October 31, 2017 • 41 mins
Doug breaks down a wild NFL trade deadline and gives you his thoughts on all the biggest moves: Garoppolo to the 49ers, Brown to the Seahawks, Ajayi to the Eagles, and Benjamin to the Bills. He also explains why historical context matters when looking at the Ezekiel Elliott suspension process. Doug talks to Tom Verducci from FOX Sports and Sports Illustrated about Game 6 of the World Series between the Dodgers and the Astros.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the done Got Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Boo, What Up America? Got Leap Show?
Fox Sports Radio, coming to you live and direct from
the City of Angels Where not So Sunday Today overcast.
Maybe the Big Fella doesn't want baseball played on Halloween.
Maybe he just doesn't want to see Rich Hill tonight
(00:23):
pitch four innings against Justin Verlander. We'll get you updated
on the weather for the World Series and whether we
will see a World Series, plus what hitters will be
seeing from Justin Verlander. Matt Holiday, seven time All Star,
four time Silver Slugger will join us, as he has
throughout the World Series. Get his thoughts on tonight's matchup.
Mark Schlareth, three times Super Bowl Champion on Jonas In
(00:43):
fifteen minutes, we'll try and figure out why the Broncos
offense is so offensive to watch tons to get to
metric tons. Benjamin Watson, former Patriot, former St. Current Ravens
tight end will join us. We'll ask him about what's
happened so far today and I believe we still have
(01:04):
one more hour for more to happen, and that is
trade deadline news in the National Football League. This doesn't
normally happen, and and looked at the trend really started
the past couple off seasons in which we've seen player
for player trades. We've seen some player for player trades,
even from the Patriots this year trading uh, Jacoby Brissette
(01:27):
for Philip Dorset, right, which, by the way, Colts won
that trade. Like, if you want to say the Patriots
are awesome, you can. But if you want to say
the Patriots won that trade, you're an idiot because as
much as the Colts have been good, Brissett has some
value whereas Dorset has done nothing nothing. Um. But obviously
(01:57):
the big news of the day is Jimmy Garoppolo has
traded us night. So too was Dwayne Brown, so too
was j j I. And so when three starters are traded,
there is the thought that, well, there's a trend, right,
it's a trend. But but I look at these trades
(02:19):
and I look at him like, um, you're her Peyton
Manning talk about interceptions. When Payton Manning talks about interceptions,
he always says the same thing. Everyone has a story
of itself, right, And that's exactly what we have with
these trades. The Jimmy Garoppolo story is different from the
(02:39):
Duyne Brown story. There is a parallel there in that
both dudes wanted to get paid, but in completely different
parts of their career, and hanld in completely different ways.
So obviously you start with the paths who finally bailed
on Jimmy g Here's Bill Belichick, who um doesn't always
(03:06):
necessarily let us in but did give us his thoughts
on a conference call as to why the deal was made.
Probably had, in my opinion, the best quarterback situation in
the league for the last called two and a half years.
It's just not sustainable given the way that things are
set up. Definitely not something that we wanted to walk
away from. And I felt like we wrote it out
(03:27):
as long as we could. At this point, felt like
we had to make a decision. This is really the
last window that we had, and we did. We felt
the best for the team. We had a declining asset
we had to get rid of. We we had to
move on from him or get nothing back in return.
And I also believe, and this is probably uh pretty easy,
(03:48):
that he wanted to see if in fact Tom Brady
was as spriteful, was as youthful, as Tom Brady believed
he was. And now that you've gotten into the bye week,
and by the way, Brian Hoyer, who was a quarterback
with the San Francisco for the Niners, was released. Of
course they don't want to pay the type of money
that Howyer was making. So I'm sure a Hawyer is
(04:09):
gonna sign with them to be their backup. And you
have Tom Brady and you've got something in return for
Jimmy Garoppolo. People do this with leasing cars all the time.
There's two websites, uh lease at lease Trader and swap police.
And my brother does this right you. You you acquire
somebody else's lease, which is somebody else paid the down payment,
(04:33):
and right before the leases up, when you get nothing
back in return, you sell the car for a little
bit more than the whatever the residual value or the
payoff actually is of that lease. And the spread of
that five hundred bucks thousand bucks, that's that's that's found money,
(04:53):
and that's essentially what you have here with Jimmy Garoppolo.
They got him in the draft that used him as backup.
He was a starter for a very short period time
last year before he got hurt and set had to
start the game against the Houston Texans, and seeing as
they were gonna have to give that car back at
the end of the year, they got something in return. Now,
is it dangerous to not have nearly as viable backup
(05:17):
for half a season with a four year old Tom Brady?
It is, But that's a risk worth paying, especially playing,
especially considering the likelihood that they can acquire somebody like
Lawyer who already knows their system and gets a week
and a half to prepare because they're on a on
a by this week. That's that story. The Duwayne Brown story,
(05:37):
to me, is exactly what you think it is. That's
an F you. Now, there's two types of f you,
Like if j g I was traded because Adam Gaze
wanted to make a point to players in the locker room,
Like trading a running back away from a team that's
losing and not gonna make the playoffs to the best
team in football, it doesn't seem like nearly the f
(06:00):
you And Frankly, training Dwayne Brown away to the Seattle Seahawks,
who's there as good or a better team than the
Houston Texans, doesn't seem like an f you. Remember Dwayne
Brown was holding out and then only came back because
the hold up proved to be moot. It just did,
(06:23):
and so Sunday, when he played all but three snaps
on offense, was essentially an audition. He had great leverage
rule in the year when the Texans couldn't block anybody
when their offense was a joke. But when they change
offenses and change quarterbacks, suddenly left tackle seemed his his position.
Left tackle seemed like one that was replaceable, and so
(06:45):
they got a cornerback and a draft pick in return
for a guy who not only didn't want to be there,
wanted to get paid, and essentially said that the owner
was a racist. Right, this is a the if you
want to use the expression the inmates don't run the
asylum doesn't happen in Houston. I'm sure there are other reasons.
(07:08):
The salary and the fact he wanted to get paid
and they were probably gonna move on from him, and
they proved they could win without him to a certain extent.
All that plays in a factor. But you can't tell
me that speaking to the media after a tough loss
in Seattle and saying to the media, we're essentially playing
for ourselves, and then you're you're in the other locker
room two days later that that is exactly what you
(07:30):
think it is. That's, you know what, the inmates do
not run the asylum here. And if you don't like
the expression, well then you're gonna have to understand that
expression has been around a lot longer than the NFL
and has nothing to do but do the color of
Dwayne Brown's skin, because I don't believe he's ever been
an inmate, so let's not make an inference that's not
even there. And then there's a J. J. I, which
(07:54):
I'm sure there's some of the unhappiness with the Dolphins
offense by by j j I, but a lot of
it is what's his actual value on the market. Fourth
round pick for a guy that's got a bum knee,
a guy that's passed his peak as a running back.
You take what you can get while you can get it.
(08:17):
Randy Moss, remember, was traded for a fourth round pick
when he was traded from the New England Patriots. It
does feel like Seattle got better. It does feel like
uh San Francisco is now out of the quarterback nix
for this year's draft, And maybe that says what they
think about the quarterback mix, and the Philadelphia Eagles did
(08:38):
get a starting caliber running back. But just because three
starters were traded all in the same day does not
a narrative make Just like uh, Just like Peyton Manning
would always say about interceptions, each trade is a story
unto themselves. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(08:59):
Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Black Face is not getting dressed up as
a black person. Black Face is a specific character and
a caricature of black people, which, of course, UH is
incredibly demeaning towards black people, in which they would the
(09:21):
actors or singers would speak in an uneducated verses. They
would paint their facing entirely black and then their lips white,
and they would sing songs that were both in the
tone and context and rhythms of Black America or how
white America viewed Black America back in the nineteen twenties
(09:42):
and nineteen thirties. That's what black face is. Black face, Okay,
black face by my estimation, even if you were trying
to be Al Jolson playing mammy and nail it and
ring the doorbell and say mommy, right, that would be offensive.
(10:04):
But getting dressed up as Colin Kaepernick or my son
favorite favorite football player is Oldell Beckham Jr. And if
he was to if he was to go soul man
and darken his skin and get dressed up as Odell
Beckham Jr. That is not black face. That is getting
dressed up as a black person. It is different. There's
(10:24):
a differentiation there, but this is one of our issues.
And look, you guys aren't the only ones like that's
it's a Twitter thing, it's a social media thing. It's
like we don't I've, i've. My kids apparently have a
really good history teacher and they're learning about Mesopotamiaan and
I like, but it's really important that you learned about history,
(10:46):
so you know these historical references. You know these historical references.
Not knowing the details, not knowing the past is part
of what makes us overy act to the present. Case
in point, the Ezekie Elliott thing. Okay um on Monday Night,
(11:09):
Judge Catherine Polka, I'm gonna go with FAA or for
I don't know, I'm gonna go fair dissolved the temporary
the t r O blocking the suspension of Ezeki Elliott,
clearing the way for a six game banishment on Tuesday morning,
(11:30):
and interesting fact emerge regarding the person whom Elliott's case
was assigned. The judicial questionnaire signed by the judge in
June of two thousand twelve includes a statement and commitment,
my husband is a partner at a law firm Um
pro Sker Rose LLLP. I would recuse myself from any
(11:53):
cases in which Prosker Rose is a party of representing party.
