The Best of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

It has finally happened. Aaron Rodgers is a New York Jet. Jason Smith celebrates this long-awaited day, while Steve DeSaegher, in for Mike Harmon, tries to talk some reality into him. Audacy NFL Insider Jason La Canfora joins the guys to trash all over the Rodgers trade for the Jets. Jason breaks down why he believes everybody refuses to give the Jets credit for making a good trade. Plus, LeBron steps up in the closing moments of the Lakers' OT win over the Grizzlies, but Jason thinks the Lakers may want to sit LeBron in Game 5!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Greetings and welcome inside. Aaron Rodgers Day, Happy Aaron Rodgers Day.
It's here. It's happened. I told you to be cool.
I told everybody be cool. Just be like a bunch
of little fonsies. And what's Phonsie cool? Correct? A Mundo

(00:51):
and Aaron Rodgers to the Jets was going to happen.
And it's happened, and it's here, and it's glorious and
it's outstanding, and nothing else matters, not the NHL playoffs,
not the non Knicks playoff games, not Major League Baseball
tonight because the Mets are off. None of these things matter.

(01:12):
The Jets get Aaron Rodgers, Jason Smith and Steve Desager,
who will be with you, And basically we're going to
commandeer these airwaves for the next four days straight. We're
gonna block ourselves in. This is going to be it.
No one else gets in, and we talk about Aaron
Rodgers from now all the way until the draft, Yes,

(01:34):
all the way until Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
I am so glad I've hed a co host tonight
because this show is going to need some major league balance.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
There's no balance. There is no balance. We don't need
balance in the force tonight. We don't need that. We
just need Aaron Rodgers and the Jets and the super Bowl.
That's all we need. Rogers, Jets. No leap on that
last part of the sentence, whatsoe the leap was getting
Aaron Rodgers. Now we're a super Bowl team. That was
the leap.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Hey, the leap of course played like a super Bowl
quarterback we got.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
You know, if we had had Aaron r I'll say
this again, if we had had just Aaron Rodgers of
last year, last year, we'd be in the super Bowl
or eight and nine. No, no, no, super Bowl. We
already seven to ten. He wasn't gonna and the Packers
were eight and nine. Zach Wilson threw six touchdowns. Steve
has six touchdowns Aaron Rodgers for twenty five. That's nineteen more.
I could do bath really Well, it's Aaron Rodgers Day.

(02:24):
The only sad part is is no more Aaron Rodgers Eve.
I was looking forward to a week of Aaron Rodgers Eve.
But it doesn't matter because Aaron Rodgers Day is here.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Well, let my first official sentence be our long national
nightmare is over. We've had forty days of no story.
I was as sick of this as most of the
rest of the country as we were of the Dak
Prescott story that wasn't for so long. Fine, it happened.
Most of us thought it would happen. Great, congratulations. When
do the game start? Until then, I don't care.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
We're live from the tireck dot com studios where Steve
Desager in his last five minutes co hosting the show tonight,
well before he is replaced by Joe Douglas. Tire rack
dot com. Up you get there, an unmatched selection, fast
free shipping, free road has a protection in over ten
thousand recommended installers. Tyrack dot com the way tire buying
should be told. He's gonna happen Steve now here we

(03:14):
are and I will always.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Remember, Actually Aaron Rodgers told us it was gonna happen. Well, yeah,
but when it was official.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
See, I wasn't one of those people that I wasn't
watching ESPN when Adam Schefter got the story, and then
everybody on the show had to pretend like they were
fake excited and trying to figure out what their big
hot take was going to be. I was sitting down
to lunch at Urban Plates, and I had my dog's
leash and my dog were sitting there and all of
a sudden, my phone just went. I'm like, oh, I
had a time. I'm like, oh, oh my god, it's happening.

(03:43):
I didn't look at my phone for like ten seconds
because it was just going. I go, it's happening. This
is it. I knew it. I knew when I opened
my phone, I knew what. I turned it over and
I woke up my phone. Aaron Rodgers is going to
be a jet because I knew that was gonna happen.
It was Joe Douglas. I knew it. No, it was
all my friend said. I always know certain stories. I
know when my phone just starts goes this is I go, Okay,

(04:05):
something big has happened to one of my teams, and
I just knew. Middle of the day, I'm like, okay, wait,
the Mets aren't playing. They flew back from they flew
back from the West Coast. Okay, the Knicks are fine.
Either Julius Randall has decided he's walking away from the
next because he's mad he got bench yesterday, or the
Jets got Aaron Rodgers. And I was pretty sure there
was Jets getting Aaron Rodgers, because that was what was
going to spark that reaction of that big And I

(04:30):
picked up my phone and it was glorious. And my
friend Andy's air was the first one I saw it.
Just said congratulations, and I knew it. And I put
my phone down and I yelled out to my wife,
who was already food. I go, we got him, we
got him, We got him. And everybody around me's like,
what the hell are you talking about it? We got him?
And she was like, oh, cause she knew right away
Jets got Aaron Rodgers. She has it. We got him,
we got him, We got him, we got him, we

(04:52):
got him. I was so excited. My dog was like,
my owner is a lunatic.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
But I'm only knew, not already knew that already absolutely.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Benny, I'm spray pay you green. I know you're a
white dog with a little black pina. Healthy, healthy spray paint.
They make that now. I think healthy spray pay healthy
spray paint. I'm pretty sure for dogs, don't they They
look that up. I'm pretty sure they have that healthy
spray paint for dogs. Yeah, health Okay, No, I don't
think so. We're getting all the primetime games every single

(05:21):
that redoing the schedule. The Jets will now play every
Sunday night, well, Monday night and Thursday night.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Can I tell you the Jets this year going to
be hosting Philadelphia, Kansas City and the Chargers. Can we
just in Penn put those down in primetime already?

Speaker 1 (05:37):
All gonna be prime time every game, Steve, we're gonna
play three games a week. We're playing Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
We're gonna play forty eight games.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
You could play three games a week and they still
won't win double digits.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Oh, you you want you want to have a fight
in the studio, Tiper, is it here tonight? You want
to have a spect studio that's the kind of.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Thing he would have said, so in honor of our
golden headphones producer. No, that's the line he would have said.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
And that's why'm'na stop right because now, because here's the thing,
this is this is my great moment of glory and
triumph that has been years and you need to know
this is my big money.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
Right.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Okay, I'm not saying I disagree with you on that. Okay,
you're right about that, but this is my night, right,
this is my night. Absolutely, who takes tonight off? Harmon
Frostburg and Ty Shirt. They're all dead to me. They're
dead to me now my big night. It's like, oh no,
I can't. It's like I invite them to a big party.
They all came with the reason at the end, I
really don't want to go. You didn't tell them what

(06:31):
night the party would be. Essentially, they're dead to me
that this was gonna happen today. They're all dead to me.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Want them all to drop their plans. Notice they're all, yes,
they're all done. This is this is that night. I mean,
come on, the Mets went almost every night. I mean,
come on, the Knicks are great. We can say, but
I mean this and this. Yeah, you change your plans,
you whatever.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
You all three of them took tonight off, right, all
a tonight, all took tonight. No, they're all dead to me.
Now we got new We're to put new advertisements out
for hosts. That that's what it is and producer and producer,
word operator and coach. So Steve, let me give your
interview right now. Hey, would you call him sick on
the day the Jets got Aaron Rodgers? Uh No, you're hired. Okay, congratulations,

(07:11):
you're in. Congratulations. By the way, all said this.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
They're all literally the last night you are doing this
show from that studio room.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
You know, And that's a that's another thing that is Uh,
you're ending on a high note. Yes, this is this
studio that we've been in here at Fox Sports Radio.
Are your whole career. I was here from the very beginning,
from day one here at Fox Sports Radio. Then I
left and I went to ESPN and there was an
NFL network and I and I've been back here now
for you know, nine years. The very first show we
did from this studio that we've been in now for

(07:42):
the last twenty two years. This has been our home
this has been our studio. The last show is all
about the Jets. This is how it's supposed to happen.
This is how it codes. I closed this. I have
a big speech. This is closed. The studio is closed.
Fox Sports Radio studio is closed. The Jets got Aaron Rodgers.

