Steve Hartman and Rich Ohrnberger React to the NFL Divisional Round

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio leaving the drain once
again here on a fabulous NFL Playoffs Sunday. This is
Fox Sports Red Zone Radio and we are broadcasting live
from the ti irac dot com studios. Ti irac dot com.
We're gonna help get you there and no match selection
paths read shipping free road has some protection over ten
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(00:24):
buying should be. So here we are completing the divisional
round of the playoffs on this Sunday. Two games going
on today. We're still a couple hours away from the
kickoff of a big anticipated matchup between the Bengals and
the Bills, followed course by the Cowboys and the forty Niners.
And Rich Ornberger, who has been all over the map,

(00:46):
all over the map, is actually back home, I say,
in studio with us here today. So Richie, it's great
to see you. We got a lot to catch up
around the National Football League, including the aftermath of the
games tomorrow. I will like to preface before I even
hear from you, but a little note public service announcement
to all of our listeners across the country. And Rich

(01:10):
can attest to this. When I make a proclamation about
a game where I am absolutely convinced a game is
going to go in a certain direction, I call it
sort of the lock syndrome, where I suddenly lock into

(01:30):
this is what's going to happen in this game. You've
made up your mind. There's no going back. You know it.
You know it. Okay, When I do that, if you
are prone to be a gambler, immediately get on the
phone to whoever you make your bets with and go
the opposite way. Yesterday, rich as we are wrapping up

(01:56):
the show from an eye, we're watching the Chiefs and
the Jacksonville Jaguars. He wasn't over yet and Kansas City
was clinging to a three point leader. Is right at
the end of the show. So Jacksonville just scored to
make it a three point game, and an alien Patrick
Mahomes and by the way, will have an update on

(02:17):
his condition for you shortly. Here he throws an errand pass,
missing a wide open Travis Kelsey, I mean like open.
I remember the play. He he kinda. So he was
supposed to sit down in his zone toward the left
sideline right and instead of throwing it on on Travis,
he kind of drifted to the left and Mahomes throward

(02:40):
inside of him. It was it was a bad So
I'm looking at that because it was right at the
end I was talking to Danny g I said, does
anyone want to join me right now and proclaiming that
Jacksonville is going to win this game? Anybody else? No takers,
I'll take it Jacksonville. So then then we're looking at

(03:02):
the game between the Giants and the Eagles. I said,
going into this week my two best plays, and I
have not wavered at all in this Giants plus eight.
It's a divisional game. We saw what Miami did and
the Ravens did without their starting quarterbacks and keeping their

(03:23):
games close against division rivals, Giants looking really good offensively
against the Vikings, the Giants plus eight, is it gimme?
All right? We saw how that ended up. And then now,
but I'm gonna my other play this week. These are

(03:44):
the two plays my place going in the week was
Giants plus eight. That's a lock, and the other game
is coming up later today. Now, everybody get your pencils
out and and have your bookies online to go ahead.
The forty niner Cowboy game over under is forty six
and a half. This game is an under under. Okay,

(04:07):
so Batti's song what happened yet? And I actually had
some guy on Twitter so with the L O L
talking about are you sure you? How do you have
a job? Can? With all the proclamations? All right, So
again I've been doing this a long time and this
is why I'm not a gambler. But again I love
the under in that Cowboys forty Niners game. Later on today, Okay,

(04:32):
so I was with you on one of your bets
so far, and I said this right here on Fox
Sports Radio yesterday morning. I said, the Giants getting seven
a half at the time, which they were getting seven
and a half in a divisional rivalry game against the Eagles.
I said, Eagles win close game. Give me the g
Men plus the points all day long, because I figured

(04:53):
it's gonna be a three point game one way or
the other. But I like the Eagles to advance. I
think the Eagles are a better team. But after watching
the confidence that the New York Football Giants played with
in the wild Card round against Minnesota Vikings, who I
have a lot of respect for, not so much defensively,
but the fact that no matter what the score is,
it looks like they're competitive all year long. They were

(05:15):
not against the Giants got smoked, and so I'm thinking
the Giants are gonna have a harder time against philadelf Eagles,
but they will keep it close. They'll keep it within
seven and a half point certainly, So jimn all day
long absolutely did not see the clabbering coming that the
Giants took from the Eagles. That was a deep pantsing
on national television. They were outclassed, they were outcoached, they

(05:37):
were outplayed every single metric you look through the box score.
It was ridiculous. So I was with you on the Giants.
The bet that a lot of people seemed to struggle
with that I took and it ended up being close
to the number was. I took the side on the
Jaguars when the number was at plus nine and a half.
I was just like, did you see what happened in
the second half against the Chargers. I mean, realistically, Chargers,

(06:01):
man to man on defense, You could take any of
their players and match it up against the skill of
the players on the Chief's defense, and you can make
an argument that at every position. The Chargers are better
and have more depth, and Trevor Lawrence, after turning a
ball over four times in the first half, was able
to absolutely destroy the Chargers in the second half, so

(06:21):
I figured they'd be able to keep it close with
the Chief. So I was right on one, wrong on
the other one. And today hopefully we have an awesome
slate of games. I think Bill's Bengals is the most
exciting of these two matchups, but after seeing what the
Cowboys did to the Buccaneers defense and the level of
confidence they played with their in Tampa Bay, I can't
wait to see the nightcap, all right, So a couple

(06:41):
of updates on what's happening this morning. The big question
coming out of that Casey Jacksonville game is what's the injury?
What's the status for Patrick Mahomes. We actually had Dr
Chow on our show yesterday and he put football doc
on Twitter, really good voice on injuries. So he said,
because we were thought, did he break his foot? Jeff

(07:04):
Shortz was thinking the way he can't put any weight
on that right foot, then maybe he has some kind
of fracture of the foot. And remember he had a
race in for X rays right before the half and
then came out in the second half. We knew then
he didn't have a break, otherwise he wouldn't have been
on the field. But Dr Child had said, looking at
what he's seeing, it's a high ankle sprain, and that's

(07:24):
exactly what it is. So the Mr right this morning
on Patrick Mahomes shows a high ankle sprain. All right.
So we were speculating yesterday because I was thinking, especially
after the critical drive yesterday was when Mahomes was on
the sidelines and Jacksonville punted down to the two yard line.

(07:45):
Here comes Chad Henny and the Chiefs yards and my
thinking at that point up ten is why would I
risk Mahomes if we can win this game without Mahomes.
But again, if Mahomes wants to come back in the game,
he was going to come back in the game. That's
exactly what he did. But he was struggling, obviously, when

(08:06):
you don't have full weight on your plan foot. Now
he can he can throw at different angles, but you're
taking an element away from him. The scramble like he
had one scramble and you could see that he could
not plan his right foot. I want to talk about
that injury with you, because you're well versed in all
these injuries. So high ankle sprain, they're painful, they're slow healing.

(08:30):
So regardless of whether it's Buffalo or Cincinnati. Now remember,
if it's Cincinnati, Kansas City will host the game. If
it's Buffalo, that game is heading to Atlanta on neutral
site for the a f C Conference championship game. But
what kind of therapy, what kind of rehab can he
do on that ankle to be ready for the a

(08:52):
f C Championship game or are we gonna see a
Patrick Mahomes similar to what we saw yesterday. Well what's
actually crazy is people will assume, well, he has a
week to heal up, but in a week's time it
may be worse. So the the first of all, let's
rewind to what a high ankle sprain actually means. It
means that he's torn tendons in his ankle. So that's

(09:16):
what a lot of people get confused with. Like, there
there is levels of tears, and we call a very
low grade level of tear a strain. You know, whether
you're talking about a muscle, a ligament attendant, um a
little bit higher of a tear a sprain, and then
obviously when we get to the complete tear or the
you know, hanging on by a thread tight tear, we

(09:36):
called it a torn ligament, muscle or tendon. He has
torn up one or a couple of the ligaments in
his ankle. And when that happens, especially when we're talking
about getting out to the you know, your appendages like
your hands, your fingers, your toes, your ankles, your wrists,
like there's not a lot of blood supply to these ligaments.

(09:57):
It takes a while for them to heal. That's the
reason why will say it's almost better for you to
break a clean break and ankle bone rather than sprain
or partially tear attendant or a ligament in your wrists
or your ankle, because it takes forever for those to
heal because the blood supply doesn't get there is easily.
So he's got a long recovery ahead of him. But

(10:19):
he's also got two more games to play if the
Chiefs are going to win a Super Bowl or compete
for a Super Bowl. So oddly, when you first tear
any ligament, obviously feel instability, you're you're you start to
feel the beginnings of swelling. But if you have trainers
who are talented and you are a tough minded individual,
you can get it taped pretty tight, and you can

(10:40):
take some pain medication. They can even numb it with
a shot on the sideline or in the locker room,
and you can play not pain free, but you can
finish a game with some level of comfort. Now he
takes off that that ankle tape and he you know
that they start, you know, taking m rise and you know,
they start the recovery process that is going to be

(11:01):
so sore and so tender for the next couple of
days that he's he's probably gonna have a hard time walking.
If I'm guessing he's gonna be in a boot when
he's not running around and practicing, if he can even
practice earlier this week. So they're going to take every
possible precaution they can and care for this ankle that
they can in order to get him ready for next
week's game against the Bengals or the Bills. But I'm

(11:23):
telling you, he's gonna feel it worse next week than
he did during the game where the injury happened. See,
I was shocked about Jacksonville coming out in the second
half when Kan's City had the ball first on the
second half, and he's on the field, and I'm thinking,
if I'm Jacksonville, I'm sending the house. I'm out worried

(11:46):
about him running, you know, free for twenty. You're just
thinking Cam just I am sending the house on him.
And instead it seemed like he had more time to
pass on the second half than he had in the
first half. And I I, you know, Johnsonville got conservative defensively,
I really conservative, And I thought, why it didn't make

(12:09):
sense to me what they were doing. Jacksonville really, to
my had golden opportunities to actually win that game. And
I'll give Andy Reid credit. I'll give that offensive line
of the Chiefs credit. They played hard, They got a
running game going, which something we don't see a lot,
specially on that ninety yard drive. They were blowing holes
open in that Jacksonville line. That was a winnable game.

(12:31):
But give Kansas City credit. They found a way. It's
all right, so you heard from Rich What we're looking
at is it's gonna be safe to say a less
than one Patrick Mahomes for the a f C Championship game.
All right, So there's a little to talk about as
far as the Giants are concerned. After that blowout loss
of the Eagles yesterday, could we see some of their

(12:53):
big names gone immediately? We got an update coming up.
This is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. Steve Hartman, Rich Horburger.
This is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. We are back
here in the Tirack dot Com studios, couple hours away,
actually an hour and thirty nine minutes away from the
Bills and the Bengals. We're gonna get into that great,

(13:14):
great matchup. And of course, last time they saw each
other was that big niney night game and uh, you know,
it's been good news since, but that night was a
scary night. So we're gonna get into that game coming up.
We're talking a little bit about what happens after a
team season ends, and for the New York Giants, Rich
and I were apparently in lockstep thinking against the division

(13:36):
rival Eagles team that by the way, there was still
questions about the health of Jalen Hurts. Uh. As you know,
Jalen Hurts did play in the final regular season game
against the Giants. Giants at everybody in that game, so
they didn't want to give the Eagles anything to look at. No,
Daniel Jones say kwon Barkley and Hurts looked a little

(13:56):
shaky in that game. He had another week off and
us what Jalen Hurts Nick Sirianni, his coach, saying he
was Michael Jordan's like, uh, and it's hard to argue
that he won't win the m v P Award. Mahomes will,
but Jalen Hurts value to the Eagles is immeasurable. But
let's get back to the Giants for a moment here.
So absolutely Briandable, who uh might end up as the

(14:20):
NFL Coach of the Year. Uh Adam Kaplan joined this yesterday.
He said he did vote for Dable as coach of
the year. Um he was asked about the Daniel Jones situation. Now,
Daniel Jones, in each of his four seasons with the Eagles,
has improved every year in terms of completion percentage. His
interceptions has gone down, his passer rating has gone up.

(14:42):
He ran for over seven yards this year, so not
only getting it done with the arm, but his legs
as well. But the Giants did not pick up his
fifth year option on his rookie contract. That means he's
a free agent now, they could franchise, tag him or
try to get a short orm deal done with him.

(15:02):
But when asked about Daniel Jones's future with the Giants,
Brian Dable after the game says, it's too early to say.
So the question is is the true Daniel Jones the
guy who looks so dynamite in that road win against
the Vikings, or the guy who looked less than ordinary

(15:23):
in that blowout loss of the Eagles. The Giants have
to make a decision. Well, he's He's been both his
entire career. There have been moments of brilliance, There's been
a lot of turnovers and questionable decision making and and
the reality is you have to understand math in some
ways to be a great personnel director at the NFL level.

(15:45):
And what I mean that is, if you study math
and statistics, uh, you understand regression to the meme that
typically everything finds its way back to the most common
plot points. And so look me buying large an extremely
punctual person. I'm gonna show up on time for whatever

(16:05):
whatever you ask me to come to. But there are
the rare occasions where um my wife has to come
with me and we're gonna be late. We just hired.
I mean there, we're just there is not a punctual
bone in her body. And that's okay. I've dealt with
it my whole life. But so what my point is,
you can count on me, for the most part to
be on time unless she's coming with me, and then
we're gonna be late, you know. So those outliers don't

(16:28):
describe the general pattern. So Daniel Jones, when he has
an outlier game, it's typically very positive, like we're kind
of like, whoa, look at him. That was the Minnesota
game exactly. He's put it all together. He's trustworthy with
the football, he's running the ball successfully, he's accurate with
his throws, he's not making the dumb decision. Those are

(16:50):
the outliers. Comparing it back to me, those are the
times where I'm being held up because the hair dryer
we need. We need thirty or forty minutes with the
hair dryer, you know what I'm saying. So it is
that's the reality of the situation. Though you you see
those outliers and you want to say like, yeah, okay,
that happened, but can we trust that that's going to
be the case all the time. The truth is no,

(17:12):
The truth is no. Daniel Jones over his time with
the Giants hasn't been that capable of a starter. There
have been really bright moments. I still see potential in
Daniel Jones. I really do impaired with Brian Dable. I
think that you can make an argument that he actually
could emerge and develop into somebody who you could really, really,

(17:33):
you could really build around. Well, let me ask you this.
So if you're Brian Dable and he obviously made strides
with Daniel Jones this year, he cut down on his mistakes,
his completion percentage one up, he was able to get
a lot of things done with his legs on top
of everything else, do you really want to start all
over again if you're Brian Dable with a new quarterback. Well,

(17:55):
that that was the point I was gonna make, is
of course, you could go after a guy like Tom Brady,
because this is where Tom Brady is just sitting there
in the wings. Because now the Brady story is simply this.
Rob Gronkowski came out and you know when he talks
about Brady, you know he's getting it firsthand. Is that
Tom is looking for a good situation. He's not gonna

(18:16):
walk into some rebuild. He's looking for a team that
the one missing piece is me. I really don't see
Tom's going to a team like the Giants because as
good as they were, look at the weapons they had
around that offense. I mean, they have no receivers. Realistically,
try your hardest to name more than two Giants skill

(18:36):
position players, tight ends, wide receivers, running backs. You you'd
be hard pressed because they're anonymous. They're anonymous. None of
them really stick out as the tops or close to
the tops at their position group. I mean, so Daniel Jones, again,
for lack of a more eloquent way to to say it,
he did a lot with a little this season, But

(18:58):
do you really credit him or Brian Dayble. So if
I'm Brian Dable and I'm saying I have this influence
on this player, what happens if we can go into
the draft and trade up and get one of these
hyper talented quarterbacks out of college football. What if we
could trade for Aaron Rodgers, should he be so willing
to come and play maybe some of his final years,

(19:18):
his final years of really good talent with us. What
if I could get to Tom Brady, which again I
doubt he'll go, But what if? What if? What if?
Whereas when you're looking at what you have, you say, well,
I didn't get my hands on him first. It was
a war. It was Uh, it was a lot of
work to get him to where he was capable this season.
I prefer to start over with somebody new and somebody

(19:40):
hyper talented out of college, or find somebody who's been
doing at a high level this whole time, at the
pro level already. Meanwhile, say Klon Barkley finish off his
five year rookie contract. He's gonna be a free agent,
he said after the game. Have a hard time believing
this is my last game as a Giant. But if
you're the Giants, you're like, Okay, the two previous years

(20:01):
he was hurt, and yes he had a nice comeback season.
That's five years under his belt as a running back
in the NFL. Think back, folks, how many times have
you seen a guy who's already had five years as
a running back in the NFL sign a contract with
a different team and had success. It's a very limited list.

(20:22):
The average running back last three and a half years
in the NFL Barkley's got five and he's had injuries.
You do not if you're the Giants, want to sign
him to a long term deal. I mean, Zeke Elliott,
I mean we can go down the all timeless, the
David Johnson's of the world, Talk Gurley's of the world.

