants to be back in
the NFL and he doesn't want to do TV, he's
gonna take what he deems to be the best job available,
you know, really quickly, Jason, we didn't get to talk
about it, but there is yet another speaking of coaching,

(01:47:41):
yet another report, and I gotta be honest, I'm getting
a little exhausted with this guy, Sean mcphagh. Another report.
And by the way, I will say this, I was
a little bit on this about a month ago. He
had three coaches in the middle of the season leave
the Rams for college jobs. When the college cycle kind
of picked up and new coach is we're being hired
and assistance were being hired. I said, something doesn't totally

(01:48:03):
get up there. But we have yet another report, Jason
that this guy is considering leaving. And I'll just say this,
it's kind of, uh, it's more than hardball, right because
hardball flirts. He came back last year, he's flirting in
this year. This guy, this is like the fourth fifth
time this cycle has come up. I don't think it's
he He needs to do what's best for him, right

(01:48:24):
He's a young guy. He just got married. We know
he wants to start a family. We know that his
grandfather was in the NFL for a million years, and
he doesn't want to turn into his grandfather. I get
all that. It's kind of exhausting, though, my am I
being insensitive because it's just like one week after. Just
make a decision. If you want to coach, be all in.
If you don't think you can be all in, take
a year away, take a deep breath. I don't know, Jason,

(01:48:44):
what do you make that? I think that, and You've
seen it on the sidelines of times, and I've read
reports and listen to folks that are tied him pretty
close out there. Losing hurts him. He's not having fun
right now. This hasn't in a good year. He may still.
I mean they were riding real high in the off season,

(01:49:05):
but they were still talk then about maybe going to Amazon.
Now that job looks like maybe it's filled and a
lot of these jobs have actually been filled at this
point in time. But TV is gonna be there for McVeigh,
whether it's this year, whether it's ten years from now
or fifteen years from now. The Rams, to me, do
not look like a team that's gonna be a serious
contender next year. If they're not, I think McVeigh knows

(01:49:28):
that too. Mcveigh's are still an unbelievable head coach. There's
no knock on him for how he's done. I mean,
look what he's done with Baker at times, and how
they embarrassed Denver a few weeks ago and everything else.
Like he still knows what he's doing. It's just not
as good a team. They've got guys age out, they've
won a championship, maybe they've got fat and happy, all

(01:49:51):
of those kinds of things. The Super Bowl hangover usually
hits the team that didn't win it, but it looks
like it's gool in the opposite direction this time around.
But if it's not as fun and losing stinks, and
you're not in a position in your own brain to
compete next year, and you know that you're not gonna
become that all of a sudden, like you're you're not
a piece away from that, there are some problems in

(01:50:15):
the coming years for you. Then I can understand why
these things keep popping up, because I'm sure he is
thinking about it. Is he trying to leverage more money?
I guess anybody could be doing that similar to Hardball,
I don't think so in this case. I don't think
Hardball is trying to get paid more money. I don't
think that McVeigh is necessarily trying to get paid more money.
I think McVeigh is. I just think he's unsure, and

(01:50:37):
maybe you should get closer to the year. You know what.
I just love the NFL, I love my team. I'm
gonna come back, you know, all of those kinds of things.
But it sounds like after the year he's gonna take
time and try to figure it out. And it's not
gonna be like Aaron Rodgers, where we're not gonna know
until August or something like that. We'll know. I bet
you buy by the time we're covering the final four

(01:50:59):
errand I bet you will know what Sean McVeigh is
gonna do and the Rams will make their move from there.
But I do think that part of this is just
this is probably gonna be a mediocre team next year
at best. And if that's the case, then why would
Sean McVeigh necessarily want to coach that when he's already
won a super Bowl and he's grown accustomed to a
certain standard of winning. I think it's a totally fair point.

(01:51:21):
And you know, we we talk a lot. You know,
we've talked a lot today about the Broncos and you know,
kind of stuck with Russell Wilson that contract, no draft picks.
But obviously, you know, it's been a conversation for everybody
on these air waves that this does feel like the
year that the Rams are kind of you know, it's
time to pay the piper, right, you know, you give
up all these picks for Jalen Ramsey, for Matthew staff

(01:51:41):
for for you know, last year, you know, you add
veteran pieces O'Dell von miller Um. Then obviously some of
those guys aren't back. It goes without saying, but this
feels like the year where the lack of depth has
really heard him, where the injuries have heard him, where
their older stars are looking like older stars. Uh. And
it's it's a great point, is that, you know, if
this was a one year blip, right, I mean if

(01:52:02):
this was uh, you know, I can't think of a
great example right now, but Joe Burrow getting hurt and
then he comes back and he's fine. This is an
aging roster, not a lot of ways out would not
be surprised if he does step away. I just hope,
like you said that it is a kind of quick,
painless either rip the band aid off or keep going. Uh,
because yeah, these reports are just and I get it right,

(01:52:23):
like it's a life decision all that, but at some point,
you know, it's just it does get a little bit exhausting.
Fox Sports Radio, ertwards, Jason Martin coming up, does Sager
rejoins us He's gonna have plenty on a mega day
in the NFL. Injury stuff, scheduling stuff. We're gonna discuss
all that next. Fox Sports Radio, Welcome back, everybody. Fox

(01:52:44):
Sports Radio eritoris Jason Martin, broadcasting live from the Direct
dot Com studios And as we do every week around
this time, do you want to toss it over the
news desk Steve de Segra, what do you got for us? Well,
a lot of football to get to in just a moment,
but we can update the late NBA game is over.
Lakers win with two late free throws at Sacramento one

(01:53:04):
thirty six to one thirty four as Plaker shot six
from the floor. Lebron James with thirty seven points. Since
he turned thirty eight, he's averaging thirty eight, by the way,
And news from the Australian Open, which starts this month
that Naomi Osaka officially will not be playing in that tournament.
She's only won one completed match since May. She's out.

(01:53:27):
Simona Holla, performer finalist, is not playing. Their Venus Williams
suffered an injury while practicing down Under. She's missing the
Australian Open, and the men's number one Carlos Alcarez is
out due to an ankle injury. As for the NFL stuff,
we had two games, Kansas City winning today, Jacksonville winning
tonight as we start this final weekend of the regular season.

