Tracy Sandler & Steve Hartman talk NFL Storylines, MLB Trade Deadline & MORE!

On this edition of Fox Sports Saturday, Tracy Sandler & Steve Hartman open the show talking about major storylines happening around NFL Training Camps across the league, then NBC Sports Bay Area’s Laura Britt joins the show to talk about the San Francisco Giants! Tracy and Steve go into their Do’s and Don’ts before speaking with NFL Network’s Bridget Condon live at Ravens camp to discuss Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry & MORE!  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Sports where Hello, and welcome to Fox Sports Saturday. We
are broadcasting live from the Fox Sports radio studios.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
I am here with Steve Hartman.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
This is such a treat for me to get to
co hose with you, Tracy.

Speaker 4 (00:15):
Tracy, this is like an out of body experience for me.
I could not be happier. I'm excited about our show.
We were talking before the show, obviously, with so many
things going on, so many, so many overplayed NFL stories
already just a few days into training camp, so very
excited about the show today.

Speaker 5 (00:33):
We got plenty to talk about.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I know in July is supposed to be a slow
time in sports, but not this week. You mentioned NFL
training camps underway, so many overplayed stories. Because someone throws
three interceptions into practice and it's over. Well, it's funny.
There's two sides. Either everyone's team is going to the
super Bowl and it is their year, or it's going
to be a disaster because the starting quarterback through three

(00:57):
interceptions in a training camp practice and we might as
well pack it up right now.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Well, I feel like and you cover NFL football and
have for a while, so you understand the process.

Speaker 5 (01:06):
Here.

Speaker 4 (01:06):
I mean, you're looking for stories to sort of grab
the audience. You got to come up with something. So
if you're starting quarterback has a bad day, you know,
Aaron Rodgers throws an interception, disaster for the Steelers.

Speaker 5 (01:18):
They're not going anywhere. Obviously.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
We have the bear story with Caleb Williams struggling early
on with a new system from Ben Johnson. Wow, he's
struggling learning a new offense and training camp. These are
big non stories. But you know the idea each year
that it's a fresh start, and I always say this, Tracy,
and the record shows I'm right on this every single season.

(01:42):
When you look at the over unders, you know, predictions
for the year, there are five or six teams every
single year that far exceed expectations, and there are five
or six teams that fall way short of expectations.

Speaker 5 (01:55):
So that's the guessing game.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
When you try to predict the upcoming season, there will
be four or five teams. Guaranteed, there will be nowhere
near where people thought that there will be four or
five teams. They'll just you know, like the Commanders last year,
the Texans the year before last year. I picked the
Broncos to make the playoffs one of my few righte predictions, Tracy.

Speaker 5 (02:14):
So it happens every year.

Speaker 4 (02:16):
So again I would not overplay what's happening in training camp,
especially the first week.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Absolutely not.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
And as a reminders listeners, training camp. It's called training camp,
so they are supposed to make mistakes. Kayleb Williams learning
a new offense, he should struggle now, So in Siri,
he doesn't struggle.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
During the season.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
There may there will certainly be some ups and downs,
but that is the point of training camp. That's I
think that word training is really important for everybody.

Speaker 5 (02:41):
It changed, you know, Tracy.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Again, I I'm really old, but I mean going back
to you know, in the eighties and nineties when training
camps literally opened the first week of July, double days
in July, and it was just an entirely different process,
and I could understand why players dreaded training camp because
it was seemingly endless even before you got to the

(03:04):
preseason games. So by the time we got to the
regular season, we're talking about two full months of training
camps with a lot of double days. And those are
also the days when during the regular season you were
in full pads on Wednesdays and Thursdays during the season, right,
so none of that exists anymore. So now it's short.
It's more of like, you know, getting things loose. And

(03:24):
we found out during the COVID season at twenty twenty
when there was no training camp, no preseason, and guess what,
the season looked pretty similar to any other season that
you know, you just the thing you don't want to
happen in training camp are injuries?

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Correct?

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Unfortunately though for everybody, that was an excellent segue. Unfortunately,
there are already a number of injuries, some of them
more serious than others.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
But you hate to see that.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Especially this first week of training camp when they're not
in pads, they can't really hit each other. So a
couple of things start start. Talk about an overreaction story.
Justin Fields gets carted off the other day with a
dislocated toe. Obviously, a cart comes out and everybody is
very scared. But immediately social media was a buzz. Of course,
it's over, this is what happens. He's today was participating

(04:09):
in seven on seven drills, so he's going to be okay.
Over in Minnesota, Justin Jefferson has a hamstring strain.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
This one. It's mild. He'll be reevaluated next week.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
But this is the kind of injury when it starts
this early in training camp, you do want to keep
an eye on it throughout the season. He's had hamstring
injuries in the past. A couple of years ago he
missed seven games because of it. The hamstring injuries to me,
are kind of the scariest ones, and they happen early
because that just means they're going to keep coming back.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
Well, they're going to come back. If you come back
too soon, you have to let these injuries.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Heal, especially in training camp once again.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
Exactly, I mean even during the regular season. We've seen
it before where you have one of these type of
injuries and you're anxious to get back on the field.

Speaker 5 (04:53):
I get all that. But if you come back too
soon and then you re injure it, now your season
is over. This this is the cautionary tale. But it
almost get tracy.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
We would talk about this in baseball all the time, right,
how we ask less of our pitchers than ever before, right,
and yet there seems to be more injuries than ever before.
Like the Dodgers right now have twelve pitchers on.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
The il it's a bit of a mess. The guys
are starting to come off, but yes, it's fir.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
But it's the same thing with the NFL. It seems
like the less training. The idea of this was to
keep guys healthy. That was the idea of no more contact,
you know, during training camp, and certainly no more contact
during the regular season. Is to keep bodies on the field,
and yet it seemed to have an adverse effect.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
It does, and a lot of it too, is that
forty days of coaches and players talk about all the
time at the end of mini camp, between that and
mini camp at the beginning of training back camp, these
forty days and how players take care of themselves during
those forty days, and how important that is, you know,
I don't know. I'm assuming it is important. I don't know, though.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
A guy could be perfect in the days and get
on the field and run down the field and straight
a hamstrings.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
So it's tough to see all these injuries. We've got
a couple season ending injuries already. Burns the Dolphins is
a torn ecl So the team signed cornerback Jack Jones
and then also safety Mike Kilton Darnell Mooney.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
He's got a shoulder injury.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
With the Falcons out several weeks, so hopefully that's not
so bad. Trailing Burk's and his fractured collarbone, he's gonna
miss a lot of times. Joe Mixon's gonna miss pretty
much all well, the collarbone he's out. And then Joe
Mixon of the Texans running back is going to miss
several preseason games.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
He's on the NFL list.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
This wasn't a surprise, but pretty much all of training
camp and the preseason, it's just a tough way to
start into the season.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Well.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
And the big question moving forward for the NFL is
how much longer are gonna have these preseason games? I'm sorry,
In high school do you have any preseason games?

Speaker 5 (06:47):
College? Do you have any preseason games? No such thing.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
The idea of the preseason way back in the day
when players actually did not make enough money to carry
him through the entire years, they had an offseason job.
As soon as the football's over, they start their offseason job.
What a different time, And so that was the idea
is that you have to go to training camp to
get yourself back into shape to play your sport for

(07:10):
that season. So obviously those days are long gone. These
guys have millions and millions of dollars in their bank
unless they've spent it all. Actually most of them do anyway,
So you would think that they would understand since you've
been given the freedom to sort of set your own
clock on how to prepare yourself. Especially veterans, you know
the process of getting through these games and then into

(07:32):
the season. But you know we're we're heading to an
eighteen game schedule. We know that very soon, and it's
probably going to be spread over twenty weeks, meaning teams
will have two buys and that'll be pretty much the
elimination of preseason football games.

Speaker 5 (07:46):
Mercifully.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Mercifully is right. And you know, Kyle Shanahan, head coach
of the forty nine ers. For anybody who doesn't know
that who's listening to Kyle Shannon always says he learned
so much more in joint practice than in preseason game,
and so I think that's probably we're seeing a lot
of them this season. I think when the preseason does
get eliminated, we'll see more and more of them. But
that is when you're going to learn more because you
get to see your first team against your first team

(08:07):
or second team, get your second team, And I think
it's just so much more beneficial for teams. Per Kyle
Shanahan and I'm going to trust him on this.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
Well and again when we talk about these controlled scrimmages,
they get way more done with these controlled scrimmages because
you know, you have an agreement between the coaches. All right,
here's things that we want to work on. What are
some of the things you guys want to work on,
and we'll play off of each other instead of just
throwing guys out on the field in these preseason games,

(08:35):
most of which will never see the light of day.
These guys are going to play. We're seeing more and
more quarterbacks running backs. Why would you would why would
you have any starting running back carry the ball even
once during the preseason. The one guy that was the
first star running back that said I'm not carrying the
ball in the preseason was the Chargers lu Danian Tomlinson.
He goes, I'm going to be I'm gonna be touching
the ball four hundred times this year between carrying the.

Speaker 5 (08:57):
Ball and receiving.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
Well, I'm not gonna waste carry in meaningless preseason games.
Worked out well with him first ballot Hall of Famer.
So more and more of these teams have a disdain for,
you know, playing the frontline players because you don't want
to risk any injury in these preseason games. So the
sooner we get past these preseason games and them permanently
and let these teams engage in some kind of you know,

(09:20):
range scrimmages, I think that's going to be best for everybody.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
I would like your opinion on something, since we do
still at least have the preseason this year. Like you said,
you don't want your frontline guys playing in preseason games. However,
when you have a situation with Caleb Williams last year,
Kayleb Williams this year, he needs the reps, but you
don't want him to get injured. Obviously he has to
play in the preseason. But what is that fine line.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
Well, the fine line is he has a new coach,
it's a new system. So with Ben Johnson, I mean,
he wants to get reps. That's understandable if you have
a veteran coach.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
You know.

Speaker 4 (09:54):
The interesting thing is Patrick Mahomes wants to play in
the preseason.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yes he does.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
He does it every single year and you're like, what
are you doing? Every reason, it's the same system.

