May 7, 2018 • 37 mins
Doug points out the difference between teams who are successful in the regular season vs. teams that successful in the post season. After Stan Van Gundy and the Pistons part ways, Doug thinks there won't be any more coaches who also control the front office. Plus NBA Champion Caron Butler joins the show to talk about the Raptors blowing it on LeBron James' game winning shot.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Dune got lead show
on Fox Sports Radio the Utah Jazz. I thought maybe
they were at the bottom of the series against the
Houston Rockets, and maybe it's my fault. Jonas I brought
this up yesterday and I said, realistically, looking at these
four conference semifinal series, which one is truly still up
in the air, and I felt it was really only
(00:23):
the seventies sixers in Celtics. Now the next closest one,
I would say, Rockets Jazz. There was only one game in,
but the Rockets had defended their home court, and I
just felt that if they they got game two, even
though it's very difficult to play in Salt Lake and
it is a great home court for the Jazz, that
if the Rockets could get up too, oh, they are
a very good team at home, as most good teams are.
(00:46):
I just felt it was gonna be the Rockets series
and that we were looking ahead to the conference finals
between Golden State and Houston. But a funny thing happened
along the way. The Utah Jazz took it to the
Houston Rockets last night and winning game too once sixteen
to one oh eight in a game Jonas that Utah
led by nineteen only that I have Houston come all
(01:07):
the way back and tie it. And I didn't get
the sense that it was a Houston team that was
out of gas because of the comeback that they had.
I just got the sense that Utah was just a
better team last night in so many different ways. And
not to make it general, but the fact is Utah
had guys step up that you didn't necessarily expect to,
(01:27):
and the Rockets just didn't step up last night. Well,
you don't get the impression that if it gets down
to a grind it out, tough type of game or tough,
stipe type of style of play, that Utah is gonna
have the advantage to where Houston is so dependent on
We've got to hit shots, We've got to hit threes.
It's it's what has to happen for us to win
a game. Utah goes out there, they'll grind you. I mean,
(01:49):
Donovan Mitchell didn't play that great. I mean didn't have
that good of a game, but Joe Ingles wherever the
hell that guy came from, had seven threes and Donovan
Mitchell had to put back dunk to where he just
wanted it more than anybody else at that time, and
it was just one of those games to where I
I no matter what Houston was going to do, I
just trusted that that game was gonna get dirty late.
(02:11):
Houston wasn't seeing shots fall, and Utah was gonna win
that game. Usta at a tough time knocking down shot,
something that Joe Ingles didn't. Quinn Snyder, the Utah Jazz coach,
on the great performance by his guard last night. I
was getting Joe hard time. You know, he started last
year probably as our fifth wing. He wasn't that for long.
But I've mentioned it before. I think every time that
(02:33):
Joe's needed to step up his game, he's been able
to do that. I'm not surprised, but it's certainly very
timely performance given the situation. And this is a well
rounded Utah team that is playing without Ricky Rubio and
to see what Utah has jonas I look at it
and this is this has been my argument with the
Philadelphia seventy sixers before, because it wasn't just Joe Ingles
(02:56):
last night. It was Alec Burke's coming in and having
a great first half. It was Dante exam at the
end of the game making some big plays for Utah
to really hold off the Houston Rockets. You can have
a great player and Donovan Mitchell on your team. Many
NBA teams, oddly enough, have really good or great players,
(03:16):
but it's the pieces around them that will limit how
good they can get. And I look at the seventies sixers.
For as much as people want to go crazy about
Joel Embiide and Ben Simmons and what he's been doing
this season, it also helps to have a J. J. Reddick,
Robert Covington, Marco Bellonelli, a T. J. Mcconnald to have
(03:38):
those guys play alongside with you that can play at
a high level. Utah got that last night is Donovan
Mitchell once just six one from the floor. And also
that the Rockets didn't hit shots, but Utah on the
way that they filled out their team and how that
that team is constructed, got production in places that we've
wondered if the Cavaliers would ever get production from anybody
outside of Lebron. Utah is doing it with pieces and
(04:00):
Utah sort of as and this has been an issue
that Boston has had up until the last couple of years.
To where they've actually landed a couple of free agents.
Unless you do well in the draft or unless you
do well in trades, it's tough for Utah to bring
in top tier talent to Salt Lake be a free agency.
Guys would just rather go somewhere else. And that's not
(04:20):
a knock in the city. Beautiful place, a good organization
with good history, despite what Russell Westbrook says, good fans,
all the all of that that goes with it. But
this just goes to show that as an organization, they've
identified guys that are going to play for Quin Snyder.
By the way, quick side note, Quinn stant are we
sure he's not Patrick Bateman from American Psycho? Are we are?
(04:42):
We are? We absolutely sure? Because I I am not
quite sure whether or not Quinn Snyder is not Patrick
Bateman from American Side that is the Christian Bale character. Yeah,
they kind of do have the same kind of a look.
Probably should have gone over that before the show, before
I realized nobody else has seen that movie. I've missed it.
John knew it. That's well, I mean, look it's that's
John Um. But in all seriousness, you look at Utah
(05:04):
and They've just done a better job than most teams
in the league identifying players they want. They wanted Jay
Crowder for a couple of years now, like they they
identified as a guy that could play in that system
and could play well. And I'm telling you you get
into these games to where that's that. I think that's
the biggest difference between Golden State in Houston. When Golden
States shot isn't falling, they've got other pitches to their arsenal.
(05:29):
You know, they're not just reliant on a fastball. They've
got something else that they can go to if they're
not feeling it that day. With Houston, what what else
do you got? I mean, there was a point there
to where um p J. Tucker was trying to to
to rough up Donovan Mitchell and in a loose ball
tie up, and it was like they needed p J.
Tucker to spark them, to get them going somehow, because
(05:52):
it's almost like they know how to play one style.
They don't have another option. There is no there is
no off speed pitch to go along with their fastball,
and it's not work. Yeah, it helps. I mean, obviously
with Golden State in the caliber of players that Kevin Durant,
Steph Curry, and Clay Thompson are That helps to have
those top top tier players at your disposal. But the
(06:13):
point that I agree with and that you're making is
if if James Harden isn't having a great night like
last night where he was off, there is there is
no one there to maybe pick up any slack. Eric
Gordon's not gonna say you know what, I got this
even though he had fifteen off the bench last night.
It's not going to be hey, I'm gonna take this over,
(06:35):
or Trevor Ariza is gonna say hold on. What makes
Houston deadly is when Harden is on and then other
teams try to stop him, and then everybody else gets
there is at a much easier at a much easier pace.
So when they're rolling, they are rolling. They are very
very difficult to beat. But when you stop James hard,
which is extremely difficult to do with the soon to
(06:57):
be m v P, or if he hasn't off night
like he did last night, those other pieces aren't there
necessarily to pick up the slack like you would have
at Golden States. Is Joe Engles, is he your favorite
left handed basketball player of all tow You know you're
a Kenny Anderson guy. You really like Kenny Anderson. What
about Calbert Cheney? No, couldn't stand Calbert Cheney because he
was from Indiana. Okay, but Joe Angles has got to
(07:19):
be in the top three left handed basketball players of
all time. Yeah? Sure, why not? Absolutely would be up there. Okay, yeah? Yeah?
Do you like how I'm pretending like I know who
that is? That's John John Mouth someone who did you say?
Chris mull? Yeah? How could we can forget Chrisma? John? John?
Did you not? Is a first down away from me?
(07:41):
Ten yards away from me? And he mouthed something to
me like I was understanding what read those lips to
the guy at the bus stop over there? What is
what is he saying right now? I'm just curious, I'm John,
Can you let me know? Oh? He said it'll be
here in three minutes. That's John did Um. So yeah,
(08:01):
but now are you calling this series? Is it over? Dan?
Is it now? Is a momentum? I think Houston will
win a game in Salt Lake, So I think I
still think that the Rockets will win this series. Be
sure to catch live editions of the Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Dev is
(08:22):
a Cowboys fan and she is not gonna want to
hear what we are about to say about Jason Witten.
This a little too much, by the Way's Jodas knocks.
I'm Dan Buyer, We're in for Doug Gottlieb. Is this retired?
ESPN is having a sports center special for Jason Witten's retirement.
I'm I'm just wondering. Are we going overboard a little
(08:42):
bit with Jason Witten's retirement? Yeah, a little bit a cowboy?
Is this? Is this fair? Or is this overboard? Well,
here's the deal. ESPN obviously has a dual purpose. They're
celebrating a Witten's former career and they're trying to launch
his next career. Um as a Cowboys fan, I mean
to me, he's one of the all time grades. He's
definitely a Hall of Famer. I'm hearing first ballot. I
(09:03):
don't know about that, but he's a Hall of Famer.
But um, I think because he has been a media darling.
