March 31, 2022 • 37 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon dive into Bruce Arians surprise retirement and what it means for Tom Brady, former NFL OL and Fox Sports Radio Weekends host Rich Ohrnberger joins the show, and poor effort from the USMNT as they still qualify for the World Cup.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:23):
you're listening to Fox Sports Radio. I I don't want
to say it Mike Harmon, Do you want to say
it for me? I don't want to say it. I
don't want to say it. Do you want to say
to I took to my Twitter to say, boy, I
really need a transcription service anybody that wants to write
down everything I say on Fox Sports Radio. There is
(00:45):
a job opening right now for the Worlds of Brilliance.
And I got liked by angle Bird Humperdink got a
tweet earlier. But we got a lot going on. Wait wait, wait, wait,
the real angle real angle Bird Humperdink. Really what? We
got to run some angel Bert Humper Dink songs tonight?
We do so you know, not to get deep into
the actual Wait. Moon Night's official first episode plays out,
(01:11):
but Angelbert's on the soundtrack, and I heard the voice
and I went, whoa wow, alright, and then I turned
about it and he liked it all right. It had
a blue check mark and everything as well as everything
else we've had to say for a long long time
here on Fox Sports Radio. The chickens are coming home
to roast and crowing like a mad son of a gun.
(01:33):
Let's go, and t J, as Angelbert Humper Dink would sing,
Bruce Arians will retire well after the loving from the
Tampa Bay. There you go? Or hey, tell me when
will he retire? Konda Quando? Uh so I will. I'll
(01:53):
say it then, since you I hate to say, I
told you, but now now you do believe? Now do
you believe us when we tell you about how the
strategy of Tom Brady retiring was always about a power
play and moving forward? Hear, but listen to me soon.
It was all about a power play, right late, breaking
(02:15):
news coming in just a little while ago. Bruce Arians
stepping down after three seasons a Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach.
Won the Super Bowl a year ago, Gonna have a
new role in the team's front office. Todd Bowls, Where
have I heard that name before Todd Bowls for he
will now be the new head coach. He gets the
gig over Byron Leftwich, who returned to the team uh
(02:39):
to be the offensive coordinator. Now again, I hate to
say I told you so. I want to take a
deep breath in here, and we'renna take you through what's
going on and why we're where we are and why
Tom Brady is playing in the National Football You know what.
It's gonna be the first post, Jason. You know I
registered it a long time ago. Now we actually have
to launch it. The I hate to say I told
you so. Dot Com. Oh we is that is? Let
(03:01):
me try it right now, Hale, No, no, no, I
know it's it's still a work in progress. I need
to publish it and make it live. But we have
the domain now we just need to Okay, good, Yeah, alright,
So I should stay on the Angelbert Humper Dink Wikipedia page.
Then you can on that. It's a rich tapestry of
number one hits and and tea any big stories, tom
(03:21):
Brady says, I will sing you to sleep after So
tom Brady's retirement. Now it becomes even more crystal clear
that he retired as a strategic option to either find
a way off the Bucks or find a way now
to have a new head coach. Right, we had heard
many times that he and Bruce Arians not getting along
(03:44):
right year to year one was tough, but they figured
out what to do, and which was Tom, what do
you think we should do after the by Oh, let's
do this alright, Great Brady is the best quarterback in
the league again, and they win the Super Bowl. But
there had been a lot of of the two of
them stories and reports, the two of them riff thing
with each other. And then Tom Brady retires. Okay, now
you're gonna start hearing stories about Brady and Arians and
(04:07):
their relate because now reporters are gonna start digging, and
athletes are gonna start talking about what it was really like.
And boy, there was a lot of tense moments in
tense that you had. All the normal stuff you're gonna
hear because now clearly Brady's retirement makes sense. He retires,
and all you need to know really is that his
retirement statement was shorter than the statement he put out
congratulating Bruce Arians on his career and like and life
(04:30):
that he put out on Instagram a little while ago. Right, well, no, no, no, no,
the other one was six pages to the top. But
the first one when he came out and retired, the
first he came out, it was shorter than than what
he put out for Bruce Arians congratulating him on his
long time. I mean, this is this is something that
Brady's had working for a long time. Right, this is
a well crafted statement about the the the retirement of
(04:51):
Bruce Arians and everything you meant to me. And this
is a really well thought out that it's longer than
his initial yes on retiring statement. So there, so there's
a clue right there. But clearly when he retired it
didn't make sense to come back after forty days. Did
he miss the game that much? Did did He didn't
say I gotta get away from my family already? No,
this was okay, this is really not it for me.
(05:14):
Let me see if I can get away from Tampa Bay.
I can't write. Bruce Arian said, no, we're not gonn
let him go. It's bad business right when we can't
do it. If he wants to come back, he plays
with us, he doesn't play. So you know Brady was
ruined signing that contract getting that this year on his
contract because he couldn't go anywhere else he wanted to.
So he comes back, and he decides to come back
and play. Ironically and very coincidentally, according to Rick Stroud
(05:37):
of the Tampa Bay Times, the decision that Bruce arians
made to quote retire was made right at the exact
same time of Tom Brady's return to the National Football League,
either the day before or the day after. So what
happened is Brady is retired, Tampa, what can we do?
What can we do? What can we do? Is the
door closed? Brady right away did not close the door,
(05:58):
refused to close the door. If he was retired, he
would have closed the door. He had chances. Jim Gray's
interview a podcast he had you no, no, no, I'm
leaving the door open so Tampa could say, what can
we do? What can we do? I want a new
head coach. I'm not gonna have this go down like
it went down for me in New England, where I
lost a power struggle with a guy that I couldn't stand.
So no, so you want me to come back, There's
gotta be some changes, and this is the number one change,
(06:19):
and I want something else. And what we have right now. Okay, okay, okay, okay,
let's figure it out. Okay, we got well, hey, we
can get Tom back, but we don't have Bruce. Who
would we rather have Bruce Arians or Tom Brady? I
think we'd rather have Tom Brady. So then whatever plan
is hatched. It was announced that he was going to
step down today, but the decision was made right at
the exact time, or right around the same time that
(06:40):
Tom Brady was coming back. Come on, man, this isn't
Jason Light in his office going, hey, I got a
phone call from Tom Brady's coming back. Hey, I got
a phone call from Bruce Arians. He's retiring. Oh my god,
what are we gonna do? What? What an incredible day.
I gotta go to lunch and I could need time
to process this. Of course, this all works hand in hand,
and this was now a strategical retirement by Brady to
get what he wants. And at was hey, I want
(07:01):
a new head coach. This is not working with me
and Bruce, so I need something else. And now Todd
Bowls He's gonna come in a defensive head coach. He's
gonna say whatever you want, man, you just do your
thing over there, You and Byron over there. I'll be
the head coach over here with the defense. You're there,
I'm here. Just give me a wave every now and
again to know. I mean, all right, this is how
we're gonna do it. You guys are there, I'm over here.
It's all good. I won't talk to you if you
(07:21):
don't want me to. But remember I'm still the head coach,
but I'll be the head coach over here, and you
and Byron are good over there. Uh yeah, this is
why Bruce arians retired. This is a power play by
Brady and Brady one, and clearly the New England Patriots
should have done the same thing. Boy, we love Bill Belichick,
look what he's built, but man, we should have chose
Tom Brady. Because Brady went to another team and won
(07:42):
the Super Bowl and then went to another went to
the playoffs next year and won a game. We still
haven't done that since he left. Boy, we picked the
wrong guy, and Brady saw that. Now not only m
do I have that kind of leverage. I have that
leverage with this team right now, so I can pull
this as a power play to not retire or to
retire and then say I have options. It's the it's
the Aaron Rodgers option that he never really went to,
(08:03):
which was, hey, I can retire if I really want to.
Aaron Rodgers never really threatened to retire, and of course
he signs a contract for fifty million dollars a year.