(01:53:50):
And don't forget. While the Chiefs have the one seed
in the a f C, Philadelphia can clinch the one
seed in the NFC in the first round by tomorrow
with a win against the Giants. If they lose, the
forty Niners could get the one seed. Good news for
Philadelphia that quarterback Jalen Hurts after the strange shoulder is
expected to play tomorrow. He was limited in practice this week.

(01:54:11):
Defensive end Robert Quinn is off injured reserve. Now. The
Giants are the number six seed for the postseason. The
Giants will start quarterback Davis Webb tomorrow and rest some starters,
including QB Daniel Jones and running back Sae Kwon Barkley.
According to the New York Post. As for the Ravens,
quarterback Lamar jackson status for the playoffs is unclear. We

(01:54:32):
know he's missing a fifth straight game this weekend due
to his knee injury. Hasn't practiced in over a month.
Quarterback Tyler Huntley is questionable for tomorrow now. Jackson, according
to ESPN tonight, has quote a strong chance to play
in a week we shall see. The forty Niners will
be hosting Arizona Sunday. San Francisco activated running back Elijah

(01:54:52):
Mitchell at running back for Arizona. They signed Tyson Williams
to the active roster because out for the Cardinals on
the road tomorrow are James Conner, DeAndre Hopkins, and Colt McCoy.
The Browns are not going to play defensive end Jinadavian
Clowney tomorrow. He had been sent home. Clowney will become
a free agent in March. The Vikings activated tight end
Irv Smith. Safety Harrison Smith is out tomorrow with a

(01:55:15):
knee injury. Minnesota plays at Chicago Bears Quarterback Justin Fields
out with a hip injury. The Saints gave Denver permission
to interview coach Sean Payton. That doesn't mean they can
conclude with an offer or anything like that yet. He
is still under contract with New Orleans. A team would
have to trade to get him. Peyton was the Saints
head coach for fifteen seasons. He went nine and eight

(01:55:37):
a year ago, and the Texans will evaluate coach Lovey
Smith's job status after the season, according to NFL Network,
which says it's very much up in the air. So
yet another off season with perhaps a Texans change. If
they're gonna just go year by year, can they hire
a real coach this time? I mean, you know, we
knew Culley was kind of the you know, I think

(01:55:58):
he was the Deshaun Watson spur right, like maybe maybe
getting to Shaun Watson happy. That didn't work out. Love
you was just I don't know, it doesn't matter to me,
makes no difference to me, but just a weird situation
you can't have. Essentially what three stop gaps. Yeah, and
the Titans lose seven in a row and they're out.
Jacksonville beat him last month, also beat him tonight in

(01:56:21):
a comeback, so they sweep the Titans in the season
series for the first time in seventeen years. So not
only are the Titans eliminated, it means they go winless
against teams that are over five oh and eight. This year,
the Titans opened the season against a Giants team that,
as we mentioned, turns out to be a playoff team.

(01:56:42):
Titans lost by one on opening Day. They did wind
up playing at Kansas City this year, Titans lost in overtime.
They wound up playing Cincinnati and lost a close game.
They've lost the two to Jacksonville against including a close
game tonight. And we mentioned earlier in the show that
Titans lost a close game at the Chargers before Christmas,
and that turns out to be a massive victory for

(01:57:04):
the Charger season because that one win could be the
difference in giving the Chargers the five seed over Baltimore
because of conference records. So Jacksonville might be hosting the
Chargers next weekend in the playoffs. If not, it'll be
Baltimore visiting. But we know the Jags, as a division champ,
regardless of the record, will be getting a home playoff

(01:57:25):
game next weekend. Meanwhile, Tennessee, they were seven and three
at one point and lose seven straight to end the season.
Hey man, Steve, maybe maybe don't fire general manager after
two losses to the Eagles and the Bengals, because, man,
everybody should beat those two football teams. They haven't won
since they let John Robinson go. What's stunning to me

(01:57:48):
is the amount of teams, according to a p that
in the last decade, just the last decade, have started
seven and three and missed the playoffs. Apparently Ravens last year,
Stealers a few years before that, Broncos, Eagles in the past,
Chiefs in the past decade, Titans now added to that list.
It's one of the great things of the NFL product.

(01:58:11):
Almost anybody's in it, and in fact, year to year,
almost anybody's in it. Do you know that since we
went to division realignment in these twenty years in the NFC,
we've never had the same four division champions back to
back years. We almost had the same four in the
a f C from last year to this year. If

(01:58:32):
Tennessee had one tonight, for example, Kansas City one today
and repeated as division champion since a Natie Buffalo were
division champs last year, but not Tennessee did not repeat.
But apparently in the a f C that's happened a
couple of times in the twenty years, but not at
all in the NFC. As for the College National Championship
game in l A, it's Monday night TCU against number

(01:58:54):
one and undefeated Georgia, and TCU star running back Kendrey
Miller says he has a sprained m c L and
DADA is questionable for the game. Something to look forward to.
Of course. The guy that subform did okay in the
last game. And it's from Englewood, California, as I recall,
and they will be playing in the Ram Stadium in
Inglewood on Monday night. Thank you very much, the Sagar.

(01:59:16):
As the Sager said, championship game Monday night, a lot
of good NFL tomorrow. Obviously, we talked a lot about
the Lions, Packers, but there's a lot at stake in
a lot of these other games. So coming up, Jason Martin,
eron Torres, we will hit on everything else that you
need to know Week eighteen in the NFL, quite a
bit on the line. Still despite it all, we'll discuss

(01:59:38):
it all next. Eron Torres, Jason Martin. This is Fox Sports.
Are welcome in everybody our four Fox Sports Radio. Aeron Torres,
Jason Martin. On a Saturday night into a Sunday morning,
we are broadcasting live from the tirect dot com studios.
Tirect dot Com. We'll help you get there and unmatched
selection fest, free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over

(02:00:01):
ten thousand recommended installers direct dot com the way tire
buying should be. So we've kind of been sprinkling in
quite a bit of the NFL throughout the night. The
big story of the evening obviously came in Jacksonville. We
had an a f C South win, and you're into
the playoffs scenario, the winner of Jacksonville and Tennessee obviously, uh,

(02:00:24):
the victory there goes to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jaguars a
strip and score late in that game. They win twenty
to sixteen. We do not know officially yet who they
will play. It very much does feel like it's trending
towards the Chargers really quick. Jason, I want to talk
about some of the other stuff that's that's uh, you know,
coming up tomorrow on Sunday today on Sunday, depending on