(20:43):
If I'm the Giants right now, I mean, I don't
know what kind of market there is for sake Kwon Barkley,
whether or not people believe that his injuries are behind him.
He needed a big year this year. He was able
to stay relatively healthy and have productive Now, I don't
think why what do you think he's gonna just because
of the way he's talking about it. He's made comments

(21:03):
and we're talking about knee jerk snap reactions. After you
have a fun season, you're first healthy in a long time,
and a playoff berth with a win under your belt,
I mean, there's a lot of positive feelings, even though
you got absolutely smoked by the Philadelphia Eagles. But you
know what, it's even this sounds crazy, but it's almost
better when you're making an exit in the post season
to have no chance like it wasn't a close game.

(21:26):
You know, you really weren't in it from the I mean,
wire to wire, the Eagles just outclass the Giants, and
so those are easier pills to swallow, and you can
be a little bit more reflective. You almost have the
entire second half to realize, Oh, our season's over. You know,
our season's over. So in that reflection, Sae Kwon Barkley
is probably walking away from this season feeling like if
Brian Dabele is gonna be our coach and he's gonna

(21:48):
highlight the run the way he did this year for
the remainder of my career as a running back, which
if he signs a long enough term contract with the Giants,
it's probably gonna end with the New York Giants. Okay,
I could see that that's a future I could sink
my teeth into. So he said something after the game
to the to the tone of I'd like to be
a Giant for life. Um, I'm not looking to reset

(22:09):
the market. I'm being realistic about who I am and
where I fit in into this picture. And maybe the
Giants and and he can come to the table and
realistically hammer out a contract that maybe you know, front
loaded with some guaranteed money, but incentive base as he
gets older in this league, and and that could be
a nice a nice way for them to keep one

(22:29):
of Arguably, when healthy the most are one of the
most talented running backs in the league with them for
the next couple of years. Tough to predict on the
Giants really, I mean it's you know, was this an aberration?
A lot of things want their way to get into
the postseason? Are they gonna be back in? We know
that Brian Dable is a quality coach, but sometimes when

(22:51):
the team has a breakout year, they'll take a step
backwards before they take another step forward. That could be
the Giants in. Let's find out what is trending right
now as we welcome in someone that is celebrating a
birthday this week, mon C Blagos. When is when is
your birthday? Mon Hi? Guys, my birthday is on Wednesday? Wednesday?

(23:14):
Well early, happy birthday. He's a birthday guy. Now, Monsey,
we know you have a lot of friends out there.
Do you do you do anything celebratory uh, in advance
of during your birthday? Post birthday? How does that work
with you? It depends. My friends took me out, Yes,

(23:36):
some of my friends took me out yesterday. Uh so
this year, yeah, yeah, no, yeah, yeah, this year, I
think it's gonna be a couple of different outings. Sometimes
I like bring all of my friends together and have one,
you know, birthday celebration. I decided to not do that
this year. I was like, I don't really care, you know,
it's not a big birthday or anything. And so I

(23:58):
think I made the wrong decision by doing that, because
I think I'm gonna have multiple celebrations and I don't
know if I can handle it. I don't know. Maybe,
you know, it's it's amazing about getting a little bit older.
No one knows it better than me, um and seven

(24:19):
years old. Though you don't have a day, you don't.
You have to learn how to treat yourself at different
stages of the life, you know. And so, uh maybe
this will be a learning process for sure. Maybe yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I just didn't think about multiple celebrations, you know. Yeah,
so learning definitely a learning experience. Keep Montsy away from

(24:45):
the patron my goodness if you want, if you want
a full bottle by the end of the nights. You know,
it's I actually like your own tastes disgusting, but but
it tastes like tequila. All of these, like Leberty tequilas
that are coming out, don't taste like tequila, and it
bothers me. Casam Egos sucks, Terremana sucks. These don't taste

(25:07):
like tequila, so it bothers me, but at least tastes
like tequila. It tastes bad, but it tastes like tequila,
and it doesn't make me feel super you know, bad.
The next time, I love, I love, I love this
because what what is the best then in your opinion,
my I really like Don Julio. I really like Don Julio.
I love Don Julio. I could do. Also, there's there's

(25:29):
one that's not really well known. It's made by a
Costa Rican guy. I'm Costa Rican. It's called and it's
actually really good. We like together, yes, yes, yes, and
it's actually really good and it tastes like tequila as
long as it tastes like for me with tequila is
like for most people. If you have early bad experiences

(25:51):
with tequila right, it stays with you the rest of
your life. Vodka, or if you have early bad experiences
with too much tequila la it stays with you forever.
That was me within for a while. Yeah, and that
is what's trending, is what's trending. Tequila and alcohol. Well,

(26:14):
we are waiting for NFL, I know, at three pm
Eastern times, so in about an hour and a half,
the Bengals are gonna take on the Bills. Following that game,
the Cowboys are gonna take on the forty Niners. But
right now we do have a little bit of college
hoops going on. Number fifteen Yukon has been all over
Butler is the score with about eleven minutes to go
in the game, and number three per Do beating Maryland

(26:35):
right now with about a minutes to go in the
first half. There's also NBA coming, but we're all we're
all waiting for the NFL, all of us. Yes, yes,
absolutely very much. All right, continue recovery. Yes, thank you.
This this coke zero is hitting the spots. And you
brought a little pizza with you as well. Oh yeah,
no from last night. I don't even remember ordering it,

(26:57):
but I got last night. I had a veggie pizza
last night I was talking about so I know you're
very yeah, it's very proud of you. Good stuff, man.
It was good, good, little pesto on the alright, many,
we'll check in with you a little bit later on
what lots of you. Once again, we are brought to

(27:19):
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and say at Progressive dot com we're talking a little
bit of the aftermath of the two games yesterday. We're
talking about the Giants situation. Let's get it to the

(27:39):
Eagles right now. Rich the Eagles going into this Giants game,
to me, we're a question mark. So the first game
they play without Jalen Hurts, remember they lost the shootout
in Dallas forty to thirty four, and the thought was, wow,
I mean they can still get that offense going without
Jalen Hurts. Then came that loss of the same and

(28:00):
it's like, wow, they are not the same team without
Jalen Hurts. And then he looked ordinary in a game
where the Giants essentially handed the Eagles the number one
seed and the NFC East in that first and that
final game of the regular season. So to me, there
are a lot of questions about the Eagles going into
yesterday's game. How about this stat two hundred and sixty

(28:22):
eight yards rushing against the Giants. That's amazing. Hundred and
sixty eight yards rushing. Gainwell, Sanders, it didn't matter. Everybody
was motoring average six yards to carry hurts, hundred fifty yards,
passing fifty four yards passing a couple of touchdowns note pics.
He got his job done. But I think most people

(28:43):
before that game on the NFC side, we're saying, the Giants,
excuse me, the forty Niners are now the team to be.
The forty Niners, even with Brock Prity at quarterback, are
the best team in the NFC. After watch in the
Eagles yesterday, all of a sudden, we're reminded of that

(29:03):
Eagle team that started thirteen and one and was motoring
through their schedule. So as we see it here today
as the forty Niners get ready to host the Cowboys
later on today, knowing that the NFC Championship game will
be played in Philadelphia, had the Eagles jumped back into

(29:24):
a clear favorite to come out of the NFC and
on their way to Arizona for the Super Bowl. Oh yeah, yeah.
I mean, now, look it's kind of dependent on what
happens against the Cowboys today. But Brock Purdy has been
since sensational since taking over as the starting quarterback and

(29:45):
hasn't lost the game for the forty niners. And that's
up to what six and oh is that? Is that?
What it is? He's six and oh yeah, Well he
came in the one game and they got the win.
That wasn't a start. So six and oh is a
starter including the playoffs, so you look at that could
be seven and oh heading into the NFC Championship as
a starter. Well, Jalen Hurts, who has been a starter
for two years now and including this season this year,

(30:07):
had only lost a single game as a starting quarterback
in against the Commanders. So he missed those two games,
which were losses on the Eagles rest on the Eagles
record down the stretch, but he came back, got the
win and looked a little rusty in the regular season finale.
But he's lost one game when starting with the Eagles

(30:27):
this season. That is the most important statistic in sports
and people really overlook it. It's wins and losses, and
when a quarterback is in control of a football team.
The reason why they're paid as much money as they're
paid is because they are really your Your team's future
hinges on the talent at that position, and so Jalen
Hurts has proven that the Eagles should fear nobody. In fact,

(30:51):
the shoe should be on the other foot when the
Eagles play. They have a dominant run defense. They have
guys up front who can run the passer. They've got
really solid, competitive defensive backs. They've got a running back
who can get you a hundred yard game after hundred
yard game, and frankly, you could say the same thing
for the quarterback as a rusher. They've got weapons all

(31:13):
the all over the field and real speed at receiver,
and they have a quarterback who's a born winner and
a born leader. The Eagles are one of those teams
where you look at and you say, what's wrong with
this team? There's really not much. The only thing you
could argue is inexperience in the postseason. Nick Sirianni still
a young coach, you know, So can they be had

(31:35):
by more creative or gifted play caller on the opposite sideline. Maybe,
But this is an intensely strong culture that Nick Sirianni
has built and a team that's playing with some bravado.
They were trash talking all the way up until the
final minutes of that game, and then afterward they were
rubbing salt in the wounds. They should be afraid of nobody,

(31:55):
and they're playing like it. Yeah, it's amazing. I sit
here each weekend, not one but two offensive lineman with
you and E from Salam and you know, it's it's
great to be around you guys and get a little
sense of a little self importance because you're not gonna
get it from the outside. You know. The focus though,
he's gonna be on skilled guys, quarterbacks, obviously, edge guys, whoever,

(32:17):
anybody on their offensive line. When you watch Lane Johnson
when he is healthy, I mean there's Trent Williams obviously.
I mean that that's a potential matchup obviously in the
NFC Championship game. But when you have offensive lineman, especially
offensive tackles that you you watch Lane Johnson, he's what

(32:39):
we would term a shutdown offensive line. Yeah, like he
will literally take somebody out of a game. Um, when
he's healthy. Now he's had some injuries this year, he
was healthy again, and he was even banged up going
in the game. Trent Williams obviously is the same situation
for San Francisco, problems disappear. But for both of these teams,

(33:04):
a lot of the success of the quarterbacks. Whether we're
talking about a more proven quarterback in Jalen Hurts or
this novel idea of Mr Irrelevant becoming a potential Super
Bowl champion in brock Purty, you gotta have the running game.
The fact is, since brock Purty became a starting quarterback
for the forty Niners, they have averaged more than a
hundred fifty yards a game rushing. Yeah, you got Christian McCaffrey.

(33:27):
I mean they got ahold jam Mitchell. They are if
that is taken away from them, or if you know,
Philadelphia jumps all over them like they did early against
the Giants. Can brock Purty bringing back. I don't want
to get ahead of us because first of all, forty
Niners still have to take care of business against the Cowboys.

(33:48):
I know, give you an example of Like when you
talk about the Cowboys defense, it's not long before you
mentioned Michael Parson's name, right, So Michael Parsons has had
an insane season. Thirteen and a half sacks, ub hits,
fourteen tackles for loss, three force fumbles, three fumble recoveries,
three passes defense. You know he can get in there
and swat the ball down at the line of scrimmage.
Really good year by Micah Parsons. Well what about Hassan

(34:11):
Reddick with the Eagles up front? He's got more Sackson
Parks Parsons sixteen sacks to Parsons thirteen a half. He's
got just as many QB hits, He's got three shy
on tackles for loss, he's got five force fumbles, three
fumble recoveries in the same number of past defense that three.
He is just as good or better than Michael Parsons
this season, and nobody talks about him. It's it's just

(34:33):
one of those things where Cowboys are America's team. They've
got this young, upstart, second year player who's you know,
being compared to Lawrence Taylor. But the Eagles have just
a killer upfront and Reddick and nobody's talking about him.
This guy's insanely talented, and it's just a reality of sports.

(34:54):
We view things sometimes through such a narrow window. We
want to follow the narratives that we want to follow.
Brock Purdie right, Micah Parsons right, Trevor Lawrence, Pat Mahomes.
There's names that cut through. A guy like Reddick can
quietly destroy the league defensively, and nobody hears his name
until he wrecks the game for the Fortys in the

(35:15):
NFC Championship, and everybody goes, oh, yeah, well, we knew
about the pass rush from the Eagles, did you. We
could talk about how complicated other banks make it to
redeem credit card rewards, or we could talk about how
with Discovery could redeemer rewards for cash and any amount
at any time. I mean, talk about amazing learn more
at discover dot com, slash redeem rewards, turn supply all Right.

(35:37):
On the other side, the Chiefs and the Eagles, the
one seeds are in. We know that a Bill's Chiefs
matchup and the a f C Championship. The game is
gonna be in a neutral site in Atlanta. Why isn't
this Bengals Bills game today at a neutral site? We'll

(35:57):
tell you why. This is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio.
Polly Fustco here with Tony Fusco. As you all know.
We're the host of the number one rated show in
all the sports talk, the Folly and Tony Fusco Shop Numeroo. Yeah,
and we know why millions of people tune in every week.
They want to hear us talk sports, not idiot guests

(36:17):
who think they know more about sports than we do.
Listen to these dummies crap about. This is the worst thing.
He's the shop, you batball. If you want to hear
how sports talk should be done, listen to The Folly
and Tony Fusco Show on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Steve Harman

(36:42):
and Urrich Arnburger. Here, this is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio.
We are live from the ti iraq dot com studios.
All right, so coming up here in a little more
than an hour. Cannot wait for this matchup between the
Bengals and the Bills. And of course, last time these
two teams were on the field together, we had a
as scary a moment as we've ever seen in an

(37:03):
NFL game with Hamling collapsing and the question was was
he going to live? What was gonna happen? It's been
all good news since, remarkable recovery so that's been all
good news. But the bottom line here is is that
we've got a matchup that's in Buffalo, and I don't
understand why. So remember, in the aftermath of that game

(37:24):
being canceled, the NFL decided if it came down to
a Kansas City Buffalo a f C championship game, that
game would be on a neutral field, as it turns
out in Atlanta. And the reason being is is that
Buffalo and Kansas City, had they both gone fourteen and three,
the Bills had the tie break because they had beaten

(37:45):
Kansas City. Okay, that's fine. I thought that seems fair
in a very difficult situation because you couldn't make up
that game. But my question is, wait a second, if
you're gonna have a neutral game for that or neutral
site for that game, why don't we have a neutral
site for this matchup between the Bengals and the Bills.
Because if the Bengals had beaten Buffalo on that Monday

(38:07):
night game, they could have ended up with the exact
same record, and the Billingals would have had the tie
break because they would have had the head they head
win against the Bills. I'm still trying to figure out
why the Bills are hosting this game today. The reason
is because the only four teams that were truly going

(38:31):
to be impacted by these rule changes for this very
unique postseason with the cancelation of Bills Bengals back in
Week seventeen, is simple. Lamar Hunt, the Poculas and Steve
Biscotti have more sway than Mike Brown. And when it
comes down to it, everybody forgets this about the NFL.
But the reality is these are owners who are in

(38:55):
a room together and making decisions, are on conference calls
or zoom calls, making this asians together. That's how the
league runs. Roger Goodell is a front he's a commissioner.
He's a guy who's paid to be a human shield
for these owners. So it's not like some outside commission
got together and figured this out. No, no, no no, it
was the thirty two owners who sat down and all

(39:18):
how to vote and moving forward. Mike Brown, the sinc
thenati Bengals owner was was the guy who got left
holding the short stick. And and it comes down to
popularity and favor amongst this group of thirty two owners.
And that's the only reason why the Bengals got screwed here,
all right, So they sold fifty thousand tickets for a
possible again that's don't even set yet, a possible matchup

(39:39):
between the Chiefs and Bills in Atlanta. And that got
everybody thinking. And the irony was this is something that
Lamar Hunt way back in the day when the beliefs merged.
Lamar Hunt, who created the a f L, thought that
the conference championship games should be on neutral sites. He
said that for years and everyone said no, no no, no, no no, no,
no, no no no. All of a sudden they look at
how many tickets they sold for this game at and

(40:00):
to say maybe neutral sites for that championship game. We're
coming up towards the top of the I want to
get a little bit into that proposal and why it
seems far fetched but not impossible. Plus Bills Bengals, we
got a matchup of superstar quarterbacks. How is that game
gonna break down? What about the forty Niners and Cowboys?

