Mark Willard & Ephraim Salaam react to Controversial Call in Lions Game, Coach of the Year Candidates & MORE!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Okay, okay, just shut the front door for a second,
because Ephraim and I are all ready to talk about
one specific player, the position he plays, and all of
the people at that position who are bringing their name
down for everyone around the league. But before we do that,

(00:26):
I think we need to just can we decompress for
a second?

Speaker 1 (00:30):
We welcome you in.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
This is, as you well know, Week sixteen in the
National Football League. We are broadcasting live from the Fox
Sports Radio studios, and we are moments removed from one
of the crazier finishes in the NFL this year. I
thought on Thursday night, eph I'm like, well, that was
the game of the year, and it probably still was cool,

(00:53):
but it just got challenged. It just got challenged by
the Steelers and the Lions. The Steelers winning controversial fashion.
It sends the Bears and the forty nine Ers to
the playoffs. I'll describe the play for everyone, but I
want to get kind of your reaction first.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
What's your thought on what just played out.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
I initially I was like, oh my gosh. When I
saw the flags come out in the middle of the play,
I knew exactly what it was, but do you never
know for sure?

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Correct?

Speaker 3 (01:29):
And so for me, I was like, oh wow. At
first I thought I'm and Rod fumbled and Jared you know,
caught it or picked it up and dove in. And
then I was saying, well, even if the play stands,
you can't advance a player's fumble.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Correct.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Another player can't advance to fumble in the fourth quarter, right,
And so when he he came on, I didn't know
what he was going to say. He was like, the
result of the play is a touchdown. I was like, what,
like time out.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
But.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
It's a past interference or you know, whatever he said happened,
and then the game's over all right.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
I was just talking to Mary about this. For those listening,
Mary runs our systems technical director, and I think she
excus lions, let's just put it that way. And we
were just talking about how I have to think for
a fan in the stands, that was the worst sort

(02:43):
of eleven second rollercoaster I've ever watched the officials take
the fans on. Imagine being in the stands and realizing,
if you win the football game, you still have a
healthy shot at the playoffs. If you don't, you don't like,
I know the Lions weren't eliminated today, but let's be real, well,

(03:03):
the Lions were eliminated. Yeah, so this is the way
the officials lay it out. Okay, it's fourth and goal
from what I think the nine nine yard line. They
hit Amanra right at the one. He gets hit immediately
and held out of the end zone. Flags fly, but
as they're pushing him away from the end zone, he

(03:24):
laterals to Jared Golf, who then runs by the nose
tackle of the Steelers, who I don't know if he
was in celebration mode, if he hopped.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
On Amazon to do some last minute shopping.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
He just stands there and watches Golf go right by
him into the end zone.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Then there's a lengthy discussion about it.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
And here's the way the official relayed this to the stands.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
I was like, oh, that's mean. He's like all right.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
After discussion, the ruling on the field is touchdown, and
the whole place goes crazy because touchdown, and many.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Goes However, what happened.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
We got pass interference on the offense, and I know
what went through the minds of all the fans. Okay,
you're gonna take the penalty. And yes, we've got to
go backwards, but that means got one more shot at
the end zone. There's a problem though, the game can't

(04:29):
end on a defensive penalty. But the Lions are on
offense and the clock reads z RO, So yes, Lions,
you are technically allowed another play.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Oh wait, there's no time. The game is over.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
So literally, in a span of eleven seconds, they got
taken from You won.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
No, you didn't win, but you didn't lose yet. Actually,
yes you did. You lost all just from listening to
a rap.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, that fourth quarter was crazy, I know. I mean
it was just back and forth. It wasn't I was like,
it's that much time for everybody to score twice? Maybe
it was it was something else, man, I tell you that.
You know Phil gold miss.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, you got Boswell missing a chippy.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Miss with the handclap at the end, which is just nauseating.
And then you know, you get life. You got a
quarterback with a lively arm and you know, a couple
penalties on that drive and you put them in position
to win the game. I mean, it's as simple as that.

(05:45):
It's this is it was a crazy, crazy game.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Well, and we're not even bringing up that there was
a previous touchdown on the drive that was called back
because of a different offensive pass interference.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
So I just from the play itself to.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
The fact that it then played out the way that
we just described, I don't know that I've ever seen
a fan base get taken on that kind of a
ride in a short period of time. And he I mean, look,
it's sports, but I feel so bad for the Lions
fan base.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
It's unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Man, it is unbelievable the way, first of all, what
they've been through for you know ever, but then followed
by the way that they have been.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Teased the last three years.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Having a seventeen point lead at halftime of the NFC
Championship game. Two years father's calling sons, moms calling daughters,
were going to the Super Bowl. No, you're not followed
by a year where many thought you were absolutely the
best team. You get the one seed, home field advantage
throughout the playoffs, but when you get there, your defense

(06:58):
is just gonebsolutely ravaged by injury, and you get upset
by the Washington Commanders and now.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
This year brutalized.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, this year you never you never looked like you
were the squad but it didn't occur to me until
two weeks ago that I'm like, oh my god, they
might not even make it at all.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
And and and here we are.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, the fall is fast. Damn it goes fast as
Kansas City. Yeap, that fall is is fast. You wake
up and you blink and you're like, oh snap, we're
we're in trouble.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
We're out.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
And the thing this year that's separated, you know, this
year in the race for the playoffs is there's parody.
Teams were showing up that had no business being in
the race.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yep, Carolina, what are we doing? Right? Like?

Speaker 3 (07:57):
The teams were teams were were around and they're and
part of it. And so it made any falter, any
bad week or a couple bad weeks more intense because
teams that were normally and you know, Miami went on

(08:18):
a four game win streak. It's like, wait, who, you
guys are supposed to be awful, right, Give us some
breathing room and then we can get our stuff together
coming down the last few weeks. It's not like that
every single week a team in the hunt are already in,
you know, in position that game matters. This game is

(08:40):
about to play matters.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Big time, and so the Ravens flat out need this.
Oh well, yes, that's the way they have to place.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
They have to have it.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
The second team, the second group of people upset by
what just happened in Detroit outside of the Lions fans,
are the Baltimore Ravens. Yes, so they have to have
it tonight and they've got a very very difficult assignment.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
And the that win puts the forty nine Ers in
the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Andy, but he's in the last spot is now for
obviously that the Packers of the Lions as a wild card,
and then to.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Figure out the NFCC.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, that's it. That's it, like, and we already know
the Packers Lions thing. It's going to be the Packers,
y So we we pretty much know the NFC playoffs.
It's just a matter of who is gonna uh come
out of the NFC South number one? And uh, how
are those seeds gonna play out? Because they could be anything,
they could be anything. The Seahawks and the forty nine

(09:39):
Ers both control their own destiny.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
For the one.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Seed is just a lot. I can't believe the Lions
and the Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
But look, supposed to be there. No, right when we
talk about these teams, was was Denver supposed to be
the number one scene going into the not this year,
not the one seed.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
I mean this week, you and I both thought that
that was a look.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
And you know what I said. I said, the two
coming out of that division would be the Chargers and
and the Broncos.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yep, you did, and they are.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
This is I was explaining to a good friend of mine,
Jonathan Uh He's from Kansas City die or Kansas City
Chiefs fan, and he was just perplexed on what happened.
And I said, it's not hard. I said, at the
beginning of the year, I prognosticated that Kansas City wouldn't

(10:35):
make the playoffs. Wow, could you do that? I said,
Look at the two teams in the Chargers and in
the Broncos, who made the playoffs last year, who got
better another year under great coaching bo Nick's second year
in the league. Now Justin Herbert finally has a real

(10:57):
viable coach who can make real game time coaching decisions.
I said, everything for those two teams were trending up.
When you look at the Kansas City Chiefs and their
eleven game win streak and one score games. As me,
as a former player, know there's another side to that coin.

(11:22):
The following year. Your team is older. You had a
receiver suspended for the first eight games, right, you had
no weapons outside and oh, by the way, you can't
run the ball. All of that for me was a
recipe for a disaster. Now, you don't win those one
score games. And they were one and six in one

(11:43):
score games this year. So me taking all that into
account at the beginning of the year, the two teams
on the rise in the division and this one team
who's played more games than any other team the last
five years, Yeah, I can see them missing the playoffs.
And this was pre Patrick Mahomes's injury. It was pretty

(12:05):
much done before the injury anyway, And he just was
he was sitting there like, and I said, guess what,
I don't think you guys are making it next year,
either whether Patrick comes back or not. Yeah right now, Yeah,
forty million over the cap, the team's going to be different.
Oh and guess what, that eighty million monster that was

(12:29):
sitting on Denver's cap is gone next year. So if
you guys are expecting to do things in free agency,
it's hard to do that when you're forty over the
cap already. The team that has room to maneuver and
money to play with now is the Broncos. And he
just was looking at me like, oh my god, I said,

(12:51):
I'm sorry, man, don't I hate to be the bear
of bad news.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Got to deal with turnover, man, I mean, and they
were dying. Don't forget what did the bunch kids look
like for a few years.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
You're gonna dip, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Look around, look around it at all sports, you know, like,
look at look at what Golden State is going through
right now in the NBA, Like you're gonna get old,
Your your money is gonna get out of whack. Maybe
that'll never happen to the Dodgers because they don't pay
any these players for another eighty two years. But outside
of that, this is what a dynasty looks like when

(13:32):
it expires.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
And and and that's where we are. Now.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Here's the craziest thing, maybe I must say, out of
all of it, though, Hee, we just talked about how
wild that Steelers Lions game was, and we didn't even
talk about the wildest thing that happened there. Goodness, so
We're gonna get to that coming up next, So glad
you're with us. It's a hell of a night. We

(13:56):
got a Patriots Ravens game to watch together. Everything's coming
in the focus, and we're the ones who have got
the glasses. So let's look at it all. Let's talk
it out. That's the from Salaba Mark Willard. It's Fox
Sports Radio.

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Speaker 3 (14:50):
Coming away.

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(15:14):
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football is underway. We'll keep you up to date, and

(15:36):
we'll also continue to talk out this Lion Steelers game
because well before there were controversial and crazy roller coaster endings,
there was wide receiver DK Metcalf getting into a conversation
in the first row with what I assume was a
Lions fan. Looked like you had blue hair, and at

(15:56):
the end of the conversation, DK basically through an open
handed punch and shot the fan in the face. Where's
this going next?

Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, go ahead, fire away man.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
This is bad, really bad, and this is all speculatory.
Just to be clear, I have no rule or say
so are persuasion of any kind or what's about to happen?
But I mean I can guess. I can give an

(16:40):
educated guess on what's about to happen. It's gonna cost
him in three ways, and it's gonna be an expensive lesson.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Number one, he'll be fined by the league. I don't
know what that number will be, probably one hundred grand
or something like that. Number two, there's a likelihood he
gets suspended.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
I think.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
So Now, if it's a one game suspension, it'll cost
him about one point eight million dollars or one point yeah,
one point eight three million dollars. And then the third,
if the fan decides he wants to press charges, there's

(17:27):
a civil lawsuit that can go anywhere from a million
to two and a half million dollars. So all in all,
you're looking at in between three and five million dollars.
That's just and I could be completely off, but that's
what I see, Like, I don't. What you can't do

(17:53):
is punch a fan. And now they're going to study
every angle. They're going to see why he went over there,
what was going on? You're not even supposed to be
over there during the game. Number one, right, So there's
a bunch in Look, I know DK is a friend
of mine. Oh, yeah, well really Yeah. So DK was

(18:14):
getting into acting and he wanted to be in a
TV show I was writing on called bell Air, so
I put him in bel Air. I know DK will
and so I'm disheartened by this because this is a friend,
and so I hope none of those things happen, but

(18:35):
there's a likelihood that they will.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Some of those things are happening. Yeah, I don't know
about the lawsuit.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
I'm pretty sure about the suspension and the fine is
that's an absolute lock opening drive touchdown for the Baltimore Ravens.
Twenty one yard touchdown run Derrick Henry caps off a
drive that went quick and very effectively through the Patriots defense.
So great, great start for the Baltimore Ravens in a

(19:03):
game that they absolutely have to have and the Patriots
obviously would love to have it because with the Denver
loss today, that reopens the conversation for top seed and
home field advanced throughout the playoffs, and the Patriots with
a win tonight, will be twelve and three and right
back in that kind of shape. This this is one

(19:24):
of those situations.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
I think, this is what you mean.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
This comes down to a lot more than just sort
of like what the league feels is the right penalty.
That's how they look at a helmet to helmet hit,
or you know, something like what Jamar Chase did a
few weeks ago. They're going to look at that and

(19:47):
they're gonna try to blend it up against other things
that have happened with other players in similar situations. There's precedent,
and then president becomes the key word. This is different
than that because what they really don't want to do
is allowed there to be any sort of a precedent set.
So this is one of those situations where a We're

(20:09):
gonna look at what you did, but one hundred percent
the league then says, we have to send an incredibly clear,
firm message here.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
And the fact that football is designed the way it
is designed is to prevent situations like that. That's why
it's a wall around the field and no one can
get to a player, so a player should never get

(20:43):
to a fan. It works both ways. Whatever that fan
was saying, it couldn't have been that bad.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Oh, it doesn't matter if it was.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
To be honest with you, that's what I mean by
I couldn't. It could have been anything in the world.
But you can never make it that bad. And you know,
I just I had never said, I've never seen anything
like that before. Now I've had fan interactions before where
we're going back and forth and all that, but I'm
in my designated area. They're in their area. Of course,

(21:14):
they don't like me and I don't care about them,
and you go back and forth and you do those
types of things. But to grab somebody by their shirt
or jersey or whatever that was and then send them
off with a with a push punch or whatever it was,
it just, man, that's a bad look.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
It's really really rough. DK metcalf two is I mean,
I know everybody, not everybody, but just about everybody in
the NFL very large man.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
But with me, he is, dude, he is a giant.
I'm strong man, huge, chiseled too.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
That is like, DK is one of those where I'm like,
if I was a defensive back, I don't think I
would want.

Speaker 3 (21:59):
You want tackle him?

Speaker 1 (22:00):
I don't want it, right, But if I'm a fan,
I mean.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
Fan cheered after right, the fan knew exactly what.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
Of course, of course that's what led me to believe that,
oh he's going to milk the hell out.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
He was lawsuit.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
Excited.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah, and look I have here's the thing, and I
understand the unfairness of this if you will there when
these situations happen, Russell Westbrook loves to you know.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
Like you don't want to let any comment go.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Like, all you got to do if you want Russell
to come talk to you in the first row is
just yell out west Brick and he'll be there now.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
He won't hit you in the face.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
You'd love for everybody to put their rabbit ears away
and just be above it.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
But I get it.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
When the player fan interaction happens. At first blush, I'm like, well,
the fan's being an idiot, Like I assume that every
time the fan is out of line, the fans should
not say anything. The fan's an idiot. And then here's
the next thing. Too bad, doesn't matter, sorry, Like that's

(23:13):
part of being in the arena.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
That's what comes with it.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
That's what comes with it.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
And you know what comes with our show.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
Well, Steve, not right now.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
Though, oh no right now, no, no, all right, now,
y'all lie to me then, Steve. Now, Steve snuck in
the back door right quite literally, we're looking eye to
eye with each other. Right now, as I gaze in
his cascading waterfall, eyes open.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
I happily stand corrected.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
I got it, man, I got it.

Speaker 6 (23:43):
All I gotta say, is man, that Steelers Lions game
went long?

Speaker 1 (23:48):
You know.

Speaker 6 (23:49):
Jalen Warren, on only fourteen carries for Pittsburgh, had one
hundred and forty three yards and two touchdowns. You reference
the Lions apparent touchdown on the final play nullified by
offensive So Detroit's playoff hopes hanging by a string. They're
eight and seven, Pittsburgh up to nine and six. Pittsburgh
certainly interested in the Baltimore game that's going on at home.

(24:10):
Ravens at home leading seven nothing against the New England Patriots,
Derrick Henry twenty one yard touchdown run. The Lions loss
was great news for some others, not only the Bears
just for general purposes, but the Chicago comeback win last night,
plus the Detroit lost today clinches Chicago a playoff berth.
And the Detroit loss means that San Francisco doesn't even

(24:32):
have to wait till tomorrow night and hope for a
victory to clinch San Francisco has clinched a playoff berth
Philadelphia with the win yesterday clinch the NFC East title.
Seattle with the impressive comeback against the Rams Thursday, clinch
to playoff birth Tonight. New England's in action at Baltimore
and the Patriots will clinch a playoff berth with a win.

(24:53):
Houston won its seventh straight game, beating Las Vegas twenty
three to twenty one. Raiders have lost their eighth, make
that ninth in a row. Hector Raiders offense eleven drives
twelve first downs. Texans play this Saturday at the LA Chargers.
Chargers won at Dallas thirty four to seventeen, despite trailing
late in the first half, seventeen to fourteen. Justin Herbert

(25:15):
with three total touchdowns. Atlanta a winner at Arizona twenty
six nineteen. Cardinals have lost seven straight. Jacksonville won at
sixth in a row, thirty four to twenty at Denver,
ending the Broncos eleven game win streak. Trevor Lawrence had
all four touchdowns two hundred and seventy nine yards, passing
Buffalo a winner at Cleveland, holding on twenty three to twenty.

(25:36):
It was twenty three ten late in the third quarter.
James Cook of the best rushing offense in the league.
The Bills had sixteen carries, one hundred and seventeen yards
on the ground and two touchdowns. Quarterback Josh Allen, played
through a foot injury, finished with one hundred thirty yards passing.
Carolina beat Tampa Bay twenty three to twenty. Who's gonna
win that division? Maybe not the Bucks. They've lost six

(25:58):
of seven now and fall under the five hundred mark.
Thanks to a forty eight yard field goal by Carolina
with about two minutes left. Ryan Fitzgerald went three for
three on field goals. Minnesota sent the Giants to a
ninth straight loss. Sixteen thirteen. Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy left
with a right hand injury. Jackson Dart in defeat had

(26:18):
thirty three yards passing seven of thirteen, one interception. New
Orleans beat the Jets twenty nine to six. It was
tied six to six late in the first half. Saints
on field goals went five for six. Chris O Lave
was targeted sixteen times in this game, had ten receptions
one hundred forty eight yards and two scores. Cincinnati one

(26:39):
at Miami despite trailing late in the first half, fourteen
to ten forty five twenty one Bengals. The final Joe
Burrow four touchdown passes three hundred nine yards through the air,
and the Tennessee Titans had lost eleven straight at home,
but cam Ward had two touchdown passes and Tennessee beat
Kansas City twenty six to nine. The chief with only

(27:00):
one hundred and thirty three total yards. They had ten penalties,
Tennessee twelve penalties. Chiefs quarterback today was Gardner Minshew, but
he left with a knee injury. They think it might
be a torn acl that's the fear. Already, quarterback Patrick
Mahomes was out with his torn knee ligaments plural. Monday night,
San Francisco's game is at Indianapolis. Veteran QB Philip Rivers

(27:23):
will start again for the Colts, who've lost five of six.
By the way, I mentioned the Chargers play this Saturday.
There is a game this Saturday night. Green Bay hosts Baltimore.
Next Sunday night, Chicago's at San Francisco. By the way,
Packers quarterback Jordan Love does have a concussion after last
night's game, and the backup QB Malik Willis has a
sore shoulder you wonder why they take a knee, Sometimes

(27:45):
it's because after this late sack the shoulder was injured
and will he be able to start the upcoming weekend NBA,
the Bulls won one fifty two to one fifty at
Atlanta home wins for the Nets and the Knicks in
college hoops seventh rank and Saga over Oregon ninety one
to eighty two, and in the NHL overtime at Detroit,

(28:06):
Red Wings beat the Caps three to two. Once again
in the Sunday night NFL game, Baltimore mid first quarter
leading at home against the New England Patriots seven to nothing.
Back to you.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Give me one good reason, Steven Ephrom one good reason
why if Jordan Love and Malik Willis cannot play in
light of what we're going to see tomorrow night on
Monday Night football. Give me one good reason why the
Packers shouldn't call Brett Farvre. What I give you one
good reason, you kid, You've got no answer.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
I got an answer. What's he stole a bunch of
money from well, okay, okay, being an.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Awful human being in the fact that he should be
a jail parts.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
That's a fair answer, but it's not well he's not
so Jeff Lacco got.

Speaker 6 (28:52):
A little time today. Maybe they can work something out during.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
I mean, Kurt Warner, Fran Tarkington, I mean are they They're.

Speaker 6 (28:59):
All like money, right, Bart Starr not available?

Speaker 2 (29:02):
Well unfortunately, but yeah, forty four years old?

Speaker 1 (29:07):
How old are you again?

Speaker 3 (29:08):
A from I'm forty nine, man, dog. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (29:10):
As soon as you said they ought of contact, my
first name that came to my mind was, you know,
Aaron Rodgers is still Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Is an old guy who knows the packers away. Yes,
it's a good idea.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
Hey man, Tom Brady, you know, hey, what.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
If Philip Rivers plays Aaron Rodgers in a playoff game
this year?

Speaker 6 (29:31):
Oh my god, plausible set of record since George Blanda
was probably not quarterbacking late in his career, but I
played till almost fifty. I think kicking stopping the QB
but kicking unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
Steve, Well, Steve, how many penalties did you say the
Kansas City Chiefs had?

Speaker 6 (29:51):
It was ten for them and twelve for Tennessee. It's
and Tennessee, by the way, has the second worst.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Off of course in their bay.

Speaker 6 (30:00):
But they had over three hundred and seventy five yards
in this game?

Speaker 3 (30:03):
Is it me? Or is that flag all of a
sudden flying against the Chiefs?

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Now that? Yeah? So like open season.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
I mean they're not playing for anything now, they're making
mistakes opposed to the zero penalty games and the like.
I just I just look, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, no,
but I'm just throwing things out. When you said that,
I was just like, huh, that's an ironic.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
It's uh, it's an opportunity to level the averages out
one of those of the year. They'll be like.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
No, like, no, no, no, Look, they just had their
head just as many.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
The Chiefs are averaging five point two penalties game, just
like everybody else.

Speaker 6 (30:48):
The Chiefs are six and nine after today, And I
think the only positive to take from this as well,
they didn't lose a one possession game, because remember they
had that long streak of winning every one possession game
last year. They were eleven to zero in the close
games this year, one and seven in the one possession.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
Well, I mean the Titans are tough.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
They would have actually had to score, you know, slow down,
they're about to give away the first today, Raiders.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
New York Giants. That's right now, Who's uh got the track?

Speaker 6 (31:24):
Don't the Giants play the Raiders?

Speaker 2 (31:25):
I believe they do? And and so yeah, that's the
top three table.

Speaker 6 (31:31):
Both have lost nine in a row. Can we say
Ashton Genty, the guy they drafted, was the guy on
the field at Houston today, phenomenal. Usually he's getting hit
in the backfield and before he even gets to the
line of scrimmage he has to fight through things with
that line today, sensation Genty.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
I think when people are kind of they've gotten off
of his smoke a little bit, and I'm like, no,
I still.

Speaker 3 (31:54):
Think he's that guy.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
I still think he's that guy, and he is just
situationally been putting the bat.

Speaker 6 (32:01):
Just look at how bad the line is. They've allowed
the most sacks while being last in the league in rushing.
I mean, until today, it was about seventy yards a
game as a team on the ground and they've now
allowed fifty seven sacks this year.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
Think about this. So this is semi finals for the
the playoffs football. Yes, and I had to buy last
week because.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
I was show off fancy.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
All right, guess guess who the two running backs are
that I'm playing against?

