January 4, 2025 • 40 mins
Jason Smith & Mike Harmon discuss some teams resting players and wonder any playoff implications such as the Bengals getting in.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hello, Welcome inside final hour tonight, the Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon, Live from the Tirack
dot Com Studios. Tirac dot com. I'll help you get
there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection,
and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirac dot Com is
the way tire buying should be. Well, here we are
(00:51):
almost on the eve of the eve of the final
week of the regular season.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Jet Show Jets.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
It's like, I mean, like, do they really have to
keep playing? I mean they really have to keep playing?
I can't, we can't, we It's over.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I'm happy as hell that it's the final week of
bear season?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I can't even tell you that I'm excited about all
the people they're talking to interview wise, because Mike Rabel's
not gonna take this job. As much as I want.
I want Mike Rabel more than anybody else, He's not
gonna He's got options. He's interviewing with the Jets. Just Silipic,
all right, I'm ready, you gotta call me, you gotta hire.
The Jets are only gonna get people to be their
GM or their head coach who would never be named
(01:35):
a GM or a head coach in any other situation,
Like it's the only chance to get it's one of
thirty two, and it's I don't really want this, but
nobody else. Nobody else is gonna hire Lewis Riddick as
their GM, but hey, the Jets might. No one else
gonna bring back Ron Rivera, who was like, what a
worst record than Robert Sala the last few of that.
But I want to let's talk to Ron Rivera. I mean,
the one thing that it's last chance hotel Man. Yeah,
(01:56):
And the one thing that.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Was positive about Rivera is what you he was part
of rebuilding and changing what was going on in Washington.
So at least that I can understand if you're trying
to do a culture shift where you bring him in
for a conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Vrabel.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
The last couple of years.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
In Tennessee didn't go brilliantly at odds at times, it
seemed with front office and everything. But again, track record
of success history with what he did in New England,
Brady endorsement, Belichick endorsement. You bring him in and you
talk to him because he's a guy that has been
a you know, exhibited leader of men. I mean, I'm
(02:36):
going with the same thing in Chicago where everybody's doing
all the pie in the sky wishing, wanting. Oh, Ben
Johnson's expressed interest in the you know, Bears job. Has
he expressed interest or is he intrigued by the offensive
weaponry that maybe he could command there? But once he
gets in there and he kicks the tired on the organization,
much like your Jets. Do you want any part of
(02:58):
that with the guys that are running.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I want more of the Bears and the Jets because
the Bears leavest to have a future. You have really
good young players, you have a franchise.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Quarterback rights don't have that, but you still But we've
always talked about it, and it's one of the monitras
of the show. A don't be stupid, b I can't
fault a good strategy. And see, uh, if you have
bad ownership slash upper management, you got problems. And what
are the Jets and Bears have in common there?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh, I don't know, it's it's it's a big deal.
But I mean, but look but Bears ownership and GM
and and and and Warren running the show. That's like that.
That looks like the forty nine ers of the eighties
compared to the Jets. Well, where you have an owner
and his teenage son who are running the team.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Yeah, but you've got Warren who keeps saying Poles is
going to hire the coach, and he's he's got his
hands in his back like he's operating him like he's
a puppet. Like it's in Chicago nineteen twenty. I mean's
on with all of.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
This going on?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Now?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
You know we have the drama of the teams that
are out of it. Let's tell you who's gonna wind
up making the playoffs in the final playoffs, Yeah, the Jets,
and only if everybody else quit. Even then the Jets
would have to pass the interview and they'd probably tank that.
Let's start with the NFC first. It's either gonna be
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Atlanta Falcons. Right, that's it.
(04:23):
Everything else is set up. We talked about the seedings
with the Lions and the Vikings. I like the Lions
on something, You like the Vikings. I'll tell you what.
Not only is Tampa Bay going to win because they
have to win and get in right and New Orleans
is I think they're starting Archie Manning at quarterback this week.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
So New Orleans linus.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
They have no offense. They're done. They're done, They've been
done for months. They're ready to get to the offseason.
Baker Mayfield is on a heater. He's gonna wind up
getting some MVP love. They're oh stays hot and they're
gonna win. But you know what, it ain't gonna matter
because Caroline is gonna beat Atlanta. Just watch. They will
(05:02):
put an end to this miserable stretch the Falcons have
had where they made the move to Michael Pennix Junior,
who has been okay, but he hasn't been lighting the
world on fire like they thought he was going to throw.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
B John Robinson. I mean that was a bullet and
that was great, But once again, you've got a young
quarterback and a coach that are you trusting what they're
calling in Atlanta in crunch time, No, and.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
He's made he's admittedly made bad decisions, you know, time out,
no time out like he has done that day.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
All of that stuff has just been absurd across the NFL,
and we saw it rear its head with Atlanta as well.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
They've never found their groove or identity. They're two inconsistent
and this is a game where, Okay, we think we're
going to walk out here and win because it's the Panthers.
But I got news for you. Bryce Young has played
his best football the last couple of weeks. This is
a guy who was playing for his NFL life, and
he knows if I have a good game here, maybe
(06:00):
I get one more year to prove that I can
be that in the third year, because I came back
after getting benched when you didn't think he was gonna
see the field at all, and he was terrible. And
he has played Okay, now I'm not saying he's been
a world beater, but he has shown a little bit
more of the flare that made him the number one
overall pick in the draft. Again, you got to get
him outside the pocket. You got to get him making
instinctive plays with his legs and Bryce s Young will
(06:22):
be a different quarterback again. He'll be the same guy
you saw at Alabama. How he puts throws where he does,
he sees the field amazing. But you got to keep
getting him outside the pocket. But he has played a
he has played great football the last couple of weeks.
And one more big game where you knock the Falcons
out of the playoffs. Play well. He may walk into
next year going okay, I got one more year in
(06:43):
this fresh start to get it done. Get me the
Carolina Panthers upsetting the Atlanta Falcons. They're playing at home,
and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game becomes irrelevant.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Atlanta given seven and a half, forty eight and a
half the total. The other thing you've seen is, you know,
we've talked about it for years on the show doing this.
The greatest post up player for me has been and
Kwon Bolden in the final years of his career. Right,
find the space, good hands, box out all of those things,
(07:16):
and then do some red zone work as well. Keenan
Allen doing a little of that with his run here
in Chicago. That's been where he's been at his best,
as he's not the same juggernaut he once was as
a member of the Chargers. You're seeing that now with
Adam Thielen and what he's meant for this second act
of Bryce Young this year. The last couple of weeks,
(07:36):
their connection has been fantastic. Last five weeks, he's got
five or more catches in every game.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, all of a sudden, it's like six years ago,
and wow, Adam Thieling's going to be the new Wes
Welker for the Vikings.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
He's not taking the cover off of things. That's not
what his job is. His job is to move the
sticks and keep drives alive. And he's been doing that
in a big fashion. And going up against Atlanta opportunity
once again. Yeah, Bryce Young has been phenomenal. I still
think Atlanta wins. I'll take Carolina plus the seven and
a half in Tampa minus fourteen.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Man, these points spreads fun.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
It's like that one with Baltimore at minus twenty. Like,
all right, let's just see how long before you can
do the Queen's Wave and walk to the sidelines.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
So we both like Tampa to get to the playoffs.
In the NFC. The AFC is down to three teams
for one spot. Right depending on how things go, it's
either going to be the Broncos or the Dolphins or
the Bengals. Let's go in show order. How we said,
how we go in show order? We get the Bengals
play the first game to borrow against the Steelers. I
know it's on the road. I'll take Joe Burrow.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
I'll take Joe Burrow. Yeah, he's on the defense. Pittsburgh's
got a lot of struggles right now.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
He is on an unreal heater. The Steelers are running
out of gas. They're finding out that Russell Wilson isn't
the savior that Mike Tomlin said he was the early
parts of the year. They are struggling. They've got a
lot of jags on offense, and this formula of trying
to win every week sixteen to ten, you can't do it.
And you can see them running out of gas and
Burrowing Company are hot. They're gonna get the win. That's
(09:11):
gonna put the pressure on the Dolphins and the Broncos
for Sunday I'd love to be able to sit here
and tell you, hey, the Jets are gonna be picking
in the top five, top seven. They're gonna lose the Dolphins.
But no, no, it's gonna be a typical Jets thing
to do in what could be Aaron Rodgers' final NFL game.
So you know he's gonna ball out not knowing how
the offseason is gonna play out. And I'm not under
(09:33):
any false pretenses that Tyler Huntley, who's gonna play quarterback
because two is not gonna play, is gonna be able
to come in and put enough points on the board.
The Jets offense still has star power, and as we've seen,
the Dolphins can't win without a tongue of ailoa. They
can't run the football. It's not gonna be a game
where suddenly, hey, all right, we're just gonna get the
ball to eighth chn and got no, they can't even
(09:53):
do that. They can't. Really, this is an offense that
just sputters to a halt when two is not the core.
And the Jets, as much as they mailed it in
last week, they knew they weren't gonna beat the Bills. Hey,
last game of the season at home against the Dolphins. Yeah,
this is a game the Jets win. Maybe they wind
up drafting tenth or eleventh because of it, but they
(10:14):
send the Dolphins out of the playoffs with a big win.
