There's An Identity Crisis In Dallas

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports, stop doing and sitting in
for dog. Here's Dan buyer in five year NFL veteran
Bucky Brooks, A very Merry Mary Christmas to you and yours.
On this Christmas Day, we are getting set for some
Coop says it's an NBA Finals rematch. Cavaliers had Warriors

(00:22):
to be off in about ten minutes. But let's be honest,
this is all about the National Football League and for
the next three hours. Week sixteen again does not disappoint
and Bucky, as we sit here and look at how
this regular season is going to wrap up now with
two games later on today and then a full week seventeen,
to me, it's more interesting now to talk about the
teams that are on the outside looking in, eliminated from

(00:45):
the playoffs and the ones who actually may have a chance,
because there are certain scenarios for certain teams. But I
thought going into yesterday, Falcon Saints was going to be
the story. I thought that was the best game. We
were going to see how the Saints were going to respond.
And then lo and behold, the Dallas Cowboys went again.
They bring us that Christmas present. Officially eliminated from the

(01:05):
postseason in a nine point loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
And it wasn't even that close because it seems like
the Cowboys should have won the game by about nine
or ten. Seattle had more penalty yards than total yards.
But an absolute mess in Dallas, and you're not in
the holiday spirit. I mean all of this, all the
right up the gate you come in and putting cold
in people's talking. And so with the Dallas Cowboys, obviously

(01:28):
it's a disappointing day there. Christmas wasn't at what it
should have been or could have been, because they laid
an egg on a national stage. This was a huge
game for them to get Zekie Elliott coming back. They
had an opportunity really to control the game, and they
let us slip through their fingers. And it's the story
of the Dallas Cowboys this year. This is a team
that was expected to maybe make another run. People were

(01:49):
excited about the progress that dek Prescott and May. We
wanted to see what the leading Russia was going to
do in his encore and Ezekia Elliott. Obviously we knew
the suspension was hanging over here, but we thought this
team was going to take a step forward, and they didn't,
and now you left to wonder how did they rebuild
this what's the next step for the Dallas Cowboys. Is

(02:09):
this team good enough as they're currently constructed to make
a run or do they need to rebuild and retool
something that maybe we didn't think what happened this year
When we heard of the six games suspension leading up
to the season, we knew that it was gonna be difficult,
even though Dallas came off of a thirteen and three
year last year where they were the top seed in
the NFC. What do you think about losing your leading

(02:31):
rusher for six games? You knew what was going to
be difficult, and you're just trying to figure out a
way to navigate that six games suspension. And I'm talking
as we were sitting here in August when that suspension happened.
You're trying to figure out, Okay, if we can win
one or two games during that suspension, can we get
to tenant six, can we make a make a push
for a wild card or even the division? On how

(02:52):
it's gonna plow out answering yesterday, they had a chance
to go Tenant six, and they had a chance with
the suspension. Now in their rear few mirrors, so they
navigated everything to the best of their abilities. Now they
couldn't necessarily take what the the Panthers were doing or
what the Falcons were doing, because they obviously held their
own destiny because they were ahead of the Cowboys. But

(03:12):
yesterday was a winner, go home game to at least
survive to Week seventeen, and when it matters the most,
the Dallas Cowboys seemed to go away from what got
them there in the first place. Absolutely, I think this
has been the biggest problem with the Dallas Cowboys the
entire season. I felt like they were a team that
had an identity crisis UH coming in and a lot
of times because so much of the conversation on our

(03:34):
side in the media award is always about the quarterback
that I think sometimes coaches get caught up in trying
to elevate the performance in the play of the quarterback
to justify a quarterback being a franchise guy or not.
And I understand it. Coming into the year, Dak Prescott
was coming out of outstanding Ricky season. He had eleven games,
maybe twelve games where he had a passer rating over
one hundred. His touchdown, the interception ratio was outstanding to four,

(03:58):
and so we felt like maybe the Dallas cow Works
have found a guy that could kind of be the
next guy after Tony Romo. And I think somewhere in
the off season they lost the fact that number twenty
one is the driving force of their offense. Ezekiel Elliott
the running game, that is the engine that makes the
car go, and for whatever reason, they didn't trust and

(04:18):
lean on the running game when they really needed it.
And I think yesterday Sunday's game was kind of like
the perfect example of a team not leaning on the
running game. We saw a team that had the ball
inside the five yard line, first in goal, the leading
Russia comes back. Everybody talked about Ezekiel Elliott coming back
and how that was going to get the Cowboys back.

(04:39):
They didn't give him the ball at all. And so
for me, it's not only an indictment of like a
team going to ride, but I think it's indictment on
the coaching staff that doesn't understand in critical games as players,
not plays. Ezekiel Elliott should have been the guy that
they wrote hard in that game because he's the best
player on that offense six minutes to go there down nine.
You mentioned they get the first and goal at the

(05:00):
three yard line. It's a Dak Prescott run, and then
it's a holding penalty, and then there's a sack and
the next thing you know, they're out of field goal range,
and then they missed that field goal and still sit
down nine. Jason Garrett, the Cowboys head coach, on why
they didn't run it when they had it at first
and goal. The first down play was one of those
uh you know, uh run pass options that we had.
They loaded up the box, and uh you know, the

(05:22):
second down play was a play that we liked, and uh,
you know, obviously Seeks a great player played very well today,
been very good for us, but those kinds of players
have been good for us as well all year long.
There was Jason Garrett after the game. You think he's
trying to give Dak Prescott that that opportunity to to
prove his worth because I think there are serious questions
now and and and I'm not saying that the Cowboys

(05:45):
need to find a future quarterback, but we have now
a two year sample on Dak Prescott and we're not
really necessarily sure what he gives us. Is that Jason
Garrett just trying to give that opportunity for Dak Prescott
to to show his worth by throwing it on second down.
And uh, you know, I think there's some validity validity
to his point when he talked about Dak Presscott had

(06:06):
been very effective on those run pass option plays, uh,
inside the five all year long. When you look at
the Cowboys throughout the season, I can't tell you the
amount of times they've scored on quarterback draws or things where, um,
you had a run in the past and an option
for the quarterback to make a decision based on how
the defense reacted. I completely understand that. And yeah, we
can talk about Dak Prescott regressing in the second year.

(06:28):
I think some of that is to be expected because
things were so easy as rookie season that there was
going to be a correction as they had more tape
on him. I think the bigger thing is in these
winner go home games, this was a playoff game. In
the playoffs, your best players have to be the ones
that ultimately decide the game. And so he can talk about, like, hey,
I like Dak Prescott, I like to play that was

(06:49):
called on second down. But at the end of the day,
Ezekiel Elliott has to be involved in that gold to
gold situation. And I know we're fascinated by passing the
ball inside the five, but it's a tighter space. At
some point, when you supposedly have the best offensive line
in football, you have to lean on your big guys
to move bodies off the line of scrimmage and allow
Zekiel Elliott to find his way into the goal line.

(07:10):
That's what the great teams do. You know what's coming,
but you still can't stop it. I thought that the
Dallas Cowboys, particularly in the run game, where a team
that could have that arrogance whether they say we're running
the ball and we know that you can't stop it.
This isn't anything new, And I want to hear from
Ezekiel Elliott in a second, but this isn't Bucky. This
isn't just this situation. When Ezekiel Elliott missed his first
game against the line of Falcons, Dallas abandoned the past

(07:33):
early on in the game where they didn't have Tyron Smith,
and when Albert Morris and Rod Smith were expected to
pick up the load, they weren't actually ever really given
the opportunity early on. It took about to the third
game of the suspension, I think where they actually committed
to the run. So this isn't anything new. And now
if you take a look at that and you step
back and you say, oh, this is more of a

(07:54):
Jason Garrett problem. Yeah, Jason Garrett, Scot nahand the offensive
coordinated because Jason Garrett doesn't call the plays anymore. But
with Scott Lenahan. You have to understand the identity of
this team has always been about that offensive line, the
running game, and everyone kind of being a compliment to that.
When you don't have your left tackle Tyrant Smith and
he's been battling injuries the entire year, you thought that

(08:14):
you would be able to hang your hat on the
running game, moving people off the ball, leaning on those
I mean a little. We talked about a team that
had maybe four first round picks former first round picks
on that offensive line, and another guy that was rated
as a first round pick in Lea all Collins. They
should have been able to line up run the ball
three straight times at the Seattle Cehaks. A team that

(08:34):
have been getting gutted by running games the last three
or four weeks This should have been a game plan
that was heavy on the run game thirty thirty five
rushing attempts, because that was going to make life easier
not only for the quarterback, but for Dare's Brian, for
Jason Witten, for some of the other weapons on the outside.
You have to set them up by running the ball

(08:55):
early and off. It's here from Zeke about not getting
the ball late in that game. The press just the
way that we lost. But we came out. We came
out in the first half. We just in Arizona and
we sew from that player in the game. You know,
you know, it's hard to win in this league when
you have three turnovers and you know they have not.

(09:16):
So I mean, we just got a exq better. I mean,
I mean, the the the yardage total was Dallas Seahawks
penalties and then the Seahawks. That's how and out in
yesterday's game. But he's right about the field goals. They
had to kick four of him and missed two crucial
ones at the end that could have made at least
how the end of the game ended up playing out.

(09:36):
Zeke did have twenty four carries yesterday for nineties seven yards,
but for some reason again abandoned at the end of
the game. And Bucky, as we sit here and we're
watching our living room and we've seen the Dallas Cowboys.
We see Fox put up the graphic the des Brian
hasn't had a hundred yard game in over twenty two contests.
And and so now you think of like, Okay, well,
who's picked up the slack for him? On the outside, Well,

(09:57):
you're seeing a lot of Noah Brown. Now you're seeing
a little cold Easily and Terrence Williams and an old
Jason Witten. But everything around the Cowboys isn't getting better.
And that's what's that. So to your point is, to
me is even more magnified about the lack of use
by Ezekiel Elliott because it's not like, you know what,
we need to feed these guys the ball. It's the
gap between Ezekiel Elliott and Dez Bryant and then Dez

(10:20):
Bryant and everybody else on that team I think are
pretty big. So it just doesn't as I'm sitting at home,
or if I'm a Cowboys fans, just it doesn't make
sense to me, and why Ezekiel Elliott isn't giving the
ball they're getting the ball, considering what Dez has and
hasn't done when he's gotten it, and what the surrounding
cast is by far and away, Zeke is the best
player on that team, and why he doesn't get the ball,
I have no idea. I think that has been the

(10:42):
biggest thing because last year, at the end of the year,
we seriously had this debate who is the more important
piece of the offense a puzzle for the Dallas Cowboys
is Ezekiel Elliot or Dak Prescott? And I think this
year we saw that look is z Ezekiel Elliott. He
is the thing that makes that offense go. He is
probably the leader of the village that allows Deck Prescott
to have success. Without Ezekiel Elliott. The rest of the

(11:06):
guys aren't dominant players. UM and scouting terms, we talk
about your team has to have blue players, guys that
are blue chippers to win in championship, teams have eight
to ten of those. When I'm looking at this team,
none of their perimeter guys are blue chip players. Des
Bryant is no longer an elite wide receiver. You go
twenty two games without a hundred yards that's not elite
that the standards hired that position. Jason Witten is a

(11:28):
Hall of Fame player, but he's older. The rest of
the guys are just guys, and so if this offense
is to be effective, it's because Ezekiel Elliott sets the tone,
allows them to dictate the terms. The defense has to
drop as safety in the box, and then the other
guys are able to win one on one. But this
year we saw they can't even win one on one matchup.
So if I'm the Dallas Cowboys and I'm looking at

(11:49):
our team and I'm trying to figure out, how can
we get take the next step, It's not only drafting
wide receivers. They may need to find a veterans receiver
that can come in and be a number one receiver
because Davis Bryan can't be that guy anymore. It's amazing
for me to look at and when we saw how
Jerry Jones fought through the Ezekiel Elliott's suspension, there were
a lot of reasons on why you thought he was

(12:10):
fighting so hard, and he's alluded to it in radio interviews.
His window of winning Super Bowls is not as long
as it is. Plus his window of paying Ezekiel Elliott,
what he's paying him, not as long as what so
you want that you want that success now and when
you know where your golden ticket is in Ezekiel Elliott,
you feel like you've got to take advantage of every opportunity.

(12:32):
With all that being said, that then makes me question,
as Black Monday is a week from today in the
National Football League, is Jason Garrett going to be served
as walking papers because now that window is getting shorter, Bucky.
And when we talk about coaches here, there are and everywhere,
our conversation for the last fourteen minutes centered back to
the coaching staff. Yeah, it goes back to the coaching staff.

(12:54):
And I don't think Jason Garrett is going to be
a guy that is let go on Black Monday. I
think because of his loyalty, he has a love affair
with Jason Garrett. He made Jason Garrett the coaching waiting
when Wade Phillis was there. He paid him more than
anybody had been paid as an offensive coordinator, let him
as send to the head coaching role. He's let him
work through his growing pains before he finally built a
playoff team. And then we saw a team that was

(13:15):
able to win the division, and we saw signs of
a team that appeared to be trending in the right direction.
So I don't think he will get rid of his
head coach. I think he still believes that Jason Garrett
is the right guy for the job. And then when
I hear them talk about contemplating moves, I've heard them
talk about all the defensive coordinate. I think Rod mary
Nelly has done an excellent job with what he's been
given on defense. The pass rush has gotten better. They

(13:37):
develop a young defensive line that looks like they're trending
in the right direction. To have a bunch of young
dbs that are playing hard in a system that is
pretty simplistic, but it requires some nuance for those guys
to be able to really be effective, and we saw
them make strides. I think, if anything, it's about really
emphasizing the emphasis of what they should be on offense.

(13:58):
They need to be a team that place keep away,
meaning run the football, grinded out, control the clock, limited
exposure for the defense, while also setting for the passing
game to operate all play acts. He's Bucky Brooks, I'm
Dan Buyer. We're in for Doug Gottlieb on the Doug
Gottlieb Show on this very Merry Christmas here on Fox
Sports Radio. You can always reach us on social media.

