Aaron Torres & Jason Martin React To Saturday NFL Games, Too Much Football On Christmas Week, Cam Ward Sitting Out, Joe Burrow MVP Talks, And More!!

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

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome in Everyday Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday Era
Tors Jason Martin. We are broadcasting live from the tyreck
dot Com studios. Tyreck dot com. We'll help you get
there an unmatched election, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection,
over ten thousand recommend it installers, tyreck dot com the

(00:24):
way tire buying should be. Jmart Tonight's gonna be one
of those nights, you know, I if Bernie Frado wants
to call out sick for a couple hours. We got
three NFL games to recap, we got a college football
playoff to preview, we got camwre doing stuff, Mike McCarthy's future,
Aaron Rodgers future. I don't know how we're gonna fit

(00:46):
it all into three hours, Jmar, what do you think,
my friend?

Speaker 1 (00:50):
We're gonna try. And then of course we have the
college football quarterfinals to preview as well, which is the
first thing we would usually do. But there's so much happening.
This is when we're supposed to be, you know, just
sort of tidying up the house and getting prepared for
the next year. We don't have time. No, there's too
much live sports going on. Too many things happening, including

(01:13):
look when you see Yukon and North Carolina, whoa man,
what a basketball game? Well, no, it was a football
game and Yukon won it. So there you go. What
checka era is officially on the clock.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
I didn't know we were going to talk about Yukon
football turning Bill Belichick into a meme two minutes and
fifty nine seconds into the show, But here we are.
Saw a lot of Belichick memes from the Fenway Bowl Today,
Yukon a nine win season for the first time since
two thousand and seven. Might have to put that one
on the back burner for right now, Jay Martin, I
appreciate you bringing up I'm sure Ja Saga will have

(01:48):
all the stats on that one later on in the show.
But let's get into the three NFL games that took
place on Saturday. By the way, Jason Martin, I don't
mean to be a Christmas scrooge here before the New year,
don't don't.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
I'd really like to talk about two games.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Well, no, all I was gonna say was before the
end of the show, we might have to talk about
did the NFL actually give us too much football?

Speaker 1 (02:09):
This week.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
That might be a conversation we have that, but I'm
not going to be a Christmas Scrooge. Right now, the
Rams are playing the Arizona Cardinals. It is thirteen to nine.
Rams have the lead, but the Cardinals are driving with
about a minute to go. So we'll keep you updated
on that one. J Mart. By the way, the stakes
in that one. The Rams can't technically clinch the NFC

(02:32):
West tonight. There is some complicated mathematics with that one
because they are obviously a game up on Seattle and
host Seattle to end the regular season in week eighteen,
So technically the Rams cannot clinch. If they were to
lose this game, it would set up a winner takes
the NFC West next week at Sofi Stadium. But we

(02:52):
will see where we are at the Rams up four
with under a minute or about a minute to go.
I do want to go to the game right before this, Jmark,
because my goodness, what a game. So much to get
to Bengals Broncos. I'm just gonna let the guys and
girls that were in the booth get you caught up

(03:14):
on what happened. Here is what happened. Bengals were up
twenty four to seventeen. As the clock tick down, was
it gonna go to overtime? Here's Bonnicks.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Bengals rush four Nicks deep drop.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Now Rollster's right, throws the ball he wants Mems in
the corner of the end zone.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Marvin goes up, missed the catch. That's a different touchdown.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
They are stunned here at pain Course Stadium. A twenty
five yard touchdown pass Nicks.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
To Mems, twenty five yard touchdown pass with eight seconds
to go from bow Knicks ties the game, sends it
into overtime. Bengals get themselves in field goal position. We
think they're going to seal the victor with a field goal.
Other plans this attempt will be for thirty three yards

(04:05):
and to.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Win the game for Cincinnati. Snap placement, kick on the way.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
And he hifts you upright and is so good all
you can do is chuckle, really, oh man, goodness, Katie
York thirty three yard field goal to win the game
off the upright, as you heard, Bengals do force a punt.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Joe Burrow a perfect thirty three yard pass down the
sideline sets this up.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
The Bengals trying to win it from the three yard
line of Denver Burrow looking to throw his pass.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
It is cough my t Higgins touchdown.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
It's a Bengals and the final playoff spot in the
AFC will not be decided until the final week of
the regular season. The Cincinnati Bengals are still alive. Has
Joe Burrow hits Tay Higgins front game winning touchdown.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
So that was the Bengals with the walkoff win in
overtime thirty to twenty four, setting up that playoff scenario.
Bengals still need help. The Broncos could have clinched the
final playoff spot had they won this evening. The Bengals
are still alive. They would need a Broncos loss next week,
unlikely to the Kansas City Chiefs, which will almost certainly

(05:26):
be resting starters, as well as a loss apiece from
Miami and Indianapolis, who both have a game left. That
is the situation in Cincinnati. By the way, should at
least acknowledge that we got ourselves a little situation here
in Sofi Stadium. The Rams are up four with forty
two seconds to go. The Arizona Cardinals, though are in

(05:50):
the red zone, first in goal on the about five
yard line or so. If they score here, Arizona would
take the lead in a game the Rams desperately want
to win, and we got ourselves a very interesting play here.
A tipped Kyler Murray pass appears to have been intercepted

(06:13):
on the goal line or in the end zone. Really
I want to see though, because as the player came
down I can't see who caught it. I think the
ball might have touched out of bounds, so off of
a player's helmet. For the Arizona Cardinals, it is caught,
does he have control and is he in bounds? From

(06:36):
that angle, it looked like it was a good interception.
It would seal a victory for the Los Angeles Rams.
He was definitely in bounds. The question is did he
have control? It looks as though he did have control, Jamart.
We will wait for the official ruling here. The Rams
may survive by the skin of their teeth, setting up

(06:59):
a situation where they uh could win the division. Not
technically done yet, but uh chaos in the final seconds
here in Sofi Stadium.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
It's wild. I mean, you had that thing first in goal.
You did need a touchdown, so maybe you took you know,
you took the risk you otherwise would not have had
to take. But that's tough right there, it's tough. Did
he have to settle boy? All kinds of drama. Yeah,
they're definitely looking at this.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
They are you think, you know with the nfl.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Angle right now in front of me. Let me see here.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, take your time. We're all trying to figure this out.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Man. I mean, the nose of the ball obviously hits
the ground, but then the ball doesn't move. I know,
Like that's the thing, Like he's got a grip on
the ball. I think you have to rule that a catch.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
I think so too. We are waiting on official ruling.
An interception from a Kello Witherspoon in the end zone.
Let me set this up, Rams up thirteen to nine.
The Cardinals were driving and in the red zone a
Kyler Murray pass hits off his receiver's helmet. Achilo Witherspoon

(08:12):
catches it.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Did it?

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Did he have control as it hit the ground? The
call officially stands. The Los Angeles Rams are going to survive.
They will improve with this victory. The Los Angeles Rams
will improve. To let me make sure that I have
all this accurately. I just had all of it up
in somehow loss six ten and six absolutely, and with

(08:36):
this victory they will be in fact ten and six. Technically,
they do not clinch the division. The Seattle Seahawks are
back one game. I will not bore everyone with super
complicated math, but there is a possibility the Rams and
Seahawks play next week at Sofi Stadium. There is a

(08:58):
possibility that the Rams could lose that game and still
get into the playoffs based on the math and based
on strength to record and all of that. Had they
lost tonight, it would have set up a winner goes
to the playoffs, a winner wins the NFC West situation.
Rams are in pretty good shape when next week they

(09:18):
are in. Even if they lose, they may still get
in based on strength of record. But it looks j
Mart like they are going to survive here on a
Saturday night at Sofi Stadium.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Look, all you gotta do is win in the league,
and it doesn't always have to look impressive, and oftentimes
it doesn't, you know. I mean, I think that Joe
Burrow looked impressive, but a lot of things, as Zach
Taylor did, I think we're questionable. A lot of things
that that defense did were questionable, but they still won
the game and they're still alive, and that's the only
thing that matters. The style points, there's nothing to worry

(09:51):
about here. So you win it however you can win it.
It's a division game. The Rams are that kind of
team that is rather dangerous if they were to make
into the playoffs, just because they have some guys that
if they show up big, they can they can be
incredible difference makers. So this is you know, this is

(10:11):
it's rough if you're Arizona, because they had a pretty
good season, even though they kind of ran out of
gas down the stretch. But unfortunately, this is kind of
what that organization has been with Kyler Murray is they've
been like on the doorstep a couple of different times
in his career, but they just haven't been quite good enough.

(10:32):
They've had a moment or two that have cost them dearly.
And you see a couple of their players, you know,
teering up on the sidelines. They realized how close they were,
and I think they felt like they were about to
get this done. But the other guys have good players too,
and the Rams dB made a heck of a.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Play Cardinals started two and four this year, proceeded to
win four straight to improve to six and four going
into their buy. With the loss tonight, they will be
one and five posts by fall to seven and nine
Cardinals using all their timeouts, Rams on their goal line
just trying to get it out clock, you know, and

(11:11):
take basically take a knee and get the victory. And
it looks like they will be basically able to do
that here Arizona is out of timeouts. The Rams just
basically have to basically snap the ball to Matt Stafford.
He has to receive the ball and not fumble it,
and the game will be over. J Mart Let's let's

(11:34):
look ahead a little bit. Arizona looks like, as I mentioned,
will fall with this loss to uh to a little
bit of a disappointing seven and nine overall. And it
looks like that last snap is good. There's a little
pushing and shoving on the on the on the line
of scrimmage here, so we'll keep you updated on that.
But the clock is gonna run out. Helmets are off.

(11:56):
After the pushing and shoving. There's there's you know, the
the you know, the dap and the love from player
to player I want to talk to you about the Rams. So,
by the way, just setting everything up, Rams came into
today if they lost this game. If they had lost
this game the Los Angeles Rams, it would have been
a win and your in situation for both them in

(12:16):
Seattle next week they play each other Week eighteen at
SOFI Stadium. With the win, the Rams don't technically clinch
if they were to lose next week. There's a strength
to record component. The Rams are still in good shape,
but obviously they still have one more game to absolutely
secure a spot in the playoffs as the NFC West champ.

(12:37):
Real quick, Jmart, you mentioned Rams potential to do damage
in the playoffs. It looks like right now, you know,
barring something surprising, they would be the three seed. Right now, Atlanta,
as your favorite to win the NFC South is in
position to get the four seed, and it looks like
the Rams would host the Green Bay Packers, who of
course have a big one themselves in week seventeen against

(12:59):
the Minnesota Vikings. You know, you mentioned a team that
could do damage. I am curious for your perspective. One
thing I will say really quick on the Rams. We'll
get back to the Bengals and Broncos in just a
second here, But the Rams. I was thinking about this
this week is I think Sean McVay has weirdly somehow.
I don't know if it's fair to say has become

(13:20):
underrated as a coach. I think he's kind of underrated
because you know, he made that first Super Bowl run
doesn't work out, wins the title. But remember when they
won that championship. It was this top heavy, star studded
roster with not only Matthew Stafford, but Cooper cup at
the peak of his powers, Aaron Donald, Odell Beckham, Von Miller,

(13:41):
You go on and on down the list. This team
is kind of Matt Stafford and I know Cooper Cupp
is still obviously highly paid, but he's not playing his
best football right now. It's Matt Stafford and a bunch
of really young guys. You know, Pookinaku has been in
ant of the lineup all year, Jared Versa on defense,
Kyron Williams at running back. I'm really impressed by the
coaching job that Sean McVay did. As the Rams have

(14:02):
officially beaten the Cardinals thirteen to nine to improve to
ten and six, as they get set for their Week
eighteen game next week against the Seattle Seahawks team Mart, Yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Mean I think it's a good point. I mean, I
don't think anybody saw Sean McVay as a bad coach.
I do think that this proves his ability beyond really
being able to take anything away from him because you
don't have the built in reasons why he succeeds. It's
it's kind of that similar idea, not exactly the same,

(14:35):
but similar ideas, like, well, Phil Jackson's never a coach,
but never a great coach because he always had talent.
Well one thing, it's hard to coach with talent. It
could be hard to deal with those egos and deal
with things like that. Luckily, on the Rams side, Stafford
seems like he'd be easy to get along with. Cooper
Cup was pretty you know, he and Robert Woods were
both class acts the entire time that they were there.

(14:56):
Woods of course left, but generally speaking, they've had those
kind of guys. They've had, you know, lunch pale guys,
blue collar guys that have been through there, and Sean
McVay has been able to melt personalities really well. But
you look at it now they are overperforming. They are
they're performing, I think, better than you would anticipate. And
the one thing that you can almost never say about

(15:18):
players that end up in LA is they get worse
when they're in LA, Like almost everybody gets better. He
finds a way to use them to their best ability.
And you know, credit to his staff too. But he
puts that staff together, he understands and he lets those
guys do what they are supposed to do. So mcveigh's
a great leader, he's a great motivator, he's a great strategist.

