Best of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Mike Harmon and Jared Smith (in for Jason Smith) open this "best of" edition of the show reacting live to the Monday Night Football game between the 49ers and Colts. NFL insider Jason La Canfora joins the show to weigh in with his own thoughts and talk about the rest of what turned out to be a wild Week 16 slate of games. Then Mike and Jared react to the news that the USC vs. Notre Dame rivalry game is ending, discussing Trojan legend Keyshawn Johnson's viral social media reaction to the news... is he right?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in. It's four hours of chaos. Happy Christmas week
here on the roads. Be careful, look out for each other,
be smart, Just turn the volume up and we'll catch
you where you need to go. Smith is off to night,
so Jared Smith in his stead at Jared Smith Mets
is where you find him. I'm Mike Carmen, you falster

(00:21):
here Jared's weekends on Saturday. It's a part of countdown
to kickoff. Lots going on, who says you can't go
home again, traditions being shuttered, all of those things and
so much more. Welcome in to another week of the
Jason Smith Show with Mike Garmin. Jared, Welcome to the chaos.
I guess the song says it all. And Philip Rivers

(00:42):
and Rock Purty certainly treating us to some disaster on
Monday night.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm loving it. Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Obviously
I'll be talking to you again on Saturday, but I'm enjoying,
you know, getting a chance to dive into this, this
extravaganza for the night. We're honestly blessed because what we're
watching tonight, Mike, this is a masterclass in quarterbacking and
it really shows me that quarterbacking, to me, is more
mental than physical. Rivers can do this, I mean, I mean,

(01:09):
this is truly remarkable what he's done now, back to
back weeks against arguably two of the best teams in
the league.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, the beauty of the San Francisco forty nine ers
is they've amassed the record they have with decidedly as
much pass rush as you and me and Ian and
Elijah and ty Shirt and Steve De Sager and Brianna
and burshing the back. If all seven of us come
flying at people, actually that's eight of us. Eight is enough.

(01:35):
That's kind of what we're getting. Because Phillips getting rid
of the ball quickly, but he hasn't faced a whole
lot of pressure. He did on the air and throw,
and the one that is going to be highlighted, it's like,
if you just had a little more arm strength, the
Tyler Warren would be I know, fantasy owners, I have
him too. We're all salty that you didn't get that
touchdown and instead that they had to settle for a

(01:55):
field goal. It was good to see the fire of
Rivers because you know, he's not cursing at his guys.
He may be yelling at him, but he's not cursing
when they had to take the time out off the
fallse start and all of that. But fourteen of twenty one,
one seventy five and two. If you bet the over
on rivers in his passing yards, Jared, you already cashed
before the halftime gun sounded.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
And I bet the under on his longest pass. So
that was my angle in this game, Mike was you're
just and you saw it like the few times that
he tried to go deep, like it's just it's like
a duck.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Well, but it's a question of what is deep, right, Yeah,
because last week he was two of eight on anything
over ten yards and it looked like a press, you know,
like he was shot putting a football.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
It still kind of looks like that, frankly, but intermediate stuff.
But yeah, no, listen on the intermediate stuff, it's all
about what windows you hit. It's the deep stuff that
I just don't think he has the arm strength to push. No.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
I mean, we've certainly seen success through the years, and
we can always go back in the annals of history
with Philip towards the end to where it becomes about
the cerebrum, and it becomes about the ability to read
things pre synapp and call out the defensive pressures and
coverages before they come. And that's what he's been able
to do thus far. I think they look terrible in

(03:12):
these what are they called Indiana Knights uniforms. I think
I'm watching it.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
They look like it's like an XFL uniform. Yeah, I
would have given them the classic traditional unis tonight, but
they probably had this plan for weeks.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
I mean, if nothing else, go out in elf suits.
I mean, you might as well just go all the
way to Luna see if you will. But brock Perdy
thirteen to seventeen, won sixty five and three. In the
first half, George Kittle had one almost a second five
for seventy eight and a touchdown, and then we had
Pinero to close out the half almost hit a sixty
four yarder, goes off the crossbar. I mean, it just

(03:46):
absolute chaos. The over under on this game was forty
six and a half. We had forty one at the break.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, and really it's the Colts defense. If they lose
this game, it's not Rivers's fault. It's the Colts defense
just getting absolutely shredded. The Niners are doing whatever they want.
They've got a sixty three percent success right on passing plays.
That's insane for you know, through two quarters plus and
they come out here, quick play action and another deep
shot over the middle. Party has plenty of time to

(04:12):
throw and he's got weapons for days. I'll be honest,
this is a very dangerous Niners team. I don't know
what their ceiling really is, because you're right, they haven't.
You know, they've kind of feasted on some bad teams
over the last few weeks. But if they get the
one seed and they're very tenured, like I know they,
they're not going to fold in the moment. It's all
about how healthy they are defensively, can they generate a

(04:33):
pass rush. But this offense right now is really starting
to find a nice dride with Purdy here in the
second half of the year.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, and even if you don't have Ricky piersal tonight,
we'll see how quickly he can get back on the field.
Juwan Jennings to this point, he's given them nothing except
for Cardio. So we're watching this as it unfolds. Born
and more and DeMarcus Robinson with the touchdown reception, and
obviously McCaffrey the walking mismatch. You get him out against linebackers,
they don't stand a chance, and we've seen that happen

(05:00):
couple of times. But to the larger point, I mean,
it's where we're at in the NFL at the end
of week sixteen, of trying to decide for what's good
what's not right from all the teams, even at the
top of the standings, there's still a lot of shrugging
and a yeah. But to pretty much everybody the old
Bill Parcells line, if you are what your record says,
seems to be tested on a weekly basis in terms

(05:23):
of logic and the eye test.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
I called it a greasy season. Today. I do a
weekly pod on Sunday nights and the Monday mornings, and
I do a recap of all the games, and I
go through all the games and kind of upgrade and
downgrade and kind of give you my top teams every week.
And when I was going through it this week, and
it's like everyone is so close together and I really
can't tell who the third or fourth best team is.
I think I know who the top two teams are.

