Mark Willard & Ephraim Salaam React Live to Steelers/Ravens, Morris Firing & Set the Playoff Table!

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, okay, let's let's just get it.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Let's get straight to it, because we're broadcasting live from
the Fox Sports Radio studios.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
But tonight's to night. Tonight's tonight.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Tonight's the night that the playoffs are all set.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
We got one more spot that we need to hand out.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
We're gonna do that at least a large part of
it over the next three hours. But there's a tradition
around these parts because by the end of tonight, we're
gonna be down to fourteen teams that actually have a
chance to do what my guy once upon a time did.
Let's go back to the eighth from Salam rookie year,

(00:41):
and let's start the NFL playoffs the correct way. Please,
if you please, and right.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Jacko from San Diego State, number seventy four, eight from Salam.
The best part of that is not the Pat Summer
all part.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
It's the it's the it's the live mics of the
guys down on the field.

Speaker 4 (01:06):
Is that is that you or no, that's not me.

Speaker 5 (01:09):
I was trying not to fall down running out of
the tunnel because I couldn't believe that I was starting
in the Super Bowl like that. I mean, bro, look,
let me tell you this, do it. There hasn't been
a moment outside of watching my two boys being born.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
This is the real thing that.

Speaker 5 (01:34):
I I felt. It literally felt like an odd of
body experience because three and sixty five days prior, I
was at San Diego State and the Super Bowl was
being played in the stadium that I played my whole
college career in, and I was standing on my balcony

(01:58):
looking at the fireworks for the Super Bowl and just
dreaming of hopefully number one getting drafted and number two
getting an opportunity to play in a Super Bowl somehow.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Or even just to be in the league.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Just like I just wanted to get drafted.

Speaker 5 (02:19):
I wanted to be on a team and if all
of that went well, to be able to say that
I've played and or I was at a super Bowl.
And literally one year later that happened with Pat Summer
All introduced the starting lineup, and I happened to be
the starting right tackle at the time. And so when

(02:40):
I was running out of the tunnel, my legs went numb,
Like seriously, my legs went numb, and I couldn't even
it was so surreal.

Speaker 4 (02:52):
I was like, please don't fall.

Speaker 5 (02:54):
I just remember running out going please don't fall, Please
don't fall, Please don't fall, and getting to everybody, everybody
you know. Of course we're all excited and all of that.
And that's before teams started coming out as a team.
We don't want to be individually introduced. We want to
come out as a team. No, introduce me.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (03:13):
I was a seventh round draft pick. That was a
big deal for me. Exactly a huge deal for me
from salam San Diego State University. Let the world know, man,
I'm sure people were watching that.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Like what yeah, who?

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Uh so the Super Bowl that you watched from your balcony.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, was that the Grooden Bowl? It was no, no,
it was the Raiders and Bucks. No, no, no, in Diego.

Speaker 5 (03:39):
Yeah, but it was Green Bay and uh who was.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Green Bay and Denver?

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Oh okay, okay, okay, I'm getting my years all mixed up, man.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
That's that's that's cool.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
So, I mean that's about to happen here to the
next and we have one more spot to hand out.
We're going to get that started here in about fifteen minutes.
Ravens and Steelers and The whole thing is just dripping
with all of the television characters you could possibly want.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Is Mike Tomlin going to be on TV next year?
John Harbaugh? Is he going to get him back in
Lamar Jackson? What's the story there? Is this Aaron rod
I mean, hell, this could be. I don't think it is,
but it could be Aaron Rodgers' last game. It could
also And one of these, by the way, is hosting

(04:38):
a playoff game next week, which I know we need
to talk about this. We need to talk about it
because but that's story one. Okay, that's option A is
we are going to be basically doing what we like
to call our Sunday night watch party Ravens and Steelers

(04:59):
and all of the television characters that will be involved, and.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
So that's that's fun.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
The other thing, though, is you and I get to
be the very first people to really hack away at
the NFC structure which has now come in to focus.
And all three teams that were maneuvering Seeds today, boy,
they all flirted with some sort of form of I
don't know if I want to call it disaster, but
every single one of them flirted with do we want

(05:26):
this seed? Maybe we don't want this seed, and they
messed around with a little bit. The Rams were trailing
in the second half. What the hell's going on there?
But then in the end it all sort of fell
exactly as most would predict it. The Bears are the two,
the eagles of the three, The Rams are the five,

(05:48):
go ahead and slot the Packers the forty nine ers
because of the earlier Falcons win. The Panthers will be
the four. We know as of last night, the Seahawks
are the one. So give me your first sort of
like hello to that structure, and then we need to
go through the three matchups that are now set for

(06:10):
us that are going to be played out next weekend.

Speaker 5 (06:13):
Yeah, I mean it's very it's exciting, I would say,
to come into, you know, coming to the final weekend
of the season and they're actually be you know, skinning
the game, things to play for on a myriad of levels,

(06:33):
most of the times one or two decisions that need
to be made, but coming into coming into you know,
this season, the final game, it was kind of cool
to see, you know, Okay, what are you guys gonna do?
Who's who's getting ready who's stepping up. A lot of

(06:54):
teams rested a lot of players and still went out
there and played extremely well. Uh it's exciting, Number one,
super exciting. I think this is what we've been waiting for.
I think, uh, the league shook out the way we're
supposed to shake out in terms of just tracking every

(07:15):
team all all week and I mean, excuse me, all
year and now we get to see the The only
thing is, as I was watching.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
Yesterday, I was watching, you know, Tampa.

Speaker 5 (07:37):
Bay, and I'm just like, Hugh, we're watching Tampa Bay
and Carolina. I'm literally like, like that that is watching
that game. Those were the sounds that I was making

(07:59):
be because it just felt gross.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
It was gross. We can talk about this right now.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
You have a division where all four teams have a
negative point differential, all four teams have more losses than wins,
and we are handing one of those teams the four seed.
This is a time honored thing, which is complaining about
the worst division winner.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
I threw this actual.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
Last week and now because it's reality, because all of
these teams ended up at eight to nine, I really
want to throw it at you again. I have no
problem with the Panthers being in the playoffs, but they
should be the seventh seed. That's the way I would
do it, and I don't need you. I know some
people won't go let's just go straight records. That I

(08:49):
do think gets a little tough because everyone's playing a
different schedule. That's like comparing the SEC to the Big
Ten and saying that they're all the same, and they're not.
So I don't have a problem with your division winner
getting into the playoffs, and actually don't even necessarily have
a problem with the seeding going the way that it does,

(09:10):
except for I would like one waiver.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
You have to have a winning record. I agree with that.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
If you don't win more games than you lose, you
automatically bottom.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
You're seven. You're seven.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
And so that's what especially in an NFC that is
boasting a division where there are three teams with twelve
wins or better, I am moving those teams up for
goodness sake. And so to me, this is the Rams
are the four, and the forty nine Ers are the five,
and the Packers are the six, and the Panthers are

(09:47):
the seven, and that that is that's what I would do.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
That's what I would do.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
Yeah, I think you got to earn that. Now they must.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
Some may say they earned it because they've they've won
their division, but when your division and is that bad,
and you know, I know Atlanta is kicking themselves because
they gotta be kicking themselves because they had an opportunity.
And you look back at their you know, their their
season and their losses one game, yep, one game, you know,

(10:18):
and look at Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay started six and two.
Baker was going to be the MVP six and two. Yeah,
I want to talk about a complete collapse. The Carolina
Panthers couldn't win two games in a row yep. The
entire season, one lost, one loss, one all the way down.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
The Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Prior to this win streak, first of all, on Sunday,
November thirtieth.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
They lost to the New York Jets.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Two and three weeks prior to that, they lost back
to back overtime games to the Colts and Panthers, And
that Panthers loss became definitive on two fronts. A, it's
what keeps the Falcons out. B it's what sort of
led to this three way tie structure that Carolina wins

(11:15):
and that's why Carolina wins it because their collective record
between the three teams is three and one, while the
Bucks and Falcons are less than two and two and
one in three and so two overtime games. And don't
forget the week before the two overtime games. On Sunday,
November two, the Atlanta Falcons loss to the New England

(11:37):
Patriots by one point, twenty four to twenty three in
a game where they had tons of opportunities.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
So that was their month of November.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
One point loss to New England, then back to back
overtime losses, followed by a win in New Orleans and
then a loss at the Jets.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
That was November. Man, that's four invitations. To win.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
Just one of those four losses and they would be, uh,
the playoffs would be at their dome next weekend if
they had.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Yeah, it's and they had hit a stride too.

Speaker 5 (12:16):
They had been playing extremely well coming down the stretch
and you know, defensively, offensively, talent everywhere.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
And now you're at home.

Speaker 5 (12:26):
Tampa Bay should be a shaming themselves. It's just it's
hard to see. It's hard to watch. Now they get
to host a game and we have to watch it.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
We do now they host the Rams. They just did
this four weeks ago and they beat them.

Speaker 5 (12:46):
Yeah, but I can yeah, but that's yeah, that's that
sounds great.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yep yep.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Although I mean, look, I boy, here's something we should
play with. Of everybody in the NFC who's playing next weekend,
because Seattle's not playing next weekend, you tell me of
the six teams playing next weekend, who looks like they've
got their fastball right now?

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Man?

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Right, It doesn't mean that they're not good, but I mean,
who looks like they're playing their best ball?

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Now?

Speaker 4 (13:37):
I think that's the problem.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
I think I think your answer is correct, by the way, I.

Speaker 5 (13:41):
Think the correct on something, because I was wondering. I was,
I literally was wondering, like, okay, playoffs are getting ready
to start. Humh what what has happened to make me

(14:01):
lean either way? Right in terms of who's who's going
to to be what? So when you look at the
NFC pitcher, like you said, right, Seahawks are at home,
they've earned it. Shout out to Sam Donald, they've earned it.
And then you got we get the Packers and the

(14:21):
Bears again.

Speaker 4 (14:25):
And those have been I mean those and I think
that's a treat.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
It is, but the last time either one of them
won a football game is when they were forced to
win a football game because they.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Were playing each other. Yeah, but anyway, go ahead.

Speaker 5 (14:38):
So that's that's a treat. That's a rivalry. It's it's chippy,
it gets ugly. Okay, shout out to Ben Johnson and
and and the Bears. And then you have San Francisco
and the Eagles. What what are we going to see here?

Speaker 2 (14:54):
What are we gonna see?

Speaker 4 (14:58):
I don't know what what what is happening right now?

Speaker 2 (15:02):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (15:03):
All these teams have looked less than stellar coming down
down the stretch. Now, San Francisco was on a bit
of a winning streak since Brock Party came back.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yes, And.

Speaker 5 (15:16):
I mean, I don't know if you had this somewhere
later in the rundown, maybe we can talk about this
after the break. But I wanted to talk to you
about that game yesterday.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
I mean definitely should so.

Speaker 5 (15:28):
Much was on the line. And I know that that's
your squad, that's my squad, Bang bang NYK.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
Right they got three points from man. I know, well,
I thought I thought there was a little we could
talk about let's just do it, because the rundown is
whatever the hell we want to do.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
So, like.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
I thought, Kyle Shanahan last night after the game, gave
everybody just a little clue, just a little one, a
little clue as to how everyone should be feeling about
that team and its chances. And what I don't know

(16:12):
is if he only meant it for last night or
if he means it going forward to And I'll let
you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
Here coming up next.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
But yes, well, like I want to throw out what
the spreads are out on these NFC games, I want
to know what you think in terms of who's going
to do what and all of that, the Rams and
Panthers and the Bears and Packers and the Niners and Eagles.
And we do have some AFC matchups set as well.
The Bills will play the Jags, the Chargers are going
to play the Patriots, and then we're watching tonight whoever's

(16:42):
going to host the Texans next week. And the Broncos
are like the Seahawks, they've earned the bye at fourteen
and three. So we're off and running and thrilled to
be here with you tonight. That is eat from Salam.
I'm Mark Willard and this is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 6 (17:00):
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Speaker 7 (17:12):
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Speaker 8 (17:14):
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Speaker 7 (17:32):
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Speaker 3 (17:45):
Okay, everything's coming into focus, Ravens have the ball first.
We'll keep you up to date. We're live in the
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(18:08):
you like and even whose takes you don't like.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
But I don't understand why that would ever happen.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Anyway, Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and subscribe. Okay,
so you asked about that nine er Seahawks.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
Game last night.

Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yeah, let's talk about it.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
I thought before you start go for it, I ask
you a question, of course.

Speaker 4 (18:34):
Can was it hard to watch for YouTube?

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Oh? Yeah?

Speaker 9 (18:37):
Okay, oh yeah, oh god?

