October 15, 2018 • 46 mins
Doug reminds everyone how foolish they were for thinking this was the year the Patriots dynasty would officially come to an end. He also points out a few other silly narratives that quickly came to an end after week 6 in the NFL. Plus, former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi joins the show to talk about the Patriots proving everyone wrong once again and what going on with the Raiders.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
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(00:22):
of the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio, Coming
too Here from the City of Angels where it is Sundy,
it is windy, and it's also home to the best
team in the NFL and arguably one of the top
(00:44):
five other teams in the Nashal Football League. And the
Dodgers have a home playoff game on the thirty anniversary
of Gibbey's home run off of Ack. Will get to that?
Which call was better? Upcoming in the show? Yeah, we
got a lot to get to. NBA eight tips off
tomorrow night. We got Monday Night Football tonight, and an
incredible series of games in the nash Football League yesterday,
(01:07):
starting off with the one that I got a chance
to be a part of which, up until last night
was game of the day. Right over time Dolphins Bears.
That vaunted Bears defense seemed to tire in. The Dolphins
had a great game plan with Brock October Brock Osweiler
getting the start. How crazy is that? Brock Oswealler his
first start with the Broncos, his first start with the Texans,
(01:28):
and now his first start with the Dolphins. All three wins,
all three over the Chicago Bears, and then of course
culminating last night and what we thought would be the
game of the week and may well be the game
of the year thus far, the Patriots take down the Chiefs. Um,
(01:48):
did you guys know that the Patriots did not hunt
last night? You're like, well, where have I seen that before?
The Super Bowl would be the answer for the Patriots
and all of the ever were my favorite words. David
Stern taught me a word. This is like a decade
ago when he was talking about the palaver in the
off season. I was like, palaver. It was all of
(02:10):
the all of the talk, all the talk of the
off season was Brady and Belichick don't get along. I've
heard for the last couple of years, some people who
have jobs on TV saying Brady is ready for a
precipitous decline. And then at the start of the year
people wanted to call it all right, I want to
be the first to call it, Patriots, You're done. And
(02:31):
then they get Josh Gordon, and then they get Julian Edelman,
and then they smack around the Miami Dolphins that came
in undefeated, and then they win a couple more games
and they don't punt against the Kansas City Chiefs. Tyreek
Kill might be the fastest player to play in the NFL.
Uh An NFL front office guy was hanging out with
(02:53):
on Saturday. He said, you saw him playing for Oclahoma
State his first games against Florida State in Jerry's world,
and they all concluded then that he was he played
at a different speed than anybody. And now you watch
him run away from really really fast dudes, and that
might actually be true. They can't see Chiefs have a
(03:13):
tremendous offense at Pat Mahomes. For the most part, played
great football. Now he made some mistakes. And we told
you Friday what Kiko Alonso told me earlier in the
day on Friday, which is like Hey, you're gonna be
the Pets. You gotta just not make any mistakes. But
has there ever been an organization ever that just figures
(03:34):
it out? Defense wasn't great, allowed forty points, but they
got two picks, including a pick six. Tom Brady was good.
Was he perfect? No? But they established a power running
game with Sony Michelle. They figure out how to make
their new wide receiving core kind of work. They get
(03:55):
the ball to Gronk where Gronk has one of the
all time great stiff arms, and while Kansas City scored
a bunch of points. It's a lot like Happy Gilmore
when he was driving the ball but not winning tournaments.
Patriots Patriots is sitting up there at the podium, Hey, hey,
(04:16):
what about me? We won the g actual game. It's
it's the craziest and most explainable, least explicable thing, but
they just figure it out. They just figured out. And
oh yeah, by the way, remember all that talk about
(04:36):
the NFL and how it's unwatchable. It's two hand touch football.
And I don't hear anybody complaining about Pat's Chiefs. You
guys complaining, No, it's first half of Dolphins Bears. I
was a part of it. It was seven nothing boring.
It was interesting. I mean it was. It was really interesting.
(04:57):
Jordan Howard fumbles at the one foot line for the
Tago Bears and then brock Osweller throws one ball deep
down the field that Kenny steals and gets pit and
it wasn't the Kenny steals um. He end up ends
up getting picked um. But the bigger point was he
turned around the second half and it was a lot
(05:17):
more fun. It was Davante Parker, it was more fun.
How much fun was Sunday night football. I'm on a
plane watching it, just hooting and hollering and everybody's just
going crazy. This is the best. Football is a lot
(05:40):
like men. Trying to explain men to women. I have
girls and I have a boy. Boys are easier, They're
easier to raise. Just get him something to do, get
him some competitive, get him out there moving, like was
it Jeff Foxworthy? I want to see something naked. Want
(06:02):
some cold drink, and I want to see something naked. Right.
Men are pretty We're pretty easy. Americans are pretty easy.
Football is pretty easy. We want some hard hits and
we want to see his score. We wanted to be competitive,
we want to be close. We want to see his score.
If we didn't want scoring, we would watch soccer. But
(06:23):
we don't watch soccer. And with the exception of every
four years where if we're involved, we pretend to care
about soccer. Why they don't score that much and they
don't hit each other that much? I said, we're not
that hard. Men, aren't that hard to figure out? Football
is not that hard to figure out. Yeah, the defenses
(06:43):
and offenses are intricate, and sure it's about finding mismatches
and pre snap reads and motion all that other stuff.
At the end of the day, we like offense. That
game was fun. Yeah, the Chiefs gotta played two hand
touch and it's Andy Reid. The thought that Andy is
gonna come through in the playoffs and not get tight
and not get conservative when he has a lead. I'll
(07:04):
believe it when I see it. And it'll be interesting
to see if Pat Mahomes continues on this incredible trajectory
where he has had some games where he takes a
step back, but he keeps making throws and slinging around
and moving around to make you to believe that maybe
he's the new age far for Aaron Rodgers or something. Uh,
comp of the two. But at the end of the day,
(07:25):
you can't make mistakes if you want to beat the Patriots.
He told you that Friday defense weight may ultimately win championships.
For man, is it fun to watch offense wins games
and whole hum? The Patriots probably the second best team
in football and the a f C runs through New England.
(07:50):
The Patriots or team you are not going to declare
dead until a year after it happens. Right, it's there
there they are as a team as Brett Farve was
as a career. Brett Farves out, he's done. They brought
him back. Brett Farve's out, He's done. They brought him back.
That happened in Green Bay three times over. Then he
(08:11):
goes to the Jets, and then he then he goes
to Minnesota, and then he quit. And then Chili sit
sends three dudes or four dudes down to plane. They
bring him back with some awful warning Nike had. They
bring him back, and now it's over. He was out
of the league a year before. I was like, Okay,
now I'll believe it's actually done. We are not gonna
have to It's not just gonna have to have mirrors
(08:31):
over underneath the nose of the Patriots. We're gonna have
to have a decaying corpse of the Patriots. I need
a complete season of decay before I declare them dead,
because otherwise the sun rise in the east and SAIDs
to the west, and the a f C goes through Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Period stop. End of story. Be sure to catch live
(08:52):
editions so the Doug Got Leap Show week days in
noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app. Trend Off is a Super
Bowl champion quarterback at a quarterback guru. You can find
him on Twitter at Dilfer's Dimes. Check out the Elite eleven,
the nation's uh go to elde eleven Dot Combinations premier
quarterback competition. UM I got a chance to do sideline
(09:15):
Trent for um Bears taken on the Dolphins, and it
was really eye opening, not just the game and the
speed of the game and watching both quarterbacks work, but
also talking to the offensive coordinators and the head coaches
who are former coordinators in their own rights. Let me
start with with Mitchell Robinsky, who they love everything about him.
(09:37):
They love very athletic, but he did he missed on
a couple of throws UM, and he threw a bad
pick in the end zone after a pick play called
back UH called back at Trey Burton touchdown, and I'm
I'm just wanting there all Ryan pace and that crew
is all in on Mitchell Robinsky two years in, or
year and a half in, are you well? First of all,
(09:59):
as the term we'll call him Burton UH in a
terrible decision on the next play to throw in the
end zone. I am not sold yet. I love the
physical makeup, I love the competitor. I noh Mitch since
we did not invite him to the eleven Finals his
junior in high school and we've talked through all that.
(10:19):
I love the type of kid he is. I do
think his limited starts in North Carolina will slow up
his growth process. He's gonna learn under fire a little
bit more. But all the makings are there. Is he
playing great football? Now? Know A lot of that offense
is manufactured and people are gonna, um, you know, get
(10:40):
onto a little bit, and the book is going to
be written on him, and he's gonna have some struggles.
But I don't see any reason why in two three
years from now he's not a top ten quarterback in
this league. They seemed to they seemed to be believers
of it. They're just there's some throws there that he
where he leaves some points on the field, which is
the old things that leave you kind of scratching your head.
(11:01):
But the leadership stuff they love, all right, What about
brock brock Osweiler gets gets the pinshit, gets the start
because Tanny Hill is hurt and he's got this crazy
stat where first start with the Broncos against the Bears,
gonna win, first start with the Texans against the Bears,
gonna win. Then yesterday, you know, they got rid of
it really quick. They ran the ball bunch on first
(11:21):
down to get to third and manageable. But second half,
he started to throw the ball a little bit more down,
to feel a little bit more down the middle of
the field, getting more to his playmakers. How did brock
Osweiller go from a guy who felt like he was
falling out of the league too again as a as
a pinch hitter, played so well yesterday against that kind
of defense. We think he's growing up. You know, he's
(11:44):
had a lot of setbacks that he's gotten through the
right way. Uh, he got a lot of help yesterday.
Uh you know, he threw what six or seven balls
in the line of scrimmage that total hundred and fifty
yards or something. I do it was something ridiculous. He
did make some big boy for aw in the second half.
We also kind of play with that carefree, non anxious
(12:05):
attitude that you can play with when you're a backup.
Brock's issue has been in his time in the NFL.