(05:47):
I think LA and Seattle deserve to be number one
and two in the power ratings right now, and I
think Buffalo maybe is the best team in the AFC
terms of power rating. I know they don't have the
best record in the AFC, but in terms of like
what the expectation is, I think they're the best team
in the AFC. But there is not a big gap
between them and everyone else in the AFC, and same
thing in the NFC. Like I think you can put

(06:08):
LA and Seattle in like one tier ahead, but I
think San Francisco could challenge both of them and your Bears.
I mean, they just seem to know how to win
close games. I think it's because of their coach and
the Eagles. They're kind of a mess right now. I
don't know if I trust them in a big spot,
but they're the defending champ, so you've got to give
them respect. It's really a lockjam. I like greasy. I

(06:28):
think greasy is the right word because every week one
of these teams can kind of slip through the cracks
and overachieve or underachieve, and it's like we have to
change our whole perspective on what we're seeing.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Well, it's fortunate for me, you ended with Philadelphia because
we start talking about greased up polls and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
I didn't try to do that. I wasn't thinking of that, but.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
You know, and I had to dunt kit. And for
the Eagles, what we've seen the last couple of weeks
is more of a reliance on Saquon Barkley and then
all of a sudden there was the untapped resource to
close out the game when Barkley needed a quick blow.
Oh wait, Tank Bigsby. That's right. They traded for that
guy that we loved so much for a while in Jacksonville.

(07:08):
So they do have the one two punch and got
the receivers involved early. Granted it's the Commanders. I celebrate
the fact that Josh Johnson got himself back up in
front of the national audience once again, but it's for
the Eagles. They're just curious, right again, health and what
you have coming down the stretch. Do they get Lane
Johnson back on that offensive line before it's over or not?

(07:32):
That will play a long way to it. The Bears
are a much bigger topic for the show as we
navigate four hours of great sports radio here on a
Monday night with you at swollen Dome at Jared smith
Betts forty nine ers back in the end zone to
your point, like a knife through hot, knife through butter,
I think is the old term. As brock Purty Thursay's

(07:53):
fourth of the night, this time Juwan Jennings gets into
the action. There you go, Fantasy owners. You were waiting
on it, you regrip been, you were sending evil tweets
to him and his family. Leave Malone to catches twenty
four yards and a score. Now as the forty nine
ers complete that drive, taking out the first four minutes
of this third quarter, great throw from him to the

(08:15):
Jennings he's had all right to pass too. And that's
where we've watched this Colts d We talk about the
missing Sauce Gardner and other elements, even with DeForest Buckner
back man. That's just one of eleven we've watched the
Colts defense struggle down the stretch. Jonathan Taylor has been
more a bystander and then a full on participant these

(08:37):
last couple of weeks as well, because well the defense
can't hold up, and now he's got to stick stick
around and chip a little bit to give Philip opportunity
to stand tall in the pocket. Only seven carries twenty
four yards to.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
This point, Yeah, I would imagine that the Niners are
going to be very soft in the rest of this game.
You might actually get some nice junk yardage from Taylor
if Rivers does, you know, check into some light box runs.
There's really no denying San Francisco's candidacy right now. I mean,
they've got a chance to prove it the next two weeks, Mike,

(09:09):
they really do well, Dude, if they finished with two
wins against Chicago and Seattle, it's hard for that. It's
hard for us not to say they're the best team
in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Well, and that's the beauty of it. Right as you
run through and winners of five of their last six.
You mentioned a bunch of the participants, but let's go
through it. The only loss coming to the Rams forty
two to twenty six. In that one, they win a
big battle against the Giants to start it all. Arizona Carolina,
who's been much better than anybody could have anticipated. Cleveland

(09:37):
that fights at times some near misses along the way.
Tennessee that's playing a little better football down the stretch.
But to that point, right you beat who's on the
schedule in front of you end. For brock Purty, it's
it's really the referendum because we go back to when
mac Jones was under center and people started going, well, well,
I mean I had to argue with my guy, the

(09:57):
other mister Smith, Jason Smith, Hi, Jason, wherever you are at?
How about a fresco if you want to harass him
on vacation And there's.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
No way he actually listens on vacation.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Oh no, Well you want to see how many times
I disparage him, So, uh.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Have a great have a great night, but turn it
off and do something.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Do something else. Now he's probably playing a board game
or or singing.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
What what board game would Jason be playing?

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well, he did that.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
I mean he's got a stratego guy.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Well you know what, he's a big crossword puzzle guy.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Oh okay, well that's that's he made me such a
question in.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
A corner with someone with a timer on him, I
don't know, in a corner, I don't know. He's well,
he doesn't have to deal with me for twenty hours
a week for the next two weeks, So I mean
he's taking some taking that reprieve right and maybe get
some movie watching in and no doubt eating on and
snacking on a wheel of cheese. But yes, I had
plenty of folks going, well, he's not in tonight, so

(10:52):
make sure you call him about the Jaguars and like
he's not answering his phone. If we call it.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Like Jackuars, you can have that conversation. Fascinating discussion, There's
no question about it.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
Part of the large Jess Here on a Monday night
Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with Me, Mike Arma,
Jared Smith in Jays the other Smith's stead that's going
to be annoying for the next four hours. Jason Jared,
Jason Jared. This guy. That guy can't even do the Gruden.
But yeah, Chicago and Seattle decided steps up in class.

(11:25):
But back to the original point was, you know, the
discussion of Mac Jones versus Rock Party and tonight, while
we can again you hang it with the grain of salt.
The level of competition and where you are. There's still
NFL games, there's still guys getting paid and trying to
take his face off. And he's performed admirably the last
few weeks and certainly tonight he's doing whatever he wants.

(11:47):
He's on the move, He's throwing the perfect spots, perfect
windows back across the middle. That last pass to Juwan
Jennings was fantastic. So for Brock Purdy also a chance
in the national spotlight to perhaps curtail some of the
chatter of he's just a guy.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah. No, I'll be honest, there's not much of a
debate to me on who the better quarterback is for
the Niners. And yes, and I love Mac Jones. I
think Shanahan loves Mac Jones. He was gonna draft him.
I think that one year. And I did a lot
of research on well, what like what differentiates these two guys.
There's two things. One, the scramble rates significantly higher. Like

(12:26):
Brock can make so many more plays on the move
that that Mac can. And I know that doesn't happen often.
Maybe it's only a handful of plays per game. But
when the scramble rate goes from like one percent to
I think Brock's around five, it's five. It's five more
plays per game. You know, he's making five more splash
plays out of the pocket where he's able to scramble

(12:47):
on the move and do something than Mac is every
game and that matters, and just the overall I think
accuracy and success rate. I just think Brock is just
a little bit more athletic, a little bit more in
rhythm and flow. And it might not manifesting like the
box score every week, but I think it over time,
I think it adds up. I brock is that listen,