(40:20):
We got it all for you. Keep it here. This
is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R
to listen live. We are one hour away from kickoff
Bengals and Bills, followed by Cowboys and forty Niners by days,

(40:43):
and the final four will be set for this year's
NFL Playoffs. This is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio and
we are broadcasting live from the tire rack dot Com studios.
Tire rack dot com. We're gonna help get you there
and I'm match selection, fast free shipping, free road has
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com the way tire buying should be. So as you

(41:04):
mansion an hour away from Bengals and Bills, I want
to I want to break down this game in a
number of ways. Rich, because let's just talk about emotion.
Yeah yeah, let's do it. Because the last time that
the your very emotional guy, I have I have I
witnessed you cry many times, maybe more than I want
to admit. It's really I mean, it doesn't take a

(41:26):
lot to get you emotion. It's bad, man. There are
times where I see a sappy commercial, especially around the
holiday times, and I the water works. It just you
can't help it. It's it happens, It happens to you.
It's nothing in your control, but you were saying yes,
all right. So the last time these two teams were
on the field, we are all settled in for it
was it was the Marquee Money and I match up

(41:48):
of the season. Yeah, you got the Bills, he got
the Bengals. He got Joe Burrow going against Josh Alan.
Bengals are leading the game seven or three early. We're
just settling in for what we were anticipating to be
a big time Money and Now matchup, and then Damar
Hamlin collapses on the field and the emotions swept the country,

(42:09):
not just you know, the but let's go back to
the players on the field, not just the Buffalo Bills
with their falling teammate, but the Cincinnati Bengals as well.
So the last time, but these players were all together.
That's how they left the field in a collective state
of shock of watching a fellow NFL player collapse and

(42:33):
twice have to be resuscitated on the field, not knowing
if he was even going to survive the night. So
that's where you left off the last time. So as
these players take the field today and they're probably already
out on the field, and you know, sort of coming.
You know, it's a bond, it's a it's a shared
experience with everybody that was on the field that night

(42:58):
in Cincinnati. How much effect does that have? I mean,
obviously the reports have been good with Damar Hamlin. He's
been sharing time with his teammates. Uh, we're or hopefully
there is still a long rehabilitation, but he's with us,
he's alert. That doesn't seem to be any cognitive damage

(43:19):
done from what happened to him on the field that night.
But what about taking the field against the team where
you've shared this traumatic experience. Well, you know, as a
preamble to this game, we're going to see some sort
of demonstration by the NFL, which again brings us back
to this conversation like why isn't this a neutral site?

(43:40):
Why did this end up having to be played in Buffalo,
considering the Bengals could have had an opportunity to be
the two seed in this conference had the season's played
out in the Bengals beat the Bills on Monday Night. Well,
part of the reason is because the NFL is an
ongoing soap opera, and it does them better to have

(44:01):
potentially to Mar Hamlin on the field or on the
JumboTron in Buffalo as they host the Bengals this meeting
after seeing tragedy four weeks ago like that, that helps
push the narrative along and the storyline along in in

(44:21):
a way that it probably couldn't or wouldn't have been
and pushed along had it been in Cincinnati, because it's
it's it happened to the Cincinnati Bengals. Also they bore
witness to this horrific incident. But it really I mean
to mar Hamlin's a safety for the Buffalo Bills. And
it's odd actually because I'm in a reference one of
the safeties from the Cincinnati Bengals who was doing press

(44:42):
this week's Jesse Bates, and he said, yeah, this game
should have probably been played on a neutral site, but
Buffalo is a fun atmosphere. Can't wait for the game,
So he said it right, Look, this is going to
be the most electric atmosphere in the NFL post season,
barring really none outside of maybe the Super Bull If
it's a great game, this is going to be the
most electric atmosphere. And it's because, just like you said,

(45:06):
all these roads led back to each other and all
the loose ends appeared to be tied up prior to
getting to this point. And you know, if the place
had a roof in Buffalo, the roof would be lifted off.
Um if we get a shout out from Damar Hamlin,
if we have a great football game. So that's part
of the reason why this is being played in Buffalo,
and and it's going to be an emotional game for

(45:27):
both sides. Well, I watched both the Bills and the
Bengals last week at home, going against teams without their
starting quarterback. These should have been easy wins for both
and they weren't. Now, part of it is you're playing
a division rival, so there's not a lot of fear.
Division rivals know you well, so there's not gonna be
any secrets out there but to me. And I made

(45:49):
this point about the Bills meeting with DeMar Hamlin the
day before and he's with his team, and I know
one person shouted out at me on Twitter saying, you're
completely ridiculous. My my point there was is that the
Bills have been riding an emotional roller coaster and and
to some degree so the Bengals, and I think it

(46:09):
showed last week. I think that your your emotions are
all over the place and rich, you know, obviously being
a veteran of this league, especially when you're in the
playoff games situation, because they were going against teams that
had nothing to lose. I mean, the Dolphins and Ravens
are both underdogs without their starting quarterbacks. They were fired up,

(46:29):
and they're fired up against teams that they knew well.
And because of that, both those games were a lot
closer than a lot of people anticipated. But on the
other side, I think the Bengals and Bills are still
riding that emotional roller coaster right now in the aftermath
of what happened in that Monday night football game. So
now that they're playing each other, I mean, this this

(46:51):
game could go in a hundred different directions. I was
listening to this podcast of a Navy seal discussing his job,
his role in overseas fighting for our country, and he
was what's called the breacher. So this is somebody who
has to whether it's a wall or a door or
whatever that the team needs to get through. His job

(47:11):
is to set a charge to blow the hole open,
and then sweet hell stands on the other side. He
was discussing it like it's any job, like he's picking
up the trash on a Sunday right, like he's, you know,
doing taxes during April, if he worked in an accounting office.
He's talking about it as if he's, you know, hammering

(47:34):
nails into a roof. It was his job. It was
his job, and the way he looked at his Yeah,
lives are on the line, but that was my job
was to execute, was to be the guy who did
that thing so that we could all go home. Now
we're talking about the highest possible steaks in the worst
possible environments, but the lowest heartbeat guy wins when the
emotions are highest. And that brings us back to this game,

(47:56):
in this comparison, when you have a guy like Joe
Burrow who is strictly unflappable, that's the reason why he's
been so successful in in Cincinnati, the reason why the
only reason why the Bengals are here again in the
postseason with the chance to win a Super Bowl is
because Joe Burrow is so uniquely built for this that

(48:18):
he never loses confidence. It doesn't matter how many times
he's hit, it doesn't matter how many times you sack him,
it doesn't matter how bad of a first half, second half,
third quarter. Whatever he's playing, he's gonna find a way
to beat you because he has an iron mind. Josh
Allen is the one who's feeling all the pressure here.
Josh Allen looked panicky in that game against the Dolphins.

(48:39):
Josh Allen has the weight of the world and his
city on his shoulders, because if he doesn't win this
game at home with Tamar Hamlin and his family waiting
at home watching, or maybe potentially in the stadium in
a suite somewhere with the whole world seeing Buffalo be
the center of the universe for the past bunch of
weeks after this horrific incident happening. Since he I mean,

(49:04):
a lot of the blame is gonna be at his feet,
and that's a tough place to be. And he has
shown that he gets a little shaky. There were times
against the Dolphins where he had a perfectly clean pocket
and he ran out of a perfectly good pocket and
got himself in trouble. And it's because he gets panicky.
Joe Cool, that doesn't happen to him. He's one of
those low artbeat guys. I'm with you. You know the

(49:25):
line in this game, Buffalo is a six point favorite. Yeah,
it's a big number in here thinking, Wow, I I
don't see a huge difference. I totally agree with you
on the Josh Allen because a year ago, in the
two games they played in the postseason, including obviously the
shootout loss of the Chiefs, he was unflappable. And Josh
Allen's numbers in those two playoff games, you thought remembered

(49:46):
the early panic first time we saw him in the playoffs,
he was literally hyper ventilating, but it seemed like he'd
gotten past that. Remember also, who's no longer on that
Bill's sideline, so suddenly Dable who maybe was a comming
influence on him to get them straight so they didn't
have these panic attacks no longer there. I mean what
we saw against the Dolphins, I mean he admitted those

(50:08):
three turnovers they were on him. That was shocking. Um
So I I look at this matchup and I say
to myself, are the Bills a better team than the Bengals?
If I go man for man, Yeah, the Bills are
a better team. Should the Bills have an advantage at home? Yeah,
they should have an advantage at home. But Josh Allen's

(50:29):
got to play at a high level because I do
not anticipate Joe Burrow handing this game to the Bills.
I mean I I think Joe Burrow will have his
game and check as he normally does. So it is
gonna be on the shoulders of Josh Allen. He's got
to hold his emotions together execute the Bill's offense. If
they do that, they should win this game at home.

(50:51):
But it's far from a guarantee. And then you look
at the nuts and bolts of the comparison in terms
of injuries and things like that, and the Cincinnati Bengals
have some serious things going on up front on their
offensive line. They have three starting offensive lineman not either
banged up or not playing. So it's a bit of
musical chairs in front of Joe Burrow. But if there's
one thing that you gotta look back and say, well,
how can he control that? He can't except for one factor.

(51:15):
What was the biggest complaint about Joe Burrow last year,
all through the regular season, into the post season, into
the Super Bowl. He holds on the ball too long.
He fixed it. He went back saw that film too,
had discussions with Zach Taylor and they realized where their
liabilities were. And he gets the ball out second fastest
in the league, only behind the goat Tom Brady, who
gets the ball out fractions of the center a second

(51:37):
faster than Joe Burrow. So he fixed that problem and
he's as a result, his offensive line is protecting him
better because he's able to make decisions faster. This guy
is cerebral. This guy has a low heartbeat. This guy
is an incredible leader for the Cincinnati Bengals. He's the
reason if they do win today that the Cincinnati Bengals

(51:58):
advanced to the c Championship Games. Well, the Bengals win,
they'll be heading to Kansas City for the championship game.
If it's the Bills, they're gonna be heading to Atlanta.
What about the thought of neutral sites for the conference
championship games? Why is this on the table and is
it's something that you could see the owners agreed to

(52:21):
away both sides keep it here. This is Fox Sports
Red Zone Radio, Steve Harbin and h Horburger Fox Sports
Red Zone Radio. Forty minutes away kickoff Bengals Bills, followed
by Cowboys and forty Niners. Cannot wait as we are
now a week away from the conference championship games. Once again,

(52:42):
we are live from the Tirac dot com studios. So
the ticket sales for the potential we don't even know
if it's going to be a matchup, but the potential
matchup between the Bills and the Chiefs. The game would
be on a neutral site in Atlanta, and in twenty
four hours they sold fifty thousand tickets. Now they zeroed

(53:04):
in on the fan base season ticket holder base of
both the Bills and the Chiefs to get first priority
on these tickets. Now, it's interesting about the conference championship games.
And I found this out when I was working for
the Raiders back in the day. So we had a
divisional playoff game against the Patriots, which we assumed we

(53:27):
are gonna win, and had we won, we would have
hosted the f C championship game. Was back now, we
choked that game. But what I remember about this was
we were still a local team for the divisional round
and that man I had to put the game program
together like it did just a regular season game. However,
had we hosted the a f C championship game, I

(53:49):
didn't have any responsibilities. The league takes over in the
conference championship games, and they always have so, in other words,
distribution of credential shows game programs that has taken over
for the conference championship games by the league. The reason
I bringing this up is it's that, Okay, well, if

(54:10):
the league is running the show for the conference championship games,
then the league pretty much has the option of where
those games should actually be played. Lamar Hunt, the founder
of the NFL, the late grade owner of the Chiefs,
was a big proponent from the get go when the
league's merged that the conference championship games should be on
neutral sites. And the owners like, no, no, Lamar, not

(54:34):
gonna happen. And we never thought we would ever get
there until all of a sudden they sold fifty seats
in twenty four hours. So now all of a sudden,
you're saying this rich, all right, we get the idea
that you're the number one seed or you're the better seed.
You've worked hard for that seed, specifically for the opportunity
to host a conference championship game one step away from

(54:57):
the super Bowl. But if it's an open season for
stadiums anywhere in the country to bid on the rights
to not only hold host a super Bowl, but conference
championship games. Again, it's about money. So it's always about
how much money can we make as opposed to essentially

(55:17):
making the idea of one seeds by weeks obsolete. Well,
and and let's tell you think the owners would look
at this. Let's take this a step further, because we
know as the NFL continues to expand the regular season,
where now at seventeen games, someday soon we'll we'll be
at eighteen games in the regular season, and you have

(55:39):
more playoff teams, seven each conference. Now only one team
awarded the bye week. That very easily could end up
encapsulating half the league. It could end up expanding to
eight teams per conference. It's very possible and very conceivable
that the NFL wants all those things. Now, is it
going to ruin the product? It may. We don't know
where the point of diminut returns is in terms of

(56:01):
too many games or too many teams in the postseason.
Right now, they're still sitting at pretty much a perfect scenario.
Everything makes sense, everything feels urgent still in the NFL.
Compared to Major League Baseball, NBA, any other major sport,
there's not as much urgency that's been lacking for years
because they expanded the regular season too far. They've expanded

(56:21):
the postseason feel too far. But this works right now.
But what is forbidding the NFL from saying no, no, no no, no.
Neutral site Conference championship games make ultimately the most sense
because now not only can we host them anywhere in
the country of the United States, we can host them
anywhere in the world because the game is spreading internationally. Anyways,

(56:42):
when is it going to be? And I promise you
soon that the NFL plays its first Super Bowl outside
the boundaries of the United States. It's coming, I promise you.
And everything is on the table. By the way, we
are watching right now live in Buffalo. It is snowing
right now, We've got snow floor. He's going on in
Buffalo for the smatch up against the Bengals. Yeah, it's
going to be an excellent game. And all of a

(57:04):
sudden you're starting to see like, hey, yeah, Buffalo has
one more advantage that Yeah, look it's snows and since
and I understand they're in the outside stadium as well,
but Buffalo Lake effects no. The win that they get there,
it's unique. So it's going to be a part of
this game too. But yeah, going back to what I
was saying, if we do see a Super Bowl overseas

(57:24):
sometime soon or in Mexico City or wherever, it's not
far behind it. If we do start thinking about the
potential of neutral site championship games where, how about this
I'll give you just because I mentioned Mexico City. How
about this an a f C championship game or screw
it like any any well, No, let's stay in the
a f C a f C championship game between the

(57:47):
Raiders and I don't know the Chargers in Mexico City
or the Raiders and and uh Houston in you know,
and and and again we're talking years down the line.
In Mexico City. That would be bonkers. Do you know
how many fans would show up to studios techa something
like that? It would be outrageous. So it's it's common man.

(58:10):
All of this stuff is on the table now. See.
I will say this in defense of because I I
don't think this is I think this is gonna get
laughed off the table. I don't think owners want to
give up the idea of hosting conference championship games. But
one thing I do know over the years and your
former team, the New England Patriots, took full advantage of

(58:32):
a weak division. The Bills, the Jets, the Dolphins were
awful for much of their run. So let's say they
go twelve and four back in the day. Well, they're
twelve and four usually included six and oh in their division,
and maybe another team goes eleven and five or twelve
and four and they lose on a tiebreak, but New
England gets that home field advantage. No, it's nothing against them.

(58:54):
They got to play the cards they're dealt. But not
all records are equal, and otherways, being twelve for in
that division may not have been the same as being
twelve and four in a different division where it was
more competitive within the division. So that would be an
argument saying, well, just because they're the number one seed
doesn't necessarily mean that you've been the best team over

(59:15):
the course of sixteen games. It may have been a
scheduling situation where strength of schedules not entered into the equation.
That would be the argument. I don't think this is
gonna pass. I know there's a buzz immediately because they
were able to sell as many tickets as they did.
And again I'm with you on the idea, there's no
way to predict the future none. I can still remember
years and years ago when Paul tag Leabou was the

(59:38):
commissioner of the NFL and he held his press conference
the Friday before the Super Bowl is always the big
commissioner's day, taking questions, and I asked him, could you
ever see a day where the Super Bowl will be
on pay per view? And he his answer was never. Right. Well,
when I hear the word never media, I'm thinking you

(01:00:01):
sure you want to say that, Well, well, what's crazy
right now? It's still not. And you could say, we'll
look at the revenue that generated the networks. What's crazy
about that? Though, Steve, and we know this for true.
Now pay per view works in the NFL. And here's
how you know, Thursday night football is now pay per view.
We don't look at it that way because it is

(01:00:23):
so uh it's it's it's so ingrained in us to
just pay our subscriptions and to think like, yeah, okay, yeah,
like Amazon Prime Video, like I have it anyway, so
I'll just pop on Thursday Night football. But think about
how many Americans, how many people across the world had
to become new subscribers to Amazon Prime to watch the
product that they've watched. Now, the ratings were down, you know, overall,

(01:00:46):
the ratings in the NFL were actually down three percent
because of the diminished return on Amazon Prime hosting Thursday Night.
But think about Amazon as a buy in. So they
buy in for a billion dollars a year. Point it's
the amount of money they pay for one single game
over the course of eleven years. So eleven billion dollars
is what the NFL is going to get from Amazon.