(14:20):
You can get Bucky at Bucky Brooks on Twitter. I
am at Dan Buyer on Fox at the phone number
eight seven seven nine nine on Fox at eight seven
seven six three six nine. If you think the Dallas
Cowboys had a bad Week sixteen, there is one guy
who had it absolutely worse. We tell you who that
is next year on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio,
it is the Doug Gottlieb Show. A very Merry Christmas,

(14:43):
spending it with Bucky Brooks and Nate Dogg and Dazz
and uh everybody else. Merry Christmas to Bobo and Eric
Roberts and David Gaskin are joining us today. Um. Not
a merry Christmas for Bills fans right now because it
is happening to them again, Bucky just and they think
that maybe maybe things are on their side. Gonna go

(15:03):
into the locker room with a nice lead on the
New England Patriots in week sixteen. Oh how things change.
When Calvin Benjamin thought he had a touchdown, apparently that
wasn't the case. If it takes that long talking it,
you've got to confirm it. There's not enough evidence over
the rolling on the field has been changed as they

(15:23):
can break half corked down and go at the four
half yard line. Okay, that was the overturning on the
Bill's Radio network of the Calvin Benjamin, I guess non
touchdown in the corner of the end zone near the
end of the first half of yesterday's game against the
New England Patriots and Bucky. What this does is this
now adds another chapter to the long running book of

(15:45):
what is a catch and what isn't a catch? And
yesterday's non catches we can now call it by Calvin
Benjamin has people even more confused because we are now
taking what happens with instant replay in trying to apply it.
I don't even know if instant replay rules were properly
applied when trying to figure out if this was a
catch or isn't a catch. But the confusion rains true

(16:10):
in this holiday season, and it came up yesterday in
New England thoroughly confused by what is a catching was
not a catching to day's game. I don't know how
you can figured out. I don't know how to make
it simpler. I know they talked about maintaining possession through
the ground, you have to have two feet in everything.
But I think what they've done is they really muddied
up the process. UM. I felt like that was pretty

(16:32):
clear that he called the ball, he got his feet in,
he maintained possession through the catch, Like, based on everything
that we've heard, um, that should have been a catch.
But even beyond that, what we've heard about the rules
when it comes to replay, for it to be overturned,
it had to be clear and apparent. It had be
obvious without a doubt, um, almost applying a criminal standard

(16:53):
to what it is, UM beyond a reasonable doubt. And
that wasn't the case. Like there was no way that
you could say, ah, you know clearly believe that that
was not a catch. I think it was disputable, and
if it's disputable, it should have stuck with the call
on the field. I think what the NFL has done

(17:14):
is they've undermine it. The on field officials that I
don't think they even know what's to call because they're
always fearful of what New York is going to do.
When they look at it on replay. There's opportunities in
basketball games where there could be a foul called, but
we used the term no advantage gained, so so you're
not gonna call yeah, just play bomb playing. Nothing was

(17:35):
really gained from it. And yesterday adds to the what
is it catch? In what isn't a catch? But you're
right what it is really done. It is muddied the
waters of what instant replay does. And if it wasn't
muddied enough with what happened with Austin Seferie and Jenkins
earlier this season in a game against the New England Patriots,
this adds to it because because what ended up happening

(17:58):
and what is the biggest travesty in of this? How
many times do we hear a referee say we He'll
say one of three things. I'll put it that way.
He'll say, the call in the field has changed, the
call in the field stands, or the call on the
field has been confirmed. And usually when there's evidence that
could go either way, we hear call on the field stands.

(18:18):
That's what we had yesterday in that catch. I don't
know how you can say even in the eighties second
video that Al River on the NFL VP of Officiating
who made the call, pointed out the reason that he
made the catch. There is no guarantee that a last
foot or in this case it was his back foot
was or wasn't on the ground at the time. And

(18:39):
this is what drives us all crazy at home. It's
not even a matter of what looks like a catcher,
what isn't a catch? Now you're just trying to guess
what one guy in an office in New York thinks.
And that's a big problem because now it's his opinion
setting against anything else that any of the other seven
officials have done on the field or anywhere else. It's
a It's an absolute mass in the NFL has made

(18:59):
at that us a mess, and I'm worried about it
affecting a big game in the playoffs. We've seen it
time after time, back to back weeks. We've seen a
critical call benefit the New England Pages. And I know
that there are some who believe that, man, they get
all the breaks, And sometimes I will say good teams
always get the breaks because they end up being a
better team. But you mentioned we talked three calls have

(19:21):
benefited the New England Pages Austin Saverian Jenkins, New York Jets. Uh.
The call last week for the Pittsburgh still is the
Cats no no catch with Jesse James, and then this
week Calvin Benjamin. I mean, at some point we would
like to see the officials get it right because it
does appear to be an issue that has continued to
grow and it could be a big problem going into

(19:42):
the post seas. Yeah. And here's the difference that I
see between the Jesse James catching non catching Pittsburgh to
what we had with Calvin Benjamin yesterday. It was the
difference to me is if Jesse James holds onto the
ball or the ball doesn't move, then we could say, okay,
he caught the ball. It ended up moving at the
end where then it touches the ground and then we say, okay,

(20:05):
it's incomplete. Here was the situation where there wasn't sufficient
evidence that anything moved, and they tried to place arrows
on this video and you could see it on an
NFL officiating website where it was never at the case.
We could we talk about bang bang plays and is
it simultaneous? That's what you had here and the whole,

(20:26):
the whole phrase of inconclusive or conclusive evidence to overturn
conclusive evidence was not present. And now when you're taking
that out of the way in your nitpicking, nobody wants that.
But that's what the NFL has got today. Yeah, that's
what they've done. They made a situation where not only
our calls called in real time, but now we're breaking

(20:47):
them down by pixel uh. Slow motion replay has changed
the way that we look at If you play it
in fast motion, I don't think you have the ability
to say, oh, that's not a kid, But when you
break it down frame by frame, yeah, it brings some
hesitation into anybody's mind. But I still believe that it
has to be clear and apparent that the call was

(21:08):
a mistakenly called on the field an egregious era before
you overturn it. If not, I think you have to
trust the guys that are on the field that see it,
because otherwise what's the point of having officials buck eas
point is is strong because listen to what Dean Blendino
of the NFL on Fox said yesterday about what we've
got so far now with instantly replaying the NFL after

(21:29):
review the call in the field was overturned. Again, we're
being overly technical. When you look at the angles that
were available, there's nothing clear and obvious to overturn the
call on the field. In our estimation here the call
in the field was a touchdown. There was nothing clear
and obvious. The call in the field should have stood
if this was reviewed with a sideline video where you

(21:50):
went under the tent like they used to. I don't
know if you can overturn that, but if you've got
high definition televisions in a New York office where you
can zoom in and and however they do it, then
you can do it. And to your point that his
deem Blandino says, their things are just getting much too technical.
Technology is actually ruining the NFL. It's ruining there's no

(22:11):
flow to the game, too many stoppages, just um, you
don't know what a call is. You won't replay to
be in on everything. And I think they have to
account for the human element. There's some human error in
every game. That's just kind of a part of the deal.
But if you're going to bring replay in, you just
want to make sure that people are using it their
correct way. And right now, I don't think the NFL
has meant not the calls, the judgments, the decisions the

(22:34):
right way. Do coaches like it? Do you get the
sense that they like this process. I think they get
frustrated by it because I think too often what we've
grown up thinking are certain things. We're beginning to see
that that's not the case anymore. We just think, oh,
if you get two feet in you kind of hold
onto the ball throughout a reasonable amount of time, that's
that should be a completion. We're not seeing that. There

(22:56):
was another call in the Jacksonville Jaguars game where t
J Yelden I think, catches a ball over the middle.
He catches it, takes a couple of steps, balls knocked out. Uh,
looks like it should have been a fumble. It is
overturned and ruined incompletion. So right now, I think there's
so much subjectivity in these calls. I don't think anyone
knows what's going on, players, coaches included. I think everything

(23:18):
should be just like you pick up basketball game and
it just let it go as we said, no, just yeah,
play it and play through it. Calvin Benjamin made a
heck of a catch. It was close enough should have
been a touchdown yesterday. This is the Doug got Leaps
Show on Fox Sports Radio on this very merry Christmas.
He is Bucky Brooks at the NFL Network and NFL veteran.
I am Dan Buyer. We are sitting in for Doug

(23:38):
today on this Christmas Day. The National Football League's most
valuable player maybe a runaway. Okay, that's a bit of
a pun, Bucky. Okay. Our most valuable player is David Gascon,
who's our anchor anchoring things down on this Christmas day,
on a busy day, Dave of a couple of NFL
games and of course our quin Tuble header of NBA action.

(23:59):
We're an game number two right now, Golden State in Cleveland,
going at it. Lebron's guard to five Durant five is
on the shot block leron down the lane. We have first.
How about Tomahawk too handed down Durant got picked off
hard from behind and clear the lane for Lebron to
give the Cavaliers a tent five League the advantage right
now in the Cavalier's radio networkers at four nineteen fifteen Cleveland,

(24:20):
there's a lot of whining in this ball game. To Kevin,
Durant has picked up a T and so Draymond Green.
So far there's about three forty five to play in
the first quarter. Meanwhile, earlier today at Madison Square Garden,
three seconds on the shot clock. Here, here's the Beat
catching shooting shot here for three that's gone. Could be
the game winner Christmas Day. So well, that beat knocking

(24:40):
down at three Sixers up by eight one on one
ninety three, and the process continues on the seventies Sixers
radio network and Beat had twenty five and sixteen J. J.
Reddick had twenty four. Both those players were listening as
questionable for today's game, and then look good. One oh
five ninety eight was the final Philadelphia snap through five
game losing streak went on. Today, you'll get the Wizards
in the Celtics from Boston Rockets and Thunder from O

(25:03):
k C. And the Lakers will host the Minnesota Timberwolves
without Lonzo Ball, he's got a sprained shoulder. Quickly moving
on to the National Football League, Jaguars left tackle Cam Robinson,
who has an abdominal strain, is expected to be ready
for the playoffs, but teammate and wide receiver Jalen Strong
done for the year. He kind of touched on pass
yesterday but towards a cl and then posted it on

(25:23):
Instagram that he was out and towards a CLS actually
tweet out he didn't go. He didn't go. Like I
don't know, was that it was Arian Foster that had
an m r I result and posted it online. Now
I didn't do that, so but yeah, he is out.
Giants and head coach Steve Spagnolo said, Eli Manuel start
Weeks seventeen Landon Collins broken form. He's done for the season.

(25:45):
De Marco Murray, who got injured yesterday, is unlikely to
play a week seventeen. That's tough luck for any Derrick
Henry fans out there that had him on his fantasy
roster this season. He's not gonna play against the Jaguars.
And then the big news with the NFL, they're not
gonna flex out any games Week's seventeen because of playoff
implications in both conferences. Yeah, it's also good as well.
It's a New Year's night and if you don't have

(26:06):
as intriguing give a matchup could affect ratings. But I
love how Dave looked out for the fantasy owners when
the Titans are still in the thick of things. So
like that could actually help the Titans if DeMarco Murray
was healthy for a playoff push. But I like where
your mind's thinking. Look out for the fantasy players. First,
thanks Dave, Mary, Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to Bobo
and Eric Roberts. Also manning the ship here on this

(26:28):
Christmas Day, he is Bucky Brooks. Do you prefer NFL
veteran or NFL networks? Bucky Brooks, Oh, I guess we
have to do NFL network. I would think that veteran veteran. Yeah,
it all works, It's all applicable. I'm Dan Buyer. I'm
I'm a veteran of nothing. I'm a veteran all nine

(26:50):
high school football season. How about that? That's all we've got.
Now we were in two games out of the nine,
But it happens. I worried for Doug Gotlip on the
Doug Gottlieb Show here on this Christmas Day. M v
P your top three right? If you had to put
a top three of most valuable players for the NFL,
how would you rank it? As we go into the
final week. This is tough because now I'm changing and

(27:13):
rearranging and re stacking the order. I think it has
to be in the three. It has to be tied Gurley,
Tom Brady, and I'm going to throw out there Russell
Wilson just because of the amount of stuff that is
on his plate. And of the two at the top,
Tom Brady and Todd Gurley, I believe right now you
gotta give it to Tid Gurley. Todd Gurley had quite
a day yesterday as the Rams became an NFC West champions.

(27:36):
Girly in the backfield. Here comes the blitz schocking snap
swing pass left side Curly on the street twenty gotta
block into space and hits the on time Gurley ten
Girly for m VP touchdown l A on the Rams
Radio Network. I just want to point this out as

(27:57):
you look at college guys and you're you're gonna be
doing so over the next so many months and have
been over the past few months, but getting ready for
the NFL Draft. When you look at a guy like
Baker Mayfield, we always say what is his heisman moment?
Heisman moment is a big thing when you're trying to
say what was his defining moment in his college football
season to win the Heisman in the NFL MVP voting.

(28:20):
I think Todd Gurley over these last two weeks, I thought,
actually last week against Seattle was really his moment. But yesterday,
to just see the speed and to see what he
did on that play, I think has a lot of
people leaning to where you are right now that Todd
Gurley is the most valuable player in the league. I
think what he's done is nothing short of remarkable. For
all of the love that Sean McVeigh gifts for really

(28:40):
helping Jerry Go find his game in his second season,
the remake and rebuild of Todd Gurley in his third
year has been phenomenal. Sean McVeigh has found a way
to make this guy maybe the most explosive offensive weapon
in football as a runner, as a receiver. Um, He's
dominant in both aspects of the game. This guy has
almost twenty one hundred of scrimming yards with a game

(29:01):
to go, um nineteen total touchdowns. He is doing it
in a spectacular fashion. Um. And the thing about it
is unlike Leave Bell, because what what the Pittsburgh still
just do with lead Bell. They move him out of
the backfield, they put him in empty formations, they make
him play like a hybrid um. Todd Gurley is doing
all his work from the backfield. He's running it, he's

(29:23):
catching his passes from the backfield, he's running the screen game,
he's running option routes, he's running swings and rails. Everything
that you're seeing him do. I mean, this is the
kind of stuff that Roger Craig used to do doing
his hey day with the San Francisco forty. And I
don't know even this guy, even though he went in
the top ten, I don't know if anyone who saw
him at Georgia expected him to be this kind of dynamic,

(29:46):
dual threat playmaker that could affect the game in a
variety of ways. I don't think that they expected a
guy to run as fact. I mean there was separation
on that run yesterday for a guy who suffered a
knee injury in college. I think think that is a
question as well is I know we're talking about technology
with instant replay, but there's technology and medicine and and
now Adrian Peterson. A set like that that high bar

(30:07):
for a c l S. But to see that, I
think there could have been legitimate questions and Todd Gurley's
rookie season was strong enough for the Rams, and then
you have the dip that he had in year number two.
But now with what they did with the offensive line
as well, and bringing in Whitworth and other pieces to
have those guys, to me, it's when I see bad

(30:28):
offensive lines in the NFL, and you mentioned Russell Wilson
and what they've done in Seattle, you can do things.
Minnesota was atrocious lest They couldn't keep anybody healthy. They
were on their fourth string tackle, it seemed like. But
now you see what they've pieced together, and it may
not be a top five group, but it's darn good
enough to protect case Keenum and Latavius Murray and Jerik
McKinnon and allow them to run the ball. With the Rams,

