Mike Harmon and TJ Houshmandzadeh Share Why Today Will Not Be Denver's Day

Mike Harmon and TJ Houshmandzadeh get you ready for Week 4 of NFL action. Will the Colts go 0-4? Is this the end for Ben Roethlisberger? Mike and TJ have you covered and give you their thoughts on Tom Brady's return to New England as they breakdown that and every matchup around the league.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Yeah, we're getting ready
like a kid in a candy store, you know, stealing
candy from babies. Whatever phrase you want to use. Here
talking to NFL Week four with you, Mike Harmon, and
this is a treat for me, a guy admired him
on the field and certainly here on the airwaves of
Fox Sports Radio. First time getting to work with him.

(00:22):
T J houshman Zada, one of the guys from one
of the greatest tag teams in the nineties on the
receiving end of things that folks, uh, folks forget how
good you and Chad were. It's good to talk to you,
t J. Mike, what's up man. It's my pleasure, man,
and the feelings are always mutual with me. Brother. Welcome in,
Welcome in. We got a full slate of chaos, obviously

(00:43):
a lot this week, my man, of all the uh Well,
Patriots Buccaneers. I think I'm about talked out on that
whole subject. I don't know about you. I just want
to watch a football game and see if New England
actually has enough to hang around for a while. I
wouldn't say I'm talked out, just speaking on it so much.
But I'm not gonna lie. I'm really looking forward to

(01:05):
this game. I expect a good game. Um. I expect
the Patriots to get destroyed. I really do. I just
feel Bruce arians the type of coach where he wants
Tom Brady to be able to stick his chests out
after this game. But I also know Bill Belichick is
a smart coach, and Bill is gonna try to force

(01:26):
them to run the ball. He doesn't want time to
get off, so to speak in New England and foxbor
So it's gonna be very interesting. Tom knows him, he
knows Tom. Let's see who can adjust better. We'll go
into a full preview of that game next hour. Uh.
You know the formattics the same for those first coming
in and and t J. It's the whip around here.

(01:46):
We've got fifteen matchups left on the schedule. Do a
quick look back at your former team and they're eking
out of a win on Thursday Night football. Uh. Your
Oregon State team now four and one minor the Western squad. Uh,
I don't think they got off the bus against Nebraska.
So I'm just gonna smile and say, hey, take the

(02:07):
bye week, figure it out and come back, uh with
with some more energy, but a full day of college football,
just some fun results, some of those blue bloods having
their big moments, and then in a big shining moment
with an opportunity in the nation, watching Notre Dame falls
at Cincinnati. See it all circles back to Cincinnati, so

(02:27):
it's it's all about you. Uh. But Notre Dame just
thirteen points as uh Cincinnati thirteen And now people start
wringing their hands, going, all right, we're gonna have to
think about the Bearcats in the national uh playoff picture.
And and I know folks get a little nervous and
and puck her up a bit when those kind of
things happened to j You know what, Cincinnati was a

(02:48):
really good team last year, and I believe people thought
it was a fluke. Oh we didn't. Not many teams
got the practice as much. It was a condensed season.
Some teams played more games and others. Desmond Rutter looks
like he's the real deal, super athletic dude. They lose
their defensive coordinator to Notre Dame, and uh, they just

(03:10):
put it on. I don't understand how program like Notre
Dame doesn't have court, like Brian Kelly plays musical chairs
with his quarterbacks more than any guy I've ever seen.
He had in book, but before that, like he's take
guys in, put this guy and put this guy in.
Put your Notre Dame. Find you a quarterback and roll
with him. Old added right, and you got two quarterbacks,

(03:32):
you don't have one, and you you're trying to mix
and match and trying. You know, now you're thinking about
your offensive line, your wide receivers, different responsibilities and how
they have to play depending on which quarterback is in.
Trying to find a rhythm. Sometimes escapes you, and in
this case it certainly did for Notre Dame. Luke Fickle

(03:52):
has done a fantastic job. I didn't obviously I know
know who the Cincinnati Bearcats are, but last year kind
of surprise a ton of people when you lose your
defensive coordinator and now you get to play him this year,
I know those guys were fired up, and yeah, it
looks like since who who has left on our schedule

(04:13):
that can even pose a threat to him, the Cincinnati
Bearcats will more than likely be in a college football
playoff for sure. It's pretty crazy to look at it
and we can do that as October just get started.
It's like, all right, just don't slip up and stay healthy,
stay in the bubble wrap, UH, and see what happens.
Michigan with a big win as well, a huge win
for for Jim Harbaugh who wins nine games a year,

(04:35):
yet everybody hates So will this be the year? Will
this be the year that they don't trip up? All right?
Will this be the year that they can just compete
with Ohio State? Will this be to your Ohio State?
They're they're always good, but this isn't a typical Ohio
State type of year. Michigan looks like they have a

(04:55):
pretty good formula going right now. They really do. Opportunity
does knock. You mentioned Luke Fickle. He's one of the
guys that obviously you and I out here in Los
Angeles where we come from the Fox Sports Radio studios, UH,
and Luke Fickle is a guy that you're gonna start
seeing his profile showing up a bunch as they try
to figure out the next UH steps at USC. UH

(05:18):
certainly one of those names that has been in the
picture a little bit. T j Uh. If we can,
let's rewind a little bit a eking out of victory.
I'm not quite sure where we're at. It's basically the
win and you know, succeed and proceed kind of mentality
in the National Football League. Take your victory, you try
to figure out where some of the gaps were enrolled.

(05:40):
But a good first half for Jacksonville, absolutely dominant, and
I was all for the the call of trying to
score a touchdown. You recognize who you are euro and three,
you're trying to get some momentum and you've kicked this
team around the field. Instead, you get Cincinnati with a
big stop and then we basically mirrored time of possession

(06:00):
and yardage and all of the major stats. In the
second half is Burrowing company get it done. And you
look at Joe Burrow and he just seems unflappable. And
not often we see this in a second year guy
who missed a good chunk of his rookie season comes
off a big injury and it doesn't look like any
situation gets too big for him. You know, we all

(06:22):
can be my nay morning quarterball, Oh, why you didn't
kick the field goal and go up three scores? You
know that type of thing, because if he scores a touchdown. Thought,
it's a great call. How about that? Right? Yeah, exactly.
I mean the better thing is just just give the
ball to James Robinson. How about making better how about
make a better call. And you know, the Bengals. Either

(06:42):
the Bengals made great halftime adjustments or the Jags didn't
make any It's one or the other, because after halftime
the Bengals were a different team. First half they come out,
they're running the ball, they're doing okay. Second half they
went empty quite a bit and the Jacks didn't have
an answer for it. Joe is just uh, he plays

(07:04):
with a confidence man. He he came out here in
southern California and did his pre combined training out here
with us. And the two is it's almost cockiness really,
to be honest with you, to dude is so confident
in himself. And that was the first thing that I noticed,
um when he when he was out here training. He
has a confidence man that you rarely seeing dudes. And

(07:27):
it's almost borderline cocky. But I would prefer have it
this way then have no conference in yourself at all.
I mean, you see, can't zero me, You've seen the
thing after when he uh, now empty said, he checks
to the quick screen to Zuma goes on a solid
he can't zero me. Who do they think I am?
And he knew, you know, when you're miked up, he

(07:49):
doesn't care. The Bengals. Keep him healthy. They got a
chance to be special for a long time. Well that's
the big thing. They were playing without te Higgins. You
look at Joe mixing another guy with some injuries in
his history. But keep him healthy and that offensive line,
and you know, week by week it's it's that evaluation, right, Uh,
are your front five getting the job done? And certainly

(08:12):
early in the season he was under siege. But you
know they stopped a huge streak of the Steelers in
Week three. Steelers had had seventy five games with at
least one sack and no t J. Watt of course,
but they get a clean pocket for Joe Burrow. And
and now you see a team that's kind of curious, right,
a loss to the Bears. We'll get into the Bears. Um,

(08:32):
that's my hometown, t J. So I've done a lot
of I assume that when you said Northwestern, Yeah, the
Southside boy stayed home for college, and uh, well it's
it's still there. Did a number of rants, almost as
many rants on that as Buccaneer's Patriots this week. DJ SO.
But you know, the job here is to kind of

(08:53):
run through the game, give folks a couple of quick
insights as we can, and of course we do some
game picks to show exactly how hard it is to
do that as you go through an entire schedule. We're
not cherry picking two or three games. Nope, We're gonna
try to throw dartboard, throw all sorts of darts at
the board and see what we stick. So why don't
we start with our first matchup? It's a big one

(09:16):
Steelers and Packers. All right, Packers a six and a
half point favorite. Forty five and a half is your
total for this one. Packers coming off a huge win
the Steelers. We keep looking at that offense going, I
don't know a lot of tags in this one in
terms of injuries. Uh, we're looking at getting guys healthy

(09:37):
and trying to get back on. But there will be
no Chase Claypool for the Steelers. A little bit of
work on the offensive line as a core four and
Coward are both out. We've got the pectoral muscle which
we are continued issue for Ben Roethlisberger. Both Smith Schuster
and Deante Johnson expected to play. There were participants at practice,
as was the aforementioned T J. Watt. But we're watching

(10:01):
Big Ben and what is a shell of the man
we once knew Nagy Harris at this point the run
game not quite expected behind that what we expected behind
a retooled offensive line, whereas Green Bay they don't have
to offer much of a pass rush. Can we see
at least a glimpse of the old Ben Roethlisberger for
one day? Or is it done? I believe it's done.