(15:38):
There's really nothing negative to say about him at all.
I don't think the Rams are going to win the
Super Bowl this year, but the fact that they are,
you know, going to be in the playoffs and actually
have double digit wins this year, especially considering the injuries
that they've sustained on both sides of the football, speaks
to Sean mcvay's continued ability and success.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, last quick thought on that, you know you mentioned
credit to Sean McVay and his staff. I mean, this
is a guy that routinely loses more guys, you know,
think about it. I mean, you know, obviously lost Raheem Morris.
This past offseason, lost Kevin O'Connell. You know, we could
joke about Brandon Staley, but you know, he was part
of a staff that had to be replaced at some
point by Maybe that's Sean mcvay's greatest gift is he
can just being in his presence, got Brandon Staley a

(16:21):
head coaching job. But in all seriousness, you know, that's
another thing about it. They've lost a lot of talent
on the roster. But again, Raheem Morris. Remember Liam Cohen
was on that staff two years ago now the offensive
coordinator with the Tampa Bay Bucks. So the only point
I'm trying to make is, like you said, I'm not
saying that anybody thought that Sean McVay wasn't good, but
I do think you know, when they won that Super Bowl,

(16:43):
it was kind of like, Okay, the chips are all
in the middle. You know, let's see what they got
to do when they rebuild this. That the other thing,
and I think they've just done a really good job.
And the other part too is I think when we
talk about the best coaches in the sport right now,
you talk about obviously Andy Reid, you talk about you know,
Kyle Shanahan up until this year, what he's done with
all those different quarterbacks. I just feel like Sean McVay

(17:05):
weirdly gets lost a little bit in the shuffle. But
the Rams do win this game. They improved to ten
and six. They can officially clinch the NFC West next
week with a win over Seattle. Technically there is a
possibility that they could win the division even with a loss.
Fox Sports Radio erontors Jason Martin. We are broadcasting live
from the tyreck dot Com studios. When we come back,

(17:26):
we'll dive a little bit deeper into that Bengals Broncos
game that finished about two two and a half hours ago. Also,
Chargers ladle whooping on the Patriots, and we got to
ask what's the future in New England because that was
not pretty Discuss all that next. Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (17:44):
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 (17:56):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Eric Jason Martin. We
are taking you till two am Eastern Time, broadcasting the
I from the Tyreck dot Com studios. Jay Martin, I
want to get to the other two NFL games, but
something just struck me. During the break. We are basically
Fox Sports Radio's unofficial college football postgame show, and in

(18:17):
hour two we'll start looking ahead to the next round
of the playoff. This is actually technically the last Saturday
until August that we're gonna have college football on during
our show because the college football playoff rezuoms Tuesday into
Wednesday this week the thirty first. In the first I
should mention you and I will be in for Jason
Smith and Mike harmon ten pm Eastern on New Year's

(18:39):
Day to recap the four college football playoff games. But
then I actually looked up the schedule after because I
wasn't sure. The semi finals are on a Thursday Friday,
and I believe that's solely because that will be a
weekend where the NFL has playoff games on Saturday, and
then the National Championship Game is Monday, January twenty. So

(19:01):
this is the last Saturday that we have jmart with
college football on our airwaves during our show until week
zero and August. Jmartin, I'm sad it.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
Went very fast, so fast, like it's just it's here,
and then it's not. We are luckily going to do
that New Year's show, and so we're going to be
able to, you know, comment as things are happening on
that crazy night, and that's going to be a blast.
But yeah, I mean, we've gotten used to it, and
we get used to it every year and then we
move on. And the one thing we have noticed, I think,

(19:35):
especially over the last few years, is what's supposed to
be kind of the slow period in sports ends up
giving us all sorts of things we're not prepared for.
That's the great thing about what it is that we
do and how much there is to talk about is
the variety that comes with it and the things that
you're just flat out not anticipating, not expecting that end

(19:56):
up being massive stories. I can't tell you what they're
going to be, or it would kind of defeat the
purpose of me saying that you're not expecting them. So
that's why you'll be tuning in next year right here
across Fox Sports Radio, because all the stories that come,
whatever they are, whenever they are involving whoever they involve,
will be here with them.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah, And for the record, we still got a lot
of good stuff on these Saturdays. We will have obviously
NFL Playoff football two of those saturdays, and well, of course,
by the way, be coming off, you know, Like I said,
college football Playoff next week will be done with the
quarterfinals when we get back on their next Saturday. The
following Saturday, the semi finals will have been the two

(20:37):
nights before, so we'll have plenty to react to, just
nothing specifically on Saturday. So shout out to the Independence
Bowl as Army leads Louisiana Tech. That will be officially
the last college football game in our window here on
Fox Sports Radio. But well that said, plenty of NFL
still to come, including the two games today, I tell
you what before we kind of break down Bengals Broncos

(21:01):
and of course that Chargers beat down of the Patriots.
Why don't for the first time this evening, let's get
it over the news desk. Steve the Seger, go ahead,
tell us what's turning?

Speaker 1 (21:10):
My friend?

Speaker 6 (21:11):
Hello, gentlemen, do you remember when the Rams played that
game against the Bills just a few short weeks ago
and it was forty four forty two their games since
then was a twelve six win at the Niners, nineteen
to nine at the Jets and tonight thirteen to nine
over the Cardinals, which means, ladies and gentlemen, that the

(21:31):
La Rams become the first NFL team in three years
to allow under ten points in three straight games since
the Chiefs in twenty twenty one, but in Rams history,
they haven't done this since the mid nineteen seventies. We'll
see if that matchup with Seattle next weekend is what
decides the division. I am glad you brought this up earlier, Aaron.
There are some machinations that could happen tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
If you have your abakus out and you can do
the math for us, that explains exactly how the Rams clinched.
But sorry, god go ahead.

Speaker 6 (22:00):
Yeah, there are about five different games on the ledger
that have an effect on the Rams, perhaps clinching tomorrow.
Believe it or not. Rams over the Cardinals tonight thirteen
to nine. Fuku Nakua ten catches one hundred and twenty
nine yards really quick.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
So with the strength of record stuff, can they technically
clinch before Week eighteen? Yes, okay, I wasn't aware of that.
I thought it would depend on what Even if they lost,
they could clinch in week eighteen, but not before then.

Speaker 6 (22:27):
So I it could happen by a Washington win tomorrow night,
for example, that could affect all or you know, we
get some upsets. It could happen tomorrow afternoon. Okay, yes,
it certainly. And so this is the greatness of flex
scheduling for the final week. Nobody still knows the start
times of any of the NFL games next weekends. So
we don't know if they're gonna flex rams Seahawks into

(22:50):
a prominent spot because we don't know if it means
anything in the division race. Yes, we're gonna have to
wait till tomorrow. Cincinnati kept Denver from clinching at playoff
berth overtime win for the Bengals against the Broncos thirty
to twenty Fourty Higgainst three touchdown receptions, including the game winner.
He had eleven receptions one hundred and thirty one yards.

(23:10):
Chargers did clinch a playoff berth in the AFC with
an easy win at New England forty to seven. Justin
Herbert three touchdown passes, two to lad McConkie. By the way,
the Georgia quarterback currently that's injured Carson Beck declared for
the NFL Draft, And yes, we do have a late
bowl game going on, Army twenty one six over Louisiana Tech.

(23:31):
Now late third quarter of the Independence Bowl. We had
bowl victories already for TCU and Nebraska. For Miami, Ohio
and East Carolina BYU stomp Colorado at the Alamo Bowl
thirty six to fourteen in Orlando, Iowa State over Miami
forty two to forty one. I don't know if people saw,
but the University of Connecticut won the Fenway Bowl today.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
We already talked about it to lead the show. I'm
glad you were pant touch.

Speaker 6 (23:55):
Jim twenty seven to fourteen over North Carolina. This is
kind of a PREEMPTI star before Connecticut gets adopted as
the college football team for this show. But oh yeah,
they did.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
So I mentioned. I figured if I did it first,
then that would save us from like a five minute
diet tribe later.

Speaker 6 (24:11):
We are thinking alike, But how about this. They are
nine and four to finish the season, LSU Tigers eight
and four. I'm just saying Texas A and M after
last night eight and five, So.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Colorado nine and four. They're basically the same team.

Speaker 6 (24:24):
Oh you need to know that college foot.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
If everyone watched you kind of a little closer, they
would have seen they had Heisman contenders, just like Colorad.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Anyway, another give me five of them, camer five players
on their teams right now?

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Well, Skyler Bell, who's actually in the portal, but play today?
Does Durell Robinson County transferred to Auburn? Very good play?

Speaker 1 (24:41):
I mean, this would this would this would? That question
depends upon whether or not I knew he played for
Connecticut at any point. Any The truth of the matter is,
I have no idea of anybody. So you could just
name say people. As long as you don't say Barry Sanders,
I'd probably say, wow, impressive.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Dan Orlovsky. I mean with this new uh you know
co rule, I don't know if he's got eligibility left.
I mean, who's to say, oh, that's right. That rewrites
history completely. K Pobby has just screwed up everything for everybody.
I don't know what's the truth anymore.

Speaker 6 (25:08):
And I did notice on the telecast they say that
Connecticut gives coach Jim Moram four year extension exactly, he
signed through twenty twenty twenty eight. This is never gonna end.
This is the reign of Yukon football. This is gonna
be every Saturday for the next four years. Nine and
four is just the start.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
It's just the start. What's crazy, really quick, if somebody
did ask me this, they were like, so as an independent,
they don't they're not. They can't qualify for like the
G five spot as the last at large. So they
the only way they can get into the playoff they
have to have a Notre Dame like probably twelve and
oh season. Even that I'm not sure would get him in.
But you know what, though, it was still a good day.

Speaker 6 (25:45):
But you know, they're in in the exact same bed
as Notre Dame and you know, same type of college
football program. Of course, yeah, I knew when the current
rules came out for the twelve team playoff, we're going
to have another great season. But you can't be a
top four seat. Everyone's said that.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
They were like Notre Dame and Yukon cannot be top
four teams. And there was a you know, just people
just went crazy when they found that out.

Speaker 6 (26:07):
It's a fact. One final note NBA, the Knicks in
overtime went at Washington. Knicks have won seventh straight one
thirty six two. Jalen Brunson fifty five points nine assists.
Back to you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Very much, Steve Singer says, Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday,
Ara and Towards. Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Tirereck
dot Com Studios. Jmart we talked earlier in the show
about the Broncos. Uh, you know, wild game with the
with the Bengals a bow Knicks touchdown pass essentially as
time expired, there was about eight seconds left, tied the game.

(26:41):
It was a Hail Mary fourth down sends it to overtime.
Bengals miss a field goal, then get the ball back
Joe Burrow. A deep touchdown or a deep pass sets
up a touchdown. I want to get to something Zach
Taylor said in just a second before. I do know
you're a Broncos fan. Yeah, and I know you just
have thoughts on this game in general, just big picture takeaways.

(27:02):
As the Bengals do survive in overtime, keeping their slim
playoff hopes alive.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
All you needed was a tie, you know, if you
were Denver and you couldn't get that, you needed one
first down. I didn't like the play call, But that
is something I could have said several times during the
course of this game. I've never experienced this as a
Broncos fan, and I'm sure a lot of the listeners
have experienced it with their teams, but I don't care

(27:28):
for it. There is a tension for every offensive play
that Denver runs. There's a tension in me, like, I
don't watch it relaxed in any way, shape or form.
I don't watch it excited in any way, shape or form.
I'm like nervous and anxious before every single snap. I

(27:49):
understand it's a rookie quarterback, but I mean generally he's
protected the protected the ball pretty well. I mean, at
one point in this game, I think he was sixteen
of nineteen. You didn't have a ton of yards because
he's you know, they've dink and dunk to death, and
then they have like one big played two mems that
gets some seventy eight yards or something like that. But
I don't know if it's Sean Payton's play calling. It

(28:10):
looks like sometimes they unlock the team, sometimes they have
them locked in a prison cell somewhere I've never been.
I can't it's so disjointed and weird. The Broncos play
some really dramatic football games, but the last couple have
not been good football games like this was not well
played football across the board with coaches that are just

(28:34):
having this incredible chess match. It's like which team wants
to throw this game away? Worse and outside of Joe Burrow,
I mean, Burrow played magnificent football, don't get me wrong,
but his coach tried to take it away from him.
His defense tried to take it away from him. Even
his running back it looked like was going to try
to take it away from him. I don't understand. I

(28:54):
understand that Zach Taylor tried to explain, you know, not
trying to drown the clock out more at the end
of regulation, But that's how the Broncos end up with
the touchdown. Yes, the throw that Nicks made to tie
the game at the end, Yeah, that's a throw that's
not going to be made too often. But he doesn't
have the chance for that if you only give them

(29:14):
twenty thirty seconds with the football instead of a minute
thirty and the time out the way that the Bengals did.
The one last thing, I will say, go for two, bro.
I understand you're playing for the tie, but giving this
thing to a coin toss, I don't like it. You
end up having multiple attempts in overtime to win the game.
But I would have just gone for two. You're in Cincinnati,

(29:37):
and my best chance is to go ahead and go
for the win right there against the defense that they're
just not very good, and you should be able to
call one play to get that job done. I'm not
going to allow Joe Burrow to potentially go and beat
me in overtime, as weird as that game ends up
and the missfield goal and all this other stuff. If
I'm Sean Paig, I would not have been upset with

(29:59):
Sean Payton. He gone for two and the Broncos failed,
and then they needed to win next week to get
into the playoffs. I don't know who would have as
a matter of fact. So again, I don't like the
conservative choice to play for overtime, even if you just
needed a tie, because the chances it was going to
end in a tie weren't that good anyway.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
So real quick, you kind of mentioned Joe Burrow, you
know his coach? Is this is that Zach Taylor was
asked about Joe Burrow and really, frankly his MVP candidacy.
After the game, here's what he had to say.

Speaker 7 (30:32):
I don't know that anybody can stand on a field
and watch Joe Burrow and say he's not the best
player in the world, you know. And then you can
transfer that argument to Jamaar Chase as well, you know,
and you can argue those.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Two to death.

