The Best of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Jason Smith and Mike Harmon break down the Jack Del Rio comments and fining, the latest NFL QB controversy with Aaron Rodgers and NBA Insider Mark Medina joins the show to talk Game 4 of The Finals. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
Search f s R to listen live. The big headline
in the NFL today, A different take on the Jack
del Rio Fine, alright, you remember it was just a
day ago. Jack del Rio got a lot of hot

(00:20):
water for comments he made calling the January six insurrection
of dust Up. It was a very weird comment to make.
It didn't wasn't an uninformed It was sounded like an
uninformed comment. He doubled down on it and then probably
was told by watching the commanders, dude, we have enough
bleeping controversy without you doing this. You say you're sorry.
So Jack del Rio apologized, and today the ramifications came in.

(00:44):
In a statement, Washington hit coach Ron Rivera said he
met with Jack del Rio on Friday morning, expressive disappointment
in his comments and find him one hundred thousand dollars
on this topic, A hundred thousand dollars for what he said.
Now Here's where I say it's a little bit different, right,
is that there's certain stories like that I get to

(01:06):
with with Jack del Rio and Deshaun Watson and and
and stuff that's just really difficult. I like to think
I can read the room and you and I can
read the room when it comes to content on shows
and say, Okay, you know what, Yeah, this is a
big night to talk about DeShawn Watson, this is a
night to talk about Jack del Rio. And this is
a nice to say. You know what, it's just sad,

(01:26):
and it's just sad, and all it's gonna do is
make you mad. Because if you think Jack del Rio
went over the line, which yeah, did you over the line? Yeah,
you're gonna be mad that that say he's walking around
saying this. If you think he didn't go over the line,
he didn't get his point across, you're gonna be mad.
And the hundred thousand dollar fine isn't gonna make anybody
happy because in the end, the people who are mad
at Jack del Rio are still gonna be mad. That

(01:46):
people are gonna be mad that he got fined is
still gonna be mad. There's no win, right, and and
and sometimes you can't just continue it say it's a
big top people are talking about it. You know, you
can only do so much. You know, there's gotta be
some kind of silver lining to it, and there's just
nothing here. Right. There's there's times and days that call
for hard content and hey, this is a big debate.

(02:07):
We have to have it X, Y and Z and
go down the road because this is an important conversation.
And then there's nights that well, it's a big story.
But is is this something that really there's a win
for for you listening. I don't know that there is.
I don't think that there is. And that's why when
when we do topics like this, sometimes there's nights where
we're hot and heavy on it, and sometimes there's topics.
There's nights where, hey, there's other things to talk about.

(02:29):
There's more fun things to talk about on the show. There.
It's it's a better It's a Friday night, right and
everybody is happy and the weekend is coming up, and
you have to understand the situation. You can't you do
the saber metrics, Tony Larusa. You gotta understand the situation
when you want to make calls like this. Yeah, I
think back to um an episode of the Newsroom right
with Jeff Daniels, which is a great show for about
a season, and then Aaron Sorkin just started stealing every

(02:50):
plot line from West Wind he could. And it was
it was a Friday night and they had a climate
expert on the show, played by what's his name? We
played Toby in the office, right, so so so so
it comes on and he's a climate control expert. He
comes and he's really funny because he comes on the
dead pans and Jeff daniels Is says, okay, so what
do you think about the about the climate the environment?
He goes, Oh, it's it's done. Where the world is done.

(03:12):
We're just on a on a course now to ruin
and that's to how long it takes to get there.
And Jeff Daniels says, well, okay, but what what can
we do to to to fix things? What can we
do to help? He was no, there's nothing. I mean,
you know, years ago we may have had a chance,
but now there's nothing we can do. We're just we're
just spiraling towards the end. And Jeff daniel says, okay, well,
it's it is a Friday night. We want to give

(03:32):
people a little bit of hope going into the weekend.
So is there anything positive that you could say? And
he says, no, No, that's that's we're just done. And
it's really funny because you know how dead pant He is,
how dead Danny was as Toby. And but that's kind
of how I feel sometimes that, you know what, there's
there's circumstances and situations. A certain times you like stories that, hey,
we gotta dig into this. It's such a big hot

(03:52):
button topic. And there's some that's just you know what,
I just gotta unplugged from this for a long time.
And I you know, it happened. I get it. I
have my opinion of Jack del Rio. I I either
have his back on it or I don't. And nothing's
gonna change that. And you know what, we got the
finals tonight. The Mets are playing the Angels tonight. We
got a lot of stuff. You know, we got Aaron Judge,
remember I picked Aaron Judge when m VP this year.