(02:00:46):
where you are, we do have Bernie Frito twenty minutes
from now. Any you know, kind of lasting thoughts on
that Tennessee Jacksonville game with I think the big thought
being I think most of the football world is excited
to see Trevor Lawrence this week in his first playoff appearance.
I think that's what it is. I mean, I think
you just it's not a universe why you can win

(02:01:07):
if you don't have a high powered offense, and Vrabels
almost pulled it off, but not this year. Eventually it
bites you. And if you don't have your starting quarterback
all the more if you have Tannehill the entire season,
does the same thing happen tonight, Probably not a matter
of fact, surely not, because you probably don't lose to Houston,
you probably don't lose to the Chargers, or you don't

(02:01:27):
feel like you you feel like, you have a good
shot if he's not getting banged up in that game
as he did, but your offensive line couldn't hold up
and you still want to run the ball. And you
got rid of a J. Brown And I told you,
Aaron when they traded a J. When that move happened,
they were signaling, Okay, this is not going to be
the year, like we're not gonna win this year because

(02:01:48):
their whole draft felt like it was for the future.
Now a co quo. We all like that pick when
it was made here in Nashville. He showed out he's
a tight end. It's gonna be really good in this league.
You saw a couple of Roger McCreary, even though he
gave up a lot of touchdowns this year. He was
called into action early and he's been better than Caleb Farley,
who was I think pretty much a bust at this point.
He was a first round pick that was supposed to

(02:02:10):
be part of the secondary last year, got hurt and
got hurt again and now is not on the field,
and so it's a wrap. But you just got you
gotta have a quarterback, and you gotta have an offense
that can put up points. And this team struggled to
put up points all year. They couldn't protect their quarterback.
They elected to try and run right into the playoffs
and couldn't do it. Even with an elite defense. It

(02:02:30):
wasn't enough that that used to be it right defense
wins championships the Ramps. It was Aaron Donald making place right,
but it was also Matthew Stafford and Cooper Cup on
that last offensive drive. You have look at the quarterbacks
that are in the playoffs and a f C is
all you need to look at. And then you look
at the FC and you're just like, man, that's a
better conference in the NFC, and it is because the
quality of the quality and caliber of quarterback. It's just

(02:02:53):
on a different level. With all due respect to the
veteran guys who are all world and you know this
isn't sliding them is sliding where they find themselves right
now at their ages and the young guns that you
see in the a f C. But that's really the
lasting opinion, and that's Trevor Lawrence. Trevor might not be
there yet, but he took massive strides this year. His

(02:03:14):
new head coach clearly was the right guy for them.
They gotta keep building. They need a few more pieces.
They probably need to let some guys go trim the
fat a little bit upgrade because now you're in a
spot where you want the Jets team with your quarterback,
because the Jets have the roster, they have guys that
you want in a lot of different spots, but they

(02:03:36):
don't have the quarterback. Jacksonville has the quarterback, and they're
still missing on a lot in some spots they're they're
lacking where they're gonna be. But look who's in the
playoffs and who's not. The team with the quarterbacks in
the team without the quarterback is not regardless of what
you think of the rest of their team. They're coaching
staff all of that. So I think that's the lesson.
And that's not exactly giant. You know, that's not analysis

(02:03:59):
that you should pay for to tell you if you
have a good quarterback, it gives you a better chance.
But I can tell you if your team sucks this year,
your quarterback probably sucks really quick. Before we get to
some of the other stuff from tomorrow um or today,
depending on where you are in the country, Sunday week,
a team, what is Trevor Lawrence gonna be the only
guy out of that draft class for people who forget

(02:04:21):
five first round picks. We had Trevor Lawrence, Zack Wilson,
Justin Fields, Trey Lance, and Matt Jones. When we look
up in five years, are we gonna have four bus
out of that class? And Trevor Lawrence? Because I'll tell you,
you know, I'm still I know the win loss record
doesn't seem to reflect it. I still do believe in
Justin Fields. Um, you know, gotta gotta improve in a

(02:04:43):
lot of areas, but obviously doesn't have a lot of
help around him. But it's funny, right because we always
talk about the idea that that somebody's gonna be a bust,
and now you look at that draft class and it
looks like, frankly, most of those guys are gonna be
I mean, Trey Lance, I've never been a fan of
Zack Wilson, never understood the hype and in Um and
Mac Jones. You know, I think we all kind of

(02:05:04):
understood from the beginning he had the lowest ceiling, like
his potential was much less than everybody else. He was
more of a finished product. And there's just chaos, as
weird as it sounds because they're playing for a playoff
ber tomorrow. I think on the offensive side of the football,
there's chaos in New England. He's not being helped by
the situation there. I think we could look up in
a few years, Trevor Lawrence turns into the star we expect,

(02:05:26):
maybe justin Fields those other three guys. I think it's
gonna be tough, tough, tough sledding for those guys. We
already knew the ceiling for Mac probably wasn't that high,
but the floor wasn't that low. We saw what Mac
was capable of last year, and then this year you
bring in guys that are toxic, guys that don't really
coach great offense. I mean, Matt Patricia. I don't know
what we're doing there, Joe Judge, all these things. Mac

(02:05:47):
had a really bad year. He had a bad year too,
like his attitude and things like that were called into
question a number of different times. It was just a
poor overall deal. And yet the Patriots aren't officially out
of play US, which is astonishing going into the final
day of the season. Um Fields has never had a

(02:06:08):
shot because they hired a defensive head coach after an
offensive head coach that that didn't know what he was doing,
and they had the worst draft I've ever seen. They
brought in nobody to help him. He is a dynamic playmaker,
but he doesn't have anybody to to to really work with.
They bring in Claypool. Claypool is not enough on his own.
You've got dudes that are should be punt returners and

(02:06:29):
special teams players that are starters at wide receiver for
your football team. That's a disaster area. I still think
I want to I'm gonna wait on Justin Fields. I'm
not out on Justin Fields yet. I know not Zack.
I've been out. You know that. I've been out since
before he was drafted. I never got it, just like you.
Same thing with Trey Lance, like the exact same deal here.