(13:07):
And no knock on Mac. He's done an unbelievable job
this year, considering the circumstances. He hung in there, got
a huge win against the Rams, and that's one of
the reasons the Niners are in this spot right now.
But make no mistake, Brock is Brocks the guy for
this offense, and he's being paid as such.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
And then they have the luxury of the fact that
Mac Jones is under contract for another year.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
So whether that becomes a big trade chip or like
we've watched all year long, the insurance carred against injury
certainly for their squad as you alluded to wins earlier
in the year. But we're up to mid fifties in
terms of quarterbacks, starts, starters this year right Every week
we add another couple and this week will probably be
no different. As we go to week seventeen and some

(13:49):
injury report news that will wait later on, but.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
He definitely will. The Chiefs guy a lot of coon,
he's definitely gonna see.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
He'll he'll definitely be in. There's no guard at least
one of that, at least one more.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
So.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, it's it's just a never ending evolving tail as
old as time. We're not gonna I don't think we're
gonna hit the high that we had two years ago,
but we're gonna get damn close. Keeping an eye on
the Monday Night football game. We'll stay talking all things
NFL is Jason locking for one oh five seven The Fan.
Washington Post joins us next, as he does each and

(14:22):
every week. Here the Jason Smith Show with me by Carmen.
I'm from the Fox Sports Radio Studios at Jared Smith
in for Jason Monday Night Football, the Ravens, Harball, Lamar,
Jackson's Back, and so much more. Polly Foods Go ahead
with Tony Foods Go Yeah.

Speaker 4 (14:38):
As everybody knows, we're the hosts of the award winning
Polly and Tony Foods co Show. Yeah, but instead of
us telling you how great we are, here's how Dan
Patrick described us when he came on.

Speaker 5 (14:47):
Our show, quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
What what are you doing erupting our promo?

Speaker 6 (14:54):
Yeah, he wasn't talking about you. You took those clips
totally of context.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
Oh yeah, well after this promo, I'm gonna take you
out and beat you.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
Let me put this into context.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Shut up.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, anyway, Just listen to The Folly and Tony Fusco
Show on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts O wherever you get your
podcasts yee.

Speaker 6 (15:14):
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 (15:24):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio, Jason Smith Show with Me,
Mike Carmon, No Jason Smith Tonight, Jared Smith in instead
at Jared Smith Bets Where you find him, you hear
him Saturday Mornings. Brian no Rich Hornberger is part of
Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Bett MGM. As we roll
through here, it's Monday Night football of Barnburner as it

(15:45):
were thirty one twenty Now, as GROUPY hits the fifty
one yard field goal, we've now safely crossed the over
underline as we roll through into the third quarter, joining
us now on the hot line as he does every
week to five seven the fan Washington Post, want to

(16:05):
bet with us dot com at WANTA Bet with Us,
It's Jason locking for Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, my friend,
thanks for joining us, thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Happy holidays, Marry Christmas. Almost Happy New Year.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yeah we're almost there, man, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Yeah, man. Twenty twenty six, here we go.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
A lot of chaos in your backyard over there, the
Lamar Jackson injury and then people asking John Harball about
his job again.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, and interesting response. He didn't seem offended by the question.
He didn't by any means default too. You know, I
am the second longest time you're head coach in this league,
and you know we are regularly in the playoffs. He said,
You know, you have to always be coaching for your job,

(16:55):
and if it's not here, then somewhere else, and the
future is not promised. An interesting response. This has been
a disaster season for the Baltimore Ravens. I mean, three
and six at home against what I would consider to
be legitimate NFL quarterbacks. They're two and eight, seventeen touchdowns,

(17:18):
allowed foreign receptions two hundred and sixty six yards per
game allowed passing in those ten games, and that's against
quarterbacks who've won a playoff game before, current starting quarterbacks
who want a playoff game before, or who are about
to go to the playoffs for the first time. That
would be Drake may from last night, then Calb Williams

(17:40):
from earlier this season, and even Caleb when they faced
them it was only a second I think road game
with Ben Johnson pretty early in the season. I think
Kellum would shred their ass right now. To be honest
with you, but it's a bad defense. It's been a debt.
You can go back to twenty twenty one toll the
way back to Wink Martindale. That's three defensive coordinators ago.

(18:01):
They have the worst fourth quarter defensive EPA in the
NFL since twenty twenty one. Since twenty twenty two, they've
allowed forty six passing touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone.
Nobody else in the league's a lot more than thirty six.
Like it's They continue to find ways to lose games,
and it seems to be very much embedded in their

(18:22):
football culture, and especially when they face real quarterbacks. They
have a hard time winning, especially this time of year.
So we'll see if this owner really wants to make
some changes or not. He doesn't really talk to anybody anymore,
gives a pretty low profile. I'm not sure he's going

(18:43):
to fire a whole bunch of people. I think he's
more inclined to run it back for a year and
then sell the team. But we'll see.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, it's so interesting, Jason, because everyone's saying that the
window on Lamar is closed, and I don't know if
that's true or not. I think each quarterback goes through
two different windows throughout their career. It's that first initial
sprint when they're on the rookie deal, and then it's
like a second one later in their career when they
kind of figure out things a little bit and they
gain a little wisdom in the situation. I think Lamar

(19:11):
maybe that first windows closed, but the second one might
be opening if they do go through some new management
and some new changes. The quote from Harbor, I didn't
hear the quote, but it kind of sounds like he's
he's looking for another job on his end to make
sure to protect his butt.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
It was a it was a different sort of response than.
I think a lot of people expected and we weren't sure, Like, look,
I'm not out there every day, I'm on the radiomes
on my own thing, and I'm long touch as a
pet person. But we kind of wondered, you know, if
someone going to ask him about top security. And it
was a very sort of measured and reasoned response. Hm,

(19:50):
I I it was interesting, It was it was interesting.
I think it's not unlike Tomlin where two weeks ago,
right before they won these these couple of games, you
had people saying Tomlin might be ready for a change.
You know, if Tomlin gonna fight for his job, would
tom and be open to all the opportunities Harpball's taking
here one year fewer than harm than than than Promlin.