Once the book has written on him, once people start
scouting him and game planning him, he struggled. He's pretty
one dimensional. So I was happy for him, and he
played great. It was a great win for them, especially
after the fumble on the goal line and to bounce
(12:25):
back and win it. Um. But it's not like Brock
Oswire is going to become a name again. We're talking
about as an NFL quarterback thereof yeah, I would. I
tend to tend to agree with you. Doug Otlix show
here on Fox Sports Radio, Trent Dilfer is our guest,
what do you see from Mahomes last night? It's scary
(12:46):
how much like Brett Farvey is. You know, I played
against Bretton's heyday. Those three m v P s. I
was one in ten and Lambeau against him. I got
to see it up close and personal. Um Brett would
come out in big games and be a little old, fiery,
little amped up, miss high, take extra chances. You knew
you had to get to bred early if he was
(13:06):
going to make a mistake. Once he settled down, once
he got into the rhythm, he was nearly unstoppable. And
that's what Patrick Mahomes is right now. He's Uh, he's
a you know, three thousand dollar sports car that they're
driving wide open. They're not you know, they're not cruise
around town with him. They're out on the Audubon going
a hundred and sixty. Um. They're taking a ton of risk.
(13:30):
They're pushing it down the field. They're not putting any
restraints on him. He made a couple of mistakes, he
bounced back, uh, and they put up a forty piece
in Hawksborough. And that's hard to do on a primetime game.
It's the kid's first prime time game. Crowd noise, travel,
all the things that go with that. Big media week
for the kid. If you think about the kid's life's
(13:51):
look like this uh season midweek with the media requests.
He's having to go through that. That takes a toll
on you. Uh. He goes up there, he puts at
saw him in fifty three plays, Doug only have fifty
three plays. The Patrios had seventy three. Um, the sky's
the limit for this team, for that quarterback. I really
want to see that matchup again, but I want to
(14:11):
see it in Kansas City. I think it'd be a
different game. Um, okay, then then then let's go to
the other side. Brady, they didn't punt. Now they get
stopped on downs really and Brady fumbled, but they did
not punt. How do we go from this offense looking
so inept and granted I know you added Julian Edelman
uh and Josh Gordon, but how do they go from
(14:33):
looking so inept suddenly not And and this is not
the five Bears that they're facing, right or your Ravens
defense that they're facing. But my, my goodness, this is
a different team. What have they figured out? Well, you
can see the beginning of the year. They're more dedicated
to run the football this year. Um, they have bigger
offensive lineman, especially with Trent Brown. Uh, they have the
(14:55):
rookie back in Michelle. They have multiple backs can run
the rock. They have the premier blocking tight ends in football.
They have a very good full back, and at the time,
they didn't have Gordon, they didn't have Edelman, so they
didn't have the guys that could take advantage of those
matchups outside of Gronks. On passing situations, they got stifled
a little bit because team's focusing on Gronk. Chris Collins.
(15:18):
We did a great job last night of explaining, Hey,
all these runs thirty eight in total, all these runs,
they're moving the chains or eating up the clock, but
at some point they're going to create these isolation matchups
with Gordon and especially Gronkowski. Grokowski had one catch and
then it was like Chris was prophetic. The next thing
you know, Brady catches him in a run front. It's
(15:40):
called a bare front. That play that they showed over
where the tackle blocks out and and Gronk had the
free release. He sees that front because they're getting gashed
by the run. He audibles to that play. You can
clearly see him go to his headgear and change the
play and get to the audible and they get the
big chunk there. Then they get the play to close
out in the two minute UH situation, Gronk on the
(16:01):
switch release go route against man covered with Brady hand signal.
So my point to all that, a typical till for
long explanation answer, is they're more dedicated to running the ball.
They're gonna eat up more clock They're and protect their defense,
and they're gonna be more a big play offense, more
chunk yardage plays. They're not going to be the spread out,
(16:22):
five wide option routes inside the Edelman white catching twelve
balls a game. They still have that, and you'll see
that on third down, you'll see that in two minutes,
you'll see that in situations, but their core offense this
year is more of a run, run action, opportunistic, chunk
passing game. And because they didn't have Gordon, they didn't
have Edelman early on, there was some frustration going through that.
(16:45):
But in six weeks, I think this is one of
those offenses not well just that won't just be explosive,
but also hold the ball for thirty two thirty three
minutes in the course of the game and protect that defense.
And it's really really amazing on how they how they
will change and figure it out, but it is. You know,
you have a rookie Sony Michelle, a rookie running back
who wasn't healthy in the preseason early in the season,
(17:06):
and he's just a rookie. He's kind of gotta figure
it out. He's figured out. Speaking of figuring out, um,
the Dallas Cowboys lan they lay forty on the Jaguar. Now,
I want to get the Blake borders in a second,
but what are the Dallas Cowboys doing differently? They're growing,
I mean everybody, every everybody, and I get it. You
gotta have the token Cowboys section, uh segment because of
(17:28):
pushes ratings and everybody wants to talk about the Cowboys,
and but they're a team. You know, they're just figuring
it out there. There are a defense that's pretty darn good.
Gonna get better, um, some young pieces in there. They're
still probably a difference maker at safety, at difference maker
defensive tackle away from being dominant, but they're good. Offensively,
they're growing. They're trying to figure out what their offense
(17:50):
should be at that yesterday was a step in the
right direction. More Saturday looking offense, more motions, stack receiver looks,
spread out looks, giving Dack more space to maneuver um
let him run a little bit. The zone read is
still a very dangerous weapon in the NFL if you
use it judiciously. Um So, they're trying to figure themselves
(18:12):
out where they three and three. I we can have
the same conversation in three more weeks and they're still
probably figuring out the One thing I do like about
Jason Garrett. Everybody killed him last week and we talked
about it, but he's a process guy. He's a big
picture thinker. He's a long term guy. Now that's not
everybody's taste, and you know what, if he's too patient
(18:32):
over the next couple of years, there may be a switch.
But right now with this team, taking the long tail
approach to growing this team is the right thing to do,
and they're moving the right direction. You're not gonna win
the super Bowl this year, they're probably not gonna win
it next year. But I think if you can fight
into the playoffs this year, you can be a contender
next year. Then in three years you get some more
difference makers and you're still not having to pay out
(18:54):
these massive contracts, then you've got a chance. What's happened
to Blake. I think Blake is a guy that and
again I I don't. I think every the narrative on
Blake is probably true. He's not a franchise guy. He's
not a guy that's going to carry your team. He's
not a guy that can make up for the airs
(19:14):
of a lot of other people. But he was the
right guy when that team was playing their style of football.
They've been decimated by injury. Offensively, they're on the third tackle,
they don't have their premier running back, they don't have
a lot of the things they thought they were gonna have,
so their philosophy has changed, and he's not probably ready
for that, not talented enough to take that burden of
(19:36):
being a high volume passer. Defensively, they haven't held their water.
I mean, that is a team that was supposed to
be dominated by defense. They have a lot of money
in that defense, they have premier players, they have difference makers.
They should not get gash. That should be unacceptable no
matter how much they're on the field. I've been on
those teams that your defensive centric and the great ones
(19:58):
taken upon themselves us to say, listen, circumstances don't matter.
We're gonna keep that other team out of the end
zone worse there, or they're gonna kick field goals. And
this is two straight weeks they've been gassed. So Blake
portals is a guy that if given a strong defense
and offensive philosophy that suits his strengths, can take you
a long way. But as soon as you get outside
(20:19):
of that profile, then he's not gonna be a guy
that can carry you. And then and then now, especially
as you look around the league, where there used only
be four or five guys that can really carry the
water of their team, now we might have ten, eleven,
twelve guys that can do it. So it makes him
look that much more deficient than everybody else. There's just talk, well,
you should trade for Eli. And first of all, I
(20:42):
thought they should trade for Eli last year, but that
was when Blake was under a different contract. Between Blake's
contract and the fact that Eli looks washed that that
that does not appear to be a possible or prudent decision,
right No, And I think here's a bigger conversation when
that you can build on the rest your show the
rest of the week and you get people's inputtings. I
(21:03):
really think it's maybe one of the biggest discussions in
football right now. Can you even win a championship if
your quarterback eats up a major part of your salary cap?
If your name is not the New England Patriots, then again,
can you win a Super Bowl if your quarterback and
alpha wide receiver are eating up a significant chunk of
(21:24):
your salary cap? I would argue it makes it very
difficult to do because the rest of your fifty three
becomes so weak because you can't pay them, or you're
trusting undrafted rookies and key positions in the fourth quarter,
playing in the secondary, playing on the offensive line, or
maybe running routes for you. And where the salary cap
is really hurt football is that they included the quarterback
(21:45):
in it. If they would have taken the quarterback out
of it and just capped how much quarterbacks can make
but didn't involve it in the total salary cap, you
would have better football teams. But right now, the Kansas
City Chiefs, the St. Louis I'm sorry, Sating Louis always had,
the l A Rams, and the Philadelphia Eagles have a
chance because they're on first contract quarterbacks, so bulk of
(22:09):
their salary cap isn't devoted and salary to the quarterbacks,
so they can spread the wealth around and you can
be a better team. Did you mention Eagles Eagles Tom
bays twenty one and bass salary by the way, exactly.
And I was just listening to discussion on Fox with
Whitlock talking about and Tony Gonzalez brought a great point
that Tom Brady cares so much about winning, he should
(22:32):
be the highest day player on the planets and he's
twenty one because he takes less money because he gets it.
He takes a long tail approach to this that listen,
I don't need to make thirty three million dollars a year.
I want that extra twelve thirteen million dollars to go
to go get Trent Brown, or to pay Edelman a
little bit more, or give Grant what he deserves, or
you know, high Tower on the defensive end or mccordy.
(22:54):
Those guys need to get paid to We need fifty
three guys. What we're TV Where the media has ruined
football and I was part of this, but where we've
ruined it is we've made it two quarterbacks centric to
sizzle centric to flash centric. It's the greatest team sport, ever,
because it does take everybody, and I know you don't
(23:16):
have time to talk about it, but it takes your
third your swing offensive lineman has to be a good
player if you're gonna win. Well, listen, listen. I I
agree with you, but I also point out that I
would if I if if push comes to shove, I
would rather invest it in the quarter. Now, look, Tom
Brady with the cap hit is actually he's I think
twelve eleventh. Let me see here, he's tied for leventh
(23:38):
with Philip Rivers two million, because remember they gave him
more in bonuses or whatever. But the point is, like
I watched Khalil Mack, who's had an incredible season, but
he was he was a non factor yesterday in Miami.