(04:13):
You know, we got we got lots of stuff. We
got it. We got a controversy and quarterback with Derek
Carr and Aaron Rodgers, which is really fun. And Aaron
Rodgers is dating a woman who says I'm not a witch.
I mean, there's some really fun stuff going on. Tonight.
As soon as you have to put that up, that's
a whole thing. Yeah, I mean the Jack del Rio
story as we as we talked about it, you know,
you've got the the side and and word choice and

(04:35):
verbiage that is obviously going to touch off a lot
of response. Uh. The other side, sure, you know you
want to talk about investigations and and city for city
going through the wreckage and try and determine what all
happened and who's responsible and how to make people responsible

(04:56):
and and figure out proper punishments. Sure, that's line. But
when it comes down to the NFL and NFL players
or coaches administrators, that that get into the political realm.
I mean, and I guess veer off of hey, we're
in mini camps and what happened and these guys had

(05:17):
a helmet on helmet and what's going on there in
communication and all? Uh. As soon as you fear from that,
then then yes, certainly there's going to be eyebrows raised
and people are are going to uh start looking at
which side uh they are, whether like you said, back
del Rio or not. And certainly his Twitter account he's

(05:37):
been active there, so you know, the apology read falsely,
And we talked about that last night. So check that
box you wrote the apology. Folks that are are either
gonna be happy with a hundred thousand dollar fine or
they're not right Like all fines and all these types
of stories. You know, I can't tell you how to
feel about something. What I can't say is they've decided

(06:00):
right talent Trump's trouble at times, and and that wasn't
egregious enough. And when we think about the you know,
the Washington commanders and the larger scheme, him saying that
is you know, very very low on the list of
things they need to worry about right now. And for
Rivera was enough to just say, hey, he's been talked

(06:22):
to and here's the fine. Like it or don't. If
it then continues to impact the locker room, that's when
it becomes an issue. That's when it becomes a bigger
talking point for you and I. Right, we started hearing
reports and I talked extensively when this broke about what
Brian Mitchell had to say. Right He's in the a

(06:42):
former player and and now analyst, and and he had
some pretty strong words about it all in terms of
dysfunction in the locker room. Uh. And the lack of leadership,
guidance and discipline and that was the word he probably
used ten times discipline based on the per sonnel there.
So when that becomes evident, uh, and we get into

(07:05):
the season and once again they're having trouble getting off
the field. You've got a number of ridiculous penalties and
all those things, then yes, it becomes that much bigger
a talking point and and suddenly, well the talent doesn't
trump anything else. So Jack del Rio has suddenly exposed
uh and probably out of a job. But for now,

(07:25):
as they're beginning the next run up to this wasn't
enough uh in the in the larger context, so you
either are with him or not. And from a larger
talking point, there's your hundred thousand dollars. Move on. 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 I Heart Radio app.