(02:06:51):
Trevor is the one that felt like the no brainer.
And guess what, Trevor's the no brainer because even though
Trevor doesn't have DeAndre ray Hopkins, he doesn't have Davante Adams,
he doesn't have Justin Jefferson, he doesn't have Cooper Cup.
He didn't have one of those guys Jamaar, Chase, Tyree Kill,
somebody like that. Trevor Lawrence is giving his football team

(02:07:14):
a chance. And if you notice, the defense started playing
better in the back half of the season. And I
feel like one of the reasons why is because man
if our quarterbacks gonna play this way and our offense
is gonna score points. All we gotta do. Fells to
step up a little bit, and we could be a
pretty good football team. It gets infectious. Trevor Lawrence looks
like he has leadership qualities. That's the thing that seems

(02:07:37):
to be missing with a few of these other guys,
and then those that can't stay on the field. You know,
I don't know what you say there, but Trevor is
the only one right now. You buy full stock in
Justin Fields is like a bad is kind of like
a mediocre cryptocurrency. Right now, I'm gonna leave him. I'm
gonna leave him in the bank if I've already invested
in it, because I'm gonna buy low and sell hi.

(02:07:58):
I'm gonna hold onto it right now. But I'm at
least looking at it like if I need to liquidate
this thing in a year or so, it'll be okay.
It's probably not gonna be the biggest loss I'm I'm
kind of worried about it because I think he's in
a bad situation. So that's a great uh analogy is
I think Zach Wilson and Trey Lance to me our

(02:08:20):
cryptocurrency because people have tried to explain crypto to me
and I can't visualize it. I don't understand it, and
I've said if it's for you, that's fine. I'm just
it's not something that I want anything to do with.
And so that's exactly how their careers have played out.
I was like, I never understood Zack Wilson. I sort
of got Trey Lance, but you know, we don't need

(02:08:40):
to relitigate history. But played at a lower level, played
one game during his final year, hadn't started a ton
of games, and was doing it at a much lower level.
So I like that Zach Wilson and Trey Lance are
our our cryptocurrency. To me, never understood it, never never
really got it. Really quick, let's get into a couple
of games before we get to Bernie here in the
next segment, and I do want to start um with

(02:09:04):
the team that we just mentioned in New England Patriots,
So kind of a weird deal there. We explained the
set up in the a f C. UH, the Chiefs
have clinched the number one seed uh in the playoffs,
they will get the first round by they did that
with a win today, but they have not clinched necessarily
home field advantage throughout the playoffs. And let me explain
what I mean by that. Because the Bills game was canceled,

(02:09:25):
the Bills are currently tied with the Chiefs in the
lost column. They do have a head to head win
um because the Bills game was canceled. Now, what ends
up happening is basically, if they are to win tomorrow
against New England and they are at home, then the
Bills would technically be the two seed. But if the
Bills and Chiefs went to the a f C Championship game,

(02:09:47):
the game would not be played at Arrowhead. It would
instead be played in a neutral site, again out of
respect for the Bills, which would basically uh you know,
essentially would have had the number one seed if if
they had played in one in Cincinnati. So long story short,
Bills win, UH, it sets up that they definitely there's
still the two seed, but it sets up an interesting
scenario for the a f C championship game. If they

(02:10:08):
lose there, the two seed and the a f C
championship game goes through Arrowhead. And not sure if that
totally makes sense, but it's also worth noting on the
back end, Jason, exactly what you said. If the Patriots
can somehow figure out a way to get get a win,
they are into the playoffs. Now, it's worth noting these
teams did play earlier this year, Uh in New England
or excuse me, Buffalo largely dominated ten was the final

(02:10:29):
score in that one? Uh? Any chance for the Patriots
because I'll tell you for all those interesting, kind of
crazy scenarios. Uh, it's interesting that the Patriots are still
in this. I don't feel great about him tomorrow though, No,
I don't either. I mean, Buffalo is I mean, Buffalo
certainly is gonna be playing with a lot of emotion.
That can be a really good thing or it can
be a really troubling thing, and just we're not gonna

(02:10:50):
know until we see it. Um. But the Patriots. The
Patriots have a great defense. How are they going to
score enough points? Though? Like, I just feel like even
if Bufalo comes in and they're still playing with a
bit of a heavy heart and maybe it's a little
lethargic early, I still feel like they will right the
ship in the second half and win the game. Uh
And I kind of hope so because I don't have
any interest to see in the Patriots in the playoffs.

(02:11:12):
Maybe I'm wrong, Like it's not like whoever gets in
in that seven spot or whatever, it's gonna be riveting
or anything. But the Patriots are just I don't want
to see boring offensive football in the playoffs, you know.
Like it's the same thing with Tennessee. Like I live
in Nashville, and I you know, I've interviewed a lot
of that team, and I've spent a lot of time
watching that team, covering that team, analyzing that team. I

(02:11:33):
like a lot of those guys. They board me to
tears this year offensively, So I was like, give me Jacksonville,
like I want to see that team. So the same
thing is true here. New England is such a boring
offensive team outside of what happened in that Raiders game
with the last player the game with Jakobe Myers. I
just I hope Buffalo wins it so we can put

(02:11:54):
this thing out to pasteor plus it makes us right,
because before the year I said they were gonna have
a losing record, the Patriots, and they will. They lose
that game. Yeah, it has no impact on meat, but
I will say I did pick the Bills to win
the title. Not that that matters, but I think they
probably get the win. I'll tell you what will come back,
Bernie Fratto will join us, obviously on the back end.
After Bernie will continue the conversation. A lot at Steak tomorrow,

(02:12:17):
a lot at Steak on Sunday in the NFL before
we talk more NFL, though, Bernie Fratto's gonna come and
not only talk NFL, but talk all things sports, all
things betting. Bernie Fratto is next error towards Jason Martin,
Fox Sports Tradeum, I don't want to know anything about
Bernie Fratto's hips, but Bernie Fratto joining us momentarily er

(02:12:38):
towards Jason Martin. We are brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, a TV and
more all your protection in one place. Bundle and say
it Progressive dot Com. I couldn't even make it through
that read because I just you know, the Shakira hips

(02:12:59):
do space Shakira, Like when you came back and said
that I hadn't heard the music long enough, and then
I listened to it, I'm like, oh, I better Shakira.
Tores Torres is trying to make a hips comment about
Shakira and Bernie Fratto. That's really unnecessary. I mean, it's
it's twelve twenty one here in the Central time Zone
where I'm broadcasting from Aaron. It's someone called that. Someone