He and Tony Romo, you know, the the duo forever
who never could win the Big One or even get
to the conference championship for that matter. Um, we may
be going a little overboard. As a Cowboys fan, I
don't mind it, but yeah, I think so. Well, then
I will add this because this is going to set
(09:24):
up with Jonas and I are going to dive into
Do you feel the let's just call it the Romo
Witten des era. Do you wish more would have come
out of that? Of course yes, I mean look at
the potential even up until, um, you know, the the
last couple of seasons, even you know, with Witten, with
Dak Prescott as as a quarterback. But no, I think
when Romo was there, he was like, finally the first
(09:46):
seemingly franchise quarterbacks since Troy Aitman for that matter. You know,
most of us lived through Quincy Carter and Chad Hutchinson
and all kinds of random oh my gosh, Brandon we
during the absence of Tony Romo. So I think there
was just so much hope. And you guys know, I mean,
the NFL Cowboys fans were either gonna win the Super
(10:09):
Bowl this year or We're gonna stink this year. There's
no fifty fifty at the beginning of the season. So
I think there was just so much hope and uh
and and and with that defense, you know, with DeMarcus
where for there there for a while, Jay Ratliffe, you know,
they had a solid looking defense for a while. Yeah,
it was a colossal disappointment as far as I'm concerned.
And that then Jonas falls on the shoulder of shoulders
(10:31):
of well Jerry Jones. But here's and he would be
easy to blame. But I will say this about Jerry Jones.
For a team that has done nothing in almost what
we're talking to twenty years what so so, almost almost
a quarter of a century, they've done They've done nothing.
(10:52):
They're the biggest thing in the NFL, and it's not close. Man,
Like these guys Romo never won a Super Bowl, Witten
never won a Super Bowl, get top broadcasting jobs. The
second day walk out of the NFL like that doesn't
happen a lot of places like you look at like
some of these stories. Dez Bryant was a big story.
Des Bryant getting released by the Cowboys was a big story.
(11:15):
We talked about it on the air. There was no
point during des Bryant's career where you would have taken
him over every single wide receiver in the league. He
was never the best player at his position in the
league at any point in his career, but it was
a big story because he's a cowboy. So Jerry Jones
may not have delivered a lot of wins over the
last twenty five years, but that dude's delivered a ton
of relics. Well. And let's let's start before Jerry Jones
(11:38):
bought the team too. I mean, anything with the star
on that helmet, starting from the seventies on, has been
the national story of the National Football League. I mean,
going back to Henry. I mean, it's it's just the
It's a legendary franchise. And yes, some of it has
earned obviously, and some of it is just because these
guys have stars on their helmet. What I just I
(11:58):
look back and I look at this team, and I
even look at the team and how it's constructed now,
because honestly, they fell into dock, but they didn't fall
into what they did with that offensive line and if
at some point during that time with Tony Romo and
with Jason Witten and with as Brian at the top
of the game if their needs would have been addressed.
This team, we look at the one season where they
(12:22):
beat the Lions and lost to the Packers as the
opportunity for Dallas to break That's one season. Yeah, exactly.
We look at that point and point to it and say, oh,
what could have been? But that was the only season
that we can really do that with that core. And
and I'll even put the Marcus where in to that.
You know, part of the conversation they had pieces that
they just did not take advantage of, or it's it's
(12:46):
I hate to say it's a waste because it's not
fair to the individual efforts of what Jason Witten did
or what de Marcus ware did, But as a whole
and as a Cowboy fan, yeah, it was a waste
because they just didn't accomplish anything during that time. I'm
with talent that I think other teams would have loved
to have had. Well, And here's the thing to a
lot of people are like, how can he not come
back and try for another Super Bowl? If the team
(13:09):
that went thirteen and three two seasons ago loses the
first game they play in the playoffs, how is Witten
supposed to think? Yeah, I'll stick it out with you know,
why why put his body through that. He's got, you know,
four kids, He's got this opportunity that most people don't
have a chance to get. His name wasn't even the
conversation a month ago for this gig. Everybody was talking
(13:31):
Peyton Manning or you know, then bred Farv and you
know all of these other names. Uh some coaches. Why
would Witten stick around and continue this, uh, this effort
of futility. I mean, I hate to say that as
a Cowboys fan, but there is always, you know, for
good or or or not so much lately, there's always
been drama surrounding it to whether it was with tarall
(13:52):
Owens and then with Dez Bryant and now with Ezekiel Elliott.
There's always an element of drama and that's also what
draws the eyeballs to this team. And I also think
that what who is his good buddy on the Cowboys
for years and years is best from his Tony Romo
And so Tony Romo got out of the game, did
the broadcasting thing. A lot of people really liked his style.
He had a lot of fun doing it, and they
(14:13):
probably had conversations the first time I started even thinking
about the idea of Witten retiring is do you remember
those rumors that came out when Tennessee was looking for
a head coach. All of a sudden, Jason Witten's name
popped up. I'm like, what, letna say? This guy isn't
even retired. Why is that happening. I wonder if he,
after talking with Romo, said if there's opportunities, I want
to try and pursue something else, because his deb said,
(14:34):
you know, why come back if it's not going to
be for a really, really really good opportunity to chase
the super Bowl. And so when this opportunity comes up,
you can't turn that down. You just can't do it.
It is amazing like growing up watching the NFL in
the nineties, and I know so many of my friends
or people that I that I grew up with that
are still Cowboy fans because of those teams in the nineties.
(14:59):
And it's not just because of the time, because you
remember the other team that was really good back then.
I don't mean there there that was another option, but
everybody sided with the Cowboys. That was always the team
everybody went to, whether they were more popular or more
fun to watch, or whatever the case may be. And
the fact that that is carried on twenty plus years,
(15:20):
and to Deb's point, even further than that, back to
the Tom Landry days, that's incredible marketing and an incredible
job by Jerry Jones. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app. We've got breaking news in the
National Football League. Deb Carson breaking it earlier that Matt
(15:43):
Ryan has agreed to a five year extension. Chris Mortenson
of ESPN the first with the numbers, makes him the
first quarterback getting thirty million dollars a season in the
National Football League gets one million dollars guaranteed. So now
Matt Ryan is the highest paid quarterback in the NFL.
(16:03):
And as we talk about every single time, Jonas, when
a quarterback gets paid, it's not necessarily about that quarterback,
It's about, Okay, who is next, And it only seemed
fitting that Matt Ryan, at least for what he has
led the Atlanta Falcons to in his m v P season,
that because he was next in line for a contract extension,
(16:25):
would get that contract extension. So I'm not surprised that
Matt Ryan got his extension and that he's getting thirty
million dollars gearant in his thirty million dollars annually, excuse me,
and a hundred million dollars guaranteed, because that just seems
to fall in line with everything else with quarterbacks. Surprise
of doing business at that position. That's the way it goes,
and it's in the especially when you see other players
(16:47):
get deals like that. Rogers is the next one, right,
He's gonna be the next one to get paid. You
think Rodgers is upset Matt Ryan just got that money.
You're kidding, Rogers is gonna get paid a grip based
on what Matt Ryan just got because now you've set
the bar at a certain level. So it's just it's
the way it goes. I mean, you can argue back
and forth about whether or not you think he's I mean,
(17:10):
I think Matt Ryan's a pretty good quarterback. I don't
I don't put him in an elite class or anything
like that, but I also understand what the business is like,
and at that position, it's that price four quarterbacks. He
was just next in line, and that's the way it
goes when you look at the Falcons and where they
really had success, I think it's running the football. And
(17:35):
while it's great that Julio Jones is such a main
target of Matt Ryan, I don't think that their success
is tied with Julio Jones. And if you're the Falcons
and you see how last year ended up playing out,
remember when they didn't beat the Eagles in the divisional
(17:57):
playoff game. We talked about that that asked play on
the fourth down play the one option Julio Jones in
the red zone was not is not the sure bet
that maybe some people would casually think Julio Jones and
the red zone has actually been a problem throughout his
career of actually being a main target and go to
(18:21):
situations Matt Ryan, in my mind, in those clutch situations,
Jonas look for Mohammed Sanu or he would look for
Tevin Coleman to make a play out of the backfield.