Speaker 7 (30:43):
But the clearest thing I can say is I would
not trade Joe Burrow for any player in the universe.
And so to me, that's MVP to me.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
So real quick, Jamart, I want your opinion. I'll say this,
John is my MVP, and I heard VJ and Martin
talking about it earlier. I think Josh Allen's my MVP.
I also think that there is no player who has,
to the point that you just made, had to overcome
more in his own organ you know, like relative to

(31:17):
like the guys that are winning. I'm not talking about
like Cayleb Williams, who's obviously, but like the guys that
are in the mix. Like I think Joe Burrow has
had to overcome more. I don't know that. I'm I
think that that necessarily means he should win MVP, but
I will say the betting odds plummeted in a good
way for Joe Burrow after this game. He's not the favorite,
but the odds are a lot different than they wore
about six seven, eight hours ago.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, I definitely, I definitely concur with that. And again
there's been this like trendy deal with times this year
to go after Burrow. Yeah, and to act like he
needs to be doing more. I expect a whole lot
of silence real soon. I mean, that's a team that's
won four in a row and Burrow has put them
in position to win virtually every game. He'll throw five
touchdowns and then at the very end of the game

(31:59):
he'll get the ball thirty seconds left, not scoring. They're
like Burrow overrated, Like it's absurd. He is that good
when he's healthy. And they have had a defense that
has not lived up to what you've expected from a
lou Ana Riumo unit in the past. They've given up
a lot of points, they've been incredibly inconsistent, and they
have been really bad against big play offenses throughout this season,

(32:24):
and he's still managed to handle it. He's dealt with
injuries on his offense a lot. Burrow, I'm not sure
entered the season for the first month feeling anywhere close
to one hundred percent. I don't know where he is now,
but yes, I agree, I think this is Josh Allen giear. Now.
We'll see what happens when we get to the playoffs,
but it's a regular season award. I think Josh Allen
has distinguished himself there. And you can mention some other

(32:46):
guys in the mix. You can mention in a Saquan
or whoever else that you want to mention. But I agree.
I mean, I think it's hard to argue this Bengals
team is not a four win team without Joe Burrow.
Like they go the way that they have, in the
way that they have performed. He has been responsible for
so many of their wins. And yes, you have Chase

(33:06):
and you have t Higgins. I understand this, but that
guy can find a way to get it done with
virtually anybody, and a lot of Chase's success is due
to Burrow getting in the ball where he does, just
like Burrow's success is due to Chase being the guy.
They have great chemistry. That's just kind of how it goes.
Usually a quarterback and wide receiver go together. Like Best

(33:27):
Picture and Best Director in the Oscars, it usually goes
to the same film, and in this case, you're gonna
get that again. I think that those guys make each
other better, They make each other MVP level candidates. But
I would I think Burrow would probably be second on
my ballot as well, and I do think Lamar needs
to be mentioned too.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
Joe Burrow only player in NFL history with two hundred
and fifty plus passing yards and three plus passing tds
in eight straight games. So we will see, you know,
if he can close it out with the He needs
a lot of help next week. Not only do the
Bengals need to beat Pits, but they would need help.
But yeah, an incredible, incredible season for Joe Burrow. Fox

(34:05):
Sports Radio AER towards Jason Martin, broadcasting live from the
Tireck dot Com studios. One team not so much having
an incredible season, New England Patriots Drod Mayo.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Seem ka week. Is he gonna be back next year?

Speaker 2 (34:18):
We'll discuss that next Fox Sports Radio Welcome back, everybody.
Fox Sports Radio AER Towards Jason Martin, broadcasting live from
the Tyreck dot Com Studios. Top of the hour, we
will look ahead to the college football playoff games are
Zoom Tuesday night, New Year's Eve Penn State, Boise, followed
by three other quarterfinals on New Year's Day. But do

(34:38):
want to wrap the hour talking the other NFL game
we talked, of course earlier in the show. The Rams
beat the Cardinals thirteen to nine. Rams can technically potentially
clinch a playoff spot tomorrow. They have not officially clinched
the NFC West just yet. Bengals win in overtime, keeping
slim playoff hopes alive. And then there was the first one.

(34:59):
J Martin Chargers forty Patriots seven. Patriots finished with one
hundred and eighty one yards of total offense, eighty five
passing yards thirteen of twenty four passing in the game,
about three yards per completion. By the way, coming into today,
the New England Patriots twenty ninth in total offense, thirtieth

(35:21):
in scoring. And I'll be honest, I really until maybe
the last week or so, it feels like this narrative
has popped up, probably in the last like ten days
or so. But with the loss, the Patriots have now
lost seven straight games, six straight games. Excuse me dating
back to their last win over the Bears, that was many, many,
many weeks ago. I bring it up early November, by

(35:44):
the way, it was the last time they won a game.
Drod Mayo, Is this a one and done situation for
him in New England?

Speaker 1 (35:51):
I mean, it seems hard to believe because he was
a hand pick successor for years, it felt like, and
for him to come in and one year in he's out,
that seems doesn't seem likely. But they have been really bad.
We knew they were going to be bad, but they've
been really bad. And he's actually not been good lad

(36:11):
in games. He's had some He's had some definitely, he's
definitely had some moments of just not making the best decisions.
And I think that the media up there had gotten
on him a bit as well. And then you recognize
that you might really have a quarterback. And that's that's
the thing. It's like, if you're not sure about the coach,

(36:33):
but you're sure about the quarterback, that's a problem for
the coach, and that's a problem for the organization because again,
the clock on that rookie contract is rolling, and of
course you don't want to stun his growth. You want
him to be able to grow properly, and if you
feel like he's being hindered by what's happening on the sidelines,
then that becomes an issue. I think that Mayo will

(36:57):
get another year as of right now, but I do
think that the chorus is growing louder. We are hearing
more than many of us probably thought. Coming into the year,
it felt like Mayo was probably gonna be fine for
a year and then we were going to see what
was going on because they they didn't have a good offseason.
It's been tumult for a while and it was going

(37:19):
to take some time. This is going to be an
incredibly important offseason. Whether it's him or whoever it is,
they've got to go spend some money. They've got to
go bring in some real skill talent and put it
around the quarterback and see what they could actually get
out of this experiment. But I do think his job
is probably not as safe as we might have thought,
but I think he will end up keeping it.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Coming into this afternoon or following this afternoon, I should
say New England is three and thirteen. Giants have the
worst record in the league at two and thirteen. They
obviously play on Sunday. There are one, two, three, four,
five teams all tied with three losses a piece, so
they could have anywhere from like the two to the
seventh pick. I assume you got to go get a

(38:01):
wide receiver, right, you know, obviously Travis Hunter, you know,
could be available. Tetuo McMillan from Arizona is another guy
that people like. But I assume you got to go
get some skill position talent on offense.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, I would say so. I mean, I think that
Travis Hunter is probably the best bet. But whoever is
top of your board when it comes to receivers or
skill talent, that's what you've got to go get because
it's what you don't have right now. We talk about
how good you know, Burrow looks with who he has
around him. He certainly made better by who he has
around him, and he makes them better. You've seen the

(38:34):
same thing in other parts of the league and other
places in the league. You got to do the same
thing for a Drake May And I think that's the
benefits that you have. If you're the Patriots, you are
a team that has a horrible record but already has
a quarterback yep, and you feel like you have a quarterback.
A lot of these teams have bad records are going
to be in the quarterback sweepstakes, but that's not the
case for the Patriots. The Patriots can just go get

(38:54):
the best guy on their board and likely will have
their pick.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
And it'll be interesting saying if they do get the
number two pick, guy that we're gonna talk about the
next hour cam Ward. Somebody listen, We're gonna talk cam Ward.
There's definitely a discourse about cam Ward right now. But
I think he'll probably end up being the number two
pick because I think somebody will want to trade up,
even if it isn't a team like the Patriots that
necessarily need a quarterback. Jacksonville could be in that mix
as well, so it'd be interesting if they were to

(39:21):
trade back and maybe pick some stuff up in the process.
That's if they get the number two pick again, they
there's a five way tie in the lost column for
the second pick New York at two to thirteen. That
is the New York Giants in position to get the
number one pick. Fox Sports Radio Aeron Tords Jason Martin,
we are broadcasting live from the Tyreck Dot Com Studios

(39:41):
and hour of NFL is in the books. When we
come back. Oh, we're gonna talk college football. We got
four more college football playoff games coming up this week.
Plus I just said it cam Ward, there's a discourse
floating around. We'll discuss it all next. Fox Sports Radio
Welcome in everybody, our two tourres and Martin Fox Sports Radio.

(40:06):
We are broadcasting live from the Tireck dot Com Studios
tirerack dot com. We'll help you get there at unmatched
election fast free shippig free road as a protection over
ten thousand recommended installers, tirerack dot com the way tire
buying should be. We are taking you up till two
am Eastern time. Bernie Freddo over The Bernie Freddo Show

(40:28):
follows us three NFL games on Saturday. As de Seger
just told you, we did have a win for the
Los Angeles Chargers. They beat New England forty to seven.
LA clinches a playoff spot. Cincinnati beats Denver thirty to
twenty four in overtime, Cincinnati keeping its slim playoff hopes alive.

(40:49):
Denver can clinch a playoff berth with a win over
Kansas City next week. The Rams go ahead and beat
the beat. The Ravens beat the Cardinals on Saturday night.
Los Angeles has not technically clinched a playoff spot. That's
the Los Angeles Charger or Los Angeles Rams. Excuse me.
They could clinch a playoff spot tomorrow depending on certain results.

(41:11):
If not, they can clinch in Week eighteen against Seattle.
Jmart audition to NFL. A lot of college football this week.
A lot of college by the way, I listen, you know,
I don't mean to you know, be you know, be whatever.
I don't know what the right word is. I know
you've had some stuff going on in your personal life,
but outside of that, have you enjoyed having college football

(41:33):
on in the background all these bowl games? You're not
one of these people that says there's too many bowl games.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
Right, I mean, there are too many bowl games. But
the thing is they're not required viewing. So I've gotten
to where I'm more just sort of ambivalent to it all.
I will have in the background more often than not.
It's fine to have it on. I don't think that

(41:59):
most of these are not particularly compelling. If something gets
close and you watch it at the end and you see,
you know, what's happening. But I guess I've just at
this point I don't care enough to just yell and
scream about it. We all know why they exist and
what they are. I think we all recognize. And that's
why I wanted the twelve team playoffs and why I
like it is because we have more games with stakes. Yeah,

(42:21):
we had blowouts last week, yet, but those games mattered.
There was a reason for those games to be played,
and they were leading somewhere. The bulls that are exhibitions
matter in themselves for maybe for some of those fans
and some of those players to have those experiences, And
you know what, that's fine. It doesn't always have to
be for you. It doesn't have to be for me.
But I am glad again that we are given so

(42:43):
many more games now that have legitimate stakes toward crowning
a champion. And as such, I'm much less bothered by
a bunch of random bowls for teams that you know,
had decent to pretty good seasons and are able to
kind of celebrate during the holidays.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Get into some of those games that quote unquote matter.
By the way, certainly, there's been some interesting results in
the non playoff Bowl games late last night. You know,
USC beating Texas, A and M caused quite an interesting conversation.
USC beats a second SEC team this year, A and
M loses. So there's been some interesting narratives that have
come out of these games, Oklahoma losing the Navy. But

(43:22):
let's focus on the games that matter going forward. We
have four semi final games starting Tuesday night, Penn State
Boise in the Fiesta Bowl that leads into Texas and
Arizona State in the Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, Oregon, Ohio State,
and of course the nightcap on New Year's Day, Notre

(43:43):
Dame versus Georgia in New Orleans. Should mention, by the way,
Jason Martin and I will be on from seven to
eleven Pacific, that's ten to two am Eastern doing the
recap show. Jason Smith and Mike Harmon nice enough to
take the night off so we can fill in. J
mart I will let you take this wherever you please.

(44:04):
Game that intrigues you, or maybe the question I should ask,
what do you believe will be the lead story coming
out of those four playoff games Tuesday and Wednesday?