(07:49):
The quarterback controversy we didn't know we needed today, but
we got. And it's between Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr.
This is not about Aaron Rodgers girlfriend who does not
edify as a witch. That's that's a story for another.
That's that's next hour. That's a few minutes from now.
This is Davonte Adams, who played and became a great
wide receiver in the NFL with Aaron Rodgers game exactly,

(08:15):
he's terrific, right, And he was asked and comparing what
it's like Aaron Rodgers and his new quarterback, Derek Carr,
and as he said, for Derek Carr, he said, Derek
Carr is very similar talent and ability to Aaron Rodgers.
Um way, what's his quarter Aaron Rodgers is a five

(08:38):
time All Pro, a Super Bowl champion, back to back
NFL m v ps, and he's played in twenty one
playoff games. Derek Carr has played in one playoff game.
Um yeah, I know you want to say some nice
things about your new quarterback, but come on, man, I
mean what what you know? I mean, just just say, hey,

(09:00):
Derek Carr is really good. I plan. But when you
see here and says even Derek Carr knows, well, yeah, okay,
I don't know that he's telling the right you know,
saying the right things about me here, and I don't
know that he really believes me. He's be I don't
know he's doing me any favors here. Uh yeah, dude,
come on, man, you can't sit here and tell me
that there's a lot of similarity talent wise and abillity
wise with Derek Carr and Aaron Rodgers. He would have

(09:21):
done it by now. Derek Carr is just a guy,
you know, He's someone he through for a lot of
yards last year. He completes high percentage of his passes,
but he's just okay. There's a lot of guys that
are like Derek Carr in the NFL. You can do
well with Derek Carr and plenty of other guys if
you have great talent around him. Yeah, you can succeed

(09:42):
Aaron Rodgers. There's not many guys as good as him
in the NFL the past years. Maybe it's just Tom
Brady and maybe it's just Patrick Mahomes and maybe that's
it for the past decade plus. I mean, what do
you what are you really doing? You're not doing You're
not doing Car any favors because he knows you're not
being genuine. He says very very similar to Aaron Rodgers
and Cars to be the one saying, dude, I know
you said that about me. Thanks, but I'm good good,

(10:04):
We'll be fine. Well, I think to some degree it's
the you know, I'm gonna sell for my guy, and
cars got to appreciate that to a degree. It also
does then take away any excuses, right if you really
wanted to go take your thousand or two thousand word
thought piece to the Las Vegas newspapers, blogs and local
radio and just be like all right, um, now, let's

(10:26):
really do the math on this. Other than your your
guy being nice, but look, you're you're trying to make
good with your old college teammate and and and show
that you've got his back, and that's the easiest way
to support him. It's like, oh, he's every bit as
good as Aaron was, because you also get to throw
a little bit of shaded aeron at the time. Now,
whether people want to believe it or not, that's great

(10:47):
because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Man. Obviously, Um,
for Aaron Rodgers, now we got beef and I took
that personally, so it gives him another reason to be
a chat bass entering the season. Oh we're gonna get
Aaron Rodgers on an iPad after games, aren't we Now
he's gonna be and after people know he's gonna do
exactly he might have a volume podcast like Draymond before.

(11:10):
It's also, uh, you know, just just quick to just
tell you about Derek Carr. Okay, just tell you how
he's just another guy you could point to say, well, look,
he threw yards last year. He was great. Um, okay,
let's let's look at the guys, the quarterbacks who threw
for over four thousand yards last year. Okay, because it's
it's a it's a big list to be on with him, right,
the yards he throw, it's Brady Herbert, Stafford, mahomes Borough Prescott,

(11:35):
Alan Cousins, Aaron Rodgers. Right, that's a who's who of
guys throw four thousand yards and he's on that list. Um,
Derek Carr through twenty three touchdowns. The next lowest guy
on that list thirty three touchdowns. That's Kirk Cousins. Everybody
else thirty three thirty three. Um. Yeah, there's a difference

(11:57):
between Derek Carr and the top level of ten eyes
in the NFL twenty three times. He's not dynamic. He's
just kind of a guy. Mike rm He's just kind
of there. Yeah, but now he's got a guy to
rely on, and if Waller is healthy, then you can
argue maybe that goes up. It's a tough argument, but
it's an argument that you can make. If I get
all pros and all ten positions on offense, I could

(12:17):
be great. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific. Hey, it's me Rob Parker. Check out
my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for twenty two
minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the biggest names
of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in analytics

(12:39):
or the I Test, We've got all the bases covered.
New episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor
and listen to Inside the Parkner with Rob Parker on
the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Joining us now, I'm the Hotline to break it all
down covering the NBA Finals NBA dot Com. Long time