(20:12):
I mean, it's it's been an attorney and you got
to remember who Harpball's mentors to, right, Andy Reid? How
did stage two for Andy Reid work out? Worked out
pretty well? And Harve's just kind of up against what
Andy Reid was up against in Philly. Can't really win
the big one, you know, when it all turns down,
when you're when you're playing for your season, right right,
Big Red lost five straight championship games. Nobody talks about

(20:33):
that anymore.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
No, it's a long time ago. Yeah, absolutely, you know.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
But I just wonder if Hardball. I just wonder if
he's kind of like you know what, people have been
stay staying around in the stands to boom me after games,
and you know, they think they could do better than me.
Maybe they should find out. There'll be an interesting couple
of weeks around here. They've got another Lamar Jackson contract.
They've got to get done. The roster that everybody kept

(20:59):
telling me was the best to the NFL as a joke.
The offensive line sucks, The defensive line sucks. They have
a whole bunch of corners that they can't. You know
that they accumulate way they can't. They love drafting corners
in safety and they love signing them. Go watch any
of them make plays on the ball. None of them
are balls kills, none of them. None of them. They
don't undert up. If you call it right in their

(21:20):
gut enough times, they'll catch one eventually. But they do
not make plays on the ball in flight. So if
you're not gonna have any fast questions, and all the dbs
you collect don't actually kick the ball off might be.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
In trouble chaos, and sus I would have been standing
in the stands with my quickly put together poster board
that says twelve to fifty three on it. Dereck Henry
running downhill and then doesn't see the ball. But let's
stay in Yeah, it's kind of carriesy. Let's stay in
division though, Let's go to Pittsburgh. DK Metcalf looks like
he's gonna lose like forty million dollars in guaranteed money

(21:53):
by getting himself suspended for a couple of games altercation
with a fan, But Pittsburgh goes and wins their third
and Tomlin walking off the field like he's a WWE
manager like by Hayward and Aaron Rodgers. So what's yeah?
Is this another Are we still on the one and
done or are we still seeing anything signs of life

(22:16):
as the Steelers are finishing things.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
I think it's gonna end up being a one and done.
I I it's a long off season. It's a long season.
This guy's got so many different, you know, pursuits and
loves the sound of his own voice, and I don't
also like the way he wants to run his off seasons.
I don't know how many teams right last year, there

(22:39):
were not many who were willing to put everything on
hold forever, right to just like to just let this happen,
like to just come back on on his terms when
he wants it. I don't know, man, even for the
Steelers to do that again, they've got to find it,
like this is late Staves Roethlisberger all over again. Like
they gotta find like somebody who's going to be there

(23:02):
for more than year to year. But it looks, you know,
who knows, if Tomlin does take the grass might be
green or somewhere else. Even if they go on this
run that it certainly seems like it's gonna end up
in at least one home playoff game. Things can still
come to a head there as well. And once you
got one year left on the deal, so it could

(23:24):
get interesting there.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Jason, you've been doing this a while. Is this the
strangest NFL season you've experienced in your career in quite
some time? I mean, I use the word greasy to
describe it, because it just seems like these teams you
just don't know, they slip through your fingers every week
and anyone really can win. Like I'm having trouble narrowing
my Super Bowl contender list to fewer than five or

(23:48):
six teams, and at this stage of the year usually
it's like a core five. At least there's the ten
or fifteen teams maybe that still have a chance. So
ten at least, that would say, And.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
How many of them are really you know, and you're
in your normal year, would you be looking out of
a team that you'd think could have beat my host
a deeper right, or or Lamar at his Peeter Burrow
at his peak. Now you're not going to have to
go through that gunment in the AFC. It's going to
be different, you know, I do you know? We live

(24:18):
in such a what have you done for me lately? Society?
It's like there's part of me that when you start
thinking about this stuff, I feel like you lose historical
try to touch it does feel different than me. It
feels it feels more wide open. It feels like what
Caroline is doing and what Jacksonville's doing, And like, I

(24:38):
don't know that that happens every year, does it? I
don't think that happens every year. Like there's three legitimately
decent teams in the ANFC South, like I don't you know,
I don't, I don't recall that. And for New England
to have sprinted before they ran, like you'd have told
me New England makes the playoffs this year even with
you know, and look the schedule. We knew coming in
you might be conducive, and they were, you know, summer preseason,

(25:01):
they're like if you went week to week on the
money line, they were gonna be you could tell wild
it was gonna be favored in a lot of these games.
And we don't even know how good they are. So
I would have believed you that Vrabel could turn him around.
I wouldn't have believed that the you know, they're probably
gonna put Buffalo the bed and win the division. So
it does feel like a lot like what's happened in
the NFC Central. That's kind of that's kind of crazy

(25:25):
the way Green Bay has lost some of these games,
Like you know, even LA, Like I think LA is
the best team in the league, but boy, lay every
game they've lost, you think of five things they did
to that's to blow it, you know, like special teams
and turnovers. So it feels more wide open to me
than other years.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Half it does the fall guy, the special teams coordinator
fell on the sort of damnagees the other day, so
or I dropped on him, I should say, I if
we didn't do the quick look at Monday night football,
Philip River hit is over for his passing yards in
the first half. He's moved the ball up and down
the field, and we have fifty four points here late

(26:07):
in the third quarter. I mean, this is this is
it for me? A guy that comes off the street
and five years and high school coach and now he's
yelling at his linemen and slamming the ball off of
fall start. It's beautiful.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
It's nuts. He obviously can't really go and look late
stage in his career. I mean, part of the reason
he started coaching and not playing was he could not
and he always had that weird javelin release to begin with.
They couldn't push the ball downfield anymore, and that's that's
been an issue when he's tried to throw it, you know,
thirty five, forty five. I don't know if he's flirting

(26:42):
really with fifty, but I guess fifty yards downfield that's
not really there. But he's he's managed the game, he's
made plays, he hits guys and stride him and the
ball placement accuracy is ridiculously good for a guy that's old,
who's been out of it that long. We just step in,
like in October or something. He's putting right in the

(27:03):
middle of, you know, the playoff chase, playing teams in
Seattle and San Francisco that have everything on the line,
that are fighting full one seed. So I'm I'm I'm
super impressed. But yeah, it comes with some limitations, and
they really, I think needed to get volume in the
run game here to keep this thing as close as
possible as long as possible, and the defense has had

(27:26):
no answers and Party's not getting touched and so we'll
see how much they still lean into tailor here down
the stretch. But good all, Philip Rivers.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Party looks fantastic, I'll be honest, and that that's the
next part of this conversation, Jason is the Niners have
kind of been sleeping under the radar all year because
of the injuries. They've had a relatively easy schedule, But
when push comes to shove, I think the ceiling for
this offense maybe is as high as the ceiling for
the Rams offense perhaps, and the defense though, is where
I struggle. Are we sleeping on? And I know we'll