Speaker 1 (44:19):
I think the game that the game that I'm most
excited for is Ohio State Oregon. I want to see
that game again. I want to see if the Ohio
State that absolutely dismantled Tennessee is a is a one
hit wonder or if they can take that show on
the road and live up to that talent yet again.
And I know Ryan Day wants to see that too,

(44:41):
because his honeymoon will last all of about ten days
if they go out and lose again, even to an
undefeated Oregon team. So I think I'm most excited for
that game.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
Yeah, let's start with that one, because I'll be honest.
So you and I were obviously on in this time
slot last week, and we were coming on after the
Ohio State Tennessee game, and listen, you and I have
both been critics of Ryan Day, but it was an
incredible performance. We saw why Vegas still had Ohio State
as the national championship favorite even after they lost at Oregon,

(45:13):
even after some of their their you know, ups and
downs over the course of the season. I'll be honest, though,
I did feel like, in my opinion, I was a
little bit surprised to see the discourse. I'm not even
talking about the betting odds because the betting odds are
obviously based on you know, analytics and numbers and this
and that, but it did feel like to me the

(45:35):
discourse immediately went to from Ohio State stings fire, Ryan
Day shouldn't come back if they lose this game to
oh They're actually the best team and should now be
considered the favorite to win the national championship. I'm not
saying that Vegas odds. I'm not talking about the Vegas odds.
I'm talking about just the conversation among college football fans.
Were you as surprised by that as I was, because

(45:57):
I found it kind of strange that everybody, he felt like,
just did a complete one on Ohio State right after
that game.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Yeah, well, I mean you saw the talent be the
talent and all the like, if they if that talent
shows up, yes, I mean yes, they should be the
favorite to win it all. I think when you look
at talent across the board, question is is it going
to consistently show up? And we don't know the answer
to that. And the Ryan Day question, I did find
it amazing that you then had the see we told

(46:26):
you Ryan Day was good kind of apologists coming out
of the woodwork, and it wasn't good. It's just, yeah,
the thing is this, And you know, I've even heard
the argument that it's unfair. It's like, Okay, you can't
beat Michigan. It's unfair to that that's the only thing
that matters, and you don't look at the red, then
don't take the job like that. That is the job

(46:47):
at Ohio State. You either beat Michigan or you got
a problem. You either compete for Big Ten championships or
you got a problem. You either right there on the
doorstep and or winning national championships, or you've got a problem.
You don't go to Ohio State and become the head
coach in Columbus to beat Maryland and to beat Purdue,
and to beat Illinois and to beat Michigan State. You

(47:09):
go there to dominate your rival as much as possible,
at least to win Big Ten championships and to win
national titles. And Ryan Day has been unable to do
those things. So to argue that it's been unfair critique
is ridiculous to men. I've heard a few other people
say the exact same thing I just did, and I
think that that's the right argument here. But again, I

(47:31):
don't think that It's crazy to look at Ohio State
and say, oh, Okay, that's the team we've been waiting for.
Now they've woken up because it's the playoff. I'm not
willing to go there quite yet, just because I need
to see that more than one time in a row.
This team coming off that Michigan loss, which is as
battle loss as that university has sustained in twenty years,
probably maybe even more. That team showed up with a

(47:56):
chip on its shoulder from the sideline all the way
through everybody wearing a uniform, and it was a buzzsaw
that night. Are they still gonna have that same energy
against Oregon? Are they upset that Oregon beat them? They
feel like they should have done it. It was kind
of a weird finish to that game. And Will Howard
wants to make amends for the way that that game
ended where they weren't able to get the playoff because

(48:18):
of you know, him giving himself up there late all
of those things. Are they going to be playing Are
they going to show up with that kind of energy
or are they going to show up and be pretty
good but not up to the level of their talent,
Because that will not be good enough that will get
them beat against Oregon. If they show up against Oregon
on the road or you know, going across the rose Ball.

(48:39):
If they go there and they lose that game by
double digits, we still have the same problem that we've
already had. And Ryan They's seat becomes incredibly hot again.
I don't care how many people say that he was
never gonna get fired. You will never get me to
believe that if they had lost to Tennessee. But even
if they go and get fairly handled by Oregon, it'll

(49:01):
be the same problem.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
So I agree with with everything that you just said,
is that I don't believe he's out of the woodwork.
And you know, look, neither of us is rooting against him.
I just have Yeah, I just have doubts and and
I think the thing with Ryan Day is we've seen
these performances in big games. It's just we don't see
them consistently. I mean, you look at this year. You

(49:24):
go to Oregon, you're a play away from beating them.
The next week you come back and play Nebraska and
it's a one score game, a game that you could
have easily lost. You know, you go and play Indiana,
you destroy them as a top ten team, and obviously
we could debate that Indiana have been there, whatever, but
that was a big game in the moment, and then
you immediately lose to Michigan. And so I think that's

(49:45):
my concern with them, is that it feels like no
one to your point, no one has ever questioned the talent.
The big question is is it Nobody's ever questioned the talent.
The big question is can you get it consistently? And
by the way, nobody's questioned that Ryan Day can coach
up his team in a big game, except maybe outside
of Michigan, which is obviously a huge game. I'm not

(50:07):
undermining undermanning it. But he has won big games before.
It's just again, he hasn't won consistently, and he certainly
hasn't beaten Michigan. First of all, let me ask you this, Oregon.
I mean, this is a team and I know it
was only a one point win, but this is a
team that did beat Ohio State at home earlier in
the year. This is a team that did beat Penn

(50:28):
State a few weeks ago. This is a team that really,
outside of basically the three playoff teams that they played
this year, Ohio State, Boise and Penn State really kind
of destroyed everybody. Is this team being overlooked at the
Oregon Ducks. Do you think that they're being overlooked coming
into this game? Maybe because of how good Ohio State
looked when we last saw them.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Perhaps I think that Oregon's just kind of despite the
fact that they have been consistent all year long. I mean, look,
they had to you know, escape the feed against Boise State,
they didn't look great against Wisconsin. You know, they had
a couple of games where they had to earn it
a little bit more. But I think they've just kind
of consistently handled their business to the extent that you

(51:12):
just kind of take it for granted. And Ohio State,
because they've everything they've done has been full of drama
down the stretch, and there's I mean, there's no questions
about the coach there. I mean, Dan Lanning's fine unless
he wanted to go somewhere else. You don't have anybody
clamoring for that. Everything's kind of been positive surrounding them.
Dylan Gabriel's been excellent. Everything's rolling out there, and so

(51:33):
I think that as a result, it's kind of it
hasn't gone under the radar. It just hasn't had the
headlines because there hasn't been as much juice there. It's
just everything's going good there. If they win at all,
I don't think it should surprise anybody. I don't know
that they are being underappreciated. I think they might be
being under discussed. Agree, because that pizazz that comes with

(51:57):
the drama in Columbus and some of the other storylines
surrounding some of these other teams and even the teams
that didn't get in, is just more interesting for the
pundit class.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
So we'll skip by the way just a quick unless
you see an upset coming, because I want to get
to Notre Dame Georgia really quick. But yeah, do you
see an upset coming in Texas, Arizona State or Penn
State Boise? We can be quick on both of those
because I'll be honest, great stories, but I don't see
either of those teams getting the win there Boise and

(52:29):
Aera State.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
That is, yeah, I don't either. I don't either, and
I think this will be we'll be changing up who's
getting the buys and all of these things. They've been
excellent stories. I don't think Arizona State has seen a
challenge like what they're going to see from Texas's defense,
and I think that's going to potentially be the difference there,
and really the same thing. I mean, Penn State, all
they have to do basically is bottle up the run

(52:51):
game and force the quarterback to try and beat them,
because I don't think that he can. So I do
think Texas and Penn State will advance. And when you
asked me earlier, you know, well, was a game I
was looking most forward to and all this, I think
that that's a different story than the one that I'm
most intrigued by, and I think that's the one we're
about to talk about, and that's Notre Dame in Georgia.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Yeah, let's talk about it. Georgia, of course, is coming
into this game not only without Carson Beck. He is
out for the year. He actually declared for the NFL
Draft today to Seger told us that earlier in the show,
So not only is he out for this game, he's
out for the season. Gunner Stockton obviously getting his first
career start going up against a really good Notre Dame
defense Georgia outside of Carson Beck. You know, does have

(53:32):
is coming off two weeks where they have not played
a game yet. You know, as Kirby Smart famously said
after the SEC Championship game, thank god we got to
buy because Greg Saki sent us all over the place
to play all these big road games. So Georgia of
course SEC champ. And I'm having a trouble with this one,
j Mark, because like you know, I was saying about

(53:53):
this is and I think it applies to all these teams.
We get so caught up in the most recent thing
that we seen. And Georgia was admittedly awesome in that
SEC Championship game. They also easily could have lost to
Georgia Tech in the final game of the regular season.
Maybe should have lost to Georgia Tech in the final
game of the regular season. They're a team that you
and I were on for so many of those big games.
You know, you lose to Alabama, Okay, that's fine, but

(54:15):
you know you just get blown out of the water
early in the game and then are playing from behind.
Easily could have lost to Kentucky, did lose to Old Miss.
And I'm not saying Old Miss and Alabama on the
road are bad losses, but I'm just saying, this is
not an infallible team. This is not the Georgia team
from even two three years ago when they were running
through everybody, and Notre Dame is a good football team,

(54:37):
plays real defense. What do you expect from this game?

Speaker 1 (54:39):
Again?

Speaker 2 (54:40):
You and I will be on air for that game
as it goes final, filling in for Jason Smith and
Mike Harmon at ten pm on Wednesday night.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
So in answer to the question that you gave earlier
about what are we going to be talking about? What
is the world going to be talking about after January First,
I think there's a good chance it'll be Gunner Stockton
and it's either going to be a real positive or
a real negative. That's why this game intrigues because we
really don't know what we're gonna get there. We just don't.

(55:09):
I mean, he looks pretty good the little bit that
we've seen of him, But this is a completely different animal.
This is a completely different challenge. This is four quarters
against a good defensive Notre Dame team that is fundamentally sound,
that has been steamrolling teams ever since the blemish against
Northern Illinois. This is a team that can absolutely beat them.

(55:30):
This is the best Notre Dame team in terms of
this is the best potential that they have to actually
make a really really deep run that we've seen in
quite some time, and George's defense hasn't been quite as dominant,
So Stockton is actually going to have to do something here.
I don't think that they can just run the ball
and play defense and beat Notre Dame. I don't think

(55:51):
that it's gonna work that way. I think that their
strategy is going to be to try to get Riley
Leonard to throw the ball and try to kind of
curtain Ail to run on the other side. But what
is Gunner Stockton gonna do? And I don't think that
we have anywhere enough data points to address it. We
just don't know. So that I think is why it

(56:13):
is likely to be a story. If he goes out
and puts on a show man, the discourse surrounding that
the next day is gonna be immense. If he goes
out there and it's kind of mediocre and Notre Dame gets,
you know, gets to win as a result of that,
that becomes the storyline. It's a little bit unfortunate for

(56:35):
Notre Dame that they don't get to play against Carson
Beck only because even if they win, there's gonna be
a built in narrative surrounding that even if Notre Dame
proves out would have proven out to be the better team.
I'm not saying that they would. I'm just saying that
there's always gonna be a kind of side eye attached
to this if Notre Dame does indeed beat Georgia. And

(56:57):
it's largely because Gunner Stockton goes out there and goes
like ten of twenty six with a couple of interceptions
or a fumble or stripsack or something like that. But
that may exactly be what we get. I kind of
tend to think Gunner Stockton's gonna be fine. He's probably
gonna be pretty good. Question, is pretty good gonna be enough?

Speaker 2 (57:19):
Great point by you, Even if Notre Dame wins, it
does feel like the discourse is going to be, well,
what would it have been if Carson Beck was playing
Carson back? By the way was got up and down
this year? If he actually watched him, and I know
you and I did. But for people that are kind
of just locking in on college football right now, kind
of an up and down year for Carson Beck. But
obviously it's unfortunate that he did have the injury. He

(57:42):
is not only out for the season, but his Georgia
career is over. He announced this week or he announced
today actually, that he is going to declare for the
NFL Draft, So Gunner Stockton gets the start. And again
a quick reminder the game. The playoff games start Tuesday night,
New Year's Eve, Penn State and Boise in the Fiesta Bowl, Texas,

(58:03):
Arizona State, Oregon, Ohio State, and of course the game
we're just talking about Notre Dame Georgia are the nightcap
that those are all on Wednesday, New Year's Day. And oh,
by the way, I should mention that Jason Martin and
I will be on air filling in for Jason Smith
and Mike harmon ten PM to two am, so we
are gonna have a full four hours or we're probably

(58:26):
just gonna be talking about those college football playoff games.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Do you like that, by the way, that one of
those games is not played on New Year's any other
three are? I mean, I get it, I get where
you're playing and all of those things, but kind of
feels like all four of those games should be played
on the same day.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
I have no fundamental issue with it. And I will
also say I am somebody that I'm just the most
selfish person ever with the remote. And it's like everybody
whenever I go to like even New Christmas Eve, you know,
like I feel so bad because I guess just because
of our business, and you know, there's always a game

(59:03):
to watch. Even Christmas Eve, it was like, Aaron, what
should we put on? Like everyone was waiting for me
to decide, and so I just think it'll be cool
to kind of have a game on, you know, probably
up until about eleven pm Eastern or so, you know,
take us right into the New Year's Eve festivities. So
I actually don't mind it. I would rather have that
than the void of having nothing on and just have

(59:26):
I hate to put it like this, but having to
entertain people and having to do whatever. Obviously, my family
and I aren't gonna be doing much, you know, knowing
that you and I are gonna be doing a four
hour show the next day, it's probably gonna be pretty light.
But I like there. I like that there's a game
on New Year's Eve. I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
So okay, Well, I mean I guess I used to
get down with the Peach Bowl the night before, right,
Like you used to have the Peach Bowl in New
Year's Eve, and that was what wherever I was, that
was generally the game that was on there. A lot
of us would watch that while we were you know,
having fun and doing everything that was going on there.
I think it's just something about the fact that those
four games being the games that they are, with those stakes,

(01:00:02):
it just feels like a three year played on one day.
Why would all four of them not? But you know,
I guess I don't have a fundamental I like the
fact that we have two days of games that we
really need to pay attention to. I just guess. I guess,
I just it just seems a little bit weird that
you have one of them played and then the other
three the next day.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
It's a fair point, by the way, should mention I
mentioned this earlier. The two semi final games are on
a Thursday night and a Friday night. So that's some
bizarre stuff right there. The college football fans will have
to get used to Fox Sports Radio aer Toris Jason
Martin broadcasting live from the Tyrek dot Com studios. Speaking
of bizarre things, college football fans have to get used
to Pop Tarts Bowl was today. We aren't talking about

(01:00:45):
the edible mascot jmart but there was an interesting discourse
that came out of the game. We'll discuss that next.
Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Aer Torris,
Jason Martin. We are broadcasting live from the tyreck dot
Com studios. Football fans be sure to tune in to
Fox Sports Radio every Sunday morning, beginning at ten am
Eastern seven Pacific for count Down to Kickoff presented by

(01:01:08):
bet MGM, Brian No, Jeff Schwartz, a professional better Bill Krakenberger.
We'll have you covered three hours before kickoff. Every Sunday morning.
Listen to count Down to Kickoff presented by bet MGM
right here on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Interesting discourse emerged from the Pop Tarts Bowl. We're gonna
get to that in just a moment. Before we do, though,

(01:01:30):
let's get it over the news desk. Steve de Sager,
what is Trenday?