(01:01:07):
And then you look back and you say to yourself, well,
how do they make Yeah, the numbers are lower, the
streams whatever, how do they make good on that? Oh? Right,
because they signed up all of these people as new
subscribers for that product, and so they're gonna have them
on the hook now forever. And that is how that
model works. We're already there, so pay per view it
works in the NFL. The proving ground was Amazon Prime

(01:01:29):
buying Thursday Night Football and testing it this season. And
trust me, they're coming up. They're coming back next year.
They've made the investment. They're loving the investment. They'll tell
you internally their subscriptions are sky high, so they're going nowhere.
And I could very easily see at some point one
of these online streamers buying a Super Bowl and saying, Nope,
we're doing it this year, and if you want to

(01:01:50):
see it, you gotta tune into Paramount Plus or Disney
Plus or a new app that you imagine the bidding
wars with all these outlets to host a Super Oh
my gosh, can you imagine how much money they throw
out the NFL. Once again, we're brought to you by
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(01:02:11):
TV and more, all your protection in one place. Bundle
and save at Progressive dot com. Let's find out what
it is trending right now. And Monsey, we see snow
in Buffalo, Yes we do. And not just that, but
safety tomar Hamlin is at the game, so he's gonna
be there to cheer on his teammates who are taking
on the Bengals. Were about thirty minutes away from kick off,

(01:02:34):
but he is their multiple reports videos now he is there,
Tomar Hamlin following that game the Cowboys are gonna take
on the forty Niners. That game is set for six
thirty pm Eastern time now. Yesterday, the Kansas City Chiefs
eliminated the Jaguars, advancing to their fifth consecutive a f
C championship. Patrick Mahomes was hurt in the first half,
but ESPN reported today that an m r I show

(01:02:54):
that he suffered a high right ankle sprain, nothing more
than that, and that he does plan to play in
next Sunday's a f C Championship game. Obviously, I'm not
surprised they did eliminate the Jaguars, but this is what
Trevor Lawrence had to say after the game. I'm gonna
have more time to think about and reflect on it.
We'll have plenty of time to do that, and it's
gonna make us better. And this this won't be This

(01:03:16):
won't be the last you guys hear of us. So
we're gonna be back. They're gonna be back, is what
he says. College hoops still going on. Not a lot
of games are probably also preparing for the NFL games,
but number of fifty in Yukon cruise pass Butler no
problems eight six fifty six was the final score and
number three per two, holding onto their lead over Maryland.
Still seven is a score halfway through this second half. Rich,

(01:03:39):
your pronunciation of Asteca was pretty good about that. Yeah,
I was only a rich goal. I live in a
border city. Time to time, I look at that, look
at rolling. Those are no big deal. Oh I'm impressed.
I'm impressed. Back to you, guys. See, I I took French. Okay, yes,

(01:04:08):
tenne you see. And the thing about et tienn is
when I see Etienne and some people say e t n,
right et N, I'm like, no, no, no no American. Well,
my name Stephen in French is Etienne. So when I
took French, immediate life and out, what is my name
in French? And it's Etienne. So swee et Tienne. And

(01:04:32):
that's why I know. It's if you're doing the French pronunciation,
it's not et n. It's so his name is Travis
Stephen Stevens. Yes, you can't trust a guy with two first,
so that it is. But all right, moncy, thank you
very much. Um. By the way, this matchup between the
Bengals and the Bills, this doesn't happen often. The Bills

(01:04:55):
come in with an eight game when he's streaking. The
Bengals come in with a nine game when he's streak. Remember,
both these teams had a canceled game right head to head,
So technically, yeah, the Bills have one eighth straight and
the Bengals of one nine straight. We were saying on
on sort of the doorstep of the game where they
faced each other on Monday night, like we're going to

(01:05:16):
see potentially these teams went out from whatever point it
was way back when to the end of the year
and their only lost one or the other is gonna
be to a team that they face somewhere in the postseason,
whether it's the a f C Championship game or it's
gonna be in the divisional round. But how funny is
that that because of the cancelation, obviously because of the
tragic incident DeMar Hamlin being resuscitated after taking that hit,

(01:05:41):
they have spotless records from eight games and nine games out.
Another storyline that comes full circle here today. It's just outrageous.
And then DeMar Hamlin, to Monsey's point, was brought by
security in a four wheeler all the way to the
door of the Bills locker room where he and dird
and so is there has there I guess is the

(01:06:03):
right way to frame the question. Has there ever been
a more important player in the history of sports making
a locker room appearance who's not playing in the game. Well,
but I but I again I agree up this point.
You you were talking about Josh Allen being an emotional
player who at times, and we saw it on full

(01:06:25):
display against the Dolphins lose it. Yeah, where all of
a sudden you you almost get a sense he's literally
hyper ventilating on the field. He had the interceptions, he
had to strip, you know, fumble for the touchdown, and
then you look up and like the Bills are losing
to Miami? Are you kidding me? Um? So when you
have Tomorrow Hamlin there and obviously we're all just you know,

(01:06:48):
wrapped up in the story and this miraculous recovery. But
from a team's standpoint, you're looking at someone that you
thought maybe be gone. Yeah, I mean when you when
you see doctors bringing out the paddles and his heart

(01:07:09):
stopped twice and he has to be resuscitated, and all
these emotions flowing in for a teammate something you see
every single day and you're fearing the worst, and he's
I hate to use the term, almost like back from
the dead in some ways. And he's there, and he's

(01:07:29):
he's talking to you, and and and you're trying to
emotionally wrap yourself around that. I'm not saying that he's
I mean, he's an inspiration obviously to your team, but
sometimes that could have an adverse, like you overdo it,
like you're you're you're too emotional, you know. Sean McDermott
has got to remind his team right now. Look, obviously,

(01:07:52):
we are so grateful for what the doctors did and
and the recovery of damorrow that he's here with us
right now, but we have to we have to focus
on a football game against a team that, by the way,
has yet to lose a road playoff game with Joe Burrow. Um,
they're gonna be ready to go, and they're not going

(01:08:15):
to be intimidated by the crowd or anything going on today.
They're gonna be ready for this game. It just it's
a fine point. It can work both ways. It could
be Bills are fired up and wall and just steamroll
the Bengals today. Will all this emotion with tomorrow being there.
On the other hand, if they're suddenly like not into

(01:08:36):
the game for whatever reason, I'll give you an example,
be a much different story. The emotional weight of playing
in a of playing in a super Bowl, for example,
is insane. It's insane. I experienced it once in my career,
uh when I was with the New England Patriots and
we're taking on the Giants in Indianapolis, and it's surreal.

(01:09:00):
That's the only way I can describe it. It's it's
something that you watched your entire life, never missed one, right,
Like most Americans, you watched this every single year, And
then you're walking around a city super Bowl Week and
you realize everyone's here because of us, and in some
small way because of me, right, you know, because I'm
a part of this too, And it's bizarre to feel

(01:09:22):
like the world is gonna stop and watch what we're
up to today or Sunday whenever it's coming, right, you know,
you're just when you widen the aperture of of the
lens and you you start to really take in the
whole thing. It's a lot to deal with, right. So
that's the super Bowl, But the divisional playoffs, they're like that. Too,

(01:09:42):
because there's only one game on when the Bills and
Bengals kick off. There's only one thing that most Americans
are doing today, and that's watching football. And so when
you have the world watching you and seeing all of this,
you start to, like again, when you take a moment
and take stock, you start realizing whoa how big what

(01:10:02):
we're doing or about to do really is. And then
to throw on top of that emotional weight watching to
your point, a guy who was revived in front of us,
who was injured doing the thing we're about to do
in the first place, I mean, that throws another log
onto that emotional fire. It's a lot to deal with.

(01:10:24):
That is a real thing, man, And that's a lot
too to contend with, to be frank, and the Cincinnati
Bengals don't have to as much because DeMar Hamlin's not
visiting the Cincinnati Bengals locker room. DeMar Hamlin is not
gonna go and shake hands with the starting quarterback over
on the CINSE sideline potentially. I mean, the Bills have

(01:10:45):
to handle that weight, you know, it's not it's not
the Bengals. You have to win in front of their
home crowd to make this story all makes sense. You
know that it's the Bills that have to do that,
So I agree with you. I think the emotional equation
balances out to where the Bills have to handle a
lot more than the Bengals have to handle today. And

(01:11:07):
the fact of the matter is, again going back to
the quarterback comparison, if there's a quarterback who's more uniquely
prepared to handle that weight, I would argue it's Joe
Burrow because what I've seen from him is this unflappable
confidence that continues to improve year after year. And with
Josh Allen, we've seen some of the emotional intelligence regress

(01:11:30):
this season, and we've seen at different times this season
inexplicably him make mistakes with the football. I go back
to the Minnesota Vikings game, and I go back to
last week against the Dolphins, and we'll see what happens
today with an even higher sense of emotion. Here. By
the way, they're showing a feature piece on the aftermath
that there are hamdling collapsing on the field, CPR horses

(01:11:53):
all over the country. I mean, millions of millions of
people obviously watching that Money Night game, and how incredible
was what the doctors did on the field to save
his life and get that heart beating again. So there
was no at least as of now, brain damage or
anything else. I mean, timing is everything, so you always

(01:12:13):
look a positive out of a potentially catastrophic situation. Uh
it has been that. So emotion is gonna be high,
no question about that on both sides. Bengals taken on
the Bills. And keep in mind again, these are two
franchises that have never won a Super Bowl. And when
you have quarterbacks like Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, you

(01:12:35):
know you have quarterbacks that can get you there. And
these are two fan bases that are starving, starving for
a Super Bowl celebration. But one of them is gonna
go home today. The other is gonna advance to the
a f C Championship game, getting ready to take on
the Kansas City Chiefs. All right, we are getting ready

(01:12:56):
for the kickoff of that Bengals Bills game. We also
have the game later on today between the Cowboys and
the forty Niners. The Cowboys have not been in an
NFC championship game since the nineteen nine five season, that's
almost thirty years ago. Can they get through the forty

(01:13:19):
Niners will break it down. This is Fox Sports Red
Zone Radio, Steve Hartman and a rich Armburger. Once again,
this is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. We are live
from the ti iraq dot com studios getting ready for
the kickoff of the Bengals Bills playoff game. It is
snowing in Buffalo. Kind of factor is that gonna be?
How about the emotional factor these two teams being back

(01:13:41):
on the field for the first time since that Monday
night matchup. We're gonna have answers on that very shortly.
Then later on the Cowboys will be in San Francisco,
actually Santa Clara to take on the forty Niners. And
I'm looking at the Cowboys right now, and I'm looking
at this quarterback matchup, Dak Prescott against Brock Purty. Let

(01:14:08):
me repeat that, Dak Prescott versus Brock Purty. One thing
I do know, there's a major difference in their paychecks
right now, Yes, that is act. I know. I don't
even know what does Brock pretty even get a paycheck
as the last pick in the draft, like what I mean,
obviously he's making minimum. Oh yeah, he's making rookie minimum.
He's getting he got a very small signing bonus as

(01:14:31):
the seventh as the last pick in the draft. What
kind of signing bonus do you get as the last
pick in the draft? I mean literally ten thousand, tens
of thousands of dollars at the most were And again
for the average Joe or Jane out there, that's big
time money, and I get it. But when we're talking
about compared to a forty million dollar man per year
like Dak Prescott, UH like to get a twenty five

(01:14:54):
thousand dollar or even an eighty thousand dollars signing bonus
whatever Mr Relevant get, he is ridiculous by comparison. Right,
So again, but both of these quarterbacks, they're gonna they
need a running game effective. We mentioned the fact that
Brock Purdy has been uh reaping the benefits of an
effective running game for the forty niners there, averaging more

(01:15:15):
than a hundred fifty yards rushing in the games that
he has started. He's won six in a row, which
is all good. But he hasn't made mistakes. But if
I'm Jerry Jones on the other side, and the and
the clock is ticking, and no one is more aware
of that than Jerry Jones, which is why he brought
in Mike McCarthy. Wanted a coach that knew what it
was like to win a Super Bowl. Well, he's got

(01:15:35):
his coach. McCarthy has done a pretty good job, by
the way, So now you get ready for this game.
You're coming off a really good game against Tampa Cowboys
like dynamic. They dominated that game. But I'm paying Dak
Prescott forty million dollars a year. I'm just trying to
sit in the seat of Jerry Jones. I'm paying this
guy forty million dollars a year. The guy on the

(01:15:57):
other side is making a look whole amount of money
as any quarterback in football. It's possible. I'm thinking, I
gotta win this game. But hang on, hang on, because
the reality of and this is, it doesn't matter what
you do if you're a plumber or you're a multi
multimillionaire billionaire. If you both go to the steakhouse, right

(01:16:20):
and maybe it's gonna hurt your pockets much less. If
you're the billionaire compared to the plumber, you're both getting
the same steak. At the end of the day, whoever
steps foot into that restaurant, they're both getting the same
service because guess what, the price is the same for
both of you. So Jerry Jones like, I'm paying forty
million for my steak and you're paying minimum. Well, the

(01:16:41):
difference the differences. The plumber may have showed up in
his work truck and you should showed up, you know,
with a private driver driver into Bentley. It doesn't matter
how you got there. What matters at the end of
the day is, Hey, we're both seated at the same table,
and our guy verse your guy. The reality is Brock

(01:17:01):
Purty very similar in some ways that we the way
we were talking about. Joe Burrow has shown this insane
confidence for a guy who was the last pick of
the draft. It's like as if that never happened. It's
like this has been his destiny all along, Like I'm
just gonna wait for my time and when it comes,
I'm gonna take over here and it's gonna be great.

(01:17:22):
You know, There's there's a lot of comparisons going around,
like Tom Brady, Tom Brady, Tom Brady. Okay, here's the
more realistic comparison. Joe Flacco. Okay, Brock party is Joe Flacco.
Joe Flacco was the second rounder out of Delaware. Um.
He was insanely talented in terms of his arm strength,
he could put the ball anywhere he wanted. But um,

(01:17:42):
but he wasn't going to be the starting quarterback. It
took two injuries in front of him. Troy Smith was
one of them, by the way, Ohio State quarterback, in
order for him to gain access to the field at all.
And when that all went down, with that Baltimore Ravens
defense very similar by the way to the defense that
we've seemed from San Francisco over the past two seasons,

(01:18:02):
and an offense that was littered with playmakers, Joe Flacco
could operate and won the Ravens of Super Bowl and
was the MVP of that Super Bowl. And Brocky wasn't
just He wasn't just a passenger on a luxury liner.
He was a difference in a very tight matchup against
the forty Niners that year and by the way, one
at least one playoff game in five consecutive years. And

(01:18:23):
brock Purdy maybe that type of player where we never
respect his talent the way we will a Tom Brady,
We may never respect his talent the way we will
potentially at Dak Prescott, who, by the way, gained access
to the field the same way Tom Brady did, the
same way that we're talking about Joe Flacco, the same
way that Brock Purdy did. Dak Prescott was the third
string quarterback, a fourth rounder out of Mississippi State, and

(01:18:46):
it took injuries to get him to the field, and
he won the job in the preseason. So this stuff happens,
I get it. Jerry Jones is probably looking at his
payroll and looking at the forty Niners payroll and going like, hold, cow,
how did you make it to this steak restaurant. It
doesn't matter. You're both there. You're both getting served the
same steak, and you gotta deal with that. If you're

(01:19:07):
an owner of a team. It happened to I. I mean,
I'm sure there are people looking at Jerry Jones when
they got lucky with Dak lucky quote unquote unquote with
Dak where some some marginally talented college player took over
the Dallas Cowboys and ushered in the next era at
the quarterback position. I bet there are a lot of
teams that wish they lucked into Dak Prescott in the draft,

(01:19:29):
but they didn't, and now the forty Niners are reaping
the same benefits. Look, I know the forty Niners have
Christian McCaffrey, they have Deebo Samuel, they have George Kittle,
they have some superstars at skill positions. But if I
was Jerry Jones and Brock Purty outplays Dak Prescott and
the forty Niners win this game, I'm losing it. Dak

(01:19:49):
Prescott played well last week against Tampa. I expect him,
and I'm speaking as Jerry Jones, I expect him to
do the same. If I'm looking at it right now,
this Cowboys team has what it takes to win a
Super Bowl this year if if my quarterback plays at

(01:20:12):
the level that elite quarterbacks do in the biggest games.
Speaking of, it's not a snow flurry. It could be
a snowstorm and Buffalo get right ready for the matchup
between the Bengals of the Bills. This is Fox Sports
Red Zone Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I

(01:20:35):
Heart Radio app. Search f s R to listen live.
Are you ready for some playoff football? We are, and
we're about to kick off this game between the Bengals
and the Bills, and the field is covered in snow.
Once again. This is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. We're
broadcasting live from the ti irack dot com studios ti

(01:20:55):
irack dot com. We're gonna help get you there and
not matt selection, fast free shipping, free road has the
protection over ten thousand recommended installers tire act dot com
the way tire buying should be. Yeah, it is a
snow storm that is going on in Buffalo. Uh, no
longer florries. It is a steady downpour of snow. The

(01:21:16):
field is white, it is covered in snow, and it's
only gonna get worse as this game progresses. Here, Rich,
let's talk a little bit about these weather conditions before
we get back into this matchup between the Bills and
the Bengals. Um, I've asked you many times if you
could say, you know, what are the most desirable extremes?
You know, extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme rain, extreme wind,

(01:21:40):
extreme snow. You've pretty much indicated the least of it
is snow. Oh yeah, oh yeah yeah. In in the
list of like weather, actual weather, extreme rain, extreme heat,
extreme cold, extreme wind are all worse than snow, oh,
no doubt about. It comes in a firm last place.
And one of the things that you've look at when
you see snow coming down and makes it a lot

(01:22:02):
easier to see is if it's coming down straight like
it is right now, this is going to have to close.
It's gonna have close to no factor on this game.
The only thing that can really affect you is if
the snow is coming down heavy enough that it sticks
up and gums up the bottom of your cleats, then
all of a sudden traction can become an issue. But
most of the time you have equipment managers that know