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Ashton because that's who we're talking about. I felt very
confident there. The other one would be Chase Brown. No
oh no, no, no, Jayalen Moore.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Yes, yeah, wow, yeah, exactly wow.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Sorry about that, Yes, exactly right. I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (32:51):
Going into the game, it was like, you know how
they put the percentage chance and win. It was like
a seventy two chance went to win. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
I have asked so many times for those percentage chances,
go away, go away. You know what you could do
with those percentage chances.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
You could box them up with the pre week projections
and send them to Mars.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yes, I hate all of that.

Speaker 6 (33:18):
Should never influence who you start or By the way,
of course, coming up right after you is Chris Plank,
Oklahoma sideline reporter. He, more than anyone i've heard, hates
those you know, percentage that you were talking about the
guestimate of whats what was the Oklahoma chances of winning
by percentage when they were up seventeen to nothing and

(33:39):
destroying Alabama Friday night. Bama didn't even have a first
down at the time and down seventeen nothing, Well, there
were still more game to play, and then we had
the Seahawks game Thursday, and then we had the crazy
Bear game Saturday, and then we had the Detroit game
today where they nearly stole it at home.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
I think that someone once said it's not over till
it's over. Somebody said that update.

Speaker 6 (34:01):
Drake May is throwing an interception in the red zone.
So still bless more seven nothing in the first over
the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, it was not a good one either. Like you know,
not all interceptions are built the same. It's kind of
a weird one. And so yeah, they at least gave
away a field goal there, Steve, glad you're here. Great stuff,
Thank you so much. We are live in the Fox
Sports Radio studios and as we always do, coming up
for hour number two at the top of the hour,
we'll do our three things. I'm gonna split my three

(34:29):
things into I'll package them as three, but they they
will be my top five stupidest wide receiver oka of
twenty twenty five I got. I got five receivers in
my sights inspired by mister Metcalf today in Detroit. So

(34:51):
lots more coming up that seem from markets Fox Sports Radio,
Fox Sports Radio Studios. And uh, before we do get
to the top, Yeah, I just want chick in on
Sunday Night Football and say that Lamar looks like Lama.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
And here's here's what I mean by that.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
I think you and I have talked a lot about Lamar,
and over the last handful of weeks, I thought he
just looked like Lah in other words, about forty percent
of himself.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
He only gets the LA and not the M A R.
And now I.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
Think over the last two weeks he looks kind of
like I'm gonna give him two more letters.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
He's gonna be Lama now. So I still don't think.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
He's he'll touch.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
It might be that he's not one hundred percent. I'm
gonna give about eighty percent of himself. He looks better.
Don't you think he's starting to look.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
Better he started?

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Which is a scary sort of a thing to add
into the AFC playoff mix if they were to be
able to get there, because let's not forget their Baltimore
and and if everybody's like, yeah, Denver and New England
and look at this Jacksonville team and then all of
a sudden, Baltimore.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Derrek Henry fro dek Henry again.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
He's had a rough year, man, He's had some big
He always waits for prime time. Many seems to wait
for Sunday night football to do that. Don't forget Thursday night,
the first game of the year, and how that has
an effect on where they're at right now. That game
that they do, they would be eight and six right now.

(36:39):
Oh and he just did it again to yep yep.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
So anyway, their path to the playoffs is difficult. But
should they get there? Watch out man, watch out, because
that's that's that's Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
And but you know, to be play Devil's advocate, go ahead.
I mean, Lamar hasn't been great in the playoffs. No,
and the watch out is we've been watching four Yeah,
the watch out since he's been in the league. I
guess we've never gotten it. So maybe this is the

(37:22):
Bizarro year where they limp in and become a dominant team.
But he hasn't performed well. His His only knock is
he doesn't have the postseason accolades to back up how
great of a player he is. So would that put

(37:43):
fear in you if you're playing the Baltimore Ravens, who
struggle and possibly limp in.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
I don't think fear is based solely on you know,
your your historical resume. Yes, Lamar Jackson scares me absolutely
if I'm a defensive coordinator. I mean, honestly, if I'm
going to you want to talk about playoff history, I'd
much rather play Justin Herbert than Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
Justin Herbert won a playoff game.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Yeah, you also lost one by being up by about
twenty five points.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
No, that's not necessarily his fault. Yeah, hold on, memory,
did he did Justin Herbert win a playoff game? Oh?

Speaker 2 (38:22):
My memory is telling me he's been there twice and
they're ower and two. Oh the Jacksonville game and they
had the huge lead and they blew it.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yes, and then was it last year? Four picks against Houston? Why? Yeah?
So like that's all I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
And I also think, just as an NFL fan, be
a damn shame if Patrick Mahomes is not in the
playoffs and Lamar doesn't get there yet, Like, don't you
all want to see Lamar and Josh take a shot
without Patrick in the way.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
Well yeah, I mean no, Joe Burrow, No, none of
the top tier elite quarterbacks outside of Josh Allen are
on the cusp of the of the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
You're exactly right, You're exactly right.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
This is a dawn of a new age. Are we
turning the page to the young guns?

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Well?

Speaker 2 (39:13):
What do you think it means? Are we turn you know,
turn the page to the young guns? Or is something
else running this shit?

Speaker 3 (39:19):
I think coaching has gotten better. Okay, when you look
at New England and Mike Rabral coming back there to
be the coach, they got better there. When you look
at Denver and Sean Payton coming over, they got better there.
When you look at the Chargers and Hardball coming they

(39:42):
got better. So when you're when you're parent and all
of them have quarterbacks. So when you're pairing these young
quarterbacks up with dynamic coaches, that's enough to shift the tie.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
Yeah, it can be.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
It can be because, like I mean, until the last
couple of weeks, it's not like I thought.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Trevor Lawrence was having a great year.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
But you're right, yeah, you know, yeah, But then we
look up eleven and four the Jaguars.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
How'd that happen? All? Right?

Speaker 2 (40:15):
Three things here we go coming up next.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
You're listen, no Fox Sports.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Off we go in the our number two Week sixteen
in the National Football League, and every single Sunday night
we get here and we're like, I think this one
was crazier than the last one, and this one most
definitely was sure. That Lion Steelers game is going to
grab you attention for the moment. Don't forget. A part

(40:42):
of this week was that ram Seahawks game on Thursday night.
I'd love to go through that with you and some
of the things that happened in that football game. And
then obviously we also well, well we we had a
player strike a fan today. So there's that here live
in these Fox Sports Radio studios. Before we get to
three Things, where Ephram and I give you our top

(41:04):
three observations of the entire week and things going on
with the NFL as of right now, we want to
mention the bracket challenge to each and every one of you.
And no it's not March yet, don't worry. You didn't
go to sleep in miss Christmas. But wait a minute, right,

(41:26):
Like normally we do it with college hoops, how about
college football? So, feeding off of the success of our
college basketball bracket challenge in March, we decided to do
a bracket challenge for the college football Playoff.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Now that there are eight teams left, it's Bracket Challenge time,
and you compete against all of us, your favorite Fox
Sports Radio hosts, and against fellow listeners to see who's
got the best college football playoff bracket. Play for your
chance to win dollars, visit Fox Sports Radio dot iHeart

(42:05):
dot com. That's it, Fox Sports Radio dot iHeart dot
com to register, get the rules, fill out your bracket,
see everything that's going on there. Entries will be open
until just before kickoff seven point thirty pm Eastern time,
New Year's Eve. So again, fill out your bracket at
Fox Sports Radio dot iHeart dot com for your chance

(42:25):
to win one thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Did you fill yours out yet? No?

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Okay, all right, you got time. I filled that out
last night because I was like, oh, this is easy.
There's only eight teams, like normally, right you get that,
and you're like, oh, this is daunting, man, Like I
think I'll do the East and the West bracket first
and we'll deal with something else tomorrow. But there's only
eight teams, so you could do this very very quickly,
and we're gonna get to some of the college football stuff,

(42:52):
because I know everybody's all ticked off yesterday, so we
can get to that as well.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
But right now, it's top for three things.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
Let's let's do it, top three observations of the entire
NFL week. And I have already shown my hand. So
here's what I'm gonna do, my top five dumb wide
receiver moments of twenty twenty five. I'll do five and
four as my first thing. I'll do three and two
as my second thing, and then I'll leave number one

(43:19):
for the very end. So number five on my dumb
wide Receivers of the Year goes to Pooka Nikua.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Pooka Nikua, dude, you're phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
He is one of my favorite non forty nine ers
in the National Football League. Talented, tough, just absolutely love
that dude. My man, stay off the podcast. Let's please,
let's not talk about race and ethnicity and religion and gender.
Please don't make fun of things. It's just not funny.

(43:55):
Just stay away from it. And even though sometimes you're
right about the refs, you're actually in this case you weren't,
and you did it twice and you actually accused them
of not just being wrong, but being out for themselves,
which I think when you're a wide receiver who's set
to make thirty five million dollars a year, it just

(44:18):
doesn't come off that well. So I don't want to
do that. You'll never hear me say shut up and
dribble or shut up and catch the ball or anything
like that. You get to say whatever you want. But
I don't know, maybe not that well.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
Like I always go back to this quote because I
think it's a fantastic quote. You know, Mama says stupid
is stupid does Whatever your education level is, you can
sound dumb, whatever your education level is, you can your
background whatever that is. You can sound dumb just by

(44:53):
not paying attention, not having a clue, and not how
knowing how to act and social situations and address different things.
There's a level of immaturity that's coming out of his mouth.
Are his thoughts that it's a turnoff. So look, focus
on your craft and really think before you speak, because

(45:16):
you're coming off as an idiot, right and you're on
you're on the verge of superstardom like he is. He's
a superstar.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
No, but I mean he's about to like get that contract, it's.

Speaker 3 (45:29):
About to change his life. He's about to be making
thirty five million dollars a year.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Yeah, so I.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
Don't know if I were you make yourself marketable, dude,
because you're not right now, not right now, and you
keep doubling down on the stupidity totally, which really makes
me be like, oh okay, yeah, so number four. Congratulations
AJ Brown. AJ Brown wins number four on the Dumb

(45:54):
Things Wide Receiver list this year. Wow, he actually had
a good game and they won. That doesn't usually happen.
But this is sort of just a general complaining as
a Super Bowl champion slash follow up Division winner football team.
You and I've talked about this a lot, like, dude,

(46:15):
things are going well.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
Don't upset the Apple card.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Stop yelling at your quarterback, stop talking about it in
the media. Stop being full of discontent in a situation
that doesn't call for it.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
So AJ Brown wins my number four.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
Uh yeah, I've always had, you know, it's the book thing.
I'm good. Yeah, the reading the book on the bench
and then spinning it into this you know, s help
help self help situation. No, no, no, no, we're not
doing that.

Speaker 1 (46:47):
Man.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
I was there. I know what the bench situation is,
and if I ever walked by anybody on it reading
a reading outside literature during the game after, I know
how you feel. The malcontent you're feeling about of you know,
the offensive production and certain things. No, bro, you you

(47:09):
guys sell that to somebody else. So he lost me there,
So I get that. All right, your turn, take it away.
I want to say the Jaguars are are for real.
I've been hypercritical. I think we both have been hyper
critical on the Jaguars even when they were winning. We

(47:30):
all just felt like they're winning despite are in spite
of Trevor Lawrence and some of the things he's done.
But the last few weeks, Trevor Lawrence has been playing
out of his mind. Today he was phenomenal two seventy
nine passing, three touchdowns, no interceptions. You know, twenty three

(47:53):
thirty six. He's playing. They're getting better. And this was
a big test for me watching them play a team
that was red hot, a team that is first place
in the AFC, and so I was like, Okay, well,

(48:14):
let's see if these guys are for real. Let's see
if the Jaguars are for real. And they are, which
caused me to go back and look at their schedule,
and I'm like, Okay, well who have they beat? Who
are they beaten? And so as I'm looking at the schedule, Okay,
they beat the Jeeves, Okay, they beat the Okay, they
beat the Raiders, But I don't counta They beat the Chargers,

(48:37):
they beat the forty nine ers, they beat the Colts.
So now I'm like, oh, wait a minute, huh have
they been good this whole time? Has it just looked
ugly right now? I think they're the most dangerous team
coming down the stretch. I don't know if you want
to strap up against. I know the Colts are vying
for a position they play next week Sunday, and for

(49:03):
all intent's purposes, if they can't move if they win
that game and they can't move up in the ringings,
I doubt if any of their guys play against the Titans. So,
you know, shout out to the Jacksonville Jaguars for showing
up and improving a lot of naysayers wrong, including myself.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
Yep, I love it and I share that with you
and our industry and sports media in general is filled
with a lot of people that want to stand up
and tell.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
You whenever they were right, and whenever they were wrong,
they just want to move on to the next subject.
So I appreciate you bringing it up because I stand
right there next to you in the wrongness right now
of what that team has been able to achieve, and
quite frankly, even how real it is doesn't even necessarily matter.