Speaker 6 (01:01:34):
Hello once again. You know earlier in the night we
told you there's one notable performance from the NBA there
too now actually, but New York when it won its
overtime game at Washington this evening. The Knicks got Jalen
Brunson's fifty five points and nine assists in that win.
One thirty six, one thirty two in ot Knicks had
one seventh straight and this is just gone final for Dallas.

(01:01:57):
Kyrie Irving has scored forty six points, but they lost
at Portland. Tried the fourth quarter comeback, outscored them by
eleven in the fourth, but fell short one twenty six,
one twenty two against the Blazers, which means just one
game still going, and that's in La, about nine minutes
to go, Lakers leading the Kings one thirteen ninety three.

(01:02:17):
In case you didn't hear, the Kings fired coach Mike
Brown yesterday, so this is the debut for the interim
coach Doug Christie, who is long a fan favorite in
Los Angeles, where this game is tonight Sacramento Queens. He says,
tongue in cheek. Three NFL games tonight capped by the
Rams home victory over Arizona thirteen to nine Poka Nakua

(01:02:38):
ten receptions, one hundred and twenty nine yards. Bengals in
overtime beat the Broncos thirty to twenty four, t Higgins
three touchdown receptions, including the game winner, and the Chargers
Justin Herbert through three TD passes as LA clinched a
playoff berth in the AFC, winning easily at New England
forty to seven. The last of the college football bowl
games tonight is now a final number twenty two. Army

(01:03:00):
has won twenty seven to six over Louisiana Tech at
the Independence Bowl. BYU dominated Colorado at the Alamo Bowl
thirty six fourteen Top twenty match up in Orlando went
to Iowa State over Miami forty two to forty one.
In college basketball Top twenty five match up in Los
Angeles at the LA Clippers New Arena, UCLA beat Gonzaga

(01:03:22):
sixty five sixty two, The Bruins in the final minute
five for five on free throws while the Zags missed
a free throw to tie with eight seconds left. Thirteenth
ranked Texas A and m ripped Abilee Christian ninety two
to fifty four at Memphis Tigers over number sixteen Ole
Miss eighty seven to seventy. Tigers led by two at
the half, and Utah State on a late three pointer

(01:03:43):
one at number twenty San Diego State sixty seven to
sixty six. Among the eleven NHL games, Carolina five to
two winner over New Jersey, Tampa Bay won sixty two
over the Rangers. Washington a five to two winner at Toronto.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Back to you by the way to Stigera. I actually
went to that un Clagains Zagaga before. It was a
beautiful arena. First time I've been. Have you been in then?
It is insane. It is futuristic, like, uh, there's a
lot of bells and whistles in that place. Let me
put I'll say this. You know I I always was
thought it was weird. You know, hey, just stay at Staples.
Why do you need to build a new arena.

Speaker 6 (01:04:18):
They were just renters for twenty five years.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
They were, But now I get it it Balmer wanted
something that was his. It is a beautiful arena. Game
was kind of iffy for about thirty five minutes. Last
five minutes or so, We're awesome, but but the arena
was beautiful. It was a great Ucla crowd too. As
you know, Ucla can kind of be hit or missed sometimes,
but great Ucla crowd. They get to win there.

Speaker 6 (01:04:39):
So and for those who are unaware it's essentially across
the street from the Rams.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
Literally, yes, yeah, it is a beautiful arena so far.
And by the way, really quick, this is very random,
but credit to everyone in Englewood because the traffic was
really kind of moving because the game got out around
three thirty, game was coming in and it really everybody
did a good job of, you know, kind of coordinating
those two events where you say something.

Speaker 6 (01:05:05):
I was, yeah, when you were talking about those two
events going on kind of at the same time, did
you notice that you with the flex scheduling and the
NFL at a really late date saying which three games
are gonna be today's three games? New England Patriots had
a home game at the same time as the Fenway
bawl Oh it's going on in Boston. Did not know
the Yukon win.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
Well, Chargers looked really good, Huskies looked really good, and
tar Heels and Patriots not so much.

Speaker 6 (01:05:32):
And Bill Belichick showing up for the North Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
Yeah, I'll say this, Jamart. I want to get to
Kim Ward, but I have one quick thought on that,
like my whole belief that Bill Belichick really By the way,
thank you to Sager. We'll get back to you in
just a few minutes. I kind of have a take
like Belichick, I just don't think he really understands like
the little things that you're gonna have to do to
be a successful college head coach, and like this sounds stupid,

(01:05:59):
but I feel like that's kind of a metaphor. So
if people don't know North Carolina play their bowl game
in Boston today. I know it's a little weird Boston whatever,
but I think that's like kind of an example of Belichick,
Like you probably just show up and shake hands and
do an interview because it's good for the brand and
it's good for the programming.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
Didn't do it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
It's not an everything, But I think it's kind of
a little tiny metaphor for like, does he really know
the it can't it's not just about x's and o's,
you gotta do all these other things. I thought that
was a tiny metaphor. Maybe I'm overreacting though.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
Jmark, Well, I mean I didn't see his rational, but
i'd seen the story days before the game that he
wasn't gonna be there, and I figured maybe he just
didn't want to upstate. He wanted to give this team
the stage and not be there as a distraction or
anything like that. That's how I read it, but I
don't know, like because I didn't Sorry, brother, I didn't

(01:06:53):
watch that It's Connecticut North Carolina game and any kind
of detailed today, I don't know if that if that
was his stinking or if it was just like, I
don't want to do that, and so he's just not
going to. I think the larger point, though, is the
right one, which is coaching in college is so much
more than the x'es and o's that he's been used

(01:07:14):
to trying to handle any NFL. That's where I just
don't see how this works, because I don't think he's
gonna want any part of what he has to do,
whether today is an example of that or not. There
are so many little things that are gonna feel, I think,
increasingly and really fast to him, like just straight up
new senses, like things that he's just flat out not

(01:07:36):
gonna like at all. And so this either ends up
a Steve Belichick show pretty fast, or it's gonna really
spiral out of control quickly because I just don't think
he's long for the job. Because based on everything you
know about Bill Belichick the control that he wants and
all of these things. I just can't imagine that all
these little details of college football are dotting the i's

(01:08:01):
and crossing the t's that don't have anything to do
with your game planning and how good a defense you
can call. Uh, those are not going to be fun
for him at all.

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
So I agree with that. By the way, speaking of
just weird stuff that happens in college football, let's get
very quickly to the cam Ward discourse from today. So
de Seger just told you we did have the Pop
Tarts Bowl earlier in the day. Iowa State wins forty
two to forty one.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
Apparently cam Ward just likes to warm his in the
microwave and take it out. He hasn't want it to
be fully toasted. He only wants it about halfway.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
Well, yeah, whatever it was, it was an interesting day. So,
by the way, it's interesting because like the people that
run the bowl game really hyped up, like, hey, this
guy is maybe the number two pick in the draft.
He's playing in this game, like, you know, the same
way shand Or Sanders and Travis Hunter, to their credit,
played in the alme Bolt didn't go well, but like
cam Ward. It was like, oh, no, he's playing, even

(01:08:55):
though he's a potential number two, number three pick in
the NFL draft. Bring it up because for people who
miss this story, played in the first half through three
touchdown passes, which set an NCAA record if you include
his fcsda's at Incarnate Word, his time at Washington State,
and his time at Miami, one hundred and fifty six

(01:09:16):
career touchdown passes that is the most all time in
college football history. Then, after he set the record, was
pulled and sat out the second half that included a
drive late in the game when Miami trailed he could
have come back in helped the team win. And I

(01:09:37):
will say it really did become kind of a conversation
on social media of if you show up to the game,
if you suit up, and you play in the first half,
why are you not playing in the second half, especially
when your team needs you to win? And again, I
think it's worth noting the alternative as well, is if
you had just decided weeks ago, hey, I'm not playing
in this game. I've proven everything there is to prove

(01:09:59):
that before line. So I guess the question is, did
you have a problem with the decision to show up,
set the record, sit out the second half when your
team could have used you to win.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
I don't know, because he didn't have to play in
the game at all. He did play, and he broke
the record, which will probably last not very long because
Dylan Gabriel will break it pretty quick. But him not
coming back in the game, I mean, I think it
just shows that the Bowl game didn't mean anything. If
you and Mario Christobal didn't comment on it after the

(01:10:30):
game at all, I wouldn't doubt that the coaching staff
was well aware that that was what was going to happen.
I mean, LSU had the exact same thing happened last year.
The difference was they ended up coming back to win
that game. But Malite Neighbors broke the receiving record and
then checked out of the Relyoquest Bowl. Nobody even remembers that.
As now he's almost done with his first year in

(01:10:51):
purgatory with the New York Giants, But he looks like
he's got a really bright future, and you just kind
of move on from it because we're now used to
the early opt out. He did go, he did show
up for his team, He did play a half, and
he played very, very well. The only thing I was
thinking in my head, I was like, maybe you don't
want to come back in because he's tired of bailing
out the defense. Sure, but not to be as negative

(01:11:13):
about it. I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and say,
I'd have been fine if he had opted out completely
because the injury risk and you know what happens if
he does have a Matt Carroll kind of moment and
that affects whatever he's going to do going forward, sets
him back in his career. Maybe he never becomes what
he could be, or doesn't even get picked in the
same spot because he's going to miss a year. You know,

(01:11:35):
then everybody would second guess why he would have played
in this game in the first place. He was gonna
lose no matter what unless he just played the whole
thing and somehow came out unscathed. I just I have
a hard time being too upset with the business decision
that was made, especially considering like it or not, it's
not cam Ward was Miami born and bred the whole time.

(01:11:55):
I mean, he played for multiple universities. He came in
for a year like a mercenary. He did everything that
you wanted him to do. If you had a defense,
you'd be playing in the college football playoff right now.
He gave you all that he had. I just find
it hard to get too upset at him looking towards
his future rather than any kind of a risk. You know,

(01:12:16):
after breaking that record, you can just say that getting
the record was selfish and you've been better off not
playing that part. I understand. I also think that I
feel like most Miami fans would just be happy they
got to see him one more time, even if they
can get to see him for four quarters.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
Yeah, this is one. I'll just be quick because I
want to get back to Seger. I know, and I
say this sometimes, but I know when we come on
these airwaves, everybody wants us to have a big, strong,
bold opinion about everything. I just can't get too worked
up about this man. You know, I'm happy that we
got to see him a little bit more. I think strategically,

(01:12:51):
probably it would have made sense either play the whole
game or don't play at all. I just there's too
much serious crap to decision. There's too much arguing with
se fans over whether Bama should have been in or
not and all the other discourses that we have over
the course of a week in sports, that this is
just one I can't get mad at. I was kind
of surprised when I heard weeks ago that he planned

(01:13:13):
on playing in this game, so I'm happy that we
got to see it. I wish him luck. By the way,
I did see that the Giants had a lot of
their brass there. Joe Shane obviously the GM was at
this game. So I just I can't get worked up
about it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:27):
I really can't.

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
And and by the way, I don't I think this
will be a question that NFL teams probably ask in
the process. I don't think this is something that it's like, oh, yeah,
the Raiders took them, took cam Ward off their board
because he set out the second half. It's like, everybody,
chill out. Yeah, I've said what I had to say.
I just can't get worked up j Martin about this.

(01:13:50):
But cam Ward does sit out the second half against
against Iowa State. Iowa State rallies to win the pop
Tarts Bowl, where we do have, yes, the edible mascot
at the pop Tarts Bowl. So Fox Sports Radio ertors
Jason Martin will come back when we do. Steve Disager,
He's got the extended update on everything you missed from
what was a very busy, very busy last Saturday of

(01:14:15):
twenty twenty four. Disager's up next with his exten extended update.
Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, everybody. Fox Sports Radio er
tors Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Tireck dot Com studios.
Love you, Mary, Appreciate Mary. I told her, I said,
we don't have to turn off the Christmas music just
because Christmas is over. It's still December. Terrace still stays

(01:14:40):
up for another week or two, or six or eight
into February. Tell you what enough from Taurus. Let's get
over the news desk. Disager let us know what's trending
in this world right now.

Speaker 6 (01:14:53):
And she hits it with a classic.

Speaker 1 (01:14:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, give us some night, King Cole can't
good enough sensational.

Speaker 6 (01:15:02):
By the way, are you guys aware that that was
written decades ago in the neighborhood right by Warner Brothers,
right by where our sister station is, the Dodger station
in La on a ninety degree day in July. I
did not know that absolutely. By the way, as you
were talking about Bill Belichick, and he's not going to

(01:15:24):
want to do these things that college football coaches have
to do. I just pardon me for laughing. There is
one name that came to mind as soon as you
began that conversation, and that is Chip Kelly, the guy
left UCLA as head coach to become offensive coordinator in
Ohio State just goo so he could return to quote,
pure coaching.

Speaker 2 (01:15:44):
Well, and in basketball, I've seen it too, Patrick Ewing,
Chris Mullin, these guys that have NBA backgrounds, and I
just think, you know, if one if you've never been
in that space, but two like these NBA guys, and
I think Belichick would fit in this category as well. Well,
you got one hundred million dollars in the bank, Like
I'm sorry, it's it's hard to sit on a zoom

(01:16:06):
with a seventeen year old and you know, hey, I'm
gonna commit to you. No, Well, but I need another
two hundred and fifty k because Miami. You know, I'm
just using Miami's It's just I just think it's a
lot of little stuff that's going to add up quick as.

