Mark Willard and Ephraim Salaam React to NFL Division Round

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't. Well, I I know you won't take offense to
this as a former offensive lineman because you, uh, compared
to many I see retirement. You keeping it pretty tight
over here from But I'm gonna call this a trim
the fat weekend in the NFL. The Bills the first

(00:23):
to fall, and I mean that after yesterday, we got
to the six teams that I think we all wanted
to get to, right, we wheeled it down. Jacksonville's out,
the Giants are out, and these are the six teams
that we really really thought all year it was gonna
come down to. And that started earlier this morning. And

(00:44):
the Bills are gone, and the Cowboys and forty Niners
are nip and tuck as much as possible. And so
here we go into what maybe a little bit of
a radio version of a Manning cast style. We'll take
you through the second half of this football game. There
is one tick on the clock left, with the forty
Niners and Cowboys tied at six and the Nighters lining

(01:04):
up for a long field goal attempt at the buzzer
year of the first half. But uh, you might need
to carry me a little bit. But I might be
a little distracted at the show. I'm not gonna lie
to anybody here. I got you, man, That's what I'm
here for. I know you do. I'm really this is
the first time I've heard my voice today as Robbie

(01:25):
gold good as goal hits the field goal to give
them an Robbie a good friend of mine. Um, I
was the first time I'm actually hearing my voice today.
I haven't spoken a word all day because I lost
my voice last night. Um. Coaching my son's too basketball,

(01:47):
both of my son's basketball. But this is this is
my life, man, So this is this hold so excited.
We we you know, we talked about fatherhood all the time,
right you and I, Um, you know we we we
speak about fatherhood and what it means to us. And
you know in the responsibility of that. So you know,

(02:12):
my dad, who was a hard worker, he never came
and saw any of my football games in high school,
not one, and so that I didn't realize how much
that affected me until I started having kids myself. So
I made it a point like I'm being involved in
their life, not just at home about school, but in

(02:34):
athletics as well. So I've taken on the charge of
coaching their basketball and baseball teams. And so this week, UM,
at my son's middle school or elementary school, my youngest,
we've had a three on three tournament with six other schools, right,
So what we've been practicing all week and for like

(02:54):
three weeks, and then all the schools came and I
coached girls fifth grade and boys fifth right. So Thursday tournament,
I just want to you know, give your you know,
send a shout out to the Carpenter Cougar's fifth grade girls. Uh,
tremendous athletes. We won the championship. Um, well, thank you,
thanks fifth grade boys. Friday was the tournament. Uh, shout

(03:20):
out to the Carpenter Cougar's fifth grade boys. We won
the championship. Uh. And and then I have a club coach,
my my son's rex Wreck teams, so both of them,
the miners and the majors. So I don't I mean,
you know what it's like to talk to an eight

(03:41):
year old in an eleven year old, So just imagine
what it's like to talk to h eight eight to
ten year olds, right, and then ten eleven twelve year
olds in practice and in the game. So I I
didn't I didn't think I would gonna have a voice today,
but here it is. Well, I'm just thrilled to hear

(04:04):
that you're not sick. You know, they got right? You
know what? You know though, like I don't play. It's
like it's like a low key version of sneezing in
someone you can you can't even you hear someone, You're like, hey, man,
what's going on with your voice? Like, get the hell
out of here. I want to be hearing you. But

(04:25):
I'm glad to tell you this. I'm the only one
that still wears a mask. Like every time I come
in here, I have a mask on and everybody's listening
at me like I'm crazy, And I'm like, am I crazy?
Are you crazy? Right? And and on my show call
right exactly? We are? Um, But on my show on Saturdays,

(04:48):
when I'm in here and i'm I'm with Steve uh Hartman,
i am he's in the studio with me, So I
wear faith shield. And I would do that too if
I were going to be around Steve harton anybody else. Sure, yeah, right,

(05:09):
so we face. So I enjoy our show because I'm
in here by myself, except for when my partner decides
to take off and I tell me, and then I
walk in and somebody's in here that I have to
sit next to. But it's fine the holidays, you know,
don't I didn't. I told you you knew that I would. Anyway,
I'll never I'll never take another day off again, hope

(05:31):
until I do. But uh, yeah, we're we're broadcasting live
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should be. I should have known better than when I
texted you earlier today to say, hey, man, you know,
we'll just kind of well we obviously we got all

(05:53):
these games to talk about. We'll figure out what we
want to do and whatnot. But I'm having a youth
sports crazy day. I should have known who I was
talking to that my day's got nothing on yours. Um,
but but yeah, same same deal, flag football, baseball tryouts today. Um,
you know, fingerprinting for golf assistant coach, all of that

(06:14):
stuff is all happening this weekend as well. So I
think what we've learned so far is that you and
I both have a hard time saying no. That is correct,
but right so there, it's for our kids, So I'll
say yes as many times as I have to for
my boys. That's it. Um. I'll tell you where I

(06:36):
found a spot where you can say no. I I
know it. I know you'll say no to this. In fact,
if you were head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and
you were in field goal range and Brett Maher came
up to coach, should I go in, Hey, go take
that stuff off? Okay, go put it, go put that
in the bad go shower up. Exactly what is going

(07:00):
on in this man's helmet? There is something going on
in there. Now. Now listen for those of you who
aren't watching, and it is is nine to six. The
forty Niners lead this thing at a halftime, but it
has not been just a battle of field goals. The
forty Niners have three, the Cowboys have a touchdown, and
Maher let me tell you something. He needs to send

(07:22):
flowers to the forty niner who blocked his extra point,
because if he hadn't blocked the extra point, that thing
was going to miss to the left of the goal
post by by ten yards. He like he brought the
yips with him from from Tampa on Monday night to
Santa Clara, California, and in a game that is this
nip and tuck right now, I gotta think this changes

(07:45):
everything for the Cowboys and how they approached the second half. Well, yeah,
now they have to go for it. So I mean,
that's a gift in a curse. But at Mike McCarthy,
at least he knows, right, at least he knows. Hey,
we get into we crossed the fifty and it's third down.
We got two downs to get whatever it is, whether

(08:09):
it be third and ten, third and six, third and four.
ILike my chances on third and six, you know, to
get a first down, and knowing you have to plays right,
you can get six yards in two plays hopefully. So
it changes the dynamic, but it also can shift momentum
really fast in your favor. H Um. I get it.

(08:33):
Some of the teammates. I would imagine they're sitting there
going cool, right, let's let's go do the darn thing.
But let's also add the Tony Pollard just left the
game on a cart about ten minutes ago, and he
very very much looked like he suffered an injury very
similar to Patrick Mahomes yesterday afternoon. I'm not a doctor,
but it looked like a high ankle sprain to me.

(08:55):
And it's one thing to come back out as a
quarterback with a high ankle spraying. It's a completely different
one when you are a running back. And so the
Dallas Cowboys are down in theory most likely two very
very large things in the second half, which is a
their dynamic running back and be their kicking game, and
and and in a close game. Wow, I mean, not

(09:17):
only do they lead by three, I gotta think advantage
forty niners in the second half based on those two facts,
don't you? Oh? Absolutely? I mean now you have to
depend on Zekiel Elliott. And I was thinking, um, he's

(09:37):
I wouldn't even start him. He'd be my third down
bruiser back, my third and short back, my my goal
line back. Because he handicaps you what you know that
you don't have to The defense knows that you know
he's not gonna beat you running around or he like

(09:58):
he just doesn't have what he head early on, and
so I know he cost too much money to be
a short yardage back. So they continue you want to
give them touches on first and second down, which I
wouldn't do anymore if I was Dallas. But now they
don't have an opportunity. They don't have a chance. Look,
we're first of all, first of all, we're jumping the gun.

(10:20):
And I know this is your team, and I know
you want to talk about him, but we have to
start in order. We've set that precedent. We've set that precedent.
I'm with you. You're not wrong, You're not wrong. And
we got plenty of time. We got a whole second
half to unfold in in front of us, and we
do have three games that have already given us a result,

(10:44):
and I would say in each of them, eyebrows were
raised in a different way. And if you would like
to start in the chronological order, let's go right ahead
and do that. I likened it earlier today when I
sent you a note. I said, look, um, yeah, the
Chiefs advanced. Um. But if I got tickets to Disneyland,
especially since they cost one billion dollars, and I got

(11:08):
into that part, and you tell me, when I work
my way over to tomorrow Land and Space Mountain is closed,
you're gonna have one ticked off Embre because Disneyland without
Space Mountain. Is it still good? Yes? Is it the same?
Is it as dynamic as it usually is? Absolutely not.

(11:31):
That's the best thing there. And to me, yeah, the
Chiefs won the battle, but they might have lost the
war because if this is true what we're hearing today
that Patrick Mahomes has a high ankle sprain, that is
a major piece of the Chief's offense. His mobility, what
makes him dynamic moving around buying time. That is not

(11:52):
going to be the same when they host the Bengals
next week and you have a lesser version of a
Chiefs team that already struggled to beat the Bengals in
the last couple of seasons. So, um, I know they
won yesterday, but I don't like their chances beyond yesterday.
Yeah it you know what, even just watching that game, now,

(12:17):
Jacksonville really let one slip away, sure because they had
that game, and I'm going to chalk that up to inexperience. Um.
I do also believe Doug Peterson got outcoached, So shout
out to Andy Reid. He got out coached. Anytime you

(12:37):
have a backup quarterback pin back on the two yard
line and you allow them to go ninety eight yards
and what it was sixteen plays or something like that
and score, then you're doing something wrong, um, and completely
take back the momentum that you seized. When Patrick Mahomes
went out, that was a perfect opportunity. And and before that,

(13:01):
before you had them pin, you had an opportunity to
get points on the board and you didn't, so you
had to punt and pin them. Um. I just think
they got too cute. I think they didn't take advantage
of the situation that was in front of him, and
they end up losing that game, which was a winnable
game and would have been you know, monuments for that organization,

(13:24):
Trevor Lawrence and his growth. But look, they got their
kudos to them. They'll build off of this. They'll be
the favorite in the division moving forward. Uh. But Kansas City,
and you know, shout out to Patrick Mahomes for coming
back into the game. Now, if it was diagnosed as

(13:45):
a high ankle sprying, I really thought he fractured his
foot the way it looked to me when I was
watching it, But it was a high ankle spraying. I'll
tell you this. You can play when it happens. But
I can pretty much promise he can't put his it
on the ground today. This is this is what it is.
He cannot put his foot on the ground because I

