Steve Hartman & Geoff Schwartz On Bengals and Raiders Wild Card

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Yes, living that dream
right here on this NFL playoff Saturday. This is Fox
Football Saturday. Here's truly along with Jeff Schwartz here in
our Fox Sports Radio studios, we are about a half
an hour away from kickoff of the first of six

(00:22):
wild card NFL playoff games this weekend, as the Raiders
travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals, and Jeff,
here we are on a big football Saturday. It simply
doesn't get any better than this. Although I have to
forewarn you are a Steam producer, the legendary Danny g
of course a lifelong Raider fan. He was saying, no,

(00:43):
I'm used to this, you know, having to produce a
show during the Raider game. I'm like, really, how many
shows have you produced? Were the Raiders in a playoff game? Danny?
Do you have an answer to that question? How many
playoff games have you been able to produce? Raider playoff game?
How many would that be? Well, thankfully, Steve, I've been
in radio since I was fourteen years old. There it

(01:06):
is right there, So it's been a while. It's been
a while. How are you today, Jev? Al ready to go?
For the big wild card weekend. This is the longest
we have gone without football since August. Right, it's been
six days. I am ready for football, I will say,
Danny Um. I was once lead hosting a radio program,
uh during the Chiefs Titans playoff game, all the way

(01:27):
back in twenties sixteen. So I was was in Hartman's role, right,
I was a Steve's role. And I'm trying to do
this show during the Chiefs play get my brother was
playing for the Chiefs. It was the Marcus Mariotta owned
passdown game. And also that terrible call, maybe the worst
call in history of UM with the Ford momentum. Right,
if you remember that that call with Hockey Ley in

(01:50):
his last game, and it was it was a hockey triple.
It was triple his last game. So I'm doing this
show and I asked the producer before and hey, can
I just like, can I make noises? Like? Can I like?
And He's like, yeah, go ahead. So I'm just sitting
there trying to host a show watching the Chiefs choke
away this season on national radio. UM. Let's hope it's
not the same for you today, buddy. Yeah, Well, we

(02:10):
wish them all the best I tell you what I
was called this By the way, Steve, I called it
last weekend. You didn't believe me? All right, Well, there
were a lot of things that happened last weekend that
led to where we are right now. If you had
said that the Colts and the Chargers would not be
in the playoffs and the Raiders and the Steelers would
be in the playoffs, who would have thought that. By

(02:30):
the way, did you watch the in season Hard Knocks
Indianapolis Colts that last episode? Did you see it? So?
I watched. It's the first one I had watched all year.
I was believable, but I was pleasantly surprised that they
that they did all that. I mean, that's the most
access we've ever had to like a loss like that.
We've had Super Bowl losses, right, They've been the NFL

(02:51):
films and more, but not on the losing side, right,
it was so unbelievable. Of course, Colts went into that
final game against Jacksonville all they was a win there.
They've just been up step by the Raiders. So that
was like, okay, well that would maybe a wake up
call that hey, we got to make our assure that
we play our best football, and it was a whole
lead off. You know. Frank Reich was their warning his

(03:12):
team and we gotta bring it. We gotta bring up
the assistant coaches. Guys, this is not a walkover. We
have struggled in Jacksonville in the past. And you can
sort of get a sense that the Colts are started
going to the motions and then they got their face
beat in by a suddenly inspired Jacksonville team that had
lost the week before the Patriots fifty to ten. But
that just set up the domino effect. We were sitting

(03:35):
here Rich and I doing our Red Zone radio on
that Sunday. We couldn't believe what we were watching with
the Colts that day. Uh, And that's what we end up.
We have a Steeler team that is arguably as bad
as any team that has made it to the postseason.
We have a Raider team that only is in the
playoffs for the second time since two thousand and two.
So it's really been sort of like Week eight. Team

(03:56):
was a perfect way to end what was a very
un predictable regular season in the NFL. Yeah, it was.
It was very unpredictable, but in the end, obviously the
favorites are the same as last year, right, Packers, Bucks, Uh,
Chiefs and Bills, and even though Tennessee is the one
seat on the NFC side. Um and yeah, well last
weekend was very simple to me. I mean, the Cults

(04:16):
are letter by a quarterback who's not very good. I
do not know why people continue to believe in the Colts.
It makes no sense to me. Their quarterback again. And
you took the person on your quarterback, right, and so
when you go down or in that game, an immediate answer,
right like Jacksonville scored first up believe right, seven nothing
and immediate answers three points, seven points. Okay, your team
is kind of back into it, right at least mentally,

(04:38):
and then just never happened, right, Carson's kept throwing interceptions,
interception interception. Um. The coolest part about the Hard Knocks
episode very quickly was do your Frank Wright and muttering
to himself, stick to the plan. It was early in
the game, but a lot of times coaches panic, man.
And the reason the Niners are in the playoffs and
they played tomorrow the Cowboys. We'll talk about all these games, obviously,

(04:59):
is on Sunday. They didn't panic right down seventeen three
start to the game plan did did didn't? Did what
the game plan called for. They run the football, They
played much better on defense. Second half. Obviously, Jimmy g
had had a good and a good overtime to assuming
the overtime two minute drive to get them into range
the score touchdown to to to tie the games that overtime, Like,

(05:20):
stick stick to your plans A good lesson. I took
that away from that episode of Frank Right saying, Look,
you prepare all week, you practice all week. Yes, you
make adjustments, of course you make adjustments. But teams very
often we'll see this weekend who gets down early and
whether or not they have banned the plan they came
into the game with. And Frank Right was like, look,
just stick to the plan, stick to the plan, and
stick to the plan. I think that we should watch

(05:41):
this weekend a bunch of first time coaches in the playoffs, right,
Zach Taylor, Rich Pisaccia today in in the early game,
now the late game. Obviously our playoff veterans down the
Dermot and and uh and Belichick. But watch today and
watch and see what happens if if something doesn't go
the way it's supposed to go and someone abandons the
game plan. All right, now we are once the game
kicks off, and again, the weather in Cincinnati is fine,

(06:04):
there's no real problem there. It's cold, but it's January
and Cincinnati, but it's not frigid cold. And that will
not be the case for the game tonight in Buffalo.
We're gonna get into that a little bit later on,
but in the meantime, as we get ready for the
kickoff of this game between the Raiders and the Bengals,
I do want to cover a number of stories with you. First,
I want to put a recap on the college football season.

(06:25):
We haven't had a chance to discuss, Jeff, Georgia's big
victory over Alabama and the national championship game. Wanted to
get your thoughts on Georgia reigning supreme as national champions
in college football this year. Well, um, I thought the
game would go in that manner. Remember we talked about this.
I said, I thought the Georgia defensive line um would
be able to play much better in the defense. Just

(06:47):
plot out I thought didn't play well the first game,
and that's what happened in this game. Right now, of course,
losing Williams was a big blow for Alabama. Was very
obvious that once Williams um and uh and obviously Metchi
was not there, the offense kind of grinding to a halt,
and it wasn't the follow Price Young. I mean they
were throws and he made they were great, just guys
that make catches. You remember saving a halftime was like,

(07:08):
look when you guys to step up right and then
obviously Stetson Bennett did the stepping up for Georgia and uh,
look I am um, I'm glad the two best teams played.
I have no problem. I wish there were teams in
the West Coast or one in the North, but obviously
not not the case. Um, it was good football game
and I'm glad someone other than Alabama one it was.
Let's see Georgia win. I have some friends who who

(07:30):
are Georgia olams and good for college football. It was
a good game, good ending, and my takeaway over running
takeaway Steve was that no good luck the rest of
college football. Man. I mean like, I don't know how
you're gonna keep you. I know how the West Coast
teams were both West Coast guys. I organ had a
lot of work to do to get there. Put it
like that, USC. I mean USC had a transfer today,

(07:52):
a wide receiver transfer, Mary Williams from Oklahoma to USC.
Guess what us He has had good wide receivers for
fifteen years. That's not their problem. Who is going to
block and tackle against Georgia and Alabama? Right, the wide
receivers are not They've had wide receivers, have a first
round pick this year they won four games like the
out West, we have to go to block and tackle
better well. And also you have in common on chip

(08:16):
Kelly getting his extension at U c l A. I
put this at your feet. Uh, you are the proponent
at chip Kelly. He gets an extension after an eight
and four season which U. C l A did not
beat a single team that had a winning record. They
bailed on their bowl game, which to me is still
unforgivable the way they treated the Holiday Bowl and Ncy
State under suspicious circumstances in my view. Um, but now

(08:40):
chip Kelly gets an extension. By the way, no financial
terms were announced, meaning he got a pay cut. Uh
they said four point seven a year. Yeah, exactly, all right?
Are they in good hands? I mean you're you've been
a big proponent at Chip Kelly. Well, I personally like Chip.
I mean that's part of it as well. Right, So
here's but here's a question, Steve. Yeah, is so this
should always be the question when you fire coach. And

(09:03):
there are a lot of NFL firing and I'm sure
we're gettingto today. If you fire a coach, the goal
obviously to hire someone better. Okay, so if you fire
Chip Cally, really you could let Chip Killy Walker ues
after today? Right? The buyo went to zero today? Um,
who would you see a hire that's at this point
in the cycle. Tom Herman, you know, heartbeat you if

(09:25):
you're asking hers better than Chip. Absolutely, you had far
more talent that Texas and did less. Tom Herman won
four straight Bowl games at Texas inheriting the team coming
out three straight losing seasons. I would take Tom Herman
over Chip Kelly in a heartbeat. You know, he would
taking the job. He would taking the job. He had
a southern California roots. You want to cal Luther, of

(09:47):
course he would have taken the job. Well, and about that,
I just think at this point, I just think, at
this point, you know, it made sense for you see
light and look and there were changes to be made, right,
the fire of the defensive coordinator, and um he resigned, sorry,
he resigned. The Giants general manager resigned. Yeah, just like

(10:10):
Dave Gettleman resigned. So look, I mean, look, the thing
about college football is m I'm not sure we were
doing the show we I don't know how much we
talked about trans reportal on this show. I know I
talk a lot about my PACKTOL show, and I was
I wasn't against open transfers, but I was like, look,
there's going it's going to not be what we think
it's gonna be. And I and I came on board.

(10:31):
I'm still on board the fun. You want to transfer,
to do whatever you want. But the transfer portal was
never supposed to be starting players leaving their schools. Right.
It wasn't supposed to be a Travis Dye at Oregon,
who who was the leading um UH total yardage player
in the PACTOL Conference, leaving to go somewhere else. Right.

(10:52):
It wasn't Caleb Williams leaving Oklahoma and his coach left.
I can understand the argument a little bit more, but
the trans reportal was never meant for starting players, established
starting players to go to different schools. Now, this is
what it's allowed. Be My guests, go the highest spirit,
do every else you want. But every second that we
are going, I'll go on Twitter. Man, someone else is

(11:14):
transferring and committing somewhere else. And it's NonStop. And this
is what college sports is now unless there's some regulations
put in place about when you can transfer. Um. But man,
every you know, thirty minutes ago us he got a
wide receiver commit from Oklahoma. It's NonStop, right. The Bruins
Chip Kelly have got a ton of transfers in this season.
They had some last year as well. It is do

(11:36):
you do you like it? As I found a college
football the open transfer. I have no problem with it,
to be honest with that, And I like the idea
that you don't have to sit out the first time.
Now you can only do this once. Obviously after that
now you would have to sit out of season. But no,
I think it's only fair. Coaches have been able to
come and go as they please, signing deals immediately leaving. No,
I have no problem with the portal, but it does

(11:59):
change the dynamic as far as recruiting is concerned. I mean,
I remember in college basketball were the idea of a
one and done. I remember the first time it happened. Uh,
Bobby Cremmens was at Georgia Tech and stuff on. Marbury
left after one season. It was unheard of at the time.
Some guys, you know, like Isaiah Thomas, Magic Johnson there
had been two years and then had left, but one

(12:21):
and done. And I remember talking to Bobby Cremmens right
after Stefan Marbury left and they had won the a
C C that year, and he said, I have absolutely
no regrets. It was a great season. Four years later,
after four straight suit losing seasons, he got canned and
I remember talking to him after that. He goes, it
was the biggest mistake I ever made. UM. And this
is where they are now with college football. This idea

(12:43):
of all these quarterbacks leaving potentially that were, you know,
seemingly quarterbacks of the future for this team could have
a major dynamic effect on the future at college football.
On the other side, Jeff, I want to get into
some of these vacancies for coaching positions in the NFL.
Eight eight vacancies in the NFL. What's the buzz? Jeff

(13:06):
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(13:53):
Steve Harven, Jeff Schwartz is is Fox Football Saturday. We
are counting down at kickoff here Raiders Bengals, one of
six games on this wild card weekend across the National
Football League. In the meantime, we're talking about some of
the CoA team vacancies around the NFL eight. Now that
the Texans have decided Colley is out as a coach.

(14:14):
That's usually we have six or seven this time, we've
got eight vacancies. One team that does not have a vacancy,
and I'm gonna talk about this first with you, is
the situation with the Chargers. Brandon Staley, their first year
of coach, had quite a ride. Ultimately, this is a
team that has the best quarterback in the league that
is not in the playoffs. That, of course is justin Herbert.