(49:50):
The achievement is the achievement. You're eleven and four. You
just listed the wins.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
They have none more impressive than how dominant they were
on the road.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
Again, it's Denver's defense today.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
I don't know, I don't know what argument you've got
left to say that the Jags are not a competitor
for this thing, no doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Yeah, they are definitely a competitor.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
Okay, number three on my dumb wide Receiver Things of
the Year twenty twenty six. Congratulations too. And I struggled
with this because I wanted to move them up even further.
But Jamar Chase, because you and I went over this
a few weeks ago and I hadn't fully seen I'll

(50:39):
never forget the take that I had where I was
kind of coming down the road of gosh, he's escaping
my name right now. The defender that Jamar spit on
but Jalen, thank you, thank you. Jalen Ramsey. I kind
of came down the road to Jaylen Ramsey because Jalen

(51:00):
as a history of getting ahead of his skis and uh,
and I don't think his play matches up with it anymore.
But then we kind of went back through everything that happened,
and Yeah, there's nothing more disrespectful. There's nothing more gross
than than doing what Jamar Chase did in that game
Bengals and Steelers. Spitting in another human beings face is

(51:25):
flat out it's unforgivable.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
Yeah, I I I second that that's probably one of
the worst things you can do to a person, to
spit on them. That's worse than a punch, a slap
or anything like that. It's just number one is just discussed,
and it's disrespectful at the highest level. And if you
spit on me, brother, we about to throw hands and
and and and I'm not mad at at. I'm really

(51:50):
not mad at Jalen Jalen Jayalen Ramsey. I'm not mad
because that's what that action warrants. That's what me to
snatch your eyeballs at your helmet. And so that's one
of the most disrespectful things you could do to a person.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
Okay, now this one's kind of fresh and new. So
number two congratulations on the dumb wide receiver things list
of twenty twenty six. Number two goes to a wide
receiver who hasn't even played a game this year.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
How about that? Welcome to the party, Brandon Ayuk.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
Now, you and I talked about this at length over
the last couple of weeks. I'll let you know that
our mutual friend who was Brandon's personal wide receiver coach,
TJ Huschmanzada, came on my show in the Bay Area
this week and for years he's been talking to us
about Brandon and often, as you would expect, kind of

(52:48):
presents the world through the eyes of Brandon. And for
the first time this week he flat out was like, ba,
I have no idea what you're doing. You're too hard headed.
Once you're stuck on this opinion, you won't leave. I'm
trying to advise him otherwise, and I can promise you
that when you're my age, this is TJ talking, you're

(53:12):
really gonna regret this man.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
You left something in the neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
Depending on how you look at it, twenty five thirty
thirty five million dollars on the table after you fought
so hard for this last year. And by the way,
that opinion was all being shared prior to what Brandon
did yesterday, which was post a YouTube video of him
testing out a new fancy car, and then when he

(53:37):
tests it out, he decides to take video of him
driving by Levi Stadium at very high speeds. Now, I
do want to let everyone know the whole idea that
it was one hundred miles an hour.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
It wasn't.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
It was an It was over one hundred kilometers per hour,
but it sort of works out to driving about sixty
five or seventy and a forty zone.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Bottom line, unsafe. You're taking a video of it, you're.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
Trolling, You're doing all of the wrong things right now,
because once again, what are you doing, dude, You're only
hurting yourself. The forty nine ers are going to the playoffs.
They are not worried about your YouTube channel. But I
tell you who is potential employers next year.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Somebody's got to get to this guy.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
He's got too much money already. Now it's over, He's
gonna be what he's gonna be, but he will be
one of those cautionary tales. It happens all the time,
We see it all the time, and it is what
it is. Guess what, the world will continue to move on,
teams will continue to play and win, and he'll be,
you know, kicking himself. Yep, And he'll have the answer

(54:45):
for these immature decisions he's making right now.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
And that's it.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
You get what you get, man, You get what you earn. Brother,
that's what the universe teaches you. You get what you earn. Amen, Amen,
uh is me? Is me now?

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Far away?

Speaker 3 (55:01):
The Stellers. I think no team has been talked about
as much as the Stellers have been this year. And
that's good and bad. That's fire or not fire. Time
to move on?

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Are not?

Speaker 3 (55:22):
Time to move on? Time to retire? Are not time
to retire? Who are they? What are they doing? What
happened to TJ? Watt?

Speaker 1 (55:30):
Like?

Speaker 3 (55:31):
All kinds of things are going on with the Pittsburgh Stellers.
And when you look up, with two games left to go,
they're nine to six, first place in the division and
have a chance to All they have to do is
win and they'll be representing the division in the playoffs

(55:53):
with the home game. The thing I really want to
point out is when they won that miraculous game, we
just saw how it ended against Detroit in Detroit, tough
place to play, essentially putting Detroit unless some miracle things
happen out of the playoffs. Walking off the field was

(56:15):
Aaron Rodgers, Mike Tomlin in the middle, and Cam Hayward
walking in solidarity together off the field. Now, to me,
that resonates. That means something because all of the noise
that we've been privy to and that we've added to

(56:37):
that symbol right there was letting us know or no,
we got each other. We don't care what you guys
think of, what you guys say or what you guys want.
Offenses with him, defenses with him, and he's with us,
and now they're in position to get a home playoff game,

(56:58):
and who knows what can happen after this that so
shout out to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Aaron Rodgers had we
had a good game, defense showed up, tough game. Detroit's
a tough out, especially at home, and so you know,
there's no telling what this is going to look like
if they eventually end up being in the playoffs. This

(57:19):
may be the year.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
I just don't know what kind of magic juice Mike
Tomlin drinks every morning. But you could threaten to fire
them all you want, and I'm allowed to sit here
across the country and think you're nuts. Like, if you
want to get into player personnel conversation the way the
Steelers have gone.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
About all of that, that's fine.

Speaker 2 (57:44):
The bottom line is, once the whole thing is set,
all the coach can do is coach what he's got
and the and the truth of the matter is that
a Steeler fan may not want to hear.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
They overachieve every year, every year, every single.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
Despite another year of not having having a losing record,
and we thought that was coming to an end.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
We always do, and it's not here yet.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
All right, I'll be quick with my number one because
it's an obvious one and we've already talked about it.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
The number one dumb wide.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Receiver moment of twenty six, twenty twenty five, I should say,
happened earlier today in Detroit when DK Metcalf put his
hand on a fan shoved him in the face. After
a brief discussion in the first row, you pointed it out.
He never should have been over there in the first place.
He was, He never should have done what he did
he did. It's going to be a large fine. I

(58:36):
think it's going to be a suspension. And Ephraim, I
don't think the NFL will do this because it's one
of their biggest players for one of their biggest brands.
But let me just phrase it this way. I'd understand
if you kicked him out for the year. I really would,
because this isn't about what's right and fair in the moment.
I'm sure the guy said something to him that didn't

(58:59):
feel good. I'm sure the fan was wrong too, But
these are the rules. The message needs to be sent.
You absolutely can't cross that line. He crossed that line.
And we know DK runs hot, and he ran hot again,
And this is the absolute biggest no no there is

(59:19):
as a professional athlete.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
Yeah, this is a sad situation. It's not it's funny,
it's not cute, it's not anything. It's dangerous and it
shouldn't ever happen. It shouldn't never happen. It's out of control.
I don't care what you got to say up there.
That's why you up there. You don't walk over to

(59:45):
a fan no matter what, dispensely doing the game, like what,
don't even be over there, right, So you know it's
gonna play out how it's gonna play out. I wish
all the best for him, man, I hope he really
learns because it's gonna be expensive. My final one YEP
is shout out to Anthony Joshua, former heavyweight champion who

(01:00:06):
took on the challenge of Jake Paul, the YouTube Superstar
fight promoter, and it's kind of re energized what live
sporting boxing entertainment is. I will tell you this. They
put on a good show, but Jake Paul finally a
bit off more than he can show. Now he can't

(01:00:27):
chew at all because Anthony Joshua broke his jaw.

Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
He's gonna lose some weight now.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
So yeah, so he just had surgery to day to
fix his broken jaw. And so sometimes your mouth writes
checks that your jaw can't cash. And so shout out
to Anthony Joshua. No big feet. Of course he was
a favorite to win, but it was also it's always
good when you can put your fist in someone's mouth.

(01:00:54):
We talks a little bit too much legally, legally indeed right,
not the DK Metcalfway, but the legal way. And so
it just it was entertaining. It was good, the whole car.
It was great. So shout out to Anthony Joshua, welcome
back and he looking for Tyson Fury Now.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
I love it. Great stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
Speaking of entertaining, I was told all day yesterday that
the college football was not.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
So let's get to let's get to that a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
And I think there's a larger now that we got
the wide receiver stuff off our chest, I think there's
a larger conversation about the position.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
That we'd love to have. So we'll do that around
the bend as well.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Steve de Seger's only about eight minutes away with me
from Salama, Mark Willard.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
It's Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Okay, these are the Fox Sports Radio studios, and very
glad you're with us, Steve. The Sega is already moments away,
literally moments away. You got any uh passionate thoughts on
James Madison or Tulane.

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
No, no good for them. But there's levels to this, Okay,
there are levels, and I mean no one expected this
is not like basketball. It's not like basketball where you
can get you get your starting five, can can't go

(01:02:36):
and you can just be shooting right, you can catch fire,
you can Wally Zerbiak your way through the tournament, right
like it's possible, it's happening.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Yes, you can.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
You can Carmelo Anthony your way through the tournament. You
can Steph Curry your way through the tournament. But eventually
you can Jimmer for Debt your way through the tournament.
In basketball, your hot guy gets hot. But when you're
playing against teams that will have starting NFL players on
them in less than a year, I'll be about six

(01:03:08):
months from now, those teams that they play James Madison
and Tulane respectively, will be starting in the NFL in
six months.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
And it looked like it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
Yes, the question is I mean, I love the statement
you made, but the real question is, can you Steve
di Seger your way through the tournament?

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):
Now that you can do, let's find out.

