December 6, 2024 • 30 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses his biggest takeaways from the Detroit Lions' Thursday Night Football victory over the Green Bay Packers, whether or not we should expect Dan Campbell's propensity to always 'go for it' could come back to bit him in the postseason and why it's so important for the Lions to secure a first-round bye in the NFC playoffs. Finally, J-Mac closes the show with his Best Bets for college football Championship Weekend and NFL Week 14.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, pamp, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire
for Friday, December sixth Oh my goodness, what a game
last night. Packers Lions went down a barn burner with
the gambler. We need to do nickname for Dan Campbell.
He's got to be the gambler, right. I mean, I
(00:31):
have never seen a coach so brazen. Campbell just does
not care. I don't. I can't recall a game where
it was so close and a team went for it
five times on fourth down. Five two of them resulted
in touchdowns. Okay, the one they missed got green Bay
back in the game. It was like at their own
(00:52):
thirty and the Packers scored to take the lead, and
you're like, oh, oh, Dan Campbell, he's gonna be catching to me,
did not matter. Packer's got the ball last in one. Listen,
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ball wash Dan Campbell here.
But the guy's got a great, great offensive coordinator with him.
Ben Johnson just stout such a good game, other than
the fourth and one where they did a six yard
(01:15):
pitch to my guy, Jamir Gibbs other than that play,
and that, by the way, that was Jared Goff audible
like out of whatever Johnson had given him, because you
could hear Goff say kill and then he switched it out.
So that's technically not on Johnson. But I love the
game he call and they moved the ball well seven
of fifteen on third down. This is how crazy the
game was. The Lions had fifteen third downs, the Packers
(01:37):
had five. The Packers barely at the ball. The Packers
time of possession twenty three minutes. They got to the
red zone five times, scored touchdowns on four of them,
six point six yards per play. I thought Jordan Love
completed one of the best passes I've seen him do
in his career. He drops back Jacob's totally whiffs on
(01:58):
the blitzing linebacker Jared Goth. Sorry not Jared Goth. Jordan
Love just calmly sidesteps the pass rush and then floats
a perfect pass right into the bread basket of the receiver.
Just I mean, listen, man, he Jordan Love made some
dynamite throws tonight. I thought he was excellent. This is
how crazy dangerous. I think the Packers are so rob
(02:21):
They score thirty one points and their best weapon on
the outside, Jaden Reid had one target, zero receptions, zero yards.
They did not use him on any reverses, and I'm like,
every game Jaden Reid is splash plays galore. You go
look it up. I mean, the guy is just a
big play weight in happen. He's shifty, and I'm just
(02:44):
so puzzled, like, wait a minute, They're not even using him.
And the thing is the Lions just controlled the ball,
controlled the clock. I will say this, Rob. I didn't
like how Lafleur won the coin toss and said, now
we'll take the ball second half. I didn't like that,
but it ended up paying off because in the second
half they start, they get the ball first, they go down,
score touchdown, then the Lions go for I think that
(03:05):
was when they went foot on fourth. Oh no, that
was the golf interception. Jared got through a bad interception,
Packers score and instantly it goes from down seventeen to
seven to leading twenty one to seventeen in the span
of like four minutes. So I didn't love that play
by the floor, you could have got the ball first
and set the tone. Instead, Detroit gets the ball and
wouldn't you know it, they set the tone. They march dark,
(03:27):
drownd eleven plays, seventy yards bing, bang boom, touchdown. I
don't know did they face Yeah, they they faced two
third and shorts there and they got them easily, and
then they ended up getting to a third and goal
and there was a penalty for legal contact. But it
was just such a one of those drives, like, all right, well,
I don't know if the Packers' defense is good. So
my overarching takeaways are damn the Packers did not play
(03:50):
their a game. They only had two hundred and ninety
eight yards of offense, only ran forty five plays, only
face five third downs, and they scored thirty one points
and Jen Reid did nothing. Oh they're scary. That's a
scary offense with the floor. But the defense is bad.
And then my takeaway from the Lions would be, listen, man,
if you've got a head coach who's cool going for
(04:11):
it on fourth down five times and getting four of
them because the team's so good, you're going places and
rob The biggest play that everybody's gonna talk about is
the fourth and one in the final minute where it
deepened Packer's territory could have kicked, but then Jordan Love
would have got the ball back. He said, hell no,
we're going for it. Jared Goff trips over the lineman,
(04:35):
his knee hits the ground, nobody touches him. He still
hands it off to Montgomery, who runs through an easy
hole for the first down. But as many people pointed out,
rob if that were college football and it's not, Jared
Goff would have been down because his knee went down,
and that would have been like, oh my gosh, Dan
Campbell just blew the game, you know. And that's the
razor thin margin that we're dealing with in the NFL.
(04:57):
It really is that close. Goff's fumbles the oh my gosh,
what a terrible decision, and Campbell's getting eviscerated this morning.
But he got the handoff off despite falling down. They
got the first down and Baits hits the game winner
and that's that, and everybody loves the Lions.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, this is one of those situations where I'm very
happy for the Detroit Lions because the turnaround for them
culturally is just something to be to behold, right Like
they are now nine and one over the last three
seasons in primetime. Okay, that is the second best mark
in NFL history for any team across three seasons. Like
(05:38):
the Lions won eight primetime games total from nineteen ninety
nine to twenty twenty one, and they've won nine of
their last ten to twenty twenty two. This team is
their bulliefs. They're fun to watch. They're aggressive that they're
creative offensively, defensively despite being down basically half of their
two deep you know roster, they get after it that
(06:02):
you saw the paths were popping on Thursday night. They
were getting after Jordan Love, especially in that first half
with pass rush, and so there's a lot of things
you like about him. I gotta say, though, this Dan
Campbell situation, I mean, it's cute now. It's great today
because they won the game because you that fourth down
there in the final forty five seconds may go down
(06:26):
as to me, one of the dumbest calls in the
history of NFL football, because if you don't get it,
you gave up the chance to take the lead because
you're that scared of Jordan Love with no timeouts, you
know what I mean, Like, I don't understand that part.
Here's the thing though. The Detroit Lions. I'll give Dan
(06:49):
Campbell credit for this. He's gonna keep being who he is, right,
wrong or indifferent. If it's the first first quarter, if
it's the second quarter, if it's at your own twenty one,
is that they're twenty one, He's gonna go four on
fourth down because he thinks that his offensive line, his
running game is better than what you got. It is
what it is. The problem with that, however, is when
(07:12):
you get to the postseason and every team is as
good or better than that Green Bay Packers team we
saw last night. When you missed one of those calls
like they did earlier in the third quarter, Yeah, it
comes back to bite you in a big way. Dan
Campbell gives deserves all the credit in the world for
(07:32):
turning around this Detroit Lions franchise. I also believe Dan
Campbell is going to be the reason why this team
does not win the Super Bowl. The last time he
pulled this kind of thing in a big spot was
in the NFC Championship game last year. Did it twice
in the fourth quarter seven oh three left and I
(07:52):
believe it was like five minutes left, fourth and three.