(14:36):
The fact that he's not in the playoffs and teams
like the Raiders and the Steelers are in the playoffs,
to me, has a lot to do with their coach,
Brandon Staley. And I talked to former GM Michael Lombardi
this week on my new Harp and a Rich Oh show.
I want to thank you Jeff for joining us as well.
Week one of our new morning show. They're on Extra
thirteen sixty uh in San Diego, and Michael Lombardi came

(14:59):
in and just simply said this, there's a difference between
analytics and just playing stupidity, And on more than one occasion,
Brandon the Brandon, he has shown stupidity in his coaching decisions,
including that absolutely unforgivable let's go for it on fourth
down on our own eighteen yard line. In the middle

(15:19):
of a third quarter of essentially a playoff game, UH
down three points to the Raiders, which totally backfired. They
gave up a field goal which may have been the
difference in a game that end up going over time.
And then we can get into the whole dynaga if
if it's calling a time out when the Raiders were
essentially running the clock out, allowing the Chargers to make
the playoffs. What do you do with a young coach

(15:41):
like Brandon Staley? What do you say to him as
he gets ready for his second season? Are you trying
to shake him a little bit saying, Hey, analytics are
part of the game, but if we're only going by analytics,
we don't really need you. Anybody can just go by
the book. We need somebody has a feel for a game.
That's sort of part of coaching. How would you handle
this daily situation? So on Monday we were arguing about

(16:06):
the time out the end of the game right on Twitter.
Didn't matter, did not matter. I made my point. I'm
not gonna believe that the game is done already. But
here's here's the here's Cornxy with Steve. I tweet this
out on Monday at Schwartz, I said, why are we
talking so much about a team that didn't make the playoffs,
because four tender teams didn't make the playoffs, and all
our attentions should be on those teams that made the playoffs,
not on a coach that says and I like Brandon

(16:26):
stand I like what he says. I believe you know
it's what he's doing. But he's a top five quarterback
not in the playoffs. Don't congratulations on your success this
year of not making the playoffs, Rich Pastacia on four
straight games, the pit boss, who is an intermed coach
for the Raiders, on a team that talent wise, is

(16:49):
significantly worse than your football team. Right, the Charges are
very talented outside of of the of really run defense
at times, d tackle obviously in right tackle, right so
where they struggle at right tackle. But you have a
quarterback it's better than Car. I think Car is playing
very well this season. Um, I'm tired of hearing about
Brandon Staley. Like, show me the wins man. Look, I

(17:09):
get it, Mike Tomlin, I don't know how they did
it this year. Dude made the playoffs again, right, maybe
Look it's interesting, Um, Sometimes like just being slow and steady.
You know it's boring. I know you. You might get
ripped on social media for it. And I get I
am a fan of wooden probability. I am a fan

(17:31):
of analyts. I get all that, and I think the
team should go four on fourth down. But if that's
your ethos to two all the time, Brandon Staley should
have gone for two at the end of the football game.
If you're gonna be aggressive and that's you're gonna you're
gonna be your m O should be gone for two.
Now he didn't obviously because I put put in the playoffs. Um,
but like you know, like you, you you gotta be aggressive
all the time if you're gonna be aggressive. And so

(17:52):
if you're the Chargers owner, you just say like, hey man,
we just gotta we gotta get better on the defense,
right like you're deef. It's a guy. You can't be
bad on defense. If that's what you're doing. You either
hire someone else with the defense. If it's taken too
much time away from if you're taking too much away
from being a head coach to coach of defense. Are
you gonna be better on defense if I hire you
to be a defensive guy. You need to be a

(18:15):
defensive head coach, and so that's the first order of business,
right tackle pass rushing and hey, Staley, are we gonna
be better on defense? Oh? I agree? And you have
two of the best defensive players in the league, and
Joey Boss and Derwin James and your twenty nine in
the league of defense. Come on, That means the other
nine guys Mets really suck um or something is really
wrong with your scheme. I love that I'm on the

(18:37):
same page with you. With all the focus on his
coaching decisions and everything along those lines, it really overlooks
the fact that the reason the Chargers did not make
the playoffs was their defense. A guy that was hired
as a guy who had come off of season when
he was the defensive coordinator of the number one defense
in the Lake. Course that helps when you have Aaron
Donald in the middle of defensive line. Richmissacha guy, I

(18:59):
want to talk about him right now, interim coach or
the Raiders. They win these last four games by what
three points are less each game? I think there was
first time this has happened where teams won four games
to close out of season make the playoffs. Uh, as
close as those games were, is he in the conversation
to remain on as a head coach? I mean, this
guy's a career special teams coach. He's into his sixties,

(19:22):
been around a long time. He's had a long career
as an NFL assistant coach. Should he be seriously considered
moving this team forward from where they are right now
in the playoffs? Is he the right guy? I mean,
how do you say no? Right? If he wins today
and the beginning, let's kick off for in a few minutes.
If he wins today, I mean, Danny Raiders fan here,

(19:45):
who why would you not keep him? Like, you know,
you have guts Bradley there to do the defense. Yeah,
you have? You know, maybe you hire a new OC,
the guy that's not a Grooten guy. Whatever, and let's
let Rich be the coach. I how could you let
him go after what he's done this year? Remember back
when all the Grooten drama happened with the emails and

(20:07):
Pasaccia took over and Mike Mayock came out and said
he is the best leader of men I've ever met
in my life. I remember Sports Talk Radio laughing the
next day at those mayok comments. But the dudes had
a steady hand there during a season filled with turmoil.
Like car said, teams haven't had that much in ten years,

(20:28):
and the Raiders have had that all happened in one season.
It's insane. I'm with that. I mean, look those last
two games at Indie Chargers at home. You beat two
superior rosters in must win games. It has to go
a long way. I know Mark Davis about making a
big splash. I think Jim harbas Or in some water

(20:49):
on the idea of him jumping to the Raiders, but
I don't even know if he would be the right guy.
Like you got to go into a locker room, right, Jeff,
And you gotta get a feel in the locker room
whether or not the guide it is you're a head coach,
is a guy that is the players are responding to.
And it repeated obviously, it appears that the Raiders are
responding to Richzacha. Remember it doesn't your head coach doesn't

(21:12):
have to be an officer defensive guy. It's your point, Danny,
it's it's supposed to be a leader. Right now. Of course,
you knock out two birds with one stone. If he's
the offensive corpare too, right, but we've seen Bruce arians
right doesn't call place John Harvey's special teams guy, Um,
Mike Tom and I don't think he's out there calling
the defense anymore, right, like he might have a hand
in it. And but you don't need your head coach

(21:34):
to be that guy. And so um again, if he
wins this game, it's sold out as in Santy, it's
the Raiders happen once since two O two right and
depend once is nine one which is wild was at
the game that they ended up losing to the Raiders
after their last Yeah Boomers siasin beat Warren Moon and

(21:56):
the Houston Oilers uh in the last So um, there's
just uh if he gets us done tonight, um wow,
I mean good for him. I I don't think this
is possible. Um. I've been one who has been who's
mocked Derek Carr most because he blocked me on Twitter
for I've never tweeted up before. I have no idea
why he blocked me. Um, but um man, he has

(22:19):
done a fabulous job this year and I think more
anything else guys, the way he's played and having to
be the team spokesperson, right because the owner doesn't come out.
The owner to come out talk about John Gruden, the
owner to come out and talk about Henry Ruggs. It
was Derek Carr. Right, it was Derek Carr. You go
to podium and talk about John Gruden. It was Derek Carr.
You go to podium and talk about Henry Ruggs's Derek

(22:40):
carrs had to go to podium and talk about all
these things that have happened over the years in Oakland
or in Las Vegas. It's not been the ownership. And again,
owners don't give a lot of press conference and I
get that, but he has been the forward facing voice
of this team. Well. Also, you know, we kind of
mocked him a times first quarterback play, but there's no

(23:01):
mistake Key's played good football and he's one of the
reasons why the Raiders are in the spot they are
about kickoff against the Bengals. I think it's the main reason.
I'm a big Derek Carr guy. I think he's a leader.
I think players respawned to him and that's why the
Raiders are kicking things off right now against the Bengals.
First off, the let's find out what's trending and we
were welcome and Ralph, Ralphie, how are you today? I

(23:23):
am good, gentlemen, I am good, and it's a patrick
to get a whole lot better now that we've got
football on. Uh. The NFL Super wild Card weekend is here,
Cincinnati hosting the Las Vegas Raiders. Coming up a little
bit later Mount three forty five from now eight fifteen
Eastern time, it will be Buffalo hosting New England. Is

(23:44):
suspended to be seven degrees at kickoff, but the Windshill
will start out of minus four and just go down
from there. Fun. Uh. If we have some other personnel
news from the playoffs though, the Buccaneers activating running back
too Bernard in linebacker Lavante David That said they will
not have Ronald Jones and they will not have Leonard

(24:06):
for Nett available for their game with Philadelphia on Sunday.
The Rams safety Taylor rap Out, as is safety Jordan Fuller.
That means Eric Wettle is going to be activated. He
hasn't played probably since the last time the Bengals want
a playoff game. It's been a while since Errick Wettle
suited up. Juju Smith Schuster tweeted that he has been
activated by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Whether or not he'll play

(24:30):
against Kansas City still to be seen, but he is
on the active roster. NFL coaching carousel news the Buccaneers
have a list of interviewees that keeps growing. Buck's or
the Vikings with that list, Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles,
Dallas offensive and defensive coordinator Telling More and Dan Quinn, respectively,
Packers offensive coordinator to Nathaniel Hackett forty defensive coordinator to

(24:54):
Miko Ryan's. Amongst those things, one more thing with the
Bills Patriots tonight. Guys offensive coordinator Brian Dable defensive coordinator
Leslie Fraser both have interviews tomorrow with the Dolphins and
the Bears. The Dolphins are actually flying to Buffalo to
do in person interviews with them tomorrow. The Bears interviews

(25:17):
will be virtual. But this after they're trying to take
on the Patriots and Bill Belichick tonight. Well, it's uh,
two teams obviously very familiar with each other, third time
they faced off. I think that can be less of
a factor that maybe the extreme cold in Buffalo and
how Josh Allen reacts to that. But Ralph we appreciate it.
Thanks so much. We'll check in with you a little

(25:38):
bit later on. Before we get to that, a storyline
for tonight's game between the Bills and the Paths. I
want to get back to this Raiders Bengals game about
to kick off right now. You've been a little slow,
Jeff On jumping on the Joe Burrow is the new
greatest quarterback of all time Bandwagon. His last two starts
obviously were records setting to two whole starts, have two

(26:02):
whole starts through it for almost a thousand yards. He
didn't play in the final game. How is it that
you're you're late to the party that Joe Burrow the
greatest thing you got. You got Aaron Rodgers, You've got
Tom Brady, and I'm a late to party. I'm just
not the head of the party. Um. It's interesting. Pro

(26:26):
Football Focused put out an article this week basically asking
NFL executives and other people that cover the game, who
would you rather have Justin Herbert or Joe Burrow? It
was overwhelmingly Joe Burrow. If you had asked this question
Steve Um a month ago, it would be one nearly
justin Herbert's right one month of football should not change

(26:47):
your opinion that wildly about a player. Never now a
team shirt, right, the Raiders a month ago. But players, man,
that's a tiny And by the way, when I talk
about the Raiders in that's just like for today, right,
I'm like, that doesn't project him for next year and
then project him for the year after that. But for players, man,
you can't do that after two games, you just can't.

(27:10):
And he hasn't even played a playoff game yet. This
is his first playoff game and Joe Burrow has done
great this season. Do not get me wrong. I've been
his over yards this year. I thought he would play well.
But the idea of crowning him like the next it's
it seems rather silly to me that were I get
the media, I get this their job, but I think

(27:30):
people come to me because I'm not that way right,
I'm not gonna go out there. I'd rather be late
to the party because if you're late, you can obviously
you know, like you're probably gonna be righting. A lot
of times I was right about a lot of these
quarterbacks that and teams because I didn't jump me on
the Arizona Cardinal seven or oh Oh my god, sever
both favorites. I'm like, are we sure about that? Guys?
Have you seen them playing the back half of the season, right,

(27:52):
The Chiefs are three and four this year, Steve, they're
gonna the dynasty's done. They're done. There, Calm down, everyone,
calm down. It's one month of the ball. Calm down.
So to me, yes, this is a big game for
Joe Burrow if he plays this well. Mind you, the
Raiders for the NFL this season on defense elimiting wide
receiver production four the NFL, they allow about a hundred

(28:14):
and twelve yards per game to wide receivers. The first
time these teams played, the game ended up being a
blow up. Was very close to the fourth quarter. Chase
had zero targets with zero catches. You might have zero
targets to zero catches, zero yards. Like, that's like a
deep breath. Everyone. Still, the game goes today. The Raiders
gonna sit in his zone coverage. They're going to uh
to just rush their four and they're gonna see what happens.