And while Julio Jones is one of the top five
receivers and big playmakers in the game, when it really
came down to it, and when it really when when
(18:41):
it came down to it for the Atlanta Falcons, they're
really a running team on the shoulders of Davante Freeman
and Tevin Coleman. And you mentioned that Matt Ryan being
you don't think he's the top to your quarterback. I
agree with that assessment. He's good enough to get to
the Falcons to where they need to be. But it
doesn't make any sense ents for them to have Julio
(19:02):
Jones making the what you know, fifteen million dollars a
year that that he's gonna make twelve thirteen million dollars
a year that you would make as a wide receiver,
because their success doesn't rely in that spot. I think
that this is this is locking up their quarterback. They've
also locked up Desmond Truffont to a deal, so they're
(19:23):
trying to do stuff on defense as well. But I
just look at this as being like, Okay, you mentioned
bringing in Calvin Ridley with that first round pick. We
have a lot of the talk with Julio Jones on
following the Falcons on his Instagram page. The Falcons are
a better team when they're not relying on Julio Jones,
and it's evident. Sure he made the great catch in
the Super Bowl and four catches in that Super Bowl
(19:45):
so so when you look at really what Atlanta has done,
I just don't see that their future is with Julio
Jones being that star guy. And I think that this
signing locks up Matt Ryan, but it also means, you
know what, maybe it doesn't doesn't make sense for us
to be paying a wide receiver of Julio Jones caliber,
great and all that amount of money since now we're
(20:06):
giving so much to the quarterback and now to the cornerback,
and now we've got a first round pick. A lot
of these signs, I say, look to Julio Jones maybe
being elsewhere. And the conversation during the draft when the
selection of Calvin Ridley came in, the conversation at the
desk of NFL network slash Fox was, well, it makes
a lot of sense. You know, you lost Taylor Gabriel
(20:27):
and uh in the off season, and uh, you know this,
First of all, you're not drafting a guy with the
first round pick because you're really hoping he can replace
Taylor effing Gabriel. Okay, let's stop, all right, You're drafting
a guy because you're expecting more out of him than
Taylor Gabriel. And so if this means that this is
Julio Jones and they've had an interesting offseason. Didn't need
(20:47):
delete all of his any reference to the Falcons on
his social media or something like that. Yeah, okay, so yeah,
it's off his Instagram. And and there's been like there's
another car conversation where they the organization talked with Julio Jones.
They said that he's in a really good place or
something like that. Just sort of sort of an interesting
(21:08):
situation there with Jones. But this whole the NFL is
a copycat league. And the New Orleans Saints had a
lot of success last year, and the reason they had
a lot of success was the emergence of Alvin Kamara
and mark Ingram and all of a sudden that two
backs set really set New Orleans up to be a
different offense than maybe even what they were before. Now
(21:30):
it was no longer just and Drew Brees. To your point,
this two back set, Tevin Coleman, DeVante Freeman, Atlanta has
been doing it for a couple of years. That's maybe
more of a reason why they were in a super
Bowl than Julio. So the idea that you know, I
don't know if you can give it like you could.
I wouldn't be surprised if Atlanta decided within the next
(21:51):
year or so. All right, let's you know, maybe even
this offseason. If things don't go the way that that
we think it's gonna go and we feel like we've
got something here, they wait to see al Calvin Ridley
performs in in the off season in training camp, and
maybe they look around and go, hey, if we get
a decent enough offer, what are we waiting for? I mean,
let's unload and and you know we've talked about it before,
(22:12):
who's the best wide receiver to win a Super Bowl recently?
Like like Damarius Thomas, what did he? What did he do? So, yeah,
it happened to be on the team that actually won.
There's a lot to what you're saying. And I think
there's a team out there, there's probably several teams out
there would that would overpay for Julia. There was also
something that that we have heard throughout the season, and
(22:34):
Atlanta really caught their stride in the final quarter of
last year. But there was a lot of talk. Remember
this team lost to the Dolphins at home in a
game where I believe they were up seventeen nothing at
halftime this past season, and that's where a lot of
the talks started to come up of Steve Sarkisian as
the offensive coordinator of not making adjustments and teams were
(22:57):
taking the Falcons to the wood shed in the second
half of those games. Steve Sarkisian, I think if you
were to rank the offensive coordinators in the National Football Rank,
rank them, I don't think. I think it's pretty safe
to say he wouldn't be in the top sixteen, the
top half of the NFL. But you know, what's a
lot what makes the job of an offensive coordinator a
(23:19):
lot easier to do is to just be able to
run the ball and then using the run to set
up play action or to set up different plays. And
so Steve stark Sarkasian does like to run the ball,
so that works out well for dan Quinn and what
they want to do on defense. It's he may not
be the top offensive coordinator, and I'm gonna compare it
to Seattle because Daryl Bevil wasn't the top offensive coordinator
(23:43):
in the National Football League, but the defense picked up
a lot of the slack that the offense couldn't do.
But when the offense was rolling with Marshawn Lynch. It
worked well in concert with each other. That's all the
Falcons need. The defense is improving and improving, and we
saw heck, they were the only ones to really shut
down the Eagles in the postseason. The dan Quinn team
is really really taking form. And I don't think that
(24:05):
he minds Steve Sarkisian is as his offensive coordinator despite
the fact that other people think that he isn't as good,
because it helps out what his defense does, and what
Steve Sarkisian does in the air doesn't necessarily benefit Julio Jones.
And I'll give dan Quinn credit. Man, how many times
have we seen a team lose a gut wrenching championship
game in the in the manner that the Falcons not
(24:27):
historically NFL wise, but in other sports, you lose a
game seven, or you lose a big game, and you
go out like that and then the next year you fold.
And Atlanta didn't. And there were several chances for them
to fold. And not only did they play well down
the end, but when they got to the postseason, they
exposed the Rams at home in the Colosseum. They moved
on and they probably should have won that game against Philadelphia,
(24:50):
so they were a play away from being back in
the NFC title game after they lost the Super Bowl
and the most horrific fashion that anybody's ever lost in
historic in the league. So psychologically dan Quinn's got him
set up for success like they're they are set up
just based on those results last year. And and and I
like the fact as well, is that what the Falcons
(25:11):
didn't do that cost them that Super Bowl was running late,
and a lot of that blame goes on Kyle Shanahan
calling the offensive plays at that time. Dan Quinn's gonna
make darn well sure they don't make that mistake again,
and there's where the commitment to the run goes. It's
great to have Julio Jones on your team, no doubt
about that. But when you really look at the value
and you really look at the price, and now you're
(25:32):
paying Matt Ryan thirty million dollars to just be the
guy that is a good enough quarterback to lead you,
I think this almost says more about the future of
the Falcons and Julio Jones than it does anything else.
With Matt Ryan getting his extension, be sure to catch
live editions of the Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at
three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. Let's Talk Some Baseball
(25:55):
is the one and only host of Intentional Talk on
the MLB Network with Chris Rose and World Series champ.
Kevin Millard joined just thanks to seek Kevin, thanks so
much for the time today. Boys, Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it. It is I'm gonna I'm not even
gonna start out with baseball. What you and Chris Rose
do on MLB Network is amazing, And as a broadcaster,
we know how difficult it can be to put on
(26:18):
a show with someone else that is not in the
same studio. How you guys do it on TV? First
of all, it's just a compliment because it's so flawless.
But were there any hiccups early on and doing I
just find it amazing how you guys can pull off
a show like that and not be in the same space.
It's truly amazing. Yes, it was hiccups. I get done
(26:39):
playing all of a sudden, we're like, yeah, we'd like
to try a new show here Intentional Talking, Like okay,
and where's the earpiece, and uh, what do I do
from here? And then we did it from home. So
now you're sitting in the garage with with a camera
and heck, I went to l A City Unoles and
Lamar University, so you're not talking to roades scholar. Thank
goodness for roll help me out big time him And
(27:00):
you know what, We've had a lot of fun. And
once you start the brand and the trust with the players,
it's been a blast. Because our show if you can't
laugh for yourself, and it's not the show for you.
So once players know that they can sit here ragging
each other and ragging other teammates teammates, it's really been
fun that way. And we don't care if you're hitting four.
It's just come on and have some fun for about
eight or nine months and let's do it. Kevin Millar
(27:22):
with us here on Fox Sports Radio. Kevin, I want
to ask you this because we had your former teammate
Johnny Damon on the show yesterday and he just recently
had been eliminated off Dancing with the Stars, and we
did not expect this sort of reaction to being eliminated
off Dancing with the Stars. I want to play it
back for you and you tell me if this is
the Johnny Damon, you remember this was good to get
(27:45):
getting me out there. I actually thought we should have advanced.
But you know, they're they're trying to run a TV show.
It's and it's a great TV show, but there was
so much more that America and the world because of
scene from me. But you know they're the ones that
losing out right now because we we had such a
(28:07):
great dance for a week two. Are you surprised he
had that much of a red ass about getting eliminated
off Dancing at the Stars. You know what, We had
him on our podcast that that Monday night before. Uh
you know, we taped the podcast that Monday before. He
was dancing that day and I'll tell you his whole
thing was we we want to try to win this.
(28:28):
And he told me strip because I wanted to vote
for me, get this out there, but only vote for
me if you believe in me. And I'll tell you what,
that's the toughest thing to do once we're out of
our element. But yeah, he was upset because he felt that,
you know, we had our first two dances the first
two weeks. But I gotta get by this week one
and uh, you know, Emma, his dance partner is awesome
(28:48):
and that was Michael Waltrip partner a couple of years ago,
and we're all friends of Mike. So it was one
of those things. It was a bummer. They voted two guys,
you know, two couples off, and I felt careful for him,
I really did. I was like, man, all that little
work and he's walking off and uh, there there is more.