You know what? Fuck it. Let's go, I don't need
a thirty eight yard field goal. Let's go incomplete pass.
I'm on Ross Saint Brown, incomplete pass, Josh Reynolds. They
end up becoming blowing the largest lead in NFC championship
game history. Teams that were up seventeen points at halftime
(08:13):
in conference championship games were twenty one and up until
that game. That kind of stuff does not happen if
you take the points. And again, it's cool that it
worked out. It's fun to talk about it. It's fun
to watch it as a as a fan. I was
so happy that he did it. As somebody who follows
sports and talks about sports and is in the sports
(08:35):
media business, I don't know how you can feel comfortable
betting on this Lions team in the postseason when they're
doing that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Well, it's interesting you say that because I did see
a stat You know how they all these like analytics
guys have these machines whether you should go for it
or kick it actually said on that we're the one
where Jared goff fell and his kN hit that they
should have slightly kicked there. It was like eighty two
to seventy eight kick, which is interesting because usually the
(09:06):
coaches are being weak and they don't they don't want
to do what this says, which is go for it.
But this would actually said kick and Campbell's like effort.
But let me go back to something. Do you remember
the Dallas game last year? Yes, Dallas Detroit where Campbell
stayed true to himself and decided even though we had
to take a penalty and pushed back.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, yes, you know what, Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Think I'm gonna go for it and it failed and
they lost, and it's like one of those oh wait
a minute, how is it? Is it similar to the
keeping when keeping it real goes wrong or keeping it to.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I mean again, if they don't get it, he's getting eviscerated.
In Detroit, they are totally piling on we cannot win
a super Bowl with this guy, blah blah blah. But
it worked right, so we're gonna give him a fast
and he's great. But I would kind of lean in
your direction. By the way that Detroit defense looked awful.
(10:02):
I personally thought Jordan Love was under no pressure at all.
Clean pocket didn't have to run around. At least that's
what I viewed Other people were like, no, they were
getting pressure. I don't know he was sacked once, but
we'll see the pressure numbers later this morning. But you
know they hit him, looks like seven hits. But ultimately
I thought Love had plenty of time to operate back there.
I don't believe at all in this Lion's defense. And
(10:25):
next week is a big, big showdown against the Buffalo Bells.
After that it's Bear's forty nine ers. Forty nine ers
game looks like a layup now and then Viking. So
Lion's still on track to be the number one team.
I'm just curious if you watched the Ben Johnson calling
the game when you interview him Rob, if you are,
say New Orleans or whatever, Hey, Ben, so you guys
(10:50):
in that Packers game went for it five times? Can
you just talk me through the process. Is that you saying, hey, guys,
I think we can get this. Here's a play? Or
is that Campbell saying we're going what do you got?
Because I would love to know the process for that.
Who's the gambler here? Is it Campbell? I mean, is
it the analytics team? Is it Johnson? I don't think
(11:10):
the media asked that, but I'm very curious, Rob what
you like, Like, I think Ben Johnson is dialing up
some amazing place that there was an inside handoff to
amaras Saint Brown, which is just I'm like, Oh, that
is fricking You just don't see that around the league.
He's doing stuff. He's really in his bag, and I
would love him as a play caller. I don't know
if he has the chops to be a head coach.
(11:31):
I know very little about Ben Johnson. He's not like
a media whore like a bunch of these other guys
who want to go out there and get the media love.
I just I don't know what to make of him
as a head coach because I don't know if he's
making these calls.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yeah, I think that's fair, And I think the other
thing that's gonna be working against him, whether it's a
fair or not, is how many teams are built like
this Lion's team.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah like that.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
This offensive line is incredible. The two headed monster at
the running back position Sonic and Knuckles, which I don't
like that nickname at all, but Montgomery and Gibbs are
by far the best one to two combination you know
in football, Like how many other teams could duplicate that
kind of system.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, it takes a while to like, Yeah, it's going.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
To take a minute to build that up. So that's
an interesting situation. And I will say this, even after
everything I just said about the Lions and how I
don't trust Dan Campbell, and I stand by that. Sign
me up though for part three Lions Packers at some
point in the playoffs, I would love to see that
game because I think these two teams know each other,
(12:36):
of course divisional foes, and each one presents unique challenges
to the other one. And part of me was wondering.
I think it was during the game. I ask year,
right now we know Dan Campbell's aggressive, do you think
he was overly aggressive, specifically with the going forward from
what their own thirty which they fail in the sweep,
and then going for it again in the final thirty
(12:58):
seconds to avoid Jeordgan and Love even getting a chance
to tie the game. Do you think he is aware
how banged up their defenses and he's like, if we
don't clinch this one seed, we have zero chance of
making a deep run.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yeah, I think there's certainly something there. He's worried about
his defense, but the other thing is like, listen, we
can all play armchair quarterback all we want. Oh what
are they doing?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Going for it?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
He knows his team way better than anyone, so in practice,
I don't know how many times have they gone over
at play X play Why? Like he has to have
confidence in them. I don't have the fourth quarter stats
in front of me, but for some reason, it feels
like on every high leverage spot they're able to deliver
rob you know, and that is having an amazing offensive line,
(13:41):
having a veteran quarterback, having two awesome running backs, and
a'm Aara Saint Brown. I mean he had I thought
largely a quiet game.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Oh he was blocking his ass off though even Kirk
Kirkchey was talking about it, like, I know he only
had three targets at the time, but you saw him
in the running game getting after it over and over.
And that's kind of what separates him from a lot
of these other top flat wide receivers is like him,
Cooper Cup or two guys who they'll block every play
if that's what it takes for them to win. And
a'mon rossing Brown was great, even the stats don't show it.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
There was also a play at the goal line. I
think it was the fourth down, one of the fourth
downs to Tim Patrick where they came out of the
huddle and Jamier Gibbs went out wide and Amar Ross
saying Brown lined up in Gibbs the spot, and you
could see right before the snap the Packers are like, wait,
what the hell's going on? And there were some pointing
around and everybody kind of flocked to Amon ra and
of course Tim Patrick wide open for the touchdown. Cats
(14:32):
like that is scheme. They have to have confidence that, dude,
we're gonna come to the line of scrimmage. We're not
going to do basic shit and people are not gonna
be ready. Is a really good team, Rob, I'm just
gonna continue to say if they have to go to Philly,
they're not winning at home. I think they got a
chance to beat Philly.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I mean it's hard to go against that, especially now
that we've seen because I know last week I'm sounding
like a hypocrite because I said last week I like Detroit,
but seeing how bad they are, and I saw a
stat before the game that said they had thirteen guys
that are either on IR or were out in Week fourteen,
including five of their two deep defensive line, so five
(15:16):
of the eight were hurt. Like, I don't know how
it's conceivable that you can, you know, go up against
the team like the Philadelphia Eagles that run the ball
just as well, if not better than you do in
Detroit with that thin of a defensive front and think
you're gonna be able to do it whether it's at
home or on the road.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
By the way, it should be noted, the Monday night
football game was a wacky, crazy game. I didn't think
it was good football. This was a wild, high scoring game.
