NFL x NBA x AFL - The Lions are done

Josh Jenkins brings you all the latest in the NFL, NBA and AFL as 2024 draws to a close

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bad for fly okay one.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Lea ah, here we go. Welcome back to the field. JJ.
Here interesting version of the show this week, my my

(00:33):
I had a clerical error, an admin error. Typically I
write up plenty of notes so that I don't wander
too much when I'm doing the show. I try and
stay on point. I try and stay on task. But
seemingly and typically I just leave the notes in my
drafts in my email. This week of deleted said draft.

(00:58):
So I'm flying sing a little bit blind. I typically
like to rely heavily on the on the old draft,
the old script, if you will, but anyway, not to
be this week we're flying blind. But it was a
great week of NFL action. It always is, I know.

(01:19):
The witching hour aka the last hour of the one
pm games the early games in the States was probably
the quietest one pm witching hour we had for the season.
The Commander's Saints game was a little bit crazy. There
were some clock issues. Tell you what, in local footy,

(01:43):
you get a close game at their ground, they're down
by two points and the quarter seems to go for
thirty two, thirty three, thirty four minutes, and you're thinking,
come on, mate, blow the siren or the quarter goes
short at your ground and you're up by a point,
it's a twenty four minute quarter. Well, we had something

(02:04):
similar between Washington and the Saints. So there was a
play late in the game where the Saints were driving
to try and win the game, and there was a
pass made late in the contest where the player fell

(02:24):
to the ground and the clock should have run, but
it stopped. It was roughly around nine seconds. The game
should have been over, but there were some clock issues
from the hometowners and the Saints were able to score
the touchdown to give them a chance to either tie
the game up and go to overtime or win the game.

(02:48):
And in the end the Saints, the interim head coach
said Spencer Rattler, I've got all the faith in you
in the world. Your ten of twenty one, let's go
for it. They went for two, they failed, and the
Saints go down. They're five and nine Washington and nine
and five. So some drama there. Myke Bengals did the job.

(03:12):
Thirty seven twenty seven over Tennessee. Not a lot to
write home about. Joe Burrow had probably his worst game
of the season from a turnover perspective, two picks and
a lost fumble, but he had two seventy one and
three scores. Chase Brown had a couple of touchdowns. T
Higgins scored the Bengals. Just stay alive. I've buried the

(03:37):
Leeds somewhat. Hence the script issue or lack thereof Patrick
Mahomes the thirteen and one Chiefs. They get the job
done twenty one seven over Cleveland, but Mahomes goes down
with a high ankle sprain. Now we've heard from Andy
Reid that he doesn't have a broken foot, he's got

(03:59):
a sore but he's had ankle issues in the past.
Of course, in the documentary Quarterback, we see him worked
on feverishly to get him right for the playoffs and
for the Super Bowl, and they do, but he actually
had both ankles strapped. Weirdly, in the States, they don't

(04:19):
even bother to take your boots off or your cleats off,
as they call them. They just scrap your ankle over
the top of everything. So he's clearly got two sore ankles,
one maybe more so than the other. This is what
I would do if I was Andy Reid, and the
Chiefs far be it for me. To tell Andy Reid

(04:40):
what to do. But they're thirteen and one, and if
you have a look at the standings in the AFC West,
where we know they've clinched the division, they're going to
go mighty close to being the number one seed in
the AFC, which we know is important because come to
a conference championship game and the difference between number one

(05:04):
and number two means they're playing at your place or
you're going to their joint. And I think if it
was to be Kansas City and Buffalo, whichever teams the
home team would be favorite. Probably a similar situation, maybe
against the Baltimore, maybe against a Pittsburgh at a stretch,

(05:29):
but certainly Kansas City at Buffalo in an AFC championship game,
you'd favor Buffalo. They'd be favorites with Vegas. But I
think Kansas City are close enough now to be able
to give Mahomes. Let's call it two weeks off. Let's
not play him for two weeks. Make the call now.

(05:52):
Don't allow him to hobble through games, to get painkilling injections,
to rely on hours an hour hours of physical therapy.
Just give him a couple of weeks off. If you
have a look ahead at the Chief's schedule. They've got
the Texans at home this week, which is a big game.