(10:23):
It's over uh stick of forking him. I believe the
Packers gonna win this game, going away six and a
half points. They'll win by double digits. I can see
a score of thirty one seven team maybe maybe the
Steeter's score late to make it look like it was
a little closer than what it was. The Packers slipped
up Week one, I mean they didn't slip up. They

(10:45):
absolutely got destroyed. And they've been doing for that game.
Went in driving against the Niners. Like to make those
throws that Aaron Rodgers made unreal, well especially it's just
the number one guy like that's the bigger thing. It's like,
it's not like he found a second guy somehow, He's
still found his guy twice DJ, who had just been

(11:05):
laid out before. Yeah, that that's another laid out, literally
missed one play. I was like, Oh, he's done for
the game. He laid Yeah that that what that was
odd to me to say. You watch a bunch of
Marvel movies. That's a meta human kind of thing going
on there. Yeah, Oh he's done. Oh he rises back up.
That's what DeVante Adams did. But yeah, I like the

(11:27):
Packers big in this game and Steelers. Uh, everybody has
one of these seasons, and I guess it's time for
the Pittsburgh Steelers to have this type of season. I
was gonna say, Mike Tomlin hasn't had one yet. Right,
every time we think that the team's bad, they still
get to five hundred. This one. It's a long slog.
But I don't know if mus Dwayne Haskins suddenly has

(11:48):
some magic in his arm once they eventually have to
go to him. Big Band has been great for so long,
very underrated in my opinion. Obviously I saw him a lot,
but it's it's exactly what you said. I can't see
them benching bend, but I can see them saying a bend,
let's sit you down until you get healthy. See what
they have in Dwayne Haskins to know if they need

(12:08):
to draft a quarterback or not. Yeah, it's just bad
when you become a meme based on trying to flip
the ball away and then you fall down like a
tree man. I'm coming into my timeline last week. I
got a little bit sad because you know, you don't
like to see father time catch up with guys on
the field because it means he caught up with you. Tube.
It catches up to everybody except Tom Brady. Um so

(12:32):
big Ben, It's happened all of us. Uh. Brady has
the juice. He was smart enough to wait, you gotta
be careful about saying he got the juice. Well, he
has the remedy whatever you want to call it. But
he was smart enough. Brady got ahead of his stuff

(12:53):
early in his career. Alex Guerrero, I've known Alex Garrero
since I was a teenager, and he hired Alex early
in his curl. Alex is out here in so Cow
working on us, and next thing you know, he moves
up out of so Cow and he's in New England.
I'm like, Alex, what's up, bro? Can I get some work?

(13:16):
He's literally moved his family all the way to New England. So, yeah,
Brady was smart. He got ahead of this early. Yeah,
we gotta figure out how to get some some ability
to write some works of fiction on Tom Brady and
make him like the next big superhero. You know what
it is. You just gotta be willing to invest in
yourself and hire people that can keep you healthy like Brady.

(13:37):
Did you know? Us athletes are super cheap when it
comes to keeping your body healthy. But Brady invested in
himself and it's paid off handsomely for him, certainly paying dividends.
I've got my sleepwear recovery sleepwear on order, still haven't
gotten it back. I'm gonna try to steal everything I
can from what we know of his playbook as I

(13:59):
get a little long in the tooth here. But the
voice still sounds nice and strong here on Fox Sports Radio,
we're just getting warmed up. It's Fox Football Sunday. The
voice you here opposite mine t J Hooch Binzada years
in the National Football League, and of course part of
the up On Game Crew here on Saturday's Fox Sports
Radio alongside Plaxco Burris and my guy love Are Arrington,

(14:22):
who you you heard here on Sundays for a long while,
the two of us yelling at each other. Uh so
yeah he he and t J get after it with
plaques on Saturdays here on Fox Sports Radio. Find the podcast,
Apple Podcast, Google Play, wherever you get your audio. We
will continue to shill for that show and all of
your other works. T J. As the morning goes on,

(14:43):
find me over at Swollen Him. You got fantasy football
lineup questions? Will throw darts at those two as the
morning develops here as we count down to kick off
for week four the National Football League. Coming up next
an undefeated team. Will they stay so big? Test on
Tap at Mile High Next on Fox Welcome back in

(15:03):
Fox Sports Radio. It's Fox Football Sunday. Getting you repped
up for Week four of the National Football League. Mike
Harmon alongside t J. Houshmnzata you hear him on with
the up On Game Crew. Also, you've got the About
the Game podcast at WHOSA eighty four on Twitter. But
the About the Game Podcast latest episode Doug Ellen, so

(15:24):
t J trying to become a mogul and get himself
a TV show too. Hi, you guys got from twelve
years in the NFL and your list of contacts. I
think you guys could resurrect member playmakers all those years ago.
It was controversial. Yeah, I wouldn't spill auto secrets something, man, Mike.

(15:46):
There's so many things that go on that nobody has
any idea, especially in Cincinnati when I believe we kind
of started and I say week because I was on
the team, but not we meaning me started the going
to see Roger Goodell getting suspended and things that personal
conduct policy that now we all know it's normal, But

(16:09):
back then it was like, No, you guys became the
poster boys of all that's sure. There was so much
more that never got out. Oh man, Yeah, in the
radio business right there. Yeah, it will stay a tease too.
It will always because the fact that nobody's talked at
this point, at fifteen years later, is pretty impressive. Yeah,

(16:30):
you would have to be privy to to what was
going on to understand at Oh this never got out
to the public. Oh, this didn't get out to the
public either. It was a lot um. I'm sure some
learned from others didn't. But yeah, you I might tell
stories here and there, but I'll never bring up names.
If it's uh that bad, I won't do that at all.

(16:51):
You gotta leave the names out to protect the innocent
and the guilty. A lot of people raise their hand, going,
wait a minute, what happened? You know? What happens is
guys that work on the team, they're be like, I
forgot about that. I know exactly what he's talking about,
all right, So we'll stop teasing and teasing that. But

(17:11):
certainly you had Mike vick on um some great guests
to get things started, guys with a lot of stories
to tell, uh, and certainly drawing it. It's been fun. Mike,
I like doing it. We we just had we had
Carson on He'll He'll be the next episode. Clinton Portis,
we'll have t o UM and we just try to
do a little different than interviews that they've done, their

(17:32):
podcasts that they've done. We don't touch on the same things.
That's a good way to go, certain Clinton and for
Uh for t o I mean, there there's a lot
of stories to be told. It's just a matter of
where you want to take him. And Clinton is a character,
so that that'll be I can't wait to hear that one.
That'd be fun. Yeah, it was pretty good. He's a
he's a good dude. Man. You know, everybody, uh does

(17:54):
things you shouldn't do. Um. It happens, and hopefully you
make those mistakes early in your life when you're younger,
but you know, we we do make mistakes later on
in life, and it just it kind of is what
it is. But yeah, I really enjoy it. When I
was playing the the Beat Writers in Cincinnati, they were
the ones to tell me, when you're done playing, you

(18:15):
need to get involved in the media. And so Jeff Hopson,
Mark Canute, they were too that. I just remember their
names because they were the two that told me that
and appreciate y'all. Yeah, not not to go on the
the full uh you know, but kissing tour. But I
used to do training camp tours back in the day
and always would stop by you guys and then ask
who you want to talk to, and it was always

(18:37):
you and Chad, and then get mad at me, you know,
like like in a lot of these places, like you
don't want to talk to the quarterbacks like they're gonna
give you coach peak and Carson was a little more
blunt than most, but you know, given a choice, it
was all right, let's find you guys, because you actually
had something to say. So it was, you know, part
part of our tours. I was always enjoying, uh coming
out there and seeing you guys go to work. Probably

(18:59):
a little too un altered home, that's probably why. Well,
but you were honest. If the if the practice was bad,
you guys would talk about it or something went went
haywire and a drill and it's just, you know, the
quarterbacks normally buttoned up. It's like, you know, the like
the Statesman might as well have had you know, Hail
to the Chief playing in the background, because you're gonna
get basically whether whatever the message was for the squad,

(19:22):
you guys do. And sometimes it would be, hey, please
don't print that. Just here here's some background. So you
know you guys. You guys were always very good to
me back in the day when my my youthful stepping
around the country before I settled out here in southern
California and uh ung out with all the beautiful people
you know there you go, I just believe, especially when
you're athlete, and then when you get into the media

(19:45):
like yourself. And I've done is I always say how
I feel. I'm not gonna try to be politically correct
and oh should I say this? If I feel it,
I'm gonna say it. Um maybe I shouldn't, but that's
just who I am. I'm not gonna beat a round
the bush. I'm gonna say exactly how I feel. And
if some like it, fine, If others don't, that's okay

