July 17, 2025 • 40 mins
Jason Fitz & Buck Reising are in for the guys and talk about the Detroit Lions going through a period of transition as they head into training camp, the changes to the game of college football and the people that complain about them, Patrick Mahomes vs. Lamar Jackson, and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of two pros and a couple
Joe with Lamar arrings and a rating win and Jonas
Knox on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The dog days this summer are almost over.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
We have suffered through months of trying to figure out
how to get to football, and by god, it's finally here.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
The Chargers have gone into camp.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
That means we finally get to the spot where we
can speculate about everything for every second of every day.
And for some reason, it feels better to speculate about
the sport that we all love than it does have
the time to talk about actual sports going on.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Right now, it's two pros and a cup of Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
It's actually a bucket fits takeover on Fox Sports Radio.
Having some technical difficulties out of the gate with Buck.
He's here, but it's gonna take him a second.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
To actually get here. We cannot prove, we cannot confirm nor.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Deny whether or not that's just because he had a
big night on Lower Broadway. But for the next three
hours we will be taking over Fox Sports Radio, and y'all.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm just gonna be honest with you, like things are.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So slow in this industry right now, in this business
and doing what we do. Things are so quiet that
the Spies exist, And like everybody knows, I worked at
ESPN for years, love that place.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
They changed my life. It's absolutely spectacular.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
But the funniest part about the Spiece is they exist
because ESPN looked around and said, you know what, there's
nothing else to talk about, so let's create an award show.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So at least we have something.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
We can put on air, and we can put on
our shows. That's the real catalyst for why the SP's exist.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It is that quiet right now, and then you look
around and you say, well, wait a minute, what's going
to change it?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
All the Chargers going to camp now, think about the
era we all grow up.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
If you're a middle aged person listening to this show.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
At all, will allow middle age to be defined, however
we so choose, thank you very much. But if you're
a middle aged person listening to this show at all,
you sort of know what life used to be like,
Like there was a period to be the old man
on the block.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And Buck would be making fun of me for this.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Right now, but there was a period where, like think
about in my childhood, the only way that you knew
what was going on with your favorite team. This is real,
is you had to go down to the corner store
and buy a USA Today like you literally had to
every Friday. I would walk down to the USA Today
or to the corner store. I would pick up my
USA Today, and they'd have little paragraphs on every game
coming up over the weekend, and that's how I would
(02:19):
read what was going to happen that weekend for my
beloved Raiders.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And every Monday I would go running back.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
To that same corner store to pick up a USA
Today on the hopes that there might be, you know,
if you were lucky, a picture of your favorite team
along with the recap from the game. That's how hard
it was pre you know, the existence of the Internet,
to what we understand now to actually follow your favorite
football team. That's real, you know. And so you think
(02:44):
about how we've gone from that to a society where
in training camp we are all going to fall in
love with somebody based solely on the tweets of reporters
that are telling us that somebody looks pretty good. We
are so thirsty right now, well for actual football, and
we need to remember this because this is what's gonna
happen I'm usually on the Fellows on the weekends with
(03:07):
Anthony Gargano, and if you ever listening to The Fellows
on Fox Sports Radio, we spend every Saturday morning just
going through the college football sleep Right. We spend every
Saturday morning going through every ounce of what we see
in college football just to sit there and love the game.
It's so much of Saturday's content is us talking about
(03:27):
college football?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Right?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Think about it, though, about three weeks in, we are
going to, as a communal football loving society, be complaining
so much about cupcakes, bad games. Whoever the SEC is
scheduled in one particular week that none of us want
to watch. We're going to be complaining violently about all
(03:50):
of the just terrible matchups and how could they do this?
We waited all year to get football, and now we're
already stuck with some random Alabama versus Liberty type game
that nobody wants to watch. That's what we're gonna be saying.
And when that happens, what.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
We need to do is.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Just take a big giant step back and remember how
we felt this summer. We are genuinely at a spot
where you know this, You've done it with your friends
you see it on social media. There are countdowns everywhere.
Forty three days, no football, forty days until we get
like that's what we are counting down every single element
(04:28):
of what we expect, just because we are that excited. So, yeah,
we're at a spot where we're making up award shows
to try.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And figure out how to create.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Content because nobody really wants to talk about baseball. Sorry,
baseball guys, Like, I'm sorry. Like the crazy part about
this is the numbers bear out the majority of the
sports talk radio audience would rather listen to talk about
Shane Gillison an award show than they would about actual
Major League baseball games going on right now.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
That's real.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So we are now at the spot where we get
to stop trying to figure out way to stretch and
start getting into training camp. And when you start thinking
about training camp, to me, man, there are a bunch
of things that are interesting, there's a bunch of things
that are wild.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
But there's one thing that I think.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
That we've just forgotten about over and over and over again,
and that's that the Lions are in a year of transition.
Think about Detroit right now, and let's be consistent with
the way that we talk about certain teams. Okay, so
the Lions have gone from being living in what I
always like.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
To call the sea of suck.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
All right, the Lions have gone from living in the
sea of suck to the land of benefit of the doubt.
When you go from being just perennially bad every single year,
you're awful, we presume you're gonna be awful when you
suddenly wake up and you're not awful every day, When
you suddenly wake up and you're good, Well, now you
get that crazy thing called benefit of the doubt. But
(05:49):
sometimes you got to peel all of that away. You
gotta peel away what we think is gonna happen, and
you got to start looking at the actual information to
form the opinion. So let me ask you, how many
teams can lose their offensive coordinator, their defensive coordinator, and
a bunch of their coaches in the same year and
have absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
No fall off. Remember a few years ago in Philly.
I mean, we've seen it go really well in Philly,
and we've.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Seen to go really bad, to the point that all
of a sudden, Syrianna was on the hot seat.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
But then it went well again.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
When you start talking about change, and you start talking
about the way we look at things in trading camp.
To lose your offensive coordinator obviously, Ben Johnson is now
the head coach of the Chicago Bears, right, and you
lose your defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is now the head coach.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Of the New York Jets.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
You've lost two huge pieces, And I don't know how
we can just assume that Dan Campbell is just gonna
nail every single higher.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Like most coaches don't.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Most coaches, especially like think about the different styles of coaches. Okay,
if you're Sean McVay and you're gonna lose a quarterbacks coach,
you're an offensive mind of some sort. You're really the
offensive guy that pushes all the buttons. You know, if
you're already in control of a large portion of your team,
losing a coordinator can be something you get through because
(07:13):
you're gonna call all those plays anyways. You're going to
be that guy anyway, Right, So taking that sort of
a blow is survivable. You can look around and say, Okay,
it's a little bit of a change. Is that how
we think of Dan Campbell? But do we sit here
right now and think of Dan Campbell as being the
(07:33):
guru on the offensive and defensive side of the ball that,
if all things start falling apart, will simply take back
the play calling and make it work himself. It's not
the type of coach he is. There's nothing wrong with that,
but that's not the type of coach he is. So,
just as we've seen other teams have issues trying to
figure out how to replace coordinators, is it not fair
(07:56):
to look at a Detroit team that was great last year?
They were great, and wonder man if if part of
the reason they were great is that they had the
best offensive mind. The guy that's going to go to
Chicago and suddenly win so many games, the guy that's
going to make sure that Kayleb Williams is a superstar,
the guy that is going to catapult the Bears into
(08:16):
playoff relevance.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
That guy.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
He's such a good coach that he was the most
coveted coach for most teams across the entire league. That's
how good he was. He's the guy everybody wanted to hire.
He's gone now, so you just replace him, and there's
no drop off you replace. In the minds of many
one of the if not the best offensive coordinator. The
only way there's no drop off is if Dan Campbell
(08:39):
hires the next Ben Johnson. Think about how damn hard
that is, Like, that's not just something you wake up
and do. Aaron Glen goes to the Jets, where immediately
he's putting his stamp on that organization. The Jets had
a big week. They paid a couple of their young guys.
They showed everybody they believed that the young corps is there,
and they believe that this team can be built, and
(09:01):
they believe that Aaron Blenn is going to be the
person that does that for him. So you're not just
trying to replace a defensive coordinator. You're not just trying
to replace an offensive coordinator. You're trying to replace a
coordinator that is so good. They are one of the
best in the league and they were coveted to become
head coaches. That means you can't just get the higher right.
You got to get the higher right, and you're doing
(09:23):
it while you're in your Super Bowl window. That's the
other part of this for the Lions, Like we are
past the point of the Lions being a cute story
and we are at the point now where the Lions
are a super Bowl contentor the Lions are supposed to
be them, they're supposed to be one of these teams
that we can absolutely bank on is going to be
contending for the super Bowl. So you're not talking about, hey,
we'll easily do it, We'll get it all right, it'll
(09:46):
feel good over time, like those aren't luxuries that the Lions.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Have right now.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
A wasted year for a team in their super Bowl
window is catastrophic. It's so hard to get to this point.