(06:15):
But the Texans are just not playing as well as
I would have thought they would be. They're nine and five,
but they're just not the team I thought they'd be.
Then they go the Chiefs do on Boxing Day our time.
What a game this will be. They go to Pittsburgh
and then they've got the Broncos. So it's a very
very difficult schedule. But I think it'd rather be thirteen

(06:41):
and four, having lost your last three and maybe even
being the number two seed versus and having a healthy
Patrick Mahomes versus getting the number one seed, but having
a Mahomes that's just banged up, that can't escape the pocket,
they can't run away from defenders. So Carson Wentz is

(07:02):
the backup quarterback that got him for a reason. I
think they can win one of those three games with
Carson Wentz at quarterback. I think they can beat the
Texans at home with Carson Wentz at quarterback. So that's
what I do, and you know what I think will happen.
And this is not necessarily important for this year or
for right now I've got no doubt Carson Wentz will

(07:26):
flourish under Andy Reid, and probably Andy Reid will help
Carson Wentz play him into a starting job next year.
If he gets two or three weeks to play Carson Wentz,
I think he'll do well, and I think teams will say,
let's give him another opportunity. Sam Darnold style, I mentioned

(07:47):
the Texans. They got the job done over Miami twenty
to twelve. Miami worked disappointing in this game, but the Texans,
I just don't know what it is. Twenty to twelve,
they're nine to five. They don't feel like a team
at the top of their game. C J. Stroud was okay,
two touchdowns, no picks, only one hundred and thirty one passyards.

(08:08):
They didn't run the ball much. Joe Mixon only had
twenty three yards on twelve carries. Nico Collins caught two
touchdowns but only had seventeen yards. There's just something, there's
a cog missing for Houston. They've got a difficult couple
of games coming up, so looking forward to seeing what
happens there. The Cowboys got the job done. Maybe Cooper

(08:30):
Rush's best performance as a Cowboy The Jets beat the
Jags despite some madness from interim head coach Jeff Ulbrick.
Rogers and Davante Adams had a nice afternoon. Rogers had
two eighty nine and three scores, also rushed for forty
five yards if you don't mind. Davante Adams had nine

(08:50):
catches for one hundred and ninety eight yards and two tuddies.
He genuinely wound back the clock. It was an all
time performance from Eva DeVante Adams. So the Jets get
to four and ten, which is meaningless. The Ravens hammered
the Giants. The Broncos beat the Colts, which puts a

(09:13):
real dense in the playoff aspirations for the Colts. And
the Colts were about to really or potentially give themselves
a big advantage in this game. They went for the
trick play. It was a double pass and it was
a complete and utter disaster. Who's calling the plays down

(09:37):
there in Indianapolis, have a listen to this. They've set
up Mitchell's going to be a double pass and never
put his inner sport. It's putting Ito unbelievable, believe it. So,

(09:58):
Richardson throws the ladder I can't even tell who it is.
The receiver takes too long to throw it back. The
Broncos defender picks it off, runs it to the crib,
pick six. Embarrassing, embarrassing, and at that moment it's a
seventeen to thirteen game. Indianapolis are driving in Bronco territory

(10:21):
to take the lead or bring it back to a
one point game. The Colts would not score again, would
not score again. Incredible strange decision, incredibly bad result. We
move along. The Cardinals hammered the Patriots Tampa Bay. How
about the Bucks? They smack the Chargers at SOFI Stadium,

(10:48):
probably go a long way to locking up the NFC
South Baker Mayfield twenty two of twenty seven to eighty
eight yards, four touchdowns in one pick. Mike Evans went bananas.
Nine catches, one fifty nine and two scores. He is
going hard after another one thousand yard season. He's got

(11:09):
seven hundred and forty nine and nine scores. He's still
a beast, even at thirty one, which I know is
not old. But he's got plenty of tread worn from
those tires. But the Buccaneers looked like a really good
football team. Justin Herbert injured his ankle and he didn't

(11:31):
look like the same player. They didn't score after he
injured that ankle either. The Eagles beat the Steelers in
a big contest, twenty seven to thirteen. Unsurprisingly, they fource
fed AJ Brown. Jalen Hurtz threw the ball around two
hundred and ninety yards, two scores, only seven incompletions. They

(11:54):
held Barkley and checked to the Steelers sixty five yards
and nineteen carries and AJ Brown ten yards on eight
catches and a touchdown. And after the game, AJ Brown
again made some strange comments, got a touchdown. He done
it before, But was that kind of a good way
to show people like that? For sure? For sure, that