Brady actually retired because when you want to retire, when
when you use retirement as leverage, if you really want
to do it, you're not gonna talk about it. Bridge. Well,
that's when it's talked about so much. Right, Aaron Rodgers
could retire, Aaron Rodgers could retire. Tom Brady just there's
(08:24):
no talking about It's just I'm retiring. WHOA, Yeah, you
think I'm not serious. I'm serious about this. I'm retiring
right now from the NFL. But I'm still gonna keep
the door open. So I'm gonna make you move around
a little bit. And it's not that I want Bruce
Arians gone, gone gone. I just don't want to deal
with him every day. And so here's Tom Brady now
back is the quarterback of the tam Bay Buccaneers and
Bruce Arians is no longer the head coach. So much
(08:44):
to unpack over the next four hours. This maddening, maddening
game of succession, which is what Bruce Arians talked about
a little bit. Uh, the latest as you go through
process procedure that since the retirement or move upstairs or
whatever we want to term it for Bruce Arians comes
after March first, there's nothing subjecting the Buccaneers to the
(09:07):
Rooney rule in this case. They hired an African American
coach anyway, but in Super Bowls gets to coach a
good team. I'd like the Arians quote of I didn't
want him to have to go to another crap situation.
A nice little wave up to the Jets, which is
nice of him. But the but the Brady forty year
or forty days sojourn seems like it's forty years forty
(09:28):
day sojourn. Yeah, a lot behind the scenes. We're gonna
talk to rich Ornberger. He had the report of the
rift and then you know the issues going in with
that locker room long ago that Arians fired back on
very famously, and at the time we went Shakespeare and
methinks he doth protest too much. And when Byron Leftwich
(09:48):
didn't get the job with the Jaguars and came back
to the Buccaneers, it was immediately I asked the question
of Jay Glazer. We talked about it quite a bit. Jason.
It's like, I don't think Bruce Arians is gonna be there.
Is that going to be part of this process? And
here we are not too much further down the line
of Okay, it's done. And so you look at not
(10:10):
often to coaches who, let's face it, for Arians, well
how much further was he gonna go? Because he's kind
of talked about it a little bit even before this
that it wasn't a long haul. So how often do
you get to set up and choose your guy unless
you're coach k or Jim Beeheim and then you pat
the guy on the back and say I'm not blanking
(10:30):
leaving like you're Leo DiCaprio in Wolf Wall Street. But
now it's and now it's the there's the beauty of it, though, Jason.
Now we have to try to pick through the rubble
and figure out what's spin and what's reality. Right, because
Brady put out the I love you coach, and Arians
put back the thanks brother with the you know, little
(10:51):
class of whiskey, uh emoji and all of that, so positivity,
they're Arians talking to Sam Farmer and Peter talking about
a number of things um related to the process. And
even the blame Gabbert quote was great, you know, the
initial Bruce arians kind of saltiness of it all related
(11:13):
to you know, we're gonna resign Gabber and say damn it. Um.
Part of me was excited to coach Blaine Gabbert as
the quarterback. Approve, everybody, kiss my ass, he's good, which
I think is pretty good too, So that that's kind
of a fun little piece to all of it. Right,
So it's the rich tapestry of it all and trying
to figure out real versus imagine, right. So you know
(11:35):
with with Tom Brady, look there there was never a retirement.
There was a step away moment, so you knew in
the background, and I never believed that. I just wish
i'd bet it, uh and and I didn't, so I'm
an idiot. Uh. But the markets relaxed as if he
was gone. And who walks away from five thousand yards
(11:56):
forty plus touchdowns and no ring. It's just stupid. But
it's just bad. It's just bad when I say things.
If you took that too, and and and put money
on it, you know how rich you would be. Right now,
you'd be able to buy Fox Sports Radio and call
it Mike Harmon Radio Network, and every show would be
the Mike Harmon Show, featuring whoever you want to feature.
You know, No, that's yeah, that's long play, that's that's certainly.
(12:20):
But but short term, you know, ain't. Look, I don't.
I don't have the big cushy contract like you. I'm
just a with so in terms of being able to
lay those dollars out, you know, I still I still
need the elevation. Hey, you're just status. Just threatened retirement
like I do all the time. I I could retire,
you know, just threatened retirement. That's all you have to
say about retirement. Just threatened retirement. You don't have to boy,
(12:43):
you just turn that around and made me feel really
bad about myself. You don't, you don't have to do that.
They wouldn't trust me to take over the show if
you suddenly walked out. Now, no, I'm just saying that.
I mean, we had a few minutes we couldn't find
you this afternoon, and we're exchanging witty barbs. We thought
maybe something happened to you. God forbid, I take a
nap and take a shower. Hey, you know what I mean.
It was prime mocking the Sporting World time Fromsberg actually
(13:08):
called me forty five minutes for the show and he goes, hey,
I haven't been able to find you in an hour.
I'm like, da we what you listen to what you
just said about in an hour? Okay, it's been an hour.
I had a nap, I took a shower, not to
be fair. To be fair, he had looked for the
other nineteen of the twenty before coming back on air.
But that's that's neither here nor there. But yeah, I mean,
(13:30):
lots lots to unpack with this Tampa Bay situation. We
read the tea leaves right in many ways and the
powers struggle. Anybody that wants to try to dismiss that
angle of it, you're just kidding yourselves. Uh, this is
not a peaceful easy Yeah, this is cool. No, No,
there there's back fighting. I mean it's succession. And it's
funny because Bruce arians with the goatee and stuff other
(13:52):
than the kangol and the you know, loose fitting you
know track suits. I mean, he is Brian Cox in
this situation, except this time said he's the one that
gets pushed out. Oh you really didn't well, hey, we
don't know you to push me out. Hey there's another
season coming man. But Bruce arians got pushed out. I mean,
if you're if you're depared, this is like Brian Cox
(14:14):
is losing at the end, like he's lost. He's going upstairs.
That's it. His kids have figured out away. Real credit
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(14:37):
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at discovered dot com. Slash match limitations they do apply. Well,
let's see a few minutes ago he told you how look,
I hate to say I told you so. Tom Brady's
retirement strategic was never real. It was a power play,
(15:20):
and now we get the outcome. Bruce Arians is no
longer the head coach the tamp Bay Buccaneers. He now
is in the front office. Todd Bowles takes over. This
decision made according to sources uh near the Bucks. Rick
Stroud of the tamp Bay Times, this decision was made
right around the time Tom Brady decided to come back
to the National Football League. So, yeah, you put the
(15:40):
pieces of it together, and there is no one better
to join us. Now on the hotline, he'll be going
on his own victory tour of himself of the United States.
It is our teammate here at Fox Sports Radio, former
NFL star teammate of Tom Brady, rich Orin Berger. Rich
if you wanted to, if you wanted to start every
interbody saying I know, I know, I know, I know,
I'm with you. I'm with you, man, you got it. Yeah, listen,
(16:04):
I uh, I'm somewhere uh, driving through New Mexico. Now
I'm gonna do with the victory lap around the entirety
of the United States. Yeah, no, I uh in truth. Look,
you know, the report is the report, and I put
it back. Um, I put it out there back in
February about what I learned, UM, speaking to multiple sources
(16:28):
who are very close to the situation, who understand the
dynamic inside the Tampa Bay building, and there was real
there was real strife among Tom Brady and the coaching staff.
And it's not just limited to Bruce Arians. Uh. There
were issues with how the offense was being constructed, and
(16:50):
eventually he uh, being endowed with a lot of respect
and power in his own right, was able to sort
of take over the offense and call it himself on
the field. But um, there were issues between Brady and
Arians as far as the people I spoke with, and
this outcome sort of feels it sort of feels like
(17:13):
it it is completely entangled with Tom Brady's return back
to the team. Of course it is. I mean the
guy no one retires for forty days, no one retires,
and then a week after says, I don't know if
it's gonna stick. You know, when you have if you're
really retired, you're done. But now it's this whole this,
this whole way, this is unfurled. Now, Rich, it's it's
(17:36):
either okay, Brady is using retirement clearly as as his leverage.
I don't need to play. And then he made the
bucks scatter and come back and say, all right, what
do you want? What do you want? Well, here's what
I want if I'm gonna come back, and Bruce arians
not being the coach is something that wound up happening.
And honestly, I think he learned his lesson because he
saw it one on in New England and said, boy,
(17:57):
how did I lose that power struggle there? I'm the
best quarterback in the history a game, and somehow I
lost a power stuggle with Bill Belichick. I'm not letting
that happen again. And we got what we got. Yeah, well,
you know, separating the reporting from my own speculation to
speculate alongside of you. Yeah, I think to a certain extent,
you could look at what happened in Tampa Bay as
(18:19):
people getting a little comfortable and maybe overplaying their hand.