(20:05):
as well. That's the bottom line. I'll take your love
or your derision either way. We hope to spark some
sort of something in your brain getting you fired up
this morning as we get into Week four of the
National Football League, and we've got a doozy out in Denver,
Ravens and Broncos. All right, this one the last I

(20:26):
saw a narrow one point edge for Denver forty four.
You're over under a lot of folks questioning t J
just the way the schedules worked out for Denver thus far.
You've had not exactly the heavy weights you would call
them on your schedule, and the Giants, Jaguars and the
New York Football Jets. But as you know, playing in

(20:48):
the league, you take your w and you move on.
You take the good, and you know there's always room
for cleaning some stuff up. Now you've got the Ravens
coming in. They're banged up. Ronnie Stanley, Derek Wolf are out. Uh.
And then you also look at Lamar Jackson, expected to play,
but the hip missed a good chunk of the practice
week before getting back after it. And it looks like

(21:08):
they've cleaned up in most a very long injury list,
but the rest coming back. But they don't have their
wide receivers just yet. Bateman and Boykin just finally getting
back into the all right, you got twenty one days
to activate them phase. So not a lot down field
for Labar Jackson. But thus far do we know he
can make plays himself and and will run game has

(21:30):
been sporadic. You got the win last week because you've
got super toe Justin Tucker making it happen. That win
over Casey one of the best. We've seen. A difficult
overtime loss in Week one to Las Vegas, but all
that two and one, I don't know what this team
ceiling is. But you've got a big test here on
the road against Von Miller in that Denver defense with

(21:51):
Vic Fangio, this game is tough because, regardless of what
you say about Never, Vic Fangio is one of the
best defense of coaches in the league. They're gonna play
defense in Denver, and it's hard to look at Denver
and say, ah, they they're ranked here against the run.
They haven't played a team nowhere near the Baltimore Ravens offensively.

(22:14):
And so when you talk about early schedule, yeah, the
early schaldule for the Broncos have been good to them.
But it's also good for them mentally because with them
being undefeated right now, they they feel like we're gonna
show everybody how good we are. I just don't believe
it's gonna be today. No judy, no handler, Bradley Chubb

(22:34):
out for the defense. So you're looking for Lamar Jackson
one more play to get a win. There is it
a Justin Tucker field goal? Can he break his own
record a week later? Going to my height, Well, if
there's any uh city and field you want to trot
on it, it would always be Denver with with the
low optitude to thin air, they'll probably give him a chance.

(22:56):
If if the opportunity presents itself. I just believe the
Ravens will win the game, and I do expect the
hard fall game, just because Denver they're playing with a
ton of confidence. Teddy Bridgewater has been fantastic for him.
But they haven't played a team Mike Baltimore yet and
so until they show me that they can compete with
quote unquote the big Boys, I'm going with Ravens. Hardball

(23:16):
is uh, when people bring up best head coaches in
the league, they'll say this guy, this guy, this guy,
this guy. Oh and also hardball and it should be
the other way around. He's one of the best coaches
in the league and he never gets the credit he deserves.
And so yeah, I'm rolling with the Ravens. Yeah, I
think I'll ride with you on this one. I do

(23:37):
like the Denver squad. That just the composition, as you said,
with Vic Fangio, one of the best defensive minds you've
got going. So perhaps can get a key on Lamar
Jackson to slow things down. But Teddy Bridgewater one of
the great stories of this early season, taking advantage of
the opportunity afforded him there in Denver. And as you

(23:57):
say that they're not battle tested at this point, so
this is a big step up in class as it were,
like we equated to the boxing ring. Good luck with that.
But it's one of the matchups that I love see that.
I've talked more about these matchups as I could TJ
during the week than New England and Tampa. I figured
everybody else had that one covered more more in the
emotional side than I did. But we'll deal with that

(24:19):
one in about a half hour from now. But first
we're gonna step over to Isaac Lowen Cron before we
get to a big game in Big d what's going on?
I love Good morning Mike, Good morning t J. We
start in the NFL, where Ian Rappahort reported this morning
the New Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Richard Sherman don't do
what we're talking about me. I have to, it's my job.

(24:42):
Is expected to start tonight at New England. In Major
League Baseball, on Saturday night, Mitch Hanniger of the Seattle
Mariners had five rb I, including his thirty ninth home
run of the season, in a six four victory over
the Angels. So going to the final day of the
regular season, the Yankees and Red Sox hold the American
League wild card spots at ninety one and seventy. The

(25:03):
Mariners and Blue Jays are both one game back at
ninety and seventy one. Elsewhere, on Saturday Night, the San
Diego Padres what at San Francisco in ten innings, three
to two, so the Giants failed to clinch the NL West.
Their magic number is one. The Dodgers stayed alive in
the NL West race with an eight to three victory
over the Milwaukee Brewers, Julio Urius becoming the first twenty

(25:26):
game winner in the majors this year. College football Saturday Night,
Will Rogers through for four oh eight with three touchdown
passes as Mississippi State wanted fifteen Frank Texas A and
M twenty six to twenty two. Hawaii knocked off eighteen
ranks Fresno State twenty seven to twenty four. Arizona State
defeated Number twenty U C l A at the Rose

(25:47):
Bowl in Pasadena, forty two to twenty three, Number twenty
two Auburn winning at LSU twenty four to nineteen. Also Saturday,
fourth rank Penn State blanked Indiana at twenty four to nothing,
Mike and t J. A comeback for Will Rodgers, who,
according to the Wikipedia, has been gone since nineteen back. Hey,

(26:09):
that's the ultimate comeback Player of the Year Awards. And
I guess a pretty big indictment of the Texas A
and M defense stage film actor Vaudeville. As soon as
Vaudeville comes into the play here, we got a whole
other world. He has a park named after him, like
fifteen miles from here over in like Pacific Paliss. Right, Yeah,
why don't we all go for a nice hike later
on today? Just don't never mind. I don't even know

(26:32):
what you wanted to do there. I We're gonna cut
your microphone and get back to work. Mike Carman, t J.
Houshminzata here with you Week four of the National Football
League Fox Football Sunday. We got Chris and Nick making
a sound oh so pretty uh this morning. Check out
all of Chris's work, Uh, Detroit Lions, the Pride of
Detroit at Chris Perfette for the latest links there. And

(26:55):
with that, let's get back into the games. Panthers a Cowboys,
all right, another team that we're trying to figure out.
T J. Who they are your Carolina Panthers. Thus far,
You've got a defense that's swarming, Matt Rule getting it done.
But again, Jets, they humbled the Saints for that one

(27:17):
week and then while they beat up on the Texans
and Davis Mills in a Thursday night affair. Four and
a half is the number here, Carolina getting four and
a half on the road at Dallas fifty one and
a half of the total. And we look at Sam
Donald missing Christian McCaffrey. Obviously that's huge and gross mottos

(27:37):
the defensive end out of Penn State. Uh, doubtful for
this one as well. You're looking for the Cowboys. Randy
Gregory limited participation in Friday, but looks like he's still
gonna go. And Amari Cooper was taken off the injury report.
So Dak Prescott with his cool compliment, Really it comes
down to this Carolina taking advantage of the early schedule,

(28:00):
just like Denver t J. Can they match points with
Dak in that offense? Is that defense good enough and
for real enough to slow down Dallas? Man? That defense
has been very, very good for the Panthers, almost too good.
But they haven't played a team you say they haven't played.

(28:22):
They played Sean Payton in the Saints. For Sean Payton
is well, that was when he had ten coaches that
were in cod protocol. There, they had the coach, they
had the players being coaches, the players were coaches. And
so the way Dr Prescott is playing, it's almost uh.
Anytime he drops back, he's going to make the right decision,

(28:44):
and he's given his receivers in tight ends opportunities to
make plays. That Prescott is playing so well right now,
it's almost hard to go against the Cowboys. One thing
is for certain. If that defense does this part, the
Cowboys are gonna win because that Prescott is gonna put
up points. And that Prescott to me now is when
you speak of the best quarterbacks, you have to mention

(29:05):
his name. He's gonna move the ball, He's gonna put
his team in position to win. Those receivers. Like, man,
I'm glad we have dak as our quarterback. I like
the Cowboys they're giving up four and a half. I'm
not too cause I'm somewhat concerned just because when you
played the way the Pantras have played, Like I said
about the Broncos, you just have a lot of confidence. Man.