So now it comes down to the Broncos. And you
know what, I know that that the Chiefs are starting
Carson Wentz. The Chiefs are still going to win this game.
They are the better team overall. The Broncos are coming
back to Earth. Their defense is gonna cause enough problems
for bon Nicks and the Broncos. If the season ended
(10:37):
three weeks ago, boy, the Broncos really would have been
the right spot because they would have hit their peak.
But if you've seen they're starting to come down the
other side. You can only do so much when you
don't have great playmakers. And even though the Chiefs are
playing without Patrick Mahomes are gonna rest a bunch of
guys no pressure. They win this game, they knock Denver out,
Miami loses, and the Bengals, the team nobody wants to
(10:58):
play because Burrows do win five touchdown a week, are
going to get into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Curious to see how many of the defenders sit down
as well, right now, it's a ten and a half
point line, Denver favorite at home. Forty and a half
is your total. I think Wentz still has a little
bit of an opportunity. He wants to show he still belongs,
so it'll wing it around. Denver's defense remains one of
its big strength vance Joseph's done a great job there
(11:22):
throughout the year. Ten and a half. I'll take Kansas
City with the points, but I think Denver does enough
to win the game.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
What a day for Carson Wentz four hundred and sixty
yards passing and five touchdowns. What if he has a
day better than any day Mahomes has had throughout this.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Year, that would be pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
He all of a sudden like, yeah, wait, what do
you need Patrick for it? Look at me, Look at
look at the numbers I'm putting up here with these guys.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
But legitimately it does open the door because we talked
about the dearth of quality quarterbacks. Remember at one point
we were looking at a list in the studio together
and Zach Wilson was listed as a top three potential
free agent quarterback. Right because you're looking at Brock Purty
stand where he is, You're looking at Sam Darnald either
getting franchise tagged or getting a deal where he and
(12:07):
the Vikings figure something out. There's been whispers of whether
McCarthy might get dealt coming off the two knee surgeries
because you like what Donald's doing. You also signed Daniel
Jones there, so you know, quarterback whisper O'Connell kind of thing.
Maybe you can get some picks and opportunity and to
move McCarthy and work with the two veterans and get
(12:30):
more draft picks to build things up. Remember, Minnesota has
done a lot of this damage. The offensive line got
juxtaposed and bounced around a little bit with Derisog going
down early, so you know, looking at what they've been
able to do, fairly remarkable. But all of that to say,
there's not a lot of huge quarterback options out there
(12:51):
for you. Carson Wentz could play himself back into a
position where he goes in battles with a rookie for
starting job. How crazy is that? But he has one
big game, it's the light. He's like calder Mote. That's
all that matters. But look at the passing numbers for
UH this year. For what would it take to Supplan.
(13:12):
I mean you had three twenty and three on that
Christmas Day game for Mahomes against Pittsburgh. I mean, that's
that's really the big game. One ninety six and three
that was a loss to Buffalo, two ninety one and
three that was a win against Tampa and overtime going
back to the beginning of November, like, those are the
(13:33):
ones that stand out. Otherwise it's a lot of two forties,
two fifties and twos. So there you go, buddy, There
there's your aga. And two sixty nine and three against
Carolina doesn't count, even though it was a three point win.
It just doesn't count because, I mean, Carolina has had
a nice run the second half of the year. But
uh no, that's not not a big win. Uh So, yeah,
(13:54):
I guess that Pittsburgh Christmas Day game when he got
that cool ass code at the end of it is
the win.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And he gave me get a real cool coat at
the end.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
That's that was pretty cool. That was a nice gift.
I'm taking this home.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yeah, of course, you.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Damn football cake, But I'm taking the coat and I'm
going home.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
But I'm telling you that I'll always take the better
team than a team that that has kind of hit
the top of the mountain to start and try to
figure it out as they try to stop falling down it.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, it would be cool to see Cincinnati get in
just for the purpose of some of the MVP chatter. Again,
I think you've lost too many games. H Yes, your
defense stunk, But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Man, if Burrow gets in, if Burrow gets the Bengals in,
and it's it's really at this point, I think Josh
Allen kind of peaked a little bit too early and
and and okay, now it's finishing. Yeah, he's not going
to play Sunday. So I think it's it's if Burrow
gets in and he gets and he gets the and
he gets the Bengals in, he's going to be the MVP.
(14:53):
If not, it's gonna right now he's Yeah, I think
if he gets them in, he's the MVP. And if not,
it's Lamar Jackson gonna get my money. I'm gonna get
your money in on Burrow.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Now, well, you know what, I got nothing to do tomorrow?
You want to go drive to Vegas?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Why do we have to drive? Can't we do stuff?
Speaker 4 (15:09):
I mean, well, we got to get across state line.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
We really do.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
I don't think you could bet that in California really,
I mean you could VPN and stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I don't do that stuff. I don't.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
I don't play games. Fine, she's kind of like people
going on to Russian websites to watch games.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I'm not doing it.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
I paid the man his money and see I pulled
it back with Malkovich there. But Burrow at twenty to
one is interesting, right, because Alan's sitting at minus three
hundred minus two fifty and he's not gonna play.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
So if the door was.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Really that wide open, those odds would have come down
for Burrow, I think, and for Lamar Jackson a lot
more than they have.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah. No, I agree with you on that. I see
you on that. They're they're projecting for Lamar Jackson. But
I wonder if you see, if you see another big
day from him, if you might see some movement over
the weekend. Yeah, they play Saturday instead of Sunday, you
might see some movement over the week.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I just go back to also the idea of all right,
how much of those early games count as empty stats?
I know the defense stunk, don't get me wrong. And
obviously McPherson did not have the year that you expected
McPherson to have after his big year a year ago.
But all all of that to say, you know, when
those losses are piling up, they'll still have to count, right.
(16:31):
I mean, I'm not going Kirk Kurbstreet to say, hey,
you know, let's forget about wins. Wins don't matter, winds
are irrelevant.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
No wait, wait, wait, I mean that.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Was kind of what he wrot.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
We're trying to make his whole miss and they're actually important,
and now Bama notes.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
They actually are pretty important. Hang on a second, So.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Then he just bets really well, as he's learned gambling
in these days, because you know, picked Michigan to win.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
There's our picks as to who's making the playoff the
final weekend in the AFC and the NFC. We got
more football on the way now that we've had a
chance to take a breath, as we get ready for
the final four of the college football playoff next week,
we will tell you the best thing about the playoffs
so far. That's next Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
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 app.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon Liveromthetirack dot Com Studios, and uh we
had a couple of bowl games tonight. We had the
Duke's Mayo Bowl. We did.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Did you see the big twist at the end?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Wait? Wait wait.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Mayo bowl by the way, and jar will arrive tomorrow tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
So you not only ordered a bowl of Duke's Mayo,
you got it to arrive tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
I mean Amazon overnight.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, but I mean wait, you can overnight mayonnaise.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Well, I said it would deliver it between four and
eight tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So you're staying up till four in the morning.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Yeah, Wait on, No, I got a couple of deliveries
tomorrow coming at any time.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
I gotta be ready. I'm gonna sit on the porch
every truck that goes by. Are you here with my Mayo?
Are you here with my Mayo?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
No?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
So I got that.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
I got the bottles for the next round of glug
either come tomorrow morning, or some boy a new set
of headphones to replace those that I don't know what happened.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
No, someone uses.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
It to good health. Let's let's put it that way.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
And then whoever's got them, I don't know. Maybe I
left them on my car when I drove out of
here a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
But either way, uh so replacing those and then I've
got a grading order coming back from trading cards. So like,
I got a big day coming up, big weekend. But
the the two But you.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Over, dude, you overnighted mayonnaise? I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
It tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
You you over mayonnaise. Yeah, it's okay, regular shipping. No, no, no, no,
I want to overnight this mayonnaise.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I want to gave me the option to have it overnight.
So yeah, I want it now.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Anyway, when they were announcing, you know they were in
the line, you know, all the love for PJ Fleck
and everything. Uh, the mascot took his head off and
it was Flavor Flame.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah. No, I saw jumping around tonight shore.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, so he was there.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
But I saw the reveal that it was like as
we were talking Patrick and Alex and I, it was
like a masked singer reveal.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah kind of Yeah, I think he was also on
the mask singer.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I believe he was this next year.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I just want to be unmasked, and I wear something
to be unmasked. Yeah, that's great, Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
I want what do you think he got paid for that?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Oh? I think he got paid in mayonnaise? Oh man, Yeah,
you get paid in Hey, how about a lifetime supply.
I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, I get the basic one or doing one.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Or no, that was Cramer. We're going to give you
a lifetime supply of coffee. I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
But now that we're getting set for the final four
of college, let's go. We're a little bit less than
a week away, right, we're ready. They've owned the stories,
the storyline all through the holiday. Now that we can
take a breath, let's let's think back to all the
controversy surrounding the beginning of the playoffs, and you understand
(20:29):
what a load of crap it all is. All the
questions over, oh, how does how does Alabama not get in?