If there's one thing that I aswertained from conversations. Uh,
you know this, this was the situation where I mean
a lot of the credit, a lot of the bows
need to be taken by Tom Brady for how he
completely gentrified the culture down there in Tampa Bay. I mean,
(18:43):
you can give Bruce credit if you want to. That
is completely up to the the eye of the beholder.
But that team completely changed directions when Tom Brady entered
the Fray. They won the Super Bowl his first year,
they got back into the playoffs and ended up using
to the team who would inevitably win the super Bowl.
And then he retires. Well why, like you said, you know,
(19:06):
trying to connect these dots isn't all that difficult now,
but you know, hindsight is. And this is a move
forward the league. So it'll be interesting to see what
happens in this season. I mean, all these free agents
rallied around Tom Brady. Uh, the team somehow found a
way to stay under the cap and retain the majority
of its talent. Who knows what the circumstances are going
(19:29):
to be with Bronkowski when he returns it. But if
there's one thing that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have that
nobody else has, it's Tom Brady and that gives you
a chance to win a Super Bowl no matter what,
assuming he can stay healthy for the season. Well, and
there's the billion dollar question. But we we asked that
of all athletes anymore, regardless of sport, as you know
(19:50):
do in your morning show with Hartman every every day
in San Diego. Uh, not only getting deep into the
deep dark recesses and stories of his world. And he's
probably meant winning time what thirty nine thousand times over
the last three days for you rich Uh. But with
the Buccaneers, you know, you talk about culture and Brady
(20:10):
being the lynch pen, but you know, I guess on
the grander scale, we do give credit to Bruce Arians
as being a champion for the guys that he did
bring into the room and the assistance that he hired
and for us on the show. Once Byron left, which
came back I I started asking about the arians retirement
then and or the ascent to the front office, and
(20:32):
lo and behold, here we are after March one, after
all the deck chairs have been filled, and we have
one last big bombshell that isn't a free agent player, uh,
just an amazing league and offseason. Oh yeah, no question.
I mean, to speak on Bruce arians career, you're one
pcent riot. I mean, this is a coach who deserves
(20:52):
a tremendous amount of respect for all the work that
he's done. Um, in terms of the sin like sin s,
Brady has entered the picture, I think some of the
responsibility for winning has shifted. And that's fair because if
you look at the New England Patriots situation since Brady left,
it's not as good as when he was there. You
look at the situation and the fortunes for the Tampa
(21:14):
Bay Buccaneers since Brady's entered, it's much better, you know.
So there's a common denominator here and it's quite obvious. So.
But but that does not take away what has been
over the course of his career, a Hall of Fame career.
I mean, Bruce Arians deserves that much, and so credit
where credits due. But yeah, in your assessment of what's
(21:35):
going on around the NFL, this office said, I mean,
have we ever seen anything like this? Answer, very quickly
is absolutely not, and I'm not sure we ever will again.
You know, I don't know how much you guys have
talked about this, but there's a lot of money being
spent right now, and there's a lot of draft picks
being traded right now, and it's sort of feels like
(21:56):
we're gonna see some owners get real gunshine next season
if these situations don't work out. Not everybody's less neat.
Not everybody has Sean McVeigh as their head coach. You know,
he less gets up at the podium after the Super
Bowl parade and he goes f them picks. He's wearing
the T shirt and that's real. That's a cute tagline,
but you gotta make good on that promise if you're
(22:17):
going to trade away capital. The month of March, we
saw more first round draft picks traded than any single
month in the history of the modern draft era since
it's gone to seven rounds. That's absolutely outrageous. So I
think what's gonna happen is some of these situations are
gonna work out, but many of them won't because there
are only so many, you know, chairs when the music stops,
(22:41):
and it's gonna be very interesting to see if there's
a recession next off season as a result of this
boom this off season. Rich Orn Burger with us here
The Jason Smith Show. With Mike Harmon Live and the
Fox Sports Radio studios. All right, take us inside things
a little bit here, Rich, because you know, your report
came out, he got got a lot of attention. There
was a lot of up people talking about it. Um
(23:01):
when when you say the tension that was there with
Brady and arians the coaching staff, was this over control
of the offense? Was it more about the play calling?
Was it the culture itself? Like, what what was the
what were the biggest things that that that caused this, uh,
this rift? Well, from what I heard and what I ascertained,
the rift was caused between him and Bruce over the
(23:22):
fact that Brady's a complete workaholic. I mean that guy
will put everybody to sleep, He will breast never to
make sure that they're pursuing greatness and perfection if he
can help it. And Bruce, as we know, has really
trimmed his schedule down. That was part of his contract
when he re upped with the Boxes that he was
going to take a much different approach than head coaching
(23:46):
than virtually any of the other thirty one head coaches
in this week. You know, it's a it's it's a
job where most of the times you're not burning the
midnight oil, you're burning burning the next morning oil. And
then some you know, And that's the way Tom Brady
operated for two decades in New England with one of
those coaches, and I think a lot of that rubbed
(24:06):
off on Tom, that a lot of that was in
Tom to begin with. So I think when you have
a situation where you have a coach who obviously is
very comfortable with the media and very comfortable accepting phrase
and very comfortable criticizing a star quarterback who's doing a
lot and I mean a lot of the heavy lifting,
I think there was some some there was some animosity
(24:29):
growing up there. That's my own speculation, but but I
think that's that's that's as accurate as I could portray
it um in terms of what I heard about, you know,
issues with other members of the coaching staff. I mean,
there were battles over the run games between him and
Byron Left which you know, they disagreed on a lot
of the play selection during the course of the game.
(24:52):
Brady changed a lot of the calls that were coming
in from the sideline at the line of scrimmage in
game to the point where as far as the game
that Byron was calling from the sideline and Brady was
running on the field. It was completely different. He was
running his own playbook on the field. So so that
that just takes you a little bit deeper into some
(25:13):
of the issues that we're going on. Amid a really
successful season, regardless of how many injuries they have, they
still found a way into the postseason and gave the
Rams all they could handle, almost came back in one.
I always wanted to see the end of that game
if Worf's had been healthy. But that that's, you know,
for the other regions of our our Marvel multi universe
(25:35):
here rich as we flow it through. But also just
reconstructing this team. I mean, is it now Tom Brady
player coach like Bill Russell some forty fifty years ago,
just the way he was doing all the recruiting and
trying to make sure this all fit together. Let's be honest,
(25:56):
It's been that way for shoot, twenty not twenty years.
I was gonna say, I not not in New England.
You were there, But but speaking speaking from that experience,
I mean there were guys who signed to play with
Tom Brady. Well I was in New England. Again, I
can only talk about what I know, and what I
(26:16):
know is this when when I was drafted by the
Patriots in two thousand nine, Brady was ten years in
and had won three Super Bowls. You know, he was
in arguably on pace to maybe on seat Joe Montana
is one of the greatest of all time, if not
the greatest of all time. Right, So, there were already
people banging down the door to play in New England,
(26:38):
and they were getting guys coming in from other situations
on the Chief who still had a lot of great
football left. I played with Randy Moss. I watched what
that connection looked like. You know, a lot of guys
who were really talented took those hometown deals because they
knew how great Tom Brady was. Yeah, Belichick was great too,
There's no question about it. He's built an unbelievable culture.
(26:59):
And and of course you got to give Belichick credit
for everything that's happened and transpired since he's taken over
that team. But Tom Brady was already you know, knee
deep in the recruitment game in terms of getting free
agents to stick around, uh, you know, and re sign
or bringing in new talent from outside. He was consulted.
(27:20):
I think that partnership began to a road over time
between him and Bill, and obviously we saw the the
the fissures that turned into a separation that turned into
him leaving in free agency to go to the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers. But yet, to your point about Brady the
coach on the field, that was happening back in two
thousand nine through two thousand eleven when I was with
(27:42):
New England. So there's no question he's only gotten better
at this after a decade plus. Yeah. I like that.
You got the word fissures in there. That was good. Yeah, yeah,
you know that scored well on the verbal on that
sad when he's on Twitter at Ornburger, that is at Ornburger,
our teammate here at Fox Sports Radio for NFL Star.
(28:05):
Who now is gonna go to bed? Because what don't
you have to what you have to get up in
an hour for the morning show right in extra thirteen sixty. Now,
don't you have to get okay, very good at least
at least have plan for tomorrow? Yeah right, we're not
talking about anything else. What do you do with that contract? Yeah,
(28:26):
it'll be Tom Brady and Moonnight. That will be a
show tomorrow. It should, I mean it, it should just
be you for for for the entire show going. I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. Rich,
Thanks so much, man, appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon, gentlemen.