(29:26):
I'm a big fan of sum Arnold always start. He
got a raw deal in New York. But this Cowboys defense,
they're pretty much healthy. Outside the Marcus Lorence he broke
his dan Quinn has done a hell of a job. Man,
He's coming and changing around. Michael Parsons is is showing
you he can play linebacker. I can play d n

(29:47):
I'm just a football player. Diggs, they got a they
got a really good corner in Trayvon Dick. Yes, And
the best thing about Diggs is he's the former receiver.
So as ball skills are off the chart, off the chart,
former receiver. I'm going with the Cowboys. I like Dak Prescott,
I like what they're doing. Um, the Panthers gotta show
me more. Yeah, I'm gonna take the Carolina Panthers with

(30:09):
the points. I'm gonna take the four and a half.
I think Dallas wins the game. You know, going back
to Doc really quick, just coming into the year, t
J between the ankle and whatever was going on with
his shoulder in the preseason, it was a all right,
I want to see it, and then you just watch
him play and it just looks like the game is
going out of Snail's pace, kind of like the Keanu

(30:30):
Reeves dodging bullets in the matrix kind of thing going
on for him right now. You add Dalton Schultz to
the BIX revived Ezekiel Elliott after hearing all the criticism
coming out a week too. Folks forget that that blocking
his part of being a complete running back. So he's
getting paid to do that too. Uh So having some
fun on the defensive side. I'm sure LaVar has sent

(30:52):
you every clip of Michael Parsons every play, so I
know you're well aware of wruth. Anybody that knows LaVar.
If you go to Penn State, you get unconditional love
for LaVar Arrington. That's for certain, proud Papa there in
terms of skill development and everything. But he's just been fantastic,

(31:13):
especially when he's uh you know, just even as a
down lineman upfront and pat rushing the pastor he has
been ridiculous. But for Sam Donald, yeah, just don't go
to the Jets. That seems to be the overriding theme,
trying to force that trade like you do, uh well,
like Eli and n L Wait did all those years ago.
If it is possible, all right, let's get one more

(31:34):
ins alright, Seattle Seahawks haven't been able to stop anybody.
Forty Niners with that heartbreaking loss to Green Bay last week.
San Francisco a narrow two and a half point favorite
in this one. T J fifty two is your over
under Rashade Penny Surprise injured again uh Tyler Lockett hip injury,

(31:57):
but expected to play for the forty Niners. Elijah Mitchell
remember when everybody spent their free agent acquisition budget and
fantasy on him. I do because I did it. He's
gone with a shoulder injury. So next man up there,
George Kittle gonna be available, as will kin Law on
the defensive line. You know, San Francisco, as we talked
about earlier, TJ, a lot of the Monday morning quarterbacking

(32:19):
off of that game as well. You left Aaron Rodgers
too much time. It's like you're trying to score a touchdown. Okay,
this is it. I'm setting up Robbie Gold to kick
a field goal. You're trying to score a touchdown. If
you leave thirty seven seconds, you've got to think your
defense is good enough to to give you the stop,
even if Aaron Rodgers or you know, insert your other quarterback.

(32:39):
Deity is on the other side. That said, with Seattle,
the defense has just been so poor as Pete Carroll's going, yeah,
we're gonna switch some things up, and just he looks
like he's grasping at straws mans. They play at least
they try to play complimentary football. It's just didn't work out.
What's your going against one of the Bestinarian Rodgers this

(33:02):
this game should be just what they needed. The Seahawks,
it's they're supposed to be a defensive team with Pete
Curls their head coach. You go early in the season,
they're playing at home against the Tennessee Titans. They big lead,
they give it up defensively, they gave it up and
the same thing last week against the Minnesota Vikings. They

(33:23):
need to figure out that defense. You've got the corners.
All this scheme is. It doesn't fit us. You know,
some of the things we're doing isn't right. But we'll
figure it out. When you start losing, fingers start to
get pointed. Both teams coming off a loss. But I
believe the forty Niners being competitive and should have won

(33:43):
that game against the Packers. Division game, though, when you
play division opponents. I don't believe Russell Wilson has never
lost three games in a row in its career, if
I'm not mistaken, and so as they said the first
time for everything, So Rusky ready for three in a row? Boom.
I'm right there with you, San Francisco. I like Jimmy
garopp Low. He wins games. He's not a sexy quarterback, right,
and everybody looking just like in Chicago, it's like all right,

(34:05):
when an't we gonna see the kids like if he's
not ready, he's not ready, and you're also two in one.
It should have won another game. So I think it's
the the calm down. They just need to figure out
what's going on in that training room because we've got
several years on a row now t J where it's
just one man after the next going down with injuries,
and that's just a bad luck. I think they go

(34:26):
get the sage brush from Kyrie Irving and maybe try
to sweep some of that bad mojo outs. Well, he
doesn't need it right now. He could have missed a
bunch of practice time. Kyrie, he gonna figure this out.
He can't be that crazy. He's t J. Houshman's out
out my car. But this is Fox Football Sunday here

(34:47):
on Fox Sports Radio. Thanks for hanging out with us
this morning. Still so many games to preview and coming
up next. Those saying they're the best team in the NFL,
well they've got a test with the big offensive opponent
coming of town and we'll talk about it next here
on Fox. Welcome back in It's Fox Football Sunday. Mike
Carbon alongside t J. Houst bins out to having some

(35:08):
fun with you going through all this slate of Week
four of this National Football League season. Uh, there are
some gems on the schedule, of course they we still
have to celebrate them all two d seventy two throughout
the regular season, which means there are gonna be some that,
well we'll touch on t J. That don't necessarily get
the deep dive that the others do. And and I

(35:28):
think our next game would qualify as one of those. Yeah,
it's one of those games. We look at the Indianapolis
Colts struggling would be the nice way to say. At
Miami at two point favorite forty three, the total they
got the bad news Quentin Nelson, all sorts of injuries

(35:50):
going on ankle and knee, uh injured reserve at least
three weeks, Quitty pay Out with the hamstring for the
defensive side of things, Jack Doyle with the back injury limited,
Taylor limited, Wentz sprained both his ankles, still limited in practice.
They've got a laundry list of guys banged up for

(36:10):
the Colts. Obviously, Jacobe Pursett and company gamely fought the
Raiders a week ago but fall by three. I don't
know that there's a lot of analyzing here except that
the culture in trouble. You know what's crazy? As the
Coats are on three, could POSSI be on four? You
go on four, chances you didn't make it a playoffs

(36:31):
are slimming under. But oh, seven team games, it's one
more game like that's that's a huge difference. But if
you you go back to early in the season, they
play the Los Angeles Rams, who we all think are
a very good football team, played them very close. It
was a really tight game. But I'm picking the Dolphins
and win at After saying all of this, the Dolphins

(36:53):
they have, the Dolphins are going to compete. I believe
the Colts are banged up. Carson Wentz is playing. I
don't believe he's a hundred percent. He just can't seem
to stay healthy. The Coats are gonna make this competitive.
It will be a tight game. But I just see
that Dolphins just somehow pulling this out and sending the

(37:15):
coast to on four. I really do yeah, brutal times
and Brissette. Look at Miles Gaskin and those receivers on
the outside. I think there's just too much at Gisicky
not trying to get all the Penn State love. You
didn't go there, so there's no favors to be had there.
But for Indianapolis, I was never a Carson Wentz believer.
Even before the season A way it was like, oh,
look what they're gonna do. It's like, no, no, no, no.

(37:36):
This is the guy that if we're gonna believe half
of the reports that came out last year kind of
quit as soon as Jalen Hurt started getting some run
there in Philly. Give me Miami laying the short too.
And now we get to one of the games of
the week Cardinals and Rams. Now we're talking about it

(37:58):
started the week as a six point favorite, now down
to four fifty four and a half your total, the
Rams and Matthew Stafford high oct in. I was there
when they opened so far with the Bears, and but
for a couple of big plays and guys looking confused
in the Bears secondary look, they become a whole other
horror show as well. Chronicle uh, next hour. But we're

(38:20):
looking at this uh, not a lot of injuries that
are that are truly affecting this one, at least on paper.
We'll see guys that they were all there at practices.
So in theory we have a full battle of Kyler
Murray in that offense TJ with two guys in the
backfield getting it done in Connor and Edmonds obviously DeAndre Hopkins,

(38:41):
Christian Kirk, Rondale Moore, A J. Greene who's found a
little bit of the fountain of youth becoming more active
in the passing game as well. And then on the
defensive front, can you get to Matthew Stafford. He's been
a member of the Clean Jersey club so thus far
in this game will be which defense plays the best

(39:02):
both offensive. You you just named all the guys that
Cardinals have skill wise, fantastic. The Rams are just as good.
Mine is probably the running backs. Stafford was my preseason
m VP pick. He's making me look pretty good right now.
This game will come down to defensively who can slow down,

(39:24):
not who can stop? Who can slow down opposing offense.
My bed is with the rounds. My money is on
the rounds because they've shown me in years past they've
been able to do it the challenge. Jones has five
sex first game of the season, how many has he
had since none? I'm going with L. A. Rams Ram's
offensive line done a great job thus far, and Stafford
plenty of time. Cooper Cup all of a sudden on

(39:46):
that m m v P discussion just because we have
to add some wide receivers to make things interesting. T J.
We know that, but I'm looking at Arizona just because
I need an upset somewhere on this schedule. We've been
playing a pretty straight up thus far. So looking for
Kyler Murray to come up with wan play and the
fact that you have Darryl Henderson and Sony Michelle not

(40:07):
giving you much out of the run game, I think
that's gonna come back to bite him here in a
high scoring affair. Definitely taken the four but if Stafford
rolls up, then yeah, your m VP train continues with
a big battle at so far looking pretty good. So far.
I got say, if the Rams had any draft picks,
that they can go trade for Marlen Mack. But how

(40:28):
about that, that's just it. That guy's in uh limb
in purgatory right now, and and and I'm back if
he's healthy. I was saying that Kansas City should go
trade for him right now. Yeah, the way Edwards hilaris played,
but they invested the first round pick. They won't give
up on him that fast. That's true. Alright. We got
Washington Atlanta coming up next here on Fox. Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

(40:50):
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f
s R to listen live. I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast
is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all
the time, but it's more about the stories about what
made these people love their sport and all the interesting

(41:11):
interactions along the way. We talked to coaches, we talked
to players, We tell you stories. You download it, you
listen to it. I think you like it. Listen to
All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Oh, it
goes so fast. Thanks for hanging out with us, being

(41:32):
part of the extended family here on Fox Sports Radio,
wherever you're listening, however you're listening, we do appreciate you. Evangelized.
Tell your friends whether you like what I'm saying, you
hate the sound of my voice, whatever it is, just
tell folks that they need to hear the next hour
of the program. Well, and all day here of course,
every day on Fox Sports Radio, my carbon alongside t J.