Let listen. It's it's it's it's a great show. Uh
it's a you know, depend on where you kind of dance,
(29:10):
because then you only think about if you're Josh Norman.
I mean, did he moved on? But he only got
like ten minutes to vote for him. If you're you know,
if you're dancing ten So it's kind of like if
you dance first, you've got more time for votes and stuff.
And but it was cool. I'm sure he had a
great experience, and yeah, it's probably a bouma voting clothes
as soon as the music stopped for his dance. So
so Johnny Damon was screwed. Kevin Mallar joining us here
(29:31):
on Fox Sports Radio on the Doug gottlip Show. He's
Jonas Knocks. I'm Dan Buyer. Astros and Yankees are playing
a series, just wrapping up their their four games set,
and this is I mean, this is the series we
knew a lot to expect from from the Astros, obviously
being World Series champs. Are you surprised that things have
gone I guess so well for the Yankees? Maybe so
early in the season, even with the the the adjustment
(29:54):
period with John Carlos Stanton and not maybe getting on
tracks as soon as they would have hoped. Yeah, you
know what's funny is that this game, I mean, we
play so many games in a year, and it really
and everything and everything in the beginning is so magnified.
Right if you go to for you know, you see
that scoreboard, seeing a hundred out there and you're like,
oh my goodness, or start up a little slow. We
(30:15):
know the Yankees didn't get up to a great start,
but you know that the damage they have at that
lae up and with or withoutstanding, they were good last year,
the last six weeks a year I thought they turned
into the best club in the big leagues coming down
the postseason, and they ask he did a great job
of eliminating them. And you know, you think this guy
to understand this is the Yankees. They're they're different than
what we've seen, the old guys, veteran guys, the Paul O'Neil,
(30:39):
the status that Bernie Williams, the theaters. They have a
lot of young energy now. And I'll tell you being
around him and we did the show on the field
on Tuesday, being around him, just a lot of young studs.
They're all big and strong and handsome, and Judge, you
couldn't have been a nicer human being in your life.
And he's just seen Attorney. He's made offensively. But that
that Astro starting pitching, Holy Cannoli, and you saw some
(31:00):
good baseball those first few games. And uh, you know,
Tipter hats the Yankees. These two teams are beast and uh,
Severinos really turned the corner, you know for the Yankees,
you know with the game making through the last night.
Also Kevin Millar MLB network host of Intentional Talk, also
World Series Series Champion with us here on Fox Sports Radio.
UM So, I know there's a hundred and thirty games
(31:23):
left and I don't want to overreact to what is
happening with the Dodgers. But it feels like an injury here.
Now Reused got the injury. He's gonna be out until
I'm hearing the second half of the season. Corey Seeger
with the Tommy John surgery, Bellinger got bench for not hustling.
What was the earliest into a season as a player
(31:43):
that you felt like you guys were just snake bit
like it wasn't it wasn't gonna be your year. This
is too early to feel that. I think when you
kind of go through the All Star break and you
get halfway in the season and you kind of look
at it. Now, look at the No. Four. We were
about five when we won the World Series of the
Red Sox, and so you know, there's are They're just
(32:03):
like they saw the Cubs last year. They didn't play
well at all the first half. Second half they went
out one fifty and whatever it was twenty something. So
there's just two halfs of the season. But I would
say I'm not giving up on the Dodgers. Finding means
if they have not swing the best well they start
out with without Justin Turner, they lose Corey s Cigare.
Everybody you know puts all the pressure on Clake Kershaw.
(32:24):
But the one thing about Dave Roberts and being his
teammate and knowing him, he's got a calmness about him.
They have a great staff, they have a ton of money,
They have a great front office. Was Freeman and all
those boys up there. So they'll figure this out. They
just have not played well in Arizona. Is better this
first month. They're very complete team who also have gone
through injuries. You know, it was Taiwan Walker and Robbie
(32:44):
Ray and Jacob Blam and then you know, you look
at SUSA early on. So every team battles the injury
seeing it's just about being deep and who can overtake.
But I'm not getting up on the Dodgers finding means,
but they just they need to start kicking it in gear.
At some point, MLB network analysts and host of intention
will talk. Kevin Millar joining thinks the seat geek dot
com download the seat geek gap and enter your promo
code Mallar for twenty dollars off your first seat Geek purchase.
(33:06):
A lot of waves were made when we found out
the STATU for the first time ever, there were more
strikeouts than hits in a major League Baseball month. Does
that concern you as a former player seeing that sort
of number, it does? It concerns me that players don't
care about striking out anymore. You know, it's all about
hitting home runs and getting paid. Which I understand all
that stuff, But what bothers me is that cat and
(33:28):
mouse game when you step in the batter's bots and
you versus the picture it was when you want to
dig in and let's go. If you popped up the
first base or strike out, it's the same thing, but
it's not the same thing. You know, he got me.
And when you you know, when you're only two of
these days, you see players they're swiming like it's seen,
uh four seamed basketball down the middle, like there's no
more of that battle. And and there's players are so
(33:50):
strong and so like, you know, the bigger and stronger
and doing their thing. But I just I just think
that the hitters at the end of the day, where's
the wade boss and the Tonys in the high average
and choking up and taking the ball left field or whatever.
It is just getting the hitters count and then you know,
go from there. That's disturbing. The average is down to forty.
The average are usually is about to sixty in the
(34:11):
big leagues. But we've had a ton of strikeouts and
obviously more than hits. And uh, it's kind of like
where where we're at with all this launch angles and
on the lift up on the ball, and we have
so many numbers, but we're losing that gut feeling of
the game. And so I just hope that you know
this is ah, this is uh, you know, going to
change at some point. I'm gonna I'm just gonna wrap
it up with this, and I want to get your
(34:32):
thoughts on my opinion. While we are getting all of
these home runs and we mentioned that the strikeouts are up,
I do think something has to be said. And I
know it's a different way from when you played, but
we're now concerned. We are interested as a fan in
the strikeout. And I used two examples. James Paxton last
night for the Mariners struck out sixteen follow a lot
(34:53):
of people from Seattle. They were drawn into that game
against the Oakland A's in May. I think that's a
good thing. Josh Hater the Milwaukee Brewers isn't even their
closer and is now must watch TV. So while I
understand like the opinion of it, Kevin, of people being like, man,
there's just way too many strikeouts. I actually think it's
brought in a different sort of aspect that fans can
(35:14):
gravitate too, of actually wanting to watch certain pictures. And
I just have a tough time thinking that that's a
bad thing. No, you make a great point. At the
end of the day, it's entertainment, and when you do,
you bring up a point like Joss Hayter. I mean,
this is like a poor man's Chris Sale, as fifty
as there is, and the game's all power now, like
the velocity. There's no more Greg Mannox, Tommy Glavin's. You know,
(35:37):
where's the Jamie Moyers. It's it's like now it's about power.
And you know, we got Charlie Morton in the five
holes and there in Houston throwing on our bowling balls,
and you've got guys coming out. You know, this kid
Montgomery leaves the game Tuesday for the Yankees and they
bringing Harran who's throwing seven miles and hour of four
straight games. So everybody that comes out of bullpen now
and everybody that comes out, you know, it seems like
(35:57):
start it's all about velocity, and they don't want to
the lion three times and then it's all about the
bullpen switch. But we saw the Royals win the World
Series in fourteen fifteen, and you know when they started
that whole sixth seven day, the night, everybody's throwing a
higher miles an hour and then you've got to Greg Holland.
So the game is shifting right, good or bad. The
rule changes at second base and rule changes at home plate,
(36:19):
and they're trying to speed up the game. We've got
a certain amount of time when go up to the
pitch amount. But you know, you're right, you make a
great point strikeouts. You can start watching Austin Paxton, he's
got you know, four teen plus strikeouts. You're you're you're
glued to the TV so you can look at it anyway.
I just know there was a lot of there are
a lot of swings of missus and I know that.
You know, as a former Big leaguer, you know that's
(36:39):
what you do. You have hand eye coordination, and it's
the swing and misses. It's just an approach. It's just
given in a little bit with two strikes or you know,
no one have an idea of sitting on a certain pitch.
I know you're no longer a major leaguer, but you
have a new teammate and seat geek. How did you
hook up with them? Awesome app? Man, I'll tell you
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(37:01):
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a picture of where your seats are. And uh, it's
just a it's a it's an awesome app to douse
and I, like I said in Austin, Texas, I live
and you've got William Nelson's coming in June thirteenth to
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You don't have to get it. And we'll give you
twenty bucks off your first purchase if you put in
(37:22):
the promo code mallar yeah M I L L A R.
