Countdown to Kickoff Presented by BetMGM

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh, welcome in Happy Saturday. We are back baby. Our
football nightmare is nearly over. That is my Fox Sports
Radios countdown to Kickoff, presented by Bett MGM. We are
officially back, and not just for the football season year round,

(00:24):
so we are more than exciting for all. Wow, look
at you guys. You guys are glowing right here. If
I didn't know any better, I would say you're glistening
right now.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
Yeah, Dewey is the way I like to describe myself
most mornings. Just says the due point the temperature drops
low enough to have just condensation resting on my forehead.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yeah, yeah, you like your like a rolling stone gathers
no moss, a rolling Ornberger gathers no dew is that
is that how we're rolling?

Speaker 4 (00:54):
That's correct, Yard Smith. I think I don't sleep. I
wait and I wait for these morning broadcasts with you.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Jeman.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
You're specific time for us.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah that's right, Ye, a little early, you know, early
wake up call for you guys. Well, I mentioned the
football nightmare for all of us is nearly over. Ball
is nearly back, but the football nightmare for the Vikings
is underway. It's continuing, right because JJ McCarthy, their rookie quarterback,
he is down for the season. And it made it

(01:27):
even more painful the way the news broke this week. Right,
So he suffered this knee injury last week in a
preseason game against the Raiders, and he missed a practice
right after that, and head coach Kevin O'Connell he said, yeah,
this is probably routine soreness. We plan on giving McCarthy

(01:48):
more snaps with the number one offense this week. And
then the next thing we know, it's Ah, he's got
a torn moniscus. It requires surgery. We don't know how
severe the injury is. They won't know until they go
in there and operate. It turns out it's severe enough
he's done for the entire season. Man.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
And the first thing I'll say about it is this,
some people, this is not a scarecrow argument just to
create something and argue against it. Right, some people are like,
this is actually a good thing. You know, he can learn,
there's no pressure, he can learn the offense. You know,
he can develop. This is not good news at all. Okay,
this is a bad, bad thing for the Vikings because

(02:33):
this is key development real estate for JJ McCarthy. I
compare it this way. Look at Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson,
who got hurt early last season, he only threw eighty
four passes. If you compare that to Panthers quarterback Bryce Young,
who took a lot of lumps last season. But Bryce
Young threw five hundred and twenty seven passes. That's gonna

(02:55):
help his development this year. So that's something that JJ
McCarthy misses out on those reps learning on the job.
I'm not gonna say it's one hundred horrible, because yeah,
there are some silver linings and some positives you can
take out of it, but overall, this is a huge,
huge blow to the Vikings and JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah, of course, I think it's a lot of spin.
When people start saying, hey, you know an injury earlier
in your career, it can really recenter your focus. It
can give you an opportunity to catch up. Because I'll
speak from experience here, your rookie year is like the
longest year of your life. You go from college preseason training,

(03:37):
all the things that you did getting ready for each season,
into your final college season, into bowl season, and then
that's extended with the playoffs now, especially for a player
like JJ McCarthy. And then immediately when that finishes, maybe
you get a week maybe not to just rest and
recover from the game, and then you're headlong into combine
training and you better be in shape when these scouts

(04:00):
go up on your campus and they want to kick
the tires on exactly how good of a prospect you are,
or when you get invited out to all these these
NFL facilities to get some early medical done or interviews
with the coaches where they want to have their own
medical staff meet with you, especially if you're not a
combined vite invite, but even if you are, and it

(04:22):
happens to be a team that's very interested in you.
And then the draft occurs, and then you go to
the team for rookie mini caamp and then OTAs and
then you're headlong into preseason training camp, and then preseason
games start, and then you're headlong into regular season, and that.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Is a slog like you've never experienced.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
Before in your life, because in college, your regular season
was twelve games. This is a seventeen week regular season now.
And then if you're so lucky, you get to the
postseason at some point you break every single rookie does.
And so yeah, if you want to draw the thinnest
of silver linings, he's not going to experience all that

(05:02):
mental anguish that a rookie goes through. But like you
pointed out, Brian, and I think it was perfectly you
also learn a lot during that time.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Are we sure he's gonna be the starter at any point,
like let's say, let's operate in a vacuum that he's healthy.
Is is he assumed at some point to be the
starter or is it Sam Darnold's job and JJ has
to overtake him because I think the situation's different than
what Carolina and Houston and even this year with the
rookie quarterbacks in Chicago of course, and Washington where they're

(05:32):
they're graduated and they're right there, they're QB one right
out of the gate, whereas I think JJ had a
little bit of ascension still to overcome. And I don't
know what that correct answer is because I haven't seen
enough of I haven't seen enough of Sam in this system.
Although he looks okay through the first you know, few
moments of training camp, and uh, you know what we've

(05:53):
seen in the preseason. But I think that was the
biggest question I had. And yes, he needs the reps
and he will continue to need the reps because reps
are reps whether they're in practice or in the game.
But I don't know how quickly he would have been
the starter, Like there's a chance he might not have
even been the starter until close to the end of
the season anyways. So I don't know at the end

(06:14):
of the rainbow, if he does end up being a
successful starter in this league, how much this will impact him,
because he might have only started three or four or
five games this year.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
I don't see it that way unless you believe so
strongly in Sam Darnald that he's gonna play that well,
where a top ten quarterback is just gonna sit and wait, like, hey,
you know what, Donald's got it, he's holding it down.
Just don't worry about it, JJ, You know, I don't
think it'd be like Drake May and Jacoby Brissett, unless

(06:45):
you think so strongly of Jacoby Brissett where the Pats
are like, you know what, Drake, don't even worry about
it right now, we got to We're just gonna ride
this up Brisset train for as long as it goes.
You know, I think that JJ would have got a
lot of playing time this season if not for the
knee injury. And that's what it brings us back. It

(07:05):
brings us back to the preseason conversation. All three of
us were on the of the thinking of play. You
got to knock the rust off, especially for a young guy.
But an injury like this, he's done for the season.
Some will look at this and say this is the
reason why you don't go out there. It's too risky,
you don't want to risk the season and all that
type of stuff. I just say, it's unfortunate, right. I

(07:28):
know there's an injury risk, but there's also a suck risk.
You know, you got to get out there and practice
in preseason as a young guy, take those reps, and
hopefully you avoid the injury bug. Mahomes is playing today.
Mahomes could get hurt against the Lions and be done
for the season, but there's a reason why Andy Reid
wants him out there. So I think this is totally

(07:50):
unfortunate for McCarthy to miss the season. But I don't
look at this and say this is why you don't
play these guys in the preseason. I don't look at
it like that.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
Well, look, if there was no such thing as a preseason,
all of these players would be ready to play come
Week one, because we saw that.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
During the pandemic.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
But the problem is, you're not just getting ready for
your season, you're also getting ready to compete against all
the other teams in the NFL who have all their
other strategies to get ready for a season.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
So, like you just.

Speaker 4 (08:18):
Pointed out, certain teams, certain players will get snaps, they
will play, they will get that experience younger, old veteran
or rookie.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
There are coaches who.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
Will, you know, foist that type of action on their
roster and they're gonna they're gonna want to see what
they have. And so it's it's really a risk reward thing.
How much risk are we willing to take to knock
that rust off versus on board the injury risk? You know,
if that's an assessment, how much risk are we willing

(08:50):
to take for injury? Just so we can see this
one running back with this one quarterback and how they
they gel together.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (08:59):
Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry for an example, it's like
you're gonna have to see them together in game mode
at least a couple times right before you get to
the regular season, so you can hammer out some of
the kinks. So but there is a risk that you're
on board and you have to do that on your
own internal assessment, you know, just to sort of give
a new wrinkle, a new side to this conversation with

(09:22):
JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
So he only has bo Nicks drafted.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
Behind him in the first round, So you know those
conversations and they come up every year. Oh man, you
know Team X could have had player why but they
went with this quarterback instead. So there was going to
be too much of that for JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
But for Caleb.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
Williams, this is kind of good news because say, Brian,
you were right. Say JJ McCarthy starts the season early,
and so does Caleb Williams. In Chicago, they're in the
same division, and all of a sudden, JJ McCarthy is
having more early success than Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
All of a sudden, Bears fan have an in division

(10:04):
and maybe even head to head, JJ McCarthy looks better
than Caleb Williams at times that adds more pressure to
the rookie quarterback in Chicago.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
So well, the injury, it almost doesn't.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
Feel positive at all for the Minnesota Vikings. This may
have taken some pressure off of Chicago rookie Caleb Williams
as a result of this.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
It's a good take. It's a really good take because
I honestly think that's at this point in the season.
All they all these guys have is their brains, right.
We don't have a whole lot of physical on tape
stuff to watch, you know what else. It is it
is a really good start to the campaign, right, we're campaigning.
It's an election year. The Kevin O'Connell coach of the
Year campaigns off to a great start, right, all of

(10:47):
a sudden, if the Vikings can still win the find
a way to win the division or get into the playoffs,
Kevin O'Connell looks like he's coming up roses here. Because again,
when you lose quarterbacks and guys go down and people
who you would to be, you know, starters at some point,
I think the most likely scenario follow up what I
said in the last time was I think it would
have been Donald starts the year and McCarthy eventually comes

(11:09):
in whenever the situation calls for. Maybe it's earlier, maybe
it's later, maybe it's after the Vikings are out of
the playoff race down the road. But I was pretty
certain Donald was gonna start the year QB one and
at least give him a few games right out of
the gate. Although that gate Week two against San Francisco
Looming is not an easy situation. Neither is the Week

(11:29):
three game against Houston, and then they go to Green
Bay and then they play Minnesota and then they play
the Lions. Like the first five six games for this
Vikings team is a test. I don't think they wanted
to throw the rookie out there right out of the gate.
But now it's Donald and we're gonna find out. Right
we've seen him in Carolina, San Francisco Jets, like, we've
seen all these spots, and we just haven't seen it

(11:51):
catch on. Maybe with a really good roster, with Justin
Jefferson and Hockinson and all these great weapons around him,
maybe Kevin O'Connell can catch lightning at a brottle With
Sam Darnold, I'll give you a nerd stat to end
on here. Over the last seven games that Donald has played,
he is grading out as the fourth best quarterback in
the league in terms of efficiency. Now that was back

(12:12):
in Carolina two years ago. But at least maybe there's
something there, guys, like maybe this isn't a complete death
blow to Minnesota season. Maybe they still can catch lightning
with Sam.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Okay, now here's the thing. This season of countdown to Kickoff,
we are going to be all about clock integrity. Okay,
we are gonna be all over now. I say that
because it fits right here a question, But I want
to a NOBS guarantee, huh from you guys. We'll only

(12:46):
go for like two more minutes.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Okay, that's just.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Start the clock, all right. The clock is ticking already.
But here's the question. Okay, especially for you Rich, also
you Jared, but especially Rich. As a former NFL player,
you hear this all the time. You never root for injury.
You never root for injury. You're Sam Darnald. Okay, you
washed out with the Jets, you washed out with the Panthers,
Like Jared just said, you were a backup with the

(13:11):
forty nine ers last season. Now you got a chance
to start for the Vikings. JJ McCarthy has this knee injury.
We don't know how severe it will be. Could be
a couple of weeks, could be six months. Okay, we
don't know. Rich you are, Sam Darnald, are you rooting for?
You know, this happens to be a season ending injury

(13:32):
and you got a chance to start the entire season.
If you're Sam Darnald, this might be your last chance
to be a starter in the NFL. You know, if
JJ is healthy, you might last until week three, week four,
and then that's it. Career backup, baby, What are you
rooting and hoping for? And how are you reacting to

(13:54):
the news that it was the more severe injury and
he's done for the year.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
So the path to greatness is actually a three way merge.
And for Sam Donald, what it's gonna take is preparation,
talent and opportunity to merge at the same time. And
then you have an opportunity for greatness. And so yeah,
JJ McCarthy sad news. You don't want to see that happen,

(14:21):
but that's the opportunity. This happened to Nick Foles. Carson
Wentz was on a MVP season in Philadelphia. He goes
down with an ACL tear. Nick Foles has a statue
out front of the stadium in Philadelphia, So Sam Donald
understands the opportunity he's just been given, and if he
still has the talent and he's prepared enough, greatness could

(14:43):
be waiting for him.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
The Vikings face the second easiest schedule of opposing past
defenses this year. They have Justin Jefferson, they have all
kinds of weapons, Addison Hockinson, Aaron Jones. They've got a
good offensive line, a great good head coach Brian Flores,
good defense. All they need is Sam Darnold to be
average and they will succeed this year. They will have

(15:06):
a winning record, they'll probably make the playoffs. That's it.
Just be average.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, look standing ovation at you.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
A great start. Whatever that was beautiful.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
We've got Penn State All American. Rich Ornberger FSR. Betting
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(16:03):
candidate as well? That is on the way. Keep it
locked right here. It's Fox Sports Radios countdown to kickoff.
We're back Baby, presented by bet MGM.