(30:49):
it's the same thing. They didn't need to do a
complete overhaul, but you put a couple of guys in
there and it makes a world of difference, makes a
world of different And the best thing that happened to
them they sign Andrew Whitworth. Andrew Earth being installed at
left tackle has really helped him. And when you put
Andrew Whitworth alongside Roger Staffold, the Rams now have a
strong side that they always can go to in every

(31:10):
critical situation. When you watch them play, whenever some money
down down where they absolutely need a first down and
they have to run it, they're going to run to
the left. It reminds me of when I was in
Seattle uh years ago. We have Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson.
We had Sean Alexander in the backfield, and everyone in
the stadium knew that whenever it was money time, Sean
Alexander was gonna get the ball going to the left

(31:31):
and you couldn't stop it. The l A Rams now
have that kind of ability. They have the potential to
run the ball down your throat with you knowing that
it's going to the left and tied girl is going
to continue to get it. I think the thing that
is really under sold understated about the run game. When
you look at the Rams next time you watch you
watch them this weekend, notice Ty Gurley is really running

(31:52):
off tackle at the time. He's not coming downhill. They're
getting him on the edge and allowing him to do
what he's always has been able to do, put his
foot in the ground, be decided to be explosive, and
you alluded to his speed, and you've noticed that he
is quick to try and hurdle defenders. You should know
that in high school he was a world class hurdler

(32:12):
who would hurdle internationally because he was so renowned. He
and Ronald Darby and some of those other guys that
are playing in the National Football League. You're talking about
a special athlete with the ball in his hands. That's
why you're seeing him chew up the National Football League.
His play yesterday against Tennessee that we heard when you
saw it, it's just amazing to see his speed. I
I look at the m v P and I agree

(32:32):
that Russell Wilson for for how he's accounted for every
single touchdown except one that their offense is scored this
season is amazing. I do believe, and I said this
yesterday on our Sunday Morning show. I do believe that
Cam Newton. The numbers aren't there, Bucky, but it's a
guy who has stayed away from turning the ball over.
The passing numbers aren't there. But you look at Caroline

(32:52):
and I know their defense is is better and is
kind of back to being some of that Panthers defense.
But when you look at the time gets that they
have lost over the last twelve or twenty four months
since they made the Super Bowl. The injuries they've had
to deal with at positions, whether it be Greg Olson
or losing a Curtis Samuel Devin Fungus has dinged up
that running game seems a little not existing. I put

(33:14):
Cam in the top four. The numbers aren't gonna blow
anybody away, but you saw it yesterday box Snap. He
takes it scores and to me is such a difference maker.
I don't think Cam Newton is getting as much credit.
Won't win it, but I think at least should be
mentioned if we're gonna mention guys in the conversation. Oh,
his value has certainly come through. And it was funny
because there was a lot of people that were upset

(33:36):
with the Carolina Panthers for a trade and away Kelvin Benjamin.
Why would you let go a guy that had been
a thousand year receiver, guy that was supposed to be
his number one receiver? Why wouldn't you keep pieces around
Cam Newton? But I've always believed that he is a
player that does better with less around him, and when
you remove things, he has a Tennessee to take his
game up a notch as a playmaker. He did it

(33:57):
at Auburn, He's in it at Carolina when they went
to the Super Bowl. His m v P year, Billy
Brown and Tag in Junior with the wide receivers, you know,
and and so he is a guy that can get
it done with pedestrian players on the outside. I think
it's also important to give Marty Herney and Ron rivera credit.
When they traded away Kelvin Benjamin, they said, look, we

(34:18):
have some speed guys um that are playing behind Kevin
Benjamin that we can't get onto the field. We need
to get these guys onto the field. Demere Bird has
stepped up and emerged as a player. Prior to getting injured,
Russell Shephard was beginning to make plays. Devin Funches has
taken over and assumed kind of that number one role
in the perimeter to kind of go along with Greg Olsen.

(34:38):
This is a team that is coming on like Gangbusters.
Christian McCaffrey is comfortable, but at the end of the day,
they're going to go as far as Cam Newton can
take them as a runner and as a passer. Because
when they tried to do it without Cam Newton running,
it didn't work. He has to be a factor in
the run game because this offense is better when he
is an integral part of the ring game. He's Bucky

(34:59):
Brookshire the NFL Network and NFL VET and I'm Dan
Buyer in for Doug Gottlieb. Here on Fox Sports Radio.
Earl Thomas had some interesting comments for Cowboys head coach
Jason Garrett after yesterday's game. Is that a big deal?
We'll tell you next Here on Fox Sports Radio. It's
the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. He's Bucky
Brooks of the NFL Network and NFL veteran. I'm Dan

(35:20):
Buyer sitting in for Doug. Very Merry Christmas to you
and yours. Calves up on the Warriors by two, about
eight minutes to go until halftime, and Bucky, I've just realized,
I don't want to see this finals again. I'm done
with Calves Warriors. As a Bucks fan, I already was
done with the Calves kind of but I am I am,
I am done. I don't need to see this again
in June. I need some new blood in the NBA Finals. Well,

(35:40):
you don't want to see greatness. I don't want to
see it again. I I've we've seen it enough. I
thought that last year was a great, great ending to
the to the trilogy. I don't need to see it
a fourth time. I would love to see it a
fourth time. I would love to see Dwyane Wade Lebron Rose.
I don't know if Dwyane Wade is gonna be in Yeah,
he'll be in peace. All the old guys, best man.

(36:03):
This is a perfect set up for because when you
look at the Eastern Conference, I mean they're not gonna
be challenged. I mean the Boston Celtics, they can't. They
it's a new it's a new East with those Celtics.
And the Raptors can't sleep on the Raptors. They own
the Raptors. It is a Christmas edition of the Doug

(36:25):
Gottlieb Show. And at this time we always like to
play a little game, and that game today is big deal,
little deal or no deal with our good friend David Gascon.
Merry Christmas, Dave, what's up, guys, Merry Christmas? How are
you doing? I'm doing all right? Dates Uh, I don't know.
I don't echo those sentiments by you though I love

(36:45):
to see uh round number four with these cats. Oh sure,
let's watch. Let's watch Rocky four again and again. Rocky
five didn't exist, Rocky didn't exist. Rocky four is the
best one man. Alright, Okay, big deal, a little deal
or no deal? Dave gives us a topic, Bucky and

(37:06):
I can say if it's a big deal, a little deal,
or no deal, play the game, gentleman. This a f
C quarterbacks so far this season has passed for just
under thirty one yards, a completion percentage of sixty two,
but twelve touchdowns, fifteen I N T s and a
passer rating of seventy eight point six. That is Tennessee
Titans Marcus Mariota. He's in a win and get in situation.

(37:28):
Talked about all that, you know. Unfortunately we've kind of
put ourselves in this situation. But we're in it, and
we got to just go out there and again put
one together, put a full complete game together as a team,
and see what happens. Guys, his numbers drastically are off
from last season. Is passer rating a year ago was
ninety five point six. He had twenty six T d
s and nine I M T so there is regression

(37:50):
from last year to this year. Is that a big deal?
Little deal, no deal at all. It is a big
deal in my mind, Bucky, especially because the Tennessee Titans
look like they were coasting towards the playoffs, and now
if you go in on such a downward slide in
instances where it doesn't seem that the team even trusts
Marcus Mariota in the most in the most crucial of instances,

(38:14):
they don't trust him to do his to do what
he does. I don't see how that can end up
in a good way in the long term for the
Tennessee Tits. So I think this is a big deal.
This is a huge deal. This is a big, big
deal when you look at Marcus Mariota and his future
with the Tennessee Titans. This guy that is the franchise quarterback.
He's in his third year. End we were ready to
see him take that next step jump into one of

(38:36):
those elite tiers, and he's taking a step back. Uh.
You talked about the stats twelve fifteen, touchdown interception, radio ratio,
passer rating in the mid seventies. That's not what you
expect from a quarterback that is supposed to be a
guy that is taking the steps to join the v
I P Club. Yeah, this is a huge deal and
it's not just the numbers, is what I'm seeing. I
don't see a confident player. And I know he's been

(38:59):
beset with injuries. Knee injury, hamstring, shoulder, had a fracture
fibulars last year. This is not the same guy. I
think this is a big deal, and I think if
they are not in the playoffs, I think the coaching
staff could ultimately pay for his regression. Could be an
absolute mess if they lose and still find a way
to get in with the Chargers losing as well. We
go from the a f C to the NFC and

(39:20):
guy has simply put there's a lot of explanations to
be had right now for the legion of Boom. Earl
Thomas talked about a few things and one of them
was a certain locker room visit when we play lights out.
You know, just emotional, you know, I went to the
locker room and talk to Dez and I saw coach
Garrett and you know, I'm I've always been a Cowboys

(39:42):
being growing up. But the biggest thing that you know,
when I said come gett me? Is I mean? I
don't literally mean like come get me now. I'm still
in the problem in my career. I still want to
be here. But when Seattle kicking me to the curve,
please the Cowboys, come get me. You know that's the
only place I would rather be, you know, if I
get you to the curve. So that's what I meant
by um. And you know people take take life serious.

(40:04):
That's that's just who I am. I don't know. This
is kind of business here, Fellas is a big deal,
little dude. No, we only got thirty seconds. What do
you think. I think it's a little deal. I think
he understands what's about to happen to the legion of Boom.
They're going to break it up. Cam Chancellor and Richard
Sherman probably won't be there. Earl Thomas is a vet
with a big cap number at some point to settle
see how going to move on? He was just letting
to be known. Jerry Jones, bring me home, Cowboys. I'll

(40:27):
say this is no deal for the simple fact of
who is going to want a thirty year old plus
safety with the history of injuries signing a big contract.
There's gonna be no deal with Dallas and he returns
with even more gifts. I very merry Christmas to you
on this Christmas Day. NFL Action kicking off at the

(40:48):
bottom of the hour in the Pittsburgh Steelers won't have
star wide receiver Antonio Brown. We knew that after he
suffered a partially torn calf muscle last week and they're
lost to the New England Patriots. But Bucky, this is
a dealer's team today that goes to Houston with a
lot to play for because a win would secure a
first round by and that is big when it comes

(41:08):
to the status of Antonio Brown, who will need as
much time as he can to return from that cafe injury. Yeah,
I think this is a big win, must win game
for the Pittsburgh Stealers. They need the by because they
want Antonio Brown to be able to come back and
he kind of jumped back into his role as a
number one receiver. The thing about the Pittsburgh Stealers, they're
so talented on the offense that I think they can
play against the Houston Texas and still dominate them without

(41:30):
their number one receiver. Uh Let Bill is the guy
who say as the table for him, uh, the running
back extraordinaire as a receiver. As a running back being
able to kind of grind and create mismatches on the perimeter,
He'll give them an opportunity to put up points. And
then the two receivers, Mark Davis Bryant and Juju Smith Schuster,
they can feel those roles. I think Big Ben is very,

(41:51):
very comfortable with those guys. I don't expect this offense
to skip a beat against the Texas. I've been pretty
impressed with what the Steelers have gone through this season
because is there has been there have been questions tech
Mark Davis Bryant reportedly, there's some chatter that you wanted
to be dealt before the trade deadline. We have the
Ryan Chase or injury a couple of weeks ago, and
how they've dealt with that, and now you have Antonio

(42:12):
Brown and to see them at eleven and three is
pretty impressive. I never bought in, by the way, to
the Antonio Brown m VP talk. I just is we
talked about how a Cam Newton or a Russell Wilson
or a Todd Gurley and and even Tom Brady bit
their team. I know Antonio Brown is great, and I
know Antonio Brown is off the charts, but I just

(42:34):
never looked at him as like, if you took Antonio
Brown off that team, what what are we going to get?
Now today we're going to find out. We are going
to find out. The one thing I will say about
Antonio Brown, he is the ultimate closing when it comes
to fourth quarter performers. What he's able to do. He
leaves the league and a bunch of categories in the
fourth quarter. I just wrote about it um head into

(42:56):
the weekend, and it's ridiculous. I want to say. He
leaves the league in receiving ares in the fourth quarter.
He has fifty coming into this game, leads him in receptions, um, touchdowns.
He does it all when it comes to money time.
I do believe that they can get by in the
regular season without him, but when it comes down to
the postseason, they absolutely need him. And so I think

(43:17):
his value is really in those moments when it's nutcutting
time and you need a guy to make a play
time after time. For the Pittsburgh Stellers, it is Antonio Brown.
I'm looking at it now. Eight receptions in the fourth
quarter that was tied for the most with Jarvis Landry
nine receptions in the last five minutes of a game

(43:37):
when it's when in one score, I mean, dude, his money,
and so he may not necessarily ring up all the
numbers when it's kind of I guess, kind of pedestrian time.
When it's time for you to need a play, Antonio
Browns will be the guy to make the play. It's
funny when you think of his timeline in Pittsburgh that
when they chose to take him over Mike all Us

(44:00):
that that was like, like, we look back at that
now and and it's it's silly. Obviously the Pittsburgh Steelers
made the right decision. But what was crazy is Mike
Wallace turned down the deal. They offered both of those
guys the same deal, and they're gonna take the first
guy that accepted it. Mike Wallace wanted more money, wanted
to break the bank. Obviously he left had an opportunity
to do whatever he did. Anthony brown takes the money,

(44:21):
continues to grow, continues to expand his game, signs another
deal where now he is the guy that is the
goal standard a wide receiver position. I mean, he's pulling
in seventeen million dollars. I mean to and to see
and to to have him not be a Julio Jones
with the and we talked about Dez Bryant maybe about
to have the physical nature of overpowering guys. He doesn't

(44:43):
have that, which I think is makes him even more
intriguing when you watch him. It certainly makes it more intriguing. Um.
He's a guy five to five nine pounds UM can
make it happen. He does it against all kinds of
gimmick coverage, double teams, brackets, man under with the safety overtop.
He faces it all and continues to get open. What

(45:04):
he is is what I was always told to look
for in a wide receiver. He is a former punt
returner with big playability with the ball in his hands.
He's an outstanding route runner. He does a great job
of winning fifty balls despite being undersized at the position.
He's a dominant player. And what you want to see
from your lead receivers what we haven't seen from Daz Bryant.