(01:22:24):
how to handle that. Longer spikes, spread a little cooking
oil on the bottom of your cleats. There's little tricks
that kind of keep your your feet free of getting
gummed up with snow. And as a result, you don't,
really you don't. It doesn't factor, all right. So this
new turf that we see around the NFL, which obviously
they have in Buffalo these days, how does that turf

(01:22:47):
react to this kind of weather? Okay, so that is
a factor natural playing surfaces versus turf. There's two ways
to look at it. Um some turf fields. Have you
know under field heating systems that actually helped the snow
melt a little bit faster on the playing surface. Not
many stadiums do this. I'm not sure if any of

(01:23:09):
the NFL stadiums actually do this, and I definitely I'm
unsure of Buffalo. It doesn't look like they have it
on if they have one, because the snow is gathering
fast on the field. The other thing is, yeah, it
can be slicker. It can be a little bit slicker
because your your cleats may not dig in as much
on a FieldTurf surface, especially with freezing temperatures and snow

(01:23:32):
on the field. But in my experience, and this is
as an offensive line I can't speak from a wide
receiver standpoint or a running back standpoint, the snow seems
to have more of an effect on defenders than it
really does offensive players. I agree with you. Normally, when
you have conditions like this, advantage to the offense. By
the way, the Bengals have the ball, first quick pass

(01:23:53):
to Jamaar Chase, a run by Joe Mixon and the
Bengals have the first first down of the game or
a minute in um. Yeah, because you as an offensive player,
you know where you're going, at least where you're supposed
to be, whereas the defender, especially defensive backs are backing up. Uh.
And there's a big pass play right there. Uh two

(01:24:13):
Boyd Tyler Boyd on the receiving end twenty three yards
for the Bengals. So at least early on, Joe Burrow
zero effect with this. But yeah, I would imagine that
if this snow continues over the course of this game,
that we could actually see a lot of points yeah
scored in this game. Yeah, this could be again if
it stays like it is where the flags on top

(01:24:36):
the goal post stay still the Yeah, this is not
going to have an effect on the scoring in fact,
like I said, because defenders are gonna have a little
more trouble with their attraction reacting to the cuts and
the moves of the receivers and the skill position players. Yeah,
we could see a high scoring affair here, which brings
us back, uh to to your your bet today. Now,

(01:24:58):
was it the Bengals Bills that you said the under
was the Cowgoys? Didn't? I didn't this game. I wasn't
gonna get anywhere near because again, I I could play
out dozens of scenarios, uh for this game today. By
the way, we mentioned the fact of how evenly matched
these teams are. The Bengals coming in on a nine

(01:25:18):
game winning streaked, the Bills in eight game winning streak.
Obviously they had the cancel game head to head, but
how about this, So the Bengals first three losses were
by it combined eight points. The Bills three losses this
year were by combined eight points. Now, the only aberration
was that inexplicable Bengals blowout loss at Cleveland. Remember that

(01:25:40):
game thirty two to thirteen. That was the last time
that the Bengals lost and that was back in Halloween weekend. So, um,
these teams are very evenly matched, and I and ultimately
I think it's just gonna come down to these two quarterbacks.
We're talking about two guys who, by the way, both
through thirty five touchdown passes this year. There their stats

(01:26:01):
are amazingly similar. But we look at Joe Cool and again,
any guy that sports a high neck turtleneck with sunglasses,
you know you've got to have confidence. So right now,
the Bengals just scored a touchdow that they made that
look so easy. Jamar Chase on the receiving and touchdown Bengals. Yeah,
so if you had a player prop where Jamaar Chase

(01:26:22):
is scoring first in this game, you just hit. And
that hook up has been going well ever since those
LSU days, and they get it done on a twenty
eight yard reception right down the heart of this Jamar
Chase run through the Bill's defense on guard. It's called
a slugo. It's a slanting going. I actually don't even

(01:26:43):
think it was a planned slugo. And they have three
Bills defenders looking at each other when he caught the
ball at about the five yard line, like, were you
supposed to take that guy? Well, he originally ran the
slant slant route through cover to defense, and then Joe
Burrow started look like he is gonna leave the pocket,
and so his defender bawled, and then he just created

(01:27:05):
depth for himself, got to the middle of this defense
and Burrow just popped it over the head of all
the defenders up front and that made for an easy
six extra point. Good. So, Cincinnati Bengals within the opening
minute plus of this game are leading seven nothing in Buffalo.
That looks like a shaking snow globe right now. That's
how much snow is coming back. Well, if you're a

(01:27:26):
Bills fanuel like what just happened there. I mean, they
could not have been any more efficient. Burrow was four
for four on that drive, sixty five yards and the
touchdown pass, and Joe Mixon too, carries for fourteen yards.
So every play they ran was a productive play. They
didn't have one dog play, and they just went right
down the field in sixth place a score for the
first time. Now the Buffalo Bills are going to get

(01:27:48):
their opportunity, and so we got into the head of
Josh Allen. So you just stand on the sidelines and
you're watching Joe Burrow doing what Joe Burrow does, staying cool.
The weather is irrelevant at Buffalo, irrelevant nothing, it's irrelevant.
We're gonna run our offense and we went down and scored.

(01:28:11):
Now you got a little out of pressure, even though
it's early in the game, just seeing how easily the
Bengals scored in that first all there's no doubt about it.
Listen to me when I tell you that the emotion
and the the weight of the motion is squarely on
the shoulders of the Bills sideline and frankly and more specifically,
squarely on the shoulders of Josh Allen. It is going

(01:28:33):
to be an incumbent of of him not to lose
his mind today. We watched him try to give that
game to the Miami Dolphins in the Super wild Card Round.
He tried to. He fumbled that ball a lot. In fact,
he was responsible for three turnovers on the game. He
could have been responsible for six. He fumbled the ball
three times, only one was taken away by the defense

(01:28:54):
or five excuse me, only one was taken away by
the defense. The other two were recovered by Bill's player. Otherwise,
Josh Allen could have given this game completely away to
the Miami Dolphins. We would have gotten here to the
Divisional round anyways. So he can't do that here. And
the fact that it happened to him recently, that's seated

(01:29:14):
somewhere in the back of his mind. And the and
the Bengals. Let's face it, the Bengals for two years
now have not gotten enough credit for their defense. Their
defense can really help this team win at times. Their liability,
there's no question about it, but they can create a
pass rush. These guys play good team defense. Their tacticians,

(01:29:35):
and this has been the way for now two full seasons.
And so if the Bengals defensively rise to the challenge
a bracketing Josh Allen in the pocket, making him uncomfortable,
forcing him to throw out of a well instead of
letting him get on the edges of this defense and
create with his feet and improvised, this is gonna be
a long, hard day for this Bill's offense. By the way,

(01:29:55):
this is completely off track, but I'm a stats guy, right,
So that was a six play seventy nine yard dry,
the six play being a touchdown. So I'm looking at
Buffalo's defensive stats and they've been credited with six solo tackles. Okay, now,
how do they have six solo tackles if they've run
six plays, one of which was a touchdown? Do I

(01:30:16):
get credit for a tackle on a guy scoring a touchdown?
They had to have screwed up. They probably meant to
give two guys and assist, and they gave two guys
a solo. I guess my question is how valid our tackle?
Not how is that possible as a six I'm not
total solo tackles when the six play actually was in

(01:30:37):
the end zone. Answer may shock you. You are the
only person who cares. I know that, But I have
a sense of these stats, you know how I am.
All right? So Buffalo gets the ball first, and as
we you know again we're talking about when the Bengals
got the ball, the weather conditions actually should favor the offense.
So we'll see it's gonna work that way for the

(01:30:57):
Buffalo Bills. Hey, for everything going on in this game,
this matchup between the Bills and the Bengals puts the
matchup later on today forty Niners and Cowboys. Keep it
right here. This is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. This
is Fox Red Zone Radio, and we've got the place

(01:31:18):
that you may have miss. Tee Higgins out Why to
the left shotgun staff short dropped by Burrow. The pressure
comes from the left. He throw caught at the dinner chase,
straight ahead into the end zone. I touched out on
the opening drive for Cincinnati, a twenty eight yard grow.
Now back live to the studios of Fox Sports Radio.

(01:31:42):
This is Fox Red Zone Radio. All right, So that's
seven hunter w LW Bengals Radio Network. Bengals with a
seven nothing lead against the Buffalo Bills, and they are
on the move once again. Welcome back. This is Fox
Sports Reds on radio. We are alive from the ti
iraq dot com studios. By the way, the radio analysts

(01:32:05):
are the Bengals. Who is uh notorious for speaking during
the call of a touchdown. I felt like he tried
to restrain himself a little bit that just a little
bit there. Um all right, So when we left, the
Bills had the ball three and out, three and out,
three pass plays and that had six yards for the Bills.

(01:32:26):
And now here we go with the Bengals again as
they're driving right down the field. Joe Burrow right now,
seven for seven, eighty five yards and a touchdown. Now
it's very early in this game, but it would appear
early on that Joe Burrow. You know. I just wondered
this about I'm I get a little detoited because I'm

(01:32:50):
thinking about the Cincinnati Bengals in general. I saw a
feature the other day about which team is going to
emerge as the team of the twenties because the End
of All has had this very distinct history where each
decade has a single franchise that dominated in terms of
winning championships, and the last two decades. Was the Patriots

(01:33:12):
in the two thousands and tenses, where the Cowboys the
nineties of Cowboys eighties with the forty Niners seventies, Where
the Steelers sixties or the Packers fifties or the Browns
forties with the Bears. I mean, it's happened every single decade.
So they were trying to predict the twenties right, and
they were talking about the Chiefs. Well, technically, the Chiefs
had zero championships in the twenties because their championship was

(01:33:34):
the twenty nineteen season. The last two so far the
season was the Buccaneers and season was the Ramps. The
door is certainly open. It is open. But when and
when we talk about the Chiefs, I'm looking at the
Bengals because the Patriots came out of nowhere, the forty
Niners came out of nowhere, and a lot of ways,

(01:33:54):
the teams that have dominated decades were amongst the worst
teams in the previous decade. I keep looking at Joe
Burrow and I'm looking at him saying this is the
kind of quarterback as they continue, Remember last year they
got to the Super Bowl with a terrible offensive. Lied
he had nine sacks in one playoff game. He had

(01:34:15):
seven sacks in the Super Bowl and he still almost
won that game. So is the Bengals put together a
few more pieces around this guy. I don't know. Maybe
I'm completely rock about so many things, but I'm telling you,
everyone keeps talking about Chiefs, Chiefs. She's what's Joe burrows
record against the Chiefs? Undefeated? Undefeated? And it has a

(01:34:38):
lot to do with that unwavering confidence that Joe Burrow
has in himself and in his teammates, Like he he
like it doesn't matter what happens on the chief sideline
or what happens during the game. He just fully believes
that he's still in control. And there are so many teams,
so many coaches who feel like we got to change

(01:34:58):
what we do to compete with his team. That we
have to, you know, like do a quick trick on
side kick, you know, to make sure we steal possession
against the Chiefs. So we gotta go for every fourth
down conversion, whether it's questionable or not, and we gotta
go for two immediately because we need the points. Like
the Bengals have a very kind of hey oh, touchdown

(01:35:19):
again on a third and seven at the Buffalo fifteen
yard line. Joe Cool just waited it out. You find
Hurst in the end zone, wide open for a touchdown,
nothing waiting on the extra point. I mean they're making
this look easy, folks. If you are listening to us
and you're driving around today and you haven't been able
to make it to a television set yet, I mean,

(01:35:41):
straight up busted coverage is um poor job figuring out
what this Cincinnati Bengals team is doing. And by the
way they're off, they're starting script. Like I know, they
went down the field and they scored immediately. And if
you want my commentary on that first touchdown, it's like, okay,
well that's your first ten place. You know, it only
took you six place to get in the end zone.
Of us, you're going to have a perfect script to

(01:36:01):
start the game. This drive just win ten plays seventy
two yards. It just took another six minutes off the clock.
And Joe Burrow hooking up with Hayden Hurst. You look
at it and you say no, no, no, Like this
is now the third play down on the third down
list and they're connecting for a touchdown. Well, he's got time.
Where's the Bills pass rush. All right, you're ready for

(01:36:23):
these numbers so far. So we got three forty seven
ago on the first quarter, total yards, one six to
six first downs, nine nothing, time of possession nine and
a half minutes to a minute and a half. So
that is complete domination early on by the Cincinnati Bengals team.

(01:36:43):
So we talked about a lot of pressure at home
on Josh Allen. Well, every time the Bengals go down
and score as easily as they have, you ratchet up
the pressure on Josh Allen. At some point one the
Bills have got to figure out a way to put
some kind pressure on Joe Burrow. He had all day,
like you said, he's he's, he's, he's going down his list,

(01:37:05):
first receiver, second receiver, third and seven right, finds a
wide open receiver in the end zone and the snow
is coming down hard right now in Buffalo. So just
like that, you blink, Bengals fourteen Bills zip. Yeah, I'll
tell you what. That's the word of the day is pressure.
There's no chance of being in Joe Burrow if you're

(01:37:27):
not going to get some pressure on him. So they
gotta find a way to get this guy off his spot.
Get this guy uncomfortable in the pocket because if they don't,
this is gonna be a bad outing for the Buffalo Bills.
And and really, now with a fourteen nothing hole, this
is when you start to see panicky Josh Allen, like

(01:37:47):
this is the perfect storm and not to be punny
with all the snow dropping right now in Buffalo, but
this is exactly what the Buffalo Bills didn't want to see.
Is he Josh Allen now in the the chase seat
thinking to himself like, I gotta make the big play here.
I gotta bring us back. I gotta make it happen
for us. Because when he starts playing like that, they

(01:38:09):
call it being on tilt in Vegas. Like when you
start chasing the money, you start making mistakes, you know
when you're playing poker. That's Josh Allen. He gets a
little reckless and this could get out of hand fast,
all right. Joe Burrow nine for nine in this game
Hunter five yards to touchdowns and note pics. Somehow that's
not a perfect pass or rating, just short of it.

(01:38:29):
But here are some of the numbers that really tell
the story. Six different receivers already have cop passes. Six
different receivers on two drives of the Bengals and Joe
Mixon running the ball five carries thirty four yards at
six point eight yards and carry. The Bills haven't stopped
anything yet. Anything. They can't stop the running game. They
can't stop the passing game. Um. And it's simple math.

(01:38:52):
If they can't stop the Bengals, the Bills are gonna
be sent home, um quickly. So uh, you know, you
hate to say that it's a must drive in the
first court of a game, but you get a sense
right now you gotta get put some points on the board,
like immediately. Yeah, you gotta get some points on the board.
And and you got to make sure that you protect

(01:39:15):
Josh Allen like so the same way I was just saying,
you gotta find a way to get pressure on Joe Burrow.
If I'm this defense, if I'm this defensive coordinator after
the three and out last series, I'm like, Okay, well,
they're gonna come out guns blazing here. They're gonna be
trying to score immediately here on this drive, big play.
Maybe as soon as they get into the uh into
the you know, between the forties into like you know,

(01:39:35):
the long ball area of the field, So we gotta
make sure we start pressuring Josh Allen because he's gonna
throw one to us. I would be confident if you
can rattle Alan's cage, he's gonna throw your defensive football.
And so I'm dialing up whatever my best pressures are,
whatever my best blitz packages are. On this drive, I'm
gonna throw the house at him because I want to

(01:39:57):
see him make the mistake buries them in the first quarter.
I am if I'm the Bengals, I'm bringing the house
right now. Uh ran the ball on first down right now. That,
by the way, it is the first rushing attempt of
the game for the Buffalo Bill. So they're facing a
second and seven right now, with the Bengals leading in
this game by a score of fourteen to nothing. Hey,
we can talk about how complicated other banks make it

(01:40:18):
to redeem credit card rewards, or we could talk about
how we discover you can redeem your rewards for cash
and any amount at any time. I mean, talk about
amazing learn more at discover dot com. Slash redeemed rewards
terms do apply, all right. So third and five right
now for the Bills, looking for their first first down

(01:40:40):
of the game. Yeah, there you saw, and they almost
had a fumble on a handoff a little bit of
slip out of the backfield from Uh was that Singletary
or Cook? Um? But yeah it was James Cook. Yeah,
a little bit of a slip out of the backfield
as he was making his way on the interior handoff there.
So we see third and five here now and Josh

(01:41:00):
Allen got pummeled. Is a fumble and it looks like
that is a fumble and it's picked up by the Bengals.
Are they gonna rufe fumble or a pass? I think
the ruling on the field is fumble as he got
hit recovered by the Cincinnati Bengals. No, they're rualing an
incomplete pass. Let's let's play this place the same. So

(01:41:24):
Alan stepped up, he got hit and he tried to
flip the ball forward, is what he tried. Yeah, that
that's a forward pass to control the ball, and he
flipped he was looking for Singletary and I think, uh yeah, no,
that both hands on the ball. He flipped the four forward.
It is ruled an incomplete pass. But again three and
out for the Bills for the second time. By the way,

(01:41:45):
look best case scenario there, obviously is Singletary gets his
hands on the football and maybe he can rumble for
a first down. But what are the drawbacks of that play?
What if it is ruled the fumble? What if it
is intercepted them a player who you're seeing panic move.
It's this is where Josh Allen really struggles. Take the sack. Look,

(01:42:07):
I get it, you're you're feeling the pressure. It's fourteen nothing.
Take the sack, man, because you're punting anyways, most likely
that ball is most likely and complete. Don't do this.
Don't make the stupid play that puts you in a
three score hole inside of the first quarter. Well, and
may come down to a third score here, Bengals get
the ball back. Let's find out what is trending right now.