(12:16):
was like I was a moment to tell everybody to
shut up. You know, you know, honestly, you know you
think weirdly, weirdly, AJ Brown, we were only needing to
be shut up because you spoke up and called out
the quarterback. So that was a fascinating little exchange from

(12:40):
AJ Brown to the press corps. But in the end
he did the talking on the field as well, one
hundred and ten yards and a score. As I mentioned,
the Eagles get to twelve and two. The Steelers dropped
to ten and four. The Packers look like a really
dangerous football team. Make no mistake about it. If you're
a cheesehead, if you are a part of Go Pack Go,

(13:04):
you're ten and four, You've just been to Seattle. You've
won the game thirty to thirteen. Jordan Love barely made
a mistake twenty of twenty seven, two twenty nine and
two touchdowns. Josh Jacobs is running like an animal. Ninety
four rushing yards and a tuddy. He had forty two
yards receiving. They look like a really good football team,

(13:28):
and they look like a team, particularly on the back
of last year's playoff experience. I don't think they fear anyone.
In fact, I'm sure they don't. So they were dominant
on Sunday Night football. On Monday Night football, we had
a double header. That game or those games concluded a
few hours ago. The Falcons just got things corrected ever

(13:53):
so slightly. They get back to seven and seven fifteen
to nine over Vegas, but nothing to be excited about
from Kurk Carson's perspective. He started the game nicely, a
thirty yard touchdown to Drake London, but almost nothing thereafter,
did throw a pick, put the ball on the ground.

(14:13):
He was sacked three times, but Bijonne Robinson carried the
ball twenty two times for one hundred and twenty five yards.
That one hundred and sixty eight yards rushing in total.
Vegas did next to nothing, but almost pinched this game
if you could believe it. They're two and twelve on
the season. The Vikings took care of business against the Bears.

(14:35):
Sam Darnold continued to do his thing. Was a bit
quieter and this one had five touchdowns last week only
won this week also threw a pick. Aaron Jones and
Cam Akers combined for more than one one hundred yards
rushing and two touchdowns, one each, whilst Justin Jefferson scored
a tuddy on seven catches for seventy three yards. The

(14:56):
Vikings are the quietest twelve and two team you ever
did see. But the game of the weekend was straight up, straightforward,
straight out Buffalo and the Lions. The total points for
this game went up at fifty four and a half.

(15:18):
It was blown to smithereens. In fact, it had been
hammered handled early into the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter
these two teams called thirty four points combined. Unbelievable. The
fourth quarter, Tyler Bass kicks a fifty yard field goal.

(15:39):
Jamia Gibbs catches a pass and takes it a dozen
yards in for the score. Ray Davis answers nine seconds
later with a touchdown pass from Josh Allen. Jamia Gibbs
scores again on a rushing touchdown with eight minutes to go.
Then Tyler Bass we have six minutes of Scolers football.

(16:00):
Tyler Bass kicks a field goal from forty one and
then at the death, Jamison Williams catches a touchdown from
Jared Goff and that's where we finish, forty eight to
forty two. What a game it was. From the Lion's perspective,
more injuries and I'm happy to say, well, I'm unhappy

(16:22):
to say, but I'm willing to put my neck on
the line and say the Lions with their injuries cannot
win the Super Bowl. They can't win the Super Bowl.
They've got ten players currently injured, currently out or on
IR some for the season. On defense, ten players from

(16:45):
their defensive side of the ball on IR or out.
And now the news has dropped about David Montgomery. He's
also done for the year with knee surgery. They can't
win this Super Bowl. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Detroit, but
your drought will remain. Your offense is potent, but your

(17:07):
defense has been absolutely hammered, absolutely destroyed by injury. Amon
ra Saint Brown went berserk on offense. Fourteen catches, one
hundred and ninety three yards in a touchdown, Gibbs scored
two touchdowns, had over one hundred yards on the air

(17:28):
and on the ground through the air, I should say
Jared Goff had four hundred and ninety four yards and
five touchdowns and lost. And the man who did similar
the week previous, Josh Allen, has all but guaranteed himself
an MVP award. He was twenty three or thirty four,

(17:51):
three hundred and sixty two yards, two touchdowns through the air.
He had sixty eight yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns.
James Cook rush for a hundred and five yards and
two touchdowns of his own, and Ty Johnson, arguably the
number three back, had five catches for one hundred and
fourteen yards. That was a beautiful little game plan, strategy

(18:14):
and win for the Bills. Getting Ty Johnson on big
time mismatches and taking massive advantage of them. The bills
are eleven and three, the lines are twelve and two,
forty eight to forty two. It was an incredible game
of football. It was a game you just didn't want
to end because these two teams just went back and forth.