Speaker 5 (10:04):
It's Andy Reid's system, you know it.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
But he likes that and that's up to him and
it has worked out well for him. But no, for
a Caleb Williams with a new coach, completely new offensive system,
you're going to try to get in as many reps
as you possibly can because start of the regular season,
especially playing in that division.

Speaker 5 (10:20):
It's going to be rough.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
I mean, we just don't know if Ben Johnson is
going to be that as a head coach. We know
what he did as an offensive coordinator. Being a great
coordinator does not necessarily translate into being a head coach.
Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. We'll find out. But no, again,
it depends on the circumstances. If you have a new
head coach, a new offensive system, especially, yeah, you definitely

(10:43):
need to get reps during the preseason.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
We're going to see with Ben Johnson, going to see
with Aaron Glenn how does it work with him going
from coordinator to.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Head coach of the forty nine ERDs.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
You have the former head coach of the New York
Jets who's come back as a defensive coordinator, so It
is such an interesting world. It's like the only profession
where you can get fired one day and have a
new job the next day while still getting paid for
from your old job for the next five years.

Speaker 5 (11:05):
Well, Robert Salah was a bad head coach.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
He was not a great head coach. But I think
he learned.

Speaker 5 (11:09):
No, he was not a bit. It's not great. He
was bad. He was. He's an outstanding coordinator, outstanding and
that that has been proven.

Speaker 4 (11:17):
He just was not a good head coach and he
got plenty of opportunities to prove everybody wrong with the Jets.
And I understand it's the Jets. See, that's the thing.
You got to be careful when you are finally afforded
an opportunity to be a head coach in this league,
do your homework on the organization you're joining. The Jets
are perennial losers. There's a reason for that. They've had

(11:38):
different quarterbacks, different coaches, and the results have always been
the same. So that's that's something that you have to
look out for. But no, I mean returning to the
forty nine ers where everyone knows him and the job
he does, and his relationship with college Shanna I'm sure
he's going to do a great job.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
Question.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick both the coaches of the
Jets and then went on to be good head coaches elsewhere.

Speaker 4 (12:01):
Well, I mean, well Belichick was the coach of the
Jets for one day that was technical.

Speaker 5 (12:07):
And Pete Carroll is a one and done with the Jets,
but then.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Both went on to be obviously they Jet.

Speaker 4 (12:12):
I mean, the faster they got out from the Jets,
the better for both of those guys.

Speaker 5 (12:16):
I'm glad you mentioned Pete Carroll because.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
A little bit later on, I really want to get
into I know we're going to be talking about some
of the teams later on that we sort of have
our eyeballs on that. I was doing a feature on
my TV show last night on Pete Carroll Now with
the Raiders in Las Vegas, and it was a little
surreal as a farmer. And by the way, every time
I mentioned I work for the Raiders, I have this
one guy saying, are you going to say that in

(12:38):
every show ever but football season? But to see him
wearing that Raider gear seems a little out of place.
But I'm anxious to see what he can do to
try to get that franchise back on track.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
I think I think that one is going to be
one of the most interesting teams to watch because talk
about an organization that over the last several years, they
have been the Jets, but they've had a lot of
struggles and have not been able to get it right.
Ken Pete Carroll get it right. Won't be perfect and
mind we're gonna talk more about later, but can he
get it right?

Speaker 3 (13:08):
So it's gonna be fun. We are in best shape
of his life.

Speaker 6 (13:11):
Season.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
We are in.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
We need to trade the quarterback and everyone this season
because of a bad training camp practice.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
We are in. It's our year season.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
But this is the beauty of football and being a
football fan and any sport. The season begins, it's a
fresh start and it's all gonna be great.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
I always bring this up if you think your team
has no chance. I always go back to the nineteen
ninety nine Rams. They had had nine straight losing seasons.
They signed Trent Green to be their favorite quarterback. He
blows out his knee in the preseason and they have
to throw on a quarterback who's the only thing on
his resume was basically three years in the Arena League,

(13:47):
and that year Kurt Warner not only took over as
the quarterback, they won the Super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (13:52):
Yes, that first year, So Kurt.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
Warner proved and that ninety nine RAMS team proved anything
as possible.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
As is Tom Brady and potentially Rock Perty Are you guys?
We have so much more to talk about, so stay
right here. This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
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 7 (14:19):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
Seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing.

Speaker 7 (14:25):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get.

Speaker 6 (14:28):
To and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.

Speaker 5 (14:41):
Yeah, you blubber list name and me.

Speaker 7 (14:42):
Well you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.

Speaker 6 (14:47):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.

Speaker 7 (15:00):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also Uncensored by
the way, so maybe we'll go.

Speaker 5 (15:07):
At it even a little harder.

Speaker 7 (15:08):
It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.

Speaker 6 (15:11):
There you go, over Promising. Remember you could see it
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
We are coming to you live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios Tracy Sandler with Steve Hartman. Be sure to
check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. There are
a ton of great videos for many of our shows.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and you will
see a whole bunch of video highlights from our shows.
And be sure to subscribe so you always have instant
access to our Fox Sports Radio videos.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Steve, it is MLB Trade deadline time.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
It is a time of year that I love and
gives me so much anxiety at the same time.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
The hard part for a lot of these teams is this,
are we contenders or not? So are we a buyer
or are we a seller? And remember a couple of
years ago, the Angels were on the fence about Show Hey,
and they were like three games out of the wildcard,
and so they made a determination, knowing that he could
potentially walk away at.

Speaker 5 (16:16):
The end of the year, we're going to keep him.

Speaker 4 (16:18):
And they lost seven straight games right after the trade
deadline and their season ended, and he walked away and
they got nothing in return. So this is the big
question for a lot of these teams. You have three
wild cards and so you look like, okay, like we're
four games.

Speaker 5 (16:32):
Out of the wildcard? Are we buyers? Are we sellers?

Speaker 4 (16:36):
And that is where you have to be honest with
yourself because if you have a tradable commodity the teams won,
and a lot of these teams on the bubble do
you've got to say, look, we could cash in, we
can get some prospects, we can get more for this
one individual than we have right now. So that's going
to be the big question on who exactly is available.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
And also, I would curious your opinion on this. Did
teams have to be like, Okay, we are buyers because
we're on the bubble, we're close, but we're not like
buying a mansion because realistically we're closed and we're going
to make the playoffs, but we may not keep going.
Or can they not think like that? I would like,
did that make sense? I'm not sure how eloquent that was.

Speaker 5 (17:20):
Well, yeah, I mean, in other words, well, even if
you are okay, I'll just use the Dodgers as an example.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Oh, you're speaking to the right person.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
Okay. So the Dodgers have twelve pitchers on the IL.

Speaker 4 (17:32):
They are hoping that they can finally get Blake Snell back,
who started two games before he went down with his injury,
and Roki Sasaki. The problem is the back end of
their bullpen.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
That's the big problem.

Speaker 4 (17:43):
So Tanner Scott's been a bust. Now he's on the IL,
and you know, if you're going to do what the
Dodgers did in the postseason last year, Remember they really
did how much starting pitching last year?

Speaker 3 (17:54):
No, they didn't made a hell of a bullpenck, but.

Speaker 5 (17:56):
The bullpen came through huge for them.

Speaker 4 (17:59):
And really, if you look back over the last I
don't know, I'll go back to Bruce Bochie winning World
Series with the Giants. That was his no, he was
so masterful in how he used his bullpen during those
postseason runs. The Giants didn't, I mean Lise again was
already on the down side. I mean they had some
starting pitching, but there was really the use of the bullpen. So,

(18:20):
for instance, with the Dodgers, you're saying, all right, we
need bullpen help. The question is which bullpen guys are
actually available, and then how much are we willing to
give up for potentially if it's a short term contract situation,
half a season, are we willing to sacrifice all that
capital in terms of young talent for half a season.

(18:42):
The problem again is now that you finally had a.

Speaker 5 (18:44):
Legitimate World Series championship, sorry twenty twenty. You know now
you've set that bar. Well, that's what Dodger fans.

Speaker 4 (18:53):
The Dodgers were overwhelming favorites to win the World Series
this year with the highest payroll in baseball, and so
you almost pushed into a corner where you're going to
have to show the fans y out we're going to
do everything we can to win this year.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Well, I have a solution for the Dodgers, and so
Andrew Friedman, if you are listening, cade Smith right handed
to leave Pitcher for Cleveland. They'd have him another four
and a half years. He'd be under club control another
four and a half years. He has been really effective,
and so that is my solution. And if they have
to trade a bunch of prospects, which they're probably going
to have to do because they want another World Series

(19:29):
and they're built to have one, that is my solution.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
So Andrew Freeman, if you are listening, you are welcome.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
Well, this is a big question though, because the Guardians
are two and a half games out of the wild card, right, and.

Speaker 5 (19:40):
So are they sellers or are.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
They going to stand pat Because I've also heard Kwan's
name as a possible target for the Dodgers. With Moogie
Bets literally going off the cliff this year in terms
of his lack of production offensively, this team needs a
leadoff hitter out and you know Stephen Kwan is one
of those guys that would fill a lot of spots

(20:04):
for them.

Speaker 5 (20:05):
Well, what are you going to give up?

Speaker 2 (20:06):
I mean you know they for both of them, you're
giving up a bowload, but you're giving up basically Oklahoma City.
The team in Oklahoma City is heading to Cleveland. But
I mean they do, they do need that. And because
you can put show Hay anywhere. I mean, Jo always
been a tremendously off hitter. But the other thing is
you really would rather have show Hay coming up with
people on base like that?

Speaker 4 (20:27):
Is that I agree, and I understand what the idea
of show Hey betting lead up, because again the thinking
is is that he is only going to bat laid
off one inning, and that's the first inning.

Speaker 5 (20:41):
And by the way, he seemed to start off every
game with a home run.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
Anyway, The problem for them was the bottom of the
order was so unproductive early in the season that he
wasn't afforded a lot of RBI opportunities. I don't think,
like you said, I don't think you have to worry
about show Hey a toney. You can stick him any
for a first, second, third, fourth where you're gonna put him.
But they need a leadoff guy, I think desperately, and

(21:04):
they just need an immense amount of pitching help. I mean,
who would have thought before the season began, the Clayton
Kershaw would be one of their more dependable starting pitchers
at the start of the season. That was not in
their game plan.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
No, it definitely was not, but that is certainly where
they are. Tyler glasnow has looked absolutely fantastic. Yes, and
we are excited about him. I say we because of
the fan base. But let's talk really quickly. There's one
other team I want to talk a little bit about
in terms of this trade deadline, and that is the
Detroit Tigers, because because they have been fantastic with schooball,

(21:45):
they are going to make the playoffs. They are running away,
but they need bullpen help as well.