(02:13:22):
call that the perfect time to talk about Bernie Fretto's beverage.
If I'm gonna be hearing stuff like that, Bernie Fratto,
those hips lie or what man tell the truth? Well,
happy to you guys. It's only January seventh, and it's
already been a very eventful year, I guess, so we'll
change the subject on that note. Burn So, first of all,

(02:13:43):
so we did have you know, look, we had a
very serious topic. Jason and I led the show with
themar Hamlin and UM, you know you're a sports of
story and and talking to you, just you and I
privately this week, I was blown away. Um, you know,
I I don't mean to make light of anything serious.
But when I saw Tomorrow, Hamlin, the first thing that
I thought of, you know, was the unfortunate passing of

(02:14:05):
Hank Gathers, the basketball player back in Loyola Marre Amount.
And I call you the next day talk a little
bit about and I find out that you were in
the building for the Hank gathered situations. So I don't
know where to take it from their serious situation. Obviously
a great update we got over the last couple of
days on Tomorrow, Hamlin. But what was your perspective from
the outside barn Well, the broadcast crew that night was

(02:14:27):
so traumatized they could hardly talk, and it would have
been nice to give some perspective, because if I had
a nickel for every time they said the word unprecedented,
and you know, I have my own, uh twenty four
hour access to a private plane, it wasn't unprecedented. And uh,
you know, we look at these athletes. They're ten feet tall,
they play on fields of dreams, they're larger than life.

(02:14:47):
But at the end of the day, they're human is
some sometimes cursed, sometimes blessed. And I'm glad you brought
up Hank Gathers because I was at that game. It
was a college basketball game between Loyal and Merrymountain Portland
on a Sunday night, and nine teen ninety we had
no idea what was going to happen. He collapsed after
dunking and died, and he had a harder rhythmia. We've
come to find out that a month before he had

(02:15:11):
a similar situation in practice and uh ended up being
cleared to play and no one did anything wrong. But
that night in the building there wasn't even a defibrillator,
if you can imagine, hold that thought. So when you
look at some of the other issues in terms of
the perspective of what has happened in history, Red Wings
had a hockey player named Yuri Fisher collapsed down the

(02:15:33):
bench and had a heart attack and he ended up
They revived him, but he was never cleared to play again.
Chris Pronger took a pop to the chest, played two
days later, had the same situation. And then, of course
there was a player, Bill Masterton who fell on the
ice Minnesota North Stars and died. Christian Erickson, a soccer player,
was basically pronounced dead on the field. They revived him
at the hospital two years later. He's back playing, but

(02:15:55):
the one that takes the cake. And this is near
and dear to me because it involved the Detroy Lyons.
Nineteen seventy one, the Lions had a wide receiver named
Chuck Hughes who collapsed on the field died. They tried
to revive him with CPR. Turned out he had a
pre existing condition, a blocked artery, and his wife ended
up suing. What's the takeaway that thanks to advancements, thanks

(02:16:18):
to awareness, thanks to preparedness by all parties, Damar Hamlin
is going to be a happy success story. And his
you know, chasing ems went from to what seven eight
million now? So there was a lot of precedents here.
And as I watched the crew that night, traumatized, I
kept thinking to myself, come on, people, give give America

(02:16:41):
some context because there is plenty of context and the
truth of the matter as we've come along way. And
one final thing, the NFL always wants to air on
the sat of caution nineteen sixty three. When President Kennedy
was assassinated two days later, Pete Rosel decreed that the
games would continue. He regretted that decision the rest of
his life. Well, I'm mean I'm the thing that came

(02:17:01):
to mind. I thought it gathers. I thought of a
few of the things that you just mentioned as well,
But I thought of owen Hart and w W E
continuing with their pay per view at Kemper Kemper Arena
that night in when he fell from the catwalk, and
and as somebody that had covered the industry and worked
in it for a long long time, it was a

(02:17:22):
black mark they never got over, and it's one that
we still talk about to this day. The NFL got
it right, I mean, they did what they should have
done in that moment um. Is there anything that you
can think of? We talked about the playoffs, scenarios and
all of these other things that we now have to
look at. Is there anything they could have done differently
at this point in time? In your opinion, burn It,

(02:17:44):
It seems to me like they handled this about as
professionally as you could, considering how the circumstances evolved in
the moment. No, I think they handle everything extremely well.
And when you look at on a good forward basis,
what happens next. The Chief's win today, so they're gonna
be the number one seed, and you could have a
situation where the FC Championship game he's played on a

(02:18:07):
neutral field. Onward and upward. Not everybody's gonna be happy
with what the outcomes are, and there are always going
to be second guessing. But for the most part, I
think the NFL nailed this. And the thing I'm I
think people should be most pleased about is that the
decision was made before heading into this weekend's games, and
and and you know, the bottom line is none of

(02:18:29):
these decisions have any effect on which teams will qualify
for the playoffs. It's only a matter of seating things
of that nature. So all things considered, and again I
want to emphasize an amazing medical team. I think they're
going to be honored at halftime in the Buffalo game Sunday. Uh,
you know, we could go on all night, guys. John
McSherry the home plate umpire Opening Day in Cincinnati collapse

(02:18:53):
walking to home plate. Mark Shott wanted to play the
game that day. She was excoriated for the rest of
their life, her life. She had to had to cancel
that game. You can probably find that video on YouTube
and it is not pretty. Again. Top credit to the NFL.
Burn one thing, um you know, outside of having a
historical context, as you said, very close to the the lines
organization for years, very close to the state of Michigan

(02:19:14):
for years. And you know where I'm going with this, Uh,
Jim Harball. You know, I'll ask you what what outside
of the NFL stuff? What is up with the quote
unquote n C investigation if he were to return to Michigan,
is that something Wolverines fans should be concerned about. I
don't think so. I think it's the tempest in a teapot.