It's so hard to beat at the spot where you
can genuinely win it the highest possible level. If you're
talking about the Lions and looking around. Sure, if the
expectation was the Lions were gonna win eight games, then great, fine.
If they're only gonna win eight games, then let him
(10:12):
hire their coordinators. If it works, it works, If it doesn't,
it doesn't. How would Lions feel about that? Lions fans
feel about that? How would the Lions organization feel about that?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's the tricky part of Detroit.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Hey it's me Rob Parker.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker, for
twenty two minutes of pipe in hot baseball talk featuring
the biggest names, the newsmakers in the sport. Whether you
believe in analytics or the I tast We've got all
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your sofa favor and listen to Inside the Parker with
(11:01):
Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Get your podcast. Hear me out all right.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
To be clear, Buck's living in the middle of the
SEC country, There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
He's down in Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I have covered college football every year of my professional career.
In fact, I just told Buck this, this will be
the first fall I think as it stands right now,
that I don't have to do any I don't get
to I should say never say have to. I don't
get to do any Yahoo Saturday college football shows. So
for the first time, like back when I got to ESPN,
(11:35):
I did Saturday night shows, but we had to be
there every day to watch the game together. So we
got on campus every day at eleven am Eastern and
we were there until one in the morning.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
This will be the.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
First year that I get Saturdays where I can just
after the Fellas, I can just go put my feet
up in a local bar and watch as much college
football as I want to, which I'm excited about.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I freaking love this sport. I love covering the sport book.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So I say this with some level of understanding that
people might not like it, But to me, college football
and load management have something in common. Load management in
the NBA is polarizing. People just sit there and say
it's terrible, it's terrible, it's terrible, it's terrible, And I
would argue it doesn't really matter, like every time they're like, but.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Little Johnny didn't get to see Lebron play.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Okay, So the NBA is going to always make the
decision to protect their TV product in the playoffs, and
they're going to protect their products overall when it matters
the most, even if it hurts the hearts of you
know whatever, twenty kids that might have been, Like, how
many families are actually going out to that bought plane
tickets and flew to LA and went to Lakers. You know,
(12:41):
it's no different than when a concert cancels last second,
Like there are families that flew out there and everything,
and that's just sort of ancillary damage. So to me,
the side effect of load management is that a few
people are impacted by it, but for the most part,
when we reach the NBA Finals, nobody's talking about it anymore.
To me, all of the people right now yelling and
screaming about the changes in college football are kind.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Of those people in the arena for load management. They're replaceable.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Their fandom is replaceable as long as college football continues
to make TV.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Money, which it's going to as.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Long as ESPN, Fox, tnt CW, all of these networks,
the streaming networks are going to continue bidding on the
product as long as college football continues to be the
second most popular sport.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
In America, and there's no proof that it's dying off
of that at all.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Schools don't need to the sport doesn't need to sit
there and worry about the fish shaking. Oh my god,
this is bad because those people can be left behind
in the sport will be just fine. They are load
management people. M yeah, yeah, look at me coming in
hoarlier than that today.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Well, also, it took him five minutes to five minutes
to throw it over to me. I think he kind
of liked having the first hour and a half to himself,
don't you, guys? I read I feel like I'm at
a rupting here. I'm so sorry to butt in on
your your mourning full of college it's football, hot taker.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Or say anything.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I mean, you say something, I throw it to something.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I hate that opinion by you. I hate it so
much because, Fitzy, just because it hasn't happened yet, the
denigration of college football fandom hasn't happened yet doesn't mean
that it should be taken for granted and that there
shouldn't be protections in place to make sure that that
integrity of the sport and its relationship to the diehards
(14:29):
is maintained. That's the thing that makes it more special
than any of these other sports. Fitzy, I thought you
spoke so well about just being able to relish and
take in the opportunity to watch college football and to
be a college football fan, and how much you love
this sport and how much even covering it you find
a lot of people in our industry, and this is
you know, this is a one percenter problem, right, But
(14:51):
you find a lot of people in our industry who
start to lose love of sports in general based on
it becoming a job. Right, it's like anything else, even
though it's the most fun thing in the world for
everybody else. If you start to let it seep in
that this is work and not still play, even though
you're getting a paycheck as a result of covering things
(15:12):
and working in or around sport, it can start to
denigrate it. And you you are the rare enough thing
where your zest for these things, your passion for these things,
has not yet depreciated, even though you work in it
and you cover it and it's exhausting and it's full
time and it's seven days a week and all these
different things. But fits, I can't. I can't sit there
(15:36):
and let you grandstand and tell those people that they
don't matter when they're the biggest differentiation to me between
the NFL and college football. I'm an NFL reporter. I
cover the Tennessee Titans, and I don't like college football
more just because I cover a crappy football team and
their product is usually terrible to watch, or at least
it has been in these last three years since things
(15:59):
started to fall up part here locally in Tennessee prior
to them having the number one overall pick in cam Ward.
This time around, college football passion, the electricity that comes
from the crowd. How much different it is from college
to the pros, how much more tribal it is from
college to the pros. That's the differentiating factor. I don't
want this to be worn down as we start to
(16:22):
move in a more profitable direction for college football and
an expansion mode for college football. I don't want that
water down. I don't want those people to think that
they don't matter, because to me, they very much do.
They are not replaceable. You're wrong on that.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Here's the thing, though, who's getting replaced?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Like Alabama fans are still going to be there because
Alabama's going to be one of.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
The programs that thrives and survives.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Texas fans are still going to be there, Michigan fans,
Ohio State fans, penns Tate.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Tailing the board just won nine games and is being
talked about as on thet as being on the hot seat.
He may have the most talented roster in the SEC
and the best conference in college football. You don't think
those people are gonna stick stick around through the hard
times or you think those people are.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, they are that because their passion is not gonna
go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Who's really gonna get lost?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Like if we turn around and we do a super
conference and all of a sudden there's a salary cap,
who's gonna get left behind in this process? It's not
gonna be Alabama, Tennessee. It's not gonna be the prominence.
Wisconsin's gonna be fine. It's not gonna be Big ten
or SEC schools. It's gonna be New Mexico State. And
you know who doesn't matter? New Mexico State. I'm sorry, Like,
(17:32):
as I've said a million times, living in Connecticut, like
Connecticut football, Sorry, guys, doesn't matter to most people. Right UNLV.
I grew up in Vegas. I grew up a massive
UNLV fan. YOUNLV. If UNLV football shut down tomorrow, how
many people would actually be that hurt about it? What
the thirty thirty thousand they? I think they've just set
(17:53):
a team record of thirty thousand season ticket sales? So like, okay,
if you've got to lose those thirty thousand of figure
out a way to make sure that we get the
best version of the forty or fifty schools.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
That can actually hang. Then fine, everybody else is just
hanging Chad. That's old voting. Vote for you like hanging Chad.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
That's what everybody else is hanging to everybody else is
just they're just slop.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Let's just let them go. They go where they go,
like if you can't.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
If the rest of the schools want to play in
their own sandbox, they can find a way to do it.
But at the end of the day, how many people
sit here and cry about whether or not University Wisconsin
Whitewater gets.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
What they need for Division III football? The answer is none.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I'm not sure that Oregon State really matters to most
of the world more than University of Wisconsin Whitewater.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
I understand what you're saying, and that's probably the direction
that we're headache and these things may be inevitable, but
that doesn't mean that I have to like them. It
doesn't mean that everybody else who is I mean, some
of it is fitzy, I'll say grandstanding, because the people
who are fighting for the traditions, or as much of
(19:03):
the traditions in college football to continue to hold serve
into the next generation of it. Are not the people
who are consuming UNLV or Wisconsin Whitewater or any of
these other smaller programs that you named. My curiosity then
would move towards, well, how does that impact people's ability
if you go to one of these smaller schools and
(19:24):
you get relegated to a different version of football and
wherever that football ends up being broadcast or televised, whatever
the case may be, does that impact guys who are
playing at those universities their opportunity to get recognition, to
be on national television because they're playing cupcake type of
games against the Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio states of the world.
(19:47):
Does that impact their ability to get recognized by pro
scouts and as it relates to getting to the next
level of football. There are ripple effects here, and maybe
they're not as important as the people who are I
mean wailing and gnashing over them, because I will tell
you there is nothing more unpopular down here in the
Southeast than all of the changes that have happened to
(20:09):
college football. And yet it's still going to be infinitely
more popular here than even the NFL, America's most popular sport.