Speaker 4 (18:41):
Yeah. I mean this is one of those games.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
And as a sports radio host in San Francisco, I
hate games like this because what will happen tomorrow I
can already tell you because I know our fan base
and I know how this. The whole thing will play
is the fan base will start to get into an
argument over which side of the ball was worse, and
what invariably happens is people will simply take the result,

(19:09):
not the process.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Because I'm a processed guy.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
They're going to take the result and they're going to
cherry pick and go with that, and they will say
things like, well, the defense held Seattle to thirteen, so
this is on mister genius Kyle and pretty boy Brock
and their failures as an offense. And then I will

(19:37):
have to put my dukes up because what I will
say is, well, you're not wrong that it wasn't a
good night for Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purty. But that's
Kyle Shanahan, who three hours ago you thought was coach
of the Year, and now you've decided as a fraud.

(19:58):
And also you're gonna leave the way that Seattle's offense
completely controlled the time of possession the entire game thirty
seven minutes forty eight seconds to twenty two to twelve. Yep, okay,
they controlled every single thing out there. The thirteen points
thing is totally fake because they missed two field goals

(20:18):
and went forward on fourth and goal for no reason
only Mike McDonald and god know why they hell the
Seahawks did that on the opening drive. I was thinking
of you when they down eight minutes with the ball
all the way down the.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Field to get a zero nothing geez, just stupidity.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
So that right, that's at minimum call it like ten
points right there. And to me, the most demoralizing signature
play of the season is after the Seahawks fumbled and
the Niners didn't pick it up. It's third and seventeen
and Sam just does a give up toss to Kenneth Walker,
and he runs for nineteen in the second half and

(20:57):
possessed the ball again, and therefore the Niners couldn't get
off the field. Now, so that that's like I thought,
Seattle dominated the Niners on both sides for what ended
up being, as you put it, a pretty boring football game,
a sit on your hands type night. And so the

(21:19):
clue that I thought Kyle gave after the game in
the postgame press conference, he's talking about the lack of
time that brock Perty had to conduct the offense, and
he sort of said he goes, which we sort of
figured was going to be the case, and that sentence,

(21:40):
to me, was key because he also, if you noticed,
barely ran the ball.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
In the first half.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Both of those, to me were clues that Kyle Shanahan
knew the forty nine ers from a personnel standpoint, were
in no shape to compete.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
To compete, not on this night, now, I don't know
about other nights.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
Trent Williams was not active, and Ricky piersall their best separator,
was not active. And this is not a complain about personnel.
This is just me saying I thought Kyle signaled to everybody.
We knew that on offense, we were outmanned, and and
we tried and it didn't work. Touchdown Ravens, by the way,

(22:27):
fourth and three straight down the scene there you go,
Lamar Jackson to Devontes Walker and it is six nothing Ravens.

Speaker 4 (22:37):
To talk about that game, you're you're right.

Speaker 5 (22:39):
And the thing, the thing I took away from that
game was I said, Wow, I like the forty nine ers.
I like brock Party. I liked how they overcame adversity
the entire year. It's a great story. I think I
felt a little let down when you had so much

(23:02):
writing on the game, like you literally could have made
You could have given yourself the biggest advantage I think
any team has ever had going into the Super Bowl.
You could have given you yourself that advantage in one
game sixty minutes and to come out like you said,

(23:30):
and you noticed, like, yeah, I don't think we can compete,
because that's what it felt like. You're absolutely spot on
in your assessment. And it just the fact that defensively
they couldn't stop anything. See how I had twenty three
first downs, what they rushed for almost two hundred yards,

(23:56):
almost four hundred yards of total offense. Yeah, I mean
that it's a juggernaut and going into the playoffs and
you've given up the number one seed to a team
that man handled you. It makes me scared for myself
because I don't want to be man handled, because I

(24:18):
need to throw it over to Steve the Seger. He's
glaring at me with those eyes and he did a
you know, a pound his fist into his open hand
at me if I didn't throw it to.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Him right back her eyes.

Speaker 10 (24:32):
I've always said that of asking, yeah, can you tell
We're on the air on a Sunday night and Derek
Hendry Terrick Henry's already done something good. You mentioned it's
already a first possession touchdown for the Baltimore Ravens. This
is the final regular season game of the NFL season.
Ravens leads seven to nothing in the opening minutes at Pittsburgh.
The winner will host the Texans and the playoffs next

(24:53):
weekend in a wild card game. Derick Henry got credit
for a forty one yard run down the sideline on
the first play of the night. They did call a
teammate's eight flowers downfield with an illegal blockdownfield, which the
ref and the booth disagreed with, but eventually a TD
on the drive. And that's a start on the road
for the Baltimore Ravens, who are eight and eight this year.

(25:14):
The Steelers are nine and seven. The Detroit Lions won
at Chicago today nineteen sixteen. The Bears do still get
the two seed in the NFC because Philadelphia lost at
home to Washington twenty four to seventeen. Chicago's playoff opener,
it'll host Green Bay. The Eagles will host the forty
nine Ers next weekend. The Rams moved up to the

(25:36):
five seeds, so they'll play at Carolina. Rams beat the
Cardinals thirty seven to twenty. Matthew Stafford four TV passes
Carolina's in the playoffs after winning a three way tiebreaker
at the NFC South. We'll get to that in other
divisions in a minute. In the AFC, the one seed Denver,
they have a buy next weekend. Broncos beat a Chargers
team resting starters nineteen to three. Why is Denver the

(26:00):
one seed, you ask, and not the Patriots they finished
with the same record fourteen and three. Denver won a
tiebreaker based on common games the Patriots, this has been
talked about. Didn't have much of a schedule this year.
Their opener was against the Raiders and the Patriots lost it.
Denver beat the Raiders twice this year. Denver is off

(26:21):
next weekend. The Patriots won at home against Miami thirty
eight to ten. Pats of the two seed. They'll be
hosting the Chargers. Buffalo with a home win thirty five
eight over the Jets, we assume final home game in
that stadium that they've had for over fifty years. The
new stadium being built next door due to open next year.
Bills opened the playoffs at Jacksonville. By the way, Buffalo

(26:43):
is the sixth seed because they lost to five seed
Houston in November. Head to head, both finished twelve and five.
It's Houston that's going to play the winner of this
game in Pittsburgh tonight. And the Raiders did win, of course,
they had already secured the number one overall draft choice
when the Giants won again thirty four to seven over Dallas.
Raiders were fourteen to twelve winners against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
No.

Speaker 10 (27:05):
That was not nationally televised. Jacksonville has won eight in
a row after beating Tennessee forty one to seven Trevor
Lawrence three TD passes that clinch Jacksonville the AFC South title.
Houston won its ninth straight game, thirty eight to thirty
over Indianapolis, which finished with seven straight losses. Cleveland a
twenty to eighteen victory at Cincinnati out of forty nine

(27:26):
yard field goal final play. Minnesota end of the year
winning five straight, beating Green Bay, which was already locked
into the seven seed, sixteen to three vikings. Clayton Toon
was the quarterback for the Packers today. Offense was out
of tune green Bay in the first quarter two yards
net for the game. This is fifty plays on offense
one hundred and twenty one yards eight punts for the Packers.

(27:49):
Atlanta won its fourth straight nineteen seventeen over New Orleans.
That Falcons decision. The win gave Carolina the division Tampa
Bay eliminated. Yesterday, a Bay defeated Carolina to stay alive
for a bit. Seattle won at seventh in a row,
clinching the one seed in the NFC with that thirteen
to three win at San Francisco. NBA Minnesota got thirty

(28:11):
five points from Anthony Edwards and won at Washington one
forty one to one fifteen n AHL Panthers a two
to one winner against the Avalanche. As far as divisions,
this from stats inc. The four teams in the AFC
West today combined did not score a touchdown on offense.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
Whoa.

Speaker 10 (28:33):
It is only the second time in the history of
the NFL that every team in one division was in
action on a given day and not one of them
scored an offensive touchdown.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Wow.

Speaker 10 (28:43):
Now, granted this is the last day of the season.
Even more amazing. The only other time it happened, the
AFC East had five teams nineteen eighty eight and only
got field goals, all of them on the same day. Meanwhile,
the NFC West is the first division with three different
teams with at least twelve victories added up, and they

(29:04):
have one of the best records of any division in
the last decade. And then there's the NFC South. Well,
let's compare the Bears Division to the NFC South, shall we,
Because well, every team finished above five hundred in the
Bears Division, including the Minnesota win today the Detroit win today,
they finished nine and eight. Nobody finished even at the

(29:27):
five hundred mark in the NFC South, as I mentioned,
it's a three way tie between eight and nine teams.
One of them is going to get to host a
playoff game. Second time, every team in a division had
finished with a better record than the first place team
in some other division. Three years ago, Washington was a
five hundred club. They earned a fourth place in the

(29:49):
NFC East, but that year that was better than eight
and nine Tampa Bay, which was a division champion. Back
to you.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
NFC South, right, like, yeah, they have been on a
tremendous run for a number of years now. That's wild
and uh yeah, not only I know.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
For those in the analytics family.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
Yeah, all of those NFC North teams had a positive
point differential too, So everybody one more than they lost.
Everybody outscored their opponents, and the opposite is true in
the NFC South.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Panthers hosting the Rams next week mayn good.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
Yay, can't wait?

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Did you look at the numbers yet for the spreads?

Speaker 4 (30:41):
Oh no, no, no, you want you want to guess?

Speaker 3 (30:43):
I have some fun fire away Rams at Panthers. What
do you think the number is?

Speaker 4 (30:48):
I think it's Rams by four.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
Keep going four and a half keep going.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Oh ten, thank you. Wow, that was a hell of
a jump from four and a half to ten.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
As you nailed.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
I thought, you know, we might go to six, and
I thought the segment would take longer, But no, we're there. Ten,
ten point favorite on the road in the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
Yeah, I mean, this is a good story this year.
But yeah, yeah, it's it's a different animal.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
The Eagles are three point favorites over the Niners, kind
of that stock home field field goal. The Bears are
a one point favorite over the Packers, The Bills are
a road one point favorite over the Jags, and the
Patriots get the stock three point home field advantage against

(31:48):
the Chargers.

Speaker 4 (31:49):
Resident super producer Lee.

Speaker 11 (31:56):
Hi Lee, Hey, hey guys, draftings, Icy, Packers, point and
a half.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
Yeah, I'm not sorry, I'm I'm on it. And these
are they're they're all moving fast.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
By the way. These are the initial numbers.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
And then here comes all the money and stuff starts
moving around. But yes, point point and a half right
around and there for Bears, Packers.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 5 (32:24):
Outside of the Rams, uh, Panthers, it's gonna be pretty good,
coin flips, it's gonna be good football.

Speaker 4 (32:37):
That that game.

Speaker 5 (32:38):
It just it bothers me. And this is taking an
account that they just beat the Rams not too long ago.
But I can promise you they will be facing a
different RAMS team come next week.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
One would think, although all add that, you know, I
mean that that Rams team that lost there a few
weeks ago had DeVante Adams and maybe this one won't.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
I don't know if it matters.

Speaker 5 (33:03):
Yeah, I think I don't think it matters, but I
think Davonte will be available for that game. Matthew Stafford today,
I think he went out there and he was going
it was like, all right, let me let me just
do something really fast, let me.

Speaker 4 (33:20):
Solidify the m v P.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
I think he probably did, Yeah, let me let me.

Speaker 5 (33:27):
Go out here and go ahead, put that thing away.
With four touchdowns, I think there's that's eight multiple touchdown
games this this uh this year or something crazy like that.

Speaker 4 (33:42):
And he played. He played great.

Speaker 5 (33:43):
I mean, he played like Matthew Stafford and so, and
he wanted to make sure his guy uh Puka got
the receiving.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
Record as well.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
The funny part was in that game, the two top
past catchers in the league this year were going against
each other. Trey McBride for Arizona who had seven and
Pooka Coua who had ten. And I think Pooka won

(34:15):
by three Pooker three receptions.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
And Pooka also passed Randy Moss today.

Speaker 4 (34:23):
How about that second.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
Most receiving yards for three years of a career now
in history past Randy Moss is only shy of Justin
Jefferson fifth round draft pick Pookakua.