Always a pleasure. You're the beast. See you, buddy. Some
unbelievable stuff that he told us about the riff between
(28:49):
Brady and Arians and Brady the other offensive coaches. Oh
my goodness, was that great stuff from Rich. That's once
you get this to Arians and you trickle down back
in to the other play calling, et cetera. And and
perhaps I should have phrased the last question more specifically
of all right, he's completely taken over. Right, Russell Gage
(29:09):
gets the phone call and goes, no, you're drinking me? Yeah,
and all these other guys like, yeah, I'm coming back.
Because remember Randy Moss was a guy who would look
like he'd quit on the NFL before he showed up
in New England, right, he said last year, and in
Oakla was like, all right, what happened to him? He
hates this team? And then all of a sudden, hey, wait,
I could go play there and get paid nothing. But
(29:31):
it's gonna be brilliant and low and there you had it.
Well maybe maybe now you know why Gauge thought he
was getting punked because it was Tom Brady said, yeah,
I'm coming back. I mean, okay, but shouldn't I wait
for a phone call from the coach? No, no, no,
I'm the captain now, don't don't worry about it. I'm
I'm the one calling you. If you called him, you
would say you had to call me. So I'm telling
you I'm back, and we're gonna sign you. And here's
the deal. And he's give me your agents number, all facts,
(29:52):
over the details to you. Yeah, succession, Oceans eleven. Putting
the job together. However you to do it. Tom Brady
right now the the king of Tampa. He's gonna go
stand out on that pirate ship and just be like, ha,
it's mine. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
(30:14):
seven pm Pacific. Mike s if you want exclusive insight
from the biggest names in the sports game, what's good?
This is national champion and former pro bowler Chris Johnson.
Let me tell you a little bit about my new
series kJ Live. J Live is the only show featuring
me going one on one with the brightest basketball minds
on the planet to get the real And when I
(30:36):
say real, I mean that real. I got legendary Hall
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(31:01):
the Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike rm
and live from the Fox Sports or Radio studios. Tonight
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(31:22):
slash Match. That's discovered dot Com slash match limitations they
do apply well right now. I don't think the United
States is gonna give up four goals in the final
six minutes of this game, but the United States men's
national team going to qualify for the World Cup. As
long as this result holds, they're gonna lose the Costa
Rica to nothing. Look, they've looked awful this entire game.
(31:44):
They looked like they're kind of sleep walking through it.
But it doesn't matter because they had the points and
as long as they didn't lose by six goals, we're
qualifying for the World Cup. And again there's still six
minutes left. They could give up four more goals. But
I feel pretty good. Not a great effort, but in
the end doesn't matter. You made it really bad effort.
You had a few minutes in the first half where
(32:04):
there was a little bit of pressure, number of corner
kicks and opportunities. Polistic was followed repeatedly. I'm like, put
him in bubble bubble wrap and get him off the field,
right because your fortunes long term need him on the pitch.
Because he got filed pretty hard a couple of times,
like the ball's gone and he's looking at the referee
like really, really, that was like one thousand hit. That's
(32:28):
about as bad as the ejection of Austin Rivers earlier tonight.
Uh that really because he faked an elbow at Lant Stevenson.
But yeah, a bad effort. The second goal, you had
a bunch of defenders standing around goalie flying around, and
it's like, oh, there's a nice easy shot to the
middle of the back of the net. No angle, no, no,
(32:48):
that's just straight back as the defenders all watched like really,
this is about as pathetic as against. But again, as
long as you don't lose by six onward you go
probably probably good, probably a fortunate decision by Greg burr
Halter to not play the B team against Mexico. Remember
that last week it was well, we don't really get
points in Mexico, it's really hard. We were thinking about
(33:11):
playing a B team, So everybody is resident ready for
Costa Rica. Uh yeah, glad, glad that didn't happen, right,
Glad we got those points there, So you got that. Meanwhile,
on a night where they're off and we're wondering about
the availability, uh and still monitoring Lebron James has held
back in Los Angeles. Uh, the Spurs say, you know what,
(33:34):
we don't want it either, and they go and lose
at home to the Memphis Grizzlies. Well, look, this is
this is why you don't at the bottom of the
at the bottom of the West to get into the
play and run. It's not like, well, we gotta win
six of our last seven. No, these teams all suck.
You just have to win like three of your last
seven or four of your left. Just go five hundred,
(33:55):
maybe two out of your last seven might do it.
You don't need a ton, you just need to be
a little bit better than the other teams that suck.
But again, I don't want to say I told you so,
Mike Carmen, but we find out today because you brought
it up with the Spurs. Lebron James is not going
to play. Didn't even make the trip with the Lakers
(34:16):
for tomorrow night. Now I'm not saying I'm just saying
it was back in the middle of February one. I
told you, as long as the Lakers are firmly in
the playing around, Lebron's gonna play. But the minute it
looks like the Lakers could fall out, not falling out,
but that they could fall out, he's gonna have some
kind of injury and he's not gonna play the rest
of the season because he's not going to be the
(34:37):
guy that's on the hook and responsible for the Lakers
missing the playoffs. There's proof go back. I'll put it
back out on Twitter. I've been saying this for a
month and a half, but he will. If something happens
and the Lakers look like they're not gonna make it,
he will find a way to not play. Just so
you can't say, at the end, all Lebron did all
he could, he could even get him in all Lebron's
not the same guy. He listens to all of that stuff.
(34:59):
He listens to all the criticism, and that's exactly what
it would be the day after the regular season. It
would be a let's jump up and down on the
Lakers corpse and we're gonna have Lebron at the top
of this thing. It's what everybody on TV would say,
on the radio, all the big talking points. Lebron isn't
who he thought he was. Couldn't even get the Lakers
in the playoffs. He's not gonna be on the hook
for that. I'm not saying he's not hurt. I'm just
(35:20):
saying that I told you six weeks ago, if it
looks like they're gonna fall out, Lebron's gonna wind up
not playing. And now that it looks like they're gonna
fall out, and it looked like it could happen after
the loss on Sunday, Lebron now it's gonna be these
two games. He's not gonna wind up playing again. I'm
not saying, I'm just saying Friday against the Pelicans, Anthony
(35:40):
Davis may or may not be available. Yeah, you get
on the hook for that. A D will let you
be the guy that final six games. You come back
and play and we'll lose and they can all blame you.
That's okay, Hey, a D. You take that. I'm not
gonna take it. You come back and people will blame you.
It's pretty funny though, like just the thought and the
assumption that you can get away from wearing it, right,
(36:02):
you could you help construct this thing period, right, it
was part of Clutch Sports. Lebron James and Rob Polenka,
who has been really quiet for quite a long time now, right,
we haven't heard a lot from him. But for for
Lebron James, look, obviously ankle injury, he'd done the the
(36:23):
cell on his knee weeks ago. I mean that was
a long time ago at this point. So now you're
you're looking these final games and does he appear. I
don't know. The Spurs losing again kind of forces their
hand again, don't they. No, no, no, no, no, let's
let's no no no, we just let's let's keep going
as is. We don't have to make any changes. We're
(36:44):
gonna go as scripted. Everything is good not We'll go
the next couple of days can go just like this.
No changes need to be made right now. We're all
kind of like the chaos theory to it. Although so
it's great theater for us, since we are in Los
Angeles that we need controversy on a data day basis
real or imagined. Good Again, I'm not saying that could
(37:06):
be a new thing for the show. I'm not saying.
I'm just saying. I'm not saying, but look at what's
going on. Look at well I did register the domain.
I got some thoughts. Okay, all right, that's I don't
know how that was available. I got some thoughts dot
com okay, all right, Well, well, well it's got to
be I'm not saying. I'm just saying, I mean, that's
got to be the whole thing to you. You can
(37:26):
pay the twelve bucks. Why I'm the idea guy. I
have the ideas you be. You're the money guy, you pay, you,
you you get, You're the you're the expert, you're the
website guy. You've worked on the internet for a long time.
I need a rate of return off of you. The
word I wanted to say, where I right there? I couldn't.
So here we are, right. That's a good water return percent.