(01:42:29):
Is Monsey who is got football on her focus but
still has I dare say, a little tequila probably on
her mind or in her mind. It's definitely in my
body for sure. For sure, guys, this game, it's been

(01:42:51):
all Joe Burrow. Let's be real and the Bengals, and
like you said, they're up fourteen zip. Joe waits for
the shotgun snap he catches ump to the right sound.
It is called Hurst touched out Bengals. Burrow sucked the
Bills in with the pump fake at Hayden. Hurst was

(01:43:12):
wide open at the goal line. Bengals Radio Network on
the call, I picked the Bills uncomfortably to win this game.
Somebody asked me. I was like, I take the Bills,
but I'm very uncomfortable with my decision. And I can
see why I was uncomfortable with this decision. Rich Actually
have a question for you, go ahead. Would you rather
play in snow like you're seen now or rain? What's worse?

(01:43:34):
Snow by a long shot. So if I were going
to rank weather and the difficulty you have with it,
like at the bottom of the list is snow. In
terms of like extreme weather, snow is the easiest to
play and compared to extreme heat, I would put ahead
of that. Extreme cold, I would put ahead of that
break up. Rain, I would say comes in second place

(01:43:58):
only to high wind. Wow. Okay, is like a wet football.
Is difficult for everybody on the field, catching it, snapping it,
quarterback everything you know, QB center exchange, QB running back exchange.
But um, but yeah, no question. Wind is the worst
because it takes away the kicking game. It changes everything
in your offensive strategy with the passing game. So yeah,

(01:44:19):
that's how I rank it. Snow is pretty easy to
play with, Okay, Okay, I mean Joe Burrows making it
look easy. He's nine of nine hundred and five yards
two touchdowns. I mean, there's still a lot a lot
of game left, two minutes left in the first quarters,
so we definitely we'll see how this one ends. And
I know nobody cares, but I care. The Clippers are playing.
They're playing the Mavericks right now, and the Mavericks are
winning three one minute left in the second quarter. Back

(01:44:44):
to you guys, who's playing. Who's not playing for the
Clippers today? Listen right, isn't it so frustrating? But Kawhi
Leonard and Paul George are playing. Hey, we got news
for you. Joe Burrow is human. Incomplete pass that was
a drop. Uh So, Joe Burrow now nine of ten.

(01:45:05):
Uh the Bills have got to figure out a way
here of stopping him on this drive. Alright, So second
and ten after the incomplete pass. But uh again, this
has been just an absolute blowout early in favor of
the Bengals. Uh So, we'll keep an eye here. But
the Bills defensively, Hey, we talked about you gotta bring
some pressure on Joe Burrow and now a second and

(01:45:26):
complete pass. So if you could just get a defensive
stop right now and then you calm things down a
little bit. Yeah, Well, here's here's the other thing. So
why did the Bengals struggle so much against the Ravens
last week? I mean, you can make the argument that
the Bills probably have better players across their defense. The

(01:45:48):
Ravens very talented team, there's no question they've got Pro
bowlers too. But why did Joe Burrow struggle in this
offense struggle last week? And here's the reason why. It's
because the Ravens do something the Bills don't. They disguise,
they hide their intentions. They try to fool you with
their pre snap looks. You know what the Bills do.
They line up in what they're gonna run, and they

(01:46:10):
run it, and they say to you, we're better. We're
gonna beat you with our execution, our players in our
one and one matchups or our zone defenses. We're gonna
make the plays and we're going to force you out
of what you're comfortable doing and so far lining up
and what they want to run and just running it
is not working against this Bengals team because they're playing

(01:46:33):
against the quarterback who's supremely capable of diagnosing what's happening
pre snap, and he's dicing up the Bills right now.
All right, So third and ten they get the first
down on a thirteen yard pass to Trenton Irwin. That's right,
Trenton Irwin into the game. He's out a huge year,

(01:46:54):
by the way, he is the eight different I'm sorry,
the seventh different Bengal to catch up asked in this game.
So you got third and ten. They're probably looking at Chase,
they're looking at Boyd, they're looking at hers, and they
throw Trent Irwin into the game. I don't think the
Bills are thinking about him, and that was the intended
target and they get the first down. Yeah, it's um

(01:47:16):
basically anything they want to dial up is is working
for them right now. Really beautifully contested pass by a
Bill's defender Burrow looking for Boyd try to reel it
in with one hand and nearly caught it, but the
Bills starting to step up, right, So Johnson was in
coverage there and did a nice job getting a hand

(01:47:36):
on the back of of Boyd and knocking that ballway.
But again, if you don't start dialing up pressure, if
you don't start disguising your coverages, if you don't stop
the run, which finally they stopped Joe mixing for a
modest gain of about two and a half yards. This,
this Bill's defense is gonna fold like a damn table

(01:47:58):
that they broke over someone's head in the parking lot.
All right. Uh, third down situations always critical. The Bengals
so far are perfect in this game. So they're facing
a third and seven right now near midfield against this
Buffalo Bills defense that has got to figure out a
way to stop him. Uh, and we'll see what happens

(01:48:20):
right there. So uh. And then again offensively, it's too
early to abandon the running game. You can't just have
Josh Allen's for a fifty or sixty passes in this game.
All right, Burrows getting flushed out of the pocket and
he's gonna be brought down for a loss. So finally
the Bills get a stop defensively that was critical. By
the way, did you see Joe Burrow resigning himself to

(01:48:41):
the fact that there's nothing there. It's not gonna throw
something up for grabs. We're up fourteen nothing, we're near midfield.
We should be able to pin him back with a punt.
I'll take the sack. Yeah, listen, you got a too
deep shell. Uh, you got good coverage underneath. Don't force anything,
and really, even down two scores for Josh Allen on

(01:49:01):
that third down play, I was just critical of earlier.
I mean, there's so much time left in this game,
but if you turn over the football on your side
of the field this early, the momentum swing is enormous.
So again, like you just mentioned, Joe Burrow handling that
situation productively, even though sometimes you have to take a
step back to take a step forward. And Josh Allen

(01:49:23):
looked a little panicky in his third down situation last
drive for the Bills. If I'm Ken Dorsey, if I'm
on this offensive staff, if I'm Sean McDermott, the head
coach of this Bill's team, I'm pulling Josh aside and
I'm saying, listen, pal, you are the guy. Okay, you
don't need to do anything more than you usually do.
We're gonna win this football game. Just play your game,

(01:49:45):
don't force anything. Let's win our way. You gotta find
a way to calm down, Josh Josh Allen. All right,
big break right there as far as the Bills are concerned.
A bad punt, twenty eight yard punt, so instead of
being pin you know, inside their own ten yard line,
the Bills will actually take over at their own twenty

(01:50:07):
five yard line. So a bad punt by Chrisman of
just twenty eight yards. I don't know if he was
affected by the snow, but a big bill break for
the Bills right now. So the Bills take over. They
only have eleven total yards so far in the first
quarter of this game, and right out the bat on
first down, Josh Allen gets sacked. Yeah, yeah, I mean
it's going from bad to worst offense. Let's think about

(01:50:29):
offensive line perspective here for the Buffalo Bills. First of all,
how do you rate the Bill's offensive line? Um, look,
the Bill's offensive line. I would say this, overall, there
are a good group. They're not excellent. They don't do
a tremendous job opening running lambs. And this has been
a problem for the Bills for years now and Josh Allen, Well,

(01:50:50):
he seems to be well protected if you look at
the stat box. The truth of the matter is he
really does cover up a lot for the Bill's offensive
line because he can get away from pressure and he
can evade the rush, and he he he oftentimes is
on the edges of the defense, creating outside of the
pocket when things break down. They're they're good, They're not great.

(01:51:13):
They're middle of the pack offensive line in my opinion. Statistically,
it'll lie to you and tell you that they're a
little bit better than that. But um, that's kind of
been the case in Buffalo for years now, and and
it's also to be fair, is it is it more
difficult to block for Russell Wilson or a Joe or
Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. Yeah, because they are so
capable with their legs, they oftentimes will run into problems

(01:51:38):
or or want to create on the edges of the defense,
so it can lead to more struggles. But then you
have to be a great run blocking offensive line, and
they just haven't been that. By the way, if you
missed it, DeMar Hamlin is there at high Mark Stadium today,
uh in person, rooting on his teammates, uh and he
can't like what he sees so far. As we come

(01:51:58):
to the end of the first quarter, Bengals lead the
Bills by a score of fourteen and nothing. All right,
much more in this game, obviously, and we got plenty
to talk about with the game later on between the
Cowboys and the forty Niners. Keep it right here. This
is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio, Steve Harvan and Red
Charmburger Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. We are alive from
the Ti rack dot Com studios. And if you're a

(01:52:20):
Bills family, so we got good news for you. The
Bills finally have a drive going and Josh Allen has
looked good on this drive and he's been scrambling using
his legs getting yards. Positive there's a fumble, but the
ground cause that fumble. Bills will retain the ball there
down to the fifteen yard line, all right. So this
is this is when Josh Allen is at his best.

(01:52:43):
Although there's a penalty against the Bills on that last play,
But this is when he's at his best, when he
can use the threat of the run and then obviously
throwing the ball accurately, which he has been able to
do on this drive, getting Stefon digs and evolved in
the offense, which is so critical for this team. So
right now they have that was a first down play,

(01:53:05):
so after a whole first and twenty for the Bills.
But you gotta be able to utilize all of Josh
Allen's talents, and a big part of that, obviously is
his ability to run the football. Oh, I completely agree
with you. In fact, I mean, first and twenty may
not be the time, but um, at some point in
this first half, you need to start working in some

(01:53:28):
more planned QB runs from Josh Allen. I I I
was saying this against the Dolphins, like, why not get
this guy comfortable doing what he's done so well his
whole career, which is rushed the football. Every single dual
threat quarterback essentially wants to do that. It's it's the
way they've done it their whole life. Give him a

(01:53:49):
QB power, give him a planned QB draw, give him,
you know, a planned QB sneak, even a trick play,
whatever gadget you've got, you can start using him. Here.
You're in the visual round of the playoffs. You got
including this one. Three games left. Oh, down inside the
five yard line. Shaker right there with the shaker shakier

(01:54:13):
I always I always think shaker, uh shaquire on the
receiving end, that one inside the five yard line. But
you can just see things have settled down a little
bit and going back to the Bill's defense finally figuring
out a way. Joe Burrow was nine for nine on
the first two drives. He was one for four on
that last drive. So things settled down. But the Bills

(01:54:33):
have got to get this thing in the end zone
right now. By the way, the snow is coming down, uh,
at a furious level. I mean, we're gonna see this.
I mean there it is a snow storm. It's not cold.
I mean it's in the low thirties. It's just the
fact that it is a sneady, steady dumping of snow
in this game right now. Yeah, no doubt about it.
I mean, this is just I mean, it's just what

(01:54:55):
it's gonna be like. These are the conditions you gotta
play in in January and uh, especially in the Northeast.
So for so many years, this was such a competitive
advantage for the New England Patriots when they were hosting
a f C championship game after divisional playoff game, and
and it just was the world that the rest of
the NFC had to live in. And that's the reality

(01:55:17):
now because the Buffalo Bills have put together a squad
that's gonna be in these postseasons for years to come.
And so if you're not ready for it, there you go.
That's what I was talking to. Draw get he wants
the end zone. He is carrying guys from about the
four yard line down to the one. So second and
goal from the four yard line and exactly what I

(01:55:38):
was talking about. They call up dial up a QB
draw where he looks to the sideline and then he's
got singletary leads. He stopped at the five, and he's
just caring guys all the way to the one yard line,
just rumbling all the way down. And I bet you
they go again, Hey, sneak him. Sneak him right now, damn.
So they are going to mark the ball at the

(01:55:59):
one yard line, third and goal. You gotta believe that
they don't get in. They're gonna go for it on
fourth down here and it is a snake and he's
in the end zone. Boom, touchdown Bills on the Josh
Allen snake and he is on fire. Right now. We
got a little pushing and shoving going on. I love it.
I love it. Listen, this is what you need to do.

(01:56:20):
This is exactly what I was saying. Get him running
the football. This is what Josh Allen wants to do.
This is what gets this team fired up. This is
what gets him fired up and gives them confidence. And
by the way, eerily similar to the situation we saw
in that Ravens Bengals game in the wild Card round
where Huntley from about one and a half yards out

(01:56:41):
leaped and try to extend the football and the Bengals
were able to turn that into a ninety eight yard
touchdown fumble return. Um. Yeah, Josh Allen smarter than that, right,
He was able to tuck it, get over to his tackle,
force his way into the end zone. Extra point is good.
So it's now one score game in Buffalo, Cincinnati leading
four seven, and I get back to that defensive stop.

(01:57:04):
You needed something from the defense to suddenly convince the offense,
hey we're back in this game. Uh. And that's exactly
what happened on that drive, big time drive. Josh Allen,
Now all of a sudden is seven of ten seventy
two yards. He has four carries for nine yards and
again scoring on that quarterback sneaken to go on the
first half. Bengals lead the Bills by a score of

(01:57:27):
fourteen to seven. I just look forward today's like you
know last night after you know that that Chief's Jaguars game,
because of the whole injury element, uh with Patrick Mahomes.
And by the way, if you're just tuning in, the
update on Mahomes is he did suffer a high ankle
sprain in his rich explain a little bit earlier that

(01:57:49):
thing is gonna get worse before he gets better. So
we don't is it safe to say that even if
he's on the field next week, which we obviously expect,
he's not going to be operating, not not even close.
Because remember the base of everything you do, and it's
his right ankle goes through the foundation of of your

(01:58:11):
your your body, right, you know, so your ankles. You
could see it in the game last night. I mean
there are times where he wanted to throw the ball
out to the sideline and he just couldn't twist off
that back foot, so it was hopping on one leg.
Half the time. He had made some amazing throws off
his front foot. Try that sometime, folks, Let's see how
well you can. I mean, that's all arm. Yeah, that's

(01:58:33):
all arm. You're on your front foot. He had the
one scramble where it was early in the second half
and he made the run up the middle just instinct again,
and he literally took a hop and then he was
forced to put the right foot down and you could
see almost instantly, I can't do that, and he went
down to the ground. So but you know, I watched

(01:58:55):
that game and then I was all ready to settle
it because I really thought that Giants could may a
game of it against the Eagles, and it turned out
to be just an absolute Eagles blowout. So I'm like
everybody else, man, if you don't have a horse in
the race, just won good games, man, he just won
good games. You want competitive games. Uh. And after a
huge start for the Bengals, now the Buffalo Bills are

(01:59:17):
back in this game. So I don't know if you're
in the Bengals right now after watching the build, any
changes and what you're doing offensively. Here again, we've talked
about the Bengals. Seven different receivers have cop passes, Joe
Mixon has run the ball fairly effectively. Any difference right
now with the Bengals getting the ball back with seven
a half minutes ago in the first half. Same thing

(01:59:37):
I was saying previously to the second drive for the Bengals,
You need to start putting pressure on Joe Burrow if
you don't get somebody in his face. And I mean,
like yesterday, you're not going to win this football game
because he's gonna he's you. If you line up in
whatever it is you're trying to do and run it,
he's gonna slice and dice you. The Ravens had success
by varying their coverage is to guysing their intent, showing

(02:00:01):
blitz and dropping off the line of scrimmage, having deep blitzers,
things of that nature, and the Bengal struggled. I mean,
look at that game. That was a close game. Tyler
Huntley was quarterbacking that Ravens team. So do that get
get going on showing some different things pre snap than
you're actually intending to run and confuse Joe Burrow if

(02:00:22):
you can at the line of scrimmage. Alright, So the
Bengals take over at their own twenty five yard line.
We got a lot of football left. For all the
information you need, just keep it right here. This is
Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot Com and within
the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to

(02:00:45):
listen live digs to the right singletary in the backfield.
Alan gonna try to search over the left side that
he's in for the touchdown. And there's some extra curricular
after the play as well. Alan is hated as Jesse
Bates tried to trick the ball after he was already
in the end zone. That is w g R five

(02:01:05):
fifty Bills Radio Network, Bills getting right back in this game.
Now trail the Bengals by a score of fourteen to seven,
but the Bengals are in position to score again they
are inside the ten yard line. We'll keep you updated
on this a f C Divisional round matchup. Once again,
this is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. We are broadcasting
live from the tire rack dot Com studios tire rack

(02:01:28):
dot Com. We're gonna help get you there and no
match selection fast free shipping. Free road has some protection
over ten thousand recommended installers tire rack dot com, the
way tire buying should be so Rich, we were talking
about the Bengals answering back after impressive Bills drive, and
here we got a first and goal right now for
the Bengals. Joe Burrow, by the way, in this game,

(02:01:48):
fifteen and twenty hundred sixty three yards, two touchdowns, no picks,
I think as important as Joe mix and nine carries
for fifty five yards. So with this game going on
right now, don't forget. We got another game coming up
on Fox. Now. It's time for the NFL Fox Focus

(02:02:12):
and if joining us right now, he'll be calling the
action for Fox in this game between the Cowboys and
the forty Niners. Kevin Burkhard is joining us. Kevin, thanks
so much for joining us here. We're watching obviously this
matchup between the Bengals and the Bills, but we want
to get your thoughts on this Cowboys forty Niners matchup.
Rich and I were talking about you got Dak Prescott
on one side making forty million dollars a year, and

(02:02:34):
then you've got Rock Purty making as little as any
player in the league. What happens when you're the last
pick in the draft, um man. If I'm Jerry Jones
right now, I'm expecting my quarterback to out play the
other guy and deliver a win. What do you expect
today from this Dallas Cowboys team? Well, I mean, it's
hard to know which one's gonna show up. And maybe
you take the team that played last week in Tampa.