Speaker 5 (34:39):
And you got to remember, nobody even he missed so
many games last year.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
He I mean, yeah, he, I mean he plays in
such a way. He's he's uh, he's Deebo Reborn. Yes
he's better, he's better than Deebo. But my point is
is like he just does not know how to avoid contact.
He's phenomenal with it. But you can go ahead and
just mark Pooka down for a game or two a
year where you're like, yep, I ran my head into

(35:05):
a wall, so I'll miss, we'll miss next.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Week, we'll be back to We'll be back that. Yeah,
that's just I can that's Pooka.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
And I'm also this is not any sort of a criticism,
but I'm gonna go ahead and mark Pooka down for
like you not playing when you're thirty four anymore like Pooka.
That's a he not gonna win the Longevity Awards.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
That's not not unless he changes right. He's playing dramatically totally.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
All right.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
We're live in the Fox Sports Radio studios and h
and just getting started. We have got our three things
that I'm so excited about tonight are three top observations
around the league and everything that's going on coming up
at six Pacific, nine Eastern.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
So that's coming up in a little bit over fifteen minutes.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
But I do want to hear a little bit more
about breaking down some of these matchups that.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
We now know.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
All but one we now know. We just don't know
where Houston's going. Are they going to Pittsburgh or are
they going to Baltimore. We'll find that out over the
next few hours with e from Salama Mark Willard.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
It's Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Fuck up, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
So it's the Fox Sports Radio studios. That's where we sit.
Ravens seven Steelers, Nutting Steelers, got the ball. They're at
their own twenty five, starting their second drive of the night,
just under five to go first quarter. Keep you up
to date to Sega in ten minutes. Couple things I
want to throw out there that are just fun. And
then we got three things coming up at the top

(36:40):
of the hour. Number one, Ephram will know you'll know
the answer to this. What was the show that told
everybody when the Ravens were one and five, chill, they
might still win the division?

Speaker 2 (36:55):
What was that show?

Speaker 4 (36:56):
There was a show that kept saying that, Yeah, it
was this one.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
Old rats. I forgot, that's right, it was us.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
I wanted to take a moment, you know, to pat
the two of us on the back. I don't know
if they're gonna win tonight, but here we are. Here,
we are here, we are with literally the division championship
on the line for a team that was one and
five and lost a bunch of Lamar in the process too.

(37:25):
And even when he was playing, he didn't look like Lamar, No,
not at all, you know, So I don't know, like
there's something, you know whatever. Somebody will win nine or
ten games in this division that's a little different than
the NFC South. And we get the resumes of these
quarterbacks in this game and all of that, but at the.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
Same time, let's not forget to say this division sucks too. Yeah,
let's let's not let's not overly romanticize.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
They don't escape, they don't get to escape. We feel
the same about this AFC division.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
The other little quirky observation I had off of some
of the things that happened today, and I think these
things are important, not for now, but they are down
the road. So check what Disager just said to us
a few minutes ago about how the entire NFC North

(38:27):
is better than the entire NFC South all winning records.
If you ask most people today, like, hey, do you
think the Detroit Lions are still like that's a good team,
that's a dangerous team. Most people would agree with that,
right yeah, Okay, you know what they get next year?

Speaker 12 (38:50):
Terrible record, last place walk schedule, a last place schedule
and if you want to play this super like blue
sky deal for the San Francisco forty nine ers who
got a.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
Fourth place schedule this year, and it had a lot
to do with their sparkly record, they lost last night.
That's not good. But guess what they get now. They
get a third place schedule, twelve and five in theory,
healthy returning players, and a third place schedule.

Speaker 4 (39:32):
Right yeah, I mean, that's kind of funny.

Speaker 5 (39:38):
They got an opportunity to just keep this thing rolling
when this was, you know, essentially supposed to be a
down year, you know, coming off last year, everybody was like, well,
I don't know, you know, I've once they start losing players,
I still had confidence in them, and we talked about
it weekly because number one is su you're coaching, yes,

(40:01):
flat out dynamic coaching.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (40:04):
And number two the schedule. Strength of schedule yep. And
so they didn't have to do a lot of heavy lifting.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
Uh. They did not.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
And sometimes those things work out like they look on paper.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
You know.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
For instance, I remember in the Niner, schedule comes out
and it's like, oh, we got that late game against
the Bears, that'll be easy, and then you're like, oh,
turns turns out they're good. So wait a minute, yeah right,
and even you know, oh, two games against Seattle whatever, ooh,
actually turns out they're the best team. So but you're
you're not wrong and that'll help next year. Three things

(40:38):
coming up. Next, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio radio
Tyler Luke from forty yards just inside the left up right.
That's good, and the Ravens lead is double digits ten
nothing Ravens second quarter. In the winner take all AFC

(40:59):
North battle that is ongoing here on Sunday Night Football.
The winner gets well, quite frankly, in my opinion, the
best defense in football to show up next week. Apologies
to the Seattle Seahawks. I know they're the flavor of
the day, but the Seahawks and the Texans, to me,
those are the two defenses that are potential game changers.

(41:23):
And the winner of this one tonight will get to
see one hell of a pass rush coming up next week,
so that'd be really interesting. It's Mark Willerty from Salam
We're broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios, and
you know exactly what we do at this hour every
single week. We dive right in to three things, our

(41:45):
top three observations of the entire week.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
We can do more than just today. We can go
back to what's happened.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
Earlier in the week, and Ephrom usually finishes us off
with something outside of the realm of the NFL.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
So let's ride.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Let's do it things as always, I'll go first, so
you can go last.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
All right. I have a one two punch that's related
to Miles Garrett. Okay, to lead us off number.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
One, I want to point out what I found to
be just a brilliant piece of marketing by the Jordan Brand.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Did you see this today?

Speaker 4 (42:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (42:23):
This is just awesome. This is intuitive, this is risk taking,
and this is having it all pay off. As the
Jordan Brand jumped on Miles Garrett and assumed that he
would get his twenty third sack, he did. Now that
becomes an iconic number for a different reason than it

(42:45):
already was twenty three for obvious reasons. And the Jordan
Brand signs Miles Garrett to a deal and announces it
right after the sack happens, and I was just like,
Bravo marketing to you did the damn thing. That was
really good. That stuck in my mind. That's the job

(43:06):
of a marketer. So good job there. Here's the downside.
Miles is so amazing and what an incredible season. He
did it in way fewer snaps than TJ. Watt and
Michael Strahan did. So this is this is the best
season of defensive lineman has ever had. I hate that

(43:27):
Miles Garrett's signature moment in his career.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Is this a statistical achievement?

Speaker 3 (43:36):
It is a large one, don't get me wrong, But
I still wish that Miles Garrett had left the Browns.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, I just do.

Speaker 3 (43:46):
And you know, I want Miles to want what Miles wants,
and so if that's where he wants to be, great,
But I do wonder, for example, what the great Joe
Thomas would say to Miles run right. It's just like
the one of the greatest left tackles the game has
ever known.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
And his record in the playoffs is zero and.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
Zero and believable talent, just an incredible talent, and Miles
is no different. And that organization is at the forefront
every year of mismanagement. And I would love to see
Miles Garrett play football games that matter. And so today
was a celebration, but for me, it also felt a
little empty because I just don't know.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
If we're ever going to see it.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
I don't know if Miles Garrett is ever going to
play a football game that matters.

Speaker 5 (44:35):
Yeah, I mean history would would tell you no. Because
the Cleveland Browns, not since ever or not since Jim Brown,
have they gotten it together, good lord and been a
force in the league. And that was because they had

(44:57):
the greatest running back the NFL had ever seen, and
they were like, what's happening here? They're just not well run.
And I'm anxiously anticipating them messing up this offseason. Yep,
like the quarterback puts it everything. I'm I just I
know they're going to mess it up, and I'm anxiously

(45:20):
waiting to see just how they'll be messing it up,
because you know it's coming.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Oh for sure, it's coming.

Speaker 4 (45:27):
You know it's coming.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
For sure, it's coming.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
And some of these teams, you know, we were just
talking during the break about the Jets. They became the
first team in NFL history to not record an interception.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
The entire year.

Speaker 4 (45:40):
Yeah, for.

Speaker 3 (45:42):
Oh god, it's incredible how bad some of these teams
can be and it.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
Still doesn't get them where they need to be in
the draft, Like Cleveland deal, five teams are ahead of them.
It's like, dude, you guys don't even you're not even
good at sucking.

Speaker 5 (46:00):
That's a good job, that's good job, Raiders. That's a
funny part. You're not even good at sucking.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
You're not even good at sucking. So anyway, that was
my number one.

Speaker 5 (46:09):
My number one is the Jaguars. I have been hypercritical
of them. Last last week I started to give them
a little bit of love because it just seemed like, huh,
this isn't the team that we were unsure about all season,

(46:29):
and shout out to them for you know, in a
tough division.

Speaker 4 (46:37):
I mean, I think they're on the seven eight game
win streak.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
Finished with eight in a row and the Texans finished
with nine in a row.

Speaker 5 (46:44):
So going into the playoffs, we were saying, we're not
quite sure who wants to do what and who wants
to be what. I can tell you what. The Jacksonville
Jaguars have found something here.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
M h.

Speaker 5 (46:58):
I believe their coach Owen is the coach of the
year in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Due.

Speaker 5 (47:04):
Because he's done more with less as well as less expectation.
And they literally came out of nowhere in this division.
Once Houston got over that zero and two start, oh
and three start or whatever it was, and Indy was
just clipping people by forty points, we weren't talking about

(47:28):
the Jaguars, and quietly and slowly but surely they've become
a force to be recorded with. They're the three seed,
and I think I think the Bills may be in trouble.

Speaker 3 (47:45):
That is an interesting one, that matchup. I wondered what
you thought about that, and I hear you. I hear you,
because the Bills, like, you know, yeah, they got Josh
and so they always look dynamic to a certain degree.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
But they totally fit into what I was telling you
off the.

Speaker 3 (48:02):
Top of the show, which is like, who looks like
they got their fastball right now?

Speaker 5 (48:09):
Yeah, and hey, look they pitching. They on that mound
and they they got the fast ball, they got the
sinker going, they can run the ball. Trevor Lawrence is
attacking down the field. Uh.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
And defensively, they're getting after people.

Speaker 5 (48:24):
So look, after all the stuff we talked about the
first hour, how teams are limping here and limping there,
and we're not quite sure. The Jacksonville Jaguars have have
shown quietly shown us they're ready for the postseason.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
I mean, I would not be shocked if they represented
I would not. I joked last week. Yeah, everybody loves that.
It's like, oh, it's a total crop.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
Shoot.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
It's like, don't get mad if the Jags are playing
Seattle in the second week.

Speaker 5 (48:56):
You said you and you actually actually is that what
you want to see?

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Get mad?

Speaker 3 (49:01):
Don't get mad if small market shows up and all
is the TV market that everybody's worrying about.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
All right, here's my number two.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
Hey man, it's in the middle of nowhere, and it's
an irrelevant team. But I just want to give this
dude a shout because what a year he had.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Michael Wilson is everything goodness.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
He is everything that Marvin Harrison was supposed to be
and is not. And I know Marvin's dealt with injury
and his career is not gone or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
But when that.

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Team comes back next year, I know who my number
one receiver is quarterback? I don't it's Marvin Harrison, Ain't
it that guy?

Speaker 2 (49:50):
Michael Wilson is just incredible.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
It's not just production, it's the catches he makes, it's
the moxie that he has, the attitude that he brings
Marvin Harrison when he moves around on it.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Like, again, super talented guy.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
But doesn't it look sometimes like it's like you're floating,
like you're just.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
Kind of like, right, where's that? Where's that? Like identity?
Where's that pukin naku in?

Speaker 4 (50:18):
This?

Speaker 3 (50:19):
In what you do out on the field, Michael Wilson
has it. He does, and he is. He's still relatively
I mean, unless you play fantasy, he remains.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
A no name.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
But get ready, dude, get ready, because if they find
a QB and they figure something out, that's a warm
weather team that can throw the ball a full season.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
And that guy is an unbelievable talent.

Speaker 4 (50:42):
Yeah, he's tremendous.

Speaker 5 (50:43):
And just watching him his size, right, his size, his
catch radius, he is the epitome of what a fifty
to fifty ball catcher is supposed to be as a receiver.
Just watch him the last four weeks and you're gonna
be like, who and where the hell did he come from?

Speaker 3 (51:00):
By the way, you know how receivers, the good ones
all make thirty million in whatever a year.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Now you want you.

Speaker 5 (51:07):
Know what Michael Wilson makes with nine hundred and sixty
grand or something like that.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
Michah Wilson is on a rookie deal that is worth
over forty years.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Five point three. Yeah, there you go, million dollars.

Speaker 3 (51:22):
Now, he's already in the year three, So get ready
for next year because he makes one point four and
he will be in a contract year yes, and he
is going to show out.

Speaker 5 (51:36):
Hey, that man his money indeed, indeed, my number two
is going to be the New.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
York Giants, Me and his money.