(27:56):
get two games over the next two weeks Chicago and Seattle,
we're sleeping on. San Francisco is actually the best team
in the NFC.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
I can't get there because they're not running the ball
like they're customed to running it. I don't think they're
certainly not running as well as the Rams to run it,
and they have no pass for us to speak up.
And I just don't think you can win in January
that way. I mean, it's really tough, and they finally
got a sack tonight, but like, they don't pick the
ball off. It's kind of like the Ravens. They don't

(28:22):
pick the ball off, and they don't have anybody who
gets home on their own. And even when they're schemeing up,
we're all stimulating pressures and pre snap nonsense. It's the
pressure rates pathetic, the sack rates pathetic. And I just
don't think that's gonna fly in the postseason, especially if
they don't win the division and they're a wild card
and everything's on the road. I don't I don't buy them.

(28:46):
I'd probably buy them more if they were in the
AFC honestly than the NFC. Like I don't know, don't
I don't think they have close enough even in this
water downfield to a Super Bowl calimber defense. But maybe
they're starting to peak.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
He's Jason locking For on the Hotline with Us The
Jason Smith Show with Me, Mike Carmin, Jared Smith in
for Jason Smith at Jason locking For where you find
him on Twitter, Wanna Bet with Us dot com at
Wanna Bet with Us one O five seven the fan
in Baltimore. Merry Christmas to you brother, Thank you for
everything this year. We'll catch up with you as the
new year gets started we look at the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
Thank you, guys. Always appreciate you having me on a
happy New Year.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Be blast mar appreciate you. Thank you. A lot of
anks coming out of Baltimore. We've got a barn burner
here late third quarter, an injury in someone needing to
stretch on the sidelines. Here with all the details and
the big night across the sporting universe, the legend himself Stark, Guys,
Steve Desager, what's going on? Stave? Good evening to you.

Speaker 5 (29:47):
It's a Niners lead in this high scoring Monday Night
game at Indy thirty four to twenty, which just over
a minute to go in the third quarter. This was
the highest scoring first half in a Monday Night game
since twenty eighteen, the high scoring Lastic when the Chiefs
played at the Rams. But in this one, the forty
nine Ers scored a touchdown on each of their first
three drives. For the first time this season, there has

(30:09):
been scoring combined on almost every drive tonight, although the
Niners at the end of the first half attempted a
sixty four yard field goal from Eddie Pinero and missed
it as it hit the crossbar, his first miss of
the season. He had been twenty six for twenty six,
and that ended the forty nine Ers franchise record of
thirteen straight games without a field goal missed. Right now,

(30:31):
late third, it's a two touchdown lead. Is brock Purty
is thrown for four touchdowns twenty of twenty six two
hundred forty eight yards, one of those tds to George Kittle,
who with an ankle injury, is limping a bit on
the sidelines. He does have seven receptions one hundred and
fifteen yards and a score. Four different receivers for those
four touchdowns, one of those Christian McCaffrey. On the ground,

(30:55):
McCaffrey fifteen carries eighty five yards. Meanwhile, Philip rivers two
hundred yards, passing most of that in the first half,
two touchdowns, both to Alec Pearce Jonathan Taylor. What's with
the running game? Last month with the Colts, Taylor fourteen
carries just thirty nine yards. They've just ended the third quarter. Niners,
who've won four in a row, lead thirty four to

(31:15):
twenty at Indianapolis. The Colts have lost five of six,
and the Colts lost tonight, would clinch playoff spots in
the AFC for Buffalo, for Jacksonville, and for the Chargers.
Chargers linebacker Denzel Perriman was suspended two games after another
helmet to helmet hit. He will appeal. The NFL suspended
Steelers wide receiver dk metcalf for the final two games

(31:38):
of the season. He will appeal after a confrontation with
a fan yesterday. The Steelers will clinch the AFC North
title if they win one of their final two games,
or if the Ravens lose Saturday Night against the Packers.
Seahawks linebacker Derek Hall lost his appeal of a one
game suspension. The Kansas City Chiefs will have a new
stadium in twenty thirty one in Kansas. The other side

(31:59):
of the border'll be less than twenty five miles west
of their current stadium, Arrowhead, and the new place will
have a roof. Quarterback Gardner Minshew injured for the Chiefs yesterday.
The knee injury is not a torn acl but he
was placed on IR. Kansas City signed quarterback Shane Bouchell.
The Bills expect quarterback Josh Allen to play Sunday despite
a foot injury. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is called day

(32:22):
to day with a severely bruised back. He was hurt
last night.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Notre Dame.

Speaker 5 (32:26):
We'll play against BYU for the next two years instead
of playing USC. NBA wins for New Orleans and Boston
and for Cleveland, which beats Charlotte one thirty nine to
one thirty two. Donovan Mitchell, with thirty points in progress
at Denver, now gets ninety four to seventy one over
Utah late in the third. Among the NHL games, Tampa

(32:46):
Bay and Philadelphia already with wins. College basketball was on
FS one tonight in Saint Louis twentieth, ranked to Illinois
rit Missouri ninety one to forty eight. Arizona is still
ranking one, number one, and Michigan is a close second.
In the a People, Duke fell to number six, the
Mets traded Jeff McNeil in cash to the A's, and
the Mets signed reliever Luke Weaver.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
Back to you, Thanks so much, Steve. Steve's with us
all night. Steve Disaga. We've got Ian Roddy and Alex
deishert making us sound so pretty. Bursch and Brianna in
the back. Appreciate the team working during this holiday holiday
holiday week. All of you listening wherever you're listening on
the iHeartRadio app, all of our affiliates nationwide, we appreciate you. Also,
be sure to check out the new, brand new YouTube

(33:30):
channel for the show. Search at Jason Smith Show on YouTube.
That's Jason Smith Show. Be sure to hit the subscribe button.
Don't stop there, hit the thumbs up icon, comment away.
Let us know what you agree with, what you disagree with,
Bring the pain. Go check out the brand new channel.
It's on YouTube again, search at Jason Smith Shell and subscribe.
We appreciate you being with us. We talked next about

(33:52):
that DK Metcalf situation. I found it curious that the
decision came so quickly, because you got a lot would
be journalists that you probably need to talk to Jared
Smith and for Jason, I'm Mike. We'll do that next
year on Fox.