Does not matter in the state of Tennessee. Hell, you
can't even get that they're called the Tennessee Titans here.
Two thirds of the state doesn't want anything to do
with them. East Tennessee is pissed off because they don't
think the Titans should use the name Tennessee, because it's
(20:30):
the Tennessee Valls right in Memphis, West Tennessee. It's Grizzlies,
it's cowboys. That's all they care about. So for the
people down here that are fighting the hardest for it,
they are the ones who you're talking about who are
going to be the least affected by it. But they
actually have a platform to be able to try and
evoke change or at least make themselves known on behalf
(20:51):
of those who don't want to be relegated FITSI And
they may not have a choice, and it may not matter,
and it may all be fine and dandy as we
move into the future evolution of what college football and
college athletics are going to continue to change into. But
I just I nothing, nothing bothers me more. I think
it's the thing that you. I think it's the thing
that's pissed me off the most that you've ever said
(21:11):
into a microphone, the idea that these people are just
outright replaceable and in your words.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Slop now they are. I mean, how many people are
gonna lose? You're right, they're gonna be kids that are impacted. Well,
what if I like the slop football like I mean,
I like you get to watch it, you can still
watch it like Liberty can continue.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
To have on Apple TV. You're gonna make it harder
on me to find these games instead of having maction
as a part of the ESPN thing on a Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yes, if Miami of Ohio no longer has a Division
I football team and you gotta hunt hunt it down
on Thursday nights, oh well, if you want to hunt
it down, you can hunt it down.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
And yes, they are gonna be kids that lose scholarships.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
For every kid that loses a scholarship but loses an opportunity,
we got to ask ourselves, what about at some point,
what do we care about?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Right?
Speaker 4 (21:58):
Right?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
If they if we end up with the Super Conference
that's sixty teams instead of having the current whatever one
hundred and thirty two teams, If we end up with
sixty teams in a superconference. Those kids on those sixty
teams have a much better shot of being properly you know,
properly paid for what they're doing. They have the opportunity
to have proper earning. And everybody's sitting here saying, well,
(22:19):
we're worried about the kids. That's just the most disingenuous
from ninety percent of the people. That is such a
BS argument. If somebody's sitting in Alabama's like, well, I'm
worried about I'm worried about the kids.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
No, you're not.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
You're worried about whether Alabama or Auburn is gonna win
a national title. That's all you care about. And the
Alabamas and the Auburns will eventually conform to all of
this and figure out how to thrive in all of this.
The people that are like, we just we pretend care
so much. As a society, I don't think the majority
of the world would even notice. If again, to go
(22:53):
to a local area for you, if MTSU Middle Tennessee
State University no longer had football, I don't think ninety
eight percent college football fans would even know what happened.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And so at some point, you.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Know, it's a doggy dog world. Like you're either you're
either playing amongst.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
The elite or you're not.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
And if you're not playing amongst the elite, like just
like nobody sits here and worries about whether Wisconsin Whitewater
kid gets a scholarship. The answer is that most of
them don't. Like they don't get Division three scholarships. Why
are we suddenly that's the line. We just don't want
the rest of Division one to be impacted? Or are
we gonna pretend that we really care about the rest
of the athletes that are impacted by this?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
We don't we care about whether or not our top
thirty or forty teams are all top thirty or forty teams.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Well, and you may be true, or you may be
right about the vast majority of people. You are right
about the vast majority of people. I will acknowledge that,
even though it bothers me. But like, as speaking for
somebody who I mean, I think I genuinely do care.
And maybe I'm not seeking out every MTSU game, or
every Western Kentucky game or every I mean, hell Indiana football.
(24:00):
My alma mater they were in the College Football Playoff
FITZI this year, I couldn't. I couldn't name three Indiana
football players and Curtis Rhurt got drafted this year. You
know what I'm saying, Like, they have never mattered in
my life, in my entire life. We used to go
to those games. We used to tailgate those games. Rather
not go to those games and do exactly what you're
talking about, go home and watch the SEC or Notre
(24:22):
Dame play because that's where the real college football is.
But my biggest point of protest, and I'm sure I'm
in the minority of people who are actually pissed about this,
is that college football is not supposed to be for
the elite. It's not supposed to be just for the elite.
College football is supposed to be a more inclusive environment.
(24:44):
It gives us great stories about players who work their
way up through programs, especially now with the ability to
transfer and have success at a lower level and then
create your next phase of your career. Cam Ward going
from Incarnate Word to Washington's Date to Miami and all
the different difficulties that formed him into one of the
(25:05):
most unconventional number one overall picks I've ever seen. I
don't know how many of those stories we're willing to
just cast aside if we make the pool even smaller
and make college football more for the elites, Because the
thing that college football fans would all protest against, and
no matter what level of college football that you're talking about,
no matter what part of the country that you go
(25:25):
to where they are actually passionate about college football, is
they would push back on the idea of it being
considered for the elite in any stretch of the word.
Especially the SEC is elite. The SEC is the best
conference in college football. And if you attach elite to
the SEC, their fan base is gonna recoil just because
of how they naturally view that term and that word.
(25:48):
It's not supposed to be exclusive. It's supposed to be
more inclusive.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Yeah, but where's the line he's buck rising on Jason
fitz By the way, we're in for two pros and
a cup of Joe.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Where's where's the line?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Like, Because I hear what you saying, but do you
really believe like as much as a let's say, mid level,
mid level team in the SEC might might listen to this,
and and that fan base says, Oh my god, like Auburn,
Auburn's gonna look at it and say college football is
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, I called that. You just called them.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Well from the performance on the field, Auburn's Auburn's gonna
sit here and be like, you know, like this, this
makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
How many Auburn fans are.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Genuinely worried about whether the University of main football team
gets to thrive Like this is this is what we
do in society all the time. The number of times
it's like, well, you know, we got to go after
the rich, make sure that the rich pay their fair share.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Okay, cool? Who defines what riches? Like that?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
That's just a standard follow up question to me, Like
because certainly somebody that that is able to have a
house seems rich to somebody that's homeless, and somebody that's
able to have a go on a vacation seems rich
to somebody that can barely afford a house. Somebody like
me that grew up on government cheese in one box
of mac and cheese to split for the family. Today,
(27:07):
like everybody was rich compared to me growing up, So like,
what's rich? I would ask college football the same thing.
Where's the line in relevance? Because I do not believe
that you know that Texas is worried about North Texas.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I don't believe that.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Again, I'll use New Mexico State as a good Utah state.
Like how many SEC fans are sitting here saying we've
got to do what's fair for college football because I
want to make sure that the fans of Utah State
are not left behind like that that doesn't exist.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Everybody.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Everybody claims they're worried about this part as a whole,
they're worried about their own team.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
You are again, I don't disagree with the vast majority
of what you're arguing just because you're you're just because
that is the feeling that most people actually have, like
the genuine feeling that most people will actually have. My
point is it doesn't make it right. Like I get you,
(28:06):
you can be correct about these things and self interest
winning out over everything else, because that's basically what you're
advocating for here, and by the way, what is probably
going to bear itself out. But my whole contention is
that doesn't make it right. And I know that's not
going to be a popular argument, and I know I'm
gonna you know, I'm gonna fight this fight with as
(28:26):
I sink into the sea shaking a fist above, and
I'll lose every time, But damn it, I'm not gonna
go out quietly that way. And I don't think the
college football fans in every part of the country where
they love these things and they appreciate these things, and
they genuinely do want those opportunities for these players supported.
Because there are people out there fitsy. The vast majority
(28:47):
of the country and the vast majority of the consumers
are going to be self interested that way. But for
those people that are out here fighting a good fight,
I don't want them just cast aside and saying you
don't matter here anymore. It's wrong.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
You're right, Okay, you're about that. Yeah, what I want.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
What I want are those people that we're talking about
to stop yelling about the changes in the sport and
start instead putting that same energy into solving how they
can be competitive in the current landscape.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
quarterback rankings.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Are out for MESPN dot com. Again, Jeremy Fowler doesn't
do these himself. He just surveys the league and he
has put Patrick. The league executives, GM's front office, people
that they talk to coaches have come to the very
shocking opinion that I don't know one Patrick Mahomes is
the number one quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
And you, sir, have a disagreement with that.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Yeah, he's not. He's not even close.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Didn't you just on off of working with me a
week ago you said Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback
I've ever seen in my lifetime.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Yeah, on aggregate. But this ranking is for players in
the twenty twenty five season based on most recent performance.
And Patrick Mahomes just recently represented the AFC in the
Super Bowl and he got his ass kicked en route
to and had a stretch of I would argue about
eight games at the end of the regular season where
they started to look like the Chiefs that we know
(30:20):
that you can have confidence in, as opposed to the
Chiefs that you're questioning on a week by week basis,
and find ways to win like that ridiculous ending against
the Broncos last year or any of these other one
score games that they've survived, and that matters. That's a skill,
especially when you have that quarterback that can tip the
scales that way. But not based off last year's performance.