(14:08):
know for a fact all night it's been elevated. It's
been elevated to keep the blood from circulating down. So
you turn that thing over and step I've been there
many times. You put you step down. Man, it is

(14:29):
like fireworks inside of your your lord leg. And so
I'll tell you what. Yeah, walking boot crutches, the whole nine. Yeah,
it's normally at least a month if you if you
have a real one now like goods. Yeah, high echo sprain,
it's it's it's a month. And you saw Tony Pollard

(14:50):
potentially with the same thing on the cart leaving this
game today. So there's much more on that. Plus uh,
if the Kansas City Chiefs don't win next week, a
card old rule in the NFL has been broken, which
I'll explain coming up next. We are brought to you
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(15:13):
a TV, and more, all your protection in one place,
bundle and save at Progressive dot com. Second half about
to get started in Santa Clara as well. We'll follow
along with you alongside e from Salama Mark whether than
This is Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the
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(15:36):
the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to
listen live. Okay, we are live in the ti rag
dot com studios and all of the sudden, the Cowboys
threatening as we follow along here in the second half,
uh fumble on a punt return by the forty Niners
Ray Ray McCloud, and the Cowboys have first in goal,
trailing by three. Keep you up to date on that,

(15:59):
by the way. From quick question on this just like
are they close enough now? Then if they don't get in,
you'd use your field goal kicker or you just to
the locker room already. I'm done. We just I'm not
going to I'm not gonna hang. You know, the fate

(16:21):
of this team on an organization, on someone who mentally
is not ready to go. Can't do it, can't do it,
can't do it, can't win with them, can't do it,
can't do it. Uh, well, we'll see what it's about
to be. We will see exactly how the Cowboys wanted

(16:42):
to approach this. Yeah, I didn't. I don't know if
I saw a defensive struggle today. With the way these
two offenses looked coming into this game, I mean, I
guess it shouldn't have been a surprise this time of year. Yeah,
they're deeper. The defenses are very good, equally equally impressive. Right,

(17:04):
but the offensive half too, Uh you know what I mean?
You saw what that what Dallas did last week the
forty niners under party, scoring thirty four a game like
these are? These are good groups now too, right? Yeah,
almost intercepted there on a on a tip ball. Okay, alright, coach,
what do you do? Fourth and goal? Here comes Brett

(17:24):
Maher onto the field. They're sending them out to San Francisco.
If I didn't get the touchdown, Oh man, well, this
one is only half an extra point, an extra points
about a thirty three yard field goal. This one's only

(17:46):
a twenty five yard attempt, and so yeah, we'll see.
We'll see if the Cowboys are able to gentleman, I'll
tell you what if they would just go back to
the old extra point. The guy would be fine, I

(18:07):
did go back to the old one. That was one
of the greatest things that the rule changes that they
made it just grew, it made it exciting, and it
made them earn their money. Sure, sure, or and it
didn't like it's still based on percentages. It's still something
that is largely considered automatic. Um. Yet it's not like

(18:29):
it's it's been enough. There are enough misses, like I
think you're saying, to affect the game in a positive way.
And the reason I call a miss from the extra
point level a positive thing for the game is what
we're looking for when we tune in is urgency, the unknown, uh, competitiveness,
all of these things. Like quite frankly, prior to that

(18:52):
rule change, there was a waste of our time. Yeah,
it was just like a foregone conclusion that you gotta
miss every now and then. But basically, you know, you
knew what was gonna happen. So here we are a
tie game nine nine between the forty Niners and Cowboys,
and Steve to say, we'll have more on that here
coming up in a few minutes. Um, Okay, we weren't

(19:14):
quite done with Chiefs and Jags as we chronologically move
our way through the weekend. You know one thing I
saw from the Jags which I totally understood, but I
wonder as a competitor, how this would have hit you.
Did you see the video of Trevor Lawrence once he
got into the tunnel last night leaving Arrowhead Stadium? Did
you see this? Oh? Of course, Okay, So Trevor Lawrence

(19:36):
gets into the tunnel and as soon as he's kind
of out of view of the fans, stops, it turns
around and he just awaits each teammate as they're coming
through to the locker room. And there's a big piece
of me that loves this. Trevor Lawrence has shown America. Now,
as you said, this is gonna be the presumptive favorite
starting next year in the in that division. He's a

(19:59):
lead eater. Um, he's someone who can erase a twenty
seven point deficit. Uh. He had wonky moments in these playoffs,
but he played really really well. And and and Trevor
Lawrence with Doug Peterson, is now officially a thing in
the NFL. And so as he congratulated each teammate as
they came through, hugs all around the Jags clearly had

(20:21):
done as much as anybody could have hoped for them
to do this year, to rally the way they did
in the second half of the year, win the division
and then win a playoff game and do it from
from so many points behind and go to Arrowhead and
play a clothes like it was everything that every anyone
could have asked. And so that was the vibe. They
lose a playoff game and they're immediately hugging each other

(20:43):
and it was kind of like, alright, we did it.
But the other side of this is what you said, like, yeah,
you probably should have won that game, you guys, So like,
I don't know, there was a little bit of Trevor
Lawrence in the tunnel that felt like makes where everybody
gets their oranges in Capri son uh the team, Mom

(21:03):
brought donuts. Great season, guys, and it was like, gosh,
you guys, you should have won. You should have won.
You know what. Um I had a thought. I was
thinking about that game last night, and I was like
it was almost like they were reserved to know that

(21:25):
they've taken the next step, right, like right coming from
where they were last year to winning the playoff game,
getting to the divisional round. They were like we one
this season, like we we took the next step and

(21:47):
next year we're gonna be on fire, right like I
got And I don't know why I felt like that,
because I was not impressed with the coaching in that
game and some of the decisions that were being made,
and it almost felt like you couldn't there's an opportunity

(22:08):
to skip two steps ahead, which we saw Cincinnati do
last year. They skipped four steps ahead and landed in
the super Bowl. Right. They just weren't content with winning
in the wild card and then the division like they

(22:28):
were like, okay, let's go to the super Bowl. And
there's a different mentality that plays out on the field
when you want to you want it all, and so
there may be something to what you're saying about it
felt like, great job, guys, we did it. We'll get

(22:49):
you know, we'll get them next time, opposed to you know,
we should have had that. That's us, like we that's
how us and and so I get it. I get
that sentiment. And if I felt a little bit of
that myself, Yeah, you know, this very very dangerous game

(23:10):
to play in the NFL. The whole will get him
next year thing because you, man, you have no idea
how it might as well. Like we we we we
relearned this over and over and over again in the NFL.
You have no idea when you're going to get another opportunity.

(23:32):
Remember when Dan Marino lost the Super Bowl? Is rookie year,
Oh don't worry, He'll have plenty of opportunities in his
career or really how that go. So you do not know.
I'm not saying the Jags did something poorly this year,
very impressive run, but man, there's no cookies at the

(23:53):
end of the game. You do not know when you're
going to get back to the divisional round of the
playoffs and have an opportunity in the fourth quarter to
win a football game and and go to the a
f C title a game you just don't know when
that's gonna happen. Yeah, it's it's one of those things
where you have to seize the moment. Anytime he plays

(24:14):
with professional sports and you're on a run or or
it's one game to get to something, you have to
seize that moment. Every possession matters, every decision right, and
and sometimes youth can work against you. Last year we
saw youth work for them in in in Cincinnati because

(24:36):
they were too young to realize the impossible tasks that
they had ahead of them. And sometimes you know, youth
can work and hey man, we we we fought, we came,
we did it right. Next year is gonna be amazing.
Where all it takes is an injury here, you know,

(24:58):
a different you know, somebody leaves and free agency. All
it takes is a little shift in, a little movement
to your roster, and those next year's turned into the
you know you're waiting three years to get back to
the moment you you had. Let's slip away, no doubt
about it, all right? So uh the other game yesterday,

(25:20):
Giants and Eagles. Plenty to say there because all the
narratives that were built the week before. Now everybody starts
to question him again. We'll get into that here in
just a second. Talk about how complicated other banks make
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(25:43):
rewards terms apply and step to Sager also applies right
now because it's his turn to get in here and
let it lose. High Steve, Hello to both of you.
It is a nine nine game. In the third quarter
Dallas at San Francisco, and Niners have just punted down
to the nine you're line. That's where Dallas will start
this drive. Despite the score, we have had a touchdown

(26:04):
in this game. Second quarter, TD pass Dak Prescott to
Dalton Schultz four yards, but the extra point kick was blocked,
and then Robbie Gold came back with two more field goals.
He had three in the first half, a couple of
them just in the last four minutes before halftime, from
forty seven and fifty yards, So it was a nine
six Niner lead at the break, now nine to nine.

(26:26):
On the ground. Dallas running back Tony Pollard left before
halftime with a high ankle sprain. He will not return.
San Francisco is a team thirteen carries just twenty eight
yards rushing. The leading rusher in the game is Dak Prescott,
the Dallas quarterback. Three carries twenty six yards nine nine
about seven minutes to go in the third winner goes

(26:49):
to top seed Philadelphia for the NFC title. Game. San Francisco,
by the way, got the two seed in the NFC
over Minnesota due to its better conference record, and the
home record has been great niners or nine in one
at home overall, they've won eleven in a row. Mid
third quarter, they're in a tie game against the Cowboys,
who finally won a road playoff game remember last weekend

(27:10):
for the first time since the season. Cincinnati one in
dominant fashion at Buffalo twenty seven to ten. The final
in the snow. Joe Burrow two touchdown passes in the
first quarter. He started nine for nine through the year.
In his career, he is five and one in the postseason.
So we have a rematch of last year's a f
C title game next Sunday. Last year we saw Cincinnati

(27:33):
win at Kansas City in overtime after the Bengals had
trailed twenty one to three before halftime. Patrick Mahomes three
touchdown passes for that lead. Mahomes, of course, after yesterday
with a high ankle sprain reportedly NBA wins for Toronto,
Miami and the Clippers, who are now twenty five and
twenty four after today's victory at Dallas won twelve to

(27:54):
Milwaukee's Janice at tennant Combo due to return from injury
tomorrow night, upset in College Hoops Bowl one at number
one Houston fifty six. All Right, you ever have one
of those questions for someone and then before you ask it,
it gets answered. Do you ever have that happened before? Yeah?
I was just about to ask you, because in the
last set of downs for Dallas, uh ceedee lamb kid