Speaker 5 (51:45):
I love it, the New York Giants and Jackson Dart.
I think the New York Giants they found their quarterback. Yes, sir,
I love his energy, I love his moxie. I think
he needs to learn this offseason, which you will, because
they'll have extend of film study with him about the
dudes and don'ts of being a quarterback and longevity in

(52:06):
this league. Don't get smacked up side the head three
or four times a game, all right, Do throw the
ball away and don't run out of bounds behind the
line of scrimmage.

Speaker 4 (52:15):
That's a sack.

Speaker 5 (52:16):
So he's put enough on film for them to now
have real study sessions in the offseason about how to
get better. That's how you get better, right, because now
you can pull up all the games, you can watch things,
coaches have coaching points. Not quite sure who's going to
be the head coach, but we'll see. But I think

(52:37):
that the New York Giants have found their quarterback for
the foreseeable future and beyond. And just think Moleague Neighbors
wasn't available. He lost his best friend and roommate scatable
like they have the makings of a young, tremendous team
and so hopefully which they have also been doing is

(53:00):
mismanaging talent and making poor decisions. Hopefully they can get
it together and get this the young man some help,
the right coach, right offensive coordinator, and also a little
bit of talent.

Speaker 3 (53:15):
I think that's super well said. You forget what the
Giants lost this year offensively. The only good thing about
those injuries is that was easily the funniest NFL commercial
of the year, the Molik Neighbors I hop commercial where
the little kids all ticked off of them about ruining
his fantasy season. Super funny. Glad to see Malik, who
I don't think we've really gotten.

Speaker 4 (53:36):
To know all and he is he is an alpha.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
Yeah absolutely, but also has that like he's got a
sense of humor about the whole thing. He's got a personality.
You can see it in that commercial. And that's the
other thing I would say about Jackson, Like being the
quarterback in New York, New York that takes a certain
kind of person, not just the talent, and I think
he's that Flare as well.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
I think all three of them do. So.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
I love the point that you're making. They've got the
makings very very early of that QB wide receiver running
back grouping that can really do something on an offensive side. Absolutely, yeah,
really really cool. Okay, here's my number three. And I
struggled because I had so many today. I'm like, I

(54:25):
know which one I want to do, and leave some
on the cutting room floor and we can get to
those a little bit later.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
But this is the one that I chose. Let's go
back to Miles Garrett.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
Indirectly, Garrett breaks the record and gets his twenty third sack,
and the officials had, I think, even before the game
planned all along that if something like that happens, we're
going to stop the game and we're going to allow

(54:56):
a great player I'm to be celebrated and honored by
the crew, which to me is a no brainer. You
always have to remember, even as serious as this stuff is,
that it's entertainment and it's for the fans, and fans eat.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Stuff like this up.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
I would argue that the Bengals Browns game had one
story attached to it today, and one story only, and
this was it. However, once they stopped the game, that
led Bengals head coach Zach Taylor to do this after
the game.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
There was five minutes left in our season.

Speaker 13 (55:28):
We're playing for our lives here and I never told
that we're going to stop the game and in a
critical moment like that, and the refs just said that
they made a decision that they were going to stop
the game, and they said they tried to do it
as quickly as possible. I didn't feel that we didn't sub.
We're trying to be on the ball and go and
play with tempo, and the Empire just held the ball

(55:48):
so that we couldn't do anything.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
And I'm yelling at Joe, get on the ball. We
didn't sub.

Speaker 13 (55:52):
We're going and they we couldn't play. And so again
trying to get an answer was not easy. They just
said that they made a decision as a as a
crew to stop the game, and that happened. I guess
it didn't matter when it happened. It just they were
going to stop the game and that though I was
never informed of that. They didn't say one word. We
meet with him in the ninet minute meet him for
the game. They never said one word about that.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
Okay, first of all, I want to know who in
the room has velcrow shoes. That's my first question, because
I thought those were out. Second question, though, is, dude,
what are you doing? What are you talking about? Like,
of all things to not like even for your lives,
you're not fighting for your life?

Speaker 4 (56:35):
Life are you fighting for?

Speaker 3 (56:36):
If you win, you're in third place, and if you lose,
you're in third place. Like, dude, I get it, I
get it, that's his job. He might feel like on
the hot seat. The bottom line is this, that's one
of those thoughts.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
That you keep to yourself.

Speaker 4 (56:56):
If you won't be his job tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
Maybe not and if by the way, and the Bengals
could be accused of being stupid, but the bottom line is,
if the Bengals made that decision on Zach Taylor about today,
that's the lamest thing I've ever heard in my life.
It's not about today. You're not playing for your life.
This is not a big game. Nobody's watching. The only

(57:22):
reason they're watching is for Miles. And I understand that's
Zach's job and that is their game, and so it
means a lot to them. But that's a thought that
you keep to yourself because Zach, I'm so sorry, but
you sound ridiculous. Sound you sound ridiculous. You sound like

(57:45):
you take yourself too seriously. You sound like you're unaware
of the room completely, And so I can't even like
act like I know what his position must feel like.
It must suck. You're trying to win a football game
and nobody cares. So the bottom line, though, is that
you have to know that. You have to know that

(58:07):
that you were the only one who cared today. So
don't go to a microphone and act like a dummy
and diminish the only reason the rest of us were
even paying attention to your game. Unbelievable. Well, and he's
not going to take it anymore. He doesn't have to because.

Speaker 5 (58:26):
The season, and he's taking this clothes and belongings away
from the office tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (58:33):
And I don't know that I'm just speculating.

Speaker 5 (58:36):
My third one, I want to go to the college
football and I want to give a shout out to
my favorite coach, my favorite coach, Kurt Signetti. Let me
tell you this man. It started last year and watching
what this man has done with this program that was

(59:02):
the worst Division one football program ever ever, and watch
the turnaround he's had at this school. And you remember
they were in the playoffs last year as well. Yep,
so in two years, I think they've lost two games

(59:23):
none this year. The worst program ever. And the thing
I love about him is he lives in steps and
walks in his greatness. Google me will forever be, I mean,
I win Google me right. This is he's introducing himself

(59:44):
to people. He's introducing himself to who's her faithful? Like
look at Google me right, and at the at the
at the at the pep Rowley, you know, midnight basketball.
He was the produced sucks and sodas Michigan in ohiose
and no, by the way, he's beating all of them. Okay,

(01:00:06):
and not only that this year, he his team is
physically dominating the most physical teams in college football.

Speaker 4 (01:00:16):
So shout out to them.

Speaker 5 (01:00:18):
I'm an Indiana fan, and I hope that they can
finish these things off, this thing off in the Semis
and then the national Championship and win this. I think
that'll just be a tremendous cap to an already two
stellar years for a coach who should win Coach of
the Year every year, no.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
Doubt, no doubt, absolutely awesome stuff. Okay, before that's a
great three things. Before we start setting the table for
a Steve de Sager update, we get bonus to Sager.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
We got breaking.

Speaker 5 (01:00:51):
News, breaking news from Fox Sports.

Speaker 10 (01:00:57):
Atlanta had won its fourth straight game today to find
eight and nine. They have fired it's official head coach
Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontineau. In fact, Arthur Blank,
the team owner, in a statement, talked about how much
he likes each of them, but quote, the results on
the field have not met our expectations or those of
our fans and leadership. NFL Network says no timeline's been

(01:01:21):
set for the completion of either search, but they will
occur concurrently for coach and for a GM in Atlanta.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
There you have it, Valkanks clean house, yep, And you
wonder and we went back earlier over all their norm
gases in November. One game they had just won one
of those, they'd be nine and eight, they'd have won
the division.

Speaker 4 (01:01:42):
In the playoffs, and we had to put that on hold, right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
I mean, I don't know if he still would have
gotten fired, but it wouldn't have been.

Speaker 5 (01:01:49):
The I promise you he wouldn't have got it fired
if they would have won a division and had a
home playoff game.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
By the way, you noticed that whole winning streak kind
of happened with Kirk Cousin.

Speaker 5 (01:01:58):
Yes, yes, let's dive into that. Coming we need to
swim in that. We need to dive into that. Let's
talk about that. Yes, please, and Steve.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
Is eight minutes away and yeah, so we're going to
dive into the pool here coming up next with it
from Salam.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
I'm Mark Willard. This is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 6 (01:02:17):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 7 (01:02:30):

Speaker 8 (01:02:32):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight
Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines,
accurate stats to help you win big at the sportsbook, and.

Speaker 7 (01:02:50):
All the best guests.

Speaker 8 (01:02:51):

Speaker 3 (01:03:04):
Okay, yah, we're cruising through tonight. Cruising through tonight, kind
of like Lamar Jackson in the open field flag on
the play. I'll let you know, but the Ravens have
moved into Steelers' territory. Lead ten to three whether this
one holds or not, and it won't good to see

(01:03:26):
Lamar Jackson, you know, run. He used to be able
to do that really really well, has not been able
to for much of this year. Exactly. We're live in
the Fox Sports Radio studios. We still are only at
about our halftime.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
But if you miss any of today's show, you're gonna
want to catch it afterwards in the podcast. You search
Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast, and right
after the show, today's podcast will be posted.

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
Be sure to follow the podcast rated A five. You
can provide a review if you want.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
Again.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
Search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and
you'll find today's show in full posted right after we
get off of the air.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
And we promised to talk about that Falcons thing.

Speaker 3 (01:04:12):
I really want to hear what you have to say
about it's former falcony from salam over here. But first,
but first, yeah, let's just seger it up a little bit,
Hay Steve Good.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
Evening.

Speaker 10 (01:04:26):
It is Baltimore ten to three at Pittsburgh and the
regular season finale in the NFL. Three and a half
minutes to go second quarter, you know there was a
tush push, not from Philadelphia, from Pittsburgh tonight. They brought
in Cam Hayward on offense to push Connor Hayward on
as one I'm sorry I didn't think of this first.
As one Yahoo writer said, that is a literal brotherly

(01:04:50):
shoves right perfect.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
They probably have done it a million times.

Speaker 10 (01:04:55):
Aaron Rodgers just fifty one yards passing in the first half,
and it's ten to three for the visitors. Because you know,
Derrick Henry's on the Ravens fifteen carries one hundred and
twelve yards rushing in the first half. He's over fifteen
hundred yards for the season for the fifth time in
his career over fifteen hundred yards more. That ties Barry

(01:05:16):
Sanders for the most such seasons in NFL history. Again,
about three minutes to go in the first half, Pittsburgh's
offense on the field, down ten to three to Baltimore,
the winner. Tonight hosts the Texans, next weekend. In a
wild card game, we mentioned it is official. Atlanta after
the win today nineteen seventeen over New Orleans did fire
its head coach Raheem Morris out in Atlanta and Falcons

(01:05:39):
GM Terry Fonto out as well. That result, the Falcons
home win gave Carolina the division title and eliminated Tampa Bay.
Detroit won at Chicago, but the Bears are still the
two seed in the NFC because Philadelphia lost at home
as well. The Bears have a playoff opener hosting Green Bay.
The Eagles will host the forty nine Ers next weekend.

(01:06:01):
The Rams beat Arizona to move up to the five seeds,
so they'll play at Carolina in the AFC. The one
seed Denver beat the Chargers Broncos, we'll have a bye
next weekend. Patriots are the two seed fourteen and three
this year. They'll be hosting the Chargers next weekend. Buffalo
beat the Jets thirty five eight. Bills open the playoffs
at Jacksonville, a team that has won eight in a row.

(01:06:23):
Trevor Lawrence three touchdown passes in a victory over Tennessee
forty one to seven. Jacksonville clinches the AFC South title.
The Raiders already secured the number one overall draft choice
when the Giants won again to finish four and thirteen
thirty four to seventeen. Giants over Dallas Jackson Dart two
d TD passes, and then the Raiders went out and

(01:06:45):
got a home win against Kansas City or What's left
of Them, fourteen to twelve. The final, Houston won its
ninth straight game thirty eight thirty over Indy. Cleveland won
twenty to eighteen at Cincinnati ot a forty nine yard
field goal on the final play, and Yes Miles of
the Browns, who needed one sack from the new NFL
record for one season, got that. Minnesota won its fifth

(01:07:06):
straight game to finish nine and eight, speeding Green Bay
sixteen to three. The Packers were locked in as the
seventh seed. TCU quarterback Josh Hoover will transfer to Indiana
and reportedly enroll there this month. The college football playoff
semifinals were on Thursday and Friday. This week. Women's basketball
number two Texas won sixty seven sixty four over fifteenth

(01:07:28):
ranked Old Miss and twelfth rank Vanderbilt upset Number five
LSU sixty five sixty one and I found this from
a day game in women's hoops today Northeast Conference, Fairleigh
Dickinson wins seventy three twenty eight at Saint Francis in Pennsylvania,
the losing side oho to thirteen. It made one three

(01:07:49):
pointer in today's game, one for twenty one, and only
eight baskets overall in the four quarters, eight for fifty
from the floor. They lose at home three twenty eight
in front of attendance of one hundred and twenty seven.
Oh my god, wow updating under three minutes to go

(01:08:11):
and pack it up. It is ravens ten to three
over the stealer respec to you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
Great stuff, Steve.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
I had all kinds of like mean things to throw
in there that I just decided to eat.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
What was the attendance?