(45:26):
Regardless of what you throw at him. He finds a
way to put his mark on the game. He does that.
We've seen the number of receiving yards he's had over
the last five years. Terrific playmaker. He definitely is. If
he's not the best receiving a game, he's certainly number two,
right behind Julio Jones. It's interesting as you look at
the Steelers and you look at the team that goes
into the postseason. Last year, there was questions, Okay, what

(45:50):
when is Levy and bow When are Antonio Brown going
to step up in the postseason? And then boom, right
away they do it in a big win against the
Miami Dolphins. They're gonna get that huge road win against
Kansas City. But then all of a sudden the a
f C Championship Game, Levian Bells dinged up a little bit,
ends up hardly playing in the game, and it seems
like the narrative is still there, and it's It's funny

(46:11):
because in my mind, Bucky, when I see the Pittsburgh
Steelers with or without Antonio Brown, the fact is is
there's still a lot to prove and they won't be
able to prove it until they face like the Patriots
in the a f C Championship Game where they face
New England in the Divisional player. However, it's going to
set out or if they can get back to a
super Bowl. I think I know you're a big Levian

(46:33):
Bell guy, but I still think that there's a lot
for these guys to prove because when it's mattered the
most and that you thought maybe they broke through last
week and then you have the touchdown go away, but
when it managed the most, they haven't been able to
get over that hump. And I think that's big for
Pittsburgh this year. Yeah, it's tough because make fights as
a bad matchup for them with the New England Pages
based on how the Stiller is preferred to play on

(46:55):
defense and how the Patriots play on offense on DEFENSEI
Pittsburgh traditionally have been a zone team, a zone blitz team,
a team that kind of wanted to play with their
eyes on the quarterback. They didn't really match up. They
kind of dared quarterbacks to nickelin down the ball, down
the field. They believe that the odds would say that
you will mess up and they'll get a turnover. The
New England Patriots are a matchup team. They want to

(47:17):
spread you out. They want to go empty. You want
to put a running back on the outside and see
if you line up your linebacker or your cornerback there,
so they can tell if you're a man or zone,
and once they find that weakness, they're going to relentlessly
attack that. The Pittsburgh still is in the most recent
matchup with them play more man to man. I just
don't know if they're good enough to play man to
man against number eighties seven Rob Gronkowski. And so unless

(47:39):
they can find a way to take away Rob Gronkowski,
they're destined to fall short of getting to the super
Bowl because the Patriots are gonna spad them out. They're
gonna do what they've always done the last four or
five years, and they continue to beat them. It's interesting
because I've also heard in the past when we were
having Brady versus Manning conversations. The conversation that I heard was,

(48:00):
Hayton Manning looks for the perfect play against your defense.
Tom Brady looks for the weakness in your defense. So
if all the five everybody's an option, Hayton saw the
field is saying, what can I change the play too?
For what I think you're going to do is that?
Is that? Is that fair? And is that what catches Pittsburgh?
Because the Patriots one through five, whether they're all spread

(48:20):
out or all viable weapons. Yeah, I think that is
the thing. Tom Brady does a great job of finding
the mismatch. And I think the Patriots do what I've
never really understood why more teams don't do it. They
will relentlessly go back to that matchup over and over
and over again. They were trying to run the guy
who shouldn't be on the field. They were trying to

(48:40):
run him off the field. And so what they do
very early in the game when they spread you out
and they put their backs and maybe James White Woman,
we can maybe Dion Lewis could be Rex burkehead. They're
gonna put their backs in a situation where they're in space,
and they're gonna see if you have the linebackers or
safeties to be able to cover them, and if you don't,
they're gonna continue to feed that running back. They're also
gonna check and see what is the way that you're

(49:03):
going to attempt to slow down Rob Gronkowski. And if
you don't have a guy that can match up with him,
if you don't have a bracket that can take him away,
if you can't eliminate him, they're gonna continue to find
them and they're gonna wear you out with that, and
so I mean, really, it's almost like playing a video
game when you watch the New England Patriots performed, because
they will find the cheat code and they're going to

(49:24):
run the cheek code over and over and over again
until you get tired and you throw the sticks. In
that synopsis right there, you showed what the Patriots did
last week against Pittsburgh by using gronk and having success
in week fifteen. You also explained why James White at
fourteen catches in the Super Bowl. It's just it's not
it's over and over the like. Like, the funny thing is,
there's a beauty in their simplicity. They are very very

(49:47):
simple in what they do. I think people can call
out their rouse. You know what they're doing. It's just
a matter of how they deploy their personnel. They're going
to put their personnel in the situation where they have
favorable matchups and you're very, very uncomfortable. I'll talk to
an old NFL defensive coordinator about this, and he said,
the reason they're so deadly and dangerous when they put
their running backs outside wide and empties you don't have

(50:08):
enough reps in practice to prepare your lineback of the
playing space that long, and so you can do it
three or four times throughout the week. The Patriots are
willing to make you live in that formation fourteen fifteen
sixteen times a game. At some point, the damn is
gonna break and you're not gonna be able to do it.
It's gonna be a huge play. That's what the Patriots
do better than anybody else in football. They put you

(50:30):
in a situation where they make you vulnerable, and then
they will never let you get out of that vulnerable situation.
The second game of this Christmas Day has the Raiders
going to Philadelphia and taking on the Eagles. I'm starting
to wonder about the Eagles defense a little bit. I
know there's so many questions about Carson Wentz not being there.
Nick Foles coming in defense has given up some points lately,
did so against the Rams, Giants had some success for Philadelphia.

(50:54):
Who can end up clinching home field with a victory
tonight against the Raiders. I I think there are more
questions than can Nick Foles carry this this offense? I
think that the defense is taken a little bit of
a maybe a step back from what we saw earlier.
This season may have taken a bit of a step back,
but some of that is when you change quarterbacks and
you change the offensive approach a little bit, you have

(51:15):
to also change the way that your defense performs. When
they had Carson wins, they were going out knowing that
the offense was gonna put up thirty one thirty two
points a game. Uh, you're kind of playing downhill on defense,
meaning your passis you know, we get to hunt the
quarterback pretty much the entire second half because the other
team is playing catch up. That allows us to be
a little more aggressive upfront. On defense. We're beginning to

(51:37):
look for takeaways off tips and overthrows. It's not an
even matchup. You remove number eleven, then you have Nick
Foles defensively, your gym sports. You didn't really know what
you were going to get from Folds. Do I need
to be more aggressive? Do I am my more conservative?
How do I play it to complement what my offense
is doing. I think we'll see a much better product
this weekend next week with the defense because now I

(51:59):
believe they have enough confidence in Nick Foles that they
can go back to playing the way that they were
playing for most of the season. I think you'll see
the front four get after Derek Carr. You'll see the
secondary continue to blanket Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree particularly.
I think my Amari Cooper may be questionable where he's
gonna play. I think you'll see a much better defensive
performance for the Eagles as they hit into the playoffs.

(52:21):
We'll get back to seeing this this team peak like
they were peaking before. When you mentioned Carson Wentz and
everything that he brought to the table, I also thought
it allowed the Eagles. I think they're playing with fire
just a little bit because very few teams have four
running backs at their disposal to use, and I know
that Philadelphia does now when they acquire j J. I

(52:42):
mid season. I do think, Bucky, that when you get
into a playoffs scenario, that you are going to want
guys who are familiar not with playoff games, but just
with having a significant amount of snaps. It's actually something
that worries with me. I don't worry about Zach Ertz
and Trey Burton and Aglare and in Alshon, Jeffrey and
Tory Smith, everybody that they can throw too. It's that

(53:04):
fourheaded monster at running back that I just wonder, at
some point, don't you just need to go a Gi
E Blunt or do you need to go Corey Clement?
You know, like it doesn't at some point that they
need to settle on some guys instead of having Barner
and they're getting carries and doing different things for a
playoff push. I think it's very very um challenging to
do what they attempting to do when you have multiple backs.

(53:26):
But then I would say the New England patents have
been able to do it very very well on a
week to week basis. I think for the Philadelphia Eagles
is looking at who are they're playing, what gives them
the best opportunity to explore the matchup one week, and
maybe more Jji being the feature back, maybe they call
more of the formations and packages where he's the feature
guy the next week, and maybe leg Area Blunt it

(53:48):
is more of a hammerhead. We're gonna play power football
this week. We're gonna salt it out, salt the game
away the fourth in the fourth quarter, running four minute
offense from our formation. I think having those two big
backs allows them to really morphin change styles um the
way that you need to in the postseason, particularly when
the weather changes, depending on where they're playing. Obviously they

(54:10):
could be playing at home, whatever the weather bears. In Philadelphia,
having those running backs allows them to be a little
more conservative, a little more ground oriented if they need to.
But they also have Corey Clement to me, who maybe
their best running back. Particularly when you talk to people
in the building, they really really like him. You threw
all of those guys and they give them the defense
a lot to prepare for. He's Bucky Brooks. I'm Dan Buyer.

(54:32):
We are in for Doug Gottlieb here on Fox Sports
Radio on this Christmas Day of very Merry Christmas to you.
And while the Philadelphia Eagles may have four running backs,
the Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers may not have
one quarterback. We'll talk about it next year on Fox
Sports Radio. So the Doug gott Leaps Show on Fox
Sports Radio on this Christmas Day, I'm Dan Buyer alongside
me and the NFL networks, Bucky Brooks, We've got you covered.

(54:54):
As the Steelers and Texans gonna be kicking off at
the bottom of the hour, at the half war years
up on the Cavaliers to forty four. Today's Doug Gottlieb
Show brought to you by True Car Online car shopping
can be confusing, not anymore though. With Drew Price from
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will pay for your next car. So visit Drew Car
to enjoy a more confident car buying experience. Not a

(55:15):
lot of confidence right now in Tampa in their quarterback
in Jamis Winston, and maybe the same can be said
fort Nashville and Marcus Mariota. Some tough weeks for the
guys who are picked one too in the draft a
couple of years ago and Bucky. As we we look
at things in the NFL, there are so many things
that become quick trends, and we'll get into the coaching

(55:38):
searches and what could happen with coaching vacancies, but hot
new coordinators seemed to be to be all the rage,
and and when you're talking about players and you're talking
specifically about quarterbacks, because what we had in the last
couple of drafts, not the one that we had this
pass spring, but prior to that, you had quarterbacks go
one too, and those quarterbacks are always going to be linked.
It's it's just the way that it is. But now

(56:00):
as we look at those quarterbacks, we also take those
two quarterbacks and compare them to maybe what you've got
with Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, and that leads us
to Jamis Winston and Marcus Mariota because in their third years, Bucky,
this is not the route that I believe that the
Titans or the Buccaneers thought they would be headed with
their quarterbacks that they took one to atop the draft.

(56:21):
A tough situation for Jamis Winston yesterday in a game
against Carolina where they were leading until late and then
Winston blows up on the sideline when a fumble that
he felt he recovered was awarded to Carolina. He has
a bit of a tirade on the sideline. Marcus Mariotta
just seems like a defeated quarterback where we've seen him
the last couple of weeks, losing to the Rams and

(56:42):
losing to the San Francisco forty niners three years in.
The plans for Jamis Winston and Marcus Mariotta not going
according to plan. You know, I think it's funny. I
think we are really really hard on young quarterbacks, and
I think we probably need to hit the pause button
on both of these guys, because I think when we
really stepping way for the most recent um showing that

(57:03):
we've seen from these guys, I think there's some things
that you like about both guys. I think of the two,
the one that I would be a little more worried
about would be Marcus Mariota because he's kind of trending
in the negative, in the wrong direction when I look
at him this year, twelve, the fifteen touchdown, the interception ratio, seven,
eight point six passer rating. UM. He's completing of his passes,

(57:23):
but he hasn't been the red zone wizard that he
was a season ago. Part of that can be attributed
to injuries. UM. I listened to the injuries before knee, shoulder, hamstring,
broken leg last season. He's not the same quarterback when
you take him take his legs and athleticism away from
him and Jameis Winston. I think the big thing with

(57:46):
Jamis has always been the number of turnovers. This year
he has seven fumbles. You don't want to necessarily see
that from a quarterback. But when you really study his game.
The last two weeks, he's completed over seventies seven percent
of his passes. Passer rating has been over one thirty
in both of those games. He's completing six of his
passage this year and has an eighteen to eight touchdown
the interception ratio, and his passing away in his ninety

(58:08):
Those last three numbers are the highest of his career.
I think the big thing with jamis Jamis always leaves
us in this perplexing dilemmas because he acts out on
the field very emotional. What we saw from him chasing
the referee, that's not necessarily to behavior that you wanted
your franchise quarterback. I love and respect his competitiveness and

(58:29):
his feistiness, but you kind of want to see him
channel it the right way. And so I think what
he does is he gives you all this evidence to
say that, hey, he's not turning in the right direction,
but then his play sometimes suggests that it is otherwise. Well,
that's and and it's it's a it's a fair point.
Because they did go up against the tough Carolina defense yesterday.