(41:53):
Housch Benzana, we're having some fun with you going through
the slate of week four. Don't worry, we have one
more appetizer were the main course will be served here.
As I start to see all the pregame festivities kicking off,
t J and everybody going back and wearing colonial garb,
what do you think, man, it's uh a sight to see.

(42:15):
It wouldn't be me say that. No, you're not on
board with with with that one, No, not at all,
not not not going into the reenactment place. I've been
watching American Housewife again. Uh, Diedrich bait or the character
he loves doing all of that kind of fun. Uh that,
I don't know that that's me either. I think I
might figure out something else in like, I don't know,

(42:36):
start walking around dressed like Joe Perrier or Steven Tyler
Arrowsmith more likely than the you know, colonial get up
because uh, well, you know, chaos ensues men. You know what,
though in my household, this is really crazy. I really
don't watch anything with sports, is that right? Yeah? No,
lie man, I watched really nothing bus sports, every baseball, football,

(42:58):
basketball box And if sports aren't on, my wife might
be watching the show. She'll forced me to watch a
show with her. But I'll just go to another room
and find some that's athletic related. Start getting that second
screen viewing. Hey what is that? That's week five of
two thousand fourteen. Like I'd rather watch this now. We
I mean, we got live on on you know, on

(43:20):
the pitch. We've got some some soccer going already this morning,
t J. So you can find that, uh, and replays
of all of the baseball games because we got an
exciting final day of the regular season to come, as
we heard an ELO's updates, So you know, already COVID
forced me to watch other things. I was like, oh
my god. When COVID hit, it was like, what am

(43:42):
I gonna watch? Did you find something you actually like? Though?
I started watching stuff on Netflix. Um, being watched El
Chop All. We got that and like went through every season.
We started watching Snowfall and Power, things that I had
never really watched before. Um, so Netflix came in handy
for us. Okay, well that that's just it. We all

(44:03):
found our creature comforts. I started going back through all
the shows I never watched when they were on in
first run and started really watching more of the stuff
my kids were And I'm really confused at some of
the program that goes for teenagers. But I suppose they
could look back at what we watched or I watched
as a kid, uh and say, well what is this?

(44:24):
So you know, it's it's one of those kind of
things that try try to relate as best I can.
But every once in a while I'll use a turn
of phrase and my kids will literally throw things at me,
or like my younger daughter will kick a soccer ball
at me. Oh yeah, I have four kids too, in
college and two at home, two young ones so um
for sure used to that. Is it not like it? Though? Man,

(44:44):
when the kids turn something long and you just kind
of start watching it with them. Uh, yeah, this is
the best time of the year, man. You get the
playoffs are baseball, college football, the NFL basketball is about
the start. Is the best time of the year. Think
about it. It It just uh year ago we were finishing
in the bubble. We've already had another full NBA season

(45:05):
and now we're getting ready for another. Just absolutely crazy
as the world turned. See there's an old soap opera
reference to show my age back in the day that
well it also was used in Mary Jay's No More Drama.
So you know, we gotta we gotta have that as well.
So how about we get back into the games. We'll
do the appetizer before we get to the main course,

(45:27):
because there's an extra wrinkle to this Patriots and Buccaneers
game that's now been added that you know, as a
guy that played in the league as you did, t J,
I think, uh, your perspective on this one will be
appreciated more so than the brilliant you've also already given us.
Let's go Washington at Falcons. Yeah that when we look

(45:49):
at the injury report on this one. The big one
is Antonio Gibson of your Washington football team. Uh, we've
got the one and a half point favorite on the
road at Atlanta. Matt Ryan and company trying to find
some semblance of consistency. Jared Patterson probably gonna see more
action for Washington and an awful lot of dump offs
to j D. Mckissic for Atlanta. Matt Ryan, you know,

(46:12):
one of those guys that just continues to go and
he's not He's kind of the middle of the pack
guy at this point t J and and they really
haven't figured out how to best utilize, at least to
this point. Kyle Pitts, the you know, wonder Kin coming
in and Calvin Ridley still seems to be some disconnect
in that passing attack. New offensive system with Arthur Smith

(46:35):
coming over for Tennessee. Yeah, the Falcons. You know, with
Matt Ryan, he if you go back, Matt Ryan has
always had really good skill guys. You start with Tony
Gonzalez and Julio Jones and Roddy White. Roddy White leaves.
They bring in Ridley, Mohammed Sanu, He's DeVonta Freeman he's

(46:56):
had really good players. You have Kyle Pitts now. They
just can't seem to figure it out. And the Washington
football team defensively, considering expectations, have been a disappointment. This
is what they need. They need this Falcons team to
come in here and defensively put the clamps on them.

(47:18):
I believe that's what they will do and start to
get on just get on a row. Somewhat playoff team
last year win a playoff game. Oh no, we thought
we were gonna win a playoff game. But they played well.
I like the Washington football team is just something in
Atlanta where they have these skilled players. Defensively, they can't

(47:38):
figure it out. They've been bad defensively for a long time.
Washington football team will win this game. Taylor Heneky one
more play. I'm with you on this one. Washington gets
the w for fantasy purposes, maybe into your w R
three is he gets activated. Curtis Samuel adding to the
weapons alongside scary Terry McLaurin for your Washington football team.

(47:59):
All right, let's get to the meat. Books said Patriots
fucking airs given seven on the road at New England,
forty nine is the total so much in the pageantry
leading up to this one. T J. Gronkowski out unfortunately,
a guy who might have celebrated this matchup more than

(48:22):
well pretty much anybody else. I think he would have
enjoyed the spotlight even if it wasn't about him. But
he's out with the rib injury. Who did not travel
One that I know is a big one that kind
of goes onto the radar Jason Pierre Paul uh not
going with the shoulder injury. Once again, you've got Carlton Davis.
Uh did practice in full on Friday, got a banged

(48:43):
up secondary, which leads to the big story that I
think is just huge that off the street Richard Sherman
signs and now will start that is odd to say
the leads very rarely happens. He's experienced one of the
that's off his generation. He'll be fine. It's just a
matter of hopefully he's been working really hard, because once

(49:07):
you're get in that game, you start running and playing
harder than you've ever done in your training. Different different
story Bronkowski. I know for him to miss this game,
he has to be hurt pretty bad. But I will
say this, if he has cracked ribs or whatever. I
had that every year, man, Mike Nola, I would get
shot four or five, six, seven times a year. Needle

(49:30):
like a foot long and they stick it in you.
You literally feel it hitting your bones and red cage
like no lie I had. I would get shot so
many times in my ribs when I was playing. I'm
surprised Gronk isn't doing that just to play in New England.
He probably won't get this opportunity again. But Brady and No,

(49:51):
but people haven't really brought up Antonio Brown. He was
on ceremonies. You let go in New England. He's gonna
have someone up a point. It's approve man. The Bucks
are gonna beat him by ass kicking man. They I
really believe they're gonna kill the Patriots. But Bill would
try to slow the game down. Run the ball, drop

(50:11):
plenty in coverage. Let's make Tampa Bay run the ball
because they don't seem to once when they can't run it.
But when it's all setting done, Brady will walk away
with the victory. Yeah, Nikkil Harry comes back, the much
maligned former first round pick James White, who you had
as a steady, reliable target all these years. He's out

(50:33):
after a hip injury's done for the year, so you
lose that. Damien Harris his fumble going back against the Dolphins,
would have had a field goal try. You know, kickers
are never a sure thing unless named Tucker, but certainly
would have had at least an opportunity there. But we
look at his buccaneer squad, the injuries in the secondary.