(02:19:34):
I mean buying a kid a hamburger. There were situations
where multiple coaches were on a recruiting trip which violated
in the numbers, watching a kids work out on a video.
There were some COVID practice violations. The infractions have no bearing,
whatso weather on whether hardball stays or goes. Two things,
Because I hear people trying to talk about hardball on

(02:19:55):
all networks and including ours. Look, people have to understand
two things about this guy. One, he has always said
that winning his Super Bowl is the most coveted prize
in all the sports. He wants to win a Super Bowl.
He can't do that, nan Arbor, the only one he
went to be lost to his brother. If you don't
know that eats at him, you don't know you have
the context I have eats at him. Harball is not

(02:20:18):
particularly enamored also by the current state of college football,
with all the n i L stuff and all the
transfer portal stuff. Talked to one of my best malls Thursday, though,
and Grand Rapids, and he said, Hardball is torn this
time a little bit because he thinks he's got his
best team ever coming back next year with a solid
recruiting class, and so he's he thinks he's got the

(02:20:39):
best chance ever to win a national championship next year.
He also turned sixty next year. The windows starting to close,
so you hear teams like Denver and Miami, maybe Carolina.
I still think Jimmer Say is gonna come forward with
a pretty substantial offer in January. It's gonna come down
to the offer, the amount of control his staff. He'll

(02:21:01):
weigh it all. Then you can see how cryptic his
answers are. You know, I fully expect to be here
next year, but who knows what the future holds. Okay,
come on, man. Part of it is Hardball likes this
kind of theater and holding court. But the other part
is he doesn't know what he's gonna do. It's gonna
come down to the offer, and he is going to
get one. Um. Yeah, I mean I would tend to

(02:21:22):
agree and whatever. I think that. And I told Aaron
this because I think Michigan certainly is a higher profile
job than some of these NFL openings. They are gonna
be there. But if the NFL is what you want
to do, then you don't really care about the quality
of job. There's thirty two of them. So if you
get an offer and get a chance to go there
and you believe in yourself, that's gonna trump at all.
And I have heard for years. I've heard it from you,

(02:21:43):
and I've heard it from a number of other folks
that are really tight in college football an the NFL
that hardball. Losing to his brother is something that he
has never even come close to getting over correct and
and and again a couple of things. Do I think
he'll end up in Denver? Probably not, but I'm pretty
sure John Paynton won't either. I think this Sean Payton
New Orleans is getting real legs. And I think Tom

(02:22:04):
Brady is crazy if he comes to the Raiders, because
they don't have a defense. It's going to be a
cluster if he comes here. I'd love to see it.
But Miami is always in the play because of Stephen Ross.
He's a benefactor to the University of Michigan to the
tune of a hundred billion dollars. He wanted to hire
Harbor when he left the Niners, and they told him,
don't you dare, we'll disown you. Carolina Panthers can't rule

(02:22:27):
them out. I still think it circles back to the Colts.
He has a thirty five year history with Jim Rsa,
played quarterback their four years. They called him captain. Come back.
He's in the ring of honor. He'll get to control,
he'll get the money and and hell, by the way,
when Chuck Pagana was fired in seventeen, there was a
straw pole in Indianapolis of the people wanted Jim Harbaugh

(02:22:49):
last one burn will let you go? Got about a
minute left? Um, obviously week eighteen tomorrow. We know everything
that's its sake. Uh. And from a betting perspective, you
of course live in Vegas. Go ahead, tell us what what?
But the gambler needs to know. So you guys all here,
they must win, must win. Well, look, thirty one of
the thirty two teams in the National Football League will win.
Check that they will lose the game. They must win

(02:23:11):
every year, So teams that need to win in the
final week of the regular season to get into the playoffs.
The bottom line, must win doesn't mean must bet. They're
only against the spread since nine and of those forty
two games, they've lost twenty nine of them outright, and
by the way, if he's solely focused on teams getting
more than a field goal, those teams cover six at

(02:23:33):
the time, who am I looking at looking at the
Rams catching six against the Seahawks tomorrow, looking at the Lions.
By the way, that line after the game was played,
that the Seahawks win, the lines are out. The Lions
are still gonna give max effort. They want to be
over five. They want to spoil Aaron Rodgers that that
line will go. Probably the six six and a half
grabbed the lines then, and then of course you've got
the Jets and Dolphins. I know you gotta hold your nose,

(02:23:55):
but these trends are there for a reason. Teams that
are desperate don't play as well as teams that are playing.
Lucid have already been eliminated. He is Bernie Freddo. You
can hear him at the top of the hour the
Bernie Freddo Show, taking you up till six a m.
Eastern time. Bernie, we gotta run, man, but thank you
for the time, thank you for the insight, and we
will talk soon. Thanks. Oh see there came full circle.

(02:24:21):
See he pretended like he didn't like my my leading.
But anyway, Bernie Freddo here him at the top of
the hour, the Bernie Freddo Show, taking you till six
a m. Eastern time. Coming up. We react to some
of the things that Bernie said. Also, look ahead to
this week eighteen, slate everything at steak before we do
final time this evening, let's toss it over to to
Sega with what's trending, What's up? And we are on

(02:24:42):
the eve of the final day of the NFL regular
season and the league points out tonight. Mathematically, we still
could have, for example, Baltimore against Cincinnati tomorrow and then
Baltimore against Cincinnati again to open the playoffs the very
next week. We still have the possible ability of New
England finishing at Buffalo tomorrow, and if New England gets

(02:25:04):
into the playoffs, could have a New England against Buffalo
the very next week in the playoffs. Those are two
mathematical possibilities. Still, as we get to the final day,
what we do know is Jacksonville is in and we'll
be hosting a home playoff game next weekend. Already some
people are speculating does a Jacksonville home playoff game automatically
get placed in that Houston Texans Lite so open on

(02:25:27):
a Saturday afternoon next weekend. We'll see. Jacksonville might be
hosting the Chargers in that game next weekend, either that
or Baltimore. Although as we mentioned earlier, the Chargers right
now owned the tidebreaker over Baltimore because of one extra
conference win, the Titans are out. Jacksonville came back to
beat him twenty to sixteen tonight. Jags were down ten

(02:25:48):
nothing in the first half, but the Titans got shut
out in the fourth quarter. The end the season, losing
seven games in a row and in fact, in fourth
quarters this season, if you add up all the ten
to see scoring in fourth quarters for the year only
thirty seven points, which is the lowest point total for
fourth quarters in almost a decade. In the NFL any team.