Speaker 7 (21:53):
Well.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
They're on a five game skid right now. So we
were going into the also break hyping up the Tigers. Obviously,
Schoobol is dominant. I mean, there's nothing to be said,
but the rest of the team seems to be coming
back to earth right now, and so the Tigers who
were sitting atop Does anybody out there really know right
now which team in the American League has the best record.

Speaker 3 (22:13):
Right the second? Is it not the Tiger?

Speaker 4 (22:15):
It is not the Tigers. In fact, this team is
two and a half games ahead of the Tigers. Now
it's the Toronto Blue.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Jays who are like five games ahead of the Yankees.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
Right right, they're five and a half ahead of the Yankees,
but they're two and a half clear of everybody in
the American actually two games clear of the Astros.

Speaker 5 (22:30):
The Tigers have fallen to the third best record now
in the American League.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
So again, this is the whole thing about this trade deadline.
You know, if it was a month later, it be
a little easier to gauge. But when you have two
full months to go where anything could happen in terms
of your two three games out of a playoff spot,
and you overreach on somebody, overspend on somebody, it could

(22:58):
have not only disaster results that's season, but for seasons
to come.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Well you know who you could never overspend on because
he is a vast that is Martin Wise.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
With our update, I'll let you have that one.

Speaker 8 (23:10):
I wish somebody would overspend on me, please. That's one
on dreams to be hired and then fired as an
NFL head coach and then.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Fired, sing that happen. Go see what the Jets are
doing mid season?

Speaker 5 (23:21):
Maybe right, I'm doing well Steve, are you I'm doing well.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
I can't believe I'm sitting here at this time. Slot
thrilled to be hanging out with Tracy.

Speaker 8 (23:29):
You know, when I saw you two sitting there, I
kind of rolled my eyes for a bit.

Speaker 5 (23:33):
I said, you know, it's been a long week. But
it looks like the two shows have combined.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yes, see, work makes a dream.

Speaker 9 (23:39):
Work.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
Are you living the dream right now?

Speaker 8 (23:41):
Steve?

Speaker 5 (23:41):
Are you living a dream?

Speaker 7 (23:43):
There?

Speaker 5 (23:43):
You go, there, It is all right.

Speaker 8 (23:45):
The Phillies viz the Yeggies ninth to four. Frice Arper
hit his fifteenth on the run of the season. Aaron
Judge wasn't in the lineup, though he's getting imaging for
an elbow injury. The Guardians and the Royals Al Central
matchup two teams bouncing around five hundred. They're tied to
a piece in the bottom of the seventh inning. NFL
training camp news and notes. Texans running back Joe Mixon

(24:06):
will be out a majority of the preseason with an
ankle injury, and it will be re evaluated closer to
the start of the regular season. Tennessee Titans wide receiver
Treylon Berg suffered a fractured kyler burn bone during open practice.
Titans also now signed wide receiver Romel Keaton. The Vikings
wrapped up their last piece of off season business here,
signing that Josh mattel Us to a three year contract

(24:28):
extension thirty six million dollars. He was a sixth round
draft pick from them during twenty twenty. Tracy, you mentioned
already Burns tearing his ac out of Miami. Well as
a result, the Dolphin now signed Jack Jones and Mike
Hilton today. Justin Fields, after dislocating his toe during practice
on Thursday, was back doing some drills on Friday and
today took part in individual drills and on seventh on

(24:49):
seven works and the Clippers sorry.

Speaker 5 (24:52):
Free agent guard ty Ty Washington. Stephen Tracy back to
you guys.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
Thank you Martin.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
You can stream the show in all of our Fox
Sports Radio shows live twenty four to seven in the
new and improved iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream
us live.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
And one of the newest features is that you can
select Fox Sports Radio as one of your presets, just
like the presets on a radio dial, so be sure
to set pre pre set to Fox Sports Radio in
the iHeart Radio app. And it will always pop up
at the top of your screen. Steve, it is time
to welcome our first guest. She's, in a word, amazing,
Laura Britt NBC Sports Bay Area covers the San Francisco Giants.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
Laura, welcome to the show.

Speaker 10 (25:32):
Well, hello, thanks for having.

Speaker 9 (25:34):
Happy to be here.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
We are very happy to have you.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
We were just talking MLB trade deadline buyers sellers. You
cover the Giants up and down. They obviously made a
huge trade like a month ago.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Where's this team? And where do you see the NL
West right now?

Speaker 9 (25:53):
Yeah, it's a pretty The National League in general is
pretty stuck. When you start looking at the wildcard race,
that gets really back to back to back teams fighting
for that third wildcard spot. And I can actually see
three teams with the Dodgers obviously holding the top spot
in the and All West, but the Padres have a
wild card spot right now, and the Giants are just

(26:14):
a game back of a wildcard spot for the third
spot in the NL West. So I think those three
teams specifically, when you're just looking at the NL West,
which obviously the Giants are in the NL West, you
know you can see those teams wanting to make some
moves to bolster their rosters. It gets a little tricky
because I guess we could start with the Rockies. Everybody

(26:34):
knows they're going to be sellers because they've won twenty
seven games this season. So they already dealt Ryan McMahon
to the Yankees. That just happened on Friday, and they
could be looking to deal one of their outfielders in
Mickey Mooniac. That's a possibility, but you kind of just
you know, the Rockies are having to do some rebuilding
there with their twenty seven wins this season historically really bad.

(26:57):
I think the Diamondbacks are really interesting because coming into
the season, a lot of people thought this was a
team to keep an eye on Andy. They've underperformed some
now that they've still won fifty one games, they're sitting
at fifty one and fifty three right now, but they're
four games back in the third wild card spot. And
then I was just reading up on their trade deadline

(27:17):
potential moves and I was pretty surprised to see their
team president and CEO Derek Hall say that it's time
for us to be responsible enough to improve our team
with what we have, and with that, let's enhance our future,
so basically saying they're going to try and be sellers,
so you could see their third basement au Haanios Suarez

(27:37):
get moved. They've also got Meryl Kelly, Zach Gallon, Josh Naylor.
They're definitely it sounds like they're willing to listen to
offers with their team wanting to build for the future
as opposed to right now now. He did say they
don't want to sell. Of course, nobody wants to sell.
You all want to be in the postseason conversation. That's

(27:59):
just not the reality. But he said they've got to
be realistic. So I think that's pretty interesting.

Speaker 4 (28:05):
Laura, Steve Harbin here. You know, I've been watching this
Giants team. I'm a big Bob Melvin guy. When he
came down to San Diego, was down in the San
Diego area, he had.

Speaker 5 (28:13):
A media turnaround. He's a little bit old school.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
I mean, when you look back on what he did
in his run with the A's, it was remarkable and
so I knew he was going to have an impact
on the Giants, but they have so many question marks.
I mean, he got a nice bounce back gear out
of Robbie Ray, but it takes seventeen starts for Verlander
to get a win. What exactly is his role with
this team and how is it they have stuck with

(28:39):
Verlander even though it looks like his talent has gone
off the cliff.

Speaker 9 (28:44):
It's a very confusing team. I'm glad you're getting that
sense too, because Umber this team every day and it's
very confusing. Yeah. You look at Monday, they have their
worst loss of the season to the Braves. They had
they don't call it a team meeting, but I'll call
it team meeting. They're calling it talks and conversations. Bob
Melvin to your point, I'm a big Bob Melvin fan too.

(29:05):
I like his old school approach. I think he's just
old school baseball, which is what the Giants are trying
to get back to. Obviously, with Buster Posey taken over
as the president of Baseball Operations and getting far anxiety out.
So that was a big move for the Giants as
far as making a statement of who they want to
be as an organization. Justin Verlander, everybody knows who's a

(29:26):
future Hall of Famer, so he's going to get a
longer leash. The Giants brought him in hoping that they'd
get more of the old school justin Verlander. It just
hasn't been the case. He wasn't healthy at a period
of time. Now he's back to being healthy, but the
starts just haven't gone his way. Now, not all of
those starts were his fault. He definitely set the team

(29:46):
up to get himself a win in quite a few
of those starts before he finally got it in his
seventeenth start, but the Giants had some bad defense behind him.
The offense just has not been there. The offense has
been very consistent. And that's even with Tracy what you said.
With the Giants bringing in Rafael Devers, the Giants have
made the biggest move of the trade deadline. Long before

(30:08):
the trade deadline back on June fifteenth, that was the
biggest move. I mean, nobody saw that coming. Rafael Devers
has been with the Red Sox for his entire career
and one of the hottest hitters in the majors. Then
comes over to the Giants in June, Well, he was
his bat went cold. Now he's starting to heat back up,
and I think that's the hard thing about baseball is
you have to be so patient Willia Domas was brought

(30:30):
in in the offseason for the Giants, and he's been
a great power hitter and a good contact hitter, and
with the Giants the first half of the season that
wasn't the case. Now he's the second half hitter, and
he's starting to be the second half hitter. So you know,
I wish I had all the answers for you about
the Giants. I do think that the trade deadline, they

(30:51):
have used their bullpen, much like the Dodgers. With all
the injuries to the Dodgers starting rotation, they've had to
use their bullpen a ton. I think the Dogs might
have the most innings pitched out of their bullpen out
of all the majors, and the Giants bullpen is up
there too, because they've had to use a lot of
relievers for these starters that haven't panned out how they
thought they would. But right now the Giants have two

(31:13):
gaping holes in their rotation. So they had a young guy,
Hayden Birdsong that they've had in their rotation. He couldn't
even get an out and his last start, so they
dropped him down to Triple A. Well Land and Rupe
who won a spot in the Giant's rotation. This spring training,
he was in a competitive battle with Hayden Birdsong and
Kyle Harrison. Kyle Harrison was part of that devorstrade, so
he's in with the Red Sox organization now. Anyway, they

(31:37):
now have Landing Roof just hit the il yesterday and
he's been one of the Giants' best pitchers along with
Logan Web and Robbie Ray. So now you've got the
Giants with three pitchers in their rotation and two open
spots with a bullpen that's been used a lot. So
I could see the Giants trying to add a relief pitcher.
If you can get a starter, maybe maybe they try

(31:59):
and get a starter. One thing that I thought was
interesting the Padres have been shopping Dylan Cees around.