(28:38):
By the way, the Bengals come into this game having
lost their last eight playoff games dating back to that season.
Uh and of course most of the time they were
a wild card. In fact, every year they had been
a wild card pretty much. Well, I can't say that
they want a couple of Divisions title there, um, but
with Marvin Lewis as their coach, but always lost in

(28:59):
that round. So we're about to kick off right now.
In fact, we are kicked off. It's gonna be the
Raiders of the ball first in this game. Right now,
let's talk about the Raiders offense and what they're going
to have to do to win this game. What do
you need to see from this Raiders team for them
to be successful. The first snap just happened right now,
a little handoff, um, so uh to me, it's about

(29:22):
can the Raiders obviously protect car and Keith Hendrickson off
the car? But how are they going to produce exposed
to plays in the offense? Right? Because Derek Carr does
not throw the ball deep off and he's done it
far less since Rugs came out of the lineup. Right.
We talked a lot about that. But Waller's back today,
and Waller played well, gets the Bengals the first matchup,
but there are opportunities in the game and in games

(29:43):
he's had to throw the ball deep and he misses, right,
he missed a couple of times last week. It's so
to me, it's like, are you gonna hit those opportunities
in this game? Because they're gonna have a couple. There's
no way. The Bengals defense and the best defense is
not very good. So how are we going to hit
the opportunities we have for those explosive plays? You get
my two or three a game. It's gonna be the

(30:03):
same thing I'm gonna say about Mac Jones tonight for
New England is how are you getting the two or
three times that you have to hit those deep shots?
Because those plays, man, they are the ones that fuel
your team. Yes, the long drive does as well, but
Chuck plays man like, it changes things. It changes the
way the defense looks at you, changes the way your
defense looks at your offense. Like. So these Chuck players

(30:24):
that put them in scoring opportunities I think are very
important today. We'll see how they do in the first
third down here, And they got a completed pass, so
the fifty yard lines, So there go. The Raiders are
off to a good start. And that's always a key
to any game. Third down efficiency. You need to deliver
on third down, Derek Carr had plenty of time. No
pass rush yet that we've seen from the Bengals that

(30:44):
could be a major impact defensively, what do you see
in Cincinnati. I'm looking at their numbers. Seventeenth in the
league in points allowed, eighteen in yards allowed, basically middle
of the pack defense. Yeah, their defense is okay. I
mean the hendrickson, the pass rushers, the best player, um
they're is okay. Um. And again, I mean this is
why it's so interesting to me again like the freak

(31:05):
out about you know when when you know teams have
two good games, it's like the guys like this team is.
It's impressive. They're here, but they're not like really good team.
They're good at quarterback, and they're good at wide receiver,
and they have a good tight end. They have one
good pass rusher that's like stort of it, right. And
there are people, I like in the media that cover

(31:25):
the NFL that are legitimately saying that Bengals are winning
the a f C conference this season. It's like, guys, like,
take a deep breath, man, Like they very well could.
I'm not saying they can't, but like can we just
like oh, man, that. That's a lot I get. A
month ago, you would have never said that. I mean,

(31:47):
remember this, justin Herbert was voted the starting quarterback for
the a f C and the Pro Bowl. Joe Burrows
not on the Pro Bowl team. So that vote, like
you said, was about a month ago. When they got
that vote in, no one argued about it. No screaming
where's Joe Burrow? Why is it he starting for the
Pro Bowl? For those last two starts, almost a thousand
yards passing. Alright, keeping our eye on the Raiders are

(32:09):
already into Cincinnati territory right now, they're at the forty
three yard line. They have another third down play coming up,
and this again, it's going to be the key for
the Raiders throughout this game. Move those chains and they
just get it for four down territory here too. Yeah,
they just complete the ball down to the thirty five
yard line. You're you're way ahead of me or a
couple of alright, but we just needed to establish step

(32:32):
by the way, you're you're ahead about five seconds. I
know we planned to do this. This establishing thing about
fives ahead of me goes to ghosts on this broadcast.
So I would just say that like this is um.
I took Waller over five and a half receptions and
I took him over I think fifty seven s yards.
I think he's have a big game here. He's kind
of the blanket right when things are third down right
crossing route, boom, he's open. Throw it to him. Um,

(32:56):
you know there's something again. The Raiders, to me, they're
not you know, they're not terribly talented, right, I mean
they have some pieces, but they have a quarterback with
sweat right now just watch and he has using co
playing just very good football. Now. A Chiefs fan, I

(33:16):
hope they win and and the and the patsman, I
would love to play the Raiders again. I mean the
Chiefs one of those games like ten um, and they've
always played well against Vegas, so um. But yeah, I
mean this is an impressive opening drift. You're on the road,
it's loud, it's crazy. Now cars not played well in
the cold in his careers and five and most of
those games I would imagine are in Denver in Kansas City.
So you're playing decent teams. Um, obviously not a playoff game.

(33:39):
So uh, they're twenty six yard line going down the
field while I just jumped off side. So these penalties, man,
you can't have penalties like that. The second and one
suddenly becomes a second and six, So fall start there
by waller to tight end. All right, we're just getting started.
We're going to continue to update you on the game
going on right now between the Bengals and the Raiders.

(34:01):
Are gonna get you set for tonight's game. The deep
freeze in Buffalo, how's that gonna affect that matchup between
the Bills and the Patriots. Keep it right here. This
is Fox Football Saturday, Steve Irman, Jeff Schwartz. Fox Football Saturday,
brought to you by one of our favorite cities, Las Vegas,
the greatest arena on Earth. At every game, match, racing, competition,

(34:21):
it is always on. No one does sports like Vegas
and the excitement is endless. So make sure to plan
your trip today at visit Las Vegas dot com. Uh.
The late uh, the Raiders have failed on third down,
brought on the always automatic Daniel Carlson, who booted a
field goal in so the Raiders have a three nothing
lead early on the Bengals. Any disagreement with that field

(34:44):
goal attempt on fourth and three? Uh? No, I'm fine
with it. Um. They do have one of the best
kickers in the league in Carls. I mean, I'm look,
I mean I saw the win percentage. Someone tweet out
it was a two better chance to win it. They
got it for it. I at the points in the
early part of this game on the road, like, I
think that's the best way to to to start the game.

(35:06):
Like You've had a good opening drive, got three points,
and now let your defense go to work. All right.
So the Bengals right now on the move as they
have crossed into Raiders territory. So we'll keep you updating
on this game. We're getting ready for tonight's game between
the Bills and the Patriots. Ralph Irvan has been reported
reporting that this game course, it's going to be, you know,

(35:26):
an evening in Buffalo when this game kicks off. Temperature
at kickoff is gonna be around four degrees of wind
chill about negative seven, and it's only obviously gonna get
colder from their uh matchup of two rivals. They've seen
each other a couple of times this year, very different
games that we saw during the regular season. How much

(35:47):
of an impact will the extreme cold in Buffalo having
the outcome of tonight's game. So the worst weather for
an offense is wind right, It's not, it's not it's
not always. Um, it's not always like precipitation. People are
didn't have that mistaken at times. So it's supposed to
be cold but not very windy tonight, So that that's

(36:09):
that's helpful for both quarterbacks and running backs and whatnot.
But it is bitterly cold, right, And we've seen Josh
Allen in his career has played far worse, completing fift
of passes when the weather is under thirty two degrees
and kickoff and it's only five games and a hundreds
of six yards. He just doesn't aplay as well in
the cold weather. He's mentioned his his feet get cold.
I mean, yeah, it's that's what playing cold weather is like.

(36:31):
Joined the club. He's not gonna wear sleeves tonight because
he doesn't want to. He says it's a ball security issue. Okay,
I mean fine, I just think like it's in his
head now, right, We're talking about it NonStop, and so
I really think that, uh that, um, it's kind of
in his head now. So when the weather is this cold,
Steve to me, comes down to the trenches, right, It's
it's run the football, rush the past are kind of

(36:52):
the basics, and that's where I think New England has
the advanche of game. They're better offensive line, their left
tackles not playing though, um, so they're better. But they're
better on the offensive line in the Buffalo, and they're
better on the defensive line than the ability to generate
pressure and get after Josh Allen. So um, I think
it's a low scoring game. I took the Patriots plus four.
It's not five. You know, Matt Jones in a playoff game,

(37:14):
you know, they kind of have to win, probably in
not in spite of him, but he's probably not going
to you know, be um you know as uh as impactful, Like,
they're not gonna win the game because of him per se.
So it's kind of tough for me to pick them
to win the game. But I think this game is
very close tonight, all right, the Bengals just a little
screen pass to Joe Mixon and ran it all the

(37:34):
way down to the ten yard line. All the Raiders.
That's where the Bengals are in business right now. Three
nothing Raiders in this game. We got six minutes ago
in the first quarter, Joe Burrow on this open he
drive four or five fifty eight yards. The only incomplete
pass was a drop Um. So it would appear that Burrow,
at least early on this game is looking good looking

(37:55):
for the end zone and it is incomplete. Uh so
they're gonna have a second goal right now at the
tan yard line. Um. But I mean when we go
back to this Bengals team, when you try to project them,
uh into the future, like where is this team? Is
this season a bit of an admiration a little ahead
of schedule a year ago? No, I was thinking that

(38:15):
this was going to be a playoff team in where
are we right now? I mean, are there are enough
pieces in place for them now to be a perpetual
playoff team going forward? With Joe Burrow as their quarterback? Well,
I think as long as you have Joe Burrow, you're
always gonna have a chance. Right. But let's look at

(38:37):
the rest of the division. This year. Pittsburgh obviously kind
of show themselves. I think an upgraded quarterback, they're gonna
be every year with Tomman Right. Um, you get to Baltimore, right,
I mean the injuries that Baltimore had this year, it
once surprised if they're the healthiest team in the league
next year, right, just kind of those those tend event
over time. So Baltimore is healthy, I think you're gonna,
you know, pretty certain they'll be in the every year. Right.

(38:58):
And then the Browns, I mean, I guess can't be
any worse right with with him. They can't obviously, but
you fair they'll be better next year with with a
healthier Mayfield. So they put a really tough division. But
I think with Joe Burrow every year, you're gonna be
in it. Whether or not you're doing with a Super Bowl,
I don't know. You have to prove the offensive line,
to prove the defense, and there's there's a lot of

(39:19):
ways to go to get to that point. We have
a touchdown for the Bengals right now, touchdown pass from
Joe Burrow to their tight end, I believe, and there
you go. Uh, just like that, the Bengals are on
the board, penning the extra point, and yeah, I mean,

(39:39):
you can you come back. The Raiders had a nice
opening drive ended up with a field goal, and the
Bengals offense with Joe Burrow right now, you talk about
two quarterbacks that are just really oozy confidence right now,
both Derek Carr Joe Burrow feeling pretty good about themselves.
But the Bengals have taken the seventh three lead they have,
that's a pretty opening drive for the Bengals. Didn't march
right down the field there, that's let's not go for

(40:00):
the Raiders defense. Alright, We're gonna continue to well, obviously
monitor this game as the Bengals have the seventh three
lead over the Raiders. We have the Patriots Bills. Plus
we got a full slate of games, three games tomorrow,
another game on Monday. And one of the things I
want to get into a jeff or two quarterbacks you
might have heard of him. One of them is Tom Brady,

(40:20):
the other is Aaron Rodgers. Are they the difference moving
forward in deciding this year's Super Bowl champion? We'll discuss.
Keep it right here. This is Fox Football Saturday. All right.
We've had a big development here in this Raiders Bengals game.
The Bengals really had shown no pass rush of note
so far in this game, but right there, a blind

(40:43):
side hit forcing Derek Carter fumble. The Bengals have recovered
so the Bengals leading seven and three, have the ball
right back and they're at the Raiders fifteen yard line.
That's kind of turnover, Jeff, where you can almost extinguish
a team very early. Joe makes a just got five
yards on first down, put him down a couple of

(41:03):
scores early, especially on the road, and the Raiders could
be toast just like that. They put a tight end
on the on the best pass or like what are
you doing with the running back was coming to help him? Um,
and you have to know that right, So the back
was coming across to help. You just can't do that,
Like this is it's bad coaching. Well at that point again, Uh,

(41:23):
Derek Carr had really had no pressure at all. He
had had plenty of time in the pocket and was
really cooking along at a high efficiency. But a blind
side hit stripped the ball and now the Bengals already
up seventh three, trying to add to that, they're gonna
have a third and four, third and three after a
short Joe mix and run. Uh. The a p all

(41:44):
pro came out this week, UH, and the fifty voters,
thirty four votes at quarterback went to Aaron Rodgers. The
other sixteen votes went to Tom Brady. They were the
only two quarterbacks to get any votes. Now, I guess
you could throw Patrick Mahomes in the convert station when
you talk about quarterbacks and can be the difference between
when he is Super Bowl and losing a Super Bowl. Um.

(42:06):
The interesting thing when you look at Tom Brady and
Aaron Rodgers to future first ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks
is that Tom Brady has been a ten Super Bowls
and has won seven and Aaron Rodgers been to one
Super Bowl and one one. I mean, that's that's a
major difference, right, seven one one. So as we head

(42:27):
into these playoffs and these teams, the Packers and the
Bucks get ready for their opening games, both the big
favorites obviously, well the Packers obviously the bye this week,
Bucks opening at home against the Eagles. Um, do those
two quarterbacks just set them far apart all the other
teams in the playoffs this season? No, because the chief said,

(42:50):
to my knowledge, talk Pat Mahomes playing. Did he did
he leave? Well, that's what I'm asking you. It's Mahomes. Okay, yeah, Um,
if you're you're talking about me, Mahomes six and two
in the playoffs, and those two losses aren't overtime to
the Patriots in um in what was then eighteen right,
and then they lost to the last Dame of Super
Bowl when he had his whole offensive line now right like,

(43:13):
and they have a home game to Market's Steelers, Like,
Mahomes is still that guy, and he's hearing by the way,
he's not that guy, right, He's hearing Joe Burrows better
and Dustin Herbert's better. And I don't know if I
trust the Chiefs like he's hearing all that stuff. Um So,
I think Mahomes is definitely still that guy. Now as
far as Tampa tomorrow, I mean Tampa destroys the Eagles,

(43:35):
I am Eagles have have been uh no playoff teams
this year. I'm gonna pull up my notes just to
make sure that the Eagles wins this year was absolutely remarkable.
By the way, we got a field goal for the Bengals,
the Raiders defense held on third down, so ten three Cincinnati.
Now the Raiders minute fifteen to go on the first
clar But yeah, I looked up the same thing. Who
have the Eagles actually beating the show? So I think

(43:57):
their last six quarterbacks they beat we're Teddy Bridgewater. Um
there was ah, here it is right here, here's my article. Okay,
it is ready. It's Teddy Bridgewater, Trevor Simeon, Zach Wilson,
Garrett Gilbert. Remember that Tuesday night Washington game with all
the with all the COVID Mike going in and then

(44:17):
Jake from played that game and Tyler Heinie, Taylor Haneke
Um look just a little bit different, Tom Brady, they'd
be no playoff teams. Um, And I just think Tampa Bay.
This is what Tampa lives for, right, This is they
they live for the playoffs. Like they've gone there, right,
this is what they wanted to do. They've gone there.

(44:39):
And the weather is gonna be bad tomorrow. So I'm
the we'll see how much they can they can pass
they get well, let me ask you this, No, Leonard,
let's say that. Yeah. So Lavante David's back and r
Giovanni Bernard's back. Um, so I still think Tampa I
think they're better, man, They're they're better on the defensive line.
They've been here before with they have a much better quarterback.