Speaker 10 (01:08:27):
One twenty seven?

Speaker 2 (01:08:28):
One twenty seven? Not two? Yeah? Three?

Speaker 4 (01:08:31):
Not full?

Speaker 5 (01:08:32):
Is that counting help staff and the trainers and the
concession statisticians. It's just one concession stand open, So I
got no everybody can come up here.

Speaker 10 (01:08:41):
And just be giving away food at that point, which.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
That it sounds wonderful.

Speaker 4 (01:08:45):
No lines, Oh it won't be any life.

Speaker 5 (01:08:48):
Yeah, we'll even bring the food to your seat.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
For you actly exactly wows.

Speaker 3 (01:08:56):
It's such an interesting just like little factoid day. And
so I feel like Steve is really in his bag
tonight because of all these right you got the just
the finality of the standings and all the little weird stuff.
Like he was talking about the NFC North, everybody's record
is better than everybody in the NFC South.

Speaker 10 (01:09:16):
There was an NFC stuth South stat that came out
from AP after the Atlanta firing of Raheem Morris. His
winning percentage as a head coach. Yeah, under four hundred.
It's three ninety eight, which means of coaches since the
merger going back to nineteen seventy, any coaches that have
coached at least seventy five NFL games. He ranks one

(01:09:37):
to eleven out of one twenty six on that list
of head coaches. Okay, and as you say, not in
the toughest division.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
So he's probably not got a wrongful termination suit. No,
is what you're saying.

Speaker 10 (01:09:51):
Maybe you're adding him to the list of which we
have talked about before, guys who've been good coordinators. But
you know, the North.

Speaker 2 (01:09:59):
Turner Award, I think is what they called.

Speaker 5 (01:10:02):
That comes to mind. They a couple million dollars will
be a coordinator. Brandon Staley can have a job, and
then you can have a job. It's a fair statement.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Man, how many times in NFL history.

Speaker 4 (01:10:14):
Daniel Hackett can continue to get work? Then?

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
How many times has the top three records in an
entire conference all been in the same division.

Speaker 4 (01:10:27):
I'd love to know that. Wow, that's a pretty good one.

Speaker 2 (01:10:30):
Top three records in a conference all in the same
division of a division.

Speaker 10 (01:10:35):
That's right. I didn't think about that because there, of
course can't be seated one, two three.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
Right, and because the Bears and Eagles both decided to
lose today.

Speaker 10 (01:10:43):
One thing I noticed about the Bears is I heard
on the listening of the Bears game on the way
in in the division, the Bears the division champ went
two and four.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Correct, It's crazy.

Speaker 10 (01:10:55):
There were only two teams since the merger to win
a division title with simply a losing record in that
division once in the last fifty years. That was the
twenty ten Chiefs. But the Bears had so many magical
finishes otherwise nobody will remember they went to and four
in the division at all. The Bears had more wins

(01:11:17):
this year when they were losing with two minutes to go.
Then they had total wins all of last year.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
Oh my god. Yeah. And by the way, they almost
did it again today.

Speaker 4 (01:11:28):
Yeah they did.

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
They're down sixteen.

Speaker 4 (01:11:29):
They did what they were supposed to yep.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
I mean in these last two games that and they
lost them both both of them were just by a nosehair.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
So that's just who they are. And I'd expect nothing
different with.

Speaker 10 (01:11:50):
Setting it up for a double doink in the playoffs,
is it not.

Speaker 5 (01:11:53):
Well, they get the advantaged because they don't have Michael
Parsons on the other end chasing them down.

Speaker 4 (01:11:59):
So that's a huge break.

Speaker 10 (01:12:01):
What have the Packers done in the last month?

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
Yea ball game. It was December seventh. By the way,
remember who the last team they beat was.

Speaker 9 (01:12:13):
Uh, the Bears, Bears exactly exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
But yeah, four losses in a row since then since then,
and the way the Bears run the ball. And after
watching what Derrick Henry did to the Packers a couple
of nights after Christmas, watch out, watch out, I bet, I.

Speaker 2 (01:12:40):
Bet lead the lap.

Speaker 3 (01:12:42):
Famous Packer fan is dying to turn the microphone on
right now and just tell us we're awful people.

Speaker 10 (01:12:47):
I'm dying here. I can't wait. I'm dying for this
revenge game. Best two out of three. Get it out
of the way, Get get that taste out of our mouth.

Speaker 4 (01:12:54):
Are you all healthy? Are you really that confident? I am?

Speaker 10 (01:12:58):
I really am. Why you're one of those fans because
it's the Bears?

Speaker 4 (01:13:02):
No, no, no, what no, no, just give me because.

Speaker 11 (01:13:04):
If Packers Bears love is healthy, he's gonna he's gonna
come in this this whole year, we all talk about
the parody of this year. Nobody's really dominant. It's all
about who's gonna get hot right now?

Speaker 4 (01:13:13):
Yes, hot right now?

Speaker 1 (01:13:15):
No, they are not.

Speaker 10 (01:13:16):
Okay, we are not hot right now?

Speaker 4 (01:13:18):
Right Who is hot right now? Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:13:19):
It's uh the Jaguars, Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:13:23):
Yeah, every single playoff teams.

Speaker 2 (01:13:25):
The Seahawks are super hot.

Speaker 4 (01:13:27):
Yes, the Awks are hot. Seven and Jags are hot.
Jacksons are hot.

Speaker 10 (01:13:33):
They're in the A would be according to script, if
even Seattle got to the playoffs at home no less
in a couple of weeks and Sam Darnold turns it
over a couple of times, and oh my goodness, the
season is over.

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
Here's again factoid day. Here's another fun one.

Speaker 3 (01:13:49):
Of all seven NFC playoff teams, how many of them
won their most recent game?

Speaker 10 (01:13:58):
The Rams did win today, m.

Speaker 3 (01:13:59):
Yep, obviously the Hawks somebody won last night. There's the
end of your list. Oh wow, that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:08):
That's it.

Speaker 5 (01:14:10):
Okay, But but in that's the list in that how
many were resting starters?

Speaker 10 (01:14:16):
Fair?

Speaker 2 (01:14:17):
The Eagles?

Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
Eagles were Packers, Uh yeah, yes.

Speaker 10 (01:14:22):
Yes, Packers, Clayton and no offense.

Speaker 3 (01:14:28):
Were they resting Jordan Love and Malik Willis or were
they hurt?

Speaker 4 (01:14:34):
They're both the same thing.

Speaker 10 (01:14:35):
It's like rest Josh Jacobs kind of hurt.

Speaker 5 (01:14:38):
They're both the same thing. Because if today was a
playoff game, they'd play. Everyone played, everyone would have played.

Speaker 10 (01:14:45):
Okay, it was Carolina resting starters yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:14:50):
Actually Carolina doesn't have it.

Speaker 4 (01:14:51):
They don't have any starters exactly. They just have what
they have.

Speaker 10 (01:14:55):
No, we're never going to get those three hours back.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
They just have helmets for for some reason that somebody
gave them.

Speaker 10 (01:15:01):
By the way, the updating the Steelers is Aaron Rodgers
on a third and long just had a twenty yard run.

Speaker 4 (01:15:08):
Yes, okay, they are.

Speaker 10 (01:15:10):
In field goal range and they've already kicked a fifty
seven yarder on a very cold night in Pittsburgh. It
might not be ten to three. We still got a
minute to go until halftime.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
High red zone.

Speaker 3 (01:15:21):
Aaron Rodgers took that around the left side and it
looked like the defenders were all like, old man's gonna
run out of bounds because he's tired.

Speaker 2 (01:15:28):
And then he just kept running. He just turned it
upfield Mary.

Speaker 10 (01:15:31):
What I will say about Aaron Rodgers as much as
the passes have been short and he gets the ball
out as quick as possible, I don't mean just recently.
I mean that's been the Steelers' offense is not going
very far in too many games this season. He did
have a game where he attempted a hail Mary pass
and according to the Next Gen stats, Aaron Rodgers threw
it seventy yards in the air.

Speaker 4 (01:15:52):
Oh he kept playing that thing still, Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 2 (01:15:54):
Yeah, that guy's still in there somewhere.

Speaker 10 (01:15:57):
It's not like Philip Rivers, where the ball just wasn't
getting to the receiver on time if he dared throw
down field.

Speaker 2 (01:16:03):
It was not that the Philip thing was incredible.

Speaker 5 (01:16:06):
He did it, man, he looked I'm happy because he
got his healthcare.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
Say you know your perspective is the only one that
matters in all of this, because you've like had a
completely different like nobody else in the world was looking at.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
It that way.

Speaker 5 (01:16:18):
I would come back right now, if you'll reset my healthcare.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
I'd sign you if I were a GM.

Speaker 5 (01:16:23):
Right now, sign me up. I'm available for a playoff roster.
You I mean, now, do not put me in the game.
Well no, I'm a cash in on that insurance policy immediately,
because but.

Speaker 10 (01:16:38):
I'm saying, you would look like that left tackle the
Chargers had to use Ago.

Speaker 4 (01:16:43):
I felt so bad for that young man.

Speaker 10 (01:16:44):
My goodness.

Speaker 5 (01:16:45):
Remember a couple of years, I can have Justice Kid
from se Wwinston. Justice which from Cleveland, right, I mean, no, no, no, no,
Philly right?

Speaker 10 (01:16:56):
Oh what about Alex Leatherwood from Alabama that the Raiders
wasted a pick?

Speaker 5 (01:17:00):
But it was it wasn't at the Philadelphia. Wasn't at
him from Winston? Justice did to Philly?

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
He did? He did? Yes, he did, he did.

Speaker 4 (01:17:09):
He had the five sac game I think against.

Speaker 2 (01:17:12):
Yes, this wasn't like.

Speaker 10 (01:17:14):
Khalil Mack or Derek Thomas is the other way.

Speaker 4 (01:17:19):
Oh God, And I just was dying for him.

Speaker 5 (01:17:22):
Man. Look I've had a stretch of plays where I'm like,
I can't I can't block this guy.

Speaker 4 (01:17:30):
But just.

Speaker 5 (01:17:32):
I've also had enough success for me to think for
me to know that, oh.

Speaker 4 (01:17:37):
This is a one off.

Speaker 5 (01:17:39):
But when you're a young player and you come in,
you want to talk about.

Speaker 4 (01:17:45):
Into your confidence.

Speaker 10 (01:17:47):
A guy who an NFL team started at left tackle
a week ago literally did not make it through the game.
That after Justin Herbert had been hit five times.

Speaker 4 (01:17:56):
They just best like, hey man, you gotta go bro.

Speaker 10 (01:17:58):
And they don't have offensive line. So that's how bad
it is.

Speaker 5 (01:18:01):
Let me tell you, Let me, let me let everybody know.
It is tough living out there on that island at
left tackle. All right, this is a I'm being honest.
Fans get mad. You gotta block them, come on, and
and it's.

Speaker 4 (01:18:18):
Hard to do that.

Speaker 5 (01:18:22):
That's why teams don't have a whole bunch of left
tackles on the roster, not a whole bunch of extra
left tackles sitting on a bench.

Speaker 10 (01:18:28):
And you can't just trade for the mid season because
the ones are not giving up.

Speaker 5 (01:18:35):
The good ones all start for someone. And so when
you're in a position to when you're in your second
third and fourth tackle. Good luck, brother, there are no
hidden gyms. Okay, there's no hidden gyms. You're not gonna
lift a rock and be like, oh we got a
left tackle onto here. No no, no no. So you know,

(01:18:57):
shout out to all the young tackles trying to figure
it out. Out, I get it, and just keep your
head down and grind.

Speaker 2 (01:19:07):
That's all well said.

Speaker 3 (01:19:07):
The Steelers are going to see if they can turn
a rock over and find a touchdown. Hasn't happened so
far here in this first half. They've got a few
ticks left and they're firing away. We'll let you know
how this all wraps up in just a second with
you from Salama, Mark Willard and this is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:19:26):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:19:29):
Radio, Fox Sports Radio Studios, and I do. We're gonna
get to this Falcons thing, I promise.

Speaker 3 (01:19:35):
But now now we got to talk about the way
that happens.

Speaker 4 (01:19:39):
We got to talk about it.