Speaker 5 (32:05):
But when it's in division.

Speaker 9 (32:07):
Are the Padres gonna trade Dylan Cees to the Giants.
I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 5 (32:13):
I don't know.

Speaker 9 (32:13):
I don't think that.

Speaker 4 (32:14):
Although a j Preller is capable of anything, I believe me.
I follow his entire career. I'm still trying to figure
out how he has a job as a GM.

Speaker 5 (32:21):
But that's me personally.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
I want to I want to end talking about the
Dever's trade because I this is kind of like your
opinion on this, Steve, maybe your opinion too and is
maybe totally wrong.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
So just a question, was it too early? Was it?
Was it too early for that Devers?

Speaker 2 (32:39):
When you have the opportunity, you just added Devers and
whatever will be will be.

Speaker 9 (32:43):
No, I don't think so. I think it was a
bold move by Buster Posey, which is not surprising. He
he wants to build a winning organization. And when you
have the Dodgers spending more money than God has himself,
how do you do that? How do you how do
you build this team without having that kind of a
budget like they do down in LA I liked the move,

(33:05):
especially at the time. I thought it was a really
good move. The Red Sox endeavors were not in a
good place. He did not want to be there, and
the Red Sox I don't know that they wanted him
there anymore. He didn't want to play first space with them.
There's a long story behind all that. While he's been
playing first base this week now logged two times this
week at first base for the Giants, and he's done

(33:25):
a great job. It's just patience with this game, I
believe that his numbers are going to catch back up.
You know, I do all these pre and post game
shows for NBC Sports Bay Area. I cover, as you mentioned,
the Giants, so day in and day out, you're seeing
it and you just really have to be patient. And
when I talk with some of the analysts that we

(33:46):
have former Giants players, there is something too. I try
not to make it too simplistic or too elementary, but
these people are human.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
You know.

Speaker 9 (33:55):
They move across the country to a city you've never
lived in, a new stadium, a new you know, new manager,
new clubhouse, new uniform, you know, all this new stuff.
Where are you gonna eat? Where are you gonna get
your coffee? I know that sounds dumb, but it is
a big life change. So you say, I talked to
Matt Chapman about this with Willie Adamas when Adamas was

(34:16):
struggling earlier this season. You know, he said, it's a
it's a big change. A guy's got to settle in.
And I always go back to what does the back
of their card say? And Devers and a Damas have
good numbers, and so right now, for a veteran, I
trust what the numbers say, and so I don't think
that move was too early. It really got the Giants

(34:37):
fan base excited. Obviously that kind of dwindled with his
lack of production at the plate, but it's starting.

Speaker 5 (34:43):
To pick back up.

Speaker 9 (34:45):
Posey is not a guy that's going to sit around.
He wants this team to be good. He wants this
team to be good. Now he's willing to make moves,
and I think they're sending that message to the fan
base that we're not going to just try and tell
guys we're not going to not pay players. That's been
a big knock on the Giants over the past few years.
They won't pay guys. You can't ever land the top

(35:07):
free agent. You bring in Buster Posey. You know why,
justin Verlander, which I know he hasn't panned out this season,
He's even in San Francisco is because of Buster Posey.
Leuscer Posy. They called him and Verlander was like, I
wasn't even considering the Giants until I talked to him,
and then all of a sudden, Verlander ends up coming
to the Giants the future Hall of Famer. So just

(35:27):
having the clout of Buster Posey as your president of
baseball operations does make a big difference. You always wonder
like does the admin make make a difference? It does
you talk to the players Willia Domas who came in
big part of why he came in Buster posey. So
I think that you start to look at that you

(35:47):
scan out thirty thousand feet as opposed to the day
in and day out grind of one hundred and sixty
two game season. And I don't feel like that move
was too early. I thought it was a message. I
thought it was a message to the fan base and
to the to the league that the Giants are going
to try and make a push for the postseason. We're
willing to pay, We're willing to add players, We're willing

(36:07):
to go out on a limb and make some deals.
So I think it was a message to everybody, to
players around the league who were hesitant over the past
few years to come to San Francisco, and also to
the team and to the fan base.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Well, Laura, thank you so much for your thoughts. We
have a long way to go in this baseball season.
Thank you so much for joining us today, and everybody, stay.

Speaker 5 (36:27):
Right where you are.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
We are coming to you live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios. Tracy Sandler here with Steve Hartman, who is
about to do his very first dues and don't.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
I have never done this before, Tracy, I'm ninety months.

Speaker 5 (36:43):
I share what I'm doing.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
Dues.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
Oh, I love that putting a spotlight on the don't.

Speaker 5 (36:48):
The subject brings me no joy. That's insane.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Next time for the dues and the don'ts in sports?

Speaker 3 (36:55):
Right, do you want me to go first?

Speaker 5 (36:56):
Okay, all right?

Speaker 3 (36:58):
Don't punish for doing good?

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Teddy Bridgewater in Miami Northwestern Senior High School. He was
recently suspended as their football coach because he spent thousands
of dollars on his own of his own money on
uber ride's meals and other benefits for players things they
actually needed, not inappropriate benefits for players. It is prohibited,
so I understand why he got in trouble, but I

(37:21):
think the rules should change.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
The other thing is he's.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
A volunteer head coach, but he's trying to help his
players and do good.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
And I know they're rules and everybody's going to.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Come at me with that, but I just feel like
he was doing something really good for these high school
football players that needed it, and now we suspend it.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
I don't like it. I don't like it.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
Okay, I'm going to try to do a do Okay, Okay,
So here's something I wanted to bring up today.

Speaker 5 (37:45):
I'm going to say, do believe in a coaching record?

Speaker 4 (37:50):
We saw what Jim Harbaugh did a year ago with
the Michigan after leaving Michigan and came to the Chargers
and went immediately. And that's why I want to say,
do I believe that Pete Carroll will have an insane impact.

Speaker 5 (38:04):
On the Raiders.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
And there's two additions that he made to prove my point. Okay,
Now I know people saying, well, you used to work
for the Raiders. That was the LA Raiders. They haven't
existed for thirty years, or throw that out. I don't
have any allegiance to the Raiders. But he not only
brought in Geno Smith, the quarterback that he had success with,
literally revived Geno Smith's career when no one even knew

(38:26):
that Geno Smith was ill in the league. And then
he brings in Chip Kelly. Now I'm not a Chip
Kelly fan from his UCLA days as a Bruin, but
I am a chip Kelly fan from what I saw
a year ago to Ohio State, and a chip Kelly
fan in dealing with Geno Smith. So if you're hesitant
on a seventy three year old Pete Carroll getting the

(38:48):
job done, don't make that mistake.

Speaker 5 (38:52):
Do believe that Pete Carroll is going to have.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
A tremendous immediate impact on the success of the Raiders
this year.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
I'm very oppressed at in your very first do's and don'ts,
you were able to get both a do and a
don't in there.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
I mean, that's that's pretty amazing.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
Well, I don't want people to be on the fence
with the other door don't do or don't do or
don't you know our buyer or seller buy into. Do
believe the Pete Carroll is that kind of a coach,
because when you go back to his USC days, taking
a dormant program with no college experience and building the
powerhouse he did at USC, this is a guy to
believe that he can still do it.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
I gotta do.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
You brought up Jim Harbaugh, and my due is do
be Jim harbought today, he arned this week he was
wearing a everybody Watches Women's sports T shirt and of
course that was all over the place. And I love,
I love somebody who uses their platform for good, and
I'm going to piggyback on that.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
Do use your resources. Caitlin Clark brought backpacks and.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
With school supplies to the IPS Northwest Middle School, behalf
of her and her foundation, and so those are my
Do use your platform for good, Do use your resources
for good. And you have thirty seconds to give us
one more all right.

Speaker 5 (40:08):
My don't. I hate to say this.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
It's okay, No you don't. Yeah, you probably a good
point if he doesn't whatever.

Speaker 5 (40:16):
As you mentioned, the WNBA don't believe that they're going
to get more money.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
Oh that just makes me sad.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
Now you can argue whether they deserve the money in
a league that loses money and they've come a long way,
but I understand this.

Speaker 5 (40:32):
The WNBA is financed by NBA owners and they're not
going to put the money in. So as much as
the women believe they have earned the right to earn more.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
Money, don't buy into the idea that they're going to
get that money.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
I'm going to say, do give them the money that
they deserve. Well, they don't.

Speaker 4 (40:50):
Don't from those NBA owners, Tracy, They about the.

Speaker 11 (40:54):
Investments, though there's plenty of investment money coming into so much.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
Look at and look at the Valkyries. Look at what's
happened there.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
Evaluations are going up. I think that's what they want
a piece of.

Speaker 11 (41:03):
But yeah, like the actual revenue stream isn't there yet,
but the hope is that there will be.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
Yes. I agree with that one.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
So I'm going to say, do pay them the money
and do stay right where you are because we have a.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Lot more coming up. This is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
Door listening to Fox Sports.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
Hello, and you were listening to Tracy Sandler and Steve
Hartman and Fox Sports Saturday. So much to discuss. We
talked about baseball in the last hour. Just wanted to
bring up Aaron Judge going on the IL with the flexerstrain.
I just bring that up because this could really affect
the Yankees. I mean, it's not the end of the world.
I guess when he comes off the IL, he's only
going to DH But the Yankees are not the powerhouse

(41:46):
they were last year. I don't think they'd nestly were
the powerhouse last year that they were last year.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
But that's just coming from me. But anyways could affect
them going forward.

Speaker 4 (41:54):
I don't know, Steve, Well, I mean, you lose your
ace pitcher to start the season.