(08:03):
It's closed. We don't need anything else anymore. It's done.
I mean, we have the new shows from the new
studios tomorrow. They're down the hall, but this studio is closed.
We're closing the studios with Jets and Aaron Rodgers to
night's all done.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
You got to make up a sign and literally tape
it up as you leave after the show tonight.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
I'm not kidding.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
That's because I mean, who actually Dan Patrick doesn't do
his show from in that room? Nope, So who's actually
Ben mallor maybe in.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
A no, no don't I don't know. Maybe maybe it
doesn't matter. I'm closing the studio. Guys, everybody stay home.
Closing the studio tonight. This was it, This is it.
This is it. The studio closes with the Jets getting
Aaron Rodgers. It's over. It's over. That's it, moving to
our new studios. No way to go. It's over. It's out.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Meanwhile, back in the real world.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
No, no, no, there's no there's nothing else that matters.
There is nothing else matters. It's it. Jets, Aaron rodg
That's it, Jets, Aaron Rodgers, Jets, Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Jimmy Butler has just scored fifty six points the final
at Miami. The Heat beat Milwaukee one nineteen one fourteen.
The Milwaukee Bucks are down three games to one in
their first round series, still a few minutes till Memphis
at Lakers tip.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
I'm sorry, did he get traded to the Jets too?
Or did the Knicks get Yannis? That's the only that's
the only thing that did Jimmy Butler just get traded
to the Knicks?

Speaker 3 (09:12):
Or can you work an expiring contract in there doesn't trade?

Speaker 1 (09:16):
That would be a little odd, doesn't matter. I think
you can.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Whatever it is, is there a veterans minimum. We have
to work out.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Whatever it is the minimum is. You just mentioned Jimmy
Buckets in his fifty six points.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
That whole fifth and sixth round draft pick exchange that
we got from the trade with Rogers, that that probably
wouldn't exist in the NBA.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
I'm guessing. No, No, they wouldn't. They wouldn't have fifth that. No,
it wouldn't have to like having him second round. No, no, no, no,
we'd rather just cut it after after like two thirds
of one round, where we're kind of done with that.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
But the players Union has said we'd prefer there's no
draft at all, just let everybody come into the league
and sign with whomever.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now, you want to talk bad and this is a
big thing to bring up here, the Jason Smith stsche
do you disaga in from Mike carmon the end of
your first year? Discover credit car automatically double all the
cash backer And that's right, everything you earn is doubled.
Seriously see terms. Check it out for yourself at discover
dot com. Slash match. Yes, Jimmy Buckets fifty six points
tonight the Heat in a game in which the Bucks

(10:14):
got Giannis back. Giannis had a good night twenty six
and thirteen and ten at a triple double, but not
the fifty six er of Jimmy Buckets. And now the
Heat are up three games to one over the team
everybody thought was headed to the finals. So if you
want to talk about basketball, I will tell you this
I am not afraid of anybody. Now, if I have

(10:35):
on the Knicks, I am not afraid of anyone. Gimme,
gimme the Cavaliers, gimme the heat, give me a If
the Bucks are going out like this, give me the Sixers,
because I know they're gonna blow it eventually. I am
not afraid of anybody. Steve to Seger, this this is
this may be the greatest sports night of my life.
The Knicks have a path to the NBA Finals, the
Jets get Aaron Rodgers, and the Mets are off. They

(10:57):
can't lose. This may be the greatest sports night of
my life.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
I'm kind of waiting you reference Philadelphia there. The Phillies
made the World Series and lost. The Eagles made the
Super Bowl and lost. The seventy six ers standing by,
are they going to win the East this year?

Speaker 1 (11:13):
I can make the Eastern Conference.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
In Milwaukee, maybe ahead of them.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
They make the Eastern Conference Finals and they lose to
the next That's how let's get back.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
To real realism. The Boston Celtics can winch their first
rounder tomorrow against Atlanta, so there is still Boston in
the East. You're telling me that a Knicks fan has
no fear of the Boston team that's genuinely better than
New York.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
No, no cause last two times we beat him, we beat
him twice. We meet him when they were the most
most recent iteration of the Celtics, which basically has become, hey,
we are really only Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum driven.
So I am not the past week. I am not
afraid of anybody.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
I know.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
What's really not been true the past week is the
Miami Heat. They weren't this team the whole regular season,
the team that we're seeing now leading Milwaukee three games
to one. They didn't shoot threes like this during the
regular season. They didn't score points like this during the
regular season. They scored about one hundred and twenty again
tonight in this series. That didn't happen regular season. So
I don't know who this team is. But they shot

(12:11):
forty percent from the three point line again tonight. They
deserve to be ahead, but they earned the eighth seed
this year and suddenly there one game away from pulling
off a huge upset.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
Well, let me give you a hot take. Right last year,
we said, hey, maybe Joe Girardi was the problem in Philadelphia,
they fired him and went to the World Series. Right,
Maybe it wasn't Russell Westbrook with the Lakers and it
was alacause Westrookston playing pretty well. Maybe Tyler Hero was
the problem in Miami. I mean maybe maybe I look
at where they are without.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
About as good as he is, no Hero, what is going.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
May maybe he was the problem. That could be what
it is. But look, you had fifty six from Butler,
you had twenty and ten from Ronnie Cyclee, you had
a big night from the Heat tonight. This was outstanding.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Bam Adebaio can contribute and a mere quiet fifteen was
good enough because they beat the Bucks by five. I
can assume, or maybe I should put that in question
for him, Jason Smith, Can I assume not having Tyler
Hero is gonna cost them shortly in this postseason?

Speaker 1 (13:14):
It will cost it if they play the Knicks. Will
it costs you when you play the Knicks? No matter what. Again,
I'm not afraid of it.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Because you're assuming that the real Julius Randall is gonna
show up. Even if we were back to back game
we can win without. Look look at how well we
played without him when he was doing nothing. When he's
still coming back from his ankle injury, or being upset
that he's bench. You're playing a thing with zero experience, right, Okay,
it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
Gonna be that way it was supposed to be. There
was so good and we're gonna win all Donovan Mitchell,
we are you? Oh the Knicks and no, no, no,
no no, And look, why are you taking me away
from Aaron Rodgers for the last three and a half minutes.
We're away from Maaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
Calling somebody just scored fifty six in a playoff game
and they're upsetting the number one seed.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
Is he Aaron Rodgers?

Speaker 3 (13:54):
No?

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, no, yeah, Actually you don't you want to you
want a pretty funny story.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
Well, fare you're just gonna tell the listeners to even
the next few hours.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
I don't wish to do that when we when I
was as a production assistant at ESPN and the Sports
Center used to be a half hour. It was so
difficult on big heavy nights to get all the highlights
and you wanted to get in it was an hour, Yeah,
it was. Sports used to be a half hour, used
to be eleven thirty. Then they made it an hour
and everything was fine. But when in the In the
mid nineties, a lot of sports centers were only a
half hour, which doesn't make any sense. Stupid. So there

(14:23):
was a producer's name was Tim KYLEI who you hear
his name now and again because he was a producer
for Inside the NBA for so long in Atlanta. One
of the greatest guys, one of the greatest guys in
the world. Tim kyleie great dude. He would he was
a producer. He would produce these shows and he would
always say to somebody like, all right, like the rundown was,
I have I have no room for anything else, I know,
for anything else. And then someone would come upstairs and say, hey,

(14:46):
did you just see what just happened in the in
the Sharks and you know whatever, and he would say
the same. He would say, did somebody die? Well no,
did somebody quit?