(58:50):
He had success turnovers hurt them at at times in
the last turnover wasn't in a red zone situation. However,
it was the fumble that he felt he recovered. But
I do you think that there are expectations that are
higher for a quarterback and a franchise quarterback in a
face of the franchise and for some reason it all
falls into a big picture and it just looks like

(59:12):
Jamis Winston isn't getting it again. And as you see,
you see the tirade yesterday that he had on the
sideline over the call by the ref you mentioned, he
runs back on the field. There's also then, as I'm
seeing this and watching two minutes prior, Dirt Cutter walking
him off the field, and it doesn't seem like Jamis
is listening. That also reflects on on Dirt Cutter. Everything

(59:34):
may go well of the time, but it's those five
percent instances that just making you wonder, is Jamie's ever
going to get it? Because well, these are minor bucky
for what's going on in the past of the situations
that have been there, You're wondering, Okay, is this guy
really are franchise quarterback? And for both of these two
guys in the first three years, there are legitimate questions

(59:54):
they may be different questions, but there are legitimate questions
on if they are that for those two franchises, I mean,
I think are certainly questions about, uh, those guys in
terms of long term what can they do, how can
they best support them to allow them to meet their potential.
I think both guys have the potential to be guys
that can lead their teams to Super Bowl wins if
they're surrounded and support it the right way. I think

(01:00:16):
for Jamie's obviously, this season has been a disappointment because
they have all the weapons that we thought they needed
to be able to have a long run, but the
running game has not been what we expected. I thought
Doug Martin would be able to be effective because they
had guys that really could lighten the box with you know,
Deshan Jackson, Mike Evans, the two tight ends, Camera Rady.
To know j Howard, there should have been plenty of

(01:00:37):
room for him to run. He has been able to
do it. I think that has changed. I think for Marcus,
Mariota is understanding exactly what he is. He's a mobile quarterback.
He's a guy that kind of needs to play in
a system that's very similar to the system that he
played in in college, and you have to have someone
who is willing to invest that kind of time and
commitment to doing that. And so those are things that
the franchise at the end of the year, when they

(01:00:59):
make these decisions on whether they're gonna retain their coaches
or not, they have to feel like are those coaches
best equipped to support them. I do think there's it's
important to make a distinction between Jamie's on field behavior
in terms of the way that he acts out, because
we saw this a few weeks ago, Like in the
middle of season, we saw people react to Cam Newton

(01:01:20):
acting out when we hushback um Ron Rivera because he
wanted to go for it on fourth down. I think
the other thing that we need to see like when
Tom Brady lashes out of Josh McDaniels, when Philip Rivers
kind of acts out on the field when his team
is getting whooked against the can City Chiefs, and we
don't say it. I think we have to make sure
that the things that kind of happen on the field,
some of those things are normal deals. I will say

(01:01:43):
Jamis's behavior Sunday, you don't necessarily want to see him
run back on the field and that stuff. But the competitive,
the emotional stuff, that's kind of who those guys are.
I think you kind of buy into that. I think
the bigger thing is do those guys show the kind
of leadership that you want to see behind this means?
Can they make plays in big games? And I think

(01:02:03):
the jury is still out because both of these teams
have not been what we thought they were gonna be
this season. When Jamis missed that time as well, like
the Marshaw and Lattimore Mike Evans Jamis instance in New Orleans,
that stuff happens more often and not the Evans blindside
hit on Marshaw. Yeah, he can't do that. That's where

(01:02:24):
you see jawing. You see jowing all the time. That's
nothing new. The problem with that, I think is he
doesn't know where that line is. He doesn't know that
I can't do this. I can't run back onto the field.
I saw him say seven times in a row to
the five players that were standing around him, I got you,
I got you, I know what you meant. But then

(01:02:46):
something triggered him and he took off. And that's where
that's where I I think it's it's frustrating too, as
as you see I mean, we're three years into this.
You would have hoped that, okay, professional quarterback understands and
and and really distinctly is is I'm hearing you talk.
I think that there's Marcus Mariota may never be a

(01:03:06):
top ten NFL quarterback, but I think Jamis Winston probably
has the skills and the health and the ability to
do so. And so when you see him making these mistakes,
I think that is what's what's frustrating. And then I mean,
I think that's what it is. And I think but
I think when you drafted him, you knew what you
were getting because anyone that watched him in Florida State,
he's a highly emotional player, no different than when you

(01:03:29):
watch Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers is always going to be
what he's always been from an emotional standpoint. Some would
call it whiny, some would call it arrogant, cocky or whatever.
Like those guys don't change. They don't change. They're probably
that way in Little League, they were that way in
high school, same way in college. They're going to be
that same way. And the pros I think the big
thing for Jamis is there someone on the sideline that

(01:03:50):
can be like, hey man, knock it off and he
respects him. Is that the coach? Is that a veteran player,
who is that person that commands his ear that can
get him to kind of get back in line. I
don't know if Derk Cutter is that guy. Is there
someone that he respects enough for whatever reason that is
able to be able to spit the truth to him

(01:04:13):
to kind of bring him back to folds so he
can go back to being the franchise quarterback and act
like the leader that he should act like when he's
on the field. John Gruten, No, you know it funny.
Here's a funny thing though about the John Gruten thing,
because I know there's been a push. People have talked
about it. I've heard people say that he's coming back.
I've heard from coaches say that he's coming back. He's
never had success with a young quarterback, so how is

(01:04:35):
that going to work? He spits quarterbacks up and I
mean he choose him up the spistom out forever. I
just don't know if he is a guy like Jamis
Winston and John Gruden. You're talking about Musty TV on
the stylom when they barkt one, rich Gannon won't be
throwing rocks up at the window and Tampa Jamis Winston
maybe doing that for other reasons. He's Bucky Brooks, I'm

(01:04:56):
Dad Buyer. We are in for Doug gott Leep here
on the Doug gott Leap Show on Fox Sport. It's radio.
It may not be fair for Marcus Mariotta and Jamis
Winston to be compared to Carson Wentz and Jared Golf.
But what about the next wave of quarterbacks that are
coming in. We'll talk about that coming up next. But
first David Gascon fills us in on what's happening in

(01:05:17):
the Bay and also some NFL action that's just underway. Yeah, guys,
time to change the channel a little bit. You've got
Houston and Pittsburgh going on right now. This is one
of two games today and Pittsburgh has the football about
their thirties six yard line. Don't forget. If they win today,
they lock up that number two seed in the a
f C and they'll have a first round by That
is huge because obviously they do not hold the tiebreaker

(01:05:37):
with Jacksonville, who beat them earlier on this season, and
then later on tonight you get Oakland and Philadelphia that
will go at it. Meanwhile, in the NBA, Kevin Durant
Golden State Lawyers taken on Cleveland. Bal's got collaring on
his hamp warts the ball, catch his weights. Surveys finds
k d for three. Got it, Kevin Durant with the bucket.
That's the lawyer's first lead of the game. Warriors Radio

(01:06:01):
Networth th on top fifty seven fifty four. Kevin Durants
got sixteen. Kevin Love had a double double in the
first half. He's now got eighteen points and also twelve rebounds.
Earlier today, Philadelphia went into New York and beat the
Knicks one oh five. Joel and Bead had a cool
double double twenty five and sixteen. The win also snaps
a five game skid for the seventies Sixers. Gentlemen. The

(01:06:23):
Antonio Brown less Pittsburgh Steelers already moving the ball against
the Houston Texans. Who knows, Bucky. Maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers
may be looking for a future quarterback at some point,
but Big Ben right now at least having success against Houston.
He is having success against the Texans, but they need
to start looking for a franchise quarterback. I thought they

(01:06:44):
should have looked for a franchise quarterback last year. Ben
Roethlisberger has taken them on a bit of a roller coaster,
Rod talking about I want to retire and am I out? Um,
we've seen Look, he's a high drama dude. He I mean,
you can call him a diva if you would like.
At quarterback. He's always going to be a guy that
commands a lot of attention, needs a lot of nurturing,
a lot of maintenance, a lot of shoulder rubbing. Um.

(01:07:06):
I think the big thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers what
is the plan going forward when number seven eventually does
walk away, when he does kind of walk off into
the susset? Do they have a plan? Can they find
that quarterback? This is the draft where they need to
find that guy that can be the eventual replacement and
successor long term. Is there a comparable uh Ben Roethlisberger

(01:07:28):
or a comparison we could make for somebody coming into
the National Football League? I mean, man, that that that
takes me down this road. So I I spend I
send you don't like you don't like comparing? I mean,
I mean I love comparisons. But I think the reason
I'm about to talk about Josh Allen from Wyoming, I

(01:07:50):
went to the Potato Ball. I flew up the boys
Yattaho on Friday, they go see the Great Josh Allen
take on Central Michigan. Because there's been so much buzz
about this quarterback from on me, I've heard him compared
to being Roethlisberger. I've heard people say that he is
the most talented quarterback we've seen in some time. UM,
But he is such a polarizing prospect because I think

(01:08:11):
a lot of scalts are going to be tested in
terms of making decision between potential versus production. Because when
you see him on the as they say on the hoof,
when you see him in person, you can fall in
love with him. He's six five, he's two three pounds.
He's an athletic freak. He can run around and make plays.

(01:08:31):
He can make every throw in the book. However, when
you watch him play, his production doesn't match his potential. UM.
He's a guy that is a fifty six percent passer
his entire career at Wyoming. He is a guy that
has never played well in big games against big competition.
This year versus Iowa, versus Oregon versus Boise State. He underperformed.

(01:08:56):
He hasn't been able to put up big games. I
guess a competition. Yeah, there are scouts that believe that
he should be the first quarterback that comes off the board.
And so when you make the comparison to Ben Roethlisberger,
I think the difference in a guy like a Josh
Allen who is big, who has a big old arm
and can run around big. Ben had tremendous production in

(01:09:17):
the MAC three years of outstanding production and play. This
guy doesn't have it, and so you have to make
a decision as an evaluator. Am I willing to bank
on the traits and what I think he could be
versus what he has been throughout his career. That is
a hard one when you do any evaluation saying that

(01:09:38):
this guy is gonna be a franchise quarterback. Can I
tell you what my biggest I think the biggest misconception
is in the national football again has to go with quarterbacks.
And even if you don't want to hear, I'm gonna
tell you anyway, you don't need a franchise quarterback to
win a Super Bowl. You need a good enough quarterback.
And I feel that when teams look at at prospects
like a Josh Allen, that they may get as you say,

(01:10:01):
star struck by everything that they see of all the intangibles,
or they just get attracted and they that's what they want,
but they also have this fear of being They don't
want to be the team that passed on the guy.
And if you just trust what you do and trust
whatever plan you have for your front office, then I
think things are going to work out. But as we
look at history over the last five or seven years,

(01:10:24):
it has shown taking out Tom Brady, who we some
consider the greatest of all time. You need to be
you need to be sufficient on both sides of the football,
and franchise quarterbacks aren't the aren't needed in the National
Football League, as much as I feel that people think
that they are. I think you just need a good
enough guy and if you can find him in the draft,

(01:10:45):
you'll be fine with you. I would say that you
don't necessarily need a plus quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
I think it's been done time and time again that
you can win games with the quarterback that is a
B B plus level provided the pieces around him, all right.
I believe all quarterbacks, no matter what, they're only a
handful of quarterbacks like three or four that can do
it without having all the other stuff around them and

(01:11:08):
win consistently. I think here's the issue, and part of
it is on our side because we always talk about
the franchise quarterback. We've made that, we've coined that term,
whether guy's a franchise quarterback and elite quarterback, a game
manager versus a playmaker and the like. Guys that are
viewed as playmakers are kind of I don't know Alex Smith.

(01:11:30):
We don't like Alex Smith because Alex Smith doesn't excite
us for whatever reason. But Alex Smith has won a
lot of games, maybe the third most behind Tom Brady
and a couple other guys. I think the thing about
the draft and why it's so fascinating, fans always want
to jump on the quarterback. We want the guy that
is gonna fill up our fantasy football sheets. He's going

(01:11:51):
to kind of while us with his arm and football
doesn't necessarily have to be one that way. And so
when you're in the draft and you GM and everyone
has their method for winning games, whether it's the running game,
whether it's the passing game. You have to be confident
enough that if I don't take one of these quarterbacks
that I'm confident that I can build a team that

(01:12:12):
can win without a guy as an a level quarterback.
You mentioned Josh Allen and he is. I believe he's
eligible to play the Senior Bowl, but it hasn't committed
to it yet because he was able to graduate in time,
so he's at least eligible if he wants to go there.
Baker Mayfield says that that he is going. What does
Josh Allen need to do in Mobile and Baker Mayfield

(01:12:33):
need to do what our coach is going to be
looking at that when they go through or looking at
them when they go through that process. Both both guys
need to go and participate in the Senior Bowl for
different reasons. For Josh Allen, we want to see how
Josh Allen plays with a terrific supporting cast because some
of his biggest supporters and say, oh, he's throwing to nothing.

(01:12:53):
He doesn't have anything around him at Wyoming. That is
why he hasn't put up the numbers that he should
put up if he's an elite quarterback. Great, let's put
him in an environment with a bunch of great quarterbacks
surrounded by great people. Let's see how he looks when
he's surrounded by supporting cast. That should be a quality
for Baker Mayfield. The issue has been Baker Mayfield has

(01:13:14):
been terrific. He's deserving of winning the Heisman Trophy. He's
lit it up the last three years at Oklahoma. The
numbers are ridiculous, hundred twenty nine to twenty nine touchdown
the interception ratio. However, he plays in the Big Twelve.
Last year, I think they were only eleven defenders from
the Big Twelve that made it to the Combine, So
it's not a big time conference when it comes to

(01:13:37):
defensive person. Baker Mayfield also is a guy that's going
to measure out at six ft on a good deck.
The comparisons that Baker Mayfield has garnered Drew Brees, Russell Wilson,
undersized guys that have been able to thrive at this level.
He's not as athletic as Russell Wilson, so he's gonna

(01:13:59):
have to find a way to do it differently. Can
he be a guy that is as disciplined as Drew Brees?
Within the pocket people want to see can he find
those passing lanes amongst the trees. Can he find a
way to have success Kenny spread all over the field
and the way that Drew Brees has been able to
do it when he was collecting five thousand passing our seasons.

(01:14:20):
That is why Baker Mayfield needs to go. And also
some of the things that we worry about. We saw
the issue that he had with the cops, the public intoxication,
We saw the seeing gesture when he was on the field,
the flanned planning. We just want to make sure that
Baker Mayfield is worthy of being a franchise quarterback. He
has a bunch of questions to answer if he goes
to Mobile, as he said he's going to do it.