(02:26:11):
Titans lose sixteen on a fumble return for a touchdown
with under three minutes to go, forced by ray Sean Jenkins.
Titans in the first quarter had a ten minute drive
and settled for a field goal, wound up losing a
close game. Joshua Dobbs was at quarterback, had one touchdown, pass,
one interception, one key fumble. He was sacked four times.

(02:26:31):
Derrick Henry thirty carries for his one nine yards rushing. Jacksonville,
as the winning team, had fourteen carries just nineteen yards rushing,
but they sweep the two games against the Titans. This year,
Tennessee's eliminated and the Jags take the a f C South. Yes.
Jacksonville which went three and fourteen last year and one

(02:26:52):
in fifteen the year before, and started this season two
and six. They're in the playoffs as a division champ.
Christian Kirk six catches, tonight yards and a touchdown. Kansas
City led at Vegas thirty one six in the fourth
quarter thirteen the final. The Chiefs clinched the one seed
in the a f C clinched the by for next weekend.

(02:27:12):
Quarterback Jared Stidham for Las Vegas one touchdown, pass, one interception,
one fumble today, although on the ground, Stidham seven carries
fifty yards rushing Josh Jacobs seventeen carries just forty five
yards rushing. Again, if Buffalo beats New England tomorrow, then
a potential Buffalo versus KFC, KFC j C A that's right,

(02:27:36):
because they haven't selected, could be Vegas, could be Detroit,
could be your local KFC for the a f C. Anyway,
that would be a neutral site game. However, keep in
mind the Chiefs at fourteen and three. If they're facing
anyone else in the a f C title game, it
would be in Kansas City. Philadelphia can clinch the one
seed in the NFC in a first round by tomorrow

(02:27:57):
as they place a Giant's team, a Giant seem that
apparently will be sitting starters and starting Davis Webb at quarterback,
and Jalen Hurts could be back from his strange shoulder tomorrow.
In the NBA late game, Lakers won their fifth in
a row, got too late free throws to win at
Sacramento one thirty six, one thirty four. Lakers shot sixty
one from the floor. Orlando got a win at Golden

(02:28:20):
State Paulo Bancarro. And this according to longtime NBA writer
Mark Spiro's Ben Carro the first rounder for the Magic,
with his eighth five point game in his rookie season
already after the tonight on the road, all other NBA
rookies have combined for eight twenty five point games so
far this season. The Phillies acquired lefty reliever All Star

(02:28:44):
from the Tigers, Gregory Soto. Seattle will give outfielder aj
Pollock a one year deal. NHL Boston wins again four
two in the late game at San Jose. Boston Bruins
thirty one and four with four overtime losses. College hoops
Washington State one at number five, Arizona Gonzaga survived at
Santa Clara. Tonight, Auburn beat Arkansas, Illinois defeated Wisconsin Duke

(02:29:08):
a point better sixty sixty four at Boston College. Iowa
State got a late three to win at TCU, Kansas
State in overtime one at Baylor, UNLV upset New Mexico.
And did you see the Division three story from the
Chicago Tribune that the Concordia University Chicago team had to
postpone a couple of men's basketball games, and the a

(02:29:32):
D on Thursday had to send a letter to parents
explaining that on a late December trip here to California,
where the team played a couple of games last weekend
New Year's Eve, the coach, who has now been temporarily
temporarily removed, put the team through an exhaustive quote high
intensity training, apparently because curfew had been broken, and five

(02:29:56):
of the players were sent to the hospital. Oh my Goodnes,
the athletic director said in the letter, our program has
zero tolerance for harassment or retaliatory actions of any kind.
Apparently zero tolerance for curfew breaks eason. That's just I mean,
the coach was so mad it sounds like he ran them,

(02:30:16):
bragged to the point that five of his players went
to the hospital. Does ay and M have an opening
for whatever that guy does. I'm sorry. We are officially
in the last half hour of the show. Thank you everybody.
We're talking about Bernie Fratto's hips. Tom right there, I know,
all right. Fox Sports radio er Torrest Jason Martin. We
are broadcasting live from the Direct dot Com studios, and

(02:30:39):
we could talk about how complicated other banks make it
to redeem credit card rewards, or we could talk about
how we discover you can redeem your rewards for cash
in any amount at any time. I mean talk about
amazing learn more discovered dot com slash redeem rewards terms
apply Jason really quick. We talked about some of the
playoff implication games. We talked about Green Bay Detroit. If

(02:30:59):
you missed, go back and listen to talk about New
England as well. To lead this hour. There is some
interesting stuff also in the a f C. Uh if
New England doesn't win, because keep in mind they're playing
the Buffalo Bills. The Bills have something to play for
as they're fighting to not have to go to Kansas
City for the a f C Championship game. So if
the Patriots were to win, it would come down to

(02:31:21):
can the Dolphins get a win tomorrow? And then of course,
if the Dolphins don't win and the Steelers were to win,
the Steelers would be in. If both New England and
Miami lose, Miami is down to obviously you know, down
several quarterbacks too. It won't be back for this game.
The Dolphins on Sunday hosting the New York Jets. Do

(02:31:41):
you think with Skyler Thompson, I believe it is. Who's
gonna be under center tomorrow. Is Miami finding a way
to win this game, because I'll tell you, like I
think we could have. You know, it's like almost like
the n c A Tournament, trying to find sixty eight
teams for the n c A Tournament. I think we
might have trouble finding that seventh team for the a
f C playoff spot there. Yeah, none of it's really
that exciting, is it. Like whoever it is it gets there.

(02:32:04):
I would be impressed for Pittsburgh just because of everything
that they have had to deal with. Tom On was
just so good, Like this is about as good a
coaching job as you will find because they have no
excuse to even be talked about right now, and they're
still finding their way because tom was just He's just
that kind of coach and and it's a special thing. Miami.