He was. A quarterback is never a non factor. So
if if I'm forced to choose between the two, I
choose quarterback. But managing the egos, managing the sous, not
(24:00):
lumping it into one or two players, is kind of
the key to to building a you know, fifty three,
forty six whatever man roster where you can compete in
the NFL, where guys go you know, guys always go
down with injuries. But you do need a viable quarterback
in order to win. I totally agree, and I'm with
you a pent and I would never pay Levan Bell
(24:21):
because I've already paid Ben Roethlis for gonna Totio Brown.
That you're gonna get to that. But I think the
answer to where we started this is you have to
cut bait with Blake Bortles. You have to cut bait
with the Eli Manning. If you don't believe Tannehill, you
gotta cut bait. You have to cut bait on guys
and go get the Herbert's, the Locks, the Stidams, the families,
(24:41):
whoever you think your guy is, or the year after this,
the Haskins, the two Us, whatever it is. But as
long as the salary cap is what it is right now,
where the quarterback is part of the overall cap, I
think you're gonna see a massive shift to going and
get trusting a young guy because offenses of change, it's
an easier transition the NFL, where you're gonna spread the well.
(25:05):
Try to win with a first contract quarterback, I think
it's gonna be exceedingly more difficult to win with a second, third,
fourth contract quarterback, unless if your name is not the
New England Patriots. That's that that that's interesting that I
didn't did that. I did not think of Trent Dilfer.
Check out Dilfer's times on Twitter Plus you go to
(25:27):
lead to Levin dot comfrom Nations from your quarterback competition TD.
Awesome stuff. Thanks for joining us, Thanks for having be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug dot Leap
Show weekdays in noon eastern three pm Pacific. I like
when narratives slowly die. They just die, they go away,
Like yeah, let's let's go back through my Twitter account
(25:51):
and delete that one. Right. There was the guy who
remember the after Michigan lost a note, youre dame Jim
Harbaugh Clay Travis, Jim Clay try was to the whole
the whole piece, but it was the whole last sixteen games,
they're eight and eight and Jim Harbaugh is the most overrated,
over hyped. He sucks and then you're like, oh, then
now they're uh five and one, six and one. On
(26:12):
the year they dominated Wisconsin, they will be ranked teams
Wisconsin's and ranked team they beat them. Yes, they had
to come from behind to beat Northwestern, who Northwestern beating Nebraska.
I don't know if you guys saw that game, if
you had Nebraska at oh in six, if you had
the futures bet on Nebraska being O and six, congratulations
take all of our money. That's crazy. But um, I
(26:39):
like when narratives die, and felt like three narratives died
this weekend, at least three the first that this is
this is what I love. Hell, remember when Blake Mortles
was a franchise quarterback. Hey, Blake Bortles proved everybody wrong.
Blake Bortles lit up the Patriots, And you're like, Blake
(27:02):
Bortles is out, Blake. I was with you all the time,
all these jerks who said you couldn't play, who said
you weren't any good. I would also, I'm also not
going to take the Blake Bortles can't play. No, Blake
Bortles can play when they have Leonard Fournette behind them,
(27:24):
when they have their offensive line all set, when they're
built upon the run, when they can get a lead,
when they can shorten the game, when their defense can
pin their ears back and get after the pastor and
that way they can get after you defensively. Like when
you when all these things kind of work together that
prett damn good, not great, but anyone who is like Blake,
(27:45):
even Doug Morone and others who came out critical of
of the new book out from Doug Peterson, remember that, Well,
Peterson was critical of the fact that the Jacksonville Jaguars
chose to take a knee in the a f C
Championship game with fifty nine seconds to go and the lead,
(28:09):
showing they didn't have faith in Blake Bortles. And I
understand that the Jaguars. Look, the Jaguars are in in
uh um, in enviable position of you have to defend
your guy, even if it's indefensible position. But they gave
him a new contract and they gave him more money.
(28:33):
This whole idea that Blake Bortles is somehow now good.
That narrative has died, died, done, finished. All right, here's
another one. Remember when Tom Brady and Bill Belichick couldn't
exist anymore? I saw it on TV, I heard on
(28:54):
radio that was all of the yakking going on during
the off season. Well, you know, when watched Tom Brady's
Facebook show, he seems to not be getting the respect
he deserves. Well, you know, when you read his post
and Malcolm Butler signs to the Tennessee Titans. When you
read in between the lines, he actually is supporting Malcolm
(29:14):
Butler not supporting Bill Belichick. Well, you know when they
trade away Jimmy Garoppolo and trade away Jacoby bris said,
Bill Belichick didn't want to do it. That was because
the two guys didn't get along, and or maybe the
Patriots knew that Brady still had plenty left in the tank.
The new rules prohibit anybody from coming anywhere near the quarterback,
(29:36):
and they weren't gonna be able to resign Jimmy Garoppolo
unless they franchise tagged him, And you can't franchise tag
a backup quarterback, let alone a starting quarterback and put
a field a team around you. They did the best
they could with two assets who they were going to
have to move anyway. That narrative died very quietly and
(30:01):
very quickly, and no one is should should rightfully be
discussing it today, No one, no one. Oh yeah, the
Malcolm Butler, Malcolm Butler was so was done so wrong.
Malcolm Butler is a shell of the player that people
used to believe that he was. My heck, even look
at Nate Soldier, who there were family reasons why he
(30:25):
left New England and went to New York because of
his child's health needs. But it's also the fact that
the Patriots allowed him to walk out the door. And
then I I frankly would point out the narrative about
the Chargers. Oh, same old Chargers, same old Chargers. They
(30:45):
don't even have Joey Bosa and their four and two.
It'd be fair to say they were disappointed against the Rams,
then against the Chiefs. But you're four and two and
your best defensive player hasn't played a snap yet. That
narrative of the Chargers will never win. The Chargers don't
(31:05):
have home fielder because they don't have home for advantage
and they're the Chargers. Or maybe they have really good
players and a really good quarterback and now that their
offensive line is playing well, they're as good as anybody
in football. Look I like narratives. I like things that
you can kind of see all coming together to where
(31:26):
people can nod their head. But oftentimes when they die,
people don't declare them completely dead. The idea that the
Chargers can't win because they're the Chargers, that one died
the Patriots, and the relationship between Belichick and Brady was
so fractured that it was beyond repair and ultimately would
come to a head on the football field. This this year,
(31:49):
that has died, and so too has the You guys
got Blake Bortles all wrong? Oh here's another one. I
got one more. Jason Garrett iss gonna be the first
coach fired. Jason Garrett can't coach Jason Garrett. I heard
Stephen A. Smith say this last weekend. Last week the
only reason Jason Garrett has a job is because of
(32:11):
his relationship with his owner. Now, it should be pointed
out anyone who downplays the relationship with the owner is
an idiot and has never worked with the business for
a business, Like, if you don't think the relationship with
your owner is important, you never worked for somebody. Congratulations,
(32:31):
Stephen A. Smith. I guess because they have multiple bosses
now and they've had changed bosses at ESP But I
guarantee he's got a relationship with his new boss just
like he had one with his old boss. And when
it's a guy who actually owns the company and writes
the check, you damn what are better? Have a relationship
with him, or it could be that they won thirteen
(32:52):
games two years ago nine games last year, even though
they had a litany of injuries, in a suspension of
their best offensive player, and while working through things with
a quarterback who I believe is average at best. In
the National Football League, Cowboys said at three and three
and they just hung forty forty on the Jaguars. Forty
(33:12):
on the Jaguars. Didn't say he's an offensive genius or savante,
but the idea that because he didn't go for it
on the forty three yard line, which I saw a
coach to it yesterday in Miami. I saw Adam gateson
offensivecording to do the exact same thing in Miami yesterday
at the end of regulation, punted the football from about
(33:35):
this exact same spot. Because he did it, somehow, he's
gonna get fired to advanced. Joseph's gonna get fired not
because of his relationship with his owner, not because relationship
with John Elway, because they're not winning enough games. And
the equity that's been earned in Dallas is because with
(33:57):
the exception of when Tony Romo and as Bryant, we're
both hurt A couple of years ago. They haven't had
a bad year, and they've had a couple of very
good years, and now even with the limitations of the
talent around Zeke, they're still sitting there at three and three.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
(34:18):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. If you're going
to pick up a book for yourself, or you got
a birthday coming up holidays, I got a great one
for it. It's called Gridiron Genius, a master class and
winning championships and building dynasty's in the NFL. It's on
sale now. It's it's as simple as a click away.
(34:40):
If you love this league like I love this league
and love learning about building teams in this league, you
pick up the book. The author is a former general
manager's names Michael Lombardi joins us weekly here on the
Doug Otlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. UM, give me
a sense of your take with with Jon Gruden. I
know you worked with Gruden in the past, and I
know he felt like they were that that that there
(35:02):
was a rebuild job needed in Oakland. But did he
think they were going to be this bad this soon,
you know, Doug. I think the reality here is he
felt like he waited a long time to take a job,
you know, and he had many offers. I mean every
year we had the Grouten rumors we dealt with right.
So last year it was Tampa Bay. You know, probably
(35:22):
had the sense that it wasn't the right fit. Whether
he liked Jameis Winston as the starter or not, I
don't know, but I think a lot of what his
decision came down to decide the fact that he got
a hundred million for ten years was the fact that
he thought he had a legitimate franchise quarterback in Derek Carr.
And I think after being in the organization for nine
months or ten months, I think that realization is different now.
(35:44):
And I think that he's got to sit there and
look at, really what does he have? And really, when
you peel back the layers, cars never averaged over seven
yards per past attempt in his career. He has this,
he has this perception of being this mad bomber, you know,
the Daryla Monica of the New era, and yet he
never thrown the ball down the field. And the year
they went to the playoffs. Was his best year in
the average seven yards per attempts. So I think there's
(36:06):
a disconnected I think what John's finding out is where
that disconnect is. Yeah, I look, that was my takeaway.
Watch them like you get the throw against the Dolphins
which lost them the game. I had the exact same takeaway.