Speaker 6 (01:03:38):
We got two minutes to go in the first half
and the Sunday night NFL game at Baltimore. It is
New England in the lead. Ten to seven is the score.
It was seven nothing on an early Derreck Henry twenty
one yard touchdown run. He has a fumble tonight as well.
Henry nine carries fifty six yards rushing in the first half.
Drake May had thrown an early interception. He now as

(01:03:59):
a one year TD pass to Hunter Henry. A forty
five yard field goal makes it ten to seven Pats
again two minutes to go in the first half. Pittsburgh
has already won. They were in a battle of eight
and six teams at Detroit and the Steelers won at
twenty nine twenty four, so that Lions loss clinches playoff
spots for San Francisco and Chicago was still a couple

(01:04:20):
games to go. Jalen Warren fourteen carries one hundred and
forty three yards two touchdowns for the Steelers Detroit. By
the way, we'll play on Christmas at Minnesota. The Vikings
are up to seven and eight. They won at the
Giants sixteen thirteen. Giants have lost nine in a row.
But Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy left with a right hand injury.
He had one touchdown, run, one interception, one fumble. Houston

(01:04:44):
won at seventh straight game, beating Las Vegas twenty three
to twenty one. Kayimi Fairbairn with field goals of forty nine,
fifty and fifty five yards in the close victory. Houston
entered with the best defense in the NFL, allowing just
sixteen points a game under two hundred and seventy total
yards a game, again best in the league. They survive

(01:05:04):
against a Raiders team that has lost nine in a row.
Ashton Genti had a sixty yard touchdown catch plus one
hundred and twenty eight yards rushing and a score. The
Texans are ten and five. They play this Saturday at
the Chargers, who were eleven and four after winning at
Dallas thirty four seventeen. Chargers were down late first half
seventeen to fourteen. Dallas had been officially eliminated. Yesterday. With

(01:05:28):
Philadelphia's win, the Eagles clinched the division title. You know,
it had been about twenty years since anybody won back
to back NFC East crowns. The Eagles have done that now.
So the Chargers with the win on the road and
Justin Herbert had three total touchdowns Jacksonville ended denvers eleven
game winning streak, which is superb news for the Chargers,
thirty four to twenty Jags. The final Trevor Lawrence with

(01:05:49):
all four touchdowns two hundred and seventy nine yards passing.
The Broncos had been seven to zero at home Atlanta one.
At Arizona twenty six nineteen. Kirk Cousins was all over
the map three total touchdowns, two turnovers as well, but
his team was down thirteen three in the first half
wound up winning on the road. Arizona has lost seven
straight and Marvin Harrison Junior had just one catch and

(01:06:12):
Michael Wilson, who has fantasy people know has just been
going off in recent weeks two catches, one touchdown. They
got used to the field goal attempts. Cards were four
for six on field goal attempts. Lost at home Buffalo one,
holding on at Cleveland twenty three to twenty. It was
twenty three ten bills late in the third quarter James
Cook on sixteen carries at one hundred and seventeen yards

(01:06:33):
rushing and two touchdowns. Carolina had a great matchup against
Tampa Bay, hosting and beating the Bucks twenty three to twenty.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have lost six of their last seven,
seven and eight, now the record, a game behind the Panthers.
Next Sunday, Carolina hosts Seattle Minnesota at The Giants today
beat New York sixteen thirteen. I mentioned the McCarthy injury

(01:06:57):
Jackson Dart in that loss thirty three three yards passing
seven of thirteen to one interception, and the Giants have
lost nine straight. New Orleans beat the Jets twenty nine
to six. Tyler Schuck thirty two of forty nine through
the air, three hundred eight yards at a touchdown. The Jets, meanwhile,
are the worst passing team in the league, under one
hundred and fifty passing yards per game their average, and

(01:07:19):
by the way, the defense still has no interceptions this year.
For that season, an NFL team has no interceptions, as
we had toward Christmas. Cincinnati won at Miami forty five
twenty one Joe Burrow four touchdown passes, and Tennessee had
lost eleven straight at home, but beat Kansas City or
what's left of them, twenty six to nine. The Chiefs

(01:07:41):
with only one hundred thirty three total yards. In fact,
Kansas City's offense ten drives, nine first downs. Quarterback Patrick
Mahomes was out with the torn knee ligaments. Chiefs quarterback
Gardner Minshew left with a knee injury, a possible torn
acl Meanwhile, we've got an update on the game at Baltimore.

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
Show Yes we do.

Speaker 6 (01:08:02):
Quarterback Lamar Jackson headed to the locker room a minute early.
The Ravens have just kicked a thirty six yard field goal.
The game is even ten ten Ravens and Patriots again
nearing halftime.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
In that one, he came out of the game. He
didn't pay that dry.

Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
He did not do third down.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
Tyler Honley did third down, so some some something is
up and he does not look to be in a
very comfortable state right now.

Speaker 6 (01:08:25):
Yeah, it was third and long and Huntley with a
pass and they settled for the field goal. Jackson one
hundred one yards passing in the first half, seven of
ten in the NBA A Final at Minnesota, another win
for the Timberwolves one oh three to one hundred over
the Bucks. Spurs won. Boy, they're having a good year.
One twenty four, one thirteen at the Wizards. Victory for
the Nets and the Knicks. And then you got that

(01:08:48):
Bulls game today. The final score Chicago won fifty two
to one, fifty winners at Atlanta, and the way they
scheduled things, the Bulls are staying in town and playing
at Atlanta again on Tuesday and here today. The Bulls
halftime lead was eighty three to seventy three. By the end,
on three pointers, Chicago was twenty of forty two. Atlanta

(01:09:13):
went twenty three of forty seven from long distance. It's
one of the few games in NBA history where each
team scored at least one hundred and fifty points in regulation.
Apparently that it only happened twice in the last thirty
five seasons. Still the highest scoring game in regulation in
NBA history, Golden State in nineteen ninety beat Denver one

(01:09:34):
sixty two to one fifty eight.

Speaker 1 (01:09:37):
Back to you, Steve, great stuff, And I'm also just
perusing through so obviously we'll keep you up to date
on the Lamar situation as as more info comes out.
They say, yeah, halftime.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
And he looks, yeah, he looks like it looks like
a lot of people eat from And I know our
age when they you know, you get out of bed
and you're.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
Like, oh, what the hell happened there.

Speaker 7 (01:09:59):
Yeah, ye had that same live. I'm like, I've done that. Look,
I know that. Look, Hey, how does it grab you
that both DK Metcalf avoid right in it, right in it?

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
When he actually did a designed run which the Ravens
have they stopped doing because he wasn't running the ball.

Speaker 1 (01:10:17):
Well that's why you slide. Yep, yep, yep yep.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
So we got to get to this though, too, like,
how does it grab you that DK Metcalf avoided reporters
after the game and Mike Tomlin had no comment, Oh
it is?

Speaker 3 (01:10:32):
That doesn't grab me? Uh? I would have expected.

Speaker 1 (01:10:37):
That, really, Yes, I mean where you gonna hide from this?

Speaker 3 (01:10:43):
No, I wouldn't expect him to go and have to
answer that without talking to his representatives.

Speaker 1 (01:10:51):
First, How about Mike Tomlin?

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):
He doesn't know what we know. That's the difference. You Remember,
they have about seven minutes from the time they leave
the field to come in and talk to the team,
and it's opened up to the media. So you address
the team, right, that's about five minutes. Good job this

(01:11:15):
and that to you Wednesday, whatever that is. And then
when you break, the ahead of media relations comes over
to you and let you know what the what, what's
what's what's happening, what's about to happen? Right, And so
he was probably told, Hey, we had a situation in
the game where DK punched the fan. Mike Tomlin isn't

(01:11:36):
privy to that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:37):
Well, how I do think it is the PR person's job,
and I do think there's time to pull the phone
out and say, Mike, take a look at this before
you go in there to talk to your reporters.

Speaker 1 (01:11:48):
Take a look at this.

Speaker 3 (01:11:49):
I promise you. It's not enough time. And I think
even if he did see it, he doesn't know enough
about it. I know he didn't have a chance to
talk to DK about yet.

Speaker 1 (01:12:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:12:01):
Yeah, so he's not going to step on a landmine
that he doesn't know is there.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
I get it, I get it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:08):
So, yeah, he trust me. If we know Mike Tomlin,
he will be we'll be talking about this in the
coming week.

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
Oh, there's no doubt. So that's true.

Speaker 3 (01:12:19):
You what you don't want to do is go out
there and step out there without the information, and for
a player, you need.

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
To know.

Speaker 3 (01:12:27):
Right well, obviously can't leave you to your own devices,
So we got to let somebody try to guide you.
Through you steping in this pit, this pit so eventually
you can get out of it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:40):
We're live in the Fox Sports Radio studios, and I
think a larger discussion about the wide receiver position and
the behavior that seemingly goes along.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
With it sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:12:52):
So all that's coming up next with you from Salama
Mark Willard on Fox Sports Radio. Okay, we sit live
in the Fox Sports Radio studios with Ephraim Salaam.

Speaker 1 (01:13:01):
A'm Mark Willard. Still got over an hour to go.

Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
But if there's any portion of today's show you miss,
you're gonna want to catch it on the podcast. Here's
how you do it. You search Fox Sports Radio wherever
you get your podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:13:12):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Right after the show, today's podcast gets posted. Be sure
to follow the pod rated a five. You can even
provide a review. You search Fox Sports Radio wherever you
get your podcasts. You'll find today's show posted right after
we get off of the air.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
I think the wide.

Speaker 2 (01:13:27):
Receiver thing, Ephraim has sort of landed the same way
Raiders fans do. Here's what I mean by that, Raiders fans,
and I think it's kind of a less of a thing.
Now they're in Vegas and it's all a little watered down.
But for years you had the black hole, you had
accountance there behind the end zone with horns coming out
of their head, and they got themselves a reputation and

(01:13:49):
people would be like, raiders fans are awful.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
They're awful people.

Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
And it's like, actually, it's millions of people strong that fan,
and no, they're not all awful people, but there, but
some of them are. And they're enough of them and
enough attention around the things that they would do that

(01:14:14):
that became a thing. I think we're doing the same
thing now with wide receivers. You know, like, I have
no idea, what's I'm just gonna think of a random name.
Jayden Higgins might be a gem of a dude. I
have no idea. But the bottom line is, right now,

(01:14:36):
what's out of whack is the number of silly things
that are happening both on and off a football field.
We're out of whack in terms of the percentage of
those people being wide receiver.

Speaker 1 (01:14:51):
Yeah, we're totally out of whack.

Speaker 2 (01:14:53):
And and you know, we could bring more names into
this conversation if we open it up to history and
then also open up what you and I have talked
about where I think the Cincinnati Bengals are the greatest
example of this. When you decide to dedicate your salary
cap to the wide receiver room, you're in trouble. And

(01:15:15):
I know there are examples to the opposite. I know
the Eagles have paid two wide receivers, and there are
a couple other teams as well, the Lions to a degree,
although how they do and when you do that, this
is my opinion.

Speaker 1 (01:15:30):
Howie Roseman in Philly is really good.

Speaker 2 (01:15:32):
But if I'm running a football team, I am not
paying big money to two guys in that room.

Speaker 1 (01:15:39):
Period.

Speaker 3 (01:15:40):
Yeah, I'll steer clear from that. Al bolster my offensive line,
get a dynamic running bag, edge rusher, those type of
things before I spend that type of money on two receivers,
because there's value in receivers. Late round poop and nakool
right yep, fifth round round right ye. Great friend of mine,

(01:16:04):
teammate of mine, Rod Smith. He was a good player,
you know what I mean. Like there's Eddie McCaffrey, Like
they're dynamic receivers all over the place. My favorite teammate
of all time, Andre Johnson, to me, is the epitome
of what the number one receiver is and a team

(01:16:29):
captain and the leader. He worked harder than anybody on
the planet, and when things weren't going well, which they
very rarely did early on in Houston, he didn't complain
about it. He just worked harder and rose the level
of others to work harder. And so he really set

(01:16:52):
the groundwork on a brand new franchise of what being
professional is. And I saw that when I got there,
I had already been in the league eight years, and
I got a chance to see his leadership style, which
was watching me work and keep up get to my level.

(01:17:17):
And so I think he's the only receiver in the
Hall of Fame who didn't play with another Hall of
Fame receiver or quarterback. Them to be the facts, and
so it's it's that diva mentality and you know, getting
away with goofy stuff. There is no direct data that

(01:17:40):
shows that having multiple top paid receivers in a room
equates to winning anything. When you want to get down
to it, it's a correct So that wouldn't be my
formula for building championship team.

Speaker 2 (01:18:02):
I'm certainly like I don't think we're light on the
number of names we come up with that that you know,
really do have a positive effect on a football team
and on the standings wins and losses and all of
that stuff. But I just think that that in a
general sense, especially if you play that position, a little

(01:18:24):
self awareness might be nice, Like a little self awareness
would would would be good to the fact that, like
we get it, you're fancy for fantasy football. You're usually
kind of pretty, right, Not every NFL position is pretty,
but you're pretty. And sometimes that sort of like out

(01:18:48):
in the public eye, think can lead to marketability. But
I think it's just a very very fine line you
can be. I have no problem with you know who
I think has got his head screwed on so so great?
Straight is justin Jefferson. Oh yeah, I really like him,
you know what I mean. He's got his head screwed on.