(02:32:25):
If you have Bridgewater, I feel different about this. But
Bridgewater can't stay healthy. He's twice this year. He was
knocked out when he was called in to relieve to
a who had been knocked out previously due to concustom
related symptoms. And we've seen all this do I think
they can beat the Jets. I mean maybe at this
point with the Jets and how everything's gone, maybe they
just pack it in. But this is just one of

(02:32:47):
those games that, Boy, when you looked at this a
month ago, this seemed really exciting and you get to this,
it's like what else is being played at one pm
Eastern tomorrow that I can be tuning into. Luckily, you've
got ball more Cincinnati than a couple of other more
appetizing matchups, because unfortunately, Jets Dolphins doesn't hold your attention
that much. Could Miami win it? Absolutely? Because New York

(02:33:10):
done anything to play for anymore? Well, and it looked
more appealing because you know, you said it looked more appealing,
But in some ways it didn't because there was the
thought that the Dolphins would have already clinched by now
entering on a five game losing streak. And I'll just
say this to kind of put a bow on it.
You know it's cliche, but this is why every game matters, man.
I mean, you lose, you know, to the Bills on

(02:33:32):
the last second. It was a Saturday night game, we
were on air, the Packers, you had complete control and
fell apart and there were some other games earlier this
year where if you win those games, you're in a
great position going into tomorrow again because New England does
have to beat Buffalo to clinch that seventh playoffs spot
Fox Sports Radio and towards Jason Martin. Coming up, final
segment of the show, we make our college football title

(02:33:53):
game picks, as well as some picks for week eighteen
in the NFL. Fox Sports Radio shotgun for Dobby off
to the blitz and all outplets, but hit him as
they like to go. The ball comes out, football comes
down to the picktop good Jactor running it back, Good
Jack to running it back. Look you act you're gonna
run it into the end. Zoe John Allen scored the touchdown.
Josh Aallen is running back. Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio,

(02:34:19):
Aeron Torres, Jason Martin. That was the progressive play of
the day. This is the Direct dot Com Studios, and
we can talk about how complicated other banks make it
to redeem credit card rewards, or we could talk about
how we discover you can redeem your rewards for cash
in any amount at any time. Let me talk about
amazing learn more Discover dot Com slash redeem rewards terms

(02:34:41):
apply Er tords jasonmart taking to the top of the hour.
Bernie Fretto follows us. But that's said, we got some
big games this week. I'll tell you what, Chris, I
gave you no warning. Can we get a little football
music on in the background when you get half a
second here, let's make some picks Monday night? Oh yeah, Chris,
right on the money. Monday Night, TCU against Georgia for

(02:35:04):
the National Championships so Fi Stadium. Dan Buyer will be
there for Fox Sports Radio. Aeron Torres will be there
as well. TCU a twelve and a half point underdog. Jason,
what do you see happening in this game? I mean,
we talked about it and we tried to come up
with a reason why it's going to be close, and
I really think it probably will be. And I still

(02:35:26):
think George is gonna end up winning it by two touchdowns.
I just I think four teams probably about right, and
I think that's probably gonna be a good showing for TCU.
I think when you get to the start of the
third quarter, the game's gonna look pretty solid. We're not
gonna be done with the evening, you're not gonna be
going to bed early, even though the game kind of
starts a little earlier than than maybe you're used to.

(02:35:47):
But I think by the time you get to the
end of it, George just just got too much talent.
I would love to see tc you shock the world.
Quite frankly, I will take Georgia by I'd say maybe
something lie or something like that. By the way, Brad
chiming and saying his hips don't lie as well Bernie

(02:36:08):
Fratto's don't we learned that last segment. I will say
this for the Georgia game, I said it earlier. You
get download the podcast if you missed our talk about it.
I think George's defense not quite as good as last year.
I think the offense in the passing game is better
than people give it credit for. Georgia wins TCU covers.
I will say thirty eight to twenty eight a final score, Georgia,
you're a national champion. Before we get to Georgia, we

(02:36:31):
got a Sunday night football game where the winner wins
quite a bit. That is the Green Bay Packers hosting
the Detroit Lions. Green Bay, I believe is won five
in a row. At this point, it is a win
and you're in for the green Bay Packers. For the Lions,
they would need Seattle to lose for it to be
a win and in for them. If Seattle loses earlier
in the day and Detroit wins, Detroit would be in

(02:36:53):
the playoffs. Who do you have in that one, Jason?
I got green Bay because it's at Lambeau. I think
that's the biggest thing. Golf has not been great on
the road this year. Um if I felt a little
more comfortable about their offense being able to travel, I
think Detroit is a more fun team. I think I
would rather actually see them in the postseason. I think

(02:37:13):
they've been more consistent, to say the least, during the
course of this year. But green Bay is playing its
best football at the right time. The defense has come around,
and Lambeau is just gonna be too much for Detroit
to walk in on the road and win. So seven
seed in the a f C. If New England beats
buff Buffalo, they're in. If New England loses and Miami wins,

(02:37:37):
they're in. If New England and Miami loses and Pittsburgh wins,
they're in. I don't know what happens if all three
teams lose. The Jets are a game back, So in theory,
maybe they would be in it. Eight and eight. I
don't know, but I think it's those three. I think
those are the only ones that can really get in. Um.
Who is the seven seed in the a f C

(02:38:00):
when things open next week? I'll go with Pittsburgh, you
know I will do. I will too, and I'll tell
you why. Well, we know why. Buffalo's new England's not
beating Buffalo, and Buffalo is something to play for. UM.
And oh, by the way, uh, the Miami Dolphins are

(02:38:20):
not winning because the poor Miami Dolphins just completely melted
down during the stretch. Uh this time next week, Jason,
is Jim Harbaugh your Michigan football coach. Yeah, I don't
think it would be that soon. I just I feel like,
I mean, Black Monday is gonna be Black Monday, but
I feel like it's gonna take a little bit longer
for that to play itself out, UM, because the interview

(02:38:41):
process and guys that you want to talk to that
might still be in the playoffs and all of that
kind of thing. I think the harrible next week is
too soon. Yeah, I don't think you can make a
statement like you did on Thursday and then sprint out
the side door. I haven't ruled it out. I think
there's absolutely this scenario where it could happen. But I'm
with you. I think at least for another week. Jim

(02:39:02):
Harbaugh is the head coach. We gotta get out of here.
I want to thank the crew, want to thank Steve
de Seger who gave us our updates, Producer Bo Chris
on the boards. Thank you to Bernie Friday for joining
us in Jason. Thank you. Enjoy the National Championship Game
a man. Enjoy Week eighteen in the NFL. We will
be back next Saturday to recap it all. Great to

(02:39:25):
be here. If you missed anything, download the podcast, and
of course, Bernie Frido The Bernie Friday Show is up
next Fox Sports Radio

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NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Aaron Torres and Jason Martin talk the Bengals and the Jaguars!