(45:01):
You eagules are run the ball, keep your quarterback out
of Harm's way situation. You know, I just I am
really I think to have a Bay went this game
quite angly, honestly. Yeah, again Tom Brady. It just goes
on and on and on and on and on about
Tom Brady led the NFL in passing yards and touchdown
passes this year. But with all his amazing stats in

(45:21):
this season in which at age forty four, he continues
to defile logic, he averaged averaged more than forty two
pass attempts per game for a seventeen game season. He
had over seven hundred passing attempts this year. And when
I look at that number, it just blows my mind

(45:43):
because we've seen in recent years, and we've discussed this, Jeff,
whether it was a Peyton Manning, or a Brett Farve
or Drew Brees or or even a Philip Rivers, where
as they went along, as the seasons to drag on,
you would see the armor wear down. Suddenly they couldn't
make those rows. And this does not seem to be
the problem for Tom Brady. In fact, I was just

(46:04):
watching their last game against the Panthers and he is
still throwing dimes out there. I mean, the guy has
still got velocity on the ball. He's getting to his
spots and he's never, never, never been a deep throw.
He's great at, you know, forcing teams into a pass
interference situation. She knows how to do that. But how
is this humanly possible? I mean, it's like a picture.
There's only so many pitches in the arm. What is

(46:26):
going on here? I mean, how is it possible at
age forty four that he can average over forty two
past attempts a game and still have zip on the
ball as we head into the playoffs? Uh? TV twelve,
I guess I mean, like right, like that. Obviously what
he's doing is working. He's able to generate power from

(46:47):
his whole body. I mean that's part of what he
works on, right, Like, we're going to generate power from
our whole body. Um, the Raiders has made a terrible mistake.
Oh no, let the kickoff, Oh Jesus bad so Um.
On a kickoff, if the ball is rolling near the sidelines,
if you establish your one of your feet out on

(47:07):
the out of bounds first and you touch the ball
is a penalty on the kicking team. It would have
been ball at the forty yard line had the ball
had just been allowed to go out, not even that
he tried to do the trick where you put your
foot on the sidelinef you put your foot on the
sideline first, then it's a most stinking there. I mean,

(47:28):
at the very worst, there's no way the ball is
gonna die on the one yard line. Is either gonna
go out of bounds and ball on the forty yard
line or in the end zone it's a touchback. So
instead the Raiders start the ball on their own two
yard line as we are coming towards the end of
the first court in this game, and boy, they almost
got nailed in the end zone. Um, all right, So yeah,
just just continuing on with the Brady thing here though

(47:51):
it's I mean, at some point you just have to
pause every once in a while and troll inhale what
this guy continues to do as he's gonna take the
I could books to a level that we we can't
even imagine. And when he when he talks about playing
into his fifties and we used to laugh at this idea,
I'm not laughing anymore. I'm not betting against him. I'm
never gonna make that mistake again. I will never ever

(48:14):
ever bet against Tom Brady. Ever. Yeah, I mean it's
pretty good, even though we told ourselves we never back
against Nick Saban and took Georgia. So um, um, no,
I think that that you you really can't at this point.
I mean he might, he might play forever. I don't know.

(48:34):
I just don't know forever. I love that idea, like wait,
like you would figure, Okay, forty four years old and
he looks in great shape. Still they're still winning. Obviously,
if they weren't winning, maybe he would stop playing, but
they just keep winning. And Gronk, by the way, is revived.
Remember a couple of years ago gron Gronk retired because

(48:55):
he was done. His body was broken. He he just
couldn't play any longer. He sat out of year. He
comes back last year. This year he was as good
as ever. Yeah, I mean, he's great, and I think
he has a big game. Eagles the worst team that
I felt covering the tight end, so I think actually
tomorrow is a big game for him. So um, I'm

(49:15):
I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in that
game tomorrow as well. I mean, he again, like Tom
Brady and and Gronk, they uh, they live for the playoffs, Right,
it's what they know best, it's what they want to do,
and so it wouldn't surprise me if you see their
best performances this time of year, writes Gronk, Especially, it's

(49:37):
very big in the playoffs and Eagles again haven't been
here before. Now I give him credit for for for
for getting here. Obviously they've done a great job next
yearn he blew out expectations for what we expected of
this team this season. Um, but but man, like this
is they're going up against the team that is ready
for this moment, has been in this moment, and we're
seeing to say, the Raiders look a little disjointed, right

(49:59):
fault to fall starts now, Um, you know, they look
like they have Bengals haven't been here either, but they
kind of have that that that home field swag like
the n North. There's just like a lot of I
feel the Eagles are gonna kind of have that tomorrow,
just like, uh, just a little a little anxiousness to
play in that game. All right. So the Raiders, right now,
we come to the end of the first quarter, they're
facing a third and four from their own eight yard line,

(50:22):
trying to get out of there. Because obviously, if they
don't get a first down here, the Bengals are gonna
have a short field. Already leading this game by a
score of ten to three. On the other side, we're
gonna get ready for some of these other Sunday games.
We talked about Bucks, Eagles, Tom Brady and company. What
about the forty Niners and the Cowboys and how big
is this game for Jerry Jones decision making as far

(50:44):
as the coaching future of the Cowboys. We're gonna break
it down coming up next, Steve Harby Jeff Schwartz here
on Fox Sports Radio. Still ten three right now, Bengals
leading the Raiders and now a big pass play for
are the Bengals inside the ten yard line of the Raiders.
So the Bengals up ten three, seventeen to go in

(51:06):
the first half. But once again the Bengals are threatening
uh to increase their lead in this game. By the way,
I have a quick question for you, Jeff, before we
get into a little preview tomorrow's matchup between the Cowboys
and the forty Niners. Getting back to the in season
HBO Hard Knocks show, the follow the Colts in the
amazing episode leading up to their catastrophic loss to the

(51:30):
Jacksonville Jaguars. They're showing all these assistant coaches right now.
Call me old school if you will, but one of
the guys they featured was their assistant quarterbacks coach. Now
the idea that there's a quarterbacks coach, a running backs coach,
a wide receiver's coach, tight ends coach, I mean all
these individual position coaches, what exactly does an assistant quarterbacks

(51:56):
coach do? A job description? You've seen these? Have you
ever seen these college staffs that have like fifteen coaches
and analysts? I mean it's just like, hey, you study
third downs like you just study third downs only, or
you're you're just gonna your your job is gonna be
an advanced scout. You're just gonna watch your next three
a pot. They have very specific things that they're in

(52:19):
charge of doing, and maybe it's just a young coach
who they want to just get time with. Carson Wentz right, Um,
So all these staffs have you know, as in college fooball,
it's fifteen on field coaches. The best teams have like
fifty analysts on top of that. Like this is what
coaching has become. That paralysis by analysis. I mean, it's

(52:41):
just it's too much. It's too much. It's way too much.
I mean, do you get paid for a job like that?
Assistant quarterbacks coach paid some money? Wow? I just and
by the way, based on Carson Wentz's performances down the stretch,
maybe I'll be looking for a new assistant quarterbacks coach.
I know what the guy's name is, but I was
just baffled how they have a system alway still doing

(53:05):
this thing that we think Carson Wentz is good after
the season, Like, are we gonna stop that now? Now?
By the way, Raiders have just sacked Joe Burrow on
third down, so tell you what the Raider defense is
hanging in there. This game could have easily gotten out
of control, But now the Bengals are gonna be attempting
a field goal up ten three, so at least the
Raider defense is coming up. The Raiders offensively need to

(53:26):
start putting a drive together. No, I mean, as far
as Carson Wentz is concerned, think about it. They've had
four different starting quarterbacks over the last four years. And
indeed they had Andrew Luck suddenly retire and then you
had your interim quarterback right, your guy from New England.
Then he had Philip Rivers and he had Carson Wentz.

(53:46):
I mean they've had four different quarterbacks over the last
four seasons. Yeah, it sounded like they're going to go
back to Carson Wentz. Maybe. Um, so we'll obviously find out.
Why do they kind of have to they give a
first round pick for him? Man, like they have one
more year with him? Right? Oh, I don't know what

(54:07):
I mean, what what is your thought here? Do you
want to just be I wouldn't tuld't trying to form anyways,
So I mean, alright, let me let me get to
this game tomorrow between the five I'm just I mean,
watch watching that. It's really if you want to watch
a train wreck, watch that entire episode of HBO Hard Knocks.
It was phenomenal. And they poor Kenny Moore's parents are like,

(54:29):
they're the ones being honest about this is not going good. Well,
and kennymore got burned a couple of times in that
game as well for touchdowns. It was unbelievable. It really
was one of the best episodes of Hard Knucks I've
ever seen period. Alright, forty Niners Cowboys and I want
to talk specifically about the Cowboys and Mike McCarthy. So
you have an owner. Jerry Jones has made it very

(54:51):
clear that he recognizes the clock is ticking. He's only
got so much time left and he wants to get
back to a Super Bowl. He wants to win another
Super Bowl something and that has not happened in twenty
six years. You bring him Mike McCarthy because he's got
a Super Bowl win on his resume. But the McCarthy
era there has been a mixed bag. And the difference

(55:12):
this year is Dan Quinn and that new defense. Dan
Quinn should be maybe Assistant Coach of the Year. How
he was able to turn that Cowboys defense around. Um,
I just wonder if the forty Niners and they can
easily win this game. I mean, to me, it's a
toss up game between the forty Niners and the Cowboys.
But if the Cowboys go down in flames at home,

(55:33):
knowing that you got dan Quinn sort of you know,
sitting there, a guy that's gotted a team to a
Super Bowl, Do you think that Jerry Jones could make
a change or no? No, no, Well we'll stay with
things the way they are, even if they lose to
the forty Niners tomorrow. Well, the reports that today were
that if you know, if they lose, he's gonna keep McCarthy,

(55:55):
but he's gonna clean clean house elsewhere, right, whether it's
a corner. But again, I mean, Dan Quinns did a
great job this season, right, Why would you hear the
defensive coordinator? Uh, Kelly. I mean the offense has been
fine this year, had a couple of stumbles. But there's
a lot of pressure on Michael McCarthy for this game, right,
I mean, this is your you are um A, You're

(56:16):
you know, the home team, You've won the division. You're
playing a team that you should beat. Your the favorite,
UM and I think you have the better roster, should
win the game. Obviously, how are they gonna do that?
I don't know, but they they It's it's important for

(56:37):
I think him and probably Matt Stafford have the most
pressure this weekend on them. Oh yeah, Matthew Staffords a
whole different story. Bengals got the field goal, so thirteen three,
now Cincinnati leading the Raiders. We got ten twenty go
in the first half. The forty Niners came up with
a improbable When you think about it come from behind
win against the Rams in that last game. It's so far.

(57:00):
It was a game in which the Rams were ill prepared,
and Sean McVeigh admitted it, not so much in the
fact that they didn't know it was gonna be a
battle against a forty Niner team that had to win
the game to get the playoffs. What were they not
prepared for was the overwhelming number of forty Niner fans
that showed up at so FI Stadium. Not early on
when the Rams were up seventeen nothing, there was nothing

(57:21):
for forty Niner fans to get excited about. Well, when
the forty Niners came back, the noise level was so
loud that the Rams could not get the signals straight.
And this is some of the things that Sean McVeigh
and they didn't prepare for that. Why would they prepare
for that? It was a home game. Why would you
be worried about crowd noise going against you on your

(57:43):
home field, which I guess illustrates a couple of things.
One they should have been prepared for that too. Maybe
the Rams aren't as popular as some people are insistent
they are in l A. I mean, they do have
a fan base, but to be overwhelmed by forty Niner
fans in that last game a little bit of a
shock to the system. And then of course we have
the whole Matthew Stafford situation as well as we head

(58:05):
into the postseason. Yeah. So the Niners, man, they just
took that game the second half. I have a physical
force offensive line, defensive line, and obviously, you know, Jimmy
Garoppolo is not that bad in the two minutes hrew.
I feel like like he's like best. We don't have
to think, um, and he's able just to just go
out and make plays, um and um. I feel like

(58:27):
as the Raiders got the ball now into Jacobs, big
run for Josh Jacobs, So this is you have to do.
You got just run the ball and keep it out
of cars hands. So um, because Hard was a little shaky,
not I just just kind of beat him up, right,
just beat him up in the line scrimmage, beat him
up on defense. And they're entering this game. Obviously he
gets the Cowboys want to do the same. I mean,

(58:48):
Deebo Samuel right now is out of this world. I
mean he is so valuable. His ability obviously to make
plays out of the backfields, running back at wide receiver,
the Cowboys have to find a way to tackle him.
It's gonna be so imperative to do that. But the
Cowboys are better. Right, Look at the pass rush on
the defensive line. Look at at at the ability to

(59:10):
force turnovers in the secondary. Now travel days does give
up a lot of yards, but they have been force
turnovers Parsons right, the best defensive player probably not named Bosa,
on the field of that game. Look to the offense. Right,
the offensive line for the Cowboys is better than that.
Is that Trent Williams, the Niners left tackle, might be
the best left tackle in the game, and it might not,
but he's the best tackle. But the rest offensive line,

(59:30):
Alex Mack is good at center. But you know, speaking
Cowboys are better. They're better wide receiver, not better tight end,
better running back, and better at quarterback. Like they should
win this game, but they have to match the physicality
because you know what I was gonna do. You know,
you know, there's no surprise what their plan is going
to be. All Right, watching the Raiders right now, they're
facing a third and eight um Right now, thirteen three

(59:54):
Cincinnati clock is running about the eight minute mark right
now in the first half, this is where if the
Raiders can get a touchdown here, I mean, you feel
like the Bengals have pretty much dominated this half so far,
and yet if the Raiders could get a touch down
here and cut it to three points, this is where
it gets dangerous, especially for a team on the road.