(37:50):
Now we'll fine, it's fine. Coming up next, we get
back into Tom Brady, Bruce Arians and all the big
drama and Tampa. This is Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R
(00:23):
you're listening to Fox Sports Radio. I I don't want
to say it Mike Harmon, Do you want to say
it for me? I don't want to say it. I
don't want to say it. Do you want to say
to I took to my Twitter to say, boy, I
really need a transcription service anybody that wants to write
down everything I say on Fox Sports Radio. There is
(00:45):
a job opening right now for the Worlds of Brilliance.
And I got liked by angle Bird Humperdink got a
tweet earlier. But we got a lot going on. Wait wait, wait, wait,
the real angle real angle Bird Humperdink. Really what? We
got to run some angel Bert Humper Dink songs tonight?
We do so you know, not to get deep into
the actual Wait. Moon Night's official first episode plays out,
(01:11):
but Angelbert's on the soundtrack, and I heard the voice
and I went, whoa wow, alright, and then I turned
about it and he liked it all right. It had
a blue check mark and everything as well as everything
else we've had to say for a long long time
here on Fox Sports Radio. The chickens are coming home
to roast and crowing like a mad son of a gun.
(01:33):
Let's go, and t J, as Angelbert Humper Dink would sing,
Bruce Arians will retire well after the loving from the
Tampa Bay. There you go? Or hey, tell me when
will he retire? Konda Quando? Uh so I will. I'll
(01:53):
say it then, since you I hate to say, I
told you, but now now you do believe? Now do
you believe us when we tell you about how the
strategy of Tom Brady retiring was always about a power
play and moving forward? Hear, but listen to me soon.
It was all about a power play, right late, breaking
(02:15):
news coming in just a little while ago. Bruce Arians
stepping down after three seasons a Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach.
Won the Super Bowl a year ago, Gonna have a
new role in the team's front office. Todd Bowls, Where
have I heard that name before Todd Bowls for he
will now be the new head coach. He gets the
gig over Byron Leftwich, who returned to the team uh
(02:39):
to be the offensive coordinator. Now again, I hate to
say I told you so. I want to take a
deep breath in here, and we'renna take you through what's
going on and why we're where we are and why
Tom Brady is playing in the National Football You know what.
It's gonna be the first post, Jason. You know I
registered it a long time ago. Now we actually have
to launch it. The I hate to say I told
you so. Dot Com. Oh we is that is? Let
(03:01):
me try it right now, Hale, No, no, no, I
know it's it's still a work in progress. I need
to publish it and make it live. But we have
the domain now we just need to Okay, good, Yeah, alright,
So I should stay on the Angelbert Humper Dink Wikipedia page.
Then you can on that. It's a rich tapestry of
number one hits and and tea any big stories, tom
(03:21):
Brady says, I will sing you to sleep after So
tom Brady's retirement. Now it becomes even more crystal clear
that he retired as a strategic option to either find
a way off the Bucks or find a way now
to have a new head coach. Right, we had heard
many times that he and Bruce Arians not getting along
(03:44):
right year to year one was tough, but they figured
out what to do, and which was Tom, what do
you think we should do after the by Oh, let's
do this alright, Great Brady is the best quarterback in
the league again, and they win the Super Bowl. But
there had been a lot of of the two of
them stories and reports, the two of them riff thing
with each other. And then Tom Brady retires. Okay, now
you're gonna start hearing stories about Brady and Arians and
(04:07):
their relate because now reporters are gonna start digging, and
athletes are gonna start talking about what it was really like.
And boy, there was a lot of tense moments in
tense that you had. All the normal stuff you're gonna
hear because now clearly Brady's retirement makes sense. He retires,
and all you need to know really is that his
retirement statement was shorter than the statement he put out
congratulating Bruce Arians on his career and like and life
(04:30):
that he put out on Instagram a little while ago. Right, well, no, no, no, no,
the other one was six pages to the top. But
the first one when he came out and retired, the
first he came out, it was shorter than than what
he put out for Bruce Arians congratulating him on his
long time. I mean, this is this is something that
Brady's had working for a long time. Right, this is
a well crafted statement about the the the retirement of
(04:51):
Bruce Arians and everything you meant to me. And this
is a really well thought out that it's longer than
his initial yes on retiring statement. So there, so there's
a clue right there. But clearly when he retired it
didn't make sense to come back after forty days. Did
he miss the game that much? Did did He didn't
say I gotta get away from my family already? No,
this was okay, this is really not it for me.
(05:14):
Let me see if I can get away from Tampa Bay.
I can't write. Bruce Arian said, no, we're not gonn
let him go. It's bad business right when we can't
do it. If he wants to come back, he plays
with us, he doesn't play. So you know Brady was
ruined signing that contract getting that this year on his
contract because he couldn't go anywhere else he wanted to.
So he comes back, and he decides to come back
and play. Ironically and very coincidentally, according to Rick Stroud
(05:37):
of the Tampa Bay Times, the decision that Bruce arians
made to quote retire was made right at the exact
same time of Tom Brady's return to the National Football League,
either the day before or the day after. So what
happened is Brady is retired, Tampa, what can we do?
What can we do? What can we do? Is the
door closed? Brady right away did not close the door,
(05:58):
refused to close the door. If he was retired, he
would have closed the door. He had chances. Jim Gray's
interview a podcast he had you no, no, no, I'm
leaving the door open so Tampa could say, what can
we do? What can we do? I want a new
head coach. I'm not gonna have this go down like
it went down for me in New England, where I
lost a power struggle with a guy that I couldn't stand.
So no, so you want me to come back, There's
gotta be some changes, and this is the number one change,
(06:19):
and I want something else. And what we have right now. Okay, okay, okay, okay,
let's figure it out. Okay, we got well, hey, we
can get Tom back, but we don't have Bruce. Who
would we rather have Bruce Arians or Tom Brady? I
think we'd rather have Tom Brady. So then whatever plan
is hatched. It was announced that he was going to
step down today, but the decision was made right at
the exact time, or right around the same time that
(06:40):
Tom Brady was coming back. Come on, man, this isn't
Jason Light in his office going, hey, I got a
phone call from Tom Brady's coming back. Hey, I got
a phone call from Bruce Arians. He's retiring. Oh my god,
what are we gonna do? What? What an incredible day.
I gotta go to lunch and I could need time
to process this. Of course, this all works hand in hand,
and this was now a strategical retirement by Brady to
get what he wants. And at was hey, I want
(07:01):
a new head coach. This is not working with me
and Bruce, so I need something else. And now Todd
Bowls He's gonna come in a defensive head coach. He's
gonna say whatever you want, man, you just do your
thing over there, You and Byron over there. I'll be
the head coach over here with the defense. You're there,
I'm here. Just give me a wave every now and
again to know. I mean, all right, this is how
we're gonna do it. You guys are there, I'm over here.
It's all good. I won't talk to you if you
(07:21):
don't want me to. But remember I'm still the head coach,
but I'll be the head coach over here, and you
and Byron are good over there. Uh yeah, this is
why Bruce arians retired. This is a power play by
Brady and Brady one, and clearly the New England Patriots
should have done the same thing. Boy, we love Bill Belichick,
look what he's built, but man, we should have chose
Tom Brady. Because Brady went to another team and won
(07:42):
the Super Bowl and then went to another went to
the playoffs next year and won a game. We still
haven't done that since he left. Boy, we picked the
wrong guy, and Brady saw that. Now not only m
do I have that kind of leverage. I have that
leverage with this team right now, so I can pull
this as a power play to not retire or to
retire and then say I have options. It's the it's
the Aaron Rodgers option that he never really went to,
(08:03):
which was, hey, I can retire if I really want to.
Aaron Rodgers never really threatened to retire, and of course
he signs a contract for fifty million dollars a year.
Brady actually retired because when you want to retire, when
when you use retirement as leverage, if you really want
to do it, you're not gonna talk about it. Bridge. Well,
that's when it's talked about so much. Right, Aaron Rodgers
could retire, Aaron Rodgers could retire. Tom Brady just there's
(08:24):
no talking about It's just I'm retiring. WHOA, Yeah, you
think I'm not serious. I'm serious about this. I'm retiring
right now from the NFL. But I'm still gonna keep
the door open. So I'm gonna make you move around
a little bit. And it's not that I want Bruce
Arians gone, gone gone. I just don't want to deal
with him every day. And so here's Tom Brady now
back is the quarterback of the tam Bay Buccaneers and
Bruce Arians is no longer the head coach. So much
(08:44):
to unpack over the next four hours. This maddening, maddening
game of succession, which is what Bruce Arians talked about
a little bit. Uh, the latest as you go through
process procedure that since the retirement or move upstairs or
whatever we want to term it for Bruce Arians comes
after March first, there's nothing subjecting the Buccaneers to the
(09:07):
Rooney rule in this case. They hired an African American
coach anyway, but in Super Bowls gets to coach a
good team. I'd like the Arians quote of I didn't
want him to have to go to another crap situation.