Speaker 5 (16:12):
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Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, I'm excited to win some of it this year.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
There you go. Okay, so, uh, I'm excited for little
hashtag Rise Up you know, hasn't really caught on in
the same way as some other teams, but that is
the slogan for the Atlanta Falcons. Rise up. And they
have traded for Matthew Judon, who is a really good
rush linebacker, if you will, was with the Patriots. They

(18:17):
trade for him and they sign All Pro safety Justin Simmons.
So two big pickups for that defense. I think the
Judon trade is huge. Look at a couple of these
numbers for the Falcons last three years. Four point four
percent sack rate worse than the NFL, twenty four percent
pressure rate worse than the NFL. That's for the Falcons

(18:41):
the last three seasons. And they pick up Matthew Judon.
He's had seasons over the last three years twelve and
a half sacks, fifteen and a half sacks. He can
pressure the quarterback. Was coming off season ending bicep surgery,
he had that injury. But I think this is a big,
big upgrade for a defense that was pretty bad and

(19:02):
could not get after the quarterback whatsoever the last three years.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
Oh, I completely agree.

Speaker 4 (19:07):
And then you turn your attention to the rest of
the offenses around the NFC, or I should say the
NFC South, specifically the division that the Falcons play in.
Carolina's still struggling a little bit finding their path with
Bryce Young. Tampa Bay Buccaneers found something really special last
year with Baker Mayfield and they reloaded with Evans, so

(19:29):
we'll see if they can continue that offensive success. And
then the notes out of training camp with the Saints
are that Derek Carr believes they are ten times further
along than they were at the end of last season.
So you're gonna have stiff competition offensively in division and
so you're gonna need to slow down, especially Tampa, especially

(19:51):
New Orleans in order to have a route to the
postseason or easier route to the postseason, if that's the case.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
Because the Falcons offense.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
They've made some commitments here in the draft with Pennix Junior,
but also in free agency with Captain Kirk he's your
quarterback now.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
So the Falcons are.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
Looking to be a contender and they're acting like it
this offseason.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, what's the phrase, better late than never? I think
that's where I'm at with Atlanta because the biggest question
I was very I thought the Cousins deal really changed
the way Atlanta can operate. But then we get to
the draft and we're sitting here on draft night and
the Falcons are picking eighth, and there's a slew any
defensive player they want to take they could take, and

(20:37):
they passed, completely passed, and they went with Michael Pennix.
I think if you asked a lot of you know,
people in the know, they would tell you that they
expected that. But I'm not one of those people that's
inside the tight NFL general manager scouting circles. I was
shocked by that move, and I was shocked even more
that they decided not to sign any defensive players in

(20:58):
free agency that played more than fifty percent of snaps
for their team last season, so they had a hole
on defense. They just brought in a defensive coach for him, Morris,
and they just completely neglected the defense during the draft
in free agency, didn't even pay any attention to it.
Maybe maybe they started to see what was transpiring on
the field in the early parts of training camp and

(21:20):
they said, man, we really need to get help defensively
because we don't have the goods if we don't, and
or maybe they this just kind of fell into their lap.
I don't know how it all went down, but it
doesn't matter because they got two very good defensive players
that immediately slot in his starters and will immediately help
this team win. And again that's the only hole that

(21:41):
I saw with Atlanta. I think you could maybe make
a case that they're a little fin at receiver. Rondell
Moore is a little banged up, and they're gonna play
a lot more three wides this year because Zach Robinson
comes over from the Rams, and they're gonna run a lot
more eleven personnel, So maybe the receiver depth is still
a little thin. But now they added two defensive stars
I would call I'll call Jude on a star Sibbons,
you could you could argue, and this is a very

(22:02):
different roster. How I feel about them going forward?

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Now, I liked my Raheem Morris selection for Coach of
the Year. For these moves, I like it even more.
Right now, there you go, because think about this. You
get Kirk Cousins over there. He replaces the two headed
monster of gosh, what did we have last season, Desmond
Ritter and it was a quarterback that was rough. Now

(22:29):
we got Kirk who puts up numbers. You're gonna see
the best out of those top ten players, right, and
Jean Robinson and Kyle Pitts and Drake London. Now we're
cooking with Greece offensively, but defensively a couple of big pickups.
I love Matthew Judon going over there. I think Raheem
Morris is gonna help out that defense. This is not

(22:49):
a gauntlet of a division. And this is a team
that's won seven games in five of the last six seasons.
Think about seven. They's been below average for six years now.
So if they are a nine ten win team, that
could be enough for Raheem Morris to win Coach of
the Year. I texted this to Jeff Schwartz. You'll hear

(23:11):
him tomorrow on countdown to kickoff. I'm like, oh, I
loved my Raheem Morris pick even I loved it before,
I love it even more now after these deals. He
hit me with, eh, that's what he hit anything Falcons related.
I'm like, more buddy for me, baby, more buddy. What
do you think of Raheem Morris coach of the year?

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Rich?

Speaker 4 (23:31):
I think you need to have a great quarterback to
be considered for a Coach of the Year, or you
need to have a season like Kevin Stefanski had to
be considered for coach of the Year, where you know,
through all of the fire and brimstone outlook of having
to start six different quarterbacks, you find a way to

(23:51):
cobble together a playoff season. So he I mean, check
one major box for Raheem Morris. He's got a great quarterback.
And I truly believe that Kirk Cousins is a great quarterback.
I'm not saying that he's elite. I'm not saying he's
in that upper echelon where it's kind of like Mahomes
and then a combination of names that include Alan Jackson

(24:13):
and Burrow, but Helen Jackson, I like that, yeah, Alan Jackson,
Yeah yeah, Alan Jackson, Borrough, Like it's those three for sure.
In the top four, it's Patrick Mahomes number one. You
sort of can interchange the other three. But but then
below that there's that second tier, and somewhere in that
second tier is Kirk Cousins. And that means that Kirk Cousins,

(24:35):
in my view, is good enough to win a Super Bowl.
It's not gonna be a situation where it's anywhere near
as consistently in terms of the prospects for a borough,
Alan Jackson or certainly in Mahomes.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
But he's in the conversation.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
The problem is in division, he's had so many roadblocks.
You look at the commanders during his time in Washington,
you had at least two teams better than you at
all times. You look at that NFC North when he
was with the Vikings. Aaron Rodgers was the mayor of
that division for the entirety of his time there, and
the Detroit Lions started getting really good during his time there.

(25:12):
You know, you go down to the NFC South, you're
competing with Carr.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Mayfield and Young.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
It's kind of like the island of misfit toys down there.
He's got an opportunity to be the best quarterback in
the division for the first time in a very long time.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
And so I believe in Raheem Morris.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
I think because of his quarterback and because of the
additions to the defense, he's got a real shot here.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
I like Morris too. I think again, the questions were
to me about you bring in a defensive coach. Why
didn't you address the defense early in the draft or
really at all in free agency? But again, better late
than never. It's not how you get there? Are you there?
And Matthew Judon. It's a twofold. It's a two pronged story.

(26:00):
It's Atlanta beefing up and really putting themselves in a
position to win. And on the other side, it's New
England saying, yeah, we've got no shot this year. Take
our best basically our best player for a third round
pick and and we're just gonna move on with our
with our tank job here. But I really think Atlanta
has an interesting situation for your Raheem Morris selection here, Brian,

(26:23):
and I'll say, here's the here's the path, here's the
script that I think gets you this win. I think
it's got to be Pennis and not Cousins. I think
Cousins has to go down or not be one hundred
percent and Penix then has to take over the job.
Because remember how I think the script to win Coach
of the Year is starting to change a little bit.

(26:44):
It is a script. We do know that it's kind
of middling teams that overshoot. That was what Houston did
last year, but they didn't win. You know, they didn't
win Coach of the Year. To Bigo Ryans and win
that award. It was the upheaval of Cleveland situation, great roster,
bad quarterback situation. That's why I like the Minnesota pick

(27:05):
with o'connellen. Yeah. I think if if Cousins gets dinged
up or doesn't come back one hundred percent and Pennix
comes in and all of a sudden he's great and
they win the division, that's the path I see for
Raheem Morris to win Coach of the Year.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
Well, the path for us to receive a great radio
show recognition is to work Isaac Lowan growing into the conversation. Absolutely,
that's the path for us. I low with the latest.

Speaker 7 (27:33):
Just take the path train. Good morning, fellas, how are
you good?

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Fday?

Speaker 7 (27:36):
Warning Bud all you Budd Always great to share the
airwaves with you, and always great for a Yankee fans.
When Aaron Judge gets into the act. Is on Friday night,
he and his major league leading forty fourth home run
and they're three to nothing victory at Detroit Crazy Game
in Baltimore, Red Sox prevailed over the Orioles twelve to ten.
Boston's Masataka Yoshida a home run in four RBI in

(27:57):
a losing cause. The Oriols Ramona Urrios home un and
five RBI and Baltimore rookie Jackson Holiday his first career
four hit game Phillies over the Nationals four to three,
trade Turner the game winning RBI single in the bottom
of the ninth inning his fourth hit of the night.
Pirates broke a ten game losing streak with a five
to three win over the Mariners. Pittsburgh rookie hurler Paul
Skeene struck out six and six innings for the win

(28:19):
newm group of seven to two with a two point
three zero e er. White Sox a five to four
win at Houston to break the Astros eight game winning streak.
Luis Robert Junior two home runs, four hits, four RBI,
and the Tampa Bay Rays walked off the Arizona Diamondbacks
five to four to break Arizona's six game winning streak,
and the WNBA Friday Night Caitlin Clark twenty nine points,

(28:41):
ten assists and four to three pointers in the Indiana
Fevers ninety eight to eighty nine win over the Phoenix Mercury.
Today's NFL preseason action kicks off at noon Eastern, with
the Ravens hosting the Falcons, then kicking off at one
pm Eastern. It's the Chicago Bears playing host to the
Cincinnati Bengals and the Houston Texans taking on the New
York Giants.

Speaker 8 (29:02):
Fellas back to you.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Thank You, I Lo. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown
to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. As the nation is
struggling with rising expenses, Fox Sports Radio entire rack dot
Com have teamed up to put something valuable in the
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brand new tires valued it up to fifteen hundred dollars
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(29:26):
selected and now two more listeners will receive a set
of four brand new tires plus installation, taxes and fees
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register for a fresh new entry to boost your chances

(29:48):
of winning. That's at Foxsports Radio dot Com. It's all
furnished by tire rack dot Com the way tire buying
should be. So I had to throw this in there
because rich. You had the bet payoff last year where
you had to drink coffee with mayonnaise in it. A'llah
will Levis, the Titans quarterback.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
There is something that we need to clean up here
and it's been a long wait. But before kickoff of
the regular season.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, I have.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
To still do this bet left over from last Yeah,
that's right. So the problem. The problem for me is,
as it turns out, I'm a much better off season
better than I am an e season better because this offseason,
I mean last week I went three and zero and
rapid fire.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
I mean I'm in fuego.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
This this this regular seat, I have a hill to climb. Anyways,
we had the same bet back to back years. I
drank the mayonnaise coffee from two years ago, the twenty
twenty two season. I still haven't drank the mayonnaise coffee
from the twenty twenty season.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
I did too.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
You are a man of Intex you are because this
came down to the Super Bowl, you know, and you
know what was it like Deebo Samuels is the first half?

Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, it was a prop on Deebo's first half.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
It was like his first half longest rush or something
random and he barely didn't get there.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Yeah you owe it was nineteen and a half yards.
So there it is.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Here's my prediction for the year. Rich is winning this
thing this year.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Oh wow, really thanking the whole thing, by the way.
So the uh, the reason the mayonnaise conversation came back
up our guy Will Levis, Titans quarterback.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Goodness, he has partnered.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
With Hellman's for a mayonnaise inspired fragrance. That's right, basically
like perfume day mayonnaise over here is uh what we're
going on? What do you think about this?

Speaker 3 (31:47):
Huh? What do you think? Rich?

Speaker 2 (31:48):
I can't imagine you're gonna be down for Will Levis
number eight harpoon Dayne's so shockingly.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
You guys know my schedule.