How does Miami not get in?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
How do we.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
They stink? How do we we saw them stake against
Michigan who was playing fourth string guys in the defensive line. Uh,
how all this, all this controversy over the early round
matchups and how bad the seedings were and all you
would you would have a better game here, and this
is what's wrong with the player and everything has turned
(21:03):
out to be crap. You know why, because the reason
we have the expanded playoff is to make sure the
best five or six teams get into the tournament. Right,
I guess obviously it's about money. It's about the more
teams in the better off it is. Yeah, but the
one thing we couldn't have, especially after last year, was, hey,
we can no longer trust the top four teams get in.
(21:24):
Florida State was undefeated. Yes, they lost Jordan Travis and
but wait a minute, why are we not We did
everything you wanted us to do well. We got to
make a choice. That fourteen playoff had was no longer feasible.
It was no longer a model that worked because every year,
what did we see? Hey, look at the snubs at
(21:44):
five and six, because there's not a lot of difference
between a team that's ranked fourth the team that's ranked
fifth or sixth. Now is there a big difference between
the team's ranked fourth, fifth and sixth and eleventh and twelfth.
Hell yeah, as you've seen, there's a big difference. So
the main thing that this this this playoff is supposed
to do. It is supposed to say, hey, we got
to make sure we get the best five or six
(22:04):
teams in. As long as we do that, the rest
of the teams can be whoever they want to be.
And people can argue for a couple of days, but
in the end you're arguing, like it's the NCAA basketball tournament,
where all the snubs are a story for about eight seconds,
and then we're playing the games on the first four,
which is gonna be the first eight of the first
twelve whatever they changed to, and then we're onto the games. Right,
We're not talking about the snubs anymore. It lasted a
(22:26):
little bit longer this year because you know, you play
once a week and there is a long time between
the unveiling of the playoff teams and when we played
our first game. But in the end that went away,
Right when when when when Michigan and and Miami all
that went away? You got the best five or six
teams in because that's where your your playoff final four
and your champion's gonna come from. And what do we
(22:48):
see right now? Of the team's ranked in the final
AP and coaches pol top twenty five, we have the
teams ranked three to four, five and six. Right we
lost the top two teams. Okay, hey, but it's close.
But it's not like we have a twelve that's won
its way all the way up. And you know what,
if you're a twelve seed that's win its way all
the way up, more power to your congratulations. But you're
gonna see that. Hey, it's gonna be the top five
(23:09):
or six teams are the best teams in the country.
They deserve it. They all deserve to get in, and
the rest of the teams can be whatever it is,
because now you're talking about the difference between a team
ranked six and a team ranked twelfth, and not a
team ranked fourth or fifth that have identical resumes or
in some ways you have a better resume than the
team in front of you. So the playoff has done
(23:30):
exactly what they wanted to do. We got the best
teams in. We have a great tournament so far. Yeah,
you'd like the early round games to be closer, and
I think they will. They'll they'll tweak it a little
bit and next year, I'm sure it will be. Hey,
if you win your conference, you get into the playoff,
you don't necessarily be a top four seed, so they
want good games and I understand that. But this is
still the first year of this model, so there's gonna
(23:51):
be some tweaks. But overall, the best five or six
teams are in, and four of the best six teams
are in the final four. So yeah, mission accomplished. They
did exactly what they was supposed to do and it's
a huge success.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Yeah, not to belabor the blowout thing, but we watched
that during the four team playoff, right Oftentimes there wasn't
really a great fourth team you liked, and there have
been plenty of blowouts in that format, plenty of blowouts
going back to the BCS format and all of those things,
so you know you're never gonna get those out of
the game. I think to your point that the final
(24:22):
four that we have, being top six ranked, yeah, some
of the automatic buy thing will probably get adjusted a
little bit. I think if you're not if you're not
from the big ten SEC or Notre Dame, you may
lose out on that going forward, So some of that
might go away in terms of those considerations. We certainly
(24:43):
had a lot of consternation over the fact that Ohio
State and Oregon met where they did. You know, do
you really get an advantage, you know, being the dominant
team the way that got bracketed out. Yeah, some of
those little details will will get mitigated in and repurposed
along the way. But if you're if you are a
(25:04):
back end of the twelve team or eventually fourteen or
sixteen or however how big it gets, yeah, you're you're
gonna you're gonna have some some latitude, you know, in
terms of that spacing. And maybe some of the secondary
conferences don't mean to be mean about it, maybe you
lose some of the benefit of the doubt and get
(25:25):
left out of the dance. Uh and again another SEC
or big ten team on the grand scale. I don't
know how much complaining that'll be other than we start
getting into the college basketball comparisons of mid majors. But yeah,
if you do get those run ups, yeah it's better
for business. But all of that to say, even when
(25:46):
the twelve got announced, how great was it? People get
be mad right and and have their bad takes herb
Street and others After games and blowouts happened, and and
you do your conference alignments and stump for the network
you work with and whoever they've got TV rights to.
(26:07):
That's gonna happen. That's always been happening, and that's not
going to stop. And what it is, it's great for business,
it's great for us. And where we have this final four,
I mean, look at these look at these schools that
are still represented, the conferences that are still represented, the SEC,
the Big Ten, and Notre Dame its own little mini
(26:27):
conference there that it's good. Hate watching is alive because
you've got hate watchers for each one of these programs, right,
People that want to watch Ryan Day fail, people that
want to watch Notre Dame lose, people that want James
Franklin to never get credit for winning a meaningful game.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Right.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
We talked with Pete Futech about it and he laughed
about it going well, looking at Boise State and SMU,
yeah maybe they haven't done that yet. So all of that,
and then Texas, Hey, welcome to the SEC. You're the
last teams dan, So all all of that, right, So
it gets people, It gets tongues wagging, it's obviously drawn
(27:07):
eyeballs and the pageantry and the star performances Jeremiah Smith
and others that have had their big moments on a
giant stage. Yeah, it's great for business.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Now the other thing, and this is this is more
of a it's more of a tweak, right because everything
is working. But as we said, you know, there's tweaks
going on. They're gonna tweak that. They're gonna tweak the
home field. I'm sure they're gonna tweak the seatings. The
other thing that's gonna get tweak. And we talked about
strength of schedule will be a bigger deal next year
because hey is a nine and three team from the
SEC that's beaten three top twenty five teams better than
(27:39):
in eleven and one Indiana team from the Big ten
that really didn't beat anybody. So strength the schedule is
gonna be a thing. The other thing that's gonna be
a that's gonna be a big factor. Uh. The ACC
this year is two and twelve in Bowls two and twelve,
who's one of the only two teams that have won.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Mike Harmon, Fran Brown and the cues Ye your guy high, Uh,
in your and on your Earth.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
They may give it back it may, they may. It
should look it should have been Hunter and Scataboo and
McCord in New York. That's the three should have been.
But one thing that's going to happen too that's a
tweak is this is that ulis yes, more on strength
to schedule, but there's going to be more of an emphasis.
And rightfully, so I'm not saying this is a bad thing.
The SEC and the eight and and the Big Ten
(28:29):
are the two best conference in college football. And it's
not close. Right some years the AC some years acy
some years the Big Ten will be stronger like it
is this year. Some years the SEC will be stronger.
But these two conferences, more than anything, they are better
than everybody else. And when you look at a squad
like the ACC and they got a couple of teams,
and it's like, dude, you're two and twelve, you're going
(28:50):
there's going to be more of an understanding that, Hey,
the Big Ten and the SEC, these teams are better. Right,
They play a better schedule, they're tougher than the ACC
and the Big twelve and the malway they're better. So
when it comes down to a situation where hey, we
have an eleven and two team and the Big Ten
(29:10):
and we have a or we have a ten and
two team in the Big Ten and an eleven and
one team in the ACC. Well guess who's going to
get that spot? The ten and two team in the
Big Ten, because the schedule is going to be roundly
agreed on that. It's tougher, the teams are tougher, and
being ten and two in that conference is better than
being eleven and one in the ACC. Because look, I
love the ACC right, well, actually I don't. I can't
(29:32):
stand the sent one syricus to leave, but I have
nothing against them as a conference, But I understand that
ACC is not nearly at the level of the other two,
and that's the way it should be adjudicated. Where the
best conferences, maybe those conferences get three teams each and
the ACC gets two and the Big twelve gets one.
However you want to put it out there, I think
that's sort of gonna be the numbers that we see
(29:54):
from now on.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Yeah, I think the hard part to the strength of
schedule part of the discussion is you know, when you
look at the way these conferences have ballooned, right, the
Big Ten is gonna be twenty seven teams before long. Right,
this is the way this goes, and maybe eventually, Nah,
there's too much money involved. I was gonna say, Notre
(30:14):
Dame actually officially becomes a Big ten squad unless they don't.
But like you're gonna have situations like in Indiana where
you don't quote play anybody and have big wins. Right,
you have the narrow victory over Michigan, which looks a
lot better I guess down the stretch. But again with
(30:35):
non college football playoff bowl games, what does that Michigan
in the Michigan Alabama game do?
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Right?