Speaker 4 (14:55):
No?

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Then I have no room for it. Hey, did you
see what Joe Montana just said? Did he die?

Speaker 2 (15:02):
No?

Speaker 1 (15:02):
Did he quit?

Speaker 2 (15:03):
No?

Speaker 1 (15:03):
And we have no room for it. We have no room.
We have no room. So from that, we have no room.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
You take a literal four hour show and say, okay,
something that's really not news anymore. Yeah, we have no
room for anything else.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
No, well, Dofio. We also have to debate if the
Lakers are back, because that's going to be a show
long debate now or the Lakers Nakers are already down
ten to four? Is the night over? Are they back?
Are they not? There's a lot, there's a lot to
get to. We do have a lot to get to tonight.
And hey, speaking of the NFL and Aaron Rodgers being
a Jet, be sure not to miss Draft Night Live
on Fox Sports Radio this Thursday night, eight pm Eastern

(15:38):
throughout the entire first round of the Draft. That's with
Jay Glazer, Former Cardinals GM, Steve Khime, College Football Hall
of Famer LaVar Harrington, and Big Noon Kickoff Robstone. They'll
have pick by pick predictions and reactions to every first
round pick. That's Thursday, eight pm Eastern throughout the first
round of the Draft, live on Fox Sports Radio and
the iHeartRadio app. Fox Sports Radios. Draft covers presented by

(15:59):
Chalk See the reigning champion and Natural Men's Health Level
Up your strength, energy and focus at choq dot com.
Use code Draft for thirty five percent off any subscription
for Life Choq dot Com. That's Chalk dot Com choq
dot com Code Draft, and of course our show follows

(16:19):
the first round of the NFL Draft, be breaking down
all the big selections and you know, even probably more
Aaron Rodgers, who the Jets got to protect? Aaron Rodgers,
you know, all that good stuff. But yes, we have
a big night in sports. We have a big night
going on in the NBA playoffs. Lakers in Memphis now
a one point game. God's ten to nine.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
The Lakers are back, jim once again. Prosperg is not here,
Lakers are pack. Jason Smith, Jimmy, all these they're all
dead to me.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
They're all dead to me. All those guys are all
dead to me. It doesn't matter. They're all dead to me.
But coming up next, so what does this mean? What
is next? What are the other big dominoes to fall?
Now that Rogers is a Jet, Keep right here. That's
coming up next. This is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon. Weaked, he said, ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon, who is no longer my best friend
because he's not in tonight from my moment of glory,
my moment of triump Steve Desager in for harmon tonight.
At the end of your first year, Discover credit cards
automatically double all the cash back you and that's right,
everything you were doubled. Seriously see terms. Check it out
for yourself at discover dot com slash match. Well, Steve O,

(17:29):
you said you, hey, you know Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers. Okay,
you're gonna want the other side of the Aaron Rodgers
trade and someone who doesn't like the Jets giving up
what they gave up. Well, joining us now on the
hotline to break it all down. Longtime NFL insider, you
can fall him on Twitter at Jason lock and four.
That is at Jason lock and four. Check him out

(17:49):
on Odyssey The Washington Post. Jay, what's happening, buddy? How
are you?

Speaker 4 (17:53):
What's going on? Well, I'm glad at least the green
half of this tandem is here in the night to
celebrate this day. That you will be ruined, that you
will be hated, that you will be considering one of
the lowest moments in franchise history. I'm going to say
about I don't know what's uh May June, July, August, September, October, November.

(18:21):
I'm going to say within seven months, seven and a
half months. No wait, wait, what the f did we do?

Speaker 3 (18:27):
No?

Speaker 4 (18:27):
Wait?

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Wait, wait a minute. Let's just do you even think
we that the Jets? I say we because you know
I helped make this happen. Can can we get the
Aaron Rodgers of last year?

Speaker 4 (18:39):
Do you like the Aaron Rodgers last year?

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Well questions, yes, exactly.

Speaker 4 (18:43):
Rodgers last year was Dog's word. I don't think I
can say you.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Probably can't, but say s h I t E. Okay,
I'll throw.

Speaker 4 (18:54):
The E on there for our friends at the UK.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (19:00):
Like that guy, Hey, that guy when they were making
their playoff push in the last six weeks of the season,
that guy was a worse statistical quarterback than Baker Mayfield,
who was just figuring out the Rams playbook on the fly.
That guy, by QB rating was worse than Desmond Ritter.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Jay, Like Jay, you know who we had last year
playing quarterback? You know that our started quarterbacks just six
touchdowns last year?

Speaker 4 (19:28):
What the reason that the Packers got off the met
wasn't because Aaron Rodgers got good down the stretch. He
was still crappy. He wasn't pushing the ball downfield, he
wasn't making big plays. They got decent in a much
crappier conference, by the way, with no quarterbacks opposing him

(19:48):
to speak of. They got better because the return game
got freaking dieky good because they changed their defense on
the fly. And it got much better because they ran
the day ball so that this guy only had to
throw it underneath, only had to dink and duncan. Like
he doesn't want to throw interceptions because it doesn't look

(20:09):
good on the back of his card, you know, his
football card. But he's still threw a bunch of them,
and he'll blame anybody else for him other than himself.
And he does not like playing with young players. Like
he's made it pretty clear he's been throwing people under
the bus. Over the bus, like I guess if you
say it out loud, it's not even really under the bus, right,
Like he's just been like not happy about his cast forever.

(20:34):
And this looks on paper like a good cast, but
it's a young cast and they're going to make mistakes.
They're going to make mental mistakes, they're going to make
physical mistakes, and he's not going to bite his tongue.
And the offensive line sucks. Like I mean, if you
think Dwayne Brown, whatever's left of him and whatever, you know,
Mackai Beckton might be like, if you think that's good

(20:57):
enough to buttress this guy who just doesn't want to
get hit anymore, But collect the full sixty million dollars,
you know, pass go you know, do not go to
jail card. Just get that sixty million by any means necessary. No,
I'm not even being facetious. I think it's going to
be an abject failure. He doesn't want anything to do

(21:19):
with New York. He doesn't want anything to do with
the New York media. He wants nothing to do with
Sorry the Loser asks franchise that the New York Jets are.
He's there because the convenience. They're the only ones who
would pay the freight. Like, there's no way that this
makes sense. It only makes sense as an arranged marriage,
and one in which Woody Johnson prevented the football people

(21:41):
from actually making a strong football play like they were
over a barrel for no good reason. Just five different
things they could have done to have real leverage to
get this guy for what he's worth in a sixty
million dollars salary dump, because it's a salary dump, not
a football trade. And they made a football trade for

(22:01):
a guy who the rest of the league would be like,
that's a salary dump, Like you want me to take
that salary on, I'll give you a five, Like I'll
give you a five that can move to four if
we win anything with them, And they went out and
paid far close to full value for the former MVP
guy from two years ago who you're never going to
see again.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
Can we run that last five minutes on a loop
for the rest of the show.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
That was sensational, Hey said? He said, so, I okay,
So now I know there's one extra space in my
super Bowl party in Vegas because Jason lock and four
is off the list right now, you are off the
Jet super Bowl party list in Las Vegas.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
Now with that, that's fine, You know what, send Eisen
in my stead, except he ain't gonna be there either,
because if there's a nine and eight, like if there's
some sort of big ass like parade, carnival, freak show
for finishing nine and eight, then just sign me up
for it, because that's what you're going to be.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
What are the positives from this deal, like not counting
fully against the cap or not having to give up
a first round There must be something good too.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
What do you mean unless your offensive line gets killed,
he's probably still gonna play sixty five percent. I don't
think he's gonna play seventy five percent. You'll probably end
up playing just enough to make you give up the
one and will have nothing to show for it because
you're nine and eight and you're the like fourth wildcard
team and you're gonna somebody's gonna curb stomp you in
the first round.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
You realized my entire forties that Jets didn't make the playoffs,
So getting curb stopped in a wildcard game, that's a
win for me. I mean, that's that's a big win.