(50:53):
But as you say, Antonio Brown comes back. I like
that they tried to get him in on the graphics
because he wasn't there long. But it's like, all right,
he's that's still a former Patriot, so let's get him
in as Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. Obviously, the storied
history with Bill Belichick. Everybody looking for stories. This is
gonna be like the Five Bears in the eighties, six Mets,
I think t J where forever. There's gonna be someone

(51:15):
who's got another anonymous story to tell about the time
here between these two in those final eighteen months. To me,
it's a all right, it's it's a cool story, but
the teams aren't even right. It's not like, hey, the
Patriots are a solid squad, that should give them a
test here Patriots. The Buccaneers are just so much better

(51:37):
at every facet. And the thing is this, though the
Patriots rickey quarterback, they come on trying to run the ball. Oh,
that's very hard to do against the Bucks. Oh the
Bucks play man, the man the Patriots wanted, Deacon Dunk.
It's gonna be very interesting how how jos McDaniels and
Bill Belichick navigate through this with Mac Jones. They're not
gonna be able to run the ball because the Bucks

(51:59):
do not allow that, and they're gonna man you up
and when you'd like to throw short routes, and they
know that. It's gonna be really interesting at that chess
match with Todd Bows and Josh McDaniels. Yeah, it's seven
point is I don't think big enough for this one.
Dj uh New England. We're both on board that Hey,

(52:19):
discover matches all the cash back you earn on your
credit card at the end of your first year. And
it's amazing because discovers accepted at nine nine percent of
place of the US to take credit cards. Learn more
discovered dot com slash Yes based on Nielsen report. Limitations
do apply, but I mean you were in the locker
rooms for over a decade, right, and then add college
at high school? Man playing football, you know a lot

(52:42):
of your life. Do you care about stuff coming Because
we talked about in the first our, right, the stories
that stay buried and you know all of those things.
Do you like when you see stuff like this creep out?
How much of it do you give credence to versus? All? Right?
If no one's gonna put their name on it, I
just shrugged my shoulders. It really depends on who is

(53:05):
it about. How Like, if it's about a guy that
never really has been in the headlines, it just doesn't
sound too true. Then it's kind of just whatever, water
off the ducks bag. You don't know what to believe
and what not to believe. But if it's a guy
at all, you can imagine it being him, obviously, it
holds a little water. And so it kind of just

(53:26):
depends on the situation. Yeah, with these guys, I just
figured they were both all right, We move on right,
twenty years professional, Like any job relationship. I'm not saying
there wasn't some acrimony, but throw it up to a
whole other level. Honestly, Man, Bill is just who he is,
and after a while, Tom was just like, man, I'm

(53:47):
fed up. It's like being in a marriage, Like, dude,
you're not gonna keep treating me like this. Oh you
are gonna keep treating me like this. Okay, I'm gonna leave.
You know you're not gonna leave. Okay, I'm gone. And
I think it probably shocked to know that Brady was
willing to leave, but Bill wasn't going to change in
his ways and how he treated people and how he

(54:08):
and just how he does business. See that was my
point in all it is like you you watched it
for twenty years, so to suddenly think, you know, he's
treated guys that were all pros. And obviously Brady's a
you know, a different animal in that regard with the seven.
You know, super Bowls and everything else and and all
the success you had together. But you also know that

(54:28):
Father Time is undefeated and he's always been one year
early instead of too late. Well he was wrong on
this one. He did it with Lawyer Malloyd, he did
it with Richard Seymour. I mean, he's done it with
numerous guys. But you the thing is, we've never really
seen a quarterback leave like this and then go win

(54:52):
the Super Bowl, and then now your former team is
trying to like when when Joe Montana left, they had
Steve Young. You you just don't see it. Brett Farve left,
they had Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady left, and they have
uh exactly, And that's the problem. And you go and
win the Super Bowl and everybody who gets the most

(55:14):
credit Billy Chick or Brady. To me, I've never seen
Belichick throw a touchdown, catch a touchdown, make a tackle.
It's it is what it is. But I just feel
like Bill, you know, he's older now, he's been coaching
for a long time. He's not changing at all. Either.
You're gonna change and you're gonna get put up out
of there. You know. It's funny because you mentioned those,

(55:35):
you know, kind of the old school way of doing
things right, drafting a replacement like Aaron Rodgers when everybody
got all up in arms when Jordan's Love got got drafted.
Rogers had had two great efficient years, but not other
worldly and father time and just most times thirty seven
thirty eight year old quarterbacks. That's pretty much the end

(55:58):
of the line, right, So why would you not go
to that formula that worked with you? All those years ago,
and especially the last time Rogers got hurt. They had
to go to brand Hunley and what looked like a
promising season went to hell. So why would you not
protect yourself like and we've seen a number of teams
go the other way. Now, right, Patriots didn't have their guy.
They did shortly for Jimmy Garoppolo, but then sent him away.

(56:21):
Pittsburgh has never drafted someone for Aaron Rodd or for
Ben Roethlisberger. For the Chargers. They never had anybody behind
Philip Rivers. I mean, the Steelers tried. They didn't spend
high draft picks, but they Josh Dobbs, Mason Rudolph. They
would bring in guys to see if, okay, we can

(56:42):
they can sit through four years. Let's see if they
could be the potential apparent apparent to Big Ben. That
just wasn't the case. Bill wanted Tom gone a few
years ago. He wanted to move on with Garoppolo. He
was just over road with that and Rady kept winning.
I mean, this is this story for me. Man is

(57:03):
great because they get rid of you and you go
win the Super Bow and then the team that you
just left, we're awful, man, it's nothing like it. Yep,
they had there's seven and nine last year and then
Cam ended it mac Jones and now you've got the
rookie trout with all the comparisons to Brady because of

(57:24):
his style and his body type and everything else, he
didn't have quite the same concave chest that Tom did
entering the league. At least I don't remember seeing a
bunch of those photos side by side. He's t J.
Housh Venzata. All Mike Carmen, this is Fox Sports Sunday. Here,
Fox Football Sunday on Fox Sports Radio. Coming up next,
we'll get back into the games with one of the
powerhouses in that a f C East. And yeah, eventually

(57:47):
I got to talk about the Bears. Stay with us.
It's Fox. Hey, welcome back in. It's Fox Sports Radio,
Fox Football Sunday. Mike Harmon alongside t J. Houshvenzata going
through the games of Week four, all sorts of news
and notes. Uh Nick Batalia, our executive producer, the note
past and you've seen this stat a bunch passing yarch

(58:07):
for Tom Brady to pass Drew Brees on the all
time passing yardage list. We'll see if he gets a
cool certificate, like it's a five dollar gift gift card,
you know, to the the local diner. You know that
you get for perfect attendance t j H. One of
those kind of deals. Or will they just announce it?
He waves through the crowd and while they fire up
the play clock again, that's gonna be interesting, played there

(58:31):
twenty years, He's gonna break the record, obviously very early
in the game. Don't acknowledge it. But he's a visitor.
That's it, right, he's a visitor. I don't They might
put it up on the screen. Congratulations, blah blah blah.
You're not stopping the game for today they have now,
if he was a Patriot, okay, they would celebrate it.

(58:54):
But this dude as a visitor. Yeah, throw the ball
out of play, send it off to Canton. Yeah. But
if I'm on the Patriots and they try to celebrate,
I'm piste off. They bet not do that. No, exactly, Well,
the next play would be very telling of how they
would feel about that, right, record for Super Bowl winning
quarterbacks playing on the road against the team they want
to ring with six and seven. So there's an interesting

(59:16):
little tidbits. Yeah, wait, way to just dial it down
to its brass tacks. You find t J weekly here
on Fox Sports Radio. Up on Game is nine to
eleven Pacific time here on Fox Sports Radio Saturday mornings,
and of course the About the Game podcast as well.

(59:37):
Find those I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, google Play.
Wherever you download your audio, please evangelize, tell your family friends.
Of course, my ranting alongside Jason Smith night nightly here
on Fox Sports Radio seven to eleven Pacific time. You
can grab all of that audio. Again, evangelize. It's a
gift you can give for free, and you can check

(59:57):
the box and it's no money out of your pocket.
Isn't that the best? And it's four hours of me
and two hours of t J on the weekend and
all of that. Uh, go and grab it as you
will for all your football and just sports in general.
We cover it all, uh, because that's what t J watches.
He is like the watcher in the about you know,
the what If series of Marvel C. I had to

(01:00:19):
nerd out for the few folks that need that one.
T J. Yeah, man, I don't know why um the
way that I am, but hey, don't apologize for that's
it's who you are. There's no no problems there because
that means that I can lean on you for information
in other sports as well, which is always a good thing.
But let's get back to the game, and we got
one that I think we'll give it a minute. Texans

(01:00:44):
said Bills Bills sixteen and a half or seventeen, depending
on when you got in or over under David Coullie. Uh,
he's navigating his best he can. Obviously, the Deshaun Watson
situation looms large over everything. To Rod Taylor, the most
hard luck player. You were talking about taking the needles
earlier in the show right with Rob Gronkowski. Uh, Tarad did,

(01:01:07):
and while it cost him a job because Anthony Lynd
was gonna be loyal to him with the Chargers a
year ago. And then we got Justin Herbert in the
way you go, h Danny Amondola, Yeah, there's a blast
from the past. He's out with a thigh injury. Uh.
The rest of the Texans that look like we're we're
healthy for the most part for the Bills. Uh, Jordan
Poyer out in the secondary with an anchor ankle injury. Otherwise,