The best quarterback in football based off last year's performance
(30:42):
is Lamar Jackson. And this man is ranked below Patrick Mahomes,
who's won which is just kind of a career Achievement
award at this point. And that's where I really take
the most issue with Mahomes. Not based off last year,
not last year, Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes was the fourth
best out of the four for power quarterbacks in the AFC,
and ironically, the top four are all the AFC. So
(31:04):
when you look at the rankings, Mahomes is won, Alan
is two, Burrow is three, and Lamar Jackson, who should
have been the MVP last year, who lost the MVP
just because you want to talk about political. This Josh
Allen thing was political. Lamar Jackson being fourth year as
a crime. Lamar Jackson should be the number one quarterback
based off last year's results. Fitz, there was not a
(31:25):
more effective quarterback. There was not a more efficient quarterback.
According to the metrics. We don't have to get into
the advanced stuff here, but they were the number one
offense in DVOA last year. His passing EPA went up
year over year forty point seven and twenty twenty two
seventy six point three in twenty twenty three last year
one eighty seven point three. He is by a mile,
(31:48):
the most statistically effective quarterback no matter which metrics you're
looking at. His playoff success is the thing that we
count against him more than anything. And if you want
to make it a rings argument, I've got no problem,
no issue at all with Mahomes being at the top
of the list because he's the only one of those
four that's won a Super Bowl. The other guys can't
get past Mahomes, and the one guy that did, Joe Burrow,
(32:10):
fell short against Matt Stafford in the Rams. But if
you're gonna tell me, and that's what the background the
criteria for this ESPN Poll executive ranking is, they are
paying more respect to Mahomes based on his career accomplishments
than they are to how he actually played last year,
and how he actually played last year has more pedestrian
(32:32):
than he's ever been and heading into twenty twenty five,
he's not. I don't expect him to get better because
it may be the worst offensive line that they've ever
fielded in front of Patrick Mahomes, even though they've just
re signed Trey Smith, who's an excellent guard, to as
much guaranteed money as the guard's ever made, and they
have the number one interior offensive lineman according to this list,
Creed Humphrey playing center. The other three are very much
(32:54):
questionable at this point in time. That was the thing
that undid Patrick Mahomes the most in the Super Bowl.
Lamar Jackson is one of those players who's able to
negate the impact of his offensive line more than any
other quarterback on this list. He's better than Joe Burrow.
He's better than Josh Allen. He's better than Patrick Mahomes.
If we're talking about last year as a sample size,
it's not even close.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
That's a pretty I mean, you're making a pretty declarative
statement on The Funny thing is I agree with a
lot of what you said regarding Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I really do. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
I think you're underselling a little bit of what Josh
Allen did last year. I mean Honestly, going into that season,
talking to people around Buffalo, they kept saying, we were
all looking at the wide receiver position. The conversation was
that you frankly, the Bills believed internally that he can
be responsible for forty touchdowns no matter who's around in
between throwing and running, and then he turned around and
(33:46):
did all of that. I think Josh Allen last year
was absolutely special. I had no problem with Josh Allen
being the MVP. And then the other side is Joe
Burrow who had absolutely no help but had a historic here.
I just absolutely and to do as much as he
did last year with health issues at the wide receiver position. Also,
I'm not saying that Lamar Jackson isn't elite one of
(34:11):
the best. I just I don't know that I can
just declare right now if I'm looking at this season
based on recent results, Lamar Jackson is incredible. But I
mean I have every bit as much, if not more
faith than Josh Allen and Joe Burrow going into this
year and Mahomes all he does is win, like that
has to matter at some point if we're ranking quarterbacks,
the fact that no matter what you're up against, all
(34:32):
you ever do is win. It's no longer luck at
this point, It's just part of the identity of who
Patrick Mahomes is like.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You don't beat the Chiefs in a close game.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Patrick Mahomes doesn't lose one score games, and you can
never beat this team in a blowout. So doesn't having
that championship DNA that can win a close football game
have to matter in these rankings?
Speaker 4 (34:53):
It should. I acknowledge that it should. And I don't
want to detigrate Josh Allen just because I think I
acknowledged that he was an excellent player, that his case
for MVP was a good one, but I don't think
it was the best case based on what Lamar Jackson
was able to do. It fits he and it's probably
(35:14):
it's probably personal preference, and I do think that Lamar
Jackson also benefits from the fact that he probably has
maybe top to bottom, the best collection of skill players
of any of these four. I know Joe Burrow has
Jamar Chase and he is arguably, maybe not arguably, the
best wide receiver in football going right now, but with
(35:38):
Mark Andrews, and I know Mark Andrews did not end
the playoffs the way that he wanted to. But Derek Henry, Mark, Andrews,
Zay Flowers, now DeAndre Hopkins, Who's at least who's at
least a a an above average effective player, even if
he's not at the height of his powers anymore. Right,
Lamar I almost think got hurt by the fact that
(35:58):
he had more name brand skill players around him propping
not necessarily propping him up, but assisting in him executing
as at a high of a level as any quarterback
last year. But FITZI, if I read the first sentence
in this ranking, Jackson is the most breathtaking player in
(36:23):
the game, is the first thing that Jeremy Fowler writes
under Lamar Jackson's ranking here, where his lowest ranking was six,
his highest ranking was number one. Last year he also
came in at number four. He is the most breathtaking
player in the game. I would agree with that. Fowler
also writes he might be the most feared in the
game too, depending on who you ask, based on the
(36:45):
degree of difficulty that it takes to hold Lamar Jackson down.
Truly hold Lamar Jackson down, And I would argue that
Josh Allen is one B in this category because he's
physically overwhelming. He's mad Max out there, and you have
to I mean, it's like trying to It's like it's
like a cheetah trying to bring down a giraffe. It's
not viable nine times out of ten. And that's how
Josh Allen makes a lot of good outside of when
(37:07):
the or when the play breaks down. Patrick Mahomes. Teams
may not have an outright answer for him to keep
him out of the Super Bowl, but they have at
least figured out a way to make him less special.
They don't have explosive plays in that Chiefs offensive late,
and maybe they find ways to manufacture that this year,
but that's one of the things that made Patrick Mahomes
(37:27):
the most deadly at any given point. There is no
way to keep Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen at this
point from being able to execute explosive plays, whether it's
with their legs or through the air.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
If you were walking in today and you could pick
any quarterback in the league to be your quarterback this
year on your football team, you would pick Lamar Jackson
over Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
I wouldn't think twice.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
I just I can't, I can't, I can't go with
you on that.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
The number of times we've seen Patrick Mahomes bail out
his entire team.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
No I covered the AFC Championship. I've covered a lot
of games with both Mahomes out, well, all three of them,
Mahomes out and honestly Burrow because of the team that
I covered, the Titans in the AFC, and they used
to be good at one time. It's been a long
time since they've been worth a dam, but they used
to have classic games against all four of these teams
and all four of these quarterbacks. It was harder for
(38:22):
them to stop Lamar Jackson than it was to stop
Patrick Mahomes. And I'm not just using that as an
example of all right, I watched this team against both quarterbacks,
and this is how one did versus the other. I
have seen it consistently in the ways that they win.
There are just more ways that Lamar Jackson can outright individually,
individually beat you than Patrick Mahomes can. Mahomes has benefited
(38:45):
from not just being excellent himself, but also playing on
high level teams when Tyreek Hill was on that roster,
when Travis Kelsey was at the height of his powers,
When that defense is playing as well as it did,
and that playoff run was not It was a better
run for Mahomes in the offense than it was for
the chief defense. Certainly, that Super Bowl was not Steve
Spagnolo's units best performance by a mile. But if you
(39:05):
gave me all things equal and said, regardless of the
team that we're putting on, which quarterback can beat you
in more ways? The answer is Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Man, you got two minutes to go in a game
and you need a quarterback. Patrick Mahomes is a better
quarterback like that in that moment you got you got
twelve seconds and you need it. You need something patri
at some point.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
But that wasn't It's not the final two minutes. That
wasn't the question. The question was, if you're drafting of
quarterback to play for your franchise, which one are you taking.
I'm giving myself the most amount of chances by taking Lamar.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
I'm giving myself the person that all he does is win.
Like I mean, it's not even just about the playoffs here.