How much, Remember there was a lot of hesitance. One
reason Houston passed on him twice was his brother, but
also the idea that maybe he's like his brother and
(36:28):
that he doesn't have he won't stand in there in
that that pocket, he won't step up and throw the
ball downfield. Instead, he'll do the same Bradford. How much
of it isn't just the association with his brother, but
the style that's still the same in avoiding the chance
of that big hit. Well, look, you can go back
and watch the USC game President State played in Sam
Boys Stadium in Las Vegas. Lane Kiffin was the head
(36:50):
coach of of the of USC at the time, and
I think, you know, they put a lot of pressure
on him, and I think that game was the reason
why he went from being perhaps the first round pick
to in to the second round. There was concerns that
and it's always popped up. I mean, that's why he
wasn't the top ten pick in the draft. Arm strength,
no questions, release, wonderful, athleticism, great, but I think it's
an ability to make those throws down the field, stay
(37:12):
in the pocket, take the hit and keep going. You know,
right now he's got that check down ability. The balls
a hot potato in his hand. And then he makes
mistakes when he gets in the red area when the
game speeds up. You know, he's turned the ball over
three times in the red zone. He can't put any points.
Here's where the key part comes in. You can talk
all you want about the Raiders rebuilding, but when you
have a franchise quarterback, you never rebuild. You repair. And
(37:34):
they're talking rebuilding, which he tells you all you need
to know. So what do they do? I mean outside
of get as many, get as much as you can
for all the other pieces, what do you do with
car That contracts not very old. It's not you can
cut him in the off season. No, And I think
you just gotta keep trying to find guys. You gotta
find your deck pressed out and forefriend, he gotta find
some way all of the sudden, your team needs list
(37:55):
went from being a lot of things on defense and
some offensive lineman to perhaps the quarterback. I mean, you're
just gonna have to dress at the reality of the
situation is you're not gonna be You're not gonna be
able to win. You're dealing with Patrick Mahomes. I mean
with John Elway. He went home the last couple of
nights and he's lost his games. He saw Derek Gonolf yesterday,
didn't play great, But then he saw the week before,
he saw Sam Donald, the week before, he saw Patrick Mahomes.
(38:19):
I mean, his team in Denver doesn't have a quarterback.
He's getting there with case Keenom. He's paid them eight
teen million dollars as a GM. That's a hard thing
to understand. You can't beat you can't win your division
until you can beat the best team in your division
who has the best quarterback. And if you don't have
an arm to match it, you lose the arms race.
What do you do Jacksonville, Look, Jacksonville has been in denial.
(38:40):
I mean we keep we keep banging this drum. I
mean I keep banging, and I called Blake Bortles equalizer
the great equalizer because he's made every He's Jacksonville should
be the best team in the league, but he equalizes.
I mean, you just watched the game yesterday, and they
do everything in their power to not let Blake Bortles
get involved in the game. It's three plays, first down,
three plays check down here do that. They don't want
(39:01):
him to participate, and you're never winning a championship like that. Now,
their defense isn't playing to the level it needs to play,
which it looks like they're frustrated. It also looks like
they're not handling success very well. The details aren't cleaned up.
I mean, they didn't take cold Beasley out of the
game today. And look, if you're gonna beat the Dallas Cowboys,
you better take Cole Beasley away on third down and
handle him in the slot. They didn't do it. Doug
(39:23):
Gotlip Show Fox Sports Rading. That's the voice of Michael Lombardi,
former NFL general manager. Has worked with uh and with
and for all of the big guys historically and run organizations.
Pick up his book Gridiron Genius and master Class and
Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the National Football League.
Are you talked about pat Mahomes. We saw kind of
(39:44):
that gun slinger through through a couple of picks, but
did come back and and stood down in New England defense.
Nearly one thing hung up forty on the Patriots, Um is,
how does this work once we get to when it
really matters? Right? Andy Reid has come up short in
the playoffs, some because of the talent of his quarterbacks,
but some because of his conservative nature. And then you
(40:05):
got Mahomes, who's the opposite of that. How does it
evolve as the season goes on. Well, look, I think
he's gonna and he's gonna have to fix his defense.
What happened last night was remarkable. I looked at it
the other way. I mean, if you're the Patriots, you
had no penalties, You've never punted in game five hundred yards, right,
you did everything in your power to win with your offense,
(40:26):
and you had needed a last second field goal to
beat him. If that game has played an arrowhead, I
think Kansas City wins. With all that being said, With
all that being said, that the Patriots defense did the
one thing they had to do. I tweeted this out
at the end of the third quarter. Whoever punts in
the fourth quarter. Was gonna lose this was you could
appreciate this is a basketball game, up and down the court,
(40:47):
it was, it was. It was clearly a fast break game.
Do anyone had the time of possession thirty six minutes.
Do you realize in the second half the Chiefs only
had the ball for ten minutes and scored thirty one points.
That's three points a minute. That's remarkable. That is flat
out remarkable. However, that being said, the Patriots found a
(41:08):
way to win the game. The Patriots gotta get better
on defense. Are gonna have to do some things, and
once Kansas City gets some players back, I think they'll
be better. I think the lesson we also learned, Doug
is that in the NFL today, you're not gonna win
with great defense. You're gonna win with complimentary defense. Your
defense has to complement your offense. That's what the Patriots
in the first half. They just couldn't do it in
the second half. Michael Lombardi joining us in the Doug
(41:29):
Gotlips Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Aside from the
fact that the Jags are in denial, as you point out,
and the defense didn't take away Cole Beasley. What else
did the Cowboys figure out about their offense allowed them
to put forty points on the board. You know, well,
I think they let Dak Prescott get a little bit
involved in the run game in the Mississippi State program.
(41:50):
I mean, Dak Prescott's a really good athlete and his
speak can get guys open, and we're gonna see it
tonight with Aaron Rodgers. What he's able to do with
his foot movement and sliding in the pocket, his running
a ability is really strong, and I think that's what
they allowed them to do. They created some place for them,
a little run pass options that I think they've got
to go back and really watch the Mississippi State tape
and get that involved in what he's doing because I
(42:11):
think that will help him more than anything. They don't
have playmakers. Tavon Austin is not a playmaker. Tavon Austin
is a specialty player. You put him in the game,
you run a play a screen something to him, and
then he comes out of the game. What you have
to do is run an offense, and that's not what
they do. Prescott's the best skill player along with Zeke
Ellia and you can feature those two players in the
run game and also in the passing game, and I
(42:33):
think that's what helps them. Um, the l A Chargers
go in and put thirty eight on the board against
a very good Cleveland defense, offensive lines playing well, Melvin
Gordon has a hunter and thirty two on just eight
teen carries, UM and Philip Rivers was was above average.
And they're they're doing this without Joey Bosa. Everyone has
said the Chargers have talent, but everyone also says I'll
(42:55):
believe it when I see it, because well it's the Chargers.
Are we ready to buy into the Chargers yet? You
know I wasn't one of those who are buying in
that the Browns of this great defense. I mean, look,
the Raiders have been able to score since they played
the Browns, you know. I mean the Browns have a
great player in Myles Garrett, and I think Denzel were
can cover. He's not a great tackler, but he can
cover really well. So I think they've got some pieces.
(43:16):
I think with Sandy with Los Angeles did to him yesterday,
made the place down the field. They handled them and
they forced them to have to play from behind, which
put the pressure on Baker Mayfield, which all ultimately cost
them the game. Their offensive line, the Cleveland Browns broke down.
I thought what Anthony Lynn said after the game was appropriate.
It was honest, it was it was what I'm thinking.
(43:37):
He said, we made it through the game without missing
an extra point of field goal. Really, that's calls for
celebration in Los Angeles if you're a Charger fan, because
special teams, when it gets down to these close games,
you can't give away a point, and that's what the
Chargers do. I'm not buying the Browns win as a
signature win. I'm waiting for them to go beat Kansas
City or beat Denver, somebody that they usually don't win against,
(43:58):
and that'll tell me they're a good team. It's a
fair point. They got London, then they gotta come come
back and go. They gotta go to Seattle. Got a
couple of the big road games upcoming. Tampa loses fires,
Mike Smith, is that their problem? Well, look, I don't
think Tampa is a very good team. Defensively, I think
they've been bad. I mean, Mike Smith is a one
dimensional defense coordinated plays a lot of his own, a
lot of easy throws. You can find within his defense,
(44:20):
he tries to play discipline. They don't. They can't rush
the passer. You know, they don't tackle very well. I
think these problems are bigger than just firing Mike Smith.
I think, Mike Smith, if you're gonna fire Mike Smith,
why don't you fire him on the bye week, get
and to get a new system and have a week
to put it in place, at least in the meeting
rooms instead of trying to rush through it now. I
think it's a challenge for them. I think this is
not a very well coached team in Tampa Bay. There's
(44:41):
too many issues. There's too many details that don't get vitalized.
A little bit like the Redskins. I thought the Redskins
would beat Carolina yesterday only because the Redskins play little
level of comp They never they never have any consistency
or any attention to detail. And I think that's Tampa
as well. Um the Titans suddenly they go from three
and one to three and three and they get embarrassed
at the hands of at the hands of Baltimore, and
(45:03):
their offensive line looked in shambles. How much of it
is on Mariota? How much of it's on the line. Well, look,
I I've never bought into the Titans. The Titans to
me have always been a team that you have to
lose before they can win. You know, the Eagle game
was an aberration. I just don't understand how that happened
because Eagles don't cover anybody. But essentially, when the when
the Titans play at home, the last eight team games,
they've only turned the ball over seventeen times. They avoid losing. Yesterday,
(45:26):
they just couldn't avoid too many sacks, can't get the
ball out, they have no great skill players, and Baltimore
just really took it to him. And then what really
was problematic is Tennessee's defense. I mean, they're going against
Joe Flacco, whose quarterback ratings sixty four. When he faces pressure,
everybody blitzes Joe Flacco, forces him to throw the ball,
especially on third down, when he all of a sudden
(45:47):
doesn't play us fast. And yesterday, for whatever reason, Dean Piece,
who's practiced against Joe Flacco most of his career when
he was in Baltimore, decided not to do it. And
Flacco was sensational on third down yesterday and made a
difference in the game. I think that whole South. To me,
there's not a strong team. I thought it was Jacksonville
at one time. I'm not sure it is them. I
still think they're the best overall team. But for me,
(46:08):
I don't think Tennessee is a playoff team, even though
they went to one last year. And Houston can't wait
to give games away. They just couldn't give one yesterday
to the Buffalo bill right, and and and they got
a gift from Indie going back two weeks ago, and
maybe one from Dallas going back last week. And yet
here they are kind of hanging around. Fascinating fastening stuff.