Speaker 4 (23:31):
That's a big win Morgan's future draft picks. And here's
where you're really gonna get punch in the cajones. This
is the perfect year to actually tank, but you're obviously not.
This guy will be better than you had no quarterbacks
last year and he's not a good quarterback anymore. But
he's a serviceable I guess, like he's still going to
make sixty million dollars. I mean, he ain't gonna be

(23:52):
worth that, but he can play in the league, I guess.
So you'll mess around with that defense and win too
many games to actually be in position to have one
like follow you next year. Dreads from a draft capitol
standpoint to not be able to pay the freight that
it's going to take to get to the top four

(24:14):
next year. Between the teams that finish really, really low,
like the Texans who are just gonna, you know, be
conscientious objectors to the quarterback position again in this draft
because they really want Caleb Williams next year. Like between
the teams that do that and the teams that overdraft
quarterbacks this year and still need one next year and say,
screw it, we're going to do that, or the teams
that are able to have the draft capital to move

(24:36):
up to get into the top four, Like you're going
to be in none of those bins, Like you're going
to be less than to all of them, and you'll
be catching table scraps at the quarterback like you'll find
your next Hackenberg, you know whatever in the second or
third round next year, Like but that's what.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Happens, Jay, when you pick thirty second, that's what happens.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
You want, It's not going to be that. It's going
to be you're picking eight team and you don't have
or fourteen sixteen and you don't have what it takes
to get to the top four in what's going to
be a truly, truly, truly generational quarterback trap next year.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
So let's just pretend that Jeff's fans are overreacting a
bit to this news. Let's just for the sake of argument,
say that, is there any way Jason locking for that
you would say this would be a proper acquisition for
any team getting Aaron Rodgers and not giving up a
first rounder, and.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
He's the thing.

Speaker 4 (25:33):
There was only one team that wanted. Yeah, Like that's
that's not even an opinion, that's not debatable. That's not
like everybody knew. I wrote about it the Washington Post. Hell,
a month before the season was over, that Green Bay
was done with them. They had Aaron Rodgers fatigue. He

(25:55):
hated them, They hated him, and it was over and
they were gonna salary dump him to anybody who would
take take him off their hands. And I had gms
and pro personnel directors and assistant GM's all saying the
same thing, like it's a fourth or fifth round salary dump.
Like that was the reality of the situation with where

(26:15):
the player was at this stage of his career and
where the market was. And you had all these teams saying, Oh,
I'd rather take Jimmy g for this, or I'd rather
take Derek Carr for that, or I'd rather sit the
whole damn thing out and take Will Levis fourth overall, right,
or I'll wait to see what kind of tag they
put on Lamar. But then we're all on a pu
ratt want anyway. So, like all that went down, and

(26:39):
there was one team still standing four days before the draft,
and it was the only team that wanted to visit
with him, right, it was the only team that wanted
to be granted permission to talk to him before the
non campering period or whatever. Like, No, I can't never
make it make sense, no from Woody, what is wood

(27:01):
he ever gotten? Right?

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Well, you picked me right up here, Jay, this entire
last few minutes right there. You really helped me out there.
Thanks a lot, buddy, I appreciate that. That's great.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
You know me. I call him like I said, I
can't even.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Tell you the orioles are bad, and yell at you
for the orioles. I can't even do that.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
He's gonna play one year. You're gonna win. He's gonna win,
just you enough games to f you in next year's draft.
And then he's he's gonna be off whatever, hiking the
freaking rockies, like taking what is that hyaanuska, hyahuasca, hyawuska, whatever,

(27:39):
It's gonna be him and like a Yeti and Kung
Fu walk in the earth with wood. He's with sixty
million dollars of wood. He's money in his backpacket. You'll
never see him again, live in a yurt somewhere and
Montana smoking. God knows what he'll be. His pockets will

(28:01):
be straight though.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
You can follow on Twitter at Jason lock and for
that is at Jason lock and fora Odyssey Washington Post
NFL insider who was just a little bit cautious about
the Jets making this trade forever. Jay is always, buddy.
When I say appreciate it, usually mean it. But I'
putting appreciated quotes. That's all right, buddy, that's right. We'll
talk to you after the drafts.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Thank you, that was spectacular.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
He's so so. I think what he's trying to say is, hey,
maybe a little bit, let let's tap the brakes a
tiny bit and maybe thanks saying maybe maybe let's have
a little bit of trepidaciousness about this trade.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
And he was also saying get prepared for the offseason
phrase snatch the pebbles from my hands, because that's what
he's going to be concentrating to do. It's not going
to be any football focus whatsoever.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
See what I heard from Jason was, Hey, there's a
couple of things. Doesn't mean it's not a great trade,
doesn't mean that Jets aren't going to win big, but
just a couple of things to be concer earned about
with that. That's kind of what I heard. I'm Jason.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
Literally nobody else on the planet wanted him.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
I didn't. I didn't hear that part. I didn't have
that part.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
I'm not sure there were relatives that wanted him. I
mean no, no, no, like it was bad. We're gonna we're
gonna fix this for our best of podcasts. I'm gonna
use the artificial intelligence Jason locking for Who Loves the trade.
This is not a salary and replace it there that
you might have actually gotten two second rounders out of
this year and next year.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
I believe that's what I heard. Yeah, listen, we'll we'll
get to the salary, don't We'll get to the salary
part of this and this whole Oh the judge Scott Sleeps,
just stop it. We'll get to that coming up.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
Well, there is such a thing as dead cap money.
It's not like the Packers are free and clear.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
No, no, the NFL. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
Hey, what's up everybody.

Speaker 5 (29:49):
It's me three time pro bowler Levarrington and I couldn't
be more excited to announce a podcast called Up on Game?

Speaker 1 (29:56):
What is Up on Game?

Speaker 5 (29:57):
You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler HEJ Huschman
Zada and Super Bowl champion.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yep, that's right, Plexico birds. You can only name a
show with that type of talent on it.

Speaker 5 (30:08):
Up on Game We're going to be sharing our real
life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on
Game with me lebar Arrington, TJ. Huschman Zada, and Plexico
Burrs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcast from.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Greetings, Welcome inside the Aaron Rodgers Studios. I'm Aaron Rodgers.
Alongside me Tonight is Aaron Rodgers. Where we're gonna talk
about Aaron Rodgers and then the Lakers maybe back. We're
live from the tirack dot Com studios. Tireck dot Com
will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping,
free road has protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers.

(30:49):
Tyrack dot Com the way tire buying should be. Yes,
the Jets get Aaron Rodgers. Yes, it's so exciting. Yes,
I've been so excited today. Yes, it's like ninety degrees
here in late today. I'm wearing my Jet sweatshirt and
I don't care the sweat pouring off of me all night.
I am wearing this with pride. Steve Desager, I am

(31:10):
so excited. I can't even tell you. But you knew
it was gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
So yes, hadn't you had some of these feelings already
in the last forty days that we had to go
through this?