Speaker 4 (31:57):
I work all around the I'm here with you fine
gentlemen on Countdown, and then I do Red Zone Radio
with Hartman on Fox Sports Radio, and then I have
two weekday morning radio shows as well.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
I do a midday sports show.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
I also do a classic rock morning show with the
same fellas well. On that morning show, we purchased we
purchased the Perfume de Mayonnaise perfume, so they ran out
the first stock, we were on the website, and as
it turns out, if you were on that same website

(32:33):
at I guess It's Best Foods or Helman's, my co
host bought it at seven am. The next morning, they
restocked and we got our hands on a bottle.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Oh wow, Okay, so we're gonna give this a shot.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
I have no idea if it's gonna be like an
everyday where for me, maybe just for fancy nights out.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
But this will Levis mayonnaise thing. I cannot get away
from it.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
Hold on, hold on, Brian, I don't know how you
feel about this. Do you want because we made Rich
drink the coffe last year?

Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah? Because now he No, don't don't get a heart now, Jared.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
No, Well, here's what I'm saying. Men, I'm not I'm
not saying he gets off Scott free. Here I'm saying,
do you want to amend this year's wager? This year's
waging not not the one that he's gonna have to
do before the season starts. This year's wager for who
finishes last has to go out on a real date

(33:26):
with whoever could be your wife, whoever with the cologne
like like you have to bathe in like you have
to like just like like ten fifteen twenty sprays and
be out in public the whole night with the male colonel.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
I don't hate that.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
I think it's a fun punishment, no less gross for
at least the people at least you, not nothing people
around you.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're gonna punish a lot of folks.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
Although pish whoever you go on a date with, this
is my nightmare.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
It could be delicious, it could smell. I mean, who knows,
this might be like a new aphrodisiac. Where it could be.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
I mean, maybe we'll keep it open where it is. Uh,
that's portion a of the two or three pronged bet
yoff and say you've got to drink and do the mail.
Right's what I'll say it.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
That's what spell some die.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
You could double dip you. We'll leave that door open here,
all right. We've got Rich Arnberger, Penn State, All American,
Jared Smith FSR, betting analyst. I'm Brian No. Right around
the corner the parlay platter. Huh. Jared has been in
the lab working hard on this one. We'll see what
he has set to unveil. Right around the corner. It
is Fox Sports Saturday, Fox Sports Radios count Down to

(34:38):
Kickoff presented by bet MGM. It is Fox Sports Radios
Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Every time you
make a wager at bet MGM, you earn BETMGM rewards
points that can be redeemed for things like bonus bets
or converted to MGM rewards points that can be used
towards dining shows and hotel rooms at over twenty m

(35:00):
GM resorts. No time to waste, let's do this.

Speaker 5 (35:05):
Check this out r late letter.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
All right, mister Jared Smith, what do you have for
us today?

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Buddy?

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Well, I will call this my mount rushmore of NFL
division winners. We're gonna get to some futures bets a
little bit later in the show. This is a bundle
of futures, a gaggle of futures, because it's all in
a parlay and bet MGM does allow you to do this,
put division winners together and parlay them. Why do I
like this, Well, because it's obviously not a you know,

(35:32):
against the grain. You can't have two teams in the
same division win win their division, so you can kind
of spread out your allocation here and you could hammer
a highly abedable thing here. So we're gonna go. We're
gonna start with the Chiefs to win the AFC West.
They won eight division titles in a row. Guys, They're
not losing the division title this year. I don't see
the Chargers making a run. I don't see Boe Nicks

(35:54):
and the Broncos making a run. And I certainly do
not see the Las Vegas Raiders, who might be one
of the worst teams in the NFL after it's all
said and make a run. So the Chiefs WO are
a big favorite to win the division. They go at
the top of the Mount rushmore the core four of
NFL division winners this year. My second team on this
list is in the NFC East, and I think it's
the Eagles year in the NFC East. Last year it
was Cowboys. The Eagles had it until they didn't. A

(36:16):
lot of retooling for Philly in the offseason.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
I think they're much better.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
I think Kellen Moore, especially with Jalen Hurts, is going
to be a match made in heaven. And I think
the Eagles are going to win the NFC East. Now
let's go to I would call it the undercart of
the Mount Rushmore. I'm not as confident in these two,
but I'm still pretty confident. Let's start with the Lions
to win the NFC nor. This Detroit team has what
I believe to be the best culture in the league.

(36:42):
What do they say, good teams win, great teams cover.
The Lions have now put together three consecutive seasons covering
at over a sixty percent rate under Dan Campbell. They
just get it done. I think this is a tough division.
I think Green Bay and Minnesota have a chance to
really contend. Not as high on Chicago just yet with

(37:03):
the rookie quarterback, but I still think the Lions are
kind of the class of this division in terms of
the culture, the offensive line, the way their offenses run
under Ben Johnson's up with the Lions in the NFC
North for my division parlay. And finally, I think this
team will not have as much success as they did
last year in the regular season, but come close to it.

(37:23):
And that is the Houston Texans in the AFC South.
I actually think of all the four that I'm giving
you here, I think this AFC South will be the
tightest of the four because I think the Colts and
the Jaguars have a chance, and I think the Texans
kind of overshot last year and I expect them to
come back to earth just a little bit. But I
still think Stroud and Ryan's and what they did in

(37:44):
the offseason bringing in Stefan Diggs, I still think that's
good enough to be the class.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Of this division.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
So the Chiefs in the West, Eagles in the NFC East,
Texans in the AFC South Lions, NFS North. I didn't
realize this. I got an East, West, South, and North
all in here. All the directions are covered. This is
eleven to one at met MGM. Four teams to win
the division. You get to sit on this puppy the
entire season.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
I like it a lot.

Speaker 4 (38:09):
I think this is a really really fun way to play.
Some futures parlay.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
The only one I would have added to this, although
I understand why you didn't is out of the NFC
West San Francisco. I'm assuming because the IUK news hasn't
settled yet.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yeah, so we've discis I don't know if we've discussed
San Francisco. We should before the season starts. I'm down
on them. I cannot down on them to where I
think they're gonna miss the playoffs and have this miserable
year like be picking in the top ten in the draft.
But I think their priced just as high as the
Chiefs are. To win the AFC West. I see a
lot more competition in the NFC West because I think

(38:49):
the Rams with Stafford can still compete.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
And I'll be honest, don't sleep on Seattle bringing in
this new coach McDonald who could defend who he knows
defense is better than anyone. And I think Gino Smith
still has one good year left and they've got a
lot of good pieces around them offensively. So I'm not
completely ruling out Seattle. I just I'm a little down
on the Niners, the offensive line, the EYEU thing. I
just I don't know if it's going to be a

(39:12):
you know, thirteen to fourteen win year for San Francisco. Man.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
I just think about last year if you had the
Eagles to win their division.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
Oh you're crushed.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Oh my gosh. Can you imagine if history repeats itself
and that's what undoes the eleven to one division winners?

Speaker 1 (39:30):
Oh, he can check it back in on this down
the road and we'll quote this one.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Yeah, the one thing I'll say real fast about the Texans.
I love their roster, but trading a last place schedule
for a first place schedule.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
If we should get into the Texans too, I've got
some stuff on them too. That's a little negative.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Got stuff, We got stuff, stuff, babe. We'll get into
the stuff they coming up next. This is a ridiculous punishment.
Will they lay that out for you?

Speaker 5 (39:56):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Us? Oh, what is going on? Happen?

Speaker 2 (40:00):
It be Saturday to you as we march toward kickoff here,
we've got Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETTMGM.
We are back, baby, and we will be here year round,
which is just an awesome, awesome thing. Could not be happier. Now,
we don't talk a whole lot of swimming on this show,

(40:22):
but we do talk gambling, right and man, there's a
story that we just have to touch on for a
little bit here. Notre Dame suspended its men's swimming program
for at least one year. For at least one year. Now,
what did they do?

Speaker 3 (40:39):
Well?

Speaker 2 (40:39):
There was an external review, okay, and the external review
found members of the team they violated NCAA rules by
wagering among themselves on results of their competitions. Okay, they're
not betting on opposing teams or other sports. There was

(41:00):
nothing found as far as that goes. There was no hazing,
there's no bullying. They're just betting on themselves and their
times whether they'll go over or under a certain time.
They get popped for it, they're done for an entire
academic year. Now, the problem I have with this is,

(41:20):
can you, for a second, like close your eyes and
imagine a world where the Notre Dame football team is
doing the same thing. Okay, they're found to have wagered
this offseason. If Riley Leonard will throw at least two
touchdown passes in the opener against Texas A and M,
you think they're popped. You think they're suspended for an
entire year. Hell no, And that's the problem I have.

(41:44):
This is a complete overreaction, way too heavy handed of
a punishment, and totally inconsistent because you're not doing this
with money making sports. There is zero chance they would
do this with the football team. So the swimming team
the sacrificial lambs. They're the example of hey, straighten up

(42:04):
or you could be like them, even though there is
zero chance that whatever happens to the football team. I
think this story sucks. I hate it.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
I agree with you.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
I completely agree with you. I think that and I'm
blanking on his first name, but Bovaqua, yes, Pete, Pete Bavaqua,
the athletic director for the Notre Dame Irish. The way
this occurred was a way for him to look like
the compliance czar for his school that he's taking a

(42:36):
strong stance against all of this, and he actually just
saved his athletic department a boatload of money because you
don't have to travel your swimming team, even though they're
a top ten program. You don't have to worry about
sending these guys to an arbor or I don't even
know who they compete against in swimming. To be perfectly
honest with you, I'm guessing it's more acc teams, but

(43:00):
I digress on that to say this, You're absolutely right.
If this was their men's basketball team or their football
team wouldn't have happened. And frankly, I don't want to
defend these players, these swimmers, these participants too ardently because
I don't know the nuance here. I don't know the
context here, and none of us do. I don't know

(43:23):
what these text messages look like. This group text that
was cited in these articles that apparently, if I'm sure,
were made public, would defame the Notre Dame Athletic department
in some way.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
But I do know this. I know that athletes we
talk a.

Speaker 4 (43:40):
Lot of mess you know, especially when you're a tight
group like brothers, and you know, you'll say things privately
that you would never say publicly. You'll tease people in
certain ways you would never allow outside of a locker room.
And that's the trust that you build with people who
you legitimately consider family because you go through in certain cases,

(44:01):
harder things with the people in that locker room than
you will with even the own members of your family.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
So this is a scapegoats courts.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
Yeah, yeah, you trust them like family, and it does
feel like they've been scapegoated.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Here, Yeah, it does, that is what it feels like. Now.
I've never played anything collegiately like rich has are and professionally,
but you know, I've had a lot of recreational sports
in my day, high school sports. Now, gambling wasn't as
popular back in those days as it is now, and
I think that is a big part of this story too.

(44:34):
I think the culture of gambling has overtaken the youth
of America. They love it. That's why it's it's one
of the reasons why it's become so successful. The other reason,
of course, being just it's always been successful. It's just
always been underground. But the youth has really captured here. Like,
you know, I'm on social media a lot in the

(44:55):
gambling community. I see the hashtags and the raises and
all the you know, the lingo, and it's like it's
a whole new generation. And it's funny because I interact
with a lot of older professional gamblers, like our pal
Bell Krackenberger here here tomorrow, and a lot of his
colleagues and friends, and it's like a completely it's a divide.
It's a generational gap between what they do and what again,

(45:19):
eighteen to twenty two year old, twenty five year old
you know, post college kids are doing right now in
the gambling space. This seems very very normal to me,
Like what these kids did, Like they're betting on themselves
and they're making it competitive and its personal growth and
they're trying to beat their own times or compete against

(45:41):
each other. In my eyes, this should be applauded. I
sent the text to you guys yesterday about this. Not
all heroes were capes somewhere, goggles and caps, and that's
to me, that's what this story is. They are taking
the rap for something that in twenty years we're gonna
look back and laugh at this. And I think Notre

(46:02):
Dame kind of had their hands tied because of the
current climate around gambling, and that climate is hot, it's heavy,
and it's not quite mainstream yet. We're getting there, right.
We got to show a nation already every Saturday and
Sunday mornings year round. That's pretty cool, but it's not
there yet in the collegiate ranks. And I think that's
why this happened. And it's terribly it's awful, it's dumb,

(46:23):
it's silly, it's stupid. I hate it, but it happened.
And this is where we're at still currently in America
with this gambling climate.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Yeah, and rich you mentionede Bovaqua. He's the ad at
Notre Dame and I worked with him when I was
at NBC right when I did my local show in
Portland that was NBC Sports Northwest when it was still around,
and he was a head hon show at NBC, and
so I interacted with Pete at times. I think highly
of him. I think he's awesome, but I think he

(46:53):
completely botched this one because whatever you want to say, like, well,
what were these derogatory remarks in this group text message, dude?
If the football team was doing the exact same thing
they could for you, yeah, they might be. I wouldn't
be surprised at all if they're like, hey, is uh

(47:13):
is Smith's gonna get nine tackles in the opener, right, Like,
I wouldn't be surprised at all. That's the thing to
be done for an entire year. To me, it's like
if they did this gambling thing amongst themselves and they
like murdered goats, you know, and you're like, well, I mean.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Or if it was and you've got to do something
bad like hazing.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Yeah right, yeah, just dangerous, Yeah, just betting on your
own times and maybe a group text thread, and I
feel bad. The story said about sixty percent of the
swim team was in on this thing, so think of
the forty percent that didn't do any of this. Yeah,
and they're just like cool, So we don't have swimming
for an entire year. I could transfer, but that's a

(47:55):
whole thing. I kind of wanted to do a degree
from the University of Notre Dame. I think it's heavy handed.
I think it's over the top. I do not agree
with it whatsoever. But while we're talking about college football,
how about this. You hear that the suits, the group
of five commissioners, they're gonna be getting together here soon

(48:15):
and they're gonna vote on whether they should have a
group of five playoff right where it would be sort
of like the nit of football. We've got the college
football playoff. There will be one group of five team
in that thing every year to twelve teams. They're invited
to the party. They're not giving that up, but they're
thinking about a group of five playoffs. I'm all for it.