(01:00:15):
The Raiders almost go into this game. Yeah, they want
to win, obviously, they come in a lot of confidence,
but no one's expecting the Raiders to win this game.
The third down play is dropped. Wow, the Raiders are
just kind of it's just been self afflicted. Oh, I
gotta gotta catch the ball. I mean, the Raiders to

(01:00:35):
be down seven after all these eras they've made in
this game is pretty remarkable because they're still a striking
distance right, So um, they just they just have have
killed themselves today. Man, all right, drop past, So they're
gonna have a field goal. Carlson will come back on.
He's been Mr Automatic for the Raiders all season long.
Let's find out what's trending right now. We turn it
back to Wellver the But you make it this game, Ralph,

(01:01:03):
so far well, Daniel Carlson's field goal makes it thirteen
to six Cincinnati over the Raiders, and all told, considering
everything that's gone on, it's a pretty good result for
Las Vegas. Right now, they're sitting in a decent position,
seven fifty five to play in the second quarter. Take
a deep dive into the stats where Derek Carr is
seven of eleven sixty six yards in this game. Josh

(01:01:27):
Jacobs has the long run there of thirty five yards,
but overall eight carries sixty four yards again not bad.
Joe Burrow seven of eleven ninety two yards has the
touchdown past Joe Mixon has seven runs for twenty four yards. Again,
the stats show a pretty close game. It's been in
the Raiders mistakes and it's been the Raiders setting up

(01:01:50):
Cincinnati with the opportunities. So we will see exactly how
it continues as we make our way forward. Coming up
at eight fifty eastern tonight, it will be game two
also in the a f C. Buffalo Bills hosting the
New England Patriots. In frigid Buffalo kickoff, expect you to
be at seven degrees with a wind chill about four

(01:02:12):
four below zero. It should be about a seven mile
an hour wind going on their uh news from the
NFL coaching vacancies. The Houston Texans interviewed today Chargers offensive
coordinator Joe Lombardi and hines Ward hines Ward hines Ward,

(01:02:32):
who is working as an assistant receiver coach specialists to
the head coach at Florida Atlantic. Okay, last time I
saw hines Ward we used on a celebrity contest on
the Food Network. So it sounds like, Hey, coach, Jeff,
that gets back to what he said earlier about Collie.
I mean, who wants this job? I mean, seriously, right now,

(01:02:54):
is that a desirable job to be the head coach
of the Texans? No, No, exact like that. That was
the right there, Jeff. Uh. College basketball Action the number
two team in the country, Gonzaga sixty two. They lead
at Santa Clara ten minutes to play in the second half. Well,
Oklahoma State up seventeen to six as they play at

(01:03:14):
number one Baylor eleven and a half to play in
the first half. Of course, the Bears have already lost
once this week. No losing here though, as we sent
it back, it is a Fox NFL Saturday with Steve
Hartman and Jes Schwartz. All right, Ralph, thank you very much.
Check in with you a little bit later on. So
we uh, we keep our eye on this game between
the Bengals and Raiders as Ralph manin and Carlson made

(01:03:35):
the field goal. So thirteen six now Bengals lead this
game inside eight minutes to go in the first half.
What did you make a big band this week talking
about how really rotten his Steelers are and how they
have absolutely no chance uh against the Yeah, then Deante
Johnson guaranteed to win. So yeah, um, they're kind of

(01:03:55):
in the middle somewhere. Look, obviously we've talked about this
all the time, right, I mean big and it's got
to be laughing right now, come on, how did this
Steeler's team make the playoffs? So what do you think
deep down that Big Ben was even playing this game?
Like he could have walked off his career being the
Browns and Ravens. Yeah, I've been done with it. Yeah, Um,

(01:04:17):
obviously he's gonna play hard tomorrow. But my point is like, yeah,
I mean does he really? He probably would rather be
home now, right, So, um, I mean twelve and a
half points is a big number. You don't see that
a lot in playoff games. You gotta feel the only
way the Steelers can even stay in this game is
to keep Patrick Mahomes off the field. And the way
to do that, obviously is with a strong running game.

(01:04:40):
Naz Harris, their rookies had an outstanding season, but it's
been hasn't been consistent. It's had some big games and
then other games where he has completely disappeared. Um, I
don't know. Are the Chiefs defensively vulnerable to the run. Anyway,
the Steelers can grind some clock and keep the Chiefs off,
it's off the field, not in this game. Um. Then

(01:05:02):
I mentioned this in your show yesterday when I joined
you in from Diego. Um that wild card favorites of
of double digits ten or more points are a know
against the spread. Let's repeat that, sad again favorite in
the postseason, the wild the wild card in a wild
card round three? Right, that's first wild card round. Um,

(01:05:26):
a know against the spread. So like, it's basically telling
you that if they're good like the Chiefs are, then
they're good and and the Steelers are not good and
the Steams are not good. Right, It's what makes telling
you and I mean you know, there's I'm a Chiefs fan,
I'll be nervous tomorrow watching the game because it's the playoffs.
I will always be in. But like, man, the path

(01:05:47):
for Steelers win is like forcing four turnovers and your
offense just converting on third down, a bunch of keeping
this in the Chief's missing tackles and you have a
Chief player defense on slip or mis tackling, you break
a big gain. But man, it just feels like the
path to victory here it feels very, very unlikely for

(01:06:09):
the Steelers. Right Um, the Chiefs are very frustrating team.
There are twelve seeds. I mean they won twelve games.
I should say there are two seed and there's just
so much more left they could have been, right they
if they play four straight games of what they can do.

(01:06:29):
So that's no more turnovers, no more dumb penalties, no
more drop passes, no more missed assignments. You know, defensively
enough man coverage, stop playing Daniel Sorenson. They're gonna win
the Super Bowl again. But they can also just lose
tomorrow and that would surprise me a little. Lose to
the Bengals or loose the Bills that you know in
the next game, like none that would surprise me because

(01:06:52):
they've been so up and down this year at times.
All Right, now, one team we're not talking about because
they're not playing this week, the Tennessee Titans. The fact
that they end up as the number one seed in
the a f C is probably gonna win Mike Vrabel
Coach of the Year and should especially with the absence
of Derrick Henry. Henry is coming back. Um, let let's
start with there with Derrick Henry. In fact, yesterday I

(01:07:13):
was talking to my friend, the Hall of Famer Eric
Dickerson about what we should expect from Derrick Henry having
missed as much time as he had, and he said,
you shouldn't expect Derrick Henry to be at full strength. Uh,
it's not gonna bother him. If he's ready to play.
He's ready to play, meaning at the highest level. But
why aren't we talking about the Titans right now as

(01:07:34):
a team that's gonna get to the Super I haven't
heard anybody predicting the Tennessee as the one seed in
the a f C is gonna end up in the
Super Bowl. So the Titan's offense, by the way, the
rushing numbers have been the exact same with it without
Derrick Henry. So I think think Henry back is great,
but they again this goes to my point about running

(01:07:54):
backs don't matter as much, right it's an offensive line
number that more than running back number. Um. You just
all the injuries they they've had this year and they're
not a sexy team, right, Um that people just don't
believe in them. And plus we've we've kind of like
we've seen them before, right, Like we've we've seen this
version of Tennessee many years now, haven't been able to

(01:08:15):
win playoffs, at least get the promised land, right, be
able to You lost the Chiefs couple years, a lost
Ravens last year, and their defensive line is better this season,
so that's definitely improvement. But I think for a lot
of us it's like, well, we've seen it, kind of
seen this team before, right, what's different this year than
last year or the year before that? And you would
say the defensive line is, but is that enough? So

(01:08:40):
the Chiefs are the favorite, they have seen, the Bills
the second favorite. Now they might play each other next
weekend if this holds chalked the way it is now.
By the way, did you see that last pass that
Joe Burrow. It was awesome. That was That was as
good a pass as you're ever going to see. You
talk about throwing to a spot that wasn't seemingly there.
Now they disc acted on a deep throw right there.

(01:09:01):
But there's got to get so it's really fun to
watch these wide receivers and these kind of close up
camera angles because if you notice a lot of times,
you know they flashed their hands so late, right, because
as soon as you turn your hands is when like
if if that put his hands up just sooner, the
number five would just put his arm up and gone
the in the way of the past. But because he

(01:09:23):
kind of like hit his hands and boom, put him
out the last second, the ball just went right into
his hands. It was a great throw. Second and ten.
Now Raiders need so that the Bengals have the ball
out of the half. The Raiders have got to hold
them here to to three points and then they need
to do something to to kind of score before the
end of a half or this game is gonna get
out of hand very quickly. All right, I know I'm

(01:09:43):
ahead of you. Nine yard run on second down, so
third and one, facing the Bengals right there, um, I
don't know. I mean when you look at the Tyson Titans.
I've said this about the a f C pretty much
all season long. The team that I keep looking at
is the Buffalo Bills, and the Bills did finish the
season on a four game winning streak. They starting to
put it together. You look at the Bills wins this year.

(01:10:06):
Every game the Bills won this year, it was by
double digits. Every single win they had this year was
a double digit win. I don't know if that's a
record unprecedented. That's got to be pretty close, right, to
have every single win over the whole season be double
digit wins. That's eleven wins all by double digits, and
then they have inexplicable losses, games that they did not

(01:10:28):
play well scattered throughout. But the fact that they come
in on a winning streak beat the Patriots late in
the year to pretty much wrap up this a f
C East that to me still, if everybody is playing
to their capability, I still think they're a better team
on both sides overall than the Chiefs are. I just

(01:10:49):
I do believe that, But we haven't seen it, and
and honestly, we haven't seen that from the Chiefs either.
All season long, there's been this frustrating level of inconsistency
with both of these teams all season long. There has
been you know, Buffalo offensively though, just goes into really weird,
prolonged spurts where they just don't move the ball offense,

(01:11:14):
and whether it's some inaccuracies from Josh Allen, their offensive
line has not been good this year. It's just it's
a it's an odd it's kind of an odd mix
of offense this season. When Josh Allen is playing as
well as he can, it's hard to beat them. You're
not gonna beat them very much. Um, But when he's off,
you have and like tonight, I don't do you feel

(01:11:36):
great They're gonna win tonight. I'm leaning to the Bill still, yeah,
I am. I The thing about New England and we
still have to remind ourselves they have a rookie quarterback.
They have a rookie quarterback, Mac Jones. It's gonna be
very tough. It's gonna be on the road in Buffalo,
it's gonna be absolutely freezing tonight in Buffalo, and it's
a rookie quarterback. BILLI chick and do a lot of things.

(01:11:58):
I know that he's the best of the ask when
it comes to getting his team's organized, uh in any
big game. But the Bills to me are a better
team than New England. And the difference is that Josh Allen,
who now does have playoff experience, who has one in
the postseason, He has that behind him, and he got
a rookie quarterback. When when how many rookie quarterbacks have

(01:12:19):
one playoff games? Did anybody have that stat How many
rookie quarterbacks, first year quarterbacks have one a playoff game,
especially one on the road. Just to me, I know
they ever have. Belichick he's have to prove something. The
fact that he got this New England team into the
postseason with the rookie quarterback should garner some Coach of

(01:12:41):
the Year votes. But I know I do not see
New England going into Buffalo tonight and winning the game.
I just don't see it. Uh. It feels unlikely unless
Josh Allen is gonna be the reason why. Right well,
if he becomes a turnover machine, sure I get that
thirteen six right now? Bengals, Uh, they're deep into radar
ratory once again. To Mark Chase, Uh had a sixteen

(01:13:03):
yard rundown of the fifteen yard line. Will continue to
update two on this game. As we mentioned, we got
a big game coming up a little bit later on
tonight the Bills and the Patriots. Keep it right here.
This is Fox Football Saturday. Steve Iran, Jeff Schwartz. This
is Fox Football Saturday, brought to by one of our
favorite cities, Las Vegas, the greatest arena on Earth. Every game, match, racing, competition,

(01:13:24):
it is always on. Whoever you root for, whatever sports
you love to watch. The biggest games are even bigger
in Vegas, so make sure to play on your trip
today at visit Las Vegas dot com. The Bengals have
just scored on a touchdown pass by Joe Burrow to
Tyler Boyd. But there seemed to be confusion on the field.
Here I'm watching this game. I have no sound on.

(01:13:44):
Everyone just seemed to stop. They said there was people between,
there was a whistle blown. Everyone just stopped. Burrow was
rolling out to his right, got the pass up before
he went out of bounds. He hit an open Tyler
boy in the back of the end zone. Uh touchdown stand.
Bengals now leading in the Raiders twenty two six uh
inside two minutes ago in the first half, but it

(01:14:05):
didn't see there seemed to be confusion there, like everyone
would just started. I guess it was a whistle blown
and so the raid player was still very clearly in
bounce by the way I looked it up. The last
rookie quarterback to win a playoff game was Russell Wilson uh.
And there's a bit of an asterisk because in that
game they played the then Washington Redskins, who also had

(01:14:27):
a rookie quarterback, Robert Griffin. Remember that game that was
when r G three had the injury and everything else
with that knee injury in the fourth quarter, he was
never the same quarterback. So that was a rookie beating
a rookie in that game. Prior to that, the last
rookie to win a playoff game was Mark Sanchez. Remember that.
Mark Sanders a rookie year with the Jets, they got

(01:14:48):
to the a f C Championship game. He had an
amazing playoff record his first two years. He was four
and oh on the road in playoff games both times
ended up using the a f C Championship Game, and
then after that. He's best known for his butt fumble.
By the way, Mark a fan of our show, uh,

(01:15:08):
and I'm a fan of his great guy. Um, so
that's that's a little bit of history. And by the way,
since then, the last rookie quarterback to start a game,
of course was Lamar Jackson. That was ugly. Dak Prescott
started a playoff game as a rookie. He did not
play well in that game. So that's uh, yeah, going
for Mac Jones tonight. Even some of the Boston papers

(01:15:29):
are looking it up, saying it's gonna be tough sledding
for the rookie tonight. Yeah. Well, what's tough slate right
now is the Raiders who are playing very bad there.
They rushed two guys in that touchdown. I'm I'm we're
watching the plane now. The Bengals have scored on every
possession of the first half. Yeah, the Raiders are getting
their butt swopped. It's at that's a getting whooped all

(01:15:51):
over the field. Um, this is gonna be a bad
second half there for for the Raider fans. All right,
but again, let's let's go back to the Bengals then.
I mean, at some points, you gotta you know, Bengals
are looking good. They've scored on every single offensive possession
of this first half, and yet you're still late to
the party. You're still not jumping on the bandwagon. Here.