Speaker 4 (30:45):
With the number of guys that opted out and are
transferring and the players that are involved and everything else,
Like is that good? Is it bad or whatever? It's
like the analogy I used when we were talking about this,
you know earlier on in the process is you know,
when you go and you give your earnings forecasting as
a company, you can't lie outright, but you may sandbag
(31:08):
things a little bit, waiting on deals that are kind
of in place, and maybe you're done but could fall
apart at the goal line. So maybe your your forecast
is a little conservative, even though you think you can
hit the home run because guess what when you then
give your earnings for that quarter man, it was over
the top. So no coach is going ahead going you know,
(31:29):
we're an eleven win team, right, it's name that tune.
You're gonna go, you know, on the higher end until
the guy forces your hand. It's like, I want as
long as a lead on this stuff as I can get. So,
you know, for an Indiana, they got a lot of
consternation and finger wagging after getting beaten, saying wow, look
(31:50):
they didn't beat anybody good, like, that's not their fault.
The schedule just happened to be this year. They had
a good run and they didn't have some of the
biggest big ten heavyweights on it. So you're you're not
going to suddenly be able to say, okay, it's August first.
I'm putting in we're going to be a nine or
ten win team, So schedule me accordingly. That's how I
think we're that good. So go ahead, give me the
(32:12):
random scheduled generator and put a bunch of Bowerhouses on
it because we're ready. No, it's not how it works.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you know win.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon.
Now to a guy who is always winning the victaries,
that's what he tells.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
He's a champ.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
It's special delivery.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Steve to say, point six points.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
Will carry that the entire fantasy offseason, Thank you very much.
Lake game in LA and the NBA went to the
Lakers over Atlanta one nineteen, one oh two Lebron James
with thirty points. The big NBA news earlier in the evening,
the Miami Heat suspended Jimmy Butler seven games for conduct
detrimental to the team. The Heat will now listen to
trade offers. Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers could make his
(32:53):
season debut Saturday after the knee entry. Sacramento Edge Memphis
won thirty eight one thirty three Elite Monk with thirty
one points. San Antonio won at Denver one thirteen, one
ten Victor Wimbin Yama thirty five points, eighteen rebounds, Nikola
Jokich in the loss forty one points, eighteen rebounds and
nine assists. Cleveland is thirty and four. The Cavs won
(33:16):
their ninth in a row one at Dallas one thirty four,
one twenty two. Kyrie Irving of the MAVs was out
due to illness at New Orleans fifty points for CJ.
McCollum and a win over Washington one thirty two to
one twenty the column from three point range ten of sixteen,
just one turnover. New Orleans had lost eleven in a row.
Boston is twenty six and nine after winning at Houston
(33:38):
one oh nine eighty six. Jalen Brown of the Celtics
was out again with a shoulder injury. Rockets forward Jabari
Smith broke his hand at shoot around. He'll be reevaluated
in four to six weeks. Wins for Detroit and Orlando
and for Oklahoma City, which outscored the Knicks in the
fourth quarter by eighteen beat him one seventeen one oh seven.
OKC has won fourteen in a row. College football Bowl
(34:00):
wins for Minnesota and Texas State. Dolphins quarterback Tutanga bay
Loa is unlikely to play Sunday at the Jets due
to his hip injury. College basketball wins for number eight
Marquette over Creighton and number eighteen Michigan State, which won
in Ohio State. The Dodgers signed Korean infielder High Song
Kim three years plus a two year option and in
the NHL Florida in a shootout edge Pittsburgh three to two.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve Though The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Carmen Livethtirack dot Com Studios.
Coming up next to get ready if your team needs
to make a big trade. There is an NBA superstar
who a team has said, give us your offers. We
are ready to listen. That's next, Jason to Mike Fox. Now, wait,
this is the second time you played this song tonight,
(34:45):
ty shirt. It's the second time. No repeats. It's a
no repeat Friday.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
There is a reason you're running, why you've been out
a long time.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
I got to double up.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
He has been talking about it, like, you know, like
just one of the things that was going around. Oh yes,
I'm Whatever's like, all right, we took a couple of
days with our families, uh and and to reset. And
I appreciate all the folks that were in for us
and with us during this time. Uh and now we're
ready to dominate twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Yeah, but it meant that you got a second again
though I don't need to hear that, well, I.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Mean, you won't hear it today. I don't think unless
it's the outro before burn, of course.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
It's gonna be. Of course, you don't ever know.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
We might go back to Buffalo Bill's song. I mean,
I don't know. He's just happy as hell to have
us back. Okay, like the smile on Tysirt's face the
last two days. Look, there's a lot going on. There's
been a lot of moving parts. So to get back
to some semblance of normalcy with the normal squad has
been very big. And Patrick, thank you for being with
(35:50):
us tonight. Uh frostburg ailen a little bit ahead of
their season finale with the Chargers and and the playoffs
to come. But I can tell you know, and he
breathed a sigh of relief. He was excited to have
his back to play the Hobo drops and everything idea.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
So there you go, Jason.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
I was very excited when Mike came back.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Tocher it meant more glug yes, and you're and you're
back as well that.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
That oh yeah you're back to hijay.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Yeah. Uh So we talked about this last night. This
is proving to you that we can be NBA inside
Wizards when Jimmy Butler decided to get a little extemporaneous
in his postgame press conference, say you know what I
really want out of Miami now, and I'm gonna blow
torch the doors off of this thing, saying that he's
lost his joy. He's happy in Miamiah. He not happy
(36:42):
on the court though, so I guess you know is
you know who is his mail man. He's happy with
his mail man. That was a dry cleaner. But he
face coffee doing well. I'm sure happy with his coffee.
Not happy on the court. Can you get that joy back?
And Jimmy Butler said, probably not. We told you last night.
He has played his last game as a member of
the Heat and they're going to trade him. As much
(37:03):
as pat Riley likes to have, you know, manly contest
with people, he knows they have to trade him. And
what happened tonight. Shams Tarani comes out with the with
the story, Jimmy Butler has been suspended for seven games
because of conduct detrimental to the organize. But what he
said and they are now listening to offers for trade again.
(37:26):
We could be NBA and ziye screw we told you
this is going to happen last night, and the same
thing is true that we said twenty four hours ago.
Jimmy Butler is going to be a well sought after
player because we have seen players who have worn out
their welcome, lost the passion for playing for a certain team,
suddenly rediscover it when they get dealt right. We saw
(37:47):
Carmelo Anthony, we saw it with Chris Paul, we saw
big time with James Harden. It's gonna be the same
thing for Jimmy Butler. Not that Jimmy Butler is suddenly
going to be a twenty five point a game guy. Again,
you're not getting thirty one year old Butler. You're getting
thirty five year old Jimmy Butler. But he does have
a lot to offer with his special brand of volatility
(38:08):
leadership that he has that you know, not it is
not for everybody, but it might be for the right
team that needs a little bit of what Jimmy Butler has.
Need a little bit of that crazy, a little bit
of that volatile, little bit of that crazy. I've known
what I'm there right now. Too much crazy. Bet a
little crazy can work, But he's only got one.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Like he's got the rest of this year, and then
there's a player option for next year, which they say, well,
he's expected to op out, like, well, yeah, unless he
needs the fifty two million because things have gone south.
But right now he's averaging over eighteen points a game.
Gives you the locker room thing in spurts, if you've
got a locker room that'll accept a little tough love
along the way. And I think he just wants to
(38:46):
plice some meaningful basketball whatever's going on with Spolstra, you know,
and they didn't add on to the team the last
couple of years. That's the subplot to all of this
of hey, go make some moves, so we're really championship
ready and he wants to, which is good.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
And there's gonna be no shortage of teams that are
out there saying we want a piece of Jimmy Butler
because it's not gonna cost a lot for him, because
now that he's pushed his way out, they know they
have to trade him. Pat Riley has lost and because
he's not the same player, it's not gonna be expensive.
And the team's on his list. He's got Houston on
the list, he's got Golden State he has Dallas on
(39:25):
the list. All of these teams and he's got the
Phoenix Suns on his list. All these teams outside of
the Rockets are probably gonna be interested. The Rockets have
a pretty good thing going on right now, and I
don't know that they want to upset. Hey, we don't
know how good we are, but we're at the top
of the West. We've won twice as many games as
we've lost this year. We want to kind of see
what we have before you go crazy making, you know,
bringing in you know, other people from the outside, but
(39:48):
the other teams, and I'll take the Rockets off that
list and I'll replace them with the Lakers, because the
Lakers have shown if we think we need something, will
be aggressive and go get it. You know, Lebron will
trust Jimmy Butler. He's someone that can come in and play.
Fits'll fill a lot of different roles, be trustworthy down
the stretch to make big shots. Yeah, take the Rockets out,
put the Lakers in, and I'll bet you that one
(40:09):
of those four teams is gonna wind up with him
because you know, even though it's on his wish list,
they're all in the Western Conference and that's where pat
Riley's gonna trade him.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
Lakers with another big win tonight, seventeen point victory over
Atlanta at home, trying to figure out how to get
some depth and it'll be a little bit of creativity
with the math, right fuzzy math when it comes to
NBA trades where you have to match things up, but
where there's a will, there's a way.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
Now I'm telling you what, within the next week, Jimmy
Butler is gonna be on a new team and you're
gonna say, Wow, NBA insiders, right here.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Let's go add it to the job descriptions in my LinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome for Mike.