A nice little wave up to the Jets, which is
nice of him. But the but the Brady forty year
or forty days sojourn seems like it's forty years forty
(09:28):
day sojourn. Yeah, a lot behind the scenes. We're gonna
talk to rich Ornberger. He had the report of the
rift and then you know the issues going in with
that locker room long ago that Arians fired back on
very famously, and at the time we went Shakespeare and
methinks he doth protest too much. And when Byron Leftwich
(09:48):
didn't get the job with the Jaguars and came back
to the Buccaneers, it was immediately I asked the question
of Jay Glazer. We talked about it quite a bit. Jason.
It's like, I don't think Bruce Arians is gonna be there.
Is that going to be part of this process? And
here we are not too much further down the line
of Okay, it's done. And so you look at not
(10:10):
often to coaches who, let's face it, for Arians, well
how much further was he gonna go? Because he's kind
of talked about it a little bit even before this
that it wasn't a long haul. So how often do
you get to set up and choose your guy unless
you're coach k or Jim Beeheim and then you pat
the guy on the back and say I'm not blanking
(10:30):
leaving like you're Leo DiCaprio in Wolf Wall Street. But
now it's and now it's the there's the beauty of it, though, Jason.
Now we have to try to pick through the rubble
and figure out what's spin and what's reality. Right, because
Brady put out the I love you coach, and Arians
put back the thanks brother with the you know, little
(10:51):
class of whiskey, uh emoji and all of that, so positivity,
they're Arians talking to Sam Farmer and Peter talking about
a number of things um related to the process. And
even the blame Gabbert quote was great, you know, the
initial Bruce arians kind of saltiness of it all related
(11:13):
to you know, we're gonna resign Gabber and say damn it. Um.
Part of me was excited to coach Blaine Gabbert as
the quarterback. Approve, everybody, kiss my ass, he's good, which
I think is pretty good too, So that that's kind
of a fun little piece to all of it. Right,
So it's the rich tapestry of it all and trying
to figure out real versus imagine, right. So you know
(11:35):
with with Tom Brady, look there there was never a retirement.
There was a step away moment, so you knew in
the background, and I never believed that. I just wish
i'd bet it, uh and and I didn't, so I'm
an idiot. Uh. But the markets relaxed as if he
was gone. And who walks away from five thousand yards
(11:56):
forty plus touchdowns and no ring. It's just stupid. But
it's just bad. It's just bad when I say things.
If you took that too, and and and put money
on it, you know how rich you would be. Right now,
you'd be able to buy Fox Sports Radio and call
it Mike Harmon Radio Network, and every show would be
the Mike Harmon Show, featuring whoever you want to feature.
You know, No, that's yeah, that's long play, that's that's certainly.
(12:20):
But but short term, you know, ain't. Look, I don't.
I don't have the big cushy contract like you. I'm
just a with so in terms of being able to
lay those dollars out, you know, I still I still
need the elevation. Hey, you're just status. Just threatened retirement
like I do all the time. I I could retire,
you know, just threatened retirement. That's all you have to
say about retirement. Just threatened retirement. You don't have to boy,
(12:43):
you just turn that around and made me feel really
bad about myself. You don't, you don't have to do that.
They wouldn't trust me to take over the show if
you suddenly walked out. Now, no, I'm just saying that.
I mean, we had a few minutes we couldn't find
you this afternoon, and we're exchanging witty barbs. We thought
maybe something happened to you. God forbid, I take a
nap and take a shower. Hey, you know what I mean.
It was prime mocking the Sporting World time Fromsberg actually
(13:08):
called me forty five minutes for the show and he goes, hey,
I haven't been able to find you in an hour.
I'm like, da we what you listen to what you
just said about in an hour? Okay, it's been an hour.
I had a nap, I took a shower, not to
be fair. To be fair, he had looked for the
other nineteen of the twenty before coming back on air.
But that's that's neither here nor there. But yeah, I mean,
(13:30):
lots lots to unpack with this Tampa Bay situation. We
read the tea leaves right in many ways and the
powers struggle. Anybody that wants to try to dismiss that
angle of it, you're just kidding yourselves. Uh, this is
not a peaceful easy Yeah, this is cool. No, No,
there there's back fighting. I mean it's succession. And it's
funny because Bruce arians with the goatee and stuff other
(13:52):
than the kangol and the you know, loose fitting you
know track suits. I mean, he is Brian Cox in
this situation, except this time said he's the one that
gets pushed out. Oh you really didn't well, hey, we
don't know you to push me out. Hey there's another
season coming man. But Bruce arians got pushed out. I mean,
if you're if you're depared, this is like Brian Cox
(14:14):
is losing at the end, like he's lost. He's going upstairs.
That's it. His kids have figured out away. Real credit
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(14:37):
all come together. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
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(14:59):
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let's see a few minutes ago he told you how look,
I hate to say I told you so. Tom Brady's
retirement strategic was never real. It was a power play,
(15:20):
and now we get the outcome. Bruce Arians is no
longer the head coach the tamp Bay Buccaneers. He now
is in the front office. Todd Bowles takes over. This
decision made according to sources uh near the Bucks. Rick
Stroud of the tamp Bay Times, this decision was made
right around the time Tom Brady decided to come back
to the National Football League. So, yeah, you put the
(15:40):
pieces of it together, and there is no one better
to join us. Now on the hotline, he'll be going
on his own victory tour of himself of the United States.
It is our teammate here at Fox Sports Radio, former
NFL star teammate of Tom Brady, rich Orin Berger. Rich
if you wanted to, if you wanted to start every
interbody saying I know, I know, I know, I know,
I'm with you. I'm with you, man, you got it. Yeah, listen,
(16:04):
I uh, I'm somewhere uh, driving through New Mexico. Now
I'm gonna do with the victory lap around the entirety
of the United States. Yeah, no, I uh in truth. Look,
you know, the report is the report, and I put
it back. Um, I put it out there back in
February about what I learned, UM, speaking to multiple sources
(16:28):
who are very close to the situation, who understand the
dynamic inside the Tampa Bay building, and there was real
there was real strife among Tom Brady and the coaching staff.
And it's not just limited to Bruce Arians. Uh. There
were issues with how the offense was being constructed, and
(16:50):
eventually he uh, being endowed with a lot of respect
and power in his own right, was able to sort
of take over the offense and call it himself on
the field. But um, there were issues between Brady and
Arians as far as the people I spoke with, and
this outcome sort of feels it sort of feels like
(17:13):
it it is completely entangled with Tom Brady's return back
to the team. Of course it is. I mean the
guy no one retires for forty days, no one retires,
and then a week after says, I don't know if
it's gonna stick. You know, when you have if you're
really retired, you're done. But now it's this whole this,
this whole way, this is unfurled. Now, Rich, it's it's
(17:36):
either okay, Brady is using retirement clearly as as his leverage.
I don't need to play. And then he made the
bucks scatter and come back and say, all right, what
do you want? What do you want? Well, here's what
I want if I'm gonna come back, and Bruce arians
not being the coach is something that wound up happening.
And honestly, I think he learned his lesson because he
saw it one on in New England and said, boy,
(17:57):
how did I lose that power struggle there? I'm the
best quarterback in the history a game, and somehow I
lost a power stuggle with Bill Belichick. I'm not letting
that happen again. And we got what we got. Yeah, well,
you know, separating the reporting from my own speculation to
speculate alongside of you. Yeah, I think to a certain extent,
you could look at what happened in Tampa Bay as
(18:19):
people getting a little comfortable and maybe overplaying their hand.
If there's one thing that I aswertained from conversations. Uh,
you know this, this was the situation where I mean
a lot of the credit, a lot of the bows
need to be taken by Tom Brady for how he
completely gentrified the culture down there in Tampa Bay. I mean,
(18:43):
you can give Bruce credit if you want to. That
is completely up to the the eye of the beholder.
But that team completely changed directions when Tom Brady entered
the Fray. They won the Super Bowl his first year,
they got back into the playoffs and ended up using
to the team who would inevitably win the super Bowl.