Speaker 1 (01:19:09):
Straight.

Speaker 2 (01:19:09):
He's super frustrated too right now. But but you don't
you don't see him completely go over the edge.

Speaker 3 (01:19:16):
Oh he just go to work.

Speaker 1 (01:19:17):
Yep. Yeah, So that's that's all I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
I think you gotta be extra aware if you're gonna
play that position.

Speaker 1 (01:19:26):
You're not wrong what's going on around you. So you
know what, I'd love to ask you next.

Speaker 2 (01:19:33):
More so than maybe any year I can remember in
recent memory, at least, who is coach of the Year
is actually an interesting question, So let's do that.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
Coming up next, you're listening to Fox Sports.

Speaker 3 (01:19:47):
D Welcome back to the third Hour. You are joining
us on Football Friday. I'm e from Salon with Mark Willard. I'
run a Fox Sports Studios. It's been one heck of
a day of of NFL football, some tremendous games we've had.
It's been one of those situations where some unbelievable things

(01:20:12):
have happened. We had a situation in the Pittsburgh Steelers
game where DK Metcalf had a fan interaction. We're waiting
to see what that The result of that fan interaction
where it appeared to be some type of confrontation where

(01:20:34):
DK threw a punch at a fan. What that fan
was saying, how he got over there, that's yet to
be determined. I'm sure we'll find out in the next
upcoming days and what the penalty for that will be
for the Steelers and DK Metcalf. It's a shame because
it was such a tremendous game to be riddled with

(01:20:55):
you know, people will be asking questions about what happened
and what transpire this and that, and it was one
of the best games of the of the weekend. Twenty
nine Steelers pulled off the win in Detroit twenty nine
twenty four came down literally to the last play of
the game where, uh, seemingly, well it's not seemingly Detroit

(01:21:20):
did score a touchdown on a miraculous play. I'm ros
Saint Brown was hit at the one yard line, tossed
the ball back before he was tackled to the ground.
He tossed the ball back to Jared Goff and Jared
golf somersaulted into the end zone for what would have
been the go ahead touchdown, and it wasn't. It was

(01:21:41):
negated because I'm and Ross Saint Brown pushed off before
he caught the ball. Offensive pass interference came over Steelers
twenty nine Lions twenty four game blouses.

Speaker 2 (01:21:53):
I mean, with everything that you just described on that front,
I haven't had a chance to ask you if you
thought it was offensive passing interference on Arman Ross Saint Brown.
What'd you think of the call?

Speaker 3 (01:22:04):
Yeah? You can't. Now. What I know is the defender
has a right to his space. Sure, the fact that
Jalen didn't move. Jalen Ramsey didn't move, He held his ground.
The receiver came, will be on five yards and make
contact with him, pushed off of him, yep, extended both

(01:22:26):
hands to gain an advantage, which is the rule of
thumb offensive passing afferance. That's offensive passing experience. I agree
with you. I like I see this as this is
one of those situations. I see this as officiated correctly.

Speaker 2 (01:22:40):
Frustrating, yes, weird eye popping yes, by the way, you know,
And in the NBA, this is maybe a different conversation
right now because I even't had a play by play
broadcaster for one of the teams say to me this week.
Right now, there's an officiation problem in the NBA, I

(01:23:03):
you know, to kind of refute what Puka Nakua said,
I don't believe we've got that in the NFL, which
in my opinion, is easily the hardest one to officiate.
There is a lot of guesswork out there, and that's
just baked into the whole thing. Could you call a
penalty on every play where the sport actually calls for
this much contact?

Speaker 1 (01:23:24):
Sure?

Speaker 2 (01:23:25):
Like I'm going to answer yes to all of those,
but your two most talked about controversial plays of the week.
I'm on Ross Saint Brown. That was offensive PI And oh,
by the way, your two point conversion in Seattle officiated correctly.
And before you yell about how the whistle was blown,
they have already talked about that publicly.

Speaker 1 (01:23:47):
That is e relevant.

Speaker 2 (01:23:50):
That was officiated correctly on Thursday night. So frustrating, eye popping,
you know, dicks in your brain for a while. All
these things are true, but I'd like to make sure
we get out there correct.

Speaker 3 (01:24:06):
They're also correct, And what you want to do is
you want them to get it right.

Speaker 1 (01:24:11):
Absolutely. That's the whole point of review, is it not.

Speaker 3 (01:24:14):
Yep, and they did and they got it right, yeah,
in both instances. And just an update coming out in
the second half, there is no Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 2 (01:24:25):
Yeah, Tyler Huntley is quarterbacking the Ravens who right now, yep,
they have the ball just into Patriots territory.

Speaker 1 (01:24:33):
Early third quarter.

Speaker 2 (01:24:34):
We are tied at ten, but Lamar Jackson went out
with what was described as some sort of a back
injury just before the half and he has so far.

Speaker 1 (01:24:43):
Not returned to play.

Speaker 2 (01:24:45):
So that is an earth Shaker as well, considering what's
on the line for the Baltimore No, not at all,
And I've actually got it. Steve maybe has already done
this and and maybe we can get note to him
in the other room there that Like, I'd love to
know if if the Steelers win next week over the Browns,

(01:25:11):
did they clinch the division already either way, or do
the Ravens still have a chance with that last game,
with that last game Baltimore against Pittsburgh if they're because
they would be a game down still if the Ravens
went out and the Steelers, right, if the Ravens win
this and they win next week and the Steelers win
next week, the Steelers be a game ahead with a

(01:25:32):
head to head game then coming in the last week,
I think it would go to common opponents. Their division
record would be similar, I think, and so would love
to know that scenario. Also, the Ravens just tried a
fifty six yard or Tyler Loop hits it straight but
it comes up short short, not something you hear very
often in the NFL anymore so stays ten to ten.

Speaker 3 (01:25:55):
Yeah, I think fall intense purposes. I think it probably
will come down to that final game with Baltimore and
Pittsburgh one. Yeah, they got to this.

Speaker 2 (01:26:14):
That is in this scenario tie game and Lamar Jackson out.
That is far from a given.

Speaker 3 (01:26:20):
Yeah, this is uh. I know the Steelers are sitting
there like, oh, oh, what do we have here?

Speaker 1 (01:26:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:26:27):
Yes, second right, because look, the bottom line is it
could get to the point where in that final game
against Baltimore you rest Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 1 (01:26:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:26:43):
By Baltimore loses this game and the Steelers beat the
Browns next week, that may lock up.

Speaker 1 (01:26:52):
Oh I think it does that vision.

Speaker 3 (01:26:54):
Yeah, and and so now that last week you can
really rest a fifty year old Aaron Rodgers. So it's
a lot. There's a lot there. There's a lot lot there.

Speaker 2 (01:27:05):
There's absolutely a lot there. And so we'll keep bud
tabs on that. Some of you know, doctor David Chow
used to be the Chargers team doctor. He does a
lot of uh doc and football work on social media,
and he pointed out that because of the timing of
the injury right before halftime, the fact that he did

(01:27:26):
not return is a really bad sign for kind of
the larger question, not just the in the moment question,
because there would have been at halftime enough time for
both X rays and an injection for pain if he
was going to come back in So the fact that
he's not in maybe has kind of a larger implication
to it as well.

Speaker 3 (01:27:47):
Yeah, I think it's been one of those seasons for
lamar And and the Baltimore Ravens. They did fight back.
They were one in five, remember, and uh, you know there,
you know seven and seven now, So yep, they fought back.
But you starting to tell you starting that bad, that
cold Excuse me, it's hard to get over that hump now.

Speaker 1 (01:28:10):
No doubt.

Speaker 2 (01:28:11):
So I'm looking at these standings right now that we're
talking about, and you tell me, dude, can you think
of another year that had this many deserving candidates for
Coach of the Year. I don't know, Like, and we
know Coach of the Year is not actually Coach.

Speaker 1 (01:28:31):
Of the Year. I'd love to change the name of it,
but the name is really lame.

Speaker 2 (01:28:34):
The name of the award is actually who did really
well that you didn't think was going to do really well.
That's the name of the award because you could always
go out and give it to just whoever has the
best record or whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:28:48):
But you got a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:28:49):
We were talking about it earlier, surprising teams that we
didn't think would be up there. The two best teams
in the AFC were not expected to be there.

Speaker 1 (01:28:59):
Maybe better, but not this good.

Speaker 2 (01:29:02):
And from Sean Payton to Mike Rabel, who's coaching a
team that was in last place just last year. Now
add in, as you pointed out, Liam Cohen into this.
Look at the rally that's happening in Houston behind Demiko Ryans,
who I love, go back four weeks ago, Shane Steichen.

Speaker 1 (01:29:19):
They were gonna name.

Speaker 2 (01:29:19):
The award after him for crying out loud, and their
season has fallen apart, but that can still be revitalized,
especially if they win tomorrow night. I still haven't named
who's probably the guy who has the inside track, and
that's Ben Johnson in Chicago because they're in a really
rough and tough division and no one saw this kind

(01:29:40):
of thing coming. And then go out to the NFC West,
where I mean, quite frankly, you could both look at
Seattle and they're surprised twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:29:53):
And three, and you for sure due to the.

Speaker 2 (01:29:56):
Loss of Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, eight games of brock Per,
the six games of George Kittle.

Speaker 1 (01:30:02):
And an inside track.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
Now at the one seed, you have to look at
Kyle Shanahan too.

Speaker 3 (01:30:07):
That's a lot of names. I just mentioned that's a
lot of names. So what do you think for me?
For my money, Yeah, it'd have to be a Jaguars coach.

Speaker 1 (01:30:17):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:30:18):
And what's fascinating is that didn't even come up till
two weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (01:30:22):
Yeah, at the job he's done. I mean, this is
eleven and four. Who had that on the Bengal calls?

Speaker 2 (01:30:32):
Eleven and four with a point differential, that's that's heading
close to one hundred. They've won six football games in
a row, they're five and two away from home. They've
scored over four hundred points this year. You know how
many teams the NFL can.

Speaker 3 (01:30:48):
Say that, right?

Speaker 2 (01:30:52):
I mean, Rams, Seahawks, Lions, Cowboys.

Speaker 3 (01:30:57):
I mean also for you know, gotta be a co
Coach of the Year award because it's too many, Like
you said, it's too many. I duly think Kyle Shanahan
deserves it, but you know, I also think that, you know,
the new coach up in Seattle deserves it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:18):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:31:19):
I mean, and I don't think the list stops there,
no like, and the reason how does.

Speaker 1 (01:31:24):
Ben Johnson not deserve, right, how does Rabel not deserve?

Speaker 3 (01:31:27):
The reason I leave Mike off the list, Mike Vrabel
is because that was expected, well, in my in my opinion,
they were.

Speaker 1 (01:31:36):
Expected to get better. I don't know about twelve and three.

Speaker 3 (01:31:39):
Yeah, but you knew they were going to be a
better team.

Speaker 1 (01:31:41):
But but beat the Bills.

Speaker 3 (01:31:43):
I get it. But what I'm saying to you is
there was zero expectations in Jacksonville. There was zero expectations
in Seattle.

Speaker 1 (01:31:53):
Yeah, both of them. Sure.

Speaker 3 (01:31:56):
Honestly, if Seattle and Jacksonville didn't make the playoffs this year, would.

Speaker 1 (01:32:00):
We be like, oh my god, No, it's not shocking.
It's not shocking.

Speaker 2 (01:32:04):
But I think that also circumstances need to come into play,
Like if you're going to bring up Kyle Shanahan. The
Niners were expected to get back to who they've always
been under him, right, actually a pretty good team. The
reason people want to talk about him for Coach of
the Year is because of the circumstances that developed in season.