Speaker 5 (41:58):
That doesn't help.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
No, it definitely does.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
And so from that point on, you're really dependent on
your offense. And let's face it, I mean, Aaron Judge
is the biggest offensive force in the American League certainly,
so if he's down for any period of time, that's
going to have an adverse effect on the Yankees.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Yes it is. But we are now going to switch
gears back to the NFL. You guys, as we've mentioned
in the first hour, it's the first week of training
camp and it's a perfect time for us to overreact
to everything. So with that in mind, Steve, I want
us to go kind of lightning round division by division,
who we each think is going to win their division?

Speaker 3 (42:34):
Are you ready?

Speaker 5 (42:35):
I am ready to they We're all all right.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Let's start in the AFC East Bills, Dolphins, Patriots or Jets.

Speaker 4 (42:40):
So this division is so lopsided in favor of the Bills.
It's like the old New England days when they basically
feasted on the Bills and the Jets and the Dolphins. Now,
it's the same thing with the Bills. I think the
Dolphins are going to be worse than expected. New England
is obviously trying to rebuild again, and the Jets are

(43:01):
the Jets. Yes, So I mean it's to me this
is such a one sided division, which gives, by the way,
the Bills the golden opportunity to get that number one
overall seed. That is what it's going to take if
Buffalo wants to get to the super Bowl, is to
get that number one overall seed in the AFC and
have a ticket through Buffalo to get to the super Bowl.

(43:22):
And I think this could be the year.

Speaker 5 (43:24):
So yeah, Bill's in a runaway over a very weak division.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
I agree with that. AFC North, this one's harder. Bengals, Brown,
Steelers and Ravens. Can I go first, go for it.
I'm going to pick the Ravens, but I think the
Bengals could do it.

Speaker 5 (43:40):
I agree with that. I'm the Ravens are the best
team in this division. They really are.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
And I know Bridget's going to be joining us a
little bit later on from Ravens camp, so we'll talk
to her about that.

Speaker 5 (43:49):
The other teams have questions.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
I mean, again, I picked Joe Burrow last year before
the season to be the league's MVP, and if you
ignore the Bengals record, he in my opinion, he was
the MVP.

Speaker 5 (44:00):
I mean, he was so dominant on a team but
no defense.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
And this is the problem when you have a cheap
organization led by Mike Brown. The Bengals are never going
to spend the kind of money. I mean, the fact
that you're haggling over your best defensive player just is
beyond belief. But that's part for the Bengals. The Browns
have no quarterback until they actually have a quarterback, and
so you know, the interesting thing is is that Mike
Tomlin has owned John Harbaugh the Steelers.

Speaker 5 (44:28):
They own the Ravens.

Speaker 4 (44:30):
It doesn't matter if the Ravens are a better team.
For whatever reason, the Steelers have their number. But yeah,
I agree the Ravens should win that division.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
And honestly, the Steelers didn't even come into play with me,
and I know that they feel like they've gone all in,
but I until I see it, I do not believe.

Speaker 5 (44:44):
This is my question is this.

Speaker 4 (44:46):
I know there's a lot of doubters, and I'm believing
I'm not the biggest Aaron Rodgers famine on the planet,
and he can be a cancer on a team.

Speaker 5 (44:51):
I believe that.

Speaker 4 (44:52):
But how are they worse at quarterback than they've been
over the last four years?

Speaker 5 (44:56):
I mean, you're not gonna be worse. I mean, is
he better than Kenny Pickett? As he better than whatever
they had a year ago? Yeah, he's better.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
And he did start all seventeen games for the Jets
a year ago. So I think they made an upgraded quarterback.
How much I don't know, But I think the Steelers
will once again be right they always are, like a
ten win team, sneaking into the playoffs and making no noise.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
I could not agree with you more because I agree
with you. They're not worse. I just don't think it
makes the impact to get them to the next step.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
All right, the AFC South, this is an interesting division.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
The Titans, the Colts, the Jaguars, the Texans. I mean,
I'm picking the Texans.

Speaker 4 (45:32):
Up, okay, So I mean we'll eliminate the Titans. All right,
So the Titans are out?

Speaker 5 (45:38):
Who is shuck? Is that?

Speaker 4 (45:40):
The guy's name is that? The guys name that? This
the Tennessee quarterback now that's the Saints guy. So Tennessee
these days, I get I could get confused with some
of these quarterbacks right now. So Tennessee has got Cam
Moore the number overall pick, obviously, and we'll see how
he does on a very bad football team. But you know,
when I look at this team, I still go back

(46:00):
to Jacksonville, like what happened?

Speaker 5 (46:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (46:02):
I mean a year ago, a lot of people, including
Chris over here, was really hyped up on Jacksonville. Where
are you not hyped up on Jacksonville before last season?

Speaker 11 (46:11):
Listen, I when I said that preview, I said, I
do this fully knowing that I have fallen for the
Jaguars trap for about three years, where everything looks right,
it should be good enough for this roster, everything looks
like that, it should align for them for the AFC South.
And still when we get to the season, bubkiss falling
on your face, repeatedly shooting yourself in the foot, emptying

(46:33):
the clip, reloading another clip, shooting yourself in the foot,
some more, looking up, saying here's what happened, and then
Trevor Lawrence gets hurt that See, it just seems to
happen every damn time for the Jaguars.

Speaker 5 (46:43):
How they're gonna use Travis Hunter. I don't know. We're
gonna find out.

Speaker 4 (46:46):
But the bottom line is Jaguars are on my short
listed teams that are going to exceed expectations.

Speaker 5 (46:51):
I have nothing to back it up. No wait, wait, wait, wait,
no no, but I just think Jacksonville in that division
could rebound. And the Texans, to me, came out of
nowhere two years ago.

Speaker 4 (47:05):
I know they made the playoffs, they got the win
against the Chargers, but overall it was a little bit
of a backstep, certainly for CJ.

Speaker 5 (47:12):
Stroud. So I don't buy into the Texans the Colts.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
I buy into their coach.

Speaker 5 (47:16):
You know, the Colts still have to decide is Daniel
Jones going to be your quarterback? Is that really going
to happen? So I am going to go out on
the limb and pick Jacksonville to rebound and win a
very weak AFC suff it.

Speaker 11 (47:31):
The worst part is is I look at you, I'm like,
there's no one else there to stop them, unless you
really think the Colts are going to turn around, and
they will.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
I believe.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
I believe in the Texans coach so much, but then
that just maybe believing the.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
Coach too much.

Speaker 4 (47:44):
Yeah, well, I have no question he's a quality coach.
He's proven it over two years obviously. But I just
I just have a sense that there's going to be
a hiccup. Okay, Texans, and it's coming this year.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Okay, I'm now We're off to the vision that I
think is kind of the most interesting Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, Chargers.

Speaker 4 (48:05):
So Tracy, I've said this, there has never been a
division with four better coaches at the same time than
this division has.

Speaker 5 (48:12):
In twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (48:13):
You have three coaches that have won Super Bowls, and
Jim Harbo has been to a Super Bowl, won a
National Championship in Michigan. We have never seen a division
top to bottom have four coaches of this caliber. Sean
Payton and Pete Carroll are certainly Hall of Fame candidate's
down the road. Andy Reid is a first ballot guy.
That being said, I think we're in for a turnaround

(48:34):
in this AFC West.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
I do too.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
And if you look at top rated offensive defensive lines,
the top two teams in the league are the Philadelphia
Eagles and the Denver Broncos, and Sean Payton gets another
year out of bow Knicks where he doesn't have to
learn the system on the fly. I think Denver is very,

(49:00):
very capable of winning twelve or thirteen games. I think
it's over for the Chiefs the humiliating loss in the
Super Bowl. I've come out and said I think Patrick
Mahomes has played in his last Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
Wow that I'm gonna agree with you on the Broncos.
I don't know if I agree with that on Patrick Mahomes.
Time will tell. I mean, I can understand why you
think it.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
Well, Travis Kelcey is at the end of his career.
She's going to try to sneak in one more year
only because of they got humiliated in the Super Bowl.
He doesn't want to end his career that way. He
may end his career with not even making the playoffs
this year.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
Might I definitely do not disagree with that. I am
all in on the Broncos, which is hard for me
because you know, my guy, Jim coaches the Chargers. But
I think they are going to win this division. They
did they upgraded their defense and it's it's gonna be good.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
I think Jim Harbors should have gotten Coach of the
hear last year, I don't know, not agree more. I mean,
I mean, you talk about they had a running back Darbins,
who had every single noble leg injury. The idea of
signing them seemed bizarre considering he basically missed the three
previous years. They squeezed everything out of him. You know,
they've they've upgraded running back, no doubt about that. But

(50:07):
I am still hesitant on Herbert. Yeah, there's some of
the things that I was told about Herbert when he
was at Oregon, because he's such a physical specimen, he's
a smart guy and everything else.

Speaker 5 (50:20):
I didn't buy into it. And then two years in
he's a Pro Bowl starter. But he hasn't progressed.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
No, he is not. And he had some bad interceptions
in that playoff game.

Speaker 5 (50:29):
Well as many.

Speaker 4 (50:30):
He threw more interceptions in one playoff game than he
did the entire year. My guess is Chargers are in
good hands with Jim Harbaugh. But I think they're going
to take a step back before they take a step
forward this year.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
Okay, well I could see that. All right, We're going
to move over to the NFC.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
The NFC East, well, probably easy, but the cow maybe
not easy. Cowboys, Giants, Eagles and Commanders. I'm going to
pick the Eagles. I still have all in on the Commanders.
I just am not going to go against that team
and their performance in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (51:02):
All Right, I'm know I'm going to shock you with
this one. First of all, it's been twenty years since
the team repeated as Afcast champs. Think about that, NFC East,
It's been twenty years since a team won back to
back NFC East championships. Okay, so the Eagles are out
and everyone's jumping on the Commanders. But the Commanders again

(51:23):
had a breakout season a year ago. This time, my
prediction was the Dallas Cowboys were going to win the
Super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (51:29):
I could not have been more wrong.

Speaker 4 (51:31):
Seven wins season, everything says that is a organization that
is in a mess right now. I got the Micah
Parsons situation, or Michael Parsons as Jerry Jones called him
the other day, what a mess. But despite that, I
think Dak has a bounce back year. I think the
Cowboys again are going to be a surprise team. I

(51:53):
don't think this division is going to be as good
as people think, and I think they're going to come
down a little bit, and I think the Cowboy are
going to come out of nowhere and be crowned NFC
East champions.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
I we now have two things July twenty sixth, twenty
twenty five that should we should book mark that down.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
Mark that down.