(01:16:12):
Joe Burrows twelve and eighteen hundred forty six yards, two touchdowns,
no picks so far in this game. Come on, you
gotta come around, Joe Burrow. Just say what I've never
been down before. I don't think the Bengals are wining
the Super Bowl? Is that That's what That's what I've said.
I said the Raiders. The Bengals are not winning the
Super Bowl. That's what I've said. I don't never say

(01:16:34):
anything about Joe Burrow. All right, big play for the
Raiders right now. They're gonna get some yards right before
they happen inside a minute ago, Danny g uh been
a little quiet over there. How you doing right now?
Are brilliant producer? I'm okay. I mean, except for the
self inflicted wounds, this is pretty much what I was expecting.
Although it would be nice to see car march down
the field and actually get a touchdown in the red zone.

(01:16:55):
I'll tell you his has good numbers. Here's Josh Jacobs
eight carros sixty four yards, averaging eight yards of Popcorse.
He had that thirty five yard run, why aren't they run?
And he had two really good runs before he broke
off that big one. So it would be nice to
see a lot of Josh Jacob's big runs in the
second half. As long as they are not down by
another touchdown, then they'll just be throwing the ball. Yeah, yeah, alright,

(01:17:18):
So Raiders got they got to get something going here
before the half. They have a chance here there near midfield.
But otherwise, like you said, Jeff, this game is gonna
get out of hand quickly. Jamar Chase um obviously should
be the offensive rookie of the year. I don't think
there's any question the kind of numbers he put up
this year. Sorry Mac Jones, Jamar Chase is gonna be
your offensive rookie of the year. He's showing it again

(01:17:40):
in this game. Four catches, sixty five yards. He's carried
the ball a couple of times to twenty two yards.
Did you expect this from Jamaar Chase, who sat out
an entire year at ellis HU could not have looked
worse in the preseason. He was dropping everything. Did you
have any idea that this guy was gonna have this
kind of impact in the league. No, I didn't expect

(01:18:01):
that this early in his career. Um, but obviously he's
just taking his offense to a brand new level very quickly.
Clean up one play, Um, it's you know it says
when official sounds says whistle erroneously while the ball still
imploy the ball becomes dead immediately. It's not touchdown. Should
have not stood if that was the ruling that the
referee boot the whistle before and Burrow was not out
of bounds either, So what what a weird play? Um?

(01:18:25):
I I didn't think he'd beat this goodness early, I
thought again, I bet Joe Burrows over passing told this.
I thought they would be throw the ball fine. I
just don't know. And and to be fair, man, it's
not just it's not just him. Uh, Michael Parsons sat
out this year. Last year, I should say Rashawn Slider
sat out last year. I mean, all these players have
set out have been great. Now, I would make the

(01:18:46):
case that Will Anderson should have started sit out next season.
Alabamas pass rusher, he's the best pass rusher like in
the country. He'd be number one picked this year, he
should sit out, Like there should be an ability for
some guys to say, look, man, we've played enough, we
played enough football, let's get ready to go to the NFL. Alright,
we had a big scramble by Derek Carr. There was
a defensive hole on the Bengals that was declined because

(01:19:09):
of a huge scramble by Derek Carr that gets the
ball down to the Cincinnati thirty five yard line. Uh,
they're definitely in Daniel Carlson range right now, one of
the best kickers in the league. Actually, they're down in
touch side of the thirty yard line right now, but
they need a touchdown there down four team. We got
thirty seven seconds ago first and ten for the Raiders

(01:19:29):
and they let's see the Raiders time out. They have
all three timeouts remaining, so they have the whole field
to use inside uh thirty minutes. I think that I
have a while like two minute theory, like you you
should the running backs are drop that pass, like a
four yard pass that eats up eight seconds is not

(01:19:51):
worth it. Like just if you're the quarterback to start
right in the ground, like go like go to second
and ten. So what are you doing right now? You
going too the end zone. I mean you're taking some
shots at the ends. I mean still want to get
You have two time outs, you have plenty of time
to to take. But again like just this that bar
right there throwing the ground. You have your three time out?
Still like why get four yards? And that four yards
for eight seconds? Not worth it? All right? Dad? Was

(01:20:11):
that time out for the Raiders? Will stay on top
of this Bengals leading them get ready for more NFL playoff?
Actually on Fox Sports Radio. Oh we got a game,
we got a game. Yeah, the Raiders are back in
this thing. As Derek Carr touchdown passes A Jones thirty
thirteen points so the Raiders twenty for the Bengals thirteen

(01:20:34):
sexons go and be half. So a half in which
the Bengals have scored on every single offensive drive of
this game. Uh, find themselves only up seven? How big
of a drive was that for the Raiders there, Mr Shorts,
That's pretty impressive. I mean, think about how bad the
Raiders have played and having mistakes they have made to
be down seven a halftime is I mean there obviously

(01:20:55):
one possession away from from time this game up, and
they've been thoroughly outplayed tonight. Um, this is this is
a very it was a very impressive drive. Come down,
uh and really score and go to halftime feeling good
about yourself. Yeah, this is gets back to Derek Carr. Um.
I've always been a Derek Carr fan. And and I
say that when I say always, I interviewed him when
he was at Fresno State. Um. In fact, he made

(01:21:18):
my Heisman ballot that year, even though he only finished
eighth in the voting. I had him number three on
my ballot. His last season at Fresno State. He was
already married, mature beyond his years. You know, David's younger brother.
Of course, David much older. Actually I went seven or
eight years difference between the two of them. But from
day one, I mean, Derek Carr was handed the ball

(01:21:39):
as a starter, as a rookie with a really bad
Raiders team. He's gone through a lot of adversity with
the Raiders, went through a lot of adversity this year.
The one thing about Derek Carr is that he's always
had swag. He always has. Whether he's play well and
I playing well, it doesn't seem to change his demeanor. Uh.

(01:21:59):
And this team needed some leadership from him, next level
leadership after what happened with John Gruden, and he's been
able to provide it. And just remember this, in close
games this year, this guy's been money. He has been money,
especially down the stretch. So unfortunately for the Raiders, and
now we're at the half, the Bengals will get the

(01:22:21):
ball first. And by the way, still a lot of
controversy about that last Bengals touchdown here. Jeff, Yeah, so, um,
the whistle was blown. If I watched it during a turn,
turned my my computer on and watched it, um, and
it appeared the whistle was blown, wobble ball was in

(01:22:41):
the air. I don't think the Raider of secondary stopped
because of that. So they can nit pick it all
they want. The right decision would have been and we
heard the rules expert was on Danny heard this as
well as correctly wrong Danny on this. They said that
because the ball was already in the air and the
whistle was blown, they should have replayed the down. Maybe
you gotta touchdown, maybe they don't, but I mean the

(01:23:02):
whistle didn't actually feel consequential to the play though, Well,
again the rules states this is rule seventh section to
Danny is putting it out to the entire world right now. Uh.
He says, when an official sounds his whistle erroneously while
the ball is still in play, the ball becomes dead immediately.

(01:23:23):
That is how the rule reads. So it doesn't specifically
say that the balls in the air the balls in play,
And that's exactly what that was. According to the rule,
the ball should have been the place should have been
ruled dead immediately. I don't know if that would have
made a difference. I mean, the Bengals are obviously in
a scoring position right there. Uh, and the Raiders defense

(01:23:43):
hasn't shown a whole lot of resistance. Um. But based
on the rules, that play should have been ruled dead. Yeah.
But here's the thing about that type of stuff, right,
like all these rules rules people like, and I gets
not this way. So I'm not making fun of Danny.
The people that are like we you know, we we
have steadfast rules. And the guys, the ball was in

(01:24:05):
the air ready right like the play. It did not
affect the play. The Raiders on Siver was open when
the ball was thrown, so no one stopped in the
play because the whistle was was blown they thought he
was at about what she clearly was. It was a
terrible whistle by the referees, and by the letter of
the law, yes, that should have been replayed. Maybe it's
maybe they don't. But again, the whistle had no effect

(01:24:27):
on the play, So we can argue about whether or
not they should follow the letter to and I'm with you.
I'm with you if it didn't affect the play. But
against the Raiders, the Raiders always get told and Raider
fans always get told, well, letter of the law to rule.
The Raiders have been on the short end of a
few of these over the years. Believe me, it really,

(01:24:49):
it really works against them. And and you know, I'm
reading some other football sources right now. They're reporting the
same thing. And erroneous whistle is supposed to end the
play period, That's how the rule read. And for some
reason the officials did not end that play. And that's
what And the one thing I will say, Jeff, even
though they were in scoring position, the Raiders did have

(01:25:11):
two nice stops back to back in the red zone,
holding the Bengals to two field goals, which is really
why they're still in this game. At least the defense
has held up a little. So what you're saying is
right now, it should be sixteen thirteen Bengals. Bengals possibly.
I mean on the very next play they could have
if they redid the play, then of course Borrow could

(01:25:32):
have went right back into the end zone and scored again.
I think the point of this so far is that
the the Raiders have we agree, have not played their
best game. Do we agree on that? Um Again, Bengals
have scored on every possession except taking a knee on
the end only up seven. There one were one stop
away from the Raiders going down the field and making

(01:25:53):
this a tie game. If you're the Bengals right now,
that's not where you want to be because you've played,
You've played. This is like a if I watch this
game and didn't know the score, I'd be like, oh, yeah,
Bengals drew up right. But they're not. And if you're
the radios, you're going the halftime now feeling good about
scoring that touchdown the end the half, you're going there, defense,
we gotta rush the passer. We cannot drop you know

(01:26:15):
eight in the coverage, like rush the passer, get home
to Burrow, do what we do best and offensively. Just
take a deep breath, man right drop passes, false starts.
The Raiders are white where they want to be for
how bad they played. Yeah, two notes. One Raiders defensive
tackle Quentin Jefferson questionable to return. He's got a foot injury.
He already has a sack and a hit on Joe
Burrow in this game. He's been effective. He may not

(01:26:38):
be returning. And Cincinnati is only blown one halftime lead
this year. He was to the Jets. I remember, you
remember that game that was ridiculous. The numbers at halftime
are very similar. The Bengals have eleven first downs, Raiders
have ten total yards. Bengals have one nineties six the
Raiders have one eight four time of possession sixteen a
half minutes the thirteen and a half minutes, so the

(01:27:00):
numbers are pretty close. Keep here was the turnover the
s fumble by Derek Carr when he was blindsided that
led to Cincinnati points. And then the kickoffs situation where
again the kickoff return and went brain dead and the
ball went out at the two yards. Yeah that was
Peyton Barber. Yeah, that was just complete brain dead. Even
he was trying to do that maneuver. As I mentioned,

(01:27:21):
like just let the you would have the ball would
have either been a touchback or it would amount bounds
like he would have had the ball and in a
much better spot. Um that what happened there, Jeff? Did
he have possession of it in his hands before his
feet touched out? Because I think I don't think. I
don't think it matters that. I don't think possession matters.
I think if you touched the ball like that, you're
taking out of bounds, it counts as you having possession

(01:27:42):
of the ball. So the the wagers I made, let's
check my wagers. I had Darren Waller over five and
a half receptions, he's at three and over sixty three
point five passing yards. He's he's not there right now? Um?
I have Derek Carr over two passing yards? Was he now? Guys?
He's not he's Is he there yet? You can get there? Still?

(01:28:03):
And then I took the Bengals in a teaser. So
I'm kind of where I want to be from my
own personal benefit for this game. All right. So the
first time these two teams faced each other, which was
in Las Vegas to score at halftime was Cincinnati ten
Vegas six. Final score was thirty two to thirteen. The
Bengals went nuts in that fourth quarter. Remember they scored, Uh,

(01:28:26):
they scored twenty points or nineteen points in the fourth
quarter of that game alone. Um. And, and that's the
one thing about this Cincinnati offense. You feel like we've
seen it at times when they really get clicking. Uh,
they are seemingly unstoppable. And again, the Raiders never stopped him. Yes, Danny,
you're right, they held him to a couple of field goals,
but they never actually prevented them from scoring on any drive.

(01:28:48):
So this opening drive of the second half pretty much
to me, it dictates it. If the Bengals get the
ball and go right down the field and score a touchdown,
I don't see how the Raiders are gonna come back
in this game. Uh yeah, it feels very unlikely. I
mean I don't. I don't have them as fourteen point
come from behind the road team. Maybe I'm wrong about that, Um,

(01:29:09):
but I think to me, so far, and this is
I guess or you would say you'd want to maybe
a different head coach, like I feel like the Raiders
have just kind of done some odd things on offensive defense, right,
um And you know, I am, and maybe this is
kind of the thing of like, well, maybe we need
a more season head coach in these spots right now.

(01:29:30):
Of course, it's just everyone has to have the first
playoff game at some point, right, So it's not like
everyone has to start somewhere. Um. But you know, there's
again the defensive schemes sometimes in this game hasn't been great.
I think offensively they're having some issues, like you can't
have a tight end on the best pass rusher for
the Bengals and then hold the ball for seven seconds, right,
So there's little things here and there. I think the

(01:29:52):
Raiders can improve in the second half. But this is
a good game. Minutes that look do This last touchdown
gave us all hope of of a good second half
team Bengals leading the Raiders at the half. On the
other side, we're gonna talk about all the playoff games
this weekend with our Fox Sports Radio. NFL insider Adam
Kaplan will join us. Coming up next, there comes Carve

(01:30:14):
looking to the right, fires in song. S Jones has
got it, touchdown, Jack Pott baby, a little bit of
a tug a war in the end zone, and Za
Jones comes up with a huge, huge play here for
the Raiders. All right, well you know that voice Brent
Musburger and the Raiders Radio Network twenty to thirteen Bengals

(01:30:35):
lead the Raiders as we head to the start of
the second half and joining us right now as he
does every single week our Fox Sports Radio NFL Insider
series x M NFL. Adam, kaplan Adam, one of your
thoughts in the first half of this game going on
between the Bengals and the Raiders. God's gonna be with you. Yeah,
It's highly entertaining, no doubt about it. Lots of offense

(01:30:57):
the Raiders. I look at that last score was so
huge because the ben was got the ball to start
the second half here. Without that score there, it could
have been ugly. But they got that score. And talking
to the Raiders this week, they were just flying high
after that. Unbelievable when the game of the year over
the Chargers, just one of the best games you could see. Uh,
and they still feel good. Look, they want four straight.