(02:02:56):
They were all world and we've done them so many
times this year and we've seen mostly good but sometimes
when they kind of flip the switch and they aren't
so good. Uh So they play like that they're gonna
be tough to be you know, their defense makes so
many plays for them, and I think it presents a
different kind of challenge at the forty Niners have seen
this year, and it's gonna be a different one for
Brock Purty, as great as he's been, it's to me

(02:03:17):
it's a you know, it's a legacy game. For Dak Prescott.
I think he's been great this year. And everyone brings
up the interceptions, but there's a lot of factors that
go into those interceptions and I think he's had a
really good year. He played maybe the best game of
his career last week. I think he's gonna play well,
but the Niners are stacked, so it's gonna be an
instant matchup. We'll see how it all plays out. Yeah,
and you look at that Niners quarterback Brock Purdy, and

(02:03:38):
you think to yourself, look, there are intangible qualities that
makes a quarterback great, but also coaching factors. Coaching matters.
Kyle Shanahan is a talented quarterback, whisper. So how much
of this do you credit to the paint by numbers
that Kyle Shanahan is doing with Brock Purty And how
much is it the magic that exists in Purty the

(02:03:59):
quarterback in those intangible qualities were discussing, Well, obviously Shanahan's
offense has something to do with it. I mean, right,
he's so brilliant designing plays and and you know, getting
everybody open and he does a great job with that.
But if you were guys, sorry, I'm in a big
crowd of the statement, if you guys, you know, if
if you were just say, hey, it's only on Shanahan's offense,
and then you're blind, you're not watching the games. I mean,

(02:04:20):
the kid has been absolutely outstanding and they're playing better
since he took over, So I think it's a little
bit of bold. I think the real answer is, yeah,
of course, Shanahan's done a great job, and they have
so many skilled players that are great and get have
been a great position. Um. But if you look at
the six games that Rock Party has started, they have
been simply sensational in those games and their points per

(02:04:41):
gamers up. He's got the best rating in the league
in that time. I think he deserves a lot of credit. Yeah,
have on one more quick question here just about this matchup,
because there's a lot of history between the Cowboys and
the forty Niners and playoff games, highlight of course by
the catch which propelled the forty Niners to their first
Super Bowl championship. But we watched I don't know how

(02:05:01):
much of that game you saw yesterday between the Eagles
and the Giants, but there was this thought that maybe
the forty Niners had surpassed the Eagles as the team
to beat in the NFC. Now we're not so sure,
because the Eagles could not have looked any better. The
winner this game is going to go to Philadelphia. What
kind of chance to give either one of these teams

(02:05:21):
to get over that big hurdle and get to the
super Bowl. Yeah, I mean I think it's uh, I
think it's a heck of a matchup when it gets here.
I mean, I think it's a it's a I think
it's a crapshoot in some ways. And the Eagles were
the best team, you know, in the league this year.
Obviously when Jalen Hurts was healthy. They lost one game. Really,
I mean, that's that's really what you have to look
at with them. But I think I think when you
talk about a championship game with either matchup, I mean,

(02:05:43):
if if it's Dallas, you know their division foe, they
know each other so well, I think those games can
go either way. I'd give a slight heads to Philly
being home and um with Hurts healthy, you know, they
lost the Dallas and a thriller in Dallas with Minshew
at quarterback. I think for the forty Niners and the Eagles,
I think that's it's total flip of the coin. You know,
it's a little bit different styles. Um, you know, I

(02:06:04):
don't know if i'd have a favorite in that one.
So I think what you saw yesterday though, is and
I did watch that whole game is I think everyone
kind of forgot how good the Eagles are because they
were so far ahead of everybody else and it hurts,
got hurt, and they kind of just survived the last
month to get the number one seed and they got
arrest and they kind of reminded everyone, Hey, yeah, we're
really good. So I expect whoever wins this game, I

(02:06:27):
think it's gonna be a heck of a matchup next week.
Completely agree with you. One thing we know for certain.
The Eagles are waiting for whoever emerges. As Dallas heads
to San Francisco to face the forty nine thirty kickoff
West Coast time and Kevin, we appreciate the time as always.
Sorry about the noise before guys at the stadium, things
get loud, but looking forward to the game. Go enjoy it,
all right, We'll see you later, all right, Kevin, We'll

(02:06:47):
be watching, obviously. And as we were talking to Kevin,
burkhard touchdown Bengals Jamaar Chase on the receiving end of
a pass from Joe Burrows. So we were talking about
how would the Bengals answer is Suddenly all the momentum
seemed to be shifting back to the home team the
Buffalo Bills after that touchdown drive and and Joe Burrow

(02:07:09):
just again, the guy is really good. I mean when
you watch that pass to Jamaar Chase and you're throwing
it through a snow flurry and the window is so
small and the ball is right there. Give Jamaar Chase
also a lot of credit. He's got to make the catch,
he's got to concentrate. But there was only one place

(02:07:31):
that ball could be to result in a touchdown, and
Joe Burrow put it right there. Yeah, tight windows. Look
at that tough catches that. I mean, if that ball
is literally two inches lower, it's tipped away now to
Chase get both feet in. Yeah, look to me that
he did, because see the second foot comes down in
the blue and then that left foot down as well.

(02:07:54):
They're going. What they're discussing right now though, is did
he have possession of the football or was the ground?
Did the ground aid him to trap it? So see
as he's bringing in I'm a little perplexed because of
all the snow on the ground. Is the blue out
of bounds? The Blues inbound? Okay, so the blue was
so inbound, so so don't make it looks like he
got two feet down. Don't look at his feet, look

(02:08:15):
at the possession of the football. So see the ball,
he has it, he's gathering it. It's coming down to
his body. That first foot is definitely down, But don't
look at looking at the I think he has the ball. Yeah, yeah,
look at look at possession as he goes to the ground. Though,
look at these you see. That's what they're discussing right
now is did the ground help him catch it even

(02:08:36):
though he got two ft down? Definitely got two ft down.
The ball was started knocked away. He didn't survived the
ground away sitting who wha what? None? And the ball
is knocked loose. I see what you're saying. Well there,
then based on that, they're gonna say incomplete pass pass alright,
so no touchdown. So yeah, he had the ball. See

(02:09:00):
what I don't understand in a play like there, if
you're ruling that he had the ball once he it's
like reaching across the goal line, right, You reach across
the goal line and it's automatically even the ball is
knocked out of your hands. So he had control the ball,
And I see, I don't under I understand the rule.
I get it. I understand what they're ruling an incomplete pass.

(02:09:21):
I still don't understand this rule. Well so, because to me,
he had control the ball while scoring the touchdown. The
fact that he lost control afterwards is a mood point
because he'd already scored the touchdown. It feels like the
rules should change in the end zone. But a catch
in the way it's i mean explicitly described, is you

(02:09:42):
have to catch the football secure it take two steps obviously,
like a football move is considered two steps with the football,
and that counts an end zone for a touchdown as well.
And then you have to the the catch if you're
going to the ground, needs to survive the ground. And
so all of the his boxes need to be checked
in the end zone. And unfortunately any sense I mean

(02:10:05):
again said quarter back. And he could just sort of
reach across the line, the book gets knocked out of
his hand. It's a fumble in the end zone. Like, no, no,
it's a touchdown because he reached across the line. I'm like,
how is that any different? Yeah, it's not. Again, I
think there should be me personally, I think there should
be different rules for a catch made in the end zone.

(02:10:26):
But anyway that by the way, the Bengals settled for
a field goal, so they have increased their lead seventeen
seven Bengals ago in the first half. Well, there you
have it. And and by the way, a nice little
preview looking ahead to the game on Fox here between
the forty Niners and the Dallas Cowboys. And I think
Kevin really nailed it, you know, he said, it's so
tough to call what Dallas Cowboys team you're gonna get,

(02:10:49):
because sometimes when Dallas plays, you're like, oh my gosh,
Dak Prescott is a top five talent. This Dallas defense
is is frankly unstoppable, and if they play that way
for the rest of the season or at any point
in this season, they'll beat every single other thirty one
team they face. The problem is, they don't play like
that all the time, and sometimes Doc is the reason
they lose. And sometimes their defense gives up an insane

(02:11:12):
amount of points like they did to the Colts before
firing back in the fourth corner. It's just it's odd.
It's such an oddity, the inconsistencies of the Dallas Cowboys.
All right, So last week, uh, you picked Brady and
the Bucks to beat the Cowboys. My attitude was I've
learned my lesson to go against Tom Brady. It wasn't
even a game. The Cowboys we knew were a better team,

(02:11:36):
and the Brady factor was no factor in that game.
It was all Cowboys. So what's next for Tom Brady.
Let's we're gonna break it down with a guy who
literally is on a first name basis. Well yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean so so every twelve whatever you call him,
and it comes to Tom Brady, he's had his hand

(02:11:58):
between my legs, hex exactly, violated me exactly. He is
felly times, sometimes too much. The towel down the back
of my pants. I mean how many Yeah, think about
that for a second. He asked me. He did. One
thing he hated was a sweaty ball, and so he
made sure can you keep the ball dry? Keep the

(02:12:19):
ball dry? All right, we'll talk about the next thing
for Tom Brady because there has been word from Tampa's
camp about what his intentions are. And of course we're
all over this game between the Bengals and the Bills.
Keep it right here, this is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio.
Joe waits for the shotgun snap he catches pump fakes
for the right. Und it is I hated Hurst touchdown Bengals.

(02:12:45):
Burrow sucked the Bills in with the pump fake and
Hayden Hurst was wide open at the goal line well
at seven hunter w LW Bengals Radio Network. And that
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(02:13:07):
TV and more. All your protection in one place. Bundle
and say app Progressive dot Com. All right, we got
inside a minute ago. In the first half, Bills did
not do anything with their possessions, so they punted the
ball back to the Bengals. And the Bengals are deep
in their own territory. I don't think they're gonna take
any unnecessary chances with under a minute to go, but

(02:13:28):
you never know. They're at their own uh eight yard line.
Nine yard lines hard to tell with the snow on
the ground, but Joe Burrow a little dump off pass
right here by the way. Once again, we are Fox
Sports Red Zone Radio and we are live from the
tire IRAQ dot Com studios. The story of This game
really was the Bengals coming out on fire, scoring on

(02:13:49):
their first two possessions. First to possession for the Bills
resulted in three and outs, but the Bills right of themselves.
They got a touchdown. And if you're Buffalo going into
off time of this game, and you're Sean McDermot getting
your team ready to say, all right, guys, you know,
maybe we're a little tight in the beginning. Obviously we're

(02:14:09):
facing a really good quarterback in Joe Burrow, and he
lived up to his nickname of Joe Cool and manufacturing
those first two drives. But since then it's been a
very even game. Uh. And by the way, the Bills
will get the ball first in the second half, so
you know again that's that's critical right there. You get
the ball first in the second half. You gotta make

(02:14:30):
things happen. You go down score boom, all of a sudden,
it's a three point game and you're definitely back in it. Yeah. Yeah,
I mean, you just have to have one of those
moments as a team where you rally the troops and
you say, okay, look, even even if even if you're
up against it come halftime, this is still a two

(02:14:51):
score game that can become anyone's game, just with one
more touchdown. I again, I the Bills, the Bills from
from all all, I mean from all metrics, can come
back and beat the Cincinnati Bengals. It's going to most
likely be a close game. I mean, we have a
ten point ball game here. So there's nothing I've seen
so far in this game that precludes me from believing

(02:15:13):
the Bills can come back and win this football game.
It just comes down to keeping the emotions in check,
not making the big mistake and making the unforced error
that grants since he uh an extra possession, and operating
the way you have the majority of the season. This
has been a talented team. Yeah, you got off to

(02:15:35):
a sluggish first quarters, so have a lot of Super
Bowl champions you have to overcome this. The the year
the Chiefs won their Super Bowl, it was that season
where they were behind against Houston earlier in that game
and roared back and came back in one. They were
behind in the Divisional round to the Titans that year.
They roared back and came back and won that game,

(02:15:56):
and then they advanced their way to the Super Bowl
and one against the San Francisco forty niners. It can
happen for the Bills too. You just have to weather
the storm. Speaking of starms, and it has been snowing
steadily throughout this game. It is not let up at
any point of this game. The field is white, the
snow has been there. It hasn't been a huge factor

(02:16:16):
for either team. If anything, we mentioned it would favor
the offenses. By the way, the Bengals still have the ball,
and Joe Burrow just ran for about twenty five yards,
and but they have no time outs left and the
clock is taking spike five. I don't know if he's
gonna be able to spike it in time. He did,
all right, So we'll get a hail mary passed from
the forty five yard line of the Bills. Um. Yeah,

(02:16:40):
within striking distance here. Too easy throw for Joe Burrow
to get to the goal line. Too long to attempt
the kick here. I wouldn't, obviously, but yeah, you I
would imagine though, in a snow situation like this, and
you're throwing the ball high, you know, because you really
want to jump ball situations what you're looking for in
a in a hail mary pass, it could be a

(02:17:01):
little deceptive and trying to pick up the ball. Yeah,
no question. I mean now it looks it always looks
worse when you're looking at from these sideline angles through
the camera lens, because it looks like the snow it's
like si falling camera angle literally looks like you can't
see anything, I guess, But when you're actually playing you

(02:17:22):
can see the like right there. They just showed a
deep shot of one of the safety's ranging back towards
end zone and it looks like you can't even see
him through all the snow. But when you're picking the
ball out, um, you know obviously there's plenty of windows
to see. So yeah, the snow is falling, though furiously
when they go in for intermission here at halftime, there's

(02:17:43):
gonna be piles of snow on this phone. Yeah, m
did they try to clear it off at halftime? All right,
here we go. We're gonna get a hail Mary from Burrow.
He steps up, throws it to the end zone and
it's right at the goalie, over through everybody. So that
is it. That's the half. Bengals lead the Bills by
a score of seventeen two seven. Do they clear the

(02:18:03):
field at halftime? Are you gonna try to or what's
the deal or is it just like it doesn't matter
because it's still snowing. They'll probably clear the lines and
the numbers, right because you have to, you know, in
order to spot the football for the viewing audience at home.
It makes it a lot easier to understand how deep
you are an enemy territory blah blah blah. So they'll
they'll clear the lines and the numbers, and that's probably

(02:18:26):
about it. By the way, Joe Burrow needs to call
Aaron Rodgers. Nobody throws a better Hail Mary than Rogers.
He knows how to hit it. He hits the perfect
I mean it's right around the goal line. That one
was just a little too strong. All right, Let's get
back to the Tom Brady situation. So after the loss
to the Cowboys, which by the way, if you can't
the playoff game, that's an eight and ten season, uh,

(02:18:48):
first losing season for Tom Brady as a starting quarterback.
A lot of extenuating circumstances. But look what happened. They
fire left, which they get rid of the quarterback coach. Um.
There are now members of the Buccaneers team that Tom
Brady pretty much indicated to I am not coming back
to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which maybe why they're making
these wholesale changes on the coaching staff anticipating in their

(02:19:11):
next move. So if you're Tom Brady, and he's pretty
much made it clear what I'm interested in is a
team that is in a position to win a Super Bowl.
I mean, I'll be forty six years old next year,
so if I'm gonna join a team, they've got to
have everything pretty much in place for me to take
this team. Um, you mentioned the Saints of all teams,

(02:19:37):
because you're talking about Sean Payton maybe returning to the Saints,
he's still under contract. There, Let's let's talk about the
Miami Dolphins. Of all the teams I've heard of, the
Jets seemed to be in play. Who knows, maybe the
Giants because Brian Dable was not gonnacent commit himself to
Daniel Jones coming back. But if you look at the
Miami Dolphins, when you got a Tyree Kill and Jayleen

(02:20:01):
Waddle and a defense and everything else, and you're Tom Brady, uh,
that would of course be the idea that they've turned
their page onto a tongue of bye law, at least temporarily. Uh,
maybe give him a your recovery, you know, with all
the concussions and everything else. Could you see him landing
in Miami and would he still be the difference maker?