I thought it was good football because it was good teams.
I mean, there was just so many big plays and
busts in that last game or on the Monday night
football game. I'm looking here, I see one explosive play
(16:00):
on the Lions to Jamison Williams where he caught it
over the middle and just streaked for twenty eight yards.
Everything else was twenty and under. And it's like, okay,
so the Packers defensive strategy of way, we're gonna zone
you up, We'll give you all this stuff underneath, but
no big plays kind of sort of worked. I Mean,
they didn't win, but it kept they were in the game.
The entire time. They kind of bottled up the run game.
Montgomery fifty one, Gibs forty three. It wasn't the worst
(16:23):
strategy in the world, as long as you're not giving
up like seventy yard touchdowns. Like I mean, in that
Browns Browns Broncos game, it felt like there was like
ten plays over fifty years, maybe fifty. It was just
joky football.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
It was big tall football.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, basically yeah, yeah yeah, or arena league football.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Like this was excellent, and like that NFC championship game
Lions Niners was awesome. I cannot wait for the football
playoffs and Rob, We're getting close, getting very close. All right,
let's get two best bets this weekend college football and
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup up
in the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR
to listen live. The only thing better than sitting on
your couch watching the games is making money while you
do it. Here's your best bet.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
All right, best best time here on the podcast. It's
been a damn good week. Monday night football did not
go my way, but but we bounce back with college
basketball winners three nights in a row on an unbelievable
hot streak. I mean, very very fortunate now eight and
oh Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. However, I'm nervous about this college
(17:42):
football weekend. It's been a great college football season, but
I don't like the games this weekend. And let me
just briefly say why not. So the college football playoff
has kind of changed the way I look at conference
championship weekend. Almost everybody playing is already in the college
football playoff. So conference championship we get, Yeah, it feels great,
(18:04):
it's wonderful, but you're automatically, I mean almost everyone is
automatically going to the playoff. So this isn't the end
of your season. Do you structure your coaching differently. We've
talked about that a couple times this week on the podcast,
and it's like, I don't know, Like, I mean, what
are we gonna see from Georgia We surely they didn't
look like they were ready against Georgia Tech. I know
(18:26):
that's a rivalry game, but with seventeen nothing they needed
eight overtimes, is that team gonna be gassed and have
nothing left in the tank? Or is it the opposite?
Are they just gonna Hey, it's playoff time. This is
a playoff game. You know, if we win this, you know,
could we host or could we get a buye? You know?
Are we playing for the buye? And I as such,
I'm on, We'll start with college. I want Georgia small.
(18:46):
All the college bets this week are small, just because
there's no major confidence and I don't know what to
take away from the fact that the playoff is looming,
and you know, I give it slight A small play
on Georgia plus three. I've a small play on SMU
minus two. I don't think Clemson is very good. That
being said, I wonder can SMU get in with the loss?
(19:09):
Is that even entering their head Clemson's in one mode,
must win. We gotta win to get in or the
season's over. So I'm on SMU minus two, UNLV plus
four and a half. Very small. Don't don't love that bad.
Ohio plus three is the only one. I went a
little bit larger. Now it's plus three minus one thirty
seven heavy juice. Don't love that. Ohio plus three against
(19:29):
Miami of Ohio. And then finally Penn State plus three
and a half under the now, I argued on Cowherd
that listen, this is an Oregon team who's gonna be
playing a bunch of playoff games. I wonder if the
Oregon fan base is like, hey, you know, let's travel
(19:49):
for the big TED championship game and then, oh, by
the way, then we're gonna have probably two or three
more games left in the season. It's like, oh, that's
a lot of travel, and I just I don't know
if Oregon's gonna have a big crowd there.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
One could argue Oregon's been locked into this game for
a couple weeks, so people went ahead and got their tickets. Meanwhile,
Penn State just got in this past weekend after Ohio
State lost. Penn State's much closer to Indianapolis. I'm of
the belief, you know, Penn State probably shows well here.
I saw tickets somewhere on StubHub, was like twelve dollars
to get in, Like it's not gonna be a rabid, wild,
(20:25):
crazy audience. I took small bet Penn State plus three
and a half just to have some action. But I
will confess this Saturday, I have a ton of stuff
going on, and I will not, unfortunately, be planted in
front of the television for seven hours watching mediocre conference
championship football. Let's get to the NFL and totals. Let's
(20:45):
start with the totals. I am under forty four in
Seattle and Arizona. It's a rematch, It's a divisional matchup.
The last time they met it was very low scoring.
I anticipate another low scoring game. This is my biggest
total bet of the week. Under four Seattle, Arizona under
forty five. Minnesota and Atlanta will do more on this game.
(21:05):
Shortly on the side total Browns Pittsburgh over forty four
and a half. I know it's a divisional game. I
know it's a rematch, but you've got to wonder about
the mindset of the Browns after that excruciating loss in
Denver at altitude Monday night, Pittsburgh, you know, wins a
shootout over the Bengals, and Pittsburgh's now like, guys, we
(21:27):
could win the division. You know, I don't know, is
the number one seed to play if say, Kansas City
and Buffalo stumble this weekend. Pittsburgh. This team, I've been
slow to get around on them. It's my bad but
I'm on the over forty four and a half Pittsburgh
and Cleveland. I think you know his Pittsburgh offense is
turning into quite the machine. Under forty three in Chargers Chiefs.
(21:49):
I think everybody understands that one. Chargers are very limited.
I read an article on the Athletic the Chargers are
seeing more man coverage. Do they have the receivers to
overcome it? And if you look at the last couple weeks,
not really. And I saw Lad McConkey, he's dicey. They
don't know if he's gonna play. I kind of want
to lay it with the I mean I did lay
(22:10):
it with the Chiefs, but not contest. That's not a
contest pick for me. But under forty three in that one,
and then finally over forty nine and a half Monday
Night Football Sincey and Dallas sides. I told you guys
with crack Man that Eagles about US twelve was my
first bet of the week. Really like it. It's up
to thirteen. Feeling good about it. Carolina's run defense is abysmal,
Bucky Irving made them look awful, and Philadelphia's gonna run
(22:33):
it down their throat. This could be could be a
game where they're in such control that fourth quarter is backups. Now, Carolina,
I don't think is gonna like roll over and not
try once they start getting run over. Because Bryce Young's
been flinging it pretty damn well. I would say, in
the last you know, three weeks, Bryce Young's looking really good.