(01:31:20):
They're not looking at it that they're playing with house money.
They're looking at that they belong here, which it's almost
could argue that, but the fact the matters they did it.
They did it. They got in and they knew they
had to play on the road on a short week,
and they're hanging in there. So their head coach is
an interim head coach at the moment, we know there's
a lot of job openings around the NFL. Um, how
do his job prospects get helped by winning this game?

(01:31:43):
Very big, Jeff Um, I would have said two weeks ago,
probably would just get an interview out of courtesy because
he's very well liked by Mike, may have the general
manager ownership, Mark Davis, and just just the organization. But
now now if they if they shocked the world and
come back, they come back and win this game, I
would say the chances are pretty good that he's going
to be their head coach. Uh. They say that there's

(01:32:05):
no decisions have been made. They'll they'll have this discussion
once they're their playoffs are over with. But the fact
that they're suthanded as they are, and they're competing, and
and he the thing is internally and give me a
credit to they have kept this thing together. As we
all know that the situations with Gruden, with Henry Ruggs,
and other situations that have happened, and Rich pisaci is

(01:32:26):
certainly is a big part of why they've be able
to turn this thing around when no one thought they could. Adam,
we have interesting storylines with every one of these games
this weekend, which is not normal, but we have. I mean,
even though you've got you know, Steelers are big dogs,
there's an interesting storyline, especially with Big Ben and talking.
But I want to talk about tonight's game first, between
the Bills and the Patriots. No rookie quarterback has one

(01:32:48):
a playoff game since Russell Wilson when he beat another
rookie quarterback R G three way back in the season.
How do you think the quarterback match up fairs tonight
between Mac Jones and Josh All interesting? Um, you know
this The thing is it's going to be called in
the single digits, but the wind will not be a
factor based on the latest forecast. But the the issue

(01:33:09):
with Mac Jones was never about ability. Yeah, sure he
doesn't have a great arm, but he's he's a great processor.
Smart guy, came in up in a great system of
pro system in Alabama. But the question would be for him, guys,
how could he throw? And really bitterly cold weather and
we're we're gonna find out tonight. Uh spoke to the
Bills actually yesterday about this matchup. They feel like bellot

(01:33:32):
Check on defense is going to throw something could be
something from twenty five years ago. Expect the unexpected defensively
that I mean, one of the coaches told me that,
I'll just tell you that that's exactly what he expected.
He goes, look, this is this is what he does. Uh,
they've they've played very well against him lately. We know
about the craziness of the wind and and uh earliest
year in that loss that they had, but when mac

(01:33:52):
Jones wanted to throw the ball three times. But mac
Jones will have to throw the ball to night. And
here's the other question on that. What happens if they
get behind Kenny bring them back to win. We we
we may find that out tonight. Is there just gonna
be like a bowl of Viagara waiting for the Bills
today when they get to the locker room. Is that
something that it's we'll see, but it's it's it's fun.
It's gonna be fun because they are the favorite here

(01:34:13):
and let's see how they handle that tonight. I'll be
I'll be interested. To see how they do. Fast forward
to tomorrow. It feels like the biggest pressure in all
the playoffs falls on either two people, right, Matt Stafford
who plays Monday, but more specifically to tomorrow, Mike McCarthy. Right,
there's already rumors now about his job status or his
coaches job status. How important would it be for him

(01:34:35):
and his jobs as to win tomorrow? It would be big.
I mean, you can you could just kill the callum
More rumors. They deny that there would be any consideration
for More to take cover as head coach and more.
It's got interest. Uh what once they're out of the playoffs,
he may actually interview in person and we'll see what
happens here. But um that that is the game of
the day. I gotta tell you, I know that the money. Now,
A lot of people publicly, a naturally believe the Niners

(01:34:56):
can win that game. I believe that they're playing better
than Dallas is. Dallas is often throughout last week's game,
which is the Eagles took it as a preseason game.
Uh in Philly, they didn't care about the game because
they just want to make the playoffs, which they did.
But Dallas has got to get their offense on track here,
that that would be my concern. And and look, by
the way, in a couple of weeks, if Dallas is
out of the playoffs, it's it's possible they lose both

(01:35:18):
coordinators who could be at coaches. Dan quinn Is is
well liked by multiple teams and kellymore is also liked
by teams, so that this could be interesting to see
what happens here. What is the future of the forty
Niners quarterback position? I mean, Jimmy Garoppolo got him into
the playoffs this year, if they pull off and went
against the Cowboys, if they make some noise in this postseason,
is he safer? They already made up their mind that

(01:35:38):
Trey Lance is gonna take over next season. There their
preferences to go with Trey Lance. Now, if they make
a d playoff run, let's take get the championship game,
it would be hard to trade him there. Surely there's
no Chancellor cut him. He'll have value. And that's the thing.
Is one of the big reasons why they didn't trade
him and had less to do with um Trey Lands.
It was more to do that they could they could

(01:35:59):
not find value in him that he was. There was
just no trademarket for Jimmy Garoppolo. I was told by
teams that talked to him they had a couple of
teams have told me they would have given up a
fifth for him. They just said, too many injuries. Um,
they didn't think he could be the guy in the future.
And now he's playing better now. It's we don't about
his issues. It's it's it's always been. It's always been
injuries with him and then every once in a while

(01:36:20):
making a bad decision with a ball, turning it over.
But he's making a good late season run. And I
love what copan Hand's doing with their offense. And watch
John Jennings tomorrow night. Who with Deebo Samuel playing more
running back, he's playing at wide receiver and he's doing
really well. Huge game last week. So Monday night I
mentioned Matt Stafford and the Rams and Starlot Vain Right,

(01:36:41):
they're out the draft picks for seven years now after
making all the trains they have. If they don't win
this season the Super Bowl, Um, is it considered what
you consider like a waste of a season, because mass
I was like getting any younger. Of course you know
you're not gonna keep the same team each and every year.
But as I was brought into one a time, know
this season, well, I put it this way, if they

(01:37:02):
don't get if they don't get to this, your Bowl
will be disappointing. Quite frankly. The way they've played lately,
they don't look great. An they're down there, They're down
there to starting safeties. That's that's a problem. I know
the Cardinals aren't playing well. I I get it. They've
had one good game in the last like four or five.
And the way that Stafford's played lately, he's turned the
ball over seven times the last three games, which is concerning.
When you got to bring out wet All out of

(01:37:23):
retirement and he's almost certain to play because they're out
of there running out of safeties. It's not a good thing.
This This it's an interesting game. It's probably one of
the most intriguing games, I think, other than the Niners
Dallas game this week. All right before the season, we're
all asked here in Fox Sports Radio Adam to make
our preseason predictions on everything with the NFL. And as
I looked at the field for you know, the season,

(01:37:46):
I picked a rematch of Super Bowl. Uh, the last
year I had the Buccaneers in the Chiefs in the
Super Bowl. They're both playing wild card games in which
are big favorites at home to start off the playoff. Well,
since we're on the same page here, Adam, what are
the chances of us being right? I mean, how do
you feel right now about a Bucks Chiefs rematch in
the Super Bowl? You know, it's funny. People are beating

(01:38:09):
up Tennessee. This is calling a fraudulent number one team.
That's fine. They're gonna get Derrick Derrick Kenner talking to them.
They're pretty certain he's gonna play next week after they're by.
They're really good. Their defense is so underrated. You know
that they they're gonna be home where it's They're usually
pretty good people, don't. I believe in Their defense is phenomenal.
Mike Varabel's triffic coach. Their issue is simply this, and

(01:38:31):
it happened last year. If they get behind, Ryan Tanniel
is not a guy that you wanted as your quarterback.
He just doesn't do well when when they're behind. Uh,
that that would worry me. Kansas City their defense late Uh,
the Cincinnati game, they blew that lead there fourteen. They
didn't play great. The run defense is horrendous last week,
but a lot of it's fixable. I still believe in

(01:38:51):
kan City to get their buffalo is really good. They've
shown NIKEL went on the road, they're They're usually a
very good home team. I'm still gonna stick guys with
Kansas City. I just believe in Andy Reid and their
offensive line. I really believe. And look at look at
the difference their offensive line has made this season compared
to late last season. Let's talk about some coaching hires

(01:39:12):
and searchers and whatnot. Um. Look, I understand that David
Coldy was brought in to do a job for a
year essentially, right, I get it. It doesn't feel fair,
but so is life. But now they interviewed heinz Ward
today and and Joe Lombardi, like, what what are the
planners for the Texans? Because it feels very unlikely to
Shaun Walker is coming back no matter what, at least
according to what has been reported by many who cover

(01:39:34):
the team. What are they doing down there? I still believe,
uh that when in the end, it's gonna be someone
most ties to Nikissario He tried to downplay that in
his press conference yesterday. I I just know how close
he is with Gerard Mayo, Who's going to be a
head coach some day. It was really sharp former first

(01:39:54):
round pick who was a defensive assistant for Belichick right now,
or Brian Flores, who's who can serry Man's relationship with
Let's not forget David Culley was the last coach hired
last year, and he was the last one fired this year,
and that one was delayed, which was strange. And when
is the last time The last time I could remember
any head coach fired past a Wednesday was probably Al

(01:40:18):
David's firing, Um anybody I think I think it was
uh Lane Kiffin from I think that took a week,
if I'm not mistaken. I just remember being blown away
by it, like that's the son heard of and it
was a very well By the way, if if the
Raiders make a change, that will be the eighth head
coaching change that we'll have eight total that would have

(01:40:40):
been open. It's just it's been a little bit crazier
than we I think we expected this week well, speaking
of revolving doors, the Giants kept insisting that Joe Judge
was safe all the way to the finish line. And uh,
they were so horrific down the stretch there. GM walked
away resigned. Uh, and then their head coaches fired. That's
three straight coaches too and dumb for the Giants. It's

(01:41:02):
a complete doo over. How did this organization become such
a mess. It's a great point. I think, way too
loyal Dave geentleman retired. He was They don't want to
say it, but he was forced to retire. It's ugly.
And here's what happened with Joe Jorge. I would say
after three weeks ago, I hate to say, definite the
word around the team once he was going to stay.

(01:41:22):
Then he embarrassed himself with that awful press conference two
weeks ago. Then the quarterback sneak. I mean that might
be I don't know about you, guys, one of the
worst play calls I've ever seen. He has control over that. Um.
That was embarrassing. He They were not really as I
was told. They were not happy with some decisions he

(01:41:42):
made with his coaching staff. There there was some differences
of opinion. It was just a nightmare. This guy. Yet
another Belichick disciple that has not worked out, to say
the least. So now there's no Belichick disciples with Brian
Flores being gone as well. Well, you're kind of the
same things about Brian Flores his time in Miami, just
as far as kind of harsh and abrasive at times.

(01:42:03):
But you see, my Joe Judge actually wasn't if you
if you listen to reports, he was a nice guy.
I mean, I guess that's what everyone says when someone
gets fired. But is this like, are we done with
the Belichick thing now? Because look, you've covered the NFL
in for a while, Andy read coaches, Andy Rea talks
about show your personality, right, I want you to be you,
and when you're with Belichick, Belichick want you to be
a Belichick guy. Right. It seems like that finally teams

(01:42:25):
to figure it out. We just can't go to Belichick
round anymore. I would say this with with Matt Patricia too.
There they actually try to act different than they who
they are. They You're right, there's someone that they try
to be sort of like Belichick. I know in Detroit
Matt Patricia went in thicking he had to change the culture,
which what Jim Schwartz tried this happens when you have

(01:42:46):
losing organizations, but you have to be yourself and that
that is the problem. In fact, Matt Patricia then interesting
thing talking to people who know him, it's actually a
fun guy to be around. You wouldn't know it by
the way he acted in Detroit. These guys sometimes so
they're just saying the natural football you never know what
you get there, and the way they handle themselves. And
Joe Judge, the reporters there who I know, said they

(01:43:07):
actually kind of like dealing with him. It was actually
pretty decent to deal with, but some of the players
were just they just didn't deal with him. And Jeff
You and I talked about it here on Fox Sports Radio,
the infamous tirade after Daniel Jones was in the bottle
of the pile and the players jumped on him when
he when he went off for twenty minutes um. A
bunch of agents that I spoke with said that their
players were just appalled by the way that was handled. Yeah,

(01:43:29):
I tweeted that, everyone's like, you just hate the giants
because because you know, I was like, you handled veteran players,
you know him a little bit. Well, it didn't go
down well but but he embarrassed ownership the last two weeks. Guys,
he embarrassed ownerships. Tip to round this up, that's what
data men or you would have stayed. Yeah, there's no
excuse for another bad season like that. They need to

(01:43:51):
go in a whole different direction. Adam, we appreciate the
Bengals did get a field goal while we were speaking,
said they've increased their lead to twenty three thirteen over
the Raiders. We alway to appreciate it. Adam, thanks so much.
It sounds good things, all right, Adam Kaplan, Jonius Sarah
Fox Sports Radio, NFL Insitle. Let's check in right now
once again with Ralph Urban. That will give us the
latest on everything happened out in the world of sports.