I'm Jason coming up next, It's burning Bernie Frattle. This
as Fox Sports Radio.
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hello, Welcome inside final hour tonight, the Jason Smith Show
with my best friend Mike Harmon, Live from the Tirack
dot Com Studios. Tirac dot com. I'll help you get
there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection,
and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirac dot Com is
the way tire buying should be. Well, here we are
(00:51):
almost on the eve of the eve of the final
week of the regular season.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Jet Show Jets.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
It's like, I mean, like, do they really have to
keep playing? I mean they really have to keep playing?
I can't, we can't, we It's over.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I'm happy as hell that it's the final week of
bear season?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I can't even tell you that I'm excited about all
the people they're talking to interview wise, because Mike Rabel's
not gonna take this job. As much as I want.
I want Mike Rabel more than anybody else, He's not
gonna He's got options. He's interviewing with the Jets. Just Silipic,
all right, I'm ready, you gotta call me, you gotta hire.
The Jets are only gonna get people to be their
GM or their head coach who would never be named
(01:35):
a GM or a head coach in any other situation,
Like it's the only chance to get it's one of
thirty two, and it's I don't really want this, but
nobody else. Nobody else is gonna hire Lewis Riddick as
their GM, but hey, the Jets might. No one else
gonna bring back Ron Rivera, who was like, what a
worst record than Robert Sala the last few of that.
But I want to let's talk to Ron Rivera. I mean,
the one thing that it's last chance hotel Man. Yeah,
(01:56):
And the one thing that.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Was positive about Rivera is what you he was part
of rebuilding and changing what was going on in Washington.
So at least that I can understand if you're trying
to do a culture shift where you bring him in
for a conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Vrabel.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
The last couple of years.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
In Tennessee didn't go brilliantly at odds at times, it
seemed with front office and everything. But again, track record
of success history with what he did in New England,
Brady endorsement, Belichick endorsement. You bring him in and you
talk to him because he's a guy that has been
a you know, exhibited leader of men. I mean, I'm
(02:36):
going with the same thing in Chicago where everybody's doing
all the pie in the sky wishing, wanting. Oh, Ben
Johnson's expressed interest in the you know, Bears job. Has
he expressed interest or is he intrigued by the offensive
weaponry that maybe he could command there? But once he
gets in there and he kicks the tired on the organization,
much like your Jets. Do you want any part of
(02:58):
that with the guys that are running.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I want more of the Bears and the Jets because
the Bears leavest to have a future. You have really
good young players, you have a franchise.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Quarterback rights don't have that, but you still But we've
always talked about it, and it's one of the monitras
of the show. A don't be stupid, b I can't
fault a good strategy. And see, uh, if you have
bad ownership slash upper management, you got problems. And what
are the Jets and Bears have in common there?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh, I don't know, it's it's it's a big deal.
But I mean, but look but Bears ownership and GM
and and and and Warren running the show. That's like that.
That looks like the forty nine ers of the eighties
compared to the Jets. Well, where you have an owner
and his teenage son who are running the team.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Yeah, but you've got Warren who keeps saying Poles is
going to hire the coach, and he's he's got his
hands in his back like he's operating him like he's
a puppet. Like it's in Chicago nineteen twenty. I mean's
on with all of.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
This going on?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Now?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
You know we have the drama of the teams that
are out of it. Let's tell you who's gonna wind
up making the playoffs in the final playoffs, Yeah, the Jets,
and only if everybody else quit. Even then the Jets
would have to pass the interview and they'd probably tank that.
Let's start with the NFC first. It's either gonna be
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Atlanta Falcons. Right, that's it.
(04:23):
Everything else is set up. We talked about the seedings
with the Lions and the Vikings. I like the Lions
on something, You like the Vikings. I'll tell you what.
Not only is Tampa Bay going to win because they
have to win and get in right and New Orleans
is I think they're starting Archie Manning at quarterback this week.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
So New Orleans linus.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
They have no offense. They're done. They're done, They've been
done for months. They're ready to get to the offseason.
Baker Mayfield is on a heater. He's gonna wind up
getting some MVP love. They're oh stays hot and they're
gonna win. But you know what, it ain't gonna matter
because Caroline is gonna beat Atlanta. Just watch. They will
(05:02):
put an end to this miserable stretch the Falcons have
had where they made the move to Michael Pennix Junior,
who has been okay, but he hasn't been lighting the
world on fire like they thought he was going to throw.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
B John Robinson. I mean that was a bullet and
that was great, But once again, you've got a young
quarterback and a coach that are you trusting what they're
calling in Atlanta in crunch time, No, and.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
He's made he's admittedly made bad decisions, you know, time out,
no time out like he has done that day.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
All of that stuff has just been absurd across the NFL,
and we saw it rear its head with Atlanta as well.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
They've never found their groove or identity. They're two inconsistent
and this is a game where, Okay, we think we're
going to walk out here and win because it's the Panthers.
But I got news for you. Bryce Young has played
his best football the last couple of weeks. This is
a guy who was playing for his NFL life, and
he knows if I have a good game here, maybe
(06:00):
I get one more year to prove that I can
be that in the third year, because I came back
after getting benched when you didn't think he was gonna
see the field at all, and he was terrible. And
he has played Okay, now I'm not saying he's been
a world beater, but he has shown a little bit
more of the flare that made him the number one
overall pick in the draft. Again, you got to get
him outside the pocket. You got to get him making
instinctive plays with his legs and Bryce s Young will
(06:22):
be a different quarterback again. He'll be the same guy
you saw at Alabama. How he puts throws where he does,
he sees the field amazing. But you got to keep
getting him outside the pocket. But he has played a
he has played great football the last couple of weeks.
And one more big game where you knock the Falcons
out of the playoffs. Play well. He may walk into
next year going okay, I got one more year in
(06:43):
this fresh start to get it done. Get me the
Carolina Panthers upsetting the Atlanta Falcons. They're playing at home,
and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game becomes irrelevant.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Atlanta given seven and a half, forty eight and a
half the total. The other thing you've seen is, you know,
we've talked about it for years on the show doing this.
The greatest post up player for me has been and
Kwon Bolden in the final years of his career. Right,
find the space, good hands, box out all of those things,
(07:16):
and then do some red zone work as well. Keenan
Allen doing a little of that with his run here
in Chicago. That's been where he's been at his best,
as he's not the same juggernaut he once was as
a member of the Chargers. You're seeing that now with
Adam Thielen and what he's meant for this second act
of Bryce Young this year. The last couple of weeks,
(07:36):
their connection has been fantastic. Last five weeks, he's got
five or more catches in every game.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, all of a sudden, it's like six years ago,
and wow, Adam Thieling's going to be the new Wes
Welker for the Vikings.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
He's not taking the cover off of things. That's not
what his job is. His job is to move the
sticks and keep drives alive. And he's been doing that
in a big fashion. And going up against Atlanta opportunity
once again. Yeah, Bryce Young has been phenomenal. I still
think Atlanta wins. I'll take Carolina plus the seven and
a half in Tampa minus fourteen.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Man, these points spreads fun.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
It's like that one with Baltimore at minus twenty. Like,
all right, let's just see how long before you can
do the Queen's Wave and walk to the sidelines.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
So we both like Tampa to get to the playoffs.
In the NFC. The AFC is down to three teams
for one spot. Right depending on how things go, it's
either going to be the Broncos or the Dolphins or
the Bengals. Let's go in show order. How we said,
how we go in show order? We get the Bengals
play the first game to borrow against the Steelers. I
know it's on the road. I'll take Joe Burrow.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
I'll take Joe Burrow. Yeah, he's on the defense. Pittsburgh's
got a lot of struggles right now.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
He is on an unreal heater. The Steelers are running
out of gas. They're finding out that Russell Wilson isn't
the savior that Mike Tomlin said he was the early
parts of the year. They are struggling. They've got a
lot of jags on offense, and this formula of trying
to win every week sixteen to ten, you can't do it.
And you can see them running out of gas and
Burrowing Company are hot. They're gonna get the win. That's
(09:11):
gonna put the pressure on the Dolphins and the Broncos
for Sunday I'd love to be able to sit here
and tell you, hey, the Jets are gonna be picking
in the top five, top seven. They're gonna lose the Dolphins.
But no, no, it's gonna be a typical Jets thing
to do in what could be Aaron Rodgers' final NFL game.
So you know he's gonna ball out not knowing how
the offseason is gonna play out. And I'm not under
(09:33):
any false pretenses that Tyler Huntley, who's gonna play quarterback
because two is not gonna play, is gonna be able
to come in and put enough points on the board.
The Jets offense still has star power, and as we've seen,
the Dolphins can't win without a tongue of ailoa. They
can't run the football. It's not gonna be a game
where suddenly, hey, all right, we're just gonna get the
ball to eighth chn and got no, they can't even
(09:53):
do that. They can't. Really, this is an offense that
just sputters to a halt when two is not the core.
And the Jets, as much as they mailed it in
last week, they knew they weren't gonna beat the Bills. Hey,
last game of the season at home against the Dolphins. Yeah,
this is a game the Jets win. Maybe they wind
up drafting tenth or eleventh because of it, but they
(10:14):
send the Dolphins out of the playoffs with a big win.