(22:55):
Whether if you're wondering in Philly, not that cold. It'll
be in the forties for kickoff. I mean, that's presentable,
that's not absolutely brutal. There's a storm coming Monday, but
the games on Sunday. So I'm on Eagles minus twelve,
the dumbest bet I made, and I would admit, you
should not follow my Buffalo Bills minus five. So I
took that one day. As soon as the Stafford stuff
started popping up, I was like, oh, let me grab
(23:16):
bills just in case Stafford doesn't go he decides to
shut it down. Well, Stafford's fine, he's gonna play, and
the line's down to three and a half and a
lot of people I respect are on the rams here,
So I would just say sidestep that I'm not buying
out of mine because I'm pop committed to the bills
and I will tell you. So, this is a big
weekend in Los Angeles. There's so much happening Christmas, party wise, holidays.
(23:40):
I think my guess is this is sixty five thirty
five Bills fans, maybe seventy thirty. And I personally think
the Rams are done. They have no showed in the
first half of so many games recently. You can't do
that against Buffalo. Now. I know everybody's saying, Hey, Buffalo
coming off one of the biggest highs, the snow game,
(24:01):
throttling San Francisco. Now they've got to fly to the
West Coast, and it's like, oh, for a game against
the Rams, And is Buffalo gonna be up for it?
After that huge win? You know on deck they have
a humongous game, perhaps a Super Bowl preview against the
Lions that's also on the road, and it's like, can
are they gonna overlook the rents? I would guess No.
(24:24):
I'm on Buffalo minus five. I don't like it. I
don't recommend it.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I did take a bite a nibble of the Bears
on the money line. I think it's a minus one seventy.
I think it was. And then Bears plus four against
San fran I you know, I love brock Perdy. I
don't know if he's healthy. This Trent Williams story is
so sad, so many guys the Christian McCaffrey note if
you guys read it online, like he posted on IG
(25:01):
about his season being over, like that locker room is
so down in the dumps and depressed. I don't know
how you motivate for this, and they're getting waxed lately.
I don't think the Bears are capable of that. But
of course there is the new coach bump with iber
Flues being fired. There are a lot of reports that
the players did not like Eberflus would not surprise me
if the Bears won this game outright in San France.
(25:23):
And then the final dumb bet that I made that
I do not recommend Seattle plus three. You guys know,
I talked to a bunch of gamblers text DM whatever
and a couple of the guys that I really like.
They're like, I gotta go Arizona. I haven't seen anyone
on Seattle here now I'm on an island. I bet it.
I will not be entering Seattle in the contest, despite
(25:43):
how much I like them. The contest is still a
little bit up in the air. For sure. Minnesota and
Philly will be in their Minnesota minus five and a half.
So Kirk Cousins played for Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell at
the end of the season decided, yeah, we like you, Kirk.
We just die We're not going to offer you the bag.
All Kirk Cousins' limitations are known by Kevin O'Connell. They
know all his strengths and weaknesses. Brian Flores saw him
(26:06):
in practice last year. This is a really, really tough
spot for Cousins now. The only problem, as we talked
about with crack Man yesterday, is if you go ahead
and take Minnesota, this is laying a big number, big
number against a team that was again a few weeks ago,
just six and three. They were predicted to win the division.
(26:29):
And it's like, is Minnesota's offense that good? Minnesota, by
the way, I don't want to say offensively, they're leaking oil.
But if you just look at the trend lines and
I did have somebody tell me something and this kind
of factors in here. Well, Jay, you know, you guys
you love Philly. But what about the Eagles and the
Packers game from week one? You remember that in Brazil
(26:50):
Packer's hung with a Packers should have won that game.
I was like, hold up, hold up, pulled up. That
was week one. That's like thrown out the window. You know. Like,
were coaching my daughter's soccer team in the Beach Cup
playoffs this weekend and in our first game of the season,
and it was like a they called it a preseason game.
It doesn't count towards your record, but we're just trying
(27:12):
people places. We didn't really know the roster, we didn't
know what we had. We had one practice and we
got destroyed by a team that ended up being the
best team. They beat us like eight to three. Now,
our best player had to leave after the third quarter,
and it was at that point it was like five
to three and we just fell apart in the fourth.
But the guy I coached with was like, oh, this
could be a long season. I was like, God, this
is relaxed. You know, we got some talent. We just had.
It took us a little while to figure out who
(27:34):
goes where. And in the rematch, we led them one
to zero, we led them two to one, and then
they got a goal from their superstar with like five
minutes left, a tough, tough goal to tie it. But
we they know we were the better side in that game.
And you get better as the season goes on. And
I'm just telling you, this is a totally different Eagles team,
(27:56):
just as this is a totally different Falcons team. This
is a totally differ Vikings team. Early in the year,
I mean, Vikings were smacking people. They played the Giants,
smacked him twenty eight six, they played the Niners, beat
them handily, twenty three seventeen, beat the Texans thirty four
to seven. I mean, they're waxing folks now here. We
are last four weeks and it's like twelve seven against
(28:18):
the Jags on the road, and that was against Mac
Jones twenty three thirteen. I mean, they covered against the Titans,
but it was a slog. Bears. They barely beat thirty
twenty seven, barely beat Arizona. Arizona is okay, but you're
not seeing the dominant Vikings. You saw earlier. I think
this number is a little high, and I still like
the Vikings simply because of Kevin O'Connell versus well, I
(28:43):
know it's not versus because he was the head coach
and he's not the defensive cordator, but Kevin O'Connell and
Brian Flores versus Kirk Cousins and this Falcons team. Bottom line,
I think I'm done betting the Falcons all season because, man,
every time I backed these guys, it's just such a
sweat coop. The kicker can't make anything now now, so
I'm on the Vikings. And do you know what this means?
That the Falcons are going to play their butts off.
(29:04):
Kirk Cousins is probably gonna come in the back door.
And the problem with the number, like five and a
half is if the Vikings are up twenty four or
fourteen with three minutes left, Kirk Cousins is just going
to be chucking duck two minute drive and they're gonna
give up chunk plays, and then the Falcons will come
in the back door, you know, And that's what concerns me.
The hope is that Flores is blitzing so much early
that it's just an insurmountable lead and the Falcons are
(29:28):
destroyed and they can't do anything. So those are the
NFL plays this week. It's a weird week. I don't
see a ton of stuff I love. I'm looking closer
at that Bucks Raiders game because I thought the Tampa
Bay defense was just abhorrent. Antonio Pierce has his guys
playing tough, but did that Chiefs game totally just wreck them?
I don't know. I kind of like the Titans, but
(29:50):
I cannot do that. This just a fate of Mac Jones.
I think he's awful. And the other one I kind
of like is Cincinnati, but oh gosh, I just we
can't stomach backing that defense, which can't stop anybody. And
now they're done. The season's over. They're not going to
the playoffs. Like are they gonna let Cooper Rush walk
them up and down the field. So those are the
best bets for the weekend. We'll be back on Monday. Everybody,
(30:14):
have a good one. Talk to you then.