(13:01):
inside a reporter, you can follow him on Twitter at
Mark g Underscore Medina. It is Mark Medina who has
already turned in his m v P ballot and has
Steph Curry on it. Mark, congratulations. I'm sure a lot
of people are doing the same thing. Wow, I might
need another week before I do this, but you know,

(13:22):
the stuff continues to play this lot and the Warriors win. Yeah,
may as well just turn it in. It's just been
unbelievable the way he's been playing. I mean, this is
Steph Curry on steroids. Uh, it's just mind boggling, to
say the least. Well, I don't know that it matters.
I don't know that because no one's having a great
series on the Celtics. And look, it was a narrative

(13:44):
going in that Steph's never one and boy would be
great for it to win. And here he is, you know,
leading the you know he's got he's got the team
tied to two games apiece. Even if he has two
monster games and they lose the rest of the way,
I still think he's gonna win. Now that's a fair point. Um. Look,
he could become the next Jerry West, right, the guy
who's just brilliant even if they lose with the Celtics.

(14:06):
But I think here, you know, the Warriors with this
win really differentiate themselves because there was such a thin
line between facing a three one series deficit, UH and
having everyone play like you know what versus tying the series,
reclaiming home court, feeling good about themselves. And while I

(14:26):
do think it's still a long series and the Celings
are certainly not out of this, I think if the
Warriors had lost, they would have been out of this,
because it's just too much of a hole, uh to
climb out of the three one series lead. And and
know wing there's so many question marks that the Warriors
have faced so far this post season. But yeah, you
know what, I think you make a good point that

(14:47):
Steph would deserve a Finals MVP even if they did lose.
Mark a change of fortunes here in the fourth quarter,
step with more juice than we've seen, right, the aggressiveness
and then the offensive defense substitution Draymond and Jordan Pool
an interesting little push and pull, and though he didn't
play well much of the night, Draymond with a bunch

(15:08):
of big plays down the stretch to help seal the thing. Yeah,
and on on top of that, Clay Thompson had a key
defensive stop late the game, forcing the Celtics out of bound.
A very gusty and I think risky call for Warriors
coach Steve Kurr to think about, uh, you know, benching
Steph Curry just a few just to steal a few

(15:28):
minutes to open the fourth quarter, but the Warriors didn't
went to bed, and uh it wound up working out.
But look, all things point to Steph Curry just playing
out of his mind. Um, I mean, I don't think
I'm overstating. This is I think is the best performance
that Steph Curry has ever shown in his entire career.
And that's saying a lot, because you know, look, he's

(15:49):
the best shooter of all time. He set numerous shooting records.
I think he's the best leader in today's m B
m B A. I think that he has emerged every
season as an even be her playmaker, and he's become
an underrated defender. So when he put all those things
in context and then say this is the best performance, um,

(16:09):
it's saying a lot. And they needed every single basket
and it's just that he made because this was a
must win for the Warriors. And uh, there weren't always
things going their way, but the thing that was going
their way was number thirty in the in the Warriors uniform.
You know, you let me go back to something you
just brought up about the way that Steve Kerr rested

(16:30):
him in the fourth quarter. And I'll tell you, I
don't know that he had a choice because what the
Celtics had done great in the first three games, and okay,
step we're gonna give you your points in the first
three quarters, we're gonna tire you out, we're gonna chase
you all over the floor, and in the fourth quarter,
we're really gonna clamp down. And look at what they
did to the Warriors in the fourth quarter. Their their
point totals were very low, and Steph Curry couldn't find

(16:52):
a way. Uh, this was a genius gamble by him,
and it worked because Hey, ten points for Steph in
the fourth quarter when the Celtics have been able to
shut him down and they wind up time the series
of two games a piece. I mean, he rolled seven's
that fourth quarter. Steve Karman, I don't know that he
had any choice but to try to do something different
because he had seen this movie the first few games. Okay,
Steff's gonna go out there, He's gonna be exhausted by