Prosker Rose wasn't representing the NFL in the Elliott case,
but a prominent Proca Rose attorney was heavily involved in
negotiation the labor deal that ultimately was an issue in
the Elliott's case, Bob Batterman Lockout. Bob became a key
and sometimes notorious figure in the months leading up to
the two thousand eleven workstop. Its YadA, YadA, YadA. So
(12:17):
it is interesting that the judge judge's husband was part
of a law firm which helped decide the c b A.
Some of that's interesting historically, but maybe the most interesting
historical reference comes from Jerry Jones Who's Dallas cowboys feel
(12:37):
wronged by Ezeki Elliott suspension for something that never went
to trial, he was never charged with. And the more
you investigate, you start to think, Hold on a second,
Hold on a minute. I don't like women being abused
any any less than anyone else does. I find it
disgusting and disgraceful that a man would put his hands
(13:00):
on a woman. On the other hand, when you hear
this woman's story and you start to hear some of
the holes in not just her story, but some of
the credibility of other stories to which she has put
out there. You read the text messages, the things that
she said to police officers, the changing your stories, you
start to scratch your head and go a how strong
is this case? Actually? History is important. Jerry Jones knows it.
(13:27):
Take a listen to what he said on a Dallas
radio station. I'm sure he'd like to take back his
initial ray Rice Dance and a few others. And he's
in the process of having tried to correct that and
in doing so, Zeke is a victim of an over correction.
Zeke is a victim of an overcorrection. It's very, very
important to understand a couple of things. Um, we don't
(13:54):
just have to remember the fact that ray Rice happened
during Roger Goodell's watch. It's also fair to point out
that Roger Goodell suspended ray Rice for two games, which
seems like a really light suspension when you see the video,
but he had not apparently seen the video, and that
at the time was the longest suspension anybody had ever
(14:16):
been given based upon a domestic violence case ever in
the history of the league. And it wasn't by anybody's
account enough, especially when the video came out. Then they
suspended it for uh. Then then he was on the
the Commissioner's exemple list and he was suspended for six games,
and there was a Greg Hearty thing. The point is
(14:39):
that this is, I think, by all accounts, in over correction.
I think that Tom Brady suspension was an over correction,
right that the league mad about the Patriots, feeling like
the Patriots had gotten away with stuff in the past,
feeling like the Patriots had to be up to something.
You over suspend. Knowing that, also in fairness is how
many of the suspensions that have been levied by the
nf FELL have been reduced, including Greg Hardy's suspension was
(15:03):
reduced in the courts. So, uh, look, I think history
is super important, incredibly important. I love learning about histories
of war, although some recently later yesterday, trying to change
how we view the history of the Civil War. Um,
(15:25):
but I think you have to take a breath and
and I do think that Jerry Jones, that was an
interview on one of five point three the fan. I
think that's a reasonable stance to take. Is that, Look,
Roger Goodell is paying still paying for Ray Rice and
for the Greg Hardy thing. And oh yeah, by the way,
I frankly think that Jerry Jones is paying for the
Greg Hardy thing. Like Jerry Jones got to me, who's
(15:49):
suspended for fifteen games on the commissioner's exemp list, then
he gets to be suspended for ten games that staled back,
I think the six games, and then they play him
like you know, now he's being punished for a player
that he signed and stood by but never rehabilitated himself
and is now out of the NFL. All of us
are paying penance for the past. Fox Sports Radio has
(16:11):
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. We have breaking news
in the NFL. Let's go to Dan, breaking news from
Fox Sports. Dan, what was my percented chance at a
big that a name player? You said, a name players
traded in the NFL? Was your guests, and we cashed
(16:36):
in ESPN saying that Calvin Benjamin has been traded by
the Carolina Panthers to the Buffalo Bills. The news was
first reported by ESPN. No word on what the Panthers
would get in return for the wide receiver who was
ben cam Newton's favorite target once Greg Olson went out?
Remember brand, Remember Brandon Bean is their general manager. Brandon
came from the Carolina Panthers. There's the elephant, there's the out,
(17:00):
the elephant room, the rabbi in the room, and of
course Sean McDermott, their head coach, is really their general
manager of president football operations, also came from Caroline. So
they are they are big fans of Calvin Benjamin, even
if the new general manager of the Carolina Panthers is not. Also,
the NFL network is reporting that the NFL Players Association
(17:20):
trying to take that next step to file an appeal
on the ruling that was made yesterday putting Zekiel Elliott
six games suspension back in. A ruling could be made
Mike tomorrow to find out if Zeke actually will have
to serve the six games suspension or if it will
remain on hold. But that going down within the last
twenty minutes. This is interesting though. On the on the
Kelvin Benjamin thing, I'm sure you have, Dan, I appreciate
(17:42):
appreciate you with that. With that update, uh, daniell join
us again here in about eight minutes, we'll get more
on it. Maybe by then we'll we'll learn exactly what
was given up for Calvin Benjamin. Of course, UM have
knee injury a couple of years ago, did come into
camp fairly heavy, and but they're they're playing without without
Greg Olsen as well. Those are the two favorite targets
(18:04):
before Christian McCaffrey came around for Cam Newton. But what
does this mean for Cam Newton or what does this
mean for the Panthers? Are they um, are they deciding
let's pack it in for the year, or is there
another move that they're gonna try and make. Fascinating What
a crazy trade that we never talk NFL trade deadline.
There's nothing. It's always the least the hot stove league
(18:27):
in baseball, and trade deadline and even post waiver trade
deadline in baseball always more interesting than anything else. Case
some point, justin Verlander pitching tonight for the Astros. Of course,
when the Dodgers got you Darwish before the trade deadline,
they had to make a decision Verlander or Darvish. They
chose Darvish and the Astros many people believed wouldn't have
(18:49):
gone after Verlander had they gotten Zack Britten before the
original trade deadline from the Orioles. The Orders decided to
not move their closer. We usually talk about that, we
don't talk about NFL stuff, and now we've see, uh,
that's the fourth true starter we've seen move. There's some
other cornerbacks and nickel guys have been moved forth, good
solid player Jgi moved, Dayne Brown moved, Jimmy Garoppolo, who
(19:11):
will be a starting quarterback with the forty Niners, and
now Kevin Bellett and Benjamin all traded. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays
at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app Let's get to uh.
Benjamin Watson was kind of to join the show. Of course,
if you know anything about Watson, you know as a
(19:32):
stand up guy who of course has played for the Pats,
the Browns, the Saints and now part of the Ravens.
And the Ravens just blasted the Dolphins so much so
the Dolphins got rid of J J. I. Benjamin Watson
joy just in the Doug Gotlip Show. How are you good? Man?
(19:52):
You didn't get traded, right, everybody else in the NFL
seems to be getting created. You're good. You're still a
Raven after four o'clock. Correct, Well, yeah, I guess so, man,
And everybody's checking their phone just to make sure you
might get that little cryptic text, you know, to bring
in your playbook, So I gotta be on your ps
and Ques. I don't remember, and like, look, dude, you
been the league a long time. I don't remember a
(20:13):
trade deadline like this, right, Like there's a guy or
two a year, a guy that's unhappy. But I mean,
we've had some big name players being trade of the
trade deadline? Do you remember this before? Well, you definitely
hit the nail on the hit. We talk about big names.
I mean every year, I feel like there are some
surprise trades that happened. That's just a nature of the business.
(20:33):
But um, it seemed like it was down to the wire.
Especially I heard you mentioned j j I and you know,
one of the great young backs in this league. I
didn't expect to see that coming. But you see how
teams are starting to try to position themselves for this
last half of the season. You know, at this time
of the season, right now, at these middle um four
games in the middle of the season is where a
team start to make a push for the playoffs and
(20:55):
where teams start to separate themselves. So if you've got
teams that are to have a knee and they think
that that need can be fulfilled and they can make
that push for another championship, they're gonna take that chance,
all right. So how would you how would you assess
your team? I mean, here we are halfway through the season,
four up, four down, some really uneven from really uneven performances, right,
(21:17):
Jags and Steelers bads recently Dolphins good. What's your assessment
of the current state of the Ravens. I don't think
you've been inconsistent. Um together, Uh, you know, as a
whole collectively, I would say that we you know, we're
a team that has has gone to London and got
blown out. Then we're a team that blows out Miami
(21:37):
last week. We're a team that goes on the road
and plays very well in Oakland, and then we come
home and we we've lost some tough home games, and so, uh,
this second half of the season has got to be
about being consistent. It's got to be about, especially offensively,
about doing the little things right and getting first downs
and staying on the field, not getting three an ounced,
executing in the passing game. Our run game has been
(21:58):
uh pretty well, one of the best in the league
of was running the football, but we have to get
more out of our passing game, um, and really help
our defense out. I think defensively we've definitely been more
consistent than we have offensively. But um, together, we have
to to be able to work together in order to
get wins day in, you know, Sunday in and Sunday out,
and we haven't done that. We've kind of been I
(22:18):
was joking with somehere early. You just don't know what
you're gonna get from us half the time because one
week we're one way, in another week we're another way. Well,
it comes all the way. It comes down to performance
and to execution. Um, it's as simple as that. And
we've got we preparal well. I felt that we prepared
well for most of all weeks. UM. We've obviously had
a lot of injuries, which every team has to deal with. UM,
(22:40):
but we have to be able to overcome those. We
can't allow those two to be setbacks for us. And UM,
you know, we gotta win at home. I think we
we maybe even as far as the road and home
goes and and that's that's that's not good. That's not
the making of a of a good team. And so
we know that right now we're at a place where, um,
everything is in front of us. I think a lot
of teams are saying that right now everything is in
(23:02):
front of them. Uh, it's really about what they do
this next Sunday in the in a few sundays after
that is what's gonna gonna make or break the season
for us, but also for a lot of other teams.