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, pamp, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire
for Friday, December sixth Oh my goodness, what a game
last night. Packers Lions went down a barn burner with
the gambler. We need to do nickname for Dan Campbell.
He's got to be the gambler, right. I mean, I
(00:31):
have never seen a coach so brazen. Campbell just does
not care. I don't. I can't recall a game where
it was so close and a team went for it
five times on fourth down. Five two of them resulted
in touchdowns. Okay, the one they missed got green Bay
back in the game. It was like at their own
(00:52):
thirty and the Packers scored to take the lead, and
you're like, oh, oh, Dan Campbell, he's gonna be catching to me,
did not matter. Packer's got the ball last in one. Listen,
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ball wash Dan Campbell here.
But the guy's got a great, great offensive coordinator with him.
Ben Johnson just stout such a good game, other than
the fourth and one where they did a six yard
(01:15):
pitch to my guy, Jamir Gibbs other than that play,
and that, by the way, that was Jared Goff audible
like out of whatever Johnson had given him, because you
could hear Goff say kill and then he switched it out.
So that's technically not on Johnson. But I love the
game he call and they moved the ball well seven
of fifteen on third down. This is how crazy the
game was. The Lions had fifteen third downs, the Packers
(01:37):
had five. The Packers barely at the ball. The Packers
time of possession twenty three minutes. They got to the
red zone five times, scored touchdowns on four of them,
six point six yards per play. I thought Jordan Love
completed one of the best passes I've seen him do
in his career. He drops back Jacob's totally whiffs on
(01:58):
the blitzing linebacker Jared Goth. Sorry not Jared Goth. Jordan
Love just calmly sidesteps the pass rush and then floats
a perfect pass right into the bread basket of the receiver.
Just I mean, listen, man, he Jordan Love made some
dynamite throws tonight. I thought he was excellent. This is
how crazy dangerous. I think the Packers are so rob
(02:21):
They score thirty one points and their best weapon on
the outside, Jaden Reid had one target, zero receptions, zero yards.
They did not use him on any reverses, and I'm like,
every game Jaden Reid is splash plays galore. You go
look it up. I mean, the guy is just a
big play weight in happen. He's shifty, and I'm just
(02:44):
so puzzled, like, wait a minute, They're not even using him.
And the thing is the Lions just controlled the ball,
controlled the clock. I will say this, Rob. I didn't
like how Lafleur won the coin toss and said, now
we'll take the ball second half. I didn't like that,
but it ended up paying off because in the second
half they start, they get the ball first, they go down,
score touchdown, then the Lions go for I think that
(03:05):
was when they went foot on fourth. Oh no, that
was the golf interception. Jared got through a bad interception,
Packers score and instantly it goes from down seventeen to
seven to leading twenty one to seventeen in the span
of like four minutes. So I didn't love that play
by the floor, you could have got the ball first
and set the tone. Instead, Detroit gets the ball and
wouldn't you know it, they set the tone. They march dark,
(03:27):
drownd eleven plays, seventy yards bing, bang boom, touchdown. I
don't know did they face Yeah, they they faced two
third and shorts there and they got them easily, and
then they ended up getting to a third and goal
and there was a penalty for legal contact. But it
was just such a one of those drives, like, all right, well,
I don't know if the Packers' defense is good. So
my overarching takeaways are damn the Packers did not play
(03:50):
their a game. They only had two hundred and ninety
eight yards of offense, only ran forty five plays, only
face five third downs, and they scored thirty one points
and Jen Reid did nothing. Oh they're scary. That's a
scary offense with the floor. But the defense is bad.
And then my takeaway from the Lions would be, listen, man,
if you've got a head coach who's cool going for
(04:11):
it on fourth down five times and getting four of
them because the team's so good, you're going places and
rob The biggest play that everybody's gonna talk about is
the fourth and one in the final minute where it
deepened Packer's territory could have kicked, but then Jordan Love
would have got the ball back. He said, hell no,
we're going for it. Jared Goff trips over the lineman,
(04:35):
his knee hits the ground, nobody touches him. He still
hands it off to Montgomery, who runs through an easy
hole for the first down. But as many people pointed out,
rob if that were college football and it's not, Jared
Goff would have been down because his knee went down,
and that would have been like, oh my gosh, Dan
Campbell just blew the game, you know. And that's the
razor thin margin that we're dealing with in the NFL.
(04:57):
It really is that close. Goff's fumbles the oh my gosh,
what a terrible decision, and Campbell's getting eviscerated this morning.
But he got the handoff off despite falling down. They
got the first down and Baits hits the game winner
and that's that, and everybody loves the Lions.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, this is one of those situations where I'm very
happy for the Detroit Lions because the turnaround for them
culturally is just something to be to behold, right Like
they are now nine and one over the last three
seasons in primetime. Okay, that is the second best mark
in NFL history for any team across three seasons. Like
(05:38):
the Lions won eight primetime games total from nineteen ninety
nine to twenty twenty one, and they've won nine of
their last ten to twenty twenty two. This team is
their bulliefs. They're fun to watch. They're aggressive that they're
creative offensively, defensively despite being down basically half of their
two deep you know roster, they get after it that
(06:02):
you saw the paths were popping on Thursday night. They
were getting after Jordan Love, especially in that first half
with pass rush, and so there's a lot of things
you like about him. I gotta say, though, this Dan
Campbell situation, I mean, it's cute now. It's great today
because they won the game because you that fourth down
there in the final forty five seconds may go down
(06:26):
as to me, one of the dumbest calls in the
history of NFL football, because if you don't get it,
you gave up the chance to take the lead because
you're that scared of Jordan Love with no timeouts, you
know what I mean, Like, I don't understand that part.
Here's the thing though. The Detroit Lions. I'll give Dan
(06:49):
Campbell credit for this. He's gonna keep being who he is, right,
wrong or indifferent. If it's the first first quarter, if
it's the second quarter, if it's at your own twenty one,
is that they're twenty one, He's gonna go four on
fourth down because he thinks that his offensive line, his
running game is better than what you got. It is
what it is. The problem with that, however, is when
(07:12):
you get to the postseason and every team is as
good or better than that Green Bay Packers team we
saw last night. When you missed one of those calls
like they did earlier in the third quarter, Yeah, it
comes back to bite you in a big way. Dan
Campbell gives deserves all the credit in the world for
(07:32):
turning around this Detroit Lions franchise. I also believe Dan
Campbell is going to be the reason why this team
does not win the Super Bowl. The last time he
pulled this kind of thing in a big spot was
in the NFC Championship game last year. Did it twice
in the fourth quarter seven oh three left and I
(07:52):
believe it was like five minutes left, fourth and three.