Speaker 6 (34:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio Jason Smith Show with
Me Mike Harmon. No Jason Smith Tonight. Jared Smith in
his stead at Jared Smith Betts where you find him
on Twitter. Find him here on Fox Sports Radio Saturday
mornings part of Countdown to Kickoff presented by Bett MGM
alongside Brian No and Rich Ornberger, where they get deep

(34:37):
into the college football playoffs. I heard Saturday was a
nice and contentious battle of seeding and outcomes and all
of that fun stuff. So give that a listen each
and every Saturday morning. A reminder that we're also, hey,
we're still feeding off the success. College basketball bracket challenge
was huge this last March and it has been for years,

(34:59):
so we did a racket challenge now for the college
football Playoff. That's right, eight teams left standing, so it's
bracket challenged time. So compete against all of us here,
all the Fox Sports Radio hosts and against fellow listeners.
See who can put together the best College Football Playoff bracket.
Play for your chance to win one thousand dollars. Visit
Fox Sports Radio dot iHeart dot com to register, get

(35:20):
the rules in to fill out your bracket. Entries open
until just before kickoff seven thirty Eastern time on New
Year's Eve. Again, fill out your bracket at Fox Sports
Radio dot iHeart dot com for your chance to win
one thousand dollars. Final forty eight to twenty seven. San
Francisco battled. They got a good fight from Philip Rivers

(35:41):
and the Colts, but it still goes down as a
twenty one point beat down as San Francisco has that
whole control your own destiny thing. Eleven and four now
still two games remaining on their slates as we are
in those final throws of the NFL season. So it's
it's exciting times and a team that is getting right,

(36:03):
getting healthy at the right time.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
You know what's weird, Mike about the playoffs standings right now?
I think it's a done deal. I think I know
who the seven teams are in each in each conference,
and it's just a matter of where they're seated. I
don't think Green Bay is gonna lose both these games.
I think they're gonna you know, obviously Baltimore's situation with
with Lamars in question, and then they play the Vikings
the final week and all they have to do is

(36:26):
win one of those games in order to make the
playoffs and get the seven seed. And obviously Carolina's win
kind of puts them in the driver's seat.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
Now.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
To be fair, we could see, you know, Carolina get
their butt kicked by Seattle this week and then that'll
set up a winner take all next week. But I'll
be honest, like Carolina and that spot, especially if they're
a dog. So I feel pretty comfortable that the top
seven teams in the AFC or excuse me, the NFC,
are going to be there again, that the South is
the one maybe coin flip in the AFC, like it

(36:56):
is a done, done deal, Like Indy's not catching Houston.
So the top seven is set and it's just a
matter of where they're seated right now. So it's a
weird year, right, there's two weeks left in the year,
and I really don't see a dark horse sleeper team
to come from somewhere, you know, sub five hundred to
make a run and make a playoff berth just because

(37:19):
of how it's very disjointed, right, Like we don't know
who the best team are, but there's this group of
good teams and then there's a gigantic gap and then
there's the rest. But I can't recall again, I've been
doing this now publicly handicapping the NFL for five years
and been watching it for twenty plus. In the last
five years that I've been doing this at this level,

(37:41):
I have not seen something where it's been so balanced,
where it's like we have these seven good teams that
are playoff teams, and then the rest of the conference
takes and the same thing in the other conference. Like
it really is unique.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yeah, I don't know if it's better or worse if
you get Roger Goodell in the honest moments, right, it's
like that you have that level of separation just in
that seven to say, hey, these are the best teams
while everybody's chasing, or if you'd like, you'd like more drama,
certainly in week seventeen and eighteen, which is why they
draw up and put a bunch of division games down

(38:13):
the stretch. Some of these sandwich things you mentioned Carolina Tampa.
I'm not a huge fan of that at the back
end of a season, based on where we're at in
terms of injuries and player availability. If the division is
supposed to be that exciting and that heavy weighted in
terms of playoffs and getting a home playoff game and

(38:33):
all of that, that we play two of those three
games or those two games against each other in the
final three games, I should say. But the schedule is
what it is. I can gripe about it all I want,
and I certainly have many times here on Box Sports Radio,
just the EBB and flow of things. You know, hey,
here's three games to start your season the Bears last year.

(38:54):
Here's three games against the AFC South out of the gate.
It leads next into our next topic, which is talking
about scheduling and trying to get yourself best suited to
get yourself into the college football playoff. And that was
the news that broke earlier today, Jared of the fact
that USC and Notre Dame have failed to reach an
agreement on playing what would have been the ninety seventh

(39:16):
game in a series next year, and now we start
looking at replacements. Now Notre Dame announcing a two year
deal with BYU A home and home. Let's all have
a laugh. Here's what we did. We were both really
sad about being left off the playoffs. We'll show them.
We'll play each other. Lincoln Riley tried to talk about

(39:37):
it over the course of the year, roundly met with
a lot of If we were in the old vaudeville
in other days, you'd have a bunch of rotten eggs
and other things thrown his way. But what he did have,
because we have social media, is former number one pick
New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He's a legend. He
tormented my Northwestern Wildcats all those years ago into Rosebell Key,

(40:00):
Shawn Johnson, check this.

Speaker 7 (40:02):
I don't know what the f is going on with
our athletic department. Okay, we got people in there that
are not trojans, that don't know anything about being a
trojan running our athletic department. We got a head coach
that knows nothing about being a trojan.

Speaker 6 (40:17):
Why don't we just.

Speaker 7 (40:19):
Not play football? How about that we not gonna play
Notre Dame again, possibly till twenty thirty, is what I'm understanding.
That doesn't make any sense. I grew up on the
Notre Dame USC rivalry, and I'm not willing to go
in on my athletic department, nor am I one to
go in on the USC football coach. But if I
can remember correctly, I had Lincoln Riley talking about, well,

(40:41):
I don't know if I want.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
To play them in the future.

Speaker 8 (40:43):
You ain't gonna be here in the future, especially if
you keep missing the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
You're not gonna be here in the future. I promise
you that. So I don't.

Speaker 8 (40:52):
Understand what our athletic department, our administration, okay, our border trustees,
to Regis whatever you want to call him, What the
hell are they doing there?