(28:16):
running off the field. You know how guys do when
you get a finger that's just pointed and complete in
the wrong direction. Yeah, I imagine you had that happen
in your career time or two of course, of course,
and he's running off the sideline, is like mc Pinky's
going sideways, and I'm like, wow, that's a wide receiver.
I'm sure they'll snap that thing back into place. But
you know, your hands and your fingers matter a little

(28:37):
bit when you're wide receiver. So before I could ask you, hey,
how do you think that will affect him? He goes
flying down the sideline for a forty yard catch. He
was interfered with anyway, so the Cowboys were gonna get
the yardage either way. But but it appears Cdey lamb.
It is just fine, hey man, I mean I've broken

(28:58):
both of my fingers on a plane and finished the
drive before I got them taped to finish the game, right, like,
it's not even a thing. Literally, it's not even a thing.
Torn my moniscus and finished the drive before and finished

(29:21):
the half before going in and getting the taped. Ye,
So how do you tape it is? It takes a
long time, It takes a lot of It takes a
lot of tape, and it is it is pain because
especially you don't you don't. I hadn't had time to
shave my leg. So they're just putting tape on it, right,

(29:44):
because it's gotta be tighten. It's got to be firm,
and you know, he can't slip. So they spray it
and they put the little pre wrap on there and
then they tape it up. Takes a lot of rolls
of tape and you just all you feel is just
hair being pulled as your knees. It's just yeah. Uh
Live from the Tiraq dot Com studios. It's interesting you're

(30:05):
talking about doing that at halftime. That kind of became
a big topic of discussion on I guess the manning
cast last week when Peyton Manning said, biggest fallacy in
the history of sports is this idea of halftime adjustments,
Like we as fans all have the idea that everybody
goes in there and you go on the lab and
you you come up with all the different things that

(30:27):
you're gonna do to come out in the second half
and do it differently and do it better. And he's like,
that does not You don't have time. You don't have
time to go in there, like you're just trying to
like I don't know, you go to the bathroom and
like you said, little little tape on this thing and
then get the hell out of here. Do you do?
Do you agree with Peyton about the whole halftime adjustment

(30:47):
that the adjustments are this, Hey, um, offense, you're over here. Defense,
you're over there, offense. This is what we're gonna do.
We're gonna come out. We got these five place right.
You rescript the first place based on what you've seen
them do, uh, and things you can exploit and take
advantage of, and so that becomes what your adjustment is. Look,

(31:12):
they're doing this against this. Look, this is what we're
gonna do. But it's quick it's five minutes. Then you
go get your oranges, hydrate, go to the training staff,
get something taped. All of that stuff and if you
are one of those players that need to be attended to,
uh in the training staff, in the in the medical

(31:33):
room or the training room, and then whatever we're said,
somebody will come and tell. The coach usually comes over, hey, look,
this is what we said. This is what we're gonna do.
You gotta any questions, Good boom, you're back out there,
warming up and ready to go. That's just what it is.
So in other words, no nobody's going in there to
be like, all right, we uh, we have figured everything

(31:54):
out and because we're gonna go do something. And it's
not the different here in the second hal and on
the defense upside of the ball, it's look, they're killing
us when we get into this. So against trips, we're
going to run this defense. Now, all right, we're gonna
come out of cover two. We're gonna come down to
it like. It's those type of adjustments. Right, it's not
a new game plan and be impossible to do it.

(32:16):
Takes a whole week to put in the game plan.
You can't read do a game plan in twenty two minutes.
It takes uh seven eight of those minutes to get
to the locker room. Um, Nighters get the ball back.
Cowboys putted away despite the long past to ceedee lamb.
So it remains tied and the Nighters up the ball

(32:37):
deep in their own territory. Keep you up to date.
But coming up next, the Eagles beat the Giants. But
neither of those teams were the team that everyone was
talking about after that result. We'll get into that coming
up next. Let's seat from Salama Mark whether than his
Fox Sports Radio Polly Foustco here with Tony Fusco. As
you all know, we're the host of the number one

(32:59):
rated showing all of sports talk, the Folly and Tony
Fusco Show Numero No Yeah, And we know why millions
of people tune in every week. They want to hear
us talk sports, not our idiot guests who think they
know more about sports than we don't. He listened to
these dummies. You don't know crap about This is the
worst thing the shop. You don't know. If you want

(33:24):
to hear how sports talk should be done, listen to
The Folly and Tony Fustco Show on the I heart radio, app,
Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Alright, rocking
and rolling. Here a from salam Mark Willard, Fox Sports
Radio broadcasting live from the ti rack dot com studios.
Tirack dot com will help you get there on Matt Selection,

(33:46):
fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten
thousand recommended installers tai rack dot com. The way tire
buying should be your beloved Kyle Shanahan run game looks
like it's finally starting to show itself in this football
game here uh this evening. A from as the forty
Niners move into the high red zone, if you will,

(34:07):
got themselves right now? First intent at the Cowboy twenty
three in a tie game. As we approached the two
minute mark of the third quarter, high drama, I'm going
to hyperventilate, but I think it'll be okay. They will
be And I'm not gonna talk about this game because
that's not what we're doing right now. I see what
you're doing yet, what you're doing. I know it's hard
for everybody up to date. I keep everybody up to date. Again,

(34:30):
we'll get back to it. I get it now. Were
you were you like everybody else were you watching last
night and you're watching the Philadelphia Eagles do the dang thing,
and the first team that came to your mind was
the Minnesota It's the way, now hold on, hold on,
because we called this team a potential fraud all year long,

(34:51):
and then they get to the playoffs and they get
bounced by Daniel Jones, and everyone's like, see, we were
kind of right about the Vikings. But also, hey, Daniel Jones,
we see you. You made yourself a lot of money
out a boy, Daniel. That's a career defining moment, and
you're gonna be the future of the New York Giants.
And then you go to Philly and yeah, Philly's good

(35:14):
and they're the one seed. Like I get it, they're
better than the New York Giants. It's not close. But man,
when it looks like that, when it looks like that,
immediately immediately you're suddenly going, now hold on a second, Vikings,
we spent a week calling you a fraud, and now
we've decided that maybe even that word was too kind.

(35:37):
How on earth did Minnesota look like they looked at
home against the Giants last week? If that's the best
the New York Giants have to offer in their battle
at Philadelphia. Were you having the same thought that a
lot of us were having well after the game last
week between the Vikings and the Giants. I mean, I've

(35:58):
been saying it all if you're calling Card is you
won a bunch of close games, all of them. When
the playoffs come, that's going to come back to bite
you because now the level of competition is elevated, and

(36:19):
if you don't have it buttoned up to where you're
constantly having to come back, are you're constantly having to uh,
you know, miraculously hold off a team that's not gonna
bold Well, then the playoffs and the Giants exposed them

(36:40):
and took advantage of that, and so of course they
were outmatched going against the Philadelphia Eagles. I mean the
constant pressure the Eagles were able to put on Daniel Jones.
That wasn't out of the blue. That has been something
the Eagles have been doing all year. So a free game,

(37:01):
you win, you go up a level of intensity. The
teams are better. Wild Card. You can squeak in, right,
you can be tampling get in at eight and nine, right,
but you run into a bus. All you bring that
eight nineteen right to come play and you run into

(37:26):
a bus or so, you know, just looking at at
at at what Minnesota lacked all year and what the
Giants were trying to accomplish. Now, for me, the Giants
one this year because there were so many question marks
all over the organization, right, Brian d Ball came in

(37:50):
answered a large portion of them, right like, Okay, we
have the leader that we have been searching for. He's
going to push he's our offlin, He's going to push
us forward. We can see great things coming. Now, let's
talk about this quarterback. What are we doing with him?
I think Daniel Jones has proven enough under Brian day
Ball that he deserves an opportunity because he can't play.

(38:16):
He can't disagree. He just ran into a better team, right,
So I don't disagree. But here would be my question
for the New York Giants is a very difficult one
to try, uh to to to answer um because I
don't know what NFL teams um should do in this situation.
It's very tough. When you are the Raiders, the Cowboys,

(38:39):
the Cardinals, the Vikings. What have those teams had in
common over the last five years? I think each of
them at different times have felt, you know what, we
really like our quarterback and he's good and you can
win games for us. We can go to the playoffs
with this guy. I don't think we're gonna win the
whole thing, but we can do things with him, and

(39:02):
we don't have a better option, So let's do it.
Listen that you're right on everything you said. However, that
is exactly what I think about Daniel Jones and wrong
and the New York Giants. You're not wrong, But guess
what what is the alternative? Would you take three years
of playoffs? Would you take three years if I told

(39:25):
you right now, I can guarantee you three years of
playoffs with Daniel Jones, or we can take a flyer
and I can't promise you anything. Guess what the Giants
front office sign up for? Because once you get to
the playoffs, you Daniel Jones, you didn't say right, there
was no cap on it, like it wasn't you can

(39:47):
just make it to the wild card. No, it's playoffs
and then anything can happen. No, right, but I would
be taking flyers in the fourth, fifth, sixth round on quarterbacks.
That's just in case. Yeah, just in brain because you
you you may well need another option. Yeah, but you're
not gonna let that guy start, right. I think what
Brian day Boss done was he he's built trust with

(40:09):
Daniel Jones, which is the number one thing you need
with your young quarterback as a head coach. He's gotta
trust you, you gotta trust him, and then you move forward. Yeah. Absolutely,
And moving forward, by the way, we still need to
get to the Philadelphia Eagles. A buddy of mine watched
them yesterday and looked at me today and goes, well,
they're unbeatable. Agree or disagree? That's next. Oh say heavy

(40:35):
weighed about is going on in Santa Clara right now.
We'll keep you up to date. And you know what
he from. Uh, we kind of deserve it. I think
we deserve this, don't we? Because dare I say that
divisional weekend so far was locked a little drama, to
be honest with you, Like, I'm gonna give a shout

(40:56):
out to the Jacksonville Jaguars. They hung in there. They
gave us a a good football game to watch yesterday,
and the Patrick Mahomes injury certainly certainly added to the
competitiveness of it. And uh, the angst involved in it.
But man, the game last night total walk over. I
was super disappointed in what the Buffalo Bills put out

(41:18):
there in front of America earlier today, which we've yet
to get to. But uh, this one is delivering so
far with a really close game here in a one
score game into the into the fourth quarter. So at
least we've got that going for us here for for
the next hour or so. No, it's a good game.
It's a good game in and you write you know