You know what? Fuck it. Let's go, I don't need
a thirty eight yard field goal. Let's go incomplete pass.
I'm on Ross Saint Brown, incomplete pass, Josh Reynolds. They
end up becoming blowing the largest lead in NFC championship
game history. Teams that were up seventeen points at halftime
(08:13):
in conference championship games were twenty one and up until
that game. That kind of stuff does not happen if
you take the points. And again, it's cool that it
worked out. It's fun to talk about it. It's fun
to watch it as a as a fan. I was
so happy that he did it. As somebody who follows
sports and talks about sports and is in the sports
(08:35):
media business, I don't know how you can feel comfortable
betting on this Lions team in the postseason when they're
doing that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Well, it's interesting you say that because I did see
a stat You know how they all these like analytics
guys have these machines whether you should go for it
or kick it actually said on that we're the one
where Jared goff fell and his kN hit that they
should have slightly kicked there. It was like eighty two
to seventy eight kick, which is interesting because usually the
(09:06):
coaches are being weak and they don't they don't want
to do what this says, which is go for it.
But this would actually said kick and Campbell's like effort.
But let me go back to something. Do you remember
the Dallas game last year? Yes, Dallas Detroit where Campbell
stayed true to himself and decided even though we had
to take a penalty and pushed back.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, yes, you know what, Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Think I'm gonna go for it and it failed and
they lost, and it's like one of those oh wait
a minute, how is it? Is it similar to the
keeping when keeping it real goes wrong or keeping it to.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I mean again, if they don't get it, he's getting eviscerated.
In Detroit, they are totally piling on we cannot win
a super Bowl with this guy, blah blah blah. But
it worked right, so we're gonna give him a fast
and he's great. But I would kind of lean in
your direction. By the way that Detroit defense looked awful.
(10:02):
I personally thought Jordan Love was under no pressure at all.
Clean pocket didn't have to run around. At least that's
what I viewed Other people were like, no, they were
getting pressure. I don't know he was sacked once, but
we'll see the pressure numbers later this morning. But you
know they hit him, looks like seven hits. But ultimately
I thought Love had plenty of time to operate back there.
I don't believe at all in this Lion's defense. And
(10:25):
next week is a big, big showdown against the Buffalo Bells.
After that it's Bear's forty nine ers. Forty nine ers
game looks like a layup now and then Viking. So
Lion's still on track to be the number one team.
I'm just curious if you watched the Ben Johnson calling
the game when you interview him Rob, if you are,
say New Orleans or whatever, Hey, Ben, so you guys
(10:50):
in that Packers game went for it five times? Can
you just talk me through the process. Is that you saying, hey, guys,
I think we can get this. Here's a play? Or
is that Campbell saying we're going what do you got?
Because I would love to know the process for that.
Who's the gambler here? Is it Campbell? I mean, is
it the analytics team? Is it Johnson? I don't think
(11:10):
the media asked that, but I'm very curious, Rob what
you like, Like, I think Ben Johnson is dialing up
some amazing place that there was an inside handoff to
amaras Saint Brown, which is just I'm like, Oh, that
is fricking You just don't see that around the league.
He's doing stuff. He's really in his bag, and I
would love him as a play caller. I don't know
if he has the chops to be a head coach.
(11:31):
I know very little about Ben Johnson. He's not like
a media whore like a bunch of these other guys
who want to go out there and get the media love.
I just I don't know what to make of him
as a head coach because I don't know if he's
making these calls.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yeah, I think that's fair, And I think the other
thing that's gonna be working against him, whether it's a
fair or not, is how many teams are built like
this Lion's team.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah like that.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
This offensive line is incredible. The two headed monster at
the running back position Sonic and Knuckles, which I don't
like that nickname at all, but Montgomery and Gibbs are
by far the best one to two combination you know
in football, Like how many other teams could duplicate that
kind of system.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, it takes a while to like, Yeah, it's going.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
To take a minute to build that up. So that's
an interesting situation. And I will say this, even after
everything I just said about the Lions and how I
don't trust Dan Campbell, and I stand by that. Sign
me up though for part three Lions Packers at some
point in the playoffs, I would love to see that
game because I think these two teams know each other,
(12:36):
of course divisional foes, and each one presents unique challenges
to the other one. And part of me was wondering.
I think it was during the game. I ask year,
right now we know Dan Campbell's aggressive, do you think
he was overly aggressive, specifically with the going forward from
what their own thirty which they fail in the sweep,
and then going for it again in the final thirty
(12:58):
seconds to avoid Jeordgan and Love even getting a chance
to tie the game. Do you think he is aware
how banged up their defenses and he's like, if we
don't clinch this one seed, we have zero chance of
making a deep run.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yeah, I think there's certainly something there. He's worried about
his defense, but the other thing is like, listen, we
can all play armchair quarterback all we want. Oh what
are they doing?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Going for it?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
He knows his team way better than anyone, so in practice,
I don't know how many times have they gone over
at play X play Why? Like he has to have
confidence in them. I don't have the fourth quarter stats
in front of me, but for some reason, it feels
like on every high leverage spot they're able to deliver
rob you know, and that is having an amazing offensive line,
(13:41):
having a veteran quarterback, having two awesome running backs, and
a'm Aara Saint Brown. I mean he had I thought
largely a quiet game.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Oh he was blocking his ass off though even Kirk
Kirkchey was talking about it, like, I know he only
had three targets at the time, but you saw him
in the running game getting after it over and over.
And that's kind of what separates him from a lot
of these other top flat wide receivers is like him,
Cooper Cup or two guys who they'll block every play
if that's what it takes for them to win. And
a'mon rossing Brown was great, even the stats don't show it.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
There was also a play at the goal line. I
think it was the fourth down, one of the fourth
downs to Tim Patrick where they came out of the
huddle and Jamier Gibbs went out wide and Amar Ross
saying Brown lined up in Gibbs the spot, and you
could see right before the snap the Packers are like, wait,
what the hell's going on? And there were some pointing
around and everybody kind of flocked to Amon ra and
of course Tim Patrick wide open for the touchdown. Cats
(14:32):
like that is scheme. They have to have confidence that, dude,
we're gonna come to the line of scrimmage. We're not
going to do basic shit and people are not gonna
be ready. Is a really good team, Rob, I'm just
gonna continue to say if they have to go to Philly,
they're not winning at home. I think they got a
chance to beat Philly.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I mean it's hard to go against that, especially now
that we've seen because I know last week I'm sounding
like a hypocrite because I said last week I like Detroit,
but seeing how bad they are, and I saw a
stat before the game that said they had thirteen guys
that are either on IR or were out in Week fourteen,
including five of their two deep defensive line, so five
(15:16):
of the eight were hurt. Like, I don't know how
it's conceivable that you can, you know, go up against
the team like the Philadelphia Eagles that run the ball
just as well, if not better than you do in
Detroit with that thin of a defensive front and think
you're gonna be able to do it whether it's at
home or on the road.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
By the way, it should be noted, the Monday night
football game was a wacky, crazy game. I didn't think
it was good football. This was a wild, high scoring game.