If you don't know, twenty bucks off on your first
seat Geek purchase. Kevin, thanks so much. Will continue to
watch you on Intentional Talk. We appreciate it. And let's
do it again soon. Boys appreciate you having me. Thank you,
Kevin Millar from A World Series Champ
This is the best of the Dune got lead show
on Fox Sports Radio the Utah Jazz. I thought maybe
they were at the bottom of the series against the
Houston Rockets, and maybe it's my fault. Jonas I brought
this up yesterday and I said, realistically, looking at these
four conference semifinal series, which one is truly still up
in the air, and I felt it was really only
(00:23):
the seventies sixers in Celtics. Now the next closest one,
I would say, Rockets Jazz. There was only one game in,
but the Rockets had defended their home court, and I
just felt that if they they got game two, even
though it's very difficult to play in Salt Lake and
it is a great home court for the Jazz, that
if the Rockets could get up too, oh, they are
a very good team at home, as most good teams are.
(00:46):
I just felt it was gonna be the Rockets series
and that we were looking ahead to the conference finals
between Golden State and Houston. But a funny thing happened
along the way. The Utah Jazz took it to the
Houston Rockets last night and winning game too once sixteen
to one oh eight in a game Jonas that Utah
led by nineteen only that I have Houston come all
(01:07):
the way back and tie it. And I didn't get
the sense that it was a Houston team that was
out of gas because of the comeback that they had.
I just got the sense that Utah was just a
better team last night in so many different ways. And
not to make it general, but the fact is Utah
had guys step up that you didn't necessarily expect to,
(01:27):
and the Rockets just didn't step up last night. Well,
you don't get the impression that if it gets down
to a grind it out, tough type of game or tough,
stipe type of style of play, that Utah is gonna
have the advantage to where Houston is so dependent on
We've got to hit shots, We've got to hit threes.
It's it's what has to happen for us to win
a game. Utah goes out there, they'll grind you. I mean,
(01:49):
Donovan Mitchell didn't play that great. I mean didn't have
that good of a game, but Joe Ingles wherever the
hell that guy came from, had seven threes and Donovan
Mitchell had to put back dunk to where he just
wanted it more than anybody else at that time, and
it was just one of those games to where I
I no matter what Houston was going to do, I
just trusted that that game was gonna get dirty late.
(02:11):
Houston wasn't seeing shots fall, and Utah was gonna win
that game. Usta at a tough time knocking down shot,
something that Joe Ingles didn't. Quinn Snyder, the Utah Jazz coach,
on the great performance by his guard last night. I
was getting Joe hard time. You know, he started last
year probably as our fifth wing. He wasn't that for long.
But I've mentioned it before. I think every time that
(02:33):
Joe's needed to step up his game, he's been able
to do that. I'm not surprised, but it's certainly very
timely performance given the situation. And this is a well
rounded Utah team that is playing without Ricky Rubio and
to see what Utah has jonas I look at it
and this is this has been my argument with the
Philadelphia seventy sixers before, because it wasn't just Joe Ingles
(02:56):
last night. It was Alec Burke's coming in and having
a great first half. It was Dante exam at the
end of the game making some big plays for Utah
to really hold off the Houston Rockets. You can have
a great player and Donovan Mitchell on your team. Many
NBA teams, oddly enough, have really good or great players,
(03:16):
but it's the pieces around them that will limit how
good they can get. And I look at the seventies sixers.
For as much as people want to go crazy about
Joel Embiide and Ben Simmons and what he's been doing
this season, it also helps to have a J. J. Reddick,
Robert Covington, Marco Bellonelli, a T. J. Mcconnald to have
(03:38):
those guys play alongside with you that can play at
a high level. Utah got that last night is Donovan
Mitchell once just six one from the floor. And also
that the Rockets didn't hit shots, but Utah on the
way that they filled out their team and how that
that team is constructed, got production in places that we've
wondered if the Cavaliers would ever get production from anybody
outside of Lebron. Utah is doing it with pieces and
(04:00):
Utah sort of as and this has been an issue
that Boston has had up until the last couple of years.
To where they've actually landed a couple of free agents.
Unless you do well in the draft or unless you
do well in trades, it's tough for Utah to bring
in top tier talent to Salt Lake be a free agency.
Guys would just rather go somewhere else. And that's not
(04:20):
a knock in the city. Beautiful place, a good organization
with good history, despite what Russell Westbrook says, good fans,
all the all of that that goes with it. But
this just goes to show that as an organization, they've
identified guys that are going to play for Quin Snyder.
By the way, quick side note, Quinn stant are we
sure he's not Patrick Bateman from American Psycho? Are we are?
(04:42):
We are? We absolutely sure? Because I I am not
quite sure whether or not Quinn Snyder is not Patrick
Bateman from American Side that is the Christian Bale character. Yeah,
they kind of do have the same kind of a look.
Probably should have gone over that before the show, before
I realized nobody else has seen that movie. I've missed it.
John knew it. That's well, I mean, look it's that's
John Um. But in all seriousness, you look at Utah
(05:04):
and They've just done a better job than most teams
in the league identifying players they want. They wanted Jay
Crowder for a couple of years now, like they they
identified as a guy that could play in that system
and could play well. And I'm telling you you get
into these games to where that's that. I think that's
the biggest difference between Golden State in Houston. When Golden
States shot isn't falling, they've got other pitches to their arsenal.
(05:29):
You know, they're not just reliant on a fastball. They've
got something else that they can go to if they're
not feeling it that day. With Houston, what what else
do you got? I mean, there was a point there
to where um p J. Tucker was trying to to
to rough up Donovan Mitchell and in a loose ball
tie up, and it was like they needed p J.
Tucker to spark them, to get them going somehow, because
(05:52):
it's almost like they know how to play one style.
They don't have another option. There is no there is
no off speed pitch to go along with their fastball,
and it's not work. Yeah, it helps. I mean, obviously
with Golden State in the caliber of players that Kevin Durant,
Steph Curry, and Clay Thompson are That helps to have
those top top tier players at your disposal. But the
(06:13):
point that I agree with and that you're making is
if if James Harden isn't having a great night like
last night where he was off, there is there is
no one there to maybe pick up any slack. Eric
Gordon's not gonna say you know what, I got this
even though he had fifteen off the bench last night.
It's not going to be hey, I'm gonna take this over,
(06:35):
or Trevor Ariza is gonna say hold on. What makes
Houston deadly is when Harden is on and then other
teams try to stop him, and then everybody else gets
there is at a much easier at a much easier pace.
So when they're rolling, they are rolling. They are very
very difficult to beat. But when you stop James hard,
which is extremely difficult to do with the soon to
(06:57):
be m v P, or if he hasn't off night
like he did last night, those other pieces aren't there
necessarily to pick up the slack like you would have
at Golden States. Is Joe Engles, is he your favorite
left handed basketball player of all tow You know you're
a Kenny Anderson guy. You really like Kenny Anderson. What
about Calbert Cheney? No, couldn't stand Calbert Cheney because he
was from Indiana. Okay, but Joe Angles has got to
(07:19):
be in the top three left handed basketball players of
all time. Yeah? Sure, why not? Absolutely would be up there. Okay, yeah? Yeah?
Do you like how I'm pretending like I know who
that is? That's John John Mouth someone who did you say?
Chris mull? Yeah? How could we can forget Chrisma? John? John?
Did you not? Is a first down away from me?
(07:41):
Ten yards away from me? And he mouthed something to
me like I was understanding what read those lips to
the guy at the bus stop over there? What is
what is he saying right now? I'm just curious, I'm John,
Can you let me know? Oh? He said it'll be
here in three minutes. That's John did Um. So yeah,
(08:01):
but now are you calling this series? Is it over? Dan?
Is it now? Is a momentum? I think Houston will
win a game in Salt Lake, So I think I
still think that the Rockets will win this series. Be
sure to catch live editions of the Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Dev is
(08:22):
a Cowboys fan and she is not gonna want to
hear what we are about to say about Jason Witten.
This a little too much, by the Way's Jodas knocks.
I'm Dan Buyer, We're in for Doug Gottlieb. Is this retired?
ESPN is having a sports center special for Jason Witten's retirement.
I'm I'm just wondering. Are we going overboard a little
(08:42):
bit with Jason Witten's retirement? Yeah, a little bit a cowboy?
Is this? Is this fair? Or is this overboard? Well,
here's the deal. ESPN obviously has a dual purpose. They're
celebrating a Witten's former career and they're trying to launch
his next career. Um as a Cowboys fan, I mean
to me, he's one of the all time grades. He's
definitely a Hall of Famer. I'm hearing first ballot. I
(09:03):
don't know about that, but he's a Hall of Famer.
But um, I think because he has been a media darling.