So now it comes down to the Broncos. And you
know what, I know that that the Chiefs are starting
Carson Wentz. The Chiefs are still going to win this game.
They are the better team overall. The Broncos are coming
back to Earth. Their defense is gonna cause enough problems
for bon Nicks and the Broncos. If the season ended
(10:37):
three weeks ago, boy, the Broncos really would have been
the right spot because they would have hit their peak.
But if you've seen they're starting to come down the
other side. You can only do so much when you
don't have great playmakers. And even though the Chiefs are
playing without Patrick Mahomes are gonna rest a bunch of
guys no pressure. They win this game, they knock Denver out,
Miami loses, and the Bengals, the team nobody wants to
(10:58):
play because Burrows do win five touchdown a week, are
going to get into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Curious to see how many of the defenders sit down
as well, right now, it's a ten and a half
point line, Denver favorite at home. Forty and a half
is your total. I think Wentz still has a little
bit of an opportunity. He wants to show he still belongs,
so it'll wing it around. Denver's defense remains one of
its big strength vance Joseph's done a great job there
(11:22):
throughout the year. Ten and a half. I'll take Kansas
City with the points, but I think Denver does enough
to win the game.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
What a day for Carson Wentz four hundred and sixty
yards passing and five touchdowns. What if he has a
day better than any day Mahomes has had throughout this.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Year, that would be pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
He all of a sudden like, yeah, wait, what do
you need Patrick for it? Look at me, Look at
look at the numbers I'm putting up here with these guys.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
But legitimately it does open the door because we talked
about the dearth of quality quarterbacks. Remember at one point
we were looking at a list in the studio together
and Zach Wilson was listed as a top three potential
free agent quarterback. Right because you're looking at Brock Purty
stand where he is, You're looking at Sam Darnald either
getting franchise tagged or getting a deal where he and
(12:07):
the Vikings figure something out. There's been whispers of whether
McCarthy might get dealt coming off the two knee surgeries
because you like what Donald's doing. You also signed Daniel
Jones there, so you know, quarterback whisper O'Connell kind of thing.
Maybe you can get some picks and opportunity and to
move McCarthy and work with the two veterans and get
(12:30):
more draft picks to build things up. Remember, Minnesota has
done a lot of this damage. The offensive line got
juxtaposed and bounced around a little bit with Derisog going
down early, so you know, looking at what they've been
able to do, fairly remarkable. But all of that to say,
there's not a lot of huge quarterback options out there
(12:51):
for you. Carson Wentz could play himself back into a
position where he goes in battles with a rookie for
starting job. How crazy is that? But he has one
big game, it's the light. He's like calder Mote. That's
all that matters. But look at the passing numbers for
UH this year. For what would it take to Supplan.
(13:12):
I mean you had three twenty and three on that
Christmas Day game for Mahomes against Pittsburgh. I mean, that's
that's really the big game. One ninety six and three
that was a loss to Buffalo, two ninety one and
three that was a win against Tampa and overtime going
back to the beginning of November, like, those are the
(13:33):
ones that stand out. Otherwise it's a lot of two forties,
two fifties and twos. So there you go, buddy, There
there's your aga. And two sixty nine and three against
Carolina doesn't count, even though it was a three point win.
It just doesn't count because, I mean, Carolina has had
a nice run the second half of the year. But
uh no, that's not not a big win. Uh So, yeah,
(13:54):
I guess that Pittsburgh Christmas Day game when he got
that cool ass code at the end of it is
the win.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And he gave me get a real cool coat at
the end.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
That's that was pretty cool. That was a nice gift.
I'm taking this home.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yeah, of course, you.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Damn football cake, But I'm taking the coat and I'm
going home.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
But I'm telling you that I'll always take the better
team than a team that that has kind of hit
the top of the mountain to start and try to
figure it out as they try to stop falling down it.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, it would be cool to see Cincinnati get in
just for the purpose of some of the MVP chatter. Again,
I think you've lost too many games. H Yes, your
defense stunk, But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Man, if Burrow gets in, if Burrow gets the Bengals in,
and it's it's really at this point, I think Josh
Allen kind of peaked a little bit too early and
and and okay, now it's finishing. Yeah, he's not going
to play Sunday. So I think it's it's if Burrow
gets in and he gets and he gets the and
he gets the Bengals in, he's going to be the MVP.
(14:53):
If not, it's gonna right now he's Yeah, I think
if he gets them in, he's the MVP. And if not,
it's Lamar Jackson gonna get my money. I'm gonna get
your money in on Burrow.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Now, well, you know what, I got nothing to do tomorrow?
You want to go drive to Vegas?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Why do we have to drive? Can't we do stuff?
Speaker 4 (15:09):
I mean, well, we got to get across state line.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
We really do.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
I don't think you could bet that in California really,
I mean you could VPN and stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I don't do that stuff. I don't.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
I don't play games. Fine, she's kind of like people
going on to Russian websites to watch games.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I'm not doing it.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
I paid the man his money and see I pulled
it back with Malkovich there. But Burrow at twenty to
one is interesting, right, because Alan's sitting at minus three
hundred minus two fifty and he's not gonna play.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
So if the door was.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Really that wide open, those odds would have come down
for Burrow, I think, and for Lamar Jackson a lot
more than they have.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah. No, I agree with you on that. I see
you on that. They're they're projecting for Lamar Jackson. But
I wonder if you see, if you see another big
day from him, if you might see some movement over
the weekend. Yeah, they play Saturday instead of Sunday, you
might see some movement over the week.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I just go back to also the idea of all right,
how much of those early games count as empty stats?
I know the defense stunk, don't get me wrong. And
obviously McPherson did not have the year that you expected
McPherson to have after his big year a year ago.
But all all of that to say, you know, when
those losses are piling up, they'll still have to count, right.
(16:31):
I mean, I'm not going Kirk Kurbstreet to say, hey,
you know, let's forget about wins. Wins don't matter, winds
are irrelevant.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
No wait, wait, wait, I mean that.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Was kind of what he wrot.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
We're trying to make his whole miss and they're actually important,
and now Bama notes.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
They actually are pretty important. Hang on a second, So.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Then he just bets really well, as he's learned gambling
in these days, because you know, picked Michigan to win.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
There's our picks as to who's making the playoff the
final weekend in the AFC and the NFC. We got
more football on the way now that we've had a
chance to take a breath, as we get ready for
the final four of the college football playoff next week,
we will tell you the best thing about the playoffs
so far. That's next Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
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 app.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon Liveromthetirack dot Com Studios, and uh we
had a couple of bowl games tonight. We had the
Duke's Mayo Bowl. We did.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Did you see the big twist at the end?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Wait? Wait wait.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Mayo bowl by the way, and jar will arrive tomorrow tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
So you not only ordered a bowl of Duke's Mayo,
you got it to arrive tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
I mean Amazon overnight.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, but I mean wait, you can overnight mayonnaise.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Well, I said it would deliver it between four and
eight tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So you're staying up till four in the morning.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Yeah, Wait on, No, I got a couple of deliveries
tomorrow coming at any time.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
I gotta be ready. I'm gonna sit on the porch
every truck that goes by. Are you here with my Mayo?
Are you here with my Mayo?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
No?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
So I got that.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
I got the bottles for the next round of glug
either come tomorrow morning, or some boy a new set
of headphones to replace those that I don't know what happened.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
No, someone uses.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
It to good health. Let's let's put it that way.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
And then whoever's got them, I don't know. Maybe I
left them on my car when I drove out of
here a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
But either way, uh so replacing those and then I've
got a grading order coming back from trading cards. So like,
I got a big day coming up, big weekend. But
the the two But you.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Over, dude, you overnighted mayonnaise? I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
It tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
You you over mayonnaise. Yeah, it's okay, regular shipping. No, no, no, no,
I want to overnight this mayonnaise.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I want to gave me the option to have it overnight.
So yeah, I want it now.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Anyway, when they were announcing, you know they were in
the line, you know, all the love for PJ Fleck
and everything. Uh, the mascot took his head off and
it was Flavor Flame.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah. No, I saw jumping around tonight shore.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, so he was there.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
But I saw the reveal that it was like as
we were talking Patrick and Alex and I, it was
like a masked singer reveal.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah kind of Yeah, I think he was also on
the mask singer.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I believe he was this next year.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I just want to be unmasked, and I wear something
to be unmasked. Yeah, that's great, Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
I want what do you think he got paid for that?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Oh? I think he got paid in mayonnaise? Oh man, Yeah,
you get paid in Hey, how about a lifetime supply.
I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, I get the basic one or doing one.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Or no, that was Cramer. We're going to give you
a lifetime supply of coffee. I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
But now that we're getting set for the final four
of college, let's go. We're a little bit less than
a week away, right, we're ready. They've owned the stories,
the storyline all through the holiday. Now that we can
take a breath, let's let's think back to all the
controversy surrounding the beginning of the playoffs, and you understand
(20:29):
what a load of crap it all is. All the
questions over, oh, how does how does Alabama not get in?