Great stuff from Michael Lombardi. Michael, you teach us something
every week about the league. Appreciate it, and we'll have
(46:31):
people pick up your book. Thanks for joining us. That's
Michael Lombardi. Gridiron Genius is the book. Pick it up.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs R. This is the best
(00:22):
of the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom,
What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio, Coming
too Here from the City of Angels where it is Sundy,
it is windy, and it's also home to the best
team in the NFL and arguably one of the top
(00:44):
five other teams in the Nashal Football League. And the
Dodgers have a home playoff game on the thirty anniversary
of Gibbey's home run off of Ack. Will get to that?
Which call was better? Upcoming in the show? Yeah, we
got a lot to get to. NBA eight tips off
tomorrow night. We got Monday Night Football tonight, and an
incredible series of games in the nash Football League yesterday,
(01:07):
starting off with the one that I got a chance
to be a part of which, up until last night
was game of the day. Right over time Dolphins Bears.
That vaunted Bears defense seemed to tire in. The Dolphins
had a great game plan with Brock October Brock Osweiler
getting the start. How crazy is that? Brock Oswealler his
first start with the Broncos, his first start with the Texans,
(01:28):
and now his first start with the Dolphins. All three wins,
all three over the Chicago Bears, and then of course
culminating last night and what we thought would be the
game of the week and may well be the game
of the year thus far, the Patriots take down the Chiefs. Um,
(01:48):
did you guys know that the Patriots did not hunt
last night? You're like, well, where have I seen that before?
The Super Bowl would be the answer for the Patriots
and all of the ever were my favorite words. David
Stern taught me a word. This is like a decade
ago when he was talking about the palaver in the
off season. I was like, palaver. It was all of
(02:10):
the all of the talk, all the talk of the
off season was Brady and Belichick don't get along. I've
heard for the last couple of years, some people who
have jobs on TV saying Brady is ready for a
precipitous decline. And then at the start of the year
people wanted to call it all right, I want to
be the first to call it, Patriots, You're done. And
(02:31):
then they get Josh Gordon, and then they get Julian Edelman,
and then they smack around the Miami Dolphins that came
in undefeated, and then they win a couple more games
and they don't punt against the Kansas City Chiefs. Tyreek
Kill might be the fastest player to play in the NFL.
Uh An NFL front office guy was hanging out with
(02:53):
on Saturday. He said, you saw him playing for Oclahoma
State his first games against Florida State in Jerry's world,
and they all concluded then that he was he played
at a different speed than anybody. And now you watch
him run away from really really fast dudes, and that
might actually be true. They can't see Chiefs have a
(03:13):
tremendous offense at Pat Mahomes. For the most part, played
great football. Now he made some mistakes. And we told
you Friday what Kiko Alonso told me earlier in the
day on Friday, which is like Hey, you're gonna be
the Pets. You gotta just not make any mistakes. But
has there ever been an organization ever that just figures
(03:34):
it out? Defense wasn't great, allowed forty points, but they
got two picks, including a pick six. Tom Brady was good.
Was he perfect? No? But they established a power running
game with Sony Michelle. They figure out how to make
their new wide receiving core kind of work. They get
(03:55):
the ball to Gronk where Gronk has one of the
all time great stiff arms, and while Kansas City scored
a bunch of points. It's a lot like Happy Gilmore
when he was driving the ball but not winning tournaments.
Patriots Patriots is sitting up there at the podium, Hey, hey,
(04:16):
what about me? We won the g actual game. It's
it's the craziest and most explainable, least explicable thing, but
they just figure it out. They just figured out. And
oh yeah, by the way, remember all that talk about
(04:36):
the NFL and how it's unwatchable. It's two hand touch football.
And I don't hear anybody complaining about Pat's Chiefs. You
guys complaining, No, it's first half of Dolphins Bears. I
was a part of it. It was seven nothing boring.
It was interesting. I mean it was. It was really interesting.
(04:57):
Jordan Howard fumbles at the one foot line for the
Tago Bears and then brock Osweller throws one ball deep
down the field that Kenny steals and gets pit and
it wasn't the Kenny steals um. He end up ends
up getting picked um. But the bigger point was he
turned around the second half and it was a lot
(05:17):
more fun. It was Davante Parker, it was more fun.
How much fun was Sunday night football. I'm on a
plane watching it, just hooting and hollering and everybody's just
going crazy. This is the best. Football is a lot
(05:40):
like men. Trying to explain men to women. I have
girls and I have a boy. Boys are easier, They're
easier to raise. Just get him something to do, get
him some competitive, get him out there moving, like was
it Jeff Foxworthy? I want to see something naked. Want
(06:02):
some cold drink, and I want to see something naked. Right.
Men are pretty We're pretty easy. Americans are pretty easy.
Football is pretty easy. We want some hard hits and
we want to see his score. We wanted to be competitive,
we want to be close. We want to see his score.
If we didn't want scoring, we would watch soccer. But
(06:23):
we don't watch soccer. And with the exception of every
four years where if we're involved, we pretend to care
about soccer. Why they don't score that much and they
don't hit each other that much? I said, we're not
that hard. Men, aren't that hard to figure out? Football
is not that hard to figure out. Yeah, the defenses
(06:43):
and offenses are intricate, and sure it's about finding mismatches
and pre snap reads and motion all that other stuff.
At the end of the day, we like offense. That
game was fun. Yeah, the Chiefs gotta played two hand
touch and it's Andy Reid. The thought that Andy is
gonna come through in the playoffs and not get tight
and not get conservative when he has a lead. I'll
(07:04):
believe it when I see it. And it'll be interesting
to see if Pat Mahomes continues on this incredible trajectory
where he has had some games where he takes a
step back, but he keeps making throws and slinging around
and moving around to make you to believe that maybe
he's the new age far for Aaron Rodgers or something. Uh,
comp of the two. But at the end of the day,
(07:25):
you can't make mistakes if you want to beat the Patriots.
He told you that Friday defense weight may ultimately win championships.
For man, is it fun to watch offense wins games
and whole hum? The Patriots probably the second best team
in football and the a f C runs through New England.
(07:50):
The Patriots or team you are not going to declare
dead until a year after it happens. Right, it's there
there they are as a team as Brett Farve was
as a career. Brett Farves out, he's done. They brought
him back. Brett Farve's out, He's done. They brought him back.
That happened in Green Bay three times over. Then he
(08:11):
goes to the Jets, and then he then he goes
to Minnesota, and then he quit. And then Chili sit
sends three dudes or four dudes down to plane. They
bring him back with some awful warning Nike had. They
bring him back, and now it's over. He was out
of the league a year before. I was like, Okay,
now I'll believe it's actually done. We are not gonna
have to It's not just gonna have to have mirrors
(08:31):
over underneath the nose of the Patriots. We're gonna have
to have a decaying corpse of the Patriots. I need
a complete season of decay before I declare them dead,
because otherwise the sun rise in the east and SAIDs
to the west, and the a f C goes through Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Period stop. End of story. Be sure to catch live
(08:52):
editions so the Doug Got Leap Show week days in
noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app. Trend Off is a Super
Bowl champion quarterback at a quarterback guru. You can find
him on Twitter at Dilfer's Dimes. Check out the Elite eleven,
the nation's uh go to elde eleven Dot Combinations premier
quarterback competition. UM I got a chance to do sideline
(09:15):
Trent for um Bears taken on the Dolphins, and it
was really eye opening, not just the game and the
speed of the game and watching both quarterbacks work, but
also talking to the offensive coordinators and the head coaches
who are former coordinators in their own rights. Let me
start with with Mitchell Robinsky, who they love everything about him.
(09:37):
They love very athletic, but he did he missed on
a couple of throws UM, and he threw a bad
pick in the end zone after a pick play called
back UH called back at Trey Burton touchdown, and I'm
I'm just wanting there all Ryan pace and that crew
is all in on Mitchell Robinsky two years in, or
year and a half in, are you well? First of all,
(09:59):
as the term we'll call him Burton UH in a
terrible decision on the next play to throw in the
end zone. I am not sold yet. I love the
physical makeup, I love the competitor. I noh Mitch since
we did not invite him to the eleven Finals his
junior in high school and we've talked through all that.
(10:19):
I love the type of kid he is. I do
think his limited starts in North Carolina will slow up
his growth process. He's gonna learn under fire a little
bit more. But all the makings are there. Is he
playing great football? Now? Know A lot of that offense
is manufactured and people are gonna, um, you know, get
(10:40):
onto a little bit, and the book is going to
be written on him, and he's gonna have some struggles.
But I don't see any reason why in two three
years from now he's not a top ten quarterback in
this league. They seemed to they seemed to be believers
of it. They're just there's some throws there that he
where he leaves some points on the field, which is
the old things that leave you kind of scratching your head.
(11:01):
But the leadership stuff they love, all right, What about
brock brock Osweiler gets gets the pinshit, gets the start
because Tanny Hill is hurt and he's got this crazy
stat where first start with the Broncos against the Bears,
gonna win, first start with the Texans against the Bears,
gonna win. Then yesterday, you know, they got rid of
it really quick. They ran the ball bunch on first
(11:21):
down to get to third and manageable. But second half,
he started to throw the ball a little bit more down,
to feel a little bit more down the middle of
the field, getting more to his playmakers. How did brock
Osweiller go from a guy who felt like he was
falling out of the league too again as a as
a pinch hitter, played so well yesterday against that kind
of defense. We think he's growing up. You know, he's
(11:44):
had a lot of setbacks that he's gotten through the
right way. Uh, he got a lot of help yesterday.
Uh you know, he threw what six or seven balls
in the line of scrimmage that total hundred and fifty
yards or something. I do it was something ridiculous. He
did make some big boy for aw in the second half.
We also kind of play with that carefree, non anxious
(12:05):
attitude that you can play with when you're a backup.
Brock's issue has been in his time in the NFL.