It's just the number of times that we have seen
Patrick Mahomes just left dead in the water and then
he finds his way back into it.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
I have a hard year for them.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Last year was fifteen and two to your point, in
a Super
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Bowl appearance like and if I have to bet my
house this year on who's going back and who's going
to the super Bowl, it would be dumb to bet
against Patrick Mahomes in my opinion,
This is the best of two pros and a couple
Joe with Lamar arrings and a rating win and Jonas
Knox on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The dog days this summer are almost over.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
We have suffered through months of trying to figure out
how to get to football, and by god, it's finally here.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
The Chargers have gone into camp.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
That means we finally get to the spot where we
can speculate about everything for every second of every day.
And for some reason, it feels better to speculate about
the sport that we all love than it does have
the time to talk about actual sports going on.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Right now, it's two pros and a cup of Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
It's actually a bucket fits takeover on Fox Sports Radio.
Having some technical difficulties out of the gate with Buck.
He's here, but it's gonna take him a second.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
To actually get here. We cannot prove, we cannot confirm nor.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Deny whether or not that's just because he had a
big night on Lower Broadway. But for the next three
hours we will be taking over Fox Sports Radio, and y'all.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm just gonna be honest with you, like things are.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So slow in this industry right now, in this business
and doing what we do. Things are so quiet that
the Spies exist, And like everybody knows, I worked at
ESPN for years, love that place.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
They changed my life. It's absolutely spectacular.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
But the funniest part about the Spiece is they exist
because ESPN looked around and said, you know what, there's
nothing else to talk about, so let's create an award show.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So at least we have something.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
We can put on air, and we can put on
our shows. That's the real catalyst for why the SP's exist.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It is that quiet right now, and then you look
around and you say, well, wait a minute, what's going
to change it?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
All the Chargers going to camp now, think about the
era we all grow up.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
If you're a middle aged person listening to this show.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
At all, will allow middle age to be defined, however
we so choose, thank you very much. But if you're
a middle aged person listening to this show at all,
you sort of know what life used to be like,
Like there was a period to be the old man
on the block.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And Buck would be making fun of me for this.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Right now, but there was a period where, like think
about in my childhood, the only way that you knew
what was going on with your favorite team. This is real,
is you had to go down to the corner store
and buy a USA Today like you literally had to
every Friday. I would walk down to the USA Today
or to the corner store. I would pick up my
USA Today, and they'd have little paragraphs on every game
coming up over the weekend, and that's how I would
(02:19):
read what was going to happen that weekend for my
beloved Raiders.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And every Monday I would go running back.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
To that same corner store to pick up a USA
Today on the hopes that there might be, you know,
if you were lucky, a picture of your favorite team
along with the recap from the game. That's how hard
it was pre you know, the existence of the Internet,
to what we understand now to actually follow your favorite
football team. That's real, you know. And so you think
(02:44):
about how we've gone from that to a society where
in training camp we are all going to fall in
love with somebody based solely on the tweets of reporters
that are telling us that somebody looks pretty good. We
are so thirsty right now, well for actual football, and
we need to remember this because this is what's gonna
happen I'm usually on the Fellows on the weekends with
(03:07):
Anthony Gargano, and if you ever listening to The Fellows
on Fox Sports Radio, we spend every Saturday morning just
going through the college football sleep Right. We spend every
Saturday morning going through every ounce of what we see
in college football just to sit there and love the game.
It's so much of Saturday's content is us talking about
(03:27):
college football?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Right?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Think about it, though, about three weeks in, we are
going to, as a communal football loving society, be complaining
so much about cupcakes, bad games. Whoever the SEC is
scheduled in one particular week that none of us want
to watch. We're going to be complaining violently about all
(03:50):
of the just terrible matchups and how could they do this?
We waited all year to get football, and now we're
already stuck with some random Alabama versus Liberty type game
that nobody wants to watch. That's what we're gonna be saying.
And when that happens, what.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
We need to do is.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Just take a big giant step back and remember how
we felt this summer. We are genuinely at a spot
where you know this, You've done it with your friends
you see it on social media. There are countdowns everywhere.
Forty three days, no football, forty days until we get
like that's what we are counting down every single element
(04:28):
of what we expect, just because we are that excited. So, yeah,
we're at a spot where we're making up award shows
to try.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And figure out how to create.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Content because nobody really wants to talk about baseball. Sorry,
baseball guys, Like, I'm sorry. Like the crazy part about
this is the numbers bear out the majority of the
sports talk radio audience would rather listen to talk about
Shane Gillison an award show than they would about actual
Major League baseball games going on right now.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
That's real.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So we are now at the spot where we get
to stop trying to figure out way to stretch and
start getting into training camp. And when you start thinking
about training camp, to me, man, there are a bunch
of things that are interesting, there's a bunch of things
that are wild.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
But there's one thing that I think.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
That we've just forgotten about over and over and over again,
and that's that the Lions are in a year of transition.
Think about Detroit right now, and let's be consistent with
the way that we talk about certain teams. Okay, so
the Lions have gone from being living in what I
always like.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
To call the sea of suck.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
All right, the Lions have gone from living in the
sea of suck to the land of benefit of the doubt.
When you go from being just perennially bad every single year,
you're awful, we presume you're gonna be awful when you
suddenly wake up and you're not awful every day, When
you suddenly wake up and you're good, Well, now you
get that crazy thing called benefit of the doubt. But
(05:49):
sometimes you got to peel all of that away. You
gotta peel away what we think is gonna happen, and
you got to start looking at the actual information to
form the opinion. So let me ask you, how many
teams can lose their offensive coordinator, their defensive coordinator, and
a bunch of their coaches in the same year and
have absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
No fall off. Remember a few years ago in Philly.
I mean, we've seen it go really well in Philly,
and we've.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Seen to go really bad, to the point that all
of a sudden, Syrianna was on the hot seat.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
But then it went well again.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
When you start talking about change, and you start talking
about the way we look at things in trading camp.
To lose your offensive coordinator obviously, Ben Johnson is now
the head coach of the Chicago Bears, right, and you
lose your defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is now the head coach.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Of the New York Jets.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
You've lost two huge pieces, And I don't know how
we can just assume that Dan Campbell is just gonna
nail every single higher.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Like most coaches don't.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Most coaches, especially like think about the different styles of coaches. Okay,
if you're Sean McVay and you're gonna lose a quarterbacks coach,
you're an offensive mind of some sort. You're really the
offensive guy that pushes all the buttons. You know, if
you're already in control of a large portion of your team,
losing a coordinator can be something you get through because
(07:13):
you're gonna call all those plays anyways. You're going to
be that guy anyway, Right, So taking that sort of
a blow is survivable. You can look around and say, Okay,
it's a little bit of a change. Is that how
we think of Dan Campbell? But do we sit here
right now and think of Dan Campbell as being the
(07:33):
guru on the offensive and defensive side of the ball that,
if all things start falling apart, will simply take back
the play calling and make it work himself. It's not
the type of coach he is. There's nothing wrong with that,
but that's not the type of coach he is. So,
just as we've seen other teams have issues trying to
figure out how to replace coordinators, is it not fair
(07:56):
to look at a Detroit team that was great last year?
They were great, and wonder man if if part of
the reason they were great is that they had the
best offensive mind. The guy that's going to go to
Chicago and suddenly win so many games, the guy that's
going to make sure that Kayleb Williams is a superstar,
the guy that is going to catapult the Bears into
(08:16):
playoff relevance.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
That guy.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
He's such a good coach that he was the most
coveted coach for most teams across the entire league. That's
how good he was. He's the guy everybody wanted to hire.
He's gone now, so you just replace him, and there's
no drop off you replace. In the minds of many
one of the if not the best offensive coordinator. The
only way there's no drop off is if Dan Campbell
(08:39):
hires the next Ben Johnson. Think about how damn hard
that is, Like, that's not just something you wake up
and do. Aaron Glen goes to the Jets, where immediately
he's putting his stamp on that organization. The Jets had
a big week. They paid a couple of their young guys.
They showed everybody they believed that the young corps is there,
and they believe that this team can be built, and
(09:01):
they believe that Aaron Blenn is going to be the
person that does that for him. So you're not just
trying to replace a defensive coordinator. You're not just trying
to replace an offensive coordinator. You're trying to replace a
coordinator that is so good. They are one of the
best in the league and they were coveted to become
head coaches. That means you can't just get the higher right.
You got to get the higher right, and you're doing
(09:23):
it while you're in your Super Bowl window. That's the
other part of this for the Lions, Like we are
past the point of the Lions being a cute story
and we are at the point now where the Lions
are a super Bowl contentor the Lions are supposed to
be them, they're supposed to be one of these teams
that we can absolutely bank on is going to be
contending for the super Bowl. So you're not talking about, hey,
we'll easily do it, We'll get it all right, it'll
(09:46):
feel good over time, like those aren't luxuries that the Lions.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Have right now.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
A wasted year for a team in their super Bowl
window is catastrophic. It's so hard to get to this point.