(17:13):
the six minute mark, and who knows if he's getting
his shots. Uh, sitting him there those first three minutes
that really put the Celtics on on edge, and stuff
came in and he had enough legs to get it done. Well, look,
it's a results oriented business, and Steve Kurr's decision wound
up paying off. But I think, you know, the point
that I was making is just look, Uh, you know,
Andrew Wiggins wasn't finding his shot consistently consistently, Nora was

(17:37):
Clay Thompson until the end of the game. Draymond Green
was a liability on offense, and so I think the
larger point was, you know, the game could get ugly
very quickly, even just in a matter of a few minutes.
And by the time Steph Curry's back in the lineup, Um,
it's just too much of a deficit for even him

(17:58):
to climb out of. But you don't what to the
Warriors credit. Um, they held the fork down, they didn't
make too many mistakes. And you know, I think step
came back in and in the nine minute mark, which
is usually about a minute earlier than normal. Uh, so yeah,
all things worked out. But obviously when you roll the
dice there's always risk, um, but when it comes to

(18:18):
Steph Um, you know he's able to always, you know,
put his teammates in a position to succeed, as well
as make the best of any coaching decision, whether it
helps or hurt his game. I mean, that's how dialed
in he was. And I think keeping mind guys, that
step was also not add percent. You know, he was

(18:38):
only a game removed where he was feeling some issues
with his left foot, and he had talked about you know,
while there was never any question mark whether he would
play in Game four, he can see the fact that
he had to be icing it. He felt a lot
of pain. It was it felt a little bit similar
to when Marcus Smart dove into his left leg in
the regular season. He went missing I think eleven regular

(19:01):
season games before the playoffs started. So yeah, this is
step on steroids. While not it's just astronomical to say
the wives, well, you know, tomorrow we commemorate the flu game.
This could be the Hey, I came back from my
foot game for Steph Curry and one of his finals.
He's Mark Medeto with us NBA writer NBA dot Com
friend of the show has been with us for years

(19:23):
NBA writer uh in the Past, USA Today, The Mercury
News Cetera. Now at NBA dot com. Follow him on
Twitter at Mark g Underscore Medina, The Jason Smith Show
with Mike Harmon here on Fox Sports Radio. The other
genius move is putting him on the bench to start things.
Evidently really got Looney a little salty because he came

(19:44):
out and played some inspired ball and laid his body
on the line. Mark, Yeah, Well, Steve Kerr made some
gutsy decisions with Benjie Looney, Benji Draymond Green toward middle
of the fourth quarter when things were tight. Now, he
did put him back in the game, and draym and
redeemed himself with some really good passes us a good
defensive plays. But look, Draymond was not happy. You know,

(20:06):
he's an All Star caliber player and this is a
pivotal Finals game. But I think, to Steve's curse credit,
you know, right now, it's all about winning the game
and just working with the best combinations and writing the
players that are performing well. And I think to Draymond's credit, yes,
surely upset and disappointed, but he was able to still

(20:27):
be ready when he was thrown out there. It kind
of reminds me of this stark contrast of this guy
named Russell Westbrook this season where he was selfy when
he wasn't playing well and was getting advenched and crunch time,
and then was given opportunities, he continued to make a mistakes.
So I think that's the difference between him and someone
like Draymond Green, who is always about taking accountability when

(20:50):
he's playing either a good or bad game. And look,
he hasn't played well in this Finals, in two of
the games, uh and most of tonight's game. But one
thing that Draymond deserves credit is he knows how to
take accountability and ownership and trying to course correct. And
that's what you saw towards the end of tonight's game.