And you know what's interesting about you guys, is as
you start, you mentioned Woodhead coming back starting to get healthy.
Uh you know, uh, you know, you get the Flaco
situation where he appears to be healthy enough to to
(23:22):
probably go this weekend, but you have the bye week
up coming after this one, right, so it stands the
reason you guys could Finally, you guys, if you could,
you gotta go on the road to Tennessee. But if
you could get that win and use that week off
and get healthy, the best football maybe ahead of you. Well,
the bob is gonna come at a great time. I
think that's always the case. You know, every team, every
(23:42):
everybody is injured or struggling, He's like, please let me
get to the bottle. Uh. And so for us, I
think the bobble is definitely gonna come at a good time. Um.
Even so, even when we get much of our roster
back who may have been injured, it's still gonna come
down to simply X and os and going out there
on Sunday and perform at our best and making plays
and and having loan drive, sustaining drives the defense, continuity
(24:05):
to get turnovers, continuing to shut people down and shut
people out, putting in our offense in a good position.
Our special teams has come up big for us a
lot of times this year. For them to continue to
play well and even to get better, UM, I think
is important moving into this time of the year. And
so um, you know, whether whether we had the Bobby
or not, those things don't change. You know. There's obviously
been a lot of talk about the protests and most
(24:27):
recently about Bobink There. You're somebody who has given I
think really thoughtful commentary on on where you stand on everything. Um,
what what do you think of where we are in
terms of the league, the fans and the protests as
of you know, Halloween October thirty one, two thousand seventeen. Yeah, well,
(24:47):
I think when we look at our country, you know,
sometimes I like to look macro and then and then
come in you know micro. When we look at our country,
we're at a very uh fractured state. Um. We're at
the time where there is a lot of animosity between
different size there's a lot of name calling, there's, um,
just a lot of really intense emotions, um, all the
(25:07):
way around. I don't think, you know, I don't remember
a time, you know, in the last couple of years
where it's been like this. And then when you bring
that into the National Football League and you have UM,
God's taking kneed during the national anthem or whatever they're doing. UM,
protesting for social injustice, UH process, protesting for equality, those
sorts of things. Trying to bring a word is to
those things. And then you put that into the blender
(25:28):
that is America right now, you're gonna get a lot
of strong reactions from a lot of different people and
a lot of different sides. UM. And so when you
add in um, you know Mr Manairo's statements UM about
him may you know running a prison, and you filter
that through everything that's going on, of course you're going
to get a reaction because of what it sounds like
he is saying or what he is saying. UM. And
it's a time where you know, I think the biggest
(25:51):
thing for us to do is to be willing to
have conversations with each other, be willing to listen to
each other, be willing to to to sit down with
someone or come face to face with someone who you
think you really disagree with that you may continue to
disagree with them, but to hear why they're saying what
they're saying. On both sides, we can't we can't expect
to to put our ideals into someone else's protests. We
(26:13):
need to hear why they're protesting from them. We need
to hear that from them and be willing to listen.
And then on the other side, we need to hear
a why are these people offended by what I'm doing? Okay,
I can see why they may be offended, even though
they're taking it the wrong way. Um, there are some
things that have no place in our society. Calling people
at so OBEs has no place. Um, you know what
Mr Many said, When you look at it in light
(26:35):
of you know, the circumstances, of course it has no place.
But he did apologize. We have to be willing to say, Okay,
this guy said this, he said he was wrong for
he apologized from it. It points to a greater issue,
maybe a greater Um, what do you what do you think?
What do you think? What do you think problem? What
do you think the issue? I mean, because like, look,
I know you've heard that expression before. Obviously it's it
makes run the asylum, not the prisoner. Okay, so we've
(26:58):
heard it before, Like I didn't that didn't me mean
mean that he assumed black players were prisoners? There was
a jail. I didn't. I didn't think that, but I'm
also not black, and obviously Troy Vincent took it. And
that's why. And that's why, of course, and that's why
you have me on the show. And you don't understand
why you're not black. And I can say to you, Hey,
does look um you know? Black players feel like Number one,
(27:22):
he's talking about us because the people that are protesting
are black. You haven't seen white players, many white players,
if any, taking knee uh um the way black players have.
So he is talking about black players. And number two,
when you when you take a step back and understand um,
the prevailing UM, I guess atmosphere of what's going on
in the country. Of course, it sounds like an attack
(27:43):
on the black players. And when you look at how
black players a lot of times are told to sit down,
to shut up, just to perform. There's this idea that
comes all the way from slavery up until now, that
that that black folks should be quiet and and um
and just perform and only speak when spoken to. This
is idea that many black people feel that it's coming
from um, the larger society. Yeah, but what would it
(28:05):
would it be would it be fair to say that
that's also a common theme though in terms of people
that run a business and people work for any business,
right like like there's not even in like in my business,
Like if I was if I was in a meeting
with my boss, if I was constantly texting my bosses
or giving them ideas or telling them what I think
we should do with Fox Sports or Fox Sports Radio,
(28:27):
they would kind of like they would say, do your
own show, don't try and do everybody else's show that
you the inmates, don't run the asylum. The you know,
the dog, the tail can't wad the dog. Those type
of of expressions could be used. Couldn't that be said
for any employee, not just employees of the NFL. It
could be said for any employee. And I've actually had
someone say to me the tempt the tail can't wear
(28:48):
the dog. I won't tell you who said that. I win,
but my but my point is simply the context. Yeah,
And so the context is important when you say what
you say amongst different groups at different times, in different spheres,
certain things can be said that can't be said at
other times. And so while there's a large backlash against him,
(29:10):
I also think that that we should hear what he
has to say and allow him to speak on his
behalf and say why he said what he said, and
also say that, hey, I didn't mean to offend people.
That's what he said. I I can't say he didn't
mean to send people, but I'm hearing it from his mouth,
so I take him at his words. Do you do
you think that's why they treated Dwayne Brown because of well,
(29:34):
Dwayne Brown was pretty pretty look he was also he
had held out and there was thoughts they were gonna
move Dwyne Brown anyway, and this in Seattle did need
a left tackle. But Dwyanne Brown after the game on
Sunday was like, Hey, we're just playing for us. Dwyane
Brown was still bothered by the by by the comments,
and he was kind of he was more vocal about
it than others. Some of it because he's a VET.
He's been in the league for ten years and and
(29:56):
so he can he can be more outspoken because of it.
I'm just wondering, in the in the in the confines
of an NFL locker room, you sweet see Dwayne Brown
gets moved and everybody looks around says well, that's because
he held out, or is it that's because what he
said about Bob McNair. Well, one thing I've learned over
over my fourteen year career is that it is always
a combination of a lot of things, and sometimes it's not.
Sometimes it's immediately there's a there's a deal that came up,
(30:20):
and the GM says, wow, this deal comes up, we
just want to do this right now. It's gonna help
our football team, and boom they do it. And then
sometimes teams are looking for a deal. And so with
with with Dwayne, I don't know a specific situation. I
know he's been out for a number of weeks, and
so that right there and of himself lets itself to
the being a guy that may be traded that if
the time is right. Um, he's obviously a great football player.
(30:41):
And I don't know if that was maybe the last
strong maybe it wasn't. I don't know enough to know.
But what I do know is that, um, you know,
sometimes it's one thing, sometimes it's a it's a combination
of things and the team and a player. So you
know this this is the best move for me. Last thing, Uh,
go to Candy if you get one can do on Halloween.
What is it after all of that, we're gonna start
(31:05):
talking about candy. Yeah, man, we can't leave on this
note about social justice like that. They were better than that, right, Like,
we gotta we gotta, we gotta, we got we gotta,
we gotta self this thing up a little bit. I've
always been a I've always been a skittled guy. It's
always had since I was a little kid. I love
Skittles and sour patch kids. So if I can get
either one of those, you know, and make sure I
(31:26):
go to the dentist, you know, shortly thereafter, I'm good. Yeah,
I'm sour more than sweet as well, I will. You
know they have sour Skittles, You even had those? I do?
I love you know what? That would be the one
thing because that's the combination. I have had those, and
I do love those two. Hey man, Happy Halloween. Congrats
on the win, and you guys kind of got a
little mini bye week after the Thursday game. One more game,
you got another bye week, which was everybody needs in
(31:48):
the league, but especially your crew with how many injuries
you guys sustaining, could use it. Best of luck in
Tennessee and thanks for joining us, Thanks sir anytime. All right.