(48:38):
I would absolutely love to see this. I would watch it.
I think it would give them their moment in the sun.
I think it's way better than these like lower tier
bowl games. If they have a group of five playoff,
I'm all for that. I think that'd be a great
move for them.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
I think it would be a great move.

Speaker 4 (48:53):
However, I would say this, there's always adenda to every single,
every single decision made, and you have to have a
way to get out of it if the playoff expands
ever further.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
So, right now we have twelve teams.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
In and that does very much so feel like that
there will be a separation between the powers of college
football and then the rest. And oftentimes when we talk
about the rest, we talk about the group of five. However,
if twelve teams works really well, like we know, this

(49:32):
consistently shifting landscape of college football, maybe expands to sixteen.
Maybe it expands one day. And don't think I'm crazy,
because greed is real and money works for all these
schools and all these networks and all these conferences. What
if it expands to thirty two? You know what, if

(49:53):
you have a thirty two team bracket, do you still
want your own playoff bracket if you're the group of five?
The answer is absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
I would.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
I would because how many teams are getting out at
thirty two?

Speaker 1 (50:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (50:04):
Yeah, yeah, I guess that's fair.

Speaker 4 (50:07):
But in for example, in college basketball, I mean, like
you said, you do have then it. In college basketball,
the tournament's everything, you know, So I suppose you could
still have almost like I don't want to call it
the loser's bracket because that's that's being unfair, but but
you have a a second tier bracket to pay attention to,

(50:31):
and it makes it compelling at very least to have
some form of a postseason, but everybody's attentions on the tournament.
So I would say, yeah, I don't mind the idea
in concept, but if playoffs are expanded, I think you
got to find a way to wiggle your way out
of that and join the rest of the pack again.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
I think the only thing that is certain in college
football right now is uncertainty, right And I hate to
be so cliche about it, but it's just so every
year and we haven't even wrapped our heads around it yet.
We're going to in about thirty minutes because we're gonna
do a future segment about who is gonna make the
college football playoff and my big I'll call it, I

(51:12):
guess talking point this year, you know, just just focus
this year is how many seats are at the table
compared to what the odds are telling us. And I
think it's gonna be such a fascinating shift because we
go from four to twelve and we don't really know,
like what is gonna transpire. I was thinking about putting
a college football, uh a parlay futures parlay in there

(51:35):
where I threw the national champion in a couple of
other you know, parlay spots, And I'm thinking to myself
last night when I was cooking that one up, I'm like,
I don't even know what the bracket's gonna look like,
Like I don't even know what the pat like. It's
such a unique scenario in collegeora ball this year. We
have no way of knowing what because we have no
history to go off of. It is completely brand new.

(51:57):
And I know the college ball Playoff was also brand new,
but at least we had a few years of it
to kind of get into a rhythm. Like, yeah, you know,
if you lose one game and you're not an SEC team,
you're probably not getting a large, Like you're probably not
getting in. Now, if you lose one or two games
as an SEC team, you're probably still getting in. So
it changes the math so much. So to go to

(52:17):
the group of five stuff, I think they deserve more
of a spotlight because I think there's a lot of
good football teams in those conferences, and I think this
would be a really positive thing to give them their
own show. Is it gonna happen anytime soon? Probably not,
but I'd be all for it.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
If it did.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
Would I would too, I really would, because the stakes,
if the stakes are greater, if it's for the group
of five playoff championship, right, I'm gonna watch James Madison
take on two Lane or whatever it happens to be, right,
that's better than whatever the modern day Poland Weed Eater
Bowl is, you know.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
What I mean, pop Tarts Bowl anymore?

Speaker 2 (52:57):
Yeah, it just doesn't do it. What do you think
of marketing purposes though? Rich you mentioned this instead of
the group of five playoff, how about the loser's bracket?

Speaker 8 (53:06):
I love it?

Speaker 3 (53:08):
Can you imagine it? That's how they That's how they
market it, the losers bracket.

Speaker 4 (53:13):
You get Beck out there playing halftime and some of
these games.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
Look, I love I.

Speaker 4 (53:20):
Love opportunities for athletes to play plays as much as
they can to get that exposure, because sometimes all it
takes is one game, right, I mean, sometimes a star
is born in a bowl game that nobody was paying
attention to, but all of a sudden, a quarterback has
a six touchdown game.

Speaker 3 (53:38):
And we're like, whoa who is this? You know?

Speaker 4 (53:41):
Or running back racks off of two hundred forty yard
performance and we're like.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
What the heck? You know? You can?

Speaker 4 (53:47):
You can all of a sudden, and especially these days,
since basically all these players are a CEO of their
own little small business, you can. You can do yourself
some huge favors just by getting out there and doing
special things on the field. So the more opportunities for
all that the better. I'm not against it. I'm just saying,
you know, make sure that there's an exit clause on

(54:09):
anything you sign because the changes, Like you said, Jared,
I mean, this is the only consistency is inconsistency right
now in college football?

Speaker 1 (54:19):
No, yeah, that's that's one hundred percent. I think group
of five makes sense. I love the NIT, Brian. I
know you're into it too, like I think I've been.
And you know, I went to an n T game
at the Garden. They don't have it at the Garden anymore,
at least the finals. It was Penn State, Notre Dame.
Joe Paterno was there. Like the NT games they've got
juiced to him. Man, I would be so down.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
For that in college football ranks, I would too, absolutely
all right. That's the voice of Jared Smith FSR betting
analyst Rich Ornberger with US Penn State All American. I'm
Brian know. Be sure to check out the new looking
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(55:02):
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Coming up next, There's been a lot of hard talk,

(55:25):
but it's just talk. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown
to Kickoff presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios
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(55:49):
name a couple, and be sure to follow BETMGM across
all socials at BETMGM. Okay, So, Brandon Aiyuk forty nine
wide receiver gonna remain forty nine Ers wide receiver. Okay,
There's been a lot of hard talk, but it's just talk, right,
Like Brandon Ayuk was posting screenshots of Jaden Daniels and

(56:13):
the Washington Commanders like all twenty two training camp where
they were teammates at Arizona State for a little bit,
and it's just negotiating tactics, right, That's all this is.
We're now getting to the point where the first three
years of the contract extension are pretty much ironed out,

(56:34):
and i Uk want something a little bit to go
his way in year four of the contract extension. He's
not going anywhere, man. He's not going to the Steelers,
not going to the Browns, not going to the Patriots.
He's gonna end up right back in San Francisco because
that's the best spot for him and that's the best
situation for the forty nine Ers. We've had situations that

(56:55):
are way worse than this. It just popped into my
mind a couple of minutes ago. Is a CBA negotiation
years ago. It was when Paul Tagliabu was still the
commissioner of the NFL and Gene Upshaw was the head
of the players Union, and it looked like there might
be a lockout. Gene Upshaw was like, Yeah, we'll just
proceed to the lockout. Terms aren't in our favorite Paul

(57:17):
Tagliabu its classic line was it's about as dire as
dire d And guess what they ironed it out. There
was no lockout like this this IUK and forty nine
ers thing. When you're in the middle of it and
you're like, oh, Manda, the Browns offered a trade and
he's gonna end up right back in San Francisco.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
Yeah, I completely agree with you.

Speaker 4 (57:40):
When you think about, in the case of Brandon Ayyuk,
how do you create leverage. You create leverage like you
would in a hand of poker. You bluff Yep, that's
that's how this works. So say you you think you
have a pretty good hit, but you're not one hundred

(58:01):
percent sure it's the best hand at the table. How
do you encourage others to fold? How do you encourage
others to get out of the way so that you
increase your odds of winning with a pretty good hand
instead of the best hand at the table By bluffing,
You push some chips in, you throw your weight around,
you start, you start making, you start figuring out who's

(58:24):
the scared money at this table.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
That's what Brandon.

Speaker 4 (58:28):
Ayuk is doing. This is all big talk, right. People
don't make decisions. Deadlines do. And we're not up against
a hard and fast deadline yet. And so until we are,
this dance will continue, and Brandon Ayuk will continue playing
his leverage until it gets serious, until he's missing out

(58:48):
on game checks, until this gets to the point when
the San Francisco forty nine ers need him and somebody
else is going to have to fill the void.

Speaker 3 (58:57):
He's not gonna want that.

Speaker 4 (58:59):
So in this situation, what we've seen so far feels
like a big old leverage play.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
And Branda I.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
Knows and has always known that he's going to be
a forty nine er. It just the only difference is
going to be how many dollars hit his bank account
each week.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Yeah, I think it's kind of funny because we're going
to go from this story. And I agree with both
your takes Hunter percent Richie Nail did. It's all about leverage,
the proper leverage and the timing of it. There was
no immediate urgency to do this in June or July
or even August. And now we're starting to get to
that point where it's getting close to the finish line.

(59:39):
But what did we hear this week? All positives? Oh,
they're so close and years three or four is done.
And even Deebo Samuel went on I think it was
k Adam show, uh yesterday or earlier this week, and said, hey,
we're not going to worry about you know, because she
asked the question can you win a Super Bowl without
Brandon Ay? And Deebo's like, we're not to worry about

(01:00:00):
the like Ba is gonna be part of this team.
I think that was the exact quote. So again, all
of the all of the surrounding parts of this story
seemed to be calm. It seems to be more detant.
We are now in a period of calm. It was
hot and heavy for a few weeks. Maybe he's gonna
go to Pittsburgh, Maybe he's gonna go here, and now
it's kind of the back end of it where, yeah,

(01:00:22):
we're not in what was Tagley Blues line, such a
great line.

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
Dire, it's about as dire as dire.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
We're not there anymore. We're not as dire anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
No, not as dire. I love this to remember the
Christian McCaffrey thing. He was on NFL Network and he
accidentally said this about Brandon and Ayyuk.

Speaker 4 (01:00:39):
Obviously as a as a former teammate or you know,
teammate of his in general, you want the best for them.

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
As a former teammate. We're like, former teammate want to
CMC though that we don't know, and it's just a
slip up, man, Like it doesn't mean anything. I love
that hole. That was my favorite part of this whole
thing is if the Niners went to Christian McCaffrey and said, hey, listen,
we can't let it out publicly yet, but yeah, right

(01:01:06):
like you is gone. Come on, man, it's just a
slip up. And when it seems you'll see these headlines
like there's a deal in place, the Steelers have a
deal in place, And I would be floored if he
went to the Steelers, and it got that personal where
you think that the Steelers are gonna break the bank
and he's making way more money over there with an

(01:01:27):
iffier situation, right like quarterback wise, roster wise, competing for
a Super Bowl wise, all that type of stuff. Does
he want to live there?

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Like, there's all this He's not going anywhere, man, this
is all like Rich said, it's a leverage play and
it's a big bluff to try to get more money.
And I get it. That's what you have to do
in a negotiation. You try to get more leverage. That's
what he's doing. He's bluffing that he's going somewhere else
when he never was.

Speaker 4 (01:01:55):
When you're a player like Stefan Diggs who's currently with
a good football team, but you're looking for one big
old paycheck before you call your career, you call it
a career. What he did to the Buffalo Bills makes sense, right,
you know, you think about he switched from the Vikings
to the Bills, hit it off with Josh Allen, they

(01:02:17):
have success, and then the kind of the same thing
that happened with him and the Vikings are him with
Kirk Cousins. It started happening with the Bills and Josh Allen.
So he skipped ship over to the Houston Texans, who
again another team that has a real shot.

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
Brandon Ayuk.

Speaker 4 (01:02:34):
He's in the first system he's ever played in, and
there's always that fear of geez, you know, is it
ever really gonna be better than this different situation for
Dix Because I've heard that comparison before. People will defend
the fact that maybe Ayuk will leave because look what
Stefan Diggs did. The Vikings were never in the situation

(01:02:57):
that the San Francisco forty nine ers currently are in.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
Not in the past twenty years.