Speaker 3 (01:32:22):
Yeah, he had to do a lot with the little Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:32:24):
I mean, and quite frankly, if he were to win
the award, I hope they cut it in half. And
give half of it to Robert Salah absolutely because they
like he's Actually I know they dealt with Brock Purty,
George Kittle, Ricky Piersoll, But the defense is that lost
both of their best players and for the year, and

(01:32:45):
they've been dealing with all kinds of rookies and ins
and outs. And oh, by the way, their number one
first round draft pick also torn acl and and was
the hope that he would at least help a little
bit for for Nick Bosa's exit.

Speaker 1 (01:33:01):
So no doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (01:33:03):
But they give how deep into the circumstances you want
to go, because Mike Vrabel and Kyle Shanahan are also
coaching teams that were last place teams last year.

Speaker 1 (01:33:10):
Therefore their schedule is a lot easier.

Speaker 2 (01:33:13):
I love what you pointed out earlier about Liam Cohen
and the Jaguars, And look at the list of teams
they've beaten.

Speaker 1 (01:33:20):
It's insane.

Speaker 3 (01:33:21):
No, they've run the gauntlet, and yeah, they've showed up.
They've showed up. Man, you get to you get to
sixteen games, fifteen games and you've only lost.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
Four, yep, And you can boast wins against the Broncos
and the Texans and the Chargers, Yeah, and the forty
nine and the Chiefs, and even I mean the Panthers.
I guess you gotta like that's a division leader.

Speaker 3 (01:33:47):
Yep. So it was not a cake walk. You lose
your the third pick in the draft, right, you'll lose him?
Are the second pick in the draft? What was he?
What was the third or second? You lose the person
that you drafted to come in and help you immediately
on both sides of the ball.

Speaker 1 (01:34:06):
Yep. And the point I didn't even thought about that.

Speaker 3 (01:34:11):
You look at everybody else's rookies. You know, those time
guys are are are are there and performing and and
so just to be able to continue to to perform
and and and and show up like this without that,

(01:34:32):
Hey man, whatever's going on down there? I like it.

Speaker 2 (01:34:35):
Well, I'll tell you one other thing I look for
in a coach that I think kind of puts them
in this conversation, and you're seeing it with Jacksonville, is
take a look at players who look one way under
said coach or a set of coaches, and then all
of a sudden, oh, look how they look under this coach.

(01:34:56):
Look at Mac Jones and how he looks under Kyle Shanahan.
Look at how about Travis Etn who was left for
dead and like, ah, there, you know, we're gonna get
by shell tootin in here and we're gonna move off
of Bigsby and and Etn and Etn is having a
pro Bowl level type year right and Trevor Lawrence looks

(01:35:19):
better than he ever has before.

Speaker 1 (01:35:22):
I still don't know if he's ever gonna be what
you know, what was going to be. Yeah, but like
it's starting to pop a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:35:29):
And to me, that's that's when you really that's the
sign of a great system that's been put in by
a really good coach.

Speaker 1 (01:35:37):
So I like your vote.

Speaker 2 (01:35:39):
I also know that there's about five other guys that
I can't argue with right now, and Ben Johnson and
Kyle Shanahan and Vray Bowl and I mean they're all
they're all on the list. So I actually pull up
the current head coaching Coach of the Year odds and

(01:36:00):
to share those with you.

Speaker 1 (01:36:00):
Next, let's get into those jags.

Speaker 2 (01:36:02):
Let's get into the lion situation as we move through
our final hour, and an update from Steve here in
just over ten minutes with it from Salama, Mark Willard
It's Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (01:36:14):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:36:25):
It's the Fox Sports Radio Studios. That's where we sit.
That's he from Salama, Mark Willard. The Ravens now down
thirteen to ten, The Ravens now up six, now thirteen.
Got to get creative when your quarterbacks out, and they
did end around to Zave Flowers and the Ravens have

(01:36:46):
retaken the lead with four thirty five to go third quarter,
Sunday Night Football in the game with major implications quite
frankly for both teams, maybe more so for Baltimore than
for New England. But this is a big one and
we're heading toward the fourth quarter, so we will keep
you up to date. While we're doing that, I want
to get a little deeper in the Lions. No, they've

(01:37:08):
not been eliminated, but yes they have. That's kind of
the way I look at it. They need two wins,
the Packers need two losses. I'm going to go out
on a limb and say that's not going to happen.

Speaker 3 (01:37:18):
Well, oh, we got to figure out what the quarterback situation, no.

Speaker 2 (01:37:21):
Question in green Bay. In green Bay, that's fair, That's
absolutely fair. Just so we look at that though. What
green Bay has left, they will host these Ravens a
couple of days after Christmas, and then they finish at Minnesota.
Those are the Packers two games left. Meantime, What the

(01:37:42):
Lions have left where they will need a couple of wins,
They are at Minnesota and then at Chicago Week eighteen.
Might be interesting. If Chicago doesn't need that game, how
the Bears would go about playing it if the Lions do. So,
that's among the games that could be flexed for the

(01:38:03):
final Sunday night football game of the year.

Speaker 1 (01:38:04):
We'll see. There's a bunch of them.

Speaker 2 (01:38:07):
But I want to ask you about the Lions because
they're in a rough spot and you have been outspoken
about Dan Campbell all year long, and I've always seen
him as a great culture coach. He came to a
place that needed a new culture and they changed the culture.
But this often happens. Once the culture's been changed, it's like, Okay,

(01:38:30):
now we've got the culture. Now we need to do
the football. And I'm not here to tell you they're
a bad team. Like they're obviously very good. Their offense
is incredibly dynamic, But how'd they get here? How are
they eight and seven? And what do you think?

Speaker 3 (01:38:43):
I'm at a statement a couple weeks ago that some
of the things that he's done consistently are things you
get fired for when you consistently put your team in
harm's way. I don't know if it's ego, I don't
know if it's solely analytics. I mean, Dan Campbell is

(01:39:03):
a person that played in a time where there were
no analytics, so he understands the value of points. He
understands the value of momentum. So in order to change
the culture, You're absolutely right, it has to be drastic
and dramatic, But in order to advance the culture, you

(01:39:28):
have to also now change your train of thought and
how you go about changing or advancing the culture that
you've changed. Great example is one of your teams that
you love. Mark Jackson came in and changed the culture
of the Golden State Warriors.

Speaker 1 (01:39:48):
That's a great example.

Speaker 3 (01:39:50):
They were playing defense. Now, they were locked in, they
were playing team basketball. A young Steph, a young Clay,
a young Draymond. Mark jacks developed those guys change the
culture how they saw the game, and they brought in
Steve Kerr to push the culture forward, and they won

(01:40:10):
a championship the next year. And so when you have
owners come in who don't necessarily come from sports based background,
they come from building billion dollar companies, they'll often say
the CEO, we needed a CEO to get us here,
and then we needed another guy to take us there.

(01:40:33):
I think the Lions are here. Can they get there?
I don't know, But what I do know is Steve
de Seger is coming and that's neither here nor there.

Speaker 6 (01:40:47):
Gentlemen, Hello again. Baltimore is up seventeen thirteen on New
England as we go too late in the third quarter,
and Mark, I do believe you're right. As far as
Pittsburgh Baltimore and who wins the division, it'll probably come
down to common games. What we know is Pittsburgh's already
beaten them once at Baltimore this month, and the season
ends with Pittsburgh hosting Baltimore even a Ravens win, and

(01:41:10):
they are winning.

Speaker 3 (01:41:11):
Right now.

Speaker 6 (01:41:12):
There's still one game back of the Steelers with two
to play, and they have that head to head to
finish the season. It's looking like it's very possible that
they'll split the two games for the season, which means
they'll finish with the same division record, which means the
common games on your schedule is the next tiebreaker your
percentage in that when you're breaking a tie between two

(01:41:32):
clubs within a division. I have read that Baltimore would
advance by virtue of a better record in the common
games play. USA Today pointed out that no matter what
else happens over the next two games, if the Steelers
just finished the sweep with the Ravens, the Steelers secure
the division.

Speaker 3 (01:41:48):
That's that.

Speaker 6 (01:41:50):
You wouldn't believe how many teams are going to be
looking at that Colts game tomorrow night as they host
San Francisco. First off, your reference, Detroit they lost at
home twenty nine, twenty four to two Pittsburgh. That loss
clinches playoff spots for Chicago and San Francisco. New England
blew a chance to clinch its division last week. Tonight,

(01:42:11):
with a win, they would clinch a playoff spot, or
even if they lose tonight, New England would clinch a
playoff spot with a Colts loss tomorrow, and Jacksonville after
a win today clinch is a playoff spot with a
Colts loss tomorrow. The Chargers, after a win today, clinch
a playoff spot with a Colts loss tomorrow. The Bills,

(01:42:32):
who won today would clinch a playoff spot with a
Colts lost tomorrow. All of that, just in the AFC
online is on the line for I know, the Colts
are at home, but a Colts team that has lost
five of six and is having Philip Rivers start at
quarterback again against a Niners team that's won four in
a row and is up to ten and four. That's

(01:42:54):
the Monday night matchup. And for those who didn't hear
us earlier, the Rams had already clinched a playoff spot,
but Seattle this week clinched one in Philadelphia with the
win yesterday clinch the NFC East.

Speaker 1 (01:43:04):
Crown Holiday week.

Speaker 2 (01:43:07):
We like happiness, Why don't we just have that Colts
lost tomorrow?

Speaker 3 (01:43:12):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:43:12):
I mean yeah? I mean the Niners wear red.

Speaker 2 (01:43:17):
They could just be like Santa Claus and just fly
through the nation and give gifts to everybody.

Speaker 1 (01:43:23):
That would be wonderful. Don't you think that.

Speaker 6 (01:43:25):
One defeat would clinch a playoff spot for fourteen fourteen
one fell swooned lot of people. And this is not
the final weekend of the season. This is still with
two games left for everybody.

Speaker 1 (01:43:37):
Yep. Wow.

Speaker 6 (01:43:38):
Late third quarter, it's seventeen thirteen Ravens leading it home
against the Pats because Derrick Henry had an early touchdown run.
He does have a fumble tonight as well. Fourteen carries,
ninety six yards and the score for him. Quarterback Lamar
Jackson left late in the first half with a back injury.
He took a knee to the side. Really a running
back Trevion Henderson of New England left with a concussion.

(01:44:00):
Drake May with an early interception but also a one
yard touchdown pass as well. Zay Flowers on an eighteen
yard run got the Ravens the lead here in the third.
The Pittsburgh win was twenty nine twenty four Detroit, as
the Lions apparent TD on the final play was nullified
by offensive pass interference. Detroit plays on Christmas at Minnesota. Boy,

(01:44:21):
that Christmas lineup looked great when the season started, didn't
It is kind of failing left and right. I mean
they're still gonna get I mean people will find the streaming,
they'll do all of that, but it's not quite what
it was. Let's leave it at that. It's the one
good thing that's happened to the NBA. I feel like
in the last two months is to good point. Oh hey,
maybe that's so good for the NFL. Houston won at

(01:44:42):
seventh in a row, beating Las Vegas twenty three to
twenty one, Atlanta and Carolina with wins. That Panthers victory
was twenty three to twenty against Tampa Bay Road wins
for the Chargers in Buffalo. Jacksonville won at sixth to
eight thirty four to twenty at Denver, ending of Broncos
eleven game win streak. Minnesota won sixth teen thirteen at
the Giants, who've lost nine straight. Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy

(01:45:04):
left with a right hand injury. By the way in Cleveland,
Brown's running back Quinchawn Judkins was carted off with a
broken leg and dislocated ankle. Cincinnati won at Miami forty
five twenty one New Orleans over the Jets twenty nine
to six. Chiefs quarterback Today Gardner Minshew left with a
knee injury. They fear a torn acl Already, quarterback Patrick

(01:45:25):
Mahomes was out with torn knee ligaments. Tennessee beat Kansas
City twenty six to nine. I'll say it out loud,
it's that bad for the Chiefs right now. The Titans
entered with a two to twelve record and had not
won a home game at about a year. They'd lost
eleven straight at home until today. Oh Sandy, excuse me,

(01:45:45):
the Tennessee Titans. I'm looking at the stats. They had
the second worst offense in the league to the Raiders.
So that's how bad things are that a twenty six
to nine final is posted by the Titans. Again, Casey NBA,
we had the highest scoring game in the league so
far this season. Chicago wins at Atlanta one fifty two

(01:46:05):
to one fifty at New York Jalen Brunson forty seven points,
eight assists, no turnovers. Nicks beat Miami one thirty two
to one. Twenty five victories for San Antonio and Minnesota
again Brooklyn as well. The late games. In Sacramento, the
Kings are six and twenty two. They're only down thirty
one to thirty after the first quarter against the Houston Rockets. Meanwhile,

(01:46:27):
at Golden State's Arena, nineteenth rank usc and women's basketball
is leading Cow sixty to fifty seven, and can I
mention two other college basketball results just to close things off.
You may have heard of Hannah Hidalgo in women's basketball
Superstar at twentieth rank Notre Dame. She not only had
another triple double, she achieved it with thirty points, ten assists,

(01:46:50):
and thirteen steals.