(41:40):
that this is exciting. It's what we've been waiting for. Um,
when we get to Buffalo, we got a lot to
talk about there. Um, this is a fun matchup. This
is what we expected from these two teams. We probably
thought there would be more offense based on where the

(42:01):
over under was if you took the under. Okay, but
looking good. They're heavyweight teams throwing haymakers at each other,
and I love that. That's what you want in the
division round of the playoffs. We are, we are in
a position on the field where we are on Brett
maher watch from the from the fort from the forty

(42:27):
niner five yard line. Well, the good news for the
Cowboys now or I guess the good news for Brett
Maher it's a little less embarrassing because there's only eleven
minutes to go in the game. We'll see what happens
on this play. But the Cowboys can sort of reason
that like a field goal, like you're still you still
need a touchdown even if you get a field goal here,

(42:47):
So why not just keep the drive alive and go
for the touchdown? So we'll we'll see what they do
because it's incomplete. And here we go fourth and eight
from the niner from what would you do? But yeah,
they're putting Ret Maher. Maher is on the field. The

(43:11):
thing that I don't understand is why is he still
on the right They didn't replace him. Why is he
on the roster? They didn't replace him, They had wield.
Why is he on the team? They had a whole
week to replace this young man. Well, I wonder if
the mental side of this is just extra points because
because he was a good kicker it but it was close. Yeah,

(43:33):
that thing I think almost drifted right going over there,
back a little bit over his little windy here in
the bar day, so given that, but but it works
its way in it's just an extra point thing from
that's all extra points anyway. Well, you'd only be down
by a field goal right now if they made the
extra point. So uh tb D on the rest of

(43:57):
that when we'll get back to it. But a buddy
who was actually a New York Giants fan, and I
think he was just trying to troll me um in
in the thought that it's potential that the San Francisco
forty Niners will end up in Philadelphia next week. But
he looked at me and he shook his head and
he goes, I mean Philadelphia unbeatable. Now, Now obviously that

(44:19):
doesn't exist. Um. In these NFL playoffs, everybody is beat
a ball. Um, But what what did you take from
the Philadelphia Eagles last night? Because I'll agree on this front,
they certainly looked better than I thought they would. My
concern for them was that they had not played as
a normal group essentially in a month and a half.

(44:43):
Even when Jalen Hurts comes back for the end of
the regular season and plays, you're going against a New
York Giant team that's not playing any of its good players,
and so they hadn't played like a high level football
game together in like five or six weeks. I thought
they could be rusty. They came out, went right down
the field and said we're fine. Uh. What I saw,

(45:05):
what I got from it was balanced, a balance attack.
You had a quarterback who missed uh last couple of
games of the regular season, came into the last game,
I looked a little shaky and he had to buy
a buy that you you need it. And what I
saw was him completing sixteen two passes hundred and fifty

(45:26):
two yards, two touchdowns. I saw the mobility there right,
nine rushes thirty four yards. But what I saw was
them being able to control the game on the ground,
and not just from Jalen Hurts. Right, they rushed the
ball forty four times for two hundred and sixty eight yards.

(45:49):
Let me tell you this, If any team can run
the ball forty four times and for two hundred and
sixty eight yards in the playoffs, I don't care who
you're playing, You're going to win the game. That is.
I mean that is. You know why, because you have

(46:13):
now possessed the ball longer and had more possessions than
your your your opponent. So their time of possession was
thirty five almost thirty six minutes to twenty four minutes,
you're going unless the unless you're giving up touchdowns every

(46:35):
possession to the other team. But if you can control
the game, the flow, the pace of the game. With
forty four runs and you gained two d eight yards
and you're injured, quarterback doesn't have to consistently drop back
and throw the ball forty times. Yeah, the Eagles are

(46:55):
unbeatable if you allow them to do that. Anybody would
be right, though. I don't see either of these two
teams allowing that next weekend, not with these defenses. No,
not at no, no no. So yeah, this is this
gonna be We're watching a heavyway about now, and no
matter what happens, we're gonna watch another one next weekend.

(47:17):
By the way, a reminder football fans, be sure to
tune in the Fox Sports radios Countdown to Kickoff presented
by bet GM every Sunday morning three hours before kickoff. Yep,
tune in Sunday morning, ten a m Eastern take your
live all the Way to Kickoff Fox Sports Radio in
the I Heart Radio app presented by bet m G M.
So these Eagles, though, I will say this, sure, it's

(47:40):
not gonna be easy next week for them, but they
do have home field advantage, and I would imagine that
whatever fears there were surrounding Jalen Hurts, those did get answered.
I'm sure he's still in pain. I think what he's
going through, right, it's very similar to what Yeah, but
that's a fair point. You gotta and we have the pain, yea.

(48:02):
But but but quarterbacks, their shoulders aren't always in pain.
That that's a little bit of a different thing than
than than the whole everybody's hurt this time of year deal,
isn't it. I Mean, like, you know what what Garoppolo
was dealing with during the playoffs last year, what Hurts
is dealing with this year in the playoffs. That's that's
a little bit more than than what you'd normally want

(48:22):
your quarterback to be dealing with. And and so I
think I think that's still there. But he's certainly back
to the point where he can function at a high
enough level. And and uh, those who left the Eagles
wagon in recent weeks I think can safely come back.
If they left the wagon from a team you know

(48:44):
that had that type of success, then you don't want
them back. If they jumped off, they jump ship from
a team to deal what they did last year with
so many questions at quarterback? Is he the one? Do
we drive blah blah? Then you don't eat that, you
don't want that, you don't want They've taken him face
in the wagon. You know what else I see though

(49:05):
from the Philadelphia Eagles that I think is is actually
great for the sport. I mean I want everybody to,
you know, like put your own personality out there, like
be authentic. I'm a big fan of that. But after
twenty years of largely watching Bill Belichick rom the sidelines
and then just grunt into microphones afterwards, Like, I'm a
big fan of some of these younger coaches who are

(49:27):
bringing a little bit of swag to the game. Sean
McVeigh did it a little bit last year, um and
and Syrianni last night. I mean, he had facial expressions
that are gonna turn into gifts on on social media.
He down there in the end zone yelling at people,
I know what the belief that I'm doing get off
of me. I mean that I don't mind that. That's

(49:49):
that's that's not traditional, um but but that's okay. I
think it fits nicely with today's sports fan. And and
so if there's a little bit more of that that
that hops into the NFL come playoff time, consider that
a thumbs up on my end. That's a watching Well.
The thing that that we we like is the thing
you know. One of the reasons I like Pete Carroll

(50:09):
as a coach is he's not void of emotion. Like
when you're celebrating, you're sprinting. Now he seventy something years old,
spread down the field, jump on a guy. That's infectious.
That's content. That's what you know, Robert Sala has. They
have that energy. Sean McVeigh will sprint right here if

(50:30):
you if you break a long run or a long baby,
he will sprint. Now. I'm not talking about a job, right,
He's out there in the end zone, body bumping people.
Guess what guys resonate with that. They love that. These
guys are young, right. These guys come from a college
atmosphere where it's it's just that that youthful exuberance is there.

(50:56):
Sometimes you can get to the league and it's just
a business, right, and you focus just on the business
part of playing a game that you grew up loving
and having fun with. When it becomes just work. It's
just like any other job that turns into work. It's work.
Been a youthful coach who shares that same youthful exuberance

(51:21):
that you have. It resonates. Well, I'll tell you this too.
And I was actually just having this, uh, this conversation
with with with my clan that's sitting here at the
house watching this game right now. Is like, you know,
and I've always thought this, and I mean this as
a compliment, but your football players are crazy. You're all nuts.
And I know that you know this. You and I
have had this conversation before, and and there's something to

(51:44):
the way that a football player handles energy on the
field versus the way that a fan does. Like a
fan who has absolutely no physical outlet during a game
and also has absolutely no effect on a game. We
just sit here in our stress. That's it would just
sit here and and we just stress out. And then

(52:05):
after three and a half hours, we have our answer.
Are we frustrated? Are are we elated? It's it's one
of the two things. But but for the players on
the field, you watch them miked up or you see
highlights after where in the most stressful of moments where
the world is watching to look at each other and laugh,

(52:28):
and I'm like, oh my god, you're so crazy, Like
you are so not tapped in to the stress that's
happening outside of this building. But I think that speaks
to what you're talking about right now, which is that
in order to deal with the stress, the physicality, all
the effort in the work that goes into these moments. Man,

(52:50):
if your coach and your leaders can't find a way
to help you have fun, then you're then you are
going to turn into just a fan and the stress
will get to you. Yeah. It's um, it's intense for everybody, right,

(53:10):
Like I know for you watching this game and being
on air, like you're holding your breath, you're probably hitting, hitting,
hitting the mute button. Right, I'm hit the bed. I
gotta I got a big fluffy bed right next to me,
and I I punched it at least four times. Is
uh is your son and and they're watching it with you? No,

(53:33):
He's like, hey, you know you want to make an appearance.
He gotta invite over to a buddy's house. So he's over.
He's got a debo jersey on and he's screaming and
you'll into somebody else's house tonight, all right, so now
you can cuss and do all of that stuff, you know,
during commercial break, I was just making sure, you know,
just make sure, yeah, yeah, you're right though. That's I mean, yes,

(53:55):
that's that's exactly what it's like. By the way, I
didn't share the US with you yet when I you know,
when the schedule came out and I went, oh goodness,
we're gonna we're gonna be hanging out on the air
during this game. I'm gonna be distracted at moments. It
reminded me of another show once upon a time that
I did on Fox Sports Radio. And it's not the

(54:18):
greatest of memories, but this is Father's Day, like six
years ago I from. It just happened to be Game
seven of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors
hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers, having had a three one lead
just a few days before, and I sat there on

(54:40):
air as Kyrie hit the shot, and I just I
tried to hold my composure, but oh well, oh well,
kai Kyrie has has given the Cavaliers the lead, and
everything is fine, and I'm I'm sure that Steph is
gonna go the other way and tie this and they did.

(55:01):
They didn't did from the never tied it up, and
uh right. The show helped me because I couldn't scream
and cuss and curse. And then I got home and
the kids were still young enough that this was a
time where they would all like be in the bath
at the same time with rubb your duckies and stuff
like this. And it's Father's Day and you get home

(55:22):
and you get these three kids looking at it you
and they're like, sorry, Dad, are you okay? I'm like everything. Yeah.
So that was the last time I had this stressful
of a game going on while trying to have a
conversation with somebody on the radio. So, well, hopefully this

(55:43):
one goes better. Sorry, we just go to break so
you can, you know, we can do that. I'll take
a breath, We'll go and and then Buffalo Bills, Oh yeah,
we were Now we're coming for you, uh coming up
next on Fox Sports Radio. That was that was the game.