(18:37):
It was quite incredible, quite incredible. So that was the
game of the weekend. If we take a look forward,
of course we're spread across or the days leading into Christmas.
First not football is an interesting one Denver at the Chargers.
The health on health queries on Justin Herbert are fascinating.

(19:01):
And then the Christmas Eve doubleheader. Now these games are
on Sunday in Australia, which is fantastic. No worries about
a Monday morning. Get up five am Sunday morning. We've
got Houston at Kansas City. Will Mahomes be there or
will he be in the stands? And then at eight

(19:22):
point thirty, which will probably start later, we've got an
AFC North showdown the ten and four Steelers at the
nine and five Ravens. The Ravens can win this and
draw level at the top of the AFC North. They
are a six point favourite the Ravens. Mike Tomlin is

(19:43):
a beast as an underdog a beast. Then you've got
your regular Monday morning games, the best of them, no doubt.
Philadelphia at the Commanders Washington have to win out if
they've got any thoughts of upending the e In the
NFC East. Just having a look at any other games

(20:05):
with some bearing or significant bearing on the playoffs, Minnesota
twelve and two travel to Seattle. It's going to be
fascinating because the NFC West is still wide open. The
six and eight Niners and the six and eight Dolphins.
You think both teams are in trouble. And aside from that,
it's pretty much teams locked into playoff positions against teams

(20:28):
who have got next to no chance. So we might
be in for a weekend of blowouts. Just to summarize
the standings, the Bills they've clinched the AFC East. As
I mentioned, Pittsburgh and Baltimore are still playing it out
for the North. Cincinnati just nipping away when it comes
to a wild card spot. The AFC South has been

(20:48):
clinched by the Texans. The Colts are still in the
wild card hunt. The Chiefs have done their business. Denver
are basically locked into a wild card spot and the
Charge are not far behind them. In the National Football
Conference aka the NFC, the Eagles have done their business.
Providing they don't go on a horror losing streak to

(21:11):
finish the season, they will win the NFC East. Washington
should make the playoffs. Detroit to have clinched, Minnesota have clinched.
We're just got to work out who's going to win
the division. Green Bay are close to clinching. The Buccaneers
are one game ahead of the Falcons for the NFC
South New Orleans of five and nine, and I desperately

(21:32):
hope they don't win out because that'll ruin a big
over under. Bet I've got going, and the most entertaining
division left in football is the NFC West. So you've
got the Rams at eight and six, the Seahawks at
eight and six, the Cardinals at seven and seven, and
the Niners, who look shot at six and eight. So

(21:54):
there you go. There is a look at the game
from week fifteen, the game coming up in week sixteen,
and the standings.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
You're with him, Indefe, here.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Comes here we go, Here comes the money? All right?
One thing I do have written down is the fab five.
So we went into the weekend at forty and thirty
and we went three and two. Desperately unlucky not to

(22:38):
go four and one. In fact, I could have thrown up.
So the Bengals minus five and a half bang did
the job. Kansas City minus raight and a half in
Cleveland did the job. We took the over in the
Bills and lines plus fifty three and a half. It's
got about ninety. We missed straight up on Houston Miami,

(23:00):
so I took the over forty six and a half. There.
It just didn't happen. Neither team is the offensive juggernaut
of last year. That they're just not. I was seduced
into thinking they would be in this game under the
roof wrong. But the game that really hurt, the game
that stopped us from a four to one week, and

(23:20):
the game that sees us now sitting forty three and
thirty two on the season, was Philadelphia and the Steelers.
So I took the plus forty two and a half,
and I was feeling quite good about it. We had
plenty of points in the first half. Things were moving
along quite nicely. The Eagles were doing their thing. AJ

(23:44):
Brown and Jalen Hurts were feeling good about themselves. So
we had thirteen points in the first quarter, we had
seventeen points in the second quarter, but only ten points
total in the second half. The Steelers don't score a
point in the second half, so we've got thirty points
at the half. We only need another thirteen points. And

(24:09):
the part that hurt the most was this. I'll bring
up the play by play and laid in the contest
if I can just find it. We've got to scroll
all the way to the bottom laid in the Contest.
Philadelphia have got the bullets twenty seven thirteen, and there's
an opportunity for the Eagles on fourth and one at