Once the book has written on him, once people start
scouting him and game planning him, he struggled. He's pretty
one dimensional. So I was happy for him, and he
played great. It was a great win for them, especially
after the fumble on the goal line and to bounce
(12:25):
back and win it. Um. But it's not like Brock
Oswire is going to become a name again. We're talking
about as an NFL quarterback thereof yeah, I would. I
tend to tend to agree with you. Doug Otlix show
here on Fox Sports Radio, Trent Dilfer is our guest,
what do you see from Mahomes last night? It's scary
(12:46):
how much like Brett Farvey is. You know, I played
against Bretton's heyday. Those three m v P s. I
was one in ten and Lambeau against him. I got
to see it up close and personal. Um Brett would
come out in big games and be a little old, fiery,
little amped up, miss high, take extra chances. You knew
you had to get to bred early if he was
(13:06):
going to make a mistake. Once he settled down, once
he got into the rhythm, he was nearly unstoppable. And
that's what Patrick Mahomes is right now. He's Uh, he's
a you know, three thousand dollar sports car that they're
driving wide open. They're not you know, they're not cruise
around town with him. They're out on the Audubon going
a hundred and sixty. Um. They're taking a ton of risk.
(13:30):
They're pushing it down the field. They're not putting any
restraints on him. He made a couple of mistakes, he
bounced back, uh, and they put up a forty piece
in Hawksborough. And that's hard to do on a primetime game.
It's the kid's first prime time game. Crowd noise, travel,
all the things that go with that. Big media week
for the kid. If you think about the kid's life's
(13:51):
look like this uh season midweek with the media requests.
He's having to go through that. That takes a toll
on you. Uh. He goes up there, he puts at
saw him in fifty three plays, Doug only have fifty
three plays. The Patrios had seventy three. Um, the sky's
the limit for this team, for that quarterback. I really
want to see that matchup again, but I want to
(14:11):
see it in Kansas City. I think it'd be a
different game. Um, okay, then then then let's go to
the other side. Brady, they didn't punt. Now they get
stopped on downs really and Brady fumbled, but they did
not punt. How do we go from this offense looking
so inept and granted I know you added Julian Edelman
uh and Josh Gordon, but how do they go from
(14:33):
looking so inept suddenly not And and this is not
the five Bears that they're facing, right or your Ravens
defense that they're facing. But my, my goodness, this is
a different team. What have they figured out? Well, you
can see the beginning of the year. They're more dedicated
to run the football this year. Um, they have bigger
offensive lineman, especially with Trent Brown. Uh, they have the
(14:55):
rookie back in Michelle. They have multiple backs can run
the rock. They have the premier blocking tight ends in football.
They have a very good full back, and at the time,
they didn't have Gordon, they didn't have Edelman, so they
didn't have the guys that could take advantage of those
matchups outside of Gronks. On passing situations, they got stifled
a little bit because team's focusing on Gronk. Chris Collins.
(15:18):
We did a great job last night of explaining, Hey,
all these runs thirty eight in total, all these runs,
they're moving the chains or eating up the clock, but
at some point they're going to create these isolation matchups
with Gordon and especially Gronkowski. Grokowski had one catch and
then it was like Chris was prophetic. The next thing
you know, Brady catches him in a run front. It's
(15:40):
called a bare front. That play that they showed over
where the tackle blocks out and and Gronk had the
free release. He sees that front because they're getting gashed
by the run. He audibles to that play. You can
clearly see him go to his headgear and change the
play and get to the audible and they get the
big chunk there. Then they get the play to close
out in the two minute UH situation, Gronk on the
(16:01):
switch release go route against man covered with Brady hand signal.
So my point to all that, a typical till for
long explanation answer, is they're more dedicated to running the ball.
They're gonna eat up more clock They're and protect their defense,
and they're gonna be more a big play offense, more
chunk yardage plays. They're not going to be the spread out,
(16:22):
five wide option routes inside the Edelman white catching twelve
balls a game. They still have that, and you'll see
that on third down, you'll see that in two minutes,
you'll see that in situations, but their core offense this
year is more of a run, run action, opportunistic, chunk
passing game. And because they didn't have Gordon, they didn't
have Edelman early on, there was some frustration going through that.
(16:45):
But in six weeks, I think this is one of
those offenses not well just that won't just be explosive,
but also hold the ball for thirty two thirty three
minutes in the course of the game and protect that defense.
And it's really really amazing on how they how they
will change and figure it out, but it is. You know,
you have a rookie Sony Michelle, a rookie running back
who wasn't healthy in the preseason early in the season,
(17:06):
and he's just a rookie. He's kind of gotta figure
it out. He's figured out. Speaking of figuring out, um,
the Dallas Cowboys lan they lay forty on the Jaguar. Now,
I want to get the Blake borders in a second,
but what are the Dallas Cowboys doing differently? They're growing,
I mean everybody, every everybody, and I get it. You
gotta have the token Cowboys section, uh segment because of
(17:28):
pushes ratings and everybody wants to talk about the Cowboys,
and but they're a team. You know, they're just figuring
it out there. There are a defense that's pretty darn good.
Gonna get better, um, some young pieces in there. They're
still probably a difference maker at safety, at difference maker
defensive tackle away from being dominant, but they're good. Offensively,
they're growing. They're trying to figure out what their offense
(17:50):
should be at that yesterday was a step in the
right direction. More Saturday looking offense, more motions, stack receiver looks,
spread out looks, giving Dack more space to maneuver um
let him run a little bit. The zone read is
still a very dangerous weapon in the NFL if you
use it judiciously. Um So, they're trying to figure themselves
(18:12):
out where they three and three. I we can have
the same conversation in three more weeks and they're still
probably figuring out the One thing I do like about
Jason Garrett. Everybody killed him last week and we talked
about it, but he's a process guy. He's a big
picture thinker. He's a long term guy. Now that's not
everybody's taste, and you know what, if he's too patient
(18:32):
over the next couple of years, there may be a switch.
But right now with this team, taking the long tail
approach to growing this team is the right thing to do,
and they're moving the right direction. You're not gonna win
the super Bowl this year, they're probably not gonna win
it next year. But I think if you can fight
into the playoffs this year, you can be a contender
next year. Then in three years you get some more
difference makers and you're still not having to pay out
(18:54):
these massive contracts, then you've got a chance. What's happened
to Blake. I think Blake is a guy that and
again I I don't. I think every the narrative on
Blake is probably true. He's not a franchise guy. He's
not a guy that's going to carry your team. He's
not a guy that can make up for the airs
(19:14):
of a lot of other people. But he was the
right guy when that team was playing their style of football.
They've been decimated by injury. Offensively, they're on the third tackle,
they don't have their premier running back, they don't have
a lot of the things they thought they were gonna have,
so their philosophy has changed, and he's not probably ready
for that, not talented enough to take that burden of
(19:36):
being a high volume passer. Defensively, they haven't held their water.
I mean, that is a team that was supposed to
be dominated by defense. They have a lot of money
in that defense, they have premier players, they have difference makers.
They should not get gash. That should be unacceptable no
matter how much they're on the field. I've been on
those teams that your defensive centric and the great ones
(19:58):
taken upon themselves us to say, listen, circumstances don't matter.
We're gonna keep that other team out of the end
zone worse there, or they're gonna kick field goals. And
this is two straight weeks they've been gassed. So Blake
portals is a guy that if given a strong defense
and offensive philosophy that suits his strengths, can take you
a long way. But as soon as you get outside
(20:19):
of that profile, then he's not gonna be a guy
that can carry you. And then and then now, especially
as you look around the league, where there used only
be four or five guys that can really carry the
water of their team, now we might have ten, eleven,
twelve guys that can do it. So it makes him
look that much more deficient than everybody else. There's just talk, well,
you should trade for Eli. And first of all, I
(20:42):
thought they should trade for Eli last year, but that
was when Blake was under a different contract. Between Blake's
contract and the fact that Eli looks washed that that
that does not appear to be a possible or prudent decision,
right No, And I think here's a bigger conversation when
that you can build on the rest your show the
rest of the week and you get people's inputtings. I
(21:03):
really think it's maybe one of the biggest discussions in
football right now. Can you even win a championship if
your quarterback eats up a major part of your salary cap?
If your name is not the New England Patriots, then again,
can you win a Super Bowl if your quarterback and
alpha wide receiver are eating up a significant chunk of
(21:24):
your salary cap? I would argue it makes it very
difficult to do because the rest of your fifty three
becomes so weak because you can't pay them, or you're
trusting undrafted rookies and key positions in the fourth quarter,
playing in the secondary, playing on the offensive line, or
maybe running routes for you. And where the salary cap
is really hurt football is that they included the quarterback
(21:45):
in it. If they would have taken the quarterback out
of it and just capped how much quarterbacks can make
but didn't involve it in the total salary cap, you
would have better football teams. But right now, the Kansas
City Chiefs, the St. Louis I'm sorry, Sating Louis always had,
the l A Rams, and the Philadelphia Eagles have a
chance because they're on first contract quarterbacks, so bulk of
(22:09):
their salary cap isn't devoted and salary to the quarterbacks,
so they can spread the wealth around and you can
be a better team. Did you mention Eagles Eagles Tom
bays twenty one and bass salary by the way, exactly.
And I was just listening to discussion on Fox with
Whitlock talking about and Tony Gonzalez brought a great point
that Tom Brady cares so much about winning, he should
(22:32):
be the highest day player on the planets and he's
twenty one because he takes less money because he gets it.
He takes a long tail approach to this that listen,
I don't need to make thirty three million dollars a year.
I want that extra twelve thirteen million dollars to go
to go get Trent Brown, or to pay Edelman a
little bit more, or give Grant what he deserves, or
you know, high Tower on the defensive end or mccordy.
(22:54):
Those guys need to get paid to We need fifty
three guys. What we're TV Where the media has ruined
football and I was part of this, but where we've
ruined it is we've made it two quarterbacks centric to
sizzle centric to flash centric. It's the greatest team sport, ever,
because it does take everybody, and I know you don't
(23:16):
have time to talk about it, but it takes your
third your swing offensive lineman has to be a good
player if you're gonna win. Well, listen, listen. I I
agree with you, but I also point out that I
would if I if if push comes to shove, I
would rather invest it in the quarter. Now, look, Tom
Brady with the cap hit is actually he's I think
twelve eleventh. Let me see here, he's tied for leventh
(23:38):
with Philip Rivers two million, because remember they gave him
more in bonuses or whatever. But the point is, like
I watched Khalil Mack, who's had an incredible season, but
he was he was a non factor yesterday in Miami.