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Okay, But what do I always say? Every day was
Aaron Rodgers Eve, and but the day that it's actually
Aaron Rodgers' Day is pretty exciting. Like Christmas Eve, you're
excited on Christmas Eve. Sure, when you get to Christmas
Day you get to actually open the presence. You have
to just it's like walking under every day, shaking the
shaking the present, going oh, I think this is all.
I think that this might be a Nintendo switch. Oh,

(31:39):
this might be this, this might be an a forty
year old quarterback.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
We got a forty year old quarterback for Christmas.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
A really good thirty nine year old quarterback that's good.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
Just to stop first, So you're saying that by December
when he turns forty, he just won't be in action
by that.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Let me just say this because I really feel this today. Yes,
now let's get Aaron rodd We'll get into the trade.
The Jets flip first round picks with the Packers this year.
They give them the second round pick and a conditional
second round pick that could be a first round pick
depending on Aaron Rodgers plays sixty five percent of the snaps.
Jets are also getting a fifth round pick. Well, we'll
get to that whole oh the Jets got fleeced ridiculous

(32:18):
narrative that Packer fans are flooding Twitter with because they
say they have to actually understand. Oh oh fleeced is
translmmer day. But let me just say that that's a
little extreme now, But let me yeah, exactly right, because
people think it's not like the Jets gave up four
first round picks or Fanny. It's not like the Laker
Steve nash Pit. You know, I think they went out,
Oh look at that Steve. No. No, But you see

(32:40):
the reports of this today, and I've seen so much
negativity towards the Jets getting Rogers right, and I really do.
I firmly believe this is that there's certain teams that
the media and fans just don't like no matter what
they do, for whatever reason, because they work with too
many people who are fans of this team. You know,

(33:01):
if you work if you work at ESPN, you know
you work with a lot of Yankee fans, You work
with a lot of you know, Mets for all this stuff.
You work at Fox Sports.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
Just as many people hate Syracuse as.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
You were saying, no, say, come on, Syracuse is not that.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
No.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
I mean, there's how many.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
Co workers in sports people have Syracuse.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah yeah, but we're not that relevant though. I mean
it's not like, you know, come on, we make the
NCTATE tournament once every couple of years.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
Now my bad, Yes, okay, because the Jets are relevant, but.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
It's the NFL. It's the NFL and the Jets have
been such long time laughing stocks and the Jets. And
I knew that the minute this trade went down, whatever
it was going to be, the reaction was going to
be many people saying this trade sucks, the Jets are stupid.
And I just knew it because there's that built in.
I don't like the Jets because a lot of people

(33:45):
like me on the radio, I'm sick of here that
all this stuff whatever it is. You know, you you
hear stuff about teams you just don't like. Same thing
about the Knicks. People don't like hearing that the Knicks
are good because, uh, did the Knicks tire me? You know?
Hearing about the Knicks tire me? Right, I get I
understand it.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
So really it's Knicks fans that tired.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
But it's not Knicks fans or it's Nicks, you know,
in the media. It's just the overall sense of I
get fatigued on people get fatigued on teams for no
other reason. Then I just don't like them because they
have an image to me that I don't like. Right,
I don't like done Jerry Jones, Yeah, I don't. Yeah,
but the Cowboy, you know, they make at least he
makes it exciting every year, makes it fun. But yeah,

(34:23):
people are fatigued on Jerry Jones. But still, and this
is why anything the Cowboys do, it gets criticized more
than it should. Right, There's things that happen. There's teams
that get criticized way more than they should just because
they are who they are. And the Jets are one
of those teams. Longtime laughing sock here, they either go
get this trade stinks. Meanwhile, let's not let's let's forget.

(34:44):
Let's not forget for a second that Aaron Rodgers even
last year, which was not a great Aaron Rodgers here,
the guy had won the MVP the two years before.
But Aaron Rodgers is still a top half of the
NFL quarterback no matter how you cut it up. Is
he one of the top three quarterbacks in the game. Anymore. No,
probably not. But is he a top half of the

(35:05):
NFL quarterback? Yeah? Are the Jets paying him too much money?

Speaker 4 (35:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (35:08):
As a too much dead cap for the Packers? Yeah,
But what do you care? It's not your money. I
don't care. The Jets have been able to put together
a pretty good bleeping team and they're just a quarterback away,
and Aaron Rodgers is still one of the top half
quarterbacks of the NFL. In fact, he'll probably be a
little bit better than top half this year because the
Jets are a better football team than the Packers are,
all right, they are. The Jets have a better defense,

(35:29):
I have a better rushing attack, they have a better
path to have better weapons in the passing game. The
offensive line is an issue. I'll give you that. But
this is why you still have the draft to fix
things going forward. There's so much more. I don't like
this because of just the image that the Jets have.
Nobody wants to give them credit. If the Patriots pulled
off the same exact trade for Aaron Rodgers, you would

(35:50):
see all kinds of people falling all over themselves to say,
what a genius move by Bill Belichick. Look at this,
He snags Aaron Rodgers out from under the jets noses
and brings him into the AFC East. You know he's
gonna be good. If the if the if the Pittsburgh
Steelers traded for Aaron Rodgers, it would be oh, what
an incredibly smart move by Mike Tomlin. Look at what

(36:12):
they've done here. Any other team, almost any other team
trades for them, it's met with much better reaction than
it is for the Jets, because because I watch people
go crazy over Oh, it's a conditional second round pick,
that's gonna be a first round pick. Yeah, Okay, it's
not that big a deal. Did I do? I think
the Jets gave up a little bit too much for him. Yeah,
But you know what, if Aaron Rodgers is good, I

(36:33):
don't care what they give up. It doesn't matter. It
doesn't matter what anybody gives up, as long as a
guy is good, right, doesn't matter if the if the
forty nine Ers what they gave up for Trey Lance,
doesn't matter what they gave up as long as Trey
Lance is good. If he's not good, it's not gonna
be worth it. But if a guy is good, especially
a quarterback, yeah, it doesn't matter, and I'm not gonna
sit here and say, oh if this deal doesn't come

(36:53):
without risk. But the Jets get Aaron Rodgers, who again
two out of the last three years was MVP. Last
year was kind of a down year and and maybe
it was he was just done in Green Bay. Potentially
that could be what it is. There's a lot more
guys that I that I would feel a lot less
great about taking a chance on in free agency in
the NFL. This year, there's they got the number one
quarterback on the board. In the offseason, the Jets had

(37:15):
a problem. They had to get a new quarterback because
Zach Wilson is terrible and he stinks and I don't
care if he tries to make Aaron Rodgers life hell
at practice every day. He stinks and the Jets needed
to upgrade. And guess what, they got the best quarterback
they could they could obtain. They got Aaron Rodgers because
Lamar Jackson is still a raven and we're still waiting
for the draft. Of all the guys out there in
free agency that were able, the Jets went out and

(37:35):
got the best guy. So, yeah, you got to give
the Jets credit. I'll enjoy all your hater aid, enjoy
everything else everybody wants. Oh, the Jets know. The Jets
made a good trade. They have a fantastic team. They
become a super Bowl caliber team getting Aaron Rodgers and
that's what they did. And today was a great day. However,
how you cut it up, today was a great day.
They still have a first and second route picking the