Speaker 6 (01:16:20):
You put it this way, as the La Times put
it this way. Of the former UCLA football coach this
past spring, Chip Kelly put in a minimal effort in
recruiting barely engaged boosters, did next to nothing to enhance
his team's name, image and likeness efforts. Let that sink in.
The highest paid state employee in California did not want

(01:16:41):
to do his job, so he left end quote.

Speaker 2 (01:16:44):
I mean that's pretty descriptive.

Speaker 1 (01:16:46):
I mean, I think he just thought, I'm Chip Kelly,
It's gonna work.

Speaker 6 (01:16:50):
Or Belichick says, didn't I just hire a CEO for football?
Can't they just do all that stuff. I'm just a
football guy.

Speaker 2 (01:16:57):
Well they can.

Speaker 6 (01:16:58):
It's just was he there today?

Speaker 2 (01:17:01):
He was not at the game. I might be overreacting.
I think that's something because you know, if he goes yes,
you stand on the sideline, you do the cheeky interview
about how excited you are, and then you know, we're
maybe playing the audio on the show. They're playing it
on Sports Center tonight. It's just a little thing when
you're trying to sell your organization, your program. It's not everything.

(01:17:24):
But maybe I'm overreacting. But to me, it's not nothing either.

Speaker 6 (01:17:27):
And it's not just a football program. It's actually part
of a university campus and has such a deep attachment
to people have been attached to the university, not just
a team. It really goes deeper than professional sports. As
far as cam Ward and Miami losing in Orlando to
Iowa State in the Pop Tarts Bowl today, Tim Reynolds,

(01:17:48):
longtime Associated Press writer, tweeted tonight cam Ward did not
opt out at halftime. Miami had to evaluate Emery Williams
today as well. That was important on the field, and
I bet most fans would have rather taken two quarters
of cam Ward over no quarters of cam Ward. Daniel
Jeremiah is a great NFL scouting reporter, has been for years,
used to work in scouting departments in the NFL. He

(01:18:10):
is the Chargers radio analyst, and he tweeted tonight, I've
been working all day, so I didn't know all those
specifics of this, but this cam Ward dialogue seems silly.
Whether it's one play, one series out, or one half,
don't care. I would be shocked if any NFL team
moves in one spot in the draft because of today.
Replace his name with Christian McCaffrey or any of the

(01:18:31):
hundred plus guys that sat out Bowl games. So over
the last five to seven years. Teams do not care.
It is a non issue period. So then Softy Maller,
the longtime Seattle radio host, He says, we've normalized quitters
in college football for just reasons or not. Is there
any scenario left where you would criticize a player for
quitting on his or her team. Daniel says, if you

(01:18:53):
sat out a playoff game, you'll get criticized. That's totally
fair from an NFL standpoint. These other bowl games are
glorified spring games. It is what it is. The latest
of the glorified spring games ended in Shreveport with Army
beating Louisiana Tech twenty seven to six. Louisiana Tech finishes
five and eight. How did they get in a bowl game,
you asked. It was originally due to be Army against Marshall.

(01:19:17):
They opted out of the bowl game because their head
coach went to another job and they had so many
people in the transfer portal. They were out of coach,
out of quarterbacks, and out of a lot of their roster.
So with academic progress right, they picked the team that
could do the quick turnaround to Shreveport.

Speaker 2 (01:19:35):
Thank you very much, Steve Saga Fox sports radio or
towards Jason Martin will come back some NFL A lot
to get to. That's next. Welcome in everybody, Hour three
Fox Sports Radio er Torus Jason Martin. We are broadcasting
live from the tireck dot com studios. Tirec dot com

(01:19:55):
will help you get there, an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free,
what has the protection and over ten thousand recommended installers
tyrereck dot com. The way tire buying should be er
towards Jason mart taking it up till two a m.
Eastern time. Bernie Freddo of The Bernie Frado Show follows us.

(01:20:15):
I cannot wait to hear what Bernie has to say
about a wild day across the world of sports. Of course,
not only college football bowl games, not only some college
basketball regular season, but three NFL games. Let's go ahead
and dive into each of them quickly, Jason, I guess

(01:20:36):
probably the place to start is that middle game, Bengals
versus Broncos, Your Denver Broncos. You know this organization as
well as anybody Denver. If they win, they clinch a
playoff spot. Instead, Bo Nicks throws a touchdown to force
the game into overtime with just eight seconds left to

(01:20:58):
tie up the game, miss field goal for the Bengals.
You think maybe they're cooked. No, no, no, no no.
Joe Burrow gets the ball back deep past to T. Higgins,
sets up a short touchdown pass to T. Higgins to
win the game. Take away from you, j Mart Is
it more about Cincinnati surviving? Is it more about Denver

(01:21:19):
blowing a chance to clinch a playoff spot? What say you?

Speaker 1 (01:21:23):
I mean, it's all of those things. But I think
Cincinnati surviving and still being alive considering how badly their
season started and how it was easy to leave them
for deceased basically, and somehow they've won four in a
row and Joe Burrow has firmly placed himself into the
MVP conversation. He won't win it because I think it

(01:21:43):
is Josh Allen's award this year. But at the same time,
Burrow is making a strong case for himself and he's
proving what we've all known about him for a long time,
which is he's always gonna give you a chance. The
great quarterbacks in this league, even when they come up short,
you just always feel like you have a chance because
you have that guy. Under center, and he is one
of those guys, and in a game where his defense

(01:22:06):
wasn't particularly good, they weren't all that successful on the ground.
I was unimpressed with what I was seeing from Zach
Taylor on the sidelines. Joe Burrow still goes for almost
four hundred yards and he does everything under the sun
to make it possible for them to win that game.
And he's done that throughout his career. So I think
that's probably the first takeaway. I mean, Denver can still

(01:22:27):
get in by winning next week, so it's not the end.
It was a great opportunity that they squandered, and you
can argue whether or not Sean Payton should have gone
for two. He said, we knew we were in with
a tie, and since that was you know, that was
an option there that made that decision a little bit
more difficult. We would have gone for two most likely,
basically what he's saying, if we couldn't have gotten in

(01:22:48):
with a tie. I don't love that just because, yeah,
but you don't automatically get the tie. You still have
to find a way to hold that for ten more
minutes at least going into overtime. I kind of just
like the momentum of the Awe offense at that point,
just giving them a shot against Stanton Rumo's defense winner
take all right there, but that's not what they did.
So I think the biggest storyline really though, is just

(01:23:09):
Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and T Higgins. Those three guys
are a three headed monster that win healthy and when
they're doing their thing, no one does want to see
them in the playoffs because they're going to give them
a chance. They're going to score points if they find
a way in, even if the defense will be the
thing that holds them back.

Speaker 2 (01:23:28):
So I agree with you on all accounts, most specifically,
I think the Joe Burrow MVP discourse kind of popped
up over the course of the evening. I don't want
to dismiss what he has done this season. I threwout
this stat earlier. He's the only player in NFL history
with eight straight games of hundred and fifty receive two

(01:23:48):
hundred and fifty passing yards and at least three passing touchdowns.
But I just and I said, excuse me, I said
it earlier as well. I think he's probably over come more.
The defense isn't very good obviously, On top of that,
it's not only the defense. The coaching I think has
been kind of hit or miss, as you've said, as

(01:24:09):
you said earlier, and so you look at everything that
he's overcome. I do think that, in my opinion, he's
worthy of being in the conversation. I just don't know
that he should win it. I would give it to
Josh Allen. I'll say this too, and obviously Lamar Jackson
is very much in that mix. I would give it

(01:24:29):
to Saquon over Joe Burrow. And it's not a Joe
Burrow sucks thing. It's just like I think Saquon has
had that big of an impact on the Philadelphia Eagles.
Now we'll see. Obviously, the Philadelphia's got a couple of
games left. Jalen Hurts a little bit banged up with
the concussion, so we'll see. But I agree, big win
for Cincinnati to keep the playoff pictures straight Denver next week.

(01:24:52):
If they win, they are in Denver, of course, playing
the Kansas City Chiefs, which we assume will be resting
most if not all, of their starters for most if
not all, of the game. They have clinched the number
one seed in the AFC thanks to their Christmas Day
win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. So if Denver beats that team,
they are in we will see about that. Cincinnati would

(01:25:15):
need a Denver loss. They would need to beat Pittsburgh,
and then they would need Miami and Indianapolis, which both
still have two games left. They will play this coming
They will play on this Sunday and then next Sunday
as well. Cincinnati would need both Miami and Indy to
lose at least one game. They would need Denver to

(01:25:36):
lose to the Kansas City Chiefs, and they would need
to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers next week to make the playoff.

Speaker 1 (01:25:43):
For the discourse, wait for the discourse coming from Cincinnati
that's going to try to argue that Kansas City is
not going to play their starters because they don't see
the angles into playoffs. Watch that discourse come out this week.
I'm mark my words, it's not gonna affect Kansas City.
They're not just say okay, we'll show you. They're not
gonna do that. There's no reason to risk put mahomes

(01:26:03):
in there when you already have the one seed. He's
not going for any records. He's not gonna win the
MVP this year. There's absolutely nothing to be gained by
that whatsoever. But I promise you that will be talked
about this week, that it'll be they'd much rather have
Denver in there than Cincinnati, which even if true, and
it would make sense that it would be based on
the offense, it's it's gonna be there to try and

(01:26:24):
egg the Chiefs to try hard, and I don't think
it will work.

Speaker 2 (01:26:28):
That'll be a great Tuesday topic on all the shows.
You know, once you get past the seed, you need
something to talk about middle of the week. Oo, are
the Chiefs secretly afraid of Cincinnati and Joe Burrow getting
in a yah? I don't think so. By the way,
we didn't even touch on it, Jason, but shout out
to Joe Burrow, who, at various points throughout the season
people have tried to convince us is actually overrated and

(01:26:49):
you know, kind of stinks whatever. He was pretty darn
good on Sunday, like he has been all of this season,
really quickly. The other two results really quick. First of all,
Chargers beat the Patriots forty to seven. Chargers clinch a
playoff Berth. We talked earlier in the show if you
missed it, you could go back now with the podcast
about Gerrod Mayo's future. I think j mart and I

(01:27:10):
both believe that he's gonna get at least one more year.
I'll just say this, I don't think to me, if
you're gonna hand him the keys, you can't. You can't
pull the plug after one year, because it's not like
it's not like they were thirteen and four last year
and won the division. Like he wasn't left with very much.
They drafted Jim Drake may The offense hasn't been pretty.

(01:27:30):
I think some of it falls on his shoulders, but like,
this isn't him inheriting an elite team and the wagon,
you know, the wheels falling off the wagon. It was
a flawed team, which we saw in the final few
years the Bill Belichick era. So I think Gerard Mayo
is safe really quickly. Any thoughts on that or also

(01:27:50):
the Chargers in year one under Jim Harbaugh clinching a
playoff Berth, I'm not surprised. You know, one, Harball coveted
this job because he knew there was talent in the cupboard.
But then also Hardball wins everywhere he goes and wins immediately,
not surprised at all. The Chargers officially clinched a playoff
spot on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:28:12):
This is all you need to say, and all of
what you said is accurate. But you got the same
quarterback this year that you have with Brandon Staley, and
he has less talent around him. Offensively, they don't have
as many receivers, as deep a receiving core as they
have had for him in the past. I mean, Lad
McConkie obviously had a great rookie campaign. He and Herbert

(01:28:32):
work exceptionally well together. But you just look at it.
The little things that went wrong last year, the mistakes,
the questionable decisions, the brass like over aggressive alpha moves,
and all the weird things that were happening at the
end of the game. They're just not happening anymore. And
so now Justin Herbert is no longer playing with one

(01:28:55):
hand cuffed behind his back. He's able to just go
out there and be Justin Hrbert, and he is one
of those guys again that is good enough to win
you games. He is good enough to always give you
a chance. And so they're making less of the mistakes
and they're putting their guys out there in positions to flourish.

(01:29:15):
And that's the difference. That's the difference in a good
head coach and a good coordinator. Brandon Staley good coordinator
just was not made to be a head coach, at
least not at this stage in his career. Maybe you'll
get another opportunity sometime down the road and some of
the lessons that he learned will prove beneficial to him.
But you brought somebody in the room that understands how

(01:29:35):
to win on every level, and he did what he
does and to your point, he wins, and he wins quickly,
and you get him a quarterback like that, and no
one should be surprised that they are in the playoffs
before the last week of the season, even with you know,
I mean, they just don't have that much skill talent.

(01:29:56):
Imagine as they continue to build, if they really do
commit on that, they could be incredibly dangerous going forward.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
Yeah, it's crazy because, like I said, you know, he
took the job because of the talent on his roster.
But one, obviously they lost some guys in the offseason,
some other guys are getting older. But I think more
importantly it is kind of funny you watch them play.
They play like you know, his early Michigan teams or something.
I don't know what would be the exact analogy, where

(01:30:24):
they kind of play to win every game thirteen to
ten and it's worked for him. Obviously, Saturday was the exception,
as they absolutely obliterate the New England Patriots. Los Angeles
Chargers have clinched a playoff spot. Speaking of Los Angeles,
let's go to Sofi Stadium the Rams. They take care
of the Arizona Cardinals. It wasn't pretty, but with under

(01:30:45):
a minute to goo and interception as Arizona was driving
and in the red zone. An interception seals the victory
for the Los Angeles Rams. They have not technically clinched
the NFC West based on some scheduling stuff, they could
actually clinch on Saturday. On Sunday, excuse me, even though

(01:31:06):
they obviously are not playing and Seattle, who is right
behind them in the division, is not playing as well.
Seattle and the Los Angeles Rams will play next week.
A win obviously would clinch it, but even with a loss,
there is no guarantee that they would not make the
playoffs again. It would come down to schedule strength, record strength,
things of that nature. But the Los Angeles Rams get
the win. J Mart wasn't pretty. Disager brought it up.