(01:14:41):
Bowl games are taking off today. They'll resume them tomorrow,
three of them including U. C. L A taking on
Kansas staying in the Cactus Bull. No Josh Rosen in
that game, not gonna play. That's disappointing. I was planning
to go. I wanted to see Josh Rosen see who
was going to do in his final game. I have
to say this. There was also a report that Josh
Rosen would want to go to the Giants more so
than the Cleveland brown I can't blame him, but what

(01:15:01):
about offensive lines. Cleveland's actually has one the Giants don't.
I mean, if you want to talk about a guy
with an injury history to go in there and not
be killed, I'm almost thinking Cleveland's a better spot. Well,
here's the thing with Cleveland and why he would be skeptical.
I think it's an organizational issue. If you look at
the number of quarterbacks that have gone through there over
the past decade, He's seen it. He understands even just recently,

(01:15:22):
Deshaun Kaiser, Kevin Hogan, Coded Kesler, brock Oswalder, like so
many guys that they've rolled through that they've hadn't necessarily
supported the way that you would like to support a quarterback.
I can understand why he and his representatives would be
I don't know whereas with the New York Giants. Look,
Eli Manning, They're thirteen, fourteen years um. He's been a

(01:15:45):
pillar guy in the community. Is a kind of blue
bleft franchise that is very loyal. They try and do
everything to make it right by their players. So I
can understand why he would want to go there. I
actually think He would be a great fit in New York. Yes,
they need to upgrade and do some things, but of
all the quarterbacks that could potentially could be in the class,
this is a guy that is most pro ready. He

(01:16:06):
is the purest pocket passer. He is a guy that
could play in any system immediately. I believe that he
is best suited to thrive at the next level. New
York would be a great fit for him. He's Bucky Brooks,
NFL Network and NFL veteran. You can find him on
Twitter at Bucky Brooks. I'm at Dan Buyer on Fox
as we are in for Doug today. I am Dan Buyer.
By the way, on Fox has nothing to do with

(01:16:28):
my last name. We are sitting in for Doug on
this Christmas Day. But don't worry, Doug wasn't taking it off.
He was actually on First Things First earlier today and
you would not believe what he had to say on
this Christmas morning. We tell you about it next year
on Fox Sports Radio. It's the Doug Gottlips Show on
Fox Sports Radio. I'm Dan Buyer. That's Bucky Brooks in
the NFL Network. As we are in for Doug on

(01:16:49):
this Christmas a very merry Christmas for you. And just
because it's Christmas Day doesn't mean that things change because
this time of the show, we like to have a
little fun and employ and now this is an opportunity
for us to take something, whether it be on Fox
Sports Radio on Big Fox. Are also on Fox Sports

(01:17:12):
One to hear some of the great takes and opinions
that we hear from all of those sources. This is
the Doug gott Leap Show. And Doug earlier today was
on Fox Sports One filling in for Nick and Chris
on First Things First, and they talked about the one,
the only, Jimmy Garoppolo in the trade that brought him
to San Francisco. I mean, I feel like today is
a day in which we celebrate the birth of people's

(01:17:34):
Lord and savior, Jimmy Garoppolo. He's quarterback, he's us out there.
This was an awful football team. They couldn't block, they
couldn't pass, they couldn't run, they couldn't tackle. That secondary
is balling out there. Why because they have hope and
hope in the form of Jimmy Garoppolo. He is He's
been outstanding and the team is the hottest team in

(01:17:55):
the NFL. I would I would rather play several if
the Falcon streep in or the Seahawks creep in, then
play the San Francisco forty Niners. They're playing that hard
for him and that well for him. This looks like
an awful trade. It looks like, Look, maybe he wants
to get paid, and maybe he wanted to pick his
destination and Belichick wanted to take care of him. But

(01:18:17):
a second round pick for a Pro Bowl potential All
Pro caliber quarterback refined ready, plus he looks and sounds
the part. This is one of the worst trades in
the history of the sport, or it could be the
best one, at least for the San Francisco forty Niners.
Is it going to be that one sided? Wow? The paint.

(01:18:40):
Let's just say this the trade, because let's be honest.
The NFL trades that we can remember, because there aren't
tons that are huge. But the the three trades that
I will always remember, Bucky are Clinton Portis for Champ
Bailey Brett five from the Atlanta Facons to the Green
Bay Packers in the herschel Walker trade. Okay, and Eric Dickerson,

(01:19:01):
And I'll put Eric Dickerson in that Doug has said
that this could be the worst trade in NFL history,
topping all of those because of what Garoppolo has done
in the last month. Well, I think what you have
to understand is you have to look at this trade
and understand the context. Jimmy Garoppolo was going to be
an unrestricted free agent. He's gonna be a free agent
at the end of it, not to undrestrict. He's been

(01:19:22):
a restricted free agent, and so they had to figure
out what they were going to do with him. He
didn't want to continue to play as a backup behind
Tom Brady. And if Bill Belichick wanted to keep Jimmy
g Q and get rid of Tom Brady, Robert Kraft,
the owner, was not going to let that happen. So
he could have traded him away to Cleveland and got

(01:19:42):
a first round pick. But you know how Bilichick feels
about Cleveland. They fired him. Why would he want to
help someone that has hurt him in the past. But
also why would you want to trade a quarterback that
you feel really really good about in the a f C.
This was the best deal that the Pages could get
for him that put Jimmy Garoppolo outside of the a

(01:20:02):
f C. Yes, it was the second round pick, it'd
be a high second round pick. But they couldn't get
anything else for him. They couldn't keep him on a
franchise tag. It would have been too much. They had
to make the move. This is the best that they
could do. It is a Christmas gift to John Lynch,
cal shanahan and the San Francisco forty Niners because he
has made them relevant. Again, I don't know what Bill

(01:20:24):
Belichick could have done. So Bob Kraft is the reason
that from what you're saying is that Bill Belichick and
his people would have loved to have Jimmy Garoppolo there
for the long term. If you was to say, I
mean absolutely. You heard him give a glowing review on
the way out about Jimmy Garoppolo, how he felt like it.
Had he ever talked about any of the other quarterbacks,

(01:20:46):
Ryan Millett, Brian Horrier, even Jacoby Brissette, anybody that had
been there. Had he ever talked about those guys in
glory terms? No, he knew that Jimmy Garoppolo had the
potential to be special. I'm sure he wanted to keep him,
but in keeping him, he would have had to let
go a TB twelve, and we know how that would
have turned out from the fan base. It's just a
month in, but he has been magnificent for the San

(01:21:07):
Francisco forty Niners. I just don't know a month in
if we can say it Trump's the Farve trade, or
or or the Eric Dickerson trade, or heck, the herschel
Walker trade that's set the Cowboys up for their dynasty.
Bucky already called me a grinch because the Cowboys season
was over, and I say that the future looks bleaked
outside of Zeke, and I don't even want that to rhyme,

(01:21:27):
but it's true. The Cowboys eliminated from the playoffs. But Bucky,
there are teams that still have postseason hope heading into
Week seventeen, Week sixteen. Pittsburgh Steelers right now, there is
a chance there is a chance they could still get
home field in the a f C playoffs, but they
would need New England to lose next week. I don't

(01:21:49):
think that that is necessarily going to happen, but stranger
things have happened. New England actually, a couple of years
ago looked like they were gonna have home field wrapped up,
ended up, didn't working out in Denver, ended up grabbing it,
then taking home, having home field, and then going to
Super Bowl fifty. Back to the matter is the Pittsburgh
Steelers still have something to play for it. Right now,
they're playing against the Houston Texans. You heard Dave say

(01:22:09):
they are up by a score of ten to nothing.
But as we look at what happened in week sixteen
and now what's going to happen in week seventeen, still
a couple of teams that are having postseason aspirations Baltimore
Ravens in the a f C, along with Tennessee the
Chargers and the Buffalo Bills all in the thick of things.
In the NFC. It comes down to this, if the

(01:22:30):
Falcons win therein if the Falcons losing the Seahawks win,
then the Seahawks will get in as a wild card.
There's other jockeying that can go on for seed wise,
but for the teams that are at least in trying
to get into the twelve team dance, that's how it
plays out. And the a f C is more intriguing Bucky,
just because there's more scenarios and there's more teams, but
I also think that those teams also are going in

(01:22:52):
a lot of weird directions. Tennessee looks to be in
a free fall. Baltimore seems like a team they've had it.
They've had a favorable schedule at the end of the season,
but they've at least taken advantage of it. They got
that win on Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts. And you
have a Chargers team that probably kicking themselves quite a
bit from that oh en four start, but seemed to
really have things together and despite that, lost a couple

(01:23:13):
of weeks ago to the Chiefs. Still have hope if
Tennessee loses to Jacksonville and the f clay or for
the f C playoffs. Yeah, I think the FC race
is very very compelling. Um of all the teams that
you mentioned at the bottom of the list, the LA
Charges other team that most teams probably would not want
to face, and the reason you don't want to face
the l A Chargers, you had a legitimate pass rush

(01:23:35):
and Joey Boston and Melvin Ingram that can make things
very very problematic. UH. In the past, First League being
able to get home without having a blitz. That is
the ideal way to play playoff football. On offense, you
have a veteran quarterback who has played a ton of games,
who understands how to win, maybe one of the best
gun slingers in the game. You have a receiver Keenan Allen,
who at times looks unstoppable. So if I'm having to

(01:23:59):
pick my choice of who I would want to avoid,
I definitely don't want to play the l A Chars
because they can make it very, very difficult. If I
could pick the team that I would want to face,
I want to face the Tennessee Titans because a young
quarterback is struggling the running game, maybe without DeMarco Murray,
and even though Derrick Henry has been very very good,
particularly down in the fourth quarter, he's a newbie when

(01:24:21):
it comes to playoff experience. Also, their weapons on the outside,
I don't think they scare anybody in terms of the
explosiveness that they have in their receiver corps. If I
could take a team to pick, I want to play
the Tennessee Titans over anybody else because I think Baltimore's
defense is good. I don't think Buffalo can even get
in and I think the charges are dangerous if they
get into the scenario. No matter what people think of

(01:24:42):
the New England Patriots or think of how the a
f C is going to shape out, I think most
people respect what New England does and think, okay, more
often than not, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are gonna
find a way to win. But even though they've had
success in the playoffs, Bucky, it's still comes down to matchups.
And you ment in earlier that Pittsburgh in New England
is a beautiful matchup for New England and not so

(01:25:05):
much for Pittsburgh. When I took look at these wild
card teams and I look at the teams that could
possibly get into the postseason, I see the Chargers and
I also see the Ravens. Is matchup nightmares for any
of the top two seeds. Heck to even move past
what could happen in a wild card route. If I'm
New England, I don't want anything to do with the Chargers.

(01:25:27):
I don't want anything to do with Baltimore. I really
don't want anything to do with Jacksonville, to be honest,
even after what happened yesterday with San Francisco. When it
comes down to matchups. I still think that's most important
in the playoffs, and you mentioned that the two teams
match up wise, I think could be difficult for the
for the for the top two teams would be those
Chargers and Baltimore Ravens. Absolutely, because in the playoffs, you

(01:25:47):
want to be able to get to the quarterback without
having to commit extra defenders, even though you may like
to blitz. If you can get home with four and
sometimes even three, you can drop seven eight defenders and
coverage cloud to pass and lanes make it very difficult
for the quarterback. For Tom Brady, you want to be
able to rush four and put everyone back into coverage
because he doesn't like having pressure, particularly right up the gut.

(01:26:09):
And so if you have a dominant interior pass rush
or someone that can get home against their guarding their center,
it makes life difficult for him because he gets uncomfortable.
But then you still can cover up their guys in
the back end. With the Chargers and the Ravens, they
both have multiple pass rushes along the front line, they
won't need to bliss much. Also, there's not an awe
factor from the Chargers or the Ravens when it comes

(01:26:32):
to facing New England. They squared off with the Pages enough,
they understand who they are and what they're about. They've
had some success in beating them. I think because of that.
When you face a team that is not fearful of you,
it can certainly make the game a little more challenging
and difficult when it's the one and done scenario, when
all the pressure is really on the favorite team playing
at home. The Ravens, we know about their matchups and

(01:26:54):
at least in the past, ensure different players at that time.
But the Ravens team that has gotten a Fox rown
at least had success. When you look at what has
gotten the Patriots, not only maybe in regular season games, Bucky,
but when you look at the biggest games of all
super Bowl forty two against the Giants straight hand on
that defensive line, super Bowl forty six, Jpp and uh

(01:27:17):
Justin Tuck and those guys there, When you look at
the problems that they had two years ago against Denver
in that a f C championship game, and you're there
are questions, maybe, but it was still a close game
and von Miller got all after Tom Brady. It's the
same darn recipe and and nothing has changed and those
those two teams can bring it. Nothing has changed is
the same recipe, rush four play man to man, challenge

(01:27:41):
of receivers, that the line of scrimmage, don't give Tom
Brady a number of layups and make them drive the
length of the field without the big play. The two
teams that we talked about Baltimore n l A. They're flawed,
but they're not flawed in ways that would prevent them
from matching up with the New England Patriots, particularly from
their defense to the Patriots offense and then offensively, you

(01:28:02):
have to have a quarterback that is undaunted by facing
the prospect of the Patriots in the postseason. Joe flacc
goes one games. We can say what we want to
about Joe Flac on how good he is. He has
a Super Bowl win on his belt. He played well
during that postseason. He still believes that he is that
guy in Philip rivers. Look, he's not going back down
from anybody. He would relaish opportunity to go against Tom

(01:28:24):
Brady because of that. Those are two teams that the
New England Patriots. I won't say they should fear, but
they should be worried of if they have to face
them in the postseason. I know that the defending champs
in the NFC, and I know that the Seahawks have
been around for a while, but I just don't think
you're going to see the same fear you would get
in Baltimore or the Chargers getting into the a f
C as you would with the two teams of the NFC.

(01:28:46):
With the Falcons and Seahawks battling for that last spot,
I think I think it comes down to matchups. I
think it depends on who they're playing. The l A
Rams would not want to see the Seattle Seahawks in
the postseason, even though they whooped him the last time.
They blew them out. There's also a long history between them.
They always play very, very competitive games. The Seattle Seahawks
will be there in the end, and the the inexperience

(01:29:09):
of the Rams who work against them against an experienced
squad in the Seattle Seahawks. Even though the Seahawks are
flawed offensively, I don't know how they move the ball.
It's a lot of playground razzle. Dazz will play Russell
scrims around, finds a way to beat you. It's problematic
for the L a rams to have to play them.
That is the one team. In terms of the Falcons,
You're still hoping that they can find their way, but

(01:29:31):
right now I've lost all confidence and Steve Sarkiesan in
terms of being a play call it that can find
a way to make his offense better and exploit what
you do defensively. Without that, I think it's hard to
beat them. But that's it. This is the team went
to the Super Bowl there pridful they won't be an
easy out of to get into the postseas. They make
plays on defense that surprised me. Vic Beasley will do something.