(37:57):
draft this year, right, they still they still I've not
given up a first round pick. They have not given
up a first round pick for Aaron Rodgers Jets. So
this is just a false narrative that people want to
put out there just because they don't like the Jets.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
Now he goes from back to back MVP to in
two years bottom half of the league. I don't see
that as far as quarterback talent, so I'm with you
on that. By his lofty standards, Hall of Fame standards individually,
this was his worst passer rating season last year after
fifteen years of NFL football, So I don't see him

(38:31):
going back to be MVP. And I'm glad I hear
from you. Okay, he's probably not a top three, but
we all saw what they had at quarterback the Jets
last year, and I will say that I maybe the
aspect of this deal that I like most for the
Jets is how the Packers absorb all this dead cap
money and the bonus cash is pro rated, so for

(38:51):
a starting quarterback, they're really not paying that much against
the cap the Jets. So yeah, he's got a lot
of money do him. It's not all due him from
the Jets. And it's not such an enormous cap hit
on the Jets immediately that they can't make other moves
or it completely ties the organization in a salary cap
league for the next few years or anything like that. No,

(39:13):
it's an improvement at quarterback. I don't think it makes
them a super Bowl team, But even if they were
literally the only team wanting Aaron Rodgers, it's better for
them and that's really their only concern.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Now, speaking of Aaron Rodgers in the NFL Draft, don't forget.
Draft Night Live is on Fox Sports Radio this Thursday night,
eight pm Eastern. Throughout the first round of the draft.
Insider Jay Glazer, former Cardinals GM Steve Kim, College Football
Hall of Famer LeVar Arrington, and Big Noon Kickoffs Rob
Stone will have pick by pick predictions. And reactions to
every first round pick. That's Thursday at eight pm Eastern,

(39:47):
throughout the first round of the Draft, live on Fox
Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Fox Sports Radios. Draft
coverage presented by Chalk Choq, the reigning champion in natural
men's health. Level Up your strength, energy and focus at
choq dot com. Use code Draft for thirty five percent
off any subscription for Life Choq dot com. That's Chalk

(40:09):
dot com, Choq dot com Code Draft.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
Can I get a little Lakers update here? Anthony Davis
is playing, but he did have a hard fall on
his hip and has stayed in the game. And then defensively,
he took an elbow below the belt and his state
in the game got a t for complaining about that.
But the Lakers are up fifteen late first half against Memphis.
The Grizzlies are shooting thirty percent from the floor.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Would you say ten times a year there's a Laker
game where Anthony Davis gets shaken up at some point
in the first half and everybody goes crazy for about
ten minutes and he turns out to be fine.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
Yeah, it's kind of like all the time light It's
like Lebron's career and they're on the same team.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
Now, so yeah, I mean, now I can't get over
at helmy town and he's not kidding up. Oh wait,
he's up. Everything's okay, he's doing okay. Now, uh, I
can't get out because because fleeced was what was trending
on on Twitter the entire the entire day with the
Jets and a lot of the Yeah, and I see
a lot and I know a lot of his packer
fans who have to come to grips at Now now

(41:07):
you have Jordan Love, good luck. You wanted the guy, now,
good luck? Right, Well look what we got. Look you
still haven't gotten a first round pick. You put the
guy left right, and you lost your guy. Fleeced is
if the Jets had given up, Hey, we traded three
first round picks the next three years.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
Dude, ain't go bear trade comes to mind.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
It would be yeah, fleece or the Jared kell mc
robinson cano trade with the Mets and the Mariners. That's
getting fixed. Jared Kelnick's hitting three hundred. Yeah, I know,
I know. That's what I mean. That's getting fleeced. This
was I mean, really, it's it's it's so many people
want to just say one trade absolutely was one by
one team and was not one by the other, when

(41:47):
this was this was a trade that the Jets win
because they get an incredible upgrade at quarterback with a
future Hall of Famer that's got a lot of gas
left in the tank. I'm sorry, No, Aaron Rodgers isn't washed.
He's a guy that had a down year last Let's
see what a new year with a new team, with
a better team can do. I'm okay with that because
that's a bigger upgrade because again, Zach Wilson was six

(42:08):
touchdowns last year, so they needed a better guy and
they got one. Now for the Packers, yeah, they got
to push reset. Right. They've seen We've gotten as far
as we can with Aaron Rodgers. We're not going out
to get him helping wide receiver anymore. We're not doing
any of these things. We see. We've drafted Jordan Love.
We made the mistake of trading up for him in
the first round, so we have to play him. And
now is this is a time to say goodbye to

(42:28):
Aaron Rodgers. Not coming off an MVP season, but coming
off a year in which he was a little bit
less than that. What did we get We got a
couple of first round picks, or we got a couple
of second round picks. We moved up two spots in
the first round of the draft. We got what we could.
I thought what the Packers wound up getting was a
tiny bit more then the Jets. We're gonna wind up
having to give up for it. So okay, really it's

(42:50):
the hook of the second round pick that could be
a first round pick. But I got news for you.
If Aaron Rodgers is playing sixty five percent of this
match for the Jets, guess what. The Jets are pretty
good that pick is going to be in the high twenties, which, okay,
good luck getting it right, because you're throwing a dart
at that point. You're bringing in somebody to think is good.
But you're throwing a dart once you get outside of
the top ten and really the top couple at each position,

(43:10):
and maybe this guy works out, maybe he doesn't. So yeah,
the whole fleece thing, I'm like, this is just to
make people feel better. Do I want to feel better
about this or I want to blame somebody? And I
don't like the Jets so I want to blame that,
getting back to my original point that people just don't
like the Jets and they're gonna say everything they do
stinks just because it happens that way. But that's okay, Steve,
I got big shoulders. I can handle it.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
A little context here, The Jets haven't won a playoff
game since the twenty ten season, as we have discussed
on this show, that is now the longest active drought
in any of the four major sports.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Don't you have.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
Any concern as a Jets fan that you're getting a
quarterback that has one double digit win season after another
over the last decade plus and a lot of head scratching,
and I mean that how did this happen? Type of
playoff losses. We're not a single super Bowl appearance in
over a decade, despite well recently, for example, those three

(44:05):
straight thirteen win seasons.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Steve, you know you ever hear the phrase, hey, some
people forget where they came from. You hear that phrase,
you weep, forget where they came from? Like, you know,
this person was such so nice, and you know when
they when they came up as a superstar as an
actor or an actress, and they were, and then they
became so Hollywood and they're different. Yeah, they forget where
they came from. I never am going to forget where
I came from. And this is my entire forties, was

(44:29):
without a playoff game for the New York Jets, my
entire forties. I would love the chance to disappoint in
the AFC Championship Game. I would love that. I would
look forward to having a disappointing game in the AFC
Championship Game. I would look forward to saying we're great
and then Rogers throws four picks and people say, the
guys thinks, I'm not forgetting where I came from. And

(44:50):
this is ten plus years now, more than that, the
longest active playoff drought in all of sports. I don't care.
If the Jets are nine to eight in the regular season,
then they get an Aaron Rodgers good. I don't care.
I want to win. I don't care who plays quarterback.
I don't care who plays running back. We got a
better quarterback and the guy that's going to the Hall
of Fame, and maybe he's great and maybe he can
win a Super Bowl. But now we're in that conversation

(45:13):
because however you want to slice it. The Jets defense
one of the top five defenses in the NFL. The
Jets running game. You got Breise Hall coming back, who
was on his way to being Offensive Rookie of the
Year last year only to get hurt. And then who
won Offensive Rookie of the Year, Garrett Wilson. The Jets
have superstars at running back and wide receiver. They have
a deep wide receiver room, they have a pretty deep
running back room, and now they have Aaron Rodgers. I'm

(45:34):
feeling pretty good about our super Bowl chances, but I
will sign up for another AFC Championship heartbreak because my
life has been filled with AFC Championship heart breaks with
the Jets because they can't get out of it outside
of the Super Bowl. They make it to the AFC
Title Game five times, they're owing five and they always
find a way to go, oh, how did they do this?
But I will sign up for that because that would

(45:54):
at least tell me we're good and I'm not just
packing away this season by the time by the time
we get to Halloween.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
And the Dolphins reacquire aj Dewey and everything is no
if we have for forty years, has it been too soon.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
You know, you know you want you want to bring
up that game again, Steve, you want a conference championship.
I'll tell you I've I've threatened to key everybody's car
in the show. I have not threatened to keep your car.
I can change that today, change out right now.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
I'm with you on all of this until you mentioned
the words super Bowl, super Bowl?