That's Benjamin Watson. Always gives a thoughtful commentary on what's
going on in the league. 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. Could be the last baseball
(32:10):
game until April on Fox TV tonight, and part of
that incredible crew is Tom Verducci, who I would I
would encourage you two will tweet it out. He tweets
it out. You can go to Sports Illustrated read it
as well. Tom Verducci joins us on the Doug Gotlip
Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Um. The headline is
the Astros and Dodgers forever change baseball with an unforgettable
(32:33):
World Series. But Tom, I've heard you talk about this
on Dan Patt on The Dan Patrick Show. How much
of this is to be believed? Because the ball all
year has been flying out at a record rate and
it just doesn't feel like this is on the up
and up. Yeah, you know, if you listen to MLB,
they'll tell you that they these balls all the time
and that there's no difference in the baseballs. But all
(32:54):
you have to do is talk to pictures, and I
know that you can accuse them of being biased, but
watch your own eyes and see the way ball are
harnging out of the ballpark. It really began in the
second half of the season, and if you remember it,
I know, it seems like forever ago. We were really
in the pits as far as offensive production. I mean,
we were going back to was that bad? And then
it turned on a dime and we become really a
(33:14):
home run, strikeout kind of game. And that game we
saw it in in Houston, Game five, I mean, that
was one of the most thrilling, exciting games I've ever seen.
But it also spoke to what baseball is now right
where you're almost defending the whole runth just trying to
keep the ball out of the air because if it
goes in the air has a pretty good chance it's
gonna go out. It's unbelievable. Um, how much how much
(33:36):
blame should Dave Roberts get Maybe not for any one move,
but the moves especially early, you know, go and get
rich here early, or maybe, like I point out, I
didn't love using Kelly Jansen. I know it's only a
two run leading Game one, just knowing it's a marathon,
not a sprint. How much blame should he get for
the fact that the bullpen is taxed. Yeah, some blame
(33:58):
for sure. Um, listen to the Dodgers. This is what
they've done. They they got their picture, the starting picture
out of the game five innings are less seventies six
times this year. I mean no team in won the
World Series doing that more than sixty times. So this
is our m O. It's based on analytics that tell
you when the lineup turns over a third time, you
(34:18):
better off having a fresh arm in the game then
you are you're starting pitcher. It was fatiguing at that point. Well,
it's a little bit different as you're seeing here, especially
in the World Series. The middle three games the only
time you're gonna play three straight days in a row
in the World Series. And you saw how Brandon Marrow,
especially with gas at that point. You know, I thought
the worst decision they made Dave Robert Smith was when
(34:40):
he met Roberts roberts Bruck Marrow into a game down
five to three the other day, I think it was
game two. Um, three, you know, that's a winning piece
for you. That's a guy you need in a tie
game or when you have a lead late. It's not
a guy you want to burn, especially because he's pitched
so much when you're down to now I know it's
the I thought was, let's hold the game and maybe
(35:01):
we'll come back. But to me, he paid the price
for that in Game five when Marrow went out there
in a one run game with a one run lead
and absolutely nothing. Six pitches later they were down three.
I've never seen let's turn around like that in the
World Series. Six pitches, four runs, all right? So I
used that though, And look the Dodgers, you're going against Verlander.
(35:23):
He's been unbelievable in elimination games. Um, and you know
they got rich Hill out there, who they've always pulled
rich Hill early. That's that's that's as you said, that's
not just the Dodgers m O in terms of all
of their pictures, especially with rich Hill. But is it
possible this is kind of a must win game for Houston.
The Dodgers bullpen hasn't been good because it's taxed and
(35:44):
they've gotten to Kenny Jansen, but the Astros bullpen has
been equally putrid, and they don't have it they don't.
Giles is suddenly out right, he's persona on grata, and
they have I don't know they canna use the colors.
They don't even know what they do in Game seven
kind of feels like an all Incinda, are you for
boat teams? Well, you just cut on what I think.
It's a quiet narrative in this game, and that is
(36:05):
there's tremendous pressure on the Astros. The Dodgers are the
team facing elimination. The Astros want to do everything that
they can to avoid a Game seven because of the
Bolt situation. But to me, the flash point of this game,
because now remember we're back to National League rules, or
Lander's in the lineup hitting, there's no d H the
third time around, when the pitcher spot comes up is
(36:25):
always the flash point in the National League game. If
you are tied or trailing, you have to take your
starting pitcher out of the game. Where does the j
hitch go at that point? If he's got a lead
Verlanders throwing, well, it's kind of easy. He can continue
to ride his horse. I mean, justin we sink and
go over pitches. But tie game or with runners on base,
especially scoring position, does he pull him and then where
(36:48):
does he go if he's got a leader the game ties.
I'm telling you right now he's going to give the
ball the lamps of colors. I'm worried about game seven
when we get to a game seven, So for me,
flash point of this game, because I do think it
will be close. Justin Verlander third time off? What does
a J. Hinch do? What about what about Dave Roberts? Uh,
there's been some talk of Alex Wood. I know you
(37:08):
Darvish is supposed to start seven, but wouldn't it be
smart to go to you Darvish? Uh? You know, in
the fourth or in the fifth inning? Who do you
think the first arm he goes to? Considering how tax
the traditional bullpens arms are, Well, it's not Darvish. I
ad Dave Roberts about that. Starvish is not pitching this game.
He's out in this game. So now becomes and you
(37:29):
mentioned this with rich Hill. He averages facing twenty two
batters a game over the whole season, and the postseason
is eighteen, so they're not trusting him. Third time around,
you get all the right handers five in a row
at the top of the layup, where do you go
at that point third time around, you know, isn't my
ada now? It depends on how my ada feels tonight
because he's been used a lot in this postseason. Again,
(37:50):
we get back to using your bullpen for the series goes,
the more the fatigue factors in. Alex Wood has left handed,
But I'll tell you what, I love the way his
stuff matched up against the Estro the other day. He
really keeps the ball down to change up. Was fantastic.
Wouldn't surprise me if that's where he goes u So
to me, that's the flash point for Dave Roberts when
the use of MindUP curtains over that third time. Does
(38:11):
he do something that he never does and that means
trusting Rich Hills deeper into a game? Or does he
go to my Eta or does he go to Wood?
Those are the three options. Dodger Stadium traditionally has not
been a home run hitters park um but it was
a home run hitters park obviously in Game two. It
was also hot hot? Does all get out a Game one?
In Game two? Going to be more traditional fall Southern
(38:33):
California weather sixties, bit moist, bit overcast, chance of a
little bit of drizzle, um stands to reason that this
could be a little bit more of a pictures dual. Yeah,
I think so. I mean, definitely the weather factory in
the game to their um. As hot as it was,
the ball was absolutely flying. You know, Justin Turner told
me it brought me something years ago. Here at Dodger Stadium.
(38:56):
You can tell how the ball is going to carry
by the rails in front of the dugout. When they're wet,
the fall mean moist, the ball doesn't fly so as
when it's dry it's flies, And I expect we will
have moister in the air tonight. The ball will not
carry anywhere near at this first couple of games in
the series. Last thing, if the Astros win this thing,
(39:19):
it's also gonna be a win for tanking, right. I mean,
they gutted their roster and they absolutely tanked in two
thousand thirteen. Granted the number one overall picks in thirteen
and fourteen haven't haven't played out as such, but you
know they got about four or five of their best
players in the draft between two thousand and eleven and now,
um so, is there is there another Houston Astros on
(39:41):
the way? I mean, the Nationals have always had a
bunch of talent and you yet to get there. But
is there Tom, you know this league really well, is
there another kind of butting a franchise that has this
type of talent that has gutted it in the past
four or five years that is using the Houston Astros
boop boop booprint as their plan. Well, first of all,
I really hate the word thanking. These teams are trying
(40:03):
to win, but to trying to win smart. In other words,
the biggest thing that's driving baseball now is where an
organization is on the winning curve. If you have a
team that the mediocre team, there's no sense in pouring
money is to try to win a five games. You
either are going for it and I'm talking about winning
the World Series, or you are rebuilding. There's nobody in
the middle of the road. Now, that's why now you
saw this year we had three teams win more than
(40:25):
a hundred games, because you do have a lot of
teams in the rebuilding. And when you rebuild, you have
to make it a full rebuild. It can't be something
done halfway. Now, I would tell you we have I
think seven to nine teams in baseball that are in
the rebuilding stage. You know, I would look at the
White Sox as a team that um through trades more
than draft so far, trying to copy what the Astros
(40:48):
have done in terms of trying to get a good
base of young players and have them all hit at
the same time. It's not easily done, but at least
they have a plan that I think will pay off
in three to five years, rather than a team like
Seattle spout a decade just patching the major league roster
and all they keep getting is six wins and they
take at home after the season end. You know, at
(41:10):
some point you have to break it down to build
it back up again. Agree, And that's what Uh, That's
one of the things that Houston was able to do,
not not to plan the Dodgers. They threw a bunch
of money at it, but they also rebuilt their their
bullpen at the time. But that's because they were so
flush with cash. Tom, You've done a great job so far.
This article is fantastic. We'll tweet it out, enjoy the
World Series. I think we all hope there's at least
(41:30):
one more game because this series deserves a seven game.