How does Miami not get in?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
How do we.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
They stink? How do we we saw them stake against
Michigan who was playing fourth string guys in the defensive line. Uh,
how all this, all this controversy over the early round
matchups and how bad the seedings were and all you
would you would have a better game here, and this
is what's wrong with the player and everything has turned
(21:03):
out to be crap. You know why, because the reason
we have the expanded playoff is to make sure the
best five or six teams get into the tournament. Right,
I guess obviously it's about money. It's about the more
teams in the better off it is. Yeah, but the
one thing we couldn't have, especially after last year, was, hey,
we can no longer trust the top four teams get in.
(21:24):
Florida State was undefeated. Yes, they lost Jordan Travis and
but wait a minute, why are we not We did
everything you wanted us to do well. We got to
make a choice. That fourteen playoff had was no longer feasible.
It was no longer a model that worked because every year,
what did we see? Hey, look at the snubs at
(21:44):
five and six, because there's not a lot of difference
between a team that's ranked fourth the team that's ranked
fifth or sixth. Now is there a big difference between
the team's ranked fourth, fifth and sixth and eleventh and twelfth.
Hell yeah, as you've seen, there's a big difference. So
the main thing that this this this playoff is supposed
to do. It is supposed to say, hey, we got
to make sure we get the best five or six
(22:04):
teams in. As long as we do that, the rest
of the teams can be whoever they want to be.
And people can argue for a couple of days, but
in the end you're arguing, like it's the NCAA basketball tournament,
where all the snubs are a story for about eight seconds,
and then we're playing the games on the first four,
which is gonna be the first eight of the first
twelve whatever they changed to, and then we're onto the games. Right,
We're not talking about the snubs anymore. It lasted a
(22:26):
little bit longer this year because you know, you play
once a week and there is a long time between
the unveiling of the playoff teams and when we played
our first game. But in the end that went away,
Right when when when when Michigan and and Miami all
that went away? You got the best five or six
teams in because that's where your your playoff final four
and your champion's gonna come from. And what do we
(22:48):
see right now? Of the team's ranked in the final
AP and coaches pol top twenty five, we have the
teams ranked three to four, five and six. Right we
lost the top two teams. Okay, hey, but it's close.
But it's not like we have a twelve that's won
its way all the way up. And you know what,
if you're a twelve seed that's win its way all
the way up, more power to your congratulations. But you're
gonna see that. Hey, it's gonna be the top five
(23:09):
or six teams are the best teams in the country.
They deserve it. They all deserve to get in, and
the rest of the teams can be whatever it is,
because now you're talking about the difference between a team
ranked six and a team ranked twelfth, and not a
team ranked fourth or fifth that have identical resumes or
in some ways you have a better resume than the
team in front of you. So the playoff has done
(23:30):
exactly what they wanted to do. We got the best
teams in. We have a great tournament so far. Yeah,
you'd like the early round games to be closer, and
I think they will. They'll they'll tweak it a little
bit and next year, I'm sure it will be. Hey,
if you win your conference, you get into the playoff,
you don't necessarily be a top four seed, so they
want good games and I understand that. But this is
still the first year of this model, so there's gonna
(23:51):
be some tweaks. But overall, the best five or six
teams are in, and four of the best six teams
are in the final four. So yeah, mission accomplished. They
did exactly what they was supposed to do and it's
a huge success.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Yeah, not to belabor the blowout thing, but we watched
that during the four team playoff, right Oftentimes there wasn't
really a great fourth team you liked, and there have
been plenty of blowouts in that format, plenty of blowouts
going back to the BCS format and all of those things,
so you know you're never gonna get those out of
the game. I think to your point that the final
(24:22):
four that we have, being top six ranked, yeah, some
of the automatic buy thing will probably get adjusted a
little bit. I think if you're not if you're not
from the big ten SEC or Notre Dame, you may
lose out on that going forward, So some of that
might go away in terms of those considerations. We certainly
(24:43):
had a lot of consternation over the fact that Ohio
State and Oregon met where they did. You know, do
you really get an advantage, you know, being the dominant
team the way that got bracketed out. Yeah, some of
those little details will will get mitigated in and repurposed
along the way. But if you're if you are a
(25:04):
back end of the twelve team or eventually fourteen or
sixteen or however how big it gets, yeah, you're you're
gonna you're gonna have some some latitude, you know, in
terms of that spacing. And maybe some of the secondary
conferences don't mean to be mean about it, maybe you
lose some of the benefit of the doubt and get
(25:25):
left out of the dance. Uh and again another SEC
or big ten team on the grand scale. I don't
know how much complaining that'll be other than we start
getting into the college basketball comparisons of mid majors. But yeah,
if you do get those run ups, yeah it's better
for business. But all of that to say, even when
(25:46):
the twelve got announced, how great was it? People get
be mad right and and have their bad takes herb
Street and others After games and blowouts happened, and and
you do your conference alignments and stump for the network
you work with and whoever they've got TV rights to.
(26:07):
That's gonna happen. That's always been happening, and that's not
going to stop. And what it is, it's great for business,
it's great for us. And where we have this final four,
I mean, look at these look at these schools that
are still represented, the conferences that are still represented, the SEC,
the Big Ten, and Notre Dame its own little mini
(26:27):
conference there that it's good. Hate watching is alive because
you've got hate watchers for each one of these programs, right,
People that want to watch Ryan Day fail, people that
want to watch Notre Dame lose, people that want James
Franklin to never get credit for winning a meaningful game.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Right.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
We talked with Pete Futech about it and he laughed
about it going well, looking at Boise State and SMU,
yeah maybe they haven't done that yet. So all of that,
and then Texas, Hey, welcome to the SEC. You're the
last teams dan, So all all of that, right, So
it gets people, It gets tongues wagging, it's obviously drawn
(27:07):
eyeballs and the pageantry and the star performances Jeremiah Smith
and others that have had their big moments on a
giant stage. Yeah, it's great for business.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Now the other thing, and this is this is more
of a it's more of a tweak, right because everything
is working. But as we said, you know, there's tweaks
going on. They're gonna tweak that. They're gonna tweak the
home field. I'm sure they're gonna tweak the seatings. The
other thing that's gonna get tweak. And we talked about
strength of schedule will be a bigger deal next year
because hey is a nine and three team from the
SEC that's beaten three top twenty five teams better than
(27:39):
in eleven and one Indiana team from the Big ten
that really didn't beat anybody. So strength the schedule is
gonna be a thing. The other thing that's gonna be
a that's gonna be a big factor. Uh. The ACC
this year is two and twelve in Bowls two and twelve,
who's one of the only two teams that have won.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Mike Harmon, Fran Brown and the cues Ye your guy high, Uh,
in your and on your Earth.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
They may give it back it may, they may. It
should look it should have been Hunter and Scataboo and
McCord in New York. That's the three should have been.
But one thing that's going to happen too that's a
tweak is this is that ulis yes, more on strength
to schedule, but there's going to be more of an emphasis.
And rightfully, so I'm not saying this is a bad thing.
The SEC and the eight and and the Big Ten
(28:29):
are the two best conference in college football. And it's
not close. Right some years the AC some years acy
some years the Big Ten will be stronger like it
is this year. Some years the SEC will be stronger.
But these two conferences, more than anything, they are better
than everybody else. And when you look at a squad
like the ACC and they got a couple of teams,
and it's like, dude, you're two and twelve, you're going
(28:50):
there's going to be more of an understanding that, Hey,
the Big Ten and the SEC, these teams are better. Right,
They play a better schedule, they're tougher than the ACC
and the Big twelve and the malway they're better. So
when it comes down to a situation where hey, we
have an eleven and two team and the Big Ten
(29:10):
and we have a or we have a ten and
two team in the Big Ten and an eleven and
one team in the ACC. Well guess who's going to
get that spot? The ten and two team in the
Big Ten, because the schedule is going to be roundly
agreed on that. It's tougher, the teams are tougher, and
being ten and two in that conference is better than
being eleven and one in the ACC. Because look, I
love the ACC right, well, actually I don't. I can't
(29:32):
stand the sent one syricus to leave, but I have
nothing against them as a conference, But I understand that
ACC is not nearly at the level of the other two,
and that's the way it should be adjudicated. Where the
best conferences, maybe those conferences get three teams each and
the ACC gets two and the Big twelve gets one.
However you want to put it out there, I think
that's sort of gonna be the numbers that we see
(29:54):
from now on.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Yeah, I think the hard part to the strength of
schedule part of the discussion is you know, when you
look at the way these conferences have ballooned, right, the
Big Ten is gonna be twenty seven teams before long. Right,
this is the way this goes, and maybe eventually, Nah,
there's too much money involved. I was gonna say, Notre
(30:14):
Dame actually officially becomes a Big ten squad unless they don't.
But like you're gonna have situations like in Indiana where
you don't quote play anybody and have big wins. Right,
you have the narrow victory over Michigan, which looks a
lot better I guess down the stretch. But again with
(30:35):
non college football playoff bowl games, what does that Michigan
in the Michigan Alabama game do?
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Right?