Speaker 1 (46:24):
Why not?

Speaker 3 (46:24):
I like the fact that you're trying to keep it
in context.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
Why not? Why not us? Why not? Super Bowl? Why
not us? Why not Bengals made a super Bowl? Why not?
I agree? Why not? Yeah? Why not? It's where the Jets?
We can do it?

Speaker 3 (46:36):
Halftime in LA, Lakers by two. So much for the
fifteen point lead.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
I thought, So are the Lakers back or are they
not back? Are they back? I'll say they're not back. Okay,
they're not back. Okay, so they were back. Now they're
not back because the lead is only two now, got it?

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Greetings and welcome inside final hour tonight of The Jason
Smith Show with Mike Harvin, Steve de seger in for Harmon.
We're live from the tirack dot Com studios. Tirack dot
com will help you get there an unmatched selection, fast,
free shipping, free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand
recommended installers. Ti iraq dot com the way tire buying

(47:20):
should be. Well. Here we are right now, thirteen seconds
left in overtime, and it looks like the Lakers are
going to be taking a three games to one lead
over the Memphis Grizzlies seven point lead, one fifteen to
one oh eight. Despite thirty six for Desmond Bain John

(47:41):
Morant having a really horrible night shooting, the basketball still
has nineteen. Meanwhile, for the Lakers, a bad night from
Anthony Davis just got a little bit better with a
tip in. He's got twelve, but uh, Lebron James twenty
two points, twenty rebounds, seven assists, and one turnover. He
is now the oldest player in NBA history with a

(48:03):
twenty rebound game, and this despite the facts he's playoff game. Sorry,
twenty rebound in playoff game.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
Apparently Dennis Rodman, at age thirty seven had done that.
Now Lebron at thirty eight.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Yeah, but that was a game. I'm sure Rodman had
more or less than three points. What would you say
exact here?

Speaker 3 (48:20):
Lebron is leading scorer on his team and twenty rebounds.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
I mean, you're getting a big balance night from the Lakers,
who got twenty one from Austin Reeves, who has made
some big shots. D'Angelo Russells made a couple of big threes. Look,
it's been a big balance game, and it looks like
the Lakers are going to go and win this. There's
five seconds left, it's still a seven point lead. That's
gonna be it. We're gonna be talking about the Lakers
up three games to one in a game they absolutely

(48:46):
had to have because, as we say, for older teams,
the longer a series goes, the tougher it gets for
them to win. And the Lakers took over and overtime,
they're three tenths in a second left away from winning
this own to the free throw lineup for if I'm Darvinham,
I tell Ad and Lebron, I say, hey, great game,

(49:06):
you guys. You're staying here? What do you mean You're
you're not going back to Mempistra Game five? Why it
doesn't matter. Stay here, rest, We'll see you for Game
six and potentially Game seven. Repeat.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
It's a quick turnaround. It's an earlier start with the
road game. It's at four thirty Pacific times seven thirty
Eastern on Wednesday, no two days off between.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
I mean, I'm only half kidding when I say that,
if you're the Lakers, do you really bring Lebron and
Ad to that next game? Or do you say, you
know what load management? We're trying to win? You guys
stay home. I mean, think about it. What are the
Lakers really gonna go win this next game at home?
Again again on the road against against the Grizzlies.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
It's Wednesday, and then a Friday home game is what
it would be. If there's a game six.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
In LA, it would be Friday.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
And by the way, Lakers fans gets an extra treat because,
in desperation in the final seconds, Dylan Brooks misses another
three point try. So this is one of seven from
long distance and the Lakers win. It's it's a final
one seventeen one eleven Lakers in overtime.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
I mean, because you're gonna get a diminished Lebron and
Ad most likely here's how it's gonna go. Right. You're
gonna get a diminished Lebron and Ad. The Grizzlies are
gonna get out big. The Lakers are gonna sit the
guys down. If they're not gonna go crazy try to
come back in. This will probably be a game where
the Grizzlies are up by fifteen after the first quarter
or something like that, and all right, well, they're gonna

(50:28):
play less minutes anyway, why even send them? Why even
it would be an unbelievable message to send to the
NBA that this is how we feel about games where
we're gonna We're gonna sit our two superstars for a
game we can clinch and move on in the playoffs.
But what's really the right move? I you think about it,
are you really gonna go win? Are you really gonna
go win? Or is it better thay you sit back,

(50:49):
rest up for game six? Well that's quite a hot take,
I will that's a really hot take, man, I'll tell
you that's a really hot take.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
I will say in your favor. They each played over
forty minutes. It was in over time game tonight, and
the short turnaround you could stay in LA and just
be back for a Friday game. But no, they're not
gonna risk it. You know, it's not gonna happen, but
it is an odd thing to think about.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
I would just make sure, hey, just make sure you
guys don't put out a video during the game, Lebron,
that you're mixing a rap song or you're doing something.
Just like, just stay off of social media and just like,
you know, to hell them, what, watch a movie, you know,
rewatch squid Game. Maybe you'll like the ending a little
bit better this time. Something else. You just just don't
make it look like we don't make us look bad.
They we're leaving you home.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
Speaking of looking bed or or or or or or
or or or.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
This is a big thing I do in my house.
My wife always knows what I'm gonna say when I
say or or or she goes, oh, or we do that, yes,
or or or the Lakers say after the game, hey,
Lebron and a D questionable for game five with ankle, the.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
Hip, with ad.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
Anything, anything. We don't know if they can play in
game five. And they stay home for Game five and
John Moran scores sixty in the first half but it
doesn't matter, and they come back to the crypt for
game six, and then if you lose, you gotta go
on the road for game seven. Okay, you're still rested
because you've had three days off in between games.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
Anthony Davis until some late buckets, he started one of
nine from this was into the second half, one of
nine from the floor. He finished with twelve points, eleven rebounds,
and four blocks as well, including a key one at
the end of regulation, but four turnovers and single digit
points for most of the night. It is a bit

(52:33):
stunning that the Lakers won this game with that performance.
And Di'angelo Russell, who hit a couple of clutch threes,
fouled out of this game. So they didn't have Davis
on offense for much of the night realistically, and they
didn't have Russell for the overtime, and still they're up
three games to one.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
So look, they got good minutes from Jordan Farmar there
in overtime. Yeah, he had a couple of nice passes.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
Over on George. Don't forget Devin George. That's the second
Devin George mentioned in the shit it's going to get
another one, So you're probably not gonna come up again
the rest of the week.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
You gotta get him in when you can. I'll tell
you some mocky walker off the bench. I think what
some moaki walker off the bench. Make sure off the
bench gonna be such a blowout next game?