(56:06):
That was the game. Oh Dre oh oh, we didn't
forget about Dre. Gosh, that was the pick six that
was gonna end the dank thing. And it was oh
you those defenders. They just can't catch the ball sometimes,
can they? Oh gosh, unbelievable. Um, so to fifty to go,

(56:30):
forty Niners up by seven, Cowboys have the ball deep
in their own end zone. And I'll just before we
get to the bills from I gotta ask you the
one question that I know half of America was asking
as soon as they saw the forty Niners go up
by seven, knowing that the Dallas Cowboys were gonna get
the ball back. I know how many mines went here.
Heylas drives down the field and gets a touchdown, They

(56:54):
gonna Are they gonna go for two? Could you imagine? Legitimately?
Would you if you were coaching, you tell me for
real you would yes, Oh so wild. I would rather
go for the win from the two yard line then

(57:15):
go for the tie and the loss with a kicker
who hasn't made an extra point in five previous tries.
Mm hmm, I will I would read out. I would
rather put it on me than put it on him. Um.
It appears a little less likely at this moment that

(57:37):
that that we're gonna have to answer that question, or
that they're gonna have to answer that question, because they
went three plays, went zero yards, and just putted the
ball away. And so with two minutes ago, the forty
niners are now in that position where one first down
might be enough to end this game. So so we'll
keep you up to date on that. But before we

(57:57):
proceed with that, one from I don't nowhere to go
with this. I was so wildly disappointed by what the
Buffalo Bills did today. I mean, think about what was
going on. First of all, um, you know you have
one of the most talented quarterbacks in the business. You
know that there's the dynamic in this game that that

(58:19):
was really the thing that upset the Cincinnati Bengals a
couple of weeks ago with the whole way that the
league reshuffled the deck on the Damar Hamlin situation, which
was to say, if the Chiefs play the Bills, you're
gonna go to Atlanta with no home field because if
the Bills had won that game, they'd have had home

(58:41):
field and the Bengals were sitting there going what about
in round two? Where does that if if we play
the Bills, where does that game happen? Because if we
had won that, we would have had home field advantage
over the Buffalo Bill. So they were very angry. And

(59:02):
how did they handle it. They channeled that by going
on the road in the snow at one quarterback just
flat out looked better than than the other one. So, um,
I feel like many many times in the last three
years of talking about this sport, when we're talking about quarterbacks,

(59:23):
we we go Mahomes and Allen and then we start
talking about everyone else. And I think today marks the
day that maybe we should stop doing that, at least
for now. Yeah, there's some young guns coming up, uh,
saying hey what about us, don't forget about us, And

(59:46):
we're getting more and more of them, because I mean,
the changing of the guard. It's it's happening. We're in it.
And when you look at the age of the quarterbacks
who were in the playoff this year outside of Tom Brady,
this is what here we are moving forward. We're watching

(01:00:08):
the new NFL right like we just came off the
greatest era of the NFL quarterback ever, And the question was, okay,
so what do we do now? You know, the breezes,
the the mannings, both of them, the rivers, the they're
gone right soon to be Uh, you know, we caught

(01:00:32):
the telling of the John's, the Ailways, the Farves right like,
and that ushered us into what we all witnessed the past,
you know, eighteen to twenty years in terms of quarterback play.
Now you got the jos, the Boroughs, the Allen's, the Lawrences,

(01:00:54):
the Hurts right like you you the Jackson's and the Homes.
These are kids. These guys are kids. I think what
Dak Prescott is the oldest quarterback remaining in the playoffs? Yeah,
you know, well and given and give it another seven minutes.

(01:01:16):
I don't think it is going to be anymore. Look
at what that landscape looks like in the a f
C and the NFC of who's representing the team's uh
moving forward like this is? This is great for the NFL,
it's great for the NFL, um but but I I
do wonder if today the way we view sports, maybe

(01:01:37):
this is unfair. But you know how it works. We
get to the end and then we make all of
our decisions based on the most recent thing we saw.
And if the a f C is being run by
Mahomes and Alan, I think it's pretty easy today to
go wait a minute, at minimum, you're leaving out Burrow
and at maximum, you're replacing Allan with Burrow. This guy

(01:02:00):
has gone to the a f C Championship now two
years in a row. He might be going to the
super Bowl two years in a row. Mahomes hasn't even
beaten him the last two years. I mean, we're sitting
here with all these factors going Mahomes and Allen, Mahomes
and Allen. If I'm a Sinci fan, or even if
I'm just watching the game, I'm going holding on a second,

(01:02:21):
what about Joe freaking Burrow. Yeah, it's um, this is
Joe Burrows, the real deal. And I fell in love
with Joe last year when in his press conference he
was like, oh my god. They were you know, the
questions were, oh my god, how do you feel? You know,
the Bengals haven't done this and such and such and

(01:02:42):
such and and that and and forever. You guys weren't
even you know, born, are you guys with kids? When
it said, he was like, I don't know anything about that,
but that has nothing to do with us. This is
our standard. And hearing a young player step up and
and take that on like that, I'm instantly a fan

(01:03:03):
because they don't care about how long it's been since
the Cincinnati Bengals were relevant. Are how long it's been
since they won a playoff game? They're living in there now,
and when you have a group of players living in
there now, they believe anything is possible. And that's what

(01:03:24):
we've been seeing, and that's what we've been seeing resonate
on these other teams. Absolutely, And I'll tell you what,
there's something else, um that Joe Burrow did already. No
matter what happens here next weekend, there's something else that
he and the Bengals just did that that we've learned
through the years, Uh, teams don't do and I want

(01:03:47):
to highlight it won't do that in about sixty seconds.
But the first thing we're gonna do is hand the
baton over to Steve de Sager. Let him get in
here and get y'all up to date on what's happening
in Santa Clara right now. Under two minutes to go,
and the nine are have the ball and the lead
over Dallas nineteen twelve and Elijah Mitchell just picked up
a first down. It was a what it was second

(01:04:09):
and nine and he got thirteen and so we have
one time out left for the Dallas Cowboys, and they
may not be getting the ball back anyway, but on
their last drive Dallas went three and out. The time
wasted between the third down sack and the fourth down punt,
if you include the play itself the sack, forty five
seconds came off the clock. We went almost down to

(01:04:31):
the two minute warning itself, didn't use the time out,
didn't hustle up to punt it away. It was a
woeful possession all around, three and out and waste time.
Down by seven points at San Francisco right now one
forty seven, make it one forty one to go in
a nineteen twelve lead. And this Dallas offense hasn't done

(01:04:53):
much since the first half touchdown pass a four yard
or from Dak Prescott to Dalton Schultz Prescott with two
interceptions tonight as well, rock party with no turnovers. The
rookie quarterback for San Francisco. He's eighteen of twenty eight,
two hundred eighteen yards and niners now just on this drive,
finally got over a hundred yards rushing as a team,

(01:05:15):
each team at about three and a half yards per carry.
It's been a barn burner and Philadelphia will host next
Sunday's NFC Championship game on Fox TV three pm Eastern Time.
In the a f C, we have a rematch from
last year as Cincinnati wins to advance to Kansas City.
The Bengals dominated Buffalo today in the snow to ten.

(01:05:37):
Joe mix and twenty carries a hundred five yards rushing
in a touchdown. The Bills as a team nineteen carries
just sixty three yards rushing and a touchdown. Joe Burrow
to t d passes in the first quarter. NBA wins
for Miami and Toronto. The Clippers one at Dallas one
twelve to. The Lakers are underway late first quarter, leading

(01:05:59):
twenty four at Portland's. I gotta mention, by the way,
that former Blazer's announcer Bill Shownley passed away yesterday at
the age of ninety three. Portland's play by playboys for
nearly thirty years. And college basketball, Temple was a winner
at number one rank Houston fifty six fifty five as
Temple in a close game was great on free throws

(01:06:19):
twenty of twenty two. Top rank Houston went eleven for
twenty one on free throws just over a minute and
a half to play San Francisco with a third and
eight coming up, will Dallas get the ball back? Cowboys
have used all three timeouts. Back to you, all right, Steve,
thank you for that. And and by the way, Steve

(01:06:40):
mentions the clock management situation, uh from the Cowboys. And
there are definitely a couple of things uh that that
that somebody could you know, raise their hand and say, hey,
what were you doing there? Um, this might be unfair
to a small degree. You're out on the field, you're
trying to get a first down, and that things are

(01:07:00):
happening fast. But if Elijah Mitchell on that run where
he gives them first down, he gets knocks out of bounds,
if he dives on the ground before he gets knocked
out of bounds, e from this game is already over
because right now, yeah, the Niners are gonna run this
down to about fifty seconds on the clock. And uh
and and you would think punt it deep in the zone.

(01:07:23):
But if Mitchell had gone down there, you'd be talking
about the potential for the Cowboys at best to get
the ball with about five seconds left on the clock.
And so keep that one in mind, because the Cowboys
are going to get this thing back right now with
about forty five seconds to go. That just little things
like that, man, little little thing. And I know he's

(01:07:48):
right on the sideline, so it's easy for me to
say that he can dive, but he can't die. He
could just go down. He could have down. Um And
you know, we look at those things and in the
moment they don't mean anything. But Dak Pranks gets this
ball with forty five seconds left and he throws you know,
a long busted coverage or whatever, and they score and

(01:08:11):
they go for to and win the game. They go
for to play. Is the reason that Everson point nine
is lost? Yep, yep? Or so it'll come up if
that happens. Yes, yeah, So um all right, it's going
to be a fair catch for the Cowboys at their
own six forty five seconds to go. Um Man, that's

(01:08:32):
a lot of times somebody get the ball with thirteen
seconds and and and and drive down and win a game. So, brother,
this is the Bay Area, this is where cal Berkeley,
and you know the band is on the field. Uh, nobody,
nobody ever un till the clock says zero. Uh, the

(01:08:53):
clock doesn't say zero, you know what I'm saying. So, yeah,
we's come on, man, I'm Stefon Diggs with the Vikings
a few years ago. Like crazy stuff happens in the
final minute of the game. So that is that's one
to circle and uh and keep in mind. But as
we keep you up to date on that and uh
and watch this one play out with the Cowboys and Niners. Um.