(24:37):
Pittsburgh's nine to just kick a field goal. But they don't.
They kneel, They kneel, they kneel, and the game ends.
It's what they should have done, but it felt like
a bit of a sick beat. Perhaps that's just the
gambler in me speaking. So three and thirty two in

(25:01):
the season, I'm feeling good about it, and this is
where I'm looking to attack Week sixteen. So here are
a handful Houston and Kansas City plus forty and a half. Now,
I just mentioned and referenced the fact that Houston aren't
the offensive team they were last year. But this is
a very low total. Even with Carson Wentz. This is

(25:25):
a load total. Check the weather in Kansas City. If
it's brutal, we leave it out, but I'm going to
give it some thought. I'm pretty keen Cincinnati minus six
and a half against Cleveland, so it would seem like
Jamis Winston will be benched, and if he is, I

(25:47):
think that sets up nicely for Cincinnati. Shore he could
play terribly again and the Bengals are very likely to cover.
But at home, they're one two in a row. That
got some confidence. I think the Bengals should win that
game by a touchdown or more. So we'll take them. Well,
I'll consider them. I think Buffalo minus fourteen and a

(26:09):
half look massive number against the divisional opponent, But the
Patriots have checked out. There's talk they want to replace
Jared Mayo. It's a big number, and the Bills are
coming off and emotional high. Maybe there's a letdown here.
Check the weather again. If it's a snowstorm, maybe stay away.

(26:31):
But if I think if you see thirteen and a half.
You jump all over this one for Buffalo. Washington plus
three and a half at home against Philly. This is
where we make our money. A home divisional underdog, and
Washington have to win to stay in touch with the
Eagles to have any chance. So Philly coming off that
big game at home against Pittsburgh, They've got to go

(26:55):
on the road. It's only a short bus trip. But
Washington match up well with them. I don't think the
Philadelphia defense, which is sensational, really enjoys coping with that RPO.
That run pass option offense that Jaden Daniels and Brian
Robinson Junior can implement can drop against them. So I

(27:20):
think Washington plus three and a half definitely goes in
against the Eagles. I think the Bears plus seven and
a half. They look terrible again today against the Vikings,
but at home a home divisional dog that HDD against
the Lions with injuries left, right and center. They lose
one of their emotional leaders in David Montgomery. Surely the

(27:44):
Bears seven and a half points, can you stay with him?
A touchdown at home in bad weather against an indoor team.
Surely the Jets plus three and a half hosting the
Rams feels interesting. I love the fact we getting three
and a half, not two and a half here the

(28:04):
Rams out East, it's been a notoriously bad spot for them.
Ten am kickoff for them. I think the Jets, with
a bit of confidence, nothing to lose attitude might be
the play there. And then I think Miami at home
minus two and a half against San Francisco. San Francisco
literally had a player quit in the third quarter last week,

(28:26):
literally quit, refused to go in the game. I'll bring
up the news article here because the Niners suspended him.
His name, which I'm sure the young man wishes wouldn't
be out there, particularly on a hard hitting podcast such
as this Devondre Campbell. So the report suggests Kyle Shanahan

(28:53):
looked to the man and said, you're in, and he
said I don't feel like playing and walked into the
locker room in the third quarter. Quite incredible. So instead
of cutting him and therefore having to pay him some money,
the forty nine Ers have suspended him for conduct detrimental

(29:14):
to the team, which means he's still technically a member
of the organization to the end of the season, but
his locker's empty. His name plates removed, and I'm pretty
sure he gets suspended without pay. So they've done a

(29:36):
clever thing there than Ninus if in fact that is
the case, if he's been suspended without pay, because if
they cut him, they would have had to give him
some money. So there the games. I'm looking at Houston
and Kansas City plus forty and a half, the Bengals
minus six and a half against Cleveland, Buffalo minus fourteen
and a half hosting New England. Washington plus three and
a half as a Divisional homer underdog against Philly, the

(30:00):
plus seven and a half against the Lions, also an HDD,
the Jets plus three and a half hosting the Rams,
and Miami minus two and a half hosting San Francisco.
You're with some NBA quickly and then some AFL very

(30:21):
very very quickly. We saw history throughout the week. Now
the NBA ratings are declining badly. People are putting that
down to fans being bored. Right, that's all three pointers,
it's all dunks. There's nothing in between, there's no defense.
Anyone can just stand there and shoot threes. Well no,