But we'll see it's very lander and he's been great
in these situations. Thanks so much for joining us, Thanks
for having me, all right, that's the great Tom Verducci
joining us.
This is the best of the done Got Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Boo, What Up America? Got Leap Show?
Fox Sports Radio, coming to you live and direct from
the City of Angels Where not So Sunday Today overcast.
Maybe the Big Fella doesn't want baseball played on Halloween.
Maybe he just doesn't want to see Rich Hill tonight
(00:23):
pitch four innings against Justin Verlander. We'll get you updated
on the weather for the World Series and whether we
will see a World Series, plus what hitters will be
seeing from Justin Verlander. Matt Holiday, seven time All Star,
four time Silver Slugger will join us, as he has
throughout the World Series. Get his thoughts on tonight's matchup.
Mark Schlareth, three times Super Bowl Champion on Jonas In
(00:43):
fifteen minutes, we'll try and figure out why the Broncos
offense is so offensive to watch tons to get to
metric tons. Benjamin Watson, former Patriot, former St. Current Ravens
tight end will join us. We'll ask him about what's
happened so far today and I believe we still have
(01:04):
one more hour for more to happen, and that is
trade deadline news in the National Football League. This doesn't
normally happen, and and looked at the trend really started
the past couple off seasons in which we've seen player
for player trades. We've seen some player for player trades,
even from the Patriots this year trading uh, Jacoby Brissette
(01:27):
for Philip Dorset, right, which, by the way, Colts won
that trade. Like, if you want to say the Patriots
are awesome, you can. But if you want to say
the Patriots won that trade, you're an idiot because as
much as the Colts have been good, Brissett has some
value whereas Dorset has done nothing nothing. Um. But obviously
(01:57):
the big news of the day is Jimmy Garoppolo has
traded us night. So too was Dwayne Brown, so too
was j j I. And so when three starters are traded,
there is the thought that, well, there's a trend, right,
it's a trend. But but I look at these trades
(02:19):
and I look at him like, um, you're her Peyton
Manning talk about interceptions. When Payton Manning talks about interceptions,
he always says the same thing. Everyone has a story
of itself, right, And that's exactly what we have with
these trades. The Jimmy Garoppolo story is different from the
(02:39):
Duyne Brown story. There is a parallel there in that
both dudes wanted to get paid, but in completely different
parts of their career, and hanld in completely different ways.
So obviously you start with the paths who finally bailed
on Jimmy g Here's Bill Belichick, who um doesn't always
(03:06):
necessarily let us in but did give us his thoughts
on a conference call as to why the deal was made.
Probably had, in my opinion, the best quarterback situation in
the league for the last called two and a half years.
It's just not sustainable given the way that things are
set up. Definitely not something that we wanted to walk
away from. And I felt like we wrote it out
(03:27):
as long as we could. At this point, felt like
we had to make a decision. This is really the
last window that we had, and we did. We felt
the best for the team. We had a declining asset
we had to get rid of. We we had to
move on from him or get nothing back in return.
And I also believe, and this is probably uh pretty easy,
(03:48):
that he wanted to see if in fact Tom Brady
was as spriteful, was as youthful, as Tom Brady believed
he was. And now that you've gotten into the bye week,
and by the way, Brian Hoyer, who was a quarterback
with the San Francisco for the Niners, was released. Of
course they don't want to pay the type of money
that Howyer was making. So I'm sure a Hawyer is
(04:09):
gonna sign with them to be their backup. And you
have Tom Brady and you've got something in return for
Jimmy Garoppolo. People do this with leasing cars all the time.
There's two websites, uh lease at lease Trader and swap police.
And my brother does this right you. You you acquire
somebody else's lease, which is somebody else paid the down payment,
(04:33):
and right before the leases up, when you get nothing
back in return, you sell the car for a little
bit more than the whatever the residual value or the
payoff actually is of that lease. And the spread of
that five hundred bucks thousand bucks, that's that's that's found money,
(04:53):
and that's essentially what you have here with Jimmy Garoppolo.
They got him in the draft that used him as backup.
He was a starter for a very short period time
last year before he got hurt and set had to
start the game against the Houston Texans, and seeing as
they were gonna have to give that car back at
the end of the year, they got something in return. Now,
is it dangerous to not have nearly as viable backup
(05:17):
for half a season with a four year old Tom Brady?
It is, But that's a risk worth paying, especially playing,
especially considering the likelihood that they can acquire somebody like
Lawyer who already knows their system and gets a week
and a half to prepare because they're on a on
a by this week. That's that story. The Duwayne Brown story,
(05:37):
to me, is exactly what you think it is. That's
an F you. Now, there's two types of f you,
Like if j g I was traded because Adam Gaze
wanted to make a point to players in the locker room,
Like trading a running back away from a team that's
losing and not gonna make the playoffs to the best
team in football, it doesn't seem like nearly the f
(06:00):
you And Frankly, training Dwayne Brown away to the Seattle Seahawks,
who's there as good or a better team than the
Houston Texans, doesn't seem like an f you. Remember Dwayne
Brown was holding out and then only came back because
the hold up proved to be moot. It just did,
(06:23):
and so Sunday, when he played all but three snaps
on offense, was essentially an audition. He had great leverage
rule in the year when the Texans couldn't block anybody
when their offense was a joke. But when they change
offenses and change quarterbacks, suddenly left tackle seemed his his position.
Left tackle seemed like one that was replaceable, and so
(06:45):
they got a cornerback and a draft pick in return
for a guy who not only didn't want to be there,
wanted to get paid, and essentially said that the owner
was a racist. Right, this is a the if you
want to use the expression the inmates don't run the
asylum doesn't happen in Houston. I'm sure there are other reasons.
(07:08):
The salary and the fact he wanted to get paid
and they were probably gonna move on from him, and
they proved they could win without him to a certain extent.
All that plays in a factor. But you can't tell
me that speaking to the media after a tough loss
in Seattle and saying to the media, we're essentially playing
for ourselves, and then you're you're in the other locker
room two days later that that is exactly what you
(07:30):
think it is. That's, you know what, the inmates do
not run the asylum here. And if you don't like
the expression, well then you're gonna have to understand that
expression has been around a lot longer than the NFL
and has nothing to do but do the color of
Dwayne Brown's skin, because I don't believe he's ever been
an inmate, so let's not make an inference that's not
even there. And then there's a J. J. I, which
(07:54):
I'm sure there's some of the unhappiness with the Dolphins
offense by by j j I, but a lot of
it is what's his actual value on the market. Fourth
round pick for a guy that's got a bum knee,
a guy that's passed his peak as a running back.
You take what you can get while you can get it.
(08:17):
Randy Moss, remember, was traded for a fourth round pick
when he was traded from the New England Patriots. It
does feel like Seattle got better. It does feel like
uh San Francisco is now out of the quarterback nix
for this year's draft, And maybe that says what they
think about the quarterback mix, and the Philadelphia Eagles did
(08:38):
get a starting caliber running back. But just because three
starters were traded all in the same day does not
a narrative make Just like uh, Just like Peyton Manning
would always say about interceptions, each trade is a story
unto themselves. Be sure to catch live editions of The
(08:59):
Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Black Face is not getting dressed up as
a black person. Black Face is a specific character and
a caricature of black people, which, of course, UH is
incredibly demeaning towards black people, in which they would the
(09:21):
actors or singers would speak in an uneducated verses. They
would paint their facing entirely black and then their lips white,
and they would sing songs that were both in the
tone and context and rhythms of Black America or how
white America viewed Black America back in the nineteen twenties
(09:42):
and nineteen thirties. That's what black face is. Black face, Okay,
black face by my estimation, even if you were trying
to be Al Jolson playing mammy and nail it and
ring the doorbell and say mommy, right, that would be offensive.
(10:04):
But getting dressed up as Colin Kaepernick or my son
favorite favorite football player is Oldell Beckham Jr. And if
he was to if he was to go soul man
and darken his skin and get dressed up as Odell
Beckham Jr. That is not black face. That is getting
dressed up as a black person. It is different. There's
(10:24):
a differentiation there, but this is one of our issues.
And look, you guys aren't the only ones like that's
it's a Twitter thing, it's a social media thing. It's
like we don't I've, i've. My kids apparently have a
really good history teacher and they're learning about Mesopotamiaan and
I like, but it's really important that you learned about history,
(10:46):
so you know these historical references. You know these historical references.
Not knowing the details, not knowing the past is part
of what makes us overy act to the present. Case
in point, the Ezekie Elliott thing. Okay um on Monday Night,
(11:09):
Judge Catherine Polka, I'm gonna go with FAA or for
I don't know, I'm gonna go fair dissolved the temporary
the t r O blocking the suspension of Ezeki Elliott,
clearing the way for a six game banishment on Tuesday morning,
(11:30):
and interesting fact emerge regarding the person whom Elliott's case
was assigned. The judicial questionnaire signed by the judge in
June of two thousand twelve includes a statement and commitment,
my husband is a partner at a law firm Um
pro Sker Rose LLLP. I would recuse myself from any
(11:53):
cases in which Prosker Rose is a party of representing party.