(21:12):
NBA Insider NBA dot Com Mark Medina breaking down Game
four of the NBA Finals with us The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmen. All right, now, let's go to
the other side here, because Jason Tatum, Look, I love
the fact that he is getting other players involvedly, I
think he's I think he's leading the end of the
finals and assists, but he is shot horrendously in the

(21:34):
play in the finals so far, market he doesn't look
like the same guy. He doesn't like the same confident player.
He's passing up shots at the end. What are you
seeing from Tatum that that's turned him on a dime
in these first four games here? Yeah, well, tonight he
was passive. I think he was four save shots. He
was allowing the Warriors defense, the Dick Jay things. And

(21:54):
I think even when he wasn't shooting the ball in
game one, he played much differently. I think, to Jason
Tatum's credit, in Game one, he just adjusted his game
and bound ways to impact with getting thirteen assists, getting
the role players involved, with getting open shots, allowing Jalen
Brown to do his thing in isolation situations, particularly in

(22:16):
crunch time. But here I don't think that he was
able to have an inprit on the game whatsoever. And
I think that this illustrates as much as we've seen
growth and Jason Tatum and that philosophically, I think he's
about the right things as far as his work habits, Uh,
you know, his intentions and uh what he does with

(22:37):
trying to address his weaknesses. He's still not a superstar player.
He is an all star caliber player. Don't get me wrong,
he is still I think one A and one V
with Jalen Brown, and they should be, you know, their
long term solution moving forward. But given where Jason Tatum is,

(22:57):
there are still a lot of room for him to grow.
And I think for those that thought that, you know,
he is now this young superstar, like, we got to
pump the brakes on that he's not at that level yet.
And obviously tonight's game illustrated again. Alright, so Monday we
will get Game five and no weekend games the way
the schedule has fallen. Uh so this was the best

(23:19):
of the games, even though it gave us another double
digit margin of victory. What do you expect to see
on Monday as we reconvene. Well, look, um, this is
the NBA Finals. I thought it was gonna be a
seven game series. These two teams are evenly matched, so
it's anyone's up for grab. But I think, you know,
not only did the Warriors of our disaster with avoiding

(23:42):
being down three one, but they've reclaimed home court. I
suspect that the home crowd is going to be even
more amped up, and I think there's a dose of
confidence that hey, maybe this is the potential turning point
for the Warriors to you know, turn a corner, hit
their foot only accelerator and then try to put the
Celtics away for good. But you know, I have to

(24:05):
keep in mind and everyone should keep in mind that
the Celtics have been very resilient during the regular season.
In the postseason, they've had a very good track record
of bouncing back from games. So look, if I had
to make a prediction, I think the Warriors win, but
it's anyone's I thought the Warriors would win Game three,
I was wrong. I thought the Warriors would have would

(24:25):
be Game one. I was wrong. Basically, I've been predicting
through this whole deal that they would continue to split
each game. So like, even though I'm wrong with two
of them, it's all with the guys of what happened
the previous games. So yeah, it's a seven game series,
so flip a coin on who wins. I don't think

(24:45):
moving forward, anyone's gonna go on a winning streak, so
we'll see what happens. Well, look and and if if
Steph Curry is out of this world right now, the
only other guy nearing that kind of level is Scott Foster.
You don't know what impact he could have on the
last three games. Yeah, I mean there was some interesting

(25:06):
times today we're Steph Curry. I think if there were
no witnesses earlier in the game, he would have chucked
his mouthpiece the men, correct. I mean, he was getting
very irritated that whether it was from three or driving
to the basket, he's just getting mauled and there is
no whistle at all. So we'll we'll, we'll feel on that. Well,

(25:27):
he got a couple of phantom ones down the stretch,
push offs on that last drive that they sent him
to the free throw line on. It was like, okay,
nobody can complain now because those were two calls and
one of Jalen Brown in the backcourt and then and
then the one on Horford he want to go to
the free throw line on it was the biggest play
in the game. It's like, okay, so now, all right,
quid pro quel for the last three quarters. I guess

(25:49):
I'm looking forward to the documentary in a few years
making the comparisons between the Byron Russell. I'm j push
off to this one right. Oh, he's on Twitter at
Mark g Underscore Medina NBA dot Com Insider cover in
the finals. Mark. As always, we appreciate your time with us,
Enjoy the enjoy the open weekend, and we'll talk to

(26:11):
you on Monday, all right, Appreciate you, guys,