It's so hard to beat at the spot where you
can genuinely win it the highest possible level. If you're
talking about the Lions and looking around. Sure, if the
expectation was the Lions were gonna win eight games, then great, fine.
If they're only gonna win eight games, then let him
(10:12):
hire their coordinators. If it works, it works, If it doesn't,
it doesn't. How would Lions feel about that? Lions fans
feel about that? How would the Lions organization feel about that?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's the tricky part of Detroit.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Hey it's me Rob Parker.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker, for
twenty two minutes of pipe in hot baseball talk featuring
the biggest names, the newsmakers in the sport. Whether you
believe in analytics or the I tast We've got all
the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So do
your sofa favor and listen to Inside the Parker with
(11:01):
Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Get your podcast. Hear me out all right.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
To be clear, Buck's living in the middle of the
SEC country, There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
He's down in Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I have covered college football every year of my professional career.
In fact, I just told Buck this, this will be
the first fall I think as it stands right now,
that I don't have to do any I don't get
to I should say never say have to. I don't
get to do any Yahoo Saturday college football shows. So
for the first time, like back when I got to ESPN,
(11:35):
I did Saturday night shows, but we had to be
there every day to watch the game together. So we
got on campus every day at eleven am Eastern and
we were there until one in the morning.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
This will be the.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
First year that I get Saturdays where I can just
after the Fellas, I can just go put my feet
up in a local bar and watch as much college
football as I want to, which I'm excited about.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I freaking love this sport. I love covering the sport book.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So I say this with some level of understanding that
people might not like it, But to me, college football
and load management have something in common. Load management in
the NBA is polarizing. People just sit there and say
it's terrible, it's terrible, it's terrible, it's terrible, And I
would argue it doesn't really matter, like every time they're like, but.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Little Johnny didn't get to see Lebron play.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Okay, So the NBA is going to always make the
decision to protect their TV product in the playoffs, and
they're going to protect their products overall when it matters
the most, even if it hurts the hearts of you
know whatever, twenty kids that might have been, Like, how
many families are actually going out to that bought plane
tickets and flew to LA and went to Lakers. You know,
(12:41):
it's no different than when a concert cancels last second,
Like there are families that flew out there and everything,
and that's just sort of ancillary damage. So to me,
the side effect of load management is that a few
people are impacted by it, but for the most part,
when we reach the NBA Finals, nobody's talking about it anymore.
To me, all of the people right now yelling and
screaming about the changes in college football are kind.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Of those people in the arena for load management. They're replaceable.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Their fandom is replaceable as long as college football continues
to make TV.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Money, which it's going to as.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Long as ESPN, Fox, tnt CW, all of these networks,
the streaming networks are going to continue bidding on the
product as long as college football continues to be the
second most popular sport.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
In America, and there's no proof that it's dying off
of that at all.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Schools don't need to the sport doesn't need to sit
there and worry about the fish shaking. Oh my god,
this is bad because those people can be left behind
in the sport will be just fine. They are load
management people. M yeah, yeah, look at me coming in
hoarlier than that today.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Well, also, it took him five minutes to five minutes
to throw it over to me. I think he kind
of liked having the first hour and a half to himself,
don't you, guys? I read I feel like I'm at
a rupting here. I'm so sorry to butt in on
your your mourning full of college it's football, hot taker.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Or say anything.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I mean, you say something, I throw it to something.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I hate that opinion by you. I hate it so
much because, Fitzy, just because it hasn't happened yet, the
denigration of college football fandom hasn't happened yet doesn't mean
that it should be taken for granted and that there
shouldn't be protections in place to make sure that that
integrity of the sport and its relationship to the diehards
(14:29):
is maintained. That's the thing that makes it more special
than any of these other sports. Fitzy, I thought you
spoke so well about just being able to relish and
take in the opportunity to watch college football and to
be a college football fan, and how much you love
this sport and how much even covering it you find
a lot of people in our industry, and this is
you know, this is a one percenter problem, right, But
(14:51):
you find a lot of people in our industry who
start to lose love of sports in general based on
it becoming a job. Right, it's like anything else, even
though it's the most fun thing in the world for
everybody else. If you start to let it seep in
that this is work and not still play, even though
you're getting a paycheck as a result of covering things
(15:12):
and working in or around sport, it can start to
denigrate it. And you you are the rare enough thing
where your zest for these things, your passion for these things,
has not yet depreciated, even though you work in it
and you cover it and it's exhausting and it's full
time and it's seven days a week and all these
different things. But fits, I can't. I can't sit there
(15:36):
and let you grandstand and tell those people that they
don't matter when they're the biggest differentiation to me between
the NFL and college football. I'm an NFL reporter. I
cover the Tennessee Titans, and I don't like college football
more just because I cover a crappy football team and
their product is usually terrible to watch, or at least
it has been in these last three years since things
(15:59):
started to fall up part here locally in Tennessee prior
to them having the number one overall pick in cam Ward.
This time around, college football passion, the electricity that comes
from the crowd. How much different it is from college
to the pros, how much more tribal it is from
college to the pros. That's the differentiating factor. I don't
want this to be worn down as we start to
(16:22):
move in a more profitable direction for college football and
an expansion mode for college football. I don't want that
water down. I don't want those people to think that
they don't matter, because to me, they very much do.
They are not replaceable. You're wrong on that.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Here's the thing, though, who's getting replaced?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Like Alabama fans are still going to be there because
Alabama's going to be one of.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
The programs that thrives and survives.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Texas fans are still going to be there, Michigan fans,
Ohio State fans, penns Tate.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Tailing the board just won nine games and is being
talked about as on thet as being on the hot seat.
He may have the most talented roster in the SEC
and the best conference in college football. You don't think
those people are gonna stick stick around through the hard
times or you think those people are.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, they are that because their passion is not gonna
go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Who's really gonna get lost?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Like if we turn around and we do a super
conference and all of a sudden there's a salary cap,
who's gonna get left behind in this process? It's not
gonna be Alabama, Tennessee. It's not gonna be the prominence.
Wisconsin's gonna be fine. It's not gonna be Big ten
or SEC schools. It's gonna be New Mexico State. And
you know who doesn't matter? New Mexico State. I'm sorry, Like,
(17:32):
as I've said a million times, living in Connecticut, like
Connecticut football, Sorry, guys, doesn't matter to most people. Right UNLV.
I grew up in Vegas. I grew up a massive
UNLV fan. YOUNLV. If UNLV football shut down tomorrow, how
many people would actually be that hurt about it? What
the thirty thirty thousand they? I think they've just set
(17:53):
a team record of thirty thousand season ticket sales? So like, okay,
if you've got to lose those thirty thousand of figure
out a way to make sure that we get the
best version of the forty or fifty schools.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
That can actually hang. Then fine, everybody else is just
hanging Chad. That's old voting. Vote for you like hanging Chad.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
That's what everybody else is hanging to everybody else is
just they're just slop.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Let's just let them go. They go where they go,
like if you can't.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
If the rest of the schools want to play in
their own sandbox, they can find a way to do it.
But at the end of the day, how many people
sit here and cry about whether or not University Wisconsin
Whitewater gets.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
What they need for Division III football? The answer is none.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I'm not sure that Oregon State really matters to most
of the world more than University of Wisconsin Whitewater.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
I understand what you're saying, and that's probably the direction
that we're headache and these things may be inevitable, but
that doesn't mean that I have to like them. It
doesn't mean that everybody else who is I mean, some
of it is fitzy, I'll say grandstanding, because the people
who are fighting for the traditions, or as much of
(19:03):
the traditions in college football to continue to hold serve
into the next generation of it. Are not the people
who are consuming UNLV or Wisconsin Whitewater or any of
these other smaller programs that you named. My curiosity then
would move towards, well, how does that impact people's ability
if you go to one of these smaller schools and
(19:24):
you get relegated to a different version of football and
wherever that football ends up being broadcast or televised, whatever
the case may be, does that impact guys who are
playing at those universities their opportunity to get recognition, to
be on national television because they're playing cupcake type of
games against the Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio states of the world.
(19:47):
Does that impact their ability to get recognized by pro
scouts and as it relates to getting to the next
level of football. There are ripple effects here, and maybe
they're not as important as the people who are I
mean wailing and gnashing over them, because I will tell
you there is nothing more unpopular down here in the
Southeast than all of the changes that have happened to
(20:09):
college football. And yet it's still going to be infinitely
more popular here than even the NFL, America's most popular sport.
Does not matter in the state of Tennessee. Hell, you
can't even get that they're called the Tennessee Titans here.