(01:01:31):
we're looking like we're ready to go Zack Moss starting
to get going as the running back for Buffalo, but
Josh Allen shook off maybe some early issues and some
of those accuracy questions to get after it. Can Lovey
Smith slow him down? Man? Another guy, great coordinator right

(01:01:52):
when we when we get into longevity as head guys, whatever,
There's debates of all of that, but Lovely one of
the one of the best coordinators out there for sure.
He Lovey Smith is a really good defensive coordinator. But
you can be a really good defensive coordinator, and if
you don't have the guys, are the players to do

(01:02:15):
what you need to do. Doesn't really matter how the
plus sixteen and a half DJ this is the National
Football League. When I saw that, I'm like, wow, Like
the Bills are really good, really good, but sixteen and
a half this is the National Football League. Yeah, I'm
still gonna lay it. Bills are at home, the Bills

(01:02:38):
are gonna win the game, and they're gonna win the
game pretty easily. I'll just be honest, But damn, sixteen
and a half points. I'm just gonna take the points
just because they do get paid on the other sideline
as well. This is absolutely true. Hey, discover matches all
the cash back you earn on your credit card at
the end of your first year. And it's amazing because

(01:02:59):
it discovers the septed at of place in the US
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Yes based on the Nielson Report, limitations do apply. Let's
get one more game in before we go to Ilo.
Browns two point favorites on their own at Minnesota over
under at fifty three. Odell Beckham Jr. Back in the

(01:03:22):
fold against the Bears. He saw five catches seventy seven
yards there as he comes in. Jarvis Landry out with
the injuries, so I had to pick up there. The
story of the last week's game against the Bears was
Myles Garrett and that defense. And you look at Minnesota. Yeah,
they're the heartbreak kids thus far. The overtime loss Week
one against Cincinnati, the miss thirty seven yard field goal,

(01:03:44):
that in the shootout against Arizona, and then they took
advantage of that matchup. We talked about it earlier against
Seattle with a thirty seventeen win. Baker Mayfield and Company
on the road, What say you, t J, I'm rolling
with the Cleveland brown I believe they're a better team.
You go across the board, quarterback, offensive line skill, guys

(01:04:05):
might be a push defensively. I mean, just go across
the whole football position. The Cleveland Browns are better at
every position. I'm gonna take to Cleveland Browns two and
a half points. I'll give that up. I believe the
Browns will win by at least a touchdown. There you go.
I'm gonna go to the other side, Captain Kirk Uh
seeing that offense, Greg knew some out in the secondary.

(01:04:26):
There's my obligatory Northwestern reference at least before we get
to the charges. Chris hobberd out for the offensive line. Uh,
you do have Dalvin Cook expected to play Alexander Madison.
I can sing some Hamilton's for you if you want. Now,
I'll leave that your ears uh safe for the morning
here as he acquitted himself quite nicely, like the Minnesota

(01:04:47):
offense to hang with him, although he could be wearing
Myles Garrett like a soup as this game goes on.
And this is one of my most intriguing matchups because
the Vikings again a couple of hardness. Salv Alvin Cook
gonna play he's supposed to play. Madison had a fantastic
game last week. Yeah, and a guy who's played really

(01:05:08):
well in Cook's absence. If you can get the two
of those guys going, maybe mix it up a bit,
it's gonna be an interest. Belie Zim. Mike Zimmer is
gonna always field a competitive team. People forget Kevin Stefanski,
farm officeer coordinator for Zim in the Minnesota Vikings team.
So they might have somewhat of an idea, but he

(01:05:29):
should also have an idea of how to attack them
going against him in practice for so long, so you
know that that that storyline there should make for a
good game. Let's get that chess match going. But first
we go to Isaac lowand crod at Isaac lowan crod
out on Twitter, where you find him find out all
the latest who's in, who's out, and what else is
happening in our sporting university body, Mike and DJ. Who's

(01:05:50):
in New Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Richard Sherman and Rappaport
reporting today that Sherman will make his Buccaneers debut tonight
in the starting line up for the show down against
the Patriots in New England and Major League Baseball. On
Saturday night, Seattle's Mitch hannagrad five RBI, including his thirty
ninth home run as the Mariners defeated the Angels six

(01:06:11):
to four. So that means going on to the final
day at baseball's regular season, we've got the Yankees and
Red Sox holding the two American League wild card spots
at one and seventy, but the Mariners and Blue Jays
are both just one game behind them at ninety and
seventy one. In the National League one Saturday night, the
San Diego Padres what at San Francisco in ten innings,

(01:06:33):
three to two, so the Giants failed to clinch the
National League West. Their magic number remains one going to
the final day of the regular season. The Los Angeles
Dodgers L West title hopes still alive as they defeated
the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night, eight to three, as
Julio Orius became the first twenty game winner in the
majors this year. In college football, on Saturday night, Mississippi

(01:06:55):
State what at fifteen Ryan Texas A and M twenty
to twenty two. Will Rogers through four oh eight with
three touchdown passes. Hawaii knocked off number eighteen Fresno State
twenty seven to twenty four. Arizona State knocked off number
twenty U c l A forty two to twenty three
in Pasadena, number twenty two. Auburn victorious at l s

(01:07:15):
U twenty four to nineteen, and fourth rank Penn State
blanked Indiana twenty four to nothing. Mike and t J.
Thanks so much. I appreciate you. Welcome back. And it's
Fox Football Sunday here on Fox Sports Radio going through
the games of week four and and prognostications and well
one that we had to eventually run up on here
t J. Uh, Yeah, here it is Lion said Bears

(01:07:42):
Tray Flowers out in this one. Yeah, have the starting lineup.
It's justin fields in the Matt Naggy led offense. All
my diet tribes can be found on the podcast. Uh
with regarding Matt Naggy, Bears a favorite in this one
two and a half for three, depending where you are
forty two and a half. They really lowered that over
under Bears defense is played well in spots. Problem is,

(01:08:05):
if you're on the field forty five minutes, you are
you're tripping over your tongue eventually, t J. This game here,
man is interesting. You would look at how the Bears
have the better team. They beat the Bengals, and the
Bengals are three and one. The Lions, they compete. The
Lions play hard under Dan Campbell. The Lions are competent

(01:08:29):
on offense. They can move the ball, they can score points.
They have an idea of what they want to be
and how they want to do it. I'm going with
the Detroit Lions to get their first win of the season.
I just don't understand. I believe the criticism that that
Matt Naggie faced last week, you know, not utilizing justice

(01:08:49):
field strength. I guarantee you see a different game plan.
Will it be enough? I'm just not so short. I
just like the way the Lions they compete. They fight.
You look Week one again, they're down big to the Niners,
and they fought back and made the game look closer
than what it was. But they fought back and they
competed to the end. It's funny. Go ahead. I'm going

(01:09:11):
with the Lions. I love it. I you know, I've
been on the Matt nag even though they've gone to
the playoffs two of the last three years. Uh that
on record that he just just out of his depths.
And when we look at last week and all of
a sudden, I felt a lot of energy come my
way as they watched that game play out because you

(01:09:31):
saw nothing to try to utilize the all the attributes
that make Justin Fields a different quarterback. You know you
don't have a good offensive line. You knew that coming
into the season, You've known that for the last couple
of years. Yet you did nothing except leave him sitting
in the pocket. And and that's gonna expose where the
deficiencies are as to where the learning is. And that

(01:09:54):
again goes back to coaching and scheme and everything else.
But it's it was just a tough watch to say
the least. Uh that said, I think we see more
of it today and in a close game a slight
home edge. I hate picking the Bears, so I'm gonna
abstain for the moment. Chris Perfett, our our technical producer.

(01:10:18):
I pick against them more than I pick for them. Actually,
I gotta be honest with you. Chris Perfett covers the Lions.
I'm pride of Detroit at Chris Perfett where you find
him on Twitter. Give us your your quick sixty second
synopsis here, Chris So, I think there's a couple of
things t J mentioned. The offense for Detroit. It's gonna
really depend on Jared Goff to have a consistent game.
He's had very good halves, but then he's also had

(01:10:41):
halves where he just kind of fades away. And I
think all the Detroit's kind of asked for is a
offense that will remain consistent. They can do that, They
can put pressure on on the Bears. On the defensive side.
They showed a lot of promise with their exotic packages
they brought against the Ravens held them to, you know,
only nineteen points sixteen write until Justin Tucker hits an

(01:11:03):
all timer, and I think it's that's gonna be their
key there is you want to get to Justin fields
early on enough, because if you let him test your
pass coverage, that's where the Lions are lacking. So we'll
see it's gonna be a real test to see how
the Bears offensive line, very very weak, is gonna hold
up against this. There you go that that that was

(01:11:24):
as nice, uh three minutes as we could do on
the Bears. I got full rants. Yeah, I'll retweet the
about at at swoll window, TJ. Because they got like
I got pretty loud and obnoxious on Chicago radio earlier
this week. So let's go to the next game. All right,

(01:11:46):
here we go. We got a seven point line in
this one, Kansas City on the road at Philly fifty
four and a half your total. Frank Clark listed as questionable.
There's a big one for you as well as Jones
also with a risk injury for him. Orlando Brown full participant,
which is always a nice help when you can get

(01:12:08):
one of your offensive line back Tyreek Hill with a
rib injury. Looks like he's gonna be a full participant
as well. On the other side, the Eagles, one of
their tackles, Melatta is out, so you have to kind
of move move around, and that's the key for Jalen
Hurts as too. We've seen the inconsistency of that offense
and Nick Sirianni's first year for the Eagles thus far.