(01:31:28):
It was just a few weeks ago that the Chargers
put up or the Rams, excuse me, put up forty
plus points against the Bills. Offense has struggled. Since it
does not matter as as they get the victory here.

Speaker 1 (01:31:40):
I mean they're nine and two since to buy. I
mean that tells you all of what you need to know.
In their last eleven games, they've been just good enough
in some games, they've been spectacular in others. I mean,
they escape the Jets. They escaped the Niners. You talked
about that Bills performance and everything happened there. The defense
has take an advantage of offenses that are either struggling

(01:32:02):
or not good, and that helps you. Certainly, Cardinals are struggling,
Niners are beaten down, and the Jets are the Jets.
So but at the same time, they've grown in confidence
and they're doing what they have to do. And of
the teams that are in that division, I think we
had a different argument about this a few weeks ago,
but the Rams are the team that would be most

(01:32:23):
interesting to watch in the playoffs there ones that. Yeah,
I mean I just think that I was. I was
pretty high on Arizona for a while, but you take
Connor out of that mix. Kyler is kind of just
sort of He's kept his head above water, but just barely.
And Marvin Harrison Junior, he still hasn't really fully he
just hasn't really fully blossomed on the NFL level. I

(01:32:44):
still think that that's likely to come, but I think
it's been a little bit of a slower growth period
for him than some expected for his rookie campaign. So
of all the teams that are in the in that division,
just something about Seattle kind of bores me. No offense
to our friend out there that's a gigantick s Yawks fan,
but the Cardinals are just kind of fading away.

Speaker 2 (01:33:07):
I mean, to worry about that, you don't have to
offend anybody. They just won on Thursday night six to three.

Speaker 1 (01:33:13):
So that game was that that game you talked about
did we have too much football? Yes? Because that game
happened as a standalone Yep. Yeah, like that that was
a thing that people watched, like for for sixty minutes,
people watched a six to three ball game that was
worse than the score would indicate, just absolutely atrocious. But yeah,
the Rams are the one team in that division because

(01:33:36):
the offensive because of Sean McVay that I think would
make for an interesting matchup for somebody in the postseason.

Speaker 2 (01:33:42):
Well, I'll tell you what. Let's come back and let's
discuss some of the things that happened, including Thursday night.
Caleb Williams, what does this mean for his future? By
the way, I think we got to talk a little
bit about Lamar Jackson as well. They the Baltimore Ravens
won on Christmas Day. Yet apparently there are still haters

(01:34:03):
out there that you and I might not be aware of.
So we'll come back. We will continue the conversation on
week seventeen in the NFL. That's all next. Fox Sports Radio,
Welcome back, everybody. Fox Sports Radio Ra Torres Jason Martin
broadcasting live from the Tireck dot Com studio. Shout out
to Mary. I refuse to let the Christmas spirit die

(01:34:26):
because guess what, it's still December. Most people leave their
trees up till freaking February. We want me to just
do this whole hour Christmas music? Yeah, I mean, you
don't even have to turn it off. Just leave it
on the entire time. We'll talk right over it. No,
I'm kidding, you could turn it off. But I love
the Christmas music, So thank you Mary, I appreciate that.
By the way, did everybody have a good Christmas?

Speaker 1 (01:34:47):
J Martin?

Speaker 2 (01:34:48):
I know you there's some family stuff going on, but
did you and your daughters have a good Christmas?

Speaker 1 (01:34:53):
Yeah? Me and my wife and my daughters had aid
and had a really good Christmas. You know, she's three,
my oldest, and so she really, you know, we got
to do you know, she got to experience and understand
Santa like it's not just like she actually was anticipating it.
And she needed to go to bed because he almost
missed the house because she was being a little bit

(01:35:14):
late trying to get to sleep, but she got there.
She had asked for one thing, specifically a purple hippopotamus,
and the elves came through and so she was super
excited about that and a lot of other things that
happened as well. And my youngest, who is you know,
eight months, she had a blast just being positioned for

(01:35:35):
various photos by my wife who just draped her in
Christmas lights and started taking shots and then had those
made into Christmas ornaments that we'll be getting back in
a handful of days that we can give to family
and things like that. So it was a great day
obviously celebrating the Lord's birth and then just just being
there with This is the first year where Claria Grace

(01:35:56):
really kind of gets it a little bit more than
she has before. So it's gonna get a lot more
fun from here. But this was the first one where
she recognized it this Christmas and it's the first time
I have ever decorated outside the house.

Speaker 2 (01:36:10):
Oh how that got had.

Speaker 1 (01:36:11):
Lights and the bushes had multicolored lights on our giant
holly tree had a light up fox and a light
up brought to Saurus in the front front yard as well.
I'm not calling myself Clark Griswold just yet, but I
can see how you can get overboard because I got

(01:36:31):
these things and it was just like this is enough.
And then it was just you know what, you could
just add a couple more strands every year and then
you know, ten fifteen years down the road you went
in competitions. But yeah, it was fun. I actually enjoyed it,
and it you know, they're on at the house right now.
We're keeping them up until after New Year's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:36:52):
Really quick, Mary, you have a good holiday. I was here.
I was here too. That didn't work with you, though, did.

Speaker 1 (01:36:57):
I I was here?

Speaker 2 (01:36:58):
No, I think you came in after me because I
was here from five. Oh yeah, I saw you in
the morning, so of course it was a great holiday.
You saw me. What are you talking about? Oh yeah,
I spent no I think he called me that day though.

Speaker 1 (01:37:11):
Wow, not a great day.

Speaker 8 (01:37:14):
Yeah, and then I came home and I slept the
entire rest of the day, so it was pretty sure.

Speaker 2 (01:37:19):
Yeah, it was pretty due. Pat, Can you do anything special?

Speaker 8 (01:37:22):
Yeah, I mean I was here in the morning. I
actually did see you, and then after that I went home.
We opened presents at home with the family. My best
friend came over, just had the puppy and just it
was a good day overall. It was a good day
of work at home.

Speaker 2 (01:37:35):
Fantastic. We'll get to the sega in just a minute.
J Mart, you brought this up to me. I am.
I think it's a great topic. Okay, So we were
talking about the NFL MVP. Last segment, Joe Burrow has
his moment. I think it'll go to Josh Allen. Saquon
Barkley has certainly had his moments, and Lamar Jackson, of course,
is very much in the mix for a third NFL MVP.

(01:37:57):
The reason I bring it up is because it feels
like like the Lamar Jackson there's no other way to
put it, the Lamar Jackson discourse. And I know I'm
using that word a lot, but just feels like there's
a lot of conversations that are all over the place
right now. And I'm a little confused by the Lamar
Jackson conversation because I saw I haven't read full quotes,

(01:38:19):
but Cam Newton on First Take the other day said
that Lamar Jackson is underappreciated. I have heard dozens upon
dozens of people in our industry still say, well, you know,
Lamar with the haters, and you know, I don't know
what else Lamar has to prove. At this point, I

(01:38:42):
feel like Lamar Jackson, I'll be honest, Like, maybe I'm
wrong here, I feel like Lamar Jackson is actually like
pretty much the most fairly covered athlete we have in sports.
Like I'm just gonna say it. I feel like pretty
much everybody acknowledges that he is a one of one
generational talent the likes of which we have never seen.

(01:39:05):
I don't believe there are I don't believe there's anybody
with a functional brain. And I don't believe there's anybody
in our business that doesn't believe that he's one of
the two or three most gifted players in the league,
alongside Patrick Mahomes, alongside Josh Allen. And maybe that's it
in terms of natural football ability. I do think it's
also a fair criticism of until you topple pretty much Mahomes,

(01:39:28):
until you topple Casey, until you get to that Super Bowl,
like we can't you know, there are certain things that
we have to say about you, the same that we
do with Josh Allen and any great quarterback that hasn't
made it to that ultimate stage. And so I find
it interesting that we're still trying to have this conversation
with Lamar Jackson. I don't feel like there are people

(01:39:49):
that are still like, oh, you know, Lamar not getting
enough for I think he's getting a perfect amount of respect.
And when he gets to a super Bowl, and he's
going to because he's an amazing quarterback, we'll give him
even more respect. So I'm rambling, but I just I
find the whole discourse just interesting to say the least.

Speaker 1 (01:40:05):
Yeah. See, the reason I brought it up is because
it irked me because it's just like Cam and all
those that are echoing his sentiment about him being underappreciated.
At what point or how much praise do we have
to shower on Lamar Jackson before it's enough that we
don't have to hear this anymore? Like dudes won multiple MVPs.
As you mentioned, we acknowledge everything unbelievable about him. I

(01:40:27):
would go further than you and say he's one of
the most dynamic players in the history of the NFL.
He's the most He's as must see as anybody in
all of sports. There is almost nothing to really criticize. Now.
If somebody wants to say he's not as accurate as
Drew Brees, yes he's not, so what a whole lot
of other guys aren't either. It doesn't really matter. That's

(01:40:47):
not that's not a critique that should be like, oh, well,
now you're not appreciating him enough. No, he can throw
the ball pretty well and that's fine. Like he as
a matter of fact, a lot of times he throws
it better than pretty well. But how much do we
have to give him when he's winning multiple awards. The
only thing that anybody is saying is I need to

(01:41:08):
see it in January. I need to see you take
the regular season and apply it in the postseason and
get to a super Bowl. And yes, just like Josh Allen,
exactly the same thing. But you never hear Josh Allen's underappreciated.
I've never heard that, Not one time have I ever
heard that. The reason, here's the thing, the reason why

(01:41:32):
Josh Allen's gonna be the MVP this year is because
every other candidate that we can name got more talent
around them or got put in a better situation than
they were last year, except him, because he lost his
number one target at wide receiver. It seemed like the
Sean McDermott thing was kind of on his last legs.

(01:41:54):
You got Ty Dunn writing that XPOS during the offseason.
This was a year where a lot of people looked
at Buffalo and thought they were going to take a
step back. But then you look at Lamar. Lamar got
Derrick Henry this year. Sakwan Barkley got the Eagles instead
of the Giants this year. The reason why Burrow might
be second on the ballot is because he didn't get

(01:42:14):
much better, but his defense got worse. He didn't get
much better in terms of his situation. He actually his
situation wasn't as good. So I just look at the
Lamar thing, and it's just, cam, what do we have
to say about him that you don't call that you
don't think he's underappreciated. I agree with you. I think
he is appreciated exactly as he should be. He's an

(01:42:36):
incredible player. He's an MVP, not just caliber. He is
a two time MVP and a walking Hall of Famer.
There is nothing that we are going to really say
to dog out Lamar Jackson other than go win a
super Bowl, which we're gonna say about Burrow, who has
made one at least Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, all these dudes.

(01:42:58):
I mean, Peyton Manning had the same exact critique leveled
against him before he finally got to a super Bowl
and beat Rex Grossman in a rain storm. So I
just get frustrated that we continue to hear this. It's
just is this just because of how people talked about
Lamar Jackson when he first came in the league. Because
I don't know anybody that says almost anything not laudatory

(01:43:23):
towards Lamar Jackson in twenty twenty four. I don't I
don't know those shows. I don't know who it is
it's burying Lamar Jackson on a week to be week
to week basis. If those people exist. If I were you,
I probably wouldn't listen to him because I don't think
their opinion has much validity, and it's certainly in the vast, vast,
vast minority of sports totally agree.

Speaker 2 (01:43:45):
Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens, of course, last played
on Christmas Day. Come back, j mart I got one
other take out of the last couple of days. I
want to I want to throw your way. I will
do that next. Before we do, though, let's toss it
over the new desk final time this evening for our
show to saga what is trending.

Speaker 6 (01:44:04):
We've talked about how little the Rams have been scoring
most of the last month since that Buffalo game, but
they keep winning. In fact, Associated Press says tonight the
Rams are the first team in over a decade to
win three straight games in the same season while scoring
less than twenty points in every game. Since Tim Tebow's
Broncos in twenty eleven, the Rams have won five straight.

(01:44:24):
They're up to ten and six thirteen to nine Tonight's
final over Arizona, as the Cardinals had an extra point
kick blocked and also through interceptions on the last two drives.
Pukinakua ten receptions one hundred and twenty nine yards. The
Cardinals on red zone tds just one for four. They
had already been eliminated. Now seven and nine. Cincinnati in
overtime beat Denver thirty to twenty four. T Higgins three

(01:44:46):
touchdown receptions, including the game winner. Joe Burrow was sacked
seven times but threw for over four hundred yards. Bengals
have won four straight. They're still mathematically alive. Denver failed
to clinch today. The Broncos had tied this game on
a touchdown pass with eight seconds left in regulation. Cincinnati
winst The Chargers did clinch a playoff berth winning at
New England forty to seven. Pats have lost six straight.

(01:45:08):
They're three to thirteen. Drake May one touchdown, one fumble,
sacked four times, Justin Herbert three touchdown passes, two to
lad Miconkie, who had eight more catches today ninety four yards,
and running back JK. Dobbins, after a spring knee, had
nineteen carries seventy six yards and a touchdown. Dolphins quarterback
to A Tonga by Law with a hip injury, is
doubtful for tomorrow at Cleveland, so Tyler Huntley could start.