He was. A quarterback is never a non factor. So
if if I'm forced to choose between the two, I
choose quarterback. But managing the egos, managing the sous, not
(24:00):
lumping it into one or two players, is kind of
the key to to building a you know, fifty three,
forty six whatever man roster where you can compete in
the NFL, where guys go you know, guys always go
down with injuries. But you do need a viable quarterback
in order to win. I totally agree, and I'm with
you a pent and I would never pay Levan Bell
(24:21):
because I've already paid Ben Roethlis for gonna Totio Brown.
That you're gonna get to that. But I think the
answer to where we started this is you have to
cut bait with Blake Bortles. You have to cut bait
with the Eli Manning. If you don't believe Tannehill, you
gotta cut bait. You have to cut bait on guys
and go get the Herbert's, the Locks, the Stidams, the families,
(24:41):
whoever you think your guy is, or the year after this,
the Haskins, the two Us, whatever it is. But as
long as the salary cap is what it is right now,
where the quarterback is part of the overall cap, I
think you're gonna see a massive shift to going and
get trusting a young guy because offenses of change, it's
an easier transition the NFL, where you're gonna spread the well.
(25:05):
Try to win with a first contract quarterback, I think
it's gonna be exceedingly more difficult to win with a second, third,
fourth contract quarterback, unless if your name is not the
New England Patriots. That's that that that's interesting that I
didn't did that. I did not think of Trent Dilfer.
Check out Dilfer's times on Twitter Plus you go to
(25:27):
lead to Levin dot comfrom Nations from your quarterback competition TD.
Awesome stuff. Thanks for joining us, Thanks for having be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug dot Leap
Show weekdays in noon eastern three pm Pacific. I like
when narratives slowly die. They just die, they go away,
Like yeah, let's let's go back through my Twitter account
(25:51):
and delete that one. Right. There was the guy who
remember the after Michigan lost a note, youre dame Jim
Harbaugh Clay Travis, Jim Clay try was to the whole
the whole piece, but it was the whole last sixteen games,
they're eight and eight and Jim Harbaugh is the most overrated,
over hyped. He sucks and then you're like, oh, then
now they're uh five and one, six and one. On
(26:12):
the year they dominated Wisconsin, they will be ranked teams
Wisconsin's and ranked team they beat them. Yes, they had
to come from behind to beat Northwestern, who Northwestern beating Nebraska.
I don't know if you guys saw that game, if
you had Nebraska at oh in six, if you had
the futures bet on Nebraska being O and six, congratulations
take all of our money. That's crazy. But um, I
(26:39):
like when narratives die, and felt like three narratives died
this weekend, at least three the first that this is
this is what I love. Hell, remember when Blake Mortles
was a franchise quarterback. Hey, Blake Bortles proved everybody wrong.
Blake Bortles lit up the Patriots, And you're like, Blake
(27:02):
Bortles is out, Blake. I was with you all the time,
all these jerks who said you couldn't play, who said
you weren't any good. I would also, I'm also not
going to take the Blake Bortles can't play. No, Blake
Bortles can play when they have Leonard Fournette behind them,
(27:24):
when they have their offensive line all set, when they're
built upon the run, when they can get a lead,
when they can shorten the game, when their defense can
pin their ears back and get after the pastor and
that way they can get after you defensively. Like when
you when all these things kind of work together that
prett damn good, not great, but anyone who is like Blake,
(27:45):
even Doug Morone and others who came out critical of
of the new book out from Doug Peterson, remember that, Well,
Peterson was critical of the fact that the Jacksonville Jaguars
chose to take a knee in the a f C
Championship game with fifty nine seconds to go and the lead,
(28:09):
showing they didn't have faith in Blake Bortles. And I
understand that the Jaguars. Look, the Jaguars are in in
uh um, in enviable position of you have to defend
your guy, even if it's indefensible position. But they gave
him a new contract and they gave him more money.
(28:33):
This whole idea that Blake Bortles is somehow now good.
That narrative has died, died, done, finished. All right, here's
another one. Remember when Tom Brady and Bill Belichick couldn't
exist anymore? I saw it on TV, I heard on
(28:54):
radio that was all of the yakking going on during
the off season. Well, you know, when watched Tom Brady's
Facebook show, he seems to not be getting the respect
he deserves. Well, you know, when you read his post
and Malcolm Butler signs to the Tennessee Titans. When you
read in between the lines, he actually is supporting Malcolm
(29:14):
Butler not supporting Bill Belichick. Well, you know when they
trade away Jimmy Garoppolo and trade away Jacoby bris said,
Bill Belichick didn't want to do it. That was because
the two guys didn't get along, and or maybe the
Patriots knew that Brady still had plenty left in the tank.
The new rules prohibit anybody from coming anywhere near the quarterback,
(29:36):
and they weren't gonna be able to resign Jimmy Garoppolo
unless they franchise tagged him, And you can't franchise tag
a backup quarterback, let alone a starting quarterback and put
a field a team around you. They did the best
they could with two assets who they were going to
have to move anyway. That narrative died very quietly and
(30:01):
very quickly, and no one is should should rightfully be
discussing it today, No one, no one. Oh yeah, the
Malcolm Butler, Malcolm Butler was so was done so wrong.
Malcolm Butler is a shell of the player that people
used to believe that he was. My heck, even look
at Nate Soldier, who there were family reasons why he
(30:25):
left New England and went to New York because of
his child's health needs. But it's also the fact that
the Patriots allowed him to walk out the door. And
then I I frankly would point out the narrative about
the Chargers. Oh, same old Chargers, same old Chargers. They
(30:45):
don't even have Joey Bosa and their four and two.
It'd be fair to say they were disappointed against the Rams,
then against the Chiefs. But you're four and two and
your best defensive player hasn't played a snap yet. That
narrative of the Chargers will never win. The Chargers don't
(31:05):
have home fielder because they don't have home for advantage
and they're the Chargers. Or maybe they have really good
players and a really good quarterback and now that their
offensive line is playing well, they're as good as anybody
in football. Look I like narratives. I like things that
you can kind of see all coming together to where
(31:26):
people can nod their head. But oftentimes when they die,
people don't declare them completely dead. The idea that the
Chargers can't win because they're the Chargers, that one died
the Patriots, and the relationship between Belichick and Brady was
so fractured that it was beyond repair and ultimately would
come to a head on the football field. This this year,
(31:49):
that has died, and so too has the You guys
got Blake Bortles all wrong? Oh here's another one. I
got one more. Jason Garrett iss gonna be the first
coach fired. Jason Garrett can't coach Jason Garrett. I heard
Stephen A. Smith say this last weekend. Last week the
only reason Jason Garrett has a job is because of
(32:11):
his relationship with his owner. Now, it should be pointed
out anyone who downplays the relationship with the owner is
an idiot and has never worked with the business for
a business, Like, if you don't think the relationship with
your owner is important, you never worked for somebody. Congratulations,
(32:31):
Stephen A. Smith. I guess because they have multiple bosses
now and they've had changed bosses at ESP But I
guarantee he's got a relationship with his new boss just
like he had one with his old boss. And when
it's a guy who actually owns the company and writes
the check, you damn what are better? Have a relationship
with him, or it could be that they won thirteen
(32:52):
games two years ago nine games last year, even though
they had a litany of injuries, in a suspension of
their best offensive player, and while working through things with
a quarterback who I believe is average at best. In
the National Football League, Cowboys said at three and three
and they just hung forty forty on the Jaguars. Forty
(33:12):
on the Jaguars. Didn't say he's an offensive genius or savante,
but the idea that because he didn't go for it
on the forty three yard line, which I saw a
coach to it yesterday in Miami. I saw Adam gateson
offensivecording to do the exact same thing in Miami yesterday
at the end of regulation, punted the football from about
(33:35):
this exact same spot. Because he did it, somehow, he's
gonna get fired to advanced. Joseph's gonna get fired not
because of his relationship with his owner, not because relationship
with John Elway, because they're not winning enough games. And
the equity that's been earned in Dallas is because with
(33:57):
the exception of when Tony Romo and as Bryant, we're
both hurt A couple of years ago. They haven't had
a bad year, and they've had a couple of very
good years, and now even with the limitations of the
talent around Zeke, they're still sitting there at three and three.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
(34:18):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. If you're going
to pick up a book for yourself, or you got
a birthday coming up holidays, I got a great one
for it. It's called Gridiron Genius, a master class and
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(34:40):
If you love this league like I love this league
and love learning about building teams in this league, you
pick up the book. The author is a former general
manager's names Michael Lombardi joins us weekly here on the
Doug Otlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. UM, give me
a sense of your take with with Jon Gruden. I
know you worked with Gruden in the past, and I
know he felt like they were that that that there
(35:02):
was a rebuild job needed in Oakland. But did he
think they were going to be this bad this soon,
you know, Doug. I think the reality here is he
felt like he waited a long time to take a job,
you know, and he had many offers. I mean every
year we had the Grouten rumors we dealt with right.
So last year it was Tampa Bay. You know, probably
(35:22):
had the sense that it wasn't the right fit. Whether
he liked Jameis Winston as the starter or not, I
don't know, but I think a lot of what his
decision came down to decide the fact that he got
a hundred million for ten years was the fact that
he thought he had a legitimate franchise quarterback in Derek Carr.
And I think after being in the organization for nine
months or ten months, I think that realization is different now.
(35:44):
And I think that he's got to sit there and
look at, really what does he have? And really, when
you peel back the layers, cars never averaged over seven
yards per past attempt in his career. He has this,
he has this perception of being this mad bomber, you know,
the Daryla Monica of the New era, and yet he
never thrown the ball down the field. And the year
they went to the playoffs. Was his best year in
the average seven yards per attempts. So I think there's
(36:06):
a disconnected I think what John's finding out is where
that disconnect is. Yeah, I look, that was my takeaway.
Watch them like you get the throw against the Dolphins
which lost them the game. I had the exact same takeaway.
How much, Remember there was a lot of hesitance. One
reason Houston passed on him twice was his brother, but
also the idea that maybe he's like his brother and
(36:28):
that he doesn't have he won't stand in there in
that that pocket, he won't step up and throw the
ball downfield. Instead, he'll do the same Bradford. How much
of it isn't just the association with his brother, but
the style that's still the same in avoiding the chance
of that big hit. Well, look, you can go back
and watch the USC game President State played in Sam
Boys Stadium in Las Vegas. Lane Kiffin was the head
(36:50):
coach of of the of USC at the time, and
I think, you know, they put a lot of pressure
on him, and I think that game was the reason
why he went from being perhaps the first round pick
to in to the second round. There was concerns that
and it's always popped up. I mean, that's why he
wasn't the top ten pick in the draft. Arm strength,
no questions, release, wonderful, athleticism, great, but I think it's
an ability to make those throws down the field, stay
(37:12):
in the pocket, take the hit and keep going. You know,
right now he's got that check down ability. The balls
a hot potato in his hand. And then he makes
mistakes when he gets in the red area when the
game speeds up. You know, he's turned the ball over
three times in the red zone. He can't put any points.