And then he retires. Well why, like you said, you know,
(19:06):
trying to connect these dots isn't all that difficult now,
but you know, hindsight is. And this is a move
forward the league. So it'll be interesting to see what
happens in this season. I mean, all these free agents
rallied around Tom Brady. Uh, the team somehow found a
way to stay under the cap and retain the majority
of its talent. Who knows what the circumstances are going
(19:29):
to be with Bronkowski when he returns it. But if
there's one thing that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have that
nobody else has, it's Tom Brady and that gives you
a chance to win a Super Bowl no matter what,
assuming he can stay healthy for the season. Well, and
there's the billion dollar question. But we we asked that
of all athletes anymore, regardless of sport, as you know
(19:50):
do in your morning show with Hartman every every day
in San Diego. Uh, not only getting deep into the
deep dark recesses and stories of his world. And he's
probably meant winning time what thirty nine thousand times over
the last three days for you rich Uh. But with
the Buccaneers, you know, you talk about culture and Brady
(20:10):
being the lynch pen, but you know, I guess on
the grander scale, we do give credit to Bruce Arians
as being a champion for the guys that he did
bring into the room and the assistance that he hired
and for us on the show. Once Byron left, which
came back I I started asking about the arians retirement
then and or the ascent to the front office, and
(20:32):
lo and behold, here we are after March one, after
all the deck chairs have been filled, and we have
one last big bombshell that isn't a free agent player, uh,
just an amazing league and offseason. Oh yeah, no question.
I mean, to speak on Bruce arians career, you're one
pcent riot. I mean, this is a coach who deserves
(20:52):
a tremendous amount of respect for all the work that
he's done. Um, in terms of the sin like sin s,
Brady has entered the picture, I think some of the
responsibility for winning has shifted. And that's fair because if
you look at the New England Patriots situation since Brady left,
it's not as good as when he was there. You
look at the situation and the fortunes for the Tampa
(21:14):
Bay Buccaneers since Brady's entered, it's much better, you know.
So there's a common denominator here and it's quite obvious. So.
But but that does not take away what has been
over the course of his career, a Hall of Fame career.
I mean, Bruce Arians deserves that much, and so credit
where credits due. But yeah, in your assessment of what's
(21:35):
going on around the NFL, this office said, I mean,
have we ever seen anything like this? Answer, very quickly
is absolutely not, and I'm not sure we ever will again.
You know, I don't know how much you guys have
talked about this, but there's a lot of money being
spent right now, and there's a lot of draft picks
being traded right now, and it's sort of feels like
(21:56):
we're gonna see some owners get real gunshine next season
if these situations don't work out. Not everybody's less neat.
Not everybody has Sean McVeigh as their head coach. You know,
he less gets up at the podium after the Super
Bowl parade and he goes f them picks. He's wearing
the T shirt and that's real. That's a cute tagline,
but you gotta make good on that promise if you're
(22:17):
going to trade away capital. The month of March, we
saw more first round draft picks traded than any single
month in the history of the modern draft era since
it's gone to seven rounds. That's absolutely outrageous. So I
think what's gonna happen is some of these situations are
gonna work out, but many of them won't because there
are only so many, you know, chairs when the music stops,
(22:41):
and it's gonna be very interesting to see if there's
a recession next off season as a result of this
boom this off season. Rich Orn Burger with us here
The Jason Smith Show. With Mike Harmon Live and the
Fox Sports Radio studios. All right, take us inside things
a little bit here, Rich, because you know, your report
came out, he got got a lot of attention. There
was a lot of up people talking about it. Um
(23:01):
when when you say the tension that was there with
Brady and arians the coaching staff, was this over control
of the offense? Was it more about the play calling?
Was it the culture itself? Like, what what was the
what were the biggest things that that that caused this, uh,
this rift? Well, from what I heard and what I ascertained,
the rift was caused between him and Bruce over the
(23:22):
fact that Brady's a complete workaholic. I mean that guy
will put everybody to sleep, He will breast never to
make sure that they're pursuing greatness and perfection if he
can help it. And Bruce, as we know, has really
trimmed his schedule down. That was part of his contract
when he re upped with the Boxes that he was
going to take a much different approach than head coaching
(23:46):
than virtually any of the other thirty one head coaches
in this week. You know, it's a it's it's a
job where most of the times you're not burning the
midnight oil, you're burning burning the next morning oil. And
then some you know, And that's the way Tom Brady
operated for two decades in New England with one of
those coaches, and I think a lot of that rubbed
(24:06):
off on Tom, that a lot of that was in
Tom to begin with. So I think when you have
a situation where you have a coach who obviously is
very comfortable with the media and very comfortable accepting phrase
and very comfortable criticizing a star quarterback who's doing a
lot and I mean a lot of the heavy lifting,
I think there was some some there was some animosity
(24:29):
growing up there. That's my own speculation, but but I
think that's that's that's as accurate as I could portray
it um in terms of what I heard about, you know,
issues with other members of the coaching staff. I mean,
there were battles over the run games between him and
Byron Left which you know, they disagreed on a lot
of the play selection during the course of the game.
(24:52):
Brady changed a lot of the calls that were coming
in from the sideline at the line of scrimmage in
game to the point where as far as the game
that Byron was calling from the sideline and Brady was
running on the field. It was completely different. He was
running his own playbook on the field. So so that
that just takes you a little bit deeper into some
(25:13):
of the issues that we're going on. Amid a really
successful season, regardless of how many injuries they have, they
still found a way into the postseason and gave the
Rams all they could handle, almost came back in one.
I always wanted to see the end of that game
if Worf's had been healthy. But that that's, you know,
for the other regions of our our Marvel multi universe
(25:35):
here rich as we flow it through. But also just
reconstructing this team. I mean, is it now Tom Brady
player coach like Bill Russell some forty fifty years ago,
just the way he was doing all the recruiting and
trying to make sure this all fit together. Let's be honest,
(25:56):
It's been that way for shoot, twenty not twenty years.
I was gonna say, I not not in New England.
You were there, But but speaking speaking from that experience,
I mean there were guys who signed to play with
Tom Brady. Well I was in New England. Again, I
can only talk about what I know, and what I
(26:16):
know is this when when I was drafted by the
Patriots in two thousand nine, Brady was ten years in
and had won three Super Bowls. You know, he was
in arguably on pace to maybe on seat Joe Montana
is one of the greatest of all time, if not
the greatest of all time. Right, So, there were already
people banging down the door to play in New England,
(26:38):
and they were getting guys coming in from other situations
on the Chief who still had a lot of great
football left. I played with Randy Moss. I watched what
that connection looked like. You know, a lot of guys
who were really talented took those hometown deals because they
knew how great Tom Brady was. Yeah, Belichick was great too,
There's no question about it. He's built an unbelievable culture.
(26:59):
And and of course you got to give Belichick credit
for everything that's happened and transpired since he's taken over
that team. But Tom Brady was already you know, knee
deep in the recruitment game in terms of getting free
agents to stick around, uh, you know, and re sign
or bringing in new talent from outside. He was consulted.
(27:20):
I think that partnership began to a road over time
between him and Bill, and obviously we saw the the
the fissures that turned into a separation that turned into
him leaving in free agency to go to the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers. But yet, to your point about Brady the
coach on the field, that was happening back in two
thousand nine through two thousand eleven when I was with
(27:42):
New England. So there's no question he's only gotten better
at this after a decade plus. Yeah. I like that.
You got the word fissures in there. That was good. Yeah, yeah,
you know that scored well on the verbal on that
sad when he's on Twitter at Ornburger, that is at Ornburger,
our teammate here at Fox Sports Radio for NFL Star.
(28:05):
Who now is gonna go to bed? Because what don't
you have to what you have to get up in
an hour for the morning show right in extra thirteen sixty. Now,
don't you have to get okay, very good at least
at least have plan for tomorrow? Yeah right, we're not
talking about anything else. What do you do with that contract? Yeah,
(28:26):
it'll be Tom Brady and Moonnight. That will be a
show tomorrow. It should, I mean it, it should just
be you for for for the entire show going. I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. Rich,
Thanks so much, man, appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon, gentlemen.
Always a pleasure. You're the beast. See you, buddy. Some
unbelievable stuff that he told us about the riff between
(28:49):
Brady and Arians and Brady the other offensive coaches. Oh
my goodness, was that great stuff from Rich. That's once
you get this to Arians and you trickle down back
in to the other play calling, et cetera. And and
perhaps I should have phrased the last question more specifically
of all right, he's completely taken over. Right, Russell Gage
(29:09):
gets the phone call and goes, no, you're drinking me? Yeah,
and all these other guys like, yeah, I'm coming back.