Prosker Rose wasn't representing the NFL in the Elliott case,
but a prominent Proca Rose attorney was heavily involved in
negotiation the labor deal that ultimately was an issue in
the Elliott's case, Bob Batterman Lockout. Bob became a key
and sometimes notorious figure in the months leading up to
the two thousand eleven workstop. Its YadA, YadA, YadA. So
(12:17):
it is interesting that the judge judge's husband was part
of a law firm which helped decide the c b A.
Some of that's interesting historically, but maybe the most interesting
historical reference comes from Jerry Jones Who's Dallas cowboys feel
(12:37):
wronged by Ezeki Elliott suspension for something that never went
to trial, he was never charged with. And the more
you investigate, you start to think, Hold on a second,
Hold on a minute. I don't like women being abused
any any less than anyone else does. I find it
disgusting and disgraceful that a man would put his hands
(13:00):
on a woman. On the other hand, when you hear
this woman's story and you start to hear some of
the holes in not just her story, but some of
the credibility of other stories to which she has put
out there. You read the text messages, the things that
she said to police officers, the changing your stories, you
start to scratch your head and go a how strong
is this case? Actually? History is important. Jerry Jones knows it.
(13:27):
Take a listen to what he said on a Dallas
radio station. I'm sure he'd like to take back his
initial ray Rice Dance and a few others. And he's
in the process of having tried to correct that and
in doing so, Zeke is a victim of an over correction.
Zeke is a victim of an overcorrection. It's very, very
important to understand a couple of things. Um, we don't
(13:54):
just have to remember the fact that ray Rice happened
during Roger Goodell's watch. It's also fair to point out
that Roger Goodell suspended ray Rice for two games, which
seems like a really light suspension when you see the video,
but he had not apparently seen the video, and that
at the time was the longest suspension anybody had ever
(14:16):
been given based upon a domestic violence case ever in
the history of the league. And it wasn't by anybody's
account enough, especially when the video came out. Then they
suspended it for uh. Then then he was on the
the Commissioner's exemple list and he was suspended for six games,
and there was a Greg Hearty thing. The point is
(14:39):
that this is, I think, by all accounts, in over correction.
I think that Tom Brady suspension was an over correction,
right that the league mad about the Patriots, feeling like
the Patriots had gotten away with stuff in the past,
feeling like the Patriots had to be up to something.
You over suspend. Knowing that, also in fairness is how
many of the suspensions that have been levied by the
nf FELL have been reduced, including Greg Hardy's suspension was
(15:03):
reduced in the courts. So, uh, look, I think history
is super important, incredibly important. I love learning about histories
of war, although some recently later yesterday, trying to change
how we view the history of the Civil War. Um,
(15:25):
but I think you have to take a breath and
and I do think that Jerry Jones, that was an
interview on one of five point three the fan. I
think that's a reasonable stance to take. Is that, Look,
Roger Goodell is paying still paying for Ray Rice and
for the Greg Hardy thing. And oh yeah, by the way,
I frankly think that Jerry Jones is paying for the
Greg Hardy thing. Like Jerry Jones got to me, who's
(15:49):
suspended for fifteen games on the commissioner's exemp list, then
he gets to be suspended for ten games that staled back,
I think the six games, and then they play him
like you know, now he's being punished for a player
that he signed and stood by but never rehabilitated himself
and is now out of the NFL. All of us
are paying penance for the past. Fox Sports Radio has
(16:11):
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. We have breaking news
in the NFL. Let's go to Dan, breaking news from
Fox Sports. Dan, what was my percented chance at a
big that a name player? You said, a name players
traded in the NFL? Was your guests, and we cashed
(16:36):
in ESPN saying that Calvin Benjamin has been traded by
the Carolina Panthers to the Buffalo Bills. The news was
first reported by ESPN. No word on what the Panthers
would get in return for the wide receiver who was
ben cam Newton's favorite target once Greg Olson went out?
Remember brand, Remember Brandon Bean is their general manager. Brandon
came from the Carolina Panthers. There's the elephant, there's the out,
(17:00):
the elephant room, the rabbi in the room, and of
course Sean McDermott, their head coach, is really their general
manager of president football operations, also came from Caroline. So
they are they are big fans of Calvin Benjamin, even
if the new general manager of the Carolina Panthers is not. Also,
the NFL network is reporting that the NFL Players Association
(17:20):
trying to take that next step to file an appeal
on the ruling that was made yesterday putting Zekiel Elliott
six games suspension back in. A ruling could be made
Mike tomorrow to find out if Zeke actually will have
to serve the six games suspension or if it will
remain on hold. But that going down within the last
twenty minutes. This is interesting though. On the on the
Kelvin Benjamin thing, I'm sure you have, Dan, I appreciate
(17:42):
appreciate you with that. With that update, uh, daniell join
us again here in about eight minutes, we'll get more
on it. Maybe by then we'll we'll learn exactly what
was given up for Calvin Benjamin. Of course, UM have
knee injury a couple of years ago, did come into
camp fairly heavy, and but they're they're playing without without
Greg Olsen as well. Those are the two favorite targets
(18:04):
before Christian McCaffrey came around for Cam Newton. But what
does this mean for Cam Newton or what does this
mean for the Panthers? Are they um, are they deciding
let's pack it in for the year, or is there
another move that they're gonna try and make. Fascinating What
a crazy trade that we never talk NFL trade deadline.
There's nothing. It's always the least the hot stove league
(18:27):
in baseball, and trade deadline and even post waiver trade
deadline in baseball always more interesting than anything else. Case
some point, justin Verlander pitching tonight for the Astros. Of course,
when the Dodgers got you Darwish before the trade deadline,
they had to make a decision Verlander or Darvish. They
chose Darvish and the Astros many people believed wouldn't have
(18:49):
gone after Verlander had they gotten Zack Britten before the
original trade deadline from the Orioles. The Orders decided to
not move their closer. We usually talk about that, we
don't talk about NFL stuff, and now we've see, uh,
that's the fourth true starter we've seen move. There's some
other cornerbacks and nickel guys have been moved forth, good
solid player Jgi moved, Dayne Brown moved, Jimmy Garoppolo, who
(19:11):
will be a starting quarterback with the forty Niners, and
now Kevin Bellett and Benjamin all traded. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays
at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app Let's get to uh.
Benjamin Watson was kind of to join the show. Of course,
if you know anything about Watson, you know as a
(19:32):
stand up guy who of course has played for the Pats,
the Browns, the Saints and now part of the Ravens.
And the Ravens just blasted the Dolphins so much so
the Dolphins got rid of J J. I. Benjamin Watson
joy just in the Doug Gotlip Show. How are you good? Man?
(19:52):
You didn't get traded, right, everybody else in the NFL
seems to be getting created. You're good. You're still a
Raven after four o'clock. Correct, Well, yeah, I guess so, man,
And everybody's checking their phone just to make sure you
might get that little cryptic text, you know, to bring
in your playbook, So I gotta be on your ps
and Ques. I don't remember, and like, look, dude, you
been the league a long time. I don't remember a
(20:13):
trade deadline like this, right, Like there's a guy or
two a year, a guy that's unhappy. But I mean,
we've had some big name players being trade of the
trade deadline? Do you remember this before? Well, you definitely
hit the nail on the hit. We talk about big names.
I mean every year, I feel like there are some
surprise trades that happened. That's just a nature of the business.
(20:33):
But um, it seemed like it was down to the wire.
Especially I heard you mentioned j j I and you know,
one of the great young backs in this league. I
didn't expect to see that coming. But you see how
teams are starting to try to position themselves for this
last half of the season. You know, at this time
of the season, right now, at these middle um four
games in the middle of the season is where a
team start to make a push for the playoffs and
(20:55):
where teams start to separate themselves. So if you've got
teams that are to have a knee and they think
that that need can be fulfilled and they can make
that push for another championship, they're gonna take that chance,
all right. So how would you how would you assess
your team? I mean, here we are halfway through the season,
four up, four down, some really uneven from really uneven performances, right,
(21:17):
Jags and Steelers bads recently Dolphins good. What's your assessment
of the current state of the Ravens. I don't think
you've been inconsistent. Um together, Uh, you know, as a
whole collectively, I would say that we you know, we're
a team that has has gone to London and got
blown out. Then we're a team that blows out Miami
(21:37):
last week. We're a team that goes on the road
and plays very well in Oakland, and then we come
home and we we've lost some tough home games, and so, uh,
this second half of the season has got to be
about being consistent. It's got to be about, especially offensively,
about doing the little things right and getting first downs
and staying on the field, not getting three an ounced,
executing in the passing game. Our run game has been
(21:58):
uh pretty well, one of the best in the league
of was running the football, but we have to get
more out of our passing game, um, and really help
our defense out. I think defensively we've definitely been more
consistent than we have offensively. But um, together, we have
to to be able to work together in order to
get wins day in, you know, Sunday in and Sunday out,
and we haven't done that. We've kind of been I
(22:18):
was joking with somehere early. You just don't know what
you're gonna get from us half the time because one
week we're one way, in another week we're another way. Well,
it comes all the way. It comes down to performance
and to execution. Um, it's as simple as that. And
we've got we preparal well. I felt that we prepared
well for most of all weeks. UM. We've obviously had
a lot of injuries, which every team has to deal with. UM,
(22:40):
but we have to be able to overcome those. We
can't allow those two to be setbacks for us. And UM,
you know, we gotta win at home. I think we
we maybe even as far as the road and home
goes and and that's that's that's not good. That's not
the making of a of a good team. And so
we know that right now we're at a place where, um,
everything is in front of us. I think a lot
of teams are saying that right now everything is in
(23:02):
front of them. Uh, it's really about what they do
this next Sunday in the in a few sundays after
that is what's gonna gonna make or break the season
for us, but also for a lot of other teams.