He and Tony Romo, you know, the the duo forever
who never could win the Big One or even get
to the conference championship for that matter. Um, we may
be going a little overboard. As a Cowboys fan, I
don't mind it, but yeah, I think so. Well, then
I will add this because this is going to set
(09:24):
up with Jonas and I are going to dive into
Do you feel the let's just call it the Romo
Witten des era. Do you wish more would have come
out of that? Of course yes, I mean look at
the potential even up until, um, you know, the the
last couple of seasons, even you know, with Witten, with
Dak Prescott as as a quarterback. But no, I think
when Romo was there, he was like, finally the first
(09:46):
seemingly franchise quarterbacks since Troy Aitman for that matter. You know,
most of us lived through Quincy Carter and Chad Hutchinson
and all kinds of random oh my gosh, Brandon we
during the absence of Tony Romo. So I think there
was just so much hope. And you guys know, I mean,
the NFL Cowboys fans were either gonna win the Super
(10:09):
Bowl this year or We're gonna stink this year. There's
no fifty fifty at the beginning of the season. So
I think there was just so much hope and uh
and and and with that defense, you know, with DeMarcus
where for there there for a while, Jay Ratliffe, you know,
they had a solid looking defense for a while. Yeah,
it was a colossal disappointment as far as I'm concerned.
And that then Jonas falls on the shoulder of shoulders
(10:31):
of well Jerry Jones. But here's and he would be
easy to blame. But I will say this about Jerry Jones.
For a team that has done nothing in almost what
we're talking to twenty years what so so, almost almost
a quarter of a century, they've done They've done nothing.
(10:52):
They're the biggest thing in the NFL, and it's not close. Man,
Like these guys Romo never won a Super Bowl, Witten
never won a Super Bowl, get top broadcasting jobs. The
second day walk out of the NFL like that doesn't
happen a lot of places like you look at like
some of these stories. Dez Bryant was a big story.
Des Bryant getting released by the Cowboys was a big story.
(11:15):
We talked about it on the air. There was no
point during des Bryant's career where you would have taken
him over every single wide receiver in the league. He
was never the best player at his position in the
league at any point in his career, but it was
a big story because he's a cowboy. So Jerry Jones
may not have delivered a lot of wins over the
last twenty five years, but that dude's delivered a ton
of relics. Well. And let's let's start before Jerry Jones
(11:38):
bought the team too. I mean, anything with the star
on that helmet, starting from the seventies on, has been
the national story of the National Football League. I mean,
going back to Henry. I mean, it's it's just the
It's a legendary franchise. And yes, some of it has
earned obviously, and some of it is just because these
guys have stars on their helmet. What I just I
(11:58):
look back and I look at this team, and I
even look at the team and how it's constructed now,
because honestly, they fell into dock, but they didn't fall
into what they did with that offensive line and if
at some point during that time with Tony Romo and
with Jason Witten and with as Brian at the top
of the game if their needs would have been addressed.
This team, we look at the one season where they
(12:22):
beat the Lions and lost to the Packers as the
opportunity for Dallas to break That's one season. Yeah, exactly.
We look at that point and point to it and say, oh,
what could have been? But that was the only season
that we can really do that with that core. And
and I'll even put the Marcus where in to that.
You know, part of the conversation they had pieces that
they just did not take advantage of, or it's it's
(12:46):
I hate to say it's a waste because it's not
fair to the individual efforts of what Jason Witten did
or what de Marcus ware did, But as a whole
and as a Cowboy fan, yeah, it was a waste
because they just didn't accomplish anything during that time. I'm
with talent that I think other teams would have loved
to have had. Well, And here's the thing to a
lot of people are like, how can he not come
back and try for another Super Bowl? If the team
(13:09):
that went thirteen and three two seasons ago loses the
first game they play in the playoffs, how is Witten
supposed to think? Yeah, I'll stick it out with you know,
why why put his body through that. He's got, you know,
four kids, He's got this opportunity that most people don't
have a chance to get. His name wasn't even the
conversation a month ago for this gig. Everybody was talking
(13:31):
Peyton Manning or you know, then bred Farv and you
know all of these other names. Uh some coaches. Why
would Witten stick around and continue this, uh, this effort
of futility. I mean, I hate to say that as
a Cowboys fan, but there is always, you know, for
good or or or not so much lately, there's always
been drama surrounding it to whether it was with tarall
(13:52):
Owens and then with Dez Bryant and now with Ezekiel Elliott.
There's always an element of drama and that's also what
draws the eyeballs to this team. And I also think
that what who is his good buddy on the Cowboys
for years and years is best from his Tony Romo
And so Tony Romo got out of the game, did
the broadcasting thing. A lot of people really liked his style.
He had a lot of fun doing it, and they
(14:13):
probably had conversations the first time I started even thinking
about the idea of Witten retiring is do you remember
those rumors that came out when Tennessee was looking for
a head coach. All of a sudden, Jason Witten's name
popped up. I'm like, what, letna say? This guy isn't
even retired. Why is that happening. I wonder if he,
after talking with Romo, said if there's opportunities, I want
to try and pursue something else, because his deb said,
(14:34):
you know, why come back if it's not going to
be for a really, really really good opportunity to chase
the super Bowl. And so when this opportunity comes up,
you can't turn that down. You just can't do it.
It is amazing like growing up watching the NFL in
the nineties, and I know so many of my friends
or people that I that I grew up with that
are still Cowboy fans because of those teams in the nineties.
(14:59):
And it's not just because of the time, because you
remember the other team that was really good back then.
I don't mean there there that was another option, but
everybody sided with the Cowboys. That was always the team
everybody went to, whether they were more popular or more
fun to watch, or whatever the case may be. And
the fact that that is carried on twenty plus years,
(15:20):
and to Deb's point, even further than that, back to
the Tom Landry days, that's incredible marketing and an incredible
job by Jerry Jones. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app. We've got breaking news in the
National Football League. Deb Carson breaking it earlier that Matt
(15:43):
Ryan has agreed to a five year extension. Chris Mortenson
of ESPN the first with the numbers, makes him the
first quarterback getting thirty million dollars a season in the
National Football League gets one million dollars guaranteed. So now
Matt Ryan is the highest paid quarterback in the NFL.
(16:03):
And as we talk about every single time, Jonas, when
a quarterback gets paid, it's not necessarily about that quarterback,
It's about, Okay, who is next, And it only seemed
fitting that Matt Ryan, at least for what he has
led the Atlanta Falcons to in his m v P season,
that because he was next in line for a contract extension,
(16:25):
would get that contract extension. So I'm not surprised that
Matt Ryan got his extension and that he's getting thirty
million dollars gearant in his thirty million dollars annually, excuse me,
and a hundred million dollars guaranteed, because that just seems
to fall in line with everything else with quarterbacks. Surprise
of doing business at that position. That's the way it goes,
and it's in the especially when you see other players
(16:47):
get deals like that. Rogers is the next one, right,
He's gonna be the next one to get paid. You
think Rodgers is upset Matt Ryan just got that money.
You're kidding, Rogers is gonna get paid a grip based
on what Matt Ryan just got because now you've set
the bar at a certain level. So it's just it's
the way it goes. I mean, you can argue back
and forth about whether or not you think he's I mean,
(17:10):
I think Matt Ryan's a pretty good quarterback. I don't
I don't put him in an elite class or anything
like that, but I also understand what the business is like,
and at that position, it's that price four quarterbacks. He
was just next in line, and that's the way it
goes when you look at the Falcons and where they
really had success, I think it's running the football. And
(17:35):
while it's great that Julio Jones is such a main
target of Matt Ryan, I don't think that their success
is tied with Julio Jones. And if you're the Falcons
and you see how last year ended up playing out,
remember when they didn't beat the Eagles in the divisional
(17:57):
playoff game. We talked about that that asked play on
the fourth down play the one option Julio Jones in
the red zone was not is not the sure bet
that maybe some people would casually think Julio Jones and
the red zone has actually been a problem throughout his
career of actually being a main target and go to
(18:21):
situations Matt Ryan, in my mind, in those clutch situations,
Jonas look for Mohammed Sanu or he would look for
Tevin Coleman to make a play out of the backfield.