Speaker 4 (01:03:03):
I mean, this is either the top or one of
the top two or three teams in the league right now.
It's the only offensive system that Brandon Ayuk has ever
played in. He's coming off his best year, and yeah,
it's time to go to the bank and say, hey, yeah,
like I got all these savings bonds that I don't
want to cash in. Now I get it, and by it,

(01:03:27):
he should do this, he should exert his leverage. But
to make the comparison that because some other star receivers
who are at completely different spots in their life in
their career.

Speaker 3 (01:03:39):
Did what he's aiming to do. You can't.

Speaker 4 (01:03:42):
It's not apples to apples. This is a very different situation.
And I don't think that he's gonna leave. I don't
think he wants to leave. I think he's playing this right.
He's exerting leverage. They are getting his camp. I'm trying
when I say they his camp. They're getting a lot
of news out about trade packing, you know, and the
threats are seeming real. But I do think at the

(01:04:05):
end of the day, Brandon Ayuk is in that offense
and the forty nine ers their future is somewhat secured.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
So that's the good news. Here's the bad news.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Brock Purdy is still their quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
Yeah, okay, that's the worst news. That's the worst news.
Here's the bad news though, Okay, Trent Williams still yeah, yeah,
we'll hold out sure. And another offensive lineman just broke
his pinky. That's gonna need surgery this week. And that
was the to me, that's the knock. It's not Ayuk,
it's not Debo, it's not even Party to an extent.
I think Shanahan's offense masks a lot of Party's warts.

(01:04:42):
It's the offensive line that I'm concerned with this year
with San Francisco, it is Trent Williams and four traffic cones,
and now it's three and a half traffic cones because
again starting guard needs surgery on his broken pinky. That
just happened this week. Trent Williams going through a holdout.
Now I think he will get signed as well. But
you just have a lot of moving parts with this

(01:05:03):
offensive line. And if the offensive line ain't right, Rich,
I'll let you finish the equation. Do the Niners have
a chance to win the Super Bowl this year?

Speaker 4 (01:05:10):
If the offensive line isn't secured, they are not going
to win a Super Bowl because we saw what happened,
the devastation that one player, namely Chris Jones can create
in a Super Bowl. He was in Bryce or excuse me,
I almost say Bryce Young brock Purdy's kitchen the entire night,
and that really had a strong effect on the outcome

(01:05:33):
of that game.

Speaker 3 (01:05:34):
Look, I mean to be perfectly honest with you. Chris Jones.

Speaker 4 (01:05:37):
He started last season holding out. Remember he missed the
first game. The Chiefs figured it out and that helped
them win a Super Bowl. I think that the forty
nine ers aren't going to cut off their nose to
spite their face. I think they realized the importance of
IUK and they'll get this deal done.

Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
You know you mentioned the broken pinky of a Niners
offensive lineman, Jared, Did you realize that Lowen Crown once
had a broken pinky? But he said, give me the
Ronnie Lot. Just now, I got an update to deliver
right here, I low with the latest.

Speaker 8 (01:06:11):
It involved a microphone holder mishap.

Speaker 7 (01:06:15):
Workman's comp, workman's cup, No workman's comp needed for Aaron Judge.
On Friday night, he had only his forty fourth home
out of the season to leave the majors at a
three to nothing victory for the Yankees at Detroit. In
same game, in Baltimore, Red Sox defeat of the Orioles
twelve to ten, Boston's Masataka Yoshida a home run in

(01:06:36):
four RBI, the Orioles Ramon Orias a home run and
five RBI, and Baltimore rookie Jackson Holiday had his first
career four hit game, Speaking of rookies, in the Pirates
five to three victory over the Mariners that broke Pittsburgh's
ten game losing streak. Bucks rookie pitcher Paul Steen struck
out six and six innings for the win to improve

(01:06:57):
to seven to two with a two point three zero
Philly's over the Nationals four to three. Trey Turner the
game winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning,
his fourth hit of the game, and the White Sox
one at Houston five to four, breaking the Astros eight
game winning streak. The White Sox Luis Robert Junior two
home runs, four hits, four RBI. The Tampa Bay Rays

(01:07:19):
walked off the Diamondbacks five to four, breaking Arizona's six
game winning streak. In the w NBA. On Friday night,
Caitlin Clark the Indiana Fever twenty nine points, ten assists,
and four to three pointers in a ninety eight eighty
nine win over the Phoenix Mercury. Today's NFL preseason action
kicks off just under an hour and a half from
now in Baltimore as the Ravens host the Falcons. That

(01:07:41):
at one pm Eastern, it'll be the Bears hosting the
Bengals and the New York Giants visiting the Houston Texans.

Speaker 5 (01:07:47):
Felt oh my.

Speaker 3 (01:07:53):
No goodnom too?

Speaker 7 (01:07:54):
Hey at least now I'm balanced out back to you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by
Bett mgm our thanks to Rapid Radios, the official communication
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(01:08:21):
a great alternative to mobile phones for your kids. Go
to Rapid radios dot com for sixty percent off right
now and free shipping ad code Radio and get an
extra five percent off. Okay, So there's a new book
coming out about Aaron Rodgers. It's an unauthorized biography about Rogers,

(01:08:42):
which just sounds like par for the course. Right, this
is unauthorized. I didn't give it my consent on Aaron Rodgers. Right.
But Rogers told author Ian O'Connor that he should have
been truthful about his vax status. Remember the whole controversy
about three years go. He told reporters he had been immunized.

(01:09:03):
We thought that meant he was vaxed. It didn't. He
misled us. It was a whole thing The quote killed me.
Rogers says in the book, if there's one thing I
wish could have gone different, it's that, because that's the
only thing critics could hit me with, the only thing,
the only thing we could hit him with. It reminds

(01:09:24):
me of one of the best rants of all time.
This was Nick Wright on FS one's First Things First.
This is back in December. Listen to what he says
about Rogers being disingenuous. It just it popped into my
head because Rogers was like, yeah, the facts thing, that's
the only thing people could hit me with. Over listen
to what Nick Wright had to say about Rogers.

Speaker 9 (01:09:43):
The commentary is not about your vaccination status. It's about
you being the most disingenuous athlete of my lifetime. You
were disingenuous about the vaccine that was annoying, not the
status the way you did it. You were ingenuous about
your retirement status ninety percent retired. You were disingenuous about

(01:10:05):
coming out of the dark room.

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
I'm gonna play for the Packers.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
That was my only goal.

Speaker 9 (01:10:09):
You were disingenuous about how well verived and works in
southern California.

Speaker 5 (01:10:14):
You were then.

Speaker 9 (01:10:14):
Disingenuous about whether or not you wanted Randall Cobb, als
are Tim Boyle on your team? Or if Joe Douglas
is just quite simply the worst talent evaluator in NFL history.
You were disingenuous about why Nat Hackett's the offensive coordinator,
You're now disingenuous.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
About your own comeback what you were.

Speaker 9 (01:10:34):
Disingenuous about the entire time. So this is not about
anyone's private medical decisions. It's about the biggest look at me.
Louis saying to his best buddy McAfee, why.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Is everyone looking at me?

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
It's so irritating.

Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
Yep, that's pretty much exactly what it is. And the
takeaway from me is Rogers does not live in reality.
He lives in Rogers reality, right, Like, whatever the reality
is to him, that's what he thinks the real reality is.
To say, oh the facts, I guess the only thing
critics could hit me with. That is so absolutely wrong,

(01:11:11):
But that's what he truly believes.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
Man, he lives in his own world.

Speaker 4 (01:11:15):
Aaron Rodgers is a very complicated man. Yeah, there's no
doubt that there are layers to this person that are
not available to most of us.

Speaker 3 (01:11:26):
He has it seems a.

Speaker 4 (01:11:27):
Pretty tight circle and a pretty complex personal life, at
least on the outside looking in. That's what it seems like.
Maybe it's more simple. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems
like there's some things there that we don't know, that
we've only really seen the tip of the iceberg on,
and there's a lot happening below the surface.

Speaker 3 (01:11:49):
Here's what I'll say.

Speaker 4 (01:11:50):
A lot of the things that Nick Wright cited as disingenuous,
a lot of them are you know, career team related,
you know, which, especially as you get older and later
in your career, it can feel like you are obfuscating,
like you're any any truth telling. Meanwhile, you're protecting sensitive information,

(01:12:13):
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:12:14):
I think. I think also when it comes.

Speaker 4 (01:12:16):
To calling it a career altogether, a lot of people
don't know how to hit the end record button on themselves,
you know what I mean, when it's really time to
like sort of finish the tape and start, you know,
hemming things in a little bit. Tom Brady did the
same thing, you know, Are we attacking him for being disingenuous?

Speaker 3 (01:12:38):
It's tough. It's tough to lay down the sword.

Speaker 4 (01:12:42):
And then, in terms of the vaccination status and whether
or not he was inoculated. I think the reason why
that became such a concern was because there were specific
medical parameters put in place during that time regarding the
protective equipment you were supposed to wear around the media

(01:13:02):
and the press, and he was considered to be one
of the players who didn't have to wear that. You know,
whether it's wearing a mask or social distancing whatever. Whatever
the rules were at that time, I'm foggy on them
now four years later. But that's the reason why that
became such a big story. So I'm not defending Aaron Rodgers.
I think he is a confusing character. I do think

(01:13:24):
that he probably puts himself in front of the media
enough that we should we should all have an opinion,
because I think he wants us all to have an opinion.
Otherwise he wouldn't put himself out there as much as
he does. I mean, there are plenty of great athletes
who don't. Kawhi Leonards are great, yep, you know, but
he's a quiet.

Speaker 3 (01:13:41):
Man, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:13:42):
But Aaron Rodgers likes to have his name out there,
so I mean, clearly he's looking for people to have opinions,
and many people do the only thing.

Speaker 1 (01:13:49):
I feel about this is. I respect Aaron for doing
that every week, because not all athletes do. But if
and Nick's a really smart guy, like if it really
is DISENGENU is about all these things and I don't
know for sure it's a lot of it's hearsay, then yeah,
this is It's it's not gonna end well for him
in New York. I don't think.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
All right, We've got Rich Ornberger, Penn State All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst, I'm Brian. Now coming up next,
we go back to the futures college football playoff style.
Huh gonna be a good one. It is Fox Sports
Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Once

(01:14:29):
a day, Monday through Friday, play the free to play
bet MGM Ultimate Teams to receive an Ultimate Teams card
with the pro football team and spread. If that team
covers the spread that NFL week, you can win prizes.
Play every day Monday through Friday. Have all five of
your teams cover, and you're eligible to win betmgm's weekly jackpot.

(01:14:52):
All right, let's dive into this.

Speaker 5 (01:14:56):
It's back to the futures.

Speaker 7 (01:14:58):
Maybe we can boast covering.

Speaker 2 (01:15:01):
Okay, we are looking now that we have the new
twelve team college football playoff, we are looking at the
odds of teams to make the playoffs. So we will
start with you, Jared. I know there's one team that
you have circled highlighted in bold. You're all over it.

Speaker 3 (01:15:18):
It might rhyme with.

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
Roll Schmid Schmid. Yeah, well I'll start it with this.
I think this is the most fascinating market in all
of college football this year because we don't know right
the denominator has changed, the amount of teams that are
in have changed, which changes the math all over this market.
But right now, Alabama is a coin flip to make

(01:15:42):
the College wall Playoff. That would sound normal if there
were four teams, but there's twelve, and I think a
three loss SEC team absolutely has a chance to get in.
So Nick Saban out, Kalen de bore in right like
that is a massive shift. Just wrap your head around
that for a minute. I mean it is. We're not
gonna watch Nick Saban coach culture ball this year. Just
a completely different regime in Tuscaloosa. But let's be honest,

(01:16:05):
Jalen Milroe is back six in the Heisman last year.
The skill position group is new, but I hope with
Tabor they can plan some kind of a scheme to
get these very talented, all top one hundred recruits into
the mix. Right you haven't. You're not going to know
any of these guys' names. They're not household names at
the skill position group for Alabama like in year's past.

(01:16:27):
But I think there's talent. The one name you might
remember is Jeremy Bernard who actually played for Washington last year.
He was the fourth receiver on that Washington team that
had three guys drafted in the top ninety in the NFL.
So I think there is talent. It's just about how
the Bor brings it all together. Defensively. He hired his
former Indiana colleague Kane Womack is DC, so you're going

(01:16:49):
to see a bit of a shift with their scheme.
But again, the talent is all over the MAC. It's
can Kaalin de Bor bring this group together and can
they not lose the third game because they play the
tough game against Georgia and then they play at LSU.
But other than that, guys they're gonna be favorite in
every game they play this year.