Speaker 2 (52:13):
I cannot trust the Cowboys, but hey, this is why
they play the games. Let's see onto the NFC North,
which is a really good division.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
You got the.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Bears, the Lions, the Packers, and the Vikings. I am
one hundred percent going to pick with my heart. So
let you go first, and everyone knows, so I'm going
to pick because I'm picking with my heart.

Speaker 5 (52:31):
All right.

Speaker 4 (52:32):
So here's the interesting thing. A year ago the Lions
won fifteen games. They're over under this year is ten
and a half. The Vikings won fourteen games. This year
they're over under is nine and a half.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
That's wrong.

Speaker 4 (52:43):
The Packers they won eleven games this year nine and
a half. The Bears, who won what four or five games,
they're eight and a half. So they think this is
going to be a tighter division. The Bear is going
to be much better. Everyone's going to be much worse.
Here's what we do know. Three teams in the playoffs
oh and three last year, and they were miserable all
of them in the postseason. I think it's an overrated division.

(53:05):
The Lions are a team that had an opportunity a
year ago and they got blasted at home by a
rookie quarterback, embarrassing the Vikings.

Speaker 5 (53:17):
I'll put it this way.

Speaker 4 (53:18):
I've known Kevin O'Connell so long I watched him play
in high school. Okay, okay, that's how long i've known
Kevin O'Connell. But he has a rookie quarterback essentially, and
that's going to be the quick big question is how
quickly can he get JJ McCarthy going. And you can say, well,
if he did it with Sam Darnold, he could do
with Jjon was just going to.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Say JJ McCarthy's perfect, so he'll be great. Well that's
with my heart.

Speaker 4 (53:38):
Well let's their heart. We'll see, we'll see. I'm I'm
not an anti JJ McCarthy guy. The Packers are in
limbo right now, but I I'm going.

Speaker 5 (53:47):
To have to lean to the Lions. But it's it's
going to be maybe ten or eleven wins. I think
this division as a whole is going to take a
major step back from a year ago.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
So I'm picking the Vikings with my heart because anybody
who listens to show know sow much of JJ because
of Michigan. However, if I wasn't picking with my heart,
I would actually pick the Packers.

Speaker 4 (54:07):
I'm not against I mean, any of these three teams
could do it. The Bear is gonna be It's gonna
be another rough here for the Bears. But I think
any of those three teams are interchangeable. So yeah, I
could see the Packers winning, but.

Speaker 5 (54:18):
I'll lean slightly to the Lions, O.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
Realy, NFC South, the Falcons, the Saints, the Buccaneers, and
the Panthers. Yeah, it's just as sad. It just all
sounds so sad it does. But somebody's gonna have to
win that division. I'm gonna go with the Buccaneers because
why not.

Speaker 4 (54:35):
Well, you go with the Bucks. I mean, I'm a
Baker Mayfield guy. The only problem I had with Baker
Mayfield is you know, it's hard for him to put
together consecutive really good years, and he has the last
couple of years in Tampa. They actually have the longest
current streak in the NFC of making the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (54:50):
That's which is pretty remarkable. But my pick in this
division is the Atlanta Falcons. I am a huge Michael
PENNOCKX guy okay, and I voted for him for the Heisman. Tracey,
I have a Heisman vote I've had from me.

Speaker 3 (55:01):
You're not the one who voted for JJ McCartney.

Speaker 4 (55:03):
I did not vote for JJ McCarthy. I voted for
Michael Pennix as he beat bo Nicks twice that year.
And remember the votings obviously before all the playoffs in
the bowl games.

Speaker 5 (55:12):
So I believe that Pennix is going to get the
job done. And again nine to ten wins, that's the
best you're going to squeeze out of the NFC South.
But I'm going to pick the Falcons to win the
NFC South.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Last was certainly not least the NFC West, the Rams,
the Cardinals, the forty nine Ers, the Seahawks. I made
it pretty clear on social media this week who I
think is going to win. And I can tell you
guys in a minute, but I'll let Steve go first.

Speaker 5 (55:39):
Well, I'll put it this way.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
Seattle and Arizona to me have quality quarterbacks and so
Kyler Murray proved a year ago really coming back that
he's still a quality quarterback. He needs a lot of
pieces around him, and I think stam Darnold's season when
Minnesota wasn't a fluke. I think that's going to work
for him fine in Seattle. But they're not really in
the conversation. So it comes down to a forty nine

(56:03):
er team that was awful a year ago for a
multitude of reasons and a RAM team that surprised many
with winning that division and adding DeVante Adams with Pooka Nakua.
I don't see how the Rams don't come away. The
jury's out on brock Party. I mean, when everything was
going well.

Speaker 5 (56:22):
Brock Purty was certainly a legitimate MVP candidate. A year ago.

Speaker 4 (56:27):
When he was told to shoulder more of the offense,
he wasn't able to deliver at the level you win
in this league.

Speaker 5 (56:34):
So I'm going to go with the Rams.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
I am also going with the Rams, not because I
think the jury has had on Rock Purtty, but I'm
going with the Rams because they were the best in
the division last year.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
They only got better.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Those young guys in that defense only going to continue
to improve, And I actually am going to go ahead
and say before we go to break, I think the
Rams are going to.

Speaker 3 (56:52):
The Super Bowl. What we will be right back. This
is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
then catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot
com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
You are listening to Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
I'm Tracy Sandler here with Steve Hartman for the best
pregame show every weekend. Be sure to tune into Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by MGM every Saturday and Sunday
morning from nine am to New Eastern six to nine
am Pacific. We will count you down to all of
the biggest games. Tune into Countdown presented by bet MGM,
every Saturday and Sunday morning right here on Fox Sports

(57:32):
Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Steve, we are right, I
would say, right in the middle of the WNBA season,
the Minnesota Links look kind of unbeatable, super fun to watch.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
What teams are you excited about?

Speaker 4 (57:51):
Well, it's sort of an overview of the WNBA right now.

Speaker 5 (57:55):
And I'll be honest with Tracy.

Speaker 4 (57:58):
Obviously, the WNBA started getting some real attention a year
ago with the addition of Caitlin Clark. I mean, you
can spin it a thousand different ways. And I've had
a number of friends that have been associated with this
league from the very beginning. So that being said, I
think that it's really a you know, whoever comes out
on top, you know, I mean, the aces obviously have

(58:20):
been very dominant recently, my old buddy Mark Davis, you know,
having Vegas team. They're excited for Mark, But you know,
this this is more about the end result of this
league being able to take that step forward. And I,
for the life of me, I still do not understand
why this Caitland Clark situation has not been more embraced

(58:41):
from the opening day than it has been. I mean,
I understand there's jealousies. Look, and I get a female
perspective on this. They say it's the women. Have told
me the jealousies amongst the women are different than they
are for guys. And it's not like guys don't have
immense egos that there are constantly competing against each other.

(59:02):
And I don't know, because obviously I'm not a female,
so I don't know what it is about her star
power that has been not overwhelmingly embraced by a league
because she's obviously given eyeballs to the WNBA that were
never there before. But if they don't follow through on this,
because right now she's hurt. We saw ticket prices cut
in half for that All Star game because she was

(59:23):
not going to play in that game.

Speaker 5 (59:25):
We don't know her situation because of the injuries. She
has really struggled this year is to shoot the basketball
the way we expect.

Speaker 4 (59:32):
And that's the thing. She's an iconic figure. She is
someone like a you know, a Muhammad al Lee or
Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods that has been able to
lift a sport. I mean, it's a very short list,
and Kaylan Clark is that she is right now. She's
one of the three most recognizable basketball players on the planet.
And so if she can't, for whatever reason, whether it's

(59:57):
battles constantly within players of the league or injuries, hold
her back from living up to the expectations of what
she is as a player, unfortunately, think it's going to
have a devastating effect on the future of the WNBA
at a time when they really had a golden opportunity,
and honestly, I think they fumble the ball, and it's

(01:00:18):
very frustrating because, like I said, I know a lot
of women that have invested a lot of time, a
lot of effort to make this league happen, and I
just a golden opportunity to slip through their hands.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
Well, I think as far as injuries are concerned, she
is dealing with an injury right now, but she's not somewhat.
I don't think she was dealing with injuries all of
the time. So it just maybe this season, and obviously
it's really affected the fever. They're now thirteen and twelve
six in the standings. They did beat the Las vegas
As this Thursday night, but it's affected them. I don't
really know, to be honest, and I know this is

(01:00:51):
something that gets talked about a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
I don't know that it's jealousy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
I think people are paying much more attention to the
WABA now than they were.

Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
And it's a physical.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
Game and they're playing a sport, and so I don't
know that it's a jealousy thing.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
But I do think the WNBA is.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Obviously embracing Caitlin Clark, but I feel like jealousy makes
it maybe a little too simplistic and maybe unfair to
the athletes in my eye.

Speaker 4 (01:01:18):
I remember when Tiger Woods hit the scene, there was
a ton of jealousy from PGA players, like, what's happening here? Okay,
so he looks different, is that it? And it's like, no,
he actually has the game to back it up. I mean,
that was the whole point. People forget this. When Tiger
won that first Masters at age twenty one, he did
not win another major for two years after that. It
wasn't until the ninety nine PGA and then of course

(01:01:39):
he won on his historic run. And so there was
a lot of pushback, obviously initially until they realized that
eyeballs were everywhere on golf. And not only was you know, okay,
he's winning, but now my second place money is more
than it was when I was making first place money
thanks to this one guy. It is going to be

(01:02:00):
very interesting moving forward. Look, I mean, you know our
w NBA All Star MVP, call youer, I'm she had
a tremendous game. She's leading the league in scoring right now.
You mentioned Minnesota. They only have four losses on the season.
They're having a tremendous year. They're just dominating home, they've
wiped out the Aces, So yeah, I mean that's that's
a good team. But you know, for these women, you

(01:02:20):
know Kelsey Plumb, it comes to Los Angeles, you know
she's a star player. How much attention is she actually getting?
So it's very hard for me to read. But based
on what's happening right now, yes, the Links would appear
to be the team in the driver's seat. Would you
like to make it a longer season for the WNBA?

Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
Huh, that's a very good question. Maybe a little bit longer.

Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
How many games would you like to see see people
constantly complain like the NBA season is too long?

Speaker 5 (01:02:51):
Eighty two games? Cut it in half? All right, Well,
if you cut it in half, you got a WNBA season.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Let me tell you who I'm not cutting in half.
Great Martin Wise. I so pride myself on these transitions
that I sometimes it's a reach. But we got Martin
Wise for our Sports of day break.

Speaker 4 (01:03:12):
So Martin, do you have an answer to Tracy's question,
who do you like right now to win the WNBA?

Speaker 5 (01:03:17):
I'd say the Liberty.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
Okay, liberty, you're going to liberty.

Speaker 5 (01:03:20):
I'm the Liberty.

Speaker 8 (01:03:22):
Also, like signing a Meesman is like a clear ring
chasing move and at this stage in my life, I
kind of support that type of thing.

Speaker 5 (01:03:31):
Okay, so I'm here for it all right.

Speaker 4 (01:03:33):
Here's why you know the w NBA has truly a
rived because when you listen to Countdown on Saturdays and
Sundays here, oh yeah, they that's all.

Speaker 5 (01:03:42):
They do is talk about w NBA. That's a lot
of money be made in that league.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
Apparently, well what they really bound but the players for
Steve Well, I talked to Jeff Schwartz about this, right,
and then goes, here's the thing. The odds makers still
haven't figured out the w NBA. The NBA is tough
to win on the w n B A if you
actually do a little homework, it's like stealing money.

Speaker 8 (01:04:03):
Well, because you know, the average person. I wouldn't say
the average WA fan with the average person knows Caitlin Clark,
Angel Reese and maybe the feast A Collier or Asian
Les Wilson. Yeah that's it, maybe, I mean, but probably
the tops list tops up at five.

Speaker 5 (01:04:18):
Yeah. So like you said a few and ask you
like I said five. So, like I said, I like,
but I'm locked in, Like I make a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
Of money on the WNBA, So I think I.

Speaker 4 (01:04:26):
Bet people make a lot of money on the w NBA.
That's why that's why countdowns using it.

Speaker 5 (01:04:30):
I'm not betting baseball and all that.

Speaker 8 (01:04:32):
No, I mean Jonathan India one for five today, that
one a three run home run.

Speaker 5 (01:04:37):
Guardians win.

Speaker 8 (01:04:37):
Go, I mean Royals win yeh figured No, five to three.
I'm not betting that two five hund team. How you
supposed to pick Yankees beat the Phillies? They said, Phillies
beat the Yankees ninth to four. Bryce Harper with his
fifteenth home run of the season. Aaron Judge going on
the injured list with the flex restrain.

Speaker 5 (01:04:53):
They're also what is it what? Four games back now
up Toronto in the Al East.

Speaker 8 (01:04:59):
Texan running back Joe Mixon will be out with the
majority of the preseasons with the ankle injury. We re
evaluated closer to the start of the regular season. Traylon Burgs,
Tennessee Titans wide receiver would fracture of colin bone during
opening practice today.

Speaker 5 (01:05:11):
The Titans also signed.

Speaker 8 (01:05:13):
Romel Keaton wide receiver Vikings wrap up Josh Mattelus to
a three year, thirty six million dollar contract extension. He
was a sixth round draft choice in twenty twenty. You'll
stay with the team now for three more years. Dolphins
signed for free agent quarterbacks Jack Jones and Mike Hilton
after already burns toward his acl and Justin Fields took
part in seven on seven work because he works his

(01:05:33):
way back to a full workload from that dislocated toe
that had him on the cart on Thursday.

Speaker 5 (01:05:38):
Dislocated toe.

Speaker 8 (01:05:39):
If she's just about Steve, think about this, thinking about
how much stubbing.

Speaker 5 (01:05:43):
Your toe has to hurt. Oh, my gosh, so much,
and how much you were.

Speaker 8 (01:05:46):
Like, yo, cart me off after stubbing my toe.

Speaker 5 (01:05:48):
I like people making.

Speaker 8 (01:05:50):
Jokes about Justin Fields, and it is dislocated.

Speaker 5 (01:05:52):
To tell yeah, go stop your toe on the bed
and see if you don't want the cart. That's all
I got.

Speaker 3 (01:05:56):
I could not agree with you more. Martin. Toe injuries
are real.

Speaker 4 (01:06:00):
The great Jack Lambert, the legendary middle linebacker of the
Still Curtain Steeler defense.

Speaker 5 (01:06:05):
His career ended with turf toe. All right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
Shortly after the show, our podcast will be going up.
If you missed any today's show, be sure to check
it out just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get
your podcasts, and be sure to follow and review the
podcast and rate it five stars.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
Again.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
Search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast and
you'll see today's show posted right after.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
We get off the air.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
So excited to welcome NFL Networks Bridget Condon, who also
frequent co hosts of the show and we love her,
coming to us from Braven's Camp.

Speaker 9 (01:06:34):
Hello, Bridget, a friend of the show, friend.

Speaker 3 (01:06:38):
Of the show, family of the show, family of the show.

Speaker 10 (01:06:41):
I wish I was there sitting next to you, but
I guess this is the second best option.

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
Well, you kind of were because you were on our
TV earlier, so you were here.

Speaker 5 (01:06:49):
You're watching you, Bridget.

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
But yes, for me to have to sit in this
seat is not the easiest consider.

Speaker 10 (01:06:55):
Could you see the splat dripping face.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
No, no, it was you were. You were doing fabulous
from Ravens camp and great. I've been very excited to
talk to you. You and I kind of touched on
this last week. What is the feeling at Ravens camp?
Is this like an all or nothing season? Do you
get that sense so far?

Speaker 10 (01:07:13):
So here's the thing. There is so much excitement at
Ravens training camp. Because of the pieces that they got
this offseason with DeAndre Hopkins and JayR Alexander. But they've
won two back to back AFC North champions We know championships.
We know how great Lamar is. He had a career
season breaking all these records last season. The one thing

(01:07:33):
that's not on his resume, guys, is that Super Bowl,
And of course that's the elephant in the room. But
for this team, it's just about right now, like let's
get the little minute detailed done during training camp and
we'll think about the Super Bowl in January, in February.
I do want to mention though, you say, like is
this now or never? I know a lot of people

(01:07:54):
think it is for Lamar, but he still is such
a young player. He's only twenty eight years old. Peyton
Manning won his for Super Bowl a month before turning
thirty one. John Elway was thirty seven, so there is
still time, though I know a lot of people feel
like it's this season or nothing.

Speaker 4 (01:08:11):
All right, So when we look at Lamar Jackson's record
regular season gains bridgid seventy and twenty four postseason three
and five, I mean that is a dramatic difference.

Speaker 5 (01:08:25):
So until he actually does it. If he does.

Speaker 4 (01:08:28):
It, the jury's going to be out, So I mean,
conceivably he should have won a third MVP. I really
thought the reason Josh Allen got is just voter fatigue
that like which we just can't give Lamar the reward
every year. But what is in the mindset of Lamar
Jackson and does he have some creeping dout or questions
of why he has struggled during the postseason when he

(01:08:52):
has made the regular season basically his constant party.

Speaker 10 (01:08:57):
Well, isn't there are a couple of things. He was
asked about it this week and he said, you know,
we don't finish like I'm pretty much trying to finish
camp the right way to get ready for Week one,
not trying to think about the super Bowl. As I
kind of alluded to in the first question. You guys
asked like, so he thinks, like it's because we don't finish.
But when you look at this roster and this team,
they have had issues with depth come the playoffs with

(01:09:20):
like some injury. So I think that's why they went
out this offseason and got some of the help that
they did get. I mean, remember they Flowers was injured
during the playoffs last season, and so that's a huge
weapon for Lamar. You know, I think Mark Andrews a
couple of years ago, or because I was coming off
of a knee injury two years ago, if I'm remembering correctly.
So there has been issues where you know, his main

(01:09:41):
targets are curt But I don't know what it is because,
as you mentioned, like he's so good in the regular season,
what happens in the postseason. And when you look at
the teams that are successful, their defenses are good in
January and February and they have death.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
So I have a question about someone else over at
the Ravens who's been tremendously successful, has won a Super
Bowl with them several years ago.

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
However, they do keep falling short.

Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
Do you think there's any sort of maybe hot seat
is a strong word, but maybe a luke warmness seat
for John Harbucks.

Speaker 10 (01:10:18):
I don't think so. Like I think if we want
storylines in July, like, throw it out there, let's debate it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:23):
We need storylines in July. Bridget No, that's why I
love you.

Speaker 10 (01:10:28):
Like I totally see where you're coming from. But just
by being there today, like they would have to lose
the division for John Harbaugh's seat to get even a
little bit toasty, you know, because they've won back to
back AFC North championships. They've done a great job in
the off season of getting pieces for this team. Yes,

(01:10:49):
they need to win in the playoffs. That is the
big elephanted room. That is the big thing that this
Baltimore Ravens.

Speaker 9 (01:10:54):
Team needs to do.

Speaker 10 (01:10:55):
But they's still a very good team. And I think
you know, it starts by the coach, John Harbaugh, and
these players respect him. It's not until you have a
team that you can't get through to anymore when front
offices have to make a decision. And I don't think
they're there at all right.

Speaker 2 (01:11:12):
Now, good because I hate to see any of them
with the last name Harbaugh fire.

Speaker 5 (01:11:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:11:16):
Well, I mean, well, here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (01:11:20):
I mean, you know, when you look at John Harborough's
first five seasons, he won nine playoff games.

Speaker 5 (01:11:24):
In the twelve years since, he's won four.

Speaker 4 (01:11:27):
And one of the problems that they've had is that
he has a losing record all time to Mike Tomlin.
So where's the buzz right now on Ravens camp here?
Bridget about who they consider the biggest threat. Is it
going to be the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers, Is it going
to be Joe Burrown the Bengals. I'm going to leave
Cleveland out of the mix right now until they actually

(01:11:47):
have a quarterback. But I mean Pittsburgh has been a
thorn in their side in recent years.