Speaker 3 (53:16):
Mark Madson's gonna get a little time.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
Oh he'll dance at the end. It'll be It'll be awesome.
Can you dig it? Now? Look at this playoffs? Is
there any team right now in the NBA Playoffs that
isn't saying why not us? Is there any team are
you saying why not US? I mean, well except for
the Nets because they're actually a limited How good does
Phoenix feel right now? For example? Everybody, why not us?

(53:39):
Austin If you are If you are Boston, you're saying
why not us? Right, if you are the Sixers, you're saying,
why do us? We feel like the favorites at this
point because we were able to dispatch of our team
and other teams or are still playing. Right, if you
are the Knicks, you're saying, why not us? We're up
three to one, We look pretty good. We could see
the number one. We might avoid the Bucks in the

(54:01):
second round of the playoffs and get the somewhat hot
Jimmy Butler, Hey, okay, I kind of like that, why
not us? Did you just say somewhat hot? Well, because well,
there'll be a few more days in between this fifty
six point game in the beginning of the next l
you're saying, whined us? Right, if you're the Heat, you're
saying why not us. Nuggets are saying why not us.
The Kings and Warriors are both saying whined us. The

(54:23):
Suns whined us. The Lakers are saying why not us.
This is that kind of year because it's we've taken
so much care to make sure the regular season is
so irrelevant. We don't get a really good read on
how good teams really are until you get to the playoffs. Now,
the Lakers, it's a little bit different because the Lakers,
it's a different team from the trade deadline on right,

(54:44):
there's a different team before D'Angelo Russell Reeves moving into
the starting line. Yeah, they were a different team. But
for most other teams.

Speaker 3 (54:52):
And the subtraction of Westbrook, it must be saying, right, yes.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
You're right, but for the other teams, you're talking about
teams that, hey, yeah they make the playoffs, but really,
how are the Knicks? How good are the next How
good are the heat They won forty four games? Right?
Are the Kings really good? The Warriors are you know,
seven and forty on the road? Are they really good?
Can the Lakers hang with with the Grizzlies and their
fast legs up and down the floor and instead what

(55:15):
we've seen is, oh, wait a minute, maybe the regular
season really is even more relevant than we thought it was,
because look at how well the Lakers are playing. Everybody's
got their role, and that's what's the bat. That's the
best part of this team is that you can see
everything has become defined. Where they were with Westbrook, it
was kind of We're just banging our heads against the wall,
trying the same thing over and over again. But now

(55:36):
you have guys with defined roles, and Lebron can play
point guards most of the game when he wants to,
doesn't have to play point guard. You get Austin Reeves
can hit threes in the starting lineup. He's more comfortable there.
You found a solution shooting guard Hatchimurra off the bench.
Once he got comfortable in the six man role, he's
been terrific. Not tonight though, but he has been terrific

(55:56):
and you have that. I mean, there's something to be
said for being able to figure out your team, but
for most of it, for most of the NBA, it's like, ah,
were the Knicks really going to be Oh no, no,
the Knicks are really good. Wow, and they'd been one
of the best teams in the league. Now we didn't
know this are the Suns the sudden well way we
all thought the Clippers were going to be really good
and they get Kawhi back. Now WHI is not playing,
but I look at Kevin Durant as long as he

(56:17):
stays healthy. Everybody is saying why not us? Every single
team and.

Speaker 3 (56:21):
This Laker team the last two months. What's been impressive
about them is not just the win loss record, and
they needed that to get into the play in for
crying out loud, forget into the top six.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
They were not.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
It's the fact that they've been a team that, in
the real sense of the word, they can have different
contributors and a night like tonight where Anthony Davis was
not on this is exactly the kind of game they
would have lost many times over, not just this season,
but last year as well, and Tonight's game could have
gone sideways so many times and to still pull it

(56:51):
out amazing. As we were watching this game in the
final ten seconds of regulation in downtown La tonight, you
got that feeling that, oh, maybe this is it. Okay,
Memphis gonna tie it up, go home for Game five,
Oh boy, because Ruey Hatchie Murr was going in for
the dunk that was going to give the Lakers the
lead in the last ten seconds, and the NBA's defensive

(57:13):
player of the Year this season, Jaron Jackson, blocked a dunk,
started a fast break the other way. Great assists from
John Morant Desmond Baine lace it in and Baine, who
had thirty six points, is probably thinking that might be it.
We're up two and we're in the final seconds, and
instead Lebron gets the ball for the last Laker possession
of regulation, runs the clock down the last seven seconds,

(57:36):
and makes a driving layup to tie Lakers winning overtime.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
I mean, and there's the most shocking part of the
statement you made. Instead of taking a bad three, which
is what Lebron has done for most of his career
game winning situations, I'm not gonna be aggressive, not gonna
take the ball to the hoop. That was it like
that was where Laker fans and really Cavaliers fans and
Heat fans were going, Could you have done that a
couple more times? Might have won another championship or two
because he takes it all the way to the rack

(58:02):
high off the glass for a lay in that sends
the game to overtime. At that moment, that's what I
knew the Lakers are going to win this game. I
you know, when he when he when he put when
he put that ball high up off the glass, I said,
this is the Lakers game. I mean, look, and he
almost won. Off of the Jamarant block. The next play
down the floor, a d blocks Ja Morant's last night

(58:23):
second Yeah, and Lebron turns and chucks it and swishes
it from the three point from his own three point line.
Now it came way after the buzzer, but he still
switches it. It was like they're gonna that this is
their game, this is their game.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
Do you remember early in his career he at that
half point half courts buzzer beater for a playoff game.
Maybe that didn't serve him well in his career where
he actually thought you talked about too many three point
drives at the end. He actually thought, I'm Lebron, I
can do this tonight. He only had one three pointer,
made one out of seven, so yeah, you you bet.

(58:55):
Running down the clock at the end of regulation, he
needed to drive.

Speaker 1 (58:59):
I repeat.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
It's one one of the unstoppable things of his games.
It's like the Kareem skyhook for him in a twenty
year career, it's what are you going to do to
stop this train coming down the tracks and driving the lane.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
He had a one on one.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
He drove the lane and he tied up the game
and got the bounce I must say, high off the
glass with the layup, got the bounce to even things
at the end of regulation.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
You know, now Lebron's getting a weak. Look, we have
Lebron a lot of run tonight, obviously with what he's doing.
But the one thing that I want to talk about
here just for a second, because this is this is
something that nobody talks about. We talk about the changes
for the Lakers. Look, we told you since the trade deadline, offensively,
they all figured out their roles and that is incredibly valuable.
But how well the Lakers have played defensively in that stretch.

(59:44):
One of the best defensive teams in the NBA, and
you look at what they did tonight. The Grizzlies were
nine of forty two from three point range tonight, nine
out of forty two, including all the Dylan Brooks misses. Yes,
I believe he missed forty one of them, but they
were I mean nine of forty two they were tonight
from three point range.

Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
And most of the first half overall, Memphis was only
shooting thirty percent from the floor. The impressive thing about
the Lakers in the bubble is how awesome the defense
got until you finally got to the clinching game. It
was just there were multiple possessions in a row where
teams just weren't getting looks against them, and it made
me think, Wow, why can't it be like this every year?

(01:00:22):
It's been like that recently, it's been some kind of
run for the Lakers. Right now, it really is up
three to one over the Grizzlies going to Game five,
and I'm telling you leave Lebron and ad at home,
give them a mystery injury and let them rest up
for Game six. Not worth it, not worth it bringing
them back for Game five that's gonna be in like
eight hours not gonna work, not gonna just keep it there.

(01:00:45):
Easy to remember the schedule in the Western Conference, by
the way, because Golden State and Sacramento are due to
play Wednesday and Friday, the Lakers, if they don't clinch Wednesday,
will be back home on Friday