(01:09:16):
Then I also want to mention this gosh, that could
have easily been a safety. It ran right into Eric Armstead.
W just decided to do a belly bump with him instead.
But anyway, you know, what are you doing? What are
you doing? Take him down? Good job by Doc to
not fall over. If he falls falls over, the game's over.

(01:09:38):
But anyway, second and ten thirty eight seconds to go.
I want to point this out though about the Bengals
because we do this. It's a narrative we run with
and then when it's debunked, we don't circle back to
mention it and and and it's this how often if
you heard that the Super Bowl loser goes into a

(01:10:00):
tail spin and is on full hangover mode. And by
the way, Burrow came out in Week one and I
think the three or four picks against the Steelers this
year and we were all like, oh, we're smart. See
there you go, super Bowl loser. Hangover, look at us.
We know sports. Um, they're going to the ANFC Championship

(01:10:20):
game again, and with a potentially compromise Patrick Mahomes. I'm
not sure that. I'm like, I don't think that they're
gonna win this game. Yeah, even if Patrick Mahomes was healthy,
I would favor at the Bengals. Everything we've seen, uh,
with this matchup has favored Joe Burrow and the Bengals. Um,

(01:10:48):
they're not afraid to go to Kansas City. They're not
afraid of Patrick Mahomes. They're not afraid of the moment
of that because they've done it. Patrick Mahomes has never
beaten Joe Burrow. So they're okay with it. And that's
what happens when you when you are forged by fire,

(01:11:08):
when you've gone on the road, when you've done things
like that, doing it again, that doesn't resonate because you've
been there. Oh we we got this. It's cool. Right,
They're gonna prepare like they've always prepared to go against them.
But you know, led by Joe Burrow, he's not afraid

(01:11:28):
of the moment, and that's why you know I love him.
He's not afraid of the moment at all. It's five
seconds left, five seconds left. The Cowboys do have the
ball now at their own forties. So that's we're getting
sort of close. Yeah, so that's what we got now
coming up next. Um, yeah, you're I mean, you're right

(01:11:51):
about everything you said. And I'm also intrigued by what
it's sort of sounded like you think this morning was
probably like for Patrick Mahomes. Um, do you think he's
gonna Yeah? Do you think he's gonna even play next weekend?
Your best guess? Um? No, you know what. I do

(01:12:12):
think he's gonna play because it's Patrick Mahomes. Do I
think he can play? No, I don't, just knowing what
that injury is and what it feels like. I believe
he's going to play, but I don't believe he will

(01:12:35):
be able to uh not with that relentless pass rush
the Bengals have, I mean, they get after you man,
that defense that I was very impressed with the Bengals
defense today, very impressed in those conditions on the road,
Very very impressed with, you know, just the mental toughness

(01:12:57):
to go up in those conditions against one of the
you know, the top quarterbacks in the league at home
and and do what they did, I mean, they made
it extremely tough for him. He Josh turned it over
again another interception I dot two times for only you know.
That's a win. That's a win, big time, big time. Yeah. Uh.

(01:13:22):
Booth review in Santa Clara that I think might actually
end up getting overturned on a past that's set the
Cowboys up at their own thirty nine, so they might
be back more like at their own twenty with five
seconds to go. Get a booth review on it though
right now. We'll fill you in on that in just
a second. We're brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive
makes bundling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discount

(01:13:45):
by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, a TV and more
all your protection in one place. Bundle and save at
Progressive dot com. Uh. We'll get the final answer on
the final game of the weekend in and yep, that's
rever So the Cowboys are going way backwards and now
they are not even there at their own four for
the final play of the game. So we still have

(01:14:09):
this one to break. Down and their chances next week.
So we'll do that coming up in just a second
with e from salam Mark Willard. It's Fox Sports Radio.
The Final four is all set and it is the
second verse somewhat same as the first. Simply go back
to this date last year, swap out the Rams for
the Eagles and they're gonna do it all again. Uh.

(01:14:32):
Forty Niners on the road for the NFC Championship game,
just like last year. Bengals at Arrowhead for the a
f C Championship Game, just like last year. Let's dive
into all of it. Were broadcasting live from the ti
irac dot com studios. Tirac dot com will help you
get there on unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road
hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers. Ti irac

(01:14:55):
dot com the way tire buying should be. Before we
get to Brock Purties on track, because it's actually it's
not just amazing, it's hysterical. It will make you laugh
when you dive deep into some of these numbers. What's
just your your initial reaction A from two Bengals at
Chiefs and Niners at Eagles. Uh, We're in for a heck.

(01:15:19):
Of a weekend. Um. I think, um, this is what
people as we were coming down the stretch, I think
this is what people have figured. The Niners clearly showed
there are class above in the in the NFC as
well as the Eagles. Although the you know, the couple

(01:15:43):
stumbles without hurts in the lineup, there's still a dominant team.
They get after the passer defensively, so you always have
a puncher's chance there. I think Kansas City has been
the toast of the of the league since Patrick Mahomes
takes since Patrick Mahomes was taken over. And you know,

(01:16:05):
the surprisingly upstart Cincinnati Bengals last year showed us that
they're for real. Um. I think a lot of people
figured Buffalo with home fil advantage, uh in the divisional,
the weather, all of those things would would both of
them taking that. But Cincinnati wanted they had a chip

(01:16:29):
on their shoulder. The tickets were being sold and bought
for a game that had the Buffalo Bills winning and
playing Kansas City at a neutral site in Atlanta. The
thing I love about Joe Burrow is after at the
end of the game on the field, when they asked

(01:16:49):
him about that, he was like huh, better get your
refund right, right, Like that's the mentality that all of
that mattered, and they owed up and and improved that
they deserve to be there. And you know so, I
think this is the matchup of the best four teams

(01:17:13):
in the NFL period, not game. Yeah, yeah, I'm with you.
I mean, look, the truth be told. I mean I
can only speak to it from the the position locally
of of San Francisco. January twenty nine. Philadelphia hosting San
Francisco is a game that has been sort of, uh

(01:17:34):
day dreamed about, if you will, for six weeks. I
mean you you could, you could sort of see the
way that was headed. Philadelphia was going to be the
one seed. The forty nine were jockeying around for was
it gonna be two or three? But nobody ever believed
in the vikings. And the only question was, you know,
as brock Purty like, does the slipper fit? You know,

(01:17:55):
is he gonna turn back into a pumpkin? And all
this is gonna all fall apart um. And if now
you're probably looking at those two teams to decide the NFC,
that's probably as it should be. The Cowboys might be
able to crash the party. They're definitely the third best team.
And and unlike what usually happens, the whole NFC kind

(01:18:15):
of played out exactly as many people expected. Somebody was
gonna give Minnesota hell of a of a of a
problem in their first game, and then the next two
games would be you know, Philadelphia handling business and Dallas.
Can they crash the party? That might be close and

(01:18:36):
they final answers No, that like if you'd asked me
three weeks ago, that's probably the most viable NFC scenario.
And that's exactly the way it's played out. Yeah, when
we look at these teams, things that they have in
common outside of the Eagles not having Jalen Hurts is
win streaks, right, win streaks prior to Jalen Hurts getting hurt. Um,

(01:18:58):
the Eagles at full strength, Uh were I mean tremendous.
They were was at five in a row outside you know,
before Jalen Hurts got hurt. Yeah, you know, I mean
they had won almost all their games, right for for
such a you look at forty Niners, this is thirteen

(01:19:19):
thirteen in a row. Ye. You look at uh, the
Cincinnati right like these teams are we're gearing up there
with nine eight in a row. Since the Bengals are
eight in a row eight nine nine four or five

(01:19:40):
six seven eight nine, Yes, these ten because meet the
Ravens twice, so ten in a row. So this, this
is what This is the caliber of team that that
you're you're you're playing in the in the championship game
NFC a a f C champion shoe. This isn't by

(01:20:01):
a mistake anybody's saying these teams don't belong there haven't
been watching all season. So when you got a team
on its third quarterback and they're winning twelve thirteen games
in a row, then um, we got a heck of
a team. And I think this is what we're seeing

(01:20:23):
all all of these teams. Let's do it. Let's play,
no doubt. Well before we do the party thing, I
wonder if you've looked the spreads are out for next weekend,
you want to you want to try to give a
guess as to what they are. I'm mildly, mildly surprised
that the Chiefs line is out, because, um, I would
think that sometimes in this position is like, well, let's

(01:20:44):
wait and see if my home is gonna play. Um,
but they went ahead with it, like this is this
is now out there. So you tell me Chiefs and Bengals,
what do you think The line is Chiefs by three
right now the Kansas City Chiefs our minus one. Which

(01:21:06):
what I like to do sometimes when there's a major
injury is I think that the numbers can sort of
tell you the story of the way something is trending.
Because these numbers do not come together willy nilly. They
don't set the numbers the way we bet. We wake
up and we're like kind of got feeling. These people

(01:21:28):
are putting massive time, energy, money, and resource energy, all
of it into finding out what's going on behind the scenes,
who's saying what, what's trending which direction? And if the
Chiefs are only favored by one in this game, that
tells me that at minimum, they're expecting one of two things.

(01:21:50):
They're either expecting no Patrick Mahomes or they're expecting incredibly
compromised Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, that's exactly right. And you know,
either way that's what it is. It's not gonna be
a healthy Patrick Mahomes, so he's playing or he's severely compromised.