Two thirds of the state doesn't want anything to do
with them. East Tennessee is pissed off because they don't
think the Titans should use the name Tennessee, because it's
(20:30):
the Tennessee Valls right in Memphis, West Tennessee. It's Grizzlies,
it's cowboys. That's all they care about. So for the
people down here that are fighting the hardest for it,
they are the ones who you're talking about who are
going to be the least affected by it. But they
actually have a platform to be able to try and
evoke change or at least make themselves known on behalf
(20:51):
of those who don't want to be relegated FITSI And
they may not have a choice, and it may not matter,
and it may all be fine and dandy as we
move into the future evolution of what college football and
college athletics are going to continue to change into. But
I just I nothing, nothing bothers me more. I think
it's the thing that you. I think it's the thing
that's pissed me off the most that you've ever said
(21:11):
into a microphone, the idea that these people are just
outright replaceable and in your words.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Slop now they are. I mean, how many people are
gonna lose? You're right, they're gonna be kids that are impacted. Well,
what if I like the slop football like I mean,
I like you get to watch it, you can still
watch it like Liberty can continue.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
To have on Apple TV. You're gonna make it harder
on me to find these games instead of having maction
as a part of the ESPN thing on a Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yes, if Miami of Ohio no longer has a Division
I football team and you gotta hunt hunt it down
on Thursday nights, oh well, if you want to hunt
it down, you can hunt it down.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
And yes, they are gonna be kids that lose scholarships.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
For every kid that loses a scholarship but loses an opportunity,
we got to ask ourselves, what about at some point,
what do we care about?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Right?
Speaker 4 (21:58):
Right?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
If they if we end up with the Super Conference
that's sixty teams instead of having the current whatever one
hundred and thirty two teams, If we end up with
sixty teams in a superconference. Those kids on those sixty
teams have a much better shot of being properly you know,
properly paid for what they're doing. They have the opportunity
to have proper earning. And everybody's sitting here saying, well,
(22:19):
we're worried about the kids. That's just the most disingenuous
from ninety percent of the people. That is such a
BS argument. If somebody's sitting in Alabama's like, well, I'm
worried about I'm worried about the kids.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
No, you're not.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
You're worried about whether Alabama or Auburn is gonna win
a national title. That's all you care about. And the
Alabamas and the Auburns will eventually conform to all of
this and figure out how to thrive in all of this.
The people that are like, we just we pretend care
so much. As a society, I don't think the majority
of the world would even notice. If again, to go
(22:53):
to a local area for you, if MTSU Middle Tennessee
State University no longer had football, I don't think ninety
eight percent college football fans would even know what happened.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And so at some point, you.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Know, it's a doggy dog world. Like you're either you're
either playing amongst.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
The elite or you're not.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
And if you're not playing amongst the elite, like just
like nobody sits here and worries about whether Wisconsin Whitewater
kid gets a scholarship. The answer is that most of
them don't. Like they don't get Division three scholarships. Why
are we suddenly that's the line. We just don't want
the rest of Division one to be impacted? Or are
we gonna pretend that we really care about the rest
of the athletes that are impacted by this?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
We don't we care about whether or not our top
thirty or forty teams are all top thirty or forty teams.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Well, and you may be true, or you may be
right about the vast majority of people. You are right
about the vast majority of people. I will acknowledge that,
even though it bothers me. But like, as speaking for
somebody who I mean, I think I genuinely do care.
And maybe I'm not seeking out every MTSU game, or
every Western Kentucky game or every I mean, hell Indiana football.
(24:00):
My alma mater they were in the College Football Playoff
FITZI this year, I couldn't. I couldn't name three Indiana
football players and Curtis Rhurt got drafted this year. You
know what I'm saying, Like, they have never mattered in
my life, in my entire life. We used to go
to those games. We used to tailgate those games. Rather
not go to those games and do exactly what you're
talking about, go home and watch the SEC or Notre
(24:22):
Dame play because that's where the real college football is.
But my biggest point of protest, and I'm sure I'm
in the minority of people who are actually pissed about this,
is that college football is not supposed to be for
the elite. It's not supposed to be just for the elite.
College football is supposed to be a more inclusive environment.
(24:44):
It gives us great stories about players who work their
way up through programs, especially now with the ability to
transfer and have success at a lower level and then
create your next phase of your career. Cam Ward going
from Incarnate Word to Washington's Date to Miami and all
the different difficulties that formed him into one of the
(25:05):
most unconventional number one overall picks I've ever seen. I
don't know how many of those stories we're willing to
just cast aside if we make the pool even smaller
and make college football more for the elites, Because the
thing that college football fans would all protest against, and
no matter what level of college football that you're talking about,
no matter what part of the country that you go
(25:25):
to where they are actually passionate about college football, is
they would push back on the idea of it being
considered for the elite in any stretch of the word.
Especially the SEC is elite. The SEC is the best
conference in college football. And if you attach elite to
the SEC, their fan base is gonna recoil just because
of how they naturally view that term and that word.
(25:48):
It's not supposed to be exclusive. It's supposed to be
more inclusive.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Yeah, but where's the line he's buck rising on Jason
fitz By the way, we're in for two pros and
a cup of Joe.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Where's where's the line?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Like, Because I hear what you saying, but do you
really believe like as much as a let's say, mid level,
mid level team in the SEC might might listen to this,
and and that fan base says, Oh my god, like Auburn,
Auburn's gonna look at it and say college football is
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, I called that. You just called them.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Well from the performance on the field, Auburn's Auburn's gonna
sit here and be like, you know, like this, this
makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
How many Auburn fans are.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Genuinely worried about whether the University of main football team
gets to thrive Like this is this is what we
do in society all the time. The number of times
it's like, well, you know, we got to go after
the rich, make sure that the rich pay their fair share.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Okay, cool? Who defines what riches? Like that?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
That's just a standard follow up question to me, Like
because certainly somebody that that is able to have a
house seems rich to somebody that's homeless, and somebody that's
able to have a go on a vacation seems rich
to somebody that can barely afford a house. Somebody like
me that grew up on government cheese in one box
of mac and cheese to split for the family. Today,
(27:07):
like everybody was rich compared to me growing up, So like,
what's rich? I would ask college football the same thing.
Where's the line in relevance? Because I do not believe
that you know that Texas is worried about North Texas.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I don't believe that.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Again, I'll use New Mexico State as a good Utah state.
Like how many SEC fans are sitting here saying we've
got to do what's fair for college football because I
want to make sure that the fans of Utah State
are not left behind like that that doesn't exist.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Everybody.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Everybody claims they're worried about this part as a whole,
they're worried about their own team.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
You are again, I don't disagree with the vast majority
of what you're arguing just because you're you're just because
that is the feeling that most people actually have, like
the genuine feeling that most people will actually have. My
point is it doesn't make it right. Like I get you,
(28:06):
you can be correct about these things and self interest
winning out over everything else, because that's basically what you're
advocating for here, and by the way, what is probably
going to bear itself out. But my whole contention is
that doesn't make it right. And I know that's not
going to be a popular argument, and I know I'm
gonna you know, I'm gonna fight this fight with as
(28:26):
I sink into the sea shaking a fist above, and
I'll lose every time, But damn it, I'm not gonna
go out quietly that way. And I don't think the
college football fans in every part of the country where
they love these things and they appreciate these things, and
they genuinely do want those opportunities for these players supported.
Because there are people out there fitsy. The vast majority
(28:47):
of the country and the vast majority of the consumers
are going to be self interested that way. But for
those people that are out here fighting a good fight,
I don't want them just cast aside and saying you
don't matter here anymore. It's wrong.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
You're right, Okay, you're about that. Yeah, what I want.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
What I want are those people that we're talking about
to stop yelling about the changes in the sport and
start instead putting that same energy into solving how they
can be competitive in the current landscape.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
quarterback rankings.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Are out for MESPN dot com. Again, Jeremy Fowler doesn't
do these himself. He just surveys the league and he
has put Patrick. The league executives, GM's front office, people
that they talk to coaches have come to the very
shocking opinion that I don't know one Patrick Mahomes is
the number one quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
And you, sir, have a disagreement with that.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
Yeah, he's not. He's not even close.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Didn't you just on off of working with me a
week ago you said Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback
I've ever seen in my lifetime.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
Yeah, on aggregate. But this ranking is for players in
the twenty twenty five season based on most recent performance.
And Patrick Mahomes just recently represented the AFC in the
Super Bowl and he got his ass kicked en route
to and had a stretch of I would argue about
eight games at the end of the regular season where
they started to look like the Chiefs that we know
(30:20):
that you can have confidence in, as opposed to the
Chiefs that you're questioning on a week by week basis,
and find ways to win like that ridiculous ending against
the Broncos last year or any of these other one
score games that they've survived, and that matters. That's a skill,
especially when you have that quarterback that can tip the
scales that way. But not based off last year's performance.