Speaker 4 (01:17:07):
All right, So Notre Dame is one of these teams,
and I might be stopping all.

Speaker 3 (01:17:11):
Over Brian no here because we might be on the
same path. But OK. Yeah, Marcus Freeman, third year coach.
I like him.

Speaker 4 (01:17:20):
I think he's a good leader. I think he's the
right leader for this program. They don't get the conference
champion as an independent, you know, auto bid, but there's
no way the committee leaves out a ten or eleven
win team, which I'm sure they'll be.

Speaker 3 (01:17:34):
They bring in transfer Riley Leonard.

Speaker 4 (01:17:36):
He's going to start a quarterback, Chris Mitchell as a receiver,
Mitchell Evans as a tight end, both of them very confident.
They've got a great defensive line. They have future pros
all over that defensive line with Crowton.

Speaker 3 (01:17:49):
Mills up front.

Speaker 4 (01:17:51):
They got rj Oben out of the transfer portal, so
they are a contender. I mean, are they my favorite
to win my personal favorite to win the national title?
Probably not, But this defense is stacked and they've got
a very competent passer at quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:18:09):
I like Notre Dame a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:18:11):
Yeah, I was gonna say take the Irish to make
the playoffs and.

Speaker 1 (01:18:14):
Good night, good night.

Speaker 3 (01:18:16):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:18:16):
Yeah, that's up. But the other thing, this is the
outside the box id I have? We know a group
of five team is going Yeah, so let's say you
make three different bets, whatever your unit size is. Let's
let's say one hundred bucks, right, you might bet way
more or less. Let's say you bet Liberty, Boise State,
and Tulane, or just pick three group of five schools.

(01:18:39):
If you hit on one of those three, you're making money.

Speaker 1 (01:18:41):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:18:42):
Yeah, it's that a bad approach to take. If you're
just trying to throw a couple at darts and you
don't want to say, hey, is uh is Tennessee or
Missouri gonna make it? Maybe you go to the group
of five route and that could be uh.

Speaker 1 (01:18:54):
This market move all year. It's gonna be fun.

Speaker 3 (01:18:57):
Come it up.

Speaker 2 (01:18:57):
What does the price is right have to do with
NFL win totals?

Speaker 3 (01:19:01):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:19:01):
What is up? Everybody? Happy Saturday to you? Fox Sports Radios.
Count Down to Kickoff, presented by Bett MGM, is back
first show of the new football season, which is nearly underway.
These games are almost about to count. You know, we
got preseason action, but college football starts up for real

(01:19:23):
pretty soon. We are thrilled to be back here with you.
So we want to focus in on the NFL here
real fast. So I call this the three win rage range.
So it's a good exercise to do if you're looking
at the season win total market for NFL teams. So
what's the three win range? Well, think of the price

(01:19:44):
is right, you guys are prices right fans?

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
I would own.

Speaker 1 (01:19:47):
Yeah, I'm gonna go back and watch them so we
can get some more ideas for these segments.

Speaker 3 (01:19:50):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
I just love this. Here's the golden road. You know,
we'll just rip off. Here's let go.

Speaker 1 (01:19:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:57):
But the range game, when Bob barr was just running things,
the range game was they'd have an item or I
don't know, say it's like a dining room furniture set
or something, and they would have all these prices on
this range. And so the contestant would wait as the

(01:20:18):
little lever went up, up, up, he would wait for
orshi the right range of the prize, what the prize
was worth, And Bob Barker would always make a joke. Now,
don't say stop, because it takes three weeks for us
to get this thing working again or whatever. So think
of that as it relates to win totals. For NFL teams,

(01:20:40):
what is their three win range? For instance, take a
team like the Dallas Cowboys. I personally think their three
win range is between ten and twelve wins. I think
they'll have a record of ten and seven or twelve
and five, somewhere in that range. So if you do
that for random team in the NFL, it's a good

(01:21:01):
exercise because the Cowboys are at what nine and a
half for the season. So if I think their range
is ten to twelve wins, I am hammering the over.
If someone says I think it's more like nine to
eleven wins, you still should be betting the over right.
If your range is there, you've got nine wins that's
on your low end, ten and eleven that gets you

(01:21:22):
over nine and a half. So it's an interesting exercise
to run through. I mean, I don't know what you
guys want to start with. You want to start with
the Jets, Jared, Well, what do you think the Jets
three win range is? What are you expecting this season?

Speaker 1 (01:21:35):
So the Jets are I would say the Jets are
a team that I struggle with this. I went through
every team last night, and I I tried to ballpark it,
and the contingency with every team is who is their
backup quarterback? If they have a disaster at the top,
is it a complete fall off or can they at

(01:21:56):
least stay competitive. The Jets are in an actual the
advantageous situation there this year, unlike last year where Aaron
Rodgers is not one hundred percent. I think Toarrod Taylor
actually can compete. I think the Jets range this year
is I think the ceiling is obviously very high, but
the floor is higher than last year because of Taylor.
So I think nine is kind of the floor. I

(01:22:19):
think nine to eleven really, but I think ten to
twelve makes a lot of sense for me too. I
don't know. I think the Jets are a ten win
team this year. I really do.

Speaker 4 (01:22:26):
Yeah, I agree with you. I think they're a double
digit win team. I would put the floor at the
exact same spot. New York is going to be a
good football team because guess what, even though they were
a seven win football team last year, they were a
good football team.

Speaker 3 (01:22:42):
They had a.

Speaker 4 (01:22:42):
Terrible quarterback, or I should say they had terrible quarterback. Play,
and this is what happens when good football teams have
bad quarterbacks. They're bad, you know. So I think that
the Jets have easily the biggest improvement at quarterback year
over year with a healthy Aaron Rodgers, even if because

(01:23:03):
a lot of people are saying, well, what is he
gonna look like after the Achilles, even if he looks
like seventy percent of himself, seventy percent of Aaron Rodgers
is like eighty percent better than what they had a
quarterback last year. So I'm gonna agree with Jarrett here.
I'm gonna go nine, ten to eleven. That's the range
for the Jets. Somewhere in that range.

Speaker 2 (01:23:23):
Yeah, I like it. The stat I love the most
from last season as it relates to this season. Jets
quarterbacks in twenty twenty three. Last year, they combined for
eleven touchdown passes and fifteen interceptions. If Aaron Rodgers is
the guy all season long, he's not hurt, you think
he's gonna do better than eleven touchdown passes and fifteen interceptions.

Speaker 3 (01:23:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:23:48):
Yeah, the world five weeks right, first five weeks, he
might have more than eleven touchdown passes. So yeah, I'm
on the Jets bandwagon too. I don't know why. It
seems like everybody who jumped on the Jet bandwagon for
last season, it's like maybe twenty percent of those people
are still around on this season's bandwagon. I don't understand it.

(01:24:10):
Aaron Rodgers doesn't rely on sheer athleticism, and now he's
got the Achilles thing going. You're like, I don't know,
He's not that guy. He's still gonna dissect you throwing
the ball. He's a precise passer, so he doesn't rely
on athleticism the same way other quarterbacks do, and so
I wouldn't have as many questions as some do about Rogers.

(01:24:32):
I think him mixed with an elite defense. I have
them as a double digit win team too.

Speaker 1 (01:24:38):
O line much better this year. Olufashano top fifteen pick,
might not even see the field. That's an ideal scenario.

Speaker 2 (01:24:43):
For the Jets. Yeah, that is absolutely So give me
your team that you feel the strongest on, and then
team that you feel the weakest about in terms of
their three win range. We'll start with you, Rich, who's
a team that you are really firm about where you're like,
I think the arrange three win wise, I feel really strongly.

Speaker 4 (01:25:03):
Yeah, Detroit Lions ten eleven twelve all day long. I
think that they could repeat and be a twelve win
team just like they were last year. Chicago got better
at quarterback. We assume the Vikings got worse at quarterback,
and and when you look at Green Bay, I think

(01:25:24):
they're going to be about level with where they were
this year and we're just focusing on the division. They
had a tough schedule last year. I believe in Dan Campbell.
I believe in the collection of talent they've put together
another year with the same voice at offensive coordinator. Ten
eleven twelve for the Detroit Lions is probably as secure

(01:25:45):
as I feel about any team in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (01:25:47):
Check your group text. I just literally literally that's the
first line my not it's Lions ten to twelve wins.

Speaker 2 (01:25:52):
I sure to got so Rich is stealing your stuff?

Speaker 3 (01:25:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:25:57):
Rich into my Google sheet last night.

Speaker 3 (01:25:59):
It stole the Look at this, that's incredible.

Speaker 1 (01:26:02):
Lion twelve wins. And again, what did we say during
the future segment the parlay futures with covering numbers. They
have been the most consistent team against the expectations of
the market over the last three years, not just winning games.
It's hard enough to win in the NFL. You gotta

(01:26:23):
cover too. And I know they were a dog in
a lot of those games, but that actually speaks more
volumes about them that they were not expected to cover
games because they were underdogs, and they still ended up covering.
In those early years, they've been favorites a little bit
more now recently. I'll give you another team that I'm
very confident about, and it's on the downside, though, the
Patriots are gonna struggle this year. I so the biggest

(01:26:46):
bet I've made in the NFL so far this year.
You guys know, I'm always transparent about how much I bet.
I'm usually a one hundred to two hundred dollars better.
That's kind of the average bet. Five hundred dollars for me.
That's a five unit wager on Patriots under five wins. Wow,
So to me, three to five, like, really it's two

(01:27:06):
to four. But I'll give them the benefit of the
doubt that maybe I pushed this because I just cannot
see six wins on this roster. They have, besides the Chargers,
the worst skill position group in the NFL. And the
Chargers are better because they have Quenton Johnston when he's healthy,
but he's not healthy all the time. But if Johnston's healthy,

(01:27:28):
the Chargers are better. But regardless, bear bones for New
England and the quarterback situation is dire. There is not
a lot of meat on the.

Speaker 2 (01:27:38):
Bone for this time, no interesting stuff. I feel the
strongest about the Cowboys' d Cowboys. We've talked about this before.
I would give their three win range between ten and
twelve wins. They've won twelve games each of the last
three seasons. I think a lot of people are are
overlead down on them. That's the best way. Overlead down

(01:27:59):
on the Cowboys, because they fizzled in the playoffs. They
got blown out or handled at least by the Packers.
Backers easily won that game. But I think getting Trayvon
Diggs back from injury is a big deal. Matched with
Micah Parsons, of course you've got Dak, You're gonna get
CD Lamb back. I don't know why they're dragging this
thing out. But for the people that are like, oh,

(01:28:20):
the heavens are falling CD Lamb, it's like, do you
think the heavens are falling with the Niners? With Brandon Nyyuk.
Do you think the heavens are falling with Jamar Chase
not being there for the Bengals right?

Speaker 4 (01:28:29):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:28:29):
I just don't think that's the case. The Cowboys are
a team you want to fade them in the playoffs, fine,
but they've been a really good regular season team. I
feel strongly they're gonna be a double digit win team.
How about the team you feel weakest about. We'll go
back to you, Rich, who's the three win range where
you're like, man, this could go either way. It's boom
or bust that I really don't know how it's gonna
shake out.

Speaker 3 (01:28:50):
I think it's the Washington Commanders.

Speaker 4 (01:28:53):
I have such a hard time with how I feel
about this team because I've believed in and dan Quinn
all throughout his coaching career. I think he's one of
those one of those names that doesn't get discussed enough
in terms of players love playing for dan Quinn, they
love playing in that defense. I think that that's spread

(01:29:16):
that love spread throughout Seattle when he was there with
the Falcons, obviously as a defensive coordinator. When he was
brought over with Mike McCarthy's staff in Dallas, and we'll
see how it looks as a head coach. Again with
the Commanders, it all comes down to, as we know
in this league these days, their quarterback play though, and
Jayden Daniels is such a wild card. I think he

(01:29:37):
could be Vitamin C to an offense that needs a
shot in the arm, and this offense desperately does, and
so that could be wildly successful.

Speaker 3 (01:29:47):
We could look at all of a sudden.

Speaker 4 (01:29:49):
Especially in an NFC East where there's winnable competition there.
You know, the Giants, they're not world beaters, you know.
The Philadelphia Eagles has had their struggles, especially against Washington's roster.
Both of the games that they played against Eagles in
last year were absolute wars. So I could see I

(01:30:09):
could see potentially all that improvement. However, if Jayden Daniels
can't play, they are so screwed.

Speaker 3 (01:30:18):
It's just like we're right back to where we were
last year with a four win football team.

Speaker 4 (01:30:23):
So I don't know whether to say they should be
slight improvement, you know, kind of the four to six range.
I don't know if it will be light year's improvement
like the seven to ten range, or if this is
gonna be one of those two win football teams that
you know they're gonna dip before they get better.