(01:29:53):
I mean, um Dion Johnes jeez. Every single week it
seems like he's doing something. I just have a difficult
time in buying into the Falcons offensively, and you mentioned Sarkiesian.
The only thing that is consistent with them I think
is DeVante Freeman. Truly, when he is running the ball,
he runs hard every single time and he can be

(01:30:14):
a nightmare. Now, maybe the same situation comes if it's
Falcon Saints in the first round. Maybe the Saints don't
want to see the Falcons because of of their division history.
But I just don't see this Falcons team being a
threat even though they're the NFC champs. I don't think
there is a to be the champs. You gotta beat
the champs. With Atlanta, I just think that the gap
between what you've got on top of the NFC and

(01:30:37):
this next year is too wide for Atlanta or even
Seattle to overcome. Inconsistent man manly inconsistent throughout the season. However,
which one bothers you more? The Falcons because of what
they did last year, I think, I think for me
probably Seattle because I think I've grown to fall in

(01:30:57):
love with their defense and how they play on defense us,
the style of play, what they do, what they believe
in UM. I think with Atlanta, I knew it would
be hard mentally. When you get that close to winning
a Super Bowl and you let it slip, it is
hard to get your mind right to come back and
make another run. I've talked to some of their players.
I saw their players in the off season. They said, Man,
it's just gonna be so hard for us to trust

(01:31:19):
the coaches when we're right there, the game is right
there for us to win it, and we find a
way to let us slip through our fingers I just
knew they would be fractured with Seattle. I thought that
defense would always be the leasona boom. They always would
play a certain um, play with a certain swag of
certain demeanor characteristic and they would find a way on
offense to produce enough points. The biggest baffling thing for

(01:31:42):
me when it comes to the Seahawks, why can't they
find a running game? They moved on from Marshawn Lynch
and they have not been able to find a consistent
run game since. That has been the biggest reason why
their offense has been inconsistent for years. From the beginning
of the Pete Carroll era, this was a team that
could run the ball and run it down your throat

(01:32:02):
that anyway. When they won the Super Bowl against the Broncos,
I believe that they were the highest paid offensive line
in the NFL. But you had Max Hunger, you had
Russell o'coon, you had guys who made money. And the
theory of Seattle and is somebody who's watched them a lot.
But what bothers me the most is isn't that you
had to take that money and allocated elsewhere that that's

(01:32:25):
not the other teams have this problem. My issue is
I see what the Vikings did, and we alluded to
them earlier on in the show. They were just bruised
and battered last year. They made a bunch of changes.
They draft Pad alf Line to be their starting center,
They make some moves and guess what it comes together
to working concert with their defense, which is the same
darn exact recipe of the Seahawks did four years ago

(01:32:48):
for to win their Super Bowl. But for some reason,
the pieces that the Seahawks have put into the offensive
line just don't work. And whether it be taking guys
who can play multiple positions and wanting to use that
as an issue, we're taking defensive lineman and trying to
make them offensive lineman. Nothing seems to be cohesive at all.
And I know they lost George Fant. You didn't even

(01:33:08):
know if he was gonna be a good tackle or not.
You had no idea, but you were playing with a
backup left tackle to start the season. It just doesn't
seem like there's ever been a cohesive plan to put
something in front of Russell Wilson to allow him to
succeed or allow the run game to succeed. When you
pay the quarterback. It changed the way you have to
construct your team. When you pay Russell Wilson and he's

(01:33:29):
making twenty two twenty three million annually, it changes the
dynamics when it comes to being able to play other people.
The Seattle Seahawks elected to pay their defensive players, which
they should have because they were the number one defensive
football for like four years in a row, and they
wanted to pay the quarterback. Everyone else had to kind
of get in where they fit in. Well, what happens
over a period of time over three or four years,

(01:33:52):
if you don't replenish those spots, those spots that were
big money spots that you knew you had to move
on from with capable players, the roster begins to trickle down.
And what we've seen is they haven't hit on offensive
lineman in the draft, be a tree agent, free agency,
be a development. They haven't been able to find that,

(01:34:13):
and so they don't have any money invested in those positions,
and so it's tough to get good when you don't
have invested interest. They probably would have been better served
to just throw some darts at some offensive lineman, say
we're gonna draft one of the first one of the
third playing the same position and figured out one of
those guys that eventually hit they tried to do with
Germain or Effetti, and he leads to the National Football

(01:34:35):
League and Penalties as a first round pick. A couple
of years ago, Justin Brett was a day to pick.
They moved in from tackle the guard. Now he's their center.
That took ethan posting from l s u who played center,
and now he's playing right guard. It's just I don't
need you need some connuity. And until they're able to
kind of put out the same unit week after week

(01:34:56):
doing the same things, it'd be hard for them to
get good enough to kind of play this style. I
think the big thing is the Seattle Seahawks need to
understand who they are and right now they can be
who they want to be. They can't run the football,
so you gotta figure out a way to have enough
balance to keep the rushes off Russell Wilson while also
creating enough big play opportunities in the passing. He's Bucky

(01:35:18):
Brooks of the NFL Network and NFL veteran. I'm Dan Buyer.
We are in for Doug Gottlieb today here on this
Christmas Day on Fox Sports Radio. You can always reach
us on Twitter. I'm at Dan Buyer on Fox and
you can get Bucky at Bucky Brooks. You talk about cohesiveness,
you talk about continuity. Well, one team in the NFL
is about to start a string that other squads would envy.

(01:35:39):
Will tell you who that team is and why next
on Fox Sports Radio, It's the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. He's Bucky Brooks. I'm Dan Buyer. Tight
one in the NBA, Calves and Warriors going down to
the wire about two and a half minutes left. Warriors
are up by two and the Texans on a fourth
and goal downtend. Nothing to the Pittsburgh Steelers. T J.

(01:36:02):
Yates was just picked off, although I think they have
to review it, so I'm not sure exactly what we're
gonna get Bucky Brooks. But if there is anything that
could sum up the Texans season, this play just did it.
Fourth and goal from the one inch line. They throw
a pass into the end zone that is intercepted, So
not only do they not get the points of a

(01:36:24):
touchdown or field goal, they also then lose the twenty
yards because of the interception, so Pittsburgh won't even be
backed up in their own end zone. That is the
most Houston Texans thing you could get. Yeah, it is
absolutely something that is uh, I guess kind of embodies
what the Houston texts have been dealing with all season.
But look at it this way, you know, because I'm

(01:36:47):
I'm part of the Jimmy g Love affair and what
he's been able to do with the San Francisco for
I think, if anything, the last few weeks since Deshaun
Watson has disappeared, you could say that he has been
just as valuable and just as missed to the Houston Texans.
You're talking about a guy who is erased all of
the wolves that we saw from the Houston Texas and

(01:37:08):
the Bill O'Brien, the supposed quarterback guru. Deshan Watson made
this team score. They were averaging thirty four point five
points a game. When he's at quarterback, he leaves and
they go back to being awful. He and Jimmy Garoppolo
maybe there's the two best quarterbacks in the league. What
was amazing about when Watson went hurt as well was

(01:37:29):
you would think, like, oh geez, this is gonna be
it for the Texans. Well, they had only had three
wins at that point anyway, because they were they're blown
out opening week against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then you had
some action between them. But this is now just a
four win team, three of those wins coming thanks to
Deshaun Watson, and everything else has been out the window.
The Texans right now sitting with the fifth worst record

(01:37:52):
in the National Football League. They could tie with the Buccaneers.
The reason we bring this up is because we're looking
at draft picks. Cleveland clinched the number one we're all
pick by losing yesterday against the Chicago Bears, and congratulations
Cleveland for that on their way to an OH and
fifteen start. But now you see teams jockeying for position
for those top couple of spots, and one of the

(01:38:13):
one of the teams you don't see anymore is the
team that you mentioned, the San Francisco forty Niners with
Jimmy Garoppolo. And you're looking if you're trying to project
and you look forward, you talk about continuity and stability
in an off season that I think could be pretty
drastic for changes that we see on sidelines. The continuity
that you've got, at least the commitment that the York's

(01:38:34):
made to John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan is really really
a big deal. And now add Jimmy Garoppolo on top
of that. I mean, we're gonna have a new NFC
West look I think in the next five or ten years,
just because of the stability that you've got with the
forty Niners. Yeah, there's a change of the guard at
the top. Obviously, the l A Rams win a division. Um,

(01:38:55):
they've all to the top. You feel good about what
the Rams will be going forward, Jared Goff. You like
Sean McVeigh, you like all the things that they're able
to do. Then you look at Jimmy Garoppolo stabilizing the
quarterback situation, long term contract for John Lynch and also
Kyle Shanahan. Yeah, they're well positioned to be good. I
think the big thing for the San Francisco forty Niners,

(01:39:16):
now that you've won some games with jim Garoppolo, dealing
with this supporting cast, I think they need to find
a playmaker running back and need to find another dominant
option in the past game be at a tight end,
be it a wide receiver, something to help him out.
Because if they can find a way to score more
points consistently, that defense is close to being a really,
really dominant team, one that we saw at the early

(01:39:38):
part of this decade. They get that defense right to
go with an offense they can put points up. Yeah,
they're gonna be a tough team to deal with an
NFC West. I think top five in the run the
last maybe month or so with that defense, I think
that playing well. They've committed a lot of draft picks
and capital to the front line with three first round

(01:39:58):
picks Solomon Thomas, Eric Astad who was on I r UM,
did Forest Buckner? Didn't you have Ruben Foster? They needed
to linebacker the gore of Ruben Foster, find a big
time quarterback and a safety. The defense is offered running.
I like what they're doing, and I was skeptical at first. Obviously,
John Lynch coming from the broadcast booth to the front office,
I wondered how it would look. But he has a

(01:40:20):
great team around him, Martin Mayhew, Adam Peter, some of
the other scouts that they have Ran Carthon, director of
pro They have put together a nice squad I think
there's hope and optimism in San Francisco. And remember this
is the team that did lose on offense Pierre Garson
to an injury, so they don't even have a true
number one. Mark He's Goodwin's fantastic. Since Jimmy Garoppolo has

(01:40:41):
taken over, he has been a big time player. He's
exceeded everybody's expect He didn't think Mark he's good when
would be anything more than a number three. He has
stepped up and be in a key part of their
passing game since jim Garoppolo has taken over. That's what's
so interesting is we see this year in the NFL
and it's nothing new when the team goes from worst
to first. Heck, we had it with the Eagles in
the NF See East. But when you have got what

(01:41:02):
I think is a long term change, the future in
Arizona is cloudy just because you don't know what it's next,
and I don't think things are going up Bruce arians
whether he comes back next year or not, You're gonna
have to make a decision on quarterback. Yeah, I mean
there's you've got to You've got to address that position. Defensively,

(01:41:22):
it was. It was a place where they could hang
their hat. I love Patrick Peterson. I've always loved Patrick Peterson.
I think he's a top corner in the NFL. Which
isn't going out on a limb or saying anything, but
just you just wonder if the pieces are there for
for them to play defense like they did two or
three years ago. When you look at that NFC West,
I mean now you're looking at the Rams with their

(01:41:43):
success in the forty Niners on the up. You don't
know what's going to happen with Seattle. It's a division
that seems to be turning upside down from what we
saw just a couple of years ago. It is an
upside down. I think Arizona has interesting decision that they
have to make first with a Hayd coach. Does Bruce
Arians come back second? With the quarterback? We heard Bruce
Arias kind of float out there there, Oh, maybe Blain
Garb it could be the quarterback going forward? Then he

(01:42:04):
backs off of that. They started to stand out the
New York Giants, um, who's the quarterback? That's what they
want to do? Can they play with a young quarterback?
Can still have success if Bruce Arians is the coach.
If he's not the coach, who's the next guy. What
does the next guy want? Are they more of a
defensive oriented squad or are they a team to continues
to live by their offense. They will get David Johnson back,

(01:42:25):
that helps, but they have to figure out what they
want to do at quarterback. That is a huge question
mark for the Cardinal. It's funny as we watch Levy
on Bell break a run for the Pittsburgh Steelers as
their uptend nothing on the the Texans and David gascun
Is gonna have more on that in a bit. But
I've always felt that the guy most interested in the
Levy on Bell contract docs was David Johnson, absolutely, because
they're similar players in terms of what they bring to

(01:42:46):
the table. They're guys that just accumulate scrimmage yards. Both
of these guys can get over two thousand scrimmag yards
as runners and receivers, do a great job as HydroD
hybrid playmakers. David Johnson's terrific. He does want to see
what Levian Bill is able to bring in leave Bill
is getting twelve million this year on a tag leve
Bill said, I am a number one running back and

(01:43:07):
a number two receiver. I want to be paid as such.
Let's see what happens with Pittsburgh. Still is in that deal.
SS the standard in the stage, but Dave Johnson in
his negotiations, things are a bit closer in the Bay.
He's Bucky Brooks. I'm Dan Buyer. David Gascon is here
to tell us what's happening in the association and what's
going on in the NFL. As Christmas Day has turned

(01:43:28):
out to be quite exciting for some of these matchups.
Pretty darn Gil, it's good ahead of Oracle Arena right
now with Golden State in Cleveland. Bell rebouts say that
the Draymond fresh plot Clay Thompson thirteen footer back iron
it goes now Warriors Radio netwhere Thompson's got seventeen points
to high man those Kevin Durant, He's got twenty eight
and six so far in Golden State, clinging to a

(01:43:49):
three point advantage with thirty seconds to go in this
one to two and the losing costs so far, Kevin
Love has been tremendous thirty one points six of ten
from downtown, seventeen rebounds. He's complimented nicely by Lebron James
has got twenty seven and six, but he's also got
seven turnovers in this one. Golden State again up by three,

(01:44:09):
but Lebron James and company do have the basketball with
thirty seconds to go. Earlier today, the seventies Sixers dropped
the Knicks one oh five to Philadelphia, snaps their five
games skid in the NFL. Pittsburgh and Houston. Ben in
the gun, gets the snap, he's back, he waits, he surveys,
he comes forward, throws to the touchdown US start Hunter

(01:44:31):
Steelers Radio Networth. They're on top right now. Ten nothing
t J Yates through a pick in the end zone.
They have third down and goal to go at the
one through an incomplete pass and the one play later
have the I and teen to turnover. Obviously for them Pittsburgh,
if they win the ball game today, they will lock
down the number two see in the a f C
playoffs and capture a first round by They don't own
the tiebreaker with New England. They do not hold the

(01:44:53):
timebreaker with Jacksonville, so they have to win today. Otherwise
they're gonna hope for Jacksonville to lose next weekend against
the Tennessee tie, and gentlemen, never in the history of
sports has the phrase said Ben said in crunch time,
we need to get the ball in the hands of
t J Yates end quotes. That's what the Texans did
twice at the one inch line and they don't get in.

(01:45:15):
And by the way, in that game that they've talked
about between the Cavaliers and Warriors, Lebron James went to
the basket. I thought he was fouled these Bucky Brooks.
I'm dan by. It looked like he was followed by
Kevin Durant. Now going to a red now going to
a replay on if the ball was knocked out. I
think what they're going to say is Kevin Durant touched
it last and it's gonna be Calves ball. But they're

(01:45:37):
down by three seconds left, seconds left, so now they
can't do the two for one. Who will take the
three to tie it up? If they get the ball
back on the clock seven second differential, who takes the shot?
This is? This is Kevin Love has actually been pretty
good in this game. Yeah, six of ten from behind
the arc, so there could be looking for something with him.

(01:45:59):
You could also then, yeah, the Warriors have so many
good shooters that you know, maybe in the way that
the Calves like to throw up threes. I think you're
going to see a three point attempt at least at
this spot. I would expect the Cavaliers to get the ball.
We will keep you updated. It is the Doug Gottlieb
Show here on this Christmas Day on Fox Sports Radio.
Say mentioned he's Buckey Brooks are the NFL Network. I'm
Dan Buyer. In today's show brought to you by auto Zone.