Speaker 2 (01:19:40):
Well, what'd you think? What would you have done?

Speaker 4 (01:19:42):
All right?

Speaker 5 (01:19:43):
So Lee, our super producer, was like, what do you
do here? Do you kick it or you go for it?

Speaker 3 (01:19:49):
And then there's get the ball at the one yard
line with two seconds.

Speaker 5 (01:19:52):
To go, And initially I was like, you gotta go
for it, right, And I thought they would use the
play that they have their own version of the touch
push that they use with Connor. Hey, yep, they have
different variations out of it too, so it puts a
lot of pressure on the defense. So if I'm doing
that from the one yard line, that's the play I'm going.
But I didn't realize that the Steelers get the ball

(01:20:13):
in the second half to start. So for me, with
two seconds left on the one yard line, I take
the points because now I could possibly have a ten
point swing or a six point swing scoring now and
then scoring with the opening kickoff in the second half.

Speaker 2 (01:20:34):
Hm. Well, it just very very very clearly did not work.
It did not. I don't know, man.

Speaker 5 (01:20:46):
That's I'm not a fan of a play where you
throw the ball away from the line of scrimmage a yard.

Speaker 4 (01:20:55):
I hate that.

Speaker 5 (01:20:57):
I think whenever you pull linemen and opening gaps and
doing things like that to get a yard, that's problematic.

Speaker 3 (01:21:06):
These AFC North games constantly come down to a field goal,
and boy, if I'm the Steelers, I would really.

Speaker 2 (01:21:16):
Rather be down ten to six than ten to three.

Speaker 3 (01:21:19):
That's all I'm saying, Okay, we'll get to the Falcons
thing next.

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):

Speaker 3 (01:21:27):
Off we go deep into the night, and this thing
not only has started to take shape, but now we're
down to the nitty and the gritty.

Speaker 2 (01:21:37):
One half of.

Speaker 3 (01:21:38):
Regular season football is left to go in this season.
At the end of it, we'll have our answer if
the Texans are on their way to Baltimore or Pittsburgh,
as you just heard Steve say, Baltimore ten, Pittsburgh three.

Speaker 2 (01:21:52):
At half.

Speaker 3 (01:21:53):
We are broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
The breaking news within the out is that the Atlanta
Falcons have cleaned house.

Speaker 2 (01:22:03):
They have parted ways.

Speaker 3 (01:22:05):
With head coach Raheem Morris, even though they tied for
first place this year. Yeah, not like it sounds everybody.
Eight to nine in the NFC South. The Panthers go
to the playoffs, the Falcons go to the drawing board.

Speaker 2 (01:22:19):
And we've been waiting.

Speaker 3 (01:22:21):
To have this conversation about what this means going forward.

Speaker 2 (01:22:25):
You and I e From have had.

Speaker 3 (01:22:26):
I can't even count how many conversations we've had through
the last couple of years about the Falcons quarterback situation.
I will go to my graves someday, not understanding what
it was they were meaning to do when they signed
Kirk Cousins to a massive, expensive free agent contract and

(01:22:49):
then backed that up almost immediately by using a top
ten pick on Michael Pennix. I don't get it, but
it hasn't been as I guess, as sort of dirty
as it sounds like it would be. But we have
arrived at a spot where it does get a little confusing.
The Falcons going a nice win streak at the end

(01:23:11):
of the year. It's not like Cousins was slinging the
ball all over the yard, but they're winning football games.
They do it after a major injury to Pennis, Cousins
goes out there and wins four in a row.

Speaker 2 (01:23:24):
He from what do you do now?

Speaker 5 (01:23:29):
I mean, he's already under contract. I don't think Michael
Penicks will be ready for the beginning of the season
next year, And even if he was, I would ride
out with Kirk Cousins. Michael Pennis is a young player,
just finished up his second season, got hurt, and so

(01:23:49):
you know, naturally I would just I'm riding with Kurt.
Michael can learn get healthy, and so next year I'm
not even worried about it. Okay, well, you're already paying them,
you don't have to pay them.

Speaker 3 (01:24:03):
Well, actually, the out, the potential out, and not that
it's not got some dead cap attached to it, but
the potential out in the deal is this offseason. That's
where you if not you're you're sort of signing up.
I mean, your hands aren't like tied here completely, but

(01:24:24):
you're signing up for the remaining two years on the deal,
both at thirty five million per year. And I just
have to wonder if at some point, like we got
teams all over the country who are basically kind of,
you know, getting ripped and advised over what they should

(01:24:48):
do because they've got X amount of dollars tied up
in their salary cap, and how that trickles down and
affects the rest of the roster and all of those things. Time,
I don't hear anybody talk about this, and it's like,
you guys did a four year, one hundred eighty million

(01:25:08):
dollar deal and then eight seconds later put all your
draft capital into his replacement. It's still to me, it
still rides as one of the more mysterious things I've
ever seen a Football front office. Do I got no
problem with let's get a VET and a rookie. Not

(01:25:29):
a rookie at the moment we signed someone to four
years and a buck eighty right that I will never get.
And if you don't do something this offseason, you're signing
up to continue to do that for two more years.
That has got to affect the rest of your roster
in some way.

Speaker 4 (01:25:46):
It does. And I think.

Speaker 5 (01:25:49):
When you look like if I were the GM and
and just you heard it here first breaking news from me,
I'm throwing my hat in the ring to be the
next GM of the Atlanta fl.

Speaker 2 (01:26:00):
Oh hey, this is exciting. So will you? Will you
still be able to host this show? With my first question?

Speaker 4 (01:26:07):
Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (01:26:08):
Okay? All right? So h.

Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
That was that was pretty funny live that Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:26:19):
Am I allowed to I can say that on the air.
We're all this is It's fine. Sam just whispered in
my ear. He goes, Hey, Doug Gottlieb did it man.

Speaker 3 (01:26:28):
I'm just saying, though I host a Sunday night show
herey from I don't know if you'd be available if
you're the GM of the Falcons, but good luck.

Speaker 4 (01:26:36):
No sounds like a raise. I mean why not?

Speaker 5 (01:26:39):
I mean, I have ideas I'd love to I talk
about I talk about.

Speaker 4 (01:26:45):
Them every week all year long.

Speaker 5 (01:26:49):
Well I'm talking about ideas and and and what teams
should do and what they shouldn't do. So yeah, wow,
I'm qualified. Jeff said they gave Jeff Saturday a whole
coaching to be the head coach from at home, right, Like,
so why not?

Speaker 4 (01:27:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:27:08):
I'd love to be the GM of the team that
drafted me. And then I went to the Super Bowl
with why not? It can't be any worse?

Speaker 3 (01:27:18):
I mean, all right, OKAYGM of the Falcons, what would
you do?

Speaker 5 (01:27:24):
I just told you Kirk Cousins is going to be
our quarterback next year?

Speaker 1 (01:27:29):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (01:27:30):
I mean that's that is not a light handed move.

Speaker 5 (01:27:34):
It's not a light handed move. But what I'm saying
is we still don't know what Michael. Look, Michael Pennix
has had three ACL surgeries. Just let that sink in.
Three ACL surgeries and the most brutal league on the

(01:27:58):
planet Earth for football? Am I going to just bet
on that? As a GM is my head coach? My
new head coach going to sign up for that?

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:28:17):
And so now I'm thinking as a GM Okay, number one,
what gives us the best shot to win? Kirk Cousins
is proven. They're on a five game win streak right
now with Kurt at the helm. Uh, he has a
tremendous rapport with Bijon and London. And he dusted off

(01:28:38):
Kyle Pitts off the off the bust heap, and and
and and he was formidable this year. So I'm for me.
I'm trying to simplify this transition. Got to bring in
a new coach, new coaching staff. Uh, what I don't
want it to do is be an.

Speaker 4 (01:29:00):
A whole overhaul.

Speaker 5 (01:29:02):
All right, we were one game away from representing the
division in the playoffs, so let me build on that.
And in the draft, right, in the draft, then we
will bolster the offensive line. Right, I'll we'll get it.
I need a cornerback and I need another edge rusher.

(01:29:26):
That's what we're doing in the draft. I'm going to
get an offensive minded head coach, and I'm going to
go and offer someone like Robert Sala more money to
come over here.

Speaker 3 (01:29:43):
To keep your hands off my dtail. Right, I would
like to see Robert Sala have a chance. Actually, Coach
Brett Water and Nick Bosa. No, no, no, I'd like
to see that next year. No, no, no, I'm talking.
I'm taking this good coach man, tremendous coach. But no,
that's what I'm That's that's where my mind goes. Okay,

(01:30:04):
that's what I'll start. That's what I'll be, you know,
be doing and thinking about and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (01:30:10):
You know, I got you. We can keep batting this around.

Speaker 3 (01:30:12):
But I also think we should bat this around a
little bit with our audience because at halftime of this
Sunday night game, we got the official schedule for all
of the games next weekend, so we can take a
look now at not only who's playing who, but when
it's going to be. And because I don't know if
it's because, but these two teams that are still playing now,

(01:30:35):
they do get the benefit of a little bit of
an extra day for playing this late slot. They will
host that Monday night game on January twelfth. Either the
Ravens or the Steelers will host the Houston Texans a
week from tomorrow night.

Speaker 2 (01:30:52):
In the final game of wild Card Weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:30:55):
The two games on Saturday will both hail from the NFC.
As you might expect in a game that many consider
to only be good enough to be an appetizer. The
Rams and Panthers will play the first game. That game
will be played at four thirty Eastern time on Saturday,
and then the nightcap in the primetime window will be

(01:31:17):
at the frozen Tundra of Soldier Field in Chicago. They
both have a tundra, they're both frozen. They know each
other well. Bears and Packers eight Eastern Saturday night.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
We then go to bed.

Speaker 3 (01:31:35):
At some point we wake up Sunday, January eleventh in
a game that'll be at one Eastern time. The Buffalo
Bills will visit the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then you get your
four to thirty Eastern time game. In mid afternoon, the
forty nine Ers will visit the Philadelphia Eagles, which means

(01:31:55):
when you and I get together that game, I will
be either very happy or very pissed right when the
show starts, because that game will end, and then we
will immediately take air and our watch party will be
the Chargers visiting the New England Patriots eight o'clock Eastern
next Sunday.

Speaker 2 (01:32:15):
That one's during our show.

Speaker 5 (01:32:18):
That's uh, I like you, that's the setup.

Speaker 4 (01:32:23):
It's going to be exciting.

Speaker 3 (01:32:24):
That's the setup man, And and and we haven't even
really gotten too far into like you know what we think,
like where's the upset? And and are any of these
even upsets? If the Rams beat the Panthers, I think right, No,

(01:32:46):
I'm saying, yeah, right, as long as the Rams beat
the Panthers, I don't know if there's anything else that's
even able to surprise me.

Speaker 5 (01:32:54):
Yeah, the rest of the weekend. Yeah, you're right. Yeah,
unless that happens, Yeah, you're right. Anything else, hey, man,
everything's on the table.

Speaker 3 (01:33:12):
I mean, I think based on what we saw last night,
the next one on the list, I do think people
think from a matchup standpoint, from a health standpoint, the
Eagles do have a pretty good edge on the forty
nine ers. I mean, the Niners lost two more linebackers

(01:33:33):
last night. I don't even know if that like, I
don't know if they're available, like you literally, by the
end of that game last night, the two linebackers were
people that just became forty nine ers within the last
two weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:33:46):
Like Niner fans didn't know who was out there.

Speaker 5 (01:33:50):
Yeah, And that's and look, Robert sala And and Kyle
Shanahan have done a tremendous job because it is hard
to do that. It's hard to continue to put a

(01:34:11):
dynamic team on the court and all your dynamic players
are in the box watching with their families, right, It's
hard to do.

Speaker 2 (01:34:24):
Right. Although apparently Fred Warner was actually at the hospital yesterday.
His wife was in labor. Yeah, so he didn't go
to the game.

Speaker 4 (01:34:34):
How dairy, right?

Speaker 2 (01:34:37):
You gotta play, Matt Patter.

Speaker 3 (01:34:41):
The Steelers go forward on fourth down again at the one,
and this time they get it. They don't get a touchdown,
but first and goal.

Speaker 5 (01:34:51):
No, they put both the Hayward boys in their Connor
and Cam.

Speaker 2 (01:34:55):
There you go that little brother. Yeah, this time it wore.

Speaker 5 (01:35:00):
That should have been the play they actually ran at
the end of the half.

Speaker 4 (01:35:04):
This was two yards away. They were just trying to
get to the one.

Speaker 2 (01:35:07):
They were just trying to get the one that surge
to get.

Speaker 4 (01:35:09):
You to the they get you over the goal line.
If you're if you're doing that on the one, I.