(30:43):
not anyone can. The players shoot with more efficiency and
at better rates and better clips than ever before. They're
historically great at shooting the rock. But we saw an
NBA record the most three pointers ever made in a

(31:04):
game combined between the two teams, and coincidentally, not ironically
because the players involved, you'd understand Golden State aka Steph
Curry against Dallas aka Klay Thompson, So the Splash brothers
on opposite teams were a part of the game that

(31:27):
saw forty eight made threes, an NBA record. Forty eight
made three pointers in the game. It was twenty seven
to Golden State, who ironically lost the game, twenty one
to Dallas, and the main reason Dallas won the game,
Luka Doncic went ham as hard as a over through

(31:53):
three quarters. He had forty one points, ten boards, ten assists,
had only missed three shots. He was six of nine
from downtown. He ended up with forty five, eleven and
thirteen and when he's in that type of mood, he
is just a monster, an absolute monster elsewhere around the association.

(32:17):
Fun little fact for you here, Boston have won more
games in Washington, d C. Than the Wizards, and yes,
the Wizards live in Washington, d C. Boston have won
three games in DC Washington have only won two. Unbelievable.
How bad the Wizards are is hard to get your

(32:39):
head around, not really hard to get your head around.
They're three and twenty one. New Orleans are the next
worst team at five and twenty two. They have an
average losing margin of fifteen point nine points. The next

(32:59):
worst in the Eastern Conference is six. They've got almost
a ten point worse losing margin than the next worst
in the East. They are atrocious. At the other end
of the spectrum, Cleveland are twenty three and four as

(33:20):
I sit here on a Tuesday night, Boston twenty one
and five, a gap back to New York and Orlando
sixteen and ten, and seventeen and eleven. Milwaukee have got
their shiit together and they start to look good. They've
won eight of their past ten at Lanta or thereabouts.

(33:42):
My team, and I'll get to that in a moment.
Out West Oklahoma City twenty and five, Memphis look good
eighteen and nine, Houston and Dallas the same, Denver and
Phoenix thereabouts. Minnesota starting to make moves in Golden State
have plummeted two and eight from their past ten fourteen
and eleven after an airborne start the Lakers of fourteen

(34:03):
and twelve as well. Now, finally on the NBA, before
I talk about Sam Darcy's mega contract, I'm happy to
officially state my allegiance to the Atlanta Hawks. Now, most
of you will say, ah, he wants to jump on
board with Dyson Daniels. Well, I was and have been

(34:25):
on the Dison Daniels train for quite some time, so sure,
I'm happy to be locked in there. But I think
my favorite player, my new favorite player in the NBA,
is Jalen Johnson. I love the man. His game is
just beautiful. He does everything I mentioned a couple of

(34:48):
weeks ago I spoke about him. He's listed at six
point eighty, looks closer to sixteen. He's twenty two years
of age. He's only paid four and a half million
a season. It'll be on forty five million season soon.
But he does everything. He's close to twenty a game.
He gets ten boards a game, north of five assists

(35:11):
per game, shoots the ball at fifty from the field.
He's one of the rare players across the league that
averages more than one steal and more than one block
per game. He is a dead set beast. I love
his game. He plays that difficult rotation where you're almost

(35:36):
the first starter sub from the game, but then you
come back later in the first quarter, you play the
start of the second quarter, then you come out, then
you come back in late in the second quarter. I
don't like that rotation, and if I was a superstar,
Lebron plays it as well. And if I was a superstar,
I'd be pushing against it. I'd love to just play

(35:58):
most of the first corps, have four or five minutes,
and then play the last seven minutes of the second quarter.
Excuse man, but Johnson puts up with it. He's twenty two.
He doesn't have much say in the matter, but he
can do everything. He's a pretty good defender, he's a
good scorer, he's a great rebounder, and he's a very

(36:20):
very good facilitator. I love his game, so I'm all
in on the Hawks. I'm coming around to Trey Young.
I asked for him to be traded a month ago.
But as I sat at Lax Airport last week and
watched the Knicks and Hawks go at it, and I
watched the Hawks beat the Knicks in the garden, Trey

(36:42):
Young was the one. He's the fearless one. So as
the French number one pick Zachrie learns his craft at
age nineteen, as Dyson Daniels continues to grow it age
twenty one, as Johnson gets better and better at age

(37:04):
twenty two, even DeAndre Hunter at age twenty seven. As
these guys begin to approve and get better and more confident,
at is Trey Young who's not old, he's only twenty six,
but he's the one that is fearless. He'll take the

(37:25):
big shot, he'll take the big moment, he'll antagonize the
opposition and the fans. He'll take him on. I think
they still do need him, And when he's in the mode,
sometimes I feel like he's purely only after monster assists
numbers and look, he's the number one assist man in

(37:46):
the NBA. But when he's sort of two parts facilitator,
one part scorer, I think he makes this team a
good team. So he's twenty one points per game, cisper
game and grabs four boards, a great numbers, but he
only shoots about thirty eight percent. It's not great in
an age where almost everyone who's anyone, he's over fifty.