And while Julio Jones is one of the top five
receivers and big playmakers in the game, when it really
came down to it, and when it really when when
(18:41):
it came down to it for the Atlanta Falcons, they're
really a running team on the shoulders of Davante Freeman
and Tevin Coleman. And you mentioned that Matt Ryan being
you don't think he's the top to your quarterback. I
agree with that assessment. He's good enough to get to
the Falcons to where they need to be. But it
doesn't make any sense ents for them to have Julio
(19:02):
Jones making the what you know, fifteen million dollars a
year that that he's gonna make twelve thirteen million dollars
a year that you would make as a wide receiver,
because their success doesn't rely in that spot. I think
that this is this is locking up their quarterback. They've
also locked up Desmond Truffont to a deal, so they're
(19:23):
trying to do stuff on defense as well. But I
just look at this as being like, Okay, you mentioned
bringing in Calvin Ridley with that first round pick. We
have a lot of the talk with Julio Jones on
following the Falcons on his Instagram page. The Falcons are
a better team when they're not relying on Julio Jones,
and it's evident. Sure he made the great catch in
the Super Bowl and four catches in that Super Bowl
(19:45):
so so when you look at really what Atlanta has done,
I just don't see that their future is with Julio
Jones being that star guy. And I think that this
signing locks up Matt Ryan, but it also means, you
know what, maybe it doesn't doesn't make sense for us
to be paying a wide receiver of Julio Jones caliber,
great and all that amount of money since now we're
(20:06):
giving so much to the quarterback and now to the cornerback,
and now we've got a first round pick. A lot
of these signs, I say, look to Julio Jones maybe
being elsewhere. And the conversation during the draft when the
selection of Calvin Ridley came in, the conversation at the
desk of NFL network slash Fox was, well, it makes
a lot of sense. You know, you lost Taylor Gabriel
(20:27):
and uh in the off season, and uh, you know this,
First of all, you're not drafting a guy with the
first round pick because you're really hoping he can replace
Taylor effing Gabriel. Okay, let's stop, all right, You're drafting
a guy because you're expecting more out of him than
Taylor Gabriel. And so if this means that this is
Julio Jones and they've had an interesting offseason. Didn't need
(20:47):
delete all of his any reference to the Falcons on
his social media or something like that. Yeah, okay, so yeah,
it's off his Instagram. And and there's been like there's
another car conversation where they the organization talked with Julio Jones.
They said that he's in a really good place or
something like that. Just sort of sort of an interesting
(21:08):
situation there with Jones. But this whole the NFL is
a copycat league. And the New Orleans Saints had a
lot of success last year, and the reason they had
a lot of success was the emergence of Alvin Kamara
and mark Ingram and all of a sudden that two
backs set really set New Orleans up to be a
different offense than maybe even what they were before. Now
(21:30):
it was no longer just and Drew Brees. To your point,
this two back set, Tevin Coleman, DeVante Freeman, Atlanta has
been doing it for a couple of years. That's maybe
more of a reason why they were in a super
Bowl than Julio. So the idea that you know, I
don't know if you can give it like you could.
I wouldn't be surprised if Atlanta decided within the next
(21:51):
year or so. All right, let's you know, maybe even
this offseason. If things don't go the way that that
we think it's gonna go and we feel like we've
got something here, they wait to see al Calvin Ridley
performs in in the off season in training camp, and
maybe they look around and go, hey, if we get
a decent enough offer, what are we waiting for? I mean,
let's unload and and you know we've talked about it before,
(22:12):
who's the best wide receiver to win a Super Bowl recently?
Like like Damarius Thomas, what did he? What did he do? So, yeah,
it happened to be on the team that actually won.
There's a lot to what you're saying. And I think
there's a team out there, there's probably several teams out
there would that would overpay for Julia. There was also
something that that we have heard throughout the season, and
(22:34):
Atlanta really caught their stride in the final quarter of
last year. But there was a lot of talk. Remember
this team lost to the Dolphins at home in a
game where I believe they were up seventeen nothing at
halftime this past season, and that's where a lot of
the talks started to come up of Steve Sarkisian as
the offensive coordinator of not making adjustments and teams were
(22:57):
taking the Falcons to the wood shed in the second
half of those games. Steve Sarkisian, I think if you
were to rank the offensive coordinators in the National Football Rank,
rank them, I don't think. I think it's pretty safe
to say he wouldn't be in the top sixteen, the
top half of the NFL. But you know, what's a
lot what makes the job of an offensive coordinator a
(23:19):
lot easier to do is to just be able to
run the ball and then using the run to set
up play action or to set up different plays. And
so Steve stark Sarkasian does like to run the ball,
so that works out well for dan Quinn and what
they want to do on defense. It's he may not
be the top offensive coordinator, and I'm gonna compare it
to Seattle because Daryl Bevil wasn't the top offensive coordinator
(23:43):
in the National Football League, but the defense picked up
a lot of the slack that the offense couldn't do.
But when the offense was rolling with Marshawn Lynch. It
worked well in concert with each other. That's all the
Falcons need. The defense is improving and improving, and we
saw heck, they were the only ones to really shut
down the Eagles in the postseason. The dan Quinn team
is really really taking form. And I don't think that
(24:05):
he minds Steve Sarkisian is as his offensive coordinator despite
the fact that other people think that he isn't as good,
because it helps out what his defense does, and what
Steve Sarkisian does in the air doesn't necessarily benefit Julio Jones.
And I'll give dan Quinn credit. Man, how many times
have we seen a team lose a gut wrenching championship
game in the in the manner that the Falcons not
(24:27):
historically NFL wise, but in other sports, you lose a
game seven, or you lose a big game, and you
go out like that and then the next year you fold.
And Atlanta didn't. And there were several chances for them
to fold. And not only did they play well down
the end, but when they got to the postseason, they
exposed the Rams at home in the Colosseum. They moved
on and they probably should have won that game against Philadelphia,
(24:50):
so they were a play away from being back in
the NFC title game after they lost the Super Bowl
and the most horrific fashion that anybody's ever lost in
historic in the league. So psychologically dan Quinn's got him
set up for success like they're they are set up
just based on those results last year. And and and I
like the fact as well, is that what the Falcons
(25:11):
didn't do that cost them that Super Bowl was running late,
and a lot of that blame goes on Kyle Shanahan
calling the offensive plays at that time. Dan Quinn's gonna
make darn well sure they don't make that mistake again,
and there's where the commitment to the run goes. It's
great to have Julio Jones on your team, no doubt
about that. But when you really look at the value
and you really look at the price, and now you're
(25:32):
paying Matt Ryan thirty million dollars to just be the
guy that is a good enough quarterback to lead you,
I think this almost says more about the future of
the Falcons and Julio Jones than it does anything else.
With Matt Ryan getting his extension, be sure to catch
live editions of the Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at
three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. Let's Talk Some Baseball
(25:55):
is the one and only host of Intentional Talk on
the MLB Network with Chris Rose and World Series champ.
Kevin Millard joined just thanks to seek Kevin, thanks so
much for the time today. Boys, Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it. It is I'm gonna I'm not even
gonna start out with baseball. What you and Chris Rose
do on MLB Network is amazing, And as a broadcaster,
we know how difficult it can be to put on
(26:18):
a show with someone else that is not in the
same studio. How you guys do it on TV? First
of all, it's just a compliment because it's so flawless.
But were there any hiccups early on and doing I
just find it amazing how you guys can pull off
a show like that and not be in the same space.
It's truly amazing. Yes, it was hiccups. I get done
(26:39):
playing all of a sudden, we're like, yeah, we'd like
to try a new show here Intentional Talking, Like okay,
and where's the earpiece, and uh, what do I do
from here? And then we did it from home. So
now you're sitting in the garage with with a camera
and heck, I went to l A City Unoles and
Lamar University, so you're not talking to roades scholar. Thank
goodness for roll help me out big time him And
(27:00):
you know what, We've had a lot of fun. And
once you start the brand and the trust with the players,
it's been a blast. Because our show if you can't
laugh for yourself, and it's not the show for you.
So once players know that they can sit here ragging
each other and ragging other teammates teammates, it's really been
fun that way. And we don't care if you're hitting four.
It's just come on and have some fun for about
eight or nine months and let's do it. Kevin Millar
(27:22):
with us here on Fox Sports Radio. Kevin, I want
to ask you this because we had your former teammate
Johnny Damon on the show yesterday and he just recently
had been eliminated off Dancing with the Stars, and we
did not expect this sort of reaction to being eliminated
off Dancing with the Stars. I want to play it
back for you and you tell me if this is
the Johnny Damon, you remember this was good to get
(27:45):
getting me out there. I actually thought we should have advanced.
But you know, they're they're trying to run a TV show.
It's and it's a great TV show, but there was
so much more that America and the world because of
scene from me. But you know they're the ones that
losing out right now because we we had such a
(28:07):
great dance for a week two. Are you surprised he
had that much of a red ass about getting eliminated
off Dancing at the Stars. You know what, We had
him on our podcast that that Monday night before. Uh
you know, we taped the podcast that Monday before. He
was dancing that day and I'll tell you his whole
thing was we we want to try to win this.
(28:28):
And he told me strip because I wanted to vote
for me, get this out there, but only vote for
me if you believe in me. And I'll tell you what,
that's the toughest thing to do once we're out of
our element. But yeah, he was upset because he felt that,
you know, we had our first two dances the first
two weeks. But I gotta get by this week one
and uh, you know, Emma, his dance partner is awesome
(28:48):
and that was Michael Waltrip partner a couple of years ago,
and we're all friends of Mike. So it was one
of those things. It was a bummer. They voted two guys,
you know, two couples off, and I felt careful for him,
I really did. I was like, man, all that little
work and he's walking off and uh, there there is more.
Let listen. It's it's it's it's a great show. Uh
it's a you know, depend on where you kind of dance,
(29:10):
because then you only think about if you're Josh Norman.