Speaker 2 (01:35:15):
Would think I would think so. So now the Steelers
are looking to tie the game and they're going.

Speaker 3 (01:35:19):
To run the exact same play, and I'm pretty sure
they're in, although there's a flag, so.

Speaker 4 (01:35:24):
We'll be all sides.

Speaker 3 (01:35:25):
Yeah, we're gonna get this whole thing figured out. The
officials do say it's a touchdown. Don't know where the
flag is as of yet, but the Steelers might be
on the verge of tying this football game. So we'll
update all of that, will continue to dive a little
further into these match up by matchup, because the whole
thing is now set.

Speaker 2 (01:35:46):
As mentioned.

Speaker 3 (01:35:47):
Next Saturday, you're looking at the Rams Panthers is game one,
followed by Packers Bears. The Sunday slate bills It, Jags,
Niners at Eagles, Chargers at Patriots, and then the Monday
Capper is going to be the winner of tonight's game,
hosting the Houston Texans. Not done yet, Lots still to say.

(01:36:08):
And that's around the Bend with e from Salama Mark
Willard on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 6 (01:36:12):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 7 (01:36:25):

Speaker 8 (01:36:26):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod. Pushing
the same tired narratives down your.

Speaker 4 (01:36:36):
Throat every day.

Speaker 8 (01:36:37):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help.

Speaker 7 (01:36:42):
You win big at the sportsbook, and all the best guests.

Speaker 8 (01:36:45):

Speaker 2 (01:36:57):
Well, you know who I'm watching play football right now.
I don't know about you e from.

Speaker 3 (01:37:03):
Right here in these Fox Sports radio studios, I'm watching
a guy who.

Speaker 2 (01:37:07):
Goes by the name of Uncle Mole, and Uncle Mole
is wearing a Steelers helmet right now.

Speaker 3 (01:37:19):
Because they have not only indeed tied the game ten
to ten. They follow that up on a third down
with the Ravens having the ball, a batted ball interception
by TJ. Watt, and the Steelers just like that are
right back into the red zone. Tie game, approaching seven

(01:37:41):
minutes to go, third quarter, ten ten, with the Steelers threatening.

Speaker 2 (01:37:46):
What do you think.

Speaker 5 (01:37:46):
Tonight that boy Cam Hayward is balling causing some problems
his mind right, causing some problems, chraigmar Jackson, Yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (01:37:59):
Mean the way he came started. Yeah, no doubt. The
way this.

Speaker 3 (01:38:02):
Game started, it was like, Okay, Baltimore is finally Baltimore.
But the Steers defense has figured it out and uh
and the Ravens look stuck in.

Speaker 2 (01:38:15):
The mud again.

Speaker 4 (01:38:17):
Yeah they do.

Speaker 5 (01:38:19):
I mean short this short field is going to be
tremendous uh for Pittsburgh, guaranteed points, hoping they make the
right decisions, right, But it's look, this is what these
battles are, these battles between these two teams in this division,

(01:38:42):
whether they're eight and eight, nine and seven, are twelve
and five and twelve and five, that's just how it goes, right,
eleven and five and eleven and five. They've always had
these types of games. And it's interesting because momentum is
crazy and it shifts. It can just go either way.

Speaker 2 (01:39:04):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:39:05):
You got two Hall of Fame quarterbacks going at each other,
Hall of famers all over the field, eventual Hall of famers,
and it's this is a great way to cap off.

Speaker 4 (01:39:21):
The NFL season.

Speaker 3 (01:39:22):
Although one of the top players on the Ravens defense
is actually not on the field, Kyle Hamilton being evaluated
for a concussion and left the game a short time
ago on a cart, and you have to wonder how
that is affecting everybody on the defensive side, both in
terms of x's and o's and emotionally.

Speaker 5 (01:39:44):
Yeah, it's gonna be tough. It's gonna be tough, but
they'll bounce back. We have a third and two right
now inside the ten yard line. I guess it's safe
to say this is four down territory.

Speaker 4 (01:39:58):
I guess a that's what it's feeling like.

Speaker 3 (01:40:01):
I've been looking all over the field for where is
not fourth down territory. It's like playing Pokemon Go. Now
you're like looking around, Nope, can't find it. It's all
four down territory.

Speaker 2 (01:40:11):
Now. That's the way an NFL field is built in
twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six. So anyway, I.

Speaker 3 (01:40:20):
Wonder about that because you do see around the league,
Hamilton leaves, whatnot.

Speaker 2 (01:40:27):
It's the NFL.

Speaker 3 (01:40:28):
Nobody's feeling sorry for anybody with injuries and whatnot. But
you know, for example, you you mentioned the forty nine
ers earlier, and I wonder about how certain teams, sort
of from an emotional standpoint, not just the obvious ex'es
and o's standpoint, how they handle that when when somebody

(01:40:53):
that's a big deal leaves.

Speaker 4 (01:40:55):
I'll give you a different example.

Speaker 3 (01:40:58):
For example, go back to when the Ravens played the
Green Bay Packers.

Speaker 2 (01:41:03):
A couple of nights after Christmas.

Speaker 3 (01:41:06):
I understand what was going on at the quarterback position,
but actually Malik Willis played really well. He played really well,
but the Packers got run off of that.

Speaker 2 (01:41:17):
Field in what it was a demoralizing fashion.

Speaker 3 (01:41:20):
Derrick Henry took them for a high school team, and
I just wonder, it's like their best defensive player tours
acl the week before that, and they looked shell shocks.

Speaker 2 (01:41:34):
Still a week later.

Speaker 3 (01:41:36):
So I just I wonder, when when the top guys
go out, what does that do collectively to everybody from
an emotional standard.

Speaker 5 (01:41:44):
Emotionally, it's tough because you're depending so much on them
in big games. When they leave, there's a void there.
And it's easy to say, hey, we got to rally
around that and let's get it together and let's do
it for him and all that, but it does because
that's a that's a gaping hole. This is all pro
player we're talking about missing out on and and they're there.

(01:42:04):
It's not you don't have a bunch of all pro
players on the bench waiting to get in and and
fourth and two. The Steelers opt to go for the
points in a field goal game. I I you know
they could be they could be up six, yep, but
they're up three three and so that was the right decision.

(01:42:25):
It's just one of those games. Man, at points are
at a premium. Take them while you can get them.

Speaker 3 (01:42:30):
Well, especially now like now, the now, the season's got
less than twenty minutes ago.

Speaker 2 (01:42:36):
Don't don't don't leave any points out there.

Speaker 4 (01:42:38):
No, don't leave you can't come back and get it there.

Speaker 3 (01:42:41):
No, So you know, getting the lead with four to
twenty eight to go in the third quarter would seem
rather valuable.

Speaker 4 (01:42:49):
Yeah, it's uh, it's it's shaping up.

Speaker 2 (01:42:52):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:42:52):
This is exciting. You get the fastest thing up the
right way.

Speaker 3 (01:42:56):
Do you see Houston as having a better side, I
know you love the Texans. Do you see them as
having a better shot against one over the other in
this matchup?

Speaker 5 (01:43:11):
I think they will have a better shot at Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh doesn't really you know what Pittsburgh is. They're going
to get the ball off fast. So defensively, Houston has linebackers, corners,

(01:43:31):
and a front four that is hillacious and stopping and
run and getting after the passer. And so when you're
in a situation where you have a team that's you know,
so reliant on you know, quick plays things like that,

(01:43:52):
they're not drop back, they don't have a lot of
weapons on the outside, you know what they're gonna be.
And Rogers, even though he had a twenty yard scramble,
he's not you know, taking offense in scrambling and gonna
have fifty sixty yards rushing in a game. And that
bowls well and into Houston's defensive hands. Now, when you're

(01:44:18):
dealing with the Ravens, you still got to deal with
Derrick Henry, and you still got to worry about Lamar
Zave Flowers on the outside, Babeman, you know, a bevy
of tight ends. So it's it's it's a little more daunting.
I would say that's fair. That's fair.

Speaker 3 (01:44:36):
And then when you talk about teams who are really
really reliant on one person, it makes me think of
how we rely on Steve Desager.

Speaker 2 (01:44:46):
Steve de Sacer there there to Steve Desager there it.

Speaker 10 (01:44:51):
Is I see Pittsburgh Steelers thirteen to ten over Beasteamer
set up by the TJ. Watt interception a short field
goal for Pittsburgh to put him ahead. And remember they
eschewed the short field goal at the end of the
first half and were stuck for a one yard loss
near the goal line. Got no points out of that
long drive, but Pittsburgh does lead, and as you referenced,

(01:45:13):
Wildcard weekend. Next weekend, Monday night Wildcard game will be
Houston at Tonight's winner. This is the NFL's regular season finale.
The winner takes that division. The Detroit Lions won at
Chicago nineteen sixteen. Bears are the NFC's number two seed.
The Bears host the Packers this Saturday night, streaming only

(01:45:34):
playoff game. The postseason schedule gets underway on Fox TV
this Saturday four to thirty pm Eastern time. Rams at Carolina.
Rams moved up to the five seed and this matchup
by winning an home against Arizona. Thirty seven to twenty
three playoff games. Next Sunday, one pm Eastern time, Buffalo
at Jacksonville. Buffalo won easily over the Jets, who will

(01:45:56):
select number two overall in the draft. By the way,
The Raiders secure the number one seed can we call
it when the Giants Giants actually won again against Dallas.
Jacksonville's won eighth straight after ripping Tennessee forty one to seven.
Also next Sunday, San Francisco at Philadelphia four to thirty
pm Eastern Time on Fox TV. Next Sunday nights playoff

(01:46:16):
game LA Chargers at New England Patriots the two seed
they won easily thirty eight ten against Miami today. Chargers
rested starters fourteen total to be exact, and the Broncos
beat him nineteen to three, So Denver gets the one
seed in the AFC. It'll have a bye next weekend. Also,
Atlanta one it's fourth in a row to end the season,

(01:46:38):
finished in a three way tie for first in the
NFC South, all the teams eight and nine, but that's
a three way tie for first in the NFC South.
Atlanta beat New Orleans nineteen seventeen, but the Falcons tonight
fired head coach Rahee Morris and GM Terry Fonto wins
for Cleveland and Minnesota. Houston won it's ninth straight game,
thirty eight to thirty over Indianapolis, which ended the year

(01:47:00):
with a seven game losing streat Caimi Fairbairn in the
Texans six for six on field goals today. John Morant
of the Memphis Grizzlies is out tonight with a bruised calf,
and yet the Grizzlies lead at the Lakers late first
half sixty one to forty eight. We still have three
minutes to go in the first half. They are up
to sixty one.

Speaker 2 (01:47:21):
Was in such a good move too.

Speaker 5 (01:47:24):
I'm looking at it right now, trying to ignore it.

Speaker 10 (01:47:27):
It's I said it last week. I believe it just
reminds me of the Dallas Cowboys this year actually, where
the Cowboys averaged twenty eight points a game but gave
up thirty points a game worse in the NFL. So
until you stop somebody, it's kind of hard to take
you seriously. At the top of the NBA, Thunder with
a thirty and five record, are trailing by two in

(01:47:48):
the final seconds at Phoenix Suns up one oh five
to oneh three. Big lead in the Lake College Hoops
game number seven, Gonzaga sixty seven thirty one over Loyal
and Merrimount with about eight and it's left. Earlier. Yukon
beat Marquette women's hoops Stanford won in overtime at number
sixteen North Carolina, Montreal and the NHL won in overtime

(01:48:09):
at Dallas four to three. And about the NFL season
coming to a close, can I just mention two things?
The fact that, well, the NFL's ridiculously talented and ridiculously popular,
and one of the reasons is most teams have a
chance most years. And here's the stat that keeps proving it.

(01:48:29):
New England and Chicago won division titles this year after
finishing last or tied for last in their divisions the
year before. Carolina's in that boat as well, which means
for most of the last twenty five years, at least
one team has finished in first only one year after
finishing in last place or tied for last. And on

(01:48:50):
top of that, three other teams are making the playoffs
this year that missed the postseason last year San Francisco, Seattle, Jacksonville.
So that's six total team making the postseason next for
next weekend after missing the postseason last year. So this
continues the most amazing streak to me every year, this

(01:49:11):
streaks still alive. Now at least four NFL teams qualify
for the playoffs after failing to make the postseason the
year before. And this streak has been going on thirty
six consecutive seasons. It's not just one team with a turnaround.
At least four NFL teams every season make the playoffs
that miss the postseason the year before. Wow, thank you

(01:49:35):
very much. Thirteen to ten, Pittsburgh in the lead with
about two minutes to go in the third quarter against Baltimore.