Speaker 1 (41:04):
You go Keishawn Johnson and he says it in the
middle of that. Jared is he's not one that goes
against the school and the athletic department. Not that he
definitely stands for everything they've done, but generally not a
guy that's gonna be out there wagging his finger and
going after the decision making we've talked about college football

(41:25):
is like the whole landscape being like Midwest weather. At
this point, five minutes stand there long enough, something else
is blowing through. Right, it's absolute chaos, topsy turvy. We
haven't been able to rely on on much in the
way of tradition anymore. And I'm not the most ardent
and strident support that all of those things have to remain,

(41:47):
but I'd like for some of them to remain. And
when we're talking at nearly one hundred years and we
talk this rivalry, these games, these classic fixtures of the
college football landscape that goes aside because we're talking about
competitive advantages. When you schedule it, how you schedule it,
everybody gets a beast of the blame plot high. I mean,

(42:09):
he Sean saying with Lincoln Riley going to well, you
won't be here. It's like, that's right, because he'll move
on to another school, whether he leaves of his own
volition or he gets fired. This is not a situation
like Bowden and Paterno and all those guys from years ago.
You don't have guys standing on the same sideline for
thirty five years. That that is absolutely true. So kicking
that down the curb because you don't like it, I

(42:30):
get it. It's it's an impediment because it's a good team.
Now there's some argument of whether it was a all right, well,
we won't do it in September. You know, we want
it where it's been played traditionally, towards the back end
of the schedule. And I can understand, or maybe you
raise your hand to a degree, but the fact that
you know you have two monster entities and commer heads

(42:50):
can't can't come to a rational decision on this to
keep this alive is just beyond me.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Yeah, I understand why you want to keep it all
lot and I'm all for these types of games, but
getting mad about change in college football is like getting
mad at the wind for blowing. Like it's just I think,
like that's a harsh take from Kishon, like blaming USC
for this, Like there was two parties involved and the
game unfortunately isn't going to be played like US season

(43:18):
the Big Ten. Now it's a totally different element, and
I like, I okay, outside of the rivalry, outside of
the Jeweled Chilely whatever they play for. Did I get
that right? Is it the jewel Chile? That's what it's called.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
I think that is right.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
That is correct. Outside of that, like why notreed ame,
Like besides just the tradition of it, Like, there are
other really powerful schools out there that you could start
new traditions with, And I would argue be why he
was actually kind of becoming one of them. Really impressive
season from them, and I it was that was a
really harsh take from Kishon, It really was. But I

(43:57):
understand his at his like anger, but why directed it
at at Lincoln Riley?

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Well, because he's tried. He's been talking this up over
the course of the year, right, so.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
This is so this is just him just continuing to
put the pressure on Lincoln Riley. It's not It's almost
like when you're in a fight, you know, you know
when when you're at odds with your with your wife
or your spouse and the littlest thing sets them over
the edge. But it was really all the other stuff
earlier in the day that really got the compounds.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
But it all plays in all right. It's always the
idea of how do you assess what percentage of the
blame pie. You want to put on each of the variables, right,
how much does Notre Dame get, how much does USC
get as an entity? How much is Lincoln Riley and
what he's trying to force right, because he's trying to
not only keep his job. Certainly, plenty of folks have

(44:44):
been talking about what's the buyout? Let's figure it out
that the number of jokes we had it for Kalin Debor,
certainly we had it for Lincoln Riley. Whoever wins the
Mega Millions, the power Ball, whatever the hell was over
a billion dollars this last week. If I win, I'm
gonna pay his buyout. Like that's the right.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Here's my pushback to Kishon. I have once wrong. Pushback
to Kishon. If your complaint is that they're not making
the playoff, and what have we seen from the committee?
They don't care who you play, just win the games.
So if the goal is to make the playoff, how
about we make a non conference schedule that isn't murderers
row because we're in the Big Ten now and we've

(45:21):
got to face and we got to go east to
play Rutgers at noon on a freaking Saturday at nine
am body clock, we got to go to Penn State
and Ohio State. Like, if the goal is to make
the playoff, why aren't we scheduling Cupcake you in those
first three games and avoiding all of the non conference
and screw tradition. We got to make the playoffs so
we can make money. Like, to me, that is how
you evolve as a college football coach, someone who's on

(45:44):
the board, someone who's a president of a school and
athletic director. The goal is to make the playoff. If
that's the goal, screw tradition, we got to make the
playoff for us. We're not going to be around long
enough to figure out any of this stuff. So I
think Keishan's coming out from the wrong angle. Like I
understand why he's mad at at USC they're not making
the playoff. But if I would argue that not scheduling
Notre Dame is actually going to help them make the playoff, right.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
Well, yeah, it comes down to a couple of things.
When the games that are shouldn't be giveaways, right, but
dumbing down your schedule, I understand both sides of it. Right, Traditional,
when you're in there, if you take care of business
against your other conference foes, and you have years where
you're not going to face the heavyweights. You're not going

(46:26):
to have Ohio State and Oregon and insert what Michigan,
Michigan State if Fitzgerald gets them going or whatever the
case is. Shameless plug for my old college college friend
from way back in the day. But all of that
to say, you know you've got the Big Ten schedule.
You chose to go to the conference for one, right,

(46:46):
So whenever Lincoln Riley's complained about timing and scheduling and
time of games whatever, like you knew what you were
signed up for, you blew up a conference as an
institution whatever he had in terms of weight as the code.
Oh you you blew up a conference and you joined
the Big Ten. You join one of the two behemoths,

(47:06):
and with that comes playing some really oddly scheduled games.
You know, flying across the country. Now you are in
a metal tube for five hours. I think you'll be okay.
I think you'll be okay. Whenever anybody in our business
complains about their flights, I laugh and say get in
the car then and then they pause and I say okay,
then shut up. Same thing here. I'm sorry because we're

(47:29):
long past the pretense of, Hey, that kid's gonna miss,
you know, an important class on that Friday morning. It's
like we're long past that. That part of this equation
as well, Jared. So you know, for Lincoln Riley, I
think for keishaan part of it is unanimous with with
Lincoln Riley himself and what they haven't been able to
accomplish game to game with the level of consistency, the

(47:51):
fact that they have ignored the defensive side of the
ball for years, which is funny from a guy who
wrote Throw Me the Damn Ball as his autobiography. But
it's it's just the you know, there's a tipping point
and sometimes you got to have a fall guy. And
who's face. Do you know who's the face of a
team and a structure? It's not the president, it's not