I thought it was good football because it was good teams.
I mean, there was just so many big plays and
busts in that last game or on the Monday night
football game. I'm looking here, I see one explosive play
(16:00):
on the Lions to Jamison Williams where he caught it
over the middle and just streaked for twenty eight yards.
Everything else was twenty and under. And it's like, okay,
so the Packers defensive strategy of way, we're gonna zone
you up, We'll give you all this stuff underneath, but
no big plays kind of sort of worked. I Mean,
they didn't win, but it kept they were in the game.
The entire time. They kind of bottled up the run game.
Montgomery fifty one, Gibs forty three. It wasn't the worst
(16:23):
strategy in the world, as long as you're not giving
up like seventy yard touchdowns. Like I mean, in that
Browns Browns Broncos game, it felt like there was like
ten plays over fifty years, maybe fifty. It was just
joky football.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
It was big tall football.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, basically yeah, yeah yeah, or arena league football.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Like this was excellent, and like that NFC championship game
Lions Niners was awesome. I cannot wait for the football
playoffs and Rob, We're getting close, getting very close. All right,
let's get two best bets this weekend college football and
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup up
in the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR
to listen live. The only thing better than sitting on
your couch watching the games is making money while you
do it. Here's your best bet.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
All right, best best time here on the podcast. It's
been a damn good week. Monday night football did not
go my way, but but we bounce back with college
basketball winners three nights in a row on an unbelievable
hot streak. I mean, very very fortunate now eight and
oh Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. However, I'm nervous about this college
(17:42):
football weekend. It's been a great college football season, but
I don't like the games this weekend. And let me
just briefly say why not. So the college football playoff
has kind of changed the way I look at conference
championship weekend. Almost everybody playing is already in the college
football playoff. So conference championship we get, Yeah, it feels great,
(18:04):
it's wonderful, but you're automatically, I mean almost everyone is
automatically going to the playoff. So this isn't the end
of your season. Do you structure your coaching differently. We've
talked about that a couple times this week on the podcast,
and it's like, I don't know, Like, I mean, what
are we gonna see from Georgia We surely they didn't
look like they were ready against Georgia Tech. I know
(18:26):
that's a rivalry game, but with seventeen nothing they needed
eight overtimes, is that team gonna be gassed and have
nothing left in the tank? Or is it the opposite?
Are they just gonna Hey, it's playoff time. This is
a playoff game. You know, if we win this, you know,
could we host or could we get a buye? You know?
Are we playing for the buye? And I as such,
I'm on, We'll start with college. I want Georgia small.
(18:46):
All the college bets this week are small, just because
there's no major confidence and I don't know what to
take away from the fact that the playoff is looming,
and you know, I give it slight A small play
on Georgia plus three. I've a small play on SMU
minus two. I don't think Clemson is very good. That
being said, I wonder can SMU get in with the loss?
(19:09):
Is that even entering their head Clemson's in one mode,
must win. We gotta win to get in or the
season's over. So I'm on SMU minus two, UNLV plus
four and a half. Very small. Don't don't love that bad.
Ohio plus three is the only one. I went a
little bit larger. Now it's plus three minus one thirty
seven heavy juice. Don't love that. Ohio plus three against
(19:29):
Miami of Ohio. And then finally Penn State plus three
and a half under the now, I argued on Cowherd
that listen, this is an Oregon team who's gonna be
playing a bunch of playoff games. I wonder if the
Oregon fan base is like, hey, you know, let's travel
(19:49):
for the big TED championship game and then, oh, by
the way, then we're gonna have probably two or three
more games left in the season. It's like, oh, that's
a lot of travel, and I just I don't know
if Oregon's gonna have a big crowd there.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
One could argue Oregon's been locked into this game for
a couple weeks, so people went ahead and got their tickets. Meanwhile,
Penn State just got in this past weekend after Ohio
State lost. Penn State's much closer to Indianapolis. I'm of
the belief, you know, Penn State probably shows well here.
I saw tickets somewhere on StubHub, was like twelve dollars
to get in, Like it's not gonna be a rabid, wild,
(20:25):
crazy audience. I took small bet Penn State plus three
and a half just to have some action. But I
will confess this Saturday, I have a ton of stuff
going on, and I will not, unfortunately, be planted in
front of the television for seven hours watching mediocre conference
championship football. Let's get to the NFL and totals. Let's
(20:45):
start with the totals. I am under forty four in
Seattle and Arizona. It's a rematch, It's a divisional matchup.
The last time they met it was very low scoring.
I anticipate another low scoring game. This is my biggest
total bet of the week. Under four Seattle, Arizona under
forty five. Minnesota and Atlanta will do more on this game.
(21:05):
Shortly on the side total Browns Pittsburgh over forty four
and a half. I know it's a divisional game. I
know it's a rematch, but you've got to wonder about
the mindset of the Browns after that excruciating loss in
Denver at altitude Monday night, Pittsburgh, you know, wins a
shootout over the Bengals, and Pittsburgh's now like, guys, we
(21:27):
could win the division. You know, I don't know, is
the number one seed to play if say, Kansas City
and Buffalo stumble this weekend. Pittsburgh. This team, I've been
slow to get around on them. It's my bad but
I'm on the over forty four and a half Pittsburgh
and Cleveland. I think you know his Pittsburgh offense is
turning into quite the machine. Under forty three in Chargers Chiefs.
(21:49):
I think everybody understands that one. Chargers are very limited.
I read an article on the Athletic the Chargers are
seeing more man coverage. Do they have the receivers to
overcome it? And if you look at the last couple weeks,
not really. And I saw Lad McConkey, he's dicey. They
don't know if he's gonna play. I kind of want
to lay it with the I mean I did lay
(22:10):
it with the Chiefs, but not contest. That's not a
contest pick for me. But under forty three in that one,
and then finally over forty nine and a half Monday
Night Football Sincey and Dallas sides. I told you guys
with crack Man that Eagles about US twelve was my
first bet of the week. Really like it. It's up
to thirteen. Feeling good about it. Carolina's run defense is abysmal,
Bucky Irving made them look awful, and Philadelphia's gonna run
(22:33):
it down their throat. This could be could be a
game where they're in such control that fourth quarter is backups. Now, Carolina,
I don't think is gonna like roll over and not
try once they start getting run over. Because Bryce Young's
been flinging it pretty damn well. I would say, in
the last you know, three weeks, Bryce Young's looking really good.