Speaker 3 (01:46:52):
Oh darn.

Speaker 6 (01:46:53):
Her team at home beat Bellermine one ten to thirty eight.
And here there's almost seven thousand on hand on campus
at Notre Dame for this game. The losing side had
thirty three turnovers in a forty minute game. There was
men's hoops at Navy today. Attendance was seven hundred and seventy.
Navy beat Rosemont seventy to twenty three. In that game Rosemont, PA.

(01:47:19):
Apparently the visitors had five baskets the entire day, five
for forty If you break it down from three point range,
three for twenty on two pointers, just two for twenty
five baskets, nineteen turnovers, Navy seventy to twenty three over Rosemont,
updating the Baltimore Ravens with the ball and the lead

(01:47:41):
under two minutes to go in the third seventeen thirteen
Ravens over New England.

Speaker 2 (01:47:45):
Back to you, all right, and the Ravens have the
ball because of a fake punt that did not go
well to say the least, So they will take over
already in Patriots territory.

Speaker 1 (01:47:58):
Not deep, but in Patriot it's territory. And as Steve said.

Speaker 2 (01:48:02):
Up by four and time is a wasting What do
you think of a call by Mike brad all right?

Speaker 1 (01:48:10):
So does he move down in the Coach of the
Year vote? Now? Yeah, okay, I told you i'd pull
up the odds. I got him.

Speaker 2 (01:48:17):
Yeah, and you know what, Now this is prior to
today's play, but it's after Thursday's play. Okay, So prior
to today's play. The favorite at plus one point eighty
is Mike Vrabel. Mike Rabel, but he from just said

(01:48:37):
he is now ineligible because he tried to fake a punt.

Speaker 1 (01:48:40):
It didn't work. Yes, surging to.

Speaker 2 (01:48:43):
Number two though, and again this is fresh off of
the Thursday Mike McDonald of the Seattle Seahawks at plus
two twenty. Ben Johnson is number three at plus three fifty.
Nothing is going to change there after last night. Kyle
Anahan is right on his tail at plus four hundred

(01:49:04):
as the fourth choice, and then the fifth choice at
plus one thousand is Liam Cohen.

Speaker 3 (01:49:10):
But again that is prior they didn't take them serious.
They don't take them serious either.

Speaker 2 (01:49:15):
Yeah, that, but that is prior to what is definitely
his most impressive win of the year today.

Speaker 3 (01:49:21):
Yeah, I think changed.

Speaker 1 (01:49:24):
Yeah, that that may change.

Speaker 2 (01:49:25):
And then it's also just funny, like I mean, the
Bears got just they got outplayed all night last night,
They got played outplayed all night last night, and and
and largely against a backup quarterback, and then things tick
their way in the very end, and give them credit,
they made plays, they went in overtime, and everyone's like
this Ben Johnson guy can really coach, and it's like,

(01:49:49):
I mean, but he has. He's done a wonderful He's
done a wonderful, wonderful thing exactly it was supposed to happen,
but not this quick. Again, while I really look for
players who looked one way with someone else who then
suddenly pop, Caleb Williams is another one. Now maybe that's

(01:50:12):
not fair because it's year two, so maybe he's just
coming into the situation. But I think Ben Johnson also
gets some credit for that.

Speaker 3 (01:50:21):
Yeah, I think so. Look, I think what the league
has is a great situation, great coaching, yep, and people
understanding that coaching matters. You can have all the first
round draft picks or at a quarterback, and you can
have all that, but coaching really matters. And I think

(01:50:42):
we're getting to see a large sample size of that
because teams that no one expected to be anywhere they're everywhere.

Speaker 1 (01:50:54):
Yep. And I love that. I love that for the league,
and I love that for these teams. I do too.

Speaker 2 (01:50:59):
But I tried to start warning everybody about this last week.
I want everyone to like, Okay, the Chiefs are not
in it, and you mentioned Joe Burrow.

Speaker 1 (01:51:09):
The Ravens might not be in it.

Speaker 2 (01:51:12):
I know Josh Allen is gonna get this supposed free shot,
but he might need to do so on the road.

Speaker 1 (01:51:20):
Put it this week free. Yeah, Like, I know, everyone's like,
this is so great to get new fresh blood. Don't
get mad.

Speaker 2 (01:51:32):
If the Jacksonville Jaguars are playing the Seattle Seahawks in
the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:51:40):
Don't come crying to me.

Speaker 2 (01:51:41):
And Aphroim is, Oh, it's just so exciting to have
all this new fresh blood. Sometimes that can end up
driving people in the other direction.

Speaker 3 (01:51:53):
Well, we'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:51:55):
Yeah, we're gonna see. We gon' see, We're gonna see,
no question about that. All right, got a few more
minutes on our ledgers, so let's do them. We're in
the Fox Sports Radio studios, and some final thoughts before
we get out of the way.

Speaker 2 (01:52:10):
A plank and span you'd coming up next. That's e
from Salama Mark Willard on Fox Sports Radio. Yeah, next
time I talk to you, it's not gonna be twenty
twenty six, but we're going to be on the other
side of Christmas. So I know I speak for all
of us. Whatever you celebrate last night of hottacat tonight,

(01:52:36):
whatever you celebrate, I hope that this week and this
time of year is just filled with all of the joy,
all of the everything that you're looking for, and the
food and the family and the reflection and all of
the stuff. As we get ready to bring in twenty
twenty six. A quick reminder. With the Heart Radio app,

(01:53:00):
you can stream us wherever you happen to be. You
can catch us catch all the Fox Sports Radio shows
live twenty four to seven. In the new and improved
iHeartRadio app. You search Fox Sports Radio in the app.
You stream us live all day every day, and you
showed to select Fox Sports Radio as one of your
presets in the iHeart app, So it's always going to
pop up right at.

Speaker 1 (01:53:18):
The top of your screen.

Speaker 2 (01:53:23):
Sitting in front of me, my man, I have the
top twelve names on the current MVP of the NFL Award.
Top twelve names current odds. You want to know who's

(01:53:44):
not on here?

Speaker 1 (01:53:45):
Take one.

Speaker 2 (01:53:45):
Guess who I'm thinking of who's not even on here?
And there's a reason I ask it that way because
I know you could be like, well, I could come
up with a lot of names who aren't on there.
But there's somebody who at a certain point this year
was at the top of the list, and now he's
not even on here. Baker Mayfield, You're damn right. What

(01:54:08):
happened to those guys?

Speaker 3 (01:54:09):
I don't know what happened? Man, That was bizarre.

Speaker 1 (01:54:13):
And I know you like injuries.

Speaker 3 (01:54:16):
Well, everybody had injuries.

Speaker 1 (01:54:18):
And a lot of teams had him even worse.

Speaker 3 (01:54:20):
Than them, and it wasn't him who was hurt, so right.

Speaker 1 (01:54:22):
And he did.

Speaker 2 (01:54:23):
He got dgged, he missed the second half of the
Rams game. I know he's fighting his stuff, but his
guys are all back, you know, Mike Evans is back
and Chris Godwin his back, and that was today.

Speaker 1 (01:54:38):
Bucky Irving is back. Like you know.

Speaker 2 (01:54:40):
They they gaped that game away last Thursday against the Falcons.

Speaker 1 (01:54:45):
What happened? Seven and eight? Man?

Speaker 3 (01:54:50):
They at one point they were what seven and one?

Speaker 1 (01:54:54):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:54:55):
Let me look it up. Let me look up. How
many in a row they have lost?

Speaker 1 (01:54:59):
They have? No, they're six of their last seven.

Speaker 3 (01:55:04):
Okay, yeah, seven.

Speaker 2 (01:55:06):
And don't don't six seven me the Cardinals. They beat
the Cardinals back in week thirteen. But outside of that,
it was three losses before that, three losses after that,
and and that's since thereby, since thereby they are one
and six.

Speaker 3 (01:55:25):
Yeah. I don't really know how to I do. I
don't know what happened. But do you want to talk
about a dramatic fall from from grace goodness?

Speaker 1 (01:55:42):
Hmm? You?

Speaker 2 (01:55:47):
How many times since that bye? Baker Mayfield has thrown
for two hundred yards?

Speaker 1 (01:55:51):
How many times? Twice? Oh? No, in seven games? Twice
in seven games.

Speaker 2 (01:55:58):
I didn't make this about like you and I didn't
get a chance to talk about this too much because
it was on a Thursday. But the Todd Bowles press
conference after last Thursday's game week and a half ago
got a lot of attention because you may remember he
he flat out he started blaming players. He's just like,
I don't know what you want the coaches to do.

(01:56:19):
We've done everything we could do, which is always a no.

Speaker 1 (01:56:24):
It's thank you for saying sign.

Speaker 2 (01:56:26):
A lot of people would say it's not a good look,
and I'm like it, maybe it isn't a good look,
but that also doesn't make him wrong. And yeah, you
wonder what's something is really really off?

Speaker 3 (01:56:40):
Yeah, and I don't think they have the answers to
it currently obviously. You know, does that mean Carolina is
winning a division?

Speaker 1 (01:56:52):
They might? They might.

Speaker 2 (01:56:54):
They got to play each other again in two weeks.
Got to play each other again in two weeks, and
the game that Carolina plays in between is against the Seahawks.
So that's difficult.

Speaker 3 (01:57:06):
It ain't getting easy.

Speaker 2 (01:57:07):
That's difficult. It's not at Seattle. But yeah, Carolina is
driver's seat, but not clinched.

Speaker 3 (01:57:16):
Well with that team. You it wouldn't surprise me if
like that. They've been like that all year where they
just pop up me like, who the hell is this team?

Speaker 1 (01:57:24):
Well, look what they did to the Rams. Ye Rams.

Speaker 2 (01:57:27):
Of all four games this year, you could argue that
three of them were against really good teams and fluky Philly, Niners, Seahawks,
all very close and all had bad breaks involved in them.
The one time they just flat out got outplayed was
against the Panthers for whatever reason.

Speaker 3 (01:57:50):
Yeah, they are. That's an anomaly.

Speaker 1 (01:57:52):
It's a weird team.

Speaker 3 (01:57:54):
It's very weird, but also scary.

Speaker 1 (01:57:57):
Sure they can be.

Speaker 3 (01:57:58):
Who wants to say ye up for We don't. We're
not quite sure what's coming.

Speaker 2 (01:58:03):
M Yeah, the five, the five seed in the NFC,
if it ends up at Carolina, will probably be favored.

Speaker 1 (01:58:12):
But you're right, Yeah, it's scary.

Speaker 3 (01:58:14):
Well look man, happy Uh, Chris Mahanna Quantica.

Speaker 1 (01:58:18):
Thank you to you as well. Chris Mahanna Quantica.

Speaker 3 (01:58:21):
I got that to Brie and Steve and Disco, Mary
and everybody else and everybody the whole crew.

Speaker 4 (01:58:31):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:58:31):
Happy holidays, Enjoy your families. We love being here entertaining you,
and we'll see you on the other side.

Speaker 1 (01:58:40):
Amen to all of that, and touchdown Patriots

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