Because remember Randy Moss was a guy who would look
like he'd quit on the NFL before he showed up
in New England, right, he said last year, and in
Oakla was like, all right, what happened to him? He
hates this team? And then all of a sudden, hey, wait,
I could go play there and get paid nothing. But
(29:31):
it's gonna be brilliant and low and there you had it.
Well maybe maybe now you know why Gauge thought he
was getting punked because it was Tom Brady said, yeah,
I'm coming back. I mean, okay, but shouldn't I wait
for a phone call from the coach? No, no, no,
I'm the captain now, don't don't worry about it. I'm
I'm the one calling you. If you called him, you
would say you had to call me. So I'm telling
you I'm back, and we're gonna sign you. And here's
the deal. And he's give me your agents number, all facts,
(29:52):
over the details to you. Yeah, succession, Oceans eleven. Putting
the job together. However you to do it. Tom Brady
right now the the king of Tampa. He's gonna go
stand out on that pirate ship and just be like, ha,
it's mine. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
(30:14):
seven pm Pacific. Mike s if you want exclusive insight
from the biggest names in the sports game, what's good?
This is national champion and former pro bowler Chris Johnson.
Let me tell you a little bit about my new
series kJ Live. J Live is the only show featuring
me going one on one with the brightest basketball minds
on the planet to get the real And when I
(30:36):
say real, I mean that real. I got legendary Hall
of Famers, elite coaches, and the top basketball Inside is
bringing you a unique perspective on all things hoops culture
that you will not find anywhere. To make your next
move your best move and tap in with me from
kJ Live wherever you get your podcast from Fox Sports Radio,
(31:01):
the Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike rm
and live from the Fox Sports or Radio studios. Tonight
job brought to you by Discover. If you're a valued customer,
you deserve a simple gesture of appreciation from your credit
card company. And that's why Discover matches all the cash
back you've earned at the end of your first year.
Discover exceptionally common sense. Learn more at discovered dot com
(31:22):
slash Match. That's discovered dot Com slash match limitations they
do apply well right now. I don't think the United
States is gonna give up four goals in the final
six minutes of this game, but the United States men's
national team going to qualify for the World Cup. As
long as this result holds, they're gonna lose the Costa
Rica to nothing. Look, they've looked awful this entire game.
(31:44):
They looked like they're kind of sleep walking through it.
But it doesn't matter because they had the points and
as long as they didn't lose by six goals, we're
qualifying for the World Cup. And again there's still six
minutes left. They could give up four more goals. But
I feel pretty good. Not a great effort, but in
the end doesn't matter. You made it really bad effort.
You had a few minutes in the first half where
(32:04):
there was a little bit of pressure, number of corner
kicks and opportunities. Polistic was followed repeatedly. I'm like, put
him in bubble bubble wrap and get him off the field,
right because your fortunes long term need him on the pitch.
Because he got filed pretty hard a couple of times,
like the ball's gone and he's looking at the referee
like really, really, that was like one thousand hit. That's
(32:28):
about as bad as the ejection of Austin Rivers earlier tonight.
Uh that really because he faked an elbow at Lant Stevenson.
But yeah, a bad effort. The second goal, you had
a bunch of defenders standing around goalie flying around, and
it's like, oh, there's a nice easy shot to the
middle of the back of the net. No angle, no, no,
(32:48):
that's just straight back as the defenders all watched like really,
this is about as pathetic as against. But again, as
long as you don't lose by six onward you go
probably probably good, probably a fortunate decision by Greg burr
Halter to not play the B team against Mexico. Remember
that last week it was well, we don't really get
points in Mexico, it's really hard. We were thinking about
(33:11):
playing a B team, So everybody is resident ready for
Costa Rica. Uh yeah, glad, glad that didn't happen, right,
Glad we got those points there, So you got that. Meanwhile,
on a night where they're off and we're wondering about
the availability, uh and still monitoring Lebron James has held
back in Los Angeles. Uh, the Spurs say, you know what,
(33:34):
we don't want it either, and they go and lose
at home to the Memphis Grizzlies. Well, look, this is
this is why you don't at the bottom of the
at the bottom of the West to get into the
play and run. It's not like, well, we gotta win
six of our last seven. No, these teams all suck.
You just have to win like three of your last
seven or four of your left. Just go five hundred,
(33:55):
maybe two out of your last seven might do it.
You don't need a ton, you just need to be
a little bit better than the other teams that suck.
But again, I don't want to say I told you so,
Mike Carmen, but we find out today because you brought
it up with the Spurs. Lebron James is not going
to play. Didn't even make the trip with the Lakers
(34:16):
for tomorrow night. Now I'm not saying I'm just saying
it was back in the middle of February one. I
told you, as long as the Lakers are firmly in
the playing around, Lebron's gonna play. But the minute it
looks like the Lakers could fall out, not falling out,
but that they could fall out, he's gonna have some
kind of injury and he's not gonna play the rest
of the season because he's not going to be the
(34:37):
guy that's on the hook and responsible for the Lakers
missing the playoffs. There's proof go back. I'll put it
back out on Twitter. I've been saying this for a
month and a half, but he will. If something happens
and the Lakers look like they're not gonna make it,
he will find a way to not play. Just so
you can't say, at the end, all Lebron did all
he could, he could even get him in all Lebron's
not the same guy. He listens to all of that stuff.
(34:59):
He listens to all the criticism, and that's exactly what
it would be the day after the regular season. It
would be a let's jump up and down on the
Lakers corpse and we're gonna have Lebron at the top
of this thing. It's what everybody on TV would say,
on the radio, all the big talking points. Lebron isn't
who he thought he was. Couldn't even get the Lakers
in the playoffs. He's not gonna be on the hook
for that. I'm not saying he's not hurt. I'm just
(35:20):
saying that I told you six weeks ago, if it
looks like they're gonna fall out, Lebron's gonna wind up
not playing. And now that it looks like they're gonna
fall out, and it looked like it could happen after
the loss on Sunday, Lebron now it's gonna be these
two games. He's not gonna wind up playing again. I'm
not saying, I'm just saying Friday against the Pelicans, Anthony
(35:40):
Davis may or may not be available. Yeah, you get
on the hook for that. A D will let you
be the guy that final six games. You come back
and play and we'll lose and they can all blame you.
That's okay, Hey, a D. You take that. I'm not
gonna take it. You come back and people will blame you.
It's pretty funny though, like just the thought and the
assumption that you can get away from wearing it, right,
(36:02):
you could you help construct this thing period, right, it
was part of Clutch Sports. Lebron James and Rob Polenka,
who has been really quiet for quite a long time now, right,
we haven't heard a lot from him. But for for
Lebron James, look, obviously ankle injury, he'd done the the
(36:23):
cell on his knee weeks ago. I mean that was
a long time ago at this point. So now you're
you're looking these final games and does he appear. I
don't know. The Spurs losing again kind of forces their
hand again, don't they. No, no, no, no, no, let's
let's no no no, we just let's let's keep going
as is. We don't have to make any changes. We're
(36:44):
gonna go as scripted. Everything is good not We'll go
the next couple of days can go just like this.
No changes need to be made right now. We're all
kind of like the chaos theory to it. Although so
it's great theater for us, since we are in Los
Angeles that we need controversy on a data day basis
real or imagined. Good Again, I'm not saying that could
(37:06):
be a new thing for the show. I'm not saying.
I'm just saying. I'm not saying, but look at what's
going on. Look at well I did register the domain.
I got some thoughts. Okay, all right, that's I don't
know how that was available. I got some thoughts dot
com okay, all right, Well, well, well it's got to
be I'm not saying. I'm just saying, I mean, that's
got to be the whole thing to you. You can
(37:26):
pay the twelve bucks. Why I'm the idea guy. I
have the ideas you be. You're the money guy, you pay, you,
you you get, You're the you're the expert, you're the
website guy. You've worked on the internet for a long time.
I need a rate of return off of you. The
word I wanted to say, where I right there? I couldn't.
So here we are, right. That's a good water return percent.
(37:50):
Now we'll fine, it's fine. Coming up next, we get
back into Tom Brady, Bruce Arians and all the big
drama and Tampa. This is Fox
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Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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