(01:22:14):
And you know, I'm taking Cincinnati and that's all. That's
a pickle. Yeah, yeah, Well, and I you know, obviously
that's a number that could move a lot as we
moved throughout the week and start to get news with
you know, is he practicing, what does he look like?
Is that you know, all of that is gonna factor
in on things. So I would not be surprised if

(01:22:35):
the Bengals are even favored by the time we get there. Um,
because everything I know about high ankle sprains, as you said,
would suggests that. And I know that this is an
NFL team with with incredible resources to put towards Patrick's leg,
and so I'm sure they'll do everything they can. But

(01:22:56):
I mean my understanding this kind of injury, you're not
walking or running seven days from now, so running I
don't know fourteen days from now, right right? I mean,
look at the Chiefs. Were somehow to win this game,
the Super Bowl would still be a question mark, still

(01:23:17):
be a big question mark, a big one. Um. Okay,
other game, what do you think the number is? Eagles
forty Niners. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go Eagles by three.
The Eagles open as a two and a half, which

(01:23:44):
is right It's fascinating, isn't it? Because I really thought
with the way the Eagles looked and to the level
that the forty Niners struggled, it felt like, as you
were watching this game tonight, I'm like, man, that that
spreads getting bigger and bigger and bigger, because you know,
if Philadelphia is getting three, that you get that three

(01:24:05):
points just for being the home team. Um, but they
look so dominant and the forty Niners struggled at such
a level to put Dallas away. I know they had
a much tougher opponent today, but there's some nuance in
that spread. Uh For for the forty Niners to uh
to to to only be a two and a half
point favorite, I think is a nod from the odds

(01:24:29):
makers kind of in the in the favor of the
forty Niners. If you will, well, yeah, if you can.
The customary you know, home filled advantage is three, and
so the respect that they have for a backup quarterback
in the San Francisco forty Niners put you at two

(01:24:51):
and a half and so, I mean, Wolf, it makes
some mom taking the Niners check this. You better hurry.
I just refreshed my pace already updated and now the
Eagles are minus two half point has already fallen off
with the amount of money that has come in on

(01:25:13):
the forty Niners. Immediately off of that initial line, here
we go, Here we go, Let the games begin, let
him begin. It sounds to me like you, I'm just
listening to the tone in your voice, and I'm feeling
that from thinks that the Bengals and forty Niners will
be meeting one another in Glendale in three weeks, I

(01:25:34):
jump the gun and give you my prediction now, or
sounds to me like that's what you're feeling right now.
I'm gonna put my name on it. That's what I feel.
And no disrespect to Philly and no disrespect to Kansas City.
It's just a different couple of road wins on on

(01:25:55):
Championship Sunday. Huh. It's just a different energy around at
San Francisco team and that's Cincinnati team. They are really
out here trying to prove something. Mm hmm, like for real.
So man, it's dude, Brock purty boy Wolf. I mean,

(01:26:20):
I'll tell you something that we said about Brock San
Francisco before before we got yeah, before we even started
the playoffs. I'll tell you what most people said about
brock Purty, and then we can get into that contract
thing too. Uh. Coming up next, we can talk about
how complicated other banks make it to redeem credit card rewards,
or we could talk about how we discovered you can

(01:26:43):
redeem your rewards for cashing any amount at any time.
I mean talk about amazing right. Learn more at discover
dot com, slash redeem rewards terms apply, It's mark whether
than need from salam much more around the corner here
on Fox Sports Radio. Okay, it is live in the
entire rack dot com studio knows. Here's one thing I've learned,
and he from This is off of a comment you

(01:27:03):
made about a half hour ago talking about the opportunity
that now stands in front of the San Francisco forty
niners simply because of money. Here's one thing I've learned,
because UM, I feel very very lucky just the life
that that that I'm able to have. But by no

(01:27:24):
means am I somebody who um, you know, doesn't have
to worry about money. There there are not a lot
of people who have that luxury in life, and the
perception from those of us who do have to worry
about money is that the people who don't have to
worry about money actually don't consider money. What I've learned

(01:27:47):
is that's not true. That's not true. You can't go
to dinner with your rich friend and simply expect them
to pay because they're supposed to. You can't expect people
who know that they've got enough money need to cover
the rest of their life to therefore never take money
into account. Money. Always take the Golden State Warriors right now.

(01:28:08):
Brian Windhorse last year called it a checkbook Championship. The
fan base will look at all these oh gosh, you're
gonna resign Wiggins, then you're gonna signed Pool to a
big extension. And when Draymond and Clay come up, well yeah,
go ahead and give them some max extensions to and
Steph Curry fifty nine million a year, no problem, because

(01:28:28):
Warriors have enough money, and their owner, Joe lacob is
Well has said a number no no, no, no no no,
that's that's not the way that we're running the business.
So I think your point is a fantastic one. The
advantage potentially that the forty niners now have in in

(01:28:50):
in a you know, in a window for the next
three or four years. The the the advantage that they
have is significant. Brock Party this year is making seven
hundred five thousand dollars. Next year he will rock it
up to eight hundred seventy thousand dollars the year after that.

(01:29:14):
In from it starts to really get expensive. It's gonna
go all the way up to nine hundred five thousand dollars.
They're like, well, there'll be a free agent after that. Oh. Actually,
in this salary will balloon to one point one million dollars.

(01:29:40):
And this is where it's really you want to just laugh.
Should something go wrong with brock Purty, maybe he gets hurt.
Maybe actually, you know, as we said, maybe the glass
slipper doesn't fit and he turns back into a pumpkin. Well,
in his dead cap figure, this would be to get
out from underneath this contract because it's dead cap figure

(01:30:04):
nineteen thousand two dollars. You could do anything. You could
do anything as a GM paying your most important peace nothing.
And that's the advantage that San Francisco is about to

(01:30:27):
have on the rest of the league for a couple
of years. Just think about that, like, you know, you
can lock in Christian McCaffrey, Kittle, right, Dee, but you
just did deebo right bos Like who's up? Like what what? What?

(01:30:50):
What are your contract situation? So so Kittle Kittle Warner
already locked up the questions and and Debo, as you know,
got his the two questions. That this solved for the
forty Niners right out the gate without having to think
about a garoppolo or anything like that. With Trey Lance
coming off of a major injury. Um, immediately, it means

(01:31:15):
that that Christian McCaffrey contract is not a problem. I
would imagine. It also means that Brandon Aiyuk can stay
on the team. And I think that they had already
budgeted for the massive and I mean massive Nick Bosa
extension that is forthcoming this offseason that had already been

(01:31:40):
in the budget. So imagine them pulling that off and
then you find out that your starting quarterback next year
is making eight hundred seventy thousand dollars. I think the
McCaffrey thing is no big deal, and I think players
like Brandon Aiyuk and probably a couple other dots around
the organization, the dre Green laws of the world and whatnot,

(01:32:03):
become no problem at all, No problem, no problem, that's
crazy dollars seven thod somebody going home, somebody pushing on. Look,

(01:32:24):
remember when we were we were on the air when
Brock Purty was playing, Yes, when he got his first start,
and we were talking, and all these things start popping up, right,
these different scenarios. What if? What does this mean for Trey?

(01:32:45):
What does this mean for Jimmy? What does this mean
for Brock moving forward? He wins the first game, everybody
was like, oh, it's pretty good, pretty good, it's looking purty, right,
and then he started hypothetically throwing out okay, so would
have would have Brock wins out and they go to
the playoffs and and you know this, well you know,

(01:33:07):
and I said, the further he goes, the more he
solidifies himself, Right, I said, if he takes him to
the NFC Championship game, he's earned the right to be
the starter coming into the season. Take him to the
Super Bowl. He is the starter coming into the season. Well,
look where we are here, we are, look where we are.

(01:33:29):
That was a month and a half ago. Yeah, and
I'll tell you, even though the forty niners are only
a two point underdog and nobody would look at this
roster and call them the little engine that could. In
just his little story that you're talking about, he is
now sort of like the Trevor Lawrence and Daniel Jones

(01:33:49):
of this Final four where he is totally playing with
house money because of what you just said. Um, the
forty Niner fan base, as of about five weeks ago,
this was considered the game that I don't want to
say he had to get to. Hell, he's a rookie
out of the seventh round, so no one was putting

(01:34:09):
anything around his neck. But it felt like if he
can get into the playoffs and find his way to Philadelphia,
that's that's kind of a rap. That's a rap, Like
you you did everything that anyone could have hoped and
way beyond. Now doesn't mean this is over and anybody's satisfied,

(01:34:29):
I can promise you this organization, with all the near
misses they've had in the recent years, Uh, they are not.
They are not satisfied with going to Philadelphia and losing
next week. But from that little corner of the conversation, yeah,
it's over, it's it's over. He did it. He got
to January nine, and uh, and he's your quarterback. That's

(01:34:50):
the quarterback next year. Yes, it is, without a doubt,
without a doubt, he will be the quarterback for the
forty year. He's earned that right, done everything he was
supposed to do and more and played extremely well. And

(01:35:10):
so yes, he's earned the right to continue to lead
this team from the quarterback position. And the front office
is going to push for that because they get to
save themselves a lot of money. Money do have? Yeah,
I do have two quarterback questions for you. Uh and

(01:35:33):
from a genuine place, I really don't know the answer,
and I wonder what your perspective is. One of them
is housed in San Francisco. The other one is in
Kansas City. Um, and we can get to that here
in just a second. Let's get Steven though, Steve the
sacred time. Let's get you up to date on everything
that is happening in the world this evening. Hi, Steve. Hello.

(01:35:55):
San Francisco eliminates the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL playoffs
nineteen to well, so. The Cowboys finished five and five
on the road this season. The Niners went ten and
one at home. Tonight's game was tied nine nine to
start the fourth quarter. Robbie Gold four for four on
field goals. What did we mention on the show last
Sunday night, Robbie Gold has never in his first season career.

(01:36:22):
There is no jax. He won the game. He had
the key forty seven and fifty yards before halftime. And
by the way, the kicker for the other side, he's
actually made his last twelve field goal attempts extra points
is a different story. And then the Cowboys first extra
point attempt was blocked tonight, but Brett Maher went two

(01:36:43):
for two on field goals from twenty five and forty
three yards out in defeat. Dak Prescott one touchdown, two interceptions,
Ceedee Lamb with ten receptions in this game a hundred
seventeen yards. In fact, the last Cowboy two in a
playoff game have at least ten catches over a hundred
yards was Michael Irvine against the forty Conference championship. Well

(01:37:07):
in Dallas history, they have not advanced to the NFC
title game since the season. Cowboys playoff record since that
year is five and twelve. San Francisco will be at
Philadelphia for the NFC Championship next Sunday on Fox TV.
That's the early game at three pm Eastern time. Then
next Sunday it's Bengals at Chiefs for the a f

(01:37:29):
C crown, and early temperature forecast is that it could
be in the twenties and windy in Kansas City. Cincinnati
won in the snow at Buffalo today pretty easily, twenty
seven to ten domination, Joe Mixing over a hundred yards rushing.
Joe Burrow two touchdown passes in the first quarter. In fact,
he started nine for nine passing. Last year's a f

(01:37:50):
C title game saw Cincinnati win at Kansas City in
overtime after the Bengals in that one trailed one to
three before halftime. Patrick Mahomes had three touchdown pass but
they couldn't hold onto the lean. Holmes does plan to
play next Sunday, reportedly has a high ankle sprain suffered
yesterday as far as Dallas by the way high ankle
sprain tonight for Tony Pollard, the running back left before halftime.