(38:10):
But I'm with the Hawks so in the NFL, I
followed LSU Louisiana State University. Joe Burrow went there, Jamar
Chase went there. Both end up in Cincinnati. Fang. I'm
a Cincinnati Bengal. Same thing here, So Dyson Daniels goes
to Atlanta. Jalen Johnson's in Atlanta. That'll do me. I'm

(38:33):
an Atlanta Hawk. I loved Joe Johnson back in the day,
rocking the number two for the Hawks. I like Josh Smith,
who could jump out of the gym. I even liked
Sharif abdu Rahem way back in the day. But I'm
happy to be with the Hawks, Atlanta Hawks. It's a

(38:55):
team not many others go for, so I'm happy to
be in that space and be a Hawky the atl
Let's go, You're within indiffeir Okay. The AFL seemingly never sleeps,
never sleeps. The Dogs they've re signed. They're big man,
They're big, young gun. Twenty one year old Sam Darcy.

(39:19):
So he had a contract for twenty twenty five already,
but to put anything and everything to bed, he signed
a four year extension. So he's got five years ahead
of him. Excuse me, he's out of contract at the
end of the twenty twenty nine season, which you guessed
it is, when he's a free agent, so he'll be
a restricted free agent. You'd imagine that's not clear at

(39:41):
the moment, but it'd be hard to imagine he's signing
for less than I don't know, seven fifty eight hundred,
perhaps more. There has to be some significant bonuses or
clauses in there because he could be anything. But they've

(40:02):
done well to sign him. Because Marcus Bontepelli would be
north of a million dollars, Aaron Norton would be very,
very very close to a million dollars. Rory Lobb's deal
to come across from Fremantle would be in the seven
to fifty eight hundred range. Jamari hugil Hagen would be

(40:24):
in the one million dollar range. Tim English probably played
himself out of a million back to seven fifty eight
hundred thousand dollars. So they've done well. They've got a
lot of money tied up with their top end talent,

(40:45):
but most of them deserve it, and Sam Darci he
may deserve a lot more. He may be the highest
paid player in the competition the next time he signs
a contract, but he's done. He's locked away the dogs
and they've got him until he becomes most likely a
restricted free agent at the end of twenty twenty nine.
So there you go. There's some AFL news that'll start

(41:08):
to filter its way through to us as twenty twenty
five gets underway. I'm just going to keep rolling. I'll
be heading up to the farm with the girls for Christmas,
but I'll be back and forth. I'm just going to
keep rolling. I'll come out to the shed and talk
a little NFL talk, a little NBA talk, some AFL
if we need to. The cricket's happening, but it's raining

(41:30):
all day. We probably won't get a result. Well, it
draws a results, we'll probably get a draw. Good luck
to those who've got on the draw. The Australian opens
not far away. The NBL's on fire. I'm headed to
the open air game between the Phoenix and Adelaide this weekend.
Big Montrez Harrell and Kendrick Davis against the rejuvenated Southeast

(41:55):
Melbourne Phoenix are looking forward to that. The roof will
be open, so that'll be interest. That'll be good fun.
And then the attention turns not to Christmas to the
NFL Sunday morning. Do not miss it, do not forget.
Don't plan a fishing trip, don't plan a camping trip,
don't plan to take your kids to the beach. Sunday morning.

(42:17):
We've got a double header, not to be missed, not
to be missed. We've got the Texans at the Chiefs
and the stealers at the Ravens. Keep following along on
the socials. Make sure you subscribe on the YouTube channel.
We'll fire that bad boy up as we get. Twenty
twenty five started some exciting things in the pipeline. Looking
forward to sharing those with you. But thanks to those

(42:40):
who are listening each and every week, thanks to those
who might be listening for the first time, and thanks
to those who have said, bug it this, I'm never
listening again.