Speaker 4 (30:45):
With the number of guys that opted out and are
transferring and the players that are involved and everything else,
Like is that good? Is it bad or whatever? It's
like the analogy I used when we were talking about this,
you know earlier on in the process is you know,
when you go and you give your earnings forecasting as
a company, you can't lie outright, but you may sandbag
(31:08):
things a little bit, waiting on deals that are kind
of in place, and maybe you're done but could fall
apart at the goal line. So maybe your your forecast
is a little conservative, even though you think you can
hit the home run because guess what when you then
give your earnings for that quarter man, it was over
the top. So no coach is going ahead going you know,
(31:29):
we're an eleven win team, right, it's name that tune.
You're gonna go, you know, on the higher end until
the guy forces your hand. It's like, I want as
long as a lead on this stuff as I can get. So,
you know, for an Indiana, they got a lot of
consternation and finger wagging after getting beaten, saying wow, look
(31:50):
they didn't beat anybody good, like, that's not their fault.
The schedule just happened to be this year. They had
a good run and they didn't have some of the
biggest big ten heavyweights on it. So you're you're not
going to suddenly be able to say, okay, it's August first.
I'm putting in we're going to be a nine or
ten win team, So schedule me accordingly. That's how I
think we're that good. So go ahead, give me the
(32:12):
random scheduled generator and put a bunch of Bowerhouses on
it because we're ready. No, it's not how it works.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you know win.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon.
Now to a guy who is always winning the victaries,
that's what he tells.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
He's a champ.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
It's special delivery.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Steve to say, point six points.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
Will carry that the entire fantasy offseason, Thank you very much.
Lake game in LA and the NBA went to the
Lakers over Atlanta one nineteen, one oh two Lebron James
with thirty points. The big NBA news earlier in the evening,
the Miami Heat suspended Jimmy Butler seven games for conduct
detrimental to the team. The Heat will now listen to
trade offers. Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers could make his
(32:53):
season debut Saturday after the knee entry. Sacramento Edge Memphis
won thirty eight one thirty three Elite Monk with thirty
one points. San Antonio won at Denver one thirteen, one
ten Victor Wimbin Yama thirty five points, eighteen rebounds, Nikola
Jokich in the loss forty one points, eighteen rebounds and
nine assists. Cleveland is thirty and four. The Cavs won
(33:16):
their ninth in a row one at Dallas one thirty four,
one twenty two. Kyrie Irving of the MAVs was out
due to illness at New Orleans fifty points for CJ.
McCollum and a win over Washington one thirty two to
one twenty the column from three point range ten of sixteen,
just one turnover. New Orleans had lost eleven in a row.
Boston is twenty six and nine after winning at Houston
(33:38):
one oh nine eighty six. Jalen Brown of the Celtics
was out again with a shoulder injury. Rockets forward Jabari
Smith broke his hand at shoot around. He'll be reevaluated
in four to six weeks. Wins for Detroit and Orlando
and for Oklahoma City, which outscored the Knicks in the
fourth quarter by eighteen beat him one seventeen one oh seven.
OKC has won fourteen in a row. College football Bowl
(34:00):
wins for Minnesota and Texas State. Dolphins quarterback Tutanga bay
Loa is unlikely to play Sunday at the Jets due
to his hip injury. College basketball wins for number eight
Marquette over Creighton and number eighteen Michigan State, which won
in Ohio State. The Dodgers signed Korean infielder High Song
Kim three years plus a two year option and in
the NHL Florida in a shootout edge Pittsburgh three to two.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve Though The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Carmen Livethtirack dot Com Studios.
Coming up next to get ready if your team needs
to make a big trade. There is an NBA superstar
who a team has said, give us your offers. We
are ready to listen. That's next, Jason to Mike Fox. Now, wait,
this is the second time you played this song tonight,
(34:45):
ty shirt. It's the second time. No repeats. It's a
no repeat Friday.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
There is a reason you're running, why you've been out
a long time.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
I got to double up.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
He has been talking about it, like, you know, like
just one of the things that was going around. Oh yes,
I'm Whatever's like, all right, we took a couple of
days with our families, uh and and to reset. And
I appreciate all the folks that were in for us
and with us during this time. Uh and now we're
ready to dominate twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Yeah, but it meant that you got a second again
though I don't need to hear that, well, I.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Mean, you won't hear it today. I don't think unless
it's the outro before burn, of course.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
It's gonna be. Of course, you don't ever know.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
We might go back to Buffalo Bill's song. I mean,
I don't know. He's just happy as hell to have
us back. Okay, like the smile on Tysirt's face the
last two days. Look, there's a lot going on. There's
been a lot of moving parts. So to get back
to some semblance of normalcy with the normal squad has
been very big. And Patrick, thank you for being with
(35:50):
us tonight. Uh frostburg ailen a little bit ahead of
their season finale with the Chargers and and the playoffs
to come. But I can tell you know, and he
breathed a sigh of relief. He was excited to have
his back to play the Hobo drops and everything idea.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
So there you go, Jason.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
I was very excited when Mike came back.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Tocher it meant more glug yes, and you're and you're
back as well that.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
That oh yeah you're back to hijay.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
Yeah. Uh So we talked about this last night. This
is proving to you that we can be NBA inside
Wizards when Jimmy Butler decided to get a little extemporaneous
in his postgame press conference, say you know what I
really want out of Miami now, and I'm gonna blow
torch the doors off of this thing, saying that he's
lost his joy. He's happy in Miamiah. He not happy
(36:42):
on the court though, so I guess you know is
you know who is his mail man. He's happy with
his mail man. That was a dry cleaner. But he
face coffee doing well. I'm sure happy with his coffee.
Not happy on the court. Can you get that joy back?
And Jimmy Butler said, probably not. We told you last night.
He has played his last game as a member of
the Heat and they're going to trade him. As much
(37:03):
as pat Riley likes to have, you know, manly contest
with people, he knows they have to trade him. And
what happened tonight. Shams Tarani comes out with the with
the story, Jimmy Butler has been suspended for seven games
because of conduct detrimental to the organize. But what he
said and they are now listening to offers for trade again.
(37:26):
We could be NBA and ziye screw we told you
this is going to happen last night, and the same
thing is true that we said twenty four hours ago.
Jimmy Butler is going to be a well sought after
player because we have seen players who have worn out
their welcome, lost the passion for playing for a certain team,
suddenly rediscover it when they get dealt right. We saw
(37:47):
Carmelo Anthony, we saw it with Chris Paul, we saw
big time with James Harden. It's gonna be the same
thing for Jimmy Butler. Not that Jimmy Butler is suddenly
going to be a twenty five point a game guy. Again,
you're not getting thirty one year old Butler. You're getting
thirty five year old Jimmy Butler. But he does have
a lot to offer with his special brand of volatility
(38:08):
leadership that he has that you know, not it is
not for everybody, but it might be for the right
team that needs a little bit of what Jimmy Butler has.
Need a little bit of that crazy, a little bit
of that volatile, little bit of that crazy. I've known
what I'm there right now. Too much crazy. Bet a
little crazy can work, But he's only got one.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Like he's got the rest of this year, and then
there's a player option for next year, which they say, well,
he's expected to op out, like, well, yeah, unless he
needs the fifty two million because things have gone south.
But right now he's averaging over eighteen points a game.
Gives you the locker room thing in spurts, if you've
got a locker room that'll accept a little tough love
along the way. And I think he just wants to
(38:46):
plice some meaningful basketball whatever's going on with Spolstra, you know,
and they didn't add on to the team the last
couple of years. That's the subplot to all of this
of hey, go make some moves, so we're really championship
ready and he wants to, which is good.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
And there's gonna be no shortage of teams that are
out there saying we want a piece of Jimmy Butler
because it's not gonna cost a lot for him, because
now that he's pushed his way out, they know they
have to trade him. Pat Riley has lost and because
he's not the same player, it's not gonna be expensive.
And the team's on his list. He's got Houston on
the list, he's got Golden State he has Dallas on
(39:25):
the list. All of these teams and he's got the
Phoenix Suns on his list. All these teams outside of
the Rockets are probably gonna be interested. The Rockets have
a pretty good thing going on right now, and I
don't know that they want to upset. Hey, we don't
know how good we are, but we're at the top
of the West. We've won twice as many games as
we've lost this year. We want to kind of see
what we have before you go crazy making, you know,
bringing in you know, other people from the outside, but
(39:48):
the other teams, and I'll take the Rockets off that
list and I'll replace them with the Lakers, because the
Lakers have shown if we think we need something, will
be aggressive and go get it. You know, Lebron will
trust Jimmy Butler. He's someone that can come in and play.
Fits'll fill a lot of different roles, be trustworthy down
the stretch to make big shots. Yeah, take the Rockets out,
put the Lakers in, and I'll bet you that one
(40:09):
of those four teams is gonna wind up with him
because you know, even though it's on his wish list,
they're all in the Western Conference and that's where pat
Riley's gonna trade him.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
Lakers with another big win tonight, seventeen point victory over
Atlanta at home, trying to figure out how to get
some depth and it'll be a little bit of creativity
with the math, right fuzzy math when it comes to
NBA trades where you have to match things up, but
where there's a will, there's a way.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
Now I'm telling you what, within the next week, Jimmy
Butler is gonna be on a new team and you're
gonna say, Wow, NBA insiders, right here.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Let's go add it to the job descriptions in my LinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome for Mike.
I'm Jason coming up next, It's burning Bernie Frattle. This
as Fox Sports Radio.
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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