Speaker 3 (01:30:39):
I I have no I have no bearing on the Commanders.

Speaker 2 (01:30:45):
Yeah, no, I hear you on that. I would go
with the Titans. Rich the Titans. That's a tricky one
for me because a lot of this hinges on Will Levis.
Mister Mayo. Yeah, I Will Levis has a good season,
which I think he's capable of, the Titans could have

(01:31:05):
a really good season. And when you look at offensively,
a couple of the upgrades. You bring in Calvin Ridley,
you bring in Tyler Boyd, who is a good slot
receiver with the Bengals, and then you also bring in
Lagerius Sneed, who was awesome last year for the Chiefs.
I know there are some concerns about his knee, but

(01:31:26):
Lageriousneed was fantastic last season. And maybe this isn't a
great long term acquisition, but for next season, I can't
see Lagerius Kneed just going from hero to nothing, you
know what I mean. So I think if Will Levis
is good, I think the Titans could have a good record.
If Will Levis stinks, which is also possible, yeah, their

(01:31:46):
record could be really bad. So a three win range,
I think it's pretty difficult to figure it out. With
the Titans, I think they're a boom or bust type
of team.

Speaker 3 (01:31:56):
Yeah, I completely agree with that. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:31:59):
And there's so many of those teams with now lesser.
So when you start poking around like the Giants, I
think there's huge bust potential there. But if Daniel Jones
has a confidence season like we've seen in the past,
and and we we know about this head coach, I mean,
he he has squeezed a lot out of some pretty

(01:32:20):
desperate situations. It's it's I look, I mean, I don't
know if I'm in or out on Brian Dable. I
think this season is going to determine a lot for me.
But but that's another team that I have a hard
time just pinning a three win range on. The Carolina
Panthers is another team. Love the hiring, love their new

(01:32:41):
head coach. Not sure if I love Bryce Young. I
and a lot of people are out on Bryce Young.

Speaker 3 (01:32:48):
I'm not yet.

Speaker 4 (01:32:49):
I think you gotta give it time to bake, you
gotta you gotta learn how to play at this speed.
There are guys who you know, have excellent careers who
are a little slow to warm in terms of catching
up to the speed of the NFL game. Bryce Young
looked pretty good in that Alabama system. It didn't happen overnight,
you know, he worked his way into becoming a starter there.

(01:33:10):
We'll see what happens with the Carolina Panthers with a
new voice at the.

Speaker 3 (01:33:13):
Front of the room. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:33:15):
And that's what I love so much about the NFL
is we can make all these arguments that make a
lot of sense right now. Yeah, and a lot of
it is based on paper. But we know that the game,
the season doesn't play out based on paper. No, you no, Like,
just look at last season. Joe Burrow goes down the
Bengals are nine to eight. You know, look at the Chargers.

(01:33:36):
The Chargers were a five and twelve football team. And
on the positive side, the Texans they go ten and seven.
The year before they were three thirteen and one, and
they've got a rookie quarterback in CJ. Stroud who was
saying before the season, yeah, I've got their three win range.
I'd say between nine and eleven games they win, Like

(01:33:56):
no one was saying that, And that's what happened. So
it's an interesting exercise but we're not saying this is gospel.
You know, this is just what we're predicting.

Speaker 3 (01:34:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely not gospel at all.

Speaker 4 (01:34:07):
And like you said, a lot of these things that
we'll say now, and this is true for anybody who's
ever drafted a fantasy football team, ever placed a bet
at a at a sportsbook window.

Speaker 3 (01:34:18):
You know how this works. It's twenty twenty hindsight.

Speaker 4 (01:34:21):
You know, all of a sudden, the season starts playing
out and you're like, how did I not see this coming?
Of course X, Y or Z happened this offseason, and
so of course.

Speaker 3 (01:34:32):
You know this team is great.

Speaker 4 (01:34:33):
You know, it's just it all becomes so clear when
you have all of the information.

Speaker 2 (01:34:38):
Yep, yeah, that's we're all clearvoyant at that attage, no doubt.
We've got rich Honberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian Know. Congrats to Kevin m
from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, who is the second of three
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(01:35:22):
It's all furnished by tire rack dot com. The way
tire buying should be. All right, Come it up next.
These two NFL studs. They had great seasons last year.
Will they run it back or take a step back
this season? That's on the way. It's Fox Sports Radios
Countdown to Kickoff presented by betmgm. It is Fox Sports

(01:35:43):
Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Football is back.
At betmgm, use code Countdown and receive up to fifteen
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(01:36:04):
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All right, guys, we're looking at a couple of studs
from last season if they're gonna run it back or
take a step back this season. We'll start with Packers
quarterback Jordan Love. So, Jordan Love had a great year.

(01:36:27):
Do you think that it's gonna continue? Now are a
couple of numbers. So, last season he threw for four thousand,
one hundred and fifty nine yards. This year at BETMGM,
his passing yards prop is at three thousand, eight hundred
fifty and a half, so that would be a little
over a three hundred yard haircut. And then also the

(01:36:50):
passing touchdowns thirty two last season at BETMGM. For this
season the line is twenty seven and a half. What
do you think about old Love with the Packers? Does
he run it back or take a step back.

Speaker 4 (01:37:04):
I'm a big believer in experience, and I think what
they the Packers did by virtue of circumstance. Really, I
think if they if they had it their way, Jordan
Love probably would have been their starting quarterback sooner. But
the situation that presented itself with Aaron Rodgers and the

(01:37:26):
long kiss goodbye in Green Bay. I think that got
sorted out much clunkier than they wanted it to. But
in the meantime, Jordan Love was learning from a future
Hall of Famer. He was enjoying being coached well during
that stint. And I think that the Green Bay Packers

(01:37:47):
can repeat their offensive success this year, especially when you
look around that division that they specifically play in. We
were talking about JJ McCarthy's injury earlier. The Vikings got
a huge question mark, the Bears have a huge question mark.
Ken Caleb Williams actually play at this level. And the
Detroit Lions are who they are. I think we can

(01:38:10):
we can speak with some certainty that they look like
a double digit win team all day long. So I
look at the Green Bay Packers as being either the
best or or a close second in their own division,
and I see Jordan Love as sort of repeating the act.

(01:38:30):
He looked very sturdy and confident and comfortable in that
system last year. You can only assume year two is
the full time starter. It's gonna get better.

Speaker 1 (01:38:40):
Yeah, the schedule is not. I mean it's tough, but
it's not crazy tough. There's no roadblocks to him not
hitting this minus injury. I think a lot of these
quarterback prop markets are games played bets, because, unlike receivers
are running backs where they can be a schemed apt
or you know, double covered, you can't scheme out a

(01:39:04):
quarterback like he either throws for three hundred yards or
he doesn't. It really doesn't matter who he throws to
the yards of the yards. The touchdowns are the touchdowns.
The ball always originates from his hand. So to me,
this is a games played bet on Jordan Love. There
is no reason why if he plays all seventeen, even
if he only plays sixteen games, he can't reach four

(01:39:25):
thousand yards. And I to me, that's where I feel
about now. The Packers. I think as a team, I'm
not as high on them as the market maybe is.
But Jordan loves stats. As long as he plays enough games,
Aaron Jones is gone, the security blanket is gone. They
need him to perform at a high level. So to me,
if he plays sixteen or seventeen games, I don't see

(01:39:46):
any way that this yards and touchdowns. Touchdowns maybe a
little more volatile, but yards for sure, goes over.

Speaker 2 (01:39:53):
I see a way, I see motile ways. What's the path?
First off, Jared, I love you. You're an upstanding citizen,
a law abiding citizen. I may add you know I'm
gonna disagree on this one as far as like you
said it, the touchdown passes market is a little more volatile.
That's the one I would focus in on. So maybe
not a complete disagreement, but twenty seven and a half

(01:40:14):
touchdown passes. I like the under on that. And I'll
give you a couple of reasons why.

Speaker 3 (01:40:19):
One.

Speaker 2 (01:40:19):
I would look at Mahomes. Okay, just follow me on
this one. Mahomes when he was a first year starter
like Jordan Love was, last season, Mahomes threw fifty touchdown passes.
The next season he threw twenty six now, And then
look at more recently, Mahomes two years ago forty one
touchdown passes, last season twenty seven and he only missed

(01:40:41):
one game. So defense is a just and I see
that happening with the Packers. I also think Josh Jacobs
is gonna fit in really well. He might do even
better than Aaron Jones. Josh Jacobs is a really good
running back. Now, I like what he brings to the table.
One other thing to keep in mind, Jordan Love is
a great nerd. Stat you always say is Jared great nerdstaff?

(01:41:01):
That's Jordan Love. Three hundred of his five hundred and
seventy nine targets went to pass catchers with at least
three yards of separation. Hmm, okay, that was number two
in the NFL. Jordan Love had a great season last year,
I take nothing away, but what if those receivers aren't

(01:41:23):
as open this season. Some of that had to do
with him with you know, eye movement and you know,
like getting the defense to react and put them where
he wants them, right, like manipulating the defense. Not all
of it's gonna go away, but let's say it's a
little bit of a different story. Could that impact his
touchdown throws and his yardage abs? So freaking lootely? So, yeah,

(01:41:46):
if he gets dinged up, they're both going under. But
even if he doesn't, don't be surprised if they go
under as well, because there are a lot of things
that play that might not sync up the same way
as last season.

Speaker 1 (01:41:57):
It's fair.

Speaker 3 (01:41:57):
Yeah, Yeah, here's what I will say. He really passes
the eyeball test.

Speaker 4 (01:42:03):
Like when you take a look and you think about
you think about Jordan Love down the stretch of the
season where he was fearless with the football. Granted he
had good separation from his receivers like you pointed out,
but there were tight window throws I remember specifically in
clutch moments, and he's got the arm strength to you know,

(01:42:26):
throw the football through the eye of a needle. He
protected the football well, super important, especially when we start
talking about, you know, splitting hairs. Amongst the elite talent
in the NFL. What makes Lamar Jackson so different, for example,
from Patrick Mahomes. They're superlative talents, but Lamar Jackson's had
some major gaffs protecting the football in the postseason.

Speaker 3 (01:42:48):
It's really hurt his team at times, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:42:51):
Whereas Patrick Mahomes has been more careful with the football
and has been more clutch in general, Jordan Love has
a little bit of that. I'm not saying he's a
Patrick Mahomes, but there's some of that there. He's athletic
when he needs to be too, big bodied, strong runner.
You know, there's there's a little bit of Josh Allen
in him. You know when the moose gets loose out there.
He's a tough man to break, to bring down, to

(01:43:13):
tackle and wrap up.

Speaker 3 (01:43:15):
So there's a lot to his game that I really respect.

Speaker 4 (01:43:19):
Again, touchdowns can be a vital stat but in terms
of yardage, this is a passing league now, and the
green Bay Packers have their next in line as a as.

Speaker 3 (01:43:28):
Potentially a great passing quarterback.

Speaker 4 (01:43:31):
I mean, think how spoiled green Bay has been going
from far to Rogers to Love.

Speaker 1 (01:43:35):
Now, don't even get me started. Meanwhile, my team, the Jets,
has had Rogers for a year, and I've had to wait,
like like it's like Christmas when you wait on Christmas
morning and your parents are like, yeah, I'm sorry, Sanna
got lost. We'll see you next year.

Speaker 3 (01:43:50):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:43:53):
But I think, I really think Jordan Love is gonna
have one of those years where we back on it
and we say it was a kind of corner turning year,
like the expectations are very high, but there are still
a lot of questions. And I was very high on
him last year. Brian. I remember you and I butted

(01:44:14):
heads on Jordan Love a couple times last year, and
I think I might have been right. But I don't
think I'm right about the long term, because I do
think they need I don't know if I'm a hundred
percent sold on the running game yet, because if it's
not Jacobs, who has not been able to stay healthy
for most of his career, you're gonna need aj Dillon
to carry the load. I actually am very excited about

(01:44:34):
Marshall Lloyd, the kid they draft from US See. I
think he might be a sleeper Rookie of the Year
kind of guy if Jacobs does go down. But the
running game is gonna matter a lot here, and I
don't know if it's as effective as it was last year.
Maybe it is, maybe it'll be more effective. Maybe Jacobs
will fit in just like a glove and he's perfect
in green Bay. And if that's the case, then yes,
I think Jordan Love can have one of those eleven

(01:44:56):
twelve win seasons in Green Bay, can be right at
the tippy top. But man, the market's really high on
the Packers this year and last year we got to
buy low. Right, what was the total seven and a
half wins? I think on green Bay to the over
now it's nine and a half, which means they've gotta
win double digits in order to meet the market expectations.
I don't know if I'm there.