(01:38:13):
Ezekiel Elliott had ten carries twenty six yards in the
NBA Oklahoma City wins at Denver to end the Nuggets
nine game winning streak one O one nine nine. Shay
giljis Alexander thirty four points. Nikola Yok of the Nuggets
was out again with a tight hamstring. And then there's
the Laker game. They're trailing at Portland mid third quarter,

(01:38:36):
seventy nine to fifty eight. Portland's out scored him in
the just the second period forty five to thirteen. If
the Lakers lose this, the record will be twenty one
and twenty six. Vancouver Canucks fired head hockey coach Bruce
Foodreau and an upset in college hoops Temple one at
number one Houston fifty six fifty five. Back to your

(01:38:59):
Steve great stuff, by the way, speaking of that Tony
Pollard injury, Uh, that was obviously the last that we
saw him of him in the game. Is it the
last that we saw of him in the Dallas Cowboy uniform?
The other side of the contract story, we're just going
through brock Purty. Um, how about Ezekiel Elliott at ten
point nine next year ten four, fifteen point four million

(01:39:23):
in and sixteen point six in and Tony Pollard is
about to be a free agent, And you just let
out a little gasp when you heard of the two
point six yards per carry that Elliott averaged in today's
football game. What do you do there, Dallas Cowboys. Oh

(01:39:44):
it's okay, you gotta go, man, come on, it's okay.
Yards don't tink carries mm hmm. I mean but we
we knew this is where he was. We knew that
this is you know, this is not he is not

(01:40:09):
a starting running back in the league. He got paid
a lot um, but this is it's it's over. He's
never recaptured what he did prior to getting the money,
and so now you're saddled with You know, Jerry loved

(01:40:31):
to hold on the people, loves to hold on the people.
Two players. Let me ask you something. How much does
Ezekill make this year? Zeke Elliott's base salary twelve point
four and a one point five signing bonus on top

(01:40:55):
of it. So that's what thirteen point six million dollars
got thirteen point nine point nine. Let me ask you
another question. How many games did Ezekiel Elliott have a
hundred yards rushing this year? Oh? That is a good question, um,

(01:41:16):
Ezekiel Elliott this year as far as number of let
me pull it up here right now, I got his
game along. Let me help you, Elliot seriously. None. How
many games did Ezekiel Elliott have a hundred yards from

(01:41:37):
scrimmage running and passed? Also? Zero? Zero? This is what
yards receiving the whole year. This is what we're doing. Damn,
this is what we're doing. Right. Two curious too, I mean, yeah,

(01:42:02):
that's a lot of touches. So this is this is
what we're talking about. Jerry Jones does things that he
wants to do. He falls in love with guys'll you'll
give him the money and it be fine with it.

(01:42:25):
It's burned him before, it'll burn him again. How much
is Tony Pollard making this year? I know, I'm putting
you on the spot. Not enough, right, Like, how many

(01:42:45):
games Pollard this year? Is? Is? Uh? Is making nine
sixty dollar base salary, hundred sixty six thousand dollars signing bonus? Yeah?
How many hundred yard rushing games that's Tony had this year? Well?

(01:43:11):
As somebody who had him on my fantasy team, he
had more than zero? He had three? Okay, yea three.
How many games did he have more than a hundred
yards from scrimmage? Now that game that number goes up? Yeah,
a lot, a lot. I mean he had a hundred

(01:43:32):
nine yards just receiving in uh in one game. I'm
counting one, two, three, four, five, six, yeah, seven. You
see where we're going. But you were going, you'll trot
Zeke out there, You'll, you'll you'll bring him on out

(01:43:55):
in the starting lineup. And I'm like, why, why why
would you bring him out in the starting lineup? Could you? Because? Well, hey, man,
whose face are you saving? Jerry's? He does a lot
to save this fast man. We're trying to play ball.
That's try that's funny. Sorry, that's funny. That's funny, you know.

(01:44:23):
But what what what I'm saying is, you know this
is these are the things that you have to realize
as a team, all right. I know it's America's team.
And Zeke meant so much to thirteen million dollars for
a running back who can't get you a hundred yards

(01:44:44):
at any point running, passing combined in a season. I mean,
that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. So we're you're in the situation
now where you have really have to reevaluate Dak Prescott

(01:45:06):
being outplayed by somebody who's making forty four million dollars
less than him a year. Yeah, four point three to
be exact. So these are the types of things like

(01:45:28):
we're paying all this money for a team, but you're
not getting the payoff. They're gonna have to break the
bank for Michael Parsons yep. So you're in a situation,
Dallas where you're going to find yourself not able to
continue to even compete at this level because you're going

(01:45:51):
to lose pieces. Yeah, I think with everything that goes
into the rivalry here, everything that goes into the history,
the fact that the Cowboys haven't been to a Super
Bowl since and now they have been beaten by the
same team two years in a row in two different stadiums.

(01:46:14):
Um I said it this week. With all the work
that has gone for both of these teams to get
back to this moment, whoever lost this game, it's gonna
be a massive setback. It's a massive, massive setback for
whoever lost this game, because for the Cowboys, it, as

(01:46:34):
you said, it shows you that you're under the thumb
and I don't see a real great way out anytime soon.
If the forty Niners had lost it, it starts to
become a reputation of this team dances but falls short
every single time in the Kyle Shanahan era. So this this,
this was a very pivotal game for the future of

(01:46:58):
these franchises. And I think it's what speaking to right
now with regard to Dallas, it is, But let me
tell you this, I don't feel that way about San Francisco. Up.
They would have lost this game. You know why, because
it's like, look, thank you, thank you, seven and five
thousand dollars. And to be able to get to hear

(01:47:19):
the division a round without a quarterback, without a starting quarterback,
speaks to the organization. Oh we're there, right. They lose
two quarterbacks, the starter, projected starter who they were betting
the house on, the guy they threw away but found

(01:47:42):
sitting by the dumpster out by the curve and brought
him back inside. And some guy who everybody in the
world passed on at least seven times, including you, yep, right,
And to get to where they what they've done, if
they if they had just stopped the winning streak at

(01:48:02):
twelve in a row, Oh you can build on that.
Oh that we got something special here. But the fact
that they continue to go like Dallas lose that game,
they've fallen off a cliff for the for just for
what we just talked about in terms of contracts and
worth and what you're doing and not doing. But San

(01:48:23):
Francisco they were playing with house money. They were playing
with house money, and they're cashing in all the way. Yep, yep, alright,
So uh do you still think that the Bengals would
win this coming week even if Mahomes were healthy? And
should trade Lance be on the forty Niners roster next year?

(01:48:46):
Those questions and more coming up next Mark Whility from
salam Fox Sports Radio. Here's Prescott back as time pro
stock left intercepted, bug got chipped up and taken by
Fred Water, Jimmy war chipped the and Fred Mourner with
the I N team. That is the Progressive play of

(01:49:07):
the day, brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes
bundling easy and affordable the multi policy discount by combining
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protection in one place. Bundle and save at Progressive dot Com.
Forty Niners at Radio Network. One of two interceptions on

(01:49:28):
DAK Prescott on the day when the forty Niners turn
it over less than two times, they have not lost
a football game all year long, and they turned it
over only once today, and that came on a fumble
on the punt return by Ray Ray McLoud. So they
win the turnover battle, they win the game. Forty Niners
in Philadelphia next week. I want to ask you something
about Mahomes. But while we're on the Niners there, um,

(01:49:49):
Trey Lance, I firmly believe there's no reason the forty
Niners can't just say, my man, you're you're You're gonna
back up Rock Party and we're gonna keep up on
working and keep on getting better. I know a lot
of people think that there are politics there that won't work.
What's what's your take? Trey Lance on the forty Niners

(01:50:10):
are not next year? I believe he is. Why wouldn't
he be? Honestly, why wouldn't he be? I mean, you
know what people will say. It doesn't matter what people
will say. It might matter what Tray says, it does
It wouldn't matter what Tray says. Yeah, what what leg

(01:50:31):
does he have to stand on? Not much? Right? First
of all, we're trying to keep your legs healthy. I
can't seem to do that. So the reality of the
situation is Yeah, he may be unhappy, but this is
what it is. He had an opportunity, he got hurt.
They're in They're on their way to the super Bowl. Now,

(01:50:55):
you could be a team guy or you can be
a you guy. Either way, you're under contract, can't go anywhere,
right and if if, if nothing the forty nine is
have learned this year dealing with this situation that you're

(01:51:15):
gonna need at some point more than one quarterback, right, right?
What was the number sixty this year? I think different
quarterbacks started a game, right, So, so why would you
ever give one away? Based on your history itself. You

(01:51:38):
can't afford to do that. And I think they understand that.
And that's why I think he'll be on the roster.
He'll be there. He may not be happy, but he
bet us get ready. He better get good and be
ready to go if they ring that bell, yep, yep,
I hear you. And and look, the forty nine were

(01:51:58):
one of the few teams that that in the face
of an unhappy player last year and said so, I
mean right. The Titans sent A J. Brown to Philly,
chief sent tyreek Hill to Miami. Forty Niners sent Deebo
Samuel's room just said just wait, we got you. And
here they are now got the contract done, and you
know he's played obviously a huge role, all right. To me,

(01:52:21):
the Chiefs have really good players, they're very well coached.
But what makes them different, what makes them special, obviously
is Patrick Mahomes. And he's not going to be that
special version of himself this week, which is why I
think the Bengals will have a great chance. But I've
been listening to you all night. I sort of feel
like you think the Bengals will win this game even
if Patrick was healthy. I think they would. I think

(01:52:44):
that history has shown us that they don't have a
problem going there, and and and and and beating Patrick
Mahomes in the Chief. They don't have a Joe Burrow
doesn't have a problem standing toe to toe with the Chief.
Hey guess what, let me ask you this. If you
know this off the top of your head, you know

(01:53:04):
the last game the Chief loss, it was against the
Cincinnati Bengals. You see what I'm right? This This is
not They're not nervous. This is the business trip for them. Yep. So,

(01:53:29):
by the way, uh, when I talk to you next,
that's what we're going to be watching together next week,
the Bengals at at Arrowhead. Thankfully, the forty Dada game
will be over by that. Thank you for Thank you
for doing the show for me today if you appreciate it. Teamwork,

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