I mean, did he moved on? But he only got
like ten minutes to vote for him. If you're you know,
if you're dancing ten So it's kind of like if
you dance first, you've got more time for votes and stuff.
And but it was cool. I'm sure he had a
great experience, and yeah, it's probably a bouma voting clothes
as soon as the music stopped for his dance. So
so Johnny Damon was screwed. Kevin Mallar joining us here
(29:31):
on Fox Sports Radio on the Doug gottlip Show. He's
Jonas Knocks. I'm Dan Buyer. Astros and Yankees are playing
a series, just wrapping up their their four games set,
and this is I mean, this is the series we
knew a lot to expect from from the Astros, obviously
being World Series champs. Are you surprised that things have
gone I guess so well for the Yankees? Maybe so
early in the season, even with the the the adjustment
(29:54):
period with John Carlos Stanton and not maybe getting on
tracks as soon as they would have hoped. Yeah, you
know what's funny is that this game, I mean, we
play so many games in a year, and it really
and everything and everything in the beginning is so magnified.
Right if you go to for you know, you see
that scoreboard, seeing a hundred out there and you're like,
oh my goodness, or start up a little slow. We
(30:15):
know the Yankees didn't get up to a great start,
but you know that the damage they have at that
lae up and with or withoutstanding, they were good last year,
the last six weeks a year I thought they turned
into the best club in the big leagues coming down
the postseason, and they ask he did a great job
of eliminating them. And you know, you think this guy
to understand this is the Yankees. They're they're different than
what we've seen, the old guys, veteran guys, the Paul O'Neil,
(30:39):
the status that Bernie Williams, the theaters. They have a
lot of young energy now. And I'll tell you being
around him and we did the show on the field
on Tuesday, being around him, just a lot of young studs.
They're all big and strong and handsome, and Judge, you
couldn't have been a nicer human being in your life.
And he's just seen Attorney. He's made offensively. But that
that Astro starting pitching, Holy Cannoli, and you saw some
(31:00):
good baseball those first few games. And uh, you know,
Tipter hats the Yankees. These two teams are beast and uh,
Severinos really turned the corner, you know for the Yankees,
you know with the game making through the last night.
Also Kevin Millar MLB network host of Intentional Talk, also
World Series Series Champion with us here on Fox Sports Radio.
UM So, I know there's a hundred and thirty games
(31:23):
left and I don't want to overreact to what is
happening with the Dodgers. But it feels like an injury here.
Now Reused got the injury. He's gonna be out until
I'm hearing the second half of the season. Corey Seeger
with the Tommy John surgery, Bellinger got bench for not hustling.
What was the earliest into a season as a player
(31:43):
that you felt like you guys were just snake bit
like it wasn't it wasn't gonna be your year. This
is too early to feel that. I think when you
kind of go through the All Star break and you
get halfway in the season and you kind of look
at it. Now, look at the No. Four. We were
about five when we won the World Series of the
Red Sox, and so you know, there's are They're just
(32:03):
like they saw the Cubs last year. They didn't play
well at all the first half. Second half they went
out one fifty and whatever it was twenty something. So
there's just two halfs of the season. But I would
say I'm not giving up on the Dodgers. Finding means
if they have not swing the best well they start
out with without Justin Turner, they lose Corey s Cigare.
Everybody you know puts all the pressure on Clake Kershaw.
(32:24):
But the one thing about Dave Roberts and being his
teammate and knowing him, he's got a calmness about him.
They have a great staff, they have a ton of money,
They have a great front office. Was Freeman and all
those boys up there. So they'll figure this out. They
just have not played well in Arizona. Is better this
first month. They're very complete team who also have gone
through injuries. You know, it was Taiwan Walker and Robbie
(32:44):
Ray and Jacob Blam and then you know, you look
at SUSA early on. So every team battles the injury
seeing it's just about being deep and who can overtake.
But I'm not getting up on the Dodgers finding means,
but they just they need to start kicking it in gear.
At some point, MLB network analysts and host of intention
will talk. Kevin Millar joining thinks the seat geek dot
com download the seat geek gap and enter your promo
code Mallar for twenty dollars off your first seat Geek purchase.
(33:06):
A lot of waves were made when we found out
the STATU for the first time ever, there were more
strikeouts than hits in a major League Baseball month. Does
that concern you as a former player seeing that sort
of number, it does? It concerns me that players don't
care about striking out anymore. You know, it's all about
hitting home runs and getting paid. Which I understand all
that stuff, But what bothers me is that cat and
(33:28):
mouse game when you step in the batter's bots and
you versus the picture it was when you want to
dig in and let's go. If you popped up the
first base or strike out, it's the same thing, but
it's not the same thing. You know, he got me.
And when you you know, when you're only two of
these days, you see players they're swiming like it's seen,
uh four seamed basketball down the middle, like there's no
more of that battle. And and there's players are so
(33:50):
strong and so like, you know, the bigger and stronger
and doing their thing. But I just I just think
that the hitters at the end of the day, where's
the wade boss and the Tonys in the high average
and choking up and taking the ball left field or whatever.
It is just getting the hitters count and then you know,
go from there. That's disturbing. The average is down to forty.
The average are usually is about to sixty in the
(34:11):
big leagues. But we've had a ton of strikeouts and
obviously more than hits. And uh, it's kind of like
where where we're at with all this launch angles and
on the lift up on the ball, and we have
so many numbers, but we're losing that gut feeling of
the game. And so I just hope that you know
this is ah, this is uh, you know, going to
change at some point. I'm gonna I'm just gonna wrap
it up with this, and I want to get your
(34:32):
thoughts on my opinion. While we are getting all of
these home runs and we mentioned that the strikeouts are up,
I do think something has to be said. And I
know it's a different way from when you played, but
we're now concerned. We are interested as a fan in
the strikeout. And I used two examples. James Paxton last
night for the Mariners struck out sixteen follow a lot
(34:53):
of people from Seattle. They were drawn into that game
against the Oakland A's in May. I think that's a
good thing. Josh Hater the Milwaukee Brewers isn't even their
closer and is now must watch TV. So while I
understand like the opinion of it, Kevin, of people being like, man,
there's just way too many strikeouts. I actually think it's
brought in a different sort of aspect that fans can
(35:14):
gravitate too, of actually wanting to watch certain pictures. And
I just have a tough time thinking that that's a
bad thing. No, you make a great point. At the
end of the day, it's entertainment, and when you do,
you bring up a point like Joss Hayter. I mean,
this is like a poor man's Chris Sale, as fifty
as there is, and the game's all power now, like
the velocity. There's no more Greg Mannox, Tommy Glavin's. You know,
(35:37):
where's the Jamie Moyers. It's it's like now it's about power.
And you know, we got Charlie Morton in the five
holes and there in Houston throwing on our bowling balls,
and you've got guys coming out. You know, this kid
Montgomery leaves the game Tuesday for the Yankees and they
bringing Harran who's throwing seven miles and hour of four
straight games. So everybody that comes out of bullpen now
and everybody that comes out, you know, it seems like
(35:57):
start it's all about velocity, and they don't want to
the lion three times and then it's all about the
bullpen switch. But we saw the Royals win the World
Series in fourteen fifteen, and you know when they started
that whole sixth seven day, the night, everybody's throwing a
higher miles an hour and then you've got to Greg Holland.
So the game is shifting right, good or bad. The
rule changes at second base and rule changes at home plate,
(36:19):
and they're trying to speed up the game. We've got
a certain amount of time when go up to the
pitch amount. But you know, you're right, you make a
great point strikeouts. You can start watching Austin Paxton, he's
got you know, four teen plus strikeouts. You're you're you're
glued to the TV so you can look at it anyway.
I just know there was a lot of there are
a lot of swings of missus and I know that.
You know, as a former Big leaguer, you know that's
(36:39):
what you do. You have hand eye coordination, and it's
the swing and misses. It's just an approach. It's just
given in a little bit with two strikes or you know,
no one have an idea of sitting on a certain pitch.
I know you're no longer a major leaguer, but you
have a new teammate and seat geek. How did you
hook up with them? Awesome app? Man, I'll tell you
right now. You download this app. It's great for concerts
coming in town. You want to gets the hockey playoffs,
(37:01):
to the baseball games, the football games. What I love
about is it tells you if you're getting a good
deal or a bad deal, and you kind of have
a picture of where your seats are. And uh, it's
just a it's a it's an awesome app to douse
and I, like I said in Austin, Texas, I live
and you've got William Nelson's coming in June thirteenth to
Kings May sixteenth, and it's it's a great app to have.
You don't have to get it. And we'll give you
twenty bucks off your first purchase if you put in
(37:22):
the promo code mallar yeah M I L L A R.
If you don't know, twenty bucks off on your first
seat Geek purchase. Kevin, thanks so much. Will continue to
watch you on Intentional Talk. We appreciate it. And let's
do it again soon. Boys appreciate you having me. Thank you,
Kevin Millar from A World Series Champ
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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