The best quarterback in football based off last year's performance
(30:42):
is Lamar Jackson. And this man is ranked below Patrick Mahomes,
who's won which is just kind of a career Achievement
award at this point. And that's where I really take
the most issue with Mahomes. Not based off last year,
not last year, Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes was the fourth
best out of the four for power quarterbacks in the AFC,
and ironically, the top four are all the AFC. So
(31:04):
when you look at the rankings, Mahomes is won, Alan
is two, Burrow is three, and Lamar Jackson, who should
have been the MVP last year, who lost the MVP
just because you want to talk about political. This Josh
Allen thing was political. Lamar Jackson being fourth year as
a crime. Lamar Jackson should be the number one quarterback
based off last year's results. Fitz, there was not a
(31:25):
more effective quarterback. There was not a more efficient quarterback.
According to the metrics. We don't have to get into
the advanced stuff here, but they were the number one
offense in DVOA last year. His passing EPA went up
year over year forty point seven and twenty twenty two
seventy six point three in twenty twenty three last year
one eighty seven point three. He is by a mile,
(31:48):
the most statistically effective quarterback no matter which metrics you're
looking at. His playoff success is the thing that we
count against him more than anything. And if you want
to make it a rings argument, I've got no problem,
no issue at all with Mahomes being at the top
of the list because he's the only one of those
four that's won a Super Bowl. The other guys can't
get past Mahomes, and the one guy that did, Joe Burrow,
(32:10):
fell short against Matt Stafford in the Rams. But if
you're gonna tell me, and that's what the background the
criteria for this ESPN Poll executive ranking is, they are
paying more respect to Mahomes based on his career accomplishments
than they are to how he actually played last year,
and how he actually played last year has more pedestrian
(32:32):
than he's ever been and heading into twenty twenty five,
he's not. I don't expect him to get better because
it may be the worst offensive line that they've ever
fielded in front of Patrick Mahomes, even though they've just
re signed Trey Smith, who's an excellent guard, to as
much guaranteed money as the guard's ever made, and they
have the number one interior offensive lineman according to this list,
Creed Humphrey playing center. The other three are very much
(32:54):
questionable at this point in time. That was the thing
that undid Patrick Mahomes the most in the Super Bowl.
Lamar Jackson is one of those players who's able to
negate the impact of his offensive line more than any
other quarterback on this list. He's better than Joe Burrow.
He's better than Josh Allen. He's better than Patrick Mahomes.
If we're talking about last year as a sample size,
it's not even close.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
That's a pretty I mean, you're making a pretty declarative
statement on The Funny thing is I agree with a
lot of what you said regarding Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I really do. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
I think you're underselling a little bit of what Josh
Allen did last year. I mean Honestly, going into that season,
talking to people around Buffalo, they kept saying, we were
all looking at the wide receiver position. The conversation was
that you frankly, the Bills believed internally that he can
be responsible for forty touchdowns no matter who's around in
between throwing and running, and then he turned around and
(33:46):
did all of that. I think Josh Allen last year
was absolutely special. I had no problem with Josh Allen
being the MVP. And then the other side is Joe
Burrow who had absolutely no help but had a historic here.
I just absolutely and to do as much as he
did last year with health issues at the wide receiver position. Also,
I'm not saying that Lamar Jackson isn't elite one of
(34:11):
the best. I just I don't know that I can
just declare right now if I'm looking at this season
based on recent results, Lamar Jackson is incredible. But I
mean I have every bit as much, if not more
faith than Josh Allen and Joe Burrow going into this
year and Mahomes all he does is win, like that
has to matter at some point if we're ranking quarterbacks,
the fact that no matter what you're up against, all
(34:32):
you ever do is win. It's no longer luck at
this point, It's just part of the identity of who
Patrick Mahomes is like.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You don't beat the Chiefs in a close game.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Patrick Mahomes doesn't lose one score games, and you can
never beat this team in a blowout. So doesn't having
that championship DNA that can win a close football game
have to matter in these rankings?
Speaker 4 (34:53):
It should. I acknowledge that it should. And I don't
want to detigrate Josh Allen just because I think I
acknowledged that he was an excellent player, that his case
for MVP was a good one, but I don't think
it was the best case based on what Lamar Jackson
was able to do. It fits he and it's probably
(35:14):
it's probably personal preference, and I do think that Lamar
Jackson also benefits from the fact that he probably has
maybe top to bottom, the best collection of skill players
of any of these four. I know Joe Burrow has
Jamar Chase and he is arguably, maybe not arguably, the
best wide receiver in football going right now, but with
(35:38):
Mark Andrews, and I know Mark Andrews did not end
the playoffs the way that he wanted to. But Derek Henry, Mark, Andrews,
Zay Flowers, now DeAndre Hopkins, Who's at least who's at
least a a an above average effective player, even if
he's not at the height of his powers anymore. Right,
Lamar I almost think got hurt by the fact that
(35:58):
he had more name brand skill players around him propping
not necessarily propping him up, but assisting in him executing
as at a high of a level as any quarterback
last year. But FITZI, if I read the first sentence
in this ranking, Jackson is the most breathtaking player in
(36:23):
the game, is the first thing that Jeremy Fowler writes
under Lamar Jackson's ranking here, where his lowest ranking was six,
his highest ranking was number one. Last year he also
came in at number four. He is the most breathtaking
player in the game. I would agree with that. Fowler
also writes he might be the most feared in the
game too, depending on who you ask, based on the
(36:45):
degree of difficulty that it takes to hold Lamar Jackson down.
Truly hold Lamar Jackson down, And I would argue that
Josh Allen is one B in this category because he's
physically overwhelming. He's mad Max out there, and you have
to I mean, it's like trying to It's like it's
like a cheetah trying to bring down a giraffe. It's
not viable nine times out of ten. And that's how
Josh Allen makes a lot of good outside of when
(37:07):
the or when the play breaks down. Patrick Mahomes. Teams
may not have an outright answer for him to keep
him out of the Super Bowl, but they have at
least figured out a way to make him less special.
They don't have explosive plays in that Chiefs offensive late,
and maybe they find ways to manufacture that this year,
but that's one of the things that made Patrick Mahomes
(37:27):
the most deadly at any given point. There is no
way to keep Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen at this
point from being able to execute explosive plays, whether it's
with their legs or through the air.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
If you were walking in today and you could pick
any quarterback in the league to be your quarterback this
year on your football team, you would pick Lamar Jackson
over Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
I wouldn't think twice.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
I just I can't, I can't, I can't go with
you on that.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
The number of times we've seen Patrick Mahomes bail out
his entire team.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
No I covered the AFC Championship. I've covered a lot
of games with both Mahomes out, well, all three of them,
Mahomes out and honestly Burrow because of the team that
I covered, the Titans in the AFC, and they used
to be good at one time. It's been a long
time since they've been worth a dam, but they used
to have classic games against all four of these teams
and all four of these quarterbacks. It was harder for
(38:22):
them to stop Lamar Jackson than it was to stop
Patrick Mahomes. And I'm not just using that as an
example of all right, I watched this team against both quarterbacks,
and this is how one did versus the other. I
have seen it consistently in the ways that they win.
There are just more ways that Lamar Jackson can outright individually,
individually beat you than Patrick Mahomes can. Mahomes has benefited
(38:45):
from not just being excellent himself, but also playing on
high level teams when Tyreek Hill was on that roster,
when Travis Kelsey was at the height of his powers,
When that defense is playing as well as it did,
and that playoff run was not It was a better
run for Mahomes in the offense than it was for
the chief defense. Certainly, that Super Bowl was not Steve
Spagnolo's units best performance by a mile. But if you
(39:05):
gave me all things equal and said, regardless of the
team that we're putting on, which quarterback can beat you
in more ways? The answer is Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Man, you got two minutes to go in a game
and you need a quarterback. Patrick Mahomes is a better
quarterback like that in that moment you got you got
twelve seconds and you need it. You need something patri
at some point.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
But that wasn't It's not the final two minutes. That
wasn't the question. The question was, if you're drafting of
quarterback to play for your franchise, which one are you taking.
I'm giving myself the most amount of chances by taking Lamar.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
I'm giving myself the person that all he does is win.
Like I mean, it's not even just about the playoffs here.
It's just the number of times that we have seen
Patrick Mahomes just left dead in the water and then
he finds his way back into it.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
I have a hard year for them.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Last year was fifteen and two to your point, in
a Super
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Bowl appearance like and if I have to bet my
house this year on who's going back and who's going
to the super Bowl, it would be dumb to bet
against Patrick Mahomes in my opinion,
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