Speaker 10 (01:11:55):
Yes, but here's the thing, there's so many question marks
with Aaron Rodgers, and we can't it's way too early
to even know what this Pittsburgh team is going to be.
I understand at your point, like the Ravens and the
Pittsburgh have this crazy rivalry and it's always going to
be like hard, no tough, physical football when these guys

(01:12:15):
match up. But when you you look at the Bengels,
I feel like they've given them more trouble late in
the season, playoff time than the Steelers have in recent years.
And with the healthy Joe Burrow, now they have Jamar Chase,
They've got Tee Higgins. Still, that is a that is
a dangerous team too. You look at these offenses that
can put up a lot of numbers, that's that's the Bengals.

(01:12:38):
So I mean, it's just the AFC North is going
to be one of the toughest divisions, especially if Cleveland
gets this quarterback figured out. I mean, they could still
be a decent team. But yeah, I think it's just
the most important thing for this Ravens team is like
building that depth so that you're not really thin late
in the season.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
So, Brigide, since we're looking at July Star story lines
at all, is there a player since you've been up
there that people are talking about but maybe the rest
of the NFL world isn't as familiar with, but that
they're really excited with in Baltimore.

Speaker 10 (01:13:11):
Yeah, absolutely, the safety Malachi Starts. He was their first
round pick. He went layer twenty seventh overall, like that's
when the Ravens had their pick. He has been a
spark for this team. Obviously they lost some pieces at safety,
they needed help in the dB room and he is
just like being what they wanted to and more. Kyle

(01:13:34):
Hamilton says he's miles ahead of where he was at
that point. And so for Kyle Hamilton a vent now
to say that about a rookie speaks volumes And I
also think, I mean people know who he is. But
Jaya Alexander like he brings a swab to this defense
that maybe they haven't had in the past. But he's
like getting in people's faces that practice, breaking up passes,

(01:13:55):
engaging with the crowd, and so you know how it
is like sometimes you need a guy like to pump
everybody else up and elevate them too one percent.

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
And when you said that, I was like, Yeah, that
really isn't something we've seen in the Ravens defense.

Speaker 4 (01:14:07):
Well, very quickly, I just want to ask you about
the Derrick Henry situation. Obviously an unbelievable year last year
for the Ravens. How confident are they of a now
thirty one year old Derrick Henry holding it together and
having another healthy season.

Speaker 10 (01:14:21):
Look, he not only played for them last season, but
he played a lot. He was what seventy nine yards
away from surpassing two thousand yards rushing. He had his
best season of his career, setting Ravens records in his
first year. So we have a chance to interview him
today and he said, like he feels that much better,
like having that extra year with Lamar, And in talking

(01:14:45):
with people around the ORG organization and at practice today,
they say that he's so valuable to Lamar because he
kind of takes some of the pressure off.

Speaker 1 (01:14:54):
Right before he got.

Speaker 10 (01:14:55):
Here, it was Bull Lamar Show. Now there's Derrick Henry
that there are some other stars, which in turn helps
Lamar as well. So I understand that he's thirty one,
and I actually had our research team looked it's up
for me. The average age of retirement for running backs
is like twenty seven and two hundred days, so he
is way past that.

Speaker 9 (01:15:13):
But the way he cares for.

Speaker 10 (01:15:15):
His body, he still does the avocadosmoothies and the rehab.
I don't he doesn't look like your average thirty one
year old running back because he takes such good care
of his buddy Bridget.

Speaker 2 (01:15:26):
Thank you so much. Lots of good stuff from Ravens Camp.
Wonderful to get to talk to you on a Saturday,
you guys, We will be right back. This is Fox
Sports Saturday. We are coming to you live from the
Fox Sports Radio studios. I am Tracy Sandler with Steve
Hartman and Steve I'm going to assume this is your
first feel Good Stories of the Week segment as well.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
Well.

Speaker 5 (01:15:49):
I was was my maiden voyage and the dues and.

Speaker 3 (01:15:52):
Don'ts you did great, by the way.

Speaker 4 (01:15:55):
Thank you very much and yes, I have never in
all my years of radio ever had an I was
a part of called feel Good Stories of the Week,
So this is my first time doing this.

Speaker 2 (01:16:05):
Well welcome and it's a very nice way to end
a show.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
I would you like to go first?

Speaker 5 (01:16:11):
Wow, I'll let you go first on this one.

Speaker 2 (01:16:13):
Okay, my feel good story. My first one is Nick
Kurtz of the Oakland A's. Yesterday had a tremendous night.
Four home runs, a double, a single. He was six
or six on the night. He had nineteen total basis bases.
He is the first rookie ever with a four home
run game. Aside from all of that, which, by the way,
for A's fans had to be so fun, and A's

(01:16:35):
fans deserve some love and some fun.

Speaker 3 (01:16:39):
His family was there to see.

Speaker 5 (01:16:40):
It, were they really?

Speaker 3 (01:16:41):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:16:41):
And I think that I mean a tremendous night for
him stat wise, obviously maybe one of the greatest offensive
nights we'll ever see.

Speaker 3 (01:16:49):
But for his family to.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
Be there and get to see that night, that just
makes it extra stush.

Speaker 5 (01:16:54):
I mean arguably.

Speaker 4 (01:16:54):
I mean, when we talk six or six, I believe
his six run scored, He's only the six player to
do that since nineteen hundred score six cut runs in
a game. Obviously the first rook he hit four home runs. Now,
of course the last home run was off a position player.

Speaker 3 (01:17:09):
It doesn't matter, it's still going to go.

Speaker 4 (01:17:11):
And that's sort of it's like a lob over the middle.
But that unbelievable. And by the way, this kid has
been doing it all season long and he's really kicking
in a year think about it. I mean, out of
wake for his first round pick just a year ago,
and unbelievable game.

Speaker 5 (01:17:25):
I am going to go with.

Speaker 4 (01:17:27):
Something I was talking about last night on local TV
here in the Los Angeles area, and that is.

Speaker 5 (01:17:32):
The Little League soft Fault World Series.

Speaker 3 (01:17:35):
I love this already.

Speaker 5 (01:17:37):
And so Westchester del Rey is a school.

Speaker 4 (01:17:41):
That we are, a team that we had followed here
in southern California, and they beat a team out of
Arizona to qualify to go to the World Series. And
you know, I don't know how people know about the
Softball World Little League World Series, but it's been around
for fifty plus years.

Speaker 5 (01:17:57):
I mean, it's it's has a long history.

Speaker 3 (01:17:59):
But I didn't know that.

Speaker 4 (01:18:00):
Yeah, a lot of people don't, but now it's getting
more attention with the growth of women's sports out there,
so I was very excited to see the girls. They
were absolutely going and these are just like, you know,
the twelve year olds, they're going absolutely nuts and everything else.
Watching them play is great. You know that sometimes you're
blown away by what they can do. Other times you're reminded, Yeah,

(01:18:21):
they're twelve years old, and you know, I'm making some
of the mistakes out there. But I like the fact that,
you know, it's getting a little more attention now. The
Little League Softball World Series.

Speaker 3 (01:18:31):
Oh, I love that. I absolutely love that.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
We were talking a little bit about the WNBA earlier,
and I want to congratulate Paige Beckers on being the
first player in WNBA history to have more than three
hundred and fifty points and more than one hundred assists
in the first twenty games of their career. And that
is pretty amazing And obviously the talent is just continuing
to droll into the WNBA. But I thought that was

(01:18:55):
a pretty fantastic accomplishment for her to get.

Speaker 3 (01:18:59):
So I feel good about that.

Speaker 4 (01:19:01):
I want to add one more here, and we got
the sorry to believe, I mean feel good. How about
the start of the NBA NFL season, which is coming
up obviously here with the Hall of Fame game on Thursday.
But one of those remember there was only four inductees.
They decided they made a conscious effort the Pro Football
Hall of Fame because it seemed like they were expanding

(01:19:22):
the classes. Eight people was just too many, so they
really made a conscious effort to make it much tougher
to get in, and so they only had four guys
go in.

Speaker 5 (01:19:32):
And one of those four is Eric.

Speaker 4 (01:19:35):
Allen, longtime defensive back and play with the Raiders, play
with the Eagles, and I've known Eric forever and he
is literally one of the nicest people that I've ever
met in my life. Associated I mean, you talk about
a great guy, great team, a great player who I

(01:19:56):
never thought was going to really be afforded, you know,
so the distinction of being called a Pro Football Hall
of Famer.

Speaker 5 (01:20:03):
I can't wait to see his speech. But if ever,
just a.

Speaker 4 (01:20:07):
Good guy, well deserved, not overlooked, should never have been
overlook should have been in years ago, finally getting his
day in the spotlight. Eric Allen, congratulations on being a
Hall of Famer.

Speaker 3 (01:20:19):
Well, I love that.

Speaker 2 (01:20:20):
That is fantastic and I cannot believe we are already
coming up to the Hall of Fame game. The rest
of the preseason starts a week later.

Speaker 4 (01:20:28):
I'll tell everybody, Tracy, because you're going to be everywhere
in the weeks ahead, are you not.

Speaker 3 (01:20:31):
I Am going to be all over the place.

Speaker 5 (01:20:33):
So get where exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:20:35):
I will be up in forty nine ers training camp,
but keeping a very close eye on the young men
in Santa Clara and how they are going to progress
this season. A lot of brock perty as you mentioned,
it's a big season for him. They have a lot
of young new players on this team, so interesting infusion
of youth. They have a preseason game in Las Vegas.
They have joint practice with the Raiders, joint practice with

(01:20:56):
the Broncos in Santa Clara, so I'll get a first
hand look at this Broncos team.

Speaker 3 (01:21:00):
So I will be kind of all.

Speaker 2 (01:21:02):
Over the place in the next several weeks, and then
once the season starts, I will be at a football
stadium potentially near you every Sunday, some Thursdays, and some Mondays.
But I'm excited about it. It's a lot of fun
and I've had a lot of fun today, Steve, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:21:17):
Crazy has been a pleasure for me to hang out
with you today, even if I go back in time
too many times.

Speaker 5 (01:21:22):
But that's the way I operate over here.

Speaker 3 (01:21:24):
No, I like it, I like hearing it. You guys,
thank you for joining us.

Speaker 2 (01:21:27):
Coming up next, Jason Fitz and Buck Rising, Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:21:32):
Goodbye,