Here's where the key part comes in. You can talk
all you want about the Raiders rebuilding, but when you
have a franchise quarterback, you never rebuild. You repair. And
(37:34):
they're talking rebuilding, which he tells you all you need
to know. So what do they do? I mean outside
of get as many, get as much as you can
for all the other pieces, what do you do with
car That contracts not very old. It's not you can
cut him in the off season. No, And I think
you just gotta keep trying to find guys. You gotta
find your deck pressed out and forefriend, he gotta find
some way all of the sudden, your team needs list
(37:55):
went from being a lot of things on defense and
some offensive lineman to perhaps the quarterback. I mean, you're
just gonna have to dress at the reality of the
situation is you're not gonna be You're not gonna be
able to win. You're dealing with Patrick Mahomes. I mean
with John Elway. He went home the last couple of
nights and he's lost his games. He saw Derek Gonolf yesterday,
didn't play great, But then he saw the week before,
he saw Sam Donald, the week before, he saw Patrick Mahomes.
(38:19):
I mean, his team in Denver doesn't have a quarterback.
He's getting there with case Keenom. He's paid them eight
teen million dollars as a GM. That's a hard thing
to understand. You can't beat you can't win your division
until you can beat the best team in your division
who has the best quarterback. And if you don't have
an arm to match it, you lose the arms race.
What do you do Jacksonville, Look, Jacksonville has been in denial.
(38:40):
I mean we keep we keep banging this drum. I
mean I keep banging, and I called Blake Bortles equalizer
the great equalizer because he's made every He's Jacksonville should
be the best team in the league, but he equalizes.
I mean, you just watched the game yesterday, and they
do everything in their power to not let Blake Bortles
get involved in the game. It's three plays, first down,
three plays check down here do that. They don't want
(39:01):
him to participate, and you're never winning a championship like that. Now,
their defense isn't playing to the level it needs to play,
which it looks like they're frustrated. It also looks like
they're not handling success very well. The details aren't cleaned up.
I mean, they didn't take cold Beasley out of the
game today. And look, if you're gonna beat the Dallas Cowboys,
you better take Cole Beasley away on third down and
handle him in the slot. They didn't do it. Doug
(39:23):
Gotlip Show Fox Sports Rading. That's the voice of Michael Lombardi,
former NFL general manager. Has worked with uh and with
and for all of the big guys historically and run organizations.
Pick up his book Gridiron Genius and master Class and
Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the National Football League.
Are you talked about pat Mahomes. We saw kind of
(39:44):
that gun slinger through through a couple of picks, but
did come back and and stood down in New England defense.
Nearly one thing hung up forty on the Patriots, Um is,
how does this work once we get to when it
really matters? Right? Andy Reid has come up short in
the playoffs, some because of the talent of his quarterbacks,
but some because of his conservative nature. And then you
(40:05):
got Mahomes, who's the opposite of that. How does it
evolve as the season goes on. Well, look, I think
he's gonna and he's gonna have to fix his defense.
What happened last night was remarkable. I looked at it
the other way. I mean, if you're the Patriots, you
had no penalties, You've never punted in game five hundred yards, right,
you did everything in your power to win with your offense,
(40:26):
and you had needed a last second field goal to
beat him. If that game has played an arrowhead, I
think Kansas City wins. With all that being said, With
all that being said, that the Patriots defense did the
one thing they had to do. I tweeted this out
at the end of the third quarter. Whoever punts in
the fourth quarter. Was gonna lose this was you could
appreciate this is a basketball game, up and down the court,
(40:47):
it was, it was. It was clearly a fast break game.
Do anyone had the time of possession thirty six minutes.
Do you realize in the second half the Chiefs only
had the ball for ten minutes and scored thirty one points.
That's three points a minute. That's remarkable. That is flat
out remarkable. However, that being said, the Patriots found a
(41:08):
way to win the game. The Patriots gotta get better
on defense. Are gonna have to do some things, and
once Kansas City gets some players back, I think they'll
be better. I think the lesson we also learned, Doug
is that in the NFL today, you're not gonna win
with great defense. You're gonna win with complimentary defense. Your
defense has to complement your offense. That's what the Patriots
in the first half. They just couldn't do it in
the second half. Michael Lombardi joining us in the Doug
(41:29):
Gotlips Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Aside from the
fact that the Jags are in denial, as you point out,
and the defense didn't take away Cole Beasley. What else
did the Cowboys figure out about their offense allowed them
to put forty points on the board. You know, well,
I think they let Dak Prescott get a little bit
involved in the run game in the Mississippi State program.
(41:50):
I mean, Dak Prescott's a really good athlete and his
speak can get guys open, and we're gonna see it
tonight with Aaron Rodgers. What he's able to do with
his foot movement and sliding in the pocket, his running
a ability is really strong, and I think that's what
they allowed them to do. They created some place for them,
a little run pass options that I think they've got
to go back and really watch the Mississippi State tape
and get that involved in what he's doing because I
(42:11):
think that will help him more than anything. They don't
have playmakers. Tavon Austin is not a playmaker. Tavon Austin
is a specialty player. You put him in the game,
you run a play a screen something to him, and
then he comes out of the game. What you have
to do is run an offense, and that's not what
they do. Prescott's the best skill player along with Zeke
Ellia and you can feature those two players in the
run game and also in the passing game, and I
(42:33):
think that's what helps them. Um, the l A Chargers
go in and put thirty eight on the board against
a very good Cleveland defense, offensive lines playing well, Melvin
Gordon has a hunter and thirty two on just eight
teen carries, UM and Philip Rivers was was above average.
And they're they're doing this without Joey Bosa. Everyone has
said the Chargers have talent, but everyone also says I'll
(42:55):
believe it when I see it, because well it's the Chargers.
Are we ready to buy into the Chargers yet? You
know I wasn't one of those who are buying in
that the Browns of this great defense. I mean, look,
the Raiders have been able to score since they played
the Browns, you know. I mean the Browns have a
great player in Myles Garrett, and I think Denzel were
can cover. He's not a great tackler, but he can
cover really well. So I think they've got some pieces.
(43:16):
I think with Sandy with Los Angeles did to him yesterday,
made the place down the field. They handled them and
they forced them to have to play from behind, which
put the pressure on Baker Mayfield, which all ultimately cost
them the game. Their offensive line, the Cleveland Browns broke down.
I thought what Anthony Lynn said after the game was appropriate.
It was honest, it was it was what I'm thinking.
(43:37):
He said, we made it through the game without missing
an extra point of field goal. Really, that's calls for
celebration in Los Angeles if you're a Charger fan, because
special teams, when it gets down to these close games,
you can't give away a point, and that's what the
Chargers do. I'm not buying the Browns win as a
signature win. I'm waiting for them to go beat Kansas
City or beat Denver, somebody that they usually don't win against,
(43:58):
and that'll tell me they're a good team. It's a
fair point. They got London, then they gotta come come
back and go. They gotta go to Seattle. Got a
couple of the big road games upcoming. Tampa loses fires,
Mike Smith, is that their problem? Well, look, I don't
think Tampa is a very good team. Defensively, I think
they've been bad. I mean, Mike Smith is a one
dimensional defense coordinated plays a lot of his own, a
lot of easy throws. You can find within his defense,
(44:20):
he tries to play discipline. They don't. They can't rush
the passer. You know, they don't tackle very well. I
think these problems are bigger than just firing Mike Smith.
I think, Mike Smith, if you're gonna fire Mike Smith,
why don't you fire him on the bye week, get
and to get a new system and have a week
to put it in place, at least in the meeting
rooms instead of trying to rush through it now. I
think it's a challenge for them. I think this is
not a very well coached team in Tampa Bay. There's
(44:41):
too many issues. There's too many details that don't get vitalized.
A little bit like the Redskins. I thought the Redskins
would beat Carolina yesterday only because the Redskins play little
level of comp They never they never have any consistency
or any attention to detail. And I think that's Tampa
as well. Um the Titans suddenly they go from three
and one to three and three and they get embarrassed
at the hands of at the hands of Baltimore, and
(45:03):
their offensive line looked in shambles. How much of it
is on Mariota? How much of it's on the line. Well, look,
I I've never bought into the Titans. The Titans to
me have always been a team that you have to
lose before they can win. You know, the Eagle game
was an aberration. I just don't understand how that happened
because Eagles don't cover anybody. But essentially, when the when
the Titans play at home, the last eight team games,
they've only turned the ball over seventeen times. They avoid losing. Yesterday,
(45:26):
they just couldn't avoid too many sacks, can't get the
ball out, they have no great skill players, and Baltimore
just really took it to him. And then what really
was problematic is Tennessee's defense. I mean, they're going against
Joe Flacco, whose quarterback ratings sixty four. When he faces pressure,
everybody blitzes Joe Flacco, forces him to throw the ball,
especially on third down, when he all of a sudden
(45:47):
doesn't play us fast. And yesterday, for whatever reason, Dean Piece,
who's practiced against Joe Flacco most of his career when
he was in Baltimore, decided not to do it. And
Flacco was sensational on third down yesterday and made a
difference in the game. I think that whole South. To me,
there's not a strong team. I thought it was Jacksonville
at one time. I'm not sure it is them. I
still think they're the best overall team. But for me,
(46:08):
I don't think Tennessee is a playoff team, even though
they went to one last year. And Houston can't wait
to give games away. They just couldn't give one yesterday
to the Buffalo bill right, and and and they got
a gift from Indie going back two weeks ago, and
maybe one from Dallas going back last week. And yet
here they are kind of hanging around. Fascinating fastening stuff.
Great stuff from Michael Lombardi. Michael, you teach us something
every week about the league. Appreciate it, and we'll have
(46:31):
people pick up your book. Thanks for joining us. That's
Michael Lombardi. Gridiron Genius is the book. Pick it up.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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