Speaker 3 (01:49:41):
Back to you, I mean that said, the Raiders still
won't make.

Speaker 2 (01:49:46):
It next year.

Speaker 10 (01:49:49):
I thought it will be Niners at Dallas next year.
You're talking about the schedule. I think it's their their
turn for the divisions to match.

Speaker 3 (01:49:56):
Yeah, you know what, I already the Niners up opponents.
H You are right. They will be at Dallas next year.
They will be at Dallas next year.

Speaker 4 (01:50:07):
I think that's why the draft is.

Speaker 5 (01:50:09):
So great, the way the NFL does it, you know,
because as we saw at Washington, you get you know,
Jada McDaniels, and now you're in the NFC Championship game
the next.

Speaker 10 (01:50:21):
Year when Daniels is on the field, right, you're right, correct,
Like you get to draft or you could be the
Raiders that get number one overall and take JaMarcus Russell.

Speaker 4 (01:50:32):
Yeah, you know, I just I think.

Speaker 10 (01:50:37):
Standing by for next April writers.

Speaker 5 (01:50:39):
Right, Yeah, yeah, I think, well, if it's a clear
cut first pick in the draft, and if they don't
know that by now, I mean they should be off
the clock.

Speaker 4 (01:50:48):
They should just go on and announce it now.

Speaker 2 (01:50:51):
Is it? This is that clear? Ye?

Speaker 10 (01:50:53):
Well, we're going to have the matchup this week, right,
isn't that the semi final college football playoff? Is Indiana Oregon?
One of those two quarterbacks I assume.

Speaker 4 (01:51:02):
Oh yeah, hey, is Mendoza for me?

Speaker 2 (01:51:07):
Mendoza.

Speaker 3 (01:51:08):
I mean, that's why I'm saying, like, I don't like,
I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying I don't think.
I think you gotta go through an evaluation process.

Speaker 4 (01:51:16):
I've evaluated them all years.

Speaker 3 (01:51:17):
Okay, Right, But it's the Raiders who are doing it,
so they'll see it differently because they.

Speaker 5 (01:51:22):
Message with Tom is there now? So that's a little
bit different, That's true. Definitely gonna be a little bit different,
especially when he comes.

Speaker 10 (01:51:28):
To did he have anything to do with the coach hire?

Speaker 5 (01:51:30):
What I'm telling you is he's gonna have a lot
to do with the quarterback. I can promise you that. Boy,
you don't get that. You don't have you know, arguably
the greatest quarterback to ever play the game on part
of your ownership group, and you just go out there
and do stuff your own way.

Speaker 2 (01:51:45):
When does it get weird? Though?

Speaker 3 (01:51:47):
When does it get weird that Troy Aikman is advising
the Dolphins and Tom Brady is running the Raiders and
then they run up to the booth and do their game.

Speaker 10 (01:51:55):
Yeah, it's I think we're past that. Yeah, when it
should be weird.

Speaker 3 (01:51:58):
I'm not like, because it's twenty twenty six, and I
guess we're just like nobody's bothered by anything anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:52:04):
Because it's just so tight, Like everything's so wild West.
It's just like whatever.

Speaker 10 (01:52:10):
That's a good way to put it. Because we have
to go through training as employees at this company to
actually declare if we have financial interests in something that
we get talk about on the air. You know, you
have to be it's public broadcasting. It's you know, that's
what the words it broadcasting. We're going to. It's not cable.
We're going to the largest general audience. You have to

(01:52:30):
be upfront with everything, and yet there are these football
examples that you bring up. There certainly been examples in
tennis where somebody's broadcasting and yet their husband's a promoter
or they're in on that. I mean, these kind of things.
It's just there's no line anymore in many areas of life,
and that's unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (01:52:48):
Yeah, and that's what my only question is.

Speaker 3 (01:52:50):
Just when you know I'm not like over here blowing
a whistle like I I boy, I'm stay up tonight
and think about Tom Brady and what he says on
a broadcast. But when does it get weird? Or do
you just if they're gonna do that, just keep them
off of those games.

Speaker 4 (01:53:09):
Yeah, but that makes sense.

Speaker 10 (01:53:10):
But tom Brady was working a game of a Raiders
future opponent and he gets to sit down with the
coach or the players and he gets inside.

Speaker 2 (01:53:19):
Another good point interviews.

Speaker 10 (01:53:21):
That you and I don't get during the week.

Speaker 2 (01:53:23):
Well, you know what I would do if I was
that other coach.

Speaker 10 (01:53:26):
I'd be like, no, yeah, I'd shut the door.

Speaker 3 (01:53:30):
My answer is no, I'll talk to the broadcast team,
but not that guy.

Speaker 10 (01:53:34):
Divest yourself, yeah, and then we can talk.

Speaker 2 (01:53:36):
Isn't that fair?

Speaker 3 (01:53:38):
Can't do it? Yeah, that's completely fair. Like hold your
ground to me, I'm not talking to Tom Brady, who's
drafting the Raiders number one overall.

Speaker 2 (01:53:47):
Big.

Speaker 4 (01:53:48):
Yeah, I talked to KB, but I'm not talking to
Tom exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:53:55):
By the way, I'm sure you already knew this, Steve,
but I found an answer to that little factoid thing.

Speaker 2 (01:54:01):
I'm a bob.

Speaker 3 (01:54:02):
No division ever in NFL history has had three teams
with twelve wins or more. That's the first time has
ever happened. Oh well, I don't know the whole part about.
Is it the first time where the top three best
records have all been in one division? But that is
the first time that any division has ever had three

(01:54:24):
twelve win teams.

Speaker 10 (01:54:25):
With the caveat that the Rams, for example, got win
number twelve. Today, there's an extra game of the schedule.

Speaker 3 (01:54:30):
Now, yes, yes, it is a seventeen game schedule, so
that was not as possible before.

Speaker 2 (01:54:37):
Totally fair, Okay, great stuff tonight, Steve, amazing Steve de Seger.

Speaker 4 (01:54:46):
What we do without him? Nothing?

Speaker 2 (01:54:50):
Let's never find.

Speaker 10 (01:54:51):
Out our audience of eight is that's right?

Speaker 2 (01:54:55):
That's right?

Speaker 4 (01:54:56):
What's eight hundred thousand?

Speaker 5 (01:55:00):
The most listened to radio show on Sundays and has
been for the last five years.

Speaker 2 (01:55:07):
Is that true?

Speaker 10 (01:55:11):
Well, it's time to be upfront again.

Speaker 4 (01:55:13):
I have the numbers.

Speaker 3 (01:55:17):
Text them to me. I would love to see them.
All right, we are live in the Fox Sports radio studio.

Speaker 10 (01:55:25):
Last thing, can I update this game that at Pittsburgh.
They just ended the third quarter. It's Steelers thirteen to
ten against Baltimore. The winner will be hosting a wildcard
game next weekend in the Monday night game next weekend
against Houston. But Baltimore had this great first drive, went
straight down the field, took the lead. Derrick Henry was
mowing them over long pass from Lamar Jackson for the TV.

(01:55:48):
Even including that, the Baltimore offense has had seven drives
and eight first downs.

Speaker 3 (01:55:54):
Oh yeah, no, they can't do a damn thing since then.

Speaker 4 (01:55:58):
Nope.

Speaker 2 (01:55:58):
I don't know what the adjustment than was, but boy
did it work.

Speaker 10 (01:56:01):
They're under one hundred total yards since the first drive.

Speaker 4 (01:56:04):
That Pittsburgh defense has woken up.

Speaker 3 (01:56:07):
Yes they have, and and Lamar is still going in
and out of periods of just looking like another human.

Speaker 10 (01:56:14):
They do have wat back on the defensive line, and
Harmon is in there and you know herbig came back
last week for Pittsburgh it is a little different yet.

Speaker 3 (01:56:23):
The Ravens are just down by three, So a very
very big quarter ahead, and we'll hang out with you
for part of it. Coming up next with from Salam,
Mark Willard, Steve de Seger with us as well of
course here on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 10 (01:56:40):
Are you ready for some football?

Speaker 1 (01:56:43):

Speaker 2 (01:56:47):
Okay, so it's live in the Fox Sports Radio studios.

Speaker 3 (01:56:50):
We're not going to get you to the finish line.
Plank and span your do that, but we'll get you close.
The Steelers are punting it away as the eleven minute
mar approaches. The Steelers have thirteen, the Ravens have ten.
This one is going checks notes exactly like everyone expected
it to. Thirteen to ten. I'm pretty sure you could

(01:57:16):
have put that in ink this morning, that this is
exactly how this game would look. And here we are,
so Raven's about to take over the ball. We'll keep
you up to date. This one's gonna go for another
so long and plank and span you'll get in here.
Another reminder, with the iHeartRadio app, you can stream us

(01:57:37):
wherever you happen to be. Catch us in all of
the Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty four to seven
and the new and improved iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox
Sports Radio in the app to stream us live all
day every day, and be sure to select Fox Sports
Radio is one of your presets in the iHeart app,
so it will always pop up at the top of
your screen.

Speaker 2 (01:57:57):
Again, the framework is now in play.

Speaker 3 (01:58:00):
And I want to know if it does anything for
you from like, it's that year where none of us
seem to have conviction on a prediction, but now that
the matchups are in front of us, is there a path.

Speaker 2 (01:58:14):
That maybe you like a little bit more than the others?

Speaker 3 (01:58:18):
Again, Saturday's early game is Rams at Panthers. Saturday's late
game Packers at Bears. Sunday will be Buffalo at Jacksonville,
followed by San Francisco at Philadelphia. The nightcap during our show,
the Chargers visit New England. Monday night has Houston visiting

(01:58:39):
tonight's winner.

Speaker 2 (01:58:41):
The lay of the land to you is.

Speaker 4 (01:58:42):
What I think.

Speaker 5 (01:58:43):
The thing that sticks out the most is the forty
nine ers are in trouble and they had an opportunity
to avoid this. I think we talked about it earlier
in the show. The fact that they have to now
get on a plane and go play outside and inclement
weather and Philadelphia against the defending Super Bowl chaeampions, with
the defense void of their all pro players, I think

(01:59:06):
puts them in a tough situation. No matter how good
Robert Salah has done coaching, and no matter how good
that offense can try to muster up some points or
something like that, and how good of a game. Kyle
Shanahan calls, you had an opportunity to eradicate that not
only get health and rest for a week, but to

(01:59:28):
never get on a plane and go anywhere. And you
showed up and scored three points when everything was on
the line, And like you had mentioned, it just felt
like they were reserved to just you know, get into
the playoffs and see what happens next week, opposed to

(01:59:49):
you know, bringing that energy and everything you need to
do to solidify home court and a buy. And so
now this is this look you make stupid choices, you
get stupid prizes.

Speaker 3 (02:00:02):
Well, I don't know, like I buy everything you're saying,
except for maybe sort of referring to it as a choice.
I think that what's odd about the forty nine ers
lot in life is to listen to the way they're
talking about it, you can you can hear and I
don't know that I can liken this to any other

(02:00:22):
playoff team in history where you can hear the coach
and even some of the players sort of be like
and I, I don't really have our people, So it's
not like it's not like we fully think that we
can win. They don't sound always like they expect to win.

Speaker 4 (02:00:43):
And I get it, and that's a problem.

Speaker 2 (02:00:45):
I get it's a problem, but I also get it
they're kind of not wrong. It's a little bit miraculous
that their record is what it is.

Speaker 5 (02:00:53):
Yeah, but one thing you can't do is fake your
way through the playoffs. As as every team is good,
even the Panthers can step up and bite you because
they beat the Rams. Sure, so I just thought that
out of everybody playing this weekend for positioning, I thought

(02:01:13):
they had the most to gain and the most to
lose in one game.

Speaker 2 (02:01:17):
I hear you, I do. The other one I'm looking
at on the AFC side that I find to be
very very fascinating is Buffalo at Jacksonville.

Speaker 4 (02:01:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead, no, you go please.

Speaker 3 (02:01:27):
I was just going to say, I think Jacksonville has
an interesting path a home game. They manned up with
more home games than you think in these playoffs where
I think there will be some upsets.

Speaker 2 (02:01:38):
And I also think if Buffalo loses that game.

Speaker 3 (02:01:40):
I've told you this last week, I think the debate
shows are going to have a long offseason at Josh
Allen's expense.

Speaker 4 (02:01:48):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 5 (02:01:49):
If not now, when you don't have a bunch of
roadblocks center anyr way, you got to upstart Jacksonville team
who's on the heater right now, and they're a favorite
for me in that game.

Speaker 3 (02:02:00):
I can't wait to talk to you next week, man.
I hope I'm in a good mood, but we'll see. Man,
I'll talk to you next week.

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