(01:44:14):
I almost just want to ask Jeff what he thinks
of the officiating, because I I think so okay, but
they made the right call. They made the right call.
But like, what was a ten minute conversation about, Like
I don't know, the Raiders player called time which I'm
not sure. I don't think players can call time outs
like that. They of course I can. Well, they used
to not be able to back a quarterback. It used

(01:44:34):
to only be the head coach, whatever, it don't matter.
The radar player called time out very clearly on the field.
If you missed it, you have the sky judge, which
were we pretend doesn't exist. They actually it was very
simply he called time out. What what was a ten
minute discussion about? You know, the the joke on Twitter
is that that was New York saying just call it
time out. Goofballs. And then they called the time out

(01:44:58):
because yeah, it was the question of whether or not
you still call the personal foul for the late hit,
which they ended up picking up that flag. Um, it
was just a bad situation. But it ends with a
forty three yard Evan McPherson field goal, Cincinnati lead over
the Las Vegas Raiders eleven minutes to play in the
third quarter. Joe Burrow six hundred and seventy five yards

(01:45:22):
passing two touchdowns in this game, and yeah, is the
first Bengals quarterback to throw to slash sounds in a
playoff game since Boomers Siason January six, the last time
the Pagels won a playoff game. Uh. Some notes for
the Raiders. Out defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson with a foot injury,
out linebacker Divine Diablo with a concussion. Defensive back Brandon

(01:45:47):
Face And just went out with a head injury. He's
been taken back to the locker room. So the Raiders
defense being depleted as this game goes on. One note
from college basketball. Number one Baylor hosting Oklahoma State ten
thirty play in the second half. Cowboys up forty six
thirty two. The Bears already lost earlier this week. Number

(01:46:09):
twenty four Alabama leaders. They play at Mississippi State. That's
still midway through the first half. We sent it back now.
It is Fox Sports NFL Saturday, Steve Hartman and Jeff Squarts.
A great stuff is always we appreciate it. So the
Bengals kickoff. The Raiders will take over on their own
twenty five yard line, down ten. But it could have

(01:46:31):
been worse. I mean, we've been saying that a lot.
But the Bengals have scored on every full possession. It
took a knee with one possession at the end of
the half, but three of those have been field goals.
Any one of those would have been touchdowns. Uh, the
Raiders would probably be out of this game, but they're
down ten right now. Um, we mentioned that one fourth
of the NFL coaching jobs are available. Eight out of

(01:46:52):
thirty two. The remaining twenty four coaches that do have
their jobs, one is an African American and that is
Mike Tomlin. Um, do you think the NFL is gonna
put a lot of pressure on the team searching for
a new coach to hire a black coach. I don't
know if the team's gonna put pressure on on like like,

(01:47:13):
actually we're gonna write an email or a called owners.
But I think so far we've seen a lot of candidates,
Um that are African Americans, and they and they should
be because they're qualified. Right, Like Jim Calballl should be
head coach. There's no doubt about it. He has winning record.
I don't get it his last two years in Detroit
winning records. I put with Jim very very briefly in Detroit.
Great coach should be head coach Byron Leftwich, Todd Bowles, right,

(01:47:36):
the coordinators for the Bucks should be head coaches. Um,
you know, Brian Flores should be head coach again. I
think that, you know, again the Belichick thing we talked
about with Adam Kaplan not great, but still deserves to
be head coach. You did a good job in uh
in um in Miami. So, UM, I don't know who
else is I'll top of my head. The enemy doesn't
seem to be quite in the name and the coaching

(01:47:57):
shirts anymore. I haven't heard his name pub there's a
talk of about Jared Jared Mayo, right, the former UM
Patriots linebacker who coaches the Patriots. Um to go. I
think he's like co defensive coordinator right New England to
be the head coach in Houston. So that obviously Jared
Mayo will qualify for that. But yeah, there something needs

(01:48:18):
to be done because um, and I'm not advocating for
again like force hiring uh someone, but like he needs
to be affixed because again, we have a league that's
seventy percent black players, and like we don't have one coach.
Like that's ridiculous, right, I mean I think we all
agree on that. Well, and just a few years ago,
I believe we had as many as six or seven
African American head coaches in the NFL. So if I

(01:48:41):
think one right now, just it's certainly not try in
the right direction. Again, I think, well, I think we're
gonna get four or five this year. I mean three
or four, I should say, right, because again I really
think that that Brian Foes will get a job. Again.
I think Jim Calwall is gonna get like you need
Like it's the Bears. The Bears hired Jim call Well. Man,
just get an adult in the room, right, Like he's

(01:49:03):
going to develop justin fields. He be calm and cool
and collected and players will will play hard for him. Um.
And he's worked with Stafford and paying Manning before, Like
just that's the that's the easy higher man hire Jim Calwell.
I mean, it's just amazing when you see a guy
in Detroit have back to back winning seasons, got dismissed

(01:49:25):
and he has him in a head coach since you know,
and this is I think, I think. Okay, So the
Joe Judge hiring, right, we heard Joe Judge was in
the competition for for that hiring. By the way, was
um was um uh Mississippi State. That was that was
a competition the Giants had to hire Joe Judge. Joe
just says all the right things, right. He gets up

(01:49:46):
in the press conference and he says, um, he says, yeah,
we're gonna, We're gonna, you know, We're gonna play tough
and we're gonna be strong, and we're gonna hit and
we're gonna do the right things, and I'm gonna win
the press collnference. It's like, can you just coach man?
Like Jim Caldwell is. He's very well spoken. He'll win
the press conference, but he's not gonna do these blustering

(01:50:07):
like things and sililoquies on physicality and toughness and mental toughness,
and like he's just gonna coach, right, Like I just
want to coach. I don't care if you sound. Nick
Sirianni got blast at first press conference. Obviously wasn't great.
He's in the playoffs in his first year. Like I think,
I think people put too much focus into the flare

(01:50:28):
of a coach. Just hire someone who can coach man
and the players respect. I mean that, And that gets
back to what we talked about earlier with a guy
like Mike Tomlin. You know, Mike Tomlin is not flashy.
He's gonna be in the Hall of Fame. He's got
a Hall of Fame resume. He actually has a better
record than its predecessor, Bill Kaer, higher winning percentage, super
Bowls are all the same, He's gonna be in the

(01:50:50):
Hall of Fame someday. But the way he navigated this
season with the Steelers shows what it's all about in
the NFL. Again, there's only one thing that matters winning.
That's it win enough games to get into the postseason.
Then the season begins a new and let's see how
you fare. But that's what it's all about. Can you
get us into the postseason? And Mike Tomlin is a

(01:51:12):
perfect example of a coach that understands exactly what it
takes to win out games that maybe you should lose.
If you have a bad loss, get behind it, let's
move on to the next game. Uh. And that's why
he's one of the best coaches in the league and
never gets credit for it, but should and one day
will be in in shrine and Canton, Ohio. But that's
what you're looking for. Getting back to the Gym Caldwell situation,

(01:51:34):
Give me somebody that understands Caldwell's overall record, which is
sixty two and fifties a little deceiving because remember he
was saddled with that two and fourteen indie team after
Payton Manning got hurt, so and that was a sacrifical
year where the Colts where they wanted to get the
number one pick and get Andrew Lock so that that
record you take that out. He's sixty and thirty six.

(01:51:57):
I mean, that is a guy that I would I
a hundred and agree perfect with the Bears. He would
be great with the Giants, bring order to this organization,
be great anywhere. Man, it just seems it just seems
like so easy, right, It really is a no brainer.
Al Right. On the other side, we're gonna get all
of you know who, Jeff Schwartz's picks. I'm asking you

(01:52:19):
every game, every single five more games. I want to
pick for every one of these games. Courtesy of Jeff Schwartz.
Coming up next Steve Harman and Jeff Schwartz. Fox Football Saturday,
brought to by one of our favorite cities, Las Vegas,
the greatest arena on Earth. Every game, match, racing, competition,
it is always on. No one does sports like Vegas

(01:52:41):
and the excitement is endless. So make sure to play
in your trip today at visit Las Vegas dot com.
Want to thank the guys today. I was Sam. Yeah. Yeah.
By the way, last Sunday, Jeff Sam had some Deep
Dish pizza. He brought in Deep Dish. He told me
it was the It was the lasagna right for Chicago.

(01:53:04):
It's like lasagna pizza. It was delicious, It really good. Yeah,
it was very good. Uh something cress as well. We
had some excellent pizza out there. A great job is
always Sam Ralph Irvin Man in the updates throughout the
day and close Ralph how is doing a tremendous job there.
And of course not an easy day for Danny g
to be producing a show in the midst of a

(01:53:25):
Rare Raiders playoff game. But Danny's okay. So far Raiders
are down ten, but they got to stop the Bengals.
They haven't stopped him without points on a single drive
and it's entire game. Yeah, and the Bengals have had
great field position on every drive. You know. I honored
to be here today though, even though I was slightly distracted.

(01:53:46):
It was either this or my other part time job,
which is NFL refereeing. Okay, so the officiating got another call.
Hunter Renfro caught a sideline pass. The ball was knocked
away almost as soon as he caught. But for a
moment there, Jeff, they ruled it a completion and the
Raiders are running up to try to get a playoff

(01:54:07):
before they can review the play. Uh. They did review
the play, and of course it was an incomplete pass,
but the officials seem to be struggling in this one. Today.
The Raiders get a stop on third down. There it
is they finally stopped the Bengals. He ran a twist
and so the look man, the Raiders have not played
good game, right, Danny would agree with that, like, they
just have not been very crystal. Some of the penalties

(01:54:31):
and mistakes they've made looked like the Raiders that were
in that losing um, that slump in the middle of
the season. Well, I'm gonna have to take advantage on
this next drive though, still all right, So the Bengals
will punt the ball. The Raiders will get the ball
decent field position except when Hunter Renfroll drops the ball,
which he did, although he recovered his own fumble, so

(01:54:53):
they'll be uh starting on their own twenty seven yard line.
Can't do that. Let's get to these games right now.
Let's start with the path some Bills to know. I'm
gonna ask you the game by game. Here, Bills are
five point favorites. What do you like in this game here, Jeff,
New England plus five, you're going New England plus five.
I don't think they win, but I think they covered
all right. We got the Buccaneers tomorrow as an eight

(01:55:14):
point favorite. That line has been pretty steady all week
at home against the Eagles. Um the and I would
say that I like Kenna Bay and a teaser here
if you bring it from eight down through seven and two.
But I think the Bucks win this game out tops.
I don't think it's fairly close. You love when you
see an eight on the board for I love. Yeah. Yeah,

(01:55:35):
it teased it down to two and you're feeling pretty
good about that. The Cowboys also holding steady three point
favorites at home against the forty Niners, So everyone's picking
the Niners in this game. I'm gonna go to the Cowboys,
like there's a reason that they have a home game.
They want a division through a good football team. Um,
as this falls and we brought back, here's a penalty

(01:55:58):
and the Raiders, I think, um they're uh, I'm lily
Cowboys minus three. I think they're better at quarterback, They're
better at a certain important positions. Now the coaching worries me,
but I'm going with with the Cowboys minus three. I
was gonna ask you Kyle Shanahan versus Mike McCarthy. Uh, well, Shanahan,
I think all right, Uh, Steelers in the Chiefs. Chief's

(01:56:21):
also holding steady all week. Twelve and a half point favorites.
That's as big a number as you're gonna see out
there in the most season. This is a This is
a teaser game too. If I put I put the
the Chiefs and Bucks and a teaser here. I like
Chiefs first half minus seven. The Steelers are the thirty
one branked scoring offense in the first quarter and the

(01:56:42):
first half. Chief's gonna start fastening to playoff games at
least recently. Right that a couple of twenty nineteen run
where they started very slow. Um, I like Big Ben
under two. I think it's the number I got as
well for for passing yards. So that's um, That's where
I'm at in that game. It sounds like you have
multiple bets on that one game. Because I was gonna
ask you about Siver these other unders in the game,

(01:57:02):
like Bill, I think so tonight. Actually everyone's handling the
under because of the cold. I don't know why I
can't go over, Like there's no there's no wind, there's
no precipitation like that. This game could easily go over tonight. Um,
I like, let me make sure I have what I
have here? Okay, So I think Chiefs and and uh

(01:57:23):
it's at forty six. Now, wow, it opened it. That's
about right. I think Chief Steelers could certainly go under here.
But I don't have a great feel for totals. You
know sometimes in some many situations, so um in this
in these playoff games, I don't I don't have a
great feel for that game. You know, it's right, you
can see that being the Chief Steelers finals core, right
all right? And then finally Monday night, Matthew Stafford, who

(01:57:44):
has never won a playoff game, four point favorites at
home the Rams against the Cardinals. Course, the last time
the Cardinals came into Sofa, they blew the Rams right
out of the building. Um, Rams, of course reciprocated with
a win in Arizona. Neither one of these teams really
playing great football down the stretch, So how they see
it here? At Rams? Four point favorites. So I think

(01:58:08):
if you're picking the side. You're taking the Rams here.
You're not betting on Cookkingsbury and the Cardinals. Um, but
I took Matt Stafford over half of interception minus one seventy,
so I laid the juice on that. Um. But I mean,
come on, he's throwing an interception in twelve or seventeen games.
He's throwing an interception in Uh it's on eight interceptions

(01:58:28):
in the last four games. No one in the NFL
is better at the arm punts right like that. Just
the ball just like chucked up in the middle field
on third and seven. So give me, um, give me
the uh the Rams and Matt Stafford for turnover fest
here Raiders conferred a big third down man. There. They're
just in this game still. I don't know how they're
not playing well? All right, The Raiders are up to

(01:58:49):
midfield right now, down ten in this game, trying to hang.
I look at Danny g I mean, this could give Danny,
Are you gonna be okay? Throughout this game they're like
playing me, this gets down that. I mean, we got
still four and a half minutes to go here in
the third quarter. They can score on this dry make
it a one score game again, Wow, heart issues all

(01:59:12):
season long. You're talking about a team that's had five
walk off wins. Well, think about it, they had to
win these last four games in order to just get
into the playoffs. So these kind of games. They've been
involved with, these kind of games for a month, and
they just got the first down on a second and two,
So they now have crossed into Bengals territory. Bengals leave
this game te third team. But you feel like, I

(01:59:33):
don't know, just a little momentum on the Raiders side here.
When I see games like this, I tend to think
the underlock has a chance because the favorite just hasn't
put them away yet. Like this game should should be
thirty right now and the Raiders should be scrambling to
score points instead there in this game, and now, reporter
Trey Hendrickson the best Bengals passing concussion questionable, So the

(01:59:55):
passwords aren't even there either, all right, So first down
for the Raiders. They are at the forties e yard
line of the Bengals, and well, this game is just
kicking off, which is going to be an insanely entertaining,
huge NFL Wildcard weekend. Keep it here, on Fox Sports
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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Steve Hartman & Geoff Schwartz On Bengals and Raiders Wild Card