(48:12):
a board of directors. It's the head coach. Cause you
can't tell me he doesn't have a loud voice in
that room in terms of Okay, what do we need
to get over and not scheduling Notre Dame is an
advantageous part of that.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Yeah, But again, if the goal is to make the playoff,
if his gripe with Lincoln Riley in USC is you
are not successful enough, you are not making the playoff,
then I would argue not scheduling Notre Dame is a
good way to fix that.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
Now.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Yeah, No, it's not to say BYU isn't it isn't
gonna beat you either, but I think BYU isn't as
tough as Notre Dame right now. I think Notre Dame
is a tough team, and I think keeping them off
your schedule for as long as possible, especially when you
have to deal with the Big Ten and that schedule
with nine game schedule, I think it just makes sense
to schedule a little bit lighter in your non conference.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
Yeah, I mean you already had what Missouri State, Georgia Southern.
You went on the road and lost to Illinois. Now
Illinois was ranked at the time.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
But Big ten game though, so you've got to play
that game.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Ten on the road.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Yeah, But but just the point that that's one that
they lost is really the point I was making there, Right, that's.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
They did lose a non conference game this year. Right, No,
they're very clean in the non conference and now despite that,
the playoffs except for Notre Dame. Yes, right, Illinois, what's
USC season look like if it's if it's a cupcake
city instead of Notre Dame and what they go nine
and three?

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Right, Well, do they get the same assurances that Notre
Dame does that they get to go into the playoffs?

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Oh, don't even get me started on the stupid what
is it? The mo OU and the memorandum of understanding. Wow,
Notre Dame's got this system by the balls man, that's
just it right, it's wild.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
And in the end, you know, as I said on
the show, and you weren't part of the show, so
it's new to you. It's kind of like the reruns
on NBC all those years ago when when you missed
it in the fall, in the game summer months, like, hey,
it's new to you. Is the fact that Notre Dame
and Miami that flip. That was great TV because it
kept everybody with rapt attention and gave everybody something to

(50:13):
complain about. And then when the time was right and
they needed it, they broke the glass and said tadah,
head to head matters and there you go, and you
move on. But Notre Dame, yeah, we know what the
behemoth it is. So I have no doubt that behind
the scenes, it becomes a very loud discussion of you
recognize what numbers mean when we're involved. It's like watching

(50:35):
the NFL. It's like when certain teams play, no matter
how bad they are, Dallas, people watch. So yeah, it'll
be curious to watch this unfold, but certainly not back
on the table until twenty thirty at the earliest. He's
Jared Smith on Mike Carmen. Here it's Fox Sports Rader,
The Jason Smith Show with me Mike Carman. Coming up next,
we'll get back into the NFL, a little bit of

(50:59):
Bear's Talk, a celebration of Philip Rivers. But first it's
Steve Dizager with everything going on in our sporting universe tonight.
He is the wizard. He's got the information, gentlemen.

Speaker 5 (51:09):
With the Colts loss to San Francisco tonight forty eight
twenty seven, three AFC teams have now clinch playoff berths. Buffalo,
Jacksonville Chargers are all in. That means this NFL weekend
eight teams clinching playoff spots, the most in one week
for a non strike season in the history of the NFL.

(51:32):
Five straight wins for the Niners. They're up to eleven
and four. They're seven and two on the road. San
Francisco's final two games, they'll host Chicago and Seattle. Brock
Purty at five touchdown passes two hundred and ninety five
yards Christian McCaffrey one hundred and seventeen yards rushing and
two TV catches. Philip Rivers in defeat two touchdown passes
in the first half, one late pick six two hundred

(51:54):
and seventy seven yards. The NFL suspended Steelers wide receiver
dk Metcalf for the final two games of the season.
The Chiefs will have a new stadium across the border
in Kansas in twenty thirty one. The Bills expect quarterback
Josh Allen to play Sunday despite a foot injury. Notre
Dame will play against BYU for the next two years
instead of playing USC. North Carolina's Bill Belichick is reportedly

(52:17):
working to hire Bobby Petrino as his offensive coordinator Freddy
Kitchens was fired there. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day
will call the offensive plays in their playoff opener against Miami.
Brian Hartline will leave later for USF Miami, playing the
number two ranked Buck Guys on New Year's Eve at
the Cotton Bowl quarterfinal. Oregon faces Texas Tech in the

(52:38):
Orange Bowl quarter Final. New Year's Day, Alabama will be
in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal against number one Indiana, and
Old miss will play Georgia in the Sugar Bowl quarter
final New Year's Night, Mississippi lost at Georgia in October
forty three to thirty five, as Georgia scored seventeen straight
points in the fourth quarter to win.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
There was a bowl game in Boise today.

Speaker 5 (52:58):
Washington State at out to a twenty to zing lead
third quarter and beat Utah State thirty four to twenty one.
Cougar's with over six hundred yards of offense. Each team
had been six and six. Attendance was seventeen thousand.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
Three.

Speaker 5 (53:12):
Other bowl games on Tuesday and then Hawaii hosts the
Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve against Cal Wednesday night, in
the NBA home wins for New Orleans, which has won
five straight and Denver home wins for Cleveland and Boston,
Celtics came back to beat Indiana one oh three ninety
five thirty one points for Jalen Brown. Indiana six and

(53:32):
twenty three on the season. Oklahoma City is leading one
oh one ninety one against Memphis with under seven minutes
to go. Shay gilgis Alexander twenty four points. That's his
one hundredth straight twenty point game in college basketball. On
FS one tonight from Saint Louis, Number twenty, Illinois took
care of Missouri ninety one to forty eight. Arizona, by

(53:54):
the way, still ranked number one. Michigan is a close
second in the AP poll. NHL wins for Philadelphia and
Tampa Bay in progress. We've got the Blue Jackets ahead
two to nothing in la late second period. The Mets
traded Jeff McNeil in cash to the A's and the
Mets signed reliever Luke Weaver two years, twenty two million
dollars back to you.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
Thanks so much, Steve. As we continue, we'll have a
little bit on the Chicago bears thrilling victory on Saturday night.
We'll see if Jared can calculate probabilities on the fly
as we roll through. If you missed any of today's show,
check out the podcast search Jason Smith, Mike Carmon, and
Jared Smith wherever you get your podcast. Right after the show,

(54:35):
today's podcast will be posted. Be sure to follow rated
five stars. Give it a review again. Search Jason Smith,
Mike Carmon. Wherever you get your podcasts, you'll find today's
show and a best of version posted right after we
get off the air. Are you now buying into the
Cardiac Bears? Maybe? Maybe not. We'll talk about it next

(54:55):
here on Fox. Got Bears