Speaker 2 (01:45:15):
On the Packers. Well, the running game means a lot
to us here at Fox Sports Radio as well. And
we have the Craig Ironhead Hayward of Update Anchors. That
would be one Isaac Loewen Kron three yards and a
cloud at dust and a few bruises on top of it.
He's got the latest.

Speaker 7 (01:45:33):
Boy, those were the days, weren't they. Craig Ironhead, Hayward,
Christian Okoye oh Man Nigerian Nightmare.

Speaker 3 (01:45:42):
Yeah. You know.

Speaker 2 (01:45:43):
One of my favorite NFL quotes ilo was Ironhead. He said,
you need one yard, I'll get you three. You need
five yards, I'll get you three.

Speaker 3 (01:45:57):
Ah.

Speaker 7 (01:45:57):
Yes, I was a harbinger of modern day running back
value in the NFL.

Speaker 8 (01:46:03):
Ironhead was ahead of his time.

Speaker 7 (01:46:05):
Well, we begin fellas with the NFL because today's preseason
action kicks off at the top of the hour from
Baltimore with the Ravens hosting the Atlanta Falcons. Then at
one pm Eastern, we've got two more games kicking off,
the New York Giants visiting the Houston Texans and the
Chicago Bears hosting the Cincinnati Bengals and Fellas. The turf

(01:46:26):
at Soldier Field is beginning to trend right now.

Speaker 1 (01:46:29):
Oh.

Speaker 7 (01:46:30):
Caitlin Sharkey of WGN posted a series of pictures that
show noticeable seams on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:46:39):
Good, what is this the vet in Philadelphia?

Speaker 8 (01:46:43):
And it's not even artificial turf.

Speaker 7 (01:46:44):
Meanwhile, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune posted quote GM
Ryan Polls and assistant GM Ian Cunningham are inspecting different
spots on the field looking at the turf. This isn't
a standard pregame routine. The field isn't as bad as
it can look from an elevated view, but it's not

(01:47:06):
in tip top shape. Team is definitely looking into this. Unquote.
By the way, one note for context. Last weekend, Soldier
Field hosted three shows by Metallica on their.

Speaker 8 (01:47:21):
Two world tour.

Speaker 2 (01:47:23):
Sure there to blame blow Metallica, Blame it on metal.

Speaker 3 (01:47:27):
Just blame it on metal metal.

Speaker 8 (01:47:30):
Yeah, of course, anyway, that's what's trading Metallica.

Speaker 2 (01:47:36):
Yeah, thank you, I LOOE. It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown
to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Shortly after the show,
our podcast will be going up. If you missed anything
on today's show. Be sure to check it out. Just
search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts. Be
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search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and
you'll see the show posted right after we get off

(01:47:57):
the air. I had to mention dan Orlovsky at ESPN,
who I think does a great job. He put out
a top ten list of quarterbacks and it's not just
your standard. Here are the top ten quarterbacks. He broke
it down in seven different categories. Okay, there was one
that jumped out to me. I hate to harp on
the negative who goes straight to critical vill but I

(01:48:20):
have to so on rushing ability. The top ten quarterbacks
in terms of rushing ability according to dan Orlowski, He's
got Joe Burrow number eight. He's got Kyler Murray number nine.
How is that the case at all? I know Joe
Burrow can scramble around and make some plays. Kyler Murray.

(01:48:41):
Just if you want to go by numbers, Joe Burrow
rushed for eighty eight yards last season in ten games.
Kyler Murray rushed for two forty four in eight games. Wow,
so Kyler Murray was plus one fifty six in two
fewer games. How is Joe Burrow a better running quarterback

(01:49:02):
than Kyler Murray? That makes zero sense?

Speaker 3 (01:49:05):
Sorry, Yeah, I agree, I think that.

Speaker 4 (01:49:08):
I think that's sometimes when you analyze different aspects, especially
instead of like you know, sort of taking the whole
picture and saying, all right, so if I'm going to compare,
I just named two quarterbacks, Dak Prescott to Josh Allen.
Who's better? Well, obviously Josh Allen. So let's move down

(01:49:28):
the list and then once we have a tougher discussion, Well,
that's where the rubber meets the road and you have
to start really splitting hairs. But when you start breaking
it down by category, you can get paralyzed by all
of the analysis. And I think that must have been
what happened because Kyler Murray, I mean, he just shouldn't
be that low on the list altogether. I mean, not

(01:49:51):
only is he in eighth place behind or ninth behind
Joe Burrow, but he probably should be closer to the
top five in terms of rush at that position in
this league.

Speaker 6 (01:50:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:50:02):
Yeah, he's behind Anthony Richardson, who's played what six games, like.

Speaker 2 (01:50:07):
I think four?

Speaker 1 (01:50:08):
Yeah, yeah, last like barely even played. Justin Fields is
on the list, and again I think that makes sense.
But like, it's tough to put Justin Fields on any
top ten quarterback list. I don't care what even if
it was top ten quarterbacks named Justin, I still don't
even think he would make that list. I think, and
there might be who knows, I might be selling short

(01:50:29):
a lot of great quarterbacks named Justin over the years.
I don't have the database in my brain. But yeah,
this is an interesting list, Like Dak Prescott's in the
top ten of the rushing ability list, Like I don't
consider him a running quarterback. I think Mahomes it makes
sense if you put the scrambling in there. Obviously, Lamar
Jackson and Josh Allen have to be first and second.
If they're not, then this list is completely ridiculous. But yeah,

(01:50:51):
some of these lists, You know how I feel about
the list, Like a lot of times it's done as clickbait.
I don't think that's what Dan was going for here.
I just think he kind of, uh, who knows, maybe
he labeled them differently. Maybe rushing ability was really uh
something else said. We're not really sure what it really
what he really meant with this.

Speaker 3 (01:51:09):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:51:09):
The tough thing is sometimes you need someone to read
your stuff, you know, give you some feedback. And I
know there are some moments where he's like, oh yeah,
after reconsidering, that doesn't make sense, but you kind of
you gotta gotta stick to your guns, you know what
I mean, Like, sure, that's gotta be tough. This is
interesting too, though. This is a number within that dani

(01:51:30):
Orlovsky piece that makes a lot of sense. How about this.
In twenty fifteen, there were three hundred and eighty four
designed quarterback runs league wide. Okay, three eighty four. Last
season there were eight hundred thirty two.

Speaker 1 (01:51:46):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:51:47):
Yeah, it's completely changed. And that number is down from
the previous season when there were nine hundred nineteen designed
quarterback runs league wide. So we always talk about it's
a passing league, and it is. But you're saying a
lot more designed runs than you did, just like what
nine years ago? Completely different.

Speaker 4 (01:52:05):
Well, yeah, and it's because the college game really leans
on that as a huge part of most of these offenses,
and as a result, with such a short on ramp
for most of these first time head coaches, they need
production out of their young quarterbacks immediately. How many staffs
right now have a young quarterback and a first time

(01:52:27):
head coach. A lot of them, And classically that's what
happens in this league is you have a bad team,
you replace the staff, you bring in a new quarterback,
and if you don't get.

Speaker 3 (01:52:38):
Results quick, you're going to get fired a lot quicker.

Speaker 4 (01:52:40):
Than you used to in this league. Teams will move
on from you immediately. Just look at Frank Reich in Carolina.
I mean, what do you get nine games with Bryce
Young and then they said next, You know, it's like
a bakery. He was at the counter for nine games.
So you got to get your pastries quick in this league.
So you better start finding a way to creating offense.

(01:53:03):
And one of the fastest ways to do that with
a quarterback who's used to run in the football is
continuing that trend when they make their transition to the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:53:12):
Yeah, absolutely, that's rich Ornberger. Fence State All American Jared
Smith FSR betting analyst is with us. I'm Brian no Hey.
Throughout the entire football season, bet MGM will offer all
the different types of boost tokens. Be on the lookout
for same game parlay boost tokens, parlay boost tokens and

(01:53:32):
odds boost tokens each NFL weekend. All right, coming up next,
we close it down in style rapid fire. We each
have three selections of peace. We will share them with you.
Coming up, it's Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented
by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff,
presented by bet MGM. Props to the crew, our trusted producer,

(01:53:54):
Bo Benson, Chris Purfet, technicle producer extraordinaire Isaac Lowen, Crime
and crushing the updates and crushing life. Top of the
hour up on game. You're in great hands, LeVar Arrington,
TJ Hushman, Zada Plaxaico Burrist. Less than ten minutes, they
got you covered. All right, we got some picks to make.

Speaker 3 (01:54:12):
Let's do it rapid fire.

Speaker 2 (01:54:18):
Okay, Jared, we start with you. What are you thinking?

Speaker 1 (01:54:21):
NFL preseason? I know it's not sexy, but it's what
we have this weekend, in a little bit of college
football next weekend, but we're kind of still in preseason
mode for the next couple weeks. So let's try to
take advantage. Because I'll be honest, I see a little
value here. I'm gonna bet the Texans in the first half.
I'm gonna lay one and a half points. They're facing
the Giants today. I trust CJ. Stroud and Davis Mills
over Daniel Jones making his preseason debut and Drew Locke.

(01:54:44):
And let's be honest, Texans offense, especially with Stroud on
the field, they looked great last week. They were up
seventeen to nothing at half over the Steelers. They put
up a bunch of points in the Hall of Fame
game as well to the rain shorten it. So I'll
take the Texans in the first half over the Giants.
I don't like the Chicago field conditions right now, but
I still like the Bears today to cover six and
a half against the Bengals. Coming off a massive win
over the Bills thirty three to six. Teams coming off

(01:55:06):
a win of twenty or more in the postseason tend
to keep the ball rolling. They're covering at sixty three
percent the following game, So I think that momentum for
Caleb Williams in front of that home crowd for the
first time in his career, going to get it done
against the Bengals and I think the field conditions guys
favor the offense. Right if the defense is kind of
a little bit, you know, iffy about their footing and

(01:55:26):
where they're going to stand. I think that favors points.
So we'll go over thirty six and a half in
the Bears and the Bengals as well.

Speaker 4 (01:55:32):
Wow, we are oppositional on that because of the field conditions,
I think I'm going to take the under on the
thirty six and a half. I think the result of
poor field conditions in the preseason could be a lot
more players who are going to get field time that
they're hoping to rely on this season aren't going to
get field time.

Speaker 3 (01:55:49):
So I think we could see a.

Speaker 4 (01:55:51):
Depreciation of stars or players that they're actually going to
lean on in this game, especially as the game rolls on.

Speaker 3 (01:55:59):
So I'm gonna take the under thirty six and a half.

Speaker 4 (01:56:01):
There the Ravens Falcons, which kicks off in about five minutes.
I'm gonna take the under on the thirty four and
a half and Giants at Texans. I do like how CJ.
Stroud has looked. I think they've seen enough of them.
I think it's an early hook thirty nine and a
half is the total there.

Speaker 3 (01:56:17):
I'm taking the under there as well.

Speaker 4 (01:56:19):
So I'm going all under today in the NFL preseason.

Speaker 1 (01:56:23):
The undertaker under rich undertake it.

Speaker 2 (01:56:28):
He's alive, you know. Okay, I'm gonna do one NFL
preseason game and then I'm gonna go baseball in WNBA
on you huh.

Speaker 3 (01:56:37):
Yeah, oh boy.

Speaker 1 (01:56:37):
WNA is back.

Speaker 2 (01:56:38):
Yeah, let's go. It was a good day for me
actually yesterday. Okay, all right, I'm gonna go NFL preseason.
Give me the Chiefs. Their starters are playing against the Lions.
The Lions starters are not playing, so I'll take the Chiefs.
This numbers ticked up a little bit, but I still
like the Chiefs. Minus two and a half in the
first quarter. I will take that bet. It's ticked up

(01:57:00):
a little bit too much in the first half. That's
why I went back to the first quarter with KC.
I'm gonna go with the Arizona Diamondbacks. They've been playing
good baseball. Six game winning streak was snapped last night
against Tampa. Zach Gallon on the Mounta tonight. I think
they rebound. I'll go d Backs minus one twenty and
the WNBA. I'm looking at the sky and I'm looking

(01:57:23):
at the Sparks. You know, my girlfriend and I were
playing like basketball in a pool yesterday and every misshot,
I was like, La, Sparks, they are freaking terrible out
of the gate to get to the New York Liberty.
Give me the under in the Sky Sparks game. That's
at one sixty and a half. First team to seventy five,

(01:57:43):
I think wins this thing. I don't think both are
getting over eighty. So I'll go.

Speaker 1 (01:57:46):
You've been enjoying BETWNBA this year. What's that You enjoyed BETWBA?

Speaker 2 (01:57:51):
Oh yeah, absolutely been loving it. Yes, all right, we
are back. Baby, enjoyed the action today. We'll catch it soon.

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