And you know what's interesting about you guys, is as
you start, you mentioned Woodhead coming back starting to get healthy.
Uh you know, uh, you know, you get the Flaco
situation where he appears to be healthy enough to to
(23:22):
probably go this weekend, but you have the bye week
up coming after this one, right, so it stands the
reason you guys could Finally, you guys, if you could,
you gotta go on the road to Tennessee. But if
you could get that win and use that week off
and get healthy, the best football maybe ahead of you. Well,
the bob is gonna come at a great time. I
think that's always the case. You know, every team, every
(23:42):
everybody is injured or struggling, He's like, please let me
get to the bottle. Uh. And so for us, I
think the bobble is definitely gonna come at a good time. Um.
Even so, even when we get much of our roster
back who may have been injured, it's still gonna come
down to simply X and os and going out there
on Sunday and perform at our best and making plays
and and having loan drive, sustaining drives the defense, continuity
(24:05):
to get turnovers, continuing to shut people down and shut
people out, putting in our offense in a good position.
Our special teams has come up big for us a
lot of times this year. For them to continue to
play well and even to get better, UM, I think
is important moving into this time of the year. And
so um, you know, whether whether we had the Bobby
or not, those things don't change. You know. There's obviously
been a lot of talk about the protests and most
(24:27):
recently about Bobink There. You're somebody who has given I
think really thoughtful commentary on on where you stand on everything. Um,
what what do you think of where we are in
terms of the league, the fans and the protests as
of you know, Halloween October thirty one, two thousand seventeen. Yeah, well,
(24:47):
I think when we look at our country, you know,
sometimes I like to look macro and then and then
come in you know micro. When we look at our country,
we're at a very uh fractured state. Um. We're at
the time where there is a lot of animosity between
different size there's a lot of name calling, there's, um,
just a lot of really intense emotions, um, all the
(25:07):
way around. I don't think, you know, I don't remember
a time, you know, in the last couple of years
where it's been like this. And then when you bring
that into the National Football League and you have UM,
God's taking kneed during the national anthem or whatever they're doing. UM,
protesting for social injustice, UH process, protesting for equality, those
sorts of things. Trying to bring a word is to
those things. And then you put that into the blender
(25:28):
that is America right now, you're gonna get a lot
of strong reactions from a lot of different people and
a lot of different sides. UM. And so when you
add in um, you know Mr Manairo's statements UM about
him may you know running a prison, and you filter
that through everything that's going on, of course you're going
to get a reaction because of what it sounds like
he is saying or what he is saying. UM. And
it's a time where you know, I think the biggest
(25:51):
thing for us to do is to be willing to
have conversations with each other, be willing to listen to
each other, be willing to to to sit down with
someone or come face to face with someone who you
think you really disagree with that you may continue to
disagree with them, but to hear why they're saying what
they're saying. On both sides, we can't we can't expect
to to put our ideals into someone else's protests. We
(26:13):
need to hear why they're protesting from them. We need
to hear that from them and be willing to listen.
And then on the other side, we need to hear
a why are these people offended by what I'm doing? Okay,
I can see why they may be offended, even though
they're taking it the wrong way. Um, there are some
things that have no place in our society. Calling people
at so OBEs has no place. Um, you know what
Mr Many said, When you look at it in light
(26:35):
of you know, the circumstances, of course it has no place.
But he did apologize. We have to be willing to say, Okay,
this guy said this, he said he was wrong for
he apologized from it. It points to a greater issue,
maybe a greater Um, what do you what do you think?
What do you think? What do you think problem? What
do you think the issue? I mean, because like, look,
I know you've heard that expression before. Obviously it's it
makes run the asylum, not the prisoner. Okay, so we've
(26:58):
heard it before, Like I didn't that didn't me mean
mean that he assumed black players were prisoners? There was
a jail. I didn't. I didn't think that, but I'm
also not black, and obviously Troy Vincent took it. And
that's why. And that's why, of course, and that's why
you have me on the show. And you don't understand
why you're not black. And I can say to you, Hey,
does look um you know? Black players feel like Number one,
(27:22):
he's talking about us because the people that are protesting
are black. You haven't seen white players, many white players,
if any, taking knee uh um the way black players have.
So he is talking about black players. And number two,
when you when you take a step back and understand um,
the prevailing UM, I guess atmosphere of what's going on
in the country. Of course, it sounds like an attack
(27:43):
on the black players. And when you look at how
black players a lot of times are told to sit down,
to shut up, just to perform. There's this idea that
comes all the way from slavery up until now, that
that that black folks should be quiet and and um
and just perform and only speak when spoken to. This
is idea that many black people feel that it's coming
from um, the larger society. Yeah, but what would it
(28:05):
would it be would it be fair to say that
that's also a common theme though in terms of people
that run a business and people work for any business,
right like like there's not even in like in my business,
Like if I was if I was in a meeting
with my boss, if I was constantly texting my bosses
or giving them ideas or telling them what I think
we should do with Fox Sports or Fox Sports Radio,
(28:27):
they would kind of like they would say, do your
own show, don't try and do everybody else's show that
you the inmates, don't run the asylum. The you know,
the dog, the tail can't wad the dog. Those type
of of expressions could be used. Couldn't that be said
for any employee, not just employees of the NFL. It
could be said for any employee. And I've actually had
someone say to me the tempt the tail can't wear
(28:48):
the dog. I won't tell you who said that. I win,
but my but my point is simply the context. Yeah,
And so the context is important when you say what
you say amongst different groups at different times, in different spheres,
certain things can be said that can't be said at
other times. And so while there's a large backlash against him,
(29:10):
I also think that that we should hear what he
has to say and allow him to speak on his
behalf and say why he said what he said, and
also say that, hey, I didn't mean to offend people.
That's what he said. I I can't say he didn't
mean to send people, but I'm hearing it from his mouth,
so I take him at his words. Do you do
you think that's why they treated Dwayne Brown because of well,
(29:34):
Dwayne Brown was pretty pretty look he was also he
had held out and there was thoughts they were gonna
move Dwyne Brown anyway, and this in Seattle did need
a left tackle. But Dwyanne Brown after the game on
Sunday was like, Hey, we're just playing for us. Dwyane
Brown was still bothered by the by by the comments,
and he was kind of he was more vocal about
it than others. Some of it because he's a VET.
He's been in the league for ten years and and
(29:56):
so he can he can be more outspoken because of it.
I'm just wondering, in the in the in the confines
of an NFL locker room, you sweet see Dwayne Brown
gets moved and everybody looks around says well, that's because
he held out, or is it that's because what he
said about Bob McNair. Well, one thing I've learned over
over my fourteen year career is that it is always
a combination of a lot of things, and sometimes it's not.
Sometimes it's immediately there's a there's a deal that came up,
(30:20):
and the GM says, wow, this deal comes up, we
just want to do this right now. It's gonna help
our football team, and boom they do it. And then
sometimes teams are looking for a deal. And so with
with with Dwayne, I don't know a specific situation. I
know he's been out for a number of weeks, and
so that right there and of himself lets itself to
the being a guy that may be traded that if
the time is right. Um, he's obviously a great football player.
(30:41):
And I don't know if that was maybe the last
strong maybe it wasn't. I don't know enough to know.
But what I do know is that, um, you know,
sometimes it's one thing, sometimes it's a it's a combination
of things and the team and a player. So you
know this this is the best move for me. Last thing, Uh,
go to Candy if you get one can do on Halloween.
What is it after all of that, we're gonna start
(31:05):
talking about candy. Yeah, man, we can't leave on this
note about social justice like that. They were better than that, right, Like,
we gotta we gotta, we gotta, we got we gotta,
we gotta self this thing up a little bit. I've
always been a I've always been a skittled guy. It's
always had since I was a little kid. I love
Skittles and sour patch kids. So if I can get
either one of those, you know, and make sure I
(31:26):
go to the dentist, you know, shortly thereafter, I'm good. Yeah,
I'm sour more than sweet as well, I will. You
know they have sour Skittles, You even had those? I do?
I love you know what? That would be the one
thing because that's the combination. I have had those, and
I do love those two. Hey man, Happy Halloween. Congrats
on the win, and you guys kind of got a
little mini bye week after the Thursday game. One more game,
you got another bye week, which was everybody needs in
(31:48):
the league, but especially your crew with how many injuries
you guys sustaining, could use it. Best of luck in
Tennessee and thanks for joining us, Thanks sir anytime. All right.