(22:55):
Whether if you're wondering in Philly, not that cold. It'll
be in the forties for kickoff. I mean, that's presentable,
that's not absolutely brutal. There's a storm coming Monday, but
the games on Sunday. So I'm on Eagles minus twelve,
the dumbest bet I made, and I would admit, you
should not follow my Buffalo Bills minus five. So I
took that one day. As soon as the Stafford stuff
started popping up, I was like, oh, let me grab
(23:16):
bills just in case Stafford doesn't go he decides to
shut it down. Well, Stafford's fine, he's gonna play, and
the line's down to three and a half and a
lot of people I respect are on the rams here,
So I would just say sidestep that I'm not buying
out of mine because I'm pop committed to the bills
and I will tell you. So, this is a big
weekend in Los Angeles. There's so much happening Christmas, party wise, holidays.
(23:40):
I think my guess is this is sixty five thirty
five Bills fans, maybe seventy thirty. And I personally think
the Rams are done. They have no showed in the
first half of so many games recently. You can't do
that against Buffalo. Now. I know everybody's saying, Hey, Buffalo
coming off one of the biggest highs, the snow game,
(24:01):
throttling San Francisco. Now they've got to fly to the
West Coast, and it's like, oh, for a game against
the Rams, And is Buffalo gonna be up for it?
After that huge win? You know on deck they have
a humongous game, perhaps a Super Bowl preview against the
Lions that's also on the road, and it's like, can
are they gonna overlook the rents? I would guess No.
(24:24):
I'm on Buffalo minus five. I don't like it. I
don't recommend it.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
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Speaker 2 (24:40):
I did take a bite a nibble of the Bears
on the money line. I think it's a minus one seventy.
I think it was. And then Bears plus four against
San fran I you know, I love brock Perdy. I
don't know if he's healthy. This Trent Williams story is
so sad, so many guys the Christian McCaffrey note if
you guys read it online, like he posted on IG
(25:01):
about his season being over, like that locker room is
so down in the dumps and depressed. I don't know
how you motivate for this, and they're getting waxed lately.
I don't think the Bears are capable of that. But
of course there is the new coach bump with iber
Flues being fired. There are a lot of reports that
the players did not like Eberflus would not surprise me
if the Bears won this game outright in San France.
(25:23):
And then the final dumb bet that I made that
I do not recommend Seattle plus three. You guys know,
I talked to a bunch of gamblers text DM whatever
and a couple of the guys that I really like.
They're like, I gotta go Arizona. I haven't seen anyone
on Seattle here now I'm on an island. I bet it.
I will not be entering Seattle in the contest, despite
(25:43):
how much I like them. The contest is still a
little bit up in the air. For sure. Minnesota and
Philly will be in their Minnesota minus five and a half.
So Kirk Cousins played for Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell at
the end of the season decided, yeah, we like you, Kirk.
We just die We're not going to offer you the bag.
All Kirk Cousins' limitations are known by Kevin O'Connell. They
know all his strengths and weaknesses. Brian Flores saw him
(26:06):
in practice last year. This is a really, really tough
spot for Cousins now. The only problem, as we talked
about with crack Man yesterday, is if you go ahead
and take Minnesota, this is laying a big number, big
number against a team that was again a few weeks ago,
just six and three. They were predicted to win the division.
(26:29):
And it's like, is Minnesota's offense that good? Minnesota, by
the way, I don't want to say offensively, they're leaking oil.
But if you just look at the trend lines and
I did have somebody tell me something and this kind
of factors in here. Well, Jay, you know, you guys
you love Philly. But what about the Eagles and the
Packers game from week one? You remember that in Brazil
(26:50):
Packer's hung with a Packers should have won that game.
I was like, hold up, hold up, pulled up. That
was week one. That's like thrown out the window. You know. Like,
were coaching my daughter's soccer team in the Beach Cup
playoffs this weekend and in our first game of the season,
and it was like a they called it a preseason game.
It doesn't count towards your record, but we're just trying
(27:12):
people places. We didn't really know the roster, we didn't
know what we had. We had one practice and we
got destroyed by a team that ended up being the
best team. They beat us like eight to three. Now,
our best player had to leave after the third quarter,
and it was at that point it was like five
to three and we just fell apart in the fourth.
But the guy I coached with was like, oh, this
could be a long season. I was like, God, this
is relaxed. You know, we got some talent. We just had.
It took us a little while to figure out who
(27:34):
goes where. And in the rematch, we led them one
to zero, we led them two to one, and then
they got a goal from their superstar with like five
minutes left, a tough, tough goal to tie it. But
we they know we were the better side in that game.
And you get better as the season goes on. And
I'm just telling you, this is a totally different Eagles team,
(27:56):
just as this is a totally different Falcons team. This
is a totally differ Vikings team. Early in the year,
I mean, Vikings were smacking people. They played the Giants,
smacked him twenty eight six, they played the Niners, beat
them handily, twenty three seventeen, beat the Texans thirty four
to seven. I mean, they're waxing folks now here. We
are last four weeks and it's like twelve seven against
(28:18):
the Jags on the road, and that was against Mac
Jones twenty three thirteen. I mean, they covered against the Titans,
but it was a slog. Bears. They barely beat thirty
twenty seven, barely beat Arizona. Arizona is okay, but you're
not seeing the dominant Vikings. You saw earlier. I think
this number is a little high, and I still like
the Vikings simply because of Kevin O'Connell versus well, I
(28:43):
know it's not versus because he was the head coach
and he's not the defensive cordator, but Kevin O'Connell and
Brian Flores versus Kirk Cousins and this Falcons team. Bottom line,
I think I'm done betting the Falcons all season because, man,
every time I backed these guys, it's just such a
sweat coop. The kicker can't make anything now now, so
I'm on the Vikings. And do you know what this means?
That the Falcons are going to play their butts off.
(29:04):
Kirk Cousins is probably gonna come in the back door.
And the problem with the number, like five and a
half is if the Vikings are up twenty four or
fourteen with three minutes left, Kirk Cousins is just going
to be chucking duck two minute drive and they're gonna
give up chunk plays, and then the Falcons will come
in the back door, you know, And that's what concerns me.
The hope is that Flores is blitzing so much early
that it's just an insurmountable lead and the Falcons are
(29:28):
destroyed and they can't do anything. So those are the
NFL plays this week. It's a weird week. I don't
see a ton of stuff I love. I'm looking closer
at that Bucks Raiders game because I thought the Tampa
Bay defense was just abhorrent. Antonio Pierce has his guys
playing tough, but did that Chiefs game totally just wreck them?
I don't know. I kind of like the Titans, but
(29:50):
I cannot do that. This just a fate of Mac Jones.
I think he's awful. And the other one I kind
of like is Cincinnati, but oh gosh, I just we
can't stomach backing that defense, which can't stop anybody. And
now they're done. The season's over. They're not going to
the playoffs. Like are they gonna let Cooper Rush walk
them up and down the field. So those are the
best bets for the weekend. We'll be back on Monday. Everybody,
(30:14):
have a good one. Talk to you then.
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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