(02:20:23):
I mean, I see the numbers. He by the way,
set an NFL record this year for most past attempts
and completions in the season, But his yards for a
temple way down. Touchdowns are way down. Is he still
the quarterback? You plug him into a team like Miami
with the weapons they have, and boom, he's the difference
they win a Super Bowl? Yeah? I think so. I

(02:20:44):
I look, if you look at the Buccaneers problems this
past season, it does that list does is long, but
it doesn't start or really have anything to do with
Tom Brady's play. How many times, including in the Dallas
game in the wild card round, have we seen Mike
Evans drop a wide open pass? I mean, how many
times it was ridiculous. How many times his star Wars

(02:21:04):
receivers with a defender not even within a half yard
of them dropped passes from from Tom Brady. It was ridiculous.
I mean. So that's a part of the story, the
offensive line getting so banged up is a part of
the story the skill position players. It was a revolving door,
how many times different guys, running backs, receivers were getting
hurt and out of the lineup for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

(02:21:26):
Tom Brady didn't have an offensive coordinator and really hasn't
for years that he's trusted in Tampa Bay. And I'm
sure that's been a frustrated frustration that's only grown when
you have some of the other issues that occurred this
season for him. So yeah, I think he wants out
of Tampa. I don't think he wants much to do
with that organization anymore. But you've got to be looking
at him in a short term situation. I mean, you're

(02:21:48):
you're literally bringing him in. I mean, if you get
a second year out of him, it might be a bonus.
You're talking about a team that has all the pieces
to win a Super Bowl minus a orderback and essentially
of ringing in a one year rental. Well, that's the
reason why I think the Saints are such a good
team for Tom Brady to go to. And here's the

(02:22:09):
reason why the NFC, South everywhere else is going to
be in a complete rebuild mode. Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers.
They're gonna be rebuilding without Tom Brady. The Falcons are
in a rebuild. The Carolina Panthers since Cam Newton left,
since he started really declining with the Panthers, they've been
a consistent rebuild team. The New Orleans Saints are interesting

(02:22:30):
to me, and it's because there are seven and ten
football team, second in the NFC South, and you look
at him and say, yeah, really, yeah really, And here's
why they have a top ten defense. That defense is
really really good. They haven't had a quarterback they can
trust for since Drew Brees retired, and they've got Chris
a lave Uh, they got Kamara in that backfield. They've
got some weapons. They still have Taysom Hill under contract, like,

(02:22:53):
they have some really good weapons. And Tom Brady can
help them, you know, get a player or two to
try aid or come in in free agency. You know
you'll have players available that they can poach from other
teams who may be interested because it's Tom Brady and
he has that effect. Now the Saints, why does it
make sense for the Saints to bring in Tom Brady
because also maybe you can get Sean Payton back in

(02:23:15):
the coaching the head coaching chair, and you give him
a little bit of an extension, all right, you talk
about that NFC South. There's also talk that Sean Payton
could end up in Carolina. So it's the same situation
Sean Payton goes to Carolina, that maybe he's interested in
Carolina with Sean Payton playing in that same division. By
the way, on the other side, I got another team

(02:23:36):
for you. Okay, but first let's find out what's trending
right now. Monsey has been standing by. She has powered
through this day today and barely yeah barely, yeah, barely.
But I'm here of a lot to finish what was
left over of the pizza I have. I can't yet.
I can't. I can't put anything inside, you know, I

(02:23:59):
haven't just rinky water. I had my Coke zero at
like in the morning to help, you know, a little
bit of that, a little bubbly, but not. I'm not hungry,
so I don't want to force it. I don't unforce it. Yes,
you know, right now, I was thinking about this. We
ordered this pizza last night, so it was like a
veggie pizza. It had buffalo flavored cauliflower on top of

(02:24:23):
a pesto pizza, and then we had this side of
what was called orange chicken. Oh it was an orange chicken.
It was more broccoli covered in orange sauce. Was some
broccoli and everything else. I remember the day we left
Montery in charge of ordering was week one. It was

(02:24:44):
it was week one, and none of us have wanted
to eat in studio since. Well that those chicken wings.
How would you describe the texture of those chicken away?
They were fine. It was like it was it broke
apart like a chicken wing. I'll say this right now.
They were better than I expected, and I ate more
of them than anybody else did, including I had a lot.

(02:25:07):
I definitely had a lot. I went, I took, I
took those fake chicken wings to pound down. You guys
will say it out of due respect to her. I
look at the taste wasn't to me, it wasn't. The taste.
The taste was fine, texture was just And I think
that's really with a lot of people. It's the texture. Yeah,
I think it was pretty compelling. I thought, yeah, I mean,

(02:25:28):
I think they're good, but I agree that that's a
I was compelled by those chicken wings. Do you think
the snow is compelling Joe Burrow because I mean, well,
he's not bothered by not bothered by a snow Borrow
is what is on Twitter? Snowborrow. He's killing it right
now and the Babels are beating the Bill seventeen to

(02:25:49):
seven at half time. A little quarterback comparison, Joe Brow.
Joe Burrow has completed eighteen of twenty seven passes hundred
and eighty six yards to touchdowns. Josh Allen ten of
seventeen a hundred and eleven no touchdowns, but he does
have one rushing touch Now, we still have a whole
half left, and we'll see how this one ends in
I was gonna I was gonna say in basketball, but

(02:26:09):
there's basketball, college hoops and NBA. My Clippers are back
on top of the Mavericks, seven minutes left in the game,
and the Pelicans are beating the heat forty seven thirty nine.
They're about to head into halftime. College hoops, are they
still losing? Let's see? Oh, it's a tight one. Number one.
Houston has a one point lead over Temple. Forty three
is the score with ten minutes left in the game.

(02:26:30):
It's been back and forth on this one too. Back
to you guys, all right, Moncy, good luck day and uh,
happy birthday to you later on this week. There you go,
So big week for Moncy. Alright. So we're talking a
little bit about Tom Brady halftime here with the Bengals
leading in the Bills by a score of seventeen to seven. Um,
A lot of people are indicating because my thought is,

(02:26:51):
why would Brady extend his career? By the way, remember
when he said that the cutoff point would be forty five.
We got to forty five and it's not going to
be the cutof point. But basically, with everything else going
on his life, he's got these lawsuits coming up with
that crypto thing and going through the divorce and everything else.
He loves playing football, so he wants to be in
a place where he can have some fun. Alright. So

(02:27:15):
we've heard, you know, the forty nine ers. You've heard
the Raiders, or heard the Dolphins, heard the Jets. Some
people even suggest the Titans. Obviously you got Derrick Henry there,
but there's another team that would seem like a possibility,
the Patriots. So this year the Patriots struggled at quarterback, right,

(02:27:39):
and part of it was without Josh McDaniels, they really
didn't have a legitimate offensive coordinator, and offensively they were
out of sorts. Um and mac Jones took a step
back for from where we saw him as a rookie,
that's still a pretty good football team. Could you see
any chance aunts of Tom Brady making a decision to

(02:28:04):
finish his career in the uniform that he will forever
be associated with. I'm not going to rule out anything.
I just won't. Not with Tom Brady, especially after assuming
that he would stay with the Patriots and get some
sort of deal done with them in free agency before
he left for Tampa. That was so unexpected and I

(02:28:26):
had it so wrong, even from talking to people who
you know, look are close to Tom and really felt
pretty strongly that he would stay in New England. He really,
I mean, he really fooled a lot of people like
in in leaving in leaving Boston and leaving the Patriots.
Here's the reality, though, I do they fit every criteria

(02:28:49):
say the Buccaneers did when he was leaving New England?
The answer is absolutely not. So the Buccaneers had a
top ten defense, and they had weapons littering that offense
and he knew if I go there and a really
good offensive one. He knew if I go there, I
can win a Super Bowl asap, and he did in
the first year with the With the Buccaneers, the Patriots
are still far from being that type of team. They

(02:29:12):
have a top ten defense. That box is checked. They
don't have weapons around the offense. They didn't have any
weapons when he left, and they still don't, and that
offensive line is not as good as it was when
he was there. They've got some serious issues, and I
just don't see Tom Brady wanting to avail himself to
that level of scrutiny if he goes back there and
he doesn't win with Belichick, been there, done that, had

(02:29:35):
greatness left and proved everybody wrong who said, well he
can't win without Bill b He did with Bruce Arians
and you. And again I give more credit to Brady
than Arians. It's just the way it works. When you
have a great quarterback, you're halfway there. You just gotta
surround him with enough talent. The Buccaneers had that. So
credit to the Buccaneers for having a situation where quarterback

(02:29:56):
can come in and immediately change their fate. But I
look yet the Patriots is being an incomplete puzzle. The
teams that make sense. So the forty Niners, they are
littered with offensive weapons. They win the Super Bowl this year,
but they're gonna get They're gonna get rid of their
quarterback and bringing Tom Brady for a year, and that's
the thing. They probably won't. So if they get knocked
out and it's bad in the division round and brock

(02:30:19):
Purty plays bad, they're in play for tom Brady. But
if they advance, they play in the NFC Championship game.
If they keep it close, If brock Purdy isn't the
reason why the forty Niners fail in the postseason, or
potentially if he helps them succeed all the way to
the Super Bowl or damn wins the thing, there's no
way they get rid of them. But the Saints match up,
it hits all the criteria, top ten defense, great weapons

(02:30:42):
along that, and that's the idea. You're you're the only
person I know that has Sean Payton returning to the Saints.
You're the only one. I mean, we've hearing Denver obviously,
did you hear the Hall of the Saints want for
Sean Payton? What what team is going to leverage their
future right now for Sean that's a that is a
great question. So that's look everybody's acting like it's this

(02:31:05):
like fatal What are what are the Saints giving Sean
Payton to return? If Sean Payton And this is the
reason why I'm I'm banging this drum. It's the only
place that makes sense for Brady in my opinion, because
he's gonna be playing in a weak division. Well, he's
gonna go to the a f C East with the Patriots.
Deal with the Panthers, then the Panthers would be a destiny.

(02:31:27):
But they don't really hit the criteria I'm looking at.
Their offensive line isn't that great? And their defense was
like in the bottom tier, in the bottom third of
the NFL. Does Tom Brady really want to go to
a team like the weapons do you have in New
Or Michael Thomas is gone, no, no, no, no Kamara okay,
Chris olav who might be the rookie of the year, Okay,

(02:31:49):
uh Taysom Hill is still under contract. You're telling me
that Tom Brady can't go on the field with a
good offensive line like the Saints have. And when when
uh An NFC South title. And this this is all
predicated on the idea that John Paynton is going nowhere,
staying in New Orleans again. I think the asking price
is gonna be too high for other teams if the

(02:32:11):
Saints aren't motivated to give Sean Champagne's rights away, and
if Shampagnon can go to New Orleans and say, I
can promise you Tom Brady, but I'm gonna need a
lot of money in order to come back and coach
for you guys, I bet you the Saints give him
exactly what he wants. All right. Second half is underway.
Bills had the ball first. They trailed the Bengals by
a score of seventeen to seven. Much more on this matchup,

(02:32:34):
much more on the Cowboys and forty Niners. Keep it here.
This is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. Oh yeah, Jimmy,
here you go. You know it. Oh once back, uh,
once back, We are back Fox Sports Red Zone Radio
live from the ti iraq dot Com studios. Hey Joe, Well,

(02:32:55):
Joe Burrow has been doing the job today, but right
now it is Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills trying
to answer back as they on their opening drive have
gotten the ball into Cincinnati territory there at the red
zone at the twenty yard line, facing a second and tam,
I want to thank our guys today. Iowa sham Rich

(02:33:15):
has been absent here in person for a while. He
had not seen your hair cuts. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
you you gotta cut two weeks ago, about a week
from last Friday, so I'll tell you. Still still sinking
in the hind tight looking shark. By the way, he
was upset of me because I came in like I
normally do. We're talking everything basically, aren't you gonna say
anything about my The same thing to Burschinger and he

(02:33:38):
was like, I don't do that. I don't know that
bur Singer. He's uh yeah, I mean it's crazy egotistical.
He's got this giant ego. Guys did the show today
with you know, a lot of tequila in her system,
stuff over from last night. So there you go. She's
like she's doing stuff. She's more tequila than she is
Monter right now, that's a problem. Uh. And then there

(02:34:01):
is Ryan right who's cares nothing about anybody's else's safety
or hair or otherwise. He's got his own things. I
don't know do you get a sense it's a big
year for Ryan. It's the year big I said it,
like some people looked at the Chinese calendar and they're like,
what are we in the Year of the Tiger. I said, no,

(02:34:22):
We're in the Year of the Bursch. Yeah. Yeah, you
got a sense of big things happening and maybe maybe
a little walk down the aisle all that. I mean,
let's Sam, you want to what fifteen weddings? Yeah, I
mean it's like almost every other week there was another
wedding that just went how about just one more burst?

(02:34:46):
Bring us home? He wants to clean the slave for
just one big day in something along ago. Are we
all honestly, are we all invited? Or are you gonna?
Does the list get trimmed once you get to colleagues, Yeah,
I gotta got to see what the budget is. All right,
it's I'll own I'll bring you you rich. Are still

(02:35:08):
in that wild card. When I was in your age bracket,
I was going to a lot of weddings, you know,
because that was when I got married, you know, in
that area, I have been a wedding. Well, we had
our producer down in San Diego. You got married, I
did not go because I realized, what what am I
going to do there? Right? I mean it's I mean,
there was no place for me at the wedding that

(02:35:30):
I gave him. I gave him a wedding gift. I wish,
I wish that he asked you to be the officiant, which,
by the way, if you want done that before Bursch,
if you want coefficients, can you imagine if me and
Steve both get ordained and we both do your wedding
for you guys, we would have to you know, keep
it within three hours like I can't. Well, I did

(02:35:52):
an outdoor wedding. I am not making I'm not making
any promises. I did a outdoor wedding. A mission bay,
can we do a live remote from your wedding? Um?
I got one of those certificates you know online by
the way, just a morning uh, much like my predictions
in weddings that I have overseen over one that ended

(02:36:16):
in divorce, which was which was good in this sense
because I wasn't sure how valid it was that I
was actually I got. Is this legit? I mean, I
know I got I know I got a piece of
paper out of the internet. But I mean, does that
really can buddy, If Elvis who's been dead for fifty
years can do it, I guess so. Um, all right,

(02:36:37):
here we are, and the Bills are struggling right now.
Uh they got a second and goal? Now is it
a second and goal at the eleven yard line as
they try to get the ball into the end. So
and obviously make this a three point game. All right,
So let's get a little prediction time here, Richie. Let's
start with this game Bills knocking on the door. It'll
either be a three point game or most likely, uh,

(02:37:01):
seven point game if they have to settle for a
field goal? Do you smell? Do you sense a Bill's
victory in this game to date? I got the Bengals,
I really do. I think that they They came into
the game with the right strategy. And even if the
Bill score here, I mean, the Bengals still have a
three point lead. I look, I I took the Bengals

(02:37:22):
with the points heading into this because I just couldn't
make sense of it. There were six point dogs. Yeah,
I mean it was it was outrageous. It just felt
like the public, or or really I guess it was
the public love the Bengals. But the sharp shore just
pounding the Bills leading into this game, and I don't know,
I just disagree with that thought process. I thought the

(02:37:43):
Bengals absolutely out of shot to be competitive in this
game and certainly have a shot to win the game.
So I'm looking at a close game. But I see
the Bengals coming out on top. I know, as much
as people are interested in your picks, are more anxious
or my picks because they want to go the opposite way.
So they're really hanging on my word. And by the way,
on third and goal from the eight yard line, incomplete pass,

(02:38:04):
so the Bills are gonna have to settle for a
field goal attempt. I assume here, uh fourth and goal
at the eight yard line. Uh. My thoughts on this
game here is I can't see the Bills losing this game.
I mean, themar Hamlin is there. I get it. There's

(02:38:25):
a lot of emotion involved here, and I'm impressed that
at least they're gonna come away with points here on
this opening drive, if Tyler Bass can hit this chip
shot field goal, which he has, so it's seventeen ten Cincinnati.
I don't know how, but I I see the Bills
walking away with a victory here today. Now, as far

(02:38:48):
as the second game is concerned, I'm already on the
money with this one under forty six and a half.
The Cowboys forty Niners, two good defenses, Dak Prescott erratic
rock Party alone is not going to be able to
get it done. To me, the play in the second
game is under forty six and a half. All right. Um.

(02:39:12):
By the way, the forty Niners are four point favorites
at home. I don't think the Niners lose lose to
another team not named the Kansas City Chiefs. Uh So,
I I got the Niners. I have the Niners here,
I got the Niners in the next round, and I
until or if they run into the Chiefs in the

(02:39:34):
Super Bowl, I I think the Niners will win the
whole Slow down a second, all right, So I agree.
I like the Niners today. I do like the Niners
today against the Cowboys at home at Philadelphia. I get it. Ay,
I get a rookie quarterback, I get it. I I
just as well as the Eagles looked against the Giants. Man,

(02:39:55):
I don't know, listen, hang on, the Giants are no
San Francisco. Agree with you on that one? But we
both thought that was going to be at least a
competitive games demolished them. Yeah, well, I mean that's the
Eagles team we saw pretty much all season long. Look
at the Niners, though, McCaffrey, Deebo, Samuel George kittled cow Juice,

(02:40:18):
check that offensive line, Nick Bosa defensively, Brock Purty. Uh

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