That's Benjamin Watson. Always gives a thoughtful commentary on what's
going on in the league. 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. Could be the last baseball
(32:10):
game until April on Fox TV tonight, and part of
that incredible crew is Tom Verducci, who I would I
would encourage you two will tweet it out. He tweets
it out. You can go to Sports Illustrated read it
as well. Tom Verducci joins us on the Doug Gotlip
Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Um. The headline is
the Astros and Dodgers forever change baseball with an unforgettable
(32:33):
World Series. But Tom, I've heard you talk about this
on Dan Patt on The Dan Patrick Show. How much
of this is to be believed? Because the ball all
year has been flying out at a record rate and
it just doesn't feel like this is on the up
and up. Yeah, you know, if you listen to MLB,
they'll tell you that they these balls all the time
and that there's no difference in the baseballs. But all
(32:54):
you have to do is talk to pictures, and I
know that you can accuse them of being biased, but
watch your own eyes and see the way ball are
harnging out of the ballpark. It really began in the
second half of the season, and if you remember it,
I know, it seems like forever ago. We were really
in the pits as far as offensive production. I mean,
we were going back to was that bad? And then
it turned on a dime and we become really a
(33:14):
home run, strikeout kind of game. And that game we
saw it in in Houston, Game five, I mean, that
was one of the most thrilling, exciting games I've ever seen.
But it also spoke to what baseball is now right
where you're almost defending the whole runth just trying to
keep the ball out of the air because if it
goes in the air has a pretty good chance it's
gonna go out. It's unbelievable. Um, how much how much
(33:36):
blame should Dave Roberts get Maybe not for any one move,
but the moves especially early, you know, go and get
rich here early, or maybe, like I point out, I
didn't love using Kelly Jansen. I know it's only a
two run leading Game one, just knowing it's a marathon,
not a sprint. How much blame should he get for
the fact that the bullpen is taxed. Yeah, some blame
(33:58):
for sure. Um, listen to the Dodgers. This is what
they've done. They they got their picture, the starting picture
out of the game five innings are less seventies six
times this year. I mean no team in won the
World Series doing that more than sixty times. So this
is our m O. It's based on analytics that tell
you when the lineup turns over a third time, you
(34:18):
better off having a fresh arm in the game then
you are you're starting pitcher. It was fatiguing at that point. Well,
it's a little bit different as you're seeing here, especially
in the World Series. The middle three games the only
time you're gonna play three straight days in a row
in the World Series. And you saw how Brandon Marrow,
especially with gas at that point. You know, I thought
the worst decision they made Dave Robert Smith was when
(34:40):
he met Roberts roberts Bruck Marrow into a game down
five to three the other day, I think it was
game two. Um, three, you know, that's a winning piece
for you. That's a guy you need in a tie
game or when you have a lead late. It's not
a guy you want to burn, especially because he's pitched
so much when you're down to now I know it's
the I thought was, let's hold the game and maybe
(35:01):
we'll come back. But to me, he paid the price
for that in Game five when Marrow went out there
in a one run game with a one run lead
and absolutely nothing. Six pitches later they were down three.
I've never seen let's turn around like that in the
World Series. Six pitches, four runs, all right? So I
used that though, And look the Dodgers, you're going against Verlander.
(35:23):
He's been unbelievable in elimination games. Um, and you know
they got rich Hill out there, who they've always pulled
rich Hill early. That's that's that's as you said, that's
not just the Dodgers m O in terms of all
of their pictures, especially with rich Hill. But is it
possible this is kind of a must win game for Houston.
The Dodgers bullpen hasn't been good because it's taxed and
(35:44):
they've gotten to Kenny Jansen, but the Astros bullpen has
been equally putrid, and they don't have it they don't.
Giles is suddenly out right, he's persona on grata, and
they have I don't know they canna use the colors.
They don't even know what they do in Game seven
kind of feels like an all Incinda, are you for
boat teams? Well, you just cut on what I think.
It's a quiet narrative in this game, and that is
(36:05):
there's tremendous pressure on the Astros. The Dodgers are the
team facing elimination. The Astros want to do everything that
they can to avoid a Game seven because of the
Bolt situation. But to me, the flash point of this game,
because now remember we're back to National League rules, or
Lander's in the lineup hitting, there's no d H the
third time around, when the pitcher spot comes up is
(36:25):
always the flash point in the National League game. If
you are tied or trailing, you have to take your
starting pitcher out of the game. Where does the j
hitch go at that point? If he's got a lead
Verlanders throwing, well, it's kind of easy. He can continue
to ride his horse. I mean, justin we sink and
go over pitches. But tie game or with runners on base,
especially scoring position, does he pull him and then where
(36:48):
does he go if he's got a leader the game ties.
I'm telling you right now he's going to give the
ball the lamps of colors. I'm worried about game seven
when we get to a game seven, So for me,
flash point of this game, because I do think it
will be close. Justin Verlander third time off? What does
a J. Hinch do? What about what about Dave Roberts? Uh,
there's been some talk of Alex Wood. I know you
(37:08):
Darvish is supposed to start seven, but wouldn't it be
smart to go to you Darvish? Uh? You know, in
the fourth or in the fifth inning? Who do you
think the first arm he goes to? Considering how tax
the traditional bullpens arms are, Well, it's not Darvish. I
ad Dave Roberts about that. Starvish is not pitching this game.
He's out in this game. So now becomes and you
(37:29):
mentioned this with rich Hill. He averages facing twenty two
batters a game over the whole season, and the postseason
is eighteen, so they're not trusting him. Third time around,
you get all the right handers five in a row
at the top of the layup, where do you go
at that point third time around, you know, isn't my
ada now? It depends on how my ada feels tonight
because he's been used a lot in this postseason. Again,
(37:50):
we get back to using your bullpen for the series goes,
the more the fatigue factors in. Alex Wood has left handed,
But I'll tell you what, I love the way his
stuff matched up against the Estro the other day. He
really keeps the ball down to change up. Was fantastic.
Wouldn't surprise me if that's where he goes u So
to me, that's the flash point for Dave Roberts when
the use of MindUP curtains over that third time. Does
(38:11):
he do something that he never does and that means
trusting Rich Hills deeper into a game? Or does he
go to my Eta or does he go to Wood?
Those are the three options. Dodger Stadium traditionally has not
been a home run hitters park um but it was
a home run hitters park obviously in Game two. It
was also hot hot? Does all get out a Game one?
In Game two? Going to be more traditional fall Southern
(38:33):
California weather sixties, bit moist, bit overcast, chance of a
little bit of drizzle, um stands to reason that this
could be a little bit more of a pictures dual. Yeah,
I think so. I mean, definitely the weather factory in
the game to their um. As hot as it was,
the ball was absolutely flying. You know, Justin Turner told
me it brought me something years ago. Here at Dodger Stadium.
(38:56):
You can tell how the ball is going to carry
by the rails in front of the dugout. When they're wet,
the fall mean moist, the ball doesn't fly so as
when it's dry it's flies, And I expect we will
have moister in the air tonight. The ball will not
carry anywhere near at this first couple of games in
the series. Last thing, if the Astros win this thing,
(39:19):
it's also gonna be a win for tanking, right. I mean,
they gutted their roster and they absolutely tanked in two
thousand thirteen. Granted the number one overall picks in thirteen
and fourteen haven't haven't played out as such, but you
know they got about four or five of their best
players in the draft between two thousand and eleven and now,
um so, is there is there another Houston Astros on
(39:41):
the way? I mean, the Nationals have always had a
bunch of talent and you yet to get there. But
is there Tom, you know this league really well, is
there another kind of butting a franchise that has this
type of talent that has gutted it in the past
four or five years that is using the Houston Astros
boop boop booprint as their plan. Well, first of all,
I really hate the word thanking. These teams are trying
(40:03):
to win, but to trying to win smart. In other words,
the biggest thing that's driving baseball now is where an
organization is on the winning curve. If you have a
team that the mediocre team, there's no sense in pouring
money is to try to win a five games. You
either are going for it and I'm talking about winning
the World Series, or you are rebuilding. There's nobody in
the middle of the road. Now, that's why now you
saw this year we had three teams win more than
(40:25):
a hundred games, because you do have a lot of
teams in the rebuilding. And when you rebuild, you have
to make it a full rebuild. It can't be something
done halfway. Now, I would tell you we have I
think seven to nine teams in baseball that are in
the rebuilding stage. You know, I would look at the
White Sox as a team that um through trades more
than draft so far, trying to copy what the Astros
(40:48):
have done in terms of trying to get a good
base of young players and have them all hit at
the same time. It's not easily done, but at least
they have a plan that I think will pay off
in three to five years, rather than a team like
Seattle spout a decade just patching the major league roster
and all they keep getting is six wins and they
take at home after the season end. You know, at
(41:10):
some point you have to break it down to build
it back up again. Agree, And that's what Uh, That's
one of the things that Houston was able to do,
not not to plan the Dodgers. They threw a bunch
of money at it, but they also rebuilt their their
bullpen at the time. But that's because they were so
flush with cash. Tom, You've done a great job so far.
This article is fantastic. We'll tweet it out, enjoy the
World Series. I think we all hope there's at least
(41:30):
one more game because this series deserves a seven game.
But we'll see it's very lander and he's been great
in these situations. Thanks so much for joining us, Thanks
for having me, all right, that's the great Tom Verducci
joining us.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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