(01:46:19):
Get in your zone with great value offers and free
services that help your vehicle deliver its best performance. Auto
Zone is everything to get you what you need. Get
on the zone. Auto Zone. So the Warriors and Cavaliers
are underway. Did they rule? Oh my gosh, basketball, I
think they awarded the ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Excuse

(01:46:40):
me in the Golden State Warriors. I don't understand replay
in any league right now. I don't know that what's
the what's the point? What's the point were if we
were playing pick up, I would have got ball back.
That's all that's bad. This is the thing if you
can see it on replay, I don't think even though
that there's visual evidence that the ball went off of Lebron.
If you could also see him hacking the arm of

(01:47:02):
I think most fans would be like, Okay, give them
the ball because the foul wasn't called. I think they'd
be fine with it. But the NBA then goes to
the replay room overturn it. Yeah, you would like to
think it was obvious that it went off of Lebron.
I don't know if it was dead obvious that it
went off his hand. Clay Thompson's gonna go to the
free throw line as the Warriors have a three Clay.

(01:47:22):
Clay hasn't reacted as well with Steph Curry out of
the lineup as many would have hoped, so we'll have
to see. Hasn't shot a free throw yet today, but
he's got twenty points and the Steelers are driving after
getting that stop to the Houston Texans. There's gonna be
a lot of decisions made at the end of the
regular season about coaches. We just mentioned. Bruce arians has
got one for himself in Arizona, whether he's gonna want
to continue to coach the Cardinals or not, and there

(01:47:44):
were reports mid season that he was ready to step
aside by my count as I tried to do this,
and I know you did as as well. There could
be maybe five four or five guaranteed openings. Throw on
another eight or nine buy just from from rumors that
were that we have heard. I mean, you can see
a coaching carousel that goes over a third of the

(01:48:05):
National Football League. We may have as many as tens.
I'm looking Arizona, Indianapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, New York, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Detroit,
and Denver. I mean, if this is space, this would
be a bunch of possible and there it comes down
to jobs that could be available. And this is what
John Fox I would say, this is the four guaranteed,

(01:48:27):
the four guaranteed where you're going to see a new
head coach the Giants for sure, because Ben McAdoo is out.
India makes a change with Chuck Pagano, I think that's guaranteed.
I think Chicago makes a change with John Fox. The
other guarantee is I do think a change will be
made in Cincinnati that then starts a domino effect of
who then would want to take over the Bengals because
you do have former assistance that are now head coach,

(01:48:49):
and you pointed out off the air, so I'm gonna
put the words into your mouth. What we talked about
earlier was that who knows what's going on with with
the Cleveland Browns or the Washington In Redskins. You could
see a J. Gruden or Hugh Jackson maybe making their
way to Cincinnati if if Marvin Lewis moves on. Yeah,
I think so. I think you know, Hugh Jackson was
a name that was floated out promptly because he is

(01:49:10):
well liked in the Bengals front office. The owner obviously
thought he did a great job with Andy Dalton and
elevating that offense. There's a situation where maybe Cleveland moves
on from Hugh Jackson, Hugh Jackson falls, and Cincinnati gives
them I mean, I guess I can still call him
the quarterback google I can't say over the last two years,
but gives them the guy that really helped elevate Andy

(01:49:31):
Dalton's game. I think the big thing that you want
to see with all of these jobs, who are the
guys that can replace them? Because I don't know if
they are enough capable guys that can step in and
fill those seats as head coaches. I think it'd be
interesting to see how this plays out. UM fans management increasingly,

(01:49:51):
UM yeah, with their with their coaches now and and
when we say perception is reality, and lot of cases
when apathy sinks in, you have to do something, whether
it's warranted or not. I feel that when the when
the fan base is turned off by what is going on,
you have to make a change. And I think that

(01:50:12):
there are spots Bucky throughout the NFL that may not
seem as and and I don't want to start rumors
that's not what it is. But when you have when
you have teams that don't live up to expectations and fans,
instead of being angry or mad, just tune out, that's
a big problem. And I think that that there there
are there are certain instances that that that could happen.

(01:50:35):
Jack del Rio's name was brought up as a possibility
in Oakland of of maybe if things totally fall off
the map these last two games, that could be an option. UM.
Green Bay isn't happy missing the playoffs and Aaron Rodgers
injury was the reason for it. But I do know
being growing up in that fan base that the Ted
Thompson Mike McCarthy Packer fans aren't saying, hey, all right,

(01:50:58):
good we made it to the playoffs again and lost.
They want to know why Aaron Rodgers has only been
to one Super Bowl and granted he wanted, but why
he's been there? So they're Detroit is another. Sure, they're
in the playoff hunt, but are we really thinking as
the Lions on the verge of the next step to
go on the road and lose to Cincinnati yesterday. I
think there are other spots in the NFL that may
have people just scratching their chins a little bit wondering,

(01:51:18):
especially off the success of Sean McVeigh of the Rams
coming over and taking over from his coordinator position as
he did a year ago. Oh absolutely, there's a lot
of that. They're always a handful of surprise firings, things
that we don't necessarily see, things that weren't on the radar,
where we see guys Jettison and I think the biggest
issue that um you're seeing is because you're seeing some

(01:51:39):
of these coaches orchestrate these quick turnarounds. You're seeing Sean
McVeigh jumping in l A L A goes right to
the playoffs. Ownership is looking at a Sean McVeigh wanted,
why can't my guy do that? Why can't we go
to the playoffs like that? Why can't we be a
team that makes a couple of changes, kind of bring
in some free agents and we get right back to
being at the opensive division. No longer our coach is

(01:52:02):
going to be able to sell the three, four or
five year plan to get back right. You have to
be able to win, and you have to be able
to win while doing a rebuild. And I think that
is something that's very very difficult. It is challenging, is trying,
but that is the climate that we're living in today.
That's what makes it so interesting when you hear Jeff
Fisher saying he had a lot to do with the Rams,

(01:52:23):
But the first month Jeff Fisher had two quarterbacks looking
like bust. We were laughing at Case Keenan and Jerry Golf.
They go elsewhere, they have different coaches, and both of
those guys look like m v P caliber players. Yeah,
I understand what Jeff Fisher is selling in terms of
player acquisition, but uh, they would be seven and nine.
They will continue to be the team that they were

(01:52:43):
when he was here. Let's need is like, um, hello,
hello over here? Uh yeah, general manager is my name.
And truly even during their down years, even over these
last couple of seasons, whether it be the first you're
in l A or their last season in St. Louis,

(01:53:03):
you knew that. I mean when they took Aaron Remember
Aaron Donald and Todd Gurley weren't top five picks. They
had top five maybe caliber and then but Gurley at
the knee injury. Donald I can't remember his exact situation.
It was the big thing with Donald. He's not a
prototypical defensive tackle in terms of size, physical dimensions. He's

(01:53:25):
six one. He's just not what you normally see inside
that dominates in the league. For a long time, because
of that, he was downgraded and that's why he didn't
go at the top of the round. People liked his energy,
that liked his a building. He was very productive, but
part of the draft is the beauty pageant, and he
wasn't necessarily the show pony when it came down to

(01:53:47):
looking and seeing what he is and what he could be.
And when you have a top three running back in
the NFL and arguably the top interior defensive lineman in
the National Football League, and you you cadn't do anything
with that, then that's the bad luck on Jeff Fisher,
because if you go way back and you really look
at the Jeff Fisher are the reason he was I

(01:54:08):
think it was undone. They got a bunch of picks
for the r G three trade. They had an opportunity
to control the draft for two or three years in
a row. They were supposed to load up on a
bunch of productive players and then be a dominant team
in the NFC West. That didn't happen. They accumulated nice players,
they got some guys Michael Rocker's Truemain Johnson came over.
Um they've been able to continue to add pieces to that,

(01:54:30):
but they weren't winning games. It wasn't util Sean McVeigh
comes over with his offensive staff. He brings over Wave
Phillips and their defensive staff that they played playoff caliber football.
So no matter what Jeff Fisher says, he did have
a lot to do with it because they weren't winning.
He brought a lot of players, but the team wasn't
performing well. That's why they got Sean McVeigh and crew.
That's why they're playing well right now. He's Bucky Brooks.

(01:54:52):
I'm Dan Buyer. We are in for Doug gottliep here
on Fox Sports Radio. On this Christmas Day, the Warriors
top the Cavaliers to nine two. Clay Thompson at those
free throws, calves turnover and miss shot, and then I
added a couple more. So the Warriors get a seven
point win over the Cavaliers, while the Texans continue to
be the trailing. The Steelers seen to nothing too to

(01:55:15):
go in the first half. You want to know the
biggest question I have about Bill O'Brien, and I truly
don't know the answer, And this is no joke. I
don't understand why he has a black cap. They don't
wear black like I thought it would be a Navy
but he wears a black Texans cap every single game.
And I don't think that those are made I think
that's especially made cap for Bill O'Brien because he wants

(01:55:37):
to wear a black baseball cap. You at Bucky Brooks
is where you could get him on Twitter. You can
get me at Dan Buyer on Fox. Yes, the playoff
field will be made clear. In just a week, we'll
tell you what it'll look like next here on Fox
Sports Radio. Apparently this is just a live version that

(01:55:58):
we have got. It's the Dug Gottlieb Show on FI
Sports Radio. Uh the Hanakah song. Bobar technical producers said
that he figured I'd like this. I'm Lutheran, you know,
that's all. I don't know if he's Bucky Brooks. I'm
Dan Buyer. We'reing for Doug Gottlieb today. But who don't
like Adam Sandlers seeing game true? You know what? The
other thing I ever realized about this, there's only the

(01:56:18):
live version available. I don't think there's ever a studio
version of this. Was there? There was? There was none. Um,
just like there was no Houston Texans scoring on this
Christmas Day, down seventeen and nothing to the Steelers as
the two minute warning is is here. I think I've
seen more of J. J. Watt in the stance t J. Watt,
of course playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But when you

(01:56:39):
look at the future of the Houston Texans, Bucky the future.
We waxed poetically on Deshaun Watson a little bit earlier,
but I have a question about what the future of J. J.
Watt actually is going to be because we're talking about
a guy who sure was the defensive Player of the
Year in the National Football League, but is now coming
off of back to back seasons where he season ending

(01:57:01):
injuries and the the the health of We know that
we know the backstory of NFL players in health and
and to see what he's had to go through, I
just wonder if whate we're gonna see J. J. Watt
is the same J. J. Watt. No, I don't think
we'll see the same J. J. Watt that was a
three time Defensive Player of the Year, is a three
time or four times three, I don't think we'll see
that guy returned. I think when you get to a

(01:57:22):
certain age, the injuries started to take away from the
closeness and the athleticism that you have. And so I
think we may be able to get a chance to
see J. J. Watt that can flash. He can make
a player two that will make us remember what he
used to be. But in terms of being that dominant
guy that he absolutely took over the game week after
week after week, now, I don't think we'll see that J. J. Watt.

(01:57:44):
I think the bigger thing to look at when you're
to Houston Texans, will Bill O'Brien still be the coach.
We've heard the rumors about the discord between the general
manager and the head coach. We've seen this team struggle
trying to get the quarterback position right for years and
years on end. He came over with the reputation for
being a quarterback guru. We saw them cycle through a

(01:58:06):
bunch of different quarterbacks before they landed on Deshaun Wasson,
and to his credit, he made Deshaun Wasson look like
an absolute superstar. And I think the bigger thing is
when you're Bill O'Brien and you have a reputation for
being an offensive guru, how come you're not able to
come up with other plans. We've seen the Minnesota Vikings

(01:58:26):
thrive without their number one quarterback. We've seen other teams
continue to be consistent without the number one quarterback. It
may not look the same as the number one, but
you would expect them to be creative enough to find
ways to move the ball, and they haven't been able
to do that enough. And I think they've actually wasted
some prime years for the Houston Texas because their defense,

(01:58:46):
I mean for two or three years, one of the
top three four defenses in the league, and they haven't
been able to cash in on it because they can't
move past certain barriers because their quarterback wasn't good enough
to get them there. And how many times have we
are how a teams would want a guy like DeAndre Hopkins.
You know that caliber. So it's not like it's not
like you could say, well, we just didn't surround him

(01:59:07):
with weapons. You've got one of the top five wide receivers,
top ten wide receivers in the National Football League. Texans
losing to the Steelers right now against seventeen and nothing
coming up a bit later on tonight, it's the Raiders
taking on the Eagles. We mentioned the NFL playoffs and
how the playoff picture shakes out. In the a f C,
there are four teams going for two spots. In the NFC,

(01:59:28):
there are two teams going for one spot in the NFC.
It's simple. If the Falcons end up winning against Carolina
at home in Week seventeen, they are in. But if
they lose, that allows the Seahawks to have an opportunity
to beat the Cardinals and go into the NFC into
the NFC playoffs as a wild card. In the a
f C, it's a little bit trickier. Ravens have the

(01:59:49):
best edge and the Titans really need to win and
after that than the Chargers and Bills needing a little
bit of help. But as we said, it's the Chargers
that are that team that's lurking on the outside hide
that I think other teams would rather not see in
the playoffs, especially those that are in the postseason. Oh absolutely,
I mean the charge of are a team that are
dangerous because the past rushers are there. You've got a

(02:00:09):
veteran quarterback in Philip Rivers that can put up points
um as a one man show if he needs to.
I think they're definitely dangerous. I think when you're trying
to find hot teams, you're trying to find teams that
can create difficult matchups. As a lower C the LA
Charges can create difficult matchups. I think in the NFC
the Sattles don't necessarily create difficult matchups, but I think

(02:00:32):
they can be problematic because their defense is always capable
of throwing a vintage performance out. I thought they played
very very well against the Dallas Cowboys, if they get
in depended upon who they're matched up with, they can
create problems because they're still talented along the front force,
Sheldon Richardson, Michael Bennett. They have the linebackers kJ Wright,
Bobby Wagner, they can give problems, and Russell Wilson in

(02:00:52):
a one game scenario, can play like an m VP
who's done a better job first year head coach Anthony
Leonard Sean McDermott. Because both of those teams are close
but right now on the outside looking in. I would
give the nod to McDermott because I thought the Bills
were just giving up on the season and at least
you had Philip Rivers and Keenan Allen and pieces in place.
With the Chargers, I would give McDermott the nod. But

(02:01:14):
to see where both of those teams are right now,
I think it's about a push. I think the big
thing with McDermott, and we will never know whose call
it was, the Nathan Peterman decision, the experiment in the
middle of the year when the team was kind of
in position to make a run. I think that's the
thing that works against Both guys are a credit because
I see two teams that played very, very hard, they
played together. I think the future is bright for both

(02:01:34):
both organizations. Is gotta keep training the right way and
name a game, maybe outside that Chief's game, that the
Chargers weren't in this season. It's very hard to do,
and a team that nobody wants to see in the
a f C playoffs

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Doug Gottlieb

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