(01:45:31):
Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson is out Sunday with back and
foot injuries. Joe Flacco will start. Hall of Fame finalists
include Eli Manning. Of the fifteen announced today on the list,
nine were also finalists a year ago. To college football.
Among the many bowl games, Iowa State beat Miami in
Orlando forty two to forty one. BYU dominated Colorado at

(01:45:53):
the Alamo Bowl thirty six to fourteen. Number twenty two
ranked Army took the late game twenty seven to six
over Louisiana Tech at the Inn in Dependence Bowl victories
for East Carolina and Miami, Ohio wins for Nebraska, TCU
and Yukon. Washington State's new coach is from South Dakota State,
Jimmy Rodgers injured Georgia quarterback Carson Beck declared for the

(01:46:14):
NFL Draft. Among the nine NBA games, Jalen Brunstt and
the next scored fifty five points with nine assists. The
next one their seventh straight in overtime win at Washington,
won thirty six one thirty two. At Chicago. Josh Giddey
a triple double in a win over Milwaukee. Victories for
Atlanta and Oklahoma City, which is now twenty five, and
five wins for Denver and Golden State. Philadelphia edged Utah

(01:46:36):
one fourteen one eleven. Joel mb did play, had thirty
two points. Portland held off Dallas won twenty six one
twenty two. Kyrie Irving forty six points.

Speaker 1 (01:46:45):
In the loss.

Speaker 6 (01:46:46):
The Lakers took the late game over Sacramento, debut for
King's interim coach Doug Christie, one thirty two to one
twenty two. Kings have now lost six in a row.
Lebron James was out for LA due to illness. Tonight.
Austin Reeves had sixteen assist Anthony Davis did play. He
had thirty six points, fifteen rebounds, eight assist. John Moran
to the Grizzlies will miss Sunday's game with a shoulder injury.

Speaker 2 (01:47:08):
Back to you, thank you very much, to Sager to
say you have a great evening. We will hear you
tomorrow with with the guys, Mark Willard already span your
Chris Plank, etcetera, etcetera. From Slam Fox Sports Radio towards
Jay Smart broadcasting live from the tyrack dot com studios.
Really quick, Jmart. One other topic I do want to
get to. So they are a Raider Sat Raiders Saints.

Speaker 1 (01:47:30):
Games actually happening today.

Speaker 2 (01:47:32):
Wow, that's painful, a horrible match. Well, you know what.
I was gonna save this for the final segment, but
since you bring up the Saints, I have a confession
to make and it's gonna make me sound like a
really bad Fox Sports radio host. I did not watch
a second of Saints Packers on Monday night. Uh, filled

(01:47:52):
in for Covenie either, Yeah, I was gonna say, filled
in for Covino and Rich with VJ. Husky. We had
a great time. And listen, this was what December twenty third,
Festivus Christmas Eve Eve, and we're coming off. This was
at last Saturday for college football playoff games, a full
slate of NFL Sunday. Knowing we have games on Christmas Day.

(01:48:13):
We also got Thursday Night football, which we might not
have a chance to get to. We'll have to save
those fireworks for another show. This was the first time
in my life I felt like there was too much
NFL football. And I'll say this, you and I and
I'm not being sarcastic. We were literally the first person
for the first sports media outlet that kind of realized, oh,

(01:48:35):
the NFL is like in the process of stealing Christmas
Day from the NBA. We talked about it three years
ago in twenty twenty one before anybody else was. But
I bring it up because this year was the one
time since this whole Christmas Day thing started that Christmas
Day did not fall on a traditional day where we
would have normal NFL football. Wasn't a Monday, it wasn't

(01:48:57):
a Sunday, it wasn't a Saturday, et cetera. I just
felt like it was too much football. And we're in
this business. We love it, We're blessed to do what
we do. We're not complaining that we get paid to
talk about sports for a living, but it's like, at
a certain point, we do have to spend time with
our family around the holidays and you bring up the Saints,
and I just bring it up because we had last

(01:49:18):
week Saturday, NFL Football, Sunday NFL Football, Monday, NFL Football, Wednesday,
NFL Football, Thursday, NFL football, three games on Saturday of
this week, and of course a bunch on Sunday, one
game on Monday, which is a big one lines forty
nine ers. First time in my life, I was like,
Roger Candell, I love you, but you need to take
a day off here and there.

Speaker 1 (01:49:38):
Yeah, like them having Christmas Day games is fine. It's
the other ones where it just there were a few
times where I didn't realize a game was being played
that day, and I've never really experienced that where NFL
games were about to happen, and I would like just
check a ticker to say, all right, what's happening today?
What there's an NFL game? Like again, and and then like,

(01:50:00):
if you're gonna have Christmas Day games, maybe we don't
need the Thursday night game that week.

Speaker 2 (01:50:04):
Fair enough? Yep?

Speaker 1 (01:50:05):
You know, like we're gonna play two games on Wednesday
and we're gonna get lucky as well. The four teams
involved are all you know, playing proceeding or playing to
make the playoffs, all that good stuff. We probably don't
need the Thursday night matchup that week, just to add
that to Sunday, and you know, go ahead and cash
that one in. And then the years where Christmas falls
on a Thursday, that's fine. I just I actually forgot

(01:50:29):
about that Thursday night game until it was like into
the third quarter, because I just figured, Okay, well, we're
playing these other days. There's probably not gonna be a
Thursday night game. No, No, indeed there still was. I
think that's probably it. Like when you already have the
other day giving you action, I don't know that you
need it. Now. I get it. Nobody's gonna turn down
having an NFL broadcast because you're gonna have ratings and

(01:50:51):
you're gonna have I had revenue and all of those things.
But it definitely did feel like it's enough with the NFL.
Give me a couple of days here, let me miss
you for a minute. And because somehow this is what's
batwing to me all the games that we've seen. Somehow
there's still six games in the opening windows today, Like

(01:51:12):
there's still six matchups, and well, I mean, if you
want to call them matchups, some of them are not
particularly inviting, but you have six, and then you still
have two in the afternoon, and then you have Falcons
commanders at night, so you still managed to have nine games.
It feels like we've already seen twenty games this week.

Speaker 2 (01:51:28):
Well, and I was going to say too, you know,
obviously we work for Fox Sports Radio. I have no
privy or say to you know, meetings that our bosses
or Fox Sports's bosses have with the NFL. But if
you're a partner, and I know some of the games
were played on Saturday, but think about the teams that
have already played this week and will not play on Sunday.
Kansas City, Baltimore, huge draws, Pittsburgh, national draw, Chicago with

(01:51:52):
the number one overall pick both LA team, Cincinnati with
of course Joe Burrow.

Speaker 1 (01:51:58):
Houston technically with CJS Houston.

Speaker 2 (01:52:00):
With CJ Stroud. New England is still a national brand
even though they stink. And it's like those are all
the teams that have already played and are not playing
Sunday and Monday. Now credit to the league because they
somehow still got some intriguing games between you know, Minnesota
and Green Bay. I don't think anybody expected it to
be quite the stakes that we have. Obviously, Washington Atlanta,
that's now two rookie quarterbacks. That's all of a sudden intriguing.

(01:52:22):
That's why it was flexed into the late window. And
of course the the the NFC Championship rematch Detroit and
San Francisco, so we can wrap on the topic. But
it is crazy, like the number of marquee teams that
have already played. I think the NFL caught a little
break because some of these matchups still look pretty good
on paper going into Sundays.

Speaker 1 (01:52:41):
Yeah, that's right now. I mean you still have some dogs,
but you usually do. I mean, Titans Jags is a
horrible game this year. I think one thing you got
unlucky on is Jets Bills. I think you thought was
gonna be bigger yep, and it turns out it's nothing
at all. Cowboys Eagles you probably thought might have been
bigger as well, even though the Cowboys are on a
bit of a hot streak as of late. Packers Vikings,

(01:53:03):
like you mentioned, you get lucky there. Falcons Commanders becomes
an interesting matchup lines forty nine ers. I think you
kind of got unlucky there. Because you've got a six
and nine nine ers team that's going nowhere, and you've
got Dan Campbell answering questions as to what this game
means in terms like if seeding doesn't matter, are we
gonna try and things like that, like that's not necessarily

(01:53:23):
what you want if you're the NFL from Lions forty
nine ers, But you know that's why they play the games.
And super Bowl hangovers are reel.

Speaker 2 (01:53:32):
Super Bowl hangovers are real. That is the Monday night game.
Still some intriguing games in the NFL on Sunday. Well,
come back, we'll actually look at some of those games
on Sunday. That's next. Ertoris Jason Martin taking you till
two am Eastern, Fox Sports Treo. Welcome back, everybody, Fox
Sports Radio. Aertorris Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Tireck
dot Com Studios. We're taking you up till two a

(01:53:54):
m Eastern. Bernie Fratto of The Bernie Fratto Show will
follow us, and you know, Bernie's got a lot to
say on a lot of different things. Of course, Bernie
will get you caught up on three NFL games from
Saturday Preview Week seventeen on Sunday the remaining games that
have not been played yet. I'm sure I'll have some

(01:54:15):
stuff on the college football Playoff, etc. Should mention, by
the way, since I have not mentioned it. Shortly after
the show, our podcast will be going up. If you
missed any of today's show. Just search Fox Sports Radios
podcast feed. Just go wherever you get your podcasts. Search
Fox Sports Radio and also be sure to follow rate
interview the podcast as well. Again, just search Fox Sports

(01:54:35):
Radio wherever each podcast and you'll see this show posted
right after we get off air. One other scheduling note
if you love college football, or even if you don't,
if you are in front of your TV, or if
you're listening, or if you're in the car, if you're
working on Christmas Day, Jason Martin and I will be
on from ten PM till two am technically into January second,

(01:55:00):
and we will be recapping the four college football playoff games.
We're filling in for Jason Smith and Mike Harmon. Cannot
wait for that shift.

Speaker 1 (01:55:09):
Jmart all right, we got some of my closer games.
I will say that.

Speaker 2 (01:55:15):
I think we'll get at least two because one thing
I'll say, you know, and we came on right after
the four games last Saturday. I think we did a
good job of hitting on it. But I think the
biggest point that got lost in the shuffle with the
four blowouts. It's really hard to win on the road
in college football, by the way, especially when you have

(01:55:38):
elite teams playing inferior teams like this isn't the seventh
place team from the SEC hosting the fifth place team,
like these were teams that were good enough all year
to earn the first you know, they're one of the
top eight teams in the country to earn a spot
and the home playoff game. It's like, yeah, I guess what.

(01:56:00):
A lot of times inferior teams go on the road
in college football and lose two superior teams, And so
I bring that up because I think that's a big
reason why we got four blowouts. And I do think
real quick, Jason Martin, I do think we'll get at
least some better games, maybe not all four, but I
think we'll get some better games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (01:56:21):
Yeah, I think you're probably right, and I definitely I mean,
we did mention that last week, but home field's a
big deal when those crowds were insane. I think the
game that was the closest is the one that had
the crowd that I didn't think was quite as insane
as the other three. I think that was the one
in Texas. I think the ones up north were all nuts,
and it was almost impossible for those road teams to

(01:56:44):
get their bearings, get their foundations, and probably their anxiety
and their blood pressure was through the roof.

Speaker 2 (01:56:51):
Tell you what, let's Mary give us some music, put
us in the mood, and we will go through both
the college and NFL really quick. Since we're talking college,
let's just go through really quick. Boise State Penn State
is the opener on Tuesday night, and we'll just be quick.
But Texas and Arizona State is the opening game on Wednesday,

(01:57:11):
New Year's Day. Do you expect either of those to
be an upset or do you think Penn State in
Texas advance.

Speaker 1 (01:57:18):
I think Penn State and Texas advance. I don't. It'd
be interesting. I want to see what Arizona State does.
I think Penn State's going to have a pretty good
plan for Boise That's a game they really should win,
and I expect them to win it and I actually
think they have a chance to win that win fairly boring,
like actually semi blowout Central. I think that Texas Arizona

(01:57:40):
State is probably going to be close, just because I
don't think Texas's offense is going to put up fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:57:45):
Yeah, I think both those games maybe a little bit close.
But Penn State and Texas win Rose Bowl Oregon in
Ohio State, Man, that.

Speaker 1 (01:57:52):
Is such a tough call. I think I had Ohio
State and Texas as my final before the season, with
Texas beating Ohio State. So actually, I'm gonna take the
buck Eyes to win that game.

Speaker 2 (01:58:05):
Very good nightcap will be coming on ten to two
pm ten to two am Eastern Wednesday night. Notre Dame
or Georgia.

Speaker 1 (01:58:16):
Your guest is as good as mine. I just don't
know what the quarterback is gonna be able to do.
I know what Georgia, and I know what Kirby smarts.
Kirby some want to have his guys ready to play.
They're gonna come in there with a bit of an edge.
You would think Notre Dame's gonna come in thinking they
can win that game. I'm still gonna take Georgia. I
just I have to believe in the team that I've
seen do it before, even with a quarterback that's unproven.

Speaker 2 (01:58:39):
I'll do something a little bit different. I'll say I'll
take Notre Dame to win that one. I'll take Oregon
in the Rose Ball. I'll take Texas and Penn State
wan to Love Talk NFL, Jmar, but we gotta go.
Want to thank the crew, Mary Mack on the board,
producer Pat In for Ian Steve Disaga, for my partner
Jason Martin. I'm aren Taurus again, j Martin. I will
be on at ten pm Eastern Wednesday, recapping all four

(01:59:00):
or college football semi final or quarterfinals. I should say,
coming up next Bernie Fratto of The Bernie Fratto Show.
Bernie's got so much to discuss with you bunch of NFL,
bunch of college football. That's next. Fox Sports Radio

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