(01:12:30):
But for Kansas City, can the defense show up for
one more stop? T J? I mean that that's it.
They're gonna put points up and it's gonna be sporadic
because you've got the the big or I should say
herky jerky would be the best way to describe, because
you've got a lot of big players. But we talked
about Clyde Edwards Hilaire earlier. I've been looking at Marlon Mack. Now.
We can play the Return of the Mac repeatedly when
we talk about that team. The Chiefs need this. The

(01:12:55):
Chiefs need to stay in contention in their own division,
let alone a see that division are in. Never hasn't
lost the Raiders. The Chargers just beat them. The Chiefs
need this game bad and I believe they'll win going away.
When when the thing that concerns me about the Chiefs,

(01:13:16):
when you're talking to spread the Chiefs they win, they
don't cover two and twelve in their last fourteen or
something like, they never cover. I believe this will be
a game that they do cover. The only thing that
concerned what will the Eagles be smart enough to say,
we're gonna test their run defense that's been there. Achilles
Hill talking to Kansas City Chiefs Jalen Hurst do for

(01:13:39):
a ton of yards, but against the Cowboys, but they
did not want to run the ball. They called three
runs Miles Sanders just stood there. They did get down
early and they had to go. They didn't have many
plays in the first half. But this will be a
game that the Chiefs need and they need to win
big because, like I said that that the vision. They

(01:14:01):
can be out of it really quick and it will
be a shock and a surprise too many, if not all,
that that are fans of football that the Kansas City
Chiefs are playing is bad. They'll they'll get back on
it and they'll roll the Eagles today. I will take
that as well, double up with a big point spread
seven on the road, but I think this is the burial.

(01:14:21):
Hopefully Andy Reid's feeling better. That was one of the
other headlines from last week of him needing to check
into the hospital get checked out dehydration and other things.
So good thoughts to him as he gets back on
the field this week again in his old stomping grounds
as well. All right, let's get one more game in

(01:14:43):
Titan said chicks. Yeah, I figured we had time here.
But that's seven and a half point spread, Uh, looks
a little large. Down to six as the week went on,
Why because you got a j Brown and Julio Jones
not gonna play. Bud Duprie is out as well as
Caleb Farley in that secondary. Taylor the wall did practice
fully for the Jets. Elijah Moore is out the wide receiver,

(01:15:05):
and Marcus May missing from that secondary. That's it. Now
we're looking, you know, Robert Solis saying all the things
he can positively about his young quarterback, Zach Wilson. Uh
forty six is the total here Tennessee. We watched them
get stomped by Arizona in the opener. They win a
big game against Seattle. I'm not sure where they are,

(01:15:28):
but certainly we'll see an awful lot of Derrick Henry today.
With those two wide receivers out, I believe the Tennessee
Times will go run the pass ratio follow somewhere five run.
You got your two receivers out, you're gonna lean on
Derrick King. You're gonna lean on Derrick King Henry when

(01:15:48):
they're playing let alone, when they're out and Saucy, I
believe they'll run the ball a lot more. I'm gonna
take the Jets to cover in this. Look at that,
I really am. It's uh when you're losing your two
best receivers sala is a good defensive coach. He didn't
forget how to coach defense. They'll load the box and

(01:16:09):
they'll they'll make those receivers who aren't used to being
the guy be the guy. Their corners need to hold
up that defense. I believe will play well enough to
keep them in a game. They may lose, but I
believe they'll cover. Yeah, I think this one is a
grind it out, get your win and move on. If
you're Tennessee, just try to keep the rest of that
squad healthy. I'm with you. I think uh Solid does

(01:16:32):
some some things defense, and they got some good personnel.
Losing may hurts in the secondary, but since you don't
have a j Brown and Julio Jones to deal with
back there, perhaps not as big a loss, at least
in the short term. So yeah, I'll take Tennessee to
win Jet getting that sizeable spread. We have two more
games to go on the slate. One of them is

(01:16:53):
a huge Monday nighter. Well, we'll have it all on
the line. It'll be here in Los Angeles. We'll talk
about it next year on Fox Welcome back in It's
Fox Sports Radios, Fox Football Sunday. Mike Carmen, t J, Houshmandzada.
We've got a little bit of technical stuff going on
here on a Sunday morning here on Fox Sports Radio.

(01:17:15):
Two more games to get through. Thanks to our team
of Isaac and Chris and Nick making a sound oh
so pretty uh this morning, we've gotten through most of
the slate, disagreed on a number of games. Great to
have t J's insight throughout this morning, uh new voices
always good to uh to spar a little bit on
some of these games, but get the inside dope, as

(01:17:38):
it were, from a twelve year veteran in the league.
You hear him weekly up on game nine to eleven
Pacific time, t J alongside um mild partner here on Sundays,
LaVar Arrington. You hear him in the morning now to
two Pros and a Cup of Joe with Jonas Knox
and Brady Quinn. Give that a listen to start your
day as you get out and about. But t J

(01:17:59):
and LaVar and Flaxco Burr's two hours every Saturday getting
you through the college games but also giving you insights
of the different big stories that you see throughout the week.
As only they can find me the I watch your
Flex podcast Fantasy podcast that I do with Dan Buyer
each week. That's up as well, Apple Podcast, Google Play,

(01:18:20):
wherever you get your audio. All of those things. Uh,
just download them Evangelized. Tell your friends and neighbors whether
you like them or not. Bring more ears. That's what
we want. We want the masses. And when you give
us feedback, we we appreciate it, right because sometimes you know,
we we love the adulation, but sometimes the other you
need someone to get after you, right, like an old

(01:18:41):
coach getting after your t J. Sometimes you need, you know,
the spur come in India. It depends on who you
are as a player, all right, all right, I will
be it really does. But your coaches and your teammates,
they know who you are as a person as a player.
If you need to have that firelit, so to speak,

(01:19:04):
they'll apply that. But if not, a lot of guys, ooh,
man got to be self motivated. If you need somebody
to get you going, you in the wrong. You're in
the wrong business. And it's not gonna last long. But
that's all the talk for years of the he's got
extra motivation, like he's suiting up. Like when they talk
about playoffs or Super Bowls or whatever. If you're not

(01:19:28):
up for a game, motivated all the time. That's what
got you to where you're at. You can't do it
like just to prepare, just to train in the off season,
to practice, Like when you walk into the stadium, whether
it's home or opposing for that game, it's just like
you just smile like I can't wait. This an anxiousness,

(01:19:49):
a little nervousness. You you just can't wait to go
out there. It's nothing like it, man, Like I watched
games right now, and I'll see stuff and it'll piss
me off, like how I used to act when I
was playing, and I'm not even playing right now. It
just never kind of goes away, manages. The de juice is.
Especially a big game, you just you just eager for

(01:20:10):
kickoff and you want to watch a good game. When
I was playing, you wanted to play a good game,
and whatever happened during the course of the game, it happened.
But yeah, it's nothing like it. Man. All right, Well,
let's get to the big Monday night game. Give it
a minute here, as we've got a huge one here
in Los Angeles. Raiders at Chargers Raiders one of the

(01:20:33):
big stories of the early season. Three point underdogs here
as they come to SOFI Stadium fifty two and a
half and as Derek car alluded to, Yeah, it'll feel
like a home game. I can't wait to see what
the percentages are. But certainly a rock is so Fi
Chargers and justin Herbert, great story, Slater and that offensive
line doing a good job thus far. Uh fifty two

(01:20:56):
and a half. Expecting some points in this one, t J.
This this is a division game. Man is kind of
tricky on who would like to meet this game. They're
they're evenly matched up. But but I'll lean. I'll lean
to the Chargers coming off a big victory against the
Chiefs of All it's a letdown. It's just something about

(01:21:18):
Herbert man that that defense. With Stavie being the head coach,
they're always gonna understand what to do. I just believe
he's that good of a coach. Obviously, the skill guys
speak for herself and Herbert being a QB. You spoke
on offensive line, I'm taking the Los Angeles Chargers, Josh Jacobs.
Game time decision means if you fired up Peyton Barber

(01:21:38):
and your fantasy leagues you might want to do it again.
I will take the Chargers minus the points as well
and a big one, and then the last game, we're
just gonna skip the Sounder. We got to pick them
all New Orleans MNUS seven and a half. With the
Giants missing several receivers, I'm going with the Saints. That
defense will carry the day for him. New Orleans Saints,
nicely done. It's fun getting to meet you on air.

(01:21:59):
Hope to see around the studios again here at Fox
Sports Radio again. D J. Thanks for hanging out this morning, Mike,
I appreciate it. My pleasure. Baby, be good, my guy,
all right. Enjoyed the games. It's week four if you're
National Football League